Pinkie was on her way back to Sugar Cube Corner when she realized Mr. and Mrs. Cake would ask questions as to why she wasn’t caring for the ‘foal’ as she had ‘Pinkie Promised’ to do. She thought how this would make her look irresponsible and how she’d lose her title of Pinkie ‘Responsibility’ Pie. She may not be allowed to watch The Cake Twins if that happened! So she returned to the Puff’s house and made her way to the guest room she was provided.
***
Pinkie wasn’t able to sleep at all that night. She felt a mix of emotions over the encounter she had with Shining Ash. Why would a grown pony want to be a foal? Didn’t she act like a foal when she played with Pound and Pumpkin? Why would any grown pony want to live in a nursery? Didn’t she sometimes enjoy sleeping in The Cake Twins nursery when they were napping? There were times she thought she saw Princess Luna out of the corner of her eye. However her overwhelmed mind kept her from even wanting to talk to any pony beyond herself.
***
The party pony did eventually fall asleep. When she woke Celestia’s sun had rose above the horizon.
“That was awful,” she moaned while rubbing at her aching head. “Only one thing to do.”
Ms. Pie let out a massive yawn before groggily trotting off to Shining Ash’s nursery.
***
“Uh,” worried Pinkie as she pushed the door open a bit. “Good morning?”
There was no response.
Pinkie opened the door the rest of the way and entered into the nursery. There was no sign of Shining Ash. About the only noticeable change from the night before was how spotless the nursery appeared.
“This is bad,” said Pinkie while continuing her search. “My ‘Pinkie Sense’ is even telling me there’s no pony in the house except for me, too.”
***
Pinkie felt a lump in her throat form as she fully confirmed that Shining Ash was gone. She then found herself back at the nursery staring at the bookshelf. Something about it seemed ‘odd’.
“Hmm,” she pondered upon noticing the hardwood floor beneath it along with how the bookshelf had wheels. “I wonder…?”
FWIR-FWIR-FWIR
The bookshelf slid to the other side of the hardwood floor to reveal a door.
“You wanted answers Pinkie,” she said while reaching for the doorknob. “And you’re going to find them.”
***
The ‘secret room’ was very bland in comparison to the nursery. It had a polished desk, filing cabinets, a cushy chair behind the desk, two padded chairs in front of the desk, and a half open, blind covered window that faced towards a pony-made pond where water fowl and small animals were gathering to start their day.
Pinkie noticed how clean and professional the room appeared. Everything was in its place. Including a large picture of a well-groomed Shining Ash standing between his parents who looked very proud. There was also another small picture facing the back of the desk. This one was of Shining Ash as he looked when he was Swaddle Puff being hugged by his parents from both sides.
“What’s wrong with me?” wondered Pinkie while falling back into the chair behind the desk. She supported the picture of Swaddle Puff and looked at how his parents appeared very happy with him. Just as happy as they did in the hung, larger picture near the filing cabinet. “They don’t see a problem with him wanting to be like a foal and their his parents.”
Pinkie had a short flashback of life on the Rock Farm and how she was loved by her family despite being so different in so many ways from them. She then thought of how much she loved Maud and how Maud loved her. Maud never made her feel bad for wanting to be a Party Planner and for moving to Ponyville to do so. So why was she being a not-so-nicey pants towards Shining Ash?
THUNK!
“Owie!” cried Pinkie as her hind hoof slammed against the desk. She had gone so much into thought that she’d began to fall back into the large office chair. This action hurt but also caused a drawer to pop open that revealed a colorful diary decorated with three doe-eyed foals in diapers smiling. One was a Unicorn, one was a Pegasus, and the last was an earth Pony.
“Cute!” cried Pinkie as the bright colors made her thoughtlessly grab for the book.
She flipped the diary open and quickly slammed it shut.
“No, Pinkie!” she self-scolded. “This is his private diary. Reading it would be breaking his trust.”
“But you’ve already broken his trust,” a voice in her head said.
Pinkie’s mane drooped like wet spaghetti.
“You’re right voice inside my head,” she replied to herself. “I was an awful pony.”
“Perhaps reading just the last page could help?” her mind urged. “It is likely about you anyway.”
“Why not,” Pinkie sighed as she flipped to the last page that had been wrote upon. It read…
“…Worst day ever! Thought I found some pony who could really understand me but she’s just like all the others! Why does every pony want me to be some pony I’m not? Why do they still make me feel awful for being a productive member of society who does nothing to hurt no pony else?
I’ve got to get out. Be amongst those who understand. So, once more under the cover of night and my disguise, I’m heading off to the milk bar. It’s going to take a lot of milk and cookies to get over this one. But I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again-and-again until I no longer need to feel shamed by other ponies for just embracing my special talent…”
“Milk bar…?” pondered Pinkie while putting the diary back into the drawer. “I wonder if he means ‘Moo Cow Milk’?”
Pinkie leapt over the desk and headed back for the nursery.
“There’s only one way to find out and I’m going undercover to do it!” she proclaimed. “Milk bar, here I come!”