The End of the Rainbow

by Charles Spratt

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Tragedy, Slice of Life, Sad, Main 6
Length: 27557

Friends never say goodbye... Right? Sadly, there's one thing that even the magic of friendship can't fix...

Friends never say goodbye... Right? Sadly, there is one thing that cannot be fixed with the magic of friendship, as a group of six close friends suddenly discover. Can their friendship survive the one inevitable end of all things?

(Note: This story was inspired by Deathscar's version of End of the Rainbow. If you haven't read his yet, I really recommend checking it out. Here's the url: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/17885/end-of-the-rainbow.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Published 2014-05-27 00:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-29 13:02:08 UTC

Chapter 1: The Last Laugh

Chapter 1: The Last Laugh

“WOOHOO!!!” yelled Scootaloo.

“YEEHAA!!” screamed Applebloom.

“BEST PARTY EVER!!” shouted Sweetie Belle.

When they came off of the Daisy go round, all three of them were dizzy beyond compare. When they finally got their bearings together, they all looked at each other, than up at Pinkie Pie, then they fell down in laughter. This was the best cheer up party EVER!!!! When they finally got up, Sweetie Belle said, “Thanks for throwing this party to cheer me up, Pinkie! It makes the fact that I’m the only blank flank left seem like such a minor thing!!”

“You’re welcome, Silly Billy!!” Pinkie replied.

“So you don’t mind that we got our cutie marks, but you still don’t have yours?” asked Applebloom.

“Not in the slightest!” Said Sweetie Belle.

“By the way, how did you get yours?” Pinkie asked the other 2 CMC members. They looked at Sweetie, who gave them a nod saying that she wouldn’t mind if they told their stories. They nodded back, and both upped their rumps to show their marks. Applebloom went first.

“Well, it all started last week. We were just having a regular day on the farm, when suddenly, it was attacked by a large fury of timber wolves!! My family and I did what we could to fight them off, and eventually won! Once we took down the last one however, they started regenerating! Instantly, I rushed to pick up two of their sticks. I bent the sticks, and tied the stick ends together. I then used my ribbon on the sticks to create a bow. I picked up a nearby apple, and used it as ammo. I shot it at the big one in the front, but I missed. I instead hit one of the ones in the back, which launched it into 1000 sticks. The timberwolves seemed intimidated by this, and ran off with tails between their legs. That solved the timberwolves invasion, but that still left a large hole in the barn that needed fixing. Using the timberwolves leftovers, I crafted some tools, and used the rest of the wood to repair the barn. Once I finished, I felt an oddball tingle on my flank. I turned around and saw that I had earned a cutie mark!” said Applebloom, showing off her rump. On it was a hammer and a wrench, on top of one another in a skull crossbones style. Scootaloo then started her story.

“Well, I was trying to impress Rainbow Dash with my Scooter tricks, and was feeling a bit more daring than usual. I decided I would show her my Sonic Cyclone, a trick I’d been practicing, but hadn’t quite been able to pull off. I rushed off into town at top speed, and looked for a cart to get some air off of. Rainbow saw what I was trying to do and helped, turning over an empty cart for me. I launched off of it and started my routine. First, I backflipped while standing on the scooter, successfully landing on it. Next, I held onto one handlebar while letting the rest of me glide for a bit. Finally, I did the grand finale, which is where I always messed up. I was heading toward the 94 pool by this time, and was about to land in it. I immediately started spinning on my scooter, rotating around in circles. This time, I’d spun so fast that the pool water actually went into a mini cyclone I’d made. I then hopped off my scooter and spread my wings, using the draft to ascend. I couldn’t fly, but all I needed to do for this trick was glide to the ground. I glided out of the cyclone and landed gently on the ground. Rainbow seemed really impressed, and actually started applauding! I was like OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At that moment, I felt an odd tingle on my flank. I looked back and saw a tornado cutie mark appear!!” said Scootaloo, showing off her cyan colored tornado cutie mark. Sweetie Belle looked at her two friends, and smiled. She was glad they got their marks, and in such incredibly cool ways as well! She hoped that the way she got hers would be just as cool!

Two hours later, the party ended. The CMC thanked Pinkie for a job well done, and headed home. Pinkie packed up the daisy go round and headed back home to plan her next party, this one for Fluttershy’s birthday, which was going to be in just a few days. Pinkie got so excited that she hopped back home, humming every step of the way.

The next day, Pinkie woke up and began singing a tune, causing the whole town to start singing in unison with her, just like every time she sings in town. She bought her supplies, and once she got everything she needed, she headed off to Fluttershy’s cottage. When she got there, she knocked on the door. When Fluttershy came out, Pinkie hit her with the party cannon!

“HAPPY PRE-BIRTHDAY, FLUTTERSHY!!!!! OMIGOSH, THIS BIRTHDAY IS GOING TO BE THE BEST EVER!!!! WE CAN PLAY GAMES, EAT CAKE, PLAY GAMES WHILE EATING CAKE, LAUNCH FIREWORKS, EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie squealed in glee. When she looked at Fluttershy, who was shivering slightly, she stopped the over the top hyperactive voice and just talked normally. “Sorry if I scared you Fluttershy.” She said sheepishly.

“It’s alright, Pinkie. If anything, I think I’m awfully lucky to have a friend who knows my birthday and wants it to be the best it can be.” Replied Fluttershy calmly.

“You do?!?! OMIGOSH, THIS IS GONNA B…, oh right, quiet voice.” Said Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy giggled and said, “Well, I hope that you make it as good as you say.”

“I will Fluttershy! I can Pinkie Promise you that!” said Pinkie, going through the motions as she said that.

“Well, see you tomorrow then!” said Fluttershy.

“You too!” said Pinkie, as she walked back home to begin planning and preparing.

The next day, everypony gathered where Pinkie’s invitations said to go, in town square. When the Mane six got there, they all hugged Fluttershy and told her happy birthday, to which she thanked them. Then they waited for Pinkie to show up with her party stuff. At noon, four hours after the invites said the party would start, the Mane six became very worried. Pinkie may be a bit of a spaz at times, but she still loves throwing parties more than anything else in the world, not to mention, she Pinkie Promised, which was something else Pinkie took very seriously. The Mane six figured that something terrible must’ve happened to her, and split up to investigate. After 35 minutes of intense searching, Rainbow Dash found an odd gold ring on the floor of Sugarcube Corner. When she tried to pull it up, she lifted up a whole section of the floor, revealing a hidden staircase. Rainbow figured that Pinkie must’ve been in there, and went down.

“Pinkie Pie!” yelled Rainbow, “You are four hours and 40 minutes late for what was supposedly the best party ever! C’mon, let’s get up there and…” Rainbow’s words were cut short by what she saw. At the bottom of the stairs was a medium sized workshop. Candles lit the entire room. Balloons were covering the ceiling. In the center of the room was Pinkie Pie, who was face down on a 75% complete banner of Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash flew over next to Pinkie, and nudged her.

“C’mon Pinkie, wake up!” Rainbow said to her. Pinkie simply rolled over.

“WAKE UP PINKIE!!!” Rainbow screamed. Pinkie didn’t move a muscle. Immediately, Rainbow picked her up and shook her. When that didn’t do anything, she flew up a little distance and tried it again, to no success. At this point, Rainbow got really worried. Rainbow put Pinkie down and felt her pulse. What pulse? There was none.

Rainbow realized what that meant, but still kept shaking Pinkie regardless, in the hopes that she could get Pinkie to respond that way. “Please Pinkie Pie, get up!” pleaded Rainbow as she shook her. No response. After a moment, Rainbow Dash stopped shaking her, knowing that she wasn't going to come back. She sat down on the floor, still holding Pinkie in her arms. As she looked down upon her deceased friend, she felt some tears build up in her eyes. She tried her hardest to hold them back, but was unable to do so. When one of the tears fell on Pinkie’s mane, Pinkie's eyes opened slightly. Pinkie looked up at Rainbow and quietly said, "Rainbow?"

When Rainbow heard these words and realized that Pinkie was still alive, she immediatly started talking excitedly,

"Pinkie! You're still alive! Oh, thank goodness! I thought..." said Rainbow, before being silenced by Pinkie, who was putting one of her hooves over her mouth. Rainbow looked down at Pinkie, who seemed to be lacking all of her normal energy. Pinkie lightly hugged Rainbow, and started quietly whispering into her ear.

“Rainbow, I can’t make the party.” Pinkie quietly said.

“What?!?!? Why Not?!?!?!” shouted Rainbow.

“I don’t have the energy to, Rainbow.” came Pinkie's reply.

“Yes you do! You always do!” said Rainbow, who was beginning to tear up again.

Pinkie tried to lift herself out of Rainbow’s arms, but was unable to do so. She looked into Rainbow’s eyes, and said, “I barely have the energy to talk to you. I don’t think I can throw this one.”

“No… don’t do it, Pinkie…” pleaded Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash, could you… could you do one last thing for me?” asked Pinkie, her voice beginning to fade out.

“I’ll do anything, Pinkie Pie, just please don’t die!” Rainbow Dash said between tears.

“Could you and the others, carry on my torch?” asked Pinkie.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that, I don’t have much longer. I want you and the others to do what I’ve been doing my whole life.”

“Throw parties?”

“No, though that would be nice.” Said Pinkie Pie.

“Then what?”

Pinkie cleared her throat, and began reciting a poem:

“Just keep smiling, if only for me

If nothing else, cause then you'll see

The world around you is always in need

but give it a smile and it will be freed

Freed from the chains that bind it down

Freed from the hate that makes us all frown

Freed from the sorrow that darkens your day

so that our friendship can wash it away

Even now, when you feel down

and the world makes you frown

I'll be here, right with you

to make your smile shine like new"

“But… But Pinkie…” said Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t cry too much, Rainbow.” Said Pinkie, as her eyes began to shut.

“Just keep up the smiles, brighten everyone’s day. Please Rainbow Dash.”

“…Okay ‘sniff’, I will Pinkie, I promise!”

“do you… Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye”

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash…” said Pinkie Pie, releasing a small smile before her eyes permanently shut.

“No… Why Pinkie Pie…?”

Rainbow Dash just sat in place for a bit, with Pinkie in her arms, crying softly while trying to still keep a smile up. Suddenly, she heard several footsteps rushing down the stairs. She spun around and saw her friends rushing down. When they saw the body, they all gasped and surrounded Pinkie’s body.

“Is… Is she…?” asked Fluttershy. Rainbow slowly nodded her head.

“No…” said Rarity.

“Why…” said Twilight.

“How…” said AppleJack.

The next day was the funeral. All of the ponies in Ponyville attended the funeral; The Mane six, The CMC, The Mayor, everyone; and none of them had a happy expression on their face. They were even less happy during the funeral, which recapped everything Pinkie had done for others, ranging from stopping the Parasprite invasion, to making the Royal Wedding a huge success, to several big parties she had thrown for everypony in Ponyville. At the end of the funeral, the mayor asked if there was anyone in the audience who would like to put something in the coffin with Pinkie, as a sort of sendoff gift. Several Ponies stepped up and deposited something in there. The most notable ones were Cranky, who gave a medium sized bag of confetti and his blond toupee, DjPon3, who put in her sunglasses, and Cheese Sandwich, who added Boneless 2 to the mix. The Mane five only had one thing to give. Each one had brought a picture of Pinkie and themselves during one of her many parties. They all held their pictures close to themselves for a moment, then deposited them in the coffin. Upon delivery of these pictures, the mayor closed the lid and had the burial pony begin doing his job. In two minutes, the deed was done, and every pony went home with tears in their eyes. Everypony except for the Mane five, that is. They walked over to the tombstone, which had an engraving of her cutie mark on it, above the words “Never stop smiling.” Upon closer inspection, they saw that an R, an I, and a P were floating in those balloons, as well as the syllables Pink, ie, and Pie. They stared at the grave, and were failing to do any smiling at all. In fact, they were bawling quite a lot.

“Rainbow Dash, could you… could you do one last thing for me?” said a familiar voice.

Rainbow looked up.

“Don’t cry too much, Rainbow.” Came the voice again.

Rainbow spun her head around, but couldn’t find where the voice was coming from. Wherever it was, the other four didn’t seem to hear it.

“Just keep up the smiles, brighten everyone’s day. Please Rainbow Dash.”

“…Okay ‘sniff’, I will Pinkie, I promise!” said another voice.

Rainbow looked around, and then realized that that voice she heard was her own. She realized she had to let the others know about Pinkie’s last wish.

Rainbow flew home, grabbed a scroll with her handwriting on it, and flew back to the burial site before anypony knew she was gone. She got everypony’s attention, and then said this: “On the day of March 6th, 2017, a great pony, Pinkie Pie (scientific name Pinkius Pieicus) met her end doing what she loved, which was preparing a party for another pony to smile in.” Rainbow cleared her throat, looked at the grave, and began reading off of the scroll. “In honor of you, and your innate ability to make us all smile in our darkest hours, I present this poem I wrote as a last statement, Pinkie Pie. I hope you enjoy it and rest in peace.” Rainbow cleared her throat again, and began reading:

“Whether through the good, or through the bad

You were forever happy, never sad

When others were depressed, you’d smile and laugh,

which brightened the life of those in your path

You were preparing your best, a birthday for your friend

We were all prepared to be surprised once again

But then you died and in us, sadness did slink

I felt our smiles quickly go extinct

I prayed high above that that your cheer could return

So we could all escape our inner concern

But my prayers went unanswered, both then and today

All of us felt our joy get smashed into disarray

But just when I felt that our sadness was controlled

I heard you whisper from Death's dark hold

"Just keep smiling, if only for me"

"If nothing else, cause then you'll see"

"The world around you is always in need"

"but give it a smile and it will be freed"

"Freed from the chains that bind it down"

"Freed from the hate that makes us all frown"

"Freed from the sorrow that darkens your day"

"so that our friendship can wash it away"

"Even now, when you feel down"

"and the world makes you frown"

"I'll be here, right with you"

"to make your smile shine like new"

That’s what I heard, and it rang deeply inside

As I went to your house and saw that you’d died

As I sat with you, crying in pain

Some of my tears, they fell on your mane

And as they touched, do you know what I did see?

I saw you get up and smile at me!

You told me to smile, if only for you

And the reason why I already knew

The world around me was still in need

But if I give it a smile, it shall be freed.

The chains that bind it will be thrown away

And it’ll give a smile, one that will stay

And all the world’s darkness will run astray

And our friendship will help lead the way

Even now, as you continue to fade

I still know, in my heart you stayed

I may not hear you, touch you nor see

But still I know, you’re right next to me

And from today, till the day I die

You'll always be here, my Pinkie Pie...”

When the poem finished, Rainbow’s friends all looked at her in awe. “Darling, that was spectacular!” exclaimed Rarity, “Did you write that?”

“Yep, sure did!” said Rainbow.

“Was…Was that Pinkie’s final wish?” asked Fluttershy.

“Indeed it was!” replied Rainbow Dash, “she wanted me to tell you when the time was right. I couldn’t think of a better time, so I told you in poem form!”

“So she wants us to move on and spread smiles in her place?” asked AppleJack.

“That’s what she said!” Rainbow replied.

“Well, I say we should do just that!” said Twilight, clearly motivated.

“YEAH!!!” yelled everypony else.

The mane five carried on back to Ponyville, determined to make the world smile, even in Pinkie’s absence. As they walked off, a cool breeze blew past the cemetery, making the five of them ready to face the future.

If only they knew what the future contained…

To Be Continued…

Chapter 2: Give or Take

When Pinkie met her end, the mane six’s lives just fell apart. With time however, they moved past their sorrow, all while fulfilling her last wish of making the world smile. They all had Pinkie in their heart, and felt it would stay that way. Sadly, they could not be more wrong.

Chapter 2: Give or Take

A couple months after the incident, the remaneing five went on a picnic on Mount Spyre. They stopped on a cliff that overlooked most of Equestria, and just stared out.

“Isn’t the view just lovely?” asked Rarity.

“It’s beautiful” replied Fluttershy.

“It’s gorgeous” said Twilight.

“It’s ok” replied Rainbow Dash.

“Just ok? How is it just ok?” asked AppleJack.

“Well, I see this sort of view every time I prepare my Sonic Rainboom, so I guess I’ve just gotten used to it.” Came Rainbow's reply.

“I guess that makes sense.” said Twilight.

The five of them then began unpacking, laying out the cloth and taking out what they’d packed. The first thing they pulled out was a small pink frosted cupcake. Just the sight of that lowered all of their spirits. Pinkie was always baking cupcakes, and the frosting only made the comparison even more poignant. They stared at it for a moment, before Fluttershy broke the silence.

