Soft hoofsteps creaked through the upper floors of Sugarcube Corner. A plump shadow wandered down the steps, shuffling lethargically into the confectionery’s large kitchen. With a snapping sound, a light switch flipped on, casting a pale glow across the weary face of Cup Cake. Blue bags formed beneath her eyes, and the curlers in her hairs hung loose and threadbare, denoting a restless night of tossing and turning.
With a sigh, Cup Cake shuffled in her slippers across the kitchen tile, making her way towards one of several refrigerators. Her hoof fumbled a few times before grasping a handle and opening it softly. She reached her other hoof in and pulled out a tray of muffins. With a clatter, she dropped the thing onto the counter and stared at it with sad, bleary eyes.
All six baked treats were a day old, and the refrigeration had cast a wet sheen over a note written on a tiny plastic sheet: "For Miss Hooves. Thank you for delivering my package through express air mail for me. Here's a few little rewards, free of charge. Enjoy, darling. {>"
Cup Cake took a deep breath, her sad face taking on a scathing frown. With a few brisk steps, she carried the tray over to a trash can, swung it wide open, and dumped the muffins in, one at a time. Upon tipping over the last treat, however, she froze, her hoof lingering over the cold surface of the breaded texture.
A tiny whimper escaped her lips. She placed the tray onto the counter and raised the muffin closer to her face as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Such a waste."
The mare choked on a sob, leaning in to nuzzle the dessert item like it was a baby duckling.
"Such an awful, awful waste."
"A happy super duperiffic morning to youuuuuuuuuuu!" Pinkie dove in with a blaring accordion from behind.
"Gaaaaaaaaah!" Cup Cake literally jumped out of her slippers, pratfalling across the kitchen floor.
Pinkie did a merry jig around the collapsed mare, casting streamers about as she filled the whole house with organ-generated cacophony. "A dreamy dawn to you and your kinnnnnn!"
"Unnngh!" Mrs. Cake stood up, limping from side to side as she clutched her aching skull. "For heaven's sake! Pinkie!"
"May your noon be full of smiles and giggles and fragrant winnnnnd!"
Thinking impulsively, Cup Cake grabbed a random spatula from a drawer and repeatedly bopped the young mare over the head with it. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Pinkie froze in place, the organ deflating between her hooves like a wounded snake. She blinked. "What? Did I mess up the chorus?!"
"What in Equestria's name has gotten into you?!" Cup Cake stammered, breathless.
"Just wishing you a good and happy and wonderiffic morning, Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie beamed. She spun about, then came to a stop, seemingly producing a candle-lit cupcake out of thin-air. "Look! Blue frosting! Your favorite!"
"I... I..." Mrs. Cake flinched at the sound of woken infants wailing somewhere upstairs. "Oh bother!"
"Isn't it a great day for us to be alive?!" Pinkie grinned wide. "You're healthy, beautiful, and full of bounce-bounce! Lick it up! The frosting, I mean! Snkkkt-heeheehee!" She giggle-snorted.
A frenzied, wide-eyed Carrot Cake flung his head around the stairway corner. "What is it?! Are we being bombed again?!"
"No, honeybuttons." Mrs. Cake blinked blearily. "It's just... just..."
"Right." Mr. Cake's ears drooped. "Pinkie Pie." He scratched his five o'clock shadow, sighed, and trotted limply upstairs towards the wailing voices. "Don't worry, honey. I'll take care of the little'uns."
"Thank you, Carrot." Cup Cake exhaled as she slumped against the refrigerator.
"Wow! I can smell the morning dew already!" Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply along the nearby window pane. "Isn't it amazing that we survived?! It's like an airbag saved our lives!"
"Pinkie..."
"In an interstellar burst, we're back to save the universe—!"
"Pinkie!" Cup Cake snatched the treat from her hooves with a frown. "Do you have any idea—" She tried blowing out the candle. "What time it—" The candle re-lit, so she blew it again. "What time it—" It went out; she reblew it. "What time it is?!" The candle exploded with confetti and sparks in her plump face. "Augh! Goddess bless it!"
"It's time to enjoy every waking minute!" Pinkie Pie leaned forward with a grin. "What do you wanna do first?! Huh?! Start a baby photo collage of Pumpkin and Pound?! Oooh! What about we plan a second trip to Bitaly?! We could pay Veronoats another visit! Only this time with less rain, bicycles, and grumpy old stallions saying how fruity our manes look!"
"Enough!" Cup’s voice literally boomed, shaking the young mare to the core. "Pinkie, I understand that you always want to keep a cheerful disposition, but this is the worst possible time! Don't... d-don't you understand that?"
Pinkie blinked, her face dull with confusion. "I... understand... that we've got... a lot to be happy about." She gulped, then smiled painfully. "I mean, don't we?"
"I most certainly wouldn't argue with that, dearie—"
"Then let's spend the day doing something totally fun!" Pinkie bounced in place. "Don't you deserve it?"
"That's not the issue here."
"Wait. There's an issue here?"
"This is a bad week, Pinkie!" Cup Cake growled. "A bad, horrible, tragic week! I can appreciate your enthusiasm on most occasions—but not now! Not when a pony so close to us has died!"
"But..." Pinkie blinked. "We're not dead. Can't we be cheerful?"
"No..." Cup sighed as she wandered over to the trash can and hesitantly dropped the last muffin in, along with Pinkie's morning treat. "We can't. At least... n-not right now, darling."
"But... But..." Pinkie rubbed her muzzle. "I don't understand..."
"And, quite frankly, I don't expect you to."
Pinkie's face jerked up to squint at her. "Huh?"
Cup Cake winced. Sighing, she rubbed a hoof over her face. "Pinkie, look, I'm terribly sorry. It's just that all I did last evening was weep for a dear friend of mine. I didn't get any sleep last night. Quite frankly, I don't know what to do with myself today. Everything's so... so... so horrible..."
"But, I thought I already made a suggestion for what we could do today."
"And it's the wrong suggestion," she grumbled as she trotted out of the kitchen.
"But..." Pinkie reached out to her. "Mrs. Cake—"
"Just give me some space!" the older mare blurted, trudging her way back up the stairs.
Pinkie slumped in the corner of the kitchen. Alone. "Why is 'space' all that anypony wants all of the sudden?"
TUESDAY MORNING
Rainbow Dash took long, deep breaths, her feathered wings twitching from waves of moisture rising up over their sapphiric contours. Toasty sunlight rolled over her fuzzy coat, outlining the folds that had formed across her muzzle after a long night with very little sleep.
"Uhm... Miss Dash?"
She tilted her head up, quietly drinking in the warmth of the blossoming dawn. However, try as she might, she couldn't fight off an errant shiver or two ricocheting through her lithe body. The discomfort brought an aggravated grimace to her face.
"Miss Dash?"
Her ruby eyes flickered open. She turned and glared across the cloud bed.
A dozen pegasi were seated on the fluffy patch of moisture behind her. Several of them flinched upon receiving her glance. One stallion towards the front gulped. "We've... uh... we've been waiting for half an hour. Are... are you g-gonna give us our sections of the sky to clear, Captain?"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Rainbow Dash grumbled.
The stallions and mares exchanged confused glances. They looked back at her. "Tell us what, ma'am?"
Rainbow sighed. "Go home. You all get the day off."
They all gave her surprised double-takes. "Huh?! The day off?! All of us?!"
"You heard me."
"Miss Dash... Captain Dash, we know that the Mayor has declared an upcoming holiday and all, but we c-can't just put off cloud kicking altogether! It's mandatory by Equestrian law! Why... if the Cloudsdale Weather Committee was to find out—"
"Who said it wasn't getting done?" Rainbow frowned as she slid a pair of goggles down. "I got this. You guys can go on home."
The pegasi murmured with greater nervousness. A mare trotted forward across the cloud. "You... you can't be serious! You're going to do it all by yourself?"
"I'm totally sure I just said that," the mare grunted, flapping her wings until she broke into a low hover. "Do you have frozen dew in your ears?"
"Well... er... no..."
"Then scram!" Rainbow Dash said. "Be with your friends and family and all that jazz. I've got work to do."
"But there's so many tasks to do!" A stallion exclaimed. "Plus, the Cloudsdalian scouts spoke of a storm front rolling in from the western mountains earlier—"
Rainbow suddenly spun around, her goggles magnifying her angry eyes. "You saying that I don't have what it takes to kick a stupid little stormcloud to shreds?!"
"What?—No!"
"You think I don't care about my fellow ponies?!" Rainbow Dash flew into his face, hissing like a cobra. "You think I'd just let everyone down?! Like I’m weak or stupid?!"
"I-I didn't say anything like that, Captain Dash! Honest!" The stallion exclaimed, shivering.
"Ponyville needs me. It always has!" Rainbow flung an angry hoof towards the stratosphere. "The moment I can't live up to my daily tasks as this town's lead weather flier is the day I should turn in my wings! Now, if anypony would like to disagree, raise your hoof!"
Everypony sat on their own limbs.
