Visions of the Past

Once again, she made her way down the street as she was jostled and interrupted now and then by ponies. Not caring if she was being rude, she tuned them out and kept thinking about what she'd seen at the acres and now at Sugarcube Corner. Every time she saw her smiling face or watched her laugh, she felt a coldness through her body that threatened to overcome her.

She had lost so much, why had she been taken so early? The sad mare thought bitterly. Another thought, that didn't seem to be her own, intruded and seemed to make her see that there was something else to be seen from her visions, something she was missing. She pushed it aside and went back to her other thoughts of loss.

Bumping into a door, she fell down on her rump. Looking up, she saw that she was in front of the Boutique. With a slight bit of guilt, but an overbearing sense of need to go in, she used her magic to unlock the door.

"What are you doing?" a cheery voice behind her asked as she slowly opened the door.

Jumping slightly, the lavender mare turned and immediately suppressed the urge to cry.

Pinkie Pie stood there with a big smile on her face, but it was wrong. As you followed the smile up, it never reached the eyes, in them was an anguish that she knew was reflected in her own. Pinkie tried to hide it for her friends, putting on a fake facade to do her best to help them, but they knew her too well. They knew that her curly hair was, for once, not natural, that she had gone to the saloon to get it looking that way again.

It pained her to see Pinkie like this, but she didn't know how the pink pony would react if she didn't play along, so they all pretended that her plan was working.

"I just have to go in for a minute, I need to look around," she said in a subdued voice.

"Okie Dokie Lokie, I'll go with you!"

Starting to protest, she stopped, not having the heart to deny her friend anything anymore.

The two ponies entered and headed into the main auditorium. The unicorn's ears twitched as she heard voices up ahead, she stopped and stared as they reached the big room.

"Aren't they just marvelous! Even better than my last ones if I do say so myself." Rarity beamed.

"You can say that again, these sure are mighty purdy." AJ agreed.

"I can't believe it! This is awesome, Rarity." Dash said as she hovered over the dress.

"It really is wonderful." Fluttershy said in a quiet confident voice.

"They are great! What's the occasion, Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"No occasion, can't a pony just do something for her friends?" Rarity said dismissively.

"SHUT UP! I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANYMORE!" she screamed causing Pinkie to jump at the sudden outburst. As the images faded, the unicorn slumped to the floor and buried her head in her hooves. Pinkie sank to her haunches beside her friend and gently pulled the crying unicorn into her lap and stroked her mane comfortingly.

Sobbing, she only vaguely registered her friends touch, her mind too abuzz to care about what was going on around her. Why? Why? Why? It shouldn't have happened! She was young, had much more life in her and was now gone. It wasn't fair! IT wasn't fair! IT WASN'T FAIR!

"It will be alright, we'll get through this." Pinkie said comfortingly as she did her best to soothe her friend.

"NO IT WON'T!" Twilight suddenly shouted, an angry glare could be seen dancing in her eyes, behind the tears, as her head came up to glare at the pink pony, "We can't just hide it! she's gone, and she won't return. Pretending it’s all ok won't change anything!"

A little scared now, Pinkie Pie had gotten up and was slowly backing up from the irate unicorn. "Lies, all our answers, lies! You and your fake smile and cheery appearance aren’t fooling anyone!

She left us! She left me." she said quietly as she reached the end of her tirade.

She blinked in surprise as she found herself lying on her side, gently reaching up to rub her cheek in disbelief as she felt the place where Pinkie’s hoof had slapped her. Looking up not able to believe what the party pony had done, she cringed a bit as Pinkie loomed over her. Gone was all pretenses of the smile, now replaced with a smoldering anger.

"How dare you say that! She would never do this to us on purpose and you know that. It was her time and none of us can argue when that time comes. We're all hurting and miss her, but we need to move on. She would have wanted that and we owe it to her to be happy. To do all she can't do anymore and move on. Now pull yourself together and think about what you’re saying." Panting slightly with a few tears running down her cheek, the anger drained away, never able to remain in the pink pony for long.

Slowly, the lavender mare got back up as her friend’s words sunk in. Shame came over her as she recalled what she'd said and how she had once again hurt a friend, "Pinkie, I'm sorry. I just need time to think, yeah to think. See ya." She whispered sadly.

"Wait, what-" Pinkie felt a familiar build up in the air around her, a tingling ran through her mane. With a flash of purple light, Twilight was gone and Pinkie looked sadly down where she had been at the slightly burned floor.