You Never Walk Alone

When Harmony arrived at the rock farm early in the morning, she anticipated the usual somber atmosphere of a funeral—sad, quiet, and contemplative. She expected hushed conversations about the departed and comforting hugs. So, it was quite a shock when she was met with streamers, cake, and lively music. The music, a cheerful pop tune, was accompanied by dancing and karaoke. Pinkie Pie herself was doing cartwheels and soaring around the party. As Harmony looked up, she saw a sign that read Farewell to Equestria, with Pinkie Pie’s face painted on the side.

Pinkie waved to her. “WELCOME!” she shouted over the music.

As she walked over the threshold, two party cannons shot streamers over her, much to Harmony's and some of the guests' surprise.

“Umm, Lil Cheese, are the cannons on a timer?” Trixie asked with a touch of admiration at the setup.

“Nope, they only go off when there’s a new guest.” Lil Cheese had a tray of cupcakes balanced on their head to greet the new arrivals. They stood right in front of Harmony and took a bow. “Welcome to the funeral.”

Harmony was quite surprised for a moment that this pony could see her, as they didn’t look like they were going to die soon. She was about to get the hourglass from her cloak to double-check when she noticed they weren’t actually looking at her, just vaguely in her direction.

“Do make yourself at home. This funeral is open to friends past and present. We have hopscotch and pin the mouth on the ghost, and there are spirits to drink. Get it? Spirits?” Lil Cheese laughed at their pun and smiled. “Anyway, enjoy yourself and say hi to Mum for me.” They wandered off, throwing a cupcake in her direction, which landed in front of her.

“You know, Pinkie, I expected nothing less.”

The party was one of the best Pinkie had ever thrown. Cheese Sandwich and Lil Cheese danced with the guests, while Maud almost smiled. Twilight was chatting with Fluttershy, who was seated with Discord beside her, clapping along to the music. The only section that no living creature occupied was one barricaded for old friends and family. Although it was empty, it was still a fun idea. Pinkie herself was flying around the party, lighting fireworks.

“How are you feeling, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy sipped some tea and wrapped her wings around herself. Harmony watched as Discord, staring at her suspiciously, snapped his talons. Fluttershy felt a warmth flow through her.

“I’m fine, Twilight, just getting over a flu.” She smiled and gazed at the party. “Pinkie would have loved this party.”

“Oh, I’m sure she does,” Twilight said, wrapping a wing around her. “I love you, Fluttershy. Friends don’t tell each other that enough, but I care about you a lot. If there’s anything I can do for you, just let me know.”

Fluttershy held Twilight’s wing, finding comfort in it. Meanwhile, Discord noticed something that terrified him more than anything before. Harmony reached into her robes and pulled out a nearly empty hourglass.

At sunset, Maud announced to the crowd, “We are about to begin the closing ceremony. Please make your way to the stage.” Cheese Sandwich and Lil Cheese sang a song with the same message. Before long, all the guests had gathered in front of the stage, where Maud stood before the microphone and began.

“OOOOOOHHHH, THIS!” Pinkie shouted excitedly. Harmony and Pinkie were sitting in the section reserved for the not-living guests—at least until Pinkie exclaimed, “I gotta go!” She then dashed behind the curtain with an excited squee.

“What an interesting party,” Harmony mused.

“Hello, friends and family of my beloved sister Pinkie. We are here to celebrate the life of a pony who filled our lives with joy and laughter. It would be disrespectful to have a sad party for her, so I’m really happy that all of you participated in this unconventional funeral.”

Harmony glanced at Fluttershy and Discord once again, but the latter was no longer there, and the former was barely awake. Suddenly, Discord reappeared, and Harmony noticed he seemed less solid than usual.

“Is this seat taken?” he asked, pointing to a chair that had appeared next to her.

“Help yourself,” she offered, trying to listen as time seemed to slow to a standstill.

“How long?” he asked, not looking at her, his voice quieter and more serious than ever before.