"Good! We'll continue things as scheduled next week. You all just... I dunno..." Rainbow sighed while darting off towards the western cloud banks. "Get ready for the big event on Thursday."
After she left in a burst of shattered clouds, the remaining ponies stood, blinking at one another.
"Celestia almighty, she's going to kill herself!"
"You wonder if that's what she's trying to do?"
"Erm... anypony here wanna tell her she’s nuts to her face?"
Silence.
"Let's... uh... g-go grab some cider instead!"
"Oh! Uh... sure!"
"Sounds like a good plan!"
Spike stretched his pudgy little arms with a warm, whelpish yawn. One scaled foot after another, he waddled down the stairs and onto the first floor of the town library. He barely made two steps towards the kitchen when he tripped over a stack of dusty, moldy books.
"Gaaah!" He landed hard on his chest. "Unnngh..."
"Careful there, Spike," muttered a tired voice.
"Yeah, thanks, Twilight." He grumbled as he performed a slow, trembling push-up. "A little bit... nnnngh... late there." He blinked, cross-eyed, then snapped his gaze towards the lavender shape in question. "What the...? Just how early did you get up?"
Twilight turned the page of a massive tome in front of her with glowing telekinesis. She had her wings draped around her like a fluffy duvet. "That presumes that I ever lied down to begin with."
"Ah jeez, I knew it." Spike stood up with a groan. "You were awake all night, weren't you?"
"Sleep doesn't matter much these days," she droned, almost entirely lost in the words unraveling before her eyes. "Not like it used to."
Spike's scaled face scrunched up. "What in the heck is that supposed to mean?"
She sighed, leaning closer towards the thick texts before her. "Never mind. Forget I said anything, Spike."
"Y'know, when you outright tell me to do that..." He let his own words dissolve into a pointless chuckle. Then, with a double-take, he crawled around the stacks of books, reading each title one after another: 'History of Equestrian Biology.' 'Mortal Ponydom: the Art of Honoring the Dead.' 'The Lasting Legacy of Starswirl.' 'The Mass Graves of Whinniepeg?'"
"Not exactly morning reading material, I know," Twilight droned as she flipped another page. "Whatever the case, don't let me keep you from enjoying your breakfast topaz, Spike."
"Why in the wide world of Equestria are you reading these grim things?"
Twilight sighed. "If you must know, it started with me wondering how to go about setting up a proper funeral. So I started perusing 'A Sociological Sketch of Equestrian Undertaking.' And then I got diverted by a reference to 'The Tartarusian Treatise,' which then inspired me to read a chapter or two on 'A History of Celestial Tributes' as well as a theological commentary on the eschatological implications of 'The Book of Saros.'" She took a deep breath, turned a page, and muttered, "And now... well... I'm back to perusing the 'Equestrian Almanac of Gravekeeping.'"
"So, what you're telling me..." Spike gestured towards the monolithic forest of books surrounding his tiny body. "...is that this is all about figuring out how to prepare a proper funeral for Derpy Hooves?"
"That's the long and short of it. Yes."
"Bite your tongue!" Spike frowned, planting his hands on his hips. "Half of this junk is the same stuff you were trying to read yesterday morning! Y'know, when you were all down in the dumps!"
"Well, forgive me if I'm not exactly chipper at the moment either, Spike." Her eyes burned venomously into him. "Yesterday was anything but a romp through the roses."
"There's more to this than what happened to Dinky's mom and you know it." Spike knelt before her with a sad expression. "I'm just worried about you, Twilight! You... seem distant somehow, as if you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders or something."
"Spike..."
"And don't even pretend that I'm not able to notice that kind of stuff about you!"
She sighed again, avoiding his gaze as she dove deeper and deeper into the book. "I just gotta get this funeral right, Spike." She gulped. "That's all that matters right now. This means more than me doing my duty as a newly crowned princess. Miss Hooves deserves nothing less than the absolute best memorial, and I'm dedicated to seeing that happen."
"But is it worth going through all of this crazy research?!"
"I don't want to mess anything up."
"Twilight, you read the will to me," Spike managed a slight smirk. "Aside from entrusting all her possessions to Dinky, Derpy simply asked for a wave."
"A 'wake,'" Twilight corrected.
"Right." Spike nodded. "You know what a wake involves, don'tcha?"
"It's a tad bit hard to have an open casket when there's no piece of Derpy left to lie in it."
"Still." Spike shrugged. "I read Derpy's last rites with you. All she wants is for her close friends to chillax and eat loads and loads of muffins around her body while chatting it up about memories—preferably the good ones!"." He chuckled. "If you ask me, you shouldn't be the one doing all the hard work. More than likely, Mrs. And Mr. Cake should! What... with all the baking they gotta do. Heh..."
"This is no laughing matter, Spike," Twilight muttered, her eyes somewhat glossy. "I just... I Just want to make sure that nopony forgets who Derpy is, or what kind of an impact she's had on this whole town." She swallowed hard. "She deserves a legacy. Everypony does."
Spike squinted at her, leaning in. "Twilight, are you gonna tell me what happened at that royal conference?"
Twilight bit her lip.
Just then, there was a heavy knock on the door, startling them both. Twilight gasped while Spike jumped to his feet.
"Uhhh... eheh..." Spike brushed his spines straight and waddled to the front. "I'll get it."
"No, Spike." Twilight flapped her wings and awkwardly hovered to her hooves. "Allow me."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely." She stood on stiff limbs, wincing only slightly. "Besides, it wouldn't hurt for me to stretch my legs a bit."
"Now that's the spirit."
"Meh." Twilight opened the door with a creak. "Helllllo there..." She tried to smile, only to blink in surprise. "Applejack!"
The cowfilly was panting, lowering her hat with an apologetic expression. "Oh, Twilight. I'm mighty sorry. I knocked on the door a tad bit too loud this time of day, didn't I?"
"No, it's... it's alright, I just didn't expect to see you in town so early in the morning and—" She froze, squinting curiously at her blonde friend. "Applejack, did you just gallop here?"
Applejack breathed, gulped, and breathed again. "Maybe..." Her freckles drowned in a sea of blush.
Twilight studied her friend anxiously. Her wings coiled to her side as she glanced over her flank.
Spike cleared his throat and twirled towards the kitchen. "I think I'm gonna... uh... have some of that milk and topaz now!" He waddled off. "AJ, you want anything?"
"No thanks, Spike, but I thank you kindly for the offer."
"You don't have to just stand there!" Twilight smiled as she gestured towards the front room. "Come on in!"
"Oh... uhm... right..." Applejack stumbled into the library, still holding her hat before her.
"AJ..." Twilight sighed, closing the door behind them before casting her a placid grin. "How many times have we been over this? We both know that I'm a princess now, but we also both know that we're best friends first."
"Oh... uhm... right..." Applejack cleared her throat and placed her hat neatly back onto her scalp. "I beg yer pardon." She fidgeted, glancing curiously at the stacks of books laying around them like a paper minefield. "Whew-wee. I figured that once you were coronated, you'd give up reading books for writing 'em instead."
"Yes, well, some habits are harder to kick than others." Twilight turned and used her telekinesis to slide all the books together into a neat little cluster of pillars. "But, I assure you, it's for a good cause this particular morning."
"I reckon it is." Applejack bit her lip.
Twilight turned towards her. "Is... there something you wanted to get off your chest, Applejack? I usually don't see you this early in the morning. Don't you have work to do on the farm?"
"Funny you should ask. I'm all caught up as of last night. In fact, I was workin' from dawn 'til dusk, which is... uhm... which is why..." She grimaced as if something was trying to burst through her teeth.
Twilight's brow furrowed with concern.
"Well, I just want you to know that... that I know. That is, I know what you know... y'know..."
Twilight's ear twitched. "About...?"
Applejack gulped. "Poor ol' Derpy, the sweet darlin'."
Twilight nodded.
"But I didn't find out until last night!" Applejack blurted, her eyes wide. "I know it's hard to believe, and awful shameful to admit, but I plum didn't hear a single darn thang until it was after sundown! And by then, most sensible ponies were already fast asleep, and I'm sure you and the other girls were mournin' the whole situation somethin' fierce, and... and—"
"Whoa there, Applejack!" Twilight reached a hoof out, caressing the mare's shoulder. "Slow down. It's okay." She smiled. "I know you're a busy pony, and you don't exactly live within earshot of everything that goes down in downtown Ponyville. It's okay, really."
"I... I don't just wanna be busy, Twilight," Applejack said in a wavering tone. "I care for my friends. And not just y'all, but everypony in this here town, and when something bad like this happens... well... it tears me up somethin' terrible!"
"It affects us all, Applejack," Twilight said. "We may not have been close to Derpy, but somehow we were all blessed by her presence amongst us."
"You... uh... you d-do believe me, don'tcha, sugarcube?" Applejack bit her lip. "When I say how awful I f-feel about Derpy's passin'?"
"Why..." Twilight's face flexed with confusion. "Why of course I do, Applejack. Why wouldn't I?"
