Mind and Soul

Rainbow Dash absorbed the words of the letter as her eyes passed slowly from line to line, carefully scanning its delicately worded message. Ponyville was abnormally quiet, lacking the ponies that usually bring joyful life to the small town. Rainbow Dash was alone. Clouds blanketed the skies and blocked the sun’s warm rays. A cool sensation brushed across Rainbow Dash’s cheek as her mane blew in the gentle breeze. An orange hair dangled in front of her eye, however Rainbow Dash was in no mood to do anything about it.

Her eyes moved from one side of the paper to the other, top to bottom. She read it time and time again, the message slowly sinking in. Rainbow Dash felt a lone drop of water make its way down her cheek and fall onto the bench below. A quick glance into the sky confirmed it was not raining – yet. Her mind was in a chaotic flux, playing various memories from the past day in a seemingly random order. She sniffed her nose as snot tried to drip out of her nostrils.

The past events still hadn’t properly sunk into her mind yet. All she could feel was an immense, hollow feeling of guilt. It ate away at her body, her mind, her soul. She wasn’t quite sure why as of yet, the past events were still a blur. Another drop of liquid made it down her cheek, this time landing on the delicate paper of the note. Rainbow Dash tried to forget the events that happened. The letter remained burned into Rainbow Dash’s vision despite her squeezing her eyes shut. It didn’t seem real to her, it was as if she was having a terrible dream. But deep down, she knew this was real. This was very real. More real than Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense.

This letter meant the world to Rainbow, as if it held her very life force. She must protect it with her life, or what very little remained of it. It had instructions, but Rainbow could not decipher what they were telling her to do. As much as she tried to read it, her guilt and sorrow clouded her ability to think and reason. While her other thoughts spun wildly in her head, one particular thought managed to stay in focus. What will Celestia do?

The sound of a door shutting echoed across the walls of the many buildings in Ponyville, originating from the far end of town. Rainbow Dash could not look up. There was only one pony whom that could be, the last pony Rainbow Dash wanted to talk to. Rainbow laid down on the uncomfortable, old wooden bench. More tears streamed from her eyes as irregular sobs began to break from her throat. Rainbow Dash no longer felt like a pony.

Her fear was confirmed as her eyes opened for a split second, revealing the enormous shape of Princess Celestia slowly approaching. Her face bore a somber expression, the very life of Her Royal Highness seemed absent from her sullen figure. She was not as majestic or graceful as usual, instead looking like a depressed commoner. Not even that, she looked like she was dead. Dead on the inside, but still walking outside.

“Rainbow Dash,” Celestia whispered softly as she approached said mare. Rainbow Dash was expecting a harsh, accusing yell to pierce her ears. Instead, the most kind and compassionate voice she had ever heard came from Celestia’s regal mouth. Celestia herself sniffed her nose, and climbed onto the bench next to Rainbow Dash. Her enormous figure hung awkwardly over the edge, but Celestia paid no mind to such a minor inconvenience.

“I…I didn’t do it! I swear! It wasn’t m-“ Rainbow Dash began to bawl, in desolate fear of her imminent punishment. Celestia then levitated a warm blanket around Rainbow Dash’s cold and naked body, silencing the distraught pegasus. Rainbow seemed to understand what Celestia meant by this gesture, her emotions becoming slightly calmer. One great weight lifted from Rainbow Dash’s shoulders, but the much heavier weights of guilt and remorse remained eating away at her soul.

The two ponies stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity, pegasus to alicorn. Mortal to immortal. Commoner to royalty. Celestia’s eyes had lost their majestic sparkle, instead deep and empty pits of sorrow and longing. There was no anger or fear in Celestia’s eyes, only sadness. Sadness for sacred things that have flown away, never to return. Sadness for the flowers of memory that had wilted with age.

Celestia looked out at the roads of the quiet town. A small tinkling sound rang from somepony’s chimes as the wind blew, and the leaves of plants rustled softly. Buildings bordered the single road which stretched down through the center of town. Twilight’s library was all the way on the opposite side of town, out of sight. Rainbow Dash could not even bear to look in its direction.

“How did it happen?” Celestia finally asked, breaking the everlasting silence. Rainbow Dash took a deep, long breath, and exhaled to calm her inner emotions. She allowed her feelings to calm down until she was capable of thinking. Celestia kindly waited for her to collect enough strength to tell the story.

“It all started…yesterday morning…on a normal day,” Rainbow Dash began, pausing between words to take breaths. She was still not quite in the condition to talk, and began to sob furiously. Celestia wrapped her wing around Rainbow Dash.

“Hush now, little one. I will see that everything is okay,” Celestia whispered. Rainbow Dash’s crying continued until a soft melody flowed from the Princess’s mouth. Her inner struggle seemed to resolve itself as the beautiful song entered her ears. Her mind became more focused, her body less stiff. It was the most beautiful song Rainbow Dash had ever heard.

And so, under the protection of Her Royal Highness, Rainbow Dash told the story of what happened the previous day. The story of the strange green pegasus who ended her life as she knew it.