Chapter one: The promise
Rainbow Dash was looking at the sky, her eyes lost in the infinity of stars above her head. She had to be strong, she had always been. And at that moment more than ever before, she couldn’t show any weakness to the others. They weren’t showing it, not counting Fluttershy, but they were probably very afraid of the battle that was to come.
Or maybe she was the only one who was really afraid. That thought made her shivering. She couldn’t stand the sole idea of being a coward. She should have been angry about it, but just sighed.
“Hey!” shouted Pinkie Pie with a big smile. “What are you doing all alone? Why the sad face?”
Rainbow Dash jumped out of surprise when hearing her friend. It may be argued that with Pinkie Pie around, you’re almost never entirely alone, but the pink pony had that instinct to only come when needed. And, in fact, Rainbow Dash felt relieved to see her friend.
“It’s nothing. I was just thinking about stuff.” replied the pegasus, trying to save her pride.
Surprisingly, Pinkie Pie didn’t joke around. She went at Rainbow Dash’s side and stayed silently for a little while, but without losing her smile. After some time, Pinkie Pie said, with a kind, joyous but serious tone:
“I’m glad you’ll be with us tomorrow. We all are. We know that whatever happens, there is at least one of us that will never run away.”
And she smiled at her friend saying that last sentence. Hearing those words and seeing that smile, Rainbow Dash silently broke into tears:
“But I want to run away... I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m afraid. I’m just… afraid.” she confessed.
Pinkie Pie offered an even bigger smile and hugged her friend to comfort her.
“I know you’re afraid.” Pinkie told Rainbow Dash, “You’ve always been afraid, probably more than any other pony in all of Equestria. That’s what makes you so truly great. You’ve always been able to overcome your fears.”
“What?” asked Rainbow Dash, not sure to understand.
“You know, Rainbow Dash, I’ve never told you that, but you fascinate me.” said Pinkie Pie, like it was just some small talk. “To dare to do something doesn’t necessarily require a lot of courage. But to overcome such big fears as yours implies so much strength that I just never figured out how you were able to muster it all.”
Rainbow Dash was lost. Just simply lost. It wasn’t something Pinkie Pie would normally say. Just the fact that it seemed to possess some sort of sense for some reason was making the whole thing surreal.
“I… huh… what?” said the pegasus.
“Don’t worry about it silly head.” replied Pinkie Pie, laughing. “I just wanted to tell you that since the day we met and this seemed a good occasion to do so.”
And out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie added:
“You know what? Let’s play a game. We can call it “Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash’s wishes”. You tell me a wish and I’ll tell you one too. Then, we have our whole life to see if it happens. What do you say, you want to play? I personally wish for your next birthday to be the very best birthday ever, whatever the circumstances!”
Rainbow Dash lowered her head.
“I’m sorry.” said Pinkie Pie, “It’s totally okay if you don’t want to play. We could just look at the stars together. I would like it too.”
Rainbow Dash laughed. It was a nervous laugh, but a comforting one too. And at that moment, Pinkie Pie understood she had succeeded in her attempt to make Rainbow Dash open to her. Which she thought was a good thing, because Rainbow Dash really wanted somepony to talk with at that moment.
But what Rainbow Dash asked for wasn’t what Pinkie Pie was expecting. Even if she should have been able to foresee those words, the pink pony had just ignored that possibility, way too confident in what she had taken for granted until then.
“No, I would like to play.” finally answered Rainbow Dash. “It’s just that… I thought I would wish that everypony would make it alive tomorrow. Or that everything would be back to normal. But…”
“But…?” asked Pinkie Pie with curiosity, who hadn’t seen that precise “but” coming.
“But nothing, it’s better to wish that things turn out okay for everypony.” replied Rainbow Dash.
For a moment, Pinkie Pie thought of going with that wish, because it was the one she was expecting and the one that was favorable to her. And she probably would have, if she hadn’t been Pinkie Pie. But not only was she curious to know what was behind that “but”, but she was also very concerned about Rainbow Dash’s true feelings.
“And what is your true wish then?” asked the pink pony with a very reassuring smile.
Rainbow Dash hesitated, as she didn’t want to disappoint her friend. Or disappoint herself. But the serious way Pinkie Pie had been talking to her, or the battle that was to come the next day, or the beauty of the night, or just that heavy weight she had on her chest made her confess her true feelings:
“I’m so sorry!” Rainbow Dash said, crying. “I’m not as strong as you say I am. I’m just terribly afraid. I know it’s selfish, I swear I know it’s selfish, but… I wish not to die tomorrow.”
And after a little silence had ensued, Rainbow Dash added, sadly.
“I just don’t want to die.”
This was the most rational, easily expected, true and instinctive answer anypony would and should have given in such circumstances. And at that moment, Pinkie Pie realized how much she had underestimated her friend.
And from that realization came another one that made the pink pony suddenly sad. A sadness she was able to hide behind a smile.
She waited a little moment, probably to give herself some time before she would choose a path she wouldn’t be able to change afterwards, and finally told Rainbow Dash:
“Don’t worry silly head. If it’s your wish, then I promise to you that I’ll never let you die.”
