• Published 14th Sep 2012
  • 3,375 Views, 179 Comments

The Reception's Been Canceled - sister_mike



Twilight awakens to find that Queen Chrysalis hasn't been defeated.

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Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Pinkie Pie

Blinkie led them to a room in the back of the house. The room was spacious, with two beds, two dressers, and two desks inside. Some pictures of different rocks hung on the wall near one of the beds, and the desk nearby had various rock samples lined up. Near the other bed on the other desk was what looked like a chemistry set and some empty metal shells, and a pickaxe leaned against the wall.

"This room is new," Pinkie said, as she and the girls stepped inside.

"Yeah, we built it just after discovering the cave. We'd had the idea of building it here before that, but never really needed a reason. It's built over the old cellar, and it's where Blinkie keeps her explosives. She wanted her bedroom near where she'd be keeping her supplies, so we decided to just build right on top of it. That way, if anyone wanted to steal some of the explosives, they'd have to go through Blinkie first—literally."

Inkie pointed towards Blinkie, who was moving her bed. Underneath was a rug, which when she flipped it out of the way revealed a trap door. She smiled at Pinkie.

"So.. you guys don't sleep upstairs anymore?" Pinkie asked. She knew it was an obvious question, but she still felt compelled to ask it. There were many times when as she was trying to fall asleep, she'd reminisce about the time she had shared a room with her sisters. It made her feel a little sad that they still weren't in the same room the three of them used to share.

"Yeah, not any more. We thought about having separate rooms, but we like sharing one. Plus, Pa built this new room with a door leading straight outside, as an emergency escape; you know, just in case one of Blinkie's experiments didn't work out and the room caught on fire, or exploded or something. And with a door leading straight into the room, they didn't like the idea of Blinkie being down here all by herself and thought it'd be safer if the two of us were together," Inkie explained. Blinkie lifted the trap door and began to walk down. The other two followed.

"So what did you do to the old bedroom?" Pinkie asked out of curiosity.

"It was hard to decide what to do with it. You know how Pa hates unused space. First they tried turning it into an office, but neither Ma nor Pa are really good at the written part of the business. I've taken it over mostly now, and we decided it was too weird to have the office upstairs, especially if a client came in and needed to sign some paper work. So, we still use the desk in the den for that," Inkie explained, "Then Ma thought maybe she'd use it for her sewing room, but decided she preferred the light in the den also. So, it's mostly just been sitting there. I think there were a few other unsuccessful uses, but Blinkie and I go rarely up there any more, then I sort of lost track. Though..."

Inkie paused for a moment, a small smile on her face.

"Though what?" Pinkie asked.

"It's been dusty and pretty much sitting empty for a while. But just before the whole changeling attack, I went upstairs to fetch a spare blanket. I passed by the room and noticed Ma inside. There was a newer, bigger bed inside, with a colorful duvet, and she had hung up new flowery curtains, and there was a can of pink paint sitting at her feet. I think she was turning it into a spare bedroom... a guest bedroom.. for you."

A few fresh tears spilled down Pinkie's cheeks. Her parents never did anything that involved bright colors; sometimes she wondered how they felt about having a pink-coated daughter. There were times when she was younger, when she wondered if she had been adopted, but she had too many similar features to her parents and sisters.

"She really misses you; Pa too. We all do. Blinkie and I feel bad that we never go into Ponyville as often as we should, to visit..." Inkie dropped her head in shame. Pinkie stopped walking and put her hoof on her shoulder.

"No, it's ok; you guys are busy with the farm and your new mining business. It's ok, I understand. It's not like I ever come back here and visit... When all of this is over, we'll have a big reunion. And we'll make sure we see each other a lot more afterwards," Pinkie said.

"You really think things are going to end up ok?" Inkie asked, biting her lip. Pinkie nodded.

"Oh yeah. My friend Twilight is the smartest pony around. She got herself and all of us out of the pods. She's definitely going to find a way to save Equestria and we're all going to help," Pinkie said.

"Including us?" Inkie asked.

"Absolutely."

Suddenly a bright set of lights came on over head. Pinkie squinted her eyes for a second, and then climbed down the last few stairs, Inkie behind her. Blinkie was already at the bottom beside the switch. She swept her hoof around, gesturing to the room.

