The Truth About Girls (Vol. 1)

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

The First Pink-Haired Girl (part 3)

Each time he was back from work, Shining Armor talked about his day, like Twilight spoke about what she had done at school. It was a ritual in her home. Dinner was the occasion for their parents to know which important events punctuated the life of the offspring they were so proud of.

Usually, she would listen with interest but would forget most of the cases his brother took care of since they especially were insignificant thefts or settling a conflict between neighbors. This time, not content with giving all her attention to her older brother’s speech, Twilight also had asked him an abundance of questions, at the extent that he had wondered why she had so much interest into gang matters.

Before her last reviewing in the warmth of her bed, she had sent a message to Applejack and Rainbow Dash to tell them she had news about Pinkamena and that she had been able to gather information that could be useful.

Fortunately, on the next morning, their literature teacher was late and though a supervisor was here to make sure their class would be quiet, the three friends made the most of it to talk about the problem they were concerned with.

“According to Shining Armor, she doesn’t have the past of a delinquent, she even was known in her former schools as a girl nice with everyone. But now she would keep on saying nobody cared the least about what could happen to her.”

“What could’ve happened for her to have a fit like dis?”

“I have no idea, and Shining Armor doesn’t know either, but according to him she would be faking it…”

“Whether she’s faking it or not doesn’t stop her from being in a gang and getting me over my head.”

Of course, Rainbow Dash was sensitive to the fate of the girl who, like her, had declined to the extent of doing insane things just to make sure she was alive. It didn’t change the fact she still was likely to have problems if anyone thought she was connected with her and most particularly with these charming friends of hers who let her down.

It was painful to discover those on whom you relied the most had no more regard for you than for an unknown person in the streets and, in her shoes, she probably would have felt sad and angry.

This didn’t indicate her how she would go through it all or even how she would help the young teenager, supposing that she had the least desire to be helped. Sometimes, one needed to bottom out before being able to go back to the surface…

“Well, Rainbow Dash… You don’t know what’s worse yet. Shining Armor called Miss Harshwhinny to talk about Pinkamena.”

“I must be doomed!”, she cried pressing her face against her both hands. “Now she knows for sure she’s the Second-in-Command of a gang, she’s going to tell my father and I’ll be up to visit Dr. Horses again.”

Now she was sure there was no way her and her friend could bring any help to the young girl. It had become too dangerous to have a contact with her of any kind, especially since it meant putting Applejack and Twilight in a delicate situation such as hers. If she had thought aiding her would be everybody’s solution to the problem, it wasn’t the case anymore.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash… but maybe we still have time to keep up appearances. I’m ready to testimony we spend all our days together and that you’re no part of a gang.”

“We’ll testimony together”, Applejack confirmed.

“No. I can’t ask you such a thing. Even if Harshwhinny calls my father and he sends me back to Green Haven, since I’m feeling a whole lot better, I’ll do my best to make the shortest of stays there.”

It was the worst of the conceivable scenarios, but Applejack as well as Twilight were in their Principal’s good graces, and in no way she wanted to take the risk to stain their reputation to fix her own mistakes. She had given them enough hard time one year ago with her identity crisis, she judged.

Suddenly, a roar of tables, chairs and glass breaking was heard in the nearby classroom. All the students looked at each other, not sure to understand what was going on. Their supervisor asked them to keep quiet while she was going to check what was happening, and of course, as soon as she had left the room, they all rushed behind her, way too curious.

Usually, the three friends wouldn’t bother to check out as well, but they all three had a bad feeling at the same time. Frustration and loneliness could sometimes lead to thoughtless actions; which serious consequences weren’t blindingly obvious.

They were able to go past all the other classmates, in order to be in the front stage. Like foreseen, Pinkamena was here, once again, not wearing the mandatory uniform. Her teacher, a very young woman barely out of university, was hiding behind her desk, shaking from head to toe.

The other students were staying away, between dread and questioning. She might have violently kicked the tables in front of her, since they all were knocked down and piled in a mess on the chairs. On the side, close to where Pinkamena was standing with her fist bloody, one of the windows displayed a big hole and shards of glass were shattered all around the floor.

No one knew what the teacher had told her, but whatever it was, it should have aroused her sharp anger.

“Why do you stare at me this way, you bunch of rubes? Do you want a hole in your skin?”

In her aggressiveness, Rainbow Dash thought she could perceive traces of despair. Something in her rather anxious attitude let her think she was about to have some dreadful actions she probably would regret afterward. She knew it well, this very special nervousness. It was the same she had felt when she had turned on the lights of her bathroom, a bottle of whisky in her hands, with the medicine cabinet as her main target.

And she was so close to the window…

An idea came to her mind, something she would have liked to be done for her back then. Maybe in fact she could really help this injured ego, helping herself at the same time.

