//------------------------------// // An Old New Diane // Story: Pinkie's Fear // by Quaver Ava //------------------------------// An Old New Diane A/N My mailman (Woman) has a lazy eye… She’s super nice and friendly. Made me think of Derpy… Pinkie Pie opened the store that next morning. She held a smile that wasn’t too excited, but still happy none the less. She thought of the best way to be a different person. The answer was held in her past in another time where work was all she knew. Having grown up on a farm, a farm of rocks to be precise, she had been taught ‘yes sirs’ and ‘no ma’ams.’ Her family put Applejack’s to shame when it came to rules. But did they sure know how to party. She caught herself there, putting a hoof to her chest and exhaling calmly. She was gonna be cool and reserved, it was time to be what her parents had wanted her to be; a respectable and simple pony. The door dinged bringing her out of her thoughts. She hopped on over to the counter out of habit, but stayed on the other side. “Morning.” she said calmly, smiling nicely at the mail mare. “Pinkie?” A grey pegasus with a drifting eye asked. She walked up to the counter trying to focus on Pinkie for a second. Pinkie didn’t make any jokes or comments, simply smiling back. After a minute of being stared at she felt a little self-conscious. “I really like your mane! Sorry Pinkie, I forgot my patch this morning. Again…” Pinkie gasped, but only a little, as she reached under the counter and picked an eye-patch from a jar of eyepatches. “Here you go ma’am!” she said, handing the item to her friend. She kept eye-patches stashed all over Ponyville just in case of an eye-patch emergency. Ditzy’s eyes narrowed and focused on Pinkie as she stared at her oddly. “Uhm, thank you, but please don’t call me ma’am. Derpy is fine!” she giggled, taking the eye patch in turn. Her nickname had stuck to her a long time ago and she had become found of it. The last pony that called her ma’am though was that new donkey fellow in town. He quickly got corrected. “Please, one extra-large muffin.” “Yes ma’ahhh-I-mean Derpy.” Pinkie laughed nervously at the death glare sent her way. Ditzy hadn’t put the patch on yet and her focused eyes were unnerving. She quickly retrieved the muffin she made just for the grey pegasus. “Good luck on your morning route.” Ditzy nodded saying, “Thank you Pinkie Pie!” before turning around and out the door. As soon as the mail mare was out of the door Pinkie sprawled her arms over the counter with a sigh. What if everyone was gonna be like Ditzy Doo? She remembered her first few times in town away from her family. She had excitedly agreed with everyone chirping ma’ams and sirs left and right. After she started working with some of them they quickly told her she was their friend and not to call them that. If everyone in Ponyville was her friend, she probably shouldn’t revert back to that. This was going to be harder than she thought. At least Ditzy liked her mane! The rest of the morning was surprisingly slow. She had everything baked and ready, all the surfaces cleaned three times over before another pony came in. It didn’t help that she still had her energy. It took all of her self-control not to shower the customer in greetings. “Hello Creepy Bobby.” she said, smiling calmly at the stallion as he looked at her. “Pinkie, ya changed ya mane style? It’s… Different.” he commented, looking her over with an over observant eye, going as far as looking around the counter at her tail. Suddenly she was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. “Ya alright dere?” he asked, grinning at her as if he didn’t know what he was doing. “No, I’m fine. Would you like any sweets?” she gestured to the baked goods that morning. He looked at them for a moment before looking at her that is her tail, again. “Bobby!” she said aggravated, pointing at the sweets. Normally she’d be to hyper to care, but he was being persistent. “Sweets, ya?” “Ya!” he pointed to some sweets behind her. She started to turn before thinking better of it. Instead she kicked the wall and expertly caught a jar of cookies up high as it fell to her. Bobby clapped as she smiled. At least he appreciated her bucking skills. “Three.” he stated. “Aye,” she replied, fishing out three oatmeal cookies and dropping them into a paper back. He took them in his narled teeth. “Have a good day Creepy Bobby!” He nodded, leaving the store with a bit of a bounce in his step. Slowing down made her realize why Bobby didn’t have too many lady friends. He was a good fellow, just creepy sometimes. The door rang again as the next customer entered the shop. Pinkie smiled brightly as she recognized her favorite purple princess. Ponyville was still getting used to Twilight’s change, but they recognized that she was still her silly self. Hehe, Twilight was still-wait, no, stay focused. “Hi there Twilight, good morning.” she greeted, breathing a little from keeping herself from lunging at the formal unicorn. Her body ached for throwing her arms around the other mare and hugging her. A hug would be rather nice… “Pinkie, good morning. I see you’ve decided to change your mane style?” Twilight greeted, looking Pinkie over with a quizzical gaze. “Yes indeedy, do ya liike?” Pinkie asked, finding it terribly hard not to grin. This was exciting even her best friends liked her change. Oh, she was so excited at that moment she thought she might just burst with joy. Then she remembered she wasn’t going to do that anymore. The thought was sobering and a little depressing. “Yes