On the rock farm, we spent our days working the fields. There was no talking, there was no smiling, there were no friends, and I was most certainly lonely.
My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, although most ponies just call me Pinkie! Or if you're my sister, Maud, you may also know me as Pinkamena, Surprise, D, or Inkril.
Life's been going good for me, except for one little snag. Twilight's starting to ask questions and I really don't want to tell her the answers. There's nothing wrong with me; I'm a perfectly healthy mare that just happens to have some friends in weird places.
Luckily Maud is coming to visit Ponyville for spring break though; she'll know exactly what to do about Twilight.
Due to the sensitive subject of Dissociative Identity Disorder that this story covers, it may have triggers to some individuals, but I will do my best to try and mark chapters with such content. This story also covers what it's like to have DiD, how it can affect your daily life, and how it can affect your relationships with those around you.
Cover art is by joyfulinsanity and is used without permission, but upon his/her request, I shall gladly take it down.
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 1 - Morning Surprise
Morning in Ponyville was always a treat if you were to awaken early enough to watch it. The way that the sun's rays shined over the Everfree would always strike the castle of the two sisters in just the right way that it would create one of the most beautiful sights that one could ever behold. While it was common for most ponies to sleep through this wonder of the world, today was a little different.
There was one mare watching Princess Celestia's work with drooping eyes and a sleepy smile. Her soft fur rustled in the morning breeze and her lips casually sipped at the coffee she held in her hoof. It was these beautiful mornings that made her want to do nothing more than spread her wings and take flight.
The only problem was that she was trapped in the body of an Earth Pony. Her normally blond mane was now dyed a dark raspberry color, her coat that was meant to be ivory was instead a bright pink, and the worst part of this was how her indigo eyes were replaced by a deep blue that reminded her of the ocean.
“The greatest prank ever played was me being put into this body,” She giggled a little, trying to turn her dysphoria into a joke; just like she tried to make anything that upset her.
With that, she opened the pink diary that she had sitting in front of her and read over what plans Pinkie had promised her friends today;
Dear Whom it may concern,
Okay, so we celebrated Bon Bon's birthday with a wild party today, so sorry if you woke up with a hangover. Dashie also invited us out to go pranking at noon, so I really hope you get to come out and play, Surprise! I heard that you two are already halfway down the list, so I'll have to throw you both a halfway-there party. I really hope I can tell you in person, but you know how weird this co-consciousness thing can be.
By the way, Pinkamena, you really need to stop being so grumpy all of the time. Don't say things like that to Mr. Cake, it's really rude and you could get us fired! I know you don't like it when ponies ignore you, but please try to control your anger; I'll even bake you some muffins if you do.
D, thank you for spending time with Pound and Pumpkin yesterday, they really do enjoy it when you play with them. It's also good to see that you're getting better at drawing, too. Just do us a favor and try to not leave crayons and colored pencils all over.
Also, Inkie, please don't go around spreading rumors that I don't like chocolate chip cookies anymore. Twilight actually asked me if I preferred oatmeal! I mean, oatmeal?! Are you crazy?
Oh, and if it ends up being me tomorrow, then make sure that you read over that prank book just in case. You don't want Dashie to start doubting Surprise's pranking abilities.
Pinkie Out
P.S. Make sure to pick up Maud from the train station at four! She's going to be visiting for spring break!
A smile was brought to Surprise's lips as she reread that first paragraph again, and then turning to the post script, “Looks like I get to be in control for one of the best days!”
With that, she stood up and bounded back into the bedroom to brush the tangles out of her mane. It's such a common misconception that her mane was untamed, but it actually was unbelievably well taken care of. She brushed it almost every chance she got, making sure to leave the luscious curls that she trademarked, while keeping it silky soft.
If only she could convince Pinkamena to do the same thing; that mare was so callous to things that she insisted were too 'feminine'.
Like personal hygiene.
Not that she didn't take baths, but she would just let her mane drip dry and flop into whatever style it was feeling that day. She also had this thing against brushing out clumps and mats, even ones in her coat. It was just a good thing that she wasn't in control all that often, or else the party planner of Ponyville would look pretty unattractive; absolutely great for business.
“Let's see, who's the next pony on the list?” Surprise pulled out a scroll from behind the vanity mirror she was staring into and popped it open. “Okay, so... Lyra, check. Bon Bon, check. Ohhh, it's the day to prank Twilight!”
The prankster mare looked over at the clock excitedly before realizing that she had a whole five hours before she was scheduled to head over to Rainbow Dash's house. What in Equestria was she going to do for a full five hours?
“Maybe I could go visit Applejack. I could go for a nice mug of cider,” She pondered, “Or maybe an apple crepe. I really want a crepe now that I think about it.”
Her mouth was already watering at the idea of the delectable treat. She absolutely adored those fruit and cream filled pastries like Rarity loved fashion. With that, she pulled on her saddlebags and checked for her bits, pranking tools, and of course her faithful Groucho Trots glasses. She never left home without them.
Out the door went the town's premier prankster pony extraordinaire with a wide grin and a bounce in her step. She was in the best of moods already, and so far her day could only get better. Crepes for breakfast, pranking with Dashie at noon, and then seeing her long-lost sister again after so long. She hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Maud the last time she was in town, but apparently Inkie had a blast bringing their friends and Maud together.
She bounded cheerfully down the dusty dirt road of Sweet Apple Acres, kicking up a cloud behind her with each hop. It had actually been a while since she had visited Applejack herself; usually it's Pinkie that goes out to the orchard.
Applejack stood out in the west fields, bucking apples out of trees already. With that knowledge, Surprise crouched as best she could to the ground and crawled up out behind the farmer, avoiding being seen. It was perfect; there was no way that AJ would expect to see anybody at the farm this early, let alone a wayward Pinkie.
“Surprise!” She squealed out, firing confetti from her saddlebags in all directions.
“Gah!” AJ collapsed face first into the grass, completely missing the tree that she was about to kick. She lay frozen solid with her hind legs extended into the air for a good 5 seconds before finally realizing what had just happened, “Pinkie! Don't scare me like that!”
Surprise on the other hand was giggling wildly and smiled at her friend, “Oh come on, it was totally a good one!”
Applejack's firm expression faded quickly into one of slight humor, “Alright, I'll admit that y'all got me. What are 'ya even doin' here this early?”
“Crepes!” Surprise half-shouted, barely able to contain her excitement for the delicious treats.
“Come again?"
“I was wanting to see if you'd like to make crepes with me!” She explained, wrapping a hoof around her friend's withers with her grin only widening.
The farmer just raised a single brow and shook her head, “Sorry Pinkie, but Ah got at least fourty more trees to buck before we can do anything like that.”
“But... What if I help you?” Her faltering smile returned hopefully, “It'd get the job done faster!”
Her friend shook her head however, “Nah, Ah can't ask y'all ta help me with mah work. Why don't 'ya go and help Granny Smith with Breakfast 'n' we can see about makin' crepes for dessert?”
Surprise puffed her cheeks out and nodded, “Fine, but only if we can make those super stuffed ones like last time!”
“... We'll see,” Applejack shuddered at the very idea. The last time they made super stuffed crepes, it ended up having literally five apples sliced into it. FIVE! She couldn't even eat half of the sugary treat. Honestly, she wasn't even sure how Pinkie managed to stuff five apples, ice cream, AND whipped cream into it.
“Okie Dokie Lokie!” Surprise giggled and bounded off towards the Apple Family home. Honestly, Surprise had adapted to being a part of the Apple Family faster than any of the others had, save maybe Pinkie Pie herself.
“Ah, there y'all are!” An elderly voice called from the ktichen, “Git 'n' here Applebloom and help me!”
“Surprise, it's Pinkie!” Surprise poked her head into the kitchen with wide eyes and an even wider grin, “I'm here to bake pie and eat apples, and I'm all out of apples.”
“Why, hi there silly filly! C'mon in 'n' help us bake,” Granny Smith grinned, “Applebloom aint gonna come help us, so Ah could use all the help Ah can.”
“You got it!” Surprise grinned and jumped over in front of the stove, “What's first?”
~~~
“This is... good?” Granny Smith looked over the abomination of a pie that Pinkie had just baked. For a baker, that mare was unbelievably inconsistent with quality. There were some days where she could bake and come out with the best food that the old mare ever had, and there were days like this where she was lucky to have not bit into ash.
“Thank you!” Surprise giggled and took a bite out of her own pie, her pupils dilating into tiny dots in shock from the pie. How was it this nasty? She didn't put that much pudding into it! Wait, was she supposed to put the pudding in the pie before or after it was baked?
Casually she swallowed the most disgusting abomination to baked goods ever created. Surprise nodded halfheartedly, stifling the oncoming desire to vomit, “D-Delicious.”
“Y-Y'all could say that,” Granny Smith said nervously, “Say, d-do 'ya wanna go sit down in the living room with some cider and take a break?”
Surprise got the hint and nodded slowly, “S-Sure...”
“Honestly, how can Pinkie and D both be amazing bakers and none of the talent seeps through to me?” Surprise lamented to herself, “I never seem to get any better either, no matter how hard I try...”
Her ears folded back and her eyes closed, drawing in a deep breath and opening her eyes with a smile returning to her face. She couldn't let it ruin her day; no matter how inferior she felt as a cook. She still had to go and prank Twilight with Dashie! In fact, why should she wait?
Jumping up from the couch, she bounded towards the door and called back to Granny Smith, “I'm heading out, I forgot to do something!”
With that half-baked excuse, she broke into a full gallop towards Rainbow Dash's cloud house, stopping dead in her tracks as she felt a cold chill break out over her spine. Slowly she closed her eyes once again, sitting down on her flank and taking another nervous breath.
“Not now, D... We're about to go pranking,” Surprise said aloud and shook her head, “No, it's my turn to play today.”
“Please, please pleaaaase?” D squealed excitedly, “I wanna see Maud too!”
“Maud's not even going to be here for another few hours,” Surprise protested.
“I'll cook you crepes if you let me,” D said flatly, tapping her non-physical hoof impatiently, wanting out to spend time with Dashie as well.
“How many crepes are we talking here?” Surprise raised her brow, showing a little interest in the filly's offer.
“Uhm, like six?” D grinned and made the motions of a Pinkie Promise.
“Seven and you got a deal, but you'll also owe-” Surprise was cut off by the sound of a familiar voice.
“Pinkie, who are you talking to?”
No. No no no. Please no. Surprise was pulled forcefully back to reality. Slowly she turned her head to see one Twilight Sparkle standing behind her with a deeply concerned expression, “Nopony, j-just thinking out loud.”
She took a step forward, offering Pinkie a slight frown, “A-Are you sure?”
“It's nothing, I promise,” Surprise took a panicked step back, taking a shaky breath in fear. Why did Twilight have to be there at that exact moment? Why did she have to hear that conversation? What was she going to say if she knew?! Pinkie would have to move back to the rock farm to escape! Surprise didn't want that at all; she was happy here in Ponyville.
“Do you Pinkie Promise?” Twilight frowned, not really too sure about what she had just walked in on, but was starting to worry that there was something deeply wrong with Pinkie. She had honestly caught her talking to herself like this several times in the past; it's just that she finally decided that enough was enough.
“I... I can't,” Surprise shook her head, “Please Twilight...”
“Pinkie...” Twilight offered her friend a gentle hoof on her shoulder.
“I can't...” She lowered her ears to her head and closed her eyes again.
“Just please w-”
“I said no!” Her voice cut Twilight off. Pinkamena glowered at the lavender alicorn before turning and storming off. Quietly she huffed to herself as she headed to nowhere in particular, “Never expect a prankster to say what needs to be said.”
Maud watched the landscape pass by from her seat on the train, taking mental notes of the likely origins of the various rocks and boulders that she had the luck of seeing. It seemed that most of the rocks around Ponyville were sedimentary with a handful of metamorphic tossed in like a pinch of pepper in a salt shaker. Her studies on becoming a geologist were proving fruitious as she was already the top of her class. She was going to become a geologist, no matter how much Pinkie insisted that it was a 'Rocktorate'.
Even though she loved the subject that she was studying to fervently, it was admittedly nice to take a week break and go see her family. Marble and Limestone mentioned meeting up with her in Ponyville, but seemed unsure if they could take the time off. Marble went on to become a writer in Manehattan, while Limestone continued to work on the farm with their parents. Knowing Pinkie though, she was going to be ecstatic to see both her twin sister and her little sister coming by for a visit in addition to Maud.
“We'll be arriving in Ponyville in five minutes; if it's your stop, make sure that you have your bags and personal belongings!” A voice called from the hallway, not pulling Maud's gaze from the far more interesting landscape, but eliciting a casual nod in response.
Maud was admittedly a little excited to see her other sisters as well, but Pinkie was the one that she really came back for. She had received a letter not all too long ago involving her friends becoming a little suspicious of Pinkies 'condition', so admittedly it wasn't going to just be a visit for fun and games. Not that Maud really liked games anyway, save for camouflage and a few others that she used to play as a filly with her sisters.
“Are you ready to go, Boulder?” She asked the rock, knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer. After all, Boulder was just a rock; a special rock, but a rock no less.
She picked up the small rock and pocketed it. Maud was always practical when it came to traveling; she didn't see the purpose to drag half of your belongings with you where ever you went. As such, she grabbed her single bag and pulled it onto her back effortlessly. It was a good thing that she didn't pack any of the heavier rocks to study over break; she only packed a dozen smaller boulders and a few geodes.
The train began to squeal after another moment and came slowing to a crawl before stopping at the Ponyville Train Station. It was strange to her how Ponyville was a small town but had such large crowds come and go each day. Maybe it was the relatively new crowned princess, or maybe it was the beautiful sights, but it was something that would've made a lesser mare pry in curiosity.
Maud however, didn't really care too much about the business of ponies she didn't know. She wasn't like her sister; she didn't really care to socialize outside of who she already knew and she was perfectly content with just that. Not that it stopped Pinkie and Inkie from going overboard in trying to bring her friends and Maud together. As usual though, Inkie's plans worked out in a bizarre and round-about way; Maud actually liked her sister's friends, although they were still on more of a passive mutual understanding versus a true friendship.
With a loud whistle from the train, Maud found her way out into the warm daylight that Ponyville springtime was known for. Her cool gaze browsed over the large crowd of multicolored ponies, trying to settle on finding the vibrant pink that her sister was known for, but to no avail. It was hard to miss the party pony, so it was pretty apparent that she wasn't there to pick her sister up as of yet.
“Sorry I'm late,” A voice called from behind a few ponies, finally showing that vibrant pink coat that was trademarked by her sister, “We had a bit of a snare this morning.”
Maud eyed over her sister for a moment, taking in all of the subtleties in her sister's pose and tone of voice before nodding, “Hello Pinkamena; it's a surprise to see you here.”
Pinkamena understood the meaning behind Maud's words and nodded. Maud was honestly Pinkamena's favorite sister; they could actually have a calm conversation without her being questioned as to why she was 'depressed' or 'upset'. If only she could come out and be herself with Pinkie's friends... Life would honestly improve a lot for the black coated mare if that were the case. It was just a dream for her though, knowing that if her secret was let out yet again then it would only cause the same problems all over.
“My friends are starting to get a little curious, so I had to cover our flank,” Pinkamena let out a soft sigh, trying to keep her rage in check, “I'm worried that Twilight's going to start prying after the display that Surprise put on earlier.”
The corner of Maud's lips turned downward in the slightest fashion. She couldn't help but become so expressive when it came to her sister, “What did surprise do?”
Pinkamena took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to explain her alter's error without yelling, “Twilight caught her talking out loud with D.”
“I thought we figured out you don't have to talk out loud?” Maud stood up straight, feeling a slight uneasiness settle over her.
“Her and Pinkie still have a tendency to forget every now and then,” Pinkamena sighed and shook her head, “Never mind that though, we can talk about how I'm going to fix this later. Right now we should get you to Sugarcube Corner and settled in; I want to hear about how you're doing in college, sis.”
Although Pinkamena didn't really have memories where she was related to the Pie family, it was hard to not feel kinship with the only pony that not only cared to understand what they were going through, but accepted it like if it were something perfectly normal. At the same time, Maud truly loved her sister, and all of the mares trapped in Pinkie's body loved Maud in return; although, D and Inkie favored Marble for reasons that Pinkamena would never really understand.
