The Fluffy Girl With a Heart-of-Pink

by DogSomeOre

Ch. 11 - Your Worth

"Welcome back!" Pinkie jumps up excitedly as she sees her boss enter through the doors of Sugarcube.

"Hello, dearie." Mrs. Cake responds appropriately, smiling, she's glad to see Pinkie good and well.

Mrs. and Mr. Cake subtly examine their establishment, making sure nothing got broken from the time they were gone.

"Sooo~" Pinkie begins in a sing-songy voice. Mrs. Cake's head looks towards the jubilant girl, pausing herself from checking out the tidy shop. "How was it? Get any souvenirs? See any performances? Ooooh~ you just have to tell me, Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie seems like she can't even contain herself, like a filly opening up a present they really wanted, she hops up and down; excited to ask her boss on all the possible experiences they've accrued in their wake.

"Ok, ok, dear." Mrs. Cake waves her hoof at Pinkie, motioning her to calm down. "We can talk about all the things me and Mr. Cake did later, for now, here's this." Mrs. Cake reaches in her bag, pulling out a gift, unexpectedly to Pinkie Pie.

"What is- *gasp*" Pinkie's at a loss, her mind can't take all the excitement. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh~!" Pinkie's voice almost takes off the roof, Mrs. Cake smiles initially at Pinkie's happiness, only grimacing slightly at the volume in which her vocal range exudes.

"Settle down, dear." Mrs. Cake nervously chuckles. The last thing that's on her mind is for ponies to come rushing through Sugarcube to see if somepony's gotten hurt.

"Sorry Mrs. Cake, this is just- I've always wanted one of these!" Pinkie eyes the luxurious cupcake, taking in it's craft and beauty.

"I know all about it Pinkie." Mrs. Cake replies. "We stopped by a few places and the bakery was just around the corner so-"

"Thank you so much Mrs. Cake." Pinkie hugs her boss approvingly, like a child would to their parent. Mrs. Cake appreciates the gesture, hugging her back gracefully.

-------*-------
The Cake's settle back in to their home, relived and proud that Pinkie took such good care of Sugarcube all by herself. The day goes on just like normal; Pinkie and Mrs. Cake bond over the certain foods her and her husband encountered while in Manehattan. Mrs. Cake describes such desserts to Pinkie, making the pink mare only more envious of the trip her boss had.

"That's the last one, Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie shows her boss the last order needed to be finished for tonight, edging on for Mrs. Cake to officially tell Pinkie that she's done for today.

"What's the rush, dearie?" Mrs. Cake has been noticing Pinkie's sporadic movement over the last thirty-minutes; Pinkie hurrying herself to clean up the kitchen whilst simultaneously finishing the last few orders for tomorrow.

"Rush? There's no rush!" Pinkie notions, breathing a bit heavy from how worked up she's gotten.

"You off to see your friend again, Pinkie?" Mrs. Cake inquires.

Pinkie jolts, surprised. "How did you know?" She says, almost like she's saddened to have been found out so easily.

"I didn't know actually, I just assumed so; but it turns out I was right to have that suspicion." Mrs. Cake confesses. "But it helps that you were running around a tad faster then you usually do."

"Dang it, Mrs. Cake! You got me again!" Pinkie waves around her words like she's been in a competition with her boss, and she just can't keep losing.

"I know it's none of my business but, who is it?" Mrs. Cake respectfully questions.

"Well..." Pinkie doesn't know if she should say, for fear that her boss would get upset with her.

"As I thought." Mrs. Cake confirms. "It's ok dearie." She tries to consul Pinkie, seeing that she looks unwilling to open up to her boss. "I've thought a lot about your friend and I really did come on him a bit harshly." Pinkie's head lifts up, her features becoming more relaxed. "I mean it, Pinkie; I shouldn't of shunned Anon away just because he's... well for lack of a better word, different?" Pinkie subtly sighs with what her boss describes Anon as; thoughts coming up in her mind about how a lot of ponies don't want anything to do with him just because he's 'different.'

"For now on, I'll respect anypony or creature you befriend. I trust you dear." Mrs. Cake wants to make it clear to Pinkie Pie that she shouldn't have any say on who or who not she should be able to hang around; a total one-eighty to how she acted previously.

"Thank you for accepting him Mrs. Cake." Pinkie finally got through to at least one pony in Equestria. Relived that Mrs. Cake won't judge him just for how he looks.

"You have fun, you hear?" Mrs. Cake pats Pinkie's fluffy head, they both share an understanding with one another; with Pinkie being all the while happy at her boss's newfound acceptance of Pinkie's human.

