Pinkamena Diane Pie awoke to the sun shining through her window. Or, she would have, if she wasn’t sleeping in a cellar. When she was younger, she used to awaken to the bluebirds singing sweet melodies right outside her window, and the smell of a home cooked breakfast made by her mother. But that had not happened for many years.
The pink-skinned girl rubbed her now slightly moist eyes, pushing away the memory, then blinked a few times to get used to the darkness that shrouded the cramped room, illuminated by a lone lantern hanging from the ceiling. She got to her feet and stretched her pink hands over head, and silently wished that she could’ve had a better mattress. Her current one was ratty, and it wasn’t even sitting on a bed frame, instead it was laying in the center of the room, in an attempt to avoid the dampness from the walls.
You deserve better, you know.
That was Cupcakes, Pinkie’s best friend. She lived within Pinkie’s mind, something that might've seemed odd to anyone else, but to Pinkie, the voice in her head was just a regular part of her life. Occasionally the pink girl wondered if she was crazy, but Cupcakes was the one and only person who had always been there for her, and that was even better than being real, in Pinkie’s opinion.
Pinkie shambled over to the worn chest that contained all of her clothes, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She patiently listened to Cupcakes repeat another variation of the same rant she gave every morning. If you’d just let me help, I’m sure I could make your life better. You don’t have to put up with this. Please, let me help.
Now, now, Cakes. Pinkie gently chided her as she decided on her outfit for the day. Not to be mean, but the last time you tried to help, we ended up trying to strangle a poor little tabby cat. I’m sorry, but I kinda think maybe you should take a little break from ‘helping.’
The cat lived, so I don't see what the big deal is! And he was asking for it. Besides, this is just simple standing up for yourself, something you should be doing on your own anyways… Cupcakes growled at her, and Pinkie could practically feel the malevolent glare, even though Cakes didn’t have a physical form.
You should be grateful for what we have, not wishing for things we don’t need. Pinkie pulled her favorite top over her head, a fuzzy and frayed white sweater with two bright pink stripes that hung to her knees and completely obscured her hands. Limestone had given it to her for her birthday a few months ago, and Pinkie loved it as much as a child would a favorite stuffed animal.
She proceeded to put on a pair of ashen jeans, and then a pair of simple white socks and some scuffed combat boots. These items were all things too small for her older sisters, as were the rest of her clothes.
Her parents had stopped buying clothes for her a few years ago, so she had begun snatching things from the donations pile, until the guilt started weighing on her, and she had asked Limestone for any of her old clothes, giving a flimsy excuse about ‘sentimental values.’
Limestone was the safest person to ask for favors, as she was the only person in the family besides Pinkie herself that was busy enough to not notice others, and kind enough to give things to others when asked.
Due to those facts, Pinkie always wore Limestone’s clothes. If she asked someone else, she would get a firm no, and Pinkie also didn't want to worry her older sister by asking her to buy clothes.
Pinkie snatched up a hairbrush from off of the floor and ran it through through her dull pink hair a couple times, then grabbed a backpack from the corner, throwing the hairbrush inside it, along with a few sketchbooks and pencils that she picked up off of the only other piece of furniture in the room; a solitary desk.
She heaved on the fraying rope hanging above her mattress, moving the piece of wood blocking the entrance. Sticking her hands up into the opening, Pinkie dug her nails into the frayed carpet above, accidentally breaking a nail and biting back a hiss of pain.
Using her entire upper body strength, she hauled herself up out of the cramped and solitary cellar that had been her room for years, emerging into the kitchen.
It wasn't a large kitchen, by any means, but it wasn't tight, much like every other room in the Pie family house.
The countertops were made of a mix of marble and stone, mined from the very rock farm her family ran and lived on. Pinkie wasn't sure on what kind of wood the cabinets were actually made of, but they were varnished a deep cherry brown, with dark stone handles. Everything in the kitchen had small engravings of vines, expertly carved by another of her sisters, Marble Pie.
Pinkie darted from cabinet to cabinet, quietly pocketing several bags of crackers and a couple of granola bars, throwing them inside her backpack as well.
You should be able to just eat breakfast at the table, like any other person.
