The moon hung high in the sky, gripping the world in its soft light. It was a relatively comfortable night out, aside from the occasional stray, chill breeze that could make any pony shudder. The elements however didn't affect the pink mare, weaving around the invisible barrier she earned long ago, as she lay dormant sleeping under the giant oak. At least, it felt long ago.
Soft sobs trickled into Pinkie Pie's ears, coaxing her from her slumber. She blinked away her tiredness and rose from where she was lying. Her ears stood at attention, listening to the sad song of the sobbing pony from behind her oaken home. She had a hunch as to who would be visiting her in the middle of the night. She sighed heavily and leaned against the trunk. Who else would it be other than the same pony who had made a routine out of visiting her so often?
Pinkie bit her lip and peaked around the tree, spotting the moonlit glow of a brilliant rainbow mane. She wasn't surprised by this late visit; it had become the norm for her. It still didn't rid her of the pain she felt in her heart. Every visit was both a blessing and a curse. Rainbow Dash gave her enough light to see through the dark; she offered that little bit of color in her otherwise gray world. Pinkie enjoyed her company, even if Rainbow Dash thought otherwise.
She made her way to Rainbow and took a seat in the unkempt tufts of grass beside her. A simple, arched stone stood facing them, wielding her cutie mark across its face. Rainbow stared at it with clouded eyes, blocking out the rest of the world. Truth was, this was always how her visits were. To Rainbow, she only existed as a stone slab that called itself “Pinkie Pie” and proudly displayed her cutie mark for all to see. If only Rainbow could just look at her once more, to acknowledge her one last time, she could smile again.
“I couldn’t sleep again,” Rainbow exhaled.
Pinkie glanced toward her friend with ears perked. The least she could do was give her attention.
“I-I don’t know, I try to sleep, but I always see you on that cliff, and when I close my eyes, it’s… it’s like when I turned my back.”
“Oh, Dashie…” Pinkie wrapped her hooves around her friend in a light embrace.
Rainbow didn’t budge. “So, I just get up and try doing laps—anything to get that day out of my mind… Sometimes it works, but those thoughts always come back and slap me in the face. I’d give anything just to make them go away. I… I’d give anything for you to come back.”
The wind sang through the limbs of the oak tree, catching Rainbow Dash in a shiver. Pinkie tightened her grip and willed her presence to shield her friend from the cold. Her heart sank when it did not. How could she? The ailment that gave her immunity from the chill wind also prevented her from giving the same to others. Her warm embraces were no longer warm, no longer felt, and no longer gave the sense of comfort and security her grieving friends needed.
“Look at me,” Rainbow Dash muttered, her hoof passing through Pinkie to wipe her eyes, “I’m pathetic. I’ve never let anything beat me like this before…” She got up and walked to the tombstone. “I know I should be strong, but it’s just so hard, y’know? Knowing that one of my best friends is gone because of… because I was too arrogant. Too prideful… What good is pride when it gets your friend killed?”
Pinkie looked on helplessly. “It wasn’t your fault…”
“It’s not good for anything!” Rainbow stomped, “Nothing but hurting ponies. Killing ponies… That’s what happens when I let my ego get too big: ponies die!”
Pinkie grimaced at Rainbow’s outrage. Sure, Rainbow Dash wasn’t the hardest pony to anger, but she’d never seen her like this.
A moment passed in silence, the wind still chilling the air. Rainbow Dash continued to shiver, though Pinkie was beginning to believe that it was not from the cold. Rainbow took a deep breath and placed her hoof on the tombstone. “I took everything away from you, Pinkie… Took everything you loved away from you, and took you away from everypony that loved you. I know I’ve said this a thousand times already, but I mean it—I miss you. Please, forgive me…”
Rainbow Dash sighed and stepped back from the grave. “I should get going. I’m supposed to help AJ with something tomorrow, and I’m not gonna be much help if I’m exhausted.”
Pinkie sat with her back facing the stone. Rainbow Dash looked at her—through her—and said, “See ya later, Pinkie Pie…” She spread her wings and caught hold of the breeze, leaving Pinkie alone. Again.
Pinkie Pie wilted as her friend flew out of view. “Tell Applejack I said ‘Hi’...”
