Pinkamena
Chapter 1
"This Party's going to be awesome!"
"Ah'm excited for it to!"
"These decorations are fabulous dear!"
"Thanks for inviting us Pinkie!"
"Cutie Mark Crusaders party ponies are go!"
"I'm so glad you could make it mom, and you too dad!"
Friends.
Family.
"Happy birthday dear Pinkie, happy birthday to you!"
Joy.
"Time to blow out the candles!"
Wish.
"Fire! Fire!"
"It's spreading!"
"We have to get out of here!"
"I don't wanna die! I don't even have mah cutie mark yet!"
"We're not going to die Applebloom, we need to get out of here though, fast!"
Accident.
Falling beams.
"Applejack!"
"She's unconscious!"
"We're trapped!"
"My wing is broken, I can't fly!"
"Help us Pinkie!"
"Go through the door to the twin's room, you'll be able to climb out the window."
"It's locked! I can't get it open!"
Fire.
Horror.
"There's too much fire!"
"Save yourself Pinkie!"
Escape.
Death.
Sorrow.
"She's badly burnt! Somepony help me get her to the hospital!"
"No!.. NO! We have to go... gogogo... back!... I have to save them!"
"Ms. Pie? I'm so sorry, we searched the wreckage... There were no survivors."
Guilt.
"All died on my account! I should have died as well!"
Mind.
Breaking.
"Is she alright?"
"She looks asleep."
Remedy the situation.
"I'm so sorry... Mom, Dad, Bella, Quarry, Twilight, Applejack, Gummy, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Pumpkin and Pound cake, ...Dashie. I'm so so sorry."
"Oh Shit! Somepony cut her down!"
"She's barely breathing."
Remedy Failed.
"Let's check with Dr. Wilson."
"It's a case of survivors guilt from what I can tell."
"I'm afraid Ms. Pinkamena here has gone quite mad."
"So I must say that she will be sent to Rutledge asylum for an unknown period of time."
Trapped.
Forever.
10 years.
"She has gotten quite better. However she's still possibly dangerous so we must find someone to take care of her for now."
"I'll do it."
Kindness.
"Pleased to meet you Pinkie I'm Dr. Bumby, I'm going to take care of you now."
"Don't call me that... Only my friends called me Pinkie but they're gone now... My name is Pinkamena."
"You know Pinkamena, they say that everypony's mind is really just a huge world. That all memories and all things forgotten are still there."
Wonderland.
"They say everyone important in your life has a counterpart there."
"I have devised a method of hypnotism that I think will help you."
"I'll set you free, Pinkamena. Memory is more often a curse than a blessing."
Forgetting.
"Have you ever been on a train Pinkamena? I just love them."
"Relax, you're floating, weightless. Now go to Wonderland."
"I'd rather not doctor, if it's a representation of my mind then it's shattered, it's dead to me."
"Your preference doesn't signify girl, now go to Wonderland."
"These memories are unproductive Pinkamena, let's discard them shall we?"
"Time to wake up, Pinkamena."
The grey unicorn clapped his hooves and Pinkamena snapped to her senses, she was in Dr. Bumby's office and was lying back on the therapy sofa. Her eyes darted around the bland room. It was poorly decorated, no features particularly stood out aside from a large black desk that dominated the back near the window, Dr. Bumby was sitting in a chair in front of her, in his hoof he held a gold pocket watch with his lucky key dangling from the chain. He had thick black glasses that perfectly framed his hazelnut eyes, his mane and tail were a shade of dark brown.
"How do you feel Pinkamena?"
"Awful, my head is a mess and I feel like a rhino sat on my back."
"Yes, well the cost of forgetting is high, now then I have other patients to tend to but I need you to pick up your medications from the chemist."
"Yes doctor."
Pinkamena turned herself over, got up out of the therapist sofa and wandered out of the office. She could hear Dr. Bumby's voice talking to his next patient
"Now Peachy, your mother was put in jail for killing your father who beat you... Let's forget that shall we?"
Pinkamena wandered the streets of Ponyville glumly. She didn't talk to anypony anymore, and nopony talked to her. Some ponies thought that she was to blame for the fire, some avoided her because they thought she was dangerous, and some just felt didn't want to talk to her for fear of bringing up sensitive topics.
