It's not true.
It can't be true.
Can it?
Pinkie just sat there, her mouth agape at the scene that she had just witnessed. What had she just witnessed? Two minutes ago, the most depressing thing in her life was that her heart was so terribly misplaced in a mare that didn't like her back. One minute ago, Fluttershy was sitting on the ground holding Rainbow Dash as the rest of her friends did anything and everything to try and help. Now, Fluttershy was still sitting there with Dashie in her lap, but all of her friends had rejoined them and were just standing there in silence, tears streaming down all of their faces. Sarlaka, who was holding his bleeding left eye, or if she heard them in the other room right, what was left of it, was the only one that didn't appear to be completely devastated. Dashie... Pinkie didn't want to think about what just happened to Dashie.
As for Fluttershy, Pinkie couldn't see the mare's face, but she was certain her mental state was just as bad as, if not worse than, the rest of her friends. Since the yellow pegasus finished her song, she had remained silent, resigning herself to gripping the body of their friend tighter and rocking back and forth. Soft sobs emanated from the grieving pony, the noise being the only sound to cut through the silence in the room. Pinkie wasn't sure what had happened to them while the two were gone, but from some of the words that the two had shared, it was obvious that they had become something... more.
Pinkie picked herself off of the ground, and with the most timid of steps, braved the distance between herself and the mourning mare. Each step was a heavy one, and in the ten seconds that it took to bring herself next to her most shy of friends, the pink pony almost turned tail three times. Thankfully, she made it the distance between them, and with the most gentle of touches, placed a forehoof on Fluttershy's back. Stroking the terribly tangled and knotted hairs, she squeaked out the quietest of voices, “Fluttershy... it's... I’m...”
Fluttershy shook her head in apparent denial, gripping the mare in her forelegs tighter. The normally happy and lively pink pony unsure what to do, turned her touch into a backrub, the long and slow strokes hopefully doing something to soothe the mare in front of her. The yellow pegasus continued to shake her head, as if willing the reality of the situation away. Of course, as soon as Pinkie suspected this was the case, she wished that Fluttershy had that power.
A full minute passed before Pinkie once again had the courage to speak, “Fluttershy... I’m sorry...”
Suddenly, a pair of weak limbs wrapped themselves around Pinkie's midsection, and with renewed sobs, Fluttershy buried herself into her pink chest, the grieving pony never moving from her sitting position. Sitting down next to the yellow pony, Pinkie wrapped her own forelegs around the pegasus and did what she could to comfort her. Of course, in their position, she couldn't help but to peek at the previously strong and athletic pegasus that was in Fluttershy's lap still.
In reality, Rainbow Dashie didn't look terribly bad. She had many minor cuts and patches of hair missing here and there, as well as a few bruises that Pinkie could see where skin showed through. Despite all of this, and the splotch of blood caked on her colorful mane, she looked surprisingly serene. Fluttershy's choice in song was appropriate, the mare looked more like she was asleep than actually... actually...
Mistake. Big mistake. Looking at Dashie was a big, terrible, stupid mistake, for no sooner that the thoughts of her friend now gone entering her head after looking at her body did her emotions break loose, and she found herself mimicking Fluttershy by burying her face into her and gripping the pegasus tighter to find some sort of comfort. Feeling the tears flow stronger, she herself began to sob, and together, the two distraught ponies cried for their friend now past. The world around them disappeared, and for a few brief moments, both ponies lost themselves in the emotions that boiled over.
All too soon, the world around her returned, and while Pinkie never looked up, the royal purple dragon quietly spoke, “We... we don't have much time. We need to plan... delay... do something... anything.”
Several moments past before the muted voice of her lavender friend break through, “What do you mean? Delay what?”
Thunderous steps rumbled through the room, “We have to prepare for Loyalty's return. I’m not sure when it will be, but-”
“Wait, what!?” Rarity squeaked, “Rainbow's coming back!?”
Sarlaka snorted, “Please, Generosity, don't be foolish. Being blunt, Loyalty is a dead, and nothing can change that fact. However, because she died, the Element of Loyalty was or will be soon reborn into another pony somewhere. We need to figure out who that pony is before Discord does.”
