Its time! Its time!"
Scootaloo was practically leaping for joy. Her friends grinned.
"Calm down, Scoots!" Apple Bloom teased, smiling.
In reality, they were all excited. Their older siblings and thier friends had been gone for nearly a week, out on an important mission to save Equestria from a rising threat in some dark spot in the south. No word had been heard from them until the day before, saying they were coming home.
"They ought to be here any minute!" Sweetie Belle said, jumping excitedly.
Then somepony shouted, "Here come the heroes!"
Everypony rushed to the street to meet them, the Crusaders trying to get in front and failing. The laughter and cheers slowly began to die until there was nothing but silence. The Crusaders made it to the front and looked happily at the returning heroes, grinning widely.
Those grins faded at the sight that greeted them.
Three battle weary ponies, heads low, slowly walked up the street, each with some kind of big burden on thier back.
Wait...three? That wasn't right. That wasn't right at all.
Somepony close by softly said,"Oh no..."
The Crusaders looked in confusion at the three as they approached, looking sadder than anypony ever could. They stopped and stood, heads still down. Pinkie's mane and tail were dull and flat. Fkuttershy's wings drooped, and Twilight looked ready to collapse.
For a long time, nopony moved or spoke. Then finally, Sweetie Belle mustered up enough courage to speak.
"Twilight?" She said, everypony clearly hearing her. "Wh...where's Rarity?"
"An' Applejack." Apple Bloom managed.
"And...and Rainbow Dash...?" Scootaloo got out.
Twilight's head hung lower for a moment, then she forced herself to lift it and meet the gaze of the three fillies. She tried to say something, and failed. Instead, she slowly craned her head to look at the bundle on her back, and the other two did the same. Tears leaked from Fluttershy's eyes.
It took a really long moment for these actions to register. And when it did, the three fillies gasped.
"Twi...Twilight, no, please...not...tell us its...they..." Scootaloo couldn't finish.
Twilight's tear filled gaze met thiers. "Girls, I...I am so...sorry." she managed, before choking on a sob.
The reactions of each of the fillies was very different. Sweetie Belle uttered a scream and fainted; Scootaloo froze as still as a statue, eyes wide and unblinking and unseeing; and Apple Bloom lost all strength and sat on her flank with a thud.
It couldn't be. It just couldn't.
"I'm sorry." Twilight said softly, brokenly. "It...it was a hard battle...we didn't know...we weren't prepared for..." She couldn't go on.
Pinkie had tears pouring down her muzzle, creating a puddle at her hooves, turning the dust into mud. Fluttershy was not much better, especially considering which fallen friend was on her back.
For the Crusaders, it felt like thier whole world had been turned upside and shredded in a matter of seconds. Apple Bloom reached over in a daze, shaking Sweetie Belle, trying to rouse her. The filly finally regained her senses, sitting up and looking completely shattered. Not one of them wanted to believe what they had just heard. It seemed so unreal, like a nightmare. Something in each of them snapped.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" they screeched in unison, before taking off at break neck speed in in three different directions.
Twilight watched them go, tears streaming from her eyes. She looked back at her two companions, who met her teary gaze. Unspoken communication passed between them, and as one, they turned, and slowly made thier way to a place where they could lay thier friends, the entirety of Ponyville following silently and tearfully behind them.
***********************************
(Sweet Apple Acres)
Apple Bloom stood outside the bedroom door, legs trembling, tears streaming from her eyes. It took every ounce of will power she possesed to step across the threshold and into the still room. She walked slowly over to the bed and stood there, staring at it. In the center of the colorful quilt rested a worn Stetson hat, the one that should have been perched on her big sister's head right now.
Only it wasn't. Because her big sister wasn't there.
Apple Bloom was blinded by a sudden rush of hot tears that ran down and dripped off her snout. She leaped up on the bed, grabbed the hat, and crushed it to her chest.
"APPLEJAAAAAAAACK!!!!!" She wailed at the top of her lungs. "COME BAAAAAAACK!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!"
Her plea was met with only silence. She was alone at the house. Granny Smith and Big Mac had gone to town for the funeral, not realising that the filly had fled for home halfway to town. She couldn't go. She couldn't. Saying goodbye would only make the fact her sister was gone all the more final. If she didn't say goodbye, then there was the chance it wasn't real, right? She would look up and see Applejack trotting towards her, smiling and laughing and calling her name.
Still crushing the hat to her, she laid down on her sister's bed, tears soaking the quilt, and thought about some of her favourite times with Applejack.
Like running the Sisterhooves Social. Eating ice cream together. Making apple pie. Laughing, telling jokes. Camping.
Apple Bloom choked on a sob as deep pain swelled inside, cutting through her tender heart like a knife.
"Applejack, Ah need ya, sis." She wept, clinging to the Stetson like it was a lifeline.
It smelled of apples, dried sweat, dirt. But there was another scent, too. More pronounced.
It smelled of Applejack.
"Please come back, Applejack..." sobbed the broken filly. "Please...Ah need ya...Ah don't want to lose ya...please...oh Celestia! Please come back!!!!"
And Apple Bloom succumbed to a wave of massive sobs that stole her breath away and hurt her lungs. But soon, she rose, and planted the hat on her head as she moved to look out at the farm.
