Foreigner

by Salnax

Flashback

“Are you sure about this Pinkie? Mother and Father told us not to talk to strange stallions.”

“Don’t worry Blinkie! This colt is really nice, and he has a cutie mark just like me! He must throw the best parties ever!”

“I don’t know. I mean, I love your parties. But what if this guy is different?”

“Don’t worry. If anything goes crazy, I won’t ever let anything happen to you.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye!”
******

There is a reason why the Pinkie Pie Swear uses such peculiar wording.
******

The colt was quite a bit older than Pinkie and Bellamina, but not quite an adult. His fur was a dull dray, similar to Blinkie’s mane. His mane was an unwashed brown mess, full of curls and debris. Deep bags lied under his dark red eyes. He wore a brown saddlebag containing who knew what. But like Pinkie said, his cutie mark was like hers, three red balloons. There couldn’t be anything wrong with a party pony, right?

The colt smiled. “Hello girls. Are you ready for a party?”

“You betcha!” squealed Pinkie, hopping up and down in delight.

Blinkie smiled. She loved nothing more than seeing her sister excited for a party.

“I’m having the party at my barn, but that’s a little walk from here, so I brought a treat,” said the colt.

From his saddlebag he pulled out two cupcakes, a dark color with pink frosting. Bits of dirt were stuck on them.

“Oh boy, Cupcakes!” shouted Pinkie. She quickly grabbed them from the colt, offering one to her sister.

Blinkie thought the cupcake looked disgusting, but she sympathized with the colt. Pinkie’s early attempts at making treats had often ended poorly, but she was most disappointed when ponies wouldn’t even give them a shot. Perhaps this colt was the same. Gingerly, Blinkie ate the cupcake. It was an odd flavor, sweet but savory, like an apple covered in cheese.

She didn’t like it.

“Now what?” Pinkie Pie asked the colt.

“Now,” said the colt, “you take a nap.”

The colt mirthfully laughed as the two fillies suddenly felt light-headed and drifted into unconsciousness.
******

Pinkie Pie woke up in a dark, smelly place. She was in one of the most compromising positions she had ever been in. Her forelegs were apparently tied by some strange, squishy rope to the ceiling of wherever she was, leaving the rest of her body to hang in the air. Even when she struggled, she could not reach the ground. Her forelegs were exhausted from the unusual position, and her whole body ached.

Pinkie could not see very far in this dark, mysterious place. There was nothing to see. Nothing after nothing came pouring from the darkness into her face, smothering Pinkie in its grasp. She could, however, listen. She heard whimpering noises, but soon realized that those were coming from her own mouth.

There were other sounds too. They were terrible noises. Pinkie hoped she was imagining them. Ponies shouldn’t make those sorts of noises.
******

Pinkie Pie cried out for help for a while, but pretty soon, her throat began to hurt. Then she cried, but as it turned out, crying requires tears, and before long, Pinkie had run out of those. Maybe that was because it was so dry in here. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had something to drink. Was it this morning? Was it even the same day anymore? Pinkie had no idea.

There was a whimpering noise, but it didn’t come from her.

Blinkie?
******

Somewhere in the distance, Bellamina Pie screamed Pinkie Pie was a coward. She looked away the entire time. But she could not drown out her sister’s voice. She heard everything.
******

Four little ponies hanging in a row, three earth and one pegasus. Who were they? Did their families miss them? How long were they hanging there.

It didn’t matter. They would be there forever. Nobody was ever going to come. Except for more victims. The next would probably come as soon as he was done with Pinkie. Maybe sooner.
******

He hungered
******

Her neighbor was a filly? It was hard to tell. She was a little bigger than her. Pinkie thought he saw her twitch, but she couldn’t still be alive. Living ponies had more skin than that.

Later on, Pinkie Pie would tell other ponies that her neighbor still moved her mouth like he was trying to talk to her. But according to the autopsy, she had been dead for too long for that to be possible.
******

How dare Blinkie die first?
******

Pinkie Pie hung there, bound by skillfully tied ropes. She’d had enough. The colt had already stuffed plenty of terrible things down her throat. Pretty soon, he’d get tired of it and she’d join Blinkie.

This couldn’t be happening. Parties were good things.
******

Pinkie began to hear voices in her head. Voices that told her to be ashamed. Voices that called out for help.

"Everypony's waiting for you. Everypony's waiting to throw rocks at you, spit on you, and make your life terrible."

"Who's "everypony"...?"

...

"Blinkie of course."
******

All the sudden, there was light. Princess Celestia herself broke through the wall of the bad place, held the colt using her magic, and summoned a dozen guards to take him away. She walked over to where Blinkie was and used her magic to make her feel better. Then she invited Pinkie and Blinkie to sit on her back while she flew them home. There, they met up with mother and father and Inkie, and the Princess said that they could go on a trip to Canterlot with her. Meanwhile, the colt was sent to the moon for a million jillion years for his crimes, and he said sorry.

