Author's Notes:

Hello everyone. Due to a lack of editors there might be mistakes. Please point them out to me. I also didn't have many people to give me opinions on the story itself so I need to know how much is wrong with the actual plot.

Thank you- Altoid

She smiled at me from across the restaurant table and I smiled back. I had finished my egg sandwich but her pancakes were only halfway gone and she didn’t seem to be finishing them. I playfully snuck my hand across the table, though she could obviously see what I was doing, and tried to steal her breakfast. Her smile widened and she pulled her plate away from me and started to eat.

“My food!” she giggled with her mouth full.

I acted like I was sad and pouted out my bottom lip. “But Sarah, I’m hungry.”

My daughter frowned. “I guess you can have a little.”

She let me cut a bite of her pancakes. I rubbed my belly. “Mmm, those are good.”

Sarah turned towards the third member of our party; a small My Little Pony plushie that I had bought for her several months ago. I didn’t watch the show but Sarah did and she brought the stuffed toy, which apparently was named Pinkie Pie, everywhere. A plate full of jelly toast sat in front of the toy, untouched.

“Are you not hungry?” she asked the toy. “You need to eat, Pinkie Pie. Daddy, I think she isn’t feeling good.”

“Uh oh,” I said. “Well she did have a big supper last night.”

Sarah nodded. “Oh yeah, she did.”

I smiled softly. “Are you ready to go sweetheart?”

She nodded then asked the pony, “Are you ready to go too?”

Sarah waited for an answer that only she could hear, then picked the pony up and hugged it closely. I stood and picked my daughter up and she gave me a kiss on my cheek as I set her down in her wheelchair.

Seven Months Earlier

She lay motionless on the hospital bed next to me. I held my little girl’s hand as the doctor gave me the news.

“Eric, we found tumors on her thalamic and several other locations in her brain and brainstem,” He whispered, afraid to wake her. “We don’t believe she will ever walk normally again and it will most likely get worse. By the looks of it, she has had the cancer for a while. She will start to develop many problems as the months go by.”

I looked at Sarah’s face, so peaceful. I readjusted a strand of her brown hair and sighed, fighting the tears.

“Are you sure there is nothing you can do to help her?” I pleaded.

He shook his head. “Kemo might help but it’s too far into the stages that it wouldn’t fix anything. I am sorry.”

“Daddy,” I heard my daughter whisper. Our conversation must have awakened her. “My head hurts again.”

I kissed her forehead. “It’s okay, I’ll get you some medicine then later we can go to the store and buy you a toy. Whatever kind of toy you want.”

She closed her eyes and smiled. “Okay, daddy.”

Present Day

“Pinkie Pie wants to go see a movie,” Sarah said as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Can we daddy?”

I looked into the rearview mirror at her. “Of course we can.”

She gave a happy cheer and started up a one sided conversation with her toy. I listened to her talk to her pony about silly little topics. The words chimicherry and cherrychanga popped up occasionally.

“Daddy,” she asked. “Can you make me and Pinkie Pie some cherrychangas? Or, chimicherries?”

“I don’t know what those are sweetheart.” I smiled back at her. I had my suspicions though and a chimicherrychanga thing sounded good.

“Is it okay if I tell daddy your secret recipe?” Sarah asked the toy. “I can? Daddy, a chimicherry is a chimichanga with cherries in it.”

“Oh,” I couldn’t help but admire how well she was saying such long words. “Those sound tasty.”

Sarah nodded. “Pinkie Pie says they are.”

She went back to her previous discussion with the toy. To anybody else who witnessed her conversations with the pony would most likely believe that she was a child with a wild imagination.
I wish that was true.

Five Months Ago

I had been unable to deliver on my promise to buy Sarah any toy she wanted for two months due to her rapidly deteriorating condition. Hallucinations, nightmares and seizures plagued my little girl until miraculously her health started to improve. She gained enough strength to act a little more like a child once again and the days were filled with a little more laughter. Sarah was far from healed but the large majority of the problems lapsed to the point where I could finally take her out of the house without fear of her seizing, going unconscious or screaming in terror from something that didn’t exist.

We went to her favorite toy store and she looked around excitedly at the countless items that I could buy her. Sarah bounced up and down in her wheelchair as I maneuvered through the aisles. Everything she showed the slightest interest in I picked up and put in the basket. My daughter deserved more than just one toy.

Then Sarah went silent and stared wide eyed at a lone, pink, stuffed toy on a shelf. I watched her, slightly worried. But she seemed to be listening to something.

