I still cannot believe that this still exists. I look at Fluttershy with a happy smile on my face.
“How long have you had this?”
“I’ve kept it with me since the day it was taken. It was the last time I saw you, after all, so this has served as a memory of one of the best, yet saddest days of my life” Fluttershy says with her always soothing voice.
As I look at the picture she gave me, I remember the day it was taken as was it yesterday. It was the birthday party we had for me a few days before my actual birthday, so that Fluttershy could attend. We all went out on a picnic, even Fluttershy’s dad was happy that day. He may be frowning a bit in the picture, but that’s because of the present Fluttershy gave me. She felt so bad for not remembering to buy me a present, but I told her not to think about it. My dad had brought his camera, and as always on birthdays, he wanted to take a group photo. As my dad rushed to our side after setting the timer on the camera, Fluttershy leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“Happy birthday Breeze” she said, and just as the camera took a picture, she kissed me on the cheek. This was truly the best day of my life.
“You have no idea how much this means to me. Thanks.” I tell her while I put the picture into my saddlebag.
“Well, it means a lot to me to. I actually had a copy made of it, in case something would happen to it, because I would never want to lose this picture. It makes me, uhm well, happy. Anyway, let’s hurry so we can catch up with the others.” She says with her cheeks becoming a cute, yet burning red.
“A hint of romance, eh Fluttershy?” we hear from above as we exit the library.
“Rainbow Dash?! Uhm, no it was just friendly talk, yes, that’s all.” Fluttershy’s face is now burning red as she responds to the cyan pegasus.
“Relax, I’m only teasing you. Besides, the guy is a hunk, so it was an obvious joke.” She laughs wile nudging Fluttershy’s mane with her hoof.
“That’s enough, Rainbow. You ain’t going to scare our new friend away on his first day here now, are you?” I hear Applejack say while pushing rainbow towards what I can only assume is Sugarcube Corner.
“what are you two doing here? Why aren’t you with the others?” I can’t help but wonder.
“I went back to fetch a certain somepony.” Applejack glares at Rainbow Dash.
“You guys were taking so long, so I got curious. I wanted to see what you were doing. Besides, what did she give you anyway?”
“Uhm, well, a picture from the last time we saw each other. You girls have seen it before, it’s the one on my nightstand.” Fluttershy mumbles from behind her pink mane.
“So this guy is the kid sitting next to you in the picture?” Rainbow Dash says after pushing away Applejack.
“Well, that’s mighty cute I must say. Come on now, Rainbow. Let’s go back to the others.” Applejack starts trotting towards the pegasus.
** ** ** **
As we get to the bakery, I can’t help but to heel a little hungry. The cakes and sweets they have on display look amazing. I haven’t even entered yet, and I can imagine how great it all must smell and taste. My daydreaming about cupcakes and muffins is cut short when I hear Twilight knock on the door.
As the door opens, the first thing I notice is the smell of the baked goods inside. It is way better than anything I could have imagined. I’ve had cake before, but I’ve never actually been inside a bakery. My daydreaming is cut short once again when a pink pony with a mane which looks like candy floss appears in the doorway.
“Hi everybody. I’m sorry it took so long, but the Cakes hadn’t bought enough ingredients for the wedding cake so they really needed to buy more which made us start baking the cake an hour late, so we really had to hurry, But we made it just in time, so now everything is okeydokeylokey.”
I am amazed that anyone can talk that fast. Reminds me of Mr. Pie’s parody of the Canterlot auctioneers and the Wonderbolt racing commentators.
“Nothing to feel sorry for Pinkie, we wouldn’t want to interrupt you on such an important task. May we come in?” Twilight asks the pink pony.
“I appreciate that, Twilight. Today has been pretty hectic, but everything worked itself out in the end since we were able to find a babysitter for the foals. Now they are with Granny Smith, so they should be just fine, and oh, who is that guy you brought with you?” The pink mares eyes fall upon me.
“Uhm, hello. I’m Bre-“ She interrupts me before I am able to finish my introduction.
“Are you new here? You must be new here, because I know everypony in Ponyville, so I’m guessing you’re from out of town. Am I right? Where are you from? What is your name?” This mare has no understanding for personal space, it seems.
“My name is Breeze, and no, I do not live in Ponyville. I live on a farm outside this town. A farm you are familiar with, Pinkamena.” I try my best to prepare myself for giving her the news I carry with me, but I can’t possibly do anything to make such a happy pony sad. I’ll have to ease myself into it.
The look on Pinkamena’s face shifts to a more curious one. “Pinkamena. How do you know that name? who told you? It’s been a long time since anypony has called me that. I’ve been called Pinkie since I was a little itty bitty tiny filly.”
