Through Pictures
This has to be some sort of hallucination, right?
...right?
These were the words going through his head as he stared at what he could only describe as a very oddly shaped, very pink pony-like creature that was staring right back at him with what appeared to be some semblance of fright.
Classes finished last week and marked the end of his third year of a bachelors of culinary science with a minor in physics. He hoped to be an experimental baker for a living and still wished he’d gotten one of the chef positions with the Army while he was enlisted but it never worked out. One required math course started in a couple weeks for his summer session.
Aside from assisting his parents with their catering business, he planned on just relaxing and decompressing after pushing through 18 units. Just relax and enjoy some nice quiet summer downtime.
Now he felt like the whole plan was rendered moot.
He didn’t know why he was thinking about such things when the weirdest thing to ever happen in his life was now staring back at him, peeking over the edge of the bed across from him the as he stared back at it the same way.
He woke up to a strange muffled thump and what sounded like some unhappy complaints about it. Though the second he opened his eyes to groggily stare at what the ruckus was, he yelped and rolled off the opposite side of his bed and onto the floor with a similar thump.
For the moments it took to shake his head a moment and blink away what should have just been a trick of the eye after just waking, he quickly calmed back down. Even laughed to himself that it must’ve been something he ate last night before bed.
Then he stood up and glanced at the far side of the bed just to casually confirm nothing was there before starting his day, earlier than intended or not.
And saw bright blue eyes staring back.
Another yelp and he ducked back behind the bed again. Panicked breaths rushed in and out of his lungs and he slowly peeked back over the edge of the bed to stare at those bright blue eyes again.
Now he was stuck in a staring contest he didn’t want to be in. Meeting a pair of widened, very bright blue eyes that stared right back. Seeming to mirror his own frightened expression.
The creature seemed to have pink fur and a darker pink head of straight hair that seemed to lay flat. What he guessed to be ears on top of it’s head were folded back. He only caught a glance at the creature before and wasn’t really sure what the rest of it’s body looked like just yet.
Finally, after staring at each other for over a minute and neither of them moving, he felt maybe the creature was just as scared as he was. It’s expression seemed very human-like in expressing uncertainty and apprehension. Maybe he could get a reaction if he said hello?
“Um...hi there…?” He managed, a bit more squeaky than he intended.
The creature’s eyebrows raised and it’s eyes seemed to take on a more curious appearance before it made a sound he could only assume was a linguistic response, despite having no understanding of what it said.
Taking this as a sign to try something further, he raised his head a little higher so his chin just barely cleared the edge of the bed and waved at it slowly for a moment, hoping it’s expression was the same as a human’s and didn’t mean it was somehow stalking him for food or something. Voice slightly steadier now, “Y-you’re...friendly, right?”
The creature seemed to mimic his movement as it’s head rose, seeming to wave at him with what looked like a hoof. Again, it seemed to respond verbally but the sound was like no language he’d ever heard. Not that he was familiar with anything beyond english anyway.
Deciding it was at least not an immediate threat, he let himself relax slightly and trying to start thinking this crazy experience through a bit more, at least as much as the situation would let him. A strange, fuzzy pink alien of some kind was sitting there, on the other side of his bed, staring back at him with those brilliant bright blue eyes it had.
He gave it an uncomfortable smile and wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or scared when it again seemed to do the same in return. Seriously, if it was expressing emotion like a human, the creature seemed just as tense as he was. He could deal with that easier than something trying to eat him. Not that he was dismissing that possibility just yet when the creature could be biding it’s time. At least it didn’t look like a predator at all.
After another minute of silent staring, he decided to try introductions. That was a good place to start with an alien, right?
Glancing to one side a moment before looking back at those blue eyes, he gave it a shot and gestured to himself with a hand, “Peter…”
The creature’s ears seemed to rise a bit, still low but not flat to it’s skull as it’s eyes seemed to grow curious as it’s hair seemed to fluff itself slightly? That looked so weird, but he brushed it off as it raised a hoof and seemed to gesture at itself before vocalizing something he guessed was it’s name. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. The sound was odd to him and he wasn’t sure he could replicate it correctly.
Deciding to try again, he gestured to himself, “Peter,” before gesturing to the creature again with a questioning look, starting to feel a bit more relaxed as time went on.
