//------------------------------// // Schizo-Friend-ia // Story: Her Void Pink // by Darkryt Orbinautz //------------------------------// There were a few things in the world that were always completely amazing, no matter how much a pony had been through. Even a war would do nothing to diminish their impressiveness. For example, the amount of time and preparation of a possibility a pony would take, and then still be unprepared when that possibility did the slow and gradual evolution from possibility, to eventuality, to having had happened. Like now, for instance. Despite everything, the mechanisms, the excuses, the reasonable explanations Twilight had spent hours in the recesses of her library in the event something happened that would cause Twilight's thoughts about Pinkie being exposed. It was rather noteworthy, that not a few moments' worth ago, Twilight was sharply and harshly demanding explanation. Now Applejack's polite, pensive request for the same had sent Twilight sprawling into a nervous shut-down. Out of at least dozen explanations Twilight had thought of for any random peculiar behaviors she might have displayed, not one was coming to her right now. "...Twilight? You all right there, sugercube?" Twilight's mind slowly started snail-trailing it's way back to operational order. In her worry and fear, it took some time for her to realize Applejack had just given the perfect excuse to her on a shiny, silver- no, golden- platter. Twilight cleared her throat. "Um, no! I'm not all right. Could you leave while I pull myself back together?" Applejack nodded. Rainbow Dash followed Applejack as Applejack followed the doctor. Pinkie stayed behind, despite Applejack's concern for that. Pinkie simultaneously respected Twilight's space while still keeping to her '24/7' mantra by backing up into a corner of the room, so Twilight could have her freak-out unhindered and in peace. NYaaah! What I am gonna do!? Twilight looked around the room. Maybe she could crawl out the window...no, no, that was a bad idea. She'd probably hurt herself- AGAIN- and it would only postpone her need to explain. Twilight noticed a steel drawer on the side of her bed. Maybe I can find something in there... She pulled it open and reached her hoof to take out whatever was in there. It was a tiny medicine bottle. Great! One of the voices in head noted. Maybe you can swallow the whole bottle and kill yourself to keep from having to explain. Oh, come on. Even I think that's a bit of an overreaction. Rather than put the bottle back, Twilight threw the medicine bottle into her bed where it landed neatly in the fluff of her tail. In order to show that she wasn't willing to entertain her the voices' in her head's crazy ideas- I am NOT CRAZY! And by extension, any voice inside my head is ALSO not crazy! The voices in her head's questionable ideas. Twilight took in a deep breath, her withers tense and eyes blank as she continued to ponder how to deal with the situation still at hoof. She looked down at her tail, where the medicine bottle was still nestled. ...That's it! The medicine! Not that she was considering her voice's suggestion. But hadn't she been half-numbed by painkiller medicine? Hadn't she gone rampaging through a doctor's office because of it? No. She had gone rampaging because she didn't know where Pinkie Pie Dearest was. She had gone rampaging because she didn't know where she herself was, so she had assumed the worst. But yes, the medicine was the answer! She could say the painkiller had messed with her brain- which, as Twilight always preferred when making stuff up, had some grain of truth to it. It had numbed her tongue, hadn't it? Who is to say it didn't cause other problems? The professional doctors, of course, but Twilight didn't care what they said. "Okay, girls!" Twilight called. "Come back in! I'm ready to explain." Applejack and Rainbow Dash came back in. They explained that the doctor didn't need to come back yet. "So..." Applejack drawled. "It was the painkiller." Twilight said. "That's why I moaned. I'm fine now, though." Applejack and Rainbow exchanged looks, not entirely sure they bought it. Twilight, getting back to her hooves and back into the swing of things, sighed frustratedly. "Painkiller medication causes all sorts of problem with your brain. It doesn't treat pain. It just numbs the nerves that let you feel it." Applejack and Rainbow's expressions were blank and dull at Twilight's explaining of how painkiller worked. It wasn't quite technobabble, but it was close enough Applejack and Rainbow accepted Twilight's saying that it was the painkiller. They were afraid further inquires would result in further technobabble, no doubt. After Applejack and Dash left, one doctor came back and said that Twilight was going to have to stay for the night and some of the next day. She was