Death at a Party

by Joural

Conflict

“Hey, Applejack.”

Applejack looked up in shock, surprised to see Twilight in front of her. “Hey, Twilight.”

An awkward silence stretched between them, slowly trying to force the conversation to a close. Twilight seemed to realise this, and immediately pushed on. “I think we need to have a talk. About... about a lot of things.”

Another pause, this one shorter and less awkward. “Yeah, we do.” With a sigh, Applejack swallowed her pride. It tasted bitter on the way down. “Look, Twilight, Ah’m not afraid to say Ah did wrong. Ah know Ah did, by you and Fluttershy. But these last few months... they’ve been hard. Ah’ve been trying to apologize, and—”

“I know you have. I always knew what you and Pinkie were trying, I think, but I was just so... so angry! I guess I felt... I felt betrayed. You were one of my closest friends, you knew both of us for years, and you let something so silly come before that.”

Applejack visibly bristled, a tiny hint of anger working it’s way into her voice. “Twilight, Ah know it was stupid, but it wasn’t something silly, it was what Ah really believe is true! You can’t just—”

“Is?”

“Ah mispoke. Look, Twi’, Ah’m sorry, and you know Ah’m sincere, but don’t try to pretend that it was just some silly little thing. Ah saw it as... as an attack on me, and the things Ah believed, and pretending it wasn’t huge won’t change what happened.”

Twilight sighed again, and walked over to stand beside Applejack, looking out over the rest of the party. “You’re right. We shouldn’t dwell on the past... just so long as you’re sure it is in the past.”

Applejack glared at Twilight from the corner of her eye, growling “And just what did ya mean by that?”

Twilight turned to look at her friend, and caught sight of the glare, instantly returning it in kind. “I mean that I don’t want to go through this, reconcile with you, only to find you gagging when you see us together, or glaring at me when my back is turned.”

“Twilight, you know Ah’d never—”

Twilight cut her off, growling “I used to think I knew you’d never be so petty and cruel as to try and ruin something that should have been wonderful for me and Fluttershy, but we both saw how that turned out. Now? I don’t know what to think.”

“That’s not fair, Twilight, and you know it. Ah was—”

Again Twilight interrupted, snorting in annoyance. “What? Mean? Needlessly cruel? Horrifically damaging psychologically? Unforgivably bigoted? What phrase can magically sum up everything you did and still somehow leave you with any possible degree of moral high ground?”

Applejack stomped a hoof, temper rising, but carefully kept her voice low, to avoid making a scene. “How about the fact that I was the one trying to fix things, that Ah tried to apologize, and that you wouldn’t let me in, even pushed Pinkie away because she was trying to help me? Hay, Twilight, you’re the reason she’s not here today, more than Rainbow or Rarity or anyone else!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she reeled back as though she had been slapped, before physically pushing forward. “Yes! I pushed you away, because I didn’t want to hurt anymore! It just... it hurt so much, and I needed to feel better somehow, so I decided to be angry at you! Can you blame me?”

Applejack stopped, to stare at Twilight. She’d never really thought about how what she’d done had affected her friend, but now... how could she ignore it, watching one of her strongest friends cry, barely choking back sobs, and know that she’d caused it? She reached out a hoof, trying to comfort her friend, to lend her strength.

In that instant, several things happened. First, Twilight saw the hoof, and in her grief, she didn’t realize what it meant. Second, Applejack found herself pinned to the wall by a powerful magic force, the screaming of the wind in her ears only barely failing to block out Twilight’s own pained keening. Finally, Twilight disappeared in a flash, leaving Applejack to fall from the wall.