The cow filly fidgeted.
"AJ...?"
Applejack sighed. She removed her hat once more and paced about the library on three hooves. After a few frenzied laps around the book stacks, she scuffled about and stared earnestly at the alicorn. "Twilight, do you remember the last time you ever cried?"
Twilight blinked.
Applejack waved both hooves. "B-before yesterday, I mean!" She winced. "I d-didn't mean nothin' cross by that."
"I know you didn't. It's just that... uhm..." Twilight rubbed her chin. "I... I guess, if you must know, it was right when I was coronated, and I saw all of you—my dear friends—standing before me on the balcony." She smiled sweetly into the gentle sunlight wafting through the eastern windows. "Everypony thinks that it's such a big deal that I became a princess, but it's really not that amazing an accomplishment. I mean—sure—it was, but I don't have myself alone to thank." She sniffled slightly and turned towards Applejack with an even bigger grin. "You and the other girls... you mean everything to me, and I wouldn't have accomplished nearly as much in my life if it wasn't for all that you've done, for all that you've been. for all of the support and the love and the dedication..."
"Heh..." Applejack's lips curved slightly. "We do make a pretty fancy team, huh?"
Twilight rubbed the corners of her eyes and sighed warmly. "Yeah, I guess you could put it that way." She cleared her throat, suddenly blinking at Applejack with a curious expression. "Why... uhm... would you ask that? Not that I'm offended or anything. I'm just wondering."
Applejack stared down at the floor. "I guess there was no point in askin'. I kind of figured that that would have been your answer."
Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. She blinked, then glanced sideways at the mare. "When was the last time you cried, Applejack?"
The mare immediately winced. "I... I reckon that's not an easy thang for me to answer myself." She gulped. "But... I do remember the last time I wanted to cry."
"Wanted... to...?"
Applejack gazed softly at Twilight. "Not that long ago, when you helped me and the gals fetch our talents back with the Elements of Harmony, there was this one moment—a pretty dang scary moment—when I could have sworn you had been blasted to bits, sugarcube."
Twilight bit her lip. Her eyes unconsciously darted towards a patch of wooden floor covered by a conspicuous rug, right in front of the room's center table. The black band of a hidden "star" peaked out from beyond the edge of the woolen fabric.
"You weren't, of course. Celestia was simply passin' on the alicorn torch in some far-off place. Heh... we just didn't know it at the time." Applejack gulped. "Pinkie Pie was panicking somethin' fierce. Rainbow Dash searched all around town like an albatross with its head cut off. And then Fluttershy and Rarity..."
Twilight blinked, her lips pursing.
"Well..." Applejack clenched her jaw. "They outright sobbed for you, Twilight. I don't think I've ever seen a single mare—much less two of them—shed that many tears. They were convinced that you were dead. I couldn't blame them, because I was crumblin' all apart on the inside myself. I stuck by them the whole time, tellin' them that it was just a matter of time before Rainbow found you n'all. Of course, I didn't know whether or not there was any point in havin' faith in that, myself, but it was the only thing I could do to calm them down."
"I..." Twilight slumped back on her haunches. Her wings drooped on either side of her as she exhaled in tight little bursts. "I... h-had no idea it was that bad."
"That's because their spirits had collected a bit by the time you came back with yer... uhm... fancy new royal wings." Applejack smiled awkwardly. "And it was a good thang too. At the rate at which Rarity was bawlin', I'm sure she would have drowned her in tears."
Twilight gave a bittersweet chuckle. "Well, that is Rarity, given most situations."
"Heh. Reckon so." Applejack tried to laugh, but her breath came out in a tense wheeze. She bit her lip.
Twilight gazed fixedly at her.
Swallowing a lump down her throat, Applejack returned the look. "But I didn't cry, Twilight. Not a single tear."
"But..." Twilight squinted. "You wanted to."
"I just want you to know that." Applejack trotted closer. "I mean, I know t'ain't proper to try and force other ponies to believe things, but please, understand that I do... truly care for you and the rest of the gals, Twilight." She took a deep breath. "I just wish I could... I dunno... show it more."
"I've never doubted that for one second, Applejack!" Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder again, smiling dearly. "You're the Element of Honesty, after all! You don't have to use words to convince me! Your integrity shows through your actions. And that's more than enough!"
"But it ain't!" Applejack suddenly growled, her teeth showing. "I... I-I shouldn't have to be rigid like a hard metal plow all the dang time! What would it hurt for me to crack a bit at the edges, huh?! I mean... I can, y'know! I just... I guess I just don't choose to..."
"Applejack...?" Twilight's face hung in confusion. "I don't think I understand. What are you getting at?"
"I... I don't know!" Applejack trotted about until she was staring out the window towards the streets full of bustling morning villagers. "I guess sometimes... sometimes..." She shuddered. "I wanna be like Rarity... or Fluttershy... or even you." She froze, then sighed with slumping shoulders. "That didn't come out right. I'm sorry. Forget that last part."
"No..." Twilight trotted towards her. "I don't think I should. And for your information, I'm not offended." She looked closely at her friend. "There really isn't anything wrong with showing some emotion, Applejack. Everypony's entitled, especially when... when..." She sighed, gazing back at her stacks of books with a long face. "...we've lost somepony very special to us."
"I really wanna show how sad I am over Derpy's passin'. I want to really badly." Applejack gulped. "But, I'm startin' to think that maybe..." She gazed sadly at Twilight. "I don't know how."
Twilight blinked back, then stood up straight. "Well, I know how you can get an opportunity to do it, Applejack."
"I'm all ears, Twilight."
"Well, you can practice being all words... or even tears..." Twilight leaned in and nuzzled the cow filly. "Come to the funeral on Thursday. You and your whole family are invited, but somehow I bet you knew that already."
"Me... and my family...." Applejack droned as she stared out the window again.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong with that?"
The mare sighed, then plopped the hat back onto her hat. "Reckon yer right about one thing." Applejack trotted lonesomely towards the front door. "I sure gotta practice some things, but t’ain’t just words."
Twilight watched her mutely as the door open and shut.
With a creak, Fluttershy opened the front entrance to her cottage. "Here we arrrrrre!" she said in a melodic tone.
Dinky waddled in after the mare, a satchel hanging off one flank and a sleeping bag off the other. Her amber eyes widened, sparkling with the reflection of over a dozen furry bodies. "Awwwww..." She cooed as several rodents and critters flocked to Fluttershy's soft golden fetlocks. "They even greet you when you return home! They're sooooo cuuuuute!"
"Mmmmhmmm..." Fluttershy leaned down and nuzzled one squirrel and chipmunk after another. "And I love each and every one of them tenderly, as if they were my own children. And they treat their Momma just right." She turned and smiled at a fluffy white shape in a tiny bed. "Isn't that right, Angel?" An ice pack flew savagely across the room and ricocheted like a stone off Fluttershy's skull.
"Whooops!" Dinky covered her mouth and broke into a giggling fit.
"Uhm..." Fluttershy smiled nervously, rubbing the fresh whelt on her golden brow. "Don't mind him. He's sick."
"Yeah... heehee..." Dinky trotted into the center of the room. "In more ways than one." She tilted her face up, up, up towards the rafters of the rustic place, marveling at the wooden planks, birdhouses, and walkways filling the interior. "Wowwww! It's like a miniature zoo in this place!"
"I like to think it's more like a halfway home for living fluffiness." Fluttershy scooped up a ferret and hugged it to her chest with a warm smile. "So close to the Everfree Forest, this is the one place where these little creatures can be guaranteed a safe place to live and eat without fear of predators!"
"Well, you're awfully nice to offer them such a home, Miss Fluttershy."
"I can't help it." Fluttershy placed the ferret back down and lovingly patted its head. "They're just begging for a loving caretaker."
"Is it okay if I pet one or two of them?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Fluttershy grinned across the way as she hovered towards a locked cabinet. "Just be sure to wash your hooves after handling the frogs. Uhm... I'll t-tell you why later."
Dinky knelt low before a family of squeaking, nose-wriggling house mice. "Hi! My name is Dinky!" She reached a hoof out. "Pleased to meet you this fine morning!" One or two of them crawled hesitantly towards her, giving her forelimb a friendly sniff. "Heehee!"
"Don't mind me, Dinky," Fluttershy said as she pulled loose a bag of feed and began filling dish after dish. "It's the regularly scheduled feeding time. It should only take a minute. Feel free to park your things over in the corner. Uhm... preferably not the one with the smelly litter boxes. I'll... uh... get to those in a few minutes. I promise."
"Y'know, to be honest..." Dinky obediently dragged her personal belongings towards the far end of the cottage. "It really doesn't smell all that bad in here!" She paused to stare down the beak of an inquisitive flamingo. "I mean, considering all the stuff with feathers and fur in this place."
"That's because I give them all baths daily!" Fluttershy winked in the middle of laying crumbs before a gaggle of goslings. "Rarity sometimes likes to say that if weren't for me, the shampoo store in downtown would go out of business." She gave her best dainty laugh.
