A dark gray cloud loomed over Ponyville. The autumn air gave off a cold chill, and the leaves scurried along the ground as they were carried by the wind. Despite the weather, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Fluttershy sat outside. They endured the weather, though they didn’t like it.
Pinkie rubbed her front legs together. “When are Rarity and Rainbow getting back? I'm cold!”
Twilight looked at the horizon in front of her. No ponies were in her line of sight. “I don't know. I thought they would be here by now.”
Fluttershy started shaking. “What if something awful happened to them, and we will wait forever for them to return when they will never return!” her words came out a thousand miles per hour.
“I don't think that's the case,” Applejack said, reassuringly.
“I’m sure they’re fine, Fluttershy,” Twilight told her. She looked up at the horizon again. This time, her ears flattened, and she sank down. “I spoke too soon.”
The other three ponies looked to see what Twilight was talking about. Rainbow Dash was walking slowly while carrying Rarity on her back. There was no visible triumph in her expression, only despair.
The four ponies ran up to meet her. Rainbow’s face didn’t even show any excitement close up. In fact, her eyes were red, and her cheeks were darker than the rest of her from the tears she has been shedding.
“Did you fail?” Pinkie asked Rainbow Dash, afraid. She was rocking back and forth preparing herself for the answer.”
Rainbow shook her head, “No, we succeeded. It doesn’t matter, though.” Her voice was monotonous. She laid Rarity, who hasn’t moved, on the ground. “But it wasn’t a victory.”
“What happened?” Fluttershy asked. She was talking to Rainbow, but her eyes were glued on Rarity.
“She got trapped under a boulder, and I…” She choked on her words, and a waterfall of tears flooded down her face. She managed to finish her sentence, “I couldn’t save her.”
Pinkie’s face turned pale. “Does that mean?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.
Twilight felt Rarity’s pulse and held her ear close to her face. There was no beat coming from her heart nor the sound of air coming from her lungs. There was no denying the situation. “She’s dead.”
Rainbow nodded in confirmation. “She suffocated under the boulder, and she died before I found her.”
Pinkie pushed Twilight away from Rarity and checked for the signs of life herself. “She’s just pausing her heart beat with her magic and holding her breath to play a joke on us, isn’t she?” She glared at Rainbow Dash accusingly.
“No! We would never do that,” Rainbow denied.
Pinkie continued glaring at Rainbow Dash. “Yeah right! You and Rarity planned on this as a prank! I know it! Rarity is going to get up and yell, ‘surprise!’”
“Unicorns can’t use magic to stop their hearts,” Twilight explained.
“She’s not dead!” Pinkie said trying to be convincing to herself.
“Yes she is,” Rainbow said, trying to get Pinkie to accept it.
Applejack’s eyes lit up. “I have an idea on how we can convince Pinkie Pie that Rarity ain’t coming back! Follow me!” She ran into town. The other ponies followed behind her. Rainbow Dash carried Rarity on her back, so she was unable to fly or go as fast as she usually did.
They arrived at the hospital and was given a room as soon as they saw Rarity. They sat alone in the room. There was nothing that could’ve been done to bring Rarity back, so they weren’t in a hurry. They still grew impatient as Pinkie repeatedly told herself that Rarity was alive.
Applejack wanted to make sure that Pinkie Pie knew it wasn’t a prank. “Pinkie Pie, doctors have a creed. One part of that creed is that they have to be honest, even if ain’t what you want to hear. They wouldn’t play a joke on you.”
Pinkie looked at the ground avoiding eye contact. “I understand.” She knew Rarity was dead, but she didn’t want to believe it.
Doctor Horse finally came in and hooked Rarity up to a machine. The monitor, which measured her pulse, breathing, and brain waves, gave no results. The lines were flat, and the numbers were zero. He adjusted the machine to make sure it was working. The readings didn’t change. “I’m afraid you were too late in bringing her in. She’s no longer with us.”
Pinkie knew that Doctor Horse was neither a prankster nor a liar. There was no way to deny that her friend was gone. Her mane deflated as a balloon that was popped. The ponies left leaving Rarity behind and went to their homes.
