"The mail's here, Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake cried from the kitchen, where she was working on a special cake deemed 'unsafe for Pinkie's hooves.'
"I'll get it!" Pinkie Pie replied, flying from her room upstairs to the main floor.
She stepped outside and blinked as light swarmed her senses. After combatting the rays, she hopped over to the mailbox, where she yanked it open and peered inside.
"We got a lot of mail this week!" she chirped, grabbing it and placing it in her teeth. "I wonder if Rainbow Dash finally wrote back from the Wonderbolt tour, or if Twilight sent a scroll from Saddle Arabia, or Fluttershy from that place with all the animals, or Rarity from Marelan, or Applejack from Appleloosa! It'll be so fun to-"
She smacked face first into the door, forgetting that it needed to be opened. She giggled madly and dropped the letters.
"Oh, I ran into the door!" she exclaimed in hysteria; inside, Mrs. Cake heard the commotion and rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'm a unicorn who can magically open it! Or am I?"
She felt around her mane for a second, trying to see if any magic-creating protuberance had appeared. It hadn't.
"Oh, then never mind."
She scooped up the letters, opened the door, and walked back inside. She dropped the mail onto the table and started sifting through it, looking for anything with a familiar name.
"Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake, Mr. and Mrs. Cake," she said, placing each of the letters in a neat pile. "Mrs. Cake, Mrs. Cake, Mr. Cake... ah-ha!"
She snatched a letter addressed to herself. She giggled and ran upstairs to her room, where she opened it and pulled it out. She stared for a second at the curvy writing, and she pursed her lips.
"This doesn't look any of my friend's writing," she said. She started reading.
Dear Pinkie Pie,
Come and visit us. We've been getting lonely without you. It burns us up.
Love, your loving family.
"My- my family?" she whispered, a small tear forming in her eye, bringing back bad memories that she would rather forget.
"Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake called from downstairs.
The pink pony put the letter down and rushed downstairs, where Mrs. Cake was standing, icing covering her body and apron, and a look of joy on her face.
"We've just finished the cake, and we're going to take it to where it needs to go!" the mare said with a grin. "I need you to stay safe and look after Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake while we're gone."
Pinkie smiled.
"Good luck at the competition!" she said happily. "And, I got a strange letter today."
"We can deal with it when we get back, Pinkie," Mr. Cake said, emerging from the kitchen, cake in a wagon. "Don't do anything you're not supposed to! We left a list on the table saying what you can and cannot do. And since I can never seem to stress this one enough: NO PARTIES!"
"Oh," Pinkie said, sighing. "Well, I hope you do well and have fun!"
"Bye, Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake said with a hug. "Be safe!"
The couple left, leaving Pinkie to stand in the room. She took a quick look at the paper of 'things she could not do' and silently saluted it.
Hopping back up to her room, she grabbed the letter once more and stared at it, trying to distinguish anything from it other than the obvious 'visit us.'
"How could they send me a letter?" she said, flipping it over and trying to see if there was any other writing. "After what happened, they should never send a letter."
She clutched her head and sobbed.
"They can't send me letters!" she cried, her voice cracking. "They can't!"
There was a clang from downstairs, and Pinkie gasped.
"Pumpkin and Pound Cake!" she said, jumping up in a blur.
She raced down the stairs and found that Pumpkin Cake had knocked a pan from the oven to the floor, where she proceed to bite on it and laugh.
"No, no," Pinkie said, slowly removing the object from the foal with a light smile. "Don't do that, Pumpkin."
The baby stared at her with big, watery eyes, and Pinkie braced herself for the crying. There was a small giggle. She sighed in relief as Pumpkin Cake quickly forgot about the pan and stared moving around across the floor, sputtering nonsense and laughing constantly.
Pinkie heard a knock at the door, and she left the foal for a second and opened it. All that was there was a single envelope, made of a yellowing parchment and looking very brittle. It was sealed with a small dot of wax, which looked as hard as a rock.
Pinkie carefully picked up the envelope and gasped as dust sprayed into the air. She coughed and dropped the letter. After recovering from the dusty attack, she carefully flipped the letter over, revealing her name to be ornately written on the front.
"Another letter?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "Hm..."
She picked it up and carried it inside, where she set it on the table. She looked into the kitchen and saw Pound Cake gnawing the handle for one of the drawers. She went over and lightly pushed him away.
"Now, Pound Cake," she said, trying to be as motherly as possible. "Don't teeth on things you're not supposed to."
The foal began to tear up, and Pinkie ran back to the list of things 'she was not supposed to do' and checked over it, trying to see what things she could not do to cheer up the babies.
"Okay, so no using anything from the kitchen," she read. "Or anywhere in the house except from their bedroom."
Pinkie sighed.
"I just used flour that one time!" she cried.
The party pony hopped into the foal's bedroom and grabbed a rubber chicken. She took it out to the kitchen, where Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake were now sitting across from each other, laughing, and placed it between them.
They stared at the object for a moment, then lunged at it. They began to tug and gnaw at it, leaving Pinkie to watch with a smile. She turned and saw that the letter was still unopened on the table. She went to it and looked at the wax seal.
"I wonder who sent it?" she said as she pried at the hard wax with a hoof, trying to ply it away from the parchment. However, it remained stuck, not budging an inch. "Stupid. Wax."
She grabbed it in her teeth and pulled, trying to yank it off. She felt her jaw slip, and she flew back from the paper onto the floor.
Suddenly, there was a hiss, the sound of a burning fuse. Pinkie clambered up and watched in awe as the wax caught fire and burned away, leaving no trace on the envelope.
"Whoa," she said, eyes wide. "I guess I was wrong this morning! I really must be a secret unicorn!"
She ran her hooves through her hair, trying to find some kind of horn again.
"Oh," she said dejected as she found nothing. "I was wrong again. But what did do that?"
She looked at the paper, and she pulled out the letter inside. She unfolded it and saw that it was in the same handwriting as the letter she had received this morning.
Dear Pinkie Pie,
Please come and visit. We need to see you once more. It hurts to know that we haven't seen you in so long. Please visit.
Love, your family.
Pinkie screamed.
"NO!" she yelled. "THEY SHOULDN'T BE SENDING LETTERS! IT'S NOT RIGHT!"
A tear rolled down her cheek, and she ripped the letter in half, trying to calm her nerves. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake were staring at her, drooling.
Pinkie sniffled and set the halves down, taking shuddering breaths. Her eyes were beginning to feel dry as she fell to the ground.
"How can they send me letters?" she asked, wishing for an answer from the air around her.
The two foals returned to their playing, giggling madly while Pinkie sobbed.
Hopeless longing. That was all Pinkie could feel as her heart pounded and her hearing was filled with the steady drumbeat. She stared off into space, her usual smile locked in a war with a frown.
Her mind was thinking of a certain time, one that had brought her here to Ponyville and left her with the Cakes. There was a flash of orange, screams and cries, pain and sadness and tears, and a lone set of stones on a small hill, duly reflecting a setting sun.
There was a long trek through the dark, an experience where her cutie mark amounted to nothing and was as useless as a pile of sticks extinguishing a wildfire. A town had appeared, and she found a single shop with the lights on in that early morning, and she knocked.
- - - - - -
Knock, knock.
Mrs. Cake looked up from the table where she was sitting with her husband, chatting into the night and onto the sunrise.
“Who could that be?” Mr. Cake asked. “It’s barely even time for half the townsponies to wake up.”
Mrs. Cake stood, went to the door, and opened it. Outside stood a trembling pink filly, eyes full of terror, mane and coat frazzled and torn, tree sap and dead bugs glued to them.
“Uh, how may I help you?” Mrs. Cake asked, furrowing her eyebrows and examining the foal in interest.