And with a very convincing look, she added, as if the whole universe was following her words:
“And that’s a pinkie promise!”
Chapter two: The broken world, part 1
Rainbow Dash felt the blanket of a bed under her hooves. It felt strange, as it wasn’t the blanket of her own bed. She was still in a semi-sleeping state where she couldn’t remember where she was or what day it was. One of those states where it’s impossible to know if what you feel is the reality because you’ve woken up, or still another dream.
She opened one of her eyes and saw the black ceiling far above her. It looked just like a sky, but one without any moon or stars. And as there was no wind whatsoever, and also because she was in a bed, she deduced she was inside.
She yawned and went out of the bed.
The floor was made of grass with strange flowers. Rainbow Dash deduced that it was probably a dream then, but thought it was weird she would be so easily able to figure out she was in a dream. And then, she saw a pink earth pony she knew very well, who was painting a rock just twenty feet from her.
“Pinkie Pie? What are you doing in my dream?” asked Rainbow Dash out loud.
The pink pony turned her head in her direction and smiled.
“Rainbow Dash! You’re awake!” she shouted with joy and immediately rushed to her friend and hugged her.
“Hey, no need to suffocate me.” said the pegasus. “And no, I didn’t wake up. Well, I have, but I think I haven't."
And Rainbow Dash relized she was beginning to talk like Pinkie Pie, which was also too weird for her. So she just added:
"Still, this is one weird dream. Never had one like that before.”
Pinkie Pie went back a little and looked at her with a slightly surprised look on her face.
“What are you talking about? This is not a dream.” she told Rainbow Dash.
“Oh come on Pinkie Pie.” replied the pegasus, not even thinking how pointless it was to argue on the subject if she was really right. “This is clearly a dream. It’s nothing like our world. Just look around.”
Pinkie Pie looked around. There were trees in the distance, and a hill and some bushes that were all blocking the horizon. And above them, the black ceiling very far away.
“I see what you mean.” said Pinkie Pie with a sorry look, “But I assure you that you’re not dreaming. Don’t you remember the battle?”
“The battle?” asked Rainbow Dash.
And she remembered what had happened. How both her, Pinkie Pie and all their friends had went to fight the biggest battle they would ever face and how desperate it had been. She remembered having tried to make one more daring attack against everypony’s advice. She remembered having been struck down, laying on the ground totally helpless. She remembered the pain and looked at her body where there were almost no more traces of injuries.
“They healed. I took care of you during your sleep.” said Pinkie Pie’s voice.
And that same voice was also the last thing Rainbow Dash was able to remember. Just before a big flash had happened and she had passed out. When she had seen Pinkie Pie’s incredibly sad but beautiful smile and heard her voice telling her words that she was already too weak to understand. Words that were telling her not to worry, that it was going to be fine.
“You remember now?” asked Pinkie Pie with a smile.
“But what happened?” replied Rainbow Dash, suddenly realizing that the whole thing may be more real than she had imagined. Which was a very frightening thought.
“I saved you. Just like I promised. I made sure you would stay alive.” answered Pinkie Pie.
“And the others? Where are they? What happened after I passed out?” asked Rainbow Dash, trying to figure out the whole thing and, in the end, trying to understand what was going on and why she was in such a strange place.
But Pinkie Pie didn’t answer her questions. Instead, she said:
“You must be hungry. Come with me, I’ve got plenty of food for you. And if there isn’t enough, just ask and I’ll make more.”
And saying that, she pushed Rainbow Dash behind the rock she was painting to a big table that was standing in the middle of the grass field and on which were several dishes of fruits and vegetables, water and one plate.
“Eat all you can.” Pinkie Pie said. “I’ve got to finish some of my work. After all, you woke up way earlier than I expected.”
And the pink pony walked away to finish painting her rock, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with the food. There was everything a hungry pony could have imagined. Carrots and apples, of course, but also some salad with Chantilly, chocolate covered bananas, slices of pineapple mixed with jelly and all other sort of dishes.
Rainbow Dash’s stomach made a non ambiguous sound that meant “stop asking questions and feed me!”. The pegasus hesitated, as she was concerned about that world and what was going to happen, but had to give up to her hunger eventually.
She had just finished devouring enough for her stomach to accept a truce, when Pinkie Pie came back shouting:
“Rainbow Dash! Come quick, I’ve something to show you!”
And before Rainbow Dash was able to react, the pink pony had taken her by the hoof and brought her to another part of the grass field.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes had noticed, at that moment, an interesting detail. At a certain point, the grass field was stopping and the floor, from that point, was black and couldn’t be distinguished from the strange ceiling anymore. However, if that detail was indeed interesting, Rainbow Dash didn’t even really gave it any attention, as she was focused on what Pinkie Pie wanted to show her.
“What do you say? Isn’t it great? I just finished it while you were eating.” told her, very proudly, Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow Dash didn’t reply. She was kind at a loss of words there. She was just facing a big Chantilly pool in the green field with a twisted candy slide in which hot chocolate was running down.