“But Sarlaka, how are we ever supposed to find this supposed pony, and what about Rainbow Dash?”
“I have no idea how we are going to find him, or her. Normally the element will take the form of the bearer's cutie mark, but considering there aren't any cutie marks anymore...” There was a heavy sigh before Sarlaka continued, “I have to look either way. As for the former Loyalty, she is useless to us now.”
“Useless? useless!?” Pinkie fell back in shock as Fluttershy broke away, stood, and faced the dragon before her. The pink mare looked on as the pegasus in front of her, wings flared at their widest despite her terrible wound, took on the second dragon in her life in a shouting match, “Who are you calling useless? Huh!? How in Celestia's name could you consider Rainbow to be useless!?”
“I did not mean like that, Kindness. I meant that she, as an element bearer, has no capacity to aid us any further.”
If anything, this caused the usually sweet and gentle mare to get angrier, her wings twitching and sharply fluttering in agitation, “Oh, so is that all we are to you? Just tools for your use!? Are we nothing but the elements we embody? I guess it makes sense now why you call us by our elements, and not our actual names, because you don't give a BUCK about any of us at all! That's all you see us as, weapons to use against somepony more powerful than you, so that you can take control!
“That mare,” Fluttershy pointed at the body of Rainbow Dash, “was more than just some tool for you to use! She was THE Rainbow Dash, a mare filled with hopes, dreams, wonder, and she was...” Fluttershy choked up for a second on the emotions bubbling to the surface again, before continuing, “and she was the mare of my dreams... and...”
If it wasn't for the fact that Pinkie couldn't see them, she would've claimed Fluttershy's eyes suddenly flared red in anger, “You have no idea what I am talking about!? Do you!? You don't care for us at all!”
Sarlaka, a claw still over his bleeding eye socket, lowered his head slightly, “You are wrong. I do care; I care deeply for every single one of you ponies. However, there is much to do, and I do not have the luxury to stand idly by and mourn the loss of Loyalty. By all means, I encourage the rest of you to just that, but while you mourn her loss, I have to make sure that the new Element of Loyalty does not meet the same fate as former Loyalty before she even has a chance to fight for herself.”
Can't breathe.
Can't see.
Can't feel.
Can't move.
Can't fly.
Can't hear.
Can't smell.
Can't exist.
That was the only conclusion that she could come up with. It was a stupid and lame conclusion, but a conclusion nonetheless. She was never good at this sort of stuff, it was more the role of Twilight to think about these things. However, for the second time in just a few days, or at least she thought it was a few days... Celestia damn all of this time mystery garbage! Why can't this sort of thing just make sense for once. Seriously!
She tried to sigh, but of course, none of the muscles really existed here, so all that happened was... well... she wasn't sure exactly what happened when she tried to sigh. Did her mind, thoughts, whatever, only register it as a sigh, but nothing really happened? Did she just imagine everything that everything was? Was there some sort of transcended plane that she had found? Has she just gone insane?
She placed her bits on that last one.
Where was she anyways? Last she remembered, she had, well, she didn't remember what she was supposed to remember. Did that make sense? Not remembering to remember what to remember? Either way, it didn't matter. What mattered is that this place... was very odd. All around her, there were the twinkling stars illuminating the space around her, no other word for the area around her really making sense. Granted she really couldn't see the star-things, the whole no eyes business not making sense, but she could still 'see' them.
She 'grumbled' noiselessly in annoyance. Why does the afterlife always have to be complicated? All completely unfamiliar to her, she couldn't help but grow even more irritable. Why couldn't things just be normal, and make sense like they were supposed to? Strange things like this never happened in Equestria... alright that was a lie; this sort of thing happened all the time to her back in Ponyville, but that wasn't the point. The point was, if only she could see, feel, and be herself, everything would-
In an instant, she suddenly found herself slamming onto the 'ground' below her, a mild pain coming from her face from the impact. Confusion reigned over all of her thoughts now. If there wasn't any sort of place to fall to, how did she hit something? That wasn't even mentioning the fact that she didn't have a body to fall with! Right? She quickly looked around to make sure everything was as confusing as earlier, and gasped.