“H-hello,” the small filly said, voice full of fear. Her eyes were wide and her legs shook. “I-I want to h-have a p-place t-to stay. D-do you have anywhere?”
Mrs. Cake blinked a few times, trying to process her thoughts.
“G-give me a moment,” she said, turning back into the building.
She approached her husband, who was still sitting at the table, watching with mild interest and complete confusion.
“Dear, I-I am not sure what to do at this point,” the mare stated, trying to come to grasps about a young, terrified filly appearing on their doorstep looking for a place to stay. “This filly wants a place to stay, and I don’t know if I want to offer it to her. I can hardly stand to see a child looking so sad and alone, but I’m not sure if I can trust her either. She could only be here to take advantage of us. You know that there are little foals like that.”
She stole a quick glance back at the pink filly, whose eyes had gotten a small spark.
“I think we should let her in,” Mr. Cake said. “We can’t leave anypony outside in the night looking like that.”
Mrs. Cake nodded her head and trotted back to the foal, who lifted her head to gaze into the mare’s eyes.
“You can come in,” she said, waving a hoof as she led the small pony in. “I will show you where you can sleep.”
She led the pink filly upstairs to the attic, where a single mattress rested on the dusty floor.
“I’ll get you some blankets,” Mrs. Cake said, leaving the pony to stare at the room for a few wide-eyed moments. The blue mare returned, a couple blankets thrown across her back. “Here you go!”
She dropped the fluffy objects onto the mattress. She started to go down the stairs again when she stopped.
“Ah, yes!” she said. “What is your name? I’d hate to know you as that ‘pink filly.’”
“I-I’m Pinkie Pie,” the pony said, slightly smiling. “And, um, t-thank you for letting me stay here. I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but I hope I’m not a b-burd-bur-”
“Burden, dear,” Mrs. Cake said with a chuckle.
“That’s it!” Pinkie Pie said with a beam.
Mrs. Cake went down the stairs to her husband.
“So, how is she?” Mr. Cake asked.
“She seems nice,” Mrs. Cake replied. “Her name’s Pinkie Pie, so I don’t see how anything could go wrong. We’ll ask her about herself in the morning.”
- - - - -
Knock, knock.
Pinkie jumped out of her memories and shook her head. She stood and walked over, attempting to revive her smile. She opened the door.
“Twilight!” she said, a smile now genuinely forming on her lips. “I’m so glad to see you!”
The unicorn giggled as Pinkie grabbed her in a hug. However, the hug soon escalated a bit further than necessary as Pinkie tightened her grip, making Twilight struggle for breath.
“Pinkie... can’t... breath...” she said breathlessly. “I... do... not... have... iron... lungs...”
“Oh, sorry!” Pinkie said, releasing her friend.
“Ow,” Twilight muttered as she rubbed her ribs. “Why did you do that? You haven’t tried to hug me like that since the ‘Hug Party’ you had a few months ago.”
“It’s just that I’m so happy to see you!” the pink pony said, hopping jovially.
“Uh, okay,” the lavender mare said. “Could you just not do that to me again?”
“Oki-doki-loki!” Pinkie said with a laugh. “SO, why are you here?”
“I’m in the mood for a treat!” Twilight said, looking at the counter, where behind a layer of glass, there were an assortment of baked goods.
Pinkie went up behind the counter and cleared her throat.
“How may I help you ma’am?” she asked in the deepest, most manliest voice she could muster.
Twilight was silent for a moment, and then she started to laugh uncontrollably.
“That was great!” she chuckled.
“I know!” Pinkie said with a snort. “But in all seriousness, what do you want?”
Twilight mulled over the sweets until a particular slice of cake caught her attention. She pointed to it and levitated a few bits from her saddlebag.
Pinkie carefully took out the cake and placed it on the counter. Twilight dropped the bits on the glass.
“You’re my friend!” the party pony exclaimed. “You don’t have to pay!”
“Pinkie,” Twilight said. “It’s a kind offer, but I’m here to get a treat, not steal from the Cakes.”
“Alright,” the Pinkie said as Twilight took a seat.
“Hm... what’s this?” the unicorn asked as she saw the letter that Pinkie had been reading.
“A letter,” Pinkie said, picking it up. “A personal one.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Twilight said. She took a bite and nodded in approval. “That’s some good cake!”
“Glad you think so!” Pinkie replied. “It’s a new kind I’m trying out! If you like it, then I’m sure everypony else will.”
“Pinkie, I’m not the world cake authority,” Twilight said with a smirk. “I don’t exactly have high cake standards. Cake is cake, and cake is good.”
Pinkie snorted, “Of course! I should get Rarity to try it! Rarity’s pretty picky about her sweets!”
Twilight smiled.
“It was nice talking, Pinkie!” she said, standing. “But I have to go back to the library. I left Spike in charge while I was gone, and I honestly don’t think I should’ve done that.”
“Oh, um, Twilight...” Pinkie said, grabbing her friend’s shoulder. “I may be gone in a few days for something. Just thought you’d need to know.”
“That’s alright,” the lavender pony replied. “Should I let Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy know?”
“Sure,” the party pony said. “Have fun back at the library!”
Twilight smiled and waved as she walked out the door. Pinkie sighed and ran upstairs to her room. She opened up the closet and pulled down a saddlebag, which she tossed on the bed. She stared at it for a few long seconds and grit her teeth.
“I need to let Mr. and Mrs. Cake know before I leave,” she whispered. “I need to.”
She dropped down onto her bed, her eyes becoming watery. Her legs were beginning to feel like lead as her eyes drooped down. She fell asleep, and dreams took her.
- - - - - -
“Damn cobwebs,” Dad said, hoisting up the torch to burn them away. “Come on, Pinkie!”
Pinkie followed and watched in a dazed sort of fear as her father flamed away wave after wave of cobwebs.
“What’s back here?” she asked.
“Our old grain storage,” he replied, ducking under a low hanging beam. “According to a Pie family legend, there’s a treasure under here. Something older than time. But, I figured older than time means quite a lot of money.”
“We could leave the rock farm if we got it?” Pinkie asked happily.
“Most definitely,” her father said, turning back to her. “I know it seems like I never wanted to leave, but I just couldn’t make it any harder on you. You already wanted to leave so much, retained your color far past what we expected, and earned a cutie mark in something I never could’ve imagined. If I had acted as though I wanted to leave, you would try too hard to make that dream come true.”
“Really?” Pinkie replied. “That... thank you.”
Pinkie hugged him, and he laughed.
“But if we don’t find, or it’s not real, promise me you won’t try and get us away from the rock farm?” he said.
LETTERS - CHAPTER THREE: DREAMING OF A BETTER TOMORROW
The Cakes returned late that night, bring along with them a second place ribbon, over which the couple were fighting.
Pinkie heard the squabble and woke from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
“Pinkie!” Mrs. Cake called from downstairs.
“Coming!” she replied, getting up and rushing down the stairs.
When she arrived, Mrs. Cake came up to her and looked down menacingly.
“Tell me that it is my husband’s fault that we made second place,” she said, pointing an accusing hoof.
“I could,” Pinkie gulped. “But you did bake most of the cake. I am in no position to judge you or Mr. Cake.”
Mrs. Cake opened her mouth, but clearly thought better.
“Pinkie, you said you got a letter?” Mr. Cake said, placing down the ribbon. “We promised to take a look when we got back.”
“Oh, yes,” the pink pony replied, grabbing it from where she had left it and giving it to him. “It’s from... well, you’ll see.”
Mr. Cake started reading, and his eyes widened. He handed to his wife, who developed the same expression.
