//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Reception's Been Canceled // by sister_mike //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Pinkie Pie Be serious. Be serious? Is that what Celestia had just said? Pinkie wasn't one to argue with Celestia. She was her leader. But being serious was something Pinkie gave up a long time ago, back when she got her Cutie Mark. Laughter was her forte now. It was the Element she embodied for Pete's sake! But it was a very serious time in Equestria. And although she was terrified, and laughter helped her cope with that feeling, she would try to be serious, like the Celestia-voice had asked. Slowly Pinkie's eyes began to adjust from the bright light of the magical doorway. The air seemed different here, wherever she was. Cleaner, fresher... almost familiar. The voice had told her that the doorway would lead her to where she had to be. Little by little as her vision came back, she realized where that was. She was home. Not Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville. She was back on the farm where she grew up. It was hard to see because the sky was cloudy, and there was no moon. The unnatural green glow from the pods filled the air, but it was weaker here than it had been in Canterlot. And it didn't give off enough light for her to see properly. But it was home. There was the silo where she held her first party after seeing the rainbow. There were the rocks in position to be moved to the north field. And there, past the fields, was the house. There was a dim light on inside, barely visible. And far worse, there was a steady, though frail, stream of green energy coming out of the roof. Pinkie ran for the house. She was afraid of what she might see there, but if her family was in there, she had to get them out. When she reached the door, it was locked. She looked at the window beside the door. It was boarded up. She ran to the next window. It was boarded up too. As she circled the house, she saw that all the windows were boarded up. Only one window from the top floor had a gap between the boards, and that is where she had seen the light. How was she going to get up there? What if there were changelings in there, chomping down on her family right now? She went back to the front door. She charged at the door and threw her shoulder against it. It didn't budge. She tried again and again. Slowly she could hear it creaking and tearing. Her shoulder ached, but she kept on going. She had to get inside. After a few more throws though, the door still wouldn't go down. What else could she do? She looked around. An idea struck. She picked up a rock and threw it with all her might at the nearest window. The glass on the outside shattered, and the rock thumped against the boards on the inside. She went up to the opening and carefully, though quickly, began to tear away the boards. These ones weren't as secure as the ones on the door had been. Once she made a hole big enough, she climbed through. A shard of glass caught on her leg, but Pinkie didn't care. It was just a scratch. Her family was in there being harvested, and she had to save them. Once inside, she looked around. The house was a mess. Furniture was piled up against the door. That explained why she couldn't knock it down. The floors were dusty and there were cobwebs in the corners. How long had they been in cocoons? There was no way her mother ever let the house become this unbearable. Equestria must have been taken over quite a while ago. Something thumped upstairs. Pinkie's heart began to race. A changeling? She headed towards the stairs, but just as she reached the first step, something caught her eye. An eerie green glow coming from the kitchen. No. Turning away from the stairs, she headed into the kitchen. Her heart sank. Inside the kitchen, hanging from the ceiling, were two pods. Inside were her mother and father. They had no frozen look of horror on their faces, like some of the ponies had back in the palace. They looked peaceful, as though they were sleeping. Tears began to stream down Pinkie's face. She stood in front of her mother's pod and rest her hoof against it. It felt like rubber. She missed her family a lot. She thought of them all the time. She tried to keep in touch with them, but they had slightly drifted apart over the years. Pinkie had left for Ponyville shortly after receiving her Cutie Mark. She just couldn't farm boring rocks any more. So, her mother and father had set her up with the Cakes and she had lived at Sugarcube Corner ever since. She wrote to her family every week, and they were slow to reply, but they wrote back too. But soon their replies came slower and slower. She knew it wasn't because they didn't love her, they were just busy farming their rocks. It was hard work, even if farming rocks made no sense. They seldom came into Ponyville, even though it was the closest village near their farm. Her parents preferred to go to a more old-fashioned village, in the other direction. It was where her extended family lived, and they were more comfortable there, than in Ponyville. She couldn't even remember the last time she saw her family. Drifting apart from her family was the one thing Pinkie Pie was ashamed of in her life. She felt and carried that shame every day, but kept it buried deep inside. She hadn't even told any of her friends about it. "P-Pinkamina?" Pinkie Pie turned around. She hadn't even heard them come downstairs. "Inkie? Blinkie?" Inka Josephine and Bellamina Marie, as her mother would have called them. Her younger sisters. It had been years since she had seen them. "What.. what are you doing here?" Inkie asked, stepping forward. Before Pinkie could even answer her, Inkie pulled her into a hug. "We've missed you so much." More tears began to spill from Pinkie's eyes. "I've missed you guys too." "What happened here?" Pinkie asked, as she pulled out of the hug. "We were attacked," Inkie said, glancing