Inky Scribbles, with the help of Pinkie and Derpy, tries to find his smile.
Inky Scribbles, co-author of the slightly famous Nightmare Night Mystery series with his best friend Mystic Waters, moves to Ponyville after his heart is shattered. After meeting the party pony Pinkie and the mailmare Derpy, can they help him reclaim what he lost?
"The worst thing about being lied to is knowing you weren’t worth the truth."
~;~
He urged his wings to flap faster, putting all his energy into escaping the Griffin squadron. He found a few air currents that propelled him faster; he could see the safety of Whitetail Forest.
He felt an increase in air pressure and briefly glanced around, only to swiftly flip to the left as a spear sailed through where he was moments ago. He heard the flapping of their wings before he felt them behind him.
He flipped so he could face them, a full squadron of Griffin soldiers. They stopped as he stared at them in silence.
"Give us the blade and you won't be harmed." The one in the front said.
He raised his eyebrow. "So you can enslave Equestria? Like hay I will!"
"So be it." The leader said, pulling his rapier out of its holster before charging at-
"No that's not right either." A unicorn grumbled, ripping the paper out of the typewriter before crumpling it up and tossing it towards the trash can. He slammed his head down the table, the typewriter jumping.
"You ok Scribbles?" A voice from the doorway asked.
The pony in question lifted his head off the table and looked at the pony who spoke; it was his friend Mystic. Mystic was a unicorn that always wore a black vest over his dark brown coat. He had a short spiky black mane that didn’t cover his dull gold eyes. His cutie mark was a swirling black hole.
"I'm fine Mystic, just stuck on the battle scene." He raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you had a date with Sunchaser?"
Mystic blushed. "Yeah… well, her family came in from Trottingham and I thought it was rude to intrude."
"But you two have been dating for two years now; I think they know about you."
"It's…complicated." He said, scraping his forehoof against the ground. He looked at the clock on the wall. "Hey, didn't you have a date tonight too?"
Scribbles looked at the clock and grimaced. "Oh pony feathers, I'm gonna be late!" He yelled, jumping out of the seat and hopping over the unicorn.
"Why don’t you just teleport home?" Mystic yelled over his shoulder.
Scribbles stopped in mid gallop. "Oh yeah…" He said, slapping his face with his hoof before he looked at Mystic. "I'll see you later."
"Good luck Romero." Mystic chuckled as he headed into their office.
Scribbles nodded and a bright flash blinded Mystic as Scribbles teleported away. Mystic chuckled as he levitated another piece of paper into the typewriter and began to write what Scribbles couldn’t.
[….]
"Shower, check; brushed teeth…" Scribbles paused briefly, opening his mouth to check his teeth in the bathroom mirror, which were clean. "Check; bad breath." He blew against his hoof and angled it so he could smell his breath, which smelt like Colgate toothpaste. "Check." He checked his appearance in the mirror; his ember coat was clean and neat, his wavy brown mane cleaned and brushed, revealing his horn in the middle. He checked to make sure his short tail was trimmed and brushed; he glanced at his cutie mark, a pen wrapped in a scroll.
"Well… everything seems to be in order." He chuckled, straightening his suit before heading towards the front door and opening and closing it with a faint use of his magic.
He walked through Manehattan, the streets crowded tonight as he slowly made his way to Moonbeam's house. His face broke into a smile as he thought of the beautiful unicorn, her silver mane styled neatly and her light cyan coat glimmering in the moonlight.
Tonight will be the night. He felt his breast pocket, feeling the small ring box snuggled tightly in the center. He blushed, imagining the scene; he bent down on a hoof, opening the box revealing the majestic horn ring to her as she tearfully said yes.
He finally reached her house on the other side of the city and politely knocked on the door three times. He could hear something inside the house and stood there, debating if he should just enter the house when the door flung open and Moonbeam stood before him, her silver mane disheveled and her cyan fur matted.
"Oh… hey Inky, what are you doing here?" She asked, her voice a bit shaky.
"I'm here for our date." He said, looking at her with concern. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine… and I thought it was next Friday." She said, looking behind her.
"No… it was today. We talked about it yesterday."
"Oh… oh yeah; sorry Inky I forgot." She said. "I'm helping my mother get ready for next week in the store, so I gotta go..."
"But didn’t your parents leave last week to visit your mom's sister?"
"Uh… uh… no… that was…"
"What's going on Moonbeam? You're acting funny."
"Nothing… nothing at all."
"He's not buying it babe." A stallion said from behind her.
"Who the hay is that?" Scribbles asked, anger starting to be heard in his voice.
She looked at him sympathetically. "This isn't how I wanted you to find out Inky."
"Find out what?!"
She moved aside and a stallion walked up next to her. He was rather large for a pegasus, nearly double the average size. His coat was dirt brown and had the same color mane. If it wasn’t for the wings, Scribbles would've sworn it was an earth pony. His bright blue eyes stared at Scribbles however, full of pity and contempt.
"Scribbles… this is Cloudduster… my coltfriend." Moonbeam whispered.
Scribbles stared in shock, looking between the two. Tears welled up in his eyes. "But… I thought we were…"
"I'm sorry, I've been meaning to tell you that I wanted to break up but I met Cloudduster… and I just got caught up in things." She said.
"Oh… I get it. You were waiting for me to run out of money and suck all the jewelry and dinners and movies you could get out of me before you were gonna end it, weren't you?" Scribbles said quietly, his voice full of pure fury. "Well don’t worry, you don’t have to. I hope you have fun with your new colt toy."
"Inky!" She said, her face going red with embarrassment.
"Don’t you ever call me Inky again Moonbeam! But don’t worry, you'll never have to." He said, before teleporting away. They were blinded by the flash and didn’t see the two tear drops fall and hit the pavement.
[….]
Mystic yawned as he set the piece of paper on top of the others. He stretched his back and was awarded with a few pops. "Ah… much better." He mumbled as he hopped out of the chair and made sure everything was locked up before he left for the night. I'm sure Inky didn’t open the windows… like usual... He walked towards the only window in the room and made sure it was locked. As he turned around, another bright flash blinded him again. "Ugh, what the hay?" He paused as he saw Inky curled in a ball, his body shaking as he cried, his forehooves covering his face. "Inky, what the hay happened?"
Inky was silent and the only noise in the room was Inky's crying.
"Inky?" Mystic asked, frowning as he watched his best friend continue to remain silent on the floor.
"It's over Mystic… it's over… and there wasn’t anything to begin with." Inky whispered, his voice hoarse.
[….]
Inky stared at the ring, the golden band shining brightly in the sunlight. He sighed quietly, shutting the ring box and tucked it away in his pocket. After telling Mystic everything that had happened, Inky immediately went home, packed his apartment easily in his saddlebags and found his landlord. He talked her out of his lease and got what money he could before he headed down to the train station. He quickly asked for the farthest town away and the seller gave him a ticket to some town called Ponyville. He paid for the ticket and waited for the train.
As the train came closer, he thought about ending it all and jumping in front of it but chickened out at the last second. Instead, he sluggishly made his way on board and sat in the very back of the train, away from everypony else.
"Approaching Ponyville Train Station in t-minus five minutes; all disembarking ponies please get ready." A voice over the loudspeaker said, interrupting his thoughts.
