I still can't believe how fast it happened. One day, she was bouncing around, complimenting my new mane style... the next, she's unconscious in a hospital bed with a respiratory mask over her face. It was so pointless... and so sudden...
It was a dull day at the library, and I was flipping through books in a fruitless attempt to find a spell that did some useless purpose that I had already forgotten. Sighing, I decided that I would go for lunch. I grab my book and set off on to the streets, the cloudy autumn sky doing nothing to brighten my mood. I trudged through the dirt roads on my way to one of the few diners in Ponyville, my mind musing over what I would eat.
Suddenly, a pink pony jumped in front of me, causing me to literally jump in surprise, and drop my book.
After a few deep breaths to calm myself, I sighed again. “Hey Pinkie...”
"Oh! Sorry Twilight." She picked up the book, putting it back in my bag. Turning her head, she looked at me quizzically. “Twilight... I think you’re in a bad mood. And I know JUST the cure for bad moods!” She pulled a balloon out of some strange pocket that I couldn’t see and blew it up, tying a string to it and hoofing it over to me, giving me one of her trademark grins. “Alrighty! Catcha later Twi!"
Staring in surprise at the balloon in my hoof, I allow myself a small smile and head on about my day.
The next day, Fluttershy asked us to help her find a squirrel that had gone missing in the Everfree forest. She was scared half to death, so the five of us couldn’t say no. We walked deeper in to the dank, dismal forest, calling out for the lost animal all the while. I was about to call off the search when we saw a quick movement from behind a tree. Pinkie Pie jumped on it, and held high her catch, expecting to have found the missing squirrel.
She gasped in shock as the scorpion jumped out of her arms and plunged its tail in to her lower leg. I ran over just in time to catch her before she hit the ground. She stared up at me, her usual grin fading slowly.
"Twilight... I don't feel too good..." She whimpered.
We immediately took her to the hospital, where the doctors rushed her in to a room and quickly did tests to identify the venom that she had been infected with. We waited expectantly in the sterile smelling lobby for the news, but the doctors couldn't tell us what the scorpion had done to her. All they knew was that the back half of her body was paralyzed, and that she would never be able to walk again.
We visited her in the hospital frequently from then on. Her condition improved greatly, and she got a sort of wheelchair so that she could move around with us. For a while, she was the ever cheery Pinkie Pie we had always loved.
One day, we were in the library, taking refuge from the rain on a relatively cold day later in autumn. Pinkie was making her usual jokes, making us all laugh. Then, without warning, she just collapsed. Yet again we rushed her to the hospital, fearing the worst.
The doctors took her in again, and we didn't hear from them for days. About a week later, they came back to us and told us that Pinkie was dying. I cried for a time, sheltered in my library, not being able to visit her as the others did. Some time later after I received the news, I worked up the courage to see her.
As I stepped in to the hospital room on a cold winter afternoon, my sadness came rushing back, but I sat down beside Pinkie nevertheless. It hurt me seeing her like this, all hooked up to various machines that kept track of her vitals. It wasn’t her environment.
"Hi Twilight." She croaked.
"Hey Pinkie. How are you feeling?"
She sighed, leaning back in to the pillow. I'd never seen Pinkie in a mood like this before. "I know that I don't have much time left Twilight." I went to interrupt her, but she stopped me. "Listen. I don't want you girls to remember me through my leaving, but through the things I did in my life."
She pulled a deflated balloon from behind the pillow and blew it up. Procuring a string, she tied it around the end and put it in my hoof. "For all the good times. I'm happy that my final times were happy ones."
She exhaled one last time, sinking in to the bed.
"Thank you Twilight. For everything."
Now I sit on this bed, beside the shell of the most cheerful and loving pony I have ever known, not knowing where to go next. I look at the balloon in my hoof, tinged a bright shade of pink. I look at the now dead pony lying on the bed beside me, one final smile on her face. A tear comes to my eye as I stare out of the window, watching the snowflakes fall softly on the cold ground. Looking at the balloon again, a plan formulates in my mind.
I walk to Sugarcube Corner, and tie the balloon to the counter where all of Pinkie's cupcakes are displayed in a neat row, frosted and ready to be taken home. Standing back to appreciate the scene, I allow myself to cry openly. After a few minutes, I stop myself, a small smile coming to my face. I take some comfort in knowing that this pony will be remembered as she should be.
We will remember Pinkie Pie for her cheerful nature, and not for the untimely death which came too quickly for any of us to comprehend.
I do this in memoriam of Pinkie Pie, the most caring and selfless pony to ever live.
