His Own Personal Heaven
Okay, let me explain the inspiration for this short little story. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in seventh grade (2005-06) and had a colectomy before freshman year. Today, knock-on-wood, everything is good with my stomach. But that didn’t mean my time sick was any less horrible.
Through this illness, I learned the importance of escapism. Sure I didn’t watch MLP back then, but it still provides me with escapism when I need a break from studying for my college exams or just need to relax with a fun, innocent show that has a good message after each episode.
Through my illness, I also learned how superficial “friends” could really be, which is another reason why this show is so good. It teaches us about something that seems hard to come by, true friendship.
So this story is dedicated to all of the people who feel abandoned when they get sick, and their friends don’t understand or forget about them when they need someone to stand by them the most.
Anyway, here's the story. I hope you enjoy.
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There was nothing like laying in a hospital bed, your miserable mother by your side, eyes straining to hold back the tears that so desperately wanted to break the surface. Your father downstairs grabbing some food in the cafeteria, trying his best to clear his mind of you and your predicament. Meanwhile, you lay in your hospital bed, moist with your perspiration, waiting to hear back from your doctors regarding your latest set-back. There was truly nothing like these little things to make you feel alive and well in this reality.
As Tim knew all to well.
Tim was a normal fifteen-year-old boy with messy brown hair and large, bright blue eyes that shone out on his thin, unhealthy looking face. His skin was pale as copy paper, giving him the appearance of a vampire or someone that never got sun. He was watching television as he nervously waited to hear what his diagnosis was, and hoping that it wasn't megacolon. But he knew deep down that it was, because that was his luck.
Scratch that, that was his life.
Recently, he had felt like garbage, even more so than usual. He had a very high fever and abdominal swelling that had concerned his mother enough to speed them to the hospital to get tested. He had arrived to the emergency room a few hours before, finished the tests, and was put into a small, depressing room that only had a curtain, no door. After all it was the emergency room, not one of the nicer hospital rooms that patients get to reside in for longer stays. Hell, he was lucky just to have a television.
"Just another day in my pain-filled life." Thought the sickly fifteen-year old boy whose only friends were his parents. He clutched his stomach as another sharp pain shot through his gut, making the rate of pain about one massive, sharp, stabbing of pain every minute or two.
But his life wasn't always pain and agony, in fact, most of Tim's life was full of the bliss and joy most kids got to experience while growing up.
He was the single child of two parents who loved him unconditionally. They would never stop loving him for any reason, as he learned during his ordeal with colitis, and their commitment to stay by his side while others ignored him.
He was a great soccer player, he was a great student, and had a ton of friends that he felt like he could always count on to go see a movie with, or just hang out over the weekends. They even had their fair share of sleepovers as they grew up. Those were the days, the days of happiness, of innocence. The days Tim oftentimes forgot existed as he withered in the present, the pain from his stomach taking most of his attention.
Everything was going swell for Tim, and it looked like he had a great, successful, healthy and happy life ahead of him.
That is, until he turned twelve.
On the night before Holiday break, Tim started to show symptoms of a stomach bug that had been spreading around the school for the past week. The virus made students run to the bathroom, projectile vomit all over the hallway, it was like a mini plague had swept the entire building, taking down student after student.
Aside from the fact that Tim was sick, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the first few days. It just seemed like a typical stomach bug. That was, however, until he started feeling progressively sicker. Every day he felt his condition worsen, and his parent's didn't know what was happening, but their concern was great. Finally, he had his first ever colonoscopy, something that no child his age should ever have to go through.
It was after this that he was told the bad news. He was diagnosed with the chronic disease known as colitis, something that he never heard of until that point. Apparently the virus he caught from his classmates had triggered the disease, which had not flared up within him until that point.
Upon first receiving the news, he was just relieved that it wasn't cancer. He became even happier when he heard that, while not curable without a colectomy, it was treatable. Sure enough, the medicine began to work wonders and his condition started to improve. He soon got on with his normal life of school and soccer. His colitis was in remission, and nothing was out of the ordinary for the young boy.
