If I Could Cry, I'd Cry For You (Farewell Filly)
Written by Johny the Brony
Bright green grass. Two ponies. One was a young mare, and the other was still a filly. They were standing in the middle. Both had a white coat. The sun was in the top right hoof side corner of the page, and the moon in the left. In bad hoof writing at the top-middle section of the page, between the sun and moon, read: "Me and my big sister, Rarity. The most beautiful pony I know. She's my hero! I love you! –Sweetie Belle" At a second look, he noticed that the mare and filly were holding hooves and the biggest of the two, obviously her big sister, Rarity, had bright purple hair that twisted as it draped to the vibrant colored grass. She was also wearing a red cape that contrasted with the maroon blood stains that was slightly splattered on the page. One spot in particular was the young filly's face. He wanted to think that there was a smile and loving eyes behind it, but part of him, for a split moment… a chilling second, thought that maybe that she didn't have a chance to finish it. He pulled out another picture, this time an actual photograph, out from behind the drawing. It was the two sisters standing flank to flank. Probably to show off Sweetie Belle's new cutie mark. It was a tilted microphone with a small diamond, very similar to Rarity's cutie mark, embedded in the middle. The wire from it had traveled back behind a big, pink heart that had the letters "CMC" inscribed into her flank. Rarity was looking into the camera, striking a pose with her lips and raising a hoof off the ground. Sweetie, well, she was too happy for words. Her rear was high in the air and she wore a smile so wide you could see it from behind. It was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. That only made it harder for him to put the pictures away and look up at the funeral for the little filly.
They were inside a church, and he was on the outside looking in. The rain made it hard to see, but he could make out enough to know what was happening. He had dressed in all black for the occasion. But when wasn't he? Ponies were sitting in rows and rows of tear soaked pews. It wasn't very often they had a death in the town, much less for somepony of such a young age. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were weeping under Rarity's forelegs as the oldest sister held her sister's best friends. But that didn't help Rarity to cope at all. Black makeup stained her coat under her eyes and her mane was a complete mess. She had tried brushing it for her sister but couldn't keep herself from breaking down. She cried louder than anypony else. "Why? Why? Why? Nooooo! Sweetie Belle! Noooo! Don't leave me! Please don't leave me! I'll play with you more! You can come over anytime you want! You can help me with my dresses! We'll get dirty! Just please don't leave me! Noooo!" The anguish in her voice broke the sentences apart, making it nearly impossible for her to form a full sentence without hiccuping.
Scootaloo suddenly felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Rainbow Dash standing above her. Dash had kept herself from crying thus far, but tears had lingered in her eyes, making it difficult to see most of the time. Dash was offering a warming smile in hopes to make the young filly, who she had sometimes seen as a sister to her. Scootaloo quickly bolted her left check into Rainbow's chest as she continued to weep. Rainbow wrapped her foreleg around the young filly, pulling her in closer, to try to comfort her. "It's okay, kiddo. It's okay. Just let it all out. Everything will be okay," Dash said in a small, soothing voice. Scootaloo jumped up and hugged Rainbow, the little filly almost dangling off her neck. Rainbow immediately hugged her back. "It's not fair! It's just NOT fair!" Scoot whimpered. Dash could feel her tears slowly drip on the back of her neck. The mare and filly remained in each other's grasp for ten to twenty minutes. Rainbow, though still sad, smiled a bit as she held Scootaloo tight.
Apple Jack had also walked up to get her sister. Apple Bloom cried profusely, refusing to distance herself from her closest friend. Fluttershy, being Rarities best friend, walked up to her as the fillies had been pulled away from her side. She put her wing on Rarity's back and Rarity pause her sobs and twisted her head around to Fluttershy. "You look beautiful, Rarity," Fluttershy said. She was surprisingly calm throughout the whole thing. But her outward looks couldn't fully mask the sadness in her heart. Seeing animals come and go for so many years almost trained her to cope with the loss of life. But this was no rabbit, or squirrel, or a fallen egg from a nest, or bug she accidentally stepped on. This was a pony. This was a pony like her. This was her best friend's sister. There was no getting past that simple, blood chilling fact. Rarity gave a small smile to show that she appreciated Fluttershy's efforts. The grin was short lived however, as Rarity grabbed Fluttershy and wrapped herself around her friend, weeping again. "There, there. Let it all out," Fluttershy consulted. "I want her back, Fluttershy," Rarity said quietly, still choking on the words slightly. "I miss her."
Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were motionless. The two fillies stared at the ground, looking back and remembering how poorly they treated the crusaders for being blank flanks. When they finally got their cutie marks they apologized, and though the crusaders had forgiven them, they could not take back what had already been done. They couldn't change that now. All they could do was live. One day at a time.
