It was a bright and sunny morning, the kind of morning which made one want to go out and do things, if only for a chance to enjoy the weather. It was a day that ought to have made anypony cheerful, which only made it all the more strange for a young unicorn filly to be sobbing on her bed.
She noticed a gentle knock at the door to her room, but barely acknowledged it, indicating only by hugging her pillow tighter that she had heard it.
A soft voice followed the knock. “Dinky? Are you in there?”
The filly sniffled in response, neither wishing nor trusting herself to speak. A magenta aura surrounded her doorknob as it turned to open. Another, older unicorn entered the room and gazed upon the younger with concerned eyes. Slowly she made her way to the side of the filly’s bed, never taking her eyes away from the quivering pony.
“Hey, Dinky.” The young mare gave a tentative smile. There was obviously no need to ask her sister why she was so upset.
The filly at last regained enough of her composure to at least whisper a few words. “I...I smelled you...making...m-making...” The stains from her teary eyes had already marked a good portion of her pillowcase. She would not finish the sentence. The last word was too painful for her to say.
“Shhhh...” The older unicorn climbed onto her younger sister’s bed and gently wrapped a hoof around her body, pulling her closer to her chest. “It’s okay, Dinky, it’s okay.” These last words she chanted in a low voice, trying to comfort, although she would not admit it, herself as much as she was her little sister.
The filly spoke up again, and this time there was an audible edge of anger in her voice. “Why...why couldn’t we have something else for breakfast?” she sniffled.
“I...” The elder sister began to have doubts regarding her decision in question. “I just...I just thought we should remember.”
“Well, I don’t wanna.” The anger and bitterness in the filly’s voice grew more prominent. “Every time I try to remember, I...I just...” And once again words failed her, and once again she burst into tears.
Sparkler hugged her sister closer. A gentle, cool breeze blew through the open window into Dinky’s bedroom, caressing both their cheeks and muzzles.
“She wouldn’t want that, you know.” Sparkler said, finally breaking the silence. “She wouldn’t want you to feel like this every time you think of her.” She broke her embrace and grinned. “And she certainly wouldn’t want us to waste a gorgeous day like this! Remember all the things we used to do with her on days like this?”
“Y...yeah?”
“Do you remember how we’d walk along the street with her, making up stories as we went?”
The faintest hint of a smile began to creep onto Dinky’s face. “...yeah...”
“And how when we had some extra bits to spend, we’d buy lunch for the first pony we saw that day?”
“Yeah...” Dinky’s smile grew broader.
“And how, when the sun was setting, we’d all go to the top of that great big hill and blow bubbles until it got dark?”
“I loved that.” The young unicorn’s eyes were still red, but her tears had indeed stopped.
“So did I, Dinky,” Sparkler smiled. “And, you know, I don’t think she’d want us to stop doing those things just because she can’t be here for them. Do you know how much she loved us?”
“...’more than muffins. More than bubbles. More than anything in the whole wide world.’” The quote came just as naturally to Dinky as any other answer would.
“More than anything in the whole wide world. And she would never, ever, ever want us to stop having fun.”
The young filly buried herself in her sister’s embrace again. “...I miss her,” she said, the words muffled in her sister’s coat.
“I know, kiddo. So do I.” Sparkler swallowed back an inevitable wave of tears. “And...and it’s not gonna be easy, not for either of us. But...but she wouldn’t want us to feel like this. She’d never want us to cry this sort of tears. Especially not for her.”
Dinky began to sniffle again. Sparkler nudged her sister’s chin up with a hoof and looked into her golden eyes. “Dinky.” Her voice was suddenly calm and soft. “As long as we remember Mom, a part of her will still be here. Part of her will still be here with us when we go on our walks. Part of her will still be here when sit on our hill and blow bubbles into the sunset. Part of her will still be with us every time the scent of fresh-baked muffins hits our noses. As long as we keep doing these things, part of her will still be here.”
Sparkler saw her sister’s eyes narrow in their dull resentment once again. “But I want all of her to be here.”
“I know.” Sparkler once again hugged her sister close. “I know. But there’s nothing we can do. There’s nothing anypony can do...not even Princess Celestia. This kind of...” Sparkler stopped herself. If she was going to talk about this, she shouldn’t gloss over anything. She swallowed back her tears once more.
“Death. Death just happens. It’s a part of life. It’s not a very fun part, but it’s a part just as real and as valid as birth, or growing up. Everypony grows up, and everypony dies.” Her face uncomfortably made its way into what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. “But that doesn’t mean you have to now. It’s a great, big, beautiful world out there and it’s a beautiful day to be out in it.” The unicorn gently nudged her sister’s cheek with her muzzle. “So why don’t we get going, hm? You’re at least gonna want to have the muffins while they’re still warm.”
The younger unicorn responded only with a sigh and a stare into space. Sparkler got up from her sister’s bed and made her way towards the door.
“Wait”. Just as she was about to turn the doorknob, Sparkler was interrupted. She turned around to face her sister.
“...what kind of muffins did you make?”
“Blueberry,” Sparkler replied. She turned back to the door, opened it once again and exited the room.
Dinky sat up in her bed. Her mother would never be coming back. All the things they had done together now a mere memory, all the things they were planning on doing a mere vapor. The world now seemed a lot less warm, a lot less friendly, a lot less fun.
Still, blueberry muffins.
Dinky turned to face the open doorway, then lept off her bed and scampered down the stairs.