With a sickening crack, Applejack found a reason to scream all her own.

~~~~~

Fluttershy arrived just barely in time to hear Rainbow's last words. Normally, she would have gone to Rainbow, held her, let her cry against her shoulder. Normally, she would have helped her through a tough time, helped her be happy again, helped her reconcile things with their friends— like Pinkie would have wanted.

Normally, she wasn't this angry.

"You're right, you know," she began, bringing out her cruelest barbs. "You weren't here. after Rarity left it was just the four of us. Rarity visited, unlike you, but it wasn't the same. Then Twilight and Applejack happened, and Pinkie tried to fix it. Obviously, that didn't work. All it did was isolate her from Twilight, so I was the only one she had. You weren't here, and we all fell apart. You'd almost think we'd built our lives around someone we thought would always be there for us. I guess we were wrong after all."

It took Rainbow a moment to reconcile the words with the speaker. Her mouth didn't wait to understand. "If you were the only one she had, where were you at the end? Why couldn't she count on you, if you knew she couldn't count on anyone else? I was stupid, I thought you'd all be fine without me. What was your excuse?"

Fluttershy stared at her for a moment, as though weighing her words, before walking up to the grave. "She was waiting for you, you know. All this time, she was so sure you'd come back and fix everything. Applejack and Twilight would be friends again, Rarity would buy back her boutique, and we'd all live happily ever after. Of course, none of that compares to what she wanted from you."

With a small turn, she glared straight through Rainbow, as though furious with the sky for being so dark. "She wanted you to love her. She spent so long working up the courage, planning a dozen ways to tell you, and you never gave her a chance. Always off to do something more important than spend time with her,” Fluttershy started stepping forward, pressing Rainbow back, inch by inch. “When you left, we started planning how she'd tell you the next time you came home. She was so sure it would work. She couldn't accept that it might not. But she didn’t get the chance. You never came back, not once, not even for a visit. And when you finally do send a letter, what does it say? You're in love! Oh, it ruined her. And yes, I was the only one she had, Rainbow. But I couldn't be there for her, because all she would see was how happy I was with Twilight. Just another example of what she could never have."

Rainbow was taken aback, slowly backing away from Fluttershy’s advance. Finally, when the tirade had ended, Rainbow stepped forwards, reclaiming her lost ground with an angry glare to match Fluttershy’s. “You’re pinning this on me? It’s my fault Pinkie is dead because I have a marefriend? How could I have ever known what Pinkie thought if she never told me?”

Fluttershy didn’t flinch. Holding her ground against Rainbows advance, she retorted “You could have let her. You could have come home just once. No, don’t you say that you didn’t have the time, because we both know that’s a lie. Defend yourself however you want, Rainbow, but in the end, you’re the one who killed Pinkie. You killed her because you stopped caring.”

When Fluttershy finished, Rainbow took to the air, tears splashing to the ground, air swirling in the wake of her frantic flapping. Fluttershy herself stepped forward to the grave. As she read the inscription, Fluttershy broke down once more, and she sobbed into the ground.

Author's Note:

Thanks for sticking with me, regardless of when you arrived. This story has been a hell of a ride, and I couldn't have done it without my editor, Cynewulf. Seriously, go give him all your love.

I don't even know what to say, so I'll leave it to Cyne to wrap up-
"Good lord this is depressing and also Bon Bon doesn't have a hyphen."

It does here, Woofy, it does here.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll see you with the next one, which hopefully won't be as slow, and perhaps, if we're lucky, a little less depressing. Night(or morning, or noon, or whenever you read this!)!

Comments

[Drifting Heart]

Defend yourself however you want, Rainbow, but in the end, you’re the one who killed Pinkie. You killed her because you stopped caring.

oh buck Dash you just got burned big time. I really dont know what to say but wow for someone who isn't a big fan of pinkie you did a good job on this story.

[Joural]

2584198

Thanks, though to be fair the focus was kind of on the others most of the time. Pinkie was a side note, or a staging point, or something along those lines. She put them in the position, but most of it was unrelated to her.

