Where Pink Hooves Have Troddenby SanityLostChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 1The afternoon sun shined. Merchants were hawking their wares. Young colts and fillies were playing in the street. A few pink and purple carriages could be seen. There were pegasus ponies flying overhead. Ponies were talking and laughing. Ponyville was like every other town he had been to. Top Story found Sugarcube Corner, the unique gingerbread-looking house with a pink cupcake spire failed to make an impression on him as he walked through double swinging doors into the shop. He scratched his gray foreleg and shook his short black mane as a lanky yellow stallion walked up to the counter. He ordered and flopped down at a nearby table and placed his saddlebag on the floor beside him. He was there from the Equestria Herald to write a report on a mare that had just broken the sugar cube eating world record. It would be a little pony interest story, like all of his stories. He was about to rise up and retrieve his order but a squat, but pretty middle-aged blue mare brought his pastry and coffee to him on a tray that she carried in her mouth. He took both wordlessly accepted his order and took a small bite of his pastry, his face not showing the leaping excitement his taste buds expressed as the cream rolled over his tongue. He hands on his watch read 3:30. The mare was late, but that was fine, he had nowhere else to be. Top Story stared straight ahead, empty contemplations filling his mind, when there was an explosion that came crashing through the doors. Pots and pans rattled against the wall. The tall yellow stallion that was trying to open a bag of flour, leap up in fright, causing a white cloud to explode throughout the room. Top Story fumbled forward and managed to set his coffee on the table before he spilled it on himself. He pressed his hooves against his chest to keep his heart from leaping out. The journalist configured that he had just become the youngest stallion in his family to ever have a heart attack. The massive cloud of white was settling, causing patches of white to appear on top story's coat. He did not notice these however. What caught his attention was a little pink mare that had apparently caused the ruckus. On her round face was plastered a wide grin. Her main feature that really stood out were the puffy mane and tail that bobbed behind her as she walked. The doors closed behind her, and the journalist could only assume that she had caused the noise by bounding through them. White particles peppered her mane, which she ignored. “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I finished all of my deliveries for the day!” The mare's smile grew even wider on her face, and her large blue eyes began to sparkle. From what he had heard, the reporter figured that this must be the Pinkie Pie mare he was supposed to interview. In a split second she began to tell the bakery owners about a trick she had seen her friend Rainbow Dash performed. Top recognized the name as a pegasus mare that had come into renown for performing what was called a “Sonic Rainboom” by flying so fast she broke the speed of sound. Top story was amused by the fact that most of this mare's dialogue consisted of onomatopoeia accompanied by loud noises to help her audience visualize the action. The gray earth pony's mouth was open as this ball of pink energy bounced around, telling her story. Top was truly amazed. This mare's machine gun motor mouth ran so quickly that he expected a Sonic Rainboom to explode from her mouth at any moment. The Cakes seemed to take it in strike, which shocked the journalist. Was this an employee of theirs? Did this happen everyday? He tried not to imagine the amount of bits in damage she caused if she was. Once the pink pony finished her little story, Mr, Cake pointed the mare in my direction. At a speed that would make a lightning bolt proud, she ran up to Top Story and beamed, “Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! How are you? Are you the one that's going to interview me?” She shook the white flour out of her main and body, getting most of it on the journalist. Mrs. Cake gasped but the stallion just held up a hoof to calm her and dusted himself off. “Yes I am. It's nice to meet you, my name is Top Story,” he simply responded, proffering her a hoof. Pinkie vigorously shook it, and the reporter felt his entire body shake for several seconds. When she finished the mare continued, “Oh good, because I am really looking forward to talking to you. I have so much to say.” Top did not doubt this statement. He sighed and retrieved a quill and pad from his saddle bag, “Okay, well I'll start with the first question.” “Questions? Oh my gosh is this a guessing game? I love guessing games! I'll go first. What do I have in my pocket?” Pinkie's voice rose in tempo. Top sighed, “No, this is not a game. These are interview questions. First off, what made you decide you wanted to break this record?” The pink pony looked a little crestfallen, but she took a deep breath and then began, “Well, I was baking some cupcakes here at Sugarcube Corner where I work, when Dinky Doo came in with her mother Ditzy. Well while Dinky Doo was eating a cupcake, Ditzy was telling me that Dinky Doo's daddy, Eddie Bo, wasn't coming in to visit little Dinky, but that was okay because she and her daughter were going to the carnival this weekend with Roy Brown. She said Roy is really sweet and calls Dinky his little Rinky Dinky Doo.” “I said 'Awww,' then I said, 'speaking of sweet do you want a Sugar Cube?' Then Blueberry Hill was reading the paper and that a pony named Domino Fats just broke the sugar cube eating world record last weekend and I said, 'Ohmygosh, that is really cool' and she said, 'I bet you could do that Pinkie Pie...” The reporter wrote down what he could, but he had trouble keeping up. After Pinkie finally ran out of breath, he held up a hoof to stop her. This signal went unnoticed. “...so there was a guy this morning that said tomato soup could be served cold, can you believe that?” “Alright, next question,” Top wondered where tomato soup came from, “how did you feel when you broke the record?” “Oh by the way, it was a party invitation.” “Do what?” “The answer to my question was a party invitation, see?” She reached into what seemed like thin air and produced a yellow invitation to a party written in pink marker. “That is uh...very nice. But please answer my question. How did you feel when you broke the record?” “Bloated...and hyper!” Full and normal, he wrote. “What did you do after it was over?” “I had a party! I celebrated my new record. I danced all night long, and played pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. Oh my gosh, it was so fun. We spun spike, the baby dragon I talked about, around and let him have his turn at pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. He got so disoriented that he started going the wrong way, and before anybody could stop him, he pinned the tail right on Rarity's flank!” The pink filly started giggling, grabbing her stomach and kicking her hind feet. Tears formed in her tightly shut eyes. “You see, it's really funny because Spike has a crush on Rarity, I know, a baby dragon liking a unicorn, weird right? But anyway, Rarity was so embarrassed and shocked that she screamed and left the party. It took all of us to get her to finally come back so we could explain what happened. Oh and poor Spike, he was so sad. He got Rarity this heart shaped cookie, oh it was the cutest thing, but Rarity being Rarity didn't take it right off, you see...” “Okay I got it,” Top cut her off again. He would swear that her motor mouth had an infinite supply of fuel and was going to make his ears bleed. “You had a party, I think that about covers it.” He finished taking some last notes before he put away my pad and quill. “You mean we are already done? I didn't even get the chance to tell you about my Gryphon pinata.” “To be honest with you, my column isn't very big. So I didn't really need that much information to write my story. If I was writing something for the front page, it would be a different. However, I think I have enough with the few notes that I did take.” “Oh, would you like to stick around for some strawberry cupcakes? I am making some this evening, they'll be really good!” Top threw his saddlebag over his back, “No need, as I said I have all of the information required to write the column.” The pink pony's shoulders slumped. She looked down at her hind hooves that were under the table. For a moment she looked up and held the reporter in her glistening gaze, which he purposefully averted. Her slightly rounded belly was thrown out as she heaved a gusty sigh, “Oh, okay then. I guess...uh...thank you for interviewing me.” Her words were very slow and sad. Each syllable was a steel wire that pulled against the reporter's heart. He had learned how to ignore such things, and rose from his seat. The little pink pony sniffed as she rose, and slowly walked toward a staircase toward the back of the shop. Top popped his neck and slid out of his chair. The sniffling must have caught the Cakes' ears because they were throwing accusatory glances toward him. Oh well, it was over and done. Now all he had to do was write the little report, receive his paltry pay for the job, and get ready for the next job, just like he had done the time before, and the time before that. The double doors were getting closer, but his feet felt like lead. He closed his eyes and saw those big, sad blue eyes staring at him again, tears leaking from the corners. Looking back, he saw Pinkie walking up the steps, ready to disappear. Why was he still there? He needed to leave. He needed to get to work on his story. He turned around but found that moving his hooves took a lot of effort. “Did you forget anything?” Mrs. Cake, the squat blue mare, asked him pointedly. Those steely wires were starting to cut into his heart. Top snorted, “Yes, there were a few questions I forgot to ask.” He turned toward the staircase, “Ms. Pie, if it is okay, may I ask you a few more questions?” The poofy maned female quickly turned around and stuck her head out of the opening of the staircase. A smile erupted on her face, “Oh of course, but hang on I have to do something first.” The girl began to hop down the stairs, singing to herself. When she hit the floor she bolted into the kitchen and began to gather some baked goods. Pies, slices of cake, doughnuts, muffins, and various candies were stacked or placed in bowls on her back. She slowly teetered over to the table, carefully balancing the delectables on her back. When she made it she placed them on the table in a whirlwind and was sitting back in the chair she was in before Top could blink. He didn't notice but she had also refilled his coffee and replaced it in front of his spot at the table. Pinkie was innocently sipping sarsaparilla through a straw as Top sat down. Pinkie placed her bottle down and begin, “So what questions did you have for me?” The reporter was trying to adjust his ears to her rapid talking speed again. He dropped his saddlebag to the floor and retrieved his quill and pad, “Well, I uh...I wanted to know more.” “Know more about what? The moon? Ancient History? How to bake a cake?” “Oh none of that.” “Oh that's good,” she giggled, “cause I'd have to get Twilight for that stuff, well except for that last one. I'm good at making cakes. You should have seen the one I made at my last party. It looked like a strawberry cake but it tasted like lemon!” “Lemon cake?” “Yeah, I wanted to do something different. So what did you want to know about?” “Well uh,” the reporter sighed and bit his lower lip. The only reason he had called her over was because...he really didn't know. All he knew is that he really didn't have any questions for the rambunctious pony to answer. “You,” he said finally, “I want to know about you.” This elicited a giggle from Pinkie, “Well duh, of course you want to know about me! Who else are you interviewing? Anything in particular?” “Um, whatever you want to tell me.” A pout came to her face, “That doesn't help me much.” Top wrapped his hoof against the table, “Everything, tell me everything.” “Everything? Are you sure? That might take a while.” “I have the time if you do.” “I do, where do you want me to start?” “Oh, how about the beginning?” “The very beginning?” “Absolutely.” Pinkie grinned, “Okay, I was conceived in a small house on a rock farm.” My mouth dropped, and the blue mare in the shop exclaimed in exasperation, “Pinky!” Mr Cake, the lanky yellow stallion, wore a small smile. “I didn't mean at the absolute beginning,” said the reporter, regaining his composure. Pinkie giggled, “Well you did say start at the very beginning.” “Okay, I did walk into that one. How about you start at your fillyhood.” The young mare fixed a faux pout on her face, “Oh okay...if I have to.” Chapter 2Pinkie began her story, "I grew up on a rock farm with my father, mother, and two sisters. We worked with, well...rocks! We rotated them, and when they were ready, we harvested them." Top cocked an eyebrow, "You worked on a rock farm? How in the world were your parents ever able to make a livelihood doing that?" "Our main customers were landscapers and sculptors, but we sold a lot of rocks to sumo wrestlers too." "What in the world would a sumo wrestler need with rocks?" "I don't know what a bunch of fat, sweaty ponies were doing buying our family's rocks, frankly I didn't want to ask." Story felt a smirk creep onto his face, "So what happened at the rock farm?" "Not much really. There was no laughing, no smiling, it was a sad place to live." The journalist looked down, "Yeah, there are a lot of places like that." "Until the day I saw a rainbow that is. Well, actually I saw the Rainbow Dash Sonic Rainboom, but I didn't know it at the time. But anyway, I saw the rainbow and something special happened. I felt really, really happy. As that rainbow traced across the sky, I felt like just leaping up and taking flight." "Things must really have been sad at that farm if all it took was a rainbow to make you happy." "It was more than just a rainbow," Pinkie's brow furrowed, "You see to me, joy is a bright rainbow. The different colors are the different types of happiness and the different ways it can find ponies." The journalist half nodded, "I can see how that might be one way to look at it." "Well, when I felt that explosion of joy, I knew that I wanted to feel that explosion all of the time, and I wanted everyone else to feel it too. I thought of different ways to create more smiles, when it hit me!" "What hit you?" Pinkie had stopped to devour a strawberry muffin in two crummy, voracious bites "Nothing hit me." "You said something hit you." The pink pony smiled and shook her head, "No, if something hit me I would have known it. If it hit me hard enough I might have cried." "Well you said something hit you." "I did?" "Yes, when you are on the farm, and after you saw the rainbow, something hit you, like an