Not So Random after all.

by protractror

Not So Random After All

Its funny that Pinkie Pie was born on a rock farm, because anyone who had ever seen her could have sworn she was the incarnation of Ponyville herself. Bouncy, bubbly and always ready for a party she conveyed the warm spirit of Ponyville to a T. She knew everyone in town and had thrown more parties than she had cakes, and she lived with cakes. But it went deeper than the laughs and joy so present all over Equestria, for Ponyville was an odd little town with a reputation for weird things. Bordering the Everfree forest, and within walking distance of the diamond dogs there were often weird and exotic creatures coming into Ponyville. In a period of a month or two, residents of Ponyville had seen a traveling magician, a stampede of bunnies, a plague of parasprites, two dragons and a spectral bear march through the town square. It was a facet of life in Ponyville to expect the unexpected or else you were going to go crazy. And there lied the town's biggest similarity to Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie was just as likely to enter through a window as a door, and twice as likely to jump out the closet. If you thought Pinkie was coming over, she was already there. If you were going to have a picnic with her tomorrow, you might wake up in her balloon over a neighboring town with a good handful of cupcakes. But of course that wouldn't happen, because it would be predictable the third time she did it. In a word, Pinkie was random. And a lot of the ponies in Ponyville thought she was maybe too random, too sporadic for her own good. Sure Pinkie could throw a party, and she was great to hang around with. In the spur of the moment Pinkie was unparalleled. However, when she had a long term goal ahead of her sometimes she could lose herself.

Pinkie wasn't like the rest of her friends in that regard, because she didn't care too look in the future. Rainbow Dash had the Wonderbolts, Twilight had studies, Rarity and Applejack both had their careers. Even Fluttershy had plans for her future, even if they weren't grand or life shattering. Maybe she would expand her garden, maybe she would rearrange her house when Angel finally settled down. They weren't big thoughts but they were there at least. But Pinkie never thought of the future past her next party. To be honest she didn't even look back much at all. She was perfectly content on living to a minute to minute basis, and if that meant that her life bounced from track to track as fast as she bounced down the street she really didn't care. She was happy, and if something came up she was always down for it.

However what some ponies never realized was that this way of life was a choice. A choice made in the light of a life changing rainbow, but still a choice which could always be changed. And when Pinkie decided that something needed her full focus, she was almost unstoppable. She could plan a party in the blink of an eye, or create an impromptu one filly band in a way that was faster than anyone else. Faster than Rainbow Dash, Pinkie frequently liked to gloat. Rainbow always hated when Pinkie said that, but mostly because she knew it was true. Unless it was a flat out race, Pinkie was the fastest at what she did.

And those who forgot that would always regret it. Even if all that came out of it was a warm, laughing face and an offer for cupcakes. But for some who underestimated Pinkie, they were left with an outcome of a much more serious nature.

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All was not well in Ponyville. The perfect little town so close to so many dangers had been safe for a long time, however ponies in general were always rather safe. The obvious reason for their safety being their god lived within message range. Maybe a rare creature from the forest will steal some apples, but any creature worth its reputation knew to stay away from Equestria. There's no point to fighting gods, no bravery or use. But having a god that was so close wasn't a completely positive experience for ponies. This was a society with no standing military, one weakened by years and years of peace. But obviously if you were to ask any pony they would say that this was of course necessary. They didn't need to be strong from a military standpoint, for they were strong in friendship. And as corny as that sounds if you had a problem you could take it up with Celestia.

But the other much more pressing problem with having a god-princess was that occasionally they would be needed for other duties. Not often, maybe every hundred years or so Celestia and Luna would be needed for matters beyond the comprehension of the average pony. During these times they were effectively MIA to the rest of Equestria. Of course this news was never publicized beyond the inner circles so that Equestria's enemies would never know when the kingdom was unguarded. And this weakness had never been exploited in the indefinite time that the Alicorns had been around for. But this particular millenia something had slipped through secrecy's cracks. Somehow a creature of the shadows had found that Celestia and Luna were going to be gone for the next few days. This creature had lived for longer than almost anyone could remember. He was no god, but you wouldn't know any better unless you yourself were one. He had many names throughout his lifetime, labels of fear given to him by generations of ponies.He liked the title demon the most.

