"NOOOOO!" Twilight cried out, tears streaming down her face.
She couldn't believe her eyes. She had just gotten a letter, from princess Celestia, with words that she didn't want to believe were true.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
It is with my greatest apologies to inform you that your brother has passed away. During one of his shifts, he was ambushed by a group of unknown ponies, who slaughtered not only him, but the rest of his group, too. A funeral will be held at the start of next month. Your family will be there. Once again, I am extremely sorry for these grave news. I hope you do not take this too badly, as the group of criminals responsible may come back again. I must warn you to be on lookout for any suspicious activity and let me know immediately if something is wrong.
Sincerest Apologies,
Princess Celestia
That was it. Her brother was gone. Her BBBFF. She didn't even get to say goodbye. She cried her heart out. The sounds of her crying had gotten attention of her assistant Spike, who took immediate worry in the situation.
"Twilight? What happened?! Are you okay?" he called out as he ran into the room, to where he saw Twilight, slumped down on the floor, curled up into a ball.
"S-Spike," she managed to choke out. "He's d-dead." Her voice was a whisper.
"What?! Who's dead?" Spike asked, running to Twilight's side before noticing the letter on the floor. "Twilight, what's this?" he asked, before picking up the soaking wet piece of parchment paper on the wooden floor. As he read it, his eyes began to water, before he set the letter down and gave Twilight a tight hug. "I'm sorry," he said to Twilight.
It wasn't long until her friends heard the news. Quickly they all rushed together and went to see Twilight at her tree library. When they arrived, they saw that the sign said it was closed and the lights were off. Applejack ran over to the door, where she furiously knocked on the door.
"Twilight! Can ya open the door?" she called out. Then, a light flickered on in the main lobby room, and the door slowly creaked open.
"Hi, Twilight's not doing too well," Spike said, his eyes glinting with water. "I'm worried for her. She hasn't left her room in hours."
"We're gonna help her, Spike, don't worry," Applejack stated, before Spike fully opened up the door, letting the group of ponies inside.
"Ah jeez, this place is a mess," Rainbow commented. "She usually has all this stuff cleaned up." She was right. The ground was littered with books and papers, some being slightly damaged. Twilight's work desk was also piled with books on the side and there were ink splatters covering both the wooden surface holding the books, and some of the books themselves.
"Sorry about that," Spike said, before rubbing the back of his neck. "I kinda forgot about cleaning up. I mostly stayed by Twilight."
"It's no worry darling, you had reason to not clean up," Rarity reassured him. "But this place is... quite the mess. I must tidy this room up!" she stated before using her magic to levitate multiple books in the air. "Spike, darling, help me clean up this awfully dirty books! Tell me, how does she organize her books? I know she's very strict on that."
Spike quickly rushed over to accompany the white unicorn, helping her pick up books off the floor and telling her where to place certain books and where not to place them.
"Poor Twilight, she must be feeling awful," Fluttershy said. "I don't think I could ever handle what she's dealing with right now. You girls go talk to her, I'll help Rarity and Spike."
"I think I know exactly what to do to cheer her up!" Pinkie said, with a bright gleaming smile. "Let's throw her a 'Sorry-about-your-brother-passing-away' party!" the enthusiastic party pony exclaimed.
"Pinkie, no," Rainbow glared at her. "This is not the kind of thing you throw a part for."
"Why not?"
"Just... just don't. Trust me on this, will ya?" Rainbow said, before Applejack added in.
"Pinkie, she just had a loved one die. Ah don't think she'd be quite thrilled to be invited to a party reminding her of that incident, don't ya think?" Applejack told Pinkie. The party pony faltered in energy. "Ya know what, ah think it'd be best if you hung back while me and Rainbow talked to her, alright?"
Pinkie slowly nodded, her mane going flat before she went over to help with the cleaning.
Rainbow sighed. "Come on, let's go see her."