“Why did she have to…” Fluttershy slowly asked.

“It couldn’t be helped, Sugarcube.” Said AppleJack, putting a hoof around Fluttershy. “This sort of thing happens, and it’s just a part of life.”

“…I guess…” sighed Rainbow Dash, clearly still distraught that Pinkie had died in her arms.

“Either way, moping won’t help anypony” Said Twilight

“You’re right Darling!” Rarity chimed in. “Whether we like it or not, Pinkie Pie is now part of that party in the sky. She spent her last moments saying that we should keep our smiles shining brighter than ever, and we have been doing just that! We must keep our spirits up!”

“Yeah!!!” yelled the others, clearly inspired by Pinkie’s final wish.

“I just hope that, when you look down on us, you’re smiling…” Rainbow said under her breath.

The picnic carried on as normal, with everyone making jokes, laughing, or bragging about their recent accomplishments. When they finished, the sun was beginning to set in the horizon. The Mane 5 watched the sunset in awe. Everyone, even Rainbow Dash, had to admit that this was a marvelous sight. However, that sight was what caused everything to go downhill in a hurry. At that very moment, a heavy wind came and blew them all off the edge of the cliff! They all began screaming as they plunged toward the rocks below. After a second of falling, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash remembered that they had wings, and immediately started using them. Fluttershy immediately grabbed AppleJack and hoisted her to a nearby cliff. Rainbow rushed to grab Rarity but clipped her wing on a rock as she sped toward her. She managed to grab Rarity, but couldn’t fly to safety and hold something at the same time, especially not something as heavy as a pony, due to one of her wings being clipped. That wouldn’t stop her from trying. She flapped her good wing as fast as she could, but was unable to gain any altitude. The two of them crashed into the rocks below, bouncing off the sharp stones. Twilight, after recovering from the shock that Rainbow couldn’t fly back, flew down into range, grabbed them with her magic, and brought them up to the cliff. However, both of them looked worse for wear. In addition to them both being unconscious, Rainbow Dash had two fractured wings, a leg that appeared broken, another leg that was definitely broken, and several gashes that were just pouring out blood, as well as a broken nose. Rarity had a black eye that appeared to be on the verge of bleeding, a broken leg, several sharp rocks stuck in her skin, and her horn looking like it was about to snap off, along with several large bruises and cuts. Immediately, Twilight teleported all five of them to the hospital. The nurse there took one glance at the two injured ponies and got them on stretchers right away. The remaining ponies watched them be carried away, and hoped to high heaven that this wouldn’t be the last they saw of their friends.

Every day, one of the Mane three went to check on Rainbow and Rarity. Sadly, what they saw was not the biggest boost of confidence they could have gotten. No matter when they visited, the result was the same: both ponies in a coma. The more they visited, the more depressed they got. They even began wondering if friendship actually meant anything, since they had already lost Pinkie Pie, and both the elements of Generosity and Loyalty seemed to be heading down that same road. Four weeks later, AppleJack went to check on the duo once more. No luck there, both were still in a coma. Upon seeing that, AppleJack became convinced that they would never reawaken, and began to walk away. The second she got to the door, she heard a faint grunt come from behind her. She spun around and hightailed it to the hospital beds, thinking that one of her friends had finally awoken. Sure enough, Rainbow’s eyelids began twitching, and then slowly opened. AppleJack felt a sense of relief and ecstasy, and immediately started grinning from ear to ear. Rainbow Dash looked at her in the way you might look at someone who just said that his/her wallet tastes good, and then asked, “What’s with you? You look like you just won the lottery after becoming a Wonderbolt!”

AppleJack took the hint, and lowered her smile down a few notches. Upon finishing that, she replied with, “I thought you were dead just a moment ago, that’s what!”

“Why’d you think that? It’s only been a few hours since that crash, AJ. You can't seriously think that a few hours of me being knocked out is enough for you to believe that I was dead.” Rainbow replied.

“Hate to burst yer bubble there, Sugarcube, but it’s been a lot longer than a few hours.”

“How long?”

“Four weeks.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” yelled Rainbow.

“Yup. Ya’ll crashed into them rocks mighty hard, which rendered you both unconscious. Luckily, Twilight teleported both you and Rarity to the hospital in a jiffy, and they immediately started treating you two.” Said AppleJack.

“Really? Well in that case, when you see Twilight, can you tell her I said thank you?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Sure thing, Rainbow Dash!” Replied AppleJack, as she headed off to tell Twilight and Fluttershy the news. Before she could leave, Rainbow asked, "What about Rarity? How is she?"

"Just take a peek to your right, Rainbow Dash" came AJ’s reply.

Two weeks later, Rainbow had recovered enough to make it out of the hospital. Her wings were still weak, and she had to be careful how she walked on her front left leg, as it still hurt, but other than that she was completely fine. She headed out the door and was greeted by her friends, who knew she would be out that day. How they knew that, Rainbow wasn't sure, but she didn't care. She was just glad to see all of her friends smiling at the same time, which hadn't happened for a while. Upon finishing their welcome back gig, they all headed into the hospital to check on Rarity. Rainbow, however, didn't follow them. She was in the hospital just moments ago, after all, and saw that Rarity was still comatose. She walked home, praying every step of the way that Rarity would awaken soon.

Every day after, Rainbow visited the hospital, regardless of whether or not one of her friends came with her. She felt that she had to check on Rarity, as she was the one who ultimately tried and failed to save her. Every day she went, the result was the same. Rarity was still out cold. After a week of this, she got something different. She was with Fluttershy, and the two of them were just looking at Rarity's body. Neither tried to start up conversation, although there really wasn't anything to say. The only thing that broke the silence was her heartbeat on the monitor. Every time a beep was heard, the pegasi felt their hopes rise slightly. At that point, it was the only thing keeping their spirits up. Then, the beeps just stopped, and a tone began, summoning a large number of doctors and nurses. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were then escorted to the waiting room. Having both been in the hospital before, they knew what that must mean. They immediately rushed out the doors to get Twilight and AppleJack. The four of them rushed in and prayed that Rarity would make it out ok. After about 15 minutes of uncomfortable waiting, they saw one of the doctors coming. They all hoped and prayed and wished that they could hear:

"Your friend will be ok"

Upon hearing that, Fluttershy soared to the ceiling with a large grin on her face. When she looked down, she was confused that her friends were crying and the doctor was looking at her strangely. "What's wrong?" asked Fluttershy. "The doctor just said Rarity will be ok!"

"Um, Fluttershy, I think you have some serious hearing problems. He didn't say anything, he just shook his head." Said Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and AppleJack at the same time.

"Oh..." That was all that Fluttershy could muster up. She fell to the ground, and the smile on her face disappeared so quickly, that you'd have sworn it was a flower sprayed with poison. All 4 of them looked at one another. They were all clearly trying to hold back their tears, but it just wasn't happening. They had lost another friend.

They walked into the room where Rarity's corpse lied. The doctors were kind enough to move all of the other patients in that ward and give them all the time they needed. The four of them just stared at Rarity. She was covered almost entirely in bandages, with the only things left unbandaged being her horn, eyes, mouth, ears, and mane/tail. Her eye wasn't swollen anymore, and her horn appeared fully repaired. Even still, her hair was still really mussed up, she still had a few gashes here and there, and her leg seemed to still be broken. The four of them just looked at her, not knowing what to say or do. Eventually, Rainbow Dash came up to her, and reached across the bedding so she could hold Rarity's right front leg in her hooves. She looked at Rarity's eyes, and quietly said, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you" before turning away in tears. Those words just made everypony else feel worse.

3 days later was the funeral. Everypony was focused on something different. AppleJack just stared straight at the picture of Rarity next to the coffin. She didn’t blink or move much, but it was clear she was deep in thought about something. Rainbow Dash’s eyes were constantly shifting between Rarity’s gravestone and Pinkie Pie’s gravestone. The two were being buried side by side, which made sense to everyone, since every member of the Mane six had made a Pinkie promise last year that when they eventually die, they would be buried together, side by side. Still, seeing it actually happen was incredibly depressing for her. Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked out at the crowd, although their focus was on different aspects of it. Fluttershy seemed to be interested in the number of ponies who came, and their status. She saw Rarity's family, of course, as well as most of the inhabitants of Ponyville, but she also saw quite a few big names that had done business with Rarity before, such as Photo Finish and Sapphire Starr. Fluttershy counted almost 5000 attendents to this funeral, which made her feel less alone, but more depressed. Twilight, however, seemed far more interested in the CMC. All of them seemed to be beyond sad, but each was expressing it in a different way. Applebloom was holding onto her sister as tightly as she could, all the while releasing a large amount of tears. She glanced toward Sweetie, who was standing alone next to the coffin, then over to Scootaloo who was sitting in the chair next to Rainbow Dash, then back to AppleJack, who had snapped out of her trance and was trying her hardest to comfort her little sister. Listening in, Twilight heard AppleJack quietly say, “Your big sister will always be there for ya, Applebloom.” Twilight could only hope that AppleJack was right. Scootaloo was trying to hold back her tears, but was clearly not good at it. She looked at the coffin for a moment, then up at Rainbow Dash. She tapped her on her shoulder and whispered something into her ear. Rainbow noogied her softly, and whispered something back. Twilight was able to hear a bit of Rainbow's whisper:"Don't... ...I'll never... ... leave my friends hanging... ... fine." Either way, it was Sweetie Belle's reaction that Twilight found most surprising. She was softly sobbing, but seemed to be doing it with some sort of melody, almost like she was crying a song. After a few bars, she stopped crying and turned toward the audience. She stared at them for a few seconds before walking over to the orchestra from Canterlot, there no doubt because that's what Rarity loved to listen to in her spare time. She went to the cello player, and asked, “Ms. Cellist, would you and your band be kind enough to play a certain song?”

The cellist laughed softly and said, “You don’t have to call me that, Sweetie. My name is Octavia. As for the song, that depends. What song do you have in mind?” Sweetie Belle brought Octavia to her level and whispered something into her ear. After hearing the title, Octavia raised an eyebrow and said, “That song? We can do that, but why for this particular funeral?”

“Just because” Sweetie Belle replied. Octavia nodded, and walked over to the others, whispering the tune into the other musician’s ears. Sweetie Belle walked back to the coffin, looked over at the crowd, and heard the orchestra playing the opening chords. Sweetie closed her eyes, bit her tounge, and started belting out this song (to the tune of Pinkie's Lament):

"For all my life, ever since I could crawl, I thought you didn't care for me at all. But now I see I was wrong, and you truly did care and love me all along.

You yelled when I shrunk up your vest, you were all against camping and mess. You have suddenly met eternal rest; You had a shine, brighter than mine, even when I was trying my best.

But you made my play dresses free of charge, you ran with me in the sisterhooves race. I felt such glee, and that was your fee: my faaaaacccee.

But did I care 'bout that? Not really! I figured you'd always be there in our boutique. I treated you like dirt, often ruined your work, and was mean more than I was sweet...

But you kept your cool with me, Dear Rarity, you showed me true sisterly love like I'd never known!!! Like I'd ever known...

If I could have one wish, all I'd have to say: I hope we can be together again someday. When we eventually reunite, hopefully, you will forgive my short term sight.

We could tie up all of our loose ends, I could show you my new cutie mark. We could find something that requires a lens(?); We would be, happy and free, and expel all of the dark.

I would sing all my tunes of glory, in a costume that you'd love to seam. We could hop and sing, or do anything, as a team.

We would spread joy and smiles! when we show the whole world our art! Whether with my friends, or after life ends, We will never be torn apart!

That's how I hope it'll be, Dear Rarity! Let's show them all the sight of their lives like they've never known!!! Like they've never known..."

She seemed to have a few more lyrics left, but at that point, she started sobbing, and just wasn't able to continue. No one in the audience seemed to mind, as most of them were crying. Twilight could easily see why. The song was beautiful, and it was sung well too, at least in her opinion. In fact, it was so good that Sweetie Belle earned her cutie mark while singing it! Her mark was a pair of bells, tied together by a red ribbon. Unfortunatly, Sweetie seemed too depressed to notice. Twilight made it a note to let her know of that when she asks. After that, the funeral played out as normal. After it ended, most of the ponies there headed home. The Mane four and the CMC started to head that way, but were stopped by the burial pony. He said that he knew that the seven of them were the closest to Rarity, and asked if there was anything they wanted to put in the coffin with her. All of them said yes, and rushed home to get something. Twilight returned with a gala crown that she was planning on giving to Rarity on her birthday. Fluttershy came with a butterfly brooch that Rarity had made for Fluttershy's gala outfit. Rainbow brought a rainbow colored necklace that apparently was from the one time they actually did something together. Applejack brought in one of her hats, and placed it in the coffin with the other items. She looked up at the other mane four and said with a small grin, "Don't have nothing fancy, but I do have my essential accessory." Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all gave the same item: The picture that Sweetie made for Rarity just before the Sisterhooves social. The only difference was, several orange feathers embroidered the border, as well as a long pink ribbon. Tearing up, the CMC stacked on top of one another and placed the picture in. Once that was finished, the burial pony closed the lid and lowered it into the ground. Once it was buried, he walked away, but not before saying sorry for their loss. The 7 of them just kept staring at the tomb, which said: "Here lies Rarity, the most generous gal anypony has ever met. She gave it all for her friends... 1996-2017."

A heavy rain storm had started up above them. The others looked toward Rainbow Dash, who said without averting her gaze, “Let it rain. I’m sure they have a reason for it.” The others nodded. If anything, the rain was just a drizzle compared to the flood of tears in everypony’s eyes. "Why?" asked Twilight between tears, “Why is our friendship breaking apart like this??” Nopony had a response. Nopony had much of anything to say, really. They stared at the grave for a couple more minutes, until Fluttershy asked, “Will our friendship be okay?” It was clear from her tone that she was dead worried that somepony else would meet their end soon. The four of them turned towards one another, and looked around the circle at the other three. After a bit, they all walked to the center, and gave a four way hug, softly promising each other that they’ll always be together. The CMC followed suit, and promised both themselves and the mane four that they would be with them. The seven took one last glance at the grave, then at each other, and finally they walked home, each to take in the events that had occurred in the best way they knew how.

To Be Continued…

Chapter 3: The Lone Apple Tree

Chapter 3: The Lone Apple Tree

It had been three months since Rarity passed away, and by this point, life had more or less gone back to normal in Ponyville. Although not having Pinkie Pie or Rarity around anymore was a little depressing, the Mane four knew that it was nothing worth remaining depressed this long over. They’d say to move on months prior. In fact, when the Mane four thought about it, both of their last words were about moving past death and keeping happy, although both were in different context. So, they did just that, and went back to the daily routine.

One day AppleJack went to Twilight's place, and asked if Twilight could help her with the apple picking.

“Why are you asking me to do this, AppleJack?” asked Twilight skeptically, “You and your family are usually so independent.”

“Yea, well, that’s kinda the problem." Replied AppleJack, "We are independent, but only as a family. Ya see, Big Macintosh ended up hurting his back legs the other day, and won’t be able to buck anything. That just leaves me and Applebloom, and you know what happened last time I did Applebuck Season alone, don’t ya?”

Twilight thought back. She remembered that day. It included Rainbow being launched halfway across town, an invasion of bunnies out of nowhere, and most of the population getting sick via cupcakes of DEATH!!! No way could she risk that ever happening again. She instantly agreed to help AppleJack, and said she’d get Rainbow to help too.

“Wait, why not Fluttershy?” asked AppleJack.

“I’ll give you 10 seconds to figure out why not Fluttershy.” Twilight answered.

“Oh yeah, duh.” Said AJ, turning a bit red in the cheeks.

Twilight and Rainbow showed up as promised, and the trio began bucking apples, or in Twilight’s case, picking them via telekinesis. They were making great progress, when suddenly Applebloom came rushing to Twilight, running like her house was on fire. Rainbow Dash noticed her and flew down to ground level, asking what was up. When Applebloom answered, Rainbow’s eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks. She told Applebloom to go back to her sister, while she told Twilight. Applebloom agreed, and they split up. Half a second later, Rainbow crashed into Twilight, panicking and talking too fast for anyone to understand her. Twilight calmly told Rainbow to speak slowly, and clearly. Rainbow took a deep breath, and said, “AppleJack is down!!!”

“What?!?!?!?” exclaimed Twilight, who was feeling a slight case of Déjà vu at that moment.

“According to Applebloom, she passed out in the Western field!”

