Four hours later
A light gray hoof knocked on the door to Twili—Spike’s home, the Ponyville library. Rarity felt a pit developing in her stomach when she realized she couldn’t really call it Twilight’s home anymore. The doorknob turned slowly, practically baiting the old pony on with its deliberately meticulous pace before reaching a crescendo, and slamming open with the force of a dropping piano. A massive purple head the size of the mare’s entire body jutted out the door, taking in the images of the outside with its massive eyes.
Rarity shrieked and leaped back, tossing a menagerie of comfort foods and fabrics to knit she’d been carrying up in the air. The purple figure yelped in surprise, and on reflex opened its mouth to let a long tongue snatch up the various objects, wrapping around them like a lasso. Rarity took a few deep breaths, calming her old heart down before it went and burst on her. “Oh, my. Spike. I’m sorry, but I keep forgetting—well, how BIG you’ve gotten!”
The giant purple dragon nodded, grinning as best as he could with his tongue sticking out and mumbled a few words. It didn’t exactly work, and all he got out was a garbled mess and a bit of drool leaking out his open maw. Rarity made a cough to grab his attention, and tried to gesture her hoof towards her own mouth.
“Oh!” Spike finally released the items he’d caught into Rarity’s waiting hooves, and gave a timid little chuckle to himself. “Uh, sorry Rarity! I guess I kind of forget about the size thing sometimes. Hey, uh, you want to come in from the rain?”
KRAKOOM
Rarity nodded once and precisely once as the newest wave of rain flattened her mane into a sopping wet mess. Spike blushed a bit as he made space for her to get through the door. “The other girls got here already; they’re right inside.”
As Rarity retrieved a towel from her saddlebags to dry herself, she couldn’t help but admire how much had changed in the library after all those years. It must have been three times the size as before, and on busy days it was hard to remember that somepony lived there; the whole thing looked halfway to a proper library. Yet, it never seemed to lose that, what could she call it, “rustic” feel? Homey, even. She had always meant to ask Twilight about how she’d managed that. Another little reminder of all the doors that were now closed. Above her, Spike shifted himself to twist around and fit his massive body into the main room, and address a few bookish ponies trying to get his attention. With Twilight retired for an odd ten years now, he’d really grown into the position of head librarian; even with the natural disadvantage of little Spikey-Wikey’s size, as Rarity still insisted on calling him.
The center of the gnarled old tree held a little room with a spiraling staircase heading into the floor beneath her hooves. There was only so far one could build “up” in a tree, magic or not. So instead, the happy mare couple had built a home underground. Rarity descended, all the while wondering to herself how in Equestria they’d decided to live in a place like this. Twilight secluding herself in the dark recesses of the earth with nothing but books and her wife? That, she got. But what had possessed Rainbow Dash to agree to it? It must have been absolutely claustrophobic for the poor girl.
When she reached the end, she found herself in a room not unlike the library; not like it was now, of course. The old library. Back when Rarity and the others will still young, their whole lives ahead of them. Rarity made a “tsk” noise and mentally smacked herself. Thinking like that would just get her depressed again. Applejack had called them here for a reason, and she could guess what it entailed. She needed to be strong for this.
Sure enough, when she went out the staircase exit it was just like she’d walked in the front door of the library, back in the day. Of course, there were differences; the lectern was made of an entirely different wood; and more than a few of the previously empty nooks and crannies of the old place had been filled over the years. Pictures, souvenirs, memories of days gone by. Rarity picked one off of the shelf to her left and looked at it closely.
Yes, she remembered this one; it was Pinkie Pie’s Milleni-Party-Palooza, or whatever the mare had called it. Over the course of a pony’s entire life, on average they’d probably attend about 500 parties, Rarity reckoned. Even put together and host about 50 of them. In less than twenty years, Pinkie had blown those numbers straight out of the water with a mind-boggling thousand. It would only make sense she’d celebrate with another party. They’d all squeezed together tight to fit inside the only empty spot in the building to take that shot. Naturally, Rainbow’s leg was wrapped tight around Twilight’s neck, pulling her even closer, a little peck on the forehead captured in that camera flash. At least two of them hadn’t minded the cramped space.
