• Published 27th Apr 2012
  • 11,815 Views, 163 Comments

Somewhere Along the Way - GrimPInkamena



You were lucky enough to be summoned to Equestria... but why?

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Chapter 8

At first you didn’t want to indulge yourself in consuming too much alcohol. Staying sober for the event seemed to make more sense, as you might have mentioned stuff you would regret later. Like implying something you shouldn’t know. Still, you would drink the occasional cup of punch as everyone else seemed very eager to leave their sober state.

Without having noticed her leaving the room - which you could have swore never happened - Pinkie came into the living room dragging a tub. Not to your surprise it was filled with water and bobbing apples.

Rainbow and Applejack reacted immediately, trotting towards the tub. The two friends gave eachother a smirk and proceeded to dunk their heads into the water. Pinkie Pie looked at her two friends with a satisfied grin. Then disappeared once more to get a large piece of cardboard. Supporting it between her front hooves she placed it in a vacant spot on the living room wall. Another sense of familiarity awakened as the mare walked over to you from the cardboard pony. With a green tassel somehow stuck to her hoof, she stretches her front leg towards you, gesturing you to grab the fake tail.

“Here! You should totally go first as you’re the guest of honor! All you have to do is take the tail and pin it on the pony while blindfolded.” It was an honor you’d rather pass this time around.

“I would’ve loved to, but...” Looking around, your mind raced to find a reason to delay the games a little more. Your eyes locked on Twilight, who stood behind you, sipping her punch. “... On the way over, I promised Twilight to let her go first if the situation ever arose.” She put on a sly smirk and nodded in understanding.

“Oh. Well in that case...” Twilight didn’t get a say in the matter before Pinkie had her blindfolded and tucked the tassel in her mouth.



It was like being in a birthday party for a seven year old, excluding the alcohol. Even though the party went pretty much like expected, there were some things that made up for the silly games. One being the sweet-scented pony that dedicated a good five minutes to make you play with them instead of just standing with Twilight and Applejack all night. You had already succumbed to her will some time before actually going ahead and grabbing the tassel that was eagerly waved in front of you, but it brought you great enjoyment to have Pinkie’s attention.

The games turned out to be quite fun, at least once you had consumed enough punch. Though, to your dismay, you were really bad at pin the tail, and your poorly designed apple-catching mouth never got a good grip on the biggest apples.

Stabbing the cardboard pony in the neck, you took off the blindfolds to inspect your result. Surely you had gotten closer this time around. Looking at the disappointing sight, you couldn’t help but notice a shade of blue lingering in your peripheral vision. Turning your head you met the analyzing face of Rainbow Dash.

For a while, she just stood there drunkenly staring, before breaking it off with a satisfied smile.

“Would you come outside for just a second? There’s something I’d like you to help me with.”

Not questioning what this was about, you stumbled after her.

Once outside, the pegasus took a big leap from the entrance so that she landed some distance from the house. The leap would have looked rather majestic if it wasn’t for Rainbow losing her balance on touchdown. You hastily walked after her as she turned around and waited for you to approach.

Rainbow started pacing back and forth in front of you like a sergeant speaking to a strict line of soldiers in full salute.

“Alright, I have this idea for a trick,” Rainbow started, her voice sounding rather excited. “I’ve thought it through numerous times in my head, and it’s going to be undeniably awesome.” Not sure what to expect, you still couldn’t contain your own excitement. You grinned from ear to ear as you listened to what was being said.

“So, what did you have in mind?”

“It would be too complicated to explain. Just roll with it.” She turned her back to you and lifted her hind legs, keeping half of her body afloat with flapping wings and front hooves planted on the ground. You took the hint and gripped firmly around the legs in your reach.

“Alright, now swing me around as fast as you can!”

“Are you sure about this? I don’t see how this will end well.”

“I got complete control, don’t worry.”

“Okay then... Here I go.” Gaining rotary momentum by twisting your body, you slung the pony around and started spinning.

She was light; little effort had to be put in for her to be lifted off the ground. Just after takeoff, she lifted her front legs and stretched them forwards and started flapping her wings vigorously. The pony became harder to hold back as you felt her actions were putting strain on your arms.

“Don’t let go before I tell you!” You gripped your hands tighter. Her hooves acted like a good pommel as they were slightly thicker than where you were holding above her ankle.

