//------------------------------// // Mourning: Part 1 // Story: Final Moments // by Scott Grimm //------------------------------// Mourning "She didn't deserve this...Nopony deserved this." I thought to myself as my eyes were deadlocked at the casket before me. Her lifeless corpse laying within. Nopony truly knowing how this fate had befallen her, but all of them knowing all too well of what had happened in the end. A flash of lightning could be seen off in the distance quickly followed by the crack of thunder. The Thunder only giving a momentary relief of sound from the drenching downpour that had befallen the ceremony. I looked around at everypony that was sitting around the grave site. Each one looked the same. A black suit or dress with the same look of depression and sorrow plastered on their faces whilst the rain washed away any evidence of tears being shed. Some held umbrella's above their head to shield themselves from the rain. I on the other hand just sat there, letting my raindow mane slowly get weighed down and eventually cover my face. The only exception were Sweetie Belle and Applebloom who were wearing their Cutie Mark Crusaders cape. A sign of respect to their lost friend. I looked back up to the podium that had been placed next to the casket to perform a sermon for the burial. The priest was clearing his throat as he had just finished his speech. "Now, I will relinquish the stage to allow all friends and family of the deceased to come up and talk. But before anypony comes up; I would like to encourage regalement's of fonder times. For although this is a terrible tragedy and a horrid day, let us not forget the joy that young Scootaloo had brought into our lives.The many moments of happiness we were able to share. And the memories made that we will all hold in our hearts forever." The priest said as he began stepping down from the podium. For a minute or two everypony's heads continued to hang low. Not a word was spoken, nor a movement made. All that was heard were the droplets of rain making a loud and constant bombardment on everyponys umbrella and or suit. The silence remained until a sniffle was heard from Sweetie Belle, who had been curled up in Rarity's chest, silently crying her eye's out. Everypony looked over to the red eyed foal as she gently moved herself away from her sisters embrace and got up from her. Sweetie delicately made her way over across the rows to where Applebloom sat, placing a hoof onto her friends shoulder. Applebloom, who had been quiet the entire ceremony gave the white mare a gentle nod. With that signal the two crusaders proceeded to take the stage at the podium. A few murmurs were heard among the back of the crowd, but nothing disrespectful. They were more shocked than anything. Nopony had expected them to say any words since they were so young and how completely devastated they were about what had happened. I feel that I was more surprised than anypony else to see them walk up, since I had seen first hoof what their reactions were like, being that I was the one that told them the news. To think...It started out just like any other day... ~~~~ The sun was just hitting high noon over PonyVille, spreading warmth wherever it's rays touched. Summer had finally come and the changes in the season could be seen every which way you looked. The wildlife were more abundant than ever with all the squirrels popping their heads out of trees, to the ducks and geese alike flying in the skies above. I was over at Apple Acres helping out Applejack take care of her daily chores since weather duty was ridiculously easy today and I had time to lend a helping hoof. I gave a final push to a cart that was filled to the brim with the ripest most delicious looking crimson red apples I had ever seen into the barn to end the haul for the day. I leaned back onto my rear and gave a quick sigh of relief as a cool breeze blew past cooling the sweat upon my brow. Applejack who was not far behind me in pushing her own cart was just now making her way into the barn. Once her cart was securely in the red building, she proceeded with my same actions. "Whew, tough work today huh?" Applejack said as she looked at the massive haul the two of us had just pulled in. Satisfaction of a good hard days work on her face. "Yeah... Looks a lot simpler when you do it." I said panting the whole time. Applejack gave me a quick glance and chuckled as she saw my exhausted state. "Nah, ah'm just use to it is all. T'aint nothing a little practice won't fix." She said with a bit of encouragement as she nudged my shoulder. "How's about we go on inside? Get ourselves something to drink and relax for a bit." 'Yeah, that sounds good." I said as we both lifted ourselves up and proceeded to the house. Once in the house, Applejack grabbed to glasses from the upper cabinet and set them on the counter before turning around to the fridge. Now with a pitcher of iced tea in her teeth Aj walked over and poured us our drinks and set them both on the table where I was sitting. I took a quick swig before leaning back in the wooden chair, making a quiet creaking sound. "I don't know how you do it Aj, this applebucking stuff is hard work." I took a momentary pause and looked around the house as Applejacke made her way to her seat. "Say, where is everyone at?" Aj sat herself down before responding. "Big Mac is over in the west orchard today, he won't be back until dusk. While Granny Smith is upstairs taking her daily afternoon nap and ah think Applebloom is over that the cutie mark clubhouse with her friends." "Oh crap! I'm sorry Aj I forgot, I was suppose to meet up with Scoots today to give her some flying lessons." I got up in a hurry and pushed my chair back in as I quickly began to make my exit. "Thanks for the tea!" I waved my hoof to Aj as I ran out the front door. "Uhh, yeah sure." Aj responded, a tad