A sudden tragedy throws the balance of friendship off-kilter
When a sudden tragedy mars the lives of the citizens of Ponyville and beyond, those who are left behind must learn to cope. The aftereffects of this event, and the choices that the survivors make, hold serious repercussions for the future of Equestria. When the lines are drawn, who will fall on each side? What would you sacrifice to see your friends smile again?
And are there some things which, once lost, cannot be recovered?
I remember exactly what I was doing when Rainbow Dash knocked at my kitchen window that night. It had been fixing to storm all day, so we'd spent the day pulling dead branches down in the east field. It had been a lot of work, and after supper that night I was plumb tuckered -- just had to wash the dishes, and I'd be out like a candle. But Rainbow had other ideas.
"AJ! Come watch me practice!"
I had to smile, despite my weariness. It didn't ever occur to Rainbow Dash to ask whether somepony wanted to come with her -- she knew that she'd never miss a chance to be with her friends, and she expected the same from them. Not that she wasn't understanding -- sometimes a pony is tired, or wants to be alone. And I was tired, no doubt. But after seeing the excitement on that mare's face, I couldn't quite bear to say no.
It was getting windy out, though. The storm that had been threatening was just getting ready to follow through on its promise. I gave it no more than an hour before the floodgates opened right up on top of us.
"You reckon you can get much done before it starts coming down?" I asked. "Could be a mite dangerous, with all that wind."
Rainbow snorted in derision -- friendly derision, but still. "You think I'm scared of a little wind and rain? If I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt..."
"I know, I know," I interrupted, hiding a grin. "Neither gust nor gale, right? Get your head out of my window; I'll get my jacket." I slammed the shutter on her smile, shaking my head.
It was still reckless to go out there right before a storm, and I knew it, and I reckoned that Rainbow Dash knew it, too. But Rainbow Dash had always been a bit reckless, and the way she pushed herself paid off. It had always been her dream to join the Wonderbolts, Equestria's number one team of stunt fliers, and she'd spent as long as I've known her training to join up. She raised some eyebrows along the way, too -- Spitfire had told me a secret, last time she was in Ponyville.
"She's basically in already," she said. "She's shown us that she has what it takes, and she's certainly the most technically skilled flier I've ever seen. We have to call her in for tryouts, per protocol, but it's really just a formality at this point. As far as I'm concerned, Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt.
"She can't know that, though. Not yet. If she knew that she had done `well enough', she'd start to slack off, and that would be bad for her and for us. I know you're her friend, Applejack; I need you to keep her at the top of her game until the tryout comes. Think you can do that?"
I'd promised that I would. It was certainly best for Rainbow Dash -- Spitfire was not wrong about that. But as soon as she'd walked off, I'd realized that this required me to keep a secret from my best friend -- for almost a month!
That had been three weeks ago, and I'd done all right so far. Kept my mouth shut, kept encouraging Rainbow to practice, kept cheering her on. I kept thinking about how happy she'd be to find out she'd been accepted, though, and I ached something awful to just tell her that she'd done it.
Some secrets need to be kept, though, I guess.
By the time I'd gotten on my rain-jacket, Rainbow was entirely out of sight. That didn't bother me, though; Rainbow never could keep still for long. I started walking toward the clear field, and she spotted me in less than ten seconds, flying down to keep me company on the walk over.
Rainbow could chatter to beat the birds when she had a mind, and I don't reckon she stopped for breath the whole way to the practice field. I have to admit, to my shame, that I didn't pay much attention to what she was saying. I was too busy concentrating on keeping my mouth shut. If you've ever had to keep a secret from your best friend, you'll appreciate how hard this was. Or maybe you won't. Maybe you're good at keeping secrets. I sure ain't. You don't exactly get to carry the Element of Honesty by being sly, after all. But I was doing my best, and I didn't think Rainbow had noticed. Least, she did enough talking for the both of us, the whole way there.
