Back in transit to Ponyville
(Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Hasbro, and certainly have nothing to do with My Little Pony™. I am simply an author writing a story for my own entertainment and for readers like you.)
The sky was clear of any pegasai; that is, it was completely clear of any other pegasai. The only one flying around at this time was Rainbow Dash, and she wouldn't have wanted it any other way, as she wanted to think about a few things as she flew back to Ponyville without anypony suddenly gawking at her and trying for an autograph. The most pressing thought that stood out from the rest of them was the speech that she was going to have to give at the funeral for her friends; somepony, no doubt, was going to ask her to give a speech there, and she didn't want to be unprepared for something like that.
"Pinkie would totally want her part to be about remembering the times she made ponies happy, and hopefully giving them one last smile; Twilight would probably want to increase the amount of education ponies get, yeah, I think the egghead would like that. Rarity...Hm, that's a tough one, I..."
Amidst her thoughts, an uncomfortable feeling was felt in her wings, and, curious, she looked towards her right to see what the problem was. Her flight was usually perfect in form, yet now, her wings would jerk around slightly, most likely due to the long flight she made from Canterlot and the flying she did in Ponyville without some rest; even she couldn't fly that much without, at the very least, thirty minutes of rest and a small snack.
"This...Doesn't look good."
The subtle twitching in her wings made for a rather disorienting flight; she usually had perfect wing control and thus never had to worry about tumbling out of control. It seemed, however, that this flight would be rather different; her angle of flying was altered somewhat by her wings, causing her to angle downwards, and her eyes widened as her new course was now towards the low branches of a tree. Alarmed, she instinctively began flapping her wings hard, opposite in the direction that she was now flying in, in an attempt to stall herself in midair before impacting against the branches; unfortunately for her, despite her best efforts, she still hit the branches, but with considerably less speed than before. She fell a short distance to the ground, where she laid for awhile as she caught her breath from the impact.
That could've easily been a fatal crash had she gone any faster and if she didn't attempt to stop herself; or, at the very least, she would have been heavily injured. Sighing, she began to berate herself.
"Nice going, Dash. Wonderbolt, zero, tree branches, one. I'm not surprised, though...I always crashed into Twilight's library, so I guess now is revenge for all of that, heh."
Her breath had returned, but she made no move to get up; the ground felt nice and comfortable. She admitted that she could use a bit of a rest; she didn't really stop for much while she was here.
When she finally got the rest that she needed, the pegasus groaned as she got up on her hooves, and took a quick moment to make sure her body was intact; other than a few scrapes and getting a bit dusty from the ground, she was fine. Looking up distastefully at the branches that she impacted into, her wings unfurled themselves, and she practiced flapping them, though not to generate enough lift to push her into the sky; she was looking to see where the pain was in her wings. Sure enough, the wings would twitch and even give slight pangs of pain every time they flapped; the source seemed to be at the joints. Sighing, she pulled her wings back to her side, and hoped that no permanent damage was done to them.
After that rather close encounter with the tree branches, and the little test of her wings, she decided that it was best to walk the remainder of the way to Ponyville before she became a hastily added addition to the upcoming funeral; that would be a perfect end to her day, all things considered. She began walking, something that her younger self wouldn't have ever considered to do when she could've flown the distance instead.
She enjoyed the walk back, however; it let her take in the scenery that had changed from her leave of Ponyville. Nothing looked the same anymore, a reminder that her life wasn't the same, as well. Swallowing the sudden bile in her throat, she ignored that negative thought and continued to look around, entranced by the way nature had changed itself over the years; even the sky wasn't the same as it was, once upon a time.
Unfortunately, this sight-seeing didn't last very long with the pegasus; she was still the impatient pony she was a few years ago. She had learned the value of patience when she had to put on a face for her fans, but could never truly practice it herself when she was able to take off the mask, behind the scenes. Bored out of her mind, she began saying her thoughts aloud in an attempt to comfort herself, as she had seen Twilight and Rarity do before when they were particularly busy on a project of some sort, so why shouldn't it work for her?
"Hm...What would you do in my situation, eh, Twilight Sparkle? I mean, you are the egghead of the group, and, eventually, you knew how to solve...Err, almost every problem that you came across! C'mon, you'd know what to do here, right? You're only the smartest pony I know, so you gotta have some kinda answer for me!" Only silence answered her, and she sighed in despair. "Right, the only thing next to me is grass, and grass can't talk with me. I wish it could; maybe they'd have some advice. Hey, you! Yeah, the blade of grass over there, next to the tree stump! You got anything to say to me, huh?" She stared at a blade of grass that was slightly longer than most of its peers and was located near the base of a tree stump; Rainbow Dash gave it the most threatening stare she had ever giving to anypony or...Anything, all at this blade of grass. Unfortunately for her, the blade of grass did not wilt under her relentless gaze.
Silence once again answered her; the pegasus' response was to give herself a sad chuckle before moving on. "Talking to grass...The heck is wrong with ya, Rainbow Dash? Next thing you know I'll be talking to trees like Applejack. Heh...If only they could...See me now..." Her voice broke, and she stopped talking, suddenly afraid to continue in the fear that she would break down. She was Rainbow Dash; she didn't break down and start crying. Through her small monologue, she had failed to notice something walking up behind her as she was talking.