“I’m on it” said Twilight, teleporting toward the West fields, while Rainbow Dash just flew over to them.

When Twilight and Rainbow got there, they saw that Applebloom wasn’t lying. AppleJack had collapsed in the field near an unbucked apple tree. Her hat had fallen off, her hairband had snapped, releasing her mane all over the place, and the bag full of apples in her saddlebag had spilled all across the field. AppleJack herself seemed to be in extreme pain. She was having trouble breathing, she seemed to have trouble moving her limbs, and her cutie mark seemed to be a little duller than normal, or was that just Twilight’s imagination? Either way, this needed to be examined on the double. “AppleJack, we need to take you to the hospital, like, RIGHT NOW!!” Twilight yelled, clearly in panic.

“Ughh, no… way… Twilight…” replied AppleJack

“What?!?! Why Not???”

“I… ain’t… leaving… till… this orchard… is completely bucked.”

“YOU ARE CLEARLY IN NO STATE OF BODY TO BUCK ANYTHING!! YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL BEFORE THIS GETS TO BE IRREPAIRABLE!!!”

“No means… No, Twi.”

“UGGGHHH” went Twilight, seeing how stubborn AppleJack was being, as usual. She looked up at Rainbow Dash, and figured out what had to be done.

“Ok, AppleJack, I’ll stay here and finish bucking apples, while Rainbow Dash takes you to the hospital. I can completely clear 10 trees at once, and Rainbow can get you to the hospital in ten seconds flat. This way we’re both satisfied.”

AppleJack opened her mouth to reply, but passed out before she was able to say anything, clearly because she was feeling some serious strain. Upon seeing this, Rainbow picked up AJ, and flew off at top speed while holding her. Twelve seconds later, they reached the hospital.

"Nurse! This pony needs some medical attention right away!" yelled Rainbow Dash as she burst through the doors. The nurse at the desk glanced upward with a half lidded look of apathy, as if she figured that Rainbow was simply overreacting. The second the nurse saw AppleJack, however, her look of apathy quickly switched to a look of horror. She had clearly seen this disease before, whatever it was. She rapidly pressed some buttons in front of her and called out a list of numbers (Specifically 14, 33, 2) upon which the other side yelled in shock and got a stretcher for her almost immediately. About ten seconds later, two ponies in biohazard suits came in to lift the gurney. When they saw AppleJack, they seemed to relax a bit, saying that she was in an early phase, so it’s not contagious, and it should be relatively easy to cure. Regardless, they ran off with the gurney toward wherever it was that this disease would be treated at. All this time, Rainbow Dash just sat there in horror, watching the staff’s reactions to this disease and feeling like she just watched a train wreck on a boat. And somehow, she felt that it was about to get worse.

The next day, Applebloom, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all burst through the hospital doors at top speed, all wanting to see AppleJack. The nurse at the front desk allowed them to, but only if they wore gas masks, and Applebloom wore a biohazard suit. This stage of the disease may not be contagious to adults, but there was no evidence that it couldn’t affect fillies. They complied and went to check on AppleJack. When they got to her room, they all recoiled in shock. AppleJack’s coat had practically turned gray, she had trouble keeping her eyes open, and one of the apples on her flank had vanished. When they called out to her, she turned onto her side and said, “Howdy doo, guys…” sounding like she had become drunk on cider. Applebloom walked up to her and put her hoof on AppleJack’s, in an attempt to comfort both her sister and herself. “How have you been holding up AppleJack?” asked Twilight.

“Terribly, Twilight, just terribly.”

“How so?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well, I’m stuck here in this bed while the farm remains unkept. I can’t stop worrying that the whole place will go to hell without me.” Replied AppleJack.

“That’s why you’re doing terribly??” asked Rainbow skeptically.

“Should there be another reason?” asked AppleJack.

“Oh, I don’t know, how about the fact that you’re in a hospital with a disease that the doctors fear?” replied Rainbow Dash, practically shouting at this point. Fluttershy knocked Rainbow lightly upside the head for yelling in a hospital, then said, “If that’s what’s worrying you, I can take care of the farm while you’re gone, if you’d like. I can handle the picking and the animal parts of the job with ease.”

“Well, since I’m not allowed to leave here, I suppose you could keep an eye on the farm, at least until this whole mess blows on over.” AppleJack said, after thinking her offer over.

“Please, AppleJack, just be alright.” Said Applebloom between sniffles. “We can’t stand to lose another big sister.”

“We?” asked AppleJack.

“The CMC. Sweetie Belle barely comes out anymore, and I couldn’t take losing you too.”

“Don’t worry your purty lil head none, Applebloom. I’ll always be there for ya, rain or shine.”

“Just recover, sis. Just recover…” said Applebloom, sounding more solemn than anypony had ever heard her sound before. She was clearly taking this hard, which was completely understandable. It was clear that Applebloom was about to burst out crying, which was something that could only make the situation worse. Taking the hint, the remaining members of the Mane six escorted her out of the ward, promising AppleJack that they’d be back tomorrow.

The next day, Twilight burst into the hospital once more, and requested to see AppleJack. The same conditions as yesterday applied, and once again, Twilight didn’t object. When she got into the ward, she had mixed reactions on what she saw. On the one hand, her coat had regained some of its shine, and she seemed to be able to move a bit better, considering she was reading a book. On the other hand, she had lost another apple from her flank, leaving only one dull apple left. AppleJack saw Twilight in the corner of her eye, put down her book, and said, “Howdy, Twi.” Once again, the voice made Twilight feel mixed. On the one hand, she didn’t sound drunk anymore, which was a plus, but on the other hand, Twilight could barely hear the voice. It sounded raspy and quiet. Not a good combination. She rushed over to AppleJack and asked, “How has the disease been going?”

“The doctors have been really making progress.” AppleJack replied.

“I don’t know, AJ. Have you seen your cutie mark? It’s about to vanish completely!”

“Yeah, well, it’s been like that since last night. According to the doctors, those apples represent how much life I have left. Ya see, this disease has several phases. In all of these phases though, the cutie mark thing remains the same. Apparantly, this illness makes a ponies cutie mark slowly disappear, all the while hitting the bearer with several other side effects, depending on the stage. If the mark completely disappears, then the pony dies. It’s that simple.” AppleJack explained.

Twilight couldn’t believe it. AppleJack barely had any life in her mark left, and yet she sounded this calm?? Why?? Twilight inquired, “HOW ARE YOU THAT CALM SOUNDING WHEN YOU HAVE ONE DULL APPLE LEFT ON YOUR HIDE??”

AppleJack laughed softly and said, “Mainly because that apple was like that since last night, Twilight. It hasn’t vanished anymore since. The doctors have said that this was an earlier phase, and it should be relatively easy to cure. Besides, didn’t ya hear me yesterday? I said I’ll always be there for ya, rain or shine. That’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”

Twilight started tearing up. Even though AppleJack probably wouldn’t admit it, she was probably really scared. The fact that she’s staying as calm as she could for her was really touching. AppleJack saw Twilight's tears welling up, and said, “Twilight, don’t worry. I promise that I’ll make it out of here. Just believe in the doctors, and believe in me. I’ll make it out.”

“Okay…” sniffled Twilight.

AppleJack motioned Twilight over, and gave her a hug once she got close. Twilight returned it, than left. She walked home, hoping that AJ would get through this.

Over the next week, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applebloom, and occasionally Fluttershy (she had a lot of farm work to do, so she didn’t have much free time) visited her constantly. They saw that she was getting better each time. They usually ended up playing games or telling stories with her. Life felt almost normal, except that AppleJack still hated having to depend on anypony for anything, and that she was in a hospital, where that was the entire point. One day, when Fluttershy and Applebloom were visiting, they saw something that was the cause of celebration. Her cutie mark was returning! One of the apples on her flank had returned, meaning the disease must be wearing off! Fluttershy immediately rushed to get the others, while Applebloom just hugged her big sister. When the others got the memo, they rushed in and saw that this was real! They all gave AppleJack a group hug, which while a bit crowded, was ultimately very enjoyable. They asked how she was doing with that, and she replied with, “Didn’t I say earlier that I would get through this? I am all about honesty, and if I thought I couldn’t get past something like this, I wouldn’t have promised it.”

“AppleJack, how were you so sure that you were going to make it out without a hitch?” asked Rainbow.

“Easy. The doctors said it themselves, this disease is at an early phase. One that is easy for them to cure. I trust them to know what they’re doing if they say something like that.”

“Were you at all scared?” asked Fluttershy.

“Course I was, Sugarcube, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you never make somepony panic about something out of their control, especially not for something this sensitive. Besides, I said I’d get through this, and I meant it.” AppleJack replied. About a week later, AppleJack’s third apple had returned, and they shined brighter than ever before. Upon seeing that, her friends figured she must be cured, and sure enough, they were right. AppleJack was released from the hospital the next day, which warranted another group hug. Upon release, they all headed to the acres with her. Upon arriving, her whole family welcomed her back with open arms. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh both gave a large hug, while Applebloom just stared at her sister in tears. “You made it out… You kept your promise…” said Applebloom, trying to hold back her joyful tears.

“I said I would, and I did, Applebloom. It’s as simple as that.” Said AppleJack, clearly holding back tears of her own. They gave each other the tightest hug ever given, and got back to life on the farm.

To Be Continued…

Right now. For you see, it was not as simple as that.

Over the next couple weeks, it became clear that AppleJack wasn’t quite on her ‘A’ game. She seemed to be a lot slower, both in conversation and in her work. Whenever the mane 4 talked, AppleJack barely responded. More often than not, she just smiled and nodded at the talker, very rarely arguing or anything. In addition, she had trouble on the farm. While she could still technically do her job, she was going at it at a rate that made Applebuck season seem fast. Eventually, everypony, including AppleJack, realized that this wasn't over. After a failed game of go fish (where AJ asked Fluttershy three times in a row if she had any fours, when AppleJack herelf didn't have any fours.), AppleJack realized she needed further treatment, and checked herself back into the hospital.

Upon being rediagnosed, the doctors said that the disease had faked being cured, and is now back in a far deadlier form. How on earth a disease could do something like that was beyond anyone's knowledge, but the fact still stood that AppleJack was in serious danger. The others panicked and rushed to visit her, but were unable to do so at first, due to the disease being too risky to invite vistors in until they pinned down some facts, even if they wore biohazard suits. The mane three and Applebloom agreed and went home, hoping for a miracle. The next day, they were allowed admittance, although they all had to wear full bio gear, as the disease was incredibly contagious at this point. When the four of them entered the ward, they saw that AJ was looking worse than ever before. She was fully grayscale, her eyes were barely open, her limbs seemed immobile, and she barely had one apple left on her flank. Applebloom called out for her sister as loud as she could, but AppleJack didn't respond, as she seemed physically unable to. There was nothing her friends could do but watch her mark and listen to the beeps as the doctors frantically worked. Then, the last apple just faded off, and the tone faded in. The mane three didn't need to take a hint, and headed off to the waiting lounge, dragging Applebloom with them, as she was doing everything she could to be next to her sister. Regardless, they walked into the waiting room and waited for the doctor's verdict. Twilight took off everypony's mask so she could get a good grip on everyone's face. Rainbow had grabbed a pen from the desk and started drawing an eight on her arm over and over again. Although it wasn't quite clear what Rainbow was thinking, it was clear that she was trying her hardest to avoid looking at anypony else. Fluttershy was just staring at the door. Her expression was clearly sad, but she seemed like she knew what was going to happen when the doctor walked through that door. Honestly, they all knew that was true. Well, all except maybe Applebloom. Applebloom wasn’t crying, but she certainly wanted to. Her eyes were full of tears as she looked around the circle at the other three. When she saw that no pony had many tears, she quietly said to the group, “She’ll… She’ll be alright…Right?” Twilight looked down at her and shrugged. She was almost positive that AppleJack wouldn’t make it out of this, but there was no way she’d tell Applebloom that. “She… has to… she said she’ll always be there for me…” said Applebloom softly to herself, sounding like she was doing all she could to hold onto a last thread of hope. No response from anyone, except a slight sniffling from one of the Mane three. Which one was unknown, since they were all facing away from one another.

About three minutes later, the doctor came in and gave his verdict. A slow and sad shake of the head indicated that it was over. Upon hearing the verdict, Rainbow flew out the door at top speed, clearly wanting to get some distance between her and everypony else. Fluttershy turned her head away from the doctor and started sobbing softly. Twilight just lied down, and put her face in her hooves. Applebloom was not as reserved as the others. She froze in place, and then started screaming the word No at the top of her lungs. That No would be stuck in Twilight and Fluttershy’s ears for the rest of their lives.

The next day was the funeral, which was almost standard fare for the Mane three at this point. Rainbow Dash was staring intently at everything except the tomb, looking like she desperately wanted to escape. Her eyes, which used to display courage, confidence, and a heavy duty amount of egotism, seemed to display pure fear, like the world was ending and she was powerless to stop it. Fluttershy took a glance at the crowd, which consisted of 1000’s of relatives of the Apple family, as well as a few pegasi who appeared to be from Cloudsdale. She was curious about why, but was drawn out of her train of thought when nudged by Rainbow, who was trying to pass her a note. Fluttershy opened the note, which read:

“Friends never say goodbye…

Right?”

Fluttershy was about to say right, but upon thinking about it, realized that at this point, she wasn’t really sure. Twilight once again stared at the CMC, who were reacting in an odd way, to say the least. The only one who’s actions made sense was Scootaloo, who by this point was practically attaching herself to Rainbow Dash, bawling like a maniac and blubbering, “Please don’t leave me Rainbow Dash, don’t die, please don’t die. I can’t go on without you…” Rainbow Dash looked down at Scootaloo and said that she wouldn’t be going anywhere. Even still, Rainbow didn’t seem too sure of those words this time. Sweetie Belle was out, but surprisingly, she wasn’t crying at all. She was just staring at Applebloom, who was staring at the tomb, as opposed to the coffin her sister resided in. Sweetie Belle walked over to Applebloom and whispered something into her ear. Applebloom whispered something back and started tearing up. Sweetie took the hint and walked over to a seat next to Twilight. Twilight knew it wasn’t her business, but she just had to know. “Hey, Sweetie Belle.”

“Yes, Twilight?” asked Sweetie.

“What did you two say over there?”

Sweetie Belle sighed, and recapped the ‘conversation’.

“Well, I saw that she wasn’t moving, she was just looking at the grave. I asked her what is going through her mind. Her response was, ‘she said she’d be there…’” Sweetie explained.

Twilight had no response. What would she respond with?

They had the funeral, but this time the Mane three came prepared. They each had an object from the last time they’d interacted. After letting the remaining family put their things in the coffin or say their words to the deceased, Twilight placed in a photo from the time when they had a sleepover. Fluttershy placed a long fang inside the coffin. When asked what the tooth was, Fluttershy simply replied with one word: Bats. That answered that in a hurry. Rainbow Dash placed a number tag that had an 8 on it into the tomb, and softly said, “When you see this tag, I hope you remember our run as friends, not as foes.” Applebloom took out a picture of the two of them together, and held it tightly to her. She eventually released the picture, turned over to Scootaloo and said, “Scootaloo, could you please put this in the coffin?”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow and said, “Why? You could easily reach this one.”

Applebloom came over to Scootaloo and whispered something into her ear. Upon hearing her response, Scootaloo nodded, hovered up to the coffin lid, and dropped the picture in.

“What did she say?” whispered Fluttershy.

“She said she wanted to remember the AppleJack from her memory, not the one in the coffin.” Scootaloo whispered back.

At that point, Big Mac closed the lid, lowered the coffin into the grave, and buried it. “It’s not right for a big brother to have to bury his little sister” he said to himself in a solemn voice. Upon finishing, everyone left just stared at the grave, which read: “Here lies AppleJack, the embodiment of honesty, and one of the best friends anypony could’ve hoped for. ‘The truth will set you free… John 8:32’ 1996-2017”

This time, there wasn’t a ton to say. The CMC just watched Applebloom, who was staring at the grave. Eventually, she said, “I guess ahm the big sister now…” before slowly walking away. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo each stood on one side of the grave, and put one hoof on the grave while standing on two legs. They bowed their heads for a moment, then rushed off to find Applebloom. The Mane three just read the tombstone, than slowly turned toward one another. They all had tears in their eyes, but didn’t have anything to say. They eventually looked up at one another. They touched hooves together, and held the pose, looking into one another’s eyes. They eventually spread their wings in unison, and began flying into the air, still holding their hooves, bowing their heads throughout the ascension. They looked at each other one last time and flew back home, each wishing they could fly away from the turmoil that they felt inside...

