I just wanted to go to Equestria!

by Ditz

A Slice of the Pie

“Ah!” I yelp in utter horror, looking down and seeing a small trail of smoke rising to the air where the bullet just hit the floor. “W-woah!”

“Lemon!” the others shout worriedly, running to my side.

“Whoops! My finger slipped,” the one whom I will now simply refer to as Discord says, laughing like a kid who did something silly. Yeah, silly you. Firing that gun and nearly killing me. You silly, silly cunt.

“You sure did,” it slips out of my mouth. Sometimes I just can’t stop myself.

“Oh, I am serious,” he laughs again. “I was aiming at your foot,” he finishes glaring at me, causing us all to take a simultaneous step back. Fear? Yes, I am actually afraid right now. “But enough playing around,” he says, looking at Trixie. “Now tell me, where in the world did you hear the name of ‘Discord’ um?” he asks with a low growl in his voice, as he moves towards us and easily pushes Flash and I aside.

“W-well, I mean,” Trixie mumbles nervously. “Tr-I-I just heard it! I don’t know when! I-I…”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Discord waggles his finger, pointing the gun at her. “Lying again? I wouldn‘t suggest that,” he says with a disapproving glare.

“Mr. Heart!” Flash jumps in the middle of them. “Please! Is this what someone like you is supposed to do? What would Fluttershy think?“ he says with desperation.

Unexpectedly, Discord‘s gaze softens as he backs away from us. “F-Fluttershy,“ he whispers softly, holding his head.

“Wait, what?” I ask in total shock. Whatever, I’ll take it!

“No!” he suddenly shouts. “Come on! Are you honestly going to fall for something so obvious?” he says to him… self. What.

“Is he talking to himself?” Trixie asks, repeating the question we all have.

“But… They are just kids!” he continues as if uninterrupted. “We can make them promise to keep quiet!” he suggests. I like that! Let’s do that! “No! “ he quickly replies, dashing my hopes away. “Do you even think you can trust them? Specially when it’s obvious they are just liars… Isn’t that right, Ms. Trixie?”

Trixie merely gulps nervously. Honestly, I don’t think anything she says at this point will help her. We are running out of time.

“… I can’t do this to them!” he continues with whatever struggle he has with himself. “Why is this happening? They said we’d be able to forget that name! I was promised this fifteen years ago!” Discord says again to himself, looking conflicted.

“Wait,” I mull to myself. “Fifteen years?” I look up, seeing Discord suddenly standing in front of me “Ah!”

“Oh, yes. Fifteen years ago… It was certainly a funny thing…” he says while he glowers at me with those… wait, did his eyes turn yellow? “But I’ve never met you before, how is that any relevant to you?” well, guess that he wasn’t the one who brought me to this world then -- although at this moment that isn’t one of my main concerns.

“Um, I learned it from a certain woman,” I reply as honestly as I can without sounding fake, I don’t think lying outright would help me at this point.

“A woman, huh?” he looks thoughtful, holding the gun as if it were a mere toy, tapping it against his chin. “Didn’t know that using a kid was something she would do.”

“Oh?” wait, does he actually know Chryssa?

“Guess this’ll be a good message to deliver to her, don‘t you think?” he continues, suddenly aiming his gun at me. “Sorry kid, nothing personal.”

So great! Now I’m staring down the barrel of a gun, what could possibly be the last thing I might ever see. I would scream, but I’m far to scared to do it, so I just close my eyes, I‘m just gonna let this happen. Now, I wonder… will I dream?

…

Will I?

…

Maybe I would find out if he didn't take so long!

Slowly, I open an eye to check, seeing the silhouette of someone next to him. “Huh?” I mumble surprised, noticing someone I never expected to see suddenly in front of me. “Y-you?”

“That’s not very nice,” says none other than Mud herself who has pushed Discord’s gun holding hand from me.

“Wha-” Discord starts surprised, but is unable to act as Mud suddenly lifts her foot and kicks the gun away, sending it flying towards the nearby bushes. “What!?” noticing his sudden disadvantage, he proceeds to attempt to punch Mud, but she easily jumps away from it.

“Lemon!” I hear Flash call behind me, grabbing my arm and dragging me away. “Come on!” I turn to meet him and notice Trixie standing with him, looking as confused as I am.

“So I figure you guys have no idea what’s going on, do you?” I ask, and the shaking of their heads is very much an expected answer. “Thought so.”

We turn to watch Discord and Mud, who seem to be having an epic stare-off of sorts, simply standing a few feet apart of each other, trading expressions… Or in Mud’s case ‘an’ expression.

“Well, this is too bad,” Discord says calmly, taking a deep breath.

“Stop this,” Trixie says, popping up next to me. “You’ve already lost.”

“Ugh, how I hate clichés…” he gags, shaking his head. “But you are right, I can‘t see myself getting out of this one, meaning I don’t have anything to lose anymore,” as he says this, he turns to us, and without notice he begins running… directly to us!

“What?” I yelp, managing to notice Discord reach into his jacket as he runs, taking out what is very clearly a switchblade.

A VERY pointy switchblade.

“Stop!” Mud shouts, running right after him… Yeah, she isn‘t reaching us in time.

“Run!” I tell the others, although I’m sure that they don’t need me to tell them to run from the crazed man with a knife.