She saw a cyan wing at her side.
Rainbow swiveled her head around frantically, the mare finally realizing that her vision was actually vision again. Not even bothering to further inspect the area around her, she took a few looks at her body, and to her complete shock, it was perfect. Of course, her body was there, but it was more than that. There was no pain, the headache was gone, her wings and legs felt stronger than ever, and all of the small cuts and scrapes that adorned her sides before were also gone. Not only that, but her cyan coat, the hairs recently being torn out of her in clumps in so many occasions that it had almost become some kind of sick joke, was completely pristine of any imperfections. No, it was more than that... she looked like she just had a spa treatment on how good she looked!
Sighing, the cyan mare looked around her, and tried to figure out where she was. Just like before, the entire area around her was like the moonless night sky, stars all around her twinkling in the darkness. But it was different than a normal night sky, because the stars were literally everywhere, including below her hooves. It was like standing in the middle of the calmest lake in existence, the water reflecting the lights of the stars above perfectly. Of course, she wasn't standing in water, because that much water being calm over that much space was impossible!
Plus she hopped up and down a few times to look for ripples, but that was only to double check.
As elegant as this place was, she found herself becoming bored very quickly. Unlike what Twilight liked to try and tell her, just looking at the stars, even with a telescope, was boring. It was one of those 'seen one, seen them all' sort of situations. Nothing exciting happened. Sure, when that meteor shower happened a few months ago, that was awesome, but that was different. Just sitting here doing nothing, looking at the starts was more of a Flutter-
Rainbow blushed. Alright, maybe she'd watch the stars if she was with a certain pony...
Wait, what was that?
In front of her, a dull glow started to come towards her. Fuchsia in color, the mass of color slowly became bigger and bigger as it approached, and for a split second, Rainbow thought about running from it. However, for whatever reason, whether it was a subconscious sense of bravery, the fight part of her fight-or-flight instinct winning out, or even because maybe she was more curious than scared, Rainbow stayed planted where she stood, and let the amorphic cloud of magenta come towards her.
It was a curious thing, for as soon as the cloud got to her, it didn't settle in any one area. Instead, it continued to circle the cyan mare, Rainbow being forced to continuously turn her head to track the cloud. Several times, the urge to jump the mass of color almost overtook her, but each time, she decided that attacking an unknown creature which looked like it had almost no mass would be a bad idea. This was less because she wasn't sure as to if this thing was dangerous, but more because she wasn't sure how she would even pin the thing when she started to grapple it, the thought of whether it was possible to put a cloud in a headlock or not crossed her mind for a moment.
Suddenly, the cloud stopped in front of her, and slowly, the mass started to coalesce into a much smaller size. Where before the cloud nearly took up an area many times the size of Rainbow's body, the fuchsia gas was now only two or three times the size of Rainbow. Another curious thing was that the mass was slowly changing shape, or gaining one, so that it became more and more shaped like a pony. It was a slow process, but several minutes passed, until finally, a figure just slightly smaller than Rainbow herself came into being.
Granted it wasn't actually a pony, but whatever it was, it appeared completely similar to how a pony was supposed to look like. The most prominent things were the colors, the bright fuchsia coat standing out against the orange mane and tail in the most curious of ways. The pony was undoubtedly a pegasus, the large magenta wings outstretched, as if the thing in front of her was able to take off in flight. The bone structure and facial features of the thing in front of Rainbow definitely pointed at a mare, thought the muscle tone in the legs, back, and chest regions pointed at more of a very strong athletic build like herself, rather than a pony like Rarity.
“Rainbow Dash.”
The female pitched voice that came from the pony-thing startled Rainbow, the cyan mare's wings stretching instinctively in readiness as she jumped back. As soon as she jumped, the thing in front of her giggled lightly in a laugh that had to be a little too friendly to be... well... friendly. A few more moments passed before Rainbow narrowed her eyes, “Who are you? What is this place? How did I get here?”
The entity giggled into her hoof again, “So many questions! Are you sure you aren't Twilight? She's the one that usually asks all the questions. Though I have to say, I’m slightly upset that you don't recognize who I am!”
