Smile Because It Happened
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
— Dr. Seuss
"Hey there, my little Pumpkin Pie."
Pumpkin Cake stirs, turning her head in my direction. A tired smile graces her face. "Hi Aunt Pinkie."
"You sure look ready for a nap, all snuggled up in your blankets." I trot to her side and prop my hooves on the edge of her bed. Even though the lights are being kept dim, I can still see the wrinkles on her face, the gray in her muzzle, the lines around her eyes.
"I feel ready." She huffs out a warm laugh, but a moment later, her ears fold down despondently. "I'm sorry, Aunt Pinkie. I wanted you to have as much time with me as possible, but..."
I shake my head and place a hoof against her lips. "Don't be. This was gonna happen sometime. I chose this, wings and all. I just couldn't leave Twilight and the girls alone."
"But now I'm leaving you alone."
I sigh. "Yeah, but that's life, isn't it? It rolls on and on, like a bunch of balls of cheese. Life takes cheese away from you as you move along, and when you meet other ponies you leave little bits of cheese behind on them and they leave cheese on you and when crackers try to squish you flat you bounce back and keep on rolling along anyway, and even though eventually you run out of cheese to leave behind, your cheese is still scattered everywhere you've been. Everypony you've ever met still has some of your cheese on them. My cheese is just never-ending. Or at least moon-sized."
Pumpkin blinks, processing that. "So we're never really alone, then. Pound's cheese is still on me, and both of our cheeses will stay with you."
"Exactamundo."
She nods, murmuring softly to herself, "Yeah... yeah, I like that."
In the brief quiet that follows, I find myself resting a hoof on one of hers. Pumpkin grasps it lightly, a deep contentedness in her half-closed eyes.
It's one of the few rare times I don't feel like I need to fill the silence with chatter. No, right now, this is all I need: a serene smile, a lifetime of laughter, and Pumpkin's hoof curled around my own.
"Aunt Pinkie?"
"Yeppers?"
"Can you sing me something?"
"Okie dokie." I quickly sort through a myriad of potential songs, then suddenly recall an old one I used to do all the time for the pair, and then again for their foals. I laugh to myself and clear my throat, summoning a gentle melody to accompany my words.
"First you jiggle your tail, oink oink, oink, then you wriggle your snout..."
Pumpkin laughs openly the moment I begin singing. I bounce my head in time with the tune, letting nostalgia guide my movements.
"Oh, I almost forgot about that," she chuckles. "Butter Cake's a little too old for it now, but it used to be her favorite song, remember?"
"Remember? Of course I remember! She begged me to sing it every night for months as a little filly. I'm betting she got it from you. Like mother, like daughter."
"We just have good taste in music."
"Heh. You sure do."
I sing it again, memorizing the wide grin it evokes, then cycle through a couple more. The soft, lilting music fills the room like the heat from an oven — warm, soothing, and familiar. I can almost smell the sweet scent of fresh pastries floating through the air. By the time the fourth song is coming to an end, Pumpkin's eyes have started to drift closed. When I softly murmur, "Pumpkin?" they flutter back open. It takes a couple seconds for them to focus on me again.
"I'm... I'm awake, I'm awake..." She blinks, long and slow and weary. "I'm... I'm sorry, Aunt Pinkie, but... I'm really tired." She gazes into empty space for a moment, her breath a quiet rasp. "I miss Pound."
"You'll see him again soon, Pumpkin. I promise." I brush a hoof over her forehead gently, smoothing back her mane. She leans into my touch, her gaze distant and longing.
"I really miss him," she repeats. "Do you think..."
Her voice trails away into silence, but I know what she's asking.
"Yeah." I smile. "Pound Cake is waiting for you."
Pumpkin's lips curve up.
"You'll be with him forever. Maybe you'll even get to fly with him, like I used to all the time. Twin troublemakers forever, am I right?"
Her eyes crinkle at the edges at that; but a moment later, they flick toward me, as if reminded of something important. "Will I ever see you again, Aunt Pinkie?"