Ignoring the other occupant of her mind, Pinkie peered into the room adjacent to the kitchen. She spotted her parents, Igneous Pie and Cloudy Quartz, on the couch explaining to her sister Marble how to pay taxes. The gray-skinned girl didn't seem remotely interested in what they had to say, and instead was painting her nails a vibrant purple.
The front door of the house was right there, barely five feet away, they probably wouldn’t even see her unless one of them happened to turn around. Slowly creeping towards the door, she focused all her energy and thoughts on being completely silent.
Unfortunately, that meant that she wasn’t paying attention when the front door opened, hitting her square in the nose. Pinkie couldn’t hold back a cry of pain.
“Ow, ow, ow…” She reeled back and clutched her bleeding, maybe broken, nose with both hands, the blood staining her sweater. She didn't really care abut the stains, the sweater was already stained beyond repair, as she never washed the garment.
Both of her parents, Marble, and Maud, who was the one that opened the door, turned to look at her, all having expressions indicating that they smelled something vaguely unpleasant. Which was possible, considering Pinkie’s before-stated lack of washing her clothes, but unlikely when they had something else to be annoyed about: Pinkie herself.
Pinkie bit her lip, and dropped hands back down to her sides, not comfortable with everyone staring at her. Blood dribbled down to her chin. “Uh…” She wanted to say something to get them to look away, but had no idea what.
Much to her relief, Maud turned to Igneous, completely ignoring Pinkie and her now bloody face.
“Father.” Maud said, no emotion showing in her voice. “I wish to ask you a favor.”
Igneous nodded, and replied, with the same lack of emotion, “Of course dear, though I shalt have to ask thou to hold on one moment.”
Pinkie’s mother and father fixed her with disapproving looks simultaneously, and Pinkie stopped trying to edge towards the door, turning to face them. “Where do you think you’re going?” Her mother said.
“O-out? I was hoping to, um…” Pinkie trailed off as she realized they honestly didn’t care what her answer was.
“I don't care what you were hoping to do. You still have work to do. How dare you try to avoid what is your birthright? You have to rotate the north and south fields by sundown.” Her mother glared at her, a little more stern and a little less hateful than Pinkie was used to.
“But… There’s no way I can do that on my own…”
“I rotated the East and West fields in one day, why can you not do the same with the North and South?” Maud said, growing impatient.
Pinkie wanted to point out that Maud had actually just rotated half of the East, and ordered her to complete the rest, but she knew anything she said at this point wouldn’t really matter.
“Can’t everyone else help too? It'll be a super-duper fun family bonding experience!” Pinkie’s last word was punctuated by her throwing her hands up in the air, confetti shooting out from nowhere.
“Where did thy party decorations come from, woman.” Her father’s voice was dangerously low.
Pinkie’s mouth went dry. “Uh… I had it hidden in my sleeves?”
Quartz jumped to her feet and stalked towards her, Igneous close behind. “Magic is not allowed, daughter.” Her mother practically spat that word.
“I-I didn't mean to do it! It just happens! It was an accident, I swear!” Pinkie’s voice was frantic, and she had started to back away towards the door.
The slap to the side of her face honestly wasn't a shock, but Pinkie gasped anyway, hand flying to her stinging skin. “We don't care for your excuses, you worthless child!” Quartz growled, balling her hand into a fist.
Kill them.
I… It's not that bad…
Her father grabbed her right wrist before she could react, and he roughly lifted her up into the air. Her shoulder was being pulled slowly out of its socket, and she whimpered quietly from the searing pain when it finally dislocated. Pinkie could feel her entire arm starting to bruise after only a few seconds. “I ought to teach thou a lesson.” His other hand shot out, wrapping around her throat.
Kill them!
Well… Maybe they do deserve it… She felt her fingers start to twitch with anger, and saw strands of her hair begin to darken to a charcoal color, but nobody noticed. She made one last attempt to avoid violence.
“M-my… friend… is… expecting… me!” Pinkie managed to say, struggling for air. It was a complete lie.
Igneous’ face contorted with rage and hate, his gripping tightening slightly. Her wrist was now very close to breaking, and it took all of her willpower not to scream in agony. After a few tense seconds, he roughly threw her onto the floor.