idea came to you." Top was exasperated. "Oh yeah, an idea came to me. Why didn't you say so?" Pinkie flashed him a broad smile and Top had an inkling that she had been playing with him. "So an idea came to me," Pinkie continued, "I decided to throw a party. Parties are really happy, and what better way to make someone smile than with something that is happy?" "Makes logical sense to me. Did it work?" "You betcha! When my parents found my surprise party, they were hesitant at first, but I made them smile. It was one of the happiest moments of my life, being able to share joy. That was when I got my cutie mark," Pinkie pointed at the three balloons on her flank, "from that day forward I did everything that I could to make everyone I possibly could smile." "Life on the farm was better then. My family was happier, and I was happier. Better yet, I was able to see my true inspiration more often." "What, a rainbow?" Asked the reporter. "Nope, my granny Pie. My parents used to keep my granny Pie away because they thought she was a 'bad influence' because she was always happy. After they learned how to be happy, they wanted her to come around more." Pinkie continued. "Granny Pie taught me a lot about being happy, she taught me what she knew about baking, she taught me about well...everything! Well, my parents helped raise me, and they were important, too. If it wasn't for her though, I wouldn't be the pony I am today." "Sounds like she was a very important person in your young life." Top cleared his throat. "She was the most important person in my young life. My mother, father, and sisters were important, but it was granny Pie that helped shape me," Pinkie looked down in reverence, her blue eyes glistening, "she helped me become the mare I am today. She was almost always there for me when I needed her. I could talk to her about anything and she would always listen. When I was scared she could always make me feel better, and she always, always knew how to make me laugh." Pinkie's tone had become softer, almost a whisper. She looked down and Top was certain that she was hiding tears. Bile felt like it was filling his stomach. He saw his mother, a small gray mare, bending her knees and looking over the shoulder of a small colt trying to write a news story about the food fight that happened at school that day. She kissed his forehead and told him that he was writing a great story, while his father, a large black stallion, sat in the other room reading the paper. Top Story shook away these thoughts and cleared his throat. Pinkie smiled and looked up at him with dry eyes, and continued. "Time went by and I got older. Life on the farm was better, everyone was happy, or at least happier than they were. But I found out that I wasn't truly happy. In this great big, wide, wide, world there was a place for Pinkie, but it wasn't the rock farm." "When I told my parents I wanted to leave I thought they would be really supportive, boy was I wrong. They told me that I was way too young and irresponsible to leave the house, but I told them they were wrong. Woah, you should have heard the yelling. I think me and my parents shouted until we couldn't shout anymore. Then they said I wasn't leaving, and that was that." "I spent all that night and the following day thinking about what I should do. As I was working the rock farm, I made up my mind that I was going to leave the farm. But there was one person I wanted to talk to first. Without saying anything that night, I packed my bags, snuck away, and caught a train to my granny Pie's. We talked and I told her that I didn't know what to do. She just looked at me seriously, one of the few times that she did without scolding me, and said, 'Twinkie Winkie Pinkie, you are a big mare now, you need to do what makes you happy.'" "She said she wouldn't say anything else about the matter, all she said was that I needed to do what made me happy. Can you imagine how frustrating that was? I mean really, I came all that way for advice and that was all she told me. I was so confused, I didn't know what to do." Top's eyes had misted over as he saw him standing in front of a gorgeous, young, yet haughty purple earth mare. He protected her while he argue with his parents over whether they would approve of his union with his love. His parents didn't want him marrying a 'hoochie horse' like her. He told them that he was going to marry her no matter what they said. When his father left the room, his mother said that while she didn't necessarily approve, if he was happy she was happy. Top and his future wife were on a train that morning... "...and that's how Equestria was won!" "What?" Top jerked up and straightened his shoulders. "Oh nothing, I was trying to get your attention. So, after after all of that thinking, I decided to hit the road. My granny Pie had given me the best advice she could have given me at that time. I wasn't very happy where I was, so I decided to leave. As I was preparing to go, both of my sisters arrived at my granny Pie's house. I expected that my parents had sent them to talk me out of leaving, however they were just there so that they could make sure to tell me goodbye before I left." "My parents didn't want to talk to me, so they sent my sisters to say goodbye for them. They said that they didn't want me to go, that they would miss me, and they said sorry for not being happy all the time, they said sorry for not coming to all my parties...they said sorry for a lot of things. We all ended up crying in the end," Pinkie screwed her eyes shut and shook as she voraciously attacked another strawberry cupcake. She cleared her throat, "It was a really sad time. Part of me didn't want to leave them behind, but I knew I had to move on." Top remembered the train ride with his future wife. She talked about how they would show his parents. After they eloped, he would get a great job, get a big house, nice clothes, and have everything they ever wanted. He never heard her, all he could see was his mother's teary blue eyes. Pinkie's words broke through the stallion's thoughts, "There were all kinds of frowns out there that ol' Pinkie Pie had to turn upside down. As that train chugged down the track, I knew that I was heading toward my destiny." "Where did that train take you?" "To my destination of course, Salt Lick City!" Chapter 3“Salt Lick City was nothing like I imagined it,” the little pink pony hopped upward and took a bite of apple pie. “There were only a few big buildings and the air kind of smelled like sour punch. The reporter took a small bite of apple pie himself and wrinkled his nose, “That doesn't sound like a place I would want to be.” “It wasn't for me either at first, but I got used to the smell, sort of. Every time I walked outside I thought of someone throwing up in punch, but I would just think about chocolate cake, and everything would be alright!” The reporter grimaced with mention of upchucking into punch, Pinkie munched away happily at her pie. “When I first got there I was so confused. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know where to go. I was so scared the first night in my motel room. I wondered if my parents were right and if I should have just stayed back at the rock farm.” Familiar visions of he and his newly eloped wife in a tiny apartment filled Top's head. He could empathize with the bouncing pony across from him. “Well I found a little place on the outskirts of town that smelled like hamburgers and cat pee. It was a run down apartment, but it was a place to live. I never really had any problems, except for a couple of mice and a creepy light blue unicorn that wore an old trench coat that spied on me from his apartment with a telescope.” “By Celestia, you did have the sense to buy curtains didn't you?” “Nope,” Pinkie grinned broadly, “to take care of that problem, I rented my apartment out to a burlesque company so they could use it to host their gay erotic burlesque dance practices. I would always schedule it when that creepy pony was home.” The reporter smirked, “I bet he didn't spy on you any more!” “Noper loper! He moved to another apartment, though a bunch of perverted old earth mares moved in so they could watch the dancers.” Top thought he could feel the beginnings of a smile, “Why doesn't that surprise me. Well, that had to be a nice source of income at least. All you had to do was stay out of your apartment for a bit and come back when they were done.” Pinkie giggled, “Who said I left the apartment while they were there?” Top straightened in his chair and his eyebrows went up, causing Pinkie's giggles to increase. The Cake's were looking over and shaking their heads at the dumbfounded reporter. Once her giggles subsided, she continued. “I tried to find a job during my first few weeks in Salt Lick. Renting my apartment out to that company was profitable, but I still had to find something so that I could pay for food and the occasional cleaning bill.” “The occasional cleaning bill?” “Yeah, sometimes the dancers made a mess, and they did a terrible job of cleaning up. It sometimes took a helping hoof to make sure things were clean.” The reporter puffed out and gritted his teeth to keep from grinning, “So did you find work?” “Oh yeah, I did this and that, but I didn't find anything permanent. I was a waitress, dish washer, window washer, and a cosmetics salesperson. If I hadn't been around so many things that were super duper breakable, those jobs would have lasted more than a few days.” Top momentarily admired Pinkie's aggressive attack on a piece of pink frosted strawberry cake, not having any difficulty in seeing this pony being destructive. He cut himself a slice of cake, “Were you able to find something?” “Yes I was,” she gulped down the last bite of her cake, “I started talking to one of the stallions that danced with the burlesque group in my apartment one day, and he said they had a job available at their office.” "What kind of job did they want to give you?" “Take a guess,” Pinkie said with a sly smile, “they did more than stallion on stallion stuff you know.” “Well, when you first start out, sometimes you have to do things that you aren't proud of, I knew a young mare or two that had to do that kind of stuff,” Top Story said consolingly. “What kind of stuff?" Pinkie tilted her head sideways. “Huh?” “My first job with the company was doing secretary work. Why? What were you thinking?” Her eyes twinkled as she grinned wickedly. Despite his best efforts, the reporter suddenly found himself with a smile on his face as well. It had been a while since he had truly smiled at a joke. “My job was to mainly make appointments, take and write letters, make notes, all that secretary stuff. The work was hard, and I got things confused. One time I accidentally scheduled a live 'mare madness' show at a basketball game half-time instead of the theater where it was supposed to be. The front page headlines the next day were hilarious!” Top story coughed, “Were you fired?” “My boss was going to fire me, but since the news story gave the company a lot of free publicity he kept me on. I even got a raise!” “You are one lucky mare.” “I thought I was,” the pink pony beamed before picking up a strawberry drop in her hoof and tossing it backward into her mouth, “I loved working at the office. My bosses were nice, the people I worked with were really nice, I even made friends with some of the performers. But it didn't start out that way, it was actually kind of a stuffy, depressing place to work.” Visions of Top's first job washing dishes at a diner flashed in his mind, “What made it better?” “A great big hearty helping of Pinkie goodness is what made it better!” “Would you care to elaborate?” “Well, a small number of the performers that worked there were really sad about what they had to do, and there were some people in the office that wished they worked in a 'more respectable' industry. Don't get me wrong, some of them loved their job, some of them just thought of it as their job, but some were just really sad about what they had to do. I liked talking to them, I talked a lot back then, to anybody that would listen.” It's nice to see that some things never change, the reporter thought to himself. “But I would also listen to them. A lot of them were really sad. Their parents hated them, they were in bad relationships, or no relationships at all. Some of them didn't have anyone that loved them. There were even a couple that wished they were dead.” Pinkie pie bit back a quivering lip, “It's still sad to think about sometimes. I listened to their problems and helped them feel better about themselves. Most of the time, all they needed was a little self-confidence. I was able to give it to them, I was always able to make each person smile, and it made me feel really happy. I helped those that hated their jobs get out and find others that did make them happy. I was able to help those people that didn't have anyone find someone special.” The reporter nodded, “That is truly a good feeling, it's wonderful to have a person that cares about their fellow workers in any workplace.” The mare sitting across from him smiled, “Thanks, and it sure is. It was also while I was there that I started hosting my first parties, not counting the ones that I threw for my family.” “Did those go well?” “They were small, I honestly didn't know that many people to invite, mostly just people around the office where I worked. Oh, I even invited those perverted mares that liked to watch the stallions perform their dances at my place. They actually didn't turn out to be creepy like I thought they were, just perverted old mares. There weren't many people there, but those that were there had fun. It kind of felt empowering, I kind of felt like I was becoming my own mare.” Top smiled when he thought of the first apartment he and the mare he ran away with had. It was a cramped efficiency. Even though they didn't have much, what they had was theirs, and that was something they were both proud of. “Sounds like everything was going your way,” he finally said. “It was, and I was happy. Until the day that Starstud showed up.” “Starstud?” “Starstud was this really sexy, dark blue, suave Earth pony, you know the type?” Top sighed, “Better than you think, go on.” “He was a hot shot in that world, and thought he could get anything he wanted. When he was first hired to do some dances for our company, my boss showed him around the office. He got the attention of all the mares, but for some reason he got all interested in the Pinkie Pie. I smiled and said hi like I always did, but he was sending me the signals. I didn't pick up on it though, as I was still young and inexperienced.” “I getcha,” the reporter nodded. “Silly me, he asked me out and I said yes. I didn't really know what was happening, I thought he just wanted to hang out or something. I thought this might be a chance to make another friend, So, we went out, and had dinner. It was really good too, lobster, crab cakes, and oh my gosh you will never believe me, but the chocolate mousse made me do a