Pinkie's Lost Time

by Damaged

The Shell Opens - 2

"And what do you remember?" Princess Twilight Sparkle was concerned for her normally bubbly friend. Pinkie was huddled on one of the spare beds of the castle, looking small and alone. "Anything at all?"

"I was on the rock farm, the day when I should have seen Dash's Sonic Rainboom…" Pinkie stared ahead. "But everything was green, instead."

"Green" Twilight had a book out, flipping through it. "I really can't find anything in Big Book of Head Ouchies that would make things green. Are you sure it wasn't cyan?"

Pinkie shook her head and, in that moment, saw a sad pony in the mirror of the room. An odd ache filled her, a warmth that had been her constant companion since… since she thought she had seen the Rainboom. She felt a smile creep onto her face, felt a happy mood chase all the clouds of doubt away. Looking back in the mirror, she saw a happy pony again and felt even better. "It was all nothing, Twilight."

The book tumbled from Twilight's magical grip. "But Pinkie, something was really wrong, what-"

Getting up off the bed, her main sprung out again and took on its normal cotton-candy appearance. "Twilight, I am feeling so much better now, I am sure all I needed was a good talk with you!"

"Pinkie, you are staying here tonight." Twilight clopped her hoof, her feelings for her good friend overriding any sense of propriety. "And furthermore, you will be until we can work out what is going wrong."

Blinking up at her friend, Pinkie could only smile more. "You promise?" Some part of her wanted, needed, to have a friend look after her right now.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Twilight smiled as she did the motions, she meant every word of the sacred Pinkie Promise. "Now, time to get tucked in. You need real rest." Magic wasn't always the answer, but when you needed to tuck a friend into bed, it was the best. In no time the pink mare was under the blankets and feeling warm and happy.

"Thank you, Twilight." Pinkie was snuggled so well into the bed, only her snout and eyes could be seen, even her voluminous mane was stuffed under the warm covers.

Twilight gave the exposed pink snout a little boop, getting one more giggle from Pinkie before she left. The moment the alicorn was out of the room, sleep swamped Pinkie, her mind dredging that bog of lost memories again.

---

The nice ponies, changelings they had called themselves, led Pinkie along, telling her when to be careful of things, when to stop for a snack. They were just so nice to her that she never wanted to leave their side. All day they trotted and when night came, one of them asked her to look into his eyes. "So green…" Pinkie smiled, she was being a good filly and doing what she was told, the green light made her brain tickle.

"It feels nice to do what we say, you really like feeling nice." Pincer lifted his hoof up, waving it before the pony's eyes. She didn't bat an eyelash, didn't so much as track the hole-filled limb an inch. "But now you need to sleep and, when you sleep, you are going to have the best dream you can possibly have."

Pinkie nodded ever so slightly, scared that if she tilted her head too far she might lose track of the nice green. "Nice dream. Will it have Maud?"

"Does Maud make you happy?" Pincer could easily see that it did by the way she asked about whatever this 'Maud' was. When Pinkie nodded a little more, Pincer grinned. "The whole dream will be about Maud, about spending time with Maud, about being happy with Maud."

Unable to stand waiting, the moment the green was gone, not that it was completely gone, with it being everywhere, but the moment the light of green was gone, Pinkie spun into a circle and was fast asleep. Her dreams came on fast, really fast. She slipped into a dream where she was playing a game of rock-chasing with Maud. Her sister was doing silly things and the filly was actually giggling in her sleep.

In the waking world, Pincer and Chitin stared at her with slack jaws. "How can one pony… a filly, put out that much love?" Chitin's voice trembled a little, he was so very careful to only lightly sip.

"We picked the right pony, clearly." Pincer was even more careful. He had to replenish the energy it took to whammy the filly, but the wells of happiness in her were so deep he barely scratched the surface. "We have to get her back, the hive needs her."