Everypony in Inky's cart smiled and talked amongst themselves as he silently got his bag from the overhead compartment. The only one in the cart besides himself that wasn’t talking was a little filly who kept her flank covered by her tail. She silently held her bag as she continued to stare at the ground, a frown on her face. He instinctively wanted to go help the filly and try and find out what was wrong but fought against it, knowing it would be useless. He just stared at his bag and waited till the train came to a complete stop.
The doors opened and ponies all got up and exited the cab. He waited till he was the last pony in before he got up and walked to the doors. He stared at the crowd and noticed the filly on the train was surrounded by three other fillies and a mare with a Stetson hat. He was glad that she had somepony waiting for her and he hesitantly made his way into town, struck by how different it was than Manehattan.
He stared in awe at what he could only describe as a marketplace, stalls full of fruits and hay barrels and all sorts of things he couldn’t really see from the distance. He could faintly see a statue of a pony near the Town Hall… and he could've sworn he saw a giant cupcake on top of a gingerbread house?
What in Celestia? He wandered around town, looking at the buildings. They were vastly different that Manehattan; here they were made of wood and the roofs thatched instead of the concrete that he was familiar with. I wonder if they have an inn. He continued to wander, trying to find somewhere where he could sleep for the night. Alright, I got about two hundred bits to last me till I find a job.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a dangerously pink pony shoving her face into his. "HIYA!"
He stopped and backpedaled, falling on his flank. "Uh… hi." He whispered. The pony in front of him was the very essence of pink; her mane looked like cotton candy, poofy and pink with her tail sharing the same qualities. Her bright blue eyes shined with curiosity and happiness. Her cutie mark was of three balloons, one butter yellow and two light cyan blue
"Oh your new here aren't you? I love meeting new ponies! It's so fun to watch them smile." She said, her smile widening. "I'm Pinkie Pie."
"Inky Scribbles." He muttered, staring at the ground.
"Oh wait." She giggled. "Hold on one super duper second." She said before disappearing. Before he could even process her disappearance, she was back, pulling a cart. "Everypony loves this part." She said before pressing a button on the side of the cart. The cart expanded and speakers along with several trumpets appeared. Music started to play out of the trumpets as she started to sing.
"Welcome welcome welcome
A fine welcome to you
Welcome welcome welcome
I say how do you do?
Welcome welcome welcome
I say hip hip hurray
Welcome welcome welcome
To Ponyville today."
The music ended and she smiled. "Wait for it." She giggled happily when suddenly confetti and cake batter launched out of the trumpets and covered them completely. Inky sat there in shock as Pinkie continued to laugh. "Whoopsies, looks like I put cake batter in there again." She looked him as she licked the cake batter off of them. "So…" She said, leaning closer to him.
He leaned back. "So…?"
She pointed to her mouth and gave him a smile. "Aren't you gonna smile?"
He frowned. "I don’t feel like it." He said. "I probably won't again, that part of me seemed to have died awhile back." He said bitterly.
She pouted. "But everypony has to smile eventually."
He sighed and got off his flank. "Not me." He said as he walked away from her.
"But you have to!" She said from his side, bouncing along.
"Highly unlikely." He said, trying to ignore her.
She got in his face. "But… but… don’t you want to just a teensy wincey bit?" She insisted.
"Nope and sorry but I have to go now." He said, walking past her. He continued to walk a few feet before turning around and seeing her still standing there. He sighed and turned around before walking back to her and forcing a fake smile. "There I smiled."
She looked at him with a big smile on her face and hugged him. "See? I knew you could smile." She promptly dropped him on his flank and pointed to the building with the cupcake on top. "Do you see that building?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"Be there at eight tonight, I have a super special surprise for you! See you later!" She said before hopping away.
He stared at her disappearing form. "What…. just happened?" He asked no pony in particular before getting up and continued his search for an inn.
He was too in deep in thought that he didn’t see the pony in front of him till they collided with an "umph". He quickly shook his head as he saw he had run into a lavender unicorn and had caused her to drop her books. "Oh I'm sorry." He muttered, using his magic and gathering them for her.
She smiled and took a hold of the books. "It's quite alright." She looked at him. "I haven't seen you before in Ponyville…"
"Yeah I just arrived from Manehattan." He said, staring at the ground still.
"Oh… well, welcome to Ponyville; I'm Twilight Sparkle, the resident librarian. And you are…?" She asked.
He finally looked up and got a good look at her. She had a lavender coat, pretty violet eyes, a long dark sapphire mane with streaks of violet and pink, the same with her tail. Her cutie mark seemed to be a large purple star surrounded by several smaller white stars. He blushed. "Uh… Inky Scribbles." He whispered, nervously pawing at the ground.
Twilight paused momentarily, tilting her head slightly as she thought. She then held a hoof out. "Well it was nice to meet you Mr. Scribbles but I have to get back to the library. If you ever want to borrow a book, you know who to look for." She said before starting to walk off. Before leaving however, she paused. "I'll see you later." She said, looking over her shoulder at him with a small smile.
He dumbly nodded his head, watching her as she walked away. He shook his head, realizing he was just looking for somepony to fix his heart. His smile faded, turning into a frown. "Yeah…" He whispered, walking around town, still hunting down the elusive inn.
"Love can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes… just be an illusion."
~;~
"How the hay do I get myself stuck in these situations…" He muttered to himself, standing outside the giant cupcaked building, or as the sign said, Sugarcube Corner. "Ok, just go inside and see what she wants." He shook his head. Gotta stop talking to myself or Mystic was right. He chuckled before slowly grasping the handle in his magic and opened the door.
The room before him was pitch dark, the moonlight somehow not entering the windows. What the hay? He hesitantly entered before the room exploded in light. "Welcome to Ponyville!" It seemed the whole town shouted.
His eyes opened wide as what seemed to be the entire town was somehow crammed into the building. The pink pony he met earlier hopped towards him, carrying a party hat that she put on his head.
"So whatcha think of your super awesome 'Welcome to Ponyville' party?" She asked, her face overrun by a huge smile.
His jaw hung open and all he could do was stare vacantly at her. She giggled before shutting his mouth. He blinked a few times. "Is this… all for me?" The last part he whispered.
"Of course silly filly, you're new and you need to make super duper friends and the best way to do that is through a party." She beamed. She grabbed his hoof. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everypony." She said, before pulling him along.
She quickly went through the room, introducing him to everypony that she could. All he could give them was a small smile and a quick hoof shake before she whisked him to the next pony. Finally after being introduced to everypony, twice, his stomach growled for attention and she let him go grab a bite to eat. He stumbled his way over to the counter and browsed at the selection.
A tall necked earth pony appeared behind the counter. "Welcome to the Sugarcube Corner Inky, I'm Mr. Cake. What can I get ya?" He said with a smile.
Inky quickly browsed through the selection, finally spying something he hadn't had in a long time, a muffin. "I'll take the muffin." He finally said, reaching around to grab a few bits.
"Whoa there, it's free."
Inky paused and turned to stare at him. "What?"
"Yeah, since it's your first time here, all purchases are free." He said with a chuckle. He bent down to open the glass and pulled out the muffin. He pushed it towards Inky as they eyed each other. "Thank you for your business and welcome to Ponyville!" The odd pony said before walking towards another pony that had come up to the counter.
Inky stared at the muffin before he grabbed the plate with his magic and started walking away.