Pinkie rolled slightly when she landed to break her fall, hair flying wildly around her face, splaying out on the floor. She gently held her damaged wrist with her left hand, biting her tongue to distract her from how much she wanted to cry.
She heard Igneous’ malevolent voice above her. “Go. But thou shalt rotate all the fields, or suffer the dire consequences.”
Pinkie nodded, dragging in shuddering breaths. As quickly as she could, she got to her feet, scurrying a little bit dizzily out of the house.
She tripped over the stones, falling more than once, but usually managing to catch herself with her hands. New cuts and bruises formed all over her body, but pain, especially such inconsequential pain, was old news to her, so she didn't stop until she reached the edge a nearby forest. It was full of pine trees that towered over her and blocked out the morning sun, even when she was only standing next to the forest’s edge.
Pinkie hunched over, pushing her hands against her knees to keep herself up. She dragged air into her tired lungs, then set off at a slow walk again, turning away from the trees, heading instead for a tiny hill covered in wildflowers.
It had a perfect view of the huge mountain that dwarfed the village and the farm. It was called Mt Ebott. People said that the mountain was haunted, but Pinkie had never thought it looked haunted, just abandoned. Lonely. Like me…
She knelt down on the soft grass, letting her hands roam the strands for a moment. She sighed, wiping her bloody fingers off on the ground, and shrugged her backpack off her shoulders.
Pinkie hissed with pain at the movement, viciously reminded of her injury. She choose to ignore it, and retrieved her sketchbooks from her bag, deciding to draw the mountain, which was shrouded in mist due to the early hour.
…are you okay, Pinkie? The other occupant of her mind sounded uncharacteristically gentle, as if afraid of scaring her.
Pinkie didn't say anything, opting to nod her head instead, but immediately regretted it when her nose began bleeding again. She held her left sleeve against it to stem the flow, wincing slightly when she accidentally put pressure on it.
That's good, but... why won't you ever fight back? Cupcakes asked her, regular annoyance now flooding back into her voice.
I don't want to become a bad person, like them. Pinkie’s pencil flew across the page, building intricate lines and shadows, quickly filling up the paper.
You won’t. You're too nice. Besides, it's not technically bad if the people you're being bad to are also bad.
That didn't seem quite right, but then again, Pinkie was starting to think that the ‘right thing’ was not what the universe wanted to happen. Who was she to keep going against the universe’s wishes?
Cupcakes let the subject drop, and Pinkie tried to work on her sketch, munching on the snacks she brought at the same time.
Tears silently streaked down her face as she worked, and her body shook with the effort of restraining her sadness. She angrily rubbed at them, her eyes becoming puffy and irritated. Her hair fell from behind her ears to cover her eyes, which she frowned at. Why was it grey?
Cupcakes’ oddly soothing voice interrupted her thoughts. …It’s okay to cry, Pinkie.
The words were soft and full of love, and so different from the usual abuse from her family, so much closer to what her family should have been, that Pinkie couldn’t take it anymore.
She pushed away the pencils and sketchbooks, collapsing against the soft grass, letting the warmth from the sun comfort her. Pinkie let herself cry, sobbing vehemently into the flora that surrounded her, soaking it with her tears. She could hear Cupcakes murmuring soft words of comfort and less-soft words filled with declarations of vengeance, but she was too wrapped in her grief to listen to them.
Pinkie sat up suddenly and grabbed her arm, and with barely a moment of hesitation, shoved it back into its socket. The pain was excruciating, and she howled, the yell dissolving back into tears after a few seconds. She wept fiercely for what felt like hours, until she couldn’t anymore.
Her life hadn’t always been like this. In fact, it had been pretty good, or okay, at least, until that one fateful day, the day that she realized her destiny.
Memories replayed themselves in her head.
Six years ago...
An eight-year old Pinkie laughed as she ran from stall to stall, all of them stacked high with carnival fare.
She was happily munching on candy corn, marveling at the enormous red and white tent billowing in the wind above her. She skipped towards it, hastily apologizing to the startled people she crashed into on her way. Her bright pink hair flew around her face, looking almost curly from the wind's playful tussling.
