Diary of the Dead

Sunset couldn’t get used to it. She knew she was with her friends, but they felt like strangers. There were chasms opened between them, pushed further by Fluttershy’s death. They needed to cross them in order to navigate this dark time, but they could not. For the more they attempted to jump, the more the canyons moved. Every time Sunset attempted to speak with a friend, it was as if her mind could not comprehend the English language. All the words were slurred, with a distinctive tone of devastating heartbreak. She tried to talk with Pinkie, Rarity, and even Applejack. But she could not initiate a conversation without some memory of the departed stabbing at her mind. Then, she’d break down in tears all over again. She cried until her head ached, and Twilight had to help her into another room.

“I can’t accept this,” she told her best friend, “I just can’t accept that she’s gone.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, but held the poor quaking girl as she continued her weeping. She knew exactly what Sunset was going through. Back at Crystal Prep, she’d lost a dear friend named Ruby Quartz. The two were inseparable, from kindergarten all the way to their junior year. They’d experienced all the beautiful ups and downs of friendship. They’d fought when, in their middle school years, they found that they had shallow affections for the same male scientist. They’d cuddled deeply on stormy nights during sleepovers in the second grade. Finally, it was Ruby that Twilight had turned to when her dear grandmother had passed.

One day, Ruby was diagnosed with extremely malignant stage four cancer. Twilight was absolutely inconsolable, weeping in the same manner that Sunset wept now. The prognosis for Ruby was terrifying: death. The intellectual remembered how she’d refused to leave her bubble afterwards. She’d spend all her time at school, and then return home only to rest. When Ruby passed away, Twilight had turned her back on friendship. She became obsessed with the Everton Independent Study Program, feeling that she had to attain it in order to satisfy her memories. But then, she met the girls at Canterlot High and realized that the true way to mentally lay Ruby to rest was to return to friendship.

As she stroked Sunset’s hair, she felt a deep pity overtake her. Tears of empathy began to fall, and she pulled her into a hug. Sunset gladly returned it, thankful for someone who she could count on. Even though Fluttershy’s death was a common devastation, she knew Twilight would always support her. That was one of the big things that held their friendship together. In the old days, Sunset would have bullied Twilight into exhaustion. But now that the light of amiability shone upon them, Sunset looked to Twilight to be something of a rock during these dark times. She pulled her face back, but remained in the embrace, needing the loving touch of a dear friend.

“What…happened?” She managed to ask in an extremely shaky voice, “how…did she…go? Please tell me…she wasn’t in pain.”

Twilight looked at the ground. The details of Fluttershy’s death had come from her parents, and they were a little sketchy. Of course, that could be because Mrs. Shy couldn’t stop weeping for her daughter. She cried out about Fluttershy’s dream to become a veterinarian and how it had been stomped into the dirt. Then, Mr. Shy managed to get out what actually happened. Now, it was up to Twilight to relay the same devastating details.

“I can’t say if she was in pain or not,” Twilight said, “but she was in a terrible car crash.”

“A car crash?” Sunset asked in shock, “but…Flutter was one of the best drivers out there.”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Twilight responded, “her father told us that she was going through a green light. The light beside her had turned red, but a drunk driver didn’t see it. He was killed instantly in the accident, but she was clinging to life. They airlifted her to CHS Memorial…and the doctors took her into emergency surgery.”

“I guess it wasn’t successful,” Sunset said with horrific sadness.

Twilight nodded with the same pain. “It wasn’t. Fluttershy fought her hardest, but in the end…”

“…death won.” Sunset said before bursting into tears all over again.

“Oh, Sunset,” Twilight said as she felt more liquid burn her own eyes, “we have to remain strong for Fluttershy’s family. They’re feeling worse than we are right now.”

“How could they?” Sunset asked, burying her head into Twilight’s hair, “they didn’t bully her.”

Twilight sighed and put a tender arm around Sunset’s neck, pulling her close. Every ounce of her wanted to jump into Sunset’s body and remove the pain. She hated seeing her best friend so torn up about everything. All of the past mistakes and misdeeds were coming to light, and Sunset felt like she owed a very heavy debt to the departed. Every single punch thrown, kick placed, and hair ripped out bore a severe consequence to the weeping girl. Now, she’d never be able to know what Fluttershy truly thought. Sunset had to have believed that the friendship she shared with the quiet animal lover was something of a mirage. Fluttershy’s death solidified that theory, and it was up to Twilight to pull Sunset out of it.

“No, they didn’t,” she said, “but they were related to her. We were her friends.”

“How? How could she have truly been friends with a monster like me?!” Sunset asked, blue eyes wide as saucepans, “how could she have trusted me? I was the one who told her that her dreams were stupid! I was the one who berated her for loving animals so much! I was the one who punched her…and kicked her…and spat on her…and hurt her!”

Sunset broke down again as Twilight continued stroking her hair. “You have to let that go. It’s all in the past. Fluttershy forgave you for everything, I just know she did.”

“But she never told me, Twilight!” Sunset wailed, “she never told me…”

“Just because she never told you, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t true. The look in her eyes, the smile on her face…she loved you, Sunset, just as she loved me. Every ounce of her life was lived in love and service to both person and creature. She would never hold a grudge…especially not to you.”

Sunset broke from the hug and looked at her friend. Using a shaking hand, she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I…just can’t believe she’s gone,” she said.

“I know,” Twilight responded.

“My heart hurts,” Sunset said simply.

“Mine does, too.” Twilight replied, gathering Sunset back into the same hug that connected them through this horrifying hour.