Then Pinkie Pie woke up.
******

Now she understood. Her being trapped here, Blinkie dying, the fear… it was a big joke! Not a masterfully told one, but still pretty funny. A classic switcheroo! You think it’s going to be a fun party, but it turns out to be hell! What a twist! So clever! So unexpected!

Actually, the last part was not true. Blinkie seemed nervous. She probably saw the punch line coming. But she followed Pinkie anyway.

What a silly, poor, little filly.

“I’m the worst sister ever.”
******

H̖̱̬̯͇̲̘̗̤̃̉͋ͥ͌̿̋̎͢͞Ả̮͈̜̙ͪ͒͘Hͤͪ̄̆̈́̓̽͜҉̫͙͔͖͕͉̘͇A͊̅̚҉͓͓̳̣̟͍H̱͇̳̝̮̝̮͔̄̂͞Ǎ̤̟͔͌́ͦ͋͗ͬͯH̡̫̰̝̒̋͂͐A̖͙̲̻͖͓͛ͭͬ͛Ḣ̺̩̘̘̮̄ͭ̀͋Ǎ̱̂̐̎̓͟͜H̛̿ͥ̓̈ͨ͂͂͒҉̞̳̤͕͢A̴̰̖̗͔̩̤̦͕̓̈̔͊͞H̶̷̜͈̘͑̅͋͆̆̚͜A̭ͥͦͦͩͤ͘͠H̬͈ͪ̆ͦ͊̈̇A̧̲̥̺̹̙͇̪̩̽͂͑H̝̞̘͓͎͕̬͗ͧ̒ͬA͓̱̻̼̼̬̮ͮ̑̌͊̏͛͠Ḣ̝̬̗̳̪̓͆̓̃̈͑̀A̯̞̪̘͕̍̍̄̚͘͞H̦̠̉͂ͬ͌̌̌͆Ã̵̧̺͐́̔̏͋̎ͮ̑Ḣ͕̩ͦͪ͘Ằ̍̐̋ͮͧ̚҉̥̙Ĥͦ̐ͩͤ̒҉͖͚̞̻̳̀Ä̴̩͔͟͞H̦̤̔͌ͣͪ̓̃ͦA̴̙͎͚̳ͮ͆͌H͇̠͚̰̯̮͖ͮ̀̋̊̆ͬ̀͠A̢̠̩͔̳̠ͨ͛̿ͦ͛H̤͉͉̳ͩͤ̒ͤ̌̽ͭA̻͖͎̖ͣ̅̌H̰̘̓̿̊͂ͥ̈ͩͬÄ̟̯́͑̍̓̐̚̚̚Ĥ̘͙̪͚̱̠ͤ͂ͩ͋ͯ͘Ả̗̮̟̼̹̤̂͐ͨͦͩ̽̒͢͟H̛̛͇̬͓̳̲͖̦͍̒̆́A̸̯̣ͮ̃̿ͦ͌̈́̌̚͠ͅH̤͈̞ͣ̅A̵͎͈̬̤͇̗̜̒ͤ̇͗̄͑̋̕H͕̳̗̺̗̼̄̆̓̏ͬͭ̒̿A̽̃̓͂

Black Comedy
******

There was another light. Stallions in blue uniforms came rushing in. Pinkie didn’t respond. She’d seen this before, and it only hurt the times she bothered believing in it.

A unicorn cut her from the ropes and gently caught her on his back. While leaving the bad place, Pinkie caught sight of her sister.

And then she realized that this couldn’t be another fantasy.

She would not imagine this.
******

They wanted her to talk about it. Why couldn’t they see that she didn’t want to talk? Talking meant remembering. And the last thing Pinkie wanted to do was remember.
******

They buried Blinkie outside the house, so they could always be with her. Why did they do that? Every day, Pinkie Pie could feel Blinkie staring at her. Watching her. Judging her.
******

They brought Pinkie to a place called court. The colt was there. He smiled when he saw her. Pinkie broke into tears. What do you mean they wanted her to point at the colt? She was the one who killed Blinkie!
******

Pinkamena Diane Pie hadn’t slept for a long time. How could she? Whenever she did, she saw Blinkie. Blinkie was very angry.

Inkie was nice enough to let her sleep in the same bed. That was too good for her, but she couldn’t help but accepting the offer. At least Inkie didn’t ask questions. Pinkie hated questions.
******

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” asked Father.

“I have to go away. I just can’t go on here. Every night I dream about her, and when I wake up, I can feel her looking at me.”

Mother was crying.

“Don’t worry” said Inkie. “I’ll take care of Pinkie until she feels at home with the Cakes. I’ll be back as soon as she’s ready!”

