Pinkie Pie simply stared out the window of her sister's room, into the distance. She didn't stare at anything in particular... she was just staring. She wasn't deep in thought... she was just staring.
So much had happened in such a short time... she didn't know what else to do.
Her mane lay flat against her head, pouring like a waterfall instead of reveling in a glorious myriad of curls and waves. Even her coloration seemed to be grayer, lacking in the bright and colorful nature that often defined who Pinkie Pie was. It was as if an important part of her was damaged... like she had been hurt deep.
And she had been, though she couldn't figure out why.
She barely knew the Apples. She didn't even know the stallion that died.
So why did she hurt so much?
There was a knock at the door, and Pinkie spoke, a slight rasp in her voice. "Come in..."
The door slowly creaked open, Octavia looking inside. Her expression betrayed concern for her younger sister, although she had stopped crying herself. This was not to say, of course, that she did not feel for the Apples' loss... but if one burdened themselves with everypony's problems, they'd never be happy.
"Pinkamena... are you okay...?"
Pinkie nodded slowly; she wasn't being truthful, and she wasn't fooling anypony.
"... Do you want to talk about it, Pinkamena...?"
Pinkie shook her head slowly.
Octavia slowly stepped into the room towards her sister, and sat on her haunches next to her. She stared out the window, trying to determine what Pinkie was staring at, but all she could see was that she might be staring at some trees. She looked back towards Pinkamena, only to see that her sister stared with an expression devoid of emotion; tired, worn... like the face of a pony who had seen years of turmoil and war.
And she had only been away from home for a few days.
The thought hurt her more than she wanted to let on. This was supposed to be a time of discovery for Pinkie, a time for her to learn who she was... and in such a short time, she had been forced to bear witness to one of the worst things that could occur, something, she admitted, was unheard of back in their community. There, ponies died of old age or sickness; never did one slay another with their own hooves.
"... Pinkie..."
If Pinkie heard her, she didn't acknowledge it.
"... I... I know that... what happened... what you saw today was horrible... I can't even begin to imagine how terrible this must be for you-"
"Why did it happen, Octavia?"
Octavia was taken by surprise. She hadn't expected Pinkie to say anything to her. She looked down to her hooves, thinking. "... I... I don't know... I didn't ask anypony... I'm not close with the Apple family, so I'm afraid I'm as oblivious to it as you are..."
"... Do you think... that maybe it was some sort of mistake? Maybe an accident?... Maybe somepony just... did something wrong and... poof?"
The elder Pie tried desperately to think of an answer. "... Like I said, Pinkie, I don't really-"
"How could it happen?"
"... Well... from what little I know... he was stabbed...."
"No, Octavia... "
Pinkie turned to face Octavia, her eyes threatening more tears as the corners of her mouth tugged down. "How could it happen...? How could something so bad happen...?"
Octavia looked to her hooves, as if the answer would be near them.
"... Pinkie... I know this might hurt to hear but.... some ponies... aren’t good ponies..."
Pinkie's lip trembled. "Mama and Papa always said... that everypony, no matter how wicked... had some level of goodness in them... that nopony is ever beyond redemption... so how could somepony who has good in them do that...?"
Octavia didn't know how to reply. She had several possible answers, but each one had risks of conclusions she didn't know if she wanted her sister to have instilled upon her. So, she said the only thing she felt she could; the thing that would deal the least damage.
"... Because while everypony is capable of good... not everypony chooses to be good..."
Silence fell on them as Pinkie continued to stare at her sister, as if pleading for her to say more, to give her a better answer. Octavia looked up to her sister and frowned; she didn't know what else she could say. Pinkie seemed to sense this, so she turned to look out the window again.
"... I think I want to go home..."
Octavia gasped. "Wha... but Pinkie, you can't go home just yet! You've only been here for a few days, and-"
"-And I've seen ponies fight, I've seen ponies kill... "
Pinkie's eyes welled up with tears again. "... How much does this happen if, in only three days, I've seen this much...?"
The eldest sister, once more, found herself unable to respond.
Pinkie climbed into the bed and rolled under the blankets. "... I want to go home..."
Octavia sighed, trying to think up something, anything to change her sister's mind. She didn't care if Pinkie went home eventually, but she didn't want her sister to leave because she viewed the world as evil.
"... Pinkamena... what about Vinyl's party? Don't you still want to go to that?"
"... What right do I have to party if there's ponies out there who get killed for reasons nopony knows?"
Octavia moved towards the bed. "Pinkie... please... just give it a chance... please..."
Pinkie slowly turned to face her sister, who stared at her with pleading eyes.
