Corpse Party!
Strangely, Pinkie Pie had left letters to her best friends. But none of them would ever think that was written in the letters. They thought it was just the usual, they thought they would find only an invitation to a party or something like that. Just Pinkie being Pinkie. Inside the letters really had an invitation, but an invitation to the funeral of Maud Pie, Pinkie's sister.
Fluttershy can not help but cry for the sad news, making the animals in her home worried about her. She remembered well the last earth pony funeral she attended: her dad’s funeral. She remembered how horrible she had thought the funeral was when they buried the yet open coffin, throwing dirt on his face. His family had said to her that it was the tradition of the earth ponies. It was supposedly to make him able to return to be part of the earth, from where the ancestors of the earth ponies came from, and thus return to be part of the earth’s cycle.
Definitely the yellow pegasus had no interest in returning to see a funeral of this type again. But Pinkie should be feeling terrible and she was needing all the support she could get to go through it. As her friend, Fluttershy had an obligation to go to the funeral and supports her, as horrifying as she thought it was. And she obviously would fulfill this obligation.
Twilight Sparkle, in her new castle, was freaking out, looking for a thousand books that could prepare her for the funeral. She never had been in an earth pony funeral. She definitely did not know how to act or what to say. And as a princess she should be prepared! Spike tried to help her, but it was all in vain. He could do nothing but to deflect from the books that were flying in every direction.
Applejack felt her heart tightened. One of her best friends had lost her favorite sister, and she knew how horrible it was to lose someone she loved: her parents have died a long time ago. She was already used to the rituals of the earth ponies, then she did not even thought about it. The only thing that came to her mind was the sadness and pain that Pinkie should be feeling. Poor Pinkie! Applejack was already thinking about some words she could speak to comfort the sad party pony.
Rarity spent the last few minutes in shock. Maud Pie, who she saw not so long ago in Ponyville, was dead, leaving behind a poor Pinkie. The unicorn had never experienced the loss of a close relative and could only imagine what her friend was feeling now. She thought about how it would be if that happened to her, she imagined the pain she would feel if the poor little Sweetie Belle died. So the shock was replaced by tears, and the more she thought about it, the more she cried.
Rainbow Dash did not know what to do, she had little knowledge about the earth ponies funeral, but she knew it involved a lot of sadness and crying. She had just been in a pegasi funeral and was only familiar with how the pegasi deal with death. When her mother died, Rainbow saw they cremate her and learned that death was not something she should mourn; obviously she should miss those who died, but, when they left her mother's ashes to follow the wind, she knew since then every time she flew she would be flying with her mother, that was now part of the own wind. And the blue pegasus could not be happier for it. But now she would go to a funeral where everyone would be sad for that and she admits being a little afraid of end up making it worse for Pinkie because she could not understand that.
Each of the five ponies, some a bit reluctantly, prepared to go to the funeral.
* * *
When the five reached the former home of Pinkie Pie, where the funeral took place, they could never be more surprised. The decor was colorful and vibrant, and everypony smiled and seemed amused. Anyone who got there just could not confuse the funeral with some birthday party because of the gray coffin what was in the middle of the party.
“Hello, girls!” a cheerful Pinkie Pie said, putting a party hat on the head of each one of her best friends. “Why are you so sad? Let's enjoy Maud’s last party!”
A little embarrassed, Twilight began to speak. “Uh, Pinkie, aren’t you sad?”
“And why would I be? This is a party and it's for my sister, I could not be happier to be able to celebrate with her!” She returned to her happy jumps, continuing to talk with her singsong voice. “Enjoy the party!”
The party pony left bouncing to talk to the other guests, making sure her sister had the best party ever. She left five ponies stunned, they did not know what to think about everything. None of them could expect so many colorful balloons or so many party foods. Sure, there still a totally open casket to characterize the funeral, besides the wreaths near it. But it was all so colorful and everyone seemed so happy that they could doubt that it was even a funeral.
