As morning hours drew closer, so did the irresistible and indistinguishable aroma. Protruding underneath the closed door, it slowly lingered its way through the room, finding the snout of the sleeping, pale blue pony. Inhaling deeper, she would awake with a cough tearing through her weak lungs.
It only took a few seconds before the door to her right opened and a pink mare peaked her head into the room, "Darling, you're awake already?" the pink mare spoke.
Gasping for air, the light blue pony buried her head back into the pillow, "When you make-" she let out another cough, "the best pancakes, how can I sleep?" She sprouted a smile in the corner of her lips, bags underneath her eyes threatening she might just go back to sleep at any second still. The pink mare, however, knew full well that honesty was at least one of her friend's virtues.
"Your sense of smell never seems to falter. Give me two more minutes and they'll be ready," the pink mare walked back to the kitchen where the sizzling pan filled the silence between their conversations. "How was your sleep? Dreamed of any more sheep jumping over a fence?" the pink mare teased as she raised her voice over the sizzling sounds. Her magic enveloped the tray which held both the plate and pancake along with a cup of tea as she made her way back to the bright blue mare's room.
"Maybe it was deer this time," the pink mare made a quick grin as she sat down on the bedside. She carefully hovered the tray over to the nightstand, making sure she doesn't spill the tea or tip the green lamp next to it.
"You know, when you moved here two months ago," the pale blue mare barely spoke, "I didn't think I'd need you this much." A cough politely waited for her to finish the sentence before lifting her head up slightly and causing her to jolt to the side. The pink mare helped her sit up in her bed, magically engulfing the pillow and adjusting it as comfortably as possible before resting her almost completely limp body on top of it.
"Neither did I, Tia," the pink mare spoke as she cut off a small piece of the pancake and carefully approached the mouth of her pale blue friend, a fork hovering in front of her snout, "but we'll get through it together. We always get out of sticky situations and this isn't going to be an exception." The pink pony cut off another piece of the pancake and began delivering it to Tia's mouth again.
"I never made a wish for my last birthday, Shallow." Tia's weak voice left her mouth after she swallowed the pancake, "I had you and that's all I needed. You don't suppose I could use it now, do you?" she asked the pink mare who was giving her a puzzled look.
"W-what do you mean? You still have me, I'm right here!" confused, Shallow let go of the cutlery and let it clash on the tray as she leaned closer towards Tia.
"I wi-," a cough caught her by surprise, yet it didn't hold her back for too long," I wish you are right. I wish we could get through this together."
Shallow helped Tia lay back down, seeing how her strength was dwindling. The pillow was readjusted and her friend was made comfortable yet again, "We will get through this together," Shallow repeated herself as she stood up and approached Tia, leaning her forehead on top of hers and closing her eyes, "and then you'll plant new flowers. Beautiful ones and everypony will adore them... just like you used to."
With a kiss on Tia's forehead, she opened her bright purple eyes only to realize that her friend is already asleep. Shallow quietly picked up the cutlery and carried it in a separate bubble of magic from the tray so as to make as less noise as possible. She washed the dishes as thoughts paced through her mind endlessly, "That must be the first time I ever lied to her." Shallow stacked the clean dishes to the side, leaving the cold cup of tea concealed behind them, forgotten.
A train pulled to a stop with a screech. Shallow walked out, making her way down the busy, partially wet streets of Manehattan. It never stopped to surprise how many ponies lived here and yet how very few cared for the well-being of one another. They were all trapped in their own cycles of life, each facing their own problems be it finances, rejection from their sympathies and, in the end, sicknesses.
After a while, Shallow finally reached her destination. The sliding door opened upon detecting her approach with a sensor. The smell of sterile environment instantly stroke her snout, yet she was all too familiar with this as she had been here every day for the past two months. She approached the receptionist, "Shallow Pond, I'm visiting my mother," she spoke.
"Yup, second floor, third door to the left," the receptionist responded as the phone began ringing, only glancing at Shallow knowing full well who her mother was. After hearing the surname, "Pond", every day for two months, it became muscle memory really.
Shallow nodded as she made her way down the white corridor and began climbing the stairs to the second floor. Even though she knew the layout of this hospital like the back of her hoof, she still had to announce herself to the receptionist, being a rule of any medical institute in Equestria.
Upon reaching the top floor, she turned to the left and walked all the way to the end of the hallway. She made one last turn to the left again before knocking on door 3.C. She let her magic twist the door knob and the door clicked open allowing her to poke her head through, "Mom, are you up?" She asked as a grey mare with a white mane turned her gaze from the window to face Shallow.
