Author's Note

Soooo... Here's a slow moving chapter. I don't blame you if you don't like the funeral scene... I'm not good at writing funeral scenes... In any case I hope you enjoy.

A little outline for the next few chapters: We get more familiar with Ruby's deity powers, because as of this chapter its been a few weeks since the coronation and her life has been very busy and tragic since then. So there you go. I hope I've satisfied your spoiler monsters.

And I apologize for the short chapter... Not much happens here.

The Last Leaves of Autumn

Metal Blade looked towards the door in shock. There, standing in the doorway stood Rainbow Dash, wearing a cloak, black as night with a hood over her face.

"Sorry about that." She said, lifting her hood.

"I thought I recognized you..." Metal Blade said, her voice quivering. "You're the one who killed Yellow Coat."

"So you were still conscious for that, huh?" Rainbow inquired as she pulled her knife out of the assassins corpse.

"You remember my name, yes?" She asked as she lifted the hood of the corpse.

Metal Blade didn't have any time to respond as Rainbow gasped.

"What?!" She practically screamed as she stared at the face of the now dead assassin. "But... That's!"

"What's wrong?" Metal Blade asked, unable to see anything.

Rainbow looked at Metal Blade, unable to fight back the tears that were forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry..." Rainbow's voice shook as she looked at Metal Blade. "But I have to go."

Before Metal Blade could react, Rainbow was gone.

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Ruby felt numb. She felt numb as she walked over the the casket where Autumn Breeze was held. Numb as she added a marigold to the bouquet that Autumn Breeze held in her hooves. Numb as she looked at her friends appearance. Autumn Breeze wore a peaceful expression, as if she were sleeping without a care in the world. Her dress bore a remarkable resemblance to Fulttershy's old gala dress. It was nature based. It went well with her already green coat, and orange stripe, her gold and brown mane and the marigolds went well with them as well, so Autumn Breeze looked like the autumn season on a ponies body.

Just like her name. Ruby thought to herself as she stared at her friend, and as she did so, she remembered how she had found out that her friend had died and the events that followed.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey, mom?" Ruby asked as she walked towards Twilight. To her surprise, she was crying.

Ruby lifted an eyebrow, a bit unnerved by this display of emotions. "What's wrong?"

Ruby was taken by surprise when suddenly her mom pulled her into a hug, nearly crushing the life out of her

"Mom?" Ruby asked again, wory creeping into her voice.

"I'm sorry, Ruby!" Twilight wailed into Ruby's shoulder. "So, so sorry!"

"Mom?" Ruby asked again, the fear evident in her voice. "What happened?"

"I-It's ab-bout Autumn Breeze." Twilight responded, her sobbing as loud a ever.

At the mention of her friend Ruby tensed up.

"What about Autumn Breeze?" Ruby inquired, her voice shaking. What had happened to her friend? Was she sick? Or hurt? So many questions rushed through Ruby's head she was surprised she could keep track of them all.

"Ruby..." Twilight began tentatively. "There was an accident involving Autumn Breeze..."

"What do you mean by accident?" Ruby asked her mother, her voice rising quickly.

"Is she hurt? Is she in the hospital? WHAT HAPPENED?!" Ruby roared as she pushed herself away from her mother. Her wings popping into existence, outstretched and intimidating.

"What's going on here?" A voice sounded from behind Ruby.

Ruby turned around to find Cadence who, much to Ruby's surprise wore a grim expression.

"I heard something happened to Autumn Breeze." Ruby stated, the anger in her voice still apparent.

Cadence took a step away from Ruby and, much to Ruby's surprise, started to cry. At that moment Ruby started to fear the worst.

"Sh-... She's not dead... Is she?" Ruby chocked out, her voice no louder than Fluttershy's.

"I'm so sorry, Ruby." Cadence squeaked through her crying.

"No..." Ruby said, backing away from her mother and Cadence. "No... No!" Ruby's started to scream as her mind raced. Autumn Breeze was dead. She would never see her again.

Confused and hurt, Ruby bolted for the door, tears streaming down her face as she ran out of the castle, not caring who saw her wings.

...

She arrived at a stream she remembered all to well. This is where I first met Metal Blade. Ruby thought to herself as she stared at her reflection. Her wings sparkled in the sunlight, and when Ruby turned to look at them, they seemed... Soothing. The reassuring glimmer coupled with the soft sound of the creek, and the chirping of the birds all seemed to calm Ruby down. She then heard the soft movement of grass. Turning around her eyes fell upon princess Luna, and all her grief came back to her all at once.

"Lost in your thoughts, I see." Luna commented. Her voice seemed to echo through the silent woods, although that did little to comfort Ruby.

Ruby merely nodded, her whole body trembling in grief as she fought back her tears. Luna seemed to understand, however, and pulled Ruby into a hug with her wing.

"All will be okay, Ruby." Luna soothed, "You'll see. Just remember that Autumn Breeze is in a better place now."

At that last comment a blinding wave of numbness hit Ruby, smothering all of her emotions. She wanted to snap back at Luna, to tell her that she was wrong. But Ruby couldn't find the strength to. All she could manage was a tiny nod at Luna's words, then, without saying anything, got up and walked back home, the sound of the stream still in her ears.