The ignored statue

by TwiwnB

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rarity, Slice of Life
Length: 6204

Rarity is sad after she had become obsessed with a statue. But the statue had some secret to reveal, mostly why nopony ever gave it any attention and, more importantly, what it wanted, or needed...

Rarity is sad.
Why? Because of a statue. Or more precisely, because of herself, of who she is or who she wants to be.

This is the story about the statues that everypony try not to notice, not to give any attention whatsoever, about those pitiful statues laying all around the cities, seemingly waiting for all eternity against all odds, for something that seems like it will never come.

This isn't a sad story, it's about hope. Because I want some.

Published 2013-03-02 19:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-02 19:20:01 UTC

The ignored statue

The unknowing honest cowards

Rarity was crying.
Sometimes, it’s hard to go beyond the simple words. And some simple situations, such as a pony crying, can be really too complicated to be clearly described and understood.

Rarity was crying and maybe the easiest way for me to explain how painful her tears felt would be to say than none of her friends, not even Spike, had the courage to try and comfort her. Not that they didn’t want to. At that very moment, it was all what their heart and instinct was asking them. To help their friend.

But seeing Rarity in that pitiful state was petrifying them. In their mind, they just thought they didn’t know how they could be of any help.
When somepony was sad, they could just come and hug her. The warmth of friendship and the healing of time would do the rest. Almost all sadness in the world can be cured that way. It just seemed that very and deep state of despair was too much for them to handle in any way they knew.

They were wrong. They could have helped. Even just a tiny little bit. Even if it wouldn’t be enough to solve anything, they could have helped. The truth was that, deep inside them, something was preventing them to. A fear that almost nopony has ever been touched by in Equestria. The thought that, by helping somepony, they would be dragged inside the hell they wanted to take her out of.
They were afraid of Rarity because it was a state of sadness they had never seen before. It seemed surreal. Too honest, too painful. And they just wished it would disappear before their eyes. They just wished it wouldn’t be any of their concerns, that they could turn a blind eye and run away somewhere where the sun would shine and everypony would be smiling and happy and not pale as death itself, not using their last strength to try and fail to eject the pain that burns inside.

I can’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to have to help either. However, it was their best friend that was crying, and not just anypony they could have just ignored.
So they were just sitting around Rarity and watching her crumble upon herself. They knew that she couldn’t hear them already, as well as she wasn’t able to see them either. In the inside, Rarity was just falling down a cliff and just hoping for a ground to appear and end it. It was insane, of course, but when the mind runs away, sanity is rarely the primary concern.

Even Rainbow Dash, the bravest of them all, who would have put her own life in danger without hesitation for her friends, and sometimes even for somepony she wouldn’t know at all, even she wasn’t moving. She was thinking about Pinkie Pie. The pink earth pony had fled already, all smiling, saying that she was going to go pick flowers.
And Rainbow Dash, with all her temper and her judgmental personality, couldn’t feel like blaming her. Because she wanted to do the same. It was disgusting her, but she was just envying Pinkie Pie.
At least that one had had the courage to flee. They were all just too afraid to either help or go and trapped in an eternal state of apathy, with the incredibly powerful feeling that it was wrong.

So, you might ask, why did I bring you here? Why would I tell you about Rarity and her sadness when, frankly speaking, we would all gladly prefer to hear and think of the sun and, if it had to rain, the rainbows in the sky?

Because I want to tell you how Rarity got obsessed with a statue and how it ruined, or, depending on the point of view, brightened her life.
And the fun fact is, it all began because of an unfortunate coincidence: when looking through one particular window of the carousel boutique, you can see the town hall.

The statue in front of the town hall

I shouldn’t need to remind you how fast we can adapt to our environment. The first time you are somewhere, everything seems so big and strange and just too complex and sometimes even magical. But after some time, we find our marks. We use those many little tricks we instinctively know to make us dominate our surroundings and master it to the point that it seems like a part of us and ceases to amaze us.

I cannot, unfortunately, speak more about how much of a shame it is that we feel that need to take away everything from our surroundings that, in the end, was what made it interesting. But I’m here to tell you about the statues.