We got to the field, and she was off like a rocket. I tell you, if you've never seen Rainbow Dash fly, you haven't quite lived. She can do things most pegasi don't dare to dream about in the air. I'll confess I was scared for her life a few times, but that fear was never enough to take the smile off my face. I loved seeing my friend do what she did best. The sky was where she was free. She was born in it, and she was never quite alive unless she was flying.
I have no idea how long we were out there in the field. Time lost all meaning, as I lost myself in her grace. At some point it started to rain, but I didn't really care, and neither did she. If anything, she took it as a challenge -- she became more daring, faster, as if racing the wind itself, and the wind couldn't hope to keep up.
I lost sight of her at one point, she flew so high. The sun had just set, and I couldn't see any stars through the clouds and the rain. I figured at that point it was just about time to turn in, so I was waiting for her to reappear.
The flash of lightning in the clouds came at the same time as the roll of thunder -- so loud it near drove me to my knees. My heart stopped as I scanned the sky for a sign of my friend... but I only had to wait for a moment before I saw her form coming out of the canopy.
She plummeted like a stone.
I don't remember her landing; all I remember is finding her crumpled form on the ground. She wasn't moving. One wing had a hole clean through it, and the whole wing was blackened.
I prodded her still form with my hoof, calling her name. My voice sounded strange in my ears -- far away, somehow. She didn't move, and I don't think I expected her to.
I think my friends were surprised when I volunteered to put it together. I understand why, though. I've always been very fragile and scared -- I guess they thought I would want to stay as far away from the funeral as possible.
But this isn't the first time one of my friends has died. Some animals don't live very long, after all.
There's a special place near the edge of the Everfree Forest where I have a little graveyard. I go there sometimes, by myself, to remember all the little friends I've taken care of over the years. Sometimes I cry, and sometimes I laugh. It's always nice to visit with them.
So when I heard that Rainbow Dash had died, I knew that I had a choice. I could either lock myself in my house and never come out again, or I could give her the send-off she deserved.
It was a hard decision, but in the end, I was strong enough to do it for her. I'm glad that I was.
We held the funeral outside Cloudsdale. Twilight used her cloud-walking spell again, so all of our friends could come. A lot of Ponyville was there. I was surprised. I guess I had always thought that everyone had just a few friends, like me. But it seemed like everyone I'd ever seen in town knew Rainbow Dash, and wanted to say goodbye.
There was a flight of gryphons there, too. I'm not sure why they were there; I didn't know that Rainbow Dash had any gryphon friends, except for Gilda. I saw her there, but I didn't go near her.
Pegasi don't bury their dead -- the ground is too far away. We burn them instead. I always preferred burying my friends; that way, I could visit them after they were gone. But I didn't think that Rainbow Dash would have wanted to be buried in the ground. She would have hated the idea of being trapped. So it was cremation.
The ceremony was beautiful. A lot of people gave speeches about how much Rainbow Dash had meant to them. Her dad stood up once, and thanked everyone for coming, and started telling stories about when she was young. Most everyone laughed when he told us about how she had tried some crazy scheme to change the Games Inspector's mind, back when Cloudsdale was passed over the the Equestria Games.
Rarity sang a song, but I don't remember what it was. It was very beautiful, though. Rarity has a wonderful voice. Pinkie Pie talked for ages about what a great friend Rainbow Dash had been, how she was always willing to have fun with her, and how she was always there when you needed her.
Twilight read a poem. It talked about how even though ponies come and go, friendship lives on forever. I think everyone was a little stunned to be in the presence of a princess; even though the coronation had been months ago by that point, it was still a novelty to several of the pegasi. I don't blame them -- it was still very new to me, too.
I didn't say or sing or read anything. Neither did Applejack. I think she was hurting too much. I know I was.
