When the Last Bird Sings
By Alexander
"Papa?" asked a little yellow filly with a long pink mane as she sat beside the large hospital bed.
"Hmm?" Hanson Parry asked, turning his old eyes away from the window. "What's it you want to know, Orchid?"
"Can you tell me about Nana again?" Orchid asked as she nuzzled her way up to lie beside her grandfather.
"In a little bit."
"Why not now?"
Hanson turned his eyes back to the bright sun shining outside the window and smiled. He had lived a long life and he was proud of things he had done and the ponies he had met. Most of all, he was happy that he was fortunate enough to meet the six best friends he had ever had. "Because I want to tell you about my other friends," he simply said, his smile still on his face as he turned back to look his granddaughter in her large green eyes. "Because I want to tell you about my other friends."
"What other friends, Papa?" Orchid asked as she propped herself on the pillow, her pink mane drooping down in front of her eyes.
"The best friends I have ever had," he replied as he moved her mane from in front of her face. Really, she reminded him of his wife who was now long gone. He smiled at her.
"Your best friends?"
"Yes. My very best friends."
"Did Nana also know your friends?" Orchid asked, her mane flopping down before her eyes again as she sat higher up.
"Yes she knew them too," Hanson said with another smile. He wiped Orchid's mane back and held her face in his old thin hooves. "Yes. She knew them too."
"Was she also friends with them?"
"Yes."
"They were her best friends too?"
"The very best she could have ever hoped for."
"But I thought you were Nana's very best friend," Orchid said as she slumped back down into the pillows.
"I was," Hanson said with yet another smile. "But she also had her own friends, and as it turns out, they were my best friends as well."
"How does that work?"
"Well it works like this," Hanson said with a wave of his hoof. "When I met your grandmother when I was so much younger, she already had friends of her own. These ponies were Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Then when I met your grandmother, I also became their friends."
"Oh I get it now," Orchid announced as she slid down under the warm covers.
"Do you?"
Orchid nodded and her mane fell in front of her large green eyes again. She stretched her wings and sank even deeper into the covers. Hanson smiled and placed his hoof on the top of her head. "Good."
"So Papa?"
"Hmm?"
"Aren't you gonna tell me about your other friends?" Orchid asked, not moving an inch from the cave in the blankets she had dug for herself.
"Sure. Which one do you wanna hear first?"
Orchid came from her hole and brushed her mane from her eyes. She took a quick glance out the window and watched as a bird landed on the window sill. She turned back to her grandfather and said, "I wanna hear about Rainbow Dash first."
"Rainbow Dash you said?" Hanson asked as he placed his old hoof atop Orchid's head. She nodded. "Well let's see here," Hanson continued on as he pulled his granddaughter into his olden lap. "Rainbow Dash was a pegasus just like you."
"Really?"
"Really."
"That's really cool," Orchid said and she gave her wings a flutter.
"It's very cool," Hanson agreed with a smile. "Now Rainbow Dash, she was a very eccentric character. Out of all five of them, she was by far the most impatient and the most unabashed. She and I never really connected in much the same way I did with the others."
"Why's that, Papa?" Orchid asked as she turned around in his lap.
"Well you know how I'm really shy, quiet and reserved much like your grandmother?" Hanson asked. Orchid nodded her head. "I think that the main reason she and I never connected is because of just how opposite we were. She and I, we were like North and South, or white and black, or whatever opposite thing you can think of. We were just too different. She was unabashed, impatient, loud, and extremely impudent, but, she was the most loyal out of all of us. She was so loyal, she would defend the entire town of Ponyville for everypony and even though she was those things, she was still a very good friend to me."
"Is she still alive today?" Orchid asked as she slid lower beneath the covers.
"Oh no," Hanson said simply as he sadly played with Orchid's mane. "She was in a flying accident decades ago long before you were born. Your grandmother and I were sitting in the cottage when we got the sad news of it. Your grandmother cried for weeks."
