Split Personalities

The morning sun pours into your room while you sleep peacefully, wrapping yourself in your blanket and nuzzling into your fluffy pillow. You smile pleasantly, as your room remains quiet and tranquil while you slowly begin to awaken. It’s rare for you to stay asleep this long most days, or rather the first few months of living with an extremely hyperactive and bubbly mare that makes it her duty to ensure you are up bright and early. Not to mention you have to work alongside her in your new job which makes you want to sleep in day after day to get as much energy as it’s possible.

You shift and turn around to face away from the window to avoid the sun’s rays. As you start to get comfortable again, you hear the door to your room burst open. “It’s time to get up, silly! You’ve overslept and that’s not okay for me to do, so you can’t do it either!” You groggily open one eye just in time to see a flash of pink tackle you out of bed and onto the floor.

You hear hysterical giggling above you, as the heavy mass bounces up and down on your waist. “Come on, come on, come on! We have to get going!”

“Good morning to you too, Pinkie,” you open both of your eyes and see Pinkie with her trademark smile planted firmly on her face, a bright pink T-shirt with differently colored party hats and confetti decorating it. You feel her jean shorts press against your lower stomach as her messy hair goes every which way.

She starts giggling hysterically again. “It’s not morning anymore silly, it hit noon one minute ago!”

“It’s noon already?!” you shout, sitting up abruptly and nearly knocking Pinkie into your lap as she lets out a yelp in surprise.

She regains her balance. “Yep! We gotta get going, like I said! So try to hurry!”

You sigh aloud, rubbing your eyes. “Sorry for oversleeping, Pinkie…”

She smiles at you. “It’s alright; I decided to let you sleep in today because you looked so tired yesterday!”

You give her a smile in return. “You’re a mare after my own heart,” you say with a laugh.

She simply giggles. “Hm? But I don’t eat meat…” she says, cocking her head to the side.

You laugh louder when she says this. “No, it’s a saying.”

“Oh, like one of those phrases that has a hidden meaning?” she inquires curiously, shuffling closer to you.

You ponder her choice of words. “Well, sort of. I guess you could say that.”

“Ooooh, so what’s it mean?!” she asks, enthusiastically.

You stop to think if you should answer her or not when it suddenly dawns on you. “Uh, Pinkie, if we keep chatting we’ll never fill todays orders.”

“Oh no! I nearly forgot!” She jumps off of you and runs towards the door before sliding to a stop, quickly turning her head in your direction once more. “I’ll wait for you downstairs!” she states before bouncing off down the hall.

You simply sigh aloud. “I hope we don’t have to do much today” You get to your feet and stretch before quickly getting ready for the day.

You meet Pinkie downstairs a few minutes later. She then almost immediately shoves a cupcake in your mouth. “You should eat before going so you can have energy for the day!”

Taking out a piece of the cupcake in order to refrain from choking, you swallow part of it before speaking. “I don’t think cupcakes are something you should be eating for lunch.” You laugh when she makes a shocked face.

You notice Mrs. Cake walking up to the both of you. “Here you are, dearie, eat up so you both can run your routes,” Mrs. Cake hands over a sandwich, letting you take it before going back to baking.

“Now you two better hurry if you want to get these orders out quickly,” Mrs. Cake waves as Pinkie grabs you by the hand and drags you towards the door.

“Don’t worry about us; we’ll get those orders super-duper fast!” Pinkie gives a big wave to Mrs. Cake while she continues dragging you out the door.

“Thanks for the sandwich!” you say with your mouth full before exiting the shop.

“Soooo, where are we going first?” you ask the cheerful mare walking next to you.

“Well, first we have to go by Twilight’s place, then we have to go to the store to pick up supplies for the bakery, then after we bake up everyone’s orders, we’ll deliver them. Of course, that means I’ll get to eat extra cupcakes!” Pinkie jumps up and down at the thought of more sweets, licking her lips to whatever she’s thinking up.

“So, the usual?” You simply ask while taking the last bite of your sandwich.

“Nope, not even close to the usual!” She gives a big toothy grin before explaining.

“We’re visiting Twilight today to discuss when the next get together we’ll be having!” She explains enthusiastically.

“Uh, Pinkie, didn’t you girls talk about that stuff two days ago?” you ask in a confused tone.

“Yeah we did; why do you ask?” She cocks her head sideways.

“Then why are we going over there again?” You wonder about her thought process sometimes.

“Because, I forgot to ask what type of cupcakes we should be having!” She makes a face that you would think someone who’s seen the end of the world would make.

