Dear Princess Celestia,

It’s been five days since the funeral we last saw each other and I thought you might like to know how I was doing the girls and I were doing. We are doing well, okay, fine...

Twilight put the quill down and collapsed onto the desk on top of her forelegs. She was not okay. She was not well. She was very far from fine. It had been three days since Princess Celestia had sent her a message asking how she was doing and to contact her if she needed anything; even visiting Canterlot was an option, saying that she would put everything on hold just for her.

That was why she admired the princess so much. She was not just Twilight's teacher, but also her second mother. The princess loved her and would go to Tartarus for her if need be. Yet the one thing Twilight wanted, a second chance to fix everything that had happened the past two weeks, she could never have again.

It was still too painful to think that for the rest of her life there would be only four best friends in her world instead of five. She wasn’t a fool; life had to end at some point. She was going to die someday. Spike would die eventually. All her friends would die at one point. Death was the one fate no living being on the earth could avoid. Even Princess Celestia, Luna, and Discord would someday meet their end. It was only logical that everything died, and what happened after was debatable.

But she never expected to lose a pony so precious to her so soon. Not like that, not when she was so young.

Many ponies believed in some kind of afterlife, but Twilight never really thought there was one, only an overwhelming sense of peace at the end. Like sleeping, only you never woke up. And if there really was an afterlife, then no pony deserved it more than Fluttershy.

The events leading to Fluttershy's demise played in her head over and over again. Alternate suggestions on to how she could have prevented the incident from occurring eluded her during the day and at night in her dreams. From summoning Discord to bringing her to a hospital sooner despite Fluttershy’s objections, Twilight had wasted nearly three hundred sheets of paper just writing down the ideas themselves. A part of her wanted to know what killed her friend, but it was too late. The body was entombed without an autopsy, and it would be a crime to open the tomb and interrupt her best friend’s sleep. No, Fluttershy deserved her rest.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door knocking. She already knew who it was, but she nevertheless called out, “Spike?! The door!”

She heard his little feet walk over to the window and sure enough his answer was the same as it had been for the past five days. “It’s Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight sighed and got up from her desk. “Let her in.”

“Twilight, don’t you think you should—”

“Just let her in, Spike.”

Spike hesitated but soon nodded and opened the door for Pinkie. Like always, Pinkie hopped and smiled and greeted Spike with a pat on the head. Normal for Pinkie Pie... except her hair was still not poofy. It hadn’t been poofy for days.

“Twilight! There you are, my favorite unicorn magic user! I finally figured out how we can get Fluttershy back!” proclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Twilight didn’t say anything. She had stopped trying to convince Pinkie Pie it was useless until she heard the idea first. “I’m surprised you’ve forgiven me for last time,” said Twilight as she rubbed her cheek where Pinkie’s hoof met her after she refused to learn the dark art of necromancy.

Lowering her head in shame, Pinkie muttered, “I’m sorry. That wasn’t right.” But then she smiled again. “But I have good news! This one isn’t so much forbidden! In fact, we have already used it before.” She pointed her hoof up into the air dramatically. “Time travel!”

“Time travel...”

“Yeah! You went back in time once, right?! And it ended up creating a paradox that made you obsessed with the future and some great disaster that only turned out to be your own misunderstanding, said Pinkie Pie. “Well, why don’t we just travel back in time, warn Fluttershy of her disease, and then that should save her life!”

“Pinkie... I can’t...” answered Twilight, and quickly raised her hoof before Pinkie could start. “Not because I don’t want to; believe me I would do that if I had the chance. But I read the Time Travel spells after that incident and learned that the one who casts the spell can only go back in time once. It was a failsafe by Starswirl to prevent abuse of the spell and there are very few unicorns who have the power to cast it.”

Pinkie didn’t respond, but her smile soon faded into a frown as her eyes began to water. “S-so... so, we can’t...”

“No, Pinkie Pie. We can’t...”

