Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

1999

"Hello, Twilight," Pinkie said. She was standing there in the middle of the laboratory, hands crossed behind her back, hips bent slightly forwards as she swayed just a touch back and forth on her feet. Her expression was hard to read, a weird mix of calm determination and mild amusement. If she hadn't been Pinkie, Twilight would have found the display almost unsettling.

She still kind of did, but it being Pinkie meant she was rather confused about what she was supposed to feel. The shady attitude and casually menacing demeanour were everything Pinkie was not, and everything she was not usually capable of pulling off without exaggerated silliness. It was disconcerting to see her play it straight. "What's this about?" Twilight asked, turning fully towards the other.

"Nothing personal," Pinkie replied. "Orders from the other side. I need to keep you in check and make sure you don't overstep your boundaries. In particular, I need to make sure you don't come across that portal just yet." She nodded towards the map behind Twilight.

Twilight tensed. "Do you realise what the consequences might be for leaving a portal unattended? We can't just ignore it. Someone might, and statistically speaking someone will given enough time, run into it. That's not the kind of thing we can ignore. Not the possibility of someone spreading the knowledge around, or being hurt on the other side, or of more magic coming into this world. We cannot afford to waste time on this, and you know it."

Pinkie just looked at her nails while Twilight spoke, and only then did the other girl notice they'd been painted black. Same colour as the boots Pinkie was wearing, though seeing that actually gave Twilight pause. She could swear they hadn't been that way just a moment before, and definitely hadn't had those spiked belts wrapped above them. But Pinkie cut off her wonderings, speaking again. "I've heard that, Twilight. A few times already, actually. The one here who doesn't realise what the consequences of their actions might be is you.

"Not that I can blame you for it." For a second Pinkie leaned her bust further forward, with one hand on the back of her hips. Twilight wondered if what she was seeing around her eyes were eyeliner and pencil or just shadows. "You're not allowed to know, after all. That's part of my job. Every time I explain it to you, I gotta make sure you don't actually remember. So I can keep you off the trail for a while longer. I think I'm going to switch out the map this time, that should make it easier on me."

Twilight instinctively stepped back. "Pinkie? Just tell me what's going on. I don't know what you're talking about and I don't know what you think you're doing. Just calm down and let's talk this through, because right now you're not making any sense. Even more so than usual." But as she said that, one hand wandered towards her geode. It didn't matter though. She saw Pinkie smile, and then was blinded by a flash of black and purple.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Most peculiar. Especially if this means universes merely implied by certain toylines are fair game. The questions are who this Pinkie's working for, what they want, and why. And just how long they expect this to keep working. Keeping a Twilight in the dark never works forever, and rarely ends well for the ones trying to keep her that way.

[Venerable Ro]

A warlock's work is never done. People should pay more attention when Pinkie tells them things.