Half
“Do ya like cream filled yellow sponge cake!?”
Twilight Sparkle glanced over at her shopping partner. She was holding up several boxes of artificial chemicals disguising themselves as something edible by humans. The metal cart sitting between them was full of many items fitting that description.
“Uh...” the bespectacled teen muttered. “Not particularly.”
“Ever had ‘em before???” Pinkie slyly asked, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.
“No, but I didn't like any of the other ones you've had me try before.” Twilight turned to glance down the aisle. “But you'll probably get these anyway, right?”
“Absotively posilutely!” she cried, before doing a slight pirouette and basketball tossing the boxes into the cart. Satisfied that she had indeed made her target, Pinkie bent her knees slightly and did jazz hands.
Twilight cracked a smile at this. “Careful not to upstage Rainbow, now,” she playfully warned.
“Don't worry pal-io, we all know she could beat me at horse any day of the week. She's pretty good at handling balls, better than I ever could. But when it comes to boxes of delicious goodies I am,” she paused to shove one arm up and away from her shoulder, and to wrap the other around her head which was now pointed towards the ground. “The master!”
“...Really?” Twilight asked, covering her forehead with her palm.
“What’s-a-matter Twi-Twi,” she teased, winking as she gripped the cart’s blue handle with both hands. She jumped and set her feet on the raised lip at the back. “Afraid someone’s gonna see me dabbing?”
Not that anybody would see them anyway. The store was pretty much empty this late in the evening. Two teenage girls in the snack foods aisle were hardly anything to glance at, no matter how loud or energetic one of them was being. Besides, Pinkie was pretty well known at Sunnymart by the staff.
“It just seems a little much.”
“But all the cool kids are doing it!” she defended. “How ever will people like me if I don't follow all the trends and fads that are ruining this great nation!?”
“...by just being yourself?”
Pinkie giggled at the compliment, regardless of its sincerity. “Thanks. Ooohhh, they have wasabi flavor now?”
Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics before she felt her pocket buzz. She reached in to pull out her phone; ‘Halo’ it said.
“Oh, it's that time already? Pinkie, I’ve gotta go take my medicine.” She cancelled out the alarm and then she set another one for fourteen hours. “I'm gonna head to the bathrooms. You need anything from the pharmacy section?”
“Hmmm... Maybe some pads.”
Twilight nodded and turned to head off to the drinking fountains. Haloperidol decanoate. It was one of the medications she was prescribed ever since The Incident. She took it twice a day, and two others once daily, and it was most definitely working. She was glad she finally got help.
The two girls were doing a bit of shopping for a party going on the next day in the afternoon. Pinkie was staying the night at Twilight’s house, where it would be hosted. They were going to be celebrating Spike’s birthday, as good a reason as any for a party.
Twilight’s hand dug into her purse and pulled out the bottle of pills, and popped one out into her other awaiting palm. She screwed it back in, checking around to make sure that nobody was looking. A nervous habit picked up from when she first started it, when the nagging doubts and the anxieties were at their loudest; they were now gone, but their aftereffects would never go away. At least, not this quickly.
She slipped the caplet under her tongue before approaching the fountain between the women’s and men’s restrooms. “Down the hatch...” she whispered before gathering the few loose strands of hair with one hand, and depressing the switch that dispensed water. One slurp before she lifted her tongue, another to get the pill into her mouth proper, one more to swallow it, one more to wash it down, and one more to taste.
It was good tasting water.
As Twilight leaned back up, she noticed a woman having just left the restroom staring intently at her wrist. Their eyes met after a few moments, and after another few seconds of contact, she simply rolled her eyes, shaking her head, and muttering something.
“Every... utting... ese days...”
Twilight bit her lip as her fists clenched. “...bitch.” She whispered. She didn't need superhuman hearing to know what the lady said. She took in a deep breath and let it go, sweeping her palm from her chest and out as Cadey once taught her to. She wasn't gonna see that lady ever again. No sense dwelling on it.
Her feet brought her to the feminine care products section. Long ago this aisle seemed so foreign to her, so unfamiliar. So many different choices and brands and styles and products. Now she was no stranger to it, immediately picking out the ones that Pinkie used. Satisfied, Twilight turned and headed back up to the front checklanes.
