My Little Arlen High School : Freshman Year

by kkman57

Dale and Pinkie Pie - Fresh baked cookies

If there's one thing Pinkie Pie was known for, it's her master craftsmanship of sweets. Every morning before class would start, she would always bring sweet treats for all her friends, from cupcakes, to pies and sometimes even desserts that are foreign to most Americans. There was no dessert that she had never heard of and no recipe too difficult to master.

Toady would be a simple task for Pinkie, chocolate chip cookies. Pretty basic, but the greatest of pastry chef must always practice the basics.

Already an hour in, Pinkie is just finishing mixing in all of her ingredients together in a bowl. Normally when she is baking at her job, Sugarcube Corner, she often uses an electric mixer, but for her friends she preferred to put more love into it, using a wooden. In her opinion the extra elbow grease made her dessert taste even better.

"Alrighty then, that's done, now all I gotta do is -"

Just then the doorbell rings, Pinkie pre-heats the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees before making her way to the door. She open the door and low and behold it was her next door neighbor and childhood Dale Gribble standing outside.

"Oh hiya Dale!" Pinkie exclaims her excitement, wrapping her arms around Dale, pulling him in for a big hug. In her excitement she lifts him off the ground.

"Hey Pinkie, Ow!" Dale could never get use to one of Pinkie's special friendship hugs. He could feel every bone in his back popping at once. "Um, could you put me down please?"

At his request Pinkie drops Dale down and smiles at him. "So what are you doing here Dale?"

"Well my dad wanted me to come over to see if you had some sugar we could borrow."

Pinkie grabs hold of Dale's right arm tightly and pulls him in. "Of course! I always have extra for my friend and neighbor!" Once they reach the kitchen, Pinkie looks through the cabinets until she finds a small bag of sugar that she had previously purchased. She hands it to Dale. "There you go."

"Thanks Pinkie." Dale said, taking the small bag.

The two continue to stare at each other for what seemed like hours before Pinkie is the first to speak.

"So... How are you holding up." Pinkie asks. She may always find joy in everything, but she could see Dale wanted to talk.

Dale leans back on the counter, staring at the ground. " I just visited my mom at the hospital."

---

Of course how could she have forgotten, months ago Dale's mother had just been admitted to the hospital. At first everything seemed fine, since it was just minor coughing. Weeks later her coughs got worse, to the point she would spit blood out everytime. She was immediately taken to the hospital and there the doctor informs her and her husband Bug Gribble that she had developed lung cancer. He continues to explain that she was beyond treatment, all they could was ease her into stages, but at most she had a year left. Since that day, all Dale could do was visit her and watch her get weaker.

---

"Dale..." Pinkie pulls him in for hug, this time a more gentle touch. She could feel Dale wrapping his arms around her, he slowly starts sobbing.

"... She's getting worse." Dale manages to mutter words.

"I'm so sorry Dale." Pinkie pulls out from her embrace, she tears out a paper towel strip and hands it to Dale. "I know it hasn't been easy for you or your dad, but your mom is a strong women."

Pinkie pulls out a paper towel strip for herself. She could feel her eyes start to water up. "Remember back in middle school when we tried out for softball team? I remember when your mom raised hell on the school board committee because they wouldn't let you play a girl's only softball league."

Dale clears his eyes with the paper towel and smiles. " Yeah, she must've rounded up over a thousand signatures for her petition, just so I could play softball with you and Rainbow Dash. There was nothing my mom wouldn't do for me."

"And you know what?" Pinkie puts her hands on Dale's shoulder and looks him in the eye. "Because of you, you caught the last out and won us the state championship and because of your mom Tom Landry Middle School became the first school to have a co ed softball team."

Dale nodded his head in agreement. Even in her weakest state his mom remains strong. She told him that he needs to be strong, not just for himself, but because life will always be hard, so when the day comes that she is no longer here, he needs to be brave and face it head on.

"Thank you Pinkie." Dale said clearing his throat.

Pinkie Pie smiles, before giving him one last embrace. "Dale, you will always be family to me, you know that."

Just then she hears a loud beep sound. Her oven was finished preheating, she looks back at Dale. "Say, you wanna help me finish baking the cookies? We can take them over to your mom's after school?"

Dale smiles warmly at his childhood friend. "I'd love that and I'm sure my mom would love that too."

---

Pinkie Pie may be a bit be over the top at times, with her obsession with throwing parties for the most random of occasions, but she is good person and one hell of a friend to have. Ever since she and her family moved into the neighborhood Dale and Pinkie have always been close friends, there was no secret they kept from each other.