Now, with Celestia gone for a good week and nopony the wiser save a select few, he had an opportunity to strike. He might only have a few days to release his pent up rage from centuries in hiding, but that would be something. All that stood before him was a select few ponies who could have anywhere near the power to stop him. And they weren't exactly warriors. In fact, one of them was basically his neighbor. So when the moon was high the demon decided to make a house call, taking his first steps out of the everfree in what felt like, and could truthfully be called, eons. Sadly, Fluttershy was unaware to this momentous event, and slept peacefully in her cabin. That wouldn't last for long however.
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Pinkie Pie woke that night to a twitching knee. She had been having such a crazy dream that night! Everything was bouncy, and then everything started floating, and basically everything was tons of fun! Than pinkie saw a giant marshmallow and obviously she ate it. A sudden realization came crashing down on Pinkie then in her sleepy haze, that she had eaten her bedside giant marshmallow. Pinkie remembered though that that was the purpose it served ever since she had woken up almost choking herself on the last "marshmallow" which had turned out to be her remarkably less edible pillow. However, this brevity soon passed as Pinkie realized her knee was still twitching.

Pinkie tried to remember what that particular twitch meant, but she had never had her left rear knee twitch all by itself. That by itself was troubling. What was more troubling was that it was waking her up, something that her twitching and flapping rarely did. This only happened when it was super duper important! Adding it all together Pinkie realized that something important that had never happened to her before was going to happen. It might even be going on right now for all she knew! At first Pinkie felt like a million bucks, because she loved surprises. In a moment she went through mentally a thousand different outcomes of never tried before fun. But then she remembered the last time she had a doozy anything like this and that event turned out to be a hydra attack!

Pinkie wasn't sure about what she wanted now. For a minute she was actually getting pretty scared, and then the Twitching stopped. Whatever was so big and new was over, and Pinkie had no idea what had happened. Pinkie didn't really want to know either, as she was content just forgetting about it. If it really was something as bad as a hydra attack, she'd find out soon enough. And if it was a giant cupcake moving in next door like she hoped, she'd find out even sooner.

But when Pinkie woke up and took in the beautiful sunlight, she was glad that neither event had taken place. She wouldn't have minded a happy surprise, but the fact that everything in town seemed fine was more than enough for her. That morning she had breakfast with the cakes, and went off for the rest of the day to prank with Dashie. It really was just a fun normal day in almost every way. When she got home she told Dashie that they have to do that again tomorrow, but Rainbow Dash said everyone probably needs a day off from pranking, so it was pushed back two days. Pinkie then went inside and started making a replacement marshmallow, before drifting off to bed.
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Meanwhile, the shadowy figure of the Everfree was making sure his prisoner was locked up tight. He hadn't expected much of a fight from the element of kindness, but she had been almost too easy. She was still cowering in the corner of her locked cell, trying desperately to find a way out. He wasn't going to kill her, but she had no way of knowing that. Regardless, what he was planning on doing to her wasn't exactly a pleasant experience and she would most likely be doing the same actions if she knew. But from what he saw of her she would probably do the same thing if he gave her a mean look.

The shadow thought to himself the obvious weakness to empowering yourself on friendship. Together the elements of harmony could do almost anything, but by themselves they were flawed. That was why he was dividing and conquering. One a night when his power was strongest and his stealth most evident. In all reality there was really only one element he feared could stop him, but he wasn't going to let carelessness ruin a once in a century plan. With that thought he emerged from the everfree on to his other neighbor and her wonderful farm.
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That night Pinkie's knee twitched. Pinkie woke up in at first an angry mood, her much needed sleep interrupted for the second night in a row. But then the seriousness of the situation washed back over her. She had tried so hard during the day to put all of the worry from last night behind her, to convince herself it was nothing. But the fact it happened again meant that it wasn't just a twitchy knee. Something big was happening, two nights in a row. And it might be terrible.

Pinkie could feel the wave of worry and fear about to overflow the dam, and she made a decision. If this happened again it was something that needed to be solved. But until then ignorance was bliss. Feeling confident enough that she was doing the right thing, she tried to soothe herself back to sleep. If something bad really was happening on this scale, she'd have to know what it was. And maybe it would be a good thing. Her knee twitched for another ten minutes before she drifted off into a very light and uneasy sleep full of dreams of worry and filled with bad things. Things Pinkie went on to forcefully forget when she woke up, content that her knee was no longer twitching. And a new day began just like any other day to the casual observer for both Pinkie and Ponyville. Both looked fine on the outside, but on the inside something was missing. For Pinkie, she was missing her usual silliness and aloofness. Ponyville however was missing another element of harmony.

