Sugar Valley

Gingerbread cookies… strawberry shortcake; no, no, a cookies-and-cream milkshake! Yeah… that sounds good right about now.

Pinkie Pie lifts her face from the dirt and reaches through the bars.

“Hey, I know we’re still playing a game and all, but if you guys could tell me when it’ll be over; I’d reaaally appreciate it!”

“SHUT IT! And keep it shut ‘till the boss is back!”

Pinkie’s bright blue eyes follow the rude mare, as she turns from the cage and back towards the others. Pinkie gives in, and allows her head to slide against the bars and back into the dirt.

“I hope it’s over soon…”

The pink mare’s words are only audible enough for the guard outside to turn and give a threatening stare, before spitting on the dirt floor. The guards were occupying themselves with a game of cards, their backs turned to the prisoners around the room. Pinkie had been the most vocal; in fact, the other two ponies lying in the dirt hadn’t made a sound at all.

Pinkie Pie begins to close her eyes, hoping that when she opened them again, she would find herself back in the comfort of Sugar Cube Corner, surrounded by the many scents it would emit. To her dismay, it wasn’t the smell of cupcakes baking that causes her to lift her eyelids, but a distinct floral scent—iris, perhaps?

When the stallion carrying the scent steps out of the shadows, the room grew deathly quiet. He takes one look at the other cages before striding over to Pinkie’s cell. The colt’s attire is oddly formal; a stylish gray suit, although eroded beyond repair. Pinkie Pie stares into his entrancing green eyes, unable to look away.

“Why wasn’t I made aware that we had captured an Element of Harmony?”

The question had been directed at the guards, but the stallion never breaks his stare away from Pinkie.

“We—we didn’t know she was...”

The brown pony’s response is quick and calm.

“I see. Bring me your knife.”

The ponies playing cards exchange worried looks, before the suited colt turns to see them for the first time.

“Now, please.”

Her face ridden with fear, the rude mare steps forward, removing her blade with her mouth. Craning her neck, she inches towards the mysterious figure until the weapon was in his reach.

The stallion seizes the knife with his telekinesis, and runs it down the forearm of the mare. Pinkie’s eyes grow wide with shock as the bleeding mare howls with pain, and falls to the mud in agony. The colt allows the knife to fall to the earth with her, then turns once again to Pinkie Pie’s cage.

“You’re a long way from home, Miss Pie.”

Pinkie watches behind tears as the guard writhes animalistically in the mud.

“Your princesses want you to believe that the worst out there is the sting of a manticore, or the fire of a dragon...”

The mare on the ground begins to cease struggling as the stallion continues.

“This is erroneous. There are evils out there willing to go to extreme lengths to extract value; and you, Miss Pie, are very valuable indeed.”

Pinkie Pie finally looks away from the horrific scene, and falls once more into the sharp gaze of her captor.

“My name is Lane; and I suspect the two of us will soon get to know a lot about each other.”

The unicorn turns, and walks slowly back into the shadows at the edge of the room. The Element of Laughter can only sob, back pressed to the furthest wall of her cage. The two remaining guards keep their muzzles low, and Pinkie is left alone with the vacant stare of third.

* * *

The next day Pinkie wakes to the taste of dirt, her straightened mane splayed out on the floor. Pain shoots through her head as she lifts it from the earth, fearing another glance at the body. To her relief, however, there isn’t a trace of it. Maybe it had been a nightmare?

“Good morning, friend.”

Pinkie flings her head towards the voice, and its owner steps away from the wall he was leaning against.

“I know things were a bit… disorderly last night.”

The striking green eyes watch Pinkie as they go around the room.

“I want you to know that I regret what happened; and that, if you’re willing to cooperate, we won’t have to witness such chaos again.”

Pinkie throws herself against the cage.

“Why are you doing this? Why won’t you let me go?”

Lane shakes his head, ever so slightly.

“Now now, Pinkie Pie. The time for frivolous questions has passed; I’m going to need answers if we’re to get along.”

The pink pony falls onto her haunches, a confused look on her face.

“What answers could I possibly have for you?”

“I imagine, as an Element of Harmony, there are quite a few.”

Pinkie Pie isn’t much closer to understanding.

“We help Ponyville when it needs it, and sometimes the surrounding areas; but—”

Lane quickly interjects.

“You don’t live in your capital, Canterlot?”

“No, none of us do; but Twilight used…”

Pinkie grows quiet.