“B-b-but what about Discord?! Surely he can use his godlike powers to do something!”

“They haven’t found him yet. And trust me, the princesses are looking,” answered Twilight with a sigh.

Nopony had seen the chaotic spirit since the funeral, and it brought them worry to no end. Despite being “good” for a short time, nopony was willing to risk Discord loose again without Fluttershy to keep him in line. But despite this, nopony had found hide nor hair of him, and there were no signs of any chaos in Equestria. No strange checkerboard skies. No pink clouds of cotton candy raining chocolate milk. Not even a tree dancing around to rap music.

Nothing.

It was like he vanished into thin air. While most ponies might think that was a good thing, Twilight saw just how hurt he was at the funeral. The sorrow in his eyes was as real as her own and for once she held nothing but sympathy for her old foe. He was a being who had learned the value of true friendship only to have it violently snatched away. It was unfair for all of them to have lost Fluttershy, and that included Discord.

“Pinkie, even if we found Discord, why hasn’t he just resurrected Fluttershy already? I don’t think even he as the power to bring her back,” pointed out Twilight. “Pinkie, I know you don’t want to hear this but... Fluttershy’s gone. She’s not coming back.”

Twilight expected her friend to scream or stomp out of the room in a fury. It was not the first time that Twilight had said this to Pinkie and they ended up having a fight afterwards. She had accused Twilight of giving up and being a bad friend when all Twilight was trying to do was move on. Yet this time Pinkie didn’t yell or accuse, but rather she sat on her haunches and lowered her head, hiding behind her droopy mane. “It’s not fair. There has to be something... anything, Twilight...” whispered Pinkie, sniffling. She looked up with her teary eyes and asked, “Why did she have to die?”

The two embraced just as Twilight noticed Spike silently crying nearby. He shook his head and ran upstairs, most likely to sob quietly on his bed. Pinkie continued to weep on Twilight’s shoulder as the latter couldn’t help but ask Pinkie’s question in her own head. Why did she have to die? I just don’t get it? Why? Why her? And even if I did know the answer, would anything change? Would all of us still be as miserable as we are now?

She thought about her other friends, each dealing with the grief in their own way. Rainbow Dash had completely shut herself from the world, only flying out occasionally towards the direction of Cloudsdale. Why she did this Twilight didn’t know but she respected her friend’s privacy. Rarity had been the most surprising and destructive. She had yet to open her shop again and Spike told Twilight, when he went to visit, that the curtains were all closed and he could hear noises inside. It sounded like somepony was both crying and yelling at the same time. However, the thing that stood out the most was the smell of alcohol, which was pervasive even from outside. Twilight made a mental note to check up on Rarity tomorrow morning. At least Applejack was still working on her farm, but it was all she was doing. She barely spoke to anypony and instead just put her mind into the farm. A few times Twilight had conversed with AJ, but it was clear from her apathetic attitude that AJ just wanted to be left alone.

The isolated and self-destructive behavior of all her friends reminded her of the day Discord got released. Each of them broke in some way thanks to the formerly evil spirit of chaos. Now they were in such a state again, but there was no spell to save them and their friendship. Twilight knew she had to do something for all of them, but she didn’t know what. How could she save her friends from grief when she couldn’t save herself?

All I can do is hug them and cry with them, thought Twilight as she continued to hold onto Pinkie Pie

***

Worst. Night. Ever, thought Roseluck as she made her way through Whitetail Woods. She was grateful that the moon was full tonight or else she would have had trouble finding the path home. Normally, she wouldn’t be in the woods alone at night, but after what happened she wasn’t in the mood to see anypony unless they wanted a tongue lashing.

Rage filled Roseluck before she turned around and bucked the nearest tree, imagining it was her stupid coltfriend’s face. Stupid Lucky. When I’m not ready to mate it means I’m not ready to mate! Colts! That’s all they ever think about!

