The Days After

by NerfedFalcon

All Those Who Wander

Trottingham had always been a farming hub, much like Ponyville. The advancement of technology and increase in population had made it somewhat more difficult to maintain the size of the farms, but the Council had done some good work in maintaining the food production, and even increasing it with new advances. It was still only a relatively small community, but the ponies who called it home hardly ever thought of living anywhere else.

Due to being about halfway between Las Pegasus and Ponyville, the largest train hub in Equestria, many came through and stopped only for a few nights before moving on. The scenery held their attention for a few days, and the clean country air, at least relative to the larger cities, was said to be good for all forms of health. There was one drifter in particular, though, that had caught the attention of almost all of the town.

Pinkie Pie had been staying about a month in Trottingham. Her usual custom was to stay at a bed-and-breakfast for a while, taking commissions on parties from the inhabitants before moving on to another town. She never stayed in one place for long, but the town had caught her attention, and she had lost track of how long she’d spent there.

If pressed for a reason, she would say that it was the ponies there that interested her more than anything. Most big cities were full of ponies too busy with their daily lives to stop for even a moment, but the sedate pace of life in Trottingham suited her well. In a month, she’d managed to learn the names and occupations of nearly everypony there, and most of their birthdays.

It was because there was a birthday coming up that she was in a flurry of activity. Parties took a lot of work to throw, but Pinkie had a knack for it, evidenced by the Cutie Mark of three balloons on her left wrist. At the moment, she was borrowing the proprietor’s kitchen to bake a cake with enough room on the inside to hide in with some balloons and streamers. It was her favourite trick, and one that brought delight to foals everywhere.

The owner had complained at first, but some extra money had calmed him. That was part of why Pinkie was staying in Trottingham a while longer. Perhaps she would stay there permanently if she could find a good bakers’ to get employed at, but then she wouldn’t be able to throw parties for anypony that needed them anywhere in Equestria, and the thought of all those ponies being sad for not being able to have a Pinkie Pie party made her sad as well, and she nearly missed the oven timer ringing because she was lost so deep in her thoughts, but it quickly snapped her back to reality as she pulled the cake out of the oven.

It would be difficult to assemble and keep for a long time, so she decided to keep the parts separate until the actual party, which was tomorrow. It would be more work for her and her host, but she had enough bits left over to keep him happy. Besides, she had left part of the cake for him, and she knew that her cakes were good.

She had prepared the other supplies over the last few days, and now everything was ready. All that was left was to sleep for the night. The party would be at half past three o’clock, when the foal in question returned home from school, and she’d want to be in top condition for it. Thusly, she set her alarm for noon the next day. The host already knew her sleep cycle was erratic at best, so she didn’t need to pay extra for the disturbance.

When she slept, her dreams were filled with other humans like her. She’d always been something of an outcast, which was why she never stayed in one place for long. The adults always looked at her strangely, though foals loved her for everything she did for them. Dreaming of humans comforted her, though the things they did were entirely unlike her world. Humans in suits stood around tables, pointing sticks at strange drawings. Others worked on devices that showed pictures that morphed and changed, creating sound and light shows.

And then there was the boy who was scribbling something in a notebook, who he looked up and winked at her...

When Pinkie Pie woke up, it was already half past noon. She gasped, and her hair shot out in every direction. She’d need to get the lead out in order to make her party work. It was meant to be a surprise party, and she only had a few hours to get everything to her client’s house and in the right places. Almost immediately, she was dressed and moving, nearly bowling over the host while she was sliding down the banister of the stairs.

As she pulled a wagon with some supplies (balloons; streamers; confetti; a banner to proclaim the foal’s birthday) with her right hand, she idly played with a yo-yo in the other, doing tricks with the practiced ease of a master. Walking the dog into a breakaway, holding it in the air for an impossibly long time before monkey climbing the tree and back into her hand. The bright pink yo-yo was just another mystery in her life besides the dreams; she’d woken up with it, and something else that she didn’t take to parties.

The parents were all too happy to help her set up the surprise party, chatting idly as they worked. Assembling the cake had come last, in the living room of the family. Supposedly there were going to be about twelve foals there, including the one whose birthday it was. As Pinkie read the guest list out loud, the mother chuckled at one of the names being listed off. She didn’t know what to make of it, but the foals were nearly home and the lights had to be doused.