Dinky smiled. "Yes, well, you don't have to worry about me," Dinky said as she opened her satchel and dug around it. "Mommy's away from the house most of the time, so she taught me a long... long time ago how to bathe myself." She paused to toss a smile across the cottage. "I even scrub behind my ears!"
"And as we all know, the most important part of a pony's body are her ears," Fluttershy said, though she paused to squint at the ceiling with a perplexed face. "Or maybe that's 'the daintiest part.'" The pegasus shrugged and filled the last of the dishes. "Oh well. Sometimes I think the only interesting things I have to say are the things I picked up from Rarity."
"Don't sell yourself short, Miss Fluttershy, I think this cottage is the most interesting thing I've seen all week!"
"Hmmmm!" Fluttershy stifled a squeal. "I'm so happy you think so!" Her soft wings fluttered faster. "I just know we're going to have such a happy time together! We can brush bunny rabbit tails and teach ducklings how to swim and then make sandwiches and have tea parties and share bedtime stories—"
"Aaaaand speaking of ears!" Dinky went on, pulling a conspicuously blue object out from her satchel and clutching it between two hooves. "I haven't heard a peep from Mommy yet this morning. But I bet I could fix that!"
Fluttershy dropped her bag of feed, inexplicably exploding brown pellets across the cottage room floorboards. "Eep! Oh my..." She batted away a cluster of rabid squirrels and fumbled to scoop the stuff back into her pouch. "Uhm... I... h-hadn't realized that you had..." She gulped. "...br-brought that with you from your condominium."
"Well, of course I did!" Dinky grinned as she turned the sound stone over and over in her petite forelimbs. "I wouldn't be a very good daughter if I ignored any word from my Mom! Who knows? Maybe she's in a new place—a magical place—with even crazier stuff than crystal trees or giant mushrooms!"
"Uhm..."
"Come onnnn!" Dinky licked her lips as she shook and shook the sound stone. "Come onnnn, Mommy!" Her face scrunched up. "Huh... weird. Why isn't it glowing yet? A lot of time has passed by..."
"Maaaaaaybe—" Fluttershy drifted over and grasped her hoof over the stone in Dinky's grip. "—you should give the thing a rest for a little while, huh, Dinky?"
Dinky gazed up at Fluttershy with a half-pouting expression. "Really? What for?"
"Well... uhm..." Fluttershy fidgeted, avoiding the foal's gaze. "It's... it's an enchanted crystal, right?"
"Right..."
"And... enchanted crystals... uhm... are pr-pretty fragile!" She produced a sweaty smile. "And you never know how much handling they can take before they m-might start to break!"
"Break?!" Dinky gasped, hugging the thing close to her chest. "Oh no! I would never!"
"I didn't mean to suggest that you would mean to, dear..."
"Huh. I never thought that much about it." Dinky gazed at her multiple reflections in the jagged surface of the shard. "I guess this thing is pretty brittle. Mom would be sad if I accidentally broke it before she had a chance to contact me again."
"The key thing is to be patient, don't you think?" Fluttershy's teeth glistened in the window light. "After all, she's been the one to call you, r-right?"
"Well, you do have a point there." Dinky turned the shard over one last time, then smiled up at the pegasus. "Jee, you really do know a lot about crystals, don't you, Miss Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy tilted her head up with a proud expression. "Well, I only happened to have met several ponies made of the stuff! Twilight's brother and a pretty pink princess are living in their kingdom as we speak!"
"Ooooh!" Dinky hopped up and down. "Would you tell me about them?"
"Sure! How about over another warm bowl of tomato soup?"
"Oh, I would love some, Miss Fluttershy!"
"Well, first thing's first." Fluttershy reached over and carefully pried the sound stone from Dinky's hooves. "Let's... put this someplace safe and secure, shall we?"
"Oh... uh..." Dinky blinked, but gave an awkward smile. "Alright. If you think it's for the best."
"I most certainly do," the mare said, hovering up and planting the crystal on the top of a tall tall bookshelf. "There! It should be perfectly fine here!"
"That's... kind of..." Dinky's face scrunched up. "High."
"Well... all the further away from mischievous little paws and tails, don'tcha think?" Fluttershy smiled nervously.
"Uhhhhhh... I guess?"
"Come along, precious!" Fluttershy nudged the confused little foal forward, ushering her into the kitchen. "I'll show you the proper way to slice tomatoes!"
"S-sure thing..."
"Well, maybe I'll just demonstrate it for you."
"Right..."
"Come to think of it, knives are kind of sharp and dangerous. How about a salad instead?"
"I... uh... would be happy with whatever you think is b-best, Miss Fluttershy!"
"Awwwwwww... you're such a dear."
As Dinky trotted into the kitchen, she cast one last look towards where the crystal lay on the tall shelf. She sighed with folded ears. "I just hope I don't miss a call from Mommy." She turned and waddled after Fluttershy. "She'd better be alright..."
With thundering hooves, the massive ten-ton rhinoceros stormed across a plain full of waving tall grass.
Derpy Hooves sat still, smiling, gazing towards either side of the charging creature. Her tattered mailpony cloak billowed in the wind. Streams of otherworldly light swam beyond floating chunks of earth high above her.
With snorting nostrils, the massive creature swung its skull forward, aiming a jagged horn towards Derpy’s gut. The ground shook to the breaking point as it bore down on the pegasus.
At the very last second, Derpy licked her lips and jumped to the side. “Hutt!” She bit her jaws seemingly into naked air, only to clasp onto a massive thorn that had been lodged in the immense beast’s snout. The sheer speed with which the giant rhinoceros was roaring past Derpy allowed the mare to pluck the foreign object easily from its tough flesh.
Once the deed was done, the beast stopped stomping. It grinded to a stop just before the edge of a giant white meteor that had been lodged into the earth. It turned around, rubbing its muzzle against the ground, relishing in the absence of the bloodied thorn.
“There!” Derpy smiled, waving the offensive object around in the crook of her hoof. “It worked! Just like I told you it would, Mr. Buffalo!” She stuck the horn into the pocket of her suit and giggled into the fragrant, blistery winds of the grassland. “Now, be a good boy and don’t give apple ranchers such a hard time, ya hear?”
The rhinoceros roared, then emitted what could best be described as a deep bass purring noise. It stomped forward, opened its snout, and licked Derpy all over with a leviathan’s wet tongue.
“Heeheeheeeeee—Quit ittttt!” Derpy playfully swatted the creature’s nose away. “I gotta look and smell clean for when I return home to my muffin! I’m sure she’s been behaving while I’m gone. Don’t you have family members that you miss from time to time?”
The hulking thing snorted, its glossy eyes reflecting the vibrant colors of massive planetoids hanging high in the nebulous sky.
“Now now. Don’t be sad.” Derpy hovered into a lopsided flight, nevertheless leaning forward to nuzzle the thing between the eyes. “Life’s a gift, after all, and we’ve got plenty of years to eat muffins, make friends, and eat more muffins! I bet you could eat a whole restaurant full of muffins and make an entire hoofball field full of friends!”
The rhinoceros slapped its tail up and down and panted like a huge, happy dog.
“There ya go! Some happy thoughts to graze on!” Derpy patted its horn. “Whelp, I must be off.” She swooped down, picked up the bag of void rocks, and soared towards the air full of floating rock clusters above. “It was a pleasant surprise to show up in this strange place, but I gotta find my home! You understand, don’t ya?”
It merely snorted, letting loose a melodic whimper.
“Hey! Good idea!” Derpy smiled as she stuck a hoof deep into her bag of void stones. “I’ll sing a song while I travel!” Sticking her tongue out, she finally snatched a polished black shard in her hoof and hummed aloud. “Make a monkey wretch. Eh. Eh. Eh. Make a monkey rich. Eh. Eh. Eh.”
With a grunt, she broke her song long enough to smash a void stone against a floating island. With a flash of aquamarine life, she vanished, replaced by a cold gust of wind.
TUESDAY AFTERNOON
Rarity sat dead-still on her stool in the center of her parlor. Her mane hung in unkempt ribbons around her head, and the mare's robe barely clung to her body. She stared at the one thing that had been devouring her attention for hours on end, the same infernal contraption that had refused to budge or make a noise, even for a single tick.
The latest page dangled out the top of the typewriter, a fresh white wall of complete nothing.
Rarity's lips hung open. She didn't realize until swallowing just how dry she had allowed her mouth to get. She rubbed her cheek, sighed for the umpteenth time that day, and gazed beyond the writing tool.
Outside, birds fluttered from tree branch to tree branch. The sunny sky was buzzing with insects, all relishing the heat and vibrance of summer.
Even still, the unicorn shuddered. She tilted her head icily back so that she was gawking at the typewriter again. Achingly, one of her muscles twitched, as if she was about to move, dance, sob, collapse, explode, or simply just whimper.
Nothing came out. Nothing.