All she needed was to upset her in another way, and too bad if another problem occurred with her intervention. It would still be less horrible than what could be happening if no one did anything.

Rainbow Dash stood up, and took a step forward, to enter into the classroom. Students of both class held their breath, and her friends tried to stop her, but she was determined. It was the only solution – or at least, the quickest one.

The teachers would probably think she was insane, and in all honesty, it wouldn’t make much a difference. And it wouldn’t be news…

“Enough now. I sat by it until now but this time, you’ve gone too far…”

“What’s it got to do with you? Now you’re the teachers’ puppy… I knew it.”

“I’m nobody’s puppy. I’m just like everyone else here, fed up with your bullsh*t, Pinkamena Pie.”

“Who do you think you are? One of your crappy superheroes from your silly comic books?”

“It’s you who think you’re someone you’re not. You act like you’re a great villain but in reality, you’re a phony. Some mommy’s baby. You’re as lame as the day is long.”

She knew her words would have a certain impact on her, because they would have some on herself. All those who were in these classrooms knew that one year ago, the girl who appeared as everyone’s savior today was crying several times a day without apparent reason, because she missed her mother and was feeling lonely and abandoned.

She was ready to take a bet – this Pinkamena was like her, a person whose family was absent and who had never learned how to do without it, who counterbalanced by causing harm to everyone. The only difference was that Rainbow Dash had chosen to harm herself.

“It’s you I’ll snuff, b*tch!”

Bingo. Now it was up to the adults to clear the air because in order to do what was on her mind completely, she had in no way to stop after such a good start.

She settled herself in the position she had learned at boxing, not forgetting to highlight her limitless self-confidence so she could keep on fanning the embers on which she had blown.

“Here we go, b*tch second.”

Like expected, right when they both were going to go for their throats, the teachers who had been called in by their supervisor rushed to separate to two teenagers. Pinkamena was furious, and kept on insulting Rainbow Dash and whoever dared to look at her – which meant most of the school.

The worst had just been avoided.

----------------------------------------------------------

In order to calm down, Rainbow Dash had been sent in one of the two rooms where detention took place. The goal had been reached quicker than with her classmate… She wasn’t really angry but had provoked her on purpose to stop another disaster from happening.

As for Pinkamena, she had been brought to the sickroom in screams, kicks and tears, so her wound would be cleaned. The hysteria she had displayed; she knew it well… It was the same that reached the most desperate of souls when on the verge of a precipice.

Now the two teenagers were in the same room, after an interval of a few tables. There was no one to watch out and the door was closed yet somebody was standing in front of that door in order to take actions if they started to fight again.

It was the usual ground rule in Middle Canterlot. Once the pressure fell down, the students that had argued were confronted to each other so they can have an explanation and why not, find a compromise.

Hard to accomplish with Pinkamena, definitely obtuse, who stayed with her arms crossed and her jaw tensed, watching through the window.

At least, Rainbow Dash knew that Miss Harshwhinny had understood they weren’t friends. She had barely avoided to let her father think she wasn’t healed yet, even if in this prospect, she would get new kinds of reproaches from him since the Principal probably had warmed him she had fought at school – if he weren’t flying and so, unreachable.

Or at any rate, since excess of anger had been many during her depression, all she had to do was to keep her fingers crossed for the final result not to be the one she had tried to avoid.

There was nothing else she could do now, anyway.

At least, she’d have liked to stop her classmate from terrorizing her whole school, or worse, from killing someone. All the more so now she had understood her aggressiveness hid more fear than anything else.

Their allocated time to get things straight was passing by slowly and if none of them tried to open to the other by the end of the hour, this would have been energy spent for nothings.

Too bad. Rainbow Dash decided to sacrifice herself. To act kind and comprehensive would probably not work much so she chose an angle of attack a little more aggressive while still being personal, that would permit her to slide toward more important things step by step.

“Do you know the sh*t I’m in because of you? Harshwhinny had warned my father.”

“What does it have to do with me? You just had to mind your own business. And, be grateful, at least there’s a father taking care of you.”

“Idiot! Where did you get this piece of information? He only cares about me when I’ve made a mistake. All he’s going to do now is to get rid of me by sending me back to the lunatics. And you’ll be the one to blame.”

At any moment, she was expecting her classmate to vent her spleen right at her face, but a strange silence started to float between them, and when Rainbow Dash turned around, she saw Pinkamena staring into space, like disconnected from the rest of the world.

As soon as she realized her fellow was eying her, however, she put her mask of sour back and rose her chin in defiance.

“You think it’s going to move me?”

“I don’t. Just telling you the truth…”

“Once again, you wouldn’t be here if you had minded your own business. You can blame me for that as much as you want, it won’t change the facts.”

