It was winter in Ponyville once more. The skies were cocooned with thick, grey clouds that were pumping out large snowflakes, slowly but gradually floating down to the ground to form a thick series of layers to blanket the grass and paths of the town.
Being a small town, it didn't take long for it to become completely sheeted with snow. As the snow fell, their fabrication glimmered with a soft blue glint, reflecting beautifully with the whiteness of the atmosphere and landscape.
Not too many ponies were out to play in the snow, as it was only early in the morning and most were still snoozing away in their beds, sleeping off the days towards the one marked on their calendars as ''Hearth's Warming Eve''.
One such filly, Apple Bloom, was looking forward to such a day, but rather than sleeping in, she was on her merry way towards the local music shop, owned by none other than the brother of the famous Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Strike.
Her cream coat, clad with a knitted pink scarf from her grandmother, Granny Smith, and her iconic pink bow tied into the back of her red mane, she made her way through the snow-shrouded streets, the snow almost knee-deep on her small-built structure.
Granted, although small, she was a rather tough filly. She had her upbringing on her family's farm to thank for that. Sweet Apple Acres, the home of the traditional and famous Apple family cider that was usually enjoyed with a special brew of cinnamon to its sweet and tangy bite for added spice, an idea from Applejack, herself.
The Apples themselves would sit by the fire on Hearth's Warming Eve with such a beverage in their hooves, making friendly chatter and eagerly awaiting the following day.
The music shop wasn't all that much in the way of size, scale or prominence, but it had a character to its exterior. It was about the size of an average Ponyvillian house, of medium-scale or so. Two storey. A large wooden sign hung proudly over the front door, depicting of a red Stratocaster guitar surrounded by musical notes.
The body of the structure wasn't all too showy, despite the sign, but it didn't lack with any outstanding properties. Rather than the use of hay and straw with wooden beam reinforcements to construct the building, it instead opted for the alternative and adopted only wood as its main feature.
Primarily a sea foam green-painted planks for the body and dark oak skirting boards for the top and bottom. In Apple Bloom's opinion, it kind of made it appear as though it was a mint chocolate bar. It was a common reference to the shop by the town citizens.
There were two windows on the front and two on the top, facing outwards into the town. As Apple Bloom approached, she could clearly notice an off appearance about the shop. Despite the cold and dark weather provided by the seasonal weather patterns and climate change, the building seemed to have a darker atmosphere wrapped around it.
Then again, it was still a little early in the morning than her usual times to drop by to partake in a musical lesson. Rainbow Strike had offered her a teaching at a small bass guitar, a Stradivarius style of design and sparkly yellow in colour. He said it matched her personality and colour scheme quite well. It was practically her in instrument form.
Strike also said that she was a natural, seemingly impressed by her aptitude with the instrument. She was certainly gifted with the big daddy of a band, the musical addition that added a little beef to the beat.
She approached the front door of the music shop and stopped outside, giving it a series of knocks with her hoof, lightly tapping against the wood before she waited politely for a response.
After receiving no response for a solid minute or two, coursing off into almost five after a couple other knocks, the young filly raised her brow in wonder. Normally, Rainbow Strike would have answered within a few seconds. Surely, he couldn't still be in bed? Like Rainbow Dash, he never sleeps for long periods of time.
Confused with a worryful tinge in her heart, Apple Bloom tried the window, hoping to catch glimpse of the rainbow-maned stallion. Gosh, where is he? This certainly isn't like him, at all.
Lightly supporting her weight on her small rear hooves, Apple Bloom raised herself enough to peer through the window, gently rubbing away at the frost that had manifested a water-based screen on top of the glass. She brought her face to the glass, close enough to view inside the shop.
Oddly enough, it was dark and void of any signs of life. The only items within the filly's field of view were a series of various instruments of alternate scales and styles racked up against the wall or sealed away in glass cabinets for display purposes. With the shop being considerably small, that meant that its stock would too be small.
It mostly consisted of guitars, the instrument Strike was most known for around Equestria. He wasn't too open about it, but he has mentioned a few times to Apple Bloom and her friends that he used to be a band member. A lead guitarist.
Said guitar was displayed at the far end of the room from the entrance, encased in its own, little private glass cabinet for all to see. It was a black Stratocaster with a mother of pearl pickguard and a rainbow-coloured headstock to match its owner's mane. The name written across the headstock read out Blitzer - a popular band with an outstanding reputation in the world of music and guitar manufacturing.
It was also the brand that marked Apple Bloom's own bass guitar, of a more short-scale model to better fit her size.
She glanced all around from her position at the window of the shop, finding no trace of the owner. All that greeted her was a darkness and deaf music. The eery quiet that surrounded the interior of the building was reaking of something ominous, and the farm filly couldn't exactly place just what it was, and it was bothering her to her very tailbone.