“Over here!” the bubbly voice cried. Twilight turned her body to make it more quickly. She grinned as she took notice of Pinkie jumping and waving, but it immediately fell away when she noticed who was standing next to her but the woman. The teen’s stride didn't stop, but it did falter.
‘She's looking at her phone, it's not a big deal.’ She thought to herself. ‘Just ignore her.’ They made eye contact. ‘Shit! Just pretend she isn't there or something!’
“That's just what I needed! Thanks bunches Twi-Twi!” Pinkie cried as she grabbed the small bundle and dropped it in the cart. Somehow in Twilight’s absence, she had filled it with snacks, party supplies, a couple of veggie and fruit plates, a meat cheese and crackers platter, and a few large bottles and twelve-can packs of soda. Which was strange as those were on the opposite side of the store.
Twilight had no time to ponder the strangeness and impossibility of the physics as she melted under Her glare. Her own grimace disguised as a plastic smile to appease her friend was beginning to falter as her underarms moistened. Her sleeveless pink blouse felt uncomfortably tight, and her jean shorts too rough. She casually crossed her arms, hiding the reasons behind her discomfort. But they were still there.
“So I may or may not have gone just a little bit overboard on the snacks but we all love having leftovers, especially AJ and Dashie, and don't worry because I made sure to get some of Spike’s favorite cookies and crackers too even though you may or may not approve of us feeding him too much junk but hey, birthdays only come seven times a year for puppies, you know?”
Twilight found herself absentmindedly nodding, paying more attention to the items being placed on the conveyor belt than she did to her shopping partner’s conversation. She still felt the eyes boring into the back of her neck, staring. Judging.
“Hey Minnie!” Pinkie cried once the cart was clear and she was up by the cash register. “You just get here or you about to leave?”
The two initiated a conversation, leaving Twilight to awkwardly stand on the other side of the cart. Her eyes glanced between the pink and the dual toned dark blue and white hairstyles. She would never admit it but she really thought that the girl working was cute.
“...tenttion whore...”
Twilight’s eyes widened and she gripped the cart tighter. This caused the lady to snort, and Twilight began to snarl at the ground. Who the hell was this lady? What was her problem? Why did she care so much? And where was her sense of shutting her damn mouth over things that aren't her business?
Her thought were interrupted by a jangling ringtone. Oh, thank the Creator! She slipped her phone out to see that it was Rainbow’s number. Twilight flipped it open and pressed the answer button before placing the device to her ear.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey T-Sparks!” came the excited raspy reply from the other side. “Spits is coming so tell Pinkie not to bring anything with peanuts.”
“Oh, what wonderful news!” Twilight responded enthusiastically. “So Stormy’s okay?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said in somewhat of a distracted tone. “She’s fine. We’re picking her up from the hospital. I... I’m in the car. I’d rather not be near here again any time soon, you know?”
“I understand,” Twilight somberly spoke before transitioning to a more chipper tone. “You’re a great girlfriend to her, Rainbow, you know that?”
“Tch, yeah! Only the awesomest!” She cheered. “And, uh. Don’t forget. About that thing.”
Twilight nodded, and it took two blinks and silence to realize. “I did. Thanks. We’re just about done here so I’ll see you tomorrow.” She took a brief glance backward to see the woman fuming for some reason or another. “And tell Spitfire to text me later, when Stormy’s home safe.”
“Cool. Can do! Later.” And with that Rainbow hung up.
“Hey Pinkie!” Twilight called, putting her own phone away. “Spitfire’s mom is okay now so she’s coming. No peanuts.”
“Kay kay!” Pinkie cried, giving two thumbs up. She looked a little past Twilight before raising a concerned eyebrow. “Hey, are you okay ma’am?”
Twilight tried to subtly wave her hand ‘no’ but Pinkie had shimmied past the cart behind her already. She pushed the cart forward and grimaced for the potential ensuing fecal storm. She gave an apologetic smile to the cashier. ‘Minuette’, as her name tag read, simply raised a confused eyebrow as she continued to scan.
“Oh, I’m glad this generation isn’t completely ruined...” she scoffed. “No, young lady, I am not okay. I am heavily disappointed with the lifestyle choices of the young ones in this town, in this society as of late. Equal parts masochism and hedonism it seems. Back in my day we kept things hidden what needed to be, but now everything is laid bare for the general public to see.”
