Chapter 13: Your Friendly Reflection
I screamed, because this was so unbelievably far outside the realm of 'okay' than should be allowed. How was I even supposed to properly process that?
Surprise?! Well, roll out the pun award because that is a great descriptor to my situation! What even was she? I mean, I had human memories and was shoved into Pinkie's head, was she human? The upper functions of my brain that continued to work as I screamed mentally, told me that was highly unlikely. Two humans both being drawn into the same world, into the mind of the same pony? It didn't seem likely to my yelling mind.
I also screamed because my most immediate fear was one I hated the most. Did I break Pinkie? Did I cause a piece of her mind to break off and form the source of my mental anguish? Sure, the disorder back home didn't at all function like what was happening, personality constructs interacting in such a way and all, but I wasn't home, I was a fully fledged human psyche in the brain of a fully fledged not human who I knew about because I saw her future adventures as pixels on a screen. Most logical laws as I knew them were mere suggestions, so why wouldn't Hollywood disorders play out like on the big and silver screens?
Luckily, or maybe not so luckily, a piece of me made a good point: Pinkie wasn't exactly shattered when I got back. A bit solemn and guilt with a splash of anger? Yeah. So despondent that her mind broke apart? Not at all. And even if she did, why would Surprise show up now? Granted I'm happy I wasn't replaced and merely returned to Pinkie having gone, 'Friendship with Mena over, Surprise is my new brain roommate.'
In short, I had no idea what I was dealing with, though I suppose screaming while thinking could have gotten in the way, all I knew was it had to be twenty twelve again, the “Pinkie's Fractured Psyche” fanfic trio had formed against my will, with me in a starring role, and my future timetable shot, stabbed and hunted by a cowboy named Arthur. Granted, I really shouldn't have been so caught off guard, considering I was already a sin to science, but my mind wasn't in a state to properly deal with someone on the same level as me.
My mind also wasn't prepared to think on the potential horrors of other fanfics coming to life. Brain really didn't want to ponder that line of thought. Or any line of thought, as it honestly felt like my head was on fire.
Amid my screaming, a voice sounded, shaking me from my mile a minute thought processing, 'Mena?! Why are you screaming?' Pinkie asked, obviously freaked out by my reaction.
Surprise meanwhile cantered towards me with a concerned look, which didn't really help my mental state, as I tried to take a step back, away from the impossible mental pony. She reached me and put her hooves on either side of my face, 'Mena? I want you to take a deep breath, okay?'
For some reason I followed her instructions and did so, swallowing my scream along the way.
'Now hold that breath for just a minute... and let it out.'
I let out the deep breath, no longer screaming, and breathing just a bit off, still not entirely okay with the situation at hand, but my head didn't feel like it was burning anymore.
She smiled gently at my reaction regardless, and removed her hooves from my face. Pinkie meanwhile kinda jumped into my peripheral vision, 'Mena? What's wrong?'
What was I supposed to say? That I was the only mental parasite that was allowed to dwell inside Pinkie's head?
I breathed again before speaking, 'It's just... I didn't expect this, I guess.”
Pinkie tilted her head, 'I didn't scream when I found you, though.'
Sighing, I turned to Pinkie, 'I'm still not normal Pinkie, this, Surprise, is doubly not normal.'
'Plus Mena has been through a rough patch recently, so I don't begrudge her at all.' Surprise chimed in, kinda helpfully but at the same time not.
Pinkie squinted for a moment before shrugging, 'Okey dokey.' Surprise backing me up made me feel conflicted, but at least she helped cover me. I guess.
I tried to keep my so-called breathing steady and move past my million and one theories on what Surprise could be. Not like I had much of an idea to begin with, and lacked any immediate clues. I simply made an unspoken promise: If this Surprise was a threat, I would go one hundred and ten percent Cupcakes on her ass.
'So,' Surprise said once the commotion had passed, 'What were you two arguing about when I found ya?'
Shuddering out a breath, I rubbed the side of my face, 'Pinkie was making a deal over almost throwing me into control after saying she wouldn't.'
'Of course I was! I don't want you to bottle things up anymore!' Pinkie said.
I grit my teeth, already feeling the regret of answering Surprise's question, but before I could speak Surprise cut in, 'Well, it's obviously a sore subject, how's about we put a pin in that topic and revisit it later at a better time, okay?'
