1 month, 1 day

1 month, 1 day

"Can you hear the monster?"

"Can you hear it hiss, fester, roll around in your head?"

It sounds grotesque.

"It wants to get out, why not just let it out?"

"Are you scared of what might happen?"

It sounds unnatural.

"Are you afraid?"

"Are you afraid of the others seeing it get out?"

It sounds like an abomination.

"Why hide it?"

"Why hide me?"

"Why would you hide yourself from them?"

"..."

It angrily yells like a siren, deeper and raspier.

"WHY WON'T YOU LET ME OUT?"

A mass of force strikes him in his stomach, down on the floor Daniel is a ragdoll. On his side he tries to hold himself back up, but his arms feel like jelly as he lays on his right arm trying to keep himself off the forest floor. He squints, desperately trying to close his eyes, his body feels numb and unresponsive. Dark, he closes his eyes, all he sees is the dark.

"You think you can hide from yourself?"

A kick to the back of his head, he sees red streaks go across the dark.

"You can't hide from me." A familiar voice, himself, he peeps open one eye and sees himself standing beside himself. He glares down at himself, his mouth blends in with his skin, it ungulates as he speaks with his grotesque voice ,

"Wake up already, you insufferable prick."

He kicks him in the throat, Daniel opens his eyes from the blow, something else familiar greets him.

"Woop!" Something just tackled him from on top of his blanket, he has a feeling he knows what. He stretches his arm upward, flipping open the blanket, covering a familiar head shape. Pink hair stretches from the blanket's edge, she says muffled,

"Hello?~"

As playful as she may be, Daniel doesn't seem in the mood for it. He yanks the blanket off her roughly, sternly saying,

"Pinkie, it's near midnight already. Go. To. Bed." he tries to remind her, "You have work tomorrow." Her hairs ruffled and jumbled, almost fluffy if it would happen to be thicker. She whimsically retaliates with another viewpoint,

"Nuh-uh! This is -my- sleepover, -you- can't tell me when to go to bed silly~ Plus I can make up any work I miss easy, I'm a hard worker." He partially plays along,

"Alright, but you can't tell me when not to be a grump.." he lies back down on his improvised bed, consisting of 2 layers of thin blankets with a pillow and one thick blanket on top for a cover, still an odd experience to be sleeping in Pinkie's room, but it seems comfortable enough. She puts her hoof on his shoulder, asking,

"Aw, did you have those one of those nightmares again?" Daniel tries not to acknowledge it, he doesn't want it resurfacing. Pinkie pleads,

"Come on, you can't get over it if you can't vent it." She repeatedly rubs his shoulder with her hoof, to no avail. She closes her mouth impatiently, determined to get him to share.

"Hmph, fine!" She walks off, to Daniel's liking. He tries to fall asleep, but it's short lived. As he starts to drift off to sleep a few minutes later, he's met with something rubbing his cheek. He mumbles angrily,

"Pinkie, stub rubbing me.." she doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Daniel opens his eye, glaring at her with one eye, she's holding a taped up coffee mug. Wait, she seriously fixed that? He asks amazed, but still annoyed,

"...seriously?" she pokes him again, silently insisting he drinks some. He props himself up with his right arm, ignoring the burn pain under the bandages.

"That's not how that works Pinkie, if I drink that I'll be asleep all day tomorrow." He wipes his face, not willing to tolerate her at this hour of the night. Well, she got him up at least. Met with an insistent Pinkie, he feels like he's not going to get any sleep tonight. He doesn't feel like he could just suddenly leave either, she's being annoyingly persistent but she'd take that personally if he decides to leave after last night together. Time to tough it out, it seems.

"Fine." He picks up the coffee cup, silently inspecting how she taped it up, guess it wasn't shattered, just cracked in very few pieces. Daniel takes a sip, isn't Black, she made it sweet with seemingly a bit of cream. Perhaps she tried to get him in a better mood, not a -bitter- mood. Ironically she asks,

"Better?" Daniel simply answers,

"Somewhat." He refuses to admit he feels better, taking sip after sip; tastes like hazelnut. She takes it as a sign of good faith and tries to reel him in,

"Sooo..what was it about?" Daniel sighs, taking another sip. She looks determined.

"I just want to help you Danny, just work with me please?" she asks, her eyes look sincere. Confound these ponies and their oversized eyeballs. Daniel sighs, explaining,

"I've been having nightmares, this..thing keeps saying it wants to get out, trying to convince me to let it out. And it keeps beating me, trying to get me to let it out of my head." Pinkie asks a question,

"Beating?.." Daniel answers with a gesture, pounding his right fist into his left cupped hand.