"Oh," Orchid quietly said. "Did you also cry, Papa?"
"I did."
"For how long?"
"Not too long. Maybe a week or so until the shock of it wore off. I cried the most during her funeral when we were all walking by to say our final farewells. Even though she was really so opposite of me, she was still my very dear friend."
"What did you say at the funeral?" Orchid asked and she leaned her head back to look at her grandfather as he played with her mane. "Did you say 'good-bye' too?"
"I did. Like I said, she was a very dear friend. Of course I said good-bye to her."
Orchid rose from her slouch and turned around, disrupting her grandfather as he tried to tie together a braid. "Were you sad?"
"I was very sad."
"Do you think she was happy?"
"I do."
"Why? I think it would be scary to die."
"She was happy because she was doing what she enjoys the most in the entire world."
"And what was that?"
"Racing," Hanson simply replied and he turned Orchid around so he could continue on with his braiding.
Orchid sat in silence for a short time while Hanson finished braiding her mane. When he had finished, she took it into her hooves and happily trotted over to the mirror across the room. She beamed at what her grandfather had done. "Oh it's really really pretty! Where did you learn how to do this?" she asked as she flew back and wrapped her forelegs around Hanson's thinning neck.
"I was once a flower arranger when I was younger," Hanson replied as he returned the hug. "Everyday I was having to delicately play around with flowers and their stems and it just sort of imbedded itself into my brain. Also, your grandmother was an amazing teacher. She always enjoyed having her mane braided. I remember cold winter nights where she and I would sit in front of the fireplace underneath a thick blanket and I would just braid her mane for hours. We would sit there and she'd lean her back against me and I would just braid and braid for as long as she wanted. Eventually, it just became a sort of habit where I'd braid her mane every single night before bed."
"That sounds really nice."
"It was the best feeling in the world. So now, who do you want to hear about this time?"
"Applejack," Orchid said as she sat back down in the bowl of Hanson's lap.
Hanson looked out the window at the setting sun and smiled. "Applejack was the most honest pony I have ever met," he said as he took Orchid's braid into his hooves. "When I first moved to Ponyville and I had no place to stay, she let me stay a while in the loft in her old barn. She showed me around town and got me introduced around and it was because of Applejack that I met your grandmother. Applejack was also a very dear friend to me and her unconditional honesty was something to be admired."
"How honest was she?" Orchid asked as she turned around in Hanson's lap again. Her braided mane coming to rest across her left cheek.
"She was so honest that she'd have rather died than tell a single lie to anypony," Hanson replied as he set back to playing around with the braid he had tied. "She was honest about everything and everpony."
"Did you like her, Papa?"
"I liked her very much. She and her family ran this large apple orchard outside of Ponyville called Sweet Apple Acres and every Saturday morning, your grandmother and I would go over and sit down with her underneath this particularly large apple tree. I reckon she might've been calling it Bloomberg or something along those lines. Now that tree, it had had a long journey by the time your grandmother and I got married. It had been on the Sweet Apple Acres grounds for a while but then it got transported over to Appleloosa for a while before finally being bought back here to Ponyville. Applejack loved that tree."
"Did you like it too, Papa?" Orchid asked.
"Somewhat," Hanson honestly replied. "If it hadn't been for that tree being atop that windy hill, I don't think your grandmother and I would have been able to spend our Saturday mornings in any other better way."
"Why's that, Papa?"
"It was more time for me to braid your grandmother's mane."
"You must have really liked braiding Nana's mane."
"I loved it."
"What about Applejack? Did she also like having her mane braided?" Orchid asked as she played with her own.
"Not really as far as I can remember," Hanson replied as he also took the long braid in his hooves. "I really can't remember her ever having her mane braided much."
Orchid sat in silence for a time, occasionally giving her wings a rustle every now and then. She looked out the window to where the sun had finally set behind the hills in the distance. "What about Applejack? Is she still alive?" she eventually asked.
