Fallen Kingdom

Going down to the caves under the palace became a regular thing for me. I'd slip through the portal and watch all of my memories play out before me. The time we had defeated Discord, the time Spike saved the Crystal Empire, or when Rarity gave up her tail for the river serpent. But there were, to other ponies eyes, mundane things that meant the world to me. I saw the time when AJ gave us all apple cider for helping her with Applebuck Season. I saw the race between her and Dashie. I saw Pinkie Pie throwing the party for Gilda the Griffon.

None of these memories made me cry. In fact, they all made me smile and laugh at the beauty of my life, and the beauty of the ponies I was surrounded by. Those silly mares that I knew and loved may have been gone physically, but they were still very much alive in my heart. We are all very luck to have known each other. Rainbow Dash was by far the most essential pony in our relationship. She was the pony that connected all of us... even before we knew that any of us even existed. And I think that without Pinkie Pie, I wouldn't know how to just laugh away my fears and my stress. She taught me the importance of a good comedic play, or even a pleasurable afternoon at a garden party. Rarity taught me the magic of detail. How one little thing can upset even the whole balance of the big picture. If it weren't fore Fluttershy's kindness, I don't think I could be patient enough to sit through an entire council meeting that mainly consisted of a sleeping phoenix in the corner, Luna rolling her eyes, and Celestia shouting.

"I don't think you know how I miss you," I said aloud one day after watching all of us at Pinkie's birthday party. My voice echoed, and it seemed to be magnified with each resound, even though there were no walls to this ethereal haven.

"Yes we do, silly! But you're just going to have to see that one day you'll see us agian! And then we can have a great house-warming party for you up here in the Afterlife!" Pinkie laughed. Her voice didn't echo, though, and I wondered why.

"Pinkie? Is that you?"

"Oh, we're all here, darling. Come find us!" Rarity said. I flinched. Her words had a cold tint to them. Applejack spoke up.

"Ah reckon this'l be a maghty good game a hide n' seek."

"Where are you guys! Come out, I want to talk to you!" I yelled. Rainbow Dash laughed cruelly.

"It's hide and seek, Princess. You're gonna need to try about twenty percent harder to find us."

"If you don't mind," even Fluttershy's sweet voice was tainted by cynicism and sarcastic flare. I looked around, but saw nowhere to hide, nowhere my dear friends could be hiding.

"I just want to talk," I called out. My friends snarled.

"Then why didn't you write?" Rainbow spat. For a moment, I thought I could see the shadow of a pegasus  bent over with her wings in the air, ready to charge. But it went away as quickly as it had come. It was replaced by a bouncing, bubbly figure.

"Pinkie Pie, I am so glad to see you!" I walked forward, and the figure faded and reappeared next to me, this time in the form of Applejack.

"Yer gonna have ta try harder n' that to catch us." She said. Fluttershy danced into view.

"Or are you scared to? Hmm, Twilight Sparkle?" She reared up on her hind legs, and I flinched away from her.

"Hahaha, you have changed, dear princess. Or are is it just this so called Realm of Magic?" She taunted. Now all five of the figures surrounded me, slowly becoming more solid.

"No, no! Go AWAY!" I shouted, using my Canterlot Royal voice. With that, the silhouettes of my friends had cracks were their moths would be, revealing spiky white teeth. They were smiling at me... but in a weird way, like I knew that they would be back, and they knew that I knew. What awful smiles.