Sometimes Death Is Not The End

by Intet22

Chapter 1: All The Days Remain The Same

“The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it.” ~ Mary Catherine Bateson

---

Rainbow Dash awoke with a yawn, lifting the white silk sheets up with her as she sat up in the bed. It had only been a couple of months since the incident happened and ever since that day she never got much sleep. The little sleep that she did get was often fraught with nightmares of that fateful night, the events constantly replaying every time she felt herself finally beginning to relax underneath the warm covers. With a small stretch, Rainbow got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror with lost intent. The memories of that tragic night poked at her subconsciousness once more, this time more insistent than usual.

Often the thoughts would reside in her mind for a couple of days but at least once a week, they would rise back up and force themselves to be known. Sometimes Rainbow would win the internal struggle, pushing the painful memories back into the dark crevasse they crawled out from, but today it seemed to be a battle that she wouldn’t win. With a defeated sigh Rainbow closed her eyes and let the thoughts replay themselves as they saw fit.

---

“Why are you here Sombra?” Applejack asked as she took a couple of steps into the Everfree.

“Me?” Sombra said as he pressed a hoof to his chest. “You really think that I would give up so easily after you banished me from the Crystal Empire? Just simply retreat to the shadows, never to arise once more? Foolish creatures! I shall exact my revenge for you six making a mockery out of me. First I will destroy you, and then there shall be nothing stopping me from ruling this wretched home of yours with an iron hoof.” Sombra let out a evil laugh, the vile chuckle echoing ominously throughout the dark forest. “So many fresh new slaves, all just waiting for somepony to rule over them!”

“We will defeat you Sombra,” Twilight said with a stomp of her hoof. “We’ve stopped you once before and we will do so again.”

“You truly think that you miserable excuses for ponies can stop me?” Sombra said, his voice dripping with malicious intent. “You ponies? The ones who had to give up the Elements of Harmony just to save some poor and pathetic tree. Don’t make me laugh.” Sombra raised his hooves into the air, a thick dark green magical coating spreading its way across the black limbs as they rose up. With a thunderous slam back to the ground, the magic surged into the soft earth below, sending a violent quake of pure energy through the ground towards the six. Within moments, columns of dark crystals erupted from the ground extending clear into the dark sky above. The sky began to pollute with a dark set of magical clouds, completely blacking out any source of light that remained.

“Your damn right we’ll stop you,” Rainbow said, her voice full of courage.

“Very well,” Sombra said with an evil smile. “Lets see how long you last!” Dark energy released from Sombra’s horn, roaring towards the six with murderous intent. Both Twilight and Rarity stepped forward, and a magical force field erupted from the center of their horns, completely covering the six in its protective embrace. The spells blasted the shield with a thunderous strike, causing the shield to flex uncontrollably from the shear force of the blast. After moments the energy blasts detonated, leaving behind a thick cloud of black smoke in their wake.

A cyan coloured blur shot out from behind the forcefield and immediately made its way towards Sombra, leaving behind the signature rainbow coloured contrail as it soared. With minimal effort, Sombra ducked underneath Rainbow as she flew overhead. However the pegasus was not ready to be beat by such a simple maneuver as she abruptly turned back towards her target. This time Rainbow’s hoof connected with it’s target, sending Sombra flying back into one of the dark crystal pillars behind him.

“Impressive,” Sombra said as he freed himself from the indentation that he made in the crystal column upon impact. “Your flying abilities are truly something to be respected.” A surge of black energy bubbled from Sombra’s horn and dissipated in a flash as five dark swords materialized in front of the evil tyrant. “However it doesn’t matter anymore.” With an deceptive smile, Sombra sent one of the blades flying towards Rainbow. The magical blade whizzed past Rainbow’s head, missing her skull by mere inches. Rainbow looked over at Sombra with a cocky smile.

“Ha! You couldn’t hit the front side of a-” Rainbow words were stopped short as she heard the sound of the blade piercing through soft flesh behind her.

