Friendship is the Sweetest Treat of All
*Just a reminder that this story is spoilers for "Pony Life" episodes - "The Trail Less Trotten and "Death of a Salespony". Please continue reading at your own risk.*
Today was supposed to be a fun day for her and her friends, Pinkie thought as she stared at her growing pal, an angry glare cast down at them in a greedy rampage.
Pinkie was ecstatic to help her best friend, Fluttershy earn a covenant "Trail Trotters" badge in Cookie selling. The pink baking pony figured this would be the chance for all their friends to do a fun activity together and while it originally seemed to be going in a positive direction, one ulterior goal changed all that.
Finn-tastic.
Soon, their friends realized that Fluttershy wasn't interested in selling cookies or having a fun afternoon with her friends. The reason behind this and all other Trail Trotter related activities was just a form of a pipe dream for Fluttershy to meet her favorite aquatic actor: Finn-tastic.
At first, Pinkie thought this was cute, seeing Fluttershy have a crush on a favorite celebrity. "Nothing wrong with a little puppy love after all, right?" she figured. However, the pegasus wasn't just fan-struck - she was obsessed.
Soon, nothing became good enough to her.
Rainbow could deliver a whole wagon full of cookies in 3 seconds, but she needed to go faster.
Applejack was a master strategist when it came to selling, ponies lining up the streets, but she needed to sell more.
Rarity organized an entire fashion made out of cookies somehow, but that wasn't good enough.
Twilight worked day and night to create the perfect formula to sell cookies, but it needed to be better.
Even Pinkie with her god-like bundles of energy (along with Spike and the ponies' pets) was pouring out dozens of cookies faster than cookies could even bake.
But an enlarged pegasus who crashed through her roof told her she needed to figure out how to bake faster.
Pinkie was hurt. Deeply hurt by her friend's behavior. It became apparent the typically kind-hearted and loving mare had become an entirely different creature. No longer was she concerned with the health and well-being of her friends, she was only concerned with getting to fall head over hooves for a stereotypical celebrity. Fluttershy had become consumed in her own greed and self-centered goals, the likes of which Pinkie knew would end up exploding sooner or later.
And it wasn't even real.
Yes, while the pegasus happily thought that the ponies were an officially recognized Trail Trotter's Troop, the harsh reality of the situation was that they were rejected on the count of them being "too old" to be members.
They all originally planned on telling Fluttershy the truth - that her long time dreams of being a troop scout and climbing the ranks to meet her idol wouldn't come true; but they just couldn't as Fluttershy became the happiest pony they had ever seen when she thought they were accepted.
Seeing the very sensitive creature being washed up in a pure wave of euphoria and bliss brought a disturbing realization to every other pony - she would be devastated. Fluttershy was one of the sweetest, and kindest creatures in the known universe, seeing her cry or hurt would be like making a baby cry on purpose and not one of her closest friends had the stomach to break her precious spirit.
But thanks to that little day, the butterscotch pony was now the one who was breaking spirits - pushing her friends over the edge while constantly yelling and berating them for not meeting up to her expectations. Pinkie never thought her friend would become so cruel, even in the pursuit of a dream or desire. Fluttershy was always supposed to be the one who had your back, the one who would comfort you no matter what.
As Pinkie thought about this as she placed a fresh tray of cookies into the now overloaded oven, a single tear fell down her cheek with a bitter thought accompanying it.
"Friends don't do this to each other..."
Unfortunately for Pinkie, her fears that her friend would explode was proven right. After her and all her other friends had tried to reason with the persistent pegasus that this activity was straining their very sanities, the only response the mare offered was a full-throttled scream into their faces, sending them crashing into a building.
It was only then that Fluttershy realized she made a "slight boo-boo", quickly gasping and bowing her head in shame as she began to shrink to microscopic size.
"Oh. I see what happened. I made the cherry on top the bottom line, and that's no way to run a dessert business. Or a friendship." Fluttershy had monologued, tears began filling her eyes as she felt nothing but shame.
Meanwhile, as Pinkie was gathering herself up from being sent flying into someone's roof, she bitterly thought:
"You thought you were being a friend?"
As she and the others had collected themselves surprisingly quickly to approach the miniature pegasus, Fluttershy gave them her best puppy-dog look, tears adapting her eyes.
Pinkie wanted to comment on how adorable her friend was, but the events of today fresh in her mind combined with the way Fluttershy seemed to be clinging for forgiveness delivered one crucial idea:
"Is she even really sorry? Does she really know what she's done?"
"I'm sorry. When you're at the helm of a cookie empire, everything seems like crumbs in comparison."
"No. No she doesn't."