None of them were happy, but Pinkie couldn’t get over Rarity’s death. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her mane was flat and dropped in front of her shoulders. Her face was still pale from earlier.
Her reflection gave her an idea. “Rarity’s body may be gone, but it doesn’t mean she has to be gone!” She smiled at herself and flipped her mane behind her shoulders. “I am going to become Rarity so she won’t have to be gone!”
She trotted to the bathroom and found her makeup supplies. She tried out several different colored eye shadows until she found one she liked. She went with the light indigo eye shadow and styled her mane to look fancy.
She left Sugarcube Corners walking in a sophisticated manner. She had nowhere she needed to go, but she wanted to be out. The weather from earlier cleared up. She felt better since she found a way to keep Rarity, even if she had to sacrifice part of her being.
She ran into Twilight, who was also enjoying the day. “Good evening, Twilight,” She greeted in a refined manner not unlike Rarity’s.
Twilight eyed Pinkie Pie and gave her a concerned expression, “You don’t usually wear make up.”
Pinkie flipped her mane and slightly closed her eyes, “Is it wrong for a lady to change her style?”
Twilight shook her head, “Of course not. I’m just not used to this complete change.”
Out of nowhere, Pinkie’s mannerisms returned to normal. “What do you mean, Twilight? I didn’t change at all!”
Twilight shook her head unable to comprehend what happened. Pinkie Pie was acting like Rarity, and she didn’t remember changing at all. Twilight was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice Pinkie Pie bouncing away. She flew to the castle trying to wrap her head around what just happened.
Pinkie Pie continued walking around town as if nothing happened. She hummed tunes to keep herself company. It was a quiet day , so she got bored quickly. She turned around to go back home, but she was stopped by the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Hey Pinkie!” Scootaloo greeted. Her voice was fast as to not show that she was upset. Apple Bloom grinned wide, but her smile couldn’t hide the pain. Sweetie Belle Belle didn’t try to hide anything. Her head was lowered, and her ears was flattened.
Pinkie saw Sweetie Belle and became like Rarity again, “Hello, girls. How are you doing?”
“Not so well,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “My sister just died.”
Pinkie giggled in the fashion Rarity did, “Sweetie Belle, Darling, I’m not dead.”
Sweetie Belle glared at Pinkie, “Pretending to be my sister won’t help!”
Pinkie rolled her eyes, “I’m not pretending, dear. I am your sister.”
“That isn’t helping!” Sweetie belle shouted. She ran away, and the other two crusaders followed after her. They were unable to figure out what was going on either.
Pinkie’s ears flattened. She started to believe that she was Rarity, so it felt like it was coming from her own sister. She went to Twilight’s Castle despite having no reason to be there. She didn’t want to go to Sugarcube Corners, and the Carousel Boutique was locked.
Twilight saw Pinkie walk down the halls and told her to follow her. She flew to the library where she spent a long time trying to understand why Pinkie was acting like Rarity. She sat at a table, and Pinkie sat across from her.
“Am I talking to Pinkie Pie or Rarity?” Twilight asked. She had to choose her words carefully if she wanted to understand.
“You are talking to Rarity,” Pinkie responded.
Twilight knew that Rarity wasn’t possessing Pinkie. Still, she talked as if that was the case. “Why are you taking control of Pinkie’s body?”
“Pinkie offered to allow me to live inside her” Pinkie stated.
Twilight sighed. She knew that Pinkie genuinely believed that she was Rarity. Pinkie missed Rarity, so she took on her personality. She knew that Pinkie did that to create the illusion that Rarity was there. Pinkie had to accept the inevitable, though “Pinkie Pie, you are not Rarity.”
Pinkie flipped her mane and giggled. “Of course I am, darling.”
Twilight shook her head but kept her eyes on Pinkie. “No you are not! I know that you can’t accept that Rarity is gone, but nothing you can do will bring her back!”
Pinkie’s calm composure disappeared and was replaced with red anger. “THIS WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN A PROBLEM IF YOU DIDN’T MAKE THEM GO ON THE JOURNEY!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.
“I had no idea she was going to die,” Twilight said defending herself. “If I knew, I wouldn’t have let her go.”