“Foolish pegasus!” Sombra said with maniacal laugh. “Why would I aim for you, when killing the pony behind you would be all the more satisfying.” Rainbow spun around and let a scream of pure sorrow escape her lungs. Twilight stood there with a dumbfounded expression as she gazed at the blade that now had wedged perfectly into her chest. A couple of moments of silence hung in the world, and then Twilight collapsed. Instinctively Rainbow flew as fast as she could and grabbed Twilight before she could hit the ground.

“No no no,” Rainbow panically said as she stared at the blade. “Not here, not now.”

---

The playback of that night abruptly ended with a bright flash, snapping Rainbow back into the rather bland room. With a wing, Rainbow grabbed the brush and ran a couple of passes through the unruly bed head of a mane that sporadically lay across her face. After some simple movements, her mane fell into its normal style.

“Well…” Rainbow thought to herself as she placed the brush back its rightful location. “I’ve got the day off, but that doesn’t really mean that much anymore.” Rainbow craned her head to look out the small window in the room. The pristine sky lay in front of her, completely pure in every sense of the word, but something always different to Rainbow ever since that day.

“All the days since then have been the same… There is nothing to look forward to any more. I haven’t seen Flutters or Pinkie Pie in three weeks, and Applejack and Rarity are doing Celestia knows what right now.” Rainbow stood in the room for a couple of moments before her wings gave a small twitch, their eagerness to fly making itself known. Well I guess it looks like I’m going out for a little bit.

With a simple robotic motion Rainbow walked out of bathroom, and proceeded to grab some small fruit from the kitchen before she took off into the sky, absently flying with no clear destination in mind. After that terrible night many weeks ago, she had started to distance herself from her friends, constantly isolating herself more and more each day, eventually reaching the point to where she wouldn't talk to anypony else. Everyday had fallen into the same old routine. Wake up, go to work, grab something to eat, and then head back home to wait until the day started over once again. Day in, day out, the same thing every time, but she didn't know what else to do.

The first couple of days after Twilight's death had been the worst for her. During that time Rainbow had never once gone out from her home, she could not accept that Twilight was gone... She refused to accept it... Everyday she would sit in her room, patiently waiting for Twilight to barge through her front door and tell her everything would be all right, that it was all a bad dream. But deep down she knew that she was gone and that she would never be coming back no matter how hard she wished for it.

After a couple of moments passively flying through the empty Ponyville skies Rainbow looked around and noticed that she was overtop of Ponyville Hospital. With minimal effort, Rainbow glided down towards the large building, and landed softly in front of the doors. For moments she sat there, staring at the building as the memories started to poke and prod their way through her mind once more.

“It looks like it is going to be one of those days,” Rainbow thought to herself. “Each time I finally think that I am starting to get over it, shit like this happens and all the memories come flooding back at once.” Rainbow let out an exhausted sigh. “Whatever… Let’s just get this over with so I can move on with this miserable day.” Rainbow sat and closed her eyes, and let the world around her slowly disappear once more. “Well come on, I don’t have all day.”

---

Drip… Drip… Drip...

“Come on Twilight,” Rainbow said to the unresponsive purple body that lay motionless across her back. Twilight’s hooves were stretched across Rainbow’s neck, loosely dangling back and forth with each step that Rainbow made through the Everfree Forest. Each step felt sent a bolt of pain up Rainbow’s body, but she continued to walk through it, not slowing down in the slightest. The only sound that filled the forest was the sound of Rainbow’s voice, and the faint sound of droplets of Twilight’s blood falling onto the soft forest floor below.

“We’re almost to Ponyville,” Rainbow said through the pain. Twilight sleepily shuffled on Rainbow’s back as she tried to say something in return, but no words would leave her mouth no matter how hard she tried. Mustering all the strength, Twilight craned her neck over towards the deep gash that lay open across her midsection. The wound was bleeding profusely and it didn’t take the smartest pony to know what inevitably was going to happen. Twilight gaged the width of the wound, and felt her face curl in smile as she did some small calculations in her head.

