LETTERS - CHAPTER THREE: DREAMING OF A BETTER TOMORROW
The Cakes returned late that night, bring along with them a second place ribbon, over which the couple were fighting.
Pinkie heard the squabble and woke from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
“Pinkie!” Mrs. Cake called from downstairs.
“Coming!” she replied, getting up and rushing down the stairs.
When she arrived, Mrs. Cake came up to her and looked down menacingly.
“Tell me that it is my husband’s fault that we made second place,” she said, pointing an accusing hoof.
“I could,” Pinkie gulped. “But you did bake most of the cake. I am in no position to judge you or Mr. Cake.”
Mrs. Cake opened her mouth, but clearly thought better.
“Pinkie, you said you got a letter?” Mr. Cake said, placing down the ribbon. “We promised to take a look when we got back.”
“Oh, yes,” the pink pony replied, grabbing it from where she had left it and giving it to him. “It’s from... well, you’ll see.”
Mr. Cake started reading, and his eyes widened. He handed to his wife, who developed the same expression.
“How- how-,” Mrs. Cake stammered helplessly. “But, you told us what happened! They wouldn’t send you a letter now!”
Pinkie nodded and took a deep breath.
“I want to go see them,” she said. “There has to be a reason for the letters.”
“I think it would be about time you went to see them,” Mr. Cake said. “You haven’t gone in years.”
“I was waiting for you to get home to go,” she said. “I’ve got out a saddlebag and I’m ready to pack.”
“When do you plan on leaving?” Mr. Cake asked. “It seems a bit sudden if you left right now.”
“No,” Pinkie replied. “I want to leave sometime tomorrow. As soon as I can.”
Mrs. Cake sighed and sat down, pressing a hoof to her head.
“We can’t let you go alone,” she said, shaking her head. “Not back to that.”
“It’s my family,” Pinkie replied. “You guys and I are the only ones who know what happened, and I don’t know if I want to tell my friends.”
“Why not?” Mr. Cake asked from the side of the room. “They’re your friends. I’d think they deserve to know.”
“But if I did, they’d try to help me or do something to fix it, and then they could get hurt,” Pinkie Pie said, turning around and sighing. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if my friends got hurt!”
Mrs. Cake shook her head forcefully, “Hurt over what? Fix what? Your friends can’t fix everything, and I’m sure you know that! There are limits to what they can do, even with their Elements! They can’t fix your family’s hearts.”
“But they would try,” Pinkie shuddered, sitting down and looking up. “They’d do all they could to help me, and I don’t want them to waste their time just for me.”
“Look, Pinkie, just go and tell them,” Mr. Cake said, coming up beside her and patting her shoulder. “You’re about to go and visit them, so why don’t you bring them with you?”
“They don’t need to see my family.”
Mr. Cake tussled Pinkie’s mane and stepped away, “We’ll leave the choice to you. We can’t make you do anything, but you can if you want.”
“You should sleep on it,” Mrs. Cake said, rubbing the pink pony’s shoulder caringly. “You can decide tomorrow before you go.”
Pinkie nodded and sighed. She went upstairs and went back into her room. She hopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. Sleep did not want to come no matter how hard she tried.
“Maybe I should think,” she said aloud, raising her head to look across the room. “Mrs. Cake is right. They can’t do anything about it. My family isn’t going to be fixed by them or any Elements.”
The dark was comforting for her. It was hugging her better than any hug, freeing her mind to think more clearly.
“It makes sense that my friends should know,” she whispered, turning onto her side and staring at the window. “I don’t know why I’ve been so afraid of it all...”
- - - - - -
“Dad, what’s wrong?” Pinkie asked as her father approached a large pit in the center of the room.
“You’re going to take it from me...” he whispered, his eyes darting around frantically. “You’re going to steal the treasure from me! That’s why you followed me!”
“I followed you because you asked!”
“Lies! You only want the treasure!”
The torch hit the ground, which was dry wood covered in cobwebs.
“I don’t want the treasure!” Pinkie yelled, backing up. Her father grabbed her foreleg and held it tightly. “Dad, what are you doing?!”
Her eyes filled with tears as he pushed her towards the pit.
“You won’t steal it from me!” he yelled, Pinkie’s hindleg slipping over the edge. “I won’t let you!”
- - - - - -
Pinkie’s eyes snapped open in the dark, and her breathing was ragged and wheezy. She shuddered and tried to clear the dream from her mind. The sun was shifting in through the window, illuminating the room in a faint glow.
She climbed from bed and went over to her mirror, where she looked at her disheveled hair and face.
She brushed out her hair and forced a smile on her face. She hopped up and down a few times to try and get some of the lethargy out of her limbs.
“I’m going to tell my friends,” she said, steeling her gaze at herself. “They are going to know, and they are coming with me.”
Pinkie hopped down the stairs and saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake sitting around the table talking.
“Good morning!” the party pony chirped as enthusiastically as possible.
“Oh, you look much better today, Pinkie!” Mrs. Cake said, smiling brightly.
“Because now I know what I want to do!” she lied, hopping to the door. “I’m going to tell my friends, and then I’ll go with them to my house.”
Pinkie hopped out the door and started going down the street. Smiles and waves were thrown her way, and she returned each as though nothing was wrong.
- - - - - -
It took about twenty minutes, but she eventually got all of her friends gathered in Twilight’s library, where they gathered around her with concerned looks.
“I have something really important to tell you guys,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It’s about my family.”
“Like how they lived on a rock farm and you saw my rainbow across the sky and yada-yada-yada you got your cutie mark and Equestria was made?” Rainbow quipped.
“No,” Pinkie replied, frowning. “It’s a bit less happy and cheerful.”
- - - - - -
“So, you want us to go with you?” Twilight asked, her face full of sadness. “I don’t know how I feel about you going back, despite the letters.”
“Please!” Pinkie said. “I need to go back!”
“It’s way too dangerous, Pinkie!’ Rainbow Dash said. “No way are we letting you go there, even with us!”
“For once I’m with Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, putting her hoof on her chest. “Sounds far too nasty and horrible.”
“I think it’s too scary,” Fluttershy whispered, cowering.
“I was thinkin’ the same thing, sugarcube,” Applejack said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “We can’t go to that.”
“But I need to find out if they’ve changed!” Pinke yelled, tears running down her face. “Despite everything, they’re my family, and I need them! I still love them regardless of everything, and if they really want me back, then I need to go! I don’t want to be without them anymore!”
Everypony was quiet for a while as Pinkie pressed her head into her hooves and cried.
“If that’s how you feel, sugarcube, than I guess we can go,” Applejack said, hugging her.
All of them gathered around and wrapped their arms in an embrace. It was more comforting than the darkness the night before.
“Thanks, girls,” Pinkie said, closing her eyes and enveloping the warmth.
- - - - - -
“Once there was a filly who thought she could steal my treasure.”
“Dad, stop!”
“Pushed down into a pit to be forgotten forever.”
The blade was pressing into her skin, and the pain was more emotional than physical.
“But she refused to be forgotten, even down here in the dark.”
The blade went all the way through her chest, and blood ran down her body.
“So I took this blade of dear omittance, and stabbed it through her heart.”