//------------------------------// // Piecing It Together // Story: Picking Up the Pieces // by Shrinky Frod //------------------------------// Pinkie jumped out of the basket of the balloon almost before Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could haul it to the ground. She took off at a gallop, the hairs of her mane straight as razors, crying hard as she rushed towards Sugarcube Corner. She could remember everything now. She could remember everything, and she hated herself for it. The door to Sugarcube Corner slammed open, Pinkie's grey-coated, grey-maned form stomping through resolutely. Carrot and Cup looked at her, horrified by her appearance. They had just finished putting Gummy's afternoon bowl of miscellaneous ground meat out for the vacantly staring pet. "Pinkie, honey, what happened to you?" Cup was the first to break out of the shock, but it didn't save her from Pinkie's ire. "I don't want to talk about it!" The party pony had snarled at her, throwing open the freezer and grabbing a bucket of ice cream, intentionally leaving the freezer door open as she grabbed a spoon and stormed up to her room to sulk and gorge on frozen, sugary goodness. Carrot and Cup were right behind her, though Carrot did stop long enough to close the freezer so Gummy couldn't walk in. "Pinkie, please, tell us what's wrong? Are your friends all right?" Cup begged, opening the door to Pinkie's room and stepping inside, her husband right behind her. Tears speckled the cobblestones as Pinkie rushed home, remembering the horrible, awful things she'd said and done. "What 'friends?'" Pinkie snarled, stuffing her face with ice cream. She could still hear the laughing, the horrible, horrible laughing, all around her, echoing in her head just loudly enough that she couldn't ignore it. She was hoping that a good case of brain freeze might drown them out. "Well, Twilight and the others, of course!" "Don't know, and don't care!" Pinkie shot through a mouthful of rocky road. "Now buck off!" "Pinkie! Stop it, this isn't like you!" Cup snatched the ice cream from her, crying as she glared at Pinkie, confusion and fear in her expression. Pathetic, soft, a look that was just begging for the old Pinkie back. Oh, sure, now she missed the old Pinkie. "Oh? What's the matter, Cup? Don't like good ol' Pinkie when she's not just there for a laugh and a lay?" Pinkie sneered at the middle-aged blue mare. "Sorry, I'm not your pudgy pink sex toy!" Pinkie skidded to a stop at the door to Sugarcube Corner. The lights were on, but the sign on the window said 'closed.' She could see them inside though, and she felt her stomach lurch as she looked at Cup, crying as she swept up, and Carrot, trying to comfort her. She couldn't go in there, not after that. Especially... especially not after what she'd said next. "Pinkie!" Carrot stormed into the room as his wife staggered back, shocked at what Pinkie had said. "Don't you talk to Cup like -" Pinkie cut him off sharply, her fury building. The words were pouring out of her, but she was picking them very, very carefully to cut as deeply as possible with the minimum amount of effort. "Oh, shut up, carrot-stick! I'll talk to you two any way I like! I'm not a foal, and at least I'm not a limp-dicked gelding whose wife has to look for a filly to get off with!" Pinkie was sent reeling as Cup brought a hoof across her face, stunning all three of them, herself most of all. Pinkie pressed her own hoof against her face, feeling a loosened tooth with her tongue, and the rage boiled over. She sprang forward.... Pinkie sprang forward, practically knocking the door off its hinges as she raced to Cup, hugging her and sobbing into the older mare's shoulder. "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" She wept, clinging to Cup with all her might. "Oh Celestia, I'm so sorry!" She felt Cup's forelegs wrap around her, and she just broke down into tears. "Shh, shh, it's all right," Cup crooned, stroking Pinkie's mane gently. She didn't know what to think. The last time she'd seen Pinkie, the filly had been screaming about how much she hated them both. Now, she was apologizing just as fervently. But she looked at the dull pink coat beneath her hooves, and she knew. This was their Pinkie again. Everything was going to be all right. It took the Cakes almost fifteen minutes of gently soothing Pinkie and stroking her distressingly straight mane to get her to sit down. Neither of them could remember seeing her like this since she'd