She stopped at the ticket booth that was placed right in front of the entrance. She froze, looking up at the middle-aged woman running the stall. She had pretty purple hair that complemented her pale poudretteite skin quite nicely. Pinkie bounced up onto her toes in an attempt to get closer to the woman’s height, and energetically waved at her.
“Hello there dearie! Do you have a ticket?” The woman smiled at Pinkie, lighting up her face with warmth.
“I…” She didn’t, but also had no money to buy one. Tears began to well up in her eyes.
The woman crouched down so that she was at eye level with the young girl, handing her a small slip of golden paper. It read, ‘admit one.’ Pinkie looked at it confusion.
“Here, take it.” The woman reached out her hand, and the shocked girl carefully took the ticket from her hands.
“Why are you giving me this?” Pinkie rubbed at her eyes to clear them of tears, still staring at the paper.
“There’s no one else in line, and the performance is actually about to end.” The woman stood up from her crouch and ushered Pinkie inside. “Besides, you remind me of my daughter.”
Pinkie wrapped her arms around the kind woman’s legs. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”
She felt the woman pat her on the head. “It’s my pleasure, dearie. Now, get in there, or you’re going it miss it!”
Pinkie untangled herself and ran over to the bleachers, falling rather than sitting in one of the few empty seats, with an elderly woman that smelled faintly of lilacs on one side of her, and a happy middle aged couple on the other.
She stared out to the stage below, which currently had three tigers being led off-stage, but was otherwise empty. She frowned in disappointment. Had she missed everything?
"Ladies and gentleman, here comes the grand finale! Please welcome, the Rainbooms!”
Pinkie gasped excitedly as three people walked onto the stage below in a triangle formation, smoke flowing around them for dramatic effect, blue and yellow spotlights tracking their movements.
The two people in back were obviously adults, probably the tallest people she had ever seen, both of them reaching at least six foot five. One was a woman, one was a man, and both had muted cerulean skin.
The woman had short, windblown, hot pink hair, expertly styled to appear as if she was running extremely fast. The man’s hair was long enough to reach his waist, and was shot through with all the colors of the rainbow.
Her first thought about the person in front was that they were… rather short. But upon closer inspection, Pinkie realized that they weren’t just short, they were actually a young girl, no older than herself. She had lengthy hair like the man, that flew around her face wildly, and the same blue skin as the others, but unlike their stoic expressions, she had a fierce grin on her face. All three of them were wearing matching purple and green jumpsuits, similar to a jester’s outfit, but without the hats or bells.
All in all, Pinkie had to conclude that they were all related, probably a close family.
It took her a moment to realize that everyone else was cheering, and she quickly joined in. Just their appearances were enough to make her want to cheer.
Suddenly, the blue-skinned girl did a backflip into the adults’ arms, whom Pinkie now believed were the girl’s parents.
Her parents threw her up into the air with what seemed to be all of their strength, and she did a flip before latching her hands tightly onto a golden trapeze above her head that was quickly being lowered by a crane above, them pulled up sharply. The girl still managed to hang on, despite the sudden force.
She let go of the bar unexpectedly, falling limply, her limbs completely still. Sounds of horror came from the crowd, and Pinkie saw a cocky grin cover the rainbow-haired girl’s features.
She landed easily in her parents’ arms, who had apparently begun walking on a tight-rope while Pinkie, and the rest of the crowd, were distracted. The two adults threw the girl into the air again, were she caught onto the same trapeze, but several other silver bars now companied the golden one. Each of the bars were barely fifteen feet above the adults’ heads.
The woman and man leaned back and then forwards in unison, somehow maintaining their balance. Pinkie jumped in her seat when actual fire began to come from their mouths, aimed right at the girl flying above them.
She dodged the fire with ease, flying from side to side of the arena, sometimes grabbing the chains holding up the bars instead of the bars themselves, wrapping each off her limbs around a chain before letting three of them go to only hang on to one. A rainbow colored ribbon unfolded itself from somewhere in her costume as she moved, flowing ethereally behind her. The fire caught it, but instead of burning, the cloth began to shimmer, the fire covering it and taking on the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow-colored sparklers lit up all over the stage, fountains of fire flying up into air.
