Penultimate Penumbra
Deep in the darkest recesses of my innermost sanctum, I brooded.
“Hey, sport! You wanna come out of the closet and have a snowball war?”
“No….” I said it quietly, but I knew Dad would hear it all the same.
“We can give the rest of the Dawn Guard a good whooping!”
Huffing quietly, I muttered under my breath. “In the darkness, she brooded.”
“Well, alright then….” Dad’s voice came quietly from the other side of my closet door, and the soft cloud warped inwards as he rested his hoof upon it. “We’ve got a sitter coming over for the twins, so you can take all the time you need.”
“Thanks….” I held out my own hoof to meet his.
“Try not to overthink it, though.”
“Huh?”
Instead of answering, Dad pulled his hoof back, and I was left to listen to the soft fwumping of his retreat. “Let’s get ready, Morning. I don’t think we’ll be talking her down any time soon.”
“She can’t just keep avoiding everypony, Tempered….” Mom’s whisper made me flinch. “What about—”
“Shhhhh…. She can still hear us. Let’s not make it any worse.”
“Don’t you shush me, you lunkhead. How can you just expect us to up and walk away like a—” My eyes went wide as Mom said several of Dad’s most colorful words. “She needs us.”
“No, she needs time,” Dad rumbled. “We should give it to her.”
“You’ll be doing more than sleeping on the couch if you’re wrong….”
Their voices faded as they left my room to go get ready. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. And it rang. And it rang. Whoever my parents had gotten had the hooves of a master musician; their manic button pressing was quickly filling my head with one doozy of an earworm, and it only got catchier as Dad opened a window to roar down at the porch below.
“Quit ding-donging, you ding-dong! We’ll be down in a sec!”
“Okie-doki-loki!”
Nightmother, protect me. Anypony but her….
Shrinking further into the darkness, I hung still and strained my ears for any hint of my parents heading down to get the sitter. “Please not the Pink Demon. Please not the Pink Demon. Please not the Pink Demon.”
A single, brilliant, blue eye came swimming out of the darkness. “Ooh! Ooh! Are you ready to have a good time?”
“Eeeeeeeeeee!” Falling to the floor, I scrabbled to my hooves and ran through the door. “Moooooooom! Daaaaaaaad! She’s out to get me!”
“Oh! Are we playing Tag?” Pinkie danced on her hooves as she looked about like there would be some other pony in my closet. “I’m it!”
“Grrrr….” Dad rumbled like thunder as I retreated behind him and Mom. “Miss Pie… we told you we were coming down to get you. You didn’t have to do—” He looked back at me to see me peeking out from Mom’s shadow. “—whatever it is you did.”
“Aww… but I was just trying to help put a smile on her face!”
Dad ground his fangs with so much force that it sounded like he’d put a whetstone to steel. “There are other ways to do that than scaring her to death.”
“Silly filly! Sometimes it’s fun to be scared! It’s all just part of the game, right, Night?” She looked past Dad to beam at me with teeth as white as the sun. “I’m the Pink Demon, after all. Rawr!” She flailed her hooves only to pause at the sight of me sinking deeper in Mom’s shadow. “Awww, kumquats….” With a sudden and piteous whine, she visibly deflated like a balloon, and I peeked a bit further out. “Sorry, Mister Mettle….”
There was the sound of grinding for a few more moments before Dad sighed. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”
“Maybe I should go? If I run superty-duper fast, I can go get somepony else to help.”
“No, Pinkie. It’s alright.” Mom walked forward, dragging both her shadow and me with her. “Just… cut back on the surprises a bit more. You know how Night is.”
“Roger dodger!” With a poompf, Pinkie popped up to snap a hoof to her forehead; there was the sound of confetti cannons firing a twenty-one gummy salute, and she leaned down to tweak my nose. “Apology boop!”
I sneezed violently at the contact, and stared at the pile of confetti that came out.
Mom and Dad chuckled at the sight, and I hesitantly giggled; the more I giggled, the better I felt, and the louder I let it get.
Then Red Dawn made his ambush.
I let out an oof as the pint-sized, feathery missile slammed into my side to nuzzle the stuffing out of me. He knocked me right out of Mom’s shadow and into a tumble along the fluffy floor.
“Nai! Nai!”
“Screep! Ahaha! No! Stop it, Red! Stop! Screeheeheehaahaa!” I rolled about, trying to get him off as his wagging tail and buzzing wings assaulted my ribs.
“Tickle fight!” The Pink Demon went in for the kill.
“Wha— No! Screeheeheehaahaaheeheehaahaahaahaa!”
“Nai…?” A small, shadowy portal opened in the wall to the twin’s room to let Rolling tumble out and to the ground. He wobbled to his hooves, and blearily blinked about with his blanky in one hoof. “Nai….” His eyes locked on me and Red—a few more blinks being needed to figure out exactly what he was seeing—before he started shambling forward in a sleepy zigzag. “Nai!”
The last few trots had him break into a canter as he dropped the Princess Luna plushie snuggled under his foreleg. He leapt to tackle me like the others, and Mom and Dad did nothing to stop him.
“Dad! Mom! Help!” I waved a hoof at them from beneath the pony pile, but no help came for me in my time of need.
“Seems like you have things handled, sport.” Dad chuckled as he wrapped his wing around Mom. “I think we’ll just be going, don’t you dear?”
