Cracking Dawn

by Didily Winkles

Chapter 24: A Pink Blur

Chapter Twenty-Four

Dawn brought up her hooves to massage her temples. She had been sitting behind her desk since this morning. Her head pounded as much as her eyes stung from strain. She heard her balcony door open behind the towers of books and notes on her desk.

"Dawn you home?" April asked, walking to the desk, her hoof steps getting closer.

"Yep..." Dawn croaked, her voice hasn't been used today. Not even Luna came to visit today, busy doing whatever Luna does.

"You can use a break." April said, peaking around the corner of the desk.

Dawn gave a long stretch, letting herself shrink to April's size. "You're right..." Dawn sighed as she walked with April from behind the now giant desk. "How was your day?"

"Fine, I really do like this semester’s professors. It's just the days are just so long." April groaned, pulling Dawn to the balcony. "Let's go to the gardens and relax while the sun is still out."

Dawn's wings sprung up, ready to carry her weight through the air. April smiled at the near automatic response. She opened her wings as well. Dawn launched to the sky, taking in the cool air of the evening that was bringing in the fall only to swoop down to April's favorite spot in the gardens. Her feet found grounding as she skipped underneath a tree. The grass welcomed her by showing off its rich green pigments. Dawn dropped on her quarters lazily under the tree. April who was behind her did the same, leaning up against Dawn. Dawn kissed April's head while taking greedy inhales of her mane.

"I almost don't want to go to a party tomorrow." Dawn admitted, her eyes straining to relax on the horizon.

"That's a shame. You have no choice in the matter." April said sternly. April wrapped her tail around Dawn's while nuzzling behind her ear.

"I am, however, excited for our bet."

"Yeah..." April said, shuffling slightly in place. "Umm Dawn? The tree..."

The tree they settled under, that had orange and brown foliage left for the up coming fall season, was sprouting blossoms meant for the spring. "Oops, let it get away from me again." Dawn closed her eyes in concentration, focusing on that 'other' magic well. She built imaginary walls around it to cap off some of the magic that leaked out. When she opened her eyes the blossoms were shrinking away and falling off, around them. "Bleh."

Dawn's horn lit pink as she weaved magic into one of her newest spells. Her horn flashed a bright green as she finished the spell by tapping magic from her other magic well. A small pebble sized orb dropped from the tip of her horn, submerging into the ground.

"What does that do?" April asked, bending her head down to get a better view.

"You'll see, second time casting it." Dawn informed quietly, she was pretty exhausted, mentally.

From where the pebble fell into the ground, a small little blue leaf popped out. It grew as any other plant would but many times faster until one of the many outshoots bloomed a bright red flower bending over to April. April giggled at the show as she plucked the flower from the blue plant, causing it to wither away back into the ground from once it came. The flower, however, was very much still alive. April took it up to her nose to sniff it. "It doesn't smell like anything."

"I haven't worked out the bugs." Dawn shrugged as she broke off the petal of the flower to chew on. "Doesn't taste like anything either."

"Well it's pretty."

Dawn leaned into April counterbalancing their weights. Dawn knew she would soon out weigh her so she fell backwards rolling to take April into her arms. "I wonder what she'll be like."

"Well if Luna and Celestia are opposites doesn't that mean you two would be? Wait... Would that make her like the grim reaper or something? Spooky..."

"I don't think we have to worry about that." Dawn chuckled in the grass. Dawn closed her eyes, bringing April closer to her chest.

"Let’s go for a quick fly." April said as she pulled out from Dawn's embrace. "I can never get a proper night's rest when you take a nap."

Dawn rolled to her back to look at the sky. The weather team scheduled an evening drizzle, so the sky line was lined with clouds. "Alright." She said before teleporting several meters above the ground, letting her wings take control from there. Dawn pushed a hole through the clouds to get some of the last minutes of sunlight. April followed closely behind. They both took a seat in a high altitude cloud that got away from the weather team to watch clouds being stacked below them.

"Not really what I had in mind." April laughed as she settled into the cloud next to Dawn.

Dawn looked at the position of the sun; it had been later than she had originally thought. Or the days were just getting really short. Dawn rolled off the cloud, taking flight again, surveying the weather ponies at work below.

"Where do you wanna go?" April asked taking flight just above Dawn.

"You don't have a place in mind?"

