//------------------------------//
// 1 – Death 
// Story: Black Candles & Pink Butterflies 
// by BasicWitch_Viv 
//------------------------------//


Chapter One: Death







Today was the worst day of the worst week of Sunset’s existence.

Last Monday was a fairly annoying day, much like any other given Monday: traffic, political news, school, and sour moods from exhausted people spreading the joy! Tuesday began as a day to make up for the Monday Blues, which– of course– meant that some grumpy asshole with a rain cloud over his head had to ruin it for Sunset by causing a scene at the Sushi Bar. Wednesday, on the other hand, was a generally nice day… up until somebody ran a red light. And now, with Thursday and Friday having been showered in tears, Saturday was to be spent picking up the pieces of a broken future.

But before that could happen, the first thing Sunset had to do was attend the funeral of one of the six most important people in her life. Fluttershy’s funeral was undoubtedly the single worst way to end this horrid week in Sunset’s existence.

The whole thing was a wretched affair, with students and teachers and friends coming to cry and talk about how great Fluttershy was. It seemed everybody– no matter how little they really knew Fluttershy– had something profound to say about how kind Fluttershy was, or how good she was with animals. Sunset knew that there was more to be said about her than what some pious pompous windbag from some church could glean from people who actually knew Fluttershy. But she also knew that nobody needed to hear any of her pessimistic thoughts on the matter.

So she had sat quietly during the funeral, listened to everybody share what they had to say, and cried as discreetly as her misery would allow her. When it was her turn to approach the closed casket and say her final words to Fluttershy, nobody heard her speak while she said the words “I love you, Shy. I always will.”

But she had definitely said that, and it definitely tore at her insides as she said it.

What nobody knew was that Fluttershy would have preferred to be cremated, her ashes spread across the Everfree National Park so she could return to nature. Only Sunset knew that Fluttershy was a Neo-Pagan Witch before she met her bitter end. So of course, only Sunset was disgusted by the funeral. She knew how much of a misdeed it was for Fluttershy’s parents to stuff her in a box in a graveyard attached to the church they had gone to in her childhood. And only Sunset would know how self-centered everybody was who was involved, because Sunset had made a promise not to tell anybody.

Even if it hurt her to do so, Sunset kept all of it to herself. Because that is what Fluttershy would ask of her, even if she knew how botched her funeral was.

As she was walking away from the funeral, she heard Twilight calling after her, “Sunset!” Turning to look over her shoulder, Sunset slowed down slightly as the bespectacled girl fell into stride beside her. Her black dress looked too nice to be worn for such a grim occasion. “I’m so sorry for your loss.” That was another awful cliché about today!

But Sunset smiled weakly all the same, and gave her friend the practiced response, “Thank you, Twilight. It means a lot to me.”

“I know you and Fluttershy were really close, and I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through…”

Pity. All she was worth today was pity. Sunset had expected it from most of the relative strangers of CHS, but not from Twilight. Out of everybody who came here to rain pity down upon Sunset for losing one of the six most important people in her life, the other five weren’t supposed to be part of the pity party! But Twilight was here, talking to Sunset– who was too numb to hear the exact words she was saying– about how terrible it was that Shy was gone.

“But I want you to know, if you ever need somebody to talk to, I’m always a few minutes or a phone call away!” While Twilight’s choice of words was more unique, this sentiment had been uttered many times over the course of this morning, not to mention the past two days.

Weary of the funerary formalities and dead inside, Sunset kept up that paper-thin smile and automatically said, “Thank you for your support, Twilight.”

Smiling hopefully, the lavender girl gave Sunset a hug before they silently parted ways. Sunset just kept walking towards her next destination, gently caressing the pink butterfly gemstone around her neck. Fluttershy had gotten it on the same day Sunset had gotten hers, which was red and emblazoned with a sun. A sun shaped like her cutie mark.

Receiving this gemstone of hers was an occasion on par with getting her cutie mark as a unicorn filly, on the other side of a mirrored portal. Both of them were magical gifts, and receiving each one had made her mind dance with daydreams of what awaited her! But if this day was what those lead to– having buried her lover and having only Fluttershy’s gemstone to remember her by– then Sunset wished she had never gotten either gift, and dreaded the fact that she had to walk this path.

But even in this state of misery, her heart hemorrhaging from the loss of Fluttershy, Sunset had to keep walking this path, wherever it took her.