Pinkie crouched under the centre of the cake, the upper layers placed above her by the parents. She didn’t know how well they’d been assembled, since she hadn’t had a hand in it, but since she was going to be bursting through them anyway, it didn’t really matter. Several young voices filled the air around her; clearly, the foal’s friends were looking to be in on the surprise too. Suddenly there was hushing and quiet. The time was at hand.

Her instincts told her that it would be about thirty seconds before she should burst out of the cake, and her thoughts began to wander. The mother had been laughing to herself at the name of a certain pony, but she didn’t know which pony it was, maybe she wanted to play some kind of prank on him since she was sure it was a colt’s name, though you could never really be certain, and maybe that colt was particularly shy or timid and the prank would set him off and that really wasn’t a nice thing to do to a pony but suddenly she heard a voice ask “Hello?” from the doorway and she had to focus on the timing of popping out of the cake again.

“Mom? Dad? Where are you? This isn’t funny...” He wandered into the living room, and suddenly Pinkie heard the lights go on. She burst out of the cake, shouting “Surprise!” at the same time as everypony else there. They all cheered as the confetti bombs popped around them, and a few of the colt’s friends hugged him. “Oh, you guys,” he said. “That really wasn’t necessary...”

“What are you talking about?” a brown colt said in a slightly nasal voice, the propeller on his hat spinning slowly. “We wanted you to have the best birthday possible! Of course there had to be a surprise involved!”

“Really?”

“Well, that’s what Pinkie Pie says.”

“Yep!” Pinkie interjected, zipping over as soon as she heard her name. “Surprise parties are the best kind of parties, and Auntie Pinkie’s thrown more parties than you can count, so trust her!” Her yo-yo went down on its string and back into her hand, and she brightened up even further as she began to show off to the foals.

All of them laughed at her routine of walking the dog and putting it through tricks, only for it to suddenly break free of the leash and pull her off-balance. They oohed and aahed at the flying trapeze, watching her hands carefully to see if they could repeat the moves at home. Finally, a flick left it in the pocket of her slightly torn jeans, and much applause was had. “It doesn’t take fingers to do all of these, fillies and gentlecolts,” she said. “Just takes practice is all! Who knows, maybe it’ll even be your Cutie Marks if you keep at it long enough!”

“A Cutie Mark for a yo-yo?” the brown colt said again, his propeller hat spinning faster. “Sounds cool!” He laughed with several other Unmarked foals, and out of the corner of her eye, Pinkie saw the mother laughing to herself again, staring at his flank. Why would she be laughing like that? Something was definitely wrong, she thought, but then a filly tripped over and started crying. All thoughts of the mother’s strange behaviour gone, her own maternal instinct took over as she comforted the filly and led her into another room to get a bandage.

The cake was being cut by the time she returned, and the birthday colt was taking a slice almost as large as his head out of the pristine bottom layer. There was still plenty left for everyone present to have a slice, even Pinkie Pie herself. The cake was as good as could be expected, and there wasn’t even any confetti or marks on it. The mess the other layers had made would take some cleaning up, but Pinkie was perfectly willing to help with that too, and that wouldn’t be until after everypony else had gone home.

About an hour later, after the cake had been consumed and several other games were played, she counted off the foals in her head. She reached ten before she stopped. Where were the other two? One was the foal who lived there, so that made eleven. One foal was still unaccounted for, and a quick search of the house turned up nothing. “Hide and seek ended half an hour ago,” she called out. “Where are you?”

“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” the mother asked, barely audible through the broom she was holding between her teeth in the usual Earth Pony fashion.

“One of the foals is missing, and I’m worried that he might be lost somewhere around here, or...”

The mother dropped the broom and held up a hoof. “I’m sure it’s nothing so drastic,” she soothed the worried human. “Maybe he just went home early. Ponies do that sometimes, and maybe he’s a bit of an outcast...”

“Aw, but he seemed so happy being here. Why would anyone leave a Pinkie Pie party early? Did I really not make him that happy?”

“I’m sure it was none of your fault. I got exactly what I paid you for, and that’s all anypony could ask for. Oh, and here’s a little extra on the side.” She picked up a small bag of bits from the table and dropped them into Pinkie’s hand. “Feel free to go home early. I don’t need that much help cleaning up.”

“Hey, I made this mess,” Pinkie protested. “It’d be wrong of me to go so quickly!”

