//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Pinkie's Nature // Story: Sword and Sorcery // by CCC //------------------------------// In the woods outside Cimmura, Trixie woke up. The Great and Powerful Trixie had been reduced to sleeping under the stars and grazing on the undergrowth – again. Every other time that this had happened, she'd at least known where she was... Trixie shook her head, and concentrated on the present. Now she had to claw her way up from the bottom – again. For the third time in her life, she had to start from nothing and build up to a reasonable life. And it was all Twilight's fault – again. But now was not the time for revenge. Now was the time for recreating what had been taken from her. * * * After a quick breakfast of grass, seasoned with wild daisies, and a few leaves from a nearby bush, Trixie struck out along the nearest road. It took her only a few minutes to reach a cultivated field, and there was someone standing out there, working in it. He appeared to be the same sort of creature as those highwaymen had been... only instead of a weapon, he had his hands occupied with some sort of digging tool, with which he was working the field. It was a bright and beautiful morning, so Trixie called out a cheery greeting and waved a hoof as she trotted past along the road. She was hoping that she could find out from this creature where the nearest large settlement was; or at least where a good place to perform would be. But when he looked up at her, the man screamed and ran into a nearby house. Mere moments later, the shutters and doors began to close. Strange, thought Trixie, have these people never seen a blue unicorn before? * * * “Well, let me put it this way,” said Sparhawk, as he led Twilight and her three friends towards the eastern gate of Cimmura. “Do you keep pets?” “Yes.” said Twilight. “I've got an owl, and Rainbow Dash has a turtle -” “Tortoise!” interrupted Dash. “...sorry, yes, a tortoise called Tank. Applejack has a cat, and Pinkie back there has an alligator.” “An alligator?” asked Sparhawk. He looked back to where Pinkie and Aphrael were trailing the group, engaged in quiet conversation. More specifically, Aphrael was engaged in conversation – Pinkie, for once, was mainly just listening. “Please don't tell Aphrael about that one.” he said. “And please don't tell my daughter, Danae, either. If she hears about that, she'll want one too.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway,” he continued, “the horses here are very different to the ponies where you come from. They're really no more intelligent than dogs, or cats, on average. In many ways – most ways, even – they're pets. Highly trained pets, since they're useful in a fight that way, but pets. They're not really sapient.” Dash snorted. “Likely story.” she muttered under her breath. “I am not!” yelled Pinkie, suddenly, from behind them. “I'm just an ordinary pony!” Everyone in front turned back to see what had caused this outburst. Aphrael stepped forward, including the others in her conversation with Pinkie. “I'll prove it, then.” she said. “All I need you to do is answer one question. Pinkie, where were you... oh, let's say... two years before the last time you were born?” “That's not really something polite to talk about, is it?” asked Pinkie. “I mean, I'm sort of assuming, but it's not something that I've ever heard anyone else talk about before, so...” “It's not impolite.” insisted Aphrael. “Could you please answer it? Pleeeeeeeeease?” Aphrael is almost disturbingly good at puppy-dog eyes. Pinkie didn't stand a chance. She sighed. “Oh, alright then.” she said. “I was at a cafe. The 'Sunny Day'. Having a cup of coffee.” “Wait, you remember stuff from before you were born?” asked Twilight. “I've never heard of anything like that before...” “The 'Sunny Day'?” asked Rainbow. “Isn't that that place in Cloudsdale? I've been there. How could an Earth Pony have gone there without falling through the floor?” “I wasn't an Earth pony back then, silly.” said Pinkie. “I was a pegasus. A white one, and my name was Surprise.” Twilight's saddlebag was open, and she was taking some rapid notes. “You mean, some sort of serial reincarnation?” she asked. “How many lives can you remember?” “Are you telling me,” asked Pinkie, “that none of you can remember your last lives?” “Because they didn't have them.” replied Aphrael, firmly. “Most people don't. You're a special case. And there's more to it than that – you should be able to pull simple things out of nowhere, to cross vast distances in the blink of an eye. To always know where you're supposed to be, to get vague premonitions of the future, especially in the short term. It should be impossible for anyone to run away from you.” Aphrael took a moment to pause, noticing that all three other ponies, and Spike, were paying attention. Dash was even nodding along slightly – she'd often wondered how it was that, any time she tried hiding from Pinkie, there was Pinkie, waiting. “You're not a pony.” said Aphrael. “You're a mortal incarnation of a goddess. Just like me.”