//------------------------------// // In the wake of the wake // Story: A time of sadness // by Slick Dash //------------------------------// We had the wake at the library, it seemed fitting. It was the first place we had all really met him, so it should be the place we all said one last goodbye. My throat was soar and my eyes burned, but Fluttershy refused to let me go home. She used the same line she had the night before “It may not seem to help now, but trust me it will.” The usually shy pony could be particularly strong willed when the need arose. So I stayed in the corner for most of the time, but I ventured out into the sombre group of people to find a drink at times. On one of my ventures I found pinkie, her hair was the usual straight it was when she was sad. She sat with Rarity and the two had been talking about their fond memories of Tom. The pink pony’s lips curled into a smile when she saw me coming over, her hair twitched for a moment as though about to poof into its usual bouncy self. However in the end it stayed the same. The three of us spoke of times when Tom had helped us, Rarity told us a story how he had been so clumsy bringing in her new fabrics at one time, he had to go running down the hill after a stray roll fell out of his grip and escaped. We all laughed, that was Tom alright. Always funny, even when he didn’t mean to be. The convocation didn’t last for long though, as both had been working tirelessly over the past few days. They eventually decided to return home early for the night, so they both hugged me tight and left to get some well deserved sleep. As I returned to the corner of the room, I thought hard about how little I had done for Tom’s funeral, yes I was in so much of a mess that I wouldn’t have been able to do much. But I still felt horrible about how much work my friends had put into it when it should have really been my responsibility. Where the hay was all that pride I used to be filled with? Because I could really use some of it these days. I saw Applejack approaching, I smiled at her, trying to put on a brave face. By the look of sorrow on hers I guessed I wasn’t doing a good job. As she came close, she jerked her head towards the empty kitchen. I followed her without argument. Compared to the crowded room next-door, the kitchen seemed like a ghost town. Applejack, moved over to one of the tables in the white room and took off her hat. Reaching in with her teeth, she took something out and placed it on the table. I crossed the room to get a closer look. It was a bottle... I looked at Applejack with confusion. All she did was nudge her head towards it and smile. So I looked closely at the label on the brown/yellow liquid, and I took in a sharp intake of breath! “Tom’s brand. Blended from 20 apples The Apple families homemade cider .” I looked up at Applejack, I was speechless my mouth just hung open in surprise. “He helped us collect plen’y more apple’s than we usually did. And seeing as we’re gonna have to go back to how we used to do things, we thought it was right to have the last batch made under his name.” I felt my mouth slowly curve into a smile. Elation was filling me up for the first time in what seemed like forever. “It’s the first one we’ve made, I think it’s right that you should have it.” Applejack came up to me and bumped her head against mine affectionately, “I’m gonna head on home now sugar cube. But Twi and Fluttershy are still around if you need anything.” She picked up her hat and left through the exit in the kitchen. I stared at the closed door for a while, only now just realising how great a friend the orange pony had been (STILL WAS) to Tom. I took hold of the bottle, I wanted to try it. To see what all of Tom’s hard work had created. I resisted the urge however. Next month would be mine and Tom’s anniversary. I’ll drink it then. I re-entered the main room, a lot of ponies had gone home. Only a few tired looking mares and stallions seemed to be left. I moved across the room and entered what used to be Toms bedroom when her had lived here. I moved over to the bed and slid the bottle under the pillow, now it was safe from any thirsty ponies. I left the room feeling brighter than I had for a while. I looked around to find either Twilight or Fluttershy. I couldn’t see the unicorn, but the yellow Pegasus was in plain sight. She was lying on one of the sofa’s half asleep, it wasn’t surprising seeing as how we had both stayed up most of the night crying. I approached my oldest friend as she let out a small yawn. Her ears went flat, and her big blue eyes seemed to go even wider as she tried to swat away her tiredness. I sat next to her, she looked at me and smiled at me widely. “You know Fluttershy, you don’t have to stay here, go home get some sleep.” The Pegasus seemed shocked, more at herself then me. She bounded up and like a little Filly widened her eyes as much as she could. “Oh no, but I want to stay Rainbow. I’m not tire at”- she was cut off by her biggest yawn of the night, as she found herself unable to suppress it. “Come on.” I turned to everyone else left in the room and addressed them all. “Thank you everyone for coming, but it’s been a long day and I think it’s best if we call it quits for the night.” There was a murmur of agreement from