"Chimicherry, cherrychanga! Chimicherry, cherrychanga! Chimicherry, cherrychanga! Chimicherry..."
Rarity let out a loud groan for the eighteenth time in the past half hour. It was not a rough estimate on her part; she had, in fact, been counting how many times Pinkie Pie's endless recital drove her to the point of vocally expressing her frustration.
She gritted her teeth and frowned at her obnoxious friend, who never seemed to grow tired of her little mantra. Instead, she just kept repeating it constantly, with only the pitch or the speed of her voice changing from time to time. Occasionally, she would go silent for a few seconds, allowing Rarity to breathe a sigh of relief. Her respite was short lived, however. Pinkie Pie's sharp voice soon rang out again, shattering the hapless unicorn's hopes of finding some peace and quiet at last.
"When I get back, you're going to get it, Rainbow Dash!" she growled through her closed jaw.
Her lungs did not take kindly to her latest outburst and quickly demanded more air to be pumped into them. She did not hesitate to comply and went back to panting heavily again. Sweat drenched the entire surface of her body, mixing together with the filth already clinging to her hide and stinging it horribly. Her joints burned as her limbs strained against the metal handle. They were forced to move it up and down non-stop for what felt like days now, thus generating their cart's weak propulsion on the tracks.
Rarity swore under her breath and willed her forelegs to push harder, but the endless desert at the edges of her vision did not seem to retreat any faster. Tears formed in her eyes as her own muscles refused to obey her and grant her a swift escape from this place. Not wanting her friend to see, she closed her eyes and turned her head toward the ground.
Minutes passed at an agonizingly slow pace, and the Badlands just did not want to end. Rarity glanced behind her back, squinting from their bright surroundings. The sight made her heart sink. There was still no tunnel in sight, or any sign of civilization at all for that matter, and she was desperate for some shade at this point.
"Chimicherry, cherrychanga! Chimicherry, cherrychanga! Chimicherry, cherrychanga! Chimicherry..."
Rarity groaned for the nineteenth time.
It was almost sundown by the time they were anywhere near some shelter. The merciless ball of fire in the sky had already taken its toll by then. Rarity felt every inch of her hide sting as her tired limbs worked the handle. Her throat was dry, and it hurt so much that she could no longer even voice her complaints. Not that she really needed to, either. After a while, even Pinkie Pie decided against speaking any further. She still kept humming her endless recital, though, much to her friend's dismay. The wide smile never left the pink pony's face as she kept operating their craft, seemingly without any effort.
Fortunately, they did come across an old well along the way, which allowed them to quench their thirst and rejuvenate themselves somewhat. While the quick breather was welcomed by both of them, they decided not to dwell there for long in favor of reaching home sooner.
However, the fast-approaching darkness -- not to mention their own exhaustion -- soon forced them to a halt completely. There was a small dead-end siding right before the tunnel that Rarity kept praying for all day. They quickly used the switch to guide their craft onto it, just in case a train from the opposite direction might pass through later.
The moment the hoofcar came to a full stop, Rarity's legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the metal handle. Her limbs felt like they were filled with lead, and her skin burned as if it were still under the hot sun. Panting heavily, she glanced at her friend, who was leaning against her side of the cart and now seemed just as spent as herself.
Without saying a word, they slowly climbed down from the cart. A wave of nausea hit Rarity, causing her to stumble around and very nearly throw up. Her legs trembled as they fought against the unrelenting pull of gravity. She cursed again silently and struggled to breathe as her vision blurred, the fatigue bringing her close to losing consciousness now.
It took her a full minute to regain her composure. The image of the rest of her friends flashed in her mind, making her grind her teeth together. They didn't even look back as they raced away, stranding the two of them here just so they could keep up with the one pony who decided to abandon them all.
With a deep sigh, she inspected their surroundings, making sure to avoid looking at their cart again. The very sight of it made the nauseous feeling return, along with the awareness of the inescapable truth: she wasn't strong enough to get them home, the same way she wasn't strong enough to prevent them from getting stranded here in the first place.
Tears forming in her eyes, she eventually met Pinkie Pie's gaze, whose exhausted state from just a few minutes ago had all but vanished. Rarity cocked an eyebrow, forgetting about her sorrow for a moment, as her friend smiled widely and did not seem to have a care in the world.