Maud Pie had a serene expression, she was wearing a gray dress slightly darker than the outside of the coffin, but that contrasted well with the almost white interior of the coffin. Of course Pinkie arranged a way to put some colored stones in the dress, giving a more cheerful air to Maud. The body was lying face up, eyes closed, the tail almost completely hidden by the dress and her own hind legs, and the front legs were over her belly, as if holding the colorful flowers that were there.
Applejack felt a little nervous and confused. That was not a bit like the funeral that her parents had and she did not know what to think about it. But at least Pinkie was happy, she was not as bad as expected, and maybe that was good. She just wanted her friend to be okay and if she was so happy, this could not be really bad, right?
Fluttershy tried to think in the same way as Applejack. What mattered was that her friend was well, she was not destroyed as Fluttershy thought. But she could not help but worry too, was that healthy for Pinkie? Would not it be better if she allowed herself to feel sorry for this loss?
The remaining three ponies shared the same confusion in their minds, but for entirely different reasons. Rarity felt outraged. How Pinkie Pie could be so happy if Rarity herself was in tears only in imagine her little sister dying? That was unbelievable! She knew she could expect anything from Pinkie, but it was too much!
Twilight’s confusion came from a total lack of preparation for such situation. She had studied everything about the funeral of earth ponies, how it would be, how she should behave: simply everything. But no book said about parties or about the impossible joy of the whole family. How she should behave now? What should she do? Her mind was racing, she didn’t want to fail in her first funeral as a princess, let alone hurt one of her best friends.
Rainbow Dash was internally in conflict. Of course she did not like the idea of a funeral filled with sadness and crying, but a party? That was too much even for her. At her mother's funeral, the pegasus had been sad, she knew she would really miss her, she would not be able to do such a party for her mother. But Dash knew she could expect anything from Pinkamena Diane Pie.
The first to recover from the surprise was actually Rainbow. “Come on, girls” she said, starting to walk toward the rest of the party, until she be interrupted by Rarity.
“I don’t think Pinkie is alright,” she started “So much happiness at such a time can not be healthy!”
“I have to agree with Rarity,” Fluttershy said in her voice naturally low “I'm worried about her.”
All in some way agreed with Rarity, none of them was prepared for this funeral. Maybe they really should talk about it with Pinkie.
“I’m with Rainbow,” Applejack interrupted, walking near to the blue pegasus “Pinkie did this party for us and she expects us to really enjoy. C’mon, you will not want to disappoint her, especially now”
They can’t argue against this. As much as they were worried and even didn’t think anything of it healthy, the last thing they would like was to disappoint her friend at such a time. They tried to join the other guests, but it was noticeable the discomfort of them all. To the astonishment of all, Rainbow was the only one to not look uncomfortable, she even ate several rock candies of the party.
Pinkie reappeared bouncing around them. “How's the party? Are you enjoying it?”
All murmured an embarrassed yes and they placed a wry smile on their face, not wanting to disappoint the pink pony.
“Good!” she shouted happily, soon pulling her friends close to the coffin. “Now it is speeches time! Mom and Dad go first, then my sisters, then I and you!”
No one could prevent the surprise to return to their faces, but Dash was the only one to comment about it. “We'll have to talk too?”
“But of course, silly! All friends of Maud will speak!” She returned to bounce, going near to her sisters, as forming a queue of who would be the next to speak. Soon the five followed Pinkie, uncertain about what to speak.
They heard Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Rock talk about the pride they had of Maud, shedding some tears for her, which were soon overshadowed by smiles and memories of the happy times they spent together. Then the twin Marble Pie and Limestone Pie began their speech too.
Everypony spoke wonderful things about Maud, showing all the love they felt for her and smiling for the happy times they spent with her. As much as the five thought all the speeches are beautiful, they still bother how they would make a speech good enough for Maud. Twilight was the most worried of all, even more because she is a princess, and she thought it was unacceptable she be the one to disappoint Pinkie Pie.
The twins cried and laughed about their time with their older sister. They said about how they would continue her work about rocks, that they would make their "rocktorate" on this subject and exhibited their cutie marks which showed that their special talent was also about rocks.
Then it was Pinkie’s turn, it was possible to notice that she wasn’t bouncing over anymore and she seemed about to cry. This awakened her friends of their self-centred thoughts. They had not noticed that the poor pony was showing her sadness and pain now. Before she went to the coffin, the five approached her.