Rainbow took a few steps closer, and with the most detailed of inspections, did her best to identify the thing in front of her. Obviously, if it was taking the form of a pony, it must have been a pony, or at least was a pony before. Not only that, but it had to look like the pony that she was before she became this thing. Of course, the lack of a cutie mark made things a little more difficult. The fuchsia coat reminded her of that Ponyville schoolteacher that she saw every so often, but that pony was an earth pony, not a pegasus, and the mane color was totally off. The orange mane reminded her slightly of Spitfire from the Wonderbolts, though while that fit the description of a pegasus, there weren't enough words in the Equestrian language to say how different Spitfire and this pony were. It was then it hit her.
“I got nothin',” Rainbow sighed.
“Oh come on! It's not that hard! Think... purplish coat...” the pegasus in front of her beamed at the hint, even if the clue was the most useless hint that was ever given. Rainbow continued to give the most confused of faces as the mare in front of her kept smiling, “... orange mane... was only a filly when I knew you...”
Rainbow shrugged.
The entity in front of her groaned in frustration, “Really? I meant that little to you? Come on! It's Scootaloo! Scootaloo! SCOOTALOO!! ”
Blinking, the chromatic mare sized up the discolored pony for what had to be the twentieth time, trying to figure out how this completely wrong pony in front of her could have been Scoots. It looked as though all of this inspecting was starting to get to the supposed Scootaloo, for the mare in front of her was starting to shift her weight from hoof to hoof in nervousness. Though to her credit, if there was something that was a positive trait, the mare in front of Rainbow never said anything to try and stop the inspections.
Finally, it clicked, “Oh! I got it!”
It was as if a switch was flung, for whatever annoyances the mare in front of Rainbow was feeling seemingly evaporated instantly, “Really!? You remember!?”
“Of course I remember Scoots,” Rainbow nodded, “You're lying. You aren't Scootaloo.”
Fake Scootaloo worked her jaw uselessly for a few seconds in stunned shock, before squeaking, “What?”
“Yup!” Fake!”
“Why in the name of whatever god or goddess you want to swear to would you think I was a fake!?”
Rainbow pointed a hoof at her, “Because you're the wrong colors!”
For a few seconds, the magenta mare before Rainbow blinked, the mare once again driven to stunned shock. What felt like several minutes past as the gears in Fake Scootaloo's mind turned furiously as she tried to fully comprehend what the cyan mare had just accused: that the mare that she was trying to impersonate didn't look even close to what she had formed into. The entire time, Rainbow kept her hoof pointed at the imposter in front of her.
“I'm... I’m the wrong colors?” Fake Scoot's eyes were wide in confusion. “That's... that's not right! I know I was these colors!”
“Nope!” Rainbow nodded. A second went past, before she lowered her outstretched hoof and rolled her eyes, “Well, I guess you technically have the colors right, but they're backwards. You were orange with a purple mane.”
“That's it?” Fake Scootaloo sat down on her flank, and put a hoof to the bridge of her snout, “I've been an incorporeal blob for hundreds of pony generations, I’m lucky I remembered that I was even a pony at all, let alone that I was these colors. Really though, I’m Scootaloo. Promise.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow smiled, “prove it.”
The wrongly colored pony in front of her closed her eyes and groaned, “You're really going to make me do this, aren't you? Alright... but you better remember that the only reason that you are getting a millennium old spirit do this is because it's you, and this is important...”
“Rainbow Dash!!!” Fake Scootaloo yelled loudly. It was as if a switch was flipped on, for the mare in front of Rainbow who before somewhat normal, if somewhat confused, was now literally hopping around Rainbow like a little filly would, “You're so awesome! I can't wait until you teach me how to fly! I would give anything to be your assistant! I'd even throw out a half eaten apple that you ate for you just so that I could hold something that you held as well! Why, I might even make my own fan club dedicated to you with it's own rainbow mane hat as a uniform just to show everyone how super amazing The Rainbow Dash really was! She's so cool, even though she's completely full of herself most of the time, I wish that-”
“Alright alright alright!” Rainbow rolled her eyes so much, she felt a slight tinge of pain, “It's you, just please stop!”
