Pinkie Pie gets taken by Surprise

Fluttershy busied herself with the feeding of her many animal companions as Surprise lay curled up on her sofa, occasionally Fluttershy would glance down at her, she had looked sad back in Cloudsdale, but now…

“Did you ever wonder how I got my cutie mark?” Surprise asked, breaking the silence and causing Fluttershy to cock her head questioningly.

“Well of course, who didn’t,” she admitted, “after all, I don’t think there’s ever been another pony to get one so early.”

Surprise smirked, “no, that’s true.”

Fluttershy came over and sat opposite her, waiting for her to continue in her own time.

“we get our cutie marks when we discover what makes us special, what kind of pony we’re destined to be,” she said at last, she sounded strange, her voice devoid of all emotion, “I learned pretty early who I was destined to be, I saw it in my dreams.”

Fluttershy still didn’t respond, she was wondering why Surprise was telling her all this now.

“It’s the one thing I can’t figure out,” she said, almost to herself rather than Fluttershy, “do you think, I let you go?”

The question threw Fluttershy off, it had come completely out of the blue, she simply stammered in response, Surprise wasn’t meeting her eye. Taking a moment to breathe and regain her composure, she reworded her answer.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to leave Cloudsdale, much less ask Dash to come with me,” she began, “but it me feel better, it made us feel better, that we wouldn’t lose you and the others.”

Surprise looked up now, her eyes focused but still very distant.

“We were so excited to get letters from you,” she continued, “to know you hadn’t forgotten about us. But then one day, they just stopped. We kept writing but you never wrote back, we thought you’d forgotten about us.”

Surprise made a choking sound, like she was trying to sigh while holding back tears, “you never replaced me, did you?”

“Of course not!” Fluttershy exclaimed, “Nobody could replace you.”

Surprise turned away again, who was I kidding, it was all my fault, but there’s still one mystery…

“The dreams I had,” Surprise said at last still not looking at Fluttershy, “they were of us. You, me, Rainbow Dash, and three others.

“We didn’t know them at the time, but they were our friends, and together we’d do great things,” she looked around at Fluttershy who was staring confused at her, “we were the elements of harmony, I was laughter, it’s the only thing that doesn’t make sense.”

“But Pinkie Pie is…” Fluttershy began but Surprise cut her off.

“I know! It was my fault I lost my friends, but that doesn’t change what I know in my heart,” she insisted, “I was supposed to be the element of laughter and now Pinkie is, why?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer for a moment, letting the awkward silence drag out, when she did her voice was quiet and unsure, “I don’t know Surprise, I don’t even know why you had those dreams, I certainly didn’t, and I don’t know that any of the others did.”

Surprise sighed and rubbed her tired eyes, but Fluttershy wasn’t done. “But what I do know is that I’m not the one you need to talk to.”

Surprise knew what she meant, and she knew she was right, but she didn’t know if she was ready.

If I don’t face this now, I might never salvage m lost friendships… I have to try.

Surprise pulled herself off the sofa and stood up shakily, Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder to balance her.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy,” Surprise said sincerely, “I’m a terrible friend.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Fluttershy replied, “I forgive you.”

Surprise stared at her; she stared back looking deadly serious.

“Thanks Fluttershy,” Surprise said quietly.

“What are friends for?” she replied leading the way out of the cottage. Surprise smiled how I’ve missed you Fluttershy.

The journey back into Ponyville lasted a seemingly long time. The streets were oddly deserted, the neighbourhoods eerily quiet. All Surprise heard was the clip clop of her and Fluttershy’s hooves and her own heavy breathing as they made a beeline for their destination, the final destination.

While all buildings in Ponyville stood out as unusually bright and colourful, Sugarcube Corner quite literally took the cake, especially considering it looked just like one. As it loomed ever closer Surprise felt her heart hammering in her chest, as if it were trying to burst out of her rib cage and escape the inevitable fate. Surprise couldn’t boast to predict what would become of this visit, but whatever was going to happen, it would end this all one way or another. She reached the front door step like she was ascending the steps to the gallows. With a final look over her shoulder to Fluttershy who gave her an encouraging nod, she inhaled deeply, and pushed the door open…

“… and that’s how Equestria was made,” finished Pinkie Pie triumphantly. Shinning Armour and Soarin stared back at her blankly. They each exchanged a brief look before Shining finally broke the uncomfortable silence.

“None of that really happened, did it Pinkie Pie?”

“Nope,” she said, still sounding pleased with herself.

“I can’t believe we just sat through all that,” Shining said slamming his face into the table.

“It’s Pinkie Pie, what were we expecting?” Soarin suggested with a deadpan look on his face.

“True,” Shining agreed, “if it had been anyone else we might have believed this was going to have a serious ending.”