Equestria is a land full of statues. The Canterlot gardens are full of them, the streets of Ponyville as well. And most of them are just magnificent pieces of work the ponies have forgotten to appreciate to their due worth. The most beautiful statues they would just acknowledge with a glance. The others and less attractive one, they would just plainly ignore as we ignore the boring grass, sometimes even the sun or the individual sitting right in front of us. This is all but a natural behavior.

There was one statue just in front of the town hall. But Rarity, when she would look through her window, wouldn’t see it. Which means, she wasn’t giving any attention to that old piece of rock and was just distinguishing the very distinctive shape of the town hall as a friendly silhouette that had always and would always, Derpy allows, be there.

However, she would try and avoid watching out that particular window because of a weird feeling she had every time she did. It was nothing much. Just a little prick in the neck that she couldn’t explain. She didn’t have to explain it, so it wasn’t too much of a bother. Her life was going on just well as it was.
Until one evening, when she had to work a little bit late and, to her surprise, finished way earlier as she thought she would have.

Surprised and a little lost with that extra time on her hooves, she just came to a window to catch some fresh air and relax for a tiny bit of time. She hesitated to open the window, as it was winter and thus, pretty cold outside, but the need for fresh air was too strong and she gave in to that little whim.

It was, of course, the very window with the town hall in plain sight. Nonetheless, Rarity still didn’t see the statue, at least not right from the beginning. Her eyes, however, saw Pinkie Pie standing in front of the hall, smiling but, for some reason, a little too calm to be on her own. She was speaking. And as there was nopony else that she could have been speaking with, Rarity deduced that her friend was speaking to herself.

“Typical Pinkie Pie.” she thought.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie looked like something had tingled her and she began to look everywhere around her, until she finally saw rarity.

Is it necessary to say that the pink pony ceased her talking to herself and came to talk with her friend?
It may be if I was to add that she didn’t cease at the very instant, but kept on speaking for just a few seconds and smiled.

That smile created a spark of curiosity in Rarity’s mind just next to a barrel of spare time. And thus, without the white unicorn noticing it, the spark ignited a fire that would begin to consume her.

She had no time to notice it. Pinkie Pie was way too happy to be able to speak with her friend and Rarity felt way too flattered for the interest her friend was giving to her work. Interestingly enough, she noticed that Pinkie didn’t deny having been speaking to herself there, without trying to explain it.
And as the fire of curiosity had begun to burn, she also noticed that it really seemed like her friend was trying to avoid speaking about what she had been doing in front of the town hall. And of course, as she wasn’t aware that curiosity was the reason she had noticed it, she became even more curious about it.

So it’s no wonder that she began to look more often outside in the direction of the town hall to see if she could satisfy that deep desire of knowledge. At least until she would have something better to do.

And that’s how she eventually caught on that Pinkie Pie was coming pretty regularly at that spot of the town hall and wasn’t speaking to herself but to a statue. A simple and pitiful statue that Rarity had been used to ignore until then.
And for the first time since so long, she saw it again and couldn’t hold back a feeling of disgust and fear she couldn’t explain for a simple statue.

Statues don’t talk

“What can you possibly be telling it?” asked Rarity once, when she had finally decided to go and talk with Pinkie Pie about the statue.

“Whom to?” replied the pink pony, seemingly failing to understand.

“To that statue.” Rarity pointed with her hoof.

And the statue was there. Covered with moisture, not very well maintained. It wasn’t such a surprise to be honest. Nopony ever gave any attention to the statue. It was small, hidden in the shadow of a column and wouldn’t it have been for Pinkie Pie, Rarity would have never even noticed its existence.
The ponies were usually very diligent when it came to keep the city clean, but it just seemed it was nopony’s job to take care of that particular statue.

“I’m not talking with a statue Rarity. That would be silly!” answered Pinkie Pie, laughing at the idea. “Statues don’t talk.”

And suddenly, the pink earth pony seemed to remember something and entered one of her moment when she would just have an idea and follow it not even thinking where it could lead her:

“But squirrels on the other hoof… Have you ever spoken with a squirrel? It’s SO fun! I did it once and we were building a whole business together until Fluttershy told me that the squirrel just wanted to know where he could find some nuts. Turned out I can’t speak squirrel. Can you speak squirrel Rarity?”

