Fluttershy shivered with terror as nothing but the endless expanse of darkness filled her eyesight. She had no idea how long she had laid there in captivity, but she knew it was far too long for anypony to deserve. Her blindfold was placed perfectly on her eyes, so that she could not see even the slightest glimpse of the outside world, the dim light of the moon unable to pierce the offending cloth. She tried to whimper, begging the ponies around to release her, but only a few barely audible noises were produced, the filthy rag wrapped around her face gagging her mouth. These two bindings reeked of sweat and grime, and the thought of where they had been more than once entering the mare's mind, disturbing her even further.
The only sense that she had left was her precious sense of hearing. Possibly because of the removal of her sight, she seemed to be able to pick up every single sound that filled the room. Every creak of the floorboards, every squeak of the bed springs under her, even every breath of her captors filled her ears. She could hear them walking back and forth, inspecting her, as if she was some kind of produce on display at market. She could hear quiet mutters coming from the other things in the room they spoke to themselves, the words never truly forming outside their own respective minds. She still didn't know how many creatures were there watching her, but it didn't matter if there were two, five, or a hundred, they were all just as threatening in her bound position.
An unfamiliar raspy voice finally broke the silence, “I don't get it, why can't we just kill her, and be done with it right now?”
Another voice, just as foreign, entered her ears, the voice smooth to her ears, “Because, Luke, you and I both know that that isn't the way we do things.”
“Oh come on! Really? You're defending a pegasus!? Those things need to be put down!”
“Exactly!” A new voice spoke, the tone much deeper than either of the others, “But I still think you two are both crazy. These abominations of nature need to be punished! Something as simple as taking care of this thing isn't deserving of something so merciful.” Fluttershy felt a hoof poke her clinched wing harshly, enough so that pain shot through the appendage, “I still think we should make her death slow and painful; teach her kind a lesson on how we deal with their vile mutations.”
“And deal with that sort of bloody mess? Maybe if you want to clean it all up, but I am not touching that thing's juices,” The first voice said, disgust all too apparent in its tone.
The second voice, seemingly the leader of the group, came back, the tone slightly harsher than before, “I am aware of both of your sentiments, but that is NOT how we do things. Alright? You both know how we go about dealing with pegasi around these parts, and that is how we are going to do it.”
“Even with only us here? Do we really need to do that sort of formality?”
“Even if it was just me, Luke, we must do it. Remember that. Is that clear you two?”
There was a slight pause, until the other two voices muttered a frustrated sigh in unison, “Fine.”
Fluttershy again tested the bindings tied to her four hooves, only to be be met once again with failure. The thought of being on display so openly embarrassed and frightened the mare more than she ever imagined possible, but here she was, her hooves bound to each of the bed's posts, her bright yellow legs trapped, leaving her completely defenseless to the stallions around her. The sounds of hooves approaching her again stopped her small struggle.
Suddenly, she felt teeth harshly grabbing for the wing closest to the center of the room, attempting to pull it out from its closed position. Panic overtook the blind mare, and she used every muscle she had to clamp it back shut. For several seconds, the battle between the two forces tore at the wing, pulling more than one feather out of the majestic appendage as Fluttershy fought against the inevitable. For the most part, she was winning, her wing staying mostly shut as the stallion pulling it open couldn't get a good grasp onto it. Eventually, she won out, the teeth finally slipping from her wing, and the satisfying sounds of her foe tumbling to the ground with a painful thud entering her ears.
Her small victory was short lived as a sudden force slammed into her stomach, eliciting a muffled scream of pain from the pegasus. New tears started to well up in her eyes, soaking the blindfold in their salty liquid. She did her best to stifle the sobbing she knew was about to come, but she didn't think that she could hold back her cries of pain. Muffled sobs escaped her throat as the sharp pain of the blow faded into a deeper throbbing ache.
A sudden feeling of breath against her ear stopped her sobs, and made her stiffen in fear again. A small whisper from the leader filled her ear, “If you want this to be a painless as possible, you might want to spread those little chicken wings of yours.” The breathing remained in her ear as she shivered in fright. Finally, her will to resist gave in, and slowly, she unfurled her undoubtedly damaged wing. She could feel the smile overtake the stallion's face and he chuckled, “Good girl. Don't worry, I'll be as merciful as possible.”
The presence went away as she felt something tie her wing down, forcing it to remain open and flat against the bed. The presence from moments before returned as something climbed onto the bed, standing over her as it pulled at her other wing. She hesitated for a moment, before letting that wing spread wide, allowing her captors to tie it down. After only a minute, she was completely secured, her wings open, her legs bound, blind, gagged, and hurt.
She couldn't find the tears to shed anymore.
“My brothers!” The voice from the leader cried out in triumph, hooves loudly clopping onto the ground as the captor over her jumped down, “we are gathered here today to grant mercy to this mare. For so long, she has lived with the burden of being a mutant, an abomination, a plague against all that is pure in the world. These feathered growths are not meant for us ponies, for as children of the earth, we are meant to be one with the land, and walk connected with the earth. Wings rob us of that very connection, stealing our unity as a race, and forever tearing us apart. But that is not how it has to be! Us being here is proof of that.
“This mare was born with that plague! For too long, she has undergone much hardship as she was forced to live a life unaware of how those vile growths stole the very essence of her species from her. But should we blame this innocent mare for this crime? No! Just because she was born with those things does not mean that these are her doing. She had no control over whether she was born a pure and honorable pony of the earth or whether she was born a monster.
“However,” The leader paused for a moment, then spoke more quietly, “we have the power to rectify this wrong, for with this blade, we shall cut away this monster, and leave nothing but the beautiful mare that this abomination has hidden within her.”
