One month after the funeral of Rainbow Dash
Tank sat near the purple one wondering where his owner was
Twilight Sparkle looked at Tank, saddened by the reminder of Rainbow.
The aged tortoise looked to the wet window of the crystal castle and thought about where the fast blue pegasus he called master was. As he was thinking about this the tortoise started walking as if on instinct out of the castle and into the rain. His instinctive plodding took him to the estate of the late Dame Rainbow Dash or as he better knew it as, home.
He let himself through the front door and saw that there were wet hoof marks on the welcome mat just inside the building. His happiness built up as he anticipated the return of his beloved owner but as he reached the room where Rainbow always relaxed after a long day he saw that it was not in fact Rainbow Dash. The one in the sitting room was none other than the, always excited, orange and purple maned pegasus. She was sitting on the cushion that Rainbow always used and she was holding a cyan flight feather to her chest, crying softly.
Tank didn't know why the orange one was so sad but he was perfectly OK with giving a helpful, if slightly wet, nuzzle of encouragement. This motion, meant to make happy, seemed to distress the already depressed mare even more. Tank didn't know what to think when he saw the excitable Scootaloo start to openly bawl upon seeing him, so he left.
As the slow tortoise meandered his way back to the crystal castle he thought about the reasons that the orange pegasus would be sad about. It was at this moment that Tank realized that he's seen similar attitudes before the purple alicorn on at least four different occasions. The first was when the bouncy pink one stopped throwing her parties, Rainbow was sad for a long time after that as well. The second time this inexplicable sadness struck Ponyville was when the white unicorn who had designed his terrarium vanished. Then it was the butter yellow pegasus and the orange earth pony that disappeared at the same time. But now that begged the question of where all the ponies he had known for his life had gone.
It was then that he saw the purple one, levitating a bouquet of flowers and an umbrella, walking down the road. Having nothing better to do, he followed her.
The path led to a small clearing. Within this clearing there was a menagerie of stones, ranging from simple plaques to buildings. Tank wondered what purpose these stone constructs had and why they were here.
He wondered if Rainbow Dash knew the purpose of the stones.
POV Twilight Sparkle
Twilight was almost happy when the constant reminder of Rainbow Dash walked out of the castle. Almost, because Tank was also a balm to the tragedy that the ageless mare has been enduring for the last forty years, as all of the ones closest to her either died or moved away.
Spike was actually the first one that left, not because he had died or wanted to, but because he was simply to large and expensive to keep well fed. He had taken it upon himself to move to the dragonlands and start a horde. The next to leave her was the ever excitable Ponyville Part Pony, Pinkie Pie. She had a stroke in her sleep at the age of one hundred and twelve. Her will had simply read 'Get those frowns off your faces you silly fillies!' Rarity had an accident with a step-stool and a pair of fabric shears. Sweetie Belle took that the hardest out of everypony else, she ended up joining rarity a week afterwords. Nopony suspected her to be suicidal and nopony saw the signs. After Rarity and Sweetie it was Fluttershy and Applejack. The timid yellow pegasus thought she could talk down a rabid hydra, and AJ tried to defend her. They had both already perished before medical ponies could get there to help. That was nine years ago, Twilight still remembers the look in Fluttershy's eyes. She seemed so confused as to why the hydra wasn't listening to her. Both of their funerals were closed casket.
After lamenting over the past Twilight got to her hooves with a sigh and put on a half-hearted smile. She then grabbed the bouquet of flowers from a vase and the umbrella from its place next to the door and proceeded to walk out. The smile the alicorn had applied was quickly washed away in the wake of what she was doing combined with the dreary, drizzly weather. Twilight was going to the graveyard to pay her respects to all who had passed.
Twilight was quickly growing more and more sad as she got closer to her destination. The small hill loomed in front of Twilight almost like a mountain. Twilight, with all her heart, longed to have this all be just a long and terrible dream. As she reached the simple tombstone of Rainbow Dash she accepted the reality that all of her best friends were gone.
Twilight, the Princess of Magic, wept and said these final words to her late friend. "Rainbow, I know you probably can't hear me but thank you for simply being my friend and enduring for as long as you could along with me. I'll see you again sometime." Little did Twilight know, the heavyset tortoise had heard every last word and now finally understood where everypony had gone.
Rainbow Dash was gone forever.