Pinkie Pie unceremoniously slammed the front door of Sugarcube Corner shut as she entered the facility, paying no mind to the inhabitants sound asleep in her infuriated mood. She quickly made her way to her room upstairs, not noticing the mare standing in front of her own bedroom, which she shared with her husband.
"Pinkie, what in-?" was all Mrs. Cake could muster before she managed to take a glimpse at Pinkie's facial expression, and recoiled slightly at the sight.
Needless to say, the pink pony paid the master baker no mind as she stomped all the way to her room, closing the door shut with a bang. Mrs. Cake cringed at that. Never since she had known Pinkie Pie had she seen her acting like this. The usually bubbly, cheerful and happy-go-lucky pony was in a state she never thought she'd see her in. Sure, there were times where Pinkie was feeling down, but she never imagined Pinkie could show anger of this magnitude.
She slowly approached her employee's room, knocking quietly on the door. "Pinkie? Is everything alright?" she asked.
"Go away! Leave me alone!" yelled Pinkie Pie, angrily, and that made Cup Cake back away worriedly.
It was a good thing Mr. Cake was a heavy sleeper and the toddlers' room had been soundproofed; they hadn't woken up from the slamming of the doors and Pinkie's outburst. That made Mrs. Cake sigh in relief as she listened carefully and saw that nopony in the household had been forced out from sleep.
However, even though she wanted to find out why Pinkie Pie was like this, she thought it best to not push the subject until the pink mare wanted to talk about it. Her mind set, she headed back to her own bed, throwing a brief, worried glance at her employee's room before entering hers.
Inside her room, Pinkie had flopped on her bed. She had hid under her covers and was blocking her ears with her pillow as best she could. She felt slightly bad for yelling at Mrs. Cake, but right now, she just didn't want to talk to anypony and just sleep so she could forget everything that happened tonight.
After a little while, she emerged from her covers and saw her pet alligator, Gummy, in his cage on her nightstand.
"How dare she come back after all she's done?" she asked him. He only blinked at that.
"I know, Gummy. I know. She thinks that she can just come here and apologize as if everything will be normal again. Well, I got news for you, it won't!"
The alligator merely stared at her with his glassy eyes, before blinking once more, and Pinkie took it as her cue to continue her monologue.
"I know right!" She then imitated the lamia's voice as she went on. "Hey Pinkie, I'm sorry I nearly raped you in front of your father. Let's be friends again!" She went back to her original voice. "Pfft, yeah, that's not gonna fix anything. She has no idea what I've had to go through afterwards."
She rolled herself in her covers, turning her back to her pet in the process as she wished him goodnight. Gummy only blinked once more.
However, sleep didn't take her until about an hour later. Having so much on her mind, she found it difficult to drift off to dreamland, but eventually, she fell asleep, yet her subconscious had other plans for her.
* * *
"Pinkamena Diane Pie!" called an authoritative voice.
"Coming!" answered an excited one.
The pony to whom the second voice belonged to, a pink filly with a puffy mane that resembled cotton candy, giddily hopped out of her room with a big smile on her face. She stopped in front of the stallion who had called her from the living room of the farmhouse and looked up at him.
Celestia's sun had begun rising on the horizon for nearly half an hour, slowly covering the landscape in its warm rays of light. A few clouds floated in the sky, but there was no scheduling for a downpour, so it would remain relatively sunny for the whole day.
"Now, Pinkamena, calm down a little," her father said. "I know you are excited to head to town, but this time, you won't have time to play around," he warned her. The filly stopped hopping in place, though her smile remained on her face as he continued. "Your mother or I would do it ourselves, but we are very busy on the farm at the moment, and your sisters are already assigned their chores, so this is why I'm entrusting you with this one."
"Sure thing, dad. What do you need?"
"Two gallons of milk will be enough for now. Here," he hoofed her a small pouch filled with a few bits, which she safely tucked in her mane, "that'll be enough bits for that. And remember, these bits are for the milk only, understood?" he finished as he stared her daughter down.
"Yes, dad," she replied, some of her earlier enthusiasm disappearing as her father bore his strict gaze on her. She then turned for the door and opened it, and was halted by her father before she stepped outside.
"One more thing: no sidetracking. I want you back here for eight, which gives you two hours."
"Yes, dad," Pinkie said as she closed the door behind her and let out a heavy sigh before starting her trip to the nearby town.
The pink little filly didn't really like the life of a rock farmer. It was tough, repetitive, and sometimes, depressive. Even though she found out that her special talent was to make other ponies happy and smile, it was difficult to keep her family in a good mood with all the amount of work that had to be done. That, and the fact that her parents always acted seriously and her siblings didn't share her hyperactivity or her sense of humor made that even harder.
As she trotted down the road, she thought about how much she'd love living in a town where everypony could enjoy a good party. She never could throw one in Rockville, the ponies there preferring to keep for themselves. She found it all boring, so that was why she wanted to move away when she was older. Before she could do that, she had to finish elementary school first, which made it three years of waiting, much to her chagrin.
Yet, a smile slowly crept onto her lips as she imagined all the fun things she could do in a town where ponies would be eager to participate in her parties. That smile grew wider as her brain made a mental list of all the activities she could include in them. That would be the best thing ever! she thought as she came up with more and more ideas for when that day would come.
Pinkie was so lost in her thoughts that she never noticed that she had left the road leading to the village until she collided with a huge boulder. The impact dazed her for a while, and she shook her head to clear the dizziness and rubbed her sore muzzle to take the small pain away.
"Owie! Who put a mean rocky boulder on the path?" she asked no one in particular as she finally looked up at the huge rock.
But as she took a better look at it, he realized that it wasn't a boulder. To the side, she could see what appeared to be a hole, and as she got around the rocky formation to stand in front of it, Pinkie could see that it went underground. A quick glance around told her that she had absentmindedly left the path, though if she squinted a bit at the horizon, she could spot the outskirts of the town.
The temptation to explore the cave was too great. However, she remembered she had an errand to do, and she didn't want to get in trouble with her father should she come back home late, so she turned her back to the cave and steeled her resolve.
Only to lose it all as she looked back at it. The nagging feeling in the back of her mind that there was something to be found inside prevailed, and if there was something Pinkie Pie was known for, it was being curious.
Putting aside her task, she poked her head inside and yelled "Hello!" A goofy smile appeared on her face as the echo answered her, and continued calling out other things just to listen to her reverberated voice.
She kept doing that for a few minutes, delving deeper all the while, and eventually stopped when her ears caught on a peculiar sound. She raised her ears attentively, hoping to hear it again. It didn't take long for the sound to reach her again, and this time, she managed to identify it: crying. Somepony was crying up ahead, and being Pinkie Pie, the filly couldn't allow somepony to remain sad.
Pulling out a flashlight from her mane and putting it on, she followed the sound to its source. She was lucky that the cave was one-way, otherwise she might have lost her way. Still, as she kept walking with her flashlight held tightly in her teeth, she wondered what was a pony doing all alone deep inside a cave.
"Oh, me, that's who," she said out loud as she realized how silly her question was, though she quickly dismissed it and refocused on the task at hoof.
The cries of sorrow were now becoming louder and louder, and soon enough, she managed to discern sniffing noises mixed with the crying very clearly, meaning she had reached her target. She spat her flashlight and grabbed it with a hoof. She then turned the corner of the tunnel, aiming her light ahead of her, her mouth open in preparation for a cheering quote.