“Sorry I have courage and a sense of justice. If you want to piss off the adults because you’re feeling abandoned, do as you please, but you don’t need to attack everyone. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. To piss off the adults is one of my favorite activity.”

“How do you know I feel abandoned?”, Pinkamena asked with a sudden calm and a hint of anxiety like from out of nowhere.

“Please… You can try to make the others think your anger comes from nothing special but not to me. Everything you do cries for attention. You might be telling you that if you don’t hurt anyone, there will be no one to remember you. It’s better to inspire dread than pity, or indifference.”

For the first time since her mother’s death, Rainbow Dash expressed to someone who wasn’t a psychiatrist, or Applejack, Twilight and Rarity, how she had felt after this terrible tragic accident. And her sincere speech free of any artificiality seemed to have an effect.

She had to open her heart a little more, for her to understand how they weren’t that different, and there were many other ways to feel alive. If it had worked for her with all she had been through, there were no reasons for it not to work for Pinkamena Diane Pie.

“Did you go through that as well?”, she asked to Rainbow Dash who had settled closer casually.

“You can say that. But unlike you, I’ve harmed myself instead…”

If she played her cards, the rest of the game would be as easy as pulling on the shaft of a broken slot machine. She needed not to let her spectator switch off from her arguments. It was a good job that her natural qualities of leadership made her able to keep an audience hanging at her every words. The only noticeable difference between this setup and the breaks of a match was that the team she was speaking to was made of just one person.

Actually, no, it wasn’t the only difference. Usually she wouldn’t open in front of others wounds that were barely healed…

“My mother died last year, in a plane crash which I've been a witness of. Because of this…”

Sigh. She was taking shortcuts in order not to wake up too much things, but even like this, it still was difficult for her to talk about it without having her throat clenched and tears burning her eyes. The memory was too fresh, too intense.

“I’ve been through a very hard time and I’ve tried to kill myself with pills and alcohol… Two days of coma. I can’t clearly remember the details but I know it damaged my stomach and liver and ever since I have to pay attention to everything I eat or drink or I get sick in the blink of an eye. I also have a scar at the back of my head because of the fall I made in my bathroom that gives me migraines each time it rains or the weather’s too cold…”

Of course, this time again, she overlooked other consequences brought by her action of despair.

Later, maybe, if they both could become close friends, she would tell her the complete story but for now, Rainbow Dash only gave essential information so that Pinkamena could understand they were nothing but the same distorted reflection of each other.

“But your father…”

“My father? He can’t even look into my eyes because I look like my mother. Since the accident, as I said, he only pays attention about me when I do something wrong… it happens a lot, it’s true, but all I get from him are reproaches and no love or affection. And not even face to face, with it. Most of the time, he scolds me over the phone. He’s never here for me and only can give money. Yeah, right, I got anything I want… except the essential…”

No longer did she need to add anything. She knew she had hit the spot by opening her heart to the pink haired-girl.

Sometimes, to tear off the mask and to let weaknesses show could happen to be necessary although it was always something difficult to do for her.

Pinkamena put her crossed arms on the small individual desk in front of her, and leaned her chin against her wrist. She no longer felt angry deep inside her stomach and even felt emptied from energy, as if someone had sucked all her blood and her limbs could not support her anymore. Her hair that she straightened every morning with care had started to get frizzy without her being able to control it.

Rainbow Dash’s story wasn’t like hers, and she even felt she had no right to feel so upset about her two parents who were both alive, and her three sisters that she adored. However, she had to admit it, she recognized herself in the way she expressed her loneliness and anguish.

“My parents are lithologists. They study rocks and go everywhere around the globe for their researches. All my sisters are fond of rocks and want to do the same thing when older, but I like parties, pastry and having fun. They thought it would be best for me to settle down somewhere I could get friends, where I could make studies in a true school… but I’ve felt as if they’ve abandoned me because I’m nothing like them. I thought it was unfair my sisters could stay with them while I was sent in Canterlot on my own. I know they’re doing it for my own good, but I can’t get to convince myself…”

“Is that why you’re hanging around with members of a gang?”

“Yes. They took me in without questions, and I’ve felt I was worthy again thanks to them. I was finally important… At the same time, it gave me the occasion to unwind my anger that I transferred on the others. Tell me… How did you get rid of your pain? You said your mother died last year. It’s pretty fresh.”

Two solutions were now in front of Rainbow Dash: she could tell her everything, but would take the risk to fall back into tearful speeches that she wanted to avoid, or she could take one more shortcut which, anyway, would lead them back where she tried to go.

She didn’t ask herself too much questions before taking the second option.

“Thanks to sports. I’ve focused all my resentment and aggressiveness on off steam sports where at least, I wasn’t harming myself or anyone. And most of all, it was thanks to my friends. They were here from start to finish, they haven’t given up on me, even if it would have been much easier for them to. Because this is how real friends are: they’re here even when you’re at rock bottom. They don’t run away when you’re deep down in it.”