You simply laugh at her over-exaggerated expression. “Pinkie, I don’t think she’ll care about what cupcakes you’ll bring since they’ll taste great regardless.”

“Cupcakes are serious business!” She says it with another shocked expression on her face before going back into another fit of giggles, “Besides, Twilight will want all the details since she’ll lose her mind if everything isn’t accounted for.” she explains more thoroughly.

“Oh right, I forgot.” Glancing over at her, you start to reminisce about how your stay with the bubbly, hyperactive mare came to be.

~*~*~

You’d lived in Manehatten for years. The city life was sometimes fun and exciting, and there were always things to do there. But eventually, it started to become too much; the overcrowded streets, the snobby residents, you decided that it was time to get away from it all. A nice, quiet town with just enough going on that it’s interesting without it becoming overwhelming. Before you realized it, you’d finally raised enough money to move away from the city and found your way to a cozy little town called Ponyville. It was pretty much what you were hoping for, everything you needed in the small town, except one thing: A house for rent.

The one drawback you didn’t really think about was the fact that, because of it being so small, there weren’t a lot of readily-available houses for sale. You collapsed on a park bench after wandering around town looking for someplace to rent. Running your fingers through your hair from frustration as you silently cursed your luck made you not notice the hoofsteps coming closer to you.

“Hello!” A loud, feminine voice busted out next to you.

You’d nearly jumped up off the bench from surprise. “Huh!?”

“You’re new here, right?” she’d asked in an excited tone.

“Uh, y-yeah I am,” you looked up at the mare in confusion.

“I knew it; I saw you over here and thought to myself: “He looks new, I should say hi and welcome him to Ponyville!” she exclaimed happily.

“I-I see. Well, thank you, but I don’t think I’ll be staying long.” You went back to your depression.

“Huh, why’s that?” She looked at you confusedly.

“This place doesn’t have homes for rent, and with no house of my own or money, I see little point in trying to make a living here since I can’t afford to buy a house,” you explained.

The mare gasped. “What!? But if you can’t afford to buy a house, how will you be able to live here?!”

You shrugged and sighed aloud. “That’s sort of why I can’t live he-” She cut you off by shoving her hand over your mouth looking like she’s lost in thought.

“Oh, Oh, I know!” She suddenly grabbed your arm and started dragging you off somewhere.

You start to protest what felt less like enthusiasm and more like kidnapping. “Hey, what are you-?” She interrupted you before you could finish your sentence.

“We can go to my place! There are extra rooms there that you can stay at!” she cheerily stated.

“B-but I don’t even know you well enough for that!” You manage to get her to stop dragging you.

“Oh, of course, how could I forget!?” She tapped her forehead as if she forgot something obvious.

You sighed aloud. “You see what I mean? I appreciate the kind gesture but I-”

“I’m Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you! There, now that we’re friends, you can come live with me and the Cakes!” she declared as she resumed what felt like an attempt at dislocating your shoulder.

“Wait, what?” is all you managed to say before being pulled along again. Trying to keep pace with the energetic mare, you continued to question her logic. “Um, miss-er Pinkie Pie, are you really okay letting a complete stranger--who you just met off the street--into your house?” you asked.

“But we already know enough about each other! Besides, I can tell you’re a good person!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

“But how can you tell?” You looked at her in wonder.

“I got an itchy back just before I met you, so you must be nice!” she nonchalantly explained.

“How does that mean anything?” you asked, wondering more and more about the mare’s sanity.

“An itchy back means something good will happen to me! You see, I have what I call my Pinkie sense; It tells me all sorts of things, and it’s never wrong!” she jovially declared.

“I-I see, well I guess I can’t really argue with your… sense, and it’s not like I’m ungrateful for the help, It’s just that I’m not used to anyone being so helpful since I came from a big city.” You scratched the back of your head sheepishly.

“Oh, oh! Where did you come from!?” she asked, turning towards you abruptly.

“Manehatten,” you stated.

“Ooooooh, I bet it’s super-duper fun there!” Her eyes sparkled with delight.

You chuckled a little. “Yeah, it was nice for a while, but it was a bit much... I was hoping to find a nice, quiet town like this one.”

“Well, Ponyville’s a great place to live; it’s really fun here and there’s always something to do!”

“Alright, I’ll go along with your idea, at least until I can afford an actual house for myself,” you stated as you both approached a large building.

“We’re here! Now we can ask if you can stay with us!” She then proceeded to head through the door, dragging you along.

“Wait, who do we have to-” You got cut off by Pinkie again.