Pinkie scrunched up her face before sighing, 'Fiiiine.'
Releasing a sigh of my own, it felt as if a pressure lifted from my brain, like it had been in a skull too small. I simply nodded until a thought struck me and I blanched, 'I should probably finish brushing our mane. We've probably been in here too long.'
My original headmate shared my uncomfortable look, 'Oh, yeah, good idea.'
Surprise tilted her head, a look of curiosity on her face, 'What's the hurry?'
'After what's happened, I don't want to give Pinkie's family any need to worry. Well, more than I already have. Ma is probably finishing breakfast already!' I said, finally bringing into focus reality once more from my zoning inward, as I frantically brushed my mane.
'Ooh, ooh! Surprise, would you like to have breakfast?' Pinkie asked, and my paranoia aside, that didn't sound like an awful idea. If we were going to have a third mental roommate, why not give her a warm, rockfarm, breakfast welcome?
Only, Surprise shook her head and wave da hoof, 'Nah, don't let me impose on such short notice. Maybe another time, okay Pinkie?'
Pinkie shrugged, 'Okey dokey Surprise.'
I finished our morning care routine and was about to exit the room, hoof on the handle, when I thought of something, 'Hey, Pinkie, how about you take control for breakfast?' She happily accepted my offer, jumping into control, our mane fluffing up in an instant, and without a word she happily skipped out of the washroom.
As Pinkie made her way to the dining room, Mother called out, “Morning Pinkamena.”
“Morning Ma.” Pinkie returned.
“You still feel better? Like yesterday?” Mother asked.
Pinkie nodded happily as she took her place at the table, “Yuppers! Feeling good. How about you Ma?”
She simply chuckled, “Oh, I feel just fine Pinkamena, thanks for asking.”
As the family conversation got underway, I realized something, for the first time, I was hyper aware of my mental surroundings. Before, I would lose myself in what Pinkie saw and experienced, tunnel vision as it were, but with Surprise also there beside me, my consciousness took note much more. What I found interesting was Surprise seemed to intentionally keep a comfortable distance from me. Whether out of conspiracy or consideration, I did not know, but I did appreciate it.
Honestly, it was kind of awkward. Sitting there within the mental scape with a veritable stranger that I was stuck with, though I guess I could also be classified as that towards Pinkie, to a degree.
I groaned internally and turned to Surprise, who, upon noticing my movement, faced me as well. 'So. How are you feeling about... this.' I said, gesturing vaguely to our home inside Pinkie's head.
Surprise shrugged, a pleasant smile on her muzzle, 'Well, I just got here, but nothing to hate.'
My brow furrowed and I decided to dive into the deep end, question wise, 'If you don't mind me asking, where exactly did you come from?'
She blinked once and turned to the vastness of dark that surrounded the edges of our home, not in a way to avoid the question, I felt, but more like she was searching for an answer even she didn't quite have, 'I don't quite know.' She stood and began to pace about.
'I kinda floated into being, I suppose. At first all I heard was some kind of, I don't really know how to describe, a kind of buzz? That was mostly it, but then I heard a song. It was angry, and sad, and beautiful, then it was gone.' She shook her head and began pacing towards me, 'After the song was gone I just floated along until I found you and Pinkie here.'
Well, similar enough to my awakening. No song on my end though. But, at that point I was fairly certain Surprise wasn't another human. Way too calm and friendly, unless they were a sociopath.
Ted Bundy knocking on my door dressed as Surprise so I lower my guard.
Still, made enough sense, she didn't seem to be lying, so I probed with another question, 'Hmm, not too dissimilar to my first moments. Here's another question, if you don't mind, how'd you settle on your current form?' At the tilt of her head, I clarified slightly, 'You see, when I first woke up, I didn't have a form until I saw Pinkie and thought on her form some. Just wondering where you got the color palette and wings from.'
Surprise hummed as she sat next to me, putting a hoof to her chin, 'I don't know. It just felt... right. I saw poofy haired Pinkie and flat maned Mena, and this,' She waved her hoof towards herself, 'felt like it fit. Like I wanted to help you two with all my heart.'
I hummed, not quite sure what to do with that information. There were only two ways Surprise could exist, to my mind at least, either pre-existing knowledge of Surprise, thus choosing that form subconsciously like I did. I partially wondered if my mental form was permanent or if it could be altered, but brushed that away for the moment at hand. The second option was pure natural occurrence, as natural as random, sentient figments of mind could be.