“Were did you find all this?” asked the pegasus.
“I didn’t find it silly.” answered Pinkie Pie. “I made it.”
And as Pinkie saw that Rainbow Dash didn’t understand, she added:
“You see, I thought you would like to take a bath to relax and cope with the situation. But then, I thought that a pool would be better, but then I figured out that it would be fun to fill it with something great like Chantilly and then I remember that a pool isn’t a pool unless it has a slide so I made one and now…”
And Pinkie took some seconds to think and continued her speech on a new realization:
“… And now you probably would have preferred just a hot water bath. Maybe I should have thought about that a little harder.”
But her smile came back immediately when she heard Rainbow Dash laugh. It was a slightly nervous laugh, because the whole thing was crazy enough to make any mare nervous, but it was still a very genuine laugh. And it was genuine because Rainbow Dash was feeling way better seeing Pinkie Pie behaving like she would normally do, with that harmless craziness of hers. It was comforting to know that that aspect of things, at least, hadn’t changed.
“So you like my Chantilly pool?” asked Pinkie Pie with hope.
Rainbow Dash smiled at her and answered:
“You know Pinkie, I’ve got a thousand questions that need answers. But that pool is just too great for me to ignore it right now. Let’s dive in!”
Pinkie Pie agreed with joy and both mares jumped in the Chantilly, laughing and forgetting, for a little while, where they were and why they were there. There were only them and the big pool left for them to enjoy. The rest could wait until they had finished having fun.
Chapter three: The broken world, part 2
“Well, that was really fun!” said Rainbow Dash.
She was trying to roll on the floor to get rid of the Chantilly and chocolate, but Pinkie Pie gave her a big towel.
“Yes. It was great.” agreed the pink pony. “We should keep it.”
“Too bad we didn’t have some giant cherries or strawberries. Could you imagine how weird it would have been?” added Rainbow Dash, out of love for good food.
“You wanted giant cherries? Why didn’t you say so?” asked Pinkie Pie laughing. “You just have to ask and I’ll make some.”
Rainbow Dash laughed too, thinking it was a joke. But then, she remembered everything that had happened since she had woken up and suddenly understood that her friend was probably serious.
“You would make giant cherries?” she asked Pinkie Pie. “How would you do that? It doesn’t even exist to begin with.”
“I would paint them of course.” answered Pinkie Pie, showing her brush and painting palette.
“Paint them?” said Rainbow Dash, not sure to follow.
Pinkie Pie nodded and began to paint in the air a cherry bigger than a pony’s head. Then, when she was finished painting, she took the cherry who suddenly decided to follow the rules of gravity, and bite it with pleasure.
“You see.” said Pinkie Pie, her mouth full of cherry, “It’s easy as pie.”
Rainbow Dash was astonished by what she had just seen. And her mind took some time to make the connection, but she slowly asked if Pinkie had made the pool by painting it too, which was the case. And from questions to answers, Rainbow Dash learned that the table and the food she had just eaten had been painted too, as well as the bed she had slept in just as everything that was surrounding her.
“I made it all so that you wouldn’t feel depressed when you would wake up. Took me a while, but I think I did a good work for an amateur, don’t you think?” explained Pinkie Pie, happy to see that her friend was taking the whole thing pretty well.
“But that’s impossible!” replied Rainbow Dash, who was at least certain of that fact. “The world doesn’t work like that. It has got to be some sort of dream.”
Pinkie Pie tried not to laugh and replied:
“Isn’t reality just some sort of dream? You know, just because a world works in a different way than what we consider normal doesn’t mean it’s not real. If you can touch it, if you can feel it, if you can smell it, then it is probably as real as it gets.”
But then, Pinkie lowered her head and added, with a sadness she wasn’t able to hide well enough:
“I can assure you that this world is real.”
But she didn’t let enough time for Rainbow Dash to realize that she might have been sad and recovered her smile as well as she found the way to run to another part of the grass field, taking her friend with her.
“Come, I’ve got another thing to show you!” she said, smiling.
And before Rainbow Dash could react, she was facing a house.
Well, calling it a house would probably be honoring it too much. To be as kind as possible with Pinkie Pie without lying, we could describe that “house” as the result you would obtained if you let a three years old child design the plans of your future habitat. It was a mess, it was standing by a mere miracle and had only three walls for five faces, not counting what was supposed to be a roof.
“I made it a little while after I arrived. It was supposed to be our house, but I thought it would be wiser to take your bed out while you were recovering.” explained Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow Dash was kind of grateful for the thought, as she wasn’t certain the whole building wouldn’t crumble if just touched. But then, she saw a black rock nearby with a hole in it.
“What is that? The mailbox?” asked Rainbow Dash, ready to believe pretty much everything at that point.
But her instinct was telling her it was something important because it was somehow different from the rest.
“Oh, that?” replied Pinkie Pie, smiling, “It’s nothing. I hid in there at the very beginning, when everything was black and frightening. But I eventually figured out there was no danger and began to color the world.”