“You're always such a conversationalist,” Maud replied as the two mares started to head to Sugarcube Corner. She truly did enjoy the rare occasions that her and Pinkamena could talk; it always had a different pacing than how one-sided the other girls tended to make conversations. Not that Maud didn't love all of her sister's personalities, but it was nice to spend time with each of them every now and again.
~~~
Twilight stared at the book in front of her, rereading the same line over for the fourth time yet again. No matter how hard she tried to forget about it, that face that Pinkie had made earlier was one of rage. Not that getting mad wouldn't have been a proper response to Twilgiht's prying, but it was still so shocking to see Pinkie actually snap at her like that.
She was obviously something genuinely wrong with her friend, though, and Twilight was going to try and figure it out. Pinkie would never turn her back on any of the girls if they had something wrong, so what kind of friend would Twilight be if she did just that?
“Should I tell the others what I saw?” Twilight pondered aloud for a moment before shaking her head at the very notion. “No, that just seems like the wrong thing to do. After all, as the old saying goes: Loose lips sink ships.”
Look at her, talking to herself just as Pinkie had been earlier. This was different though, and Twilight knew it; Pinkie wasn't just talking and answering herself, but she was acting like she was genuinely in a conversation with another pony all together. She wasn't just wanting to help her friend at this point though; her scientific mind was absolutely curious as to what was going on in her friend's head at that very moment as well. Not that she was putting her own curiosity before her friend's need, but it would be a lie if she said that it wasn't there at all.
“Let's see, psychology, psychology,” She mumbled to herself while skimming over the shelves for the dustiest section that the library had to offer. The thought of reading into psychology had never even came across the librarian's mind; she was always so serious and more interested in what she considered the 'real world'. A notion that she had realized in hind sight was an extremely inconsiderate view of other ponies with such conditions. Twilight was always just more preoccupied with how the world worked versus how ponies worked; thus why she never really cared to make any friends in the past.
“I really need to take better care of this section,” Twilight reprimanded herself for the neglect on even the most under-appreciated parts of her library. She blew onto the books, creating a cloud of dust that even Rainbow Dash would've had trouble controlling, sending the lavender alicorn into a coughing and sneezing fit that lasted a good three minutes.
“What kind of librarian am I?” She frowned wryly at the realization of just how poorly tended to the section really was.
With the dust clearing though, she looked over the numerous titles to settle on a thick medical encyclopedia of psychological and neurological disorders. It was only around a decade old, so she figured that its information couldn't be too terribly out of date. Twilight levitated the book over to the table and slammed it down with another cloud of dust exploding from the pages. Thankfully she was halfway across the room for this one, but it caused the unfortunate baby dragon to cough and sneeze out flames, vaporizing the various scrolls and books that he had been carrying.
“Jeeze Twilight, what was that for?” Spike huffed angrily as he rubbed his eyes clean of the dust, still spitting and coughing up fire for another moment.
“I'm sorry Spike, I don't even know how a closed book gathered dust inside of its pages like that,” Twilight gave her assistant a nervous laugh and helped fan the cloud away with her wings.
“I'd be more worried about apologizing to the princess. You just sent her four books worth of Rainbow Dash's Daring Do fanfiction,” Spike shook his head solemnly, only imagining the nightmares that the princess was about to endure if she read those pages.
“I... I'll send her a letter later; spike, reschedule my 'pre order quills three months in advance' for tomorrow and replace it with the apology letter,” Twilight felt herself break out into a blush at imagining her teacher reading such perverse stories about 'Mainbow Smash' and Daring Do.
With that settled, she turned back to the colossal book in front of her and opening it to the first page, “Actually Spike, clear off the next three hours as well. I have to read about a thousand pages, so let's give me an extra hour just in case.”
“Alrighty, do you want me to push the 'Maud Coming to Ponyville Party' back as well?” Spike asked while brushing the quill against his chin in thought.
“Wait, that's today?! When?” Twilight pulled away from her book to look at her assistant.
“In two hours,” Spike replied.
“No, I'll just have to read it even faster,” Twilight grinned at the challenge and turned back to the thick book, “Spike, can you also bring me a quill, ink, and a scroll? I may have to jot down a few notes.”
“Sure thing, Twilight,” Spike shrugged and cleared off the parts of the list that he was ordered to and headed for the requested supplies.
~~~
“Top of your class? I really wasn't expecting anything less,” Pinkamena smiled towards Maud as they unpacked the bags, placing the several rocks and geodes that Maud had brought in Pinkie's table.
“It's a little boring right now though. They're still going over common knowledge; like how rubies are red because of the chromium in them and how Agates are usually found around volcanos and metamorphic rocks.” Maud spoke as flatly as usual, but Pinkamena could pick up on the disappointment that her sister was clearly feeling. College clearly wasn't as exciting as she had been expecting, but she still seemed to genuinely be enjoying it at least.
“Wait... is this...” Pinkamena stared at the small box and fell silent for and closed her eyes. After a good ten seconds, her eyes fluttered open with her pupils wide as dinner plates and her voice jumping in pitch, “Is this rock candy?!”
She squealed and hugged the box to her, kicking her hind legs excitedly as she fell onto her back, “Can I, can I, can I?”
Maud nodded a little, feeling a little relieved that she had found the box of loose rock candy instead of the necklaces, “Sure, D. Only one though; we still have to make necklaces.”
D squealed wildly and dug around in the box excitedly, trying to find the biggest piece that she could. Her flank swayed from side to side playfully before she settled on a large pink rock buried at the bottom of the chest. The pink ones were always her favorite flavor; no matter how much Pinkamena said they tasted like cheap hearts and hooves day candy.
Maud only offered the smallest of smiles as she watched the filly lick and bite wildly at the sugary treat that she loved so much. If it weren't for D, then the whole tradition probably wouldn't have ever came to fruition. Sure, Pinkie liked rock candy, but Pinkie loved all kinds of sweets; she probably would've been happy settling on baking each other a cake. D was the one that actually suggested that they do something with the rock candy because of how special the rocks were to make it.
She looked down at boulder who was resting by her side and felt a certain warmth at that memory; it was the day that she won D over into trusting her. Not that she was particularly hard to convince, but she was the very first personality other than Pinkie that accepted Maud as a sister.
Suddenly a knock came from the door and the sound of a slightly aggravated Rainbow Dash came from the other side, “Hey Pinkie, why'd you ditch me today?!”
With that, D stopped and looked over worriedly at the door. It's not that she wasn't excited to hear from Rainbow Dash, but what in particular did she ditch? That's when it hit her; Surprise mentioned something about pranking, so it may have had something to do with that. She was horrible at pranking ponies though! Maybe Rainbow would understand if she came up with some silly excuse.
Her panicked train of thought was abruptly ended by Maud placing a gentle hoof on her sister's shoulder, "Let me talk to her for you."
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 3 - The Pie Sisters Arrive
It wasn't a strange occurrence in Equestria for there to be late night trains from one place to another. In fact, many conductors made quite a bit of extra bits for volunteering to work the graveyard shifts. Nobody really wanted to stay up the entire night only to pilot the train for only a couple dozen night birds that like to travel in the dead of the night.
Currently there was only five mares riding the train, to which they sat in their own areas for the most part. Marble Brimstone Pie was one such pony, sitting in her own corner with her bulky typewriter in front of her. She was heading to Ponyville for a vacation to see her sister, Maud, that would be arriving in the town the very same day. It was rare for the Pie sisters to all manage to take the same week off of work, but although Marble was skeptical to this, her younger sister, Limestone, insisted that their parents would be okay on the farm alone.
Although Marble was technically on a vacation, she really didn't see any problem with working a little on her spare time. With her agent breathing down her neck to release her next book, she was in a bit of a panic to finish 'Starcrossed' within the next month. Admittedly though, it was hard for her to even focus on the erotica that her fans were craving.
“I wonder how Pinkie's been,” She murmured to herself, allowing a very soft smile at the idea of seeing her elder twin. Although they tried to stay in contact with letters, Marble's schedule tended to make it rough for her to reply as often as she wanted.
She let out a soft sight and decided to place the typewriter back into its carrying case. Romance novels were hard enough to write on their own, let alone whenever she was distracted by more important matters.
“No good, huh?” A voice called, carefully balancing two drinks on her back with a sweet smile, “You shouldn't work when you're stressed.”
Marble shook her head and took the hot chocolate that was offered to her, “Thank you, Coco. I guess I am a little nervous; it's been years since I've seen my sisters, so I just want it to go without a hitch.”
Coco didn't particularly understand, being a single child, but she knew how important family was to the young writer, so she nodded and offered her a warm smile. “I just hope they don't mind you having me come along.”
Marble simply let out a giggle and reached her hoof out to meet Coco's, “I promise it's okay; Pinkie loves meeting new ponies, Maud is pretty good about accepting everyone, and Limestone... Well, I doubt she'll care.”
“I guess I'm just nervous about meeting your family,” Coco's cheeks flushed a little, but her shy smile didn't falter. “I'm also a bit relieved that I finally finished those costumes for Bridleway.”
“What's your next project, by the way?” Marble smiled a little at hearing that. She knew that Coco had been both unbelievably busy and stressed from work; not that it hadn't made her a good amount of bits, but she hardly had any down time for the two to actually spend time together.
“I don't even want to think about it,” Coco shook her head, offering a soft giggle to go with her smile. It was no secret that her life had improved ever since she dumped Suri on her head, but even she needed a little time away from it all. “By the way, why are we taking such an early morning train? It seems a bit strange to leave home at three in the morning.”
“Pinkie was planning on throwing Maud a 'Welcome Back' party, so I was wanting to make it there in time,” Marble frowned a little and reached her hoof up to brush Coco's beautiful cyan bangs from her face. “You really should show your eyes off.”
“Look who's talking,” Coco playfully glared at the mare across from her and brushed the strands of hair away to show off the gray mare's violet gaze, “You really should pin your bangs back; I still think it looks better than hiding behind your mane.”
“Or you could get a manecut,” Marble pouted and puffed her cheeks out. Coco really did look better with a shorter mane like the one she had when they first met. Now she wore it longer with curls that made her look more like one of those Canterlot ponies.
“Hey, I like the new style,” Coco pouted in return, playfully bouncing a curl against her hoof. Both mares couldn't help but giggle at their argument and return back to normal conversation after only a moment. That's just how they acted with one another, and it did wonders to ease the stress from both of their daily lives.
~~~
“So where are you two off to?” Ratchet looked back at the two mares that sat in the taxi carriage that he was pulling. While most taxis in larger cities were simply a seat with a hood, he preferred to pull an actual carriage; mostly because he got it as a great bargain, but partially because he was allowed to charge more for the service as well. Not that Ratchet was a particularly greedy stallion, but he had mouths to feed and bills to pay.
“Ponyville if you don't mind,” The younger of the two mares said while holding the door open for her companion, “If it's not too far.”
Ratchet shook his head and smiled, “Nah, it's only about a three hour carriage ride; so if you got the time then I got the time.”
“Sounds good to me,” Limestone brushed her pale gray mane back behind her ear with a smile. After climbing into the carriage, she looked over at the azure unicorn that sat next to her, “Nervous to be going back to Ponyville, Beatrix?”
The unicorn's deep lavender eyes settled on the landscape that had started to pass by with the carriage going into motion. “Maybe a little; the last time I was there I had caused some... issues.”
She hated it when ponies called her by her full first name like that, but Limestone was the only exception to that rule. A fact that had initially made Trixie uneasy around the rock farmer, but something she grew used to over the months that she had worked with her. While she had lost contact with the others at the farm, Limestone had literally hunted her down halfway across Equestria in order to give her the invitation to come back with her to Ponyville.
“You also told me that you apologized,” Limestone put a reassuring hoof on Trixie's withers, “Besides, I think it'll be a nice surprise for you to visit again on some friendlier terms.”
The unicorn closed her eyes and turned to face the mare next to her and opening them back up with an uneasy smile, “I normally don't do shows in the same town twice.”
“Then don't make a show out of it; just make it a visit,” Limestone offered a slight smile to her friend, “Now come on and stop being so insecure; I like it when you're a bit braver.”
Trixie's smile faltered and contorted into one of sincerity as she nodded, “You're right! The Great and Powerful Trixie must always make a good appearance!”
“There we go!” Limestone giggled and wrapped a hoof around the mare's shoulder, pulling her into a warm half-hug, “Keep that and you'll be fine.”
A bump in the road bounced the two mares in their seat again, having a voice call back up from outside the carriage, “Sorry ladies, these back roads can get a little rough sometimes.”
“Oh no, you're fine!” Limestone called out, poking her head out of the window to see the stallion.
“So, what's in Ponyville if you don't mind me asking?” He asked without looking back and focusing on the road.
“My sister's coming in town, so I was going to come visit her. It'll be the first time in years that all of us got together,” Limestone replied, closing her eyes at the feeling of the wind blowing through her mane.
“No offense, but y'all don't really look too much alike.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie most certainly was not born on a rock farm! She is here as... a plus one,” Trixie shot down that idea harder than Manehattan had done to her after the first Ponyville incident.
“Jeeze, sorry; I just assumed,” He frowned, but still didn't look back to see the angry expression that Trixie was wearing as her head poked out the other window.
“Don't mind her,” Limestone giggled a little, “She's just a friend that used to work with me.”
“I aint gonna question the company you keep little missy,” He shook his head and continued, “I just heard some pretty vicious rumors about her in my travels.”
“Rumors are just that, rumors!” Trixie shouted again before pulling herself back into the carriage. She crossed her hooves over her chest and pouted at the driver's words.
“She's honestly not that bad if you get to know her,” Limestone smiled and peeked back at the huffing unicorn next to her, “Just a little bit of a grumpy gus sometimes.”
“I am most certainly not a grumpy gus!” Trixie pouted even more, pulling a granola bar from her bag and biting into it angrily. A rather bad habit that she had picked up back on the rock farm was to eat whenever she was upset. Something that Limestone had noticed starting to take a toll on the unicorn's body in the form of a little extra flab around her flanks; although she thought better of mentioning it.
“You aren't exactly the queen of kindness right now either,” Limestone teased and climbed back into the carriage. Soon she had her own granola bar, although hers was littered with small chocolate chips. Unlike her friend, she didn't really need to worry about getting fat; working on a rock farm almost ensured your body becoming more muscle than anything else.
~~~
The last member of the pie sisters was arriving in Ponyville in mere minutes, watching out the window of her carriage with a wry frown. It had been nearly over a decade since she last spoke to any of her family, but that doesn't mean she hadn't gotten any mail from any of them. No, Pinkie sent her letters at least once every two weeks, just as she always had before what happened all of those years ago. Normally she would have shrugged of the very idea of coming to see her sisters, as the guilt still ate away at her and her other sisters still probably hated and blamed her.
Not that they didn't have the right to; every second of her loneliness was warranted. The only interaction she had with her family was at the last Grand Galloping Gala where Pinkie decided to destroy the festivities. Of course the gray mare had expected no less from her party throwing sister, but it was a godsend that she hadn't recognized her. Pinkie was always so good with faces too, so it would have taken no less than divine intervention to keep Octavia as just another mare.
Normally she would have avoided the gathering of her family this time around as well, but there was something different in Pinkie's letter. It sounded far more urgent, like she had something on her mind that showed... depression. Something that she hadn't seen since the day she fled the rock farm. While Octavia wanted to avoid seeing her sisters at any cost, she truly did love her sisters; especially Pinkamena. Not just because she was the only one that had forgave her, but because Pinkie was the only one in her family to show interest in her passion for music.
There were many days on that farm where she would help Pinkie write silly little songs for her to sing to their family. Sure, their parents didn't really seem to care about it, and Maud was... Well, Maud, but Limestone truly loved being sung to sleep and Marble was just happy to see her twin smile. Father didn't approve of his daughters leaving the rock farm, but luckily Octavia had soaked the brunt of his anger so that her sisters could leave without any rage from their parent.
“I hope she enjoys it,” Octavia mumbled under her breath as she looked over the sheets of paper in front of her. It was a song that she had been working on for years now, but it was still missing something oh so important. It was missing that Pinkie Pie touch that always made her music shine brighter than the stars themselves.
“We're almost there, mam,” The voice of her driver called back to her.
