Unearth

by Undermine

Day 5

The dark morning surrounds the dense forest. Within it, Pinkie Pie's friends and Spike, accompanied by two Air Force cadets, are on the search. Twilight's horn glows bright as she leads the group towards Pinkie location. None of them make a sound.

Twilight stops. The group looks around her to see why. Before her is the fork in the trail, but she is not turing either right or left.

"Why am I still pointing straight...?" Twilight says to herself. She approaches the bushes that cover the split path. She puts herself through the foliage, and with a couple of steps she disappears. The group waits in anticipation.

Twilight calls back to them, "Guys! Come on! There's a path here! It goes right down into the valley!"

Pinkie Pie closes her journal and slides it into her saddlebag. She wipes away her tears, and weakly places her head down.

Her eyes, foggy and glazed, stares up at the entrance of the hole. She can see the outline of the moon through the top of the dense forest. She smiles, knowing that the last entity that will see her fade will be the Mare in the Moon.

Pinkie Pie closes her eyes.

"You have got to watch your step around here!" Twilight warns, right after Applejack almost slipped into a mine hole off the side of the trail.

"Yikes! How many of these mine holes do you reckon are around us?"

"A lot. Too many, actually. But my magic is pulling hard in this area, which means that Pinkie Pie is down one of these holes. There's around two dozen of them in this vicinity, which will make things a bit difficult-"

"Wait, PINKIE'S HERE?!" Rarity screams. "PINKIE! PINKIE PIE, WHERE ARE YOU?"

The rest of the gang move apart, yelling for Pinkie Pie while Twilight tries to get their attention back.

Pinkie Pie's eyes open. Through her cloudy mind she hears voices calling her name. At first she thinks it is some kind of hallucination, brought on by her dilapidated state of mind, but she soon realizes that it is very real.

Pinkie tries to stand but collapses on her own weight. She tries again and fails, already panting from the waste of energy. She tries to speak but only produces a ragged and crackled whisper. She desperately tries to think of something to get their attention before she passes out again. Her eyes dart side to side before they stop at her legs.

"GIRLS! QUIET!" Twilight's voice booms over the cacophonous mix of voices. The group falls silent again. "We can't just go about yelling haphazardly like that! We have to slow down and listen! She could be in any one of these holes, and we all just need to slow down and listen for a response!"

Pinkie Pie lifts her good leg and kicks the side of the hole.

"...what was that?" Twilight whispers after hearing an echoed CRAK. Not a single pony makes a sound.

CRAK.

They all turn to the source of the noise. Behind them, a fallen log covers a mine hole just enough to have been ignored by the group. Spike, being in the rear of the group, approaches the hole carefully. "Pinkie Pie?" he says. He peers down into the hole and hears another CRAK. It is without a doubt coming from this hole.

Spike turns to one of the Air Force cadets. "Gimme your flashlight! NOW!"

Pinkie kicks the side of the hole one last time before going limp. She breathes heavy and short. A high pitched tone in her ears drowns out any kind of noise that she might have been hearing. Her eyes begin to flutter.

Suddenly, a bright light shines down on her. This is it, she thinks, this is the end. But the light is partially blocked by a silhouette. With the ringing in her ears dying down, she can the muffles shouts from the stranger above. He is calling her. He is calling her by name.

Pinkie's mind goes numb. She is not believing what is happening. She is being rescued.

Everything is in slow motion for Pinkie Pie. The silhouette disappears and is replaced by another, this time with wings. It floats down to her, almost covering up the light before it lands right next to her. She can feel her head being lifted and turned to the face of her angel. A blue pegasus with rainbow hair stares at her, looking very worried, shouting what appears to her name.

Rainbow Dash, she remembers. She can feel the words escape her mouth. Her friend stops shouting. Rainbow Dash.........Dashie... Rainbow Dash's eyes immediately swell with tears.

Pinkie is lifted up from the hole carefully within the grasp of her friend. She looks down at the spot where she had stayed put for the the last five days.

Her eyes glaze over and her thoughts turn to blackness.

Spike watches as Rainbow Dash emerges with Pinkie Pie in her grasp. He backs away after the rest of the group who had huddled around the hole. Now, they finally can see their friend up close.

Spike watches the flurry of excited shouts and tears. He takes a look at Pinkie Pie; her eyes are slightly closed, her mane hangs lose, and her breath is long and weak. Twilight notices this and signals all of them to prepare themselves to be teleported back to Ponyville.