cartwheels. I was about to do another but the waiter said I had to stop because I was scaring the customers, breaking chairs, and upending tables.” “I'll bet.” “Dinner was fun, despite being a self-centered jerk, he actually was kind of funny. He walked me home, and just as I was about to unlock the door to my place, he kissed me. I was kind of freaked out but I didn't say anything. I just got the key out and tried to put it in the door, when he kissed me again, this time a little more forcefully. Kissing someone with a key in their mouth had to be super duper nasty, but he did it! I started shaking and the darn key wouldn't go into the lock. He quickly pressed me against the door, holding my shoulders to the door with his forelegs. He kept kissing me and...” Pinkie wrapped her hands around herself. Top Story's face softened, he gripped the table to keep himself from placing his hoof on the mare's shoulder, “You don't have to go on.” “No,” Pinkie squeaked, “no, it's okay. He had me pinned against the door and I told him to stop. He asked me how long had it been since I was with a real stallion, I said never, and he said that night was my lucky night.” “Skies above...what happened?” “Well I was able to slide one of my hind legs between his and knee him right in the sheath. He fell down squealing like a pig.” “No less than he deserved.” “I got the key into the door and was about to run inside, but he quickly got up,grabbed me in his forelegs, and threw me face first to the floor. My ears were ringing and my nosey wosey stung and started to bleed. Once the ringing in my ears died down he whispered in my ear, 'You're about to find out how I got famous little filly.'” “By Celestia...” “That is what he said when I quickly slipped out of his grip, jumped on his back and grabbed his neck with my forearms. He was bucking around like a bronco trying to get me off. When he was in the right position I plated my feet against the ground and pushed him face first against the wall. I made his nose bleed like mine.” “Wow, awesome job!” “Hey you better think before you mess with the Pink...ie Pie!” Top smiled and Pinkie Pie continued, “Well my victory was short lived. He was able to spin around and slam his big hoof into my face and send me to the ground. He leaped on top of me and pinned my shoulders down. His face was screwedup into a twisted smile. He looked really bedraggled, not like the handsome stallion he did on stage. A moonbeam from the hallway window fell across his face and made him look like one of those creepy serial killers.” “His face was all wrinkled up. With blood dripping from his nose on my chest, he pressed down on my throat. I felt like my lungs were going to burst when he said, 'I'm gonna love squeezing your throat while I buck your pretty pink brains out.'” “I wanted to scream, but I couldn't, all I could do is gurgle while he pressed his hooves down on my neck. I flailed around and tried to punch him, but I couldn't get near his face. The world got fuzzy, my lungs were screaming for air. I thought I was going to pass out. He started to press down harder on my throat and relieved the pressure at the other end of my body. I guess he didn't think I'd give him another kick in his prized possessions, but I did. Actually I gave him two, just for good measure. “His face screwed up and he fell sideways. I could breathe again. Cat pee stained air never smelled better in all my life.” “Did that do it?” Top was leaning forward in his seat. “I don't know, it might have done it, but I was really mad at that point. The next thing that I can remember, I was sitting on his stomach punching him in the face when two police officers, both white pegasi, pulled me off of him. We both got arrested and taken to jail. I was all alone in a cold, gray cell that entire night.” “It had a tangy stale smell, like old orange juice, if that makes any sense. I tried to lay down on that hard wooden bench and sleep. I closed my eyes but I kept seeing Starstud's face and that freaky smile, over and over again,” Pinkie swallowed hard, “I was afraid that if I went to sleep I would have nightmares. I was a tired pink mare when they drug me out of the cell the next morning.” “A large yellow stallion started to question me. I told him what happened, I told him I couldn't remember some parts, and I showed him the bruises on my neck and arms. I heard they talked to Starstud and he said something completely different. Luckily they believed my truth and not his lies, though.” “I was able to get the next couple of days off. I barely slept, and I hardly ate anything. I was too sick to. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and stare at the blank walls in my dark room. After a couple of days though, I was able to motivate myself to get out of bed and go to the office. It was terrible. I smiled and said hi to everyone, but no one talked to me. I thought that I put on enough pink foundation on my body to hide the bruising, and I thought that was the problem. However, about an hour after I came into work, I found out why the other employees were avoiding me.” “The big boss, a fat red stallion with huge glasses called me in and told me to sit in front of his desk. He told me that the company loved having me with them but that they had to let me go. I was shocked. I asked why but he only said that they were 'downsizing.' I asked if it had anything to do with the Starstud incident and he said no, but I could tell he was lying. The jerk.” Top Story sat in silence. He saw an old green mare yelling at him for breaking a dish at his first job, or for accidentally stacking the dishes the wrong way, but he had never endured anything like this mare had. He shook his head,“I'm really sorry.” “Oh it's okay,” a bitter edge was in Pinkie's voice, “I testified at his court hearing and found out he had done this thing to other mares. They gave him three years for that little incident. When he came out of prison, they said he wasn't walking as straight as he used to, if you know what I mean.” The reporter just nodded, and Pinkie continued, “I had my little moment of victory, but all in all things were bad for me. The company decided to stop using my apartment for their practices, so I had no money coming in. On the day I was thrown out of my apartment, I felt like there was nothing left for me. I felt kind of betrayed. None of my old friends would lift a finger to help me. I had spent all of my time making people happy and all they had done was stab me in the back. I didn't think I was going to ever be happy again.” “I slowly lugged my saddlebag on my back as I walked down the street. The world around me was black. I didn't see color, I didn't see faces. All I saw was a sea of black that I was drowning in. I took a detour into a grocery store. I had a few bits left in my pocket, so I thought I'd pick up a sarsaparilla to clear my head. As I walked through those doors, I vowed that the only person that I would ever want to make happy again was myself. Then, life told me to quit being a sad Pinkie and start being a Pinkie Pinkie.” “I'm not sure I follow you.” “Of course you don't follow me silly, you don't have to follow me. I'm sitting right here.” The reporter shook his head. “I mean, I don't understand what you are talking about.” “You should have said that,” Pinkie's glum face instantly perked up. “But anyway, I was about to meet a very fun pony.” Chapter 4Top successfully was able to finish a cupcake before pinkie had eaten through five. As he watched her stuff her face, he imagined her forming into the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner. After she licked her hoof to pick up a few stray crumbs she missed, she continued. “So a sad pink pony walked into a grocery store.” Pinkie broke into a high pitched giggle. “What's so funny?” Top asked quizzically. “Oh sorry,” Pinkie snorted, “that just sounded like the beginning of a joke.” Top nodded, “That it did.” “Well I was walking down the isles, a sad little pony. I didn't see where I was going when I ran into this mare earth pony wearing clown makeup and a really frilly, colorful costume.” “A clown?” “Yepper depper! She was a clown. She looked up at me, frowned and said that she was really sad, too. She said she installed a skylight in her new apartment, but her upstairs neighbors were furious.” Top story smirked, “Classic Stallion White, he was a great comedian.” “I know! I have all of his records, especially I Have a Pony. Anyway, I looked at her, and I did something I didn't think I would do.” “What is that?” “I laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and when I stopped that, I laughed more. I laughed so hard I cried. People were staring at me, but I didn't care, I didn't care about anything, except laughing. I opened my eyes and saw colors, I saw joy, I saw everything. I thought that the clown mare wasn't going to stay there, but she did. She was looking down at me and smiling. I got up off of the floor and ignored all the other ponies.” “Then she said that she was really sad because of what happened last night at her poker game. She was playing poker with tarot cards, she got a full house and four people died. I laughed again. Not as hard, but still hard enough to fall to the floor again.” “She stood there until I picked myself up off of the ground again, and said she never got that kind of reaction to her jokes before. I told her that the last few days were really hard, and I really needed a good laugh. We started talking, and that was how I found out that her name was Brightmane and that she worked for the Reignsling Brothers Circus as a clown comedian.” “The Reignsling Brothers Circus? The biggest circus in Equestria?” “Darn right! She was a performer at the show, and when I told her that I needed a job, she said she would talk to the ringmaster and see what she could do. Before I knew it, I was an assistant stagehand, helping set up props for the show! I was so excited, I couldn't believe it. In as little as five days, I went from being a secretary to having an exciting job at a circus!” Pinkie's words were an echo to Top as he reminisced about the dishwasher job he had. He'd broken one too many dishes, and his boss just found out that her husband was cheating on her with a much younger (and nicer) mare. In a fit of rage, she fired him. He and his wife were on the street. They didn't know what they were going to do. He was applying for a grocery store position when he met a heavy set, dark red mare looking over apples. He couldn't remember how it happened, but they started talking about apple quality, and growing apples. Top impressed her with his knowledge on several subjects. She told him that she was the editor of the local newspaper, and was needing someone to do little stories. The mare asked if he was interested. In almost no time, he was working on his first story. He heard a loud snap. He woke from his momentary recollection to find that Pinkie had clapped her hooves in front of his face. “Hello, are you okay?” “Uh yeah, why do you ask?” Top's eyes focused back on the round faced mare. “Because you were staring out into space. If I'm boring you, I can stop and...” “No!” Top said with a little bit more fervor than he meant to. “I mean no, you aren't boring me.” “Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie scrutinized him closely and said slowly before returning to her normal, hyper, upbeat voice, “I was an assistant stage hand at the circus. The pay wasn't great, but I didn't care, the shows were amazing! The animals, the acrobats, the aerobats, the bat bats, the crazy, awesome, fun performers, it was so cool. Each show was just as awesome as the last!” “It was actually a few days until I got to talk to Brightmane again. I saw her perform, and oh my gosh, she was the funniest thing I had ever seen. She had me in stitches backstage! I still tell some of her jokes to my friends today! But anyway, I saw her perform, but she was always so busy or surrounded by fans, I couldn't get close to say hi. Well one day, a tall orange filly with a wild red mane walked up to me and asked how I liked working at the circus. It took me a second for me to realize who she was, but when I did I gave her a huge hug. I was so grateful. She looked down at me with dark magenta eyes and said it was no problem.” “She quickly became my mentor at the carnival. Brightmane told me who I should talk to, who I should avoid, and the things that I should and shouldn't do. I was kind of shy at first, since I didn't know anybody. But after she introduced me to some of her friends, I was my normal, bubbly self in ten seconds flat!” Top smiled as he recalled the heavyset mare that introduced him to her friends at the office where he worked for the paper, and helped him get settled into his new career. “Red was really something. I will never forget her cutie mark, it was of a clown head sticking its tongue out. She really enjoyed making people laugh like I did. I loved her performances more than any of the others. She was so good with the crowd, and all of her jokes were perfect, well at least I thought they were perfect. Almost every time she was done she got a standing ovation.” “She must have been a really amazing comedian,” said Top. “Oh it wasn't that she was just a comedian,” Pinkie hopped up and down in her seat and began attacking a piece of cake, “she could do all kinds of things...she would sing songs...play instruments...do tricks...anything to make the crowd laugh.” She spoke between bites. “So did you become her protege?” Pinkie gulped down her last bite of cake and chased it with a frosted glass of chocolate milk, a glass that, Top was sure hadn't been there a moment before. In a fluid motion, she placed the empty glass in front of her and wiped milk residue off of her lip. “Oh yeah! I asked her if she would teach me how to do what she did, and she said yes. I was so excited, I mean super duper uper excited, more excited than I had ever been in my life, except for that time that I discovered that I loved to make people laugh and smile more than anything else in the world.” Pinkie's words began to pick up speed, and Top had to speed up his brain to keep up. “After work she would give me lessons,” Pinkie continued, “she taught me how to tell jokes, sing, dance, play instruments, use props, and do all kinds of fun stuff. She said I was a natural! I got really good, I was able to play several instruments, dance and use props to do funny stuff, all at once. It was really awesome.” The reporter saw the heavy set filly again, looking over his news stories and pointing out where he could improve. With each story he got better and better at his craft. He bit his lip and fought to keep his eyes dry. “Did they let you perform at the circus?” Top managed to choke out. “Oh no no no, I wasn't ready for something like that, at least not yet. I was good, but Bright was better, a lot better. It took me a while to figure out how to stun a crowd like she did. I did admit to her that I loved to throw parties. Bright talked to the Reignsling