A Place To Lay My Head

"Umm...girls?" The five mares, who had recently been poking their friend like a big pink button,  were now gently hugging their plush friend. She was hugging her friends the best she could with her one good hoof. Once she was through with giving her round of hugs, she spoke, her voice still muffled by the oxygen mask. "Umm...wh-what happened and why am I here...?"

"Oh...oh dear...you don't remember?" Rarity nervously stroked her mane, as was her custom when talking about touchy subjects. Pinkie gave her head a slight shake, her mane bobbing ever so slightly with her movements. "Well dear, you...you had a little fall when you were escaping from Sugarcube Corner." As if on cue, a small green shape popped out of Pinkie's mane, he was wearing an oxygen mask just the right size for a baby gator.

"Oh...right...the roof." All of the mares were silent at Pinkie's revelation. They didn't really need or want to say anything. The tiny gator atop her head gave a small chitter and dove back into her mane, most likely to sleep.  "Umm...are...are Mr. and Mrs. Cake alright...a-and the twins?" It was a heavy burden on her mind that she didn't know what happened to her employers or their two foals that she loved so much, she had been too preoccupied with saving her own skin to even think about her adopted family.

"Yeah Pinkie, they made it out 'fore the fire spread." AJ respectfully took her hat off. "They...they didn't think y'all would make it out alive...heck, none of us did." Everypony was silent, most likely out of guilt. "They got outta town this mornin', headed  to their relatives out in Baltimare." AJ was a bit of a gossip, truth be told. She was out in the town square most days selling apples, so she heard a lot of things that could pertain to a myriad of situations.

"Oh..." Pinkie looked down, then calmly removed the oxygen mask from her muzzle. "Is Sugarcube Corner...?"

"It's gone, darlin'. Turned to ash...ah'm sorry.." The rest of the girls nodded along with AJ's words. "We all are..."

--

"Can we please go see Pinkie Pie?" The little unicorn stamped her small white hooves in order to accentuate her question. The two other little fillies nodded, obviously wondering the exact same thing.

"Eenope." The large red stallion shook his head and sat right in front of the door of the small cottage. The cottage itself was barely big enough to hold the monster of a stallion that was Big Macintosh. He visited often, so he was used to having to hunch over or sit almost all of the time.

"C'mon Big Mac! Y'all said wed be able ta see her today!" the little earth pony with the thick accent gave her big brother a mean glare.

"Now girls..." A butter yellow pegasus came into the living room from somewhere near the back of the house. "Big Macintosh said no, and if he said it then he has a good reason..." Big Mac gave the pegasus a kind smile and nodded, which only made the timid pony blush deeply. "A-and Big Mac took time from his day to come over and help me take care of you, so you should listen to him..."

Fluttershy and Big Mac. What a pair. The two, both seldom speakers, had been seeing each other for a few months now. Just a few weeks after the royal wedding they had their first date...which was a mess in it's own right. When you have to shy ponies, not much conversation is had, and not many things are confessed. Thankfully, after a few days, they both finally started talking to each other. When they were alone...frankly, they just wouldn't shut up.

Often times, whenever Big Mac had some time away from the farm and when Fluttershy wasn't busy with her animals, the pair could be seen trotting down a nature trail or sitting in a park. Nothing had to be said because they both already knew how they felt about each other. Many considered what they had 'the perfect relationship'.

"Ugh, so unfair." All three members of the illustrious Cutie Mark Crusaders huffed and plopped their rumps firmly on the couch in annoyance.

"Eeyup..." Deadpanned the yellow earth filly.

"Why is this place so boring?" Scootaloo spread her tiny wings and gave them a few good flaps. "We can't even go outside...reminds me of my house."

Fluttershy trotted over to the red giant and sat beside him, then gently laid her head on his shoulder. In almost a whisper she said. "These three are little monsters..."

"Eeyup..." Came the equally soft, but deep, response.

--

Pinkie was up and hobbling around. While she could put some pressure on her bad hoof, she couldn't firmly walk on it. Even if her body wasn't up to snuff, her mind still held the same agility that it always had. This included her infamous panic attacks.

"B-But if the Cakes are gone and Sugarcube Corner is gone, that means that I don't have a job...or a home!" She was pacing back and forth, her four friends and her pet Alligator were all watching the mare go. "I can't work anywhere else, I can't. BonBon won't take me back after what happened last time!" everypony winced at that excluding Twilight and the reptile. Most of them remembered what happened there and didn't want a repeat.

"Pinkie...y'all need to calm down." Applejack stepped forward, only to be pulled back by Rainbow Dash.

"I-I'm homeless..." The mare turned on her friends. "I...I can stay with one of you...right?" All of the mares turned away, looking awfully distracted all of a sudden.

"Well the Library isn't exactly a boarding house Pinkie Pie. All I have is my room, and it's cramped enough with Spike there and always growing. Sorry." Twilight bowed out of the conversation to give Gummy some attention.

:"i live on a cloud, don't look at me earth pony." Rainbow Dash held her hooves up defensively. "You can't exactly stay with me." Pinkie nodded sullenly. Out of all of her friends, she liked dash the most. The duo often spent whole days pranking the citizens of Ponyville.

"Yes, well. You know you're my friend and all, Pinkie..." Rarity averted her gaze. "But taking care of you and Sweetie Belle? I do not think I have that stalwart of sanity." Pinkie Pie fully understood, even to the party animal herself even one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were a hoofful.

All eyes fell on Applejack.

"Darn it..."