If she was a naturally occurring being, that still beheld the question of where exactly she came from, but my mind was already full of cinders from the previous memory leak. Thoughts and worries for later that, I hoped, wouldn't bite me in the ass.
The feeling of something touching me jolted me out of my ponderings. Glancing down, I saw Surprise's white hoof right there on my shoulder, before glancing up to see her oh, so gentle smile. 'I know you might be unsure about me, and that's fine. While my words might not mean much right now, I do want to reiterate that I do want to help you and Pinkie, and I hope I can prove it to you.'
I sat there, just a little frozen until I lifted a hoof and placed it over Surprise's, still on my shoulder. For some reason, I couldn't help but return her smile, 'Well, couldn't hurt to give you a chance or two, huh? Far be it for me, the one who ran away to deny somepony that.'
She shook her head lightly, smile still in place, 'Tell me about that.'
For a moment, I simply blinked, 'Huh?'
'Tell me about why you ran away.'
I sighed, but figured I'd indulge her. Wasn't like she was Pinkie who was going to make something of it. Again. 'I just- I just got overwhelmed, I think, by Pinkie throwing me into control at random. I'm still afraid somepony is going to notice her, well, our behavior, the switches of control between us. Like I said, I'm not normal, and there's no telling what pony society will think of me, think of Pinkie, what treatment they'd give her.'
Glancing away, I tried to formulate my jumbled thoughts, unpack them from the broken remains of my still mending emotional bottle, 'But that's only part of it. It felt like she was disregarding how I felt about things, even though she obviously doesn't, she just doesn't think before she leaps. And yeah, she promised not to do it anymore only to almost do it again, and yes, that bothered me, but her worrying about it also bothers me and- Agh!'
Needless to say, I was not used to talking about my emotions on things, hence the bottle. I hadn't even noticed I started to heave from the tumbling emotions the conversation was drudging up.
Surprise was nice enough to let me have a moment before speaking, 'But what about all that made you run away then?'
A few moments passed as I thought it over, 'I don't know. That day, it just got to me. I wanted to get away.'
'Hmm, so the mounting pressure on you just caused you to snap? I could see how you'd want a moment alone after feeling all that. You probably should have spoken to Pinkie about it though.' She said, wincing as she did. I almost damn near whirled around to face her, a harsh spike of emotions running through me only halted by her placatingly holding her hooves up, 'Not judging, just saying, ideally, talking things out can help. Remember to breathe.'
I took a moment to take a deep breath, 'But, even after all that, after promising, she still almost threw me into control again.'
For the first time, Surprise gave me an unimpressed look, 'Mena, Pinkie is a foal.' It's not like I forgot that fact, but having it said back to me plummeted the previous spike of emotions, and I hung my head slightly. Felt like a real damn punch to my gut for some reason. 'That's not to say your emotions aren't valid Mena, they definitely are, but this just highlights that communication between you two is more important.'
My brows furrowed again, but I had no rebuttal, 'You're right.' I said, turning to face her once more, 'But, I'm not used to just telling people how I feel.'
She gave a comforting tap to my shoulder and her smile returned wider than before, 'That's just something we'll work on. You don't have to do a complete one eighty, just get to a point of stability where progress can be taken at a simple pace.'
I mulled her words over, and it made sense, even made me feel better, dare I say.
'If I might, what event specifically caused you to run away?' Surprise inquired, drawing me from my thoughts.
'Oh, I think Limestone noticed me being unhappy after a previous episode of being thrust into control, in the middle of a school of ponies doing math, and grilled Pinkie about later. Pinkie wanted out of that situation and shoved me in. I wanted out of that situation and walked away.' I responded.
After that we just sat together, all in all, feeling a lot less awkward than it was a little while ago. At the very least, I didn't mind Surprise sitting next to me inside Pinkie's mind.
Surprise then glanced out of, well, I guess the viewport as it were, and pointed a hoof, 'Looks like breakfast is wrapping up. Let's not keep Pinkie waiting for the day ahead, okay?'
That caused me to pause for a moment. Did Pinkie hear any of that? Could she eavesdrop? I hadn't thought about that, but I shook my head and directed my attention back to Pinkie as the Pie Squad was wrapping up their breakfast. 'Oi, Pinkie, what's the prognosis of the day?'