She called out to the empty room. “Mrs. Cake, are you in the kitchen?”

“Yes Dearie, what do you- Is this a new friend of yours?” she asked as she walked out of the back room.

“Yep! That’s what I wanted to ask you about; you see, he recently came here hoping to live here, but he doesn’t have the money to actually buy a house, so he wanted to live with us since we have the extra room!” Pinkie energetically bounced in place, making both you and Mrs. Cake look at her in confusion.

“Wait, I never personally asked to live-” Mrs. Cake interrupted you this time.

“Um, Dearie, we’re not in the habit of letting anyone live here, you were a special case. Plus I doubt my husband would be okay letting in a complete stranger into our home with the kids,” Mrs. Cake explained while examining you.

“But he isn’t a complete stranger. Besides, my Pinkie sense tells me he’s a good person!” Pinkie pointed to her back as if indicating something; you weren’t quite sure what.

“That may be the case, but I’m still unsure if it’s-” Pinkie leaned over towards Mrs. Cake and whispered something in her ear before she pulled away.

“Oh, I see; well if that’s the case… I suppose we could use an extra pair of hands around here considering the time of year again,” She pondered the possibilities as she spoke aloud.

As she thought to herself, you began to think it’d be a bad idea to impose yourself like this. “You know, maybe I should look elsewhere…” However, the moment you said so, Pinkie looked at you with puppy dog eyes, and whimpered at you. You tried looking away, but found that no matter where you looked or moved, she’d already be there, with that same begging look in her eyes. She leaned in closer, until you sighed before quickly scrambled to put something together to help stop the mare from looking like she was about to burst into tears. “But... if it helps... I suppose I can work for you... just until I work up the money to get my own place…” You could only hope it would be enough to make Mrs. Cake agree to letting you stay.

“Alright, let me talk to my husband about it and we’ll see if it’s okay,” She gave you a gentle smile.

Pinkie looked at you excitedly, her expression practically instantaneous. “See? I told you everything would work out!”

“Yeah, I guess so…” You wondered how she could change her emotions so easily, as well as her location, before your attention shifted back to Mrs. Cake.

“Now, wait a moment, I still need to discuss it with my husband, though I’m sure he’ll understand,” She reassured you.

“I’ll do anything you need me to,” You said, trying not to sound desperate.

“Don’t worry about it Dearie; oh but excuse me, what is your name?”

You perked up. “Oh, right! Sorry, my name is…”

~*~*~

You’re so lost in thought about how everything began, you don’t even hear Pinkie calling your name. The pink mare leans in until she’s pressing her nose right into your own, which causes you to snap back to reality. “Huh, what’s up?” you ask, backing up to give yourself some space.

“I was talking to you and noticed you weren’t paying attention,” she says while looking at you with a hint of concern.

“Oh sorry, I was just thinking about how I met you for the first time when I came here.” You reposition yourself, turning your full attention to Pinkie. “I’m still incredibly grateful to you and the Cakes for helping me out. I really owe you big time, but I have to ask: What did you tell Mrs. Cake to get her to let me stay so quickly?” you ask out of curiosity.

Pinkie begins giggling. “Um, I don’t remember, something about you willing to work for them for free, I think?” Pinkie exclaims happily.

“So, I was going to be free labor?” You look at her with an unamused expression.

She just waves it off. “It all worked out, didn’t it?” she states reassuringly. Before you can argue with her, you notice her rocking back and forth anxiously. “Speaking of back then, how many friends did you have in Manehatten?” she asks while looking in your direction.

“I didn’t really have many, if any at all; remember there were a few reasons I left that place, not just from it being too lively,” you explain.

Pinkie scratches her head for a moment before replying. “Oh yeah, I remember now.”

Noticing a look of concern growing on her face, you give her a friendly grin before casually throwing an arm around her shoulder. “And I couldn’t have made a better choice because I ended up making a friend like you, Pinkie,”

Pinkie, shocked at first, recovers quickly and giggles some more. “I can help you make more friends if you want me too!”

“It’s okay, at least for now,” You laugh when she gives you a confused look.

“But you can never have too many friends! That’s how you keep every day exciting!” she says in a dramatic tone.

You scratch the back of your head. “I get enough excitement just hanging out with you, Pinkie. I doubt I could handle any more than that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess you can stay at the store when I’m off making deliveries if you want,” You watch as her hair seems to start visibly deflating.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that! I love being around you all the time!” you say cheerfully.

She starts laughing nervously for a moment before replying. “I knew that, I was just joking!”