Scootaloo stopped hopping, and giggled a little bit, “Heh, glad you finally saw the light, Rainbow Dash.”
The mistakenly magenta mare started to slowly walk to where she was standing before, “As for your second question that you asked, where we are, this place is... well... there isn't really a good way to put it that you would be able to understand.”
Rainbow was about to retort when Scoot, who had stopped and turned back to Rainbow, put up a forehoof, “And not because you aren't smart enough or anything, but it's because there isn't really a good analogy for this sort of place, at least in terms that a living pony would understand. I guess the best way to look at it is... well... a waiting room of sorts. You are in the bridge between the Earth and Heaven. See, right over here-”
“Wait wait wait,” Rainbow jumped a step forward, her wings flared wide at the bombshell that was just thrown at her, “I died!?”
“Correct. Anyways, so this is like a bridge between Earth and Heaven, and when-”
“I died!?”
“Yes. But like I was saying, this place is.”
“As in... I’m dead!?”
“Yes! You bit the big one! Bought the farm! Went to a better place! Kicked the bucket! Took a dirt nap! You just became a five course dinner for a family of worms because you are dead! Dead! Dead!” Scootaloo took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. Finally, she released it, and with a heavy exhale, sheepishly smiled, “Sorry about that. You were getting a little annoying.”
For her part, Rainbow's eye was twitching, “I... alright...”
“Good! Anyways, like I was trying to say, this place is like a bridge between Earth and Heaven. Think of it like a waiting room. You kinda sit here for a while, until you are finally ready to move on with the afterlife. One of those 'I’m finally ready to give up all the ponies and possessions in my mortal life' sort of thing.”
“I... see...” Rainbow’s eye was still twitching. Finally, a few moments later, and the cyan mare finally came to her senses, and decided that if there wasn't anything she could do about it, at least for now, she might as well figure out what the hay was going on, “So... I have to ask. How long do ponies typically stay here, or how long until they finally leave this place?”
“Well,” Scootaloo turned away from her, and gazed at the stars all around, “That's a simple question with a very complicated answer, because it's very different for each pony. Some ponies, mostly infants and stillbirths, never actually come here. They never had any earthly attachments, so they don't have anything to give up. Some, like myself, take a few mortal years to get over all of the things they leave behind, and realize that even if they left something behind, it'll all be alright in the end.
“Some don't leave for a long time. Most of these are ponies like you; ponies who died early in their lives, but long enough to grow attached to somepony. These ponies typically can't get over those they left behind, and don't leave this place until their mate joins them. This can take dozens and dozens of years for ponies, and even longer for some other species that are especially long lived. There's nothing particularly wrong with these ponies at all though, and when their mate joins them, they have the benefit of truly realizing what being a soul-mate means.”
Scootaloo looked down, and sighed, “Of course, the saddest cases are the ones that never come to accept that they are dead. I really can't speak for them entirely, but most of them just can't wrap their minds around the idea that they no longer have a mortal body, and that they no longer exist in the mortal world. Sadly, these scant few endlessly walk this void, never able to find the happiness that the afterlife would bring them. Sure, after a few hundred years, some finally see the light, but most of these lost souls never do. It's... a depressing thing to think about.”
Slightly unnerved from that last group, Rainbow shifted her weight slightly, “So... how long am I going to be here? Until 'Shy and my friends all join me I guess?”
“That's... a complicated question.” Scootaloo turned back towards Rainbow, and smiled, “See, before you died, Dragon Freak gave you some sort of healing drink thing. Sure, you died, but it already started the process of repairing your body before you did, and it's still working now as we speak. Apparently, in a few minutes, you'll be back to your old self again, if not better... or something like that. It's really confusing, and I never did understand fully anything that blasted unicorn tried to explain me.”
“Weird.” Rainbow took a few steps forward so that she was standing right up next to Scootaloo, they both sat, and together they gazed off into the void. It was weird, standing next to a mare that, the last time that Rainbow saw, was barely tall enough to reach her chest. Now, not only was the pegasus almost as tall as herself, but the thought that Scoots was, kinda, fifteen hundred years old now. Yeah, it was weird on so many different levels.