The fire ceased to spew from the adults’ mouths, and the girl did a triple flip from her current trapeze to the golden one in the middle, hands only lightly grasping it, using her insane amounts of momentum to throw herself above the bar, spinning into a one-handed handstand, arm quivering with exertion.
The girl winked at the crowd, then let herself fall backwards, hands falling above her head to form a spear. Faster and faster she fell, the fiery ribbon trailing in her wake.
She unclasped her gloved hands, clasping them onto the tightrope beneath her, flying around it and back up into the air, grabbing onto the trapeze.
She repeated the trick two more times, before finally, on her loop around the tightrope, her parents grabbed her legs, stopping her momentum. She bent up from her hanging position to grab their arms, pulling herself into another handstand that placed her both of her hands on their arms, before the two of them launched her into the air one final time, and she flipped herself into a standing position, landing lithely on their arms.
Everything was quiet and still as they all slowly bowed in perfect unison, the ribbon of fire still fluttering down to the ground behind them.
The applause that followed could only be described as deafening, but Pinkie didn’t even notice it. She was too in shock to notice anything. Her eyes landed on the still-burning ribbon, and then widened in realization. Her hair magically blew up around her face in a mess of curls and knots, making a comical squeaky noise, but she didn’t care. Her face split with a grin, and she joined the screaming of the crowd. She was so happy, and she now knew how to make her family just as happy as her.
~
“Pinkie, are you sure this is a good idea?” Limestone’s voice was laced with worry as she watched Pinkie dance around the room, hanging up more streamers to accompany those that already decked the halls.
The living room was, in short, a mess. The beige walls were almost unseeable because of the inane amount of streamers and balloons, which also coated the floor, mostly because they had fallen off of said walls, and Pinkie was too busy to pick them up.
All of the room’s regular furniture had been pushed to the sides and replaced with folding tables laden with baked goods and random snacks.
“Of course it’s a good idea, Lime!” Pinkie’s voice was almost gratingly happy, and she could tell by the flinch that Limestone wasn’t used to it. “How could it not be?”
“Well…” Limestone started to amass a list of reasons in her head why it wouldn’t work, but Pinkie didn’t give her a chance to continue.
“I’m gonna make everyone smile, and it’ll be great!” An explosion of confetti appeared behind her out of nowhere, but Limestone didn’t even look at it, instead warily edging away from Pinkie, who had a crazy look in her eyes.
Limestone sighed.“Pinkie…” Suddenly a thought struck her, and she switched what she was going to say out of shock. “What happened to your hair?”
Her normally straight ribbons of pink hair were now flying every which way, almost in an afro, but not quite. The hair framed her face, the poofy and crazy style enunciating her unstable expression.
Pinkie waved a hand, as if to clear away the words. “I don’t know. Does it really matter though? I don’t think it does, all that matters is that we have fun!”
“Pinkie, you don’t seem like you’re alright. Just postpone this, get some rest!” Limestone pleaded, but Pinkie didn’t listen.
“I can’t, Limey! They’re already on their way!” Pinkie ran over to the door, yanking it open to reveal the rest of the Pie family, all with bored expressions.
Pinkie jumped into the doorway, throwing her hands into the air. “Let’s party!!!” She yelled happily, music and confetti coming from nowhere and everywhere.
“Pinkamena.” Her mother’s voice was much colder than it had ever been. The rest of the family was already walking away to return the tasks that they had been working on before Pinkie asked them to come.
“Y-yes?”
“Stop wasting your time with such frivolous nonsense. You’re terrible at it, and it wastes our precious time. We do have work to do. And if you continue to use your… curse,” Quartz snatched a piece of the confetti out of the air and crumpled into a ball before throwing it onto the floor. “You will be severely punished. Is that clear, girl?”
Pinkie barely managed to nod, and Quartz stalked out of the house.
Pinkie began to cry quietly when the door slammed shut, falling into a sitting position on the streamer-covered floor, small cries transforming into frantic sobbing.
Limestone sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around Pinkie’s shoulders. Pinkie leaned into the warm embrace, burying her face into Limestone’s chest as she cried. Her hair made a sad squeaky noise as it deflated back into it’s regular straightness. And Pinkie wept into her sister’s chest, quiet whimpers escaping her.