Again, it gestured to itself and said something he didn’t quite know how to replicate, then gestured to him and vocalized, “Perer.”
Shaking his head, he corrected the creature briefly, “Peter.”
Tilting it’s head, he heard it mumble to itself as it sounded out his name a couple times before looking back at him, “Peter?”
With a smile, Peter nodded. Now that they’d covered his name, he had to attempt the strange sounds the creature made. Something in it just didn’t sound humanly possible, unfortunately. He wasn’t sure if that was entirely true or not though, since he hadn’t learned a second language before.
He frowned as he thought about the sounds necessary, which seemed to get a similar response from the creature in turn as it gave a wary frown of it’s own. Giving the attempt a shot, he tried replicating what he thought was the creature’s name, but the creature seemed to scrunch up it’s muzzle with an unhappy look. He had the distinct feeling he wasn’t very close.
Another attempt brought a similar result.
Grumbling to himself, he pondered trying again, absently mumbling to himself, “Not sure how to make the sounds you did. Be easier if I could just call you Pink or Pinkie or something.”
Before Peter could make another attempt though, the creature seemed to gasp as his eyes snapped back to it. He noticed the creature pause as it’s right ear flopped twice, head twitch left, then a muscle in it’s shoulder visibly spasm a few times. Then it seemed to smile at him a bit more pleasantly, staring back at him with a hopeful look as it spoke, “Pinkie.”
After a moment of blinking, he raised a brow and pointed at the creature on a random guess, “...Pinkie?”
The creature seemed to smile a little wider before giving a small nod, gesturing at itself, “Pinkie.”
Peter smirked a little at that, feeling like progress was made, giving a small wave, “Hello, Pinkie.”
The creature seemed a little more relaxed and returned to wave, saying what he guessed was a hello before saying his name again. Peter felt he’d try something else to help establish friendly relations, seeing as things were off to a decent start.
Clearing his throat briefly, Peter held up his hands before making fists and bumped them together as the creature watched. Then leaning across the bed slowly, he held out a fist, his arm only halfway across the bed as he watched the creature.
After looking at him quizzically for a moment, it seemed to understand what he was suggesting and smiled again, slowly reaching across the bed with a hoof and bumping it to his fist. Something about the contact made them both smile more openly after that, pausing for several seconds before pulling back their limbs.
Deciding he’d had enough time on his knees, Peter slowly got to his feet and stood up. This seemed to earn a startled gasp from Pinkie though, as the creature seemed to shrink behind the bed and it’s hair flatten again.
Peter blinked for a moment, then realized he probably looked huge to the creature he was suspecting walked on four legs, if having hooves where hands would be meant anything. He stayed still, watching the creature slowly perk back up when he didn’t make any threatening moves. Peter wasn’t sure but he started to assume that ‘Pinkie’ was possibly from some sort of non-hunting prey species. He also didn’t know why his first thought was to try talking to the creature and still wasn’t quite sure how to process that it seemed to be talking back in a fashion he assumed was an at least reasonably intelligent fashion. Serious philosophical pondering could wait until later.
Slowly, he extended a fist towards Pinkie, finding himself thinking of the creature as a ‘she’ for the coloration and he’d just assume as much for now, he called her name softly in a questioning tone, “Pinkie?”
She seemed to hesitate, then reached up and bumped her hoof against his fist again, holding it there for a couple seconds with a relieved smile before withdrawing her hoof again.
Pondering how he was going to communicate with Pinkie when they spoke different languages, he decided he could at least try and be accommodating to his unusual guest. Humming to himself for a moment and looking at his bed, he decided to grab his colored pencils and a pad of paper that he liked to sketch doodles with on occasion.
Returning to the side of the bed again, he set the materials down on the nightstand and proceeded to fix the sheets a bit before sitting on the edge of the bed. Then he patted the bed with a hopefully calming smile and gestured for her to join him.
Looking curious, Pinkie hesitated before smiling a bit more and hopping up. Peter quickly confirmed she was quadrupedal as she stood there on the far side of the bed, watching him with interest.
There was some kind of design on her flank. It looked to be a trio of balloons, whatever that meant. She took a seat a little closer when he patted the bed again, her head tilted in a way Peter had to admit was kind of adorable.
