Rain.
Why does it rain?
Why does it rain, some ponies will often ask.
The answer has often been debated for Celestia knows how long. Some ponies refused to look beyond the simple reason that it is simply because of the Pegasus weather factory making the rain clouds whenever it is called for. Do a rough estimate and one might end up with a typical half-half scenario. One half may simply think it is just part of the circle of life for the plant life across Equestria; the other half may think of it to symbolize their mood whenever they feel sadness and sorrow.
The latter of which was the settlement across Sweet Apple Acres.
A dark cloud has been casted over its occupants, both young and old, as fate dealt them a tragic hand. Wherever across the acres, be it the miles upon miles of trees stretching beyond the sunset, the little coops and homes to the livestock living amongst the ponies, the Carrot farm just next door, or even the barn itself, the atmosphere was but depressing with no light in sight at the end. Ponies have gathered across Equestria for such an occasion to honor the memories shared, to remember the impact upon their lives.
To mourn very beloved souls.
Bright McIntosh and Pear “Buttercup” Butter.
Four days ago, immediately after their departure from the Ponyville Train Station to Vanhoover, the perfect pair savored the warmth they always enjoyed for whatever time they had left. They both needed a moment to just sit back and let their worries go and not drag them down for the full ride to Vanhoover. They were quiet towards each other for the first seven minutes until Bright Mac asked for Pear's attention.
She offered him her full attention and waited in anticipation for what her husband had to tell him. Bright was sweating waterfalls when he finally developed the nerve to talk. He warned her not to label him for the rest of his life for just the one-time thing before he finally confessed that he lied. He lied to her back at the train station. But he told her that he wanted to figure out how to approach her father after so many years apart. And he did so with the help of a quintet of fathers like him.
After pouring his guilt-ridden heart out in front of his wife, he waited in fear for her to be judgmental and hurt for his deception. Seeing her upset over something, even something that he himself had done, was a felony of the highest order in his eyes.
But instead of pain, he only found amusement on her face as she soon burst into a small giggle fit. The confused farm colt waited for his wife to settle down and explain her mirth. Once she finally did, she solely explained that she knew. Upon hearing this, Bright’s face matched his mane’s color as his eyes became saucer-wide, to which his wife only found too adorable. She explained that he was all twitching and sweating and stammering, signs that only a great fool would fail to recognize as signs of a liar.
Even after that, Bright Mac was still shameful for lying to the most important pony in his life for something that he could’ve talked over with her. Luckily, the Pear was able to sympathize with her favorite Apple, It was then she told Bright about her own fears of seeing her father again, thinking that he would be cold and uncaring towards her for her choosing the Apples over the Pears. She even explained how she had her own quintet of mothers that reminded her to remain strong and never stop loving Grand Pear, even if he had stopped.
After convincing her husband that it was all right, Buttercup was rewarded with a passionate kiss that left them both in an ocean of passionate euphoria for a couple more precious moments. Once they pulled away to savor their blissful faces, fate struck.
Their train became yet victim of an unfortunate locomotion accident. The lead pilot car collided headstrong into a fallen hard tree and a horrible mess of metal and fallen branches littered the land.
Once the dust settled, Bright and Buttercup were finally able to escape their turnover car alongside the other occupants. And what they found upon stepping out horrified them. The entirety of the Friendship Express was but a shamble of cars either turned over or sideswiped into trees of the Everfree Forest. Their car was at the very bottom of a piling of two more cars and the luggage hauler itself just balancing on top. One car skidded its way deep into the ground, deep muddy scars riding up to a fallen tree straight into the darkness beyond the trees. More cars were either on their side or just horizontal against the tracks, blocking the rails. From where the pair of farmers stood, they could only count eight other ponies.
What they had just walked away from was a stunt one would only see in the movies. Special effect artists would make it more believable with screeching sparks and puffs of dust and dirt as the train derailed, the cars would only have shattered windows and small dents and scratches that could easily be buffed out, and the lead train car would have taken the least punishment due to its front guard. All of that was total fiction, and reality has exceeded those falsities. The cars were mangled and wrecked beyond simple repair, wheels were ripped off the cars, and the lead train was torn clean off its front guard and crossed over the blocking tree yet was still staring down at the survivors of its derailment.
The remaining ponies were shaken, yet fortunately alive. From where they stood, they were over a half-hour outside of Ponyville, a manageable walk for most of them. A vote was taken, and the survivors agreed to make the trip back instead of waiting for somepony to get them. Bright and Pear refused to go with the others and volunteered to search for survivors among the wreckage.
Nearly eight minutes passed until Bright and Pear found and rescued the last ponies to survive the crash and told them to venture out of the Everfree Forest. Now it was just them. Alone. In the forest. They sat down in silent exhaust for their amateur rescue missions, waiting to catch their breaths in the midst of buzzing and squeaking insects. They could see the last mare they rescue escape their vision as she continued down the squished grass done by the previous ponies. More silent seconds passed until their breaths normalized, and they decided to be on their own as-.