"Somewhere quiet and where we can see the stars come out." April suggested, banking to the mountain that towered over Canterlot. Dawn banked with her. Luna appeared in mid flight next to them in a quick puff of smoke.

"I'm sorry, April. We need to barrow Dawn for the rest of the night." Luna called out over the wind of their flight.

"What for?" Dawn and April asked in near unison as they stopped to a hover.

"It is a big night. Celestia wants us to go meet her daughter before the seal wears off." Luna explained in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Aww, can I come?" April asked.

"I'm afraid not." Luna answered with a small smile. "Dawn, I would like you to wear your crown." She went on to say to Dawn before dissolving in smoke.

"Alright..." Dawn said to the wind. "Sorry April. Do you want me to take you any where?"

"I'll fly." April pouted.

Dawn teleported to the tower. Luna was looking at the still untouched block of stone sitting in middle of the room. "Why wasn't I told earlier?" Dawn asked as she approached Luna.

Luna let out a tired breath. It was nearing the new moon and she looked pretty tired. "April's assassins are watching and Celestia has made some mistakes these past weeks."

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked as she walked over to her desk. She levitated a simple looking crown out from a drawer and placed it on her head for it to rest against her horn.

"She has made some mistakes in anticipation of today and the Night Stalkers have come across some intelligence that generally points to the identity of her daughter."

"That's unlike her..." Dawn mumbled behind her to Luna as she pondered what she meant.

"If I am to ever become a grandparent I think you would understand her mistakes are understandable."

"Uhhh..."

"The identity of Celly's child has been leaked to me none the less which means she could have been leaked to anypony else who was looking where I was. It is a recent development and I have not told her. I convinced her that meeting up with her before hoof would be best."

"It probably is." Dawn shrugged as she came to inspect the marble stone with Luna.

"OH! Get this she is an earth pony we know well."

"Neat I won my bet." Dawn cheered. "Wait I know her? Who?"

"Bet?"

"With April."

"Huh, what do get as a prize?"

"What did you win?" Celestia asked right after flashing into the tower to join them.

"A bet. Who is it Luna?"

Celestia raised an eye brow at the two expecting a briefing on what they were talking about only to be left disappointed. "We are going to Ponyville." Celestia sighed in attempt to relax. It didn't work. She looked like a nervous wreck.

Celestia teleported out first, leading the way for the remaining two to dissolve in a puff of black smoke. Dawn placed her hooves down on cobble stone as the smoke around her drifted back into the void. They were in front of Twilight's favorite bakery, which Dawn had to admit was pretty good, Sugar Cube Corner.

"Unfortunately her parents passed away a couple years ago, they were good friends of mine. Geologists of the highest caliper." Celestia smiled as she thought back to her friends.

"Geologists? Who would study rocks? That's just so boring..." Dawn said as she stepped up to the bakery.

"Ponies do what 'they' enjoy, not what Dawn enjoys." Celestia said with a tiny bit of anger laced in her words. It was not like her at all to show any kind of emotion, it kind of threw Dawn off balance. "I'm sorry... They were studying some kind of mineral that made them both sick. They died within hours of each other."

"How horrible." Luna commented while offering Celestia a comforting hoof.

"In any case, you have come to know my daughter well, I think. I hope I can rely on you."

"Who is she?" Dawn asked almost impatiently.

Celestia ignored Dawn's question as she pushed through the front door of the bakery for Luna and Dawn to follow.

"OH! Princess! What can I do you for?" Said an older looking blue mare.

"Hello Mrs. Cake, is Pinkie Pie around?"

"No..." Dawn gasped to herself.

"She just got back from decorating for Twilight's surprise party tomorrow. Just go up stairs to the top floor. Errr... You should defiantly knock first..."

Dawn snickered at the suggestion. These ponies never knocked.

"I will do so. Thank you." Celestia said before walking up the stairs she had directed them to.

"Pinkie Pie? Really?" Dawn asked as they climbed the stairs. "Well... I guess it makes a little bit of sense... Why in Equestria's name did you name her Pinkie?"

"I did not name her, Dawn. I had no right to name her... I gave her away just days after I gave birth." Celestia whispered being carful of thin walls.

"Right... Sorry..."

Celestia knocked on the door on the top of the last stretch of stairs they could find only to receive the sound of frantic shuffling and the knocking over of something.

"Coming!" Cheered Pinkie from behind the door. The door cracked open just enough for Pinkie's muzzle to poke through. "Oh! Princess! Princesses! What can I do for you?" She asked through the crack of the door.