“How- how-,” Mrs. Cake stammered helplessly. “But, you told us what happened! They wouldn’t send you a letter now!”
Pinkie nodded and took a deep breath.
“I want to go see them,” she said. “There has to be a reason for the letters.”
“I think it would be about time you went to see them,” Mr. Cake said. “You haven’t gone in years.”
“I was waiting for you to get home to go,” she said. “I’ve got out a saddlebag and I’m ready to pack.”
“When do you plan on leaving?” Mr. Cake asked. “It seems a bit sudden if you left right now.”
“No,” Pinkie replied. “I want to leave sometime tomorrow. As soon as I can.”
Mrs. Cake sighed and sat down, pressing a hoof to her head.
“We can’t let you go alone,” she said, shaking her head. “Not back to that.”
“It’s my family,” Pinkie replied. “You guys and I are the only ones who know what happened, and I don’t know if I want to tell my friends.”
“Why not?” Mr. Cake asked from the side of the room. “They’re your friends. I’d think they deserve to know.”
“But if I did, they’d try to help me or do something to fix it, and then they could get hurt,” Pinkie Pie said, turning around and sighing. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if my friends got hurt!”
Mrs. Cake shook her head forcefully, “Hurt over what? Fix what? Your friends can’t fix everything, and I’m sure you know that! There are limits to what they can do, even with their Elements! They can’t fix your family’s hearts.”
“But they would try,” Pinkie shuddered, sitting down and looking up. “They’d do all they could to help me, and I don’t want them to waste their time just for me.”
“Look, Pinkie, just go and tell them,” Mr. Cake said, coming up beside her and patting her shoulder. “You’re about to go and visit them, so why don’t you bring them with you?”
“They don’t need to see my family.”
Mr. Cake tussled Pinkie’s mane and stepped away, “We’ll leave the choice to you. We can’t make you do anything, but you can if you want.”
“You should sleep on it,” Mrs. Cake said, rubbing the pink pony’s shoulder caringly. “You can decide tomorrow before you go.”
Pinkie nodded and sighed. She went upstairs and went back into her room. She hopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. Sleep did not want to come no matter how hard she tried.
“Maybe I should think,” she said aloud, raising her head to look across the room. “Mrs. Cake is right. They can’t do anything about it. My family isn’t going to be fixed by them or any Elements.”
The dark was comforting for her. It was hugging her better than any hug, freeing her mind to think more clearly.
“It makes sense that my friends should know,” she whispered, turning onto her side and staring at the window. “I don’t know why I’ve been so afraid of it all...”
- - - - - -
“Dad, what’s wrong?” Pinkie asked as her father approached a large pit in the center of the room.
“You’re going to take it from me...” he whispered, his eyes darting around frantically. “You’re going to steal the treasure from me! That’s why you followed me!”
“I followed you because you asked!”
“Lies! You only want the treasure!”
The torch hit the ground, which was dry wood covered in cobwebs.
“I don’t want the treasure!” Pinkie yelled, backing up. Her father grabbed her foreleg and held it tightly. “Dad, what are you doing?!”
Her eyes filled with tears as he pushed her towards the pit.
“You won’t steal it from me!” he yelled, Pinkie’s hindleg slipping over the edge. “I won’t let you!”
- - - - - -
Pinkie’s eyes snapped open in the dark, and her breathing was ragged and wheezy. She shuddered and tried to clear the dream from her mind. The sun was shifting in through the window, illuminating the room in a faint glow.
She climbed from bed and went over to her mirror, where she looked at her disheveled hair and face.
She brushed out her hair and forced a smile on her face. She hopped up and down a few times to try and get some of the lethargy out of her limbs.
“I’m going to tell my friends,” she said, steeling her gaze at herself. “They are going to know, and they are coming with me.”
Pinkie hopped down the stairs and saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake sitting around the table talking.
“Good morning!” the party pony chirped as enthusiastically as possible.
“Oh, you look much better today, Pinkie!” Mrs. Cake said, smiling brightly.
“Because now I know what I want to do!” she lied, hopping to the door. “I’m going to tell my friends, and then I’ll go with them to my house.”
Pinkie hopped out the door and started going down the street. Smiles and waves were thrown her way, and she returned each as though nothing was wrong.
- - - - - -
It took about twenty minutes, but she eventually got all of her friends gathered in Twilight’s library, where they gathered around her with concerned looks.
“I have something really important to tell you guys,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It’s about my family.”
“Like how they lived on a rock farm and you saw my rainbow across the sky and yada-yada-yada you got your cutie mark and Equestria was made?” Rainbow quipped.
“No,” Pinkie replied, frowning. “It’s a bit less happy and cheerful.”
- - - - - -
“So, you want us to go with you?” Twilight asked, her face full of sadness. “I don’t know how I feel about you going back, despite the letters.”
“Please!” Pinkie said. “I need to go back!”
“It’s way too dangerous, Pinkie!’ Rainbow Dash said. “No way are we letting you go there, even with us!”
“For once I’m with Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, putting her hoof on her chest. “Sounds far too nasty and horrible.”
“I think it’s too scary,” Fluttershy whispered, cowering.
“I was thinkin’ the same thing, sugarcube,” Applejack said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “We can’t go to that.”
“But I need to find out if they’ve changed!” Pinke yelled, tears running down her face. “Despite everything, they’re my family, and I need them! I still love them regardless of everything, and if they really want me back, then I need to go! I don’t want to be without them anymore!”
Everypony was quiet for a while as Pinkie pressed her head into her hooves and cried.
“If that’s how you feel, sugarcube, than I guess we can go,” Applejack said, hugging her.
All of them gathered around and wrapped their arms in an embrace. It was more comforting than the darkness the night before.
“Thanks, girls,” Pinkie said, closing her eyes and enveloping the warmth.
- - - - - -
“Once there was a filly who thought she could steal my treasure.”
“Dad, stop!”
“Pushed down into a pit to be forgotten forever.”
The blade was pressing into her skin, and the pain was more emotional than physical.
“But she refused to be forgotten, even down here in the dark.”
The blade went all the way through her chest, and blood ran down her body.
“So I took this blade of dear omittance, and stabbed it through her heart.”
How cold it was. That was all the six could think as the night fell upon the forest. Their breath frosted out in front of them, getting less visible as the sun set and what little light remained was taken with it. The world frosted in front of them in a slow wave, the trees collecting an icy layer across their leaves, glittering lightly.
Pinkie looked at her friends and sighed, no thoughts crossing her mind other than the impending encounters. They were peering into the dark, wondering whether they should continue for a while longer or stop here.
“What do you think, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.
Pinkie was snapped out of her trance and she shook her head, “Here is good for now. It’s getting cold, so going any further could be bad.”
“Pinkie, you don’t sound quite normal,” Rainbow Dash said, coming up to her while the others began setting up camp. “Is everything alright?”
Pinkie looked at Dash with pleading eyes.
“I’m so scared, Dashie,” she whispered. “I know that we’re going into something horrible, and that there’s a lot that could go wrong.”
“Not with your friends around,” Dash said. “We’re here to help you kick flank anytime you need us. If now is a time, then we’re there.”
“Thanks,” Pinkie said, turning away. Dash’s words had helped, but it still felt like something was going to go wrong.
Her suspicions became reality when Fluttershy screamed. Pinkie turned and saw her being dragged into the bushes, hooves flailing helplessly in the dirt, tears streaming down her face. They all ran towards her and grabbed her hooves.
Rainbow Dash flew into the bushes and tried to find the source of what was pulling Fluttershy.
“There’s nothing!” she exclaimed, flying back to help the others.
“My leg!” Fluttershy screamed, trying to gasp in air. “It’s cutting my leg!”
Suddenly Twilight flipped on her side and let out a puff of surprised air.
