Of Moments and Melodies

by Church

Chapter XI

“H-her name was Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy said dispassionately, gazing at the far wall of the room through glossy eyes. Her figure seemed to be fading in and out, like a flickering light at the end of a hallway.

“What?” I responded. “What do you mean? What does that hafta do with anything?”

Fluttershy looked weak. She fell her eyes to the floor. “Um... the pin. The one you have. Oh, um... it, it belonged to a... um,” she paused and took a deep breath. “friend of mine.”

I was reeling, ‘cuz how was it that some random manager in some random cafe knew Fluttershy’s friend? How did he know her? “A friend? Like one of your old friends?” I asked. I took a look around the room. Everypony was staring at us, making the situation awkward. “What does the pin have to do with her?”

“Oh. It’s her cutie mark.”

Her cutie mark?

I rolled the pin around in my hooves. The metallic substance was warm from my constant pressure on it, and it invoked a feeling almost troublesome in nature. I felt devious upon wielding it. It felt heavy, as if the metal itself were made out of something more than just... metal. I couldn’t place it, but holding it made me feel... different.

“So?”

Fluttershy turned to look at me, her features wistful and drawn. “Um... so what?”

“So why is it that somepony who I never met before all of a sudden wants to give me a pin ‘cuz he heard your name?” I asked her, breathless, desiring answers like a lawyer on the case. “Does that seem normal to you?”

Fluttershy’s eyes darted to the far corner of the room. “Um, no, I guess not.”

I sighed. I wiped away a tear that never fully formed. “So tell me?”

Fluttershy only shuffled around on the bed, fluffing the unfluffable mattress in an effort to stall for time. “Oh, I don’t know...”

“Fluttershy, look at me.”

Fluttershy’s eyes were trained on the floor, in part to avoid the creeping stares of the others, and in part to avoid me. Her gaze seemed to bounce off the floor and strike the far wall. It didn’t really matter, everywhere you looked you were looking at the same thing.

“Fluttershy.”

The pegasus with the flared pink mane lifted her head, and she flicked an ear my direction, signifying she was with me. I could see her eyes appeared to be shining, as if they had been dipped into a pool of water.

I scooted over her way more. “Tell me.”

“H-hey guys...”

I smiled sweetly at her, the once prismatic and prideful pegasus. She looked dreadful, her tousled mane sagging over her eyes and her frame beaten with age and overuse, her bones fragile and her eyes glazed over. Her breaths were harsh and rasped, she wheezed whenever she spoke, and she coughed constantly. Her cyan feathers were falling off, floating lightly to the floor, landing with pristine grace and beauty; I remember seeing them.That was about all that was beauteous about that moment. We were letting her go.

I remember Applejack sitting on the other side of the bed, hoof in hoof with her friend, sobbing quietly, gently, as AJ so genuinely did on such horrendous occasions. The strong-willed earth pony was so strong... seeing her give in to her emotions was rare, and her tears came few and far between. Her hat was lying next to the head of the ill-fated pegasus, letting Applejack’s blonde mane scatter about her face, her eyes shut and her freckled face stained with spilled tears. She was muttering something incomprehensibly, my ears perked at the noise, but I could not make out what she had said. I still don’t know what she had said.

Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Pinkie Pie were standing at the foot of the bed. Pinkie was crying profusely, the air was filled with her whimpers and her cries. I found it hard to believe that she could see anything at all, the waterworks were coming on so strong. Her mane hung limp, and the balloons on her flank seemed to have deflated in the utter despair of the situation. She looked about ready to jump in bed with our dying friend, follow wherever she’d go. Oddly, she was always the most sentimental of ponies, and her show of affection for her beloved friend here was nearly too much to take in. I stared at her. I stared at her in wonder. I... I didn’t know what else to do.

Twilight was just as bad. Her tears were gushing down the side of her face. She’d wipe them away and send gleaming droplets flying, only to splatter on the floor in the coming seconds. Twi let a hoof hang carelessly on the bed post, and a grown, teary-eyed Spike held her up, as she looked ready to collapse. Her normal mirth gone; it was hard to fully make sense of the situation. Both looked on with a sort of admiration and remembrance that sent a chill to my very core. Both looked on with remorse... maybe regret.

There were others in the room. Some I didn’t recognize. Some I did. I chose not to get so close, for fear that my emotions would completely overwhelm me, and I wouldn’t be able to stand it any longer. Instead, I let an older stallion with a gray coat hold on to her hoof, staining the sheets with his tears, his pleas for mercy on her soul and body muffled by the fabric. He kept a firm hold on her, willing his heartbeat to skip into her body, thus keeping her alive for her remaining moments. From the look of it... I’d say that he never wanted to let go...

