Twilight groaned and sat up, wishing she hadn't fallen asleep in that position.
As she stood and stretched the sore muscles she felt something stirring in her memory.
She remembered doing this last week.
*But how?* she thought to herself. *How could I have done this last week? What is wrong with me that I must do this every week?*
Sitting down again, she burst into an uncontrollable fit of sobbing, with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Once she had calmed down a bit she allowed herself to be swept into the Land of Remembrance, where the next memory lay waiting.
--
After Applejacks funeral was over Fluttershy went looking for Pinkie. After 30 minutes of searching she found Pinkie shoving cupcakes into her mouth and following them up with a copious amount of chocolate milk.
Fluttershy walked over and sat beside her distraught friend.
Pinkie looked at her and said, "I can't take it. How can i be happy when two of my friends are dead?"
Fluttershy stretched a wing around Pinkie, whose sobbing was dosturbing the other customers in Sugar Cube Corner.
"There there. Noone can be happy all the time. Even the Element of Laughter needs to cry once in a while." Fluttershy pushed the carton of chocolate milk and basket of muffins away from Pinkie.
Pinkie was still crying so Fluttershy decided to bring out the big guns.
"Um, Pinkie?" Pinkie looked up at her friend while tears streamed down her cheeks. "How about we throw a party? You know, to celerbrate Applejack and Rainbow's lives?" Fluttershy said while wiping the tears from Pinkie's face.
Pinkie looked like she was about to start crying again so Fluttershy hugged her again with her wing while whispering, "Please don't start crying again Pinkie. I'm sorry if I've upset you."
Fluttershy had closed her eyes and was about to start crying herself when she felt something brush against her lips.
When she opened her eyes she saw Pinkie's eyes in front of her own.
Startled, she pulled back away from the kiss.
She stared wide eyed at her friend, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.
Pinkie Pie blushed and said quietly, "I would love that."
This snapped Fluttershy out of her stunned silence. "What?
"I would love to throw a party," Pinkie replied shyly.
Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Pinkie and then, quite unexpectedly, planted a kiss on he friends lips.
Pinkie looked shocked, but slowly melted into the kiss.
When the others came looking for Pinkie they found the two sitting togther, Pinkie resting a hoof on one of Fluttershy's, feeding each other cupcakes.
The two ponies before them, who were clearly oblivious to any pony around, had personalities that were diammetrically opposite (or so Twilight had tried to explain to Spike later that evening). They were like the two poles of magnet.
Pinkie was bubbly and wanted to be a part of every party and Fluttershy was timid and didnt like attention being drawn to herself.
"Don't they realize that they are out in public?" Rarity whispered loudly to Twilight when Pinkie and Fluttershy began nuzzling each other.
"Calm down, Rarity," Twilight whispered back. "You and Spike were like that when we went out to dinner as a group."
And when the two lovebirds started kissing each other Spike, being the polite and awkward dragon that he was, looked the other way, heat radiating from his cheeks.
"Aww. Is my little Spikey-wikey embarrassed by a little kissing?" Rarity teased.
"No," Spike replied in a matter-of-fact manner, "I'm just giving them the privacy they deserve, is all."
"Um, Spike? You do realize we are in a bar don't you?" Twilight asked.
"Oh. Yeah. Right." Spike fumbled around in his pocket (how does he have pockets? Hes a fucking dragon for ponies sake! He doesn't wear any fucking clothes! Anhoo, continuing on) for a few bits to order a round of drinks.
After the drinks were carried back to the table where Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity were sitting Pinkie raised a toast to the memories of the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty.
"May your presence on this earth never be forgotten, nor the value of your work diminished. Cheers." Pinkie saluted with her cider in hoof and they all clinked their glasses together with a chorus of "cheers".
"Pinkie?"
"Yeah Twilight?"
"Why did you run off like that at the funeral? Me and the others were worried about you," Twilight asked.
"Oh yeah, that. I'm really sorry about running away, its just... I couldn't stand it anymore," Pinkie replied. "I know I'm the Element of Laughter, but how can i laugh when two of my friends cant laugh with me? Its just not fair!"