They walked over to the bedroom door, the lights were completely off on the inside, where crying could be heard from just outside the door. Applejack lightly tapped the door. "Ya alright in there, sugarcube?"
"G-Go away!" she shouted through the door. "J-just leave me alone!"
"Twilight, it's us. You know you can talk to us, right? We're your friends," Rainbow added, speaking through the door. When no answer came, she sighed. "I'm sorry about your brother, Twilight."
A few seconds passed, then, the door opened. Twilight stood there in horrible condition. Her eyes were swollen and her face had wet stains all over. Her mane didn't want to stay flat and had hair strands sticking out like spikes. When she opened her mouth to speak, she was barely audible. "You can come in."
Rainbow stepped through the room and Applejack followed closely after, leading into Twilight's bedroom. The bed that was there was all messed up, sheets and blankets all over the place. The pillows on the bed were stained with tears. Twilight slowly dragged her way towards her bed again, where she collapsed back onto her pillow, facing away from the two ponies looking at her with worry who sat down besides her.
"You alright, Twi?" Rainbow asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm completely fine, actually," she snapped, glaring daggers into the pegasus, before looking away again. "Sorry," she whispered.
"It's fine, it was a stupid question," Rainbow sighed. "It's just... I don't really know what to say, ya know. I'm not that good with this stuff."
"Look, Twilight, what happened out there isn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything tah stop it," Applejack told her.
"I know," Twilight grumbled, sinking further into her sheets and covering her face with her pillow.
"Twilight," Applejack continued. "What Ah'm tryin' tah say is that sulking around in your room all day ain't very healthy. Ya need tah go outside and get some fresh air."
Twilight mumbled something, but neither pony could understand what she said.
"Twi, Listen," Rainbow said. "We're worried. It's not like you to sit in your room all day. Like Applejack said, it'd be good to get some fresh air some time."
"So, you want me to just let go of him? Forget him?!" Twilight yelled, starting to cry again.
"Wha-? No Twi, that's not what I meant-," Rainbow tried to say something, but was cut off.
"If you're just going to come over here and try to make me just forget him, then you can leave!" Twilight was now sitting up on her bed.
"Twi, please listen to me-"
"Get out." Rainbow's ears flattened. She tried to open her mouth to speak again, but was cut off again. "Get. OUT!" she shouted louder this time.
Rainbow looked at Twilight with a mix of sadness and worry, before sighing heavily and leaving. "You too," Twilight told Applejack.
She left shortly after.
Twilight was alone now. In her room, by herself, with peace and quiet. She shut the door with her magic and locked it. How could they?! He's my brother! I'm not abandoning him like that! Why would they even TRY to do convince me to do such a thing? She cried into her pillow once again. It was going to be a long night.
"Great job, you two," Rarity huffed. "Now look what you've done. The situation has only worsened! The poor thing. Let me talk to her," she said simply, before trotting down the hallway past Rainbow and Applejack, before trying to talk to Twilight. "Darling, whatever they said, don't listen to them. They're clearly not aware of the struggles that you are going through at this time-"
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" a yell came from the other side of the locked door.
Rarity looked back at the two. "Well, that was unexpected."
"I'd like to try. I think I can get her to come out," a feeble yellow pegasus called out. Rarity nodded and stepped aside, letting Fluttershy approach the door. "Twilight, I know you're feeling sad, but-" She was cut off the same as Rarity was.
"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Twilight shouted.
Fluttershy backed away from the door, tears shimmering in her eyes, before running off to a different room, the sound of soft sobs echoing through the library.
"What the hay, Twilight?! You just made Fluttershy cry!" Rainbow yelled through the door. "Listen, I know you're sad about the loss of your brother, but that is no excuse to act like a jerk!"
"I-I'm... sorry" a quaky voice responded. "I ruined everything. Again." Twilight cried harder. "Just leave me alone."
