//------------------------------// // Pinkie why // Story: I Prefer the Term Freelancer // by One of the Crowd //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Pinkie why *** A few minutes ago*** "Twilight, what did she mean by you poisoning Isaac?" Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow toward her friend twilight. Twilight's eyes darted around the tent looking for a way to change the topic from her accidental poisoning of Isaac. Of course though her friend would have nothing to do with any other topic than this, after all Rainbow Dash was the only one there at the time as well as the only one who knew. "Hehe, well... you see I kind of poured some highly toxic chemicals into,um, his drinking glass" Everpony's eyes grew even larger on their heads which was surprising considering that their entire face was mostly eye to begin with. They just stared at twilight for a minute before she added, "I ran out of beakers and it was there so I figured I could use that." "It wasn't entirely Twilight's fault, After she finished whatever she was doing me and Isaac came in from playing some Hoofball. We didn't know so he filled it up and took a drink," Rainbow said as she trotted beside her friend before continuing, "He fell over and I started panicking when twilight came back in and saw what had happened. She used some spell to slow the poison and told me to fly him to the hospital." The other ponies looked at each other then Applejack asked. "Why did she threaten you then" "I tried to explain to Isaac that it was an accident, but he avoided me after that and left the next week" Twilight looked at everypony in the tent before continuing, "I didn't mean to hurt him" Pinkie's eyes were starting to tear up when she finally spoke. "At least you didn't turn the town against him, not like I did" Pinkie's head dropped down as she stared at the floor recalling the event very clearly. "You didn't mean to hurt him, and I... and I" pinkie started crying before she could finish her sentence. Fluttershy moved over and draped a wing over pinkie to comfort her. They all remember that day because that was the day the princess saw just how bad their town could be when they see the unknown. *** 1 year 11 months ago*** "I don't know Blazing, I mean no one talks to me here. I don't think I've even seen a pony here that doesn't give me a death glare" Isaac said while walking down the street with Blazing beside him. Ponyville had been especially quiet today as not a single pony was out today not even Applejack who was always by her stand ready to ask Isaac far more personal questions than he enjoyed, at least Celestia wouldn't pressure him if he didn't want to answer. Eventually to get Applejack to stop asking him questions repeatedly he lied which she caught every time, and would reprimand him every time. "You've only been here a week Isaac, You should of seen how it was when Zecora first arrived, Celestia, nopony would come out of their houses until she was gone" The Pegasus beside him said giving him a pat on the back, but do to the height difference it went a little lower than that. "Blazing, stop you have a boyfriend" Isaac said grinning at the Pegasus that now had a cheeky smile on her face. After that however a random mare walked in front of the holding something in her hoof. "Hey, how are you" Isaac asked before the mare threw the object at him striking his head. "GAH,DAMN THAT HURTS" Isaac yelled while he pressed his hand firmly against the gash that had been created from whatever was thrown at him. Blazing started running toward the mare to give her a piece of her mind when she heard Isaac cry out for help. Looking behind her Blazing saw that Isaac had two stallions on top of him tying him up rope. "GET THESE GUYS OFF OF ME" Isaac yelled when one of the stallions hit him hard knocking him unconscious. "WHAT IN TARTARUS ARE YOU DOING," Blazing yelled as she ran toward the stallions when her tail was grabbed by the mare she was after. "LET GO OF ME" she yelled as she kicked the mare in the face knocking out a few of her teeth. The mare let go of BLazing and grabbed her face as she cried out for help. The stallions had started to carry Isaac of to who knows where when Blazing slammed into one of them forcing him to drop Isaac due to the sudden impact. The stallion got back up after a second and got into a fighting stance ready to deal with the Pegasus when he smiled. Blazing didn't see who hit her over the head but she had a feeling it was that mare she kicked a few minutes ago, but it didn't matter she was knocked unconscious and was unable to see what happened next. The stallions then carried Isaac into the center of town where a large pile of wood had been gathered and a large wooden pole stuck out of the middle. Almost everyone in town was there only a few ponies weren't and those few included Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Lyra, Derpy, Octavia, and a few others. One of the few more prominent members of the mob that had gathered however was pinkie pie who had no idea what was going on. "Ooooh, are we going to have a bonfire, I love bonfires, there great for roasting marshmallows and making smores, and don't get me started on the-" The pink pony continued talking about everything she enjoyed about bonfires though no one really cared about what she had to say, they had a mission to carry out and that was to rid the town of it's newest monster since the elements have clearly been hypnotized by it. Of course they hung out with it against their will because look at applejack she is fighting it to try and get help obviously, definitely not just an opinion because she is an element she can't hate anyone. Isaac began to wake up after being tied to the pole in the center of the wood pile and started to panic. "OH SHIT, I KNOW WHAT THIS