Friendship is Magic and Magic is Eternal
Sunset sniffed, trying to hide the tears that threatened to leak out of the corners of her eyes. This was it. Graduation. Both a day to look forward to, and to dread. The ceremony was over, and party had finally died, leaving the six girls sitting on the school stage, looking out at the streamers and confetti that lay upon the silent gym floor.
“I can't believe it's finally over.” Pinkie sighed. She smiled, though her smile was tired, and worn. “I wish I could have every moment back.”
“Ah' know what'cha sayin' sugarcube.” Applejack nodded. She'd changed out of her black gown, back into her usual duds. It only seemed fitting. “Remember when we first met?”
“How could I forget?” Rainbow Dash laughed. She grinned at the others. “I was playing soccer, being awesome as usual.”
“Oh, please dearie.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “We already know how 'awesome', 'amazing', 'stupendous', 'cool' and 'bombtastic' you are.” The young lady made quotation marks with her fingers with every word that RD had used to describe herself in the past.
“You forgot hot and epic, but I'll forgive you for that.” Dash smiled.
“I remember.” Fluttershy. “I was with Rainbow, watching her from the stands when she kicked the ball a little too hard-”
“Which I totally meant to do.”
“And it hit Applejack in the back.”
Applejack laughed. “Yeah, Ah' remember. Ah' was so dang upset, I'd kicked it back hitin' ya' in the chest.”
Rainbow laughed, then rubbed her chest. “Yeah, that hurt.”
All the girls laughed.
“Hey, girls?” Sunset slipped off the stage. “I've got a little something special for us, as a final goodbye to Canterlot High.”
“That sounds like fun.” Pinkie grinned. “Is it soda?”
“Close.” Sunset opened up a cooler that the others hadn't noticed before. She pulled out six bottles, one for each. “It's a drink I made. I've been practicing for weeks to get it just right. It's only fitting that we have it before...” She looked around the empty school, her heart in her throat, trying not to let her emotions overwhelm her.
“Ah' understand.” Applejack put a hand on her shoulder. “It's hard to say goodbye to it all.”
Rarity, in lady like fashion, pushed herself off the stage and walked a slow circle around the dead space. “Yes.” She sighed. I quite agree.” She let tear blink out of her own eye, sniffing herself. “I think this is the final goodbye for us.”
“But...But...” Pinkie's lips trembled as she thought of all the things she so wanted to do with her friends before this moment. “I...I just can't say g-g-goodbye...”
They all looked at the room around them. Still. Silent. They all knew how this would end.
“I know.” Fluttershy sniffled meekly. “But at least we have this last time. This last time together.”
Rainbow chuckled. “Aw Pinkie, you knew this day was coming.” She took a bottle that Sunset Shimmer had offered them. “How bout this? We all tell about our favorite memory before we call it the end. Eh?”
They all nodded, opening up the offered beverage and took a long pull from the bottles. The sparkling orange tickled their throats on its way down.
“Phew!” AJ smiled. “That sure is tasty. Alrigh' Ah'll go first.” The farm girl thought for a moment. “Remember that time that the ball was wrecked, anh' so we fixed 'er up with the help of the whole school?”
“Almost the everyone.” Sunset reminded her, taking a sip of her drink. “I really wish I could take that back. It looked like fun.”
“Oh it was,” Pinkie smiled despite her sadness. “But you weren't always a party pooper. I liked how when the sirens had us pinned down and you sang that wicked solo and like, totally, kicked their butts.” The pink haired girl giggled snorted, and sighed. “That was a good one.”
“So were the outfits~” Rarity signed. “Oh, do you girls remember when we had that school play, and I fell behind schedule?”
“Oh yes.” Fluttershy smiled sadly. “We all pitched in, and the play was so loved, they asked us to also preform it in the Town's Theater.”
“Or how bout the time that Fluttershy helped out the pet sanctuary?” Applejack laughed. “An' all them rabbits decided to stampede?”
Rainbow Dash laughed hard. “And there were those three girls who nearly fainted! What did they keep yelling?”
“'The horror!'” Rarity quoted, giggling herself.
The laughter died after a few minutes. They all took another drink, looking around the lifeless gym.
“H-hey. Let's walk the halls. Just...one last time.” Rainbow offered, the melancholy of their final departure weighing on her.
They all nodded, making their way out of the gym. The halls were empty of any students. They walked in silence, minds reflecting on the wall posters and banners that were hanging around the school. It would be so hard to leave it behind. All the good memories, all the bad.
“Do you think anyone will miss us?” Pinkie asked, looking at the announcement of senior graduation.
“How can they?” Rainbow laughed. “We made such an impression, it'd be at least a century for the school to forget about us.”
They all nodded.
Applejack put a hand on the locker to steady herself. “Whoa. Why don't we, ya' know, go back to the gym. Ah' need to sit down.”
Sunset gave a small smile, taking AJ's arm. “Yeah. Let's.”
The walk back to the gym was more difficult than they remembered it to be in the past. Their legs started to ache a little, and their breaths became shallow. Finally, they leaned back against the stage.
“I don't want to go...” Pinkie cried. “We had too much fun here. There's so much we haven't done. I'm not ready to leave.”
“Shhhhh,” Fluttershy hugged her. “I...Know how you feel...but we have to go...”
“Yeah.” Rainbow said. She coughed for a minute. “Yeah...It sucks...that it has to end this way.”
AJ held her hand. “But...We're...Together.”
Sunset Shimmer felt a collective sigh as her friends gave their last breath. She struggled to sit up, just to see them one last time, all cuddling together. Sadly, she looked around the gymnasium, seeing the body of every student who drank from the punch bowl they'd put out. Every last one, from Principle Celestia to Snails had a drink still in hand.
Sunset smiled weakly. “I'll see you all again.” She sniffed. “And we'll never leave each other....” She felt her body go numb as the poison in the drink she made finally took hold of her. She fell back, slowly closing her eyes, whispering with her last breath. “Friendship is forever.”
The police showed up at the school the next morning, due to the amount of missing persons report of graduates who never came home from the graduation party the night before. They were horrified to find every student, teacher and staff of the school in the gymnasium, dead. A quick search of the scene revealed only a slip of paper that read the following:
I'm sorry for the trouble we caused you, but you understand, right? These are my friends. They were going to leave after graduation. We were going to grow old and die, alone, without our friends. I'm sorry it had to be done this way, but it's for the best. We're going to a special place, where we can play and be young forever. You understand right? I hope you do.
Sunset Shimmer
P.S. Friendship is Magic, and Magic is Eternal.