The Cold, Empty bottle of Sarsaparilla

by Desert pony with no name

Chapter 5

The Cold, Empty bottle of Sarsaparilla
Part.5

Pinkie Pie woke up, stretched and let out a great big *yaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwmnn* as she did so. She turned to look at the faint little light reaching her from her tiny little window. She sat up and stared at the wall for a few minutes when she heard the all-too-familiar clanking sound as the door opened. This time it was just Nathan who stepped in “Hungry?”

Pinkie rubbed her stomach, which gave out a powerful *groooooooowwl*, Nathan just smiled “I guess that means yes!” he laughed. He strolled in a strange looking chair with two big wheels on the sides “Sorry miss, protocol states that I must transport you around in this.” She sat down in the strange looking device, it seemed comfortable enough; she did feel silly, almost as if she was just a toddler being pushed in a stroller. In a way she was a toddler; toddlers couldn’t walk by themselves or they might “get lost” or “run away,” pretty similar scenario, the more she thought about it, but she didn’t want to think about it anymore.

She saw for the first time what it was like outside her little room. She was rolling through a plainly decorated hallway. With shiny black and white tiles, plain grey walls, all the windows were barred; a buzzing of incandescent lights could be heard above her. Despite all this she felt safe, the doctors (and most of the nurses) smiled warmly at her as she passed them. She momentarily passed through the lobby. She didn’t notice anything else about the room except a single pot of fresh flowers standing on a table in the far right of the room. It was the most beautiful thing she’s seen in this world, the intricate detail, much like the grass growing outside her window, along with the bright colors put her in a state of awe. She carried a big grin all the way to the lunch room.

She was wheeled to a table, where she sat next to a couple of other patients. She waited as a nurse brought her a plastic tray of odd looking food. On her tray was some yellow, fluffy material that she supposed were scrambled eggs. Next to the eggs was a pile of shredded and salted potatoes, below two strips of some brown looking stuff called “bacon.” She grabbed her plastic spoon they gave her and began to play with the eggs. She pushed them around the tray for a minute or so before taking a bite. They tasted pretty good, she washed down the mouthful of food with a sip of so-called “orange juice,” I don’t know what sorta magic they use to make this water the same color as OJ, but if they think this is real OJ, they must be the ones who are crazy!

She smirked at that thought as she took a nibble of the strange “bacon” strips. Oh my gosh this is delicious!!!! She shoved the entire strip in her mouth and began salivating furiously. I have no idea what this bacon stuff is, but it is awesome!

She began munching at the second strip when one of the other patients sitting across from her looked up at her; “So I hear you talk now, eh?” Pinkie Pie looked up at him; he wore a jumpsuit very similar to hers, and had a scruffy-looking hair cut “Name’s Ricky, I’ve been told you’ve been pulled out of your little pony world you’re always yammering about.” Pinkie Pie’s face sunk when she realized everyone could hear her when she was in Equestria.

Ricky could see the look of shame on her face “I’m sorry maim, didn’t mean to embarrass you! It’s just the other mates at this table don’t talk all too much.” He pointed at a mopey-looking man sitting next to him.

“Oh whatever, like you have anything interesting to even talk about, at least the things she says were interesting, but now she’s normal again. Doomed to be boring and dull like the rest of us” he whined.

Pinkie Pie, realized that these people were her “table-mates” so to speak; she must have been sitting by them for awhile now, she figured it would be best to be friendly to them “Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie and you are?” she looked at the depressed-looking gentleman.

“Oh names are meaningless, just a label really. We go around saying it till we die, then it’s written on our graves so the world knows who it is they’re pissing on after were gone.”

Ricky rolled his eyes “See what I mean about him not being good for conversation? He just whines all the time.”

The mopey-man just looked at him “That wasn’t whining, thiiiiiiis is whining.”At that he just began a series of complains in an irritating tone.
Pinkie Pie snickered, as she tried to hold back a laugh, but the effort was in vain, as she burst out in an explosion of laughter. “What the heck is so funny?” Ricky asked in a slightly irritated tone.

Pinkie tried to hold back her laughter long enough to explain “It’s just” she snickered “I had a friend who sounded just like that! She even once said those exact words!” She was trying to hold her sides as she almost fell off the table, tears were rolling down her face as she began mentally comparing the annoying-whiney-man to her friend Rarity.

