The Rift
Chapter 1 – Dead Silent
By John Bone
By all accounts, it had just been another normal day in Tampa, despite the all-day electrical storm that seemed to be taking place. A normal day for a normal high school student and his normal friends.
“What are they doing?” Jasmine asked.
I couldn’t help but smile at the intense stare-down that was taking place between Kylee and Dominic. The two had gotten into a friendly debate over Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, but neither of them had any evidence to really give any weight to their arguments, so they just assumed expressions of comical intensity and waited for the other to blink or laugh. Kylee, a half Cuban, half black girl with long, silk hair and full cheeks had her brows high and lips drawn back into a thin line, her head tilted backward and at an angle. Dominic, who was slightly shorter than his opponent, looked as disheveled as usual with his hair sticking up in various places. His right eye was significantly wider than the other and his neck was bulging veins with as hard as he was flexing it. Moments passed before they began to make mock straining noises before they broke into laughter.
“Gant most certainly raped Edgeworth!” Kylee declared to Jasmine between fits of giggles.
Jasmine laughed.
She then turned to me with a smile… God, I loved that smile… She was only four foot eleven, and weighed all of about ninety pounds, so when she drew me into an embrace, she had to rest her cheek on my chest, as I stood a solid five foot ten and outweighed her by about 105 pounds. We had been dating for almost six months, and I couldn’t possibly be happier… Jasmine made my life easier simply by existing! She was always there for me when I needed her… She was smart, beautiful, and had an uncanny ability to keep going, even under the most difficult of circumstances. It was an attribute I adored about her.
“Are we still on for later?” she asked.
Today was special. We were getting an opportunity that almost never presented itself! Her mother was letting her off the leash and allowing her to come over later to hang out.
I nodded and drew myself closer to her so that our foreheads were together. I locked gazes with her for several seconds before moist warmth filled my ear accompanied by a chattering of “BAWTHABAWTHABAWTHABAWTHA”.
I startled and turned about, coming face to face with Kevin.
Kevin was a tall guy with rather long, wavy hair. His lips were drawn into a thin line and he had his green eyes crossed over one another to resemble the “Me Gusta” face used in rage comics.
“Hello, Keith.” He greeted, maintaining his ridiculous visage.
“Kevin!” Jasmine bellowed in mock anger, striking him across the chest with her palm. “I’m going to put you on a boat!!”
Kevin only chuckled.
“So, we’re still good?” he asked.
Jasmine and I nodded in unison, confirming that the three of us were still to meet at my place in an hour.
A few minutes passed before Jasmine’s mother pulled up in her grey Pathfinder. Jasmine gave me and Kevin swift hugs and trotted happily to the vehicle, disappearing into the passenger’s side. Kevin took up his ruck and nodded toward the parking lot behind us, beckoning me to come with him as per usual. I retrieved my bicycle from the rack along the way and walked him to his home a few streets from the school.
“Still gotta clean your room?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, can’t have guests seeing the disaster I call a living space.” I replied.
He laughed. “But I see it all the time!”
At this I playfully socked him in the arm. “You’re my best friend! You don’t count!”
We shared a brief laugh before he turned into his driveway.
“See ya in an hour.” He said.
“Yeah, see ya!”
I then mounted my bike and pushed off, making for the intersection at the next right. I caught a flash of lightning then and looked up for a moment.
Please don’t rain… Not yet…
Then the thunder came… It wasn’t normal thunder, that was for sure… the sound came with a shockwave that knocked me clean off my bike! After taking a mouthful of dirt, I looked up, noting the electrical discharges emitting from the power lines. They didn’t last long, but it was enough to make me whip my cell phone from my pocket and make sure it still worked. It did… That ruled out my first instinct of an electromagnetic pulse… In fact, now that I was thinking about it, if it was a pulse, it wouldn’t have knocked me off my bike like that… I had to get home and see if everything was okay! I was only a block from my house, so it didn’t take long for me to arrive and find my way inside.
After disabling the security alarm, I shut and locked the front door as I always did and turned about, looking into the empty living room.
Looks like Mom's not home yet...
“Nina!?” I called.
“Yeah?” a voice responded.
I turned to face my sister, Christina. She stood an inch shorter than me and still had on her green apron from work. Her hair was kept in a short ponytail behind her head and she wore a confused expression.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
“I just wanted to know if you were okay. Something weird happened on the way home.”
“What?”
I took a moment to gather my thoughts before I began, feeling it unlikely that she would believe me…
“I shockwave knocked me off my bike and the wires started sparking…” I explained slowly.
Christina scoffed.
“It was probably just a sonic boom from some show-off airman at the base. Not everything means something huge is happening, Keith.”
I bit my lip and scratched the back of my head.
“I guess you’re right…”
She moved past me, removing her apron with an exhausted sigh. At this, I moved opposite her and made my way down the hallway to my room.
Better clean this place up before they arrive...
What I saw next defied all logical explanation…
My eyes were fixed on the floor as I walked. Upon crossing the threshold, my eye was caught by a strange streak along the wall just by my dresser.
What the Hell…?
I approached the streak and knelt down to examine it more closely. It was a dark brown… Had a faint, foul scent…
“What is this…?”
I heard a gasp then and spun about on my heel, startled.
There were similar streaks about my walls and carpet, but that’s not what caught my attention first… I wasn’t at all certain of what I was looking at initially, but I certainly recognized it… A pony… From My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic…
“Scootaloo?” I said aloud.
The orange-coated filly stared at me, eyes as wide as saucers and brows drawn up. She was terrified… And covered in a thick, red fluid… Blood…?
She gasped once more, acknowledging my words, and scurried to the far corner of my room, next to my bookcase.
“Who are you!? How do you know my name!?” she demanded.
I hesitated for a moment, then decided to close my door and set my bag down.
“My name is Keith… I know you because… I’ve seen you before, Scoots. Just relax… I’m not going to hurt you…”
As I cautiously picked my way across my room, I found myself questioning everything… Was she really here? Was I hallucinating again? Was I just crazy? Surely, I had to be seeing things…
The pathetic pegasus didn’t move. Only stared. Her frame was wired, she was ready to bolt at any second… I knelt beside her and extended my palm carefully. My fears were confirmed… She was real… Warm flesh, soft fur, slick blood… Nothing about this thing could be questioned. She was there… She was real…
“P-please pardon me a second… I need to make a couple phone calls…”
Scoots nodded. I surprised me a little bit that she didn’t question what a phone was, but I didn’t have time to really think about it. I whipped my phone from my pocket again and found Kevin in the contacts. He answered swiftly, as he always did.