“I insist,” the mother replied, harshly. “Leave, Pinkie. You’ve done all you’ve been paid for.” Pinkie tilted her head slightly at the statement, but quickly returned to a smile and a nod before she walked off, playing with her yo-yo again.

Behind her, the mother dropped her broom, walking through the corridor beside the stairs. Her husband seemed surprised at her actions, asking after her and following, but she was already gone. A search of the rooms beyond the corner marked by the staircase revealed nothing, either. Sighing, he shrugged and returned to the living room, resigned to cleaning up the mess himself.
~
That night, she had another dream of the other humans. Their world seemed far more advanced than hers, a magic she was totally unfamiliar with powering their lives. The trains were sleeker and faster, running between cities at a velocity most Pegasi would be envious of. And the boy was there again, scribbling in his notebook. Pinkie sat down next to him and looked, and what she saw surprised her more than anything.

He was writing the details of the party that she’d thrown that afternoon, and he was up to the part where she’d been dismissed so bluntly. After that, rather than follow her home, he stayed at the house a while longer, showing that the mother had disappeared strangely too.

Pinkie didn’t know what to make of it, but then he closed the book, preventing further study. He turned to her and winked again, and she gasped like she’d missed a deadline—

The same gasp translated immediately into her conscious life, waking her up with a shock. It was about six in the morning, but before sunrise, and everypony was still asleep. Still, she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep again that night if her dreams were reacting so much to her. After deciding to go outside, she spent a moment staring at her tote bag. There was a weapon inside, and it pained her to even think about carrying it. Trottingham seemed so nice a town, and yet her instincts screamed at her to take the gauntlet with her. Eventually, she gave into them and placed it over her right hand, the three metal claws on the end extending a few inches past her knuckles.

Thusly equipped, she quietly locked the door of her room and tiptoed down the stairs, hearing the owner’s snoring through the thick wooden door of his own bedroom. It was a clear night, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The half-moon provided little illumination, but the streetlights made the lack of moonlight hardly noticeable. Idly, she played with her yo-yo as she walked, feeling the weight inside it and clutching her gauntlet harder.

As she bumped into another pony, she profusely apologised, only to get a faceful of the pony anyway. “You shouldn’t be here,” the stranger said. “What’s going to happen tonight shouldn’t concern anypony else.”

“Hey, I’m not a pony!” Pinkie protested.

“So you aren’t. But you shouldn’t be here. This is serious.”

“What’s the matter? I can handle myself, if there’s a bad pony around.” She flicked the yo-yo out again, and shuddered slightly at the thought of actually using it.

“There’s been a few kidnappings in the area. Nothing’s visible during the day, but maybe at night, I could find some proof.” Pinkie finally got her first good look at the pony, and despite the relative darkness made out the slit-like pupils and tufted ears.

“You’re a Night Pony? I didn’t even think those were real!”

“And I thought humans used to be the realm of Daring Do and not much else.” She shook her head quickly and added, “But if you can’t say anything that I don’t already know, then we’re done here.”

Pinkie paused at the statement, thinking back to the previous day. “I was at a party here yesterday,” she said. “There were about twelve foals there, but only eleven left. The birthday colt’s mother said that he’d left early, but I don’t remember him leaving at all...”

The Night Pony froze up and turned back to Pinkie. “Which house was it?” she asked, suddenly listening closely. “That’s probably our kidnapper.” Pinkie started running, trying to remember the route she’d taken that afternoon. It was only about a minute before she found it again and pointed it out. “Thanks. You can go now,” said the Night Pony.

Pinkie shook her head sombrely. “I’d better come with you,” she protested. “You’ll need another witness, and I might be able to help you look... or to catch the kidnapper, if it comes to that.” She tightened her grip on the clawed gauntlet again.

The Night Pony looked her over, then slowly nodded. “Just don’t get in my way.” She pushed the gate open and walked up to the door, fiddling with a lockpick in one hoof.

“What do I call you?” Pinkie asked, standing next to her.

“Midnight Blossom. And you’re Pinkie Pie, the wandering party planner. Didn’t know you usually went armed and dangerous, though.” The lock opened with a click, and the two went inside. “Do you know if there’s a basement or anything around here?” Midnight asked.

Pinkie walked into the living room, seeing there were still a few cake crumbs around. “I looked around the house before when I was planning the party,” she said, “but I don’t remember a basement anywhere. Maybe...” She trailed off, remembering what she’d seen in the book in the dream.

