Rarity hummed a soft little tune to herself as she trotted down the stairs. She could already hear and smell breakfast being made. Knowing that the only one in the house besides her was Sweetie Belle, she let out a soft groan. “Well, I don’t smell smoke yet; that’s a good sign, at least,” she muttered to herself as she went into the kitchen with the best fake smile she could muster. “Good morning, Sweetie Belle!”

The younger unicorn leaped up in fright and wheeled around from her place in front of the stove.

“Sorry, Sweetums,” Rarity said with a giggle. “I didn’t mean to startle you like that.”

“Who are you?” Sweetie said, backing up against the oven. “What’re you doing in our house?”

Rarity tilted her head with a raised eyebrow. “Sweetie Belle, what are you talking about? Is this one of your little games?”

“H-how do you know my name?” Fear and confusion were plain in the filly’s green eyes. Her gaze flitted between Rarity and anyplace where Rarity wasn’t, clearly looking for an escape route.

“Sweetie Belle, it’s me, Rarity. Your sister, remember?” she asked as softly as she could, crouching down to look the panicked Sweetie in the eye on her level.

Sweetie Belle’s alarm calmed ever so slightly as her eyes connected with Rarity’s. “I’ve… I’ve never had a sister. I’m an only foal.”

“That… that’s total nonsense,” Rarity said, shaking her head. “I’ve always been your sister, Sweetums. I was even at the hospital when you were born.”

“M-mom and dad never told me about having a sister before.” Sweetie Belle’s eyes suddenly lit up with the kind of wonder only a child of her age could manage. “Does that mean you’re my long lost sister?”

Rarity shook her head and rose to her full height, her brow furrowed in thought before she quickly adopted a smile. “Yes, Sweetie Belle, I’m your long lost sister. I’ve been looking for you and our parents for a very, very long time.”

Sweetie Belle scrambled up on her hooves and hugged Rarity’s leg. “I can’t believe I actually have a sister! Where’ve you been all this time?” she asked, looking up at Rarity with wide eyes.

Rarity avoided her sister’s gaze. “I’ve been… a lot of places. Mostly Canterlot.”

“I’ve never been to Canterlot before,” Sweetie Belle said, awe apparent. “What’s it like?”

“Oh, it’s a very nice place, darling. The architecture, the culture, the class…” Rarity sighed wistfully. She blinked and added, “But, um, I’m not here to tell you about my old home. I’m here to find out about your home. Come to think of it, I really should get back to exploring Ponyville.”

“But… you just got here!” The filly’s lower lip began to tremble, her forelegs tightening around Rarity’s leg.

Rarity gave Sweetie Belle a soft smile and stroked her pink and purple mane with a hoof. “I’ll be back soon, Sweetums; don’t you worry about that. You can stand to wait for a while, can’t you?”

“I… I guess,” Sweetie Belle said with a sigh, releasing Rarity’s leg. “Promise me you’ll be back soon, though!”

Rarity giggled at the demand. “Of course I will. I’m just going to get a feel for the place where my family lives, after all.” She turned around and trotted toward the front door. “See you soon!”

“I better!” Sweetie Belle huffed after her.

Rarity chuckled again. As soon as her hooves touched grass and the door swung shut, the mask of calm crumbled and gave way to creases of worry. “This is not good,” Rarity whispered to herself. “Sweetie Belle has amnesia… I better go see Twilight about this.”

She trotted along the surprisingly empty streets of Ponyville. There were ponies out and about, but they all seemed strangely blurry to her eyes. “Great, maybe I need to start wearing glasses full time again,” she mumbled to herself.

“Howdy there, partner!”

Rarity’s eyes snapped to the source of the voice, and clear as crystal was Applejack pulling a cart of her wares.

“You look a little lost, and Ah ain’t ever seen your face around here before; need directions?” Applejack asked with a welcoming smile.

“New in town?” Rarity repeated, looking over the cowpony as if she’d just admitted a manticore fetish. “Applejack, it’s me, Rarity.”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “Sorry, Miss Rarity, but have we met before?”

“Have we met befo–” Rarity shook her head before she got lost in the mire of confusion she found herself in. “Applejack, I’ve lived here in Ponyville for years. We’ve been friends for more than a year. I made your dress for the Grand Galloping Gala.”

Applejack’s other eyebrow shot up to join its sibling. “Are you sure, Miss Rarity? Because Ah honestly swear Ah’ve never seen you before now. You must have me mistaken for somepony else.”

“Okay, so if I didn’t make your dress for the Grand Galloping Gala, who did?” the unicorn asked, her voice starting to tremble.