“Hey.” He said.
“Kevin, you’re not gonna believe this…” I replied, feeling unsure of myself.
“What? What is it?”
There was a long pause due to my hesitation.
“There’s… There’s a pony in my room. A real pony. Scootaloo to be exact… She looks older than she does in the show…”
Another long pause. A really long pause…
“I see… Well then you’re not gonna believe this either.” He finally retorted.
“What?”
“I’m holding a filly Rainbow Dash in my arm right now. Looks like she can’t even talk yet…”
An idea struck me then. One I didn’t really understand myself… But I somehow knew it’d work…
“Get a cardboard box… Write ‘Give to good home’ on it and put it out on the sidewalk.”
“Seriously, man? You’re gonna have me pull a My Little Dashy?” he asked.
“Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”
Yet another pause… I could hear the sounds of shuffling, and a garage door opening. More shuffling, then a plop.
“Alright. I’m on my way over. See you in ten minutes.”
He didn’t even wait for a response before hanging up.
What’s going on here…? Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash… In real life…?
My phone buzzed in my hand then, startling me out of my thoughts. It was Jasmine…
“Jasmine, has anything weird been going on with you?” I asked before greeting.
“Keith, you’re not gonna believe this!!” My girlfriend cried into her phone. She sounded frightened but somehow a little excited…
“What is it?”
“My mom and James are gone! I don’t know where they are! But I’m on my way to your place with a strange surprise now.”
“A surprise, huh? I’ve got one Hell of a surprise waiting for you too… Jasmine, I think something’s happened…”
“Well, yeah, something’s happened! What do you have with you?”
“Not ‘what’, but ‘whom’…? And that would be Scootaloo. The real Scootaloo. She’s covered in blood, so I’m gonna try and clean her off. What do you have?”
For a few seconds, Jasmine was quiet, and when she spoke, she sounded amazed.
“You have a pony with you too… I’m actually getting a ride from Ace Swift.”
I paused this time, trying to call the pony in question to mind…
“The soccer player?” I asked at last.
“Yeah! Now, I have to go, I’ll see you in a few minutes!” she declared.
“Okay, see ya.”
I hung up then and turned back to the frightened filly. She seemed to be a bit calmer now, but I still approached with caution.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“Those were my friends… They’re coming over…”
“What are you going to do to me?”
Scootaloo’s eyes were locked on mine with a controlled flame within them. She was still on edge, I could safely say that much, but she wasn’t quite sure if I was a threat… That stare was one of perception. She wanted to read me somehow…
I gave her a small smile and offered out a hand.
“I’m going to help you get that blood out of your coat.”
Her gaze softened then and she gave me a hoof with which to help her up. Upon regaining an upright posture, she gave a weak smile.
“What the fuck is that!!?” my sister bellowed in fright.
Before I could even turn around, she was halfway down the hall to our mother’s room to fetch the revolver. I gave chase, but she managed to find it and return to the hallway just as I passed her doorway at the half way point. She made an attempt to shove me, which put me on my rump, allowing her to step over me. I grabbed her ankle and yanked it out from beneath her, causing her face to meet the floor. I scrambled over her and made to block the doorway, only to have her slam into me, throwing me onto the corner of my bed, quite near to the candy-colored equine. My sister took aim then… I didn’t have time to hesitate! I quickly righted myself and shoved the grip of the gun upward, and threw a wild palm-punch into her ribcage. I heard the wind leave her, and made a snap decision to take it a step further by shifting my hand upward to grab the barrel of her weapon and yank it downward, effectively tearing it from her grip. This done, I took a step back and dropped to a squat in front of Scoots, throwing my arms to either side, making myself a barrier.
“Christina! Stop it! She’s not gonna hurt us!! She’s a friend!!”
Nina straightened her posture and looked at me as though I had three heads.
“Her name is Scootaloo… She’s from Ponyville, she’s not a threat… Now, I’m going to put the gun down and you two are gonna shake hands… Okay?”
Nina nodded slowly. I was quite surprised that she actually decided to cooperate in such a civil manner, given how frightened she must have been… Scoots offered out a hoof, which my sister took and gave a single shake.
“Where am I?” Scoots asked.
“You’re in Tampa, Florida. How did you get here?”
Scoots looked down, seemingly lost in thought for a few seconds.
“I’m not sure… Last thing I remember was… Rainbow Dash… Chasing me down… I blacked out, then woke up here…”
“Dash was chasing you? Why?” I asked.
“I was just trying to get out…”
“Out of what?”
The beaten pony paused again, then took a breath before answering.
“The Rainbow Factory…”
My heart sank. I knew a story like that… Wait…
I know a story like that…
“Scootaloo,” I asked. “Do you know Aurora Dawn?”
Scoots visibly winced at the mention of that name.
“I… Knew her…”
Oh my god… She’s from that story…? No, no, that’s impossible! But… then again, the fact that I’m even talking to her is impossible… Maybe it can happen…?
There was a rhythmic knock at the door then. I recognized it. Kevin had arrived. Upon opening the door, I was surprised to see not just Kevin, but Jasmine as well, dismounting an orange-coated colt with a blonde mane that I recognized to be Ace Swift. His face spoke of mild shock, but he didn’t seem quite afraid… Fascinated would be a better term…
“C’mon in, guys. We need to figure out what’s going on.”
The two nodded and stepped in, Ace trailing behind them. Once reaching my room again, Nina was seated in my rolling chair, eyeing Scootaloo with a gaze heavy with analysis.
“Hello there.” Jasmine greeted her. She did little more than glance and wave back.
After several minutes of talking and analysis, we decided there wasn’t enough evidence, recollection or really anything at all to go on and figured we should leave the subject alone for now. I looked over at Scootaloo, who was still coated in blood, for several seconds and made a snap decision.
“Come with me, Scoots. I’ll help you get that blood out of your coat.” I said, making to stand once again. My sister shot me a dirty look.
“You’re not serious, are you?”
My gaze shot to her, a scowl fixing itself on my face.
“Yes, I’m serious. She looks like she could use it… And there’s blood all over my carpet, so let’s not spread that about the house, shall we?”