"Ah'll take good care of it." She said aloud, sniffling, wiping her eyes. "Ah'll do ya proud. Bic Mac an' Granny will have to hang on to it for me for a while, but soon as Ah'm bigger, Ah'll take over what you were doin' here, big sis. Ah promise."
So saying, she turned around, walked down the stairs, out the door, and towards town.
Towards the goodbye she knew she'd regret not saying.
***********************************
(Carousel Boutique)
Sweetie Belle took a long look at the shop. Her usually sparkling eyes were dull and nearly lifeless as she looked at all of the things neatly laying around. An unfinished dress was on the sewing machine. Rarity had not had time to finish it before she and her friends had been called off to save Equestria. That thought reminded her of the funeral that had been planned. She just couldn't go. She couldn't.
She wiped her eyes, despite the fact that the tears kept pushing thier way out relentlessly.
"I don't want you to be gone, sis." She choked. "I really need you! Please just come back!"
Of course there was no answer to that. Sweetie Belle looked to the door as if expecting her sister to walk through it.
No Rarity.
"It just isn't fair!" yelled the little filly. "I can't say goodbye!!! I won't say goodbye!! RARITYYYYYYY!!!!"
She flung herself on the floor and sobbed. She hated this. She hated it. Her heart felt like it was being ripped in two.
She thought back to her favourite times with Rarity. The stories she had told, the dresses she had sewn for the play the CMC had written, the day she had switched places with Applejack and run with her at the Sisterhooves Social. They had had such good times together.
"Please, Rarity..." she sobbed. "Don't leave me. I love you. I need you. You're my big sis, I can't lose you."
But no amount of begging was bringing the elder pony back.
At long last, Sweetie Belle stood up and looked around. She wiped at her tears and took a shuddering breath. In spite of her deep pain, she knew what she needed to do.
"I'll run this shop for you, big sister." She whispered through tears. "I'm gonna make you proud. I'll be a good sewer like you."
With a final look around at the shop she had just claimed as hers, and the work she would pick up and finish for Rarity, she turned and walked out the door.
Going to say a final farewell to the sister she loved with all the might of her aching young heart.
***********************************
(On a hill looking at Cloudsdale)
Scootaloo sniffled as she scuffed a hoof in the dirt.
"Not fair." She mumbled, desperately fighting back tears. She glared up at Dash's home.
"You promised you'd always be there for me!" She yelled, shaking a hoof. "You promised to always have my back and catch me if I fall. You said you'd teach me to be an awesome flyer." Her voice cracked. "You said you'd come home..."
Her head drooped. Pain stabbed through her chest like a huge spear, twisting unmercifully. She and Rainbow Dash may not have been related, but they were as close as two sisters ever could be.
Scootaloo couldn't understand why it had happened. How Dash had been cut down. She was such a strong and amazing flyer. Fearless. Bold. Daring. How did somepony like that just up and get destroyed?
Scootaloo sniffled again, no longer caring about weakness as she lifted her eyes to Cloudsdale and let the tears fall.
"I didn't ever wanna lose you, Rainbow Dash." She whispered. "You were my big sister, and I love you." Her voice hardened. "HOW COULD YOU GO AND LEAVE ME LIKE THIS??! HOW COULD YOU??! WHY COULDN'T YOU COME HOME LIKE YOU SAID??! YOU LIED, DASH! YOU LIED!!!!!"
The orange filly threw herself into the grass, wailing loudly, tears soaking the ground. The pain was so intense she could barely breathe, but there was no way to stop it.
"Come back, Dash, please!" She sobbed to her hero. "Please come back. I can't say goodbye to you. I need you. Who's gonna help me fly? Teach me cool tricks? Dash, please...please...oh Celestia, please, Dash! Come back!!!" She sobbed harder.
She could remember all the pats on the head, the "Totally Awesome, Scoots!", the flying lessons to strengthen her wings. The night Dash unofficially became her big sis after saving her life.
The pain intensified, her sobbing grew louder. This hurt so bad!
"Dash..." was all she got out before even deeper sobs overcame her.
When she had cried all she could cry, and had no energy left to sob further, she slowly pushed up from the grass and turned her swollen eyes to Dash's home.
"I'm gonna make you proud, Dash." She said shakily. "I'll be the best darn flyer ever. As good as you. And one day, when I'm bigger and stronger, maybe I can be a Wonderbolt just like you. And be as awesome as you, too. I...I love you, big sister. And I won't ever forget you, I promise."
She sat looking up at the cloud house for a short time longer, then she rose and began the short walk to town.
To the last goodbye she would ever say to her big sister.
***********************************
The triple funeral was short. The CMC stood front and center, not only in thier capes, but each one also wearing something of thier sisters'.
Apple Bloom was still wearing Applejack's Stetson, in spite of the fact it kept trying to slip over her eyes.
Sweetie Belle was wearing Rarity's favourite scarf.
Scootaloo was wearing Dash's Wonderbolt uniform, though it was much larger than her small body.
All three stood silently side by side, eyes glistening with tears and determination.
Determination to pick up the torches laid down by thier older sisters and carry on in thier memory, never looking back or losing hope that one day, they would see them again.
And that they would always be watching over them.
Always.