Revisiting the Mines
It wasn’t as much of a fall down a pit of death as it was a tube slide from Tartarus. Rocks tore at my skin, ripping out little chunks of hair and just adding to my already somewhat impressive war wounds. I heard Zil shout, “Look out Twilight!” and just barely managed to twist myself around as a rock whizzed past me, bouncing against the walls as it fell down.
I don’t know how long we slid down, the rock never changed appearance, and I seemed to have left my watch back in my cell. When the tunnel finally spit me out my head spun around looking everywhere, adrenaline still coursing through me. It was a cave hewed out of solid rock with magic. It must have been a rather skilled magician, the corners were straight, and the ceiling was well reinforced. It was light enough to see, but not well. There was some kind of weird fungi emitting as much light as a strong candle.
I think I would start with the Beginner’s Guide to Equestrian Fungi, and then move on to Strange and Rare Fungi Across Equestria. Oh! I could probably ask Roseluck too, she might know. And if none of that worked, I could...
“Come on,” Zil said from my left, “we need to get moving before the Changelings reorganize.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it when a rock skittered down the hole behind us and clattered to a stop next to my right forehoof. It was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure that we hadn’t knocked that one down during our mad slide.
“Yeah, that pretty much settles it,” Zil said, taking off at a brisk canter. I followed soon after. “Normally, a changeling separated from its commander is sort of lost. We generally aren’t very good without orders from the top. So, I figured knocking out Bane would buy us time while a messenger was sent to Chrysalis for new orders, bonus if she killed him in a blind rage, but it sounds like our head start is up.”
“Wait,” I asked without breaking stride, “if changelings aren’t good without a leader, how did you come to join the resistance. I don’t want to think that you are actually a double-double agent.” I leveled my best glare, which considering I had just helped him slaughter more than a score of changelings and knock out their commander, could probably have scared even Rainbow Dash.
He hung his head. “I--” A loud crash from the tunnel behind us caused him to whip his head around. “--Will tell you later. We have to go!”
“Fine,” I growled, “but you aren’t off the hook.”
Without a second glance, we both tore off down the tunnel at top speed, turning erratically through the maze of passages in an attempt to lose out pursuers. Right, left, left, right, straight, left, right, right, straight. On and on and on we sprinted, panting heavily, but quietly, so the changelings couldn’t hear us.
It felt like hours passed before we both collapsed in a small chamber. It was circular, with more of that strange plant growing in recesses across the top, making it almost seem like torches in the Princess’ castle. Of course, thinking of the castle made me think of Princess Celestia, which made me think of her current residence: the sun.
Not good thoughts. Not good at all. Too painful
“Do... do you think we lost ‘em?” Zil asked through deep, shaking breaths.
“I sure hope so. I don’t think I could run much more...” I replied, equally as breathless. “Besides, you have a story to tell.”
Zil sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do. And I promise I’ll tell the whole thing when we are safe. So let’s just say--”
“Hold on a second!” I shouted, interrupting him. “You promised me the story, and that’s what I want to hear!”
“Well tough! I’m not about to go and spout my life’s story while we’re bein’ chased and are stuck in a little cavern! You’ll hear the story when, and only when, I’m ready to tell you!” Zil shouted, jumping to his hooves.
“Well, I don’t know if I can travel with what could very well be an enemy! I’ve had enough of being locked up by Queen Cheeselegs, and considering you were with me the first time I got captured, I don’t exactly fancy my chances a second time!” My temper got the best of me, and I turned my back on him, facing down one of the three passages branching off from the room, not counting the way we came in.
Noticing I was starting to leave, Zil reached out, though he stopped before actually touching me. “Twilight, wait, don’t leave m--” But I didn’t hear the rest; the sound of the rocks filling the passage behind me as I walked forward drowned him out.
To be honest, I didn’t want to hear it anyway. I’d had enough trouble with changelings, and while I liked Zil and enjoyed his company, the risk was just too great.
*****
Honestly, that was probably a mistake. Note to self: look into books about anger management...