“Yes, dear, I do.” Mom winked at me and pecked Dad on the cheek. “Now certainly seems like the perfect time.”
No, no, no, no, no! They couldn’t leave me to this! I didn’t deserve to laugh after hurting—
‘Merry Hearth’s Warming.’
‘Merry Hearth’s Warming.’
‘Merry Hearth’s Warming.’
My heart lurched every time the words rang in my head; the spear in my chest kept lodging itself deeper and deeper, twisting in ways I didn’t know my heart could twist. I couldn’t! I shouldn’t!
“No!”
I melted into the shadows and crawled back into my closet with a pop. The twin’s cries carried into my room as I quickly shoved most of the door back in place, and that only made my ears flatten more as I curled up in the back. Looking up at my hanging pole with a sniffle, I decided it just wasn’t worth it, and I buried my head in the clouds beneath me to sob for the millionth time that week.
“Hey, Niiiiiiiight!~” There was a fwoofy knock on my closet door. “Dinner’s ready! You all done being a frumpy dump sad face and ready to come out and play with us?!”
“No!” My stomach growled in betrayal even as I hissed.
“No, huh? Then what’s that rumbling?!” Pinkie giggled as she retreated. “It’ll be waiting for your stomach in the kitchen—all alone and totally not guarded by the Pink Demon and her little cupcakes!”
Lies.
The soft thwumping of pronking Pink ponies on clouds faded back into silence, and I opened the door just a crack to check if my room was empty. It seemed to be, but this was the Pink Demon we were talking about.
Grabbing one of my old blindballs, I rolled it into the center of the room and waited. There it sat as I stared and waited for the other horseshoe to drop. When no Pink hoof popped out of the floor to claw at it like a zombie, I sighed, but that did nothing to ease my nerves.
“Going commando it is.” I stood and stretched, ears perking at the the sound of my joints giving a good pop.
My hoof worked its way into the wall as I fished for my target—one of the small cavernous series of vents that helped keep the house from falling apart. If I was lucky, I’d hit the convection tunnel. If I wasn’t— My hoof hit empty air: cold, dank, and horribly wet, it cut into my foreleg on razor-like winds as I shivered.
“Of course the saturation vent is here….” I looked longly back at the door.
Dad probably put all the convection tunnels near my bed. It would only be a hop, a skip, and a jump to head out into my room and reach them, but—
A lone giggle made its way into the darkness.
“Yeah, no.” I braced myself before burrowing into the wall and pulling myself into the second most miserable tunnel I’d ever been in.
I turned soggy in seconds as all the spare moisture in the house blew past me on its way to the reservoir clouds. There was barely enough space for me to rustle my wings in discomfort, and I was forced to squint as I climbed. The downdraft was as bad as the death of a thousand cuts, although it honestly could have been worse.
No updraft meant my butt was safe! And that was a real victory for my morale.
Eventually, I made it to a turn that had me crawling into the ceiling. I squirmed along until I hit a patch of cloud that was way warmer than the rest of the tunnel, and I sighed in relief as I burrowed my way into the convection vent. I had to be careful not to leave any cracks in the wall behind me, but it was worth it for that warm, toasty goodness.
“Thank the Nightmother.” I flopped down into the cloud for a minute or two to let good old convection do its job. “Alright… time for a scouting mission.”
Poking my head through the vent’s floor, I found myself looking over my room. The blindball was still sitting there, menacingly. The bed was square; my recruitment posters were squarer. Everything were perfectly pristine and un—
Wait a minute. Some of my posters were different…. What had she—
“Son of a sun witch!” The Pink Demon had struck while I wasn’t looking! She’d switched my Princess Luna posters for... Cadance ones? The monster!
“Oh, goody gumdrops! Night, you came out of the closet!” As the Pink Demon began to open my door, I uttered a bad dad word and pulled myself up, sealing the hole I left behind. “Teehee! I heard that, you naughty little filly! Good thing I always carry a few soap flavored cupcakes! Now, where are you?”
I didn’t even breathe.
“Oh, Niiiiiiiight?!~ Niiiiiiiight?!~ Come out! Come out! Wherever you are! Teehee! Are you under the bed?!” There was the flapping and fluttering of all my blankets being sent everywhere. “Awww! Maybe you’re behind the curtains!” The curtain rod shrieked as Pinkie let the accursed sun into my room. “Darn!” The curtains thankfully closed before Rolling showed up. “Niiiiiiiight! Don’t tell me you hid back in the closet! I’m not gonna bite!”
I bit my lip, but said nothing.
“Grrrrrrr….” Pinkie’s high pitched growl sounded anything but intimidating, but I still felt felt my hackles rising. “Fine… be that way…. You’re a mopey-dopey, gluten free loonygoon, you know that?!”
I tilted my head and mouthed the word loonygoon as she quietly stomped out of my room. Taking a second to collect myself, I flinched as my stomach roared for attention—my ears flicking to see if Pinkie came back. I slowly started working my way through the vents again, until a series of giggles below me made me freeze.
“Pai! Pai! Nai! Nai!” There was the clack of plastic as my brothers laughed below me.