"I'm sorry Derpy but we don't have any more." The long necked pony said.
"Oh… it's ok Mr. Cake. Thanks anyway." A voice replied. It had a sort of bubbly tone that was covered with a sad undertone.
Inky turned around and saw somepony he didn’t remember meeting. She had a bright golden mane that just went over her eyes with a golden tail. Her coat was a bright gray with a slight sheen to it. Her cutie mark, oddly, was a bunch of bubbles. But her most interesting feature were her eyes, those golden orbs. Her left one stared straight ahead like any normal eye would but her right seemed to be staring at the ceiling, almost as if it had a mind of its own.
She turned around with a small pout before she saw him staring. Her small pout turned into a frown. "Why are you staring at me?" She asked, her voice full of resentment and resignation.
"I… uh…" Inky stuttered, trying to think of something. Her eyes then glanced over to the muffin he was carrying and her anger was quickly replaced with wonder.
"Is that a muffin?" She asked, her voice full of curiosity.
He nervously chuckled. "Yes?" He asked, bringing the plate closer to her. "You can have it if you want."
She frowned slightly. "But didn’t you want it?"
"I'm not that hungry." His stomach disagreed, growling loudly. He blushed as she stared at him, her right eye staring at the floor.
"Are you sure?" She asked. He nodded and she gratefully accepted the muffin with a huge smile. "Thank you so much!" She said, walking over to him and giving him a friendly hug. "I'm Derpy Hooves by the way."
"Inky Scribbles."
She was silent for a moment, staring at him before her eyes grew wide and a huge smile appeared on her face. "I know who you are; I've read your books! They're amazing!"
He blushed. "Well thanks… it's always nice to meet a fan."
She looked around at the tables and motioned her head towards it. He followed her and sat down across from her.
She giggled as she devoured the muffin. "My daughter loves them too; she made me read them to her before she went to bed."
He chuckled. "I'm glad you and she liked them, I'll have to let my buddy know we have a couple of fans here."
She smiled, her eyes closed; her snout was littered with muffin crumbs and Inky faintly smiled. She looks just like Moonbeam when we went out for breakfast… His smile quickly turned into a frown.
She opened her eyes and saw his frown. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"It's nothing." He said quickly.
She stared at him as he hoped she believed his lie. Finally she smiled and tilted her head. "If you say so…" she said.
There was an awkward pause as they stared at each other. "So you mentioned you had a daughter?" He asked.
Her ears seemed to perk up. "Oh Dinky? She's the best daughter that anypony could hope for… especially after that." She said, her ears quickly drooping.
There was a pause. "…How old is Dinky?"
"She just turned seven! I can't believe how fast she's growing. I remember like it was yesterday when I held her for the first time, her coat just like mine." She smiled faintly at the memory.
"Oh so she looks like you?"
Derpy nodded. "Yeah, as she got older, her coat became light purple and less gray but everypony still says she looks like me, except being a unicorn instead of a pegasus."
He smiled. "Really?"
She nodded. "Yeah and she's exceptionally good for being seven. Even Twilight was impressed."
"Did you take her to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?"
"Yeah, we tried that… it was too expensive so she's in Miss Cheerilee's class."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure she would've fit in quite nicely."
"It's ok, she likes it in Miss Cheerilee's class, says she has a ton of friends." She paused. "Everypony seemed so surprised she could be so talented… coming from me." She said, the sadness evident in her body language.
"What does that mean?" He tentatively asked and soon regretted. She looked like she was going to cry. "Dinky sounds like a wonderful filly and if anypony questions that, they have to be really stupid." He said quickly.
She faintly smiled. "Thanks."
They stared at each other, before he coughed. "Well since you know what I do for a living, what do you do? Are you part of the pegasi weather team?"
She blushed and looked at the table. "I used to but I kept screwing up so they fired me. I was a mover pony for a bit… till that incident."
He looked at her curiously. "What incident?"
"I just don’t know what went wrong." She muttered, looking at him guiltily. "I was helping this couple move back to Cloudsdale and I guess I wasn’t holding it right and accidently dropped an anvil, then a piano on Twilight." She said, messing with the crumbs on the plate.
He stifled a laugh, imagining the scene like they used to do on old cartoons he'd watch as a colt. "So what do you do now?"
"I'm Ponyville's mailmare; Derpy Hooves, Ponyville Express at your service." She smiled, saluting him.
They both laughed as she lowered her hoof.
After a few more minutes of talking, she sighed and smiled. "Well it was nice to meet you, but I gotta get home to Dinky. It's getting pretty late and I have to get ready for work tomorrow." She said as she started heading towards the door.
"Would you like me to walk you home?" He blurted out, not even thinking about it. He quickly covered his mouth as she looked at him once more.
"No it's ok; you should stay here and enjoy your party. I'll see you around Inky and thanks for the muffin!" She said before leaving.
He blinked. Did she just call me Inky? He stood there for a moment before Pinkie appeared out of nowhere.
"So what did you think of Derpy?" She gasped before squinting at him. "You didn’t make fun of her did you?" She glared at him.
"No, I would never make fun of anypony. Besides, she seemed rather nice."
The anger quickly dissipated, replaced with a smile. "Oh that's good. I'm glad you made another friend. With that, I'd say this was another successful party." She said, putting her hoof down.
"Umm…?" He asked, looking at her confusedly.
Before she could answer, everypony decided it was time to leave, the clock saying it was ten thirty. Everypony said one final goodbye to Inky before they left, leaving him and Pinkie alone.
"Well that was fun." She said before grabbing a broom and started to sweep up the random streamers on the ground.
"Here, let me help." He offered, his horn glowing a faint red. The balloons and streamers that hung on the wall were brought down to the ground in a huge pile, while all the trash was thrown away. He pulled the broom out of her hooves and quickly swept up the floor. A dish rag appeared from the kitchen and wiped the tables off before he levitated them back to her.
"Well that makes cleaning so much easier." She giggled before giving him a hug. "Thanks for the help clean up buddy." She said, pulling away with a smile.
"I should really thank you Pinkie that party was actually pretty fun, best party I've ever been to."
"Really?" She asked, her eyes huge.
"Definitely." He insisted.
She smiled again and pulled him into a brief bone crushing hug. "Thank you so much!" She said, letting go.
He wheezed as he tried to get air back into his lungs. "Well, I should leave you alone now, thanks again for the party." He said, heading towards the door with a final wave goodbye.
He wondered around town, staring at the stars. Most of the town was empty, its inhabitants all bunkered in for the night. There were a few stragglers every now and then but it seemed as if he was the only pony in town. The few ponies he did see waved at him and he waved back. This town is so different than Manehattan… but yet, I find myself liking it more and more. He sighed, sitting down on a park bench. He looked at the stars, only to look down at the ground, the stars twinkling reminding him of Moonbeam. He held his head in his hooves. "Why…" He whispered as tears welled up in his eyes.
"Inky?" Derpy's voice asked from behind him. He paused and turned around to see her heading his way. He quickly turned back and wiped his eyes. She walked up next to him and sat down on the bench. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing; I thought you had to get ready for work?" He asked, his voice cracking.
"I did but I saw you sitting out here by yourself." She paused and laid a gentle hoof on his shoulder. "Inky, what's wrong?"