And paranoia, that would probably be good too.
Anyway, I was still stuck in the dark maze of uniform tunnels, lit by a very very strange variety of fungi, and I was alone. To top it all off, I was starving from my magic usage earlier, and from my fasting for the last Celestia only knows how many months. To top it all off, I was ravenously thirsty. I probably would have drank blood at that point.
Nevermind, blood is somewhat salty, it would have been counterproductive.
Also: Ewwwww!
Morbid vampiric thirst aside, it really wasn’t terrible. By sealing the passage behind me, (something I had not really intended to do, but whatever,) I had ensured two things. One, the changelings knew exactly which way I went. And two, I was also safe for as long as it took for them to dig away all the rubble, and find out which of the nearly infinite paths I had taken since then.
Even though they knew where I was, I doubt they could reach me. And even if they could? I was rested now. I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Because turning my thoughts to my studies brought my mind down the bastardization of all I had strived my whole life to achieve, and thinking of my friends brought me to how ultimately this was all my fault, and thinking of the Princesses would just make everything much much worse, I locked onto one thing.
Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, rig-- wait. What was that?
I had just come to an intersection, another chamber like the one I had parted from Zil in, when a noise from the leftmost corridor drew my attention. I whipped my head around at the sound of hooves striking rock, preparing a deadly beam of light in my horn.
“Who is out there!” I shouted my challenge down the hallway. “Show yourself, or I’ll have to identify your body!”
“T... Twilight? Is... Is that really you....?” That voice... she wasn’t supposed to sound like that...
“Pinkie Pie?” I asked, changing my death beam to a simple ray of light. The pale lavender bolt shot it’s way into the chamber beyond, illuminating the sad, sad shadow of the pink pony I had called friend.
It was a humbling sight. The usually fluffy pink cotton candy mane and tail had been reduced to straight streaks of pink and gray. Dust choked the shine out of her once gleaming coat, leaving it more ashy than pink. Even her cutie mark had not survived the years in the darkness. The three multicolored balloons who had once attested to the fact that this pony loved to party were now coated in dirt and dust. If one hadn’t known her before, they never would be able to guess now that this sad pony had once been the life of every party thrown in an entire town.
But the worst was her eyes. The orbs that once held the sparkling light of adventure and discovery at every turn now were dull and lifeless. The color was still there, that light blue like the noonday summer sky, but all the happiness and
spontaneity were gone. For all intent and purposes, Pinkie Pie was dead.
Yet there stood the twisted facsimile of my friend, cowering from the light of my horn. She took one tentative step forward, then another, and another until we stood muzzle to muzzle. She cocked her head to the left, then, not finding what she was looking for, to the right.
“I... I thought you were gone...” Her voice was barely more than a hoarse whisper. If she hadn’t been right in front of me, I wouldn’t have heard. “They pulled you away and dumped me. It.... It hurt.”
“Pinkie,” I said, reaching my head forward to give her a reassuring nuzzle.
She shot backwards. “No. NO!” She galloped off down into the corridor.
“Pinkie, wait!” I shouted back, running after her as fast as I could.
“No!” the reply wafted back to me. “You’ll just get hurt again! I’ll just get hurt again! Just leave me alone!”
Once again I found myself in a chase, although on the opposite end from before. My horn glowed with dangerous energy, not for Pinkie mind you, but just in case we ran into anything not quite as friendly as her.
Not to say she was being particularly friendly at the moment. She was constantly yelling at me to leave her alone as we raced through the endless maze of identical passages. However, she was steadily pulling ahead. All the running previous, combined with the fact I still had not eaten or drank anything in what could have been days was starting to catch up.
In a last ditch effort, I focused what was left of my energy into a spell. I launched it forth, lacking the energy to aim it properly, and prayed to Celestia that it hit the right target.
It did. Pinkie skidded to a halt as the energy enveloped her. I collapsed on the ground, drained. Seconds passed, then minutes. I ground my teeth together, praying that it had worked. It was a simple spell, reminiscent of the one I used during Discord’s escape. All it really did was remind Pinkie who she was, and who I was, and what life had been like before.
