//------------------------------// // Below Zero // Story: Her Void Pink // by Darkryt Orbinautz //------------------------------// Twilight was apprehensive, standing in her void. After all that had happened, she didn't think she had lost control of it. She knew she had. Why she had still eluded her, though. Had keeping her control around Pinkie in the real world took so much effort and willpower that it had cost her ability to manipulate her own dreams and fantasies? That would've been awful, as she had barely kept herself in check yesterday, nearly pulling Pinkie into herself after unnecessarily saving the girl from a fall. In the void, Twilight heard water running. There was a waterfall up ahead leading into a pond. She approached the pond and lowered her neck to look at her reflection in the water. The water rippled with seemingly nothing around to make it move. Twilight a got a tinge in the base of her tail. There was something in the water she didn't want to have- or something to be done in the water she didn't want to do. The point was, she didn't want anything to do with it. She turned around to get away, but the instant she took her third step from it, she heard something splash out of the water...and felt it wrap around her hind hoof. Twilight grunted and tried to jerk her hoof free, to pull it our grasp, but whatever grabbed a tight, firm - yet surprisingly gentle grip on her hoof. It started pulling. Pulling her. Pulling her towards the water. Twilight renewed her struggling, but whatever was pulling her wasn't going to let go easily. Twilight was pulled to her knees by the tugging. She flailed and scrambled about, trying to grab something to pull her back away from the water. "Eeeehhhhheen!" It pulled her under under the water's surface, a ripple blew out as her body was submerged into the chilling water... The strangest thing was...the water was practically ice...sub-zero temperatures that no pony -and quite a few other creatures shouldn't have been able to stand, let alone survive...but it felt so nice, chill on her stressed psyche. The water started filling her vision... Twilight groaned awake. Opening her eyes, she found her a pink wall to be the only thing she could see. Her nose was pressed up against it and huffing out hot air, which bounced off the wall and swam around her nostrils. With a start, Twilight realized that pink wall was the back of Pinkie's neck. She whimpered, fearful of what she might have done to Spike in her slumber in order to bring Pinkie closer. When she tried to get up to look around the room, her worries were put to rest. Replaced by an infuriation that she had foiled her own brilliance: Rather then shoving Spike off to get to Pinkie, Twilight had shoveled her nose under him to put her nose up against the back of Pinkie's neck. Twilight had to squirm just ever so slightly over and over until she could get herself out from both her bed-buddies without disturbing them. Once free, she rolled over on her side of the bed. What time was it? A quick glance at the window suggested it was still night. Twilight signed and tried to get back to sleep. Or at least something resembling it closely enough to keep Spike from worrying when he woke up. Twilight's tightly-wounded, impossibly precise internal sense of time said it was within the range to two, three hours before Pinkie and Spike woke up and did their morning business. Pinkie's first thing to do before anything else however, was to float herself up to the ceiling and come crashing down on the bed, jettisoning Twilight off it to the floor to wake her up. Unsuccessfully to 'wake her up', rather, as she was already awake. "Pinkie!" Twilight yelled. "Was that really necessary!?" "Of course!" Pinkie said. "I had to be sure you were up for day number two, silly!" Twilight shook her head and got off the floor. Pinkie's mannerisms were annoying and childish, but Twilight lov-... was forgiving to her enough to get past it. After, if she couldn't stand being near her, how was Twilight supposed to pull Pinkie close and lavish the baker with her...what were they, anyhow? Affections? Let's go with that. Pending a better word of course. "The schedule Cheerilee gave me didn't say you had anything to do today, Twilight!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing up on her tail like a spring. "So we can spend the whole day having fun!" Twilight signed, preparing herself for the disgusting feeling about well up in her. "I'm sorry, Pinkie..." BLEEEEECH. There she went again! Ulllgghh...yuck. 