//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: It's just a word... // Story: The End of the Rainbow // by Charles Spratt //------------------------------// Chapter 4: It's Just a Word... Life is not fair. Things will always come at you that you can’t control. It’s how you deal with these sorts of things that determine your character. Take the Mane Six. Throughout this year, they’d been suffering loss after loss. First came Pinkie Pie, who died in Rainbow Dash’s arms. Next on the chopping block was Rarity, who ended up getting blown off the edge of a mountain. And most recently was AppleJack, who ended up getting killed off by some sort of disease that apparently had sentience. Even still, the Mane Six who remained after each death didn’t let the deaths deter them… too much. They remained as diligent as ever, doing everything they could for both themselves and everyone else. Unfortunately, they would all soon learn that diligence and a positive attitude can’t save you from everything. It was just a regular day in Ponyville. Everyone was out, doing their daily routine. Fluttershy was buying some greens at the market, Twilight was busy reading in her castle, and Rainbow was clearing the clouds from the sky. It was just like any other day, until Rainbow noticed parts of the earth were coming up, kind of like something was burrowing toward the town! Whatever it was, it was enormous, since each bit of dirt raised up had the same base area as a house! She sounded off the alert and Twilight immediately flew out, using magic to create an underground wall in the digger’s path, so it would be blocked off before it got into town. When the digger ran into the wall, it ended up unearthing an enormous purple scorpion. It had two tails, a lot of sharp teeth, an eye inside of its mouth, and another eye on its back. When Twilight and Rainbow saw it, they gasped in horror. “Twilight, what is that thing??” Rainbow frantically asked. “That’s a lurodea! It’s a giant scorpion with another raw strength to crush a train car in its pincers and enough venom to knock an entire army out cold in just two minutes!” Twilight yelled in response. “It’s odd though; they’re usually quite docile, and keep their distance from other creatures. Why is this one coming at us?” yelled Fluttershy, who had wandered over upon seeing the giant beast. The lurodea got up and looked at the magic wall, clearly enraged. It raised one of its pincers up and brought it down as hard as it could on to the wall. The impact was so hard that it shattered the wall in one clean shot. After that, it grabbed some clouds and pinched them between its pincers, turning them into rain clouds before releasing them back into the air. Once Rainbow saw that, she rushed at the eye on the lurodea’s back, trying to slam it shut. The scorpion retorted by shooting some odd magic blasts out of its tail, which immediately started tracking Rainbow. Rainbow tried to dodge them, but was unable to do so. Each blast hit Rainbow with the force of a truck, knocking her back to the ground. “Wait a minute, a lurodea can’t use magic!” Twilight yelled out. Then it hit her. This lurodea was under the influence of another entity, likely one that the Mane six had beaten in the past. It was hypnotized, given magic, and told to destroy Ponyville. Whatever gave it that power clearly knew that there were only three bearers of the elements left, and therefore it would be much easier to take the remaining three out now. Who did that was anyone’s guess, but the point was that this creature was now a mindless destroyer with the sole objective to destroy Ponyville. Twilight gulped. Fluttershy flew up to the lurodea and tried to comfort it like she did with other animals. Unfortunatly, the lurodea didn’t seem too keen on listening, and knocked Fluttershy aside. After that, the Mane three reunited in the square. Twilight immediately started preparing a strategy. “Ok, and when it tries to counter my magic by rushing me, that’s when you two attack it physically. Does that sound good?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, but what if it attacks us?” asked Rainbow. “Then I’ll use my magic to counter its magic. Duh.” Replied Twilight. “Still, do you think we can take an enraged lurodea?” asked Fluttershy. Before Twilight could respond, she heard some high pitched yelling coming from the monster’s direction. All 3 of them spun around to see that several ponies, including the CMC, were being held in the lurodea’s enormous pincers! Before they could react, the lurodea stung them all with its twin tails. Almost immediately, everypony stung fainted, unable to take such a high dose of venom. Fluttershy saw this and became infuriated, charging toward the beast at a high speed. The lurodea saw her coming