The formerly-pink pony turned to me with tears in her once-sparkling eyes. “It really is you...” I opened my eyes just in time to see Pinkie rush over to me and sweep me up in a huge hug.
“Yeah Pinkie, but I won’t be if you, ack, squeeze me to death,” I said through my crushed lungs.
“Right, sorry...” she said, letting me down onto my hooves. Damn, I thought to myself, that worked last time she was all depressed and crazy like this... My stomach growled, interrupting my thoughts.
“Uh, Pinkie? You don’t happen to have some sort of home or something carved out down here do you? Maybe with some food?” I asked, letting my hopes balloon for the briefest of moments.
“Sort of, but Betsy gets cranky when I bring strange ponies over,” she answered in her peculiar new mellow fashion.
I arched an eyebrow. “Betsy? Other ponies? Just how many others do we need to be looking out for down here?”
Pinkie Pie looked around, counting on her hooves (which, come to think of it, really isn’t the most efficient method of counting.) “I don’t really know Twilight. I thought it was just me, Betsy, and Miss Fluffles, but now you are down here, and a bunch of scary changelings too.”
My ears perked up. Changelings, either our pursuers or Zil. One I wanted to avoid, the other I wanted to apologize to. “What do you mean?”
“Well I heard some noises, and I wondered who was in my caves, so I went to see, and on the way I saw a bunch of changelings attack another changeling and drag him off. Then I found you,” Pinkie said. It would take awhile to get used to that subdued voice.
Great. I left Zil, and he got recaptured. Though, if I had been with him, would I have been captured as well? Celestia knows that nothing good would have happened if we had both been caught. At least now I could try to escape, and find some way to hook up with the resistance, or if there isn't one anymore, start one.
Though, I found Pinkie Pie, maybe I could find the other girls and reunite the Elements of Harmony. Then, we could take on Chrysalis and the Taint. Then we could rescue the Princesses and everything could return to normal.
Ha, normal. Funny joke, me.
“Ok, ok, just have to keep a calm head. Pinkie, let’s go back to your... home, and we can start working on getting out, ok?”
Pinkie gave me a funny look. “Out? We can’t get out.”
“What?” I shrieked. “Why not?”
“There’s no way.” Pinkie hung her head. “I looked for ages and didn’t see a single way... We’re stuck down here...
“Forever.”
*****
After her dramatic declaration, Pinkie Pie led me through the twisting maze of the caverns to the little cave she now called home. It was cozy, I guess, for a giant hole. I imagine that before Pinkie had been beaten down totally, she had tried to redecorate a little bit. Random of splashes of color decorated the walls--mostly dashes of white, gray, and red on top of the gray slate. The white is obviously ash from fires, or maybe powder from ground rocks. The lighter gray was probably parts of the stone itself.
I don’t even want to think about where the red came from.
In an effort to make it at least a little bit more comfortable, Pinkie had somehow managed to drag multiple rocks around to make crude furniture. A mostly flat big stone sat in the middle of the room, making a sort of table. Smaller stones sat around it, which I assume were meant to be chairs, though sitting on the floor would probably be more comfortable. Still though, their occupants didn’t look like they minded.
Now I understood what Pinkie had meant by other ponies. It seemed that, in the absence of her real friends, she had decided to create her own. Crude--almost foallike in design--effigies of clay ponies sat upon the stones.
One was gray, the other white. They both looked to be earth ponies, though one had a lump on its forehead that could have been a horn if you looked at it right. The gray one was taller, and slimmer. It (she?) sat straight up, the very picture of prim and proper. Rarity would have been pleased.
The white one however, was a tad... off. The whole thing was kind of squatted down, hunched over the table in a direct opposite to its companion. The lump extended from this one, just a tad under where the horn on a unicorn would be. It was really more of a... blob than a lump, though it could probably be a horn if you looked at it straight on.