Rainbow Dash looked at it, but felt cold just doing so. She knew why it was standing out. Everything else besides the ceiling was colorful and fun to watch, but that black rock was literally lifeless, like a black hole sucking all the fun out of its surrounding.
The pegasus looked elsewhere to forget about it.
As Pinkie was still looking at her first hideout and thus not speaking, a silence ensued.
It wasn’t a normal silence like we can experience every day when we try to create one. It was absolute. There were no noises to hear, no wind to blow in the ears or to make the grass sing its discrete song. No bird to be heard, no stream of water to lap on the rocks. Nothing.
“Pinkie Pie?” asked Rainbow Dash, suddenly very serious.
“Yes?” replied the pink pony with her biggest smile.
“Where are the others? Why are we alone?” directly asked Rainbow Dash, directly looking into Pinkie Pie’s eyes who were trying to avoid the implications of that look.
Chapter four: The breaking world
Pinkie Pie didn’t answer immediately. She just stayed there, trying to keep smiling without looking directly into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. But as the pegasus came closer, she decided to avoid the question with her paintbrush and created an ice cream she offered to her friend.
“I don’t want to eat, Pinkie. I want to know what happened to the others!” told her Rainbow Dash, very decided.
Pinkie Pie dropped the ice-cream and painted an accordion that she began to play joyfully.
“No music Pinkie: where are the others?” asked Rainbow Dash, slowly losing her patience.
Pinkie Pie dropped her accordion and painted a flower that she offered to Rainbow Dash who refused it by throwing it to the ground and asked, one last time with a more angered tone:
“Where are the others Pinkie Pie? What happened to them?”
The pink pony suddenly lost her smile and began to cry slightly.
“I’m trying my best! Couldn’t you just enjoy what we have without thinking at what we lost?” she asked Rainbow Dash, imploring.
Rainbow Dash felt the shock of those words hitting her like a train passing right through her at full speed. She was interpreting what Pinkie Pie had just said in every possible way she could think of to ignore the only logical explanation her instinct was telling her was the truth. And the idea of having lost her friends wasn’t tolerable.
She couldn’t accept the idea to have survived them for various reasons she wasn’t even totally conscious of, the major one being that she had wished for it out of a very selfish thought. And the sole guilt she was feeling from that fact was enough for her to break under the realization that she might never ever see her friends again. But not only. Her head was still full of the memories they all had together. The good times, the jokes, the bad times when they would rally with each other to stand, united, against every challenge they would have to face.
There was the comforting support of Applejack, the incredibly pleasant complaining of Rarity, the funny weird way Twilight had to say the most simplest of things, the charming nerving way Fluttershy had to flee from everything and, of course, watching Spike grow up and always surprise them when they would expect it the least. And Scootaloo, and her friends, and all the others too.
Rainbow Dash looked around in that silent world she was in and saw no sign of life except her and Pinkie Pie. She saw no warmth, no potential, no hope nowhere. And at that moment, the green grass and the motionless trees were looking just like the black ceiling over her head: cold, lifeless and threatening.
“What is going on?!?” asked, shouting, Rainbow Dash, hiding her fear and sadness behind a righteous anger.
“You are alive, that’s what is going on.” replied, smiling under her tears, Pinkie Pie.
And she hugged her pegasus friend.
“You’re alive and I’m with you and I won’t let you be all alone by yourself. I’ll stay with you and get old with you and we will find a way to have fun and in the end it’s going to be all okay, because we will have been together!” Pinkie added, with a violent joyous hope in her voice.
This frightened Rainbow Dash even more, because, not that she was conscious of it, she had understood she was trapped in that world, probably forever.
“Get off me!” she told Pinkie Pie, using her strength to stop the hug. “This can’t be true! I refuse it. I want to see the others again!”
Pinkie Pie stayed silent for a few seconds, not smiling, not crying, and then said:
“I would like to be with them too, but I can’t."
And she added:
"I can't let you all alone. I had to come with you to watch over you, to be with you. To make sure it was worth it saving your life.”
A silence ensued, during which Rainbow Dash didn’t need to ask for more explanation, because she knew they were coming and, in a certain way, she wasn’t certain she wanted to hear them so much now that they were coming.
“I promised I wouldn’t let you die, remember?” said Pinkie Pie, happy about that part. “I made a pinkie promise I couldn’t break. So when you got killed during the battle…”
And she stopped a second at that moment, to catch her breath and smile again:
“…when you got killed by that big death ray, I made sure you didn’t die, just as I promised you I would. So I came with you here and I watched over you and healed you, so that you might wake up and be alive again and because I would be there, you wouldn’t be all alone.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t understand it all. Principally how she could not have died if she had been killed. But there was a way more important information she wanted to gather first.
“So I can’t go back to Equestria? I’m stuck here?” she asked Pinkie Pie, without showing all the emotions that it was causing her to feel.
Pinkie only balanced her head from left to right and from right to left to answer that question. But tried to smile at the end to make her understand that it wasn’t so bad.
“And you decided to get stuck here with me in nowhere creepy land until we both die of old age?” Rainbow Dash asked again, with some sad anger showing up in her voice.
