//------------------------------// // And Jump... // Story: Pinkie and Friends vs The Bouncy Castle of Doom // by JaketheGinger //------------------------------// “Lyra! You gotta get out of there right now!” Pinkie screamed, hovering in the air somehow. She was unaware the extremely puzzled looks from Scootaloo when she turned to look at her. “And you have to get to the other side before they attack!” Scootaloo blinked, her wings twitching. “Attack?!” she managed to exclaim before going back down for another bounce. She landed gracefully, bending her legs and taking off, the impact of her jump helping her gain momentum. The moment she left the ground, a tube mare nearby moved with frightening speed, slapping the spot where she was with it’s head. A loud smack resonated in the room. Lyra blinked. “Meep.” The tube mares turned towards her, almost hauntingly. “Run Lyra!!” Pinkie bellowed, bouncing on the head of a tube mare before it went down for a hit. The unicorn wasted no time in getting away, galloping off as fast as she could. However, she wasn’t exactly a dainty runner. Her hoofs pressed down deep into the floor, slowing down her speed considerably. Before she knew it, a tube mare had clipped her barrel, sending her down onto her side. The other tube mares took their chance and started pounding on Lyra relentlessly, her cries echoing through the chamber. It hurt, sure, but their attacks weren’t exactly bone crushing. More like cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Lyra lay there, completely pinned, fear for her life getting very quickly replaced by annoyance and then outright rage. “Don’t just—ow—do nothing! Help—damn it—me!” Lyra shouted. “Scoots, just go for the exit!” Pinkie ordered. She narrowed her eyes at the tube mares attacking Lyra. “I got this.” “Uh… alright,” Scootaloo replied, nodding slowly. She bounced towards the other ledge, her small size and natural agility helping her avoid the tube mares. Her hooves pressed down on the floor and, grinning, she did a few flips in the air. “Woohoo!” Back in the fray, Pinkie growled ferociously, latching onto the back of one of the tube mares assaulting Lyra. It bent forward, smacking the minty mare, then whipped its head back with such a sudden force that Pinkie flew off. She grinned. Soooo predictable. She flew towards the far wall, turning herself around so she’d land hind hooves first. The momentum pushed her deeply into it, but even she had to obey the laws of physics sometimes. Equal force came back at her, sending her springing back towards the tube mare. Her eyes watered at the sheer speed she was going, as she simply held a hoof out. Her strong legs cushioned most of the blow for her. The pink bullet tore through the tube mare like it was nothing, and she showed no signs of stopping. “There can only be one!” she screamed, as her victim’s head floated gently down to the floor. Scootaloo, who had by now safely reached the other side, could only watch as a pink blur rebounded between the walls, piercing all unfortunate tube mares who waggled in her way. The only thing the filly could do was gape in astonishment. Lyra had never felt a mixture of relief and sheer terror before. Pain was a familiar ‘friend’ to her. She limped onward, covered in bruises like a bad banana. No bones had been broken, and no blood spilled, but it still stung damn it. Her eyes desperately tried to keep track of Pinkie and she flinched whenever the mare got close. She made it to the ledge where Scootaloo was, yet there was still a good bit of distance between her and safety. “You’re gonna have to jump up!” Scootaloo shouted, over the din of Pinkie colliding with everything. Lyra winced, her legs filled with non-life-threatening pain that was quickly becoming annoying. “I don’t want to,” she whined. “Well I don’t see a ladder you can climb up,” Scootaloo told her. “Can’t I just rest?” Lyra suddenly froze as Pinkie sped right past her, sending all her hair straight up on end. “On second thought…” She scrunched up her face in concentration, mustering up the effort to overcome the pain. Her legs bent down, then straightened, propelling her up into the air with all her might. Lyra gained an air time of less than a second before falling flat onto her side. “Owowowoooow….” Scootaloo applied hoof to face. “I can’t believe this is really happening…” she mumbled to herself, then peered down at Lyra. “C’mon! You can do it! I know you can…” Scootaloo sighed, with a single trace of enthusiasm. “This is just weird.” The filly sat on her haunches, looking between the living party bullet bouncing around the room, and the collapsed adult mare, groaning and moaning to herself. “That settles it: Scootaloo, you are officially the only grown-up in the building.” Rubbing her eyes and exhaling yet another disgruntled sigh, she gazed back down at Lyra. “Can’t you, I dunno, use your magic or something?” “Who do you think I am, Twilight Sparkle?!” Lyra replied, frowning before going back to some more moaning. “No, ‘cause if you were, you could’ve just flown up.