The white unicorn wasn’t able, of course, to speak squirrel, as almost nopony was unless it happened to be their special talent. And Rarity couldn’t see why she would want to speak squirrel at all. Those were very cute critters, but their calls reminded her of the noises her little sisters would make when she was younger to annoy her – or at least she thought at the time it was to annoy her.

And Rarity suddenly noticed that she had forgotten why she was speaking about squirrels calls with Pinkie Pie in the middle of the streets. Her mind immediately sought in the first field it thought of, which was dresses and gems, letting her remember that she wanted to go gem hunting with Spike.
Or maybe just have a nice walk with the young dragon. While gem hunting. She wasn’t sure which one was the goal anymore and just decided she could have both.

But as she was saying goodbye to Pinkie Pie and letting her go away, she felt like somepony was watching her.

It was that very clear and disturbing feeling that at least one pair of eyes is fixing you, staring at you and, for some reason, would be going way deeper into your body and soul that you would be willing to allow. Rarity shivered as it felt quite creepy.

She looked around, but nopony was giving her any attention, which was kind of a disturbance in itself for the very proud unicorn, but still no reason to feel physically annoyed by it.
Then her look fell down on the statue and its two stone eyes that were just pointed at her.

At that very moment, she could have sworn it, the statue was watching her.
It is nothing but a very common and normal feeling. We make statues to look like us and try to give them expressions. Statues are our mirrors, what we could have been if we too were made of stone, or the opposite depending on the point of view. Nonetheless, it has probably already happened to you to look just a bit too long into a statue’s eyes and develop the feeling it is watching you.
It usually takes a very precise set of circumstances. The right moment, the right place or, some would say, the bad moment at the bad place. And when such a moment comes, all you can do is to feel something for a moment and then chase it away in the next second. It can be pretty annoying, but has almost never harmed anypony.

And Rarity tried to chase the feeling away too, as she was naturally configured to. The only problem, and she wasn’t clearly aware of it, was her being Rarity and her very nature refused to obey her basic instinct.
Something in her wanted to acknowledge that look the statue seemed to be giving her. Something deep down that was shouting to be heard and that Rarity couldn’t recognize. It was still too deep inside and too well hidden that she wouldn’t even remember what is was.

Unfortunately, that meant she wasn’t able to forget those statue’s eyes and how full of emotions they seemed. Two great mirrors of our own souls, or maybe two gates to another universe.
Rarity fled as calmly as she was able to.

Slowly, but surely, she was able to finally burry the emotions once again. Still, she had some sort of bad taste in her mouth left from it and she felt pretty ashamed to have fled from a statue. Even if she was happy to have escaped it.

And the idea of having escaped a statue made her laugh. She had just fled from a piece of rock. Of course she had outrun it.
And she surprised herself looking back just to make sure the statue wasn’t there.
It wasn’t.
But the memory of the eyes was still very present in her mind, and those eyes were getting the best of her. Sometimes angry, sometimes sad, they would pursue her during the whole day and even night until, finally, she succeeded in finding some sleep, hiding under her blanket in an unexplainable terror.

Maybe she was just bored and needed to feel afraid.
But rarity decided that something wrong was going on. And that something was coming from the hidden statue of the town hall.

At that very moment, she decided she had to know and that nopony would disturb her from the path of knowledge she had chosen.
For the better or the worst.

Statues don’t move.

The next day, Rarity went to Pinkie Pie as she had gone talking near the statue again and asked her again about it. She told her how it had been staring at her and that she wanted answers.

“Rarity, it’s just a statue!” replied Pinkie, with a smile, “Statues can’t see, you should know that. I mean, I know that, at least I think I know that. Last time I asked Twilight, it was true.”

But Rarity wouldn’t let go so easily.

“And I’m telling you it did stare at me. Oh those two evil eyes…”

“Evil?” asked Pinkie Pie, surprised.

Rarity realized the stare she had seen didn’t look evil whatsoever. The word sounded right nonetheless, so she decided to stick by it.