The soft clopping of hooves on the ground signaled to her that they were approaching her, the terrifying words that the stallion spoke took Fluttershy's terror to a whole new level. She tried to shake herself out of her bonds with a new level of vigor, ignoring the pain shooting through her wings as the bindings around them tugged at the sensitive appendages. Trying to break out, she used every ounce of power she had in her limbs to break the bindings, free herself, fly away from her captors, and get out of this hell that the room had become.
The feeling of hooves pressing her body down stopped her, her mind filled with the sense of defeat. Her heart racing, she stopped moving, scrunched her bound eyes closed, and readied herself for the horror that was about to be impart on her. The feeling of a sharp object, a blade, falling to rest gently on the base of her precious wing, the blade barely touching her fur. For a fleeting moment, she thought that maybe she would be spared from this treatment, even if she knew deep down that the idea of such an act was insane at best. The pressure suddenly built, and the hot pain from the blade as it bit down upon her wing filled her body. The knife quickly started to-
The sounds of hooves roughly impacting the floor on the other side of the room interrupted the act, “Hey Fluttershy, I just wanted t-”
Silence followed, the statement cut off by the sight that befell her cyan friend, but was she her savior, or her potential shared victim. The tension in the room slowly built as the only sound in the room was the breathing of several stallions, and now one mare. She could feel said tension building more and more, the heavy weight of raw emotions growing until she could barely take in breath. She could hear the breathing of the stallions next to her pick up as the knife was slowly taken away from her wounded wing, though she knew that enough damage was done so that blood was trickling out of the wound.
There was another short moment before one of her captors stuttered a reply, “I... I thought there was only one... monster...”
“RRAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”
And that was when the room truly turned into hell on earth.
Rainbow yelled a furious cry as the sounds of wings beating filled the room. It was obvious that the three stallions were caught off guard, as there was no noise other than a shocked gasp on their end as rage incarnate slammed her entire force into one of them. A cracking sound emanated from where the initial impact came from, and with only a stifled cry later, the sounds of a body crashing into the wall next to the bed entered Fluttershy's ears. Sudden shouts filled the room as the other two stallions returned to their senses, and attacked Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy trembled in fear as the vicious battle next to her took place. The simple fact that she wasn't able to either see her friend and cheer her on, hide in the corner and merely observe the carnage, or maybe even help where she could, though even she had to admit that last possibility was unlikely at best, upset her even further. The noises of the stallions varied from combative anger, woeful pain, and even blatant shock. However, their noises were mostly ignored by the yellow mare, who only tuned in on the sounds coming from Rainbow Dash.
The shouts that emanated from Rainbow's throat were filled with so much fury, that it nearly stunned Fluttershy into a frozen shock. If last night's tirade against Quill taught Fluttershy that Rainbow had more anger within her than Fluttershy ever imagined, this brutal display of rage made the point all the more clear. Fluttershy winced at some of the sounds that came from her friend, the rare and short yelps of pain that came from the cyan pegasus telling her that even the agile and quick Rainbow Dash could be hit.
The sudden weight of a body crashing on top of her stopped her mental processes. The weight, as quickly as it came, quickly left as it fell over her and onto the floor with a heavy thump. Suddenly, the room was completely quiet save for the heavy panting of a single tired pony. Fluttershy's mind raced, unsure of who was the victor of the fight. She had only counted two assailants falling to the floor; had the third fallen earlier when Fluttershy was distracted with her thoughts, or had Rainbow been the one to have just crashed into her? Gentle, if slightly haggard, hoofsteps of an approaching pony told Fluttershy that her questions would soon be answered. Soon, the steps stopped just next to the bed containing her bound form, as if waiting for some unknown sign to spring their owner into action.
The cold touch of the blade from before touched her cheek gently, the hot breath of its wielder blowing across her muzzle, sending a chill down Fluttershy's spine yet again. She trembled as the knife moved across her cheek, toying with her emotions as the stallion taunted her, letting Fluttershy know that she was doomed minutes before her death actually came. Right now, the thought of losing her wings seemed like a merciful one compared to what threatened her now. She could only hope that her death was a quick one as the knife pressed against her cheek, somehow not cutting her.
With a swift motions, the knife moved under her gag, and with a swift motion, cut the rag away.
Fluttershy felt her mouth freed, and soon found a hoof pulling away the gag from her lips, giving the mare a refreshing taste of fresh air once more. Yet, she still did not move, and kept her silence as the knife removed itself, and was once again placed on her head, this time near her temple. Once again, the knife pressed down onto her temple, though now that she payed attention, she noticed the cutting edge was not pressed against her skin, but instead, the backside was. Again, with a swift motion, the filthy rag was cut away, returning her eyesight.
The first thing that she saw was a blinding glare of the room's lights, which had apparently been turned on sometime since she was blindfolded. The light brought spots to her vision, and Fluttershy found herself blinking away tears, though these were merely from the sudden shock of the light. After a few seconds, her eyes adjusted, and while some spots remained, she nearly cried in joy at the first sight of the most beautiful creature in the world.
Rainbow Dash.
The cyan mare looked into Fluttershy's eyes as she held a slightly bloody kitchen knife in her mouth, the instrument that was used to harm Fluttershy now served to free her. Her forehead was bleeding from an injury she had recently sustained, most likely from the recent fight, and there was more than one recent, if minor, cut along her face. However, it was the her eyes that Fluttershy focused on, Rainbow's eyes filled with pain and worry for the yellow mare. While Rainbow said nothing, those two orbs told Fluttershy all that she needed to hear to know what her savior had on her mind.
Rainbow's failure.