But this remission only lasted so long. For not even a year passed by before he began to face the emergence of massive flair-ups, flair-ups that his medicine was powerless to stop.
All of the medical steroids, asacol, remicade, and other drugs were powerless to stop the spread of the disease. In fact, one medicine had managed to give him pancreatitis, something that only three percent of the population got. This only made his colitis worse, and continued to destroy his life.
But there was nothing worse than drinking the prep for colonoscopies, dear God there was nothing worse than that.
Over the next few years, he went from weighing a healthy 130 pounds to a measly 102 pounds. He went to the bathroom more times in one day than most people did in an entire week. He eventually couldn't eat without the constant feeling of nausea, which eventually led to his inability to intake sufficient amounts of food and subsequent loss of weight.
Slowly, but surely, he began to wither away. His parents just watched in horror as all of their son’s muscles that he had built up from years of playing soccer disappeared.
But it wasn’t the colitis or the physical pain caused by the colitis that had scarred Tim the most.
It was what the illness revealed about his "friends".
When he got sick, he became quieter as he felt horrible every day, he began to miss more school, and he eventually couldn't do much outside of school without worrying about the bathroom location or how he was feeling.
All of this led to his downfall, for it didn't take long before everyone started to forget about him. All of those movies that show on television, all of those Hallmark movies showing friends sticking by their friends when they need them the most? Utter trash, completely false, when Tim got sick he got to experience the truth first-hand.
He learned that friends weren't reliable, as television had showed them to be. Those close friendships didn’t exist, they only seemed to on the surface but underneath, it was as shallow as a puddle.
In this reality, if you slipped off of their radar even the slightest bit, if you didn't show up to soccer or if you became less talkative, they completely forgot about you. They wouldn't even ask if Tim was all right, they would just ignore him like he wasn't there.
Tim remembered the day that he was in school, and he heard about a rumor that was spreading about him. Students spread the false news that Tim had cancer, such brilliant karma for a boy whose life seemed to be the definition of Murphy's Law itself.
Even with this rumor, however, no one bothered to ask how he was feeling. No one asked if there was anything they could do for him. No one even bothered to talk to him AT ALL about his supposed “cancer”. Heck, the only reason Tim found out about the rumor was because his mother had spoken to the mother of another one of his classmates and she had told him.
That's all Tim wanted, someone to talk to, someone to be there to support him outside of his family. He wanted someone to realize that just because he was sick didn't mean he was invisible or was a different person.
But all of the longing for such friendship Tim had didn’t matter. When he was at school, he was ignored.
But he wasn't just ignored while he was in school.
Every time Tim went to the hospital, he realized more and more that he could only count on his parents. Almost no one came up to visit him, and if they did they weren't interested in his illness, or how he was feeling. One "friend" of his even went on bragging about how he had taken the forward position on the soccer team, the position that Tim had played for years before he got sick.
As time passed, from age thirteen, when his disease had just begun to escalate, by now Tim lost his faith in humanity.
He began to lose faith in the friendship people around him shared. Whenever he saw some kids hanging out at school, he would always let out a sad sigh. He would think about his “friends” and then wonder if their bonds were superficial or strong, most of the time taking the pessimistic side of the argument. He'd assume that their friendship had the strength of tissue paper.
He wondered if they would be there for each other when time weren't great, to help one another get up after falling down. But then he'd wonder if they would abandon each other. To only do what was best for themselves and ignore their friend when they were in need.
If they had a good friendship, or a phony one that he had. His friends were just as fair-weather as most fans of a sports teams that win multiple championships in a short period of time. They were only there when it worked out for them.
Sure, he did believe that it was somewhat possible for strong and honest friendships could exist, but it was a rarity in this world.
All he was certain of was that he never got to experience what it was like to have true friends by his side.
