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Of Course I Can1,467 words
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Should I?2,174 words
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Epilogue303 words

Should I?

Should I?

BY: cleverpun

Rainbow Dash looked… tired. The bland hospital bed threw all her features into sharp focus. There were large bags under her eyes, and her breathing was shallow and labored. Her mane was distinctly unkempt.

The four ponies waited for the doctor to finish inspecting all her charts and her IV.

“Well, is she going to be alright doctor?”

“Oh yes, she’s going to be fine. She just has a severe case of fatigue, both physical and magical. Luckily she didn’t injure herself when she fainted. We gave her an IV and an MV,” He jerked a hoof at the needles and tubes leading into Dash’s arm. “and when she wakes up we’ll give her some dense food, and she should be alright in no time.”

“And what exactly caused this?”

“Well, the physical exhaustion could be any number of reasons, the magical I don’t know… And the fact that they both happened together, well... We’ll have to ask her when she wakes up.” The doctor hooked the clipboard back onto Rainbow’s bed and trotted to the exit.

“If she wakes up buzz a nurse, and if you can think of any reason for her condition, now would be the time to discuss it.”

The four ponies crowded around Dash’s bed, all of them clearly shaken by her condition. Twilight broke from the group and began pacing.

“Okay, Applejack, what exactly happened? You were talking so fast on the way here I didn’t really catch it all.”

“Well, me ‘n’ Rainbow ‘n’ Pinkie were having dinner together at The Chow Wagon, and about halfway through, Rainbow just… fainted. She looked perfectly fine one minute, and the next she was stiller than a cow pie in January. We called an ambulance, and Pinkie told me to go get y’all and she’d go with Rainbow Dash.”

“So where is she now?”

“Oh, uhm, when I got here, she said she had a stomachache, that it was probably something she ate, and that she was going to go home and rest.”

“Hmm…”

“Is something the matter Twilight?” Rarity stopped fluffing Rainbow’s pillows as she asked.

“No, it’s probably nothing. Now that we know Rainbow is going to be alright, I’ll go let Pinkie know. You three stay here in case she comes to.”

“Alright, sounds like a plan.”

As Twilight walked out of the hospital, a number of thoughts and feelings ran through her mind, but one ran in front of all the others.

No, it couldn’t be… She made a Pinkie Promise after all. It’s probably just a coincidence, yeah… just a coincidence…

Her mind wandered the entire walk, and the more she wondered the faster she trotted.

It didn’t take her long to reach Sugarcube Corner, and the sun was setting as she knocked on the door. The was a momentary shuffle inside, and Pinkie eventually opened the door.

“Oh, uh, hi Twilight, what’s up?”

“Rainbow Dash is going to be fine, just thought I should let you know.”

“Whew, that’s good to hear! I always knew she’d pull through though, she is Rainbow Dash after all!”

“Yeah… Uh, Pinkie, can I come in?”

“Oh, sure.” Pinkie stepped aside and Twilight walked into the building. She noted that all the lights were off. As Pinkie locked the door, Twilight began to walk up the stairs, a little faster than she should’ve.

“Uhm, Twilight? What’s wrong.” Pinkie followed her, and suddenly she heard a loud rustling coming from above, and as she burst into her own room she saw Twilight holding the journal by its front cover, the remains of those two pages sticking out plainly.

“I knew it. I didn’t want to believe it but it’s true…”

“Twilight, I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about…”

Twilight threw the journal at Pinkie feet. “Don’t lie to me Pinkie, not again. Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!”

“I don’t…”

“Forever Pinkie!”

Pinkie bit her bottom lip.

“Alright Twilight, here’s the truth… I-I sent that story to the Ponyville Express, but they rejected it and I couldn’t handle the disappointment, so I ripped it up and flushed it down the toilet.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Huh…” Twilight looked contemplative for a moment.

“Honestly Twilight, sometimes you can be such a paranoid Priscilla.”

Twilight remained silent for a moment, but as Pinkie reached to pick up the damaged diary, she suddenly turned and fired a bolt of magic at Pinkie. There was a flash of light, and a tremendous cloud of pink smoke and dust.

“*coughcough* Twilight, what are you doing?”

The smoke and dust settled, and Pinkie looked down at her hoof. She was holding the journal, but there was a distinct patch of black near it that seemed out of place, the wrong shape and texture to be a part of the book’s glossy black cover…

“Oh no…”

She scanned herself and saw patches of black hair peeking out of her pink coat all over her body, and as she realized what Twilight had done her disguise began to scrunch up and peel away. Just before it would’ve snapped off her pink costume burned away in a screen of green fire, and Pinkie was left exposed, her body as black as the journal still in her hand, and her eyes bright green and reptilian. A pair of beetle-like wings slowly unstuck from her body, and her mane ballooned away from her head, still poofy and unkempt, but a dull shade of greenish pink instead of its usual hue.

“I never thought I’d use that changeling revelation spell like this…”

“Twilight wait, I can explain!”

“Explain what Pinkie!? That you were turned into a changeling and didn’t trust anypony enough to tell them!? Or that you’ve been lying to the entire town for over a year!?” Her voice became quieter but no less angry. “Or that you almost killed Rainbow Dash by draining her…”

Pinkie dropped the journal, large tears swelling in her eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt her Twilight, I would never… it was just all the pony food at that restaurant, and the three of us were having such a good time, I just… I just overate a little. And before I knew what was happening Rainbow Dash was on the floor and they were calling an ambulance and…” The tears in her eyes swelled again, and Pinkie collapsed in a heap of sobs. “I-I didn’t m-mean to f-feed on her th-that much! I-it just h-happened!”