"Yes. She's still alive," Hanson replied. "She's like a tank; old age isn't going to get her down. If I remember right, she's still living out on Sweet Apple Acres overlooking the business. She's too old to do the work herself but she can still at least manage the business. I sometimes wonder how she manages to do it all. Her brother, Big Macintosh, died several years ago and ever since then it's just been her all alone on that farm."
"That sounds really lonesome," Orchid said as she leaned up against her grandfather.
"Yes it does. That's why I sometimes wonder why she doesn't just move and go live with our friends that are still alive."
"So you have some more friends that are still alive?"
"I sure do. Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. They moved out of their own homes and moved into this nice little cottage together when they felt as though it would be better to stay together in case anything happened to either of them. I really wonder sometimes why Applejack doesn't just retire and move into that cottage with her friends."
"Maybe she feels like it's her duty or something to stay with the apples," Orchid suggested.
"I think that's a really good guess," Hanson said, placing his hoof atop her head. "The next time she comes in I'll ask."
"What about Pinkie Pie?" Orchid asked. "You didn't mention her when you talked about Rarity and Twilight moving into that cottage."
"I know I didn't."
"Why?"
"Because she's moved on too," Hanson simply explained. "Pinkie Pie was always one to party on and on. She loved to have fun. When I came to Ponyville, she held this really huge welcoming party for me and honestly, it was a bit too much for me."
"Really, Papa? Why?"
"Because I get really nervous and whatnot when I'm in a large crowd."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
Orchid propped herself against the back of the bed with a soft pillow and rested her head on Hanson's shoulder. "So anyways," Hanson said as he smiled at her, "Pinkie Pie was always a hoot. I mean it. That mare could hold one party one day and then hold another one the very next day. Even though there were always a lot of ponies at the parties and I'd always get nervous, they were all really fun to go to. Now let's see here . . . ah yes. Shortly after your grandmother and I got married, she held this really huge party. It was so huge that the entirety of Ponyville showed up for it. Now your grandmother as timid as she always was, even she had a really fun time at it."
"Did you have fun at it, Papa?" Orchid asked as she propped herself up higher.
"I had a lot of fun."
"So what happened to her? You said she's moved on too."
"Yes I did," Hanson said sadly.
"What happened? Did she have an accident like Rainbow Dash?"
"Oh heavens no. Pinkie Pie loved to eat sweets and she was always really really active. I remember some days many years ago when we were still all so young, she could run as fast as the wind. Rainbow Dash was a racer and she was by all means the fastest flyer but Pinkie Pie was sometimes able to beat her. That's how fast she could run when she wanted. Now several years ago shortly after you were born, she decided she wanted to hold a party to celebrate your birthday. It was a fine party and you got many gifts and everypony had a really good time. Shortly after that party however, your grandmother and I got news that Pinkie had suffered a heart attack and that she was in the hospital."
"What's a heart attack?" Orchid asked as her braid came undone and flopped down in front of her eyes again.
"Now look what you've done," Hanson said as he lifted her into his lap again so he could fix her braid. "A heart attack is when a pony's heart just sort of breaks. It's a very painful thing and when your grandmother and I got the news, we rushed to the hospital as fast as we could. When we got to her room, everypony was there. Rarity was all in a fit, Twilight was talking with the doctor, and Pinkie Pie was just sitting up in her bed with a smile. I can't remember your grandmother ever crying as much as she did that evening. Pinkie Pie was her friend and when she finally closed her eyes for the last time with that smile on her face, your grandmother's heart gave out too. She cried and she cried for many weeks after that."
"Did you cry too, Papa?"
"I cried for many days. Even today before you came in to see me, Applejack came over with a photo album and I cried. She cried too."
"Can I see the photo album?"
"Some day when you're older."
"Why not now?"