Save for his parents, he was alone. Fighting a disease that had recently landed him in the hospital yet again with massive abdominal pain that felt as though some invisible force was stabbing him repeatedly. It hurt to know that he had almost no one to turn to at times like these.
Tim looked around the small white room with the single window that he was in with his mother, as she watched television. She tried to act stoic given the circumstances, but even Tim could make out the glimmer of tears in her eyes as they managed to breach through and slowly roll down her cheeks.
Tim loved his parents more than anything else in the world, and he had always appreciated the support they gave him. But sometimes they weren't enough, sometimes Tim felt like he still needed a friend or two to be by his side, someone to be there for him and make him feel like he had some worth outside of his family.
When his friends began to forget about him, he began to watch more television, trying to find escapism in fictional stories and characters. Finding ways to take his mind off of the pain.
One such show was "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." The reason that he chose to watch the show was not because of someone making him watch, or the mountains of memes that he found online. He decided to watch it because he heard how happy it made people, how it helped them to briefly escape reality when it became too much to handle.
Not really caring about his reputation at this point, as he didn't have one to lose, he decided to watch the show and see if it could help him escape the pain of his everyday life.
Needless to say, it did.
For the months leading up to his current predicament, Tim had become obsessed with the show. Not just because of the escapism that he was looking for and that the show provided him with, but because of the characters and how they made him feel less abandoned and alone.
What he saw in the show were six girls that had a genuine friendship; a bond between them that he always wished he could have. Friends that wouldn't ever abandon each other, no matter what happened. To him, they weren't just cartoon characters; they were his friends. Even if they were fictional, they were there for him more than any of his real "friends" at school had ever been.
They made him happy, their adventures, their antics, their personalities, their happy faces, their bright eyes, everything about them made him happier than he would have been had he never seen the show.
But the show also made him sad, as it made him realize what he was missing out of a friendship.
Night after night, after running to the bathroom for the twentieth time of the day, Tim would crawl into his bed and cry. Cry because of the pain he was in. Cry because of the pain his parents were in from worrying about his health. Cry because Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie weren't real.
There was nothing that he wanted more than to have them by his side; making him feel like he wasn't a loser. Like people outside of his parents actually did care about him.
He knew they would never abandon him.
As he lay in the hospital bed while his mother sad by his side, her hand placed firmly on his right arm, he began to think about the six girls he'd come to see as fictional friends, and imagine what they'd say to him if they were actually at his side at that moment.
He imagined Twilight leaning over him, her big, expressive violet eyes meeting his as she gave him a reassuring smile.
"Everything will be fine Tim," she said, "we're here for you."
He then would see honest Applejack trot over to his other side and put her hoof onto his chest before she gave a nod and said, "That’s right. And we ain’t never gonna abandon ya neither."
Tim smiled at the imaginary ponies that sat beside him. He then turned to see the other four friends came forward and gave him reassuring smiles. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy landed on the bed beside him, while Rarity and Pinkie Pie were next to his legs. Each of them had the most caring eyes; Tim felt much better seeing them, even if it was just in his mind.
"No matter what happens, you have us to stick by your side." Rainbow Dash would say, displaying her loyalty with a reassuring smile and wink.
Her loyalty always made Tim happy. Unlike his own friends who were athletes, who forgot about him when he had to stop playing soccer due to his illness, he knew that Rainbow Dash would never forget him. He knew that she would always be there, just like the others five would.
He wasn’t ever sure why he always felt like they were watching over him; after all they were just a show. But no matter the reason, he always felt better when he imagined that they were with him throughout his ordeal.
But then, no matter what, he’d always have to leave his wishful fantasies and friends and come back to the sad, painful, and lonely reality that was his life.
"Tim."
Tim snapped out of his imaginary scene of joy and bliss before he turned to face his mother. She was giving him a reassuring smile and put her hand onto his, patting it softly before speaking in her kind, reassuring voice, "You know how proud we are of you, right? For how strong you've been through everything?"
