The Birthday Surprise
It was three weeks before her parent’s birthday that she finally got the letter from Maud saying that they were in the hospital and sick and therefore would not be able to travel to Ponyville because they couldn’t even walk anymore.
But Pinkie Pie with her bright cheerful nature naturally decided to push this thought and fact far aside and away from her mind, I’m sure that it’s nothing, he thought to herself, and I’m sure that they’ll be well enough to at least see me when I come to them for their birthday. Oh, that sounds so exciting!
Me coming to them on their birthday? They’ll be so surprised and we’ll all have so much fun! We’ll play games and talk and have cake and cookies and sweets!
And with that thought in her mind Pinkie Pie continued to ramble on inside her head about all the various random things that they would be doing together.
Three weeks later this was still no sign of change of Pinkie Pie’s parents health, but that still did not stop her from setting up the party inside her old rock farm house even though all her sisters told her that mom and dad might not make it home in time for their birthday, or that they would ever come and arrive in time at all by getting better, but if they couldn’t come to her in time and arrive, then she would just have to go to them, after all, she could take a party anywhere.
And so with that bright cheerful thought in her mind she waited for any news from one of her sisters about their condition, but none came, and so she waited patiently as she stared at the clock intensely. Never before had Maud been so late before, she was used to starting parties very late for any pony else, but the party was supposed to take place four hours ago at eleven and Maud still hadn’t come back with any news about their parents, and then Pinkie Pie wondered whatever in Equestria could be taking her so very long to come back to her? Didn’t she know that this was one of the most important days of the year? Well of course she did, her whole entire family understood Pinkie Pie, and that was one of the few things that made them very special and stand apart from any pony else. But Pinkie Pie couldn’t think of one single reason as to why she would be late, Pinkie Pie knew that Maud was slow, but even at her speed she should have known how long it would take to get from the hospital to back home, after all, she did visit the hospital quite frequently to see her parents.
Pinkie Pie had also seen her parents quite often before this day to try to cheer them up when they were sick, but no matter what she tried to do they wouldn’t smile for some reason, and usually her bright cheerful nature and disposition could and would always cheer them up, but not this time, and that was the first clue and hint that she got that something could possibly be very wrong.
But what could it possibly be? She wondered after she left the hospital.
The rock farm is doing quite well in sales and money, the family seems healthy except for her parents of course, and there was nothing else that she knew of that could possibly be causing this, and she had asked just to make sure.
She asked Maud if she lost boulder and asked her whole entire family if they had lost anything, but they all said no, and then she finally decided to get straight to the point by asking what was wrong and up with them exactly.
“Nothing’s wrong Pinkie Pie,” Maud said clearly trying to lie, and she knew because Maud wasn’t ever really very good at hiding the fact that she did.
“Everything is just fine Pinkie Pie,” Maud said, “But if you really want to know then you should go talk to mom and dad again, they should be the ones to tell you, it’s not my place, but you should probably act like this is the last time that you ever will see them again, because they might never come home again.”
“What do you mean by that?” Pinkie Pie said as her face slightly dropped with sadness, but she was more confused right now than she was anything else.
“They’ll tell you, go now, I think that you should see them one last time.”
And with that said Maud slowly turned away from Pinkie Pie trying to hide the tears on her face, and right at that moment Pinkie Pie definitely knew that something was wrong, after all, no pony should cry when something so amazing and brilliant like a birthday was happening, and no pony should also be in the hospital on their birthday either. And when Pinkie Pie had last met her parents they said that they were very glad to see her and that they would get to spend some very special and precious time with her before they left.
But when she asked them if they meant leaving the hospital they said no, but then when she asked them what they meant, they remained dreadfully silent for quite some time until they both finally decided to speak up again.
“I think that you should go now,” they said “We don’t want you to see us like this, we want you to remember all the good times that you had with us, all the laughs and the smiles, can you do that for us Pinkie Pie? Can you promise to keep all the good times with you close at heart and always remember us?”
Pinkie Pie gulped very nervously unsure why they had asked this of her at the time, but now she thought that she was finally starting to understand at last.
“Alright,” she said, “Fine then, I pinkie promise to do what you ask.”
“Thank you,” they said trying not to cough but then failing in vain, and that was when the nurse told Pinkie Pie to leave so that they could get some rest.