“Nothing personal!” I hear him laugh right behind me, and my mind suddenly goes blank as I feel something suddenly that begins poking into me. So this is how it ends…

… But to my surprise, I find myself simply tumbling forward, falling to the ground as someone pushes me away.

“Aah!” I cry out as I fall flat on the rough ground. “W-what just happened?” I ask out loud, turning quickly, I check my body for signs of any damage but I find none. “How?” Confused, I look up, noticing someone I never expected standing in front of me.

Right there, stands the unmistakable form of Pinkie Pie, her hair is Pinkamena straight as I had heard before, but I recognize her usual outfit. It’s really her!

“Pinkie!” I hear Mud and the others shouting out, their voices sounding hoarse and terrified, and I quickly notice why.

“W-what?” I see a small trail of blood falling from her, and my eyes quickly follow it, arriving to where it’s coming from; a knife which is stuck in her. “P-Pinkie Pie!?”

She turns her head slowly towards me, smiling weakly. “L-Lemon,” she manages to say before her eyes roll back, and she begins to tumble to the ground.

“Pinkie Pie!“ wasting no time, I bolt upright, carefully catching her in my arms. As she lands, I feel her body shaking, her breathing coming out in rasped breaths, and I see the knife clearly piercing some part of her stomach. “Oh my god… Oh my god!”

“P-Pinkie Pie?” Discord mumbles in disbelief. “Y-you are Fluttershy’s friend! I-I didn’t mean t-” not noticing it, Mud manages to come up from behind him, punching him square in the face and sending him flying to the side, where he lands already unconscious.

“Pinkie…” I mumble, grabbing her hand. “How? Why…”

Despite her condition, she slowly opens her eyes, breathing heavily. “L-Lemon,” she says again, smiling weakly before she slowly closes her eyes again, and moves no more.

I feel my heart sink as her hand goes numb in mine. “P-Pinkie? Pinkie!”

The past several hours have been a very inconsistent blur.

Next thing I know, I find myself in a hospital lobby, looking at the clock over me which ticks, ever so slowly moving forward, with the last consistent memory left in my head being that of my parents leaving me here with some words by mom before she headed off.

Don’t lose hope.

“Hope is all I have,” I sigh, looking up to the clock for what feels like the umpteenth time, unable to tell how long it has been so far The fact that no doctor has come to tell me in a while doesn‘t help. “Dammit!”

“Lemon?”

“Ah!“ I look up at the voice, finding a serious looking Applejack standing in front of me. “Oh, great,” I groan. “What do you want? Here to berate me? Blame me for what happened? I figure you already know.”

“Nice to see you too.”

“Whatever.”

She sighs, taking the seat next to me. “Look, Ah’ don’t even know what exactly happened last night, and Ah’ don’t plan to ask you, the story will come at some point, it’s not what matters right now.”

“So it happened last night, huh?” I mean, of course it did, but it sure feels like it happened days ago."

“Of course it did… Are you okay?” she asks me worriedly.

“Oh right, sorry,” I laugh miserably. “To be honest, everything is a bit fuzzy since, well, I mean, I don’t know why Pinkie was there, I don’t know why Dis- I mean, Heart, tried to… You know?” I turn to her nervously, but she doesn’t seem to mind my small mess-up. Thankfully, the others aren’t brain-dead like me to mess that up when they talk to the police, and I’m sure they are smart enough not to let something slip-up about his name. Good thing I wasn't in the best position to talk.

Not too sure about Discord himself, but he can just go die. I hope he does.

“And the doctors? What have they said about her condition?” she asks with a careful tone.

“I think she is still in intensive care… I recall one doctor saying they would inform me if anything were to change, but they wouldn’t let me in… Her family is with her right now though, or so they say,” I vaguely explain. At least things seem to be coming back to me in random bursts.

“Good to know! We’ll get to talk to her later, and she’ll be her cheery self again, we can ask her all we want once she is out, alright?” she says, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “She will be fine.”

I turn to her with a sad smile. “Yeah, I really hope so.”

We remain silent after that which I am thankful for, I do feel a bit awkward sitting with AJ after having her ignore me for the past month or so, so I turn my head away to the window, stealing a glance outside and noticing the sun setting… Wait, it‘s rising. “Hold on, shouldn’t you be in school?

“Was,” she replies. “Usually hitch a ride to school early with Granny since she serves breakfast, Flash and Trixie found me and Ah’ was the first one to be given permission to leave.”

“So that’s where they have been…” I mutter to myself. They could‘ve used a phone, but I figure they wanted to tell it live. Whatever. “Where are they now, then?”

“Before we came in, Flash was headed to inform the Principal about the issue, apparently Pinkie‘s family didn‘t do that.”

“Understandable. And Trixie?”

“She went looking for the others,” she said, checking her phone. “Ah’ figure they’ll be here any minute now.”

“What do you mean I can’t see her!? I’m her friend!” we hear someone shout down the hall.

“Speaking of,” AJ mutters. “Sounds like Rainbow Dash is here now.”

“She doesn’t sound too happy,” I note, although I figure she wouldn’t be. I know I’m not.

“Fine! Be like that! I‘ll wait!” we hear her shout again, followed by her probably stomping her feet by the sound of it, and seconds later, we see hear appear from the corner, noticing us instantly. “You!”

“Huh?” I mumble confused, and before I can ask whom she is referring to, she is on me, grabbing the collar of my shirt and lifting me up easily.

