> The True Story of Pinkie's Childhood > by MistyShineStar > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Beginning of It All > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie was always a very happy pony. She had lots of friends and seemed to not have a care in the world. Always smiling no matter the situation, always the light hearted one ready to give someone who was in the deep end of life a lift. This was the outlook of the bubblegum mare to anyone around her. Everyone wished they would have her life, throwing parties everyday and eating as many sweets as she could. Maybe they would change their minds about that if they knew her true story. She never liked to lie. It had to be her least favourite thing to do. Always telling Pinkie promises, nopony would ever think she would tell a very big lie. But in order to forget, she had to tell the lie about her cutie mark to the crusaders. She started to believe the lie herself, until gradually, she convinced herself that was how the story went; her parents never kicked her out. Her mother never threw things at her. They had a big party, and that was that. But Pinkie still had a small part of her that whispered in her mind; That's a lie, and you know it, Pinkie. Of course, Pinkie pushed back that thought. She was in denial and nothing could change that. But keeping this deep secret mixed with her overreacting personality made her slowly go insane. The Cakes started to notice something...off, about Pinkie. Sometimes she stared off in the distance, not blinking. Sometimes she stopped breathing, and they had to dump water on her just to get her to snap out of it. There was many incidents when she spoke very rapidly, her thoughts racing about, couldn't stop moving, or acted very aggressive. She even had her own imaginary friend whom she called Gummy that she had hallucinated. He was a very large friendly alligator with no teeth, and her closet friend. The only friend she ever had who she could share all her feelings with, and also whom she named her pet alligator after later on. She remembered when they later took her and Gummy to a psychologist, who diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. Pinkie remembered when she heard the news. She had no idea what it meant, as Mr. and Mrs. Cake never told her about mental diseases or anything terrible in this world. Pinkie hated it as a young mare, but was now very grateful she could hold on to her innocence for a while. As she sat on the white surgical bed, Pinkie remembered listening to the conversation with confusion. Pinkie had never been very good at remembering things, but to this day, she remembered a few tidbits at the news that changed her life. "Put her on perscription...." "Our therapy is cost free, Ma'am..." "I'll need you to fill out these forms..." But most of all, she remembered Mrs. Cake sobbing the entire time, with Mr. Cake comforting her. Mrs. Cake apologizing to Pinkie, insisting it was all her fault, that she should have raised her better. "What's going on, Gummy?" "I don't know, Pinkie. Something bad, Mrs. Cake looks upset." "I don't like it when ponies are sad. It makes me sad." "It's okay, Pinkie." The final thing that happened before they left for home was her hugging Gummy as tightly as she could. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From then on, Mrs. and Mr. Cake treated her much differently. Mr. Cake seemed uncomfortable and stiff around her, while Mrs. Cake was very overprotective. She wouldn't let the teenage Pinkie work or go outside, or watch television that was over PG. She never punished her, but Pinkie still luckily grew up to be a more or less good pony. She remembered when Mrs. Cake would put a strange white powder, which she later learned was ground up pills, in her drinks. She walked in one day, asking her what it was. "Sugar, Pinkie Pie," the icing-maned mare replied, talking to Pinkie like she was five years old. Pinkie had always hated it. When she asked Mrs. Cake to stop talking to her like that, she stopped for a while, but started again pretty soon. "Oh," she responded quietly, looking at the drink. It didn't smell or taste much like sugar, but she supposed it was a different kind. Now that she thought of it, Mrs. Cake did look quite nervous when Pinkie had asked. About two weeks after the doctor's appointment, Pinkie remembered Gummy slowly dissappearing. She had grieved for him like a lost friend, which he was. She remembered sitting in her room sobbing, and when she told her adoptive mother, she remembered Mrs. Cake being extra nice to her, also seeming a little guilty. Pinkie hadn't noticed this, not until she found the pill bottle in the pantry. Pinkie wanted to make a party for Gummy, even if he was dead. A good-bye party. She was looking in the pantry for sugar for the cupcakes, when she remembered Mrs. Cake taking out the sugar for her drinks in a certain part. If she keeps the yucky sugar in here, Pinkie thought, Maybe the regular kind goes in here too. It made sense, the Cakes always being so organized with where they put the certain food items. She had opened the wooden pink frosted pantry to find a