//------------------------------// // Where the Pieces Fit (Train Wreck/Swing Shift): Somepony to Shove // Story: Awkward Conversations And Other Stories // by No one is home //------------------------------// Surprise giggled, “Stop worrying and get those cupcakes iced before school lets out.” “Yeah, yeah,” the tazzle pony rolled his hoof and laughed, “Ironically the only ponies who don’t scream and run away when I enter the room are school children… or foals. Whatever.” "You really cheer up the foals," the green mare laughed easily. "Their parents don't seem quite as happy..." Train Wreck grumbled as he continued his job. "Oh please, maybe the first time," Surprise waved the issue away like waft of smoke, "They learn you're a good pony in no time at all." “Are you sure Swing is in Pod Therapy today?” the blue tazzle pony asked suspiciously, “I have the weirdest feeling we’re being watched.” “Oh come on,” the mare rolled her eyes, “She only did that that one time, yesterday, when I was getting interviewed by Princess Fast Change.” “Yeah, we only caught her that one time. From now on I’m just going to assume that she’s listening in on whatever I’m saying, just to be safe,” the monster insisted. “I’m telling you Train Wreck, she’s in the pod for the rest of the day for therapy,” Surprise rolled her eyes. "She could be a lamp,” Ki said nervously, as he iced a batch of cupcakes, “I don't remember if there were two or three lamps in here before, but there are definitely four now." “There were always four lamps, silly,” Surprise laughed musically, then gave a suspicious look in the corner, “Although I don’t remember that bean-bag…” “Ah-ha! Caught you!” Train Wreck pounced, cornering the helpless bean bag in its corner as Surprise dissolved into peals of laughter, drawing a slump of defeat from the giant pony-beast, “And you just pranked me didn’t you?” “Ah, don’t be like that,” the green mare licked a wayward spot of icing off the stallion's face, “I got you a bean bag! Just wait till we close up to try it out in case it explodes when you sit on it… Ooo, there’s the bell. I’ll go man the counter, you be ready to bring out the fresh batches as they get ready.” -=-=-=-=- “No,” Z stamped her hoof angrilly, “Z-978 has told her sister she is not Pinkie Pie Number Seven! Please do not call Z-978 Pinkie Pie Number Seven… or Number 7… or Pinkie Pie… or Seven… or any combination of Pinkie Pie and numbers. Z-978 is not just one drone in a series of Shifts who are supposed to watch her sister. Do not call Z-978 a Shift. She is Swing Shift’s sister, not a mindless extension of Swing Shift. Swing shift cannot just tell Z-978 to be Pinkie Pie! Z-978 is the name that Train Wreck and Surprise call Z-978, because Z-978 chose that name for herself!” “But you can’t be Z-978!” tears welled in the little changeling’s eyes, “I was supposed to be Z-978! That stupid green pony is obviously going to be Diane, and now if you’re Z then who am I supposed to be? It’s not fair, I’m being written out of my own prophecy!” “Z-978 does not understand,” the older changeling danced nervously in place, “Surprise making a place in her home so Swing Shift can stay with Train Wreck. And why would Swing Shift be Z-978? That does not make sense at all. Z made up the name Z-978. It is a good name, but it is not Swing Shift’s name, it is Z’s.” “Train Wreck doesn’t even know me,” the little changeling flopped on the floor and sobbed helplessly, “I was supposed to be Z-978! He was supposed to call me Diane! And I was going to call him Charlie…” Unsure what to do, and honestly confused as to what was even wrong, Z-978 simply held her sister as she cried into the night. -=-=-=-=- “Does it seem weird to you?” Surprise whispered as she curled up next to her impossibly massive stallion. “You’ll have to be more specific,” Train Wreck yawned broadly, stretching his mandible-like lower jaws in tandem, “I’m a eldrich horror sleeping with the ghost of my marefriend from another universe. Weird is kinda relative, and not much qualifies anymore.” “Well, let’s start with the ‘I’m a monster’ thing,” Surprise frowned, “because seems to bother you a lot.” “What bothers me is that every single pony I meet but you, and Z, and Swing, always assumes I’m some kind of monster,” the giant pony shrugged, “And it doesn’t matter how friendly or how polite I am, and yes, before you say it, I know most of ‘em get over it pretty quick, but it’s still always going to be a thing no matter what I do, no matter where I go. Every new pony I meet is going to assume I’m some terrible fiend until I bend over backwards to prove I’m not. And even then, most are always gonna be on the lookout in case it’s a trick and I’m trying to get their guard down.” “I can’t really argue with that, because you’re not wrong, exactly,” Surprise let out a heavy sigh, “You’re so much like him sometimes… you know?” “You mean Charlie, right? Your Ki…” Train Wreck drew into himself a little, “That’s the weird part, to tell you the truth. It’s like I’m some replacement that can never quite be what anyone remembers.” “I didn’t mean it like that!” Surprise protested. “It’s not just you,” the monstrous pony curled into a ball and sulked, “Actually it’s worse with Swing Shift. At least with you and me all the cards are on the table. I don’t know if I even want to measure up to whatever it is she wants out of me. I don’t even know what it is that she wants out of me. She apparently went to a lot of trouble and did a lot of really shady things to bring me back from the dead. I owe her a lot, but I don’t think I can be whatever it is she expects. It seems like the poor kid kinda got ripped off, because at the end of the day, the poor bastard in that pod wasn’t me. Just like I’m not Charlie. But at least you get it. There’s me and you, and sometimes it’s sad and awkward, but you don’t expect me to be someone who’s never coming back.” “It’s gonna be okay,” Surprise wrapped a foreleg around her lover’s barrel. "Just get some sleep, tomorrow it will all be better.”