At the end, when everyone had said their piece, Spitfire got up. She gave a speech about how Rainbow Dash was the best flier she'd ever seen, and how she would have been proud to fly alongside her. She told us that she had made Rainbow Dash an official Wonderbolt, and laid the uniform across her casket. One of the other Wonderbolts gave the pin that would have been hers to her father. Then they suited up and flew overhead, honoring her with their official farewell salute. I think Rainbow Dash would have liked that.
I think she would have liked the whole thing, although maybe bits of it were too sappy for her taste. That's all right, though. I liked them.
At the end, I went home. I didn't really want to see anyone, or talk to anyone. I was okay. I just felt like being alone.
Applejack came to see me a few days after the funeral.
I wasn't looking too good at that point. I'd been subsisting on 90 minutes of sleep here and there, whenever I could catch it... or rather, whenever exhaustion took me. I didn't really want to sleep. My project was too important. Besides, whenever I slept... well, I didn't exactly sleep easy. I kept seeing Rainbow Dash fall. Not having been there simply allowed my imagination to make up its own details. I woke up screaming every time.
When I wasn't sleeping, I was studying. To tell the truth, when I saw Applejack at the door, part of me wanted to tell her to go away so I could get back to it! But that part of me was the old me, before I'd learned about friendship. These days, I was making time for my friends.
It's not as if my project was going anywhere fast. Being an alicorn was one thing, but it didn't make research materials any easier to find. And as far as I could tell, no pony had ever done much work on the subject that I now found myself neck-deep in. I couldn't find anything more than a few hastily-scribbled, barely legible notes in the margins of time-yellowed pages. My headache was borne less of deep thought than it was of squinting at handwriting that would have been terrible even had it been less ancient!
So yes, I was irritated when I heard clopping at the door, but when I opened it and saw the sunlight -- and my friend's face -- I felt a little better about leaving my work behind for a bit.
"Hey, Applejack! How're you holding up?"
I knew the answer before I asked, of course. Applejack was miserable. Her mane was unkempt, and her coat was dirty. From the look of her eyes, she hadn't been getting much sleep since the funeral, either.
"I reckon I'm doing well enough," she said, despite the obvious. "I just came by to see if maybe you weren't busy. It's Tuesday, and..." She looked down. "Well, I always used to eat lunch with Rainbow Dash on Tuesdays. Now I don't have no pony to eat lunch with. But if you're busy..."
I was already closing the library door behind me. "Busy? Hardly. It'll be good for me to get out of this tree for a while. The walls are starting to close in on me!"
AJ smiled at me, and we began the trek down to Main Street.
"So, what have you been working on?" she asked after a few minutes of silence. "Something special for the Princess?"
I grinned. "No, the Princess actually doesn't have me doing all that much! I guess with these," I said as I flexed my wings, "comes a little more autonomy. I'm doing my own research now, and I think you'll be --"
"Watch out!"
Suddenly the world turned sideways and filled itself with pink. Somepony was sitting on me.
"What in the --" I struggled to get out from under whoever it was, but I was stuck.
"Hold still, Twilight! Stay down! My tail's a-twitchin', and that means something bad is about to happen!"
I managed to wrest Pinkie Pie off of me, my leg aching from the fall, and looked skyward. As aggravating as Pinkie was, her Pinkie Sense was fairly accurate. Twitchy tail meant something was about to fall.
And fall it did. As the three of us watched, a gust of wind blew a leaf off a nearby tree. We watched it flutter to the ground in silence.
AJ was the first to break it. "Well. That certainly was something. Thanks for saving us, Pinkie Pie."
Pinkie Pie beamed at us. "No problem-o!" Her expression grew more serious, but no less crazed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find Rarity! She could poke herself with a needle, and then start bleeding, and I'd have to be there to help her, or else something horrible could happen!" And with that, she was gone.
I turned to AJ. "Poke herself with a needle? Is that really that catastrophic?"
She shook her head. "Who can understand the mind of a Pinkie Pie? Sure not me."