“Look at you, god of chaos, falling in love with a creation of life. That’s chaotic, I respect that, but with a bearer of harmony? Should I be flattered?” she smiled, glancing at him, though there was a rage simmering beneath his calm demeanour. “You’re serious. Okay, fine—by sunrise, she will be gone. I am sorry.”

“Let me save her,” Discord pleaded, his voice filled with desperation and fury. “I will do whatever you want if it means I can save her.” Harmony looked at him, then back at Fluttershy.

“Most ponies would be happy with 85 years.”

“Fluttershy is not most ponies, and neither am I,” Discord declared. Harmony glanced at Fluttershy again.

“No sorry unless….” She shook her head and looked at Pinkie who was in wrapped attention.

“Preventing her from getting sick has been effective, but this illness has her beaten, and it’s what’s killing her—that’s why I can’t stop it. Nearly 60 years of perfect health, and she’s dying from this anyway,” he sighed, standing up. He seemed defeated. “I can’t stop you. Trust me, I tried. Just help me.” He left the area of harmonious death and surrounded by the background chaos, time resumed as Maud continued her speech.

“So in honour of her final wishes...” The curtain behind Maud opened, revealing Lil Cheese with a fire torch. Pinkie was in the cannon and waved to Harmony as she watched.

“We will now shoot her soul into the afterlife,” Lil Cheese announced as they lit the cannon.

“I…” Harmony glanced at Pinkie, then at Discord, who was trying his best to ignore her and be interested in this at the same time. She flew over to Pinkie. “I mean, I am curious to see what happens, so...” Her horn glowed, and the flame transformed from a normal fire into a magical rainbow, shifting from one colour to the next.

Once the cannon was lit, Pinkie shot into the air, visible only to Harmony, Discord, and Pinkie herself.

“There is no way that worked,” Harmony muttered as she flew after Pinkie to see where she ended up.

Leaving Equestria, and Equus in general, Harmony found herself on the moon. She observed the barren wasteland, feeling the aura of Luna’s magic. Her influence was immense; this was her domain. However, another now had their influence over the moon. No fewer than a thousand party cannons were placed on the moon, with a pink blur entering various portals and pulling out more and more supplies.

The blur stopped in front of her, smiling. “Wow! That was amazing! Hey, so I was shot out of a cannon, right?”

“I am aware,” Harmony said in a flat tone, curious about where this was going.

“Well,” Pinkie walked with her, explaining as pink blurs surrounded them, decorating the moon with streamers and tables, “I was thinking that a lot of ponies don’t really have parties, or like they won’t, now that I’m gone. I mean, Cheese is older than me and Lil Cheese can only throw one party a day, so a lot of ponies won’t have a chance, especially when they die. What if their funeral is sad?”
“They tend to be sad. Yours was an exception.” Pinkie barely paused.
“Right, but what if they don’t want to be sad? I could stay here and throw parties.” Pinkie beamed, extremely pleased with her idea.

“You want to be the spirit of parties?” Pinkie nodded rapidly. Harmony felt that she was going to regret this and thought to herself, ‘Element of Laughter—of course, she wants ponies to be happy. But why do I have to deal with him? The nature of us, I suppose.’

Pinkie was staring at her. Harmony wasn’t used to ponies noticing her. With an exasperated sigh, she relented. “Very well, but I am going to need help. Please activate all your cannons.”

Luna stared at the moon; she stared at it for a while. The two personal guards looked at each other and then at her. The younger batpony took out a coin and mouthed silently, “Heads,” pointing to herself, “Tails,” pointing to the other. It came up tails, so the older guard stepped forward and bowed.

“Princess, it really is a beautiful night tonight.” His voice carried authority, but when speaking to Luna, it was full of admiration.
“Yes,” she said absent-mindedly, looking through her telescope. She could see nothing, but sensed that something was different. She took a deep breath and then kept watch.
“I’ll be fine, back to your post.” With that, he nodded and returned to his post with a shrug.

On the moon, behind a veil hidden from the living, a spirit appeared, covered in streamers and icing.