"Upbeat as a cricket." The grey mare spoke quietly with a smile, her face just as pale as Tia's. Bags beneath her eyes, almost as if stolen from Shallow's light blue friend, also there.
"How are you, mom," Shallow closed the door behind her, resting her pouch on the small table in the middle of the room.
"That's the question I'm supposed to be asking you," Shallow's mother spoke, inhaling loudly after almost every other word, "I'm the mom here." Her smile still portrayed on her pale face.
"Well, saying 'I'm fine' would be lying. You taught me better than that, so I'll have to say I'm holding out," Shallow approached her mother and sat on her bedside, not being able to take a glance off her beautiful dark blue eyes.
"Yeah, well. It's kinda hard to feel great when both your mom and best friend are dying of cancer, now isn't it," the grey mare laughed, causing her to cough a little. "Speaking of whom, how's she holding up?"
Shallow could only look at her mother, her eyes slowly tearing up.
"Now, now, Shallow. Come on, don't cry," her mother laughed as she tried to prevent Shallow from having another crying session. The last one took a little over an hour to stop, "I'm still here. Look at me, uhhh!" Shallow's mother made a facial expression, making it hard for Shallow not to burst into laughter, yet the tears that wallowed up inside her eyes had no choice but to slide down her cheeks.
"Tia's... she's not too well. She had two bites of my pancake today, that's the least she's ever eaten so far," Shallow explained, wiping her tears with the back of her hoof. "Not to mention she didn't even touch her tea, she had no strength left. Those two bites were too much for her, it seems." She looked down at her mother's blanket, her hooves laying politely crossed, one over the other.
"Hey, look at me!" Her mother spoke as Shallow lift her head up, her eyes already red from only the two tears from earlier, "You are the best friend anypony could ever wish for. You moved to her place just to care for her after she was diagnosed, I mean who does that?" Her mother put on a smile, this time making it difficult for Shallow not to smile back.
"Oh, you know that shepherd? That dog that always waits down in the park by the tree?" her mother nodded her head slightly towards the window. "Well, this morning I finally figured out why," she looked left and right as if somepony could hear them, even slightly leaning forward. "One moment it would always be there and then the other, it would just vanish." She explained. "This time however, I decided not to take my eyes off of it. And well, I'm proud to uncover... it's waiting for the mailpony," she whispered.
Shallow's excitement dropped after realizing that her hopes for some adventurous revelation were in vain.
"It carries the mail and newspaper back to that red building, every single morning. Can you believe that?" the grey mare seemed much more excited about that fact than Shallow did.
After some time chatting, a question Shallow never got to ask her mother kept scratching the back of her mind, for some reason telling her that now is a good time to ask. "Mom... did you ever get to say goodbye to dad before he left us?" Shallow's mother sat in her bed, eyes locked onto Shallow's.
"No, I didn't. I just came home one day and... his pouch was gone," her mother said as she looked out of the window, noticing how it slowly started getting dark. "We were a dysfunctional family, Shallow. Although, if it weren't for him, I never would've gotten the prettiest, nicest angel. So instead, I thanked him when I realized all his possessions were gone too." She looked back at Shallow and smiled, a few leftover sun rays shooting through the blinds.
"Anyway, it's getting dark. I'm sure Tia will be worried if you don't get a move on," Shallow's mother proclaimed with a small cough. "Oh, and you wouldn't mind lowering my bedside would you?"
"Of course not," Shallow replied as she pushed the button with a green arrow pointing downwards on the remote controller with her hoof. The upper half of the bed began lowering her mother in a lying position. Shallow clopped over to her giving her a kiss on the cheek before nuzzling their snouts together. "I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, don't go anywhere," Shallow smiled.
"If I could, I'd jump out of the window right now. A few broken bones would be the least of my worries," her mother laughed it off. "Good night, my angel."
"Good night, mom," Shallow magically strapped the pouch to her back. She gave her mother one last glance before hitting the light switch and closing the door to her room. "Angel... pfft," Shallow thought to herself as she wiggled her head left and right while making her way down the white corridor, smiling.
Shallow opened the door to Tia's house rather quietly as she assumed her friend would be asleep. And she wasn't wrong, gently closing the door to Tia's bedroom, she made her way to the bathroom. Spitting out the toothpaste, she gurgled some water before making her way to her room, setting the alarm clock to the usual time.
