The World Between Us

by Starburst Gleam

The Sorrow

Princess Celestia left the morgue quietly. No one had seen her teleport in, though it gave one pony working there quite a fright.

"Princess Celestia! What are you doing- Oh... Four of the bearers?" The teal stallion recovered from his shock, noticing the four small bodies with Celestia, and recognising them as some of the biggest heros in Equestria.

"Yes. They defeated the Id, but at a great cost." Levitating the bodies to tables, the stallion rushed to find four body bags to hold them until the proper procedures could be undertaken.

"What will be done with the bodies?"

"I will leave that up to their respective families to decide. Thank you for doing this, Mr..."

"Bunker, you Highness."

"Mr. Bunker. Thank you. I'm sure I will be back in a few days. Good night"

"Good night Princess"

Celestia left the morgue saddened. She was no stranger to death. The feeling of grief had not yet sunk in, but the Princess knew it would come. It always did. A few hours, perhaps even a few days. Then it would strike, and the pain of another lost, another she could not save, would hit her full force. She knew it would come again. Four souls lost. Four so dear and close to her.

They had done a great many things, had served Equestria for many years. They had been able to cheer up a group of disaster-stricken ponies by simply being in the room, and their names were known to all. They had had their own lives, their own families, their own futures.

Cut short.

Applejack would miss her sister's wedding.

Fluttershy would never return to her beloved animals, or Discord.

Pinkie Pie would not see the twins sixteenth birthday party. Nor would she get to plan it.

Rarity's daughter would not remember her mother.

Four lives had been taken, but many more had been affected. Their families, the two other Bearers, the whole of Equestria. Celestia wondered briefly about the Tree of Harmony, the day she had come there and heard a voice. A voice who claimed to be a previous Bearer of Laughter.

She wondered briefly if she were still there. If the others were too.

But first she had to figure out how to tell Equestria four of their greatest heros had died, saving them all.

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Princess Luna teleported to the door of the Castle of Friendship. She looked up at the castle, which was basically a library with a throne room and some basic ammenities added in. She had decided to inform Twilight's and Rainbow Dash's family first. But now that she was here, she was not sure she could go through with it.

But she had to. So she knocked. It had barely been thirty seconds when a familiar purple dragon answered, yawning.

"Oh, hey Luna! How you been... You okay? You look more serious than usual," Spike's eyes widened, "Is it the Id? Is Twilight in trouble?"

"The Id is defeated, but-"

"Oh, thank Celestia. Wait, what's the but?" A frown crossed Spike's face, finally realising something was wrong.

Very wrong.

"Twilight is in a serious condition. She is currently stable, and is expected to recover," Luna paused, to check how the dragon was taking this in.

Spike was standing in silence, trying to understand what was happening. If Twilight, the alicorn, was in a serious condition, what of the rest of them?

"What about the others?" Was all he said.

"Rainbow is worse off, though she too is expected to recover..." Spike had begun to fear the worst, Luna could tell.

"What about the others?!" His eyes were starting to glisten with tears. Oh. Luna had forgotten his childhood crush on Rarity.

He had grown past it, but some feelings never died.

"I am afraid they perished." She need say no more.

Spike had already left the room, leaving Luna standing the doorway.

One visit down, too many to go.

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Heart Beat sighed. She was, for possibly the first time in her working career, bored. Watching two ponies who were both completely unconscious. They were important, which was why she had been told to abandon her other patients for other nurses to take care of.

Of course, she knew the Elements of Harmony. She recognised two of its bearers, one also being a Princess of Equestria. Luna had told her the story, and that it had to be secret. It would be easy to do that, this is a private wing.

But she had been used to running back and forth to check on an entire wing of ponies. She hadn't worked alone, but being downgraded to just two was a bit of a shock.

She had checked and rechecked their vitals, walking in between their rooms like clockwork, read over their details, and just sat and watched for movement for what seemed like hours. How long had it been since the patients had been dropped off to her?

Two hours.

From outside the wing, two guards heard the muffled sound of a head meeting a clipboard.