After another second of the pained look, and Rainbow looked back down, and got back to work cutting away the bonds on Fluttershy. She worked on her wings first, the sensitive appendages being the most likely parts of Fluttershy's body to be injured if she moved too much. As the cyan pegasus went to cut away the bond that was holding Fluttershy's injured wing, there was a noticeable pause in her movements as the sight of the cut at the base and the torn feathers at the tip engraved themselves into Rainbow's mind before she cut away the rope. She repeated the action with the uninjured wing, taking great strides to make sure that she was as careful as possible.
As this happened, Fluttershy looked over at the room, which had very quickly turned from a quint and cozy bedroom, into a warzone. There wasn't a single piece of furniture that was spared: the tables were upended, the pictures on the walls had fallen down, and even the couch was completely destroyed by having a stallion shoved deep into it, the strong wooden frame broken in several places and being the most likely cause of his unconsciousness. The other two ponies were in similar states; one was thrown against some drawers, completely destroying them to the point where firewood was their only purpose, while the final one, being the one that was thrown onto her earlier, for he laid right next to bed, eyes closed, and breathing scant. None of the ponies looked familiar, though with all the ponies that were in the bar last night, it was possible that they were one of the many patrons from before.
With a final cut, Rainbow cut away the last of the ropes binding Fluttershy, giving her the welcome freedom she needed. Fluttershy got up, still trembling from the ordeal, until she was crushed by the hardest and deepest hug that she could ever recall receiving by anypony. The stunned mare just sat there dumbly as Rainbow hugged her, forehooves wrapped around her chest, the cyan mare's heartbeat racing as it became obvious that she was trembling as well. Fluttershy slowly came to her senses, and returned the welcome hug that was being given to her. Rainbow's forelegs stroked Fluttershy's back, attempting to either calm Fluttershy down, herself, or both.
The deep embrace continued until an errant hoof accidentally touched the part of Fluttershy's wing that had been cut, resulting in a pained squeak from her lips. Pulling back quickly, Rainbow looked at Fluttershy, eyes wide, “Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Fluttershy! Here, let me see,” the cyan mare quickly spoke, moving Fluttershy's foreleg out of the way, so that she could see her wing.
Looking herself, she did her best to calm Rainbow, even if she didn't know if she was entirely calm herself, “Its ok Rainbow, I know it doesn't look good, but I don't think its not as bad as it looks. As long as... I don't fly too hard, I'll be alright.”
Rainbow shook her head, “Fine, but if flying too hard is going to mess it up, then no flying for you. Either way, we have to get out of here, now.”
“But... we have to fly to... I mean...”
“Then I'll just have to carry you the rest of the way then.”
The yellow mare's eyes went wide, and she was just about to point out how impossible such an ordeal would be before Rainbow sprang into action. Quickly gathering their supplies, she managed to stuff most of their gear into one set of saddlebags, leaving out the disguises, as well as the can of peas, to make room for Fluttershy's things. Once all packed up, she grabbed onto Fluttershy, and, after cradling the stunned mare in her forelegs, zoomed as quickly as she could out of the window.
Fluttershy hung onto the cyan mare as if her life depended on it. While flying had its thrill, being carried like this through the air was something else entirely. It would've been a magical moment indeed, if not for the reason Fluttershy was here, and the fact that Fluttershy could hear Rainbow constantly muttering a silent scolding to herself.
“Stupid... so, so stupid. Element of Loyalty my flank. I make a promise to protect her, and the first chance of danger, and I abandon her. Stupid... stupid... stupid...”
________________________________________________________________________
The pair of earth ponies walked under the early morning light, though said early morning light consisted of the sun at high noon blazing overhead, coating the world in its radiance. The day was only a few minutes old, and Pinkie could already feel the heat on her face, the sweat on her brow beginning to form. According to Applejack, the structure that the Element of Laughter was supposed to located in was just a few miles from the Xavier City, and they pair would easily make it there before the middle of the day, though Pinkie honestly wasn't sure how they would even be able to confirm that assumption. Regardless, the pair continued on with their travel, determined to make their way to their destination.
At first, their walk had been filled with a one-sided conversation, Applejack doing her best to talk about anything that she could think of to keep their spirits high. She had talked about everything from her family, how the other girls were most likely doing, to even how much they were going to kick the flanks of their friends in the bet they made just six days ago. That last one nearly brought a mocking scoff out of the pink mare, the idea of so much happening in such a short time seemed unreal. Barely a week had passed since the six innocent mares had been dropped into this hell, and since that had happened, they had been attacked by a town full of guards, captured by a dragon, their world shattered as they learned they went centuries forward in time, and now sent on this crazy quest to get their Elements back. This isn't even including the things that happened since then to her and Applejack, and she didn't even know what had happened to the other girls, but if they were faring as well as they were... well... she didn't want to think about it. Though now, at least for the last few hours, the mares had walked in silence, with only the wind to break the tranquil peace.
Pinkie's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the cowpony, “Ah'm sorry, Pinkie.”
She didn't look towards her friend in response, and merely continued to look forward. She knew Applejack was hoping for some sort of reply, but how was she supposed to reply to that? Applejack couldn't just take back what had happened to her with a few words, a simple hug, and then they would go on with the rest of their lives. The mere thought that this was the mare's intention made her angry at Applejack for a split second, but the anger simmered down just as quickly.
Regardless of the silence, Applejack continued, “Ah can't say Ah know wha' kind of thoughts are goin' through your head, Pinkie. Ah reckon tha' none of them are any good, but Ah wan' you to know tha' Ah'm your friend, and Ah'll always be here for ya. An' Ah...”
Pinkie heard Applejack next to her stop in her tracks, the sadness that filled her voice making it all too obvious of what she was about to say, though for whatever reason, whether it was disbelief that Applejack would admit it, or maybe it was as malicious of a reason that she just wanted somepony to suffer with her, but she left Applejack continue.