Tim gave his mom a small smile and nodded, his face thinly veiled the wave of emotions that he was feeling at the moment, the appreciation he felt from his mother's presence, the misery from his lack of friends, and his nervousness about his stomach, and what news the doctor would bring him. All of these emotions filled the young boy's mind as he managed to repress them all except for the appreciation so that he could properly respond to his mother.
“Yeah. Mom, thanks for everything that you’ve done for me. I love you.”
“I love you too Tim. Your father and I both.”
His mom then put her hand up to Tim's forehead, which was extremely warm due to his high temperature, and brushed the hair out of the way so she could lean in and kiss it. Tim could feel her tears landing on his gown as she kissed his forehead, showing how she was trying her hardest to disguise her misery for her son's benefit.
Tim felt another stab of pain in his stomach, clutching it with his hand as he grimaced in agony. His eyes clenched shut and a groan of pain escaping from his lips.
Dang, I just wish these sharp pains would stop.
Just then, Tim's father pulled the curtains to the room and came in with a tray of food. Right behind him was the doctor, who was carrying a silver clipboard and had a very somber look on his face.
Not a look you want from a doctor that is about to give you news about your diagnosis.
"Hey guys?" Tim's father said seriously before he pointed to the doctor in the white coat behind him, "the doctor's here with the results."
Tim's mother looked up from Tim's forehead and wiped her tears away from her eyes, all though it was blatantly obvious to everyone in the room that she had been crying.
The doctor walked in and stopped in front of Tim's mother before he let out a deep sigh. He then said the diagnosis that Tim and his parents had dreaded.
Tim did, in fact, have megacolon. As soon as the doctor had told the family the news, Tim's mother let out a gasp.
"Oh no…" she said, knowing how dangerous megacolon was. She covered her mouth with her hands. "How…how bad is it?"
The doctor sighed, "Bad enough that if we don't take care of it soon...Tim could die."
As soon as those words left the doctor's mouth. Tim's mother broke down in tears, hugging Tim closely as she sobbed. Tim's father walked over to her side and hugged her before he looked down at his son through his own eyes, which were clearly holding back his own sadness and worry for his son’s health.
Tim was just staring at his hands as tears began to swell in his eyes. The three family members were hugging each other in their collective misery as the doctor watched. He felt horrible for delivering such scary news, but knew that he had to keep a strong face for the family.
The doctor said how it was vital that he go in for surgery, how it wasn't so bad that surgery would be too risky, but it was bad enough where they needed to operate on the boy as soon as possible. The operating room was getting set up for him at the moment so the doctors would be ready to operate on Tim once he got back.
After a few more words regarding what to expect with the surgery to Tim and his saddened parents, the doctor left to make the final preparations for the surgery.
Tim was frozen in fright, frozen in depression. Not even his parents’ presence could help him feel better, especially since they were both having trouble hiding their worries as well.
After a few moments, his mother broke away from his father and hugged Tim, crying into his shoulder.
"Honey, come on. Everything will be fine." Tim's father tried to reassure his wife, but to no avail. "They'll take the organ out and everything will be done. If it's done well he won't even have colitis anymore since his bastard organ will be out."
"Mom I'll be fine." Tim managed to whisper to his mother. Tim hugged his mother back and began to silently cry into her. He was scared, petrified, horrified, mortified by the news. Even though he had his parents with him, he still felt alone. But he had to be strong. He was dying on the inside, especially as he saw the pain his parents were in, and how worried they were.
But for their sake he had to remain as strong as possible.
A little while later the doctors came by to bring Tim down for his surgery. His parents followed doctors that were walking alongside the bed carrying their son. After a long ride through the white, brightly lit hallways of the hospital, they finally reached the operating room.
Tim's parents both told Tim they'd "see him when he woke up" and "everything will be fine".
Tim didn't buy one word of it, but he still gave his parents a reassuring smile, hoping that it would put them to ease while he was under.
