It Begins (Intro & Background)
The Adventures of Pinkie Pie: Changeling of Good Ep.1
Written by- Z.R.A (AKA Zen)
- Intro
It was a warm summer evening in Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash was making her rounds around town. She was coming from Twist's house with a present for Pinkie Pie, a delightful cake with sprinkles of every color, as well as a cupcake for Gummy on the side. Pinkie Pie, a happy, cheerful, and somewhat random pony, thrived on the laughter of others and could always lift somepony's mood...this is her story.
- Doubts
"Pinkie Pie, are you there?" called Rainbow Dash, entering Pinkie's room at sugarcube corner. Dash rounded the corner and saw something out of the corner of her eye. In the corner of the room was a sleeping changeling tucked neatly into a ball on a blue blanket. Dash cautiously approached the changeling, readying herself to jump on the fuzzball and subdue it, when it opened an eye and shouted "Rainbow! Wait!". The small changeling got to her feet and stared intently at Dash waiting for a response. "Pinkie?" whispered Rainbow, glaring at the changeling which had just spoken with the familiar voice of her friend. Pinkie stood still. After what seemed like an eternity, she looked up from where she had bowed her head. "So what's up Rainbow Dash?" she asked shyly.
After steadying herself, Rainbow examined Pinkie Pie as she re-took her pony form. It took her a moment for her to convert her thoughts into words, but as soon as she opened her mouth, a torrent of questions came rushing out. And so began that explanations that, contrary to what she had told her friends before, she had never really lived on a rock farm, but rather was adopted by a family in Fillydelphia. Soon after she had been picked up off the streets by her new family, her new parent had found out that she was a changeling. She explained that since then, she had lived as a pony, bringing joy to those around her and feeding off of it as she did so. Pinkie had made one of the biggest discoveries in pony and changeling history, she had found a way for her kind to live in harmony with the races of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike.
Rainbow's head was spinning and she didn't know where to start. "What do you eat?" she asked warily, still not entirely shure of the situation she had found herself in. "I eat food and love of course" replied Pinkie Pie while trotting over to open a window and let in the brisk evening air. "Albeit, your food cannot permanently sustain me". "Why do you create happiness to feed off, and not just absorb it from others like all the other changelings then?" asked Dash as she took a step forward threateningly. "Because I'm not a follower of Chrysalis and her greedy ways. Deception isn't the only way one can be loved", Pinkie replied obviously hurt by the comment. "Yeah, because you haven’t deceived anyone" Dash snarled before she burst out the door into the fading light. Pinkie watched as her friend disappeared into the night. She stumbled over to the corner and her blanket once again, and soon the tears came, and she began to cry.
- Conflicting Emotions
Dash couldn’t make sense of what had just happened as she kicked off from the ground and took flight. Pinkie was her friend, but she couldn’t help feeling lied to and taken advantage of. She glided across the sky and began having mixed feelings about what she had said to Pinkie. ‘Although Pinkie had kept it a secret’ she thought, ‘she must have had a good reason to do so’… She glided through the air waging a battle with her emotions. She searched through memories that she and Pinkie shared in her mind. She laughed near Everfree, cried over Sweet Apple Acres, and developed a headache as well as became exceedingly frustrated by the time she returned home. As she opened her door, she spied a letter as it fluttered to the ground. It had a crease where it had been wedged into the crack of the door and was simply marked “To my dearest friend, Rainbow Dash”.
You are receiving one of five letters I’ve made tonight. I really want to talk to you about everything and I’ve called a meeting tomorrow of my closest friends. Please be at Shugarcube Corner at 4:00pm. –Pinkamena Diane Pie.
Dash tossed the letter onto her desk next to her copy of Daring Do: and the Thieves of the Forgotten Chest. Her head felt like a ton of bricks as she walked to her bed and threw her body up over the edge. As soon as Rainbow’s head met her pillow, she was out.
- The Reveal
Rainbow woke up late the next day and looked at her clock. The bright red numbers read 2:00 and she groaned looking over at it. The previous night’s events came rushing back in a blur. She remembered the note and read it again. “Four ‘o clock” she whispered to herself stuffing the note back into its envelope. ‘How can I face her after what I said’ she thought, ‘how could I have been so thoughtless?’. She walked outside, slumped and pale, choking back tears and clenching her teeth. “I’ll be there” she said reassuring herself, with that she leapt into the sky flying towards ponyville.
