Friendship After Ages

Chapter Two

Fluttershy still lived in her modest cottage outside the Everfree Forest. As soon as Twilight could regain feeling in her numb limbs, she flew full speed to the pony's home. The princess improved on her flying ever since she and her friends drifted apart. She read all the books she could, reread the books, re-reread the books, then finally started to practice flight.
Her purple hooves sent up clouds of dust as she thumped on the dirt path. Twilight looked at the house she hasn't been to in moons. Multiple bird houses still hung from random branches around the cottage. It was strangely quiet considering all the animals that probably lived there. As Twilight neared the door, she noticed the paint peeling off the side of the house. The path of flowers began to brown at the edges of their petals, some already lying in the fresh soil beneath them.
The princess stopped walking when she stood in front of the door. When was the last time she stood here? Fluttershy wasn't sick then, or at least that Twilight knew. She gasped. How long was Fluttershy sick? She needed answers. Hesitantly, she raised her hoof to the wood. But she couldn't knock. Fluttershy was in that house dying. The Pegasus was literally in her death bed, and she writes Twilight, even if they haven't spoken in so long? Twilight's heart clenched. She felt tears sting her eyes and lungs. Fluttershy was always so kind, but this seemed too kind.
She lowered her hoof. Twilight couldn't do it. She couldn't knock. But she did t have too. "The door is open, Twilight." The creaky voice of a mare came muffled through the wood. Twilight almost jumped. There was no backing out now. Fluttershy knew the alicorn was there.
Twilight entered the cottage.
And it looked exactly the same, except for the bed that replaced the couch. More bird houses and animal cages were strung throughout the room, holding chirping critters. Twilight could feel the anxiety of them all. Their owner was dying. Twilight recognized the wooden chair in the corner of the room, the bookcase that held all of Fluttershy's favorites, and the yellow pony sitting up in her bed with an amused smile.
Fluttershy, after moons gone by, looked, well, old. There was no other way Twilight could describe her friend. The mare's mane had few streaks of light pink in the grey hair. Lines were formed all around her face, from her eyes to her muzzle. Fluttershy's hooves were wrinkled and shaking slightly at the top of the quilt she rested under. "Twilight," she said in the creaky voice that held traces of her young, soft voice. "You haven't aged the slightest."
Twilight swallowed. Her mouth was dry. "I- my wings. I'm an alicorn. I'm..." She couldn't spit out the word she always refused to say. Immortal.
Fluttershy smiled sweetly. "Please sit, dear."
Twilight stared at Fluttershy. The mare stared back, still smiling. Twilight slowly walked to a wooden stool planted beside the Pegasus. It groaned under her weight slightly. They sat in silence.
"I'm glad you came. I didn't know if you would." Fluttershy said after a few awkward minutes.
"I came as soon as I got your letter..."
"Thank you. I hope I didn't interrupt you."
Twilight's heart squeezed in her chest again. There Fluttershy was, sitting in her bed on her final day, apologizing to Twilight for telling her she's dying. "You didn't interrupt me..." Twilight whispered, then broke down sobbing. "Fluttershy, I'm so, so sorry..."
"Shh, don't cry, my dear. Why are you sorry?" She took the purple mare's youthful hoof in her own yellow, old one.
"You're dying..." She whispered. "I haven't seen you forever, and I'm seeing you now, watching your life slowly drain away?"
Fluttershy actually chuckled. "Oh, Twi. I didn't ask you here so that you could feel bad about that. I wanted to talk to one of my best friends before my time was up." Twilight nodded, crying harder. "You didn't start my death, but you can't stop it either."
"I know," Twilight nodded. "I know..."
They sat together, Fluttershy holding Twilight's hoof with one hoof and stroking her mane softly with the other. Slowly, the princess regained herself. She took a deep breath. "So, do you have a family, Fluttershy?"
The old mare smiled with a distant look. "I just had my husband. You remember Big Mac, from the Apple family?" Big Mac... Big Mac! The strong, red stallion. Applejack's brother. They got married?
"Oh," Twilight said. "What happened to him?"
Fluttershy looked sad for the first time Twilight saw her today. "He hurt himself two years ago on the farm. Strained him back pulling apples. No one thought it was fatal, but when he was taken to the hospital it turned out he damaged something important. Died the next day."
"Oh, Fluttershy, I'm sorry." Twilight comforted her friend.
The mare smiled again, patting Twilight's hoof. "Don't worry about it, dear. It seems I'll see him soon..."
There was an awkward silence. The only sound was the buzzing of animals behind Twilight. Fluttershy looked pass her friend and laughed. "My furry friends are worried about me. They think I'm in pain, but I don't feel a thing at all."
She clicked her tongue. A small white bunny hopped out of the crowd and into Fluttershy's mane. Twilight gazed at the creature. "Angel?"
"No, this is Cotton, Angel's great grand-bunny. My dear Angel died ages ago, poor soul."
"But," Twilight looked at the small animal. It snuggled protectively in his owner's mane, hugging her floppy ear. "What will you do with all these animals after- after you- when-"
"When I die?" The Pegasus's bluntness made Twilight flinch. "I arranged for the local animal shelter to take them in. Goodness, I more worried about them than I am about myself right now." Fluttershy chuckled. "I've cared for most of their families generations back."
"D-don't you have any children that can take care of them?" Twilight asked in a rush, her emotions twisting her heart like cake batter.
"No, Mac and I were happy together. Besides, I was the aunt to many Apples." The word was pierced Twilight's heart like a knife. Fluttershy is speaking of herself in past tense.
She started to cry again. "Fluttershy," she sobbed in her friend's quilt. "You can't die. You can't."
"It's the way life works, Twilight." She soothed the alicorn's mane. "I had a wonderful life with you, the others, Mac. My story is simply over."
"No..."
Fluttershy held Twilight as she wept, her blanket getting soaked by heavy tears. Cotton the bunny detaches himself from the mare to snuggle up against Twilight. The scene was truly heartbreaking. "Are you okay now?"
Twilight sat up straight, sniffled, then nodded. "Y-yes. I'm fine."
Fluttershy put her hoof under the other pony's chin. "Good, because I don't have that much longer." Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but Fluttershy stopped her. "None of that, Twilight. I'm ready to go. My life was amazing, and I'm glad I spent some of it with you, but I cannot stay here anymore. Mac needs me. I'm not scared, I'm not in pain, I'm ready. You'll have to stay strong, Twilight. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, all our friends' times are coming, and they need you there like you are here with me. You need to stay strong for them, for yourself. Can you do that?"
Fluttershy leaned back into her pillow, staring at Twilight with determined intensity. Determined for what? Twilight asked herself.
Determined to let go. Fluttershy's younger voice replied.
"I can stay strong..." She whispered. Then, louder. "I can stay strong."
Fluttershy smiled, looking in Twilight's eyes one last time. The alicorn still saw the timid, young Pegasus she first met, teaching her bird choir to sing. "I know you can, Twilight." She closed her eyes.
Fluttershy didn't open them again.