He gave her a smile and picked up the pencils and pad of paper again, starting to work up a simple sketch. She leaned closer, watching him work.
Before long he had a crude, but hopefully clear enough picture. A pair of stick figures, one representing himself in black pencil and the other done in pink that seemed to stand on four legs. A pink foreleg seemed to be holding an arm with both figures smiling. Peter hoped she got the message he wanted to be friends.
A moment of her looking at the picture led to a gasp and a smile before she held out a foreleg to him. Peter smiled and slowly raised his arm before clasping his hand around her hoof, giving it a gentle pump of a handshake.
“Nice make a new friend, Pinkie.”
She seemed to say something similar in response, along with his name. Her smile was seemingly bright as her blue eyes now, her hair seeming to be quite poofy in it’s curly mass and nothing like the flat straight look it had earlier. Maybe he could ask what was different about her hair in time, considering that was quite odd for what appeared to be ordinary hair like his own.
At a thought, Peter looked at the pencils and paper again, then decided to hold them out to her with a questioning look, knowing she wouldn’t understand the words at all but hopefully the gesture was easy, “Would you like to try drawing something?”
She blinked, then grinned widely before nodding with what he assumed was a word of confirmation before she took the pencils and pad of paper in mouth and set them down in turn, proceeding to draw her own picture.
Peter was a bit surprised when she seemed to narrow her eyes in a playful fashion before moving the paper where he couldn’t see what she was drawing, a smile on her face the whole time. He just blinked at that, then chuckled lightly and left her to it. Deciding to grab his desk chair as it was a little more comfortable for sitting up in than the bed was. Pinkie watched him with curiousity for a moment as he rolled it closer to the bed and sat down, then turned her attention back to drawing. Peter found it intriguing that she seemed to be drawing with the pencils held in her mouth like it was perfectly normal. He surmised it may very well be normal for her kind, whatever pony-people she was from. And he tried not to think about how sanitary grasping things with one’s mouth on a regular basis would be.
After a few minutes, she seemed satisfied and got his attention again after Peter wandered off in thought as he pondered his strange guest. When he focused his eyes on Pinkie again, she held out several pages to him. Curious what she had been drawing, he looked at the first page.
As he looked at what she drew, he noted it was done in a similar simple stick figure style to what he’d drawn before. What really caught his attention was the drawings themselves, starting with one that seemed to depict Pinkie with a lavender pony-person, with what he thought looked like a darker purple mane and tail, appearing to have a horn and making glowy effects. A unicorn? A few background details made him think they were standing in a library.
The next page seemed to show a similar scene, except stick Pinkie was surrounded by a glowy circle and the lavender stick unicorn looked upset, then the same scene on the next page, the stick unicorn was left, seeming to be crying but stick Pinkie seemed falling through a glowy puddle, an unhappy look on stick Pinkie’s face.
Then an image of of stick Pinkie falling out of a glowy puddle and into a room that was very simplified but easy to recognize as Peter’s. Followed by an image of the two of them hiding on either side of the bed, looking surprised.
With just a few pages left, Peter got the sense that the lavender unicorn was probably studying hard to get Pinkie back. Another four pony-people seemed to be helping. The last page was kind of endearing to Peter.
There seemed to be six pony-people all smiling. Each had their own body and mane colors that Peter guessed were the colors of what were Pinkie’s best friends, maybe her family.
What really got his attention though, was the six symbols that Peter noticed were associated with one pony-person each. Pinkie’s symbol looked like the balloons on her flank, so Peter surmised the other pony-people had something similar to their respective symbol. Another curious point was each pony-person appeared to be wearing some kind of necklace, with the lavender unicorn seeming to wear some kind of tiara. He didn’t know what it really meant but thought it was probably important. Maybe he’d get to meet Pinkie’s friends when they found her to bring her home.
Surprising himself a bit, Peter hoped it wasn’t too soon. Pinkie was turning out to be rather fun, despite knowing each other for little more than an hour. Strange as the whole experience was, something about her was remarkably disarming.
Taking a stab in the dark, Peter held up the last picture to Pinkie in hopes of either getting her to try and talk about her kind a little or maybe just help her feel a little at ease by venting or something. Not speaking the same language made it hard to deal with more complex stuff.
