//------------------------------// // They Can't Hurt You // Story: Pinkiemania // by Apocalypse Pony //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie’s eyes opened blearily. Apparently she had fallen asleep sometime during the night, but she did’t feel any more rested than she would have if she had stayed awake until the sunrise. She closed her eyes and let out a yawn; she would’ve been content to stayin in bed if it were’nt for Granny Pie visiting.... 'Oh shoot! Granny comes over today!’. The reminder was enough to force herself out of bed, but not to catch herself on her hooves before faceplanting. She picked herself up and trudged toward her bedroom door and opened it, greeted by the scent of breakfast emanating from the kitchen downstairs. The drowsy pink filly plodded her way downstairs and plopped herself in the seat beside Inky and preoccupied herself with rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Sue and Clyde were busy at the stove preparing food when her father turned his head from the stove to look at her with a frown. “‘Ya see what happens when you don’t get a good night’s rest Pinkie?”, he scolded. “What kept you up so long to have you looking that bad anyway?”. Part of Pinkie’s mane was plastered against her head as she stopped rubbing her eyes and slouched forward in her seat, staring forward at nothing in particular. “Bad dream.”, she mumbled. Pinkie Pie was very much a morning pony, problem being that if she weren’t early to bard, she would be late to rise. After a breakfast of fried hay and oats, Pinkie was more attentive, and with nothing to do until Granny Pie arrived, she set out to tend the fields. Pinkie Pie honestly had no idea why they rolled rocks about the surrounding terrain, other than they had to put it in whichever section would get the most sun exposure. After about a month of sun bathing, her father would select rocks to be pushed into a shed with some sort of machinery inside. Whatever machinery it was, Clyde refused to tell them what it was; his constant answer was that he’d tell them when they were older. Pinkie Pie was kicking a small rock toward the northern field when a transparent puce colored earth pony moving an identical stone appeared beside her. Pinkie had gotten used to her randomly appearing at times, though it didn’t make their conversations any easier to put up with . Pinkamena broke the silence first, “Remind me again why we like Granny Pie so much? Old ponies can be soooo boooriiing” Pinkie smirked, “Because she’s actually fun, something you wouldn’t understand, ‘cause you’re a meanie!”. If these conversations were good for anything, it helped Pinkie sharpen her wit. The bitter pony scoffed in response. “Your definition of fun might be different from mine, you know.” “Then what’s yours?” “Keeping you from going to sleep.” Pinkie kicked her rock a fair distance ahead and glared at her. “Shut up!”, she yelled. But when she blinked, all she saw was her sister Inky a short distance away from her giving her an inquisitive look. Pinkie Pie heard a voice behind her. “Oh, and its fun making you do that.” Pinkie’s face flushed with embarrassment as she hurriedly continued moving her rock. When she finished rolling the stone to the northern field, the sun began to part the clouds and shine down upon the rocks. To Pinkie, it almost seemed as if the rocks gained a soft glow in the sunlight, despite being dirty. She turned around to choose another rock when she spied a figure across the wide enclosure with a personal sized cart in tow, trotting down the path that divided the fields toward the house; that had to be Granny! The pink filly’s eyes lit up as she dashed through the farmland toward her, hopping over rock sand small boulders that littered the ground. As she neared the pony, her appearance became clearer. She was a carnation pink pony with somewhat wizened facial features and a light blonde mane, with the same turquoise quilt draped over her back, concealing her sides as well as her cutie mark . Granny Pie put on a soft smile as she acknowledged the rapidly approaching filly, and extended a hoof to hug her. However, Pinkie was content to clinging to her foreleg as she squealed, “Granny’s here! Granny’s here!” That was enough to signal her arrival, as Blinky and Inky Immediately rushed over, and Sue and Clyde came outside to greet her. As the two fillies put their forehooves around her neck in a hug, the brown stallion and light grey mare stopped in front of her. Clyde wore a welcoming smile, while Sue looked nonplussed. “Glad to see you made it mother, now how about I get that cart for ya?”