“So, Pinkie...” I started, “are these two ‘ponies’ Betsy and Miss Fluffles?” I waved my hoof in the general direction of the clay figures.
Pinkie Pie nodded, walking slowly around the “table” until she was right behind the gray effigy. “Betsy,” she said, “and Miss Fluffles,” she added, motioning towards the white figure, “this is my friend, Twilight Sparkle. Don’t worry she is really smart. She was the student of Princess Celestia even!”
“Oh, pleasure to meet you, Miss Sparkle,” Pinkie said in a higher-pitched voice with a posh overtone. “I am Lady Betsy, and that pony over there is my good friend Miss Fluffles. You’ll have to excuse her, she is in a bit of a state lately.”
“Ah shaddup,” Pinkie said in a deep, gravely voice, jumping around to stand near the white clay pony. “I ain’t in no state, and you wouldn’t know either way, so can it!”
“My word,” ‘Betsy’ said, “I thought we were beyond such crass and harsh language Madame Fluffles.”
“It’s MISS Fluffles, ya bimbo. Now shaddup and leave me t’ my drink.” Pinkie made slurping noises, which I suppose was to be ‘Miss Fluffles’ drinking.
Enough was enough. I couldn’t really tell Pinkie that her ‘friends’ weren’t real, but I could at least hope to distract her. “So Pinkie, got any food lying around? Or at least some water?”
“Huh?” Pinkie turned and stared as if seeing me for the first time. “Ohmygosh Twilight!” She tackled me to the floor in a fierce hug. “I... I thought I would never see you again!” Pinkie pulled back, suspicion in her eyes. “How did you get here?”
“Uh, you brought me here...? In fact, we literally just had this conversation like, half an hour ago.” I looked at her closely, mentally running through the checklist of first-aid spells I knew. It was possible, of course, that she had honestly forgotten. It was Pinkie Pie after all, she didn’t have the best memory most of the time, but I don’t think she would forget somepony, especially a good friend.
No, what was much more likely was that, in her time of isolation, something had snapped within the head of the pony. Such a social creature, thrust down into the depths of the ground, alone. Surely nothing good could come of it.
Hopefully it wouldn’t be irreversible. If Pinkie Pie didn’t go back to being, well, Pinkie Pie, Chrysalis would have hell to pay.
Assuming I survived this whole mess. That was a definite condition to my revenge. It is hard to make somepony pay if you’re dead.
“Did we? I... I don’t remember. I just know that the last time I saw you, they took you away and stuck me in this dark, awful place Twilight. It was so scary until I met Betsy and Miss Fluffles. Hey! Have you met them yet?”
Oh Celestia, it was worse than I thought. Ok. let’s see here. Could be a concussion, affecting her short term memory. A likely option, as her long term memory seems to be unaffected. She does remember my visit when she was locked away, after all.
It could also be a psychological breakdown due to stress or isolation. Even if she made friends of her own to counteract the loneliness of this cave system, something inside her knows that the ponies she talks to aren’t real. Possibly they go through the same reinvention every so often as well?
Could it simply be the fact that she doesn’t remember? I did fire that spell at her, and while it didn’t do anything of the sort last time, I was somewhat rushed and stressed. It is possible a bit of my combat magic may have mixed into the psychological feeler that the spell used to search for memories, eradicating them instead of pulling them to the surface.
No, that can’t be it. She remembered me right after, ergo the memories were perfectly fine. Besides, she remembered my earlier visit while she was locked up. Ugh, this is so confusing! Maybe I could just get her to let me run a battery of tests or something. That would probably be the easiest solution, after all, and the most practical. Of course, Pinkie Pie and scientific tests don’t have the best working relationship.
Too late, I realized I hadn’t answered Pinkie’s question, so she had gone ahead with her whole introduction spiel.
“A pleasure to meet, you Miss Twilight. I am Lady Betsy, and that pony over there is my good friend Miss Fluffles. You’ll have to excuse her, she is in a bit of a state today.”