Heart Beat wished it were her break. Here at the Royal Canterlot hospital, they had enough employees that they could clock out of shifts if they were tired. There were rules on it, many rules, so much so that most just stayed til the end of their shift.

But she was getting desperately bored. Nursing had always been an on the ball job, and she had wished for a quiet shift. Now that she had it, she wanted the hectic, rushing about from yesterday.

After reading over the details for Princess Twilight Sparkle - again - she sat down, defeated, in the waiting chair.

She looked over at the purple alicorn in the hospital bed. She didn't look all that injured, but very pale. Apparently, a lot of her energy had been drained defeating the Id. Heart Beat didn't know the specifics, but they didn't matter to her.

What matter to her was that Twilight had moved.

Not very much, just a slight tilt of the head, and to an untrained eye it could look as if it was just gravity kicking in a bit late, but Heart Beat knew instantly that she was beginning to wake up.

Finally, some action.

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Starburst brought the four new bearers back to the Tree. Back to the afterlife, whereupon arriving, they cheered up considerably. Everyone else had only gathered for the arrival of the four new bearers, and now the large domed room was considerably more empty than before.

"We do a lot of different things. A lot of us like to go to the normal afterlife to hang out with our family." The orange pegasus explained.

"I'd like to do that." Fluttershy said quietly.

She was not quite smiling yet, as the remnants of the visit to the living world had not quite relinquished their hold. But she felt much better, and they all had agreed to wait a little bit before going out their again.

"Then let's go!" Starburst flapped her wings and began flying low above the floor.

Soon enough, they came to a large door, similar to the one that led to the real world, only this one came in a deep maroon colour. Starburst didn't hesitate to walk right through, followed closely by four ponies who all had family and friends they wished to see.

There was a bright flash, and they all came to rest in a field. It was dotted with patches of flowers, and ponies and other creatures all roamed, in groups and by themselves.

Applejack watched in curiosity as a changeling greeted a small group of ponies, including a small filly.

"Ah don't get it. Why is there a changeling here?" All the stories of the Great Beyond she had heard only included ponies and animals. Not changelings.

"Well, changelings are just as sentient as we are. There aren't many here, most choose to go to their own afterlife. I don't know what it's like there-"

"There are other afterlifes?" Rarity's eyes widened.

"Oh yes, plenty. This is the main one for ponies, and there's the Element Bearers world of course, but a lot of other species have their own. We can all travel freely in between them, but usually non-bearers stick to their own afterlife. And only Bearers can go to the Bearers world." Starburst waved a hoof as if it were no big deal.

"Do they have parties here too?" Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared from who knows where next to her fellow element. She didn't even flinch.

"Yup!"

"That's all I need to hear." Pinkie Pie then disappeared, off to find the closest party.

"Anyway, so, where are the animals?" Fluttershy's eagerness from before had returned, and she was scanning the ground and sky for any of her critters.

"Oh, they're everywhere. If they're your pets, they'll probably find you before you find them." Starburst's statement was confirmed as two bundles of white, and one of brown and white, rushed from who knows where in the crowd and pounced upon their owners.

To say it was a happy reunion is an understatement to say the least.

"Winona! I missed you too girl, so much!" Applejack, despite her face bring quite smothered in dog drool, was grinning and hugging her beloved pet more than she had ever hugged her in life. Which, mind you, was a lot.

Winona barked twice, before returning to licking her owner as much as she could.

For the other two, it was a more quiet affair, though just as joyous.

"Oh Opal! Have you been a good kitty? I missed you so much and poor Sweetie was crying for days." Unlike Applejack and Winona, it was Rarity who was smothering her cat with kisses.

Opal, instead of lashing out and scratching her as she might have done before, simply purred loudly, for she did indeed love Rarity, and had truly missed her.

"I missed you so much Angel! No, I didn't replace you. No pet could have ever replaced you! Yes, Harry is still fine. No, I never did find Mr. Squeaky, I'm pretty sure he ran off with his girlfriend." Fluttershy and Angel batted off questions and answers faster than the others could comprehend, if they had been listening.