“Rarity?”
“Oh, goodness!” the purple-maned mare exclaimed, nearly dropping the photo in surprise. Applejack stood no less than two feet away, cocking an eyebrow as she stared. “Um, terribly sorry darling. I just got caught up reminiscing, I suppose.”
Applejack nodded silently and took the photo with a hoof, looking at it herself. Her severe expression softened quickly, and the old farmer smiled as the memories came back. “Hey, Ah remember this one! That was when Pinkie accidentally gave the Cake twins their first taste’a cider, right?”
“Ehehe…” Rarity looked over Applejack to see Pinkie and Fluttershy already mulling about the main room. That was right, Spike had mentioned they were only waiting on her. She felt a bit of heat on her cheeks from embarrassment, and followed Applejack to the center of the room.
“Here we all are!” Pinkie Pie said, in her usual cheery tone. The other ponies didn’t bother to correct her; she knew that was a lie. “So Applejack, what was the big secret we all needed to hide underground to talk about?”
“Ain’t no secret, Pinkie, Ah just thought we could use some privacy.” AJ informed her. “Somethin’ tells me Rainbow won’t be coming back here for a while. An’ Spike promised he’d speak up if he saw her coming, so we’ll be safe to talk. Ah don’t think it’s a big secret that somethin’s up with Rainbow Dash.”
“Of course something’s ‘up’,” Rarity retorted. “Wouldn’t you feel a little, well, crushed on the day of your wife’s funeral?”
“Ah don’t need none’a your smart comments right now, Rarity!” the farmer snorted. “A’course Ah know that. But listen, you’re not understanding what I’m telling ya. After the… the funeral, Ah stuck around at the cemetery.”
“How is Big Macintosh doing?” Fluttershy spoke up. AJ’s coat stiffened on the back of her neck as she realized somepony knew what she was doing up there.
“Oh, uh, erm, he’s fine. Fine.” AJ tried to brush it off casually, but the silliness of her little “visits” caused her a bit more embarrassment than she’d like to express. She shook her head and cleared her thoughts; now wasn’t the time to get her tongue caught like a lovestruck filly. “B-but what Ah was doin’ up there ain’t important. What Ah was trying to say was, I saw Rainbow Dash come back. After everypony else had left. She was crying.”
“Dear, crying is a normal part of grief—“
“Not for her!” Applejack insisted. Rarity took a step back, a bit surprised at how forceful the mare’s shout had been. The country pony realized how mean she was being, and bowed her head. “Rainbow Dash doesn’t cry. Period. Ah know we’re all on the same page that she’ s takin’ it hard, but you don’t get just how hard we’re talkin’. Ah tried calming her down myself, but she got angry, started shouting and ran off. If she ain’t back here yet, then I reckon she ain’t planning on coming back tonight. She said she needed ‘time to think’.”
Rarity bit her lip, and looked a little uncertain of how to proceed. “Applejack, darling, are you sure you aren’t overreacting a bit? Not everypony is as hardy as you are on the inside. If she’s thinking this out, that’s a good thing, right? She’ll get past this.”
“It’s not that she’s thinking that bothers me.” Applejack said. “It’s what she’s thinking about. That right there is what worries me. An’ if we don’t do something, Ah don’t think we’ll like the answer. The poor girl’s broken, I’m tellin’ ya, an’ as her friends it’s our job to do something!” She stamped her hoof into the wooden floor to illustrate her point.
Rarity’s muzzle flexed and twitched a bit as she thought it through. She obviously wasn’t a hundred percent satisfied when she said “I’m sorry. But right now I think trying to force ourselves into this situation will only make Rainbow Dash feel worse about everything. We need to give her a bit of space, like you said, right?”