Pinkie wanted to comment on how crumbs related to her long-lost brother in a non-sensical cutaway but she just couldn't as she grew rather upset at her friend's lack of understanding. She grew a firm, serious look on her face (which she had to admit didn't feel right on the normal goofball demeanor) as she continued to watch her friend "apologize".
"How about this? From now on, cookies are for fun and fun only." the pegasus declared, as she finally grew back to her normal chibi-size, the rest of her friends seeming to accept her apology almost instantly as they chorused around her for the staple group hug.
Except one.
"No", Pinkie retorted simply, casting a heavy judgmental glare at her winged companion.
This caused everypony else to instantly break out of the hug and acknowledge the earth pony with looks of shock, never seeing Pinkie this hurt at a friend.
"Wh---what do you mean?" asked Twilight, tilting her head in confusion, Fluttershy adorning her usual deeply concerned look. But it was too late as far as Pinkie's concerned.
"She's not really sorry. It's not just about some cookies. It wasn't even about us." Pinkie grimly spoke, her head titled down in deep contemplation and sadness.
"Darling?" Rarity softly whispered.
"Pinkie? Are you ok?" Fluttershy softly cooed, walking her way up to her grieving friend, before her words stopped her in her tracks.
Her head rising again to glare at the close-by pegasus, Pinkie remarked, "No Fluttershy. I'm not ok. This is not ok. You've hurt us, no matter if they've forgiven you or not..." she paused, making sure she had everyone's attention.
"...you hurt me and I don't forgive you." she simply declared as the others all looked at each other with worry.
Seeing the empty silence and looks of confusion as well as worry lines adapting Fluttershy's face all as signs to continue, Pinkie began anew.
"Ever since the Trail Trotters Troop, you've been mean. Really mean. You stopped caring about your friends' feelings all for the sake of your own. You're so concerned for meeting this 'Finn-tastic' fellow, you neglected everything else!" she paused again, tears starting to adorn her eyes as well as Fluttershy's on closer inspection.
" At first, I was so excited to see you so super duper happy. I wanted to help you out in anyway I could to help you, like you would do for us. But.... but... as soon as we started helping you with the badges, you became a jerk."
"Not the 'j' word!" Rainbow harshly whispered in bewilderment.
"I just wanted to have fun with you and see that same, loving happy smile I always see from you. But the smile left. Instead, you grew angry. You pushed me and the others around, you were never satisfied. What we did was never enough for you!"
"P...pinkie..." Fluttershy breathed airily, tears falling down her cheeks. She no longer changed in size, indicating to everypony that she was truly upset.
By now, Pinkie's quiet quivers had transformed into full-blown sobs. "I tried making those cookies as fast as I can! I did everything I could, even to the point of exhausting myself! But all you did..." she choked back a huge sob. "You yelled at me! You ordered me to do better, scared me, and left me alone! That's not what friends do! Friends don't make others feel like they aren't good enough! Friends are supposed to be worried about others!"
Soon, tears became prevalent in everyone's eyes. Fluttershy by this point, looked like her heart was shattered into millions of pieces as she instinctively raised a shaking hoof over her heart.
After a minute of extremely tense silence, Pinkie decided to deliver the final nail in the coffin.
With a long sigh, Pinkie lowered head back to her hooves. "We didn't want to say anything because we wanted to make you happy, but we were never a Trail Trotter's Troop. We got rejected. Applejack ate the letter and we lied to spare your feelings."
Fluttershy opened her mouth in shock before looking back at all her friends - each with their heads bowed to indicate this was indeed the truth.
"Ah can still feel it in my lower intestines." Applejack shivered as Rainbow placed a comforting hoof on her frame.
"But even if we were able to be a troop, I don't want to be anymore. Ever since you thought we were, you've been a terrible friend! You only cared about yourself even when you made us miserable!"
"I don't even know who you are anymore! The Fluttershy I knew would never become a bully! She'd always want everyone to be happy and she'd do anything to make her friends feel better! I thought she cared about me!" Pinkie sobbed once again, Fluttershy raising her hooves over her mouth in a horrified display.
"But that Fluttershy is gone. I don't want to be friends with you anymore if this is who you are. So just... Goodbye!" she screamed as she galloped away full speed in tears.
The pegasus, now stricken with immeasurable pain and grief over seeing how far she had pushed the normally perky pony began to chase after her, not caring what anypony said behind her. "Pinkie! Wait!"
The other 4 just stood there in silence, never expecting an outburst like that as they all looked at each other for some sort of signal on what to do next.
As Rainbow and Rarity tried to catch up to the fleeing pair, Twilight stopped them with an aura of her magic and a soft smile.
"Don't worry, they'll work it out." she said reassuringly, Applejack nodding alongside her.
Twilight's smile faltered a bit.
"I hope."
