The sun shone brightly through the window, a bright warm blanket of light draped over the table in the kitchen of Carousel Boutique. To one side sat the alabaster unicorn who lived there; on the other side, the buttercream pegasus who was her best friend. As they sat, they sipped from their cups.

“Ichor sticks shit-like in my throat,” Rarity said.

“At least you’ve ichor to begin with, you know. Not everyone’s so lucky.” Fluttershy smiled.

Rarity let out a little sigh. “The truth stings how it stings of course, for me just a pockmark but for you just as death.”

“Death doesn’t hurt once the chemicals kick in.”

“How would you know?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t, it’s just a guess. But that’s what I’ve heard, that’s what ponies these days tend to think.”

Fluttershy scooted her chair out from the table and stood up, trotting over to the kitchen counter. From the stovetop, she picked up a teapot—an ornate, ancient thing—and started to walk back to the table with the thing between her teeth.

Suddenly, there was a very loud noise. GORMLESS!

Fluttershy jumped, startled, dropping the teapot in the process. Time seemed to slow down as the antique china spiralled towards the ground, and—

“Your heart!” Rarity exclaimed. Fluttershy opened her eyes—which had instinctively snapped shut—to see that, miraculously, the teapot hadn’t fallen to the ground and shattered; it was suspended aloft by a shimmering blue magical aura. Yet even though the teapot was saved, a pool of the liquid had spilled onto the floor, soaking Fluttershy’s hooves.

“Thank you so much for getting that, Rarity,” Fluttershy said wearily. “I’d probably be okay even if my heart did spill out onto the floor, but it would have been a pretty heavy toll on my well-being for a few days.”

“Anything, anything for you, darling.” Rarity set the teapot down on the table, and then picked up a cloth rag from the counter in her magic. She moved as if to wipe up the liquid, but—

“Stick ’em up!” another voice exclaimed. The cabinet beneath the kitchen counter burst open and a smiling pink pony popped out, her mane floofing up as she stood up. “This is a holdup!”

Rarity facehoofed. “Oh, good grief.”

“What are you holding us up for this time?” Fluttershy remarked.

“Bloody hell, who cares anymore?” The pink pony leapt over to the puddle on the ground, and started licking. “This is so much better than what I came for, and I came for some good shit!”

Rarity grimaced; Fluttershy just stared.

“What did you come for, anyway?”

“Oh, you know!” the pink pony said with a grin. “Just my two bestest friends in the whole wide pony world.”

“And which friends would that be?” Rarity said, skeptical.

The pink one smirked. “Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch!”

A beat. Then, all three of them laughed, uproariously.

“Where even is Marky Mark living these days?”

“I think somewhere in the north of town, but don’t quote me on that. That’s where his last garage sale was, but he could have moved since then.”

And, much as the sun kept shining on down through the window of the Boutique, life went on.