Pinkie woke from her dream, the day just starting to get nice and bright, the green sun high in the sky. "That was the best night of sleep ever!" She bounced over to Pincer. "Thank you, Mister Changeling, for making me dream of Maud."

Pincer froze, she shouldn't be able to remember his commands like that. "Pincer." It was hard to be unhappy, however, when the filly practically thrust the most delicious meal he had ever tasted right in his face. "Call me Pincer."

"Hi Pincer, I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie bounced in place a little more, then sprang forward to hug the changeling. "I feel so much better!"

"Then let's get ready, we should reach the hive by midday. That will be even better." Pincer obviously meant it would be better for him, but Pinkie would start to get the special treatment, and his Queen would be happy. A happy Queen meant a happy Pincer. "Come on Chitin. Pinkie, please keep up."

Pinkie Pie nodded over and over. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" A dark hoof reached out and ruffled Pinkies mane before the three walked off. "Why do I have to wear the hobbles, Pincer?"

"Because you have to wear the hobbles, Pinkie." Pincer smiled at the filly, feeling an odd bit of kinship with her. "You feel really happy about wearing hobbles."

Pinkie started bouncing, or pronking as Maud had called it. It was easier. "I love hobbles, they mean I can pronk everywhere!"

The day passed slowly, with Pinkie asking questions over and over. Pincer felt bad the first time he turned the filly down with a command, so when she asked again he started answering. "The sky is blue because a huge changeling lives up there, and watches down on everypony, making sure they are safe."

"Ohhh!" Pinkie absorbed facts like a sponge does oil. "And what about when they blink?" Pincer giggled at the filly, almost stopping dead when he realized he had. He was enjoying this, and it worried him a little. "I asked, what happens when the sky-changeling blinks?"

"That is night time." Pincer had to look away, he knew his face would show panic to the filly. He was lucky, as the first peak of the hive's spires was visible over the next hill, and as they crested it, more and more spires of dark clay reached high into the sky. "See that, Pinkie?" He pointed with a hoof. "That is the hive. You will be so happy, this is your new home!"

Pinkie Pie's smile grew wider still, she couldn't help being happy, the nice changeling named Pincer had told her to, and because he told her to she did. "Yay!" The cheer twisted at Pincer's heart, in a way he would never admit to another 'ling. He led the filly down to the city of cooling vents.

The first changeling head to poke out, tasting the filly's love on the air, didn't ask and started to try to drink from her. "Chitin, your job?" The moment Pincer said the words, the startled changeling looked up and charged. The meal he had gained from the filly had the big drone pumped and, inadvertently, green fire shrouded his front as he dazed the other changeling. "This is the Queen's pony!"

"Is the queen nice?" Pinkie looked up at Pincer, and could see the play of odd emotions across their face. After a moment, she asked again. "Are they?"

Pincer closed his eyes, not wanting to look at the filly as he told her the horrible lie. "She is nice and great, doing whatever she says makes you feel happy." It felt like his shell crawled with things under it. What had this filly done to him?

---

"What's that?" Pinkie looked at the odd thing. It was all kinds of straps of stuff, with hard black plates in places and green goop in others. She liked the green goop, because unlike nearly everything else, in a green light, it looked normal. "Is that goop green or am I just seeing it as green?"

The Queen, Cocoon, lifted a hoof to her aching horn. "Okay, you have to be quiet now, you can only talk if you are talked to." She reached out with her magic to lift the special halter up. With her magic, she could feel the crystals and carved channels, it would work perfectly to bind the filly's mind just right.

Pinkie closed her mouth and tilted her head, watching as the halter got closer. She opened her mouth again to ask a question, but found she couldn't. The cool thing came down over her head, pressing down at her cheeks, around her eyes, and even around the top of her head. It pinned her mane down too but the worst bit was how it pulled around behind her head and, a moment later, was tight there too.

