ᒪiᖴe oᖴ ᑕᕼeeᔕeᑭie

Tᕼe ᗷegiᑎᑎiᑎg: ραят ѕιχ

Mrs. Cake smiled bright. "Oh my gosh! What a nice surprise!"

Pinkie smiled. It made her happy to see Mrs. Cake smile so bright.

Mrs. Cake walked up to Pinkie. "Oh, Pinkie, this is wonderful! Thank you so much!" She hugged her pink friend.

Pinkie hugged back and smiled. "No problem!"

They pulled away and shared a smile, before Mrs. Cake walked around and explored her birthday party.

Pinkie looked around the room at everyone. They all had such beautiful unique smiles. She loved all of them, and she was happy to make everyone smile. Even if it meant she had to burry her own feelings.

~~~

Mrs. Cake's party was a success. Pinkie was happy to make that happen for her.

But today...

was the day that Pinkie had to put her favorite gator to sleep.

She was at the vet, saying her goodbyes, and Gummy was laying down on the table.

Pinkie grabbed her pet and held him close, while she cried hard.

The veterinarian had left the room to get the supplies she needed, to put Gummy out of his misery. When she came back in, she set the stuff down on the table, and waited until Pinkie was ready, watching her with sadness in her eyes.

Pinkie continued to cry, until she pulled her pet away from her and looked at him. This was it. She would never see him again. He would be absent at all of her parties. She would never talk with him again.

Pinkie set him down on the table as more tears streamed down her face.

She wiped them away. "I...I'm ready..."

The veterinarian gave Pinkie a sad smile. She then picked up the syringe and paused for a second as she prepared herself to end the gators life. She then slowly and carefully injected the needle into his arm.

Gummy suddenly became sleepy...

Pinkie watched as her gator friend slowly laid on the table motionless...

He was gone.

Pinkie could feel herself begin to cry again.

The veterinarian sadly watched Pinkie as she continued to cry.

The pink pony grabbed her motionless pet and held him tight as her sobs grew louder.

~~~

It had been a couple days since Gummy had passed. Pinkie's hair was still flat, and wouldn't hold its shape when she attempted to curl it. She avoided everyone, and refused to tell them what happened. She didn't want anyone to be sad. Mrs. Cake was the only one to find out what had happened. She worried about Pinkie, but decided to leave her alone to grieve. Pinkie figured she would stay in her room until she was over it...if she got over it...

Her five friends were concerned about her, and wondered what was going on. But whenever they tried to talk to her, she would push them away and say she was 'busy'. Which to her, wasn't a lie. She was busy grieving. Her friend's knew something was up.

"What are we gonna do?" Fluttershy spoke to the rest of the group while they were trying to figure out how to help their pink friend.

"I'm not sure..." Twilight looked down. "But she won't let us talk to her, so we cant do that..."

"We need to somehow lure her out of her room, so we can talk to her!" Rainbow Dash suggested.

"But what do we lure her with?" Apple Jack questioned.

"Well..." Twilight began, "what's something she really likes?"

All four ponies began to speak out, all at once, things that Pinkie liked.

"Ok, ok," Twilight stoped them, "I guess she likes a lot of things... but what's something that isn't usually in ponyville, that would lure her out of Sugarcube Corner?"

Everypony began to think, until a knock was heard at the door. All of them looked at each other before Twilight got up and walked to the door.

She opened the door and smiled. "Cheese Sandwich! What a nice surprise! What are you doing here?"

Cheese smiled and tried to hide his nervousness. "Well... I came to plan Pinkie's birthday party that's a few days from now.

...It is a few days from now, right...?"

Twilight smiled. "Yeah, it is!" But then she frowned. "But, she's not feeling so well at the moment..."

Cheese got worried. "She isn't? What happened? What's wrong?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out! She won't tell us... she won't even talk to us! Something truly awful must have happened..." She looked down and began to worry.

Cheese was full of worry. What happened to her? Why wasn't she happy? Did someone do something to her? Who was it? Where could he find them and kill- ok, you get it...

Twilight looked back up at him. "Actually... you might be able to help us! She won't listen to us, but maybe she'll talk to you! She doesn't see you often, so I doubt she'd push you away!"

"Me?" Cheese doubted himself. "How could I help? I'm not very good when it comes to comforting ponies when their sad..." He looked down in shame.

"That's ok! I'm sure just your presence will brighten up her day!"

Cheese blushed slightly. "Really...?"

"Of course! She loves hanging out with you!"

"She does?"

"Yeah!"

"Really??"

Twilight looked at him slightly confused. "Why wouldn't she? You're the only other party pony she knows!"

Cheese looked away awkwardly. "Oh... I guess that's true..." He chuckled nervously.

"So..." Twilight began, "will you help her?"

Cheese was unsure of himself, but he really wanted Pinkie to be happy. He shook his head quickly and stood up tall in confidence. "Absolutely."

The purple mare smiled. "Great! Thank you so much!" She closed the door and walked back to her group.

Cheese stood outside the castle for a second. He wasn't ready for this. He's not used to all these new feelings, and he certainly wasn't used to helping other people with theirs. Pinkie was such a special pony. She knew exactly what they needed for them to smile. All he could do was plan an awesome party and sculpt cutiemarks out of ice. How was he going to do this? He sighed as he began to walk to sugarcube corner.

Pinkie was worth it. He had to try.