//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Dee's Past 
// Story: The Long Forgotten Ancestors of Pinkamena Diane Pie. 
// by Krasniye 
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Dee awoke late that night because of the front door opening and closing. She heard the clatter and clanking of metal in the entryway. Dee was suddenly wide awake. She recognized the sounds as her mother arrived home. She crept out of bed and peaked out of her bedroom door. Sure enough a familiar orange and red earthpony stood by the door. Dee raced to her mother who still hadn’t noticed her, for she was too exhausted from the day to notice. “Mommy!” Dee yelled happily. “How was your day at the station?” Her mother turned and smiled at her little filly; her face was covered with soot and mild burns. Dee skidded to a stop in front of her mother. “Mommy was there another fire today?” Dee asked concerned. 
“Dee it isn’t polite to snoop, but if you must know then yes there was,” she answered. “There are fires every day, little one.” The tired mare hung up her jacket and the rest of her gear on a hanger in the entry way closet. A box of matches clattered to the floor below her jacket. Dee peeked over at the box on the floor but her mother moved quickly in front of it and blocked Dee’s curious view. Dee’s mother picked up her little filly by the collar of her pajamas. She tucked Dee back into bed and kissed her. Once her mother had left and went to bed and tried to go back to sleep.
Dee tossed and turned but didn’t get a wink of sleep. “What was she doing with a box of matches? Weren’t fireponies supposed to put out fires?” Dee asked herself these questions over and over. It was about 3 in the morning, according to the clock on her bedside table. She again snuck out of bed and into the entryway carefully trying not to wake her mother. As she walked towards the closet she remembered reading a book on ponies who set fires on purpose. She remembered it vividly in her brain, and it had scared her; because of that she developed a strong fear of fire. She reached the closet, and opened the door with a creak. Through the darkness she expected to find her mother's fire gear, and was shocked to find it gone. Had her mother gone back to the station already? It was 3 o’clock in the morning. Dee sniffed the air. She smelled a faint scent of kerosene. “It was probably nothing,” she told herself. She began to feel faint as the fumes began to get to her. She leaned on the living room sofa for support so she could regain herself. The sofa was soaking wet, and the smell of kerosene accumulated around it. Dee became frightened, as the situation dawned on her. This was just like one of the arson cases she had read about; a case that occurred over a thousand years ago in the lower part of Canterlot.
She began to shiver as she felt a breath on her shoulder. She turned around slowly to come face to face with her very own mother who was nuzzling her. She was clad in her entire fire suit with her breath mask hanging from her neck.
“Hmm, oh little filly I thought I told you not to snoop. It would have been far less painful if you had went to and stayed asleep. Oh well then, I guess you’ll have to burn whilst you are fully conscious and awake.” Dee’s mother lit a match and tossed it onto some soaked curtains. 
“Why mommy? I’m your only daughter!” Dee screamed at her. “I though you loved me!” Dee’s mother made a sour face. 
“Well you see I hated you from the start because you are a unicorn! And I had to kill your father before I could finally have the chance to kill you.” Dee was stunned. 
“YOU KILLED DAD?! But you were the one that tried to save him when his laboratory burned down; are you telling me that you set that fire!?” The twisted mare laughed, 
“Of course, anypony who loves a mixed-breed pony deserves to die with you vermin!” The mare pulled her breath mask over her snout and tried to grab Dee. Dee’s mother yelled through her breath mask, “PWNY shall return and purify equestrian!”  The young filly ran for the backdoor dodging flaming furniture. She yanked at the door desperately attempting to escape; but there were several railroad spikes jammed into the door frame that made opening it impossible. She looked back to see her mother walking casually toward her as her mask was reflecting the terrifying orange glow of the destructive flames. She was cornered with no apparent escape. She closed her eyes awaiting her imminent fate. Just then Dee heard a loud crash, and a stifled scream. She opened her eyes to see that the china cupboard had crashed down on her mother when the natural gas pipe ruptured and blown it over. Dee recognized this as her chance to escape. She jumped over her unconscious mother and dashed into the entryway which was now practically gutted by the flame. The only way out that wasn’t obstructed by fire was a window at the far end of the room. Dee charged at it staying low under the layer of toxic smoke that flowed out of the angry flame. Dee charged at the window and shot a blast of magical energy at it. The window shattered into a million pieces and Dee sailed through and tumbled on the asphalt street outside.