Dash pushed through the front doors of Pinkie’s house and made her way upstairs. She looked around at her friends and after a few moments of anticipation, Pinkie entered the room sporting her normal smile. Dash’s eyes met hers and Pinkie quickly diverted her gaze. She sat down in the corner of the room in a dusty looking chair and looked over her awaiting friends eyes. “So, what is this all about dear?” Rarity inquired. “Well…I…uh…” Pinkie Stuttered. Finally she paused for a moment, and in a brilliant flash of light Pinkie returned to her natural changeling form.
Everpony except Dash was so taken aback that they gasped at the look of their friend's appearance. Before them sat the true form of Pinkie Pie, an oddly colored changeling with a dark blue coat instead of the black ones they had seen before. "This is the true me," Pinkie shyly admitted. There was a long pause, broken by Twilight's curiosity. "How did a changeling like you end up in Ponyville?", she asked. "Oh yeah", said Pinkie, "let me explain..."
- Backgrounds of a Changeling Reject
Pinkie had always been a bit of a reject when she was growing up. She was born in a harsh land ruled by the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis, who of course tried taking over Equestria. In the times before the failed invasion of Equestria however, the changeling nation Dirivicus was at war with the surrounding nations. During the war Pinkie's parents were caught by a rival nation trying to lure in new ponies to feed off, and were sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes. After her parents capture, she took to the streets and was treated terribly because of who she was. Being a young changeling she could only hold a form for a few minutes as she wandered the winding roads trying to find a way to survive. She fled her homeland and after some time ended up at the equestrian border.
Many a day passed as she slowly found her way to the outskirts of Fillydelphia. She came upon a salesman shouting out the prices of the fruits and vegetables in his cart. As she stumbled past, she collapsed from hunger in a distressed thud. She awoke to the salesman with an apple cart cutie mark looming over her, asking if she was OK. She mustered her strength and nodded to the stallion. The salesman helped her to her feet and asked her if she was alright. In her best pony imitation, she replied that she was hungry. He made his way to his cart and picked out his best looking apple and handed it to Pinkie. She looked up at him with a confused expression on her face, and again in her pony voice, asked him to explain. The salesman, now somewhat confused as well, also reached into his cart and took a bite of an apple. Pinkie did the same and tasted the apple in her mouth. This was her first taste of food that wasn't emotion related, and strangely enough, she loved it.
The stallion asked her where her parents were. She stared sadly at the ground for a long while before he understood. The salesman asked her to follow him into town in fear for her safety. As they began walking farther into town, Pinkie felt herself losing hold of her current form. Luckily, the salesman stopped abruptly at a small house and knocked at the door leaving his cart near the walkway to the house. A unicorn with hot pink eyes, with a coat the color of fresh blueberries and a slightly lighter mane opened the door and the salesman addressed her as Mally. Pinkie took note of Mally's eyes, a vibrant color that she adored (as there wasn't much diversity as far as changelings were concerned). As the two ponies chatted she made her way behind the cart and rested by letting herself change back into her changeling form.
As Pinkie heard the conversation coming to a close, she re-took her pony form. Mally turned to the salesman and addressed him as Albrine, which Pinkie thought was a good sounding name. She thanked him for bringing Pinkie to her, and expressed her disbelief that she had been left to roam the streets for so long. Strong or stubborn, Mally told Pinkie that she has some real greatness to her to have survived that long on the streets. She led Pinkie into the house, and as she turned around, exposed her cutie mark (berries with beautiful leaves surrounding them).
Pinkie followed her inside, looking back at Albrine waving goodbye. The house was full of pots and pans scattered about, and a bowl of some sort of blue mush inside it. Pinkie inhaled in the wondrous smells coming from the rooms. She followed Mally into a room near the back of the house. Mally pointed at a small bed next to the window and told Pinkie that she could rest in here and play with the few toys that were in the cupboard.
Mally Pie stared intently at Pinkie and asked what her name was, but she still couldn't speak with the right voice. She saw no other way to communicate than to point at Mally, more specifically at her eyes. "So your name is Eye?" Mally asked. Pinkie shook her head. She widened her eyes and pointed to them again, trying to get the point across. "Oh, so your name is Pink!", Mally said while Pinkie nodded in agreement. "Hmm well thats an odd name, but at least I know what to call you now," she said giggling. "I'll call you Pinkie". Pinkie smiled in agreement. "Alright then Pinkie, I'll call you when I'm done with the pie". Mally smiled once more and trotted out of the room.