and fired off homing shots again, but this time, Twilight used magic bursts to direct the homing shots away from Fluttershy. Immediately afterwards, Twilight got in close and teleported all of the infected ponies to the hospital, telling the staff there that they were sick because of scorpion poison before teleporting back to the fight. Seeing that its prey had been taken from it, the lurodea became furious and charged right for the Mane three. When the creature got close, Twilight used her magic to teleport the beast to a large valley way north of Ponyville. The three were about to give a hoof bump for a job well done, when they suddenly felt their bodies start tingling. They looked down and saw that they were vanishing from the legs up! They held each other close, not knowing what else to do, until they completely disappeared. When they opened their eyes, the Mane three saw they were in the valley with the lurodea only a few yards away! They realized that the lurodea must’ve teleported them there. This didn’t deter the Mane three, as they got on their guard, ready for battle. The lurodea immediately started by running away from the Mane three while firing magic balls of energy at them. The Mane three immediately went into pursuit, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash directing away homing attacks while Twilight blasted the being with her magic. Eventually, the lurodea stopped suddenly and charged toward Twilight, trying to get in close enough to grab her. The second it did that, Rainbow Dash flew right at the eye on its back. She kicked it as hard as she could, which actually slowed down the lurodea by a good bit. Then Fluttershy flew in and did the same, stopping the beast completely in its tracks and causing it to collapse. Suddenly, an eye with teeth surrounding the pupil and the same hard material that the lurodea’s exoskeleton is composed of surrounding everything else, shot from the creature’s mouth and started chasing Fluttershy. Twilight tried to shoot it down with magic, but the eye was surrounded on all sides by some really strong type of armor-like substance. Rainbow Dash flew up behind the eye and kicked it as hard as she could from the back. This only succeeded at making the eye thing angry. It immediately turned around and focused on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow tried to flee, but got her leg bit by the eye mouth thing before she could do so. The eye then started spinning around as fast as it could. After a bit of this, it opened its jaws, sending Rainbow speeding toward the ground like a rainbow colored missile. She ended up going clean through a solid rock before landing head first on the ground. Upon hitting the ground, Rainbow shook her head and flew after the mouth eye again, showing no signs of injury. After a bit of this, Fluttershy yelled, “Twilight!! You need to blast the pupil in its mouth with your magic!! Rainbow and I can’t hit it because of all those teeth!!” Twilight understood and flew towards it, punching it in the side. The eye turned toward her infuriated, and opened its teeth wide open with the intent of chomping down on Twilight. The second it did that, Twilight blasted it with her magic. This made the eye turn red and return to the lurodea. Once it hopped back into its spot on the lurodea, the giant creature suddenly got right back up, as if nothing had happened. The Mane three kept on fighting it like this for a while, and were making some excellent progress, until it tried something different. After its eye/mouth hybrid returned to the lurodea a second time, the giant scorpion immediately dug a hole. Soon afterwards, it resurfaced right where Twilight was standing, launching her skyhigh. When the other two tried to grab Twilight, the lurodea simply swatted them aside. It reached out with its pincers to try to grab Twilight, to which Twilight simply teleported away. It then reached for Fluttershy and grabbed her. Rainbow Dash tried to attack the eye on its back to get it to drop Fluttershy, but the eye on its back simply closed when Rainbow hit it, causing Rainbow to get hurt. Immediately, the lurodea grabbed Rainbow off of its back and put her in the same pincer as Fluttershy. Twilight teleported right next to the lurodea and tried to teleport the three of them away, but the second Twilight got close, the lurodea opened its mouth and fired a green beam right at Twilight. Although Twilight wasn’t hurt by the beam, she found that it prevented her from teleporting. Because of that, she was easily captured as well. The lurodea looked at the Mane three, who were futilely trying to squirm out of the lurodea’s grip. From the look in its eye, it was apparently trying to decide which one of them it should eat first. Twilight decided to not