The Rag Doll
Chapter 1
Cancer
Twist had been a little lonely since Apple Bloom had started hanging out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They had been good friends till Twist had gotten her cutie mark. Apple Bloom had been too jealous of her to really spend time with her anymore after that. Twist had gone on to make new friends, but she still missed her time with Apple Bloom.
But then one day, Twist started getting headaches. Mild ones at first, but then they got steadily worse. Then for some reason her left foreleg seemed to be starting to weaken. Sometimes she could barely manage to get it to hold her up. Her vision seemed to be getting a bit worse too. Sometimes things looked a little blurry even when she was wearing her glasses.
Twist was starting to become frightened, but she said nothing and told nopony. She hoped that if she ignored it, that it would all go away and stop on it's own.
Then one day in class, as Miss Cheerilie was teaching them some math problems, her head began to hurt worse than ever. Her body started to shake and she fell from her chair as she lost consciousness, unaware that she'd gone into a seizure. The last thing she heard was exclamations of shock from her classmates and teacher.
When Twist woke up, she was looking at her parents, who were sitting at the side of her bed. Her mother was holding her hoof and weeping softly. Looking around, she realized that she was in a hospital.
"Mom? Dad? What happened?" At the question, her mother just seemed to cry harder.
"Twist," her father said gently with sad eyes. "We need to have a talk."
It was a brain tumor. It was too large and in too dangerous a place to try to operate, so they were going to try to get rid of it with chemotherapy. Twist felt sick when they told her of the side effects that she'd have to endure. Nausea, losing her hair, weakness, etc. But it was her only hope to try to live. She was going to have to be in the hospital for awhile.
Miss Cheerilie was the first to visit her in the hospital.
"I'll make sure to bring you your homework so you'll be able to keep up in your classes," her teacher said as she tried to sound cheerful. She'd brought her a pot of sunflowers. "These should help brighten up your room."
Her next visitors were the cutie mark crusaders. They brought her a large get well card that they'd gotten everyone in the class to sign. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had signed it!
After the other crusaders left, Apple Bloom hung back. "Twist... I'm so sorry I stopped being a good friend to you. I was so jealous that you got your cutie mark when I didn't, but that's no excuse. And now look at you, you've gotten so sick..."
"Apple Bloom it's okay. You didn't make me sick. I did miss you though. I'd like it if we could be friends again," Twist managed to smile.
"I'd like that too. I promise I'll come visit you as much as I can!" Apple Bloom hugged her, and Twist returned her embrace.
In the weeks that followed Twist began to feel worse as the chemotherapy went through her system. She threw up a lot, and had trouble keeping down any food, making her lose a lot of weight. Her mane and tail gradually fell out more and more until she had none left at all. The first time Apple Bloom saw her that way she cried, but the next day she came with Rarity, who had made her a wonderful wig and fake tail to put on. With them you couldn't even tell that she'd lost her hair. It made Twist feel better emotionally, and she thanked them both over and over again.
Much of the time Twist held onto Molly, the rag doll she'd had since she was a baby. Sometimes she talked to her, sometimes she just sat with her in silence, but it was always a comfort to squeeze her and feel her softness.
Finally the day came when they got the sad news. The chemotherapy just wasn't working. The tumor was fatal and Twist only had a few months left to live. The news left Twist feeling rather numb. The medicine was stopped, and she was allowed to go home, but it was no longer the same.
A nurse came in every day to help with Twist, giving her special super strong pain killers so that she'd no longer be in pain. Though no matter how much she was given, sometimes even that wasn't able to stop all the pain.
Her parents took off work as much as possible to spend time with her, and it seemed like everypony Twist had ever met in her life came to visit. On her good days, she and her parents would go out for ice cream, or play games, or take her to play with the crusaders. Sometimes they visited Fluttershy to see her many animals. On her bad days, Twist just laid in bed with a terrible headache, blurry vision, and with her left foreleg feeling too weak to stand on.
Gradually, her bad days began to over take her good days. Twist knew this meant that she was nearing the end. She was almost grateful for that fact. She spent so much time in pain now she almost wanted it to be over. Almost. She didn't want to leave her family and friends. It just wasn't fair! Nopony should have to die so young!
That night, her head hurt her so badly she couldn't help moaning and whimpering on occasion as she clutched Molly tightly. Her mother heard her and came in.
"Oh my poor Twist. Even the medicine doesn't take all your pain away anymore does it? I'm so sorry my little love!" Her mother hugged her tightly and sobbed. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay Mom, it's not your fault. That's just the way life is sometimes," Twist sighed as she hugged her back.
Her mother sighed too as she laid her back down. "You don't need to be in pain anymore. Don't worry baby, I'm going to fix it." She was starting to get a rather wild look in her eyes.
"Are you going to get them to bring me better medicine?" Twist asked hopefully, but her heart sank when her mother shook her head.
"No... no they're already giving you as much and as strong a medicine as they legally can. The only thing they can do now is put you into a medically induced coma." Her mother said as she wrung her hooves.
"What? No! Mom no please I don't want that! I don't want to sleep until... you know. Please anything but that!" Twist begged.