She leaned on the back of her tree and sighed. It wasn’t that she hated Lucky. He was a sweet colt and a part of her felt bad for yelling at him during their fight. The problem was he kept pushing for their relationship to go into a direction Roseluck was not ready for. Hay, she and her sisters all vowed to never have sex until they were married, and she was not going to break that. Not even for even Lucky.

And he wanted to do it in the woods?! Ugh, gross, thought Roseluck sticking her tongue out.

Pushing her thoughts away, Roseluck continued following the path that led back into Ponyville. No doubt Daisy will say I should dump Lucky for the fifth time. Seriously, every time we have a fight it’s like she wants me to break up with him. Just because her last coltfriend was an absolute flankhole doesn’t mean—

Roseluck paused in her steps and her ears lifted up. There was a small rustling sound coming from the bushes. Doing her best not to panic, she stood still and waited for whatever it was to come out, but there was nothing. Just my imagination? An animal?

Even if this wasn’t the Everfree, any forest at night was still a dangerous place to tread. Roseluck took a deep breath and continued on her way, trying her best to ignore whatever it was that—

Snap!

“Who's there?!” demanded Roseluck turning around, eyes widening as she felt her heart beat faster with each passing split second. Now she was starting to worry. “I-is that you, Lucky? This isn’t funny! So... s-stop it!”

Roseluck froze when she felt a cold, icy breath wave down her neck. Her mouth dried up as she slowly turned her head around... and saw nothing. Tail between her legs, Roseluck began to shiver as she turned in every direction she could think of. Somepony or something had been right behind her, and she was now sure she was being followed. “Oh, Luna, please let me be alright,” she whispered as she cautiously made her way backwards, shivering at every inch of her body.

“Hissssss....”

Eyes widening, Roseluck slowly looked up towards the nearby tree where she saw something that nearly turned her mane white with fear.

Blood red eyes.

Eyes as red as hellfire and as dark as a starless night. Roseluck saw only death behind their intense, malevolent gaze. They were neither the eyes of a pony nor an animal. They were the eyes of a demon.

Roseluck snapped out of it and screamed, running as fast as her four legs could carry her. A terrifying screech, one that rung in her ears and spoke of hunger and carnage, echoed across the night along with the sound of wings flapping in the air. With fear guiding her every move, Roseluck kept changing her direction, dodging behind trees, jumping over rocks and roots, and crying for help whenever she could.

She didn’t care where she was going as long as she was away from whatever foul beast was hunting her. Gazing behind her, she couldn't see it but she knew it was still after her. She now regretted leaving Lucky in her rage, if only to have somepony around to help her deal with this creature.

A worrying thought entered her mind. What if this beast had taken Lucky as well? Despite their fight, she still loved him and would never want to see anything happen to him.

If it did, then was she its next meal?

Roseluck ran as hard as she could but soon she felt her legs cramp up and her breath growing shorter. Sweat dripped down her face to the point where she could barely see through it. Unable to move any longer, Roseluck fell to her stomach and gasped for air. Her brain kept telling her to move,but her body refused to obey.

Nearby, she heard something land on the ground. The wind suddenly died down, and all the sounds of the forest seemed to come to a halt as though it were holding in a collective breath. Her body froze as she did her best to not only cry out in shock and hold on to her weakening bladder. It was here.

She could sense it slowly walking towards her, step by step. It toyed with Roseluck while she continued to linger, still too fatigued to move after her lengthy sprint. Her mind went into overdrive as she tried to figure out why the beast hadn’t already killed her yet. She was completely defenseless. Maybe it thinks I’m dead! thought Roseluck with hope. If I play dead maybe I can fool it! Like you can with a bear!

Seeing no other choice, Roseluck closed her eyes and did her best to still her breathing, only taking a small sip of air through her nose. She didn’t move a muscle as she felt it inch closer and closer until she could smell it right next to her face. It smelled of flowers, various kinds she recognized all mixed together, but also of blood.