Pinkamena knew what she implied. Wind Wisher, the leader of her gang, was still hidden, the leader of the rivals the Crushlotters had been sold out to the police against her liberation. Members of her own gang had let her down when she had been arrested and none had taken time to ask her how she was, though they all had her number and knew how to use it when they needed to be defended.

“You’re lucky”, she said hiding her face. “I got no real friends.”

“It’s wrong. You got me.”

“We barely know each other and I wanted to beat you. And you’re going to have problems because of me.”

“I would never tell the things I told you to anybody. If you want friends that would be there for you, to have fun with without beating the sh*t out of others, my friends and I would be more than happy to take you under our wings. You’ll just have to… stop being in a gang.”

It was a choice Pinkamena had to make. To have this cake and to eat it too was in no way possible. Either she decided to give Rainbow Dash and her friends a chance and then forget about these bad habits harming her more than doing good, either… No. No need to choose. There was only one way.

As for the members of her gang… Well, because of Wind Wisher’s disappearance, it could be considered like wound up.

“Alright. I swear I’ll leave The Rebellious if you swear not to let me down.”

“I promise”, she said stretching her hand in front of Pinkamena, whose pink and curly strands kept on pooping out of her abundant hair.

It was necessary to stay focus not to jump from scare seeing this more than strange of a phenomenon.

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Pinkie Promise?”, she repeated, her eyes wide opened.

“Yes. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye”, Pinkamena finished by putting the flat of her hand against her eye."

Rainbow Dash repeated the pattern and the gestures, not really understanding what it meant, though she thought it might be something sacred in her family.

Before the end of the following week, the gang of The Rebellious had been wound up by Wind Wisher in person, who only sent a message to her former members, without any apology but the precision that there was no need to go and look for her since she had moved on to Hoofington.

Whether this was true or false didn’t matter. Canterlot never again heard about this teenage gangs which had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

It didn’t mean the city was done with juvenile delinquency, but that the way of doing things was now different, more discreet if not sneaky.

Pinkamena, nicknamed by everyone Pinkie Pie, her hair curly again, had quickly become the life of the party everybody loved, and had found in lacrosse with Rainbow Dash the punch bag sport which allowed her to pour out both her anger and frustration in a sane way. Of course, she had understood her parents’ point of view and was now glad of their decision to send her in Canterlot for her studies.

Without them, she would never have met the most extraordinary friends on earth, the ones she loved as much as her own sisters, for whom she was ready to any sacrifice. Without them all, she would never have become the adorable person she was now, indeed a little tiresome from times to times but so devoted to the others’ happiness that everything was easy to forgive coming from her.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer as much as Fluttershy couldn’t believe their ears. It was so difficult to imagine Pinkie Pie as a gang member, fighting with a knife, that they felt as if the story which had just been told was about someone else.

Yet, the person in question herself had confirmed all the details bit by bit, and even brought a few precisions.

“I know it sounds strange yet nothing’s been invented.”

“Ya’ll can believe it, we all been witnesses. Aint’ we, Twilight?”

“I have to confirm. It was a bit scary at start…”

“Yeah but who can remain upset to such a sweet lil’ face?” Applejack added pinching Pinkie Pie’s cheeks, which made her laugh a lot.

She hadn’t lied when she had said Sunset Shimmer she had done very bad things in the past. When she compared with what Adagio, Aria and Sonata had forced her to do with what Pinkie Pie had done of her own free will, she almost thought she was ridiculous.

“Anyway, the story made me feel thirsty… Do you have things to drink, Dashie?”

“Take a look in the basement. There’s cider I think.”

“Oki doki loki. I go right now. But be gentle with your tummy, Dashie…”

“You say this now, and after three Raritysmopolitan, you always try to make me drink more with you.”

“Oh yes, sometimes I really am a bit silly”, Pinkie Pie concluded, while leaving the room in order to go down.

It was the kind of comments which Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were used to, but which could surprise those for who Pinkamena Diane Pie, nicknamed Pinkie Pie by the ones she loved the most, was some kind of undecipherable mystery.

They knew that when a frontage was looked from a different angle, new perspectives were in store. It was better not to wake the young girl’s bad instincts but fortunately, like Rainbow Dash said to Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer, still a little knocked down by what they had just heard, her dark side was in a hyper-long hibernation, and with the love from her family and friends, there were very little risks to be revive soon.

Author's Note:

Should I keep cutting chapters in several parts? What's your limit of words per chapter when reading a multichapter story?

Comments

[Dusk_Writer]

Quite the backstory and very unique! I genuinely, really like the idea of it!

It's up to you, I can read any length but I guess splitting it into parts keeps the readers at the edges of their seats :)