After one last session of hugs and kisses, both of Tim's parents left their son to his operation, both praying that he'd make it out fine. But they had managed to put on smiles as they waved to Tim, hoping to instill some comfort in their own son, as the door to the room shut behind him.
Tim watched, as the doctors got ready, putting instruments onto a small tray next to the teenager's head, scalpels, stapler, everything that was necessary for the colectomy. The nurses in the room pressed the heart-monitor stickers onto the boy's chest and back before they lay him back down, placing a warm blanket over him to help him relax, even though it didn't help him relax at all.
He listened to the soft "beep-beep" of the heart monitor next to his head, going slightly fast as he was nervous about the surgery, even if he tried his best to hide it from the doctors that surrounded him.
"All right Tim," said the anesthesiologist in the room, "I am about to administer the anesthetic through your I.V. tube. You will start to feel drowsy for a little bit, but soon you'll be out."
Tim nodded and watched as the doctor that had just spoken to him walked over to the IV tubing and pressed a needle into it before injecting the anesthetic.
He began to think about episodes of "My Little Pony", he began to think of the character's smiling faces and bright eyes. Their words of encouragement that they never truly said to him, but that he had imagined they would if they existed. He thought these things in order to escape from the horrible reality he was stuck in for his whole life, a reality that consisted of pain, sickness, and isolation.
Just before the anesthetic took effect, Tim had one last thought about the girls, and he wished he could see the faces one more time before he passed out into the realm of unconsciousness. The image of all six of them flashed into his mind, looking down at him with the most comforting faces. Their great, big eyes showed their concern for his well-being. But their warm smiles told him they'd be there for him.
Just like his parents had been.
Only his parents.
Soon the world went black and Tim was out like a light.
“Okay,” the head surgeon said with a sigh, “time to begin the procedure.”
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Tim remained in a void of darkness, floating around in a dreamless sleep. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard a comforting and familair voice call out to him.
"Tim, wake up."
He slowly tried to open his eyes only to be blinded by a very bright light. He tried to move, but realized that he was numb. Once he remembered why he was passed out, Tim guessed his numbness was just a side-effect of the anesthesia.
After a few moment, feeling began to slowly return to Tim's body, as he heard other sweet, kind voices nearby.
"Come on sugarcube, open yer eyes." Said a familiar, kind and southern voice.
"Yeah! I really want to throw you a party, but I can't do that if you won't wake up!" said a familiar, bubbly voice.
"Um...if you don't mind, could you open your eyes." Said a familiar, timid voice.
Tim was too groggy to recognize the voices, but he knew for a fact that he had heard them from somewhere. All three voices were of girls, and all three were familiar, he just couldn't put his finger on where he heard them before. His mind was still too groggy to realize who was speaking to him.
He groaned and started to open his eyes again, the light now less intense than it was before, possibly because he was more prepared for it.
"Come on dude, you can do it." Came a familiar, raspy, tomboyish voice from above Tim.
Tim's vision began to come back to him as he saw six colored figures in front of him, all blurred to the point where he couldn't quite recognize them, yet they still had a vague familiarity about them, just like the voices.
Also in front of him was something that seemed to be a lamp, apparently used to wake him up as the bright light shone directly into his face with a burning intensity. Once his eyes were slightly open, the lamp was turned off and the brightness disappeared.
"That's better." Tim thought to himself as he continued to wake himself up.
Just then, the closest blur, the one that was purple, leaned closer to his face. It was so close, that he could feel its warm breath against his face as it looked down at him.
"He's coming to guys!" said the purple figure.
That's when Tim's vision came completely back and he was met with the familiar image of the violet unicorn that he had only before seen on television.
She smiled warmly at the now fully woken Tim, "Hi Tim, glad to see you're finally up."
Tim's mouth hung open. Sitting right next to him, her face looking down at his own, was none other than Twilight Sparkle. "Holy…you…you're Twilight S-Sparkle."
Twilight nodded and gave a small chuckle, "Yes Tim. And before you ask me the obvious question I know you have, yes, I am real."
