//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - The Epiphany // Story: Pinkamena: The Dark Descent // by Wolokai //------------------------------// Chapter 5…The Epiphany The shop was in fair order, spotless mostly. All sorts of candy sweets and pastries lined the shelves and glass, some sparkling with special sprinkles and others done up with swirls of bright colors and patterns. Behind the front counter, an elderly colt stood, small spectacles hanging a bit limply on his face. He looked up as he heard the door bell’s jingle, seeing the green and cyan mares walking in. He smiled and stepped out from behind the counter, swinging a hoof out wide amongst his many shelves on display, saying happily “Welcome to Ginger’s Sweet Sweets Emporium! How can I help you fine girls today?” Pinkie Pie walked over, a small smile on her face but a serious look in her eyes. She took a glance back at the paper sign as she spoke “My name is Mena…this is my daughter Louise. We just moved here, nomadic folk you see. I saw your sign by the door and was wondering about…” She heard a loud clattering as she turned her head back around and blinked in surprise. The elderly colt was quickly packing together a suitcase, slapping a paper on the counter and muttering quickly “Just sign and it’s yours!” He slammed the suitcase closed as Pinkie Pie opened her mouth in retort “Hold on, that’s it? No fancy documents, no payment, nothing? What’s got your hooves in a bunch?” The colt looked up and practically laughed at ‘Mena’s’ dumbfounded look, saying in return “The business here is terrible, the Emporium’s Headquarters is based in this town which means loads of health inspections every week, and even then I can’t stand to see or hear the moaning and crying of the homeless folk in town. I’ve had enough, so I’m getting OUT of here!” Pinkie Pie nodded a little, understanding perfectly how bad…inspections…could be. She looked towards a window, spotting a crippled mare and a young filly lying on the side of the street, shivering underneath a shredded blanket. She narrowed her eyes and looked back towards the colt, speaking loudly “What’s going on with Hoofington, why are there so many hungry and homeless littering the streets?” The colt picked up the suitcase and walked over towards ‘Mena’, putting it down and sighing, rubbing his head with his hoof as he spoke “Things have been bad here for awhile…the Headquarters was set up here about a year ago and ever since all the bakeries and pastry shops have been forced to overprice. Only the rich and well-known ponies of the town ever buy from them…and those who can’t afford them…well” He pointed his hoof out towards the homeless outside and Pinkie Pie nodded, listening as the colt went on “We’ve tried to reason with the prices, and a few self-owned business’s tried to lower their own prices at the cost of profit, just to keep some of these ponies alive. Unfortunately once they started to do THAT little number…the Emporium quickly bought them out, some even coming under scandal. At first it was cute little “Health concerns and failed inspections” that were slapped in the faces of those business owners…however I’ve heard they’ve gone to some serious lengths to get these shops to shut down…you didn’t hear that from me though.” Pinkie nodded, looking at the colt and muttering “I see, so what about this place, it passes Inspection alright?” The colt nodded, looking over his store with pride “Of course, otherwise this place would have already been boarded up and condemned. I clean it spotless every day, and most days all it needs is dusting, seeing as not many customers come by. The rent’s cheap, and there’s a nice bedroom on the second floor for you and the little daughter here. You’ll be quite alright if you ask me” Pinkie Pie nodded and gave the colt a warm smile, shaking his hoof with her own and saying “I used to own a bakery…a bit of time ago…I know about inspections. Do not worry sir, you leave your bakery in good hooves.” The colt smiled and dipped his head to the two mares, walking out of the store without another word. Pinkie Pie took this time to walk over to the counter and quickly tell Scootaloo “Pull that rent sign down will you dear?” Scootaloo nodded as Pinkie Pie took a small marker from one of the counter’s drawers and scribbled the name “Mena Muffin” onto the paper, shuffling it away into the drawers along with the marker. Scootaloo gently placed the sign in the trash and looked up at Pinkie Pie with a confused look, saying “How come you’re acting so differently now Pinkie? You’re usually bright, happy, and bouncy!” Pinkie smiled a little and looked down at Scootaloo, her pigtails swaying a little as she said simply “What do most ponies know about me Scootaloo? That I’m bright, happy, and bouncy. I have to keep a low profile so that we’re safe here, away from prying eyes. Now come, let’s have a look at the stores down below and see if we can’t get this place a little bit more spotless then it already is. ~~~ I sat in the dreary coffee shop with the Blue Mare, happy to be out of the rain. The song…the song that the townsfolk of Ponyville had sung to me…it echoed in my very mind…my very soul. The Blue Mare sipped her coffee quietly, having just finished another small segment of Pinkie Pie’s story. It was a dark…grim tale indeed, but a tragic one as well. The more and more I heard, the more foolish I found it that Pinkie Pie had been accused of such an atrocity. It just wasn’t her nature, and the poor dear…sweet Fluttershy, who