“I had too… I couldn’t let you all alone in that world. It was very frightening you know…” Pinkie tried to reply.
“You idiot!” shouted Rainbow Dash, who didn’t know why she was so angry or who she was angry against. “What were you thinking? Why did you come too? Why did you even save me if it was to bring me in that lifeless hell with no sky to fly and no friends to be with? When did you think it would be a good idea?!?”
“I’m sorry. I’m trying my best. I couldn’t do better than that, I just wanted to save you. I wanted to fulfill your last wish.” said Pinkie Pie, with the hope Rainbow Dash might forgive her, because she was feeling the need to be forgiven for the situation, very badly.
But forgiveness requires a certain set of mind that Rainbow Dash didn’t possess at that moment. She was too much shocked, lost, stricken and overwhelmed to control her emotions in any possible way other than by protecting her sanity behind a fortress of hatred.
She violently pushed Pinkie Pie on the ground, regretting that behavior already but forced on that path because of her feelings, disgusting herself as she was trying to find a way to accept a situation that was both frightening and intolerable to begin with. Incapable to control herself, she chose the only logical way she could choose.
“You would have left me to die there if you had been a real friend. At least I could have forgiven you that.” the pegasus told the pink pony on the ground.
And then, she flew away, fleeing from her cowardness, fleeing herself to go and let her emotions destroy her mind in a river of tears that wouldn’t even be able to reduce the overwhelming pain.
And thus, she left Pinkie Pie behind, all alone, to go and hide in the darkness far away from the colors her friend had been painting relentlessly for her sake, for the time she would finally wake up.
She felt the tears running down her cheeks, already overtaken by the pain everywhere in her body, head and heart.
Chapter five: The very best birthday ever
The tears had stopped flowing eventually. The pain had worn out. For Rainbow Dash, laying on the black cold ground, was only left an overall weakness in her body, the weight of an anvil in her head, a very bad taste in her mouth and the feeling of hunger in her stomach.
She had been laying there for a time that felt like months, even if she knew it was impossible, because she would have died from thirst way before that. Not that she would have minded so much. Now that she was there, in the middle of nowhere in the closest thing to hell she could have ever imagined, her selfish, but quite natural, need to stay alive wasn’t looking so important anymore. In fact, after how ungrateful she had behaved with Pinkie Pie before, she thought she didn’t deserve the life her friend had given her.
She wanted to cry at that thought, but there were no tears left.
Her instinct came back and told her to stand up and move back where she could find some water and some food, but she refused. Her will was broken. She saw no point anymore. She saw one in dying however, even if she wasn’t certain of it. Because if Pinkie Pie was there to watch over her, maybe she would be free if there wasn’t any mare any more to watch over. In her befuddled mind, it was making sense at that very moment.
She heard a pony laying down at her side and didn’t bother moving or even looking.
“I’m sorry. I truly am.” said Pinkie Pie.
“I’m the one behaving like a jerk here.” replied Rainbow Dash. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I should be incredibly grateful for all you’ve done for me.”
The pegasus wanted to continue and apologize, but Pinkie Pie stopped her by putting her hoof on her friend’s mouth. Rainbow Dash looked up and saw the smiling happy face of Pinkie Pie. She knew what was going to follow and couldn’t prepare enough for it, so she almost suffocated from the hug she received.
“Here, you should drink and eat something.” said Pinkie Pie, “Otherwise you will get all grumpy and have a terrible headache and you’ll be incapable to see what I’ve made while you were here all by yourself.”
She handed a purple flask to Rainbow Dash whose color almost felt alive in the middle of the darkness they were in and the pegasus began to drink, very slowly and carefully to not hurt herself.
It took time, but she finally recovered enough to be able to move. Pinkie Pie had brought some fruits and vegetables with her, so that she could eat something too.
When Rainbow Dash stood up, she saw a yellow line on the ground that was going far away to the horizon.
“What’s that?” she asked Pinkie Pie.
“It’s a yellow brick road. I haven’t had time to paint it correctly, so it’s mostly just yellow.” answered the pink pony. “I was afraid I would get lost, so I’ve had that brilliant idea to leave a trail behind me so that I would always know how to come back home.”
The word “home” sounded great at Rainbow Dash’s ears.
“Let’s go home then.” said the pegasus with a smile.
And at that point, she decided to accept the situation to the best of her ability and try to make up for all the effort Pinkie Pie had been putting in making her happy. She wasn’t sure how, but it was at least a goal to set her mind on. She would find a way eventually.
They trotted together back to green field of grass that Pinkie Pie had painted and Rainbow Dash discovered a new table with a seven stages tiered cake on it and a lot of candles everywhere, as well as balloons and other party stuff on different parts of the field.
“Happy birthday!” said Pinkie Pie, using the surprise at her advantage. “It’s not exactly your birthday to be quite exact, but I think it shouldn’t matter that much, so I decided to throw you a birthday party!”
Rainbow Dash smiled. So that was what Pinkie Pie had been doing while she was crying. Preparing a party. In a way, she shouldn’t have been surprised.