“You son of a…” she groans, staring angrily. “You did this!”

“Rainbow! Put him down!” AJ orders, attempting to break Rainbow’s grip, but failing miserably. “Darn it girl! You are making a scene!”

“Oh, I’ll make a scene alright!” she growls, pulling me closer to her. “Why didn’t you protect her!? I thought she was your friend!”

I clench my fist, glaring at her. “Let. Me. Go!” I order her with gritted teeth.

“I will,“ she whispers. “Right after I beat you up, buddy!”

“I said to let me go!” I shout, tilting my head back before slamming my forehead on hers with a terrible attempt at a head butt. Everything goes dark for a second, but it seems to have worked, as I tumble back, landing on my ass, feeling the pain of the hit as I do. “Aaargh…”

“Cut it out!” AJ says disapprovingly. “You are both acting like children!”

Rainbow hisses too, her hand holding a reddish spot where I assume my head collided with hers. “Whatever! He knows what he did!”

“Yes, I know, okay!?” I shout at Dash, who leans back clearly taken aback by my outburst. “I know that this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t gone there! It shouldn‘t have… but it was her… it was her! And I just, I…” I stop, turning my back to them and running away.

“Lemon, wait!” I hear AJ shout after me, but I ignore it.

Running is all I want to do right now.

…

I stop running five minutes later, having gone far enough to leave the hospital behind. “Oh god,” although the fact that I’m coughing uncontrollably certainly helped to that.

*Beep* “Ah!” I yelp, noticing my suddenly beeping phone, the small light bulb showing a message having come through. “Who?” I open the phone, noticing the message symbol with Applejack’s photo. “Whatever,” I roll my eyes. “She probably just wants me go back.”

Or maybe…

“Maybe…”

Or maybe it‘s about Pinkie…

…

“No!” I pull back my arm, tossing the phone to the ground and watching it shatter into pieces. As I stare at its remains, I can only wonder. Why is this happening? This was never supposed to happen! We were just hanging out! We were just trying to get me back! This all had been only me trying to go to Equestria! Then home! “Where did I go wrong…?”

“Mr. Lime?”

“Fuck!“ I curse surprised at the voice, looking up quickly for its source. “What…?” Vice-Principal Luna stands nearby, giving me a very serious look. “L-Luna?”

“Morning,” she greets me with a simple wave.

“H-how long have you been there?”

“Long enough,” she says as she opens the door to a car next to her and waves me in. “Come.”

“What…” I don’t like where this is going, I already had to fight a fucking psycho, but now I have Luna who might be evil too. What if it is just a façade? Just like with Dis-… Him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take you back to the hospital if you don‘t want.”

“That isn‘t really the issu-” wait, what am I doing? Do I really have anything more to lose by risking it? At this point at least I‘m not putting others in danger.“… Alright, whatever.”

So, I do as I’m told, getting in the car and driving away with Luna who remains silent as we head to, um, places? I don’t know. But she kept her promise, not even bothering driving close to the hospital, so I suppose that’s a good start to her not being inexplicably evil. This happens for what feels like hours, which it probably was, and makes it long enough for me to ask a question after so much uncomfortable silence.

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” I ask in a feeble attempt at conversing.

“Funny question coming from you, Mr. Lime,” Luna chuckles, keeping her eyes on the road. “Don’t you worry, we got the call from your father, although we were never told what had happened until Mr. Sentry informed us earlier today.”

“Is that why you were here?”

“Yes,” she sighs sadly, dropping the smile in an instant. “I was shocked when I heard it, so I asked Cele- I mean, the Principal, to let me come see her.”

“That sounds like something against school policies,” I point out.

“Screw the policies,” she growls, surprising me, and herself for that matter, if the look of disbelief tells me what it‘s showing. “Goodness, I’m so sorry, that is very unbecoming of me!”

“Don’t apologize, I could say the same thing, honestly,” I agree. “If I wanted to go back, I mean.”

“Lemon!” she says disapprovingly, but quickly sighs. “Are you afraid of what might happen to Pinkie?"

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Lemon.”

“Drop it.”

“If you are scare-”

“I say drop it!” I shout at her, but get no reaction from her other than an apathetic stare.

“You can’t run away from this, you know?” she says calmly. “You will have to find out.”

“I know!” I shout, just as I feel my eyes quivering and the hot feeling of tears streaming down my face as I try to respond further. I feel a torrent of emotions run through this stupid teenage body, one that despite having been able to control emotionally before, I can’t seem to control now. “It’s all my fault! I-if I hadn’t gone to meet Heart, she would be okay! She would still be her cheery self! It should have been me! And she woul-”

“Be in your situation right now,” she cuts me off.

I look up surprised, blinking at what she just said. “W-what?”

“If you want to find out what I mean, you need to ask Pinkie yourself,” she says simply, looking out my window. “All I will say that Pinkie Pie is… Not quite the girl she always appears to be, just remember that.”

“I don’t understand, what are you saying?”

“There is a reason why she avoided you all this time, what reason that is? I do not know, but I’ve known her for a long time, I can read her as a book,” she continues. “I know she’ll be fine, and you will understand.”

“A long time? Wait, did you know her before high school? And understand what?” the questions keep piling up, and confusion seems to be my only response. It’s become a trend at this point.