I have no idea. Even Twilight doesn't know how long we'll live now. We might just be super duper long-lived, or we might be eternal. "You betcha, Pumpkin. And in the meantime, you'll always be in my heart; your cheese will always be with me. I Pinkie Promise to never forget you. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
"Me too." Pumpkin smiles as she echoes the promise back to me. By the time she finishes, she's starting to nod off again. This time, I know it really is almost the end. "I love you, Aunt Pinkie."
I hold back a sniffle. "I love you, too. Some last-minute advice for the road, my little Pumpkin Pie?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't put anything in your mouth that you can't safely and properly digest."
"Oh come on, Aunt Pinkie!" Pumpkin huffs softly, a glint of amusement in her eyes. "I haven't done that since I was just a little foal."
"Never hurts to be reminded!"
She's still grinning as she drifts off to sleep.
A tear finally slips loose and plops onto the bed. Using my magic, I tuck the blanket around her tighter. I lean over and press a gentle kiss to her forehead.
Then I step away somberly.
At the door, I pause and glance back at the peaceful, slumbering form of the mare I'd practically helped raise from foalhood. Her breathing is quiet but even, and she's smiling. I can't imagine a better way to pass on. But it hurts, too, knowing that this will be the last time I ever see her. Come morning, she'll be gone. Come morning, she'll have reunited with Pound Cake, at last. Come morning, she'll have moved on to a place that I might never ever see.
"Good night, my little Pumpkin Pie."
I flick off the lights and trot from the room, no longer bothering to hold back my tears. Butter Cake is sitting just outside, waiting. When I emerge, she stands and gives me a quick hug, her own eyes wet, then heads in herself. She'll be there, by her mother, until it's time. Soft sobs crawl up my throat, and by the time I've walked all the way downstairs, I'm openly crying.
Five mares stand when I appear. Without hesitation, they wrap me up in a massive hug of fur and wings. I curl my own wings around them all and hold them as close as possible. More foals and friends will come, but ultimately, as the years march onward, all we'll have is each other.
"I'm sorry, Pinkie Pie," Twilight murmurs in my ear.
I shake my head but don't say anything. After several seconds, I step back, and my friends gather in a semicircle in front of me. Fluttershy stays sitting beside me, a wing draped across my back.
"Thanks, girls." I rub at my eyes, sniffling. "I... I really needed that."
"Of course, sugarcube." Applejack floats a box of tissues my way, and I grab one, blowing my nose.
For a moment, nopony says anything as I try to compose myself again. Then Twilight quietly clears her throat, and we all look at her. Equal measures of guilt and grief shine in her eyes.
"I just... uh, well, I want to remind you that you can still change your minds. It's not too late. I, well, I've never heard of anypony going back to being a regular pony, and I know what you all said, but if you're regretting it... I mean, I've been researching it, looking for a way to reverse this... once I finish, you could live the normal life you all deserve. You could be with them all again. I would... I would understand."
"We already discussed this, dear," Rarity says, gentle but dismissive. "You didn't force this on any of us."
Fluttershy nods in agreement, her long pink hair flowing like a river around her horn. "We chose this, remember? We made a promise, Twilight."
"And we intend to keep it," Rarity finishes, wrapping a white wing around Twilight comfortingly.
"You think we would've gone through all that work and boring magical theory stuff just to abandon you now?" Rainbow Dash proclaims, tapping her horn for emphasis. "C'mon Twi, we've stuck with you this long. Friends to the end, right, girls?"
"To the end," Applejack echoes. "No matter when that is. We're here for you, sugarcube."
Twilight's eyes glimmer with bright tears. "You girls really are the best friends I could've ever asked for."
I wipe my eyes again and give her a smile. It's weighed with the loss and grief of a lifetime but also buoyed with love and friendship, with the promise of an eternity ahead of us. Then I light my horn and pull all my friends into another giant group hug. "Don't you worry your pretty little princess head, Twilight. Auntie Pinkie Pie is here. We're all here, and we aren't leaving you alone. Not ever again."
"Best friends are people who make your problems their problems, just so you don't have to go through them alone."
— Unknown