Brothers for me, and they let me throw parties for the crew after their shows.” “A carnival party?” Top smiled “Those had to be incredibly fun.” “You have no idea, they were way more fun than the parties that I threw in Salt Lick. All of those circus people loved to have fun, especially after working really hard doing performances. I got better and better at the stuff Bright taught me, but I was already starting to become a master at holding parties and decorating. After a couple of months, the Reignsling brothers put me in charge of decorating the circus tents before a show. Oh my gosh, you will not believe how fun that was! I made all kinds of fun decorations. I really loved to make animal balloons, multi-colored streamers, and oh, I had the cutest ribbons put on the animals. You should have seen the pink bows I tied to Matilda the Siberian Tiger, they were just so cute!” “But the fun didn't stop there. One night before a show, someone that ran one of the concession stands got sick and couldn't bake goodies. I remembered some of the recipes that my granny Pie taught me how to make, so I threw on a bakers hat and went to work. With Bright's help, we were able to make super savory treats for the show. Everyone loved them!” Top chuckled when Pinkie tore a huge chunk out of a chocolate doughnut with sprinkles and chewed ecstatically. “I started to become more and more important to the circus. I was given a big raise and put in charge of the decorating and baking. It took me a bit to get good at the baking, and I really wasn't super awesome like my granny Pie, but I did pretty good. On top of that, I was still also holding the cast party and taking lessons from Bright.” “I bet you were a busy mare,” Top's eyebrows arched. “You have no idea. But I was able to keep up with that busy schedule, and was even able to spend some quality time with Bright.” “Bright must have been special.” The reporter smiled. “She was. We spent all the time that we could together.” “What did you do when you were not practicing?” “Oh just anything, we would talk, play games, read stories...well she read me stories, it was really fun with her around.” “You and your mentor must have been very close, I would venture you were good friends?” “We were great friends! But it was more than that. Bright had been working at the circus for 20 years at that point, it was her life. She never had been married and or had foals. She was really successful, but she was kind of lonely. She would always laugh when I would bounce around as I baked or decorated, and she would chuckle when I did tricks, even when we weren't practicing.” Lunch meetings out with the heavy set mare that ran his newspaper flashed across Top's mind. They would sit and talk about the news and all of the crazy things that the Princess and the Canterlot court were doing. They would both chuckle at this new policy or talk about a special story that was run in another newspaper. Sometimes, they would talk about home life, like how her husband was ill, or how his wife was growing anxious about him not making much money at the paper... “I remember one time I was playing the national anthem on the harmonica while I did cartwheels...” Top's eyes bugged out, “How in the world did you manage that?” “Really carefully,” Pinkie replied with a grin. “But even though I enjoyed the circus, I enjoyed my time with Bright the most. She was really special, and I felt that she deserved someone special too.” The reporter nodded, “I have full faith that she probably felt the same as well.” Pinkie stroked her chin with her hoof, “Let's move on with the story. Things were going really well at the circus. I was making great money, not that I needed all of it. I saved a lot of it for a rainy day, though I spent some of it on the parties or gifts for friends. My schedule could sometimes get really insane with all of the decorating and the baking, but I was able to keep it down. Then one day Red got sick.” “What happened?” “She came down with a severe case of Hazel throat, she wasn't able to talk or sing. Worse of all, she felt so sick that she couldn't hop and bounce around, or play her instruments. The circus was in a panic, they didn't know who they were going to get to replace her. Well, Bright had an idea, can you guess what that was?” “She suggested you for the part?” “Yeppers peppers! She wrote a little note and told the Reignsling Brothers that she had trained me to do what she did, and that she felt I was ready to perform in front of a crowd. Being desperate, they asked if I wanted to play the part. I didn't say yes...” “You turned it down?” “Nope, as I was saying, I didn't say yes, I said ohmyfreakinggoshthatwillbethegreatestthingever!” Those last words were so fast, Top paid close attention to see if a Sonic Rainboom would burst out of the mare's mouth. Pinkie cocked an eyebrow at his focused demeanor, then he sat back and let her continue her story. “So that night I was on. I did all of the decorations, baked the goods, and prepared for the show. My first performance was...well it was my first performance. The crowd kind of liked me, so I knew that I was off to a good start. The next night and the night after were about the same, the crowd kind of liked me, I got some cheers. But after that...things sort of started to fall through.” Pinkie sighed, “It was really hard to keep up with my hectic schedule, decorating and baking took up a lot of my time, so I barely had any time to prepare for the shows. My performances got worse, and Bright wasn't showing any signs of getting better soon. “Then came the day that I heard we were doing a really big show in Canterlot. This was a major deal since the Princess herself was going to attend. Since Bright's act, which was then my act, was one of the most popular acts, the Reignsling Brothers wanted me to start focusing exclusively on it.” Top nearly spit out his coffee, “They wanted you to prepare to perform in front of the Princess?” “You betcha! They handed the decorating and baking to other ponies and left me to practice. I focused all of my efforts on playing instruments, telling jokes, doing tricks, all sorts of things. Some of the people that watched me thought that I was getting as good as Bright.” “A couple of nights before the show began, I talked to Bright. I told her that I was going to give an awesome performance for the Princess, just like she would. I told her that I would make her proud of me. She didn't say anything, then again she couldn't really say anything because she was sick, but she smiled and that made me feel super duper!” “Opening night was there before I knew it, and I was ready. There was a huge crowd there. A bunch of unicorns, some earth ponies, and a few pegasi were sitting in the huge arena under the sparkling red and blue tent that was placed near the castle. Everyone was talking excitedly before the show was about to begin. The Princess flew in and took her place on a plush throne of velvet surrounded by her guards. I remember seeing her. She looked so beautiful and majestic, I thought that if I did really good, maybe she would hire me to be her court jester!” “I put on my joker suit, painted my face, got my instruments ready, prepared my best jokes, and did my special Pinkie meditation to prepare for the biggest performance of my life.” Top Story chuckled, “Pinkie meditation?” “It's where I think about myself eating strawberry cupcakes under a rainbow. It makes me really happy, so it calms me down and clears my mind.” Pinkie tilted her head and said with a grin. “I imagine you were nervous.” “Noper soaper! Not in the slightest. I was confident, I was ready to give the princess a performance that she would never forget. So I went out there and started out with my jokes, I then did a retinue of tricks, sang, played a bunch of instruments at once, and did a combination of the four.” The reporter tried to picture this mare doing all of those things at once. He couldn't imagine it, but he was sure that it was possible, somehow, someway, this crazy mare could do it. “How did it go?” “The audience was stone silent. They hated me.” Pinkie's eyes focused on a new glass of chocolate milk she had in front of her. “They all just stared at me. I was starting to sweat real bad. I didn't really feel embarrassed until I looked to the left and saw my hero looking on at me with those magenta eyes. I hid my face. I was so embarrassed. I failed her. I failed the circus. I failed everyone. I started to cry and ran backstage.” The pink mare sounded as if she were trying to get words around a lump in her throat, “As I ran I heard an applauding sound. I turned to see that the Princess had started to applaud, pretty soon the others applauded also. I didn't even bow, I turned around and ran backstage.” “I ran to my dressing trailer and cried. The audience only applauded because the Princess did, I knew I failed. I hid my face in my pillow so that no one could hear me. The pillow case was sopping wet when I heard a knock on the door, I opened it to see the Reignsling brothers." "They were just there to tell me that even though my performance was not up to their expectations, and that the Princess' applause saved the show from being a disaster. They then told me that they were going to find another person to replace Bright until she got better. Then they left as soon as they came. They said nothing else. I blew out the candles in my trailer and just laid there in the dark. Even though it was hot outside, everything inside felt really cold. I didn't close my eyes, because when I did I could see all of the spectators at the carnival again, laughing at me as I danced and sang for them.” “The show had long since been over when there was another knock on the door. I said that I didn't want to see anybody, but the knocking just kept getting louder. I slowly walked to the door and opened it. Bright was there, looking straight at me. I cried again. I said I was sorry. I threw my forelegs around her neck and she held me. I told her I was sorry for failing her and the circus. I told her that I tried to be like her, but I wasn't. I wasn't the performer she was, I was just regular old party throwing, decorating Pinkie. I told her what the Reignsling brothers had told me, and said that they would probably fire me later.” “Bright only stood there and held me. After I cried out all of her apologies she held me back and looked at me with those magenta eyes. When I was done, I said that I would understand if she never wanted to talk to me again. After I said this she calmly reached back into the saddlebag she carried on her back and pulled out a note.” The focused reporter cleared his throat, “What did it say?” “Hang on, I still have it.” Pinkie pulled a piece of paper from seemingly out of nowhere and handed it to Top with her mouth. Top laid it in front of him and unfolded it. It read, The Canterlot crowd is always hard to impress. You were amazing Pinkie, I am so proud of you. The letters swam around on the page and formed a picture of his mentor squeezing his shoulder. The newspaper had been bought by another media company, and had fired both of them. His mentor was old enough to retire, but he was still very young with many years of work ahead of him. The red mare rested a hoof on his shoulder and told him that he was the best reporter she employed. She told him that great things were around the corner for him, he just had to have faith and keep his head up... The reporter saw the pink pony across from him wiping her eyes. “I pulled her inside and gave her the biggest hug I ever gave anybody. We hugged and hugged and hugged, I think she finally pulled away from me because she couldn't breathe.” “Her eyes sparkled and her smile told me all I needed to hear. We hugged once more and she stayed the night while we talked...or while I talked. It was fun, even though I was the only one doing the talking.” Top chuckled, imagining that Brightmane probably had the patience of a saint. “Brightmane slept on the floor in my trailer.” Pinkie continued, “She motioned to me that she was going to stay and I told her that she didn't have to but she insisted. I told her that she had to sleep in my bed and I would sleep on the floor, but she just laid down and closed her eyes. There is no arguing with someone who can't talk.” “I slept well that night. The next morning both Reignsling brothers came by and apologized if they sounded like meanie pants the night before, and told me that they still wanted me to be their baker and decorator for the circus.” The reporter smiled, “So things were back to normal.” “Yep, they sure were. I felt that I should be really happy, but something was missing. I loved it there at the circus, but I felt like I needed to be somewhere else.” Pinkie sighed, “When her voice came back, I had a talk with Brightmane. I told her how I felt and then asked her what I should do. Do you know what she said?” Top shook his head, “No, what did she say?” “'Pinkie, you are a grown mare, you need to do what makes you happy.' It made a whole lot more sense hearing it the second time around, especially from her. Over the next couple of weeks, I thought and thought about it, and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.” “What was that?” Asked the reporter. “I decided that as much as I loved it there, it was time for me to leave the circus. It was really hard for me to tell Brightmane, and when I finished we both had tears in our eyes. On the day that I was set to leave, she threw me the biggest surprise party. Everybody was there to wish me luck. Before I left, Brightmane gave me a big hug and told me that no matter where the road leads, I should always walk down it with a smile on my face. That way, there will always be a ray of sunshine, even when its all dark. I wasn't really thinking about it when I did it, but when I told her goodbye and said 'goodbye mom.' It took us a while, but we both finally stopped crying.” Top smiled smiled cleared his throat.. “Before I left the circus, Bright gave me one of her most prized possessions, her accordion! I still have it to this day. That accordion is very special to me, I used it on the day I saved Ponyville from the parasprites.” “Huh?” Pinkie waved a hoof in the air, “That is another story for another time. But anyway, I left the circus and started my next great adventure!” Author's Note: I have had this chapter written for quite some time, but it took me a while to get around to editing it. As I read it, I felt that I could have done a better job with it. However, as I have other stories that I would like to write, I decided that I would just go ahead and put it up. Despite giving this a read over, it probably still has a million grammatical errors. Grammar is not my strong suit, just ask the really nice people that preread my stories for me. Word-Sight, a wonderful guy and good writer himself, edited chapters one through three for me, and I will get those edits posted soon. Right now I just have a lot of things going on. In any case, I hope you enjoy chapter four of this story! Thank you so much for reading!