By all rights, she should be asleep right now. But the chance to sneak into Fluttershy’s back yard, tap on her window, and surprise her with the late-night visit was just too good to pass up! Even after two weeks, Sunset felt her heart race and her nerves go into overdrive just thinking about her adorable girlfriend!

After quietly skulking around on the front lawn and hoisting herself over the gate that led to the backyard, Sunset crept past the garbage and recycling cans to approach the back left corner of the house. As she rounded the corner, the window to Fluttershy’s bedroom was to her right, just above shoulder level from the ground. She maneuvered past the flower garden and embraced the side of the house, moving into position to knock and climb into the window.

But right as she lifted her arm to knock, she noticed the glow of candlelight and Fluttershy’s silhouette as she sat on the floor. Five candles were placed around her in a star shaped circle, with some kind of box-shaped object in front of her within the circle. One pink and two white candles, a chalice, a bowl of salt, an empty metal bowl, and some small trinkets sat on top of a colorful cloth draped over the object. Sunset froze as she watched Fluttershy sit on the floor in her pajamas, with her back turned to the window, completely unaware of her girlfriend’s presence.

As she poured Sweet Apple Acres’ cider into the chalice, Fluttershy spoke reverently as she recited something resembling a poem.

“Friendship mine, friendship true,
Friendship sent from me to you;
Friendship strong, friendship free,
Friendship sent from you to me;
Friendship true, friendship bold,
Friendship new, friendship old;
More precious now than gold or gem,
May our friendship never end
This I ask in the name of the Goddess,
So mote it be, and Gaia bless!”

She took a drink from the chalice, and then wrote something on a small scrap of paper. Sunset couldn’t see what was written, but it took very little time for Fluttershy to scribble it down. She folded the paper and lit it on fire with the pink candle, quickly placing it in the empty metal bowl and watching it smolder into ash. Before the fire died completely, she took a pinch of salt from the other bowl and sprinkled it over the flame.

“This I ask, wanting nothing in return; 
May the fires of friendship forever burn.”

Fluttershy stood and walked around the circle, chanting something under her breath as she blew out each candle in turn. She was so entranced in her ritual that she didn’t notice Sunset peeking to witness the spectacle. After each candle was ceremoniously extinguished, she sat down and watched the three candles on the altar burn until they flickered out. Only then did she collect all of the materials and the altar cloth, placing them all neatly back into the black wooden box that was once an altar.

All the items except the bowl of ash. For whatever reason, it sat out while all trace of the ritual otherwise disappeared from sight into the box. With the ritual apparently finished, Sunset finally brought her hand to the window and tapped on the glass. Fluttershy jerked unexpectedly and stood up to open the window. With a surprised look on her face, Fluttershy asked, “Sunset? What are you doing here?”

“I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d drop in.”

Fluttershy seemed to accept that at face value and helped Sunset climb into her bedroom. After pulling Sunset in through the window and helping her to her feet, Fluttershy took her hand and led them both to her bed. Sunset caressed Fluttershy’s smiling face and they both shared a kiss.

It had taken them a while to get accustomed with such long kisses, being that Shy was uncomfortable with public displays of affection beyond holding hands or holding each other close. But behind closed doors, Fluttershy was far more outgoing and more passionate. Going steady and taking things slowly was just about the greatest feeling Sunset could ask for, but the fire burning within her drove her crazy! Being around Fluttershy in and of itself made her feel like a radiant sun, and that only intensified when they kissed. And every second she was apart from Fluttershy made her heart ache and her passions rise; hence the impulsive late-night visit.

But even though Sunset had originally  shown up with more romantic intentions, her curiosity got the better of her. Once they pulled apart and were gazing into each other’s blue eyes, Sunset took a chance by asking, “So, Uhm... What was that you were you doing, with the candles and stuff?”

“Oh… You uhm… you saw all that?”

“Yeah, I did. I didn’t want to interrupt you, so I just kind of… watched. It was pretty spectacular to see.”

’Totally not creepy!’, Sunset thought to herself.

“Really? It’s not really anything special.”

Shy was selling herself short, and Sunset wasn’t going to let that slide! “So why were you doing it? There must have been some reason you chose to do all that.”

“I was uhm…” Hesitating, Shy bit her lip and seemed to reconsider telling Sunset. After a few seconds, she shook her head and looked away; “You’ll probably think it’s dumb.”

