> When Harmony Dies.
>  by Unoriginal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Generous Dressmaker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight sat at her desk in her home.
She had it set out like she always had; a sole candle on the desk, extra quills on the side, spare ink, a stack of paper, and a window ahead of her that gazed out into the deep black night, with the spots of white scattered across it, and Luna's Moon hanging in the sky, providing a source of light for those late night walks.

Twilight didn't want to sleep , she wanted to make this night as long as possible, for she dreaded each morning and day as they came to past.

She had been an alicorn now for at least 80 years, and whilst her body structure continued to stay as young as ever, her friends didn't, each of them showing more and more signs of age as each day went past.
She didn't want to lose them, she wanted them to be with her forever, she wanted that more than anything, but deep down, she knew that that wasn't going to happen, she would have to say goodbye one day.

A sudden gust of cold, night wind blew through the window, extinguishing the candle, and sending a shiver down Twilight's spine.

'Celestia that's cold' Twilight thought 'Better get to bed now, nice and warm' 
She smiled at the thought of a nice warm bed, and as she lay in it she mumbled something inaudible about soft pillows, and slowly drifted off to sleep.


***


A loud banging at the door woke the alicorn.

'Uhh, who in Celestia is knocking on my door at this hour?' Twilight thought as she slowly got put of her lovely warm bed and trotted downstairs.

Opening the door with a small bit of magic, the first thing Twilight noticed was a dull, orange coloured mare, with an obvious look of age on her face.

'Oh, hey Applejack, what brings you here?' The tired alicorn asked

Twilight only noticed then a small tear forming at the base of Applejack's eye, and a sad expression on her face.

'Uh, Twi, there's been an issue, meet me at Fluttershy's cottage, I gotta go get Pinkie' and with that she ran off into the night.

Now, Twilight became worried, and immediately spread her wings and flew off into the cold air, in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage.


***


A few minutes later, Twilight arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, walking up to the door, she knocked and waited patiently.
And waited.
and worried, it was too quiet inside. 
She knocked again, a bit harder, before the door was opened by an old butter yellow mare, with a dull shade of pink for a mane.

'Oh, hello Twilight, come in, we knew you would come.'
Twilight walked in, only to find an old white mare lying on Fluttershy's couch, even though she was curled up in a bell facing away from them, Twilight knew instantly who that was.

'Rarity?, are..are you ok?'

Rarity coughed weakly before turning to face them 

'Oh, h..hello Twilight, you look wonderful today' She replied weakly with a small smile on her face.

'Thanks Rarity' 

Twilight turned to face Fluttershy
'What's wrong with her?' she whispered gently into her ear.

Fluttershy held back a tear, she had to tell Twilight, she didn't want to, but she had to.

'Twilight... Rarity is...well, dying.'

Twilight's heart stopped for a second.

'Wha..what do you mean?, she can't die!' Twilight replied, raising her voice a bit 'She can't die!, I won't let her!'

Fluttershy backed away slightly, unsure of how to respond.

'I..I.I'm sorry Twilight, but...it's just her time.'

'But I...' Twilight began before being cut off.

'Darling, it's alright' Rarity politely interrupted 'As Fluttershy said, its just my time, there's nothing I can do about it, and neither can you.'

Rarity gave a small cough before continuing

'Everyone has a set time to live here in Equestria, some longer than others, yours especially. But the point is, there is nothing anyone can do, I will accept my fate, and I tell you this...These years is Ponyville with my friends, have been the best I have ever had the pleasure of living through.' 
She coughed again before giving a small smile to Twilight.

Twilight hung her head in defeat, she couldn't stop it, she could only hope to be with her friend in her final hours, or in this case, final minutes.

'But, why are you in Fluttershy's cottage?'

Rarity smiled.

'Well, I was going to make some jackets for her creatures who didn't hibernate in the winter, because they might get a bit chilly, so I needed measurements, but when I got here, I felt a sharp pain in my chest... I collapsed, and Fluttershy brought me in. So i've been in here ever since.'