confused with how quickly I made my exit out of the house. My mind had been so preoccupied with work that I had totally forgot, today was the day I had promised Scootaloo another flying lesson. I made my way out of the orchard and began heading down the dirt road that lead into the grazing fields just outside of PonyVille. It was a wide open and lush spot ideal for training flyers. I continued down the dirt path that eventually became paved with cobblestone, leading the way into PonyVille. Typically when I'm running this late I would fly as fast as I could in order to get there on time, but with weather duty and applebucking on top of that, I rather not take the chance of straining my already exhausted wings. As I entered PonyVille I was greeted with silence. Typically at this time the streets are alive and buzzing with ponies, talking and conducting business, but not a soul was in sight. It was a peculiar sight to behold. The only sounds that could be heard as I continued along my path was the ruffling of a loose paper caught in the breeze and my hooves as they made contact with each step I took. Where the heck is everypony? Was there a parade or something today that I didn't hear about? I was now at town square, the center of Ponyville that connected every street together. I took a right and headed down bakers square, named for obvious reasons. The cakes along with Pinkie lived on this street, and although their shop was just a small portion of the street, it drove in the most business and tourism in town. It was only fitting that the town named the street after their profession. A few minutes passed as I walked down the lonesome street, still in a confused state of where all the life in the town had gone to. A sickly feeling started to make its home within my gut, something wasn't sitting right with this current setting. Up ahead I could start to make out to what looked be other ponies, all gathered and huddled around in a circle. As I got closer, the sight grew. There was definitely something going on. The whole town seemed to be there, and yet not a single mare nor stallion could be recognized. As I approached, one of the mares noticed me. A bright yellow mare with a orange colored mane and a few carrots for a cutie mark. She gave me a blank stare and nudged the stallion besides her, grabbing his attention. He turned his head to turn to her. Once she had his attention she nudged her head my way, leading his vision to me. He then turned back to her and nodded. The two slowly parted away from each other. Once they had started moving aside, others near them followed suit and did the same after seeing me. I stopped in my tracks at the display of everypony slowly moving to the side as if to make way for me. The hay is going on?! Row after row of mare and stallion alike moved to the side. After the final row had separated only one mare remained in the middle, kneeling down, and finally it was a familiar one. "Twilight!" I called out, just happy to finally see another friendly face. Things were getting a bit weird. But seeing her put me a little more at ease. I started to trot, almost canter even towards her. Twilight didn't say a word back to me, her only response was a quick glance over her shoulder. When I didn't receive a verbal response from her I slowed my pace to her until I was at a full stop, only halfway through the aisle of separated onlookers. "T-Twilight?" The sickly feeling entered in my gut once more. I shakily raised my hoof up, almost to touch out to her. "Heh, what's going on here?" I did a nervous chuckle trying to ease myself. Twilight shook her head back and forth only once before raising herself to her hooves. She hung her head low as she turned around to face me, her bangs covering most of her face. The only feature I could make out was her mouth, a blank expression plastered over it. I set my hoof down as she made her way towards me. The onlookers followed her as she headed up the aisle. My heart began to pound harder and faster to the point that started to feel a bit faint. Whatever was going on here, couldn't be good. Twilight finally reached me and looked up, brushing her bangs away from her eyes. Her eyes were heavy, heavy with a burden of what I wasn't sure. Tear stains surrounded her cheeks and irritation filled around her pupils. She took a heavy sigh as her eyes lowered themselves once more, scanning the ground as if she had just dropped something. Looking back up at me, I could see her lips try to form a smile. Almost as if she was trying to give me a warm welcome. That only lasted a split second before he mouth opened up, taking a large inhale as she closed her eyes for a moment. She exhaled the breath and opened her eyes once again. Extending her hoof, she placed it on my shoulder. It was ice to the touch. "I'm_" Twilight seemed to be getting choked up as tears formed at her eyes. "I-I'm sorry. So sorry, there was nothing I could do. I-I wish I could... I wish, I'm sorry I gotta go." Twilight removed her hoof from my shoulder as she covered her eyes, hiding her tears from sight as she ran past me and eventually out of the crowd. What the hell just happened? I turned back over to the still cleared row of ponies whose eyes were now looking upon me. I felt a hoof touch my side. I turned to see who was prodding me and to my surprise, saw Rarity standing there. I somehow had missed her in the crowd. She said nothing. "Rarity, what the hell is going on here?!" I snapped at her. I was tired of the whole weird situatio...gatheri....whatever this was. "There's been an accident dear." Rarity retained her tears that had now formed. I felt my stomach sink as my heart swelled up in my throat. "Scoot..."Rarity paused for a second, trying to keep herself calm and collected as to not make more of a scene. "Scootaloo's dead..." Those words rung through my ears like