“I’ve actually lived on a certain rock farm since I was a little colt. The farm you were born at, I believe. I’ve been raised by your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pie. May we come in?” I’d rather tell her about her father inside.
“Haha, silly me. Come on in, all of you. I’ll bake some cupcakes for all of us, and we can have a ‘Oh yay, I have a surprise big brother’ party.” She bounces back inside, and starts baking immediately. It is amazing to watch this mare bounce around in her kitchen. I almost got a headache from straining my eyes, trying to keep up with her movements as she jumps to the left corner cabinet to fetch her mixing bowl, and then with one graceful leap she’s right in the center of the room, as she left her mixer on the table, where she had dropped it before when she came to the door to greet us.
“Ough, don’t you ever clean this room?” Rarity complaints, while franticly trying to brush her mane clean from the flour that had somehow gotten here in the first place. “This is a culinary minefield.”
Applejack pokes her shoulder, then quietly leans closer to Rarity’s ear. “You know that they’ve just been busy fulfilling a tall order, right Rare!?” Suddenly, the white unicorn seems oblivious to the fact that her elegant purple mane is covered in baking ingredients. She then later continues to struggle with the flour, but with the most elegant and violent subtlety I have ever witnessed.
My admiration of the pink pony’s dexterity in the kitchen gets interrupted by Twilight prodding me about my being in the Sugarcube Corner in the first place.
“Weren’t you supposed to give Pinkie some urgent news?”
I turn to face the lavender coated mare. “By the looks of this places mess, I’d say that she’s had a pretty stressful day. Shouldn’t we at least let her host her ‘Superduper Surprise Brother Thingie Whatever Party’ so she can relax a bit? I don’t want to lay depressing news onto a stressed pony. That would just be insult to injury. Let’s eat some cupcakes, and when the mood is right, or at least as right as it can be, I will tell her, but only when I see the time as being right.”
Twilight’s face now sends mixed signals. She looks sad, but also angry at the same time.
“Wow. You’re quite the insightful one, aren’t you? I guess I didn’t think that far ahead. Fine, let’s do it as you see fit.”
Twilight isn’t angry with me, or anypony else for that matter. She angry with herself. I’d love to say that this fact comes to light from me being an incredible reader of pony emotions, but it comes to light as soon as I hear mumble “Stupid egghead, stupid, stupid, stupid. Timing. Read the mood Twilight. You’re better than this.” as the walks over to Rarity to clean her mane with a magical spell, before the poor thing rips her mane apart.
“Hey, Bro! Big brother!?, Little brother!? I guess you’re bigger than me, so that must make you my big brother, right? Anyway, want to help me with the final touches on these cupcakes made specially for you? It can be our first brother and sister happy fun time.”
As I look back towards the kitchen, I notice how messy Pinkie looks. Rarity’s mane had been a mess from the flour, but pinkie’s entire coat is covered in frosting and various other cupcake ingredients. It’s funny to see this pink mare act as nothing has gotten stuck to her coat. has she not noticed? I guess she’s just a lot more casual about it than Rarity is. As I get into the kitchen, I don’t even get a chance to ask her where I should start and what I should help her with. She has already prepared two trays with equally many cupcakes on them, frosting of various colors and flavors, more types of sprinkles than I had ever imagined existed in this world, and to top it all off, a giant bowl filled with cherries, which I can only assume are supposed to go on top of the cupcakes as a grand finale.
“The one who makes the prettiest, cutest and most awesome cupcakes the fastest, gets a big hug from the other, ok!?” Pinkie squeaks excitedly while jumping up and down.
I accept her challenge, of course. the Pie’s have baked some holiday treats here and there, and I always got to put on the finishing touches. I might not win, but I can honestly say, that I might give her some decent competition.
The other ponies spectate the decorating competition with fascinated looks on their faces, well, almost all of them. One particular pony really gets into the spirit of things, and starts cheering for me. I find it a bit odd that Rainbow Dash isn’t cheering for her friend to win, but I guess she has a habit of voting for the strongest player, and not necessarily the most skillful player, but then again, I’m only speculating.
After about fifteen minutes of squeezing, sprinkling and cherry plonking, the contest has come to an end. I’m satisfied with my result, if I have to say so myself. I wouldn’t want to eat the cupcakes that Pinkie had decorated, though. I mean, who would? they’re works of art. There’s one cupcake for everyone of us, which is decorated with our cutiemarks. Heck, there’s even one shaped exactly like Canterlot castle. how did she manage to create something so beautiful with only frosting and sprinkles? Needless to say, she has won this game. I face her, so i can give her her reward.
