My Heart's Content

by Doctor Disco

9 - Twilight Time

Pinkamena Diane Pie.

Three words.

Three words that are now literally running away from me as I try and keep up with Pinkie. “Pinkie!” I shout, going as fast as I can without tripping. Four legs is still pretty hard to go on, after all.

“Keep up, old mare!” Pinkie exclaimed before she dashed off, leaving a pink contrail leading to the majestic structure that loomed over Ponyville. As I slowed down from following the impossible pink trail that was left behind by Pinkie, my mouth parts slightly at the castle.

When Pinkie had said ‘the Castle’, I hadn’t thought she meant an actual castle. With how ridiculous Pinkie was, I thought she would’ve meant a code for some home base for her friends. I had seen the large building before, as Derpy and I had been walking around, but I never would’ve guessed Pinkie knew someone from such an expensive looking building. Seeing as it seems to be made entirely out of crystal, I can only begin to see the numbers in my head, but they were there.

“My god, Pinkie… What kind of delectables did you have to give to know someone from there?” I ask myself.

“None! Twilight’s been my friend since before she became a Princess of the nation!” Pinkie says, suddenly appearing by my side.

Locking up as I mentally shut down from Pinkie’s sudden appearance, I stay frozen with my eyes wide open, unblinking. Pinkie waves her hoof across my face and she laughs nervously. “Uh, Melody? You’re looking a little pale.”

I crane my neck to look at her with my eyes still wide. “You. Don’t. Say?” I say with gritted teeth before sighing. “Don’t sneak up on me like that again. There was a time when I would’ve leapt in the air and shouted in alarm before laughing it off, but…” I leave my sentence hanging, and I can see Pinkie’s expression ever so slightly dour.

“Well, there’s no fixer upper like meeting new ponies! Come on, allons-y!” Pinkie began to trot beside me as we approached the castle entrance, and I look at her warily. She’s not bouncing anymore, and I’m positive she said something from one of my all time favourite shows in an attempt to cheer me up.

Not saying anything about the matter, I smile thankfully at Pinkie before stopping at the main entrance. What a good friend. With that attempt to cheer me up, I actually did! Even just a little. And a little is enough. Pinkie proceeds to knock once on the ornately carved door before it swings open and I see a purple unicorn standing in front of us.

Or is that a pegasus, since she has wings? But she has a horn and wings. What does that make her? A pegasus unicorn hybrid or the other way around? A pegacorn? A unisus? Bleh, the former sounds better than the latter.

“Heya, Twi!” Pinkie greets.

“Hi, Pinkie,” ‘Twi’ replies. She then turns to look at me with a smile before turning back to Pinkie. “And who’s this?”

“Oh, this is the pony I mentioned! Twilight, this is Melody. Melody, Twilight!” Pinkie introduces, and I wave a hoof awkwardly.

“So you’re the Melody I’ve been hearing about from Pinkie, hm?” Twilight asks, and I raise an eyebrow in Pinkie’s direction.

“Uh, yeah… And you must be the Twilight that’s friends with Minuette and Lyra, right?” I inquire, and she smiles just as nervously.

“Oh yes! Minuette… how is she? I visited her a few weeks ago after I forgot about them for a year or two…” Twilight trails off, and I think she just realized what she said. As I see her cheeks begin to taint red (how does that even work with fur, anyways?), I change the subject.

“Moving on, Pinkie insisted I come and meet her friends. Glad to know that other ponies can be just as, uh, awkward as I am.”

“Touche,” Twilight grins, surely happy to see someone similar to herself as well.

“Uggggh! I love how you two have already bonded, but I want to get this chapter moving so I can get Melody to meet Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy!”

Glaring at Pinkie, Twilight sighs. “They’re all here, discussing yesterday’s events.”

“Alright!” Pinkie exclaims. We then follow Twilight in, the door closing magically behind us. “Hey, do you know if Rara is still around?”

“You mean Coloratura?” Twilight clarifies.

“No, I meant the new ceiling decoration you put up,” Pinkie deadpans, and I try to hold back a snicker.

“Well, thank you! It took a little bit of effort, but it makes it feel more homey,” Twilight says. Me and Pinkie share a look of incredulousness as all my laughter has disappeared and turned into disappointment.

“You don’t get sarcasm at all, do you, Twilight,” I ask.

“Hm? Sarcasm? Oh, I wouldn’t know. I’ve never gotten it before.” Her voice seems too chipper to me. I narrow my eyes at her suspiciously.

Me and Pinkie then share another look of disbelief. “I don’t believe you,” I say bluntly.

Twilight and Pinkie now share a look and Twilight laughs. “Alright. Fine, you got me. And yes, Pinkie, Rara is still here. I think she might be sharing a meal with the other members of the Apple family. You’ll have to ask Applejack.”

“Thanks!” Pinkie exclaimed, dashing off to wherever.

“I don’t think practical jokes suit you,” I say as Pinkie rushes ahead.

“Well, hang around Pinkie long enough and she starts to pester you to smile and make jokes… especially if you’re somepony like me,” Twilight explains. “That look Pinkie just gave me? It was one of ‘Stop lying, you’ve used sarcasm yourself’.”