“Yes, I know all about Twilight Sparkle. Student turned princess, alicorn from unicorn. Even she lives in the shadow of Canterlot?”

The stallion turns from the cage and begins to pace the room.

“For your sake, Miss Pie, I hope you’re wrong about the Elements’ apparent triviality.”

Lane glances back at the prisoner.

“You see I’m a merchant; I obtain and sell information to ponies. Perhaps you’d understand then, my disappointment when capturing an individual as close as you are to your ruler, from one of the most sought after nations in my line of work, and she tells me her duties are comparable to those of a police officer.”

Pinkie Pie pushes her mane out of eyes before responding.

“It doesn’t need to be complicated. We have each other for support.”

There’s a stillness in the room as Lane looks coldly into Pinkie’s eyes.

“I obtain information, Miss Pie. And in return, I show mercy towards my prisoners, ending their lives quickly.”

The words aren’t easy to listen to.

“Resistance does not warrant mercy, however.”

Lane begins to walk to the shadowed edge of the room, pulling up his shirt cuffs with magic as he does so. The colt reaches a table, and a blade is picked up into a green aura. The metal reflects brightly, catching Pinkie’s eye from behind the bars.

“I can’t tell you anything I don’t know!”

With a turn of his head, the colt responds to Pinkie’s plea in a dry tone.

“I simply can not afford to take chances.”

* * *

Twilight lands abruptly, and attempts to catch up to the figure ahead of her.

“Pinkie, wait!”

The cloaked pony turns around, revealing a long white beard.

“Ah, Starswirl…”

Starswirl raises an eyebrow at Twilight.

“I apologize, but it is only Starswirl the Old and Lethargic.”

Princess Sparkle begins to stutter an apology.

“No no, I didn’t mean—”

Twilight is interrupted by a low, hearty laughter from Starswirl.

“It’s alright, child. I understand that you’re worried.”

Twilight Sparkle takes a brief look around the meadow before responding to the unicorn.

“I just—I keep expecting her to be here.”

Starswirl the Bearded tilts his head back to watch the sky, the smile fading from his lips.

“I too worry about our friend; Ponyville has certainly seemed a little more gray since her disappearance.”

Wings now folded, Twilight moves closer to Starswirl, her mane flowing gently as she does so.

“Do you think… she’ll be okay?”

Starswirl takes a moment to answer. When he is ready, he turns from the sky and towards the alicorn, the smile edging back onto his face.

“Well it certainly isn’t the strangest thing that’s happened to her.”

* * *

“The same dream as before?”

Twilight fidgets uncomfortably on the couch.

“Not entirely; but in the sense of the characters, setting, and theme, certainly.”

The colt adjusts his glasses with the rim of his hoof.

“It’s apparent you’re stressed, as is normal. You lost the library, you’re still relatively new to the crown, and on top of all that, your friend has gone missing. All of what you told me, the lack of sleep and reoccurring dreams... it’s very likely a side-effect of your stress.”

Twilight nods her head respectfully, although unimpressed with the stallion’s observations.

“Maybe take a few days off; I think the Sisters can manage for a bit. Try getting back to your old self and make sure to get plenty of exercise. You don’t want to get comfortable with this new, constantly worrying Twilight.”

The Princess exhales softly.

“Okay; I can do that.”

Twilight risks a quick glance at the clock as the other pony continues.

“I think we’re all starting to feel a little worried about Pinkie Pie. But worrying won’t bring her back. Hang in there Twilight, I’m sure she’ll return soon.”

* * *

The nights grow colder; and at the end of each, Pinkie crawls to the furthest corner of her cell, trying her hardest to ignore the pain from her newly acquired wounds. Food and water are rationed sparingly, and the morsels that are provided are often rotten and barely edible.

Pinkie Pie’s only solace came when her eyes are closed, and she finds herself in Ponyville with her friends, not forsaken in a dark cave. Lane seems to always be there when she opens them again, waiting patiently for answers that would never come. And not for a lack of trying; Pinkie tells the stallion everything she knows about Equestria and its inner-workings, but it’s never enough.

“Not feeling talkative today?”

The guards watch as a glass bottle begins to roll underneath Pinkie’s hoof, until Lane’s magic corrects it. Pinkie Pie never looks away from the ground.

“No?”

The glass shatters as Lane’s magic brings Pinkie’s hoof down into it. There’s a soft whimper before the mare hovers her shaking hoof just above the ground. She closes her eyes, and replaces the pain with fading memories.

“How about now?”

