"Big Mac?" Apple Bloom said in a ghostly whisper. Her warm breath made her dark veil sway ever so slightly. "You gonna talk for Granny?"
"Nope..." Big Mac said. He himself was aging, and shuddered at the thought of leaving Sweet Apple Acres run by Applejack alone. Even with the help of his mate, Cherilee, Apple Bloom, and his daughter, little Cherry Mac, he feared the worst.
"Granny Smith was..." Applejack began speaking into the microphone. "Well," Applejack took a deep breath and screamed, "I'm sorry!" And galloped off the stage. Others took turns speaking, including Apple Rose, Cherilee, and even Fluttershy, who huddled close to the microphone and still only made a few whimpers and soft whispers, that nopony could understand.
After the coffin was lowered into the ground, the ponies all either stayed to help with the clean up or left to attend other personal affairs. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Fluttershy all stacked the chairs they had laid out for the funeral, while Big Mac and Cherry Mac pushed the piles of chairs into the barn. At the gates, Apple Bloom, Applejack, and Cherilee stood, thanking guests for coming and accepting heartfelt apologies. After everything was cleaned up, the remaining ponies-Applejack, Big Mac, Cherilee, Cherry Mac, Apple Bloom, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo- all gathered by the barn to catch up and discuss their latest news.
"So, Applejack, have you heard?" Rainbow Dash asked cautiously. She didn't want to hurt Applejack in this tough time. Even the stubborn Rainbow Dash could understand that. "Twilight's taking over!"
"What in Equestria are y'all talking 'bout?" Applejack briefly glanced over her shoulder as Apple Bloom challenged Scootaloo to an apple bucking contest. The two fillies raced over to the south field and disappeared fcrom sight.
"Umm, Rainbow? I don't think she heard..." Fluttershy put in, still shrinking further into herself.
"When was the last time either of you picked up a newspaper?" Cherilee asked.
"I can't do nothing with this whole Granny thing 'round here. I still can't believe it."
"Applejack, please, just admit it. You couldn't have done anything to save her. She was all the way in Appleloosa when it happened." Fluttershy begged.
"If I hadn't... Well, if I wasn't... What I meant was..." Applejack stuttered. "Please, tell me Twilight's news is a heck of a lot better than this."
"Oh, it is!" Fluttershy exclaimed quietly.
"Celestia decided to retire!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"What? That's terrible news!" Applejack shouted, half in shock, half in confusion.
"Rainbow Dash! What you left out is that Twilight's taking over for her. Pinkie Pie and Rarity didn't hear about Granny Smith, so they're hosting the party for Twilight. It's over at City Hall. It's a really big deal! Princess Cadence and Shining Armor are coming over, too, to celebrate." Cherilee explained, glaring at Rainbow Dash. "Do you want to come over with us?"
"By the way, how's Apple Bloom handling this? I think she'll be needing Granny more than ever." Fluttershy inquired.
"Not great. I think we should go with you guys. A trip to Pinkie Pie is definitely a start." Applejack sighed.
"Pinkie Pie! I going to City Hall, with or without you! I've worked much too hard on this outfit jsut for this occasion to let it go to waste, and I'm not about to wear it to somepony's birthday party! This is only the finest silk for our finest Twilight."
"Wait just a second, Rarity! I'm almost done." Pinkie's voice sounded from behind the saloon-style doors. "Tada!" Pinkie shouted, popping out of the doors and into Rarity's view. Rarity stepped back into the wall in complete shock.
"Pinkie Pie! You can't possibly be going to Twilight's party in... THAT!" Rarity exclaimed, staring in horror at Pinkie Pie's chicken suit.
"Why not? It's to help the Cake Twins earn their chicken taming cutie marks! Ready!" Suddenly, Pound Cake came, carrying Pumpkin Cake on his back. Pumpkin's horn emitted an orange glow. She levitated Rarity's necklace off of her head and wrapped it around Pinkie's plastic beak.
"Pumpkin! Please give it back! Pound Cake, you are going to break it!" Rarity shrieked. "Sweetie Belle!"