“Twilight!” Applejack and Rarity yelled, now trying to keep hold of two ponies being dragged by an invisible force.
In an almost instantaneous moment, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity fell and began getting pulled away as well. Pinkie tried to keep a hold on all of them, but they soon were taken into the bushes until she only held onto Applejack, who had lost her hat and scars marked her face from the branches on the forest floor.
“Don’t let go!” she yelled, her hoof squeezing Pinkie’s in an impossibly strong grip.
The world spun as Pinkie was tripped up by something, and her grip dropped.
“Applejack!” she yelled as her remaining friend was lost in the bushes and the screaming went silent.
Pinkie was alone in the dark, the camp only half set up and the cold night approaching.
“What’s happening?” she asked herself, stumbling as far away from the trees as possible. She stepped near the tent and began to put the rest up, never taking her eyes from the trees. She needed somewhere to hide, anywhere but out in the open.
The pole for pinning the tent down fell, and she groped frantically for the object. She turned her head for a moment to grab it, but as soon as she did, a needle sharp point pricked her hindleg, and she turned... or tried to. A grip wrapped around her head and kept it still as the sharp sensation drew tracks into her fur and skin.
Warm blood trickled down her leg, and she gulped as the point went away and the grasp around her head disappeared. She looked at the marking the thing had made, and saw a single letter, “B.” Blood ran from the bottoms of each line, marring the wound but still leaving it legible.
“What is this?” Pinkie asked herself as she heard rustling and scraping from the undergrowth. “What’s going on?”
Suddenly five things burst out, landing in heaps of colored fur and red splotches.
“Girls!” the pink pony shouted, running to them. They moaned and opened their eyes.
“Pinkie?” Twilight asked, her voice slurred. “What happened?”
“I don’t know!” Pinkie said, checking her friends to see if they were all right. She found each one had blood on their hindlegs on the same place where she did. “Stand up!”
“What, why?” Applejack mumbled, pushing herself up anyways.
“I need to see your legs!” Pinkie replied, helping the rest of her friends up.
“Now’s not the time for this, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said as Pinkie lifted her up.
When Pinkie had finished, she took long looks at each of their legs.
“G, E, O, E, N,” she read off, trying to understand it.
“What are you reading, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.
“Your legs,” Pinkie replied, squinting. “They’ve got letters in them just like me. I’ve got a B, Applejack has a G, Fluttershy has an E, Rainbow Dash an O, you an E, and Rarity an N.”
“Is it an acronym?” Twilight asked. “Or maybe an anagram.”
“Whatever it is, it’s abhorrent and terrifying,” Rarity said, stomping her hoof. “I think we shouldn’t even bother. I think leaving now would be the best plan.”
“But after what Pinkie told us about, shouldn’t we be all fired up to help her?” Fluttershy said meekly, her body pressed close to the ground. “Besides, we’re the Elements of Harmony, it’s not like we can’t handle it.”
Applejack stepped forward, “Fluttershy’s right. We can’t give up over one thing. We beat Discord and Nightmare Moon and so many other things. We can beat this.”
“I agree,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I don’t understand why Fluttershy had to tell us that, but we can do it. We’re the saviors of Equestria. We’re awesome. Now let’s set up camp before things get bad again.”
They set up the tent and darted inside. Twilight stayed outside to put up protective spells around the tent. When she came back in, her friends still were huddled close together and shivering.
“Girls, I put up spells,” Twilight told them, lying down on the ground. “We’ll be safe.”
“But what if they fail?” Rarity asked apprehensively.
“They won’t,” Fluttershy said, turning to her friends. “I’m scared as well, but we should trust Twilight’s ability to protect us.”
Rainbow Dash laughed, “Here’s Fluttershy giving us the pep talk again.”
They all giggled, and eventually settled down and went to sleep.
- - - - - -
“Why won’t you die?!”
All she could see was red and felt hole all across her body, screaming pain and blood onto her.
“You should be dead!”
She coughed and blood splattered down her muzzle. It dripped onto her chest, where it ran into a wound, causing it to sting from the spit mixed with it.
The knife plunged into her stomach, and more pain erupted from the wound, causing her to moan loudly. There was no more screaming from her throat, already torn raw from previous screaming, but also strangled with blood.
Every breath was an inferno, consuming her every fiber, but yet she remained completely conscious, unable to pass out or die.
“Why won’t you die?!! Begone! BEGONE!”
- - - - - -
Pinkie’s eyes snapped open and she jumped up, “I know what the letters are!”
Her friends darted up and screamed.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her eyes in a frenzy. “Don’t do that!”
“But I know what the letters are!” the pink pony replied, lining her friends up, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight. She placed herself in front of the line.
Fluttershy stared at her letter in confusion, almost as if she was wondering where it came from.
“It spells, ‘BEGONE,’” Pinkie said. “That’s what it wants us to do.”
There was only cold silence for a moment as the group digested the word. It was a simple word, the meaning clear as mountain stream water, but it was sinking into them like a lava flow, dripping and slow. There were shuddering breaths as Pinkie began to pace nervously, biting her lower lip in an attempt to remain calm.
“I don’t know what we should do now,” Twilight said quietly, stepping to the edge of the tent and pushing her head out to see if there was anything. “It wants us to go, and I’m very inclined to follow its warning.”
“Where did the letters come from?” Fluttershy asked, shaking violently. “I don’t remember when it happened!”
Rainbow Dash turned to her quizzically, “But you talked last night! You were there after you got the letter! You’ve given us multiple mini-speeches to push us on to help Pinkie!”
“What?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes widening. “I never did that! I walked into the forest with you, and suddenly there were letters and a tent and ‘begone!’”
She was whimpering now, her breathing becoming erratic and irregular. Her eyes brimmed with tears and her knees were slowly buckling beneath her.
“How could you forget everything that happened?” Rarity asked, taking concerned looks around the tent.
“Shock?” Twilight asked. “But it doesn’t make much sense.”
“Something is happening,” Pinkie said, sounded only mildly concerned about Fluttershy’s amnesia and more focused on something else. “It probably has to do with me.”
“This is not worth it,” Rarity said, shaking her head slowly. “Why do we have to go here anyway? It’s not like anything will happen if we don’t.”
“I think something will,” Pinkie said, kicking at the dirt lethargically. “I have a feeling that if we don’t go we’ll be forced to. And I don’t want to see if it does happen.”
“Pinkie, you’ve gotten so down lately,” Rainbow Dash said, sighing. “Why should we be doing this if it does this too you? If you are getting this depressed, than we are never gonna make it!”
Pinkie stamped her hoof down and glared at her friends, “We are going to get through this, no matter what! We are the Elements of Harmony! Girls, we have the power to do this!”
There was a moment of silence as they stood in silent understanding the way that best friends do. They all nodded, only spurred on by Pinkie’s words. All of their emotions were in turmoil, only being held in check by each other’s reassurance.
Twilight folded the tent up a few minutes later, and the group stood in a protective circle, watching the dim forest, checking every shadow and crevice.
“Let’s go,” Twilight said, shaking to fix some messed up fur. “The longer we stay, the worse it’s going to get for all of us.”
They all agreed with a simple nod, and they started walking again. Pinkie stayed at the back, looking at the ground beneath her.
- - - - - -
“You refuse to die. Why?”
She backed away, blood pouring from dozens of wounds across her body. Her hooves were torn apart, causing every push back to be agony. Her right foreleg was almost torn off, hanging by a few muscles and parts of the bone.
“I WANT YOU DEAD! WHY DO YOU NOT DIE?!”
The knife plunged into her mouth and went through the back of her throat. She was choking, slowly drowning, but yet not dying. The burning in her lungs was unbearable, but there was nothing she could do. She could only suffer.