"Isn't this exciting?" Pinkie exclaimed while bouncing on her hooves. "We get to camp out in the desert again! Do you know how well you can see the stars from here?"
"Pinkie..." Rarity muttered.
"Oooh, and we might even see the buffaloes roaming at night! I remember the last time they let us stay in their camp they--"
"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity snapped. The filly before her fell silent. "Please... just... stop. I'm not in the mood right now..."
"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie replied, her cheerful expression unfazed.
The interior of the tunnel was almost pitch black. A steady breeze made both ponies shiver as they inspected the first few yards beyond the entrance. While it would have been an ideal shelter from the blaze during the day, they now discovered that the desert did everything but keep warm after sundown, and the breeze made sure the tunnel quickly lost its own heat as well. The obvious solution was to light themselves a fire for the night, but there was no way they could do that in such an enclosed space.
This left sleeping outside as the only other option. Making a fire was the next big problem they faced due to the lack of any available firewood in their barren surroundings, except for the tracks themselves or the tunnel's support beams, but they did not dare start taking either of those apart. Instead, they discovered a few dozen spare railway ties piled up next to the siding where they parked their hoofcar, and decided to sacrifice the future maintenance of the railway in favor of their own well-being.
Rarity spent well over an hour figuring out how to adapt her cutting magic to chopping up wood. Her horn could only vomit sparks and make fizzling noises at first, making her want to slam it against the nearest cliff in frustration. Once she managed to calm herself down and focus her energy, she painstakingly wielded it on the thick ties themselves.
As soon as she succeeded in taking a beam apart, Pinkie Pie happily bounced forth to retrieve the pieces, then stacked them up a few yards away from the tunnel's entrance. They intended to set up camp there in order to be able to retreat into the tunnel, just in case there would be any unpleasant visitors during the night.
"This is... definitely... not the type of work... a lady should have to do!" Rarity grumbled between gasps for breath. She kept slamming one of the last pieces against the cliff face as she tried to break it apart. Her horn throbbed from the constant exertion. It was not accustomed to this kind of hard labor. She wiped the sweat from her brow and sighed, then glanced at her friend again to see how she was dealing with their situation.
"Wo-hooo! Look at me, Rarity!"
The thick wooden beam dropped out of the air, followed by her jaw.
"Pinkie!" she cried. "Darling, what on earth are you doing?"
Her friend was standing on one hind hoof on top of their stack of firewood, which was now neatly arranged into a tall pole well over a dozen feet high. Rarity gasped when she started dancing around on the wobbly structure, striking a number of different poses while giggling wildly.
"This is amazing! Look, I think I can see my house from up here!" She leaned out at an angle that seemed impossible to maintain, holding up a hoof above her eyes as she pretended to spy something in the distance.
"How did you... when did...?" Rarity blurted out in disbelief. "Oh, for heaven's sake..." She shook her head, walked up to the base of the stack, and glared up at her friend. "Get down from there this instant! We're supposed to be-- wa-ha-haaa!"
She cried out as the pink pony suddenly leapt from the top of her makeshift tower, causing it to topple over and miss the screaming unicorn by mere inches. Pinkie did a couple of flips in the air and landed perfectly on all four of her hooves, then spun around to face her friend while beaming proudly.
"Yep. Make a fire. Right on it, Rares!" she exclaimed, then disappeared in a pink blur. Rarity could only twist her head left and right as Pinkie zoomed past her repeatedly, going back and forth between the scattered pile of wood and the intended fireplace. Before she could even realize what was happening, the wood was all stacked up again, a small portion of it moved into a neat little pile, ready to burn.
While Rarity was busy rubbing her eyes, the hyperactive filly plopped down next to the pile and grabbed a pair of sticks. Her hooves became a blur as she rubbed them together. Moments later, smoke poured out from among the pieces of wood leaning against one another.
"There ya go!" Pinkie Pie announced. She got up and bounced her way back to the stunned mare, hugging her neck with one foreleg while pointing toward the fire with the other. "Hope you didn't forget the marshmallows."
