The sun rose over the peaks of the Unicorn Range, lighting the small town of Ponyville, located at the foot of Canter Mountain.

Just outside this town rose a castle. It glimmered in the light of the bright yellow orb, which Celestia had just finished putting in the sky above.

Inside said castle sat Princess Twilight Sparkle, her blue with pink and purple stripes mane frazzled from her early wake up. Well, that, and the fact that today was an extremely important anniversary, one that always made her lethargic and depressed.

Seven years. Seven long, painful, and boring years.

Sighing, Twilight took a sip of her plain black coffee, which was something she always reserved for this day. The day her and her other four friends would visit the grave and pay respects. Sadly, it would only be the five of them. Everyone else had stopped coming two years ago. Even most of Fluttershy's animal friends had vanished. It was mainly Angel and a few other small creatures that stood outside the cemetery silently.

Thinking about all the different animals brought Twilight's mind to Discord. No one has seen him in six years. She and the others would still occasionally wonder what happened to him, but all the searches had proven futile. He had simply disappeared.

That was the thing that kept Celestia away from coming with them. Not her royal duties. She was afraid of one day seeing him there, cause there was no doubt in the sun princess's mind that he would not act very friendly to them anymore. Luna did still come, but only late at night, for she had to sleep during the day.

Twilight was shaken from her drifting mind at the sound of a hoof gently knocking on her bedroom door. Turning towards the sound, Twilight caught a glimpse of color through a small slit between the double doors. Sighing again, she stood and approached the doors, reaching up and pulling on the door handle. The door slid silently open to reveal a rainbow-maned pegasus.

Of the entire group, Rainbow had taken Fluttershy's death hardest, right alongside Pinkie. Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight had tried their hardest to help the two, but they were not far off from the condition the two had worked themselves up to for three whole years.

Of course, the five of them had eventually stopped the sobbing themselves to sleep every night routine, but they all still held the grief in their souls.

Motioning Rainbow inside, Twilight shut the door and turned to face her silent friend. "Hey Rainbow. Ready to go?"

It had become tradition between the alicorn and the pegasus to go to the cemetery together. The two had made the closest bond over the last seven years out of all the group. They were constantly seen together at cafés and restraunts, but even though it seemed like more, the pair were simply enjoying each other's company and trying to silently comfort each other.

Rainow Dash nodded as she headed towards the window. "I saw the others already heading out there. They'll be there by now."

Nodding in agreement, Twilight followed her best friend as she jumped out the window. They took to the sky, wings flapping effortlessly as they drifted down towards the outer edge of Ponyville.

Off to the far right side of Sweet Apple Acres was where the Ponyville Hills Cemetery laid. It had several hundred graves in it, almost all depicting famous war heroes and soldiers. There was one that stood above the rest, however.

It depicted a pegasus standing tall, her face serene, beautiful, and kind. A small smile stretched graced the carving's face, while the stone eyes appeared to actually sparkle with compassion.

Fluttershy's monument. And right beneath it, her grave.

Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie were indeed already there. The three sat in front of a patch of ground littered with flowers. It was the prime spot of the whole cemetery. It was given to Fluttershy for all the times she had helped save Equestria, and for taming one of the greatest threats they had ever met.

Twilight and Rainbow landed right next to their friends, folding their wings. Twilight sat down and bowed her head in respect, while Rainbow absently ran a hoof over the patch of dirt laying over their friend.

Applejack looked over at Rainbow for a second. Over the years, she had let her mane grow out, and had given up her ponytail, letting it flow freely and messily across her neck and face.

Next to Applejack, Pinkie had her Pinkamena hair on, and she had growler paler. Her perky attitude had all been vanished as of waking up this morning.

The last of the group was perhaps the most changed. Her mane was split all over the place, sticking up and knotted sometimes. Her white had lost its shine, and she almost always had her head down. Although Rainbow had suffered the most mentally, it was clear from Rarity's looks she was an emotional wreck.

As the group gathered together in a tight huddle to support each other, Twilight, who had grown significantly in the past years, opened her wings and circled them around her friends, pulling the huddle closer.

It wasn't until sun set approached that they left, laying down fresh flowers and muttering silent prayers.

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Luna silently sat in front of the great monument, her head bowed in respect of the dead. Although she hadn't known Fluttershy as much as her friends, the princess of night had always had a deep respect for the pegasus, who had sacrificed much for the ponies around her.

Luna stayed in her position for a long time, simply letting memories and stories of the deceased run through her head. She had heard many tales about the shy pegasus. How she faced down a dragon. How she resisted a beast. Her victory over a cockatrice. It made her wish Fluttershy hadn't been so nervous about her since the Nightmare Moon incident, the night princess now found herself wanting to have really spent time with this mare.