"I don’t want to bother you with my problems." He finally said with a sigh.
"Inky, you know you can tell me anything." She insisted.
"It's ironic really, life. It seems when everything is going for you, it likes to pull the rug out from under your hooves and watch you flounder around." He kicked the ground. He put on a fake smile before looking at her. "Thanks for worrying though." He went to get up but she held him down with a hoof. He looked at her confused. "Derpy?"
She didn’t say anything; all she did was pull him into a hug and slowly rubbed his back. He sat there, horribly confused. "It's going to be ok." She whispered to him.
Something snapped inside of him and he could feel the torrent of tears flow down his face. He buried his face into her shoulder as he began to cry.
"Everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for."
~;~
"Hey there little guy, what are you doing out here?" Inky asked, holding a hoof out for a small green hummingbird.
The bird hovered for a moment, looking at him before hesitantly landing on the proclaimed hoof. "There we go little buddy." He said, smiling.
It investigated his new perch, hopping along his hoof. He tilted his head, his small eyes staring into Inky's.
It's been several days since the party Pinkie threw and he's bumped into Derpy a few times, mostly at Sugarcube Corner in the morning. They'd sit at a table near the door and talk about random things, like the weather or Daring Doo's latest adventure over muffins. They haven't talked about his breakdown, never even mentioned it, which he was thankful for, again. But when he wasn't looking, she would stare at him, trying to think of something to say or do to try and help him.
"Oh there you are Mr. Hummingway, I’ve been worr-” A quiet voice said, ending with a squeak.
He looked up, spotting a buttered colored pegasus hiding behind her pink mane. He tilted his head as the hummingbird turned to look and chirped, flapping over to the new pony, rubbing the mare's cheek affectionately. He saw her wearing a pair of saddlebags, both filled to the brim. It looked quite heavy, her hind legs slightly shaking.
“Oh is he your pet miss?”
She eeped and sunk lower to the ground, blushing as she nervously kicked at the dirt. Her mane still hid most of her face.
He looked at her for a moment as Hummingway chirped in her ear. He was quiet, trying to think of something to say but she beat him too it.
“M-mr... Hum-hummingway said yo-you were nice to him... thank you.” She whispered. He had to struggle to hear her.
“It’s okay, he looked quite tired.” He lowered his voice, figuring she would like it quieter. “I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Inky Scribbles.”
“I’m Flutt-...” She mumbled, kicking at the ground again.
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
“Fluttershy...” She whispered.
“Fluttershy?” She nodded. "Well it’s nice meeting you Fluttershy." He looked at the hummingbird nestled in her mane. “He seems to like you a lot.”
“Oh... w-well, I’ve been t-taking care of him since he ha-hatched.”
He nodded. “So are you a veterinarian? Or an animal caregiver?”
“Y-yes, I love taking care of animals.” She said, faintly smiling.
“Me too, I used to get in trouble, bringing every stray animal home.” He chuckled.
She seemed to relax a little, a bit of tension slipping away. “Really?”
“Yeah. Back in Manehattan, I lived next to a park and there was always so many animals around. My mom finally got fed up with it and told me that I could only keep one.”
“Oh, how could you choose only one pet?”
“I couldn’t so I gave them all away to good homes.” He itched his head. “That took forever.”
“Oh, that’s so nice of you.” She smiled at him. She fidgeted for a moment. “Um... I hate to be rude but I have to get Mr. Hummingway home or else I’ll miss Angel’s lunch. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s quite alright Fluttershy.” He looked at her overfull saddlebags.”Would you like some help?”
“Oh no, I couldn’t impose...”
“It’s alright, I don’t mind helping.” He smiled at her. “I insist.”
“W-well... if y-your sure....” She blushed, taking off the saddlebags as his horn glowed and they were encased in a ruby aura. They floated right next to her as she looked at it terrified for a moment.
“Please lead the way.” He said, grabbing her attention.
She hesitantly nodded, walking towards her cottage, Inky right behind her. It was silent, Fluttershy too nervous to say anything and Inky didn’t want to pester her.
“S-so... um... Inky? You don’t mind if I ask you a question. I mean, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Go ahead Fluttershy, I don’t mind.”
“Um... I-I haven’t seen you before... d-did you just move here?”
“Yeah, a few days ago actually.”
“O-oh... um... welcome to Ponyville then.” She said, turning to look at him briefly before flinging her head back to stare at the ground.
“Thank you Fluttershy. Have you lived here for long too?”
“Oh yes, I’ve lived here for...” She paused, thinking. “I think around seven years now.”
“Wow. Were you born in Cloudsdale?”
“Uh-huh and lived there up to the end of flight school. When I got my cutie mark, I thought it’d be easier to be on the ground so I could meet so many critters that I couldn’t have met in the sky.” She smiled.
“I see.”
It went back to being quiet, the hummingbird had fallen asleep in Fluttershy’s mane, a speck of green. She kept looking at her floating saddlebags, making sure they were still there.
The sun was still shining brightly, Celestia making sure the town felt the summer warmth. The town had faded and they were heading towards that one forest, the Everfree Forest, that he had heard so much about. He was surprised such a timid pony would decide to live so close to the forest but it’d probably be the best place to meet animals.
They paused just on the other side of a small wooden bridge, their hooves clopping on the wood. Her cottage was enormous, it’s second story hidden mostly by the tree roof. Bird cages and windows surrounded the outside, flowers and bushes scattered by the door.
“Wow...” Inky said, stunned.
She blushed, heading towards the door. She pushed it open as he floated the bags inside. “You can put them in the kitchen and I’ll take care of them, I mean, if that’s alright with you.”
He nodded. “Alright.” He floated the bags into the kitchen and sat them gently on the ground. “There you go, a pair of saddlebags safely delivered ma’am.”
She blushed as animals rushed around in the living room. Inky turned and watched the commotion.
“Wow, so many animals...”
She nodded. “Y-yeah, I ran out of food for them and had to run by the market... W-would you like s-some tea?” She stuttered, her face hidden.
“Oh no, I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” He said.
“W-well, i-if you're sure...” She mumbled.
“It’s alright. I should get going and out of your mane. Have a good day and nice meeting you Fluttershy.” He said, hoof on the door handle.
“Y-you too...”
He smiled at her before leaving, shutting the door behind him. He trotted happily back into town, its inhabitants finally awake. Shops were abuzz as ponies wandered around, browsing the owner’s wares.
Now, to find some breakfast...
=
“Inky!” A high pitch voice yelled before I saw nothing but pink. “How are you this morning?”
He blinked, trying to get his ears to stop ringing. “I’m fine Pinkie, how are you?”
“I’m super duper now that I have a friend visiting me!” She giggled, hopping off him and helped him to his hooves. “What are you doing up this early? Most ponies sleep in super late.”
“Well I had to run to the market and try and scrounge up some breakfast, the motel doesn’t have any.”
“Did you find any?”
“No, all the stores were closed but I can go- Pinkie, what are you doing?” He asked, Pinkie grabbing his hoof.
“No friend of mine will go without breakfast! It’s like, the most important meal of the day, or at least that’s what Momma Pie always said.” She continued to ramble, Inky only able to pick up every other word or so.
He sighed, letting Pinkie drag him back all the way to Sugarcube Corner. She stopped and said hi to everypony that crossed their path, Inky literally dragged by her abnormal strength.