The cellar had been expanded since Pinkie had least been there. She recalled only ever having to go down to the cellar once in her life; her parents always deemed it too dangerous for her and her sisters, since it was extremely old and falling apart. Now it looked brand new.

Various grenades, bombs, and other explosives lined the walls. There were some that seemed almost as though they were on display, but most were packed in boxes.

"Wow; Blinkie, did you make all of these?" Pinkie asked. Blinkie beamed and nodded. "What are the walls made out of?"

The walls seemed almost shimmery. They were different than the old dirt and rock that had been the cellar's walls before.

"That was my part in it," Inkie said, stepping forward. She went up to a wall and knocked it with her hoof. "It's made from a material of blended rocks, that molded together become like a hard shield. We did a few tests, and while it's not completely indestructible, it'll hold up to ten full blown blasts and still protect the house before the cellar starts to crack."

"That's amazing," Pinkie said.

"Thanks. It took some work, but we figured it out," Inkie said. Blinkie clip-clopped a complicated pattern of noises. Inkie nodded.

"We should start packing if we want to get to Ponyville ASAP. We should have some spare saddlebags down here we can use," Inkie said. She moved to the other side of the room where there were some other various supplies kept in a corner.

"So, what's this hoof-sign-language you use Blinkie? Did you come up with it yourself?" Pinkie asked. Blinkie shook her head. She clip-clopped something.

"She says I should explain it. She didn't come up with it completely on her own. There's a deaf pony, TeaLeaf, in the next town over, who Ma likes to have tea with every now and then. TeaLeaf uses various foot movements, leg movements, head movements and expressions as a body language. Ma can understand most of it. Once Blinkie had her accident, Ma took her to meet TeaLeaf and get her to learn the language. But since Blinkie can still hear, she decided to modify the language so it was based off of hoof sounds, so that we didn't have to be watching her intently in order to have a conversation. Plus, this way if she's in another room, she can yell something across the house and we can respond. So in a sense she turned it into her own language. She knows the proper body language as well, and Ma prefers that she use that instead, but Pa, Blinkie and I like the sound one better. It's faster and easier," Inkie explained.

"That's so cool, given the circumstances. Was it hard to come up with?" Pinkie asked. Blinkie shook her head. She stomped out another message. Inkie laughed.

"You're being modest Blink," Inkie said. She handed Pinkie and Blinkie a set of bags.

"I'd like to learn it one day," Pinkie said as she took her bag. "I'd like to be able to talk to both sisters."

Blinkie put her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder in thanks. She smiled at her. Pinkie smiled back. Blinkie then turned to Inkie and stomped out a long message. Inkie nodded.

"Blinkie says she'll pack most of the explosives and put a few in our bags too. She knows what's best. She says you and I should go get other supplies that we might need," Inkie said.

"What if the grenades go off in our bags?" Pinkie asked, watching as Blinkie began to stuff as many as she could in her bag. Blinkie looked at Inkie.

"Blinkie's made the grenades herself. She's made them in a way that they can't explode unless the pin is pulled, a button is pressed, and the top is turned. It sounds like it'd be a lot to do in a short time if you were being attacked, but it's actually really easy to do. And it's hard to do all those things, in the right sequence, by accident. But, since weird things can happen, if one is set, it will vibrate and beep. Then you have ten seconds to throw it. It'll light up too, so you know which one it is if you have a group of them," Inkie explained.

Pinkie stood there and stared at her sisters.

"Since when did my sisters get to be so smart? Even Twilight will be impressed with you guys," Pinkie said. Inkie laughed and blushed. "So what other supplies should we pack? I'm used to packing balloons and stuff..."

"Well, we should get some food and water. We don't have any fresh food left, but we have tons of dried—you remember Pa's hobby. We have a few small canteens of water left that we can take. Just grab whatever else you think might be useful around the house. Let Blinkie give you a few explosives, and then you can go gather around the house. How about we meet back in the bedroom in ten minutes?"

Pinkie and Blinkie nodded. Blinkie packed a few bombs and grenades in Pinkie's bags. Pinkie then went back upstairs. She tried to avoid the kitchen.

