Twilight and Spike found themselves in the main living room which contained the piano. At the piano sat an elderly figure none other than Rainbow Dash. When the two took note of the surroundings, Twilight turned off their visibility and filtered their speech so as to go completely unnoticed. Rainbow Dash began to play a sweet melody on the piano as the two searched the scene.

"So, what do we have here?" Spike inquired.

"Let's look around," responded Twilight.

As soon as either of them looked to either side, they both found the same thing.

Paper rabbits, all over the floor.

Hundreds of them.

Spike shuddered a bit.

"This is friggin' weird," he said. "Twi, do you think this mare is...?"

Twilight spotted the yellow and blue paper rabbit among all of the others, the one that had served as the memento and allowed them to travel back.

"Hm... Nah. Maybe the whole rabbit craze thing will make sense later. I wonder what else is around here...? Twilight trailed off.

Twilight looked around some more. Save some windows, a desk, and few standing lamps, Twilight could find nothing of real importance on the first floor. However, as she looked more carefully at the desk, it seemed to be the kind of desk that had a hallow interior so as to allow for interior storage of the person using the desk. Twilight wondered if there was anything inside.

"Hey Spike, maybe there's something in that-"

Twilight was interrupted by a teeth grinding sound- the sound that one produces when slamming on all the keys of a piano at once; it had an effect on Twilight similar to that of the sound of a hoof scratching on a chalkboard. Spike fared no better.

"What the..." Spike said.

They both looked over to Rainbow Dash, who had been playing beautifully but a few seconds ago. Her face was now stained with tears, and she had an empty look on her face.

"Hm," Twilight said to Spike. "What do you think caused that?"

Spike huffed and said, "Schizophrenia, maybe..."

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Hey," she said, "the more smart flank remarks you make, the longer this is going to take. Now let's go look around in that desk."

As they moved over to the desk and peered inside, they found an odd looking machine with a strong battery attached to it. It looked fitted to be somehow connected to the wings of a pegasus. Spike had no clue what this machine was; Twilight, however, knew better.

"Spike, this is a flying aid. This thing can help crippled pegasi or pegasi in old age to fly with at least some decency."

Spike said nothing and simply studied the object. Twilight reached a hoof inside the desk, and as she did so, she felt her helmet beginning to emit a signal.

"Welp," she began, "Looks like this is our memento for the next leap back."

Spike nodded his head. "We should probably look around a bit more before we go, though. Why not check upstairs?"

Twilight agreed with a nod of her head, and the two of them went upstairs. For the most part, what they found- a backpack, some flowers, a picture of a real rabbit, and a jar of pickled daisies (which Spike despised),among other things- didn't fill any real gaps in the duo's misunderstanding of Dash's memory.  

"Well, it looks like that's about it," Twilight said as they walked back down the stairs. "Ready?"

"You betcha," Spike replied.

Twilight prepared the memento, and they both pointed their helmets toward it. They were transported back through time  into the next most recent memory.

*****

They were inside the house once again. It was raining, not quite a downpour, but not quite a drizzle, either. Aside from some general junk and another of pickled daisies followed by Spike's vulgar disapproval, they found nothing inside the house. They decided to go outside, onto the front of the property, and search there.

Rainbow Dash was there, straddling the flying aid onto her wings as she prepared to take off. She eventually turned on the aid, and it began to help her flap her wings. She held some sort of plush thing in her hoof. She slowly gained some speed and took of gently towards the cloud.

"Well," Twilight started, "here we are. I suppose we should follow her up there?"

"Yeah, that's probably the best id-" Spike stopped randomly. "Shhh... do you hear that, Twi?"

"Huh?" Twilight asked.

She listened, and through the rain, she began to hear little squeaks, rustles, and other natural noises. It sounded like... animals. Lots of them.

"Those sound like animals," Spike said. "We should check it out."

Twilight gave a silent nod the head, and the two of them walked over to the side of the house, where the source of the noise seemed to be. When they arrived there, they found a large, luxurious pen, filled with all types of animals; there were squirrels, ferrets, mice, birds, and even, as Twilight had predicted, rabbits. They all looked... sad.