They were a street away when they both heard somepony yelling. She paused, letting him slip out of her grasp. "I wonder what’s going on." He said, slightly worried. They trotted closer to the voice, it only getting louder.
Finally they turned and saw an earth pony, easily double the size of both Inky and Pinkie. He had a dull blue coat, his mane and tail a shade darker. He had amber eyes, burning with fury as he looked at Derpy. His cutie mark was a pair of eighth notes.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me this even remotely looks like my address!?" The grey colt advance on Derpy, throwing a package at her chest as she backpedaled. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, you can't can you? You loopy eyed freak! You can't even see three hooves in front of your face. 'I just don't know what went wrong.'" He taunted viciously. "Can the half assed excuses. If you had half a mind, maybe you could see that what went wrong is that you are a pointless excuse for a pony who 'fails' miserably at being even slightly useful to society! At least when you were burning half assed muffins you were only a threat to yourself! What am I supposed to do with..." He waggled a vicious hoof at the package, "...THIS?! I need my reed! I needed it two days ago when you screwed up that delivery too!"
Derpy jumbled out a stuttering of teary eyed apologies but was cut off by the grey colts ceaseless ferocity. "You can keep your apologies! They are as pointless as you are. It's a wonder you are still even a mother! I would worry for the safety of your filly if I wasn't convinced she had a hopeless future with you as a role model."
Before he could say anything more, Pinkie flew and tackled him, his head bouncing off the ground. He looked up to see Pinkie’s usual happy blue eyes gone, replaced with burning fire sapphire orbs.
"How dare you insult Derpy like that!" Pinkie screamed, the colt’s mane flew backwards.
“Bu-”
“NO BUTS! If I could, I’d make Gummy-”
“Pinkie... that’s enough.” Inky said, holding Derpy. He patted her back, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.
“But Inky, he made Derpy cry. He went way too far! Sure, Derpy has some accidents.”
“I know Pinkie...” He said, motioning for Pinkie to get off him. She sighed, getting off him, growling as she walked over to Derpy. She pointed at her eyes before pointing at the colt with her hoof before Derpy flung her hooves around Pinkie’s waist.
Inky walked over to the colt staring down at him.
"You should thank your friend there you low class psychopath!" The grey colt stood, dusting himself off indignantly. "Ponyville's 'premier party pony.' Give me a break. What your talent amounts to is so useless you've been condemned to a life of being a minimum wage jockey, and a slave to mediocrity. It's no wonder you throw parties every chance you get, I'd want to forget my life too if it was as depressing as yours."
Inky’s horn glowed as it grew brighter and brighter. Suddenly, a brick flew in from nowhere, shattering against the grey stallion’s face. He crumbled to the floor, Inky furious.
Inky glared at the stallion. “How dare you say that about Derpy or Pinkie! If I had the powers of Celestia, I’d send you to rot on the moon, with just enough air to slowly starve to death! But I’d make sure you’d survive, because death is too easy as a solution for a scumbag like you.” He paused, his horn going even brighter as the stallion was lifted up. Inky looked around, picking up a grain of sand and hovered it right next to him. “Or how about I ignite this piece of sand and shove it down your throat, letting it slowly burn you away from the inside out. Maybe bury it deep inside your stomach lining where it’ll stay until it finally eats away at the stomach, letting your own body dissolve itself.” He said, the sand particle starting to glow an ember red. Inky threw him harshly on the ground, the sand following, hitting him in the face. “Scum like you aren’t even worth that much.” He picked up the package next to Derpy and made it smash against his head, ripping through the cardboard. “You can bill me for it later.” He said, turning around and walking over to the girls.
“What in tarnation is goin’ on here?” A southern voice yelled, an orange cowpony galloping towards the four ponies. She had a Stetson hat, along with a yellow mane tied in a braid. She paused, noticing the grey stallion’s head replaced with a box. She turned to look at Pinkie. “Pinkie, what in the name of Cele-” She noticed Inky, who stared blankly at her. She quickly jumped in front of the girls, pushing Inky away. “And what do ya think yer doin’ here?”
He gulped. “H-hey AJ, how’s it going?”
“Don’t be all sweet on me Inky. What do ya think yer doing back here?”
“AJ, how do you know Inky?” Pinkie asked.
AJ laughed dryly. “Know him? He was mah coltfriend while Ah was in Manehattan till he tried ta kill me.”
Both Pinkie and Derpy’s eyes flew to Inky. “L-look, I can explain-” He was interrupted as Pinkie latched onto him and he fell, not ready for her sudden weight.
“You tried to kill AJ? You’re no better than that stallion over there!”
“Pinkie, I-” He turned and saw Derpy, staring at him in horror as she scrambled to her hooves and flew away. “Derpy, wait!”
AJ walked up to him, blocking his sight of the fleeing pegasus. “Ah’ll give ya five seconds to explain why yer here before Ah buck ya outta town.”
“Because Moonbeam cheated on me!” He yelled, startling both Pinkie and AJ.
“Wha? Ya mean that unicorn from Canterlot?” He nodded, closing his eyes against the tears. AJ sighed and sat down next to them. “It’s alright Pinkie, ya can get off him.”
Pinkie nodded, looking at AJ and Inky. “I think I hear the Cakes calling me. I’ll let you two be alone for awhile. No kissing now...” She said, smiling before hopping away, towards the giant cupcake.
They stared at each other before AJ sighed. "Come on sugacube, let's take a walk. We seemed ta have drawn a crowd." She said, noticing the growing ponies. He nodded and they quickly walked away, a pony rushing towards the hospital for the unconscious stallion.
=
They sat near her farm on a small hill, overlooking the apple trees. He turned to look at AJ, scooting away from her. “Look AJ-”
“Save it Inky, Ah’ve heard all yer excuses before.”
“Not this one... please, let me try something.”
She looked at him skeptically. “And what’s that?”
He gulped. “I can access my memories and share them with you but you have to consent to it. I can’t just invade your mind...”
“Well ya could, ya just know Ah’d buck ya to next week.”
He nervously chuckled. “That too... So?”
She was silent, staring at him impassively before sighing. “Alright, I guess it won’t hurt. But if it looks like yer tryin’ ta mess with mah mind, yer gonna wake up in the hospital. Got it?”
He nodded and closed his eyes, his horn lighting up. He hesitantly walked up to her, his horn a dark ruby. “Are you ready?”
“Guess we’ll find out.” She said
“Okay, just close your eyes.” She did and he lightly tapped his horn to her forehead. Her mind seemed to rush back to when she was a filly, heading off to Manehattan before it fast forward to when she met him and his friend Regal, how awkward he was. How he showed her around town, helping her find her aunt's and uncle’s house. They played together every day, Regal always following them around.
She saw his memories, his emotions. How they were confusing when she was around, the sadness when she left, the pain when he got home and had to deal with his mother. The happiness when he found his teacher’s hidden book, locked in the desk. Him and Regal going out to the middle of Orange Parks and trying a spell. He could feel the energy surge through him, the plants around him dying, giving up their own energy to make him stronger. His horn was on fire, his aura becoming too strong. He tried to tell Regal to run but his mind was overloaded as he noticed her walking towards them, drawn to the bright light.