Dee awoke again outside of the dark garbage dump that had previously tried to kill her. She shook her head, “How do I not have a concussion by now!?” she asked herself as she rubbed yet another bump on her head as she thought about her latest flashback. “Even to this day,” she thought aloud, “I still can’t believe my very own mother would try to kill me.” Dee brushed a tear from her eye as she remembered how her mother had always tucked her in before bed and tell Dee how much she loved her. “All of it was a lie I guess.”
Dee lifted herself to her hooves and surveyed the area. It appeared that she was in a long tunnel; her voice and hoof steps traveled into the darkness, but she could hear no rebounding reply from the other end. She did however hear the same moaning sound from before. After hearing the moaning she knew that she must be heading in the right direction. Dee took a deep breath and expelled what felt like the excess fear that she was holding in side of her. She marched forward into the darkness hoping for the best; knowing that what was to come would be far worse than what lay behind.
The moaning grew louder and louder as Dee walked further and further into the bowels. The moan grew so loud that Dee felt as if the poor soul was standing right in front of her. Dee ran into something hard and was sent back onto her rear. The moaning stopped. 
“Who’s out there?” a hoarse and weak male voice called out with a twang. Dee responded tentatively, 
“Hello? Sir are you alright? Where are you?” The owner of the hoarse voice called out, “lLave this place! leave and never return! If ye value yer life, or yer dignity, then please leave little filly!” Dee felt along what she had ran into. It felt like a metal cage. Before too long she had found the door of the cage and the latch. 
“Just a second sir I’ll have you out of there in a jif…” Dee was cut off by the stallion in the cage. 
“LEAVE ME! SAVE YERSELF YE FOAL! If ye take the time to save me then THEY will capture the both of us, and we’ll both die!” Dee lifted the latch and the heavy metal door swung open. Dee could just make out the outline of a cadaverous stallion limping out the door of the cage. 
“The way out is that way!” Dee pointed a hoof down the tunnel in the direction in which she had come. The stallion tried to push Dee toward the exit and kept repeating, “We gotta skedaddle on outta here!” Dee stood firm. The stallion yelled at her, 
“What are ye waiting fer? They’re gonna to come fer us now!” Dee turned her back to the exit. 
“Go on, I have a mission to accomplish!” Dee cantered past the cage and away from the pleading stallion. The stallion began to gallop toward the exit but stopped and looked back at the tiny filly heading off to certain danger all by her lonesome. He thought to himself, 
“She saved my life! Now Ah must repay her kindness!” He turned and sprinted toward Dee in full throttle. Dee looked to the side of her and saw the dark outline of the stallion that she had rescued. “Well, I figured I couldn’t leave ye all alone in this here castle without a little bit of assistance!” Dee smiled; glad to have some company in this dark and frightening hellhole. “Allow me to introduce meself miss.  The name is Greensward Apple, but ye can call me Sour Apple, er just “Sour” fer short; all ma’friends do. Dee huffed, 
“Nice to meet you Mr. Sour Apple, my name is Dee Enea.” Sour chucked, 
“Ah wish ah could shake yer hand Dee, but seen as we’re runnin’, Ah guess that’ll just have to wait.”
So Dee continued on her mission with a new companion to aid her travels. Into the bowels of the castle sewers, the two galloped into the unknown. Dee didn't know what to expect when she reached the end of the tunnel. Little did she know it would be far worse than she could possibly imagine.