“Sheesh, you had me worried for a second, there. You act so cheery all the time, I wouldn’t know how to handle you being sad,” you say jokingly.

“Me, sad? I can’t be sad, I mean, if I’m sad then my friends are sad, and that would make me feel so much worse, because I’d never want to make my friends sad about anything!” she explains in an oddly serious tone.

“I guess I can understand why you’d want to do that. Though if you ever have anything to get off your chest, just come find me, and I’ll always try to help!” you say to reassure her.

“Thanks, if I ever need to, I’ll let you know,” She hugs you tightly and gives a big toothy grin.

You hug her back before pulling away, and you can’t help but smile back, seeing her in such high spirits. However, before you can say anything else she interrupts by pointing ahead of her. “It’s Twilight’s house!” she says before bouncing off towards the librarian’s home.

You plug your ears, expecting the mare to make quite a ruckus as she nears the door before stopping in front of it.

Pinkie starts knocking on the door rapidly. “TWILIIIIIIGHT!”

“Pinkie, I’m sure she’d hear the knocking just fine,” you say as you unplug your ears.

“You never know, she could be so absorbed into a book that she doesn’t hear or she could be doing her annual ‘Cleaning Up The Library’ Day!” she exclaims.

“Well, I guess that could happen,” You still thought it was a bit excessive, but Pinkie is Pinkie after all, and it was one of her charming sides she has that made you want to befriend her in the first place.

The door suddenly opens as Twilight pokes her head out before opening it up completely. “Hey you two, what’s going on?”

“Heya Twilight, I was wondering what cupcakes we should have at our get-together party!” Pinkie states, giving Twilight her undivided attention.

“I assumed you’d bring the usual like you always do, correct?” Twilight looks at her friend in confusion.

“Oh right, I guess it slipped my mind,” Pinkie sighs aloud, causing you to turn and look at her as Twilight takes a step out of the doorway.

Twilight pauses for a moment before speaking. “Pinkie, are you okay? You seem to be out of it lately,” she asks worriedly.

Pinkie immediately perks up and smiles. “Oh don’t worry about a thing, Twilight! I’m just fine, just didn’t get enough sleep last night is all.”

“If you say so,” Twilight looks at Pinkie with an unsure gaze.

“I am! Oh, I almost forgot, I need to run back to the bakery and write down what cupcakes I want to bring! Be back in a jiffy!” Pinkie then sprints off in a flash, leaving little more than a dust cloud in her place.

“She seems to have a lot of energy to me,” you say, silently wondering how she can do that as you shoo away the cloud of dust she left behind.

“That’s just Pinkie’s usual personality. But lately she seems more drained than normal; has she been pushing herself a lot lately?” Twilight gives you a thoughtful look.

“Well to tell you the truth, she seems to be acting normal to me. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Though she seems to rush through everything a lot quicker, this makes her more forgetful. Plus she’s been taking a lot more hosting jobs and has been partying almost every other day for whatever reason, but she says that’s normal. I try to go with her but I end up getting so exhausted I hardly have the energy to get out of bed,” You start to think back to see if anything happened.

“I see; that would explain why she seems out of it,” She sighs heavily, as if she’s at a loss of what to do.

“Sorry I’m not very helpful,” You begin to wonder if something really is wrong with Pinkie, which makes you worry.

Twilight gives you a reassuring smile. “Oh no, it’s not that, I just thought from the way Pinkie always talks about you that you’d be able to help cheer her up or make her take it easy,”

“I honestly doubt I’d be able to calm her down,” You smile nervously at Twilight.

“I just assumed you’d be able to have more influence, since you two live together,” she explains.

You’re about to say something until Pinkie skids to a halt right next to you both. “We have to get going, see you later, Twilight!” She happily hugs her friend, the grabs your arm and begins dragging you along before Twilight can say anything. You look back at Twilight who sighs heavily and shakes her head before mouthing something you couldn’t hear.

You slowly turn back to Pinkie and notice she’s breathing a little heavily with sweat running down her cheek. “Uh, Pinkie?”

“Yeah?” She looks up at you.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” you ask in a worrying tone.

“Yeah, of course I am! Why do you ask?” She plays it off as just a normal question.

You scan her expression before continuing. “Uh, well, Twilight was worried about you, and now I’m starting to wonder if maybe you’ve been overworking yourself or if there’s something wrong,”

Pinkie gives you a big grin and shrugs it off. “Oh, you don’t have to worry, remember? I’m just fine, this is normal!”