Chapter 1The afternoon sun shined. Merchants were hawking their wares. Young colts and fillies were playing in the street. A few pink and purple carriages could be seen. There were pegasus ponies flying overhead. Ponies were talking and laughing. Ponyville was like every other town he had been to. Top Story found Sugarcube Corner, the unique gingerbread-looking house with a pink cupcake spire failed to make an impression on him as he walked through double swinging doors into the shop. He scratched his gray foreleg and shook his short black mane as a lanky yellow stallion walked up to the counter. He ordered and flopped down at a nearby table and placed his saddlebag on the floor beside him. He was there from the Equestria Herald to write a report on a mare that had just broken the sugar cube eating world record. It would be a little pony interest story, like all of his stories. He was about to rise up and retrieve his order but a squat, but pretty middle-aged blue mare brought his pastry and coffee to him on a tray that she carried in her mouth. He took both wordlessly accepted his order and took a small bite of his pastry, his face not showing the leaping excitement his taste buds expressed as the cream rolled over his tongue. He hands on his watch read 3:30. The mare was late, but that was fine, he had nowhere else to be. Top Story stared straight ahead, empty contemplations filling his mind, when there was an explosion that came crashing through the doors. Pots and pans rattled against the wall. The tall yellow stallion that was trying to open a bag of flour, leap up in fright, causing a white cloud to explode throughout the room. Top Story fumbled forward and managed to set his coffee on the table before he spilled it on himself. He pressed his hooves against his chest to keep his heart from leaping out. The journalist configured that he had just become the youngest stallion in his family to ever have a heart attack. The massive cloud of white was settling, causing patches of white to appear on top story's coat. He did not notice these however. What caught his attention was a little pink mare that had apparently caused the ruckus. On her round face was plastered a wide grin. Her main feature that really stood out were the puffy mane and tail that bobbed behind her as she walked. The doors closed behind her, and the journalist could only assume that she had caused the noise by bounding through them. White particles peppered her mane, which she ignored. “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I finished all of my deliveries for the day!” The mare's smile grew even wider on her face, and her large blue eyes began to sparkle. From what he had heard, the reporter figured that this must be the Pinkie Pie mare he was supposed to interview. In a split second she began to tell the bakery owners about a trick she had seen her friend Rainbow Dash performed. Top recognized the name as a pegasus mare that had come into renown for performing what was called a “Sonic Rainboom” by flying so fast she broke the speed of sound. Top story was amused by the fact that most of this mare's dialogue consisted of onomatopoeia accompanied by loud noises to help her audience visualize the action. The gray earth pony's mouth was open as this ball of pink energy bounced around, telling her story. Top was truly amazed. This mare's machine gun motor mouth ran so quickly that he expected a Sonic Rainboom to explode from her mouth at any moment. The Cakes seemed to take it in strike, which shocked the journalist. Was this an employee of theirs? Did this happen everyday? He tried not to imagine the amount of bits in damage she caused if she was. Once the pink pony finished her little story, Mr, Cake pointed the mare in my direction. At a speed that would make a lightning bolt proud, she ran up to Top Story and beamed, “Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! How are you? Are you the one that's going to interview me?” She shook the white flour out of her main and body, getting most of it on the journalist. Mrs. Cake gasped but the stallion just held up a hoof to calm her and dusted himself off. “Yes I am. It's nice to meet you, my name is Top Story,” he simply responded, proffering her a hoof. Pinkie vigorously shook it, and the reporter felt his entire body shake for several seconds. When she finished the mare continued, “Oh good, because I am really looking forward to talking to you. I have so much to say.” Top did not doubt this statement. He sighed and retrieved a quill and pad from his saddle bag, “Okay, well I'll start with the first question.” “Questions? Oh my gosh is this a guessing game? I love guessing games! I'll go first. What do I have in my pocket?” Pinkie's voice rose in tempo. Top sighed, “No, this is not a game. These are interview questions. First off, what made you decide you wanted to break this record?” The pink pony looked a little crestfallen, but she took a deep breath and then began, “Well, I was baking some cupcakes here at Sugarcube Corner where I work, when Dinky Doo came in with her mother Ditzy. Well while Dinky Doo was eating a cupcake, Ditzy was telling me that Dinky Doo's daddy, Eddie Bo, wasn't coming in to visit little Dinky, but that was okay because she and her daughter were going to the carnival this weekend with Roy Brown. She said Roy is really sweet and calls Dinky his little Rinky Dinky Doo.” “I said 'Awww,' then I said, 'speaking of sweet do you want a Sugar Cube?' Then Blueberry Hill was reading the paper and that a pony named Domino Fats just broke the sugar cube eating world record last weekend and I said, 'Ohmygosh, that is really cool' and she said, 'I bet you could do that Pinkie Pie...” The reporter wrote down what he could, but he had trouble keeping up. After Pinkie finally ran out of breath, he held up a hoof to stop her. This signal went unnoticed. “...so there was a guy this morning that said tomato soup could be served cold, can you believe that?” “Alright, next question,” Top wondered where tomato soup came from, “how did you feel when you broke the record?” “Oh by the way, it was a party invitation.” “Do what?” “The answer to my question was a party invitation, see?” She reached into what seemed like thin air and produced a yellow invitation to a party written in pink marker. “That is uh...very nice. But please answer my question. How did you feel when you broke the record?” “Bloated...and hyper!” Full and normal, he wrote. “What did you do after it was over?” “I had a party! I celebrated my new record. I danced all night long, and played pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. Oh my gosh, it was so fun. We spun spike, the baby dragon I talked about, around and let him have his turn at pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. He got so disoriented that he started going the wrong way, and before anybody could stop him, he pinned the tail right on Rarity's flank!” The pink filly started giggling, grabbing her stomach and kicking her hind feet. Tears formed in her tightly shut eyes. “You see, it's really funny because Spike has a crush on Rarity, I know, a baby dragon liking a unicorn, weird right? But anyway, Rarity was so embarrassed and shocked that she screamed and left the party. It took all of us to get her to finally come back so we could explain what happened. Oh and poor Spike, he was so sad. He got Rarity this heart shaped cookie, oh it was the cutest thing, but Rarity being Rarity didn't take it right off, you see...” “Okay I got it,” Top cut her off again. He would swear that her motor mouth had an infinite supply of fuel and was going to make his ears bleed. “You had a party, I think that about covers it.” He finished taking some last notes before he put away my pad and quill. “You mean we are already done? I didn't even get the chance to tell you about my Gryphon pinata.” “To be honest with you, my column isn't very big. So I didn't really need that much information to write my story. If I was writing something for the front page, it would be a different. However, I think I have enough with the few notes that I did take.” “Oh, would you like to stick around for some strawberry cupcakes? I am making some this evening, they'll be really good!” Top threw his saddlebag over his back, “No need, as I said I have all of the information required to write the column.” The pink pony's shoulders slumped. She looked down at her hind hooves that were under the table. For a moment she looked up and held the reporter in her glistening gaze, which he purposefully averted. Her slightly rounded belly was thrown out as she heaved a gusty sigh, “Oh, okay then. I guess...uh...thank you for interviewing me.” Her words were very slow and sad. Each syllable was a steel wire that pulled against the reporter's heart. He had learned how to ignore such things, and rose from his seat. The little pink pony sniffed as she rose, and slowly walked toward a staircase toward the back of the shop. Top popped his neck and slid out of his chair. The sniffling must have caught the Cakes' ears because they were throwing accusatory glances toward him. Oh well, it was over and done. Now all he had to do was write the little report, receive his paltry pay for the job, and get ready for the next job, just like he had done the time before, and the time before that. The double doors were getting closer, but his feet felt like lead. He closed his eyes and saw those big, sad blue eyes staring at him again, tears leaking from the corners. Looking back, he saw Pinkie walking up the steps, ready to disappear. Why was he still there? He needed to leave. He needed to get to work on his story. He turned around but found that moving his hooves took a lot of effort. “Did you forget anything?” Mrs. Cake, the squat blue mare, asked him pointedly. Those steely wires were starting to cut into his heart. Top snorted, “Yes, there were a few questions I forgot to ask.” He turned toward the staircase, “Ms. Pie, if it is okay, may I ask you a few more questions?” The poofy maned female quickly turned around and stuck her head out of the opening of the staircase. A smile erupted on her face, “Oh of course, but hang on I have to do something first.” The girl began to hop down the stairs, singing to herself. When she hit the floor she bolted into the kitchen and began to gather some baked goods. Pies, slices of cake, doughnuts, muffins, and various candies were stacked or placed in bowls on her back. She slowly teetered over to the table, carefully balancing the delectables on her back. When she made it she placed them on the table in a whirlwind and was sitting back in the chair she was in before Top could blink. He didn't notice but she had also refilled his coffee and replaced it in front of his spot at the table. Pinkie was innocently sipping sarsaparilla through a straw as Top sat down. Pinkie placed her bottle down and begin, “So what questions did you have for me?” The reporter was trying to adjust his ears to her rapid talking speed again. He dropped his saddlebag to the floor and retrieved his quill and pad, “Well, I uh...I wanted to know more.” “Know more about what? The moon? Ancient History? How to bake a cake?” “Oh none of that.” “Oh that's good,” she giggled, “cause I'd have to get Twilight for that stuff, well except for that last one. I'm good at making cakes. You should have seen the one I made at my last party. It looked like a strawberry cake but it tasted like lemon!” “Lemon cake?” “Yeah, I wanted to do something different. So what did you want to know about?” “Well uh,” the reporter sighed and bit his lower lip. The only reason he had called her over was because...he really didn't know. All he knew is that he really didn't have any questions for the rambunctious pony to answer. “You,” he said finally, “I want to know about you.” This elicited a giggle from Pinkie, “Well duh, of course you want to know about me! Who else are you interviewing? Anything in particular?” “Um, whatever you want to tell me.” A pout came to her face, “That doesn't help me much.” Top wrapped his hoof against the table, “Everything, tell me everything.” “Everything? Are you sure? That might take a while.” “I have the time if you do.” “I do, where do you want me to start?” “Oh, how about the beginning?” “The very beginning?” “Absolutely.” Pinkie grinned, “Okay, I was conceived in a small house on a rock farm.” My mouth dropped, and the blue mare in the shop exclaimed in exasperation, “Pinky!” Mr Cake, the lanky yellow stallion, wore a small smile. “I didn't mean at the absolute beginning,” said the reporter, regaining his composure. Pinkie giggled, “Well you did say start at the very beginning.” “Okay, I did walk into that one. How about you start at your fillyhood.” The young mare fixed a faux pout on her face, “Oh okay...if I have to.”