Much to his relief, Pinkie gave a small smile when he held up the picture with all her friends and started pointing to them as she named them one by one. Somehow, she seemed to sag a little with a sad expression and left Peter thinking she was worried she might not see them again.
After a moment to think, he decided to draw another quick picture. In short order, he had stick figures of the two of them hugging and Peter really hoped she would understand his wanting to cheer her up as he held it out to her while giving her a hopeful look.
Peter watched her look nervous, glancing between the picture of her friends, the picture of a hug, and back at him before she settled her eyes on him and moved a bit closer. Peter just held his arms out and waited, soon welcoming a strange pink pony-person into what was the most memorable hug of his life up to that day.
Pinkie held tight after a little more hesitation, tiny quivers he assumed were from stress and fear made themselves known as she sat in his arms. All Peter did was hug her back just as tight, letting his own earlier panic melt off his shoulders in relief, feeling confident his odd visitor would be be safe to be around and hoping she felt the same. That alone was a huge weight to release right then and left him feeling lighter.
The hug wound up lasting a good two minutes before Pinkie pulled back, sniffling a little but looking relieved and calmer. Peter just gave her a small smile, glad it helped them both.
Before he could think of anything else however, his stomach decided it was a good time to remind him that he was supposed to have breakfast. The audible growling rumble made Pinkie flinch for a second as she eyed him a bit warily but Peter just chuckled and waved her off before grabbing the pad of paper and the pencils again.
A brief bit of pencils on paper, Peter held up a drawing of his stickfigure self with a chef’s hat, holding out a muffin or cupcake to stick Pinkie. The resulting gasp and delighted look was not what he was expecting, nor was her snatching the picture from him and drawing on it herself. When she returned it to him, her stickfigure self had it’s own chef’s hat and also held up a muffin or cupcake.
Peter blinked in confusion for several seconds, then the realization came to him that she was some kind of baker where she came from too. He just kept staring at the picture and back at Pinkie a few times. After a bit, he just chuckled and gave a shake of his head.
“Well Pinkie, I suppose we should go into the kitchen and get some breakfast. I hope you like the leftover blueberry muffins I made last night.” Peter commented to her, knowing she wouldn’t understand it but felt better for saying it as he stood up and motioned for her to follow him.
He watched Pinkie’s hopeful eyes for a second before she moved to hop off the bed with a smile. Upon witnessing the little rump shake she did beforehand though, he just smiled all the wider at the silliness he found himself in and enjoying every second more than he would admit.
Pinkie’s hooves clopped along behind him as he led her to the kitchen. Peter was not prepared for what happened when she saw it.
With a louder gasp than before, Pinkie shot forward and started dashing all over the kitchen, looking at the stove, the oven, started looking in every cabinet and giving another gasp of what he was assuming was surprised delight every time she saw baking supplies. She even squealed with absolute adorableness upon seeing his well-stocked pantry focused on baking materials for his cupcake experiments. She seemed to almost float and bounce everywhere as she finished looking it all over. When she turned to him, she had a huge grin on her face and looked ready to burst in excitement.
Peter gave a small laugh before motioning her to the table in the dining area as he went to grab some of those blueberry muffins. He felt a strong sense of being very glad he hadn’t planned anything whatsoever today, and it wasn’t because of his visitor’s appearance somehow.
“You are incredibly adorable, Pinkie. I don’t know why you appeared out of nowhere but I’m glad to have met you. This is already something I’ll never forget, no matter how long you’re here.” Peter said with another laugh as he set a pair of muffins in front of her.
After grabbing a couple glasses of milk to go with the muffins, Peter took a seat at the table himself, seeing Pinkie analyzing the muffins with a critical eye that reminded him of nothing so much as his own approach when evaluating a test batch of fresh baked goods. She even gave a couple calculated sniffs in a similar way before taking a test bite. He wasn’t even going to try to figure out how she got the paper liner off when he wasn’t looking.
Upon seeing her expression light up after getting a taste, Peter had a strange sense of pride. If she was a baker, and familiar with blueberry muffins, then seeing approval from what constituted a professional acceptance of his efforts was a nice feeling indeed. Just seeing her look of delight was rewarding, but that extra bit made it even more special.
He had a laugh a bit more after her careful consumption of the first muffin gave way to the devouring of the second with gusto. He was just starting his second by the time she had gulped down all her milk to wash it down.