Starburst watched the three reunions happily. She would be keeping an eye on Pinkie Pie, but knew there was only a limited amount of trouble she could cause. Pranks, sure, but everypony there could avoid them if they see the warning signs. If not, well, at least no one could get hurt. Because it was impossible.

She then looked behind the small group, where she saw quite the sight.

A large group of animals, flying, running, crawling and whatever else they could do. Coming this way.

"Oh Fluttershy, dear. I believe the rest of your critters found out you're here." Rarity looked at Angel, who had a very smug look on his face.

Applejack looked, gaping, at the hoard of animals before them. Starburst's pupils had become tiny dots. She had seen a great many things, but this was a lot of animals.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, was standing there with the biggest grin on her face. Which remained when the animals descended, and for quite a while she could not be seen under the crowd of animals.

"Oh hello Jerry! I know, I know, oh don't worry. Patricia! Hello!"

"This could take a while." Rarity said flatly, as Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared, holding three balloons, two cakes on her mane, and a hammer in her mouth. There were also sprinkles in her tail.

"Oh look! Hey guys, why do Fluttershy's critters have so many weird names? Like Jerry?" Pinkie spat the hammer onto the floor, smiling as Rarity and Applejack had another confused look on their faces.

"Why, I never did wonder..."

"You're right Pinkie!"

"Oh that's nothing. One of the previous bearers of Laughter is named Victoria! And her sister is named Alexandria!" Starburst stood proudly as the other three gasped.

"How peculiar!"

"Their parents must have been weird."

"Oh yeah, they were crazy. I mean, seriously. Victoria? How weird." A tan coloured pony with a white, mane suddenly appeared next to the group. Apparently, this was Victoria.

"I was the laughing stock of the kids when I was a filly. Lexi got off better. I mean, no one messed with the most magical unicorn in the town, but they all laughed at me."

"Oh, how awful!"

"It was, until I told Lexi and she kicked their flanks! Hah!" Victoria and Starburst laughed, sharing a hoof bump.

"Oh. Well. Umm. I-" Rarity was at a loss for words.

"Don't worry about it." Victoria flipped her mane back, laughing.

"Victoria here was the element of Laughter seven hundred and eighty three years before me. And I was the element of Laughter about nine thousand and four hundred years before you." Starburst pointed at Pinkie Pie, smiling.

"Wait, who was the first element of Laughter?" Rarity looked a bit confused, but was mostly following what was happening here.

"Oh, I reckon it's Chancellor Puddinghead! Right! Right?" Pinkie Pie looked extremely sure of herself.

"Oh no. Puddinghead isn't even her real name. Anyway, the first element of Laughter was Surprise. She's a blast, I can get her over her-"

"NO!" Everyone looked at Applejack, who was now blushing furiously.

"I- Er, I mean, it's okay."

Three Laughters shrugged, Kindness was busy, and Generoisty and Honesty secretly felt that they could hold off meeting anyone named Surprise for now.

"Well, all right then."

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief, watching Pinkie, Starburst and Victoria chat about... Laughter stuff. Rarity had offered to help Fluttershy organise her critters in a line for her to say hello to.

It had certainly been a strange day. If Applejack had been on the other side of the equation, if she had not died, she would be sad. But here she was not. She suspected it had to do with the afterlife simply being a happy place.

Then why did she feel so drawn to the real world, where she still felt pain?

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Princess Luna checked the address. No, this was the right place. Just like it had been every other time she had looked. 295 Cumulus Lane.

Where Rainbow Dash's parents lived.

As far as she knew, Rainbow had not talked of them often. Some suspected it was because they were abusive. Luna suspected it was because Rainbow feared their stories might outshine hers.

Knocking on the door, it was merely a second before it was opened by a stallion, who looked like a carbon-copy of a Rainbow Dash if she were male, with the only difference being he had bright green eyes. He did not look tired at all, despite that fact that it was night.

"Oh, hello Princess Luna, come in!" He stepped aside, allowing her in.

