//------------------------------// // 2. Pieces // Story: Pinkamena's Tribulation // by TheAccidentalBrony //------------------------------// “Daddy, help!” The filly’s shrieks shattered the night, echoing against the walls of the small cottage.  A lantern flickered to life, and a lump of icy steel settled in Igneous’ gut as the haze of sleep was shaken from his mind. In front of him, a pink blur tore at his youngest daughter, who lay prone on her bed.  Wide gashes ran the length of her body, seams of torn, ragged flesh marring her perfect silver coat.  She’d raised her forelegs up defensively, the right hoof now twisted unnaturally at the fetlock, pointing directly towards the ceiling. “Pinkamena!” The powerful shout rose out of him of his own accord, his chest alive with fire, but his hooves seemed held fast by shock.  One of the girls behind him let out a startled squeak, but Pinkie seemed unfazed, continuing her assault mercilessly.  Her father flinched, blood spurting from between Marble’s lips as another hoof met its mark.  Leaping powerfully, he soared over their heads, spinning on his hooves to place himself between the two. “Please, Pinkamena, stop this,” he panted, his voice a thin growl that barely hid the threat beneath his words.  Her ears pricked, swiveling towards him, and for a moment all he could hear was the heart beating in his ears.  Barely able to control his shaking legs, he brought his hoof under her chin, pushing her gaze up to meet his own.   Her frenzy paused, the dilated orbs seemed to stare right through him, holding his throat tight from the inside.  A tittering laugh, unsteady and sharp, began pouring from her lips, fragile droplets forming in the corners of her eyes.  Moving towards her with his other foreleg outstretched, he hazarded a look down at Marble. Instantly, he heard a loud crack, his vision blanking as a hoof smashed against his skull, and he stumbled backward, barely staying upright.  Reopening his eyes, Pinkamena stood before him with a predatory smile, her teeth fully bared.  He panted a breath in, his teeth chattering angrily against each other. He had no choice. Setting his jaw, he flew into the fray, the stifled sound of his wife’s sobs trailing behind him. As he leapt towards her, his daughter turned around, leaning onto her forelegs.   She bucked, striking directly in his soft underbelly, and he flew onto his back, hot pain spreading through his hindquarters.  Igneous groaned loudly, the spittle on his lips foaming.   After barely a moment to catch his breath, the pink mass flew at him once more, her hooves aimed squarely at his chest, but his large, strong leg was more than enough to deflect her small body.   Rolling over, he pinned her under a firm hoof as he sat up. “Pinkamena, why?” Hot tears flowed down his face, as he pressed more firmly against her, her hoofstrikes flying only inches from his muzzle. “What monster has gotten into your head?” She smiled, an eerie hiss escaping her lips, then she turned her head and sank her teeth into her father’s leg. The response response was immediate; his other hoof smashed down against her face, and she fell limply to the floor. Cloudy brought her hoof up to her mouth.   “Oh no,” she gasped, her voice crackling like a dry leaf in the wind.   Haltingly, Igneous shuffled his forelegs under the slack body, raising it to his firm chest. “We’ll,” he swallowed, the stone in his throat unmoving, “take her in the morning.” Three pairs of eyes pleaded with him, as if he could unmake the last half hour. He forced a cough, then squared his jaw.  “They need a doctor; both of ‘em. The trains don’t run ‘till sunup, and Ponyville’s a day’s walk at least.”   They were wrong, the words that fell from his burning tongue.  He didn’t know what else they should be, but in his heart, he knew in that moment that he had failed his family.  He looked at what was left of them, three bodies huddled close to one another, quaking furiously.  Maud and Limestone had each pressed their bodies tightly against their mother’s flank, while Marble rested unpeacefully in her mother’s arms.  Her breaths came in short, sudden bursts, shuddering out with a loud rattle that struck cold iron into his heart. He looked down at the pink filly in his arms, his eyes firm, but glassy. “For now, all we can do is rest.” Pinkie’s eyes split apart slowly, unsealing with an audible click.  Bright sunlight flooded her vision, blinding her momentarily.  She pulled in a shallow breath through her nostrils, a salty-sour smell flooding her senses.  Tossing her head to shake the cobwebs from her head only caused the tight feeling in her chest to worsen, and she slumped over her hooves. Suddenly, her body lurched, and red-stained fluid spilled from her mouth, trailing down her chin and pooling beneath her. A loud, high-pitched whistle still echoed in her ears, but she peeled her eyelids apart again, gazing at the unfocused blue expanse around her.   Beyond the envelope of the hot air balloon above her, the sun blazed down; though it had been pitch black the last time she’d been aware, it now was easily past midday. Additionally, based on the blue she found below her as well as above, it seemed the balloon had carried her out to sea.  