Pinkie Pie splayed her ears backwards as she walked in careful step besides her father down the white-washed hospital corridors. Three balloons shone brightly on the little filly's flank, their cheerful colors seeming muted under the lifeless and sterile glow of the hospitals fluorescent lights. The young earth pony lagged behind for a moment, glancing down at her cutie mark as if to regain some measure of cheerfulness despite the cheer-sapping atmosphere and the disinfectant-scented air. Realizing she'd been left behind by the tall stallion, the little pink filly stopped staring at her cutie mark and hurried to catch up.
Nurses passed the father and daughter every now and again, dressed in their uniforms, stethoscopes around their necks, as they entered and left the rooms of sick ponies. There were all kinds of ponies in the rooms; unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi, young, old, male, female. It was an ordered chaos with nurses treating patients with problems ranging from mere injuries and sprains, to full-blown sickness or disease.
The constant beep of heart monitors grew and faded out over and over again as the pair of earth ponies passed by open doorways.
“Father, how far is it to mother’s room?” Pinkie asked in a hushed voice.
“It is not far now, Pinkie,” her father said, his tone as quiet as his daughter’s. The natural aura of the Ponyville Hospital demanded whispers and the grim faces of the doctors and nurses squeezed from the building whatever happiness might have lingered.
Nodding silently, Pinkie continued along in her father’s hoofsteps past the rooms. Her sisters were still back at home, babysitted by an earth pony from a neighboring rock farm while Pinkie and her father visited her sick mother. The mare had managed to hurt herself pretty badly while moving rocks around the farm and the doctors thought she might have broken her foreleg. So she was stuck at the hospital for a week while she recovered.
After several more hallways, Pinkie and her father reached their destination. Her father stepped through the open door, moving over to the bed where her mother lay. The mare’s foreleg was in a cast, suspended from a wire from the ceiling for support and to keep her from moving it too much.
Pinkie moved to stand at the end of the bed, lifting her forelegs onto it and peering at her mother as her father gingerly hugged his wife and nuzzled into her neck with a query. “Well, what did the doctors say?”
Pinkie’s mother launched into an explanation that went straight over the young ponies head. Pinkie lost interest in the medical jargon and instead moved over to the window. The room was on the second floor of the hospital, giving a relatively good view of the hospital grounds. Out the window, the curious filly could see the verdant expanse of the hospital grounds. The various paths through sweeping decorative gardens were dotted with park benches where patients could rest, gazing out over the soothingly inviting greenery..
Off in the distance, a lone pegasus colt lounged under an apple tree and watched the horizon. He looked to be about Pinkie’s own age; young enough that he didn’t even have a cutie mark.
“Mother, may I go play in the garden?” Pinkie asked hopefully, turning to her parents.
“Yes dear, go have fun,” Pinkie’s mother said, before returning her attention back to her husband.
Pinkie beamed, bouncing out of the room and towards the stairs. She bounced down them to the ground floor, and then out the front door and into the garden.
The filly amused herself at first by chasing butterflies, batting towards them playfully with her hooves. But eventually her curiosity was tugged back towards the lone pegasus. Overcome by curiosity, she made her way over towards him, bouncing and smiling.
“Hiya!” Pinkie proclaimed, planting her rear in the grass nearby and waving a hoof at the lone pegasus to catch his attention. “Whatcha lookin at?”
The pegasus blinked a little bit as he turned to regard the pink filly. His expression was...well, she didn’t know how to describe it. He didn’t look angry, or sad, or annoyed. But he wasn’t happy, either. His expression seemed to indicate perpetual ambivalence. He almost looked drained, like her mother and father did after a very long day of work.
“I’m looking at the sky,” the pegasus said after a few moments of deliberation, laying his head on his forehooves and staring back at the sky once more.
Pinkie followed the line of the colts eyes and tried to discern what was so interesting about that particular patch of sky. Finding nothing of interest there at all, she turned to the colt, extending a hoof towards him in greeting. “I’m Pinkie!”
The pegasus paused once more, eyes sliding over to regard her with a curious look. He reached out tentatively with his own hoof to shake hers. “I’m Sunshine, it’s...nice to meet you, Pinkie.”
The colt’s gaze rose back to the sky. He had paused at the word ‘nice’, as though trying to summon up the courage to say the word.
Wearing a mildly confused expression, Pinkie lay down as well, an ear perking at the pegasus. “Why are you staring at the sky?”
“I’m imagining that I can see Cloudsdale from here,” he sighed, shaking his head for a moment.
“Cloudsdale is too far away, silly,” Pinkie giggled.