She got a thoughtful expression after a bit, then darted off to his bedroom again and coming back with the pad of paper and colored pencils from earlier before Peter had time to do more than blink.
When he saw her coming back, he relaxed back in his chair assuming she wanted to try and draw a picture to tell him something again. The soft scratching of pencil on paper was heard for a bit as he worked on finishing his second muffin.
Pinkie presented the new drawing after a short while. It looked to depict her using the kitchen to cook. Added with the hopeful expression and gesturing from herself to the kitchen, her voice sounded eager, “Peter...?”
More out of surprise than anything, he gave her a blank look of confusion at first before growing very, very curious and decided at worst, he’d have a big mess to clean up but no real harm in it so he gave her a smile and nodded with a wave of his hand at the kitchen.
Pinkie gave another squeal of delight, jumped up and gave him a sudden surprise hug before beginning to dart around the kitchen.
As Peter sat in the chair and watched her running around, he was astounded at not only how fast she moved, but how efficient and practiced it all looked as various items found their way onto the counter. The pantry door didn’t even get a chance to close as she dashed in and out grabbing flour, sugar and a multitude of other things.
He had to admit, watching her like this was all but solid proof she was experienced at this.
While he had been expecting she would need some assistance with the oven or something, she never so much as blinked at it long enough to review the controls before taking care of it. The only unusual thing about watching her work was everything she did was by hand, well hoof. She wasn’t using any mixer or other appliance but it did look like she was a master of the manual techniques. How she was holding things so well with one hoof just didn’t make any sense, but she was accomplishing it just fine so he didn’t interrupt.
It didn’t take too long before the oven was heated and the first batch of what looked to be cupcakes was placed inside to bake. As that was going, Pinkie grabbed various things for what he guessed was frosting, a cherry-based kind by the look of it.
Peter was surprised at just how attentive Pinkie was to the oven, too. She actually adjusted the temperature once when the cupcakes were likely halfway done. He couldn’t figure out if she had to correct the temperature due to misinterpreting the dial or if she knew some kind of special trick. All things considered, he was impressed.
At one point, Peter did get up to take a closer look at the goings on, but Pinkie was quick to jump in front of him before he’d gone more than two steps, blocking his path and pointing her hoof back at the chair with a big grin. It was obvious enough that he was being asked to wait until the cupcakes were done and she wanted to surprise him in some fashion.
When the cupcakes came out, the sudden increase of their delicious scent gave Peter a particular smile. Something about the smell of sweet confections baked just right always gave it to him. The particular kind didn’t matter as much as it was memories of growing up around his mother and father baking endless tasty things for the multitude of parties and events they were contracted for. The scent of these was reminding him of some kind of vanilla creme and leaving him eager for a taste of what Pinkie created.
It wasn’t much longer that Peter was looking at a perfect cupcake with the dark pink cherry frosting in a perfect little swirl. It was like an advertisement for baked goods, it was that ideal and it blew his mind that it was sitting in front of him like this. He flashed Pinkie an approving grin before he decided to give it a real evaluation.
He held the cupcake up, slowly studying it from different angles and taking a couple sniffs, noting with an approving sound in his throat that everything was right before he began pulling off the paper that held it, relishing the warmth of the treat against his fingers as he imagined the taste from how good it smelled.
Taking the first bite though, that proved to be his undoing as the merging of what really was a wonderful vanilla creme flavored cake along with the creamy cherry frosting that had perfectly proportioned bits of minced cherry mixed in. Every bite was heaven and he just closed his eyes with a goofy grin as he savored the lingering delight on his tongue.
When he did turn his eyes to Pinkie, she had a tense grin on her face, almost yelling out her hope of approval. Peter just chuckled and gave her two thumbs up.
The confused look on her face wasn’t what he was expecting, lifting a hoof and looking at it before looking back at his raised thumbs with a blink.
After another chuckle, he reached for another cupcake from the plate Pinkie had placed on the table, letting her see just how much he enjoyed them. He even held one out to her with a smile, which she took with a relieved smile of her own.
With that done, Peter decided to make something himself, thinking he should show Pinkie some of his own baking abilities now. Something a bit dramatic perhaps, his mind soon settling on a mild spicy recipe that used some poblano peppers.