Sighing sadly, Luna looked up at the statue. Nightmare Moon...she would still be that monster if this pegasus hadn't gathered the bravery to help Twilight and the others. It must have certainly been hardest for her, considering her timid nature.

"Thank you."

A single tear shone down the princess's face, landing on the dirt piled over the coffin.

Standing up, Luna went to leave, but then something made her pause. Looking back at the ground which Fluttershy was buried under, Luna got a very weird feeling. It was almost like a hunch, but less certain.

Turning back around, the night princess laid the tip of her horn to the ground. It began to glow a light blue, and seeped into the grass.

The rumbling started as the same blue light began to burst from the earth, lighting the cemetery. Concentrating harder, Luna felt the ground give way as the coffin rose from the earth. Lifting her head, Luna gently turned her body away from the hole, the coffin moving with it, and set the elaborate box down besides the freshly disturbed grave.

The blue glow faded away, leaving Luna with only the light of the waning moon to see the coffin by. Taking a deep breath, the dark blue alicorn walked up to the final resting space of Fluttershy.

Luna had no idea exactly what had compelled her to disturb the hero's grave, but she knew she couldn't ignore it. Taking a deep breath, the princess reached up and lifted the lid of the bright yellow box that had one large, elaborate pink butterfly painted on its top.

"What?! How?! I saw her! And watched it this go into the ground!"

The thing that had shocked Princess Luna into yelling at what was supposed to be a place of quiet respect was the body inside the silk-lined coffin. Or, more specifically, the lack of body.

Fluttershy was not inside.

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Lily Bloom stuck out her tongue in concentration as she tried her hardest to snip away some weeds without cutting out the blooming flowers.

Cause she was so focused on weeds and flowers, Lily failed to notice her husband, Black Opal, heading towards her, having returned from his job in the Diamond Mines. When he reached his wife, Black Opal reached a hoof forward and tapped her on the back.

Letting out a startled yelp, Lily turned and nearly assaulted Opal with her pruning sheers. Seeing who it was, however, she stopped herself and let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, Opal, don't do that to me! You know I don't like being sneaked up on!" she reminded him in a lightly scolding tone.

Laughing, Opal shook his head. "You know I can't resist! I'm Mr.Shadow, remember?" He had been appropriately nicknamed, for his coat was as black as coal. His mane and tail were a foggy grey, while his eyes were more a smoky grey color, and on his flank was a barely distinguishable round grey-black stone that had red flecks in it. A black opal.

Huffing, Lily playfully pushed him away, a wide grin on her face. "Oh please. You use that excuse way too much," she teased, her cream white crystal coat gleaming in a patch of sunlight, leaf green eyes sparkling almost as brightly, her light blue with a pink stripe colored mane and tail just as bedazzling. Her cutie mark stood out quite vividly compared to her husband's, an aqua green lily pad with a light pink lily blooming on it.

Rolling his eyes, Opal looked at the now trampled garden of what had once been growing flowers besides Lily. "Oops."

Following her husband's gaze, Lily gasped. "My tulips! We've crushed them! And they were only just coming in too!" Turning now-furious eyes on Opal, she again wielded her pruners. "It took me forever to adjust them to this soil! Now it'll take ages more for them to grow in! I just hope they do it before winter!"

Although she was angry, Lily would never actually harm Opal, and, after a few seconds, she put the pruners down, sighing. "Ah well. Best get back to work then."

Rubbing the back of his neck while his wife went to clear away the dead plants, Opal tried to say, "Lily, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, Opal, it's fine. It'll give me the chance to plant some peonies. At least they're local enough here."

Feeling terribly awkward, Opal went back into their home, hoping to later make it up to her with a romantic dinner. It was, after all, the anniversary of when their relationship officially began. In a few months time, they would also be celebrating their marriage anniversary too.

While Opal thought of that, Lily finished uprooting her ruined flowers and tossed them into a bucket full of dirt and weeds sitting by a small shed. Murmuring to herself, she went into said shed and brought back out several packets of seeds. With her practiced hooves, she quickly dug out seven holes and poured a few seeds in each before promptly putting the packets back in the shack.

As she covered the seeds, Lily realized how many holes she had dug, and a sad, tired expression overcame her face. "Seven precisely, as of..." She let the sentence drift off, shaking her head to clear it. "No, I won't be roped into depression again. I chose this, and this is how it must be."

Feeling confident again, Lily went inside to wash up. As she hung her work apron up and went towards the sink, a small voice at the back of her mind muttered, 'Yeah right.'