“Are you okay, Pinkie?” Twilight began, looking worried for her.
“Yeah, I am!” She gave a sad smile. “It's just that I'll miss her so much.”
“It's okay, Pinkie. I'm sure she will miss you too.” Fluttershy smiled, hugging her, soon being followed by all the others, on a group hug.
So Pinkie, now more cheerful with the support of her friends, bounced until the coffin. “Maud, you were the best sister I could have.”
Tears rolled down her face and Pinkie picked up a necklace of candy rock that until then none of them had noticed that was in her neck. The necklace was one of those she always exchanged with Maud once a year. Pinkie gently put the necklace on the neck of his sister, smiling amid the tears.
“This is my last necklace for you, sister. I love you.” She moved closer to the coffin, giving a kiss on Maud’s cheek and, to the surprise of most guests, she forced a smile on the face of the deceased pony. “Rest In Peace.”
Pinkie went back to her friends, getting a hug from them. With a melancholy smile, she turned to Twilight. “It’s your turn, Twi!”
A little nervous, the princess approached the coffin, thinking the forced smile on Maud’s face a bit disturbing. “Maud Pie was a great pony, I- I mean, we” She pointed to her friends, who were close to her “We could not spend as many time with her as some of you, but we learn to love her too. Our love for Pinkie joined us with Maud and it is what brings us here to say goodbye to her and remember the happy moments that she spent with everypony here. We feel sorry for not be able to spend more time with her, but we are very happy to have had the opportunity to meet her. Rest in peace, Maud.”
Her friends congratulated Twilight for the pretty speech, which still had the bonus of save them from having to speak too. Surprisingly Rainbow Dash doesn’t stayed to congratulate Twilight, she approached the coffin and called everyone's attention. Awkwardly, Dash began to speak.
“Uh, I don’t understand so much of this earth pony’s funeral thing, I just attended to pegasi’s funeral and, well,” Rainbow took a deep breath, trying to calm down, “for what Twilight said, it isn’t so different, you bury the pony for him to return to be part of the earth. We, pegasi, cremate our dead and throw the ashes in the wind, then whenever we fly we will be together with those we love.
“And I think the same thing happens to you in this earth pony’s funeral. Maud will return to be part of the earth and every time you walk, you will be able to feel that Maud is with you. And you will not have to miss her.”
“Wow, then Granny Pie is here too?” Pinkie spoke excited, looking at the floor. “Hello, Granny Pie!”
“Yeah, Pinkie, I guess she is.” She smiled at the pink pony animation. “So thanks for your attention, guys.”
Rainbow moved away from the coffin, letting others speak too. She walked back to her friends, who received her with happiness and congratulations, surprised by the depth of the speech and obviously proud of Rainbow have done all there happier.
“Hello, girls,” Cloudy Quartz said, approaching with Igneous Rock at her side. “We would like to thank for the speeches, they were really inspiring and helped our little girls to feel better. I had no idea of how the pegasi’s funeral was and I never thought in that way of our funerals. You made a beautiful speech today, Rainbow Dash, as well as the Princess.”
Both Rainbow and Twilight blushed with the compliments and muttered an embarrassed thank you.
“We know how much a funeral in this way can be strange for those who are not used to it, but you all have done very well. And we can only thank you for it. Thank you so much.” she said, with the concordance of Igneous.
All the five went to enjoy the party, always trying to support Pinkie and make her feel better, which was not so hard after Dash’s speech. They smiled, had fun and were touched with the rest of the speeches. Until the time to bury Maud came.
The grave was ready, it was only necessary to put the coffin and throw the land over. As was customary, the coffin was placed completely open and they started to throw the land over Maud’s body. The last flowers were thrown into the coffin and all gave their last goodbye.
When they finished to cover the entire grave with earth, everyone began to leave. All but the Pie family and Pinkie’s best friends. Ready to leave as well, Twilight and the others could swear to feel the earth’s magic of Maud in the ground they step, as if Maud wanted to confirm Rainbow’s speech that she would always be with her family.