Friendship is Revolution

by ultiville

Side Quests

Polaris wakes up in the mid-morning after the battle. Normally she sets her alarm for six A.M sharp, but after showing up too late for the fighting, she pushed herself hard helping out in the aftermath, and let herself sleep in as recompense. What she finds when she finally crawls out of her tent, though, makes her regret her sloth: a small crowd of unfamiliar people are standing expectantly around her tent, dressed in a motley assortment of purple clothing and carrying varied impromptu weapons: everything from sticks blown down by Rainbow's windstorm to a replica sword and a frying pan.

She's still bleary-eyed. She hasn't showered, and after working hard and then sleeping in a thick sleeping bag due to the evening chill, she feels like her whole body is covered in a thin shell of salt and grime. She doesn't want anyone looking at her, let alone a star-struck bunch of newbies.

"Hello," she starts.

"Hi there!" She hadn't noticed the little girl in the middle of the crowd, who seems far too chipper for this time of morning. "We're here because we heard you were the best Twilight priest person!"

"What? I'm not...she isn't...you're like, eight. Do your parents know where you are?"

"Of course we do," a man standing behind her says. Another man next to him nods at her.

"And I'm eleven," the girl pouts.

Polaris pauses for a bit, looking at all the eager faces around her. Some part of her wants to tell how wrong they are about the Princess, and about her. Then she remembers those few weeks ago - they seem so long! - when the Princess told her something very similar, standing at their first shrine outside the Prancing Pony. Maybe we are close enough to all that, after all. She lets herself smile, and takes a deep breath.

"Okay," she says, "if you're all serious, spread out. Give yourselves plenty of room, there aren't so many of us in the park you can't. More! Like ten feet each, you want to hurt someone? Ok, now I'm going to do my morning exercises. See how well you can follow along."

Despite what she says, she takes her forms slowly. Even so, a handful of them give up somewhere through the run. The rest can't really move like she does, of course, but they try. It was all she ever thought they could do, and she smiles again as she finishes. Between the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements and her unusual hours, she's feeling a bit off anyway, and is sweating even at the end of the "easy" workout. She sits down - reasonably gracefully, she thinks - on the grass. She's pleased to see the girl and her dads have stuck with it, and the girl jogs over. She really is adorable.

"Ms. Polaris," she says, looking at the ground, "can you tell us about your adventure with the Princess? I watched the video, but I wanna hear you tell it."

Polaris grins up at her and pats the ground next to her. "I'd love to."

---

"Oh, is she waking up?" Fluttershy's soft voice welcomes Pinkie back from her dreamless, drug-fueled sleep. She's lying on a sleeping bag on top of what feels like a folding table, one of a dozen or so set up under a tented pavilion that reminds her of fancy garden parties. The last thing she remembers is stumbling, bleeding, through the delightfully spicy cloud with Applejack.

Fluttershy, Rarity, and Fiona are sitting next to her makeshift cot, smiling at her. Being Pinkie Pie, she reflexively smiles back.

"Hey girls," she says, though it's more of a croak through her dry throat, "I guess we won?"

"Yes, dear," Rarity smiles down at her, "thanks in large part to you. Well done."

Fiona puts a big cup with a similarly big straw down on the table next to Pinkie's head, and she takes a long sip. It's just water, which disappoints her a bit, but it still feels wonderful on her parched throat.

"Great!" She sounds more like herself now. "How'd I get here? I don't remember anything, really."

"You lost a lot of blood," Fiona said, "but Applejack came and found me as soon as she could, and I brought you here and patched you up. You're lucky you ponies are so tough. I'm not sure a human would have made it."

"The secret is my rigorous diet," Pinkie nods her head, "plenty of cupcakes."

Fiona's mouth quirks up in a tiny smile. "Twilight said it was your magical nature as an earth pony."

"Well yeah, she'd say that, but I'm way more of a Pinkie Pie expert than she is."

The others finally laugh, and Pinkie does a bit too. It makes her side hurt, but it's worth it. Then she looks around, and feels a bit down again.

"All these humans got hurt in the fighting?" All of the other cots are occupied by humans in various states of bandaging, or connected to medical equipment.

"More than just them," Fiona says. "The rest were too badly hurt for us, and had to go to hospitals and risk arrest, or were feeling well enough to walk around or sleep in their own tents."

"But...why isn't anyone visiting anyone else? Don't they have friends to come cheer them up?"

"We were visiting everyone," Fluttershy says, "but then it looked like you might wake up, so we came over here."

"But you just met them. What about their old friends?"

"Twilight had to put the shield back up," Rarity says, "if they have other friends, they might be outside. Or they were hurt too, and had to go to the hospital. Or they got arrested, a few people did."

"But that's so sad! We have to have a party or something!"

Fiona laughs again. "Pinkie, you're the closest one here to recovery, and you're in no shape for a party."

"But we have to do something! Being hurt and alone is so sad!"

