//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash 
// Story: Death at a Party 
// by Joural 
//------------------------------//

    Rainbow slipped out of Sugarcube corner, the loud music thumping heavily behind her.  A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she berated herself for it.  Pinkie wouldn't want ponies to cry over her... she thought angrily, She'd want us to laugh and smile and joke about the silly things she did!  Despite Rainbow's desire to be happy, her eyes lacked their luster, and her cheeks were stained with tears.

She'd been the first to hear, and the first to arrive, red eyes begging the Cakes to correct her, for Pinkie to pop out from behind the bush, for it all to be some elaborate joke.  But the body was real, and Pinkie was dead.  Dead.  She hated the word.  She hated the very idea.  How had it happened?

Images flashed through her head—the barely disguised glares passing between Applejack and Twilight, Rarity arriving in a fancy carriage after a day's travel to return to Ponyville, her own long journey from Cloudsdale—it was obvious to anyone who even thought about it how it had happened.  They'd abandoned Pinkie.  She didn't know what was going on between Applejack and Twilight, but clearly they had been fighting, and it wasn't something new.  This wasn't the playful competitiveness she had shared with Applejack, or even the conflicting personalities that made Applejack and Rarity argue ceaselessly—this was pure, unabated hatred.  Two of her friends hated each other.

Of course that was the cause.  Pinkie had become depressed because she loved parties, loved making ponies smile, but to do either meant to choose between two of her friends!  Yes, she decided, that had to be it.  Even as she reassured herself, however, her guilty mind drifted back through time, sifting through memories of her own interactions with Pinkie.

Rainbow pushed her way into Sugarcube Corner, determined to find what was keeping her—they had been sure she'd find her way to Sweet Apple Acres by now. The mare did have a way of knowing when things were going on, and with half the town hiding in the barn it was hardly as if they were being subtle anymore.

There she is, Rainbow thought as she spotted her quarry, sitting in her room, talking to... inanimate objects.  there was a pile of rocks, a bag of flour, some turnips, and even a dust bunny.  Each was adorned with a party hat, and the room had been done up with party decorations, giving the room a happy feel that the troubled mare in the center of it all clearly was not appreciating.

A thousand thoughts flew through her head, mostly simple things like what the hay.  She was, however, a smart mare, despite her usual outward demeanor, and she understood what the scene actually meant.  Pinkie had believed they weren't going to her parties because they didn't like her, and she had taken it very, very badly.  Twilight had fretted about the possibility when they couldn't find Pinkie, but they had been sure Pinkie wouldn't be that badly affected...  Still, Dash was sure that Pinkie would be fine when she got her to the party.  So she smiled past her worry, and started trying to get Pinkie out of the shop.

Rainbow frowned.  Okay, sure, she’d been aware that Pinkie had problems, probably more aware than most of the others, but it still wasn't her fault... she didn't do anything to hurt her, right?

Spitfire was at her door.  Spitfire was at her door!  Rainbow could hardly contain her excitement, and quickly ripped the door open, startling the waiting wonderbolt.  Rainbow's wide eyes took in the sight before her—Spitfire, in the full wonderbolts uniform, holding a box, without a lid, and inside... Rainbow fainted.

A small smile made its way onto her lips as the happy memory took her from the depressing present, the day she started on the path to fulfilling her dream—her invitation to the Wonderbolts.

Rainbow zipped around town telling everypony she knew the great news, spreading her message in a few words, and moving onto the next target.  Eventually, she made her way to Sugarcube Corner, and burst through the door in a joyful flash.  She grabbed Pinkie from behind the counter, twirling the pink party pony about and thoroughly startling the beige pony she had been talking to—Bonbon, she thought.  "Pinkie!  Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!  I did it!  They're letting me in!"

Pinkie squealed gleefully with her, smiling wide just because Rainbow was smiling.  "What did you do, dashie?  Who's letting you in?"

Putting Pinkie down, she started flying around the room in incredibly fast circles yelling at a mile a minute while she did so, "I got in!  The Wonderbolts invited me to join the team! Oh, I have to go tell Fluttershy, and Applejack and Twilight, and EVERYPONY!  ohmygoshohmygoshohmyGOSH!" She grabbed pinkie in another tight hug, and rocketed out of the sweet shop, heading for the library even as she heard Pinkie yell something about a party.  She noted idly through her excitement that her shoulder was wet where Pinkies head had been.  Must have been drinking something before she got there.

Rainbow clenched her eyes shut, the realization sinking in.  She had abandoned her.  The element of "Loyalty" had abandoned her friend.  Not just Pinkie, she corrected herself, all of her friends.  She wasn't there to keep Pinkie company, she wasn't there to help Twilight and Applejack through their fight, and she wasn't there to try and convince Rarity to stay in Ponyville.

Tears fell from her eyes unimpeded, and Rainbow wandered through Ponyville to the graveyard, lingering over where Pinkie rested.  The grave was simple enough—pink roses planted over the freshly turned earth, a headstone engraved with three balloons and "Pinkamena Diane Pie, 982-1006, A beautiful soul filled with LAUGHTER, the world shall be darker for her absence".  Rainbow gave a slight smile, pressing her hoof to the engraving.

"You know, Pinks, a lot of ponies say the Applejack is Ponyville's rock—she's who everypony depends on to get things done, the most reliable mare.  But you were always my rock, Pinkie, you were always there for me.  You helped me through tough times, and you were my best friend.  I guess I thought you would always be there for me, but I never considered that you needed me as much as I needed you.  I'm so sorry, Pinkie."