Twilight could only nod.

She walked over to where Rarity was lying and sat down on the floor next to her, always looking directly into her eyes.

At this point, there was a large knock on the door, and Fluttershy walked over to answer it.

Twilight heard more hoofsteps on the ground, but she didm't care, she was looking right into Rarity's eyes.
She saw a tear build up underneath Rarity's eye, as she mouthed the words 'Take care now' before closing her eyes.

Twilight just sat there watching and waiting, before turning around and crying into her friends.

She just couldn't take it.


***


Twilight and Fluttershy stood together on a hill next to a tree, under the tree lay a small rock, perfectly cut and perfectly smooth.
With lines of text in the middle of the rock, and a image cut into the rock in the shape of three diamonds, there was no mistaking who's grave this was.
Behind them, Twilight heard footsteps, and turned around to see a lanky drake, making his way up the hill.
Spike hugged Twilight when he reached her, before kneeling on the ground in front of the grave and bursting into tears. 

Fluttershy walked over to Spike and draped a wing around him, before leading him back down the hill.

Twilight didn't leave, she never wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to.

She hung her head low, and felt a few drops of water on the back of her neck.
It soon turned into a full scale downpour, but Twilight didn't mind, she was adding to the rain by crying herself, knowing that things would never be the same again.

Twilight look at the grave, scanning the words where it read.

'Here Lies Rarity, A great Friend, a loving Sister, and the most beautiful mare in Equestria.'

'Here lies The Generous Dressmaker'

'May she Rest In Peace.'

'Now, and Forever more.'



> The Kind Caretaker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy was the kind of pony that everyone loved.
That everyone could talk to, and be comfortable around.
She was a very special pony, and one that everyone needed in their lives


***


Fluttershy lay on her sofa within her cottage, sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of the world around her.
She was so happy at that moment in time, she was dreaming about herself flying through the clouds, up, up, and even further up, until she stopped, and looked down, and panicked, realising how high she was, and how being this high up was so scary. She began to tear up for a few seconds before she heard a familiar voice behind her.

'Now now Fluttershy, there is absolutely no need to be scared'

Fluttershy quickly turned around, only to face the friendly, if not strange face, of Discord.

'Oh Discord, sorry' Fluttershy replied with a relieved sigh 'you startled me for a second there.'

'Well, dear Fluttershy, I am dreadfully sorry for that, but I thought I might pop in and see how you are doing, as a good friend does for his own.'

'Oh well that's nice.' She replied before pausing, 'Wait how are you in my dream, I thought that Luna could only access dreams?'

'Oh well, about that' Discord said with a heavy sigh 'I was talking to Luna earlier you see, but she wasn't planning on looking into your dream tonight, because well, you aren't dreaming.'

Fluttershy paused, before hearing another familiar voice from above, a much softer one this time.

'Hello dear, fancy seeing you here.'

Fluttershy froze, and her heart skipped a beat, she had known that voice all too well, but there was one fact she couldn't put to terms.

Rarity wasn't alive anymore, and if she wasn't dreaming...
Oh dear.

'By the look on your face, I think that you have just realised what has happened' Discord began, 'but with all the powers I have, I can only do this once, and I hope you make the most of it whilst you can.'

And as he finished the sentence, a small glow began to emerge within the space between his 'hands'. And after a few seconds, he thrust the glow of energy towards Fluttershy's chest and looked her in the eyes, and slowly muttered.

'Have fun. Don't be too long now.'

And then everything went white.


***


Fluttershy awoke to a view of a certain lavender alicorn standing over her with a bright light being emitted from her horn.

'Twilight, look! she's awake!' Cried a certain rainbow pegasus, who seemed to have tears within her eyes.

At once the alicorn's horn powered down, and Twilight slumped to the ground, exhausted.

Fluttershy coughed lightly, her head felt incredibly light. 'Uhhhh, Twilight? Rainbow?, what's happening, where am I' she said as she took in her surroundings.