Sunshine cringed slightly at the filly’s words. It took her a few moments to realise that she might have said something wrong, and she winced at her thoughtlessness, before she hastily amended, “But I bet it’s a wonderful place!”
The pegasus rested his head dejectedly back on his forehooves. His tone was bitter as he admitted, “I don’t remember it.”
“It’s been a long time since you were there?” Pinkie asked sympathetically.
“A year...I think,” Sunshine said with a sad sigh.
Pinkie canted her head curiously at that. “But why so long?”
“I’ve been really, really sick,” he explained.
“For a year?!” Pinkie asked, aghast.
The colt nodded in response. “Don’t worry though. I’m getting better. The doctors say I’ll be leaving in a few days.”
Pinkie smiled. “That’s good, then! You’ll be able to see your family at Cloudsdale!”
“Yes. I’ll be able to see them all,” he replied, a strange note to his tone as he rested his head back on his forehooves.
“So what do you do for fun, Sunshine?” Pinkie inquired.
“...Fun?” he asked, an eye blinking open to peer at her. “I’m afraid I don’t get to have much fun.”
“Of come on, you must do something for fun!” she squeaked, shaking her head vehemently. She started to tick off a number of activities that she had found fun in the past, “Board games? Dress up in silly clothes? Chase balloons? Play with the animals?”
Sunshine shook his head at each at each suggestion, sighing and as he watched her.
“But...but...aren’t you terribly bored?!” she demanded.
A dismissive sound left the pegasus. “Sometimes. I just fantasize about flying when I’m bored.”
“But...why?” she asked, looking at his wings for a moment. “You have wings, why not just fly?”
“The doctors say I’m not strong enough...and the last time I tried, I hurt myself pretty bad,” he admitted with a sad shake of his head.
“That’s no fun at all,” she said with a wrinkled nose. “But you’re getting better, right?! You said it yourself, if you’re getting sent back to your family, you’ll be able to fly soon too, right?”
Sunshine looked thoughtful for a few moments. “I’m sure of it. I’ll be able to fly with my mother, and my father.”
“It’s been a really long time you could fly, hasn’t it?” she asked sympathetically. “I’ve never flown myself, but I bet it’s a super-duper experience.”
“It’s one of the best things there is,” the pegasus responded. His wings gave a slight quiver, as though aching to lift him into the sky.
Pinkie fell silent a moment at that. The silence was broken as a voice echoed through the garden. Pinkie Pie's ears pricked up at the sound of her name. She lifted her head to see her Father standing at the front door of the hospital, calling for her to come so they could return home.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Sunshine,” she said with a smile. “I might see you next time I’m here!”
“Bye bye, Pinkie,” he said, lifting a hoof in careless farewell, his eyes on the horizon once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was two days before Pinkie and her father returned to the hospital. This time, Pinkie had come prepared. She had a deck of cards, a game of Ponopoly; the real estate game, and a colourful red balloon she had hoof-picked and drawn smiley faces all over.
As Pinkies father moved off to go and see her mother, the filly peeled off into the gardens. She bounded over a flower bed and bounced over to Sunshine, who was in the same spot under the tree, head still on his hooves. For all the evidence available, the colt might not even have moved since yesterday.
Pinkie bounced right on over to him. Beaming while holding the balloon string in her mouth, she plopped herself down next to the pegasus. She immediately extended her mouth to offer the balloon to him while saying around the mouthful of string, “Hi Sunshine!”
“Uhm, hi Pinkie,” he said, raising an eyebrow at all the balloon. “What’s that for?”
The colt sounded tired, Pinkie noticed, like he’d had a late night. She grinned, pushing her nose towards him to make him accept it the accept balloon, “It’s for you!”
The pegasus blinked, his ears perking, looking bewildered. After a moment, he took the balloon string in his mouth, before neatly tying it around a hoof so he wouldn’t lose it, tilting his head at her. “Uhm...thanks.”
“And I brought cards and a board game!” she said with a grin, holding up the deck of cards.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie Pie ended up staying with Sunshine for most of the afternoon, playing cards and Ponopoly with him; but there was something wrong. Something amiss:
He never smiled. Not once.
He managed to beat her with a Full Barn in Poker, with three alicorns and a pair of a unicorns, but the corners of his mouth didn’t even twitch as he laid down his winning cards. It was like all the happiness has been sucked out of him. He was a very gloomy pegasus for somepony who would be seeing his family in Cloudsdale soon. And with a name like 'Sunshine,' too!