Scoots nodded an agreement and uttered a small “Thank you” before staggering to her feet and trotting to my side. I grabbed a few towels from the closet directly left of my doorway and strolled to the bathroom across from Christina’s room. Scootaloo crawled into the tub and sat down upon her rump, staring at the shower’s controls. I chuckled and adjusted the showerhead so that when the water flowed, it wouldn’t spray the small six-by-eight room. When the warm stream made contact with the filthy filly, she practically melted into a little orange puddle and slid down the drain. Her mouth fell open and she raised her neck up to allow more area for which the liquid to cover. If “pleasure” had a face, Scootaloo was wearing it.
“My Celestia… It’s like liquid paradise…” she muttered.
I smiled, adoring how content she looked. The red drained out of her coat like thick ketchup, and glided easily down the drain. Soon she was void of any color but her own brilliant orange and deep violet. Her eyes locked onto mine for moments at an interval of about ten seconds each, and each time we gazed into the other’s eyes, I realized that a new light shown in them. One of life and vigor. Happiness… Contentment… A certain spark that only showed between friends…
“You said your name was Keith, right?” she asked in a somewhat dreamy tone.
“Yes. It’s my middle name and the one by which my friends refer to me.” I replied.
“Thanks… For not freaking out the way the other one did.”
I nodded.
“Yeah, my sister was just as startled as I was, but certainly handled it a lot differently. Don’t worry, though. She won’t do it again.” I stated matter-of-factly.
“That’s good… She really scared me.” The young equine retorted before looking to me once more. “Could you step out? I’d like to dry off now.”
Without even giving it a second thought, I stood and pushed the door open to step into the hallway where I heard the cool, level-headed voice of my mother, muttering about stains drifting from my room. I made my way in to see her with her head in her hands, seated upon my futon. The others were keeping their distance, Ace particularly. She clearly wasn’t taking this well…
“Hey, Mom,” I said.
Technically, she wasn’t my biological mother, but I thought of her that way. She was still in her scrubs from work, so she must have just then arrived. My mother wasn’t exactly very tall, nor was she very intimidating at first glance as she weighed all of about ninety pounds and stood a meager four-foot-eleven. She looked at me with a look I hadn’t seen before… Confusion… True confusion… My mother had a genius I.Q. level… Seeing her like that, I had to stop myself from panicking…
“Keith. I can’t believe I’m asking you this, but do you have any idea what’s going on?” she said.
“I don’t have a clue…” I sadly retorted.
Another massive shockwave rocked the earth then. This one was much stronger than the last one, as it sent me clear into my open closet. Upon righting myself, I realized that everything had gone dark.
“Guys!? Everyone! Where are you!?” I called.
A beam of light split the darkness after a moment. Kevin had found my flashlight… Everyone seemed so be alright, so I called out.
“Mom! We need to check outside!”
“Alright!! I have to get to the gun safe!!”
I heard her shuffling into the hall, then into my sister’s room. I took to the hall myself, plowing out the front door into the space between the door and the fence of my neighbor’s yard. The sky was as black as midnight… At four o’clock in the afternoon…
“How the Hell is that possible!?” Jasmine cried, looking up from my right.
“Keith. Take this.” Kevin said.
I craned my head about to look at him, realizing he was offering me the Louisville Slugger I kept at my bedside. I took it, and looked out over my front yard. I could make out a single figure… A human… A… A man!
“Sir!” I called to him.
The man turned slowly… But not because he was afraid… In fact, I couldn’t read an expression from where I stood… But upon a two-pace advance… I understood why… He had with which to make an expression… The Slender Man…
“Everyone inside… EVERYONE INSIDE!!!” I bellowed, shoving Kevin backwards toward the door. A swift retreat earned us safe haven in the house again, but I decided it was time to make fortifications. I ran into the living room and swiftly pushed one of the two couches in front of the door, only to recoil so violently, I fell onto my rump. The door was being pounded… Hard… Very hard… So hard in fact, the couch was shifting with each impact. I heard a distinctive growling sound on the other side. It was… Unnatural… Yet somehow vaguely familiar…
“What the Hell is that!?” my mother called from Nina’s room.
“I have no idea!” I replied.
Terror gripped me then… I had no idea what was going on! Everything was going wrong!! Nothing made sense anymore! A shriek sounded then, accompanied the sound of breaking glass. My eyes swept to the glass door behind the couch on the other side of the living room. A white figure was hopping over the couch… My panic and adrenaline had me watching in slow motion… To my own horror, I recognized the creature… An equine form, bleached white… A dirty bandanna wrapped about it’s eyes… It was a monster from a fanfiction I’d read a few months back… Silent Ponyville by Jake Heritagu… The beast was called a White Filly… It was very quick and operated by entirely by smell… And it’s sights were set right on me. I let out a scream, only to be silenced when the heavy beast landed upon my chest with a blood-chilling scream. It’s bellow was cut short by a face-full of buckshot. The corpse slumped upon me and was pushed off by Jasmine, who had my father’s twelve-gauge shotgun in her grasp.
“You okay?” she asked.
I didn’t say a word, but instead scrambled to my feet and gripped my bat, wielding it like a sword at the still shaking door. The wood was beginning to crack… I saw Nina come out of the kitchen wielding a large steak knife out of the corner of my eye. Mom was scrambling to her when the door failed… Another creature I –still to my horror- recognized scrambled through… Yet another equine shape, missing its eyes and front left hoof… It was called a Groaner… In slow motion, I watched as its teeth sank directly into the blonde hair of my mother… She went down on the spot…
“NO!!!!!!”
My bellow came long and loud, lasting as long as the assault I launched on the Graoner’s head until it failed, collapsing in on itself… Upon the failure, I fell to my knees, weeping openly…
My mother had just been claimed by a monster that wasn’t supposed to exsist… And my father wasn’t about to even help… He had been deployed several months before….
I found myself joined by y sister and Jasmine… All was quiet, aside from our uncontrolled sobs… It took us several minutes to compose ourselves, but upon the advent of self-control, we each stood.
“It’s not safe here… We have to get moving… Everyone grab a weapon and whatever ammo for that respective weapon.” I commanded.
Ten minutes passed before we found ourselves in a place that only a few of our party recognized. It was Ponyville… Or what was left of it… Neglect was everywhere… the structures were barely standing… Rust, blood and God knows what else was lining them, along with a rather thick silence… One I hated… The kind of silence that came with survival/horror games… We found ourselves in a nightmare… One of my worst nightmares… Nina spoke up after about half an hour of wandering about the area surrounding the house… It seemed to be a field of dead grass, with a path leading into town… But I was in no mood to deal with her hysteria.