sits in prison to this day, five years of dark, dreary walls and not a tiny animal to comfort her in sight. I sipped my own coffee for a moment and muddled over my thoughts, looking back up to the mare finally and speaking with a low voice “So she rented the bakery…does that mean she’s still there? I haven’t heard about the case coming to a close, and there are still old Wanted posters of her up around a few sections of Ponyville. Surely if YOU know of the two of them being there, then the authorities would as well. What happened?” The Blue Mare hushed me gently, taking another sip of her coffee. She looked up at me with sad eyes and sighed, saying “Pinkie Pie was very sweet, this we all knew…but there was a side to her most didn’t know about and that most didn’t judge her for. She had a very rough childhood, growing up without any friends but hard, stiff rocks. She sometimes could be found, hair straight and smooth, talking to inanimate objects like they were real, breathing ponies. Some say she was mentally unstable…others…that she was simply in her established comfort zone, getting rid of some stress. I sometimes hug an old, tattered doll to myself whenever I feel very sad or angry, and I don’t blame Pinkie Pie for what she does for her own pain. However…I think the townsfolk and I were all in agreement when we heard that her…other self, had taken a turn for the worst. At first we were horrified…but the more and more we listened…the more it made sense to us. It all happened, about two weeks after they had settled into Hoofington…” ~~~ “Happy Birthday Scootaloo!” Pinkie Pie said sweetly, sitting with her orange filly friend in the upstairs bedroom. They sat at a table, a very special cupcake lit with a single candle sitting in front of an excited Scootaloo who could only smile widely at the delicious treat. Their coats gleamed with cleanliness, having washed the grime and paint off that had accumulated on their coats. Scootaloo hugged Pinkie Pie and squealed “Oh thank you Pinkie Pie, you remembered!” Pinkie Pie’s hair didn’t poof, even though she was very happy with Scootaloo at this moment. She watched the young filly eat up her cupcake and soon after she was done, Pinkie went towards the wardrobe cabinet sitting against the far wall. She opened it and pulled out the paint cans and brushes, and after twenty or so minutes, they were down in the main floor of the shop, trotting along its surface as ‘Mena’ and ‘Louise’. They cleaned the shop up proper and went about fixing the shop up to pristine order, Pinkie Pie telling Scootaloo in not a harsh, but firm tone “Remember Scootaloo, we have another Inspection today, so we need to make sure things are in proper order.” Scootaloo gave a mock salute and nodded, approaching her cleaning work with an intense vigor. It wasn’t long before the two mares stood proudly near the entrance to their shop, the shelves, glass, and floors sparkling without so much as a tiny dot of dirt or dust. Pinkie heard the door bell jingle and the door itself open as she turned, eyes closed and her form bowing. “Welcome to Mena’s Bakery and Pastry Emporium, how can I help you…” She looked up as she was about to say today and she stopped. Her eyes widened and her pupils contracted dramatically, her heart thumping wildly. It was HIM, HIM!!!! That bastard, that DAMNATION of pony kind! Trottington, Inspector Trottington of the Health Department, was here, in her bakery. Pinkie tried her best to remain calm, and smiled her best smile, stuttering a little as she spoke “I…Inspector Trottington! What a surprise! I had no idea that you yourself would be here to…” She was cut off by the swift waving of the Inspector’s hoof in the air, coughing a little “Yes, yes…let us get this over with, I have business to attend to today.” Pinkie Pie looked quickly at Scootaloo once Trottington pushed past her, pointing towards the stairs sternly with a fearful look on her face. Scootaloo nodded rapidly and bounded up the stairs, drawing a quick glance from Trottington and a questioning look towards Pinkie who simply shrugged, chuckling nervously “Little Louise…bit of a shy one sir.” Trottington nodded a little, moving about the shop and staring daggers at every possible surface of the bakery. He rubbed his hoof gently against the floor and on a few shelves, moving to the kitchen. Pinkie Pie followed him, a murderous look in her eyes and her mouth contorted in a foul grimace. He looked over the sink and near the oven as Pinkie stood near one of the counters. On one of these counters, Pinkie’s knives and cutting utensils were displayed properly and neatly…and within reaching distance. She looked towards one of the sharp…deadly edges and back at Trottington, her breathing slowly becoming more and more erratic. The Inspector poked his head in one of the lower cupboards, giving Pinkie the chance to quietly move over and grab up a very large kitchen knife in her mouth, holding it steadily as she looked back at Trottington with wide, panicked, and vengeful eyes. She put a hoof forward to approach him but stopped. She started to shake, breathing hard through the handle of the knife. She was waiting…why was she waiting!? She wanted to kill him, kill him and destroy his stupid, miserable little life! No matter how she rationalized it, she couldn’t get over it. She couldn’t bring herself to approach Trottington, to sink the knife into his exposed throat, lashing out madly and killing the one bastard of a colt who tore her beautiful, yellow Pegasus friend away