purportedly in fine physical condition- nothing serious, but they wanted her to rest. (...And the doctor leaned in and whispered that Twilight's escapades in the hallway had put everypony in the office on edge and wanting to be sure Twilight was somewhere she could be observed.) Twilight nodded to assure she understood. Imagining herself in the doctors' horseshoes, she'd be on edge around herself too. Pinkie, caring, asked the doctor to bring Twilight a book. A medium sized book that wasn't a magazine or newspaper. The doctor brought in a book of his own possession that he was willing to loan. It was a respectable tome in Twilight's eyes. It was mostly about how to...deal with testy patients. Twilight blushed a little. She read through the book, and as was the tendency for books to do- that one in the library on the day of the picnic not withstanding- Twilight got lost in it, and by the time she put it down, it was time to sleep. Of course more awkwardness was to ensue. Pinkie was unwilling to part with Twilight while it was still her Celebratory Week. But where she was going to sleep? ...Surely not with Twilight, again already after the sleep party on Twilight's bed earlier, and how close a call she had with Applejack today! "GEROMINO!" Pinkie shouted, doing her anti-gravity thing and bouncing into Twilight's bed, landing down on top of her like a giant slug. Twilight started hyperventilating from having Pinkie so close to her. Earlier, there was the painkiller Twilight had to blame, but now her mind was clear. And there was nopony in there with them, and unlikely for a pony to walk in. Twilight reached her hoof up to stroke Pinkie's mane. A gush of air from Pinkie's breath flew into her face, causing her to stop what she was doing. Pinkie was snoring. She didn't do that last time. Pinkie was at her most vulnerable right now. Twilight could do...whatever...she...wanted to her without anypony being the wiser. Twilight was very, very tempted, but resolved not to. Looking at Pinkie's sweet, innocent sleeping face was more then Twilight could take. Taking one last breath, Twilight tried to fall asleep without taking advantage of her position. Once more into the breach, though Twilight didn't think it'd be her last time there. There was nothing noteworthy around in her void tonight. Maybe it was finally turning back to under her control...but Twilight was pessimistic about that possibility. She ambled about her world, trying to find something. Trying to create something. Trying anything. She found a stack of hay bales eventually. They were neatly stacked up like cover meant to hide something. Twilight, of course, started shoving the bales on top off so she could see what was in there. Climbing up on the now-slightly smaller pile, Twilight could see something that just- just- just struck a chord with her. They were two large ponies made out of baby dandelion petals, grappling and wrestling with each other. Twilight didn't know why. She wasn't sure why, but something the two fighting was...wrong somehow. They shouldn't have been fighting. Twilight didn't why she knew that, but she did. "Stop!" They ignored her. Twilight crawled and clambered over the crates and ran towards the two of them. "Quit fighting, please!" They kept on. Desperate, Twilight threw herself into the fray. The two dandelion ponies pulled out stalks which they threw at each other, causing them to wraparound Twilight's neck. Twilight began gasping for air. The two of them saw they had an unintended victim, and tried to pull their stalks off Twilight's neck. But each tug and jerk only worsened Twilight's suffering. The poor unicorn started choking, and suffocating... "Aaah!" so screamed Twilight Sparkle as she was brought to the waking world. She saw Pinkie's sleeping innocent face lying on her chest and forgot all about what a terrifying dream she just had. She whimpered again, so wanting for Pinkie to be awake...mostly so she could give Twilight consent. "Unnh!" Twilight's whimpering woke Pinkie. "Oh! Time to get up already?" Pinkie sat up and took a glance at the window. The sun's rays were beaming through. "I guess so!" she squirmed off Twilight and stood by the bed. "So, what are we gonna do today?" Twilight shrugged. "I don't know..." She glanced out at the window. Pinkie crawled off her and went back to the floor. Thankfully. Twilight was at the end of her rope for her restraint; any longer and she would started getting cozy. Now she had a moment to rewind her rope back onto her winch. ...That sounded better in her head. "Mm." Twilight sat up in and rubbed her eyes with her hooves, attempting to remove any remainder of the sandmare's special dust. Once she was done with that, she took another look out the window. The sun was beautiful today, beaming down brilliantly on the town's grass, giving it a relaxing