The woman slammed down a bottle of sauvignon blanc, a box of kale, and a tube of ibuprofen onto the conveyor belt. A well-worn paperback copy of the book Fifty Shades of Hay was poking out of her purse. A small ‘o’ of understanding came across Minuette’s mouth (before fading into disinterest and obscurity) as Pinkie’s face remained curiously concerned.
“We also knew how to present ourselves in a manner befitting of polite young ladies,” she pointedly indicated to Twilight. “And not like some damaged trollop seeking attention from all the wrong places, associating with all the wrong people-”
“At least the girls of my generation know how not to be a judgmental cunt to people they just met...” Twilight muttered, pulling Pinkie’s wallet out of her purse set in the upper bracket of the cart. “And we know how much perfume is too much.”
The silence was deafening.
“Your total is ninety seven seventy three.”
“You have a lot of nerve speaking such vile filth about your elders, missy.”
“And YOU,” Twilight snapped back, “have a lot of nerve pretending you know anything about somebody just because of what they wear. I’m guessing the maroon minivan out in the parking lot with the bumper sticker that says that your other car is a Porsche and the stick figure decals on the back belongs to you.” She took a step forward every time she took a breath during her rant.
“I’m guessing you’re going to drink that entire bottle tonight while listening to Jewel and sobbing into a pint of vanilla oat swirl while you watch your soaps because you know that your husband is sleeping with someone else, which is why you’re wearing heavy makeup everywhere but your lower eyelid so it doesn’t run. I’m guessing your daily routine consists of yelling at baristas because they didn’t make your double mega caramel frappe latte with one and a half shots of espresso perfectly, looking at recipes for quinoa on your home life blogging website, driving the kids to and from soccer practice, then bitching at a PTA meeting that your kids’ talents aren’t being put to enough use and are being way too exposed to the big and scary gay menace at our far-too-left-leaning school. Huh? HUH? It isn’t too fun to be the victim of stereotypes, now, IS IT!?”
Twilight was seething, livid, baring her teeth. The woman was backed into a corner, clutching her chest with an expression of shock glued on her face. Pinkie had her hands covering her mouth; she seemed genuinely afraid, and her eyes were watering. Minuette was expressionlessly holding the receipt out while staring at the digital clock on the monitor screen, tapping her fingers rhythmically.
“Attention shoppers,” the overhead PA system sounded. “The store is closing in fifteen minutes.” It began droning on as Twilight’s senses came back to her and she analyzed the room around her.
“I...” she turned to Pinkie, who shakily accepted the paper.
“The audacity...” the woman whispered.
“I’m sorry Pinkie, I let my temper get the best of me...” Twilight said to the ground. “Let’s... just go.”
Pinkie merely nodded, ghost-faced, and began pushing the cart.
Twilight cast one last look behind her, mumbled an apology to the cashier, and followed her friend out of the store into the parking lot.
The duo silently packed the hot pink hybrid car full of the bags, stuffing them everywhere that there was room. Once finished, Twilight brought the cart to the nearest corral, casting a brief glance at the maroon minivan before returning to the started car, playing all-but-muted pop music.
The drive home wasn't much louder.
Upon arrival, turning into the driveway, neither girl made move to leave the car. The song on the radio faded out, and a commercial began to play. Pinkie let it run until another one began. Twilight fidgeted her hands together before glancing over. Typically Pinkie had her own fidget toy out if things got to be too quiet or calm, but she wasn't moving at all.
“I’m sorry I scared you...”
Pinkie’s only response was to bite her lip. She looked very upset. Twilight sighed; the medicine hadn't fully kicked in yet, and needed a meal in order to fully trigger anyway. Still, that wasn't a good excuse for blowing up over something relatively inconsequential.
So what if the woman was being rude and judgmental? So what if she was making an ass of herself? Lots of people do that every single day, and it doesn't mean that attacking them is fine!
Twilight grabbed two of the bags and brought them inside, and continued until the car was empty. Spike must have been asleep, as he wasn't out and about. Her parents were across the country for work and wouldn't be back for another few days.
She sighed again. Pinkie hadn’t behaved like this since... well, ever. At least, not for as long as she knew her. Which gave her an idea, and she pulled out her phone. She scrolled to the name she wanted and pressed the call button.
After two rings, “Hello.”
“Hi Maud,” Twilight greeted. “Sorry it’s late, but I'm, well, don't freak out but I'm concerned about Pinkie.”