-------*-------
It's late at night, Anon and Pinkie agreed to meet up at his house once again; though Anon was oddly specific about the time she needed to come over, and try as Pinkie might, she elicited no further information about why the time was so strict. Of course, a thousand-and-one possibilities arose in her scattered head, but the mystery has her stumped.

Stopping at the side of Anon's house, Pinkie rearranges her hair, straightening it down once again before Anon sees her. He didn't ask her to do it again, but the way Anon talked about how much he liked her mane down, just tempts her to want to do it again. She wants to impress Anon, even though he's already greatly fine with how she is normally.

Walking up to his door, she takes a deep breath, excited, anxious, and ready to see her beloved human once again. She hears footsteps coming through from the other side, she gears up, smiling from ear to ear.

"Hey, Pink-"

"Nonie!" Pinkie springs up on him, pushing him back with the force of her pounce; she nuzzles him, smiling directly at the sight and sound of Anon.

"It's good to see you too Pinks." Anon can't help but be joyous with Pinkie, he gets happy every time he sees her. Pinkie relaxes a bit, letting Anon have a better foothold on the ground.

"I know it's only been a couple days but I can't help getting excited every time I see you; and now that we're together, I don't have to hide that anymore!" She giggles cutely.

"You're wearing your hair down again?" Anon asks, surprised to see that unusual style again.

"Mmm-hmm; just for you, Nonie!" She says with all her heart, wanting nothing more then to make her human feel special.

"For me? But Pinkie you didn't have to do that just for me." Anon says, baffled, embarrassed, and joyful that she would go out of her way just for him.

"I know, Nonie, I just want to show you how much you mean to me; that's all." She cheerily states.

"Well I do appreciate it." Anon tells her with acceptance. "Come on in, there's something I've been wanting you to see." Anon nudges his pink mare to enter inside; by the sound of his voice, it seems like it's something quite special. But what could it be? Pinkie's been all too thrilled to find out. As more and more ideas scurry there way in to Pinkie's brain, the both of them arrive at the family room where a mare cradling a baby, and her little foal leaning up right next to her reside.

"Nonie who-" Pinkie stops, frozen in place, she instantly recognizes those strained and stressed looking eyes; taken aback, they both look at one another, a deep rooted connection coming from each others mutual glances. Anon may not have the whole story, but Pinkie and the mysterious mare have more then enough pages of memories shared with one another.

"Young love." The mare speaks, her voice sounds a bit raspy, coarse even; but a motherly twang sweetly encapsulates every course of her personality. "I've certainly been there." A smile, not too different from a family member reuniting with a long lost relative, shows in full affect on the blueish, grey mare. "How're you doing, Dianne?" The mare asks with care.

"Marian- it's- it's really you." Pinkie's awestruck, someone she helped so long ago, thought to never be seen again from the pink mare, is sitting down just feet away from her, in good condition no less.

"In the fur." Marian jokes, her dry sense of humor always contrasted greatly with Pinkie's. They both share a hug; a meaningful, long lost hug.

"Auntie Pinkie Pie!" The young foal exclaims, ecstatic to see the party girl.

"Aw Junior!" The hug becomes a group hug, with everybody but Marian's baby consenting to the affair. Anon hangs back, grinning at this touching endeavor, he has no words he needs to say; he just lets the two long lost acquaintances, come together once again.

Pinkie breaks softly from the hug. Both her and Marian teary eyed and even sniffling at this unbelievable encounter.

"How did you find me? I thought you were in Canterlot?" Pinkie's amazement not faltering even still.

"I was." She bluntly states. "Your friend here asked for me to come back to Ponyvile indirectly; a sweet boy this one is." Marian explains.

"Anon, how did you-"

"Took a little bit." Anon sits away from the two, not wanting to butt in too much. "-Asked around from a couple of ponies, finally found someone who told me of a mare who you were very keen on." He tells her. "So, I sent a letter asking her if she'd want to come down here to see you again and, well, here we are." Anon casually tells the story, but to Pinkie it's anything but, she can't believe he'd go out of his way to do this, and what for? Pinkie's not sure. And 'someone who told him of a mare that she'd known personally?' Pinkie wonders who she could've told about Marian; but that's a question for another time.

"That's the gist of it." Marian finishes. "Usually I don't oblige to random letters, but when it was you we were talking about; come on, I couldn't pass that up." She jokes again, Pinkie laughs, but Anon doesn't quite get the punchline; the two seem to share a connection deeper then Anon would have been lead on to believe.

"Aww, and who's that little guy?" Pinkie takes notice of the little baby. "A new addition to the family?"