Applejack opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again without a word. Her brow furrowed in concentration and she brought a hoof to her mouth. A few more seconds of silence followed before she screwed her eyes shut and started tapping the side of her head. “Ah… can’t seem to remember. Ah ain’t even got a blurry memory; it’s like there’s a big hole where that memory’s supposed to be.” She sighed and looked at the unicorn with an apologetic look. “Mighty sorry, Miss Rarity, but Ah just can’t remember.”

Rarity didn’t bother to say anything else. She broke out into a gallop past the bewildered cowpony, her eyes wild with terror as she repeated to herself, “This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening…!”

The rest of Ponyville passed her by in a huge blur until she came up to the old oak library. She burst into the door and yelled, “Twilight, are you here?”

“Just a second!” came a call from Twilight’s bedroom. The tapping of hooves on wood echoed out until the occupant entered the main library. “Welcome to the Ponyville Library! What’re you looking for?”

“Help; I’m looking for your help,” Rarity choked out, her eyes beginning to water. “Sweetie Belle doesn’t remember I’m her older sister, Applejack doesn’t remember I’m her friend and… oh, darling, something horrible must have happened!”

Twilight trotted over and put a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “Calm down, calm down; I’ll see what I can do. Ponies are forgetting who you are, right?”

Rarity simply gave a nod and a sniffle.

“Very odd,” Twilight said as she trotted over to a bookshelf and began perusing its contents. “Anypony who hasn’t forgotten you yet?”

“I’ve only run into Sweetie Belle and Applejack this morning, so you’re really the only pony who seems to remember me so far, Twilight,” Rarity explained.

Twilight went completely still for what felt like forever.

“Twilight…?”

The violet unicorn chuckled nervously as she turned back to face Rarity. “Actually, I, um… I have no idea who you are, Miss…?”

Rarity felt her hind legs give way under her, her behind landing on the wooden floor with a loud thud. Sweat started forming on her brow. Her eyes stared out into the distance, beyond the library, beyond Equestria, and possibly beyond even Equis.

“No… no, this isn’t happening,” Rarity muttered to herself as her vision began to blur. “This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening…”

“Um… excuse me? Are you okay?” Twilight asked, trotting up to the stunned unicorn. Just as her hoof was about to find Rarity’s shoulder again, Rarity galloped out the door, tears streaming down her face and her eyes screwed shut.

“This isn’t happening! This isn’t happening! This isn’t happening!” she shrieked to herself, not caring who heard as long as she could hold onto the vain hope that her mantra would come true.

Rarity didn’t pay attention to how far or how long she ran; it didn’t matter if she didn’t outrun the reality of her situation. Eventually her legs tired and she stopped, though she supposed it didn’t take that long, seeing as she wasn’t athletic in any way. She didn’t bother to open her eyes; she could feel grass beneath her feet, and that was good enough for her. She completely collapsed and just cried into her hooves, repeating her mantra now and then in a feeble attempt to comfort herself.

“Um… excuse me? Are you okay?”

A small gasp escaped Rarity’s lips, her eyes snapping open and looking up. Somehow, through the veil of her own tears, Fluttershy was standing before her clear as day. Her face wore a look of worry, and sympathy lay behind her teal eyes as she looked down at the prone unicorn.

“Fluttershy?” Rarity sobbed out. She scrambled back into an upright sitting position and wiped her eyes with her foreleg. “I’m sorry you had to see me like this, darling, but…” She shuddered as she let out a sigh and looked at the pegasus hopefully. “Please tell me you remember who I am, Fluttershy. Please, just… say my name. That’s all I need to hear right now.”

Fluttershy’s ears flattened and her frown deepened. “I’m really sorry, but… I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”

Rarity blinked the tears back as they pounded to escape from her tear ducts. She avoided Fluttershy’s gaze and said, “I suppose I shouldn’t have expected any less. Nopony remembers me anymore… why should I have expected you to be any–”

Rarity’s laments were cut short by the feeling of two forelegs wrapping around her, a soft mane draping over her back, and a warm neck pressing up against her own.

“It doesn’t matter what your name is or who you are; you’re somepony who needs help, and… I’m here for you,” Fluttershy whispered. “I’m here for you no matter what.”

Rarity let the tears flow freely as their essence changed from despair to joy. She wrapped her own forelegs around Fluttershy’s withers and hugged her close, melting into the pegasus’ embrace. “Thank you, Fluttershy,” she whispered. “Thank you so much…”

When Rarity opened her eyes again and blinked away the tears, the sight before her made all thought screech to a halt. The scenery before her was blurred and unfocused, but it was rapidly disappearing in an encroaching wave of blackness.