big bag of the ground up pills. But something was strange. It said, "PINKIE'S" on it. Why was it especially for her? She decided Mrs. Cake didn't like that type but thought she did, so dismissed it and kept looking. But what she dug out, was a pill bottle right next to the bag. The pills on the front of the bottle were the same colour as the powder she had in her drinks. She looked behind it and read the label. Take one gram a day. Reccomended to grind up and put in food for younger ponies. Pinkie stared in disbelief as she put two and two together. She smashed the empty bottle on the floor. She started cursing Celestia's name as loud as she could. She almost wanted Celestia to hear. She wanted the whole town to. "Pinkamena Diane Pie! What is going ON?" Mrs. Cake had skidded into the kitchen, face pale. "LIAR! YOU BIG LIAR!" Pinkie grabbed the pill bottle and threw it at Mrs. Cake. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? WHY?" Mrs. Cake looked down at the pill bottle and started sobbing again. "Pinkie, I-" "LIAR!" she shrieked, running out of the house. As she ran, she could see confused ponies in the dining part of Sugar Cube Corner, and was surrounded by ponies who were staring at her, angry tears running down her face. She kept running, until she fell over in a big mess of tears. She cried until she fell asleep on the floor of an abandoned wood. > Back From The Dead > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The drowsy Pinkie opened her eyes and lazily looked around. "Mrs. Cake?" She blinked a few times, and remembered what happened. Pinkie sniffed, sitting up, and called out, "Gummy? Are you there?" Her question echoed through the forest, but remained unanswered. She gave another shuttery sigh as her hair deflated. "I'm sorry, Gummy. I miss you so much." Pinkie went out for a walk for a while. She looked up at the sun and prayed, "Celestia, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things about you. I hope you can forgive me." She looked back down, and kept walking until her hooves met something wet. She gasped and jumped back, seeing she had stumbled upon a swamp. She blinked a couple of times, and then slowly crept forward, noticing a shape in the water. When it emerged, she saw a baby alligator who had not grown in it's teeth yet. "Gummy?" she stared at the alligator, and picked it up out of the swamp. She tossed it on her back and started talking to it. "Gummy...I'm sad." "Why, Pinkie Pie?" Pinkie said in a deep voice. "Mrs. Cake made you die," she sniffed, going back to her normal, high pitched voice. "That's okay. I'm back now. You can live with me in the swamp!" Pinkie smiled once more and hugged Gummy tight. The alligator snapped at her mane, causing Pinkie to shout, "Hey! Bad Gummy!" The alligator remained unresponsive, blinking a couple times. Pinkie sighed and hugged him once more. "But I can forgive and forget." The sound of a cart caused Pinkie to perk her ears up. She looked behind her, and there was a police cart following her. "Gummy, run!" She started running away from the police ponies, who were shouting, "Hey! Get back here!" Pinkie responded to this by running even faster. She soon tripped on a root of a tree, and everything went black. --------------- Pinkie opened her eyes drowsily once again. She was in a hospital bed, with a fiery pain consuming her leg. She screeched at this terrible feeling and started sobbing. "Where's Gummy? I want Gummy! What happened to me?!" Luckily, Mrs. Cake was right by her side, and she ran her hoof through Pinkie's flat mane. "Sh, shhhh. It's alright, Pinkie. It's okay. You tripped on a branch and fell into a deep ditch. It'll be alright." Surprisingly, she was talking to her normally. "But where's Gummy? He was on my back, and I was carrying him, and-" "That alligator? He's fine, Pinkie. We have him. He's right here." She held up the reptile, who stared at Pinkie and blinked. "Gummy! Oh, Gummy." She hugged him, before eyeing Mrs. Cake accusingly. "You tried to keep Gummy away from me," she said. "You took him. You're going to take him again, aren't you?!" "No, no!" Mrs Cake shouted, quick to defend herself. "You can keep Gummy. I promise. When we give you the pills, he won't leave, I swear!" "I don't believe you! You lied to me!" Pinkie slit her eyes. "It was for your own safety, Pinkie. I want you to be safe." She ran her hoof through Pinkie's hair, but Pinkie smacked it away. Pinkie looked away from her for quite some time, listening to the beeps of her heart monitor. She finally heard Mrs. Cake get up and silently leave. > Forgiving without Forgetting > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie had said that she could forgive and forget. But she couldn't bring herself to it this time. Not after what the blue pony had done. She's not my mother, Pinkie thought to herself, surrounded by pink balloons, teddy bears, board games, books, and of course, Gummy. She kept listening to the hospital TV as all of her lunch layed next to her, untouched. Not even the cupcake lovingly left there by the sympathetic nurse. She's a terrible, lying pony... she thought for a few more moments, her