'Fluttershy...' Twilight began as she pushed herself off the floor. 'You weren't alive...' 

The realisation suddenly hit Fluttershy, as what Discord had said was true, that she wasn't dreaming.
But it was the last line he said that had really made her think.

'Don't be too long now'

Fluttershy looked down at her chest, and with an abundance, of tears welling up behind her eyes, she began to cry.

All of a sudden she felt a pair of hooves wrap around her neck. Looking up she saw Rainbow Dash hugging her, tears dripping from her   chin down onto the floor, creating a small puddle.

Fluttershy hugged her back, creating a small emotional connection between the two pegasi for what must have been a few minutes before Rainbow let go and stood back next to Twilight.

Fluttershy looked up at them, and said something that none of them expected.

'I need to go for a walk'

Twilight was in no mood to argue, but she simply had to state her point 
'Fluttershy, you are sick enough as it is, you mustn't.'

Ignoring her as politely as she could, Fluttershy, ever so slowly stood up, and walked towards Twilight before embracing her in a very sudden and very emotional hug. Before letting go looking her in the eyes, and saying.

'If I am going to die soon, then let me rest alongside nature, as I have done so throughout my entire life.'
and with that, she walked out the door and into the open.

The first thing that Fluttershy noticed was how sweet the air smelt, as if it was inviting her to find its source within the woods.

And thats exactly what she did, she walked right into the woods, and began her final walk.

Fluttershy began to take in all the details of the woods as she walked. The golden leaves hanging on to the trees, as if they never wanted to let go, The cheerful birds chirping in the trees, the cool wind blowing its way through Fluttershy's mane, and sending a small shiver down her spine. But she wasn't going to stop.
She heard and felt the crunching of fallen leaves beneath her hooves. and stopped and took a deep breath, noticing that the air still had a sweet scent to it, maybe she would find it's source, maybe she wouldn't, she didn't mind, all she cared about now was her walk through the forest.

She took a few more steps, before feeling a sharp pain through her right foreleg, and falling to the ground, laying there, as peacefully as when she was in the cottage.


***


It was 2 hours later when they found her, lying motionless on a pile of broken leaves, with a small sweet smile on her face.
Twilight had been the first to break down into tears before they left her, as they thought it was right, after all, she had wanted to be with nature until the end.

Twilight had returned about 20 minutes later to say a final goodbye, alone, as she was too sad to go anywhere else.
As she arrived at the familiar scene, she noticed something, a large lanky being, leaning over Fluttershy, muttering a few simple words, before picking her up.

Twilight was about to impose, when Discord turned around and faced Twilight. With tears in his eyes, he muttered to her

'I guess it's her time now.' before disappearing in front of her.
What remained was a small patch of leaves that was slightly lower than the rest, where Fluttershy had previously lay. And as Twilight leaned over to examine it, she noticed one thing, before, breaking down into tears again.

Within the patch, crawled a small butterfly, with a pink body, and yellow wings, that observed its surroundings for a few seconds, before flying off into the woods, to carry on the spirit of her dear friend Fluttershy.


> The Laughing Partymare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The wind blew gently across the town, sending small chills down the back's of anypony who happened to be aimlessly wondering around Ponyville.

Not that anyone was.

Ponyville had been plunged into a depression of sort. Any happiness that had once existed in the town a few hours ago, had completely vanished by this time.

For the one pony who brought life, light and laughter to the town, had finally decided that she could party no more, and had spent her last few hours, on her bed, within the top floor of Sugarcube corner, before finally releasing her mind and soul from her still, pink body.


***



- A few hours earlier -


Pinkie sat outside Sugarcube corner, observing the activity that passed her; a taxi hurtling past with a distressed customer, Several stalls, selling edible produce of all kind, from cherries to carrots. And the continual groups of ponies that walked back and forth in front of her.

She always enjoyed sitting in this one spot, watching all of the other ponies go about their day, having fun and laughing, some waving to her as they trotted past, of course, Pinkie would give a friendly returning wave. 