"What the hay? I guess we must have missed this the first time when we walked into the house," Spike said aloud. "Well, this doesn't explain everything, but if this Dash pony was some sort of animal hoarder, then that might at least explain the obsession with the rabbits."

"I doubt that, Spike. I don't think having animals makes you construct a bunch of paper rabbits for no apparent reason... are we even sure that Dash was the one who made those rabbits?"

Spike scratched his head. "Meh, whatever," he said. "I guess we'll find out. For now, let's go check on the patient, shall we?"

Twilight nodded her head. "Ready to be teleported this time, you big baby?" She said with a sly chuckle.

"Well, thanks for asking this time, Twi," replied Spike with an angry huff.

And so the two teleported up to the cloud. When they landed on the surface, they found that since clouds were what made the rain, they were safe from most of the precipitation. Still, some higher, non-rain clouds loomed above the one they were on, so there was no sunlight.

Rainbow Dash was standing in front of a headstone on the cloud. In front of the headstone there was a coffin made of cloud. Spike scratched his head.

"How does that even work?" he wondered aloud. "It's a cloud, how does being buried in cloud even protect the body at all?"

"Well," Twilight said open closer examination, "it's probably protected with a spell. My grandfather on my mother's side was a pegasus, wanted to be buried in the sky, too. We got a professional to do it when he passed away, but he basically put a seal spell on the cloud coffin that lasted for just about forever. It protected it from rain, dirt, wind, you name it."

"Huh," Spike responded. "Still, don't you think it'd be easier to just bury somepony on the ground?"

"I don't know, Spike. Probably, but there's obviously a reason this pony was buried by the lighthouse. We don't even know who it is, though I have a good guess. Let's go check it out."

The two walked over to the headstone beside Rainbow Dash, still invisible to her but not to each other. Twilight read the gravestone's inscription aloud:

"'In Memory of Fluttershy, Loving Friend and Wife. May She Enjoy Eternal Peace.' Huh. Well, this seems to confirm my suspicions. We're at the time when her wife died, Spike."

"Yeah. Sappy gravestone reading, though."

Twilight ignored Spike and continued to look around. At Rainbow's feet, she saw another rabbit; it wasn't a paper one, nor was it the special blue and yellow paper one; it was a rabbit stuffed animal.

"Well," she started, "I think this was the thing she carried up here. Is it me, or did I see this same plush on top of the piano when we were in the last memory?"

Spike shrugged, unsure himself.

Twilight looked around a bit more but found nothing of importance.

"It seems that there's not much around here. Wanna go check in the lighthouse?" Spike suggested.

"Good idea," replied Twilight. Spike went into the lighthouse first. Twilight followed him, but as soon as she reached the door, Rainbow began to speak.

"It's finished, Fluttershy."

Twilight stopped and turned to Dash. She simply listened.

"Everything... it's all finished. He won't be alone anymore. Neither will they."

Twilight thought. The 'they' was probably the animals. But who was 'he?'

"I can watch over Angel and them, now. It's all okay now."

Rainbow paused, and a tear began to roll down her cheek.

"You didn't have to do it... you know...but I let you do it... It was what you wanted to do... and I wanted you to be happy..."

"...but I still don't understand...why? Why did you...why..." Rainbow trailed off, heaving in quiet sobs.

Twilight sighed; it was getting a bit depressing. She decided to go inside the lighthouse and catch up with Spike, who was probably getting impatient. Twilight contemplated what Rainbow had said as she walked up the lighthouse stairs. Who was this "Angel" pony?

When she reached the top, Spike was, as she predicted, getting a bit impatient. Before she spoke to Spike, she looked around. She noticed two things: some kind of stuffed animal, and of course, the light of the lighthouse. It appeared to be cracked and broken, and was not emitting any light.

"Twilight, what were you doing? Try not to take forever next time, 'Ms. Wecan'twasteanymoretime.' Jeez," Spike said with a chortle.

Twilight just ignored him.

"Find anything?" Twilight inquired.

"Yup, the memento," he said, pointing to the same plush rabbit that they'd seen back down at the bottom. "Looks like this rabbit is a part of the memory up in the top of the lighthouse, too. I already prepared it. Ready?"

Twilight shook her head weakly. She was still thinking, and she looked zoned out from Spike's perspective.

"Uh, Twi...? Is everything alright?"