“Not such that I would ever dream of being impolite to a guest. Welcome, Miss Twilight, to our cozy little home. Alas, it is not much, but consider what is ours, yours.” I did a double take. Instead of the crass and rude Miss Fluffles of earlier, this one spoke with an accent much more akin to her compatriot. This learnt much more credibility to Situation Two, the worst possible one.
“Well said, well said indeed,” Betsy said from her side of the table. “Say Pinkie Pie, be a dear and fetch our friend some nourishment, could you? She looks absolutely starved!”
“Oh my gosh you’re right!” Pinkie shouted in her new quiet tone. She trotted over to a pile of something in the corner, pulling out some inedible-looking flowers and a clay pot of fresh, clear water. She set them out on the place at the table nearest to me.
The flowers were pretty unappetizing, but I was starving. I moved over, making sure to discretely roll the rock-chair out of the way before planting my flank on the ground. Trying my best to ignore the dying, crisping leaves I picked one flower up with my magic and hesitantly took a bite.
And it was awful. It was sour, and bitter, and tasted like ash. Still, I knew I would need the energy to cast diagnostic spells on Pinkie Pie, and ultimately would need my magic to escape. So, with invincible resolve, I scrunched my eyes shut and ate the rest of the flower, and its two companions as fast as equinely possible, chugging the water afterwards in a vain attempt to banish the taste from my mouth.
“T-Thanks Pinkie,” I managed to choke out through gasps of air. “That was... delicious...?”
“No it wasn’t,” Pinkie said in a very matter-of-fact way. “The flowers down here are never good. Not like the Good Stuff from the Candy Place...”
“Good Stuff? Candy Place? What are you going on about Pinkie?” I asked. This was either one of two things. 1, Pinkie was reminiscing about home, albeit with very roundabout methods, or 2, that there was a place down in the mines called the Candy Place.
My bits are on 1.
“Back before... Before it all... I used to work in a shop in Ponyville. I threw parties, I made sweets, and everything was great and happy.” She looked over at me with some form of clarity. “You moved to town. I knew everypony before I met you, and then I threw you that party, and we all went out to vanquish Nightmare Moon. You became my best friend, you and the other girls. We did so much.”
Pinkie looked over at me. Lifeless blue eyes coating themselves with a sheen of moisture. “Where did we go wrong Twilight? What happened to make us lose this one?” Her voice softened even more, quieter than a whisper of a nighttime breeze across reeds in a stream. “What happened to us?”
As much as it killed me to admit it, I didn’t know.
*****
Can you tell where she is, sister?
We are trying our best. She is still in the castle, yes, but deeper. It would appear she is in the mines below Canterlot, but we thought you shut them down years before our... departure.
We did. Oh, little Twilight, go to sleep so we can figure out how to help you...
Do you honestly expect to be able to aid Applejack and Rarity? Even if we find her, she is still stuck underneath the castle, assuming she is still alive.
Don’t talk like that!
Oh, did We strike a nerve, sister?
You should care about her well being as much as I. After all, she saved you too.
We know, Celestia. We are just messing with you.
Yeah, sure. How is that spell I asked you to create coming?
We have both good news and bad news sister. The good news is it is finished, and ready to be cast at any time.
Then do it!
There lies the bad news. Her personal resistance to magic prevents us from casting a spell like that on her at most times. We must wait until she is weaker than normal, or her guards are down.
Well, what can you do?
Let us show you...
*****
I tossed and turned, mumbling through my uneasy sleep. Flickering lights. Fleeting colors and twisting landscapes. Uncertain, disfigured faces flying across the void of space. It all resolved into one white alicorn, looking down upon a small lavender unicorn from the precipice of a cliff miles and miles high, while at the same time small enough to climb with little effort.
The alicorn looked down, the unicorn looked up. Their gazes met, and locked in place. The alicorn opened her mouth, about to speak her edict of all time upon her small audience, but just before the words could escape their perfect prison, a bright ball of flame shot up between the two, blocking the lavender unicorn’s sight.