Her theory was instantly proven correct. Medals and trophies lined the walls, and various certificates took up an extreme amount of space. No wonder Rainbow Dash loved to win so much. Perhaps she just wanted to live up to her parents achievements. But on one wall, there were a great many newspaper clippings, all articles on the achievements of the Elements.

"Hello, Mr Rainbow Skies. Is Wind Gust here?" Luna sat down on a cloud couch, quite amazed that the house managed to stay up, with all the awards.

"Oh yes, she's just upstairs I think. Wind! Princess Luna is here to see you!" The pegasus smiled warmly at the Princess.

Definitely not a broken home.

"Oh, I need to speak with you both." Rainbow Skies raised an eyebrow, but shrugged.

A pegasus mare flew down from upstairs, and it was quite obvious the only thing Rainbow Dash had inherited from her was her magenta eyes. Wind Gust had a soft, sunset orange coat, and her mane was a solid midnight blue, which was much longer than her daughters, and wavy. (1)

"Why hello Princess Luna!" Wind Gust smiled brightly, making Luna shift uncomfortably in her seat. This could be awkward.

"Hello Wind Gust. A marvellous home. You see, I am here about your daughter" Rainbow Skies once again raised an eyebrow, while Wind Gust chuckled.

"What has she done this time? She's a hero of Equestria, sure, but she's still the accident prone daughter I know." Wind Gust seemed unaware of the Id, which was probably helped by the fact that news tended to come a bit late to Cloudsedale.

Quite evidently, Rainbow Dash did not keep in touch with her parents.

"You see, today she and the other element bearers were fighting the Id. They managed to defeat it, but used a very dangerous spell." Both parents were quiet. Their smiles had faded.

"Rainbow Dash is alright, albeit unconscious. She is expected to recover fully in a few months time" The two pegasi breathed a sigh of relief, happy to hear their daughter was alive.

Luna wondered, how much did they care for their daughter, as she did not speak of them, yet they apparently still made time to keep up with the things their daughter was doing, if the newspaper clippings were any evidence.

"What about the other five? Are they alright?" Wind Gust looked quite hopeful, unlike the look of disbelief that had been on Spike's face when Luna told him.

"Twilight Sparkle is alive, in better condition than Rainbow Dash. Being an alicorn, that helped." Luna paused, trying to delay the inevitable. The two ponies looked at her expectantly.

"The other four are not, I'm afraid. They defeated the Id, and it was a miracle Rainbow Dash survived." Wind Gust put a hoof over her mouth, and her eyes sparkled.

"Oh my goodness, I can't believe it... Oh my poor Dashie. She and Fluttershy had been such good friends..." Wind Gust trailed off, and her husband laid a protective hoof around her.

It painfully reminded Luna of Rarity and Fluttershy, and the way Rainbow Dash always protected her friends.

"Thank you Luna, for telling us in person. We are thankful our daughter has survived, but, if you please..." Rainbow Skies glanced at the door. Luna got the message.

They had not the worst news, yet they still reacted as if they had. Their only child survived by a miracle, but it hit them as if she had not. Luna still had five parents and family to talk to, and delaying it would not make the task any easier.

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Princess Celestia teleported inside the castle, into her room. She was always the one who dealt with the public, so she was the one who was to tell the public about the deaths of four of Equestria's greatest heros.

But before she could do that, she had to assess the damage the Id did. Not physical damage. Mental damage to her little ponies. The Id sucked out positive energy, leaving just the negative. It was a reversible act, but one that took an extremely long time of relearning how to have fun, as Pinkie Pie would have put it. Only they were without the advantage that innocent foals were born with, an inner love for fun. That would be sucked out by the Id.

Stepping out of her room, she hurried to her throne room, where her guards had thankfully stopped any citizens from entering. The only ones there should be the only ones with important information.

She was bombarded by these ponies shouting too many things to comprehend at once.

"Be still, my little ponies." They were still.

Unlike her sister, who used louder methods, Celestia could silence a crowd with barely a whisper. It had been a while since she had used the Royal Canterlot Voice. Doing it to Luna didn't count.