Twilight shook her head and said, "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Now let's go."

Spike shrugged it off, and then pointed his helmet toward the memento. Twilight soon followed suit. Their helmets began to work, and they were sent off to the next most recent memory.

*****

The two this time found themselves transported to a different room in an entirely different house. Looking out the window the moment they arrived, they discovered they were on the second floor. The room was small but contained several things; standing out among them was a large bed. Tucked tightly beneath its covers was a yellow pegasus mare, her mane a grayish pink. Standing up beside the figure in the bed was Dash.

"Huh, well, it looks like that last memento was a decent memory jumper. Dash looks a good deal younger in this one," Spike said.

"Yeah," Twilight replied. "She's still pretty old, though. Now shush. I'm trying to listen to what they're saying," Twilight said, gesturing over to the two pegasi.

"Don't," spoke the quiet pegasus.

"...What?" Dash replied.

"Don't do it. Don't you lie to me. You know I hate it."

Dash frantically started to dwindle her hooves.

"I'm not, really! W-we have enough to afford both!" Dash spat out nervously.

The look on the yellow mare's face told Dash she knew otherwise. Rainbow Dash sighed to herself and bowed her held down, shoulders slumped.

"Fluttershy..." Dash trailed off with sadness in her voice.

"Rainbow," Fluttershy began. "It's my life, not yours."

"But Shy! I can't stand here and watch you do this!"

"Rainbow. This is what I want. This is what makes me truly happy. You want that, don't you? For me to be happy?"

"Yeah, of course I do, Shy, but... why? Why does this make you so happy?"

Fluttershy simply sighed.

"Dash... if you love me... you'll know that this means the world to me. I won't let you pay for an operation. I won't. You can try to make me, but it's ultimately my body. They'll need my signature, and I refuse to give it."

Fluttershy paused.

"And... and what you choose to do after I'm gone is up to you, Dashie. But if you know what I'd want you to do with the bits. Finish the house. Watch over Angel. Be with him. Be there for him. Care for the animals; you know'll they'll need me when I'm gone. "

"But Shy... why? It's just animals!" Dash shouted.

Fluttershy looked back at Rainbow with an agitated gaze.

"...sorry, I know how much they mean to you, Shy. But what about him? Why? He's... he's not even-!"

Fluttershy held up a hoof, and Rainbow Dash stopped talking. After a few seconds of silence, Fluttershy opened her mouth again and held out her hoof. There was something in it.

"I made this for you, Dashie."

It was the same yellow and blue paper rabbit that Twilight and Spike had used to teleport back from the first memory when the elderly Dash had given it to them.

"Tell me what this is," Fluttershy said.

"Huh?"

"Just tell me."

"Um... it's a rabbit. It's made of paper, uh, a paper rabbit."

"What else can you tell me about it?" she asked.

"Uh... the belly is yellow, and the rest is blue...?"

"What else?"

"I... I... what do you want me to say, Fluttershy? Just tell me, and I'll say it!"

Fluttershy's eyelids drooped, she sighed, and she looked suddenly depressed.

"Fluttershy..."

Rainbow got no response.

"Fluttershy. I wrote you a song."

"...What's it called?"

"It's called "For Fluttershy."

Fluttershy giggled a bit. "Really? A Beethoofen cliche?" she said.

Dash rolled her eyes. "Well?"

"Hm?" Fluttershy replied.

"Would you like to hear it?"

"Yes."

Rainbow slowly walked away from the bed and walked over to the piano in the room.

"Wait a second..." Fluttershy started. "...did you really move this entire piano up here just play this for me...?"

Dash said nothing. She continued walking and eventually sat down at the piano. She lifted both of her hooves up and began to press the keys.

"Well," Twilight began, "looks like this is her wife."

"Yep," Spike said. "Also, isn't this the same song we heard in the earlier memory when she played the piano?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," Twilight replied. "Actually... I think this was the one the kids were playing, too. Well, maybe it sounded a bit different."

"Oh, that's right," Spike said. "Guess she taught 'em how to play it."

"Anyway," he continued, "who's this 'Angel' guy she was talking about, though?"

"Well, I really don't know. Dash was talking about him at the last memory, before you went up to the top of the lighthouse. Maybe it's their kid or something?"