“Just, if you ever want to talk or need help just let me know, I can at least do that much,” You give her a thumbs-up and chuckle a little which makes her giggle alongside you.

“I’m happy to have another great friend like you,” She suddenly sneezes out of nowhere and sniffles before reaching into her pocket and blowing her nose with a tissue.

You look at Pinkie for a moment. “You catching a cold?”

“Oh no, I just randomly sneezed is all. Someone must be talking about me!” she exclaims.

You eye her suspiciously before shrugging it off. “Alright, I believe you.”

“You worry too much, you’ll get grey hairs if you worry a lot!” She gives you a hug out of nowhere.

“Pinkie… can’t breathe,” Pinkie lets go and laughs.

“You should work on holding your breath longer,” She ends in a fit of giggles.

“I think you just give enthusiastic hugs,” you say as you catch your breath.

“But hugs make everything better!” she shouts.

“That’s true; is that why you hug everyone so much?” you ask in curiosity.

“Well sure! Everyone likes hugs!” She bounces up and down in her usual energetic manner.

“I guess you have a point there,” You momentarily look up at the sky, looking at the clouds roll by. “I think we should get a move on if we want to give Mrs. Cake those orders, huh?” You say with a casual smile.

“Oh my gosh; I almost forgot! We should hurry!” She rushes ahead of you a little ways before skidding to a halt and speeding back. “Hurry up, slowpoke!” She grabs your hand before dragging you alongside her again.

It took a while to go to every house and grab the orders that were needed. Pinkie somehow memorized all of the customers on the list in the bakery, so everything went smoothly. After getting back to the house and giving Mrs. Cake the orders, Pinkie wanted to go to her room for a bit which left you to hang out alone.

“Hey, Mrs. Cake?” you call out from over the counter.

“Yes, Dearie?” She pauses from what she’s doing and looks up at you.

“Have you noticed anything strange with Pinkie Pie lately?” you ask, hoping she could help shed some light onto the situation.

“I’m sorry, Dearie. I haven’t really noticed anything strange, she’s so good at hiding anything that’s bothering her I hardly ever notice, is something the matter?” She looks at you with worry.

“I’m not sure, she seemed happy enough until Twilight explained how well she’s able to hide her emotions, which made me remember there were a few times when she seemed to be dozing off or daydreaming in the middle of doing something,” you explain as best you can.

“Hm, well I’ll try asking her when she comes down later,” She gives you a reassuring smile.

“Okay, thanks Mrs. Cake,” She nods and goes back to what she was doing while you decide to head up to your room to rest a bit.

You let out a long yawn and stretch while lying on your bed; you were feeling oddly sleepy after relaxing for only a few minutes waiting for the orders to get done. Even stranger was the fact that Pinkie didn’t try to pop in and try to get you to do stuff with her like usual. After the talk you had with her friend, you were increasingly confused by Pinkie’s odd behavior but knew you couldn’t really do anything. Still, you were a little worried. You decide that you’d go visit her this time. You hop off the bed and casually walk to her room. You knock once on the door, but hear Pinkie from behind you.

“Hi! What’s up?” Pinkie asks while smiling her usual toothy grin.

You turn around and notice an exhausted Pinkie behind you. “Just wanted to pop over here and ask what you were up to, why do you look so tired?” you ask in a casual tone.

“Oh nothing really, I was just about to ask if Mr. and Mrs. Cake were ready for the deliveries after coming back from a birthday party!” she states enthusiastically.

“Don’t you think you're overworking yourself a bit?” As soon as you finished your sentence, you hear Mrs. Cake call out both your names, causing Pinkie’s smile to widen.

“See? I knew it was time to go!” She turns and walks away, pretending she didn’t hear the question.

“Hey, I can take over the first deliveries to give you a breather, I don’t mind I promise,” you add as you follow close behind.

She giggles as she heads down the stairs. “Don’t be silly, silly. I love doing deliveries!”

You cock your head to the side and look her over for a moment before responding. “Alright, if you’re okay with it, then fine.”

You both head towards the counter where the Cakes are stacking parcels up side by side. “Ah, I need you both to take these to the customers on this list. While you’re out delivering those, we’ll be busy with the other orders for you to take when you get back, so try not to take too long,” Mrs. Cake explains while Mr. Cake sets the last couple of packages on the counter.

“Don’t worry Mrs. Cake; we’ll be back in a jiffy!” Pinkie picks up a few of the delicate boxes as you follow behind, picking up the others before you start heading out the door. You could smell the pleasant aroma emanating from every one of the boxes. You look over at Pinkie, who’s drooling over the smell, as expected. “Pinkie, try not to eat any of them this time,” you say teasingly.