Applejack's voice wavered as she continued, obvious enough in her voice that pained tears now freely fell, “Ah... Ah'm so sorry, Pinkie!” Applejack finally wailed, an audible thud telling the pink mare that Applejack had collapsed onto the ground in grief, “Ah promised mahself tha' Ah'd protect you, an' look at wha' has happened! Everything tha's happened so far has been mah fault! Ah caused us to get captured; Ah caused us to get locked up. Ah let you...”
Her voice trailed off into a whisper, “Ah didn' do anythin' to stop any of it...”
The only sounds that came from behind her now were the wracked sobs of a mare broken. As Pinkie listened, she felt her shell of silence beginning to crack, each painful breath of air Applejack took as she wept, sending more spidery fractures along the shell. Instead of doing her best to mentally repair her protective shield, she let it crumble, the idea of her burden causing so much unhappiness among others, especially a pony so close to her, was unbearable. A full minute passed, then the shell finally broke.
“He didn't do it.”
Pinkie heard the sobbing behind her slow as her words seeped into the orange mare's ears and raddled in her brain. Several seconds passed as the mare behind her tried to interpret what had just been revealed, the sounds of gears turning and hamsters running on wheels nearly audible as Applejack considered the statement. Eventually, Pinkie heard Applejack settle on a single word, “Wh... wha'?”
Pinkie sighed and turned, letting her eyes fall on her hooves, “Xavier didn't do it, or at least I didn't let him. I knew something bad was up from what he was saying at dinner, and so I tried to make sure that he kept drinking. I was scared that he hadn't drank enough by the time he... he...” Pinkie took a breath to calm herself before continuing, “... he took me away, but I was able to convince him to split another bottle of wine or three, which I made sure he drank by himself. He tried to chase after me after that, but all I did was... well... hop, skip, and jump away, saying that we were playing tag, until he passed out from the drinks. It only took a little running in place and water in my face, dragging that... that MONSTER over to the bed, and two hours of playing tick-tack-toe with myself, and I just walked out.”
She heard the heavy breathing of Applejack as the news hit her. Suddenly, the mare jumped up to her hooves, “Tha's great Pinkie! Ah never heard such wonderful news in mah-”
“Wonderful!?” Pinkie screeched as she looked up, catching Applejack mid sentence in shock, “Just because he DIDN'T do it doesn't mean he didn't try! Oh Celestia he tried. I didn't know how long I could stay away from him, Applejack. If he wasn't so drunk he would've... I mean...”
As Pinkie trailed off, Applejack filled the voice, “Ah'm sorry, Sugarcube. Ah didn' mean ta-”
“And you know what the worst part was!?” Pinkie yelled again, “The entire time that he tried to violate me, he laughed. You hear that!? He LAUGHED! Like a little filly would if she played hopscotch, or a little colt would playing hoofball!” Pinkie's eyes grew wide as she frantically looked around, not focusing on a single thing, “How could somepony laugh at something like that!? Laughing... laughing is supposed to be for fun things, like parties and birthdays and happy songs and games and... and... other fun things! Not something like that. How... how could somepony laugh at that...”
Pinkie trembled as she finally let out the emotions within her, her tears dried up long before, her eyes now, instead, boring down on Applejack, demanding an answer that the mare could never give. Timidly, the orange mare slowly made her way closer to Pinkie, until they were face to face, mere inches separating the slightly frightened face of the orange mare and the angry and panicked face of the pink mare. The two stared at each other, past each other, around each other, until Applejack moved forward, and embraced Pinkie in a hug.
Still, Pinkie shed no tears, but the simple urge to hug her friend back, and then carrying out with the hug, was enough to show herself that she was going to be ok. For the first time since she was forced out of the dining room, she was able to, at least for a moment, clear her mind, and just lose herself in the warmth of her friend. For every second that Pinkie was in the hug, another second of bliss filled her heart. If Pinkie could have, she would have stayed in that happy grasp until hunger, thirst, and drowsiness forced them apart.
Alas, it ended too suddenly.
Applejack slowly pulled herself out of the hug, giving Pinkie the largest smile that she imagined the mare could considering the situation. After a few moments, the two looked towards where they were heading, the foothills of a few low mountains. They turned back towards each other, and with a nod, they turned, and made their way towards their goal. All the while, Pinkie still felt the heavy weight of the traumatizing ordeal firmly on her shoulders, but the weight felt slightly less burdensome, as if Applejack had come over and helped the tormented mare carry the weighty load that she was forced to bear.
Time seemed to fly by as the pair made their way deeper into the foothills, all the while the two of them remained in silence, though now that silence was not that of sorrow, but one of mutual recognition of needed peace after two days of terrifying hardship. As the two walked, seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours, and hours too flew by, until they came to the exact spot that was on the map given to them by Sarlaka. Applejack paced back and forth, looking in all directions, searching for the entrance to the cave or dungeon or whatever the Element of Laughter was supposed to be housed in. By the minute, the orange mare was getting more and more frustrated, until she threw her arms up in the air, and yelled obscenities at the map.
Pinkie had, at this point, stopped paying attention to the frustrated yells of her friend, and instead was staring off into space, a strange feeling came over her as she looked off into the distance. She had no idea what it was, but from the warm feeling that it was giving her, it came off as an urge to go towards it, to hold it, to do nothing but take that feeling, wrap it in her forelegs, and never let go. The entire world faded as her entire consciousness focused on the single bit of warmth. It was more of a voice, calling to her, telling her to come over, and take it for her own. She heard muffled noises of the outside world, but nothing compared to the want and need to have this... this... feeling in her hooves.
She suddenly found herself wheeled around, until she was firmly locking eyes with Applejack, a worried face painted all over, “Pinkie, ya ok?”
