Awakening Pink

by Masterweaver

My Mane Is Straight

"....Where." My voice had none of Pinkie's usual shine or expression.

Linda pulled out her phone and typed in a query soundlessly. "The city of Salina."

"And where is that, relative to here?"

"It's... directly north of here, about an hour's drive."

I nodded, examining the group once more. An image appeared in my head--a flannelgraph picture of Pinkie lying on her hooves and producing ocular gushers. I took a steadying breath, pushing it aside. "Right. Harold, you take Ginny and Jacqueline to the van. Linda, We're going to purchase the groceries--" I bucked the hulk gloves into the cart-- "and that, and we'll head out. Keep whatever Harold needs in a separate bag and hand it off when we get out; you'll be riding shotgun for this next leg."

"Reid, are you okay?"

I flicked my ears back and glanced at my brother. "No. But that doesn't matter. We need to get on the road now." Without sparing any of them a second glance I trotted for the front of the store.

What was I feeling? There was a crystal in my head, that's what I was feeling. Every motion was built for maximum efficiency, my eyes pointed only forward in a half lidded frown. I pulled my hood up over my flat mane, letting my ears press against my skull. Occasionally I felt something brush against the inner skull, soft and spiny and flailing.... dark thoughts, on how exactly I was going to extract vengeance, idle dreams of slowly peeling the skin from their legs with a doctor on hand to make sure they remained conscious. Equally as often a cold splash would rebound in my cranium; was she curled up, sobbing? Was she unconscious? Has they broken her legs?

All of these thoughts, though, I overrode with a simple statement: We are not there. This is inefficient.

The cosplayers passed by me as I waited in line, ignoring the stares of the various other customers. A few people had their picture phones out; later, when I had calmed down enough to explore the internet, I found that the pictures of me in that line were actually quite disturbing. The captions often read something along the lines of "let's make cupcakes" or "My name is Pinkimena Diane Pie. You Hurt My Fluttershy. Prepare to Die."

And to be honest, that kind of was what I was thinking, except I inserted the step of getting there before the actual baking. Thinking is actually not a good word... it was more like calculating.

Ian put a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe you should check up on her. That's something you can do while you're here."

"We all sent her facebook messages," Linda added. "Well, Ginny wasn't... able to, but the rest of us did. She hasn't replied yet, but if she does--"

"You will inform me." I nodded once in understanding. "I left my iPad in the car. I'll send her a message when we head out."

At that point, we had arrived at the checkout. The cashier was initially overjoyed to see me, but when she caught sight of my darkened fur her enthusiasm plummeted. Linda gently informed her of the news.

She reached out and took my hoof in her hand. "I hope everything will be okay."

I kept silent.

We moved quickly to the parked vehicles, Jacqueline having already buckled Ginny in and still holding her tightly. As Linda handed Harold the groceries for his group, I couldn't help but look at the pink-haired cosplayer. Even through my self-imposed crystal, my heart tightened and pulled at my ribs. Eventually I pulled Figment out of the car, gave him a brief but firm hug, and gently placed him in Ginny's lap.

Something else I could do, at least...

Then I clambered into my seat, retrieving my iPad and taking a deep breath.

I just heard about what happened in Salina. We're all coming. I'm not going to ask if you're okay, that's not something you can just be okay about. But if you'd let me know how you're doing.... well, I can listen, anyway.

Just as I hit the send button, Linda's phone beeped. She gave it a glance. "Shy's replied. Apparently the attackers were some anti-pony terrorists, but she knocked them all out... somehow." She flicked through the internet search bar briefly. "Also... she's using the news coverage to tell everyone she's fine."

I shook my head. "Of course. It's totally in character for Fluttershy to lie and spare the nation any worry." It's what I would do, I added silently. It's... what I've been doing.

Linda glowered at me as we pulled out of the parking lot. "You know, for the Element of Laughter you're awfully depressing sometimes."

"I don't laugh when things aren't funny." My hoof went to my mane, stroking it meaningfully. "And right now things are extremely nonhilarious."

"Could you try to show some emotion?! I don't care if you were a psychopath before all this, an innocent person has been attacked for no good reason whatsoever!"

"I am aware of this fact. Nothing I can do can change what has happened."

My brother sighed. "Forget it. He's not going to be able to focus on anything impractical for a while." He took a deep breath. "He was like this when we lost Disney."

"Who?"

"Our pet cat. Had him since Reid was six, and then one day he just vanished..."

I tuned them out, focusing on the iPad and its sudden beeping. Erica had replied, and rather quickly too. Some part of me relaxed just a bit, realizing if she was still able to type things she had to be conscious and mostly unharmed. Still, I decided to open the reply before I completely lost myself.

I am fine. In the heat of the moment, I managed to gain the element of kindness and it not only stopped a bullet but knocked out the thugs as well. If anything I feel a bit better than I did before. Also, call me Ericashy. I’ve sort of... progressed. Sort of. I feel excellent, and I’m not scared or worried, really. Can’t wait to see you all.

I disassembled this new information. Obtained element, used as bullet-proof armor. Reason behind element gain: Unknown. Element knocked out thugs.... reasonable. Her improved demeanor could easily be a response to the element's sudden presence, or maybe the cause of it....

The part that really worried me, though, was that one sentence. Also, call me Ericashy. That had so many implications woven into it... was she still even there? Did Fluttershy swallow her up? Or was she retreating into the demure instincts as a coping mechanism? Did this happen before or after she got her magic necklace?

Could it happen to me?

I stared at the screeen, letting my thoughts roll about and attach themselves to the crystal wall. I didn't know what to do. Finally, I opened up a new reply tab.

When we get to Salina, you and I are going to have a very long talk.

Our little caravan left Wichita in silence.

Comments

[Masterweaver]

Hope, feel free to figure out what the Cosplayer's responses would be.

[SunsetyDays]

Ohhh snap!

[Freescript the Bard]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! WE LOST PINKIE!!!!
NO ME GUSTA PINKAMENA!!!

[spetsnaz pinkie pie]

A very very very long talk

[TundraStanza]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Not her...
Not Pinkamena!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! *runs screaming*

[Braininthejar]

Bringing Creepypie into a real life context makes her new kind of scary.

[Red Bomber]

Those Pinkimena captions... it's not too far off what alot of bronies would have done in the first place. Serious Reid seems pretty awesome though for some reason.

[XxgmanxX]

No. Stay back! NO! IT BURRRNNSSSS!!!!

[Thunder Bash]

Fluttershy scares me, so I don't know if I feel bad or not...

[Orkz]

I imagined a press conference, with Pinkie/dude being asked for a reaction. Pink's response was to fly over to the camera and grin, insane style, and say. "I'll find yoooou. Wherever you are, I'll find yoooou. Heeheehee, you cannot hide from meeee...I'll show you Pinkamena Justice."

[R4skall]

2938390 that's just creepy sounding. AND I WILL NOT FINISH CUPCAKES HALFWAY AND BUFFER I WILL NOT FINISH IT!!! It's just too much for me... Rainbow Dash ^.=.^ good chapter though.

[Pinklestia]

Yes, it can be kind of scary.

[Xenolis]

Pinkie will show them the true meaning of this world

HEE HEE HAA HAA HOO HOO
((look, I know it's not an undertale track but it fits even though the quote is Flowey's. It even has the laugh at 1:00 in))

[errorwilliam]

6819229
let flowey and sans have him