To Be Continued…

Chapter 4: It's just a word...

Chapter 4: It's Just a Word...

Life is not fair. Things will always come at you that you can’t control. It’s how you deal with these sorts of things that determine your character. Take the Mane Six. Throughout this year, they’d been suffering loss after loss. First came Pinkie Pie, who died in Rainbow Dash’s arms. Next on the chopping block was Rarity, who ended up getting blown off the edge of a mountain. And most recently was AppleJack, who ended up getting killed off by some sort of disease that apparently had sentience. Even still, the Mane Six who remained after each death didn’t let the deaths deter them… too much. They remained as diligent as ever, doing everything they could for both themselves and everyone else. Unfortunately, they would all soon learn that diligence and a positive attitude can’t save you from everything.

It was just a regular day in Ponyville. Everyone was out, doing their daily routine. Fluttershy was buying some greens at the market, Twilight was busy reading in her castle, and Rainbow was clearing the clouds from the sky. It was just like any other day, until Rainbow noticed parts of the earth were coming up, kind of like something was burrowing toward the town! Whatever it was, it was enormous, since each bit of dirt raised up had the same base area as a house! She sounded off the alert and Twilight immediately flew out, using magic to create an underground wall in the digger’s path, so it would be blocked off before it got into town. When the digger ran into the wall, it ended up unearthing an enormous purple scorpion. It had two tails, a lot of sharp teeth, an eye inside of its mouth, and another eye on its back. When Twilight and Rainbow saw it, they gasped in horror. “Twilight, what is that thing??” Rainbow frantically asked.

“That’s a lurodea! It’s a giant scorpion with another raw strength to crush a train car in its pincers and enough venom to knock an entire army out cold in just two minutes!” Twilight yelled in response.

“It’s odd though; they’re usually quite docile, and keep their distance from other creatures. Why is this one coming at us?” yelled Fluttershy, who had wandered over upon seeing the giant beast.

The lurodea got up and looked at the magic wall, clearly enraged. It raised one of its pincers up and brought it down as hard as it could on to the wall. The impact was so hard that it shattered the wall in one clean shot. After that, it grabbed some clouds and pinched them between its pincers, turning them into rain clouds before releasing them back into the air. Once Rainbow saw that, she rushed at the eye on the lurodea’s back, trying to slam it shut. The scorpion retorted by shooting some odd magic blasts out of its tail, which immediately started tracking Rainbow. Rainbow tried to dodge them, but was unable to do so. Each blast hit Rainbow with the force of a truck, knocking her back to the ground.

“Wait a minute, a lurodea can’t use magic!” Twilight yelled out. Then it hit her. This lurodea was under the influence of another entity, likely one that the Mane six had beaten in the past. It was hypnotized, given magic, and told to destroy Ponyville. Whatever gave it that power clearly knew that there were only three bearers of the elements left, and therefore it would be much easier to take the remaining three out now. Who did that was anyone’s guess, but the point was that this creature was now a mindless destroyer with the sole objective to destroy Ponyville. Twilight gulped.

Fluttershy flew up to the lurodea and tried to comfort it like she did with other animals. Unfortunatly, the lurodea didn’t seem too keen on listening, and knocked Fluttershy aside. After that, the Mane three reunited in the square. Twilight immediately started preparing a strategy.

“Ok, and when it tries to counter my magic by rushing me, that’s when you two attack it physically. Does that sound good?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, but what if it attacks us?” asked Rainbow.

“Then I’ll use my magic to counter its magic. Duh.” Replied Twilight.

“Still, do you think we can take an enraged lurodea?” asked Fluttershy.

Before Twilight could respond, she heard some high pitched yelling coming from the monster’s direction. All 3 of them spun around to see that several ponies, including the CMC, were being held in the lurodea’s enormous pincers! Before they could react, the lurodea stung them all with its twin tails. Almost immediately, everypony stung fainted, unable to take such a high dose of venom. Fluttershy saw this and became infuriated, charging toward the beast at a high speed. The lurodea saw her coming and fired off homing shots again, but this time, Twilight used magic bursts to direct the homing shots away from Fluttershy. Immediately afterwards, Twilight got in close and teleported all of the infected ponies to the hospital, telling the staff there that they were sick because of scorpion poison before teleporting back to the fight. Seeing that its prey had been taken from it, the lurodea became furious and charged right for the Mane three. When the creature got close, Twilight used her magic to teleport the beast to a large valley way north of Ponyville. The three were about to give a hoof bump for a job well done, when they suddenly felt their bodies start tingling. They looked down and saw that they were vanishing from the legs up! They held each other close, not knowing what else to do, until they completely disappeared. When they opened their eyes, the Mane three saw they were in the valley with the lurodea only a few yards away! They realized that the lurodea must’ve teleported them there. This didn’t deter the Mane three, as they got on their guard, ready for battle.

The lurodea immediately started by running away from the Mane three while firing magic balls of energy at them. The Mane three immediately went into pursuit, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash directing away homing attacks while Twilight blasted the being with her magic. Eventually, the lurodea stopped suddenly and charged toward Twilight, trying to get in close enough to grab her. The second it did that, Rainbow Dash flew right at the eye on its back. She kicked it as hard as she could, which actually slowed down the lurodea by a good bit. Then Fluttershy flew in and did the same, stopping the beast completely in its tracks and causing it to collapse. Suddenly, an eye with teeth surrounding the pupil and the same hard material that the lurodea’s exoskeleton is composed of surrounding everything else, shot from the creature’s mouth and started chasing Fluttershy. Twilight tried to shoot it down with magic, but the eye was surrounded on all sides by some really strong type of armor-like substance. Rainbow Dash flew up behind the eye and kicked it as hard as she could from the back. This only succeeded at making the eye thing angry. It immediately turned around and focused on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow tried to flee, but got her leg bit by the eye mouth thing before she could do so. The eye then started spinning around as fast as it could. After a bit of this, it opened its jaws, sending Rainbow speeding toward the ground like a rainbow colored missile. She ended up going clean through a solid rock before landing head first on the ground. Upon hitting the ground, Rainbow shook her head and flew after the mouth eye again, showing no signs of injury. After a bit of this, Fluttershy yelled, “Twilight!! You need to blast the pupil in its mouth with your magic!! Rainbow and I can’t hit it because of all those teeth!!” Twilight understood and flew towards it, punching it in the side. The eye turned toward her infuriated, and opened its teeth wide open with the intent of chomping down on Twilight. The second it did that, Twilight blasted it with her magic. This made the eye turn red and return to the lurodea. Once it hopped back into its spot on the lurodea, the giant creature suddenly got right back up, as if nothing had happened.

The Mane three kept on fighting it like this for a while, and were making some excellent progress, until it tried something different. After its eye/mouth hybrid returned to the lurodea a second time, the giant scorpion immediately dug a hole. Soon afterwards, it resurfaced right where Twilight was standing, launching her skyhigh. When the other two tried to grab Twilight, the lurodea simply swatted them aside. It reached out with its pincers to try to grab Twilight, to which Twilight simply teleported away. It then reached for Fluttershy and grabbed her. Rainbow Dash tried to attack the eye on its back to get it to drop Fluttershy, but the eye on its back simply closed when Rainbow hit it, causing Rainbow to get hurt. Immediately, the lurodea grabbed Rainbow off of its back and put her in the same pincer as Fluttershy. Twilight teleported right next to the lurodea and tried to teleport the three of them away, but the second Twilight got close, the lurodea opened its mouth and fired a green beam right at Twilight. Although Twilight wasn’t hurt by the beam, she found that it prevented her from teleporting. Because of that, she was easily captured as well. The lurodea looked at the Mane three, who were futilely trying to squirm out of the lurodea’s grip. From the look in its eye, it was apparently trying to decide which one of them it should eat first. Twilight decided to not give it the time it needed to make that decision, and blasted the eye in its mouth with her strongest magical attack. The eye immediately glared at Twilight, and threw all three ponies down into the ground. Once they landed, the lurodea immediately picked up the pegasi again and threw them as hard as it could. It clearly had a bone to pick with Twilight.

Rainbow and Fluttershy were launched away from the fight at an incredible velocity. They were going so quickly, that they passed by Manehattan after just half a second, and were showing no signs of slowing down. Rainbow Dash put her training in the Wonderbolt academy to use by righting herself in just four seconds, but by that point they were nearing the other end of the planet. Rainbow immediately launched back toward the battle as fast as she could. Fluttershy, however, couldn’t right herself nearly as quick, and as a result ended up crashing into the ground on the opposite end of the planet. She picked herself up and immediately gave chase after Rainbow Dash.

Meanwhile, back in the valley, Twilight was having a horrible time trying to fight off the lurodea. With her teleportation abilities nullified, she was unable to outmaneuver the giant beast consistently. She tried all of her magical abilities, but was unable to compete with the lurodea’s immense strength and speed on her own. Eventually, Twilight ended up getting slammed through a mountain. When she landed on the other side, she tried to fly off, but her wings wouldn’t respond. She looked back and saw that they had several rocks stuck in them, and had fragments of bone sticking out. She tried to get up and run, but was unable to do that, as her knees felt like water, preventing her from moving. The lurodea climbed over the mountain and grabbed Twilight in its pincer. Twilight immediatly tried blasting the eye in its mouth with her magic beam, but when she fired, the lurodea's eye released an odd pink energy, which formed a barrier between the eye and Twilight's beam. Once Twilight's magic hit the barrier, the beam immediatly reflected off of it, returning the attack back to Twilight at full force. Twilight was resistant to magic, so she was able to endure the attack, but it still caused her quite a bit of pain. With no way to fight the creature off anymore, Twilight closed her eyes and cringed in anticipation of the sharp teeth. Instead, however, she felt a prick on her back. She tried to open her eyes to see what it was, but was unable to move any part of her body, even her eyelids, almost immediately after the sting. She realized she’d been hit by venom, then blacked out. The lurodea let off a satisfied screech and prepared to chomp down on its incapacitated prey, when it suddenly felt a heavy force from the side, almost like it got hit by a train! It glanced to the right and saw Rainbow Dash, giving it a full speed kick. The force of the impact was enough to flip the creature over, temporarily rendering it immobile. Rainbow Dash immediately grabbed Twilight and flew to the hospital at top speed. When she got there, she told the nurse at the desk why Twilight was being taken in, (The nurse already knew why) and rushed back to put that monster in its place. Rainbow charged straight for the lurodea’s giant back eye. Unfortunatly for her, the lurodea saw her coming from a mile away, and launched magic spheres to counter Rainbow. Once again, Rainbow tried to outmaneuver these balls, but was not successful. Just like last time, they hit her like a truck, launching her toward the ground. This time however, Rainbow recovered before colliding with the ground and flew straight at the monster. Despite her ‘brilliant’ ‘strategy’, she got swatted aside like a bug. After a bit more fighting, (which basically involved Rainbow getting knocked around) the lurodea grabbed Rainbow Dash in its pincers. The lurodea once again prepared the venom to knock out Rainbow, but before it could prick her, Fluttershy came in and kicked the pincer as hard as she could. It wasn’t nearly as strong as Rainbow’s kick, but it was still enough to get the creature to open its claw, releasing Rainbow Dash. Rainbow flew over to Fluttershy and said, “Thanks for the help. How do we take this thing down?”

“Without magic, there’s only one chance. We’ll have to try using The Stare.”

“The Stare? But by the time you’ll be able to get that going, it’ll have grabbed you and probably poisoned you.”

“Probably, which is why we’re going to have to knock it over first.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“Just hit it where I do, eventually it’ll flip.”

“Ok, Fluttershy.” Said Rainbow, as the duo soared down at the lurodea.

The lurodea was clearly getting sick of the duo’s resilience, and as a result had started chasing them around with the intent of grabbing them, as opposed to using magic. This was just what the pegasi wanted, as they flew around in patterns that made the creature dizzy. After several figure eight intersecting runs, the lurodea started stumbling about from the dizziness. At that moment, Fluttershy slammed into the monster’s side, knocking its balance off. Rainbow followed suit, and slammed the lurodea in the same spot, not only flipping it over but also breaking a bit of the armor like skin that was in that spot. At that point, Fluttershy walked right up to its mouth, and stared the eye in its mouth down. At first, the creature seemed to be immune, as it still frantically struggled to get up. After about a minute though, the lurodea caved in and closed its eye, shaking in fear. Fluttershy then flew to its tails, and tore off the two bulges on them. The second she pulled out the second one, she saw a green energy flow out of the lurodea, floating away into the breeze. After this energy had completely left, Fluttershy got Rainbow to help her right the creature up. Once they had flipped it back over, the lurodea immediately burrowed into the ground and fled. The two pegasi gave each other a hug of relief, but then remembered that there were still several ponies close to them in the hospital! Rainbow rushed to the hospital at top speed, with Fluttershy following close behind.

When Rainbow got to the hospital, she burst in and requested to see the affected immediately. The nurse said to go right ahead, but warned her that the chances of her friends being revived were pretty slim, considering that lurodea poisonings are so rare. With those encouraging words, Rainbow walked into the sick wing. When she entered, she saw more or less what she expected: about fifteen ponies in hospital beds, some awake, some knocked out. She looked around a bit, but wasn’t able to find Twilight. She did find the CMC however, and went over to check on them. When she got in close, she found that the three of them were in various states of disrepair. Applebloom was completely passed out. Sweetie Belle had her eyes open, but was unable to move anything else, so she just lied in her bed, not even blinking. It was creepy to say the least. Lastly, there was Scootaloo, who looked like she was struggling to keep her eyes open. She was able to move her lips, but apparently couldn’t move her tounge, so no sound came out of her. Of the three, she seemed like she was the least affected by the venom. She waved Rainbow down and started mouthing something. “Ummm, could you repeat that?” asked Rainbow.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and pointed to her lips, while mouthing out the phrase “I can’t talk, so read my lips.” It took a bit, but Rainbow finally figured out what she was saying. “Ok then, Scootaloo, what did you want to say?” asked Rainbow.

Scootaloo began mouthing out the phrase, “Did you take that scorpion thing down?”

“Yeah, it won’t be bothering us anymore.”

Scootaloo mouthed yes, then mouthed out, “Was you defeating that monster super awesome like always?”

“Actually, Fluttershy was the one who stopped it, and saved me from suffering its venom.”

“Oh. Well, you were still awesome anyway” Mouthed Scootaloo, as she offered a hoof bump for Rainbow. Rainbow returned it, and then asked, “By the way, have you seen where Twilight is being kept?”

Scootaloo nodded, and then mouthed the phrase, “I saw her being rolled past this room, toward the left. I think I heard the doctors say in C-…”

“C what?” asked Rainbow.

Scootaloo was holding her mouth in her hooves, trying to get it to move, but was unable to. Right afterwards, Scootaloo passed out completely.

“SCOOTALOO!!!” yelled Rainbow Dash, after which she got some evil eyes from the staff there. “Oh right, quiet voice” Rainbow said, blushing a bit. Rainbow immediately exited the room and went to the C wing. In it were 2 open wards: C-4, which had a lot of cots in it, most of them full, and C-2, which seemed pretty empty. Curious as to why a ward would be that empty after a giant monster attack, Rainbow entered C-2, and instantly saw why it was so empty. Inside this room was Twilight Sparkle, and nopony else (aside from a pair of nurses). The reason she was in a lone room? Rainbow could only guess it was due to the fact that Twilight was royalty. True, the way that she ended up becoming royalty was rather unusual, but she was still a princess regardless, and as such would probably get special treatment. Rainbow rushed over to Twilight, who wasn’t moving. She had a pulse, so she was obviously still alive, but she didn’t move an inch. She was either asleep, or paralyzed. Rainbow nudged her friends arm, causing Twilight’s right eye to open up halfway. Nothing else moved, so Rainbow guessed that she was asleep, but paralyzed everywhere except for that eye. The eye glanced toward Rainbow, and once it saw her, the other eye opened up and her mouth changed into a smile.

'Well, at least her eyes and mouth can move alright.' Rainbow thought to herself.

“Rainbow…” Twilight weakly uttered.

“Twilight…” said Rainbow.

“Lurodea…?” Twilight asked weakly, apparently unable to say more than one word at a time.

“We got rid of it. And yeah, it was under the influence of magic.” Rainbow responded.

“Dead…?”

“No, Fluttershy released it from its corruption with her stare. We had to flip it over first though.”

“Fluttershy…?”

“She’s just fine. We both got out of that without getting stung.”