'Huh?' Was all she thought back.
Surprise giggled and spoke next, 'Mena is asking if anything's planned for the day.'
'Oh! There's nothing planned. Pa said we have the day off.'
As Surprise and I paid attention, through Pinkie we heard Marble speak up, “Ma, um, do you mind teaching me some cooking?"
I swear I could hear the excitement in Mother's voice as she responded, “Why of course Marble. Would anypony else want to join us?”
Limestone's voice sounded first, “No thanks.”
Quickly followed by Maud's, “Maybe another day, Ma.”
I heard Pinkie suck in some air through her teeth, seemingly torn, “I kind of want to, definitely another time though.”
Pinkie's gaze flit to Father who hummed lightly, “You girls can go out and play then. Just be back for lunch.” The three not cooking sisters began to make their way outside, “Have fun girls.”
“We'll be back soon!” Pinkie said, as she, Maud and Limestone walked through the door.
“So girls, what should we do?” Pinkie asked excitedly.
As Limestone was answering, my attention, not sure about Pinkie's, was taken by Surprise, 'Maybe we should bring Limestone in on things, don't you think?'
The thought brought me a moment of pause, 'Ooh, ooh! That's a good idea, Surprise!' But Pinkie was all for it, and really, I didn't have much reason to object. Limestone seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders. And, well, she was at the center of my collapse, I never thought about how she must have felt about the aftermath of that. I felt like I owed her a little.
Pinkie then kind of interrupted her sisters, “Actually, I have something I want to share with you, well, with Lime.”
Said Lime quirked an eyebrow, “Okay? What's this about, Pinks?”
She suddenly became a little timid, granted this did ring back to a dark time so, can't blame her. “It has to do with... my breakdown four days ago.”
That even got Maud to widen her eyes a little, seemingly not seeing this coming.
Limestone seemed to suppress a smile, and only nodded, “If you think you're okay with telling me.”
For a bare moment, I felt the pull of control being thrust upon me, an inkling of rage ran through me as my entire being tensed, my teeth grinding, the sensation of Surprise's hoof firmly holding my shoulder almost lost in it all, until... I wasn't thrown into control. I blinked as a quiet, 'Sorry!' Rang out, and I sighed.
Pinkie glanced towards the house, before taking a deep breath, “It's kinda hard to explain. Maud already knows, she figured it out really fast, but. Limestone, I have ponies in my head.”
Whatever she was expecting, it definitely wasn't that, as Limestone's brain could practically be seen stalling, “Ponies. In your head?”
Pinkie nodded hesitantly, “Yeah. Remember the day I almost lost the rockball? When I went to find it, I heard a voice. I, like, looked inward? And found an older looking me inside my mind. I've called her Mena, she's been nice.”
For some reason, that last bit caused my heart to clench.
Limestone still looked like she was processing everything, “Pinks, are you okay?”
“Gah, maybe it's easier if I just show you.” She said, a minute amount of annoyance entering her tone. 'Hey Mena, mind taking over, talking to Limestone? You know, proving it all?'
I shrugged, she at least sought my input, so, yeah, sure, 'Sure thing, Pinkie.'
The familiar pull of the shift took hold, without the unpleasant spike of other emotions, and in no time at all, I stood in front of Limestone, with a curtain of pink falling to the right of my vision. “Uh, hi.”
Once more, Limestone just looked thrown off, not that I blame her. It was like a one three hundred punch. But rather quickly, Limestone pumped her hoof and adopted a sharp smile? “I knew it! Okay I didn't know this specifically, but I knew there was something to know! I wasn't crazy!” Me and Maud just stood there, staring at the oddly enthusiastic filly. Upon noting our stares, she walked back said enthusiasm. “Uh, sorry. So... Mena? I'm guessing?”
“Yeah, things are complicated. So, you 'knew?'” I said, gesturing a hoof towards her.
Limestone squinted for a moment before nodding, “I thought something was off, even with the cutie mark magic. It just wasn't until how unhappy Pink- well I guess you were at school that it was more obvious that something was off. I mean, sure, when, uh, your mane goes flat I always felt you were a little different, but I never put that much thought into it.” She slapped a hoof to her face, smile still in place, “This explains so much!”
This was not the reaction I was expecting, needless to say. Even Surprise agreed with me, 'She is taking this surprisingly well.'
