Dead Flower

The air was cold. The streets of Ponyville was littered with ponies, and their coats glistened in the white glow of the moonlight. There was chatter that shone in the audible waves of the night.

The restaurant illuminated the stone bricks with its yellow light and patrons ate inside. The stallions wore rented suits and the mares wore lovely black dresses that reflected on their beauty. They stared deep into their eyes as they ate, almost as a visual embrace to each other.

All except one. A mare with a red mane sat alone in her chair, staring at her utensils. The need to fidget with them grew stronger as boredom settled in. She put her elbow on the table, disregarding her manners for a few moments as she waited for somepony.

He was running late. Normally, Rosemary would be impatient with a stallion who could not keep his dinner plans on time. She would have got up from her seat and left the restaurant, happily standing up the unlucky colt.

This was a different story, however. Rosemary had been steadily dating a stallion for months by now, almost up to a year. He seemed to be the perfect one that she had been waiting for all her life. He was the sort of lover that could melt the heart of any mare that he had acknowledged. But he chose Rosemary, and she was grateful for that.

Thinking about him was almost like a filly dreaming for a brave and noble knight that was in the top ranks of the Royal Guard. He was like a knight in shining armour that rescued Rosemary from a tower guarded by the most ruthless of dragons imaginable. She would patiently wait for her lover sitting in her bed, and wait for him to erupt from the door and kiss her.

Although she knew it was foolish to believe in fairy tales, she could not help but feel that she was swept away by him. He was a beautiful stallion, and she knew that he cared for Rosemary very much.

"Shining Light," she muttered to herself. "Where are you?"

She knew that she had been spacing out from reality again. But then again, there was not much that she could do. She could not help but feel emotionally taken away by somepony than Shining Light. Perhaps she gushed about him too often, but if you had a stallion like him, who wouldn't be somehow emotionally attached?

"Madam?"

Rosemary glanced to the voice and saw that it was her waiter for the night. His eyes stared down at her with a squinted vision, almost like he was impatiently waiting for something to happen. "Has your stallion arrived yet?"

Rosemary sighed. "Not yet. I'm sure he has a reason."

The waiter quietly chuckled. "If I had a bit for every time I heard that..."

Rosemary could not help but smirk at his comment. It was true; often there was times when a stallion was running late and he would cough up a half written excuse.

Another waiter tapped his shoulder and whispered into his ear. His eyes widened a little as he glanced to the entrance. He listened to the rest of what the waiter said and nodded. The other waiter shuffled to a different table, and Rosemary's waiter looked at her.

"It appears an event has happened outside our restaurant, Madam," the waiter said. "Please excuse me..."

Rosemary nodded in understanding. The waiter walked away from the table, leaving her to her own thoughts.

What could have happened? Was it serious? Judging from the sort of tone, it appeared like somepony had been gravely injured. It was a bad way to start off a date, but at least it was something to talk about at the table. There was also a possibility that they would ditch the dinner idea and head to the park, where they could lie in the grass and look at the stars peacefully in each others company.

There came murmurs inside the restaurant. Many of the patrons stared at the entrance and some had left their tables to see what happened outside. Rosemary pulled out a silver pocket watch and studied the time.

9:45. Twenty minutes late.

Rosemary sighed and got up from her seat. She headed towards the entrance. The doorway was packed with ponies. She tried to get a good look, but everypony else was demanding the same thing. Desperate to see what it was (due to boredom, really), she pushed through the crowd and erupted to the other side, where a perfect view of the event that took place was visible.

Three ponies with hospital attire covered what appeared to be a stallion. A blue leg that was line with red stuck out among the hospital workers.

Something about the blue colour striked Rosemary as familiar. She took a few steps closer. The stallion looked familiar. Sounds were starting to become hazy. She couldn't hear the hospital workers. She could not focus on anything else. Everything except the stallion became white.

She couldn't feel herself drop to the ground. No noises registered in her mind. She couldn't feel herself scream. The red and blue colours were not there. There was no rain.

There was only Shining Light. But at the same time, there wasn't.

He was gone. There was no more Shining Light. Rosemary couldn't believe it. It was just...too sudden. There couldn't be a way for it to be happening. As she stood in her black dress watching as his grave lowering into the ground, she did not see the tombstone. She did not feel the rain.

All she could see was Shining Light. And they were taking him away from her.

She battled for her soul mate. She cried for her soul mate. But she knew there was nothing that she could do. He was gone forever, and there was nothing that could change that. But somehow, she wanted to keep fighting for him.

But it was too late.

The days after that became a blur. Rosemary sat in her room in her house while the rest of the world moved on. They were making discoveries. They were having children. They were living.

But Rosemary was dead. At least, inside. She no longer cared for the outside world. Ever since the day Shining Light inexplicably died from a fatal knife wound, Rosemary did not leave her room. Her room was dark and grey.

Yet there was somepony else there.

One night, she had a vision. She was sleeping in her bed and turned her body the other way. There, she could see him. Shining Light was standing there, healthier than before. Rosemary cried silent tears, and escaped from her bedsheets to embrace her lost love.

Before she could, he disappeared. She was alone again.

She stared at the ground and her tears fell down to the hardwood floor. They had not been dusted for days. Her eyes were wide open. She took her hoof and slammed it down to the floor. She screamed at the top of her lungs, shouting her lovers name. She wanted him back. She wanted him back and to embrace him in his loving arms.

But gone are the chances of that happening.

A visitor came to her door one day. Rosemary did not answer the door for the first few knocks, but grew tired of it. She walked to the door to see that it was her landlord. He informed her that her payments were due. Rosemary had not returned to her job in months and was sure she was fired. The landlord gave one last warning, and then left.

Slowly, her home grew darker as days rolled by. She had not been able to afford food for her house, and she had resorted to using welfare money to buy resources. Yet with each passing day, her debt grew and she worried for her home. She spent her days sitting on her bed, and not much else.

She was done.

She had a staircase.

She had rope.

It had to be done.

She took one step.

Then another.

She could hear him. Calling her.

"Rosemary...Rosemary..."

She could feel him. His touch grew warmer and warmer.

Another step.

Not another step.

She couldn't feel anything.

And then there was no Rosemary.

But there was Rosemary and Shining Light.