All she felt was the pain as her hoof was set on fire and the explosion that sent all three of them flying. She remembered crashing against something then darkness. Then her eyes opened up, seeing the fire around her, the barren earth. She saw herself lying there, unmoving. He got closer, making sure she was okay.
He yelled for Regal, with no answer before he turned and saw his charred friend lying back towards the center. He rushed to him, as ponies converged to investigate the noise. The final sight she saw before the vision faded was Inky pushing against Regal, crying as he tried to wake his friend up.
She opened her eyes, staring into Inky’s eyes. She blinked a few times, still feeling his pain, his guilt for everything. “S-so ya didn’t mean ta kill me?”
“No, of course not! I couldn’t control it and when I saw you, I panicked and it fired at the ground. I didn’t even get to see you again to apologize... They took me away to Canterlot...” He sighed, staring at the ground, his ears flat against his head. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Regal...” He looked up. “Look Applejack, I’m sorry-”
She sighed and took off her hat. “No Inky, Ah’m sorry. Ah thought ya didn’t want to be mah coltfriend anymore and thought you were tryin’ ta get rid of me...”
“I think that’d be a bit extreme... but I loved you AJ, I’d never want to hurt you.”
She nodded. “Ah think both sides kinda misread quite a few signals." She chuckled. "Ah think we should start over.”
“Alright, maybe one day I’ll earn your trust back.”
“That ya might cowcolt.” She paused. “But there is one thing that’s been buggin’ me all these years?”
“Oh? What?”
“Why did ya steal Mr. Prism’s book anyway?”
He sighed. “Because Mother thought it’d be a good idea to study early and get ready for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorn’s entrance exams. Thought I wasn’t ready for the test and should ‘train’.”
“Oh... uh... Ah see.”
“Yeah...” He sighed, holding a hoof to his head.
“Ya alright?”
“Yeah, just the spell is exhausting. Gives the user a blasting headache too. But that doesn’t matter.”
She looked at him for a moment. “And what was this about Moonbeam cheatin’ on ya?”
He looked at her before sighing. “I’d rather not talk about it now AJ...”
She sighed. “Alright but if ya need somepony ta talk to... Ah know Ah’m here for ya.”
“Thanks AJ...” He looked up into the sky. He quickly got up. “It was nice catching up AJ, but I gotta go tell Derpy and Pinkie...”
“Don’t worry about Pinkie, Ah have ta head over to Sugarcube Corner ta pick up a cake for Big Mac’s birthday.” She said, getting up as well. “Just take it easy with Derpy, she looked mighty spooked.”
“Will do, see ya around.” He said, galloping after the grey pegasus.
"If you think music is only made of sounds, you're mistaken. Silence is also part of music."
~;~
She sighed, hiding on a cloud above Ponyville, her tail swishing agitatedly. She took deep breaths and tried to calm down. He… killed a pony? AJ said he almost killed her and she doesn’t lie…
“Excuse me miss, have you seen Derpy?” Inky asked, walking up to a random pony.
Derpy’s ear twitched at her name and she leaned over the side of the cloud. It was Inky, talking to Carrot Top. The orange maned pony paused, scratching her chin. “Not since this morning when she delivered the mail… why?”
“If you see her can you tell her I need to talk to her? Its really important…”
“Err… alright, sure. I’ll let her know if I see her.” Carrot said, watching the unicorn briskly walk away, talking to another pony.
Derpy flopped her head on the cloud, closing her eyes as she tried to think. “Derpy?” A pony’s voice asked.
She squeaked and dove her head into the cloud, hoping that the pony would go away.
“Derpy, what are you doing?” The pony landed and pulled her head out of the cloud. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Rainbow Dash looking at her.
“Oh… you know… relaxing.”
“Relaxing?”
“Mhm, best cloud I’ve ever laid on.”
“Then why is the new guy looking for you?”
“Uh… well…”
“Is it what happened with AJ?”
Derpy blinked. “How did-”
“I ran into AJ after Pinkie told me to go looking. She told me what happened.”
“Then you know what he did?”
She paused. “It’s a lot more confusing than that though.” She sighed. “Look, Derpy, I think you should talk to him and have him explain everything.”
“But-”
“But?”
Derpy fidgeted with the cloud, refusing to look her in the eye. “I’m scared…”
“Of him?” She nodded. “I’ll be watching the entire thing, you’ll be fine.”
Derpy hesitated before nodding slowly. “A-alright…” She said, getting up and hovering above the cloud. She paused, looking at Dash.
“Go, I’ll be right here.” Dash smiled, giving her a hoof’s up.
Derpy returned the gesture and gradually made her way down, pausing every few seconds to check if Dash was still there. Finally landing on the ground, she trotted over to the pony in question.
=
Inky sighed, heading back to the hotel. Guess I should’ve expected it… Word must’ve traveled fast, several ponies inching away from him, avoiding his gaze. He waved at one of them, who seemed like he didn’t see Inky and continued on his way. Inky’s ears went flat against his head, the hotel finally in sight.
He used his magic to open the door and went to step inside. “Inky…” Derpy said, her eyes locked on his aura. Suddenly it wasn’t Inky standing there, a demon from her past smiling at her.
He turned around with a small smile. “Derpy, I’m…” He trailed off, the smile disappearing as he saw her face. Her pupils had dilated as she stared at the aura. Her fur rose on its end, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes as she screamed in fear and took off, the other way. Ponies quickly stared at her, Dash jumping down in front of her.
“Derpy? What’s wrong?” She asked as Derpy barreled right through her, Dash tossed to the side. “Derpy wait!” She yelled as Inky galloped after her. Dash scrambled to her hooves and flew after Inky. “What did you do?!” She yelled.
“Nothing!” He yelled back. Neither could catch up with the terrified pegasus, even with Dash’s speed. They were on the edge of the forest, Derpy about to fly over it. “Dash, I have an idea.” He said, his horn starting to spark.
“And what’s that brainiac?”
He disappeared, re-appearing in front of Derpy. She was breathing raggedly, her hooves connecting with his face as she took off, shakily at first before gaining speed. She flew over the Everfree, knowing she could lose him there. She looked for a somewhere she hide in, a hole in the lush trees.
He grunted with pain, gasping for air as he teleported again, materializing on top of her. He wrapped his hooves around her. “Derpy! It’s just me! Inky!” He yelled.
She screamed, flailing as they dived into the forest. She fought against him with everything she had. Tears poured freely, hitting him. She bit him and kicked him, punching him repeatedly in the head. He closed his eyes, holding her tightly, the branches whipping both of them.
Dash circled above the forest, trying to spot the two. The canopy seemed to heal before her eyes, the hole vanishing. “Derpy!? Inky!?” She yelled. The forest was silent as she rushed back into town.
Derpy twitched in his grasp, her eyes closed as she relived the same moment, time and time again. The stallion had laughed as she weakly fought against his magic, hoping to flee. She remembered the huge smile on his snout as she pleaded for him to let her go. Nothing she muttered or said mattered, the stallion still having it’s way.
Her thrashing had died down, her body spent as she leaned against him, exhausted. He held her tightly, not letting go. “Shh, Ditzy, it’s okay. Let it out...” He said.
She blinked, opening her eyes to stare into his, her gaze seeing way past him. She took a shaky breath before she buried her face into his chest, crying even louder than before, her wings lying limp on the ground.
“It’s okay Ditzy. Nothing bad can get you here.”