"As are we." Came the posh voice of Rarity from behind Twilight. Tim looked around to see the six ponies that he loved like family, the six ponies that he had wished to meet for the longest time, the six ponies that had been there to make him feel better, whether they knew it or not. The six ponies that, even though he thought they were fictional, were better friends to him than anyone in real life.
He realized that he was sitting on the wooden floor of Twilight's library tree house; the six mares all sitting in front of him with the happiest, most comforting faces that he'd ever seen. Even Rainbow Dash didn't have the air of cockiness she usually had, she just seemed happy to see Tim.
Tim shook his head in disbelief, "I…this can't be real, it just can't be. You can't be it's...it's be too good to be true." he muttered before he put his hand to his head to rub it. As he did so, he realized that his hand was no longer a hand. He looked at his arm and was stunned to see that instead of seeing his normal, human arm; he saw an arm covered in yellow fur. Not only that, but he no longer had a hand, he had a hoof.
His mouth hung open when he looked at his other hand to see the same thing, a yellow hoof. He continued to look over his body and came to the realization that he was a pony. He then looked on his back and saw a pair of yellow wings that showed how he wasn't just a pony; he was a pegasus. He stared at their stunning brilliance before mentally trying to flap them a little. Amazingly, the wings did just what his mind told them to do and gave a little flap in response.
"Okay, now I know I'm dreaming." He muttered. "I'm not a pegasus pony, there's no way. This is just something that happens in fan-fictions, not reality."
"Tim ya ain't dreaming." Applejack said as she stepped forward with a smile. "This all here is real as apple pie. Yer really a pegasus, and we're really here in front of ya right now."
"But I…I just went in for surgery." Tim muttered to himself as he let out a sigh and shook his head as if he were disappointed by the revelation, "I'm still asleep aren’t I? That's it, I'm still in surgery and this is all a dream. That's the only possible explanation."
He looked up to see the smiles that had been on the girls' faces vanished, replaced with sorrowful expressions as they looked at each other before their eyes landed on either Tim or the ground at their hooves. It was as if Tim had said something to upset them. He became confused about their sudden change in mood until Twilight spoke up.
"Tim," she began before placing her hoof onto his shoulder. He turned to face her and their eyes met. As he looked into the innocent mare’s violet eyes, Tim felt warmth grow within him that he never felt before. It was warmth that told him this mare, this GIRL, actually cared about him, more than anyone other than his parents ever had.
"Tim you aren't asleep…not anymore." Twilight muttered with a hint of sadness.
"I’m not…w-what do you mean?"
"Tim you…" Twilight began before she became too choked up to continue. She gave a small, sad sniffle before she let out a sigh, "maybe it'd be easier if I just show you."
She leaned forward and pressed her horn to Tim's head. He felt an immense pressure enter his head, like a presence had pushed its way in, when suddenly he saw the image of his parents sitting in the waiting room, waiting for their son to come out of surgery, when the doors from the operating room opened and the doctor stepped out. He walked over to Tim's parents, who both stood up and walked over to meet the doctor, Tim's mother running over to him with a nervous expression on her face. Once they were in front of him, the doctor pulled his mask down. Tim watched as the doctor’s lips mouthed out the words that no one whose waiting for someone they know to come out if surgery ever wants to hear.
I'm sorry.
As soon as those two words passed the Doctor's lips, Tim's mother instantly let out a loud sob and fell into a crouching position. Her hands covered her face as she cried like a child into them, while Tim's father bent down to her and hugged her. He started to whisper to her, consoling her to the best of his abilities as she continued to cry. Even though her hands covered her face, her tears still landed on the floor around her.
Tim began to feel like he was going to cry himself as the image of his parents played out in front of him. He now realized what Twilight had tired to tell him earlier, that he wasn't asleep; but he wasn't ever going to wake up.
"No…" he whispered as the image disappeared and he was back sitting in Twilight's library, surrounded by the sympathetic faces of the six girls. They looked almost as upset as Tim imagined he did at that moment.