“About 30% already,” Twilight weakly thought to herself as Rainbow continued to walk. The loss of blood had already started to take it’s toll on her body. “Thoughts are getting scrambled, heart rate starting to compensate for the loss, and my body is starting to go into shock.” Twilight mentally laughed at herself as the thoughts entered her head. “I guess that medical textbook wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

“Just a little bit further Twilight,” Rainbow said the exhaustion clear in her voice.

“You know…” Twilight thought to herself. “I can’t really say that I’m disappointed with how this turned out. Sure I don’t want to die yet, and there is so much that I still want to do. But I’ve had a good life. I’ve meant so many ponies in my life, and done so many things that other ponies wouldn’t even dream was possible. I helped free Luna from the clutches of Nightmare Moon, repelled an Ursa Minor from attacking Ponyville, and became the first unicorn first ever ascend to an alicorn.”

Twilight nestled her head right next to Rainbow’s neck, an unfolding wing meant Twilight’s chin halfway as she rested her head on the makeshift pillow.

“She’s so soft… Like the feeling of a newborn foal. Why didn’t I do this before? All of those days thinking about asking her out, and never able to work up the courage to get the words out whenever she was around.” Twilight let out a sigh and let her body begin to relax as her head bobbed in perfect rhythm with Rainbow’s walking. With her last amount of strength Twilight tried to keep her eyes open but it was a losing battle. “I am glad to know that all of those dreams that I had were not wrong… And maybe if I had actually been able to ask her, she might have said yes…”

With those last thoughts, Twilight let out a sigh as she accepted the path that now lay in front of her with open arms. Mustering the last bit of strength, Twilight nestled her head deeper into the makeshift pillow that Rainbow had made for her and smiled. She felt the control starting to leave her body inch by inch. The soft sound of Rainbow’s hoofsteps seemed to be getting further and further away each and every moment that passed. The trees around her began to fade into black as her eyes began to close. Every passing moment felt like hours to Twilight, but oddly enough she felt truly at peace as the world around her continued to slip into darkness. Twilight let one final quiet chuckle escape from her mouth, and closed her eyes for the last time.

However, Rainbow continued to walk towards the hospital, absently talking with Twilight’s dead body as she continued to walk completely unaware that her friend had passed away moments ago. “Once we get you to the hospital you will be alright Twilight, the doctors there will be able to fix you up and you’ll be reading those lame books again in no time… Just hang on for a little while longer.”

Now standing in front of the hospital, Rainbow could feel her hooves starting to give from the shear effort that had been placed upon them, but she still continued to walk until well in through the front door of the hospital. A small brown nurse stuck her head from underneath the desk that she sat at, a wave of complete shock washing over her face as Rainbow walked in the hallway. The pegasus was covered from head to hoof in scrapes and cuts. As Rainbow stood still in the hallway her and Twilight’s blood softly dripped onto the pearl white tile floor below. With a couple more steps into the hospital, Rainbow collapsed onto the floor, the exhaustion that had been placed on her body finally winning against her willpower. The unknown brown mare shot out from behind the desk and tried to help Rainbow up, but the combined weight of the two ponies proved to be much to handle on her own.

“Don’t worry about me…” Rainbow said, panting heavily from the exhaustion. Rainbow craned her head up towards Twilight the best she could. “Help Twilight first…” The brown mare shot a confused look at Rainbow, and then at the purple body that lay draped over her back. Twilight lay there perfectly still, no distinguishable signs of life at all. With a careful movement, the nurse slipped her hoof underneath Twilight’s midsection and pulled her off Rainbow’s back. As she laid her head to Twilight’s chest, no sound emanated from the alicorn’s chest. No breathing… No heartbeat… Just silence…

---

Rainbow shook her head, snapping her mind back into reality as the memories began to retreat into the dark corners of her mind. With a heavy sigh she turned from the hospital and began to walk down the main road back into town. With no clear destination, Rainbow just walked through the busy streets. Ponies smiled at Rainbow as she walked by, some of them taking time to ask how she was doing. However Rainbow mostly ignored them as she continued to walk through the busy crowds, until she stopped at the library. She stood there for minutes, just staring at the building, thinking back to the old times that she missed. All of the times that she had stayed at the library and simply read with the egghead for hours on end. Back then it seemed so minor, but now Rainbow would give anything to be able to relive those moments once more.