Then something caught Pinkamena's eye, a green reptilian tail flicked out from the corner of an alleyway.
"Gummy?"
Pinkamena shook her head. It couldn't be Gummy, he died in the fire as well.
"Still it couldn't hurt to look..."
The ex-party pony wandered into the alleyway and what she found was quite surprising indeed. In front of her was an alligator that looked almost identical to Gummy, except it was bigger, much bigger almost as tall as Pinkamena. The huge reptile looked malnourished and it's rib-cage was visible through it's scaly green hide.
The creature grinned at Pinkamena showing her a toothless smile.
"Did you miss me, Pinkie?" it said in a smooth voice that ran a chill up Pinkamena's spine
"But... you're supposed to be dead."
The Alligator flicked it's tail and wandered around her. "Yes, well, I am dead, so to speak. This is simply how your mind chooses to remember me. You know Dr. Bumby's theories about Wonderland? He's right about all that you know."
Pinkamena was backing out of the alley, thoughts spun through her head of being sent back to the asylum. "Y... You're not real."
"Not really, no"
"If Dr. Bumby taught me anything, it's that hallucinations appear for a reason. What's your purpose here Gummy?"
The alligator's demeanor changed, it's expression darkened and his eyes looked weary. "A new law reins in your Wonderland, and the destruction of Wonderland is the destruction of you. The world is corrupted Pinkie, madness is returning."
"I see... and what do you expect me to do about it? Most ponies just think of me as that crazy mare now, I'm no hero. I'm just the mare that everyone used to be friends with."
Gummy began to cover with a bright yellow light then he faded to nothingness . that's when Pinkamena noticed the cracks, small white cracks seemed to be forming around her, slowly getting wider and wider, until eventually the ground broke, the world around her shattered like a broken sheet of glass and she then began to fall...
Pinkamena floated gently towards the ground below her, the air was cool, a gentle breeze blew her mane and the pink pony could smell a distinctly sweet scent on the wind. As she landed she got a better look at her surroundings and found a curious sight. The land around her was what resembled a large valley with dense foliage ahead of her. Perhaps the most curious part of this valley was that everything seemed to be formed from candy, the pathway she stood on she identified as cookie crumbs, and the tree leaves were made from frosting. a lollipop with butterfly wings perched on a pink sugar flower nearby and a thin pink tongue popped out from the front of the lollipop before it began to drink sugary nectar.
"Is this my Wonderland?" Pinkamena wondered aloud "It's not as bad as I thought."
A strange noise that sounded like a unicorn's magic flaring up came from behind Pinkamena causing her to turn towards the source. She found herself once again looking at her dead pet alligator who had seemingly materialized from thin air.
"Isn't it beautiful Pinkie?" came Gummy's chilling voice "It's called the Vale of Frosting, it represents your innocence, or so we residents of Wonderland like to think."
"My innocence?" Pinkamena snorted at the idea. "I'm surprised this place is as beautiful and well... intact as it is."
Now it was Gummy's turn to snort. "A new law rains here Pinkie, a tyrannical evil law that corrupts everything, the vale will not last much longer against the onslaught. Even now these dark forces are attacking us."
Pinkamena faced her head to the ground and shuffled one of her front hooves through the cookie crumbs. "I've not come here looking for a fight."
The alligator's face twisted into a smile. "That's a pity, one's certainly looking for you." And with that he faded away like he had done back in Ponyville.
As she found herself once again alone Pinkamena decided to follow the trail into the forest of frosted trees before her. The inside of the forest presented more strange and beautiful sights, inside were giant versions of party supplies and toys, a huge bridge made from a candle, and a tunnel formed from a party hat. It was hard for her to think that anything evil was in this place, and yet she felt this nagging sense of fear. As Pinkamena continued through the trail not much happened, but soon she came across a clearing in the forest. In front of her was Gummy, he was circling a large grey stone with a glistening object stuck into the top. Upon closer inspection the object was a long knife with a light pink tinge, in the side was an inscription in florid writing reading: "Tua vera beatitudo est meus potestatem."
"What is this Gummy?"
