//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Painful History // Story: A Shadow Brought to Light // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 21 "Hmmm... Huh?" I woke up in an unfamiliar room. It was pink. VERY pink. "Oh yeah, I'm in Pinks' room." I rolled out of bed, and then something clicked in my mind. "She didn't try anything. She just wanted to be close to me..." I looked at Pinks, who was still asleep. She looked adorable. Her chest was slowly rising and falling, and she had a small, content smile on her face. "D'awwwww..." I slowly opened the door and left the room to go downstairs to get some breakfast... But I was cut off at the entrance to the kitchen by Mr. and Mrs. Cake. "Shadow... We need to talk to you." Uh-oh. He sounded serious. "Uh... Sure. What about?" I grabbed a cup, and poured myself some coffee the Cakes must have made when they woke up. I started drinking it, and Mrs. Cake continued where Mr. Cake left off. "What did you do with Pinks last night?" I spit the coffee out all over the floor, and stared at them. "You really think I did... THAT... With Pinks?" They both nodded, and I just stared at them... And fell over laughing. "Why are you laughing?! This is serious!" Mr. Cake stomped the ground with one of his hooves. I calmed myself down, and stood back up. "No, no, I know that. It's just... You can't honestly believe I'd try to make moves on Pinks! No, if she wants that, I won't try to determine so. I'll wait until she asks me." I was a little red after saying that, but nothing too bad. "... You're a good pony." Mrs. Cake nuzzled my side a little bit and walked out of the room, and Mr. Cake followed, who gave me a nod and a smile. "Well that was awkward. Now then, for breakfast..." I rummaged through the cabinets for a bit, and found some cereal. "The breakfast of champions... Or regular ponies like me." I poured some in a bowl, and grabbed some milk. Then, I felt something warm wrap around my midsection. "You left me in bed all alone..." I almost fell over. "That sounds so wrong, Pinks..." She giggled a bit, and hopped in front of me. "So! What'dya wanna do today?" I shrugged, and Pinks sat down at the table, where I promptly joined her. "Maybe you could tell me more about your life?" "I dunno, Pinks. I know you're an understanding pony, that's not why I wouldn't want to talk about it... Some of it's just too painful." Pinks nodded understandingly. "Well... I think I'd like to tell you about my past." I stared at her for a second to see if she was joking, but she looked serious. "Come on, lets go back to my room." I nodded and followed her up the stairs, and back to her room. She closed the door... And locked it. "Is it really that bad?" She nodded sullenly, and sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to her to signal me to sit down, which I did. "Alright... What is it you wanted to tell me?" (Listen to this.) "Well... When I was a little filly, about seven or eight years old. I was out, farming rocks, just like any old day. I was sad... So, so sad. I just wanted some color in my boring, grey life. Well, one day, this HUGE rainbow blasted out across the sky, but that's another story for another day. Anyways, when I saw it, I felt my hair start to curl up, and my coat brightened. I felt my mouth move in a really weird way: A smile. I decided right there that was going to make my family happy, and cheer them all up. I set up a big party in a building on the farm, and I waited there until my family showed up, because I knew they'd be looking for me. When they opened the doors, I flicked on the lights, and they all just stared at me... And then they all smiled. They loved it! They sang, they danced, they ate all sorts of snacks... And they were all so happy. But then, the next day... I woke up when my father smacked me. He told me that what I did was a waste of valuable harvesting time, and just plain wrong. He told me that I was a disgrace to the entire family, and my mother and my two sisters were nodding in agreement... I felt awful. I can't even explain how angry I was, or how sad I was... I just mindlessly went out, day after day, harvesting rocks. What little talking there was between my family stopped completely. So one day, I ran away..." Tears were falling down her face, and I had my hoof on her back. "Pinks, it's alright, if you don't wanna talk about it-" "I just ran. I didn't know where I was going. I'd never left the rock farm before. I was scared of what it was like outside of that dull little world I'd spent my entire life in. The first place I ended up in was Ponyville. I didn't know what to do then, so I just took up in an alleyway near the town center. I lived off of the scraps of other ponies. I rooted through the trash every day, hoping to find something edible." Her hair was deflating, and her coat was starting to darken. "Pinks, please, I-" "I eventually started stealing food from the carts. I stole anything: Oranges, apples, pears, cabbage, celery stalks... Anything. I felt like a common criminal, but I guess that's because I was one, huh? Sometimes I would get caught, and I would have to run away, because if they managed to get me, I would have had to return to the farm, and I was terrified of what father would do. He used to beat us if we did anything wrong, and I had run away from home. Who knows what he would have done to me... Well, one day, somepony did get me. It was another little filly, an orange one with a blonde mane. Applejack. She cornered me in the alley, but instead of just turning me in, she looked me over, and saw that I was starving. She let me keep the apple I stole, and then she started bringing me apples every day. She would talk to me, but I never spoke back, until one day. She asked me for my name, and I didn't want to tell her that it was Pinkamena." She never told me that was her real name. "There were missing pony posters everywhere with that name on it, but of course, no picture. My family shunned technology like cameras. So, I thought of a new name. Pinkie. That's what I told her, and that's what I've told everypony to this very day. My entire life is a lie... I'm not just the happy-go-lucky pony who was raised by the Cakes. I'm a runaway..." She trailed off there, unable to continue. She just broke down, and I held her as she cried. I knew my life was bad, but I never knew my family, I just ran away from an orphanage. To be cast away by the ones you love... "But none of that matters now..." She lifted her head, and looked me in the eyes. She had an insane smile on her face, and her eyes... They were empty. They weren't the sparkling eyes that I knew: They were cold, and angry. "Pinks?! What's wrong?" (Stop the music.) "I'm not Pinkie Pie..." I cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Of course you are. Who else could you be?" She tilted her head, and widened her mad smile, and her eyes went crossed. "My name... Is Pinkamena."