"... If not for Vinyl... if not for me... do it for yourself..."
Pinkie stared at her for several seconds before slowly turning around again.
"... Okay..."
Octavia smiled a tiny bit, a little glad that she had, at least, this opportunity to help cheer her sister up. She got up and walked towards the door, turning around. "Pinkamena... if you need to talk, I'll be downstairs... I'll come and get you thirty minutes before time to leave..."
No response from Pinkie. Octavia nodded gently, and closed the door behind her as she trotted out of the room. Standing beside the door was Vinyl, who looked towards Octavia. "Wow... she's takin' it pretty hard..."
Octavia sighed. "Pinkie... she's never witnessed death before... especially not death by pony hooves... furthermore, she truly cares about the joy of all ponies..." She stared back at the door. "When she saw all the heart ache, all the suffering, and understood the loss... she probably felt it as much as a pony who had known that stallion for years might have..."
Vinyl frowned. "Wow... that sucks..."
Octavia sighed. "... I just hope that club of yours can liven her spirits... I worry that this might scar her for life otherwise..."
Pinkamena stared at the wall of the bedroom, none the wiser of the conversation just outside its borders. She just wanted it to go away, to forget all the evils of this world, to forget that bad things happened.
She wanted to go back to her dull, boring life where everything was good.
She closed her eyes, and drifted into sleep.
****************************
Bright light.
There was light everywhere, save for in the grass, though it reflected off the grass. There was a lot of grass. A REALLY lot of grass. Grass as far as the eye can see.
Oh look, there's a tree.
One tree. Huh.
An apple tree.
Pinkie found herself drawn to trot towards the Apple Tree. As she approached, she noticed something strange.
Three foals, playing, running around, giggling and laughing. One red coated colt with an orange mane, an orange-coated filly with a blonde mane, and on her back was a smaller, butter-coated filly with a red mane.
All three of them wore wooden masks and white tunics.
She turned to look at the tree. It seemed to glow with life, with joy...
Just then, the sky began to cloud up. Dark clouds pulled together, accumulating until they turned into what seemed like a vortex. The foals stopped playing and looked up at the vortex.
And from it, a bolt of blood-red lightning struck the tree.
The massive apple-tree burst into splinters, branches, and flames, and the foals ran away screaming. Slowly, from the burnt and charred remains of the tree, the grass began to turn gray. The foals rushed towards Pinkie - she had no idea why, but they did. She didn't know why, but she felt compelled to do something. She looked back up to see the grayness getting closer to them. Looking back towards the foals, she felt weight in her heart. Without thought, she wrapped her hooves around all three of them, and held them close.
The grayness continued.
And then, it stopped.
The three foals turned to face the remains of the apple tree again. Pinkie couldn't see their faces, but somehow, she knew that they were still mourning the loss of the tree.
Then, she noticed something. More ponies - all wearing the same white tunics, all wearing wooden masks, seeming to come as if out of nowhere. They gathered around, and the grayness began to recede. The storms roared and howled as they slowly retreated. Pinkie looked towards the tree to notice it was no longer burning, and that in the remains of the trunk, a small sprout was growing.
"Pinkie..."
She turned around, hearing a familiar voice. So close, yet so far away.
"Wake up..."
******************************
Pinkie opened her eyes and noticed Octavia standing over her. "Pinkie?"
"Hunh...?"
"Pinkie... it's time to get ready to go."
Pinkie groaned a bit and sat up. She'd rather not go, but she did promise her sister she would. It would be wrong to go back on that promise just now. She removed herself from the bed and looked to her sister. Octavia smiled. "There you go... don't worry, I think you'll have fun..."
Pinkie nodded.
The two ponies then made their way downstairs, ready for a night out.
*******************************
The sisters arrived at the club just in time to get into line.
A long, LONG line.
Oh boy this was going to take a while.
"Go figure... Vinyl invites us to a club we won't even be able to get into..."
Pinkie sighed a bit and looked around at all the ponies. Something that struck her as odd was that most ponies seemed to be older than her. It was somewhat intimidating, by her own admission.
"What're YOU doing in line?"
Octavia turned around, Pinkie following suit, to notice Vinyl. "Hey, you girls're my possie! You can go in right now!"
"Ohh... well, I guess that's convenient."
The three ponies removed themselves from the line and trotted towards the front. Along the way, Pinkie noticed that several ponies were staring at them with hateful glares. Why were they mad at her? She didn't do anything wrong, did she? She was just friends with somepony who, it seemed, was allowed in earlier than everypony else. She tried to ignore the glares, and as they neared the front, she heard voices...