A new feeling clawed at my stomach as Pinkie schnortled, and I poked my head through the ceiling to see her hosting a tea party with the twins. With the sun going down, they were now both stomping about—hooves on the table, tossing cups everywhere. Red’s wings buzzed gleefully, while Rolling had his fangs sunk into his squeaky, sun witch chew toy.
“Ohohohoho! Why yes, I do know you wish your sister was here, but she is most busy with her business in the land of Noneya!”
Pinkie was wearing one of those extra frilly dresses from forever ago—the ones ancient daydwellers always wore in paintings when they wanted to look as snooty as possible. A fluttering fan hid her face as her obnoxious laughter continued, and she pretended to fill everypony’s cups again as she righted them.
My face scrunched as it fought to both smile at my brothers and frown at the Pink Demon, but my chest swelled with pride as the twins slapped the cups down again. When Pinkie fell back onto the couch to wail and moan about wasted tea, they tag teamed her like the smart little troopers they were, and Pinkie fell in an onslaught of giggles.
I mean, really. Tea parties? She so deserved it.
“Teeheeheeheeheehaahaa! Alright, alright! I get it, you two! We can play a different game!” Pinkie hugged the little balls of fluff. “We can do tag or peekabo or hide and seek or ticklewars!” She held up Rolling to blow a raspberry on his stomach.
“Screeheeheehaahaa!”
“But we’re going back to the frilly tea party if you try to bother your sister again!”
Wait. The tea party was a punishment? Wasn’t that cruel and unusual?
“Pai! Pai! Nai! Nai! Gibda nainai!” Rolling suffered another tummy raspberry for his defiance, giggling like a loon under moon as he squirmed in Pinkie’s hooves.
A more subdued Red yawned, casting his head back with a mighty squeak. He stopped and blinked as his eyes hit me in the darkness, and he tilted his head, ear flicking as he squinted in the candlelight.
“Nai?”
Son of a sunwitch. The little bugger was sharp.
Raising a hoof to my mouth, I silently tried to shush him. Pinkie and Rolling were still distracted and—
No, no, no, no, no! Don’t smile at me like that! That smile always means nothing but trouble!
Wings buzzing, Red tried and failed to get any liftoff. “Naiaiiiiiaiiiiiiagh….” He yawned, half-raising a hoof towards me. As the yawn peetered out, he wildly shook his head, ears flapping like a mausebär. Stumbling towards Pinkie Pie, he butted his head into her side, blinking at her blearily as he pulled back.
“Pai pai….” He poked Pinkie with a hoof even though she was already looking down at him. “Nainaiaiiiiiiaghhhhhhh!”
I almost retreated as he started to look at me, but it turned into a squirmy stretch as he yawned yet again. The grandfather clock started chiming out the seven o’clock toll, and Pinkie giggled as it made Red startle and wobbily glance about.
“Looks like sompony finally tired themselves out. Are you ready for bed, Red?”
“Mrgmmmmf….” Red barely answered as Pinkie picked him up and put him on her back, curling up into a little ball instead. “Nai….”
“I’m sure you’ll see her tomorrow….” Pinkie sighed as she headed out into the hall and down towards the twins’ room. “Your Auntie Pinkie Pie is on the case after all.”
Auntie Pinkie Pie? Nuh-uh. No way. Not gonna happen on my watch.
“Nai!”
Son of a sunwitch. I forgot to keep my eye on Rolling.
“Ama hunnrrrrrrrrrrr!” His snarl was ferociadorable; his melting into the shadows was not. “Rawrrrrrrrrrr!”
“Ah, fewmits.” I hastily pulled my head back as Rolling popped into the vents.
“Rawrrrrrrrrrr!” His size was an advantage in the cramped tunnel, allowing him to tackle me unhindered while I could do little more than crawl.
“Ah! Rolling, no! No biting! I can barely move in here! You might hit something important!” Flailing about as much as I could, I finally managed to boop his snarling muzzle and he instantly turned docile.
“Gibda.” He latched onto me like my hoof was a true blue moonpie, slobbering all over it even as he hugged the stuffing out of it.
“Well, that was way easier than putting Pound and Pumpkin to bed! I can’t believe Mettle and Morning were wor—” The floofy sound of pronking on clouds stopped mid sproing. “Where did Rolling go?”
“Pai pai!” Rolling spat out my hoof and looked around before I could shush him. “Pai?”
“Are you… inside the vents?” Pinkie’s chuckle was much weaker than normal. “Oh Celestia, you are, aren’t you? Heheh…. That’s definitely a new one. Don’t worry! I’ll get you out in a sec!” Her shouting turned to a much more worried whisper. “As soon as I figure out where you are….”
“Nai!” Rolling puffed out his little chest. “Nai, pai, nai!”
“Well, that makes things easier!” Pinkie giggled. “Oh, Nightingale!~ Somepony is coming to see you!~”
I shoved my forehoof in Rolling’s mouth again before he could say anything else to the Pink Demon, and raised my other hoof to my lips. “Shhhhhhhhh… Hunters are supposed to be quiet, Rolling.”
“Ama hunrrrrrrrr.” The little growl he made trying to say that had me smiling ear to ear.
“Yes, you are, and you know what hunters do?” I shuffled about so my face was looking right into his as my stomach roared and I licked my lips. “They hunt dinner. I’m hunting dinner right now, but I have to be verwy verwy quiet to avoid the Pink Demon. Can you do that, Rolling?”