“Keith, do you mind explaining to me just what the Hell is going on here!?”
“Shut up, Christina.”
“Keith! Where is town!? What the Hell are these…. These… THINGS doing here!?” she cried out, jabbing a finger at Scootaloo and Ace.
“I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME FUCKING THINK FOR ONE GODDAMN SECOND!!!!!!!”
I was losing it… I could feel the icy fingers of madness raking down my spine… This place -no-, this Hell… It was really getting to me… The Groaner devouring my mother… the White Filly nearly claiming my own life… The disappearance of the only city in all the places I’ve ever moved to and from that I could even remotely call “home”… It was too much… I’d had nightmares like this many times before but… This…
“This is real.” I said aloud.
“Keith…” Jasmine said soothingly, placing a tender hand on my shoulder. “Don’t push yourself too much. We’re all as confused as you are.”
I turned my head only slightly in acknowledgment of her touch.
“I know… But I’m the one who’s supposed to figure this out. I know it…”
“Keith?” my sister said.
“What!?” I snapped back irritably.
“Stop being so melodramatic. You’re probably not going to figure this out. You’re just a Junior in high school. This isn’t an anime-”
I cut her short, taking a rough grip on the front of her shirt.
“WOULD YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!!? I’M THE ONE WHO HAS A GRIP ON THIS SITUATION HERE!!! NOT YOU!!! NOW DO YOU WANNA FUCKING LIVE!!?”
The look on her face was one I’d seen a million times before. A look that said “I’m better than you.”. I hated that look… More than anything, I hated that look… Acting on pure instinct, I brought my hand back to slap that damned look right off of her, but stopped myself. This was getting us nowhere…
“We need to get to Sugar Cube Corner.” I stated matter-of-factly.
“What makes you so sure?” she spat as I shoved her back.
“I’m not sure of anything right now. But judging by the way things look, we might find something there.”
“You’re being stupid, Keith.” she said again.
It took me a moment, but I stopped myself from hitting her once again. God knew, she deserved whatever I would deal out, but it wouldn’t help to continue this bickering, so I turned to Kevin and Jasmine.
“You guys ready?”
They nodded in response.
“Well… Heaven or Hell…” I said, prompting the other two.
“LET’S ROCK!!!” they shouted in unison.
The desolate remains of Ponyville seemed to roll of for eternity, but after some time, we came upon the building in question. A few Groaners were sighted along the way, but they weren’t a concern. Christina had a few times clung to my arm, and I tolerated it. Still, even at a time like this, she still looked at me as an inept, helpless little boy… Then when trouble arose, clung to me as though I were our father…
Hypocrite… I thought bitterly to myself.
Kevin was the first to attempt opening the door.
“It’s locked.” He stated.
“Locked?” I repeated, tilting my head a bit.
He nodded and jimmied the knob louder to demonstrate.
I cursed beneath my breath, then made for the side of the building, looking it over carefully. The front door led into the actual shop and bakery itself… Pinkie Pie lived above it, didn’t she…?
“We need to find a second-story window.”
Kevin looked at me, then tilted his head.
“Pinkie Pie lives on the second floor. Maybe she’s here. Maybe she can explain a little of what’s going on.” I explained.
Christina looked less than convinced.
“What makes you so sure she’s even there? And just who is this “Pinkie Pie” you keep talking about?”
Scootaloo interjected.
“Pinkie’s still alive?”
I nodded at the filly, then turned back to my sister.
“To be honest, I’m not sure anyone or anypony is in this place. I just have a hunch… And to answer your other question: Pinkie Pie is a pony, like Scootaloo here. She’s affectionately known as Ponyville’s “Party Pony”. She’s sweet, happy, and laughs all the time.”
“Oh great, another fucking cartoon horse to deal with.” she huffed.
“Deal with it…” I retorted.
She opened her mouth to speak again, but simply shook her head.
It took the collaborative effort of Jasmine, Kevin, Scootaloo and myself, but after a solid ten minutes of searching, we found our way in and a means to get to it. Scoots flew each of us up, then slipped inside the broken window herself. We were in Pinkie’s bedroom. It was dark, so our flashlights illuminated the space. The closet was open… A hole-filled balloon spilled out onto the floor…
“There’s a door here.” Jasmine said across the room, reaching for the knob.
“Jasmine wait!!” I called out, but it was too late.
She recoiled in absolute horror at the sight before her. The room was caked and covered in blood… There were words scrawled about in various places as well. “Help me”, “Pain” and messages of that nature… My dear friend was gagging. Kevin went about patting her.
“What’s in there?” he asked absently.
“Something straight out of a grimdark fan fiction.” I replied.
God, that room smelled awful… Still, if my suspicions were correct, there was something even worse in that blood-filled bathtub… I mustered as much courage as I could and peeked in, only to gag just like Jasmine had. There it was… Gummy. What was left of him, rather… Mouth agape, but empty of anything…
“She’s at the school.” I stated, recalling that awful piece of writing…
“Horses have school?” My sister asked, her hand over her mouth in an attempt to shield herself from the stench of death.
“Yes, Nina, now let’s move!”
Upon exiting the same way we came in, I looked about in deep thought, recalling every detail I could about the show, fanfiction, and anything else I could grasp at. After a minute of contemplation, I broke east, feeling in my satchel for my map. As we all walked, I looked over the thing as carefully as I could manage. It was too bare… No marks, no ledged… Nothing… Just different sized squares and rectangles…
“This thing is useless!!” I almost shouted, shoving it into Jasmine’s hands.
“Lemme see it.” Christina ordered, snatching it away from Jasmine with a huff.
She too came to the same conclusion.
“What kind of map doesn’t have a legend!?”
I turned my head and peered at her out of the corner of my eye.
“A map given to somepony that knows their way around in a grimdarkfanfiction.” I informed her.
“Uh, guys? The radio’s acting up again.” Kevin said, waving the walkie a bit.
My senses went on high alert then. Quick glances revealed nothing in such thick fog.
“Kev? You see anything ye-”
My sister let out a heart-stopping screech and launched herself to hide behind Scoots who was screaming too.
There!
Bat at the ready, I turned toward the direction my sister had hurled herself. There was yet another White Filly, lapping at the air and shrieking. It made it’s way right past me… No… It caught scent of Nina!!
“NINA, RUN!!!!!” I cried.
