Pink

In loving memory of Kevin Gray.

Pinkie Pie had not been feeling well lately, in fact it had been a doozy of a past month. The Cakes noticed how Pinkie had become more and more ill; her head getting hotter by the day, her apparent headaches getting painful, and rashes had begun to hit her hard. She waited patiently in the doctor's room, her eyes fixated on the window as she watched the trees bloom. She figured it was some sort of allergy and would soon be on her way, and she was thinking all about playing with her friends. Silent mutter came from outside the door, talk between the Cakes and the doctor seemed rather fast between sentences. Yet the pauses that happened began to lengthen ever more as they went on. She could barely hear Mr. Cake on the other side mutter, "How are we going to break this to the babies, they love her dearly. She's almost a big sister to them."

"I'm afraid they will have to be told about this when they're older," said the doctor ever so silently, "they wouldn't understand at this age."

Silent whimpering and shaking breaths could be heard for a few minutes before the doctor said silently, "When did you notice these symptoms?"

"About a month ago," said Mr. Cake in a whisper, "we thought it was spring allergies taking place."

The voices quickly died off, and they were too silent for Pinkie's ears to pick up. She was also too busy scratching at the rash that had broken out on her tummy, the small bumps feeling slightly funny to her. The pink pony began to think over what she had heard, and she had the strongest feeling that she was just too sick to be around the babies for a while. She returned to thinking of playing with her friends and baking when the door slowly opened up.

Slowly entering the room was a doctor with his face hung low, followed by teary-eyed Mr. and Mrs. Cake. She tilted her head and wondered why they had become so worked up over some allergies. A smile spread onto her face as she bleated cheerfully, "Why the long faces? Get it? ‘Cause we're ponies?"

Silence filled the room, and despite her clever joke none of the others smiled at all. The unicorn doctor calmly cleared his throat before saying while avoiding eye contact, "Ms. Pie, we went over your charts, and we have some bad news."

Pinkie continued to smile, as she looked towards the Cake's to see that their faces weren't displaying fake tears nor tears of joy. Pinkie's smile slowly faded, but her hopes remained as she asked curiously, "What's wrong? Are my allergies that bad?"

Mr. Cake approached the pink bundle of joy, he slowly raised his hoof to rest on her shoulder as he said with a shaking voice, "Pinkie Pie... you don't have allergies."

Before Mr. Cake could continue, Pinkie brightened back up as she giggled, "Well that's a good thing! I thought it was something that would last all spring."

The cakes looked at each other, Mrs. Cake's eyes watered up as she nodded her head. She looked towards Pinkie as she whispered, "This isn't a cold, either..."

Pinkie's smile faded, her heart began to constrict out of fear as she nervously quivered, "What's going on?"

Mr. Cake did his best to keep eye contact, he stared into her worrying eyes as he said, "Pinkie Pie, dear, you have something we have never seen before. I'm afraid..." The couple trembled at the limbs with anguish, their eyes produced tears of sadness like never before as Mr. Cake continued, "Pinkie Pie... you're terminally ill."

There was a long pause in the room, the Cakes had begun to weep and moan as Pinkie looked towards the doctor as she said, "What does that mean?" she thought it over, terminally ill sounded like some sort of weird flying sickness to her.

The doctor kept his voice low as he said solemnly, "It means that you are going to die."

"Well of course, silly!" Pinkie laughed, "everypony eventually has to die, it's the circle of"

Before she could finish, Mrs. Cake said loudly in her crying voice, "No Pinkie, you have one month left to live before you die!"

Pinkie's heart nearly sank beneath her stomach before feeling like it had been crushed in her chest. Her mind suddenly began to race over the future, millions of thoughts at a time about her friends, family, and her life. Pinkie Pie turned to the doctor as she shakingly said, "But... you have a cure... right?"

The doctor shook his head, "I'm sorry, Ms. Pie, but terminally ill means that there is no known cure."

Pinkie's hooves began shaking violently; she couldn't believe what was happening. She reminded herself of how well she had been eating recently, all the fruits and exercise she did throughout the day made it obvious she was living a healthy lifestyle with the occasional party snacks. Pinkie turned to the doctor, "This is all a joke right? I can't be sick, I've been eating and living like a healthy pony."

"It doesn't work that way this time," the doctor began, "this one goes straight for the cure. It appears to be attacking the very white cells that defend you."

"So that just means I will get sick more often! I won't die!" Pinkie began to get angry, none of the information heading her way was making sense. It all sounded like a jumbled mess while the two Cake's cried and mourned in the background.

The doctor held up Pinkie's hoof as he said, "It means that with no elements of harmony inside you, the Discord cells can be as bad as they want. It means that you are going to experience the common cold like never before."

Pinkie jerked her hoof from the doctor, she was infuriated with the information that was being told. Pinkie looked outside as she said with tears of anger falling onto her cheek, "What about my friends? How come they don't get it, huh? Is it because I'm the special one?! The one that not even PRINCESS CELESTIA CARES ABOUT?"

Mrs. Cake gently approached Pinkie as she said calmly, "Please don't think like that, sweetie."

"I CAN SEE IT NOW!" the raging Pinkie began, "NONE OF MY FRIENDS REALLY CARED FOR ME! I WAS JUST A LAUGH MAKER THAT THEY USED LIKE A TOY! THEY WON'T EVEN GIVE A FLYING FEATHER ABOUT ME WHEN I'M GONE!"

As Pinkie slammed herself against the table, crying her soul out, Mrs. Cake approached her and kissed her cheek. He could feel the warmth of the fever already. Mr. Cake calmly brought Pinkie in as he said in a quivering voice, "Your friends would never do this to you. They love you more than anything and they will never forget you."

"Never forgetting me is just what I'm worried about," Pinkie said through her tears of pain, "if they really are friends, they are going to be sad forever and I can't do anything about it."

The doctor slowly moved a piece of paper towards Pinkie as he mentioned, "Actually, there is something you can do." Pinkie read over the paper that read:

Bucket List: An expression used for a list somepony makes consisting of things to do before they die. The word derives from the expression, "kicking the bucket"

Pinkie sniffed before looking back up at the doctor as he continued, "It may not let you stay longer, but it will make sure you and your friends will still feel the love after you move on."

Pinkie looked out the window, there were only a few thoughts remaining in her head. She looked of the paper and thought hard about what she understood, she had only a month and she needed to make sure that they love her forever. She finally accepted that this had become a reality, that she was going to have to die. She sniffed as she said in a calmed voice, "I'm sorry everypony for the performance, this is just so much for me to take in."

"I think you should fill that bucket list of yours Pinkie," said Mrs. Cake, "and one of them being telling your friends before its too late."