Three mare's hooves clopped their way up the Ponyville road, while another two sets of wings continued to beat against the wind. The two unicorns in the group used their magic to surround a pink casket, with Pinkie's cutie mark etched in the middle. Applejack was using her strength to balance the casket on her back, while it was slowly walked over to the funeral. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were holding alternate sides of the casket, leaving it perfectly balanced on the earth pony's back. Spike was walking behind Twilight, his head tilted down. None of the remaining friends were able to keep their head up. Applejack's hat was conveniently blocking her sight, and in turn, her tear filled display. Rainbow Dash's hues were misty, but she managed to avoid spilling a tear. Fluttershy had managed to avoid making loud sobs, but her eyes were still leaking. Twilight's eyes formed a pathway with her tears, while Rarity's eyes shed the sporadic tear.
The funeral seats were visible as the five reached the end of their duty, the beginning of a day that no one wanted to start. Twilight and Rarity levitated the casket off of Applejack's back, and the two pegasi gently placed Pinkie's casket on the decorated platform, a marble table, ordered by Princess Celestia. All one hundred seats of the funeral were taken as the remaining five sat down. The funeral settings were all perfectly aligned. One hundred chairs, placed in a ten by ten row and symmetrical column. Four tables, holding the snacks that were baked through the collaborative effort of the Cakes and the Apple family were vertically placed, two on each side of the chairs. Five feet in front of the first row of chairs was the mahogany podium, the Mayor's favorite gift. To the left of the podium sat a table, where Spike was currently sitting, but he didn't play a tune. No one wanted to hear the tune that followed the casket.
Another row of decorations were aligned behind the podium, but they remained horizontal with the coffin. All of Pinkie's props and possessions she either brought with her, or used were collected and placed as a memento of her silly acts. For now, they were just more reasons for the crowds to cry. Pinkie's Party Cannon, her Welcome Wagon, her bicycle that flew through the air, her trampoline, every ball that she had stashed around Ponyville, and every hidden eye patch were found and brought out, for this one day of recollection. All of these decorations would be put back, although Twilight asked that the party cannon be buried with Pinkie. She never left home without it, she wouldn't be buried without it.
The remaining five were sitting in the first row of chairs, and Pinkie's family took up the remaining chairs. The second row was comprised of Cranky Doodle, Matilda, the Cakes, The three princesses, and Shining Armor. The third row contained Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, the Mayor, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and four ponies that Pinkie befriended. The fourth row contained the parents of the remaining five, while the children were in the fifth row. The sixth row on were every pony that Pinkie had touched, or befriended, which was essentially all of Ponyville. Twilight looked up at the podium, and Applejack lightly nudged her, a small smile on her face to show her desire that Twilight go up and talk. She moved up off of the chair, and walked over to the podium, three solid steps echoing throughout the ten rows of chairs as she raised herself up to the crowd. She didn't have any cue cards, or a script with her. She was winging all of it.
“We are gathered here today...” Twilight paused, biting her lip as her hooves pressed into the wood. She released her lip to talk again. “To mourn the passing, of Pinkamena Diane Pie.” she said, as she looked over to the closed casket, before looking back to the crowd. “Forgive me for bringing the subject to me for a moment. But I... was always the one among us who would love to lecture or teach others. It wasn't until I met Pinkie, and in turn, the rest of my friends, that I would be able to explain and lecture others about the value of friendship.” Twilight looked down at the podium for a moment, before looking back to the crowd, her lungs begging her to abnormally breathe so that she could cry. Or the other way around.
“Pinkie was the first one that I met in Ponyville. Our first meeting was brief, but it was the start of a friendship that I would cherish for the rest of my life, whether it was over or not.” Twilight's eyes started to grow misty, but she continued. “Pinkie was different then anypony in Ponyville. She devoted her whole day to making sure that everyone had a smile on their face. It was as if a smile was her life goal, to place on everyone's face. If someone in Ponyville was smiling, nine times out of ten, Pinkie was probably the cause of it. When she wasn't creating new scenarios to make us laugh or smile, she was creating parties, inviting everyone that wished to attend, and breathing life into each one. She never ran out of energy, and in turn, never ran out of smiles to give.”
