Chapter 57
Twilight slowly opened her eyes. “She’s coming to,” Rainbow Dash’s familiar voice came into her world. She blinked her eyes trying to make them focus. As she looked around, she realized she was in the hospital. She could see all her friends standing there, as well as the three princesses and her brother.
“What’s going on? Why am I in the hospital?” she sat up and rubbed her head. Her hoof brushed against bandages and the prior events came back to her. “The bear! Shining, what happened?! The last thing I remember was we were looking for Rick and this huge bear came out of the trees and hit me. After that, I-I-I… I don’t know what happened.”
“Twilight,” Shining approached and placed a hoof on hers, “you were knocked out. You were hurt pretty bad. I managed to shield us but we were stuck.” He lowered his head, “Rick came up behind the bear and he attacked it. Thanks to him, you and I got away.”
“So where is he? Where’s Rick?” She was answered with silence. None of the ponies dared to make eye contact. “Shining… where’s Rick? Princess? Somepony answer me? Where is he!?”
“You were hurt and bleeding badly. He told me to get you help.” Shining was forcing the words out. “He told me he would be right behind us.”
“So then he made it out? Where is he?”
“Twilight, you’ve been out for three days and we’ve been searching the whole time,” Shining Armor told her, “and we couldn’t find him. We found his trail and… there was so much… blood, but his body was just… gone.”
“No, you’re lying.” Twilight slid her hoof out from under Shining’s. “He got away. He had to have made it out.”
“It’s true, Twilight. We searched every inch of the forest. Fluttershy even had her critters helping.” Rainbow Dash verified.
“Search again! He has to be out there! You have to look again!”
Shining Armor placed something on the bed next to Twilight. It was enveloped in her violet magical aura and floated in front of her. It was a small, brown rectangle, it was covered in blood. She unfolded it and inside was the picture of Hanna and Annie. There were bloody fingerprints on the photo.
Her horn flared as she overflowed with rage, sorrow and hurt. “He had no way to defend himself and you just left him behind!”
“Twilight, he told m-” A jug of water launched across the room at him.
“Get out.”
“But, Twi-” vases, glasses and various pieces medical equipment levitated with a purple aura.
“GET OUT!! GET OUT!! GET OUT!!” The floating objects surrounded Twilight poised and ready for launch. Tears were pouring down her face. Shining lowered his head, turned and walked out the door. Cadence followed him out into the waiting room
Celestia walked over to her and wrapped a wing around her student. Twilight turned and embraced Celestia, crying loudly in her warm fur. “I know it is hard to lose one you cared for so deeply.
There are no words that can take the pain away. We must honor his memories; as long as he is in our hearts, he will never really die.”
“That’s right, Dear, we will all miss him. But as long as we keep him in our hearts, he will always be with us.” Rarity rubbed Twilight’s back. “It will be difficult, but we will be here for each other.”
“Yeah, as long as we have each other, there’s nuthin’…” Applejack started but couldn’t finish her sentiment due to the lump in her throat. All the ponies started to cry uncontrollably as they sought comfort from each other. Luna herself had tears forming in her eyes. Celestia held Twilight close allowing her own eyes to fill.
Rick Rhinestone had only been in Equestria a few weeks, but he had touched many lives. The ponies cared for him not only because he had risked his life several times to save them, but because he was a good, honest person. Rick had, in many ways, been the type of friend Twilight always wrote to Princess Celestia about. He was always there for his friends, and it cost him his life.
Epilogue
Six months had passed since the fateful day. Since then, Twilight had forgiven Shining Armor; it was Rick’s idea to sacrifice himself, not her brother’s. It wasn’t easy in any case. She had lost a dear friend that she cared deeply for and she wanted to blame somepony. The fact that she couldn’t made the whole situation more difficult to bear.
In that time, Twilight Sparkle had been made into Princess Twilight Sparkle and now had a beautiful pair of wings to go along with the title. She remained in the Golden Oaks Library. Princess Celestia had agreed that since Twilight had learned all her best lessons in Ponyville, she should continue to live there.
Rick’s house remained vacant. All the princesses agreed that it should be cared for as he cared for all the ponies in Ponyville. Twilight had been adamant that there was still a chance he could return and she wanted there to be a place for him to return to. She had taken on the responsibility of caretaker for the property and visited often. She even took in Paul, Fluttershy had said she would do it, but Twilight insisted. Paul came with her on her frequent trips to Rick’s home, every time they went, Paul fruitlessly searched the whole house for his lost master.