She ran for days and days, trying to find her way around the ever-expanding cliff face. She ran until she could no longer, then she began to crawl. She crawled until her hooves refused to move, and she collapsed where she lay, no closer to anything at all.
I woke with a start, sweating all over. A groan escaped my lips, life cut short as I clamped my muzzle closed to avoid waking the other occupant of the room. Above me and slightly to my left sat the two clay mimics, in the exact same place they had been in when I arrived. No, it was I who had moved, though not far.
No, I was simply lying on the ground, rock under my head in a makeshift pillow, blanket of moss pulled over me to try and combat the dank chill of the cavern. Stupid dreams, I thought to myself, plopping my head back down onto my rock-pillow before remembering it was a rock, and that rocks hurt.
“Ouch!” I cried, shooting into a sitting position. Before I could do anything, a pink blur rocketed over to me, clutching a rock in her hooves.
“Twilight! Is everything ok?” Pinkie Pie asked, eyes lighting up with concern.
“No, just hit my head is all. Go back to sleep,” I answered, rubbing the rapidly-forming goose egg on the back of my head with a forehoof.
Pinkie dropped her rock, eyes returning to their dull state. “Ok,” she said simply before returning to her own patch of floor. I sighed, before lying back down--mindful of the unforgiving object I called a pillow--and thought back over the events of the day.
I had learned many things about Pinkie’s condition in the few hours we had been together. I closed my eyes, envisioning a checklist like one of the uncounted millions I had created back in Ponyville, and even before, during my tutelage under Celestia.
1. Pinkie Pie was originally unstable in her cell. It appears that the long amount of time with no real interpersonal interaction has damaged something inside her mind.
2. Betsy and Miss Fluffles are creations of clay, hardened in their positions as the rock Pinkie refers to as the table. Their personalities are supplied by Pinkie herself, and are subject to change whenever Pinkie loses clarity.
3. Pinkie often suffers from bouts of depression, though they are not very frequent, and last only a few minutes, and can sometimes forewarn of an impending loss of reality.
4. Pinkie sometimes loses all hold on reality for a few moments. Short term memory may or may not be erased during these episodes, but long term memory seems mostly unaffected
**Note: After episode involving memories of Sugarcube Corner, no other episodes have been observed in the last 4-5 hours.**
5. Pinkie sometimes experiences moments of perfect clarity, often after being made aware of her surroundings. I need to find a way to bring these out more often, make them last longer, and overall, make this her only method of thinking. This is the first logical step to “fixing” her, and to plotting out eventual escape.
I allowed myself a triumphant smile. After all, I had deduced all of that within the course of a few hours, and with minimal harmful experimentation on Pinkie’s psyche. I had also gotten her to agree to an examination tomorrow, which could be instrumental to curing her problem, long term.
Though I dreaded what may happen, I knew sleep was necessary. Doing my absolute best to clear my mind, I closed my eyes and fell into an uneasy slumber.
*****
“Pinkie? Pinkie, I need you to focus!”
“Sorry, sorry Twilight. I’m trying, I really am.”
“No she isn’t, the girl is paying less attention than a beggar in Royal court!”
“Oh, hush. Such rude things. I am absolutely petrified to being seen in public with you.”
My eye twitched. Thus was the state we had been in for almost an hour now. I was trying to run complicated spells on Pinkie--searching for damage, but brain damage in particular, and patching up what I could--with only about a fourth of the magical power I was accustomed to.
Needless to say, it was not going perfectly, especially since Pinkie’s ‘friends’ had to keep throwing their two bits in.
“Please everypony,” I had quickly learned to treat the two clay figures as they were actually ponies to avoid upsetting Pinkie awhile ago, “be quiet. I need to get this right to make sure nothing is wrong with Pinkie.” I paused, waiting for the interruption I knew was probably coming.
In all honesty, I was enjoying myself, at least a little bit. Reimagining spells to use less power while not compromising its effect was a very interesting challenge, the likes of which I had not had the pleasure of butting heads with for a long time.