“Yes, evil. I want to know everything you know about that statue.”

Pinkie accepted and told her it was a statue. Nothing more actually. Rarity felt quite upset, but couldn’t do much. She looked at the statue and noticed a new detail.

The statue had moved.

A shiver went all the way from her back to her neck. But she was certain of it. The statue had moved. The head was looking in another direction than before and one of its front hooves, that was touching the floor before, was holding out in front of it.

“It moved, the statue has moved!” shouted Rarity, suddenly very afraid.

“Come on silly.” replied Pinkie Pie, “Statues don’t move. They are just stone and stone cannot move.”

But Rarity knew it was a lie. The statue had changed its position and that meant it was able to go away from the town hall if it wanted to. It could come to her if it wanted to. The idea of being threatened by a statue was confusing, but threatening for one main reason: Rarity had no idea what the statue could want.
She only knew the two stone eyes had been staring at her. So it had noticed her. It wanted something from her. And it could come get it if it wanted.

Rarity wasn’t a coward. She was ready to fight if necessary.

“Are you okay Rarity?” asked Pinkie Pie. “You seem really worked up right now.”

“Oh I’m quite alright.” answered the white unicorn.

And she suddenly remembered how strange Pinkie Pie had been around the statue. Maybe it was its ally. That’s when it would have been too crazy and Rarity calmed down. Pinkie Pie was her friend. One of her best friend. Rarity knew the pink pony had no bad intention and wouldn’t plot against her.
That sole idea made all the rest sound crazy as well. A statue that can see? A statue that can move? Rarity was wondering what was happening to her.
And still, something inside her was shouting to keep focused on the matter, that it was important.

“You know Rarity, I’m not sure to understand why you’re so interested in that statue.” said Pinkie Pie.

The seriousness of the question attracted Rarity’s attention.

“I mean, you’ve never been given any attention to the statues before and have been very happy that way. Why would you change that now?

“Because the statue stared at me?” replied Rarity, surprisingly with very little confidence.

“Statues can’t see and stare even less, it’s silly as cake.” laughed Pinkie.

“Because it moved?” tried Rarity, following the shouting something inside her that she felt was getting weaker by the second.

“Well, last time I saw a statue move, it was discord, and he wasn’t a statue anymore. In fact, that’s why the princess made him a statue in the first place, right? So that he couldn’t move?” told her Pinkie Pie.

A silence ensued. Rarity wasn’t convinced. The problem was, she didn’t know of what or against what. She was literally lost in her thoughts, not knowing what she wanted to discover anymore.

“You know what Rarity?” said Pinkie Pie, “You should stop worrying about a piece of stone, just as you always did. Forget it even exists. Be happy! I would really like to see you smile.”

The idea to cease worrying was feeling very great into Rarity’s mind. In fact, the statue was, after all, nothing but a piece of stone in some shadow of the town hall, that she had never given any attention whatsoever before and didn’t want, really didn’t want wouldn’t it be for that little something inside, to give any attention whatsoever.
In fact, she was afraid she would give too much attention to that staring and moving statue. It was none of her business.

And all of that were just lies and more lies, but lies that Rarity wanted to believe. She wanted to think the statue couldn’t have been staring at her. She wanted to believe the statue was just an inanimate object, a pathetic part of the town hall without interest.

It felt so good believing all that she just couldn’t resist. And she smiled as all her concerns for the statue seemed to die as well as the something inside her.

“You’re right Pinkie.” she said. “It’s silly. I’ve got way better things to do than worry about a rock.”

“Just like in old times Rarity.” answered Pinkie Pie.

“I thought we agreed not to speak about that ever again!” complained Rarity, already giving in to the laugh of her friend.

Another shiver went all over her body as she found out it was getting pretty cold. So she decided to go back home where it would be nice and cozy. She offered Pinkie Pie to come along, but the pink pony said she had something else to do. She would just come a little while after.
And bring a pie with her. Or several, depending on the mood. So definitely several pies.

Rarity smiled and, chased away by the cold, rushed back to the carousel boutique to go fetch some good clothes.

Close your eyes if you can’t close the rest.