serene glow. Which was promptly ruined by a spurt of returned memory. "Ohmigosh! Pinkie! I just remembered! My psychiatric appointment is today!" Pinkie blinked. "Okay?" "No, it's not! I don't know whether or not the doctor's will have let me out of here in time to make it!" Pinkie scratched her chin. "Yeah. I can see why you might worry about that." "Ah! What are we going to do?" It wasn't likely the psychiatrist would appreciate having been stood up, and Twilight wasn't so maverick as to try to break out the window just to keep an appointment. "I have an idea!" Pinkie pulled out a kazoo and blew on it quite loudly. One of the doctor's burst into the room, swinging the door wide open. "Hey! Keep quiet! Some of our patients like to sleep in." A yellow stallion with an distinctively-built jaw knocked came up behind the doctor at incredible speeds that knocked the doctor down to his belly. It was Mr. Cake, Pinkie's landlord. (In a manner of speaking.) "You rang, Pinkie Pie?" Mr. Cake questioned. "Yep!" Pinkie answered. "My friend Twilight- that's her there- has a appointment with a psychiatrist today. The doctor's are keeping here because she got hurt trying to break up a fight. You think you could do something for her?" Mr. Cake nodded and saluted. "I'll see what I can do!" he zoomed off as fast and suddenly as he appeared. The bowled over doctor stumbled to his hooves and sighed, rubbing his temples. "Uhh... I'll leave you two alone." Twilight narrowed her eyes, suspicious of the doctor's word choice as he left the room. Once he was gone, Twilight laid back down into her bed. Pinkie was standing in the sunbeam from the window and looked radiant in it. "You look..." Twilight started. "I looook?" Pinkie questioned. "...Happy." Twilight finished, detracting her statement from it's original intent and hiding her emotions once more. Twilight fiddled with her hooves uncomfortably. "Um...Pinkie?" "Yeah-huh?" "Where were you when Rainbow Dash and Applejack were carrying me to the doctor's?" That was a question Twilight had only just now thought of. Pinkie had been on the ceiling and on her tail while in the doctor's office, but when Twilight woke up on their friends' backs mid-transport she couldn't see Pinkie anywhere. "I was right behind ya!" Pinkie answered with a smile. "I wanted to help carry you, but Applejack said I wasn't strong enough." Twilight 'hmm'ed and giggled. "I suppose you're not, especially when Dash and Applejack are working together. You know, for a change!" The two of them laughed at the all-too-true joke. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had a tendency to butt heads over trivial things. Mr. Cake came back into the room. "What'd I miss?" "Oh, nothing, Mr. Cake." Twilight said. "Ah, okay. Anyways, I talked to the therapist and told her what was going on. She said she would be willing to come on by and have the appointment here." Twilight sprang up out of her bed, her eyes glistening at the prospect of still keeping her appointment that she desperately needed. "Really!?" "Nope!" Twilight put on disbelieving expression. Mr. Cake chuckled awkwardly. "Uh...I was joking. Forgive me...she's right here!" Mr. Cake stepped aside and waved his hoof out as if he was presenting the therapist onto the walkway of a fashion show. The therapist walked in, a silvery-gray mare with her mane done up in a bun, wearing a brown suit and half-moon spectacles. "Thank you for the lovely introduction, Mr. ... Cake, was it? No hard feelings, but I have to ask you to leave while I speak with my patient." "I understand. I hope whatever is troubling you gets sorted out, Twilight!" Mr. Caked waved goodbye and closed the door. "How can you be here?" Twilight questioned. "What about your other patients at the clinic?" "Ah, they'll be fine." The therapist assured her. "Ponyville is a small, communal town. As long as I'm back before the next appointment, everything will work out all right." The therapist looked around the room and pulled up a wheeled stool. Then she saw Pinkie Pie in the corner. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, too." Pinkie was offended. "Excuse me, but did you know its Twilight's Week to celebrate her moving to Ponyville?" "I have...no idea what that means." "It's okay." Twilight said. "I think it would be better if she was here, too." The therapist smiled. She appeared to understand that it was nice to keep a friend close every now and then. "Very well." She pulled out a clipboard and pen from her suit. She clicked the latter. "Let's get started, shall we? Now, what is the primary reason you have for scheduling this appointment, Twilight Sparkle?" Twilight took in a deep breath and signed. "I used to have some control over what I call my void." The therapist scribbled a quick note on her clipboard. "What is this 'void'?" "It's, um. Where