His face scrunched and his mouth opened as I took my hoof away, but he didn’t say anything else that would give our position away—instead deciding to nuzzle me.
“Nai….”
“I love you too, little guy….” It was difficult in the cramped spaces of the convection vent, but I managed to both hug him and nuzzle him back.
“Ahhhhhh! Nightingale’s missing too! Tempered and Morning are going to kill me!” There was the rushing of hooves beneath us and the front door opened and closed. “Cannonball!” My ear flicked at the whistling of a Pink bomb dropping to the ground far below, as well as the lack of any splat noises or panicked screaming from anypony else.
“Don’t question it, Nightingale.” I shivered. “It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie. Just keep your eyes on the prize, and get to the kitchen and back in the closet before she gets Mom and Dad.”
For Rolling’s sake, I stayed in the vents and made a game of getting to the kitchen. We stalked through the tunnels, waggly butts in the air; every few trots I’d bury my head through the ceiling to make sure we were on the right path.
The siren smell of dinner made its way up through the clouds as we made it to the kitchen—something with crickets and ants—and I couldn’t help drooling as I headbutted a hole in the vent big enough for me to drop down onto the floor in a crouch.
My tail flicked back and forth as I cast my gaze about, not knowing if the Pink Demon had tried to trick me with an ambush or a trap. The coast was clear, however, letting me signal my backup with a click.
“Screeheeheeheehaa!” Rolling couldn’t stop his battle cry from becoming a giggle as he dove on my mark, swooping down to bare his fangs at an empty kitchen. “Rawrrrrr!”
Giggling as he snarled, I sucked in a breath so I could show him how it was really done.
“Rawr!” I flared my wings and let my fangs glint in the candlelight.
“Rawr!” He posed like Dad did—smirking and swiping his hoof.
“Rawr!” I let my shadow flow forth to consume the small candles Pinkie had left lit in shadows.
“Rawr!” He batted at me again with his hooves, and I sucked in another breath.
“Teehee!” I froze for a moment, then leapt back to scan the kitchen again.
That hadn’t been my giggle.
Opening the cupboards, I searched for any sign of Pink lurking in the shadows. The fridge and freezer were next—because Pinkie Pie was just that crazy—and when the coast was still Pink free, I frowned and shook my head.
The smell of crickets and ants finally drew me to the stove and the final potential ambush spot; for Pinkie had left me a ginormous, covered silver platter, and it was under it I found—
“Mmmmm… pancakes….” My stomach purred as the smell fully hit me, and I shuddered at the sweet, fluffy goodness before me.
Chocolate-critter pancakes: my favorite!
My stance foalishly slackened as I licked my lips and picked up the still steaming, freshly buttered hotcakes. I skipped to the dining room with my prize, setting it down before I headed back to grab some syrup from the cupboards. A quick trip to the fridge scored me a glass of B Positive and a bottle of milk for Rolling, and I swept the growlly, giggling, little bugger up to carry him to my little feast.
“Just gotta put away the milk, and those pancakes are all—”
I opened the fridge to find a manically smiling Pink Demon.
“Pai pai!” Rolling squirmed on my back.
“Pinkie Pie!” The demon giggled.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I was wondering when my lungs were gonna start listening to my brain. Too bad my stomach roared before I could melt into the shadows; it broke my concentration, and left me trembling before the Pinkest of ponies.
I sank into the clouds in defeat as Pinkie Pie booped my nose. “Tag, you’re it!” Giggling like a loon under moon, she pulled herself out of the fridge. “I’m the best at hide and seek!” Putting her hoof on my shoulder, she guided me back to the dining room. “Now how about you have a talk with your good old Auntie Pinkie Pie while you’re eating.”
“Y-you’re not my aunt.” I almost pulled myself into the shadows again, but Pinkie’s grip was firm, and the pancakes smelled so good.
“Call me Uncle Pinkie Pie, then, cause you and I are gonna have a talk whether you want it or not!” She sat me down before pronking around to sit across from me with a grin.
Her hoof somehow managed to stay on my withers the whole time, but I ignored it as I tore into my pancakes like a wild animal. Fluffy cake so moist it melted in my mouth gave way to crunchy ants and grasshoppers as I attacked my prey with savagery. My stomach purred as it finally received the food it desired; the feeling was a welcome distraction from the Pink monstrosity behi— in front of me.
“So!” Pinkie leaned forward, and I pulled my plate a bit closer. “Hiya!”
”Mrgmff….” One last bite had me licking the plate clean. “Hi….”
“You ready to talk?”
“About what?”
“Your Pinkie Promise, silly!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Looking away, I pulled Rolling off my back and hugged him while he sucked on his bottle.
“Yes, you doooo-oooo!~” Pinkie pulled out a crayon-drawn picture of me and Diamond on a cloud. “You promised you’d take Diamond up stargazing again next year! You can’t break a Pinkie Promise!” She pointed to my signature in the lower corner. “It’s in the contract!”
“I didn’t sign that….” I pulled Rolling so close he squeaked. “How do you even know? Are you actually a demon?”
“Uncle Pinkie Pie always knows!” She set the drawing before me and tapped it. “Always.”