Sunset mock-gasped and whispered “Such language!”

That only made Fluttershy blush more. Not wanting to make her girlfriend too embarrassed to talk about what happened, Sunset caressed Fluttershy’s cheek and guided her gaze back to meet Sunset’s eyes. “C’mon Shy, you should know by now that you can tell me anything!”

“You probably won’t understand.”

“I wanna understand, Shy. I promise I won’t laugh or get mad or anything! Please?”

After a few moments of contemplation, Fluttershy finally explained, “I was asking Gaia to make sure that Rarity’s fashion show goes really well.”

“Aww, that’s really sweet of you, Shy! I’m sure Rarity would be happy to know that she has your support! And hopefully Gaia’s, too!”

“You don’t think I’m... being silly?”

“Of course not, Shy! I may not understand most human religions, but I can understand magic and revering the Earth. I just wish I could play a bigger part in your spiritual life!”

After some time spent in silence, Fluttershy finally asked, “Can I show you something?”

Eager to learn more about Fluttershy's belief system, Sunset nodded. Fluttershy reached under her mattress at the head of the right side of her bed, producing a brown book from the box spring. It was worn with time, but looked newer than her journal to Princess Celestia, the one that was replaced by the new journal to Princess Twilight. The cover had a triangular knot that looked like some form of three-fold infinity symbol.

Before she could ask about the cover, Fluttershy answered, "That's a triquetra, a Celtic knot that represents a trinity in all things! It can mean anything you want it to; earth, water, and air; life, death, rebirth; maiden, mother, crone. It can mean many different things, but it's always an infinite process, spinning like a wheel."

Sunset looked up from the tome to smile at her beaming girlfriend, "That's really beautiful, Shy!"

Sunset read the instructions and poems of each ritual on every page, fascinated by every single spell and detailed note. It wasn't too far off from the magic journals she had studied under Princess Celestia's tutelage. She couldn't help but exclaim, “Wow! Did you write all of these yourself, Shy?”

“Uhm... Well, no. I actually found most of them online. I did a presentation on world religions in eighth grade, before I actually decided to be a pagan.”

Skeptical, Sunset asked,“You? A presentation? In front of a whole class?”

Fluttershy hid behind her hair and chuckled nervously, “It went about as well as you can imagine, what with me being less brave than I am now. But doing the research for that project actually is what started my path. The more I learned more about various pagan traditions, the more I felt like it was what I believe in. But I have only been practicing witchcraft again since the Fall Formal, being that I had something positive in my life to focus my personal energy on.”

“I know how you feel there. Princess Twilight changed all of our lives for the better and I’m so glad to have you and all of our friends... What’s with this ripped out page?”

“What?” A look of realization came to Fluttershy’s face and she turned white. “Oh... That page. Uhm... Sunny, can you promise not to get mad if I tell you what’s on that page?”

Sunset laughed, “I could never be mad at you, Shy.”

“Do you remember in Sophomore year when you cornered me in the girl’s bathroom and...”

Fluttershy hesitated, but Sunset already knew of the event Fluttershy had on her mind. She made a power move after Fluttershy got her in detention, which involved accosting her in the bathroom and ended with a large swathe of pink hair being cut off. It was an insignificant amount in comparison to how much hair Fluttershy had, but it was still five inches too many!

“Yeah... I don’t think I ever apologized for that, even post-demonification. I’m really sorry that I did that to you, Shy.”

“I’m the one who’s sorry, Sunset. That night I found a spell to put a...” Fluttershy stopped, biting her lip as she struggled to meet Sunset’s eyes. Finally she looked away and said, “I put a hex on you!”

“Whoa...” No other words came out, because Sunset didn't have the faintest idea how to react!

“I was so ashamed of myself afterwards that I ripped the page out, burned the hex, and hid the book out of fear of hurting someone ever again! I didn’t use pagan magic again until after the Fall Formal. And as hard as it was to forgive you for what you did to me and all the others, it took a long time to forgive myself for what I did to you, Sunset. That’s why I haven’t been talking to you about my beliefs; I didn’t want you to hate me.”

“Shy, if I’m being completely honest, I was a bitch back then and I more than likely had it coming. And thinking back, that does explain why I got stung by bees every day for a week almost immediately after!”

“I’m sorry!”