Then she cheerfully spoke to the toy, “Hi, Pinkie Pie. My name is Sarah.”

My daughter picked up the pony, listening to the silence once again. “I think you can come live with me. Daddy, can she come live with us?”

She held up the toy and peered up at me expectantly. I thought she was just playing around. My little girl had a vivid imagination so this seemed normal.

“Of course you can take Pinkie Pie home.”

Present Day

It was a weekday so the theatre wasn’t busy. Sarah pointed excitedly at a poster for the new My Little Pony movie. We approached the window where a teenager was standing with a bored look on his face.

“Can we see the 3D one?” Sarah asked.

I shook my head. “3D makes you sick, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” she sighed sadly. “I don’t like it when I get sick.”

I booped her nose. “I don’t like it when you get sick either.”

“Welcome to Big Studio Cinemas, “ the teen greeted.

“Three tickets for My Little Pony in 2D,” I said, handing him thirty dollars. Two for me and Sarah, the other for Pinkie Pie.

He looked at the pair of us, obviously confused. Then decided that the third part of our group would probably be coming in later and that is why I had ordered an extra ticket.

“Thank you,” I said and we entered the theatre.

Four Months Ago

“She thinks it is alive,” I explained to the nurse as we stood outside of Sarah’s hospital room. My daughter sat inside the room with her toy, having a conversation with it. “I-I don’t know what to do.”

The nurse shook her head. “I don’t think there is anything you can or should do. She seems perfectly happy with her new friend. I believe it would be best not to take away something that brings light into her painful world.”

I understood what she meant. Sarah had been a completely new girl after the pony joined our family. She rarely complained of headaches and the seizures were happening less often. And there was her smile, something that rarely happened before I bought the toy now was a daily event. I would do anything to keep my daughter smiling. Sarah even told me one time that Pinkie Pie told her that smiles make you feel better. I always told her yes and that staying happy would make her better.

But it didn’t alleviate the pain I felt to see my daughter slowly lose her mind.

Present Day

Sarah seemed to be enjoying the movie, with her small bag of popcorn and drink. The pony sat in her own seat next to her, staring blankly at the screen with its own bag of candy. I didn’t watch a large percentage of the show. Most of my time was spent keeping an eye on Sarah to make sure that she didn’t laps into a seizure due to the multiple, bright colors flashing on the screen. Typical young girl movie. Whenever Pinkie Pie was on screen though I could see the excitement in Sarah’s eyes double.

I couldn't help but feel at ease that the character she heard in her head was such a fun and happy individual.

The show was nearing the end when suddenly she let out a pained gasp. I looked and saw her start to shake uncontrollably. Damnit, she almost made it through the whole thing this time. I lifted her up and took her out of the theatre. Her seizure soon stopped and she looked around anxiously for her toy which I handed to her.

She hugged the pony. “That was scary, wasn't it Pinkie Pie? Can we see the rest of the movie daddy?”

“Sorry sweetheart,” I pushed her wheelchair towards the exit, immensely happy that the seizure was only a minor one. “I will rent it for us to finish when it comes out on DVD. Okay?”

She shrugged, downcast. “I guess so.”

The ride home was mostly uneventful other than the happy conversations Sarah was having with her toy. I hadn’t listened to the radio for several weeks. Her imaginative discussions always kept me entertained. Though at the same time it reminded me of the whole thing behind it all.

Two Months Ago

The pictures on the wall showed nearly a dozen large masses in her brain. That morning Sarah had difficulties waking up. An increasing problem the past few weeks.

“They’re growing again,” the doctor told me. “More rapidly than before and a few small ones have also popped up.”

My breathing and heartbeat quickened. It was too soon! I wasn’t ready for our time together to end. “How much longer does she have?”

“Weeks, maybe a month.” He wiped sweat from his forehead. “If you are lucky, maybe more.”

My mind was going numb. “What should I do? I’m so lost.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Take her home and make the last months of her life the best time for both of you. Live like everyday is her last one.”

I took his advice and that was exactly what I did. Even though I still cried every night as she slept in her often nightmare filled dreams.

But her pony was always next to her. Occasionally, when Sarah would toss and turn in some painful part of her mind, I would see her hug the pony closely and her breaths would quickly calm. Whenever one of my actions to soothe her pain failed, somehow that wonderful toy succeeded.

If only it could cure her.

Present Day

Sarah hugged me one last time before I tucked her into bed. I then placed the pink toy pony next her and she cuddled with it. I prayed, like I always did, that this night would be free of nightmares and that I would be able to wake her up easily tomorrow morning. I kissed her forehead and stood to leave but she stopped me.