She shook her head as if to clear the thoughts, and nodded in satisfaction at the finished drawing. Pinkie packed her art supplies and the empty food wrappings in the bag, hastily getting to her feet and heading into town.
Before entering, she pulled up the neck of her sweater so that it obscured the marks made by her father's hands, and scratched away as much dried blood from her nose as she could.
She stepped onto the gravel pathway that led to the town, which was simply called Ebott. Pinkie supposed it saved someone the trouble of coming up with another name.
She began quietly humming, as softly as she could so that nobody noticed. Oddly, almost no one else who lived here seemed to think that singing should be done in public.
Tall stone buildings dwarfed her, old and crumbling, and Mt. Ebott dwarfed the buildings in return, draping them in shadow. No one else seemed to notice or care about the state of disrepair the buildings were in. Pinkie noticed, but she liked it. She believe that it gave the town its own personality.
People crowed the streets, filling it with a loud rumbling of voices, making it near-impossible for cars to move, which was why there were very few on the roads.
Pinkie marveled at the two machines on the roads, and though their rather annoyed drivers were honking madly in an attempt to clear the busy streets, all Pinkie had ears for was the delightful roar of the engines.
To her, engineering and machinery of any kind seemed almost like magic. She stopped in her tracks for a few moments, watching the cars, wondering how they worked. Then people began bumping into her, followed by a few unsavory remarks, and she decided it would be best to keep walking.
Tourists, more than anything else, made up the population of the town, always wanting to buy beautiful rocks and gems from the merchants, whose stalls lined the streets. The merchants and residents were usually dressed in the dull clothing that seemed to be the trademark of the town, making the tourists’ clothing seem bright and cheerful in comparison, even though their clothing was only a few shades brighter.
Looking down at herself, Pinkie noticed, not for the first time, that she looked much more like a tourist than a resident. She still wasn't sure how she felt about that.
She glanced to the right and happened to see a small girl running around her parents, holding a carving of a bird over her head, pretending that it was flying. Pinkie still felt a small glimmer of pride as she watched the girl, slightly cheered despite her depressed state, knowing that she had helped cultivate the rocks that made people happy.
She took a deep breath and shoved the events of earlier out of her mind, then proceeded to bounce down the main road, inspecting the wares and smiling at all of the rocks with pride, just like every time she went to town.
So… I was thinking. I want to ask Stormy Seas to go to the festival with us this weekend. Thoughts? She picked up a rock shaped like a mountain and examined it as she waited for a reply.
The boy in question had been one of the only kids who lived near her that had never picked on her for her eccentric behavior, and the only person anywhere who had never seemed to judge her for the odd things that happened around her, like confetti and other items appearing from nowhere.
Stormy had, in many ways, been the first friend she had ever felt like she could trust. He had never shown any romantic feelings towards her, but maybe she could help him realize that she was, in fact, a girl, if she asked him out first.
Stormy isn’t good enough for you. He’s…
Pinkie snatched a piece of gooey chocolate off of a distracted food vendor’s cart, shoving it in her mouth and walking away before he noticed. She felt a small pang of guilt, but in her defense, she was still really hungry. And chocolate was really, really good.
Ha! You addressed him by name and couldn’t think of an insult! You like him! And, better yet, I like him too! Case closed, I’m asking him.
Like him? You’ve been crushing on him for years! And as for the me liking him thing, I don't like anyone, got it?
Pinkie snorted at the latter, and wiped excess chocolate off of her fingers and face using the inside of her sweater. Yeah right. You wanna know what I think? You're a big ole softie, that's what I think.
Spotting Stormy in an alley up ahead, or at least the back half of him, she ran towards him, not giving Cupcakes a chance to respond. She opened her mouth to shout his name, turning on her heel to go into the alley… and she froze.
There he was, a guy she’d been good friends with for years, that she’d had a crush on for even more years, and had finally built up the courage to ask out, and… He was kissing her sister. Maud looked like she was enjoying it a little too much, and opened her deep turquoise eyes once to meet Pinkie’s light cerulean ones. She then closed them again, smirking, somehow, even though her mouth was entirely covered.