She stood frozen in place…
I knew I didn’t have time to make a move… The thing was too fast… It was too late…
A shot rang out then. The filly fell…
“You guys okay?” Jasmine asked, rushing over to the frightened girls.
Kevin simply looked to me and smiled, popping the breach of the shotgun in his grasp open and pulling out the used shell. He saved their lives…
“Nice… Shot…” I thanked him hazily.
“You alright, bro?”
No. No, I wasn’t okay… The world as I knew it had turned in to a grimdarkfanfic and it was the responsibility of three high school students, a bitchy older sister, and a few cartoon characters to figure out what to do about it… I was losing my mind… I’d watched my step mother, no, my mother be eaten alive by a small monster that opperated entirely by scent… What kind of question was that, anyway!?
I stopped and took a breath.
“Yeah. I’m okay. Scootaloo?”
The still-quaking pegasus looked to me with the same dilated eyes as she had when I found her earlier that afternoon. I knelt next to her and wrapped my arms about her neck.
“It’s okay. You’re safe. You have Kevin, Jasmine and I to protect you… We won’t let anything hurt you… You aren’t in that factory anymore. You don’t have to fend for yourself all the time. We’re here. Just remember that… Okay?”
She had stopped quaking, but tears of fear still fell from her eyes.
“Okay. Okay, Keith, I’ll remember that.”
My eyes didn’t leave hers for several moments. I could hear Nina yelling at me for comforting the blood-spattered mare first, but I paid no mind.
Scootaloo sniffled, then leaned forward a bit. Her eyes spoke of a certain connection… I wasn’t at all sure at first what she was doing, but her advance didn’t stop. A hoof found its way onto my cheek… It hit me then what she was about to do… But for some reason, I didn’t stop her… I couldn’t… Her lips met mine for a long moment. Said lips were salty from sweat and had a hint of copper from blood, but I didn’t pull away. Instead, my left hand let go of my weapon, allowing it to clatter on the pavement and slide up the nape of her neck. I found myself actually enjoying the kiss… Not because I was weird and had some kind of unnatural sexual attraction to the mare, but rather because she saw me as something more than just a useless Brony. The kiss broke after a few more moments of bliss, and when it did, Kevin and Jasmine were looking off at something. As expected, my sister was on a tirade about how what I had just done was something punishable by God.
“Would you just shut up already?” I barked.
“What did you just-”
Jasmine interjected.
“We’re here.”
I looked at her.
“We’re where?”
“The school. Looks like your hunch was right.”
Following her line of sight, I saw the dilapidated schoolhouse, bell tower and all.
“Sweet. Let’s go inside.”
Jasmine nodded, then paused a moment smiling at me.
“Did you like it?” she asked.
I tilted my head.
“The kiss?”
She nodded “yes”. I returned the nod, then threw out a quick apology. She took it with yet another smile and explained that she totally understood as we approached the door.
Now that I was thinking about it, having Jasmine with us through all of this was making it easier… She knew just as much as I did about Friendship is Magic, if not more. Her positive mannerisms were a bit odd, however… The world had turned into something she never wanted to read, much less experience, and yet she still had the emotional capacity to smile…
“That’s why I love you.” I said aloud.
She gave a light chuckle with a half-shrug. “I know.”
“Lights on, everyone. It’s gonna be dark in there.” I said.
As we walked through the rusted hallway, I got the unsettling feeling that I was forgetting something… But for the life of me, I couldn’t tell what.
“Pinkie! Pinkie Pie! Are you here!? Pinkie, we need your help!!” I called into the dark corridors.
This is where she saw those two fillies playing… Then she ducked into her old classroom…
“Search the classes. She’s in one of them.” I ordered.
“Found her.” Kevin’s response immediately came.
Sure enough, there she was, carefully examining a sheet of paper on one of the desks. Her level of focus made it understandable that she hadn’t heard us…
“Pinkie Pie…” Scootaloo stepped into the room, seemingly mesmerized by the likeness of her old friend. “You haven’t aged a day…”
Pinkie startled for a second, and looked up. For several seconds, the pink mare simply stared at each of us, then broke into a full-on sprint, diving for Scoots and tackling her to the ground.
“Scootaloo!!” she sobbed.
She was happy, that was good… But now to get down to brass tacks… Quietly as I could, I made to kneel beside the two happily reunited friends.
“Excuse me, Miss Pie?”
Pinkie looked up at me, joyful tears still in her eyes.
“Wh-Who are you? What are you?” she asked.
Before I could answer, Scootaloo interjected.
“This is Keith. He’s my friend. He’s not a pony, but he knows a lot about us… He’s call a “Human”. He lives in a place called “Tampa, Florida”, but it seems that Ponyville has sort of… Blended with his… He found me… Introduced me to his friends,” she gestured to Jasmine first, who was smiling like a loon with Pegasister excitement at the sight of her favorite party pony.
“This is Jasmine. She’s a very close friend… She’s absolutely amazing! She helped me get all the blood out of my coat after Keith found me,”
She gestured to Kevin then, who was examining my father’s Glock.
“That’s Kevin. He’s really nice and an amazing fighter. He knows a lot about us too… Not as much as Keith and Jasmine, but still.”
Pinkie’s eyes examined each of us as Scoots explained. With each introduction (from which my sister was omitted) she gave a small smile and a nod, seeming to take rather quickly to the existence of creatures beyond ponies.
“It’s nice to meet you.” she said to each of us, offering a hoof that we all shook.
One of her hooves was injured… A bite from a White Filly, as I recalled.
“May I ask what that is in your hoof?”
I already knew. It was a drawing of her family, missing Bellamina, but I didn’t want to frighten her…
“It’s a drawing.” she said.
“What of?”
“My family… But something’s missing…”
I offered a smile, and hold out my right hand.
“May I see?”
Sure enough, the picture was a crudely drawn barn and a small family of five…
“Bellamina’s missing.” I stated.
Pinkie nodded, having already had the realization herself. I crossed over to the desk Pinkie had been standing over when we came in and opened it. Just like I thought… I lifted the blue contrabass jewel and showed it to the group.
“I think this was for you, Pinkie.”
Upon tossing it to her, she admired it.
“Wow… It’s beautiful…”
My memories played through my head quickly as I looked about the classroom.
“Pinkie, could you check your own desk? Kevin, try the teacher‘s.”
They complied quickly, Kevin producing a note and Pinkie a jewel of a similar style to the contrabass. It was a red balloon… Right… I gestured a rolling motion to Kevin, prompting him to read his note.