"Gaaaah..." was all that Rarity could respond. It took several seconds for her jaw to wrestle back control from gravity. Eventually, she just shrugged, her mind not wanting to burden itself with Pinkie's antics any further. She broke her embrace and trotted forward, sitting down next to the fire with a deep sigh.
"Ahhhh..." The feeling of warmth washing over her was a tremendous relief. She imagined herself sinking into a tub full of hot water, the warm liquid soothing her tired limbs and washing all the filth off of her precious mane and hide. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're very welcome!" Pinkie Pie replied, giggling.
They did not spend much time trying to stay awake. Rarity was completely exhausted, and, despite her energetic character, Pinkie Pie was considerate enough to agree to calling it a night. Sleep, however, came fitfully at best for the former of the two. She groaned as she kept rolling around on the hard ground, wincing from the pebbles biting into her hide and praying to be able to fall asleep again. Only her dreams could help her escape the thought of all the dirt staining her mane and body.
She rolled onto her back with a huff, frowning at the stars winking down at them, then glanced to her right at the pink pony resting on her side a few feet away from her. It was a rare thing, perhaps even odd to see her just wheezing peacefully, fast asleep. Most of her memories of the filly involved her moving and talking at a thousand miles per second.
How can she always be so carefree, despite everything? she found herself wondering again.
Out of all of her friends, Pinkie Pie seemed the least capable of grasping the true gravity of any situation. She could start singing happily smack dab in the middle of the Everfree Forest, surrounded by trees that looked like monsters. She refused to take a hint at the Grand Galloping Gala and just kept on partying her own way. She could laugh at and even wallow in the chaos stirred up by Discord himself.
And let's not even mention how she can still be so athletic after such a ghastly ordeal...
Even though she was one of her closest friends, Rarity understood very little about this hyperactive party pony. In fact, as far as she knew, nopony in Ponyville could explain what was at work between her ears, concealed underneath all that poofy hair. A hair which, despite her respect for her friend, she still considered a crime against fashion.
Rarity gave a long yawn. Not wanting to ponder the issue any further, she let her eyelids droop once more.
An odd sound jolted her awake again. It was the third time in a row. Rarity sighed in frustration and glared at the obnoxious earth pony, who appeared to be pacing back and forth a few feet away from her. She kept this up for a few seconds, after which she lay back down with a sigh and curled up with her back turned to her friend.
Odd... Rarity thought. Is she having trouble sleeping as well? She pouted. Or is she up to something? If this were a prank, then she should be rubbing it in my face by now...
The fire they made had since died down almost completely, with only a pile of hot embers remaining to provide some warmth. In the faint illumination, she could just barely make out the silhouette of her friend resting on her side.
Sighing again, Rarity rolled her eyes, turned away, and struggled to escape to her dreams again. Her thoughts kept nagging at her in her half-conscious state. Oh, for Celestia's sake, Pinkie Pie! If you insist on letting your hair down, at least wait until we get out of all this dust! Besides, straight hair isn't exactly in right now. If you'd just listen to me for once, you could--
"Wait... straight hair?" she nearly exclaimed.
Rarity quickly pulled herself upright and turned to look at her friend. Squinting a bit, she noticed that her mane had indeed lost its usual "cotton candy consistency," and was now completely straight. The sight set off an unpleasant feeling in her insides.
"Pinkie?" she whispered. Her friend did not respond. The noise came again, and she noticed the small heap of pink shuddering slightly. "Pinkie Pie?" she said a bit louder now.
"Huh?" Pinkie's head snapped up and spun around to face the white unicorn. "Oh... Just you..." She turned away and laid her head back down.
"Are you alright, dear?"
"What?" she muttered, "No... I mean... yeah... I'm fine..."
"Are you sure? You don't, um... look too good to me..." Rarity glanced around them quickly. The desert surrounding them was just as barren as before. "And why are you pacing around like that all night?"
"I just..." Pinkie Pie muttered. "No... never mind..."
"Are you having trouble sleeping?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah..." Pinkie shifted around a bit on the ground. "I guess so..."
Rarity's mind raced as she struggled to think of her next move. "Um... well, so am I!" she said with an awkward chuckle. "So... what do you say we do a bit of stargazing together? I'm sure we'll both get our beauty sleep after just a few minutes of it."
Pinkie murmured something in response. She did not move.