There was a pause, and Twilight grabbed the podium, although she was sure that she wasn't able to move it with her hooves alone. She just needed a few moments to breathe. During these few moments, many of the citizens were taking this time to think of the many times that Pinkie had shown up, and livened up their day with something that was probably miniscule to Pinkie, but meant the world to them. Twilight took another breath, and continued,“Pinkie taught me a lot of lessons, either due to the random nature of her actions, or her devotion to her knowledge of friendship, which I'm sure matched or exceeded my own. She taught me that I didn't need to see something to believe it, through a large and painful amount of occurrences. But even in my cast, Pinkie would always make me smile. She taught me that a solution to a problem could be in one of the least expected places.”
Celestia was smiling as Twilight continued, as she remembered the particular letters that Twilight sent to her, “She, along with the rest of my friends, taught me that an event can always be made fun if the origins of the event are boring. She was with me when we broke into the Canterlot archives to try and stop time, due to my fears over a future event. She taught me more than my lectures had taught any pony, and I know that her lessons will remain in my mind for as long as I live. Pinkie was beautiful, smart, random, but caring and always there for her friends. She brought a smile to my face whenever I was around her, and I can't hold it back any longer. I loved her.” Twilight's eyes continued to water, and the remaining five's eyes did the same, as they felt their feelings reflected on the purple mare's eyes. “I loved her more then anyone I knew, I wanted to spend my entire life with her. And now...” Twilight couldn't continue, she silently sobbed on the podium. Applejack stood up from her seat. She moved over to Twilight, and slowly walked her back to her chair. The Southern pony moved over to the podium, stood up, and lowered her hat, placing it on top of the wood.
“Pinkie Pie was one of the weirdest ponies that you could ever meet.” Applejack said, and a small laugh was uttered while a tear moved down her cheeks. Some of the crowd members also laughed, but a greater majority was crying. “But you couldn't even say that was a bad thing against her. Pinkie was compassionate, caring, always there to put a smile on your face, and for her, being weird was one of her personality traits that helped her make all of us happy in the first place. She knew more about us then we knew about ourselves, and she was able to make us all happy due to what she knew. Pinkie is inside all of our hearts. Whenever we feel like we want to smile, even though we want to do nothing but...” Applejack's sentence was interrupted with her own pause, as she sobbed and covered her eyes with her hoof to wipe the tears. “Cry. Whenever we smile, a part of Pinkie is inside all of us. That is probably why she wants us to never stop smiling. Ah loved her too. Thank you.” Applejack moved off of the podium, stepping down the three steps before she moved over to her chair.
The podium remained vacant for a few moments, before Fluttershy stood up, and she slowly walked over to the podium. She reached it in a minute even though it was five feet away. The crying had seemed to affect her the most, considering her swollen eyes. She looked down at the podium as she spoke, but she made sure to add more volume to her voice, so that everypony could hear. Tears began to slide down her cheeks, but Fluttershy gathered all of the courage that she held in her small frame in order to speak. “Pinkie Pie was the first friend that I made in Ponyville. Cloudsdale wasn't my home, I knew it when I fell out of the skies and was saved by the group of butterflies that caught me. When I moved into Ponyville, Pinkie Pie was the first one to help me move, since she was the only one that introduced herself to me. And,” She took a pause to sob. “I remember the funny bicycle that she used in order to help me move. It was this odd bike that you could fly with, and she would grab one of the boxes at a time, and slowly pedal downwards towards my cottage. She also gathered a whole group, some of you probably remember this, to help me move. Although she could only carry one box, she helped me. Pinkie held a party in my cottage after that, which ended up scaring away all of the animals around my cottage. I didn't tell her anything about how upset that made me, but she was able to tell.”
Fluttershy paused again. “She asked me if her party had done anything wrong, and I told her that it scared away all of the fauna nearby my house. Without skipping a beat, Pinkie had a detective hat on and was walking outside, motioning for me to follow her.” Fluttershy smiled, the first smile this crowd had seen. “We brought all of the animals back to my house or around it. When I told her that no one helped me like that before, she said she was surprised, but I wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. I loved you Pinkie Pie, I always will.” And that was when Fluttershy's courage ran out. She started to cry loudly on the podium, as her head hit the wood and her hooves pushed against it. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, slowly flying up from her chair and over to the shy pony. She helped Fluttershy to her chair, before she moved over to the podium. Rainbow Dash's lower lip was quivering, but she was trying her best to remain “cool”.