“Good…” Twilight weakly replied. After she'd answered, the duo sat in silence, with only the sound of the heart beat monitor providing solace relief from the unbearable quiet. After about fifteen seconds of this, Rainbow decided to continue talking.

“So... how have you been holding up?” she asked. Once Twilight heard the question, her eyelids drooped downward, forming a cynical expression.

“Really…?” Twilight asked in a mildly annoyed tone.

Rainbow cringed. Twilight was right; that was a stupid question.

“Are you gonna make it, Twi?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight then seemed to struggle to make her head move. It wasn’t working. Twilight looked a bit annoyed, and used her magic to grab her head and shake it slowly back and forth. She wouldn't...

Rainbow just stared. She felt a myriad of tears building up in her eyes, but oddly enough, not a single tear fell. That was when Rainbow noticed that Twilight’s horn was glowing. Twilight was holding back Rainbow’s tears. She then grabbed them with that same magic, and moved them to the sink.

"Don't..." urged Twilight weakly.

“Wait a minute, you still have your magic?”

“Yep…”

“In that case, why don’t you just use a healing spell on yourself to get out of this mess?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and pointed them toward the nurses. Rainbow went to the nurses and asked why.

“She can’t use a healing spell because there are no healing spells” Said the nurse on the right.

“Th-there aren’t?” Rainbow asked, clearly unable to comprehend that.

“No there aren’t.” said the nurse on the left “Although that is a common misconception.”

“B-b-b-but…”

“Think about it, Rainbow.” Said the nurse on the right, “If unicorns did have healing spells, then why in all of Equestria would earth ponies and pegasi be allowed to work in a hospital?” She had a point.

Rainbow walked back to Twilight. She wanted desperately to say something else to her, but had no clue what to say.

“Look…” said Twilight, before her mouth shut, unable to open.

Rainbow Dash looked around the room but saw nothing of interest.

“Look at what, Twilight?”

Twilight picked up a nearby poster via levitation, and handed it to Rainbow. Rainbow grabbed it out of the air and looked over it. It was an odd chart with a bunch of letters on it. Rainbow thought for a second, then realized that Twilight was trying to tell Rainbow to look into her eyes. Rainbow rushed over and looked deeply into Twilight’s eyes. In her eyes she saw a lot of feelings: fear, compassion, acceptance, sadness, and pride, just to name a few. Rainbow looked a little deeper, and then was hit with the strangest phenomenon. It was almost like she could see what Twilight was thinking just by gazing into her eyes. Rainbow stared deeply, and saw her eyes say the following:

“Rainbow, I just wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done. You and the others have done wonders to open me up from the mare I once was. You all taught me how important friendship is, and each in unique ways. You are the reason I got my cutie mark in the first place. You were more than willing to give up on your dream of being a Wonderbolt when their moral values clashed with yours. You stood up to Gilda when she started to take offense at us, and you had the maturity to know when to push others to their limits, and when to back off. Granted, you were not perfect, but then again, no friend is. Speaking from an egghead to an egghead, a true friend is someone who thinks you’re a good egg, even though they know you’re a little cracked. I will always be in debt to you and the others to opening my eyes to what friendship is. I only have one wish for you. This also goes for Fluttershy; take care of each other. You two have been friends since before you got your cutie marks, and I believe that both of you would do anything for the other. I probably don’t have much time left in this world, but you two still have your whole lives left. Don’t look at me and the others in terms of who you’ve lost, instead be glad you have any friends left. Remember us, but don’t get caught up in the past. That’s all I ask of you. Thank you for everything, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow didn’t say anything, and tried her hardest not to tear up. She backed up a bit, looked over Twilight, and threw her arms around Twilight, taking special care not to touch her wings, as they were still badly damaged. “I’m sorry. I… I wasn’t fast enough… to save you” Said Rainbow Dash, as she tried to keep her tears at bay. Twilight used her horn to levitate her arms around Rainbow, completing the hug. Suddenly, Rainbow heard a fizzling sound. She looked up and saw that Twilight’s horn was sputtering out. Then, the light in her horn just went out. Twilight’s eyelids slowly shut, and Rainbow started to walk out of the ward. Once she had taken her first step outside of the ward, she heard that all too familiar tone sound again. She tried her hardest not to cry. She had to keep strong.

Rainbow walked back to the ward with the CMC. She was about to enter the ward when she bumped into a pink maned pony. “Sorry!” they both said at the same time. Rainbow then looked up and saw that it was Fluttershy who she’d bumped into. Fluttershy did the same. The duo got up, and looked into each other’s eyes. Both eyes had the same look; a look that was clearly very sad, but was trying its hardest to not show any tears. They both knew that the other’s eyes almost never showed that, and they instantly wondered what was wrong with the other.

“Why did you come from over there, Rainbow Dash?” asked Fluttershy, pointing to the hall Rainbow came from, then to the door at the entrance “The only entrance and exit accessible to visitors is over there”

“Well, I was talking to Scootaloo, sort of, when I asked her where Twilight was. She managed to mouth out ‘C’ before she passed out. I went to the C wing and found Twilight. I checked on her, then came back here to check on the CMC.”

“Can you tell me how it went?” Fluttershy asked

“Well, her eyes very clearly showed her last wish was for the two of us to look out for one another; not to look at who we’ve lost, but to instead focus on who we have left.”

“Does that mean…”

“Yes, Twilight didn’t make it.”

“…”

“How are the CMC?”

“…They’re gone…”

“W…Wh….Wha…?”

“All three of them have been taken out by that venom…”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked up at one another and just started crying. It was just too much for them to take…

The next day, they had the funeral. At Fluttershy and Rainbow’s request, the CMC and Twilight’s funerals would be one in the same. In addition, Fluttershy managed to convince the burial pony to bury the CMC side by side, in line with the rest of the Mane six. Fluttershy and Rainbow looked out at the crowd, which consisted of more ponies than either of them could’ve imagined. Everypony in Equestria, including Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, and even Discord were here for this event. It was understandable enough why so many came though. A princess had just died. That’s gonna attract a pretty sizeable funeral audience. Not to mention, the CMC attracted a few more families who may not know Twilight very well, but do have a close relationship to one of the three cutie mark crusaders. The two pegasi just looked at each other. It was clear that they both just wanted this funeral to end as quickly as possible. After a while, it did. As usual, after it was over, the mayor asked if there were any who’d like to donate something. This resulted in a ton of ponies swarming the coffins, each having something for one of the four deceased on show. In the commotion, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew to their homes to get their items. When they came back, the lines were almost empty. Rainbow and Fluttershy waited for everyone else to finish before adding their items. Fluttershy went first. First, she went to the CMC. In each of their coffins, she placed a red and blue cape, which Rainbow recognized as part of the CMC outfit. When she got to Twilight’s coffin, she placed a small photo in and immediately flew away. Then Rainbow Dash went. She started with Twilight’s coffin. Inside it, she placed a crayon drawing she presumably made. On it, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were flying together, smiling as they performed their signature styles of sonic booms. She placed it in and whispered something into Twilight’s ear. She then went over to Scootaloo’s coffin. She pulled out a medal shaped like a six pointed star and placed it around Scootaloo’s neck. She then flew off to join Fluttershy. The two of them just hovered in midair as they watched the burial begin. While it was happening, Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash and asked, “What was the medal from?”

“It was the first medal I’d ever earned. I won it the day I first performed my Sonic Rainboom. I hope it’ll allow her to fly away from her sorrow…” said Rainbow Dash in a very blank voice, as if she was trying to avoid showing any emotion, for fear of bursting into tears.

By the time Rainbow had finished speaking, the burial was done and most of the audience went away. The only ones who stayed were Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor. Rainbow and Fluttershy flew to the ground to join them. The six of them just stared at Twilight’s tombstone, which read, “Here lies Princess Twilight Sparkle. The magic of friendship made her complete. Sadly, the magic of friendship couldn’t fix everything… 1996-2017” The Mane two then walked over to look at the CMC graves. Unlike the Mane six graves, these graves were pretty plain, just showing an RIP, a name, and the years (all of them said 2006-2017). They looked at those for a moment, then walked back to join the four who were still staring at Twilight’s grave. After some staring, the four royal figures stepped up and payed their last respects. Shining Armor went first. He put a hoof on the grave and started singing a depressing song. Instantly, Rainbow and Fluttershy recognized the tune. They thought for a moment and remembered where they heard it. This was like that song that Twilight sung when she first heard about her brother’s wedding. The only differences were the lyrics, and the fact that this one made them both tear up. After he finished, he bowed his head, clearly trying to hold back his tears. Cadence walked up to him and put a hoof around his shoulder. While doing that, Cadence levitated a piece of paper with some writing on it, and placed it under the dirt of the grave. “I hope you never forget those words.” Said Cadence.

Luna was next. Or she would be next, if she had anything she wanted to say or do. Luna insisted that she didn’t (even though her expression told a very different story) and moved it on to Princess Celestia. Celestia took a few steps toward the tomb and kneeled down. With tears in her eyes, she lowered her horn down and touched the grave with it. Instantly, the cutie mark symbol that was embossed into the grave started glowing with a light pink light, as the rest of the grave lit up with a lavender color. Celestia took one final look at the grave and motioned for Luna to come with her. Luna complied and the two of them flew off, both releasing tears. Cadence and Shining Armor were about to teleport away, but were stopped by Rainbow Dash.

“Wait!” said Rainbow. The duo did just that, and Cadence asked what was wrong.

“Well, quite a few things are wrong, but that’s not important. I have a question, Cadence.”

Cadence tilted her head and said, “Ask away.”

“What was written on that piece of paper?”

“Some words that mean a lot to both her and myself.”

“What might those words be?”

“It said the following: ‘Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!’” said Cadence.

Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other, confused about what that meant. “What does that even mean?” they asked in unison.

“It’s something that’s important only for Twilight and myself. To everypony else, it’ll seem like incoherent nonsense.”

“Umm, OK then” was the pegasi’s response. After hearing that, Cadence and Shining Armor teleported away, leaving just the Mane two to think about the situation. They sat there for a moment, staring at the graves, before Fluttershy started up a conversation:

“Hey Rainbow, do you remember when we first defeated Nightmare Moon?” asked Fluttershy.

“Of course I remember that, Fluttershy. Why?”

“Well, that was when the magic of friendship revealed itself to us all, right?”

“It was.”

“Well, I have to wonder one thing.”

“What might that be?”

“Now that the element of magic is gone…” began Fluttershy, “Does that mean that friendship no longer has magic?”

Rainbow Dash spun her head toward Fluttershy. She said, “No, there’s still magic in friendship!!” Once she finished saying it, she realized that no noise had come out of her lips. Apparently, she just couldn’t say.

“Is…is friendship just a word, nothing more?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow tried to answer in words, but just couldn’t. It was like her mouth was refusing to answer. Fluttershy started crying, and hugged Rainbow Dash as hard as she could.

“I…I just don’t know anymore, Rainbow…I just don’t know…”

Rainbow returned the hug and shed some tears of her own. Was Fluttershy right on this? Was the magic of friendship truly dead? Was friendship just a word now? Rainbow truly wanted to answer no to those questions, she really did, but somehow she just couldn’t answer. “I wasn’t fast enough…” was the only thing that ran through her mind. Fluttershy and Rainbow then said one thing in unison that summed up everything:

"I just don’t know anymore…I just don’t know…”

To be continued…

Chapter 5: 6 Shades of Superstition

Chapter 5: 6 Shades of Superstition

It was just 3 days after the funeral. Everypony was helping rebuild the town, as the battle with the lurodea had left the town looking more or less like it had gotten crushed with a giant weed wacker. Rainbow and Fluttershy were assigned to fixing the weather that the beast screwed up, which was pretty difficult, considering the clouds the lurodea had grabbed were multiplying by the second. This work may have seemed endless, but it did give the duo a lot of time to think about things. Fluttershy’s thoughts were centered around Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was really taking the loss of Twilight hard. Sure, Fluttershy was taking it hard as well, but Rainbow Dash was taking it to an almost obscene level of difficulty. In other words, she had practically become a mute, very rarely talking to any pony about anything. Rainbow barely even talked with Fluttershy anymore. Not to mention, Rainbow had been keeping her distance from others recently. It was something that Fluttershy decided she needed to ask Rainbow about. Rainbow was also thinking about her friends, although in her case, she was more interested in looking for a pattern in these deaths. Rainbow, on the belief that the death of 7 ponies who are close to you all happening in one year cannot be pure coincidence, tried to look for what all of the incidents had in common. Suddenly, it hit her. The one thing that all of these incidents had in common… was her. In every single death instance, Rainbow Dash was there. Sure, the deaths themselves weren’t her fault, but she was the only one who was there for all of them. She was the only one with Pinkie Pie when Pinkie met her end. She was the one who tried and failed to save Rarity during their mountain picnic. She was helping AppleJack with the harvest when she came down with that illness. And finally, she was one of the fighters in the battle against the lurodea. When she realized that she was basically a bad luck charm, her heart sank into her stomach as she looked at Fluttershy. Fluttershy was a great pony. She may be socially incompatible, and have borderline pantophobia, but she was still one of the kindest things in Equestria. She could see the good in any creature, she could stop even the most dangerous creatures without resorting to violence, and she was able to make anyone’s heart melt with one of her squee’s. Rainbow couldn’t let Fluttershy die because of her. She just couldn’t. From then on, Rainbow Dash made a vow to try to stay as far away from Fluttershy as possible, as to insure that Fluttershy doesn’t die an early death.

After they finished fixing the clouds, Fluttershy raised her voice to ask Rainbow why she was avoiding others so much. Before she could spit out the words, however, Rainbow soared off, without so much as a “see you later”. Fluttershy chased after her, but was unable to get her to slow down. After about three miles, she lost track of her. Unfazed, she decided to try to talk to her tomorrow.

The next few days, however, proceeded about the same way. Every time Rainbow saw Fluttershy, she dashed away as fast as she could, despite Fluttershy's attempts to get her to stop. The more this happened, the more confused Fluttershy became. She even wondered if Rainbow didn't want any friends anymore, just out of the fear of losing them. After a few days of failed attempts, she realized that she needed some serious help if she was going to catch Rainbow and ask what was wrong. She knew of only one group of ponies that Rainbow wouldn't flee at the first sign of. She needed the Wonderbolts.

Fluttershy flew to the Wonderbolts Academy, going as fast as her wings could carry her. She hoped that she could get there without Rainbow seeing her, because if Rainbow saw Fluttershy at the academy, she’d no doubt get suspicious. Fortunately, she made it without a hitch. Upon getting there, she snuck into the main building and peeked into the main office. Inside was Spitfire, who was wearing a military uniform and was busy stamping a large stack of papers. Fluttershy took a deep breath and walked in. Upon entrance, Spitfire started to say, "What is it this time, Thunder La…" before looking up and seeing that the pegasus at her door was not Thunder Lane, or even a recruit for that matter. She raised her eyebrow and flew in close, in order to take a good long look at the familiar looking pony who had just entered. Throughout the whole inspection, Fluttershy tried to remain at attention, so that Spitfire wouldn't kick her out. After taking her look, Spitfire said, "You're... Fluttershy, right?"

"Yes, that's me." said Fluttershy, who had just now started breathing again

"Alright, why are you here? Are you looking to join the ranks?" asked Spitfire

"Umm, no. I need your help."

Spitfire raised an eyebrow and took off her shades. She put them on the desk, and sat down, all while giving a stare that said that she wasn't going to take any crap from Fluttershy.

"What do you need help with, Fluttershy?" asked Spitfire, while still glaring at Fluttershy, “And make it quick; I have a lot of paperwork to fill out.”

"W-w-well, it's about R-rainbow Dash." said Flutttershy, who was clearly freaked out by Spitfire's constant glaring

Spitfire dropped the glare, and gave a look that suggested that this was something that she noticed as well. “What's wrong with her?" asked Spitfire

"She hasn't been herself recently. She's been avoiding everypony like the plague unless contact is absolutely necessary, and even then she keeps it as brief as possible before fleeing as fast as she can. I've tried to ask her about it, but I can't keep up." said Fluttershy, clearly releaved that she was no longer getting glared at.

"Hmmm... so it's not just at the academy..." Spitfire said to herself

"She's been acting oddly here too??"

"Sure has. She has not been flying anywhere near her best on the timed courses, and only flies fast when one of the other cadets asks about it. I've called her in here a couple times to ask about what's going on, but whenever I do, she insists that she's fine. Obviously, that's a lie." Spitfire explained

"Oh my..." Fluttershy quietly exclaimed.

