Chapter Six - You don't have to be mad to live here...
A crisp Thursday morning once again has myself and Pinkie walking to school, with a conversation that I am coming to expect from the small pink horse.
“I spy with my little eye…”
“There’s nothing little about them I assure you.”
“... Something beginning with…”
“No.”
“Aww come on Mena! Lighten up!” says Pinkie, bouncing on the spot beside me, “You’ve made a friend… well kinda, not really. But still it's a start!”
“Need I remind you that it wasn’t me who wanted friends in the first place?” I say. “Wait a minute, what did you call me?”
“I called you Mena, silly, our name is too long, and I couldn’t shorten it to Pinkie, since that’s my nickname, so I took the end instead.”
“And who said I wanted a nickname?”
“Maybe, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to put effort into saying someone's name,” she says in a perfect impression of me.
That stops me in my tracks, and I look down, her hair is straight and she is wearing a rather smug expression on her face, with one eyebrow raised high.
“Never do that again.” I say curtly.
“You're no fun,” says Pinkie, her hair returning to a fluffy mess.
We walk in silence for a while. Passing the house I assume to be Lyra’s, I almost expect her to run out and ask to be walked to school, but apparently she at least respects my boundaries enough not to bother me before school. Either that or she was still frightened enough of me that she kept her distance unless she had to. Not that it matters, either was fine by me.
“You could wait for her, you know,” says Pinkie.
“I am well aware of that fact,” I say neutrally.
After a pause, Pinkie spoke again. “...Any reason you're not?”
“You’re in my head, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you know?” I reply.
“Let's pretend I’m not for a moment, then what would you say?”
I sigh. “I only agreed to let her tag along to protect her from Saturday, nothing more. I couldn’t give a damn about what happens to her otherwise, her life is not my problem.”
“If you don’t mind me asking-”
“I do, but I don’t think that will stop you anyway.”
“-If you don’t care about her at all, why did you go back?”
“Do you want to make me further regret it?” I ask. Seeing Pinkie’s unimpressed expression, I sigh again. “I hate people who cry, alright?”
Pinkie’s brow furrows. “You… hate them?”
“Most people I can deal with, angry people are easy, happy people I ignore, smug people I can take down a few pegs, aggressive people I can hit. But sad people, people who cry… I can’t deal with that, and something about tears just makes it impossible to ignore.” I go silent for a time and stare into the middle distance, before coming back. “So yeah, sad people annoy the hell out of me.”
The little horse looks thoughtful, before smiling wide. “You know, I think that you’re a whole lot less mean than you think you are.”
“Whatever you say, Pinkie,” I say, resigned to the presence of this horse-me in my life.
I groan as I slowly drag myself out of bed, still not used to my new early waking habits. I attempt to pick myself up, but fail only to to slump, so I lay halfway out of bed, chin resting on the carpet. With a little bit of effort, I manage to roll over with little-to-no grace, and flop on the floor.
I lie there for a bit, contemplating the universe, before finally managing to get to my feet. Stifling a yawn, I pick out a fresh pair of undies from the dresser, a shirt from my wardrobe, and deciding that yesterday's pants were still fit for use, pick them up as well, before making my way to the bathroom, Running the water hot, I strip out of my sky-blue, cloud patterned pajamas, and hop in the cubicle for a quick shower.
Half an hour later, as I examine myself in the mirror as I brush my damp hair, my mind wanders to yesterday, most specifically Pinkamena. While I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, I can’t help but wonder what changed her mind.
‘Maybe I just looked that pathetic’ I think, gloomily.
Still, things were looking up, as long as I stay in Pinkamena’s good books, I may never have to deal with Black Saturday again. The only problem is…
‘How do I stay in good graces of someone like that?’
A very daunting task. Pinkamena seems like a very hard person to please, even the simple act of talking to someone else seems to fill her with ire. Not only that, but she talks to herself, almost every moment I’ve been with her, she’s having a seemingly one sided conversation with thin air, and judging by what she heard, it might be that this mysterious voice was the one vouching for her. I’m not sure whether that’s comforting or not.