There wasn't a whole lot to find in the house. She found a few various lengths of rope in a closet, a blanket and a flashlight. When she went upstairs, she couldn't stop herself from checking out her old room. Just as Inkie had said, there were neat flower curtains—made my her mother she was sure—hanging on the window. The three small beds that had once been in there were gone, and instead there was one big one, with a light pink and yellow duvet. An unopened can of pink paint and a brush sat in the corner.

When we finish all this, and I get you out of the cocoon, I'm going to paint with you Ma.

Pinkie quietly left the room. She grabbed a few bandages from the bathroom before heading back downstairs.

Blinkie and Inkie were back in their room. Inkie was packing some food and water into Blinkie's over-stuffed bag. Blinkie had only explosives in her bag. Inkie had grabbed some of the same stuff as Pinkie, a blanket, some rope, a flashlight. Both ponies had pickaxes strapped to one side of their bags as well, and had hardhats on.

Inkie walked over and put water and food into Pinkie's bags.

"Oh good, bandages. Good thinking," she said.

"What's with the hats?" Pinkie asked, just as Inkie strapped one to her head. It was struggling to contain her pink curls.

"Blinkie suggested that we travel underground, which I think is good. I don't see why there would be changelings down there. We can travel via tunnel to Ponyville. The hats are for good measure. Safety first," Inkie said. "We don't have a spare pickaxe though."

"That's ok. I'll be the nurse," Pinkie said.

"Awesome. Ok, everyone ready? Let's go."

Inkie and Blinkie pried down the boards they had used on the door leading from their bedroom to the outside. Inkie poked her head outside first and slowly stepped out. After a few silent minutes, she waved the other two to follow.

"The helmets have lights built in them, so once we're down there, we'll be able to see. Though it looks like daylight is starting to break; I wonder where the sun is," Inkie said, scanning the sky as they walked towards the old well opening that led into the caves.

"Without Princess Celestia, the sun won't rise," Pinkie said.

"I hope the princess is ok," Inkie said.

"She has to be; she's Princess Celestia!" Pinkie replied.

Blinkie suddenly put her hoof up and stopped them. She tilted her head forwards a bit, towards the direction of the opening. They were only a few feet away. She stomped something quietly.

"Blinkie's right; do you hear something?" Inkie whispered. They all paused for a second. "Someone's calling for help!"

The three ran towards the opening, which the sisters had marked with reflective markers so nopony would accidentally fall in. The screams got louder as they approached the hole.

"Please! Please help!" someone screamed. Inkie looked down the hole.

"Hold on a second! We'll get you out!" Inkie turned towards Pinkie, "Quick! Your rope!"

"That voice sounds familiar!" Pinkie said, as she pulled the rope out of her bag. She poked her head down the hole.

Pinkie couldn't believe her eyes. There, timidly standing on a pile on unstable boxes, was Rarity. She looked terrible. And worse—she was being attacked by changelings. And was that a Diamond Dog?

"Ohmygosh, Rarity! Quick, grab onto this!" Pinkie threw the end of the rope at Rarity. Rarity grabbed on and Pinkie began to pull.

Just as Rarity was almost out of the hole, a changeling grabbed onto her leg. Rarity screamed as it bit in, and began to drag her back. Pinkie began to slip towards the hole as it pulled Rarity in further.

"Inkie! Grab the rope and help me!" Pinkie shouted. Inkie grabbed on as well, and they began to pull Rarity and the changeling back up. Unbelievably, a second changeling came and chomped on Rarity's other hind leg. She let out a painful scream her face covered in tears.

The three ponies began to slide back towards the hole. Blinkie huffed and dug into the ground, getting ready to charge. She charged towards the hole and swiftly kicked both changelings off of Rarity. Rarity flew out of the hole.

"Ohmygosh Rarity! Are you ok?" Pinkie asked.

"Of... course not.." Rarity winced. She had a dusty, jagged bag on her back. She was beat up badly and bleeding in several places.

"We can't travel with her like this," Pinkie said, taking charge. "Quick, back to the house!"

Blinkie picked out a grenade, took one last look at the changeling scum and threw it into the hole, while Inkie and Pinkie Pie carried Rarity as fast as they could back to the house.