As Pinkie had finally made it back to Sugarcube Corner, she realized her tears had finally stopped in exchange for burning red eyes where they had stained instead, herself feeling in no mood to clean up what would very likely be a destroyed bakery.
As she pushed the door to trudge inside, she thankfully found the situation wasn't as bad as she thought. Sure, there were still dough and pans everywhere, but Pinkie's baking made it that way normally so she knew how to clean it up.
She then began to notice Spike, Gummy, and Angel, leaned against the side of the counter in exhaustion before a little dragon immediately sat up, seeing the pony realize they were taking a break.
"S--sorry. Pinkie" he stuttered, the others sharing his nervousness. "We were just.."
Pinkie sighed as she gave a bitter smile to the trio. "It's alright. You guys can take whatever you want and head home anyways. The cookie empire is over."
"R..really are you sure?" piped up an excited Spike, thankful the seemingly-never-ending labor was finally done.
Pinkie gave a slight nod of her head, "Yeah. Go rest and take it easy. Thanks for all your hard work" she announced as the three happy creatures took some discarded snacks and left the bakery, leaving the earth pony alone in her shop once again as she walked behind the counter, starting to wipe up the sugary mess.
That is until a door opening snapped her out of her thoughts as she saw a very upset-looking pegasus walk up towards her.
"Pinkie..." she began, looking at her depressed friend in guilty concern.
"What do you want?" Pinkie huffed with a dejected sigh, refusing to look at her quivering friend in one of the counter's stools.
Suddenly, Pinkie felt herself being grabbed as two yellow hooves took her over the counter and into the embrace of her soft, yellow friend.
"I'm so sorry!" she tearfully muttered, tightening the hug on her still surprised capturee. "You were right. I've been such a jerk. I made everypony around me miserable and all I thought about was what I wanted, or just trying to make it fun so you wouldn't leave. I never thought about you or anypony else. I never realized... I... I'm so sorry." she sobbed.
Pinkie froze for a second, before returning the grip on the hug, fearing if she let go, that would be the end of this warm moment.
"I hurt you, Pinkie. I yelled at you and treated you like dirt. I don't even know what came over me, but... I hate myself for it. I love you Pinkie, you're my best friend, and I should've never sacrificed your happiness for mine!" she exclaimed as she buried her head into the pink pony's warm tuft of fur.
Pinkie stood there shocked, not expecting the pegasus to admit that they were best friends, especially after....
"Aren't you mad that you found out we lied to you about the troop? About Finn-tastic?" she asked in slight confusion.
At this, Fluttershy lifted her head from the safety of her friend, before using her hooves to guide the other pony's face to her eye level.
"Who cares about some celebrity?! I just want you, Pinkie! You're more important to me than anyone else, and I can never stop apologizing for that because it took me this long to realize it!"
Pinkie's eyes seemed to find some more moisture as they began to water again, paired with a skeptical smile on her face.
"R..really?" she asked with a tone of child-like hope.
Fluttershy nuzzled the pony in front of her and she gazed at her with those same caring eyes Pinkie remembered.
"Of course. You mean so much to me! You've always been there for me and I honestly wouldn't know what I'd do without you! Seeing you happy has and will always make me happy." Fluttershy smiled before realizing something and placing her head down with a frown.
"I can't take back what I did nor can I expect you to accept my apology, but I'm really sorry and I promise from now on to treat you the way a friend is supposed to. I care about you alot, Pinkie and I'd never want to see you hurt like that again. I just want to see you smile again." she concluded with no hints or anything that suggested she was anything but completely genuine.
At this, Pinkie began sobbing tears of joy before picking up the pegasus's head with her hoof and giving her a short, friendly peck at the top of her head.
"I forgive you. I love you, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy smiled as she nuzzled her friend once again.
"I love you too Pinkie."
From outside the bakery's windows, four ponies watched the affectionate and heartwarming display with fond, growing smiles as each and every one of their eyes twinkled.
"I knew they'd work it out." Twilight smiled, as the sun began to set over the pleasant hills of Ponyville.
Author's Note
Well, here's my first "Pony Life" fic. FimFiction hasn't had too many stories in this new universe yet, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to tap into the new market, especially after seeing "Death of a Salespony" where despite a good lesson, I felt it was out-of-character for Fluttershy to become this pushy, self-centered, control freak.
This is most definitely not show-accurate material but I wanted to push the emotional limit a bit to make the whole thing feel a lot more like a deep fight between friends.
(*Also, I feel it's weird that I'm doing another "Pinkie and Fluttershy" fic right in between my bigger story [See "The Threads of Love" if interested] You can tell which characters I like...*)
Anyways, enjoy the story. Let me know what you think. See you next time.
-frenettek314