“Well, you can forget it, then, cause it’s none of your business! That was between me and Diamond!” I quickly nuzzled Rolling as he flinched from my outburst. “It’s not like I won’t do it…. I promised her I would….”
“Oh, reeeeeeally?” Pinkie leaned in again. “Cause it looks like you’re just being a mopey-dopey, grumpy, no-fun, sad face.”
“Maybe I just don’t wanna be happy right now.” Rustling my wings, I frowned. “Not after hurting—” With a shake of my head, I tried to get up only for Pinkie’s hoof to bat me back down. “I don’t have to talk about this with you….”
“But what if the Friendship Table was all, ‘Put up the Pinkie Signal!’ and I was all, ‘Huuuuuh! My Tushy Sense is tingling!’”
“…Did the table actually call you here?” My ears splayed back.
“Maybe…” For just a moment, Pinkie looked away. “But I don’t need that silly old table to see you’ve got a friendship problem! As your Uncle Pinkie Pie, it’s my duty to help you through this!” She threw up her forelegs, and for a moment I was finally free from the hoof that should not be.
“Well, talk to me after you’ve broken your best friend’s heart.” I snorted, managing to get out of the chair in my brief moment of freedom.
“Nai!” Rolling’s quivering voice stopped me a few stomps before the door, and my face scrunched up for what felt like ages before I returned to the table with a sigh.
“What do I do, Pinkie Pie? It feels like everything is falling apart….” I sunk into my shadow with a whimper. “How am I supposed to face the others?”
“Huh? Whataya mean by that?” Pinkie’s head ticked sideways.
“I don’t want to make them pick between me and Diamond….” Scuffing the shadows beneath me, I dared to look up. “They were Diamond’s friends first.”
“But they’re your friends too! Why do you think they gotta pick and chose? It’s not like you and Diamond can’t still be friends.” She leaned so far over the table that I saw nothing but white and blue. “Or is that what this is all really about? You know you can still be friends, right?”
“I don’t think…” I bit my lip. “How would that even work? Just thinking about her makes me feel like I’m being eaten inside out by butterflies. It’ll be all weird and awkward….”
“Weird and awkward is better than hurting and alone!” Pink hooves latched onto my shoulders. “Filthy has me delivering full batches of Tiaramisu left and right! The last time I delivered that much was back when the crusaders got their cutie marks! She was terrified Silver wouldn’t ever want to be her friend again!”
“Well, what do you want me to do?!” I flinched back, pulling the silent, puppy-eyed Rolling with me.
“Get off your batty watty butt and give her a big hug! Let her know you still want to be friends!”
“But I—” My heart thumped so hard it jumped into my throat. “I don’t know if I want to just be friends….” Pinkie blinked, but I barely noticed as I squirmed beneath her. “I… The kiss wasn’t totally icky, okay!”
There. I said it. Screwing my eyes shut, I waited for the inevitable.
“So you…” Pinkie’s pause was not encouraging. “You liiiiiiiiiiiiike her?”
“Y-yes?!” My squeak was so high-pitched it made Rolling release his bottle to hiss. “No!” I quickly corrected only for not-so-icky images to flash through my mind. “I-I don’t know!”
“Well, you need to tell her that then, silly.” When the Pink hug came, I didn’t back away. “Silly filly! You aren’t gonna find out just sitting in your room!”
“I… I need to tell her.” Taking a deep, I finally let go of Rolling. He had tears threatening to burst from his eyes, and was whimpering a little as he looked up from his forgotten bottle, so I nuzzled him until he was quietly sucking again.
“Alright, Captain Pie. Mission accepted.”
Pinkie finally fell back in her seat to roll around, gigglesnorting. “Snerk! Teeheeheehaahaa! Captain Pie! Ah, I haven’t been called that since my stint in the navy!”
“Well, that explains every—” I bit my lip and squirmed as Pinkie pulled an eyepatch, a bandana, and four peg legs from her mane—belting out a sea shanty in a rich, daddly bass like she was the king of the sea. “Okay, maybe that just raises more questions.” I sighed, getting up and off my haunches to stretch. “I’ll be back as fast as I can, Pinkie. Let Mom and Dad know where I went if they get back first. And thanks….”
“Oooookie, doki, loki!” Pinkie’s grin could have eaten my sheepish little smile for breakfast. “Just try not to stay out too laaaaate!~”
“I just literally said I would be back ASAP.” Frowning as Pinkie winked at me, I rustled my wings. “Besides, I still need to do my biology homework before break ends.”
“Pffft!” Pinkie laughed so hard she fell to the ground and clutched her side.
“What?” My frown deepened.
“Nothing! Heeheehee! Maybe you should— Teeheehaahaahaa! Maybe you should take your textbook with you and study biology with Diamond!”
“No….” I looked down. “I’ve been worrying Mom and Dad enough as it is. The least I can do is try to be back before they get home.”
“Teehee! Go on, then!” As her giggles finally quieted, Pinkie got up and walked around the table to grab Rolling. “Uncle Pinkie Pie’s got the fort down pat.”
Rising on my hind hooves to give Rolling one last hug before I set out, I wrapped my hooves around both him and Pinkie Pie. Demon that she was, she immediately started vibrating with violent, savage, hugthirsty glee—barely holding off on exploding in a shower of fireworks until I had slunk out the door and into the night.
