Twilight drew short, sharp breaths. The air felt as if it was cold, but Twilight couldn’t be sure whether this was true, or just her mind taking things to be worse than they really were.
She only thought this because similarly, the ground was shaking under her hooves. Yet, she knew that she was not in the midst of an earthquake, for two reasons: At that moment in time, there was no air of panic; the world seemed silent, lest for the sweeping, crashing waves of wind, breaking upon the mountain ridge.
The other reason overjoyed Twilight.
If the ground had been shaking, she was sure that the small pink figure on the edge of the mountain, far up the cliff side, would have tumbled down the rocks quite some time ago.
She sighed, fearful, and began to canter along the track, kicking gravel, splashing mud, her uneven hoofsteps echoing out along the ridge, accompanied by the same, short, sharp breaths, gulping at the wind. Her gaze was not to the floor, not worried for where she was placing her hooves, but instead, it was fixated upon pink. In the grey of the mountain, it was easy to see, vivid against its lacklustre surroundings.
If Twilight had strained to see, she may have seen a couple of flecks of blue, staring out.
However, she still would never have seen how overcast they were.
Not that she’d ever noticed when they were up close to her.
Twilight shook her head, but still kept her eyes forward, locked on. There was no point punishing herself for what she’d missed. Yes, she knew that she had been stupid; she’d never really had any sort of conversation with anypony about their elements of harmony, when she should have.
But Twilight had never been faced with a problem like this before.
Never had she ever become so close to anypony, let alone be bound to magic so strong, not just the magic of friendship, but the magic binding the spirits of harmony to their elements. She could never have known!
Even so, Twilight stopped herself from thinking upon that tangent. She knew that even though she’d lacked the knowledge then, and would not have known what to say to Pinkie, she could have easily found out.
Twilight’s element of harmony, not to mention her cutie mark, were both representative of magic.
However, Twilight knew not to just leave her train of thought there. If she had done so, she would’ve felt guilt. Not that she didn’t deserve to, Twilight knew that she deserved whatever she was given. Yet, Twilight needed to not feel guilty quite yet.
Wallowing in guilt was to stay still, not to repent, and certainly not to fix.
This, while laying her eyes upon Pinkie, standing tall within the mountain landscape, was exactly what Twilight intended to do.
To fix everything.
To touch Pinkie with the magic of friendship once again. Not just her own magic, but the magic of everypony.
Yes, Twilight knew that Rarity and Fluttershy would not be able to be there, so it may not look like the most united front, to Pinkie. Even so, Twilight knew that even without them, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and herself could convey enough love for the two absent ponies.
After all, they all still loved Pinkie; there was no doubt about that.
Twilight stared over the mountain, looking out, surveying its greyness.
In the distance, she could hear a rushing, gathering volume behind her, wind beginning to whip at her mane.
In front of her, Twilight could hear the wind’s roaring, ricocheting off of the drab rock face, ever heightening.
Crashing past her, the wind reaching an amplified crescendo, Twilight had to firmly root her hooves to the ground, her body swaying.
Firing past her, the sound began to die away, ever slowly, along with a stark streak of colour, piercing the grey of the mountain’s sky.
*****
Rainbow Dash could barely see.
Of course, this had nothing to do with the tears in her eyes.
Flying this fast always blurred the world, sometimes even beyond distinction. This was especially true of flying through somewhere so monotonous.
If combined with tears, this effect would be increased a thousand-fold.
It wasn’t tears alone that were ruining Rainbow Dash’s vision.
No, not at all.
Rainbow Dash knew pretty much where she was going; she could see that streak of pink easy, despite how much the wind made her eyes water, that fleck of colour was the only reason that Rainbow Dash knew that she was heading in the right direction.
She had little idea about what to say to Pinkie, but even so, she knew that she had to be there.
Rainbow Dash hoped that being there would be enough, and when she got there, she’d just know, and that would be enough.
As the pink in her vision began to expand, Rainbow Dash began to slow her wing-beats, and breathe steadily, her mane slowly beginning to droop as the wind around her slowed, no longer whipping past her, no longer lending a feel of grandeur, but leaving her feeling still.
Having pulled along side Pinkie, Rainbow touched down lightly, her hooves barely making a click.
Rainbow sighed, and slowly lowered her body, tucking her hooves underneath her, laying down.
In a slightly cracked, but optimistically reassuring voice, she began to speak.
“Pinkie… Lay down?”