give it the time it needed to make that decision, and blasted the eye in its mouth with her strongest magical attack. The eye immediately glared at Twilight, and threw all three ponies down into the ground. Once they landed, the lurodea immediately picked up the pegasi again and threw them as hard as it could. It clearly had a bone to pick with Twilight. Rainbow and Fluttershy were launched away from the fight at an incredible velocity. They were going so quickly, that they passed by Manehattan after just half a second, and were showing no signs of slowing down. Rainbow Dash put her training in the Wonderbolt academy to use by righting herself in just four seconds, but by that point they were nearing the other end of the planet. Rainbow immediately launched back toward the battle as fast as she could. Fluttershy, however, couldn’t right herself nearly as quick, and as a result ended up crashing into the ground on the opposite end of the planet. She picked herself up and immediately gave chase after Rainbow Dash. Meanwhile, back in the valley, Twilight was having a horrible time trying to fight off the lurodea. With her teleportation abilities nullified, she was unable to outmaneuver the giant beast consistently. She tried all of her magical abilities, but was unable to compete with the lurodea’s immense strength and speed on her own. Eventually, Twilight ended up getting slammed through a mountain. When she landed on the other side, she tried to fly off, but her wings wouldn’t respond. She looked back and saw that they had several rocks stuck in them, and had fragments of bone sticking out. She tried to get up and run, but was unable to do that, as her knees felt like water, preventing her from moving. The lurodea climbed over the mountain and grabbed Twilight in its pincer. Twilight immediatly tried blasting the eye in its mouth with her magic beam, but when she fired, the lurodea's eye released an odd pink energy, which formed a barrier between the eye and Twilight's beam. Once Twilight's magic hit the barrier, the beam immediatly reflected off of it, returning the attack back to Twilight at full force. Twilight was resistant to magic, so she was able to endure the attack, but it still caused her quite a bit of pain. With no way to fight the creature off anymore, Twilight closed her eyes and cringed in anticipation of the sharp teeth. Instead, however, she felt a prick on her back. She tried to open her eyes to see what it was, but was unable to move any part of her body, even her eyelids, almost immediately after the sting. She realized she’d been hit by venom, then blacked out. The lurodea let off a satisfied screech and prepared to chomp down on its incapacitated prey, when it suddenly felt a heavy force from the side, almost like it got hit by a train! It glanced to the right and saw Rainbow Dash, giving it a full speed kick. The force of the impact was enough to flip the creature over, temporarily rendering it immobile. Rainbow Dash immediately grabbed Twilight and flew to the hospital at top speed. When she got there, she told the nurse at the desk why Twilight was being taken in, (The nurse already knew why) and rushed back to put that monster in its place. Rainbow charged straight for the lurodea’s giant back eye. Unfortunatly for her, the lurodea saw her coming from a mile away, and launched magic spheres to counter Rainbow. Once again, Rainbow tried to outmaneuver these balls, but was not successful. Just like last time, they hit her like a truck, launching her toward the ground. This time however, Rainbow recovered before colliding with the ground and flew straight at the monster. Despite her ‘brilliant’ ‘strategy’, she got swatted aside like a bug. After a bit more fighting, (which basically involved Rainbow getting knocked around) the lurodea grabbed Rainbow Dash in its pincers. The lurodea once again prepared the venom to knock out Rainbow, but before it could prick her, Fluttershy came in and kicked the pincer as hard as she could. It wasn’t nearly as strong as Rainbow’s kick, but it was still enough to get the creature to open its claw, releasing Rainbow Dash. Rainbow flew over to Fluttershy and said, “Thanks for the help. How do we take this thing down?” “Without magic, there’s only one chance. We’ll have to try using The Stare.” “The Stare? But by the time you’ll be able to get that going, it’ll have grabbed you and probably poisoned you.” “Probably, which is why we’re going to have to knock it over first.” “How are we going to do that?” “Just hit it where I do, eventually it’ll flip.” “Ok, Fluttershy.” Said Rainbow, as the duo soared down at the lurodea. The lurodea was clearly getting sick of the duo’s resilience, and as a result had started chasing them around with the intent of grabbing them, as