arrived years before, homeless and hungry and eager to help in any way she could. Once they had gotten her to calm down, and gotten a cup of tea in her hooves, it was time for what Cup and Carrot had been dreading most. Figuring out what the buck had happened. Fortunately, Pinkie was willing to talk about it now. "I really am sorry for what I said... all of it," she said, looking between the two older ponies, still blinking back tears as she sipped her tea. "I don't... I didn't... it wasn't me!" She said, trying to put it into words. "But it was me, I just...." She swallowed hard, and explained everything. The Princess' summons, her flippant disregard of Discord's threat, the labyrinth, the balloons, the laughing.... "I just... it wouldn't stop!" She whimpered. "I never wanted anypony to stop laughing before! But when it was all I could hear, I never wanted to hear it again! And I said all those mean, horrible, nasty things, and you just wanted to help, but I didn't care and -" A loud snap cut her off as Gummy latched onto her tail. She looked back at him, dangling from her rump, and smiled softly. Those vacant purple eyes gazed up at her, blinking out of synch, seeming to say 'it's okay' in a way that nopony, nobody whatever the species, could. "It's all right, honey," Cup said gently. The blue earth pony set her cup down, and slid over to hug Pinkie. She could tell that Carrot was still upset. She couldn't blame him, but it wasn't going to help. "We both know you didn't mean it," she said, glancing up at her husband firmly. He sighed and nodded. "That's right, Pinkie. It was just the magic making you say all that. We forgive you," he said, smiling faintly. "B-but that's the worst part," Pinkie whispered. "I... I did mean it. I didn't mean to say it like that!" She added quickly, looking up and between both of them fearfully. "But well...." She swallowed hard, then drained the rest of her tea to buy a moment to steel herself. "It's all right, sweetie-pie," Carrot said, somehow feeling relieved that she was admitting there was something behind her words. It didn't make any sense; a part of him felt like he should be angry with her again. Instead, knowing that she'd meant it, but still regretted what she'd said.... It took some of the sting out of the idea that she'd just throw out something she had to know would hurt that much. He got off of his own cushion, moving to her other side, and leaning against her gently, nuzzling her cheek gently. Pinkie pressed into the contact, closing her eyes tightly. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered. "I know you two are married to each other, not me. I know we have to keep it secret, and I don't want to make things harder for anypony. But sometimes it really does feel like...." "Like we only want you around for the happy parts?" Cup asked her softly, pressing up close, remembering Pinkie's words from before all too well. "Pinkie, honey, we never felt like that. We just... didn't know there were other parts," she explained. "You've always seemed so happy, since you came here, especially since you became part of the family." The blue mare tipped Pinkie's face towards her, and kissed her tenderly. "You are part of the family, Pinkie. And that means that if you're not happy with something, you have to tell us, okay?" "I didn't want to make you mad... either of you," she added apologetically, glancing over at Carrot. "I might get a little jealous once in a while, sweetie, but that just means I can understand you getting that way too," he chuckled. The three ponies sat together for a few minutes. Pinkie's breathing became slower, steadier as she soaked in the warmth, affection, and forgiveness. "How can you two ever forgive me for what I said earlier?" She asked them with a sigh, letting out the last of the tension from before. Carrot glanced over at Cup, rolling his eyes towards the stairs. Cup giggled and nodded, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Well, whenever we have a fight, there's always one thing that helps us feel better afterwards...." Cup grinned at Pinkie, who looked back at her with a blank expression. "A... party?" She guessed. "You might call it that," Cup winked at her. "Think you're up to giving this old 'gelding' a chance to prove you wrong?" Carrot asked Pinkie with a grin and a wink of his own. Pinkie giggled, her hair getting back a little of its bounce. "Always up for that!" She grinned, letting herself be herded up the stairs by the Cakes.