Three hours after Dark Rose arrived home and realized that Sugar Swirl had called her "Rose", she sat in her rocking chair, clutching a cup of earl grey tea to her chest as she stared at the picture of her parents on her bookcase. Her mother's giddy smile as she side-hugged her brand new husband on their wedding day. She clutched the cup tighter at their smiles, and tried to sink her head further back into her chair, but to no avail, the faces of her lovely parents had practically been etched into her eyelids.

She cried out in defeat and rose suddenly, launching the fragile cup across the room, where it shattered with a resounding crash. Facing the bookcase, she reached for the picture but faltered, seeming uncertain wether she should disturb their happiness, but finally gripping it her hoof and pulling it close. Without really realizing it, she trotted quietly to her bedroom and lied on her stomach with the picture on her nightstand. She stared at the couple sadly, the childish writing on the preserved moment a painful slap from the past.

A ghost memory passed over her as she lied there, her room faded out to reveal her dining room in a soft amber light. The picture frame beneath her tiny hooves almost finished, footsteps echoed above the filly's head as she hurried to finish the chicken scratch on the bottom. A lovely purple mare came down into the room, her pink mane a disheveled mess, while a dark red stallion came after her. They paid no heed to their daughter at the table giddily hiding the picture frame under the table. After a while, the two adult ponies sat down with their coffee and started small talk with the filly.

"How did you sleep Dear?" said the phantom of her mother before taking a sip of her scalding beverage. The foal didn't hear her question and bounced on the table in her joy and gave the glitter coated picture frame of her parents on their wedding day to them. Tears glistened in their eyes as they surveyed their young daughters work, they admired her craftsmanship, and the fact she got up so early to make it without their knowing.

"It's gorgeous Dear. Absolutely gorgeous!" said her father bringing the small foal in for a hug and wrangling his wife in for a group hug. The small pony sighed in content at her parents joy and nuzzled closer to them, and they shared a happy embrace in the morning sun.

The past faded away to show the grown mare her dark room again, but them room quickly became obscured by the tears pouring from her eyes as the final words of the memory echoed around her head as she clung desperately to the picture frame. "It's beautiful Rose, just like you.". She couldn't contain the wails as she let loose the emotions pilling up, spilling out a ravine through her eyes as she hugged her craft to her chest as the moon lit up the tears on her face.

Sniffles echoed around the empty halls of her home, the walls bearing empty picture frames and a foal's paintings. A chair in her kitchen bearing terrible doodles over the legs, from her rebellious days. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the smell of her parents perfume and cologne from the carpet in their room. The past haunted her like a unforgiving ghost, constantly reminding her of her pain. A new but constant memory succumbed her vision, showcasing a hill adorned with stones, the sky pouring it's contents on a teenaged foal alongside a bright red unicorn.

"Aunt Peppermint?" asked the sad filly, raising her white eyes to her aunt how was holding a umbrella over her niece with her magic. The adult mare turned to face her tear stained cheeks.

"Yes Dear?" she responded, bringing herself closer to the grey pony in front of her. The latter sniffed and turned to twin headstones standing perfectly next to one another.

"Do you think they know how much I miss them?" she sniffed, rubbing a muddy hoof under her eye to wipe a tear away pointlessly.

"Yes Dear, I'm positive their standing right on their graves and are listening to you right now." her aunt answered, looking hopefully at the at the two graves, her eyes watering when the passed her brother's. She then levitated two white roses out of her saddlebags and placed them gently in the soil of her brother and sister-in-law's graves.

Bringing the sobbing foal to her black clad chest, the two mares softly trotted down the grave riddled hill and back into the town. She softly kissed her niece's forehead, whispering a promise she vowed to never break.

"A'll take care of ya ok? A'll move into Ponyville from Trottland and well make sure your never sad. Does that sound ok?" her niece looked up momentarily and nodded briefly before returning her gaze to the path to her house.

The merciless memory returned to being a memory as it once again faded away, leaving the grey mare a sobbing mess under her dark blue covers as she tried to hide from it. She cried until her throat was sore and her heart was out of tears, and she attempted to sleep. Hours passed by as she lied on her back, begging for rest, but a day of running from death and confronting a memory of death weren't a excuse enough for her to sleep. So for the rest of Luna's night, Dark Rose sat on the doodled chair in her kitchen staring at the two empty chairs at the table until the morning sun pushed out the door to work.

The sun beckoned Sugar Swirl out of his home the morning after Rose saved his life (He decide over his supper to call her that from now on). He happily trotted to the candy hut he worked in on Merchant Way, stood soldier like at his post, and waited for the first customer of the day. A familiar face appeared at the top of the way and slowly made her way down to greet him.

"Gooooood morning!" he cheered as his deadpan friend stopped in front of him, his smiled faltered as he noticed her nearly solid white eyes were a tad pink. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that her dark grey nose had a reddish tinge to it as well, along side the corners of her eyes being kinda puffy. The realization hit him like a band wagon. "Were you... Crying?!" he asked in disbelief. Rose sniffed and shook her head no, turning away from him to start trotting away again.

But Sugar was faster than that, he quickly circled the stand and stood firmly in front of the grey mare as she lowered her head. He gently placed his hoof under her chin to make her look at him. He put on a stern but soft expression and looked her in the eyes.

"Tell me why and I'll never ask again." he said, knowing Rose wouldn't want to bring it up at any other time. She looked around her for another solution, but accepted her defeat and opened up to her friend. Pouring out the details of her sadness from the night before to the cheery pony before her, sobbing out the parts of the memories. Sugar's face didn't seem to change as she finished, she looked up at him with fresh tears in her eyes, and brought her close to him and whispered to her. "It'll be okay, the past is the past, you can't let it define your future."

In the hug, neither pony realized that they were both equally hugging each other, sharing a tender embrace in the middle of the street. Once the moment broke, Sugar wiped away her fallen tears and looked at her again.

"No more crying okay? Don't want to see any more tears on that pretty face." Rose just nodded and sniffed a bit, wiping the remaining tears away.

"Nopony has ever really cared or frankly noticed that I cry." she said before buying the latest creation that her companion made, he called it a "Lifesaver" in honour of her saving his life while gathering the ingredients, she found it pretty funny. After a prolonged goodbye, Dark Rose continued her trot to work, albeit this time it was a lot cheerier, with her humming the song "Beautiful Mare" in her stupor.

Nopony noticed the slight tinge of pink spread over the white of her irises and staying there.

Author's Note

Purposely listening to sad music to get in the mood for this chapter... Mostly Bruno Mars and Jason Mraz.

"Beautiful Mare" will become a song in the universe soon... Soon...