//------------------------------//
// Friday 
// Story: Life Is like a Cookie Jar 
// by TheReaderAndWriter 
//------------------------------//

The night that had passed had been terrifying in more ways than one. Raindrop had spent the night in a place she wasn't familiar with, which would have been awful for her alone, but her father had also been in the middle of a serious difficult surgical procedure. She had walked up to a nurse to ask about her dad. The nurse's face told Raindrop one very simple thing: his odds were slim. Raindrop had spent most of the night crying, crying on her mother's shoulder, crying into her pillow, crying in her sleep and worried dreams. She had stopped crying about the time she had woken up. She wasn't about to start again. Now the only thing left for her to do was worrying about her father. The room Raindrop was in was so small, it was usually not used for regular ponies to sleep in. It was usually reserved for doctors and nurses working late, needing a little rest. However, Raindrop had been allowed to make use of it once the doctors realized that neither her mother or her were going anywhere. If it wouldn't have been for her mother Raindrop didn't think she would have been able to stand against all the ponies asking them to leave the hospital once it got very late. How they could've asked a worried wife and terrified daughter to leave Cloudy Raindrop couldn't comprehend. The sun had already risen. It was almost noon, she had overslept. She was so worried about Cloudy that she barely even considered that she had missed school. There was a knock on the door. It opened and a nurse walked in. She passed several empty beds to get to Raindrop who was still in hers.
"Little miss, are you hungry, dear?" asked the nurse. She had a bit of a rough voice, but a sweet disposition.
"Yes, ma'am," said Raindrop. Her throat felt a bit soar. She wanted to ask about her father, but she didn't... she didn't have the courage to.
"Your mother went down to the cafeteria to fetch you a nice meal," said the nurse. Suddenly a male voice was heard somewhere in the hallway.
"Hey, did that crying kid leave yet? I had to sleep in the couch with all her cry- I mean, I, I need to go somewhere," said a male nurse pony in a slight panic when he noticed Raindrop still sitting in her bed. She felt hurt, but she wouldn't cry.
"I'm so sorry, sweetie. Our staff can get very tired here sometimes, and be a little stressed" said the nurse in her kind voice. She looked at the open door. Raindrop could hear her whisper to herself. "When I find that intern I'm gonna strangle him with my own..."
"Thank you for letting me stay here," said Raindrop. She hated her own voice in that moment, it sounded so small, so weak, so pathetic.
"Of course, deary." Sunny walked in through the open door with a tray with some food.
"Raindrop, are you okay, sweetie?" asked Sunny to her after putting the tray down on her bed. Raindrop didn't want to answer, because it was either telling the truth, or even worse: lie again. She just stared at the sheets in her bed for a while before looking up at her mother. It looked like her mother had cried far more than she herself had. Her eyes were a bit red and the fur beneath her eyes looked all wrong.
"I guess, mom. I'm just... worried."
"We all are, dear. Poor Tripper is out of his mind. He was bawling his eyes out, the poor fellow. Who can blame him?"
"Is Tripper here?"
"Not now, he left. He was here all night. He was the only one of your father's friends that cried, though. Those are some strong ponies." Strong ponies... Raindrop wanted to be a strong pony, she needed to be one. She realized she couldn't avoid it, she had to be brave.
"Mom, what about dad? Is he going to be okay?" asked Raindrop. Her voice suddenly seemed weaker. Her mother looked down at her.
"We don't know yet. He's past the worst part, but it's still very unclear. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to stay strong a little bit more. We won't know if he'll make it for at least half the day, says the doctor. Try to eat, and then you should go somewhere a bit more relaxing than a hospital, alright?" said her mother.
"I don't want to go anywhere, I want to stay here with dad!" said Raindrop.
"Dear, I don't want you to spend the entire day worrying about your father. He's a strong pony, he'll make it out of this alive. I bet the first thing he's going to complain about will be how they shaved of his mane," said Sunny and tried to smile. She was not nearly as good as giving a confident, calming smile as Cloudy was. "So go to Sugar- Go to Sweet Apple Acres and buy some apples there. We'll make a big apple pie for the moment he comes home."