... walking through the corridor beside the stairs. Her husband seemed surprised at her actions, asking after her and following, but she was already gone...

Following a hunch, she started knocking on the side of the staircase, making two raps and then moving slightly forward. “Are you crazy?” Midnight hissed. “You’re going to wake the owners, and that’s not going to make us look good!” Pinkie held up a finger for silence, and her next knock sounded hollower than the others. “Wait a minute...” Midnight knocked quietly on the same spot, and heard the same sound. “That must be...”

Pinkie felt around the patch of the wall, and felt part of it push inward under her touch. Suddenly, her hand completely phased through, and Pinkie quickly pulled it back, but not before her Midnight had seen it. “How did you know that was there?” she asked, her disbelief clear even through the whisper.

“Call it a hunch,” Pinkie said. “I saw something like this in a dream... I know that sounds stupid.”

“Luna grants us all dreams for a reason,” Midnight intoned. “Do not be so quick to write them off.” She checked with her hooves for the borders of the illusion, then stepped through, quickly followed by the now-stooped human. “No Earth Pony could have made something like that,” Midnight said to herself, thinking out loud. “This was definitely planned, though I’m not sure how many actually know what’s going on here...”

A scream and a laugh came from below, overlapping one another. Midnight rushed down the stairs, and Pinkie followed as best she could in the low passageway. There was a brightly lit room at the bottom, where the brown colt from the party was tied to a table of some sort, his legs all held down with leather straps. “Call me mother again,” the mare standing over him said. “Cry out for your mother! Let me feel your love for her!”

Pinkie was wondering who the mare was, since it certainly wasn’t the mother from the party. Midnight immediately picked up on the word ‘love’. “Oh, for the love of...” she said quietly, before stepping out into the light. “Hey, cheese legs! I’ve got some news for you!”

Pinkie was confused by the statement. The mare wasn’t, hissing loudly. “So you figured me out, huh?” she asked, before being covered in green fire. What followed was unlike anything Pinkie had ever seen before. It was a black creature with solid teal eyes, dragonfly-like wings and a body full of strange holes. “Enjoy it while you can, because you’re not leaving here alive!” It dived at Midnight, who rolled quickly out of the way. The creature stared at her for a moment, before turning into a white Pegasus with a yellow mane. “Can you still hit me?” it asked, in a stallion’s voice.

“Damn you!” Midnight shouted, stepping back. Clearly, she was losing the will to fight, and the stallion just laughed. It stopped when it was hit in the back of the head, and it turned around to see Pinkie Pie’s yo-yo returning to her hand. Her hair had become completely straight, falling around her head unlike its usual pattern, and her smile had completely disappeared from her face.

“You shouldn’t laugh at ponies like that,” she said quietly. “You shouldn’t laugh at things that take joy out of the world. You’re a freak!” She threw out her yo-yo again, and the Pegasus just smirked and raised a hoof to stop it.

The yo-yo suddenly split open down the middle, revealing a wicked set of spinning blades, and the creature pulled back slightly too late to avoid it. Ichor began dripping down its hoof, and it snarled, charging at Pinkie again. The blades disappeared as she caught the yo-yo, and she pulled it down out of the way of her right hand to punch with the claws. She hit the thing in the chest, and more ichor came dribbling out of three new holes.

The disguise faltered, revealing the insect-like pony underneath before it returned to the white Pegasus again. “You’ll pay for that,” it said, before its head was suddenly jerked violently forward by a strike behind it.

“That’s for kidnapping a helpless foal,” Midnight snarled, flapping her bat-like wings to stay above her target. She punched it again and continued, “That’s for all the other foals you’ve kidnapped. And this is for pretending to be Skipper!” With the third, she fully dive-bombed, throwing out blows at an extremely rapid pace.

The creature snarled as it turned back into its true(?) form, slithering out from under Midnight and running for the stairs. Another bladed throw from Pinkie caught its back, but it wasn’t enough to stop it from getting away; all it did was create another hole for its ichor to drip out from. The trail stayed visible all the way up the stairs, and Pinkie crawled up after it, only to be stopped at the top by an Earth Pony stallion. “What are you doing in my house?” he asked. “Are you a thief?! I should never have hired... you...” He stopped as he saw the trail of ichor on the ground. “There was a changeling here?! What happened?!”