"Well... We need to talk to you Pinkie." Celestia said in a fragile tone.

"Is this about Twilight's party?" Pinkie asked as her eyes darted around the stair well where there stood three alicorns. "I have everything figured out. No need to worry your pretty little princess heads."

"No, it is something more important than that." Celestia said quickly.

"More important than a party?" Pinkie asked disbelievingly.

"Afraid so."

"Okey... dokey... lokey..." She drawled on slowly as she gave the princesses one last scrutinizing look. "Give me two minutes!" She finished saying quickly, closing and locking the door.

Dawn giggled at the idea of locking them out. Through the door they could hear windows being opened and a few muffled meeps. As promised, Pinkie returned to open the door in about two very long minutes of the three alicorns shuffling in place on some stranger’s stair well. As Dawn walked in she noticed they were not alone. Fluttershy was in a deep bow in the presence of the sun princess. The room also had a musky smell about it that was being quickly cleared out of the room via a strong cross breeze caused by the opened windows.

"So what do you need to talk about?" Pinkie asked, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Well..." Celestia said, dying off into a mumbled hush.

"Life changing news Pinkie." Dawn said cheerfully, resting a supporting hoof on Celestia's shoulder.

"Pinkie you are my daughter." Celestia blurted out with the refinement of a donkey.

"What?" Fluttershy asked shyly as she took Pinkie's side.

"No I'm not silly." Pinkie said, now standing still.

"Swing and a miss." Dawn chuckled to Luna.

Luna shushed Dawn with a disapproving look. "Pinkie, my sister tells you the truth. I am your Aunt and Dawn is your cousin."

"Why are you telling me this? I don't think it is very funny." Pinkie said, deflating in the process.

"I'm sorry Pinkie it is the truth." Celestia said glumly.

An ethereal smoke drifted through the ceiling, producing a letter for Luna to read. Luna, after reading it, quickly let it burst into deep blue flames, letting not even ash escape the flame.

"Everything alright?" Dawn asked, raising an eye brow to Luna. That was sealed with the night stalkers stamp.

"Yes, yes." Luna said with a forced sigh, waving Dawn off with a spare hoof.

"I don't think this is funny Princess. My parents are dead, I have sisters." Pinkie Pie said deflating still, her curly mane started to look like Dawn's as it started to untangle and fall to the ground.

"Your parents long ago helped me pull this country out of a debt. They were one of my only friends of the time..."

"Liar." Pinkie cutoff.

"What?" Celestia asked, taken aback considerably.

"Why are you lying to me?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking almost angry. The expression on Pinkie's face looked so foreign. Dawn had a hard time deciphering it. Fluttershy swooped in to hug Pinkie Pie like one of her hurt animals, cooing to settle her down.

"I'm not. I swear." Celestia defended, sufficiently surprised how this was going.

"You weren't at their funeral!" Pinkie shrilled out of the anger Fluttershy was unable to sooth. "A real friend would have been there. Why are you lying to me princess?"

"They made me promise them I wouldn't go..." Princess Celestia admitted, now looking at the ground between them. Then an idea popped into her head. "They sent me a letter every week telling me what you've been up to up until they passed on." She added happily. She pulled dozens of tomes out from what Dawn recognized as her bank spell. The tomes opened up in front of Pinkie Pie to show her.

"Celestia..." Luna mumbled, surprised at her sister who was now on the verge of tears. Luna gave her sister a supporting hoof and turned to Dawn, meeting eye contact for an unspoken conversation. They both had no idea Celestia had been this attached...

"It's my mom's writing..." Pinkie said to herself, reading one of the open tomes.

"Some were written by your dad too." Celestia said with a smile, lifting another tome to Pinkie's viewing pleasure. "They truly loved their work." Celestia sniffed back some tears, closing her eyes. "They loved you so much."

"Why are you telling Pinkie this now?" Fluttershy asked, assertively, her wings flaring up to make her appear larger.

"Tonight she will transform into an alicorn." Luna answered, lifting her supporting hoof from Celestia's shoulder. "The change is inevitable and can not be delayed any longer."

"Look on the bright side Pinkie, wings..." Dawn said cheerily, raising her wings for display. Pinkie forced a grin for Dawn's sake.

"A horn too." Pinkie added.