"So, what exactly is your plan, and where do the Wonderbolts come in?" Spitfire asked

"You mean you'll do it?" Fluttershy exclaimed, as a big smile began creeping onto her face.

"I never said that. I just want to know what your idea is. Maybe we'll help you out with it, maybe we won't."

"Oh okay. Well, here's the plan..." said Fluttershy, as she got in close to Spitfire and whispered the plan to her. Upon finishing, Spitfire said, "Really? That's your whole plan?"

"Y-you don't like it?" asked Fluttershy, who gave a look that suggested she was about to cry

"Again, I never said that. I just think that your plan is kind of... well... simple." Spitfire replied

"It doesn't need to be complex." Fluttershy retorted. Spitfire put her head in her hooves, clearly thinking hard about the whole thing. After a few minutes of this, Spitfire finally looked up at Fluttershy and said, “Alright, I’ve decided to help you out with this. I’ll get the other Wonderbolts in on it too.”

"REALLY???? OH THANK YOU SPITFIRE!!!!!!" Fluttershy yelled, as she rushed over to Spitfire. When she got to her, she gave her a hug so tight, that it almost broke Spitfire's ribcage. Spitfire tried to say something in response, but was unable to, as Fluttershy was hugging her too hard. When Fluttershy finally let go, Spitfire flew back to the desk to get her breath back. She gave a nod to Fluttershy, then cleared her throat and yelled, "NOW GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!!!" Fluttershy jumped back in panic and flew out at top speed, rushing home to get what she needed.

The next day, during the ‘C’ class cadets’ training day, Fluttershy and Spitfire set their plan into motion. During the warm up that day, Spitfire told everypony to do 200 laps around the academy. They all complied and began do their laps. After the pack had flown 5 laps, Spitfire flew into the circle and chased after Rainbow. Rainbow was only going about half her normal speed, so Spitfire was easily able to catch up to her. Once Spitfire got in close, she tackled Rainbow Dash, sending both of them to the ground. The duo landed on the grass just left of the runway, and as a result, neither suffered any injuries. "Oww, Spitfire, what did you do that for?" Rainbow asked

"IS THAT ANY WAY TO SPEAK TO YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER?!?!?!" Spitfire yelled back. Rainbow Dash was shocked, as Spitfire was never this loud or angry. Rainbow got into the position of attention and said in her voice of attention, "No Ma'am!"

"NOW TRY AGAIN!!" yelled Spitfire

"Ma'am, why did you bring me to the ground, Ma'am?" said Rainbow, who was shivering slightly at this loud Spitfire.

"That's better. I forgot to tell you something, Rainbow Dash." said Spitfire, reverting back to her normal military voice

"What might that be, Ma'am?" replied Rainbow Dash, who had eased up a bit upon hearing the regular voice, but was still pretty tense.

"You're getting a promotion, Ms. Dash." said Spitfire

"Really????? Does that mean I'm a Wonderbolt now????" Said Rainbow Dash, who was trying her hardest not to jump up and down in excitement. Once she heard that, Spitfire laughed and said, "No, you're not a Wonderbolt yet. It just means that you're being bumped up to the next level of recruits. Your aerial abilities really stand out from the other 'C' level cadets. As a result, you're being promoted to 'B' squad! In that squad, the uniforms are different and the training is much tougher. Can you handle it?"

"OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSH, YES, EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" squealed Rainbow Dash. Spitfire started to glare at her, and Rainbow immediately snapped back into attention, saying, "I mean, Yes Ma'am!" Spitfire stopped glaring and said, "In that case, head over into the C squad locker room, and get your things out from there. Once you're done, talk to me, and I'll give you the key to the B squad lockers, as well as the key to your locker number. Understood?"

"Ma'am yes Ma'am!" Said Rainbow Dash

"THEN GET GOING!!!!" Spitfire yelled before heading back to the training course. Once Spitfire left, Rainbow started fangirling to herself, clearly ecstatic that she was one step closer to her dream. She headed to her locker and piled everything inside into her arms, not taking any care to look at it. After finishing that, she slammed the locker shut, and went to Spitfire. Spitfire took one look at the mess of assorted junk in Rainbow's arms, and immediately called for a suitcase to hold it in. Once the suitcase was brought in and packed in an orderly way, Spitfire put a card key and a regular key in Rainbow's saddlebag, as well as handing her a Wonderbolt ‘B’ cadet uniform and pointed her toward the locker room. Rainbow flew over and tried to open the door, but to no avail. She went back to Spitfire and complained that the key wasn't working. Spitfire simply rolled her eyes and told Soarin to help Rainbow open it. The duo flew back to the door, where Rainbow tried and failed to open the door. "See? It's broken!" said Rainbow

Soarin rolled his eyes, grabbed her key, and slid it through, causing the door to open. "Why did it work for you?" asked Rainbow

"Because you were holding it upside down" Replied Soarin, to which Rainbow turned red from embarrassment.

Rainbow entered the room, letting the door close behind her. In it was just a hall to another room. The only thing of interest in here was that there was a mirror in the hall. Rainbow decided that, before she would do anything, she’d try on her new outfit. She unfurled the outfit and looked at it. It had a similar look to her Shadow Bolt costume, complete with gold thunderbolts and a slick black outside. The only difference was that the yellow eyes were switched out for regular eyeholes. Rainbow put on the outfit and examined herself in the mirror. The suit really went well with Rainbow’s blue fur, surprisingly enough. Rainbow turned to the side and saw that this outfit even had her cutie mark on it! Which was strange, considering when she was handed the outfit, it had nothing on the flank area. Rainbow took it off and saw the rainbow thunderbolt disappear from the costume. She placed it back on, and back came the thunderbolt. Apparently, this suit ended up adding the cutie mark of the pony wearing it! That really impressed Rainbow, who stood for another minute admiring herself. After that little detour, Rainbow entered the door on the other side and found that the room it led to was pitch black. Rainbow immediately started feeling around for a light switch. After a few minutes, she finally found it. When the lights flipped on, she had to stop and stare for a moment. This locker room was much bigger than the ‘C’ one, and it came complete with a showering spot with stalls (as opposed to the stall free C showers), several benches, and the addition of actually being clean (The C locker room was kind of smelly, and always full of sweat and debris.) After she finished taking the environment in, she started searching for locker 1136. After a moment, she found it, opened it with her key, and placed her things inside. In it went a couple trophies, some old wrappers (most of her old wrappers were thrown away by Spitfire, apparently), a spare saddlebag and a pair of photos. She took out the photos and looked at them. The first one was of her and her father, watching the Wonderbolts for the first time. “I promised you I’d be one someday, and now I’m closer to that than ever before. I’ll get there someday soon, Dad” Said Rainbow Dash, as if her father were standing right beside her. She taped it up and looked at the second one, which showed the Mane six together for a photo. She looked at the picture and sighed deeply. She really missed the old days, back when everything seemed so simple. Back when friendship was unstoppable. Back when they were all together. She held the photo close to her for a moment, than taped the picture next to the other one. “I miss you guys…” Rainbow said in a forlorn tone.

“I miss them too, Rainbow” said a voice from behind her. Rainbow recognized that voice, and it made her heart stop. She slowly turned around and saw Fluttershy, sitting on a bench. She immediately rushed for the door, but when she tried to open it, she found that it wouldn't budge.

"You're not going to get out that way, Rainbow. Soarin is holding the door from the other side." Fluttershy said calmly. Rainbow was not about to let that stop her. She shoved on the door as hard as she could, constantly slamming into it in the hope that she could break it down. Fluttershy sighed and sat down, waiting patiently for Rainbow to finish. After about 20 minutes, Rainbow got tired and fell to the floor. After seeing that, Fluttershy said, "Rainbow, we need to talk."

"No! Y-you have to stay away from me!!" yelled Rainbow Dash, who was backing away from Fluttershy.

"Rainbow, what's going on?" asked Fluttershy, as she walked toward Rainbow.

"S-stay back! I'm dangerous!!" yelled Rainbow, who had backed herself into a corner.

"No you're not Rainbow. Why would you say something like that?" said Fluttershy, who sat down in front of Rainbow, who was cowering in a small ball in the corner. After a few minutes, Rainbow stopped shaking and opened an eye. She saw that Fluttershy was just sitting there with a look of genuine concern on her face. She looked around the locker room, but couldn't find any other exits aside from the one she entered in. She looked at Fluttershy, then at the door, then deeply sighed. "Fine, I'll talk" Said Rainbow in a defeated voice.

Fluttershy released a sigh of relief and said, "Ok then, Rainbow, what's been going on? You have been isolating yourself from everyone as much as possible, and you've barely been trying in your Wonderbolt training. Why?"

"It's because... I'm a bad luck charm." said Rainbow, bowing her head. Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion, and asked, "Why in all of Equestria would you think something like that?"

"Simple logic, Fluttershy. For each and every one of our deceased friend's deaths, I was there when the major issue came up. I was there with Pinkie when she passed away. I was on that picnic when that wind blew Rarity off the cliff. I was helping AppleJack with the bucking when she came down with that disease. And most recently, I was there when the lurodea attacked. For each and every death, I was with the pony on the chopping block when it began."

"Rainbow, how does that prove anything? I was there for all of those events. How are you so sure it's not me who's the bad luck charm."

"Fluttershy, you weren't there for all the events. You weren't with AppleJack when she came down with that disease, remember?"

"Oh yeah..."

"Everytime these deaths started, I was there. I couldn't have you suffer the same fate, so I kept you as far away from me as possible. I had to abandon you; if I didn't you would've ended up dying too!"

Fluttershy thought about what Rainbow said for a moment, then said, "Rainbow, the thought of you being a bad luck charm is outrageous! Just because you were there for each one doesn't mean you caused the deaths to happen! It was pure coincidence!"

Rainbow let off a weak laugh and said, "Fluttershy, is that really all that likely? I mean, having seven ponies who are close to us all dying in the same year, and for vastly different reasons? That just doesn't seem likely. There's a reason for everything, and the only logical conclusion I can come up with is that my presence is what is causing these deaths in the first place! I couldn't let that happen to you too!"

"Rainbow, even if your superstition is true, what is your avoiding me like I’m still a Flutterbat actually doing?"

"Huh?"

"Rainbow, listen to me. Although I appreciate you doing this to try to save my life, I would honestly rather be dead then be alive with four friends dead and one friend trying to avoid me. I would rather live my final days to their fullest with my final friend then live longer all alone." said Fluttershy, tearing up slightly as she said it. Rainbow looked down and to the side, clearly thinking about everything.

"Please, Rainbow Dash…" said Fluttershy between tears, "I need you..."

Rainbow looked up, and stared straight into Fluttershy's eyes. After a moment, she started bawling like a baby, and rushed over to hug Fluttershy. She gave a full hug and said between tears, "Fluttershy, I'm so sorry... I had no idea that I was hurting you this much..."

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash. You were doing what you thought you had to. I honestly can't blame you for trying to do that for me. Still, I forgive you." said Fluttershy, returning the hug. The duo sat in that lockerroom for a few minutes, and promised each other that they would make every moment from here on out count. They wouldn't let any superstition get in the way of their friendship, of that they promised each other. They walked out together, knowing that they could face anything the world threw at them if they took it on together. All but one thing, that is...

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

Because I've gotten several questions about this, yes, this chapter and the next one were originally going to be one and the same. However, I wanted to keep the chapters at a length that would be reasonable for one sitting (i.e.:under 6000 words) Hope you enjoyed this chapter all the same.

Chapter 6: A Dash of Overreaction

Chapter 6: A Dash of Overreaction

It had been over a week since Rainbow had felt her superstitions of being a bad luck charm, and in that time she slowly felt her superstitions melt away, eventually reaching the point where she felt that she had been wrong about the whole thing in the first place. When neither she nor Fluttershy were busy, they were usually spending almost every moment together. Sometimes, they could be seen rough housing and laughing in town, sometimes they flew in the air and talked, and other times they just sat down at a cliff near the western ocean and just watched the sunset. They had many moments, and all of them made the two of them grow closer, to the point where they were practically sisters. They felt that it would last forever. So did this last forever? Did it end with the two of them together until the very end? Well...

One morning, about two weeks after the superstition issue, Rainbow flew over to Fluttershy’s cottage, as always. When she got there however, she instantly felt something different. There was a very thick atmosphere over this area. Why that was there, Rainbow wasn’t sure. All she knew was that the building itself gave her some unease, as if one thing was vastly different, changing the whole feel. Rainbow sat down and thought for a moment, before it suddenly hit her: At this time of the day, Fluttershy was usually cleaning house with her animal friends, singing while she did so. This time however, there was no singing that could be heard, or much of any noise at all, really. Rainbow looked in through the window and saw that her house was an absolute wreck. Several plants were knocked over, there was dirt everywhere, and the entire place looked even messier than Rainbow’s house, which was saying something. Rainbow knocked on the door and waited. Two minutes of nothing happening passed by. She knocked again, clearly in a state of concern for Fluttershy’s safety. Once again, she heard nothing. Rainbow called out for Fluttershy, at which point she listened carefully. She barely heard a faint voice wheezing. She flew up to the 2nd floor window, where Fluttershy’s bedroom was, and saw all of Fluttershy’s animal friends were gathered around something. She tried to see what it was, but couldn’t see anything due to the bear that was blocking her view. She knocked on the window, which caused Angel bunny to hop over and open it. Rainbow flew in and saw what the animals were gathered around. It was Fluttershy, who looked incredibly ill. She had red spots all over her body, her eyes were shut, and she had a thermometer in her mouth that read 105 degrees in her mouth. “FLUTTERSHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!” yelled Rainbow, who was clearly panicking. Fluttershy opened her eyes slowly, and glanced over toward Rainbow. When she saw her, she let off a small smile and said, “Hi, Rainbow Dash” in a voice that was clearly in pain.

“Wha… What happened to you??” Rainbow asked

“Well, according to what I’ve been able to read, it’s a combination of the pony pox and the feather flu.” Fluttershy said, sounding like her vocal chords had gone rusty.

“How did you get those two diseases??” asked Rainbow Dash in panic, since those two diseases were pretty rare.

“I have no clue… I just got home after yesterday’s sunset watching, when I suddenly felt like I was boiling and freezing at the same time. I immediately got into bed, and when I woke up, I was like this. I’m just glad my animal friends were able to help me out.” Explained Fluttershy

“With everything except the cleaning apparently…” said Rainbow under her breath

“Speak up, Rainbow. I didn’t hear that.”

“Uh, nothing. It’s not important anyway. Have you called an ambulance?”

“No, I haven’t”

“We’ve got to get you to the hospital, pronto!”

“Ok then, Rainbow Dash.” Said Fluttershy, who clearly lacked the energy to argue

Rainbow immediately flew to the hospital and alerted the staff to Fluttershy’s condition. Upon hearing that, they immediately got a sky ambulance en route to Fluttershy’s cottage. They got there, loaded Fluttershy up, and left. Rainbow watched the whole thing, and for the first time in her life, felt like she was powerless against everything in the whole world.

Over the next week, Rainbow visited Fluttershy to a nearly obsessive degree, hoping that Fluttershy would make it out okay. Over that week though, the results were about the same each day. No matter when Rainbow Dash visited, the result was the same; Fluttershy’s condition was neither getting better nor worse. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, if this weren’t a combination of two semi deadly diseases that were incredibly dangerous when combined, as they both got stronger from whatever medication the other disease was weak against. Every visit also played out the same way as well. Each time, Rainbow would ask Fluttershy, “How’s it going?” Each time, Fluttershy would reply with, “About as good as when this whole thing started.” Rainbow would nod her head, and then they’d usually do something together, like play cards, tell stories, or just be with one another in quiet inflection. It felt a bit like before the disease, with the one added disadvantage of there being a possibility that this could end forever at any moment. When she asked the doctors about how it was going, their responses were always the same: “She’s getting slightly better. It’s not a ton, as these two diseases are vicious together, but she is recovering, albeit slowly.” Even after hearing that, Rainbow didn’t exactly burst with confidence.

After about a week and a half of this, Rainbow visited as normal, only to find that Fluttershy wasn’t in her bed! Her heart rate monitor wasn’t connected to anything, but was still releasing a tone, so it was obvious that Fluttershy had left there recently. Rainbow put two and two together and realized what must’ve happened. She crashed through the window and flew at top speed to the cliff where they’d watched the sunset in the past.