"Because you're still just a little filly who hasn't even gotten her cutie mark yet. When you're older and you have very dear friends of your own will I show you just how important friendship is. Only then. Can you wait that long?" Hanson asked as he played around with Orchid's mane, trying to fit it back into a braid. Orchid nodded her head. "So who do you wanna hear about now?"
"Rarity," Orchid simply replied as she sat still in his lap.
"Well let's see here," Hanson said as he braided Orchid's mane. "Rarity was a very generous mare. She was always one to help out anypony with anything they might have been having trouble with. She was so generous, she even cut off her own tail to quiet the cries of a dragon that had had his mustache cut off."
"There was a dragon that had his mustache cut off?" Orchid giggled.
"Yes. A couple of years before I moved into town."
"I didn't know dragons could grow mustaches."
"Neither did I," Hanson said as he finished braiding Orchid's long mane. "Now anyway when I moved into town, I was a bitless stallion. I had no money and when Applejack let me stay in her barn, Rarity gave up some things of her own so I could at least be presentable to everypony."
"Were you ugly, Papa?"
"No, I wasn't ugly. I was just dirty and ragged. Before I moved to Ponyville, I was homeless and forced to wander round the alleys of Fillydelphia for months. Then when I moved to Ponyville, Rarity helped me clean myself up and helped me find work at the flower boutique where I eventually made my career."
"Why were you homeless, Papa?" Orchid asked as she sadly turned around in his lap.
"I made some silly mistakes with taxes that I never should have made. But it all worked out in the end though because if I hadn't had been wandering round, I never would've moved to Ponyville. And if I had never moved to Ponyville, I never would have met your grandmother. So it all worked out just fine in the end."
"Oh okay. As long as you're happy then," Orchid said as she slid back into the bowl of Hanson's lap.
He stroked her mane and smiled. "I am very happy," he said. "Rarity was a very good friend. Actually, all of them were very good friends but to me, she stands out as being one of the best. She would give up anything to make sure her friends were happy. That's something very admirable that not everypony can do and for that, she's special to me."
"What about Twilight? Was she special too?"
"Twilight Sparkle? She was very special to me too. She loved to read just like I did and after I moved to Ponyville, I would often go into the library she was in charge of."
"What did you do there?"
"We would just read and tell stories and we even tried our hooves at writing. Speaking of writing, she would often talk about this author by the name of Winter Skylight. He and I, we never met but Twilight had me read some of the things he had written and they were all really good stuff. Far greater than anything I could ever have hoped to write. So anyways, we would just go in and read and talk about whatever crossed our minds."
"Is that all you did?"
"Yes it was but they were very fun times. I remember one time I went over, Spike had just sent Princess Celestia the wrong letter and Twilight was all in a fuss about it. I remember walking in and Spike was lying back in a pile of books while Twilight was rushing back and forth all over the place in a panic. It was actually pretty funny to watch cause you had Spike lying face-down in a pile of books and then you had Twilight rushing all about. If I hadn't had known better, I would have thought I had walked onto the stage of a comedy performance."
"What did Princess Celestia do when she got the letter?" Orchid asked as she turned back around in Hanson's lap.
"She understood what happened. Twilight had Spike send another letter explaining what happened," Hanson explained.
"What did Spike send in the first place?"
"Apparently he sent the princess a love letter that Twilight had wrote for that Winter Skylight pony," Hanson said with a large smile.
"It sounds like she really liked him if she wrote letters."
"Oh yeah she did. Twilight would talk for hours about Winter and the things he would write and the things he would do. I regret not meeting him at least once but what can you do? That's life and that's just the way thing's happen. When he died several years ago, Twilight was bent all out of whack about it."
"What did he die from?
"I honestly don't know," Hanson admitted as he continued to brush his hoof against Orchid's long mane. "I honestly can't remember what Twilight had said. I think it may have been a stroke or something like that but all I can remember from it is that Twilight spent many days cooped up in the hospital with him until the very end. Then for many weeks after that, she refused to go outside. It wasn't until your grandmother, Rarity, and I got together and literally dragged her outside. She was a horrible mess when we got her outside again but she eventually came around and she learned how to smile again. Those were some rough weeks."
