How to be Happy

by Leafdoggy

Chapter 12: Known and Discovered

“What do you mean you don’t wanna go home?” Rainbow Dash moved in front of Pinkamena and looked into her eyes. “Where else are you gonna go?”

Pinkamena sidestepped and kept walking past Rainbow Dash. “I’m sure somepony’s got something going on.”

“What about Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash watched as Pinkamena walked past her. “Won’t she be worried?”

“Iunno. I hope not.”

“You hope not? She’s Fluttershy. You can’t just leave her in the dark like that!”

“She’s not a weak little pony anymore, Dashie. I’m sure she’ll piece together that I decided to stay out.”

Rainbow Dash moved and put her hooves on Pinkamena’s shoulders to stop her. “Dude, what’s going on? This isn’t like you.”

Pinkamena gave her an annoyed look. “You don’t know what’s like me,” she grumbled.

“Come on, we’ve been friends for years. You might’ve gotten split up from Pinkie or whatever, but I still know you.”

“You know Pinkie. That’s all anypony knows, that’s all I know. I never would’ve done this,” she said, gesturing at her legs, “if I just kept being the same pony, and this is the first thing that’s actually made me happy since I crawled out of the mirror pool.”

“I mean, I’m glad it worked out an all, but that doesn’t explain this.” Rainbow Dash stepped back and lowered her voice sympathetically. “Pinkamena, what are you doing?”

“I don’t know. Anything. Everything. Whatever pops into my head that Pinkie wouldn’t do, I’m gonna do it.”

“That sounds like an awful idea,” Rainbow Dash said. “I mean, what would Fluttershy say?”

“I don’t know! Why don’t you go find out?” With a glare, Pinkamena stepped forward again and shoved past Rainbow Dash.”

“Wh—” Rainbow Dash was stunned. “Wait, are you mad?” She started following Pinkamena again, but this time stayed behind her. “I’m sorry, Pinkamena, I just—”

“You want me to be Pinkie.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What?”

“You just want me to be exactly like Pinkie!” She huffed without looking back. “It’s all any of you want.”

“Okay, woah.” Rainbow Dash hopped into the air and hovered in front of Pinkamena. “You need to chill. I’m not trying to turn you into anything, you can’t just go around slinging accusations at your friends like that.”

“Are we even friends?”

“Of course we’re friends!”

“Who are you friends with, then? Huh? Describe me. We can’t be friends if you don’t know anything about me.”

“I know everything about you. Your birthday, your favorite foods, what songs you hate, all of it!”

Pinkamena rolled her eyes. “That’s stuff about Pinkie. Tell me about me. What’s my favorite food?”

“Isn’t it just the same as Pinkie’s?”

“No!” Pinkamena growled and kicked dust into the air towards Rainbow Dash. “I’m not Pinkie! I don’t have a favorite food, or song, or anything! We’re not friends cuz there’s not a pony in me for you to be friends with.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and landed right in front of Pinkamena. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “Pinkamena. Please go talk to Fluttershy. I can’t make you feel better, but she might be able to, and I think you’re doing really bad right now. I don’t know why, after you were so happy with the dye, but—”

“Get out of my way.”

Rainbow Dash pouted. “Pinkamena, please.”

Pinkamena stared straight through her. “I’m sick of talking.”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck. “Come on, Pinkamena, I—”

“Go away!” Pinkamena reached up and shoved Rainbow Dash aside so she could keep moving.

For a moment, Rainbow Dash did nothing. She just stared at Pinkamena, astonished. Steadily, her expression grew hard and sad, and after a few moments, she took to the air.

“I’m gonna go talk to Fluttershy,” she said quietly. She waited for a response but got none, so she sped off into the night in silence.

Once Rainbow Dash was out of sight, Pinkamena grumbled and kicked a rock as hard as she could. She felt more frustrated than she could remember ever feeling before, and it was made all the worse by the fact that she didn’t even know why.

Rainbow Dash was right. She had been happy. She’d been thrilled, even. She said herself that it was the first time she’d felt happy since she became Pinkamena, and she had meant it. Even now, past the frustration, thinking about the new designs on her legs, about the sudden change she’d made to her life, lit an ember of excitement within her.

She just didn’t understand why feeling good felt so bad.

She tried to think back on her conversation with Rainbow Dash, to see if anything she had said still rang true, but just as she started her thoughts were interrupted. Her legs stopped moving, and that made her realize they’d been moving in the first place. She found herself staring at a tiny, run-down house near the center of Ponyville. It was dark inside, but the faint sound of music could be heard thumping within.