Stormy must have heard her walk up however, and pushed Maud off of himself, turning to face Pinkie. “Oh, uhh… Hi Pinkie! What do you need?” He looked incredibly embarrassed, and Pinkie would have normally taken a little bit of solace from that, but she was currently in shock.
Pinkie? Pinkie! Pinkie didn’t respond, standing stock still, eyes wide. Her breathing was becoming faster and faster. Cupcakes decided to help her out, knowing Pinkie often had panic attacks, and if left alone, she would faint. If Cupcakes had possessed eyes at the time, she would have closed them. With immense concentration, Cupcakes poured her consciousness completely into Pinkie’s, gently moving Pinkie into the subconscious area of her brain.
######
Cupcakes blinked her new eyes a few times. Having a body was weird, and all of her new senses almost overwhelmed her. It had been so long since she had felt the wind gently blowing against her skin, the smell of… Everything surrounding her, and the feeling of cloth pressing on her skin.
“Pinkie?” Stormy said again, breaking Cupcakes out of her thoughts, and this time he took a step back. “Wha… What happened to your skin? And your eyes?”
Looking down at her hands, Cupcakes saw that they were currently a much darker of a pink than usual, now a dark gray fuchsia, and that shade of pink was fading fast into a slate color. “Must be the lighting in here.” She replied quickly, faking the cheer that usually laced Pinkie’s voice. She cringed a little bit at how different her voice was from Pinkie’s. Her own was medium-ranged, with an unusual accent, one that Cupcakes had never heard anyone else in Pinkie’s life use, whereas Pinkie had a high voice and an American accent.
Trying to force her voice to be more cheerful and squeaky, she continued with, “Speaking of lighting, I needed Maud’s help with an electrical… Thingy-ma-bob. Mind if I borrow her for a sec?”
Stormy smiled and nodded, while Maud just walked forward, and said, “At the house, I assume?”
Cupcakes gave a cheerful thumbs up, and headed out of the alley, letting Maud walk in front of her. As soon as Maud looked away, a cruel smirk appeared on Cupcakes’ face, and her right eye started to twitch. Time for this bitch to get what she deserves… She giggled a little bit, and fortunately for her, Maud didn't seem to notice.
Ughh… Cupcakes? What’s going on? Pinkie sounded groggy, like she had just woken up.
Crap. You had a panic attack, so I took over… Hope that was okay?
Yeah, I mean… Nothing bad happened, right?
Cupcakes gave a nonchalant hmm of agreement, hoping Pinkie would just go to sleep. Glancing ahead, she saw they were getting pretty close to the hill Pinkie had sat on earlier. Without even thinking about it, she thought out loud, It will be the perfect spot for her grave...
Wait, what? Where are we going? Pinkie’s voice was laced with worry now.
Um… I’m definitely not trying to kill somebody right now? Cupcakes thought sweetly, walking faster. She didn't really see any point in trying to justify what she had just said, so instead tried to stall for time.
She then felt herself being pushed out of their body, Pinkie rushing back in. Their body stopped moving for a moment, and Pinkie shook her head a few times. Cupcakes caught sight of their hands through Pinkie’s eyes, noticing that they had returned to their original light grayish-pink.
You're such a spoil-sport, you know that?
Pinkie ran to catch up to Maud. “Oh, hey listen! I just realized that Father said he would take care of… whatever it is I said I needed you for! So, uhh… You can just go back into town, actually.”
Maud glared at her and turned on her heeled boot. “Whatever, Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie paused for a moment, then reached out a hand to her. “Wait!”
Maud looked back and raised an eyebrow, obviously annoyed. She gestured with a hand for Pinkie to continue.
“Well, um… Aren’t you going to apologize? I mean, you were kinda kissing the guy you knew I had a crush on…” Pinkie had accidentally let that slip a few days ago, and she had asked Maud not to tell him. She hadn't realized she had to ask Maud not to get with him as well.
“No. Now go and work in the fields, where you belong.” Maud stalked off.
Pinkie sighed and walked over to the rock fields to get started on the work she had put off.
That’s it? You’re not even going to try to make, er... guilt her into apologizing?
What’s the point? She won’t mean it.
Cupcakes didn’t have a response to that.