Her mind swam the same circles they had done for hours, until she realized that she had stumbled upon the same uncreative thought that had first drawn her—limping—straight out of bed and into that lonely room of diamonds, dust, and shadows. She contemplated starting the next chapter of her memoirs with a metaphor related to her work, something to do with fabrics and sewing and stitching. The very clump of words tasted stale in her mouth, and yet she enchanted her horn, forcing the mess of text to come out onto the page with a clatter that resembled gunshots.
"'Silk is...'"
And then she stopped completely.
Rarity tongued the inside of her mouth, fidgeting in her seat. She cracked the joints in her neck, ripped the paper out, stuck a new one in, and began telekinetically typing with renewed vigor.
"'Silk is... ...'"
Once again, her brain put on the brakes, and she hung off the edge of the stool like a rotted old tree leaning precariously over a cliff. With a sigh, she slumped back, flicking her slipper off so that she could rub a pale hoof over her face, eyelids, and brow. A heavy lump was forming in her throat, and soon a deeply sour sensation had overcome the ache of frustration that was then clearing in her mind. What filled Rarity's head instead was visions of a tiny gray ball—an adorable filly lying on a couch, her face smiling contentedly into the pale starlight as she drifted off into slumber.
For the moment, Rarity couldn't remember ever smiling so happily herself.
She heard a rustling sound from the far end of the Boutique. Pulling at the skin of her muzzle, she lowered her hoof and stared over her shoulder with a quivering mouth.
Sweetie Belle limped into view, trotting across the hallway with an invisible cloud hanging over her head.
"Sweetie..." Rarity realized she was whispering. With a feminine grunt, she dismounted from the stool and trotted swiftly over towards the foal. "Sweetie, darling, where are you off to?"
"Out," the filly muttered.
"Out?" Rarity's brow furrowed. "Out where, pray tell?"
"Why?" Sweetie frowned and looked up at her older sister. "You gonna give me another lecture about wearing proper hoofwear or—?" She did a double-take. "Yeesh, Rarity! You look like a stagecoach wreck!"
"Yes... well... erhm..."
"You know, it's kind of sad."
Rarity took a deep breath. "Yes, Sweetie Belle. I know that what happened yesterday was awful, and I think—"
"I mean, you make such a huge fuss about me beautifying my mane?!" Sweetie Belle pointed bitterly at the mare's head. "Just look at that mess! Heh... guess proper etiquette only works both ways during business hours, huh?"
"Wh-what?!" Rarity leaned back as if a serpent was springing into her face. She scowled, "Why, of all the—" She clenched her eyes shut, took a few deep breaths, and calmly said, "I simply wished to know how you were managing after what happened yesterday."
"Meh..." Sweetie Belle shrugged. "What's it matter?"
"What's it matter?!" Rarity gawked. "Why, Miss Hooves was a very prominent mare in this town!" She fidgeted, her eyes darting aside. "Granted, not many of us woke up to this fact until she was suddenly and tragically missing from our ranks, but nevertheless, her death has left quite a gaping hole in all of our hearts, and it would be even more tragic if we didn't make attempts to mourn her passing together—"
"Oh, so now you wanna be all sad and stuff over her death, huh?!" Sweetie Belle leaned back with a venomous expression. "Where was the 'caring and passionate lady' last night, huh? Oh, wait!" Sweetie Belle produced a fake grin. "She was drowning in her own personal words! How's that novel treating you, big sister?"
"It's not a novel, darling. It's a series of memoirs."
"Whatever. A book's a book. A dictionary's a dictionary. Who cares?"
"I do! I mean... erm..." Rarity facehoofed, rolled her eyes, and grunted, "Not about the books, but about Derpy! And her... her..." She sighed. "Her precious little sibling."
"Uh... don't you mean daughter?"
Rarity jerked. "Oh my. What did I j-just say right now?"
"See?! You don't even pay attention to what you say! I swear!" Sweetie Belle brushed past her in an angry trot. "Not to me, and definitely not to the poor ponies of this town! You only care about yourself and your stupid career!"
"That... th-that's certainly not true!" Rarity stammered. "I mean, I do care about you!" She bit her lip. "You and everypony, I-I mean. You... do believe that, don't you?"
"Rarity, it's never about believing anything with you," Sweetie Belle paused to grumble. "It's all about me getting out of your way, not tracking mud into the Boutique, or having all of my sleepovers elsewhere. All of them! I still haven't had a single chance to show Apple Bloom or Scootaloo the wardrobe that you made for me in the guest room!"
"Sweetie Belle, darling..." Rarity sighed, trying to toss the angry huffs out of her breath. "Let's not talk about me for the time being."
"Ha! That would be a first!"
Rarity frowned, but nevertheless said, "Don't you wish to talk about what's going on? Don't you wish to get some things off your chest? Dinky is a... fellow schoofoal of yours, so surely this must be quite trying for you."
"Eh. I'm alright."
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "'Alright?' Really?" She gestured towards the door to Sweetie's guest room. "You were bawling your eyes out like a damsel in distress last night. Most dramatic."
"And who do you think I learned that from?!" Sweetie spun to frown at her, but then upturned her nose in a haughty manner. "I'll have you know that I got out all the tears that I needed to. I'm okay now."
"You are... certain of this?"
"Why shouldn't I be?" Sweetie shrugged. "I still have Mom and Dad as an example, after all."
"You talked to them since last night?"
"Pfft! No! But I know that they'd take something like this in stride. That's how they've come to be strong business ponies after all."
Rarity sat back on her haunches, glaring into the edges of the hallway beside her. "Mother and Father aren't... entirely right about everything, Sweetie Belle."
"What, and you are?" Sweetie Belle stomped towards her. "What's with all this talk about me? Maybe it's really you who has to get something off her chest, huh? How about it?"
Rarity leaned back from the filly, her eyes shrinking as if she was staring at an oncoming stagecoach. The shine of Sweetie’s coat glimmered in the sunlight like freshly watered lilies, and it made a foalish voice inside the older sister whimper instantly. "I... I-I..."
"Hmmph!" Sweetie Belle spun about and trotted firmly towards the door. "Just as I thought. I'm gonna go try and find the girls and see if they're doing okay."
"Sweetie Belle..."
"Go back to your writing, Rarity," Sweetie Belle muttered as she opened the door. "Everypony knows you're best at words when you take the time to make them all up!" She slammed the Boutique shut behind her.
Rarity shuddered, gazing down at the floor. She ran a hoof through her messy hair and sighed all the harder. In a limp gait, she trotted back into the parlor, mounted the stool, and stared at the sheet of paper with bleary eyes.
"'Silk is... ... ...'"
The unicorn's cheeks burned. She gritted her teeth, fumed, and yanked the page straight out of the typewriter. Crumpling it up into an angry little ball, she tossed the thing against the sunlit window and brought two hooves to her face, shuddering breathily into the lonesome shadows of the Boutique.
"Everyponyyyy!" A voice cracked through the heavens. "Look out below!"
In the heart of downtown Ponyville, several mares and stallions froze in their tracks and looked up. Gasping, they jumped for cover, diving out of the way as a blue bolt plummeted from the sky.
"Guhhhhh-Augh!" Rainbow Dash slammed into the ground, tumbled, and slid, carving a long fresh ditch through the dirt road. She came to a stop with her rear legs propped above her like radio antennae. "Unnnngh... d-darn it!" she hissed into the settling plume of dust.
"Rainbow Dash!" Blossomforth darted in, accompanied by Thunderlane and several other concerned ponies. The streets filled with equines, all tightly gathered around the impact sight. "Miss Dash, are you okay?"
"Ugghh..." Rainbow Dash lay on her back, rubbing her aching head. "Friggin' downdraft! Where the hay did that come from?"
Thunderlane blinked down at Rainbow Dash, then squinted up at a dark thundercloud looming towards the northwest of town. "I didn't believe it when I first heard it..." He gulped and stared at her in disbelief. "But you really are trying to kick all the clouds in the sky by yourself today, aren't you?!"
"Yeah?" Rainbow Dash flailed, trying to pry herself out of the ditch she was in. "What of it?"
"So, no wonder you're getting tossed around!" Thunderlane trotted cautiously forward. "Not to ruffle your feathers, Miss Dash, but that's a Level Three Anvil Cloud you're trying to clear! It's supposed to take five ponies to kick that thing to submission! Much less one!" He leaned down to offer her a helping hoof. "Why don't we go get the rest of the weather team on it?"
"No... No!" Rainbow Dash batted his hoof away, frowning. "I totally got this!" With a grunt, she flexed her wings against the ground. Her body backflipped and landed outside of the ditch. "Unnngh..." She shook the dirt off her body with flapping feathers. "I just gotta fly at it harder and look out for descending air currents!" She spat into the ground and cracked her joints. "I never met a thundercloud I couldn't show who's boss, and things sure as heck aren't about to change today!"
"Even if it kills you?!" Thunderlane barked. "Miss Dash, we already lost one mare this week! We don't need to lose another!"
"And nopony's going to, Thunderlane," Rainbow Dash said as she angrily brushed past him. "I'm tough. I said I got this and I do."