"But mom."
"Now now, no arguing, I want you to go and enjoy yourself. The weather is lovely." Raindrop wanted to stay, but her mother would never budge. To Raindrop it was obvious that her mother just wanted to avoid having Raindrop worry about the potential... death of her father. It was strange how that had been her only concern, but just imagining the actual phrase 'death of her father' just shook her to her core. She just nodded.
"Alright, mom. I'll just eat and then I'll be off," said Raindrop. Once the nurse and Sunny left, the last of Raindrop's strength failed and she yet again burst out into tears.

She didn't go towards Sweet Apple Acres, she didn't go to Sugarcube Corner, she just went straight home. She didn't feel to go to Sweet Apple Acres just to get some stupid apples. She didn't know if she could ever go back to Sugarcube Corner ever again. If her dad... didn't... survive, then she felt like she would always, in the corner of her eye, see the silhouette of him, either sitting at his table, or lying still on the floor. She couldn't go back there now, it was too painful. Getting from the hospital to her home had felt like it took just a few minutes, she was that distracted. The moment she could see her home, there was something different about it. More specifically, there was a pony sleeping at her doorstep. Raindrop walked up to the pony and nudged him.
"Billy, what are you doing here?" asked Raindrop. Her voice had had a chance to recover, she sounded much more normal.
"Sorry, but I was super worried. I realized I couldn't just sit around doing nothing, so I went over here to talk. See how you were doing. I knocked but you weren't home. Just to make sure I didn't miss you, I waited out here. It was supposed to just be a few minutes, but I fell asleep. I didn't get much sleep last night."
"You're skipping school for me?"
"I'm sorry, I know this isn't normal behavior... but this isn't a normal day, is it? How's your dad, Rainy?"
"We don't know. He's out of surgery, but now it could go either way?"
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
"Do you know what's wrong with him? Oh, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have just-"
"It's alright. My mom or the doctors won't say anything. I think... the problem is... a brain disease. My mom said they had to shave off his mane, and I don't see why they wouldn't do that for anything else," said Raindrop.
"Hey, do you want to talk, or be left alone?"
"I don't want to talk, but I don't want to be alone either."
"I'll be super quiet," said Billy. Raindrop unlocked the door and walked inside with Billy.
"Do you want some of mom's cookies? They are probably getting a bit old now," said Raindrop. Billy just nodded gently. Raindrop went inside the kitchen and picked up the broom with her mouth. She just tried to topple the cookie jar, not caring if it broke or not. It fell off, but it stopped in the middle of the fall. Billy waved his head a bit clumsily, and the jar was clumsily put down on the table. "Thanks," said Raindrop, putting the broom away. They both sat at the table. Raindrop opened the jar. "There's not a lot of cookies left," said Raindrop as she gave Billy one who gratefully accepted it, but with just a nod. Raindrop picked one up, and ate it very quickly. At the hospital, her appetite had been almost nonexistent, but here she ate faster than ever. She picked up another one from the jar and ate that one too, she ate the entire big cookie in one bite. Eventually, there was only one cookie left. Raindrop saved it for later. Realizing they were done, Billy used his horn to pick up the jar and put it back where it belonged. "You know what my dad would've said if he was here right now? He would've said 'not a word to your mother', and then he would've chuckled," said Raindrop. She herself chuckled, but her little laugh slowly turned to openly weeping. Billy changed seat to sit next to her, comforting her with a friendly pat on the back. "I just don't know what to do, Billy," said Raindrop.
"Rainy, I can't say that I know what you're going through. I wish I did, but I don't. I'm so sorry for you. I just don't know what you can do. Sorry."
"That's not your fault. Thanks for being here, though," said Raindrop.
"It's nice to have ponies around you for support, right?" asked Billy.
"I wonder if the rest of my friends know," said Raindrop.
"They do, I heard so this morning. They don't know how serious it is though, or else they would all be here with me trying to keep you company. Ellie didn't say anything to anypony," said Billy.
"She didn't?"
