//-------------------------------------------------------// The Midnight Call -by Luna The Rat Queen- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// 11:30 pm //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note Before you read just a heads up, text messages are slanted and underlined to make them stand out. sound good, enjoy the suffering. Also this will have like 3 maybe 4 chapters so look forward to that, they are a bit short because this story is very personal to me, The next chapters will be longer. So see you next time in 12:00 AM. (I take constructive criticism) 11:30 pm 11:30 pm Point of View - Applejack "Hey Guys, could we hop on a call?" It was a text from Pinkie Pie, nothing out of the ordinary, but Applejack could tell something was off. It was late and this was about the time Pinkie was asleep. Applejack sat up in her bed and twisted the knob on her bedside lamp. The walls of her country home are sturdy and thick so she was at no risk of waking any of her family up. "Sure Pinkie, just give me a sec to grab my ear phones." "Now where the hell did you put them AJ," She said to herself. Flipping through her blankets and up turning her pillows. When they did not turn up immediately she started reaching down the side of the bed careful to not knock on the wall she shared with Apple Bloom's room. "I can, but why this late Pinkie Pie?" "Fluttershy would never ask that in person," Applejack chuckled. She found it funny the boost of confidence Fluttershy got when she was texting rather than talking, but it was a good question nonetheless. The damn headphones had yet to turn up beside the bed. She dead panned stared into the distance of her wall. Wordlessly and emotionlessly opening her bedside drawer to see the painted case of her wireless earbuds, the paint and the earbuds themselves being gifts from Rarity. "Oh it's nothing big, just some small venting! Sorry it is late btw." That one sentence concerned Applejack, it was rare for Pinkie Pie to be this open about her troubles. A fact that bothered Applejack but she never knew how to bring it up. She found talking about emotions hard for her and she was scared of sounding rude when pressing issues so she never did unless someone else brought it up. Holding her concern close to her she hit the start call button. When the other two joined the call Fluttershy left her camera off as did Applejack, One due to anxiety and one due to not having shaved her face. Pinkie Pie however turned her camera on, she usually always had it on during calls, to reveal she was not at home. She was Wearing a revealing blue dress with her hair hanging straight down rather than in its normal curls. Her eyes looked as if they were tear stained. The most unsettling fact to Applejack was the fact that Pinkie was still smiling as usual. "Pinkie are you okay?" Applejack asked knowing it was a stupid question, but it was the only one she could think to ask. Pinkie initially just laughed in response, seeing her laugh so emptily in a dark neighborhood was creepy to say the least. "Oh Applejack I am fine, I just did a little thinking!" She said loudly with the same empty grin, she was walking through the neighborhood holding her phone at the same angle Rarity did when she was live for her fans. "What about?" Fluttershy said meekly. She was tired yet concerned for her friend all the same. Pinkie was silent for a moment before laughing again, this time more resigned and small and the laughing slowly gave way to sobbing that caught both of her friends off guard. "Pinkie Pie sit down, stop walking and breathe," Applejack went from friend to treating Pinkie like a sibling. Her attempts were futile as Pinkie kept walking. "Pinkie, please take deep breaths. It is okay to cry, just remember to breathe," Fluttershy said but this seemed like the wrong thing to say as Pinkie started to look defensive. "It's okay if you all cry, but I am not supposed to!" She said this in a tone that indicated to Applejack that this was something that bothered her, but Applejack could not understand why she thought she was not allowed to cry. "Pinkie Pie, we are all allowed to cry. It is okay to-" Applejack was cut off by Pinkie shouting, "I! AM! NOT!" Everyone was silent letting Pinkie cry and walk. She was mumbling but Applejack could not make it out. "There are a lot of things I just don't talk about," Pinkie said after a while, “I just feel guilty for talking about myself. You all have your own issues to worry about and I am supposed to be the embodiment of laughter according to Twilight and Sunset, not the element of ‘oh I was groped at a party freshman year, now you can come pity me!’” As soon as Pinkie said that she started crying again and Applejack could tell there was more to the story. Fluttershy only gasped in response to the outburst. Pinkie then followed everything up with a laugh and the darkness of her camera faded to LED light, showing how much Pinkie had cried. In the warm humid summer night Pinkie was also sweating. They could see Pinkie enter a twenty-four hour convenience store near her house. The call was silent waiting for her to leave, she paid for 2 items, a candy bar and a two liter of soda with so much sugar it was a miracle it was not banned. As she stepped out of the store Applejack could see headlights on Pinkie’s face in the dark followed by a male voice, “Hey, you need a ride,” Applejack heard the voice say through the phone. Nervous for Pinkie’s safety, she was relieved when he drove off after she declined. “Pinkie, I think you should go home,” Applejack said in a firm yet comforting voice. Pinkie just laughed and said, “I can’t silly, I might wake up my sisters, plus,” her tone shifted to a more defeated tone, “I really don’t want to right now. I feel claustrophobic in my room right now.” “D-do you know w-why Pinkie,” Fluttershy stuttered, the situation was obviously terrifying her. “I don’t know, Maybe it is because that messy ol’ room is where I make all my bad decisions. Like Marble finding me passed out drunk!” Pinkie shouted this, losing her now forced happy voice to anger, anger and sadness. She scarfed the candy bar down and chugged part of the soda. Before Pinkie could continue the sound of someone joining the call caught their attention, much to the frustration of Applejack who wanted to press Pinkie further. Applejack looked to