By this point, Blossomforth was practically trembling. She finally got the nerve to blurt, "Please, Rainbow Dash, let me and Thunderlane help you. We may not be the best weather flying material, but we could at least try and spot some lightning for you so that you can do this job better."
"For the love of Celestia, will you let it rest?" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took off. "You guys can totally sit this one out—"
"No! We c-can't!" Blossomforth grasped Rainbow's tail in two hooves, anchoring her to the ground. "Please, Rainbow! I..." She sniffled, a tear trickling down her cheek. "I'm sorry, okay? I-I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I was j-just doing my job by taking you aside in the post office and telling you about the issue with the sheriff." She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head. "B-but it's all my fault! If I-I hadn't distracted you, then you c-could have caught up with Derpy faster! You... you could have saved her!"
Rainbow Dash's face blanched. She wheezed a painful breath, but swiftly chased the grimacing expression away with a snarl. Her tail flicked savagely.
"Gah!" Blossomforth teetered back. Thunderlane rushed in to catch her, but both ponies found themselves being stared down by an angry blue face.
"You saying that I'm slow?! Huh?!" Rainbow Dash hissed. "You're saying that I'm lazy?! That I've slacked off and now I can't outfly a flock of sparrows or a preying falcon?!"
"What?!" Blossomforth gasped, her teary face wincing. "No! I-I'm not saying that at all!"
"The chariot Derpy was stuck in had rockets, okay?!" Rainbow Dash sneered. "That stuff can loop around Canterlot in under forty seconds! I nearly ripped my wings out trying to catch up with it! I would have outflown the darn thing, but I had to think about the 'precious' cargo inside! A sonic rainboom would have just shattered the mailwagon to bits!"
"Rainbow, we all know that you did your best—"
"So my best isn't good enough; is that what you’re saying?!" Rainbow was red in the face by this point. "Has it occurred to everypony that Derpy died the same way that she lived?! Has any of you stopped to think that she would still be alive today if she wasn't such a darn idiot?!"
Several ponies sharply gasped. Wide eyes reflected Rainbow's hovering figure as she jerked about, gawking at their shocked expressions.
"What.... oh, really?!" She shrugged her hooves. "So now you're all mad at me for stating the obvious?! Grrrghh!" She clutched her head and blurted, "She shouldn't have been in mailing and shipping to begin with! How many windows had she flown through during her time here?! How many packages had she delivered to Tartarus and back—and all of them at the wrong addresses?! This was an accident waiting to happen! If you wanna blame somepony, go take your sad eyes to the post office! I've got enough on my plate!"
"Well, you're certainly not helping anything," Thunderlane said with a frown.
"Not here, I'm not!" Rainbow flung an angry hoof towards the darkening sky. "In case you haven't noticed, I've still got a stinkin' thunderstorm to take care of and—" She blinked, her ears twitching at the sound of a sobbing voice. "Darn it!" She frowned down at Blossomforth. "Stop your crying!"
"She w-wouldn't hate you f-for anything, Rainbow Dash..." Blossomforth wept, rubbing her face with a shaking forelimb. "Don't you know that? She loved you. She loved all of us."
"She was weak and she was foolish!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. "I'm surprised more ponies didn't die from her fumbling around!" Blossomforth's sobs didn't cease, so the pegasus rolled her eyes and groaned, "Will everypony just chillax and move on?! And don't fret about the storm!" She soared skyward. "I got this! You can trust me on that!"
Rainbow Dash disappeared into the heavens above. Meanwhile, the ponies gathered below murmured in unsettled voices, eventually trotting their separate ways from the intersection.
Thunderlane held Blossomforth close, gazing up at the sky as he patted her soft shoulder.
"Why's she so angry?!" Blossomforth stammered between hiccuping breaths. "It's just so tragic... so sad. She's blaming me for this! I know she is!"
"You're not the pony she's blaming, Blossomforth," Thunderlane muttered. "Don't pay any attention to her."
"But... but sh-she's so upset—"
"I don't care how bothered she is." He frowned as he led the mare away. "A jerk is a jerk."
TUESDAY EVENING
"And so..." Twilight Sparkle leaned over the Mayor's shoulder from where the old pony sat at her desk. "I've narrowed it down to three basic models. Miss Hooves never specified the details that she would have preferred, but—judging from what we know about her—earth brown and bright gold are easily her favorite colors."
"Wow..." The Mayor shuffled through three photographs of casket models. The day had grown dark outside the windows to her office, and a lone lamp illuminated the conference she was having with Ponyville's resident princess. "What extensive research you've done! Did Miss Hooves write about her favorite colors in her journals or something?"
"Not exactly..." Twilight fidgeted slightly. "She... uh... she really, really loved muffins, and..." She scratched the back of her neck with a nervous blush. "They kind of resemble the look of golden, toasted bread. So..."
The Mayor smiled gently. "I think it's a wonderful sentiment, Your Highness. Very well done." She flipped through the photos once more. "I must say, though, that these are a great deal more extravagant than I had anticipated. Were these at the top of the catalogue?"
"Absolutely."
"I... uh..." The Mayor adjusted her collar, sweating slightly. "I'm certain the town council can handle it. It's just that—"
"Don't you worry in the least, Mayor," Twilight said. "I told you that I would oversee the ceremony on Thursday night, and that's what I intend to do."
She turned to look at the unicorn. "How do you mean?"
Twilight took a breath and said, "This is coming out of the Royal Treasury."
"Princess, no!" The Mayor recoiled. "Surely there are far grander things of national importance to put your fortune towards!"
"I came to the place where I am now all thanks to close friends, much like Miss Hooves," Twilight said, gazing down at the photos. "I'm not about to go crazy overboard, of course, but I don't think any expense should be spared in ensuring that Derpy gets the memorial that she deserves."
"Well, I must say, I find that rather noble of you, Your Majesty."
"I think she would approve," Twilight said in a neutral tone. Clearing her throat, she pointed at the three images. "Still, I would very much like your input as well. Which do you think will be the most aesthetically pleasing for the ponies in attendance?"
"Well, they're all absolutely marvelous." The Mayor adjusted her bifocals and ultimately pointed at one of the three images. "Here. I do believe this one is the least... erm... flashy of the trio. I think it'll serve to represent Miss Hooves' humble spirit."
Twilight nodded. "I couldn't agree more." She telekinetically lifted the three photo sheets and shuffled them in midair. "I'll make an order right away and have Spike send them to Canterlot."
"Though, I must inquire..." The Mayor lowered her spectacles and leaned back in her chair. "Apparently Derpy requested a 'wake' in her will." She rubbed her eyes and squinted at Twilight. "I'm only vaguely familiar with tradition, but won't that be rather difficult without a body?"
Twilight fidgeted, glancing at the floor. "Well, we do have her mailpony hat," she said, gesturing with her hooves. "It's the last surviving effect from yesterday's... tr-tragic event. Uhm... I think I can come up with something that's symbolic."
The Mayor nodded with a smile. "I have no doubt that whatever you come up with will be utterly fantastic." Her expression dulled over. "What, may I ask, is being done about her orphaned daughter?"
"Dinky is... in the company of my good friend Fluttershy," Twilight said. "She's taken her cottage for the time being. We all agreed that it would do the foal some good to distance herself from her mother's home for a while."
"Oh?"
"Yes. She's..." Twilight winced slightly. "...in denial, it would seem."
"You mean she doesn't believe that her very own mother is d-dead?!" the Mayor exclaimed.
"She hasn't admitted it yet," Twilight said. "And the whole time, her disposition hasn't changed." She sighed and ran a hoof across her bangs. "She's still as happy, cheerful, and carefree as she was when Derpy was alive."
"I must admit that my child psychology is limited," the Mayor stated. "I take it this isn't exactly as good a sign as one pony might think?"
"It's worrying," Twilight said. "And there's no telling how damaging it may be if we were to force Dinky—against her will—to accept the truth overnight."
"So you're attempting to break it to her slowly?"
"That's the idea. Fluttershy, in the meantime, is keeping her comfortable. Personally, I suspect Dinky will come around to what's already been told her, and Fluttershy's more than equipped to deal with the filly when that happens."
"She does have a way of providing comfort to a soul in need."
"And Dinky is going to need a great deal of comfort and more." Twilight gulped. "From all of us."
"Are one of you thinking of adopting her?"
Twilight glanced out the window, her expression blank. At some point, the barest hint of a curve came to her lips. "Celestia did tell me that—at some point or another—I would want to take on an apprentice, just like she fostered me."
The Mayor smiled. "Now, if that isn't a pleasant thought."
"Hmmm... I'd rather call it 'fitting,'" Twilight said. "I could certainly use a pony to carry on my thoughts and ideas, especially as I... get... older..." Her words trailed off.
The Mayor stared at her curiously. "Your Highness...?"