“Congratulations Pinkame- no, Pinkie. Your cakes are beautiful.” i declare calmly while giving her the longest lasting hug I’ve given today. I can tell Pinkie has worked hard all day. She feels heavy as she rests on my shoulder. It must have been the first time that she’s even leaned up against something today, just to relax.
Only three seconds after the hug, Pinkie seems as energetic as when she had greeted us, and bounces over to the dinner table, while Rarity slowly levitates the cupcakes over to them. Fluttershy comes over with some tea, that she has apparently made while the decorating game was going on. Now we have a complete party dinner table, and so, we can sit down and relax.
As the cupcakes slowly disappear from the trays, a lot of chit chat goes around, but mostly it’s the pink party pony and me who are talking. We mostly talk about funny things that have happened on the rock farm, which there aren’t many off, but she is rather taken in by my tale of how her father had recently grown a small field of corn with great success. The saddest part about that story, is that the piece of soil he planted on, isn’t fertile anymore. I’ve also told her the story, that i told the other ponies before, but she seems to handle it much better than the others did. sure, she got sad from hearing it, but she picked herself up real fast when I told her, that I honestly am okay with how my wings are. I can’t fly with them, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t keep them in shape. I can still glide a fairly long distance, and I can carry a decent weight on my wings while they are fully stretched out. I just don’t have the muscular function of rapidly flapping my wings, but besides that, there’s nothing wrong with my wings anymore. sure, they are a little scarred and are missing a feather or two, but it’s nothing anypony can notice if they aren’t actively searching for it.
“Anyway. What brings you to Ponyville in the first place, bro? How are the oldies back home?” Pinkie asks eagerly, and thus she reminds me of why I came to visit her in the first place. I take a look at my surroundings before choosing my course of action. the trays on the table are empty, and all of the tea is gone. all of the other ponies lean closer over the table, and silently but assuredly, give me a collective, single nod.
I sigh, and take a deep breath. the time will never be right, and I can never prepare Pinkie for such devastating news, but I guess now is as good a time as any.
“Your folks back home. that’s actually the reason I came to search for you. Your father is very ill. We don’t know what is wrong with him, but we got a doctor from the forest who comes weekly and takes care of diagnostics and general caretaking procedures, but so far, even she hasn’t found any clues. she has however stabilized his condition for a small foreseeable future, but he wants to see you again, Pinkie. If not for the last time, then he at least wants to catch up on what’s been going on in his daughters life, whether he becomes healthier or worsens. I’m sorry that I have to be the bearer of bad news. It breaks my heart to see the old man like that.” I can’t hold back my tears as I tell her about her father. The old man has technically been my father too, and seeing him in his current condition breaks my heart. I can’t carry this heavy load anymore, and seeing Pinkie’s smile disappear and her eyes getting watery, pushes me over the edge. I lose all strength in my legs, and collapse onto the table, crying my eyes out. I can hear the soft sobbing of Pinkie pie, and then Applejack cuts in with words of easing.
“I- I had no idea the news you carried were so bad. I don’t know the man, but he’s Pinks family, so that makes him our family too. I just wish there’s anything I can do to help.”
“we all do.” Rainbow Dash almost yells as she trots to the side of Applejack, and Puffs her chest forward, as to seal her words with a statement. The rest of the ponies followed Rainbows lead.
All of these kind words sweep my legs away. I haven’t been around other ponies than the pies, and even though our bond is tight as can be, I didn’t know that ponies that i have only known for a couple of hours could radiate such a comfortable aura in a time of need. I wipe my eyes dry, and face the crowd. since they have just made an incredible offer, I have to let them help wherever they can.
“Actually, there is a way you can help, but it will require much hard work, and an incredible amount of care and passion.”
“Anything Sugarcube.” Applejack replies.
I resume telling them why we need help on the farm.
“Pinkies father realizes that he might pass away from this disease, so thinking ahead, he wrote a will, and made me read it before I departed towards Ponyville. In the will are papers containing detailed and vital information for the farm, everything that he would have to pass on. But, there was also an envelope. He didn’t tell me what was in it, but he did tell me that I wasn’t allowed to read it before I had found his daughter and people willing to help with whatever is described in the envelope.”
Pinkie rises her head from the table, and with a hoarse, sad voice, she confirms what all of us are already thinking at this point.
“Daddies envelope. did you bring it? can we see what’s inside?”
Now that I have found my stepsister and gained some new friends, I can’t think of a better time to take the envelope out of my bag, and lay it on the table for all of us to read. I let Pinkie open the envelope. After all, it’s her dad who wrote whatever is inside. When she has opened the Envelope, she takes out a letter, folds it out, and spreads it on the table. All of us hare holding our breaths at this point. We can’t even seem to get past the first three words on the paper.
“MY FINAL WISH”