I closed my eyes, focusing my being into nothing but my horn and my mind once again. This was the last spell on the list that could possibly do any good. It was also the only one on the list I had much trouble reinventing to work with my limited power supply. I had made sure to weave failsafes into the spell, so that nothing I did would inadvertently hurt Pinkie, but it might not work at all either.
My horn glowed, spreading it’s warm light over Pinkie’s form. She giggled a little, nothing like what she used to do, but it made me feel like maybe some of what I had done actually had some effect. As the spell continued, a perfect representation of her appeared in my mind’s eye. With a thought, the fur disappeared, leaving the skin below. I had already checked that much, but it didn’t hurt to be thorough.
Her skin was fine, I had already healed the several lacerations, burns, holes, and other assorted injuries. Satisfied that she was in as good of a condition she could be, I vanished the skin, revealing the musculature. Again, nothing there that I hadn’t already fixed. There had been several tears, a few muscles ripped earlier that hadn’t healed right that I broke apart and stitched back together.
So I went deeper. Gone went the muscles, and up came the skeleton, and the organs held beneath. For the moment, I faded out the bones and cartilage, focusing instead on the things responsible for my pink friend’s life. Most of them were ok, the only real damage were to her heart and lungs, both could be explained by panic and the musty air of the caverns.
Satisfied with that, I let the skeleton fade back in, fading the organs out instead. Microfractures were healed. Stress on the ligaments and cartilage vanished with an errant thought. I couldn’t avoid it any longer, time to use this spell for what I actually meant to.
I took a deep breath, and banished all but the brain nestled within her skull. It expanded, filling my mind’s eye, giving me unbridled view and access. To be honest, there really wasn’t much I could do. If there was some scar tissue, I could remove it. A deformed section could be shaped back, but there was no guarantee that whatever had been there would come back.
That’s why I was immensely relieved when I found a patch of scar tissue, stretching from one side to the other. Focusing, I repeated the damage to her brain, and used my magic to aid the healing process. I doubt it would fix anything, but it couldn’t hurt.
I heaved a massive sigh, the kind that could clear your entire system. I let the spell drop, feeling the slow ebb of energy returning after a long, tiring spell. Before I could even open my eyes, Pinkie rushed over to my side, supporting me so I wouldn’t fall over.
“Thanks Pinkie,” I said, accepting the pot of water she offered me. Apparently there was a freshwater spring inside the cave itself, supplying her, and me, with as much water as we wanted.
“Am I ok doc?” she asked with a quirky grin on her face.
“Physically yes. I healed a scar on your brain tissue, but I don’t know if it’ll help at all. Physically you’re ok, but you’re not... you.”
Pinkie ran a hoof through her straight mane, spreading another coat of dirt and ash over it’s once vibrant pink. “I don’t know Twilight,” she mumbled. “Sorry.”
I reached over and hugged Pinkie, only partly to keep from falling over. Constant spellcasting for a couple hours had really drained me. I still wasn’t back up to one hundred percent, and I was starting to fear I never would be. Then what would Princess Celestia think?
“It’s not your fault,” I whispered back, still using my pink friend for support.
“I miss it Twilight,” she said in a voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear. “I remember back in Ponyville. I remember Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Gala. I remember the Iron Pony competition, and the Running of the Leaves. I remember throwing parties, and making everypony so happy.
“Everything sparkled. Everything was bright and shiny and new and exciting. But that cell...” she took a deep breath, scrambling back until she knocked over one of her clay ponies, Miss Fluffles I think. “And Dashie screaming... and it was dark all the time, and cold. The food was awful, and the water was almost worse.”
“Pinkie,” I said in a reassuring voice, “we can get all that back.”
Her eyes shot up to meet mine, sparkling for a second with the boundless energy I knew she had. “How? The Queen killed everypony, she locked us up and split us up. She dumped me down here and there is no way out!” She rushed over to me and put her hooves on either side of my face, forcing me to look into her eyes. “No way out Twilight! No way out!”