“Now please, promise you won‘t tell my sister,” she says out of nowhere, and for some reason, she is placing her hands on me in a creepily bad tou-

“Whoa!” I yelp as she pushes me out of the car into the pavement, and with great confusion, watch her drive away. “Huh? What? When?” I look around, realizing that I’m sitting in the hospital’s parking lot. “You bitch! I’m so telling her! And how did she open the door!?”

“That would be I,” I turn to meet the voice, noticing Trixie standing with her arms crossed. I’m caught off guard by her rather casual outfit, forgoing her usual jacket and skirt combo for a simpler blouse and a pair of skinny jeans.

I’m really not sure why I’m focusing on her clothes right now. “Trixie? What are you…”

“Come on,” she says, promptly helping me on my feet and grabbing my hand. “Follow Trixie.”

“Wai-“ she pulls my hand without bothering to listen, dragging me back into the hospital and getting into the elevator. “Wait… Where are we going?“ I ask fearfully, feeling a sense of dread at her stoic demeanor. “I-is Pinkie…?”

“Pie? Fine? She is. In fact, we are going to visit her right now,” she replies, the feeling of dread now replaced by a warm, fuzzy feeling and a stupid smile to accompany it.

“What about everyone else? Are they in the room?” I ask, recalling what Applejack told me.

“All downstairs.”

“Why?”

“You would know if you had answered your phone, Applejack tried to call you, but you never replied,” she reprimands me.

“O-oh… well, my phone is a little out of commission,” I explain.

“Out of commission?”

“Out of commission!”

“Hmm…” she mumbles, clearly questioning me, but not pursuing the matter any further, thankfully. “Well, in any case, Pie is fine, we are nearly at her floor, actually.”

“Why do you keep calling her Pie?” I ask just as the elevator stops. “Hey, we are he-”

“Shh!” she quiets me just as the elevator’s door opens. “Come on!” she hurries me along, grabbing my hand and rushing through the halls while I’m barely unable to keep up her pace.

“What’s going on?” I whisper in confusion, nearly falling down more than I care to admit. “Why are we running?”

“I said quiet!” she orders me, and before I can correct her on what she said, we stop near a room. She looks around for a few seconds and whispers. “Psst, we are here!”

I raise a brow in confusion. “Who are you calli-” just as I say that, I notice the familiar slender form of yellow quiet pop up from out of nowhere. “Fluttershy? What are you doing here? What’s going on?”

“Redeeming myself after being so rude, now hurry!” she says quickly.

“Hurry what?” I ask utterly lost. “Will somebody explain?”

Trixie puts her hand over mine. “All you need to know is that she is behind that door, go for it!“ she urges me with a smile before suddenly walking away.

“Wait, what?” I mumble in puzzlement, looking down at my hand and noticing a familiar pink pendant. “Wait a minute… Hold on!”

I stretch my hand, taking hold of Trixie’s shoulder, she attempts to violently shake it off, turning to me with a scowl, baring her teeth in a seemingly random display.

“Let go of me, Lime!” she orders, suddenly angry.

“Not until you explain this,” I note, holding the pendant close to her. “Isn‘t this yours?”

“Um, guys?” Fluttershy calls quietly, but she can wait.

“It doesn’t matter,” Trixie harrumphs.

“Or course it matters! I gave this to you!”

“You should go in there now…” Fluttershy continues. Ignoring you.

“And Trixie is giving it back, it’s ugly, she didn’t want it!” Trixie replies.

“What? But you liked it! Trixie, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry!” Fluttershy apologizes, and before I can take notice of what’s happening, she has pushed both Trixie and I into the room, closing the door and heading outside, I mean, what the heck was th-

“Fluttershy? I heard voices,” some strange woman behind the door says. “You know no one can go in, the patient needs rest,” well, that explains that.

“Damn it, Lemon!” I look to my side, noticing Trixie whispering angrily. “Why didn’t you just come in on your own?”

“After you gave me the pendant? I don’t think so,” I whisper right back. “Besides… Oh,” I stop, looking right behind me, noticing the pink figure laying on a bed “Is that?”

“Pie? Yes,” Trixie says, getting on her feet. “Still asleep as you can see.”

I let out a sigh of relief before turning to Trixie. “If that’s the case, maybe you can whisper what’s going on with you,” I recommend. I don’t really know how shot up in medical drugs Pinkie is, but if she didn’t wake up to door slamming, I figure it’s enough so that we can hold a conversation without interruption.

“Do you really want to do this now?” she groans.

I walk past her towards the door, locking it. “I think it‘s a good time.”

“Stubborn,” she sighs ironically enough, slumping down on a chair near the entrance. “But Trixie figures she has no way out,” she rubs her forehead and shakes her head, giving me a sign of ‘not’ good things to come.

“So…” I began, hoping ot start something here.

“I’m breaking up with you,” well, that was certainly a ‘not’ good thing.

“Oh,” is all I manage to say in my surprise. I feel a tinge of dread in my chest as I replay the words in my head, a familiar sense of disbelief that I’ve gone through before… At some point. “I-I see. Care to explain why?”

“Because, Lemon,” she starts, chuckling to herself. “I just can’t continue living a lie, especially now that we know for a fact that Pie doesn’t dislike you as we originally thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yesterday all you did was worry about her, continuously wondering, and I won’t lie; I was irritated,” she continues.