She was determined to make Sunshine smile...she watched him carefully during Ponopoly; made jokes, made faces, even deliberately let him win; but still, no smile. Nothing. And then it was time for her to go again.
Pinkie gave a sad little shake of her head and pushed the deck of cards towards him with her nose. “You can have those, Sunshine. You need them more than I do.”
The pink pony then wrapped her hooves around him in a hug, giving his cheek an innocent kiss, and then admitting, “You’re the first friend I’ve ever had, Sunshine.”
The pegasus looked at her for a long moment, blinking once, and opened his mouth to say something. He was cut off by Pinkie’s father calling her name again.
Pinkie collected up her game of Ponopoly, and bounced over to her father to return home again, waving a hoof back at the pegasus.
Sunshine peered down at the deck of cards, and then up at the balloon with the smiley faces all over it. He laid his head back on his hooves and watched the horizon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another two days passed and it was time for Pinkie and her father to return to the hospital for another visit to her mother. She was supposedly getting out of the hospital after they ran just a few more tests.
And this time, she was armed for a smile war. Her arsenal consisted of party poppers, balloons, streamers, and ribbons. But the crown jewel of her armament was the cake: A giant white-and-pink vanilla cake with a giant, beaming sun drawn on it, wearing a pair of chocolate glasses, with radiant sunbeams so wide they touched the edges. It was frosted, decorated, and perfectly baked. If that didn’t put a smile on Sunshine’s face, then nothing would!
Armed for smiles, Pinkie bounced towards the apple tree where she was sure her new friend would be. A quick glance around the garden, however, proved that he was nowhere to be found. It took a fair amount of asking around, but eventually she found him in his room in the children's ward. The sharp smell of antiseptic made her feel uneasy, and the hushed voices interspersed with the steady beep of monitoring machines was such a change from birdsong or the rustle of wind through the trees.
The pegasus was lying in bed on his side, looking as tired as ever. There was an intravenous drip in one foreleg, and a machine hooked up to him, beeping in time with his heartbeat. He was facing away from the door, so Pinkie took the obvious opportunity to surprise him, sneaking up to the side of the bed and then planting both hooves on the edge of it, going ‘Boo!’
The pegasus recoiled, rolling over and flailing at the pink pony for a moment before he realised what had happened. He rolled his eyes for a moment and bopping her on the nose with a hoof very gently, before saying warmly, “Hi, Pinkie.”
“Hi Sunshine! I brought you a present!” she declared with a grin, holding aloft the cake.
The pegasus blinked and peered warily at the pink box for a moment. “It isn’t....dolls is it?”
“No, silly!” Pinkie giggled, shaking her head and pushing the box up onto the bed.. “Open it and see!”
Sunshine looked down at the box cautiously. He opened it up, blinking down at the large, brightly-decorated cake.
Pinkie was disheartened when she didn’t see a smile, inquiring quietly, “Why don’t you smile? Don’t you like it?”
“Wha?” the pegasus asked, his expression confused.
“You don’t smile, I’ve never seen you smile, ever,” Pinkie said, sounding defeated. She then raised a hoof at him, before stating, “You have to smile for me before you can eat the cake.”
Sunshine stared at her for a long moment. He looked down at the cake, and then back up at her, blinking once. “Why do you want to see me smile?”
“Because you’re my first friend! I never meet anyone really, on the rock farm. There are no ponies my age there except my sisters, and they’re...well, family! And you’re my first friend who isn’t family! So if I don’t make you smile, I’ve failed.” She leaned right in close until her nose bumped against his own. “Are you going to let me fail, Sunshine?”
The pegasus stared at her for another few moments, blinking once or twice, and shaking his head. “I don’t want you to fail...But I don’t have a whole lot to smile for.”
“You have heaps to smile about!” she declared.
“I...really don’t,” the pegasus said hesitantly with a sad shake of his head.
“But you’re getting better!” she said, grinning and then pointing out, “And you’ll get to go back to your family in Cloudsdale!”
The pegasus was quiet for a few moments; Pinkie waited expectantly, but a smile was still not forthcoming as he admitted, “I...Guess you’re right.”
“And you have the most important thing of all,” she said, leaning in close.
Sunshine peered up at her curiously as he heard the serious tone in her voice. “...Which is?”
“Cake!” Pinkie declared, scooping up some frosting and then spreading a long line of pink icing across his cheek with a happy giggle before he could get away.
The pegasus made a face, trying to push her away, only succeeding in rubbing a hoof against her very weakly. He was very gentle, and careful not to hurt her, Pinkie noticed. But that didn’t stop her from taking advantage of the situation, scooping up more frosting to add to his face and chest. She smeared it across him with a happy smile, giggling all the while.
