Prologue: A Hare's Eternal Slumber
Fluttershy ground her hoof into the soil. Her mind was numb with the over-encumbering reality that one of her best friends since she was a little filly, has taken his last breath. She found her white knight curled in pain underneath the tree he plummeted from just three days before the funeral that he was inevitably going to attend as the guest of honor, of sorts.
Her long, ebony dress draped down her body, edges cascading off the ground making them slightly dirty, but she didn't care. She could not care. Her mind reached a state of withered shock and desecrated fantasies of her companion staying by her side for their limited eternity. All the other attendees of the funeral didn't have that sort of relationship that she had with him. She was the only one with a infinite flow of tears that rolled down her sodden cheeks. Everypony else simply shook their heads in disbelief, shuffling their hooves nervously, or nonchalantly having broken conversation with one another before, during, and after the service started.
A hoof lightly tapped Fluttershy's shoulder, ripping her out of her mind and back into the stark reality she had come to know as the days following the worst day of her very existence. She was met with her dearest friend Twilight's saddened gaze.
"Fluttershy, it's time to give the eulogy." She said solemnly, a blotch of sadness and concern making itself apparent in her voice.
She gave a gentle nod before proceeding to the wooden podium that was position to the right of the small mahogany coffin that held her deceased partner.
She took a moment to compose herself, gazing out into the small crowd of ponies. During normal circumstances, she would be scared out of her wits from the abundant amount of attention she was receiving, but the desire to make the memory of him flourish in their minds overcame her petty trepidation.
She took a deep breath, letting it out along with her eulogy. "At first glance, Angel was a bunny with a bit of attitude that a shy pony like me seemingly couldn't handle. A second glance reveals more. He was my friend; He helped me take care of the others, he helped me take of my problems, and he made my life a living hell, but Celestia damn it he was the greatest bunny that had ever crossed my path when I was but a foal!"
Everyone was shocked, surprised by her sudden outburst.
The duel streams of liquid sadness rolled down her cheeks as she continued. "When I was a filly, I fell from a cloud city and landed in a small patch of woods just South of Ponyville. There, I fell in love with the beauty and tranquility of the earthen way, and he helped me along the way. Of course he gave me a hard time more times than not, but if he never hadn't, I wouldn't have faced so many of my fears and surpassed so many of my limits! He wasn't just my friend, he was a piece of me!" She paused to compose herself. "-A piece of me that died." She finished with a wail.
Twilight made a steady trot over to the now disoriented Fluttershy. She wrapped her hoof around her shoulder, cooing in her ear gently to sooth her and helped her off stage.
The next one up was Rainbow Dash. She floated to the podium slowly, landing on her hooves and scanning the crowd. She took a deep breath, and began her ad libbed speech. "When I came to Ponyville nearly a decade later, the first to approach me was this little white hare with a chip on his shoulder and a smirk on his face. The first time this rabbit gave me hell by stomping on my hoof and hopping away-" She stopped letting out a half-hearted chuckle before continuing. "But sooner or later, the little guy grown on me. I saw, and I can still see, why Fluttershy loves him so much. He wasn't just that mischievous rabbit with a tenancy to get on my nerves specifically, but he was a great friend to me and an even greater friend to Fluttershy. To me, that means everything to me, and it still does." She glanced at the coffin as the tears began to pour down her cheeks. She trotted off the podium and trotted to Fluttershy and Twilight who was still calming her down. Rainbow gave Fluttershy a tight embrace and began to weep.
After everypony close to Fluttershy and Angel gave their respects, they proceeded to bury him respectively. Fluttershy and her friends stayed, watching each shovel full of dirt hit the coffin until nothing was left to see but the residual soil that covered it. They all walked Fluttershy home, ending up staying with her that night not wanting to leave her to herself. They didn't speak of it, but they feared she was going to try something stupid out of grief or intense depression.
That night Fluttershy didn't sleep, she remained awake, disobeying her body which craved a long slumber. In her hooves a small white paper lay folded. She was hesitant, but she unfolded it to find a picture of Angel on top of Fluttershy's head, who was smiling and resting in a meadow. She recognized this drawing. It was made just two days before Angel's staggering end. Fluttershy stared at the picture, her mind going into a systematic shut down before kicking back up. She sobbed as she reached for the nearest writing utensil, which was a ball point pin, and scribbled out Angel.
Rest was non-existent for all six of the mares. Memories of Angel haunting them, more so on Fluttershy. She felt as if she could have stopped it. She could have saved him, but was merely too slow and blinded by disgusting ignorance. She cringed at the thought of it being her fault. She knew that there was only one way of coping with what life had thrust upon her.
She decided it was going to be done that following fortnight.
She was going to give back to her white knight, compensation being to forgive her of her crime of stupidity.