“Your wife was a changeling, sir,” Midnight said as she came up the stairs, carrying the unconscious brown foal on her back. “She kidnapped this foal here, probably at the birthday party. I’m sorry to tell you this, but your real wife is probably dead.”

The stallion just stared in shock, unable to understand what was happening, and Pinkie and Midnight pushed through the fake wall, leaving the house in pursuit of the ichor trail. It gave out after a while, and the two simply stopped, staring at each other. “What do we do now?” Pinkie asked, her hair still falling straight around her shoulders.

“We’d better take this colt back to his parents,” Midnight said. “D’you remember his name?” Pinkie shook her head sadly. “Well, I can at least take him back to my room. You’d better get some sleep while you can.”

“I think it’s a little late for that. And... I want to come with you. I need to see if he’s still alright. I... I don’t want things like this to happen to foals.”

“Me neither. But we don’t live in a perfect world anymore.” She looked up at the rising sun, and suddenly away again. “I’ve got to go,” she said. “I’m staying at 25 Bay Street, apartment number four. Meet me there.” She flew off, trying not to look at the sunrise, and Pinkie wandered slowly back to the bed and breakfast.

She picked up her tote bag and handed the key and the last night’s rent to the owner, who waved her off as she left. What she’d seen in Trottingham was something she badly wanted to get away from, but first she had to see if that colt was okay. She went to the address Midnight had given her, and was surprised to find her still awake inside.

“He’s okay,” Midnight said quietly. “Another hour or so, and I’ll be good to send him back to his parents again.” Pinkie stepped inside and saw the brown colt sitting on a chair, eyes half-open. He seemed confused more than anything, but it didn’t look like anything permanent had happened.

Pinkie let out a sigh of relief, and then keeled over in the hallway. “Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Midnight asked, reaching out a hoof to touch her. She was thrown back by a wave of purple magic that slammed the door shut, and by the time she’d picked herself up and opened the door again, Pinkie was standing straight. “I’ve figured out where to go next,” she said. “Canterlot... I’m going there.”

“You’re a nomad too?” Midnight asked. “It’s an interesting lifestyle. I hope you find what you’re looking for there.”

“Who said I was looking for anything?” Pinkie replied, a lot of the bounce back in her voice and the curls back in her hair. “I move around because I just like to live that way! It’s like some old poem said... ‘Not all those who wander are lost.’ Well, gotta go!” She ran off, her chest bouncing slightly with each step.

“All those who wander, huh,” Midnight said to herself before closing the door. She still had to make sure the colt was completely fine before she sent him off, and then she’d have a well-deserved sleep for the rest of the day.
~
That night, at the only Thestral bar in Trottingham, a Pegasus came in for the first time in the owner’s memory. He looked around slowly, as though he’d come into the wrong place by mistake, but then he walked up to a table. Everypony inside was staring at him, but he didn’t care. He was only concentrating on the mare sitting at the table he’d gone to. “Been a long time,” he said. “You’re a hard mare to track down, Midnight Blossom.”

“Skipper?!” Midnight asked, before diving over the table and curling him into a hug. He protested at the public display of affection, and after a few seconds she pulled away again. “Why are you here? Why did you come looking for me?”

“Twilight’s back,” he said, and the whole bar went silent. “Do you still have your beacon?”

“Of course,” Midnight replied. “But you can’t really think...”

“I don’t think, Midnight, I know. Outside. She’s in Canterlot. Activate your beacon, and we’ll get moving as soon as we can.” The two stepped out into the night, and gradually normal conversation resumed in the bar, as though the past minute hadn’t occurred.

Midnight took out a blue orb, twisted it halfway, and watched the blue light fly into the air. “I activated mine a year ago,” Skipper said. “Twilight had done something then, but she’s definitely coming out now. We’d better move, if we’re going to reach her in time.” The pair took off into the air, Skipper flying in Midnight’s slipstream so they’d both get there faster.

From the streets below, the brown Earth Pony whose home had been home to a birthday party and a changeling watched, nodded, and returned home.

Author's Note:

I hadn't expected to write nearly this much for Pinkie Pie, but life just happens that way.

Only one Mane 6 pony left to go, and then the plot can finally get started.

Comments

[pharaoh122]

Oooh the build up... moar plz :)

[DarknessLilly]

interesting choice a gauntlet with claws and a yoyo i like it. keep up the good work.

[NerfedFalcon]

5005930 It's from this gallery: http://yatonokami.deviantart.com/gallery/