A smile is all it takes

Chapter 5

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ouch!”

A bunch of painful sounding shrieks erupted from the bathroom.

Mike picked up the sounds as he was replacing the bed sheets.

“What now?”

He uttered as he laid down the sheets.

He walked over to the bathroom at a steady pace.

“Is everything alright?”

Mike uttered with squinted eyes, knocking on the door.

“Ow this burns, Owowowowow!”

Pinkie continued to yell with panic sounding in her voice.

“Well, violating the privacy of a pony isn’t the worst thing I’ve done.”

Mike thought to himself as he took a deep breath.

He opened the door and took a big step in, covering his eyes with his hands.

“Wait, ponies don’t normally wear clothes.”

Mike shook his head, moved his hand away from his eyes and faced the pink pony who was frantically trying to rub the shampoo out of her eyes.

“Get it out get it out get it ou-ou-out!”

Pinkie continued to panic, on the verge of crying.

“What? What’s in your eyes?!”

Mike yelled out over Pinkie, beginning to panic as well.

“Shampoo, shampoo! Get it out! Owowowow!”

More erratic cries of pain sounded.

“What bottle, what bottle?!”

Mike now panicked, biting his nails.

Pinkie quickly pointed one hoof over to a lone flagon of shampoo; Head and shoulders.

Mike quickly took the flagon of shampoo and read the back of the label.

“Why would anypony have shampoo that burns like this?”

The pink pony was now crying, still trying to rub the shampoo out of her eyes.

“Okay, Pinkie. It says that you need to rinse it out with water as soon as possible.”

Mike took a few deep breaths, trying to recover from the panic.

“This might be painful, but you need to open your eyes for as long as you can.”

He continued, trying to sound as calm as possible.

“Please hurry!”

Pinkie said, with a little less panic.

Mike tilted Pinkie’s head slightly backwards and moved the wet mane away from her eyes.

The pink pony’s breathing speed was increasing as she tried to keep her eyes open, despite the burning sensation.

Mike took a little bit of water in his hands and carefully poured it over Pinkie’s eyes.

He continued doing this on her other eye.

Pinkie Pie blinked a couple of times, her eyes well still red from the irritation the shampoo caused.

“Better?”

Mike asked with a worried look on his face as Pinkie Pie’s respiration became less erratic.

The pink pony nuzzled Mike as a thankful gesture.

“Now this is getting more and more uncomfortable.”

Mike thought to himself as he got back up.

“So I guess you’ll manage now?”

He asked as he slowly backed up.

"Yes sir!" Pinkie responded as she saluted Mike.

Mike closed the door and walked over to his room and sat down on his bed.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried was trying to figure out if he forgot anything.”

“I just changed the sheets, Pinkie sobered up as far as I can tell--”

He glanced over to the bathroom door.

“--, the room is cleaned, party cannon is hidden in the shed, Gummy is in a fish tank.”

Mike rubbed his eyes and started to yawn.

“I really need some coffee.”

He got up again and walked over to the stairway, he slowed his pace a little when he passed the bathroom door; just splashing sounds and humming.

* * *

*Ding!*

The little red light of the coffee maker dimmed.

“Finally.”

Mike thought, walking over to the fresh can of coffee.

He poured it into the mug, added some sugar and milk into and took it upstairs, to his room.

Mike was just about to take a sip, but then he looked at his alarm clock.

“Damn it, I had to walk the dog this morning”

He muttered as he felt a little agitated.

He put down the cup of coffee and walked downstairs once more.

“Leigha, it’s time for your walk.”

Mike said as he opened the door to the scullery.

The dog was impatiently walking in circles.

Mike quickly grabbed the leash from a hook on the wall behind him and opened the kennel door.

He put the leash on Leigha and closed the door.

Leigha began to wag her tail as Mike and her strolled down the drive-way, heading for the park.

* * *

"Stop -running!" Mike yelled as Leigha ran up the drive-way as fast as she could, nearly dragging mike over the street.

The dog finally slowed down as it closed in on the door.

Mike was exhausted.

As he opened the door he was still breathing like he was going to die any second.

Mike removed the belt from Leigha.

"HeyMike, Howareyoudoing?"

A high pitched voice rang.

Mike looked around to see where the sound came from.

Through the door of the living room bounced Pinkie Pie, seemingly more energetic than usual.