IS, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T BURN ME" He yelled at the crowd of ponies none of which seemed to care what he was yelling as they knew he was simply a monster that needed control of them, at least that's what they believed. They had gotten the idea he was a monster because of pinkie pie who avoided him at all costs and her random twitches would make ponies question what they meant. Pinkie didn't know what these new twitches were as they were in a more unique order than usual but she chalked it up to the human. She was right about it being about it being the human but the twitches didn't mean secret monster she found out after this day that it meant hurting a friend. "We know what you are monster and we will rid the world of your influence since the elements cannot," the lead member of the mob said to Isaac as he lit up a torch. Isaac's eyes widened at the sight and started to struggle more and more trying his best to avoid the inevitable. The pony however did not set the logs on fire he trotted over to pinkie pie who was still talking about how bonfires are cool when he tried to hand her the torch. "here you are ms. pie" "Oooh what's thi-" pinkie looked up to see Isaac struggling against the rope on top of the wood pile. Her eyes widened as she smacked the torch out of the ponies hoof. "We can't start the bonfire, Isaac is stuck can't you see him." The mob leader looked at pinkie in confusion realizing that he had obviously taken control of her mind as well, oh the horror the horror. Deciding that to free the minds of all those who had succumbed to the monster it had to die the leader picked the torch back up and set it on fire once again when... "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE" Celestia said in her royal Canterlot voice. The leader of the mob started to rub the back of his head to try and come up with a way to describe their current situation to the princess. Ultimately the pony could not come up with anything believable so he decided to tell her their reasoning for attempting to burn a creature that Celestia a decreed was not to be harmed. "I see, you have chosen that instead of talking to Isaac to believe whatever somepony has told you" Celestia said as she trotted over to Isaac who had tears staining his face. Celestia undid the knot using her magic freeing Isaac from the bindings, and with his new found freedom he buried his face in Celestia's chest. "Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you, they almost... they almost" Isaac started crying into the royal ponies fur and she did not stop him for she knew he had been through quite the ordeal. Pinkie, realizing that this was her fault, her hair deflated to a very long straight mane. She had to make this right, she had to apologize to him, he would forgive her he had to. As she started to walk over to Isaac and the princess Isaac had calmed down enough to pull away from the princess. When he looked over to pinkie his expression changed to one of anger as he started to yell "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, THEY ALMOST KILLED ME". "I'm sorry, i didn't mean-" "YOU'RE SORRY, YOU'RE FUCKING SORRY I WAS ALMOST MURDERED BECAUSE OF YOU" Pinkies ears pressed against her skull as he was right, she almost killed him. "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FUCKING FACE AGAIN" "Isaac, you need to calm down" Celestia said trying to get Isaac to stop yelling "If you keep this up it will only serve to make them more terrified of you." After that day Celestia would often make surprise visits to Ponyville to make sure Isaac was safe and she would often write to him so she could see what actually happened to him and not what the ponies would say. When the others heard what had happened they were appalled by the fact they lived in a town that could do such a thing. ***back to now*** "It's alright pinkie, you didn't mean for that to happen" fluttershy said as she patted pinkies back."Besides he if he really was mad at you for that why would he protect us?" "Maybe because he's getting paid so much, ah knew something was off about him that first week" Applejack said as she glared in the direction of the door, "To be perfectly honest ah don't know if we should stick around here," she looked over toward the rest of their group. Spike had been asleep the entire time however but was woke up right when she said that. "Sheesh Applejack he's not that bad," he said as he rolled back over in his sleeping bag. "Spike he's a liar, ah know because I caught him every time back in Ponyville" Applejack said poking at the sleepy dragon. "Applejack, you do realize that he might of had a reason he was lying to you right" Rarity said walking up to the aggravated southerner. "There ain't no reason to lie to somepony" Applejack snapped back at the alabaster white unicorn. "Clearly you've never had to lead anyone before then," a deep voice said. Sombra then walked into the tent that the six ponies were sleeping in. " If you did, you'd realize that sometimes secrets are to protect others" he said in a cool relaxed voice before he went further into the tent. "That doesn't mean much coming from you" The farmer spat at the former king. "Maybe not ,but have you actually had to deal with telling someone something that would shatter their world, I know your friend there has" Sombra said as he nodded toward Twilight. " A leader has to be strong enough to carry a burden alone because asking for help may hurt the ones they lead" "You're wrong, If a leader can't trust that the ones that follow them will understand they are no leader at all" "You have much to learn, to bad you shut out the ones willing to teach" Sombra said as he made his way out of the tent. "Oh and Spike I think your name was, thank you for helping free me" Sombra said before shutting the door behind him. "What did he mean by that?"