“At the eve of the switch from night to morning, the red moon will shine. Whatever that means…”
Jasmine called our attention to the hallway. The foals were playing further down.
“We should follow them.” Pinkie said.
Initially, we walked toward them, but they ran away. It wasn’t long before we were giving chase. Eventually we came to a room labeled as a janitor’s closet.
This part… There’s a puzzle in there… Then what…? Jeez, of all times for my memory to give out, why now?
I led everyone inside, finding the familiar clock and portraits of the princesses. I wasted no time.
“Pinkie, may I have the jewels we found in the classroom?”
She handed them over without question.
“What are you doing?” Jasmine asked.
“Solving this puzzle.” I replied making toward Luna’s likeness and the hole it was wrapped around. I placed the contrabass there, then the balloon with Celestia.
When nothing happened, my sister barked.
“What the Hell is that supposed to do? It obviously didn’t work.”
I turned my head to glare at her.
“Let me work,”
She went quiet.
“The switch between night and day… Midnight,” I mumbled to myself, moving the clock’s hands to the twelve o’clock position.
A soft whining sounded somewhere in the distance. From where, I couldn’t tell… A siren…
“Keith? What did you just do?” Nina asked with a shaky voice as the light above us dimmed into black.
“I don’t know!” I said, reaching into my bag , fumbling with my flashlight.
The lights of each person and pony soon illuminated the tiny space, but before I could look up, I began to gag at the smell. Just like Pinkie’s bathroom back at the bakery…
Still, I couldn’t stop myself. I looked up only to reel backward and gag once again at what I saw. Two fillies, strung up on the wall by rusted wrought iron chains… Their entrails painted the walls and floor about them… It was truly something to wretch at, but I gulped down the bile that burned my tongue and forced myself to inspect them. They’d been torn open, seemingly without the help of any tools… Old fashioned rip-and-tear was what did this… There was a single word scrawled in blood on the wall between them.
RUN
Jasmine, Christina, Scootaloo, Ace, Pinkie and I all let out lung-shattering shrieks as Kevin opened the door for us to flee. And flee we did… Kevin wasn’t screaming like the rest of us, but his eyes were wide. A few yards later, we all stopped to take in our surroundings… It wasn’t the same school… No, it looked like something straight out of a Silent Hill game… But I supposed that was what the writer had wanted… After all, the fiction was called Silent Ponyville… The hall was falling apart… Blood caked the wall and what little tile that was left above the grate, holding our panicked gang up. Pinkie and Kevin’s radios simultaneously began buzzing with static, and I got that feeling again… The one I’d gotten when we first arrived… That gnawing sense of forgetting something… But what!?
Damn it, what am I forgetting!!?
The sounds of footsteps suddenly split the darkness. My blood froze in my veins for a moment… Very slowly, I craned my head to look back at the sound…
“Jesus Christ…”
The creature my eyes settled on… Looked like…… A pony… Unnaturally tall… Thin as a twig… It wore a black suit… A red tie… But… It’s face… No… No, there was no face… Nothing… Nothing at all… No mane… No features… Nothing at all… Even the skin seemed to be thin… And… Fused directly on to the bone beneath… This thing… It was what I forgot… The SlenderPony… The creature that haunted my nightmares for weeks after reading the story… But this thing… It was real… Walking toward me… I had never felt terror like it before… In all my life… It was just like the fanfic… Just looking at the thing brought my thoughts to death… This creature simply… Emitted death… And it was getting closer in a slow… Steady… Gait…
“RUN!!!”
That was all the prompting everyone needed. Kevin merely took in a sharp breath while the rest of us screamed our lungs out as we tore down the hallway as fast as we could manage. Pinkie, Ace and Scoots were ahead of the pack, while I was dead last. My feet pounded the grate and my heart wailed against my ribcage. Still, even with all the noise, the footsteps were still sounding. Slow… Steady… Unwavering… I dared a glance back. He was just walking… Even so, he was gaining… Digging deep, I pushed myself faster and harder than ever before. I had to get away. I had to! I wasn’t about to die here!! I had too much to do!!! There was a door that everyone seemed to be filing into, Nina beckoning me to hurry. I poured on the power and dove through into the opening, crashing to the floor as the door closed behind me. The steps didn’t fade… They were just as loud and getting louder with each passing second… A quick glance around the room revealed a table, caked in blood and covered with rotten treats as well as a stack of presents. The door flew open once more, then closed. The seven of us were all huddled against the far wall, staring wide-eyed at our featureless assailant. Pinkie was the first to make a move, taking up a present and hurling it at the beast. Her forehead was splitting open… It seemed like the SlenderPony’s very being was tearing each of us apart, for I felt my own brow split and begin bleeding. Pinkie needed help… I withdrew my father’s Ruger from my waistband and quickly opened fire. Kevin followed suit, pumping two rounds of deer shot right into the beast’s frame. Jasmine also followed up, blasting away with her .30-.30. Scoots, Nina, and Ace simply screamed. The bullets seemed to do nothing… Pinkie’s gifts only stunned him momentarily… Soon we each ran out of ammo… Pinkie and I both got the same idea and proceeded to hurl the table at him. It shattered on impact, but still he came.
This was it…
It was over…
He stopped. Our radios went silent, and he stared at Pinkie, craning his head back to place a small box on the floor in front of her. Without as much as a gesture, he turned and left as the siren blared once again… Just like before, the world went dark…
In the light of my flashlight, I could see the faces of my small party… We were all exhausted. Pinkie wanted to say something, but she couldn’t. She merely choked on her words and lowered her head into a sobbing spell. Nina, Scoots, and even Ace followed suit… I too was unable to really do much. My legs gave out beneath me as I began to relive what had just happened. I’d almost died… Again… My vision began swimming with tears, but I was just able to stop myself.
“Is… Is everyone okay?” I was stammering…
A collective groan of affirmation sounded around me.
“That’s good,”
Don’t cry…
“That’s… That’s good…”
Don’t!!
I couldn’t help it… I broke… The tears came streaming in a burst of saliva that came with my throaty sobs. This was unlike me… I never consciously allowed myself to cry in front of people, but this… This world… This experience… Even my father, a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army, Special Forces –a Green Beret!- would have been terrified… I couldn’t handle it… I felt a small object come to rest around my shoulders. I lifted my head to see Scootaloo. Those wonderful, soft, lavender eyes examined me closely, a visage of concern painted on her face. I realized how pathetic I must have looked, and began a strange series of deep breaths, swallows and eye-rubs. Once I was calm enough to speak, I locked my eyes onto hers.