At this Pinkie almost starts crying again, but Fluttershy wraps a wing around her and rests her head on Pinkie's shoulder.
"And then i tried to hide my true emotions behind a wall of sugary goodness-"
"-Meaning she was trying to drown herself in cupcakes and chocolate milk," Fluttershy added with a polite smile.
"Yeah. And then Fluttershy came along and stopped me. She comforted me and told me that everything was going to be fine and that even I need to cry sometimes." And with that Pinkie gave Fluttershy a quick peck on the lips.
"I also told her that every life needs to be celebrated, so we have decided to throw a farewell party for Rainbow and Applejack," Fluttershy finished, wrapping a hoof around Pinkie's shoulder and brought her in for a full kiss.
Everyone around the table, apart from Spike who blushed and averted his gaze, smiled at the new couple.
A week later the Ponyville Library was packed with people celebrating the lives of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but most of them were just there for the alcoholic beverages to numb the pain.
"Ugh. Why couldn't we have booked the Town Hall for this? We would have had more, gah, room," Twilight asked no one in particular as she made her way through the crowded room towards the kitchen.
"Because, silly, they needed it for a Pinkie meet." Pinkie rolled her eyes at her friends ignorance.
"A what?!"
"A Pinkie meet. Its like a normal meeting but only for Pinkie's. Speaking of meetings I believe I have one in the town hall to be attending." Pinkie quickly bounced towards the door.
"Oh no you don't," Twilight muttered.
Pinkie felt something slip around her hooves and then the world tipped on its side.
When she looked at her legs she saw a taut rope. Her first thought was of Applejack and she almost jumped out of her skin trying to get up to see her now un-dead friend.
But then Twilight trotted over with the other end of the slowly slackening rope clenched between her teeth, Pinkie's unfounded hopes were dashed.
Twilight spat out the rope and looked sternly at Pinkie.
"Now, this was yours and Fluttershy's idea so its only fair to the rest of us that you stay as well, even if it means you go insane again. And also, next time you want to get out of something don't make an excuse, just say you don't want to do it."
"But the Pinkie meet isn't an excu..." Twilight cut her off with a hoof in her mouth.
"Just get up there and make a toast," Twilight ordered.
"Okie Dokie Lokie." Pinkie walked over to the stairs and stood a couple of steps above the lobby floor. She then pulled out a kazoo and drew in a deep breath before bringing the bizarre instrument to her muzzle. Quickly expelling her lungs into the kazoo she drew the crowd to attention.
"I'm not one for speeches, but today I will make an exception,"
Pinkie began. "Applejack and Rainbow Dash, as many of you know, were two of my closest friends as well as being two of the Elements of Harmony. They were Honesty and Loyalty, and while I may be the Element of Laughter it makes me sad to think that I will never hear them speak again. But we must continue on, because that is what they would have wanted.
"We live on with the memories of them woven into our very souls, and one day we can tell our children and our grandchildren that we were friends with Honesty and Loyalty." Pinkie hesitated in her speech just long enough to pick up a new glass of cider. "Here's to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. May your legacy live on until the end of time itself.
"Cheers!" Pinkie finished and everypony raised their glasses to the ceiling before bringing them back down to their mouths and taking a long drink of the cool liquid.
--
Twilight peered out the window into the dark sky.
She was shivering, but not from the cold.
Outside, the leaves of the trees swayed slightly in the sheltered gardens of the mountain side city while Luna's moon peered down upon Equestria, as if searching for any dangers that might be lurking.
Twilight walked over to her bed and lay on it, thinking of what Luna had said to her.
*Before i can make Luna happy I must first be happy myself. But how? How can I make myself happy when all my friends are dead?* "How?" Twilight broke into tears again as she felt a gentle hoof caressing her mane.
She looked up to see her Mentor standing there smiling down at her.
"Why is this happening to me? Why am i constantly reliving these memories?" Twilight cried softly into her bed. "Please. Please help me."
"I am sorry, Twilight, but this is something you must face on your own."
And with that Princess Celestia quietly left the room, leaving Twilight with her thoughts.