"I'm gonna bake a cake tomorrow. Tia loves strawberry and mom won't mind what flavor it is as long as it has chocolate in it," this thought drifted in her mind as her heavy eyelids closed shut under the sheer weight of the dreamy sands, slowly taking her away into a world only known to her. The world of imagination and memories.
"Beep, beep, beep!" This sound suddenly broke the silence in Shallow's room, yet it didn't wake her. Shallow's eyes were wide open already, anticipating her alarm clocks' hysteria any minute. Her magic pushed the small button on top of the device, followed by lifting her cover. She slowly dragged herself out of bed, for some reason feeling heavy on the chest today. With a deep inhale, she tried relieving herself of the peculiar pressure as she made her way to the bathroom. Without success, she shrugged it off.
As she gurgled and spit the toothpaste, a distinctive cough could be heard in the other room. Finishing her morning routine, she poked her head through Tia's bedroom door, "Tia, you up?" She questioned in a whisper, yet upon receiving no response, she quietly closed the door.
Dawn was at its break as Shallow slowly drank her warm tea. Coffee was never something she enjoyed. It was either too dark to drink or too sour to taste, so tea was her substitute. As she took a sip, her gaze wandered from the fireplace to the outside of the window. A small, white butterfly landed on the orange edge of the pot that was resting on the ledge.
Shallow watched as it whisked its wings in a few swift motions. She sat there, by the window, observing the little fellow enjoying the morning dew, yet her thoughts were far from there. Her purple eyes did not blink, they just stared at the peaceful creature and when it flew away, it did so unnoticed as Shallow continued looking at the edge of the pot. A small crack was noticeable, shaped like a tiny, irregular triangle.
Moments turned into minutes and slowly but steadily, she finished her tea. Shallow walked to the kitchen and began preparing breakfast. Pancakes were the fastest to make, but then she remembered, "The cake. Chocolate and strawberry cake." With that thought in mind, her magic opened the cupboard and brought out the flour, eggs and multiple other ingredients along with a pack of strawberries.
Suddenly a cough was heard from the other room. This time, it was correct to assume that Tia would be up. It was her usual time and without a moment to waste, Shallow made her way to Tia's bedroom, leaving the ingredients scattered on the kitchen table.
"Good morning, sleepy-head," Shallow opened the door gently and walked in.
"Shallow, do-" a cough interrupted Tia mid-sentence, but choked down allowing her to continue," do you mind if I skip breakfast this morning? I'm not very hungry."
"Absolutely, get some rest. You look a little more tired than usual," Shallow's reply made Tia grow a smile at the corner of her lips before she closed her eyes back, bags beneath them even bigger than before. If Shallow didn't know better, looking at Tia's face, she'd think a ghost is occupying her friends bed, but she knew full well, the ghost look-alike was indeed, her best and only friend, Tia Rose.
Quietly closing the door to her room, she made her way back to the kitchen, however to her surprise, just as she walked past the phone attached to the wall, it began ringing. "Who could this be? Nopony's called here in months," thoughts raced through her mind as a magical bubble engulfed the phone receiver.
"Shallow Pond speaking, " Shallow answered the call, yet as the colt on the phone continued talking, everything slowly became quiet. She could slowly hear only mumbling, her expression went from idle to horrified.
Her vision was slowly turning into a tunnel of darkness.
Her heart sank, she could no longer stand.
She now only heard the thump of her heart.
She couldn't move.
Her legs wobbled as the phone receiver suddenly dropped from her ear and was left dangling on the wall. "Hello, miss Pond? Are you there," the colt kept asking in the phone receiver, yet Shallow was already in full gallop.
She ran as fast as she could, her legs barely touching the ground. The wind lashed onto her blonde mane as she made her way through the busy streets of Manehattan. She didn't care about ponies looking weirdly at her, she didn't care about the traffic as she ran across the street, all she cared about right now was to reach her destination as fast as possible.
As she approached the building, she found herself in front of the sliding door faster than they could open, yet upon their slightest motion, she managed to squeeze herself through, her heart racing.
Running up to the receptionist, tears running down her cheeks, she let her hooves sustain the impact with the desk as she pulled to a stop. The colt behind it knew why she was there, "Miss Pond. Follow me," he got up, making his way upstairs to the second floor. Shallow followed him with such uneasiness. Her heart raced faster and faster as they approached the door.
"3.C."
Her heart was about to burst out of her chest, "The nurse discovered this morning, we notified you as soon as we could," the colt said as he stepped aside, letting Shallow open the door for herself. "We're sorry for your loss, miss Pond."