Needles jabbed into the soft flesh of her neck as she twisted around, but in every direction, all that could be seen was water.  Each direction she checked, the deep blue of the ocean blended with the lighter blue of the sky, the horizon a thin, fuzzy, unbreakable line between them. Pinkie looked down, her heart sinking as she did.  The dark maroon crust painted over her body was an unavoidable reminder of the events of the night prior. At least, of the portions of that she could remember at all.  From hoof to forelock, broad patches of carmine hid her natural cheery pink.  Lifting a foreleg, she gingerly scraped the tip of her hoof against one of these, which flaked apart at her barest touch.  After discovering that, it’d felt like an hour had passed before she could move again.   Maybe it had.  In the darkest hours, who could tell, really, how much time had passed.   At first, when she realized that it was Rainbow Dash of all ponies who was only a few hooves away from her, she’d worried that maybe she was where all the blood came from, that in her night terror she’d destroyed the pony she cared for most.  But, eventually, she realized that Rainbow was safe.   It wasn’t a hard decision to leave. Though, she thought as a droplet formed in the corner of her eye, maybe it should have been. She took in another shaking breath, ignoring the flash of white in her mind for the moment.  She didn’t know much about ponies or being a doctor or anything not-silly like that, but she did know that this was a lot of blood.   Did she...had she...could she kill a pony? What if it was one of her friends?   She hadn’t even been able to check that they were all okay.   She squared her hooves beneath her.  Even if her friends didn’t want to be her friends anymore, they were still her friends, and they shouldn’t pay for her mistakes. But, on the other hoof, what was done was done, and there wasn’t much she could do about it. But, she thought, holding up a third hoof, she didn’t even know where Equestria was right now, not to mention Ponyville. And, bringing up a fourth hoof, she considered that, regardless, it would all be just as painful for them. And besides…Dashie…would never forgive her now...and then she'd never be happy again. And if she wasn't happy, well...she just wouldn't be Pinkie anymore. Her mane deflated even more, tears pooling in her eyes.  Shaky hooves pressed against the flexible wicker of the basket, the air around flowing past her as she rose.   Suddenly, hot pain struck through her skull, the world spinning around her.  The bright sunlight bleached the world away until she found herself in a world of white, darkness closing in from the edges.  Though she couldn’t see it, she felt something jabbing uncomfortably into her chest right before everything went black. When Twilight Sparkle reappeared in a flash of magic, she was back in Rainbow Dash’s foalhood bedroom. She cringed, the electric hum still lingering in her mind.  Three long distance teleports in the span of a few minutes was a lot, even for her, and her body was fighting back now. To her amazement, Rainbow Dash lay huddled across the room from her:  somehow, her flight was even quicker than Twilight’s magic.   Twilight allowed herself a smirk as she realized that her prismatic-maned friend, oblivious as always, hadn’t even noticed her not-so-subtle entrance, before taking an assertive step in her direction.  She lifted a hoof to scratch her mane slowly, when a low hum made its way to her ears.  Was Rainbow Dash...talking to herself?   Twilight paused, her vision trained on the cyan mare, who at that moment unexpectedly thrust her hoof into her eye. “Uh, Rainbow—” Rainbow Dash frowned, not turning around.   “Can’t you see I’m busy here?” she snapped. It was Twilight’s turn to frown, stepping closer to her friend.  Her eyes narrowed as she inspected the curled figure. “We need to get back to Ponyville.  Princess Luna herself is going to lead the investigation, and she’s bringing a squad of her best Night Guard to assist.  She’s supposed to arrive any minute now, and she’s going to need my report on what we know so far.” Rainbow’s frown deepened to a scowl, sinking a hoof deep into the floor of her room. “Great, Twilight.  Why don’t you go do your little princess-y thing, then.” It wasn’t a question.  The taste of iron began to fill Twilight’s mouth, several seconds passing before she her jaw slipped open enough to let her mauled lip out from between her teeth.  Closing her eyes, she took a deep draught of air, reopening them as she let it whistle out her lips. “I-I know today has been upsetting for you: it has been for all of us,” she said as evenly as she could, “but I think we should all be there…” Rainbow Dash shot into the air, her wings flapping fiercely as she hovered.   “Why do we have to wait for another princess?” she spat, a crackle as her hooves crushed together.  “We’re the ones who fix problems around here.” “This is different, Rainbow,” she took wing herself, eye-to-eye with her counterpart.  “We deal with threats to Equestria, and even then, only when Celestia—Princess Celestia—tells us to.  This...is more of a criminal investigation—” “You’re talking about our friend, in case you forgot.  And she is—c-could be—” Rainbow’s eyes suddenly darted downward, towards a crumpled ball of paper beneath her, “in danger.” “What do you mean?  And,” the ball hovered between them in a fuschia bubble, “what’s this?” Rainbow’s eyes went wide, her hooves shooting out for the paper, only for it to be a foot higher. “Mine! Twilight, give that back.  Now,” Rainbow’s face glowed with anger. “Not until you tell me what it is,”  the alicorn smiled, the paper dancing neatly above their heads.   Rainbow’s face hardened with determination, and she darted for her target, which easily flashed away from her grasp.  A crinkling sound beneath her drew her attention downward, where she found a familiar letter unfolding itself directly, held fast in Twilight’s magic.  Her lips suddenly felt parched, and she found herself frozen momentarily.  Her heart jackhammered against her sternum as she watched the mare’s eyes dart from left to right, widening with each word they passed over. “NO!” she broke the silence loudly, her words echoing against the walls of the small cloud chamber. Twilight’s magic imploded instantly, her attention drawn towards the pegasus slicing through the air, hurtling herself into the paper fluttering downward hooves-first with enough force to push her back onto her rear. “Rainbow Dash!  You didn’t tell me you had a letter from—” Rainbow shoved her snout directly into her friend’s, her heart still pounding furiously in her chest.  Pinkie Pie had chosen, for whatever reason, to write to her and only her about what had happened the previous night. She’d even gone so far as to make Rainbow Pinkie Pie promise she wouldn’t tell anypony what the letter said. Even though Pinkie could never know she’d made the promise (well, maybe; Pinkie Pie would be Pinkie Pie, after all), and even though breaking it would prove to Twilight that Pinkie was innocent (kind of), Rainbow still, paradoxically, intended to keep it. “You had no right to read this,” she growled, her friends eyes shrinking to pinpricks as she glared.  “For whatever reason, this is between me and Pinkie.” Twilight shuffled backwards, her mouth twisted with emotion.  “But...it could be important for the investigation!” “Yeah, an investigation against our friend!”  Rainbow set her jaw, her chin quivering.  “I, I, I can’t believe you, Twilight!  After all we’ve been through together, and...and you’re willing to just throw Pinkie away like a used hayburger wrapper!” Twilight suddenly seemed to find her hooves interesting, liquid inching up the corners of her eyes as Dash flapped towards her. “I never thought I’d see the day when being a princess was more important to you than being a friend.” “I…” Twilight dug at an eye with her fetlock, her voice cracking. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash.  But this time, we have to do it the official way.” “Maybe you do,” Rainbow smirked, “but I’m going to do this my way.  Fast.” As Twilight opened her mouth to respond, she found herself once again frustratingly left to respond only to the sharp end of Rainbow’s signature contrail.  Her head drooped down slowly, a single tear falling from her muzzle and freezing against the thick cloud floor.  With a resigned sigh, she lit her horn disappearing in a purple flash. When Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, she was falling. At least, it seemed like falling.  At first, anyway.  It was a little strange, as she couldn't feel any wind, or even feel like she was gaining any speed.  But there was no basket below her, nor any ground or anything else for that matter, so she had to be falling.  Unless... Pinkie Pie looked up. "Oh, hi Dashie!" she chirped, wide grin across her face, "How'd you get here?" Rainbow Dash did not speak.  She flapped her wings slowly, just enough to stay aloft, but otherwise simply looked forward.  Her eyes were devoid of all expression, her mouth set in a grim line. "Hm,"  Pinkie remarked casually to herself, "That's odd, Dashie always likes talking to Pinkie!  Well, maybe Dashie's just mad about some of the things Pinkie told her." "Dashie! Are. You. Mad. At. Me?" she shouted upwards. Rainbow Dash still hovered stoically above her.   "Rainbow Dash, I understand if you're mad at me. I'm mad at me, too.   I even understand if...if...if you don't want to be my friend anymore.  Really, you should probably just drop me, but I know you could never do that.  So.  Why don't you take us somewhere, Dashie?  This place is really boring." Rainbow Dash's eyes shot down toward the pink mare held in her forelimbs.  She appeared unmoved, but directed her eyes upwards, and took off as if fired from a cannon. "Dashie?  Um.  Are you sure we don't want to go, like, down or something?  I mean, where are you going to take us? Space or something?  Silly Dashie.  Ponies can't live in..." Pinkie Pie cut herself off, her eyes growing wide.  The bland, white nothingness they'd been hovering in was rapidly being replaced by a black void.  