She turned her attention left, towards the door, pausing when she noticed something dark. A fallen drumstick? No, no. It's too big to be a drumstick. An amplifier? No, no, that couldn't be right.
She stared for a while, trying to make heads or tails of what she was looking at when suddenly, it clicked in her brain. The thing on the floor was nothing of the musical variety, but it was a hoof.
A cyan hoof.
She removed herself from the window, stepping in front of the door again and giving it a light push rather than a simple knock. Because of her small size, she didn't really succeed in moving the door in any way, shape or form. There was a weight on the other end that acted as a sort of barricade, blocking the door.
She pushed again, throwing her entire body weight onto the body of the door, again and again, slowly but surely succeeding in causing it to budge open with each blow.
It eventually became wide enough to give way to a wide enough crack so that she could squeeze through to get out of the cold. She slowly pulled herself through with a shuffle, passing through with ease.
Once inside, the first thing that hit her like a ton of bricks was a pungent, overwhelming stench in the air. Something morbid that caught in the back of her throat as a loud gag escaped from behind her lips, sounding like a cross between a choke and a cry. To avoid the strange and unexpected aroma, she plunged her muzzle into the thick fibres of her scarf, pressing and holding it in place with a hoof.
It didn't do much, but it kept the majority of the foulness in the air at bay. Well, enough to withstand any violent gagging and coughing.
Finally inside and able to figure out where the scent was sourced, Apple Bloom looked around the shop from her stand-still position.
''Strike? Ya'll in here?'' She called out, her voice muffled from behind the confines of her scarf but still loud enough to produce an echo that bounced back to death ears.
She continued to look around, skimming her eyes across nearly each and every surface before they landed on what was in front of the door.
She froze in place, her joints and muscles automatically locking in place as she stared in front of her, eyes shrinking down to pinpricks.
There, lying motionless and still was the reason for the door being near to impossible to open - Rainbow Strike.
He was laying on his chest with a pair of bandaged hooves sprawled out in front of him. His back legs were straightened to their full lengths, his tail whisped lightly around his leg, the tip resting underneath his body onto where his lap would be, only half-covering his cutie mark of a thundercloud with individually coloured lightning bolts shooting out of it.
His eyes were closed and his entire body was pale, giving him an off-white appearance.
''S-S-Strike...?'' The filly whispered to the dead air, her joints unfreezing and allowing her to take a step back thoughtlessly, only to step into something cold and sticky.
She raised her hoof to inspect it, her body shivering. In the dark, it was hard to see its colour, but the smell was enough to give away its identity.
Blood. Dried, sticky blood.
Strike's blood.
She gagged again, staring at the floorboards and coming face to face with a large splatter of the sticky substance.
Without a second thought in her tiny mind, she glanced between the body of her mentor and friend and his blood, trying to process what she was witnessing, her mental gear grinding and scraping against her skull.
She did the only thing a little filly could do in a situation like this: Scream. Loudly.
An Hour Later
''It's alright, baby girl, jus' don't look,'' Applejack said to her little sister, curled up in her big sister's green winter coat. When three nearby ponies heard the now mentally scarred filly's screams and came to investigate, only to face the horror themselves of the deceased pony, one stayed with Apple Bloom, trying to keep her calm as she cried uncontrollably, another went off to fetch the mayor whilst the third pony ran off towards Sweet Apple Acres to grab Applejack. ''Don't look, sugarcube.''
Applejack had her hoof wrapped around her, holding her tight. Apple Bloom's hooves were latched tightly around her barrel, her face buried into her orange fur.
Ever since the discovery of the body, the whole town seemed to have gathered around to see what all the ruckus was about. The local police enforcement, consisting of only a small group of ponies due to the size of the town, had already entered the music shop to perform and investigation.
It didn't take less than a minute before one of the officers, a tan female pegasus pony clad in blue jacket and hat retreated outside, looking as if she was about to puke a bucket's worth of vomit. Ponies all around could see the horror etched into her brown eyes.
Apple Bloom's friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had also turned up to join the crowd gathered around the music shop, their worry aroused by the fact that something might be terribly wrong with their teacher, Strike. They didn't have half of a clue what was behind that door, and it was better that they didn't.
They came towards Applejack in an instant upon noticing the shivering and terrified form of their friend in her sister's hooves.
''Apple Bloom! What happened here?'' Scootaloo asked, concerned.
''Are you alright? What's wrong?'' Sweetie asked as she came close to her, touching a hoof to the back of her neck, shocked at how cold she was, regardless of the coat enveloped around her frame.
''S-S-Stri-Stri-ke...'' She mumbled unintelligibly, her voice shaken beyond comprehension.