"They sounded rough," Orchid said as she took a look outside the window. The sun had completely set by now and the moon was slowly rising. A stiff wind howled against the glass pane as Orchid slipped lower beneath the covers.
"They were rough but in the end, all things worked out," Hanson simply stated as he also took a look out to the rising moon.
"So can you tell me about Nana now?" Orchid asked from her cave beneath the warm covers.
"What's it you want to hear?"
"Everything. I wanna hear about where she came from and everything."
Hanson smiled and returned his gaze from the dark window. "Well let's see how's best to start off . . . Oh yes. Your grandmother was born in Cloudsdale during the winter if I remember correctly. She never talked about her parents much but she would often talk to me about how influential her grandmother had been. Oh she would talk for hours and hours and hours about her grandmother and the things they had done. After a couple of years, she entered into Flight Camp and it was there that she became friends with Rainbow Dash."
"How did Nana and Rainbow Dash become friends?"
"Your grandmother was never a good flyer and because of that, the other students would make fun of her. Rainbow Dash, having seen and heard enough, stepped in and stuck up for her. After a while, they just sort of fell in together and they remained best friends for many many years."
"Oh, okay."
"Yup. After several years, your grandmother moved to Ponyville so she could be closer to her animal friends and Rainbow Dash stayed up in Cloudsdale so she could compete to get into The Wonderbolts. She never made it in and after a while, she moved to Ponyville too. She never gave up on her dream of being a Wonderbolt but I think it became less important to her once she met everypony else."
"So what about Nana?"
"After your grandmother moved to Ponyville, she met Applejack and Rarity and they all became friends. She moved into this small cozy cottage by the edge of the Everfree Forest a little while after that and although AJ, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash protested her moving so close to the forest, she moved anyway. After she moved, she set up all this stuff around her cottage and in the fields so that she could care for the various little animals that showed up. Several months after that, Twilight moved into town and during their run-in with Nightmare Moon, who actually turned out to be Princess Celestia's sister, Princess Luna, they became friends. During the months and years that followed, they went through several obstacles and they went through their own differences, but in the end, your grandmother became the best of friends with those five ponies."
"And then you moved to Ponyville, Papa?"
"I sure did. I moved in and right off from the start, your grandmother and I just sort of hooked together. She and I, we were inseparable. After about a year or so, I finally moved in with her into her cottage and from there, things just sort of blossomed."
"And then you got married?"
"Yes. A couple of months after I moved in with her, we decided to go ahead and get married. I can still remember when she walked down the isle of the church. I can't remember ever seeing something so beautiful in my entire life. Oh she was lovely and I loved her so much. I would have given up my own life if it meant that she would be safe from everything. That's how much I loved her. After we got married, we moved into a larger cottage further up the river closer towards town and it was there that we had your mother -"
"Why did you move?" Orchid asked suddenly, cutting Hanson across. "I thought that you were happy in that small cottage. You always talk about it."
"I know I do and we were perfectly happy there, but what you have to understand is that when we learned that we would be having our own little filly, we had to move. We moved because that cottage would be too small for a rambunctious little filly such as your mother always was."
"Oh. Okay then. Mama wasn't really so messy was she?"
"Oh yes she was," Hanson said with a smile. "Your mother was really a lot to handle especially when she started flying. I remember how she'd fly all around the house bumping into stuff and causing a mess. But even so, your grandmother and I loved your mother more than I could ever tell you. When she moved away to Cloudsdale, we were a little heartbroken at first but after a while, we realized that she was happy doing what she was doing."
"What did Mama do?"
"She got a job making rainclouds. She absolutely loved the rain and when she got her job actually making the clouds, she would often tell us that she never really worked a single day in her life."