But that was just the memory of the first time meeting them, this would be very different, or so she hoped, maybe perhaps they would be even better now?
But her hopes were instantly dashed away when she went inside and saw them still in their beds, “Hey there Pinkie Pie,” her dad said coughing very hard, “It’s so nice to see you again, but what are you doing here exactly?”
“I came to talk,” she said, “And I wanted to ask you what’s wrong with you exactly? And don’t lie to me, I know that something’s up because Maud is crying, and I have never seen her cry like that even when she did lose Boulder that one time, so I’m going to ask you to be completely honest with me.”
Her dad tried to take a deep heavy sigh but midway he started to cough again.
“Pinkie Pie, you’re right, we have been trying to hide the truth away from you, but that’s only because we don’t want to see you cry or be sad, but now that we know that you’ll always smile when you remember us, well, we can finally tell you the whole entire story, you see-,” he started to say but then he coughed very loudly for quite some very long time before he could continue on speaking, “You see we have been working extra hard on the farm this year, and to be quite honest and frank we always have, but this time the work finally started to take its toll. For you see rock farming still has its risks and dangers, but this time the peril came in a way that you wouldn’t ever expect, it wasn’t a rockslide or any other kind of slide caused by nature, and it wasn’t an accident either.
It was the air, you see Pinkie Pie, whenever we chop up the rock there are these tiny little particles that come off of it, and these particles filter through the air and they are relatively harmless to any pony else, but you see after many years of breathing these particles in your lungs, well they start to fill up with these particles, and while they are there and harmless most of the time other times ponies aren’t quite so lucky just like we were, for you see there’s this thing, this disease, it’s called black lung and its caused when a pony has too many of these tiny little particles in their lungs, Because you see they can block or restrict the passageway and flow of air, and as you know breathing is kind of very important for any pony. Now then normally we would be fine working with rocks and breathing this stuff in, but we recently discovered a new rich rock vein and we tried to mine it, but sadly enough it turned out to be that it was too dangerous for us and it collapsed, and we had to spend three days trapped without food or water in the ground trying very desperately and hard to dig ourselves out, but we finally did manage somehow with the help of your sisters, but by then it was too late, we had been breathing the stuff for three straight days, and that’s not even to mention all the deadly toxic gases that built up in there very slowly if we might and must add. After that accident we went to the hospital so that the doctors could heal us back to normal, but while they were running some of the standard usual tests they found about the disease somehow and also told us that we had it, and while we knew the dangers of our job we still couldn’t believe the news when we first heard it.
And that’s why we waited so lo to tell you, the doctors had to be sure, we had to be sure, we all did, and we also didn’t want to get your hopes up about seeing us on our birthday and so that’s why we didn’t tell you this before, but now you’re here, and we’re still alive, and the doctors, they say that there might be a chance of us living for quite some time longer, but not that much really.
And Pinkie Pie, just in case we didn’t or don’t make it through today or any other time, will that’s why we asked you to always remember us with a smile.
We don’t want you to be sad honey, we want you to be happy, and if that meant that we had to lie to you before, well then so be it, but then we realized our mistake very soon after you left and we knew that you don’t keep any secrets when you’re dying, and that is why we quickly decided to tell you the real truth the next time that you might visit us, but we didn’t know if you would come, but now you’re here, and now you know the truth at last.
And now that you know this, well now we can finally rest in peace.”
“No, don’t say that,” Pinkie Pie said, “Don’t ever say that, and don’t you dare think like that either, don’t you ever dare think like that, you’ll get through this, I mean the doctors said that you had a chance to get through this, right?”
“A very small slight slim chance,” her father said, “And besides, he also said that even if we do live that we’ll have coughing problems, and he also said that we wouldn’t live more than a year even if magic was used on us, but we refused it so he said that we had more like a month at best, so don’t get your hopes up too high, I know that’s it’s just like you to do that, but please, don’t do this to yourself, don’t torture yourself, this is not your fault, this is just nature taking the pathway of life, and it’s just the natural circle and cycle of
life too.
And there is nothing that you can do to change this, so please don’t try to.”
“I won’t,” Pinkie Pie said trying to stop herself from crying, “I promise.”