''Wait, what?'' Sweetie asked, raising her brow in worry and confusion. Before she could begin to ask another question to figure out what was going on, Applejack stopped her.
''It's of no use, girls. She's a li'l shaken up right now.'' She said sadly, feeling her sister tighten her grip.
''But what's happened? Why's everypony standing around Strike's music shop? Where is he, anyway?'' Scootaloo asked, glancing around at her surroundings, noticing the police ponies.
However, before Applejack was even able to deliver a response in a way that she could let the young girls understand without any intricate details, a voice brought about a new wave of silence.
''Hey! What's going on here?!'' The voice of Rainbow Dash bellowed across the street, her tone frustrated. The group of ponies gathered outside directed their attention towards the cyan mare in time to witness a male earth pony officer push her away firmly but gently away from the entrance to the building.
''I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't allow anypony into the crime scene. May I ask that you step back with everypony else?'' He said professionally, yet a tone of sympathy tinted his voice.
''But this is my brother's shop! I want to know where he is! Don't you at least figure you owe me that much?!'' She said relentlessly and unwilling to back down, a typical trait for her. She was a stubborn mare in general, but when it came to her family, she was especially stubborn, unwilling to back down when she wants to know if they're alright.
A series of chatter began to arise in the crowd observing the scene, tones of sympathy for the mare. They too wanted to know about the well-being of the rainbow sibling.
''I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't disclose that information as of yet. Not until we know who's body this is, and I---''
''Body?! What body?!'' Rainbow shrieked in horror, her eyes shrinking in shock at his word choice. That was it, she's had enough! She wanted to find her brother now, and fast!
Without a second to spare, she hovered in the air, giving her wings an almighty flap before she bolted passed the officer and into the building.
It wasn't long until a horrified scream echoed throughout the entire town and the ground shook violently with the sound waves produced by the mare. Even some snow that had gathered on the roofs of the houses in the town began to drop down, causing a small series of avalanches in the streets.
''Str-S-S-Strike,'' Apple Bloom mumbled again, this time more audible. ''Strike, why?'' She said sorrowfully, hugging her eldest sister with her cheek buried into her chest, her head turned so that she could face her friends.
''Apple Bloom, what's going on?'' Sweetie asked her, both her and Scootaloo approaching her.
''G-Gone...blood. So much blood,'' She uttered, her voice barely a whisper.
''Blood? I-What do you mean, AB?'' Scootaloo asked, her skin riddled with goosebumps.
''Hush, youngun. That's enough of that,'' Applejack said, patting her sister's back. She turned to Sweetie and Scootaloo. ''Girls, Ah'm afraid there's some bad news to tell ya'll, but it'll have ta wait.''
''Bad news? What's the bad news? Is it-'' Sweetie began, only to be cut off by the voice of a saddened Rainbow Dash.
''No, no, no, no ,no no-no-no-no-no!'' She cried frantically, flying out of the music shop, her face drained of any and all blood, causing her to appear as white a ghost. Tears stained the bottom of her eyes and cheeks, evidence that what she witnessed inside had seriously wounded her heart.
I series of concerned and worried mumbling and chatter was passed around the crowd, wondering what had upset the usually up-beat and daring pegasus mare. Nopony in their entire lives have ever witnessed a sad Rainbow Dash, but today was the day.
''Rainbow Dash? Rainbow!'' Twilight Sparkle called, trotting up to her from somewhere in the back of the crowd. She placed a hoof on her shoulder as she looked into her friend's small magenta eyes and offered a sympathetic ear. ''Rainbow, what happened? What's wrong?'' She asked.
''Dashie, are you alright?'' Fluttershy joined in, hovering beside her and landing gingerly onto her hooves. Pinkie Pie and Rarity joined her and offered their ears to their distraught pegasus friend.
''St-Strike,'' She said, looking anywhere but at her friends. A tear fell from her eye. ''H-He's...'' She said, on the brink of bursting out into tears. Rarity lightly wrapped a hoof around her neck and nuzzled her cheek friendlily.
''Oh, Rainbow Dash, come here,'' She said softly, hugging her warmly. ''It's alright, darling.'' Rainbow put up no resistance and melted into the embrace.
''Oh, dear,'' Fluttershy murmured watching the entrance to the music shop. Her eyes found themselves directed towards the crack in the door that revealed a small gap to the interior. A police pony, the tan pegasus mare from earlier, was standing just behind the door, looking down at something in front of her. Following her gaze as best as she could, Fluttershy came to notice something shaped like a hoof that was revealed from behind the door's body. ''Is that...''
