Books Are Heartwarming Things

“Twilight! Twilight!” Even before she entered the library, I could hear Rosy’s excited voice through the door. “I have great news!” And whatever she wanted to tell me was important enough to wake me up at 8:30 in the morning.

She barged through the door just as I was walking down the stairs groggily, rubbing my eyes with a hoof. “Twilight!” she repeated again.

“What is it, Rosy?” I said, my body finally deciding to reawaken.

Rosy looked like she would burst through the ceiling with her great energy any second. “My mom told me that she felt well enough this morning to have you come over for breakfast!” she exclaimed.

I gasped. “You’re serious? She said in her note that she wasn’t in such a good condition.”

She shook her head. “That was five days ago, Twilight. And you do know that there’s chemotherapy treatment for cancer, right?”

I wasn’t about to question why she knows what chemotherapy is. This was the moment I could really get to know Rosy’s family. Judging by the note Sweet Cheeks had sent a few days ago, she was wanting to see me just as much as I hoped to see her. And now it was finally happening.

I told Spike to take care of the library for an hour or two, then left the library with a bouncing Rosy leading the way.

Some ponies turned their heads and stared as they saw me with a foal. It wasn’t expected for me to have a filly, let alone be walking around with one. Rosy seemed to ignore them, but their eyes put a tingling sensation all over my fur and I attempted to ignore them.

We continued along the streets until we wandered into an area of Ponyville I never really payed attention to. There were less ponies crowding the road. The buildings had gotten a bit taller and wider, but not at a Manehatten level. I could tell from first glance that we were at the apartment section.

“We’re almost there!” I turned my attention back to Rosy as she excitedly turned down the road.

We continued our little journey until she stopped at a house. It wasn’t any different from its surrounding buildings; all I could see that was unique was that the front plate said 8-A. Rosy promptly went through the door without knocking and I followed silently.

I shut the door behind us and the sense of hospitality brushed into my face. The hallway we were in was dimly lit, and the smell of pancakes and daisy salad wafted through the house, mixed with the scent of strawberry candles. Framed pictures hung on the walls. I froze and examined one of them.

On the right of the blank background was a scarlet pegasus stallion. He had peaceful, wise brown eyes and contrasting white hair. His cutie mark was a scroll and a rose crossed in an X, which sparked the curious part inside of me.

Next to him was a pretty, sky blue unicorn mare with dark purple eyes. Her short, curled blonde hair was pulled back with a black headband-hair bow combo. Her cutie mark was a mirror.

Lastly, held in one of her hooves was a filly wrapped in a white blanket. She was a calming pink and had yellow curls around her face.

I took a longer look at the picture and my heart almost spiked up my throat.

That baby was Rosy Cheeks herself.

“Come on, Twilight!” Rosy insisted, frowning at my lack of attention. Apologizing, I reluctantly peeled my eyes away from the picture and followed her through the hall and into another room.

The room was actually two rooms without a wall separating them. On the left was the kitchen, and on the right were couches and other homey little items. Then I saw who I was waiting for.

Sweet Cheeks, I had soon figured out, was the mare in the photo; it should have been obvious before. She was light blue with purple eyes. The only difference was that she had no hair. But me, being the non-judgemental pony I am, didn’t mind and followed Rosy over to her with a smile.

Sweet turned around from her cooking and grinned when she saw me. “Good morning. You must be Twilight,” she said. Her voice was soothing and made me lose any doubts I could have had before. “Welcome!”

I shook her hoof and said, “Thank you for having me over. I didn’t think I’d even have the chance to!”

She chuckled. “Well, I’m glad I’ve been feeling up to my game this morning,” she said and flipped the pancake on the griddle. “Have a seat and we can talk for awhile.”

I turned and sat down in one of the chairs at the table. Rosy struggled to climb into hers, but eventually made it and sat patiently for her meal.

I began to wonder how such a wonderful and beautiful mare was cursed with such a terrible disease. Not only that, but having a little foal going through the same thing was heart wrenching as well. And, seeing as how there was no father spoken of or seen, something must of happened to him as well. Poor Rosy and Sweet.

Sweet soon returned with a plate of pancakes and a bowl of daisies mixed with fresh fruits. She set them on the table with golden magic and sat across from Rosy and I.

“So,” I began, not thinking about what I was going to say. “what’s with that picture on the wall and what happened?”

Sweet froze mid-sip and stared at me, and I instantly regretted my words. I looked over at Rosy, who had just finished swallowing her pancake bite and took in a sharp breath of nervousness.

Whoops.