He ushered her back to the table with a smile, motioning for her to stay put, “My turn, Pinkie.”
Using a second set of bowls and bakeware, he quickly set about whipping up his own cupcakes and special frosting. As he pulled out the peppers, the wary, uncertain look she had just gave him a knowing smirk, thinking she was uninitiated to the wonders of spicy confections. He did make a point of using the automatic mixer and other helpful tools though, giving Pinkie’s wide-eyed wonder a playful grin in return.
It wasn’t long before he had a batch of poblano chocolate cupcakes frosted and on the table, placing one in front of Pinkie’s curious gaze. Taking one for himself, he just smirked as she watched him enjoy it before turning her eyes to her own.
Pinkie performed another analytical assessment of the new cupcake, giving him another wary look before she took the first bite.
He just gave a smug grin as he watched her eyes widen in surprised delight as she truly began to enjoy it. He even laughed a bit as she greedily consumed three more.
“Peter…?” Pinkie said as she held out a hoof with an approving smile after finishing the last one.
“Glad you enjoyed them so much, Pinkie,” he said, bumping his fist against her hoof in mutual acknowledgement of skill.
As Peter was cleaning up the kitchen a bit, Pinkie being kind enough to help with the dishes, he had an idea. He had all day and didn’t know how long Pinkie would be around, trying not to think about what he’d do if she was stuck in the long term. They had all day to bake and he wanted to try baking something with her.
He grabbed paper and pencils again and did another quick drawing, showing them both using the kitchen together. Another few drawings Peter hoped got across the message that she could show him how to make something, then he’d show her how to make something else. The resulting broad grin and nodding he got was all he needed and they got started on making more goodies.
Peter knew he’d have to go to the store tomorrow to restock, but that was tomorrow. The expenditure of supplies would be well worth it and he hoped for several new recipes for the family business by the end of it.
The two of them wound up baking for another four hours. Cookies and cakes of various kinds to the point they started using the living room furniture to place plates of treats. Between the two of them, it went quickly and they pranked each other at random, finding similar humor.
At one point, Pinkie tried to boop Peter’s nose with frosting and wound up slipping. Peter tried to twist to catch her but his shoe slipped on something spilled who knew when. It was a stroke of crazy luck that Pinkie’s hoof caught the edge of a bowl of batter they were about to pour into a pan for a rather large red velvet cake. They outpaced the bowl to the floor as it landed on Pinkie’s head, splattering the two of them with a rather large amount of cake batter.
Peter was hit square in the face and blinded by batter as he spluttered, his arms still holding Pinkie to his chest as he started chuckling. It wasn’t long before Pinkie joined him and it grew into uproarious laughter at the absurdity.
As the two of them laughed together, Peter found himself realizing he enjoyed Pinkie’s company far more than he expected, in a way he hadn’t expected. His laughter changed a little, got a bit softer as he found he was going to miss her a lot when she went home. She’d been around half a day and he felt like she would be a true lifelong friend.
While he was giggling and lost in thought, he realized Pinkie had stopped laughing, but hadn’t moved. A hand wiped away cake batter from his eyes so he could see again.
When his eyes opened, he blinked.
They weren’t in his kitchen anymore.
He looked at Pinkie and noticed she was looking past him in astonishment and elation. He tilted his head to follow her gaze and saw something that made his heart skip.
There were five other ponies standing around them, looking at the messy pair with expressions of utter shock.
Peter gave one back as he poked Pinkie in the shoulder, voice getting nervous, “Pinkie…?”
She looked down at him with that huge grin and started jabbering at him, then at the ponies in the room that reminded him of that library she’d drawn before. Another moment to think, he realized they were all the same colors as that one drawing she did of what Peter assumed were her friends.
They figured out how to bring her home.
And he got dragged along by accident.
Considering he was comfortable with Pinkie, he didn’t feel the need to panic as he nudged her to hop off of him and he sat up next to her. Her friends seemed to be torn between focusing on their missing friend and the unexpected arrival now in their midst as Pinkie kept talking away.
After a good ten seconds past too long, the lavender unicorn yelled over Pinkie’s jabbering, shouting what sounded like Pinkie’s name like she had told him before. That got Pinkie to stop talking, at least for a couple seconds before she seemed to ask a question of the lavender unicorn, excitedly waving a hoof at Peter for some reason.