Chapter 2Pinkie began her story, "I grew up on a rock farm with my father, mother, and two sisters. We worked with, well...rocks! We rotated them, and when they were ready, we harvested them." Top cocked an eyebrow, "You worked on a rock farm? How in the world were your parents ever able to make a livelihood doing that?" "Our main customers were landscapers and sculptors, but we sold a lot of rocks to sumo wrestlers too." "What in the world would a sumo wrestler need with rocks?" "I don't know what a bunch of fat, sweaty ponies were doing buying our family's rocks, frankly I didn't want to ask." Story felt a smirk creep onto his face, "So what happened at the rock farm?" "Not much really. There was no laughing, no smiling, it was a sad place to live." The journalist looked down, "Yeah, there are a lot of places like that." "Until the day I saw a rainbow that is. Well, actually I saw the Rainbow Dash Sonic Rainboom, but I didn't know it at the time. But anyway, I saw the rainbow and something special happened. I felt really, really happy. As that rainbow traced across the sky, I felt like just leaping up and taking flight." "Things must really have been sad at that farm if all it took was a rainbow to make you happy." "It was more than just a rainbow," Pinkie's brow furrowed, "You see to me, joy is a bright rainbow. The different colors are the different types of happiness and the different ways it can find ponies." The journalist half nodded, "I can see how that might be one way to look at it." "Well, when I felt that explosion of joy, I knew that I wanted to feel that explosion all of the time, and I wanted everyone else to feel it too. I thought of different ways to create more smiles, when it hit me!" "What hit you?" Pinkie had stopped to devour a strawberry muffin in two crummy, voracious bites "Nothing hit me." "You said something hit you." The pink pony smiled and shook her head, "No, if something hit me I would have known it. If it hit me hard enough I might have cried." "Well you said something hit you." "I did?" "Yes, when you are on the farm, and after you saw the rainbow, something hit you, like an idea came to you." Top was exasperated. "Oh yeah, an idea came to me. Why didn't you say so?" Pinkie flashed him a broad smile and Top had an inkling that she had been playing with him. "So an idea came to me," Pinkie continued, "I decided to throw a party. Parties are really happy, and what better way to make someone smile than with something that is happy?" "Makes logical sense to me. Did it work?" "You betcha! When my parents found my surprise party, they were hesitant at first, but I made them smile. It was one of the happiest moments of my life, being able to share joy. That was when I got my cutie mark," Pinkie pointed at the three balloons on her flank, "from that day forward I did everything that I could to make everyone I possibly could smile." "Life on the farm was better then. My family was happier, and I was happier. Better yet, I was able to see my true inspiration more often." "What, a rainbow?" Asked the reporter. "Nope, my granny Pie. My parents used to keep my granny Pie away because they thought she was a 'bad influence' because she was always happy. After they learned how to be happy, they wanted her to come around more." Pinkie continued. "Granny Pie taught me a lot about being happy, she taught me what she knew about baking, she taught me about well...everything! Well, my parents helped raise me, and they were important, too. If it wasn't for her though, I wouldn't be the pony I am today." "Sounds like she was a very important person in your young life." Top cleared his throat. "She was the most important person in my young life. My mother, father, and sisters were important, but it was granny Pie that helped shape me," Pinkie looked down in reverence, her blue eyes glistening, "she helped me become the mare I am today. She was almost always there for me when I needed her. I could talk to her about anything and she would always listen. When I was scared she could always make me feel better, and she always, always knew how to make me laugh." Pinkie's tone had become softer, almost a whisper. She looked down and Top was certain that she was hiding tears. Bile felt like it was filling his stomach. He saw his mother, a small gray mare, bending her knees and looking over the shoulder of a small colt trying to write a news story about the food fight that happened at school that day. She kissed his forehead and told him that he was writing a great story, while his father, a large black stallion, sat in the other room reading the paper. Top Story shook away these thoughts and cleared his throat. Pinkie smiled and looked up at him with dry eyes, and continued. "Time went by and I got older. Life on the farm was better, everyone was happy, or at least happier than they were. But I found out that I wasn't truly happy. In this great big, wide, wide, world there was a place for Pinkie, but it wasn't the rock farm." "When I told my parents I wanted to leave I thought they would be really supportive, boy was I wrong. They told me that I was way too young and irresponsible to leave the house, but I told them they were wrong. Woah, you should have heard the yelling. I think me and my parents shouted until we couldn't shout anymore. Then they said I wasn't leaving, and that was that." "I spent all that night and the following day thinking about what I should do. As I was working the rock farm, I made up my mind that I was going to leave the farm. But there was one person I wanted to talk to first. Without saying anything that night, I packed my bags, snuck away, and caught a train to my granny Pie's. We talked and I told her that I didn't know what to do. She just looked at me seriously, one of the few times that she did without scolding me, and said, 'Twinkie Winkie Pinkie, you are a big mare now, you need to do what makes you happy.'" "She said she wouldn't say anything else about the matter, all she said was that I needed to do what made me happy. Can you imagine how frustrating that was? I mean really, I came all that way for advice and that was all she told me. I was so confused, I didn't know what to do." Top's eyes had misted over as he saw him standing in front of a gorgeous, young, yet haughty purple earth mare. He protected her while he argue with his parents over whether they would approve of his union with his love. His parents didn't want him marrying a 'hoochie horse' like her. He told them that he was going to marry her no matter what they said. When his father left the room, his mother said that while she didn't necessarily approve, if he was happy she was happy. Top and his future wife were on a train that morning... "...and that's how Equestria was won!" "What?" Top jerked up and straightened his shoulders. "Oh nothing, I was trying to get your attention. So, after after all of that thinking, I decided to hit the road. My granny Pie had given me the best advice she could have given me at that time. I wasn't very happy where I was, so I decided to leave. As I was preparing to go, both of my sisters arrived at my granny Pie's house. I expected that my parents had sent them to talk me out of leaving, however they were just there so that they could make sure to tell me goodbye before I left." "My parents didn't want to talk to me, so they sent my sisters to say goodbye for them. They said that they didn't want me to go, that they would miss me, and they said sorry for not being happy all the time, they said sorry for not coming to all my parties...they said sorry for a lot of things. We all ended up crying in the end," Pinkie screwed her eyes shut and shook as she voraciously attacked another strawberry cupcake. She cleared her throat, "It was a really sad time. Part of me didn't want to leave them behind, but I knew I had to move on." Top remembered the train ride with his future wife. She talked about how they would show his parents. After they eloped, he would get a great job, get a big house, nice clothes, and have everything they ever wanted. He never heard her, all he could see was his mother's teary blue eyes. Pinkie's words broke through the stallion's thoughts, "There were all kinds of frowns out there that ol' Pinkie Pie had to turn upside down. As that train chugged down the track, I knew that I was heading toward my destiny." "Where did that train take you?" "To my destination of course, Salt Lick City!"
Chapter 3“Salt Lick City was nothing like I imagined it,” the little pink pony hopped upward and took a bite of apple pie. “There were only a few big buildings and the air kind of smelled like sour punch. The reporter took a small bite of apple pie himself and wrinkled his nose, “That doesn't sound like a place I would want to be.” “It wasn't for me either at first, but I got used to the smell, sort of. Every time I walked outside I thought of someone throwing up in punch, but I would just think about chocolate cake, and everything would be alright!” The reporter grimaced with mention of upchucking into punch, Pinkie munched away happily at her pie. “When I first got there I was so confused. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know where to go. I was so scared the first night in my motel room. I wondered if my parents were right and if I should have just stayed back at the rock farm.” Familiar visions of he and his newly eloped wife in a tiny apartment filled Top's head. He could empathize with the bouncing pony across from him. “Well I found a little place on the outskirts of town that smelled like hamburgers and cat pee. It was a run down apartment, but it was a place to live. I never really had any problems, except for a couple of mice and a creepy light blue unicorn that wore an old trench coat that spied on me from his apartment with a telescope.” “By Celestia, you did have the sense to buy curtains didn't you?” “Nope,” Pinkie grinned broadly, “to take care of that problem, I rented my apartment out to a burlesque company so they could use it to host their gay erotic burlesque dance practices. I would always schedule it when that creepy pony was home.” The reporter smirked, “I bet he didn't spy on you any more!” “Noper loper! He moved to another apartment, though a bunch of perverted old earth mares moved in so they could watch the dancers.” Top thought he could feel the beginnings of a smile, “Why doesn't that surprise me. Well, that had to be a nice source of income at least. All you had to do was stay out of your apartment for a bit and come back when they were done.” Pinkie giggled, “Who said I left the apartment while they were there?” Top straightened in his chair and his eyebrows went up, causing Pinkie's giggles to increase. The Cake's were looking over and shaking their heads at the dumbfounded reporter. Once her giggles subsided, she continued. “I tried to find a job during my first few weeks in Salt Lick. Renting my apartment out to that company was profitable, but I still had to find something so that I could pay for food and the occasional cleaning bill.” “The occasional cleaning bill?” “Yeah, sometimes the dancers made a mess, and they did a terrible job of cleaning up. It sometimes took a helping hoof to make sure things were clean.” The reporter puffed out and gritted his teeth to keep from grinning, “So did you find work?” “Oh yeah, I did this and that, but I didn't find anything permanent. I was a waitress, dish washer, window washer, and a cosmetics salesperson. If I hadn't been around so many things that were super duper breakable, those jobs would have lasted more than a few days.” Top momentarily admired Pinkie's aggressive attack on a piece of pink frosted strawberry cake, not having any difficulty in seeing this pony being destructive. He cut himself a slice of cake, “Were you able to find something?” “Yes I was,” she gulped down the last bite of her cake, “I started talking to one of the stallions that danced with the burlesque group in my apartment one day, and he said they had a job available at their office.” "What kind of job did they want to give you?" “Take a guess,” Pinkie said with a sly smile, “they did more than stallion on stallion stuff you know.” “Well, when you first start out, sometimes you have to do things that you aren't proud of, I knew a young mare or two that had to do that kind of stuff,” Top Story said consolingly. “What kind of stuff?" Pinkie tilted her head sideways. “Huh?” “My first job with the company was doing secretary work. Why? What were you thinking?” Her eyes twinkled as she grinned wickedly. Despite his best efforts, the reporter suddenly found himself with a smile on his face as well. It had been a while since he had truly smiled at a joke. “My job was to mainly make appointments, take and write letters, make notes, all that secretary stuff. The work was hard, and I got things confused. One time I accidentally scheduled a live 'mare madness' show at a basketball game half-time instead of the theater where it was supposed to be. The front page headlines the next day were hilarious!” Top story coughed, “Were you fired?” “My boss was going to fire me, but since the news story gave the company a lot of free publicity he kept me on. I even got a raise!” “You are one lucky mare.” “I thought I was,” the pink pony beamed before picking up a strawberry drop in her hoof and tossing it backward into her mouth, “I loved working at the office. My bosses were nice, the people I worked with were really nice, I even made friends with some of the performers. But it didn't start out that way, it was actually kind of a stuffy, depressing place to work.” Visions of Top's first job washing dishes at a diner flashed in his mind, “What made it better?” “A great big hearty helping of Pinkie goodness is what made it better!” “Would you care to elaborate?” “Well, a small number of the performers that worked there were really sad about what they had to do, and there were some people in the office that wished they worked in a 'more respectable' industry. Don't get me wrong, some of them loved their job, some of them just thought of it as their job, but some were just really sad about what they had to do. I liked talking to them, I talked a lot back then, to anybody that would listen.” It's nice to see that some things never change, the reporter thought to himself. “But I would also listen to them. A lot of them were really sad. Their parents hated them, they were in bad relationships, or no relationships at all. Some of them didn't have anyone that loved them. There were even a couple that wished they were dead.” Pinkie pie bit back a quivering lip, “It's still sad to think about sometimes. I listened to their problems and helped them feel better about themselves. Most of the time, all they needed was a little self-confidence. I was able to give it to them, I was always able to make each person smile, and it made me feel really happy. I helped those that hated their jobs get out and find others that did make them happy. I was able to help those people that didn't have anyone find someone special.” The reporter nodded, “That is truly a good feeling, it's wonderful to have a person that cares about their fellow workers in any workplace.” The mare sitting across from him smiled, “Thanks, and it sure is. It was also while I was there that I started hosting my first parties, not counting the ones that I threw for my family.” “Did those go well?” “They were small, I honestly didn't know that many people to invite, mostly just people around the office where I worked. Oh, I even invited those perverted mares that liked to watch the stallions perform their dances at my place. They actually didn't turn out to be creepy like I thought they were, just perverted old mares. There weren't many people there, but those that were there had fun. It kind of felt empowering, I kind of felt like I was becoming my own mare.” Top smiled when he thought of the first apartment he and the mare he ran away with had. It was a cramped efficiency. Even though they didn't have much, what they had was theirs, and that was something they were both proud of. “Sounds like everything was going your way,” he finally said. “It was, and I was happy. Until the day that Starstud showed up.” “Starstud?” “Starstud was this really sexy, dark blue, suave Earth pony, you know the type?” Top sighed, “Better than you think, go on.” “He was a hot shot in that world, and thought he could get anything he wanted. When he was first hired to do some dances for our company, my boss showed him around the office. He got the attention of all the mares, but for some reason he got all interested in the Pinkie Pie. I smiled and said hi like I always did, but he was sending me the signals. I didn't pick up on it though, as I was still young and inexperienced.” “I getcha,” the reporter nodded. “Silly me, he asked me out and I said yes. I didn't really know what was happening, I thought he just wanted to hang out or something. I thought this might be a chance to make another friend, So, we went out, and had dinner. It was really good too, lobster, crab cakes, and oh my gosh you will never believe me, but the chocolate mousse made me do a cartwheels. I was about to do another but the