"What?" Sweetie Belle appeared at the top of the stairs, holding a smoothie to her mouth with her glowing green horn.
"Please, get my necklace back!" Rarity sobbed. "Oh, and Pinkie, too." Sweetie rolled her eyes and lowered her smoothie.
"Hey, chicken taming isn't your thing anyways." The twins dropped everything, including Pinkie.
"Yeah, chickens aren't much fun, anyways." Pinkie picked up the giggling twins under her arms and walked out the exit and into the taxi, positioning them onto her lap.
"Pinkie! You can't possibly wear that!"
"Don't worry! It's reversible!" Pinkie flipped the costume to reveal a panda costume.
At least it's better than a chicken, Rarity thought. Sweetie stepped onto the carriage after Rarity. Rarity tried to cover her dress with her hooves, from Sweetie's smoothie and the twins' latest attempt in panda taming. Groaning, she looked out the window at the far away party.
"Um, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy whimpered. "Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah, what is it?" Rainbow Dash asked, lowering her goggles over her eyes. "Here, take this." She said, handing Fluttershy matching goggles.
"Oh sure," Fluttershy replied. "But, Rainbow Dash, I don't really think I can-"
"Save it for the party, Fluttershy. Right now, we gotta go!"
"Rainbow Dash, I really can't fly much more than 6.5 wingpower!"
"You'll do fine!"
"But, you go at over 20 wingpower!" But Rainbow Dash wasn't listening.
"No time for this, gotta go!" Rainbow Dash spread her wings and began to take off, pulling the wagon behind her. Fluttershy flew as fast as she could. Her goggles filled up with her tears, and she sobbed the whole way to City Hall. They got there the same time as Rarity and Pinkie Pie. They all got off their respective vehicles and greeted each other, until Rarity looked over Rainbow Dash's shoulder at Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy?" Rarity slowly walked toward her. Glaring back at Rainbow Dash, she shouted, "What have you done to poor little Flutttershy?"
"Nothing! She should've said something!" Rainbow Dash defended herself as best she could, but she was never one for words.
"She did! I heard her screaming the whole trip!" Cherilee argued.
"Fine!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a loud groan. "Fluttershy, I'm-" Rainbow Dash was interrupted by Applejack's shouting.
"Twilight! Well, I'll be. You came in the royal carriage, too." Then, turning to the two white stallions pulling the cart, she said, "Well, howdy! Y'all been taking care of Twilight over in Canterlot, right?"
"Oh, Applejack, I've been doing great. How's the farm?"
"Big Mac married Cherilee, so now we got li'l Cherry Mac, Apple Bloom's entering highschool, and-" Applejack stopped herself. She didn't need to ruin Twilight's special day with her depressing stories.
"Oh, how's Granny? I almost forgot about her. Where is she?" Twilight asked.
"Well, um, you see-" Applejack began, her face flooding red. Seeing Applejack's situation, Apple Bloom pushed Applejack aside and told Twilight what had become of Granny Smith.
"Oh, Applejack," Twilight whispered. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
"Nah, it's your special day. Have fun." Applejack forced herself to smile, and gestured to the decorative trellis above the door of City Hall. The flowers were arranged by Rarity to form an image of Twilight's cutie mark. "It's all about you."
From above the clouds, a dark shadow stared down at the celebratory town of Ponyville. A smirk came across its face, and its horn glew red. Down in Ponyville, Twilight heard a soft, whispery voice come over her. "You have just lost, my dear."
So that was the very first episode! I'll write the next episode, but I may or may not continue after that. Depends on the feedback, I guess. I also have been working on the designs for the older versions of the characters, as well. And I have a confession to make. Very little of this series will be about Scootaloo. I never really liked her in the series. I always favored Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle was in the middle. And I forgot to mention that the trio has yet to find their cutie marks. Oh yeah, and I thought it'd be fun if Sweetie Belle grew up to be a regular ol'... female dog. Not so sweet anymore. I still haven't decided whether or not they'll get their cutie marks. Oh, and if anyone would like to submit a picture for the series, that would be very much appreciated. O w O