"Yes, -beating- me. And each time it gets worse." Her ears flop downward. He feels the front of his neck, adding on,

"When you tackled me awake, was the moment it kicked me in the neck." she asks again,

"What is 'it' ?" Daniel tries to explain it as best he can,

"It looks like me, but it looks...horrible. It doesn't have a mouth, and again it keeps beating me every night trying to get me to 'let it out', and it screams at me in my voice but it sounds so... fucking unnatural and terrifying." She looks confused, it doesn't appear 'fuck' is in their vocabulary. She asks a golden question,

"Fucking?" he's caught a bit off guard at her voice, realizing he hasn't said it in front of her before. He tries not to say it in front of ponies, but he can't help it thinking about that 'thing', it brings him back to his original mannerism out of fear. Admittedly he's not sure how many words he shares with ponies, especially all the slurs and insults he knows, he's afraid to ask Twilight on how similar their species 'vocabularies' are.

"Yeah, don't repeat that Pinkie. It's kinda obligatory or..something. It's sort of like an insult, or describing something obligatory and insulting at the same time." It's tougher to explain than he thought, for him it seems to have originally been a given, but for her it's just a new word.

"Fucking coffee?" Ergh, it's cringe worthy. Daniel pleads,

"Pinkie, please stop saying that..it's weird coming from you especially." She smirks, stretching her odds out as far as possible. She stretches her jaw saying it,

"Fuuuuuck." Daniel wipes his face, pleading again, a bit more annoyed.

"Pinkie. Stop it. "

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" he holds out his hand and covers her mouth. He holds one finger to his mouth, strongly trying to convey for her to be quiet. She seems to take the hint, nodding slowly up and down, he releases his hand and sighs. He's awake now with those few sips of coffee, now to deal with Pinkie for who knows how long. He looks out her window, hearing trace amounts of rain pouring outside. He comments,

"Looks like rain." She slowly walks over, shutting her window to prepare for any heavy rainfall, which by the sound of it they very well may be. Pinkie comments as well,

"Weird, we're supposed to get sunny days all month. To make up for all the condensation that was built up for, like, a month before. They got all disorganized, Dash told me all about it but I kinda..didn't listen." No surprise there. Hm, he doesn't know 'Dash' very well, despite her apparent closeness with all the other ponies. Not enough time socializing with Rarity and Dash it seems. Applejack he's only met once, and she was busy anyway. Pinkie chooses this moment to reference back to a few minutes ago,

"Well..do you feel a little better now that you talked about your nightmare problems?" She looks hopeful, Daniel answers her honestly,

"No, no I don't. You just know vaguely what I keep seeing." He closes his eyes and breathes through his nose, adding on,

"But I appreciate your concern Pinkie, I really do. It's just getting harder to deal with it, it seems like you guys are the only thing keeping me sane at this point."

She seems to take that with a mixed expression, but she still smiles none the less. It says enough for them both. Daniel yawns, not sure what to do now. Pinkie seems to take the hint and stands, taking a few stretches, walking out of the room again. What's she up to now? She comes back holding something in her mouth, some kind of small foldable wood table. She sets it down, extending the legs, it clicks in place as she sets it upright. She exits the room again, her tail flicks on the way out.

"..." He's not sure how to interpret this. She comes back with two wine glasses clasped in her teeth, she sets them both down, Daniel decides to comment on this escalating situation,

"Uhh..Pinkie, you're not bringing wine up here, are you?" She smiles, and simply answers,

"Nope!" she trots back outside the room, the heck is she doing then with wine glasses but no wine? Is this some kind of mind game? She walks back inside the room, holding a bottle of tinted liquid. Daniel doesn't look amused, he calls her out,

"Pinkie, that's wine." She sets the glass bottle on the little table, answering his accusation,

"Nuh-uh, it's cider. I'm no liar~" Isn't cider non-alcoholic? Come to think of it he doesn't know, nor does he care. He doesn't know if he's ever drunk any, but he feels very familiar with alcoholic drinks, sort of like nostalgia though he can't remember it. She pops the cap with some sort of pony-oriented bottle opener, it doesn't make a pop sound, just a silent fizz noise. This seems like an odd occasion for a drink, literally a drink. In her bedroom. On a rainy night. Alone.

In heinsight, maybe he should have thought about this before joining in on her sleepover..alone.