However, no words found their way out of her throat. Instead, Pinkie's pupils shrank to the size of peas as she stared at the figure her flashlight was shining on.
The pony lying there on the ground had something other ponies didn't. Instead of a pair of hind legs, a snake tail that started from the hips of the figure stretched on the rocky floor for about a good ten feet minimum, if Pinkie was to quickly guess. Yet, that wasn't what had paralyzed her. What did was the object planted in the tail of the figure, and from where the pink filly stood, it looked like it was buried deep into the scales.
Pinkie quickly recovered from her stupor and rushed to the distressed pony's side as she called: "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Are you okay?"
The object in question revealed itself to be a big sized pitchfork. Upon closer inspection, Pinkie could see fresh as well as dry blood where the three spikes were planted.
That must really hurt, she mused. Who would be so mean as to something like this? she asked herself as she positioned herself in front of the invading hay fork, not noticing her patient attempting to turn her head to look at her.
"That's a big looking fork right there! Don't worry, auntie Pinkie Pie will fix this up!" she told the suffering pony, thinking about how she was going to do that. The only solution that came to mind made her shiver, but seeing no other options, she chose to go with it. Besides, the longer she waited, the worse the lamia's condition would be.
"Hmmm... we're gonna need extreme measures," she said as she grabbed the handle of the pitchfork with both hooves. Good thing I always have an emergency first aid kit with me.
Closing her eyes to avoid seeing the operation, she mentally counted to three before pulling at the fork, cringing as she did so. The yell of pain that followed suit caused bile to rise up her throat, but she shook the feeling aside as she tossed it away and plucked a first aid kit from her mane and shuffled through it.
A few seconds later, she withdrew a roll of bandage cloth from it. She then turned back to her patient, who now laid unconscious, and proceeded to wrap it tightly around her tail, covering the big holes the farm tool had created. She figured the cloth would stain quickly, so she did over a good dozen of loops so it'd last a while before she had to change the bandage.
Once she was done, she put the cloth back in the case and looked at her work, allowing herself a small smirk of satisfaction. She then fetched back her flashlight and approached the fallen pony.
As she sat in front of it, Pinkie took the opportunity to examine its features. Judging by its size and the shape of its visage, it was clear that the snakepony was a young filly, probably about the same age as Pinkie Pie. It was also apparent the hybrid had seen better days. Her long brown mane was a mess, with locks going about every direction, and the pink filly could even manage to see her ribs, meaning she hadn't eaten as much as she should have.
Seeing the hybrid in that kind of state made Pinkie even more sympathetic and increased her resolve to help her. But first, she needed to wait for her to wake up, so she decided to lie down against the wall for the time being, and kept watch over the snakepony.
"You poor little thing, alone in this dark cave," Pinkie murmured to herself. "Don't worry, Auntie Pinkie Pie will make sure you'll never be alone from now on."
She crossed her fore hooves and rested her head on them. She then recalled her task her father had assigned too, realizing she'd be in trouble once she got back home. She quickly dismissed the thought as she gazed back at the blacked out filly.
I couldn't just leave her there like that. He'll understand that, I'm sure, Pinkie convinced herself. Besides, you gotta share, you gotta care, right?
* * *
It must have been almost an hour for the hybrid to wake up from her unconscious state. Pinkie had dozed off in the meantime, and rose back up on her four hooves when her ears perceived the sounds of movement. She quickly rubbed her eyes to chase away the remnants of sleep and then looked in her patient's direction. Pinkie saw that she was staring confusingly at her bandaged tail, probably not understanding what was going on.
Pinkie stretched a bit before standing up. Seeing the other filly awake with no signs of pain made her smile in joy; she did a wonderful job in nursing the wound. At least I took Mom's first aid lessons seriously.
"Good, you're awake!" she said, catching the other pony's attention as she turned her head her way. "These were nasty big holes you had there in your tail. It's a good thing I always have an emergency first aid kit for emergencies." She withdrew the kit from her mane and showed it to her, before tucking it back safely in it.
However, that only served to make the lamia even more confused, and even made her zone out, if the blank stare she sent Pinkie's way was any indication.
"So, what's your name?" she asked. Receiving no response but an empty look, the hyperactive filly approached the hybrid and waved a hoof in front of her face in an attempt to snap her back to reality.
"Hey! Equestria to Miss Snakepony!" she called out loud, and that managed to do the trick, as the lamia blinked a few time before blabbering a confused "What?"
"I said, what's your name, silly," Pinkie repeated, unfazed by the hybrid's short lack of attention.
"Sssapphire Heart," she answered back.
Pinkie Pie couldn't help but giggle a bit at the way the lamia pronouced her consonant.
"You have a funny way to pronounce your 's'," the pink filly said after her giggling quieted down. "I'm Pinkie Pie! You may not remember me mentioning it while I bandaged you because you were suffering and screaming and crying and then you lost consciousness," she added, catching her breath upon finishing her sentence.
"So, why were you crying all alone in an abandoned cave with a giant fork planted in your tail?" she then asked innocently and seriously at the same time. Sapphire Heart met her gaze, and Pinkie could discern pain, doubt and sadness in the hybrid's vivid blue eyes.
"Because nopony wants to be around a monssster like me," she said, causing Pinkie Pie to reel back slightly, not expecting this kind of response. However, she didn't have to think much to form her reply.
"You're not a monster, silly! Monsters are terrifying and wild creatures that eat ponies and live in the Everfree Forest, like manticores, hydras and timberwolves," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Then what about this?" the hybrid asked in a slightly more agressive tone as she pointed at her tail. "How can a pony with a sssnake tail not be terrifying? Surely you can't call that normal!"
Pinkie's gaze drifted towards the unusual appendage, putting a hoof under her chin as she thought about it all. Sure, it wasn't every day that you saw a snakepony. In fact, she never knew such a thing existed. It was as if a creature from a fictive tale had become reality.
What put the pink filly off-balance was that Sapphire Heart described herself as a monster. Pinkie had to agree that what laid in front of her wasn't normal per se, yet, no matter how she tried to look at the hybrid, she found that description unfit by a league. Her mind having made its decision, she smiled as she met the lamia's eyes with her own once more.
"I know it's not normal, but that doesn't make you a monster. Monsters are evil and mean and don't cry and eat ponies, yet you were crying when I found you here," she said sincerely.
"Why would you care about me, when everypony elssse would jussst be glad to kill me upon ssseeing me?"
Pinkie shivered at that, her ears drooping and her smile dropping from her face as she processed the implication of what Sapphire just said. K-kill? Who would be so mean as to do such a horrible thing?
"Why would anypony want to do that?" her mouth asked on its own, even though her brain knew the answer. Upon hearing the question, the brown-maned lamia rose on her tail above the pink filly, who shrunk under the angry stare she was receiving.
"Because I'm different! Becau se ponies are ssscared of what is different! That's why!"
Pinkie Pie didn't dare say anything as Sapphire's gaze continued to bore into her soul and exhaled angry breaths at a quick pace. Although, that look of anger quickly vanished as the beige-coated lamia cringed in pain, which Pinkie assumed came from the strained effort of standing on her wounded tail, and she starting falling down, unable to support herself on her snake tail.