“Is something amiss with my baby sister.” She cut in, monotone. “Is she okay?”
“She's not in danger!” Twilight placated, sensing- if barely- the urgency in her voice, sibling tenses tingling. “She's just... upset.”
“Oh. Good. No... not good. How so?”
“Well... we were shopping and there was a woman who was being rude so I kind of exploded on her and Pinkie hasn't really said anything since then and I'm worried that she's scared of me now, or something.”
Silence greeted her on the line. Twilight glanced out the window at the car, noticing that Pinkie was still out there, not having moved. A few moments later, she finally did, to check a text.
“I mean, she just checked her phone-”
“I know. I just told her what you said. My sister isn’t afraid of you any more than I’m afraid of cinnabar. Do you remember what I told you when we first became friends?”
“Uh...” Twilight thought back. It had been a month or so now; after The Incident when she was released from the hospital, before they got to the root of her problem, Pinkie had suggested that he sister inspect the geodes. Unfortunately, the real Midnight Sparkle had nothing to do with the Everfree gems aside from being magical in nature, but Twilight and Maud did bond over the research.
“There was a lot, Maud,” she apologetically intoned. “What specifically do you mean?”
She exhaled. “Pinkie didn’t grow up with us on the farm. Health reasons. Our grandmother looked after her until Pinkie was ready to live on the farm with the rest of us. One day, Limestone made a mistake, and a boulder almost crushed Pinkie. When we got to her, she was laughing... she laughed until she started crying. Our grandmother taught her to handle her fear with laughter.”
“Oh... that’s right, you did mention that.”
“Pinkie isn’t afraid of you. She would have made a joke if she was truly afraid. Hold on. Okay, yes, she just texted me back. I’ll let her explain everything when she comes into the house. And Twilight... thank you for calling me. Good bye.”
She hung up without waiting for a response, but the front door opened at the same time. Twilight turned to face Pinkie as she set the phone on the kitchen counter. She sniffled and ruffled her hot pink skirt between her fingertips, before slipping her hands underneath and putting them into the pockets of the jeans she wore underneath.
The two girls stood facing each other but not making eye contact for a minute before the silence was broken.
“Do you need a hug?” Pinkie asked, glancing to Twilight’s face.
“Uh...” this was not at all what Twilight had expected her to say. “Not exactly.” While one would of course always be welcomed, it would be a lie to say that she needed anything like that in this moment any more than any other time. The ordeal didn’t really bother her anymore anyway, as there were more pressing matters at hand. It was hard to see Pinkie in any mood other than overbearingly joyful.
Pinkie bit her lip and screwed her eyes closed. She took a deep breath before looking Twilight in the eyes again. “May I give you one?”
This was weird. “You can, but...” Pinkie immediately closed the distance and latched on, holding her tightly. What the heck is happening?
“I don’t understand,” Twilight whispered after a moment before stepping away. “Maud said that you were going to explain something to me. If you’re not upset because you’re scared of me after you saw me blowing up at that woman or taking all these pills or being crazy or hurting myself for as long as I was and all the stuff I’ve done, then why are you upset!? What can I do to make you happy again?”
“I’m not scared of you, Twilight...” she muttered, rubbing an elbow with her hand. “I’m... I’m scared for you.”
Twilight set one hand on the back of her head and the other on her hip. That didn’t make any sense. Why would Pinkie be scared for her? What did she have to be scared of? The worst had all passed! No more loneliness, no more self doubt, no more low self esteem, no more social anxiety and self-imposed isolation, no more sexual repression, no more guilt spirals, no more voices in the back of her head telling her to hurt herself, no more Midnight!
Sure, she had a looser handle on her temper now that she was on medication, but that was much more preferable to the way she’d been before. Holding onto everything and bottling it all up and keeping it inside until it eventually just exploded was not a good solution. This way she was able to lose a lot more stress and just spend time with her friends like a normal teenage girl, and be a lot more apologetic to people who slighted her.
Unless they were jerks, in which case fuck ‘em.
“Why?” she asked, when no expounding was offered.
“She was being mean to you for your scars!” Pinkie shouted. She sobbed once before bringing her voice back down. “For wearing short shorts for the first time going anywhere other than a friend’s house! For talking to Dashie about her and Spitfire dating, and for buying junk food, and just... just being a real jerk!” She pressed her palms into her eyes and started to cry harder again. After just a moment she wiped her eyes and continued to speak.
