The day The Balloon Deflated
Author's Note
I have been told this is too short by quite a few people, and some say it wont be good to add another chapter. Vote yes or no what you think and by the end of the week i will see which vote has more. The day after this story was approved it almost got featured XD Oh well :p
The day The Balloon Deflated
Through the passing years, Twilight was seldom seen or heard. Her friends were gone. They were only mortal, and as they aged, Twilight merely stayed the same, while her friends slowly slipped between her hooves like melted butter. Whatever was left behind was the pain and sorrow her soul absorbed, pulling her into an enternal depression. The ones who taught her the meaning of honesty, loyalty, generosity, and kindness were all gone. As their faces wrinkled, and their paces slowed, made Twilight's condition worse. The first to go was Fluttershy, then Rarity, Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, and only Pinkie Pie was left.
It was an unpalatable depression Twilight went through everyday, as she has been for the past four years. The remnant of any pride and joy she had were non existant. It was as if she never knew what it felt like to be happy. She's tried imangining it, but imangining to be happy, something she wanted, knowing she can't have it, made her depression worse.
She sits in a chair, next to a hospital bed, where Pinkie Pie lay, attached to many machines to preserve her life, but it was all fruitless as she beeping heat monitor began to slow. Her lung cancer somehow went undetected as it spread , geting bigger and bigger, until it was too late to do anything to stop it. Sedatives, antibiotics, and other medication did little to even slow it down, now she lay unconscious, nearing her last breath.
The once happy, and joyfull hyper teenager, who never seemed to get enough fun was even too weak to turn her head. Her mane was no longer the bright pink it was. With age, some of it began to fall out, and it has all turned to white. Her coat of fur was faded badly, and bags hung from her closed eyes. Twilight couldn't seem to pull her eyes off her friend, as they leaked tears from an aching heart. Past memories of her overjoyous friend lingered, once filling herself with happiness, now staining her heart with the blackness of the depression that consumed her.
Twilight sighed as she took shakey breathes, wishing for some miracle to come save the last of her friends.
She cleared her throat and spoke. "Sixty years ago," she looked down. "Sixty years ago was when I first met you on my first day in Ponyville," she sighed. "You saw me, and I wasn't prepared for your reaction. You made a really loud gasp and jumped into the air. You stared at me for a few seconds, somehow floating before you zipped off as fast as Rainbow Dash can fly. I didn't see much of it, but as time went on, I came to really enjoy your hyper antics. They made us all laugh when we were down and in need of a friend."
Twilight gazed at her own hooves wishing she had never been made an alicorn.
She sniffed as her breathing becme choppy. "It hurts to have watched all of you die, knowing there wasn't a thing I could do to save any of you. I've begged the princesses to make you an alicorn so you may live, but they knew it would be wrong. You'd feel the same pain everyday, but you will never die. I don't want to be left alone," said Twilight as she began to cry softly. "I miss spending everyday with you and the others, but you've all gone and left me behind. I've got nothing but memories that torture me to remember how it used to be, reminding me things will never be the same."
Twilight watched as Pinkie's chest rose and fell at a very slow pace, as well as the heart monitor's beeping dropping ever so slowly. She coughed a few times, deep and heavy, raspy, and dry.
Her eyes opened.
"T-twilight...," she said, her voice quiet, and hoarse.
Twilight's head shot up to see Pinkie staring at her, with her faded blue eye, and one completely white and grey.
"Pinkie!?"
Pinkie Pie forced a weary smile upon her cheeks. "Don't be sad...we'll always be with you." Pinkie reached a hoof out to Twilight, who took it in hers.
"I know, Pinkie..." Twilight said just above a whisper.
"Do...do you remember the song...I sang when Cranky Doodle Donkey came into t-town," she tried to keep her smile, but her coughing forced it away.
Twilight nodded.
“Don’t cry Twilight. Because if you’re sad...then..then I’ll be sad. And if I’m sad, I won’t be happy. And if I’m not happy...I’ll die sad.”
Twilight forced a small smile, happy to see her friend still joyous, despite the fact she’s living the last few minutes of her life.
“I’m trying, Pinkie...I really am,” said Twilight, barely managing to keep the smile on her face. The stinging achiness in her heart was just too much to bear.
“Look at me, Twilight.” Pinkie lifted Twilight’s chin with a hoof.
Twilight wanted to, yet she feared Pinkie would react badly to her depression distraught expression. Pinkie gave a sincere smile.
“Come on everypony, smile smile smile,” Pinkie sang as best she could, pausing to take a breath or cough. “Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine.”
Twilight stared at her, listening carefully, trying her best to fight back the tears of fours years desolation. She knew this day would come, and for sixty years, she’s been begging for it not to come, and here she is now, saying goodbye to her last friend.
“Come on, Twilight! You know the words!” Pinkie cheered in her dreary voice, no longer high-pitched like it used to be. Now it was empty feeling, as if there were no emotion put into her words.
After a clearing of her throat, Twilight sang, the way she did sixty years ago, as if she never aged. Being an alicorn is to blame for that.
“All I really need is a smile, smile, smile, from these happy happy friends of mi-ine. All I really need is a smile as wide as a mile, to be happy as can be,” she sang softly.
“Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile!” Twilight sang as Pinkie joined in, up until the highnote where even her voice couldn’t handle it, She began another coughing fit, and Twilight held her head in her forelegs, praying by some hint of amiracle she’ll pull through.
Tears leaked from both their eyes, savoring whatever they can of this last moment they’ll have together. The heart monitor reminded them of how little time they had, as the beeping came to one beep every few seconds.
They both knew this was it. Twilight held her friend close as tears slipped from her eyes, where they fell into Pinkie’s mane from the tip of her rounded muzzle.