"We will," Fluttershy says, "we found a, um, monitor? And Fiona has a movie! It's the first one Twilight liked in this world, she says."

"Yeah," Fiona nods, "Love Actually. It's a great movie, and she mentioned seeing it in her journal, so her guards wanted to watch it." She gestures to the purple-clad figures at the edges of the pavilion; Pinkie had taken them as guards for the patients. "We figured we'd show it here and make everyone feel better while we're at it."

"Oh, it's a happy movie? I've never seen a human movie before! This is so exciting! Are they all black and white and quiet like ours?"

"No, Pinkie," Fiona laughs, "they're full color and sound. And it's...well, parts of it are very happy, you'll see now, though, look." She turns her head to where one of the guards is wheeling in a stand containing a large, black, shiny object that doesn't look much like a projection screen at all, but Pinkie assumes will show the movie. He fiddles with it a bit and connects Fiona's tablet to it, and then it lights up in full color, showing scenes of humans joyfully greeting each other. A young, male-sounding voice begins speaking over it, and the movie begins.

"Oh I am so excited," Rarity says, "I do love a good romance."

A little over two hours later, Pinkie feels like she's been through every emotion ever, including a fair number she's never really considered before. Fiona's grinning next to her, and Fluttershy's crying, one wing draped over Pinkie and the other wrapped around Rarity. who's sobbing into a handkerchief. Among the patients, few eyes are dry.

"Oh my," Fluttershy manages, "that was nothing like the movies we have at home."

"But so beautiful! So many love stories, sad and happy, it was wonderful!" As always, Rarity seems to be able to stop crying on command.

"I'll say," Pinkie agrees. "Hey Fiona, that song that played when Karen was upset...she was singing about smiling for other ponies, even when you hurt, right? That's why it was so pretty and so sad?"

"I think so," Fiona says, "and great art means different things to different people. In the movie it means some of that, but also how Karen's life is so tied up in her children, in being a good wife. They're older, and it wasn't long ago that everyone had expectations for women that weren't fair, tied up in marriage and family. I think she's struggling with it in that scene I find it really powerful, but I suppose it seems strange to you."

"Nope. I mean, I don't know about any of that stuff about mares and marriage or whatever, but...I thought it was powerful too." Pinkie isn't used to not knowing if she wants to laugh or cry, but she finds she isn't upset at it. "Can I get a record of it?"

Fiona does laugh at that, and Rarity looks at her, head tilted. "Well," Fiona says, "a physical record could be hard, but I could put it on your tablet. Would you like that?"

Pinkie smiles and nods.

---

"Hey Rainbow, what's an awesome pony like you doing in a place like this?"

Rainbow shakes off her nap at Mary's voice, and comes to her hooves just outside the human woman's tent.

"Oh, uh, hey," she says.

"Hey yourself," Mary grins at her, "but I don't buy you napping outside my tent by accident. Looking for a little stress relief?"

"No! I mean, not like, that kind of no, you know I love it, but, uh..."

Mary turns her head sideways and waits, smile fading a little.

"Look, I'm not good at this kind of stuff, but, things are getting pretty crazy out there, you know? It seems like we might win soon."

"So what? Wait, are you breaking up with me? You know we aren't dating, right?"

"What? Jeez, no, look, it's just like...we all think we came here for a reason, right? Twi' thinks this might be it, getting you guys to get your voices back in your screwed-up politics. If it is, then...after this, we might just disappear. And even if we don't, we'll have to start looking for a way home."

"So...what, you're warning me? You don't have to do that, silly pony. That's kind of how 'friends with benefits' works. I knew you wouldn't be around forever."

"No, that's not...look, I hate mushy stuff. I just felt like I should say...I'll miss you, ok? You're a pretty cool girl."

Mary pulls her into her arms and plants a kiss on her nose.

"I'll miss you too. You're pretty awesome, Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, I know. I guess it takes one to know one, huh?"

Mary raises an eyebrow at her. "Sure." She's quiet for a bit, just holding Rainbow close. She'd never admit it, but Rainbow finds herself calming down. "Thanks for telling me, even if it was a bit mushy," Mary murmurs into her ear. "Don't worry, I'll never tell." She gently runs a hand down Rainbow's back, causing the mare to shiver. "Now, how about that stress relief?"

"Wait, here? That tent doesn't even have walls."

"What's the matter, future-Wonderbolt? I thought you loved an audience."

"Oh," Rainbow pounces, flapping her wings lightly and pushing Mary back into the tent, "it is on."

---

And so the morning passes, until Twilight and Applejack return with Mr. Gray.

Author's Note:

The song Pinkie's talking about is Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now". The movie version is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coNo-CrAb4g

It isn't a "traditional" Pinkie song, of course, but I think it's something she'd understand, especially tired, injured, and vulnerable.

Comments

[ultiville]

4772165 I'm not annoyed by the dislikes; no reason for you to be. I'm glad you like it though!