Pinkie looked around the room and saw a mirror over in the corner. She hadn't gotten a good look at herself and wanted to remember the form she was in so she wouldn’t slip up in the future. She looked at herself, and then at the door, but no one was there. Deciding it was safe, she looked back at the mirror and changed her color to the same as Miss Mally's eyes. Pinkie was happy with it, but sadly, she knew she can't keep it permanently, and changed back to her original dark orange. She also wanted to see what it would look like with a cutie mark, but she hadn't ever really tried to make a cutie mark before. She tried, but it didn't come out quite right, so she changed it back to blank. It was just as the change finished that Mally called from the other room "Pies done!".
She came out of the room to find that there were three little fillies waiting at the table already. She was a little shocked to see them there so she dove behind the counter. "Hello Pinkie, this is my family", said Mally inroducing her daughters Estrich, Marline and Saris. "Hi", "hay" and "hello", they each said as Pinkie emerged out from behind the counter. She walked wearily to the table and sat with the others. "Ok, here you go", Mally said placing a freshly baked blueberry pie on the table. She then handed out a plate to each pony and placed a piece on them. Pinkie was a little weirded out by it, as she had never seen a pie before. She took a bite and smiled ear to ear savoring the taste. Pinkie then dug in, devouring the slice in a few bites. "Well, looks like somepony really likes my blueberry pie" Mally says smiling.
"Oh yes- yes- yes I love it" Pinkie said enthusiastically, "I have never had anything like this before". "What is it called?". Mally and her daughters stared at her for a second, then started laughing and giggling. "Your voice!", exclaimed Saris while falling out of her chair in laughter. "What?" asked Pinkie Pie squeaking again, realizing her problem, and covering her mouth. "Don't be shy, it's a lovely voice" Mally says, "Is that why you wouldn't speak before? Were you afraid what I would think of your voice?". Pinkie nods. "Oh Pinkie, I think your voice is perfect just the way it is", says Mally. "Really?" Pinkie says again with the slightly high-pitched voice. "Yeah, it's awesome," Saris says, still giggling as she gets up off the floor and back into her chair.
Pinkie smiled, as she had never been complimented before, or for that matter even spoken to really by anypony aside from her parents and Mr. Albrine. She looked at the rest of the pie on the table. "Would you like another piece, Pinkie?" asks Mally. "Oh yes, yes I would love another piece!" Pinkie says. Mally gives her another slice, and this time Pinkie eats it more slowly, enjoying every bite. She looks over at the others, and thinks to herself, "They are a very loving family aren't they?". She wonders if it would be fine to feed off their love since they have been so nice to her.
She stopped eating the pie she had on her plate, and looks at Mally. "M-miss Mally, can I ask you something" Pinkie asked wearily. "Yes Pinkie, anything" Mally responded. "What would you say if I told you I'm not actually a pony..." asked Pinkie staring at the pie in front of her. Mally and the others stopped eating and looked at Pinkie. "Well thats an odd question" Estrich says, "what else could you be but a pony". Pinkie looks at them "Well what if I was something like a.." she paused for a minute, "what if I was a changeling". Now she had everypony's full attention. Although Equestria is safe from the changelings, that does not mean that they haven't had their incidences. "W-well that would be um, well um..." Mally stutters over and over. "Well so long as you're not an evil um whatever that is, I'm ok with you being that" Marline says over her mother’s stuttering. Everypony is quiet for the rest of their time spent at the table. Afterwards Mally sent her daughters out back to play.
Pinkie started to follow but Mally told her to stay. "Pinkie would you sit down for a sec?" "Ok", she said sitting back down. Mally sat in the chair across from her. "Are you a changeling, Pinkie?" she asked with a serious look on her face. "Well, I kinda, maybe, sorta… y-yes, I am", replied Pinkie. "B-but I’m not an evil one" she adds hastily. Mally stares at her for a long time. "C-can I see" she asked. Pinkie turns back into her original form, and Mally is quite shocked to see her change. "Pinkie, is that your real name?" asked Mally doubtfully. "Well no, I don't actually have a name" said Pinkie, “Changelings don't normally tend to name their offspring", "We normally just name ourselves". Mally went quiet again for a long time. She seemed to be thinking deeply. "Well this is an interesting situation I'm in" said Mally, "If I let you stay how long could you go without feeding off of us?". "If I send you out, then there's no way you could take care of yourself". “Well we changelings don't only need to feed off of the emotions of ponies" said Pinkie, "We can eat other things too... well at least I think we can". "I ate the pie after all, and I do feel a little less hungry". "I'm also used to not getting much emotional energy" Pinkie said, "Back home they barely let me eat whenever the gatherers brought back ponies to, you know". "I see" Mally said "Well provided you do not feed off of me, or my daughters or any other pony in town I see no reason not to let you stay". “Mind keeping this a secret?” Pinkie asked, “Not at all” Mally said. Pinkie looked at her and smiled finally feeling truly accepted...