“Pinkie, there has to be a way out,” I said, voice hard with determination. “There has to be a way out, because I have to get out. I have to get out, and I have to get everything back the way it was.”
She cocked her head, still muzzle to muzzle with me.
“I have to. I have to get it all back.” I broke away from Pinkie’s grip. I felt it coming, the tears, the sadness. I saw the plans flash across my mind. Saw bodies piled up in the streets. All of it, my fault. I pulled my way back to the room. It was too much. I had damned myself to try and stop Chrysalis, and then got caught like a fool when I tried to spin my treachery as something good.
Because of me Spike was killed, and Zil. Because of me Rainbow Dash was either seriously hurt, possibly unable to fly again, or dead.
I felt hooves wrap around me. I felt a gentle nuzzle on my neck.
“Twilight?” I couldn’t face her. Couldn’t do it. My fault, all of it. “Twilight Sparkle?” Pain. Injury. Chrysalis throwing me against the wall when my plans didn’t work right. “Come on, look at me.” Shining, being dissolved before Celestia blocked my sight. Spike’s body falling to the floor, blood chasing his head as it rolled towards his killer. Zil, screaming as a horde of angry changelings dragged his broken body back to Chrysalis.
The hooves on me slipped off my back. Gently clopping noises drifted over to me until a pink blob blocked my vision. A hoof gently raised my head up until they looked at big, blue eyes. She smiled, a gentle smile. “I believe in you.”
*****
I didn’t even bother trying to sleep that night. Too busy, too focused. “Pinkie, what all have you figured out about this place. Are there any ways back to the surface other than the way through the castle?”
“No. Well, there was a door thingy, it was locked or something though. I couldn’t open it,” she said before taking a little bite of the terrible flowers we had to eat.
“Hmm, well Cadence and I pretty much demolished the minecart we used to break out last time. I got down by sliding down a big hole in the bottom of the castle. I don’t think that is a very feasible option for getting back, so it sounds like this door is the only real way out.” I rubbed my chin with a hoof.
Going up through the castle meant we would probably encounter a lot of changeling resistance. I’m not totally sure how good of a fighter Pinkie would be, but she seemed able to hold her own when we rushed to get the Elements of Harmony, so, while she may not be as good of a fighter as Zil, at least it wouldn’t be just me against everything.
Which was doubly good, because my magic was still not nearly as strong as I would have liked. While I wasn’t struggling with small spells, I didn’t know how well my combat magic would work. Though, I could always just levitate like, a brick or something to use as a bludgeon. And if it came down to that, I could always poke a changeling with my horn.
“Do you remember where it is?” I asked.
“Ummm... yup, I think so.” She pondered for a second more. “Yeah, definitely.”
“Good, then as soon as we are rested up, we are getting out of here.”
I turned around to grab myself another drink of water, when I heard Pinkie gasp behind me. “Twilight! What about Miss Fluffles and Betsy!?”
Buck. She hadn’t mentioned them at all since I had messed with her head--wow, that sounds a lot worse than it did in my head--and I had hoped that maybe that part of it was done. “Well, can they move?”
Pinkie shook her head.
“I don’t see a way to bring them with us Pinkie, I’m sorry.” And I really was. Pinkie had been alone for so long, she had made friends that couldn’t leave her, and now I was making her leave.
Pinkie looked at the two clay figures. She blinked a couple of times before turning back to me. “That’s ok. They aren’t real. They never really were. They are up here,” she poked her head with a hoof, “so I’m not leaving them anywhere.”
Ok, I was feeling pretty hopeful for a moment there. It sounded like her odd schizophrenic thing she had going on was done for, but it turned out that it was really only just a little better. Still though, had to start somewhere.
“Alright, guess we should get some sleep,” I said. “When we get up, we get out.”
Pinkie nodded, before plopping down near her moss-blanket and rolling away from me.
I promise I’ll make this all better... I thought to myself as I slipped into sleep.