Twilight cleared her throat and turned from the window. "But enough about me. This is about Dinky... and her late mother, of course. I feel that it is everypony's right to be remembered, and Derpy is no exception. Caskets and funerals aside, the next generation of Ponyville and the generation after that will remember Derpy for her joyful contributions to this village. Of that, you can rest assured."
"Oh, you bet!" Pinkie Pie popped up, slapping down a folder onto the desk. Photographs of balloons and party favors spilled onto the Mayor's lap. "And I got all the fixings to make Thursday night the most memorable, happy night ever!"
"Gah!" The Mayor nearly fell off her stool.
"Pinkie?!" Twilight stammered. "What are you doing here?!"
"I knew you were gonna talk to Mayor Mare about how we're gonna celebrate Derpy's life!" Pinkie said, beaming. "So I figured I'd show up here and give Double-M my own two bits!" She spun towards the town leader, holding up a few photographs in particular. "See?! Muffin shaped balloons! Muffin shape! They're so realistic looking, you'll be burping up helium before you realize what you bit into!"
"I... this... it..." The Mayor went cross-eyed behind her bifocals. "Pinkamena Diane Pie! I do believe you have the wrong idea!"
"What?!" Pinkie recoiled with a crooked smile. "You'd rather fill them with hydrogen?" She rolled her eyes. "Pffft! M-Squared, please! Everypony knows what happened to the Haydenburg!"
"No, child! I meant... unghhh..." The Mayor exhaustedly headdesk'd.
"Pinkie, how'd you even get inside here?!" Twilight asked.
"Well, at first I tried the front door, but the secretary said that 'the Mayor was seeing the Princess.' And I said 'I see the Princess all the time too! Sometimes with her mane wet! Have you ever been to the lake house?!'"
"Uhhh..."
"And so after they threw me out, I tried the back door to Town Hall, but it was locked. So I tried the windows, but they were locked too. I almost tried the chimney, but I figured it was full of bats, and you know how scared I am of bats, especially during summer vacation—"
"Pinkie..."
"And so I saw this big metal thing on top of the building and went 'Duhhhh! The air conditioning vents!' Whew! Tell you what, good thing we're such tiny horses or else that would have been a super tight squeeze!"
"At least that explains why it's so stuffy in here," the Mayor muttered directly into the desktop.
"Pinkie Pie, I know you only want to cheer ponies up after Derpy's passing, but this isn't the way to go about doing it!"
"Why not?" Pinkie Pie gawked at Twilight. "Aren't you trying to do the same thing?"
"I... I..." Twilight's face scrunched up. "Well, yes, but—"
"So why not make it more festive?!" Pinkie pointed at the photos. "I snipped all of these from the Canterlot Carnival Catalogue! I used Mrs. Cake's dress shears." She winked. "Pssst. Don't tell her."
"Pinkie, please..."
"See? The muffin shaped balloons can float above the big overpriced wooden thing!"
"...you mean the casket?"
"Righto! And on the side of the room we can have a table full of baked treats and fruit punch and then—after the eulogy is given—we can all play 'pin the rabid yard dog on the mailpony!'"
The Mayor lifted her head with an exasperated expression. "I'm not certain how much more of this I can take."
"Mayor Mare, if you would excuse me." Twilight's horn started to glow.
"It's been an honor, Your Majesty."
"Wait! Wait!" Pinkie Pie scrambled to pick up and show off several more pictures. "You didn't get to look at the cherry-filled cinnamon tombstones!"
Twilight and Pinkie Pie vanished in a burst of lavender light...
...and materialized on a street corner outside Town Hall.
"Awwwww! Twiliiiiiight!" Pinkie pouted, then blinked as she fluffed her mane. "Hey! She was right! It was stuffy in there! Heeeheeeheee!"
"Pinkie..." Twilight frowned into the red haze of the sunset. "You do get the point of a funeral. Don't you?!"
"It's to remember the life and times of a pony who made us all happy, right?!" Pinkie hopped in place. "And that's a cause for celebration in my book!"
"There's sharing good memories, Pinkie, and then there's going overboard!" Twilight exclaimed. "You just can't go around shoving ideas for funeral party favors in other ponies faces! You might... y-you might offend somepony!"
Pinkie's face twisted in sincere thought before she ultimately blurted. "Why?"
Twilight nearly pratfalled right then and there. "Do I really have to explain it to you?!"
"Explain what?" Pinkie blinked. "That a funeral has to be boring, unhappy, and dull when it's trying to honor a pony who was none of those things?"
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly stumbled. Her brow furrowed as she gazed into the sunset. "I... uh... well..."
"See?!" Pinkie pointed, grinning wide "You're speechless! Heehee! Hope the cat gives your tongue back when it's time to deliver the eulogy!"
"Pinkie, the point of a funeral is to honor a pony's life! To turn it into a foal's birthday party would be... well... it would be disrespectful and downright immature!"
"And just who wrote the book on that, huh?"
"Nopony wrote any book on that! It's just the way things are!"
"Well, you're a Princess now! And if anypony could write a book on it, you could!"
"Pinkie..." Twilight frowned, pointing at herself. "I'm doing my best to try and set up an event that is solemn enough that everypony can equally pay our respects to Derpy's memories in peace! Not many mares and stallions would like to dance the night away! In fact, almost everypony in town is beside themselves with tears over how tragic yesterday was!"
"Yeah. What's up with that?!" Pinkie's face twisted. "Derpy was a cheerful pony! She wouldn't want tears!"
"Pinkie, I—nngh..." Twilight facehoofed, sighing long and hard. "Sometimes..." She muttered into her own forelimb. "Sometimes I think you don't know what it means to feel sad."
Pinkie's smile slowly, slowly faded. Her eyes fluttered, and she spoke in an eerily quiet voice. "Why, of course I do, Twilight."
"Really, Pinkie?" Twilight stared fixedly at her. "Do you?"
"I just prefer being happy all the time instead. Is... is that so wrong?"
"Sometimes I wonder, Pinkie."
Pinkie frowned. "Yeah, well... if I don't know how to feel sad, I think somepony doesn't know how to feel happy."
"Oh yeah, who?"
Pinkie winked.
Twilight did a double-take. "Me?!"
"Thou who felt it, dealt it, Your Hineyness! Hehehe!"
"I... that's..." Twilight shook her head. "That's not true!" her voice cracked.
"You sure, Twi-Twi?" Pinkie cocked her fluffy mane to the side. "You've been really mopey in the muzzle, lately. You stay in your library all the time—"
"Pinkie, I'm always staying in my library."
"Yeah, only now you do it a super lot. And whenever the girls and I ask you to hang out, you tell us that you've got 'Princess Duties' to attend."
"I am very busy these days, Pinkie."
"With what? Sighing? Staring into the corner of a room? Lying awake in bed and sulking?" Pinkie bounced. "That's why I got you that very special treat last week! To cheer you up!"
"What very special treat?"
"Oh! Uhm..." Pinkie stood on her hind legs. "Wh-what I meant to say was..." She thrusted her forelimbs into her mane and pulled out a plastic box. "Ta-daaaa! Here ya go, Twilight! A very special treat!"
Twilight blinked and levitated the object closer to her eyes. "It's a tiara..."
"Nooooooo... it's a chocolate tiara!" Pinkie turned her head upside down and grinned. "Now you'll have an excuse to stay alone inside the library! Cuz it'll melt if you try eating it outside!"
"It..." Twilight grimaced as she opened the box. "It has some hairs on it..."
"Er... yeah, well..." Pinkie blushed as she fluffed her mane. "Just close your eyes and pretend that they're sprinkles."
"Pinkie..." Twilight closed her eyes as she floated the box away. "I need you to promise me something." She gulped and then gazed at her. "Promise that you will leave all of the funeral arrangements to me."
"But I thought the point of celebrating Derpy's life was—"
"If you want to party to respect her memories, then I won't stop you! Just... do it on your own time, Pinkie. This funeral is a formality, and it needs to be treated as such, so I’m going to ask you to pass up decoration duties this time."
Pinkie blinked. "But I thought this funeral was for Derpy's friends. What's the point in making ourselves sadder than we are already?"
"You just don't understand, Pinkie."
"I understand that Derpy is dead, Twilight," Pinkie said in a dull tone, though she tried to throw in a smile to spice it up. "But we're alive, aren't we?"
"I know that we're alive—"
"And shouldn't we be enjoying life now that Derpy isn't able to? Wouldn't that make her happy?"
Suddenly, Twilight snapped, "Well maybe living isn't all that it's cracked up to be! Have you ever thought of that?!"
Pinkie recoiled from Twilight's angry face, slowly shaking her head. "Why... n-no, Twilight! I never have!"
Twilight stood back, panting slightly.
"Have... h-have you?" Pinkie asked.
"It's... it's been a long day..." Twilight rubbed her face and turned around. "I just need to go home and rest..."
Pinkie stamped her hoof. "But Twiliiiiiight! That's all you do these days!"
"Yeah, well, things change, Pinkie!" Twilight grumbled. "Maybe you should too!"
"Twilight..."