“I’m sorry…”
She nodded in response and tried to smile. I could tell very easily she was faking it… But That didn’t stop it’s effect. My tears dried and the energy I so desperately needed came back. I stood and went to the door.
“Let’s go to the cafeteria. Maybe we can find something to eat. We’re all pretty tired, and I think the carbs will do us some serious good… You particularly, Pinkie.”
Pinkie was quiet, but her tears still streamed down her face as she looked at me with a nod. She didn’t stand, either… She probably couldn’t.
“C’mon, Miss Pie.” I said, taking hold of her torso and lifting her up.
***
The cafeteria yielded little in the way of food, but there was a faucet that still gave cold water and five buckets. Pinkie dunked her head in the moment I sat the bucket before her. Scoots and Ace began lapping at theirs, while Nina, Jasmine and Kevin each tipped theirs and drank as though from a giant cup. I allowed the icy liquid to flow freely over the back of my head. My eyes stayed locked on the chrome finish of the sink before me, watching as the residual blood from my head wound swirled and ebbed about before disappearing down the rusted drain.
That thing… The Slender Pony… I thought to myself. There’s no way to kill it… Is there, God?
I wasn’t entirely sure why I was praying then. I just wished for some comfort… Being raised in a Baptist home had taught me that prayer could give comfort in times of desperation. Still, I couldn’t help but think back on old speculations about the city itself. Silent Hill was a world cut off… When things changed… The developers gave it a name… “Hell Mode”… Right? Baptist teachings state that when a soul is in Hell, God cannot hear them...
Does that mean You can’t hear me…?
A loud clanking sound brought me back to myself. After turning the tap to cease the flow of water, I turned to see my downtrodden party. Pinkie looked particularly sad. Her hair was straight, eyes devoid of their usual happy glaze, and a frown that could wrench even the coldest of hearts sat –seemingly stitched- upon her face. She was eyeing the box the Slender Pony had left for her and stroking a ribbon toward the tips of her mane.
“That’s a pretty ribbon, Miss Pie.” I said, breaking the thick silence that lay like a shroud over us. Pinkie nodded.
“It was a gift…”
From Gummy. I thought.
“Hey, Keith.” Jasmine called.
“Yeah?”
“What’s supposed to be in this thing, anyway?” she asked, holding up the box.
I looked to Pinkie and nodded toward the thing.
“He left it for you. You should open it.”
“I wanna smash it.” The party pony all but spat the phrase.
“I know, Pinkie. But just look at what’s inside before you do.”
When Jasmine pushed the box toward her, Pinkie lifted the lid and examined what was inside for several seconds, then lifted the contents out. It was a brass key. The old-fashioned kind with a long neck and small grooves at the end.
“Why’s this in here? Why would he give it to me?” Pinkie asked aloud, her face twisting into a pensive grimace.
Memories began flooding my mind as I examined it in her hoof.
“That’s the key to Sugar Cube Corner, isn’t it?” I asked, trying to recall, but being unable to find anything of great detail.
“It is. How’d you know?” Pinkie asked.
Scoots answered.
“Told you he knows a lot about us.”
Kevin spoke up then, breaking from his intense study of the rotten wall.
“We should head back.” he said.
I nodded.
“Before we do, though, let’s take inventory. How much ammo do we have?” Christina suggested. Finally, she decided to say something useful…
Jasmine, Kevin and I began rifling through what we had.
“I’ve got thirteen shells and two mags left.” Kevin said, closing his ruck sack and slinging it back over his shoulder.
“I’ve got a full mag right now and fifteen bullets left.” Jasmine stated, shoving a few of her 30-30 rounds into her pocket.
“I’ve got two mags left and five bullets in the one in the gun now. All-in-all, thirty-five rounds.” I finished, placing my father’s Ruger back into my waistband.
Nina nodded to each of us, then administered a piece of advice.
“Alright. No-one use any ammo unless it’s absolutely necessary. Got it?”
With each of us giving a nod of confirmation, I felt irritation pang in the back of my mind. I knew what she was doing… She didn’t like that I was in charge, so she was trying to undermine me by trying to give us advice that we didn’t need.
We’ve all played these games… We know how to conserve ammo… I thought bitterly at her.
The city was thick with snow… The pristine white blanket had a strangely pale hue to it, though. It gave the scenery a sense of sadness. Pinkie’s face had captured this sadness so perfectly, just glancing at her made my heart strain. Seeing such a happy soul as hers so out of place actually made me want to cry. This whole situation made me want to cry. We were alone in a hostile environment with little light, little ammunition and absolutely no training. Even Kevin, a master of hiding emotion, seemed to be a tad disheartened by the scene as his lips were tugged down ever so slightly. Jasmine looked exhausted yet I noticed—or maybe I was just seeing things—a shadow of a smile on her face, though her eyes were dim.That’s right…I recalled to myself she had never seen the snow before. Scootslooked just as depressed… Ace held his head low, staring at the ground before him, contemplating in perfect silence.
We soon came upon Sugar Cube Corner again and stopped at the door. Pinkie produced her key from her saddle-bag and pushed into the lock. When the lock clicked, the key turned to dust. I recalled that all the keys did that in the story, but there was something about the way it did that made it seem all the more melancholy. We all peered inside. As expected, the bakery was a black as midnight, with only a scant amount of light illuminating the floor before us. Pinkie set flame to her lantern and stepped inside. I drew my flashlight from my satchel and set it alight as well, stepping in behind her. The shop looked… Good? No damage. No rot. No sign of it even being in this world. It was as though time within the walls had frozen at closing time after a busy day. There were no goods on the shelves or counters, but no dust either. Decorations lined the walls as well.
“What the Hell…?” I muttered, taking in the games and pile of presents set on one of the tables.
“Are these decorations for me?” Pinkie asked aloud, eyeing something above us. I followed her line of sight to see a banner that read “Welcome Home, Pinkie”.
“Looks like it… But why?” Jasmine asked, her voice choppy.
“Oh! Do we have guests!? I love guests!!” an eerily spry and familiar voice called out in exuberance.
Jasmine and I both startled, suddenly going back-to back. Kevin had made his way to us, making it a trident formation.