“I do not believe she can hear you.”
A chill broke through Pinkie’s barrier and ran down her spine. She turned. A stallion, as pale and faded as she, stood looking at the tombstone that donned her cutie mark. His features marked him as an older pony; his coat was a light tan and his graying mane slicked back out of his eyes. Despite the wrinkles spread across his face, he still stood tall and looked to carry the strength of any younger pony. His eyes pulsed with an amber glow that was oddly comforting to Pinkie, warm like a cozy fire.
“Your passing was nearly one year ago today, and yet you have not moved on. Instead you lay beneath the oaken tree to greet your guests as the unseen guardian of your own grave.” He turned to her. “Why have you not moved on?”
Pinkie froze. The warmth in this stranger’s eyes didn’t show in his voice. Though not harsh, his words held little emotion. “Y-you can see me?”
He nodded. “I can, and what I see is troubling.”
“Why?” Pinkie asked.
“Life is no secret to the keepers of the dead, Pinkie Pie. You were as energetic in spirit as you were in action. However, the spirit I see before me is not of the mare described. It seems death was unkind to you.”
“What do you mean? Who are you?”
“Who I am is not relevant to the current situation. Just know that a spirit who wanders long in this realm will lose every trace of who they were in life.” He frowned. “There are possibilities far worse than losing your life, Pinkie Pie. If you continue your time in the realm of the living, you will lose every bit of who you are. Now, I shall ask again. Why do you remain here?”
Pinkie swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Her shield was all but gone now, leaving her exposed to the chill of not the wind, but of this stallion, or rather what his intentions were. She felt the need to run far away and never look back, to get away from that voice whose chilly lack of emotion sent shocks throughout her being, but those eyes kept her rooted in place. They still comforted her and sympathized with her, and curiosity clouded them.
Words can be deceiving, but eyes always reveal the truth in a pony. Maybe this stallion could be trusted? “I… couldn’t leave them.”
“Them?”
“My friends.”
“Ah, and I suppose the colorful one was one of your friends?”
“Yeah, she is.” Pinkie nodded. “That was Rainbow Dash.”
“I suspected that is who it was. The mare who let her pride and ego blind her of her actions.” The stallion turned back to the stone, running a hoof across the surface. “Such negligence is dangerous, as you have experienced.”
“It wasn’t her fault!” Pinkie shouted.
“Do not let anger grab hold of you, spirit. That leads down a dangerous path,” he warned. “I do not pin the blame on her fully. My research shows the collapse was triggered by her, but there was possibly no way of knowing it would happen.”
The collapse… Pinkie didn’t like thinking about it, but it always managed to wiggle its way into her mind one way or another. If anypony was to blame, it was herself. The whole idea was hers to begin with. She wanted to make the routine extra special; with an audience, fireworks, the whole shebang! But, it didn’t end the way she had planned…
She clenched her eyes shut and prayed for them to shield her from the memories. The past was the past. No point in dwelling on it now.
The stallion sighed, “My apologies if my words seem cold. My passing was long ago, and I am unpracticed in dealing with emotional situations such as this.”
His eyes softened for the first time, their glow becoming that of embers. His lips curled into a light smile. “Your journey will be far easier if you rid of your regret. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t even know who you are,” Pinkie said weakly. “Besides, you seem to know everything about me, so I don’t know what’s left to talk about…”
“Lore Scripture.”
“Huh?”
“My name,” the stallion said, “is Lore Scripture. Perhaps on the journey to Tartarus I will tell you more, but first we must rid you of your regrets, lest you risk living forever with them in the afterlife.”
Pinkie’s ears perked at his every word. There was something different to his speech now; the coldness of his voice was warming. Perhaps he really was trying to help her. “I don’t really regret anything… at least I didn’t when I was alive. I only ever wanted to make everypony happy. Their smiles lit up my day everytime I saw them.”
“Were you happy when you died?”
“I… I think so,” Pinkie said. “I remember hurting all over, and I couldn’t move… But then Dashie showed up. I asked if she liked the routine, and she said she… that she loved it. I was happy for her.”