Peter watched the lavender unicorn give a thoughtful expression for a moment, then nodding before looking at him. He felt a surge of trepidation as his hand rested on Pinkie’s shoulder, swallowing thickly as the unicorn’s horn glowed in his direction for a few seconds.
When the unicorn nodded at Pinkie, she turned to Peter with a gleeful expression, “Can you understand me, Peter?”
Peter blinked and looked at her in disbelief, “What…? How did…? I can understand you now…”
Pinkie gasped and glomped him at that, giggling like mad before announcing to her friends with a massive grin, “Girls! I made a friend on a whole different world! His name is Peter and he’s a confectioner with all kinds of really, really yummy recipes I can’t wait to show you! Oh, and since he’s here, I get to throw him a welcome to Ponyville party! Oh, and we can show the Cakes a whole bunch of super scrumptious new treats! You also have to help me recreate some things I saw while I was there Twilight! He had these really super duper neat kitchen tools I just know you could make if you knew what to try for! Oh, and Peter! These are my bestest friends! There’s--”
A lavender hoof stopped Pinkie’s tirade with an exasperated sigh as the unicorn looked at Peter, “Ok...obviously Pinkie thinks you’re not dangerous. That said, give us a little time to adjust because we’ve never seen a creature like you before and obviously you’re capable of speech. Since my spell was supposed to enforce finding a safe place for Pinkie to land if the teleportation didn’t function properly and she found you, I am assuming you are safe to be around ponies.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle. We’ve been trying to get Pinkie back for five days and worried out of our minds that she was in danger or hurt. We’re all exhausted from almost no sleep and not in a good state to be the most friendly we can be so please keep in mind while we’re elated to see Pinkie safe, you look like a predator species based on your eyes and teeth. I’d like you to just stay on my couch until I have a chance to talk to you so you don’t scare anypony here in town. Bear with us until tomorrow and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have then. You will be treated with respect unless you become threatening. Do you understand?”
Peter blinked at the tired sounding, very diplomatic words he was just told, “Uh...I guess? The only reason I’m not freaked out right now is because of Pinkie. I’m mostly just overwhelmed at the moment, so some quiet couch time will probably help me cope. Should I...just go sit on it now?”
Twilight gave a tired nod with a half-hearted smile, “I would appreciate that. Most everything will have to wait until tomorrow so we handle things the right way. Don’t worry about making a mess on my couch as I know you’re in need of a bath and can’t help your present situation. I am sure I will be quite entertained to hear about why the two of you are covered in cake batter in the morning.”
Peter just gave a stiff nod, standing and sitting himself down on the couch in the room. He noticed Twilight’s horn glow again as she watched him and without knowing what happened, was quick to fall asleep from the sleep spell that would last until the following morning.
***
Pinkie finished decorating the cake order she had been working on, happy with how the decorative frosting roses looked on Roseluck’s birthday cake.
A tail swish, left hindleg wiggle, an airy burp from her Pinkie Sense and Pinkie gave a small sigh with a gentle smile, knowing Peter was needing a friend again.
“Mrs. Cake? Do you mind if I call it a day a little early? We’re about done anyway and I think Peter needs a friend again,” she called out to the front.
“Oh go right ahead, dear. You go put a smile back on his face and help that nice young stallion enjoy his day off. Celestia knows how much help him and his recipes improved business!” Mrs. Cake called back.
“Thanks Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie replied.
It was a couple minutes later that Pinkie knocked on Peter’s door upstairs in the small bedroom he’d come to call his own. When he said to come in, she was quick to do so.
Peter was laying on his bed with a lost look on his face like he’d had often in the past year and a half. He took it hard at first when Twilight found she couldn’t send him home and needed to research the problem. He took it harder four months later when she’d told him it was almost impossible due to his magical signature was scrambled by how he arrived and Twilight couldn’t use him as a focus to locate where he came from.
Pinkie did her best to keep him cheered up and he told her almost every day how much it meant to him, how it kept him sane while wondering how his family felt with his sudden disappearance from a small house full of treats all over the place and a mess in the kitchen. The Cakes were happy to have him work at Sugarcube Corner and his joy of baking helped him work his way through coming to terms with his situation.
