Twilight Sparkle
Applejack came to see me a few days after the funeral.
I wasn't looking too good at that point. I'd been subsisting on 90 minutes of sleep here and there, whenever I could catch it... or rather, whenever exhaustion took me. I didn't really want to sleep. My project was too important. Besides, whenever I slept... well, I didn't exactly sleep easy. I kept seeing Rainbow Dash fall. Not having been there simply allowed my imagination to make up its own details. I woke up screaming every time.
When I wasn't sleeping, I was studying. To tell the truth, when I saw Applejack at the door, part of me wanted to tell her to go away so I could get back to it! But that part of me was the old me, before I'd learned about friendship. These days, I was making time for my friends.
It's not as if my project was going anywhere fast. Being an alicorn was one thing, but it didn't make research materials any easier to find. And as far as I could tell, no pony had ever done much work on the subject that I now found myself neck-deep in. I couldn't find anything more than a few hastily-scribbled, barely legible notes in the margins of time-yellowed pages. My headache was borne less of deep thought than it was of squinting at handwriting that would have been terrible even had it been less ancient!
So yes, I was irritated when I heard clopping at the door, but when I opened it and saw the sunlight -- and my friend's face -- I felt a little better about leaving my work behind for a bit.
"Hey, Applejack! How're you holding up?"
I knew the answer before I asked, of course. Applejack was miserable. Her mane was unkempt, and her coat was dirty. From the look of her eyes, she hadn't been getting much sleep since the funeral, either.
"I reckon I'm doing well enough," she said, despite the obvious. "I just came by to see if maybe you weren't busy. It's Tuesday, and..." She looked down. "Well, I always used to eat lunch with Rainbow Dash on Tuesdays. Now I don't have no pony to eat lunch with. But if you're busy..."
I was already closing the library door behind me. "Busy? Hardly. It'll be good for me to get out of this tree for a while. The walls are starting to close in on me!"
AJ smiled at me, and we began the trek down to Main Street.
"So, what have you been working on?" she asked after a few minutes of silence. "Something special for the Princess?"
I grinned. "No, the Princess actually doesn't have me doing all that much! I guess with these," I said as I flexed my wings, "comes a little more autonomy. I'm doing my own research now, and I think you'll be --"
"Watch out!"
Suddenly the world turned sideways and filled itself with pink. Somepony was sitting on me.
"What in the --" I struggled to get out from under whoever it was, but I was stuck.
"Hold still, Twilight! Stay down! My tail's a-twitchin', and that means something bad is about to happen!"
I managed to wrest Pinkie Pie off of me, my leg aching from the fall, and looked skyward. As aggravating as Pinkie was, her Pinkie Sense was fairly accurate. Twitchy tail meant something was about to fall.
And fall it did. As the three of us watched, a gust of wind blew a leaf off a nearby tree. We watched it flutter to the ground in silence.
AJ was the first to break it. "Well. That certainly was something. Thanks for saving us, Pinkie Pie."
Pinkie Pie beamed at us. "No problem-o!" Her expression grew more serious, but no less crazed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find Rarity! She could poke herself with a needle, and then start bleeding, and I'd have to be there to help her, or else something horrible could happen!" And with that, she was gone.
I turned to AJ. "Poke herself with a needle? Is that really that catastrophic?"
She shook her head. "Who can understand the mind of a Pinkie Pie? Sure not me."
We arrived at the center of town a few minutes later, and sat down at a cafe to eat. I let Applejack lead -- I don't even know if she realized what she was doing, but she knew where she wanted to go, and I was content to follow.
Once we had our food, she asked again. "So, what is it you've been working on? You look tireder than my sister that one time she tried to get her star-gazing cutie mark!"
I was torn. Part of me was hesitant to tell anyone about my research, but the other part of me was bursting with excitement over the little I'd managed to find. If there was anyone who would want to hear about what I was doing, it was Applejack. Keeping it a secret from her wouldn't help her any. On the other hand, if I failed... then I would have gotten her hopes up for nothing.
I'd just have to not fail, then.
"It's a little crazy... but I think it's going to work. You have to promise not to think I'm crazy. Promise?"
AJ looked me in the eyes. "Of course you ain't crazy, Twi. You're the smartest pony I know. If you think you can do something, then I'm sure as shooting not going to doubt you. Shoot, you're a Princess now, and a few months ago I'd have thought that was crazy! I still do, sometimes."
I grinned. "I do, too, sometimes. Okay, I'll tell you." I paused, not for effect, but because I wasn't sure how to explain. I decided to just blurt it out.
"I'm going to bring Rainbow Dash back."
At first, I wasn't sure that AJ had heard me. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite, then chewed on it very slowly while staring off at something behind my head. Then she looked straight at me, with an expression I couldn't discern. "Twilight... Rainbow Dash is dead. I saw her die."
"I know you did, and I know she is. But... look, what's the difference between a dead pony and a living pony?"
"I ain't sure I want to have this con--"
"The only difference is that the dead pony can't do anything anymore! I mean, literally, all the cells have just stopped working. Even if we use magic to heal the body, the pony doesn't come back. There's something missing. But it might be possible to get that something back!"
"But her body is gone, Twilight. The pegasi burned it up!"
"That's just it! They didn't burn her body, AJ. I took it before they could. I replaced it with a simulacrum!"
"You did what?!" She stood up abruptly, glaring at me. "Twilight, you can't do that!"
"I had to, Applejack!" I plead with her. She needed to understand! "I needed the body to bring her back! I have it in a stasis field in the basement of the library. It's safe! I've been studying it, and I think I can repair it! And then maybe I can bring her back!"
Applejack had gone quiet. She was staring behind me again, but when I turned to look, there was nothing there. For a moment, I was afraid she was going to kick me.
"Applejack... are you okay?"
She shook her head a little, then very quietly, she asked, "Bring her back? You think you can do that, Twilight?"
I sighed. "I don't know. I've been researching, and there are a few hints of other ponies who have done work in that area, but as far as I can tell, nopony has ever successfully brought someone back to life. But I can try."
Applejack snapped out of whatever reverie she was in, and gave me a hard look. "Twilight. You were the first unicorn to ever become an alicorn. You saved Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon, and then got all of Ponyville to accept her. You've done the impossible more times than I can count. If anyone can do it, you can."
"Now, I don't have to tell you that I miss Rainbow Dash more than anything. If I could give my bucking legs to have her back, I'd do it in a hoofbeat. So if there's anything I can do..." She bowed in front of me. "I am at your service, Princess."
I blushed, and shook my head. "Applejack, get up. We talked about this. You don't have to bow at me."
Applejack stood up, but shook her head. There was something different in her eyes. "You're my friend, Twilight, but you're also a princess. If you can do this, then you'll be more than that, even. I want you to know that I'll stand by you, no matter what. Whatever you say, from this day forward, I'll do it. I swear on my love for Rainbow Dash, I'll do whatever you need. Just... just get her back for me."
I nodded, then I leaned forward and gave AJ a hug. I didn't let go of her for a while, nor she me.
We parted ways not long after that -- Applejack was needed back at the farm. I returned to my library, more determined than ever. This was what I had to do -- this was my destiny. With my friends by my side, I could not fail.
Nothing would stop me.