shoutfire | someone left a cake in the rain

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someone left a cake in the rain

[BANG. BANG.]

Dash! Dash!! Open up!

[Doorknocking this violent isn't an uncommon occurrence around this particular dorm, especially accompanied by that voice. What might be a bit more notable is that the sound actually seems to be coming from somewhere close to the floor. Yes, closer than usual. In fact, knocking probably isn't the right word...]

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Two words, Ed: Pinkie. Pie.

[He pauses, letting the puppet fall to his side.] Apart from her.

Probably wouldn't surprise you if I told you she's the Element of Laughter, would it?

[She steps up to get a closer look at the puppet, curious how it works and still leaves his arm working too.]

That's not a real element.

[He does glance over his shoulder as she walks up to him, though.] What?

[The puppet itself isn't too sophisticated from a mechanical standpoint - she might notice a tiny chain wrapped under his fingers, attached to a piston or two under the wings, but not much else is visible. The attention to detail is another story, though.]

Not a chemical element, you egghead, just the sense that it's one part of something bigger. Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Magic, those are the Elements of Harmony.

[She pauses in her inspection to look up at him.] And don't get bent out of shape over the magic thing, either. It's not literal magic. It's the metaphorical kind.

Elements of hokey, you mean. [He'd guessed it was something cheesy, but she just sounds so earnest.] You realise I didn't actually ask.

No, but it's important anyway. Besides, you got me thinking of it.

[She really does, though she doesn't seem inclined to lecture him on friendship or anything.]

[Perhaps to head her off before she starts, he slowly and deliberately raises his hand again to flap the puppet right in her face.] Sure, just keep thinking about it. And you try to convince people you're not goofy.

[She laughs again, putting a hoof on the arm to push it down again.] You can think I'm goofy all you like, Ed!

It's not just what I think! Dash, one of these days, you seriously need to get a little perspective...

[He stops and furrows his brow, like he just thought of something.]

[She flits into the air to sling a foreleg around his shoulders.]

Ed, ol' buddy, ol' pal, your perspective is just as skewed as mine! Just in a different way!

Maybe it is that. When did I ever claim it wasn't? [All the times when he wasn't suddenly in a remotely contemplative mood, that's when.] Doesn't mean I'm wrong about everything.

You told me I couldn't exist by the laws of physics the first time you ever spoke to me.

[She says this wryly and with a pretense at far greater weariness than she actually feels.]

We seem to be pretty nicely in-between Equestria and -- and wherever you come from, here. Face it, you need me to keep you from cramming this whole world into your own mindset!

[Hey, he's not the only person who's ever pointed out the physics thing!]

In between? Everything I've seen so far just tells me humans don't change much wherever you go.

Are you kidding? You guys are all crazy different. You've got more in common with ME than you did with some of your fellow humans!

Your pink friend doesn't count. [And what's she talking about? They're nothing alike!]

I wasn't counting her. [Pinkie Pie is still a pony in Dash's mind, even if she obstinately insists on not being one.]

[Be careful, Ed, you're getting dangerously close to a world in which Rainbow is more self-aware than you are.]

Right. [He still looks offended.] I'm not trying to say you could pair off everybody from both worlds and end up with a bunch of identical twins, anyway. [Though, given his experience with parallel worlds, he's not saying it's impossible either...] I just meant in general.

[Rainbow puts a hoof to her mouth, (poorly) hiding a smile.]

I can't imagine what you'd be like as a pony. Except you'd be furious about having a cutie mark just because of its name, wouldn't you?

They aren't optional? [He frowns. On the topic of incompatible worldviews, the mental image that just flashed through his head really isn't one that belongs anywhere in Equestria.] Well, anyway, I'm not one. So you don't need to.

Nope. Everypony gets one when they discover their special talent.

You'd have one super-early and it'd be a transmutation circle.

[She knows Ed well enough to have absolutely no doubt at all in this.]

[Yeah, but what transmutation circle? ...Wait, no, he's acting like he's not interested in this at all.

Also, he still has entirely the wrong mental image, but now it involves long lines and paperwork.]

Maybe you're right. That just sounds restrictive to me. [He pauses.] Although, actually, back where I'm from... [But then he shakes his head.] Nah, doesn't sound that similar.

Why? Ed, you might as well have one now, the way you love alchemy! It's doing what you love and loving what you do!

[She turns a joyous spiral around him just because she can.]

Back where you're from what?

I just know not everyone gets to be that lucky. And not everyone likes what they like for the same reasons, either.

[He looks down at the pegasus puppet one last time, flaps it at himself, then claps and flattens the whole thing back into its normal shape.]

Back where I'm from, some kinds of alchemist pick up titles based on what they're talented at too, is all. But I can't say I ever met anyone who was so proud of it they decided to stamp it on their ass. [Clothes and hands are totally different, okay.]

But that's not how it works. Cutie marks do work that way. When you discover your special talent, you get your cutie mark. I got mine when I performed my first Sonic Rainboom, and won a race.

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