"Even in a coma there's a chance you could still feel the pain my sweet," her mother said. "I can't bear to see you in pain anymore, and I know you can't bear feeling it much longer. I'm going to put us both out of our misery."
"Huh? How? What are you... Mom what are you doing?" Twist asked in confusion seeing her mother pick up one of her extra pillows.
"Setting you free my little angel. May I be forgiven for what I'm about to do." Then, before Twist could make any further protests, her mother slammed the pillow down over her face.
Twist tried to scream, she tried to shove the pillow off. She tried to tell her mother that she couldn't breathe, that this wasn't funny and that she didn't like this game, but she was too weak.
"I'll be over soon," her mother sobbed softly. "Then you'll be in Heaven and you'll never suffer again."
It was already black with the pillow over her face, but things got even blacker as Twist lost consciousness. Strangely enough though, she never seemed to lose her hearing. Her mother's sobbing seemed to go on and on and she felt very strange. Suddenly she could see again, though she didn't know why or how. Her vision was incredibly clear and she could see her mother take the pillow off of Twist's face. Her face! She watched her mother close her eyes as she set the pillow aside and leave the room.
Twist got up and turned around feeling more confused than ever as she spotted her full length mirror. Her rag doll Molly was standing up. Wait, that wasn't right. Molly had been laying beside her. She shook her head, only to see the doll in the mirror do the same thing. Slowly she looked down at herself, seeing the patchwork covers on herself, and gasped. She looked back and forth from her body, to herself, to the mirror, for Twist was indeed just a body now. Instead of going up to Heaven like her mother had wanted, in her confusion her soul had reached out and grabbed her doll.
She had become Molly.
The Rag Doll
Chapter 2
Molly
Apple Bloom stood numbly as the preacher pony droned on, not really taking in anything that he said. She wondered if her parents funeral had been anything like this. Everyone wearing black, some ponies crying, others just looking sad. Apple Bloom didn't feel anything. She was numb.
Before the funeral, Twist's parents had read her will and Twist had left something of hers for everyone in the class, including Miss Cheerilie, to remember her by. Apple Bloom had gotten Twist's rag doll. She remembered seeing Twist holding it most of the time and she knew it was her most prized possession, and she had left it to her.
She felt like she didn't deserve it.
She hadn't been a very good friend to Twist. She hadn't even really spent any time with her after she'd gotten her cutie mark until she'd gotten sick. If she was honest with herself, if Twist hadn't gotten sick, she might never have become real friends with her again. All because she was jealous of a stupid cutie mark. She realized now that there were far more important things in life then just that.
You had to live life to the fullest, and treat people right while they were still here, and while you were still here, because there was no telling how long you really had. It was a good lesson to learn. Apple Bloom just wished she hadn't had to learn it at Twist's expense. Still, she knew that she would never forget it.
She was glad when the funeral was over and they all could go home.
That night, as she lay in her bed clutching Molly, the tears finally came and she cried her heart out.
"I'm so sorry Twist! I should've been a better friend to you!"
As she sobbed herself to sleep, just before she drifted off, she could've sworn she felt somepony stroking her mane comfortingly.
The next morning Apple Bloom found Molly sitting on the end of her bed, and a chill went down her spine as it almost seemed as if the doll was staring right at her. She could've sworn that when she went to bed that she'd been holding her. She must've forgotten putting her there. She was so upset that it was no wonder she didn't remember. She pushed it out of her mind and soon forgot about it.
That was only the beginning however. It seemed that wherever she put the doll, the next time she found it, it was in a different place. All this grief must be making her forgetful, she decided, and ignored her growing uneasiness. It was probably just her guilt making her think things like that.
Apple Bloom got into the habit of taking Molly with her almost everywhere. She felt in doing so it was almost like taking a bit of Twist with her when she went on her crusading adventures with the others. One time she'd done a double take when she could've sworn she saw the doll turn her head and look at her, but when she'd looked again the doll was as normal as ever.
Twist was enjoying herself, finally getting to hang out with Apple Bloom and the other crusaders, even if she was a doll and had to stay still all the time she was with them. She enjoyed the little jokes she played on Apple Bloom, moving when she wasn't looking so she'd find her in a different place. It made Apple Bloom get such a funny look on her face!
Twist didn't know it, but being a ghost inhabiting a doll was starting to take a dark turn on her thoughts. Though she was often happy, she was also often starting to get angry. It just wasn't fair! She was dead and going to stay dead, trapped in this doll and unable to really enjoy life. She could hear others but she couldn't talk to them without a great risk to herself. She was so bored most of the time that she could hardly stand it.
Maybe she could talk to Apple Bloom. After all even if she told anyone, who would believe her? After being with her for two whole weeks, Twist decided to try that night.
Apple Bloom was almost asleep after a long day of crusading when she started to hear a whispering voice.
"Apple Bloom..."
"Huh?" Apple Bloom sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around the room. "Is somepony there?"
"Apple Bloom..."
Slowly Apple Bloom turned to look at the rag doll that she'd put in her chair in a sitting position. She gasped as Molly's head slowly turned to look at her. She'd never realized how creepy looking those button eyes on the doll were before.
"Hello Apple Bloom."
Apple Bloom's scream filled the night.
To Be Continued...
