Princess Celestia looked over the balcony of her castle, her pink hues staring at the horizon. It was time to bring out the sun, and in turn, allow Luna the small amount of rest that she needed before she would attend the funeral. Celestia's eyes softly glowed, and her wings began to beat against the wind. Slowly but surely, she raised up into the air, her hooves extending to the sky. Her whole body turned orange, glowing with magical energy until the moon disappeared over the mountains, and the sun trudged into the horizon. Celestia landed back on her balcony, and let out a sigh of relief after such an exertion. Bringing up the sun was always hard, especially when Luna was trapped for a thousand years and she had to take up both duties. She was sure a few dozen years of her life disintegrated due to the lack of sleep she lived off of, but such a fact was not something to brood over. There was another subject who required her full and undivided attention, one who she should have saved. Celestia's head looked down at the floor as an image of Pinkie Pie moved past her field of vision, laughing and doing her trademark springy bouncing. Her eyes watered, but a tear did not fall.
Princess Luna was finally alleviated of her duties to raise up the moon, and as much as she wanted to immediately go to bed and catch her rest, there were thoughts that impeded such a process. Luna moved over to her bed and laid down on her back, staring up at the ceiling while her thoughts bounced around in her mind. “How can such a travesty happen?” Luna thought. “This isn't how life is supposed to end.”
The sunlight radiated off of her dark blue coat, and she noticed she left the window on her balcony open. Her horn glowed with a transparent blue energy as she closed the window, and then pulled the blinds to obscure all of the light and allow her to rest. Despite her attempts, she didn't sleep at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The morning breeze flew west through Ponyville, chilling the bodies of any mare or colt who wanted to be out bright and early for the preparations. One such volunteer was neither, considering he was a different species. But he did walk outside, blonde toupee adjusting slightly due to the wind. Cranky Doodle Donkey had not aged much since his first interaction with Pinkie Pie. Apparently after his movement descended in speed, there weren't many other afflictions that could put down the donkey. Matilda was sleeping in bed, she was probably going to catch up on another hour or two of sleep. It was fine, there were four hours until the reception. Cranky started walking down the road towards the middle of Ponyville, his thoughts slowing down his stride and threatening his composure. “Of all the things that could happen to this town,” he said in his deep voice, “This has to be the worst.”
Due to Cranky's slower walking speed, he was able to take his time looking around Ponyville while he made his way to the Town Hall. The bright colors of each of the buildings as he passed them projected an energy that seemed lost, as he walked down the road. Every building was cleaned up to the highest degree, that was the common courtesy of each citizen doing their part. However there were no toys left outside accidentally. There were no signs suggesting that someone come in for a nice cup of hay juice, or signs asking for employment. Not a single addition to the buildings were remained. Cranky guessed it was because no one wanted to talk about the event. No one wanted to admit that the one mare who touched each of their lives, in one way or another, left them. Cranky finally reached the Town Hall, and his eyes widened at the massive amount of work that was going to have to be accomplished for the funeral to acquire its proper look. He looked behind him as he saw a light brown mare walking down the street, at probably twice the speed that he managed.
The Mayor knew that she had to be the first one at the gathering, because the preparations wouldn't be made correctly if she was late. She trotted along the road, a large scroll in her mouth. She kept her eyes on the road, probably because to her, there was nothing to see. Six days of empty houses were flooding past her peripheral vision, as if she was able to remember each moment where the additions to each house were taken down. The Mayor's eyes were hazing over while she continued her stride, and she blinked a few times when she bumped into the Town Hall's wall. There was a hint of embarrassment in her face, and she walked over to the podium outside the Hall. Her hooves ran over the wood and she lowered her head. Her mouth released the scroll, her memories catching up. Her hooves lightly pressed against the wood, as she closed her eyes. “Thank you Pinkie.” the Mayor whispered to the podium, the mahogany wood soaking up a few tears.