"What was that, dear?" Rarity asked with a smile.
"I don't care about those dumb stars..." her friend repeated a bit louder.
Rarity gasped in surprise at her tone. "Pinkie..." she said. "What do you...? I thought you said the desert was the best place to see them."
"Looks like it isn't..." Pinkie said. "I hate it. I don't want to be here."
"But... but..." Rarity couldn't believe her ears. "Just a few hours ago, you were so excited to be here again. What happened? Are you--"
"No!" Pinkie snapped, making her friend wince. "Can we give it a rest already? Trust me, I'm okay." She gave a deep sigh. "Really... I'm fine."
Pinkie curled herself up a bit tighter. Rarity bit her lip and looked away, unsure of what to say or do next. Never before had she heard her friend use such words, not to mention such a tone. She returned her gaze, and her eyes widened when the pony before her shuddered again.
Never before, she thought, except for that one time...
"No," Rarity finally declared. "You're not."
Having regained her composure somewhat, she slowly got up and approached the miserable heap that was her friend. She stopped at her side and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "The last time I saw you like this was during that little... incident," she said. "The day of your birthday, remember?"
"What do you--?" Pinkie Pie raised her head again. "Oh..." she muttered, sinking back down. "Yeah... that..."
"Please, tell me what's wrong," Rarity said. "You're one of my best friends, and I don't ever want to see you so unhappy again."
"Nothing. Really, I... I just..." She brought up her face enough to allow Rarity to see. The mare gasped when she noticed that her eyes were filled with tears. "It's... it's just..."
Pinkie's voice was shaking. She could barely force the words out. Pausing for a moment, she sniffled and wiped her face with her hoof, then looked back up at her friend. Rarity could feel her own eyes tingling at the sight. Never before had she seen her friend so miserable. While she had seen her cry before, Pinkie was the kind of pony that could even turn crying into something silly and over-the-top.
But this was different.
"Rarity?" she whispered. Her forehooves kept tugging at her straightened mane.
"Yes, dear?" Her own voice was shaking now.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, darling. We're friends, after all."
Pinkie gulped. "Am I... am I a good friend?"
"What?" Rarity's eyes widened. "Of course you are! Why would anypony say otherwise?"
"Do you... trust me... as a friend?"
"Pinkie! How could you ask such things? I would trust you with my life!" Rarity frowned. "What is going on with you?"
Pinkie Pie held out a trembling hoof to touch her friend's own. "Would you ever tell me... if something was wrong?"
"Of course," Rarity replied. She held on tightly to Pinkie's hoof and smiled. "What kind of friend wouldn't?"
"When was the last time that you did?"
"I..." Rarity began, but the words got caught in her throat. Pinkie Pie kept staring at her and waited for a response. When it would not come, she gave a small nod, closed her eyes, and laid her head back down.
"See what I mean?" she muttered and sniffled again.
"Pinkie Pie... I..." Rarity felt an odd pain in her chest. "You're right. I'm sorry. I never did decide to talk about such things with you. I'm your friend, and I should have known better." She paused for a moment and gave a nervous smile. "But, uh... I'm here right now! So... you can tell me all about it if you want to. Is this what's been bothering you?"
"No..." Pinkie muttered. "It's... everything. Everything that's happened these last few days..." Her voice dropped to a mere whisper. "My whole life..."
Rarity inched a bit closer. "What do you--"
"Applejack broke her Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie cried all of a sudden and got up. "Well, okay... she didn't really, but... She never did tell me what was bothering her!"
"Darling, I'm sure she had her reasons--"
"But she never told them to me! If it were up to her, I'd probably never get to know!" She frowned and rolled her eyes. "Sure, maybe she'll talk to Twilight once they catch her..."
"Pinkie Pie!" It was Rarity's turn to raise her voice. "Don't you even dare think that way!"
"No! I'm... I'm sorry," she blurted out, shaking her head. Her hind legs gave out, and she fell down on her haunches with a dull thud, sobbing quietly. "I'm not holding it against her, or anything. It's... it's just..." She sighed. "Nopony ever takes me seriously."
"That's not true," Rarity said. She wrapped her hooves around Pinkie and held her tightly. "We're your friends. Everypony in Ponyville is your friend. Of course we take you seriously!"