I have my dreams." Twilight finally admitted. "I used to be able to control it down to the smallest detail, but recently its been doing things on its own." "Okay." The therapist scribbled some more. She'd probably being doing that after every sentence Twilight said. "Why do you suppose that is?" "I don't know." Twilight answered. The therapist adjusted her glasses. "Think, Twilight. At what point did you start losing control?" Twilight put her hoof to her chin as she pondered. What happened that had caused her control on her void to spiral out of her own control? ...It was Pinkie. Pinkie had started her Celebratory Week. That's when she lost control. Her theory was right: controlling herself around Pinkie had been so taxing that she couldn't command her dream world anymore. "Well?" Twilight became ghostly silent. She wasn't willing to admit that to the therapist. "Let's move on." The therapist was clearly suspicious of Twilight's suggestion. She was a professional who had been at this long before Twilight had problems; she saw right through the ruse. "Denial is a sign of any number of emotional and mental conflicts and disruptions." Get out of my head! Twilight thought. Which was silly. The entire point of a therapist was to get inside ponies' heads. "There's also this...other thing. Recently, when something upsets me, my vision starts getting all white." "Uh-huh." Scribble, scribble...scribble! "And?" "Well, I'll...I get comfortable when I can't see anything but a few things, and I start to do things I couldn't do when I thought anypony was watching." "Uh-hhuuh." The therapist drawled. "Twilight Sparkle, do you think this white void...could be caused by your...unwillingness to accept reality?" Everything just went click in Twilight's noggin. That made...very much perfect sense. Twilight didn't like conflict, so when A.J. and R.D. kept fighting, Twilight wanted to deny it...so the white void formed! Thank you so much, Twilight thought. She was incredibly thankful that the therapist had taken the time out just to come talk to her- and made such an accurate stab at it! "That's it!" Twilight said. She shirked and blushed a little bit. "I was...never very good at handling situations when I was young." The therapist made a chuckle of bemusement. "I take that solves all our problems for the day?" What about the constant wanting for Pinkie Pie, and the fear of what her friends would do if they found what she was thinking? What about that problem? Well? "I think that will be it today." Twilight reached out of the bed to shake the therapist's hoof. "Thank you so much." "You're- welcome!" the therapist stuttered, Twilight shaking unnecessarily wildly. They parted hooves, and the therapist left with an awkward last look at Twilight and Pinkie each. "Well, that was fun." Pinkie said after she left. "I've had better fun, though." Twilight shook her head at Pinkie's bizarre opinion. After some meaningless idle chit-chat, the doctor came back and cleared Twilight to leave the office. "Finally." Twilight expressed at her release. Nopony ever appreciates what they've got until it's gone, like the ability to walk around without being under constant surveillance. After walking- well, Twilight walked. Pinkie skipped. Twilight asked Pinkie what she wanted to do now that they were free of the doctors... (and Applejack's interrogations.) "I kinda wanna go to the amusement park." "Amusement park?" Ponyville has a an amusement park? "Yeah! Have you never been to the amusement park before, Twilight?" Well...no. The amusement park was meant to entertain little fillies, and when Twilight was little filly, she preferred burying her nose into a dusty ancient tome rather than ride on merry-go-round. As a matter of fact, she still did, but could she say no to Pinkie in favor of a book? Could she choose between her two lov... Was she even in love with Pinkie? Would that be what this feeling is called? Twilight wasn't good with feelings. She had read enough books on the subject to be able to tell what other ponies were feeling based on the reflection in theirs and the contortion of their muzzles. Her own feelings, less so. It wasn't like there was book on herself, was there? And if there was, Twilight would have a few choice questions about how the author got their information! "All right, Pinkie Pie. Let's go to the park." And evidently, between the lov- whatever this was, Twilight would appear to pick Pinkie Pie over her precious books. Of course she would pick Pinkie Pie. Books don't have feelings. Pinkie had feelings... So they walked all the way from one end of Ponyville to the other to find the amusement park. Twilight was willing to skip and bounce right along Pinkie, but Pinkie saw her skipping and slowed down to a walk. Oh dear...why did she do that? Did she think Twilight looked silly- and