//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Archimedes Constant // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chronology notes: Stop! You are reading the eleventh story in the Bonds of Eternity Series. The first story in the series is Family found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1307/ The second story in the series is Nihil Novi Sub Sole found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1444/ The third story in the series is Friends in High Places found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1716/ The fourth story in the series is Trust found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1973/ The fifth story in the series is Domino Effect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2151/ The sixth story in the series is To Whom It May Concern found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2465/ The seventh story in the series is Bridge Over River Rijn found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2726/ The eighth story in the series is The Way of the Maneaanite found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2931/ The ninth story in the series is Diamond in the Rough found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3062/ The tenth story in the series is Old World Blues found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3265/ Archimedes Constant Chapter 1 This had become normal in the life of Pinkamena Diane Pie. She tossed and turned in her bed, her mind racing with thoughts that kept her awake. She sat up and looked around her bedroom hoping to see something that would occupy her mind, but alas, found nothing. She looked over into the corner to see that Gummy, her pet toothless alligator was sleeping in the corner. Pinkie Pie frowned; she envied Gummy for not having a care in the world. He wasn’t kept up all night by his thoughts. Pinkie Pie slipped out of bed and pushed open her door. She wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight; she might as well go for a walk. Pinkie Pie had two secrets, the first one was that she was not the bright and bubbly pink party pony that everypony thought she was, not really anyway. When Pinkie Pie was alone, she was calm, collected, honestly, she was a rather sombre pony, a sombre pony wearing a mask all day. Pinkie Pie let out a small sigh as she continued to walk down the western road, out of Ponyville towards the general direction of the Everfree forest. She passed Fluttershy’s cottage, and the idea to go over and knock on the door popped into her head, and then it left just as quickly. It was the middle of the night, and Pinkie Pie didn’t need to be waking her. Not at this hour for no reason. Besides, it’s not like she could talk to Fluttershy about what was bothering her. No, if Pinkie Pie was going to interact with any of her friends, she would need to put a big old smile on her face and a joyful bounce in her step. She’d gotten really good at faking happiness. It was ironic that some viewed her as the Element of Laughter; they saw it as a gift, they didn’t know that it was really a curse. Pinkie Pie’s second secret was that she was in love with Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie had been the first pony that Twilight had met in town. She had barely said hello to her when Pinkie Pie started freaking out and ran off. She felt bad about it, knowing that she had blown the chance then and there. Then the idea popped into her head that Pinkie Pie would throw Twilight a party! It would get her close and Twilight would have a good time, then she could get close to her! It didn’t work exactly as planned. The rest they say, is history, Pinkie Pie never gave up though, but then Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash got together, and it had pushed Pinkie Pie by the wayside. Pinkie Pie felt a tear streaming from her eye, and she stopped and wiped it away, noticing that she had gone somewhat further than she had intended to. She was inside the Everfree forest. Pinkie Pie spent the next few minutes glancing around. There were few that knew her secrets. Lounge singer Pips Domino had figured it out, the pure white Pegasus pony Surprise had figured it out. Pinkie Pie suspected that Vinyl Scratch knew too. That pony knew things. Knew things that she shouldn’t have, Vinyl had shared a few of them with Pinkie Pie and the rest of their friends. Pinkie Pie knew that Vinyl Scratch was hiding something though. There was information she was keeping from them. Pinkie Pie had discovered that she had wandered into boundary of the Lake of Origin. She stood nought two metres from the Lake’s bank. She trotted up to it and looked in, she saw a straight maned muted pink pony looking back at her. The reflection let out a yawn and then looked at her with disdain. ‘Oh... fuck!’ the reflection barked at her. ‘I was really hoping that you had died’. This had not been the first time that Pinkie Pie had looked into the Lake of Origin. The incredibly profane... lake... thing, had a nasty habit of insulting her and finding a way to include more colourful expletives in its sentences than were necessary. Even though it was a lake, and there for should not be able to speak at all, it did. ‘Lake of Origin to Pinkie Pie!’ the reflection called out to her. ‘Hellloooooooooooooo? What the fuck do you want!?’ Pinkie Pie thought about it for a moment, she could tell that the lake was getting impatient with her, though as far as she could tell, the lake had to interact with her while she was looking into it. It was the only way that it could. ‘I want to know’, Pinkie Pie said. ‘All the things from before’. Pinkie Pie had been curious of the old world that Vinyl Scratch had described. She had left out most of the specifics, and she figured why not? For all she knew, Pinkie Pie in the old world was actually the happy go lucky pony that she had been pretending to be. Why not? ‘You sure about that?’ the reflection asked. ‘Think long and hard; because you can’t go back, and you might not like what you remember’. Pinkie Pie did think about it for a moment. She figured that the Old World memories that were locked away couldn’t be any worse than anything else she’d gone though. She nodded in affirmation towards the lake. ‘Fine’, the reflection said with a sigh. ‘I don’t really give a fuck anyway’. Pinkie Pie ignored the profanity and continued. ‘What do I have to do?’ she asked. ‘What? Do you want a fucking instruction manual?’ the reflection asked. ‘Swim to the bottom and touch the big fucking golden glowy thingy’. Pinkie Pie ignored the reflection’s outburst and waded into the lake, taking step after gentle step until her hooves could no longer touch the bottom. She took a deep breath and submerged herself under the water. Pinkie Pie opened her eyes and immediately noticed the ‘golden glowy thingy’ that was at the bottom of the lake. Pinkie Pie began to swim a dog paddle towards it. Pinkie Pie had gotten within several metres of it when she started to get scared. Her instincts were kicking in and they told her to get as far away from this golden glowy thing as physically possible. Pinkie Pie turned to swim away, albeit, too late. She found herself paralysed. The golden glowy thingy had her in it’s grasp. Pinkie Pie let out her breath in surprise and found her mouth filling with water, she began to gasp instinctively for air, but each gasp only brought more water in to her lungs. She was drowning. Pinkie’s vision began to blur, she was experiencing flashes of memory. Princess Luna hopping of a chariot into town and shyly greeting her and her friends, the next memory was of an orange maned earth pony stallion lying in a hospital bed, another of Pinkie Pie running through town screaming, the next a dragon attacking Ponyville, and the next a brilliant flash of light. The images began to get more vivid, Pinkie walking through town with a straight mane, talking to a Pony that wasn’t there, she saw herself leap from a tree with a noose around her neck, Pinkie Pie saw herself wiring her childhood home with dynamite and blowing it to smithereens. She saw a red eyed Applejack and her standing next to a ghostly grey Alicorn. She saw Vinyl Scratch trying to defuse a bomb. She saw a brilliant flash of light enveloping the landscape, and then she saw nothing. Pinkie Pie washed up on the banks of the Lake of Origin and gasped out for air. She coughed, spitting water from her mouth. She dragged herself up onto shore and continued to cough. The images that she had seen didn’t all make sense at first. Clarity did not come instantly to her... but slowly, and surely, it was all coming back. It was all making sense. Pinkie Pie remembered. She remembered what she had forgotten. It was at that moment that Pinkie Pie knew that Vinyl Scratch had been telling the truth. Pinkie Pie curled herself up into a ball, she shivered on banks of the Lake of Origin. Vinyl Scratch had been right; some things were better left forgotten.