Daniel sighs, pouring himself a glass and her a glass of cider. He smells it, it doesn't smell bitter. Well, now or never. He takes a quick swig, it goes down rough, but the second sip goes down smooth. It doesn't smell alcoholic, nor does it taste it, perhaps Pinkie's more innocent than he gave her credit for. Daniel asks,

"Any particular reason to bring cider for a sleepover with a friend you barely know?" He takes a sip, she also takes a sip. Pinkie answers,

"It's been sitting in the cupboard for years, I had to use it sometime, 'ya know?~" She playfully takes a lick of the cider in her glass, Daniel tries to remember how to hold a wine glass in general. Pinkie's got an exception, she has no hands, he has no excuse. He settles with holding it between his fingers, he strangely feels like Rarity, overthinking this. He comments,

"I'm surprised ponies would even make alcohol, to be honest you guys don't seem the type." Sip. She sips as well, moodily answering,

"Hmph, well we have livers too you know! Why let it go unused and unloved? Ohh, poor little liver, I would appreciate you~" she playfully rubs her belly with her hoof, giggling to herself silently. He thinks he heard a snort somewhere in there.

"I also mean you specifically Pinkie, I mean you like parties right?" he looks to her for confirmation, he continues without it since it's obvious, "You've never had a drinking party, or just a party with some booze?" She explains while lapping up cider inside her glass,

"I've had a few, but they were made solely for adult ponies and super special parties. I try to make my parties family friendly most of the time, so no booze for everything, especially not where little fillies could find 'em." That sounds strangely responsible for Pinkie, more mature than he gave her credit for. She explains further,

"I'm not a drinker either." She giggles, continuing, "Besides, I'm already addicted to parties and sweets, I can't have one obsession overlapping the others~" And there goes that maturity she just gained. He asks,

"This counts as a 'super special' party with just the two of us in here? I don't see any others in here." He glances around just to rub it in, he continues with his question,

"It's only us Pinkie, not exactly 'super special'." He takes a sip again, she answers in a subtle sultry tone,

"Well, we -are- in my room~"

Daniel spits up a bit of cider back into his glass, not sure he heard that right. Pinkie just silently giggles, toying with him again, she so does love that doesn't she? She smiles, adding onto her previous comment,

"Plus I can do that all night if I have to~" she takes another sip, she's halfway down her glass with all her playful licking and in-between sips. Daniel just decides to chug the rest of his, pouring himself another glass. He asks her about the movie,

"Did you seriously not see that twist coming?" it takes a moment for her to register what he's talking about, she answers,

"Oh! That, uhm, no I honestly didn't." She gestures for him to pour her a glass, which he eventually does, no hands and it's polite to do so.

"Mm, thanks~" She takes another sip, she looks a little bubbly. Daniel asks, unsure of what answer he'll get,

"Pinkie, why do you think your friends helped me so much this past month or so?" This comes as a surprise, she doesn't seem to have expected it. She momentarily ponders, explaining,

"Well, they're all super nice. Fluttershy's the Element of Kindness, so that was a biiig plus for you. The rest of us mostly took it from there when she said you were trustworthy and nice, and you turned out to be a nice guy anyway, so you kinda just blended right in with us." She warmly smiles, she sounds sincere.

"Oh, well thank you Pinkie." He feels warmed by her comment, asking even further,

"What'd you think of me when you first met me?" He takes another sip of cider, she does as well as she thinks back on it,

"Well..you were still injured at the time so I lightened up a lot for you, you weren't very expressive back then compared to now. To be honest, I kinda expected you to be a grump." She takes a sip, adding on, "But you were kind, so I warmed up to you and you eventually were more open with me. You're not the first to not want to be my friend, but you certainly wouldn't have been the last, I'm sure." He's not completely sure how to understand that last bit, but he's met with an equally deeper question,

"So..what'd you think of me when you first met me, Danny?" she quizzically gazes at him, waiting for more of an immediate response. He takes a moment, along with a sip, to answer,

"Well I was still touring the town with Twilight when you popped out of nowhere, to be honest I originally thought you were crazy. Still kinda think you're crazy." her smile dies down a bit, he adds on with a smile, "But I'll admit, I like -your- kind of crazy." She perks right back up, he continues,

"You're were a kind of radiating ball of optimism I needed at the time, was broken in more ways than one and you and your friends helped me get right back up. Still are, honestly. But you? You helped me learn to hold a smile, even when things go awry. So..thank you Pinkie."