opposed to using magic. This was just what the pegasi wanted, as they flew around in patterns that made the creature dizzy. After several figure eight intersecting runs, the lurodea started stumbling about from the dizziness. At that moment, Fluttershy slammed into the monster’s side, knocking its balance off. Rainbow followed suit, and slammed the lurodea in the same spot, not only flipping it over but also breaking a bit of the armor like skin that was in that spot. At that point, Fluttershy walked right up to its mouth, and stared the eye in its mouth down. At first, the creature seemed to be immune, as it still frantically struggled to get up. After about a minute though, the lurodea caved in and closed its eye, shaking in fear. Fluttershy then flew to its tails, and tore off the two bulges on them. The second she pulled out the second one, she saw a green energy flow out of the lurodea, floating away into the breeze. After this energy had completely left, Fluttershy got Rainbow to help her right the creature up. Once they had flipped it back over, the lurodea immediately burrowed into the ground and fled. The two pegasi gave each other a hug of relief, but then remembered that there were still several ponies close to them in the hospital! Rainbow rushed to the hospital at top speed, with Fluttershy following close behind. When Rainbow got to the hospital, she burst in and requested to see the affected immediately. The nurse said to go right ahead, but warned her that the chances of her friends being revived were pretty slim, considering that lurodea poisonings are so rare. With those encouraging words, Rainbow walked into the sick wing. When she entered, she saw more or less what she expected: about fifteen ponies in hospital beds, some awake, some knocked out. She looked around a bit, but wasn’t able to find Twilight. She did find the CMC however, and went over to check on them. When she got in close, she found that the three of them were in various states of disrepair. Applebloom was completely passed out. Sweetie Belle had her eyes open, but was unable to move anything else, so she just lied in her bed, not even blinking. It was creepy to say the least. Lastly, there was Scootaloo, who looked like she was struggling to keep her eyes open. She was able to move her lips, but apparently couldn’t move her tounge, so no sound came out of her. Of the three, she seemed like she was the least affected by the venom. She waved Rainbow down and started mouthing something. “Ummm, could you repeat that?” asked Rainbow. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and pointed to her lips, while mouthing out the phrase “I can’t talk, so read my lips.” It took a bit, but Rainbow finally figured out what she was saying. “Ok then, Scootaloo, what did you want to say?” asked Rainbow. Scootaloo began mouthing out the phrase, “Did you take that scorpion thing down?” “Yeah, it won’t be bothering us anymore.” Scootaloo mouthed yes, then mouthed out, “Was you defeating that monster super awesome like always?” “Actually, Fluttershy was the one who stopped it, and saved me from suffering its venom.” “Oh. Well, you were still awesome anyway” Mouthed Scootaloo, as she offered a hoof bump for Rainbow. Rainbow returned it, and then asked, “By the way, have you seen where Twilight is being kept?” Scootaloo nodded, and then mouthed the phrase, “I saw her being rolled past this room, toward the left. I think I heard the doctors say in C-…” “C what?” asked Rainbow. Scootaloo was holding her mouth in her hooves, trying to get it to move, but was unable to. Right afterwards, Scootaloo passed out completely. “SCOOTALOO!!!” yelled Rainbow Dash, after which she got some evil eyes from the staff there. “Oh right, quiet voice” Rainbow said, blushing a bit. Rainbow immediately exited the room and went to the C wing. In it were 2 open wards: C-4, which had a lot of cots in it, most of them full, and C-2, which seemed pretty empty. Curious as to why a ward would be that empty after a giant monster attack, Rainbow entered C-2, and instantly saw why it was so empty. Inside this room was Twilight Sparkle, and nopony else (aside from a pair of nurses). The reason she was in a lone room? Rainbow could only guess it was due to the fact that Twilight was royalty. True, the way that she ended up becoming royalty was rather unusual, but she was still a princess regardless, and as such would probably get special treatment. Rainbow rushed over to Twilight, who wasn’t moving. She had a pulse, so she was obviously still alive, but she didn’t move an inch. She was either asleep, or paralyzed. Rainbow nudged her friends arm, causing Twilight’s right eye to open up halfway. Nothing else moved, so Rainbow guessed that she was asleep, but paralyzed everywhere except for that eye. The eye glanced toward Rainbow, and once it saw her, the other eye opened up and her mouth changed into a smile. 