Once she got there, she just lied down on that cliff, looking out at the sea. A storm had started brewing above her, but just like with the Rarity storm, she didn’t mess with it, as she was sure the pegasi in this area had a good reason to set up a storm there. What that might be was anyone's guess, but that wasn't among her biggest concerns. Her biggest concerns were about what to do now. She just lied down on the cliff edge, watching the stormy November ocean down below. She flashed back to the Mane six. There were so many moments that she shared with them. Joining the 'egghead allegiance' with Twilight. Helping and being helped by Fluttershy all throughout her childhood. Racing in the Running of the Leaves with AppleJack. Creating a rainbow sculpture out of ice with Rarity. Enjoying the most epic party in all of history with Pinkie. All of those moments meant so much to her, but now they're gone, never to return. "I never left my friends hanging..." Rainbow said quietly to herself, in a voice that was clearly trying not to crack into a state of endless sobbing "Why did they leave me hanging??" Suddenly, Rainbow flashed back to the CMC. Those little fillies may not have been as close to Rainbow as her friends, but they still had quite a few shining moments together. She would never forget their routine for carrying the flag back in the Equestria Games, nor would she forget the way Scootaloo looked up to her. Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow like she was her hero, until Scootaloo died. That led to Rainbow flashing back to AppleJack's funeral. Scootaloo was begging Rainbow to not die. Despite not being sure if she could keep that promise, Rainbow Dash promised Scootaloo that she wouldn't be going anywhere. "I'm still here... why aren't you?" said Rainbow Dash softly. Rainbow then watched over the ocean for a couple more minutes, weighing everything that had happened over the past year so she could determine what is next. Eventually, Rainbow stood up, bowed her head, and said in a very sad tone of voice, "I'm the Element of Loyalty. I've always been there for my friends when they needed me most. Who do I have left to be loyal to? My friends, my parents, my biggest fan... They're all gone. There's nothing left to be loyal to... There's nothing left..." When Rainbow said that, she felt an odd tingle from the tip of her tail that was working its way up. Rainbow, however, didn't care what it was, and as a result, remained standing there with her head drooped down and her eyes clamped shut, all while shedding a single tear. That tingling, as it turns out, was her color just fading away to gray. When Rainbow finally opened her eyes, she saw that she looked like she did back when she was corrupted by Discord. She didn't care, however, and just slowly walked down to the shed near the beach. She entered and asked the pony at the register if he had any rope. He did. Rainbow bought some and left, walking slowly back up to the cliff. She then proceeded to use the rope to tie her wings down, making sure it was just as tight as it was in the Running of the Leaves. When she'd finished, she took one look back at the way she came, and one look at the ocean's horizon. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't convince herself that she shouldn't do this. Her dreams, her career, her awards, all of them meant nothing to her anymore. She closed her eyes, shed a few more tears, and jumped off the cliff into the freezing water below...

If only she had waited just a bit longer...

For you see, there was one thing that Rainbow was wrong about. She thought that everyone near and dear to her had died. In reality, she still had one friend left. That friend was none other than Fluttershy. Here's what happened:

It had been ten days since Fluttershy had been brought in. About an hour after Rainbow had left her on that day, Fluttershy suddenly felt her fever just fade away completely. She informed a nearby doctor about it, who came in and was able to confirm that the Feather Flu had gone away! With that gone, all the doctors had to do was use the medication for the Pony Pox. They used it on Fluttershy and waited. After about twenty minutes, Fluttershy noticed her spots vanish and felt her voice return in full force. She immediately flew out of bed in joy! The doctors ran a few tests on her and confirmed that Fluttershy was in perfect health once more. They then let Fluttershy go home and get some sleep in her own bed. Fluttershy flew home and decided that she would wake up early tomorrow, fly to Rainbow's house, and surprise Rainbow Dash as she left home for the hospital. She considered doing it right then and there, but when she looked at the clock, she saw it was 11:20 at night. No doubt Rainbow would be sleeping at that hour, causing Fluttershy to decide to do it early tomorrow.

The next day, Fluttershy woke up at 5:53 and flew over to Rainbow's house, arriving at 6 o' clock. She went in through the open window and walked up to Rainbow's bedroom. Once she opened the door, she saw that the lights were on and Rainbow's bed was empty and unmade. Once Fluttershy saw that, she figured that Rainbow had already left for the hospital. She flew to the hospital as quickly as she could. Just as she entered the hospital, she heard the sound of shattered glass. She immediately rushed to her ward and saw the window in it was broken. Looking off into the distance, she saw a faint rainbow trail in the distance. Judging by the direction of the trail and where the broken glass had landed, Fluttershy deduced that Rainbow was heading for the cliff where they watched sunsets together. Why she was heading there was beyond Fluttershy's knowledge, but the point was that Fluttershy knew that she had to let Rainbow know that she was still alive and well. She immediately flew off toward the cliff, as a storm began brewing behind the rainbow trail.

After about half an hour of flying through intense lightning storms, Fluttershy came within seeing distance of the cliff. Even so, she was still too far away to see anything aside from a small grey speck. She pulled out a pair of binoculars that she had brought with her (probably for an activity with Rainbow Dash) and looked at the cliff edge. When magnified, she saw Rainbow Dash, who was grayscale and tying her wings down. Fluttershy lowered the binoculars for a second so she could see where she was going, then she looked through again. What she saw when she looked through those binoculars again broke Fluttershy's heart. She saw Rainbow taking one last look back toward the way she came. When Fluttershy saw her eyes, she noticed something was missing. And by something, she saw everything missing. Her eyes, which used to show courage, compassion, brashness, pride, and enough of an ego to boost all of Canterlot to the skies, now seemed almost completely empty. It was clear from her eyes that Rainbow felt that she had nothing left to live for. Those eyes looked like they were helpless, with nothing that could help them. Anything she'd been doing up to this point clearly meant nothing to her anymore. Suddenly, the reason Rainbow was grayscale made perfect sense: she was so defeated that the color in her life had just vanished, both physically and metaphorically, not unlike Twilight’s color during the Discord incident. Fluttershy then figured out why Rainbow Dash had tied her wings down, and she started panicking. "DON'T DO IT, RAINBOW DASH!!!" yelled Fluttershy at the top of her lungs. Unfortunatly, right when she yelled that, a lightning bolt ended up firing, completely blocking out her voice. Rainbow closed her eyes, shed a few more tears, and jumped off the cliff into the freezing water below. Fluttershy screamed a panicked no, and soared off the cliff after her, doing everything she could to try to catch her before she hit the water. She was just a bit out of grabbing distance when Rainbow hit the water. Fluttershy wasn't about to give up though, and dove into the icy water after her.

At this point, the storm had gotten really intense, causing the waves to become gigantic, as well as making the water feel even colder. In fact, it was so cold, that it prevented Fluttershy from flying out of the water, due to her wings not being as well protected against cold weather as the rest of her. She had no choice but to fight the storm waters and try to find Rainbow. After two minutes of getting buffetted by the waves, Fluttershy spied Rainbow Dash about twelve feet away, bobbing up and down like a cork. Dash's eyes were still shut, and her head was the only part of her that wasn't completely submerged. Fluttershy swam over to her, grabbed her, and pulled her to the shore, all while fighting the storm. It took a few minutes, but she finally got to shore with Rainbow Dash in tow. She layed her out and immediatly looked over her. Rainbow was unconsious, and was incredibly cold to touch. Fluttershy immediatly started performing CPR on Rainbow, because Fluttershy knew there would be no way in Tartarus that she could fly Rainbow to the hospital in time, even if she could fly. As she worked, she periodically yelled things like, "RAINBOW!!! GET UP RAINBOW!!! PLEASE GET UP!!!!!!!!!!" After two minutes of this, Rainbow ended up coughing up some seawater. Her eyes may not have opened up yet, but Fluttershy knew she was making progress. She had to keep it up. After another minute of this, Rainbow's eyelids slowly opened up. Her eyes looked around for a moment before settling on Fluttershy. Once she saw her, Rainbow smiled a weak smile and said, "Hey there, Fluttershy..." "RAINBOW!!!!! YOU'RE BACK!!!!" yelled Fluttershy in glee, as she softly hugged Rainbow Dash, as to not choke her again. Rainbow lifted her right arm and returned the hug. Once that hug was over, the duo split apart and looked at each other. Right away, Fluttershy could see Rainbow's eyes were a bit better. They were still incredibly sad, but they at least had those elements that her eyes tended to have back now, even if they weren't that big. "Rainbow, I was so worried about you..." said Fluttershy, who was trying to keep her tears of joy at bay

"I missed you too Fluttershy." replied Rainbow, who by this point had gotten enough strength back to sit up, "I missed all of you"

"All of us?"

"Yeah. All of my friends. I can't wait to see them again. Do you know where they are?"

Fluttershy tilted her head, trying to make sense of what Rainbow just said. She eventually said, "Rainbow, it's just me. All of the others are still dead."

Rainbow tilted her head in confusion, and said, "Yeah, and so are we."

"Rainbow, we're not dead"

"Fluttershy, you died in your hospital bed last night. I jummmmmmmmmm--fell off of a cliff. We aren't alive."

"Umm, I never died last night."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Rainbow

"I ended up getting cured last night. I was planning on waking up early and surprising you at your house. Unfortunately, you weren't there. I went to the hospital and saw you heading for this cliff. I followed you and saw you jump off. I went after you and eventually saved you. That's what happened." explained Fluttershy

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy for a moment, then looked around at the sky, which was still stormy, but seemed to have calmed down somewhat. She then looked back at Fluttershy and hugged her, releasing another lone tear. Fluttershy once again returned it. During that hug, Fluttershy suddenly shouted, "Rainbow!! Your color is returning!!" Rainbow looked back and saw that Fluttershy was telling the truth. The color in her tail was slowly returning! After a minute, Rainbow was fully colored once again. She had hope for life once more. Rainbow looked at Fluttershy, and said, "Fluttershy, I'm sorry I did this. If I hadn't jumped to conclusions, then you wouldn't have had to go through this mess. I'm so sorry..." Fluttershy looked at Rainbow for a moment, then started crying tears of joy as she gave Rainbow another hug, while saying, "I forgive you Rainbow. I have no doubt that you felt hopeless, but suicide is never a good solution. Even if you had successfully commited the act, you wouldn't have seen our friends."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that" said Rainbow in a cracked voice, clearly trying her hardest not to cry. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten that suicide goes to a different place then regular death.

"Just promise me that you will never try anything like that again, Rainbow. I can't stand to lose you. You're more than my best friend, you're practically my sister."

Rainbow thought about what Fluttershy had said for a moment. The more she thought about it, the harder it hit home; Fluttershy was practically her sister. They had grown up together, and they always had one another’s back. She couldn't let anything like this separate them if she could help it. "I will Fluttershy. I guarantee it!" said Rainbow Dash

"Well, if nothing else, this was a good lesson for you, Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, I guess it was. From now on, I promise to look before I leap!" said Rainbow in a confident voice. At this point, the sun had started to come out. The duo looked up and saw a rainbow had formed over the ocean. The pegasi sat down on the beach and watched that rainbow, hoping that their future would be just as bright as the rainbow in the horizon…

To Be Continued...

Chapter 7: The Birthday Wish

Chapter 7: The Birthday Wish

Several weeks had passed since the incident. By this point, Rainbow Dash had seemed to have gotten over the whole thing. That could not be further from the truth. Although when around others, she did what she could to brighten others days, both physically and metaphorically, on her own she became a totally different pony, often spending her days crying alone in her bed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t deny the truth: her final friend’s death was all her fault. If she hadn’t jumped to conclusions, then she wouldn’t have jumped off of that cliff. If she hadn’t jumped off of that cliff, then Fluttershy wouldn’t have gone after her. If Fluttershy didn’t go after her, then Fluttershy wouldn’t have struggled in the frigid winter water to find her. If she hadn’t done that, then Fluttershy wouldn’t have caught that hypothermia X and died. Her jumping to conclusions is what ultimately cost Fluttershy her life. It was hard enough losing all of her friends, but the fact that one of them was all her fault was just too much to bare. She flashed back to when Fluttershy spoke her last words…

Rainbow rushed in and requested to see Fluttershy. The nurse at the desk said to go ahead, by all means. She rushed into the hospital to find Fluttershy apparently freezing to death. Her yellow feathers had become a light blue shade, and she was constantly shivering, despite the temperature inside being almost 90 degrees. Rainbow rushed over and hugged Fluttershy, but almost immediately recoiled. Fluttershy’s body was freezing! It felt like she had just hugged an iceberg in a blizzard! Fluttershy sneezed and said, “R-Rainbow, I’m glad you c-came to visit me…”

“Of course I did, Fluttershy. I never leave my friends hanging.”

“T-t-t-that’s a g-good trait to have…”

“It is, but that’s not important. How have you been holding up?”

“N-n-n-not well. According t-t-to the doctors, I only have about h-half an hour l-l-l-left.” Fluttershy said through her chattering teeth.

“WHAT????” yelled Rainbow, upon which Fluttershy knocked her upside the head again for yelling in a hospital.

“Y-y-y-y-yep. And don’t y-yell in a hospital.” Fluttershy said softly.

Rainbow started tearing up, and said, “Fluttershy… I’m sorry I did this to you…”

“I-i-i-i-it’s alright, Rainbow D-dash.”

“No, it’s not alright. You are in this situation all because I jumped to conclusions. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have attempted suicide, costing you your life. I’m a terrible friend…”

“D-d-don’t say that, R-rainbow. You a-are a g-g-g-g-g-great friend.”

“No, I’m not. Think about it, Fluttershy. I called you useless several times when we went to stop that dragon. I guilt tripped you into jousting against me at the crystal empire. I basically traded you for a book at the trade bazaar without your consent, and now my recklessness is costing you your life. I have been horrible to you!”

Fluttershy thought about what Rainbow said for a moment, before saying, “W-well, it’s true that you d-d-did d-do those things, but that doesn’t even c-c-compare to the g-good you’ve done.”

“Really? Like what?”

“L-l-like back during that w-water raising event, you h-helped m-m-me push p-past my mental fear of performing, allowing me to b-b-break my limits. You helped me discover my l-l-life’s true c-calling back when we were fillies. You stood up for all of us when your old friend Gilda went against us. You helped s-s-s-save the world many times. But, f-f-f-for me at least, the b-b-b-biggest thing you’ve d-done was when you stood up for me when those b-b-bullies were p-p-p-picking on me. I mean, you, one of the m-m-most p-p-popular ponies in flight school, stood up for me, a nopony who could b-b-b-barely even fly. That touched me so much, Rainbow Dash. You are truly a g-great friend, and I’m lucky t-t-to have known you.”

Rainbow started crying and held Fluttershy’s hoof, regardless of the fact that it was ice cold. She looked into Fluttershy’s eyes and said, “Thank you for being such a great friend Fluttershy. Even during the times when I was an unlikable monster.”

Fluttershy looked into Rainbow’s eyes, and said, “P-p-p-promise me one l-last thing, R-r-rainbow.”

“Y-yes?”

“P-p-p-promise me that y-you will live every d-d-day to the fullest. N-never believe that hope is g-gone, and n-never try to b-b-bail on life. Even when you f-f-f-feel alone, r-remember that w-we are all with you. T-Twilight Sparkle, AppleJack, R-R-Rarity, Pinkie P-Pie, Applebloom, Sweetie B-B-Belle, Scootaloo, and I w-w-will always b-be with you in s-spirit, I p-promise you that. Please don’t b-b-believe that you h-have n-nothing left. Live your life with no regrets. Please…”

“I… I will Fluttershy! I promise!”

“T-t-t-t-thank you for e-e-e-everything, R-rainbow Dash…” said Fluttershy, her voice slowly fading as she said that.