“Thank you, Gray Mane,” Octavia replied to her servant with a kind smile. A smile that was as brittle as glass; her nervousness a hammer ready to strike it at any moment. She lived a lavish life in Canterlot, but her heart was still as empty as ever. Most ponies assumed that the fiasco at the gala had ruined her reputation, but the ponies that mattered understood just how unavoidable the chaos was.
She wasn't the most rich mare in Canterlot, but she had a home that she owned, food on her plate, and a servant that she honestly would be lost without. Octavia straightened her tie out as she continued, “How do I look?”
“Lovely as ever, Madame,” Gray Mane only peeked back at his mistress for a moment before turning his attention back to the road.
“Are you sure? I do want to make a good impression on my sisters; it's been years since I last saw them and we didn't part on the best of terms,” Octavia felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she took a forced deep breath. It felt like the first time she had ever performed on stage; that wrenching feeling in her gut that almost made her want to turn the carriage around and return to Canterlot. Her head was reeling with questions, ideas, and fears that already was causing a migraine to threaten her.
“Madame, you know how I feel about this trip. I just want you to finally make up with them, and I'm sure they will be more than happy to see you,” Gray Mane replied matter-of-factly. His outspoken personality was actually what made her hire the stallion. She couldn't stand the idea of being like those other Canterlot ponies that want a servant that is only 'speak when spoken to'. Maybe it was her loneliness that made her that way, but it was something that she enjoyed either way.
“I know you do, Gray Mane, and I thank you for it. You're honestly the best friend a mare could ask for,” Octavia smiled again, feeling that tension ease up a little as she talked with her servant. Gray Mane was more than just a servant to Octavia though; he was a friend. An idea that both had openly told one another, although Gray Mane insisted that he still be paid for his service. He really did take that joke all too seriously.
“It'll be about another five minutes,” He informed her with a slight smile flashed back at her, “Also, I think you do look rather lovely.”
Octavia's cheeks flushed a little, but she nodded in appreciation. Even if it were a lie, his words were enough to give her that boost to finally confront her mistakes from all of those years ago. She was ready to see Pinkie, Maud, Limestone, and Marble for the first time in so long.
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 4 - Party for Four
“Sorry again, Rainbow Dash,” Maud said plainly as the three mares walked side by side, “I wish the train hadn't arrived so early, so you could have spent time with Pinkie.”
Rainbow hovered above the ground at an excruciatingly slow pace so Maud could keep up with the bouncing pink mare and the stunt pegasus. She shrugged at Maud though and flew in front of her; after turning to face her she replied, “It's no big deal; Pinks and I can go pranking any day. You only get to visit like what, three times a year?”
“Four if I come home for fall as well,” Maud clarified, “Thank you though; the sentiment is not wasted.”
“It's no problem... I guess?” Rainbow replied, still not really sure how to deal with Maud's emotionless and blunt personality. “By the way Pinkie, what are you planning for the party?”
D blinked, not really sure how to respond to her friend. She really wasn't the best pony at planning parties, but she usually just followed the checklist that Pinkie kept in their journal for any big events. Not that Pinkie ever needed it, but it did help any of the others that might be stuck with party planning for the day. Except Inkie; that mare really loved to just do her own things at parties.
“It'll be a super big party as usual, silly!” D said in her most convincing voice that she could muster, and thankfully Rainbow didn't really seem to pick up on her uncertainty.
“Cool! I gotta fly real fast though; there's something I gotta pick up for... that,” Rainbow said with a wink and a nudge that D really wasn't sure about what it meant, but she nodded and pretended to understand.
“I gotcha; we'll see you later, right?” D grinned and gave her friend a wink back.
“You got it! I'll have to catch you two later,” With that, Dashie flew off into the sunset. Which wasn't really the sunset, but D imagined that it would've been cooler if it was.
“What was that about?” Maud asked, turning to face her sister with that still deadpan expression, but D could pick up on that hint of curiosity buried underneath.
“No idea!” D giggled and shrugged, “It'll be a surprise to me too!”
“What will be a surprise?” A very small voice called from behind the two mares, drawing their attention back to a thin gray mare with a darker gray mane and two deep purple eyes.
“Marble?” D stared for a moment before grinning wider than Rainbow Dash being accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy, “Marble!”
With that, the two sisters landed onto the ground as a mass of flailing limbs and a pink mare clinging all four legs around her twin with the widest grin ever, “Ohmygosh, I've missed you so much that you don't even know! It's been like a thousand... No, like five years since we've seen each other and you haven't aged a single day and you're just as pretty as ever! I think it's so unfair for you to be the prettier twin, but it doesn't really matter because I've missed you so much. I really, really am super happy to...”
Marble rolled her eyes helplessly and returned her sister's embrace as she rambled on about so many topics that were held together by the loosest and usually forgotten connections. Not that Marble was complaining; she absolutely missed Pinkie since that day that she left the farm. Sure, they send each other letters around every two weeks or so, but it wasn't the same as actually having her sister embrace her.
“I missed you too, Pinkie,” Marble replied after a good five minutes of Pinkie's rambling that she probably hadn't taken a single breath for. If that was even possible, but Marble knew better than to doubt her sister's bizarre abilities.
“She's coming back,” Maud smirked ever so slightly at that thought. As usual, Pinkie proved to make her so expressive with her emotions; even to the point that she almost let out a soft laugh. Almost.
“Do you two know what this means?!” Pinkie stood up and scooped both of her sisters into a group hug; despite the fact that Maud had easily been five feet away just a moment before, “I'm going to throw a double party!”
“Until Limestone arrives,” Marble clarified.
“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie's eyes widened and her pupils took over the blue of her eyes, “Girls; we haven't had a triple party since that day back on the rock farm. The day that it was mine and Marble's birthday and Limestone got accepted into McRockstein's School of Rock Farmers! Do you two know what this means?!”
“No.” Maud said flatly, but her building excitement was practically oozing from every part of her body.
“What?” Marble asked with a shy, but excited smile.
“We're going to not only have a cake, but we're going to make the Shattered Igneous, Snowcream, Confetti, and Geode Cake Supreme!” Pinkie squealed at the very idea, pulling her sister's cheeks to her own, “Not only that, but we're going to have a rock pinata!”
Marble only giggled and hugged her sisters in return, “Does that mean I'm going to have to go rock foraging?”
“You know it!” Pinkie nodded eagerly, “Girls, this party is going to be the most extreme party that I've ever thrown in Ponyville. Now the big question is if I should invite everypony or just our super duper close friends?”
“I'm okay with just close friends,” Marble's brow twitched as a nervous smile made its way onto her face. She really didn't care for being in large crowds or the center of attention for that matter, so maybe a party with less ponies would help keep her from panicking. Even after all of these years, she was still prone to anxiety attacks.
“I'm not really a pony-pony,” Maud agreed, shaking her head at the idea.
“Great! Then we'll just invite Twilight and them!” Pinkie dropped her sisters at her sides and nodded her head, throwing a clipboard and a pen into the air from her mane. Upon catching both flawlessly in her hooves, she spoke yet again, “Alright, so I'll need your two's help with collecting supplies.”
“Wait, uhm... C-Can I bring somepony too?” Marble quietly interrupted her sister before she had the chance to go into 'super serious party mode'.
“Well, yeah! Who did you wanna bring?” Pinkie grinned widely in both shock and complete bliss. Her twin was always so anti-social and quiet that she hardly ever made any friends; so hearing her actually opt to bring someone herself was like a gift from the divines themselves.
“Her.” Marble pointed a hoof over at the very light amber mare that stood about four feet away, hiding behind her curled cyan mane with an uneasy smile on her face before her eyes widened in shock.
“Wait, it's you!” Coco's shyness almost instantly melted as she ran over to the party pony, showing her a wide grin in excitement.
“Oh my gosh it's you too!” Pinkie's smile somehow widened, although she had absolutely no idea who this mare was. There was a weird sense of deja vu, but it still nagged at her uneasily. She never forgot a face once she had seen it, so why was it so hard for her this time around?
“You know each other?” Marble looked between the two in a bit of disbelief.
“We met a while back in Manehattan during fashion week. She was one of the mares that helped me finally dump Suri onto her head,” Coco clarified to her friend with that excited smile still sitting on her face.
“That was an adventure!” Pinkie giggled again, just hoping that her act wasn't going to be picked up on.
“By the way, Coco, do you want to help me out with getting ingredient for the cake, or would you like to head back to the hotel?” Marble smiled gently and hugged the mare with a single leg.
“I think I'll go back to the hotel and get everything unpacked for us,” Coco hugged the mare back and gave her a soft nuzzle, “Will you come get me later for the party?”
“Of course,” Marble agreed and nuzzled her back before Coco trotted off with a wave.
“I'll see you and the others at the party later, right?”
Pinkie nodded, “You know it!”
After watching the strange cyan maned mare walk off, Maud finally said what was on her mind in that flat tone as usual, “You two seem close.”
Marble's cheeks flushed a soft red, “Maybe a little... We met through my agent's wife. She's a pretty big fashion critic back in Manehattan that introduced us. We kind of spent time together, and then became roommates.”
“Just roommates?” Maud asked with what was probably meant to be in a teasing tone, but had came out flat as ever.
“Oh my gosh, really?” Pinkie tackled Marble into another tight hug and squeezed her as tightly as she could, “A special somepony?!”
“Subtle.” Maud replied on behalf of her sister that's cheeks had become almost pink enough to match her twin.
“Do you know what this means?” Pinkie giggled, “We're going to have to throw another party for you two!”
Marble's eyes widened in horror at the idea of being the complete center of attention and she shook her head, “No, no, no, no, no! L-Let's just let this be the only party this week.”
“But-” Pinkie was cut off by her sister shaking her head adamantly, “Fine, but I'll still make you two a cake at least.”
Marble only smiled at her sister and nodded. Stopping Pinkie from throwing a party was like using oil to dowse a fire; it almost never works out; so when it comes to victories with the party pony, you had to take what you could get. Already though, she knew that this party was going to be a hectic thing to put together though; Shattered Igneous, Snowcream, Confetti, and Geode Cake Supreme is one of the most difficult and time consuming endeavors that one could have in the kitchen; it had only been successfully made one time in their life and it took Maud, Marble, Limestone, and Pinkie to complete the monstrosity.
"We better get started if we're going to finish he cake by the party tonight." Maud said matter-of-factly, to which both mares nodded in agreement.
"Alright girls, so here's the jobs I need you two to do!" Pinkie showed them the checklist and began to assign tasks.
And that's how Marble found herself outside of Ponyville in the Diamond Dog fields, searching the ground for geodes. It wasn't something that she had to do for years now, but muscle memory alone proved to work as she dug through the ground with her hooves, wearing the two special horseshoes that they used to use for such chores around the house so many years ago.
“Why didn't she give Maud this job?”
Unbeknownst to her though, Maud was spending her own time climbing into a volcano to collect the 'freshest' igneous rocks that Equestria had to offer.
~~~
Octavia let out a soft sigh as she trotted back to her apartment, carrying the saddlebags that she refused Gray Mane access to. Not that she wasn't paying him to perform such manual labor, but the bags were carrying something special that she had for her sister to offer as both an apology and maybe as a way to cheer her up. After all, the main reason she had come to Ponyville was because Pinkie Pie was upset, and as her older sister she knew better than to just let Pinkie brood over something for too long.
She smiled and pulled out her key between her teeth and stabbed it into the door lock. It took her a few minutes to actually convince Gray Mane that she would be okay in her own room. He said he worried about her, but she honestly knew how Gray Mane felt about her. He was just wanting to be a little closer to her than she was okay with; not after what had happened on the rock farm.
“You.” The clattering of keys falling to the floor was heard following up the voice. Octavia turned her head to see a gray mare with a pale off-white mane and two brown eyes and an expression of complete shock on her face. Limestone's eyes widened as she looked over the mare and bit her lip as if to say something.
After a minute of the awkward silence, she finally spoke up, “Sorry, you just reminded me of somepony.”
Octavia's gut wrenched at the very sight of the mare and quickly threw out a random accent into her voice, “I understand darling, I get that a lot.”
She mentally kicked herself in the head for using a Braytish accent, but the gray mare seemed to buy it as she apologized and entered her room. Octavia on the other hand was taking a deep panicked breath from recognizing her youngest sister. Thankfully Octavia wore her mane in a different style now and she truly looked a lot different than what she had the last time they met. Urgently though, she entered the room next to her and locked it with utmost haste in case the mare in the next room decided just who she really was.
The hotel room was bland, only having a single bed, dresser, nightstand, lamp, and a handful of books. Octavia found herself almost immediately crashing onto the bed as she let out a long and helpless whimper as the memories came unwelcomely rushing back into her head. All of those years ago, it had been all of her fault. If she had never let him into the house then... Then...
“Madame, I wanted to inform you that I had ordered lunch for you,” A voice called from the other side of the door, causing Octavia to lift her head from the wet pillow. She honestly hadn't realized that she was even crying to begin with, but she wiped her eyes quickly before calling back out.
“Thank you, Gray Mane,” She took a shaky breath and forced a smile, “I'm just... unpacking. I'll be out in a moment.”
“Of course, Madame...” He replied with a wry frown forming on his lips. He knew something was terribly wrong with Octavia and he wanted nothing more than to just open the door comfort her, but he knew better than that. She was always so distant and cold about her personal problems; a fact that he had learned the hard way a few months back where he was almost fired from it. No, not just fired, but he was almost banished from her life as both a friend and an employee.
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 5 - With One More
"Okay!" Pinke flopped down onto her flank, looking over the checklist in front of her. Making the Shattered Igneous, Snowcream, Confetti, and Geode Cake Supreme was an endeavor that she hadn't prepared for; as such, she had two of her sisters already out collecting the necessary ingredients. When Limestone appeared, she was planning on having her youngest sister help make the snowcream icing; that was always the mare's specialty.
Pinkie closed her eyes and focused, "Okay girls, I need your help!"
Slowly she imagined the world fading way into blackness around her; the sounds echoing from downstairs slowly withered into nothing more than a soft background noise for the pink mare. This wasn't the first time that she had done this, but it always came with mixed results; sometimes being more helpful and sometimes only causing problems. With Pinkie now being alone in the world, she began to visualize another pony sitting a few feet in front of her.
Slowly the hazy, colorless blob started to take shape of a lithe white mare with a wonderfully bouncy yellow mane that was only a little longer than Pinkie's. Her eyes were also closed as she looked down, sitting lifelessly in her forced daydream. Her wings that were standing out on either side fell and naturally folded at her sides; her cutie mark was a familiar three balloons, but instead were all a uniform purple. She was the mare that Pinkie had known as surprise, and was among the first personalities that she had met.
Next came another hazy and colorless blob that slowly formed into a slightly pudgy mare with a coat almost as black as a moonless night sky; her mane was a rather bland style that was almost like Maud's, but had two long strands that came down on either side of her bangs, creating a framing for her face. It was a deep midnight blue as well, but a lighter blue more akin to Luna's fur color and had a single silver streak running through it. Her cutie mark was an old style lock that had the classic key hole in the center of it; akin to one that you would find on old prison cells. She assumed the same position as surprise in only a moment; save, instead of two wings, she had a long spiraling horn. Her name was Pinkamena and she came around the same time that Surprise had. Originally she didn't really have a name, but Pinkie decided that Pinkamena kind of suited her sometimes grumpy personality better than it suited herself.
The third for her to focus on was a filly that's fur was a pale pink that actually almost bordered on white. Her mane was a curly indigo style that bore reminiscence to Pinkie and Surprise, but was instead pulled back into two pigtails. She was easily the youngest of the group, being barely old enough to have her cutie mark; which was an image of a slice of Shattered Igneous, Snowcream, Confetti, and Geode Cake Supreme. It was a memento that she had earned when she came up with the recipe for the gargantuan cake. While Pinkie was considered an amazing baker, nobody could compare to the talent that D really had. Although she went by that nickname, she had initially decided that she wanted a full name too, to which she lovingly named herself Diana Artemis Pie. It wasn't until later that she had realized just how much of a mouthful that would end up being if everyone had to say it.