“Eeeeeeeeee!”
I had to break into a hover and clutch at my ears as the house ballooned out behind me with a boom. The shockwave sent me flailing end over end, and left a pair of very awake and crying twins in its wake.
“Ooops….”
“Maybe I should—” I started to circle back only to shake my head. “No. No distractions.” Looping around the house, I aimed myself towards Diamond’s place. “I’m a mare on a mission right now.”
The sky was empty as I flew, full of nothing but rumbling storm clouds that promised the mother of all blizzards later around midnight. The few ponies below me rushed to get home as the freezing wind picked up, but I kept my pace slow and steady despite being buffeted on all sides.
It took a good ten minutes of struggling through the sky before Diamond's mansion finally came into view. I was tempted to just swoop down and be done with it with how the weather kept getting worse, but crashing already was not an option.
Not now. Not when I was so close.
I banked down in circles, slowly losing altitude with each lap of the house. A quick glance revealed Diamond’s light was on, and I fell into a canter as I finally hit the snow. I raced to the door and knocked on it. My breath misted with every pant as I stood there and waited, squirming as the doorknob finally turned.
But it wasn’t Diamond who answered.
It was Silver who opened the door—her dull, dead fish eyes passing right through me like I wasn’t there. The door slammed shut, and I frowned and knocked again. A lengthy pause followed, but I knew she was still there; I hadn’t heard her trot away from the door. Finally, the door opened again, and I braced myself for the storm to come.
Ears splayed back as my hello died in my throat; Silver narrowed her gaze at me, and my instincts were quick to respond. My wings rustled with the urge to break open and fly away, but I stood my ground and squirmed. We stared at each other—neither willing to break the silence—until Silver finally sniffed.
“You look like you’ve been through Tartarus.” Adjusting her glasses, Silver glanced over my sweaty, disheveled, ice-crusted coat and mane. “Good!”
The door slammed shut again.
“Aww… come on, Silver!” I knocked so hard I almost kicked the door down.
“No! Go away! I’m not letting you make things worse!”
My shoulders slumped, and my head sunk as I slunk back out into the snow. Glancing up at Diamond’s window again, I grimaced, but knew I had no other option.
The wind howled even louder than before as I took off—batting me this way and that way like Rolling with his chew toys. I didn’t even get a chance to knock on Diamond’s window; it just threw me into the wall.
“Screep!”
“What—” There was a sniffle from the other side of the wall. “What was that?”
“Just the wind, Diamond. Just the wind.” I brought my face around to the window just in time for Silver to shut the curtains on me with a scowl.
“Darn it, Silver!” I slammed a hoof on the windowsill “Let me in! Diamond! Diamond! Can you hear me?! It’s Night!”
“N-Night!” There was a squeak, a groan, and a click as the window opened to let me tumble through. “What were you doing out there?! Trying to turn yourself into a popsicle?!”
“I… needed to talk to you….” The room was spinning as I slowly sat up to look around Diamond’s room. Full to the brim with mirrors and crystals and gems, it reflected enough light from the bedside lamp to make me hiss and bury my head in my hooves.
“Sorry…. Silver, could you turn the lights down for her?”
“I can do that if you want.” There was a pause, and I could feel Silver glowering at me as my hackles raised. “I can also turn them up.”
“Silver!”
“Just saying.”
The lights dimmed to a less blinding level, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I finally opened my eyes to see Diamond hovering over me.
“Hey….” I tried to smile and failed.
“Hey….” Diamond looked down and scuffed her hoof.
“How you doing?”
Silver snorted, and we both glared at her. She still had a hoof on the lamp as she arched her brow back at us.
Diamond broke first, shaking her head with a sigh. “Kind of sucky. You?”
“Same.” I closed my eyes and shivered. “I’m really sorry about Canterlot, but—”
“You still want to be friends?!” Diamond was suddenly crushing the air right out of my lungs, and a long piteous whine escaped me as she nuzzled me. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
Silver rolled her eyes. “Just a little tighter now, Diamond.”
“I—” My spine popped loudly. “I was always gonna stay your friend. That’s not—” Another pop. “That’s not what I wanted to say!” The hug tightened, and I squeaked. “Can you let me down now?”
Diamond immediately dropped me. “Oops….”
“I’ll say.” Silver sniffed. “She makes a good bobblehead.”
“Silver, seriously! If you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything at all!” Diamond stomped forward, her chest puffing out as her snoot filled the air. “I get that you’re mad, but it isn’t helping, so be quiet!” Not even waiting for a response, she turned back to me and was instantly much more twitchy. “S-sorry…. You were saying?”
“I…” Biting my lip hard enough to draw blood, I looked away. “I never did actually give you an answer, did I?”
“W-what?” Diamond took a step back. “But you—”
“Diamond, I didn’t know what the Tartarus I was supposed to think!” It took an immense amount of effort to meet those deep, Luna-touched eyes, but I did. “I still don’t! I just… I need more time, okay? I’ve never liked anypony like that before; I don’t want to say yes until I know for sure.” I looked away again at the sight of tears building in Diamond’s eyes. “I don’t want to ruin what we have by doing something stupid….”
Silver snorted, but said nothing as she turned the light down just a little more.