"Why's that?" Orchid asked as she suddenly bounced from her cave. "If she got a job then how come she never worked?"
"Well it's like this. Your mother loved the rain and when she got her job making the actual clouds, she was as happy as she could ever be. To her, going to work every morning and making clouds was the funnest thing she would ever do and so because of that, it didn't feel like a job to her."
"Oh I get it."
"Do you?" Hanson asked he brushed Orchid's braid from her cheek. She nodded. "So like I was saying: After your mother moved away, your grandmother and I eventually came to terms with it and we were happy for her. After she moved away, it was finally just your grandmother and I again."
"What did you do then, Papa?"
"After that, we lived and we loved. I loved your grandmother oh so much and every morning when I would wake up, I would hug her as tight as I could. After breakfast, we would go out for a walk around Ponyville and the neighboring areas for most of the day. Your grandmother being so shy and as fond of nature as she was, preferred those rolling hills to the north of Ponyville. I personally preferred the quiet little strolls through the back streets the most but whatever your grandmother loved I loved too. Then in the evenings, we would return home and we would just talk. We talked about everything. We talked about so much that even Celestia would have trouble keeping count. Then like I told you earlier, during those cold winter nights, she and I would sit in front of the fireplace with a blanket and I would braid her mane. Your grandmother really loved having her mane braided and I loved doing it."
"So then what?"
"The years passed and we got older. Rainbow Dash had her accident and then many years after that, Pinkie had her heart attack," Hanson sadly replied. "We got older and our health began to go with the years. After a while, your grandmother got really sick."
"What did she get sick w - " Orchid began to ask but stopped when she looked at the sad look on her grandfather's face.
"After a while, your grandmother got really sick," Hanson said as he choked back a tear. "First it started out as if she had gotten a cold or something but then it didn't go away and she was admitted into the hospital. I stayed by her side all the time during those last few days. I loved your grandmother more than I loved anything else and when she didn't wake up that one morning, I can't describe to you how heartbroken I was . . . That's all I have to say about that . . . But even so, I'm glad I was able to live with her and be by her side up until the very end."
"It's okay, Papa," Orchid said as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck.
He returned the hug. "I know it is and you wanna know why?" he asked when he broke the embrace.
"Sure. Why?"
"Because your grandmother's gone on to be with her friends Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. They're probably up there now having as much fun as they could probably ever have. And because of that, everything's okay now."
"Are you sure everything's okay now?"
"I am absolutely sure. I'm not sad anymore. I miss her more than I could ever say but I am not sad anymore. I miss her smile and I miss her laugh. I miss braiding her mane every night and I miss hugging her as tight as I ever could. I miss her oh so much but I am not sad anymore."
"Why not?" Orchid asked as she turned in his lap.
"Because there are still ponies that love me," Hanson simply replied. "Even though your grandmother is long gone from me, I still have ponies that love me very much. Only when there is no more love will I ever be sad."
"Are you talking about Rarity and Twilight and Applejack?"
"I am, but most of all, I still have your mother and I also have you."
"You mean it?"
"I mean it very much."
"How much do you mean it?"
"I mean it this much," Hanson quietly said as he pulled the filly into a tight hug. "Really. You really do remind me so much of your grandmother. She had the same yellow coat and the same long pink mane and tail. She was even as shy and as adorable as you are."
"I know. You tell me that whenever I come over," Orchid replied as she returned the hug.
"Then let me hug you for as long as I want to."
"Papa."
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, Orchid."
******
Hanson Parry sat up in his bed and placed his old hoof atop of Orchid's head. She was peacefully asleep deep beneath the covers and he smiled as he played with her mane. He stopped and leaned across to the window. He opened it and closed his eyes as a breeze stole its way inside from the cool night. He opened his eyes to see a lone nightingale perched in the window sill. Beside the nightingale was a butterfly. Hanson closed his eyes again and smiled. "Good night, Fluttershy."