Please think I’m dead! Please think I’m dead! thought Roseluck over and over.

She nearly jumped when she felt its hoof touch her back. Wait... hoof?!

Roseluck nearly opened her eyes upon the revelation that whatever had chased her down was a pony or something of equine physiology. It couldn’t have been Lucky because he was an earth pony and couldn't fly. She also didn’t know any pegasi in the area with red eyes of death. A thresal, perhaps? But they don’t even live close to here except for those in Princess Luna’s service.

Either way, she had to remain still until whatever or whoever it was left her for dead or attacked regardless.

It prodded her for a few more minutes until it stopped and flew into the air. Roseluck heard its powerful wings flap through the sky. She continued to play dead for a bit longer, just in case it came back. When she was absolutely sure she was alone, Roseluck opened her eyes and slowly got up. A sigh of relief escaped her as did a few tears of joy.

And then she screamed as something swooped down and picked her off the ground.

Roseluck screamed, struggled, and tried anything and everything to free herself from her captor. She looked down upon the ground and saw they were going higher and higher up, to the point where any fall would be fatal. Soon they stopped, nearly seventy feet in the air. She turned to face her captor, and her mind froze in recognition.

Its red eyes and white fangs were new, but the pink mane and yellow coat, even if wild and untamed, were familiar. Roseluck had been there at the funeral days ago. She was there when they brought her into the tomb. She was there when she buried her face into Lucky's chest and cried for one of her favorite customers.

“I-impossible... you're dead! You’re dead! I saw your corpse! I placed flowers on your grave! How can you even be alive?!”

She stared into Fluttershy’s face, the red eyes staring back at her with only one need: hunger.

Before Roseluck knew it she was screaming in pain as Fluttershy bit into her neck, ripping out the flesh and muscle as blood erupted from her wound. The pain was unbearable, a hurt that she had never experienced before in her life. A thousand thorns could have pierced her body and she never would have screamed as much as she was now. Roseluck begged Fluttershy to stop but was cut off by Fluttershy biting her again, only this time she could hear the sound of slurping and realized what was going on.

Her blood was being drained from her body. Fluttershy, the kindest mare ever, who often came to the store to talk about gardening, was eating her.

Roseluck tried to struggle, but she was beginning to feel cold. The pain was leaving, but now her fears of pain were replacing with a new one: the fear of dying. Tears leaked from her eyes as she turned towards the sky, the last thing she would ever see with her ever-darkening vision. She could barely feel Fluttershy ripping her arteries apart for more blood.

The moon was so bright. And so beautiful. Had Roseluck known this was her last night, she would have accepted Lucky’s proposal. Now she would never again speak to him, to make up their fight. They would never say “I love you” to one another ever again. She would never see her parents or sisters again.

Goodbye...everypony...

These were Roseluck’s last thoughts as her eyes gently closed.

She felt no pain. No sorrow.

Only silence.

***

Something was wrong with the forest today. Sweetie Belle didn’t know what it was, but she had this bad feeling in her stomach the moment they stepped into it. “I’m starting to think maybe being Cutie Mark Woodcutters isn’t a good thing to try today.”

“Why not?” asked Apple Bloom as she carried the axe and other tools they had taken from her family's shed.

“Just... doesn’t feel right,” said Sweetie Belle, shivering.

“Come on, quit being a foal in diapers and let’s go! I’ve got a feeling we’ll get our cutie marks for sure!” shouted Scootaloo, jumping in the air and levitating a bit with her buzzing wings.

While her two friends were busy chatting away, Sweetie Belle brought up the rear and sighed to herself. It had been tough for her the past few days, especially with her sister. Ever since Fluttershy died, Rarity had been, for lack of a better word, a wreck. She was ill tempered and always in her room crying, barely getting anything to eat or sleep. She was even drinking a lot, and it got so bad that she once spent an entire afternoon puking in the toilet.