Sunshine tried weakly to push her away for a moment before scooping some of the icing from his chest. He was about to plunge it into her frizzy mane, before deciding better of it and instead scraping it across her neck in a messy trail.
It wasn’t long before the two ponies were covered in pink icing, and the cake was a mess.
Pinkie grinned at Sunshine.
Sunshine smiled back.
All was right with the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie’s mother was due to be discharged from the hospital that day. Pinkie insisted on going there one last time so she could say goodbye to Sunshine before he went back to Cloudsdale.
Once more, he wasn’t outside under the apple tree, and so she bounced on down to his room happily, holding her Ponopoly set so she could have one last game with her first ever friend.
She hadn’t even reached the doorway when she realised that something was wrong. The air felt different...somehow, she knew something was off. Off in a bad way.
Tentatively, she peeked around the doorway. Sunshine had a mask on his face, a rattling sound reverberating through it, apparently feeding him oxygen. The machines around him beeped intermittently, and a nurse was sitting beside his bed, crying silently.
Pinkie blinked, watching for a moment before Sunshine caught sight of her. She lifted a hoof to wave; but instead of greeting her, the colt’s eyes widened, and he waved a hoof frantically at the nurse. He rasped something to her through the mask and then pointing at Pinkie, before coughing heavily.
The nurse nodded gently and slipped around to the door, stepping out of it and closing it gently behind her. She turned towards the young pink pony, her eyes red, and her tone thick “I’m sorry honey, but you can’t visit him now.”
“What...but I’m his friend!” Pinkie said, stamping a hoof. “And Momma is leaving here today, so it’s my last chance to say goodbye!”
A look of sympathy found a place on the nurse’s face as she leaned down to be on Pinkie’s level, shaking her head. “I’m sorry honey...I’ll say goodbye to him for you, okay?”
“No!” Pinkie yelled. Pushing past the nurse, kicked open the door to Sunshine’s room and hurried in before the nurse could react. She bounded to the colt’s bed, quickly putting it between her and the nurse.
Pinkie Pie scowled at the nurse from the protective barricade of Sunshine's bed, then glanced up at the shocked pegasus. "She said I couldn't see you!
The pegasus stared at the filly for a moment, pressing at her with a hoof very weakly, as though to push her away.
“You don’t want to be my friend any more?” she asked, her eyes starting to water, ears splaying backwards, wearing a hurt expression
A wracking coughing fit took the pegasus, and he shook his head vehemently in between hard coughs. He wheezed for a moment. The inside of his mask was flecked with red. He lifted a hoof to remove his mask, and nurse moved over to stop him, looking distraught. “Sunshine, you need the mask.”
The pegasus shook his head again, taking several long breaths.Turning to Pinkie, he gave her a weak smile.
“Don’t cry, Pinkie,” he rasped, and Pinkie was shocked to hear how weak and breathless his words were.
“But you want me to leave!” Pinkie growled. “I brought you Ponopoly and everything! is this how you treat your friends?!”
Sunshine stared at her for a long moment, helpless to answer. He shook his head, holding the mask back up to his mouth as he began to wheeze once more. He took several long breaths, his eyes locked on her own, before lowering it to speak, panting, “...I don’t want you to see me like this...don’t want you to be here when it happens.”
“When what happens?” Pinkie asked, bewildered. She poked the colt accusingly. “Hey! I thought you were getting better!”
The pegasus tried to answer, but another coughing fit interrupted his words. The nurse slipped around and gently secured the mask around his face, checking his monitors and then turning to Pinkie, her voice soft, “...There’s something Sunshine hasn’t told you.”
“Like what? He’s going to be stuck here a lot longer?” she asked, putting two and two together; the coughing, the lack of smiling, everything. He really wasn’t getting better. He had been lying about it.
The nurse shook her head sadly, lifting a hoof to gently stroke through Pinkies mane as she murmured, “He’s dying.”
Sunshine cringed and shook his head rapidly, his voice wavering as he said, “N-no. I’m f-fine!”
“Is it true?” Pinkie demanded in a low tone.
The pegasus wilted under the fillies stern gaze, and his eyes lowered. There was a long pause before he gave a slow, gentle nod.
Pinkie could feel tears welling up in her eyes and she shook her head rapidly. “No. You’re lying. Or your family would be here!”
The nurse gave a strangled noise, halfway between a helpless sob and a whine. “I’m the closest to family that he has, honey. He’s an orphan.”