waiter said I had to stop because I was scaring the customers, breaking chairs, and upending tables.” “I'll bet.” “Dinner was fun, despite being a self-centered jerk, he actually was kind of funny. He walked me home, and just as I was about to unlock the door to my place, he kissed me. I was kind of freaked out but I didn't say anything. I just got the key out and tried to put it in the door, when he kissed me again, this time a little more forcefully. Kissing someone with a key in their mouth had to be super duper nasty, but he did it! I started shaking and the darn key wouldn't go into the lock. He quickly pressed me against the door, holding my shoulders to the door with his forelegs. He kept kissing me and...” Pinkie wrapped her hands around herself. Top Story's face softened, he gripped the table to keep himself from placing his hoof on the mare's shoulder, “You don't have to go on.” “No,” Pinkie squeaked, “no, it's okay. He had me pinned against the door and I told him to stop. He asked me how long had it been since I was with a real stallion, I said never, and he said that night was my lucky night.” “Skies above...what happened?” “Well I was able to slide one of my hind legs between his and knee him right in the sheath. He fell down squealing like a pig.” “No less than he deserved.” “I got the key into the door and was about to run inside, but he quickly got up,grabbed me in his forelegs, and threw me face first to the floor. My ears were ringing and my nosey wosey stung and started to bleed. Once the ringing in my ears died down he whispered in my ear, 'You're about to find out how I got famous little filly.'” “By Celestia...” “That is what he said when I quickly slipped out of his grip, jumped on his back and grabbed his neck with my forearms. He was bucking around like a bronco trying to get me off. When he was in the right position I plated my feet against the ground and pushed him face first against the wall. I made his nose bleed like mine.” “Wow, awesome job!” “Hey you better think before you mess with the Pink...ie Pie!” Top smiled and Pinkie Pie continued, “Well my victory was short lived. He was able to spin around and slam his big hoof into my face and send me to the ground. He leaped on top of me and pinned my shoulders down. His face was screwedup into a twisted smile. He looked really bedraggled, not like the handsome stallion he did on stage. A moonbeam from the hallway window fell across his face and made him look like one of those creepy serial killers.” “His face was all wrinkled up. With blood dripping from his nose on my chest, he pressed down on my throat. I felt like my lungs were going to burst when he said, 'I'm gonna love squeezing your throat while I buck your pretty pink brains out.'” “I wanted to scream, but I couldn't, all I could do is gurgle while he pressed his hooves down on my neck. I flailed around and tried to punch him, but I couldn't get near his face. The world got fuzzy, my lungs were screaming for air. I thought I was going to pass out. He started to press down harder on my throat and relieved the pressure at the other end of my body. I guess he didn't think I'd give him another kick in his prized possessions, but I did. Actually I gave him two, just for good measure. “His face screwed up and he fell sideways. I could breathe again. Cat pee stained air never smelled better in all my life.” “Did that do it?” Top was leaning forward in his seat. “I don't know, it might have done it, but I was really mad at that point. The next thing that I can remember, I was sitting on his stomach punching him in the face when two police officers, both white pegasi, pulled me off of him. We both got arrested and taken to jail. I was all alone in a cold, gray cell that entire night.” “It had a tangy stale smell, like old orange juice, if that makes any sense. I tried to lay down on that hard wooden bench and sleep. I closed my eyes but I kept seeing Starstud's face and that freaky smile, over and over again,” Pinkie swallowed hard, “I was afraid that if I went to sleep I would have nightmares. I was a tired pink mare when they drug me out of the cell the next morning.” “A large yellow stallion started to question me. I told him what happened, I told him I couldn't remember some parts, and I showed him the bruises on my neck and arms. I heard they talked to Starstud and he said something completely different. Luckily they believed my truth and not his lies, though.” “I was able to get the next couple of days off. I barely slept, and I hardly ate anything. I was too sick to. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and stare at the blank walls in my dark room. After a couple of days though, I was able to motivate myself to get out of bed and go to the office. It was terrible. I smiled and said hi to everyone, but no one talked to me. I thought that I put on enough pink foundation on my body to hide the bruising, and I thought that was the problem. However, about an hour after I came into work, I found out why the other employees were avoiding me.” “The big boss, a fat red stallion with huge glasses called me in and told me to sit in front of his desk. He told me that the company loved having me with them but that they had to let me go. I was shocked. I asked why but he only said that they were 'downsizing.' I asked if it had anything to do with the Starstud incident and he said no, but I could tell he was lying. The jerk.” Top Story sat in silence. He saw an old green mare yelling at him for breaking a dish at his first job, or for accidentally stacking the dishes the wrong way, but he had never endured anything like this mare had. He shook his head,“I'm really sorry.” “Oh it's okay,” a bitter edge was in Pinkie's voice, “I testified at his court hearing and found out he had done this thing to other mares. They gave him three years for that little incident. When he came out of prison, they said he wasn't walking as straight as he used to, if you know what I mean.” The reporter just nodded, and Pinkie continued, “I had my little moment of victory, but all in all things were bad for me. The company decided to stop using my apartment for their practices, so I had no money coming in. On the day I was thrown out of my apartment, I felt like there was nothing left for me. I felt kind of betrayed. None of my old friends would lift a finger to help me. I had spent all of my time making people happy and all they had done was stab me in the back. I didn't think I was going to ever be happy again.” “I slowly lugged my saddlebag on my back as I walked down the street. The world around me was black. I didn't see color, I didn't see faces. All I saw was a sea of black that I was drowning in. I took a detour into a grocery store. I had a few bits left in my pocket, so I thought I'd pick up a sarsaparilla to clear my head. As I walked through those doors, I vowed that the only person that I would ever want to make happy again was myself. Then, life told me to quit being a sad Pinkie and start being a Pinkie Pinkie.” “I'm not sure I follow you.” “Of course you don't follow me silly, you don't have to follow me. I'm sitting right here.” The reporter shook his head. “I mean, I don't understand what you are talking about.” “You should have said that,” Pinkie's glum face instantly perked up. “But anyway, I was about to meet a very fun pony.”
Chapter 4Top successfully was able to finish a cupcake before pinkie had eaten through five. As he watched her stuff her face, he imagined her forming into the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner. After she licked her hoof to pick up a few stray crumbs she missed, she continued. “So a sad pink pony walked into a grocery store.” Pinkie broke into a high pitched giggle. “What's so funny?” Top asked quizzically. “Oh sorry,” Pinkie snorted, “that just sounded like the beginning of a joke.” Top nodded, “That it did.” “Well I was walking down the isles, a sad little pony. I didn't see where I was going when I ran into this mare earth pony wearing clown makeup and a really frilly, colorful costume.” “A clown?” “Yepper depper! She was a clown. She looked up at me, frowned and said that she was really sad, too. She said she installed a skylight in her new apartment, but her upstairs neighbors were furious.” Top story smirked, “Classic Stallion White, he was a great comedian.” “I know! I have all of his records, especially I Have a Pony. Anyway, I looked at her, and I did something I didn't think I would do.” “What is that?” “I laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and when I stopped that, I laughed more. I laughed so hard I cried. People were staring at me, but I didn't care, I didn't care about anything, except laughing. I opened my eyes and saw colors, I saw joy, I saw everything. I thought that the clown mare wasn't going to stay there, but she did. She was looking down at me and smiling. I got up off of the floor and ignored all the other ponies.” “Then she said that she was really sad because of what happened last night at her poker game. She was playing poker with tarot cards, she got a full house and four people died. I laughed again. Not as hard, but still hard enough to fall to the floor again.” “She stood there until I picked myself up off of the ground again, and said she never got that kind of reaction to her jokes before. I told her that the last few days were really hard, and I really needed a good laugh. We started talking, and that was how I found out that her name was Brightmane and that she worked for the Reignsling Brothers Circus as a clown comedian.” “The Reignsling Brothers Circus? The biggest circus in Equestria?” “Darn right! She was a performer at the show, and when I told her that I needed a job, she said she would talk to the ringmaster and see what she could do. Before I knew it, I was an assistant stagehand, helping set up props for the show! I was so excited, I couldn't believe it. In as little as five days, I went from being a secretary to having an exciting job at a circus!” Pinkie's words were an echo to Top as he reminisced about the dishwasher job he had. He'd broken one too many dishes, and his boss just found out that her husband was cheating on her with a much younger (and nicer) mare. In a fit of rage, she fired him. He and his wife were on the street. They didn't know what they were going to do. He was applying for a grocery store position when he met a heavy set, dark red mare looking over apples. He couldn't remember how it happened, but they started talking about apple quality, and growing apples. Top impressed her with his knowledge on several subjects. She told him that she was the editor of the local newspaper, and was needing someone to do little stories. The mare asked if he was interested. In almost no time, he was working on his first story. He heard a loud snap. He woke from his momentary recollection to find that Pinkie had clapped her hooves in front of his face. “Hello, are you okay?” “Uh yeah, why do you ask?” Top's eyes focused back on the round faced mare. “Because you were staring out into space. If I'm boring you, I can stop and...” “No!” Top said with a little bit more fervor than he meant to. “I mean no, you aren't boring me.” “Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie scrutinized him closely and said slowly before returning to her normal, hyper, upbeat voice, “I was an assistant stage hand at the circus. The pay wasn't great, but I didn't care, the shows were amazing! The animals, the acrobats, the aerobats, the bat bats, the crazy, awesome, fun performers, it was so cool. Each show was just as awesome as the last!” “It was actually a few days until I got to talk to Brightmane again. I saw her perform, and oh my gosh, she was the funniest thing I had ever seen. She had me in stitches backstage! I still tell some of her jokes to my friends today! But anyway, I saw her perform, but she was always so busy or surrounded by fans, I couldn't get close to say hi. Well one day, a tall orange filly with a wild red mane walked up to me and asked how I liked working at the circus. It took me a second for me to realize who she was, but when I did I gave her a huge hug. I was so grateful. She looked down at me with dark magenta eyes and said it was no problem.” “She quickly became my mentor at the carnival. Brightmane told me who I should talk to, who I should avoid, and the things that I should and shouldn't do. I was kind of shy at first, since I didn't know anybody. But after she introduced me to some of her friends, I was my normal, bubbly self in ten seconds flat!” Top smiled as he recalled the heavyset mare that introduced him to her friends at the office where he worked for the paper, and helped him get settled into his new career. “Red was really something. I will never forget her cutie mark, it was of a clown head sticking its tongue out. She really enjoyed making people laugh like I did. I loved her performances more than any of the others. She was so good with the crowd, and all of her jokes were perfect, well at least I thought they were perfect. Almost every time she was done she got a standing ovation.” “She must have been a really amazing comedian,” said Top. “Oh it wasn't that she was just a comedian,” Pinkie hopped up and down in her seat and began attacking a piece of cake, “she could do all kinds of things...she would sing songs...play instruments...do tricks...anything to make the crowd laugh.” She spoke between bites. “So did you become her protege?” Pinkie gulped down her last bite of cake and chased it with a frosted glass of chocolate milk, a glass that, Top was sure hadn't been there a moment before. In a fluid motion, she placed the empty glass in front of her and wiped milk residue off of her lip. “Oh yeah! I asked her if she would teach me how to do what she did, and she said yes. I was so excited, I mean super duper uper excited, more excited than I had ever been in my life, except for that time that I discovered that I loved to make people laugh and smile more than anything else in the world.” Pinkie's words began to pick up speed, and Top had to speed up his brain to keep up. “After work she would give me lessons,” Pinkie continued, “she taught me how to tell jokes, sing, dance, play instruments, use props, and do all kinds of fun stuff. She said I was a natural! I got really good, I was able to play several instruments, dance and use props to do funny stuff, all at once. It was really awesome.” The reporter saw the heavy set filly again, looking over his news stories and pointing out where he could improve. With each story he got better and better at his craft. He bit his lip and fought to keep his eyes dry. “Did they let you perform at the circus?” Top managed to choke out. “Oh no no no, I wasn't ready for something like that, at least not yet. I was good, but Bright was better, a lot better. It took me a while to figure out how to stun a crowd like she did. I did admit to her that I loved to throw parties. Bright talked to the Reignsling Brothers for me, and they let me throw