The final mare took a little longer for her to create an image of, but eventually it came together into a light gray earth pony with a perfectly matching mane. Her cutie mark was a pair of rounded glasses with a quill and inkwell behind them. She was the pony named Inkril, but far preferred the nickname of Inkie. Although she rarely came out, she was easily the most outspoken and proactive of the alters; even somehow more so than Pinkamena. Not that she was as grumpy as the protective mare, but she certainly was the most manipulative. She never used it maliciously mind you, but she knew just what to say and do to make a plan come together.
With all four of the mares present, Pinkie finally spoke up, “Is anyone here?”
There was dead silence for a moment and so Pinkie called out again, “Hello?”
Again there was no response, but after a moment the filly started to stir and looked up at Pinkie with those two deep emerald eyes, “Hi hi!”
Pinkie giggled and nodded, “Hi there, D! You're just the pony I wanted to talk to!”
“Why? Did I do something bad?” D took a nervous step back, looking over Pinkie nervously.
“Oh no, silly filly; I do have a surprise for you, though!” Pinkie giggled.
“I thought that was Surprise's job,” The filly joked and poked her tongue out playfully.
“Not when we're making Shattered Igneous, Snowcream, Confetti, and Geode Cake Supreme!" Pinkie cheered and opened her eyes, dispelling the illusion on accident, "Uhm... oops?"
"I'm still here," D said, to which Pinkie had a mental image of the filly pouting, "But it's supposed to be special! Who are we making it for?"
"Well, our sisters of course!" Pinkie smiled and hopped in place, "Maud and Marble are already getting the rocks! I need your help to make the batter though, and we need to get Limestone to make the snowcream icing when she arrives!"
"Limestone's coming too?! Okay, okay, so... So, we're going to need at least five cups of brown sugar, four cups of confectioners, and 6 cups of granulated sugar. We're also going to need two bags of waffles, seventy-five pellets of tic tacs, five sheets of candy buttons, a saltshaker half-full of cinnamon, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, streamers, colors... Also, a quart of ice cream, a quart of corn syrup, a case of rock cider, a pint of french vanilla creamer, and two dozen doughnuts. Not that we need all that for the cake, but once you get locked into a serious sweets collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that has me worried is the french vanilla creamer. You know there is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a pony in the depths of a creamer binge, and I know we're going to get into that rotten stuff pretty soon." D spilled off her entire list of goods that she needed and some that she just wanted, but it was enough to give Pinkie a strange sense of deja vu.
~~~
Twilight smiled as she slammed the book shut, taking a deep breath that was finally clear of any dust. It had taken her all two hours for her to have read the entire book from beginning to end, but she had finally compiled a list of things that Pinkie could easily be afflicted with. Not that she was a therapist by any stretch of the means, but her curiosity made it all too difficult for her to refrain from forming hypotheses.
"Alright, so considering what I know about Pinkie, I have selected four plausible issues that she might have, I think-" She was cut off by the baby dragon that nonchalantly threw in his feelings on the matter.
“Why don't you just ask her?”
“Because she yelled at me the last time that I had!” Twilight sighed and pressed her hooves against her face, sighing deeply into them.
“Well, didn't you ask her when she was clearly freaking out? Maybe ask her when she's calm?” He said again, laying a tray of dandelion and daffodil sandwiches that he had made for her, “Why do you always get so worked up over Pinkie though? You did the same thing when you learned about her Pinkie Sense.”
“This is different though! She might genuinely have something wrong with her!” She half-shouted before she went silent at the realization that her library door had just slammed shut. Quickly turning around, she came face to face with two turquoise eyes only a few inches away from her own.
“Wrong with who?” She said slowly and calmly. Maud already knew the answer though, which is why she was already at the library. Twilight was getting dangerously close to hurting Pinkie, and she wanted to see to it that it was not going to happen.
“O-Oh hi, Maud,” Twilight said with a nervous smile, clacking her forehooves together and uneasily shifting her eyes away from the mare's gaze.
“Pinkie told me what happened,” Maud said flatly, sitting down next to the princess with her expression as unreadable as ever.
There was a thick and uneasy feeling that weighed the air down, almost to the point that it was crushing Twilight. She wasn't sure if she should come out and just admit it, lest she end up upsetting Maud. Then she remembered that she was talking to the most stoic mare in the history of Equestria.
“I didn't mean to upset her, but.. I'm worried about her,” Twilight frowned, actually receiving a very small smile from her surprise guest.
“I'm going to go... uh... clean the room,” Spike ran upstairs to escape the uneasiness that he could almost see settling over the room.
“You're a good friend,” Maud said flatly and shook her head, “But please don't ask her. She needs to tell you on her own terms.”
Her voice was serious, but in a different way than her usual deadpan; to the point that even Twilight had noticed the shift in her tone. With that, the princess sat up straight and replied, “Can you at least tell me if she's okay?!”
“She's not in any danger. I can promise you that it's something different, but not bad,” Maud obliged, but was unwilling to tell the mare on her sister's behalf, “I've told you what I wanted, so I must return to Pinkie and help her make the cake.”
Before Twilight could pry any farther, the mare stood up and walked out of the library without another word, leaving Twilight sitting on her flanks with her mouth halfway open and only having more questions that needed answered. Pinkie was keeping a secret from her friends, but if it wasn't bad like Maud said, then why would she be hiding it? On that note too, how was having a conversation with yourself considered 'good'?
That nagging feeling only grew worse from Maud's visit rather than helping to settle it. Where questions were answered, only more appeared in their place and Twilight truly wanted nothing more than to settle it once and for all. She was curious beyond repair, and a curious Twilight Sparkle is as relentless as the hydras of Froggy Bottom Bog.
“I'll find out without asking Pinkie,” She declared to herself. If she wasn't allowed to ask her friend, then she would simply have to observe and record everything about her. Answers were bound to follow if she only paid close enough attention to her friend; after all, hallucinating ponies to talk to isn't exactly a subtle issue.
~~~
“Whoops!” Pinkie shouted as the batter literally exploded all over the kitchen the moment that she had taken it from the oven. The pop rocks that she had placed into the batter was clearly a terrible idea from both of the chefs.
“Maybe if we put them into the icing instead?” D suggested, feeling that changing the recipe might have been a bad idea.
“I think Mr. Cake will want us to clean this first,” Pinkie lamented, looking around the room at the scorching hot batter and cake that coated the counters, stove top, and even her mane.
“We can just do that later! We have to make the cake, silly!” D shouted excitedly, “Besides, isn't it more important to have the party ready first, then we can worry about chores?”
“Fine, we can clean up while the next cake is baking, okay?” Pinkie offered, to which D accepted with a mental nod.
“H-Hello, I was told Pinkamena Diane Pie was back here?” She heard an unfamiliar voice call from behind her; turning though, she saw a single gray mare with a black mane looking back.
“Ooh, you got her!” Pinkie said dumbly back, feeling a certain ticking of an internal clock start to go off for a moment before her eyes widened in shock, “... Octavia?!”
“Tavi?!” A third voice chimed in, jarring the pink mare and filly.
“Oh my gosh, I knew you sent her letters but she's actually here?!” The white pegasus squealed in excitement, almost ready to take control and tackle the mare at full force, but Pinkie had beaten her to the punch.
“P-Pinkie?!” Octavia shrieked at the sudden physical contact, almost immediately causing her to want to pull away and vomit on the spot from the uneasiness that shot throughout her gray body. She jerked away and held a hoof over her rapid beating heart, gasping for air.
“O-Octavia? I-I'm sorry,” Pinkie frowned and took a cautious step back. Had she been too forward? Was it too soon to hug her own sister?! What if she just left and went back to Canterlot because of that hug? What if-
“N-No, I'm sorry... I-I'm just still not big on being touched,” Octavia said and took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. She should have expected no less from her sister to suddenly tackle her like that, but something kept her from mentally preparing herself from it. It took everything she could to stop the anxiety attack that was threatening her. “It really is good to see you though, it really, really is...”
“What's wrong with her? She's acting like Pinkamena when she eats a stale muffin,” D commented uneasily.
“No, I don't think that's the problem,” Surprise clarified with a wry frown.
“Maybe I should say something?” Pinkie frowned.
“Can I try?! I give the best hugs and you know it,” D said hopefully, being the only party involved that was oblivious to her sister's panic.
“Maybe tell her a joke?” Surprise offered, choosing to ignore D's comment.
“I don't think it's the time for jokes, but maybe candy?” Pinkie offered.
“Pinkie? Are you okay?” Octavia looked back up at her sister with those two violet eyes, “You seem a bit distant. Well, more so than I expected.”
Snapped back to reality, Pinkie nodded, “Sorry, I was just worried about you...”
Octavia smiled and offered her sister an uneasy hug this time, to which the pink mare obliged with a little less enthusiasm this time around. She still felt like she was going to go into a panic attack, but she stomached that agony as best she could in order to show her sister that she really had returned to see her. No matter what had happened all of those years ago, she truly did love Pinkie and just wanted what was best for her. Not that she had ever particularly had proven is since the incident, but she still really did care.
“Do our other sisters know you're here yet?!” Pinkie grinned widely, not yet realizing that she was going to have to make a quadra-party.
“I... I hadn't run into them yet,” Octavia lied. She knew good and well that Limestone had seen her, but she didn't want to admit it to Pinkie that she hadn't made amends yet.
“Then we gotta tell them!” Pinkie bounced in place excitedly, “I'll have to make the cake bigger, and it'll be amazing!”
“No!” Octavia half-shrieked, having her cheeks flush a little at her outburst before shaking her head, “I-I mean, shouldn't we make it a surprise for the party?”
Pinkie paused for a second in thought, “What do you girls think?”
“I think it's a great idea! Ooh, we should totally put some pranks in the different drinks and the cake too!” Surprise derailed from the initial question, but Pinkie couldn't help but giggle at that idea. The last time she put that many pranks in her party though, Gilda had gotten more than just upset. Sadly the Pegasus really had a tendency to go too far with her pranks if nobody was there to keep her in check.
“I guess...” D agreed, not really sure what was going on.
“I think that's a great idea!” Pinkie cheered, accepting the unanimous vote for the party, “Oooh, I just had another iea! Can you do me a super duper big favor?!”
“D-Depends,” Octavia asked with a raised brow.
“Can you help me make the pop rocks? Do you remember the recipe?” Pinkie grinned widely in anticipation, only getting a cautious nod from her wayward sister.
“I-I think so...” Octavia couldn't have been far more wrong.
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 6 - Rock On
The rock farm always had the same monotonous days that you could honestly skip by without noticing that anything other than a skip in the calender. Every day of the week consisted of waking up, eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, going outside, rotating the rocks, shattering certain stones for their gems. On the weekends they would load up carts with the precious gemstones and either Maud or Igneous would take them down the road towards the clients that have ordered them.
It was rinse and repeat for all of the ponies involved: Cloudy would make food while the children would work the farm all day, Pinkie would rotate the rocks, Marble and Limestone would shatter of the stones that clients needed, and Octavia would almost always be busy at that fancy school that she went to. At first her parents were against the very idea of their daughter wanting to be a musician, but a cutie mark and their irritation of listening to those strings day in and day out had quickly persuaded them. Not that they particularly cared about their daughter's bizarre aspiration, but they decided it best that she could play somewhere else and not disturb them every day of the week.
Igneous and Cloudy weren't bad parents per se, but they had trouble grasping the concept of their daughters not wanting to work on the farm. To them, that's all that mattered in life was the rocks and the money to help pay for more rocks. Limestone was the only daughter that gave her parents elation at her goals, being the only daughter that actually was interested in working the farm.
Limestone let out a relieved sigh as she finally ground the last rock gravel and bagging it up for that order in Canterlot. She couldn't help but smile at the sound of music playing from the barn once again. While she truly did love her blissful job, Pinkie always knew just how to make a day better by having a party at the end of it. Oh how Octavia had gotten so upset when she heard that Pinkie was allowed to play her own music around the house but she was forbidden. Not that she was really too upset; after all, she had been enjoying that music school at the time.
“Silly Pinkie,” Limestone giggled as she went to join the party, only to find one Octavia already home and helping Pinkie set up the finishing touches. Their parents had actually been gone for the weekend, apparently taking a vacation to the Great Rock Spires of Griffondale; leaving Octavia with the duty of babysitting for the duration of her spring break.
“Oh hi Limestone!” Octavia smiled and gave the filly a tight hug, “I guess it's just going to be us here for a little while, huh?”
Pinkie nodded, her grin not wavering, “I wish mom and dad could be here though; they're gonna miss the 'Happy Spring Break, Octavia' party.”
“I'm sure they'll be fine. You throw a party almost every day,” Maud chimed in flatly, “Hello, Octavia.”
The eldest sister only nodded at her deadpan sibling, “Hello Maud; how has work been?”
“Good. School?” Maud was always the stunning conversationalist that everyone knew her for. Her voice always flat and unwavering, showing hardly a single emotion beyond certain highlights like Pinkie's first party or when Octavia first showed her special talent to the family.
Limestone had stopped paying attention to that boring stuff after only a moment and turned to her pink sister that insisted on wearing her mane in that fluffy style ever since her first party; although she did at least think to brush the tangles out to mane it look less like a cotton ball and more like a cloud. Pinkie was always so happy ever since that day, and so had everyone else. Where there were no smiles, Pinkie made so many. Where there was no laughter, Pinkie made jokes. Where there was no sugary treats, Pinkie baked. She was honestly the best older sister that Limestone could ask for; especially with how she would take time out of her night just to sing those silly songs to help Limestone fall asleep.
“Tavi, t-there's some strange pony outside and he's not leaving,” Marble's soft voice was usually trampled under the weight of other ponies' conversations, but her words somehow pierced the noisy barn. It was no surprise though, not when you stop to think just how popular a rock farm of all things would be. Octavia looked at her sisters before comforting them with her strong words.
“I'll deal with it.”
Octavia was truly the only mare in their little family that truly had social skills. After all, Marble always insisted that she was a Canterlot Pony at heart, to which all of the other siblings eagerly backed this up. In hind sight though, it should have been no surprise to Limestone when Octavia had up and left to the big city. The four fillies that were currently hiding in the barn had poked their heads out through the door, one mare at a time, to see their sister.
“Hello Bass,” Octavia said shakily, crossing her hooves over her chest, “What are you-”
~~~
Limestone's eyes shot open to see a blue unicorn shaking her with a single hoof, “Come on; wake up, the party's starting soon.”
She apparently had ended up taking a nap the moment her head hit the pillow of her hotel bed. Not that she really remembered doing it to begin with, but the trip had obviously taken a toll on her body that her brain hadn't noticed. She was always like that though; she didn't pay attention to the needs of her body and she always ended up overworking herself or not eating enough. That was a reason that she loved having Trixie around; because despite her egotistical demeanor, she really was fragile an caring. She cared so much about other ponies and she made sure that Limestone would eat and take breaks. It wasn't until after she had left the farm that she truly started to regress into that same unintentional self-neglect all over again.
“Already?” Limestone asked groggily, her hoof slowly rubbing her temple to wipe the drowsiness from her head that assaulted her. Slowly she sat up to meet those two eyes that she had grown accustom to over that time on the rock farm with her. Trixie really had become her alarm clock of sorts; especially after Limestone accidentally smashed the old one.
“It's almost five, so yes,” Trixie nodded and helped the earth pony stand up and climb out of the bed with a soft smile appearing on her face. Although she loved to show off and be a mare larger than life, Trixie was always humbled by the rock farmer; a feat that only Twilight Sparkle had managed to make her do otherwise. Her horn glowed with a pale, magenta aura and made fixed the disheveled blankets that Limestone had left in her wake.
“I do feel bad for not seeing Pinkie or Maud before the party though,” Limestone lamented to herself, but only shrugged off the feeling, “I do hope that they will like the gifts that we brought though.”
Trixie shrugged, “I'm sure that they'll love what you picked out, and I'm even more sure that they'll love what I brought. Fireworks all of the way from Prance? What's not to love?”
“I still can't believe that's where you were hiding all of this time,” Limestone said while shouldering her saddlebags. They were filled with bags that were easily twice her body weight, but to Trixie's ever-present amazement, she didn't even falter with the excess weight. The unicorn couldn't help but wonder if living on the rock farm would have done that to her if she had lingered long enough; although she couldn't help but shudder at the mental image of herself looking like an Equestrian body builder.
