8| Remember
The Matrix of Friendship
Chapter 8- Remember
“Everybody knows that everybody dies, but not every day. Not today. Some days are special, some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all.”
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There was only darkness.
Twilight sat up in her…bed. It felt like a bed, but it wasn’t anything like her own. It was coarse, and rather hard. Suddenly, she became aware of a pulsing headache, and slumped back against her pillow, releasing a sigh. Her vision was swirling with blobs of colour. Dark blue, a faint pink. It was like she was travelling through the cosmos, stars passing by at light speed in a blurry flash of light.
Her head was spinning, it felt like her and her bed were floating through space, tumbling in every direction.
A white light suddenly appeared, its brightness causing Twilight to shut her eyes. She slowly opened them, and gradually, as her grainy vision cleared, she could make out a white mare with a light pink mane, standing in a wooden doorway.
“Ah, you’re awake, I see.” She walked into the room, shutting the door behind her. For a short moment, the darkness returned, until a ‘click’ accompanied by the lights dimly turning on, abolished it for good.
“I’m Nurse Redheart.” She walked over to a table beside the bed, picking up a pen in her mouth, and scribbling down a few notes. She then turned to Twilight. “Your friends have been waiting for you. Do you want to see them now?”'
Friends.
Everything had just been so… crazy in the last few days.
No, crazy isn’t the right word.
Twilight thought for a moment, her still aching head searching her vocabulary.
...horrifying, dreadful, sickening, awful, terrible, shocking, grim, ghastly, gruesome, nauseating…
None of these words described the situation better than the other.
“Hello? Princess? Can you hear me?”
Twilight snapped out of her daydream, responding without even thinking. “Oh…yes. S-sure, let t-them in.”
Nurse Redheart smiled, and with a nod, she turned and walked out the door.
For a moment, the room was completely still and silent. Twilight’s mind, however, was not. Before she could collect herself, four very familiar ponies walked through the door.
First, Pinky Pie.
Then Rarity.
Next, Applejack.
Finally, Rainbow Dash.
A part of Twilight was hoping, praying that Fluttershy would come through that door, and that her brutal departure from the living world was just… a dream.
But, it never happened. As the seconds ticked by, still, nopony came.
Maybe she’s just… late.
No. That was it. She had already been through this. Princess Luna had explained to her that Fluttershy will always be with us in our dreams, our memories.
And yet, it was still so hard to let go.
A tiny voice, far away, in the deep, swirling confines of Twilight’s mind called.
“Friendship does not end, Twilight.”
Twilight was jerked out of her thoughts by somepony calling her name. “Oh my gosh dear, we were so worried! Are you alright?” The first voice to speak being that of the alabaster fashionista.
Twilight was about to say her usual default of ‘fine’ but she stopped herself.
Am I fine? I don’t even think I know.
“I’m… not sure. I don’t know anymore.”
Rarity looked back at her with a pitiful look, and said nothing. She stepped back, gently pushing applejack in front of her.
“Uhm, you-you’re not hurt too badly are ya?” All she received was a blank stare.
The blank stare simply, and clearly said-
Yes.
“And…in more ways than one.” Twilight added grimly to her facial expression.
Applejack produced the same reaction as rarity, slowly retreating back, and encouraging Pinky Pie to say something.
The pink pony trotted up, still with a skip in her step, and practically shouted “I baked you some special It sucks to be in hospital but it’s OK now because you have your friends with you cupcakes!”
Twilight shook her head slowly while staring down onto her lap. Nobody ever turned down Pinky Pie’s cupcakes.
Nobody.
The party pony’s normally bouncy and puffy mane deflated, becoming straight and loose. Tears began to well up in Pinky’s eyes.
She turned, and ran for the door, crying, only to slam into it, and fall backwards.
And then, there was one.
The polychromatic mane’d pegasus stood in front of Twilight’s bed, not with an expression of sadness, but of shock.
Rainbow Dash looked around the room, at each of the ponies, before returning her gaze to Twilight. “What…happened? Where’s Fluttershy?”
Twilight’s pupils constricted to pinheads.
They…don’t know. Oh Celestia.
Twilight would have to tell all of them what had happened. She would have to watch all her friends go through the same thing that she went through.