Pinkie Pie reacted on reflex and caught her by the head before she hit the ground, avoiding what could possibly have been a severe collision. The next thing she knew, the lamia in her hooves started sobbing, to then grow into outright crying, and the pink filly did the only thing she could think of: she lowered her hooves and wrapped them around Sapphire Heart's torso and rested her head atop hers, hugging her comfortingly. The hybrid didn't resist at all, instead reciprocating the gesture, albeit a bit more tightly, and clung to Pinkie Pie.
They remained like that for a few minutes, neither of them saying anything; words weren't needed at the moment. All that mattered were the broken lamia crying away all her tears and the pink filly who gave her a long overdue shoulder to cry on.
It was then that Pinkie really realized how alone Sapphire Heart was. And it was then that she swore to herself that she wouldn't leave her alone anymore. If nopony wanted to be the friend she desperately needed, then she sure as hay was going to be for her sake.
Finally, Sapphire Heart's sobs quieted down, and she rose her head and met Pinkie's eyes again. She smiled reassuringly at the lamia as she pulled her away, but still held her at hooves' length. She practically beamed in joy when Sapphire returned that smile. Pinkie: one, Sad Frown: zero.
"Feeling better?" Pinkie asked.
"Much, thank you."
"No need to thank me, silly. That's what friends do. They help and comfort each other when others feel alone."
"F-friends?" Sapphire repeated mostly to herself.
"Yep!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"I... I think I'd like that..."
"Woohoo!" the filly yelled as she jumped high in the air; a jump no normal pony should be able to do. "This is so great! Oh, wait til' I tell my sisters and my parents that I made a new friend! We're gonna have so much fun to-"
"NO!" Sapphire cut her abruptly.
"What?" Pinkie asked, confused and oblivious to the panicked look the hybrid was giving her. "But-"
"No!" she repeated firmly. "Please, jussst... don't tell anypony about me," she pleaded. Silence hung in the air for a while as she stared at the floor, while Pinkie analyzed the expression on the other filly's face. Even though she wanted to show her family her new friend, she remembered the state in which she found her in.
Marble and Limestone would probably be fine if I explained everything to them. However, Dad's very superstitious, so on second thought maybe presenting her to the others isn't such a good idea. Her eyes suddenly shrunk slightly. Besides, I'm already in trouble as it is... Her mind set, she breathed deeply before nodding her head at Sapphire.
"Okay," she said quietly.
"Huh?" the lamia asked as she looked back up.
"I'll keep our friendship a secret. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she exclaimed as she drew a cross on her chest, waved her hooves in what looked like an attempt at flight before poking her eye with a hoof.
"What was that?" Sapphire questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Just something I came up with. I call it a Pinkie Promise. Breaking one is the best way to lose a friend," she explained in a professional manner, as if everypony should know that. "So, your secret is safe with me."
"Thank you very much."
* * *
Pinkie stirred in her sleep, mumbling a bit as her unconscious mind continued to replay events that happened long ago. Should anyone be nearby, he or she could hear her speak incoherently in her sleep as the memories defiled in her head.
* * *
Pinkie had been grounded for being two hours and a half late from her errand, so she had been assigned the most boring chores back on the farm for the rest of the day. When her father asked her what took so long, she lied by saying that she stumbled on a classmate in town with her best imitation of a sheepish smile. She was even sent to bed early, but she had managed to pack a few pieces of food without anypony noticing in her saddlebags back in her room.
The next day, she returned to Sapphire Heart's cave, carrying her saddlebags on her back and having a hop with each of her steps. She had simply told her parents that she was going in town to see a friend. She even stored her bits pouch in her bags, planning buy a few things for her new friend with the spare money she was given every week. Even though it wasn't much, it would do. That way, Sapphire wouldn't have to sneak at nights and steal again at the risk of getting caught and attacked.
After a few minutes of walking, she left the path, making sure no one saw her, and ventured off towards the cave. Good thing my subconscious has a good memory, she thought as she bounced along.
It only took a few more minutes to reach her goal. She halted at the cave's entrance and fetched her flashlight from her saddlebags before going in. As she walked, she wondered what Sapphire Heart did to pass the time.
She got her answer soon enough. When she stepped in the area where her friend lived, she found her sound asleep, her snake tail coiled around her while her head rested on it as if it was a pillow. Looks like she's sleeping well, she mentally commented as she approached her and listened to her steady and calm breathing.
Pinkie smiled as she watched the scene. She removed her saddlebags from her back and deposited them on the ground. She then sat in front of the hybrid and lightly tapped her on the snout with a hoof stir her out of her slumber.
"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead," she said after her third tap. The pink pony waited a little while, and eventually, Sapphire slowly began to twitch as she woke up. She opened her eyes, only for them to meet a pink wall.
"My head's up here, silly," Pinkie giggled, which prompted the lamia to look up and meet her eyes.
"Sleeping all day long isn't good for your health you know?" she continued. "You have to get out more if you wanna stay in shape."
"I know that, Pinkie Pie, but you ssseem to forget this," Sapphire said as she pointed at her tail.
"Oh, yeah. Right," Pinkie admitted. There was a brief pause before she added: "So, did you sleep well?"
"Better than I ever did in a long time, thanksss for asssking. It feels-" she was interrupted by a growl from her stomach, "-like I should get sssomething to eat."
Pinkie's ears perked up at that. "Great! Cause I planned something for the occasion." She opened her bags and rummaged through them before withdrawing three apples, a little carton of apple juice, and a couple of muffins she had baked back home, and handed them over to Sapphire Heart.
The lamia raised a hoof to her mouth to stifle a gasp at the kind gesture. Even though it wasn't much, the intention behind the gift was all it took to make it the best gift she had ever received.
"I know there's not a lot in there. I picked the food back home and had to be careful as to not make it obvious that some of it suddenly went missing. Although, I intend to get some more for you at the town's market before coming to visit starting tomorrow after school."
"Pinkie, t-that wasn't necessssary," the hybrid said. This was too much. The pink filly's kindness was already overwhelming her again, and she did all she could to hold back tears of happiness.
"Of course it was necessary! This way, you won't have to steal anymore and I can't allow you risking your safety for food again. Besides, I'm more than happy to do this for you, since I know you'll benefit more than I will from it."
That did it. Slowly, tears started rolling down the beige filly's cheeks as she tackled Pinkie into a hug, causing her to drop the items she was holding. The pink pony, not understanding why she was crying right now, returned the embrace in kind.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked the hybrid. "I thought this would make you happy."
"I-it does," Sapphire replied, sobbing in Pinkie's curly mane. "It's j-jussst that no one's been k-kind to me like that sssince..." she paused, not sure if she should finish that sentence.
"Since what?" Pinkie asked in a concerned tone. Sapphire pulled away from her life-sized crying pillow and made eye contact with it. The longer she stared at those big blue orbs, the more she felt certain that whatever happened, Pinkie would always be by her side.
"Sssince I lost my parents," she murmured loud enough for Pinkie to hear.
Pinkie's ears quickly flattened on her head. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" she said, lightly tightening her grip on the poor pony.
"Don't be. It's not like it's your fault. I'm jussst glad that I remember what they were like."
"And what were they like?"
"Kind, hardworking, generous, a bit of a mother hen sometimes, but she always made sure that I had everything I needed to be happy," she smiled as she said that last part.
Pinkie nodded as she listened. "Sounds like they were great."
"They were..."
Silence hung in the air for a while, but it was soon disrupted by another growl of Sapphire Heart's empty stomach, louder this time. Hearing this, Pinkie giggled as she grabbed one of the apples and handed it to her friend, who smiled sheepishly as she took it and thanking her as she did, before taking a huge bite of the sweet fruit.