She quickly bounced over to Mike and Leigha.

Bad move.

Leigha began growling again, and without Mike being able to constrain her movement he helplessly watched the dog run for Pinkie Pie.

"Leigha, stay!" Mike bellowed at the dog as he ran after it.  Leigha had already nailed Pinkie to the ground and was nipping her ear. Pinkie was lying on the floor, dead still from fear.

Mike quickly grabbed Leigha by her scruff and dragged her away, hard-handed.

He locked her up in the kennel, glaring at the dog.

Pinkie was now quivering with fear, still lying on the ground.

Mike approached her; he felt terrible about this.

"Pinkie, are you okay? Did she hurt you?" He stammered.

Pinkie was staring into vast nothingness; she was terrified.

Mike carefully laid a hand on Pinkie’s mane, trying to comfort her a little.

She began humming her “No Fear” song.

"Oh God, my dog broke her." Mike stared at Pinkie, wide-eyed.

"Please answer, please be okay. It was just the dog!" Mike began to panic; he had never experienced someone, let alone somepony lose their mind before his eyes.

Many emotions ran through him; he was mad at his dog, afraid of Pinkie Pie being scarred beyond recovery and other emotions he couldn't quite place.

He held the pink pony against him, trying to comfort her some more by stroking her mane.

"Pinkie, it was just the dog, please answer."

Mike nearly pleaded.

He began to hum along with Pinkie Pie's song.

Pinkie began to calm down.

"Ahh.. That's much better!" Pinkie suddenly said out loud.

Mike looked down at her with confusion.

"I-I thought that you were scarred f-for life."

He stuttered out, still dumbstruck from the sudden change of mood.

"Why would you think that?"

The pink pony asked with a puzzled look on her face as she got back onto her hoofs.

"Y-you were lying on the ground, struck with terror! You began humming to yourself!"

Mike still stumbled over his words, his eye began to twitch.

"I did?" Pinkie replied in disbelief.

"So you're fine? No shattered mindset? No mental imprints?"

Mike said, still having his eye twitch.

Pinkie shook her head, grin on her face.

"I guess that's how i deal with things!"

She giggled.

Mike was perplexed.

"I'm just going to take a nap now." Mike sighed; tired from everything that had happened over the span of just 15 minutes.

"Wait! Just before you left you said something about games?"

Pinkie exclaimed, grinning brightly.

"Board games, party games, card games, what kind of games?"

Mike hung his head.

"I did promise to show her video games."

He looked back at the pink pony, who was about to walk upstairs.

"Follow me." Mike finally spoke, kind of seeing the humor of what had just happened.

"This isn't anything like My Little Dashie."

He joked to himself, seeing the irony of it all.

As Mike held the door to his room open for Pinkie Pie, who pranced in happily, he felt content.

This was a little like 'My Little Dashie'. He felt protective of Pinkie.

Mike sat down on the bed.

An approving glance of Mike signaled Pinkie to take a sit.

She jumped on the bed and sat on her haunches, looking at the screen.

"Let me just turn it on."

Mike said as he remembered that he still had a cup of coffee standing on his nightstand.

He leaned forward to turn on the Nintendo Wii his nephew left in his room when he visited.

“I might as well just give her a fair advantage.”

He brought the mug to his mouth and began to tilt it.

The caffeine containing hot beverage that was supposed to be in the cup was not coming out.

As the Wii turned on, and the screen flickered for a few seconds, Pinkie focused from Mike, back to the screen.

Mike was tilting the mug further.

There was still no hot liquid pouring out of it.

He brought it away from his face and looked into the mug; it was empty, as he had now expected.

He looked over to Pinkie Pie, who was slowly turning her head, a hint of guilt slowly fading across her face.

Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Heh.. Oops. I thought that was for me."

Pinkie said with an awkward smile on her face, tapping her two front hoofs together.

"I thought it smelled weird, but I felt like it would be rude to turn down a drink."

"You know that stuff gives you an energy boost after it kicks in, right?"

Mike asked Pinkie, to which the pony shrugged.

"In this coffee you just drank?"

Mike continued.

"I thought you were just really bad at making chocolate milk!"

Pinkie retorted, grinning again.

Mike gave a reinsuring grin and laid the “Nun chucks” of the Wii in front of Pinkie.

“This will get worse before it gets better.”

His eye began to twitch again.