Shallow turned the knob with her magic, barely able to see as the tears had blurred her vision almost completely. "Mom," she sobbed as she walked into the room, clopping urgently straight towards her mother's bed, "Mom, I'm here. Are you awake? Mom," her hooves shook her. No matter how hard she tried, though, her mother's lifeless body simply lied there. Limp and pale, eyes closed. Her white mane resting on the white pillow, so peacefully.
Shallow nuzzled their snouts, "Mom, no. Please, it's not time yet. Wake up, jump out of the window, do something," Shallow wallowed her head on her mother's chest, crying.
After a long time, she started calming down. Sitting there on her mother's bedside, she looked through the window next to the bed. "I didn't even get to say goodbye. Only wished you a good night... for the last time," this thought made her burst into a cry yet again.
Slowly, she got up. Walking over to the door, she threw her mother one last glance before turning around and walking down the white corridor, morning sunbeams slithering through the shades on the window.
"I never want to see this city again." She thought as she exited the building, her eyes still tearing up. Her sniffs matched with the tissues she used to wipe her tears couldn't fool anypony who passed by, seeing how she just stepped out of the hospital, it was fairly obvious as to what had happened. Nopony walked up to her, however. Nopony cared enough, it was the kind of place. You would be judged if you showed any sign of compassion, that's almost the way it seemed.
The sun was slowly going down just as she got off the train with a screech, making its stop. "I told myself I wouldn't cry. I knew it would happen at some point, but every day I left her room, I just hoped how that wouldn't be the last. Eventually, one of those times had to be the last, but why this time, though," Shallow kept thinking as she opened the door to Tia's house.
Her priority now was to wash up, so Tia doesn't see her like this. On her way home, she decided it would be best not to even tell her. She's suffering enough. She felt stranger though. For some reason, she felt as if something was missing. She remembered running out of the house without her pouch, yet that wasn't it.
Suddenly, it hit her. "The coughing. I've been in the house for more than twenty minutes and yet Tia didn't cough." Instantly, she dropped the towel she was wiping her face in and quietly made her way to Tia's bedroom. "Tia? I'm home, Tia," she called out to her in a whisper as she poked her head through the door, yet no response.
She decided to inspect further, scenarios racing through her head. "Please, please, please," she begged as she approached her friend's bed, the room dimly lit as the sun slowly made its descent. She slowly lift her cover and what she saw completely shattered her. "Tia, no. I can't-," her hoof flew to her mouth, followed by her other hoof.
She slowly backed away, letting the cover drop besides Tia's head. Shallow couldn't cry anymore, there were no more tears left to drown herself in. She backed out of the room and sat down by the table, the same one she drank tea from this morning... and every morning.
Shallow looked out of the window, her eyes red, her expression so numb. She caught a glimpse of the pot outside of the window, resting on the ledge. Rain slowly started tapping the glass pane as her gaze wandered to the edge of the pot, taking notice of the triagonal crack. She stared at it as it slowly overflowed and water started spilling out of the crack, sliding down the side of the orange pot.
"You understand me," she thought to herself as she slowly got up and closed the door to Tia's bedroom, "because today I leaked water from my cracks too."
The rain intensified as darkness ate away the light of day.
A few weeks later, Shallow was back in her apartment in Manehattan. Brochures of nice houses were scattered over the table in her kitchen. Cutlery, plates and clothing all sorted in different travelling bags, "Where did I put my pouch?" she wondered, pacing from one room to the other. "Ah, here it is," she pulled out her pouch from behind the bed.
Just before she exited the apartment, dragging all her luggage, she remembered, "Oh, the address." Shallow quickly walked back inside and pulled out one of the brochures from the pile on the table.
Making herself comfortable on the train, she took out that same booklet, glancing at it, "Much better." She commented on the picture portraying a simple pink house with a small garden in front.
Not too long after she unpacked and made herself cozy, a knock was heard on the door. "Hm," she thought, not particularly sure why anypony would notice her moving in. Her magic engulfed the door knob, pulling the door open. A figure of a purple mare looking at Shallow with much interest appeared. One detailed Shallow noticed was that this pony in particular had wings... and a horn.
"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle," the pony announced herself with a friendly smile. "I heard you just moved in, so I decided to say 'hello' in person. It's a little ritual I decided to keep, it's not every day ponies move in to Ponyville."
Completely baffled, Shallow couldn't believe she was talking to the Princess of Friendship, "We-, I-, yes, come in. Please," she closed the door behind Twilight as she bowed.
The address on it read, "Ponyville, 3.C."