"No. I don't know why, but I think she thought she did some sort of favor to you."
"I don't care if she thought it was nice or not, but I'm happy she didn't. I don't want to be surrounded by ponies right now," said Raindrop.
"Should I go?"
"No, no. I don't mind that you're here. You know, Billy, I haven't known you very long, but you really are a good friend. I don't think even some of my best friends could stand being with me right now, all sad and pathetic."
"Rainy, being sad isn't being pathetic. If you weren't sad right now, I would think you were crazy. And I'm sure that all your friends would still want to be here. I don't know why they aren't, but I know they want to be. They hope for the best, just like I do, just like you do."
"I just want to do something. I just want to do something that can take my mind off things."
"Well, if you want to, you can try to help me with my magic, like, like we were going to do," said Billy. He suddenly looked ashamed. "I'm a terrible pony, I shouldn't- you were just talking. I'm so sorry."
"Let's," said Raindrop, looking at him.
"Really?"
"Doing this is challenging, but when it gives results I feel a bit nice," said Raindrop. She really needed something to focus on, she would never be able to stop thinking about her father for the rest of the day but focusing on an activity that could at least make her stop just feeling sad sounded like a good idea. Focusing on what Billy did could make her feel a little bit less alone. She suddenly wanted her friends there with her, and the next moment she wanted to be completely alone. This day made her feeling a bit unstable, so getting some focus would feel nice, or rather, less horrible. She nodded towards the living room door in the hallway. "Follow me into the living room," said Raindrop. They both walked into the room. "Close the shades and doors, please," said Raindrop. Billy waved his horn a few times, bit by bit the room started to get darker. When the last door closed the room was quite dark.
"Now, Billy, this is a basic skill, and is easy to use, but it can be dangerous and hard to learn. If you aren't careful you can scorch your face, or make something catch fire. Do you understand? You have to be very careful. Very careful. Do you understand that?"
"I do. Completely," said Billy very convincingly, calmly. It sounded mature.
"Alright. You have focused your magic in the point of your horn to pick things up, right?"
"Yes. It's almost like I feel a little marble in my head, but higher up, fitting really well."
"Illumination means that you have to create two of those points. If I understand the illustrations right, then it's the same principle like when you pick up one or more things at once," said Raindrop.
"Two things at once? Can I do that? Wait, just, can I try if I can do that first?"
"Yeah, just remember what I've taught you, and split it in half," said Raindrop. 'Split it in half', probably what the doctors had done with her father's skull. No, no, don't think like that, just focus on this. Billy focused, and in less than two minutes he had made a couple of small pillows float alongside each other.
"These things are really heavy, but I did it, now what?"
"Now, this is where it gets dangerous, and hard. You need to move those magical points you've made, you need to make them spin around each other. The more points you have, the brighter the light will be, I think."
"So, I just try to move them?"
"Yes, but start with that first. Feel the points and make them move, but don't make them spin around each other yet. When you spin them around each other, there is a little energy that is released, and that energy should then be released through your horn, making light. But don't yet, if you do that and they go too quickly, then you can burn whatever you happen to focus on in the room, and if you can't make your magic exit your horn, then you will set your face on fire."
"That would be bad," said Billy.
"Yes. This is one of the reasons you need a supervisor to do it."
"But, then why are ponies in magic kindergarten allowed to learn it?"
"Unicorns have a way to affect each other, they make the young ones feel how quickly it has to go. Once you do, it will just click. We have to go forward very slowly, though. Very. Also, this is one of the things you can't use in front of anyone. This is one of the things that if a pony learns it on their own, it will look very suspicious." 
"Alright. I won't. But, well, Rainy, maybe we shouldn't be doing this one. When I asked you about this one, I didn't know how dangerous it would be," said Billy.
"No, we're doing it, come on, move your points."
"Rainy, I'm saying that I don't want to do this now."
"I said that we're doing it, so do it!" said Raindrop, she raised her voice. Her voice, it sounded so strange, it sounded angry, too angry.