She squeals with her mouth closed, flattered, holding her mouth shut trying to stop herself.

"A-Awwww, thank you~" She takes another sip, her glass is about done, so is his. The bottles already halfway done with, but they continue in conversation none the less, he refills both their glasses and they continue on with conversation, from their first conversations to the latest news they could discuss.

The bottle is about empty about 15 minutes later, Daniel asks,

"Well..which one of us should have the, uhm, honor?" Pinkie waves her hoof, dismissing it entirely and seemingly lets him have the last go. Down the hatch, he takes the bottle and takes the last gulp straight from it. He yawns, a little tired, surprising the coffee didn't last that long. Pinkie yawns as well, stretching her arms, her right ear flicks a little as she blinks repeatedly.

"Auuhhh...let's-let's put this all back." She stumbles pulling back one of the folding legs, the clicks sound and Daniel holds both the glasses and the table. He feels a little off balance, maybe they should go to bed. A quick gaze at the window before they head downstairs shows it's still raining, seems to be trace amounts of thunder way out in the distance. Pinkie flicks on the lights in the hall, down the stairs, to the kitchen. Pinkie opens a cupboard, a little trash bin with a large trash bag is labelled with one of those office name tags,

'Recyclables Only'

She gently places the bottle down inside, careful not to break it, closing the cupboard door. She holds out her hooves to Daniel, gesturing for the table, he hands it to her and she folds it a second time somehow and sticks it inside the cupboard as well. Daniel takes some initiative and heads to the sink, ready to wash the two wine glasses. His mistake, warm water, back to cold. No, that's...hot. Cold. No, is hot, go to cold. Was it that one or the other, he's mildly confused as he sponges the inside of one of the wine glasses. Pinkie decides to hop up beside him, reaching for the other glass.

"N-No! You're -my- house...uh, roomguest..It's -my- responsibility!" she slurs her words, what a silly pink pony. Daniel resists, poorly arguing with her,

"Well you cleaned up the rest, it's -I- ...me? Me or I, whichever one, that should do it.." He leans to his left, trying to keep out of her reach. He holds her back with his right arm, he extends his left arm past the counter to keep it far away from her, soap drips near his elbow and he slips to his left along with Pinkie who's gripped onto his right arm. They land on the floor, Daniel somehow keeps the glass intact whole on his back, Pinkie tries to climb over his chest to reach it. Not wanting to give up his duty so easily, he lets it down gently and it rolls away out of her reach. She's not pleased, she stares at him with a very mild disdain-like expression, saying,

"Th-That was -mine- !" Daniel sloppily smiles, remarking,

"No, not anymore." Insistent Pinkie is a determined Pinkie, she noodles her way past his arms and grips onto the glass with her teeth, quickly jumping over to the sink, looming over the sink water as Daniel gets on his feet to try to intercept her. They appear to be at an impasse. Daniel puts his hands up, trying to coax her down, saying,

"Pinkie, let's talk about this.."

She retaliates,

"No! Isth -my- glasth, is my sthob!" She suddenly lets go of the glass with her teeth, it pops into the sink and sinks to the bottom. Daniel looks defeated, Pinkie has a wide smirk on her face, she playfully says,

"Ha! I, got-" she looks at their difference in stature, quickly remedying it by standing on a nearby stool to meet him at eye level. She continues,

"I gotcha! I am the best..er..est, at that, yes!~" Daniel peers at her, moving in closer and trying to stare her down. Pinkie joins in the challenge, staring at him, they're nose to nose.

"..."

"..."

Intense.

After a few seconds or so of intense stare downs, they both smile and lightly laugh, their competition to clean two glasses got in the way of so much of their fun. Pinkie looks back at Daniel with a smile, vice versa with Daniel looking at Pinkie, they mistakenly bump noses as their turn toward each other. Pinkie mutters,

"U-Uhm...sooo.." Daniel stutters,

"Y-Yeah..I.."

Bit awkward, they both step down, Pinkie blushes for some reason, Daniel as well. Pinkie tucks the stool back into it's place, Daniel places the glasses on a dish rack. Job well done, seemingly. Daniel sits down on the floor, still dizzy, Pinkie joins him feeling the same. Pinkie mutters,

"M-Maybe we should...should go to bed.." She yawns, Daniel fittingly does the same,

"Auuuhhh..yeah, maybe we...should.." Daniel closes his eyes, the night and apparently alcohol rich cider has taken it's toll, Pinkie closes her eyes and leans against Daniel, mumbling something else,

"Errmm...mmph..I..ehn.." Daniel slowly lies down on the floor, Pinkie following suit, gripped onto his chest. Sound and drunkenly asleep, the two embrace each other in their dazed and ditzy states while unconscious. Pinkie nuzzles herself into his chest, trying to keep warm. Daniel tried to mutter 'goodnight' but didn't have the energy in him.

