Inevitabilities

Next to die would be the Honest One. That is what they called her; the Honest One. One would think it was a compliment, a testament to one’s trustworthiness and reliability.
It was not.

Her death came after the Griffin War; Despite its victory, Equestria had suffered severe damage. The Equestrian economy was in recession as farmland was rendered infertile and Cloudsdale struggled to keep with weather demands. Many ponies believed that Celestia and Luna were to blame; It was, after all, the royal family’s fault that the war escalated so severely, and their policy of ‘let the wounds heal themselves’ meant that welfare was nonexistent and everypony was on their own. Many upstart ponies argued that the Princesses were letting them suffer pay cuts and layoffs at increasing intervals. They blamed the royalty for all of Equestria’s problems.

Applejack had begged to differ.

She argued that the princesses weren’t to blame; If anypony, it was the griffins. The honest mare had always asserted that the monarchs were right; Government bailouts would be detrimental more so than beneficial, that the only thing they would accomplish would be bankrupting the treasury and removing their emergency safety net. For one of such humble upbringing and slurred words, she quickly strummed up a movement of ponies that she inspired to speak out against the majority Anti-Royalists. It was ironic and humorous in my mind; the Element of Loyalty had crossed to the Eternal Pasteur, and so loyalty seemed to be of short supply. I did not think the two were connected; Rainbow Dash was a pony, nothing more, as was Applejack.

Still, that did not stop a massive surge of hatred against her for her passionate work in defending the crowns. It was when she was at her apex that ponies began calling her the Honest One, refusing to even say her name. Then one pony, a young but opinionated colt who had taken the name Gavrillo Pipsqueak, thought that the Honest One needed to be silenced, for the good of Equestria.

He struck during her latest and greatest speech, which was in Canterlot itself, with the royal family watching from their verandas. Her speech was powerful, moving, inspiring, but not enough to dissuade Pipsqueak from his work. He had maneuvered his way through the crowd, waiting for his target to reach the apex of her speech.

When she did, so too was it the apex of her life.

He had pounced on stage and used a knife he hid on his hoof to stab Applejack twenty-one times before guards arrested him. She was bleeding out on the stage as the hundreds of thousands of gathered screamed and cried in shock and awe. Pipsqueak was being escorted away and numerous unicorns had gathered to attempt healing spells before the world around us greyed out and Applejack stood up, leaving her body behind.

“Ah… ah’m alright, everypony, am’m alright! By Celestia, ah don’ know how, but ah…” She started before realizing no pony was responding.

“You most certainly are not alright, pony.” I had said, causing her to turn in surprise at my voice.

“Who… who’re you?”

“I am nameless, yet I hold more titles than anypony else. You may call me Death, for it is death come to take you to the Eternal Pasteur.”

“D-… Death? Bu-… but… I ain’t dead! At least, I ain’t done with bein’ livin’ yet!”

“Death does not care for your own agenda. You have died, and it is time to cross over to the Eternal Pasteur.”

She had stomped her hoof on the ground assertively.

“Ah don’ think so, sugarcube! I ain’ gonna let them liars fill eveypony’s ears with their… their lyin’!”

“It was that same incentive which killed you, fool.”

“Wha? Ah, this is gonna be good… go on, then, let’s hear what’cha gonna say about how me being honest got me killed.”

Sarcastic and condescending. Great.

"All you've done is speak your mind for all to hear and know. You have caused such unrest and instability that a pony was willing to end your life to silence you."

"Ah, sure, that's waht killed meh. You just listen here, sugarcube: Who else was gonna do it? Huh? No pony, that's who! It's me, or no pony! And if no pony speaks up, well, then the whole dern country's gonna just go along with whatever the hay other ponies say!"

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"Yer darn right, it is!"

"Why? Other ponies are merely telling their own version of the truth. Truth is such a relative thing, fool."

"Who you callin' a fool?!"

"You, of course! You killed yourself over politics! Politics! The most trivial thing in the universe! And You are a hypocrite; You say you're the only one who knows the truth, that your opponents are lying! Have you considered that, perhaps, they are right?"

"Ah course I have! I've weighed the options, I did te research, an' ah know fer a fact that those Anti-Royalists are flatout lying about half ah what they're sayin'!"

"Enough of this foolish exchange. Go now, Applejack, Element of Honesty. Rest in-"

"Ahhh, hay no, you don't!"

She tried running. She ran, galloped, really, as fast as she could away from me, and the surrounding world, already grey, had blacked out into oblivion. She kept trying to run, though. Run as if she were still in Equestria. Like she was in a body. Like she could escape me.

"Rest. In. Peace." I had called out. She faded into a white light, and the world returned to normal, though of course, no pony could see me.

I mulled over the words of the orange-coated farmhand-turned-activist as I went to my next charge. Truth was relative, always. Opinions will always stain the so-called 'truth'. There is only one truth:

Death.

...But is that not an opinion?