"Tim, we're so sorry." Twilight said sadly. "We hoped it wouldn't be this hard, but we understand how you must feel."
This was all Tim could take his before he broke down and began to sob uncontrollably, his face buried in his hooves as tears began to roll down his cheeks and land on the wooden library floor.
He was dead, and his parents were crying about him. He had caused them to cry, he had caused them pain.
He could feel his entire body begin to shake as he buried his face into his hooves and continued to sob. He would never see his parents again. His parents, the only ones who ever cared about him; were now dimensions and realities away, crying about his death as he watched them from Twilight's library, from a paradise like Ponyville. Even though he couldn't help that he died, he felt like he was being selfish.
It was then that he felt the warm embrace of someone…or somepony…as a pair of hooves wrapped around his torso in a tight, comforting hug. He opened his tear-filled eyes to see that Twilight was the one who was hugging him, rubbing his back to console him as he continued to softly cry into her silky, soft mane.
"I really am sorry Tim. I wish that I could send you back, but I can’t…I can’t." She said remorsefully . "All I can do is help you with your life here."
Tim wasn't used to the feeling of someone who he had just met hugging him and being so kind to him. After all, not even his closest "friends" would do anything like that to him. He was only used to his parent's hugging him.
To feel someone, or somepony, else give him a comforting hug was wonderful. For the first time in his life after his illness, Tim felt like he actually had a friend.
But he soon found out that he didn't just have one.
Just then, he got an even bigger surprise to feel another set of arms hug him, then another…and another. Soon, he realized that all six girls were hugging him tightly, trying their best to make him feel better.
"Everything will be fine Tim." Pinkie Pie said from where she was hugging Tim. "I pinkie promise you."
"We're all here for you." Fluttershy said in her quiet voice.
"Just because the rotten, lousy friends you had in your world forgot about you doesn't mean we will." Rarity said comfortingly.
As they all broke the hug, Tim did have to admit that he did feel better. But then he looked up at the girls, "So, why am I here? Why am I not in heaven?"
The girls looked at each other and gave small smiles before Twilight turned to Tim.
"Tim this is your heaven, our world is where you've always wished you could be. A place where you'd feel like you belong; with us."
"D-did God send me here?" Tim asked and Twilight shook her head.
"No, we did." Twilight said with a smile.
Tim wiped his eyes and gave a small sniffle, "But…but why me? Why did you girls pick me to come here? Why not somebody else?"
"Because you've always wished you could have a real friendship." Rainbow Dash said as she landed beside Tim, "and now you do. Princess Celestia told us about you, and how your friends abandoned you when you got sick." She seemed to get a bit angry at this as she almost growled the words out before she continued with her explanation.
"She also said how she heard you make the same wish every night. That you could be here with us in Equestria because you knew we’d be there for you, and you would no longer be in pain. You would no longer be alone and without friends to stick by you."
"We've been watching you for a while now," Twilight said with a comforting smile. She then looked down and sighed before looking back up at Tim, her violet eyes serious, "After you died, I cast a spell to bring your spirit here. Once it arrived, it took the form of a pegasus, as you can clearly see.” She gestured to Tim’s new body. He looked down at himself and up at Twilight before he gave her a small nod. Twilight continued, “So now, here you are in my Library."
When Tim didn't answer immediately, Twilight got slightly nervous and asked, "This is what you wanted, isn't it?"
Tim looked back down at his yellow hooves, and then at the ponies that cared about him so much. Tim's eyes went wide as he looked from pony to pony, each providing him some of the only true happiness that he felt during his years while he was sick. Just watching them always made him feel whole, made him feel less alone than he really was.
"Yes...yes it is." Tim muttered with a small smile, as he felt a little happier at this realization.
He felt Rarity's hoof on his shoulder that was opposite of Twilight, and turned to her as she smiled. "Darling nopony should ever be alone in life. Your parents were wonderful and they were so supportive of you, but seeing you without any friends besides them made us feel absolutely dreadful."
