//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - The Town // Story: Pinkamena: The Dark Descent // by Wolokai //------------------------------// Chapter 4…The Town Pinkie Pie floated down the raft soundlessly, sitting on her haunches. Her head was down, her straight hair flowing out around her. A small puddle of tears had formed in front of her, only adding to the moisture in the air. She sniffed; rubbing her eyes with her hooves for what could only be the hundredth time. The raft had floated out of the forest and was currently making its way swiftly across a wide plain, with nothing but a few mountains in the distance and a small town. She looked up briefly to see Hoofington coming closer and closer, her lips quivering and her eyes wide but sad. She didn’t know what she was going to do, or how she was even going to hide out here. Trottington would most likely search the outlying towns, and Hoofington was no exception. She lay down, tucking her hooves under her and setting her head down on the cold, hard wood. Her eyes drooped and she was so close to falling asleep when she heard a loud thump behind her and a muffled “ow!” She jumped up and turned towards her saddlebags, which were sitting on one corner of the raft. Walking over quietly she gently placed her mouth over the center strap and with a quick movement, heaved them up and opened both bags. Scootaloo let out a terrified squeak as she fell out of the bags and onto the hard raft. She looked up with a look at terror at Pinkie Pie, who shared the exact same expression. They both pointed their hooves at each other and shouted “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?” Pinkie shouted next “I asked you first!” And to this Scootaloo shouted back “Nuh uh, I asked YOU first!” Pinkie Pie only stared at Scootaloo with narrowed eyes and a small grimace. Scootaloo got up, brushing herself off and looking around, muttering “Where are we anyway?” Pinkie Pie sat down on her haunches and groaned loudly, pointing at Scootaloo “What the hay are you doing here Scootaloo; this is NO place for a filly! DAMN Scootaloo, they’re going to think I ponynapped you! What were you thinking!? Why did you come with me!?” Scootaloo gently trotted over to Pinkie Pie, looking up at her and saying “Well you looked upset, so I wanted to investigate and maybe see if I could help you…but then I heard guards shouting, you and Fluttershy screaming about them catching you. What happened Pinkie Pie? Did you do something bad?” Pinkie Pie simply looked away slowly, lips quivering and tears reforming in her eyes. Scootaloo noticed and gently patted her leg, whispering “H…hey, why are you crying? What’s going on Pinkie Pie?” Pinkie Pie merely shook her head and looked downwards, sniffling and mumbling “Go home Scootaloo…there’s nothing more you can do here…just go home…” Scootaloo frowned angrily and lightly pushed Pinkie against her cheek, causing her to look up. Scootaloo sat on her haunches and pointed a hoof at Pinkie Pie, shouting “Hey! I went through all this trouble to come see you and make sure you were ok and you’re just telling me to go away?! If you didn’t notice, Pinkie, I don’t have a home to go to…I just switch off living with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, and another thing, I don’t KNOW where I am! How the hay do I get back to Ponyville if I have no idea which direction to go? Now quit being such a Saddie Pie and tell me what happened!” Pinkie Pie smiled a little and looked up at Scootaloo, admiring the loyalty she had for herself…a true admirer of Rainbow Dash indeed. Pinkie Pie looked to her left, the town of Hoofington in sight, the curve of the river that would take them straight there approaching quickly. She opened her mouth and a low tune echoed out…singing quietly “There was a baker and her friend…her name Fluttershhyyyy… Just a…baker and her friend…who in the end had saved her liiiife… Her name was Fluttershhyyyy!!! And she was Innocent!!! And I…was…accused… Pinkie looked back towards the Everfree Forest, far on the distant horizon. A dark, venomous look splayed over across her face, eyes glaring daggers towards the town of Ponyville, where one colt stood triumphant over her. She stared for a moment before her expression softened and she looked down at Scootaloo, singing “An Inspector in the town…took my Fluttershhyyyy!!!! A, ‘Healthy’, protector of the town…who tried his best to hunt me down… Who took the baker from her friend!!! I could do nothing in the ennnnd! And she would cry, my dear, my timid, my darling friend FLUTTERSHHYYY!!! Scootaloo felt like she was going to cry, hearing this song of woe from Pinkie Pie. She looked up to her and sniffed, whimpering “So…what are you going to do now?” Pinkie Pie smiled a little, wiping Scootaloo’s tears away with a gentle brush of her hoof and singing in a whisper “Oh we will…many months from now…we’ll go back sometime somehow…” Scootaloo crawled up next to Pinkie Pie, curling up against her coat and hugging her gently. Pinkie Pie hugged her back, nuzzling her and whispering “Somehow…Scootaloo…we’ll make it. We just have to…stick together…” They floated along, quietly, together, Mare and Filly. An hour later they had jumped from the raft and stealthily approached the town for the last stretch of distance, hoping not to be seen by anypony outside Hoofington. They walked in the backyards of several buildings, Pinkie Pie on the hunt for something and Scootaloo simply tagging along. The orange filly walked up next to Pinkie Pie, whispering “What are we looking for?” Pinkie Pie cautiously looked over a fence and into the next yard, whispering back “A basement, or any kind of storage shed that would have industrial tools or something.” At this point Scootaloo would have asked why, but for right now, questions would probably bother the Pink Mare. Thinking this, Scootaloo simply shrugged and looked around for anything that fit the description. She suddenly gasped and pointed “Pinkie, over there!” Pinkie Pie turned her head to where Scootaloo had pointed, seeing a hanging sign on a building that was visible down an alleyway they were passing in front of to get into the next yard. It read ‘Hoofington Carpenter’s Inc.’ Pinkie smiled and winked at Scootaloo, the two of them rushing for the back yard. Two slanted, doubled doors rested behind the large building, indicating the entrance to the basement was here. Pinkie quietly opened up one side and ushered Scootaloo inside, quickly heading in herself and shutting the door behind them. Scootaloo shivered at the damp coolness of the basement and looked up at Pinkie Pie, faintly making out her outline in the darkness. She whispered “What are we looking for in here?” Pinkie Pie started to trek down the stairs carefully, Scootaloo keeping up with her and also treading quietly. Pinkie Pie leaned out and whispered quickly “Paint, coat-safe and washable, that we can use to disguise ourselves. There’s going to be a lot of ponies looking for a Pink Mare and an Orange Filly. Look for near matching colors, like blue and light blue, or green and dark green.” Scootaloo nodded and they both split up, searching the many shelves and cabinets that lined the walls. Scootaloo poked her head in a box, finding nothing. She pushed it aside and blinked in surprise, finding a wide assortment of brightly colored cans on the other side. She turned and whispered sharply “Psst, Pinkie!” Pinkie Pie looked over from a box of wrenches she was looking in and nodded, coming over quickly. She scanned and looked over the cans, peering closely at the labels and nodding. She looked at Scootaloo “Alright…these will do, go ahead and pick a color” Scootaloo looked at the cans, scratching the top of her head in concentration. After a minute she smiled and pointed to a Cyan Colored can, her eyes sparkling. Pinkie smiled, shaking her head. Of course she’d want to be the color of her hero, Rainbow Dash, at least mostly the same color. She gently picked up the cyan can and placed it by Scootaloo, picking out herself a darker shade of blue for her mane. She herself picked out a dark emerald can and a blood colored can of red. She found a few brushes on the shelves above and quickly popped the tops of the cans with a small can opener sitting near the rest of the paint. She looked over at Scootaloo and said “Don’t move, and keep ABSOLUTELY still!” Scootaloo nodded and fanned her tiny wings out, standing straight and still, a blank, determined look on her face. Pinkie Pie set to work immediately, panting over Scootaloo with cyan and dark blue for the mane. After about ten minutes of quick strokes and even coloring, Scootaloo was transformed into a cyan filly with a dark blue mane. Scootaloo looked herself over, smiling widely “Oh WOW Pinkie! How’d you get it to look so real?!” Pinkie Pie smiled a little, her eye twitching a little as she muttered “I was always good at coloring and frosting cupcakes at Sugar Cube Corner…it’s a skill I mastered quickly…I’m glad I haven’t gotten rusty.” She looked about and found herself a mirror, going over to it with the other two colored cans. She did her hair up in smooth pigtails, taking two small hair-ties from her saddlebags. After her hair settled she carefully dipped fresh brushes into the green paint and held out her hooves, painting herself very carefully. Scootaloo watched her for awhile, observing her master craft in action. She tilted her head and asked suddenly “Pinkie Pie, what happens when we run out of paint?” Pinkie Pie was stroking the bloody color into her hair as she mumbled “Well, all shops need to resupply, and if the owners of the store keep their supply checked and stocked, we’ll never have any shortages. We’ll have to be very conservative about using it, which means we may have to go without…bathing for a little bit, maybe a few days at a time.” Scootaloo nodded, not really minding much about the bath issue. After a little while, Pinkie Pie stood up tall and did a full turn, observing herself carefully. She was fully green, her pigtailed hair a murderous, smooth, and silky shade of blood red. She smiled, looking down at her cyan friend, who smiled back. “A new beginning…Scootaloo…we’ll start over…” Scootaloo hugged her leg, checking to see if it was dry (which it was, thank Celestia for quick-drying paint), and smiled. Pinkie Pie looked back towards the mirror, a venomous, hateful look in her eyes as she thought to herself “Yes…we’ll start over…and I’ll begin to draw my plans to KILL that damn colt. Soon Trottington…very soon…you’ll learn the error of your ways” Pinkie Pie nudged Scootaloo and together the ascended the basement stairs, heading back into the sunshine. They went up the alley and stopped just short of its entrance. What they found, was shocking. The place looked so abstract…so…wrong. In the street, several fancy dressed, business looking Ponies trotted this way and that, some making way for fancily built carriages. On the sides of the street sat a few dirty, ragged looking mares and colts. Pinkie Pie looked up the street to her left, seeing what looked to be fancier and fancier buildings. To her right she saw only worn and torn buildings, some boarded up, some splattered with signs screaming ‘CONDEMNED!’. Scootaloo nudged Pinkie Pie softly, whispering up to her “What’s…going on? Why’s the town so…so…” Pinkie Pie mumbled back to her, eyes scanning across the crowds carefully “…so divided…” Scootaloo nodded, following Pinkie quickly as she suddenly stepped out onto the busy street. Scootaloo wanted to ask where they were going, but so far she felt so close and trustworthy to Pinkie Pie, that she’d follow her no matter what anyway. Every few feet, colts and mares reached out and begged to them “Please!!! I have a small filly, she’s very sick! Please we need food!” “I’m so hungry…please, spare a few slices of bread!” “My husband is so hungry he can’t move…please, help us!” Scootaloo looked at them all with such sorrow, mouth partially agape in disbelief. She looked up at Pinkie to see if she felt the same way but was shocked to only find a determined, angry look on her face. Her lips were set in a small frown and her eyes were narrowed. After five minutes of walking and begging ponies, they stopped. Pinkie Pie looked to her right, head slowly rising to observe a medium sized, two story building. A sign hung limply from a single wooden beam that stuck out from the roof, a picture of a red colored cupcake etched and colored into its surface. The two of them gently climbed the three wooden steps in front of the shop and onto the Patio, Pinkie Pie looking to the right of the door in the window. A small paper sign hung there, reading “Renters wanted, inquire within” Pinkie pushed open the door after a few moments and they both went inside, the door shutting behind them with a loud ‘TWHACK!’.