Twilight raced through the streets.
She was not going to walk in on a corpse again. Applejack had been bad enough. She still had nightmares of Applebloom's shuddering form as she yelled at her to get out, completely neglecting the fact that she was cursing in front of both her and Applejack's children, and the guilt that followed.
The very last surviving of her friends would be even worse.
Ponies jumped out of the princess's way as her hooves clacked against the hard brick pathways.
Rainbow Dash flying back from the last show of Scootaloo's first Wonderbolt tour, and never making it back to her Ponyville cloud house. Her dead body was found three days later in napping position on a cloud only two miles out of the Ponyville perimeters.
Twilight ran into the hospital and the entirety of the waiting room turned to see the shaking alicorn.
Rarity had been diagnosed with cancer at 50. She started many campaigns and drives for the cause, but she was getting worse every day, and it showed. She had then eventually died at 53, leaving Sweetie Belle devastated.
Twilight turned to the receptionist's desk. "Where is she?"
Fluttershy surprised by Pinkie with a picnic with all the friends she had met all throughout her life in Ponyville for her eightieth birthday. She died right after enjoying the special dessert prepared just for her by Angel Bunny's granddaughter.
Redheart's niece checked her moniter and then scribbled something down on a small sheet of paper, and handed it to Twilight wordlessly.
Room 265, it read. 265. Her last surviving friend, lying in what was known as the death bed ward.
"No, Twilight," Twilight scolded herself, "Don't you think like that. You can still save her. You have to." Twilight ran down the hall, warming up her horn. She burst into the room and cast her spell. As the light faded, Twilight eagerly looked up, hoping to see her friend renewed and on her feet. She wasn't.
A shattered breath echoed through the room, "That's sweet, Twilight. But my time has come. We both need to accept that." Pinkie slowly lifted her head from the hospital issued pillow.
"NO!" Twilight screamed, "I have to save you! I failed them all! I can't just fail you too..." A sad smile crossed Pinkie's face. "You didn't fail them. They died happy. Satiated, every last one of them. Satisfied, to the last moment."
Twilight collapsed to a sitting position. "But what about you? Are you satisfied? Happy?"
Pinkie's wrinkles stretched as her smile grew, "Of course I'm happy, Twilight. My friends are happy. What more could a pony ask for?"
Twilight hung her head. Pinkie reached out her neck and tried to meet her eyes, "What more could a friend ask for?"
Twilight mumbled something out. Pinkie sighed, "Twi, my ears aren't what they used to be. Speak up for me."
Finally lifted her head, Twilight looked into Pinkie's eyes, "For your friends to be alive."
Pinkie chuckled, but began to cough and returned to her labored breathing. "Twilight, we're all alive. In the hearts of our family and friends we live on. You just don't know it."
"Why is that?" Twilight scrunched her face.
"Because you let us die in the grief of your heart."
Twilight sat silent for a few minutes, breathing in time to the steady beeping coming from the devices next to Pinkie's hospital bed.
After the silent moment, Twilight finally let the tears that had been in her throat come pouring out.
"But I can't lose you! It isn't the same without you! I don't care if you're in my heart or not. I want you with me!"
Pinkie smile retreated slightly. "Twilight, let me tell you something. I understand. It's hard losing someone. But it isn't any easier if you know that you will one day join them. You're just as devastated because they aren't there. Their presence becomes this empty hole, like a missing button. But the thing is that, eventually, you begin to accept that empty button hole. It starts to feel like it is supposed to be there. You begin to love the empty thread as much as you once loved that button. And you are okay with it after all. Each of our girls is an missing button. But you are still searching for the buttons. You are scoring every corner of Equestria and your heart. And you're forgetting what those buttons would have wanted. They want you to find some new buttons. Mismatched, just like them. Ones that make your heart soar. They want you to treasure and protect those new buttons, and then... they want you to release them. But you can't do that unless you let them, allow them to go. Do you understand?"
Twilight smiled tearfully, "Pinkie Pie, the only pony I know who can make a life lesson out of missing buttons."
Pinkie returned the smile, "And Twilight?"
"Yeah?"
"Just make sure you don't forget us old buttons."
Their shared laughter echoed through the room, poorly trying to fill the empty air.
Twilight spoke through her shattering breaths, "So I guess this is goodbye."
A sad smile grew on Pinkie's face as she lightly shook her head. "Friends don't say goodbye. So, hello, Twilight Sparkle. I'll meet you in your dreams."
Pinkie's last, heavy breaths seemed to shake the room.
The single line of beeping finally came from the heart monitor. Twilight's sobs echoed through the room.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight whispered to Pinkie, "Hello, Pinkie Pie. I'll meet you in our dreams."