Rainbow walked up to the door, and proceed to walk into the library. As she looked around the library, Rainbow felt terrible on how bad the library had slipped with nopony to look after it. A thick layer of dust covered every book in a dull grey coat, something that would have never happened when Twilight was around.

After Twilight's death, Spike didn't want to live in the library any more. Everyone begged him to stay, but he always said that there were too many memories that came with the old home. Rainbow couldn’t blame him, if it would have been her she would have done the same thing in heartbeat.

“Hey...” Rainbow softly said, her voice quietly echoing through the empty room. “I know you aren't here any more, but I just wanted to let you know that things are going alright at least.” A tear started to make it's way down Rainbow's face. She knew that nopony was listening to her, but it felt right to talk about the current state of everything. All of that pent up emotion that Rainbow had tried to keep inside finally had enough of being ignored, and now it was time to let it all out. Deep down she had a little hope that Twilight was still able to hear her, wherever she might be now.

“I heard from Spike a couple of weeks ago... He seems to be doing well from what I can tell. After you died, he moved out and went to stay with Princess Celestia. Apparently he now works as a royal messenger. In his last letter to me, he mentioned that he was just in the Griffon Kingdom, meeting with the Griffon King, on Celestia's behalf.” Rainbow let out a little chuckle, as tears continued to roll down her face. “He has really grown up in the past month, Twi... I know it would make you proud on how well he has grown up without you.”

“I still wish you were here though.” Rainbow managed to say through her sobbing. “You helped bring us together, and it doesn't really feel the same without you. Everytime I wake up, something just seems like it’s missing from the day. Without you here everything just seems to be blending into the same old thing everyday. Everything seems duller, nothing’s filled with the same bright life that you seemed to bring out of everypony… I don’t know how you did it, but everypony just never seemed to be the same afterwards.”

A book flew off of the shelf, landing with an extremely loud thud that radiated throughout the empty library. Rainbow looked down at the book that had landed at her hooves, and felt her face curl up in a smile as she picked up the novel. Emblazoned across the novel's cover was a picture of Daring Do swinging on a vine, a priceless artifact nestled safely underneath her wing. Rainbow clearly remembered the book. It was the last one that she had read with Twilight, just a couple of days before they had set out to fight against Sombra’s resurgence.

With a simple push of the book’s dusty cover, Rainbow opened the book up and a small picture fell out from between the pages. Rainbow looked down at the picture that now lay sitting peacefully on her lap, and wave of happiness washed over her. The picture was a simple sketch of Rainbow and Twilight sitting in the library, a large book levitated in front of Twilight, while Rainbow had her head laid on Twilight’s side. Both mares were smiling in the picture, seemingly enjoying each other’s company more than the literature that lay open in front of them. Sitting in the corner of the pristine sketch, in complete perfect penmanship, lay Twilight’s signature, with a small note underneath.

Maybe dreams do come true…

Rainbow sat in the middle of library for minutes, never saying a single word as she sat and stared at the simple sketch. With one last long look, Rainbow pulled the picture close to her chest and began to sob.

“Why didn’t you tell me Twi?” Rainbow said through the tears that rolled down her face.

Author's Note:

Well this has been sitting in my unpublished stuff for a long time now, so here you go. The original idea was to release Chapters 1 and 2 together as a set because they are directly related to each other and happen at the same time, but after Monkhm suggested a really go way to take the story, I will have to do some creative exploring to decide where this is going to go. Both paths that the story has are similar in some regards, but different in others... So you will have to wait a little bit for the second chapter as it will dictate how this story will unfold.