Slowly, she saw pinpricks of light begin to take shape in the darkness.   "Dashie," she chuckled nervously, "We're not really going to space, are we?" Pinkie grimaced far too widely and looked behind them, watching their world shrink away as they flew until it was little more than a marble of blue and green.  Turning forward again, the moon loomed huge ahead of them. The pink drained out of her face, and her eyes grew wide and fearful. "Oh, Dashie! It's just like Twilight always said, isn't it?  I got caught, didn't I? Princess Celestia has banished me to the moon, and you have to take me there because Stinky-Pinkie broke the elements, right?" The cyan mare above her remained stoic.  Pinkie tugged at her forehooves, attempting to wriggle her way out of her friend's grasp, but found she was firmly caught.  She furrowed her bow as the moon grew larger before them.  Something wasn't right about it.  It didn't look like the moon they saw every time she and Dashie went to watch meteors fall with Twilight, the moon that shone down at the last Summer Sun Festival... Pinkie's tail poofed slightly.  The Summer Sun Festival!  This moon was the one she'd grown up with, the one she'd seen every day before she met Twilight Sparkle.   The mare in the moon was back. Did that mean...had Nightmare Moon returned while she'd been gone?  Had Princess Luna been banished again?   Her eyes began to water. Had she left her friends when they needed her the most? What if they'd gotten in trouble? What if someone had been hurt? Pinkie's eyes quickly darted up to her chaperone, giving her cyan friend a quick once-over for any evidence of injury, but found none.  Every hair, every feather seemed to be exactly where it belonged.   And then, in a flash of light, Rainbow Dash was gone, and Pinkie Pie was alone, suspended in the infinite darkness by a force she could neither see nor feel. "Noooooo, Dashie!  Please.  Don't leave me... Please.." Pinkie whispered, her eyes tearful.  "I don't want to be alone out here." "Then why did you leave her?" a voice echoed in the darkness.  Before her eyes, the image of the mare in the moon began shifting, revealing the moon's current appearance as all the markings that had previously formed the visage consolidated together, culminating in the projection of a figure from its surface. Pinkie Pie blinked.  "Princess...Luna?  You haven't been banished?" Luna frowned, "No...no.  Why do you suppose we are here?" "Well...I don't think ponies can actually breathe in space, so...I'm guessing this is a dream, right?" Luna nodded silently, but her muzzle showed no sign of cracking its stern expression. "Will..." Pinkie Pie trailed off, her ears falling flat against her hanging head.  As her eyes filled, gleaming in the bright moonlight, her voice returned, barely a whisper. "Am I...will I...can I wake up from it?  Or..." Though the rest was left unsaid, the message was certainly understood.  The Princess of the Night bobbed her head grimly. "I do not know, Element of Laughter.  We rarely visit the Dreams of Dying.  It is a...personal affair, and we typically do not wish to intrude.  But," Luna paused, "This is different.  We do not believe it is your time." "Not my time...but I deserve it though, don't I?  I...I did something terrible.  All that blood..." "Do you think we know nothing of regret?  We have to live every day with the memories of Nightmare Moon, and know that we brought that fate upon ourselves.  The face of every pony we hurt during that time is seared in our memory for eternity.  And yet, we go on." "You never saw..." "Yes," Luna dipped her head low, “yes, we did.  We...when a pony in the midst of the dreamstate, and they are gripped by mortal terror, it is like a cry for help to us.  Your cry was very loud indeed." "You," Pinkie whispered, tears in her eyes, "You were there?" "Yes, Pinkie, but only just.  You awoke before we could intervene.  We had hoped we wouldn't find you here, but...it is not entirely unexpected.  Such dreams do not haunt truly happy ponies."  Before Pinkie could speak again, Luna continued, "Do not worry.  What we see in dreams, we tell nopony, not even the other Princesses.  But let me ask this; the blood that you mentioned, that you found yourself covered in, what do you know of it?" “Um,” Pinkie swallowed, her flattened mane fluttering in a breeze she could not feel, “well, it was blood, I’m sure of that...I...I tasted it.” “Anything else?” Luna’s eyes seemed focused on something behind her, as if she were transparent. “Um...I…” Her eyes filled with tears, the liquid spilling over in thin streams that poured down her face.  “I don’t know.  I...I...I slept through all of it, but I did something horrible, I know I did.” Luna nodded slowly.  “Pinkie, I have reason to believe that things may not be exactly as they seem, though I lack sufficient information at this point to tell you.  Your body has suffered greatly, though, and is very near to death.” She took a deep breath, her face softening slightly. "And, indeed, you are haunted by a dark shadow, something much deeper than just a bad dream.  