As the lamia ate her meal, Pinkie noticed her snake tail wiggle back and forth like a happy puppy, and try as hard as she could, she only managed to hold back her laughter for a few seconds before she burst out laughing, much to Sapphire's confusion.
"May I asssk what's ssso funny?" she asked the pink filly, who was wriggling helplessly on the floor.
"Y-your tail shaking like... like..." she started to say through her snorting. "Take another bite!"
"Pinkie, what the hay is going on?"
"Just do it!"
Figuring she wouldn't get a straight answer, she bit on her apple with a confused expression on her face as she eyed her friend all the while, only for that confusion to be slightly replaced with bliss as she savored the sweet taste of the fruit and the tip of her tail to swish back and forth again.
And once more, Pinkie lost it. "T-that! T-this is..." she managed to say, pointing a hoof at the appendage that seemed to have a mind of its own as her laughter redoubled.
Sapphire Heart, on her part, followed with her gaze the direction Pinkie's hoof was pointing at, and found herself looking at her wiggling tail, apparently still in the blissful moment.
"Oh..." was all the lamia could muster before the scaly limb finally calmed itself, allowing her to regain full control over it. However, her attention was quickly drawn back to the laughing filly nearby, and a hint of red appeared on her cheeks.
"Cut it out, Pinkie!" she miserably admonished, feeling totally embarassed.
The hyperactive pony's raucous laughter had mostly quieted down to little chuckles now. "Oh, come on, Sapphy! It WAS a funny sight, admit it."
"No, it wasn't," she pouted, turning her back to her friend.
"Of course it was."
"Nope."
"Admit it, Sapphy," Pinkie said as she rounded her friend and placed herself nose to nose with her with a smile the lamia swore would just fall off if it got any wider. Soon, she ended up smiling herself, the pink pony's smile seemingly infectious.
"Okay, it was a bit of a funny sssight," she relented, "though it was ssstill embarassssing." She took another bite of her apple, mostly in an attempt to erase the redness on her beige cheeks than to quell her hunger.
"I thought it looked cute," Pinkie simply stated, causing the hybrid to choke on her bite. She quickly rushed to her side and patted her back to help her swallow and handed her the box of juice, which Sapphire gladly took and gulped down to help the pieces of apple go down the hole.
"You okay?" Pinkie asked as she kept rubbing the snakepony's back.
"Yeah," Sapphire answered after she had managed to swallow everything. "I jussst didn't expect you to sssay sssomething like that."
"What are you talking about?"
The lamia stared at her with her best "are you kidding me?" expression. "Are you serious?"
"What?" Pinkie asked innocently.
"But, you sssaid that... Gah, never mind!" she exclaimed as she returned to her pouting once more.
"Hey, come on," Pinkie said as she put a hoof on the lamia's shoulder, "I'm just teasing. Lighten up, Sapphy."
"And what's with the nickname all of a sssudden?"
"I dunno, I just came up with it. Everypony needs a cute nickname, don't they?"
"Eh, I guess?" Sapphire Heart said, not really wanting to argue on something like that. Her cheeks regained a fraction of their earlier redness, though she masked with another bite of her apple.
"So then, what is your nickname?" the hybrid asked after a while.
"You're already using it. My real name is Pinkamena Diane Pie," the pink filly slightly lowered her head, "though I don't like to be called by it."
"Why is that?"
"I..." Pinkie bit her lip, "I don't wanna talk about it."
Even though Sapphire wanted to push the subject further, seeing how uncomfortable Pinkie incited her to drop it for the time being. Instead, she put down her apple and wrapped a foreleg around the pink filly's torso, pulling her in a small embrace.
"Alright, I won't question you about it if you're not at ease. Although, should you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen. It's the leassst I can do to repay the kindessss you've shown me ssso far."
Pinkie nodded against the lamia's neck. Sapphire Heart released her grip on her friend and genuinely smiled back at her.
"Thanks," the young rock farmer said. "You're a great friend you know?"
"Can't sssay I do, sssince it's the firssst time I've got sssuch a compliment. What I do know is that I do not want our friendship to end. You're the firssst pony in a long time who doesn't fear my appearance and accepted me for what I am, and that means more than you can imagine to me."
Pinkie smiled back at her, and a millisecond later, that smile turned into a smirk.
"You're such as silly filly if you think our friendship can end."
"I jussst don't want to do anything foolish. You're the only friend I've ever had, and I don't wanna drive you away because I messssed up," Sapphire said.
"That won't happen, silly," Pinkie assured as she bumped the lamia's nose with a hoof. "Also, you're the best friend I've had the chance to meet."
Sapphire stared at her with eyes as wide as saucers. "What? But what about other foals in town? You've known them longer than you've known me." She found Pinkie's claim very hard to believe.
"It's true, but..." She let out a heavy sigh.
"Come on, Pinkie! At leassst tell me what's the matter this time!" Sapphire exclaimed, slightly exasperated.
The pink filly closed her eyes for a short moment, putting her thoughts into place before she agreed to her friend's demand.
"Would you believe me if I said that I don't really get along with most foals back there?" she asked the hybrid.
"Honessstly, I've only known you for a day, ssso I can't really give you an anssswer for that," she said as she shook her head. "Sssorry."
"It's okay. Truth is, most ponies in town think I'm overexcited for no apparent reason, or so I hear them say. Some of them even say that I annoy them with my 'antics', when all I do is trying to cheer them all up."
"Hey," Sapphire cut in as she put a comforting hoof on Pinkie's shoulder, "don't ssstressss yourssself over it. If they don't want to be cheered up, that's their businessss. There's nothing you can do about it."
"But why? Why would they want to be sad and mopey when they could be happy and cheerful? Since I got my cutie mark, I found out that it was the best remedy to get through a rough day, so I don't understand why some ponies don't want to be happy."
"I'm afraid I can't give you an anssswer to that, Pinkie. The only thing I can sssay is to leave them be. You can't force them either."
"I guess you're right," Pinkie sighed, though her head quickly perked up as a thought crossed her mind. "Say, you seem to know quite a bit about that sort of things."
"Not really," Sapphire replied. "I sssimply used to be told tales of jussstice and moral stories by my father when I was younger, ssso I guessss I picked that up from him."
"Awesome!" Pinkie exclaimed. By the way the snakepony talked about her father, he sounded like a great pony, and the pink-coated filly couldn't help but feel envious.
She wished she had a father like that.
* * *
Pinkie flopped on her belly in her bed, unconscicously holding her pillow tighter and burying her face deeper in it. She grunted as her memories continued invading her dreams, but she was powerless to stop it in her sleep. As she fought for dreams filled with candies and cakes, another important event took their place instead and began its show.
* * *
In the same dark cave on the outskirt of Rockville, illuminated by the same flashlight, two little fillies, an earth pony and a snake-tailed one, talked and laughed together as they played a board game the pink one had brought.
"I ssstill cannot believe I agreed to play this game, even though I don't have any hindlegs," whined Sapphire Heart. "Even though you bended the rules ssso I could play it as well, this is quite uncomfortable."
The hybrid was literally tangled up. At some point in their game of Twister, as Pinkie called it, she had managed to knot herself in her tail, and to say her current position was beginning to hurt was an understatement. On her part, the pink filly was in as much of a predicament as her companion, with a foreleg twisted around a hind leg and the other two limbs stretched out wider than she should be capable of, much to the lamia's confusion.