Applejack sighed. She was afraid Rarity might say that; mostly because she might have been right. There was no guarantee that Rainbow really even needed their help. If she didn’t, wouldn’t getting involved like this just make things worse?
NO, she told herself. That sort of thinking was doomed to failure. Rarity was doing what she felt was best, but she hadn’t seen Rainbow whimpering in the rain, the glaze that had gone over her eyes staring at that grave. How unconfident, how scared she’d sounded when she ran away. All Applejack had ever gotten from trying to deny the truth was a helping of humble pie, courtesy one malicious force of Disharmony. She wasn’t ever going to let that happen again, especially not when the life of a friend was on the line. Her next target was Pinkie Pie. “Sugarcube, you’ve gotta help me here. Your Pinkie Sense has gotta be goin’ off on this one, right?”
“Yes! Or, uh, no! I don’t—I don’t know?” Pinkie replied, only now seeming to realize herself that she honestly did not know. Her eyes bugged out a little as the implications sank in. “I’ve been shaking all day, my tongue’s been twisting all around like this,” she stopped to demonstrate as the muscle managed to tie itself into a knot and thoroughly disturb her friends. “and I’ve got a cold sweat breaking out on my front hooves! But I don’t really know what that one means! I’m not sure if I’m even supposed to do anything; d-do you think a party might help? Rainbow Dash likes parties, right?” Applejack just shook her head and put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder, before pulling her close for a hug. The pink mare looked like she was about to cry.
“Now just hush, Sugarcube; none’a this is your fault, so there’s no need to get so upset with yourself. This is hard on everypony, so don’t fret. Just do what you do best, all right?”
Applejack let her go; Pinkie sniffled and nodded so fast her head was almost a blur. Tears were getting launched in every direction from the speed of her bobbing head, and only stopped when Rarity had enough and wrapped her towel around the pony’s head. Applejack took off her hat for a moment and scratched her head with a free hoof, feeling frustration creep in as they ran out of options. She almost felt guilty as she turned to Fluttershy and asked, “Got any ideas?”
The delicate little mare almost looked like she’d seen a ghost when she was put on the spot like that. Applejack felt a twinge of guilt as she realized how pointless that move was. Fluttershy would do whatever she could to help, but—
“Um, y-yes. I think I have an idea.”
“W-wh-really?” Applejack didn’t mean to sound so, well, shocked at hearing Fluttershy agree to this. “Fluttershy, ya really mean it?”
“Of course.” the yellow pegasus told her, though her tone honestly wasn’t as convincing as it should have been. “I, well, I could have a talk with her. I’m not really sure how much help I could be, but at least I need to try.”
Applejack felt a bit confused, hearing the mare acting so bold—relatively speaking—and couldn’t help but ask “You sure about that, dear? Nopony’s forcing ya, we understand if you don’t wanna.”
“I-I know.” Fluttershy insisted. “It’s just, Rainbow Dash—and, well, Twilight too—have done so much for me over the years. Without them, I wouldn’t have discovered my cutie mark, I wouldn’t have met all of you, and I never would have been brave enough to talk to Caramel. I, um, just think I should try and do something to repay them.”
Applejack couldn’t help but smile as the timid pony tried her hardest to put her thoughts into words. “Ah appreciate it, Fluttershy. Ah’m gonna need all the help Ah can get. But before we can get any of that settled, we’ve still gotta figure out where Rainbow’s run off to.”
Luna’s dark night felt colder than it ever had before. A chill that Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite describe danced up and down her spine as she stared down the trail into Everfree Forest. The ground was still sopping wet from the recently ended storm, but for the moment at least there was respite. The moon high in the sky shined down and gave a precious little light that only carried a short distance into the thick trees. But she wasn’t afraid. Rainbow Dash wasn’t afraid of anything. She just needed to remind herself every now and again. Lately, more often than not. She took a deep breath, and marched into the vegetation.
“Here goes nothing.”