'I didn't realize she noticed so much before. Huh.'
Overall, the encounter was throwing me off just ever so slightly, “Don't... don't you think this is all weird?”
She outright laughed at that question, “Ha! Totally! It's just, in hindsight this makes everything click. I thought, maybe Pinkamena is having mood swings or something, but, like, I guess somepony else living in Pinks' brain makes about as much sense as anything else.”
I blinked, unsure of what to think, “Really?”
“No, but at this point I don't really care. Pinks seems to like ya, Maud knows ya, and nothing... cataclysmic has happened, so until I get some reads on you firsthoof I can't really judge ya.” Limestone said, as if that was any better.
For some reason that triggered another thought in me, “Tangentially related, and since this is the 'Mena tells all power hour,'” I turned to Maud with as neutral a face as I could muster as I gestured to our head, “We have a third roommate.”
Maud's face actually emoted at that, her eyes noticeably, “What? When?”
I frowned, my unanswered, and presumably unanswerable tirade of questions threatened to shoot back to the surface, “Today! Me and Pinkie were having a disagreement,” I could practically hear Surprise about to chime in, so I cut her off, glancing to the sky, “I know, I know, pin is in it, just giving them context. Disagreement is happening, all grounded in what happened fourish days ago, when a white and yellow pegasus Pinkie shows up, calling herself Surprise.”
Limestone whistled at that, “Ya know, I knew lots had to be happening inside Pinks' head, but I wouldn't have guessed this. What was fourish days ago about anyway?”
Giving Limestone a deadpan stare, I snarked, “You have no idea, our head is constant activity. And Surprise has currently placed a pin in the topic of fourish days ago, and I begrudgingly trust her to manage our internal affairs right now.”
'I like Surprise!' Pinkie happily supplied, which I found a little silly. I was the one who's interacted with her the most, thank you very much.
“Pinkie says she likes Surprise.”
Maud was silent for a moment before speaking up, “If she is anything like Mena, I say we can trust her.” Limestone just shrugged, seeming to differ to Maud on that front. Maud then looked straight into my goddamn soul again and continued, “On a similar note, I think I should apologize to you, Mena.”
Alright, the conversation was definitely not going in any direction I expected. At that point Discord could drop down and I wouldn't be surprised, be absolutely horrified, but not surprised. “Uh, why would you need to apologize to me?”
Her expression, at least once the surprise passed, returned to its same as ever look, which really didn't fit an apology, but hey, that's Maud, “I didn't know what to think about you leaving Pinkie since you disappeared, and when I noticed you had come back, I fear I got irrationally angry in our interaction yesterday. It was unfair, and I'm sorry.”
I swear, I felt my eye twitch, “But, you didn't seem angry?”
“Oh, I was absolutely furious, to my shame.” If it were anypony else, I would have sworn I was being fucked with.
But, little baby Maud, monotone and adorable? My brain was not fit for the day at all. “Uh, apology accepted? I mean, you did have a decent reason to be angry.”
She tilted her head a little and blinked, “Perhaps, but without your side of things, it was unfair for that to be our first conversation since you came back.”
Feeling oddly touched, I just waved a hoof, “No problem at all, and uh, thanks for the words.”
I heard Limestone hrrm, in thought and turned to her in interest, “Come to think of it... maybe I should apologize to Mena too.”
“But you didn't do anything.” I said.
Limestone shrugged, “Maybe, but I feel I probably didn't help things, like I was pushy to Pinks there. If I'm putting two and two together properly.”
“You know, it bears repeating, you are taking this far better than I expected.” I said with raised eyebrow.
“Well, If Maud knows and hasn't somehow found a way inside Pinks' brain to beat the shit out of you, then you have to be good. Least that's what I'm thinking.” Limestone said, like that was normal.
I nodded in agreement, naturally. “True, Maud would dig through Celestia for Pinkie.”
Maud seemed to shrug a little, “I doubt she'd ask, but I do wonder how tough the Princess actually is.”
Lightly tapping Maud on the head, I smirked, “No thoughts of regicide small pony.”
Chuckling, Limestone began moving, “As interesting as this all is, we still haven't decided on what to do.”
Rattling ideas about for a moment, something finally rolled up to me, “How about some rockball?”
“Rockball does sound like fun,” Maud supplied.
Limestone glanced up in thought before nodding, “Yeah, that sounds good.”
