//------------------------------//
// Log 187: Laughter. 
// Story: Remnant 
// by Ebonyglow 
//------------------------------//

Day 187.

It happened again. Way too soon. Way too suddenly.

I’m not even better from Applejack, not that I’ll ever be, but it seems the world couldn’t wait to strike another nail through my heart.

Today, another friend of mine passed away. Today, Pinkie Pie left us.

Ever since AJ passed away, she didn’t seem the same. Her bubbly nature had faltered a bit, and her voice always had a hint of sadness in it. Whenever we passed by Sweet Apple Acres, remnants of that dark day resurfaced in her.

And yet, today, the day she died, I finally got to see the old Pinkie Pie again. 

She wasn’t sad, she wasn’t angry, she was just…happy. Smiles, albeit weak, all around. Balloons floating in the air. Even a streamer across the hospital ceiling here and there. She didn’t want this to be sad. If she was going to throw one last party, her “Going Away For A Little Bit Party”, as she coined it with a giggle, she wanted it to be a good one.

It dwindled down fast—her health. We all didn’t see it coming. She stopped bouncing, not that she did it often anymore anyways, her smiles seemed less broad, her hair less poofy, and eventually when she barely moved at all we knew something was severely wrong. 

We thought we’d have more time. More time to recover from our last loss. More time to prepare. More time to spend together.

Time. Time just never waits.

Time is ruthless, cold, and unrelenting.

And time came for my dear friend.

Her last party, in a hospital room containing her dearest friends and remaining family, was bittersweet. 

Maud and Limestone rested near her, showing the most emotion I frankly ever saw them show. It was similar when Marble passed away, but losing a second sister opened the wound in them anew. 

She tried to comfort them, to tell a joke, to just make them cheer up in the slightest, but she was just too weak. She could only force the smallest of smiles on her face as she slowly looked around the room at each of us.

To see her still smile, even holding that colorful pink in her coat, it was destroying us all. Her eyes were growing heavy, and she knew it was coming any minute now.

She just wanted us to be happy, and a part of me knew she feared her passing would be anything but. She wanted it to be sweet, joyful, fun even, but death could never push beyond the holds of despair and distraught.

And yet she tried.

She asked us to sing, sing together, sing a harmony and tune she held dear in her fleeting moments of life. 

With a weak smile, she croaked out the words of the song, we all recognized it and joined in through tears and sobs. We sang and sang, shaky voices vocalizing uplifting notes—tears through lyrics of smiles and joy. 

Even then, we managed to get towards the final parts of it.

Come on everypony.

Smile, smile, smile.

Fill our hearts up with sunshine, sunshine.

We sang the song, we watched as her eyes began to close. She passed on near the end of it, as we reached the final chorus. 

It was her favorite part, but she couldn’t finish it. 

And yet she tried.