The duo shared one last hug before the heart rate monitor stopped. Fluttershy had frozen to death…

Rainbow snapped out of her flashback. She knew that she had to fulfill Fluttershy’s last wish, not just for her sake, but everyone else’s as well. It was the least she could do…

One week later was Rainbow Dash’s 22nd birthday. This was usually the part of the year where she told everyone how epic this had to be, being both a birthday and an anniversary. This year however, she said she just wanted to be left alone to think about everything that had happened over the previous year, to which nopony objected, as it was a hard year for her. They did, however, give her a rainbow frosted cupcake the day before, as a sort of early gift. The next day, Rainbow got up and ‘celebrated’ her birthday solo. She blew out the candle on her cupcake, wishing that she could be with her friends once more. Once she blew out the candle, she remembered that it may be possible for her to make that wish come true after all! She immediately rushed to her bookcase, searching for one specific book. After a bit, she pulled out the 7th book in the Daring Do series: “Daring Do and the hunt for the Silver Cyclone.” She opened the book up to page 34, where Daring Do was hunting for an artifact called the Silver Cyclone, when she ended up getting hit by a poison dart, making her violently sick. Because of this, Ahuizotl ended up finding the artifact first, and used it to essentially rip the world apart with the wind. Daring was made of some pretty tough stuff, and as such was able to recover in just a couple days, but by this point it looked like the world was at its end. Despite this, Daring remained unfazed. She immediately set forth for a nearby forest that was not too torn up by the winds, and went searching for a place called the Mirror Pool. After some fighting against the wind, she finally found the pool. Now, it was somewhat common knowledge that if you said a rhyme while at the pool, you could duplicate. While that was true, Daring knew that having another Daring Do was a pointless endeavor in this case, since the wind wouldn’t be stopped just because there were suddenly two Darings. Instead, she activated the Mirror Pool’s lesser known secret. She pulled out a cupcake, lit a candle on it, and bowed her head while walking backwards. This summoned the spirit of the Pool, which Daring referred to as Jabun. This spirit allowed Daring to make one wish. Daring Do wished that she could go back to the moment after she got struck by the dart, but make it so the dart never hit her. The spirit complied, and Daring Do went back to that fateful day. She dodged the dart and immediately rushed for the artifact. There was more to the story, but at this point, Rainbow Dash closed the book. Since she had met Daring Do in the past, (Heck, she was in her 11th book.) she knew that the stories in these books were nonfiction. In addition, she also knew about the Mirror Pool, thinking back to the time when Pinkie Pie ended up cloning herself. She shut the book, packed it and her cupcake into her saddlebag, and flew off for the Mirror Pool.

After some searching, Rainbow Dash found the where the pool entrance supposedly was, but now found it to be blocked by a rock. Rainbow facepalmed as she remembered that day. After they solved the Pinkie clone problem, Twilight covered the entrance to the pool with a large boulder. At first, Rainbow, like the others, was all for the idea. Not so much anymore, now that she needed to get to the Mirror Pool on the double. Rainbow Dash thought about the situation for a moment, and decided that the best way in was around the outside. She immediately started digging a hole next to the boulder. After 10 minutes of digging, she started digging toward the boulder. A few minutes later, Rainbow fell out of the wall into the room. Success! It was quite a bit larger than she’d expected, complete with a ramp to the rock, which blocked the exit. Before doing anything, Rainbow went up to the rock and kicked it with all her might, upon which the boulder was launched a few feet away, opening the exit and letting a large amount of light into the room. After finishing that, Rainbow went to the pool and followed the ritual. Upon finishing, Jabun surfaced out of the water. Jabun himself was a tall water based entity. He was essentially a tornado of water, wearing a breastplate with a thunderbolt on it in the chestal region, and having glowing purple eyes free of any pupils on his head. Upon seeing Jabun, in all of his glory, Rainbow immediately said, “Jabun, I wish t…”

“Hush up a second, Bill O’ Reilly” Jabun said to her before she could finish. Rainbow tilted her head, trying to figure out who the hay Bill O’ Reilly was. Jabun looked at her, or at least she thought he did (it was kind of hard to tell since he had no pupils.) and said, “Why have you summoned me?”

“I read in a Daring Do book that Daring used a ritual to summon you, upon which you offered her one wish. Well, it’s my birthday, and I want my wish!” Rainbow proclaimed.

Jabun sighed deeply and said, “I never should’ve been so lenient with that pony. Now we have a color swap of her barging in, thinking she can get wishes left and right out of me just because she’s able to read!”

“You gave her hers, and I did the same thing as her, so give me mine!”

“Look kid, the only reason I flat out gave her that wish was because that wind was making things hard on me. In this case, I see no reason to just give you a wish.”

“B-But…”

“The only way I normally give ponies wishes is if they can outrace me…”

Rainbow’s ears shot up when she heard that. Racing is what she lived for, and with a reward like getting her friends back, Rainbow was all over this offer.

“So what do you say, Skittles? Think you’re fast enough for me?” asked Jabun

“Heck yeah!!!! I’m probably the fastest flier in Equestria!!”

“Then this should be fun! Let’s get out to the starting line!”

The two of them left the room and went just outside the mirror pool room. There, Jabun laid out a map and pointed out the route they’d take. The race would start where they are, then loop around Canterlot, then up to about 200 feet above the highest point in Cloudsdale, before ending in a full speed drop toward the mirror pool. First one to enter the pool would win.

“Alright, Roy G Biv pony, do you understand the course?” asked Jabun

“My name is Rainbow Dash, and yes, I understand.” replied Rainbow Dash.

“There’s only one thing I need before the race.” Said Jabun

“What might that be?” asked Rainbow Dash

“What’s your wager?”

“My what now?”

“You need to say what you are to bet for this race. I’m not going to give a wish without a chance at a reward if I triumph.”

“But, I don’t have anything of value…”

“I see.”

Jabun began looking at Rainbow Dash at all angles. Even without pupils or a mouth, Rainbow could tell he was thinking really hard. Suddenly, Jabun snapped his fingers and said, “Okay, Rainbow Dash, I think I’ve thought of what the wager can be.”

“I’ll take it, no matter what it is.” Said Rainbow, clearly ready to get the race started.

“Now, now, didn’t you learn anything from your Fluttershy incident? You need to look before you leap.” Said Jabun

Rainbow recoiled in shock. How in Celestia’s name did he know about that?? “How did you know about that?” Rainbow asked

“I can read minds, okay? Now listen.” Said Jabun, clearly not wanting to talk about Rainbow’s past experiences any more than he had to “If you win the race, you’ll get your wish. If I win the race, then I get your wings. Does that sound fair?”

Upon hearing that, Rainbow gasped in horror. She couldn’t imagine not having her wings for the rest of her life. She unfurled her wings and looked at them, carefully considering his offer. On the one hand, she had lost her wings once before, and it was a less than happy experience for her. On the other hand, the whole previous year had been an unhappy experience, not to mention she was the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria. She could probably outrace anypony. But then she remembered that Jabun is not a pony. According to a book Twilight got Rainbow to read, Jabun was a creature known as an elemental. Rainbow had no idea what those were capable of. It eventually boiled down to friends versus wings. Both gave her so much happiness in the past. If she won, she’d get both. If she lost, she’d have neither. She looked at Jabun, then at her wings. Finally, she turned to Jabun and said, “You have a deal.”

“Really? Wow, I did not think you’d agree to that, considering you appear to be a racer in your prime.”

“I’m prepared to do whatever it takes for my friends.”

Jabun nodded, and rearranged his body into a small sphere. After he was done, he gave the countdown to start the race.

“3,2,1,GO!!!”

And they were off! The two of them rushed off toward Canterlot, both leaving behind a trail in their wake. What surprised Rainbow, however, was how fast Jabun was. He was slowly inching ahead of Rainbow Dash the whole way, despite the fact that Rainbow was flying as fast as she could. At the first checkpoint, he was 20 noses ahead. At the 2nd one, he was 50 ahead. Rainbow knew that if she was to have any prayer of winning, she would have to pull out her trump card on the final drop. Rainbow prepared her Sonic Rainboom, hoping to Celestia that she wasn’t too far behind. She got in the mach cone, and saw that Jabun was about to finish! Just when she thought it was too late, the Rainboom activated, rocketing her toward the finish line. She went so fast that she blew right by Jabun, practically knocking him to the side, before splashing into the water. She did it!! She won!!!! Jabun floated over to the pool, and shapeshifted back to his original form. When Rainbow Dash surfaced, Jabun applauded and said, “Very impressive, Ms. Dash. Only one other pony had ever beaten me in a race before, and since then I’d been training left and right. Yet you still managed to blow past me in the final leg of the race. Well done.”

“Thank you. May I please have my wish now?”

“But of course, Rainbow. What is your wish?”

“I wish that I could be with my friends again.”

“Very well then, Rainbow Dash.”

Jabun raised some pool water and snapped his fingers. Then he turned toward Rainbow Dash and pointed at her. Rainbow stood triumphant, waiting for her reward. Suddenly, Rainbow felt a sharp pain shoot through her body! The pain was so severe that it caused her to collapse. Rainbow looked up at Jabun, who was just staring straight at her with those creepy, soul piercing purple eyes. What was he doing to her? She then looked at her leg. Wait, was it disappearing, or was that just her imagination?? She looked up at Jabun one last time and asked, “W-what’s happening to me????” as her voice seemed to drift off. Rainbow passed out, unable to take the strain of whatever Jabun had done to her.

When Rainbow regained consciousness, she rose up and took a look at her surroundings. She was definitely not at the Mirror Pool anymore. She was standing on a road that appeared to be made of stars. Surrounding her in every direction was a sky that looked kind of like outer space. “Hello?” she called out. No response. “Where am I?” she called out again. Once again, there was no response. She considered flying off, but then realized that she had no idea where she was, so flying away would probably be a dumb idea. There was only one thing to do. Rainbow began walking down the star trail. After she had been walking for a couple minutes, she saw a bunch of screens pop up on the sides of the road. Rainbow watched one of them, and realized that these screens showed some of the moments from her past. In addition, she heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Celestia’s voice start singing to a calm sounding instrumentation. Rainbow listened in, but couldn’t quite make out what the voice was saying. Regardless, Rainbow continued walking down the path, clearly enjoying the attention. After a few minutes of walking, she came to the end of the hallway, at which point the singing in the background had gotten too quiet for Rainbow Dash to hear, let alone make out. In front of her was a door with several odd symbols on it. Rainbow opened the door, which led to a pure white room. Rainbow took one last look at the way she came, and saw nothing of interest. Rainbow shrugged and entered the door, closing it behind her. Once she closed it, she got hit with a stream of confetti and streamers out of nowhere! Immediately after, a familiar voice started singing a tune. Rainbow turned to her left and saw a pink pony doing a kick dance while spinning around in a circle. When that pony had turned her face toward Rainbow’s, she stopped singing and dancing and just stared, almost like she saw a ghost. Rainbow did the same, for she knew who that was! It was Pinkie Pie! Pinkie let off a loud gasp, and rushed into the light at a speed that nopony could ever keep up with. “Wait!” yelled Rainbow, to which Pinkie didn’t seem to hear. A few seconds later, she heard several voices yell, “WHAT?!” followed by the sound of quite a few ponies galloping towards her. Suddenly, she was tackled by Pinkie Pie, who was talking faster than Rainbow had ever heard anypony talk before. From what Rainbow could make out, Pinkie was apparently saying that she missed her, it had been so long, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! Next, she felt something light jump on her head. She looked up and saw it was Scootaloo, hugging her as hard as she could. Rainbow shook her off and heard her say “Rainbow!!!!! I missed you!!! I’m thought I’d never see you again! I’m so happy to see you again!!” Soon, Rainbow was getting hugged in several other directions. She took one glance and saw that the rest of her friends were the ones giving the hugs! And not just them, but the CMC as well! She returned the favor, somehow managing to hold all eight ponies at once. She let them all go, and looked them over. All of them seemed to be in top physical health. Rarity had no more gashes or cuts, AppleJack had her color and cutie mark back, and Fluttershy was yellow feathered once again. After looking them over, Rainbow said, “G-guys… It’s… It’s been so long… I am so happy to see you all!!!” The others all said the same. Rainbow was ecstatic to see her friends again, but at the same time, she was confused beyond belief. Where were they? Why were they there? She had to know.

“Hey guys, I have a few questions.” Said Rainbow Dash

“Ask away darling.” Rarity replied

“Alright, first question. Where are we?” asked Rainbow

The others just silenced. They looked at one another with expressions that revealed that none of them had any clue where they were.

“Let’s look at this in another way.” Said Rainbow, clearly noticing that she wasn’t going to get any answers out of them this way, “What is the last thing you remember?”

Pinkie went first. “Well, I remember I said that thing to you, Rainbow Dash, than I ended up passing out. When I woke up, I saw I was in some kind of odd star hallway. I started hopping down the road, and saw some screens with videos of me on them!! I was like, ‘this is so cool!’ After a bit, I heard a voice that sounded kind of like Celestia start singing. I tried to sing along, but I couldn’t make out the lyrics, so I just hummed the melody, which was a pretty catchy little tune. Eventually, I reached what I guessed was the end of the hallway. On it was a door with several unusual symbols. I hopped right in, and found myself here! I stumbled around for a few minutes, and found everyone wandering! Well, everyone except you, Rainbow Dash! We had a happy reunion and were about to head off to search for you, but I decided I wanted to stay near the entrance of one of those doors and surprise whoever came through! I did this a few times over the course of a couple weeks, and then you appeared, and now, well, here we are!” said Pinkie Pie, speaking incredibly quickly and sounding like she said the whole thing without taking a breather. The others expressions made it clear that they had pretty much the same experience that Pinkie Pie had.

“It’s very odd though; I feel like I had seen my hallway before, even though it looked just like the one Pinkie described.” Said Twilight

“Where from?” asked everypony else

Twilight lied down and appeared to go deep into thought about it. After a minute of this, she suddenly yelled “EUREKA!”, startling everypony.

Twilight blushed a little when she realized how loud she’d said that, and explained where she last saw it. “It was on the day when I got my wings. Remember when I finished that spell and the elements started blasting me?” asked Twilight

“Oh heck yeah, I remember that day. It was not a happy moment for us, to say the least.” Said AppleJack

“Well, when I recovered, I went through the same thing I went through recently. The only difference was Celestia was with me the first time. She sung a song, and the next thing I knew, I was back in Ponyville with a new pair of wings.” Said Twilight

“Really?” asked Applebloom

“Yep.” Said Twilight

“In that case, I think I know where we are.” Said Rainbow Dash

“Could you please tell us?” asked Sweetie Belle

“Ok then.” Said Rainbow Dash, who began to explain.

“I think we’re in some sort of purgatory. Essentially, we’re on a highway to the afterlife. We all ended up passing away at some point, and thus were thrown onto the highway.”

“So, we’re all dead?” asked Scootaloo, the smile she was wearing slowly slipping away.

“Sadly, yes.” Rainbow answered

“How are we all dead? How do we know that this isn’t a dream?” said Applebloom, who seemed to be getting a bit angry for some reason.

“Simple. When we got here, it was after we’d all passed out.” AppleJack explained. “However, since we all ended up at the same place, and had a similar experience on the way over, it’s pretty darn unlikely that we’re all just in a dream.”

“Oh” said Applebloom.

“So now what?” asked Fluttershy

Nopony had a response. They all looked at each other, before Twilight stepped forward and said, “Well, whether Rainbow is correct or not makes no difference. We are all probably dead, lost, and have no clue where to go. But I don’t care, because we’re finally together again! If we are truly gone, then I say we explore together. No matter what, we will never be separated again! Is everypony with me?”

“Yeah!!!” Everyone else replied.

“Do you Pinkie Promise?” asked Pinkie Pie

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” the nine of them said in unison. When they finished, they all set off, except for Rainbow Dash. She sat there for a moment, thinking about her past and present. She never did avenge Twilight’s death, nor did she ever become a Wonderbolt. Even so, she had succeeded in more than she could’ve ever dreamed about, and most of the time it was due to her friends being with her every step of the way. “No regrets” said Rainbow Dash confidently, as she got up and flew after the others. She didn’t know what they’d be getting into, but she knew that no matter what they encountered, they could handle it together. She joined the group as they took their first steps into the unknown…

Back in Equestria:

By this point, Rainbow Dash’s body had been found. A funeral was held for the final member of the Mane 6, and everything proceeded similarly to the others, except tailor made for Rainbow. Several items were bestowed in her coffin, including Daring Do’s very own hat, an autographed copy of the book where Daring and Rainbow teamed up, and a wonderbolt outfit from Spitfire. Upon placing the item in, Spitfire saluted Rainbow Dash and said, “Congratulations, Rainbow Dash. You’ve earned it.” After that, they buried the body next to the others and everypony walked or flew away. After everyone had left, Jabun appeared out of nowhere and looked at her grave. It was shaped like an upside down lightning bolt, in order to match her cutie mark, and it had a 3 colored lightning bolt embossed into it, further solidifying the connection. The grave read, “Here lies Rainbow Dash, the most loyal friend ever. She stuck with her friends, even to the grave… 1996-2018”. When Jabun finished reading the grave, he pulled out the rainbow colored cupcake he was summoned with, and laid it down in front of the grave. After laying it down, he relit the candle on it with a match, and floated off, no doubt heading towards the Mirror Pool. Before he left though, he looked up in the sky, and saw a beautiful rainbow in the distance. He then turned his head back toward the grave and said one final thing over his shoulder:

“Happy Birthday, Rainbow Dash.”

THE END