"It would be an event that would be party worthy don't you think so?" Dawn asked Fluttershy with a smirk on. "Ascension party, or perhaps I grew wings party."

Pinkie's mane seemed to recoil back into a curly mess as Dawn went on trying to name the possible party's Pinkie could throw. "I would call it ‘Nana-nana poo-poo I have wings ‘and’ a horn and you don't party’" Pinkie cheered excitedly.

"You could also call it your Birthday..." Celestia suggested only to be met with a stunning silence.

"Pinkie's Birthday is in the spring." Fluttershy whispered to the silence. Pinkie nodded in agreement.

"She was born on this date but that just means she has two birthdays to celebrate now." Luna offered up to the silence.

"You're right!" Pinkie cheered excitedly, sufficiently pumped up now.

"Won't that mean you will age twice as fast?" Dawn laughed.

"No silly I will Celebrate it as my 'other' half birthday." Pinkie said before gasping and charging to the calendar on the wall behind her.

"Ummm Pinkie? Don't you already Celebrate your half birthday?" Fluttershy asked meekly. "And... your quarter birthdays."

"Yes well, Pinkie..." Luna started to bring the conversation back to the subject at hoof. "...we have much to discuss concerning your loved ones."

"My loved ones?" Pinkie asked, turning around from her calendar.

"Yes, I don't want to disturb the life you have built here but depending on how your transformation goes some things will be unavoidable." Celestia informed with a renewed strength.

"Is she going to be giant with the manes?" Fluttershy asked the Princesses, waving her hooves in an eternal wind.

"Those are some things we need to consider as a possibility also the aspect of magic she might embody and so on..." Celestia closed her eyes to take a break from talking as Pinkie Pie retook her seat. "What may need to happen, are full time guards following you and your loved ones around. Much like how Twilight does." Celestia said to Fluttershy.

"Twilight has guards?" Fluttershy, Dawn and Luna asked in a mumbled unison.

"I like Shady and Nasty, they're nice ponies." Pinkie said nodding. "What about my other friends?"

"Them too, I'll set up more guards for all of Ponyville if I have to if it means you can go on living your life here. Unfortunately, that is what will happen in one of the best case scenarios, worst case scenario I’ll have to have you change your name and move in, with Fluttershy of course, to the castle. Your friends will be welcome to visit you of course but your affiliations with them must be kept secret."

"We will just have to hope that you have a real subtle magic and stay small." Dawn said optimistically. Her words brought her attention to herself, provoking a stretch, shrinking her back to normal size.

"How long do I have?" Pinkie asked.

"Nine forty-two, right on the southward equinox." Celestia said looking at the gingerbread coo-coo clock with a large lollypop for a pacer on the wall.

"Why was mine at midnight?" Dawn asked, letting her curiosity take control of her mouth.

"Bodily secondary seals were the only thing keeping you contained." Luna said indifferently.

"The primary seals that were Celestially bound wore off in the void." Celestia added. “Though yours were fragile to begin with since some pony liked to break them with their silly spells they created when they were younger.”

"Another mystery solved, guess I can go tell Twilight about that later." Dawn cheered.

"Will it hurt?" Fluttershy asked, poking her head where a horn could go.

"I didn't feel a thing." Dawn answered, seeing as she was the only one that could with honesty.

Pinkie Pie gasped at a revelation. "I'm going to miss Twilight's party." She said glumly.

"That's alright Pinkie we can have an after birthday party for Twilight." Fluttershy said, consoling the deflating pink mare.

"So... You're my mom?" Pinkie asked still trying to wrap her head around the applications of that tid bit.

"Well it is my hope that some day you may think of me like that." Celestia said with a small smile that Dawn had not seen Celestia wear before. "I had to give you up to protect you and to give you a normal life for you to always look back on. The price of that was being a mother to you." She added solemnly.

"Celly and I were not so lucky." Luna added.

Pinkie's face twitched as she processed what was said. "A lot to take in... Yes... Let us give you some time to think before the deed is done." Dawn said plainly, getting up to start a trend. "I'm sure any questions you or Flutters here can think of can be answered later."

"Yes of course..." Luna agreed, getting up herself. Celestia wore a pleading look towards Pinkie Pie, her daughter, for a pardon from the trend that was started but after an elongated silence she got up as well.

"Go spend some time with your friends. Tell them what we told you. If you want that is. I will be there when you wake up." Celestia nodded. Dawn led the charge out of the bakery, leaving Celestia to lag behind considerably.