Mother smiled a bit. “Be sure to thank the Cakes for us,” she said.
******

“…so then, I moved in with the Cakes here in Ponyville, and have been living with them ever since.”

Twilight Sparkle’s mouth was hanging open. The two mares were lying on Pinkie’s bed, while Gummy watched from his usual spot. She had never heard of a story like this! Well, except for in horror novels. And in the darkest of history books. Come to think about it, there was an article in the newspaper the other day…

Apparently, this sort of thing did happen. It just wasn’t talked about.

“Twilight?”

“Yes Pinkie?”

“Do you hate me?”

Twilight Sparkle, despite having an extensive vocabulary, was terrible at expressing her feelings with them. That’s why nuzzled Pinkie in response.

“Pinkie, I could never hate you. You were my first friend here in Ponyville, even if I didn’t know it yet. You’re everypony’s friend, even if they haven’t met you. That’s why you’re Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie latched onto Twilight again, crying tears of relief. She was not a terrible pony. She just had to make up for what she did.

“Pinkie, would you mind if I asked a couple of questions?”

“Sure Twilight”

“Earlier, you mentioned that you heard voices. Whatever happened to them.”

“Well, they mostly went away”

“Only mostly?”

“For a long time, I kept on hearing them, no matter how hard I tried to ignore them. But I was able to make them quiet when I was throwing parties. That’s one of the reasons I throw so many of them. Plus, parties are stupendular and stipendiary and make ponies happy. Except for bad ones in the dark. Which is not to say all parties in the dark are bad. I went to this one with Vinyl Scratch a while back, and when we-”

“Pinkie!”

“Sorry”

“It’s okay. Have you heard these voices lately?”

“…yes.”

“When?”

“…when I saw Terra for the first time. And ever since. But it’s been really bad since I… you know.”

Twilight Sparkle studied Pinkie closely. Somehow, she thought that just talking about this was helping Pinkie. She was still mostly frowning, something all but unheard of for Pinkie, but the occasional glint of something broke through at point.

Pinkie continued “The thing about Terra is, she looks just like Blinkie. The way I remember her. I know it can’t be her or anything, cause she’d have grown up, even if she were alive, but when I look at her… It’s like an insult. Like she’s mocking me for being a terrible sister by always reminding me of the worst thing I’ve ever done. And when I saw her going through my things and looking at my picture, it was like she was trying to become a permanent sort of thingy. Like, she was trying to take Blinkie’s place in my head. So that I don’t remember the good times we had together at my parties or with the rocks on the farm.”

“The first time I saw Terra, she was covered in icky blood and mud and stuff, and her leg looked funny. And it reminded me of Blinkie, and how she died and, and…”

Pinkie started crying again. Twilight telekinetically lifted a box of tissues from across the room and delivered them to Pinkie. Pinkie pulled one from the box and blew her nose, making a loud trumpet-like sound.

“Thanks Twilight. I think I’m going to be better now.”

“It’s what friends do Pinkie. I know you’d do the same for me. And much sooner probably.”

“Don’t worry. It hurt, but maybe we needed some time before we saw each other again. Thanks for coming when you did though. I could have been a miserable saddy-pants forever!”

“But now?”

“I’ll still be a miserable saddy-pants,” Pinkie giggled, “but I know I can get better now.”

The two sat there silently for some time. As it turned out, Gummy did not stand entirely still. Occasionally he blinked.

“Twilight, why are you okay with the voices?”

“What do you mean okay? I hate what they do to you!”

“I mean, usually you won’t believe in things you don’t understand. Like when you didn’t believe in my Pinkie Sense. But you just accepted the voices lickety-split!”

“I don’t need to understand the voices to know that they’re bad! Maybe they’re some sort of spirits that go after hurt fillies. Maybe they’re something the colt did to you. Maybe they’re your own thoughts given a dark form. It doesn’t matter! All I know is that these voices are hurting my friend and I, Twilight Sparkle, will do everything in my power to stop them.”

Twilight looked out the window. It was getting dark.

“Listen, I have to go back home before Spike gets into trouble. I left him in charge of the library. Will you be okay if I don’t come back until tomorrow?”

“I’ll be fine Twilight. If you see any of the others, can you tell them I can see them now?”

“Sure thing Pinkie”

“One more thing. Can you not tell anypony my story? I want to share it when I’m ready.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Thank you Twilight”

Twilight stood up from the bed and gave Pinkie one last friendly nuzzle. She then headed for the stairs, looking back one last time before going down.

For the first time in days, some of the poof returned to Pinkie Pie’s hair. She faced Gummy, who had opened his mouth in anticipation. Pinkie stuck out her hoof, which was affectionately chewed upon.