All the ponies in Ponyville had known of the strange resident that had graced their humble village. Most even knew about all the courageous and selfless acts he did to protect so many of the natives and were grateful to him. Celestia had even arranged to have his truck turned into a memorial near his home since there was no grave. A protective spell had been placed on it to keep the metal from rusting and the rubber from rotting. There would be a plaque made and placed during a dedication ceremony.
The dedication was going to be held today. Twilight was, until recently, certain that Rick had somehow managed to escape the bear. She kept his wallet on her dresser in her home to keep his memory alive, but today, she had brought it with her. She was bringing Paul along and had sent Spike ahead to meet her at the dedication; she wanted to take her time. In her subconscious mind, she believed if she didn’t go to the ceremony, then Rick wouldn’t truly be gone. She had to go, as the resident princess of Ponyville, it was her responsibility. Especially since Celestia, Luna and Cadence would be there.
She slowly walked through town, Paul by her side. Everywhere she looked kicked off memories. So much so that she could hardly see through her own tears. “There’s the café we went to on his second day here.” The memory of how he had to sit on the ground and yet he still loomed over the table made her giggle a little.
Suddenly, Paul sniffed at the air, perked his ears and ran off barking as fast as he could. “Paul, stop, come back!” She raced after him. “Paul! Paul! Get back here!” “What has gotten into him?” The more he ran, the more she worried that the only living connection she had with Rick would be gone forever. He could get hit by a cart, run to the woods and get attacked or he could even just run and never return. She started to run faster as a slight panic crept into her mind. Her eyes were starting to water with the combination of wind and worry.
She come to an intersection and frantically looked around. “Where, where did he go?” “Whoa, easy there, Buddy,” came a male voice from up the road. She turned and saw Paul practically attacking a unicorn stallion she had never seen before.
“Paul, stop that! Leave him alone!”
“Oh, it’s alright. He’s just excited to make a friend.”
Twilight approached and magically grabbed onto Paul’s collar tugging him off the new stallion. Once she had a firm hold on him, she looked over the newcomer. He was large, not as big as Big Macintosh, but certainly a little larger than Shining Armor. He had short, dark hair on his mane and his tail. The fur was a soft, almost peach color. There were four stripes running down one side of his face, over one eye and down his barrel between his front legs. Through her watery eyes, these were about all the details she could make out.
“I’m so sorry about that, he’s normally so well behaved. I just don’t understand”
“Like I said, he was just excited to meet somebody new.”
“It’s still no excuse.” She glared at Paul who was pulling on his magic leash.
“Well regardless, I’m not upset. Anyway, I have to be going. I suppose I’ll see you around.”
“Yes, I suppose,” Twilight wasn’t really paying attention, she was too focused on Paul. As she hauled him on their way to the dedication ceremony, she couldn’t seem to get his voice out of her head. There was just something so familiar about it.
Shortly, she met her friends at the small park that was made in honor of her lost companion. Paul was still tugging at the ethereal lead.
“What’s up with Paul?” Dash asked.
“I’m not sure; he ran off and was all over this unicorn stallion I’ve never seen before.” Twilight looked quizzically at the dog.
“I’m sure he was just excited to make a new friend,” Fluttershy said.
“Funny, that’s the same thing he said.” “He said something else too, what was it,” the thought nagged at her.
Celestia approached the podium and Twilight’s thoughts shifted back to the present. “Good afternoon everypony,” “…som…” “We are here to honor a dear, lost friend. A selfless and gentle man that all present here today were lucky enough to have known. He was always there for somepony in trouble.” “…someb…” “I count myself luck to have known him, but I will now turn the stage over to the pony who knew him best, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
Celestia stepped aside as Twilight walked up on stage and took station her behind the podium. “I’ll never forget the first time I met Rick. He stormed into the library with Pinkie Pie. He was actually afraid of us ponies at that time. He had been injured by a timberwolf when he had saved Apple Bloom from that same timberwolf,” she looked at Apple Bloom who was crying into Applejack’s fur. “On three different occasions, he came to my rescue. The last time cost him his life. He was once asked why he kept putting himself into harm’s way for everypony, his response was simply ‘instinct’.” “…somebody…”
The thought that had nagged at her before finally rang home. ‘Somebody,’ Rick was the only creature she had ever met who used the word. The stallion she met before came to mind again. When she thought about the stripes down his face and barrel, they were almost like what claw marks would look like if…
Just then, the unicorn stallion came around the corner. Seeing his colors and mane style again… Twilight's eyes filled with tears of joy. She vaulted off the stage and galloped at full force; she collided with and embraced her old friend. She hugged the new pony and cried into his fur. Twilight seemed to be unable to release him.
Rick had returned to her and she was not about to let him go again.