“But they smell so good!” She whimpers at you, which makes her look adorable.

“You’ll be fine. Besides, you’ll get the leftovers when we get done with this,” you add, making her seemingly struggle between the two options.

“Okaaaay, I’ll wait,” You can’t help but smile at her childlike expression, before seeing her reaction shift from disgruntled to panicked. “But we have to hurry and get everything done!” She rushes forward in an attempt to pick up the pace.

“Hey, wait for me!” You try to match her pace the best you can.

You quickly move from house to house and aside from Pinkie saying “Hi!” to everyone the two of you pass on the way, you both finish the first deliveries in record time. “Pinkie, I’ll be dead on my feet if we keep up this speed.”

“Aww, but we have to hurry! I have stuff to do and we haven’t done anything super fun today! Well, we did visit Twilight and I went to a super-fun birthday party. Then there was when we were delivering yummy cakes!” Pinkie bounces up and down excitedly.

“Uh, Pinkie? Aren’t we still delivering stuff?” you ask the excited mare.

“Oh yeah that’s true!” She laughs aloud when you remind her.

You facepalm at her response. “I already feel mentally drained trying to follow her train of thought…”

“Oh, oh! I have a great idea! While you rest, I can run back and grab the rest of the orders so we can go have even more fun!” she exclaims as she runs off.

“H-hey, wait a sec!” You sigh heavily at the mare’s spontaneous burst of energy.

You manage to make your way back to the bakery just as Pinkie finishes another delivery by herself. “Hey, you can’t expect me to let you carry all of these by yourself do you?” you ask, as Pinkie piles box after box in her arms.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s really no problem at all!” She looks over at the clock on the wall. “Oh no! I’m going to be late!” She bolts out the door. You sigh aloud as you follow behind her while she rushes off to complete her own deliveries.

You just manage to finish your last delivery when you see Pinkie walking back to the bakery. As you get closer, you notice she doesn’t look very well. “Pinkie, you okay?”

“I’m fine, but if I don’t hurry, I’ll be late for my ‘Welcome back from your long trip’ party that I want to throw for the Mayor. Then I told Daisy I’d help her carry flowerpots to her store, which were going to be for her new flowers, so it’s really important that I help her, and-” Pinkie suddenly starts to get really wobbly and trips out of nowhere. Luckily, you manage to catch her before she falls.

You notice sweat dripping down Pinkie’s face. “Pinkie, what happened?” You ask in a worried tone.

“No, it’s okay. I feel fine, I can walk…” You can easily see how flushed her face is just at a glance, ignoring her reassurance.

You place a hand on her forehead. “Pinkie, you’re burning up!”

“No, I…” She pauses a moment before taking a deep breath. “I don’t feel so good,” She finally says as her legs start to wobble a little when she tries to stand.

“Here, use me to keep yourself steady,” You let her lean on you as you walk side by side. “Why didn’t you just tell me you were feeling sick? I would’ve handled everything fine,” you couldn’t help but wonder why she’d try hiding it from you.

“B-but, if I did that, then you would’ve had to do everything by yourself,” she explains.

“But still, it’s not worth risking your health just to please everyone!” You raise your voice to make a point.

Pinkie looks away from you. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you…” Pinkie’s shoulders start drooping as her eyes start hazing over a little. She whimpers a little as her hair starts to lose its usual puffy shape, as it seemingly proceeds to slowly deflate.

Your expression softens. “Ah… no, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you; I was just so worried because you’ve been working yourself ragged all day, and I feel bad for not noticing that you weren’t feeling well.”

Her ears fold down as her head sinks. “It wasn’t your fault; I was hiding it, you shouldn’t blame yourself.”

“I guess, either way we need to get you back. Can you walk?” you ask, holding her steady.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” You help her as you both slowly make your way back to the bakery.

As you enter, Mrs. Cake walks out of the kitchen and looks over at the two of you, quickly noticing that there’s something wrong. “What happened? You look awful!” She makes her away around the counter to examine Pinkie.

“She suddenly collapsed when we were done with the deliveries,” you explain.

Mrs. Cake looks at Pinkie, who looks like she’s going to be sick, before she carefully places a hand on Pinkie’s forehead. “Oh my goodness, you’re burning up, Dearie!”

She looks at you. “Can you carry her to her bed? I’ll grab some medicine; be up in a moment.”