"I dunno," said Spike, "but it's bugging me. Can we just find the memo and get to the next memory?" I kind of wanna know now."

"Wait a minute. Let's go take a look around first, there might be something to see."

Spike sighed. "Fine."

They looked around in the room they were in; they saw the stuffed rabbit plush that served as the memento in the last memory. It was lying on Fluttershy's bed, next to her. They walked over to a pot of beautiful, fresh purple orchids. Twilight picked up a strong energy from it.

"This is probably our next memento," she said. "Still, let's look downstairs first."

Spike nodded.

Downstairs, Twilight and Spike found an earlier part of the memory. There was Rainbow Dash and, beside her, there was an orange earth mare. Her mane was a golden yellow, and she was about as aged as Dash. She wore a cowpony hat on her head. The two of them were standing near the piano. She was talking to Dash.

"Dash, it just ain't possible."

"Don't say that, AJ! We can do it... we just need to... hm... um... can we break it down first and then carry it up in pieces?"

AJ shook her head side to side. "Dash, this kinda... a lost cause. Listen here, if ya really wanna do this that bad, lemme pay some professionals ta' do it. With all that you've been goin' through... consider it a favor."

"No, AJ. You don't have to do that. It's fine, I'm sure we can just-"

AJ held up a hoof. "I said, consider it a favor."

Rainbow went silent.

"A friend of hers, I guess," Spike said. "Seems like the assertive type."

"Hey, that's never a bad thing," Twilight said. "If I were a bit more assertive, maybe you wouldn't be a smartflank anymore."

"Oh shut up."

The two searched some more, and Twilight found yet another jar of pickled daisies. Spike made a gag motion by opening his mouth and pointing down his throat.

"Bleh, why do we keep seeing these?" Spike muttered. "They're gross!"

Twilight stared at spike with disagreement. "What are you talking about? It's daisies in a jar, filled with water. They're delicious."

"Yeah," Spike retorted, "I can't imagine how good soggy, wet flowers sitting in a jar for Celestia-knows-how-long must be. 'Sides, you know I don't eat hay and flowers. I think I'll stick to the gemstones, thanks very much."

Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled.

"Can we go now?" Spike asked.

"Think so," Twilight said.

They walked back upstairs into the room where Dash was still playing the piano. They both walked up to the pot of wild orchids and directed their helmets toward it. The helmets did their job, and they hopped backward to the next memory via the memento.

*****

"Woah, woah!" Spike yelled.

Twilight grabbed right before he lost his balance and fell of the side of the cliff. They were back at the area near the lighthouse, this time right near the cliff near the ocean. When the two regained their bearings, they found that the memento they'd used to travel, the purple orchids, were rooted into the ground instead of in a pot like they were before.

"You okay?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine... thanks," Spike replied, trying (in vain) to look nonchalant.

"Well," Twilight began, "it's not like you can get hurt. You know that; we're only in a memory."

Spike took a second look down the side of the cliff again. He shuddered. "Still," he began, "I'm afraid of heights. I don't think it'd be so fun."

Twilight shrugged.

"Where are we, anyway?" she started. "The lighthouse is right over there, so I guess we're somewhat near the house..."

"Which probably hasn't been built yet, according to the previous memories," Spike finished.

Twilight nodded. They began to walk towards the area of the land where the house should have been. Instead of the complete house, they found the wooden skeleton of it. Wooden floorboards, metal framing, and other construction items lay around the vicinity. On one of the stacks of planks of wood sat Rainbow Dash, looking younger only by a few years. Her eyes were closed, her face contorted.

"She looks..." Twilight began.

"...Stressed? Distraught?" Spike finished.

"Yeah."

Dash exhaled loudly. Suddenly, from off in the distance, the two noticed a dot of white with some purple coming toward them. Once it reached them, Twilight recognized it as a unicorn mare. She had a well prepared mane of violet that curled and even bounced slightly as she trotted toward Rainbow Dash. When Dash heard the hoofsteps, she looked up to her visitor.

"Hello, Dashie," the mare spoke.

"Hey, Rarity."

"Care to make room?" Rarity said, gesturing towards the planks Dash was sitting on.

"Sure," Dash replied.