parties for the crew after their shows.” “A carnival party?” Top smiled “Those had to be incredibly fun.” “You have no idea, they were way more fun than the parties that I threw in Salt Lick. All of those circus people loved to have fun, especially after working really hard doing performances. I got better and better at the stuff Bright taught me, but I was already starting to become a master at holding parties and decorating. After a couple of months, the Reignsling brothers put me in charge of decorating the circus tents before a show. Oh my gosh, you will not believe how fun that was! I made all kinds of fun decorations. I really loved to make animal balloons, multi-colored streamers, and oh, I had the cutest ribbons put on the animals. You should have seen the pink bows I tied to Matilda the Siberian Tiger, they were just so cute!” “But the fun didn't stop there. One night before a show, someone that ran one of the concession stands got sick and couldn't bake goodies. I remembered some of the recipes that my granny Pie taught me how to make, so I threw on a bakers hat and went to work. With Bright's help, we were able to make super savory treats for the show. Everyone loved them!” Top chuckled when Pinkie tore a huge chunk out of a chocolate doughnut with sprinkles and chewed ecstatically. “I started to become more and more important to the circus. I was given a big raise and put in charge of the decorating and baking. It took me a bit to get good at the baking, and I really wasn't super awesome like my granny Pie, but I did pretty good. On top of that, I was still also holding the cast party and taking lessons from Bright.” “I bet you were a busy mare,” Top's eyebrows arched. “You have no idea. But I was able to keep up with that busy schedule, and was even able to spend some quality time with Bright.” “Bright must have been special.” The reporter smiled. “She was. We spent all the time that we could together.” “What did you do when you were not practicing?” “Oh just anything, we would talk, play games, read stories...well she read me stories, it was really fun with her around.” “You and your mentor must have been very close, I would venture you were good friends?” “We were great friends! But it was more than that. Bright had been working at the circus for 20 years at that point, it was her life. She never had been married and or had foals. She was really successful, but she was kind of lonely. She would always laugh when I would bounce around as I baked or decorated, and she would chuckle when I did tricks, even when we weren't practicing.” Lunch meetings out with the heavy set mare that ran his newspaper flashed across Top's mind. They would sit and talk about the news and all of the crazy things that the Princess and the Canterlot court were doing. They would both chuckle at this new policy or talk about a special story that was run in another newspaper. Sometimes, they would talk about home life, like how her husband was ill, or how his wife was growing anxious about him not making much money at the paper... “I remember one time I was playing the national anthem on the harmonica while I did cartwheels...” Top's eyes bugged out, “How in the world did you manage that?” “Really carefully,” Pinkie replied with a grin. “But even though I enjoyed the circus, I enjoyed my time with Bright the most. She was really special, and I felt that she deserved someone special too.” The reporter nodded, “I have full faith that she probably felt the same as well.” Pinkie stroked her chin with her hoof, “Let's move on with the story. Things were going really well at the circus. I was making great money, not that I needed all of it. I saved a lot of it for a rainy day, though I spent some of it on the parties or gifts for friends. My schedule could sometimes get really insane with all of the decorating and the baking, but I was able to keep it down. Then one day Red got sick.” “What happened?” “She came down with a severe case of Hazel throat, she wasn't able to talk or sing. Worse of all, she felt so sick that she couldn't hop and bounce around, or play her instruments. The circus was in a panic, they didn't know who they were going to get to replace her. Well, Bright had an idea, can you guess what that was?” “She suggested you for the part?” “Yeppers peppers! She wrote a little note and told the Reignsling Brothers that she had trained me to do what she did, and that she felt I was ready to perform in front of a crowd. Being desperate, they asked if I wanted to play the part. I didn't say yes...” “You turned it down?” “Nope, as I was saying, I didn't say yes, I said ohmyfreakinggoshthatwillbethegreatestthingever!” Those last words were so fast, Top paid close attention to see if a Sonic Rainboom would burst out of the mare's mouth. Pinkie cocked an eyebrow at his focused demeanor, then he sat back and let her continue her story. “So that night I was on. I did all of the decorations, baked the goods, and prepared for the show. My first performance was...well it was my first performance. The crowd kind of liked me, so I knew that I was off to a good start. The next night and the night after were about the same, the crowd kind of liked me, I got some cheers. But after that...things sort of started to fall through.” Pinkie sighed, “It was really hard to keep up with my hectic schedule, decorating and baking took up a lot of my time, so I barely had any time to prepare for the shows. My performances got worse, and Bright wasn't showing any signs of getting better soon. “Then came the day that I heard we were doing a really big show in Canterlot. This was a major deal since the Princess herself was going to attend. Since Bright's act, which was then my act, was one of the most popular acts, the Reignsling Brothers wanted me to start focusing exclusively on it.” Top nearly spit out his coffee, “They wanted you to prepare to perform in front of the Princess?” “You betcha! They handed the decorating and baking to other ponies and left me to practice. I focused all of my efforts on playing instruments, telling jokes, doing tricks, all sorts of things. Some of the people that watched me thought that I was getting as good as Bright.” “A couple of nights before the show began, I talked to Bright. I told her that I was going to give an awesome performance for the Princess, just like she would. I told her that I would make her proud of me. She didn't say anything, then again she couldn't really say anything because she was sick, but she smiled and that made me feel super duper!” “Opening night was there before I knew it, and I was ready. There was a huge crowd there. A bunch of unicorns, some earth ponies, and a few pegasi were sitting in the huge arena under the sparkling red and blue tent that was placed near the castle. Everyone was talking excitedly before the show was about to begin. The Princess flew in and took her place on a plush throne of velvet surrounded by her guards. I remember seeing her. She looked so beautiful and majestic, I thought that if I did really good, maybe she would hire me to be her court jester!” “I put on my joker suit, painted my face, got my instruments ready, prepared my best jokes, and did my special Pinkie meditation to prepare for the biggest performance of my life.” Top Story chuckled, “Pinkie meditation?” “It's where I think about myself eating strawberry cupcakes under a rainbow. It makes me really happy, so it calms me down and clears my mind.” Pinkie tilted her head and said with a grin. “I imagine you were nervous.” “Noper soaper! Not in the slightest. I was confident, I was ready to give the princess a performance that she would never forget. So I went out there and started out with my jokes, I then did a retinue of tricks, sang, played a bunch of instruments at once, and did a combination of the four.” The reporter tried to picture this mare doing all of those things at once. He couldn't imagine it, but he was sure that it was possible, somehow, someway, this crazy mare could do it. “How did it go?” “The audience was stone silent. They hated me.” Pinkie's eyes focused on a new glass of chocolate milk she had in front of her. “They all just stared at me. I was starting to sweat real bad. I didn't really feel embarrassed until I looked to the left and saw my hero looking on at me with those magenta eyes. I hid my face. I was so embarrassed. I failed her. I failed the circus. I failed everyone. I started to cry and ran backstage.” The pink mare sounded as if she were trying to get words around a lump in her throat, “As I ran I heard an applauding sound. I turned to see that the Princess had started to applaud, pretty soon the others applauded also. I didn't even bow, I turned around and ran backstage.” “I ran to my dressing trailer and cried. The audience only applauded because the Princess did, I knew I failed. I hid my face in my pillow so that no one could hear me. The pillow case was sopping wet when I heard a knock on the door, I opened it to see the Reignsling brothers." "They were just there to tell me that even though my performance was not up to their expectations, and that the Princess' applause saved the show from being a disaster. They then told me that they were going to find another person to replace Bright until she got better. Then they left as soon as they came. They said nothing else. I blew out the candles in my trailer and just laid there in the dark. Even though it was hot outside, everything inside felt really cold. I didn't close my eyes, because when I did I could see all of the spectators at the carnival again, laughing at me as I danced and sang for them.” “The show had long since been over when there was another knock on the door. I said that I didn't want to see anybody, but the knocking just kept getting louder. I slowly walked to the door and opened it. Bright was there, looking straight at me. I cried again. I said I was sorry. I threw my forelegs around her neck and she held me. I told her I was sorry for failing her and the circus. I told her that I tried to be like her, but I wasn't. I wasn't the performer she was, I was just regular old party throwing, decorating Pinkie. I told her what the Reignsling brothers had told me, and said that they would probably fire me later.” “Bright only stood there and held me. After I cried out all of her apologies she held me back and looked at me with those magenta eyes. When I was done, I said that I would understand if she never wanted to talk to me again. After I said this she calmly reached back into the saddlebag she carried on her back and pulled out a note.” The focused reporter cleared his throat, “What did it say?” “Hang on, I still have it.” Pinkie pulled a piece of paper from seemingly out of nowhere and handed it to Top with her mouth. Top laid it in front of him and unfolded it. It read, The Canterlot crowd is always hard to impress. You were amazing Pinkie, I am so proud of you. The letters swam around on the page and formed a picture of his mentor squeezing his shoulder. The newspaper had been bought by another media company, and had fired both of them. His mentor was old enough to retire, but he was still very young with many years of work ahead of him. The red mare rested a hoof on his shoulder and told him that he was the best reporter she employed. She told him that great things were around the corner for him, he just had to have faith and keep his head up... The reporter saw the pink pony across from him wiping her eyes. “I pulled her inside and gave her the biggest hug I ever gave anybody. We hugged and hugged and hugged, I think she finally pulled away from me because she couldn't breathe.” “Her eyes sparkled and her smile told me all I needed to hear. We hugged once more and she stayed the night while we talked...or while I talked. It was fun, even though I was the only one doing the talking.” Top chuckled, imagining that Brightmane probably had the patience of a saint. “Brightmane slept on the floor in my trailer.” Pinkie continued, “She motioned to me that she was going to stay and I told her that she didn't have to but she insisted. I told her that she had to sleep in my bed and I would sleep on the floor, but she just laid down and closed her eyes. There is no arguing with someone who can't talk.” “I slept well that night. The next morning both Reignsling brothers came by and apologized if they sounded like meanie pants the night before, and told me that they still wanted me to be their baker and decorator for the circus.” The reporter smiled, “So things were back to normal.” “Yep, they sure were. I felt that I should be really happy, but something was missing. I loved it there at the circus, but I felt like I needed to be somewhere else.” Pinkie sighed, “When her voice came back, I had a talk with Brightmane. I told her how I felt and then asked her what I should do. Do you know what she said?” Top shook his head, “No, what did she say?” “'Pinkie, you are a grown mare, you need to do what makes you happy.' It made a whole lot more sense hearing it the second time around, especially from her. Over the next couple of weeks, I thought and thought about it, and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.” “What was that?” Asked the reporter. “I decided that as much as I loved it there, it was time for me to leave the circus. It was really hard for me to tell Brightmane, and when I finished we both had tears in our eyes. On the day that I was set to leave, she threw me the biggest surprise party. Everybody was there to wish me luck. Before I left, Brightmane gave me a big hug and told me that no matter where the road leads, I should always walk down it with a smile on my face. That way, there will always be a ray of sunshine, even when its all dark. I wasn't really thinking about it when I did it, but when I told her goodbye and said 'goodbye mom.' It took us a while, but we both finally stopped crying.” Top smiled smiled cleared his throat.. “Before I left the circus, Bright gave me one of her most prized possessions, her accordion! I still have it to this day. That accordion is very special to me, I used it on the day I saved Ponyville from the parasprites.” “Huh?” Pinkie waved a hoof in the air, “That is another story for another time. But anyway, I left the circus and started my next great adventure!” Author's Note: I have had this chapter written for quite some time, but it took me a while to get around to editing it. As I read it, I felt that I could have done a better job with it. However, as I have other stories that I would like to write, I decided that I would just go ahead and put it up. Despite giving this a read over, it probably still has a million grammatical errors. Grammar is not my strong suit, just ask the really nice people that preread my stories for me. Word-Sight, a wonderful guy and good writer himself, edited chapters one through three for me, and I will get those edits posted soon. Right now I just have a lot of things going on. In any case, I hope you enjoy chapter four of this story! Thank you so much for reading!