* * *

"Match point!" The announcer exclaimed.  "Damn, I’m losing to a pony!" Mike thought as he Frantically tried to move the nun chuck.

"Ang ah doing goog?" Pinkie Pie mumbled with the controller between her teeth.

"You're doing, okay." Mike said as he glanced over to the scoreboard on the screen; 30 - 5.

"Yay! I hit the ball again!"

Pinkie beamed as she dropped the nun-chuck.

She quickly caught it before it with her mouth, before it hit the ground and swung it around again.

"Game!" The announcer finally said.

"Alright, best out of 6?" Mike asked as he put down the nun chuck.

"Sure! Tennis again? Or seesaw? Oh! Oh! Bowling!"

Pinkie smiled, bouncing around the room wildly.

"Nope, now we're heading over to MY territory."

Mike spoke, bearing a sneaky grin.

He stepped over to his TV again and pulled out a light gray plastic rectangular box.

"Ooooh! What is that?"

Pinkie bounced over to Mike, staring intently at the unfamiliar device.

"The Nintendo Entertainment System."

Mike proudly chimed in.

"I'm ready!" Pinkie Pie chirped as she took the nun chuck in her mouth again.

"Not quite." Mike said as he took the nun chuck out of her mouth and showed her the controllers.

"This game is a little different."

He continued.

"As I said, this is my turf."

Mike grabbed a gray cartridge from under the TV and showed it to Pinkie.

Pinkie looked at it and read the title.

"Silver surfer?" She looked at Mike.

"Yeah, one of the hardest games in existence."

He blew on the cartridge and shoved it in the NES.

"Now, you can only play this game with one play at a time. I'll just go first, show you how it's done."

Mike bragged as he turned the ancient console on and the classic startup screen of 'Silver Surfer' showed.

"Okie Dokie lokey!"

Pinkie put on her most serious face, inspecting everything that was happening on the screen, which was just Mike scrolling through the selection menu now.

He got ready for the game to start, flexing his thumbs.

"Fuck!" Mike got killed, not even 5 seconds into the game.

"Hold on, just let me get ready. I haven't played this game for a while."

Mike grinned nervously.

"Got it!"

Pinkie Pie responded, moving her stare from the screen for a split second before focusing on it again.

"Oh! Come on! That wasn't even close!"

Mike made several angry gestures towards the screen.

"Did you see that?!”

He looked at Pinkie, who was still inspecting the screen.

"Uhuh! The little silver guy got hit by a small ball."

Pinkie answered as she squinted her eyes are rubber her chin with a hoof.

"Is that bad?"

"Okay, just let me try this a FEW more times." Mike said, staring at the ashamed looking Silver Surfer game over screen.

Pinkie focused back on the screen once more.

"Please Please Please--YES!" Mike exclaimed , still tapping the little red button with all of his might.

"Oh shit, I forgot about th-- SHIT!" Mike put his face in the palm of his hand.

"Hey!"

Pinkie exclaimed, looking from the game over screen to Mike.

"Just like the Silver guy on the screen!"

"Ooh! Can I play next?" Pinkie began to bounce around on the bed.

"Sure, but I doubt you'll do any better." Mike responded, still face-palming

As he handed over the controller.

Pinkie moved the controller in front of her, positioning it right under her head.

She pressed down on the start button, using her muzzle.

"Maybe I didn't tap fast enough, or the D-pad is stuck."

Mike pondered.

He glanced at the screen.

Pinkie must've been at least 20 seconds in the game and she hadn't lost yet.

"Uhm, Pinkie Pie?" Mike asked, still awestruck by Pinkie's video game skills.

"How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

The pink pony asked, still mashing the buttons.

"You're awesome at this game, that's what you're doing."

Mike responded.

"I am?" Pinkie looked up again.

"You can stop tapping those buttons now, you already cleared the stage." Mike said, pointing to the screen.

He yawned.

"I'd love to play some more games, but I'm really tired. I need to catch some shuteye."

"I really wish my friends were here now." Pinkie said out of nowhere.

Mike turned his head to the pink pony.

"I'm sure that Twilight is doing her best to somehow find you, she's a smart pony after all."

* * *

"Where am I"?

"Ouch..."

Several cringes came from not too far away

"Hello? Is that you Fl-- Oh no, you're bleeding!"  "Don't worry I'll get you somewhere safe!"