“Yeah, okay,” she said to herself as she walked inside. She didn’t bother to knock, as she knew nopony would be able to hear her to answer. She’d been to enough of these to know she was welcome, anyway.

It took her a moment to remember which door opened to the cheap wooden steps leading down into the unfinished basement, but once she opened it, the wall of noise that greeted her made it clear she’d found the right one. She winced at the sheer volume of it, marveled at the impeccable soundproofing that must have gone into making this place, and shut the door behind herself as she made her way down the stairs.

Contrary to what one might believe, Vinyl Scratch’s nightly house parties were rather humble affairs, at least by her standards. She kept her house open late into the night every day, but only her closest friends were actually told about it. It was rare for more than three or four ponies to show up a night, and most nights she only got one or two.

The scene Pinkamena walked into was one she knew well. The room was largely just a spacious concrete basement, with a booth at the far end for Vinyl’s equipment and various instruments and other memorabilia lining the walls. In the center of the room, though, the floor dipped down into a circular divot lined with cushions, like a single round bed inlaid into the room. There was also a small stage in one corner that was used for performances, but it saw little use most nights.

The only ponies there when Pinkamena joined the party were Vinyl Scratch, who was lounging on the circular sofa, and Octavia, who was stretched out beside her. They didn’t look to be doing much of anything besides enjoying the music and each others’ company.

When Vinyl Scratch saw Pinkamena, she nudged for Octavia to move and got up. The music slowly lowered in volume as she walked over, until it was just low enough to speak over.

“Yo, Pinks!” Vinyl Scratch hugged Pinkamena and patted her back. “It’s been ages. What’s with the new look?”

“It’s a long story,” Pinkamena said, “but the short version is that I’m not Pinkie.”

“Oh?” Vinyl Scratch lifted her tinted glasses and looked hard at her. “If you’re Chrysalis, you know you’re not allowed in here anymore.”

Pinkamena laughed and pulled out of Vinyl’s grasp. Then she jumped onto the sofa and landed with a relieved sigh on her back in the center. “Nah, I’m Pinkamena. Pinkie’s back home.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll pretend I understood that.” Vinyl Scratch hopped back down into the circle and rejoined Octavia.

“It’s a pleasure to, um, meet you?” Octavia said.

Pinkamena giggled and rolled over to look at them. “Yup! Just act like I’m a new pony.”

“Well, if you’re new, you’re technically intruding on a private party,” Vinyl Scratch said, laughing at her own joke. “I’ll let it slide for now, though. You just better be cool.”

“That’s what I’m here to find out!”

“Pardon?” Octavia asked.

“Well, I’m new to me, too,” Pinkamena said. “I gotta figure out if I’m cool.”

“I mean, Pinkie’s cool,” Vinyl Scratch said. “If you’re anything like her, then—”

“No!” Pinkamena yelled out a bit louder than she wanted and then blushed in embarrassment. “No, I’m new! I’m not like Pinkie! I wanna do stuff she wouldn’t.”

“Oh, alright,” Vinyl Scratch said, “so you didn’t come to party, you came to party. I get it.”

“Ooh, sounds fun,” Octavia cooed as a wicked grin grew on her face.

“I guess?” Pinkamena tilted her head. “I don’t think I get it. What’s a… ‘Party?’”

“Oh, you’ll find out,” Vinyl Scratch said. She crawled over until she was nose to nose with Pinkie. “You sure you’re up to this? There’s a reason we never invite Pinkie out on these things. She’d freak.”

Pinkamena gulped. “Wait, why would she freak?”

Vinyl Scratch grinned and prodded her nose. “You’re gonna have to join us to find out. The leg work’s a good start, but are you sure you wanna do this ‘not Pinkie’ thing?”

Pinkamena bit her lip, thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

“Oh, how exciting!” Octavia clapped and hopped up out of the circle. “I’ll go get ready to head out!”

“Wait, we’re leaving?” Pinkamena asked.

“Well, we can’t party here,” Vinyl Scratch said. “Well, okay, we could, but that’s no fun. Nah, we’re gonna take you to Ponyville’s real underground scene.”

Comments

[Copper Cogwheel]

Vinyl and Octavia worry me... I've yet to find a story, comic, or headcanon where they WEREN'T up to something.
I love them.
I also love your Spectral Vampire Flutters (Patent Pending) and the idea Rarity does tattoos on the side. I could actually see her designing tats.
Given her age and friends, EqG Rarity might make a good tattoo artist! Just add Sunset. Instant badassery.