“Sure,” You quickly walk her over to the stairs, letting her use the guardrail and your shoulder as support as you make your way up. When you reach the top Pinkie stops abruptly and looks towards the bathroom. “I-I’ll be back in a second!” She bolts towards it, stumbling briefly as she loses the support she had been using to walk. You guess she was about to get sick right before you hear her throw up.

Once she finally leaves the bathroom, you manage to get Pinkie to her room and help her lay down in her bed, making sure she’s comfortable when Mrs. Cake walks in with a glass of water and medicine. “Here, take these dearie; it’ll help lower your fever a little.”

“T-thank you, Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie says raspily.

“Not at all, Dearie.” She turns to look at you, “Can you look after her for a moment; I have to finish some order forms, and then I’ll be right back, I promise.”

“Of course,” you state swiftly.

She quickly leaves, and you focus your attention back on Pinkie. “Are you feeling any better?” you ask.

“N-not really; I feel dizzy and my stomach is doing flips…” she says as she places a hand on her stomach and gently rubs it.

“How long were you feeling this way?” you ask out of concern.

She pauses for a moment before responding. “All day…”

“All day!? Why didn’t you tell me or the Cakes?” you say in a shocked tone.

“I-I didn’t want to worry them or you…” She looks away from you.

You sigh internally, trying not to let her see your frustration. “Well, I’m sure once the medicine kicks in, you’ll feel better,” you say, trying to reassure her.

“I hope it works soon. I think I can still make it, even if I’m a little late…” she says, seemingly to herself rather than to you.

“Huh? What do you mean?” you ask in confusion.

“I mean the party, silly! It’d be rude if I abandoned them,” she explains.

“What? Sorry Pinkie, but I’m not going to let you leave, you’re sick enough as it is,” you say, watching as she leans up in her bed quickly before getting dizzy again and falling back down.

“I can’t be a no-show! I promised them I’d be there!” Pinkie starts panicking a little, struggling in her attempts at trying to roll out of the bed.

“Pinkie calm down, you’re sick. I’m sure they’ll understand. You need to rest and take it easy,” You place a hand on her shoulder and smile at her.

“B-But, but it’s my job, I can’t just stop doing my job. If I did that then it would be bad for everyone else and then they wouldn’t have a great time because they’ll be partyless! Plus, I really slacked off for a while because I had to keep helping you get adjusted here, so I wanted to work twice as hard to make everyone else happy!” she exclaims.

You’re a little taken aback by her words. You never knew she wasn’t working like she usually did because of your inability to help yourself. What’s worse, you never really thought of it. You just assumed that she usually did it for anyone. You mentally hit yourself over the fact that you kept her from doing what she loves. Your emotions must’ve been apparent on your face because Pinkie started to look like she was about to cry.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that!” she says frantically.

“It’s okay, Pinkie. It’s not like you're wrong…” You give a weak smile.

“No, no, I didn’t mean it; I was just trying to explain myself! I really like being with you all day, it’s super fun and I always have a good day! I-it’s just that…” She lowers her head as she mumbles something you can’t quite make out.

You sigh aloud. “I understand, it’s okay, I promise.”

“B-but I-” You place a hand on her shoulder, interrupting what she was going to say.

“It’s fine, Pinkie. But can I make it up to you for not being more considerate of you?” You ask, hoping she’ll just let you.

“You don’t have to, it wasn’t your fault!” Pinkie sits up in her bed.

“But I want too; after all, I owe you, and friends help friends, right?” you ask.

“Yeah, but…” She starts hesitating.

“Pinkie, you’re my best friend. And I feel awful for not paying more attention to your situation. Please let me help you,” You continue to beg.

“I’m happy to be your best friend, but I don’t like it if you're sad because of me…” she explains.

“I’ll be happy when I get you to let me take over your job while you’re sick,” You give her a big smile to try to lighten the mood.

“It’ll make you happy?” she asks hesitantly.

“Yes, I want to be there for you like you were for me,” you explain.

She takes a deep breath. “Okay, if you’re really okay with it… Thank you,” she says, finally giving in to your request.

“No sweat, it’s my turn to help you after you did so much for me!” you add cheerfully.

“But I didn’t do that much,” she says, trying to shrug it off.

“To me you have, it’s thanks to you I have a place to stay, and having you around makes it that much more enjoyable,” You pat her on the head. You notice Pinkie fiddling with her blanket as she stares up at you. “Something wrong, Pinkie?”

She looks down quickly before responding nervously. “N-no, just feeling weird…” she says before trailing off.