everypony in the room, and we all began to file out of the room. Once outside, I turned to Fluttershy. “Now you go home, you need to sleep. Now I know what you’ve been doing you can’t get away with not catching up on the rest you’ve obviously been missing. Fluttershy looked at her hooves and rubbed her foreleg with the other nervously. “I-I-I’m sorry Rainbow...it’s just... I thought it was the best thing I could do today and...” Oh Celestia, I’d insulted her! “No, no, no, noooo. I’m not angry with you, i just want you to start catching up on your rest after everything you’ve done for me!” “Oh,” she looked up and smiled happily, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, I guess I am quite tired... I’ll see you tomorrow?” I nodded, and with that she fluttered off in the direction of her home. I began to head home, filled with appreciation for everything my friends had done to make this easier on me. It didn’t stop the pain, I don’t anything would, but at least it helped to feel something other than sorrow for a change. Tom wouldn’t have wanted to see me miserable. I thought about everything my friends had done, Twilights speech, Rarity’s suit, fluttershy’s wreath, Applejacks cousins helping with the coffin and Applejack herself for... THE BOTTLE! I’d left it at the library! I turned tail and ran back to the hollowed out tree as fast as I could! The lights were all still on, so I guess that meant Twilight hadn’t gone to sleep yet. That would mean the door should still be open. To my relief it was. After such a crowded gathering in the building, it was eerie seeing it so quiet and empty so suddenly. I couldn’t see anyone, or here Twilight or Spike either. Had they just forgotten to lock the door? “Twilight? Spiiiike? You guys in here?” No response. I decided to grab the bottle and leave, so I headed across the room. As I approached it, I realised the door to Tom’s old room was ajar. My stomach did a back flip, I was sure I had shut it when I’d left the room. I reached out to pull the door open, but stopped at the sound of something. Heavy breathing? Singing? No neither, it was crying. I opened the door quietly and looked into the dimly lit room, there was Twilight. She was sat on the bed, the pillow had been moved, and the bottle lay unopened on the covers before her. The magenta unicorn’s hooves were covering her eyes as she let out unrelenting sobs of agony. I couldn’t help but think ‘So she did care about him enough to cry.’ A terrible though I know, but I couldn’t help my brain making the connection I had been questioning for the past week. As I looked on however I realised, those weren’t the same tears that Pinkie or any of the others had shed. Those were more like the tears I had cried every night since Tom’s passing. The tears of a Pony who has lost the one she loved. My heart panged with empathy for her, we were both in the same boat. And yet a slight annoyance also arose, we had been together for nearly a year, and yet Twilight was still taking his death this hard. Why didn’t she get over it? Why didn’t she move on? OR why didn’t she just tell me she still had feelings for him? Then I wouldn’t have acted so thoughtlessly around her. The annoyance then melted into sadness. My mind flashed with every kiss, every embrace me and Tom had shared in front of the unicorn. I felt terrible, she must have suffered so much heart break over the last eleven months because of me. “Ummm... Twilight?” I asked almost breathlessly. The pony’s head snapped up, she saw me and sniffed loudly. Her hooves flew up to rub the tears away from her eyes. “Oh, Rainbow. I thought you had gone with everyone else.” She sent me a beaming smile, and yet the look did the complete opposite of what she wanted. Her eyes were bloodshot, her mane was messy, and the bag’s under eyes showed this wasn’t the first night she’d spent crying. “I...I came back to get something I forgot...” I sounded awkward, I FEALT awkward! It wasn’t like every other pony who had cried; who I could simply hug and cry with them. This was a pony who had loved the man I loved! Who knew if she even wanted to see me! “Oh, I guess this was it huh?” She was being overly cheery, she floated the bottle over to me with her magic and I took it with my teeth. “I just found it when I came in here to...to...” She looked around hurriedly to find inspiration and when none came she looked back at me, her expression changing from one of false happiness to one of honest heartbreak. “I-I’m sorry Rainbow. I just came in here to, be where Tom used to be. You were all gone, I thought no one would come back so...so I just lay down here and I felt that.” She pointed to the bottle in my mouth. “Just seeing his name on there caught me by surprise, that’s all.” I didn’t say anything, I knew what was coming, and like with me: It needed to come out or it would eat at her from the inside. The unicorn looked at me and knew I wasn’t buying her story. She tried to think her way out, but for once her intellect meant nothing. She looked into my pink eyes with her purple ones. “I...” she couldn’t say anything. “I...” her eyes began to brim with tears. “I...” she looked to the floor dejectedly, and the tears began to fall to the floor. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash.”