The three of us began to move when Surprise spoke to me, 'Hey, Mena, could you wait a minute please? Pinkie would like to talk for a moment.'
I paused, finding it a little odd that Surprise was asking and not Pinkie, but hey, whatever. Once Maud and Limestone turned at my stalling I just waved them forward, “Pinkie wants to talk, I'll catch up in just a sec.”
Limestone shrugged and Maud nodded, continuing on their way as I turned my attention inward, 'Alright, what is it, Pinkie?'
Pinkie herself seemed a little wary, uncertain I thought, with Surprise seeming to encourage whatever this was. She took a deep breath, “Mena, I promise to never throw you into control against your will unless I have really really good reasons.' At first, I found the whole thing annoying, the same song and dance and was about to tell Pinkie as such. Until Pinkie changed the tune, 'Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!' She recited, crossing her heart, flapping her hooves and pushing an invisible cupcake to her eye, and everything.
Silence reigned as I simply stared at her. My stares had to have been putting Pinkie off, who bit her lip anxiously, and Surprise took a tentative step forward, 'Mena?'
Not a moment later I lunged forward and enveloped Pinkie in a hug. My phantom heart hammered against my mental chest, as I held Pinkie to it. 'Uh? Mena?' Pinkie asked, apparently not expecting the surprise hug.
'Thank you Pinkie.' I whispered, not really knowing what else to say. Maybe it was just my future bias adding a bit more weight to the trust, but I felt something trail down my cheek as I held Pinkie a little closer as she returned the hug. 'Thank you.'
I opened my eyes slightly, to see Surprise smiling warmly at us. We separated a little, and upon seeing Pinkie's ecstatic glee, I couldn't help but adopt a smile myself. I gulped slightly and spoke, 'So, what was that about?' I tried to at least feign some level of ignorance.
Her expression changed to be more, I don't know, contemplative I guess? 'While you spoke to Maud and Limestone, Surprise was talking about, well, the problems. She helped me think on how I just keep getting excited and forgetting things in my excitement, and how that keeps hurting you, and I hate it! So, Surprise said I should have something to help me commit it to memory.”
The way she rambled was adorable, so, with a smirk, I pat her on the top of her floofy mane and tilted my head, 'So, what made you settle on that song and dance? Did Surprise help you?'
Said mental pegasus chuckled and shook her head, 'Only a little. I suggested she keep a book of promises that she writes down.'
Pinkie shook her head at that, 'That would take up so much space someday! And I wanted something that would put the promise more into my head, not a piece of paper like math.' She recentered herself and rubbed her chin before continuing, 'Well, after seeing Surprise, I was like, hey, flying would be totally wondersome! And cupcakes are just the most bestest, so sticking one into my eye would be a fitting punishment for breaking such a serious promise.'
My smile shifted to more of a smirk, 'Don't go wasting cupcakes on my account, Pinks.'
She adorably waved her hoofs, miming a negative, 'No way! I need the threat of cupcake to the eye to keep me on my hooves! Can't go forgetting this!' Her expression changed to that of one similar to a twenty five year old done with the world, 'If I forget this promise I should just go become a hermit in the arctic.'
Surprise laughed, 'Well, we'll do our best to ensure that doesn't happen.'
'Definitely, only vacations to the arctic, no moving. ' I turned to Surprise, 'Say, does this mean the pin is out?'
Her smile kind of wilted, and she made a so-so gesture with her hoof, 'Eh, let's put a pin in that.'
I felt my eye twitch, 'Fair enough I guess.' Patting Pinkie on the head, I straightened up, 'I should probably catch up to Limestone and Maud, got rockball to play. Thanks for the talk, Pinkie.'
Pinkie nodded, her main bouncing happily. Feeling positively rejuvenated, I focused back on reality and trotted to Holder's Boulder.
As I got close Limestone groaned, “Took ya long enough!”
I raised an eyebrow, “Couldn't start without me?”
Limestone shook her head, “Maud wouldn't let me.”
“But now that she's here, the game can begin.” Maud chimed in.
Rolling her eyes, Limestone started moving further into the quarry, “Let's find a good place to play.”
After, I don't exactly know how long, like a minute or so of walking, Lime found a flattish area, and looked like she inspected it, scuffing the ground for a moment before nodding, “This'll do.”
Looking around I shrugged, not like I was an expert on prime rockball arenas anyway, “So, just a simple game?”