“Heh... g-guess we h-had a good run... eh guys?” the pegasus hacked. She ended the statement with an aggravated groan, like a thousand needles were twisted into her backside. She thrashed for a few seconds, AJ and the stallion clinging to her, keeping her from careening over the side of the bed.

She coughed heavily, I could see drops of scarlet imbedded into her hoof as she brought it away in the aftermath. “T-thanks for all t-the adventu...” Another groan. “Adventures...”

Suddenly, everypony was dying. Everypony was dying with this mare as the precious seconds ticked away. We could feel ourselves burning up inside, unwilling to see another one go, another one of our friends. It was hard. It was so hard, that you couldn’t help but let yourself die inside, impart with a piece of yourself to the sick. It was just so hard to watch a loved one perish, and, especially in my case... not do anything about it. It was heart-wrenching to watch such a once healthy and youthful young mare die in your hooves like a scrap of garbage.

Watching Rainbow Dash die was like watching the curtains fall on the most aweing symphony you had ever seen in your life.

Applejack’s breaths were short and hollow. Her grip on Dash was loosening. “Y-y’all say hi ta R-Rarity when ya git thar, ya hear me?” she whimpered.

The sickly pegasus turned to her emotional friend. Applejack’s eyes were like a giant, juicy emerald colored apples glistening in the sun. She was at a loss. She was crestfallen. But Rainbow Dash, in perhaps the most miraculous gesture I believe I have ever witnessed, found the courage to smile. “Yes Applejack. I will.” she said. She paused before adding, and this rather solemnly, “I’m going to miss you.”

AJ lost it. She joined the ranks of Pinkie and just flat out bawled, burying her muzzle into Rainbow’s side with a gasping breath. I felt several hot tears streaming down my cheeks upon the enchanting sight. Those two were such good friends... words could not express what they had meant to each other.

Dash then turned her head to the other side. The stallion had his head buried in the sheets, the fabric was soaked through. He was gurgling, nearly drowning in his own tears. Dash broke free of his grip on her and gently stroked a hoof through the stallion’s mane.

“You’ve brought me so much...” A horrible cough was heard, and it wracked Dash’s body. Her eyes rolled, and she seemed to be spinning. She soldiered through it. “Hngh! T-the foal... T-take care of her... I-I know you will.”

The stallion nodded his head in the bedsheets. His crying only intensified.

As I watched one of my own tears fall from my face, I followed its streaking trail down to the floor. I don’t know why I had so happened to in that moment, but that is where my gaze fell. And on the floor, just before my hooves, was something so beautiful that I couldn’t help but begin to fully cry. It was a cyan pegasus feather, flung from my friend’s body in her tossing. It was a part of her. It was the last of her.

I bent down and picked up the feather, my tears trickling from my cheeks and hitting the floor with a dull thud. I threw my hoof into my pink mane, nestling the feather inside. I made sure that it kept a sturdy hoofhold there.

I closed my eyes. I thought about the feather. I thought about that feather resting in my mane. I thought about that feather being a part of me. Because, quite honestly, who wouldn’t want to have a part of Rainbow Dash? Who wouldn’t want to be Rainbow Dash? We all wanted to be Rainbow Dash in our own little way. I know we did. But she was dying now... and so were we.

Suddenly, there was a shrill scream. My blood was pumping, the sound stung my ears, more wails were heard in succession. I raised my head, knowing. Just knowing.

I saw her.

Just to view my own confirmation.

Though I knew, shockwaves of pain and anguish and sorrow still coursed through my body, making me fall back on my haunches.

I cried as I stared in disbelief.

Her body lay stiff on the mattress...

My friend was dead.

“Rainbow Dash?” I asked once again, clarifying. Fluttershy had only told me that she was a good friend of the manager, coltfriend at one point in time, so they had known each other. But I still had questions.

“Where is she now?”

Fluttershy only looked away. She swung her gaze over to the blank wall of concrete.

“Oh,” was all that I could muster.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as I sat there with my friend. I didn’t mean to make her feel bad, I really didn’t. If I was bringing up bad memories, I wanted to apologize... but I didn’t know how to. Instead, I kept my mouth shut, like an idiot, like a foal. It was time to change the subject.

“Fluttershy?” I asked, outstretching my hoof to wrap around her shoulder. She didn’t make the motion seem very easy. “Question here.”

Fluttershy swiftly turned her head to look at me through piercing blue eyes. “Yes?”

I gulped. “Do we have to leave here?”

My friend lazily raised a hoof and gently poked me in the tummy. “Oh, yes,” she said, “That’s for certain.”

Song: Lightning Crashes

By: Live