“So, I have to ask,” Rainbow fluttered her wings in anxiety, “I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but why did you come see me? Why not my family and other friends as well? We really could've kicked off something crazy.”
Scootaloo leaned her head over slightly, and rested it on Rainbow's shoulder, “Those who have already moved on can only come visit those in this realm one at a time, and there wasn't enough time to let more than one visitor, so your parents had me come.”
The cyan mare lowered her ears a little, “Oh... I got ya...”
“Oh! No no no!” Scootaloo pulled back, and looked at Rainbow with the widest of eyes, “It's not like that! Your parents just knew how much I admire you, and because they couldn't decide on which one of them should go, they just let me say hi instead. They did want to see you, but they said something along the lines of 'we waited a long time for our baby girl, we can wait a little longer,' or something like that. By the way, your parents? Wicked awesome!”
Rainbow fluttered her wings again, this time to try to alleviate the rise in temperature that just suddenly occurred, “That's it? Just coming to say hi?”
The magenta pegasus took a step forward, and settling back next to Rainbow, leaned her head back onto the cyan pegasus, “No, there's something I need to tell you.”
“And that is?”
Scootaloo sighed, “Demand answers out of the blasted dragon. Don't let him change the subject on you either. He has one hell of a story, and he needs to tell it, not just for your sake, but for his own.”
Subconsciously, Rainbow leaned her head on top of Scoots', closed her eyes, and together, the two pegasi sat there enjoying the company, “Great, a boring story.”
Scootaloo chuckled lightly once, “Don't worry, it's not an entirely boring one; has lots of exciting twists and turns in it.”
“Alright then.” Rainbow sighed, and even with the growing temperature of the room, was surprisingly relaxed. A smirk grew on her face, “Hey Scoots, when did you get all sweet and affectionate?”
Another light giggle escaped Scoots' throat, “I could ask the same of you: the speedy and spontaneous Rainbow Dash getting tied down by the cute and timid Fluttershy? I guess somepony does have a soft side.”
“Please, I've always had a soft side, I just hide it in my sheer awesomeness.” Rainbow fluttered her wings again, “Geez, is it just me, or is it getting really hot in here all of the sudden?”
“Heh, told ya that you only had a little bit of time here,” Scootaloo continued to smile as she stepped away, and walked in front of Rainbow. Silently, the two stared into the each others eyes. “It was nice to see the greatest and most awesome pegasus ever again finally. Just... well... no offense, but I hope we don't see each other for a very long time.”
By now, Rainbow was starting to feel dizzy from how hot the place was, and if it wasn't for the fact that she didn't see any flames, she would've sworn that she was on fire. Gasping for breath, the cyan mare nodded, “O... okay Scoots...”
Still smiling, the fuchsia pegasus suddenly burst into a million miniscule particles, the cloud suddenly shifting from the fuchsia to a more orange color. As the Rainbow's vision started to blur, all around her, a voice echoed, “There we go. That's better. Oh! One last thing. Tell Spike that that one incident way back in the day? I completely lied to him about it, and it was awesome. He'll knows what it means, and it'll embarrass him to no end.” It was then that Rainbow fell to her side, and as the mare gasped for air, her vision turned white.
“-which makes you the biggest jerk ever!”
“A jerk? Is that all you think I am? If killing thousands makes me a jerk, I guess that makes Discord a pretty little princess then.”
“How can you even dare mock any of us!? We're out there in danger every day, when all you do is sit here and just watch everypony suffer! You didn't even try to help us! Not really.”
Sarlaka frowned, “You really think me flying for half a day straight at a near sprint is not trying?”
Pinkie watched as Fluttershy turned her head, and with tears streaming down her face, looked down at the ground, “No. It wasn't trying. You had so many chances to help us. You could have come with me and Dash to help us fight off those terrible ponies. You could have been there to protect us from that basilisk. You could have been there right when the cave collapsed to help her when she could have still been saved.