angry gaze softening into that of a quivering frown. She stared at the ceiling, whenever she heard the creak of the door open and close. Pinkie looked up in surprise, causing Gummy to snap at the air and scatter under the bed. "Pinkie," a gentle smooth voice called. "I need to ask you a few questions." Pinkie glanced over to see a doctor. The psychologist from her last appointment. "Shoot," she said, flopping back onto the bed and looking at the ceiling defeatedly. "Pinkie...what's been going on recently? And how do you feel about it?" "Gummy's gone, doc. I can't be happy without him." She sighed, and was surprised to find herself spilling out her feelings. "I know I shouldn't blame Mrs. Cake. I really shouldn't. But I feel like it's her fault that he's gone. She tricked me, doc, and I hate it when ponies lie. So I ran away, it was the only solution. I knew that the alligator wasn't Gummy, but he was close enough." She closed her eyes. "Thank you." The doc walked out of the surprisingly short conversation, and was replaced by Mr. Cake, who was holding a small thin wrapped box. Silently, he set it on Pinkie's lap, gave her a knowing glance, and walked out. Pinkie opened the box to find a tape. It was the song from her birthday party years later. Her future "jam". > Healing > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie stared out of the sterile, white room into the hallway in her wheelchair. She hadn't left that room for at least two weeks. No, not because of stern doctors or parents. Not because she wasn't completely cured yet. She didn't come out for the simple reason that she didn't want to. "Why not?" you may ask. That's what Pinkie was wondering. She still didn't leave the room. She instead ran her hoof gingerly across the hard surgical band on her hoof that read, "Pinkamena Diane Pie, May 3, 2010". That was when her birthday was? She wasn't even sure anymore. She seemed to have forgotten almost everything she once knew about herself. She kept caressing the band with her skinny, frail hoof. She hadn't been eating much anymore. Her appetite had left her, along with Gummy. Her vision snapped suddenly back up into the hallway. Her eyes were dull, and all the life seemed to have been sucked out of them. Life...she wasn't even sure what the point was anymore. A simple toy somepony had made for their own sadistic enjoyment, watching ponies suffer hopelessly in the world that they had created while they rocked with laughter. Life was cold and unforgiving. But while life was so cruel and harsh, it had a decieving enchantment that kept ponies living. The constant hope that life would someday get better. The fear that the afterlife was possibly cruel. Perhaps the fact that they would miss their friends and family. Family. Ha! She had no family. Pinkie's real mum was terrible and unforgiving and her adoptive mother was a lying pig. The demented teenager laughed out loud to herself. Audibly. Loud enough for anyone to hear. It was high pitched and screechy. She sounded absolutely nuts as she began to scream in laughter, and the nurses stared at her. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears rolling down her cheeks. Tears from laughing so much, or perhaps from cryptic sadness. No, both. She gasped for breath and continued to laugh giddily. Soon, the laughter died, and she opened her eyes. Her eyes met with confused and perhaps fearful ones staring back at her. "You think I'm crazy!" she said out loud, in between a couple of more giggles. "I'll tell you what's crazy! The fact that people any bother with life! It's just a trap, a cage!" Anypony could see that Pinkie had lost her poor, sensitive mind. Pinkie shook her head, looking down, and giggled once more. She rolled out of the room, her wheels squeaking against the dirty, hard floor. The ponies watching were absolutely speechless of the act she had just pulled. They had no idea what they thought of what she had said. Good thing I left them amazed! Pinkie thought. That's how you should leave an audience. She wheeled until she came to the entrance, the white desk pony next to her typing on a type writer. The pony pushed up her ebony glasses before noticing Pinkamena staring out the window. "Do you wanna check out?" she asked sweetly, gesturing towards the door. "I need to think it over," Pinkie said, surprisingly in a passive, smooth tone. She kept staring out the window, her mouth hanging open. She saw fillies outside playing happily in Celestia's golden, warm rays. They thought their sun goddess was generous and forgiving. She was righteous. Pinkie wanted to smile at their poor, young innocence, but she couldn't bring herself to smile anymore. She saw a rather chubby filly outside, eating the berries on the bushes hungrily. "Yes," she finally said, nodding her head slowly and rythymically. "I'd like to check out for just a moment." The white pony nodded, and Pinkie signed her name on the check out list. Pinkie rolled outside. The sunlight was blinding. The large mass of the sun was hot. It was trying to mock her, and trick her into thinking that life could be decent. No. It wasn't. She wouldn't fall for it. She