//------------------------------// // Chapter 30: No-one Escapes Their Past // Story: A Shadow Brought to Light // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 30 "Ugh... What a horrible dream." I'd dreamed of the gang coming back and forcing me to watch as they dragged Pinks away from me. "I really hope my special talent isn't predicting the future..." I shook my head. Think happy thoughts... Happy thoughts... Wait, I feel really warm. I rubbed my eyes a bit, and I remembered that I was sleeping in Pinks' bed. "Gotta get used to this... I'm assuming Pinks is cuddling me right now." I pulled the covers off of me, and sure enough, Pinks was tangled around my stomach. I nudged her a bit, but she wouldn't wake up. I tried to unwrap her hooves from me, but she kept grabbing back on. "Fifty bits says that she's not even asleep, and she's just doing this to mess with me." I laid my head back down, and thought of different ways I could get her off of me. "Hm... Wait... IDEA." I leaned back up, and nuzzled her ear a bit. She twitched it, and then she slowly opened her eyes. "Morning, sleeping beauty." She let out a little yawn, and rubbed her eyes. "Morning Shadow..." I had to resist the urge to d'aw. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that Pinks is a full-grown mare. "Do you think you could get off of me? I'd like to get out of bed this morning." She let go, and rolled to her side of the bed. "I think I'm just gonna lay here for a while... I'm thinking about something." "OK. I've got some things to do anyways. I'll see you later, Pinks." I headed down the stairs, and gave Mrs. Cake a nod, and grabbed an apple from the counter to eat really quick. I never really ate breakfast before I came to Ponyville, but now I do almost every morning, unless I'm in a real hurry. When I walked back out to the main room, Pinks was behind the counter, tending to a customer, a grey mare with a black mane, and a treble clef as a Cutie Mark. After Pinks waved goodbye to her and said "come again," she walked out of the store with a surprised expression on her face. I chalked it up to her being a visitor to Ponyville, and meeting Pinks was a pretty big shock to her. I waved goodbye to Pinks as I left the store. I was going to go see if I could help Twilight with her studies or Rarity with her design work and whatnot. Since they were doing so much to help me, I wanted to repay the favor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Third Person) "Come again!" Pinks waved goodbye, and her customer left. "Hm... She kinda reminded me of... Nah, can't be." Shadow walked out of the door, and waved as he left. "There he goes, probably going to go make more preparations for the... Proposal." Pinks felt her cheeks warm up. "Why am I getting so worked up about this...? Wait, I know why. Because this is a really big deal! I'm going to be proposed to, and then get married! We're going to spend the rest of our lives together, and have kids, and... Kids... Oh please dear Celestia don't let them act the way Pumpkin and Pound acted when I first babysat them...Wait, I'm talking- Er, thinking like I'm going to say yes... Oh who am I kidding?" Pinks chuckled at her thoughts. "Why would I say no...? Still, I guess I need to stop thinking to myself and start thinking about what married life is like!" Pinks trotted up to her room, and lifted up the mattress on her bed, revealing an old photo album. Pinks let out a nostalgic sigh. "Even though they treated me badly, they're still my real family, and I have to cherish what little good memories I have of them." She opened it up, and started flipping through the pages. The background of each photo was the same: A dull farmhouse with rock farmland surrounding it. The family standing in front of that house had blank expressions on their faces, and looked very stern. They were all dull colors. The father was light brown. The mother a bright grey, almost white. One of the fillies was a dull blue, the other grey. And the one standing in the center, a dark shade of pink. They all had manes varying from grey to dark grey, asides from the one dark pink. each photo was exactly the same. The dull family, standing in front of the dull farm, with dull expressions on their faces. Pinks kept looking at the grey filly standing next to her in the photo. "Why do I have the feeling that I've seen her recently? I haven't seen any of my family in years..." She shook the feeling off, blaming the nostalgia. "I wonder what they would think if they met Shadow... They probably wouldn't approve. Still, sometimes I wish they were still around... Who knows? Maybe they'd finally be proud of me." Pinks closed the photo album, and noticed a few water droplets hit the cover. She wiped her eyes, and put the album back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (First Person) "How much longer do I have to hold still Rarity...?" I was starting to get sore from modeling for her new designs for almost an hour. "Oh, not much longer, Darling! I just need to make the final stitch and... There!" A flash of magic surrounded me, and the outfit went from being on me, to being in a neatly folded pile on the table next to me. I stretched my legs, and let out sighs of relief as my joints popped, making Rarity grimace a little. "Well that certainly was... Fun." I cracked my neck, which earned me a spilt-second dirty look from Rarity. "What?" "Oh, nothing! Thank you so much for your help, I just have a few more designs for mates that I need to finish up, and then I can remake your tuxedo... And I'll hold into it for you, so no hungry alligators eat it." We both laughed a little, and then said our goodbyes. It felt good to get out of that boutique and get some fresh air. "Next stop: Twilight's." It was already midday by then, and I didn't want to take too long to get home, so I decided to take the back alleys as a shortcut. "Ah, alleyways. You always help me when I need it." I started whistling the song that everypony seemed to know, but nopony knew why. I completely ignored the hoofsteps approaching me from behind. "Hey, Weaver. It's time to pay what you owe." I didn't have time to react, because I was already on the ground, slipping from consciousness due to the stun spell that had hit me. "So they finally got me, huh?"