back at Blinkie. "Blinkie and I were working in the cave and—" "Cave?" Pinkie asked. Inkie looked confused for a second, but then it dawned on her. "Yes, cave. A couple of years back, Blinkie and I discovered an underground cave on the property. It's where the dried up well leads to. I fell down it one day, and when Blinkie lowered herself down to save me, we noticed there was a small cave. After some careful examination, Blinkie expanded the cave and we discovered there were gems inside. We've been mining them ever since. Father and Mother don't really approve, you know, risky new business. So they let us keep some of the profits from the new mining business, but most of it goes towards keeping up supplies to farm the rocks..." Inkie glanced towards her parents, the same heartbroken face plastered on that Pinkie had when she first saw them. "What happened?" Pinkie asked again, softer this time. She couldn't bear to look at her parents again. "We were working in the cave, and I went up to get us some water. Before I was even at the top of the well, I could hear the screams. Blinkie and I got up as fast as we could, just in time to see those... those black creatures pulling Mother and Father into the house. A few attacked us as we ran to the house, but Blinkie kept them off. We tried to save them, but by the time we got to the house, they were in these pods. Those things tried to get us too, but we managed to fend them off," Inkie sighed. "They kept attacking us for days, so we eventually boarded up the house and have been hiding here ever since. We've tried to get them out of those pods, but nothing's worked." Pinkie looked over at Blinkie. She had stayed in the entrance to the kitchen, and was obviously trying to keep her eyes away from the cocoons. "It'll be ok Blinkie, we'll get them out," Pinkie said, walking over and pulling her into a hug. Blinkie was the middle child and Inkie the youngest. Blinkie had always been the closest to their mother. Blinkie nodded at Pinkie's words. "She can't talk anymore," Inkie whispered quietly. Pinkie looked from Inkie to Blinkie and back. "What?" "It happened last year. One of her explosives went off earlier than it should have in the cave. I wasn't down there, since explosives are her special talent. We first thought she was deaf, but then she got the message across that she could still hear us, but her voice was gone," Inkie explained. "She hasn't been able to explain why, because she doesn't know. It's a mystery." Blinkie's Cutie Mark was a picture of dynamite. Somewhere during her youth, the young filly had discovered pyrotechnics and had a knack for it. Pinkie remembered seeing her after Blinkie had just gotten her Cutie Mark. She was the first female pony Pinkie knew who had pyrotechnics as her special talent. Inkie's Cutie Mark was a geode. She could identify every different kind of rock there was. Pinkie hugged Blinkie again. "I'm so sorry." She turned back to Inkie. "How long ago were you attacked?" "A few months ago I guess... I'm not sure, we've sort of lost track of time. How did you get here? Why did you come back?" Inkie asked. "Princess Celestia brought me here. I was in Canterlot when the main attack began. I don't remember what happened though, it's all a blur. I was in a pod when my friend Twilight Sparkle set me free. If you said you tried everything you could think of to break the pods, then the only way they can be freed is with a spell. We'll need to find a unicorn," Pinkie said. "But everyone's in pods. Blinkie's snuck out a few times, to find food. She says that all of the ponies she's come across are cocooned. Everyone around is being harvested. Where are we going to find a free unicorn?" Inkie asked. "I know two who are free. And we're all supposed to be meeting in Ponyville. They'll help us," Pinkie reassured. What she failed to mention, was that the help might not come right away. Twilight wouldn't let Rarity save Sweetie Belle, so there was a good chance that Twilight was going to say they had to defeat the changelings before saving anypony else. And, even though it hurt to admit, she knew that Twilight would be right. Maybe that's what Celestia meant by being serious. Pinkie had to realize that her priorities might not come first, because they weren't for the greater good. There was a bigger picture, one that she sometimes failed to realize. One that Rarity had to see right away by leaving Sweetie Belle in the palace. But that didn't mean that she couldn't take her sisters along for the ride. "Come on girls. You can come too. We'll need all the help we can get, if we want to defeat these changelings," Pinkie said, taking charge. "I don't know how much help I'll be though..." Inkie said, "What can I do? Identify rocks.." "That doesn't matter. Blinkie's explosives will come in handy for sure. And you can communicate better with her, since you've had the time to understand her body language. It's best if all the conscious ponies stick together. We need everypony we can to help fight. Plus you're my little sister. I'm not leaving either of you two behind. Everypony is important Inkie," Pinkie said. Inkie nodded. "Ok, let's go then." The two of them began to head out of the kitchen. Blinkie hesitated and finally looked at the pods. Pinkie put her arm around her. "There's nothing we can do now for them. They'll be ok. The changelings can do no more. In a sense... they're safe the way they are," Pinkie said softly. Blinkie nodded, her eyes pooling with tears. "Ok! Let's do this!" Pinkie said, some of her usual bounce coming back into her step. She and Inkie began to clear away the furniture from the door. Suddenly there was a series of loud stomps behind her. Inkie stopped, turned to Blinkie behind her and nodded. "Blinkie's right; we're going to need some supplies," Inkie said, a slightly mischievous grin on her face. "Come on Blinkie; let's show Pinkie where we keep the grenades."