Even now, he had a strong surge of homesickness as much as once a month, though it was getting better. He’d made friends with many of the ponies in town through Pinkie. He was building a new life and finding peace with it all but it still hit him hard at times. Sometimes he even couldn’t find the words and drew Pinkie a picture of something he remembered.
Pinkie hopped up onto his bed and lay beside Peter, giving his shoulder a nuzzle.
Peter looked over at her with a sad smile, “You always know when I’m down. That Pinkie Sense of yours hasn’t been wrong yet, has it?”
Pinkie giggled and shook her head, “Nope! No matter what, I’ll know when you need a smile! So how can your bestest friend Pinkie Pie help her favorite human today?”
In response, Peter held up a drawing and gave it to her.
It was a simple thing much like the stickfigure drawings they’d used when they first met in his home all because Twilight sneezed at the exact wrong time during a complex spell experiment. The drawing displayed several stick ponies paired together with a heart over each couple, but in the middle was a sad looking human by himself. Pinkie could almost feel the sadness flowing out of the picture and off of her friend.
“I...well the past few months… I’ve…,” Peter started, looking more tired than he did a minute ago, “I think I’ve gotten over being stuck here in Equestria. I’m building a life that does make me happy enough, but…”
Pinkie nuzzled his cheek this time before she withdrew and gave him a somber smile, knowing he needed quiet Pinkie right now, “But...you worry you’ll always be alone?”
He sighed, “More or less. I’m so different from ponies. I can’t help but wonder...could a pony ever love me?”
Outwardly, Pinkie was still calm even as her smile got wider, “Peter, look at me and close your eyes for a second.”
Peter did as she asked, his eyes closing as he wondered what kind of imagination game Pinkie wanted to play this time. His eyes popped open a moment later as he felt Pinkie’s lips find his and he just froze in place, floored at what was happening as he watched her face so close to his own, her eyes closed as the kiss went on for long seconds. It was just a gentle touch. No fancy lip motions or anything. Just a pure and simple kiss that conveyed how much she cared.
It left Peter breathless.
When she pulled back to look at him with a sly, knowing smile, Peter stammered a bit, “Wha… P-Pinkie, you…?”
Giggling, Pinkie gave him another peck, “Just waiting till you were ready, Peter. I was a little worried for the past few months that you might never get there, you know. I know you explained how it was on Earth with humans being romantic with something other than a human and how you totally have no other intelligent races to choose from and how it’s all taboo and silly things like that. You needed to be ready before anypony could approach you. And to answer your question...there’s already a pony that does.”
Pinkie moved in and gave him a much deeper kiss, giving a small happy sound when he responded and pressed in further before she drew away with a smack. Her grin was huge to go along with her flushed cheeks and dancing eyes.
“About time, Peter! I’ve been waiting so long to do that!” Pinkie said with another giggle.
Peter gave a short laugh, feeling far more relaxed and a lot happier as the realization made it’s way through his thoughts, “I...well, you know you make me happier than any of my other friends, Pinkie. I do have to ask though...why me?”
With an almost bashful giggle, she snuggled in close to Peter before nuzzling into his neck, “Because you’re always there for me when nopony else is. You’re with me when almost every party ends and everypony else goes home. For the longest time, all I ever got at the end of a party was lonely. You love baking tasty things for everypony just as much as I do and love making everypony smile. You love being a silly billy with me and getting back at Rainbow Dash when she tries to prank us or help us prank other friends. Most of all, you make me smile more than anypony else. Maybe you should ask, why would it be anypony else but you?”
Peter pulled her closer and held her to his chest as he rolled on his side, smiling as they snuggled together. After a minute, he nudged her chin up and met her in a more intense kiss, his emotions running in all directions inside as he pulled her tighter to her giggling delight, her tail starting to sway like it did when she got a particular kind of giddy playfulness with him that Peter realized now made a lot more sense. Pony flirting practices were still mysterious to him.
Withdrawing from the kiss as his mind cleared almost as much as it got fuzzy, Peter looked her in the eye, “I can’t believe it took so long to...well, be ready I guess. Thank you for waiting. I love you, Pinkie.”
Pinkie grinned wider than ever as the elation made her feel like she was floating.
“I love you too, Peter.”