But the real surprise she wasn’t expecting was yet to come, as Pinkie suddenly said:
“But it’s not all. I’ve worked extra hard to give you your birthday gift. And I think you will love it.”
“Yeah? Where is it?” asked Rainbow Dash, suddenly excited.
Pinkie Pie smiled with some mischievousness, enjoying how surprised her friend would be when she would release the gift. Then, she jumped in the air, seemed to find something in the blackness to get a grip on and pulled it toward the ground.
Thus, the whole black ceiling seemed to fall apart, revealing a gigantic blue sky, with clouds and even a wind that was making them move.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her eyes. She just couldn’t. Her vocal reaction consisted on the repetition of a lot of “oh my god” in a very fast manner and she suddenly burst out laughing. She had just found the sun in the sky and, as it was to be expected, it was a big yellow ball, with an incredibly big smile on it.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” asked Pinkie Pie, happier than even to see her friend's reaction. “Let’s be fair and say the cake is mine and the sky is yours, what do you say Rainbow Dash?”
The pegasus just looked at her friend with two grateful eyes and took off immediately, not noticing Pinkie Pie erasing half of the cake with her painting tools to make as if she had eaten her part of it.
And it was so great to be able to fly again in the sky. Even if it wasn’t Equestria’s sky. At least it was blue, and they were clouds to play with, and a wind that would push her when going against, and help her when going with it. Rainbow Dash tried to fly as high as possible, but got worn out before reaching any ceiling, and then let herself fall directly to the ground before she would take back control of her flight and link some awesome moves together.
Still, something was missing there. The clouds were pretty well made, but they weren’t exactly like the clouds Rainbow Dash was used too. And the sky was always exactly the same blue, wherever she would fly. And even if the sun was smiling, and even if the sun was providing some warmth for some reason, as Pinkie Pie had really worked extra hard, it was nothing compared to what Rainbow Dash had experienced before. It wasn’t her sky, it wasn’t her clouds, it wasn’t the sun she enjoyed so much, and, finally, the wind was boring, because it was always blowing in the same direction, at the same speed.
An artificial wind in an artificial sky.
But one that had been made with so much love and dedication that Rainbow Dash didn’t feel the right to criticize it, even if it was the truth that, in reality, she wasn’t enjoying it as much as she should have.
She landed on a cloud and waited there for a while to let Pinkie Pie think she was enjoying herself. If she wasn’t able to really profit from what Pinkie Pie was giving her, she could at least lie to not spoil the effort her friends had been putting into it.
She just couldn’t know that Pinkie Pie was watching her at that same moment, and sighing, knowing that her masterpiece, that ace she had in her sleeve, her gigantic sky, had failed. She wanted to cry, but found enough strength not to. Because she knew what she had to do and had accepted it already. After all, it was a pinkie promise.
And so she sighed again and smiled, knowing that, at least, her friend would be happy.
Chapter six: The last gift
“So, how was it?” asked Pinkie Pie with her everlasting smile.
“Great, it was great.” slightly lied Rainbow Dash. “You made a wonderful job up there.”
“You’re so nice with me Rainbow Dash. Thanks you.” replied Pinkie Pie, truly grateful to her friend to try and handle her feeling carefully. “But I would be lying if I hided that I know you didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped for.”
“What? No…” tried to defend herself Rainbow Dash, also afraid that her friend might take the fact that she didn’t enjoy her work very well.
“Don’t worry, it’s okay. I’m not mad, how could I be?” said Pinkie Pie. “I should have known my best wouldn’t be enough. I’m very sorry. I wanted to try. I was so afraid. I thought I could make it work, I thought I didn’t have to be all alone.”
“Huh… what?” asked Rainbow Dash, not sure to follow.
“I’ve got another birthday gift for you that I wasn’t sure I would give you. But now I feel ashamed to have kept it a secret from you. I hope you will be able to forgive me at some point.” said Pinkie Pie, with a more serious tone.
Rainbow Dash didn’t know how to react, because she didn’t know what was going on, if she had to be worried or happy or if she was supposed to be lost as she was at that moment.
“Oh don’t you worry silly head!” said, joyfully, Pinkie Pie. “It’s going to be fine, you will see. In fact, I promise you it is going to be fine. And that’s a pinkie promise. My last one.”
Rainbow Dash was still trying to understand, but she clearly couldn’t. Even her instinct had given up at that point and was telling her to just follow her heart, who was telling her to follow and have faith in her friend. So when Pinkie Pie asked her to follow her, she did without any hesitation, curious to know what new surprise was awaiting her.
“I’ve lied to you. I’m really sorry for that.” said Pinkie Pie as if it was just some happy small talk. “But I’ll make up for it. After all, I just promised that, and who would I be if I were to break a pinkie promise? I mean, it has my name, hasn’t it? I can’t break something that has my very own name. That would be like a chicken breaking an egg. And they would never do such a thing.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t even try to know what some chickens had to do with what Pinkie Pie was going to show her.
“You remember when we both made a wish before the battle?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“Yes.” kind of lied Rainbow Dash, who had enough difficulties to focus on the present already without thinking of the past too.