scoffed at the sun defiantly, and then looked into another part of the sky; where a blue pegasus was, practicing her flight tricks as she dived down to the earth and landed in front of Pinkie. Pinkie squeaked. She hadn't expected the pegasus to notice her staring. "I'm sorry!" she said. The rainbow-maned pegasus flipped her hair and stared in surprise. "Why?" "I-" "Shh, doesn't matter. Since I'm the awesomest pony ever, I forgive you." She grinned and wrapped a hoof around Pinkie. "You look like you need some joy in your life. Whaddya say we go to that restaurant across the street? On me. Don't say no. I insist. Actually, you should be honoured to have lunch with me!" She smiled in a cocky fashion. "Okay?" Pinkie said, still staring at the strange, happy mare. She was at a hospital. Why would she be happy? Why would anybody? Life was pointless. Redundant. And why would she wanna help her? This was too sudden. The mare just...dived in. She didn't even know her name yet. "Alright! It's a date!" The rose eyed pegasus clapped her hooves together. "I'm Rainbow Dash, by the way." She smiled. "C'mon! Let's eat!" > Rainbow Dash > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash, Pinkie thought to herself as the cyan filly half dragged, half flew her towards the restauraunt. A colourful name. Is mine very colourful? Well, in a way it is. But then again, it is only one colour, hers is multiple, Pinkie mused to herself, before finding herself by a table and no longer being dragged. Rainbow Dash grinned. "Take a seat," she said, pulling out a chair and lifting Pinkie from the wheelchair to help her out. Pinkie silently sat in the chair before a large, repulsive noise was heard throughout the restauraunt. It was that of a raspberry, and echoed through every hall. Rainbow Dash fell over laughing, pointing at Pinkie while she wiped tears from her eyes. She sighed before pulling up something from Pinkie's seat. A whoopee cushion. Upon seeing this, most ponies turned around, some chuckling, some disgusted she behaved in such a manner. Rainbow had finally calmed down from her laughter. "Just a friendly prank. I pull one on every new friend I meet." She grinned mischeivously. That prank was...funny. Really funny! Pinkie didn't even see a real life prank before! It was amazing! She felt her hair poof slightly and she laughed a little bit. Pinkie automatically decided that she liked this mare. Casual, perhaps egotistical but maybe that could help Pinkie balance her low self worth. "You a mute? You haven't said anything yet!" Rainbow Dash came off bluntly, staring at the bubble gum maned filly. "No. Bit upset is all. I've been having some troubles lately." "Oh...yeaaaah. No wonder you were in a hospital. My bad." Dash looked away uncertainly. "Sorry," she finally muttered. "It's okay. Why were you there? You look healthy to me." Rainbow Dash puffed her chest out proudly. "I'm a big sister! I have a new baby sis and she's so awesome and mama says she's orange with a violet mane-but she's setting her up for a-dahp-shun, whatever that means. Mama says she can't raise her. I bet it's because she's really strong and big like me or even daddy so nopony can pick her up!" Rainbow Dash dismissed it by waving her wing. "But I love her anyway and I know I'll always get to be with her!" Pinkie decided to keep quiet, as she knew perfectly well what adoption meant. She remembered when she first came to sugarcube corner and Mr. and Mrs. Cake discussed adopting Pinkie with a strange pony in a suit. Hopefully when Dash found out, it wouldn't be too hard on her. Pinkie said nothing, sipping at a soda she didn't remember a waitress putting there. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake said they can't have any kids right now," she said finally. "But the doctor said that he could try to make a baby for them with a sperm donor or something. But the doctor said the sperm donor is a pegasus, but has a lot of unicorn in their family, so they'll probably have a unicorn or pegasus baby, maybe even both, and Mrs. Cake is embarrassed about having a sperm donor, and she says Mr. Cake will have a lot of 'splaining to do when the baby's born! But that's not for another few years." Her mane was completely poofed up again. She was...content. Not happy, but satisfied. Dash grinned. "My sis is a full blood pegasus! Like me! But mama says I won't see her again for a while, but that's okay, when she comes back, I'll teach her to fly!" She buzzed in the air for a moment before dropping back into her chair. Pinkie laughed. "If I have a brother or sister that's a pegasus, will you teach them how to fly?" "Totally!" Rainbow squealed. "I'll teach 'em to fly through the air, and take them to Wonderbolts games, and camp with them at Rainbow Falls, and..." she trailed off, smiling with large sparkly eyes and her face in her hoof. "Just like I'll do with Scootaloo." > Help Me Be Okay > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie and Dash had finally finished their meal and started on their journey back to the hospital. Pinkie hadn't said much- she only really listened to Rainbow talk about herself, but that was perfectly