“PLEASE! DIE!”
Tears were streaming down her face, as well as her assailant’s, and they both sobbed in their opposing roles of the situation.
“ALL I WANT IS FOR IT TO BE OVER! ALL I HAVE TO DO IS KILL YOU!”
She already saw what the point of her immortality was. As long as she remained alive, it tormented him, and as long as she was alive, she would be beaten and stabbed. It was hell for the both of them, an inescapable prison made by a being stronger than the Princesses or anypony who had ever lived.
“DIE AND LET ME BE FREE!”
- - - - - -
They traveled until the sun began to set again, not speaking and not saying anything. Twilight quickly got the tent ready and they got inside quietly, ready to sleep and escape the horrors of the Everfree.
- - - - - -
Her dreams were full of pain and suffering, watching the fire spread and the metal glitter in the blaze. She was being roasted alive in the heat, screaming and burning and feeling everything become melted from her body.
It was so real, but she knew that it had never happened. She was still lying on the ground, hurt and bleeding, choking on an endless flow of blood and spit. But the dream provided her with relief. She died in the fire, smiling as she did, holding out her hooves to the sky.
She opened her eyes as she woke up, seeing that all of her injuries had healed, leaving her whole and unharmed. But she felt eyes watching her, and hooves moving across her back.
“I love watching you suffer,” the voice said, pressing hard into her spine and causing a small tremor of pain. “I am nearly out of ways for this stupid stallion to harm you, but I have found a way that will keep him occupied for a very long time.”
The hooves moved across her flank and hindlegs, and she knew where it was going. She immediately tried to stand up, but she pushed down by immense strength.
“You will continue to hurt,” it said, opening her legs. “I enjoy watching the pain of others, and this will most certainly be the worst for you. A horrible emotional trauma. It will please me almost as much as the stallion.”
She felt something press against her, warm and stiff. She shuddered and tried to worm away, but the grip held.
“I’m sorry,” he said, no longer the thing from before. “But it wants me to.”
- - - - - -
Fluttershy heard the huff of air before any of the others. She had heard it many times before while tending for the animals, and she knew to run when she did. Her eyes widened, and she jumped up in hysteria.
“Timberwolf!” she yelled frantically, running outside of the tent in a moment of attempted bravery. She saw the glowing eyes in the trees and gulped. She darted back in and watched her friends stumble up in a daze. “Timberwolf!”
“Fluttershy, timberwolves don’t live this deep in the fore–” Twilight began, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash, who had gone to look and came back in hyperventilating and prancing nervously.
“Why don’t you tell that to the ones out there!”
Twilight and the rest of the friends went outside and saw them, slowly stalking up, wary of the new creatures but certainly ready to attack.
“What do we do?” Rarity asked, taking deep breaths.
“We’ll fend them off if they attack,” Applejack said, dragging her strong hindlegs on the ground. “I’ve got my hooves, Rainbow Dash’s got speed, Twilight’s got magic, Rarity’s got something, I’m sure, and Fluttershy has her way with animals. I assume Pinkie’s got something, because she’s Pinkie.”
“So Rarity and Fluttershy are useless?” Rainbow Dash asked, hovering a few feet from the forest floor.”
“I’d love to disagree,” Rarity said, raising a hoof. “But I don’t want to get involved with this.”
It was at that moment the timberwolves attacked, charging from the trees at breakneck speed. Rainbow Dash was quick to slap one down with a speedy flying kick, as was Applejack with a buck and Twilight with a spell.
The other three watched as they destroyed beast after beast, but more kept coming, quickly coming faster than they could deal with. Rarity screamed as one barreled from the opposite side, coming straight for Pinkie. Twilight was firing a spell at another, Applejack was bucking one’s head off, and Rainbow Dash was busy swirling a tornado to gather up a few.
Rarity tried her best to fire a shot at it, but it only grazed a few twigs on the side. It grabbed the stunned Pinkie and bit down hard, crushing through her forelegs and impaling her stomach. She let out a scream of pain.
The others watched in horror as she pried open it’s jaws and fell to the ground. Twilight began firing again, driven by fear and the need for revenge. The rest of them began to pound on the timberwolves until they had gotten the hint and left.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash cried as the last one ran yelping into the darkness.
Pinkie lay on the ground, taking shuddering breaths and trying to hold back tears.
“It’s okay,” she said, trying to stand but having her forelegs collapse beneath her. “I’ll be fine.”
“No you won’t!” Twilight said, trying to cast unsuccessful healing spells on her friend. “You’re dying! You’ll die and then you’ll be dead and we’ll be sad and we’ll be stuck in this forest unsure if we should continue the quest or go home.”
“I’m not going to die,” Pinkie said, pressing her face into Twilight’s. “I don’t die from just a timberwolf. I’ve been through hell and back and survived.”
Twilight backed away, scared by the look of death in Pinkie’s eyes.
“What happened to you, Pinkie?”
- - - - - -
She had been here for two days, constantly being assaulted by the demon, constantly becoming used to the pain and humiliation of what was happening. His breath went against the back of her neck as he went, and she sat there and took it.
She felt horrible letting this happen, but whenever she tried to run, it held her down, raw and bleeding and alone until he came back again to satisfy his amplified desires. The demon made him want nothing more than her body, so she would continue to hurt and suffer.
But he was also alone and hurt. She heard him whisper “I’m sorry” dozens of times every single time he came to take her. He was merely the demon’s tool for causing pain, and she could not bring herself to hate him for that.
As he left, she heard him wailing in happiness. She looked up, expecting to be held down by the grip, but it was gone. She stood, and suddenly she knew why.
The forest hummed around her with a hidden energy. She stumbled blindly over the roots in the dark, not even trying to feel her way around. The blackness was all-encompassing, and dampened all of her senses. The air was pierced with a howl as a timberwolf began a hunt.
‘Are they hunting me?’ she thought, pausing in fear. In the distance, rustling bushes signaled that the animal was hunting elsewhere.
Sighing in relief, she kept going, trying to ignore the chills running down her spine. She wanted nothing more than to find the exit, to find another pony who did not want her to hurt.
‘But what if the demon takes them over too?’ she thought as a branch scratched her muzzle, and she felt blood run down her face. ‘But what would it have to gain?’
She tripped over a root, and she rolled down a hill, landing at the bottom, scratches pulsing slightly in her skin. Her fur was matted red as she got up again, wincing at the pain in her foreleg. There was silence.
She exhaled, breaking the nothingness. The temperature was dropping swiftly as the night fell, and soon she had to run to keep the cold from overwhelming her. The night was filled with the sound of her teeth chattering, echoing in the wooden alcoves and shadowed clearings.
‘Is there a way out?’
There was another timberwolf howl, closer than before. Branches snapped and creaked as the beast moved in the dark. She stopped and heard the footsteps of the creature, snapping its way towards her.
‘I don’t want to die.’
A growl pierced her thoughts as the animal pounced. She couldn’t see it, but she jumped to her left, hoping to escape the claws. A sharp blade cut into her side and across her face. Blood splattered into her eye and out onto the ground. She let out a cry of pain and fell down.
The animal turned and stalked forward. It sniffed along the blood slowly, in a sadistic way, drawing out the moment.
‘I don’t want to die.’
And the timberwolf bit down on her hindleg, crunching through the bone and ripping flesh. Blood flowed in a river from the wound, and it flowed faster as the beast pulled on it, dragging her across the ground.
Suddenly, it let go and she heard a sizzling as the timberwolf howled. There was a crash as something heavy fell onto the forest floor and bounced once before rolling slightly. She heard a creaking noise and a bubbling reminiscent of acid.
