“What do you mean I lost it?!” she jumped back from their embrace, and looked at the earth pony suspiciously. “What exactly did I lose?!”
The white unicorn tried to move closer, saying “Nothing, everything is…” but the pegasus interrupted her, shoving her to the side..
“Not fine! Something bad has happened!” She gave the next word a strong emphasis. “Meaning we have to move quickly and find out what’s going on!”
“Ah’ll tell y’all what’s happenin’.” the freckled mare finally got herself to speak, looking at the floor. “That sound was showin’ ‘er heart beatin’. Now it stopped. Guess what that means.” She lifted her head, looking at the three with the face of a pony who just confessed to killing another.
“M-my heart?” the darker unicorn’s face turned into a shocked one. “D-does that mean…”
She never got to finish that question, as something incredible distracted all of them: the Sun rose outside the stained glass windows, illuminating the white marble hall and filling it with its warmth. They all basked in the light for a few moments, then took a good look at each other and their surroundings.
There they were, a freckly-muzzled, orange earth pony with blond mane and grass-green eyes; a white unicorn, her hyacinth mane and tail done into pretty curls; and a sky-blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail that probably never saw a comb. And lastly, there was she herself, lavender-colored coat, with dark blue mane and tail with one purple and pink stroke in each.
The hall itself that seemed endless in the darkness now still looked quite huge, but not nearly impossible to cross. It appeared that she first came to her senses at the foot of a giant golden throne, covered with the same crimson carpet that lead to a great wooden door at the other end of the room. She estimated it to be still at least a few hours’ walk to get there.
Suddenly, sounds - a mixture of crying and somepony speaking - started flowing in through the windows. All four of them rushed there and stuck their ears to the cold-feeling glass, to hear the voice of an elder mare.
“...ful student and loving friend. Let us mourn her passing, and remember her forever. Rest in p-” she was interrupted by somepony whose voice was very similar to the white unicorn standing in the throne hall.
“Princess, mind if I say a few words myself?”
“Of course not, go ahead,” came the response with a quiet sniff. The orange mare moved her head away from the glass to give the lavender unicorn a serious look and mouth the words “They’re talkin’ about you.” She then pressed her ear against the window once again, and listened to what was happening.
"Ahem." The daintiest of coughs punctuated the still air as she began: ”For all of us who had the warm and wondrous pleasure of knowing Twilight Sparkle, it goes without saying that she was a pony like no other, a pony anypony would feel privileged to have known.
She was, in her scholarly pursuits, so fabulously brilliant that the kingdom scarcely held a book she hadn't gotten her hooves on; and in magic, she shone brighter than a comet at dawn. But beyond the dusty old confines of her books, Twilight commanded the admiration of everypony who ever had a problem, because there never was a problem that unicorn couldn't resolve. Though... ”
She couldn’t finish her speech. A loud thud and ponies gasping was all that could be heard before the flood of almost-incoherent words filled the marble hall.
“NoTwilightyoucan’tleavenowyoustillhavesomuchtodopleasecomebackIpromiseI’llbakeyousevenofyourfavoritecakesifyoucomebackpleasepleaseTwilight-” the stream came to a sudden end, then the first mare to speak said:
“Girls, would you please escort Pinkie Pie to somewhere where she can relax?”
“Bu-” the crazy pony yelped, but was cut short by another mare whose accent was very similar to a certain orange pony’s.
“Ah’m mighty sorry y’all. Mah condolences.”
The rest of what happened outside was covered by the sound of dirt falling, slowly burying the stained glass windows. After a while, the shoveling’s noise stopped, and muffled hoofsteps and sobbing took its place. Then there was nothing but darkness again.
“Could somepony please explain to me what that was all about?” the dark unicorn whose name was apparently Twilight Sparkle stomped a hoof and looked angrily in the other three’s general direction.
“Some folks were out there, an’ they were talkin’ about you.” the orange earth pony replied calmly. “It sound’id like a fare-well.”
“I’m sure they gave you a nice ceremo-” Twilight didn’t allow the light-colored mare to finish the word.
“Don’t. Say. It. I’m not dead yet, am I?” she looked around, chalk-white under her purple coat. “I feel alive. Why would they bury somepony who’s still alive? This makes no sense!”
“Well, you gotta admit,” the multicolor pegasus inserted, “the heartbeat-o-meter stopping and the fancy speeches probably mean that you’re not, um, alive.”
“But,” she started, “if I’m dead, how can I be here, chatting? Or better yet, why can’t I remember how it happened?”
“Ah kinda think that’s up’ ta you to find out, sugarcube” responded the earth pony, with the other two nodding besides her.
“You three aren’t very helpful, are you?” Twilight riposted cynically.