Pinkie shook her head, coming out of the daze that had just enveloped her mind, “Huh? What? What's up, Jackie?”
“Pinkie Pie, ya were just walkin' along, starin' off into space for Celestia knows how long. Ah was gonna snap ya outta it, bu' I didn' know wha' to do honestly. Wha's goin' on?”
“Well...” Pinkie thought, moving a hoof to her curly mane to adjust its weight to sit better on her head, “first I was thinking about how those words you were using just now were pretty naughty, but then... well...” Her face turned serious as she remembered the feeling, “it felt like something was calling to me, telling me I need to run over and give it a great big Pinkie hug.”
Applejack sad on her haunches, brought a hoof to her chin, and thought to herself for a while. After a few minutes of Pinkie watching her, her poofy tail slightly swishing side to side in anticipation, Applejack asked “Say Pinkie, did it feel like some kind of magic spell tha' ya were jus' hit with? Like one of the times Twilight teleported us?”
Pinkie thought to herself, thinking about the last time Twilight had teleported her. Unless she was forgetting a time, the last time she could remember was when the group was in Martha and Clyde's drinking place thingy, and they were being attacked by the mean guards, though in hindsight, they weren't that bad compared to the ones she had seen earlier today. When Twilight had teleported her those two times, the magic had quickly enveloped her, giving a sense of comfort and warmth, as if Twilight herself was wrapping her hooves around her, protecting her from the cruel world all around.
“Yeah, kinda, but Twilight's was much more... I don't know... flowery?”
Applejack stared, “... flowery?”
“Yeah. Like it smelled like flowers. Tulips to be exact.”
“Tulips?” Applejack gave Pinkie a sly smile, “Ya sure tha' Ain't ya admittin' that Twilight's your crush?”
Pinkie frowned deeply, looking at her hooves, “... Applejack...”
“Yeah? Oh... yeah... sorry. Bad timin', Ah know,” Applejack looked down as well, shifting on her hooves slightly, a momentary pause in the speech making the situation that much more awkward. Eventually, she looked back up into Pinkie's eyes, “But other than the tulips part, ya say it was tha same?”
Pinkie shrugged, “Pretty much.”
Applejack shrugged back, “Then Ah say do whatever it wan's ya to do.”
Pinkie blinked, “Are... are you sure?”
“Nope, but Ah ain't gonna let you outta mah sight this time, Ah pro... no... Ah Pinkie Promise,” Applejack attempted to smile, going through the simple motions that a Pinkie Promise demanded.
Nodding to herself, Pinkie turned back towards where the alleged magical source was trying to take her, closed her eyes, and let her mind wander. At first, all she could think of was how odd the request was that Applejack said, and how strangely trusting the orange mare was of something like magic, especially foreign magic. Though she had to admit, being enveloped in magic wasn't that bad, the warm caressing of slight static charge, the heat of the arcane fire from within a unicorn that fueled the magical flame, and the sense of trust and desire that came with all of that were things that Pinkie had to admit were very nice things about magic. How she knew those kinds of terminology for magic she would never tell her friends, at least until she knew it was the right time. Until then, she would just think about the warmth of the magic.
Strangely enough, she couldn't deny that the magic was the best feeling she had felt in the longest of times, amplified especially because of the situation that the mare had been through the past few days. It felt so inviting, invigorating, and she loved the feeling of bliss that came across her as she imagined herself on a snowy day inside a cozy cabin, and instead of a warm fire to snuggle up against, she had the magic aura wrapped around her. Like a ethereal blanket, it would keep her safe from the cold bite of the frigid winter night. Maybe it was this want for this warmth that caused the emotions she had inside of her for the past few months to surface, though the mere thought of acting on those emotions now terrified her, considering what she just went though.
Or they would have, except the memories of the warm feeling kept coming back, stronger each time, forcing the painful memories to the back of her head, and the happy ones of joy and bliss to come and take their rightful place at the foreground of her mind. The happy memories came back so strong now, she had a hard time keeping her breathing in check. She felt like she was nearly gasping for breath, her face slightly blushing at the thoughts of having her own unicorn to wrap her up in a warm magical aura, snuggle up against, listening the fire crackling, the wind outside their cabin blowing, Applejack yelling her name, the gentle sighs of contentment as she and her special unicorn shared a... wait... huh?
Applejack yelling?
Strong hooves yanked the mare off of her emotional high and her happy thoughts, and brought her crashing back down into Discord's world. Looking at the culprit, she saw that Applejack was the one that brought her back, the orange mare's breathing heavy as she gasped for breath. Pinkie was just about to sigh in disappointment when she realized that the sun, once high in the sky, was nowhere to be found. Confusion momentarily sent her brain into autopilot as she shifted her head around, trying to figure out where in Equestria she was. Looking around the area, it appeared that she was now standing in a large stone tunnel, completely devoid of any natural light source, the only light in the tunnel was coming from a simple torch that was staked into the ground next to Applejack. The floor looked like it had once been worked masterfully, though now in its state of disrepair, derbies covered the entire area underhoof, almost completely obscuring the artificial floor.
Gazing further down the hall, just a few hooves in front of her, she noticed two large and thick metal doors in the tunnel, very simple, yet rugged in design, with two notable features. The first, and normally would be the most interesting, feature was that both of the doors featured colossal gems, each almost as big as her. The identities of the gems were unknown to the party pony, but they were expertly cut into the most curious of shapes: balloons. On the doors, six balloons, two blue and one yellow on each door, were expertly placed in a design somewhat resembling her cutie mark, though she noticed there were some... mistakes. The yellow balloons in the center of each design were lower than the two blues instead of higher, while the strings for each balloon were, instead of being colored yellow on the blues and blue on the yellows, were colored exactly the same as the balloons that they were attached to. Though all of this was curious, there was something much more curious about these doors.
