One hollow whooshing noise after another, the darts flew. "Concentrate hard, young ponies! Let your target come to you." The group leader spoke. A slender mare with a light orange coat and a dusty brown mane carefully observed her students. The group was small, but its overall purpose was immense. The Indian Pony Heritage Assembly or IPHA only took place in the first two weeks of fall and the entirety of the summer due to the amounts of woodland creatures in plain sight for target practice. Autumn Harvest, a young pegasus with a pale yellow coat and speckled purple, yellow, and red mane readied her reed pipe.
Her ability to fly had always been off, but her senses were sharp and her wit was keen, which nearly made up for it. Drowning out the nine other ponies in the group, she focused on the pipe, which was loaded with a bundle of wheat stems connected to one stone arrowhead. Her group was in a specialty session: "Poison Weaponry And Its Effects On Life And The Wilderness." The lesson was also available as a manual, but that was only for additional weekend practice. She drew in a deep breath and huffed it out through the pipe, the arrow flying in a straight path to the ground below.
Her smoky grey eyes widened with delight. She had finally shot a blowdart properly and didn't hit a somewhat adorable living creature. Tuning back into her surroundings, her group was a mix between gasping and screaming. "Autumn!" The group shouted. "What?" She lowered her reed pipe. "You just shot the Princess in the neck!" "I did?" Her blood ran cold. "Yes!" "Which poison did you use?" "The one from the green vile. It has origins from the Everfree." Autumn Harvest recalled.
"Autumn..." "Yes, Wheat Stone?" The group leader/counselor, Wheat Stone, gave Autumn a grim look. "The Princess has been bit by a slow-and-painful poison. Her death is on your shoulders, Autumn." Autumn's ears fell back. "I... I did what?"
(One Month Later)
Celestia weakly turned her head to face Twilight. "My spirit lies in your sun, my faithful student. Remember that, my beloved subjects." Twilight then stood on her hind legs and grasped Celestia's fragile, frail hoof in her's. "Celestia, try to fight it! Stay with us a while longer, please!" Celestia gave a soft chuckle. "Twilight, I've done as much fighting as I possibly can, I promise. But remember what I told you all. My spirit lies in your sun. The brighter it shines, the brighter the memories. I do wish I could stay with you a while longer. But I simply don't have the strength." The ill and sickly princess gave a weak smile and closed her eyes forever upon Equestria.
The six ponies by her bedside felt saddened as their hearts sank. "Goodbye, my most wonderful teacher." Twilight Sparkle softly spoke. "I'm a might depressed now, witnessin' the passin' of a royal." Appplejack removed her hat and held it up to her chest. "Hoo-wee it's gonna be hard breakin' the news to my fam." "She's... No..." Fluttershy wept, confused and tongue-tied. "This is quite the ordeal." Rarity sighed.
Applejack, downtrodden, exited the polished pink room and placed her hat atop her head before fully exiting the tower. Fluttershy quickly followed, as did the pained Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Rarity gave one last look at Celestia. Every last bit of her was completely motionless. Her once eternally flowing mane was now as dreary and still as the rest of her. It just lay there in a messy heap beside the Princess's head, so pale it was colorless, and absolutely motionless. Rarity gave another saddened sigh. "A confusing and disappointing ordeal." She then exited the round room in the same fashion a her friends did before her, slow and cautious as if lost in thought.
The doctor, preoccupied with her clipboard, entered the room. "How is she?" "She isn't. She's... Gone." The lilac pony, riddled with anger at everything, burst into a bone-breaking gallop as she rushed out the tower and through the busy streets of Canterlot. Right as she was exiting, two of the guards came in to do their daily checkup. Upon noticing the tears streaming down her face, they knew what had happened.