Rarity was on a cloud. Well, she wasn’t physically on a cloud, as only Pegasii can do that, but being surrounded by her most beautiful dresses was like living a dream. She couldn’t quite decide which one she wanted to wear to face off winter. And the boots, she had to find the good boots to go with the dress, once she would have chosen one.

She stopped. The little something inside was crying. So she told it to shut up. But the sound of the cries and the weight of the tears were beginning to feel painful.

“What is it now?” asked Rarity. “What is it all about?”

And the little something told her there was something very important she had to do. Something very important she was forgetting.

“I want to forget!” shouted Rarity. “Why can’t I just be happy? I don’t want to worry all the time. I don’t even know what I should be worrying about right now.”

But the little something wouldn’t stop crying.

“Come on now Rarity.” the white unicorn told herself, “You have to control your feelings. I must only be a little sick. That must be why I’m feeling so weird.”

That conclusion satisfied her and shut the something inside up. She made herself some tea and suddenly glanced on her right, where the famous window was. The one from which she could see the town hall.

“No” she told herself, “I’m over with all this silliness.”

But of course, the curiosity was too strong and, deciding that, logically, if there was nothing wrong there, there was no reason not to look, she went to the window, opened it and looked outside.

It was very cold and snowing a lot. The ground was already covered in white. She would have closed the window on the spot if it hadn’t been for one little detail.
Pinkie Pie was there, where the statue was.
And her behavior reminded Rarity of all her fears and suspicion: Pinkie Pie had brought a big and warm blanket and had covered the statue with it.

Rarity rushed outside.

“Pinkie! What is the meaning of that?” she asked. “You told me it was nothing but a mere statue!”

She didn’t even know why she was feeling so angry. She wanted to think it was because of the lies, but she knew it wasn’t it.
And Pinkie had to take one second to think about her answer.

“Well it is just a mere statue.” she said to win some time.

“So why did you brought it a blanket?” asked Rarity.

“Because I was afraid it would get cold…” replied Pinkie Pie, still thinking, just before she finally found the answer she wanted: “at least that’s what it may look like, but it’s not what it is, even if it look like it, you know, like, well, it could be misunderstood that way, but it’s totally not.”

“So why did you bring it a blanket?” asked Rarity once again, sure she was finally about to find her answer.

“Because I wanted to cover it. I thought that you being obsessed with that statue wasn’t good at all and you’ve been acting so weird that I decided to hide the statue under a blanket so that you wouldn’t have to look at it anymore.” said Pinkie Pie.

It was such an obvious lie. Even Rarity could see that it was a weak excuse and that, even if it had been true Pinkie Pie wanted to remove the statue from Rarity’s sight, there would have been way better solutions that bringing a blanket coincidently just when it had begun snowing.

And surprisingly, or on the contrary, very naturally, Rarity believed the lie, because she wanted to believe it. It sounded “good enough”.

And her believing a lie so easily left a bad taste in her mouth as well as some disgust she didn’t like. But she had calmed down and was ready to go back home and keep on with her life. That’s all she wanted to do: go home and continue with her life.

She looked at the statue under the blanket. It looked quite peaceful and, at the same time, very attractive despite the pitiful aspect. The snow all around made it just so much less threatening that Rarity felt the need to go and touch it.

And she realized she had never even tried to touch the statue. Her curiosity grew into a gigantic blaze. It was only a piece of rock, there was nothing wrong with touching it. Even more, it would settle the whole thing definitely.
She approached the statue and, very slowly, put her hoof against the stone.

She took it away immediately. She had felt it. She just didn’t want to accept what she now knew. The consequences were too great for who she was.

“Pinkie Pie.” she told her friend with a very neutral tone, “I’m going to go home now.”

“Good.” answered the pink pony. “I’ll come and see you. I’ll bring those pies, you can count on me. We will have such a good time!”

But as Rarity was going away, Pinkie stopped smiling. She knew her friend had caught on and couldn’t do anything else but hope Rarity would be able to overcome her natural instinct. For her own sake, Rarity had to ignore who she was and what her very own heart wanted.
Well, in other words, it was already lost and Pinkie decided she had some pies to go fetch that could be needed very soon.