Her body shuddered under the weight of tears, her hooves wrapping around him tightly. “D-don’t...” She croaked, her voice haggard and cracked.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t... don’t do it again...”
“I.. I don’t understand. Don’t do what?”
She looked up into his eyes, the pain and fear fighting against each other for power. “P-Please, haven’t you hurt me enough?” She cried as Inky’s eyes grew wide with horror. She lifted her head, revealing her throat. “J-Just kill me already and get it over with...”
He stared at her, tears flowing down his face as the torment gnawed at his heart, his mind numb. He was silent, the two staring at each other before he grew a smile. “Do it.”
“What?”
“All the pain I’ve caused you, I deserve it back tenfold... but I bet you couldn’t even bruise me if you tried.”
The pain and fear quickly vanished in her eyes, replaced with pure hatred. He let go of her as soon as the first hoof crashed into his skull. He flew back, Derpy following him as she landed on his stomach. He grinned one more time, a tooth missing already. Another hoof smashed against his snout, a tear following right behind.
“All these years... I’ve been afraid...” She muttered, her hoof plastered against his skull. “All these years, I’ve been afraid of having a coltfriend, afraid to open up to them about what happen.” She punched him in the chest, feeling the air quickly vacate his lungs.
He chuckled, the laugh weak. “And here I thought we had something special...”
“Every time somepony asked about Dinky’s dad, I avoided the question, too afraid of their response.” She punched him twice; once in the chin and the other nearly crushing his throat.
He coughed up blood, tilting his head to the side. “Even with all this pain I gave you, I still gave you the greatest love of your life.”
“All this... because of... you!” She yelled, tears pouring as she assaulted him with more blows.
His face soon swelled, her blows a lot stronger than normal. His right eye turned a deep shade of red before it closed, a deep purple. Blood dripped from his broken snout and teeth. Any restraint she had was gone, letting loose all her pent up emotions, Inky’s body the receiver. He was silent the entire time, not making a grunt or moan in pain. She hopped off his stomach, floating just above him as she pummeled his stomach, the rush of escaping air slipping out of his mouth.
Bruises and cuts appeared across his body as Derpy landed harshly on the ground, panting. She looked at him one more time.
He coughed, chuckling again. “And here I thought you were just some weak, easy mare that didn’t know anything... you were so...” He took a deep breath. “Ditzy...”
She glared at him before she punched him with the remaining strength she had, right on his horn. He couldn’t stop that scream, howling in pain as every nerve was on fire.
The scream ripped through the blood haze as she shook her head and gasped. “I-Inky?” She asked, not sure what to do.
“F-feeling better?” He asked, his voice sounding forced.
“What in Celestia happened to you?”
“I’m not sure, I think that assaulter had it worse...” He tried to laugh but all he did was gurgle.
She looked at him, noticing hoof shaped marks criss-crossing his body. She went to put her hoof on his face, wiping at the dripping blood. She raised it towards her face. “I... I did this...”
His hoof patted her other hoof, his head tilted so he could see her out of his good eye. “Ditzy...”
Tears hit his hoof as she picked him up, crushing him in a hug. “I-I’m so sorry!”
“D-ditzy, already hurt...” He muttered, his chin resting on her shoulder.
She quickly let go, dropping him back on the ground. “I’m sorry. Here, we gotta get you to the hospital.” She said, gingerly picking him up and draping him across her back. She tried to launch herself into the air but wasn’t ready for Inky’s extra weight. She dipped closer to the ground, but with a few more power flaps of her wings, she slowly went airborne and headed back towards Ponyville, towards the hospital.
“Inky, what exactly happened?” She asked, trying to keep focused on the town. He was silent, his grip on her neck weak. “Inky?” She asked again, a bit worried. She turned her head and saw him lying on her back, not moving, his breaths shallow. “Hold on!” She yelled, pushing herself to go even faster.
=
She collapsed just outside the forest, landing harshly on the ground. She laid there for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She forced herself to get up, her body urging her to sleep. She grabbed Inky, pulling him by his tail. “Come on, we’re almost into town!” She told herself, falling once more. She struggled to stand before falling again, the world fading to black..
“Derpy!” Somepony yelled. She opened her eyes, seeing Pinkie, AJ, and Dash running towards her.
She smiled, lifting up a hoof. “I did it…” She whispered, passing out from exhaustion.
“No matter what lies you tell, you can’t fool your own heart.”
~;~
One of the benefits of being unconscious is being oblivious to world… Unless it contains the beep of a heart monitor. That always managed to wake any pony up. It wormed its way into his skull. Inky groaned and opened his eyes and quickly shut them, the bright lights of the hospital room blinding him.
“Whoa…” He muttered, putting a hoof over his face. “Can somepony turn off the sun…”
“Inky! You’re awake!” Derpy said excitedly.
Inky blinked again and uncovered his face; Derpy sat there with a big smile on her face, a bandage trapped her wings to her sides. A few tears fell down her face and she wiped them away. “Hey, what happened to you?”
She looked down and blushed. “It’s nothing… b-but are you alright?!”
“I think so… wh-why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, confused.
She paused and looked at him. “Don’t you remember?”
“N-no… wait…” The memories came back, beating at his head. He grimaced, reliving the pain. “Well… you sure did a number on me.”
A few tears fell onto the bedsheet. “I’m so so sorry!”
He grunted and leaned forward, pulling her into a hug. “It’s alright Derpy, I’m fine.”
She pushed out of it. “No you’re not! I… I… hurt you really bad.”
“Nah, I’ve had worse. At least you didn’t crack the horn.”
She was silent and stared at him, wiping a few tears from her eyes. “Why did you do that!? I could’ve killed you!”
He chuckled and held his side. “No offense Derpy, but I don’t think you could’ve.” He looked up at the ceiling. “And why? I’m not sure, I could feel how much you still hurt, and how it haunted you… I thought maybe I could help you find closure.” He looked at her and grabbed her hoof. “Derpy, you helped me after my little outburst…”
“It was no big deal, you don’t just ignore a crying pony.
“But most do, most don’t care… You’re different, because you know what I felt…” A moment of awkward silence fell between them, neither sure what to say. “So… uh… how long have I been out?”
“A few days, Doctor Stable fixed you up pretty fast. Said the only thing left was to let your body rest back to full health. Also warned you not to use magic for a few days… I sorta messed with your ley lines… or something.”
“Oh, alright… not that bad then.” He leaned forward. “So… how are you?”
“Me? I’m okay… a little sore. I pulled a wing muscle and fractured a bone, nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”
“I’m sorry you had to lug my sore flank to the hospital…”
“It’s alright, I’m sorry that I beat you up…”
“Hehe… I don’t think my friend would ever let me live it down.”
“You’re right, I won’t.” Mystic said as he grinned. “I leave you for a few weeks and you end up in the hospital. This is why I had to always watch you…” He walked over and gave a little bow to Derpy. “I do apologize for my friend Ms…”
She blushed. “Derpy, my name is Derpy… and I should be thanking him. He… well, he helped me get over quite a bit.”
“See? I’m useful!”
“Finish that chapter yet?”
“...Shush! I’ve been busy! Anyways, why are you here?”
“Well that’s a bit rude!” he chuckled and motioned to Derpy. “She wrote to me and explained what happened.” Derpy’s cheeks got redder. “Thought you needed a friend. Came here last night.”