“I would totally ship me with that mare” she grinned.
******

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned that sometimes bad things happen to good ponies, and it can be hard to understand why. In the aftermath, even good ponies can do things they regret. But although what they do may be wrong, they are not beyond forgiving. Ponies do bad things when they’re hurt, so the best way to stop it is to help them.

I’ve also learned that sometimes, it can be hard to face a friend after a big fight. Harsh words are exchanged, and sometimes it seems like a friendship can be ruined forever. But true friends can always make up, even if they hurt each other.

One thing I didn’t learn today was the value of keeping a secret. Spike already taught me about the importance of secrecy amongst friends. That is why, rather than insulting your intelligence, I am not going to send you this letter until Pinkie is alright with her secret being known to the world. I’ll send you a much briefer note in its place. For now, I’ll hide this in the biographies beginning with “C,” where no one will ever bother looking.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

P.S. That is how you troll somepony, right?

Comments

[Thedever]

lol

[CaptRicoSakara]

Do you think Pinkie and the others will find out the truth about the visitor? Who and what she really is?

[Salnax]

269931 Hopefully you're not laughing at the first half!

270345 Better Question: Do you think this story's readers will find out the truth about the visitor? Who and what she really is? You know a bit more than Pinkie and co, but I think there's still some important things about Terra yet to be revealed.

[SamRose]

It's always interesting to see someone else's interpretation of the events that took place in her past. And while I don't think the actions displayed were 100% the Colt's actions, they were close enough to get an approving nod (Plus Alternate Universe, different rules apply). Still though, I am honored that the backstory I made is being used in your fic and it does give me a bit of an ego-boost to see it.

I honestly like your fic so far and not just because you referenced my work in it. While the writing isn't the world's greatest and I spot errors in each chapter, what I like about the fic and what keeps me eagerly waiting for the next chapter is the ideas the fic presents. I'm really curious about Terra and seeing her adapt to Ponyville is really cute, plus how what she thinks she's doing in comparison to what everypony else thinks she is doing is a great contrast. You write the scenes to be believable and I love your interpretation of Lyra and BonBon.

Do keep up the good work, so far this is one of the few fics on the site that I eagerly wait to see updated!

[Princess Snufflebuns]

I laughed sooooo hard at the funny punchline! And I laughed even harder when it wasn't a joke!

[Princess Snufflebuns]

Also, nice Silent Ponyville reference.

[Salnax]

286082 Thank you for all of your advice! I'm going to edit all my old chapters with the criticisms you've made in mind.

[Salnax]

287607 Actually, there is a reason Terra thinks of Twilight as "Purple Unicorn," rather than as a "Mare." Basically, Terra's designations are based off of what she see's ponies' roles as in society. The first thing she noticed about Lyra and Bon Bon were their age and genders; things like occupation were not apparent until later. Twilight, on the other hand, is blatantly magical. Her use of magic is more prominent than her gender, making her "Purple Unicorn." Mayor Mare is obviously in charge, based on her presence, demeanor, and how others act around her, so she's labeled a "Leader." And Pinkie Pie, thanks to Terra's situation, strikes a chord, making her the "Pink One."

It's part of the psychology I'm trying to make for Terra. The first part of this story I wrote is going to end up being chapter 20 or something, when we learn more about Terra's background. I want to drop hints of it before the main event though.

By the way, any guesses what I'm doing a crossover with? If you can guess, I'll give you a free internet!

[Farmer Lars]

288087

Oh! Look at that! I get notifications! Oh, no probs, man! It's a fantastic read, and a wonderful excuse to procrastinate!

Ahh, beautiful idea with Terra! It mimics real interactions wonderfully, mixing our sensual observations with our psychological ones.

I have no idea what this is crossed with, but I want to go watch/read/play whatever it is now!

Happy writing, Sal!

[Salnax]

292376 Just be aware that this crossover is a bit indirect. Terra is an OC, who never appears in the original piece of fiction I'm crossing over with. Actually, her entire species is original. The crossover focuses more on mythology, concepts, and history than characters and plot.

That said, this story was in my head before I knew the Pony fandom existed. So I guess the crossover is necessary.

[djthomp]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn, that was dark.

[KMCA]

288087 Stop trying to encourage this, I don't want to know. I'd rather be dying in suspense until her unholy origins are revealed in the story

[Journeyman]

The Colt!

I've fell in love with Silent Ponyville and this is a great AU backstory/reinterpretation that involves him. But what I love best is Terra. She is so worldwary, and yet so dependent on those around her. It's an innocence and purity that is very refreshing to here and the interactions and dialog in Ponyville is interesting enough to carry the story.

While not even close to the creme de la creme, this is something I am really looking forward to follow. Favorited, and I am looking forward to see more.

[Sengachi]

Frakking Silent Ponyville. Nightmares for all the people.

[ramdom_player201]

Red balloons remind me of that show or film "it." I've never seen it, but I do know that it's a horror.