Pinkie sang again, as her eyelids began to close. “Come on and smile. Come on and smile...come on and…...smile…”
“Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”
Hanging her head as she held her now deceased friend tightly, Twilight couldn't keep it in any longer, and cried.
"Goodbye, Pinkie..."
Twilight stared down with a sad expression upon her cheeks as she gazed into the coffin which held her friend. It had never occurred to her this would happen, and now that it has, she regrets every minute of being princess. She wished she could tear her wings off and be done, but she knows she can't. She didn't want to live forever. The loss was too much for her since she was no longer the happy soul she used to be. Memeories always flying through her mind like never ending torture. Things that used to make her laugh, or smile, only make her cry now.
It had been a cloudy day, with a slight rain, which only made the scene more mellow
"What's the point of being princess of friendship when there's no friendship to be shared?" Twilight always asked herself. Her duty as a princess of Equestria seemed irrelevant to her now, and without purpose. Everyone she cared about most were now gone, or already dying. Ponyville was foreign to her now, seeing no familiar faces if they hadn't deceased yet. Her studies came to an abrupt stop, and her castle was empty, of any other souls than herself.
She stood up at the podium, preparing to make her brief speech about Pinkie before the bury her in the ground next to the other four of her friends. She already had a hard enough time fighting back the tears as it was, and Staring at her friend's dead body wasn't helping any.
"Pinkie Pie...now Pinkie Pie...the happiest soul you would have ever seen," Twilight began, with the foreign crowd listening closely, as Octavia played a sad tune in the background. "She somehow had the ability to defy even the law of physics at will and whenever," Twilight sniffed. "She was always there to lend a helping hoof, to cheer you up, and make you feel happy if you were down even the slightest bit. Pinkie Pie was no ordinary pony. She was always hyper and happy, ready to start the day, but for the first time, she won't be doing any of that. I was there in the hospital with her when she died. I held her hoof as she said her last words to me. She told me to try and be happy, and quite frankly, its hard when all my friends have gone, and I hardly know any of you. It makes me wonder how many times Celestia and Luna have experienced this, or how many times they will before they cease to live, if that ever happens."
Twilight gave a heavy sigh where she removed her crown from her head.
"Now it feels like I'm a princess without purpose or reason. I've got no more friends to share friendship with, so without my friends, what am I now?" Twilight gazed down sadly, placing her crown back upon her head.
She saw Pinkie lying on her back in the coffin, eyes closed and fore hooves over her chest. Upon her chest was the element of laughter, turned grey with the passing of its owner.
"I'm sorry, Pinkie. I'm so sorry." Twilight sniffed with tears in her eyes, taking one last good look at her friend. "I will forever miss you."
Twilight lit her horn, her purple aura appeared in a silhouette around the cover of the coffin, slowly closing it. Tears leaked from her tired eyes as she lifted the coffin off the ground, moving it over the hole in which Pinkie would be buried. Her legs wobbled, weak and weary as she lowered the coffin into the hole. She stared down where the coffin lay six feet below, where two stallions began shovling dirt onto it.
A small choir of ponies sang as the stallions shoveled. Tears dripped from Twilight's cheeks, but nopony could tell as they blended in with the rain. Next to the other graves, there was a gravestone placed into the dirt along with the others. Ponies came along to place flowers at the foot of the gravestone, ranging from roses, to tulips, to tiger lillies, to daffodils.
Even as the ponies packed up and left, Twilight stayed, gazing upon the five graves before her, knowing the ones she held closest to her heart lay here, beneath the ground. Each of their gravestones had an image of their cutie mark at the top. She thought about all the fun and bad times they had, how many evils they overcame, how through it all, six different ponies, each with a different past, personality, and life style, were all the best of friends. Through everything they went through, she thought nothing could ever possibly ever tear them apart, but where are they now?
They've all died, and moved on to greener pastures, leaving Twilight in the dust, with nopony to turn to. She was grateful for the many years she had with them, but never thought of the fact they'd die, and she will live forever.
Twilight turned her gaze up to the sky as the sun began to show through the cracks in the cloud, painting the land with its light like a beautiful canvas. The gems in which the cutie marks upon the gravestones were made with, glistened in the light. It became too bright for Twilight to see, forcing her to cover her eyes. As the light died down, she removed her hoof, to see five colorful, transparent apparitions in front of the graves. One was a rainbow maned pegasus, an orange apple farmer, a shy animal lover, a beautiful fashon designer, and a joyful partier, all wearing the same sincere smile. And they all looked young again.
Twilight's eyes went wide from the sight. "Girls!?"
Their smiles grew a little wider as they walked up to her.
"Thank ya, for all the wonderful years," said Applejack where Pinkie began bouncing up and down.
"Yeah! They were like the best years of our lives!" Pinkie cheered joyfully.
"It's gonna suck not being able to hang out with you anymore," sighed Rainbow Dash. "But it was all worth it."
"And we all hope you can go on without us." Fluttershy stated in a nervous tone like always
Rarity nodded in agreement. "We may have all had our up's and down's, but what mattered, was that in the end-
"We were all there for each other!" They said in unision, giving Twilight a final nuzzling group hug.
"Thanks girls," said Twilight as they parted a minutes later. "This means a lot."
Pinkie Pie smiled. "It's what we're here for. We might not be able to be with you physically, but we'll always be right here." Pinkie placed her hoof on Twilight's chest, over her heart. "Don't ever forget us."
Their smiling apparitions began to blur, and their bodies formed together in a ball of rianbow colors, glowing brightly. Twilight watched as it absorbed itself into her chest, the aching feeling in her heart faded completely.
She smiled, gazing up at the mid-afternoon sky.
Author's Note
I was told I should make a sequel instead of adding another chapter, but to me, this wouldn't make sense as a sequel. But either way, I hope you enjoy it :D