* * *

"Can we go outside? I really need some fresh air!" Pinkie Pie prodded Mike with her muzzle.

"You know that I cannot risk you being seen."

Mike responded, rubbing his eyes.

"B-but what if I disguise myself? We could do some groceries! Then we could bake all kinds of stuff!"

Pinkie jumped around in anticipation.

"Alright, if you can disguise yourself in such a way that you won't be recognized as a cartoon pony, then we'll go." Mike teased.

* * *

"I had to open my mouth..."

Mike murmured as he walked down the street with Pinkie.

"Who knew that dressing up as a pig would work?"

Pinkie Pie chirped.

"I'm still confused as to where you got that costume."

Mike retorted.

"Somehow I think this is going to be harder to explain.

A cartoon pony prancing around the streets seems more normal now for some reason."

Mike looked down at Pinkie, who was now prancing around.

"Could you at least TRY to act like a little more... pig-like?"

"Right!" Pinkie responded, shortly after which she began oinking.

Mike and Pinkie Pie slowly closed in on the more busy part of town.

As they walked past the many apartments, a woman walked by with her son, giving Mike a look of disgust.

"Don't look, sweetie. This sick man likes to dress up his dog."

Mike sighed.

"Well, that works too.."

"Ooh! A toy store!"

Pinkie Pie pointed with her hoof to a store located across the street.

"Can we go?"

Mike turned his head in terror. Yes, it was the very toy store Mike got kicked out of when he was looking at the 'My Little Pony' isle.

Multiple worried parents thought that he was watching little girls there.

Ever since that day he had never gotten anywhere close to that store.

"I'd rather not go there."

Mike said, trying to shake the memories off.

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

Pinkie yelled as she galloped across the street.

Mike quickly ran after her, luckily there were barely any cars near.

As soon as Mike had crossed the street Pinkie had disappeared in the toy store.

He slowly stepped inside and looked around.

He spotted a pink, puffy tail somewhere near the girl’s section.

"Great, WHY is it that something bad or awkward has to happen like EVERY five minutes?"

Mike asked himself.

He continued to slowly walk to the girl’s toy section, where he saw Pinkie’s tail.

It was a rather large store, but it wasn’t as crowded as the last time he was here.

The shelves reached up to about the height of Mike’s shoulders, so he didn’t have a hard time looking for a pink pony dressed in a not so convincing pig costume.

As he closed in on the girl's toys department he heard a little girl yell.

"Pinkie Pie! Look mom!"

Mike quickly turned his head from where he heard the girl.

"That's nice, dear. We'll get you 'Pinkie Pie' for your birthday."

Mike saw the girl and her mom walk away from the shelves filled with My Little Pony figurines.

"Fuck, she must have been talking about the toys."

He continued to look around the isle.

"Where the hell i--"

"--Boo!"

Mike jumped up and quickly turned around to see Pinkie Pie walk around the shelves.

She had a content grin on her face.

"Where were you? Don't run off like that again."

Pinkie sat on her haunches and began to pout.

“Damn it, I’m beginning to sound like my mother.”

"Okay, sorry. I might be a little too protective of you, but I just can't take any risks."

Mike sighed.

"Oh, don't worry! I was just looking around!”

Pinkie perked up.

"Did you see anything you'd like?" Mike smirked; the sudden joyous behavior of the pink pony made him feel a little happier as well.

"Ooh! I can have a toy?"

Pinkie said with almost child-like enthusiasm.

"Sure, I don't see why not. So did you find anythi--" Before Mike could finish his sentence Pinkie pulled out a box containing two large green hands, out of nowhere.

Mike read the front of the box.

"Hulk Hands? Really?"

He said with a somewhat confused look on his face.

"Oh, they're not for me!"

Pinkie giggled.

"Then for who?" Mike continued to ask.

"Lyra!"

Mike looked at Pinkie in disbelief.

"Her birthday is in a few days, and she kept talking about 'hands', and then I saw this box! And the word 'hands' and then I thought: "Wow! This is perfect for Lyra!".

Mike quickly shook his head as he processed Pinkie's fast paced chatter.

"Let's pay for these then."

He signaled Pinkie Pie to follow along.

As they walked over to the cash register, the cashier looked at them funny.

"Sir, we do not allow animals in this store, read the signs?"