“I am not opposed to a simple match.” Maud concurred.
Limestone cracked her neck and grinned, “Fine with me. Alright then. Play ball!” She shouted and absolutely launched the rockball through the air and towards Maud.
Unflinchingly, Maud watched the rock hurtle her way with a simple anticipation. She stuck out a forehoof and caught the rockball, pivoting with the impact, turning my way before loosing it at me with, honestly, terrifying strength.
'You got this Mena!' Pinkie yelled to cheer me on.
It was a nice gesture, as the minor fear of face planting the rock raced to my head. I put on my game face, turned my body, cocked a hind leg in preparation, and let loose a kick that gave off a wonderful crack of a rocky impact. A split second of pressure wound through my leg before lifting, as my rock target was sent flying!
Maybe a bit too flying, as after I recovered from the kick Limestone was looking behind her. Far behind her. “Good granite Pi-Mena!”
Pinkie liked it at least, if the increased levels of cheering happening in my head is anything to go by.
“Uh, did I do a bad?” I said as I put my slightly aching leg back to the ground.
Seemingly still taken by the flying rock, Limestone shook her head and turned to me, “No, no, just didn't expect a hit like that.”
The clip clop of hooves caused my ears to swivel, as Maud came to stand next to me, “We should probably go after it. It seems to have flown pretty far.“ She said, shielding her eyes from the sun, with a hoof.
The cheers from Pinkie had yet to calm down, but Surprise's voice did cut through to me, 'It would be a shame to lose the rockball before you had a chance to play a full game with Marble.'
She had a point, which made me feel slightly shit for my strong kick, “Yeah, can't go losing the rockball on my first official match.”
“Well? Come on!” Limestone called as she basically charged in the rockballs direction. With a shrug of my shoulders, Maud and I joined in the merry chase of the rogue rockball.
And somehow we actually lost track of it.
“How the hell is a rockball evading three of us?” I grumbled as I glanced to and fro across the dusty, rocky ground.
Limestone shared my annoyance with a growl as she looked behind a decent sized rock, “I swear the damn thing is haunted.”
“More likely than you might think.” Maud said, cryptically.
I just followed Limestone's example and ignored the odd remark.
“Wait!” I heard Limestone call to my side, “Think I found it, but... there's something weird.”
Me and Maud trotted on over, and sure enough there was the rockball, rocking about behind a pretty large, flat topped rock. But, Limestone was right, there were odd cracks in the ground near the rockball, “Did the rockball land and crack the ground like that?”
Limestone shook her head, “That can't just be it. Superficial damage, sure, but this seems like... more.” She began to pick at the cracks, eyes squinting in concentration.
“Uh, are you sure-” I began to say before the whole damn patch of ground around the cracks gave way to a pretty big hole, the ravenous sounds of cracking, clacking and even thundering stone took over my ears.
All three of us hopped back in shock. Even Pinkie yelping in shock. Sadly, compatriot rockball did not, and the traitorous bastard rock fell into the newly formed hole. “Fucking... damnit.” Limestone surmised.
We all waited for a few moments, and once the hole seemed stable enough, Maud inched closer and peered into the hole. “It almost looks like this leads to a large cave.”
Me and Limestone followed Maud's example, and looked on in. Yup, that's sure a cave. Dark. Cramped. Although there did seem to be something glinting in there. Something colorful.
“So, what do you think's in there?” I mumbled.
“The stupid rockball.” Limestone said. Before she jumped in.
Pinkie oohed, 'I wonder if magical treasure is in there!'
Maud tilted her head as Limestone hopped from rubble to rock further in the cave, “Shouldn't we tell Pa about this?”
She stopped her hopping and looked up at us, “We can tell Pa about the cave after we get the rockball back. Besides, this is something cool we can do with Mena.”
Her words didn't really seem to comfort Maud, and I felt a tad conflicted. I bit my lip and turned inwards. Pinkie was obviously for it, but I didn't know, 'Uh, Surprise, what do you think?'
She seemed, well, surprised that I consulted her. Quickly regaining her composure, she put a hoof to her chin, 'Well, I don't think it's a terrible idea...'
In the end, I shrugged, “Welp, adventure it is, I guess. Onwards.” I turned to Maud, “Sisters first?”