She couldn’t think through the haze of pain, and passed out to the noise, hearing the shaking of leaves falling lightly on the forest floor.
- - - - - -
Pinkie opened her eyes to see the tent, a magic fire burning in the middle, giving heat to the space. Her friends were sitting around it, all staring into its depths, eyes full of despair.
The grass underneath her pricked her skin, and she rose to alleviate the itch. They turned and looked at her with concern. She looked down and examined her side. It was the same normal color, unharmed, no wounds across her.
The silence was a blanket over the space, no sounds aside from the breathing of the six. Pinkie got up and walked into the circle. She looked into the fire and felt her friends eyes turn to her.
“What happened to you?” Twilight asked.
Pinkie continued to look into the fire, “There’s a lot to say.”
“Does it have to do with your home?”
“Yes.”
There was more silence, this time accompanied by the rustling of branches as a breeze blew through the trees. It stayed this way for a moment as the five tried to think of a question to ask.
“How are ya healed?” Applejack asked, looking down at the ground.
“I’m not really sure,” Pinkie replied, glancing at her face. “It’s happened before. I healed then too.”
“A timberwolf attack?” Rarity asked, even more concern growing on her face.
“Yes, before I got to Ponyville.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Fluttershy muttered. “That’s something important.”
“I wasn’t sure how you’d feel,” Pinkie replied, looking up to stare at their faces. “I don’t like talking about it either.”
“If Pinkie doesn’t like talking about it, then it’s gotta be bad,” Rainbow Dash said, standing up. “Look, we should get going. I really want to get this done, and trying to explore every scientific whatever about it will slow us down.” She looked at Twilight as she said it.
“Dash, I wasn’t planning on it,” Twilight said, sighing. “Pinkie’s got a lot of things I can’t measure or understand, and I doubt any research in the middle of the Everfree will help. You’re right about getting moving. It hardly matters now that Pinkie is immortal; we should get going before any more things attack us.”
Pinkie left the tent and stared out into the trees. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck as she tried to focus her mind. The air was blowing gently, and she could feel every individual hair on her wave.
I’m so scared, she thought, taking a deep breath. Shudders ran down her spine in tremors. We’re so close... so close.
Thunder clapped overhead as rain began to pour. She was soaked within a few seconds, and she just let it fall.
“Pinkie, we’re going,” Rarity said, tapping her shoulder.
Looking around, Pinkie saw a flash of red, a rush of gold, and everything went dark.
- - - - - -
‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.’
Her eyes opened in the dark, small colored lights in the night. She was in a clearing, gazing straight into the sky sprinkled with stars. The world was a sphere. She could sense it through her back; the miniscule curve, the impossibly small curve that she felt as if it were a wedge being driven into her spine.
The moon illuminated her vision and the clearing around her, but she felt no urge to explore. She was content watching the world age, to watch it grow old. Maybe she would decay with it.
‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.’
She stood. The eyes were watching her. The countless eyes, calculating, peering into her soul, scanning her mind and preparing to destroy it.
She sprinted through the woods, her fur getting caught in burs and sticks, her skin cut and stabbed by branches and rocks. They were getting closer, coming to take her back.
She stumbled onto a path–a pony made path–and huffed a sound of grateful relief. She heard them retreat, going back to where they hid in the night. She slowed her pace to a walk as her heart steadied itself.
The exit was there, right in front of her. Her eyes let up in joy as she picked up her speed, going out of the dark and into the light.
A branch dropped somewhere in the forest, making a loud crashing sound in the silence. Pinkie’s eyes snapped open. Her fur was stiff, and she heard it cracking when she stood. She looked down at herself to see it matted down with blood.
“What?” she said, her mind clearing instantly. “Why is there blood?”
It had been on her for a while; she could tell from the way it pinched her skin when she moved that it was incredibly dry.
She looked down and saw that a path of the dried liquid ran off into the forest, out to somewhere else. Her mind was filled with thoughts of horrible things, of death or injury. She could smell something rotting, and a putrid odor emitted from the dark.
Pinkie’s breathing quickened as she took slow steps towards the end of the trail. The dried blood became wider and developed less holes. The smell was stronger, worse, echoing in her head, amplifying the already loud volume.
She saw the first leg in the bushes and her heart stopped. The bone was bent at an unnatural angle, and a small piece of it poked out from the lavender fur. Blood was caked in copious amounts around the wound, and the hoof was torn apart by some extreme force.
“Twilight?” she whispered. She didn’t want an answer; she knew there wasn’t going to be one.
She pushed back the bush and was greeted by an assault on her nose and her eyes. Tears boiled up in a flood as the revealed bodies festered in the grass, covered by twigs and fallen leaves.
“No.”
That was the only word to escape her lips as she pressed her hooves on their bodies. The feeling was horrifying, but it was all she could do to combat the rising wave of nausea. She had to confirm their existence, to know that they were still there physically.
Her muscles tightened down to her core when she stood, and her hair was dropping slightly, losing the poof ever so gently, becoming less and less like the Pinkie her friends knew. Night was coming slowly; the light faded quietly, and a swatch of clouds covered the moon, darkening even the small amount of shine that could reach the forest.
She finally lost her nerve and vomited across Applejack’s body. She shuddered and fell across her friend’s body, covering herself in her own mess. Tears flowed freely as her mane puffed down into a flat, straight line, falling across her face in a cascade of dull pink strands.
The smell was overpowering, but she loved it. With her friends, any smell or sight would be alright. With her friends, she could love anything.
- - - - - -
“What are you afraid of?” Mrs. Cake asked the small Pinkie Pie, who was shaking in front of the cellar door. “The dark can’t hurt you!”
“Yes, it can,” Pinkie said, shrinking down and backing away.
“The cellar has nothing besides grain and cooking supplies,” Mr. Cake said, pushing her towards the door. “Last time I checked, there were no evil monsters.”
Pinkie Pie visibly flinched at the word ‘grain.’ She turned to the couple, her eyes pleading, “I can’t go down there, please don’t make me go.”
They sighed and led her back to her room. She sat down on her bed and looked at them as they sat down in front of her.
“Pinkie,” Mrs. Cake began, taking her hoof. “Why are you so scared of the dark?”
“I-I don’t want to talk about it,” the filly replied, moving her hoof and turning her head away.
“You can tell us, it’s okay,” Mr. Cake said.
“You sound a lot like my dad,” Pinkie said, looking back.
“That’s a good thing, then,” Mrs. Cake, giving a little smile but losing it when she saw Pinkie’s look of extreme pain.
“It’s not good at all,” Pinkie said, a hint of loss in her voice. “Not good at all.”
“Why not?” Mr. Cake replied, confusion across his features.
“I remember the demon.”
Mrs. Cake looked at her husband in a look of silent understanding, both thinking the same thing, and assuming they were right.
“We’ll leave you alone for a while,” Mr. Cake said, taking a step to the door. “If you want to tell us about it later you can.”
Pinkie nodded and shuffled down on the bed. Her eyes watered as she looked at the lone window in the attic, shining a setting sun into the room. Gripping her covers, she drifted into a restless sleep, a night full of memories she wanted to forget.
- - - - - -
When the sun rose that morning, Pinkie found herself stumbling along a path, eyes glued ahead of her gazing into the dim light. The air was oppressive, leaning over her body in a weight unlike anything she had ever felt. The feeling of eyes watching her burned into her mind, and she shuddered at the glances.
She wanted to keep going, despite all the horrible thoughts running through her head. Her hair waterfalled down her neck, and it protected her from neck injuries, at least she felt that way. Paranoia was setting in quickly, overwhelming her emotions and making her a doll of fear and death.