“Lyra dear, are you done in there? Mommy needs to use the shower,” came Mom's voice through the door.
“Sorry Mom, be out in a minute!” I call back, quickly towelling myself off and getting into my clothes.
“Good girl, don’t forget to brush your teeth!” she says before wandering off, presumably to get some breakfast. I sigh and get my toothbrush. Sometimes I wish my mom was a psychologist, rather than a dentist, then I might have had a source of expert guidance, instead of just really great teeth.
A conversation plays back in my head. ‘You’re smiling… it looks good on you, do it more often.’
I try a little smile in the mirror, then a bigger one, it looks a little awkward, but not too bad. ‘Maybe good teeth aren't that bad after all.’
I didn’t always arrive at school this early, but considering most sane people are still crawling out of bed by this time I figure it was a good way to avoid bullies. I deposit my stuff in my locker, before fiddling with the combination padlock, I didn’t use to do this either, but yet again, bully problems. Once my locker is, well, locked, I ponder what to do with my time now.
Normally I just find somewhere quiet to hide and hope that no-one finds me before class starts, but now I have another possible escape, Pinkamena. She seems to get up around the same time as me, judging from the fact that I saw her outside my house.
I lean against the locker. But just because I can go to Pinkamena, should I? It’s clear Pinkamena doesn’t want me around, but she is still sticking her neck out for me, should I really exploit her like that? Maybe I should keep her as a last resort, rather than as a go to option, but then I would still have a lot of the same problems I had before, with nowhere to sit at lunch, no-one to talk to and nowhere to hide.
So it seems I am stuck in a moral dilemma, either I exploit the only person who is willing to help me in this school, or respect her boundaries, and keep going through hell. Why is life never simple?
“Hey! Minty!”
I look up to see two cheerleader-looking types, who are looking in my direction, I guess they're talking to me… Even mornings aren’t safe it seems.
“Yeah you, mint green, we need a word with you.”
“Y-yes?” I say, hoping that they are just really aggressively asking for the time.
“You’re Pinkamena's new tag-along, aren't you?” demands the blond one in front.
Guess not. “Umm, maybe?” I say evasively.
“Don’t you ‘maybe’ us, Minty Fresh, everyone's already heard about what happened yesterday,” she says, walking forward.
A part of me wonders why she asked me if she already knew, another is wondering why she keeps calling me variations of minty, but most of me is occupied with trying to back off from this girl, an act that is thwarted by the lockers behind me.
“It’s kind of unusual,” the girl says, closing the distance, “Ol’ Pinkamena has been friendless for the whole of highschool, and seemingly quite content with that fact… And then along comes you and suddenly you can sit at her table, and she will defend you from Saturday…”
Suddenly the girls pin me to my locker. “What have you got on her?”
“Wha…?”
“Don’t play around, a complete nobody suddenly being all chummy with the school's lone wolf? Get real, what is it, Bribery? Blackmail? We want to know what you know.”
“Errr…” I say, realising what Pinkamena must have meant with trouble coming out of this arrangement.
“Hurry up, before I sick Violet on you. She can be very persuasive when she wants to be,” she says, shaking me by the shoulders.
“What are you two idiots doing?” says a familiar voice.
The two girls turn around to see Pinkamena standing in the middle of the hallway with her usual ‘resting bitch face’ present. “It’s a little early for that kind of thing, isn’t it?”
The two girls spring away from me and position themselves in front of Pinkamena, before the blonde one declares triumphantly, “Ha! We thought you’d find you somewhere around here, we will have you know that your head ghost no longer frightens us! We have come prepared. Violet if you please,” she says, holding out her hand.
“I don’t like where this is going,” says the ‘head ghost’.
Violet places something in her hand, and the blond one thrusts it out triumphantly. “Aha! Feast your undead eyes on this!”
