Healing Smiles
Pinkie Pie was walking around in her room stomping angrily. “She can’t, she just CAN’T!” she shouted. A table came into her way, she kicked it aside. A vase, she smashed it to the wall. Twilight had just visited her ten minutes ago, telling her that Fluttershy only had a few hours left. “Why can’t Twilight do something? She knows everything, she fixes everything! Why can’t she fix Fluttershy?!” With eyes full of tears, she continued taking out her frustration on the room.
Somepony knocked on her door.
“I’M NOT AT HOME,” Pinkie Pie shouted.
A muffled sound came from outside, “Pinkie, please, let me in.”
Pinkie sniffed, pulled her tears away with a fetlock, and opened the door. Outside, Rainbow Dash was standing with unfolded wings, both hanging down at the sides of her body. “What do you want?” Pinkie asked with a frown.
Dash evaded Pinkie’s gaze. “Pinkie, I know you’re upset and stuff, we all are, but please, do not shut us out.” She looked up at Pinkie.
Pinkie didn’t answer.
“Look, she isn’t going to live much longer, and you haven’t visited her for months now. Maybe just—”
“I DON’T WANT TO SEE HER DIE!” Pinkie shouted back. “I…” she collapsed on the floor. Her sobbing was the only sound filling the room.
Dash flinched at Pinkie’s outburst, but when she saw her crying, she became more confused. She nervously rubbed one of her hooves against another. She whispered to herself, “What should I do? Why did they even send me? I’m not good at this stuff.”
“Why…” Pinkie spoke again. “Why can’t the princesses or Twilight do something... Why can’t they just heal her?”
“Pinkie, I… I don’t know anything about the magic stuff. I only know what Twilight said.”
“THAT THEY CAN’T DO ANYTHING!” she screamed to the floor.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “I always thought that the princesses were cool and awesome and have crazy powers, but… no.” She stepped closer to Pinkie. Pinkie looked up at her. “Pinkie, please, don’t do it for us, do it for Fluttershy. She needs you. I… I haven’t seen her smile since this whole thing started. Please Pinkie, just for her. Make her smile one last time.”
Pinkie shook her head. “I don’t think I can.”
“At least try. Please, Pinkie. She wants to see you one last time.”
Her eyes snapped wide open and she started at Rainbow Dash. “She… She wants to see me? She… She doesn’t hate me?”
Dash put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulders. “She is your friend, Pinkie, she would never hate you.”
Pinkie trembled as she took a deep breath. “If she wants to see me then… then I’ll go. I’ll go… for Fluttershy.”
Beeping echoed in the sunlit hospital room. Fluttershy was lying on a white bed, with a white blanket covering most of her body. A small table was standing at the right of her bed, with a vase filled with various meadow flowers that her animals collected for her. On her left, an cardiograph displayed her weak heartbeat. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Rarity were standing around her with sad smiles, trying to cheer their friend up. Fluttershy’s lungs hurt, her whole body hurt. Even with her friends so close, it was just too much pain.
The only reason she hadn’t given up yet was because of her friends. She wanted to see her friends once more, and one of her friends especially: Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy felt deep sorrow for her friend. She didn’t want to hurt her. She wanted to comfort her, tell her that everything will be alright. She didn’t want to leave this world, knowing that one of her friends would be in so much pain because of her. She just hoped that Pinkie would come.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Twilight said.
The door opened, and Rainbow Dash walked in. Pinkie Pie followed her, not even looking up. When Twilight and Rarity noticed her, their eyes went wide. They each had tried convincing Pinkie for days to come and visit Fluttershy. Rarity and Twilight looked at each other and Twilight nodded. Twilight motioned to the others in the room to leave. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash left the room.
“Thank you for coming,” Twilight whispered when she passed Pinkie Pie. She stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.
Pinkie couldn’t even bring herself to glance up. Fluttershy looked over at her from her bed. “Hello, Pinkie.”
Pinkie clenched her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier. I just...”
“It’s okay Pinkie, I’m glad you came.” Despite her words, Fluttershy was looking sad and coughed occasionally. The constant pain sapped all her will to smile.
Pinkie kept staring at the floor, but she stepped closer. Then once more. She kept stepping until she reached Fluttershy. She clenched her eyes once more and looked up. Her eyes were wet again. “Can’t… can’t you just… get better?”
Fluttershy held out her hoof and touched her friend’s shoulder. “I wish I could.” She coughed once. “I wish I could.”
When she looked back from the couch, their eyes met, and what Fluttershy saw broke her heart. Even though she was the one dying, she realized that if she leaves Pinkie like this, Pinkie’s soul would die with her. Her friends maybe could live without her, but Pinkie just couldn’t. She just had to do something. Something to cheer her up. She had to smile. None of them had smiled for months.
Fluttershy tried, for her friend. She tried collecting all her remaining energy, for a single genuine smile. Fluttershy’s mouth twitched, her eyes wavered. I must do it, for Pinkie, she thought. And she did it. Pinkie Pie saw as Fluttershy’s mouth curved up and—denying her own pain—she looked up on her with a wide smile.
It touched Pinkie deeply. After months of depression, sadness and denial of reality, she saw something she never thought she would. Fluttershy, her dying friend, was smiling. Tears were openly flowing from Pinkie’s eyes as she felt her mouth move. She also felt something else. Something deeper that felt so alien, yet so familiar. Pinkie Pie smiled. Fluttershy saw her, saw her smile, and saw a pink blur around her, as she was losing her consciousness. “Good bye Pinkie Pie,” whispered Fluttershy as she closed her eyes.
Pinkie Pie’s eyes began glowing white. “I’m sorry Fluttershy,” she whispered. Her voice had a gentle echo. She touched her friend’s chest. “But I can’t let you go.” Pinkie’s hoof was radiating a yellow color with an increasing brightness.
Fluttershy snapped her eyes open and started gasping heavily. The pain she was so used to was gone. She looked to her left, where Pinkie was standing.
The door shot open, and Twilight rushed in. Pinkie and Fluttershy looked back at her. Pinkie’s eyes were still glowing.
“You… You healed her,” Twilight whispered. She then took a big breath and a huge grin appeared on her face. “YOU HEALED HER!”
Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash heard the shout and immediately appeared at the door. Pinkie took away her hoof from Fluttershy’s chest. When they saw that Fluttershy was not just smiling, but was about to sit up; everypony in the room jumped on her and took her into a mix of hugging and sobbing.
“We thought we lost you!”
“Never do this with us EVER again!”
“Ah’m so happy for you, sugarcube!”
They kept Fluttershy in a group hug for minutes. For Fluttershy, it just felt so good to breathe, to breathe in the air of the room, while she was surrounded by her friends’ warm bodies. When they released her, everypony looked at Pinkie Pie. Her eyes lost their white glow.
“How?” Twilight was the first one to ask.
“I don’t know. It just came…” Pinkie answered quickly. “When Fluttershy smiled at me, and I smiled back, I suddenly felt, that I can… heal her.”
The explanation given was enough for everypony, but one. Twilight kept staring at her.
Rarity noticed this. “Twilight, darling.” The mentioned pony looked at her. “I don’t think it matters now. Keep research for later time.”
Twilight’s stare softened and she nodded.
“Thank you Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said. “Thank you for healing me.”
Pinkie closed her eyes. “No, Fluttershy. You healed me first.” She looked back at Fluttershy with a wide smile. “And for that, thank you.”
Although Pinkie Pie planned to throw a “Thank you for being alive” party for Fluttershy, the doctors insisted on keeping Fluttershy in for the night. When the visiting hours ended, Pinkie Pie left with the others, with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
THE END