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As the demon looked over his two pony captives, he took back what he had said about friendship being a weakness. Applejack had been relatively easy to take, being just an earth pony with no powers. Sure, she had quite the apple bucking legs but this entity wasn't exactly the type to be beaten into submission. She had ran, which was at least more than Fluttershy was capable of when faced with fear, but she was now in just the same boat, locked in her separate cell. Everything had gone according to plan. But what surprised the demon was how much the little butter pegasus had changed when she saw him drag in Applejack. The fear was gone in an instant, replaced by a look of pure determination. He had crossed a line and the look she gave him made him feel genuine fear for the first time in decades. His confidence faltered for a second and he reminded himself why he was taking things so slowly. Appearances could be deceiving, and these ponies were more threatening than they looked.

However, after the stare took place the pegasus was no closer to escape and the demon calmed himself down. How thoses eyes could be so full of love and dissaproval he would never understand. However he had wor to do. Tonight might be the toughest one yet. He knew that this next pony wasn't the strongest, but she certainly was the fastest.
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Pinkie Pie had gone to bed that night with a prayer. She rarely ever prayed, and it wasn't really to anyone in particular. It was just a plea to anyone who could hear that begged whatever was going on was just a big misunderstanding. Because if she woke up again than she would have to be serious, and she would have to find out what was going on. And if it did turn out to be something terrible, she was going to have to deal with it. She could handle sadness, but she just really didn't want to, especially considering the stakes. Tonight was the night that everything hinged on, deciding if everything was ok or if everything was mixed up.

This was why she was so scared when she woke up again to a twitching knee. But now, instead of worry she steeled herself for what was to come. No longer could she keep acting like it was nothing, and if this truly was something bad she was going to find out what it was. She jumped out of bed, not happy but not afraid either. Pinkie was serious now, and that meant she was going to get to the bottom of it. She didn't really know where to start though, but her gut told her to talk to Twilight. Twilight had a large collection of information from her library and from Canterlot, so if anyone was informed on big events, it was her. But as Pinkie crossed her window on the way out the door her eyes caught something in the sky. Tiny little rainbows were criss-crossing the sky. After a minute Pinkie realized that the source of the rainbows had to be her friend Rainbow Dash, who apparently was up for some late night racing. Pinkie didn't really understand why Rainbow was doing this at such an early hour, but what worried her was the pattern. Rainbow wasn't doing a trick, it looked like she was doing evasive manoeuvres! Pinkie had never seen something that could scare dash like this before, let alone something that fast!

Suddenly for the third time in recorded history, the night erupted into a sonic rainboom! If Pinkie was worried before, now she was terrified. Rainbow Dash didn't just choose to not pull it off very often, she couldn't unless she needed too. For some reason in the middle of the night she was flying for her life. And then, like she had hit a wall in midair, the rainbow stopped. Whatever had chased Rainbow Dash had caught her. That terrified Pinkie, but what was even worse was that her leg stopped twitching. She knew now what that meant, and her mind raced over the past day. She hadn't seen Twilight or Fluttershy or Applejack! She had seen Rarity and Dash the day before, but now that she knew what those twitches she had been having meant, she knew two of her friends were kidnapped. And now rainbow dash had just been attacked. Without another thought Pinkie ran with all her might towards Twilight's library.

As she ran, Ponyville was waking up to a sky filled with rainbows. It was beautifully ironic, conveying the exact opposite of the fight which had caused it. The Demon cursed himself as he had now certainly lost the element of surprise. However, he had gained the element of loyalty, so he figured it an even trade. With time running out, he went back to his lair to secure Rainbow Dash before making his final preparations. Sneaking in the shadows had worked so far, but the chance for anymore secrecy had been broken like the sound barrier. At least if he moved fast than maybe Twilight Sparkle and friends wouldn't have time to know what they were up against.
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There was a reason Pinkie trusted Twilight more than anyone else, and that was that Twilight was a gifted leader. Within the hour that Pinkie had told Twilight about what had been going on she had roughly figured out the situation. Rarity, Twilight and Pinkie were now all inside Twilight's library deciding their course of action. Sadly, Pinkie was right in her assumption about the other girls. The only reason she was still able to keep working without breaking down completely was the belief that a friend's death would be more of a reaction than a twitchy knee. Twilight wasn't sure about the state of her friends, but she chose to believe they were alive and plan as if they were. Twilight honestly wasn't sure anymore, but she had people looking to her now and she wasn't going to let any of her fear show.