fine. She understood what it felt like to be so excited to have a new baby sibling. She could still remember when Marble was born. It was an early Saturday morning, and she was born on the same bed that she and everyone else in the family had been born on. There were complications with her birth that almost killed her, as she had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck when she came out of the womb. Her mother had refused to go to the hospital. Luckily, Marble survived just fine, though it had caused a few neurological issues she would deal with in the future. She was truly a beautiful baby. "Dashie," Pinkie suddenly piped up, "How would you feel if...maybe...Scootaloo couldn't stay with you?" The smile on Rainbow's face fell. She stopped pushing Pinkie's wheelchair for a moment. "Why wouldn't she?" The pink pony bit her lip. She wasn't really sure how to answer that. "Just theoretically," she replied lamely. Luckily, that seemed suitable enough for the pegasus. "I don't know. I think I would do everything I could to keep that from happening. But if there was absolutely nothing I could do..." to Pinkie's surprise, Dash smiled. "I think I would just want her to be happy. I would be just fine as long as Scoots had parents that loved her." Pinkie Pie thought for a few minutes as Rainbow continued to push her wheelchair. "Look, I have to level with you," she said suddenly once again. "I'm adopted too, Dash. And adoption is when a foal is given different parents than the ones they were born from." When Rainbow looked confused, Pinkie continued. "Your mom is giving away Scootaloo to someone else." "No she's not," Rainbow Dash said simply. "You're playing a prank on me. That's sort of a mean joke, Pink." "I-I'm not joking," Pinkie said in a choked whisper. "I'm sorry, Dash." Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. Then she started running at full speed, pushing Pinkie's wheelchair with her. "Dashie! What are you doing!?" Pinkie screamed. At this point, Rainbow was flying and gripping the wheelchair at the same time, causing it to go at full acceleration. The earth pony gripped the sides of her wheelchair as she watched the scenery around her turn into nothing but streaky blurs. She didn't respond. Dash could feel hot tears fly from behind her as she continued to push the chair. Pinkie squeezed her eyes shut and prayed she wouldn't fall out. Then she was still. Pinkie carefully opened one eye. She was in a hospital room right behind Rainbow, who was staring down two blue ponies. Pinkie assumed they must be her parents. "Why are you giving her away?" Dash said with a stomp. "I didn't know you were giving her away! She's my baby sister! I want to keep her!" "We can't afford it, sweetheart," the older mare said quietly. "She has problems, Rainbow. Health problems. I love her with all my heart, but we don't have the money or the resources to help her." "What's wrong with her?" Rainbow further demanded. This time, her father answered. "Dash, all ponies have a little bit of magic in them. That's what helps unicorns cast spells, or helps earth ponies lift rocks, or..." he paused. "makes pegasi fly. Scootaloo doesn't have enough magic. We didn't even know if she would survive the night. She's going to need magical therapy and supplements for the rest of her life. We don't have the money for it." "I can raise money!" Dash shrieked, more hot tears falling off of her face. "I can...I can do it somehow! I can run a lemonade stand! I can get a job!" Her mother smiled sadly. "Oh, honey, that's so sweet. It won't be enough, though, Dash. There's nothing we can do. I promise that her new parents will love her just as much as you do. They'll provide her with everything she needs. She'll be happy, sweetheart. She'll be very happy." "I understand," Rainbow said, still crying bitterly. Her mother lifted a small bundle of blankets from her bed and gave it to the young mare. A small, orange foal was wrapped up in them. "I'm going to be there for you, little buddy," Dash said. "Always, no matter what." Then, more quietly, she whispered, "I'm going to become so rich and famous that I can give you everything. I'm going to be a Wonderbolt." -- "I'm sorry that I dragged you into that," Dash said as she wheeled Pinkie back to her room. "It's okay," she sighed. "I'm sorry I told you like that. It was none of my business." "Don't apologize, Pink. I'm glad you told me. And....I think....I think that everything's going to be okay." She pushed Pinkie Pie through her hospital door. She hesitated, then let out a hasty and awkward "Thank you" before closing the door. It wasn't long before it opened again. Mrs. Cake walked through the door and approached Pinkie. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Pinkie holding her in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry, mom. I love you so much. Thank you for everything." She felt Mrs. Cake's tears staining her coat. "I'm sorry too, Pinkie. I'm so sorry. I never should have sheltered you so much. You deserved to know." They stood there like that for what felt like hours. Finally, Pinkie spoke up again. "I'm ready to go home."