not in a good way- when she skipped? Was she doing it 'wrong' somehow? "You wanna conserve your energy until we actually get there." Pinkie told her. Oh thank Celestia! Twilight wasn't doing anything wrong at all. Hoo! Once they arrived at the park, Twilight was a little interested by the flashing light bulbs that spelled out 'Ponyville Amusement Park' in big bright letters. They would flash all together at once, turn off, then slowly light up one-by-one. If nothing else, at it least it was different from just 'flash once', the typical way of doing it, to Twilight's understanding. "Come on!" Pinkie encouraged her. "I'm coming, Pinkie. Just hold your horses. Sheesh!" Twilight and Pinkie paid the ticket attendant some measly bits and were given pink slips that proved they had access to be inside the park. They were so many lights and sounds for Twilight and Pinkie to investigate. Pinkie picked out the first thing she wanted to do out of a hundred with accuracy like a honed predator. She made a beeline straight for the cotton candy machine that Twilight struggled to keep up with. "PINKIE! Slow down! I can't catch up!" Pinkie slowed down and came galloping back towards Twilight. "Sorry. I'm just so excited! Do you know when the last time I went to the park was?" "No." "Last week! Last week, Twilight!" Pinkie got up in Twilight's face and stared her down intensely. "That's a whole entire week!" "Yes, Pinkie." Twilight noted dryly. "A whole week." Pinkie zoomed off, this time her leg wrapped around Twilight's neck to anchor the unicorn to the Earth pony. Once they finally arrived at the cotton candy vendor, there was a friendly enough colt manning the station. He was likable enough, which was good for a carnival attendant. He'd get fired if he was too cranky; there were foals visiting, after all. There were also so many different flavors of cotton candy available! How was Twilight going to choose between any one of them? How was Pinkie!? "I'll have a- " Pinkie said something incredibly fast, too quickly for Twilight to make out, but the vendor kept on top of it and presented Pinkie with a cone that had a bizarre variety of colors on it which didn't look safe for any living creature to eat. Naturally, Pinkie started wolfing it down. The vendor gestured for Twilight to come over and get her own. "What would you like, ma'am?" "Oh gee..." Twilight muttered, looking at the vast and wide selection of colors. "I don't know. Hmm." Twilight rubbed her chin in thought, unable to solidly decide on any one flavor. "Here!" Pinkie offered, clouds of candy sticking to her muzzle. "Try a bite of mine and pick out the flavor from you like best!" "Oh, gee. Really, Pinkie?" "Yeah-huh!" "Thank you! You're so sweet." Ahhh...any excuse to compliment Pinkie, eh? Twilight nervously stepped forward and took a bite of Pinkie's cotton candy. The zig-zagging mixture of random different flavors felt tingly on Twilight's tongue, and made it difficult to execute the plan of 'pick out the flavor she liked most.' That couldn't be done very well when she couldn't pick any one flavor out of the twisted mix. "Bleh..." Twilight said as she drew away. "I'm not sure I even want a cotton candy anymore after that." Twilight looked at the vendor, who seemed saddened that she was no longer interested in his treats. "Aren't cha gonna eat with yer friend? Seeing his pout, Twilight's will crumbled. "I'll have just a plain pink, if you would be so kind." The vendor cheered up visibly and quickly scooped out a pink cone for Twilight. Twilight took it and went with Pinkie to a bench to eat their candy. After they were done, Pinkie wanted to go one of the rides. "Let's go on the roller coaster!" Twilight was so blinded by Pinkie's lack of foresight she actually closed her eyes before pulling a facehoof. Pinkie wanted to go not just one of the rides, but one of the most stomach-challenging rides ever made? Oh, Pinkie Pie... "Pinkie, don't you think we should've rode on the coaster before we ate?" Pinkie stared confusedly, then shook her head as she went "Ooooh! No. It's no fun if there's no risk of getting stomach-sick!" ...As well as dizziness, nausea, and suffering from gyro-gravitational displacement, all of which were things a roller coaster could to do the riders regardless of stomach contents or lack thereof. "I really don't think it's a good idea to go out on the coaster just yet, Pinkie. Let's wait a little bit." Pinkie frowned. Quick, think of something! Twilight didn't want Pinkie to be sad, but she also didn't want to risk vomiting on Pinkie because her stomach was weak. Was Twilight's stomach weak? She didn't know. She'd rather it stay that way, as well. "Come on." Twilight encouraged, hopping off the bench. "Let's do something else while we wait." So, Twilight had to chaperone Pinkie over to some of the amusement