'Well, at least her eyes and mouth can move alright.' Rainbow thought to herself. “Rainbow…” Twilight weakly uttered. “Twilight…” said Rainbow. “Lurodea…?” Twilight asked weakly, apparently unable to say more than one word at a time. “We got rid of it. And yeah, it was under the influence of magic.” Rainbow responded. “Dead…?” “No, Fluttershy released it from its corruption with her stare. We had to flip it over first though.” “Fluttershy…?” “She’s just fine. We both got out of that without getting stung.” “Good…” Twilight weakly replied. After she'd answered, the duo sat in silence, with only the sound of the heart beat monitor providing solace relief from the unbearable quiet. After about fifteen seconds of this, Rainbow decided to continue talking. “So... how have you been holding up?” she asked. Once Twilight heard the question, her eyelids drooped downward, forming a cynical expression. “Really…?” Twilight asked in a mildly annoyed tone. Rainbow cringed. Twilight was right; that was a stupid question. “Are you gonna make it, Twi?” Rainbow asked. Twilight then seemed to struggle to make her head move. It wasn’t working. Twilight looked a bit annoyed, and used her magic to grab her head and shake it slowly back and forth. She wouldn't... Rainbow just stared. She felt a myriad of tears building up in her eyes, but oddly enough, not a single tear fell. That was when Rainbow noticed that Twilight’s horn was glowing. Twilight was holding back Rainbow’s tears. She then grabbed them with that same magic, and moved them to the sink. "Don't..." urged Twilight weakly. “Wait a minute, you still have your magic?” “Yep…” “In that case, why don’t you just use a healing spell on yourself to get out of this mess?” Twilight rolled her eyes and pointed them toward the nurses. Rainbow went to the nurses and asked why. “She can’t use a healing spell because there are no healing spells” Said the nurse on the right. “Th-there aren’t?” Rainbow asked, clearly unable to comprehend that. “No there aren’t.” said the nurse on the left “Although that is a common misconception.” “B-b-b-but…” “Think about it, Rainbow.” Said the nurse on the right, “If unicorns did have healing spells, then why in all of Equestria would earth ponies and pegasi be allowed to work in a hospital?” She had a point. Rainbow walked back to Twilight. She wanted desperately to say something else to her, but had no clue what to say. “Look…” said Twilight, before her mouth shut, unable to open. Rainbow Dash looked around the room but saw nothing of interest. “Look at what, Twilight?” Twilight picked up a nearby poster via levitation, and handed it to Rainbow. Rainbow grabbed it out of the air and looked over it. It was an odd chart with a bunch of letters on it. Rainbow thought for a second, then realized that Twilight was trying to tell Rainbow to look into her eyes. Rainbow rushed over and looked deeply into Twilight’s eyes. In her eyes she saw a lot of feelings: fear, compassion, acceptance, sadness, and pride, just to name a few. Rainbow looked a little deeper, and then was hit with the strangest phenomenon. It was almost like she could see what Twilight was thinking just by gazing into her eyes. Rainbow stared deeply, and saw her eyes say the following: “Rainbow, I just wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done. You and the others have done wonders to open me up from the mare I once was. You all taught me how important friendship is, and each in unique ways. You are the reason I got my cutie mark in the first place. You were more than willing to give up on your dream of being a Wonderbolt when their moral values clashed with yours. You stood up to Gilda when she started to take offense at us, and you had the maturity to know when to push others to their limits, and when to back off. Granted, you were not perfect, but then again, no friend is. Speaking from an egghead to an egghead, a true friend is someone who thinks you’re a good egg, even though they know you’re a little cracked. I will always be in debt to you and the others to opening my eyes to what friendship is. I only have one wish for you. This also goes for Fluttershy; take care of each other. You two have been friends since before you got your cutie marks, and I believe that both of you would do anything for the other. I probably don’t have much time left in this world, but you two still have your whole lives left. Don’t look at me and the others in terms of who you’ve lost, instead be glad you have any friends left. Remember us, but don’t get caught up in the past. That’s all I ask of you. Thank you for everything, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow