“A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies.” - Gustave Flaubert
The small town of Ponyville bustled with activity. Dozens of ponies milled about in the streets, talking amongst each other and purchasing goods from the many street vendors that lined the corners. High above, the vibrant sun shone brightly over Ponyville, illuminating the town with its brilliant light.
Flying above the town, a pegasus performed several air stunts, gaining the shocked attention of the ponies on the ground. As she looped around in tight circles that would have caused most ponies to fall unconscious, a seemingly solid rainbow sphere began to formulate, detonating over the town in a shower of colors.
The pegasus, having finished her stunt, landed perfectly in the center of the dazed crowd, an enormous smile on her face that shone in her magenta eyes.
“What? Am I that awesome that I left you all speechless?” the mare asked, her grin nearly stretching to the edge of her face.
The crowd, awaking from its trance, began to stamp their hooves and chant.
“Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash!” they yelled in unison.
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, basking in the admiration of her fans as they showered her with praise, most of which was unintelligible.
“Hey, it’s the thought that counts.” she thought.
As she continued being the center of attention, an alarmed thought forced itself to the forefront of her mind.
“Twilight! I was going to have a picnic with her today! Ponyfeathers..” she mentally cursed, before looking at the crowd of admirers.
“Sorry, guys, but I gotta split! See ya!” she said, somewhat reluctant to leave her fans, before hurriedly taking off towards Twilight’s house, ignoring the annoyed shouting behind her.
Rainbow Dash landed on Twilight’s doorstep with precision only a master flyer could hope to possess. Still grinning from the encounter with her fans, the pegasus knocked on the door.
To her surprise, nobody answered.
“Twilight’s probably reading or doing some other egghead stuff.” Rainbow thought, mildly amused and annoyed at the same time. She knocked again, harder this time.
“Twilight, it’s me, Dash! Open up!” she said, raising her voice.
After what seemed like an eternity to the impatient pegasus, the door opened, revealing a bedraggled lavender unicorn who frowned slightly upon seeing Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, Dash.” she said in an emotionless, hollow tone. “Did you want something?”
“Yeah, we were gonna go out on a picnic, remember?” Rainbow replied, her grin fading somewhat.
“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry, Dash. I don’t really feel like it.” Twilight said. Her eyes, despite looking in Rainbow’s direction, seemed to look through her as if she wasn’t there.
“Oh. Okay. That’s cool.” Rainbow said. Although she hadn’t been too keen on the picnic, something about Twilight seemed.. different.
“Maybe tomorrow?” Rainbow suggested.
“Yeah, maybe.” Twilight said, the emptiness in her eyes clearly stating the futility of such an arrangement.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then, Twi. Catch you later!” Rainbow mock saluted Twilight before flying off.
As Rainbow flew towards her home, unease began to form in the pit of her stomach.
“Something about Twi.. she just doesn’t seem herself.” she thought aloud.
“Eh, it’s probably just nerves. Maybe she’s working on some project for the Princess and wanted me out of her mane. Yeah, that’s probably it.” Rainbow reassured herself, though it did little to mitigate the unease in her stomach.
Landing in the foyer of her cloud house, Rainbow immediately plopped down on her couch, too lazy to even bother getting upstairs to her bed, falling into a fitful sleep as soon as her head hit the soft surface.
Waking up with a loud, stretched out yawn, Rainbow awoke. Her mind was hard at work remembering the work schedule for the day, attempting to distract herself from the unease that still writhed inside of her.
“I’m with Cloudchaser clearing storm clouds from over Sweet Apple Acres five minutes from now. I’d better hurry unless I wanna get another missing work citation.” Rainbow thought as she scarfed down a hay sandwich and blasted out of the door, headed for the apple farm.
Cloudchaser lay on a grey cloud over the Sweet Apple Acres farm-house, tapping her hooves impatiently against its soft surface.
“Rainbow, you’re early. What a surprise.” Cloudchaser said as Rainbow landed next to her.
“I couldn’t sleep too well.” Rainbow replied.
“Rainbow Dash, not sleeping well? You can sleep through a tornado. What happened, did you get a citation again?” Cloudchaser deadpanned.
“Nah, I haven’t gotten one of those in a week.” Rainbow said, smiling as if it were a joke.
“Then what’s the matter?” the other mare asked, curiosity showing in her eyes.
“It’s nothing. Just nerves.” Rainbow replied, trying to brush the curious pony off.
“I’m not going to leave you alone until you tell me, Dashie. So talk.” Cloudchaser half-pouted, half-demanded.
Rainbow sighed. “Fine. You just can’t leave me alone, can you?” she complained.
“Nope. Now talk.” Cloudchaser replied.
Rainbow cleared her throat. “Alright, Cloudy. I had just performed an amazing trick and was being admired by a bunch of fans, when I remembered I had a da- picnic with Twilight, and I raced over to her house.” she began, expecting her co-worker to interject. To her surprise, Cloudchaser didn’t, too curious as to what could possibly interfere with Rainbow’s sleeping to interrupt.
“I knocked several times, and eventually she opened up. But when she did, she wasn’t her normal self. She wasn’t even the stressed out nutter she is when she thinks she’s about to fail an assignment. She was just.. empty.” Rainbow continued.
“Wait, Rainbow.” Her co-worker interjected. Rainbow looked up at her.
“Elaborate, please. What do you mean by empty?” Cloudchaser questioned.
“She just felt.. like she wasn’t there. Like a shell, y’know?” Rainbow replied.
Cloudchaser looked at the other pegasus, alarm showing on her face. Surprising Rainbow, she grabbed her, pulling her close.
“Rainbow Dash, listen to me. Listen to me very closely. Forget everything else and go to Twilight’s house as fast as you can. Talk to her. Comfort her. Whatever you do, do not leave her alone.” Cloudchaser said, her voice somber and deadly serious.
“Huh? Cloudy, what are you on about?” Rainbow asked, befuddled.
“Just trust me, Dash. I’ll take over the entire shift. Just make sure she’s alright.” Cloudchaser said.
Still confused, Rainbow reluctantly flew up, heading for Twilight’s house, landing at her door several minutes later.
The pegasus knocked hard on Twilight’s door.
“Twilight, open up. It’s me, Dash!” Rainbow called.
No answer came.
“Alright, screw this!” Dash yelled and bucked the door with all of her might, breaking the door off its hinges.
Rainbow’s eyes darted around, searching for any sign of Twilight, before noticing that the basement door was ajar. Racing down the steps, she found the lavender unicorn.
Twilight Sparkle lay prone on the stone floor, a pool of dark red blood beneath her.
“Twilight!” Rainbow yelled, her voice unadulterated with pure anguish.
Rushing to her side, Rainbow knelt down centimeters from Twilight’s face, her eyes filled with growing anguish and despair.
“Please, Twi. Don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.” Rainbow pleaded, shaking the unicorn’s limp body, to no avail.
“I’ll give anything. Please..” Rainbow begged to the unfeeling air above her.
The pegasus looked back down at her friend. Tears poured freely from her muted magenta eyes as she looked at the cold, lifeless body of one of her greatest friends.
“I’m so, so sorry, Twi..” she said softly, her voice barely a whisper. “I failed you.”
As she uttered her last words, a sharp pain emanated from her chest. With a quiet yelp of pain, she fell to the ground, writhing for several moments.
As Rainbow Dash exhaled her last breath, she looked into Twilight’s empty, dead eyes.
“I wish I could have helped her..” she thought, her final and only regret, as she entered the peace of oblivion.