"Oh, this little destroyer of worlds?" Marian looks down soothingly at the little infant, he makes noises at the attention that's gravitated onto him. "Just had him a couple months ago, sweet as pie, though a little reckless." Pinkie and Marian chuckle yet again, Anon still not in the know of the joke at hand.

"Wait, you had him a couple months ago?" Pinkie questions. "That means...."

"Yep." Marian blissfully pronounces. "Finally met the stallion of my dreams, and I couldn't of been more happy." She states with a sense of fulfilment in her voice.

"That's great, Marian." Pinkie happily applauds the good news, she couldn't be more happy for her.

Pinkie Pie and Marian talk for a good while. Telling each other where they've been, the crazy, bizarre, and great things that have happened in their lives, cracking inside jokes that allude and confuse the silent Anon. They both seem so happy to be able to talk with one another again.

"Where are you going to sleep? You know you always have a place at Sugarcube if need be." Pinkie spreads her hospitality to the older mare, making her well assured that's she always welcomed wherever Pinkie might be.

"Oh thank you sweetie but me and my husband rented a place here in Ponyvile for a couple of days, maybe we can meet up somewhere while I'm here? There's never a dull moment when the both of us are together you know." Marian and Pinkie giggle towards one another.

"Of course!" Pinkie emits with glee.

"It really was good seeing you again though, Dianne." Marian smiles with a genuineness. "If we don't see each other for a while I really want you to know, you really helped me when I needed somepony to; I know I've said this countless times but... thank you so much, Dianne; for everything." Marian closes in for another hug, holding the pink mare tightly out of a respect, and unfulfilled debt that she has towards Pinkie.

"Bye, bye, auntie Pinkie!" The little foal hugs Pinkie's hooves before waving a goodbye and walking into the shadowy night, away with his mother.

"Goodbye, Marian." Pinkie mutters bittersweetly; Anon walks up beside Pinkie, putting his hand comfortingly on her back. They both watch as they leave, no words exchanged from one another until the older mare and her two kids, disappear in the darkness.

"You guys really knew each other, didn't you?" Anon proposes the idea to Pinkie, she looks to the side, turning her head upward to meet Anon's eyes; she looked like she was reminiscing about her memories with Marian, seems like she does that with a lot of the ponies she's helped over the years.

"She's a great pony, I took her in when no one else would." Pinkie leaves her answer vague, open-ended, but Anon wants to know more.

"How about I make us some tea; you can tell me all about it on the couch." Anon smiles at Pinkie before heading in the kitchen, Pinkie follows to accompany him, seeing no other need to stand by the window as there isn't anything but pitch blackness to look out on.

-------*-------
"I have to ask though Anon-" Anon and Pinkie get situated with their cups of tea, sitting down on the soft cushion, Anon waits patiently for Pinkie's tale of the older mare. "Why go all this way just to bring her here? I know it wasn't a spur of the moment thing, so, what is it?" Pinkie's intrigued, as much as she loves seeing ponies she's come to familiarize herself with, she can't quite put her hoof on why Anon went to such great lengths.

Anon takes a sip of the steaming tea, burning his tongue, he winces a bit before playing it cool. "I told you didn't I?" He implies; Anon figures she'll ask, but it's a good a start as any to a conversation like this.

"Did you?" Pinkie says, expected as ever from the pink mare; Anon explains.

"I made it a point to show just how much you've changed the ponies you've come across. I know I couldn't get every mare or stallion that you've helped, but it isn't about how many that's the important part; Celestia herself can't even help every creature in Equestria, but it's how you positively affect ponies lives. I wanted you to know just how special that is, Pinks." Anon leads on with a touching realization, it's not that Pinkie didn't know she helped anyone she came upon, but she didn't think it was anything note worthy.

"But, I didn't get Marian on her hooves again, she did." Pinkie defies Anon's explanation, countering it as Pinkie not being much of help.

"That isn't what she told me." Anon states, Pinkie waits for him to go on. "I don't know the whole story." He confesses. "-But I know that what she told me, was something I only expect out of a pony like you." Pinkie thinks back on where and when she first met the distraught mare, a cold, dark alley-

"It was a rainy day." Pinkie says. "She was battered, bruised, and shaking so bad. She held onto her son, like nothing else mattered but the warmth and protection of her own child." Pinkie recalls this event, it's all too vivid in her mind. "It was a chance encounter that I even saw her; the weather was so bad, Mrs. Cake pleaded with me to not go out, for whatever reason, I did. I don't even want to begin to imagine what would've happened to Marian if I wasn't there." Pinkie shakes away those thoughts.