You look at her quizzically for a moment before shrugging it off. “Here, lie down and when Mrs. Cake gets back, I’ll take care of everything else you had to do today,” You help Pinkie lie back down to let her rest some more.

Pinkie falls asleep soon after laying back down on her bed. You watch as she tosses and turns in her sleep, a small trail of saliva running down the side of her mouth. You can’t help but think it’s cute how she murmurs in her sleep. You’re almost positive your name’s mentioned a couple of times, though that’s about all that you can understand. It doesn't take very long for Mrs. Cake to come back, she notices Pinkie out cold and decides it’s fine to leave her be for now.

“I think I’m going to do some of the things Pinkie wanted to finish today, so I’ll be out for a while, is that okay?” you ask as you follow Mrs. Cake out of Pinkie’s room.

“That’s so sweet of you, Dearie. Of course it’s okay,” She gives you a gentle smile.

“Yeah well, it was kind of my fault she got sick anyway…” You can feel the guilt beginning to build up again.

“Oh don’t feel bad, Dearie. She would’ve done the same thing regardless, it’s just how she is,” she says, trying to reassure you.

“I guess, but I still want to make it up to her,” you simply state.

“I’ll tell you what, since tomorrow will be a slow day anyway, why don’t you take the day off to care for her and help her out by doing some of the things she normally does?” She smiles at you with her usual motherly aura.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” you ask, unsure if it would really be okay to take the whole day off.

She chuckles a little. “Yes, it’s no trouble at all; you just take care of Pinkie for us tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright, thank you Mrs. Cake,” You let out a small sigh of relief.

“Think nothing of it,” She nods in affirmation, before heading back to the bakery lobby.

The rest of the day drags on for you. Between making deliveries and doing Pinkie’s ‘to-do’ list, you hardly have time to rest at all. By the time you manage to do the last thing on the list, it’s already evening and past the shop’s closing time. “Seriously, how does she manage to run around and do all of these things day in and day out?” you ask yourself aloud.

You walk into the shop completely exhausted. Your feet and legs hurt from all the running around you did all day and you’re hungry to boot. You decide you’ll go to bed early today after you eat and check on Pinkie. After throwing a quick meal together and conversing with the Cakes a little, you say your goodnights and drag yourself upstairs. Upon opening Pinkie’s door to check on her, you notice she was awake and playing with Gummy.

“Oh hey! You’re here late, what took you so long?” she asks as she sits Gummy on her bed.

“Hey, it’s not easy being you, you know? I don’t see how you manage to run around so much every day,” you let out a yawn as Pinkie looks at you with concern.

“You shouldn’t try doing everything! Besides, by tomorrow I’ll be ready to go back to doing it myself. But thank you for the help, I appreciate it,” She gives you a large smile, seemingly as refreshed and well as she was at the start of the day, before letting out a loud sneeze, causing her hair to deflate again and her eyes to glaze over. She makes a sniffing sound, grabbing a tissue and blowing her nose into it before throwing it away.

“Not a chance, Pinkie. You’re still sick and you need rest,” You scowl at her in your attempt to further get your point across.

“B-but I’m better, I promise!” she pleads, sniffling a little.

You raise an eyebrow at her. “Can you Pinkie-promise me that you’re better?”

“N-no, I can’t. But if I’m better tomorrow, can I?” Pinkie tries to give you puppy eyes, but starts coughing instead.

You roll your eyes when she blows her nose. “Yeah, we’ll see, Pinkie. Either way, you’ll have me taking care of you tomorrow, so don’t think you can sneak off.”

“O-okay…” Dejected, she gives up and plops back down onto her bed before jumping back up again. “Ooh, ooh, wanna play a game?!” she asks as she bounces up and down excitedly before stopping her bouncing and quickly grabbing her head from dizziness, groaning in the process.

“No thanks, Pinkie. I’m really tired from running around all day so I wanted to go to bed early,” You let out another yawn and rub the back of your neck as you stretch.

“O-oh, okay… good night,” Pinkie says, her posture sinking even further.

“We’ll play games tomorrow when I’m with you, I promise. Good night, Pinkie.”

“…Okie Doki Loki!” She tries saying it cheerily but you can tell it’s forced. You’d stay and try talking it out, but you’re too tired to try to deal with it right now. You know she’ll perk up tomorrow, or at least, you hope so. Seeing her reach over and cuddle Gummy for comfort, you wave goodbye to her and close the door behind you before heading towards your room and collapsing on your bed, not even bothering to take off your clothes before you fall asleep from exhaustion.