"Hey! That's totally me! I'm totally old enough to get in!"
"Yeah right, nice try kid."
Pinkie looked to the sound of the voices. Standing there was a single bouncer - a large stallion with no mane, a beard, and a pair of sunglasses, as well as a black jacket. In front of him were two pegasus mares - obviously around Pinkie's age. One of them was butter yellow, with a pink mane and turquoise eyes, and a cutie-mark of three butterflies. She seemed to be desperately attempting to hide herself in her own wings and mane. The other was a cyan blue mare, with a scruffy, rainbow colored mane and tail, pink eyes, and a cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow-colored bolt of lightning.
"First off, kid... this is a stallion, not you. Secondly, his eyes are golden brown, yours are pink. Thirdly, you've tried to get in here before. We still remember you.
"Oh come ON! This is a rip off! I'm TOTALLY cool! Come on just let us in!"
"Ah ah, kid. Come back in a few years when you can buy your own cigarettes."
Vinyl hissed a bit. "Ohhh yeah... is your sister old enough to get in..."
Octavia groaned. "Vinyl... I thought when you invited her to a club you knew something I didn't!"
Vinyl chuckled. "Ah... yeah... about that... I'm not used to this situation... we might have to sneak her in..."
Octavia shook her head. "No... no, that's okay, Vinyl. I don't want to break any rules. We'll just find something else to do..." The unicorn put a hoof on the back of her head and looked to Pinkie, clearly feeling a deal of guilt as she tried to come up with a plan.
"... Well... I guess I'll talk to you two later then... I've gotta do this, cause I dunno if I'll get another shot at this... some big name ponies in the gig tonight."
Octavia smiled and put a hoof on Vinyl's shoulder. "Vinyl, don't fret... we know. You go in there and... make your wubs..." Vinyl nodded slowly, turning around and heading inside.
"They not lettin' you two in either?"
Pinkie and Octavia looked towards the sound of the voice; standing there were the two teenage mares that had just been rejected entrance.
"Oh, well, yes and no-"
"It's lame, isn't it?" Said the rainbow maned mare. "I mean, we're not babies anymore! Why can't we just go in and have fun?"
Octavia quirked a brow. "... Because they serve alcoholic beverages, and host several shady figures and don't want to risk underage minors getting into any number of situations that might render them legally liable."
The rainbow-maned tomboy waved a hoof. "Pfft! We can take care of ourselves! Right Fluttershy?"
The butter yellow pegasus meeped.
Pinkie quirked her brow. "What's her problem?"
"What? Her? Oh, she's just Fluttershy. She's... well... shy! I'm Rainbow Dash, nice to meet ya!" Rainbow Dash held her hoof out, grinning. Pinkie slowly raised her hoof and took it, the rainbow maned pegasus shaking it vigorously.
"M-my name's Pinkie Pie... and this is my sister, Octavia.."
Octavia nodded. "Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash... Fluttershy..."
Rainbow hummed. "Well... I got nothin' better to do tonight. So, since you two can't get in, wanna hang out?"
Octavia quirked a brow. "Well... I don't know, I don't think I've ever met you before..."
Rainbow shrugged. "What about you, Pinks? You look kinda mopey but I bet you an' Fluttershy'll get along just fine."
Pinkie stared at the pegasus for a minute. Something about her was just... energetic. She just seemed to exude life. On a fundamental level, Pinkie couldn't help but feel that she and Rainbow Dash might have been kindred spirits.
"Sure, I'd like to hang out."
"What!?"
Octavia looked to Pinkie. "Sister, these hooli-- nice young mares... tried to sneak into a club with fake IDs! Surely you can't want to spend time around them..."
Pinkie looked towards her sister. "I'm sorry Octi... I guess we can just go back home, I can lay in bed, and wait until I can get the first carriage home tomorrow..."
Octavia stared at her sister. She tried to force it down, but she felt like her insides were twisting and turning. She wanted to ignore it, but alas, she could not. So, she buckled.
"... Alright... you can play with your friends..."
"Ew! Don't say it like that!" Shouted Rainbow Dash.
"BUT!... You have to be back by 10:00. And please... TRY to stay out of trouble..."
Pinkie smiled a bit and hugged Octavia. Her eldest sister let her go and looked down the street. "Remember you three. Don't tread alone, and don't take anything from strangers or follow ponies you don't know into unknown territory or dark alleys..."
Octavia began to walk away, staring back at Pinkie with no shortage of concern. As soon as she disappeared, she turned to her friends. "So... what do you girls want to do...?"
Rainbow grinned. "First things first! We're sneaking into that club!"
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TO BE CONTINUED....