Dawn took for the sky, making a beeline for the closest cloud hovering in the night sky. Luna followed suit while Celestia just walked down the abandoned post-sundown streets of Ponyville.

"That went well." Dawn said sarcastically, plopping belly down on the cloud.

"I agree that went much better than I expected." Luna agreed, ignoring Dawn's sarcastic tone and laying down next to Dawn.

"What? What in the world did you expect would happen?" Dawn asked with a half chortle.

"Celly breaking into tears. I've never seen her so nervous in the thousands of years I've known her." Miniature sized Luna leaned into Dawn's coat. "I know I did when you renounced me as your mother."

"Sorry..."

"It's quite alright." Luna said before nuzzling Dawn like she often did. "You know I will always be here for you right?"

Dawn assumed that was rhetorical as she just leaned back into Luna. She peaked over the cloud to watch Celestia walk down the street off in the distance. "Should we..."

"No, Celly needs some time to put all her thoughts in order, you should go home to April."

"Right my bet!" Dawn cheered excitedly.

"I will see you later then." Luna said before Dawn dissolved in the darkness of the night.

"Dawn! You're back." April greeted solemnly. "I need to tell you something."

"Get this April. Celestia's daughter was an earth pony. Just think of it, getting used to a horn and wings. Kinda crazy to think about, isn't it? And not just any earth pony, Pinkie Pie, you remember the pony I had shove food into your mouth?" Dawn asked excitedly, nearly dancing on her block of marble where she teleported on top of. "I just can't fully wrap my mind around it. My cousin is Pinkie Pie. I told you she was special but I wasn't sure how."

"Dawn, I need to tell you something. Sit down." April pled, patting the couch next to her.

"Don't you forget our bet." Dawn beamed down at April as she jumped to the couch, happy as can be.

April took in a breath as she closed her eyes. "You mom had an accident practicing for a show." She said, mournfully upon opening her eyes.

"Oh?" Dawn's mind went blank. Something seemed off about April's delivery and what she was saying.

"She didn't make it Dawn. She passed away a couple hours ago." April said calmly and clearly, looking into Dawn's eyes. "I just got word a couple minutes ago but we couldn't find you or any of the princesses to tell you when I got the message. I'm so, so sorry Dawn."

"What?" Dawn asked. Nothing in her head was making sense. These things do not happen. Pinkie Pie made no sense but it was believable but this made even less sense.

April pulled Dawn into a tight hug. "Your mom died practicing for her show." She said even more clearly. "Your family is at your parent's house."

There was no thought process in her head as she pulled the void around her and before she knew it her feet found footing on a cloud floor. "What happened?" She asked in near anger at her father who was lying on a cloud formed couch.

"Dawn?" Her father asked out of shock.

"What happened?" She asked again with anger still building inside her.

He got up quickly and scooped Dawn in a hug. He said now on the verge of crying. Dawn could feel dampness soak in her coat and her own eyes were filling up. "She just fell to the ground so fast. Just so fast..." Dawn's father cried out into Dawn's coat. A throbbing pain pulsed in Dawn's throat, surging into her head. Tears freely streamed down her face as she squeezed her father in a desperate attempt to wake up from this nightmare.

Minutes of mourning turned into and hour and going. Dawn's father still locked into a tight embrace around Dawn who eventually, somehow, found the strength to put her father to sleep on the couch she had found him on. With the help of a sleeping spell she developed, he was sleeping a dreamless sleep. A mercy she unfortunately couldn't afford herself. Dawn closed her eyes to search through the void for her brother. Pulling the void over her she found herself in a lonely bar occupied with only Metal and a few other ponies too busy with themselves to notice a princess had joined them.

Dawn crawled onto the stool next to her brother. He looked to be studying a beer. There was no words spoken between the two, they barely acknowledged each other as Dawn got her own beer to look into. Her tears pattered the counter of the bar aside of the perspiring mug. She didn't want to be drunk right now but the pain was damn near unbearable. She hated it.

As her tears got lost in the pool of perspiration of the mug of beer, Dawn felt an ancient magic pull her backwards. It was an indomitable force, stronger than she. She blinked her eyes open, freeing them of tears to reveal a truly formidable landscape. The dunes of white sand she had seen right before she grew wings stretched forever before her. There was no sky. Her eyes met no sky, it was just an endless space of nothing. The only light that was cast was of the sand they were standing on, herself and the two alicorns standing next to her.