And, it was going to hurt, all over again.
After a long silence, Twilight finally spoke. “…she’s dead.” Twilight coughed, trying to hold back tears, but it was no use. The floodgates opened, and she broke down. Again.
With the sound of a balloon being let down, Pinky’s mane and tail went from being fluffy, bouncy, and full of life, to dull, straight, and lifeless. Her face conveyed a very similar expression. She pulled a framed picture out of her mane, slamming it onto the ground.
The picture was a painting. A painting of Fluttershy, with a turquoise flower on her ear, sitting next to Angel Bunny. They were sitting under a small tree, on the rolling, grassy knolls of a hill, looking out into the deep blue sky, were Cloudsdale floated by. It’s towering, puffy, white majestic mass spouting water off the sides, falling into a river, far below.
It was what Fluttershy loved. Nature. Nature, it all its tranquillity, and beauty.
Pinky Pie bent down, lowering her face right up to the picture, and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FLUTTERSHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY”
Rarity began to tear up, making her eyeliner run down her cheeks, causing grey streaks. Her horn lit up in a light blue as a large sofa flew in behind her, and she fell back onto it. She was crying at full force now, just as Twilight was.
Rainbow Dash sniffed, holding back tears. "F-Fluttershy? Wh-what happened t-to her?"
Twilight felt like she was going to die. The sheer amount of pain that was coursing through her, should never have been felt by anypony. It was as if there was a black hole where her heart was, only, the black hole was on fire.
"Th-there..." Twilight could hardly speak. Tears were streaming down her face, wetting the bedsheets. In between her sniffs, she managed to form a few words. "d-dragon…..b-big…..angry.....f-fire…..” She stopped. Twilight sat up, and looked straight into Rainbow Dash’s eyes.
Twilight could see Rainbow desperately trying not to break down, trying to hold her front of toughness and flair.
But it only lasted so long.
Rainbow Dash broke down in tears, grabbing Pinky and wrapping her hooves around her in a tight hug. The two friends cried over each other’s shoulders, letting all the remorse flow out.
Applejack pulled her hat off of her head, and pressed it to her chest. She looked down to the ground, and pressed her eyes closed as a single tear flew through the air, eliciting a drip upon hitting the ground.
Death was something that tore through ponies far stronger than the most powerful enemy. The girls had gone on adventures together, fought the strongest of foes, overcome the most difficult of challenges.
They had forged friendships.
And yet, nothing, nopony, no challenge compared to the difficulty that they were facing now.
The friendships they had forged, over all their time together, was now the thing bringing them down.
Friendship was powerful. It could bring such happiness, and, such sorrow.
The door to the room opened, and the dark blue form of Princess Luna entered. Her face displayed an expression of understanding, and of supressed remorse.
She strode past the ponies, glancing at each, and taking in the bitter view before her. It truly was a disheartening sight.
“My friends.” Luna stopped her pacing, and sat down on top of her hooves. “Come, sit with me.”
Slowly, the girls supressed their crying, and hesitantly made their way over to Luna. Twilight simply watched from her position on the bed. She was pretty sure what was going to happen next.
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinky Pie, and Rarity sat down in front of Luna, sitting similarly to how she was.
“Death is one of the hardest things you will ever have to face. The loss of a friend can destroy a pony, from the inside.” Luna looked to each of them.
“Do not despair….” Luna tilted her head down, pointing her horn into the space in the centre of their circle. A white light shot from it, creating a brilliant shining white ball, slowly expanding. For a few seconds it stayed as it was.
And then it exploded in a flash of white.
Memories.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle….what’s your name?”
Fluttershy hid behind her mane. “Um….I’m Fluttershey”
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“Um mynameisumFlutterhsy”
“Didn’t quite catch that.”
“….squeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeae”
“…Well, um, it looks like your birds are back…so I guess everything’s in order. Keep up the good work!”
“squeaeaea”
“Ooookey...” Twilight turned and walked away, meeting Spike. “Well that was easy.”
Fluttershy leapt into the air, gasping. “A baby dragon!”
“Yes Rainbow, I was there. And I’m very grateful, but we gotta-“ A giant lion with dragon wings and a scorpion tail impacted the ground in front of them.