“Well, my shop had become pretty popular with the locals around the city,” Trixie shrugged and levitated her own, far lighter, saddlebags onto her own back. After her defeat last time she was in Ponyville, she had decided to just finally settle down and start her own business. While a magic emporium in a country primarily populated by unicorns would seem like a rather pointless endeavor at first glance, it had actually proven to be quite fortuitous for the mare. After all, it was rare for a pony to find such rare imports from all over the world. She even had artifacts, although some where admittedly replicas, of countries as far east as Griffondale and others as far north as Wolfenstein. Her 'magic emporium' quickly became nothing more than a 'magic imports store', but Trixie couldn't really complain with the sheer amount of money that she had been raking in.
“I figured it would be, but I wonder how they're going to handle it being closed for a week though,” Limestone wondered, opening the door and escaping the dreary hotel into the warm Ponyville air.
“Closed?” Trixie shook her head, “I left someone in charge of the shop.”
Although Twilight had blatantly showed the magician her magical superiority, that didn't make Trixie any less of a powerful spellcaster. She could still cast spells far beyond the scope of your average unicorn, and a golem designed to run the shop was only a parlor trick for the blue mare. Little known to her though, she was going to have four charges of destruction of property waiting for her back in Prance.
She never said that it was a flawless plan.
~~~
“Thanks again girls,” Pinkie cheered happily as she balanced the gargantuan cake on her back with the help of Twilight's magic to stabilize it. It was a shame that Limestone hadn't showed up, so it fell onto Pinkie to make the snowcream icing; not that it was going to be near as good. With any luck though, the cake would be just as good with its predecessor that was made so many years ago on the farm.
“It's no problem, Pinkie. After all, we're all going to this party too,” Twilight reassured her friend with a soft smile. While she was still desperately curious about what was going on with her, she had to still put her friend first. Besides, Maud had managed to help assuage her worry; albeit being replaced with blunt curiosity instead. That being said though, Pinkie was acting just like herself again and it did help reinforce Maud's reassurance.
“Think nothing of it, Darling. You help me all of the time around the shop,” Rarity agreed, unaware of Twilight's discomfort and curiosity that was wracking her brain.
“I just hope the girls like it,” Pinkie looked up at the cake with a hopeful smile. In a way, it was like a symbol of their reunion to the mare; one that didn't only symbolize the four sisters together, but the return of the fifth that had been so far away for so long.
“Pinkie, they're your sisters; I know they'll love it,” Twilight smiled and helped fit the cake into the library, taking care not to let it bump into the doorframe and damage the presentation.
“Agreed; they will love it and you know that,” Rarity nodded, understanding Pinkie's nervousness all too well. As an artist, she knew that Pinkie's baking truly wasn't too different from the dresses she made. They were both only really used one time and then they were gone forever; although Pinkie's goods were eaten and Rarity's dresses were just closeted for the rest of time after their use.
Pinkie sighed and sat the cake down onto the table with a smile forming on her lips again, masking the nervousness, “You're right; they'll love it!”
“Alright, the banners and streamers are up,” Rainbow Dash called out from above, landing next to her three friends on the ground, “We did run out of yellow though, so Fluttershy's out grabbing another roll.”
“Really? I was sure I bought enough,” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin and shook her head at that idea, “Oh well; the party's supposed to start soon though; it looks good though! Thank you, Dashie!”
Pinkie swung her forelegs around the pegasus' neck with a smile. Originally she was wanting to put the party together herself, but her friends insisted on helping her. After all, they knew good and well how much this party meant to her and they wanted to make it just perfect.
Rainbow Dash only grinned, “So, who all did you invite?”
“Oh, well, there's you girls of course, Limestone, Marble, Maud, Oc-” She paused, reminding herself that Octavia wanted a guest appearance. “Uhm... whoever you all want to come and whoever my sisters invited.”
She offered a half-smile that Twilight was about to question before being cut off by a loud voice echoing from the doorway, “What's a party without the entertainment?! After all, why would you not invite the Great and Powerful-”
“-Trixie!” Both Twilight and Trixie finished that sentence at the same time, although Twilight sounding a bit more spiteful than arrogant.
“What are you doing here?!” Rainbow Dash flew into the air, ready to divebomb the intruding unicorn before she noticed the second mare walk in.
“Limestone!” Pinkie squealed and latched her forelegs almost instantly around the smaller mare with a grin wide enough to almost outstretch her face; a feat that only Pinkie could manage to do.
“Pinkie!” Limestone giggled and hugged her sister back as tightly as she could before turning her head halfway to the blue unicorn and then back to her sister, “I brought a guest, and I hope it's okay.”
“I-” Twilight swallowed before smiling, reminding herself that Trixie was a changed mare ever since that duel so long ago.
“Well duh! Who is it?!” Pinkie giggled excitedly at her sister, hoping that she was bringing her special somepony or something along those lines.
“Uhm... Hello?” Trixie waved her hoof with her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Oh...” It took a moment before it finally sunk into Pinkie's head, “Oh!”
“Yeah...” Limestone smiled nervously, “She's my plus one.”
With that surprise visit from an old enemy, the rest of the party guests arrived one by one with a less impressive effect. Save for Rarity spending almost every waking second catching up with Coco Pommel on how life had been for her ever since they met so long ago. Not that Rarity hadn't secretly been keeping tabs on her fashion line in the Manehattan Fashion Weekly, but it was nice to genuinely talk to her about it.
Pinkie looked around the room now that the party was in full swing, distracted by the lack of one Octavia. She swallowed hard at that fear; what if she wasn't coming? What if she only came to see Pinkie and that was it? “No, she promised to come see us.”
Nobody breaks a promise to each other in the Pie family. That was grounds for court martial! Not that Octavia really acted like family to begin with; not since that incident so many years ago, but she was still Family to Pinkie and that's what mattered.
“Where is she?” Pinkie thought to herself again, not having a single voice answer her this time. She still couldn't help but start to have that rising feeling of panic in her stomach... She couldn't show it though; she still had a party to run and run it she was going to do.
~~~
“So, you and Pinkie's sister?” Rarity inquired as the two mares sat on the balcony, watching bizarre and foreign fireworks being launched at the hooves of Trixie.
“Yeah... We met a while back through Photo Finish actually; she's married to Marble's agent.” Coco shrugged and brushed a lock of her mane behind her ear. “I don't know how I didn't put two and two together when she said her sister's name was Pinkie, but I guess it's a small world after all.”
“I'm glad to see you again though, darling. I've seen that you've made quite a name for yourself in Manehattan,” Rarity smiled before turning her gaze back to Trixie, “What about her and Limestone though?”
“I doubt it!” A cheerful, third voice chimed in from behind the two mares that turned to see one Pinkie Pie who held two drinks on her back, “More punch?”
“Ah, thank you Pinkie... What makes you so sure about Limestone and Trixie though?” Rarity asked, taking a sip from the offered drink, only to recoil at the realization that it had that familiar alcohol burn. It wasn't that she didn't like a nice drink every now and then, but it seemed a little early to start drinking. “Darling, why is there alcohol in this?”
“Well, Twilight sent spike to Sweet Apple Acres, so it's just us adults, so I thought it was time to really get this party going!” Pinkie cheered on the start of the drunken debauchery; one that even Coco, Fluttershy, and Marble agreed to take part in. The latter two were especially an amazing feat considering Fluttershy hates the taste of alcohol and Marble was... well, Marble.
Returning downstairs, Pinkie was assaulted by the music that was being played by the white unicorn behind the DJ booth; which she was admittedly glad to have hired her old friend for the party. Looking over the room, she found Big Mac, who was currently drinking some hard cider that he had brought; Rainbow Dash, who was currently hoof wrestling Applejack; Twilight, who was sitting next to Big Mac, talking about something with her eyes wide; and Marble, who was watching the contest with some awe between the blue pegasus and the farmer.
“So you're saying what if we were all just tiny specs compared to the vastness of the universe,” Twilight stood with her mouth half-gaping as her conversation with Big Mac drew to a close.
“Eeyup,” He insisted quietly, taking another drink from the mug he held in his hoof.
“Wow,” She blinked, not really able to believe just how philosophical the gentle giant could be.
The room was fairly calm considering the drunken atmosphere that Pinkie had placed on the library, save for the cheering of the rainbow pegasus that had apparently one the hoof wrestle with her long-time rival and friend. Her grin only widened as she eyed Applejack, “Wanna go again?”
“Nah, I want another drink,” AJ shook her head and headed over to the keg that her and her brother had brought as a party favor, “Try Big Mac or something.”
Rainbow's eyes lit up at the idea, “So, what do you sa-”
“Eenope,” He said flat out before the pegasus could even finish, resulting in a pout from her. Quickly though, her eyes skimmed over the room to settle on her next victim, “What about you?!”
Marble's eyes widened in horror at the very idea, “What? Me?! I-I can't!”
She took a step back, bumping against the table that the competition was meant to take place. The writer honestly hated the idea of competition; she just preferred fun games that didn't really require brute force. “Oh c'mon, it'll be fun!”
“I don't th-” Marble was cut off by a pink hoof wrapping around her withers.
“She'll do it!” Pinkie grinned knowingly at her twin, who couldn't help but nod uneasily. Being a rock farmer gives you a certain level of strength and fitness that doesn't just leave you after you leave the farm, and Pinkie knew that good and well.
“Awesome!” Rainbow sat down on the chair and placed her hoof on the table, to which Marble took the other side with a nervous smile on her face that was half hidden behind her mane.
… Rainbow almost instantly found herself lodged into a crater.
With the satisfying crashing sound that Pinkie left behind her, she turned her attention to the quiet Fluttershy that sat in the corner with Limestone, “Hey girls, how's the party going?”
Fluttershy didn't say anything, but Limestone nodded with her cheeks flushed, “It'sh great!”
“Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked while turning back from her sister to where the quiet mare had been only a second ago, “Huh?”
“There!” Limestone giggled, pointing a hoof over to the yellow pegasus that now stood next to Twilight and Big Mac, “'Bout time she talked to him.”
“Wait, what?” Pinkie blinked, not really sure what was going on, but only watched Fluttershy say something and suddenly being dragged away from an angry looking Applejack.
~~~
“Heeeey Big Mac!” Fluttershy said loudly, her cheeks stained a dark red and her body feeling a certain numbness that only rum punch and apple cider could bring. It was rare for Fluttershy to actually drink, but for her close friends that had seen it in the past, it makes her a social butterfly that could put even Pinkie to shame.
“Eeyup?” He replied with a questioning voice.
“Fluttershy, uhm... How much have you had to drink?” Twilight raised her brow, worried for her friend. Fluttershy was known to be pretty unpredictable when she drank; not that other ponies weren't, but she was exceptionally so.
“'Eeey Big Mac, wanna-” She cut off to let out a hiccup and shook her flank eagerly, “-wanna see my-my cutie mark?”
“Eeyup!” Big Mac actually had a slight smile appear on his drunken lips before his vision became filled with a rather angry looking Applejack that happened to overhear.
“Sorry to break this up, but I have to take Fluttershy outside for a walk,” Applejack glowered at her brother and dragged her friend away from the party.
~~~
Pinkie only could laugh at what she imagined had happened in that conversation, “So, how have you been, sis?”
“Shame ol', Shame ol',” Limestone shrugged and took another swig of the punch in front of her. In a party where everyone was drinking, Pinkie had admittedly indulged herself a little as well; especially with the cider. Partially it was just to help her relax and have more fun, but it was more to silence that nagging realization that Octavia hadn't been planning on coming to the party at all.
“I think we should cut the cake soon,” Maud chimed in after approaching her two sisters. Although she looked just as apathetic as ever, Pinkie could tell that she was completely drunk off of her rocker. Limestone could tell too; maybe it was just a family thing, but they could always tell just how Maud was feeling.
“M-Maybe wait a little while longer?” Pinkie bit her lip, clinging to the very slim hope that Octavia was going to arrive. She knew better than to let her hopes get back up, but the alcohol clouded her sense of logic; which wasn't particularly a strong point to the Party Pony to begin with.
“For?” Maud asked, knowing there was something that the party pony was waiting for. After all, Pinkie always had her parties planned perfectly to where the cake would be cut when everyone was ready for it to be. So, what was she waiting for?
“I-I'm sorry for being late,” A voice called from the doorway of the library, to which nobody had noticed her over the beat of the music, save the one party pony with her eyes glowing brightly in excitement.
“Her.” Pinkie grinned and jumped from her seat, running over to her eldest sister, “Octavia!”
“Octavia?” Both Limestone and Maud said, with Maud as apathetic as ever and Limestone having a flare of anger shooting from the name.
“Tavi?!” Marble dropped her mug, spilling cider onto the ground with her eyes widening in a mixture of horror and anger.
“What is SHE doing here?!” Limestone's words were dripping with venom, eliciting a strange look from the other party goers.
“Well, duh! I invited her, silly!” Pinkie giggled and hopped in place, obviously too excited that she had actually arrived to notice the discomfort that her sisters were obviously feeling.
“You-” Marble stumbled over her own words, watching Pinkie drag Octavia into the room with a wide grin.
“Let's cut the cake now!” Pinkie wasn't even listening at this point, literally hopping across the floor until she reached the cake, dragging Octavia with her. Limestone, however, wasn't near as excited; she trotted with stomping hooves up to the eldest sister with a glare that could sour milk.
“You have a lot of guts showing up here. Pinkie, what were you thinking?!” Limestone hissed, to which Pinkie dropped the knife back into the table and turned to see her sister's rage apparent on her face.
“Maybe I came to apologize...” Octavia said calmly and quietly, feeling her heart pound brutally in her chest as she was forced to face her youngest sister with the intensity that she had been expecting. She hadn't realized that she was arguing with a drunken mare though; an endeavor that proved fruitless.
“Apologize?! You can't just apologize for what you did!” She hissed, “Why did you even invite her, Pinkie?!”
Pinkie felt her eyes start to water as the music was cut off by the shout from her youngest sister, “I just... I wanted us to be...”
Twilight stepped closer with a wry frown on her lips, “Girls, calm down; this is supposed to be a happy night for you.”
“Happy night? Do you know what this... What this... Stranger did?!” Limestone put emphasis on the word 'stranger'; not wanting to show any kinship to the invading mare.
“I came because-” Octavia started, but was cut off by two hooves suddenly thrusting into her chest, causing her to tumble backwards into their pink sister who let out a surprised squeal in shock.
“Gah!” Pinkie screamed as she hit the table, tipping its contents over onto both her and Octavia, the latter of whom escaped with only a bowl of punch and a bit of icing and cake, but Pinkie let out a pained scream from a knife, several glasses, several plates, and a gargantuan cake all toppling over onto her.
“Pinkie Pie!” Maud screamed, actually showing emotions that almost everyone in the room thought impossible. She was actually screaming in fear for her sister; to which she almost immediately was next to her, trying to clear the shattered glass and frosting off of her.
Pinkie only opened her eyes, feeling her body ache with a burning pain and watching blood start to mat in several parts of her fur. It wasn't a thick, running blood, but it was small wells of blood from several small wounds that felt like she had been stabbed by dozens of needles; or shards of glass in this case. Her pale blue-gray eyes focused in onto a rather hefty gash that showed itself onto her left foreleg that actually started to dye a darker crimson before she focused on Maud, showing just who she really was in that moment.
She collapsed from the sight of her own blood, only falling back into the shards of glass.
“It'll be okay, Inkie...” Maud murmured ever so quietly as the world slipped away for the unconscious mare. With that, her last glimpse was that of her friends circling around her, some with tears, some with frowns, but all with that same look of fear in their eyes.
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 7 - Telling Twilight
"Well, we saved your friend, but we couldn't save the glass cups," The doctor said with a perfectly straight face that's gaze shot over his glasses.
"No." Maud replied flatly.
"You should sue your doctor for not saving your sense of humor," The doctor said again with a roll of his eyes. He let out an exasperated sigh before continuing, “We stitched her up before she lost too much blood, so she should be fine there. On that subject though, she is still unconscious though, so I want to keep her here overnight at the very least; tomorrow we'll have to see if her condition has improved.”
Twilight nodded and shook the unicorn's hoof gently, “Thank you so much Doctor Funnybone. Can one of us stay the night to watch over her? I think it would help put us at ease knowing at least somepony is with her.”