Cranky Doodle did not want to interfere with the Mayor's crying, but at the same time, he did want to get the decorations ready for the funeral. He slowly moved up to the podium, and the Mayor handed the scroll to the donkey. The two remained mute as they moved off of the podium, and stared over the scroll. The Mayor was already used to the position of everything that would be used for the funeral, and she motioned over to one of the large tables, previously provided by the colt who sold sofas and fans. He managed to buy more land to add to his store, and in the process, now sold mattresses, fans, and tables. Why he bothered to pick those three things and not focus on selling all furniture, the Mayor did not know.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun's slow ascent towards the horizon was indication that it was time for every pony to wake up, prepare themselves, and start to help out with the funeral. Within the hour, ponies were starting to exit their houses, walking over to the Town Hall. No one spoke. From exit of their house to movement and arranging the funeral, not a single word was spoken, or even whispered. Carrot Top's eyes leaked tears as she set up stacks of chairs in front of the podium. Colgate's own hues remained on the table as she set it up, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. It was hard enough keeping in the desire to cry, and she was sure that her own eyes would spill tears if she watched another's anguish play out on their face. The entire group that prepared the funeral were completely synchronized with their jobs and duties. Twilight Sparkle previously met up the the Mayor in order to make sure that every pony was given a job they could accomplish quickly. If only they could join together for another one of Pinkie's songs. Her songs was their preference to preparing the area in which her corpse would be presented.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are the muffins done dear?" Mr. Cake asked his wife, who was across the room, pulling out a large tray of muffins and replacing them with uncooked batter which would form another batch. Mrs. Cake nodded her head as she placed the tray on a nearby table, letting out a sigh of relief since they were not burnt. Seven days ago, the Cakes had stopped taking catering orders, and used the previous three days to prepare the funeral. The four days beforehand were unable to be forgotten, since it was the longest period that the both of them had cried. Their nasal passages did not matter, if their eyes were capable of shedding tears, then they did. When the Cakes came back to creating works of edible art, they were off their game, and accidentally ruined a large cake which they planned to use for Pinkie's funeral. The two of them could not talk to each other, since they only ended up growing frustrated and yelling due to who's fault it was. It was either Mr. Cake's fault for heating the cake's batter for too long, or Mrs. Cake's fault for taking out the cake too haphazardly, and ruining the structural integrity. They made up quickly the next day, and started to work.
Pound Cake looked up at the staircase that directed to their room, along with the room of the mare that they had missed. Why was Pinkie Pie not helping the Cakes with the food? Surely his mom and dad had told Pinkie that this order of food was very big, so she should stop sleeping and help them. Pound Cake wished that he was able to help. He was sure that if he was able to fly, that he could help out his mother and father. He looked at his wings, and flapped them a few times, before he realized that he wasn't going to get off the ground. He placed his front hooves on the first stair, letting out a small exhale due to the exertion as he pushed himself onto the first step. Excitement moved through his body as he managed to climb up the second step, and then the third. He stopped halfway up the stairs and caught his breath, before he finally managed to reach the second floor of his house. He walked over to the door, and knocked on it a few times, realizing that the handle was very high from his current position. He flapped his wings once, twice, three times. Nothing. He continued flapping, reaching his right hoof up until he started to lift off of the ground. He smiled, letting out a coo of excitement as he grabbed onto the door knob with both hooves, and turned it to the right. The door opened inwards to the room, and Pound Cake let go of the knob, falling onto his bottom once his wings stopped flapping. "Pinkie," he said, as he looked around the room. "Pie."
Mr. Cake finished icing the top layer of the new wedding cake, and he stood back to stare at his creation in its full beauty. A vanilla cake with strawberry filling, colored pink in memory of Pinkie. Yellow and blue balloons adorned the sides of the cake, and a figurine of Pinkie Pie stood on the top, holding up three words, “Smile Smile Smile.” Both Cakes looked at their creation, and Mr. Cake started to frost the second layer while Mrs. Cake brought out the large amount of apple snacks that were previously cooked by the Apple family from the refrigerator. The large amount of snacks that Twilight Sparkle was stuffed with on her first day in Ponyville were now on a large cart. Three hundred delicious snacks packed on cart with four trays were pulled out of a walk in refrigerator that was conveniently bought after they made a large catering order in Canterlot. Mrs. Cake looked over every snack, eventually moving to her knees so that she could inspect the last tray on the bottom, and a sigh was emitted from her lips when she realized that nothing was wrong. Her concentration was broken by Pound Cake's crying, and both parents looked at the kitchen door, before they rushed out of it. Both parents climbed the steps and stopped when they reached Pinkie's room. Mr. Cake turned on the light, illuminating a room that was not entered for the past seven days.
Pound Cake stopped crying when his parents had walked into the room. He had apparently moved too far into the room's darkness and ended up becoming scared. Mrs. Cake moved over to the windows and pulled open the blinds. She looked out the window and saw Ponyville's citizens preparing the rest of the funeral. They looked like they were almost done, all that was left were Pinkie's things to be dragged out. Mr. Cake moved over to Pinkie's Party Cannon, placing his hooves on top of the barrel, and he bit the bottom of his lips, while tears snaked their way down his cheeks. Pound Cake looked up at his father, placing his hooves onto his dad's feet. “Pinkie? Pinkie Pie?” he asked.
Pound Cake was scared that his father was crying for a random reason, and Mrs. Cake picked up her son, “Pinkie went out, Pound Cake.” she told him. “She went out, but she will be back. Smile until she comes back okay? Smile for me?”
The pegasus smiled before letting out a small laugh and a coo, as he placed his hooves around Mrs. Cake's neck. The wife closed her eyes and the three embraced in the room, Pinkie's alarm going off and blurting out its silly aerobic music.