//------------------------------// // Ch. 6 - Interrogation Mission // Story: The Fluffy Girl With a Heart-of-Pink // by DogSomeOre //------------------------------// "Here you go ma'am, your triple stacked chocolate cake is all ready!" Pinkie Pie smiles as she hoofs out another customers order, the look on the ponies faces as they see Pinkie's passionate cake design fills her with so much joy; she's not one to typically try and impress- most of the time anyway, but seeing happy mares and stallions pleased with their order, is something that never quite gets old to her. "Come again!" Pinkie Pie shouts out with excitement. "Another satisfied customer." She says for what seems like the millionth time today, but regardless, she smiles nonetheless. She enjoys having free time off, being able to hang out with her friends is always a delightful time, but work is where she's passionate, most ponies think this kind of job would get boring after a while, Pinkie however, can't get enough of it. Heading back into the kitchen, she hums a cheery tune as she wipes the grime and mess that her last order accumulated, before starting a new project all over again. "Hmmm, now where did I put those almonds..." She looks around, curious as to where she might've misplaced them. Pinkie scours through cabinets and drawers alike, trying to remember where she could've left them from the last time they were used. "Yo, Pinkie Pie." "Ow!" Pinkie bangs her head as she looks under one of the opened cabinets, being startled by the unexpected voice coming from behind her. "Uhhhh, was I... interrupting anything?" Rainbow Dash hovers a few feet in the air, from what Pinkie can tell, she probably flew into Sugarcube in a hurry. "Dashie?" Pinkie turns around to look at her blue friend, rubbing her now aching head with a hoof. "The one and only!" Rainbow Dash says proudly. "What're you doing here?" Pinkie Pie asks curiously, she definitely wasn't expecting visitors on such a random day, especially one where she's working. "Oh ya know, just comin' by to check up on one of the most coolest mares in Ponyvile." Rainbow Dash sets herself down to let her wings rest, stretching with confidence, as per usual for Rainbow. "'Check up on me'?" Pinkie Pie questions again, curious. "I appreciate it Dashie, but you didn't need to come all the way here just to say hello. Unless..." Pinkie ponders something in her mind for a brief moment. "Oooh, did you want to help me with this super-duper-fancy assortment of desserts I'm working on!? I almost got everything I need, just missing a few key ingredients!" Pinkie bounces up at the prospect of a new cooking venture, having Rainbow help around Sugarcube sure would put a load off of her back. "Uh, no thanks Pinkie, you know I'm not to good with that kind of stuff." Rainbow Dash states awkwardly to her friend. Pinkie frowns disappointedly. "Well, if that's not it then what did-" "Applejack... kinda told me." Pinkie Pie stands looking confused, not getting what Rainbow is talking about. "You know... the thing?" Rainbow presses on, trying to get Pinkie to understand. "'The... Thing'?" Pinkie repeats back, Rainbow looks at Pinkie with a dead stare, hoping to have got through to her without using so many words. "Ooooh, 'the thing'!" Pinkie chuckles to herself as if she feels so silly for not understanding it to begin with. "Oh well, it can't be helped, although I wouldn't ever go through with it! Making a whole river full of vanilla frosting just to dive into it most likely wouldn't work out so well. Can you imagine what the sea animals would think? Think about the sea animals, Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie rants off on a completely unrelated topic, throwing Rainbow Dash into a loop. "Wha- no- I- Pinkie, what're you even talking about?!" "Hm?" Pinkie directs her attention back to her friend; getting carried away explaining her idea of swimming in a pool of frosting, has her playing charades like a little filly. "That wasn't what I was talking about." Rainbow tells her friend, weirded out by Pinkie's whole plan. "Oh, it wasn't? Oh wait, duh!" Pinkie bops herself in the head. "It was the other, other, 'the thing', right?" Pinkie says carefree. "Come again?" Rainbow replies with annoyance. "It's alrighty Dashie, I thought about it and... well, your bathtub probably wouldn't be a suitable place to dive into frosting either so-" "Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash stops Pinkie's ramblings, annoyed with her friends misdirection of why she came here in the first place. "It doesn't have anything to do with, ugh, 'diving into frosting'." Rainbow explains. "It doesn't?" Pinkie ponders. "Oooh, you were talking about the other-" "No Pinkie, I wasn't." Rainbow stops her friend again, already gathering a misconstrued idea of what Pinkie was going to say. "Well if it isn't about the other thing, or the other, other thing, or, the other, other, other thing..." "Anon, Pinkie. Applejack told me about Anon." Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. Pinkie stops her thinking, her mind connecting the dots of what this is really all about. "Oh... that thing..." Pinkie sighs as she was hoping it was a day every pony could forget about. Rainbow Dash takes note of Pinkie's changing demeanor. "Well look, I know it really isn't our place and all, but AJ's worried about you Pinkie, and I am too... sort of, kind of... uh." Rainbow bashfully shuffles her hoof around, she's not used to saying emotional, 'wishy washy' things. "Anyways, besides the point, I don't how long you've been feeling this wait about 'him', but I'm here to tell ya, your best friend Rainbow Dash is here to listen to anything you have to say! So lay it on me sister!" Rainbow says eagerly, she has no idea what advice she could possibly give Pinkie, as she's inexperienced when it comes to stallions, or humans for that matter. Pinkie sighs again, looking down to the ground, dramatically. "Uhhh... lay it on me... sister?" Rainbow says again, once more taking note of Pinkie's demeanor. "Hello?! Hello?!? Anyone back there?! I had an order for the almond parfait! Hello?!" A voice calls out from behind the Cake's counter. "Oh uni-dust!" Pinkie says to herself, forgetting that she actually had an order to fill. "One moment, Mr. Crackle!" Pinkie yells back, frantically getting herself together. "Oops, sorry Pinkie, I guess I got too carried away with trying to see how you were doing, that I forgot you actually had work today." Rainbow regrettably admits. "Tell you what, I'll help you with this order and we can talk about your feelings later, ok?" Pinkie Pie looks back at Rainbow. "Ok Dashie, I think that'll be fine." -------*------- "Is that it?" Rainbow Dash looks at Pinkie, exhausted by the amount of running back and fourth the two of them had to do, of course to the surprise of no one, of course not even Rainbow Dash, Pinkie looks to have barely even broken a sweat; kind of makes Rainbow think just how full of energy her friend actually is. "Everything's all done Dashie! Thanks for the help!" Pinkie Pie excitedly picks up the delicious looking parfait, heading out from the kitchen, where her customer eagerly stands. "Sorry for the wait Mr. Crackle, I was looking all over for the almonds and had a really hard time trying to pin-point just where they were, believe it or not, I forgot I had stowed them in the refrigerator this whole time! Don't ask me why though, I really have no idea." Pinkie explains, though she's sure her customer has no care for where any of the ingredients were, she thought to explain anyways. Mr. Crackle leaves after the two exchange some parting words, Pinkie wipes her forehead in relief, being glad to not have any pony waiting on their late orders. "I hope he enjoyed that more then I did making it." Rainbow says to Pinkie, coming from the kitchen to chat with her friend. "Oh Dash, I'm sure you had fun! Even if you do look a bit tired." Pinkie admits. "Yeah, yeah." Rainbow Dash shakes her head. "Apart from that, when's your next radically impatient customer coming?" "Oh, well, I have to check..." Pinkie runs back into the kitchen, crossing out Mr. Crackle's name on a pinned piece of paper. "Seems like there's only one more order for today, but no need to rush for this one, I finished hers early." "Great!" Rainbow exclaims. "So then, ready to talk about your human?" Rainbow smiles at Pinkie, hoping to finally talk about the problem that's been troubling her pink friend. "Uh, not really, no." Pinkie Pie cautiously responds, taking note of Rainbow Dash's invigorated excitement she has towards this subject. "Awesome! So tell me when- wait what?!" Rainbow's taken aback by Pinkie Pie's words, not expecting her answer to be the opposite of what she had anticipated. "Pinkie." Rainbow groans, her mood being brought down once again. She takes a look down at the floor, shaking her head slowly in preparation to the words she's going to say. "What's so secretive about this guy anyway? Didn't you go on a whole spiel about the troubles you were having to Applejack?" She questions, a bit confused as to why she was apparently so open about her feelings towards Anon just a couple days ago, but is locked shut with her emotions today. "I mean, I did." Pinkie Pie says admittedly, she has no reason to lie, nor does she want to. "Then c'mon, what's so bad that you can't open up a little to me?" Rainbow inquires with encouragement. "It's just... I don't know-" Pinkie fiddles with her hooves, looking visibly uncomfortable about the whole thing. Rainbow gives a look of concern and confusion; for as long as she's known this pink mare, not once has she felt so closed off about discussing anything. Pinkie notices her friends anxious face, and then herself finally noticing she isn't acting like her usual 'Pinkie' self. "I'm fine Dashie, really, I mean it!" Pinkie smiles brightly to her friend, trying to go back to full on 'party mare' once again. "Pinkie Pie." Rainbow groans again, though a bit less harshly this time. "Alright." Rainbow says, defeated. Pinkie's head perks up at her friends announcing words. "If you're really fine, I guess you won't have any problem with me talking to Anon about this." "Wha- no- that's not-" "Or of course, if something was wrong, which in your case, there's nothing wrong, then you may feel the need to call me out on wanting