"I wanted to do this, but I've already learned the basic floating thing. Let's make me learn something safe first, something I can actually use in public," said Billy.
"Don't be a coward! Let's just do this!" said Raindrop.
"No," said Billy.
"Come on!" said Raindrop.
"No!" said Billy and stomped his hoof.
"I told you to do it! Do it then!" yelled Raindrop.
"I said no!" said Billy.
"Fine, be that way! Jerk!" yelled Raindrop even louder.
"Stop yelling at me!"
"I'm- I'm not..."
"You were, sorry, but you were," said Billy and looked away. He pulled away the shades, making the room much brighter. With the light the mood suddenly shifted to something a bit more relaxed.
"I'm just..."
"I know."
"I'm sorry."
"Thanks, I know you are just worried and stressed right now. I'm sorry I asked you to do this. There has to be a better way to spend the day," said Billy.
"I just want to hear some news. That's all. I think they said they will know for sure towards the evening," said Raindrop. Billy walked up to Raindrop, and after some thought he gave her a hug.
"Don't give up hope, alright?"
"I won't," said Raindrop. Billy could feel a few teardrops gently drip on his coat.
"Let's go outside. It's a nice day," said Billy.
"No, it's not. It's raining," said Raindrop. The weather had turned very quickly.
"Well, we can just stay here."
"Yeah, could, could you just wait here a little while? There's something I want to do," said Raindrop and let go of Billy. He sat down on the sofa as she left the room. Raindrop opened the door and walked outside. She closed her eyes and then turned her head upwards towards the infinite sky. She just sat there and let the raindrops gently fall on her. She found it soothing through another wave of tears. She felt like a lot of ponies could have dealt with this with far less crying, she wished she could have been like them. She wished she could have been that strong.

They had just been sitting in the sofa for at least an hour in complete silence. Raindrop had a lot to think about and Billy understood that. Like what would happen if her father didn't actually make it. She had to consider the new responsibilities. She had to start helping her mother around in the house a lot more, heck, she would start doing that anyway. She felt like if she would do that, something would see it and spare her father. She would have to learn how to cook, her mother was good at it, but she wouldn't have time with her job. With only one worker in their possibly soon to be smaller family, they would have to make a lot of changes. Raindrop had to get a job as something, what could a young filly work as? She had to find out. Maybe a foalsitter, or a history tutor. Maybe she could help out at her father's old work somehow. But that might have been too painful. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Maybe that's news!" said Billy.
"It's too early for that," said Raindrop and got up from the sofa. She walked over to the door and opened it. Outside under an umbrella stood Miss. Cheerilee.
"Hello, Raindrop. May I come in?" asked Cheerilee. Her voice was even softer than usual. It was like she was as careful not to upset her student as she could possibly be.
"Oh, okay," said Raindrop. Her teacher walked inside and put down the umbrella. "I'm very sorry that I missed school today, Miss Cheerilee, but my father, is, he's not well," said Raindrop. Talking about it was hard, but at least she could do so without bursting out into tears for the moment.
"What are you doing here, Miss Cheerilee?" asked Billy.
"Oh, hello, Billy. What a surprise to see you here. Well, I'm here because I've heard about what happened. I thought that I should see how Raindrop was doing. I also brought something our class made in school today," said Miss Cheerilee. She opened up a bag she had brought with her. She got out an envelope that she handed to Raindrop. It was a very large envelope, so large Raindrop had trouble handling it. She opened it and pulled out what was hidden inside. She almost felt like crying again when she saw what it was, but not out of sadness. It was a large yellow paper, filled with glitter, streamers, photos and drawings of her classmates, playing, laughing, arguing, just being kids. All of them had one thing in common, they all had her in it. In large green cursive letters in an arc over the class photo it said 'We miss you'. Raindrop remembered when Twist had broken her leg a couple of years ago, they had done something very similar to this, but with a 'We miss you, get well soon'. That fact didn't make this feel any less special to her, however. Just like she had meant it when doing it for Twist, she was sure they meant it now.
"Miss Cheerilee, this is wonderful. If I can't come tomorrow, please tell them I'm very grateful," said Raindrop.