Pinkamena looks down at the offending article. ”You do know garlic is for vampires, right?”
The blonde one (really wish someone would say her name already) deflates somewhat, before quickly going into a two person huddle with Violet. When they came out again her look of triumph is back. “Very well then, how about this!”
“Silver is for werewolves, Catherine,” says Pinkamena, unimpressed.
Catherine (thanks Pinkamena) deflates again, before perking up and reaching behind her back. “Well what about... this!”
“You are holding that cross upside down, you know.”
“This…?”
Pinkamena leans in closer, examining the object. “Points for obscurity, but Iron is for the fae.”
Catherine looks thoroughly annoyed, tossing the horseshoe over her shoulder. “Then what do you do for possessions then!?”
“I’m not possessed, you moron, I’m delusional,” snarks Pinkamena.
“What's the difference!?”
“Whether you’re diagnosed by a doctor or a priest.”
*Snrk* The invisible horse is barely holding back laughter.
Catherine points a finger in Pinkamena’s face. “Fine! You win this time, but watch yourself Pinks, one day you’ll slip up!” She turns to me. “And don’t think we are done with you, breath mint. We still need a word with you!” With that they both scamper off.
I blink slowly, having trouble processing all that just happened. I look at Pinkamena, but she seems to have barely registered the incident, and was examining a poster on a wall with barely concealed disinterest.
“Umm…”
“Just ignore them, it's not as if they ever say anything worth listening to,” says Pinkamena.
“Ohh… okay.” Looks like I have to just pretend that didn’t just happen then, great.
“So that is normal for them?” says the unknown third party.
“They vary from dumb bullies to complete loons, Catherine does at any rate, I don’t think Violet talks to anyone but Cath,” says Pinkamena, seemingly out of nowhere.
“Okay?” I say.
Pinkamena turns around, her eyebrow raised. “You're still here?”
Oh, she was talking to herself again, of course. “Sorry, I thought… nevermind.” I say, blushing.
Pinkamena looks at me for a minute before shrugging and continuing down the hall.
”Eh-hem,” says my unseen benefactor.
Pinkamena stops, sighs, and turns back to face me. “Well, you coming? Or do you prefer loitering in the hallway?”
I gawp for a minute, before immediately falling in behind her.
“Was that hard?” says the invisible pink pony that the author is running out of creative ways to describe.
“Only half as hard as listening to you.”
”Hey!” says Pinkie Pie, who I technically don’t know the name of, but the author stopped caring.
“What?” I say, getting that ‘way over my head’ feeling again.
Sitting under my tree, an air of relaxation permeating the air, one that even penetrates the thick skull of my equine companion, who lays curled up beside me. I look down at her diminutive form, she is actually kind of cute when not running her mouth off. I idly reach down and scratch her behind the ear.
She makes some diminutive grunt and kicks her back leg a bit.
As we sit enjoying the morning tranquility, I steadily become aware of a sound drifting from the other side of the tree where Lyra is sitting, a gentle melody that seems to enhance the tranquility rather than disturb it. It sounds like a string instrument of some kind, it isn’t bothering me, so I let it continue, laying back and closing my eyes, I let the soft music wash over me-
“Lyra!”
And immediately cringe as a sour note is hit, along with the pink pony by my side.
“Hey, what gives!” says the irate Pinkie Pie, “I was enjoying that!”
I stand up and peer around the tree to see what the fuss is about, only to see Lyra, being dragged by her arm, away from the tree, by Ditzy.
“What are you doing up here? This is Pinkamena's favourite hangout! Come on we’ve gotta get out of here before she shows up!” says Ditzy, panic in her voice.
“Hey, no, wait, Ditzy, it’s okay! Ditzy, Ditzy my lyre, please stop pulling, Ditzy!” says Lyra, attempting to both prevent being dragged and not falling flat on her face.
“Should we do something?” says Pinkie, tilting her head.