to talk to Anon." Rainbow bluffs. "Well I guess I'll be leaving-" "Rainbow, wait!" Pinkie lunges towards Rainbow Dash, grabbing her back hooves with her front. "Hm? What is it Pinkie?" "I uh- I um-" "It's a little out of the ordinary I must admit, for some pony who's fine to be acting in such a strange way." "Ok, ok! I'm not fine!" Pinkie blurts out in a blind panic. "Heh, touchdown for Rainbow Dash." Rainbow thinks. Finally, she'll actually get something out of this mare. "The truth is- oh I'll just say it! I like Anon!" She shouts, her eyes closed with embarrassment. Rainbow stands firm, flank still towards Pinkie. "A-A lot..." Pinkie settles down, her words leaving her mouth calmly. "Well." Rainbow speaks up. "That settles it." Rainbow turns around, grinning delightfully. Pinkie Pie's head looks up towards her blue friend. "We need to get you two together!" Rainbow says ecstatic. "W-What?! Where did that come from!?" Pinkie asks bashfully. "Well I'm almost ninety-five percent sure you guys are compatible, so it should be fine-" "We can't!" Pinkie shouts. "I mean, there's no way to know if he likes me for sure, and even if he did..." She stops, just short of damning herself into another touchy situation. "Why not? If you like the guy then all you need to do is tell him how you feel and-" "No, Dashie!" Pinkie interrupts again. "I don't want to!" "But why Pinkie? I don't understand." Rainbow notions frustratingly. "Because... Because...." She fidgets nervously with her mane, brushing the ends of her strands in an almost one-to-one, repeated fashion. "Ugh! Why couldn't I just kept my mouth shut? All of this, because of me! If I would've just acted natural, maybe you guys still would've been suspicious, but I wouldn't have to face... all of this!" Pinkie monologues, her actions seemingly catching up to her so suddenly. "I don't want this Dashie! I thought that maybe after a couple days AJ could've just forgot about it all but- aagh! It's all so super-frustrating!" Pinkie puts her hooves on her temples, taking in the heat of her frustration. "Alright, alright, fine." Rainbow says. Pinkie still rubs her head, not being swayed by Rainbow's likely deception. "I mean it this time Pinkie." Still, no budge. "If you really don't want to talk about this, then we won't." Rainbow looks at her friend, who's seemingly mesmerized by her own thoughts. "Pinkie?" Rainbow walks up to her friend, if a storm cloud was visible, it'd be right on top of Pinkie's head. "What Dashie." Pinkie grumbles, though not in a very intimidating way. "What're you doing?" Rainbow asks, displeased. "Sulking." Pinkie pouts, a child-like aura emitting from her voice. "Why?" "I'm angry." Pinkie responds, still seeming so comedic in her tone. Rainbow sighs. "We can drop this, ok? No talking about what you and AJ discussed, no talking about the weird creature on two legs; we don't have to talk about this." Rainbow Dash says, sounding more like a defeated parent then anything. Pinkie sits there for a moment, her hooves crossed with a cute, grumpy face plastered on. "Oh, right." Rainbow talks to herself aloud, forgetting to add something in her speech. "No, I won't talk to Anon about this... any of this. Ok?" "You... promise?" Pinkie eases up a little. "Yeah Pinkie, I promise." "You... Pinkie Pie swear?" "Oh brother." Rainbow sighs, eyes rolling back, before responding. "Yeah Pinkie." Pinkie sits there in silence, awaiting more from the blue pegasus mare. "Ugh, ok, fine! I... I Pinkie Pie swear." Rainbow finishes, begrudgingly. "Okie-dokie!" Pinkie Pie springs up, mood changing instantaneously. "What a whip-lash." Rainbow mutters. Though to Rainbow Dash everything seems to be back to normal, to Pinkie, it's anything but. She feels embarrassed for acting the way she did with Applejack, double-so with Anon, and now, when she thought everything was going back to the way it always was, she's once again reminded of her own, confusing, feelings. "You're nothing Dianne, you'll never be something." Why is her mind so cold? So hurtful? She's her own worst critic, but even still, she feels the world, her personality, is all about giving ponies and creatures everywhere a smile to brighten up a sour day; and yet, it's unbefitting that she's the one who's never had a pony give her the same in return. -------*------- Sitting alone on a chair in the kitchen, Anon patiently waits for his tea to finish brewing. It's been a couple days since the out of character fiasco with Pinkie; still not understanding just where it all went wrong, perhaps because of his own naivety to assess the situation, he inadvertently hurt the pony he cares about the most. No pony, heck, no person has ever treated him with such dignity as this bubbly pink mare. "Am I just so aloof that I pull even the nicest of people away?" Is just one of the many things he's left to wonder. "Maybe I should check on her, see if she's okay. Then again, maybe she needs the time away, still, I can't help but be worried." Anon hasn't heard a peep from the fluffed up earth mare, he's been doing his daily activities like normal, but can't shake the thought of her from his brain. *knock, knock, knock, knock* "A