It didn’t take long before you sensed that you wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. You tried to lean back to make up for the force Rainbow was acting forwards, and with you being intoxicated while spinning at a rapidly increasing speed, you felt your common sense starting to tingle.

“Just... a bit... more!” The pegasus was obviously used to such high velocities, but you yourself had now lost every sense of direction. Your only focus was on not letting go prematurely. That was when she started jerking her body up and down, forcing the spin to go from a horizontal to a diagonal motion.

Praying that this wouldn’t go on much longer, you heard Rainbow give the signal.

“GO!!”

When her body was about to reach the highest point of the spin, you let go.

Immediately after releasing you fell backwards, and after a useless struggle for balance you tumbled over and rolled on the ground. Rainbow Dash went in the opposite direction. Only capturing a tiny glimpse of cyan color you saw that she got quite a bit of air with your throw alone. She was still ascending as you quickly got up and tried to get your bearings so you could see what the pegasus was doing.

While ascending, she had spun around her vertical axis, but with a controlled movement she gained complete authority of her body and went directly into a loop.

You wanted to see more of the fruits of your combined labor, but you were too disoriented to even keep yourself standing. You squatted down next to the wall instead of involuntarily falling back down on the ground.

“What’s happening out here?”

You turned your head towards the door you and Rainbow had exited a minute ago, meeting the eyes of Twilight and Fluttershy. One was looking at you questionably while the other immediately rushed off to chase after her marefriend.

“Oh... Be careful Dashie!” Fluttershy shouted after the pegasus doing flips and turns dangerously close to the ground and surrounding houses.

Your stare following the two pegasi was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Having fun out here?” Twilight said smirking at you. Leaning your head back looking up at the sky you let out a deep sigh.

“Heh... I guess you could say that.” Only now you realized it had actually gotten chilly outside as the sun had already set, with only a shade of orange looming in the horizon as evidence that it had once been in the sky.

“Well, good.” She walked down the steps and sat down next to you. “Seems to me that you have no problem finding common ground with anypony.” Perhaps you had “cheated” a little too much tonight. Relying on information you already knew to find the right things to say would get suspicious if used too recklessly. Though you didn’t think that you were in a danger zone just yet.

“They make it pretty easy, as everyone here are really nice. Making friends is no problem at all.” You looked over at Twilight who turned her eyes towards the sky and smiled.

“You’re spot on about that. I had a pretty hard time making friends before coming here. But now I’m making new friends pretty much every time I go out.”

“You mean to say that not everypony is like those here in Ponyville?” You asked curiously.

“I guess I was a part of my problem too. But no, I think Ponyville is special. I used to live in the capital, ponies there can get pretty full of themselves,” she explained.

“I give up," said an exhausted Fluttershy as she walked up to you and Twilight. "She’s impossible to calm down once she gets started.”

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” you said, hoping you were correct.

“Oh, I have no doubts about that.” Frustration could be sensed from her voice. “I’m just worried that her being fine will be briefly interrupted by a visit to the hospital.”

“It happens that often, huh?” You said in surprise, both because of what she said, and how she said it. She really had no problem shoving away her shyness when she was concerned about her friends.

Not much more than a sigh could be exchanged before the sound of a jet engine gradually became more apparent. A feeling of dread filled your stomach.

“Mother of - “ You reflexively braced yourself for impact.

“wooAAAH!” Everything went black for a moment as you felt the collision, followed by the feeling of your body tumbling some unknown distance down the dirt road.

Lying on your back you couldn’t help but laugh at the familiar situation. Seemed like your instincts had helped you keep your breath this time. And the pain, if there was any, was probably dampened by the numbness already covering your body.

Rainbow Dash stumbled up on her hooves, then sat her flank back down on the ground while rubbing her head.

“Ow. Sorry about that. I seem to be bumping into you a lot lately.”

“ Figuratively and literally! Heh. Don’t worry about me, I don’t mind,” you said through a light chuckle. While getting back up you noticed that the two of you had flown quite a bit further than you anticipated. Fluttershy was still trotting over with Twilight right behind her.

Fluttershy embraced her Dashie in a hug.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do we need to go to the hospital again?”

“Calm down Fluttershy,” Rainbow answered. “Give me some credit, it’s been like 3 weeks since last time I got a concussion.”