Namely, the fact that they were completely ripped off of their hinges.
The doors that once stood mightily against centuries of time, countless intruders, and the various elements that the world could throw at it, had fallen to an unknown, and most likely malicious, force. Pinkie approached the doors, careful to make sure each hoofstep was met with solid floor, until she was right up against the door itself.
“What do you think did all of this, Applejackie?” Pinkie said, tapping a hoof on one of the yellow balloons.
Applejack walked forward, her breathing finally slowing down, and stood next to the pink pony, “Ah ain't got the foggiest clue Pinkie, but whatever it was, Ah hope tha' its long gone. By the way, wha' was all the runnin' 'bout?”
Pinkie turned towards Applejack, seeing the genuine confusion in the cowpony's eyes, “Running? I wasn't... well... was I running?”
Applejack nodded, “Ah'd say for close to thirty minute you were runnin'. Full gallop almost. Don' tell me you don' remember.”
Shaking her head in response, Pinkie looked back down the corridor, trying to make out anything that would give a clue on how or why she ran here so readily and, if it was magic, what was the source of it. As far as the light from the torch went, she couldn't make out anything of apparent significance other than the metal doors.
“Ya think your Element is still in there, Sugarcube?” Applejack spoke softly as she turned back to grab the torch that was stuck in the ground just behind them.
Pinkie nodded, “I know its in there. Don't ask me how, because I sure as sand don't know how.”
“Sure as... huh? Umm... anyways... uhh...” Applejack motioned with her hoof, “shall we?”
With a final nod, Pinkie turned towards the tunnel, and the pair made their way further inside. The tunnel itself was relatively unremarkable. It became quite apparent quickly that the tunnel was artificial in some fashion, for the “cave” never opened up into any caverns, never made any twists or turns, and there wasn't any sign of any natural erosion. In fact, the only remarkable thing about the cave was the amazing length of the structure. Pinkie guessed that they had walked for nearly three miles through the rock and stone, and this wasn't including any distance that they had traveled while she was affected by the magic earlier. It was just an endless tunnel of slightly rough rock walls, a moderately dusty ground, and air that smelled very stale.
This went on for another long mile, until the tunnel's roof gradually lowered, the vaulted tunnel slowly turning more and more into walls and a ceiling, until the vast corridor now was a twenty hoof wide, fifteen hoof tall squared off hallway. Also of note was that the walls and ceiling were now obviously hoofmade, the stone masonry quite simple, with no apparent carving or sculpting to decorate it in any way. It was as if the one who made the tunnel wanted the bare minimum possible, and didn't want to spend the time or bits to make the place homely in any way. Though it looked like there was some kind of discoloration in the walls, as if the area was painted at one point, but it was impossible to tell if that was the case or if it was just the natural color of the material used in the bricks.
The place needed some pink.
They stopped suddenly, the sight in front of the pair confusing the pink mare, for what laid before her was a slightly widened room that had absolutely no significant features, with the exception of the ceiling, the floor, and an object on the far side of the room. The ceiling above them was completely filled with dull square tiles, like the kind the pair should have seen on any normal ruined floor. There wasn't any markings, no signs of decoration, just various tiles. The floor had matching tiles, and they would've went unnoticed completely if it weren't for two things. The first was that they perfectly matched the alignment of the ceiling tiles perfect, so that wherever there was a floor tiles, there would be a ceiling tile just above it. On the far side of the cramped space, there seemed to be some kind of pillar standing just past the tiles, about four to five hoofs high, and that was it, a sure sign that it was important in some way, though to what end, Pinkie had no clue. Of course, the tiles came back to mind as Pinkie noticed that all along the floor next to the tiles, but never on the tiles themselves, there were the remains of pony skeletons.
Shaking the sight of the skeletons out of her head, she looked up to see that Applejack was carefully walking forwards, inspecting the tiles just as Pinkie was just before. She walked up until she was just a step away from stepping on a tile, “Ah got a bad feelin' about this Pinkie. With all the skeletons an' how constricted its feelin', I don' trust it.”
Taking a final second to think, Pinkie watched as Applejack almost hopped onto the tile in front of her and placed every single hoof firmly on the single tile. In an instant, Pinkie's eyes were alerted to the ceiling, which proceeded to completely come down on the cowmare. She meant to yell out Applejack, tell her to jump back, to run away, to do anything to get away, because not only was the small area above Applejack coming down, but the entire area of the ceiling that was covered in the tile-like design came crashing down. Instead, all Pinkie could do was gasp, and watch.
Fortunately, Applejack jumped back almost as fast as she jumped forwards, she was apparently anticipating something like this happening. Just as she cleared the line between the tiles and the normal ground, the ceiling finally crashed down, slamming onto the ground with a echoing bang, and just as quickly, rose back up to the ceiling, resetting itself in only a second, ready for the next victim to walk by.
Pinkie ran over to where Applejack stood, got up right next to her, and screamed in fright, “Applejackie! Are you alright!?”
Instead of being frightened, shocked, or even worried, Applejack gave sly grin, “Heh... Ah, thought there was somethin' odd 'bout this place. Ah have to admit, Ah thought only the tile above me would come down, an' tha' was a little closer than Ah thought it would be, but tha's not a problem,” Applejack turned towards Pinkie, the sly smile still painted on her face, “ain't it, Pinkie?”
Pinkie cocked her head, “Uhh... huh?”
The orange mare sighed, “Think of it this way, why make a trap this complicated if there wasn' some way to get by? Might as well seal off the whole bucking cave if you don' wan' somepony gettin' through. We jus' gotta find out how to get through.” Applejack nodded her head at Pinkie as she finished.