The filly lifted a hoof to push at the pegasus gently, feeling hot tears start to cascade down her cheeks. “You can’t be dying! You told me you were getting better!”
Sunshine gave her a hurt look, his ears pinning back, pulling his mask away so he could speak, gently resting a hoof against her cheek to try and reassure her, “B-because you never treated me like I was sick...you were always smiling...no one ever smiles around me any more. Please stop crying, Pinkie...I don’t want you to cry...”
The pegasus' leg shook slightly with the effort of stroking Pinkie's cheek. It drifted down slightly, and then slipped off completely, onto the bed. Sunshine was just too weak to hold it up against her cheek any more.
Pinkie moved to stand closer so he didn’t have to stretch, feeling her tears splashing down on to the covers as she watched the pegasus, she realised now, dying in front of her very eyes.
“Pinkie...smile for me. Please,” Sunshine pleaded, his eyes gazing up into her own imploringly.
“B-but it hurts!” Pinkie protested, choking back sobs and then wrapping the pegasus in her hooves, burying her nose against his neck. “Don’t go, Sunshine!”
The pegasus shook his head for a moment. Struggling weakly against, he managed to push her away just slightly with the tiny amount of strength he could muster. He leaned up to rub his nose gently against hers. “Smile for me, Pinkie. Please?”
Pinkie bit back the sobs trying to escape and pulled her lips into a smile for the pegasus, watching him. But she couldn’t stop the tears still streaming freely down her cheeks.
There was a noise at the door, and Pinkie turned to see her parents standing there, looking in, obviously having come looking for her.
“S-Sunshine is sick.” she explained to them thickly.
The two ponies looked at the scene for a long moment, before Pinkies father gently steered her mother away from the room and towards some seats to wait for the filly to say goodbye.
The pink pony then turned back towards the Pegasus, a smile fixed in place for him. She had to smile for him. He was dying and he wanted to see her smile.
Soft, monotonous droning echoing from the heart monitor froze her in place though.
Pinkie’s smile fell flat, and she dissolved into wracking sobs as she wrapped her hooves around the limp form of the pegasus, her tears falling onto his chest and neck.
The nurse flicked off the machine, and then gently pulled the filly away from the heart-breakingly still form of Sunshine, wrapping her hooves around the little pony in a hug.
The tears of the two ponies mingled as Pinkie sobbed, mourning for the loss of her first friend.
“I looked after Sunshine for six months now,” the nurse said, squeezing Pinkie soothingly. “And I never knew him to smile once. You made him smile before he passed. That’s something to be proud of.”
“T-then why d-does it hurt so much?” Pinkie asked between broken sobs, staring helplessly up at the nurse..
“Because it hurts, honey. It always hurts,” she murmured, soothing the pony.
The nurse pulled away for a moment, grabbing a small container and taking it over to the sobbing pony, opening it up and pulling out a small piece of paper inside.
“Sunshine wrote this for you, earlier....He didn’t want you here when he passed. He didn’t want to see you sad,” she said in a sympathetic tone, brushing her tears away with a hoof and handing Pinkie the letter.
Pinkie stared down at the tear-blurred words.
Dear Pinkie.
You showed me that I could still smile. Thank you.
Never stop smiling.
It was signed with a sun, with golden rays coming off it, a big smile, and sunglasses. Pinkie looked up from the letter to the still form of Sunshine as the nurse drew the sheet up over him. And she felt her heart break all over again
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days later found Pinkie Pie laying in the grass at the foot of a freshly-dug grave. The small group of ponies who attended the funeral had already left and she was here, taking her time alone to say goodbye properly.
A single red balloon had been tied to a stake at the end of the grave, bobbing cheery and bright in the sunlight.
Tears slipped down Pinkie’s face, and she stared at the freshly-turned earth that represented her first friend and his words echoed in the back of her mind:
The doctors say I’ll be leaving in a few days.
I’ll be able to fly with my mother, and my father.
Pain tore at her heart as she remembered his words. He had lied to her, just so he could see her continue to smile.
A simple smile.
An orphan, dying, alone in the world with no one to help them but his nurse. And she had given him a smile. She had made him smile. Because sometimes, a smile was all you have.
Lying on the grass at the foot of her friend’s grave, watching a balloon cheerily mocking the sombre setting, she began to sing.
-I am here to say...I’m gonna make you smile, and I will brighten up your day...
It doesn’t matter now...If you are sad or blue...’cause cheering up my friend is just what Pinkie’s here to do...
And there, in the rain, choking out a song in between sobs for her lost friend Sunshine;
Pinkie smiled.