"I don't know if I can believe that anymore!" her friend wailed among her hooves. She then broke the embrace and turned away. "Not after today. I don't think I could ever take myself seriously, either."
"How could you say that?" Rarity asked. "You're the pony who always goes around and cheers us all up when we feel down. And don't you remember Cranky? Don't you remember the great thing you did for him? We'd all be lost without you!"
"That's not what I mean," Pinkie replied. Her forehoof prodded at the ground, while her face disappeared behind the veil of her mane. "Sure, everypony loves it when I can cheer them up if they're having a bad day..." Squinting, Rarity could just about make out that Pinkie was drawing something into the dirt. "But... what about the serious stuff?"
"Serious stuff?" Rarity asked. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed that the drawings were frowny faces.
"Yeah, I mean... Look at Cranky. He never thought to tell me what was really on his mind. I had to force it out of him! And look at Applejack! One of my 'best friends'! She faked a Pinkie Promise so she wouldn't have to tell me what's going on!"
"Listen, how about we just wait with this until we get back to Ponyville? I'm sure she will explain--"
"It's the same as it was back home..." she went on, ignoring her friend. "On the rock farm. I brought some smiles to my folks' faces, and they loved me for that, but... they never ever told me what was bothering them. They just smiled. They thanked me for trying to help, but never said anything more."
Her sobs came openly now. Rarity felt her jaw drop again.
"They just told me to move to Mr. and Mrs. Cake's place. They said I could learn to be a good baker, and then I could work and be able to support them. They never told me why! They never told me, and... and... when I found out..."
Rarity could only stare in disbelief as the cheerful, party obsessed pony she knew now cried her sorrow into the night.
"I just want to be able to help! I don't want to be just a clown! I want everypony to know that I can help! I want them to help me help them!"
Pinkie Pie could not go on. Rarity watched as she collapsed on the ground and buried her head under her forehooves. She could feel her own eyes welling up with tears now. She sniffled, struggling to fight them back, and her lips trembled as she tried to say something that could help.
The images of Pinkie's antics during the past day flashed in her mind. She remembered her own frustration. She remembered how much the seemingly invincible joy of her friend annoyed her. The thought of what must have been going on in her head at the time almost drove her to break down as well.
They remained that way for a while. Rarity shuffled her hooves around nervously as she tried to think of something she could say. She closed her eyes, recalling a story that Pinkie Pie once told her, and could almost see a tiny pink filly sitting there, staring at the lifeless, rock-filled ground in her sorrow.
The sound of a body sliding along the dirt and pebbles crunching under hooves brought her out of her daze. Her eyes popped open as she spun around to stare at her friend, who slowly got up and trudged away, her head hanging low. This time, however, she did not turn around again after a few paces.
"Pinkie?" Rarity called after her. "Where are you going?"
The pink pony cringed upon being spoken to. Her pace slowed somewhat, but she didn't stop.
"Home..." she said quietly.
"Home?" Rarity stammered. "B-but... but Ponyville isn't that way!"
"Not Ponyville," Pinkie Pie said. She was almost whispering now. "Home."
It took Rarity a few moments to comprehend what she meant by that. Once she did, she immediately leapt to her hooves and went after her. "Wait!" she called. "Stop! Don't go! What's gotten into you, Pinkie Pie?"
"I'm alright..." she replied. "I just... I just need some time alone... some time to figure things out..."
"You're not seriously going to just leave us all behind like that? Think about your friends! The Cakes! Your family! Everypony in Ponyville!"
"Don't worry! I'll be alright," Pinkie Pie muttered through grit teeth. "Besides..." Rarity noticed a fresh tear drop from her cheek. "What does one less friend matter at this point?"
Rarity watched in horror as Pinkie returned to her former pace, further increasing the distance between them. She felt something twist around inside her at the sight of her friend disappearing into the darkness. Her eye started twitching. She couldn't breathe. Her heart felt like it was being torn in two.
"No." She said. "No! Stop!" She sprinted in front of Pinkie Pie and wheeled around to face her. "You are not doing this to me!" She was screaming now. "You are not doing this to me!"