"This, dear Pinkie is the Roseate Blade, It is said to have once been the source of all joy in Wonderland but it has grown dim since the fire at Sugarcube, the inscription is written in an ancient language which none have been able to translate, some say that it is the secret to how a weapon brought so much joy."
Pinkie opened her mouth to respond but was abruptly silenced by a sickening bubbling noise that came from behind her. The source of the noise was a pool of a thick black tarry substance that had spilled out from the ground. The liquid began to twist and move as though it had a mind of it's own. Pinkamena was horrified at the twisting and twitching liquid which was slowly growing bigger until it reached the same size as The fuchsia pony.
Pinkamena could see the creatures proper form now, the liquid had twisted into the shape of a earth pony. She turned her head to the reptile. "Gummy, what is that monster?"
"It's called an Insidious Ruin Pinkie, it's one of the servants of the Infernal Train."
"What?"
"There's no time to explain right now." Gummy picked up the Roseate Blade with his scaly jaws and tossed it to Pinkamena "Now is the time you must fight!"
The Ex-inmate looked down at the pink blade lying between her fore-hooves. "I have to kill it?"
The Insidious Ruin Twitched spasticly before a large eyeless porcelain doll head burst from it's throat and replaced the sphere of ooze atop it's neck. then two large tentacles formed from it's tarry sides and it let out a mechanical snarling noise before lunging at Pinkamena.
The Insidious Ruin slammed into Pinkamena forcing her to the floor, Gummy backed away from the creature and disappeared in his strange way. The Insidious ruin held it's slimy fore-hooves down on Pinkamena's chest and lowered it's tentacles towards her neck. The air had changed for Pinkamena, no longer was it the sweet smell of candy blowing through the air, now it was the scent of garbage and rubber. The wet tentacles wrapped themselves around Pinkamena's neck before tightening their grip and crushing her windpipe. The pressure around the pink equine's throat was almost unbearable, she let out a wheezing gasp for help and she flailed her hooves desperatly hoping to get the beast off of her chest and neck.
That's when her lower hooves felt a cold patch among the cookie crumbs, as her right hoof explored the surface she recognized it as the Roseate blade. The Insidious Ruin was not oblivious to Pinkamena's struggling and tightened it's grip on her throat. with some effort the coral colored pony managed to hold the blade between her two lower hooves, she then stopped struggling and swung her lower hooves and the Roseate blade into the creature's stomach. The slime monster instantly reared it's porcelain head back and let out a robotic screech, it released it's grip and stumbled backwards, it's own ooze dripping from the wound in its belly.
Pinkamena rolled herself over and got back up so she faced the monster, she then picked up the Roseate blade in her mouth and attacked the Ruin by slashing at it's neck. The stab hit dead on causing the monster to roar and launch it's tentacles at Pinkamena's neck once more. This time however the pink pony was ready for it and with one fell swoop cut off each tentacle so all that remained were flailing stubs at the monster's sides. Then Pinkamena charged at the Insidious Ruin, her jaw clenched tightly around the wooden handle of the knife and she stabbed the Doll head with a mighty thrust. The Ruin stopped moving and it's ooze body detached from the head and soaked into the earth leaving no trace. The doll head fell from Pinkamena's blade and quickly burst into black flames making Pinkamena jump back quite frightened. As the flames died down nothing remained of the doll head. A familiar noise accompanied with yellow light greeted Pinkamena with Gummy's face.
"Why did you leave me?" asked the equine
"Because you had to do that on your own, you had to learn to fight, because you're going to be doing a lot more of it."
"But I don't want to fight, I just want to know what really happened all those years ago. Ever since the fire I've always felt this nagging sense that something wasn't right."
Gummy flicked his tail again and circled the ex-party pony slowly. "And something is wrong, but to find secret the best strategy is to look for one."
"Look where?"
"To start, you should travel to the Stitchery, you will find the Dressmaker's domain just beyond there."
"Dressmaker? You mean like Rarity?"
"Or what your sanity has caused her to become, yes."
"Then I shall go to this Stitchery. Gummy, I can't do this alone, Will you help me?"
"As I was your pet in life, I shall be you guide in death."
Pinkamena turned to the unexplored path out of the forest clearing. She didn't know anything about this new world, but she had a guide, a weapon, and a mission. A mission to find out the truth behind the death of everything she held dear.