The nightmare that never ends.

Rarity was walking in the middle of Ponyville’s streets. It was the middle of summer and the sun was shining and warming her body and heart as it knew to do so well. All around the life was showing how happy things were and, of course, Rarity was dreaming.

Warm in her bed, her eyes closed, her mind could wander off wherever it wanted to go, in a beautiful world where nothing is ever wrong. There were critters all around, each of them being so friendly and wanting to be petted and to cuddle a little. Opal was there as well, watching her from the back, waiting, with the look she was always giving. She was waiting near a pony that Rarity noticed.

It was a mare, a very normal mare. Her mane was orange, her eyes were big and wide and full of hope and life. The only strange thing about her was the snow she was covered with and the blanket over her shoulders.

“Hello!” said Rarity to the mare.

But the mare stood still, like she couldn’t even notice her presence.

“Hello!” said Rarity louder.

The two eyes of the mare suddenly noticed her and began staring at her with a lot of hope and sadness. Two eyes that looked like mirrors with, behind the glass, the door to another universe.

“What are you doing here, all by yourself?” asked Rarity.

And in fact, the white unicorn would have liked to know about that. It felt like it wasn’t the place to be for the mare, like something was just wrong.
But the mare didn’t answer. She just reached out with her front hoof, in the direction of Rarity.

“Do you want to shake hooves?” asked Rarity, beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

But she saw the lips of the mare moving, very slowly, very carefully. Those lips that seemed tired to move, just as if they had had to move way too often for nothing and just wanted to give up moving at all.
And a sound came out from those lips. Not much, just one word. A very simple, but powerful one when it is told to souls like the one Rarity possessed.

The mare only said:
“Please.”

And as the whole dream suddenly collapsed at the sound of that only word. Rarity woke up in her warm and cozy bed, sweating like she had to run a thousand miles and now fully aware of the signification of her whole adventure.
She knew what she had decided to forget.
She knew what the statue was and why she had decided to ignore her.

And she couldn’t handle how much she hated herself at that very moment.

There was no more logical or pragmatic thought possible. Her heart had taken control and wanted what it couldn’t get for so long: action.

Rarity got out of her bed and took about everything she possessed with her, hoping it would be enough. Not wasting any time, she rushed outside, dragging three big bags full of her belongings and possessions and went to the town hall.

Pinkie Pie was waiting there and saw Rarity approaching. And Rarity saw Pinkie Pie. But even more, she saw the statue wasn’t there anymore.

“Where is she?” asked Rarity, almost threatening her friend.

“They took her to bury her. She was an old and sick statue, it was her last winter.” answered Pinkie Pie.

“I came too late?” realized Rarity, even more than she was asking it.

“Oh no.” told her Pinkie, “There was no good time, so, you couldn’t come too late at all.”

Rarity saw Pinkie’s smile but couldn’t understand it. She couldn’t even be mad at her friend. Her strengths were abandoning her.

“You knew and you never told me?” asked Rarity.
“Knew what?” asked Pinkie Pie. “Are you talking about the statue?”

“Of course I’m talking about her.” replied Rarity.

“Oh Rarity, what a weird pony you are.” said Pinkie Pie with another smile. “It’s quite wonderful you can get all emotional about a simple statue. And everypony that thinks you dislike things that aren’t beautiful.”

“She was beautiful.” sobbed Rarity. “And I couldn’t help her.”

“It was just a statue, you know?” said Pinkie Pie. “It was old, the town had decided to remove it and bury it, nothing more. But if you want to cry, I guess it’s okay, I don’t mind.”

Rarity wanted to believe her friend. It was plausible. But this time, she just couldn’t.
Her eyes full of tears, she fell on the ground and cried. The world stopped around her and all she could feel anymore was her sadness and the pain of the guilt in her chest that seemed to want to kill her.

“Come on Rarity” said Pinkie Pie, taking her friend under her hooves, “It’s time to go back home, it’s finished. The pies are waiting.”

A beautiful mare of night

When Pinkie Pie arrived with Rarity, or more precisely, holding Rarity, she saw all of her other friends waiting for them in the unicorn’s house.