“That is very selfless of you,” Lore Scripture observed. “Death’s grip did not change who you were. That still begs the question: if you had no regrets in life, then what are your regrets in death?”
“I know Dashie was lying to me. It’s pretty obvious that she was every time I see her. She blames herself and thinks I hate her… and I can’t tell her I don’t.”
Lore’s eyes regained their fiery glow as he turned fully toward her. “Then your regret is tied with hers. She will live out the rest of her years believing she is solely to blame for your passing, and as such she will live with the belief that you will never forgive her for what happened.” He closed his eyes and paused for a moment before continuing. “Will her knowing that you forgive her rid you of your burden?”
“If she can move on and be happy... then yeah.”
Lore nodded and turned back to face the grave. He touched the top of the stone and clenched his eyes shut.
Pinkie couldn’t tell what he was doing, only that the air around the stone began to glow a cold blue. Soon the glow engulfed the stone and ran across its surface like water in a flowing stream, eventually puddling in the indentations of her cutie mark. The glow intensified to a near-blinding light before finally dispersing, leaving a flat, blank surface on the stone. Pinkie gasped, “Wh-what happened to my cutie mark?”
Lore relaxed, opening his eyes and removing his hoof from the stone. He turned to Pinkie, his soft smile returning to his features. “This, Pinkie Pie, is the turning of the page, the new chapter, the blank slate.
“Magic of the living world is harnessed by those who can reach it. Unicorns, alicorns and the like. They do not merely pull magic from thin air to do with as they please, they pull it from the shared realm of the dead. You, Pinkie, are energy coalesced into the form you are, the thoughts you maintain from the being you once were,” Lore explained, his lips long in a smile Pinkie hadn’t thought possible for the stallion. “In truth, all the magic of Equestria comes from this realm: the realm of spirits. As such, all spirits can grab hold of this energy and bend it to their will, provided they possess the knowledge on how to do so.”
Pinkie’s eyes grew wide, “And you want to teach me how to do that?”
“I do not wish to see your regrets follow you to Tartarus. I cannot teach you everything, but I can set you on the path to learn for yourself,” Lore said. He pointed to a pebble at the base of the oak. “That should suffice. Your first lesson is to reach out to that rock and pick it up.”
Pinkie looked at the rock and shrugged, making her way over to the pebble. She reached for it and tried to scoop it up; her hoof passed through it, leaving it resting unaltered. Pinkie blinked and tried again, with each try leaving the pebble untouched. She looked over to Lore Scripture.
He grinned. “A spirit cannot interact with the world as the living can. Look at the pebble, study it, and close your eyes.”
Pinkie did as instructed.
“Good,” Lore continued, “Now visualize it in your mind. Trace each jagged curve, feel the texture of its surface and the coolness of its touch. Make that visualization a reality in your mind. Do you see it?”
“Yes,” Pinkie replied.
“Now—and this is important—focus all your concentration on that pebble and lift it. Let it follow your gaze… Yes, that’s good. Now, without losing that concentration, open your eyes.”
Pinkie cracked her eyes and gasped. The pebble hung in the air, frozen in time. She beamed. “I did it! It’s floating! It’s— aww…” The pebble landed on the ground with a thud.
Lore smiled and, with little effort, picked up the pebble and placed it on top of the tombstone. “For your first time you did very well. Just remember to never lose concentration, lest you lose grasp of your task.
“The rest is for you to learn, Pinkie Pie. I will give you as much time as is possible to help your friend. Though if you have not completed your task by the time I return, we will have no choice but to leave. My master will not be happy if I delay for too long.”
“Wait, you can’t help me?”
Lore shook his head. “I am afraid not. I have other matters to attend to. Do not worry. Just remember the simple instructions I have told you. The same applies to whatever you wish to do, though greater effort may be needed for some tasks. Farewell, Pinkie Pie, and good luck.”
Lore Scripture took a few steps away from her before evaporating into the dark.
It was quiet once again, with the wind still blowing its soft song though the limbs of the oak. Pinkie Pie smiled up at the moon, a glint of determination in her eye. She looked back at the pebble resting on top of her grave and nodded. She was equipped with the power to get her message across, now she just had to use it.
She had to find Rainbow Dash.