“Isn‘t that the effect I usually have on you?” I joke half-laughing, but getting no reaction from her. “Sorry…”

“You thought she disliked you, and yet, you continued worrying about her… It was eye opening to say the least,” she explains, easily ignoring my comment. “And last night’s incident made that more apparent. I’m sure you can recall.“

I wince as the image of the knife stuck in Pinkie returns to my mind, gulping in fear as I recall the blood, and her body turning limp as the life began leaving her body, and then... “I don’t remember much afterwards, but I do remember the, um, ‘event’ itself. I am not forgetting that.”

“Try to remember what happened next,” she suggests. “Naturally, I still recall the events.”

“Alright…” I mumble, closing my eyes and thinking back to it, something seeping into my head. “Well, Mud made a call, I figure it was to the hospital.”

Trixie nods. “She did. And how about Flash and I? What were we doing?”

I close my eyes again. “Well… You two simply stood in place, looking panicked… That’s about it.”

“Indeed. We were terrified,” she points out casually. “Now, do you recall what happened after the ambulance arrived?”

“The ambulance?” I ask surprised, I don‘t really recall the ambulance. “The ambulance…” I hum, closing my eyes once more.

I open my eyes instantly, turning to Trixie. “D-did I say that?”

“Do you mean the overreaction to the people trying to save Pie? Yes, you certainly did,” she says, easily guessing what I meant. “Which was something that helped me realize how much you really care for her,” she says, getting off her chair and resting against the door.

“You are exaggerating,” I chuckle. “Maybe I was just worried about Pinkie, didn’t you think of that?”

“Of course I did,” Trixie responds, turning and blinking slowly to me. “Which is why I’m going to make this an easy thing for you.”

“H-how do you mean?” I ask feeling nervous. There are many reasons why I should be nervous right now and I will embrace them like a crazy jacket.

“Currently, you are standing right between the bed and I,” she begins. To my surprise, she is actually correct. How the? “The nurse and Fluttershy just left, so we can sneak out without any problem, we could return in a few hours and Pinkie would be none the wiser.”

“Hours?” not gonna lie, I don’t think I have the patience to wait that long. “And I’m confused, how does Fluttershy factor into this? Being outside and all.”

“She volunteers in more places than you think,” she explains quickly. “That’s besides the point! Let me finish!” she hisses angrily.

“Sorry…”

She clears her throat quickly, keeping an ear on the door before she continues. “As I was saying, you can do the former, or you can stay here with Pie and be the first to talk with her without interruptions from anyone, myself included,” her gaze softens, and she smiles. “The choice is yours.”

I stare at her partially shocked, realizing the implications of her words. “Trixie, you can’t be seriously be implying what I think you are implying… And now?”

“You can say it, I’m selfish,” she shrugs. “But I feel this is a good place as any to make you see, and figure out what will happen from here on now,” and with her piece said, she speaks no more.

And so, it’s come to this. As I stand in the middle of the room, I turn to Trixie, who just stares at me without a show of emotion, then I turn to Pinkie Pie, who sleeps, snoring peacefully, all while my mind begins to wond-

“Lemon?”

“Ah!” I yelp in surprise as Trixie breaks my internal monologue. “What? I thought you wanted me to decide!”

“There is no need anymore,“ she shakes her head, smiling sadly.

At this point, my confusion has become a labyrinth that I cannot get out of. “Why!?”

“The fact that you have to think about it at all tells us both enough, don’t you think?”

“Oh,” I mumble, realizing what she means. I suppose being torn over whom I love the most when my current girlfriend is asking is very telling. “I can explain?”

“Lemon,” she says with a serious face.

“Right…” I murmur in a low voice. “I guess this is it then, huh?”

She chuckles to herself, shaking her head. “We argued a lot anyway.”

“Y-yeah…” I agree half-heartedly, but... “Look, I’m sorry, I didn‘t want it to end this way Trixie, an-”

She shakes her head. “Save it, I’ll see you later Lime,” that’s the last thing she says before calmly, walking out the room and leaving me alone (or as alone as I can be with an unconscious Pinkie) I’d like to think that Trixie’s attitude is showing that she will be okay with whatever happens, but I get the feeling that might not be the case.

Call me sexist, but I feel some stereotypes exist for a reason.

Doing my best to ignore what just happened, I put the pendant in my pocket and take a seat next to Pinkie’s sleeping form, unbelieving of the fact our ruckus didn’t wake her up. I simply stare at her, feeling much like a creep, but the happiness I feel over her chest going up and down and showing she is still here certainly helps counter that and the fact that Trixie left me… Mostly. Although I have to admit that Trixie might be right -- I'm way too happy seeing her right now.

Gently grabbing her hand, I chuckle to myself. “Geez, you sure are a heavy sleeper, aren’t you?”

Without warning, Pinkie Pie bolts upright, eyes wide open and staring ahead. She blinks momentarily, turning to the left, and then, turning to the right, where she comes across my face.

Surprised, I greet her with a little wave. “H-hi.”

“Hey,” she replies, looking very surprised, and we just remain silently staring at each other. It must be the fact that I haven’t seen her in a month, but I feel overjoyed to have this awkward stare-off of sorts… It’s also really rare to see Pinkie quiet for more than a millisecond.

*Creak*

Wasting no time, I drop off the chair, leaning back on the overly tall hospital bed. Thank you technology, you have saved me once again.