"How do you do it, Pinkie?" she asked, sweat starting to dampen her face. Second after second her comfort was reducing.
"Um, I'm very flexible?" Pinkie suggested as she leaned down and spun the arrow on the wheel with her muzzle. "Left hind leg on red. In your case, tip of tail on red," she said as it stopped.
"Oh for the sake of- Whoa!" she was interrupted as her hooves slipped on the plastic mat as she tried moving her tail to the desired space, causing her to fall in a knot on the floor. "Ow..."
Untwisting and untangling herself, Pinkie rushed to her friend's side, giggling as she approached her. "You okay, Sapphy?"
"I feel as tight as a knot," the lamia replied. "Mind helping me out, please?"
Pinkie chuckled as she began working on getting Sapphire out of her predicament. No more Twister games for her, she thought as she slowly but surely freed her friend from her own tail, finally succeeding after a good three minutes.
"Does your tail cause you similar trouble sometimes?" the pink filly asked.
"No. Lamias usually manage to get full control of their tail at a young age, kind of how you four-legged ponies ssstart to learn how to walk," Sapphire explained as she gently rubbed her sore scaly limb.
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Is this what snake-tailed ponies are called?" she questioned, curious.
"Yeah. 'Lamia' is the correct word for my ssspecies."
"I've never heard that word before," Pinkie commented.
"Of course you didn't. Lamias aren't from Equessstria to begin with, and nowadays, we pretty much are considered to be a myth by mossst of the populace."
"Then where are they from?"
There was a brief pause as Sapphire Heart hesitated about answering. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she lightly shook her head and gave Pinkie what she sought.
"Have you ever heard of the Badlands?" she asked the pink filly, receiving a shake of her head from her part. "Then I wish for you to never know about that horrid place. Life out there is miserable."
"Then why did they reside there?"
"They've been shooed away by ponies, who feared our kind, ssso they had to hide sssomewhere. That sssomewhere ended up being the Badlands."
"Why would they fear you? You're not scary at all."
"Remember what I told you the day you found me? Ponies, or I guessss the biggessst majority, are afraid of what's different from them. Ssso what do you do when they ssstart telling rumors about you and you have nothing to prove them wrong?"
"I don't know," Pinkie simply said.
"That's exactly what lamias thought when they were facing them, ssso they did the only thing that came to mind: flee."
The hybrid sighed as she finished, her head turned to the side, staring at nothing in particular. She didn't expect a set of hooves to wrap themselves around her, nor the statement that came with them:
"I'm sorry."
"What are you apologizing for?" Sapphire Heart asked confusedly as she pushed Pinkie away a bit and looked her in the eyes.
"For making you upset. I never intended to make you mad."
The lamia sighed as she returned the hug. "Pinkie, I'm not mad, you dork."
"But-" she started, only to be abruptly cut as the snakepony continued.
"Sure, talking about that kind of things hurts, but I'm not mad. If anything, I'm thankful that I can share it with a friend like you. Makes the pain lessss of a burden."
"I'm glad then," Pinkie said.
"Besides," the lamia pulled away from the embrace, "I don't think you could make me mad. Now," she looked at the Twister mat still draped over the rocky floor, "how about we pack that infernal game?"
That statement brought a smile off of Pinkie's face. She let go of Sapphire and, together, they proceeded to put everything back in Pinkie's saddlebags. As the pink filly rolled the mat, Sapphire grabbed the wheel and tucked it in one of the bags' pockets, along with two empty boxes of juice they had drunk earlier. What surprised the hyperactive filly was that she was using her snake tail to pick the items up.
"You're quite skilled with your tail," Pinkie commented.
"Thanks, though grabbing things with my tail is jussst a basic ability all lamias have. It's quite useful, if you asssk me."
Pinkie nodded as she finished rolling up the mat, tying it with a rubber band. As she stood up, she noticed that there wasn't any trace of sunlight inside the cave anymore, not that there was much to begin with, though there was still a bit of light that managed to get down to where they were during daytime, so Pinkie could see that it was getting late.
"Gotta get back home if I don't wanna get in trouble, and have Marble's birthday party to set up for tomorrow."
"B-birthday party?" Sapphire mostly repeated than asked.
"Yupie dopie! She is so gonna love it," Pinkie claimed. "I can already picture the look on her face. This is gonna be so great!"
"That's... nice," the hybrid softly said, and the hint of sadness didn't go unnoticed by her pink friend.
"Hey, why the mopey face?" she asked, only to gasp as she briefly thought about it and her brain put two and two together. "Have you ever had a birthday party before?"
Her fear was confirmed when the lamia sadly shook her head.
"Oh no. Oh no no no no no! Never had a party?! This won't do!"
"Pinkie?" Sapphire started, only to be interrupted by the puffy-maned filly.
"I know!" she exclaimed as she stopped moving around. "I'll organize a special 'It's your first party ever' party for you next weekend! Oh Pinkie, you are a genius!"
"Pinkie, this isn't necessssary, really," the lamia chimed in, only to have Pinkie's face mere inches from hers.
"Not necessary? Not having a birthday party is like skipping a meal. Believe me, you're gonna need it."
"Pinkie, I-"
"We're gonna have to bring in the big guns for this one. Better start working on it now!" She swooped her bags and the Twister mat and dashed out of the cave, yelling a quick 'goodbye' as she disappeared, leaving a confused lamia in her wake.
* * *
When Saturday finally arrived, Pinkie showed up at the lamia's grotto earlier than she usually did whenever she visited. She carried a huge white bag, and it was so full Sapphire thought it might explode at any moment when she saw it. She tried asking the pink filly what was inside, but instead of an answer, she got pushed in a narrow tunnel that was at the back of the room - she was slim enough to fit in it - and was forbidden by her friend to come out until she finished preparing her 'surprise', whatever that meant.
As she remained confined inside the crevice, she wondered what Pinkie was up to. The last time they saw each other had been the previous Saturday, and the overexcited filly left hastily as the lamia watched her go. She had been too dumbstruck to do anything else, and now she wished she could have managed to regain her senses back then to pry on her friend's intentions.
The longer she waited, the more she wanted to know what was happening behind her. She didn't know how long she had been waiting, but it was quickly starting to annoy her. Yet, she didn't want to disappoint Pinkie Pie, so she cooled her temper and waited for whatever was to come.
It must have been about three hours when the commotion behind her ceased; her growling stomach kind of hinted to how long it had been. The hybrid barely had the time to raise her head from the ground it had been resting on while she waited, as she found herself being pulled back into the much larger area of the cave.
"Alright, can you tell me what this was all about?" she asked annoyingly when Pinkie let go of her, slowly standing up at the pink pony's height, still facing the wall she had been forced in.
"Nopie-dopie," said Pinkie, shaking her head energetically, a huge smile plastered the lamia couldn't see plastered on her face.
"For Pete's sssake!" she exclaimed exasperatedly. "You shoved me for three hours into that hole over there without telling me anything about that plan of yours, and I'm ssstarting to get..." she had fully turned around as she reached the end of her sentence, and the sight that beheld her made her jaw drop to the floor, "...hungry?"
"Because showing has a much stronger effect than telling, d'uh! And it's also more surprising." Pinkie stated, though Sapphire Heart barely registered her words as she stared at the huge cake sitting in the middle of the cave on a small makeshift table. It was coated in chocolate frosting on the top and vanilla on the sides. Sprinkles covered the whole dessert, and some birthday candles laid atop it, glowing as they burned and waited to be extinguished by the lucky pony.