Pinkie sighed quietly to herself, as she flashed past happy memories through her mind, to such an extent that she didn't notice a certain lavender alicorn approach her.

'Hello? Equestria to Pinkie.' Twilight stated, a worrying face beginning to develop, wondering why she hadn't answered yet.

At this point Pinkie decided to snap out of whatever thought she was in, as she had noticed her name being called in a louder, and more worrisome tone.

'Oh hey, Twilight' Pinkie replied 'What's up.'

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.

'Oh you're ok, that's brilliant, I was scared for you Pinkie.'

Pinkie put on a puzzled look, confused as to why Twilight was so worried.

'What do you mean Twilight? I'm just sitting here, as I have been doing so all my life. Why are you worrying about me?'

'W..What do you mean Pinkie? You haven't moved in over 3 hours, I was really worried about you, I thought something had happened to you!'

This surprised Pinkie. Granted she liked to sit and watch the world go by, but she never sat here for that long. More so the fact that it hadn't felt like that long at all, it felt like 3 hours had passed in a matter of minutes.

Maybe something was wrong, maybe all Pinkie wanted to do was to replace the ever-growing depression that had surrounded her since the passing of two of her closest friends. Maybe she wanted to watch the generations of ponies that came through the town every day, that made her feel happy, to know that, even if she was going to pass away today, or the next, or the next, and so on, that she knew that this town would continue to flourish, and it's inhabitants too would pass away into the unknown, and their foals would do the same, and their foals the same. And that everypony would continue to live their lives as happy as they could make them.

The fact that Pinkie knew that everypony was happy, made herself feel a warm glow within her, and that glow made her put on a smile. A smile that she would keep until the day that her body could take no more of her crazy antics, her consistent pranks, her undoubting love for all things sweet. The day that her body wanted to go to sleep, and sleep forevermore.

Pinkie gave a sad smile to herself, and walked back inside Sugarcube Corner.


***


Pinkie sat in her room, gazing out the window, across the horizon of Equestria, and admiring it in all of its beauty.

The beautiful mixture of colours as the sun began to melt into the ground, sending out a beautiful display of colours, ranging from light orange, to deep violet, all being sent out in different directions. She noticed Canterlot in the distance, its golden and white exterior buildings, showing off the entire known world, that it was the capital of this land, with its royal name, and it's beautiful blue waterfalls cascading down the side of the mountain that Canterlot was built into.

Pinkie looked down and saw the last of the salesponies packing up their produce for the day, occasionally serving their final customer who had a mad rush to the stalls, bits out in the open to show them that they had the bits to buy, and, naturally, the vendor would kindly oblige to them, because at the end of the day, money is what they were after.

Pinkie kept smiling to herself, until she felt a sharp pain across her right foreleg, causing her to suddenly drop to the floor. Wincing she managed to lift it off the ground to get a better look at it.

It seemed to be normal, no colour changes or anything, not even a cut or a bruise. which must have meant something worse.

The injury was internal. Or so she thought to herself, as a worse case scenario, it was possibly just something quick that had happened, something that wasn't going to bother her again.

She continued down that thought path, until another sharp pain hit her, this time in her lower neck.

Pinkie managed to push herself up, with great effort, and gradually began to walk towards the door.

Reaching it she began to knock at it as best as she could with her left foreleg, which was feeling a lot better than her right.

'H...H..Help me....anypony?' Pinkie managed to get out with her neck feeling like it was on fire right now.

No answer.

'H..Help!' Pinkie spluttered, with a bit more force now, and with a harder knock on the door.

The door suddenly swung open, revealing a cream coloured pegasus with a slice of cake for a cutie mark.

'Oh my Celestia, Pinkie! what happened are you alright' Asked a concerned Pound Cake.

'Pound....' Pinkie whispered 'Get Twilight...now'

'O..oh ok Pinkie, no problem, I'll get them right now, don't you go anywhere' replied Pound cake, before dashing off.

'uuugh, hurry...'