"Now. Today has been an extremely tragic and confusing day. Those with information regarding the damage the Id has caused, over there. Those with information regarding the general populace, over there. And those who have pressing problems that need to be solved, over there." Ponies shuffled into these three areas, leaving only a few who were not part of any group. Celestia's assistant, Raven, would see why they were here.

In the meantime, Celestia moved to the group of ponies with pressing problems.

Walking up to the first pony in the mangled line they had somehow formed, she prepared herself for a very long night.

"What is it?" The pony in front of the line, who had a camera slung over his shoulder, bearing the mark of The Canterlot Times, stepped forward.

"How are we supposed to run the story of the defeat of the Id? Can we get interviews with the Bearers?"

Celestia groaned inwardly. This is what the guards considered important enough to stay in the throne room?

"I'm afraid the Bearers are unavailable, but run the story like it happened. The six of them defeated the Id and saved Equestria."

"Alright." The pony left the throne room, snapping pictures.

"Next?" Another pony stepped forward. It was one of the nobles.

"How is this attack going to affect the Court of Day, I have a few proposals I would like to get done, and-" The noble continued to ramble on, while Celestia glanced at the line.

A few of them looked genuinely worried, but the majority looked impatient and stuffy.

She would have to go through them all to get to the real problems. Then she would have to move to the other two groups.

In order to move things along, she seperated the groups further. In the 'pressing problems' group, any nobles were moved to a serpate room. It made them feel important, and if any nobles had any actual pressing matters, they would be brought back to Celestia. The rest would be given vague answers and sent off.

Any reporters were also seperated and told the terms for any stories. Interviews for the bearers were not happening was the main point. Celestia told the guards to strees the fact that they had just saved Equestria, so they should be entitled to time to rest and recover, instead of answering questions. It got across to most of them. The few who didn't get it were promptly kicked out.

Everyone else Celestia got to go through herself. What fun.

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Darkness. Blackness. Were they the same thing? Twilight couldn't tell. (2)

She tried to move around. Everything was stiff, she could barely move anything. Bits and pieces of light snapped around in her brain. It hurt. Squinting, the lights around her settled into one image, though blurry and prone to swirling around.

She felt so exhausted, like everything had been drained out of her. Which it had been. Where was she? What had happened?

Twilights eyes, still squinting, could make out the blurry shapes of various equipment. One of them, a large white shape with an orange-red blob on top, was moving.

"Princess? Don't try to talk. Blink if you can hear me."

She was a princess? Oh yeah, she was a pretty pony princess. She had been for a while. She and her friends saved the world. A lot. Her friends. She blinked (somehow) and Heart Beat smiled.

"Oh good. Alright, don't move, you're very weak, and Luna said it will take at least a few days before your energy is completely restored."

"Oh, ok. Thanks." That is what Twilight tried to say. Instead it came out more like the sound of a dying cat.

"I said don't try to talk."

Twilight tried to sort out her thoughts. Everything was murky and disorganised. Why was in the hospital? Had Rainbow Dash smashed into the castle again? Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash! She had been worried for Rainbow, and for her other friends. They had been doing something dangerous. Which was normal. But this time was different. If she, the alicorn pony princess had ended up in hospital, with her energy depleted, what had happened to her friends? Were they still alive?

The events of two hours before came flooding back, and the worry for her friends lives took over her as she fell back asleep. She didn't know it was already too late for most of them.

Author's Note:

(1) Wind Gust often joked about it. "I give birth to our only child, and she looks almost completely like you?!"
(2) She looked it up later.

Hey everypony. Hope you like the second chapter. I probably won't be writing them as quick as I did the second, I was just on a roll and had lots of spare time. Life, bla bla bla, etc.

Anyway, like I said last time, feedback, ideas, suggestions and your thoughts are always appreciated!

Comments

[StoryDragon]

I think this is good, especially considering it's your first story :) Faved and followed xx

[Starburst Gleam]

5347947

Thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it!