Sapphire then turned her gaze away from the cake and took in her decorated surroundings. Although Pinkie's flashlight didn't clearly illuminate everything brightly, she still could see that there were streamers and balloons all around the place.
Her words stopped in their tracks. In fact, she didn't even know what to say to that. It was so unreal, so magical, so beautiful...
"The candles won't blow themselves out, you know?" Pinkie interrupted, snapping the lamia out of her thoughts. She simply nodded her head and approached the cake, but when she got near it, she had to raise both hooves to her mouth to block a gasp of surprise.
On the cake, written in red frosting, was a little message, yet despite its simplicity, it meant more than anything to the hybrid.
"A happy late eleventh birthday to a wonderful friend..." she read out loud, tears slowly starting to leak from her eyes. "How did you know?"
"Just a hunch," Pinkie said. "Come on, make a wish and blow the candles, Sapphy!" she hurried her excitedly.
"A wish?" she repeated, and Pinkie happily nodded. She continued staring at the cake as she thought about it. Truthfully, she had wished for something since that fateful day a year ago. Her mind set, she took a deep breath, leaned down and blew out the candles, the only source of light remaining coming from the flashlight.
"Woohoo! Way to go!" yelled Pinkie as she hugged the hybrid tightly. "So, what did you wish for? Huh? Huh?"
"Nothing, in fact," she answered, receiving a surprised look - and she swore it was reprimanding too - from her friend, but she continued before she could say anything. "I didn't make a wish because..." the words caught in her throat for a second, but she brought out the courage to say them out loud.
"Since my parents were gone, I've always been living on my own, having to take care of myssself. I felt alone, rejected, hated, feared, and... abandoned even. Every night, before falling asssleep, I always used to go outssside this cave and looked at the ssstars, and I wished. Wished for sssomepony or sssomething to end my misery. Every day I fought to sssurvive inssstinctually, but deep inssside, I had given up..."
Tears were dripping down her cheeks, and the same could be said for Pinkie Pie as she listened to Sapphire's every word.
"But five months ago, sssomething happened, sssomething in the shape of a pink, puffy-maned, giggly and carefree filly, who's only goal is to make everypony sssmile. Yet, that filly gave me more than jussst that. She gave me hope I believed was long gone. She eased the pain weighing down my shoulders. She showed me that I could ssstill be cared for.
"Ssso, in the end, she made my wish come true, though the outcoming results are ten times better than I ever wished, ssso this is why I can sssay that I didn't need to make a wish," she finished, never having broken eye contact with Pinkie Pie once.
By now, Pinkie's tears flowed out like a fountain, literally, and Sapphire Heart was just as close. The pink filly grabbed the hybrid in a calming embrace, delicately stroking her mane as they both cried mutually.
"I have something to say too," Pinkie blurted out after a while. "It's not as big as your speech, but I'm glad I've met you as well. Living on a rock farm gets tedious and boring, and nearly everyone in town is grumpy. That's why I wish to move out when I get older. I've heard of a town not too far away called Ponyville that looked nice, so I'll try my hoof there.
"Waiting to be of age is no fun, but since I met you, the wait isn't as boring as it was." She slightly tightened her hold on her friend. "You're a very special friend, you know that?"
"I can sssay the sssame about you," Sapphire said, and it was then that the two youngsters finally broke apart.
"But for now, let's store our sad faces away, shan't we? There's partying to do, and this cake won't be eating itself anytime soon. So, LET'S PARTY!"
* * *
It was such a wonderful sunny day outside. Spring had begun. Birds happily chirped as they flew above the desolate dirt trail, carrying their sweet melodies with them wherever they went. Some bits of grass and plants only found in mountainous or rocky regions had grown, with a few of them beginning to bloom.
However, despite the great weather outside, one pony found herself unable to enjoy it. She was crying helplessly in the arms of her companion who, upon seeing the saddened filly arrive, had no clue as to what led to her current state.
And that was how Sapphire Heart gently held her pink friend in a hug, slowly rubbing her back and mane, which had lost all its usual puffiness, rocking back and forth, a movement Pinkie found soothing, but not enough to make the pain she was going through go away.
The lamia didn't say a word as Pinkie cried her eyes out on her shoulder. To think that she thought today would be a wonderful day. She had managed to wake earlier than usual - at Pinkie's request, saying that it would do her good in the long run - and she even did a little cleaning around the cave, throwing trash that had been accumulated in one of the cave's alcoves in a garbage bag Pinkie had given her the day before. Although she found the task arduous, the hybrid had to admit that the results really paid off, the most noticeable one being the cleaner air that flowed inside the grotto.
When she finally heard her friend arrive, she had been ready to greet her and show her the work she had done, but she couldn't. Right when the pink filly saw her, she had dashed towards her and jumped in her hooves, bawling like she had never seen.
Now, after a while, Pinkie's crying had become no more than choked sobs. The flow of her tears had diminished; only a few drops escaped her shut eyes. Yet, the lamia's grip on her was as tight and comforting, and soon enough, she found herself slowly starting to relax.
"Feeling better, Pinkie?" Sapphire asked.
"Mhm, thank you..." she whispered in return.
"Good." The hybrid let the silence hang in the air for a while before she continued. "What happened? Unlessss this is another one of your pranks, which I highly doubt, I'm betting sssomething occurred to cause you to be in this kind of ssstate. Am I right?"
Pinkie only nodded, though she said nothing.
"Wanna talk about it?" the lamia queried.
"I..." Did she really want to talk about it? Whenever someone breached the subject before, she dismissed the question or quickly changed the subject. It wasn't something she liked to talk about, even less proud of.
But as she looked into her best friend's sapphire eyes, she realized that she trusted her with all her heart, that no matter what happened, she wouldn't think any less of her. On the contrary, she knew she would do anything to cheer her up, just like she did the first day.
Her decision made, she nodded her head, and began. "Sapphire, have I told you about my family before?"
"You told me that you live on the rock farm on the outssskirts of town with your parents and two sssisters," the hybrid said matter-of-factly, not sure where Pinkie was going with this.
"I know, but I don't think I've ever told you the relationship I share with them, haven't I?"
"Nope. Is there something wrong with them?"
"Yes and no," Pinkie admitted. "I get along with my little sisters, and my mom is fine too, but..."
"But what?" Sapphire pressed.
"I never managed to have as good of a relation with my dad as I do with the rest of my family," Pinkie sighed.
"How come?" the lamia asked. It was the first time she would be talking about her father specifically, and with the pink filly in her current desperate state, she was eager and worried about what she was about to learn.
"I don't know... He's a very strict stallion, and he doesn't like it when things don't go his way on the farm. He's often stressed with all the work that needs to be done, so everypony does their part to help.
"Although, for some reason, which I never bothered to ask, he's always been more severe with me. I guess it might be because I always think about having fun instead of the required labor, but rock farming is boring, hence why I try to think of anything to keep me motivated as much as possible. Whenever I did though, he always scolded me for not being serious, saying that it slows the farm's productivity."
"Gosh, I'm ssso sssorry to hear that, Pinkie," the hybrid said sympathetically.
"Don't be, Sapphy. It's not your fault. I kind of ask for it too, now that I think of it..."
"What do you mean?"