“Ms. Pie! You are awake!” a nurse’s voice says surprised.

“Y-yeah,” she replies awkwardly. I wish I could see what she is doing, but I’m currently hiding from a freaking nurse.

“I'm Nurse Redheart, I will be your nurse! Would you like to see your family and friends? They are eagerly waiting to see you awake,” the nurse quickly suggests. I already hate you.

“Um, n-no, that’s okay,” Pinkie thankfully replies. “Actually, can you not tell them yet? I’d like some time alone to get my bearings, please?”

A few seconds of silence later, the nurse replies. “Very well, when you are ready, just call me, alright?”

“Yes, thank you,” Pinkie thanks the nurse, and a few seconds later, the door clicks shut. “She is gone,” she whispers moments later.

"I heard," sighing in relief, I relax, letting my feet stretch on the ample floor. Resting against the side of the bed I tilt my head upwards to talk. “So, how are you feeling?”

“I think I'm okay,” she replies, keeping her voice serious… Weird. “And you? Are you hurt?”

“Thanks to you, I’m not,” I say with gratitude. “And not to sound ungrateful, but… Why would you get in the way like you did?”

A few seconds of silence later, she replies. “Cuz.”

“Cuz? Pinkie, a person doesn’t just save another by risking their own with just a ‘cuz’.” I groan at her nonchalant response.

“Because you are my friend, dummy, I had to save you somehow,” she says as if it were a mere fact.

“Odd, last month suggested you hated me,” I know I shouldn’t pressure her, but it's now, or never.

“I-I,” she stutters. “I don’t hate you!” she complains, her tone returning to the Pinkie one I know of. “I just wanted to give you and Trixie some space, that’s it!”

“Ugh,” my relationship wounds, they ache. “W-well, I really wasn’t with her when you ran out of Carousel Boutique, I’m sure you know that, right?”

“… Duh,” she says in a non-playful, defeated tone. “I know that.”

“Then why?” I ask once again. "Why would you even run to begin with?"

“Because,“ I feel her hand pat my head while she continues. “I was being selfish.”

Her answer makes me get on my feet to stare at her in disbelief, unable to see her eyes as her hair fully covers her face. “Pinkie, you are the least selfish person I know, I mean, other than Fluttershy maybe.”

“But I WAS being selfish,” she continues. “Because I didn’t want to see you go!”

“Pardon?”

“That day in Carousel Boutique, when you said you and I could never be together. I realized that you wouldn’t stay here forever, that you would leave, back to your own world,” she says in a low voice, taking deep breaths as she lets the words out.

And I now understand why she did what she did.

“Pinkie, you didn’t have to do that,” I say lamely, being the first thing that comes to mind.

“Didn’t I?” she asks, stifling a laugh. “But I still did! Because I could just pretend you were always there, that you never left, and even if you did, I could say that you just moved somewhere else, o-or that you just decided to hate me and never hear of me again! At least I wouldn’t have to say goodbye!”

“Pinkie, please stop that,” at this point, I’m giving Pinkie a horrified expression, catching catch the hint of a smile behind her hair… But I know Pinkie, and that smile is not a Pinkie smile.

“I-I just can’t say goodbye… I-I can’t do that again! I won’t let it happen!” at this point, she has turned to hysterics, shouting out loud everything she is saying. “Mom… Dad…”

Okay, I’m at a loss. Attempting to do my best to calm her down, I simply place my hands around her, enveloping her in a hug. “Pinkie, please, calm down!” I whisper to her ear. “Please…” thankfully, this seems to do the trick and her shaking stops, turning instead to sobbing silently.

“P-please don’t leave…” she whispers, weakly returning the hug.

Oh, Pinkie.

Just then, the door to the room slams open, revealing the two familiar faces of Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

“What’s going on here!?” Mrs. Cake asks in a demanding tone before noticing me. “You! Get your hands off Pinkie Pie!”

I quickly do as I’m told, I am not up for a conflict. “No, please, I was just…”

“Getting out of here, that’s what!” Mr. Cake says this time, stomping towards me and roughly grabbing my arm.

“Ah! Stop! You are hurting me!” I try to say, but the way he is dragging me nearly makes me trip.

“Dad, let him go!”

The room seems to freeze at the sudden voice, and I feel Mr. Cake’s grip loosen, letting me fall to the ground, grabbing my pained arm, I look around confused… Did the Cakes have a kid that could talk?

“Pinkie…” Mrs. Cake whispers, looking at her, turning to see what she is looking at, I notice Pinkie staring back.

“Don’t be mad at him, mom. He didn’t do anything,” Pinkie frowns, looking at Mrs. Cake sadly.

“Oh, Pinkie,“ I can’t help but let out a smile at Pinkie interfering an- “Wait a minute, did you just call the Cakes ‘mom’ and ‘dad’?”

"Pinkie Pie."

"Ah!" I yelp, noticing Mud suddenly standing right next to me. "How long have you been there? Where did you even come from!?"

"You don't get to ask that!" Mrs. Cake growls, grabbing my other arm and pulling me on my feet. "Out!"

"Don't hurt him!" Pinkie jumps to my defense again, but she instantly pulls herself back, hissing in her pain. "Mud, please!"

"Pinkie," Mud repeats her name, nodding once and tilting her head towards me. "Follow me," she says simply, walking out of the room to the sheer confusion of all present.

"Should I..."

