//------------------------------// // Sigh // Story: When Laughter Turns to a Sob // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// "Pinkie, you have a few days left; After that you're going to die, do you understand?" the doctor said flatly. Pinkie looked at the doctor and nurse in the empty hospital room and sighed. She'd heard the assessment from Twilight but to hear it from a doctor was so much more impactful. Pinkie smiled weakly. "Thanks for the pain killers and all that but I'm gonna go home now." "Miss Pie, you can't just leave. There are too many things that can go wrong." "Oh! Look at that," Pinkie shouted pointing to the door. When the doctor and nurse looked back Pinkie was gone. "Mommy, Daddy? I'm home." "Pinkamena? I didn't get a letter saying you were returning. C'mere and- oh my." "What is it Iggy?" "Cloudy, c'mere. It's Pinkamena and she's not well." "Mom, dad. It's so nice to see you again. I, I don't have long and I needed to see you and the sisters again before," Pinkie looked at the floor as her head swam, "before I have to go far away." "Pinkamena, you're always welcome here and we really miss seeing you," her mother, Cloudy Quartz, said as she reached a foreleg out to hug her. "I haven't gotten a letter for a couple weeks. With all the adventures you do I was worried you'd been hurt." "I'm not hurt, just wanna say goodbye for a while. I-I have to go on a long trip and wanted to see the family. Is everypony here?" "Well, Marble and Limestone are out in town but'll be back in a few hours, I guess. Maud is away on a study for school. Ya look thirsty, can I get you some water or tea?" Pinkie smiled and limped into the house while her parents watch with concern. "I'll just go to my old room and rest until everyponies here." Pinkie went to the stairs and up to her room to rest. Hours passed while she reminisced about her old life at the farm. The first party she threw. The years she had spent travelling the land until she ended up in Ponyville. The friends she had made. The way she had learned to use magic to make others happy. The things she had done, and learned, to help the entire world stay the way it was. The one pony who she'd have made love with, if he wasn't so weird, crossed her mind briefly before she looked out the window. She'd lost the ability to see color after her last jump and the world was grey and hazy so it always looked dark for more than a few lengths. She imagined that whatever time it was the sun was out, the sky was blue, the birds were chirping somewhere in the forsaken land she had grown up on, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. She began to feel sleepy, her eyelids became heavy; she shook her head to keep herself awake, thankful the throb was only dull at this point. Rolling over she was glad she had taken the last tabs of the medicine the doctor had given her for the pain. She took three paces before she fell to the floor and the world went darker than it had yet. She felt the floor vibrate and her being picked up and placed onto the bed. She couldn't see or hear what was happening but she could smell her family. All of them except Maud. She was so happy her older sister could fulfill her dreams. "Y-you're all here? I'm s-so happy," she said weakly as her vision returned, allowing her to see a length ahead of her. Her color returned very slightly and she smiled wider than she had in days as she looked around her bed. Mother and Marble to the right. Father and Limestone on the left. "I-I'm going to go on a long trip everypony and, and I wanted to say goodbye. And I love you. And I'll always remember you in my heart." The family looked at each other in deep concern, her father sighed, a sad expression spread across the others. They each reached across the bed to join hooves. In unison they began to sing. "Hush now, quiet it now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed. Hush now, quiet now, close your sleepy eyes. Hush now, quiet now, my how time sure flies. Drifting, drifting off to sleep the days excitement behind you. Drifting drifting off to sleep let the joy of dreamland find you." Pinkie exhaled one last time, a genuine smile across her muzzle, as her family lowered their heads and began to cry softly.