Twilight only smiled and rolled her eyes when she saw you were both in good enough shape to laugh it off. You gave her goofy grin while starting to walk back the direction you and Rainbow had tumbled.

“Should we head back inside, you guys? Looks like Mr. Pinkie wants us to play more pin the tail,” you said pointing at the colt standing in the door of the party house.

The gray colt was looking back at you while intensely waving the green tail back and forth.

“Come on guys! More fun to be had in here!”



You all headed back to the house, but before you could enter, something grabbed you and pulled you back outside. You were pretty open minded for going wherever it took the least effort to go, and since putting up any resistance didn’t seem very convenient, you just tagged along.

“Don’t think you’ve got me fooled mister.” The squeaky voice was impossible to misplace. Pinkie let go of your shirt and turned to you with her large magnifying glass back in front of her left eye.

The anxiety was back. Was she about to blow your cover for real this time?

Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and made another serious look appear on her face. It really gave her a whole new image than her usual goofy and bright self.

“You’re leaving us aren’t you?!” left the mare’s lips as her eyes started to look more depressed than angry.

“You say what? Is that what you think I’m hiding?”

“It’s one of the things I know you’re hiding, and it’s the thing that matters right now.” What you are doing that gives away all your secrets to this bouncing ball of pink fluff, you would probably never know or understand. But at least she wasn’t out to make your life difficult.

“Well, yes. Twilight and I are leaving tomorrow to go to Canterlot. Twilight thinks we can find a way of getting me home there. Sorry for not telling you, I just kinda assumed everyone knew.”

“Huh, I guess that makes sense.” She smiled and started to bounce in place, then slowly stopping after a little while, though still smiling happily. “I just have a feeling this is the last time we’ll see you, you know. It’s kinda sad just getting a new friend then never seeing him again.”

You realized what she was saying might be true, if you do have a chance to get home, you should probably consider taking it. This world is what you’ve dreamed of for months, but is it worth discarding your old life, where you have friends, family, and people expecting you to get your assignment done by next Friday?

“My time here has been a dream come true, I’ll never forget you guys.” You said it with complete sincerity. The party pony looked up at you with a faint smile. She was surprisingly sharp, it seemed she always had everything figured out.

“You promise?” You were about to answer an honest ‘yes’, but in a flash you get a much better idea. With a smirk on your face you start off by motioning your right hand diagonally across your chest, then recited the incantation you had heard dozens of times before coming here.

“Cross my heart.” You moved your hand up and pointed towards the sky, “and hope to fly.” Now gently clenching your left fist you moved it to a closed eye. “Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Pinkie looks at you with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen, then she started to bounce excitingly around you.

“I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” You couldn’t think of anything bad that would happen from confirming her suspicions, she had it all pretty much figured out anyway, she deserved that much. It would be your little secret.






The next thing you know, loud knocks against the wooden bedroom door made your mind cringe. The yelling that came after didn’t help your craving for quiet.

“Erm, Twilight? There are tickets for the train that leaves at sunrise on the table downstairs, you sure you should still be sleeping?” You recognized the voice outside as Spike. Slowly opening your eyes you found yourself lying flat out on the bed.

You stared at the ceiling as you took a moment to analyse your condition. Hangover, not too bad. Mouth, in need of saturation. Belly, being pressured and felt very warm.

‘Warm?’ You noticed that there was movement around your chest area. You looked down and saw a purple, messy maned unicorn sound asleep lying half across your abdomen.

In no condition to deal with the situation, you laid your head back down on the bed. The absence of a pillow gave you a longing for one. You let the feeling go quickly as you concluded that finding, fetching and placing the pillow under your head wasn’t worth the effort. The feeling of the soft pony on top of you made up for it anyway.

‘Nothing happened after we got home, right? Probably not...’

You heard more knocks, then the creaking sound of the old door opening.

“Twilight?” Spike poked his head inside the room. Twilight’s breathing changed, and she shut her eyes tighter, probably awake at this point. “Will you be taking the train today or not?” the dragon pursued.

She opened her eyes and straightened up her neck. Reacting to the intimate position in the same manner as she did the morning before, she stumbled backwards and fell off the bed, giving off a loud yelp as she broke the fall with her rump.

Rubbing her bruised flank with a hoof, she got up and looked outside the window. The sun was just rising up over the horizon.

“Crud! We’re going to be late!”