“Daddy,” she said. “Pinkie Pie says that we are going on a vacation soon and I am sad.”

I was puzzled at this. I had no plans to go on vacation because I would be too far from her doctor if something went wrong. But perhaps I could think of something if that was what she wanted to do.

I was also confused on another topic. “Why does that make you sad?”

She hugged the pony close to her chest and sighed. “She says that only I can go on this vacation and you can't come with me. I don’t want to go anywhere without you, daddy.”

My heart caught in my throat. I screamed in my mind that she wasn’t talking about the end. I tried to reassure myself that it was a vacation, that we were going to have fun and she was going to be fine.

Tears started to form in my eyes and I tried my best to hide them from her. “Don’t worry, Sarah. I will meet you there a little while after you arrive. We will go on the best vacation ever.”

“I like that idea. I don’t want to go without you.”

I knelt down and pulled my daughter into a hug. I didn't want to let her go, ever again. The tears ran down my cheeks freely now.

“No, that vacation doesn't sound like a bad idea.” I whispered through my shaky voice. “It doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all.”

I kissed her forehead when she eventually drifted off to sleep in my arms and hesitantly walked out of her room, fearing that this would be the last time I would see her alive.

That night I prayed harder than I have ever before for something, someone, to help her. For one last miracle before I lost her.

I lay in bed with a mind too full for sleep. On the edge of my thought there was a soft noise, like a church bell chiming midnight. In my sleep deprived state I took the tolling as an evil omen. But through my thoughts I realised that the nearest bell tower was downtown and I tilted my head over to look at my alarm clock to read the time as 10:17. A time that no bell ever told.

The bell continued to ring. Sounding at first like a distant echo but progressively growing louder. I sat up and peered out of my window, expecting to see the source of the ringing but only a passing truck met my eyes. Delirium brought on by lack of sleep became the next possible cause of the bell. Perhaps it was only my stressed mind.

Then the ringing stopped and I returned to bed. No sooner had my head hit the pillow did it start up again. But now it sounded like it was all around me and growing louder. It felt as if I was inside the bell itself. The walls started to shake as I stumbled out of my room and towards Sarah’s. I threw open the door to find her sitting up and staring at the wall at some invisible spectacle. I rushed to her side and wrapped my arms around her just as the bell reached deafening pitch.

Suddenly, silence. I looked up and noticed my daughter was still watching the wall. I followed her gaze and my heart stopped. The wall had disappeared! Beyond I could see a flowering meadow with distant hills and a the beginnings of a soft sunrise. I was dumbstruck and frozen in my wonder. Clearly I had lost my mind.

Sarah squirmed her way out of my arms and grabbed her pony plush before I could stop her. I jumped up after my daughter but she came to a halt anyway at the edge of her room and the unknown land beyond. I stood next to her and looked out over the meadow with confused and bewildered thoughts running through my head.

I felt Sarah put her hand into mine. “Come daddy.”

She hobbled ahead on weak legs but I stayed at the edge. “Sarah wait!”

My daughter gave me no heed as she continued to half run half stumble, barefoot through the flowers as the sun crested over the distant hills. I decided to follow after her. I too was barefoot and the dewy grass was cold yet soft under my feet.

“Sarah, hey-wait for me!” I caught up with her as she was picking a few flowers. “Don’t run off like that!”

I couldn’t help but feel happy as well. But that joy was quickly diminished when I looked back the way we came. The bedroom had disappeared leaving us in this unknown land. Since I was coming to the realisation that this was nothing more than a dream, though one that was very vivid nonetheless, no panic came to my heart. The sight of my daughter happy made me happy and only that mattered.

We picked flowers and played for what felt like hours until the sun had risen high above. I hadn’t seen her this joyful and healthy feeling in a long time. It was as if the place we found ourselves in held some magical property and it started to affect me. I felt younger, happier and all my cares had fallen away. But it all came screaming back when I heard her give a watery cough.

“Sarah!” I knelt down beside her and saw the onset of another bloody nose. I wiped it away and picked her up. “Come, lets go home.”

“But our vacation...” she started to speak but fell silent. She twitched slightly before drifting into unconsciousness.

“Sarah?” I lifted her eyelid and her pupils drifted up: unseeing. Her breaths were quickly becoming labored and slow. Panic finally gripped my heart.

This dream was turning quickly into a nightmare. I willed myself to wake up but to no avail. Even in a dreamlike place of beauty and peace, my daughter was dying.