'I'm sorry, Pinkie'... Twilight was starting become assured she was going to say that once a day through her Week! "But something's come up. I need to schedule a visit with the psychiatrist." "Psychiatrist?" Pinkie asked. "Twilight, are you going crazy?" Twilight's eye twitched. Everything in her vision suddenly turned white, putting her in a-well, void. The white was on the floors, the walls, the ceiling. She didn't know why or what it was, just that...in it's emptiness, she felt alone. And now that she felt alone...she felt comfortable screaming. "I-AM-NOT-CRAZY!" A distorted voice said something. It sounded like it was coming from a thousand miles away. Twilight's head spun around, disoriented. The white began peeling like dried paint, slowly coming off the walls to reveal her bedroom. The floor cracked, then the whole walls just shattered apart like a priceless vase dropping off it's pedestal. Once it had all gone, Twilight found herself back in her bedroom. "I never said you were crazy, Twilight!" Pinkie's cheerfully reminded her. Of course... "I asked if you were going crazy!" Spike came running up the stairs, throwing his claws on the door's arch for support. "I heard yelling! Is everything all right?" "Of course everything's all right." Twilight told him. "Why wouldn't it be-" ...Oh. Twilight realized she must said her thoughts out loud. The white void...her mind must have constructed it so she could feel comfortable screaming. "Everything's hunky-dory!" Pinkie assured Spike. "Twilight just isn't crazy! Which I don't know how she knows that, but I trust her not to do something EVVVILL! Right, Twilight?" Oooh...just 'be happy' and everything'll be okay, Pinkie. Twilight wanted to moan at her, but couldn't. Twilight couldn't believe she had just nearly lost all of her control like that. That she screamed at Pinkie like that and didn't even realize it, but...but...BUT SHE WASN'T CRAZY! "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Pinkie Pie." Twilight apologized. Funny. For all the disgust she had apologizing to Pinkie, she suddenly felt she couldn't it enough. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Pinkie scoffed. "Eesh, Twilight! I heard you the first time! What are you, a parrot?" Maybe she is, but what she isn't is CRAZY! Calm down, calm down...Pinkie never said she was crazy: Pinkie asked if she going crazy. Which, thinking about it, she just might've been... "Come on." Twilight urged softly. "Let's eat breakfast so we can go." Pinkie was proving co-operable this morning, going down the stairs with Twilight to eat the breakfast Spike had made. Unfortunately, Spike had given in to his dragon instincts, making some huge breakfast pastry that was loaded with sapphires baked into it- forcing Twilight and Pinkie to nibble around the gems. The little tiny bites were enough to feed them, however, and Twilight and Pinkie left with Spike in tow to go the psychiatrist office. On their way by the road, they ran into a pumped Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Pinkie Pie!" Dash yelled, approaching them. "I got a super-awesome cool new moves to try out, and I was wondering if you would be my test audience?" Twilight boiled internally. How dare Rainbow Dash try to her Pinkie away from her? ...No, no-no-no-no, Pinkie wasn't Twilight's...possession to give at her leisure, she was her own individual pony! Twilight should be ashamed of herself for even thinking that! If she wanted to see Rainbow Dash's tricks, Twilight shouldn't try to keep her from it like an insecure mother keeping their child from trying out something new. "Sorry, Dashie, I have to spend every day for the next week with Twilight so I can understand her better!" "Yeah..." Twilight muttered. She had forgotten about that. "Didn't you have a Celebratory Week, Rainbow?" "Nah." Dash said. "I was here in Ponyville before Pinkie moved in." "Nuh-uh!" Pinkie said. "I was here before you were! You even had your own Week!" Dash's hoof curled back. "No, Pinkie, I was here first and my week never happened!" "So admit you there was a week!" Aaag. Twilight's heart strings were being tugged in multiple directions. This was another situation she had to get just right. Rainbow and Pinkie were clearly disagreeing on something, and starting to get into the others face about it. She should do something, but what? And it had to be something that protected Pinkie while still keeping her friendship with Rainbow...but what would that be! "There was no...week, Pinkie!" "There WAS too a Week for you, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight grimaced, practically caught in the middle. "Could you, um...girls, could we..." She mumbled quietly. "There was NOT a week! You're probably thinking of some other pony!" "Nnooooo...I'm thinking of you, and I know I am! I know everypony in Ponyville and when they came to it, so don't argue with me Dash!" Twilight wanted to keep control. She really did. But when her own mind was indecisive, it was hard to keep control or think at all. She broke down crying, falling to her knees. Her quiet sobs were just barely audible enough for Pinkie and Rainbow to notice. The sight of their friend in distress made them both forget everything and rush over to Twilight's aid, the two of them zooming to take up one of Twilight's side each. "Twilight, what's wrong?" Rainbow asked. "Did somepony hit you when we weren't looking!?" "Nooo..." Twilight whined. "I...you and Pinkie started fighting...and I wanted to make you stop, but I couldn't think of anything that I was sure wouldn't offend one of you!" Rainbow Dash and Pinkie looked at each other, realizing the extent of their folly. Pinkie gingerly tapped her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Hey. It's okay now, Twilight. We're not fighting now." Dash seemed really apprehensive about something. "...Okay, Twilight? Yes, Pinkie gave me a Celebratory Week, just like you're having now. Something really embarrassing happened in the middle, so I always try to get ponies to think it never happened. I'm sorry, guys...I shouldn't have let my pride start a fight like that..." "We forgive you!" Pinkie chipperly told her, then looked at Twilight. "Uh, don't we?" Twilight giggled lightly. "Yes, Pinkie. We do." Dash started backing away slightly, then rose into the air. "Soo...you both up to see my tricks?" "Can we come back to you later, Rainbow? We have somewhere to be." Twilight told her, getting up. Dash was normally impatient with ponies coming back to her, but it was clear from her feathers she didn't want to do something to make Twilight cry again. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you want." She flew away to do...whatever. Twilight and Pinkie continued on to the local Ponyville therapist. The building was like the doctor's office, but smaller and a subdued red. The first room inside when they stepped through the door was a small room with chairs on the left or right walls, and the back wall had the desk register and the door into the therapist's actual office. There were three stallions sitting the chair, waiting for their turn. One stallion's eye seem caught on Pinkie. Twilight didn't notice. Twilight went ahead and approached the clerk, Pinkie bouncing behind her. The clerk was surprised to see her, Twilight having not been here before. "Hello. Do you have an appointment?" Twilight shook her head. "No ma'am. I'm here to schedule one." "Ah!" The clerk exclaimed, whipping out her pen. "What for?" Good question. Twilight wanted to see a psych expert because she had been losing control of her void...and just today, she had found herself with a new, different void. What would that fall under? "Strange dreams and illusions." "Name?" "Twilight Sparkle." "The earliest we have an opening is two days from now. Will that work?" "Yes." The clerk penciled in something on her clipboard. "All right. Do you need anything else?" Oh yes. She needed quite a few things, but the clerk couldn't really give them to her. "No. Thank you." "No problem! Have a nice day." "You too." Twilight turned and walked out the building, Pinkie still silently bouncing behind her. They were out a few steps, and Twilight was getting ready to start bouncing herself when somepony appeared behind them. "Hey!" Somepony shouted behind them. Not only that, but he sounded like he wanted to pick a fight. Twilight and Pinkie turned around to see who it was. One of the stallions from the building was following them. "You!" He said, pointing at Pinkie. "I lost my job because of you!" Oh dear...that wasn't good. Twilight would never even think Pinkie would cause somepony to get fired...but it wasn't hard to think her antics would do something to upset somepony's boss. Pinkie gasped. "I did? Oh, I'm so sorry! Is there something I can do to help you out?" "Yeah..." The pony said. "Hold still." The pony raised his hoof and socked Pinkie in the cheek. He was hefty, so the punch knocked her aside. "Ow!" Twilight's senses came to a halt. Her first priority should've been to make sure Pinkie was okay, but Twilight knew her next thought was going to be dealing with the stallion...and she wasn't sure she wanted to do that. Not for fear of the stallion hurting her. Quite the opposite, in fact. "Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed, rushing over to give Pinkie some support. "Are you okay, sweetie?" "I think so..." Pinkie rubbed her cheek sorely. The stallion whinnied disapprovingly. Twilight, knowing Pinkie was going to live, rounded on her attacker. "You! You should be ashamed of yourself, just hitting ponies like that!" The stallion scoffed. "You wanna get into a fight with me, missy?" "No...but I also don't want you hitting my friends! Or any pony's friends, for that matter!" The stallion frowned at her. He raised his hoof and wounded it up to hit her, but Twilight reacted. She grabbed his hoof with her magic and forced it to be still. The stallion's eyes widened at the loss of control of his limb. Twilight should've been willing to let him off with a warning this time. Three strikes and a pony was out, and as far she knew, this was only his first strike. ...But he had hurt Pinkie. He hurt Pinkie. He hurt Pinkie! "You know something?" Twilight said, taunting him. "I bet it wasn't Pinkie who got you fired so much as your bad attitude!" Not an unreasonable theory, actually, giving the stallion's violence, but... Twilight grabbed his other hoof with her magic then wrapped both of them around his neck, and began choking him with his own hooves, levitating him into the air. He gasped for air. "HA-lack!" "Twilight!?" Pinkie exclaimed. "What are you doing!?" ...I don't know. Twilight dropped the stallion to the ground. "Oh, gee, I'm sorry about that, mister! I just...I was really upset you hit my friend." "Oh, yeah, no, sure!" The stallion said, trying to say something that would get this crazy mare off him. He scrambled himself together and ran off, quite possibly forsaking his appointment with the psychiatrist. Twilight turned to Pinkie with a smile, but Pinkie was pouting. Twilight didn't like that. "What's wrong, Pinkie?" Twilight cooed softly...and perhaps a bit more flirty then she intended. "That thing you did with that stallion...that was really scary, Twilight." "Mmmm." Twilight wasn't quite sure how to proceed. Just try to shrug it off? Say it was nothing? No, no, it wasn't nothing; she had choked a stallion with his own hooves. Celestia would disapprove of dismissing it completely. Twilight wrapped her legs around Pinkie's neck and stroked her mane. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not a sociopath, Pinkie." Twilight lowered her eyelids. Pinkie probably didn't know what a sociopath was. "I'm not dangerous, is what I mean. I just...I'm really protective of my friends, you know? Friends, family..." She stroked Pinkie's mane again. "And others." Twilight leaned in forward for the kill...or kiss, rather. Pinkie jumped out of Twilight's hooves before any connections could be made, oblivious to the unicorn's longing. "We should go see Rainbow Dash's tricks now!" Pinkie exclaimed. Oh yeah. Twilight was so preoccupied with the therapist, and then the stallion that she forgot all about that. Twilight skipped behind Pinkie's bouncing as Pinkie led the way to the empty, out of the way grass patch where Dash could normally be found when she had stunts to perform. A rainbow trail was curving through the sky above. "Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Rainbow Dash, Twilight and I are here to see your tricks!" The rainbow trail totally halted to see what was trying to grab her attention. Dash seemed quite pleased to see her friends. "All right guys, are you watching?" They nodded. Dash kept questioning them, trying to pump them up for her trick. "Are you ready? Are you prepared for this!?" "YEAH!" "Come on, Rainbow! Show us what it is already!" "Right! Keep your eyes on the one, the only, the amazing Rainbow Dash!" Dash sped through the air, zipping through the air in a straight line, then swerved, then kept going in a straight line. Twilight and Pinkie kept their eyes on her, but Twilight eventually saw what she was doing. "You're just making your Cutie Mark!" Twilight accused. Dash ignored her. Once the air painting of Dash's Cutie Mark had been completed, Dash flew a real cloud over it and connected it to the cloud of the painting. Dash steadied herself, then bucked the cloud, sending out a huge yellow lightning flash...then a huge blue lightning flash...then a yellow one. Twilight and Pinkie's eyes rolled around in their heads as they tried to get their vision swimming back to where it was supposed to be. "Okay, I was wrong." Twilight admitted. "That was pretty-" "AWE-SSUUUM!" Twilight didn't feel like disagreeing with Pinkie right now. Not that she ever did. "Heh!" Dash snickered, self-assured as always. "The Wonderbolts will beg me to join them now!" Twilight couldn't keep her amusement at Dash's ego in check. "Yeeeah...you're irresistible now." "That's right!" Dash said, resting on a cloud and not catching the sarcasm in Twilight's voice. Nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day. Twilight did Twilight things. Pinkie did Pinkie things. Sometimes Pinkie's would mess up Twilight's, but she couldn't stay angry. At the library, in the dark of the night, after Spike made a delicious dinner for the three of them- which Twilight had pressed him to not use jewels for- and they had helped him slap together something for Pinkie to sleep on, Pinkie had volunteered to help Spike with clean-up. Twilight thought that she looked so cute, dressed up in her little apron. And maybe a few other things Twilight...probably shouldn't have been thinking. Hiding behind the door frame of the kitchen's entrance, the shadows covering her from Spike and Pinkie's view. Pinkie was idly washing the dishes while Spike swept. Twilight should help with clean-up one of these days, but she wasn't up to it today. Watching Pinkie doing the dishes, Twilight began thinking about recent experiences. The stallion she had attacked today...manipulating his own body against him... Twilight decided she needed to think about something else. Perhaps yesterday at the doctor's would provide an answer. Twilight remembered thinking about how stimulating having somepony else gnawing on her tail would be to her... Actually, given what she had done with the stallion earlier... Twilight activated her magic and grabbed the base of Pinkie's tail with it, giving a huge, firm, yet gentle tug on all the hair roots nestled under Pinkie's skin. Pinkie made a very...interesting squeal, like she wasn't sure whether to be pleased at or scared of the new sensation. She stopped washing and rubbed her tail to check for anomalies. "Heey! If you're a ghost or something trying to play a game, you should at least ponies' permission before you start tail-tugging!" Twilight looked downwards. That squeal- it had been so nice to hear that slightly-pleased squeal, but now that Pinkie had said her peace, one thought gnarled at Twilight's mind... I...I should stop now. So, without so much as a 'good night', Twilight turned around, galloped up the stairs and tucked in early.