Twilight, Pinkie and Spike sat next to where their friends had been sitting before going to comfort their friends. Part of Spike was kicking himself. He should have spent more time with her. More time with the other fillies. He was still a kid like them, after all. For a moment he forgot about his crush on Rarity and only thought about Sweetie Belle.
Pinkie's hair was flat. Her eyes filling with tears. You could hear a small whimper, but other than that, Pinkie was silent. Later that day, she wouldn't eat cupcakes with her friends or pull pranks on the townsponies. No. Today she would cry herself to sleep, only to force herself to get up in the morning, desperate to find something to laugh about. She would eventually, but it would take a lot of time.
Twi, however, studied the scene. She was still, as Rainbow Dash would describe her as, an egg-head. She noted how ponies reacted to the event, and then got to thinking about something more frightening and mysterious…Death. What would happen? What was it like? Did it…hurt? Twi was ached on the inside because she didn't know the answer. She was also quite scared for the moment, realizing that death was inevitable. She was scared by the thought of it, terrified by that of which she had not known the answer to. She wasn't sure if she even wanted the answer.
Celestia did not attend, but Luna oversaw the ceremony. There were theories as to why Celestia did not attend. Maybe she didn't care. Maybe she was too busy to come and recognize that one of her loyal subjects died. Maybe she thought she was too good to entertain the thought of remembering the young mare after her death. She had, after all seen generations live and die over the course of a thousand years. But truth be told, she couldn't bare it. Never had she seen a filly die. Before her prime. Her life had hardly started. To not know what it truly meant to live, love, and be free and independent! Sweetie Belle was always with her friends, and loved them very much, but Celestia couldn't help but think of what her future could have been. It could have been a rich and full of life. She could have been successful! Her voice was amazing and had great range. But no. She was gone. Never would anypony hear he delightful voice again. And everything would go on, almost as usual. But things would never be quite the same again. Not for Ponyville. Not for Celestia.
Luna, however, wouldn't miss this for the world. She had still been adjusting to society after a thousand years of imprisonment. But when she was free from her bondage and saved from her former self, Nightmare Moon, she had visited Ponyville. Them memories of terror and fright had left her mind and only focused on the joy of the young fillies of that night. She couldn't help but notice how Sweetie Belle looked in the coffin. It wasn't a look of pain, nor peace. She was simply lifeless. Though Luna was the only one to be able to look at the sight without crying. She hope to take this experience and use it to become more humble and reasonable during her reign with her sister.
The service went on for about an hour longer. Some spoke about Sweetie Belle. Others just cried or mourned quietly. Her parents, the mother weeping and the father comforting her with a few tears in his eyes, never left the casket's side. That was the most disturbing part of the whole thing. The casket. The tiny shape of it sent chills up his spine as he saw it come in and out of view as ponies walked toward it, paid their respects, and walked away.
He slowly made his way to the front door. The door closing was quite. Thought nopony noticed, his presents filled the room, even before he walked in. They were fixed on Cheerilee giving a speech through her tears. She was telling stories of the things Sweetie would do in class and some of the crazy adventures of the crusaders. He walked in as she was telling the story of the talent show gone wrong. Everypony remembered it, and either gave a small smile or slight chuckle before remembering that the young filly in the story was now lying lifeless in a box in the front of the room. Cheerilee noted how she was the first of the three crusaders to get her mark. She was so excited."I got it! I got it, I got it! Look I can't believe I got…" Cheerilee mimicked. Trying to make her voice close to that of Sweetie Belle's the day she got her mark after a great performance in her class at the end of the year. But she couldn't finish. Her voice was filled with sadness and she sobbed all over the podium before anypony came to get her.
Applejack had come up to the podium to seat Cheerilee back down. Applejack had tear stains under her eyes, but she kept her composure most of the time. She didn't want to make things seem any harder for Apple Bloom than they already were. She had to be strong for her sister.
As he walked closer to the podium, the weeping seemed to stop for a second. Sniffling now filled the room in place of the cries. As he walked towards the casket, he wanted to cry, but his cheeks remained bone dry. He hated it. Nopony noticed him, but his presents filled the room, even before he walked in. He made his way to the corpse of the young mare, shivering with every step closer. He looked up at the picture of Sweetie Belle that was placed on a tripod next to the coffin. It was a cropped picture of her with her fellow crusaders. You could see Scootaloo's purple, wild mane in the right side of the picture and Apple Bloom's foreleg around Sweetie's neck from the left. The picture was recently taken. He reached out to touch her face and spoke silently to himself in a harmonious tone. "Hush, now, quite now...Time to lay your sleepy head…Now, hush now, quite now… *sigh*…" He paused. His other hand reached up to touch his face. Right under his eyes, where he wished he could have felt a tear. "If I could shed a single tear, it'd be for you."