Pinkie nodded back to her, albeit somewhat hesitantly, as Applejack took a step to the side, and tried the next tile to the left. Again, the entire ceiling came down, attempting to squash the mare underneath, but yet again, Applejack was ready, and jumped back just in time to dodge the falling ceiling. After the ceiling crashed to the ground, it went back up just as fast, resetting itself yet again. For a third time, Applejack took a step to the left, and tried the tile there, and met with very similar results, except she was able to clear the ceiling much easier this time, she getting the hang of the motions.
This process repeated itself several times over, and every time was met with similar results. By this point, mostly because only one pony could try traversing the expanse at a time, Pinkie had taken a seat near the entrance, content with just watching the brave and determined earth pony try every single tile that was in the first row twice, Applejack making sure that she didn't miss one the first time though. Once she had completed the first row, she had taken one of the few skulls that were on the ground in her teeth, something Pinkie found very disturbing, and tossed it into the tiled area. However, unlike before, before the skull could even land on the tile, the ceiling came crashing down again, like the place could sense the skull's location in the air. It only took a second before the ceiling crushed the skull mid-flight, turning the poor pony skull into dust.
Pinkie heard Applejack chuckle to herself, “Heh... glad Rainbow ain't here...”
However, something that Pinkie eventually realized, and was sure that Applejack noticed too, was that every time a tile in the first row was passed over, a single tile adjacent to it on the ceiling would not come crashing down, giving a single spot for the pony to jump for refuge, before the tiles would most likely reset themselves, and then repeat the process. However, it was impossible to predict which of the ceiling tiles wouldn't fall, because each tile had a different, random tile keyed to it, and considering there was no room for error, if Applejack attempted the ordeal, she would surely be crushed.
Nearly two hours, three pony skulls, and a can of peas later, Applejack threw her arms up, and wailed, “Ah don' get it! How're ya supposed to get over there safely! Ah mean, it makes no sense, Pinkie!!!”
The last line was yelled so loudly, the final sentence echoed off of the walls, the five words reverberating in the room, entering Pinkie's mind again, and again...
“... it makes no sense, Pinkie...”
“... makes no sense, Pinkie...”
“... sense... Pinkie...”
Pinkie softly spoke to herself, “Twitchy tail...”
Looking behind her from the ground, Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Ah beg your pardon?”
Quickly, before Applejack could try and stop her, she got up to her hooves, her saddlebags still strapped to her back, and bolted past her. After getting a decent enough running start, she jumped, and landed all four hooves on one of the tiles in the first row.
As the mechanism working the ceiling trap triggered, time appeared to slow down as her mind went into overdrive and her instincts screamed at her. Her tail started to twitch madly from the collapsing roof all around, telling her that falling things were about to come down, and she needed to run, and fast. Other than behind her, her Pinkie Sense told her that things were falling all around her, threatening to crush her like the skulls from before.
Except diagonally left and forward.
Leaping to the tile, she felt the very tip of her tail get trapped for a split second under one of the ceiling tiles as the ceiling slammed down, doing its very best to destroy her. For not even a second, her entire world consisted of nothing but her small three hoof square island, surrounded by the trap columns. Just as every other time before, the tiles immediately rose back up to their restful position, but immediately after they were set, the whole process of raising only taking a scant second, they came back down. Again, her Pinkie Sense sent her tail twitching, her mind screaming at her to move, but she found that her way back was now within the danger zone, that ceiling tile now coming down just like the rest.
Forward.
Again, she leaped, barely dodging the trap. This process repeated itself dozens of times, and she went every direction and nearly stepped on every single tile as she went. At several points she found herself heading back to the beginning, effectively heading backwards. At times, she thought that she could possibly jump her way to the end, skipping some of the maze, but that idea was dashed each time by her twitching tail. As she was heading back at one point, over two dozen tiles already stepped on, she spied a glance at Applejack, the awed face that she gave Pinkie basically telling her that she was completely amazed by the amount of laws of nature, physics, and other sciency things that she was breaking.
If only Twilight could see her now.
After a full minute and forty tiles later, she made a leap, landing on her hooves, and waited for another tail twitch, but found none. Confused, she looked around, and noticed in joy that she was no longer in the deadly maze, but was instead on the other side of the room, at last safe from the terrifying ordeal. Even in her heavy panting, she couldn't help but hear the loud whoops from the orange mare across the room.
“Pinkie Pie! Tha' was more amazin' than any stinkin' Sonic Rainboom! Sweet baby Celestia, you dodged fifty three of those darn things! Now find a way to get those dang things to stop so Ah can give ya the biggest hug any pony has ever seen!”
The pink mare, for the first time in almost twenty four hours, gave a small smile.
Turning around, she darted over to the only notable feature on this side of the traps, the small pedestal, and noticed that there was a large button in the center of it. As she fixed her slightly disheveled mane, she inspected it further, noting that there were no other things of interest on the mostly featureless structure. Rearing back on her hind legs, she placed her front hooves on the top of the button, and pressed her weight against it. When she pressed the button, there was a rumbling somewhere above them, though what it was was lost to the pink pony. However, at the very end of the shaking, there was an audible “click” around where the shaking was, and then it all stopped.
Pinkie watched as Applejack, with torch in her mouth, carefully approached the tiles, doubt on her face of the actual effects of the activated device. Timidly, she jumped on a tile, and jumped back, as if the ceiling was going to crash back down on her, however, the two of them noticed that not only did the ceiling not come crashing down, but it didn't seem to react at all. Again, Applejack jumped on the tile, her legs ready to jump back if needed, but no ill effects seemed to occur. Still wary in her steps, she jumped from tile to tile, speeding up her jumps as she got closer to the end, until she was nearly doing a hopping sprint by the time she caught up to Pinkie. True to her word, Applejack dropped the torch on the ground mid dash, and embraced the bright mare in the strongest hug that Pinkie had ever been enveloped in, laughter spilling out of the orange mare's lungs.