“Pinkie you should know better than anyone how important it is to trust your friends! Remember what you told me… Losing a friend’s trust is-”

“Of c-course I remember th-that!” Pinkie quickly rubbed some tears from her eyes. “Why else do you think I kept it a secret!” She shakily stood up, still trying to keep herself from crying. “If everypony knew the truth, how could they ever trust me again?”

“Pinkie that’s insane! The truth can be uncomfortable, but lies always do more damage than the truth ever could!”

“Well then here’s the truth Twilight!” She turned around and finally looked Twilight in the eye. “The truth is I’m a changeling, a horrible, evil, wretched changeling!” She opened her mouth and let out a loud hiss, then kicked her dresser with her rear hooves. The wood splintered with a flash of green light, and the distinct smell of charcoal began to fill the air as smoke rose from the place she had struck it. She stared at what she had done, and then fell to the ground again, crying much more quietly than before.

“Pinkie…” Twilight approached Pinkie, hoof outstretched, but the crying pony quickly shuffled away.

“Don’t touch me!”

Twilight withdrew her hoof. “Pinkie, you may look… different on the outside, but on the inside you’re still the same upbeat, bubbly pony I met back on my first day in Ponyville. Your hair may be black, but deep down I know you’re still the same. If I had the Element of Laughter I bet…”

“I’m not the element of anything anymore, I’m just a filthy monster.”

“Pinkie… listen. I know lies may have seemed like the easy answer at the time, I know the truth seems like it can hurt, but I always be your friend, everypony will, no matter what!”

Pinkie finally took her face out of her arms and looked at Twilight, tears streaming down her face.

“Now who’s lying?”

“What?”

“Lies are better Twilight, I know that now. Because the moment you found that journal, the moment you found the truth, you stopped loving me.”

“What!?”

“I could tell. Ever since Rarity’s party I haven’t been able to siphon any love from you, and it was all because of the truth. That’s the simple fact, the truth hurts, and that’s all it does. That’s how I could make that fake Pinkie Promise, by realizing the obvious…”

“Pinkie, I know this hasn’t been easy for you… I can’t imagine how hard it’s been. But you’re talking crazy. I’ll always be your friend, I was just… surprised. The truth sets ponies free, it heals; you’ve been living with this web of lies so long you’re not thinking clearly. Just let me help you.”

Pinkie’s ears flipped up.

“That’s right, you can help me.” Pinkie rose, though still unsteady from all the crying she had done, was still doing.

“You can keep a secret Twilight! Way better than that stupid journal ever did. If you just keep this to yourself, then everything can go back to normal, and you’ll be my journal instead. You can keep a secret can’t you Twilight? Promise me you’ll keep this a secret. You may not love me anymore, but if you just knew what I’ve been through, you’d understand. You can protect me from everypony else, protect me from myself, and everything can go back to normal… I can be normal.”

“Pinkie, of course I can keep a secret, but…” She looked away. “I don’t think I should keep this one… not after what happened to Rainbow Dash, not after seeing what you’ve done to yourself. Just come with me and we’ll tell the others, everything can’t be normal, but we can make a new normal. Everyone loves you, we can always make…”

“Twilight, I thought you’d understand, but you don’t. You just don’t understand Twilight! Even if I wanted to tell everypony, I can’t. If they know the truth they’ll stop loving me, and if I don’t have anypony’s love to feed off of, I’ll die.”

“Pinkie…”

Pinkie suddenly grabbed the journal and ran towards her window, and before Twilight could stop her she had cleared it and started buzzing noisily as she flew off.

“Pinkie Pie, no! Wait! Stop!”

Twilight tried to line up a spell, but Pinkie’s dark fur was too hard to pick out against the twilit night, and she quickly vanished into the distance.

Hello. My name is Pinkie Pie. I know nopony will ever read this; This time I’ll make sure of it. You can keep a secret, I know you can. Twilight just stumbled upon you that’s all, I wasn’t careful enough.

This time it’ll be different, I just need to find another town. You can keep all my secrets, and I can pretend to be myself. Nopony will know me there, I can pretend to be myself, and nopony from Ponyville will find me. I can build myself another web of lies, and the truth will only be in you and I’ll hide you where nopony can find you.

Twilight doesn’t get it, I can’t trust her with the truth. She doesn’t love me anymore and there’s nothing I can do about that, but I just need to find a new town. I hear Manehattan is nice, maybe I’ll try there.

Just keep my secrets and we’ll be fine. As long as you do that everything can be normal…

Look at me, I’m ranting again. Maybe I really should take a creative writing class, make these things a bit more neat. And it’d make a nice backup in case somepony accidentally finds you again… I know it’s not your fault, and it’s not Twilights, I’m just upset because I know I’ll never see any of my friends again… Twilight can’t keep a secret, not like you…

Anyway, I have to go, it’s a long trip, and I should probably get some sleep.

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Quaver Ava

Quaver Ava #1 · Sep 13th, 2012 · · ·

At first I thought that Rainbow Dash was also a changeling but then it turns out Pinkie drained her to much.

Also Pinkie ran away.... You had Pinkie run away... I saw it coming but still... Pinkie gone off and ran away! Bwaaaahhhh, OK forget that I love to see my favorite characters sadistically tortured! I'll look forward to see how Twilight rounds up the gang and goes to get Pinkie back.

Good chapter and I'm off to read the next!

Quavera_Tava

P.S. I just have to but... FIRST!!! Haha, OK, lame-oh moment over...

cleverpun