I stood there and waited for Diamond to say something—not even daring to look, and flinching at every sniffle. The seconds ticked by, and I started squirming. My heart thundered; my stomach churned; my frogs itched.
If this was what I’d put Diamond through, I was a million times more sorry than before. Maybe I should just—
My ear flicked at the sound of Diamond taking a step forward.
A few seconds later, she took another.
And another.
And another.
She slowly walked up until she was right in front of me—so close that if I raised my head, it probably would have bopped her chin. Her hooves were covered in bite marks, and they screamed at me for a hooficure. Her coat similarly screamed at me for a good scrubbing, and a sneaky peek upwards showed her bedhead was way worse than I thought.
It was the look of somepony who hadn’t left their room for a week or more, and I knew it all too well right now.
“You look like you’ve been through Tartarus.” Unlike when Silver said it, Diamond made my neck blaze black in self-consciousness.
“So do you.” I didn’t fight it when her hoof cupped my cheek, pulling my head up so close that our snoots were almost booping.
She giggled. “Yeah, but I’m not the one who’s at her prettiest after being through hay and back.”
“Diamond, pleeeeease….” My blush somehow managed to burn hotter. “Don’t make this any harder.”
“Sorry.” Diamond laughed and rubbed at her eyes with her hoof. “It’s true, though.”
“So, we’re good?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” Diamond wrapped her hooves around me. “Take all the time you need.”
“Thanks.” I hummed and squeezed her back. “I… I should get going, then. It’s already a nightmare outside, and it’s only going to get worse. Don’t want Mom and Dad to worry, you know?”
“Yeah….” With a sigh, Diamond pulled back, but kept her hoof in mine. “I should go talk with Daddy…. You want me to show you to the door?”
“Uh… I’m not sure I want to risk running into your dad right now.” Chuckling, I let go of her to rub the back of my head. “I’ll just go through the window.”
“It’s always open for you.” Diamond giggled. “Right, Silver?”
“No comment.” Silver huffed.
“And you said you were going to buck her if she showed back up~”
“Don’t tempt me—I still might.”
Diamond’s titter was lost as I opened the window and the wind howled its way inside. She shivered as it hit her, quickly running up to hug me one last time before retreating for the heater.
“Bye, Night.”
“Bye, Diamond.”
“Silver.” I nodded.
“Dark Horse.” She saluted back as I tossed myself to the wind.
The walk home was even colder than the flight out, but not even a blizzard could dampen my spirits. I stumbled through the streets of Ponyville with a smile on my face, and I rang the doorbell grinning like a loon under moon. When Dad came down to take me up, I hugged him tight enough to hear his joints pop.
For all was right with the world.
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I can't wait.
Poor Night, she got stuck with the Pink Demon. Still Pinkie was a nice choice to help her out with her feelings but still putting up Cadance posters was a bit much.
999 like! wow!
I loved the use of pinkie pie in this chapter that was awesome!
I'll bet Pinkie was quite the buccaneer during that navy stint.
The gryphons even put a price on her head.
Twoooo dollaaaaars!
ONE MORE CHAPTER!
ONE MORE CHAPTER!
ONE MORE CHAPTER!
be verwy verwy quiet.
Night's hunting dinner.
and Avoiding the Pink Demon.
I've been binging this story for the past few days and I have to say, this is now my favorite bat pony/thestral story I've ever read. Your world-building and sense of character are insane and the way you write kids is so layered, and nostalgic, and honest. It's sad to know that I came in at the end of the ride, but I'm excited for what's next. This story's really something. Thanks for writing it
One or ten dozen more chapters, you keep writing and I think you'll have no shortage of readers.
Pinkie was probably the best choice in helping Nightingale solve her problem.
9420611
I guess that means Night is a big cricket.
9420916
Look on the bright side: You didn't have to spend six months refreshing Fimfiction every half hour just in case the next chapter was up
Night keeps coming out of the closet in all the wrong ways.
pinkie seems a bit off here, i mean she kinda takes everything a step too far and i know she was trying to help but really it doesn't justify it.
9421219 Can't say as I agree ... I mean an adult that has no authority over her, and that Night doesn't particularly trust (or even like) pulling the "you're going to listen whether you like it or not" card? Waving a contract that Night never signed in her face and acting like it puts Night under some kind of obligation? Dismissing Night's situation as her just being "a mopey-dopey, grumpy, no-fun, sad face"? This could have gone wrong very easily.
But Diamond and Night have made up, so Yay
(Even if Silver is still feeling hostile.)
9422739
Those are actually the main reasons Pinkie was able to get through to Night. There's a reason Tempered and Morning couldn't help Night in the time between this chapter and the last. The respect, adoration, and love Night has for them made talking to them a lot harder. With Pinkie, it was more a matter of Night begrudgingly listening because she wasn't expecting it to actually help, and then being surprised when talking actually helps. Even then, the biggest reason she talked with Pinkie was from when Rolling called out as she stormed out. It took both those she cared about and the ear of somepony who was removed from everything.
But yes, it did have the potential to backfire very badly.
9422739
Have you ever watched the show?
One word... MAGIC!
A Pinkie Promise has always been treated as a binding contract.
Can anyone really say that pony magic, in Pinkie’s case, doesn’t actually make a hard copy for her?
Pinkie seems the natural choice this friendship problem,.
Who else could babysit two foals and mysteriously already know what the problem is?
