Pinkie watched her other self, waiting for her to speak. Pink was still sitting there with her eyes clenched shut. Slowly, her lips parted and she spoke softly. “Four months...” she whispered, “Four whole months I’ve kept this a secret, and you!” She opened her eyes and stared down the pink party pony. “You figured it out in one night!” she sighed in defeat.
“Oh,” Pinkie said, unusually speechless for a change. “I guess... seeing as you’re me I could figure it out easier?” She offered the solution with a half smile. But Pink didn’t smile back, she glared at the happy pony, her insides filling with fire and rage.
“Stop saying that.” She ordered quietly. Pinkie noticed the atmosphere had changed in an instant, she stood up from the dew covered grass unsure of what to expect.
Stop saying what?” The party pony asked cautiously.
“That I’m you, that we are the same.”
“B-but... we are, aren’t we? We’re both Pinkie Pie’s right?” Pink now stood, rising above pinkie on the steps she stood on.
“That’s where it stops. There’s nothing else about us that even resembles the other!”
“B-but...” Pinkie stammered, slightly scared.
“You need proof!? Fine!” Pink jumped down from the porch and squared up to Pinkie. She lifted a hoof and flicked Pinkie’s curly and bouncy mane. “Is your mane anything like mine?”
Pinkie hesitated for a moment, then her face dropped, she looked to the ground and muttered miserably. “No.”
“Exactly!” Pink yelled angrily. She turned to one side to display her flank, bare and unmarked. “Do we both have a damn cutiemark?”
“No.”
“Exactly! Do you have this!?!” Pink flung a hoof up to point at her scar beneath her deep blue eye.
“No.” Pink was shouting at the top of her lungs now.
“Exactly, are you carrying a child?!”
“No.” Pinkie looked completely morose now her eyes filled with tears from the angry pony’s shouting, and yet Pink continued regardless.
“Exactly, so does that sound as though we are anything alike?”
“...no.”
“Exactly...” Pink calmed down. “Don’t say that we’re the same, because everytime you do, you remind me how different my life could have been. You’re happy, carefree, and surrounded by friends and loved ones. And I had to...” She opened her mouth to continue, and then seemed to bite back on her own words.
Pinkie looked up for the first time, through all the misery and tears; she still tried to understand the pink screaming pony. “And you had to... what?” Pink looked back at her for a moment, and sighed.
“And I had to live without any of that.” She ended lamely.
“No, that’s not what you were going say. You had to what?” Pinkie gulped down her misery and stood straight and proud. Pink stared back at the random pink pony. Slowly her eyes glistened in the moonlight.
“W-why do you want to know?” She whispered, obviously confused by Pinkie’s wonderful curiosity and kindness. Pink had never experienced this kind of interaction with another pony before, it wasn’t normal in her world. In her world you looked out for yourself, and you kept to yourself, you didn’t ask this many questions of somepony.
Pinkie looked back for a moment in silence, then she smiled back sadly. “Because I want to help.” Pink felt her stomach clench, this pony didn’t even know her! How could she be so nice to someone who could have meant her and her friends harm? How could she have let Pink stay in her house without question? Why did she delude herself into thinking somepony would think this to be normal behaviour? All these questions rushed through Pink’s mind in an instant, but still the image of his face remained clear above all other thoughts.
“Help?” The scarred pony whispered, her head dropping to face the floor. “You can’t help. Nopony can help me. I’ve... got to keep fighting... on my own... for him... for...” She laid a hoof below her and stroked her stomach. Though so far into her pregnancy, she showed no signs of carrying a child. Yet another weird thing to blame on the god of chaos, probably. Through all her dark thoughts and feelings, Pink felt a hoof rest on her shoulder. She glanced up to see the happier her staring back.
“Fight for who?” She asked softly, truly curious and trying to understand. Pink had never had this much attention shown to her, except by him, except by...
“My husband.” Pink whispered miserably, tears filling her eyes as she looked pleadingly back at Pinkie, who’s eyebrows raised in surprise but soon came back down as she focused on calming the other dimensional pony.
“Why didn’t he come with you Pink? Did he... you know...” The pony obviously couldn’t bring herself to say the word, so she leant back on her haunches and with a grimace she traced her forehoof over her quivering throat.
“NO!” Pink roared suddenly! “NO NO NO NOOO! He’s not! He...” Her voice broke, she choked on her own sentence and dropped to her knees as all her fears flooded over her, finally breaking past the emotional wall she had erected. The dew splashed up in the air and spattered her ragged coat.
“But that’s good!” Pinkie rushed, trying to resolve the situation she had just created, she smiled and fell to her belly, keeping close to the ground, her nose mere inches from that of Pink who sobbed into the blades of grass beneath her. “He’s not, so that means he’s ok right?”
“You don’t know anything!” Pink’s face shot up and glared at Pinkie. “Just because the last time I saw him was alive, doesn’t mean he still is now! And if by some miracle he is alive, he’s not ‘ok!’ He’s going to be her prisoner! She’ll torture him! She’ll drag it out as long as she can until her breaks, and when he does, she’ll know where we are... Then... she’ll follow us.” Her angry expression melted yet again into a face of a mare who had lost everything.
“Can you even imagine?” She asked of the pony before her. “Wishing the one you loved was dead, just so that you and your child would be safe?” Pinkie frowned, thinking hard. After a moment’s silence she shook her head slowly.
“No, no I don’t think I can.” Another moment of silence and then. “You must be so strong, to be able to deal with all that, and lead your friends to safety like you did.”
Pink was surprised by the sudden compliment. She lay there for a moment then gave a miserable smile, as she tried to build up the damn to hold back her emotions once again. “Thanks Pinkie.” She stood up, and faced the bakery. She glanced quickly back at the pink pony. “I guess I should go to bed huh? You too.” She looked back at the front door. “It’s been... a long day.” She began making her way to the bakery.
“Noooooo! Wait up!” Called Pinkie, who sprang to her feet and chased after her. “You still haven’t told me who your hunky bubby is yet!” She giggled as she caught up to the pregnant pony. Pink chuckled at her comment. Then took a deep breath.
“Well to be honest, not many ponies would think he’s ‘hunky’ except for me I guess.” She laughed as the door closed behind them, and they were washed with the warmth of Sugar Cube Corner’s interior.