With a bright flash the group disappears and the forest is silent again. The only remaining members of the group are Spike and the two Air Force cadets.

It's over. They finally found Pinkie Pie.

"...shit..." one of the cadets says quietly. "...I mean...damn..."

"...I know..." Spike responds. He walks over to a tree and slumps onto it, sitting down. "...that kind of love can be really intense for those not use to it..."

"No...well, you're right, but...I was commenting on the pink pony...did you see her? She was completely emaciated, man...like I could see her ribcage and all...and her skin was really pale...damn, man..." the cadet walks over to the tree and slumps next to Spike. "...I-I-I'm new to all this, man....I'm not use to this kind of shit..."

"I am," says the other cadet. "If you remember a couple days ago I was the one who found the dead pony in a different mine hole with the rainbow girl. And let me tell you," he approaches the two guys sitting down. "that pink pony looked damn near identical to the dead one. You know what that means?"

Spike responds, "Yeah, it means that we found her just in time."

"No. It means she should be dead by now."

"Well, some ponies just have that extra bit of grit."

"She didn't look like the kind of pony who would." The cadet pulls the other cadet onto his hooves. "Well, I guess that means the mission was successful."

"Thank goodness," the other cadet says, "now can we get outta here? This place is really creepy. Hey, dragon-guy, want a lift back?"

"Yeah, sure, but first," Spike stands up, "check the hole. She probably left her saddlebag down there."

The two cadets looks at each other. The new one shakes his head side to side. The other rolls his eyes and trots over to the mine hole. He flies down and after a few moments reemerges with the saddlebag. "It ain't that heavy," he remarks, "never a good idea to pack light."

"Lemme see," Spike says. He takes the bag and looks inside. He pulls from it a journal. "Huh, I didn't know Pinkie kept a travel diary..."

"Hey, don't read it! That's private, and it probably has some messed up shit in there."

"Hey, I'm her friend. She'd be alright with me looking in it. And besides, you'd want to read it, too." The cadet glares at Spike. "Fine, look. I'll just read the first entry, okay?"

The other cadet gets anxious. "C'mon guys, I wanna get outta this place!"

"We will. Now let's see..." Spike opens the journal. The two cadets get in close and listen.

"My papa is celebrating his birthday! I CAN'T WAIT! I've got my saddlebag all packed and ready to go! I've got a LONG hike ahead of me!..."

Voices creep in and out of Pinkie Pie's subconsciousness. One moment she hears a soft familiar voice of one her friends telling her she's going to make it, the next she hears a machine whirring with deep voices talking about keeping her stable.

There are moments of pain and moments of nirvana, all seemingly flowing in and out through Pinkie's mind. She doesn't know when it will be over. She doesn't if she's dying or being brought back. All she can do is wait it out.

An euphoric feeling passes through her and she suddenly finds herself back in the hole. This time, the hole is much wider and taller, and a fog surrounds her. At the other end of the hole, Pinkie see a figure of a pony. It wasn't any ordinary pony. It was Princess Luna.

The fog clears and Pinkie can see Luna's face. The princess stares at Pinkie, saddened and shocked. Her mouth quivers and tears stream from the side of her face. Several moments go by before she speaks.

"I'm........so.......sorry.......we.......didn't.......know...........we........were.....selfish.......and....foolish.......to.....not.....help................I'm........sorry.........we........are.......sorry............."

The figure fades and so does the surrounding environment. The next thing Pinkie sees is a ceiling fan. She opens her eyes a bit more and looks around. She is no longer in a dream. She is in Ponyville hospital, with IV tubes coming out her arms and a breathing tube through nose. She can feel the soft mattress of the bed on her back. She cannot remember the last time she has felt more comfortable.

She can feel somepony gently holding her hoof. She looks to the side. Twilight is sitting next to the bed, her eyes looking into hers. She smiles softly.

"Hello Pinkie," she whispers, "you're back. Your back home, honey."

Pinkie is very tired, but her mind is ecstatic. She could not have wished for a better pony to see after the five days. "T...t...Twi..." Pinkie tries to speak, but she can hardly keep her eyes open.

"Shhh...you can go back to sleep, Pinkie. You're alright now. You're gonna be fine." Pinkie can feel Twilight kiss the top of her hoof.

"Twilight....you......found me......I knew...."

"Yes, we did, Pinkie. We all found you just in time."

".....Twilight....."

"Yes?"

"....I......love.....you.....thank you......"

"...I love you, too, Pinkie. We all love you so much."

Pinkie closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep. She can rest easy. She will wake up.