didn’t say anything, and tried her hardest not to tear up. She backed up a bit, looked over Twilight, and threw her arms around Twilight, taking special care not to touch her wings, as they were still badly damaged. “I’m sorry. I… I wasn’t fast enough… to save you” Said Rainbow Dash, as she tried to keep her tears at bay. Twilight used her horn to levitate her arms around Rainbow, completing the hug. Suddenly, Rainbow heard a fizzling sound. She looked up and saw that Twilight’s horn was sputtering out. Then, the light in her horn just went out. Twilight’s eyelids slowly shut, and Rainbow started to walk out of the ward. Once she had taken her first step outside of the ward, she heard that all too familiar tone sound again. She tried her hardest not to cry. She had to keep strong. Rainbow walked back to the ward with the CMC. She was about to enter the ward when she bumped into a pink maned pony. “Sorry!” they both said at the same time. Rainbow then looked up and saw that it was Fluttershy who she’d bumped into. Fluttershy did the same. The duo got up, and looked into each other’s eyes. Both eyes had the same look; a look that was clearly very sad, but was trying its hardest to not show any tears. They both knew that the other’s eyes almost never showed that, and they instantly wondered what was wrong with the other. “Why did you come from over there, Rainbow Dash?” asked Fluttershy, pointing to the hall Rainbow came from, then to the door at the entrance “The only entrance and exit accessible to visitors is over there” “Well, I was talking to Scootaloo, sort of, when I asked her where Twilight was. She managed to mouth out ‘C’ before she passed out. I went to the C wing and found Twilight. I checked on her, then came back here to check on the CMC.” “Can you tell me how it went?” Fluttershy asked “Well, her eyes very clearly showed her last wish was for the two of us to look out for one another; not to look at who we’ve lost, but to instead focus on who we have left.” “Does that mean…” “Yes, Twilight didn’t make it.” “…” “How are the CMC?” “…They’re gone…” “W…Wh….Wha…?” “All three of them have been taken out by that venom…” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked up at one another and just started crying. It was just too much for them to take… The next day, they had the funeral. At Fluttershy and Rainbow’s request, the CMC and Twilight’s funerals would be one in the same. In addition, Fluttershy managed to convince the burial pony to bury the CMC side by side, in line with the rest of the Mane six. Fluttershy and Rainbow looked out at the crowd, which consisted of more ponies than either of them could’ve imagined. Everypony in Equestria, including Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, and even Discord were here for this event. It was understandable enough why so many came though. A princess had just died. That’s gonna attract a pretty sizeable funeral audience. Not to mention, the CMC attracted a few more families who may not know Twilight very well, but do have a close relationship to one of the three cutie mark crusaders. The two pegasi just looked at each other. It was clear that they both just wanted this funeral to end as quickly as possible. After a while, it did. As usual, after it was over, the mayor asked if there were any who’d like to donate something. This resulted in a ton of ponies swarming the coffins, each having something for one of the four deceased on show. In the commotion, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew to their homes to get their items. When they came back, the lines were almost empty. Rainbow and Fluttershy waited for everyone else to finish before adding their items. Fluttershy went first. First, she went to the CMC. In each of their coffins, she placed a red and blue cape, which Rainbow recognized as part of the CMC outfit. When she got to Twilight’s coffin, she placed a small photo in and immediately flew away. Then Rainbow Dash went. She started with Twilight’s coffin. Inside it, she placed a crayon drawing she presumably made. On it, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were flying together, smiling as they performed their signature styles of sonic booms. She placed it in and whispered something into Twilight’s ear. She then went over to Scootaloo’s coffin. She pulled out a medal shaped like a six pointed star and placed it around Scootaloo’s neck. She then flew off to join Fluttershy. The two of them just hovered in midair as they watched the burial begin. While it was happening, Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash and asked, “What was the medal from?” “It was the first medal I’d ever earned. I won it the day I first performed my Sonic Rainboom. I hope it’ll allow her to fly away