The cashier looked like one of those typical world-weary women in their early 50’s; red, unkempt hair, puffy face, and a raspy voice, indicating that she was a regular smoker.

She pointed a finger at the huge sign on the window: "No animals allowed."

"Oh, sorry, she just ran in here. It won't happen again."

Mike smiled uncomfortably.

"It's a little too late for that now, and you caught me on a bad day." The cashier frowned and grabbed a small radio from behind her.

"Security to line 5, we've got a trouble-maker here."

"B-but, I said I was sorry and--"

Mike got interrupted by a high pitched voice.

"--Hey, it's not his fault! I was t--"

Pinkie began to yell, but quickly got muted by Mike, who held his hand in front of the pink pony's muzzle.

"This is not the best time."

Mike spoke through gritted teeth.

"A funny guy, eh?" A low voice barked from behind him.

"Uhh.. Yeah, I'm a...ventriloquist!"

Mike replied, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

He turned around, a tall, but skinny guy with a face full of pimples and a slightly smaller, built man approached him.

"Heh.. I'll just go now.."

Mike backed up, pushing Pinkie Pie along with him.

"That'd be wise."

The pimple faced guy said with voice crack.

* * *

"Is everyone here like that?" Pinkie asked Mike as they exited the store.

"Not everyone, but a lot of people are."

Mike sighed.

Pinkie gave Mike compassionate look.

"Don't put too much thought into it. Some people are just like that."

Pinkie stared at the ground as they walked further into the city.

Mike looked at the pink pony; he felt bad. This world just isn't meant to house her, too much anger, not enough love and tolerance.

"So.."

Mike began to talk, trying to cheer up Pinkie Pie.

"What's your favorite kind of pastry?"

Pinkie immediately perked up her head.

"Hmm... Cupcakes, no doubt!"

Pinkie Pie chirped as she began to smile again.

Mike continued.

"Yeah, those are great. And after that?"

Mike and Pinkie continued their conversation about food and pretty much every other subject relevant to Pinkie's interests.

* * *

"...But really, I'd choose cherry-changas over peanut brittle any day!"

Pinkie chortled.

"I don't know, peanut brittle IS pretty good."

Mike interjected Pinkie Pie.

"Have you ever tasted cherry-changas? I'm sure you'll think differently after tasting one!"

Pinkie replied to Mike, giving him an unsure look.

"I just don't think that a tortilla wrap with cherries could taste good."

Mike explained.

Pinkie began to frown.

"How can you judge without ever tasting it?"

She asked a bit more serious.

"Because I think so"

Mike replied as he got a little agitated.

"But you never tasted it!"

Pinkie upped the volume of her voice.

"And I don't want to! My point stands, we're nearly at the supermarket anyway."

Mike ended the discussion.

"I'm not done with you."

Pinkie muttered as she looked at Mike with squinted eyes and pointed a hoof at him.

"Okay, this store doesn't allow animals either, and I don't think that leaving you out here is the best idea." Pinkie looked at Mike.

"Then how are we going to get the groceries?"

The pink pony asked.

"Hmm..." Mike looked up in the sky, thinking of ideas.

* * *

"You think this will work?"

Pinkie Pie asked Mike.

“I’m not sure at all.”

Mike walked into the store, pushing a shopping cart.

Pinkie was lying in the cart with Mike’s coat covering her.

“Let’s just try to get this stuff as fast as possible so we can go home.”

Mike gulped as he continued to push the cart through the supermarket.

“Okie dokie lokey.”

Pinkie Pie replied.

They arrived at the confectionery isle.

"Okay, we're here. So what do you need?"

Pinkie lifted up a coat so she had a better view at the shelves containing various packages of cake mix and frosting.

"Hmm.. that bag of flour! Oh and the sugar! Ooh! Powdered vanilla!"

Pinkie chirped.

"I don't see any butter here, and we also need eggs!" Pinkie sat up and pointed towards the dairy isle.

"Make haste!" She laughed as she quickly hid under the coat again.

* * *

Mike walked back home with the cart containing Pinkie Pie and the groceries.

They closed in on Mike’s residence.

Pinkie Pie hopped out of the cart and began to walk alongside Mike.

“So, have you ever baked before?”

She asked.

“Does cooking an egg count?”

Mike asked sheepishly.

He looked over at the driveway; there was another bike parked there.

Mike shrugged it off; probably just the bike from the neighbor, it wouldn’t have been the first time that happened.