Any other character might have felt contrived and forced.
Finally caught up and loving this adorable story... One thing that's been bugging me since the beginning though... Why does it seem like ponies are just kinda accepting of how borderline racist a lot of thestrals seem to be. I mean, how does a royal guard family get off casually calling Celestia "sun-witch" and generally referring to her disapprovingly because of a mistake she made over a thousand years ago and the fact that the sun is a bit inconvenient for thestrals? Does Luna know/approve of such casual hostility towards her sister? Is Celestia turning a blind eye or is she even aware of just how deeply entrenched their discrimination against her (and those who serve her) really is?
As utterly diabetes inducing as Nightingale is, this constant prejudice has really set the whole story in a really unsettling light.
9422957 Actually, only Pinkie treats a Pinkie-Promise as some special, magically binding, iron-clad no-matter-what or how-many-more-problems-it-creates thing. The rest are just unwilling to smack her down over it. But each to their own interpretation.
oh pinkie.
9424230
She has a habit of popping out of random places to enforce it.
Thats close enough to "This is magically binding" that it may as well be.
9424163
So, I've addressed that question before, but I'll assume you didn't see those comment discussions.
First, none of the thestrals I've written actively hate or have a negative view of Celestia. They may dislike the sun, and their culture has certainly evolved around that fact, but the sun is by far the least important thing about Celestia after having ruled Equestria for who knows how long. They have just as much respect for her as the rest of Equestria; it is merely tempered by a much better understanding that their rulers are not flawless. And yes, that includes Luna as much as Celestia. The entire point of Einbruch der Dunkelheit is to never forget that both of them are capable of falling from grace, and the reason Night shows the resentment she does in that chapter has far less to do with Celestia and much more to do with a fundamental cultural difference. The Summer Sun Celebration is just that, a celebration. To the thestrals, it's incredibly insulting that Celestia lets the daydwellers celebrate the darkest day in Equestrian History rather than remembering it for what it was; they believe it's important to remember the past for what it was so that history might never repeat itself. A flowery, happy, fun-time festival only serves to make ponies forget all the sacrifices made when Luna fell--including how Celestia sacrificed the very Elements of Harmony themselves in an attempt to save Luna rather than imprison her.
Second, the thestrals in the Undercity--particularly any nobles--were written with the standard show portrayal of Canterlot citizens in mind. Given that a significant portion of the Canterlot citizens who get a talking roll are uppity, snobish, nobles and bourgeois, and that ponies like Fancypants appear to be the exception, the petty actions of the thestral nobility that we get allusions to are not all that surprising.
Third, anypony can be prejudiced, even in the canon show, and we can see that from both the intitial Zecora episode and the fact that Ponyville doesn't allow Unicorn magic in Winter Wrap Up even though Pegasi use their Pegasus magic to clear the skies and Earth Ponies use their enhanced stamina and connection with nature to tend to the ground.
Finally, fourth, the term sunwitch has a lot less to do with Celestia than you would imagine. Celestia isn't the only one capable of raising the sun, and it is entirely canon that she wasn't the first to do so. Sunwitch is a very old term that at it's heart means "One who meddles with the sun." It's just as possible to be a good witch as it is to be a bad one. Heck, Luna is as much a sunwitch as Celestia if she has to pick up the slack.
9424711
Maybe that's the case, but the undertones of resentment occasionally peek out and make me sit back and question just how deep it goes. It's obvious that thestrals were once much worse about it long ago and have made great strides since then in their acceptance of other races but a lot of their culture and mannerisms still ring of old prejudice even if some of the things that seem like that do have legitimate reasons that hold little to no ties to racism.
And I do understand that everyone is capable of it, it's just for obvious reasons, thestrals have a lot more time to show it here and since their culture takes itself much more seriously than the often silly and care free "day walkers", it can often manifest as them looking down at or being annoyed by day ponies just being ponies.
I see what you did there.
9430687
I thought so, nice touch. I suspected, but it's good to know for sure, thanks!
Aww. I'm not prepared for it to end. Will there be a sequel? I like this world you made. I also like how you did Pinkie! She can be hard to utilize and you did a great job with her.
9422930
I guess it had the potential 'to backfire.' But dealing with Pinkie who at times smacks of precognition at the very least to outright eldritch abomination at the most I really doubt that really was possible.
Uhhh, what just happened? And Why does Diamond hame bite marks? This chapter thoroughly confused me.
9726703
Ever seen somebody bite their nails in distress? There were consequences for Night running in the Hearths Warming chapter.
Do you wanna build a snowman?
Pinkie... just leave her alone! D$%#it, if I were in Nightingale's position, I'd be ticked! Some people value our alone time to sort out our thoughts!
Liked it
9922321
Pinkie doesn't have a genuinely malicious bone in her body, but...I would not deny that she needs a filter on her as well as just learning empathy for introverts.
9420591
Pinkie Pie is insulted by the low bounty and proceeds to go on an Equestrian-wide rampage including physically removing the town of panhandle (or equivalent)
Hopefully you get my reference.
...Pinkie was in the navy, Pinkie was a Captain
Yes, yes it does
Damn... Do they taste bad or is that actually something a pony might enjoy.
Pinkie Pie is a great pony foalsitter
👍
Loving the cute ♡