visitor?" *knock, knock* "C-Coming!" Surprised at the sudden company, Anon makes his way to see just whoever could be banging so hard. "Rainbow Da-" "Yeah, yeah, it's me. Look, do you have a minute?" Rainbow Dash looks impatient, wearing a slightly concerned look. "Uh-" "It's kind of a big deal Anon." She states. "Sure I guess-" Rainbow speeds in, wasting no time to hear Anon's finishing approval. "I need to know why Pinkie is so upset." She states once again, hovering above the air, she crosses her hooves confrontationally. "Why? Did something happen? She's ok, isn't she?" Anon's panic kicks in, unaware of just what situation she's gotten herself in this time. "Don't play dumb." She scolds. "The whole debacle that you started at AJ's. She told me to check on her, saying that you caused something back at her farm." She squints her eyelids tight, her pupils piercing right through Anon's. "Out with it." "Rainbow, I don't know, really. I came looking for Pinkie, found out she was at the Apple Farm, asked if she wanted to go to some... carnival or whatever it was, and then-" "She broke down?" Rainbow cuts him off, believing there's more then he's letting on. "I know it doesn't make sense but-" "But that doesn't cause some pony to get all depressed, I went to her house- uh work, and she wasn't acting like herself at all." Rainbow says. "You, went to Sugarcube? How's she doing?" "Don't change the subject Anon." "Rainbow, look, I'm just as upset over this whole thing as you are. I don't know what I did to make her sad, I just offered to take her to the carnival." Anon tries to get through, being as honest and forthcoming as he possibly can. "Well? What did she say?" Rainbow questions. "Uh, let's see..." Anon thinks back, recalling the conversation the two had. "Oh, she questioned me, about the tickets. Asking if there were only two tickets, she seemed like she didn't want to go with me so I just offered for her and AJ to go, and then... I, uh... well I told her..." Anon rubs the back of his head, a little ashamed in hindsight thinking of the words he chose. "Yeah?!" Rainbow notions, impatiently. Anon sighs. "I told her that I know it would suck... just being you know- me and.... her." Rainbow's hooves fall slowly on the ground, her wings retracting back towards her body. She looks at Anon, seeming to get the whole picture. "So she's this upset because you told her going to the carnival with her would suck?" Rainbow's words are still stern, though surprisingly to Anon, she doesn't seem as angry as he thought she would've been, having more a face of confusion and disappointment. "I- I guess so." Rainbow looks to the side, her profile just slightly in view to Anon. "You know." She starts. "You-" She takes a deep breath, her gaze falling back to Anon. "You really hurt her." "I know I did." Anon admits. "Then why would you say something like that? She's our friend, moreover, your friend. She cares deeply about you Anon." Rainbow forms her words, emotion and confusion ringing loud and clear. Anon averts his eyes from Rainbow's, following towards the ground, the two of them exchange no other words, filling in the atmosphere of the pink pony, who they care about a lot. "It's weird." Rainbow speaks up. "There's times she gets hurt, and I mean really hurt, it's maybe only happened a few times since I've known her, but it's times me and the girls can never forget. She'll act sad, depressed, only to rise up the next day with the brightest smile you'll ever see. But.. maybe it's her eyes, maybe I'm just overthinking it- but I swear, I swear I can still see it written all over her face, like her wounds have never, I don't know, healed I guess. She acts so sweet and fun to every pony she can befriend, but surely she can't always be like that, right?" Rainbow goes off, Anon taking in all of it. "I'm sure she has feelings, Dash. It's only human." Rainbow raises an eyebrow. "Err- uh- you know what I mean." Anon continues. "The point is, maybe she just bottles everything; maybe, she's never been given the chance to open up." "Maybe." Rainbow voices, ongoing Anon's point. "She feels like... she can't." She finishes. "It is very strange though." "What is?" Anon inquires, curious. "Ponies, creatures, whatever the case may be, have always said the nastiest things to her. 'You're a freak, a weirdo, etc.' And they don't ever seem to bother her." "Really?" "-Unless the same thing is said by someone she cares about a lot. I know I've said something I regret, and boy did it hurt her." Rainbow admits. "But this, this is different." Rainbow locks eyes with Anon. "It could've been a slip of the tongue, a bad judgement, I don't really know. But, she was hurt by it. Worse then I've ever seen. You mean more to her, then I think you even know, Anon." "-Maybe I'm over thinking it, but she cares about you, that's for sure." Rose's words spark up once more, traveling through Anon's psyche. "I have to make this right. I wasn't thinking clearly, I understand that. I was... nervous, for the first time in a long time, I was nervous, to be around her." "You like her, don't you?" Rainbow asks, sincere as she can possibly be. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I do."