//------------------------------// // 10 - Pinkie's Intermission // Story: The Gloom // by Makitk //------------------------------// Pinkie stretched herself out lazily as she woke up, pushing up on her haunches and rubbing at her eyes in the darkness. Twilight was awake already, but was trying to get a little more rest than she really needed. Fluttershy was really scared in the dark, though. "Good morning!" Pinkie decided to bellow out, forcing some groans out of the ponies around her. "Pinkie, dear, how do you know what time it is in this infernal darkness?" Rarity wondered, her horn the first to glow. As expected, Fluttershy immediately stuck to the small circle of light like a moth drawn to a flame. "Because my Pinkie Sense tells me it's time to wake up of course," Pinkie grinned. Twilight lifted her head from her hooves and pushed up on all fours a moment later, daring to stretch her wings in the small space. "Does your Pinkie Sense tell you how we can get out of here?" Pinkie frowned and shook her head. "Of course not." "That's what I tho..." Twilight started, but Pinkie was quick to interrupt her. "There is no way out of here." All three of her friends stared at her in shock, and Rarity lost control over her light spell, sparks of light flaring off everywhere to show three solid brick walls and only the one door leading back into the, now filled, basin. "You mean to tell me we're stuck in here, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, one of her eyes twitching lightly. Pinkie quickly bounced over to the wall the little ghost had appeared through during the night. "We're not stuck, silly. We just need to take the bones and then we'll be fine. They're right here." "That's a wall," Twilight commented dryly, and Pinkie tilted her head at her. "It's not the wall that counts," she started, bouncing back to Twilight and wrapping her right foreleg around her friend's neck, aiming Twilight's horn at the wall, "but what's behind it." Twilight raised an eyebrow, but then powered up her horn and fired off a shot at the wall, pulverizing half of it. Pinkie quickly bounced through the hole, carefully scooped up the bones that were laying on the ground, and tucking them away into her saddlebags before her friends would notice. Fluttershy especially wouldn't need to see bones. Pinkie could handle it much better than her Pegasus friend. Somewhere high above something exploded with a loud sound and Pinkie realized they were running late! "Come on, slowpokes!" she called through the hole, just as Twilight was climbing through it. "Pinkie, this is another dead end," Twilight muttered, the new room just as much an empty rectangle. Except this one didn't have a door in it at all. "But the bunnies are through here!" Pinkie pointed at the wall to her left, and Twilight rubbed a hoof at her head. "If you want me to create a hole in a wall, just say so," she muttered, powering up her horn again and pulverizing part of the other wall. Pinkie quickly launched herself through the hole, bouncing around and putting down a pair of adorable bunny plushes. Fluttershy would appreciate the comfort, and they were 'accidentally' pointing at the next wall to fall. "Oh, look. Bunnies," Twilight muttered, having half expected them by now. "BUNNIES? WHERE?!?" Fluttershy cried out, flinging herself into the new room and grabbing hold of the plushes as if they would bring her the secrets of the universe. "X marks the spot!" Pinkie grinned, pointing at a large red X marked in crayon on the wall beside her. Fluttershy may have moved too quick to allow the bunnies to point the way, but Pinkie had more arrows up her sleeve. Twilight's magic made it so much easier to help her new friend find the rest she needed! Another wall down, and this time Pinkie left a little present for Rarity; a small stack of gems pointing toward the last wall which needed Twilight's attention. Twilight got the hint this time, and Pinkie quickly bounced into the cellar proper, dancing in-between the ancient wine barrels and making her way to the stairs leading up to the ground floor. This was almost too easy. She had expected... Oh. Uh-oh. Pinkie quickly stopped as her body started a combo. Shoulder pain. Ear flop. Knee flutter. Eye twitch. Upset stomach. She collapsed just short of the flight of stairs, reaching for her belly. "Wowee... that was a heavy one..." She underestimated this place. How could she have underestimated this place? "Are you ok, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, moving to stand beside her and looking up at the cellar door at the top of the stairs. "We're almost out. Do you think you can get up again?" "Boars in the floorboards. There's no room for applesauce. We need the Unicorn," Pinkie breathed out slowly, each word causing stomach to want to expel all those delicious treats she'd been eating. Twilight stared at her in confusion, then looked up at the door again. Another explosion made the whole place shudder, it sounded closer now. Something was happening up there. Pinkie shook her head. "Can't join the party without your party cannon." She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a pair of glasses styled for each of her friends. "Funny glasses?" Twilight wondered, but then pulled back as Pinkie launched herself from the floor and pushed the glasses on the faces of each of her friends and then put one on her own face. Each pair had a fake nose and moustache on it, colored to perfectly match the coat and mane colors of each pony. Pinkie stared up at the door and pointed Twilight to it. "The boars are in the floorboards." Twilight stared up, then backed away a little and nodded. "Girls, I think we need to prepare for a fight." Pinkie smiled and dropped down on the floor again, losing consciousness. This fight was for the magic users. Without the glasses, it was impossible to see. But with them, the ghostly fingers sneaking out through the cracks between the door and its frame were lit up like red hot flames burning holes through reality's fabric.