Pinkie could only stare in shock as her friend stomped her hooves on the ground before her, all the while screaming the same sentence into her face over and over again. She would not stop despite Pinkie's attempts to protest, at least not until her voice started to give in. Her face scrunched up, and she quickly lifted her hoof to cover it up before sobbing uncontrollably.
"Rarity?" Pinkie Pie whispered.
"No!" Rarity wailed. Her voice became nasal, her speech often interrupted by fits of coughing and sniffling. "Y-you know what? You're right! G-go ahead! Leave me! Go home! I don't deserve any better!"
"What do you...?" Pinkie lifted her hoof to caress her friend's side. "Wait! Please! Don't cry! I only--"
Rarity slapped Pinkie's hoof away, eliciting a gasp from her. She then lowered her other hoof, revealing an angry scowl on her face. Her eyes were red, her cheeks stained with dirt and tears that flowed down in filthy rivulets. "Don't think for a second that you're alone in this!" she exclaimed. "You're my friend, and I'll do everything I can to help you if you're in trouble... but I will not tolerate you being selfish!"
Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow at that. She opened her mouth to respond, but the mare before her didn't stop.
"Yes, you heard me right: selfish." Rarity paused for a moment and lifted her foreleg to wipe her face. "You really want to make it sound like you're the only one who should feel inadequate? Don't you ever stop to think how I must feel at times like this?"
"I know I'm not the only--"
"Look at us!" Rarity gestured around them. "You're stuck in the desert with the worst possible companion! How often do you remember me 'saving the day' at times like this?"
"Rarity, you're not the worst--"
"Twilight Sparkle could have teleported you back to Ponyville in an instant. She could have gotten the cart to work on its own with her magic. And what about Rainbow Dash? Or even Fluttershy? Either of them could have flown you to safety. Applejack? She could work this cart all day without breaking a sweat, and you could be home right now, throwing a... 'cart pushing party' or... something..."
Pinkie fell back on her haunches, staring wide-eyed at her friend as she kept up her tirade.
"Me? I can behave civilized, have good taste, find precious gems, and make fine dresses. What use is any of that out here? When will we ever need any of that when we're in real trouble?"
"Rarity..."
"I had only one job to do here. One job!" she yelled, almost to herself now. "'Keep your friend calm. Make sure she knows that we love her. Make sure she doesn't leave us.' It doesn't require any magic, intelligence, or brute strength. And I can't do it!"
With that final cry, the fashionista collapsed into her stunned friend, wrapping her forelegs around her tightly. "I'm begging you, Pinkie Pie. If you leave us too..." she whimpered. "What use am I like this? What kind of friend am I?"
Pinkie Pie could not move. She could hardly even breathe in the tight embrace. Her friend sobbed against her, causing her own tears to burst forth as well.
"Shh..." she whispered. "It's okay. It's okay..." Her forelegs finally managed to respond, caressing the unicorn's back as she returned the embrace. "I won't leave you..."
Rarity still held on tightly, almost as if her life depended on it. "Th-th-thank y-you..." was all she could say, her voice almost unintelligible. Only once Pinkie started shifting around uncomfortably did she finally break the embrace.
Great... she thought and gave a deep sigh. Well done, Rarity. She didn't leave... and now you both feel miserable...
Her minor success didn't bring Rarity much relief. One look at Pinkie Pie was all it took to determine that her emotional state was unchanged. Sighing again, Rarity turned her gaze up at the stars, and her thoughts drifted back to that sad little filly staring at the ground.
"Um... Pinkie?" she finally asked.
Her friend let out a short moan in response.
"You know how you always like to sing when you see us feeling down?"
Another moan.
"Well, uh... I know it isn't much, but... would a song make you feel any better?" she tried.
"Huh?" Pinkie Pie sniffled again and stared at her friend with a perplexed look on her face. "I don't know..." She looked away and sighed. "I guess, but... I don't know any songs that could cheer me up right now..."
"Well... I do know this one song..."
"Really?" Pinkie raised her head slightly.
"Indeed I do." Rarity grinned at her moping friend. "It's just a little bit of nonsense that I came up with a few years ago, based on the day when I got my cutie mark."
"Wow, no way!" Her eyes lit up slightly. "You mean... when the rainboom happened, and...?"