"Goodnight? Is that all you had to say?"

Pinkie?

"Ha. How rich. You two drunkards are worthless."

That's not Pinkie.

Daniel wakes up, Pinkie's gripped tightly to his chest, they're still in the kitchen on the floor, he's a..bit more aware, but who said that? He sloppily asks out loud,

"H-Hello?" No answer. Lightning flashes from outside, spooking him initially, a second later he identifies it and calms. Is someone else in the store? Daniel gently tries to pry Pinkie away from his chest, succeeding with only a minor response from Pinkie, she stretches outward trying to grip something, settling with nothing and frowning a little, curling back up in her sleep curl. Daniel steadily works his way back up to his feet, slowly looking around the front of the store, checking for any movement. He looks behind him, towards the sink, just as he and Pinkie left it, soap in the water and all. Glasses are still in the dish rack, dry by now.

"Hehehe. Out here."

It's from behind, lightning strikes and he sees a silhouette of a person outside against the lightning. Not a pony, a -person-.

Dear god, is he asleep or awake?

Daniel stares at the window, reaching his shaking hand over to a drawer and skims through it, trying to find a sturdy handle. He grips onto something, he pulls it out and it scrapes against the drawer's wood frame, a large kitchen knife. Daniel takes a few steps towards the front of the store, holding the knife with a backhand grip. He calls out again,

"If anyone's there, s-say something now or-" he hears himself speak, but it's...-that- thing.

"You think you can scare -me- away!?" Lightning strikes, spooking him again. It speaks in it's distorted and grotesque voice again, but it sounds closer, -inside- the store.

"Put down the knife you fool, before your hurt yourself."

It's to his right, over by the front door. Lightning strikes again from the other side of the store, a shadow emits and it's his own. Daniel angrily says,

"Where the fuck are y-" Lightning strikes again. That's not his shadow this time. Daniel swipes at the air blindly,

"Hyea!" catching nothing in it's blade but air. Pinkie is disturbed in her slumber, she rubs her eyes, silently murmering,

"H-Hmm?"

She slowly stand up, losing her balance at first, she stretches and stands back up. Seeing Daniel's silhouette against the darkness. What is he doing?

Fluttershy's outside, after waiting for hours outside, she's awoken by Daniel's 'hyea' and stares back into the building, confused by what she sees.

Pinkie and Fluttershy look at Dan swing again.

'Is he carrying a..knife? Dan, what are you doing!?'

Daniel yells out angrily, "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU, YOU MON-..M-..MO-..M-MON-.."

Pressure clamps down on his head, his brain constricts and his thoughts blur. Dancing colors dance all across his eyes, as if mocking him, they blend in and color the entire store in a bizarre and disturbing show of bright colors. He hears his voice once more,

"Let me out...it's not so hard."

Daniel holds onto his head with both hands, the knife still gripped in his fist and he tries to let go, but he can't. He hears the voice mock him with it's grotesque voice again,

"..it's not so hard...it's just a shame you make it so hard on yourself."

Daniel starts to feel dizzy, he desperately tries to move his hand, but he can't.

"LET ME OUT!! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!!"

It repeatedly screams in his head, the final phrase makes him lose his motor control, he falls forward onto the blade. Pinkie's the first to realize it. Fluttershy is the last.

"D-Dan...DAAAAAN!!"

"D-Dan...DAAAAANIEEEL!!"

"NO! D-Dan..did you...t-the..the...kn-..the kni-oh g-god.."

"N-No D-Daniel, I'm s-..I'm so sorry..I-I couldn't...I-..."

Author's Note

Well, this was...eventful.

It's around 11 PM so I'm heading to bed. I'm surprised this got done today, will try to continue the next one tomorrow morning.

Just a heads up, there's 4 more chapters to go, this is in for the long run only if you are! I like the motivation I've been getting, I did not expect this many views this far! Almost to the 300 mark!

I am very thankful of the people who have read thus far, as a first time fimfiction member, am happy to get this much feedback on my first story posted on here! Do feel free to comment, would love to hear some input as well, not just story-related either.