Cocoon grinned wide, her pupils narrowing down to slits. "Perfect, this will be-"

"What is it?" The words tumbled from Pinkie's snout. "Why is it so tight? How does it come off? Does it hurt? Where do you get these things? What-" A black hoof shoved against the filly's snout. "Mfmfmffmmfmf?"

"This is a control halter. Any command you are given, with changeling magic, will not be reversible. It will slowly work it deeper and deeper into that soft head of yours. So," Queen Cocoon's magic flared, rushing into her eyes, "feel happy, laugh, have fun all the time."

Pinkie's eyes went wide, the words seemed to echo through her suddenly empty head. Around her peripheral vision, the green goop of the halter started to pulse a soft green, and the hard bits appeared to have odd glowing squiggles. But that didn't really matter, Pinkie was happy.

---

"Pinkie!" Twilight had been gently shaking the mare, trying to rouse her for breakfast, when Pinkie finally opened her eyes and looked up at her friend, she smiled widely.

"Hi Twilight! What a wonderful day, I really want to just… to just… pronk everywhere!" Pinkie giggled at her complete inanity.

Twilight stared at the mare. "Pinkie, you slept for two days. I couldn't even wake you yesterday." The alicorn had a whole pile of books in the room, clearly each had been read cover-to-cover. "What were you dreaming about?"

Tilting her head and thinking, Pinkie froze as her mouth opened. She blinked and went cross-eyed looking at her snout. She tried again, opening her mouth but nothing came out.

"Pinkie?" Twilight summoned a tongue-depressor from her private stores and was trying to insepect the mare's mouth.

"Oh, that's better. Thanks Twilight! I was dreaming about being so happy, and… Pincer…" Something about the name made the pink mare think deep thoughts. "He was a changeling… I think he was my friend…"

"A changeling? Pinkie, what do you mean? Weren't you dreaming of when you were a foal? The changelings didn't attack until Shining and Cadance's wedding." Twilight's magic flared and a notebook appeared before her, a quill and ink set a moment later. "Okay, start at the start and tell me everything."

"Well, the first day was when I found a nasty, good-for-nothing tomato!" Pinkie giggled and then halted, opening her mouth and closing it, not a word coming out.

"Pinkie?" Twilight got just the one word before a hugging Pinkie Pie thanked her.

"Oh, that comes later, but I think I can't talk unless somepony talks first… I will have to explain that bit." She giggled and then her giggle cut off.

"It sounds… crazy, but you can talk again." Twilight hugged her friend tightly, the quill and book, to one side, scribbling like mad.

Author's Note:

Pinkie makes an unlikely friend, but one that is ultimately powerless, for all the power he holds over her. And what is going on with that halter?

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Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
Canary in the coal mine
Daremo
Mary Rowland
Boulder

Comments

[Daremo]

insect the mare's mouth - inspect the mare's mouth
*****
Pinkie is the Manchurian candidate!

Or is that churro-ian candidate? I wonder if there's such a thing as a cherry churro? Mmm... cherry churro...

[Damaged]

7509945 Thanks, fixed it. As for Pinkie's state, this is indeed troubling for now-Pinkie; foal-Pinkie is having a great time... how could she not?

[Boulder]

I really can't find anything in Big Book of Head Ouchies that would make things green

.
So is that written by 'Sidemount Freed
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fc/0b/ef/fc0befc08ce7893b6a14f31722f31762.jpg

[Boulder]

7509945 Raspberry cherry churro
s3-media4.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/aqZIY61rDnDs_4QnhHLmXA/o.jpg

Vodka Cherry Chocolate Churros
divinechocolate.com/uk/sites/default/files/styles/featured-image/public/img_blog/Tere%20a%20tere%20churro.jpg?itok=dkOTx6QF

Sweet spice dusted doughnut batons served with warm sticky dipping chocolate and vodka sozzled cherries created by Terre à Terre's Head Chef who say's "The best bit is supping on very cold cherry scented vodka while dunking your churros into the warm chocolate."