[Drifting Heart]

2584211
oh so i am taking it that not only do you not like her but you hate her enough to kill her off and focus only the rest of her friends. you know i may feel the same way about fluttershy but i woudlnt go out on my way just to make her the one on the side while everyone else is getting all the attention. if i am taking this the wrong way i am sorry but what can i say? i am a pinkie fanboy. i just feel her not getting enough love is an insult i mean if anything its her friends who put her there not the other way around. so yeah i see this as all their fault not hers.

[Joural]

2584235

I'm not a Pinkie fanboy, but I'm also not a hater, either. She just kind of... is. Well, that's not strictly true. She's one of my top five ponies, but in this particular case... well, noone else could fill the role, and it's hard to justify this situation happening any other way. Try it this way- I like Pinkie, but I had an idea I liked, and I went 'ooh, lets see where this goes'.

Turns out, the answer is sorrow.

[ColdGoldLazarus]

Damn, was that depressing.

[Drifting Heart]

2584255
oh yeah i see now, it makes much more sense now that i think about it.. writing is hard and sometimes you have to go with what you get at the time and what character sounds good to use for that story. so i will be on look out now for any more good stories like this from you.

[Sky Charmer]

Well, this kinda sucks (not the story). I mean, she doesn't see Spike as her friend? No wonder he feels left out all the time.

[Joural]

2585015

Spike was also alienated by her attempts to help Applejack, I just didn't think that he changed things enough to be worth his own chapter.

[Joural]

2584322

Someone has forgotten the entire aspect of her character revealed in 'party of one'. Good to see you're so positive and focused on helping others, though.

[YayFlutters]

The fact that this had TwiShy attracted me, but I found myself reading through because I was genuinely interested.

Good job.

[tailspin21]

i hate sad and dark stories..... but this was amazing. it was an amazing end, but one i wish was different. good job.

[Joural]

2611650

That's the point of a tragedy- you wish it had ended differently, and you know how it could have, but it didn't.

Good to hear I'm doing my job,

[HoovesMcCoy]

Okay I really liked that story. Depressing as hell, but in a good way. I'm glad you had the balls to end it the way you did. Some stories are not meant to be wrapped up in a neat little bow!

I'll leave you with this:

after Rarity left

Caps on "After.

[Joural]

2617373

The focus is on her beliefs, of course they seem over the top when they're being given the limelight. Events mentioned in a single paragraph probably happened over the course of two or three months. What's described here as 'ranting and raving' might just be her refusing to let an argument go, or something else. The intent is to portray those beliefs, and the actions related to them, badly, because none of the characters view them as good.

It's going through another round with the editor and I in the hopes of hitting EQD, so those'll be fixed soon! If you see any more, I'd really appreciate if you'd point them out!

Thanks for taking the time to read my sad and silly story!

2617473

Hee, thanks again. It seems you finished while I was writing.

And yeah, it depresses me when a good, sad story gets ruined by deus ex machina "EVERYTHING IS BETTER".

... which isn't technically a bad thing, I suppose, is it? :P

[green oni]

This story was very petty. All the reasons except for Twilight's were pretty damn petty.

[Joural]

2617987

People are petty.

[Joural]

4008514

In the show she has been wrong repeatedly, but it's usually not about deeply held opinions, such as this would be.

Then again, I'm remembering from months ago when I initially wrote this. I'll take a look at this and check it out again later.

[Superanon74]

Pretty great story. Caught a few cliches, but nothing really took away from the story other than the blame being put on Rainbow Dash at the end.... yeah, falling in love with someone else isn't her fault and (as painful as it is) Pinkie should've moved on. Background Pony, oh the other hand, ohhhhHHHHHH boy! Her unending bitchyness caused this IMO.

With a sickening crack, Applejack found a reason to scream all her own.

I wish I knew what body part broke (I hope it was her spine.... very fitting for how she acted). more info on how high up she was might help this too. You don't break a bone from just a few feet.... especially with how strong Cereal Pony is......

All in all: its a pretty good story. Have a like, follow, and favorite. Night night!