. There was a pregnant pause among the three until Clyde nudged Sue in the side. ‘At least say hello’ “Hello, Catherine.” Said Sue. Granny Pie nodded. “And hello to you too, Sue. And it’d be appreciated if you could, Clyde.” Sue was never one for talking casually with her. Once Clyde had unhitched her from the harness and got it onto himself, she gave her hind legs a quick stretch and went into the house, followed by Blinky, Inky, and Pinkie, but Sue remained outside with Clyde, who could only frown. “This many years and you still wont tell me what you’ve got against her. ‘Least you can do is act friendly, please?” She simply huffed and briskly trotted inside the house, saying nothing. *~*~*~* Somehow, Pinkie Pie managed to turn the few weeks that had passed since she found her special talent up until now, into an hours-long story in the presence of her sister, Granny Pie, and Clyde. Everypony was enjoying slices of a blueberry lattice pie, one of the confections that Granny had brought with her Unfortunately the pink pony’s story had exhausted what daylight they had left, and before she knew it, it was time for her and her sisters to go to bed. Sue trotted into the kitchen, where Pinkie was still telling her story with all sorts of eccentric gestures before she cut in, “Alright girls, time for bed.”. The three fillies whined in unison as Granny Pie begun to look confused. “Its only sunset out, I don’t see why they have to turn in so early.”, pointed out Granny. Sue turned around to glare at her for a second before turning away with her head tilted upward, “Early to bed, early to rise. That’s how we work, Catherine.” Sue said curtly. Granny Pie only nodded and looked at the three fillies with a smile, “I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be here in the morning, and you three need your rest, goodnight Inky, Blinky, Pinkie.” “Goodnight”, they all said in unison as they started up the stairs. The three ponies went into their respective rooms and shut their doors. As Pinkie Pie settled into bed, she could hear muffled dialogue coming from the kitchen. As she focused on trying to make out what they were saying, black clouds rolled into view in the window, and begun pouring rain, which didn’t make eavesdropping any easier for the restless pony. It was only a few minutes before the thunder and lightning joined in, making her efforts useless. Pinkie sighed in defeat and settled to staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come. Just as her eyelids became heavier, a flash of lightning illuminated a muted pink figure standing on the ceiling with all her neck twisted all the way around to grin at Pinkie eerily. The sight of her caused Pinkie to shriek, but she quickly muted herself to avoid what happened the previous night. Despite her efforts, the muffled dialogue coming from downstairs ceased, and the stairs could be heard creaking with pressure as somepony approached. Her door creaked open to show a worried Granny Pie, who walked up to her bed as she spoke, “Pinkie dear, is something the matter? Are you having trouble sleeping?” Pinkie opted for the best explanation she could think of within a few seconds, “I saw s-something scary.” Granny reached a hoof forward to stroke her wild mane as she tried to calm her down. “Don’t you worry Pinkie Pie, I’m sure it was just a trick of the light.” “N-no it wasn’t, I saw the same thing yesterday too!”, cried Pinkie, panic leaking into her voice. Granny’s faced showed concern, “Was it perhaps.....a ghost?” With no other plausible explanation, Pinkie nodded in affirmation. Granny smirked in reply. “Well, let me teach you a tune that my own Grandmother taught me when I was your age.” She closed her eyes and inhaled, and prepared to sing in a hushed tone. “When I was a little filly And the sun was going dooooown~ The darkness and the shadows They would always make me frooooown~ I'd hide under my pillow From what I thought I saw But Grandma said that wasn't the way To deal with fears at all Pinkie’s face quickly turned from fear to curiosity as she listened to Granny Pie’s tune. She said, 'Pinkie, you've gotta stand up tall Learn to face your fears You'll see that they can't hurt you Just laugh and make them disappear. Ha, ha, ha! " Pinkie Pie began to smile as the melody’s infectious cheer began to work its magic, and to her delight, the pony on the ceiling faded away. "Sooooo, giggle at the ghosty, Guffaw at the grossly, Crack up at the creepy, Whoop it up with the weepy, Chortle at the pukey, Snortle at the spooky And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just make you wanna-hahahahahah......laugh!" Pinkie Pie broke into her own fit of giggling as Granny Pie finished her song and sighed, happy to see the change in the filly’s disposition. “Remember Pinkie Pie, there’s nothing to be afraid of as long as you can laugh” She kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave the room. “Goodnight Pinkie Pie, sweet dreams.” She exited and shut the door behind her. The rain outside had calmed considerably, making the conversation downstairs audible once more. Pinkie’s curiosity reignited as she focused on making out the conversation, but she wasn’t able to decipher much. "Why are you suddenly so invested in Pinkamena’s well being?” They were talking about her. Now she had to find out. She quietly slid out of bed and onto the floor, quietly tip-hoofing her way out of her room and down the hallway. Once the voices were audible enough for her, she sat at the top of the stairs and listened intently. “I only want what’s best for her....”