Anyway... Hope you enjoyed the chapter! As always feel free to leave behind any questions, criticism, or other comment that you wish, and I will definitely get back to it once it pops up. I am off to try to figure out which way I want to go. Although I might be annoying my editors a bit. So hopefully we can be a little bit more decisive with the chapters after the second.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

What is a "bus commute story"?

[Intet22]

4468447 Well due to the annoying bus system that is Ottawa, I have a lot of time on the city bus between home and work everyday. It's really annoying to be honest because I usually get up around 6:30 to start the day... Anyway, the bus commute story thing. Most, if not all of the chapters that will be published will be written during my trips to and from work using the memo app on my phone. It is a pain in the rear as each memo has a 1500 character cap on it, but it beats just sitting there and watching the same scenery go by.

A Gift From The Heart was also wrote solely on the bus as well, so I figured why not mention it.

[TheCreativeWonderDash]

This is too good! The feels in this story
Why must this make me cry???
I'm loving this.... I can't wait to read more of this!!!!

[Intet22]

4468826 Hurray mission accomplished! But in all seriousness I am glad you like the story, and hopefully the next chapters will live up to the standard this one seems to have set with the first couple of people that have read it. Still don't know where I am going with it, but that is half the fun

[TheCreativeWonderDash]

4468858 Yup, when writing it can go any direction,
And of course the other chapters will be as great as this chapter!!!

[Deep_Thought]

4468468
whoa whoa whoa. Hold up sec, your using the memo app? Why? Most phones come with quick office already installed. With quick office you don't have a page limit and can easily upload the files onto google drive, hassle free... just an FYI.

[Intet22]

4478341 Huh did not know that. Not even in the slightest... Yeah I have been using the memo app cause my phone is an old Galaxy and I never really use it that often, so I never thought to look for other apps that would work.

[Ribe_FireRain]

The feels that it gives me. Makes me think of many sad things in reality. From my great-granddad dying, to Ryan Dunn's death in his Porsche. javascript:smilie('');

[Intet22]

4537588 Sorry for the feels, but in terms of what the chapter was aiming for it sounds like it hit square on the head. Hopefully the next chapter lives up to the nature of the first... When I get finished reworking it at least. Too bad this story is getting a little under-shadowed at the moment

[49616e]

nice story:)

[Tenth]

I might start my Dramatic Reading 'Career' at this story.
Amazing story and I hope to see the next chapter up in my feed sometime soon, (No pressure.)

-Hardc0r3Br0n3

[Intet22]

4781067 I got a long co-op report to write in the near future so it might take a little while. Chapter 2 is already about half way finished but I put this project on hiatus until my 10 page paper is submitted. So if you don't mind waiting about a month or so... yeah... And damn potential dramatic reading. That is some high praise

[Tenth]

4781435
I would have replied 2 hours ago but
I decided to take a break from FIMFiction and go to some
Brony chat, didn't work out due to my crappy phone.
I really wanna chat with some bronies n stuff bro...

Anyway, A month or two isn't too long, especially for how good this story, and writing, are.
I thought I'd never see the day where another story about colorful ponies would make me cry, and I was proven wrong.
MLD was supposed to be an exception, lol.

Also I really wanna see updates to When a Door closes another opens; but finish the 10 page paper first cause its more important. I'll stay on board with you and I'm sure whatever you have to release is going to be amazing.

-Hardc0r3Br0n3

[Soardash fanfic writer]

This is so sad, I can't stop reading it.

[MidnightInkpaw]

Wait wait wait wait....

However, Rainbow continued to walk towards the hospital, absently talking with Twilight’s dead body as she continued to walk completely unaware that her friend had passed away moments ago.

Rainbow was walking towards the hospital while her friend was half dead?! You could have saved her Dash!!! WHYYYY?!??!

But good story so far

[TwiDasherboop]

Right in the feels….