***


Pinkie lay in her bed, with the remainder of her closest friends gathered around her.

'It's ok Pinkie' Rainbow Dash managed to say between her crying 'You will be ok. In fact, after this we can go out pranking again, how about that, we will have such a good time, and we can both laugh about it afterwards, it will be so much fun.' and with that she burst into tears again.

Twilight began casting numerous spells over Pinkie's body, all the while holding back the inevitable flood of tears.

'Well?' Pinkie began 'Is it bad? Should I be worried?'

Twilight backed away slowly and motioned to Applejack and Spike to follow her out of the room. As they left, Twilight leant back in and looked at Rainbow Dash.

'I..I'm sorry Rainbow, We should let her best friend be with her in her final moments.' 

And with that she left the room.

Rainbow Dash, with tears in her eyes, looked back over Pinkie's dying body.

'It's ok Dashie, It will be all right, I will get to see Rarity and Fluttershy again, we will all be happy together, and nothing can change that.'

Rainbow couldn't help herself but to suddenly envelope Pinkie in a hug, crying into her already wet fur.

'I'm sorry Pinkie, I should have spent more time with you, I should have kept you happier.' Rainbow began 'It's just...well...In fact, No! I can't let you go! You can't leave me! I will save you! I...'

'Shhhh' interrupted Pinkie 'It's ok, it will allllll be ok' she mumbled to herself.

'It will all be ok'

And with one final look she looked dead into Dash's eyes, and smiled.

'Have fun, while I'm gone Dashie. Don't be too sad.'

And then she was gone.

Her mind and soul completely empty now, and nothing but a small pink body lay on a bed of similar colour.

Dash looked outside, tears pouring down her cyan face, staring into Luna's brilliant night.

'Well' Dash began 'At least she died with a smile on her happy, little, face.'












> The Honest Farmer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clouds floated gently over Sweet Apple Acres, leaving small shadows on the motionless ground beneath them.

A certain red stallion sat by a tree, there was nothing special about this tree, it was almost identical to the other hundreds of trees in the farm.

Raising a hoof, he thrust it against the tree, before holding out the same hoof to catch a perfectly smooth, red apple.

Looking at the apple, he began to well up in tears, holding them back as best as he could.

Because Applejack wouldn't have wanted him to cry, she would have told him to quit moping around, and get back to work.

Right after giving him a loving hug, reserved for only the closest family and friends.

Big Mac sniffed, and wiped a lone tear out of his eye.

'Thanks Applejack, take care now.' He sniffed, before he pulled himself up, and made his way back to the farmhouse, leaving the tree behind him in the past.


***


A loud thud, echoed through the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres, followed by the rumbling as several apples fell into the numerous baskets scattered around the tree.

Applejack wiped the sweat from her forehead with a hoof, casually flicking it away.

It was an exceptionally hot day, Celestia had outdone herself today.

'Hooboy, Celestia!' Applejack said, looking up at the blazing sun above her head in awe. 'You sure 'ave given me a challenge today with this 'ere heat!'

Walking to the next tree, she looked up at the sun again.

'Y'know Celestia, if you are gonna go and scorch the earth. Could ya at least send something to make my life a bit easier?'

Rising her hind legs in the air, she positioned herself, before letting them fling at the tree.

A crack echoed out throughout the trees. Followed by an ear-piercing scream.

Then silence.


***


Applejack opened her eyes slowly.

Everything was white, spare for the odd colour here and there.

Applejack could hear voices, muffled, but definitely voices.

Raising her head so slightly, she let out a small groan. Almost immediately she felt a hoof being pressed to her head, and pushing her back down onto the pillow.

'No, sleep.' She heard it say. It was a quiet voice, one of a friend, but who? 

'Uhnng, h..hello? hello?' Applejack muttered, not even sure if it was loud enough for anypony in the room to hear her.

She slowly raised a hoof in the air, and began to weakly wave it about, desperate to catch somepony's attention.

Nopony came to her.