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Duh. But you must know some spell or something. Anything!” Lyra closed her eyes, rolling onto her back. “I’m a musician, kid, not a mage. The most I can do is…” Her eyes flashed open. “Of course! I’m such an idiot!” she cried, smacking herself on the forehead, an exhausted smile on her lips. That expression remained on her face for way longer than seemed necessary. “Ow,” she deadpanned. Her body may have been bruised, but magic was still in the cards. Lyra concentrated, her horn glowing, as those luminous hands of hers appeared on the end of her forehooves. That was the easy part. The hard part was actually getting into gear and moving. Grunting, she managed to get onto her hooves (and hands) despite her body’s aching and protesting. She wiped away a bead of sweat from her face, staring up at the wall in front of her. “It’ll be over soon…” she quietly told herself. She repeated the mantra over and over, her hands gripping the walls. Then with a burst of strength, she started heaving herself up. Scootaloo started counting, leaning against the wall up above. “Eugh!” Lyra almost screamed, sweat running down her features. “Why me… why me?!” she asked the world. It didn’t answer, but her body did in the form of more aching. Her joints were sore now, constantly grinding to keep her going up. Eventually, mercifully, she reached the stop. Her chest flopped against the floor, as she dragged the rest of her up in a manner similar to a slug. She stared at Scootaloo, who had stopped counting to herself. “Eleven. That’s eleven new words I’ve learnt today,” the filly said. Lyra’s face went even redder than it was from the excursion. “Forget those words and…” She rolled over, her chest rising and falling rapidly. “Oh sweet Celestia…” she muttered to herself. “Forget them. Don’t repeat them. Ever.” “Uh-huh.” Scootaloo’s interest went over to Pinkie, who was still going. “So, any thoughts on how we’re gonna slow her down?” “She’s Pinkie,” Lyra rasped. “And please say she has a milkshake or something somewhere. I’m parched.” “So… what we’re saying is we wait?” Scootaloo asked. “And catch our breath,” Lyra breathed. “Yeah.” “C’mon, it can’t have been that bad. I’ve been through worse,” Scootaloo retorted. “Mostly tree sap related accidents.” Lyra turned onto her side, away from the filly. “Whatever.” Lyra had almost fallen asleep when Pinkie had changed trajectory, bouncing off the floor, to the wall, and flying straight for her. “Lyraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!” The tired pony blinked, going onto her back to look at what was coming. Pinkie collided with her, wrapping her limbs around Lyra, and dragging her across the rubbery floor with her momentum. Lyra could only scream as her back ground against the floor, creating an incredible amount of heat and a horrible rubbery squeal. Scootaloo winced and covered her eyes. “Lyra! Are you okay?!” Pinkie asked, staring down at her. The unicorn’s face was frozen into a pained visage. “Oopsie.” A grumpy Lyra sat facing away from Pinkie, her back horribly red and raw. She felt a tingly sensation as Pinkie tenderly rubbed her back. With icing. “Icing? Are you serious?” Scootaloo asked, looking on equal amounts of childlike curiosity and skepticism. Pinkie nodded, focusing on her task. “It’s the best I’ve got right now.” Lyra sighed. “I’m going to smell like a freakin’ strawberry cake.” A sympathetic wince flashed across Pinkie’s face. “Sorry, Lyra. I just wanted to cuddle you and check if you were okay.” Crestfallen eyes fell upon Lyra’s back. “I guess I made everything worse…” Lyra closed her eyes, feeling a surprisingly soothing effect from the icing. “It’s fine, Pinkie. You did save me from those… things, after all.” “Yeah,” Pinkie agreed, although it lacked her usual enthusiasm. “Wanna proper hug?” “Sure. Just not from behind,” Lyra said. Pinkie hopped around Lyra, then brought her into a careful embrace. Lyra rested her head on Pinkie’s shoulder, while the latter worked around Lyra to apply more icing. Things fell silent between them. Scootaloo coughed onto her hoof. “Er, hate to break up the nice moment, but shouldn’t we get going?” “Yeah, maybe we should,” Lyra said, breaking off from Pinkie. She gave her a tired smile and then stood up. “Thanks.” “No problemo,” Pinkie chirped, licking the icing from her hooves. “Guess we keep walking then. Nopony was kind enough to include a map,” Lyra snarked. She started walking, grimacing as she felt her back muscles move about, unsettling the cold icing on her back. “Ew.” “Weeeell… we just gotta find the heart of the castle!” Pinkie suggested, bouncing onto her hooves. “The heart of the castle?” Scootaloo repeated. “Yep!” Pinkie’s tail flicked Scootaloo