//------------------------------// // Come to Terms // Story: The Donors // by GoesKaboom //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty-One: Come to Terms “Ah'm tellin' ya, Twilight, Pinkie Pie told me she was at the Hoofington killing and that she's th' daughter they never found!” Applejack was vehemently describing her encounter with the pink mare to her friend. “That's why we gotta write to th' Princess! She needs to know about this!” Twilight sighed, setting down the book that she had been reading. “Applejack... it's not that I think you are lying to me, but don't you think you might be overreacting a bit?” “OVERREACTIN'?!” “I didn't mean it like that!” the purple unicorn quickly corrected. “What I'm saying is- how do you know Pinkie wasn't playing a joke on you? She and Rainbow Dash do things like that all the time. I'll admit that it's kind of a disturbing thing to joke about-” “That's th' understatement of the year-” “-BUT you don't have any other proof that Pinkie Pie wasn't playing a prank on you?” “Well, no, but-” “Applejack, I think you're better off just letting it go for now,” the unicorn said. “If she keeps acting strangely, come back in a week and we'll send a letter to Princess Celestia. But honestly? If you ask me, it's probably just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.” “But Twi,” Applejack protested. “You didn't see her! She wuz lookin' like she'd just lost everything.” The unicorn mare sighed heavily. “Applejack, I definitely believe you. What I'm not sure I believe, and this is going to sound terrible, is Pinkie Pie. I don't think she intends to do it, but she does exaggerate things, sometimes to the point of practically parodying herself. And you saw how she was behaving on her birthday. You can't deny that Pinkie isn't always the most stable of ponies. She probably just read a news article and started feeling bad about it, and she chose a... a... well, she chose that way of dealing with her emotions.” “Ah dunno...” Applejack wasn't convinced. What Twilight was saying did make a lot of sense. But the other mare also hadn't been there. She hadn't seen the way that Pinkie related that horrific story so earnestly, knowing details that only somepony who had lived through it would know. Twilight hadn't heard Pinkie calmly discuss information about Applejack's family that nopony else should have known. “Twilight. Ah really don't think this is a good idea. Pinkie needs help!” “Like I said,” Twilight responded, “if she continues to act strangely then I'll write to the Princess. But I don't want to bother her with something that turns out to be nothing.” “Yeah, alright,” Applejack grudgingly admitted. “Ah'm still not comfortable with this, though, Twi.” “I know,” the unicorn soothed. “I completely understand. But I am pretty sure this is just Pinkie being herself. She'll be back to normal in a day or two, you'll see.” “Ah hope you're right, Twilight. Ah hope you're right.” Despite Twilight's reassurances, Applejack couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen, and she couldn't help but think that Pinkie was going to be in the center of the maelstrom, no matter what it ended up being. Walking back to the farm, the orange mare passed the bakery where the subject of her thoughts resided. Not wanting to dwell on on Pinkie Pie's revelations any more than she could avoid, she prepared to continue past when an almighty crash and a horrified shriek came from inside the shop. Not wasting a second, Applejack bucked the door down, her mind unavoidably providing her with any number of horrific scenarios, all of them involving the snapped mind of a certain pink mare. “Mrs Cake! Mr. Cake! Are y'all alright?” But the sight that greeted her wasn't the one of horrifying carnage that she had imagined. Well, at least, it wasn't carnage of the pony kind. A glass display case full of fruit pastries and cupcakes had been tipped over. Miraculously, no glass had been broken, and a tiny unicorn sat in the middle of the pile of sweets, munching cutely on a strawberry danish. An equally tiny pegasus zoomed around the room on his wee little wings, giggling madly. Next to the scene stood too frazzled adult ponies, each shouting at the other. “Get that pastry away from her, she could choke on it!” “Catch Pound before he knocks something else over! And be careful of Pumpkin's magic- I don't think she realizes that she's casting it!” “On it! And look out for the bags of flour!” Applejack, thinking quickly, jumped up and snagged the baby pegasus out of the air. “Ah gotcha!” Pound proceeded to stick his tongue out at the mean old grownup who'd ruined his fun and blow a raspberry. Applejack handed the colt off to his grateful parents before turning to the unicorn filly, who was determinedly gnawing on her treat despite the fact that it was much too big for her. “Now how are ya gonna eat that?” Applejack asked sternly. “You don't have teeth!” Pumpkin steadfastly ignored her until the older mare picked her up. Years of dealing with Apple Bloom's disobedience had prepared her to deal with this sort of situation. Pumpkin, however, did not see it that way, and began to wail. “None of that now, y'hear?” Applejack said sternly. “That's a mighty big pastry for somepony as small as you are.” When the foal continued to cry, however, Applejack relented and scooped out some of the strawberry cream, allowing the filly to lick it off of a spoon. That certainly calmed her down, and Applejack was able to hand the placated unicorn back to her mother. “Thanks, Applejack,” Cup muttered gratefully. “Don' mention it,” Applejack replied. “Ah heard the crash and decided to see what was goin' on. Ah though... well, it doesn't matter what Ah thought. Ah',m just glad y'all are alright.” “Yes, we're fine,” Carrot replied, his exhaustion evident in his voice. “I just wish we'd listened to Pinkie... if you're looking for her, by the way, she's not here right now. She's... uh, running some errands.” Carrot really should have known better than to lie to the Element of Honesty. Even if she hadn't already run into Pinkie Pie and heard about the situation, Applejack could spot a lie a mile away. But out of respect for the Cakes, she did not call him on it. “No, actually. Ah was just on my way home when Ah heard the ruckus. Ah thought Ah'd help you out.” “Well, than you very much,” Cup said quickly. She looked very uncomfortable with the situation, so Applejack decided to take her leave. Before she was completely out the door, however, she heard Carrot say- “I told you we should have listened to Pinkie Pie!” The entire walk back to Sweet Apple Acres, that sentence kept rolling around in Applejack's mind. Had she been wrong about Pinkie? Had Pinkie been doing the right thing after all? Maybe the other mare wasn't as crazy as she seemed. Applejack carefully ordered preconceptions of everything were falling down around her ears, and it troubled her. To Be Continued