“You wished not to die and I promised you I wouldn’t let you die. So I did. But the truth is, my wish was actually the same as yours.” kept on talking Pinkie Pie.
“I’m sorry Pinkie Pie, but I just don’t understand one word of what you’re telling me.” replied Rainbow Dash, embarrassed to not be able to follow what seemed to be important stuff Pinkie was telling her.
“It doesn’t matter. Don’t you worry about that, everything is fine.” the pink pony replied, when stopping right where she was.
Rainbow Dash looked around, but saw nothing special. Pinkie Pie took her paintbrush and began to paint a door before them. When she was finished, she turned to Rainbow Dash and told her to be ready for a journey.
“A journey to where?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Equestria of course.” laughed Pinkie Pie. “To where you belong.”
“To where we belong.” instinctively corrected Rainbow Dash, before suddenly realizing “But wait, you said we couldn’t go back to Equestria, that we were stuck here.”
Pinkie hit her very lightly with her hoof on her head and answered:
“Don’t be such a worry pony. You’ll get all the answers you need when you’ll have passed that door.”
“But you’re coming with me, aren’t you?” asked Rainbow Dash, suspecting that something was going wrong there.
“Of course I am coming with you!” replied Pinkie Pie, hugging her friend once again with all of her strength. “I’ll always be watching over you.”
And as Pinkie was releasing her prey, she took a feather from Rainbow Dash.
“Whoops. Sorry, my fault, I think I overdid it.” she immediately apologized. “Now let’s go, quickly, before the way closes itself.”
Rainbow Dash opened the door and saw Equestria behind it, with Ponyville laying in the distance. She could even see the ponies moving here and there doing their daily business.
Too focused on the happiness that sight was giving her, Rainbow Dash didn’t see Pinkie Pie lurking behind her. She only felt the two hooves of Pinkie Pie on her back.
“One last thing.” Pinkie Pie said. “I wanted to thank you. I was really afraid to be all alone for all eternity, but I think that it’s going to be okay. But I’m really glad you were there to help me in the beginning. I don’t think I would have been able to make it without you.”
And Pinkie began to push. But she had waited just a little too long and Rainbow Dash was resisting on her side.
"What are you doing?" asked Rainbow Dash, who had already understood and didn't need any answer. "We can go back together!"
"I'm very sorry. I can't." replied Pinkie Pie. "But it's okay. It doesn't mean you cannot be free. I shouldn't have brought you here with me to begin with. I am the one who has been selfish, not you."
Rainbow Dash wanted to reply something, but suddenly began to realize she was understanding something else, something important behind Pinkie Pie's words. But she couldn't focus enough on it, because she had to concentrate on resisting Pinkie Pie's pushing.
But then, something unexpected happened. She felt Pinkie's face coming near her neck, and she heard those words:
"You've been the best friend I could have hoped for. It's okay, you can let go now."
And then, she felt a kiss on her neck, that made her release her muscle for a tiny second. But that second was enough for Pinkie Pie to push Rainbow Dash through the door and close it.
"Goodbye Rainbow Dash." she said, alone before the disappearing door.
Chapter seven: A long way back to Equestria
Rainbow Dash was face against the ground and slowly recovered all of her senses. And the first thing she noticed were the noises everywhere that were flattering her ears, from the insects buzzing, the birds singing or wind blowing in every direction like a beautiful symphony.
“I’m back!” the pegasus shouted, realizing it was Equestria, the Equestria she had live in and loved so much.
She took off and went in the sky to play with the clouds who gave her the right feeling she was awaiting. But she remembered that Pinkie Pie had pushed her and felt angry about it.
“That little…” she began out loud.
But somehow, she was worried about her friend, because she still hadn’t understood why Pinkie Pie wouldn’t follow her through the door.
To find the answer, she went to the library to find Twilight for some advices and, if possible, some help to rescue Pinkie Pie.
She landed before the door of the tree and entered, calling Twilight by her name. But the first she saw was Spike, who dropped the big pile of books he was holding and began to scream and shout and got so excited it was making Rainbow dash feel uncomfortable.
Alerted by all the noise, Twilight came to see what was going on and saw Rainbow Dash. She stopped right there for a second, and then began to cry out of joy and jumped over Rainbow Dash, forgetting that she was a princess, which she didn’t care that much about to begin with.
“I’ll go tell the others.” shouted Spike, rushing out before anypony could add anything.
And after a few minutes spent by Rainbow Dash being unable to answer would it be only one of the multitude of questions Twilight was asking in the middle of the “I’m so happy to see you” she was telling her friend.
It went even crazier as Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy entered the library to see their friend and also showed some very strong emotions, each with their very own way, but all in the most genuine and honest way.
And finally, the whole town came to see the return of the lost hero that had disappeared after the biggest battle of the millennium. Scootaloo was so happy to see her “big sister” that she forgot to act tough and just cried like a baby who had lost her mother and just retrieved her after a long time, which touched Rainbow Dash a lot.