“It's my turn to speak I guess.” she started off. Rainbow ceased the attention on her bottom lip, before gripping the sides of the podium, like every pony before her. “Pinkie Pie was random, and weird. But she was awesome, in every meaning of the word. She exhibited all of the traits of a true friend, and still managed to be able to pull off cool pranks. She was cool, probably twenty percent cooler then I will ever be. She was nice, and always tried to keep the friendship between us six together, even though there were fights every now and again. I could never forget the party that Pinkie threw after we defeated Discord. Our friendship was at stake during that battle, but you would never think so if you attended the party Pinkie threw after the battle. I was jealous of her, because she was capable of being the friend that I never could be. She was also faster then me, somehow, because I could never chase her away. She always appeared next to me whenever I ran. She was also stronger, and more athletic, even though she never showed it. She never had a reason to. While I, Rainbow Dash the cocky... idiot,” her magenta eyes started to water as she continued, “Continued to chase my dreams of joining the Wonderbolts, while treating my friends like they were in the way. I never joined them, I failed to join because I couldn't realize that the Wonderbolts were a team, not a one mare show. If I listened to Pinkie, or at least looked at friendship the way that she did, I would have been able to join the Wonderbolts... and I may have been able to save her. It was my fault! I'm sorry Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash moved over to the casket, and placed her head on the painted wood, crying her eyes out while Rarity stood from her chair. The coupled sounds of Rarity's hooves clopping on the ground and Rainbow Dash's loud crying continued for a few seconds, until Rarity placed her front hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.
Rainbow didn't stop crying, as the two mares descended the staircase and moved to the chair. Rainbow Dash sat down and covered her eyes, while Rarity looked towards the podium. She wiped a tear from her eye as she moved back to the podium, placing one hoof on the front while the other remained at her side. Out of all of the mares that had their composure, Rarity probably had the most. Her cerulean eyes observed the crowd, as she took a few breaths to make sure that she had her composure, and wouldn't choke up. “Pinkie Pie was a mare that touched all of our hearts, and she didn't have to even try to do it. Much like me creating a dress that suits the fancies of the customer, Pinkie never had any problems with making us happy. Us, Ponyville, was always happier even when the day tried its best to do the opposite.” Rarity said. A small smile moved across her face, as if she was allowing the crowd to smile now. Possibly it was also the fact that Rarity had the least amount of contact with the party pony, and internally, didn't have a big enough connection as the other four who sat on the chairs, and wept their eyes out. That didn't mean Pinkie wasn't a friend, just that Rarity didn't feel as much as a loss as her friends. Either way, she was smiling.
Rarity took another silent breath, and continued. “I will admit that I have not... talked to Pinkie as much as I should have.” she looked over to Fluttershy, feeling a large lump of guilt pooling in her stomach due to the fact that she visited the shy pony more then the party mare. She couldn't fix it now. “I didn't spend as much time with her as others. But the time that I did spend with her, I will never forget. Much like Rainbow Dash, my dreams of one day moving to Canterlot, were not only failing currently, but blinding me to what I had. I remember every party that Pinkie threw for us, I remember banishing Nightmare Moon and Discord. I remember... hearing her laugh. Now that is all that I have to her, memories. Pinkie, we loved you.” she said, before she looked down and descended the steps. “Thank you for being in my life.” she muttered to herself, as she sat back down on her chair.
Twilight Sparkle moved back to the podium, and she looked around the crowd. Not a single pony had managed to smile during the remaining five's speeches given to Pinkie. “If anyone else would like to say something for Pinkie, please walk over.” she said. Twilight managed to catch Celestia softly nodding her head, while Cadence wiped more tears on a handkerchief. Shining Armor placed his head on top of hers and his hoof on her cheeks, his attempts failing to comfort his wife. Princess Luna stood up, although the Cakes had managed to stand up first, before anyone, and the four walked over to the podium. Both of the Cakes were fighting back tears, and everypony sat down in respect since the two who lived with the deceased, were about to speak. “Thank you, Twilight.” Mr. Cake uttered. Both Pumpkin and Pound Cake were looking around, their eyes scanning for Pinkie Pie. Their mother told them that she would be back. Where was she?