Pinkie, I do. I just didn’t think Derpy was telling the truth when she said you had changed your mane. So I flew right on over to see after giving the mail to Spike. Whatever made you decide to change it like that?” Twilight asked, still holding that quizzical stare. She knew that Pinkie Pie had done her mane like this before when she was upset about something. Though she didn’t want to assume. “I thought it’d be nice to be different for a little bit.” Pinkie replied, smiling kindly at her friend. She gestured to her array of treats in hope she would decide on something. “We made cupcakes this morning. And it has sprinkles.” She tried her hardest not to giggle but it slipped. Her ears lowers a little bit as she waited for her friend to be annoyed at her. Twilight giggled in turn, bringing Pinkie’s hopes back up. “Yes, I guess they do have sprinkles. Two cupcakes please.” Pinkie retrieved two cupcakes dashed with the perfect amount of rainbow colored sprinkles. The mare took them in a purple glow, dropping them inside a saddle bag strapped to her side. She had a thoughtful look before shaking her head. “Well… It’s good to see you’re doing well Pinkie Pie. Have a nice day.” she made to leave before someone else walked into the door. “Oh hello there Mrs. Donkey. Is everything well?” she asked, catching the sober expression on the donkey’s face. “Oh no Twilight… I’m here to talk with Pinkie Pie.” she said, dismissing Twilight and walking to Pinkie. Twilight saw that this was something possibly private and made her exit, nodding the donkey goodbye. Pinkie watched her purple friend leave before smiling nervously at her donkey friend. “Hello Matilda, is Cranky feeling better?” “No, I’m afraid Doodle is still sick. So I thought I might come by and get some sweets to cheer him up. When you can; you should get off of work and come by as well. He could use a little laughter.” Matilda said, looking at Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail. “You’re changing styles I see? It looks good on you. It’ll take some getting used to.” The donkey lightly laughed. Pinkie nodded, running a hoof through her hair, watching it as it roll off her hoof in long strands. “Thank you, I’m trying to be different. Lots of ponies like it.” “I would imagine about any style you chose darlin’ you’d look good with. You’re young and beautiful, don’t let it go to wayside. Why… You might find a special someone.” Matilda winked. Pinkie nervously blushed as she retrieved a pie. “I think Cranky will like this, it’s one of his favorites.” “Oh thank you dear… and please, make sure to stop by sometime soon. I’m a little scared Pinkie. He’s not getting better.” Matilda made to leave with those sobering words, a kind smile still on her features. “Oh no…” Pinkie said, stopping the donkey from leaving just yet. “Like I said, I’d appreciate if you came by and made him laugh a little. He does enjoy your silliness.” Pinkie Pie nodded as she walked out from her side of the counter. She saw the pain in her friend’s eyes and felt her heart break. She wrapped her hooves around the donkey in a little hug, trying to give her just a bit of kindness. “I’ll do my best, don’t ya worry ‘bout me. Why, I’ll throw a party for him. Not to loud though, but I’ll do it and make it extra special.” “Oh thank you Pinkie Pie, you’re a sweet heart. Though, you can’t go over the top, he is sickly dear.” Matilda said, smiling softly at the pink mare. Pinkie nodded, already thinking up all the ways she could bring a smile to him without being too loud. It was unique timing that Matilda would come to her about this with her new resolution. It would be perfect to show that she could still bring smiles to others, still be happy, yet not make them upset. She’d think about this one for a little bit, making sure that nothing crazy happened. She’d stump all the crazy out and simply have a good time. With another hug she wrapped her hooves around the donkey again, feeling determined in her task to bring a smile to Cranky’s face. Her friend was now counting on her. “I must be getting back to him. You take care Pinkie. And please, don’t let this serious thing get out of hand.” Matilda declared a knowing gleam in her eyes. Pinkie tried to protest that she didn’t know what the donkey was going on about, but she was already walking out the door with the sweets a moment later. Oh she hoped Cranky would get well. She’d definitely pay him a visit once the Cakes returned and took the bakery over for the evening. They were always out and about in the day time with whatever deliveries or business stuff. Maybe some more of her friends would drop on by? Oh, that sounded wonderful. Pinkie Pie hopped back on over to her side of the counter. She felt excited about the rest of her day, but determined she could keep herself in check. It was going to be hard, but in the end, she’d stand up victorious over her crazy. Confident, Pinkie patiently waited for more customers to arrive. oOoO0OoOo “Dang, this was a tough chapter to write. What I had before crashed twice before I scrapped it and moved on to this. Think God was saying something there Pinkie? Haha. ” “Yeah, I don’t think that was a very good chapter either… But I do miss my reflection.” “…” “Oh Don’t worry Pinkie, you’ll get to see her again soon enough. We were just showing off your new, I mean old, style to a few friends is all.” “Yeah! Everyone is liking it. This is exciting. I-I, why is Cranky sick…?” “…” “Pinkie Pie… This is a story about your fear of losing friends.” “No…” “…That’s terrible…” “Sorry...”