Maud sighed, and did indeed jump in. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what lay ahead, and took the plunge. A part of me was terrified of what could be down there, another elated at the smile Limestone had as the two of us joined her on this journey into the dark.
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I was sceptical about Suprise. I'm still a bit sceptical, but I liked her in this chapter. I think that Mena and Pinkie needed someone to play peacemaker between them.
11486371
Put that blender away, you maniac! Don't! Not through the eye! Arrrgh!..
sence?
To adventure!!
Interresting.
Awesome chapter. Great teamwork. Seems like the Trio in one would be ready for anything in the future
CmC rock cave explorer? Just with the Pie familie
This must be how they found the crystal caverns on their property
Probably shouldn't have gone in the unknown cave, there could have been a poisonous or heavier than air gas settled in there and they could've died.
Huh, live-in psychological counseling, how convenient! I'm all agog to find out what happens when Suprise is in the driver's seat, the potential for shenanigans overruneth.
Nice chapter I like it~
Now lets see what antics the pies will be up too~
I'm going to only leave two notes:
1. Before, the story has a feeling of trust. Coziness to it. There was knowledge that both characters care about each other, and this was like a secret, like a trump card, a special ability. It was nice and comfortable.
Now, there is a stranger of unknown origin and motives, and possibility of random things just entering one's mind from outside. It appears there is no protection for minds at all! The story now holds sense of danger and suspicion, in the place usually most safe and private - one's own mind. Or it should have been, but she just decided to trust Surprise after some mental monologue and few unfruitful questions. No guarding , no probing, no guessing. It's closed topic now.
I'm not saying whether it's a good or a bad thing. All that I'm saying is it makes me uncomfortable.
2. The reactions of sisters are disturbingly wrong. They do not care. They trust blindly. You go and build all that suspense about ponies finding out and treating Pinkie with suspicion (it's a magical world, after all), and No!. Zero fucks given. "I knew Pinkie wasn't right in the head" - Lime's reaction. - "I suspected something was wrong with you. Good to know I was right."
Is that really how family should react to news of ponies of unknown origin and motives appearing in Pinkie's mind? Multiple of them? And they can control her body freely?
This is more than a little ridiculous. At least Moud was observing and threatening before, but Limestone's reaction seems more like a afterthought. "I guess I should make more sisters know about it. Ugh, but I don't wanna deal with whole suspicions and trust stuff... I'm just gonna make her say "If Pinkie trusts you, than I will too." Hopefully no one will think whether trusting kid's judgement on strangers is a good idea."
Isn't surprise a white pegasus with yellow mane or am mistaking? So where the purple came from?
11494200
Nope, you are completely right, my brain just mixed up her primary colors there for some reason. Is now fixed!
This was a great chapter, good job
YEY!!!!! As Always.
Equestria Social Security System assigned therapist
11494283
nice update
how much time has actually progress?
I feel like surprise is another pony who died somewhere in the world and her fragmented spirit was pulled into pinkie. She is WAY to mature to come from pinkie and is likely some sort of children caretaker or psycologist in her old life. Maybe her spirit got somewhat wiped and she's been unconsously watching them before realizing herself. That might explain why she's so calm. Also shes not very like the internets version of Surprise so being another pony makes sense.
All that's left is Marble to be informed.
I wonder if Surprise taking control would make a noticeable appearance change to Pinkie standard.
well i can only imagine how the mirror pool will go
Is that the first swear in this story? It feels like it lol
The mental image I have of this is just so funny.
11511317
There had been a few "fucks" here and there previously.
This entire paragraphe (and the two preceding it) are all over the place:
Let's fix that, shan't we?
Surprise hummed, as she sat next to me, putting a hoof to her chin:
'I don't know. It just felt... right. I saw poofily haired Pinkie and flat-maned Mena, and this, -- she waved her hoof towards herself, -- felt like it fit. Like I wanted to help you two with all my heart'.
I hummed, not quite sure, what to do with that information. There were only two ways Surprise could exist, to my mind at least: either pre-existing knowledge of Surprise, thus choosing that form subconsciously, like I did, or pure natural occurrence, as natural, as random, sentient figments of mind could be.
I partially wondered, whether my mental form was permanent or if it could be altered, but brushed that away for the moment at hand.
There! Much better, if I do say so myself!
Oh gosh, the punctuation
!..
Well, at least Pinkie now has an endless source of entertainment regardless of where she is.