A/N: Finally worked through my writer’s block to write this. Rough around the edges and Pinkie crashes into the 4th wall repeatedly, but it’s done.

Chapter 17: Isolation

She was all alone in the darkness.

She wondered why she had earned this special treatment. Surely, Gilda couldn’t have held onto her grudge against her for that long? Quietly as she dared, she lifted up a hoof to feel for her Element Blaster around her neck. Feeling the metallic necklace, she relaxed slightly before remembering that she was still morphed. Giggling nervously, she looked around the darkness around her and tried to make out the monster. Her helmet’s internal scanners were working on overtime and they had around thirty five percent of the area scanned. Flicking her eyes up and around to scan the area around her again, she never noticed that she had something selected.

“Pinkie…”

Her ears twitched at the mention of her name. The voice had an odd echoing quality to it as if it was spoken from a deep pit.

“Pinkie…you know you aren’t cut out for this…”

The pink pony swallowed hard as she tried not to shake. Normally she would have laughed it off or attempted to see the funny side of it, but she was trapped in a dark dome with some ancient griffon monster. A gust of wind would probably destroy it, but she couldn’t see any fans ready to blow. The thought of a monster being defeated by a gust of wind made her snort with laughter. The thought that Fluttershy was the only Ranger that could control wind made her laugh louder as she tried to imagine the meek Pegasus destroying the monster by herself.

“What’s so funny, Ranger?”

Pinkie paused her laughter and peered around. The last voice had been harsh and grating. Suddenly, the area around her lit up with blazing fire and she jumped back to avoid the flames. Standing in front of her was Gryffon but the monster looked different than before. Its body seemed stronger and more…whole. She couldn’t see any part of it that was aged or crumbling and the fire glinting off its eyes made it more demonic. Swallowing hard, she backed away slowly and tried to slow her rapidly beating heart.

“My master promised me I could have fun with you. You like to have fun…right little pony?”

She blinked and started backing away. The voice that had come out from the creature’s beak wasn’t harsh or grating. If she thought about it, she could sweat it almost sounded like Discord’s. It was low and had a sensuous tone running through it. If it spoke more; she would probably fall under its spell and be willing to do whatever it wanted. Gryffon grinned wickedly at her and rubbed its front paws together evilly.

“Come on, little girl. It won’t be bad. Just relax…”

Pinkie blinked once and grimaced. This stalkerish behaviour of the monster had gone too far and it was starting to really creep the author out. Or maybe it was the fact that it was a dreary and rainy day that had his mood coloured. She couldn’t understand why these thoughts were running through her head or why she was thinking about them now. It was almost as if the thoughts were being pushed into her head by an outside source. She shrugged and refocused he attention on the monster in front of her. Now that her brain wasn’t affected by the monster, she could see it for what it really was; a decaying creature with little to no will of its own. Her gaze softened as she wondered what it had been in the prime of its life and whether it had been killed by a fall from a great height.

No…that had been someone else entirely. Someone that looked strangely similar to Billy but different; the person that had appeared in her dreams a few nights in a row had told her of him. She didn’t know why, but a name floated through her mind as if put there by some strange external force: Steven Johnston…whoever that was. Shaking her head once to rid herself of those thoughts, she focused on the monster again.

The monster flared its wings in rage and roared, temporarily extinguishing the fires. Pinkie screamed in fear and squeezed her eyes shut to wait for whatever end would come for her. After a while, she cautiously opened an eye and then another to see the monster standing with its wings flared…in fear? She didn’t understand it. Why was the monster cowering in fear when it had been ready to use her guts as dental floss? And why was her left flank suddenly heavier?

Looking behind her, her eyes widened as she saw it gleaming in the flickering flames. It was dull grey in colour and looked like a small version of one of the guns that was on Spike’s Dragon Jet. What had Billy called them again? Gate guns? Grater guns? Grating guns? Gatling guns…yes, that was it. A small version was mounted onto a metallic harness that attached onto her flank and her visor was flashing the name in a strangely hypnotic pattern.

[Boomer Blaster – Ready]

So this was the mysterious Boomer Blaster. She had no idea how it would combine with the other weapons to form the Harmony Buster, but she supposed it had been Billy’s headache. Shifting her weight onto her right side, she lowered her head and pawed aggressively at the ground. A faint whine reached her ears as the barrel started to spin in preparation for the finishing blow. Revitalised or not, the monster was going down as she was almost at the peak of her rage. She wondered if there was an attack name that should be yelled out but she didn’t really care.

“FIRE!”

TBC…

Author's Note

Was really struggling here as I was rapidly hitting the wall with creativity. In the one month that it took to write this chapter (all the way back in 2011), I had written roughly 20 chapters of The Ultra Crystals. Things picked up after I wrote a certain chapter of Equestria 101...