“…run.”

“What?” Fluttershy asked.

“Run!” Rarity yelled as she pulled away and took her own advice. She looked over her shoulder to see Fluttershy spot the danger and dash to keep up with the unicorn as the world behind them vanished.

Rarity’s lungs felt like a pair of furnaces, but her legs hurt so much from the strain that they were beyond pain itself. She just kept putting one hoof in front of the other, only daring to look back to make sure Fluttershy was keeping up. To her horror, the yellow pegasus was falling behind, and the wave of black was catching up to them.

“Fluttershy, hurry!” Rarity shouted behind her.

“I can’t go any faster!” Fluttershy huffed between pants.

“Then fly!” Rarity yelled back.

Fluttershy screwed her eyes shut and flapped her wings. She took to the air, gliding along and gaining distance between her and the apocalyptic surge.

Rarity let out a sigh of relief and flashed Fluttershy a smile. “We can do this, we can do this…” She tried to focus on her own race against death itself, but kept finding herself worrying over the yellow pegasus. Eventually, she gave in and looked behind her.

She immediately wished she hadn’t.

The wave of nothing caught up with Fluttershy and began to tear apart her tail and hind legs, which just turned into specs of yellow and pink dust before blowing away on an unseen wind into the void. It wasn’t until it reached her hips that Fluttershy noticed and looked back. She let out a terrified scream. “Help!”

“Fluttershy!” Rarity skidded to a halt and about-faced, galloping with all her speed to her friend.

She wasn’t fast enough. The encroaching nothingness tore Fluttershy apart bit by bit. The pegasus desperately kept flapping her wings to try to get ahead, until those turned to dust as well. “Help me!” she shrieked, extending a pleading hoof toward Rarity as what was left of her fell. In the blink of an eye, it was over; all that was left was a gust of pink and yellow dust that the darkness quickly consumed.

“Fluttershy… no.” Rarity could only stare at the spot where two frightened, begging teal eyes had been just a second before. She shook her head and resumed her run, her heart freezing over with grief as the rest of her burned from exhaustion. “I’m not ready to die just yet!” she yelled as if challenging the encroaching void.

Almost as if it responded in kind, she saw a wave of nothingness approaching from the horizon before her. She looked to her right to start running in that direction, but the void was encroaching from there as well. A glance to the left achieved the same result.

“I’m…I’m trapped,” she gasped to herself. Her gallop slowed to a canter. Her canter slowed to a trot. Finally, her trot slowed down to nothing. She looked around with the serenity of the condemned to see that the darkness was circling around her. “So… this is how it ends,” she said with a small scoff and a disbelieving smile on her face. “Completely and utterly… alone…”

She hung her head low and sobbed, but she was all out of tears to shed. The circle closed in on her and began ripping her apart, inch by inch. She watched clouds of white and violet dust drift away from her with dulled eyes. “That’s funny… I don’t feel a thing,” she mumbled to herself.

Her eyes snapped open. “I…I can’t feel anything.” She began to panic, flailing in the encroaching void. “I can’t feel my legs!” she shrieked as she looked down to find her lower half completely gone and her upper half beginning to follow suit. “No, stop, please!” she begged to whatever deity may have been listening. “I know I’ve lost everything, but…but I don’t want to die,” she sobbed to herself as her forelegs began drifting away. They were gone before she knew it, the void creeping up her neck.

“I don’t want to die!”

Rarity’s eyes snapped open with a deep gasp. Her gaze darted around, only to find the luxurious comforts of her own room. She was wrapped deep in the covers of her own bed, the feel of the expensive fabrics quite literally dampened by the cold sweat that covered her body.

The unicorn laid in her bed and shivered for several minutes as she let the sheer terror that flooded her mind slowly trickle away. She finally took in a deep breath that felt like it rattled her very bones, though it didn’t calm her down as much as she’d hoped.

She heard the doorbell ring downstairs, earning a small groan from the fashionista. She stole a look at the clock. “Who would come by at this Celestia-forsaken hour?” she muttered as she shakily climbed out of bed. “The sun is barely even up.”

Rarity dragged her hooves along the floor, unable to control their shaking as the events of last night’s nightmare played over and over in her mind. “It was only a dream,” she whispered to herself. “Just a petite little nightmare. Nightmares never hurt anypony.”