Even here, I can feel its presence within you.  But I cannot tell you what it is or why it is within you; you must resolve that on your own."   “I just wish,” Pinkie mumbled, rubbing her hooves together, “I wasn’t so broken.  My friends….don’t deserve this….” Her voice trailed off in a cloud of sniffles, a cold lump of ice stuck in her throat, blocking any further speech. Luna lifted a gentle hoof under the mare’s sagging chin.  “Pinkie Pie, why must you think so poorly of yourself?  We all have struggles we must overcome; I, of all ponies, am familiar with that.  And even still, facing mortal peril, you are concerned more for your friends’ well-being than your own.” “But...I might have hurt them.  I could still hurt them.  All I want is to make everypony happy, and, and…” Pinkie’s lip quavered, her eyes rolling up in thought.  Finally, a shallow sigh escaped from her lips, and she gave a slight shrug. “It’s like making lemonade, I guess.” No response.  Pinkie shuffled uncomfortably on her hooves as the princess’ eyes remained fixed on her, the hints of a question in their corners.  “What I mean, is, lemonade is really simple to make, right?  Lemons, sugar, water, and ice.  But even though it’s simple, put in too much of any one thing, and the whole batch is ruined.  Which is so hard, because sugar is so super-duper yummy, I just want to keep putting more in, but I know I gotta keep things...uh….” She sucked on her lip, searching for a word amongst the stars. “Balanced,” Luna offered gently, a soft smile brightening her muzzle.  “Or, perhaps even more appropriately, in harmony.  Just as you and your friends help keep Equestria in harmony.” “Yeah.  I guess I really messed up there, didn’t I?” Luna turned away, looking down towards Equestria.  “You should never hesitate to trust the bond that exists between you and your closest associates.  ‘Tis always better for many to carry a burden than one.” “Burden?  What burden?  And...I’m not carrying anything.”  She whipped her head back, her mane arcing smoothly as she turned. “At least, I don’t think I am.” Luna rubbed her temples gently with a hooftip.  “I….It is no matter.” "Okie dokie lokie."   "Pinkie," Luna said hesitantly, her eyebrows pricked up, "everypony has a sad side, a dark side, an angry side..." "No!" the pink mare shouted defiantly, baring her teeth at the princess. "Pinkie Pie giggles at the ghosties! Pinkie Pie laughs when ponies make fun of her! Pinkie. Is. Happy!" "Just because you must bring happiness to others does not mean you are yourself happy. As you said, you must make lemonade, and that means using your...lemons." Pinkie did not move. "Or," Luna scratched her snout, "perhaps I have misunderstood your analogy." "No," she squeaked, "you got it right." After several minutes of staring silently at each other, Pinkie let out a wistful sigh. "So, what happens now?" "If we do not intervene, nature will take its course.  It is...unlikely you would awaken again.  Whilst we have been with you in the dreamstate, the connection between us has strong enough for us to sustain you with our magic.  If you wish, we can use this link to heal your most grievous wounds and force you from the dreamstate.  This does not guarantee your survival, though, and may be far more painful." "Oh.” Leveling with Pinkie, Luna fixed her gaze on the trembling pony beside her. “So, what do you choose?” Pinkie Pie sat back upon her haunches, tears filling her eyes once more.  A heavy weight pressed against her heart, cold fear twisting her insides.  Even if it was just a dream, she could still feel the bile rising up in her throat, and it didn’t taste anything like strawberry lemonade. The truth was: she’d really messed up this time.   I...I deserve this. She blinked, barely able to meet the Princess’ gaze through her bleary eyes. But, she thought, her heart fluttering in her chest, maybe Princess Luna’s right.  If she is, and I’m not the monster I thought I was, then...well, my friends still need me. They need their Pinkie Pie back, and I can either find her for them, or take her away from them forever. She bit her lip again, looking up thoughtfully. I couldn’t do that to them. I can be happy again. She drew in a deep breath through her nostrils. "End the dream," she responded flatly. Luna nodded. "Good.  We had hoped you would not choose otherwise. We…” The night princess swallowed, her voice softening, “I...must warn you this may be extremely painful.  I will do whatever I can to make it less so.” The night princess closed her eyes, her mouth flattening to a grim line, but nothing happened.  She took a deep, hesitant breath. "Pinkie," she added, her voice on the verge of cracking, "You are not a bad pony.  I hope that we should have the pleasure to meet again, but...if we do not, you should know that.  Good luck." Tears ran down Pinkie's cheeks, her head bobbing with a nearly automatic motion.  Luna wrapped her wing around the distraught pink mare, bracing both for what was to come.  Her horn erupted in a concentrated flash, enveloping them in its magical glow, and the dream was blasted away by an inky darkness.