“No time, she usually hangs around here in the morning, she could be here any minute!” says Ditzy, pulling harder.
“Nope,” I say casually, leaning on the tree.
A particularly hard tug on both sides ends with them in a heap on the ground, with Lyra somehow ending up wearing Ditzy’s glasses, and Ditzy with a serious case of wall eyes. After untangling themselves, the two looked at each other for a moment before Ditzy snatched back her glasses and put them back on. I watch in mild fascination as her eyes slowly realign, and in this moment Lyra says, “Ditzy, it's alright. Pinkamena let me come up here.”
Ditzy’s head turns so fast I’m surprised it doesn’t twist off. “She what!?”
I start sidling nonchalantly over.
“She brought me up here.”
Ditzy’s pupils shrink. “Does that mean that she’s…”
“Right behind you? Yes,” I say simply.
Ditzy nearly jumps, before spinning around.
I don’t say anything, just look down at the semi-prone girl, raising an eyebrow.
She springs to her feet, takes a quick glance between me and Lyra, before saying quickly, “Well I seem to have got the wrong handle on this situation-better not take up any more of your time-bye!” before taking off down the hill.
“We have got to work on that demeanour of yours,” says Pinkie.
“No we don’t, it seems to be working just fine,” I say, allowing myself a small smirk.
“Stop wittily misinterpreting me!” pouts Pinkie.
“Why? It seems to be working so far.”
“You’re lucky I’m your friend,” says Pinkie, crossing her forehooves.
“Lucky me,” I say, looking down, where Lyra is still sitting down. I lean over and and grab her arm, hauling her to her feet.
She stumbles a bit, evidently not expecting to be picked up, but rights herself, and dusts the grass off her clothes. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” I shrug.
Lyra looks down the hill to where Ditzy ran off to, she seems to have something on her mind again.
“You have a question, spit it,” I say, crossing my arms.
She jumps a bit, and looks like she is about to blurt something out, before my glare reminds her to sort out her thoughts first before speaking. After talking a calming breath, she asks, “I was just wondering… and please don’t take this the wrong way… but why is it that everyone is afraid of you?”
I carefully consider my answer, before shrugging. “Because I want them to be.”
With that, I turn and walk back to the tree. “Now I believe you were in the middle of something, don’t let me stop you.”
I lay down on my side of the of tree, and after a moment I hear the music start again.
Pinkie trots up beside me and curls up again. “You know, I could get used to this.”
With only the company of my head, I have no problem with giving a slight nod.
Well everybody, what more can I say, than thank you for both your support and patience, and hope you enjoy this new chapter. The fact that some people say that this is there favourite story fills me with warm fuzzies
Edited by m2pt5, you can thank him for the overall quality.
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7414822 then you will be happy to know it updated then, sorry for the wait
Thanks for your kind words.
Great to see a new chapter I really enjoy it. I wonder if Ditzy can eventually become a new friend and will Mena learn to like others more and maybe even find new depths in which to find companionship.
7534198 To all those questions, I shall answer: maybe
i need moar.
You really have a talent in Catchprases and being snarky. I mean, that pinkamena is flawless.
Now to wait for the next chapter ^^
#Notdead
7544038
#Butnotalive
#Halflife
#Storyhas6chapters
#Dividebytwo
#3Confirmed
#I'msorry
7543378
Thanks, I try
I'm curious though, Catchphrases? I really have that much quoteables in here? Thats cool to know.
7544111
aaahhhh an update <3
I'd just like to say that Pinkamena's interactions with Pinkie Pie, and pretty much everyone else in this story, are pure gold. I'll probably cry if Pinkamena ever stops being so sarcastic and snarky but it's probably for the best.
Omg!
Too cute!
I got the cutest image in my head of Diane scratching behind Pinkie's ears while Lyra plays a Lyre.
If only I could draw it!
Holy wow.... I remember this story! Almost 6 years since I last commented. Time sure does fly.