The doctor's lips formed a wry frown for a moment before he nodded, “Normally I would say only family, but I know that you girls are her family, so if one of you wants to stay the night with her, you can. Now, if you'll excuse me, I do have other patients that have a sense of humor to attend to.”
After watching the doctor trot down the hallway, Maud turned to face the other mares in the room, “Only one of us can stay. I want to stay.”
“But I need to know if she's okay,” Marble protested quietly, wiping her stained cheeks free of the streaks that littered them.
“I want-” Octavia started before being cut off by the harsh glare of her youngest sister.
“You want to what? It's your fault this even happened!” Limestone spat out with her words laced with enough venom to stop an ursa major's heart.
“I know...” Octavia lowered her head, blinking back the burning tears that were threatening to start down her cheeks again.
“You pushed her into Pinkie,” Maud said with the blunt force of a hammer, causing all three sisters on the bench to wince.
“You did kind of overdo it, Lime,” Marble scolded her little sister before turning back to the eldest, “But you did appear out of nowhere, Octavia. I think you two need to talk and I'll stay with Pinkie.”
“Or you three can talk and I'll stay. You are just as angry at Octavia as Limestone is,” Maud pointed out the fact that Marble almost burst into tears the moment she had seen Octavia.
“And you weren't angry?!” Limestone barked at Maud, “You were the angriest out of all of us at what happened!”
“What did happen?” Rarity chimed in, raising a hoof before receiving a death glare from all four sisters; well, save for Maud's passive and unreadable gaze.
“She almost killed us,” Limestone said angrily before turning back to the eldest sister, “Because she wanted to-”
“Lime, that's enough,” Marble said firmly. Her voice was as quiet as ever, but any of the Pie sisters knew that tone of voice. When Marble had that specific tone, it was one that even Maud feared to disobey.
Twilight put her hoof onto Maud's withers with a knowing gaze, to which Maud nodded quietly. All of Pinkie's friends were worried about her, but had stayed quiet because of the clear tension and harsh argument that had filled the room. Twilight opened her mouth in a voice that was somewhere between her usual tone and a semblance of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“I will stay with Pinkie Pie. I think you girls have a lot to talk about, and having one of you here with Pinkie will not help.”
“But she-” Limestone started before being cut off by the full force of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Do you think Pinkie Pie would be happy to wake up to you four still arguing?”
“No, I suppose not...” Limestone bit her lip.
“I-I guess not...” Marble agreed.
“No.” Maud chimed in.
“You're right,” Octavia nodded without looking up from the floor, her forehooves slowly rubbing against one another nervously. She knew that coming back wasn't going to be easy, but she certainly hoped that it wouldn't have started like this.
“Good, then I want you four to go back to the library, sit down, ask spike for a glass of tea, and talk this out like civil ponies,” Twilight's voice returned to normal as she looked over the four mares, “Please; if not for yourselves, then do it for Pinkie.”
“... I'll try,” Limestone said, puffing her cheek out angrily to show her pouting.
“Don't 'ya worry Sugarcube, Ah'll go with them 'ta make sure it stays nice and calm,” Applejack reassured the princess with a smile.
“Me too!” Rainbow Dash nodded and landed next to her friend with a small grin, “Besides, it'll be better than cloud busting for a day.”
“Not quite what I'd call a responsible outlook, but thank you both. Are you four okay with this?” Twilight turned to face the sisters, to which Maud nodded.
“It will help.” Maud said calmly. “Can we talk before I go, though?”
Twilight only nodded as the other three sisters glared at one another while leaving, “Sure.”
“Please take care of my sister. I know what we're about to talk about will not be easy; neither for us, and even less for your friends.” Maud said in a softer voice than usual, which was enough to let even Twilight hear just how worried the cold mare really is. “I didn't particularly want to see Octavia, but Pinkie did, so I will try. After all, Pinkie had caught the worst of what happened.”
“What did happen?” Twilight bit her lip at Maud's words.
“I'm sure you will find out soon enough,” Maud said and shook her head, “But for now, I need to get back.”
The princess watched the gray mare leave through the large doors of the hospital. Although she was usually apathetic to the world around her, apparently she was a lot like Big MacIntosh in dealing with her anger: She actually evolved her speech beyond one or two word responses.
“I didn't know you could shout like that, Twilight,” Fluttershy whispered from beside the lavender mare, who looked back with a slight frown on her lips.
“Luna's rubbing off on me I think.” Twilight admitted with a faint blush.
“I for one thought you dealt with that fairly well, Darling,” Rarity rested a reassuring hoof on her friend's withers, “I do hope they talk things out though; I would go, but I'm worried that things may get... brutish again.”
“I really hope so too...” Twilight stared out at the door again where the sisters had left only moments ago. She really was hoping with her whole heart to put this rivalry to rest; after all, if it did this to Pinkie, then it's hard saying what could happen to the other Pies if it went unchecked.
~~~
Twilight's dreams weren't anything special, involving nothing more than a surreal landscape involving her reading a story with Princess Celestia in her private study. It was just a good dream to end a horrible day that Twilight reminded herself to thank Luna for later. Her awakening however, had come with an uneasy emotion as she noticed a stitched Pinkie fiddling uneasily with one hoof at the glass of water by her bedside. Groggily, Twilight embraced the plastic cup with her magic and helped the pink mare drink down the refreshing liquid.
“Thank you,” Inkie closed her eyes again and rested her head back against the pillow before they shot open in shock at the realization of the color of magic that had just gave her the drink, “Twilight?!”
Her cheeks stained red and she pulled the blanket uneasily over her wounded body, hiding her face a little behind her mane. Of all of the mares that she had expected to find in her room this late at night, Twilight certainly wasn't on the list of them. Not that it was not a welcome surprise, but it was a surprise no less for the gray mare.
“I'm so glad you're okay, Pinkie,” Twilight frowned as her eyes lingered painfully on the wounds that Inkie had failed to cover; especially on the gash on her leg that had seven stitches holding it closed.
Inkie swallowed, unable to stop her gaze from crawling over the princess' body, from the tip of her tail to the length of her outspread wings. Even with that disheveled mane and gaping yawn, she was still just as gorgeous as ever to the bedridden earth pony. Not that she would ever admit to noticing such a thing, as it would be completely silly to be looking at a friend like that.
“I guess they saved me,” Inkie mumbled, not really sure if that's what she wanted or not at this point. She knew what would be waiting for her the moment she got out of the hospital; four arguing sisters and a long explanation. Normally she would've already been working on a plan to fix the argument between her sisters, but Twilight's presence was already turning her brain to mush.
“The doctor couldn't save the glass cups though,” Twilight deadpanned the doctor's horrible joke from earlier.
“Doctor Funnybones?”
“Doctor Funnybones.”
Inkie let out a little giggle, feeling a little of her tension ease at the expense of the good doctor. Not that the stallion hadn't made the mare laugh once or twice, but he was definitely a doctor and not a comedian. The gray mare brought her gaze back to the alicorn that wore a kind smile on her face that made Inkie's breath catch in her throat momentarily.
“How are my sisters doing?” Inkie still felt groggy from the minor anesthetics that were no doubt given to her earlier that night, but she did her best to focus on the librarian.
“Talking things out hopefully,” Twilight shrugged, “I'm worried about you right now, though. You were pretty beat up.”
“I'm okay, Twilight. Just a little sore,” Inkie offered a half-smile and let the blanket slide down a little, showing off her battle scars from her brawl with the table, “I feel sugary though; well, more than usual.”
“I always thought you'd think that was a good thing, Pinkie,” Twilight giggled.
“You can call me Inkie, Twilight.”
“What?” Twilight blinked confusedly.
“By Celestia's beard, did I really just say that?!” Inkie screamed in her head, realizing the anesthetics had caused her to let her guard down. Her heart started to speed up awkwardly at the strange look that the beautiful mare was giving her. “I... I don't know?”
Twilight raised an incredulous brow and shook her head, deciding to put that question on the back burner. She was more worried about her friend's physical state than her mental state. Although, her curiosity still got the better of her, “Okay; so, do you want me to get you anything? Food, cake, pie... oatmeal cookies?”
Inkie brought a thoughtful hoof to her lips. Oatmeal cookies really did sound good; especially if they had raisins in them, but the way she emphasized the offer felt a bit strange. It was almost like she was expecting something out of it.
“I'm not very hungry,” She said warily.
“I see...” Twilight nodded. If there was one thing she knew about Pinkie, it was her ability to always be able to eat. Maud told her to stop prying, and she wanted to agree, especially in light of recent events, but that nagging feeling still ate away at her. In a way, her scientific upbringing had become a problem, but the conflicting desire to protect her friend struck her uneasily.
Did hours pass, or was it just minutes? Inkie really couldn't tell; she just knew that the clock was ticking and that the silence was becoming unbearable to her. Her hind legs shifted uneasily under the blankets before she finally spoke up along with Twilight at the same time, “I-”
Twilight faltered, “No, go ahead.”
Inkie bit her lip, but nodded, “Twilight, can I tell you something?”
“Of course you can, Pinkie. You can tell me anything,” Twilight tried her best to hide her excitement. She was hopeful that Pinkie would finally be ready to talk about what's on her mind, but it also had a strange feeling of dread sinking into her gut at the mare's words.
“No, can you Pinkie Promise me? Like, truly and absolutely Pinkie Promise me?” Inkie brought a worried hoof to her lips, biting uneasily at the wall.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twilight recited verbatim with matching motions. Although she was worried for Pinkie's mental stability, the quest for knowledge proved too strong for her sense of reason; she gladly gave the mare what she wanted to hear. Not that it was halfhearted mind you, she knew good and well that no matter what was about to be told, she could not tell a single soul. The gravity of her promise sunk heavily on her heart, but it seemed to settle the pink mare that was shifting uncontrollably moments ago.
Inkie took a deep breath and closed her eyes, “Twilight... W-What I'm about to tell you is something that I've only told one other pony. Maud is genuinely the only other mare that knows.”
Twilight felt a cold chill settle over her body, causing her mouth to form words that she didn't want to say, but knew she had to, “Pinkie... I-If you're not comfortable telling me, then you don't have to...”
“No... I need to. I need to tell somepony and I want it to be you.” She took a deep and uneasy breath before continuing, “T-Twilight... How much do you know of mental disorders?”
Twilight brought a hoof to her lips in thought. She didn't know too much about them, but she did read an entire encyclopedia on the subject, so maybe she could safely answer, “A bit.”
Inkie closed her eyes again and took another shaky breath, almost having second thoughts, but forcing herself back into control, “Dissociative Identity Disorder?”
“No?”
“Multiple Personality Disorder?” Inkie sighed internally, feeling a bit let down that Twilight didn't know the name.
“I've heard of it, why?”
“What have you heard?” Inkie's voice was almost pleading, needing to have some kind of comfort that Twilight was unsure she wanted.
Twilight thought back over the book, searching through her own head for the pages that she had read, and finally settling on a realization, “The disorder that doesn't exist?”
Although she said it unsure, it still stabbed like a dagger into the gray mare's heart, causing her to shut her mouth and close her eyes, breathe staggering. Those words again. It was those words that had plagued her since her childhood. It was those words that she didn't let anyone know affect her. It was those words that Maud only said once and quickly learned the error of her ways. It was those words that the therapists insisted on. It was those words that she had fought with for years until she moved to Ponyville. It was those words that her father drove her away with. It was those words that made her just want to shut up again, but she couldn't...
It was Twilight. She needed to make her friend understand. She needed to make Twilight understand just how real she was. “It exists.”
“What?” Twilight asked curiously. Books had never really been wrong before, so why would they be now? “The Encyclopedia said so.”
Inkie took another shaky breath and shook her head, “How old is this book you've been reading?”
“About a decade, why?” Twilight blinked innocently, truly unsure of just how inaccurate her source really was.
“Twilight...” Inkie facehooved, feeling a burning feeling through the wounded hoof that she chose to ignore, “It was renamed and reclassified as a disorder two years ago.”
“Wait, so why bring it up?” Twilight tilted her head, not yet fitting the puzzle pieces together. Inkie silently lamented at how such a brilliant mare could be so blatantly oblivious; a trait that she somehow found herself actually liking about the princess.
“Twilight, because I have it?” Inkie felt her own frustration overpower her uneasiness on the whole situation, but it only elicited a curious glance from the mare.
“Wait, so... So you have different personalities up there?” Twilight deadpanned in disbelief. Not that she was going to rule out the possibility for Pinkie; after all, she had learned the hard way not to defy the pink mare's bizarre nature, but it was still a bit piece of information to take in. With that question answered though, she could already feel more bubbling up.
“Five at least, including me,” Inkie replied.
“Wait, so Inkie... Does that mean you all have your own names?” Twilight hopped up from the chair with a sparkle appearing in her eyes, “Oooh, what are they like? Do they have their own favorite foods? Wait... Am I talking to one right now?!”
Inkie couldn't help but be taken aback by the surprising response from her friend, but felt a smile appear on her face that actually helped melt the fear away. Maybe it was Twilight's ignorance of the disorder, but it truly calmed her nerves to know that she was just going to be so accepting of it. Sure, she was probably still going to catch ten kind of Tartarus for telling their little secret, but Twilight had been asking questions anyway, and if any mare was going to understand, then it would've been her.
“Do they talk to you in your head, or how do the personality changes work?”
Well, at least Inkie assumed she would understand. Being well read apparently wasn't enough in this case, but it still made the gray mare laugh.
“Okay, okay, so yes, I am Inkie and I'm not Pinkie. I like to read and I talk to the others through different means, so it's hard to explain...” Inkie tried her best to answer the barrage of questions, but she finally took a deep sigh and closed her eyes. Might as well strike while the iron's hot, and it's something that Pinkie had been nagging her to do ever since she had found out anyway. With a deep breath, she spoke and cut off the inquisitive mare with one simple statement, “And I love you.”
“What kind of books do you like? Can you bake or throw parties? Are you-” She paused and simply blinked a few times, “Wait, what?”
Chapter 8 - Not Quite Getting Along (Potential Trigger Warning)
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 8 - Not Quite Getting Along
“So, how does Pinkie feel about this?” Twilight finally ended the awkward silence between the two mares after an hour, her hooves having not once left her face. Although her scientific mind only had more questions, her thoughts of friendship had only gotten in the way. Whether or not Twilight could reciprocate feelings was immaterial when compared to what her best friend felt on the subject.
“She seems okay with it, but...” Inkie paused and took an uneasy breath, “Look, we don't date for quite a few reasons, Twilight. It's hard when you have four other mares that have to approve of the others' choice. In fact, it's borderline impossible.”
Twilight bit her lip, lowering her hooves from her face and looking over at the injured mare that offered only a kind smile, “I really do want to say yes because I'm curious, but I also know that I shouldn't. It's not that I'm not interested, but it just seems... like a bad time.”
Inkie sat up slowly and groaned at the stinging that jolted out from her stitches, “You're right; I do assume my sisters are being less than... cooperative, right?”
“You have no idea,” Twilight sighed and rested her forelegs over the hocks of her hindlegs.
“I'm guessing that they blame Octavia?” She grumbled and rolled over uneasily to rest on her stomach, “Maybe I should come up with a game plan. Twilight, how fast can you cast levitation magic?”
“Uhm... I guess it depends on the size of the object,” Twilight blinked confusedly.
“How about a full grown mare?” Inkie leaned forward a little with a sly grin appearing on her lips.
“Maybe after three or four seconds if I focus, why?” Twilight found herself leaning in a little from curiosity.
“Because I think I have a plan to fix this. Remember what I did a while back to get you all to befriend Maud?”
“Ye- Wait, that was YOU?!” Twilight glared a little, “You planned that?!”
“Well, I was a rock farmer; I could easily escape that rock that caught my hoof,” Inkie shrugged, “Nevermind that though; I was thinking about something along those lines again. Maud won't fall for it if it's exactly the same, but maybe an identical premise.”
Twilight nervously fidgeted and shook her head, “... Only if you promise it won't be something that dangerous.”
“Why? If it's only a false danger, then what's the problem?”
“There's too much room for error! Think about it; what if you couldn't escape that rock? What if Maud couldn't reach you in time? Your action wasn't just responsible for yourself, but you have more ponies up there to watch out for!” Twilight scolded and hopped to her feet from the chair.