"Right, so what is this place again?" Dawn asked, sniffing back to clear her voice of sadness.

"Come here." Luna swooped in to hug Dawn, enclosing her wings to make her embrace complete. There was nothing but Luna around her. Of course she knew.

"What's wrong?" Celestia asked sounding very concerned.

"Dawn's mother passed away." Luna informed.

It was this place, she was sure of it. She could feel Luna beyond just her coat, or words. She could feel Celestia too, even though she was beyond her sight she knew she worried for her and mourned for her lost friend. Dawn could sense that they were as every bit of caring as they portrayed back on earth.

"So what is this place?" Dawn asked as she gently pushed Luna to break her embrace with her.

"It is the origin." Luna answered as she pulled away. Even as she pulled away Dawn could still feel Luna as powerfully as she did just seconds ago. "All life once sprouted from here only to be dropped to Equestria by us."

"Once life was placed it thrived. Before your transformation we hadn't been here in many, many millennia." Celestia said as she walked over to the party pony lying in the light sand, the beginnings of a horn and wings were protruding from her body.

"You would not be far off to say it is nature itself." Luna added.

"Have you tried to study it?" Dawn asked Luna as they too walked up to the sleeping mare. Her curiosity blessed Dawn with respite from reality.

"Nature is sacred. We will only observe it, in Equestria." Celestia answered as she picked up her daughter with a sunlit magic.

Dawn could feel a profound rule in this place as she gave a proper survey of her surroundings.

"I will take her to the west tower." Celestia announced before disappearing in a flash of light.

Luna wrapped her forelegs around Dawn in a hug as Dawn studied the landscape. "You can not hide your feelings in here, Dawn. In here your very soul is on display."

"She's here isn't she."

"She is. She will rest with nature for an eternity or until she is cycled back into Equestria in a new form of life."

Dawn's eyes started to tear up again, letting drops of moister fall and get quickly absorbed into the sand below. Luna nuzzled Dawn to comfort her further.

"Let's get you home." Luna said as she wrapped Dawn and herself in a very dark magic to pull them both home.

-----

Dawn opened her eyes to find April's staring back in hers. The only static thing in my life. Dawn was so grateful for her. She had come to find Dawn in the early morning, in a bar directly below Cloudsdale. Dawn didn't stay very long where Luna had dropped her off after visiting the origin or nature... or whatever. Her time was better spent with her brother. April had coerced the sober siblings from their stale, flat beer in the cave they threw themselves in and put them both to their perspective beds.

Dawn stretched the morning woes away only to snap back at the pain that wouldn't go away. Judging from how she felt, it was roughly noon. The throbbing pain in her throat reminded her of the night before.

"How about we go get some lunch from the kitchen." April said before nuzzling Dawn.

"I'm not hungry." Dawn groaned as she dropped from bed, retreating from April's affections. She rolled her head in a futile attempt to rid herself of the ever persistent pain in her throat.

"Yes you are. Come on." April pled, catching up to Dawn, wrapping her wing around Dawn to corral her towards the spiral stair case they both admittedly never used.

Dawn wished she was numb from all this, the void had never looked so appetizing as it were. She looked out the balcony. It was a wretchedly beautiful day. Dawn wrapped the void around her and April to bring them to the windowless kitchen.

"Stew, do you think you could make us some food?" April asked, not missing a beat while still holding tightly onto Dawn.

The Giant of a chef spun around to meet his guests. "Of course, of course. What would you like?" he asked eagerly.

He knows. "I'm not hungry." Dawn mumbled to April.

"You should eat." She said with formality. "How about an oatburger. Can you make us two oatburgers the way we like them?"

"I will bring it out to you in 10 minutes."

"Thank you." April said as she guided Dawn to the dining room which was just around the corner.

Much to Dawn's relief they would be dining alone. She felt she couldn't stand to have company right now, April was barely bearable. She collapsed into a chair, attempting to shut off her mind and with it the pain in her neck that was constantly reminding her. She slammed her head into the table, harder then she intended, forcing April to jump in the chair she had settled in. Dawn rested her head where it landed.

The silence, that she once loved so much, was making her throat throb more with every passing second, every passing thought. "Celestia said she should be buried on castle grounds." April said.

"Can we 'Not' talk about that?" Snapped Dawn.