in the air, prompting a surprised yelp from the filly that soon turned into a devilish laugh when she landed on Pinkie’s back. “That’s gotta be where whoever or whatever made this thing is gonna be lurking, right? Or maybe that’s where your friends are! Either way, we’ll get some answers to some very confusing questions.” “Like where you got that icing?” Scootaloo replied. “I don’t need the answer to that…” Lyra muttered, shaking her head. The group ventured onward, coming to a large flat path laid out in the castle. It was still rubbery, of course, but it slanted at a slight angle. “Huh,” Lyra said, poking her head into the room. It was large. Very large. The path seemed to loop around before going down deeper into the castle. “I wonder what it’s for…” Scootaloo pondered, peeking over Pinkie’s pink puffy mane. A thud from nearby only prompted more questions. “Er,” Lyra began, “what the hay was—” Lyra cut herself off with a yell, jumping back and bumping into Pinkie. A huge red ball rolled past the spot Lyra just left and kept going down into the dark below. Everypony took a moment to catch their breath, during which time another ball came rolling down. “Okay, so this is a problem,” Lyra said. “Any chance you can use your… Pinkieness to get us through that super quickly?” Scootaloo looked to Lyra. “Did you see where to go?” “Not down. It’s just a void of darkness there,” Lyra commented, flinching as another ball came rolling down. “But that’ll be where the heart is! I’m sure!” Pinkie cried, straining to try and see as much as she could without getting crushed by the giant bouncy spheres. “No, I think it’s just a really long way down,” Lyra said. “I’m accepting all of this crazy cra—mmph!” Pinkie’s hoof had lodged itself in Lyra’s mouth. She narrowed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Scootaloo blinked in confusion. A nod was all that was needed for Pinkie to let go. “Crazy stuff, right. I’m dealing with all of that, but if you expect me to take that big a leap of faith, then I’d rather stay with those tube mares.” Lyra gestured her hoof towards the direction that didn’t lead to an abyss. “We’re going up. We can find a safer way down later.” “Wow Lyra, you’re really taking this seriously.” Pinkie beamed. “Proooud of yooou!” “I’ve been beaten, bruised, had to climb up a wall all by myself, and then got real bad rubber burn on my back,” Lyra replied, her face set in seriousness. “At this rate, I’ll probably end up in intensive care by the end of the day. I have got to start taking this more seriously.” Scootaloo leaned out from Pinkie, glancing at Lyra. “So has that serious brain of yours come up with anything yet?” Lyra pouted her lips, frowning. “No.” “I got a plan!” Pinkie announced, facing the path. “You wanna tell us about it or are you gonna do another superpony Pinkie moment?” Scootaloo said, poking Pinkie’s shoulder. “Nah, you can try this one at home!” Pinkie chirped. The moment one of the balls rolled by, she set off at an intense gallop, heading up the path. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” she and Scootaloo screamed in unison, leaving a bewildered Lyra behind. At the top of the path, they rounded a corner, coming to a square room with a big hole in the top. Pinkie dived off the path, just before another ball dropped in and rolled all the way down. “Screaming and running,” Pinkie said, looking back at Scootaloo with a smile. “Always works!” Scootaloo nodded, opting to catch her breath and calm down some. Meanwhile, Lyra was nervously shuffling on her hooves, trying to steady her breathing. Severall balls passed her, but she never took any of the openings. “Okay, Pinkie wasn’t running that fast, so maybe I’ll make it too?” She nodded to herself, timing the moments between balls rushing past her. But that didn’t put her mind at ease. If anything, it only made her feel worse. “Okay, okay, okay,” she told herself. “Just… go for it.” She started moving as a ball appeared, being so close that she could practically feel it brush against her coat as it rolled away. Either because she was in a pure panic, or that she thought Pinkie’s idea truly did work, she screamed loudly as she galloped. The path was flat so her hooves didn’t sink into it so easily, which was a small boon. Just like Pinkie had, she rounded the corner, but skidded and nearly hit the wall. She let out a panicked yelp and put even more energy into her stride. A ball fell down in front of her and started ominously moving. Lyra gritted her teeth and desperately tried to run out of the way, only to have an immensely strong pulling force act upon her tail, tugging her to the side. Despite the pain, she managed to bear it as she was yanked out of the ball’s way. Amazingly, she landed on something softer than the material of the castle: Pinkie. “Thanks, Pinkie,” Lyra said, getting off her savior. “Don’t mention it!” Pinkie stood up, then