from her sorrow…” said Rainbow Dash in a very blank voice, as if she was trying to avoid showing any emotion, for fear of bursting into tears. By the time Rainbow had finished speaking, the burial was done and most of the audience went away. The only ones who stayed were Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor. Rainbow and Fluttershy flew to the ground to join them. The six of them just stared at Twilight’s tombstone, which read, “Here lies Princess Twilight Sparkle. The magic of friendship made her complete. Sadly, the magic of friendship couldn’t fix everything… 1996-2017” The Mane two then walked over to look at the CMC graves. Unlike the Mane six graves, these graves were pretty plain, just showing an RIP, a name, and the years (all of them said 2006-2017). They looked at those for a moment, then walked back to join the four who were still staring at Twilight’s grave. After some staring, the four royal figures stepped up and payed their last respects. Shining Armor went first. He put a hoof on the grave and started singing a depressing song. Instantly, Rainbow and Fluttershy recognized the tune. They thought for a moment and remembered where they heard it. This was like that song that Twilight sung when she first heard about her brother’s wedding. The only differences were the lyrics, and the fact that this one made them both tear up. After he finished, he bowed his head, clearly trying to hold back his tears. Cadence walked up to him and put a hoof around his shoulder. While doing that, Cadence levitated a piece of paper with some writing on it, and placed it under the dirt of the grave. “I hope you never forget those words.” Said Cadence. Luna was next. Or she would be next, if she had anything she wanted to say or do. Luna insisted that she didn’t (even though her expression told a very different story) and moved it on to Princess Celestia. Celestia took a few steps toward the tomb and kneeled down. With tears in her eyes, she lowered her horn down and touched the grave with it. Instantly, the cutie mark symbol that was embossed into the grave started glowing with a light pink light, as the rest of the grave lit up with a lavender color. Celestia took one final look at the grave and motioned for Luna to come with her. Luna complied and the two of them flew off, both releasing tears. Cadence and Shining Armor were about to teleport away, but were stopped by Rainbow Dash. “Wait!” said Rainbow. The duo did just that, and Cadence asked what was wrong. “Well, quite a few things are wrong, but that’s not important. I have a question, Cadence.” Cadence tilted her head and said, “Ask away.” “What was written on that piece of paper?” “Some words that mean a lot to both her and myself.” “What might those words be?” “It said the following: ‘Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!’” said Cadence. Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other, confused about what that meant. “What does that even mean?” they asked in unison. “It’s something that’s important only for Twilight and myself. To everypony else, it’ll seem like incoherent nonsense.” “Umm, OK then” was the pegasi’s response. After hearing that, Cadence and Shining Armor teleported away, leaving just the Mane two to think about the situation. They sat there for a moment, staring at the graves, before Fluttershy started up a conversation: “Hey Rainbow, do you remember when we first defeated Nightmare Moon?” asked Fluttershy. “Of course I remember that, Fluttershy. Why?” “Well, that was when the magic of friendship revealed itself to us all, right?” “It was.” “Well, I have to wonder one thing.” “What might that be?” “Now that the element of magic is gone…” began Fluttershy, “Does that mean that friendship no longer has magic?” Rainbow Dash spun her head toward Fluttershy. She said, “No, there’s still magic in friendship!!” Once she finished saying it, she realized that no noise had come out of her lips. Apparently, she just couldn’t say. “Is…is friendship just a word, nothing more?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow tried to answer in words, but just couldn’t. It was like her mouth was refusing to answer. Fluttershy started crying, and hugged Rainbow Dash as hard as she could. “I…I just don’t know anymore, Rainbow…I just don’t know…” Rainbow returned the hug and shed some tears of her own. Was Fluttershy right on this? Was the magic of friendship truly dead? Was friendship just a word now? Rainbow truly wanted to answer no to those questions, she really did, but somehow she just couldn’t answer. “I wasn’t fast enough…” was the only thing that ran through her mind. Fluttershy and Rainbow then said one thing in unison that summed up everything: "I just don’t know anymore…I just don’t know…” To be continued…