But before they could even move a foreleg, a sound shattered their peaceful, yet traumatized scenery. A sound so haunting; so primitive; so vicious. It resonated across the forest, leaving the perfect pair stiff where they stood. They directed their attention towards the tight deep woods in front of them, waiting for the source of the growl to present itself to them. They could feel their heartbeats accelerate as the seconds passed, scanning for anything. That is, until a rancid smell burnt their nose hairs, and their eyes shrank to pupils.
Their hearts exploded in fear as the tight brushes exploded with Timberwolves!
Their senses overwhelmed with fear, they made a swift 180 and sprinted hard to the other side of the railroad. As they pushed their way pass the shrubbery, the echoes of their galloping hooves and their predators’ scraping claws as they dashed behind them in horrifying speed. They couldn’t believe their situation. They had heard of the ebony canines from Granny Smith’s stories and during Zap Apple Season, but never have they envisioned themselves to be hunted by such creatures. No matter how far they ran, how much they ran, how deep they ran, the nauseating smell of the wolves was hooked onto their noses, warning them that they are not far behind them as they hoped. Even when the farm ponies used a low hanging branch to their advantage, pulling it back and letting go to shatter the dogs, the Timberwolves didn’t stop in their pursuit.
Eventually, it had to end. And it did when the ponies were found caught at the center of a circle of the viciously growling dogs ready to feast. They did nothing as their paralyzing fear kept them still. Their fate was apparent. No way out. No means of escape. Nothing they could think of would have ended with them alive or in one piece. Even Bright cursed himself for failing to pack his rope. This was it. This was the end. Timberwolves mocked the frightened pair as they merely circled around them, savoring the smell of the fear as they engulfed the ponies' noses with their rancidness. There was nothing left for the fear-stricken and tear-streaked Bright McIntosh and Pear “Buttercup” Butter to do except to profess their love one last time, embrace each other, and accept fate.
When a rescue team of Wonderbolts were informed of the situation, they flew overhead of Everfree in search of the wrecked Friendship Express and the “pair of farm ponies who saved the rest of the passengers,” described one of the survivors. They traced the scraped ground of Timberwolf claws deep into the forest once they descended. They went deeper and deeper into the woods until finally they found an unholy sight of ravaged corpses. They were covered in claw marks, their blood dried and in a puddle onto the dark grass, limbs bitten off without precision, and the ponies were holding each other with a vice’s grip. Once they identified and reported the bodies to the Apple Family and Ponyville, the news shattered everyone to the core.
Gathering in Sweet Apple Acres were the ponies closest to the two in their entire lives. Apples all over Equestria had dropped everything and went through Tartarus and back to be at Sweet Apple Acres for Granny Smith and grandkids. Among the relatives were Auntie Applesauce, Braeburn, Goldie Delicious, and Apple Rose, while mourning friends include Burnt Oak, Chiffon Cake with her new husband Carrot, Mayor Mare, and, much to everypony’s surprise, five couples who introduced themselves as ponies who have just met Bright and Pear before they left on the train. Granny Smith was honestly unsure of whether she was surprised and angry or not to not find Grand Pear in sight at all, considering that her children never got to see him. But yet, even if and when the news reached Vanhoover, she figured the “prickly, old Pear” would be too stubborn to even come back and make up for what he’s done. Either way, it was too late for him to make peace with his daughter in person.
Rain continued to pelt down as the dropping of the casket came, dropping onto the faces of multiple ponies, doubling as tears for the sobbing masses. Deep in the ocean of apple trees at the future site of a cross of an apple and pear tree, the mourners either sobbed in grief or stared in silent sorrow as the casket containing the collective remains of Bright McIntosh and Pear Butter was slowly lowered into the deep hole dug up for it. Even more sobs escaped the mourning Apples and friends as the dirt was brought back down into the hole, sealing the perfect pair’s final mortal remains six feet under till time does them dust.
Granny Smith, her grandchildren, her relatives, and friends she considered family remained in silent sorrow for the ceremony’s remaining time as they grieve over a great loss. That day, they didn’t just lose two friends; they didn’t just lose two hardworking ponies; they didn’t just lose two ordinary ponies at all. They just lost two very great friends, two extraordinary examples of hardworking ponies that keep Equestria round or alive, and two amazing parents that left behind a legacy of three ponies who will pass down their unfathomable traits and love and continue on their legacy for generations to come.
From now on, the grief-filled Apple family would walk by and see the tombstone read:
In Loving Memory
of
Bright McIntosh and Buttercup
of the Apples
R.I.P.
Loving Father and Mother
Magical Friends
The Perfect Pear