"It's Pinkie's turn, I have to go now!" I said as a last resort out of desperation to get out of that house.
Maybe it wasn't all the great things I had thought when I first approached it.
"Oh! I guess your time is up then. Thanks for stopping by to visit, Pinkamena!" Fluttershy said in a cheerful voice to me in response to my interruption of her rambling about her animals.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'll see you later, Fluttershy." Weariness was evident in my voice, but she didn't seem to notice it.
"Goodbye!" She waved a hoof and smiled as I opened the front door and closed it behind me.
As soon as the door was closed I sprinted away from the cottage as fast as possible.
'I'm never asking that question again...'
Of course, pretty soon I was breathing hard and had to slow down. For some reason I just couldn't make my body do the extreme things Pinkie could do. We were both in the same body, so how does that even work!?
Rubbing the sweat off my forehead I stopped on the outskirts of town to catch my breath.
When I saw the large clock on the tower at the school, I realized I hadn't been far off. My turn was almost over.
Turning back to town, I scrunched up my nose at the thought of going back through the busy market, even if it would be less populated now that it was the evening.
'I was only going to go back to Sugarcube Corner anyways...'
Biting my lower lip and looking up in thought while I tried to make a decision, I nodded and addressed the pony in my head that had been nice enough to be silent for me during my turn.
'Pinkie, you know what I was thinking about. You wanna take over now?'
'Sure! But you shouldn't be so afraid of other ponies. All my other friends are nice too!'
My head shook and I sighed. 'That's not the problem...'
I went through the now familiar act of swapping control with my counterpart, and right away my straight hair poofed up, and I lost control of anything but my own thoughts.
"Sugarcube Corner, here I come!" Pinkie immediately started her usual method of getting around, bouncing, and I right away got a bit disoriented.
'I will never get used to that as long as I live...'
I kept to myself while she hummed happily and bounced into town.
Of course, now that she was in control, I was assaulted by her very fast thought process.
Now, I'm not sure how other ponies see her, but she's admittedly not as dumb as she lets on. More...naive, and uncaring.
If there was something even slightly negative, she preferred to shift her mind off of that and only think of happy things.
Maybe it just had to do with her being the happy, optimistic side of what we were...supposed to be.
I still couldn't get over that. It was easy to forget. But someone as hyperactive, annoying, and crazy as her was supposed to be the same pony as me?
I couldn't deny it, though, since despite the absurdity it made a lot of sense when I thought about what caused this split in the first place.
"Hi Pinkie Pie!"
An Earth Pony was standing in front of 'us', looking a bit awkward.
"I was just wondering...if the rumours about you were true."
Ah. That was why. Well it's a good thing for me I had given Pinkie control, then. I certainly wouldn't want to have to have talked to any other ponies than my few friends.
Pinkie gasped. "I'm not a chocolate thief, I swear! That was just a story Rainbow Dash made up!" She had genuine worry in her voice.
And being able to hear her thoughts, I could testify to the fact she did miss the point.
"Um...no, that's not what I meant..." Her misassumption seemed to have made things even more awkward.
"I was wondering about...um, the stories about you having another pony in your head."
Pinkie Pie giggled. "Ooooh, that! I didn't know ponies thought they were rumours!" She nodded rapidly. "Yup, yup! Pinkamena is with me everywhere I go!"
"R-Really!? That's so cool!"
Cool? How was it cool? I personally hated it.
"C-Can I see for real?" The question was asked in a timid voice.
And the instant it was asked I heard Pinkie's thoughts on the matter.
'No, Pinkie, don't!'
"Sure!" She grinned and her hair suddenly fell flat.
And I suddenly found myself the one actually there, thrust into a situation I would've given anything to not be in.
"Wow!" The Earth Pony was staring in awe at me, and I crouched down, mane covering my face to make me feel safer.
And then my ears twitched as I heard murmurs about me.
Stares were on me.
They were staring.
Everyone around me.
"I've never heard of any earth ponies that can just make their hair go flat or change personalities just like that! It really is true! So, you're... Pinkamena?"
They were talking about me.
Whispering.
Staring.
I couldn't run, I couldn't get out of this!
I wanted to go back! To the safety of my mind!
I shuddered in anxiety as my heart started beating faster and my breathing became laboured.
They were closing in on me! I was surrounded! There were ponies everywhere!
Judging me!
Staring!
EVERYONE WAS STARING!
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Pinkie Pie's POV
Why was 'Mena panicking? All my friends just wanted to meet her!
Nothing she was thinking about made sense. No ponies were closing in on her! They were just smiling with that same kind of smile Twilight gets when she discovers something!
After only a few seconds I suddenly found myself being the one controlling our body.
Was she really that scared? I thought she just needed to be the center of attention to cure her of her silly fears. After all, she'd realize that there's nothing to be afraid of that way, right?
Well, anyways, I blinked and stood upright again.
"Don't worry about her, she's just shy!" I smiled.
Then I realized my eyes were watery.
Weird. I hadn't cried or anything! Maybe there were onions being cut nearby.
"That's so awesome! I gotta go tell everyone!" Just like that, she was gone.
I continued my bouncing and humming towards Sugarcube Corner. I enjoyed making 'Mena smile, but it was hard always being so quiet for her! So I was happy to get to do whatever I wanted to do now.
And that thing I wanted to do was go eat sweets!
______________________________________________
Sighing happily, I snuggled down in my bed and turned the lights off.
"Goodnight, Gummy!" I said with a yawn as I patted the little alligator on his head.
Closing my eyes, I relaxed and let myself drift off to dreamland.
Though I did wonder why I hadn't heard a peep from good ol' 'Mena ever since we were back in the market.
Oh, well. She was a quiet pony, she didn't talk much. She also got into deep thought a lot, so maybe that was just it.
This evening had kind of felt like the time before she had taken control for the first time. Just me, my mind, and happy activities!
Besides, I'd get to talk to her face to face tonight, like we always did.
I just had to fall asleep...
______________________________________________
"Hiya, 'Mena!" I said cheerfully once in the really dark place that I always went to for some reason now when I went to sleep.
I kind of missed my fun dreams, but at least this way me and 'Mena could actually see each other!
"...'Mena?" I looked around, confused. Where was she? Normally she'd be here by now.
My ears twitched and I turned towards a direction I thought I heard sobbing.
"Pinkamena...?"
I walked slowly towards the sound, and I gasped when I saw the other pink pony sitting down and leaning forwards, mane draped down around her, and sobbing. I could even see the tears fall down into the black-ness!
"'Mena!" I ran towards her quickly. Something was wrong! I needed to help cheer her up!
*CLANG*
I slammed straight into the nothing that was in front of me blocking my way.
"H-Huh?" I reached a hoof forwards and I felt something that felt like a wall...made of glass?
But it wasn't there. So it was nothing. But it was also something.
It was a something-nothing.
I pushed against the something-nothing while I heard more sobbing. Pinkamena was facing away from me so she didn't see me.
"'Mena! What's wrong!?" I couldn't get through the something-nothing! And she didn't answer me. Did she not hear me?
I could hear her, so she had to be able to hear me, right?
"'Mena!" I banged on the something-nothing, but it wouldn't move.
She fell onto her face and kept crying, which nearly broke my heart. I couldn't stand to see anyone so sad, especially not one of my best friends!
"Pinkamena!" I yelled worriedly and tried my absolute hardest to get through to her...but it didn't work, and soon I was sitting down, leaned forwards, all sad like she was.
"'Mena...why can't I help you...what's wrong...?"