We arrived at the center of town a few minutes later, and sat down at a cafe to eat. I let Applejack lead -- I don't even know if she realized what she was doing, but she knew where she wanted to go, and I was content to follow.
Once we had our food, she asked again. "So, what is it you've been working on? You look tireder than my sister that one time she tried to get her star-gazing cutie mark!"
I was torn. Part of me was hesitant to tell anyone about my research, but the other part of me was bursting with excitement over the little I'd managed to find. If there was anyone who would want to hear about what I was doing, it was Applejack. Keeping it a secret from her wouldn't help her any. On the other hand, if I failed... then I would have gotten her hopes up for nothing.
I'd just have to not fail, then.
"It's a little crazy... but I think it's going to work. You have to promise not to think I'm crazy. Promise?"
AJ looked me in the eyes. "Of course you ain't crazy, Twi. You're the smartest pony I know. If you think you can do something, then I'm sure as shooting not going to doubt you. Shoot, you're a Princess now, and a few months ago I'd have thought that was crazy! I still do, sometimes."
I grinned. "I do, too, sometimes. Okay, I'll tell you." I paused, not for effect, but because I wasn't sure how to explain. I decided to just blurt it out.
"I'm going to bring Rainbow Dash back."
At first, I wasn't sure that AJ had heard me. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite, then chewed on it very slowly while staring off at something behind my head. Then she looked straight at me, with an expression I couldn't discern. "Twilight... Rainbow Dash is dead. I saw her die."
"I know you did, and I know she is. But... look, what's the difference between a dead pony and a living pony?"
"I ain't sure I want to have this con--"
"The only difference is that the dead pony can't do anything anymore! I mean, literally, all the cells have just stopped working. Even if we use magic to heal the body, the pony doesn't come back. There's something missing. But it might be possible to get that something back!"
"But her body is gone, Twilight. The pegasi burned it up!"
"That's just it! They didn't burn her body, AJ. I took it before they could. I replaced it with a simulacrum!"
"You did what?!" She stood up abruptly, glaring at me. "Twilight, you can't do that!"
"I had to, Applejack!" I plead with her. She needed to understand! "I needed the body to bring her back! I have it in a stasis field in the basement of the library. It's safe! I've been studying it, and I think I can repair it! And then maybe I can bring her back!"
Applejack had gone quiet. She was staring behind me again, but when I turned to look, there was nothing there. For a moment, I was afraid she was going to kick me.
"Applejack... are you okay?"
She shook her head a little, then very quietly, she asked, "Bring her back? You think you can do that, Twilight?"
I sighed. "I don't know. I've been researching, and there are a few hints of other ponies who have done work in that area, but as far as I can tell, nopony has ever successfully brought someone back to life. But I can try."
Applejack snapped out of whatever reverie she was in, and gave me a hard look. "Twilight. You were the first unicorn to ever become an alicorn. You saved Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon, and then got all of Ponyville to accept her. You've done the impossible more times than I can count. If anyone can do it, you can."
"Now, I don't have to tell you that I miss Rainbow Dash more than anything. If I could give my bucking legs to have her back, I'd do it in a hoofbeat. So if there's anything I can do..." She bowed in front of me. "I am at your service, Princess."
I blushed, and shook my head. "Applejack, get up. We talked about this. You don't have to bow at me."
Applejack stood up, but shook her head. There was something different in her eyes. "You're my friend, Twilight, but you're also a princess. If you can do this, then you'll be more than that, even. I want you to know that I'll stand by you, no matter what. Whatever you say, from this day forward, I'll do it. I swear on my love for Rainbow Dash, I'll do whatever you need. Just... just get her back for me."
I nodded, then I leaned forward and gave AJ a hug. I didn't let go of her for a while, nor she me.
We parted ways not long after that -- Applejack was needed back at the farm. I returned to my library, more determined than ever. This was what I had to do -- this was my destiny. With my friends by my side, I could not fail.