“I hurt myself once too, Twi Twi. I have scars too, you just... can’t see them. And I know how it feels for people to bring them up as if we were weaker, or less than. I know how it feels to be slut shamed for what I wear, and to have people be mean to me when it comes up that I have ex boyfriends and ex girlfriends because some people still think it’s wrong for two girls to love each other, and to have what I eat be scrutinized because I’m not exactly the most physically fit girl out there.” She crossed her arms and wrapped them as well as she could around her midsection.
“I know how much it hurts, and I can see that it hurts you too, and it hurts even more because I can’t do anything to make you feel better about it because I can’t even do anything to make myself feel better about it either! I just... feel so useless and dumb and like I’m a bad friend...” she tried to continue speaking, but couldn’t make any more words come out, and she sank to her knees, continuing to sob.
“Pinkie...” Twilight whispered, coming down to her level. Well, at least it made sense now.
This explains why Pinkie acted the way she did when Twilight was in the hospital. She’d been admitted after accidentally hitting a major artery and nearly bleeding out, “The Incident”, and she would have most definitely died if Rainbow Dash hadn’t taken her to the ER. When Twilight woke up, Pinkie was there in the room waiting for her. She was there the next day, and the next day, and every day she was able to, until Twilight was finally released.
That must have been why Pinkie was so eager to have her get to know Maud, why she was always hanging around and constantly asking if Twilight needed anything, why she defended her when school had started again, why she put so much more effort into her than their other friends... why she reacted the way she did in the store.
‘I have scars too, you just... can’t see them...’
“I...”
The right words didn’t come. There were none. What could you say to that? Twilight pursed her lips, hesitating before placing a comforting hand on Pinkie’s shaking shoulder... for only a moment. She wasn’t going to let the echoing phantoms of the internalized shame of potentially coming off as predatory get in the way of helping Pinkie through this emotional explosion. Yeah, they were close friends, and Twilight thought she was really attractive, and that gets in the way of just wanting to be platonically affectionate in less stressful times, but this is different. This is important.
Twilight brought both arms around Pinkie’s shoulders, pulling her head in to her chest. She began to lightly rock the both of them back and forth on the tiled linoleum floor.
“You’re not a bad friend, Pinkie...” Twilight whispered. “You used a vacation day and a sick day to be there for me in the hospital. Not even Rarity, Rainbow Dash, or Sunset Shimmer did that. You threw me so many parties over the years to commemorate really important moments in my life, in our friendships. You’re throwing my dog one tomorrow, Pinkie. Not even Fluttershy knew Spike’s birthday!”
At this, Pinkie shook once. That was probably a laugh, but she continued to weep, allowing Twilight to continue to hold her and calm her down as she let the floodgates stay open for as long as they needed to.
“I love having you around, too,” Twilight continued. “At first I was a bit put off because you have a very big presence, but that was more because I was such a shut-in, but I’ve grown to really adore you. You’re one of my best friends, and I never want to not be one of yours. I just...” she swallowed. “I love you. So much. And... I hate seeing you like this. So I’m going to be right here with you until you’re happy again, okay?”
Pinkie nodded, and the two sat in silence for a while, until...
“I love you too Twilight.”
They held each other a little tighter at that.
/x/x/x/
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Ugh. I can actually appreciate Pinkie's ridiculous awkwardness in the store, and I really like your Twilight. I'm never going to find another fic with these two.
That was really good.
Does that "incomplete" tag mean you have more chapters planned?
8676801
yay ^.^ thank you!!! and there's a couple decent Twinkie fics here and there maybe probably... have you checked any groups?
and yes, as I said in the description this is a twoshot and one more chapter is in development; I'm nearly at the halfway point.
and if you'd like to read more fics that take place in the same universe as this one, then all my currently uploaded equestria girls fics are prequels. they're all a part of an extended project I've got going on. and if you stick around, I have a chronological sequel to this one that is also heavily centered around twilight and pinkie (and applejack) in development right now.
8676954
By "fic with these two", I meant "fic with these two personalities". I've read a few really good Twinkie fics, but I feel like those were missing something. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, but I think it's vaguely some mix of this and We Are Okay.
I think I'll stick around and read a few of the prequels. I look forward to the next chapter.