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Organised by
RogerDodger
Word limit
400–750
Obligatory
“Four bits, please!”
Rarity laid a five-bit coin on the counter and placed the tiny basket of strawberries on her back. They smelled heavenly, like sunlight and sugar and happiness. “Keep the change, darling!”
The Ponyville farmers’ market was in full swing this morning. Hundreds of ponies bustled about, crowding around dozens of stalls. It was a wonderful spring day, and she felt like she was floating, buoyed by the giddiness of the season.
Of course, this was Ponyville. It wasn’t long before she heard panicked screams.
There, careening down Runaway Hill, was another out-of-control wagon. This one was laden with potatoes, and it built up a good head of steam toward the market below. The crowd scrambled to the sides, squeezing into a sweating, horsey mass with barely enough room to draw a breath. Rarity held the strawberries aloft in her magic, safely above the crush.
Things were looking good when, across the street, a colt bolted from the crowd. He stopped in the center of the way and froze as he saw the wagon barreling toward him, as though noticing it for the first time.
Rarity didn’t remember moving. Her jaw hurt where it smacked the cobblestone road, and her front hooves throbbed from striking the poor colt, who lay in a dazed heap several feet away. Ponies moved in slow motion to grab him, and she felt somepony snag her tail.
Right, the wagon. She looked up to see it rushing toward her. Drat. This is going to hurt.
It didn’t. The coroner’s report determined that she died instantly.
“And that’s the last of them.” Twilight Sparkle fixed her seal to the page – in addition to being Ponyville Librarian and Princess of Friendship, she was also a notary public – and signed her name in the space below. She set the page down on a pile with the others, and tapped their edges to bring them into alignment. Then she stared at them for a while.
“Thank you, Princess,” Mayor Mare said. She made no move to collect the documents. “And again, I’m sorry. She was a good mare.”
“Yeah.” Twilight felt like there was more she should say. But, just as it had for the past several days, silence seemed like the only due response. Instead she gave the mayor a weak smile and left.
Applejack caught her at the door. They walked together out into the cold drizzle. Thunder shook the sky, echoing off the distant hills in a ceaseless rumble that lasted until the next flash of lightning, and the cycle sounded again.
“I wish she’d stop that,” Applejack said. She squinted up at the clouds, as though she could see Rainbow Dash flying above them.
Twilight remembered the impromptu meeting several days before, when they had suggested to Rainbow that perpetual rain was perhaps not what Rarity would have wanted for the town. The pegasus hadn’t even let them finish; she just stormed off and vanished into the clouds.
And still it rained.
“Everypony mourns in their own way,” she said. “She’ll come around.”
Pinkie and Fluttershy were waiting at the Boutique when they arrived. The four exchanged hugs, and without further instruction picked up where they had left off. Several days of packing and sorting had reduced the contents of the Boutique to a series of boxes. Some were to be donated, others sold, and the rest stored, each according to Rarity’s directions.
“It’s sad, isn’t it?” Fluttershy rested a hoof against a box containing half-complete designs. “That she was just starting, I mean. She had so much promise.”
“She did what she had to do,” said Applejack. “Weren’t no other way.”
Twilight found herself speaking. “Yes, but… would you have done that?”
There was a silence.
“I, uh… maybe,” Applejack said. “It was so fast, you know?”
“I’d have been scared,” Fluttershy said. She shivered and huddled beneath her mane. “I still am.”
Pinkie seemed lost in thought. Twilight looked out the rain-spattered window.
Stupid. Stupid. Why did I ask that? There’s no—
The door creaked open, and they turned to see Rainbow Dash in silhouette. She stepped in, dripping water everywhere, and shrank from their gazes, eyes looking everywhere else.
“Hey, uh… Sorry. Am I too late?”
She jerked as Twilight wrapped her in a hug, and then all five of them were together, legs and wings encircling each other in comfort.
“No. You’re just in time.”
Rarity laid a five-bit coin on the counter and placed the tiny basket of strawberries on her back. They smelled heavenly, like sunlight and sugar and happiness. “Keep the change, darling!”
The Ponyville farmers’ market was in full swing this morning. Hundreds of ponies bustled about, crowding around dozens of stalls. It was a wonderful spring day, and she felt like she was floating, buoyed by the giddiness of the season.
Of course, this was Ponyville. It wasn’t long before she heard panicked screams.
There, careening down Runaway Hill, was another out-of-control wagon. This one was laden with potatoes, and it built up a good head of steam toward the market below. The crowd scrambled to the sides, squeezing into a sweating, horsey mass with barely enough room to draw a breath. Rarity held the strawberries aloft in her magic, safely above the crush.
Things were looking good when, across the street, a colt bolted from the crowd. He stopped in the center of the way and froze as he saw the wagon barreling toward him, as though noticing it for the first time.
Rarity didn’t remember moving. Her jaw hurt where it smacked the cobblestone road, and her front hooves throbbed from striking the poor colt, who lay in a dazed heap several feet away. Ponies moved in slow motion to grab him, and she felt somepony snag her tail.
Right, the wagon. She looked up to see it rushing toward her. Drat. This is going to hurt.
It didn’t. The coroner’s report determined that she died instantly.
“And that’s the last of them.” Twilight Sparkle fixed her seal to the page – in addition to being Ponyville Librarian and Princess of Friendship, she was also a notary public – and signed her name in the space below. She set the page down on a pile with the others, and tapped their edges to bring them into alignment. Then she stared at them for a while.
“Thank you, Princess,” Mayor Mare said. She made no move to collect the documents. “And again, I’m sorry. She was a good mare.”
“Yeah.” Twilight felt like there was more she should say. But, just as it had for the past several days, silence seemed like the only due response. Instead she gave the mayor a weak smile and left.
Applejack caught her at the door. They walked together out into the cold drizzle. Thunder shook the sky, echoing off the distant hills in a ceaseless rumble that lasted until the next flash of lightning, and the cycle sounded again.
“I wish she’d stop that,” Applejack said. She squinted up at the clouds, as though she could see Rainbow Dash flying above them.
Twilight remembered the impromptu meeting several days before, when they had suggested to Rainbow that perpetual rain was perhaps not what Rarity would have wanted for the town. The pegasus hadn’t even let them finish; she just stormed off and vanished into the clouds.
And still it rained.
“Everypony mourns in their own way,” she said. “She’ll come around.”
Pinkie and Fluttershy were waiting at the Boutique when they arrived. The four exchanged hugs, and without further instruction picked up where they had left off. Several days of packing and sorting had reduced the contents of the Boutique to a series of boxes. Some were to be donated, others sold, and the rest stored, each according to Rarity’s directions.
“It’s sad, isn’t it?” Fluttershy rested a hoof against a box containing half-complete designs. “That she was just starting, I mean. She had so much promise.”
“She did what she had to do,” said Applejack. “Weren’t no other way.”
Twilight found herself speaking. “Yes, but… would you have done that?”
There was a silence.
“I, uh… maybe,” Applejack said. “It was so fast, you know?”
“I’d have been scared,” Fluttershy said. She shivered and huddled beneath her mane. “I still am.”
Pinkie seemed lost in thought. Twilight looked out the rain-spattered window.
Stupid. Stupid. Why did I ask that? There’s no—
The door creaked open, and they turned to see Rainbow Dash in silhouette. She stepped in, dripping water everywhere, and shrank from their gazes, eyes looking everywhere else.
“Hey, uh… Sorry. Am I too late?”
She jerked as Twilight wrapped her in a hug, and then all five of them were together, legs and wings encircling each other in comfort.
“No. You’re just in time.”