“No. You didn't do any of those. Instead, you sat on your scaled flank, and bathed in your gems like the greedy dragon you are. You were too afraid to leave your treasure to help us, and we were the ones who payed for it. So go ahead, try and claim that you did your best, but we'll always know that you did nothing, and Rainbow Dash was the one who payed for your laziness.”
There was a few moments of silence where nopony spoke. For ten minutes, Fluttershy and Sarlaka had been having a back and forth in their little blame game, most of the yelling coming from the yellow pegasus. The entire time, the rest of the ponies didn't have the heart, or maybe it was the courage, to interject at any point for either side. Even Sarlaka, who's words were defiant as always, was spending more and more time with his eyes...eye... to the ground in front of him, an obvious tell that his own words rang hallow even to himself.
Pinkie closed her eyes tightly, and tried to will everything around her to go back to the happiness they had a month ago. Was it really only a month that they had been in this terrible world? They had been in this timeline for so long that Pinkie had grown accustomed to the endless noons of the day and three second changes between day and night. So long, that Pinkie was reaching the end of the party supplies she always carried with her 'just in case'. So long, that she didn't remember how long it was until Twi-Twi's birthday... at least according to their old calender at least. So long, that she wasn't sure that she could remember the faces of her parents anymore.
That last one was mostly her own fault, and it saddened her even more because of it.
Clinching her eyes tighter, she tired to think of anything of the old world. She tried to remember Sugarcube Corner, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the day that Mrs. Cake announced she was pregnant, Gummy, her sisters, or even ice skating. None of it came to mind more than a foggy mist, the faces and words in her memories blurred in the short amount of time that she was away. It didn't help that her ear was doing all these funky things, her knee was giving her a near painful muscle spasm, and her eyelids were contorting in strange ways. It was as if... if...
Pinkie opened her eyes in surprise, and then it happened.
Her left ear flopped in all directions.
Her knee twitched in strange ways.
Her eyes, no matter how hard she tried otherwise, fluttered uncontrollably.
Slowly the gears in Pinkie's mind started turning, and each time, she came up with blanks. Why would, of all of her Pinkie Senses, would THAT one happen? It didn't make sense really, especially since she was inside. Thinking for a second, she was certain that the eye flutter happened last, so there was certainly no door opening to watch out for, but that didn't help at all. Why would she have to look out for-
Pinkie slowly turned towards the cyan mare behind her, and whispered, “A beautiful Rainbow...”
Apparently, she had said that line right when there was a lull in the argument, for Pinkie suddenly could feel the nine eyes on her. Usually, she loved being the center of attention, that sort of thing came with the business of throwing parties. Now though, especially considering the nearly violent argument that Fluttershy and Mr. Dragon had been having, she felt a very much not Pinkie Sense shiver down her spine. Still, she stood, and continued to gaze at the mare on the ground in front of her.
Softly, a voice from behind her broke the silence, “Pinkie, dear, what was that?”
The cyan mare's chest rose.
The pink pony jumped back in startled surprise the sudden movement. However, as soon as she jumped back, Fluttershy sprang forth, literally flying the entire distance to Dashie. The yellow pegasus scrambled to place Dashie back onto her lap, and with frantic movements, began to stroke the pegasus' chromatic mane once again. Softly, Fluttershy squeaked, “Ra... Rainbow Dash!?”
“Ugh...”
And then, a miracle happened.
Dashie fluttered open her eyes.
Everypony in the entire foyer was stunned to silence as they watched Dashie slowly gain consciousness. As soon as the strong pegasus got her bearings, she immediately locked eyes with the yellow mare's eyes above her. Pinkie refused to tear her eyes from the scene before her, but she knew exactly what the rest of her friends were doing by the way they voiced their emotions. Applejack was stunned beyond belief, a thud from her flank hitting the rug below her telling that plainly enough. The alabaster unicorn's only reaction was to stand completely still, a small gasp being the only reaction out of the, most likely, wide-eyed mare. Twilight was muttering something along the lines of 'Impossible'. As for Sarlaka, his only reaction was to breathe that much heavier in dumbstruck silence.