Pinkie Pie began to cry beside Fluttershy, taking her by surprise as she practically threw her body weight into her side and buried her pink-furred face into the butter pegasus's curtain of pink mane. She wailed loudly and Fluttershy frowned softly as she tapped her friend's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
On the inside of the building, an officer passed a note to his colleague. They pushed up the brim of their hat to bring some light to the page, enabling them the necessary visibility to read it.
''What's this?'' She asked.
''A note. I found it over at the back of the room on top of the counter. Seems like a suicide note,'' He said sadly. ''I also found this,'' He said, brining up a plastic bag in his unicorn levitation field. A golden glow surrounded a small flip razor, the blade stained with a dark red substance, obviously blood.
''Oh, Celestia. What a way to go out.'' She whispered, glancing to the body on the floor. She frowned sorrowfully. Turning her attention back to the letter, she looked it over for a moment, noticing that it was scribbled with black ink, small specs of the ink dotting the page, accompanied by what appeared to be droplets of tears. ''Don't you think we should show this to Rainbow Dash? I mean, isn't it only right since this is her brother?''
The unicorn eyed her for a few moments as if thinking on his final decision. Eventually, he just sighed and placed the bagged evidence aside onto one of the display cabinets.
''I suppose so,'' He agreed quietly, glancing outside to view Rainbow Dash. She was still sobbing away with her friends for the loss of her only brother. ''Perhaps we should wait for a while. Let her get it out of her system until she's calm enough to handle it.''
The Letter
Dear Rainbow Dash/Twilight and friends/CMC/Mum and Dad,
I don't know where to begin with this letter, so I guess I'll just get right into it.
Everypony knows what I've done, especially Pinkie Pie. I've done wrong in many ways and I know it's impossible to take it all back. A regret is something I never wanted to face, but I'm afraid that isn't the case with what's happened to me in previous years.
It's been hard, moving back to Ponyville and rebuilding my life from where I left it off. Everything has changed so much in so little time. Everything but me. I find it impossible to retake my place in Equestria, or to know if I even had one in the first place.
That's why I've only come to break it off with one final decision. I don't think I have a place in the world anymore, so I guess it's time to cash out. There's a songbird in the sky waiting for me, anyhow. It's about time I paid my dues to her. But first, I have something to say to all of you.
To the Cutie Mark Crusaders - I'm so very, very proud of all of you for what you've accomplished. You've earned your cutie marks and gained new friends. I'm glad to have been able to meet all three of you and get to know you. Your progress in playing the instruments I gave you to learn have definitely pushed passed my expectations, and so I've made a decision. Apple Bloom, Sweetie, Scootaloo, I want you to take have the instruments to cherish forever.
You'll serve them well and do yourself's proud with them, I know it. Even more so, you will continue to make me proud.
Lastly, I'm not usually one for sappy sentiments, but ever since I've gotten to know you delightful fillies, I've come to view you as a division of the foal I never had. It was something taken from me long ago, but when you came along, I was brought back into how loving a child can truly be and how much they can affect somepony's life. I can't thank you enough.
I love you three to bits, and I always will.
To Twilight and her friends - I know we've had a rocky start in our relationship, but I wanted to thank you for being there for me whenever I had my doubts. I remember when I came clean on my past and my wrongs, and I'm sorry if I hurt anypony. Especially you, Pinkie Pie. I'm so sorry for what I've done. I hope you can forgive me someday.
Your family has always been good to me and I did something horrible to the one who acted like the grandmother I never truly had. Listen, Pinkie, I know this may sound stupid and maybe a little weird, but when we were together at the bakery and we had that small conversation, there was something I wanted to say to you. Pinkie Pie, I love you. I really like you.
Finally, to my sister, Rainbow Dash - I know how you must be feeling. Even in death, I feel truly horrible about my choice to depart without saying my goodbye's. I'm such a screw up. My only sister and the best I can do is write her a damn letter.
Listen, Rainbow Dash, you're my one and only sister. You're awesome, loyal and cunning. There are many ponies in the world that would be glad to have you as a friend in their lives, and I, for one, am glad to have been one of those ponies. You were more than just a sister to me, Dashie. You were my best friend, and I love you.
I suck at saying - and writing - my final goodbye's, but there's something I want you to have. If the police haven't already bagged it and taken it into custody, I want you to take my guitar. It's served me well and brought me fame and fortune over the years, and if you ever decide to go pro with it, I hope it can do the same for you, too.
Just remember the songs I taught you.
You've been there for me through thick and thin and I want you to know that I wouldn't have had it any other way. I'm proud to have been your brother and best friend, and I only hope you feel the same, despite my wrongs and choices.
Go knock 'em dead, girl. You'll always be my beautiful sister.
Love,
Rainbow Strike.
PS: Don't worry, you'll see me again.