Armed with an encouraging smile, Sunset pulled Fluttershy in close and reassured her, “Hey, don’t be sorry. At least now we know that your non-Equestrian magic works!”

“In a way, I guess I always kind of knew– or at least I hoped– that what I was doing had some kind of effect on the people in my life.”

"Hey, Shy? I know that Gaia is your goddess, but... Could I, like... Well, since she's important to you, I'd like to get a little closer to Her, you know?"

Fluttershy lit up at the suggestion, and boldly offered "We could invoke her and you could pray to her! I mean, uhm, if you want to, that is."

Sunset took her hand and squeezed it. "I'd like that, Shy."

Fluttershy stood up, instructed her to sit down while she walked in a circle around Sunset and the empty space where she would sit down to join Sunset. As she passed by, Sunset could her Fluttershy's incantation; "Spirits of Gaia's Water, I call upon you to keep us safe as we invoke the Mother Goddess. Blessed be!" Later, Sunset would learn all about this "quarter call" that Fluttershy was doing, but even now before she understood it all, it was quite a thing to behold!

They both take a deep breath

"Now repeat after me... Gaia."

"Gaia."

As Fluttershy spoke, Sunset did the same after each pause, trying to match her reverence and serenity despite her huskier voice, "I call upon you, the Mother of Earth... To hear my words and answer my call..." When Sunset finished repeating the incantations, Fluttershy added, "Now you can say whatever you want to say to Gaia."

After another deep breath, Sunset spoke, as if Shy were not in the room, "Gaia, I know we've never really talked, and I know I'm not of your world; but I know how important nature is and how much you mean to Fluttershy. I only ask that you... Well, I'd like your forgiveness for all that I have done. I'd really like to get to know you, and maybe even pray to you in some of Shy's rituals. Keep Shy safe and grant me the strength to always support her."

Fluttershy let the silence ring out before she added, "So mote it be, and Gaia bless!"

Sunset figured what the significance of those words were, and repeated, "So mote it be, and Gaia bless!"

Sunset opened her eyes to see Fluttershy smiling at her, so she blushed and smiled back. Wordlessly, Fluttershy stood and walked along the perimeter of the "circle" once more. When she was done, she helped Sunset to her feet and they shared a quick kiss.

"I love you, Shy."

Fluttershy was taken aback for a moment, as Sunset had not yet uttered those words out loud. But soon, Fluttershy smiled again and whispered, "I love you too, Sunny."

It felt wonderful, finally having those five words be said out loud to her! Sunset felt as though something greater than her and Fluttershy was present in the room. If she ever had her doubts about a human religion's nature goddess, in that moment she believed anything was possible!

Fluttershy shared one more kiss with her before pulling away and picking up the bowl of ashes. "Come on! I need to finish the spell for Rarity!"

Sunset nodded, still in a bit of a love struck daze, and followed Shy out of her room and onto the back porch. Shy walked to the fence, took a deep breath, and whispered something before she cast the ashes and salt into the air. From there, the air carried that which did not fall to the ground, whisking it away to some unseen destination under the moonlight. Sunset had goosebumps as she thought about whether Rarity's fashion show will go well. But as she walked over to Shy and wrapped her arms around her waist, she had faith that Rarity had Gaia's blessing.

Faith. Now that was something that Sunset had been lacking for a great long time!





Sunset sat in Fluttershy’s room at her parents’ house, crying. She had never shed a single tear in Fluttershy’s room, but the experience was just as miserable as every other room she had cried in.

Fluttershy’s parents had made the decision to maintain their daughter’s room for years to come. As sweet as it was, the more cynical part of Sunset’s mind saw it as just a macabre reminder of a happy life that can no longer be. This room, where Sunset had snuck in to be with Fluttershy in the middle of the night countless times, was to be turned into a mausoleum of what her parents knew of her life. It struck her as a hopeful form of necromancy that her memory could be kept alive if her room were left the way it was.

But if Sunset was really honest, she would rather that her girlfriend be alive than her memory. Or her secrets.

The box next to her on the bed contained everything Fluttershy had left behind in her locker at school. As Fluttershy’s girlfriend, the family gave her the privilege of keeping whatever she wanted from the box. Sunset couldn’t bring herself to take any of Fluttershy’s stuff for herself; but fate had taken her lover from this world, so she was left with earthly possessions and memories. After an eternity of hesitation and tears, Sunset finally set the box on her lap and looked inside.