And with that said her parents started to smile and then they also started to cough and once more again the nurse had to walk her out saying that all they needed right now was some rest. And as Pinkie Pie waited outside the room with her sisters for any news of her parents, but none came, or at least not for a good long while quite some time after her talk and after everything was silent.
In fact it wasn’t until an hour had passed that news finally came from Maud.
“Hey there every pony,” she said once she came out of the room and she knew at once that this couldn’t be any piece of good news or cake. “Our parents…” she started to say trying not to cry at all, “Well they… you know.”
And with that said every pony knew what she meant at once.
And no words had to be spoken to convey what they felt at that very moment.
Grief, sadness, pain, sorrow, despair, they all were coming at once suddenly.
“The doctors say that they passed away happily at least, and they died in peace at least, and they also say that if we want to go home now that they will understand our reasons perfectly, and we don’t have to worry about the bodies until later, but for now I think that we should all just go home and try to figure this thing out by sorting it out together, is that alright every pony?”
The sisters nodded silently, they didn’t need to express what they felt, they had no need to, but Pinkie Pie on the other hoof, she just wanted to crumple up into a tiny little ball and hide herself in a very dark room that was locked and then hide herself away from the rest of the world forever.
“Pinkie Pie,” Maud said, “You have to get up, we have to go home.”
In her new state of emotion Pinkie Pie had actually gone on the floor in the shape and form of a ball, but
when Maud spoke she listened and got up.
“That’s better,” she said, “Now come on, let’s go home, there’s nothing good left here for us now, it has been taken away from us by the natural way of life.
And it’s just a cycle like how rocks form, and a circle that will never end.”
And with that said they all went home and just sat around not knowing what to do next or where to go, and now it seemed like life had just given them more questions and problems to deal with when her life seemed so simple and easy.
But while the others wandered around aimlessly Pinkie Pie just sat on the floor looking sadly at a blue balloon as a piece of uneaten cake lay just to her left on a very simple pink plate, and a red balloon also lay to her left too.
“What’s wrong with you Pinkie Pie?” Maud said readjusting her party hat.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Pinkie Pie said, “It’s just that everything I know has changed now, I mean our parents are dead and now they won’t even ever get to eat their cake, in fact they won’t get to eat any cake ever again, or play any games with us, or smile and laugh, or work, or do anything with us at all ever again.”
“Pinkie Pie,” Maud said, “Life is a wonderful gift that we only have one of, and we have to use it as we wish, and while I might not know everything that they wanted or did, but I do know that they wouldn’t want you to be sad over their deaths, they would want you to weep maybe perhaps, but they also wouldn’t want you to be sad either, they would want you to continue and be happy, so can you please try to do what they want and keep your promise, okay?”
“Okay,” Pinkie Pie said getting off of the floor and slowly smiling.
“There, that’s better, and from now on when you think of them don’t remember their deaths, think instead of all the good happy times that you spent with them, and don’t dwell on the past, think only about the future instead.”
“I’ll try,” Pinkie Pie said, “But I don’t know if I can get through this alone.”
“You don’t have to,” Maud said, “You have us, and we have each other.”
“Thanks,” Pinkie Pie said, “This means so much to me, you have no idea.”
“I actually think that I might,” Maud said, “And besides, just because they’re gone now doesn’t mean that we still can’t celebrate something.”
“You’re right,” Pinkie Pie said, “Why don’t we celebrate all the good times that we spent with them? All the good happy memories that we shared.”
“That sounds like a very good reason to celebrate,” Maud said.
And with that said Maud left her to think all by herself.
And then Pinkie Pie picked up a picture of her parents together alone, and then the whole entire family with them, and then she smiled very softly at it.
She did enjoy all the time that she had spent with them, and no matter what happened now she knew that they would always be with her no matter what.
And with that she put the picture down and then started to work on the next party in her head, and all was quite well in the Pie house now.
For Pinkie Pie was no longer sad, she was very happy instead.
She could smile now, even if in a new completely different way.
And so it turned out that this birthday surprise may have been very bad, but she could get through it, with
help anything could be done.
With faith and hope anything could be muddled through, even this.
And so despite all that happened, Pinkie Pie had reason to smile now.
For while she had lost something very special to her, she also gained something as well, knowledge, and the lesson that she learned was a very great one indeed, and it would be one that she would never ever forget.