"I always get in trouble at school," Pinkie said as she slightly hung down her head. "I often misbehave in class, my teacher calling me an indomitable freak, and my marks aren't so great either. And when that reach my parents' ears, things get worse. I often got home from school to find them waiting for me with disapproving stares because they received a letter from my teacher about what I've been doing wrong, and that earned me an uncountable amount of punishments."
"Is this why you came here crying earlier?" Sapphire Heart queried.
"Mostly. I had a test at school last week, and... I didn't pass. He was already mad with all my previous failures, and I guess this one being added to the pile brought him to the boiling point."
"What happened?"
"He... he..." Pinkie sniffed, feeling tears about to stroll down her face again, but the lamia prevented them from escaping as she hugged her again.
"Shhh! Don't cry. I'm here," Sapphire said reassuringly, inciting the pink filly to continue.
"He spanked me... hard. He was so mad and disappointed at me. It hurts when I picture the glare he had thrown at me when he got my teacher's letter."
The hybrid stifled a gasp. "That's horrible!"
"I saw it coming a while ago, so it's not as bad as it looks. He also gave me most of the boring or arduous tasks, such as fetching groceries from town, which was what I was supposed to do this morning."
"Sssupposed?" Sapphire repeated curiously, only for the light bulb in her head to light up as she understood what Pinkie meant. "Then why are you here inssstead of doing your chose? Not that I don't like the company, but I don't want you to get into more trouble for my sssake!"
Pinkie snuggled a little bit deeper into the hug. "I know, but... I felt down and couldn't concentrate on my task even if I wanted to, so I sought comfort from the one pony who's always been open to and for me."
The lamia slightly blushed at the compliment. "Gosh, I don't know what to sssay. Thank you."
Pinkie unceremoniously yawned, the sound reverberating on the walls of the cave. That drove a light chuckle from Sapphire Heart as she looked down at her charge.
"Tired already?"
"Couldn't sleep last night..." Pinkie acquiesced.
"Because of..." she trailed off, not wanting to remind Pinkie about it, but she seemed to understand, because she nodded her head affirmatively.
After a short while, somepony began to sing. Perking her ears up slightly, Pinkie looked up and saw that it was coming from her friend, who had her eyes closed, concentrated on singing her lullaby. The language it was in was foreign to her, though it mattered none to her. What she took in was the soft tone and harmony in it that soothed her tormented soul.
As Sapphire Heart reached her second verse, Pinkie found herself slowly rocking back and forth with the sweet melody, and melted back in her friend's embrace, though she did not fall asleep. She wanted to listen to all of it, to take all of its beauty, and so she remained snuggled in the lamia's caring embrace until the end.
"That was awesome," Pinkie murmured once Sapphire was finished.
"Thank you. My mother used to sssing me this lullaby when I was little."
"I don't know what it meant, but it was beautiful."
"I don't really know the language myssself. I jussst memorized the lyrics, to be honessst. Although, knowing how caring and kind my mother was, I didn't have to to know the messssage behind it."
Pinkie nodded, feeling the same way. "Thank you, Sapphire. For sharing this with me, and everything, too."
"No problem. Besssides, as sssomepony I know would sssay: that's what friends do."
* * *
Under the covers of her bed, Pinkie trashed and flailed her limbs unconsciously in every direction, her sleep disturbed by the memories playing in her head, from which she could not manage to free herself. As peace failed to reach her troubled dreams, another memory began to take shape, plunging her deeper into her torments.
* * *
"Sapphy? What are you doing?" asked a high-pitched voice. For any other pony, it would have been clear that the tone she had used was one of uncertainty.
"Don't sssay anything, dear," answered the other voice seductively.
"This is too tight. Why are you doing this?"
Pinkie Pie was starting to panic. Since the beginning of the week, when she came to visit Sapphire Heart, her friend had told her to leave, the hybrid supposedly having supposedly gotten sick. Although she had wanted to help, Pinkie had to relent to her friend's insistence.
Every day since then, whenever she got home from school, she lagged behind her classmates in order to check on the hybrid unnoticed, only to be sent away each time. She didn't know what Sapphire had, but her voice shook, and with the brief glance she could manage to get of her before she was being told to back off, she noticed that her body shook uncontrollably, and it got worse day after day.
Today, when she entered the cave, she had practically been pounced on, quickly finding herself wrapped tightly by a long and scaly limb, which could only belong to one pony. There had been some sensual purring noises, much to the victim's discomfort. She had tried to convince herself that this was all a setup, that Sapphire Heart was just playing a prank on her.
Though, the more time passed, the tighter Pinkie was being held, the weirder the hybrid's behavior became, and the more she realized that it wasn't a joke. She had attempted to make her snap out of whatever it was she was doing, yielding no apparent sings of success. Yet, she kept trying, hoping that something would work.
"Why am I doing this?" Sapphire repeated. "Why, isn't it obvious, darling? I'm sssimply showing my gratitude for everything you've done for me," she said as she sweetly stroked Pinkie's puffy mane.
"Sapphire, please stop..." the earth pony pleaded. "What's wrong with you?"
"There is nothing wrong with me, dear. On the contrary, I feel better than I have ever felt before. Now, jussst relax." Sapphire leaned forward, closing her eyes, and pursed her lips before pressing them a second later against Pinkie's, much to her shock and fear.
She tried to pull away from the kiss, but wasn't strong enough. Soon, the lamia's forked tongue sought entrance, but when it found the access denied by the resisting filly, Sapphire forced it inside, cutting the air out of her prey. She then used the appendage to explore and taste as much of the pink filly's mouth, much to the latter's discomfort, but she was oblivious to it.
After a good minute that felt like an eternity to the helpless filly, Sapphire retreated herself from Pinkie's mouth, licking her lips as she slowly gazed down her pink body. She put a hoof on her chest, which was breathing heavily due to her prey's panic, and began tracing it down.
"Sapphire, stop! We're only twelve! I don't want this! We're too young for that sort of things!" Pinkie screamed as she struggled in the lamia's grip in order to escape, even if she knew it was a futile attempt.
"Nonsssenssse," Sapphire Heart replied, her hoof nearly reaching her intended goal, much to Pinkie's disarray. She stopped an inch away, looking back into Pinkie's scared blue eyes, though she couldn't discern the fear in them. She was blinded by a sudden surge of lust, and all that mattered was her own needs and desires.
"No, please! Don't do it!" Pinkie pleaded again..
"Oh, come on, you'll like it, I promise," reassured the snakepony in vain..
"I'm not ready for this! Please, stop!"
"I jussst want to show you how much you mean to me, sssweetie, how grateful I am to all you've done for me. I'll make it quick then, how doesss that sssound?"
"No. No! NO! I DON'T WANT THIS! HELP!!!"
And then, everything stopped. The deafening sound of a hunting gun being shot echoed through the cave, startling the two ponies inside. Much to Pinkie's ultimate relief, it caused Sapphire Heart to unwrap her as fear replaced her previous behavior and headed for one of the narrow tunnels as a masculine and authoritative voice spoke.
"You stay away from my daughter, you filthy beast!" yelled the voice as he showed up around the corner, aiming his weapon at the hybrid at the other side of the cave. Sapphire quickly slithered inside the tunnel, though before she did teary eyes, she and Pinkie had shared a glance at each other, though she had to tear herself away from it if she didn't want to be killed by the angry stallion who had barged in.