The heat was bad, and her sweat made her uncomfortable, and she began itching and scratching as she walked. Her hooves were cracking from the constant rocks and sticks rubbing against them, and pain shot up her legs as she went.
The road began sloping upwards slightly, tiring her more, and the trees began to thin out. Light reached further down to the floor, and her eyes slowly became adjusted to the new brightness.
“I’m nearly there,” she whispered, her legs freezing. Lead filled them, and she couldn’t force herself to keep going. “So close to my past.”
A rustling from behind her coaxed her to move, and she started her climb up the hill again. At the crest of the hill she could see two stones facing where the house was. The shadows fell down the hill into her face.
Approaching them, she looked at the fronts, not surprised to find the writing to be dulled by weather and age. They were still readable, but she didn’t read them for her own sake.
She turned from the memorials and looked at the house, or at least what was left of it. The pieces of wood sticking up from the dirt formed a haunting visual, the vision of death and abandonment, with a small door on the edge leading to a cellar.
“Home,” she said, a tear blown across her face by a gust of wind. “I’m back here. Back to my own hell.”
She stepped up to where the door used to be and ran a hoof over the burnt wood; it disintegrated with her touch. A bird flapped past her from where it nested in the ruins of the building, leaving some chicks behind while it looked for food.
Dark spots filled Pinkie’s eyes as she walked to the cellar door. She grasped the handle and took a deep breath.
“It’s for my friends. My friends need my strength. They came with me here, and I have to finish this mission for them.”
When she opened it, a rank odor wafted out, similar to her friends when they died but more potent and consuming. She gulped and heard a flutter as the bird returned to its nest to feed its chicks. She took a step in and nearly fell from the shaking.
“I can do this. I can do this.”
The light disappeared and she forced her way down into the dark, the smell building up in her head until it was the only existence she could imagine. She was only right now. The dark and the smell was all she was; it defined her.
She gasped as the stairs fell away and she hit the ground with a thud. Something slick coated the floor, and she heard gasping and groaning from deeper inside. There was a light in the distance of the tunnel, and she began walking to it, limping from the fall.
As the gap between herself and the opening closed, Pinkie’s breathing increased, becoming short gasps. She finally reached the light and stepped in. She covered her eyes as they momentarily adjusted.
“Pinkie, you’re back!”
She looked at her dad and began to cry, seeing the genuine emotions in his eyes and the lack of evil in them.
“Dad,” she said, choking on tears. She grabbed him, ignoring his injuries and the blood across him. “I’ve missed you so much!”
They were finally reunited, and her heart was filled with joy. She momentarily forgot about her problems and everything wrong as she merely hugged her dad. The two stayed locked together, father and daughter, as a family brought back together.
She lifted her head to see Mrs. Cake over her. The mare smiled, but inside Pinkie Pie did not smile. The dreams had bitten cruelly in her sleep, sending her into a state of fear. The demon had to be close. It wouldn’t just leave.
She had seen the eyes of her father, reflecting softly in a dim light, but slowly they had changed from them. They had not changed color or size, but their reflections became rougher, and slowly became an evil glitter.
It spoke through his body, and it paralyzed her. Seeing her father as a demon who wanted to harm her tore her emotions apart; she didn’t know what to do but watch in silent horror as it grabbed her foreleg and twisted hard, and feeling her bone snap under her flesh.
“STOP!” she yelled as pain filled her body, and the shock sent her sprawling to the floor. It laughed and merely pressed down on the broken bone as she screamed in agony, unable to fight her voice like she had before.
“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Cake asked, seeing the worry in Pinkie’s eyes.
“I just a bad dream,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You have to eventually,” Mrs. Cake said, grabbing Pinkie’s shoulder and giving her a stern look. “You can’t keep pretending you can keep it hidden away forever, especially if it hurts you this bad.”
Pinkie looked away and tried to steady her breath. She didn’t want to tell them. She didn’t want them to be in league with the demon and then have it show back up here. The wish for release pushed her to say, but she didn’t know what side of her brain to take.
She opened her mouth to speak.
- - - - - -
There were no other times where Pinkie could say she had forgotten all of her problems at the sight of one pony. As she hugged her father, the world around her grew brighter. She didn’t stop to consider any problems with the moment, like the possibility that her father could even still be alive after years of her being away from home.
“I’m so glad to see you!” she said, crying heavily.
“I am, too!” he said, kissing her on the forehead.
The two released and they looked at each other happily. However, Pinkie’s father soon developed a worried look. Pinkie looked at him quizzically and felt a rush of forgotten emotions run through her.
“My friends,” she whispered, piecing it together again. She relived her discovery again. “They’re gone...”
“Friends?” he asked.
“I was coming up here with my friends, and they got k-killed,” Pinkie said in disbelief. She had seen it, but it was impossible to truly believe. “They died... They died... my best friends died...”
“It’s okay,” her father said, giving her a hug as she stared blankly, unmoving, at the cave wall. “They’re fine.”
“What?” Pinkie said, losing the poof in her mane. “They’re not fine! They’re DEAD!” She threw him off and glared at him. “They’re not okay, and they won’t ever be!”
“They’re alright,” he said, standing, looking her in the eyes. “Trust me.”
“How can I trust you?” Pinkie replied, trying to think. “You were possessed by a demon, so how do I know you aren’t still possessed and you’re just trying to hurt me again?!”
“Because I died.”
The silence deepened as Pinkie heard those words and let her eyes widen, “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
Pinkie rubbed her head and tried to focus, “How are you dead? How can I see you?”
“I died when the demon possessed me,” he replied, showing her a small patch on his fur where the hair was gone and replaced with a symbol burned into his flesh. “It pushed my soul into the afterlife and merely took my body. I watched you as it hurt you. It was pretending to be me to make it hurt even worse than it already did.”
“Bu-but,” Pinkie stammered, processing the information. “How could you see me then? If you were a spirit, how could you see what was happening?”
“Spirits can see into the real world, but the real world can’t see into ours,” he explained. “In all of life, you’ve been surrounded by the spirits of the dead.”
“Wait, so if I can see you, that means I died?” Pinkie said, sweating a little as her breathing grew quicker. “But, when?”
“A long, long time ago,” he said. “You died with the demon, and you’ve been dead for a long time. However, you would not have realized since the spirits of the living can still see you and interact with you. You still aged like a normal pony, and nopony suspected a thing.”
“But when I was in Ponyville, when did I talk to dead ponies?” Pinkie asked, thinking back. Nothing had ever seemed odd to her, nothing at all like dead ponies.
“I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his head. “I only saw you for a little while.”
“I-I don’t know what to say about this,” she said, her mane falling straight. “I’ve been dead for all these years and I never knew... How can this happen?”
“I don’t know, since you seem to be a special case. I have never met a dead soul who could be seen by the living. Of course, I haven’t met many dead souls.”
Pinkie fell down and sobbed. Her mind was rattled after her long journey, after all her losses, and she came back to find this. If it wasn’t for those stupid letters she would’ve been okay and never known she was dead.
“The letters!” she whispered, looking back up at her father, who seemed to just be waiting for her to recompose herself. “Who sent the letters?!”
“What letters?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.
“I came back here because I got some letters in the mail,” she explained, starting to pace. “They were from here. I told my friends about my past and came up here because the letters told me to. They said that I needed to visit.”
“And you do need to visit.”
- - - - - -
Her eyes were glittering with tears in the small ray of sunlight that broke through the tiny window. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were looking at each other with great concern.
“A demon?” Mr. Cake asked, completely incredulous. “A real demon?”
“Yes,” Pinkie replied, refusing to look at them. “It’s okay if you don’t believe me, since I doubt anypony would believe it.”
