//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Poofy // by nobody_in_particular //------------------------------// Pinkie ran as fast as her hooves could carry her. She couldn’t see anything around her, for it was too dark. She expected Aria and Sonata to jump out in front of her at any minute. She wasn’t thinking about anything about getting away from those ponies. She could hear them getting closer. She could barely breathe at this point. Her hoof caught on a rock and she tripped, scraping her chin as she landed. She was waiting to be scooped up in a sack, dragged to the town, and be sold for an outrageous amount of bits. She heard a few cries of pain from behind her. She turned her head and saw Adagio leaning over two unconscious mares, club in hand. “Mother?” Pinkie asked. “My darling Pinkie!” Adagio said, running to the girl and wrapping a hoof around her shoulders. “Come on, Pinkie. Let’s get you home.” Pinkie followed her mother. There was nothing that could make her stay. Pinkie sat on her bed as Adagio picked the candy out of her hair. Adagio was collecting the sweets in a basket. She put the last bubble gum in the basket. “There. It never happened.” Adagio looked over at Pinkie, who looked more depressed than ever. Adagio sighed at the sight of Pinkie, her shoulders slumped and her eyes cat down at the floor. “I tried my hardest. I tried to warn you about the world. It is a cruel and awful place.” Adagio walked down the stairs, leaving Pinkie alone. Pinkie lay down and closed her eyes. Suddenly she remembered something, a little memento she had gotten in town. It was a small flag with a picture of the Two Sisters on it, the flag of Canterlot. She looked closely at the design, taking in the detail. She put the flag down and sighed. She looked up at all of the paintings she had done on the walls and ceiling. Back then everything was so easy. She never had to make decisions like one she had made in the last three days. She looked at a picture of a Breezie she had seen in a book. Pinkie sat up suddenly. In between the group of Breezies was the form of the Two Sisters. The shapes some streamers were making were in the shapes of the Two Sisters. All around her, she saw shapes of the Canterlot flag, hidden within her paintings. Suddenly she remembered. The moment she had tried on the crown, when she had seen the mural for the first time, when she had lifted the lantern with her Cutie Mark on it. It was all so clear. She tried to stand, but her back legs started to give out and she fell against her vanity. Adagio could hear the crash from where she was downstairs. “Pinkie?” she called. “Are you alright? What’s going on up there?” She walked up the stairs and saw Pinkie coming out of her room, her knees shaking. “What’s the matter?” Adagio asked. “I’m the lost princess,” Pinkie whispered to herself. “What?” Adagio asked. “I am the lost princess, aren’t I?” Adagio did not respond. “Was I unclear, mother? Or should I even call you that?” Pinkie scowled. “Why Pinkie, that’s absurd! You, of all ponies!” Adagio said, walking towards Pinkie. “It was you! It was all you!” Pinkie said, pushing Adagio out of the way. “All my life I’ve been hiding from the world when I should have been hiding from you!” Adagio narrowed her eyes. “Where will you go? He won’t be there for you.” Pinkie looked worried. “What did you do to him?” “That criminal is to be killed by order of the Princess.” Pinkie gasped. Her mind was racing. Jack was one of her best friends. She didn’t know what she would do without him. There was still so much she didn’t know about the world. “It’s alright, darling. Everything is as it should be.” She lifted her hoof to pat Pinkie’s head, but Pinkie grabbed the old woman’s hoof and prevented her from reaching any further. “No… You were wrong about the world. About me! You took me away from my home... and now,” She locked her gaze with Adagio. Her eyes were glowing. “You’ve taken the life of my best friend!” Pinkie pushed Adagio away as hard as she could, making the unicorn trip over the mirror and making it shatter. Pinkie walked into the shadows, with no intention of getting away. -------------------------- Jack stood at the base of the castle. “Pinkie!” he cried. “Pinkie let down your hair!” Nothing happened. He was about to start climbing the tower himself when he heard the shutters creak open. He looked up and saw a wave of bright pink hair falling from the window. As quick as he could he climbed the hair and made it into the tower. “Oh, Pinkie I was so worried.” he started, but saw Pinkie Pie tied up and a gag over her mouth. She was screaming something, but he could not understand her, hence the gag. He shrieked as a sword penetrated his back. Adagio was standing there behind him, a bloodthirsty look in her eyes. The only thing he could see was Pinkie. There was a waterfall of tears streaming down her face. “Now, look what you’ve done, Pinkie Pie.” Adagio said, motioning to Jack, who was on the ground and writhing in pain. “Now we are going where you’ll never be able to escape, and where nopony will ever find you again!” She dragged the chain that was connected to Pinkie’s front hooves. Pinkie pulled back as hard as she could, but Adagio was much stronger than her. Finally she stretched the gag out enough that it fell around her neck. “No.” Pinkie said. “I will never stop trying to get away from you. For every second I will fight. But just let me heal him. I’ll come with you. I’ll be your daughter again. Just let me heal him.” Adagio’s expression was unreadable, although a hint of anger flared in her eyes. She let go of the chains. Pinkie went as fast as she could to Jack’s side. “Jack.” she said. “Jack.” Blood was dripping down his front and his back. “Pinkie.” he whispered. He brushed the hair out of her face with his hoof. In his other hoof he held a shard of glass from the broken mirror. He leaned forward and chopped off all of her hair, and now it was the average length for a mare. “Jack, what..?” she said, feeling her mane with her hoof. “No!” Adagio screamed. She tried to gather up as much hair as she could, but that did not stop her from turning as old as Equestria itself. “What have you done?” she screamed. “What have you done?!”She put the hood of her cape over her head and started walking backwards. She tripped over a fallen over chair and fell out of the still-open shutters. “No!” Pinkie screamed as Adagio fell. Pinkie ran to the window and watched. As Adagio hit the ground hundreds of feet below, she turned into dust, leaving nothing but a black shawl.