thunder, deafening myself to the rest of the world. I was still trying to process what was just said to me, but my body already had reacted. Tears started flowing freely as they ran down my cheeks, eventually hitting the ground below. I looked to my right as the mound of brown I had seen earlier but hadn't been able to get a good look at. I jerked Rarity's hoof off of me as I bolted over to Scootaloo, screaming her name aloud. When I reached her, I nearly vomited at the site before me. Her eye's. Her eye's were wide open, staring directly at me, while her mouth hung agape, as if she was in shock and awe. I fell to my haunches as I lifted her lifeless shell with my forelegs. My tears staining her fur as they fell. Her corpse was as cold as ice. The reality began to set in for me. I began screaming guttural sounds as I lost control of my emotions and got swept by new ones. Rage, remorse, confusion, sadness, agony, all of them quickly became my friend as I embraced Scootaloo against my chest, hoping to get some kind of reaction but to no avail. ~~~~ I eventually calmed down from my fit after Rarity had dragged me away from the scene that now haunted me every second. I rocked slightly back and forth causing the chair I was sitting on to creak ever so slightly. "Ah don't understand how something like this could happen... How did she even get up there? And how did no pony save her. I mean there must had been some pegusai around, or unicorns even." Applejack asked with just as much confusion as me. Rarity had taken her back to Applejack's house seeing as how it was the closest to them next to Pinkie and the Cakes place. And knowing how Pinkie was, Rarity thought it better to keep me from the Pink ball of over excited energy that was Pinkie Pie... For now at least. "I don't kno-" Rarity began to speak "There wouldn't be..." I finally spoke my first words since coming back to the house. Both of the mares looked at me with a stunned expression at first before changing to one of curiosity. I felt their stares on her and sighed at them. "It's the grazing fields. You know, the place where nopony goes?" I said with a strained tone at them. This information was painfully obvious. "Besides Applejack on occasion's when she herded the cows to graze. Otherwise no one else went there." I hung my head back down again to resume staring at the wooden planks of the floor. "That explains things some... But someone must have seen her or heard her at least. Why didn't somepony try to catch her?" Rarity said in innocence. "THE FUCK DOES IT MATTER?!" I snapped slamming my hooves on the table, almost breaking it in two. Applejack and Rarity looked at me with fear and concern in their eyes whilst mine looked at them with pure rage. "She's gone... That's it..." I sunk back down into my chair slowly as I started to regret my outburst at them. I clenched my eye's shut as I felt another tear drop from my eye. Both of them were silent as they looked at one another before turning back to me. "Look darling." Rarity started out, drawing the beginning of her sentence slowly as to gather the rest of her thoughts before continuing. Just as she was about to continue, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle walked into the house. Both of them giggling with one another as they were already reminiscing today's failed CMC attempt at getting their cutie marks. All of the mares looked at the two fillies in silence and fear. The two crusaders stopped in the place as they saw the three sitting there at the dining room table and give them a wide grin. "Hey guys!" Applebloom said with joy, Sweetie Belle said her hello too. "H-Hey sugarcube." Applejack raised a hoof to her mouth, she was already getting caught up in her emotions. Just the thought of having to tell Applebloom one of her best friends had just died would prove rather difficult for her to do so. Rarity on the other hand just looked at Sweetie Belle, not saying a word nor making any kind of expression to her sister. "Why, uh why don't you go upstairs and play in your room for a bit. Me and the girls have something's we need to talk about." Applejack said "Sure, come on Sweetie!" Applebloom said as she started heading upstairs to her room leading the way for Sweetie Belle to follow. Applejack put on a false smile as her sister and friend scurried themselves upstairs. Once out of their line of sight Applejack let loose a exhale, along with her smile. "How am ah suppose to tell her..." Applejack placed her hooves on the table and rested her head on them. "And Sweetie Belle, she's such a delicate young thing." Rarity noted. We all sat still in the ere quiet that had gathered among us. "I'll tell them." I said in a low voice. Both Applejack and Rarity instantly shifted back over to me with a pure state of shock on their faces. "You can't be serious." Rarity questioned. "Yeah... I mean, why would you?" Applejack inquired. "Because." Both of them looked at one another before turning back to me. Rarity was about to say something again before I interrupted her. "They're your sister's, I get that... But Scootaloo was like mine. Sure we weren't blood or anything like that, but that doesn't change the fact that she was my sister." Rarity closed her mouth as leaned back in her chair a bit. "Are you sure sugar? It may not be the easiest thing to do, but me and Ms. Prissy pants over here can handle it." Applejack said. Rarity glared at Applejack. Not really the time to be making such remarks. "Yeah I'm sure. I owe it to her. I also don't want you two to have to feel the pain I'm feeling." I said flatly. I looked up as I felt a hoof on mine. Rarity was gently rubbing the edge of my hoof to comfort me the best she could. I gave her a slight nod and got up from my chair. I gave both of them a quick glance before turning around and heading up the staircase to Applebloom's room.