"Go," Mrs. Cake says, letting my arm free. "Just leave us be," and with a parting glare, she walks towards the bed and sits next to Pinkie, whom I steal a last glance from before leaving the room and closing the door.

So, it’s been twenty minutes since we left the room, the two of us have been sitting in a thankfully lone area of the floor, but the silence has been so deafening, well, kinda. Point is that it’s getting awkward.

"Um, Mu-"

"You must have questions."

“Ah!” I yelp caught off-guard by her cutting me off, her voice nearly making me fall off my seat. "Well, I suppose. I wasn't expecting it, but I guess we can start with you. Who even are you?"

"I'm Mud."

"Yes, I know that! I mean like a surname, or something! And what is even Pinkie Pie to you anyway?" I ask all that in my sentence.

"Pie."

"Huh?" I hum confused. "What about her?"

She shakes her head. "It's Pie. My full name is Mud Pie, and Pinkie is a literal sister to me," she answers all I need to know in her own sentence.

Ignoring the obvious joke of ‘Mud Pie’ that comes with the name similarity (har, har) I now ask for permission to freak out. "You are her sister!? Pardon if this sounds insulting, but you two are nothing alike."

Mud doesn't appear fazed, staring with that same vacant look she always seems to have. "She used to be like me, but then she wasn't," wow, very riveting, Mud.

"I... see," I lie, but knowing her personality (or thereof lack of) I'll probably have to fight to get anything less vague out of her. No thanks. "Earlier she called the Cakes 'mom and dad', she didn't call them that before, but now she did. Why?"

She looks at me silently, blinking once. “I don't know, I believe is her own way to cope. Pinkie isn't exactly the girl she always appears to be."

I nod. “So I heard from Lu- um, I mean Vice-Principal Luna,” I say, which just makes the whole thing curious. What does Luna know that I don’t?

"Luna? I see," she nods slowly.

“Huh?” I say with very valid confusion. “You know her?"

“Luna and her sister took care of Pinkie and I before the Cakes,” she explains. “Celestia cared for us until she became the Principal a few years back."

“The principal took care of Pinkie?” I question once, but at least that answers how Luna knows. That would certainly explain the nickname thing they have going.

"Correct, she took care of us both after..." to my surprise, Mud actually stops mid-sentence, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "After our parents and sisters died."

"I'm so sorry," I say sadly, but her words pretty much confirms what was already obvious to me -- Pinkie’s family is actually dead in this world.

"It's alright, I've already come to terms with what happened back then," she says, taking a deep breath. "But Pinkie certainly hasn't."

“If you don't mind me asking, how did it happen?” I ask quickly. Tact really isn't my forte.

"Car accident," she says straight to the point. "Just some stranger running a light and hitting us," Mud closes her eyes before continuing. "Only Pinkie and I survived that," I just stare at Mud with a solemn look, to my own distaste, I expected some extravagant story, but now I realize that was very prudent and assholish of me.

"I see why she doesn't like goodbyes now, but..." still , as she tells me this, something doesn‘t make sense. “But I don’t understand, why me? Why are you telling me this? You weren't this talkative yesterday."

To my surprise, she smiles briefly before answering. "Because I love Pinkie Pie, and from what I can see, so do you. I trust you'll be able to help her."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I thank her awkwardly. It's a bit daunting knowing that her sister approves of me so easily.

"I would just hurt you otherwise," she threatens. And what do you know? Even with the lack of emotion, the threat was very effective.

"S-so, now what?" I ask awkwardly. Threats just happen to be very effective mood killers

"You get the rest out of Pinkie," she says, walking away. I figure she expects me to follow her, so I do. And now, I can’t help but mull over the questions that popped up over what she said. What does she mean by ‘rest out of Pinkie’? And what am I supposed to say? Well, those are the only questions I can mull over, because we make it to Pinkie’s room in no time at all.

“Carrot? Cup?” Mud calls the pair, who seems to be holding Pinkie’s hand at the moment, all while she remains motionless, staring away from the door. “I need to talk to Pinkie."

"Wait, you actually mean right now?" I whisper, but she ignores me, keeping her attention on the three in the room. "Crap."

Mr. Cake turns to look at her wife for a second before turning to Pinkie and then her wife once again. "Pumpkin?"

"If Mud is okay with doing this, then we should let her," Mrs. Cake says before turning to Pinkie. “It’s okay sweetie, we’ll be back later,” she says warmly, going over her and placing a kiss on her forehead. Of course, Pinkie doesn’t react at all.

They stop on their way out, looking at me in a way I don’t think I can ever place, just to walk out and leave together, leaving just Mud and I standing by the door alone.

“Go ahead,” is all Mud says once they are gone, standing to the side, leaving me staring at the unmoving form of Pinkie from the entrance.

"A-are you sure? I could do this another time, Pinkie doesn't seem to be in the best position," I ask her, I really don't want to push it.

"Go ahead," she repeats, saying nothing else.

“Okay? Well, here goes nothing,” I whisper under my breath, taking in a mouthful of air before going in and closing the door to the room, I slowly approach her, taking in the barely noticeable movements of her body. She is really a mess.

“You must think I’m awful,” she says suddenly, remaining as she is. “That I’m a huge weirdo,” she continues, attempting to curl into a ball, but hissing as the pain from her wound prevents her from doing so.