'Where is everypony? ah could have sworn they were here a minute ago.' she thought quietly.

As her vision began to clear, Applejack began to recognise the surroundings.

As far as she could tell, she appeared to be in a hospital, recognisable by the pure white walls, and the curtain hanging loosely next to her bed.

The curtains by the window flowed gently, placing a cool, relaxing feeling on Applejack's face, leaving her to smile as she closed her eyes again.


***


Something was prodding Applejack in the stomach.

And it was beginning to feel more painful by the second.

'What in tarnation is that?' She thought aloud as she stared into the empty space where the prodding object should be.

'Shoo, get out of here, now!' She shouted as she swiped at the said area.

The pain stopped in her stomach. 

And started in her hind legs.

But this time, it wasn't a simple prodding, it began to feel like someone was trying to crush her legs with something exceptionally heavy.

Applejack panicked, and tried to pull herself up. Only to find that she couldn't move from her current spot.

She was stuck.

Applejack kept on trying though, being the pony she was. She began frantically trying to pull herself from this spot, leaning in all directions, and applying as much force as possible.

And then she began to tilt.

Slowly at first, but it became increasingly faster. Until she hit the ground. Then everything went still for a few seconds.

Before the pain kicked in.

Applejack screamed in pain, her legs felt like they were being pulled from her very body, and being crushed by boulders at the same time.

Applejack began to tear up. Water began to flow from her eyes, and it started to drip onto the floor beneath her, causing the smallest of puddles to occur.

Looking down, she saw something she thought she would never see again.

The yellow coated pegasus smiled at her from the puddle, in the most heartwarming way possible. Before whispering three words in a near inaudible tone.

'Wake up Applejack.'


***


Applejack woke with a start, with tears streaming down her face.

She had tipped the bed she was on over, and was now currently lying on her back, on the cold floor.

Her legs were still in a great amount of pain, seeing as they had come loose of the rope holding them up, and were now laying, motionless on the floor.

She could hear hoofsteps, echoing down the corridor, as she lay here.

The pain intensified. she was holding back another scream.

Twilight, followed by Rainbow Dash, burst into the room. Shocked expressions came across their faces as they saw what had happened here.

'Applejack, oh my goodness! what happened here?!' Twilight spluttered, as she raced over to Applejack's side.

Applejack merely groaned in response.

'Applejack...are you ok?' came the scared voice of her close pegasus friend.

Applejack was now in so much pain, he vision was beginning to fade. She looked over to her duo of friends, and now the group of hospital staff, that had gathered behind them.

'Not...here..please...farm...' Applejack muttered.

'Princess Twilight, what does she mean by that?' came the soft voice of Nurse Redheart.

Applejack began to close her eyes, groaning softly as she did so.

Twilight's face paled. 

'Oh no, no no NO!' She screamed as she watched her friend close her eyes.

'Farm....not...here.'

Twilight's mind clicked. 'Of course! the farm! quick! We need to get her there. NOW!'

Without skipping a heartbeat, Dash scooped up Applejack in her front hooves, and soared, full speed out the window. Twilight followed par, by disappearing in a flash, immediately teleporting to the Apple's farm.

It was but a mere few seconds, before she saw a familiar rainbow blur shoot towards her.

As they got closer, Twilight noticed the pain in both the mare's eyes, and it became obvious of such, as Rainbow Dash basically collapsed in agony and exhaustion when they reached the farm.

Twilight picked up Applejack in her magic, and carried her over to the nearest tree, laying her down there.

Applejack opened her eyes as much as possible, barely gaining sight of her two dear friends, sitting by her side, even in her final moments.

'Thank you, for everything.'

And then she was gone, freed from her pain, and released into the heavens where her other friends awaited her.

Twilight just couldn't take it anymore, and broke down in a waterfall of tears, collapsing in a heap on the ground.

Rainbow Dash hung her head, as she walked over to her now deceased friend.

She leant over, and gave her a small kiss on the forehead, before bowing her head again.

'Goodbye cowgirl, I will never forget you.'