Even if she didn't join Applejack's laughter, she couldn't help but to yet again let out a tiny smile.
The two eventually released the hug, the two setting back down on their four hooves, though Applejack kept on laughing, “Have ah ever told ya tha' you were the craziest filly Ah have ever met?”
Pinkie rolled her eyes, “I think everypony has told me that, Jackie.”
“Heh, an' its true every time, Sugarcube!”
The pair started walking yet again as Applejack continued to talk about how amazing Pinkie had performed just a few minutes before, how she was more graceful than even the best ballerina, and while some of those handstands were probably unnecessary, it was amazing nonetheless. The entire time that Applejack gushed about Pinkie exploits, Pinkie found herself internally smiling more and more, though she never really showed it outwardly. However, it was becoming harder and harder to feel angry towards her, especially because it wasn't really her fault at all when it came to Pinkie and... well...
The happiness that Pinkie was feeling just now slowly left her, but fortunately, sadness did not fill her heart like it had been before. Instead, she merely felt neutral, just looking forward as they pressed forward, their time together passing quickly with Applejack's idle talk. She knew that she should have been happier with Applejack, the poor mare was obviously doing her hardest to have her crack even the slightest of smiles, and Applejack had beamed the one time she had seen Pinkie smile, even if it was the tiniest of upturned lips. Alas, how could she?
All her thoughts stopped as the pair walked into a truly massive cavern. Compared to the last chamber, this one was completely the opposite. The entire thing was organic in nature, with not a single sign of worked stone anywhere that the torch could see. In fact, the torch wasn't entirely necessary, for a single hole in the ceiling, about a hundred or more hooves up, shined a greenish light into the cavern. The hole itself, which was actually quite small, obviously did not lead outside, but where there is light, there had to be something. All around the hole in the roof, massive roots of trees above ground penetrated the rock, showing how powerful the might of the natural world could be to even something as strong as stone. Elsewhere on the cavern's ceiling, stalactites filled the area, leaving almost no point on the roof bare.
On the ground, the area was surprisingly bare. While normally stalagmites would be right under where a stalactite would be overhead, there were only a small amount of them standing around, gathering the mineral filled drippings from above. The rest of the floor was filled with dirt that was surprisingly pleasant to walk through, and while it wasn't as comfortable as a standard dirt road on Pinkie's hooves, the dirt was indeed a welcome break from the hard stone floors from before. The final landmark in the room was a single circular shaped raised platform, only about a hoof high, with a small pedestal in the center.
The pair began their walk towards the pedestal, which was actually much farther away than Pinkie had anticipated, the massive size of the cavernous room distorting the actual distance of the platform. It took a full two minutes for the mares to finally make it to the platform, which they pulled themselves up onto.
Applejack proceeded to the stand, inspected it for a second, before looked back at Pinkie, “There's nuthin' written on it. Ya think we're supposed to do somethin'?”
“I don't know. Maybe it means we have to find something?” Pinkie shrugged looking around the cavern as she contemplated the meaning.
Applejack sighed, and started to pull open her saddlebags to get out her climbing gear, “Well, ah know tha' if nothin' else, only way out is up. Not lookin' forward to this...”
Pinkie started to help Applejack put on her claws as she responded, “Are you sure that there isn't another way out? I mean, we really can't see the entire cave thingy from here.”
With a final buckle latching the claws on her forehooves, Applejack stood back up, “Well, all Ah gotta say tha'... oh... oh boy...”
Looking back towards Applejack, she saw that the orange mare was staring off into the distance in the opposite direction that Pinkie was just looking. Following Applejack's eyes, she looked off into the distance as well, and noticed that several figures were emerging from the shadows. Standing on four legs, the pony sized creatures snarled as they approached the pair, their entire bodies made up of many different sizes of wood. Their eyes glowing a hellish yellow, the creatures were crouched slightly, ready to pounce on the vulnerable ponies that they had deemed their next meal. Looking to her left and right, she noticed more were emerging from the shadows, preparing to encircle the two ponies between them.
“Timberwolves...” Pinkie heard Applejack whisper with a waver. Suddenly Applejack looked over at Pinkie, confusion and a slight anger in her tone, “Wait, Ah don' get it! How can Timberwolves even live in here!? There's nothin' to eat, nothin' to drink; how is it even possible!?”
A thought flew through Pinkie's mind, “Applejackie!!! That's it!”
“Ah beg ya pardon?”
Pinkie walked around the mare, and looked Applejack straight in the eye, “Don't you get it Jackie? Perception? Timberwolves living in here? Strange magic at the entrance?”
She finally saw the wheels in the cowpony's head turn, and she slowly nodded, “Ya think they're some kind 'a illusion?”
“Yup! I mean, how crazy would it be if thYIPE!!!” Pinkie squeaked in pain.
The two of them looked to the side, to see one of the more brash wolves had gotten close, swiped at Pinkie, and backed off quickly, apparently startled by the high pitched squeal its victim let out. The two ponies turned their heads to Pinkie's side, which now bore three six inch long cuts, thankfully not very deep, that ran from her rump to the bottom of her ribs. The wounds stung, and the pink mare could see the small trickle of blood starting to seep through her coat, and start to run down her side.
Pinkie looked back up at Applejack, and the pair locked eyes for a moment, the orange mare's eyes wide in shock, “Oh... oh Horseapples...”
A/N: See what I did there? I force you guys to wait a few extra days, so I give you a super extra long chapter. Yeah, I pretty much love you all.