“Well I’m so glad I can amuse you!” he whined again “In case you really did want to know my name it’s Marvin, like you even care.”

Ricky rolled his eyes as he tried to change the subject “So! I know you’ve been known in your little fantasy world as Pinkie Pie, but what’s your real name?”

Pinkie Pie was getting tired of being asked this question, why is the name Pinkie Pie so unbelievable that everyone assumes that it’s wrong? It’s just my name dammit! “You know, I don’t know of any other name besides Pinkie Pie, so just call me that” she said in an irritated tone as she took another bite of her potatoes.

“Alright, alright! Pinkie it is then, sheesh! I just figured that sense you’re finally out of crazyville, or whatever world it is you thought you were living in, you’d have a real name.”

Pinkie didn’t respond, she just looked at her potatoes and tried to ignore his rude comments.

“You know” Marvin charmed in “You are in this mental hospital too, so going around calling everybody crazy just makes you look like an even bigger jerk!”

Needless to say Pinkie wasn’t enjoying her breakfast conversation, so when she saw Nathan she was thrilled. “You ready to go miss?” “Yes, please, yes” she said with enthusiasm; as she was being wheeled off she could hear Ricky saying “Well see you tomorrow, beautiful.” She cringed as she heard that; I sincerely hope that the people in this world aren’t all like that guy!

She was finally back in her little room, by herself; after a few hours it almost made her feel like wanting to talk to Ricky, almost. Marvin seemed nice enough, albeit a little annoying, but Ricky just seemed like a jerk; other than that he seemed normal, she wasn’t entirely sure what sorta mental ailment he suffered from, other than being a complete asshole. Can they put you away for being an asshole? I mean that isn’t really a mental thing, no? She put that thought to rest; there was no point at all in thinking about it.

Later on that evening she sat staring at the ceiling, in a state pure boredom; she was half-tempted to daydream about Ponyville for awhile, but decided against it. It would dampen, if not backtrack some of the progress I’m making here. But then again, do I really want to make progress here? I mean this world seems much less friendly here that back “home.”Why can’t I just go back? She shook her head, no I can’t go back! It doesn’t matter if things seemed better in Ponyville it’s not real! But what is real? And for that matter, why should I care? I mean, if I’m happier livings in some crazy delusion, then why not stay?

Her thoughts chased themselves in this manner for some few hours, never reaching a conclusion. She felt stupid for her indecisiveness; she felt so uncertain about things, she didn’t know what to do. She began to tear up, what do I do? Why is this happening to me!? I’ve been taken away from the rolling green hills of Ponyville, and pushed into this little stone dungeon, with no friends. She began sobbing, she buried her face into her pillow, lemmie go back! I just wanna go back! I wish I’d just wake up and this was all just a dream!

Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud *CLANK* sound, the door slid open and Nathan stood there, she tried to hide her weeping face in her pillow, but it was no use. The doctor-to-be could clearly see she was upset, so he sat down beside her and started rubbing her back. He didn’t say a word until Pinkie broke the silence “What do you want from me?” she asked with tears rolling down her face.

Nathan just sat there for a moment “We just want to help miss.”

She screamed at him “Don’t call me miss! My name is Pinkie! PINKIE PIE!!!” her scream echoed across the hallway.

He didn’t for a moment flinch, he didn’t even seemed the least bit afraid; here’s this mental patient, ripped out of her world, prone to panic attacks; a huge threat in his experience as an intern over the past few months. All his common sense was screaming, Get outta here, you moron! She’s crazy!

Pinkie now sat upright, tears on her cheeks, and a look of pure rage on her face. Two dagger eyes pointed strait in his direction, with a look of fire in her soul. “So!?! Say something!!!” she screamed again.
Nurse Ratched ran to the room with another sleepyneedle in hand, with a look that said “Oh boy! Here we go again!” written across her face.

Nathan motioned her away “That won’t be necessary, nurse.” he said calmly and coolly.

“Sir, with all due respect, are you fucking kidding me? I could hear her scream from the nurses’ lounge!”

“That is enough, Miss Ratched! You are dismissed!” he raised his voice. In all this time Pinkie buried her face back in her pillow as she screamed into it.