The green aura fights with Pinkie’s hoof, pressing it back into the shards. Blood begins to pool beneath the forehoof, soaking into the earth.

Yet the room remains silent.

Frustrated, Lane telekinetically shoves the pink mare back into the cell, closing and locking it behind her. He didn’t like how long the process was taking, and searches the furthest depths of his mind for an answer.

“I was once in the war against dragons, you know. For a brief time, I thought it was what I was meant to do... This was before I tore the eye out of a fellow soldier’s head, and found myself discharged. During my service though, I learned many of the plans the brigade had designed, and sold them directly to the Dragon Commander.”

Pinkie stares at the cave wall, devoid of emotion. Lane leans in towards her, his head within an arm’s length.

“Loyalty is a blight, Miss Pie, and serves only to constrain and harm its owner.”

There’s no response from the caged pony, as Lane goes on.

“Then again, Loyalty never was your element. No, you represent a far more noble cause... Laughter, was it?”

Pinkie Pie finally turns from the wall, her sad blue eyes barely visible behind her mane.

“Funny; I haven’t heard a giggle from you.”

The pink pony retires her stare back to the stone wall. Lane lingers a moment longer, before turning towards the guards and analyzing their expressions. Not a difficult task, as a wicked grin creeps onto one of their faces. Lane flings the keys towards him, the guard fumbling and dropping them.

“Make it quick.”

Lane leaves the two guards and the prisoner alone in the room, and Pinkie hangs her head and forces her eyes shut, unable to cry.

* * *

“Citizens of Ponyville: it isn’t easy to stand before you today, and deliver the dire news that has been brought to my attention. At this time, we are officially treating Pinkie Pie as a missing pony, and a full-scale investigation is being prepared for launch. In the meantime, I want everypony to remain vigilant, and come forward with any possible leads. Thank you.”

The crowd watches quietly as Mayor Mare walks down from the town hall, only to immediately be bombarded by cameras. A worried Twilight Sparkle turns towards her friends, speaking in a murmur.

“This just doesn’t add up…”

Applejack places her hat atop her head before commenting.

“It does seem awfully strange; even for Pinkie...”

Several of the ponies recoil back as Rainbow Dash flies into the center of the group, arms thrown up.

“We should be doing something!”

Rarity instinctively begins to fix her mane that Rainbow had unsettled.

“Abrupt as she may be, I think Rainbow Dash has a point.”

Twilight lifts her hoof off of the ground.

“What can we do? There couldn’t be a more difficult pony to trace...”

The worried commotion of Twilight’s friends begins to grow before Applejack steps in to stop it.

“Regardless of where she is, all we can do now is hope she’s okay. It won’t do Pinkie no good if we work ourselves into a panic.”

Twilight gives AJ a gentle smile, to which Applejack happily matches.

* * *

Pinkie winces as the knife sinks beneath her skin.

“Wonderbolt commanders?”

Lane twists the blade further with his magic.

“Canterlot emergency bunkers?”

The colt straightens Pinkie’s slouching head with levitation.

“What the princesses do on holidays?”

Pinkie Pie stares vacantly at the dirt floor, further enraging Lane. For the first time, he abandons his magic, and instead strikes the pony with his hoof.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?”

The stallion waits for a response that would never come. Defeated, he removes the blade from Pinkie’s shoulder, bringing a strand of blood with it.

“...Don’t think for a second you’ve won this; I’m quite dedicated to my career.”

The metal clangs loudly as Lane drops it on the table, crimson splattering on the cold surface.

“And ponies have a lot of blood to bleed, Miss Pie.”

Lane wipes hopelessly at a dark splotch on his suit, before maneuvering around the table and towards the edge of the room. He’s making his way out when a peculiar sound draws his attention back to the cage.

“Aheh… ha heh ha…”

The stallion stands motionless as he watches the pony behind the bars give him a chilling grin, her mane no longer hanging over her eyes.

“Aha ha ha ha!”

For once, it was Pinkie’s stare that holds Lane frozen in place. Pinkie presses herself against the rusting bars, her laughter slowly growing out of control.

“HA HA HA HA HE HA HA!”

A tap on the back finally frees Lane from his prison.

“Sir, someone’s broken into the base! What are your orders?”

The suited colt only briefly watches the guard before turning back to the prisoner. She continues to lose herself, blood leaking over her mouth and onto her neck.

“Sir?”

Lane finally makes his way out of the room, and Pinkie Pie’s howling laughter fades into a haunting echo.