from her. She stood, petrified for a few moments, knife in mouth, waiting. She tried four times to move forward, but every time her muscles locked up. Eventually Trottington stood, and took a glance at Pinkie Pie for a moment and looked away. His head suddenly snapped back to her as he said loudly “Ms. Mena, what are you doing with that knife?” Pinkie Pie nearly dropped it then and there, her heart skipping a beat. She quickly recovered, putting the knife back down in its place with the others, chuckling nervously and saying quickly “Oh, well I…thought I saw a spot on the blade, good thing so sir, that it’s been checked and no spot of grime has been found!” Trottington narrowed his and was about to say something to her when suddenly the front door flew open with a loud bang. Pinkie jumped a little as Trottington whirled his head around towards the sound with a questioning glance. Another colt had rushed in, looking around wildly. He took sight of Trottington and shouted “Sir! We have a new lead, it’s madly important!” Trottington gasped loudly at this, eyes growing wide. He rushed towards the door, shouting back at Pinkie Pie “Inspection passed, good work Ms. Mena” and with that…he was gone, the door shutting loudly behind him. Pinkie Pie stood there, bewildered for a moment, frozen and still as a statue. For a moment she felt nothing…but then…in just a few short moments after…she felt heat. A strong, malevolent heat washed over her, the feeling of anger boiling up from the very bottom of her heart. She gritted her teeth as she seethed in anger, her wide eyes and contracted pupils slowly shifting over towards the door where Trottington had fled through. She reared her head up and shrieked “DAMN HIM!!!! DAMN!!!!!!!” Scootaloo rushed down the stairs, looking into the kitchen and shouting “What’s all the shouting for?! Pinkie are you ok? Did we pass!?” Pinkie didn’t answer, simply grabbing up the large knife she had wielded only moments before and hurling it across the room, sticking it into the opposite wall with a loud ‘THUD’. She shouted with a musical tinge in her voice “I HAD HIM! His neck was bare before my hooves!!!” Scootaloo approached cautiously, looking up at Pinkie Pie with a frightful look and putting a hoof against her leg, whispering “Whoa…calm down Pinkie Pie”. Pinkie seemed not to hear her as she trudged angrily to the front of the store, shouting again in a musical tone “DAMN I HAD HIM! The colt was here and he may not COME AGAIN!” Scootaloo followed quickly and sung back to her “Easy now, Pinkie Pie…maybe you should go -“ Pinkie only cut her off, screaming again with music “DAMN! Why did I wait!? Why did I have to wait!? NOW HE MAY NOT COME AGAIN!!!!” Pinkie took a glance at Scootaloo and uttered darkly “Let me explain something to you Scootaloo…” She approached the front window, looking outside into the rain soaked streets of poor and homeless ponies, the rich and greedy trudging around all high and mighty. She looked upon all of them as she started to sing menacingly “There’s a lot of Ponies in this place you see, All dumb and stupid and blind with glee All the vermin of Hoofington you see… But not for loooooong!” A creepy smile spread across Pinkie’s face as she looked down the street in the rain and sang “They aaaallll deserve…to bake! Tell you why, Scootaloo, I’ll tell you why…” Pinkie approached a mirror on her left, staring at her wide-eyed, furious self as she sang to her reflection. “Because out of all of Pony-Kind Scootaloo There’s only two kinds of Ponies only two! The one’s who’re starving because they’re broke And the others who judge poor pony folk, Look at me, Scootaloo, look at you!” She looked back towards the window and half sung, half shouted “WE ALL, DESERVE, TO BAKE! Even YOU, Scootaloo, and Pinkie Pie! Because the lives of Ponies are brief you see When they’re baked and served as treats you see, WE ALL, DESERVE, TO BAKE!!!!” She fell suddenly on her belly, singing upwards in lamentation “Because I’ll neeeverr…see Flutterrrshy And I’ll neeeverr…get to see her again…” She jumped up, shouting madly and rushing to the door “TROTTINGTON!!!” She bucked open the door and rushed out into the rain and singing madly “ALRIGHT! You mare! How about a CUPCAKE!? Come and, visit, YOUR GOOD FRIEND MENA! You COLT, come now, welcome to the shop…” She looked up into the dark sky and raised a hoof, lamenting with a deadly glare on her face “I will have VENGEANCE!!! I WILL HAVE VENGEANCE!!!!” She went back to moving about wildly in the street, the townsfolk acting as if she wasn’t even there, simply going on with life as she sung “Which mare? YOU DEAR? Noponie’s in the oven, COME ON, COME ON! Mena’s, waiting, I WANT INGREDIENTS! You there, ANYPONY! Come now don’t be shy…” She started to back up slowly, looking up towards the black, death like sky and lamenting once more… “Not oonnne Pony, No nor Ten ponies, Nor a HUNDREEED CAN ESCAPE MEEE!!!! SO COME, FOALS!!!!” She suddenly walked forward, her eyes on her bakery as she rumbled darkly “And I will get him back, that BASTARD colt! Took my friend, now I’m going to CUT HIS THROAT!” She tripped suddenly, hitting the sopping ground and crying “And my PEGASUS!!! LIES IN PRIIIISON!!! FOR THE SINS THAT, WERE NOT HERS!!!!” Her eyes flew open, and she quickly looked back up to the sky, rising up and standing on her back hooves, raising her front hooves to the sky and screaming “BUT, THE BAKING, WAITS!!! I AM PINKAMENA!!!! AND I’M READY TO BAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!!!”