He got the keys out of his pocket and opened the front door.

“Mike, bro! I wondered where you were!”

Kevin greeted a dumbstruck Mike.

“I made some special brownies, took the liberty of eating one myself first.”

“H-hey Kevin. Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

Mike asked confused.

“What, aren’t you happy that I came over? I thought you might need help with whatever you said you were gonna do, so I asked Mr. Thompson if I could get the day off.”

Kevin continued.

“So what did you buy there?”

He glanced over Mike’s shoulder.

Mike quickly blocked his view by leaning to his left.

“Just… groceries.”

“Okay, cool. So what did y—“

Kevin stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed a fluffy pink tail.

“Dude, I think the brownies are kicking in. I’m seeing ponies man!”

Pinkie Pie walked in.

“Hi! Are you one of Mike’s friends?”

She asked joyfully.

“Man, I’m tripping balls. Mike take some of these brownies, I think I outdid myself this time.”

Kevin continued.

Mike was unsure of what exactly was going on in Kevin’s mind, but he decided to just go with it.

“Why is he acting so weird?”

Pinkie asked as Kevin began to continuously poke her.

Mike squatted down next to the pink pony.

“He thinks he’s hallucinating.”

He whispered.

“Why does he think that?”

Pinkie continued to ask.

“He had ‘special’ brownies.”

“Ooh! What’s so special about those brownies?”

Pinkie looked at Kevin, who was still poking her.

“Mike, she’s talking to me. I’m kind of getting freaked out, she even FEELS real.”

Kevin stopped poking the pink pony and looked at Mike.

“I guess you should go home and wear off that bad trip.”

Mike insisted.

“You think so?”

Kevin asked as he began scratching Pinkie behind her ears.

Pinkie Pie apparently enjoyed this and pushed up against Kevin’s hand.

“It’s for the best.”

Mike continued, getting weirded out by this situation.

“Alright then.”

Kevin got up and walked out of the door.

“I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

Mike closed the door and sighed in relief.

“He was nice!”

Pinkie exclaimed as she got back up again.

Mike turned around to face the pink pony.

“Yeah, well that’s what wee—Oh no, Pinkie what are you eating?”

“Your friend left some of his brownies! And they really taste special too!”

Pinkie said happily, with her mouth full.

Mike looked at Pinkie in shock.

"There was something weird in those brownies, wasn't there?" Pinkie asked with a serious voice.

* * *

“Got it! Say Dash, why do they call it a hack saw? It doesn’t hack; hacking is what I was doing with the knife. This is a saw. I don’t get it.”

Pinkie saw herself in third person perspective slicing through Dash's mangled flesh.

"Shoo be doo! Shoop shoop de doop!" Pinkie turned around as a horde of sea ponies appeared out of nowhere.

"Call upon the sea ponies. when you're in distress!"

"Pinkie Pie?"

"Helpful as can be ponies, simply signal S.O.S.!"

"Can you hear me?"

"If you find you're past the drift and--"

"--Pinkie!"

Pinkie Pie slowly awoke.

She was lying in the bathtub.

"Where am I?"

She slowly said.

"What happened?"

"Well, first I was showing you Equestria Daily, and then 3 minutes later you began to freak out and begged me to read you 'Cupcakes'."

Mike continued.

"Then you began to frantically flail your hoofs around and knocked me unconscious."

Pinkie looked at Mike in disbelief.

"And when I woke up again I heard you screaming about sea ponies, so I rushed upstairs, and then I found you sleeping in the tub."

“How long was I doing this?”

Pinkie Pie replied, still feeling dizzy.

“About Four hours, including the time I was knocked out.”

Mike responded.

“And my parents are visiting my neighbors, so if you want to do anything we’ve still got plenty of time.”

He massaged his temples with his thumbs.

“Although I think I should take some aspirin first.”

“We should bake cupcakes!”

Pinkie suddenly said, apparently recovered from her trip.

“Or that.”

Mike snickered.

The doorbell rang.

“Stay here.”

Mike said to Pinkie as he walked out of the bathroom and downstairs.

A faint purple glow shone through the window next to the door.

Mike doubtfully opened the door.

A purple unicorn carrying a wounded, butter-yellow Pegasus on her back was standing in front of the doorway with a desperate look in her eyes.

“My friend is wounded, badly! Can we please come in?”