turned her attention to the smirking little filly beside her. “Whatcha so happy about, Scoots?” “We’re kicking this castle’s butt, that’s what! One stupid trap at a time!” the filly cheered, her wings buzzing. “Pfft, Pinkie’s done all the hard stuff,” Lyra said. Her gaze went to the looming hole above them. “Eesh. I could’ve been really hurt by that.” “Hey, we can have halfsies,” Pinkie suggested. Lyra turned back to her. “What?” “Well I pulled you out of the way, but if you were any slower, I wouldn’t have been able to reach ya. So we both did the hard work there,” Pinkie explained. Lyra couldn’t help but feel a small smile form on her face. “Yeah, probably. Thanks.” “No prob—” “Can we please stop having sappy moments after every trap? We’re gonna be here forever if we do!” Scootaloo protested, inclining her head towards a set of stairs that led further up. “Okey dokey lokey!” Pinkie sunnily replied, hopping up the stairs. It was a pretty long walk, and the spongey nature of the floor made things particularly gruelling. The stairs didn’t seem to have an end in sight, but at least the walls had paintings now. Odd, abstract paintings but something to look at all the same. There were splotches of color all mashed together with odd shapes and lines. That’s all anypony could really say about them. “Pinkie, can you see anything up there?” Lyra asked, trailing behind the pair. “Nope! Only darkness and nothingness. And it keeps getting further and further away!” Pinkie answered, soldiering on without a care. Lyra blinked. “What?” “Yeah. It’s like we’re going nowhere,” Pinkie said. Lyra took a moment to look between what lay ahead (nothing) and what lay behind them (something). “One sec,” she said, trotting down the stairs from whence they came. In next to no time at all, she was back in the room with the balls. Her head strained with the echoes of an headache. “Eugh. We do not need this.” Rubbing her head, she stomped up the stairs, joining the others. “It’s official: we’re going nowhere.” “But this is the only way I saw to go!” Scootaloo protested. “Well it’s a dead end either way. I guess we have to…” Lyra slowed as the next word came out of her mouth. “... backtrack.” Her eye twitched. “We can’t do that! There has to be a trick to this thing. Something that unlocks the rest of the way.” Scootaloo snorted, kicking the walls. “Stupid stairs. This doesn’t even make any sense!” “Which is why…” Lyra hung on the last word, spinning to face Pinkie. “You’ll know what to do, right?” Pinkie scratched her chin, peering about. “Hum. Hum hum.” Her focus settled on one of the paintings. “Check the paintings. Maybe there’s a button behind one!” Lyra and Scootaloo shared a glance, then the three of them started moving paintings. It seemed like a hopeless cause, until Scootaloo piped up excitedly. “I got something!” Pinkie and Lyra rushed over, looking at the space behind the painting Scootaloo had moved. Pinkie grinned in delight. “It’s a big red button!” Lyra gently nudged her away from the button. “Why do I get a strange ominous feeling from this…” “Well it obviously opens up a secret passage or something, or stops the stairs from repeating,” Scootaloo said. “Or, it’s a trap,” Lyra replied. She sighed, running a hoof through her mane. “And I’m tired of all these ridiculous traps.” Scootaloo snorted. “Just because you got beaten up by some silly tube mares.” Lyra growled, scowling at the filly. “I got unlucky, okay? It doesn’t mean anything.” She shuffled, feeling the icing on her back, now all crusty. The thought of of getting that off came to mind and she winced. “Okay! I’m pressing it!” Pinkie announced, slamming her hoof on the button. “No!” Lyra shouted. “Yes!” Scootaloo cried in unison. And that’s when the stairs disappeared. Although it wasn’t that as much as them turning into a ramp. A very steep ramp, that offered no leverage for the ponies. They started to slide down, back towards where they came from. Thankfully, they didn’t go as fast or as hard as Lyra’s backslide across the floor from earlier. At first, they were all disappointed. That soon changed when a hole opened up in the floor, leading to a dark abyss below. “Uh… maybe this will lead to the heart?” Pinkie sheepily suggested. Lyra folded her forelegs over her chest, her face surprisingly calm. It was the look of a pony who was resigned to their fate. Scootaloo was the completely opposite, her wings flailing in mud bursts, her legs desperately struggling to gain grip on the slide. “No no no no!” the filly cried, feeling her hindlegs hang over the hole. Half a second later, the rest of her dropped in, followed by her companions. The three of them plunged into the dark, Pinkie and Scootaloo screaming in loud discord. Lyra felt the wind rushing past her body, too tired and fed up to make a big show of the situation. All she could do was sigh as they all fell together, down into the depths below.