“A Manticore!”
The Manticore roared, rearing onto its hind legs.
“We’ve gotta get past!”
Each of the ponies tried their combat techniques against it. Rarity bucked it in the face, only to retreat from her hair being messed up.
“Wait…”
Applejack jumped onto its head, trying to ride it before quickly being thrown off.
“Wait…”
Rainbow dash flew towards the Manticore, circling around it in a twister of rainbow light, only to be struck by its tail, and flung away.
Despite the defeats, they ponies recovered and congregated together, then charged.
“WAAIIITTTTTT!!”
Fluttershy leapt in front of the charging ponies, halting them. She then turned to the Manticore, and walked right up to it.
“Shhh, it’s okay.” She spotted a large thorn in one of the Manticore’s paws.
“Now this might hurt for juuust a second…” Fluttershy leaned forward and pulled the thorn out with her mouth, eliciting a roar from the Manticore.
“FLUTTERSHY!”
In the next moment, Fluttershy was swept of her hooves and being affectionately licked by the oversized cat.
“How did you know about the thorn?” Twilight questioned.
“I didn’t. Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness…”
Fluttershy looked to her friends, lying in a helpless pile of defeat beneath her.
And then to the dragon.
And back to her friends.
And then to the dragon.
“…how dare you…”
“…HOW DARE YOU!” She leaped into the air, landing on the tip of the dragon’s snout.
“LISTEN HERE MISTER, JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE BIG, DOESN’T MEAN YOU GET TO BE A BULLY!”
She leaned in, standing on her front hooves, staring strongly straight into the dragon’s eyes. “YOU MAY HAVE HUGE TEETH AND SHARP SCALES SNORE SMOKE AND BREATH FIRE, BUT YOU DO NOT, I REPEAT, YOU DO NOT. HURT. MY. FRIENDS!!!”
The dragon began to cry, showering tears like rain on the other ponies. “There, there, no need to cry, you’re not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things, you just need a new place to sleep.”
Rainbow Dash jumped up onto the table. “You see what I’m saying, right Fluttershy?”
“You know what I’m seeing? I see that Discord is far from perfect, but I also see none of you giving him a chance!” Fluttershy stood up to her friends, in an effort to give Discord the benefit of the doubt, and be his only friend.
Discord dried himself off with a towel. “Oh yes, awful business that.”
“It is awful. This is Applejack’s home, and it’s being destroyed by innocent creatures that wouldn’t be acting this way if it wasn’t for your reckless behaviour.”
Discord turned to Fluttershy with a grimace. Fluttershy held her frown. “You need to fix this.”
“Well, oh yes, I will fix it. I only ask one thing in return.”
“Yes?”
“I ask that you never use your element of harmony against me…” Discord pointed to the pink butterfly on her neck. “…As a sign of our friendship.”
After a long pause, Fluttershy decided. “I will never use my element of harmony against you.” She took it her element off her neck, and threw it to Spike. Everypony gasped.
The memories of their time with Fluttershy flashed by. One by one, playing in the minds of each of the friends. In each, the true kindness of the pony was shown. Her ability to trust, to sacrifice, and to love.
Every single moment they were together was shown before them. The ethereal video played for what felt like decades, as years of memories flew by, until, a final clip played.
“…But once she finally forgave herself for what Nightmare Moon did…“
Spike finished Twilight’s sentence. “Poof!”
“Shhhhh…” Fluttershy shushed Spike, pointing to Luna, sleeping soundly on a few cushions.
“Huh. Wonder what she’s dreaming about now...”
The world went black for a moment, before reality came back to everyone.
The memories had come to an end. That was the last time, that they saw Fluttershy alive.
“Fluttershy may be dead, but the memories of her will live on.” Luna waited a moment, letting her words sink in.
“Remember the pony she was. Remember her kindness.”
Luna stood up. Slowly, the other ponies did so as well. Pinky sniffed before putting on a smile, and half-heartedly blowing on a party whistle. Rainbow dash muttered something along the lines of ‘I didn’t cry that much’.
Rarity simply remarked “That was…beautiful.”
The others gave a gentle nod, in agreement.
