//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Forgotten Loyalty (Pinkie) // Story: Pinkamena's Regrets // by Violyre //------------------------------// Poor Pinkie! She was trapped in a mysterious dimension where even her powers couldn't help, without any friends, completely unfamiliar to the coldness of the ponies here. What could she do? Pinkie suddenly perked up. Princess Celestia! She was bound to know what was going on here! But was the Outer Worlds Celestia as nice as the one Pinkie was so familiar with? Twisted in a delusional belief of optimism that Pinkie didn't know she had, her mind decided that yes, Celestia must be nice here, because after all, she had been so nice back in regular Equestria. A toss of her head poofed her mane back into its normal cotton candy poofiness as Pinkie bounded happily towards the castle in the distance over the horizon. In fact, this entire dimension had made Pinkie Pie so 'messed up'--for lack of a better term--that she was completely delusional, believing that even though there had been so much war and havoc, the ponies would still be as nice as they were in the other dimension. Pinkie remembered the remote. It had fallen to the ground somewhere nearby when she went to go check in the bushes. This is a confusing dimension, she thought, as she picked up the object in her mouth and took a steady gallop toward the distant Canterlot. In a matter of a few minutes, she was almost out of Ponyville. Just as she was about to leave the town, however, her way was blocked by a pegasus mare in dark costume covering most of her face and body. The mare, hovering slightly above Pinkie's head, slowly lowered herself to the ground with her deceptively fluffy blue wings. "What do you think you're doing? Nopony is allowed to leave Ponyville, not at this time, and you know that!" The commanding, strong, but menacing voice was also familiar, yet unfamiliar, as was the norm for many of the ponies and atmosphere of the Outer Worlds. "Oh!" Pinkie stumbled back, shaking her head and spitting out the remote so that it slid through the dirt and came to a stop just behind Pinkie's back left hoof. By this, she hoped that the dark mare, in a sort of Wonderbolt/Shadowbolt costume only different, would not notice it. However, this was not the case. "What's that you got there?" The pegasus spoke with a hint of cheer at the thought of confiscating something obviously so important to this pink earth pony. "N--nothing, why?" Pinkie stammered, only making it more obvious that she did indeed have something hidden behind her. She immediately sat down on top of the remote to cover it. "I know what you're trying to do. Get up." The Something-bolt shoved Pinkie aside, and only then did Pinkie realize who this mare was. She could see the colorful tail poking out from the back of the costume that was completely unique to only one pony. Very Obvious Clue number 1. "R-ra--" Pinkie started to say. "Hey! You don't have permission to speak. Shut up!" the stranger (who was, of course, no longer a stranger to Pinkie) shouted rudely. Unstrapping her goggles and lifting them above her head, a pair of dark cerise eyes with short eyelashes blinked, and inspected the remote no longer in Pinkie's posession. Very Obvious Clue number 2. "Ra--rainbow?" Pinkie gasped in surprise, now sure of the fact. "What did I say about speaking with permission? Disobeying orders not once but twice, by trying to escape Ponyville, and speaking when told not to. Also, you stole this remote from the Queen! That's three rules broken. I'll have to turn you in...what a pity, Pinkamena. We were friends before, were we not? Before friendship was completely removed from Equestria and banned, that is." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I--oops." Pinkie pointed to her mouth to ask if she could speak. Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, you can speak. What is it?" she looked at Pinkie. "Banned? Why in the name of, well, herself would Princess Celestia ban--" Once again, Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Princess Celestia? Oh no no no, of course not! Princess Celestia doesn't rule Equestria! Did you fall off a cliff again and hurt your stupid little head, Pinkamena?" Rainbow laughed as she mocked Pinkie. "But if Princess Celestia doesn't rule Equestria, then who does? Princess Luna?" Rainbow laughed even harder this time. "You crack me up, Pinkamena, when you're stupid, which is always! Where do you get this stuff?" Pinkie sighed. Everypony still called her Pinkamena, even though her mane wasn't straight, though she was sure that it was starting to flatten down over time. Maybe the Outer Worlds Pinkie used Pinkamena instead of her nickname Pinkie Pie for the same reason Fluttershy preferred Flutters. What was Rainbow's nickname? "So if it's not Princess Luna or Princess Celestia, who is it? I don't think it's you, Rainbow Dash. Highly unlikely." Pinkie tried for an air of meanness again but she failed terribly at it, of course. "Rainbow Dash? Nopony still calls me Rainbow Dash. You must have really hit your head badly, Pinkamena!" Rainbow kept laughing. "It's Rainstorm now, but I also use my Darkbolt name Darkness Dash. Call me whatever you like though. If you really want to sound stupid to everypony else, just call me Rainbow Dash!" the quick-flying pegasus fell to the ground convulsing in laughter as Pinkie just glared at her. Pinkie Pie was the element of Laughter, but hated to be laughed at, though she couldn't do anything about being mocked by a strong, fast pony such as Rainbow--er, Rainstorm, or Darkness Dash, or whatever she used. It was all so confusing keeping her friends' normal names straight with their evil nicknames. She decided to just use Dash, because it was a nickname for both Rainbow Dash and Darkness Dash, and was good enough to probably be okay and not stupid by the Darkbolt Dash's standards. Wait, Darkbolt? "Um, Dash, what's a Darkbolt?" "Darkbolt? None other than the elite flyers of the one and only Queen of Equestria, duh. I'm their leader." Dash proclaimed proudly. "Queen? You still haven't told me who the princess is yet. Who is she?" Pinkie asked, hoping for a good answer though there would most likely be nothing good in this dimension. "Why, Queen Chrysalis, of course. Princess Celestia, the used-to-be ruler of Equestria, has been...removed. Princesses are so old school, Pinkamena." Dash continued to overuse Pinkie's childhood name, which bothered her greatly, though she couldn't show it for fear of being discovered. "How was Princess Celestia removed?" The atmosphere around Pinkie seemed to be getting darker, and she was unsure she wanted to know the answer. "Princess Celestia isn't...here anymore." "But how is Princess Celestia not here?" Pinkie didn't know why she kept probing, not like she wanted to really know. "Princess Celestia...isn't here...because..." Dash paused for dramatic effect and leaned in close to Pinkie's face as they looked eye to eye. Pinkie shivered at what the pegasus said next. "Because she's dead."