"Thanks again Pinkie Pie," Whooves said, as he was bringing in the last of the decorations.
"It's no problem at all, Whoovsie. I just can't wait to see the look on her face," Pinkie Pie giggled.
It had been a few weeks since Dr. Whooves had married Derpy and became a new dad; so he was beginning to settle into a new routine. He would get up in the morning as Celestia's sun rose. He would brush out his mane, take a shower,and wake up Dinky. They would all sit at the breakfast table and discuss what their day would be. Whooves and Dinky would go to school together after Derpy left for work. Diamond Tiara would join them on their walk and talk about her previous day. They would stop at the cakes to grab a lunch for the two, as Silver Spoon would join the trio. They all would get to class and have fun doing classwork together, while Whooves relaxed and chatted with Cheerilee about nothing particular until the school day was out. Whooves and Dinky would take Diamond back home and go to the park to play until Derpy got off work. They would all head over to Twilight's house to get a book for Dinky to read for the evening to read. They would get home and Whooves would get dinner started while Derpy and Dinky took their respective baths. They all would sit at the table and discuss how their day went, with Dinky dominating the conversation most nights. When dinner was done, Whooves would go upstairs after he cleaned up dinner and read Dinky the story that she had picked out. After that, he would tuck her into bed and join Derpy in his.
All in all, this was the best life Whooves could've asked for. A peaceful home, a loving wife, and the best daughter he could ask for. The only thing that bugged him was that he couldn't find the TARDIS as of late, but he was going to chalk that up to laziness on his part.
Today, however, was a unique change in his usual routine because it just happened to be Dinky's 10th birthday. This meant that Whooves was going to pull out all of the stops This was going to be one birthday neither Dinky, or anypony for that matter, were going to forget. For this; he hired Pinkie Pie as chief party planner, Rainbow Dash as stunt coordinator, Rarity for a birthday dress, and for some reason, Twilight as DJ. Twilight was given this task by Pinkie Pie, because resident DJ Vinyl Scratch was out doing a concert in Fillysburg. he didn't know if she would be up to the task, but she had to trust Pinkie Pie for this one.
Whooves had just laid down the Triple-Decker-Jumbo-Choco Ice Cream Cake (Pinkie Pie's recommendation) down on the table when the filly of honor waltzed in through the front door. Rarity had just blown Whooves idea of what a dress was right out of the water. He knew that she was great at making wedding dresses, as was apparent by Derpy's one; but this...this was absolutely stunning. The dress itself seemed to be Victorian be nature and there was a radiant light blue flare about the whole of the dress. the blue was offset by a hint of gold hemming that skirted along the edge of the dress so that it looked as if it was flowing into her mane and tail. Her mane was done into a braided ponytail, and was topped with a tiara made almost entirely of emerald and topaz. Her hooves were lightly dusted in grey to match her mothers coat. She slowly cantered over to her mother and Whooves.
"Do you like it?"
Whooves rustled her mane.
"Dad! that took forever to do."
"Heh, sorry Dinky. and yes it looks absolutely stunning; wouldn't you agree dear?"
Derpy looked at them both and grinned. "Most definitely!"
They all smiled and walked out into the living spacce to meet with the rest of the party-goers
~~~
It was getting well into the afternoon when the rest of the guests arrived. At first, it was just Diamond Tiara and her parents, then came the CMC with a couple of other fillies and colt from Dinky's school, then Cheerilee stopped by to wish Dinky a great birthday and dropped off a gift; and finally, Lyra and Bonbon rounded out the guests that were to arrive.
Dinky was just settling down to open her gifts as Hooves closed the door. Her first gift was a sappling apple tree from Applebloom. Then it went as follows: a plush dog from Scootaloo, a purple dress from Sweetie Bell(hoof-stitched by her, a notebook from Cheerilee, a collection of drawing books from Twilight, a Wonderbolts' suit for her dolls from Rainbow, a set of silly string from Pinkie Pie, and lastly, a brush from Lyra and Bonbon.
The was one other present that Dinky was given, but she had already been totting around for the entire party. It was a doll of her, with little citrine eyes and locks of silk for hair. This doll was a gift from Diamond Tiara, and amazingly enough, dinky was in love with it at first sight. Every time Whooves looked at the little filly carrying the littler filly doll, he would chuckle a little at the silliness of the picture. It wasn't a mean spirited laugh, but was sort of just a laugh of reflection at how that probably looked when he carted around Dinky everywhere.
Whooves looked over at the mantle for the clock to see what time it was. When he confirmed that it was the right time, he looked over to Derpy and motioned towards the cake.
"Alright Everypony," Derpy exclaimed, "Who wants some cake?"
Almost immediately, the group went into the kitchen to consume the decadent masterpiece.
"Okay, now that where all here, let's have the birthday girl come blow out her candles,"
Dinky milled her way through the small crowd to take a seat at the head of the cake.
"Okay, Dinky" Whooves whispered. "now remember to wish real hard on what you want."
Dinky closed her eyes and leaned forward into the cake.
"One...Two...Three1"
Dinky blew as hard as she could at the candles, extinguishing the flames.
"Great job, Dinky," the crowd collectively cheered.
Dinky looked up and smiled at her parents.
"That was great, right?"
Whooves and Derpy's smiles slowly faded and they looked at each other with growing concern.
"A-are you okay, sweetie?" Derpy asked neverously.
"Yeah, mom, i feel super duper; why?"
Whooves took his hoof and gently wiped Dinky's nose.
"Are you sure, honey?" Whooves asked as well.
"Y-yeah, well, my neck hurts a little...what's happening?"
Dinky's nose was bleeding profusely, and all the color seemed drained from her features. It wasn't a moment after Dinky asked the question before she collapsed off of her chair and started to convulse on the floor. Derpy looked on with horror as Whooves rushed to her aid.
"Someone get a towel and a pillow, now!"
Rainbow dash hurried up the stairs and grabbed the materials.
"And I need somepony to help me get her to the hospital," Twilight took this moment to teleport the both of them.
"Thank you Twilight..."
Whooves rushed Dinky, who was coming down from the attack, into the building.
Nurse Redheart looked up from her magazine to see a frantic Whooves barreling towards her.
Oh Dear, what seems to-"
"Please help her!" Whooves screamed, tears streaming down his face.
"This way, hurry..."
The three ponies departed into the Intensive Care.
~~~
Whooves sat in the waiting room with his hooves in his eyes, trying desperately to keep the tears in. Derpy burst through he front door, and rushed over and shook Whooves.
"Where's my baby!?"
"She's in surgery..."
"Oh Celestia no! What's wrong with her?"
Whooves looked up at her with defeated tears falling down his features.
"I don't know, but she wasn't waking up and the put her on a whole bunch of machines to do tests and then they-they..."
Whooves choked back his sobs as Derpy held him, crying into his mane.
"They didn't tell you anything?" Derpy finally said, after a few minutes.
"No, they just put me in her and told me to wait patiently..."
It was then that the door to the ICU was opened to a very aged Unicorn, who walked over to the two.
"Are you Mr. and Mrs. Whooves?"
The two nodded.
"Well, it was a good thing that you brought in your daughter in when you did, Mr. Whooves."
"Why is that, Doctor?"
The doctor took a seat in front of the two.
"Well, it seems that your daughter has what we call EPM, and...well; there's good news and bad news..."
TO BE CONTINUED