Rarity sat on the planks with Dash, and she pulled something out of her tail. It was a jar.

"I brought you pickled daises. Fluttershy always tells me how much you love them, darling."

Rarity set them onto the ground. Dash smiled weakly, and Rarity looked outward. She sighed.

"I'm sorry to hear about her, Dash. I really am. She means a lot to me, too."

Dash chuckled weakly. "I know, Rares. I'm sorry too."

"How's she doing? Health-wise, I mean," Rarity inquired.

"Not great, but not terrible either," Dash replied. "Doc says it's getting bad, but we caught it just before it goes over the hill of becoming untreatable."

Rarity's ears perked up. "Darling, that's... that's wonderful! I'm glad to hear that! That's so great that it wasn't as bad as it could have..." Rarity trailed off, seeing Dash starting to bow her head even further as she sat.

"Dash...? What's wrong, dear? I thought you just told me-"

"It is," Dash said. "It's treatable. Unfortunately, it's incredibly expensive. The operation, I mean."

"Oh, Dash, you needn't worry about that. I have some bits set aside, and I'm sure Applejack could find some cash-"

"No," Dash said. "We have enough. For the operation, anyway. It'll be cutting it close... but we'll make it. That's not the problem, though."

"Oh," responded Rarity. "Oh... I think I know why you're upset now."

Dash nodded her head. "We won't have enough to pay for the treatment and to finish the house, Rares. We only got enough for one."

Rarity said nothing.

"Rarity... you know how much this place means to her. I don't know how I'll... how I'll break it to her."

"Well, do you have a plan of what you're going to do, dear?" Rarity said with sympathy.

"I think so... but I don't think you'll like it, to be honest. I... I don't like it myself."

"Oh?"

"I'm gonna... I'm gonna tell her that we can do both. That we have enough for all of the finances. If I tell her that we only have enough for one... Rares, you know how attached she is to this place... I'm not sure she'd choose to... to..." Dash trailed off weakly, her voice hoarse.

"So what if she chooses to finish the house instead of her life?"

"...What?" Dash said.

"So what? It's her choice, and if she really wants to her, then Dash, I think she has the right to know that she has the choice. Don't lie."

"How... how can you say that Rares?" Dash uttered. "What, am I not allowed to want to save her? I can't just let her give her life for animals and a lighthouse! I won't!"

"A lighthouse?" Twilight spoke to Spike. "We didn't really hear much about the lighthouse in the last memory. Unless... nah, probably not."

Spike hadn't really paid attention to Twilight. He was still focused on the conversation Rainbow and Rarity were having.

"No matter how much you love her, Dash, it's still not your choice. And you know lying will only make it worse," Rarity said.

Dash sighed to herself.

"Whatever," she said. She began walking away towards the cliff of the land.

"Where are you going, Dash?"

"To pick her some flowers. You know, to try to make her feel better."

Rarity shook her head. She pulled another hidden object out that was also curled up in her tail. She opened it up, and cranked the handle. Slow, easy music filled the air as the keys inside the box started to play.

"Rainbow... Applejack told me to bring this. It's a music box. I think she said the song's called... um... everything is... uh... I can't seem to remember the full title of-"

"I know what it's called, Rares. And no. It's not alright."

Dash stormed off to the cliff side to pick the orchids that would be the flowers she would later give to Fluttershy.

As Rarity got up, she left the music box and the daisies there. She slowly began to trot away.

Twilight and Spike spoke little. They simply searched around for any other clues in the memory, discovering that the jar of pickled daisies was the next memento while doing so. Nothing else of mass importance exposed itself, however. Right before they were about to travel to the next memory, Spike decided to break the silence.

"So, what does this mean, Twi? Aside from the obvious facts, of course. We know now that this Rarity pony was another friend or something."

"I'm not sure, Spike," Twilight said back. "but I think I might have the beginnings of an idea."

"Care to explain?" Spike asked.

"Meh... as I said, it's just the beginnings of an idea. I'll get back to you on that in a bit."

Spike shrugged off Twilight's response, and they both prepared themselves. Twilight prepared the memento, and after checking with each other to make sure they were both ready, they used the jar memento and leaped backward to the next memory in the inverted timeline of Dash's memory.

*****