"It's funny, really, how life can deal us such a bad hoof, yet expects us to play those cards with everything we got, isn't it?" Startled by the sudden voice, the pegasus turned around, and simultaneously sighed and smiled at the pony that walked up to her; it happened to be none other than Deep Thought, unsurprisingly. "What? Am I intruding in on you at a bad time?" The pegasus rolled her eyes, and continued walking on, with the stallion keeping pace with her, which only served to cause the pegasus to speed up her walking speed; she wasn't in the mood to talk. She sped up, only for him to also increase his pace. This was continued a few more times until she realized that he would just keep up the pace with her, and she slowed herself down to a casual trot before answering the question she was asked, with venomous sarcasm in her voice.
"No, Deep Thought, I'm obviously not going through a bad time right now, heck, nopony goes through a bad time when four of her best friends dies in a storm; I'm actually having the time of my life right now!"
"Your sarcasm knows no bounds, Rainbow Dash."
"I can't tell if that's a compliment or not."
"Come on, do you really find it in me to insult you when you are in a state of grief right now?"
"Speaking about 'finding'...How do you even manage to find me, anyway? It's just, really creepy, you know. Even the paparazzi doesn't show up as randomly as you, and trust me, they're always trying to find newer, more...'Interesting' ways to snap pictures of me." Inwardly, she wished that she wasn't being so mean to Deep Thought; after all, he was just a stallion trying to help. When she looked up, however,instead of the face of an annoyed stallion, the stallion in question instead had a warm smile that seemed to drive away a small part of her fears and despair.
"I just seem to be drawn to ponies in need of my words, it seems."
"Oh, ha ha, that's a laugh. I really do have to ask you, though, do you really work for some secret pony agency for the princess'? If not, I can tell you right now that you'd probably be recruited on the spot, especially if I give them my recommandation; you're just too good at sneaking up on ponies when they least expect it."
"What makes you think I'm not part of such an agency right now, and talking to you is my mission for, of course, unspeakable reasons?"
"...Good point. Seriously, though, could you leave me alone? I mean, of course, I'm not trying to cause any offense to you, Deep Thought, and it is nice to talk to somepony that isn't gushing over me, but I really do need to think about what I'm going to have to say at the funeral; it's very doubtful that they'll just let me attend without letting me say something in memory of my friends."
"Don't."
"Excuse me? These are my friends, undoubtedly the best ponies I could ever ask for as friends, and they are...Were the Elements of Harmony, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't make a speech about them?"
"Well, I don't mean don't attend the funeral, Celestia forbid, but don't think so hard about the speech for your friends, Rainbow Dash; when time comes to speak, you will be able to speak exactly what you need to a whole lot better than if you were to practice the same words over and over again. That usually kills any emotion you might have in the speech. I also have another bit of advice for you; get on with your life without thinking too much of the past. It will only hurt you more. As I have recited to so many before you, I shall recite it once more, to you." He cleared his throat, and then continued in a slightly more serious voice.
"Remember the happy memories of the past, but do not dwell on it too long, for the painful memories will soon weigh down your conscience. Live in the present, doing all that you can that your heart is content to do, and make every day a happier day. Think not of the future, for it will never be nor ever should be of concern to you, for it is nothing but pure speculation, and those that attempt to think too much about it will only hurt themselves." She smiled slightly as she pondered over his words, and shook her head, though in slight amusement.
"You know, Deep Thought is an extremely fitting name for you, as you have just proved."
"Yes, it is a rather nice name, and you did need some advice that was relevant to your plight."
"Thanks. Erm...Let me understand something about you, please. Who are you, Deep Thought? How do you manage to find me when I'm least expecting you? How do you always seem to recite the right words to leave me thinking about something I overlooked?" Both ponies stopped as they looked at each other, Rainbow Dash with a curious gaze, and Deep Thought with a slight frown on his face. "You aren't a normal stallion. Something is different about you, and I want to know what it is; I don't see stallions like you, ever."
A flicker of surprise was seen in Deep Thought's eyes before being extinguished quickly; he was hiding something, she knew for sure now. Instead of the explanation that she was hoping for, however, his reply didn't address her questions and his tone of voice was suddenly extremely cold, causing her to shudder slightly from the chilling tone. "I'll see you at the funeral, Rainbow Dash, and I ask that you do not inquire too much background information from me." A spark caused the rainbow pegasus to look up at Deep Thought's horn, and a lance of fear shot through her; she was sure that he was going to hurt her. Instead, however, he teleported away, leaving behind a scared and quickly indignant Rainbow Dash behind.
"Oh, the nerve of that unicorn...He's just like Twilight when she gets all cuckoo and freaks out over some little thing. I swear, even part of his mane was out of place." It took awhile to sink in that she had just compared Deep Thought to one of her friends, and she angrily brought a hoof to her face. "No, Deep Thought is nothing like Twilight, he just...Shares one thing that Twilight does. Yeah, that's it, just a little thing."
She looked up, and sighed, continuing to walk on the path to Ponyville; it wasn't going to walk itself. The village itself wasn't too far away; it would, at most, take a ten minute walk before she would see it, and another five to enter it. She stepped up her speed to a brisk trot, not wanting to be late for the start of her friends and their funeral.
As it was, the walk didn't actually take as long as she thought it would have; somehow, she had made it seven minutes earlier than what she expected. Allowing herself a slight smile, she strode into the town that was adding the final touches for the funeral, only to remember that she still didn't have a clue about what she was going to say at the funeral, and the funeral itself was just about to start.
"Aw, horseapples."