//------------------------------// // When Things Look Down... // Story: Friendship is Forever // by pabrony //------------------------------// It was an unusually quiet day at Sugarcube Corner in the small town of Ponyville, as far as business was concerned. In the farthest corner from the sales counter, there was the sound of six friends laughing and having a great time. Those friends were Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and a noticeably pregnant Rainbow Dash, all enjoying their weekly 'Mare's Day Out'. They went around the table talking about what they did in the past week, congratulating each other on all the good stuff that happened to each of them. When it was Rarity's turn, she immediately got quiet and stared at her double chocolate milkshake. Everypony else immediately knew something was amiss. "Rarity? What happened?" Twilight asked, worried about her friend. "Y'all okay, Rares?" Applejack insisted. Tears began to form in the unicorn's eyes as she tried to think about the best way to break the news. Meanwhile, her friends continued to press her for what was bothering her. "You know you can tell us anything," Fluttershy quietly told her. Rarity took a deep breath and open her mouth to speak but the words just never formed, just the sound of a sad pony crying. Nopony knew what to say as they watched their friend cross her forelegs on the table and bury her face in them, changing their joyous mood into a disheartening one. "Is everything okay?" Mrs. Cake asked as she approached the group. "We don't know, Mrs. Cake," Pinkie began. "We were telling about our week and Rarity just started crying when it came around to her turn." "Oh. Well if you girls need anything just let me know," Mrs. Cake replied. Rarity managed to lift her head to reveal her now tear-covered face. Her sobs of sorrow had eased up enough to allow her to speak. "Lonely... Lonely Heart and... and I," she began, trying to keep what little composure she had, "we.. we found out from... from..." Rarity lost control again as she remembered what she learned from Dr. Friendly, the Manehattan OB/GYN. Rainbow Dash was the first of the group to begin crying. Being close to term with her pregnancy, she had a feeling as to where Rarity was going with her news. After another minute or two, Rarity was able to regain enough control to finish what she was going to say. "We found out from Dr. Friendly that... that I can't... I can't have foals of... of my own." Her admission of the tragic news caused the pace of her crying to resume to a near uncontrollable level. Pinkie Pie, whose mane and tail were now deflated, wrapped her pink hooves around her heartbroken friend and reminded her, "This is a super duper big bummer but we're your bestest greatest friends in the whole wide world and we'll always be there for you whenever you need us." As the rest of the group began crying, Fluttershy reached out and grasped Rarity's forelegs with her hooves in which the other four quickly followed suit. "Just remember," Fluttershy reassured her, "we will always be here." Rarity walked into the maternity ward of Ponyville General to visit her friend who had just become a mother for the first time last night. It was bittersweet visiting this ward of the hospital as she knew this was the only way she could be in the nursery. She entered the room and the first thing she noticed besides the twin colts, was her friend's mane which was more frazzled than usual. "Pinkie Pie," said Rarity in her clarion voice, "whatever happened to your mane? It's everywhere. More than normal I mean." Pinkie looked in the mirror that was on the bed tray so she could see what Rarity meant. "Oh yeah," Pinkie laughed, "that kinda happens when you squeeze two objects the size of large pumpkins out of your..." "Okay, Sweetness," Cheese Sandwich interrupted. "I think she probably can figure it out." The exchange between the proud parents made Rarity do something that she had hardly done after learning about her condition fifteen years ago: laugh. "Thank you for the laugh Pinkie. I need it," Rarity told the party pony. "So what did you name them?" "Well, the yellow one is Sweet Cheese and the white one is Cream Cheese," Pinkie answered cheerfully. Cheese Sandwich cleared his throat as he nudged his wife to get her attention. After Pinkie made eye contact with Cheese, he nodded toward Rarity. Pinkie paused a moment to think before responding. Rarity, on the other hand, began to wonder what the hay was going on. "Oh yeah!" Pinkie finally exclaimed. "Since you can't have foals of your own, Cheesy and I were wondering if you wanted to be the god-mare to the colts." Rarity was taken aback by the surprise request. "You... you really mean that?" she asked as tears of joy began to fill her eyes.      "We sure do, Miss Rarity," Cheese Sandwich replied with a smile. "I'm speechless. I honestly don't know what to say," Rarity said, flabbergasted. Pinkie reached up, grabbed Rarity by each cheek, looked her in the eyes and said, "Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease say yes. It would mean everything to us." After taking a moment to think about it, Rarity smiled and said, "For you, darling, I'd be honored." "Yayyy!" exclaimed Pinkie as she let go of Rarity's cheeks to give her a hug. "We know you'll be a super duper god-mare." Rarity opened the door to Carousel Boutique with her head hung in sadness and slowly walked inside. She removed the dark veil from in front of her face to reveal her puffy eyes that were the result of her crying earlier. The funeral was one of the most beautiful ones that she had attended. Princess Luna presided over the service that included her sister singing "Amazing Grace" and eulogies from Twilight Sparkle and former Wonderbolts captain, Spitfire. The ivory fashionista retired to her bedroom so that she could remove the elegant onyx studded dress. I really should finish designing the costumes for Sapphire Shores, Rarity thought. But I'd like to begin designing a new line in Rainbow Dash's memory. Lonely Heart slowly moved into the reflection of the mirror as Rarity removed her make-up and cleaned the mascara that had run down her cheeks off her face. "Are you okay, honey?" he asked softly as he placed his right hoof her whithers. Rarity looked away from the mirror and husband and shook her head no as the tears began to flow from her eyes once more.      "Rainbow Dash and I had an odd but strong friendship," sniffled Rarity as she wiped her eyes. "We constantly got on each other's nerves but we loved each other like sisters. The girls and I always thought she would outlive all of us, except Twilight of course, due to all the close calls she's survived throughout the years." "I don't know what to say, honey," Lonely told Rarity as he helped guide her to the bed where they both sat on the edge. "Rainbow's in a better place now, without all the pain and suffering. We just need to live each day like it's our last." Rarity looked into his eyes as hers continued to release tears. She knew he was right and the pain was going take a long time to heal, in the meantime, she had Lonely to help her through this. Lonely Heart leaned over and cradled Rarity tightly in his forelegs until she fell asleep from crying. "I love you, Rarity," he whispered softly. "Forever." Lonely Heart opened his eyes as the morning sunlight made it through the bedroom windows. He rolled over to cuddle with Rarity only to find her side of the bed empty and cool, meaning she had been up for a while. After laying on his back for a few minutes, he finally got up to make some coffee for himself and a kettle of tea for his wife. "When did you wake up, honey," inquired Lonely Heart as he levitated Rarity's tea tray into her inspiration room. "Just a few hours, darling," Rarity replied as she took the tray from Lonely. "I haven't even done up my mane yet." "I can tell," Lonely said with a devilish smirk. "It almost looks like Applejack's." A blue aura surrounded a cheap roll of fabric, lifting it off the shelf behind Rarity before flying across the room toward the stallion. "How dare you compare my beautiful, although unprepared, mane to Applejack's dusty ponytail," Rarity hollered as her husband dodged the roll of fabric. "I'm going to go make us some breakfast. I love you," he said laughingly as he trotted out of the room. I really need some time alone, Rarity thought. I know Lonely wants to be here for me and I love him for it but I'm going on a vacation tomorrow, alone. I need some time away from Ponyville, like Manehattan, Canterlot or Appleoosa...