Eventually, the word of Rainbow Dash’s return came to Canterlot and even the princesses came to welcome back the rainbow colored pegasus. And the welcome back party lasted for a day and a half until everypony just couldn’t party anymore out of exhaustion.
Then, and only then, the explanations began.
First, Twilight and the others explained to Rainbow Dash how the fight had finished. How, after she had been struck down, They thought it was hopeless and wanted to run away. And how nopony did, because of her, because of Rainbow Dash, because it wouldn’t have been honoring her. Everypony had overcome her fear and together, they had found a new hidden element of harmony, the element of courage, who had allowed them to defeat their foe and return peace to Equestria. The element had disappeared, as it was still way too unstable, and Twilight had been studying it since, with more or less success.
Then Rainbow Dash explained how she had woken up in that strange world with Pinkie Pie and everything that she had lived there, until Pinkie Pie had pushed her out through the door and closed it behind her. And finally she was able to say:
“And that’s what I was trying to tell since the very beginning. We have to go and free Pinkie Pie from that world!”
She was kind of frustrated that it had taken so long to eventually be able to say those words, but in the end she had been able to ask her friends for help and that was all what counted.
“I see.” replied Twilight as the others were looking at the floor.
“You see what?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow Dash.” began Twilight. “I guess there is no good way to tell such things, but… Pinkie Pie died to save you. She placed herself between you and the death ray.”
Rainbow Dash should have known by that time, but she almost suffocated.
“We weren’t certain of your condition because we never found your body.” continued Twilight, “But Pinkie Pie was… there was just no possible doubt.”
And after a little moment, she added:
“I’m sorry.”
Of course, Rainbow Dash didn’t accept that fact so easily and she fought the idea with everything she had, so, in the end, they all went to see Pinkie Pie’s grave in a corner of the rock farm of her parents.
She had been buried into a black stone, as her family tradition was asking for. And Rainbow Dash thought she had recognized it. A stone with a big hole. But this one had no hole.
And she knew that her friend’s body was inside. What was left of it at least.
Rainbow Dash began to cry.
“You idiot…” she said out loud. “You liar.”
“Liar?” asked Twilight, surprised.
“She promised me everything would be fine, she said it was a pinkie promise. She broke it. Everything is not fine. I miss her. I miss you!” shouted Rainbow Dash.
Twilight didn’t know what to respond, probably because there was nothing to respond at all. She decided to let Rainbow Dash alone with Pinkie Pie to make her mourning.
And Rainbow Dash cried a lot, having to accept the cold reality of the loss of a friend that had sacrificed her life for her. And also, she understood most of the answers of the questions she had had before.
She knew now why Pinkie Pie had been apologizing to her. Why she had said everything she had said. Why she had worked so hard to build a world she, Rainbow Dash, would maybe accept to live in with her.
“You should have explained it to me, I would have stayed with you!” lied Rainbow Dash to herself. “I wouldn’t have left you all alone.” she cried. “Now look at me… Look at you! Is that how you are going to watch over me like you said you would?”
And as she had said those words, she saw a blue feather in front of her, that was laying on the ground like it had been put down there. The pegasus looked at it and tried to understand. It was just probably one of her own, that had fallen off as she was crying or for whatever reason. Very probably. In fact, that was the only reasonable explanation.
So, of course, Rainbow Dash chose to believe the other explanation, the one that she wanted to believe, and suddenly smiled.
“Is that so?” she asked, suddenly daring. “Well, I’ll make my own pinkie promise then!” she said. “I promise that I’ll find a way to come to you and take you back to us. I don’t know how yet, but you can count on me. I will never abandon you!”
And her new goal set, Rainbow Dash walked away, after having paid her last respect to Pinkie Pie’s grave.
She didn’t even take the time to read the epitaph that was saying:
“Here lies Pinkamena Diane Pie,
who perished to save everypony else,
who did so with a smile on her face
the only way you can honor her is to smile too
whatever the circumstances
find the strength to be happy
like she has been until the very end
and probably still is as you're reading this.”
THE END
Author's Note
I know the epitaph doesn't rhyme. I just can't make it rhyme, even if I had the time. Which I don't have.
The story is actually a love story, in the sense of a more platonic and universal love.
Or just love as it was supposed to be an allegory of in the very beginning.
Strangely, I feel like I've been stuck trying to meet some standard of "don't write a lousy story like you usually do" and couldn't write anything, until I decided to just go back to writing whatever I wanted.
Too bad I didn't want to write that story. It's not meant to be sad, but it feels that way for me. And at the beginning I wanted to write beautiful heartwarming stories. I still do.
Oh well...
ps: the whole story was written with both the gypsy bard and Pinkie's brew songs from "friendship is witchcraft" as well as "Pale" from "within temptation" that I discovered through one of Prilla's pmvs. Maybe it can explain the strange tone I used.
ps 2: I discovered the picture after I was finished writing the story. I think I would have written it otherwise if I had seen that picture before.
ps 3: took some inspiration from minecraft (the early cavern we all went to hide in and the poorly built house). I put some other references (the most obvious one being the yellow brick road. Still don't know why I did that one.)