Pinkie’s body appeared to shiver, and after a few hushed moments, took a couple of steps back, away from the cliff, and set down too, but more sprawled then Rainbow, less composed.
Rainbow felt her throat seize up, unable to force any words out.
Although this annoyed Rainbow Dash, she also felt some relief. She had thought that she would have had to say something to Pinkie, something meaningful. Yet, it seemed that where just her presence with other ponies had not been enough for them, for Pinkie, it seemed to be just enough.
Rainbow shuffled forwards, scraping her legs across the rockiness of the ground, moving closer to Pinkie.
Silently sighing, Rainbow brought one of her fore-hooves out from beneath her, and placed it across Pinkie’s shoulders, whilst slowly leaning her head in, resting it against Pinkie’s, softly.
Rainbow hadn’t consciously chosen to do this; after being unable to vocalise how she felt, her body had just begun to convey her thoughts for her, doing its best to comfort Pinkie.
Rainbow had decided not to shirk this, as although Pinkie was normally very vocal, she also wore her heart on her sleeve, and conveyed a whole lot more of her emotions through her body language, rather than her constant chatter.
Really, Rainbow Dash was unsure of why she hadn’t tried to reach out to Pinkie through actions that much before. Sure, she’d interacted with her, hugged her, nuzzled her, but she had only ever done this because Pinkie was her friend, and not because Pinkie had needed help.
Rainbow Dash was glad, however, that she was able to comfort just through actions. After all, from all her time with Applejack, she knew she could be at least somewhat comforting.
Or could she?
Surely, if Rainbow Dash’s actions had been so comforting, Applejack would never have been as upset as she had been.
Rainbow Dash sighed, sadly, unease welling up within her again. Once more, her thoughts were dominated by Applejack.
Murmuring quietly, cuddling close, forgetting where she was, Rainbow’s thoughts began to leak out.
“I really love you…”
Rainbow felt the pony behind her shift beside her, just the tiniest bit, but just enough to make it much easier to cuddle up closer.
Thoughts of Applejack were now rife; passing through her mind like it was all Rainbow knew.
“I… Don’t know why I ever doubted it…”
Rainbow could feel more shifting beside her, and the wetness of a nose, pressing lightly into her neck, as the pony’s breathing began to deepen. In the distance, she could hear the unmistakable clicking of hooves, galloping across rock, ever nearing.
She focused even more on Applejack, on all the times they’d spent together. Where Applejack had given her all for Rainbow; listening to her, lying with her, guarding her thoughts, taking on her burdens. Not once, had Applejack ever asked for anything.
Not even for Rainbow Dash to be loyal to her.
But then, why should she have had to ask?
Even if Rainbow Dash hadn’t been the spirit of the Element of Loyalty, she knew Applejack would still have deserved unprompted faithfulness.
That was, at least.
“I’m… So sorry that things got so messed up.”
The hooffall clacked loudly, and ground to a halt, leaving the ponies once more in the ambience of the howling winds.
Rainbow, however, didn’t pay the sounds any heed, as she was no longer listening. She was too lost in her own mind.
“I’ll do anything… Anything at all, if I can make it better.”
Rainbow sighed, yet again, and bit her lip.
“I love you, Applejack.”
Rainbow opened her eyes, to the harsh, battering winds, suddenly bringing her back to reality.
As she noticed the pink in the corner of her eye, the Pegasus froze.
Her side no longer felt so warm, the pony that had been next to her had already moved away, and was now peering over the cliff edge once more, sobbing deeply, her tears tumbling down, dashed against the rocks below.
“Those words sounded very sincere, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow flinched.
Pinkie’s voice sounded broken, though not stuttering. Wistful.
“But…”
Pinkie paused, and scraped her hoof on the rock, drawing a long, audible line, even with the high winds.
“It’s a shame that I believed they were meant for me.”
Rainbow moved forwards, towards the precipice, hooves only inches away from where the cliff met the sky, drawing level with Pinkie Pie.
She followed the line drawn by the edge with her eyes, to Pinkie’s own hooves, her almost blindingly bright coat, contrasting with the bleak environment, to her face.
That was where the brightness ended.
Pinkie’s face was scrunched up, contorted. Below her eyes, her fur was sodden, fresh tears still welling up, beneath her nose, the fur was matted.
However, Rainbow Dash couldn’t see any of this.
It was the eyes that had her transfixed.
“I guess that was just wishful thinking.”
They were no longer blue.
They were no longer the eyes of Pinkie Pie.
They were grey.