"I'd seen ponies in abusive situations before but..." She hesitates. "This felt so personal to me, like I had a responsibility to help her, like- like my heart needed to mend with hers." Anon takes in Pinkie's story, they both look down, trying to make sense of it all. "She told me, a couple months later, her and her son had ran away from home; she stayed for the longest time with her husband for the sake of her son but one day... one day it just got to be too much." Pinkie's ears deflate down to her sides, she seems deeply troubled by the retelling of her own story.

"Pinkie, I'm... I'm sorry." Anon softly apologizes, he didn't mean for Pinkie to get so saddened by this event. "I was trying to help you see that you're an amazing mare, with a talent, I'm sure others would dream to have; I just may have went a bit to far." He admits.

Pinkie shakes her head slowly, trying not to get Anon to fault himself. "No, Nonie, I think I needed that, truth be told." She says to him; Anon seems surprised by this. "Maybe it isn't appropriate to tell you this now, but, when really is?" Pinkie sits up, looking at Anon thoughtfully.

"When I was a young girl, I grew up on a farm, similar to AJ's just, not as 'appley.' But I didn't have the best childhood, school wasn't really an option because I had to work with my parents and sisters on the farm, so my education is... a little lacking." She rubs her hoof, a little shy to admit this. "I didn't have a chance to meet many ponies, so when I did, I never knew the proper way to react; all I'd known up until then were my mom, dad, and my siblings. I guess I was what you call 'socially awkward' in hoo-man terms." She tells him blatantly.

"I love my family though, I really miss them." She takes a second to think of her sisters faces, the childish chaos that would ensue between the four of them. "One day when I was older, I wanted to do more then just pick rocks for the rest of my life; my sisters may have enjoyed it, and maybe I did for a little bit too but there was just something inside me, something in my heart, begging me to do more."

"That's why you came here?" Anon suggests.

Pinkie shakes her head again. "I told my sisters how I wanted to do more, see things I've only dreamed of seeing, meet ponies I could be friends with and cherish for the rest of my life." Pinkie turns her head to the side, smiling, it's like as if she's looking at her sister right next to her as she's opening up to her human. "It took a bit of convincing for my parents to agree to me moving out; oh, Nonie, it was so scary, but so exciting at the same time!" Pinkie proclaims. "When it came time though, I moved here. Mrs. and Mr. Cake invited me in with open hooves; they were the first ponies I was properly introduced to."

"When did you start knowing you needed to cheer up other ponies? Make them feel better?" Anon's curious attitude rubs off like a wild news reporter, trying to get all the details.

"Oh, well that...." Pinkie pauses, she turns her head back facing Anon. "I've always had that." Pinkie grins softly, relived at herself to know she always had a caring, outgoing view on the world.

"Well, I guess all I have to ask is, why me?" Anon confronts Pinkie with this dilemma; Pinkie looks dazzled, thinking of his question meaningfully. "I mean, you know when I first came here, I, and about everybody else was scared; why weren't you?" It's a question Anon's been wanting the answer to for as long as he's known Pinkie, she was the only pony- the only creature who understood that he wasn't out to hurt anyone.

"I... I don't really know, Nonie." Pinkie herself seems frustrated with her closed answer. "I never thought like everypony else thought, I didn't see you as a bad pony. I just saw how scared you were and... I knew exactly how that felt." Pinkie determines her reasoning, her emotions playing a bigger role in first talking to Anon then rationality.

"When we became closer- ahem- when we became friends-" Pinkie blushes. "You said something I'll never forget, the reason I knew I had to be by your side, for ever and ever."

"What?" Anon quietly speaks, like a whisper, he isn't sure if Pinkie could even hear him.

"'I never have been able to be open to anyone in my life, and then you came along, and put all my worries away.'" Pinkie speaks it word for word, her heart filling with great elation. "You told me everything, Nonie." She tells him, wanting to jog his memory, but of course he can never forget. "You told me about all the bad and good things that your life entailed, and I- it took me this long to finally open up with you; because I thought... I thought nobody could care about a pony like me. I'm so glad I was wrong, Nonie."

Pinkie trembles, her emotions getting the best of her. Anon stands up from where he's sitting, only to come down right beside Pinkie, holding her in his arms as she leans on his side like a warm blanket.

"I love you Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie sniffles, her head peaking up beyond from Anon's caring grace, she smiles at him, tears falling down; for once in a long time, she feels like the happiest mare alive.

Comments

[PointBreak]

"I love you Pinkie Pie."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE TEARS MAKE IT STOPPPPPPP