A mirror, hairbrush, pet brush, a phone charger, hair ties, and a bunch of other day-to-day stuff. There was also a half-empty bag of dog treats that Spike loves and an empty bag of Angel Bunny's favorite treats. She'd have to remember to go grab him from the Canterlot Animal Shelter and bring him here to get him settled. After all, Sunset had made a promise to Fluttershy that she would take care of the little guy if anything happened. It's just that she wasn't in the right state of mind to take care of an animal in the past few days, even if Angel was pretty independent. A clean shirt and skirt pairing was folded up beneath all of that. No doubt Rarity had instilled some necessity in her, something to the effect of "You never know when you may need a spare outfit, darling!"

Sunset had chuckled at that, even if it was fairly weak. She removed the clothing and set it beside her, on top of everything else. Underneath the clothes were the only things left in the box: a photo of her and Sunset together, about a week before the accident. Sunset took Fluttershy out to Sweet Apple Acres for a surprise, which consisted of a candlelit dinner out in the orchard and the gift of a wand. Sunset herself had carved the wand in woodshop class, using wood from a much thicker branch off of one of the apple trees. The photo itself was from after the dinner, after presenting the wand to Shy, and after suggesting that they pose for a selfie with the wand. That wand now sat at Sunset's loft, along with the wooden altar box and all of Shy's other pagan items. 'Well, everything except...'

Sunset lifted up the mattress on every corner until she found the book that was hidden beneath. This time it was under the left corner near the head of the mattress. Shy preferred to keep it hidden here rather than carry it with her where she went; less chance of it being found by those who were not so nature-oriented.

Fluttershy’s parents were devoutly Christian, so Sunset helped Fluttershy keep her religious activities a secret to prevent any kind of drama. While they were dead set on preserving this room and everything they had left of their late daughter, who knows what they’d do if they found this. They were liable to just burn it because of some notion about “tainting the sanctity of the household” or some nonsense like that. There was no way of knowing how they would handle this revelation, so Sunset placed it in the bottom of the box and buried it with everything she’d decided to keep.

Fluttershy had trusted Sunset with her secretive life of goddess worship, so Sunset felt as though she owed it to the woman she loved to keep this book sacred and safe.

After leaving Shy's old room with the box and exchanging goodbyes with Shy's parents, Sunset made her way home. Sunset had said that she would stop by from time to time, but she wasn't even certain that she wanted to go back to work tomorrow, much less subject herself to such agony. Perhaps with time it might be less painful, but right now she and the hole in her heart had their doubts about that!

After making it home to her loft and changing out of her funeral dress, Sunset fell face-first onto the bed, barely making any attempt to protect her face as it slammed into her pillow. The darkness of the void engulfed her before any tears came. Sunset felt as though she was being eaten alive by the inhuman nihilism that had plagued her in her grief! All the plans she had made, all the places she wanted to go, all of the experiences she wanted to share with the love of her life; it was all pointless now! Fluttershy was gone, and nothing was going to be the same!

When the tears finally came, they came like a downpour.

Sunset had no idea how long she cried, but after a lifetime of crying, she finally gathered herself to lay down on the bed properly. Her eyes fell on the box, and her first instinct was to get it out of her sight that way she might be able to stop crying. But at the same time, everything in that box became precious to her, because they were all she had of Fluttershy besides all the memories they had made. So instead, Sunset decided to fish the book out from the box and finally take an extensive inventory of its spells.

In the front of the book, folded neatly despite some slight crumpling, was a graded essay written by Fluttershy. Desperate for any connection to Shy, Sunset read the whole research paper. It made Sunset equal parts more depressed and less numb, reading the five-page paper Fluttershy had written on the spiritual practice that would become her own. And the more Sunset read, the more she felt as though she might take up pagan magic and goddess worship; evidently, there was no shortage of ancient pagan pantheons, revived god/goddess couplings, or three-fold deities to choose from! And all the magic that witchcraft and pagan 'magick' boasted appealed to Sunset's scholarly mind. If she could apply Equestrian magic to these concepts...

That was when she saw an excerpt that called out to her:



Some practitioners of olden times participated in the art of necromancy, or divination by means of communicating with the dead. This usually meant consulting the souls of the deceased to gain hidden knowledge, although sometimes the dead were summoned to say goodbye to a loved one.



That gave Sunset an idea…