"You're not a foal anymore!" And, with a burst of lavender light, Twilight was gone, leaving Pinkie once more alone with confusion and shadows.
TUESDAY NIGHT
"But... But Fluttershyyyyyy?" Dinky looked up with a worried expression. "I brought my own sleeping bag! You don't have to go through all this trouble!"
"Oh no, but I insist!" Fluttershy smiled as she tucked the filly into her own upstairs bed. "I wouldn't bother having a guest over unless I wanted them to be as comfortable as possible, especially such a kind, deserving foal as you."
"Awwwww..." Dinky nuzzled Fluttershy's hoof as it trailed by her cheek. "You're so kind to me lately, Fluttershy." She stifled a yawn and settled deeper against the pillow behind her. "Everypony's been extra super nice around me. Is it because they're worried about Mommy?"
Fluttershy bit the edge of her lip. "No, Dinky. They're..." She fidgeted, then stared out the starlit window.
"They're what, Fluttershy?"
"They're... th-they're worried about you, Dinky."
"Me?" The foal blinked tiredly. "Why would they be worried about me?"
"Because you're so young. So sweet." Fluttershy sat down beside the bed, her golden face aglow in the soft candlelight. "And yet... so vulnerable..."
"I feel safe around you, Fluttershy," Dinky said. "I feel safe and happy around everypony in Ponyville."
"That's... j-just the thing, Dinky," Fluttershy said. "Happiness is certainly something you can feel in life." She exhaled through her nostrils. "Safety, however, isn't necessarily guaranteed."
"Oh, I know!" Dinky turned over, smiling warmly into the fragrant covers of the bed. "Last year, I fractured my hoof playing in the backyard."
"Oh dear. That must have hurt very badly."
"Well..." Dinky bit her lip. "I cried a lot." She then smiled. "But Mommy was there. She flew me to the hospital. They put my leg into a cast and everything. Not long after, I got all better. I have Mommy to thank for that."
"You must feel... very secure to have your mother around you at all times."
"And I know that it makes her feel very, very special too," Dinky said. "Most Mommies have a Daddy around to keep them company. I think I mean a lot to Mom—a lot more than most foals mean to their Mommies. Not that I'm better than them, of course. Heehee..."
"Of course." Fluttershy nodded. She brushed her pink mane aside and murmured, "Dinky...?"
"Yes, Fluttershy?"
"Do you ever wonder what ever happened to your Daddy?"
Dinky blinked. "Mommy says that he left Equestria a long time ago. Way before I was born." She frowned slightly. "He wasn't a very good pony."
"Oh? Oh... uhm..." Fluttershy blushed slightly. "Let me rephrase that. Ahem. Do you ever wonder what happened to your Mommy's mommy?"
"You mean Grandma?"
"Yes."
"I... never met her."
"And why's that?"
"Well, she passed away," Dinky said. "She was very old. Old ponies don't live forever."
"And do you think your Mommy felt happy when her mommy passed away?"
"I really don't think so," Dinky said, shaking her head. "I bet she was very sad."
"And yet your Mommy is happy these days. Isn't she?"
"Yes..." Dinky smiled, fighting another yawn. "Because we have each other."
"Have you ever thought that... that maybe your Mommy will be a Grandma herself someday too?" Fluttershy gulped. "That she will also be old?"
Dinky blinked. Her eyes wandered Fluttershy's bedroom, then fell back onto the pegasus. "Everypony dies, Fluttershy."
"You know this...?"
"Well, of course I do!" Dinky shrugged against the covers. "I'm not a baby, y'know."
"No..." Fluttershy chuckled and shook her head. "You're not."
"But I'm happy to be young and alive," Dinky said with a grin. The grin became wider: "And to spend that time with Mommy when I can."
"And you must be very sad that she's away."
"Mmmm..." Dinky shrugged. "So long as she comes back home safely, I'm fine."
"And... if she doesn't?"
Dinky's face was blank for a while, but ultimately smiled. "Then I'll be glad that she taught me all the things she did, so that I can spread that same happiness when I become a Mommy myself someday."
Fluttershy's lips pursed. Her brow furrowed as she bowed her head slightly.
"Fluttershy?" Dinky blinked tiredly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm more th-than okay..." Sniffling, the mare looked up with a fragile smile. The candlelight glinted off a pair of glossy eyes. "And you are a very, very special filly, Dinky."
"Awwwww..." Dinky yawned. "You have to stop saying that. Mommy says such things could make my head even bigger."
"Heaven forbid!"
"Heehee!"
Silence.
"Miss Fluttershy?"
"Yes, Dinky?"
Dinky closed her eyes. "Do you know any bedtime stories?"
"Bedtime... stories...?"
"Mmmm... M-Mommy usually has one or two to tell me, but... sh-she's not here..."
"Oh, well... uhm..." Fluttershy fidgeted slightly. At last, she took a breath and began: "There once was a mare who loved reading books. She lived in this poor provincial town—"
"I've heard that one."
Fluttershy blinked. "You have?"
"She falls in love with a beastly dragon, right?"
"Oh... uh... I suppose you have." Fluttershy tapped her chin. "How about this. Ahem. In the middle of a valley, there was a tall, tall tower where a mare lived with a long blonde mane—"
"Heard that one too."
"Really?"
"Heehee! Yup."
Fluttershy squinted. "What about the chicken that traveled through time?"
"Pffft." Dinky rolled her eyes and smiled. "Everypony's tired of that one."
"Oh, well..." Fluttershy searched the corner of her room—and her mind—with darting eyes. At last, she stood up straight and said, "There once was this tiny, delicate filly, about your age. Unlike you, though, she wasn't an only child. She had lots and lots of brothers and sisters, and it was a little difficult growing up with them, but she tried her best. After all, she wanted to make her family proud and prove that she could have a super special talent just like the rest of the colts and fillies in the household."
"Mmmhmmmm..."
"And... and she tried several things to learn her talent, but no matter how hard she tried, nothing would change. She was still very fragile, still very shy, and so... oh so very skittish." Fluttershy gulped. "In fact, she was... uhm... so fearful of so many things that she had a hard time going out of the front door to her house. She thought the world would fall out from underneath her—it would sometimes paralyze the filly with fear."
"Awwww... what a poor pony," Dinky murmured with her eyes shut. "Did she ever find her talent?"
"Funny you should ask that," Fluttershy said. "One day, when she was out and about, she fell from a great height. It was her worst fear come true, and she thought she was a goner. But then a miracle happened. Several woodland creatures came to her rescue. They caught her, and then they gave her company. And, as it turns out, they enjoyed her company too. She found that she could make them happy, drive their fears away, and even protect them. Suddenly, she was no longer quite so weak and fragile. Her life changed for the better, and she found each day to be full of promise and joy and... and the chance to help other creatures around her find their own feet, just like she was able to finally put her hooves on the ground."
"Mmmmm... sounds... v-very nice..." The foal murmured, drifting in and out of consciousness.
"Yes. She was... is very nice." Fluttershy gulped. "Or at least she tries to be. To this day, she's made lots of friends, and is excited to see what the world reveals to her with each sunrise."
"Fluttershy...?"
"Yes, Dinky?"
"Did you ever get over your skittishness, though?"
The pegasus gasped, her face as red as a beet. "I... I..."
But Dinky was silent, her body rising and falling against the covers. Her eyes fluttered slightly, and there was a lingering smile to her lips.
Fluttershy blinked. She let out a heavy sigh. After a few seconds, she blew the candle out, caressed Dinky's mane, and trotted lonesomely down the stairs.
Once she was on the first floor of her cottage, she stood still, staring at the windows with a dazed expression.
A voice could be heard clearing from the side.
Fluttershy looked over, then down.
Angel lay in his bed, folding his paws angrily while an icepack lay on his crown. He pointed indignantly at the thermometer that had been left in his mouth.
Fluttershy sighed. In one liquid motion, she trotted over, lifted the ice pack from his head, and plucked the thermometer from his lips. She didn't even look at the instrument as she said, "You're perfectly healthy, Angel."
Angel blinked. The bunny hadn't expected that.
"You don't deserve to be cooped up in here for no g-good reason," she said with a wavery tone as she limped her way towards a cushioned couch and curled up on it like a little foal. "This is s-supposed to be a home, not a pr-prison." That said, her shoulders shook in quiet little heaves.
Angel stood up, his whiskers flinching. A worried expression fell over his face, and his long ears folded back. With tiny little hops, he approached the couch, tugging on her tail.
Fluttershy wept.
Angel hopped up and nuzzled her side. At last, she turned over, cuddling him close, clenching her moist eyes shut.
"I'm s-so sorry, Angel. I... I-I just don't know how to stop..." She hissed through her teeth as wave after wave of quiet sobs rolled through her. "She's so sweet, so innocent, and yet so strong. I wish s-somepony would t-tell me how to st-stop being so afraid..."
Angel could only hug her back, trying to dry her tears with his paws.
Up above them both, masked by the shadows of night, a lone blue shard lay atop a shelf, adding a sliver of color to the dimly-lit cottage.