"Alright, fine..." April shuffled in her seat, uncomfortably. "Your cousin isn't what I expected." Dad cried on my shoulder... "Guess you win our bet." Metal looked so worn down... "You get to move in with me." April cheered excitedly. "I suppose I'll have them bring in a bigger bed."

"My mom is dead." Dawn said to herself as the first of the day's tears started to fall on the table. The pain in her throat throbbed profusely at the admission.

April got out of her chair to console Dawn, pulling her into a hug off of the chair. Dawn's tears, from the feeling of total loss and pain, all absorbed into April's coat. It was all April could do, nothing in the world could make Dawn's mother come back.

Their food was brought to them without Dawn noticing. When Dawn finally had the ability to sniff back some tears, she broke her much needed hug with April. They retook their seats in silence. As Dawn chewed through her tasteless lunch, she resolved she should go spend time with her family after she was done.

-------

"Are you sure you want us to plan the entire thing?" Celestia asked.

It was has been nearly two days since Dawn's mother's death. Pinkie was due to wake up any minute. Celestia has been busy with preparations for Pinkie but still Dawn had asked her to organize the funeral for her mother. None of them, meaning her family, had been in the mind set to plan anything let alone the very thing they all seemed to want to avoid.

"Dad's not really a pony who plans and I wouldn't do it justice, I would really owe you everything if you did this for me."

April sighed as she knew it was really falling to her to do it. "So, we are set to do it on Friday?" She asked.

Dawn nodded.

"Alright, I'll have everything put together for you." Celestia said with a solemn nod.

"Thank you Celestia."

"Come April, much to do." Celestia sung behind her.

Dawn turned around as they left the room leaving her alone with Luna who had just woken up from her monthly sleep. She was sitting on the balcony ready for Dawn to join her.

"I am so sorry this happened to you." Luna said as Dawn sat next to her. "Everything passes my little Dawn." Luna said as she extended a wing, pulling Dawn closer to her. "The best you can do is remember the ponies you love."

"Is this why you have a forget spell?"

"No. You would be insulting your mother and all she stood for if you forced yourself to forget. Any one this important or any pony for that matter. We created that spell so we could remember the ponies that are no longer with us. You should remember all life, good and bad. Years will stretch on for a long time and you don't want to remember the dull moments over the fun times."

Dawn looked out to the horizon the balcony offered her. It was bleak, grey, and ready for a storm. Fall was here after all. Dawn lifted her crown off her head to levitate inside to her desk that was still muddled with papers. "I'm going to go for a fly." Dawn said as she arched her wings up to take off.

"I would like to see you here for dinner." Luna called out after Dawn as she took to the clouds.

Dawn, in truth, just wanted to watch the weather team work and feel numb for among the clouds. Dawn lay back, resting on a stray cloud that got away from the weather team during their set up for the storm. She closed her eyes and let the universe drift around her.

"How long do you intend to stay up here?" April asked as she hovered in to rest on Dawn's exposed chest.

Dawn opened her eyes to notice the night and its stars had crept into the sky. "The void was once a solace to me for some reason, I can now see why."

April seemed to quiver at the subject. For whatever reason she did not like Dawn speaking of the void as she just did. "Luna told me to come get you. We're having dinner with Pinkie in her tower with her family and friends."

"Did you get to talk to her properly?"

"Talked to her with Celestia, she's a real smart pony if not..."

"Eccentric?"

"You're the eccentric one. Pinkie is bonkers. Though I've only known her from that party where she managed to have full on conversations with herself while, at the same time, shoving food into my mouth. "

"Yah, she really did well at that little task 'I' put her on." Dawn said, trying to break a smile. It was hard.

"Yes, yes. You are so clever." April laughed, trying to help Dawn's smile along. Dawn let the two dissolve into the night's darkness to be dropped in a room full of ponies.

Dawn soon found herself in a tight embrace with several ponies. "We're so sorry to hear about you mom, Dawny, I'm here if you ever need a hug." Pinkie said among the pile of ponies at her feet.

"Same here." Twilight's voice added.

"Me too." Fluttershy said.

"I'm not hugging you." Trixie said from beyond the pile. "But uhh... I'm here if you need to talk..."

Dawn, who was in her full size at the moment, lifted a foreleg to start pushing away the ponies. "Dually noted. Thank you."