Rainbow Dash walked in and looked at Pinkie’s face, which was full of anger. She turned to Twilight and asked, “Do you have the new Daring Do book?”
Twilight levitated the Daring Do book over to her. Rainbow was about to leave, but Pinkie stopped her. “It’s your fault Rarity died!”
Rainbow Dash stopped in her path. There was no way in Equestria that she was going to let someone blame her. “I told you already, there was nothing I could do. I tried to help! She was already dead!”
Pinkie gave Rainbow a look of pure hatred. “If she didn’t get stuck under the boulder, none of this would have happened!”
Rainbow had enough of it. “Pinkie, Rarity and I were separated at the time! We had to be. When the boulder fell on Rarity, I had no idea until it was too late. If I knew that was going to happen, I wouldn’t have let her out of my sight.”
Pinkie’s face dropped, and she walked slowly out the room. Rainbow and Twilight didn’t try to stop her. Rainbow gave Pinkie a look of concern. “I hope she’ll be OK.”
Pinkie slowly walked to Sugarcube Corners ignoring everyone on the street. She locked herself in her room. She felt guilty for yelling at her friends when they couldn’t do anything to stop Rarity from dying.
She stared at the ceiling as if she was looking up from a deep hole. There was no light shining showing a way out. The walls were too steep to climb out of, and there was no way for her to jump out. She didn’t even want to get out. There was no hope left.
In the outside world, several days passed. Ponies went on with their normal routine. Time seemed different in Pinkie’s room, though. Nothing changed. Pinkie lost all sense of time, and she no longer cared. In fact, she hated time and wanted to pretend it didn’t exist. With time, more and more ponies were going to die.
“Everyone dies,” Pinkie told herself, staring at the ceiling.
“She was too young, though,” she replied.
“If Rarity’s ghost is watching me right now, what would she think?” She asked herself.
There was silence for a few moments as Pinkie thought. Rarity was one of the first friends Pinkie ever made. Rarity accepted her antics. They did a lot together. Rarity was one of the few ponies were weren’t judgmental. In return, Pinkie accepted the way Rarity was. She grew to love Rarity’s melodramatic moments and obsessions with dresses. She was really going to miss everything about her.
“She would want me to me to continue with my life,” Pinkie answered. “Rarity and I agree on one thing. Actually, she agrees on a lot of things, but one of the things we agree on is that we both want other ponies to be happy. Rarity wouldn’t want me to lock myself in my room because she’s no longer here. She would want me to remember her but not let her death affect me.”
Pinkie’s mane inflated back to its bouncy state. Rarity believed in parting gifts, gifts ponies give to the deceased to be with them in the afterlife. According to Rarity’s beliefs, parting gifts consisted on three gifts that symbolized something about the ponies. It was normal to get more than three gifts, but three was the most common number.
Pinkie picked up her saddle back and emptied it. She She grabbed the two diamonds from her shelf and put them in the bag. Diamonds were strong and beautiful, just like Rarity.
She then walked to the flower shop and bought some carnations and amaryllises. Rarity loved those flowers, and Pinkie agreed that they were beautiful. Both of those flowers symbolized beauty. Carnations also represented pride, and Rarity took pride in her work.
Finally, she walked to a decoration store and found a small buffalo figurine. Buffalo symbolize generosity, which was Rarity’s element. To make things even better, Rarity always talked about how much she loved that figurine. It was pretty expensive, but Pinkie still bought it. Giving it to Rarity was way better than having money.
Pinkie walked over to the graveyard with her acquired items. She looked at the graves searching for Rarity’s. She didn’t know most of the ponies since they died before she moved to Ponyville. There were still a few names she remembered. She didn’t want to disturb them, so she walked quietly.
At last, she found Rarity’s grave. She carefully placed the items in a triangle formation and took a step back. She remained silent for one minute. Then she said, “Rarity, I am really going to miss you. I hope you’re having fun in your afterlife.” A few tears fell down her cheeks, but she managed to smile. She left the graveyard and walked back to Sugarcube Corners, finally accepting that Rarity was gone.