That was it. There was nothing else they could do. At least nothing that anyone could think of. Rainbow retreated to go comfort Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity told Spike what happened, and Pinkie was extremely normal. Unlike the usually over-excited party pony that she was. After one last attempt, everyone agreed that there wasn't really much more they could do than to give Twilight some time.
Each day, one of the five would stop by to check on Twilight and see how she was doing. And each day, they would leave disappointed, and go back to their daily lives.
Rainbow was sick of it. She paced around her cloudhouse, muttering to herself. "Why won't Twilight open up? It's been more than a week! The funeral's going to be soon and she hasn't even bothered to step outside that room of hers. Spike has been having to bring food to her door and forcing her to eat it! Does she not like us or something? Did I do something wrong? Am I a bad friend?" Rainbow let out a shriek of rage. "I don't know what to do anymore..." She sat on her cloud bed, the bed providing support to her bodyweight, reminding her of something she had failed to do. Provide support.
She groaned. Why can't things go back to how they were? I've been so stressed out trying to get her to come out of that little shell of hers. Then, she saw something in the corner of her eye. She looked up, trying to identify what she saw. Still needing a better look, she got up and walked over to it. It was inside her closet. When she opened it up further, she gasped. It was her old guitar. It was an acoustic. It's color was a faded brown, with the neck being a darker version of that same brown color. The strings were still attached, rust infused with them.
I haven't played this in ages. Rainbow reached over and grabbed the old instrument, wrapping the strap over her shoulder before walking over to her bed again and sitting along the side. She let her hoof glide over the top of the guitar, dust piling onto the tip, making a solid layer of pure dust. She than examined the strings, lightly touching it. The rough feeling of rusted copper glided across her hoof. These strings haven't been replaced since the last time she touched the guitar. It had been what, five years now?
She strummed the guitar, flakes of dust falling off of the wooden frame. She could feel the sound waves wobbling inside the body of the guitar. This thing seriously needs some tuning. She thought to herself. Carefully, she turned the first tuning nob on the head of the guitar. The string tightened, she could hear creaking. The rough string suddenly slipping through the neck as a result of the change in pressure. She plucked the string with her right hoof, waiting until she heard the string give off a deep E note.
Now, she could tune the rest of the guitar. She placed her hoof on the fifth fret lightly, plucking the first string along with it, where it gave off a high note. A natural harmonic. She repeated the same on the next string, but for the seventh fret this time, seeing if the tones matched. If they did, it the string was tuned. If they didn't, she would need to adjust the next string. Of course, the tones were drastically different, one being extremely lower than the other. She was surprised the string wasn't snapping from the years it spent under the constant strain from the tightening. Slowly but surely, she tuned each string. Each having the notes E, A, D, G, B, and E in that order.
Rainbow gave the strings a final check by strumming the strings to hear a nice peaceful chord come through. Satisfied, she started to play. It was just a few simple chords at first, strumming through basic chord patterns before she decided that she was warmed up enough and gave a song a go.
She started with a simple Cmaj chord. Plucking each string in a pattern, the sound echoing through her bedroom. She changed chords, continuing to play away. Then, hesitantly, she opened her mouth and began to sing.
I close my eyes.
Only for a moment and the moments gone.
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity.
She hoof slid across the fretboard, changing chord progressions.
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind
Same old song.
Just a drop of water in and endless sea.
All we do
Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
She closed her eyes, playing the bridge. She let her mind wander free. She was at peace, lost in the music. A sense of calm rushed through her. All the stress she had previously had started to release from her body, until she was perfectly calm. She finished the bridge, playing the next section of chords before continuing with the next verse.
Now, don't hang on.
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy.
Dust in the wind.
All we are is dust in the wind.
Dust in the wind.
Everything is dust in the wind.
She started to slow her playing, hitting the notes quieter and quieter until the song was done. She smiled. For the first time that month, she smiled. I forgot what it felt like to play this thing. It's so peaceful. Wait a minute. Her smile than grew wider. She knew how she was going to cheer Twilight up.