Several weeks later, Pinkie was outside playing with Saris. They had quickly become very close friends since she had first arrived. While playing on the swing-set Pinkie started feeling a little ill and began heading inside. Pinkie wobbled as she walked and collapsed onto the ground. She couldn’t hold her form in her weakened state and her disguise began to disintegrate in front of the girls, who up until now had been left out of her little secret. The girls were shocked by her change but weren’t scared. They know Pinkie, and even as a small blue changeling, they aren’t afraid of her. They helped her up and to her room and galloped away to get Mally.
"Whats wrong?" Mally asked rounding the corner. "I don't know" she said, "I just feel soo hungry". Mally's eyes grew wide "Girls, I want you to go to your rooms for a while". "But what about-" Saris is cut off by her mother. "NOW!" She exclaimed. Mally waited for the others to leave and then said "Pinkie, if you really need to, you can feed off of my love, my love for you". "Ever since you came here the girls have never been happier, and in a way you have even brought me closer to them then we were before" she said looking into Pinkie's eyes, "I owe you at least this much". "Are you sure?" Pinkie asks looking away. "Yes it's ok Pinkie, it's fine" Mally says.
Pinkie looked into Mally’s eyes as she began to sap her love energy. Her energy slowly replenished, and after a few minutes Mally went to see the girls in their rooms and tell them that Pinkie was going to be fine but she needed rest. Mally slept for a long time and awoke the next day in the afternoon to find that Pinkie had tried to mix pie filling while she was asleep. "What are you doing" Mally said smiling, looking at Pinkie. "Well you were asleep so I tryed to make a, what did you call it?” "A pie" says Mally. "yeah that, a pie" Pinkie said smiling. "Pinkie, there are other things to eat other than pies". "Yeah I know but I wanted to make one for you so you could have something sweet and tasty when you got up" said Pinkie happily. "Ahhh, here let me help you with that" said Mally boosting Pinkie up to the counter. "What about that?" Pinkie asks Mally. "That goes there" she says as they start making their first pie together, the first of many...
- Conclusions
"And that's how I came to live among the ponies of Fillydelphia", said Pinkie Pie to Dash and the others. "Mally taught me how to make all sorts of treats and goodies. Saris and the others had to go off to their new jobs all over Equestria" said Pinkie, "I learned how to feed off of multiple ponies at a time to lessen the effects on them, and soon it was my turn to leave home". “We still keep in touch though, I write monthly letters back home” she said with a half-smile.
"Wow, umm, that’s really kind of sweet" Twilight says. "Sweet, are you kidding me, that was one of the most heart felt tales I've ever heard" Applejack said in reply. "I never knew that changelings could feed off of multiple ponies before, I thought that they fed off of us with their teeth, like some sort of vamperical creature" Fluttershy said as she made her way over to inspect Pinkie's teeth. "Well no, we use magic to drain the emotional energy from ponies". Pinkie said while opening her mouth and showing her teeth to Fluttershy.
The others gathered around on the other side of the room to discuss what they have just learned. "Well girls, do think she's telling the truth?" Twilight said quietly to the others. "I've known Pinkie for a long time and I couldn't see her hurting us" said Applejack. "Well I think that she's lying" Rarity said with a nervous look on her face. "It would explain quit a few things though now wouldn't it" Applejack said in Pinkie's defense. "That is true" Rarity agrees. "Remember who we are talking about, Pinkie has never done us any wrongs in the past" Twilight interjected. "Ok, all who trust Pinkie cross this line" said Dash drawing an invisible line with her hooves on the ground.
A few seconds passed and the ponies looked back and forth at each other unsteadily. They look at Pinkie and not only see a changeling, but the good friend that they have always known. They each put a hoof over the line at the same time and smile knowing they made the right decision. "We will always be there for you" Twilight exclaimed looking into Pinkie's eyes. "And I will always be there for you too" said Pinkie tearing up. They all asked Pinkie a few more questions about her past and added their apologies for doubting her. After answering their questions Pinkie gave them their farewells as they departed home with their newfound knowledge.
End Ep:1