park's other attractions. They went on slow spinning cups, a merry-go-round. And just before Pinkie's patience ran out and she was going to demand to go the coaster, they swung by one of the games where Twilight's hoof was good enough to break enough bottles to win an overly large white stuffed teddy bear. To give Pinkie as a gift, of course. After that, Twilight was confident her digestive tract would've settled enough to ride the roller coaster. The two got in line of the roller coaster, and the attendant was happy to let them on one of the middle carts. They had to wait (to Pinkie's increasing annoyance) for the rest of the carts to fill up. Once they were finished, the attendant shouted to make sure everypony on was ready to move. "Everypony ready?" "YEAH!" As cursory gesture, the attendant pulled the lever, causing the coaster to jerk forward suddenly. "No." Twilight whispered to herself. "Goiiiiinng UP!" the attendant pulled the lever the rest of the way, starting the coaster off on its perilous journey upwards, then down, then up, left, right, inwards, southwest... Thankfully, Twilight's panicked screaming blended into the rest of the riders' "Calm down, Twi-i-i-ilght!" Pinkie chided over the chorus of fear and adrenaline. "Don't be so scared!" "I AM SCARED!" Pinkie signed. "Don't worry, you! Everything will be fine. This roller coaster has a ton of fail-safes!" "WHY DOES IT NEEE-EEE-ED FAIL-SAFES IN THE FIR-IR-IR-ST PLACE!?" Pinkie closed her eyes in frustration. "You know what? This calls for desperate measures, Pinkie Pie-style!" Pinkie reached into some sort of subspace dimensional access port and pulled out a cello- not a violin, not a fiddle, a cello. She started playing a soothing symphony on it, very loudly, so Twilight could hear it over the screaming. And everything just went...away. There wasn't even Twilight's little white void forming. Everything was still... there. It was just...away. Like the zoom-out function on a telescope. Throughout the entire remainder of the ride, Twilight couldn't focus on anything except Pinkie's tune. A few other ponies noticed, and were more bemused than anything. One of them was flabbergasted that Pinkie had the frame of mind to play such a finely-tuned instrument during a roller coaster ride. Once the ride was finished- which happened quickly because of Twilight's trance, the coaster pulled up to where it was originally parked. A few ponies expressed how Pinkie's cello made sure they weren't going to forget this ride anytime soon. As all the patrons clambered out, either wanting to get in line for another go or get as far as away as possible, Twilight had to stumble out of her's and Pinkie's seat in a daze. "Wasn't that fun, Twilight?" Fun? Maybe... Twilight didn't care. It was worth anything, even a roller coaster ride on a full stomach, to hear Pinkie's music playing. Pinkie, boundless in her energy, wanted to speed over to another game to play before they went home. It was a dunk tank. Pinkie ran up to the attendant and asked if she could be the one being dunked, which was all kinds of weird to both the attendant and Twilight. Naturally, once Pinkie had bargained her way into the seat, (the stallion already there was eager to not have to be dunked again) Twilight had to be the one to throw the ball. Twilight didn't want to splash Pinkie Pie into the cold water. How could she do something like that!? Pinkie gave a few words of encouragement. She was ready to be submerged into the water below. Twilight eyed the ball warily, then swirled her hoof around to build up momentum. She tossed the ball straight into the center of the target, pulling the release lever and lowering Pinkie inside the tank. Though Twilight had hesitated to throw the ball, she was glad she did. Pinkie Pie had a certain...appeal while sopping wet, with her hair cascading down her neck... Pinkie was ready to go home now, though. (The amusement park didn't have a towel for her to dry off with.) After everything Twilight went through yesterday, last night, and today, she was too. So they went back to the library, and after having Spike help Pinkie make tonight's dinner-some sort of foreign dinner pastry- Twilight and Pinkie went to bed. As they were lying there, Twilight took a glance at Pinkie lying on the opposite bed. Pinkie noticed and glanced back. "What'cha ya staring at me like that for, Twilight?" "Nothing." Twilight fibbed. "I just...I'm so glad you're here." With me. "I'm glad I'm here too!" What? Could it be...? "You know, as opposed to, um...not being...here. You know. Like not existing." You just had to get my hopes up like that... Twilight shook her head and rolled over to face away from Pinkie, ready to face her next out-of-control nightmare. It was better than crying over Pinkie had innocently and unwittingly jerked her heartstrings.