see Sunset Shimmer in the call, her camera also off. Pinkie seemed to try and reset to her happy persona, "Hey Sunny!" Sunset just sounded concerned and responded, "Hey Babe, are you alright?" Then the clock struck midnight. //-------------------------------------------------------// 12:00 am //-------------------------------------------------------// 12:00 am 12:00 am Point of View - Sunset Shimmer Missing a call was not something Sunset was unfamiliar with. She usually missed a few due to her still not being fully comfortable in the group. To her she was really only close with Twilight, someone who she keeps an eye on. As well as Sunset’s own girlfriend, Pinkie Pie. Sunset with the prompt of Pinkie venting would have joined the call sooner, however she had not checked her phone for half an hour due to a new RPG releasing. She had just finished the difficult section when she saw the texts on a loading screen and started to ignore the game completely. She hated to say Pinkie Pie venting was something sunset wanted slightly. It was not that she wanted to see Pinkie hurting, but It was hard to see the genuine feelings of the pretty pink girl. Even though the two had been dating for two year, Pinkie still never intentionally showed her emotions. Sometimes it would slip, like when they learned Pinkie was distantly related to AJ. Sunset remembers Pinkie being more melancholy about it, and that confused Sunset further. Pinkie and Applejack were the closest friends Sunset had ever seen. No matter what Sunset Shimmer considered she always came to the same conclusion. Pinkie Pie was more mysterious and complex than any magical problem she had ever seen, and the Pinkie Pie on video in front of Sunset was even more confusing. Pinkie Pie had an ingenuine big smile with obvious tear stains, hard to make out in the night lighting of the seeming parking lot she was in. She was holding a two liter of soda in one hand. "Hey Babe, are you alright?" Sunset said in reply to a greeting. The question seemed to not phase Pinkie. She started walking around the lot she was in, Sunset recognized it as the craft store near Pinkie’s house. Sunset had no reason to, but she grabbed her phone and started looking for the keys to her bike. She had a motorcycle over a car and thought she might need it tonight. “Oh, pfft ya Shimmy I am fine, I-,” Pinkie was cut off by a stern voiced Applejack. It clearly annoyed Pinkie; she lost control of what the narrative was. “Pinkie Pie, Do not lie to her you are not fine,” The voice was like a mother who needed her kid to say what happened without incriminating the kid. “Pinkie,” Fluttershy said in her sweetest voice, “It is alright to not be okay, Everyone has a right to not be alright with everything.” The tone was so sweet, yet it turned Pinkie’s face to pure venom, an expression not seen on Pinkie Pie by any of them. “Pinkie,” Sunset said in her best tone of reassurance, “We are here for you, I am here for you, What is wrong Pinks?” The question made Pinkie’s face soften a bit before she started laughing emptily. “I just let a little too much slip tonight that is all, Things I thought I would never say ever, ever,” Pinkie was trying to keep the upbeat tone in an attempt to lessen what she was going to say, “Like the groping at every party in highschool. Like how I have a little too much to drink every few weeks, or how I have blacked out and woken up in peoples houses, or how if I go home right now I will die!” Pinkie started laughing as Sunset sat there shocked, to add to the shock in the laughter Pinkie threw up all over herself, and yet she just laughed. “Pinkie,” Sunset and Applejack said together but Applejack let Sunset continue, ”What do you mean you will die if you go home?” She was saying this while getting dressed for the road, she was going to get to Pinkie tonight. Pinkie stopped laughing, “It is in fact,” She started to joke again to the discomfort of everyone and then in an impression of a 1880s oil tycoon, “None of your beeswax.” Clearly loving her jokes she started laughing again, all hollow. “Pinkamena,” Applejack said in her ‘default’ voice, meaning no vocal feminization leading to a voice to rival Big Mac, as well as loving anger, “You need to let us help you god damnit, you are tearing yourself to bits!” “What do you know AJ,” Pinkie said instantly, picking up the venom of before, “You know nothing Applejack,nothing.” Sunset could only sit witness to the argument, she had never seen Pinkie like this. Applejack was getting frustrated, “I know that right now you need to fucking help! So let us help you Pinkie, Please!” There was frustration and desperation in equal measures. “No Applejack, how about you just worry about your own problems. I know you have plenty of those,” Pinkie said with sass and anger, “I will worry about mine, make sense you bumpkin bitch. So fuck you sir.” The outburst from Pinkie was shocking and it led to a gasp from Fluttershy. There was a pause after the words were said, then Applejack said flatly, “I am not gonna sit here and watch you fall apart,” and Applejack left the call. “Pinkie what the hell was that!” Sunset shouted concerned and a bit upset. Applejack had only come out recently and that was uncalled for, but most of all she just wanted to keep Pinkie Pie safe. The three remaining people were silent as Pinkie was staring to the distance. She then started throwing up uncontrollably as Sunset and Fluttershy could only watch. “Pinkie,” Sunset said slowly, “She was right, you need to let us help.” Sunset was already dressed and had her keys in hand, but she just watched as pinkie's flat face morphed to almost tears, then anger, then just sadness. “Goodnight,” Pinkie said firmly yet somberly as she left the call with a frown. “Pinkie!” Sunset shouted and Fluttershy finally started to cry, Sunset was freaking out, scared that Pinkie was going to do something drastic. “Fluttershy try to call her, I know where she is.” Sunset Shimmer did not wait for a response as she hung up the phone and ran to her bike. All concerns of safety left her as she sped down the road. It would take twenty minutes to get to Pinkie and she couldn't waste a second of that. Then the clock hit 12:30 am Author's Note Hey it's me. Sorry my chapters are not that long, I am a new author and still getting grips. I hope you enjoy as I am really proud so far!