“I do hope you don’t think I’ll help you with whatever is going on just because it’s a bit chaotic.” He smiled, admiring the decorations.
“HI, DISCORD!” Pinkie hugged Discord.
“Ah, Pinkie, my chaotic friend. Have you been annoying her? Causing headaches, being a general nuisance? And please tell me your request was too chaotic for our friend here.”

Harmony smiled, “Yes, to all counts.”
Discord did a backflip and took Pinkie in a hug, “Well done, Pinkie, well done. I’m so proud of you!” Pinkie spun holding a stack of pizza boxes, going from one side of the moon to the other and back again now with no pizza boxes to speak of.

“So, Pinkie,” Discord actively ignored Harmony, facing away from her, “what can Discord, lord of chaos and all things fun, do for you?”

“I wanna be a party spirit!” Discord smiled and then frowned.
“That would be wonderful, but I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Pinkie frowned.
“Aaaawww, why?”

“Well, Pinkie,” he snapped his talons and Rarity’s old fainting couch appeared. Discord lay on it as another copy of himself, wearing glasses and holding a clipboard, floated beside him. “It all started a long time ago during a funeral. I asked for a favour and was denied, and while this favour is for my second-favourite pony in the whole…” He looked around suddenly. “My favourite pony to ever be on the moon. I’m afraid that I can’t do anything for Harmony, even as a second-hand thing.”

Harmony held out an hourglass with butterflies on it. “I’ll give you 5 years.”
“15,” countered Discord.
“10.” Discord snatched the hourglass away.
“Deal.” Discord started to glow as sand began to fill the nearly empty hourglass. Back in her cottage, Fluttershy felt her fever passing, and the doctor by her side ran some tests for a few hours and wrote a note saying, needs bed rest, will recover.

Harmony put the hourglass back under her cloak as Discord started to circle Pinkie.

"Party spirit! Party spirit!" Discord chanted, flipping, circling, and examining Pinkie for something no one but himself knew before surrounding her with a curtain. Harmony waited as, behind the curtain, there were sounds of boings, splats, and kabooms, along with custard and cream pies flying everywhere. Feeling a bit sick, Harmony took a few steps back—the level of chaos behind the curtain was too much. But when it finally stopped, Discord emerged, dressed like a painter with a brown afro, paint palette, and brushes.
"I present my masterpiece: the spirit of parties. Surprise!" Discord announced.

With that, a pony appeared who looked exactly like Pinkie Pie, except with white fur, a golden mane and tail, and a cutie mark that featured entirely pink balloons instead of the usual multicoloured ones. She was also a pegasus—or at least she had wings.
Discord bowed. "Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go. I have a happy tree to paint at home." Without waiting to be thanked, Discord popped out of existence.
Harmony and the newly formed spirit, Surprise, looked at each other. "Soooo, party?" Surprise asked. Harmony nodded.

"I’ll send any lost souls to you," Harmony replied, bowing before flying away through a portal that appeared and disappeared as she passed through it.

Luna sensed a presence on the moon, but all of her magic indicated that nothing was actually happening there. When she finally went to bed after sunrise, she found an invitation on her pillow: Surprise party at your place every night.Luna looked at the photo inside, which showed a picture of the moon with Discord and a pegasus standing on it. Luna checked the moon again and decided that if Discord was going to be chaotic there, she would keep an eye on it—for now, she just needed sleep.

Discord lay in Fluttershy’s tree with Fluttershy resting on his tail. “Thank you, Discord,” said a soft voice trying not to wake up the mare. He barely registered Harmony’s presence but put up a barrier just in case.

"A deal’s a deal. Go away," he muttered.
"Spirits are living beings; I do appreciate you creating one," Harmony remarked.
"I didn’t do it for you. I barely did it for Pinkie. Fluttershy is going to be nice and healthy, and I have ten years left to beat you," Discord said, fire burning in his eyes.
"Don’t waste your time—use it to be with her."
"Get out," Discord snapped.

Harmony bowed and vanished, leaving Discord and Fluttershy together, nice and healthy until the end.