“Look, I'm not planning on being crushed by a boulder. No, I want to do something that only Octavia can help with, showing just how much she cares for Pinkie,” Inkie corrected herself, crossing her two forelegs over one another.
“What about-” Twilight paused as her eyes went wide, “You're bleeding!”
“What?” Inkie followed Twilight's gaze down to her leg, seeing the stitching on her gash being torn open, “Whoops?”
“Whoops is right; stay here, I'll get you a doctor!” Twilight squealed and rushed out into the hallway.
“... Or we could press the emergency call button?” Inkie murmured with a wry frown forming on her lips as she pressed the red button on her bedside remote.
~~~
Octavia slowly opened her eyes to her to the three other mares that sat at the table with her. Although her heart pounded like a drum, she felt a certain calmness in the silence. It was as if what had happened to Pinkie had knocked her sisters' anger to the wayside. The only one that still stared at her with borderline hatred was Limestone, who sat with her hooves crossed over her chest and her mane hiding her eyes.
“So...” Applejack finally broke the silence after a good thirty minutes. She and Rainbow Dash stood on either end of the table, ready to intervene if anything had gotten out of hand. All four mares at the table turned to face the apple farmer with an uneasy gaze before turning back to each other.
“You hurt Pinkie,” Limestone stated flatly.
“You pushed her, sis,” Marble shook her head.
“We need to talk,” Maud interjected before that argument could even take root. “I don't want Pinkie coming back to us fighting.”
“Well, that'll be pretty hard! After all, it's her fault we're even like this to begin with!” Limestone hissed at Octavia, who simply lowered her head and folded her ears back.
“She didn't mean to.” Maud shook her head, “She had no way of knowing what would happen.”
“Oh, she still invited him inside. She knew how her boyfriend was and she still invited him to stay the week!” Limestone growled, “What he did to Pinkie was fucking unacceptable!”
“Watch your language!” Octavia spat out, feeling her instinct as an older sister take over for a moment before she bit her lip uneasily, “I didn't... I didn't know he'd...”
“He'd what?” Limestone slammed her hooves against the table and leaned forward towards Octavia. “He'd beat the shit out of her?! He'd-”
“Lime!” Marble shouted with her eyes watering, “It wasn't just Pinkie... He did something to all of us and you know it.”
“Not me.” Maud said flatly, not meaning to brag about it, but said so matter-of-factly.
“Well, lucky you,” Limestone rolled her eyes, “I wish you didn't have that delivery... Y-You could've protected us from HER.”
“Me? I didn't hit you, I didn't do anything except...” Octavia's shoulders started to shake a little as she lowered her face, letting her mane fall and cover her watering eyes. “I'm so sorry... I'm so, so sorry...”
“Sorry doesn't fix anything this time, Tavi. You screwed us up and it's your fault that Pinkie was put in the hospital. It's your fault that Marble can't even look at a stallion without freaking out. It's-”
“Hold on, you think I'm with Coco because of that?” Marble cut her sister off with that stern voice that she rarely ever mustered, “I'm with her because I happen to love her!”
“I didn't mean-”
“That's not right, Limestone,” Maud scolded her sister with that same mono-toned voice. “Octavia isn't that way. You aren't that way; Even after what happened.”
“But I do see her not even being able to be touched without losing it,” Limestone said and poked her hoof against the eldest sister that visibly jerked away and let out a squeal.
“I-I...” Octavia felt her heart jump from her chest from something so simple. A single unexpected touch almost sent her over the edge. Her eyes closed while she took a ragged breath, “My therapist said it would pass...”
“Your therapist? Do you think Pinkie had one? Do you think dad could afford something like that?!” Limestone hissed, “We had to help her get better while we dealt with our own problems! I'm sure that we'd all be worse off if it wasn't for Maud.”
“Or maybe because Pinkie's parties,” Maud added. 'Or Surprise's jokes.'
Maud almost felt a smirk come at that thought. Almost.
“Yeah...” Limestone smiled a little at her memories of what Pinkie did. She really always knew how to cheer her sisters' up, no matter what happened.
“I hope she's okay...” Marble added, feeling a strange aching through her body at remembering the bloodied sight of her sister.
“I wish that I could just take it back...” Octavia sighed and looked up at her family with watering eyes, “I didn't want any of this to happen. When I looked at my future back then, I didn't imagine it being like this...”
“I don't think any of us did...” Marble sighed and pressed her hooves against her face, running them down to the tip of her muzzle slowly. “I-I still... I still dream about it... How it was dark and he thought I was Pinkie and... and...”
Maud quickly found herself by her sister's side, pulling Marble's face into her chest. The table only grew quiet for a good few minutes while the quiet mare broke into tears, letting out years worth of pent up sorrow and aggression. Maud knew just how hard it was on the twins especially; both of them had gotten the brunt of the abuse.
“I-I'm sorry,” Limestone mumbled after a moment, feeling a brick form in her gut at the sight of her older sister in tears. “I-It's just been hard, on all of us... I still hate you, Octavia. If I could, I would beat you like he did to...”
She trailed off and frowned at the crying Marble that had effectively soaked Maud's chest like a pillow. Octavia nodded understandingly but reached an uneasy hoof towards Marble, uneasily rubbing her back with a pained look to Maud. No matter what had happened, she really did care for her family even after they rejected her.
“Marble...” Maud closed her eyes and offered an uneasy kiss to her sister's forehead. “It's alright...”
“I can't...” She shook her head, “I'm so pathetic... I just... Why can't I be like Pinkie? Why can't I be strong...”
Maud let out a soft sigh as she pulled her sister closer and looking at her two sisters that sat at the table, “I know you're both upset. Pretend for Pinkie though... and... for her...”
Marble pulled away and shook her head, “No, please... I don't want you to be fake for me...”
“I'm sorry but I just... I can't forgive her.” Limestone said bluntly and stood up, shaking her head, “I'll just ignore her while we're together here. I hate her...”
She turned her head to Octavia, “You ruined two mares' lives! Pinkie left the rock farm because of what you did and Marble... You... You turned her into... this...”
Marble looked up at Limestone with her eyes watering even more. Those words hit her harder than that stallion ever had, almost shattering her like a glass window. She just shook her head and stood up, “I... I need to go... I need to go... I need to go...”
She mumbled and sprinted out of the library, being followed by Maud in an instant. The gray mare turned to face her youngest sister with a slight frown, “Too much.”
~~~
Pinkie quietly crept through the hallway from her bedroom through the darkness, feeling the cold hardwood against her hooves. It was strange having guests on the farm, but if Octavia was willing to trust him, then how could she disagree? After all, she was best friends with her oldest sister and she never lead her wrong in the past.
The pink filly licked her lips uneasily and swallowed. She woke up thirsty and was on the hunt for the kitchen through her cloudy thoughts and sluggish movements. Although you wouldn't think it, she really wasn't what you'd call a morning mare. It took Marble a good hour to actually wake her up for morning chores.
“Maybe I should throw a cotton candy party next time?” She mumbled sleepily as she stepped into the kitchen and dragged the stepping stool over to the sink. The tap water was about as good as she had expected, but it still did wonder to quench her thirst that had built up in her sleep. When she turned around though, she dropped the glass that sent water across the ground in all directions. “Oh hi there! You scared me, silly!”
She knew that he was there, but he seemed to be kind of like a mannequin. His fur was a dull gray with his face and cutie mark being hazy; only his sly grin showed through before he started to yell about something that Pinkie couldn't make out. His words sounded more like white noise that complimented the sudden pain that jolted through her cheek as she hit the ground in the cold puddle.
Struggling hadn't helped at all against the uncomfortable thrusting that hit against her flank; her hips burning in a strange pain that didn't stop. It just kept going and going until... until... She just wanted to forget it all... She wanted to escape from the world... She imagined she was happy... She imagined a party... She just...
~~~
Inkie opened her eyes to the bright morning light that shined through the cracks between the window blinds. Her heart was pounding and her body felt stiff and used; almost like she had just swam a marathon. Twilight laid peacefully on the reclining chair with her eyes closed and her breathing soft but steady, clearly unaware at the nightmare that the gray mare had just woken up from.
Slowly she turned over onto her back and closed her eyes again, taking in an uneasy breath, “My greatest secret kept from Pinkie...”
It always ended like this for the two mares when they went out to a club with the group; Rarity would always find some stallion to dance with, Rainbow Dash and Applejack would spend their time at the bar, and Fluttershy always cowered in the corner with half a dozen stallions asking her for a dance. Despite being a princess now, Twilight still was about as popular with the stallions as she was back in Canterlot. Pinkie, on the other hand, was really just seen as too much to handle, as most stallions were intimidated by her boundless energy.
“Well, we can dance, silly filly!” Pinkie grinned and grabbed onto Twilight's hoof, pulling her towards the dance floor with a wide grin that showed off her surprisingly white teeth.
“But I can't-” Her reply was cut off by the quick tug that had pulled her out onto the dance floor.
“Of course you can! I mean, it's swing, silly!” Pinkie giggled and pulled the princess into a rather erratic dance; even by the standards of Swing.
Twilight could feel her cheeks flush a little at the other ponies in the crowd watched a Princess and an Earth Pony dance with several whispers being heard under the music. The bliss in her friend's eyes had pulled her away from the judgment of the crowd around her, though. Pinkie really was having fun, so why shouldn't she?
“Let's give them something to talk about,” Twilight grumbled and closed her eyes before pouring her heart and soul into the dance; only to look completely ridiculous mind you, but Pinkie only giggled and joined in.
“See, it's more fun if you just let go,” Pinkie commented as both mares bucked their hind legs outwards, eliciting a few laughs from the onlookers.
“You're right,” Twilight opened her eyes cautiously and let herself indulge in her body's movements. It was admittedly more fun than what she usually had done at the club.
A loud thud echoed over the music, causing it to stop dead in its tracks as a stallion shouted out, “Go back to the asylum, freakshow!”
Laying on the ground was a pink mare that held her head with crimson starting to pour from the wound caused by a beer bottle hitting her. Another mare called from the crowd in an angered hiss, “We don't want your kind here!”
Twilight ran over to her friend's side and held her close, looking over at the crowd with a glare, “What is wrong with you all?!”
“What's wrong with us? What's wrong with you?! Actually wanting to be friends with that abomination!”
Twilight bit her lip and turned to see her other friends just standing there behind her, “Oh thank Celestia, girls, come help her!”
“I'm sorry Twilight,” Rarity lifted her chin and turned her head, “But I don't think I can just accept something like... This.”
“Ah hate to agree, Sugarcube, but you and Pinkie being together is one thing, but she's just not right in the head.” Applejack looked down nervously.
“Seriously, Egghead, she might even be dangerous with Celestia knows who is up in that head of hers.” Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs over her chest while hovering above the ground.
“But I... Even you, Fluttershy?” Twilight fought to blink back the tears that were welling up in her eyes, only to see a shy nod from the yellow pegasus.
“Sorry, but if y'all are gonna be friends with her, then Ah guess we can't be friends with you neither,” Applejack nodded sternly before turning and walking towards the door, having the three other mares follow her example with rather hateful expressions on their face.
“But... Girls...” Twilight only looked down at the bleeding mare in her arms that was in complete tears now.
“Get her out of our club!” A stallion hissed and threw another bottle out towards the two mares, following up with several other things being tossed from the crowd.
“No, she's not bad!” Twilight hissed and folded her wings around the pink mare, trying to shield her from the shattering bottles and various food that pelted them. “There's nothing wrong with her...”
Suddenly she felt a sharp pain shoot through her wing, having blood run through the feathers and drip onto the ground. Before she could cry out in pain, another voice boomed over the crowd, “Enough!”
Twilight slowly opened her eyes to find her forelegs empty of her friend and the crowd having disappeared to make way for a midnight blue alicorn that towered over the younger alicorn. She took a deep gasp before speaking, “P-Princess Luna?”
“Please, it's just Luna to you, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna corrected before continuing, “I see you know the secret of your friend. That, or you have rather accurate visions in your dreams.”
“I... You know?” Twilight asked and slowly uncurled from her position, wincing at the pain that shot through her wing.
“Twilight Sparkle, I am the patroness on dreams; of course I know of your friend's condition. In fact, I have conversed with many of her different faces within the confines of her head,” Luna folded her wings by her side and offered a hoof to help Twilight stand. “Come, walk with me.”
Twilight nodded quietly and followed Luna through the empty club, “I'm afraid for her... Pinkie can't handle losing her friends.”
“Oh? What makes you so sure that she'll lose them?” Luna raised a brow as the two started up the stairs.
“It's just that Pinkie needs social interaction; I mean, there was this one time that she thought we all hated her because we were planning a surprise birthday party for her. I don't ever want to see Pinkie that upset again,” Twilight was cut off by Luna's smirk. “What's so funny?”
“Twilight Sparkle, Pinkamena, one of Pinkie Pie's alters, has confided in me by telling me those events,” Luna sighed and opened the door, offering it to Twilight. "Pinkie was upset and scared, so Pinkamena had taken control and shielded her from the world. She's brash, emotional, and always jumping to conclusions I have noticed. That being said, do you think your friends would just walk away from Pinkie because there's more to her than meets the eye?"
“I... I mean, we've always known that Pinkie was a little different I suppose,” Twilight took a step outside onto a cloud, looking around to realize how much the dreamscape had changed. With the door and club missing entirely, she looked over to Luna to add on a question, “I'm just worried they wouldn't understand. I know that I won't leave Pinkie Pie, but what if...? What if?!”
“Ah, 'What if', a question as old as time itself,” Luna only smirked and sat down, patting the spot next to her. “Pinkie Pie and the other faces do share this fear as well, but what do you think would change if they knew? I'd imagine it'd be little more than knowing you have more friends than you realized. That being said though, I am particularly surprised that she had decided on telling you.”
“Inkie didn't really seem to shy about it,” Twilight looked down over the landscape, realizing that they were above Ponyville.
“Ah, the gray one,” Luna giggled, “She's quite a conversationalist. I admit that I have abandoned more than one duty in a night by talking with her.”
“Wait, so the alters have their own dreams?” Twilight looked over at the princess next to her.
“Of course they do; they are just like any other pony. Granted, it's rather nice to sometimes see more than one of them in the dreamscape from time to time,” Luna waved her hoof and the two mares found themselves sitting on a bench beside Sugarcube Corner, “Which is the main reason I actually came into your dream. The fact that you were having a nightmare is just a coincidence.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Twilight blinked and followed Luna as they both stood up.
“Well, Inkie expressed to me that she believes you may doubt they their condition truly exists. While it may be seen as a bit of a misuse of power on my part...” Luna paused and opened the door to Sugarcube Corner, where inside stood the interior of a circus tent with five ponies on the inside. “Welcome to the inside of Pinkie's dream.”
“Wait, what?” Twilight stared at the events that unfolded before her. There was Pinkie going across a tightrope on a unicycle with a white pegasus sitting on top of her head with her wings outspread. On the other side of the safety net was a black coated mare with a rather bland looking midnight blue mane. She was watching the two mares on the rope with a wry frown on her lips.
“I managed to get everyone except D,” A gray mare said with a cocky smile, pushing her thinly framed glasses up onto her muzzle with her hoof. “Thank you, Princess.”
“I was worried that you'd have trouble finding them, Inkie,” Luna commented, walking into the tent.
“Well, it's always easier in a dream,” Inkie shrugged and smiled at Twilight with a blush showing through her gray cheeks, “Uhm... surprise?”
“What?” The pegasus called form the tightrope before letting out a long, excited gasp, “Ohmygosh, she's here?!”
“Oh hi, Twilight!” Pinkie giggled and jumped from the unicycle, landing perfectly unscathed in front of the princess after showing off with four somersaults.
“Wait, she's finally here?” The black mare hissed, walking over slowly, eying the lavender alicorn up and down cautiously, “I don't really... think this is a good idea.”
“Oh come on, don't be so grumpy, Pinkamena!” The white pegasus giggled and wrapped a leg around the black unicorn's withers, “Besides, it's not really a secret to her anymore.”
“Yeah, because Inkie let that cat out of the bag,” Pinkamena sighed and flopped down onto her flank, “So, why'd you even want us all here to see your marefriend?”
Inkie's face lit up, “I.. She's not... Uh...”
