“And I said to her, I said…” Pinkie desperately tried to talk over her own giggles, her sides hurt and her eyes were streaming, but she had started her famous joke, and by Celestia she would finish it! “Oatmeal? Are you crazy?!” She dissolved into a fit of laughter. The punch line only earned a chuckle from her friends who had heard the story over a-hundred times, but Cadence was in stitches. Violin Heartstrings was laughing so hard that he had to bury his muzzle in the table-cloth. It was only the second time Pinkie had managed to cause a stir in a café in two days. A few ponies tutted about the noise, but nopony complained.
“Pinkie Pie, you are an absolute delight!” He admired from opposite her. He had planned the seating arrangements perfectly, pulling out a chair for the pink pony before choosing the one facing her. Masterful.
Rarity had given up. Heartstrings and Pinkie had been inseparable ever since that morning. She had thought of topics to take up with him specifically designed to impress. Where she was going to talk with him about art, he and Pinkie discussed Ponyville where he had a cousin, Lyra. Rarity kicked herself for not making the connection. Where she was going to talk with him about classical music, something she was sure would interest him due to his violin cutie mark, Pinkie talked to him about being a one-man-band, about polka music and how an alligator could successfully be used as a xylophone. Where Rarity had wanted to talk to him about literature, he and Pinkie had gone over what each of them had eaten for breakfast, detailing flavour and texture, reviewing every single ingredient and using completely made-up words to describe them.
Heartstrings listened with rapt attention as Pinkie garbled on about Celestia-knows-what.
*
Don’t mention Rainbow Dash.
It was the one mantra that repeated itself in Pinkies mind, over and over, whenever she drew breath. If she kept talking, she could keep her mind away from sparkling magenta eyes looking at her with brusque annoyance whenever she did something too “random” or talked a little too much, as she supposed she was doing now. If only she wasn’t so loud, if only she were gentle like Fluttershy.
*
It’s funny, just how much like me she is.
As Pinkie recounted her cutie mark story Violin Heartstrings couldn’t help but connect with her. Violin came from a long line of string-instrument players. He had earned his own musical cutie mark, as expected, and devoted his time to playing the violin. Sometimes he and Cello, his older sister, would put on performances for their parents, who were supportive even when his bow made more of a screech against the instrument than a discernable note. But everything changed when his younger brother, Fiddle, earned his mark. Fiddle took pleasure in the dull drones that their family considered music. Fiddle took to the instrument straight away and exceeded Violin’s skill just as quickly, despite being years younger. Like Pinkie, he knew what it was like to grow up resenting his part in the family’s trade. He wished his talent was with the accordion or something, but no. He got the tedious violin.
Unlike Pinkie he hadn’t had courage to leave home at such a young age. Recently though, he had been compelled to move from his home in West Hay, and into the big city and find his destiny. And now he had met a pretty mare who just happened to have a similar story, except she had managed to find her calling and make a success. He wondered if they had been destined to meet.
****
“I’m so BORED!” Rainbow Dash said finally, after days thinking it but not wanting to hurt Applejack’s feelings.
“Well Sugarcube, ahm flat out of ideas of what we can do.”
They sat by the swimming-hole, their manes still a little damp from splashing in the water. It had been fun for the first half-an-hour but Rainbow was really beginning to appreciate the monotony of a life without her five other friends.
What would she usually be doing at that time? She might have been at the library reading. She had been reading a lot lately, but it wasn’t the same when she wasn’t in the company of Twilight Sparkle. She might be bothering Rarity who usually had her shop open at that time, although usually only as a last resort. She often went to talk to Fluttershy who would be tending her animals and could usually be persuaded to go out for a while. But usually she would hang out with Pinkie, ‘hang out’ being the more polite term. Pinkie would follow her around like a little duckling, as if she weren’t friends with every other pony in Ponyville. She might persuade Dash to bake with her,
And I’ve gotten pretty good… really great, actually.
Sometimes she would bounce around chatting, or asking the most annoying questions! She would always be up for watching Dash practice flying, Applejack was sick of that by now. It wasn’t that AJ wasn’t supportive; it was just that Dash needed to be praised in a different way for every single trick. If she couldn’t come up with a new appreciative adjective every time, or didn’t cheer loudly enough at exactly the right moment, Dash would accuse her of doing it wrong. But to AJ almost every trick looked similar, she didn’t really appreciate fancy exploits in the way Dash did.
Dash was really starting to miss her pink friend. She had to admit to herself, she had grown attached to Pinkie’s loud, high pitched voice. Her long laughs. She would have done anything to hear one of Pinkie’s weird songs at that moment.
Anything to stop this boredom!
But it wasn’t just that, she was beginning to realise how dependant she had become on Pinkies skewed and overpowering methods of affection. She hadn’t realised how comforting it was to have somepony follow her around all of the time, she had been so content having somepony to lean back on, a source of fun when life became a little too mellow. Of inspiration when she wasn’t sure if she wanted to practice her flying (even if she suspected a lot of the words Pinkie used to describe her tricks were of her own invention). Pinkie would assure her on days where she wasn’t quite sure of her own awesomeness, and even if she was just feeling hungry, Pinkie could pull something delicious out of thin-air.
In short, that little earth pony was everything she needed.
Pfft, that’s a bit dramatic. After all, I was fine before I met Pinkie.
She knew that for a fact. But now… looking back, she wasn’t quite sure how she had been fine.
Maybe she isn’t as annoying as I thought.
A guilty feeling began to spread through Dash as she remembered the times she had reacted to Pinkie with annoyance, or pushed her away.
I’m going to have to write another letter, aren’t I?