The doorbell rang again as she approached the front door. “Coming!” she sang as cheerfully as she could manage. She took a moment to try to regain her composure. The most she could manage was to stop her legs from shaking. Deciding that was good enough, she swung the door open with her magic and put on her best fake smile. “Good morning, and welcome to the Carousel Boutique.” She was going to finish the rest of her greeting, but her words died in her throat when she saw who it was.

“Good mornin’, Rarity,” Applejack greeted. “Ah was just swinging by to… oh Celestia, what happened to you?” Her eyes suddenly softened with pity.

“What? What’s wrong?” Rarity asked, looking herself over.

“Rare, your mane looks like your cat slept in it and your face is covered in smudged makeup,” the cowpony said, looking over her friend with a furrowed brow. “Were you… were you cryin’ last night, Rarity?”

“No; of course not,” the unicorn lied, turning her nose up as if the very suggestion offended her. “I’m just fine.”

“Rarity…” Applejack sighed and pushed her way into the boutique, closing the door with her hoof. “You can be honest with me. You can put on a mighty pretty smile, but Ah can still see that something’s eatin’ away at you.”

“Of course n-not, don’t b-be silly, Applejack,” she stammered, avoiding eye contact. “Everything… everything…” A single glance at the emerald eyes full of worry looking at her shattered her already shaky resolve. “Everything’s not fine. Everything… is far from fine.”

Rarity felt Applejack’s cheek nuzzle up against her own. “You were crying last night… weren’t you?”

The unicorn mutely nodded with a sniffle as her eyes began to water once more. “I just fell in bed and couldn’t stop. Even after I didn’t have any tears left, I just kept on sobbing… it wasn’t the most dignified moment of my life, I’ll tell you that,” she joked with a weak smile, finally managing to look her friend in the eye.

“What’s wrong, sugarcube?” Applejack asked softly.

“I’m… I’m scared,” she admitted more to herself than to her friend. “I’m so scared.” She suddenly flung her forelegs around Applejack and buried her face in her friend’s neck as the tears flowed anew. “I don’t want to die, Applejack! I still have so much to do with my life, and… I don’t want to leave what I already have behind.” She sobbed violently and held the cowpony tighter, as if she was scared that her friend would turn into dust and slip away any second.

Applejack returned the hug in kind and softly whispered into Rarity’s ear, “Just cry it all out, Rare. Ah’m here, and Ah ain’t going anywhere.” She held the unicorn closer and stroked her back.

Rarity quickly ran out of tears to cry, but that didn’t stop her sobbing or loosen her grip on her friend. Every time her hold tightened, Applejack just nuzzled her cheek into her mane and said, “Ah’m here for you, Rarity, Ah’m here.” After a while the mantra began to take hold and Rarity’s sobbing died away.

“I-I’m so sorry for acting like this, darling,” Rarity apologized, nuzzling her friend’s neck

“Don’t fret, sugarcube,” Applejack assured, patting her on the back. “None of us are going anywhere, and you ain’t gonna die. Twilight will figure all this out, and everything will go back to normal. You just gotta have a little faith.”

“I’ll try, Applejack. I’ll try.” Rarity basked in her friend’s warmth for a few more seconds before pulling away. She locked her eyes with the cowpony’s and smiled. “Thank you. I really needed that.”

“Think nothing of it, Rare. What’re friends for?” Applejack asked, returning the smile.

“That would be a very long list,” Rarity chuckled, “and even then you go above and beyond.”

“Aw shucks, Ah ain’t nothing special,” Applejack said with a blush.

“I would tell you to not be so modest if I didn’t know you’d be too stubborn to listen,” Rarity giggled. “Now, what brings you to my doorstep this early in the morning?”

Applejack’s blush faded and her ears went flat. “Well, Ah actually came here for Sweetie Belle. Ah’m roundin’ up the girls together and takin’ ‘em out someplace fun in case… you know.”

Rarity’s ears flattened as well along with her sinking heart. “I see… I understand. I’ll go get her.”

Rarity had just turned around when Applejack asked, “Are ya sure ya don’t mind? Ah mean, she’s your sister, not mine. Hay, maybe you could come with us.”

Rarity thought silently for a few moments. “No; it’s fine. If I went, I’d just be the overbearing sister that I always am, right? I’ll just let her enjoy herself the way she wants to.”

“If you think that’s best. Ah promise Ah’ll take good care of her, Rarity,” AJ assured. “Nothing’s gonna happen to her on my watch.”

Rarity glanced over her shoulder with a sliver of a smile as she trotted up the stairs. Applejack was looking back at her with the sort of determination in her eyes she’d begun to think only existed in fairy tales. “I have no doubt you will.”