"I will, Raindrop," said Cheerilee. Billy came up to look at the gift. "Raindrop, do you want to talk about this? I know this can be very confusing for a filly your age," said Cheerilee.
"I... thank you, Miss Cheerilee, but I just don't want to. I'll be back in school soon enough."
"Are you absolutely sure?" Raindrop thought about it for a surprisingly long moment in the silence of her living room. Eventually she had decided.
"Yes. I'm sure. Thank you very much for the thought. Would you like something to drink? I would give you something tasty along a cup of tea, but we don't have much except an old cookie. We don't even have tea."
"That's quite alright. I've recently eaten." There was an awkward silence in the room. Raindrop didn't want to talk and Cheerilee didn't want to make her. Billy just looked at them one at a time, seemingly hoping somepony would break the silence. "Well, I suppose that I should take off before the weather gets any worse," said Cheerilee.
"That's fine," said Raindrop. She felt awful for being such a poor host, but it was a difficult day. The only thing that gave her any relief about the situation was that Cheerilee seemed to understand what she was going through. Cheerilee walked back towards the door and opened it.
"It was nice seeing you, Miss Cheerilee," said Billy before she walked out.
"You too, Billy. Take care, Raindrop." Then she was gone. Raindrop could see her hurrying away in the rain.
"I'm horrible. I basically just let her go out into the rain," said Raindrop. She felt ashamed in how cold she had acted in the end. She might as well have pretended that her guest hadn't even been there.
"She's super smart, she knows that this is hard," said Billy. There was a slight pause. Billy turned his head to her. "Hey, Rainy?"
"Mm?"
"How come you can talk to me, but not Cheerilee?"
"I... I guess that me tutoring you, and you keeping it a secret... has made me trust you. I think that's it. I've never had anypony I feel I can trust like you."
"I have. I've said I don't have many friends, but the ones I do have, I know I can trust them. Absolutely."
"Wait, there is another one I've always trusted... dad."
"Oh."
"I'm alright. I'll try my best to not cry again." Her 'best' still involved a few tears rolling down her cheeks.
"If you think that's best. Hey, are you hungry?"
"A bit, I didn't have a big breakfast."
"I can make us a few sandwiches. Or, hey, if you have some ingredients I can make some grass-pancakes."
"You can cook?"
"Well, yeah. My dad burns everything he puts in a pan, and my mom always adds too much of, well, it's always too much of something."
"I wouldn't mind something to eat now. I barely felt like eating when I woke up."
"Great, but, do you have a recipe for it? I can't remember one of the top of my head," said Billy.
"We have a recipe, it's on a piece of paper on the fridge," said Raindrop. Billy focused in the direction of the kitchen. Within a few seconds the recipe floated gracefully through the air. It pulled off a few loops before it hovered in front of Billy who started to read.
"And do you have all these ingredients?"
"Yes."
"Great. I'll start right away. Do you want to help out?" asked Billy. Raindrop accepted. It seemed that in one way or other, Billy was a good way to keep herself occupied, and away from thinking about the state of her father. Still, for the moment, and the rest of the day, all she could do, and did, was hoping for the best.

Hours upon hours had passed. While it was never outright joyful, keeping her friend Billy around kept Raindrop from being miserable. Alas, he could not stay forever. Once the sun had gone down, Billy had to return home. Raindrop had waved goodbye, and since she simply couldn't think of anything else, she had gone to bed. She had avoided crying much more for the day, even when she was alone. She had gotten used to the terrible thought. There was no point in mourning now. The only thing she really could do was to wait for something to happen. The answers to her questions about what would happen to her father was coming, she just had to stay strong and wait for them. That night, while having trouble sleeping because of bad dreams, she felt a gentle hoof on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes. Her waiting for news was over.
"Hey there, sleepyhead. Are you alright?" asked Cloudy with a kind smile. His mane was gone, and his head bandaged, but Raindrop didn't have time to notice such trivial things, not when she so quickly leaped from her bed and tearfully embraced her beloved father.