As she watched Sapphire run away, emotions began to stir in her heart. She was confused about the lamia's behavior, she was scared about what her father would do to her now that he found out about her secret. There was no doubt that she was going to be severely punished.
But all that was secondary to what she really felt at the moment. She didn't even register her father's commands nor did she take notice of him biting her ear to drag her back home. It hurt, but she didn't care. All her heart cared about was the betrayal she felt in all the fibers of her being. As she was dragged along the cavernous path and the rocky road outside leading to the farm. she closed her eyes and silently cried.
* * *
It was still dark when Pinkie Pie awoke in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs, sweat covering her whole face and deflated mane. She then wept, hiding her face in her forehooves as she did.
She believed she had stopped having those dreams, but since the sleepover, they hard started resurfacing again and still as painful as they had been in the past. Her encounter with the lamia tonight had caused more of them to show up. It always began with the happiest moments she had shared with her, only to end with the one that had put an end to everything they had shared.
The door to her room slammed open as Mr. and Mrs. Cake barged in, wearing panicking expressions on their face.
"Pinkie?" started Mrs. Cake. "What's wrong? We heard screaming and..." their panic turned to worried as the two bakers looked on the distressed mare crying her eyes out. Wasting no time, she rushed to her side, and stopped halfway when Pinkie jumped into her arms and gripped her tightly, her body trembling like a leaf.
Quickly putting aside her surprise from the action, Mrs. Cake hugged back the broken mare, whispering comforting words, which did little to calm her.
"I'll, uh... check on the kids, honey," Carrot Cake said to his wife. "Besides, you've always been better than me for that sort of things."
Cup Cake nodded, and he left the room, gently closing the door behind him. Mrs. Cake continued to hold Pinkie firmly in her hooves, and after a few minutes, when the sobs became no more than sniffing noises, she pulled Pinkie away at hooves' length, a concerned and worried from on her face.
"Are you alright, Pinkie?" she asked, receiving an unconvinced nod from the pink mare. "Last time you had a nightmare was years ago. Are you sure you are okay?"
This time, there was a pause before Pinkie slowly shook her head.
"Do you want to talk about it?" the baker queried.
"No..." Pinkie said, shutting her eyes tight.
"Pinkie, you barged into the shop at three o'clock in the middle of the night, stomped your way to your room and slammed your door shut, nearly waking the toddlers, so please, tell me what's wrong," Mrs. Cake demanded.
"I... I don't want to..."
"Pinkamena Diane Pie," Cup Cake said, causing Pinkie to snap her head in her direction, "please. I'm worried about you. Carrot is as well. We want to know what's going on to help you, but we can't unless you tell us what's going on. Clearly you are in pain, but you can't keep it all stored in there." She put a hoof on Pinkie's chest, where her heart was.
After a few minutes of staring, Pinkie closed her eyes with a sigh. "I never had nightmares," she said, taking Cup by surprise.
"What do you mean, dear?"
"I never had, though I wanted to believe they were nightmares. All these nights since you took me in and offered me shelter, I lied to you so you and Mr. Cake wouldn't worry any more than you already were. Truth is, all these times, I wasn't haunted by nightmares, but painful memories."
"What kind of memories?"
"Remember what I told you the first time I stood at your doorstep?"
Mrs. Cake nodded. "You told me your father chased you away for being a disgrace, right?"
"Well," Pinkie gulped, "I lied that time too. I left on my own, trying to run away from what caused the pain."
"Pinkie! How could you? After all we did for you, you lied to us all along?"
"I didn't mean to... I was young, lonely, and hurt. I didn't want to put my burden on your shoulders."
"We could have helped if you had told us!"
"No, you couldn't. There's nothing you could have done. Even I don't understand why it all happened."
"What are you talking about?"
"I..." Pinkie hesitated. She didn't want to go into details with what had happened. She wasn't proud of that moment, though she knew that Mrs. Cake was right; she couldn't keep all the pain to herself. As her mind reeled, she found a way to avoid telling her foster mother about that event.
"Mrs. Cake, can I ask you something?"
"Anything, dear," she answered, finding the request a bit odd.
"What would you do if someone you trusted with your heart, someone you shared everything with, would do a huge mistake that would break that trust?"
Mrs. Cake wasn't expecting that kind of question, especially not from Pinkie Pie.
"Does that have something to do with the reason you're so upset?" she asked the party pony, receiving a silent nod on her part. "Well, I'm afraid I can't give you a direct answer, Pinkie," she said, and interrupted her before she could protest. "But! I can suggest one thing to do for that kind of situation."
"What is it?"
"Have you tried talking to this pony about it?"
"No, I haven't."
"Has he or she tried to talk to you about it?"
Pinkie was about to shake her head again, but she remembered her earlier encounter with Sapphire. Looking down at her hooves, she nodded.
"What did you do about it?" Mrs. Cake asked, sensing where this was heading.
"I..." she shamefully dropped her head. "I turned my back to her, refusing her apologies. I couldn't forgive her for what she had done."
"Why couldn't you?"
This time, when Pinkie went to answer, she found out that she had nothing to say to that. That didn't go unnoticed by Cup Cake, who shook her head disapprovingly.
"Pinkie, you, of all ponies, should know about the importance of forgiving others' sins."
"I know, Mrs. Cake, but this is different."
"I never said it wasn't, and that's why I want you to promise me to talk to that pony tomorrow."
"How did you know she's in town at the moment?" Pinkie asked, surprised.
"You entering the shop with an angry look on your face, followed by memories regarding this after about five years of uneventful nights. And I doubt this is all a coincidence, dear."
"Touché," Pinkie admitted, her gaze still fixed on the floor.
"So that's why I want you to Pinkie Promise me that," she said as she used a hoof to raise the pink mare's head in order to look her in the eyes. "Please, for your sake as well as hers. I'm sure she's just as hurt, if not more, than you are, and you refusing to even talk to her must not have helped her. Believe me, I speak from experience."
Silence settled in the room as Pinkie stared at Mrs. Cake. It was broken a moment later with an inaudible "Okay" from the pink mare.
"What was that?" asked Mrs. Cake.
"I promise," she said, stepping back and starting to perform the gestures to her sacred oath. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Cup smiled approvingly. "Thank you, Pinkie."
"No, thank YOU, Mrs. Cake, for making me realize how much of a stuck-up, unforgiving and withdrawn meanie pants I was."
"In that case, I'm glad to be the pony who did," said Mrs. Cake. "Now, I'll join Carrot and see how the twins are doing before heading back to bed. Do you need anything else?"
"Pinkie shook her head negatively. "Nope, I'm good now. Thanks."
"Alright. Just know we're always here for you if you want to talk to us," Mrs. Cake added before leaving the room. "Goodnight, Pinkie," she said as she closed the bedroom door.
Once the door was completely shut, Pinkie remained sat where she was for a little while longer, thinking over what her foster mother had told her. She's right. I didn't do anything other than vainly hide the pain away. I still hurts, but... Pinkie sighed, I was so blinded by my own pain and anger that I didn't even wonder how she could be feeling.
She stood up and slowly made her way to her bed, reminiscing on all the facts with a much clearer mind. She tried to apologize, but I drove her away instead of taking the time to listen and see her side of the story. She flopped on her bed and draped the covers above her. I guess we both messed up, though in different ways, didn't we? She closed her eyes, sleep soon taking hold of her at last.
This time, no dreams or memories perturbed her. She slept a dreamless night, and for once in her life, she was grateful for the emptiness in her mind.