Getting the hint in her voice they all broke off, aside from Pinkie, who was a normal sized pony at the moment, pulled down Dawn's head with her weight. "You will come to me if you need a hug." She said once their eyes were meeting centimeters apart, their horns nearly touching.

Dawn was absolutely sure Pinkie had never experienced magic feedback and she didn't want to be her first. "I promise." She said as she lifted her head with Pinkie still holding on.

"Good." She cheered, before releasing Dawn's head to return to the table. Dawn was now able to see Pinkie properly. Her mane had gone completely straight much like how Dawn's did. She had stopped brushing it months ago but every time her mane picked up in an eternal wind it would return to a stick straight quality when she would shrink.

A very large dining table was brought into Pinkie's tower which was, structurally, the exact reciprocal of her tower. The ponies at the table were all familiar to her save two ponies on the end with Pinkie and Celestia, who she guessed were Pinkie's sisters. They both were grey ponies with grey manes of different shades. Pinkie's friends were there of course with Fluttershy right on the end of the table next to Pinkie.

Dawn took a seat in between April and Luna only to receive nuzzles from both.

"So let me get this straight Luna is your mother..." Applejack asked Dawn, who was sitting across the table from her.

"Didn't we guess that when she came to my boutique?" Rarity asked the group while pondering to herself at the same time. Twilight nodded in agreement. "Ooo you are good. You bluffed your way right out of that, very cunning. Remind me to never invite you to our bi-weekly poker games." Rarity said with a sly grin, while waving her hoof at Dawn.

"I try." Dawn said, giving a small smirk. She just wasn't in the mood to gloat and it showed.

"Poker must be a family thing. Pinkie always walks out with all our bits." Twilight said thinking to herself.

"That's just something else I'm going to have to get my head around." Applejack said, slowly shaking her head in disbelief. "Pinkie Pie having wings and a horn is hard enough as is."

"Psh, I'm just excited that we get to teach Pinkie how to fly." Rainbow said as excitedly as her wings showed she was.

"And magic!" Twilight said, trying to match the pegasus' excitement. She didn't let it show very long but she grimaced at the thought.

"As I said before I have to insist that you stay here until you do learn to control over your magic, or at least until we are sure you will not sleep cast away half of Ponyville." Celestia said to Pinkie who seemed pretty unsure of it all. She was uncharacteristically still.

The unicorns at the table giggled at the idea. Causing the earth ponies and pegasi to raise an eye brow at the joke they clearly missed.

"I guess it's like peeing the bed for them." April clarified, rolling her eyes.

"Ohh..." Resounded along the table as they joined in laughing at Pinkie's expense.

"When Twilight stayed with me when she was younger, I always knew she was stressed because the royal library would turn into a zoo." Celestia said, daintily laughing at the recollection.

Twilight turned a bright pink as she ducked her head.

"A zoo?" Trixie asked.

"The scrolls and books would be enchanted to eat each other. I can't tell you how many times I was woken up by panicking librarians." Celestia clarified. "And don't get me started on Dawn's night casting."

Dawn slammed her head on the table hoping to break the subject in the process.

"You cleaned those up too?" April asked, curiosity taking the better of her mouth.

"Let's just say the destruction of public property was the easiest to clean up." Celestia said with a laugh at Twilight and Dawn's embarrassment.

"Flying! Pinkie should learn flying first, to get used to the stupid things on her back. It'll make her feel more comfortable for learning magic." Dawn said in attempts to derail the topic.

"First thing tomorrow!" Rainbow said, excitedly jumping on the new topic. "Wait what's wrong with wings?"

"How would you feel, Rainbow, if you had a tail growing out of your chest?" Dawn asked.

"Eww..." Every pony said, picturing the idea.

"Exactly how I felt when I discovered these things on my back." Dawn said, opening her wings up for display

"She fainted." April clarified plainly.

"Yes. Thank you, April..."

"And then she gave her dad a black eye with her wings after of course slamming herself into the dining table head first both times because they flared up." April said, laughing at the recollection. The rest of the ponies at the table joined in.

"She also destroyed said dining table with a fork." Luna added, chuckling, before nuzzling Dawn.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, stop. Thank you, both of you. I think the point got across." Dawn said plainly.

"Tomorrow will be a big day." Celestia said positively beaming to Pinkie.

Comments

[Fresnor]

Well, nice way to throw a curveball into the story this chapter. Though it does make sense if you think about it.