//------------------------------// // More Filly Talk // Story: Awakening Pink // by Masterweaver //------------------------------// My eyelids fluttered open as I returned to reality. "...that was one well choreographed musical number. Of course she would use a musical number..." Erishy giggled at that. "I... Yeah. I think I should think on this. But..." I turned to the pegasus. "Thanks for listening anyway." "Do you feel a bit better?" "Well..." I considered her question, and what I learned from Pinkie's little skit. "I feel, anyway. That's a start." She gave me a friendly nudge. ""Smile." "...Nah, maybe later," I quipped with a small smirk. She leaned in with a mischievous grin. "Smiiiiile." I rolled my eyes. "You're going to keep this up aren't you." Suddenly she bowled me over. "Smile!" she demanded, hooves tickling my side. Involuntary laughter escaped as I gasped for breath. "GAHhahahaHA OH FLARK!" I barely managed to roll away. "Why is PINKIE so TICKLISH?!" "Because you’re supposed to smile," Erishy explained happily. "Everything will be okay, I promise." "Meh. I prefer to make everything okay." I stood up on my hooves. "Speaking of, what's the plan from here on out? She waved a vague hoof. "Get to New York. I may be pretty decent at talking with people but I am not a planner. Not by a long shot." Her wings suddenly brushed against my ribs. "Gnffft--" I flinched away. "Okay I get that you are trying to cheer me up but can we please stop with the tickling? I prefer more refined humor. And anyway, what I meant was who's in what car? We got three now..." The pegasus shrugged."Refined humor is a waste of time when it doesn't actually cheer you up. If I was Pinkie I'd be able to pull balloons out of nowhere or something. As far as rides, I don't know if the cosplayers all tagging along will be safe. They could get hurt, and they don't have one of these to stop a bullet for them." Her hoof tapped the necklace meaningfully. I sighed at her protest; typical Fluttershy. "Ginny would follow us anyway, Jacquiline would stay with her to make sure she was all right, Harold is dead serious about protecting us, and Linda caves to peer pressure. And I don't have one either." My eyes narrowed as I examined the butterfly-shaped gem. "How did you get that anyway? I thought it was a manifestation of personality." Erishy let out a sad sigh. "I've already gotten so much help, I feel guilty about accepting so much more. As long as they realize we need our space to sort... This," she gestured between us, "out. I got the element because... I basically tried to take a bullet for someone who I didn't think deserved it." "Oh." Act of kindness for element of kindness, that made-- My ears flicked back as I realized what she had just said. "Wait. Stop. Say that again?" She raised an eyebrow. "...I stopped a bullet to save someone?" I stared at her. "...so you, without any knowledge of what was going to happen, still under the influence of Fluttershy, and no prior military training to my knowledge, jumped in front of a gun. Completely unarmored." My hoof was gently introduced to my face. "Excuse me, my paternal instinct is linking up with Pinkie's maternal one and trying to figure out how to react here. You're not going to go Nightmare Whisper on us, are you?" Erishy looked down at the ground. "If that gun had gone off and killed that man... The entire world would have cried out in pain and anger. A pony kills a human. That is all anyone would see. I would give my life to preserve the future." Her eyes snapped back up, smoldering with intensity. "I was not under the influence of Fluttershy, At the time, that bit had already happened. The point is, it worked out." She took a shuddering breath. "I was so scared..." "Whoa! No no no, no tears--" What had I done? I pulled her into a tight hug. "We're here now. Okay? The scary things are gonna have to get through me." But it was futile. The flood was already coming, and all I could do was hold her while her body was wracked with sorrow. We sat there for, I don't even care how long. "I... I don't know what to do. I can't figure this out... I don't know how to fix this." "...what is there to fix?" I offered, trying to cheer her up. "Life happens. What the hay. You just need to do the best you can." She shook her head slightly. "Everything. I don't want to lose the Fluttershy part of me, you don't want to gain the Pinkie part of yours... Julien seems upset or scared or something, I don't even know... and we aren't even halfway to New York." I sighed, nodding in understanding. "Problems, problems, problems... seems the human race has a lot of them. But somehow... we made it to the moon... built great towers of glass... help out the homeless where we can..." My hoof waved out against the horizon in a sweeping gesture. "What I'm sayin’ is, no matter what's wrong, there's always something right." I smiled gently. "Am I right... or am I left?" Erishy snorted, giggles beginning to form through the tears. "W... What?" "What what?" I replied. Then I smiled wider. "Cheerio pip pip. Stiff upper lip, there's a good lass!" The pegasus was now giggling completely, her earlier tears vanquished. I felt a warmth against my chest as she smiled back at me. "You going to break into song now?" "Well..." I considered her question. "Hold on, what time is it?" She glanced up at the darkening sky. "About 6 I would guess. We’ve been talking for a while." "Cause I did write this lullaby back before everybody became everypony. It's kinda sad but I think you need shleeples, right? Long day and all that. Or I could do the whole Pinkie number. I want to be original though." Suddenly, I remembered something and facehooved. "Oh wait, I totally forgot. I can't do original numbers without a youtube audience. I promised my mom..." Erishy blushed. "A lullabye? Like for kids?" "Mmmyeah... I was role playing a sort of dark scary unicorn who just happened to be a mother but she kinda hid that fact so.... yeah. It's only four verses though," I explained. "You are silly. I really hope you and Pinkie get along..." "Yeah... I... yeah, um, I've never been comfortable with crowds. At all. Pinkie's way too comfortable with them..." I shrugged. "But hey, all couples have their arguments, right?" "You aren't in a crowd right now." Erishy pointed out. My eyes suddenly narrowed to pinpricks. "OH GEEZE I just said we were a couple. I haven't even dated before! Oh geeze that would mean you and Fluttershy are a couple!! Oh geeze, what is this, a double date?! "And yes you did." The pegasus practically chortled at my panic. "Luckily we can't see what you do in your head with your wifey wife." I gave her a sly look. ".....you know I did RP a clop scene for a married pegasus once or twice." She sighed. "Not helping either of our mental sanity." "Sanity's a lie anyway, it assumes a norm. Aaaaaaand now mind-Pinkie is making eeeeew sounds." How exactly she managed to do that while in my head I'll never know. Erishy examined me for a moment. "Curious, can you break the laws of physics?" "Well...." All the various shenanigans I had been up to got listed in my head. "I sneeze confetti, have a super flexible neck, and apparently am able to stick a whole pillow into my mouth while sleeping. Also I have Pinkie sense, but beyond Twitchie Tail I can't interpret it. And I survived multiple electrical shocks. So... I think I'm on the edge right now. I'm not counting the IHOP incident," I added bluntly. She blinked. "I thought that had something to do with Discord. I mean, That sort of thing just couldn't happen without magic, right?" I shook my head in mock sorrow. "Years of watching Mythbusters has taught me not to doubt the ingenuity of fools and physics." "Anyway, thank you for cheering me up. I really needed it." Erishy gave me a hug. "Hey..." I hugged her back. "I was just returning the favor." And that night when I went to put on my PJs I found the Element of Laughter had appeared under my shirt. Whoda thunk it.