“Wait, ohmygosh, you told her, didn't you?!” Surprise jumped into the air and clapped her forehooves together, “What did she say? Twilight, what'd you say?!”
Twilight simply stood there, slack-jawed and overwhelmed by the assault of mares she hadn't even known about until merely hours before. Luna put a reassuring hoof on the younger princess' withers and nodded, “Take a deep breath; I know it's a bit overwhelming at first.”
“This has answered a lot of questions, but only opened a few more,” Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. “First thing I have to ask is how long do we have to talk, Princess?”
“Well, time moves a little differently in dreams. Honestly, even I am unsure,” Luna replied, “Either way, when one of you wakes up, you'll be sent back into your own dream... Or just wake up too.”
“That didn't sound very sure, Princess,” Inkie raised her brow.
“Well, it's not something I've had to do very often,” Luna shook her head, “Dream confidentiality and all that. Either way, I have duties to attend to, so I must leave you five to talk.”
“Of course, sorry for detaining you this long,” Inkie nodded understandingly.
“Bye bye, Princess!” Pinkie giggled and waved enthusiastically.
“Have fun!” Surprise giggled and looked over at the black mare that just gave a single nod to the departing princess.
“Don't be so grumpy, Pinkamena!” Pinkie cried out and pushed her hooves against the corners of the angry mare's mouth, forcing a smile from her.
“Bah! Let me go!” Pinkamena hissed, only to fall back onto a pie that Surprise had rushed to place behind her.
“Girls, that's enough,” Inkie said and tried to stop Pinkie's and Surprise's shenanigans, only to have whipped cream tossed at her by an angry Pinkamena that missed Pinkie with her attack.
“You should've seen your face!” Surprise broke out into laughter, “See, why can't we do this kind of stuff normally?”
“Because I'd go crazy,” Pinkamena rolled her eyes and worked to wipe the cream off of her flank.
“We don't know how long we have, so stop it!” Inkie shouted over the three ponies, catching all of their attention, “We had a reason to call Twilight here, so let's actually use the opportunity!”
Twilight took a deep, shaky breath and tried her best to speak, “I agree, we need to-”
~~~
Limestone opened her eyes to the harsh morning sun, feeling a warmth by her side that only made her want to cuddle into the bed that much more. Despite being a rock farmer, she wasn't really what you'd call a morning mare. To her side was a blue unicorn with a disheveled mane that contradictorily made her look more peaceful. Limestone slowly wiped her eyes, feeling her stiff fur underneath her eyes that only made her frown.
“That's right...” She trailed off, remembering what had happened after the fight last night. She upset her older sisters; not only did she make marble cry, but Maud was absolutely furious with her. The way she looked at her with that unmoving expression said everything that she needed to know.
Trixie was there for her when she came back to the hotel though; sitting with open arms as the gray rock farmer broke down into long-awaited tears. Tears that she had been holding back for years now; tears that she hadn't shed since that hellish night back on the rock farm. She could still see the tear stains on the mare's chest.
“Thank you, Beatrix,” Limestone mumbled before sliding out of the bed and onto the floor, feeling her entire body ache in combination of a hangover and guilt. In hind sight, it probably wasn't a good idea for them to argue so shortly after they had all been drinking. Sure, they tried to sober up pretty quickly, but the rock farmer was still feeling the after effects of it.
Slowly she walked over into the kitchen of her room, opening the fridge, and looking over the scattered food before deciding on a cold slice of leftover pizza. She dodged the several tubs of rocky road ice cream that laid scattered across the floor as she made her way back to the bed, laying down again as she ate the pizza with a forlorn look appearing in her eyes.
“Sleep well?” The unicorn asked and shifted beside her, sitting up and running a hoof through her mane.
“Yeah... Sorry for invading your bed, though,” Limestone commented and looked over at the neatly made bed on the other side of the room.
“Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can not blame you for wanting to be so close to her,” She grinned and stretched out, raising a foreleg up over her head, sending a line of popping down her back.
“Well, it seemed a lot better than just crying into a pillow,” Limestone shrugged and looked down at her half-eaten pizza with a sullen look appearing on her face again.
“You know that you don't have to tell me, but what did happen to you? I know you told me what happened to your sisters, but what happened to you?” Trixie raised a curious brow at the mare next to her, who simply looked over and shook her head.
“It's a long story, and I have to go see Pinkie...”
Trixie pointed towards the clock, “Visiting hours probably aren't for another few hours, so we have time.”
“I don't-”
“Don't want to talk about it? That's fine, I wasn't going to make you, but I was just asking,” Trixie offered and climbed out of bed, having her legs pop loudly from the mangled position she had slept in the night before.
“It's not that... You're one of my best friends, but I just... I need time, I guess,” Limestone sighed and took the last bite of her pizza, “It's just... Am I right to blame Octavia?”
“The Great and Powerful Trix-” Trixie paused and dropped the habitual persona, “I honestly understand why you would, but maybe she really didn't mean to... More importantly though, is she truly sorry for what had happened?”
“I honestly...” Limestone paused to think about it. What had Octavia said about it? How had she acted? She... “Oh Celestia...”
“Hm?” Trixie blinked before seeing Limestone bolt towards the door.
“I have to go!” She called out, “Thank you, Beatrix!”
Trixie watched and blinked a few times before speaking, “The Great and Confused Trixie is most certainly confused.”
~~~
Limestone pounded on the door to the hotel, only to have it opened by a stallion with a grayish silver mane and a nice silk tie, “Can I help you?”
“Is Octavia in? I need to talk to her!” Limestone half-shouted, almost in a complete panic.
“I'm sorry, but the madame is currently out at the market square; alone as per her request,” The stallion seemed a little disheartened at that fact, but Limestone only nodded eagerly.
“Thank you so much!” With that, she broke out into a full gallop towards the market.
'How could I be so blind?! The way she was acting, what she said, how she said it... Why wasn't I listening at all? Why am I always like this?!' Limestone screamed at herself inside her head, having her hooves pound the street beneath her. 'It's now or never.'
She felt an uneasiness begin to build up in her chest that almost exploded the moment she saw Octavia talking to a shop vendor. Marble and Maud were already angry at her, so she had absolutely nothing to lose this time. With a heavy clacking of her hooves, she walked up to Octavia with steeled resolve before speaking, “T-Tavi... Can we talk?”
Dissociative By Strawberry Jelly Chapter 10 - Intermission
"Do you remember how we used to be?” Limestone somberly asked after what felt like an eternity. Her hoof aimlessly stirred at the spoon that sat in her coffee cup, mixing the sugar into her scolding coffee. “... Back on the rock farm?”
“I didn't want that to change...” Octavia replied quietly, stirring her own coffee with a wry frown on her lips. “The rock farm wasn't really the happiest place... But... You all are-... Were my family.”
“Those silly games we played in the Obsidian Quarries... Remember that one time we were caught under that pile of rubble and Maud had to save us by eating the rocks?” Limestone couldn't help but laugh a little at that memory. Maud ended up having to have her stomach pumped after it was all said and done. “Oh, and the look on the doctor's face? That was priceless!”
Octavia let out a nervous, but true laughter for the first time in months... Or was it years? She honestly couldn't remember the last time she laughed just for the sake of laughing. “Or that party Pinkie threw for her afterwords? I think Maud didn't want to eat another rock for the rest of her life... That's probably why she hates rock candy now.”
“Or that time Marble tried to write us a story, but ended up turning it into an adult novel? Oh, Celestia, or when mom found it!” Limestone and Octavia both went silent for a moment before bursting out into laughter again. When Limestone was young, she really felt closest to Octavia, but then she let him in...
“... I'm sorry...” Octavia commented when she noticed her sister stop laughing and put on that 'thinking' face that she always had. She scooped up her cup in both hooves and took a quick sip from it before continuing, “Thank you for... this... But I know you really just want to-”
“Yell?” Limestone finished for her, having her shoulders slump as she looked into her cup with a wry frown. “I would love to, yes. But Pinkie's hurt because of me getting angry, so I want to try and...” She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself before continuing. “... And talk about this without me yelling. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you for everything you've done to us, but I want to talk about it for my sisters' sakes.”
“I didn't expect you to forgive me. In fact, if it weren't for Pinkie, I don't think I would have ever had the courage to come and face you...” Octavia whimpered quietly.
“Well, we didn't want to se-” Limestone stopped herself and took a deep, unsteady breath. “It was a surprise, but I realized something about what happened so long ago... Something important, and I need to talk to you about it.”
“A-Anything...” Octavia hesitated, but she knew that look in Limestone's eyes. It was that look of determination; that look that she truly needed to ask something. That look that Octavia remembered last being seen during that night on the rock farm... A look that tore at her very person.
“Why did you do it?” Limestone asked flatly. “We never really asked you that question, have we? No, we all were so broken and destroyed by what you did... But why did you do it?”
Octavia stopped in mid-sip of her drink and sat the mug back down with a wry, but thoughtful expression appearing on her face. She blamed herself for what had happened, but how could she not? After what she did, the entire family was broken... “Because I'm a bad mare...” That was all she could say. What she did was completely unforgivable, inexcusable, and completely foolish. Why did she let him talk her into it? Why did she just let him do whatever he wanted to that house? She was the eldest sister, it was her duty to protect them!
“That's it? That's the big secret?” Limestone's eye twitched a little upon hearing that. “I could have told you that you were complete trash, but no, that's the big secret as to why you did it?! I trusted you! No, we trusted you, and what did you do? You stab us in the back.”
“I'm sorry...” Octavia murmured again, lowering her ears to her head. She loved the fact that Limestone was talking to her, but that question did more than just rip open old scars; it reminded her just how terrible she truly was. She didn't just destroy her own life; she destroyed the lives of her family. Even her parents were hardly the same after that; they had become cold, expressionless, and overprotective of the girls. The first letter she had gotten from Pinkie had told her how she wanted to run away to Ponyville and make all kinds of friends like they used to want to back on the farm together.
“You're sorry?! You're sorry? I'm sorry, but sorry doesn't cut it!” Limestone hissed and stood up. Her gaze turned cold and uncaring; borderline on that callous look her parents had given her so long ago. “You're dead to me. No, I'm done being angry... From this point on, you are nothing more than the mud to me. I hope you manage to convince the others, because you will receive no mercy from me.” She spit the words out like hot venom, her voice quivering with the unbridled pain that had been rekindled.
'Why couldn't she just have an excuse?' A voice asked in the back of her head as she felt her eyes water for the first time in years. She wanted an excuse to forgive, or at least give Octavia another chance, but no... 'I put too much faith in her, yet again. I now know better than that.'
“I just...” Octavia sighed as she watched her youngest sister trot away with a shadow looming over her. “Even if I told her the truth, it would still be my fault...”
~~~
“So, can we get some cake?” Pinkie looked back at Twilight with a smile bright enough to outshine the sun itself. She hated the fact that she was being pushed around in a wheelchair, but that only meant that Twilight had to be extra nice to her! 'That's right, isn't it?' She asked to no one in particular, not really expecting a response.
“Of course we can,” Twilight smirked a little, finding herself not really able to say no to that face. Their plan was going to come into fruition, but she needed time to set it up, and she needed Pinkie to help her with the most intricate parts.
“Twilight, I was wondering if we could stop by the market first. I just remembered that I need to get some streamers for Rumble's birthday party next week!” She squealed excitedly and clacked her forehooves together. “Oh, and we can totally get some flour and paint too!”
“Flour and paint? What are we going to-”
“Not to mix together, silly!” Pinkie giggled and pointed her hoof towards the marketplace. “To starboard, first mare Twilight! We got a mighty loot to collect!” She grinned excitedly. It wasn't often that she got hurt, but when she did, she used to love to play silly games to keep her mind off of it.
“I-” She was about to object, but at seeing the wide grin on Pinkie's face, she could only agree with an internal laugh. “As you wish, Captain Pinkie.”
“Twiiliiiiight, pirate's don't say 'as you wish'; they say 'Argh!'” She reprimanded her first mate with a scowl, pulling an eye patch down over her eye that seemingly came from nowhere.
“As you... Oops! I mean, Argh, Captain Pinkie.” Twilight replied with an uncontrolled smile on her lips. She looks ahead to see a cart being pulled in front of the path. “Captain, we're about to hit... I mean, Argh – Cap, Argh! - we're – Argh! - about – Argh! To – Argh! - Hit – Argh...”
“Out with it, Mare!” Pinkie half-shouted before looking back ahead to see the cart in their path. “Oh, you were trying to say that tharr' be land ho!”
“That's not a very polite word, Pinkie,” Twilight deadpanned at her friend.
“What's not?”
“That h word.” She clarified with a completely serious face that lasted only a moment before both mares giggled.
“I didn't mean it like that!” Pinkie waved her hoof and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Buuuut, I do want an apple!”
“Well, I'm sure Big Mac would be more than happy,” Twilight only smiled and wheeled Pinkie up to the apple stand.
“Heeeeeey cousin!” Pinkie grinned at the red stallion.
“Eeyup.”
“Ooh, what if I make apple cake again?!” Pinkie's eyes widened at the realization of what she could make the moment she was healed up. Twilight had pretty much forbade her from going anywhere near an oven with those wounds were healed up.
“I... That's a greeeeaat idea, Pinkie,” Twilight felt herself gag at the very idea. That monstrosity was not something she remembered too fondly. After all, there was so much lard in it that it could kill a manitcore.
“E-Eeyup.” Big Mac agreed with a worried, but understanding look towards Twilight that screamed 'Oh Celestia, please no.'. Coming from a stallion as stoic as MacIntosh, Twilight knew just how horrible the cake really had to be if an Apple feared it.
“Pinkie, I-I think we should go and grab some of the things we need for tonight instead,” Twilight swallowed her nausea in an effort to take Pinkie away from that idea altogether.
“Oooh, right! Let's see... We need cupcakes, rope, gemstones, pulleys, an anvil, a life preserver, a harmonica, a bag of spiders, a cockatrice, three rubber chickens, a curling iron, the super cider squeezy 6000, and we need to find a suitable river.” Pinkie said before covering her mouth with both hooves. “Sorry, that was Inkie!”
“Wait, how did she actually remember all of that without a checklist?” Twilight looked down at Pinkie with wide eyes. She looked into her saddlebags and looked over the checklist word for word, making sure that Inkie hadn't left out a single thing. “I'm still not really sure how all of this stuff is supposed to fit into our plan, though...”
“I'm sure she has a reason; I mean, look at what happened with the parasprites!” Pinkie sighed and looked around the marketplace for the stall that she usually bought her streamers from.
“Forgive me for my apprehensiveness, but it's just... Why a cockatrice?” Twilight shuddered at a particularly bad memory involving a cockatrice. While being turned into stone was interesting, it wasn't something she was particularly wanting to happen again.
Pinkie shrugged, “Their rock solid personality?”
“I... Okay.” Twilight smirked a little and stifled a giggle, shaking her head at that bad joke. “... Let's just get those streamers.”
~~~
Pinkie was running.
Her lungs felt like they were on fire, but she couldn't bring herself to a full stop. She was trying to remember something important, but what was it that she said? It felt so foggy... Her eyes were watering, blurring her vision all the more before she heard the door to the barn slam open behind her.
He was there, and she could hear his heavy hoof steps pound against the earth like the monster that she knew he was. She peeked from underneath the table to see a large, gray stallion with a haze over his face that hid it almost like a mannequin. The only thing even remotely equine that shown through was that wry grin he wore.
“I know you're here,” His words echoed out, but his lips didn't move an inch as he spoke, sending nausea throughout Pinkie's stomach. “I just want to play, Pinkamena...”
'Please...' She remembered saying the moment he looked at her, but that stinging came to her cheek that brought her down to her knees. Marble peered up with watering eyes and screamed out something that she couldn't remember, only to have another sharp pain jolt through her cheek and another harsh strike against the stomach. 'I just wanted to help...'
Her body felt like it was being assaulted again as the burning pain radiated throughout hey body. It just started with a single thrust; she had to do it for Marble... She had to do it for Octavia... She had to do it for Limestone... She had to be strong like Maud, but she wasn't strong...
'Isn't this fun?' A voice ricocheted throughout her head, feeling her stomach churn from the pain and disgust at what was happening. Pinkie just wanted to be a good girl... She just wanted to be a hero, but it takes more to be a hero than just... Giggling at the ghostly...