Sadly, Twilight had figured out what the demon was planning. Twilight was one of the few who knew that Celestia was gone, and the fact this creature could move as fast as rainbow dash meant they weren't being attacked by any normal pony. After she thought it over and consulted her guides she realized that what was poaching her friends was most likely a demon of immense power. Pinkie was at first happy to know what it was, but it all drained when she realized the full ramifications. If he was a creature so powerful he was only scared of gods, what could be done? Twilight surmised that the only reason he was skulking around was that he must be scared of the elements of harmony, even in their currently weakened form. However Twilight just looked even more worried after she figured it out.

With the princesses currently gone, Twilight was debatably the most powerful unicorn in Equestria. But she knew there was no way she could take a demon. No chance at all. She had made a mistake by bringing her friends here, because when the demon arrived they were all doomed with nowhere to run. But maybe she could hold him off from taking all the elements of harmony until Celestia returned. She would need to hide the elements them self if she had any hope of stopping the demon. So with a heavy heart she called over Rarity and made the toughest decision of her life. To sacrifice herself and her friend for the hope that they could hide the elements until Celestia's return. She charged her horn and turned to Pinkie, who was still nervously looking out the window.

Pinkie was her last chance, no one could think like her and hopefully that meant catch her. Twilight wasn't a brave mare, but she could put on a face. With an almost passible smile, she put her forehoof over Pinkie's shoulder.

"Pinkie," Twilight started. Pinkie turned around, surprised to see her two friends both with glowing horns and solemn faces. "Pinkie we can't beat this demon. Maybe if we were all together, but were not. I think that he's trying to harvest the elements from us and to do that he is going to need all of them. That's really the only way I think we can beat him. Pinkie, were sending you as far away as I can but that's not enough. You need to run, and don't stop." Twilight began to tear up. She didn't know what would happen to Pinkie, or Spike or herself. She knew what she had to do, but it wouldn't save the day anymor than a speedbump would slow a car. "All of Equestria depends on you not getting caught. Me and Rarity will hold him off for as long as we can but you need to run. Understand Pinkie?"

Pinkie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No! I'm not going to leave you girls here all by yourself. I can help! I'm the element of laughter, that magic has to be good for something!" Pinkie was pleading now for a chance to help, but she could already feel the glow of a teleportation spell come over her.

"Pinkie trust me. We can't beat him. Celestia's our only hope, and until she comes back you need to run. Just run and hide." Before Pinkie could interject, Twilight faked a final smile before yelling as she and Rarity put all of their effort on sending Pinkie as far away as they could. However, not before Pinkie heard the roof of the library tear open. Pinkie leaped forward to help her friends, and found herself landing in an empty garden.

She looked around in a panic. This was Canterlot! Twilight had sent her miles away. First Pinkie was furious, but as she remembered the look on Twilight's face she just felt an immense sadness. With a tear running down her cheek she turned and ran, not letting Twilight's final act be in vain. And as she ran she tried with all her might to convince herself that her leg was twitching due to exhaustion.
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Five down, one to go. The Demon was extremely pleased with how the last encounter had been handled. Twilight Sparkle was the only creature with even a chance of competing with him, and she had wasted all her magic on a teleportation spell. A spell which was basically useless, as he could easily trace its magical signature. Regardless, he still had to secure his two new captives first. Even if everything had gone according to plan this time he still wanted to be cautious. That stare still spooked him out and it had only gotten stronger with all the more ponies locked up in here.

But the caution soon left him completely after he locked Rarity in her cell, being the penultimate pony. All that was left was a single element of harmony, an oxymoron. And from what he had heard about the element of laughter, she was now two types of moron. There was now without a doubt nothing in Equestria that could touch him. All he had to do was find the last pony and he would be in the clear. And really, this one seemed to be the least prepared for combat of any of them. This was going to be a piece of cake he thought until he saw where Twilight had telported her to.

The pink party pony had been sent to Canterlot gardens, the biggest maze in all of Equestria. The Demon sighed and started a sweep over the royal labyrinthine.
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The Demon had made a mistake though.

Comments

[Mobius of the Moon]

Hmmm, a little... odd, but also interesting. I'm tracking!

[The Iron Brony]

Really great! Please finish!

[averagetoaster]

This is really good and well written. I'm tracking

[PFT]

hmmm... potential for a high rating, but we'll see with part 2...