Her parents had taken Sweetie Belle back to their place, seeing as Rarity was in no condition to take care of her. And while it hurt to think so, she had to agree with them. The sight of her sick and depressed sister still brought a chill to Sweetie's heart, to the point where she was even worried about both their safeties. Her parents promised they would get Rarity some help and Sweetie Belle could only hope it would work.

“Hey, Sweetie? Bit for yer thoughts?” asked Apple Bloom, spotting her friend lagging behind.

“Just... thinking about my sister,” answered Sweetie, truthfully.

Apple Bloom frowned and lowered her head. “Yeah, Ah hear ya. Mah big sis hasn’t been the same since the funeral. She just works all day or sleeps. Ah never thought Applejack would beat Big Macintosh in silence.”

“I haven’t seen Rainbow Dash either,” said Scootaloo, growling. The three of them stood together, mourning in silence over the pain their sisters were going through as well as their town’s loss. “Do you guys think she’s happy? Fluttershy, I mean. My mom says ponies go to heaven when they die and become angels.”

“I think she’s flying around with a bunch of angel animals and all her family,” replied Sweetie Belle with a smile. She then frowned again as a thought came to her. “You know, we really didn’t hang out with her that much. I wish we did. She was so nice and sweet. She even let us sleep over at her place sometimes.”

“Yeah, remember the time we tried to catch her chicken and ended up nearly gettin’ turned to stone thanks to that cockatrice?” reminded Apple Bloom with a soft smile. “She stared it down and made it turn her, the chicken, and Twilight back to normal. It was amazin’.”

“Yeah, she was, like, almost as cool as Rainbow Dash!” shouted Scootaloo. “I just wish... she was here right now.”

The three stood once again in silence, thinking about the few times they were with the Element of Kindness. They were few but memorable, and three vowed to always keep those memories alive. Sweetie Belle then hugged her friends and smiled at them. “We'll see her again someday. Maybe we can have another sleepover at her house up in heaven, if they even have houses up there."

“Yeah, but I don't plan on seeing her just yet. Not until I at least get my cutie mark,” said Scootaloo as she picked up an axe. “And speaking of which, let’s do this tree first!”

She ran over to thick and tall, red-leafed tree while the others looked at it with uncertainty. “Are ya sure we should do this one first? It looks mighty strong. Could take forever to take it down,” commented Apple Bloom as she looked up.

She then narrowed her eyes and whispered to Sweetie Belle while pointing up at the tree. “Is there somethin’ inside there?”

Sweetie Belle leaned forward. It did look like something was laying inside the branches, but she couldn’t tell what. “Maybe an animal?”

“Hey, Scoots! Ah think somethin’s up in that tree! Could be a critter!” cried out Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo paused and lowered her axe just as she was about to strike the tree. Looking up with the others, she tried to adjust her head so she could see what it was, but the branches were too thick. Rubbing her chin, Scootaloo looked at the tools they brought with them and then got an idea when she saw a certain one. “Give me that hammer over there.”

Sweetie wondered why they brought a hammer in the first place when they were trying to become Cutie Mark Crusader Woodcutters, but decided to ask later. She picked up the hammer with her limited telekinesis and passed it over to Scootaloo, who took it with her hooves. Positioning herself as if she was ready to get up at bat in baseball, Scootaloo swung the hammer as hard as she could against the trunk of the tree. The slam of the hammer hitting the wood echoed across the forest as Scootaloo shook from the impact.

She dropped the hammer just as whatever it was that was stuck in the tree fell down. When it landed in front of the crusaders they felt their blood turn to ice and the color leave their faces.

It was Roseluck, one of the Flower Sisters of Ponyville.

She was dead.

The Crusaders all screamed.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. Like I said, I don't post these until the commissions for each chapter are done and I have no job so I'm let to commissions to pay for things, but even that's not fast enough.

Hope you liked the story either way.

Thanks to James for his artwork, click here to see the source