Fluttershy was at a loss, her foreleg no longer moving in its quickened strokes through Rainbow's mane. Pinkie could only guess at what the shy mare's face looked like, but it was probably a wide-eyed look of complete disbelief. Slowly, a smile started to form on the cyan mare's face, “Hey beautiful. Why'd you stop?”
“Ra... Rainbow!?”
“Yeah 'Shy?”
Rainbow continued to smile as Fluttershy uselessly tried to grasp at any sibilance of coherent sentences, “But... how can you do... when did you... how in the name of... but you were... how did you!”
Rainbow Dash threw her head forward, and with a muffled gasp from the golden pony, locked the surprised pegasus' muzzle in a passionate kiss.
Instantly, if for just a moment, the entire mood of the room did a complete u-turn. There two of her best friends were, one just coming back from the dead, displaying their feelings for each other right in front of them all. As Pinkie's grin started to grow from ear to ear, literally, she stole a look at the rest of her friends behind her. The cowpony was sitting on the ground, a small grin on the mare's face as she slowly nodded her blond maned head. Rarity's eyes were wide in a slight amount of shock, the alabaster mare silently whispering the words 'oh my' to herself as she must have been slightly scandalized by what she saw.
Looking at Twilight, Pinkie locked eyes with the mare for a second, Twilight curiously enough looking right at Pinkie instead of at the scene. Both mares, at the same time, averted their eyes to look back at the escalating kissing session in front of them, the pink mare trying her best not to think about the small blush that Twilight wore. It was for the best not to think about her. If anything, she should think about how Dashie was back, and apparently with a new pastime: smoochin'!
Oh, and apparently Fluttershy had another pastime as well: smoochin' back!
“Wow... this is getting hot!” Pinkie giggled as the two pegasi started to wrap their forelegs around each other. Just after the mare's words entered their ears, the two pulled apart gasping for breath. Both of the mare's faces were slightly flush as they slowly glanced from one pony to another in their little audience. For her part, while the mare's face was as red as Applejack's cutie mark, Fluttershy didn't try to hide in the slightest.
Instead, she softly spoke to her mare, “Hey Rainbow.”
“Hey 'Shy.”
They both giggled a tiny bit, before Fluttershy spoke again, “So, what happened? How are you... back?”
Rainbow was still laying her head in the yellow mare's lap, the cyan pegasus enjoying the small pets to her mane that had just returned, when she responded, “I have no idea. It was really weird though. It's kinda fuzzy, but I swear I saw...”
Rainbow's eyes opened wide, and without warning she jumped to her hooves, nearly toppling Fluttershy over in the process. After making sure the timid mare was alright, the cyan pony took a few steps forward, before frowning, “Are you really Spike?”
Slowly, Pinkie turned her head to face the dragon behind her. As her head turned at its stunned speed, she noticed that Applejack and Rarity both were in the same state of mind, their mouths agape in confusion. If it wasn't for the fact that it would have been the most inappropriate time ever in the history of ponykind, maybe, Pinkie would've giggled at the sight of the two of them. Strangely enough, Twilight didn't seem nearly as phased about the information, though it WAS Twi-Twi.
Sarlaka... Spike... Spilaka sputtered, “What... how... I mean...”
“Alight Scaley,” Rainbow took off, and like a pegasus that hadn't died just a few minutes before, literally landed on the dragon's snout, “it's time to spill the beans! Who are you, and what's your story?”
For a few desperate seconds, Mr. Shady Pants shifted his uncovered eye from pony to pony, trying desperately to find a way out of the obviously uncomfortable situation. Applejack had a face that screamed 'Tell us now, or else.' Rarity's face was one that had been on the alabaster mare too much lately; it was a determination and seriousness that told everypony that that mare meant business. Twilight's face was more accepting than anypony else. Well, except for maybe her own, which still wore that smile she had from a few seconds ago.
Out of the corner of Pinkie's eyes, she saw Twi-Twi nod.
“Very well,” Mr. Undercover Dragon Agent sighed, “I promised Generosity that I'd tell her the full story. Might as well tell all of you ponies. Give me a few minutes though... I kinda need a bandage for this eye here...”
A/N: I think I handled Scootaloo quite nicely, and I'll punch anyone who says otherwise