“It’s not that we don’t believe it, dear,” Mrs. Cake said. “It’s just that it’s a lot to take in.”
Pinkie turned on her side across the mattress, wanting nothing more than to disappear into the bedding.
“I’m worthless,” she said.
“No, you’re not!” Mrs. Cake said quickly, reaching out for her.
“Yes, I am,” she replied, swatting Mrs. Cake’s hoof away. “My cutie mark is to make ponies happy, and here I am only feeling hurt and pain and telling you about it. How am I supposed to help ponies get happy when I’m sad and crying?”
“You have to make yourself happy,” Mr. Cake said, which got him a quizzical eyebrow from his wife. “It’s hard to help other ponies when you’re too busy helping yourself. Make yourself happy before making other ponies happy.”
“When did deep thoughts become your forte, honey?” Mrs. Cake snickered jokingly.
“Am I not allowed to have deep thoughts every once in a while?” he replied, indignantly.
“It’s just strange.”
Pinkie smiled a bit as the two toyed with each other, seeing them as her own parents. Her parents had begun to do that after she had gotten her cutie mark, but they hadn’t been able to for very long.
“Could I stay with you?” Pinkie asked. “Since I have nowhere to go.”
The couple nodded immediately. “But,” Mrs. Cake replied. “Don’t think you can just stay. You’ll have to learn how to bake and work in our trade.”
“I can do that,” Pinkie said, smiling. “I used to help my mom bake.”
Mr. Cake laughed and started leaving, “I’ll leave you two to planning what she’ll do and where her actual room will be. I can’t say I’m particularly interested in those things.”
“Come back here!” Mrs. Cake demanded as she followed him, grabbing his mane and trying to pull him back. “We are both going to deal with this filly! You want her to stay here as well!”
Pinkie laughed and stood from the bed. She already felt more at home, and back into a family.
When the hands grabbed her, she jumped back. The hands felt so familiar, even though they had never touched her before. The claws scraped along her skin and broke the skin, drawing blood. Horror and despair filled her body.
The air was cold as the demon’s breath blew onto her ear.
“Hello,” it whispered. “Have you come back to see me?”
“No,” Pinkie whispered. “No.”
“How were my letters?”
Pinkie tried to back away, but the hand grabbed her tightly, and she yelped at the sharp pain. Her father was watching in shock, reliving every moment after his death in his head, remembering all the things that had happened to his daughter.
“It’s funny to see you come running because of a few letters. You mortals are so easily fooled. You knew that your family was dead. How could skeletons send you anything?”
“I didn’t know what to do,” she replied. “I just saw the letters and couldn’t believe what I saw.”
“I am quite angry I let you go. I thought it was a good idea at the time; I thought I could chase you down in Ponyville, but the presence of the Elements of Harmony and their gems kept me out. I had to wait until I found a way to get you out here.”
“How could it take so long to send a letter?” Pinkie asked, trying to sound silly. Being silly was all she had left to stave off the extreme panic rising within her.
“I haven’t been around ponies for a long time... I had no way to learn about these things except by watching Ponyville from a distance and seeing what different things connected you to other towns. Finding a mailpony whose employer wouldn’t care about dropping unchecked letters into the system was quite hard. Writing the letter was rather difficult as well. There were at least 100 drafts.”
Pinkie shuddered as the demon let go of her. She tried to turn and look at it but her head was kept staring straight ahead. Her legs began to shake.
“Let’s see you suffer some more. I’ve gone too long without this.”
Pinkie gasped as a blade went through her ribs from her back. Blood sprayed up into her throat and flew from her mouth and nose. She couldn’t catch her breath as she slipped onto the ground, the blade coming out as she fell. She laid for a second, trying to breath but failing. Her father was screaming, attempting to run to her but getting pinned through the limbs against the wall.
Two sharp claws gripped under the skin on the back of her neck and lifted her up. She could almost hear her skin and fur ripping as she was lifted up to the roof of the basement. From her blurry eyes she saw a nail bed of shadow appear on the ground. She didn’t have time to scream as she was slammed into it.
The demon laughed as she screamed, moving her up and down across the bed. The nails tore apart every inch of her body, going into her eyes and mouth, destroying her tongue and filling her mouth with blood. The demon lifted her up and chuckled at her mutilated corpse.
Pinkie’s father was speechless as his daughter’s body hanging from the dark claws, blood dripping into the dirt and down the claws.
“This is too fun...”
He dropped Pinkie on the nail bed and went over to the father, who was motionless and stared blankly into space. The demon yanked him from the wall and smiled.
“It’s time for you, now.”
- - - - - -
“Who are you?” Pinkie asked, staring straight into the face of the yellow pegasus who hid behind her mane and tried to back away.
“I-I’m F-Flut-tershy...” the pegasus replied, shaking a little from the attention.
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” the energetic filly said, hopping back. “Do you live here?”
“I-I just came here...” the shy pony replied, retreating farther back into her mane. “My parents a-are animal k-keepers by the forest.”
“Why do you stutter?” Pinkie asked tactlessly. “And you keep backing up. Why?”
“I-I...” Fluttershy stammered. “I don’t r-really like talking to o-other p-ponies. I’m n-no good at t-that.”
“Well, that’s not good!” Pinkie exclaimed, stomping her hoof. “We need to fix that!”
“I-I’m not s-sure that’s a g-good idea...”
Pinkie grabbed her hoof and pushed her mane off of her face, “Well, the first thing is it’s hard to get ponies to talk to you if your mane is all on your face!”
“I d-don’t really–”
“You need to be more confident when you talk! You sound really sad. Also, stuttering doesn’t help.”
Fluttershy sighed and resigned to her fate.
- - - - - -
A purple outline formed in the darkness of Pinkie’s mind. It glowed and slowly filled in to form Twilight, who came up to her and grabbed her face.
“I’m so sorry,” Pinkie whispered, a tear running down her cheek. “I didn’t think this would happen.”
“I’m not here about that right now,” Twilight said, her voice bringing warmth into Pinkie’s body. “We have found the way to save you from the demon’s clutches.”
“What?” Pinkie said, her eyes glowing. “How?”
“The demon is tied down to the earth by a tablet in your house,” the lavender ghost said. “There’s a chest in your grain storage. It’s the thing that drove your father mad and allowed the demon to possess him. If you can destroy it, you will be free.”
Pinkie opened her eyes and found herself stabbed onto the nail bed, her ears ravaged by the sound of her father screaming in agony. She looked over to see his bloody face being hit into the wall by the shadowy beast. Her heart raced and she needed to save him.
It suddenly dropped him and turned around.
“You’re awake at last! It’s time to play again!”
Pinkie pushed herself up, her hooves protecting her well enough from the nails.
“Fiesty? I can fix that.”
Pinkie had nary a second to think about her plan before the black needles shot into her eyes and into her brain. Her body was set alight in pain, and she refused to scream. The determination she once had against this monster was coming back, and she could fight it.
“Staying quiet, are we?”
Pinkie grit her teeth and tried to picture any memory that would make her forget.
- - - - - -
“Who’s that?” Pinkie asked, pointing at the blue streak that sped across the sky. “Looks familiar.”
“That’s Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, shaking her head. “She’s a real waste of a future lady. She’s too... aggressive. Too tasteless. I don’t think she’s ever spent more than five minutes on her mane.”
“I don’t spend any time on mine!” Pinkie laughed. “It just kinda does itself!”
“I’ve noticed,” Rarity replied, sounding unhappy. “And I’m overall quite dissatisfied by my own mane in comparison. In looks, not quite, but in the time and energy department, yours is impossibly well-gifted.”
“What can I say?” Pinkie strutted.
Rarity rolled her eyes and giggled, “I sincerely hope that one day your mane just flops.”