“Oh… thanks Derpy…”
“I-it’s fine… Well I better go check on Dinky, I left her with Roseluck…” She quickly got up and almost rushed out of the room.
“Dinky?” Mystic asked.
“Her daughter…” He coughed. “Look, you didn’t have to come all the way-”
“Nah, I wanted too. You haven’t written since you got here and I wanted to check up on you…” He sat down where Derpy was sitting. “So… did you run into a pink mare with a fluffy mane and tail?”
“Pinkie? Yeah, she was the first pony I ran into here… What’d you think of her?”
“Very… hyper.” Mystic chuckled. “So… Derpy eh?”
Inky blushed. “What are you talking about?”
Mystic grinned. “I don’t know~ your face says otherwise…”
“Will you just shut up about that!”
Mystic held his forehooves up. “Alright, alright… Sheesh, calm down.”
Inky sighed and leaned against the pillow. It was silent between the two for a moment, the beep of a regular heartbeat the only noise. “How’s Moon-”
“Don’t ask.”
“But I want to know.”
“Inky, if you trust me as a friend, please. Forget about her and move on.”
“It’s not that simple Mystic!” Mystic was silent and looked at him with concern. “Don’t give me that look! I’m tired of everypony pitying me!”
“It’s not pity, it’s sympathy.”
“Big difference,” he muttered sarcastically.
“Inky, please. I understand what its like to go through heartbreak-”
“I was going to propose Mystic!” Inky grunted and leaned forward. “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her… I wanted her to be the first thing I saw in the morning…”
Mystic patted Inky’s hoof. “I know, I know… But look on the bright side…”
“The bright side? I have a hundred bits to my name and now I’m going to have to pay for a hospital visit. I have no job and no house.”
“Ah, well I can solve a few of those problems. It seems our publishers are helping out with some of them… They heard about your, err… relocation and since we’re one of their more popular sellers, they’ve loaned you two hundred bits to get settled.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Because if you’re scrambling for a job, you can’t work on the book. Can’t work on the next book and our audience forgets. They forget and our publishers lose money and we lose a job. They want us as comfortable as possible.”
“Never bought us an air conditioner though…”
“It wasn’t that bad…”
“Says the pony that was always “so hot, I’m gonna die”...”
“Hey! It was hot in the summer!” Mystic grumbled and shook his head. “Anyways… I was hunting around and found you a nice loft above the bookstore no less!” he laughed. “I talked to the mare in charge and was more than willing to accept you. Even would give you a job if you want but understood that you had a deadline and whatnot. Also got her to be negotiable about the price, being a writer and all.”
Inky was speechless. “Mystic… I-I don’t know what to say…”
“You’re welcome for starters,” he tapped his chin. “So all we gotta worry about is the hospital bill… because that’ll probably be a hefty sum… What about your parents?”
“Nah, don’t want to worry them. You know how Mom is…”
“Right, right… Hm… Well, depending, I’m sure I can get us some emergency funds that they’d take out of our paycheck.”
“No, I won’t make you suffer for my problems… I think we can work something out with the doctors. If not, well… hopefully they won’t arrest me till after the book is published.”
“I doubt they will… Well, I guess we’ll worry about that when you’re released… Speaking of, when is that?”
“Derpy said that I just need to recover. She whacked me good man, knocked a bunch of my ley lines off.”
“Essh, sounds painful… If I may, why did all this happened? She seems like such a nice mare.”
“It’s… a rather bit personal. I don’t think I should say, ya know?”
“Alright, I understand. Just had to ask.” They sat in silence. “Well you know if you need any help…”
“Thanks Mystic, but I think I just need a few days to relax… It seems ever since I moved here, I’ve been going nonstop. I need a bit to get myself back together… “
“Sure no problem, I got it…”
“How long are you gonna be here anyways?”
“Only till tomorrow night. I gotta go back… I er… sorta postponed a date.” He nervously chuckled. “She wishes she could’ve come…”
“Aww, that’s sweet of her. Tell her I said thanks…”
“I will. You know if you ever come back to Manehattan, you always have a spot with us.”
“I know… and thanks, I might take that offer up sometime… after all this.”
Mystic nodded. “No problem, it’s what friends do.”
“Oh! Before I forget, guess who I ran into.” Mystic tilted his head. “Remember that cowpony I dated back in grade school? She lives here too.”
Mystic laughed and sighed. “Only you would get into this much trouble…” He shook his head. “Everything fine between the two of you? I remember you said you didn’t leave on the best of terms.”
“I… I think we did, I explained everything the best I could… so hopefully. She did say she wanted to start over, as friends that is… I really don’t want any relationships right now…”
“I see… well then, you’re just Mr. Popular with the ladies, eh? Derpy, that cowpony… anypony else?”
“Uh… first, shut up. Second of all, there is no list, they’re just friends.”
“I don’t know, seems somepony is very defensive~”
“Shush!” He crossed his forehooves across his chest and looked away.
“Oh quit it, you know I’m kidding.”
“Yeah, yeah…” He chuckled before turning back to his friend. “You know Dinky’s a big fan of ours?”
“Oh really?”
Inky shook his head. “Yeah, I bet if she knew, she’d bug Derpy to no end…”
“I bet… how is Dinky?”
“She’s a nice filly, very intelligent for her age. Would’ve gone to Celestia’s school if Derpy could’ve afforded it.”
“I see…”
“Yeah…” Inky sighed and leaned against the pillows, rubbing his head. “I got such the headache…”
“Hehe, I’ll go see if we can get you something… I doubt they’d let me get you a drink…” Mystic said, getting up and leaving the room.
Inky looked around and saw a large window off to his side. The sun was just about to hide behind the Canterlot mountains, the moon starting to gain strength. How long was I out for… He took a deep breath and sighed. Why did I do it… He knew he gave Derpy an honest answer, but he still can’t believe he did what he did. Guess I am pretty stupid, huh… He chuckled to himself.
Mystic returned with some pills and a glass of water. “Doc said to take these, minor painkillers. Said it might knock you out, but at least that’ll help with the pain.” He hoofed them over, along with the glass.
“What about you? Rather not fall asleep on you.”
Mystic shrugged. “I can’t stay much longer, visiting hours are almost over.”
“Oh right, that’s a thing.”
“Haha yeah, I got about twenty minutes before they kick me out.”
Inky took the pills and took a big drink before setting the glass on the counter and leaned back against the pillows. “Hey Mystic…”
“Hm?”
“Do… do you think I’ll ever get over Moonbeam?”
“Of course you will, in no time flat! We just gotta get you back on the dating scene, maybe go out to clubs or something…”
“Yeah… no… I’m not a clubber.”
“Pfft, party pooper…” He smiled. “But I think you will, eventually time will let you get over it.”
“How cliche…”
“Hey, I’m a writer, it’s my job.” He turned around and headed back towards the door. “Get some sleep Inky, I’ll be back in the morning sometime.”
“Thanks Mystic… for everything.”
“It’s what I do, g’night.” He left, leaving Inky alone in the hospital room.
The pain pills were kicking in already, the room starting to get dim as his eyelids started to droop. He fought against it, his brain trying to think of everything at once to keep him awake, but it was futile. In the end, the pills forced him into slumber, the moon just reaching its peak in the sky.