"Like Twilight here said, that's why ya always felt great watchin' us." Applejack said with a warm smile, "Because we were there. Not physically, but ya always knew deep down that we were watchin' out for ya.
Tim couldn't believe what they were telling him. He suddenly felt like he was going to cry again. Not from sadness, but from joy. In a matter of five minutes of meeting the mane six face-to-face, Tim already felt more at home with them than he had with anyone else in his school, or his life. They were truly the epitome of friendship that he always believed them to be.
Fluttershy walked over to him next, "We know you didn't have such a great life in your world, and that almost nopony was there for you when you needed them to be. But we’re here for you now, and we'll always be."
"No matter what happens!" Pinkie Pie said with a big grin before giving Tim a big bear-hug, "Sick or healthy! We'll stick by your side!"
Tim was hardly able to hold back his tears anymore when Twilight said thirteen words that put him over the edge. "We love you Tim, you're our friend, and nothing will ever change that."
Tim then broke down, but it was more tears of joy. He had actual friends that would be there for him; friends that he didn't even meet until a few moments before; friends that he could count on to be by his side.
He looked up and smiled at the girls, "Thank you." He whispered, "Thank you for everything girls."
"What are friends for?" Rainbow Dash asked with a smile, "also, I’m glad you turned into a pegasus. If you want I can teach you how to fly." She pointed her hoof at Tim's new pegasus wings.
Tim looked up at Rainbow Dash, just then remembering his wings. He chuckled, "Yeah, that…that would be great Rainbow Dash. Thanks."
"No problemo. Now come on, let's go outside to test those bad boys out!" she said with great enthusiasm, pointing her hoof at Tim's new pegasus wings that were still tucked at his side.
She then flew over to the door and stopped, waiting for him to follow her. Tim stood up on four legs, making sure he had his balance only to realize that he was able to do so no problem. He then took a cautious step to see that he could walk relatively easily on four legs, something he didn't expect, but it was a welcome surprise nonetheless.
"The spell I cast made it easier for you to walk on four legs." Twilight said with a smile, as if she knew exactly what Tim was thinking, "don't think about it too much, just follow your instincts."
Tim nodded and took a few more steps to confirm his initial feeling that he could walk normally on four hooves.
"See?" Twilight asked with a smile. "What did I tell you."
Tim chuckled before he turned to Twilight, the one who made all of this possible, the one who gave him a second chance at life, as well as friendship.
Tim walked over to Twilight and gave her a big, strong, appreciative hug.
"Thank you Twilight. Thank you for being there for me."
As they broke the hug, Twilight smiled back at Tim, "Don't mention it, now go out and enjoy your new life."
Tim smiled at Twilight and trotted off towards the door, where Rainbow Dash was waiting for him. In his mind, he still thought about his parents, and he missed them dearly. They were the most supportive, kindest people in the world. In a world that he had lost faith in, they were the only beacons of hope that kept his hope alive throughout his illness.
He hoped one day he'd be able to see them again, but for now he had entered a world where he no longer was sick, no longer alone, no longer in pain, and he knew that if his parents knew where he was, they'd be happy.
"There you are," Rainbow Dash said with a smile, "you ready?"
Tim smiled back, "Yes I am."
And just like that, Tim trotted out of the library to start his new life.
******************************************
Back in the hospital, Tim's parents were still hugging each other, though both were standing now. Tim's father was trying his best to comfort his wife, who continued to cry.
"Why did this happen?" she muttered sadly into the fabric of her husband's polo shirt, "why Tim? What did he do?"
"He didn't do anything sweetie, it's just how this world works." Tim's father muttered as his own eyes began to fill with tears. He kissed his wife’s cheek before he managed to speak again, "but he's in a better place. I know it. A place where he isn't in pain anymore, and where he'll finally find the peace that had been deprived of him while he was alive."
And he was, he was in a better place.
He was in his own personal heaven.
He was in Equestria.