Now it was Nurse Ratched’s turn to carry a look of pure rage “FINE! Let that psycho-bitch trash you, but don’t blame me!” she stomped away; making a bigger scene than Pinkies screaming did in the first place.

Pinkie Pie was even more angry at herself for triggering an incident like this, she began clobbering the back of her head with her fists. Nathan grabbed both her arms and held them firmly “Stop that! That isn’t getting you anywhere!” he yelled. She stopped hitting herself, but continued to scream into her pillow with all her might. Nathan patiently waited for her to stop screaming, which took about five minutes. In that time of course, her screaming managed to attract more concerned doctors and nurses, but Nathan sent them all away.

When she finally did stop screaming Nathan prepped her upright, pulling her face out of her pillow, and hugged her “Feel better?” he asked. Pinkie’s throat burned like never before, but she managed to say in a quiet raspy voice “No, I’m not feeling any better.”

Nathan hugged her again “That’s okay Pinkie Pie, this is a slow healing, you’ll be okay.” Pinkie noticed that he finally called her by name.

“Aren’t you not allowed to call me that?” she asked.

“Doctor Mathews says I can’t enforce your delusions, but you Pinkie, have none.”

She raised an eyebrow at him “Hmmmm?”

Nathan chuckled, “If you were delusional, I highly doubt you’d of been screaming and weeping like that! No Pinkie, you are fully aware of the situation, painfully so, as a matter-of-fact; an emotional outburst like that is to be expected from you. And it’s best to not suppress it with sedatives, which is why I sent Nurse-Needle-Happy away.”

“But, weren’t you afraid I’d act out irrationally or violently?”

“Irrationally, yes. Violently, no. You’re not that type Pinkie; you don’t like to hurt others, you like to spread joy. You drive to make others smile. So I wasn’t afraid at all, I knew you were hurt, and restraining you and putting you to sleep would have made things worse.”

Pinkie Pie smiled, it was the tiniest of smiles, but the first genuine smile in ages. She gave Nathan a hug and whispered in his ear a soft “thank you.”

Nathan patted her back and smiled “Now for the real reason I came here! Tonight is movie night, and if we hurry we might catch the rest of it, are you feeling up to it Pinkie?” She nodded, despite not knowing what a movie was, but assumed it was some kind of performance.

Nathan wheeled her down the hall, which was lit up in the same incandescent lights from earlier; she passed the same flower pot in the lounge which gave her a much needed boost.

The “movie” was some kind of strange-looking device which projected a beam of light onto a screen, and the screen displayed a kind of “moving picture” complete with voices and music. She had missed the first twenty minutes or so, but Nathan told her the movie was called “The Wizard of Oz.” She was all too familiar with wizards, and figured the movie would be fun to watch.

She laughed at the singing munchkins, and loved the Good Witch of the North, whom reminded her of Princess Celestia. She liked how scary they made the Wicked Witch look, but was kind of annoyed cause every time she appeared on screen, someone a few rows back would scream “Oh god! She gonna get me!” She was almost tempted to shout at him “Calm down! It’s not real” but decided that it would sound silly coming out of her.

Her favorite part was when they went to meet the wizard, himself. His phony magic tricks couldn’t help but remind her of “The Great and Powerful Trixie” and chuckled to herself, as she imagined someone saying “Nopony can see the Great and Powerful Trixie! Not no way, not no how!”

Most of all she loved the songs in the movie, the feeling of magic and whimsy they carried made her feel nostalgic. She sang as she was being wheeled all the way back to her room, and then some.

She sat in her cozy little room and sang to herself “We’re off to see the wizard! The wonderful wizard of Oz! Because, because, becaaaaaaaaaaaause!” she jumped she heard a loud *BANG BANG BANG* on her door; the suddenness of the noise frightened her.

“Hello? I’m sorry for singing so loudly, I’ll stop I guess” there was no response, “hello?” *BANG BANG BANG* she jumped again “I said I was sorry!” *BANG BANG BANG*

After that she stopped saying anything, she just sat there in the cold silence, again, and went to sleep.

Comments

[cheerilee-party-hard]

Marvin! Was that a Hitchiker's Guide reference? If it was, then you sir/madam rock!

[Aaronmaster2007]

Oh I must read on. This is amazing.