“Well, I guess I don’t have that problem. I seem to make friends with Pinkie just fine.”

“Trust me, she begins to become a problem, even with the best of us,” Twilight says and I laugh. “Rainbow Dash has a hard time keeping up with her, and they’re almost on par with each other in their pranking wars!”

“Well,” I start, “She’s already a problem as is. How much worse could it get?” I giggle before realizing what I just said. I think Twilight just did too, as she widened her eyes at me in horror.

“You really shouldn’t have said that,” Twilight whispers.

“I… yeah, something is definitely going to get worse. Much worse,” I mutter worriedly and we both nod our heads in agreement.

“Cross your hooves and hope it’s not as bad is it’s going to be?” Twilight jokes nervously and we come around a bend to see a door that is crooked open.

“I think that’s all we really can do,” I tell Twilight, and we go begin to make our way to said door.

“Hey, can I ask you something? I just want to make sure I won’t offend you once I do,” I ask and Twilight smiles widely at me.

“Of course! Anything. I won’t offend.”

“Every other, er, pony, I’ve seen up until this point has only had a horn or pair of wings. How come you have both?” I inquire, and Twilight giggles.

“Oh, that’s easy. After a magical accident involving all of my friends switching cutie marks and subsequently their destinies, I was able to come up with a magical cure that involved a memory spell and some pushing in the right direction to fix everything. That then sent me to some sort of elevated plane of existence where my mentor, Princess Celestia, greeted me and told me of how I achieved something no unicorn had in centuries, which then turned me into what I am now, an alicorn!” Twilight provided happily, and I hold my head and stop in my tracks to process the onslaught of information.

“Ouch. That’s a lot to take in.” I rub my temples lightly.

“Where have you been that you don’t know anything about alicorns or the like?” Twilight suddenly asked me, and I freeze.

Where have you been that you don’t know? The question repeats in my head again. And again. And again.

“Uh…” I begin to stammer, while Twilight patiently taps her hoof on the floor, expecting an answer.

“Hey, go easy on her! She was in the hospital, you know. She hit her head, so she can’t remember some things, like why some ponies even have horns or wings!” Pinkie cries as she sticks her head out of the room. “Partial amnesia, Twilight!”

“Y-yeah, what Pinkie said…” I stutter and Twilight looks at me with a hawk like gaze before nodding. Her face looks repentant.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t know.” Twilight says worriedly as she helps me back to all four hooves.

“It’s okay?” I gulp stressfully.

“No, it’s really not. I had no right, and I didn’t even know,” Twilight says to me, and I can’t help but feel bad for her.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” I pat her back with one of my hooves and she looks at me thankfully.

“Come on in, Melody! We won’t bite!” Pinkie invites, and I laugh nervously.

“Well, don’t keep her waiting. I know I wouldn’t want to,” Twilight nudges me, and we smile at each other understandingly before I enter the room, with Twilight trailing behind.

“Here we go.”

Author's Note:

Here's the promised first chapter out of three!

Just one question: Has my pacing been good so far?

Thank you for reading!

Comments

[Chrome Masquerade]

“So you’re the Melody I’ve been hearing about from Pinkie, hm?” Twilight asks, and I raise an eyebrow in Pinkie’s direction.

“Uh, yeah… And you must be the Twilight that’s friends with Minuette and Lyra, right?” I inquire, and she smiles just as nervously.

“Oh yes! Minuette… how is she? I visited her a few weeks ago after I forgot about them for a year or two…”

[Chrome Masquerade]

“Well, thank you! It took a little bit of effort, but it makes it feel more homely,”

As if it didn't look bad enough. (I think you mean homey.)

“Well, I guess I don’t have that problem. I seem to make friends with Pinkie just fine.”

“Trust me, she begins to become a problem, even with the best of us,” Twilight says and I laugh. “Rainbow Dash has a hard time keeping up with her, and they’re almost on par with each other in their pranking wars!”

“Well,” I start, “She’s already a problem as is. How much worse could it get?” I giggle before realizing what I just said. I think Twilight just did too, as she widened her eyes at me in horror.

“You really shouldn’t have said that,” Twilight whispers.

“I… yeah, something is definitely going to get worse. Much worse,” I mutter worriedly and we both nod our heads in agreement.

Open mouth, insert hoof.

“Cross your hooves and hope it’s not as bad is it’s going to be?” Twilight jokes nervously and we come around a bend to see a door that is crooked open.

“I think that’s all we really can do,” I tell Twilight, and we go begin to make our way to said door

I'd say knock on wood, but, oh yeah, the castle is made of crystal.

[Doctor Disco]

7889735 I've been meaning to ask, I actually love how he says continuity, but what do you mean by it when you post it?

[Chrome Masquerade]

7889981 I mean that you make references that line up with the show's canon, you know, consistent with the timeline.

[Doctor Disco]

7890064 Awesome! Thanks. Yeah, a lot of the stories I make, I try and adapt to the mane timeline as closely as I can.

Plus, I like it when you post continuity. Lol. I had certainly inferred it before, but, you know.