The unicorn nodded. "That's right. I was actually planning on showing it to Sweetie Belle someday, hoping that she could sing it better than I ever could." Her foreleg tugged absentmindedly at one of her messed-up purple locks. "Oh, how young and silly I was, always thinking about making music and writing novels and..."
Noticing her friend's curious gaze, she stopped and gave a nervous cough. "Anyway, um... it was a really emotional thing for me and... well, would you like to hear it?"
Pinkie nodded silently. She even gave a weak smile, then went back to staring at the ground. Undeterred, Rarity cleared her throat, straightened herself a little, took a deep breath, and began her song.
"Look up, and gaze at the sky!
Look up! Just give it a try!
When love and hope seem far away,
You'll find your rainbows up high."
Her horn lit up, and a pair of sticks levitated up to a nearby rock. They started tapping away on its surface, providing the beat. With no other instruments available, she opted to hum the bass following the melody whenever there was a gap between the notes.
"Look up, and tell me it's true,
Today the sky is still blue.
No clouds to veil the light from us
When the heavens shine for you!
Isn't it time that we just had some fun?
Sorrow and pain would only hide the sun!
Better to have a heart of stone than none,
Even a rock can hold much more!"
Rarity peeked for a moment, having been lost in concentration, and noticed that Pinkie Pie was no longer lying on the ground. She nearly jumped when the filly popped up right in front of her, stomping her hooves and dancing around to the beat with a wide smile on her face. Her mane and tail were back to their usual poofiness, and now flailed around as they followed her motions. Rarity shook her head and smiled back, then moved on to the final verse.
"Tell me, now where will you go?
How long should you be alone?
Can't you see the brightness of our lives?
Look up and reach for the sky!"
She closed her eyes and raised her head, letting the final note ring out for a while longer. She then exhaled and gave a short bow. Her friend cheered and stomped her hooves wildly.
Rarity cleared her throat again. "There you go. Feel any better now?"
"Yeah..." Pinkie said. She sniffled a little and cleared away the last of her tears. "That was beautiful!" There wasn't a hint of exaggeration in her voice this time. "Wow! I... I never thought it was like that for you..."
"Oh, uh... thank you. I never thought much of it, to be honest. It did seem fitting, though. After all, I figured even the pony that cheers us all up needs to be cheered up from time to time."
"Thank you, Rarity. Thank you for sharing it with me."
"My pleasure," she replied. "And let's not worry about such things, Pinkie Pie. No matter how bad it looks right now, this isn't who we are. This isn't how I know my friend to face such troubles."
"What do you mean?"
"Listen," Rarity said. "Why should you doubt yourself alone?" A warm sensation started to rise within her, returning strength to her body and spirit. "Why don't we 'share the blame' a little? Applejack refused to talk to any of us, and I'm sure the others all felt just as bad about it."
"Maybe..." Pinkie muttered and deflated a little again. "But... what about when she ran away, and I couldn't--"
"Never mind that," Rarity said with a shake of her head. "You and I might not be the best team when it comes to rescuing each other from a bad place, let it be on a map or within one's soul. But think about what you did do instead. If it weren't for you and your, um... charismatic skill, then she might still be stuck there, gathering cherries all day or something..."
"Okay..." Pinkie muttered, then laughed a little. "Thank you. You guys did pretty good too, by the way."
They shared a laugh. Rarity could feel the pain in her chest begin to subside. It threatened to return, however, when a slight frown appeared on Pinkie Pie's face. "Then again, uh... Rarity?" she said.
Rarity cocked an eyebrow. "Yes, darling?"
"It's the middle of the night right now." Pinkie giggled. "Not to mock your song or anything, but... how am I supposed to see a 'blue sky,' or 'rainbows up high'?"
"Oh, don't worry," the fashionista replied. "I'm sure we'll get to see plenty of both once we get back home tomorrow." She hugged Pinkie Pie tightly and gave a deep sigh, relieved to finally have her friend back.
"Especially rainbows..." Rarity added under her breath, "And all the lovely things that I'm going to do to them..."
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing dear. Nothing at all..."
Author's Note
I am aware that "A Friend Indeed" takes place after "The Last Roundup", but I took the liberty of (retroactively) assuming that the time interval between the two was relatively short, therefore they could just as easily have taken place in a reversed order and no one would have noticed...
Thank you for your attention!