Alright. That's it. I'm done.
NO MORE EMOTIONS.
I'm probably more sick of it than you are. Writing mourning scenes like this are really difficult to write. It's probably the main factor of this chapter taking so long.
I have something to ask. How did you feel about a large portion of this chapter being about memories from the show? I had lots of trouble choosing what level of detail to go into, and what memories to choose, so please let me know what you thought. Also, what did you think of that picture that I put into the story? Do you think I should do more of that? Or not? Personally, I'd rather only use it rarely, and not to describe any settings.
Please take the time to tell me what you think.
I actually waited to post this chapter until after the airing of Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep? because I wanted to reference it. Because of the upcoming hiatus, I thought the final memory would be good to come from this episode.
I know I already promised before, and I know, I'm a dirty lair, but I PINKY PROMISE this time, that next chapter, there will be some proper action.
Can't break a Pinky promise!
Anyway, I didn't really want to write things like this too much, but I REALLY didn't want to make light of a friend dying. I think I've done enough of that now. There will still be a bit of depression, but It won't be the focus.
Things will be happening soon.
Journeys will be endured.
Things will be discovered.
And new friendships will be made.
I'll see you in the next chapter. 
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Review of The Matrix of Friendship by MrSp33dy123.
Right off the bat:
The title reminds of The Matrix of Leadership from Transformers, just pointing that out.
Now to the story. Short description: very nice, yet also another Transformers element I believe, or perhaps just me. 
Should be knocked, not nocked. And that comma is unneeded. Just remember they are used for pauses in a sequence of thoughts. The Trojan Horse reference was one I thought could be a good concept for shape-shifting: some of the more iconic things we've made could very well be deadly brought to life. Now the death scene with Fluttershy could have been fleshed out a tad more, showing us how her eyelids slowly closed, breathing came to a standstill in time or even the lifeless slump to the ground. With Discord's...choice of actions following that was very justified in my opinion as he knew of a way ponies could be brought back to life.
Love the cover art.
A few words such as hands, people, and perhaps one other would not really apply to ponies, but those like Spike and Discord may be more adequate to use in that fashion. The story in itself is very good, look forward to more as I am reading the 5th chapter and most likely will be finishing by the time you read this. Besides a few minor grammar errors, like spacing and a misspelled word or two, I like it. Like I have mentioned in a previous review, I rarely do scores as they limit you on a set number that could be interpreted as so many things, but as I have to completely finish the fic, you get a 8/10, a 9.5 now as the T.H. reference and allowing me to review this. If you need help with anything, be it with your fic, talk about personal issues in private or want to pitch new ideas, you know my schedule and my PM is always open. I expect more good things such as this from you, when you have the drive of course.
-Celestial Nyx Nova
6210056
I think I'd me more suprised if It didn't. This story is (at a lot of times) heavily influenced by Transformers lore. A lot of it will become clearer in the end, but a quote that I'm sticking to for this story is: "The matrix of leadership is not found, it is earned."
Ah yes, a nice catch on your part. I tend to use way more commas than normal though, as a lot of my text is intended to be read slowly. At least, that's how it does down in my head. Especially in the later chapters, you'll notice very short paragraphs. I often try to add way more expression and emphasis to text that most stories normally would.
Well, that's true, but the Trojan Horse was extremely deadly.
Hmmm, you're right. I always thought not enough time was put into that, and so I guess I put a lot of chapters in making up for that. I think my story actually gets worse at it goes along. Maybe.
Well, ponies have used the term 'hand' on multiple occasions, but the term 'people' and 'everyone' are things that, yes, I shouldn't use. It was only last chapter that I started using Ctrl+F to search for things like that.
I'm really glad you liked it, and thanks again so much for taking the time to read and review it for me.
I never thought my story had problems with grammar and spelling, but now you have brought that to my attention, so I shall make sure to put an extra run-through on spellchecker.
I always thought this story was a bit... aimless. I never planned this story out much. I knew what I wanted to do in the end, and I found a way to get there. But I didn't detail any of it out, It just sort of flowed.
Thanks again, and I shall take your advice into account.
Will there EVER be resurrections?
6338059 Good question....
6338710 I wrote 3 new responses to your PM.