“I don’t,” I reply truthfully, taking a seat where Mr. Cake had been. “If anything, I understand why you acted like you did, I wouldn’t want someone I loved to leave, you know?”

"The Cakes didn't say anything about that," she says to herself, turning slowly, eyeing me sternly. “Did Mud tell you about our parents?”

“She only affirmed what I knew,” I tell her honestly. “And you just called them 'Cakes' instead of mom or dad. Why the change? Especially now?”

She chuckles at my question, attempting to sit as best as she can, clearly not forgetting her injury. “It’s silly, but when I do that, I feel as if they are just somewhere else, as if they aren’t really gone, you know?”

“Pinkie…” I feel a figurative punch to the gut at her words, and trying my best to not just get up and hug her, I simply swallow what I feel.

“I know, it’s sad. You can say it,” she sighs, turning away from me. “You wouldn’t get it, you still have your parents.”

“Actually,” I begin, getting off the seat. “I think I kinda do.”

She turns to face me, frowning at my response. “How would you know that? Your parents aren’t gone.”

“Well, maybe not my parents in this world, but the parents I knew before I got here? I may never see them again,” I explain to her, feeling the weight of something that I had not thought of for the past hours coming back to me.

“Your world?” she asks with a skeptic stare. “Aren’t you going back?”

Now it’s my turn to chuckle. “Pinkie. Discord was the last person I had in mind, if he didn’t bring me here, I don’t know who would have… Well, I might know someone else, but I can’t do really do this anymore.”

“What do you mean?” she asks, looking surprised by my change of tone. Not going to lie, I feel awkward as I am coming to this realization, one that I really wish I didn’t have to accept, but one I will accept regardless. “If you can still do it, why wouldn’t you keep trying?”

“Pinkie, you can’t be blind to the reason, just look at you! You are in the hospital! I was nearly shot. Twice! And I made it out both times! And third time might just be the lucky shot,” I finish in a whisper, slumping back down on the chair. I need a moment.

“Are you afraid to try?” she asks, giving me no time to do as I wanted. Typical Pinkie for sure.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. But I’m more afraid to get everyone hurt,” I swallow once again, ready for what comes next. “To get YOU hurt.”

“Me? But I’m no one important!” giving her no time to react, I get off my seat and smack her upside the head. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"Because I know you well," I explain. “Pinkie, if the past month has taught me something, it is that you are actually important. To me. And more than you think you ever were.”

“R-really?” she struggles to say the words, looking starry eyed. I notice her hair gain some color, surprisingly. I think it’s working.

“Yes! If anything, this has shown me that I really don’t want to abandon the people I met, people like my fake parents, Trixie, the other girls, heck, I even care about Flash! Not that I’ll ever tell him, but I do,” I continue, letting my emotions run wild on Pinkie.

“You’d do that for us?” she says with a look of disbelief.

I smile at her, placing my hand on hers. “Not gonna lie, I would do it mostly for you.”

“W-what are you saying?” she shakes her head, her face glowing brightly thanks to her pink skin. “I thought you and Trixie were together!”

“We aren’t anymore,” I admit quickly, ignoring the fact that we just broke up like an hour ago.

“But you were dating for like three chapters!”

“I.. Huh?”

“Three weeks!”

“Oh, it was actually about a month, but that’s not the point!” I say, now grabbing both her hands. “Pinkie Pie, I like, like you! Not just like, like you, but like, like like you! Like, you know what I mean?”

She stares blankly at me for several seconds, but before I know it, her hair explodes into a frenzy of pink hair, which goes every which way, fully taking on the look that I saw her with before this all started.

"Like yes I do!” she bawls, her eyes tearing up, and before I can gather my thoughts, she pushes her face forward, planting a kiss on my lips, lingering for a few seconds until it’s too late, by which point I realize it’s already over.

And a lingering taste of cotton candy remains in my mouth… Take that, Pinkie lovers?

Of course, as my head has this moment of triumph, my reactions isn’t quite as composed as her own.

“Duh, um,” I attempt to clear my throat, taking in the fact of what just happened. “W-wow, that sure was a thing that just happened!” I say out loud, laughing awkwardly.

“Do you really mean it? Do you really like-like me? Do you really want to stay with me? Do you really want to give up on looking? Oh, oh! Do you really want to kiss more!?” she asks in an overly excited manner.

“Answer is yes to all of those, even the added one,” I chuckle. I must admit, being in a relationship with Pinkie right after Trixie is a very scummish thing to do, but I suppose I will nuke that dark tunnel when I have to cross it. “Although, can you promise me something?”

“Hmmm?” she hums happily.

“Can we, um, keep this a secret? People like Rainbow Dash aren’t exactly happy with me over what happened to you, so we should give them time to calm down, you know?” I suggest, mostly for Rainbow Dash.

“Okie, dokey!” she says without questioning me. “I’m just glad we can finally put everything behind! But sorry about not being able to send you back,” she apologizes sincerely, looking only partially dejected over the prospect. Can’t blame her, really.

“It’s okay,” it’s really not, but adjustments will happen with time. “If there is anything that I’ll leave unfinished will be getting Flash the address in which Sunset Shimmer lives,” I say half-jokingly. "He wanted that when we met."

Pinkie scoffs loudly at me “Don’t be silly! I know her addr-” she quickly stops herself, putting her hands over her mouth.

“Pinkie?”

“Um… Tee-hee?”