“What’s going on?” asked Rainbow Dash, with a very concerned tone, “Why is Rarity crying?”

All the other ponies were reacting the same way. They had been invited by Pinkie to eat some pie and have fun together with Rarity as they had heard the mare had been feeling down lately, but they didn’t expect to see the unicorn in such a bad state.

“It’s alright.” said Pinkie Pie, “Just take care of her for a while, I need to go and pick some flowers.”

“We are in the middle of winter…” said Applejack, before realizing Rarity was way much more worth her attention than knowing if it’s possible to pick flower when there is none growing.

“Exactly!” answered Pinkie Pie. “It may take me a little tiny bitsy more time than normally.”

And she left her friends with Rarity. And all of them were suddenly envying her as they began noticing how different Rarity’s sadness was from a normal pain.
They understood she was really hurt. And they understood they couldn’t help change that fact. In fact, they didn’t know what they could do and were afraid that, by helping her, they would themselves get hurt.

That part I already told you about. And to be honest, had they known what Rarity’s sadness was all about, probably none of her friend, beside maybe Fluttershy, would have thought it was worth getting so emotional about. Rainbow Dash would have even said it was stupid and that Rarity was just acting like a drama queen like always, only in an even more talented way than before.

But they didn’t know why Rarity was sad. That helped them understand Rarity’s feelings. How she was really hurt. How her very nature had been sliced and beaten up. How her self esteem had sunk and all the beliefs that she had built her world upon had crumbled, taking her world with it.

Was the statue worth being sad? That’s for everypony and everyone to judge by himself. But Rarity thought it was. Even more, she felt it was, because she had one of those souls. One that just can’t stand not to help others. A generous and kind soul full of the hope that there will always be a pony somewhere to grab any hoof asking for help wherever and whenever it may be needed.
And Rarity just couldn’t stand the idea that she had been ignoring the statue’s hoof, and the hooves of so many others, for so long. Only to be happy.
Just as if her own happiness hadn’t be worth that sacrifice.

Her sadness was powerful because it wasn’t a logical one. She didn’t need to be sad because of a reasonable cause that could be helped. She was feeling sad because of who she was, or wanted to be.

The scent of a rose brought her back to reality, even if only slightly.

“See Rarity, I found a rose. I love roses, even if they aren’t pink, which is weird given their name.” said Pinkie Pie.

And Rarity’s eyes saw the rose in front of her. It was beautiful, and more than just a flower.

“It’s you.” said Pinkie. “I had to find a way to make you remember who you really are. And you’re beautiful.”

Rarity took the flower and, even she was still feeling sad and crushed, she had something to hold on to and, somewhere inside her, a new hope and a new light that were born and from which she would be able to build a new world to live in, even better than the last one.

Rainbow Dash saw Rarity holding and contemplating her rose like a child contemplate a toy and asked:

“What is going on?”

“She is fine now!” answered Pinkie Pie with a smile. “And you know what, I even found a rose for each one of you. Not that you would need them, but hey, can’t hurt to give them to you, right?”

And the pink pony offered the roses to her friends as well as the promised pies and all the ponies slowly began to unconsciously create a new bond around a simple flower.

And Pinkie Pie looked outside the window as the night had been chased away by the sun who was making all the snow from the last day slowly melt, uncovering the ground from which life would grow once again, with a new hope for a better tomorrow.

THE END

Author's Note

I wrote this story because I have to see those statues every week and I can't close my eyes. But I'm trying very hard to. Am I a bad person?
I've decided I'm not.

Pinkie Pie is behaving strangely, I agree, but it's coherent with my vision of the character and even more, I'm speaking about a pretty serious matter, so it's normal she may not act as funny as usual.

Finally, I'm sorry I couldn't be subttle about the subject. Well, as always, I'm no artist. I just hope you may enjoy its reading, if you have chosen to read it (for whatever reason you may have had to).

The title should have been "the statue", but I found out I could make a reference to a story of mine that I particularly like, so I did... And it sounds better anyway.

Note for Twi': I didn't know I would write this one when I answered your question.