“Nina, Scoots, Ace, keep a distance.” I ordered, my eyes scanning my sector of the room for any movement. The three complied with my order, Nina squeaking a bit as Scootaloo pushed her back toward the door.
“Yes! Yes you do! It’s me, Pinkie Pie! I brought friends!” Pinkie frantically answered the enigma. It laughed.
“That’s good. It’s so hard to tell who is and isn’t these days.”
I was racking my brain, trying desperately to remember what was here with us, but nothing came. There was a puzzle within these walls, or maybe it was a fragment of Pinkie’s memories… I couldn’t remember… Still, there was something unsettling about that voice… The air… Even for a place like this…
“Please, won’t you come out? I really want to see your face.” Pinkie pleaded.
Another giggle came.
“Okey-Dokey-Loki! Since you asked so nicely!”
Kevin nudged Jasmine and me, calling our attention to the far corner of the room, near the register. A shadow shifted, slowly taking form. From the amorphous darkness came forth a very disturbing face. Pink coat, blue eyes, enormous smile… A second Pinkie Pie.
My blood froze in my veins as heavy, cold realization hit me like a mallet to the back of the head.
Oh God, no…
It was the second one… The one from Pinkie’s nightmares… And mine… The psychopath that had haunted me for two months… The one that spawned many sleepless nights, and worse yet, my own writing… The very being that made me realize my morbid fascination with Grimdark. The evil I had banished from my thoughts was staring directly at Pinkie… Right in front of me…!
“Jasmine-”
“I know, Keith…” That’s when I knew the fear I felt was mutual.
The second Pinkie had begun chattering with the real Pinkie, quickly labeling her the nickname “Saddie Pie”.
“Why are you sad, Saddie Pie? Did someone steal your sweets? You can always make more, you know. Oh! I know what will turn that frown upside down! Let’s have some cupcakes!”
“C-cupcakes?” Jasmine, Pinkie and I all stammered in unison.
That confirmed it… This thing was exactly what I thought it was… But I couldn’t let myself jump the gun. She played an important role in Silent Ponyville. I couldn’t interfere. This thing was the face of my fear, but what would happen if I interrupted the sequence of events…? Pinkie had continued to explain that we just wanted to get out of town.
“Aw, you want to go? But you all just got here! Come on,” “Pinkie” said, making for the basement door. “Follow me! We can all have so much fun! Then we can make those cupcakes!”
I bet you’d like that… I thought at the shade.
As “Pinkie” melted into the darkness and out of sight, I caught the real Pinkie staring at the door in disbelief. I knew what she was thinking. This was the part where she went down, and found… Something…
“Let’s go.” I said, surprising myself with the calmness of my own voice. I was terrified at the knowledge of what was to come, but we had an advantage “Pinkie” didn’t… Right? Guns were an advantage here, weren’t they…?
“Should I go first?” Kevin volunteered, but Pinkie was already at the threshold, on her way down. I followed, Kevin behind me, Jasmine behind him and so on until Ace tailed behind the group.
“Come on! Let’s play, already!” The chipper call came from the darkness out in front of us.
We found ourselves in a long hallway of some kind.
From the rock farm… This is where Pinkie finds her first few memories…
Sure enough, the doors were there. Each led back into the past. Pinkie approached the first door and peeked inside, then looked back to us. She studied Nina’s face first, then Kevin’s, Jasmine’s, then finally mine, the request on her face was to follow her, but I stopped my friends with a hand on either of their shoulders, shaking my head.
“What’s behind that door is for you, Pinkie. Not us. Go on, we’ll wait.”
Pinkie nodded solemnly, then entered. She took a while, but when she emerged, she had a tile in her mouth. A green one with a cat etched into it…
That’s right! I recalled. Those rooms are her memories, and they yield tiles to be used later on…
This same process was repeated until we had a pink bird, a red snake, and a blue fish in addition to the jade cat. Kevin took each of them and placed them carefully into his ruck. Each time Pinkie exited a memory, the doppelganger had called on us to hurry. Soon, we were all standing before the door at the edge of the hall. This was it…
We entered. “Pinkie” was standing with her back to us, examining something on a table. The room was dark, so we allowed Pinkie’s lantern to light the space.
“You know what those images were about don’t you?” our Pinkie asked.
The false Pinkie turned, an irritated expression on her face.
“You made me wait for that? That’s not very nice. Oh well! Let’s have some fun!”
“I want to have fun just as much as you do, but I can’t enjoy myself before finding some answers…”
“Pinkie” frowned and stopped her habitual bouncing.
“Fine. I see how it is. I guess I’ll just have to remove that sadness from you, Saddie Pie.”
There it was again… That siren… I shoved my bat toward Kevin and jerked my head toward the door.
“Everyone get out! NOW!!” I barked at them.
Kevin’s eyes locked onto mine for a moment before taking the bat from my hand. He knew what I was planning…
“Why!?” I heard Jasmine ask from somewhere in the dimming light. My answer was a terse one.
“I can’t let any of you see what I’m about to do…”
With another nod to Kevin, he opened his arms and began herding everyone out of the room. Scootaloo caught my eye just before the door closed. It was becoming too dark to see much of anything, but I managed to catch the shimmer…
Don’t cry, Scoots… I’ll be back soon…
The darkness was thick enough to cut with a knife… It was quite choking… Still, I held my head up, eyes forward and kept my hands firmly at my sides. This was the chance I had been waiting for… The moment the lights went up, I would deliver justice… My left hand found the grip of my father’s Ruger once more, and I drew it forth, bringing my arms to stretch out before me at what felt like eye-level and waited. The lapse was probably only about ten seconds, but anticipation made it feel like a short eternity… When the lights flickered back to life, the room was how I had expected it to be. The floor was covered in grime, blood, and Lord knows what else, corpses of recently mutilated ponies lined the rotting walls, and “Pinkie” stood with her back to me, clad in a dress of some kind. I already knew the details of the dress, but actually looking at them was an unsettling feat in itself. The dress was made of leather, harvested from past victims baring each cutie mark… From the back, six wings jutted forth in strange directions… A necklace could barely be made out, but I knew it bared three horns of unicorns… She turned with a smile that I’d seen hundreds of times before. That gleeful, happy, party-hardy, sinister smile… Although she maintained that smile, she looked about, a small twinge of disappointment crossing her face.
“They’re gone? Oh well, I’ll just play with you for now and go get them later. You like my dress?” She asked, turning in a bit of a strut.
Held firmly in her mouth was a meat cleaver. My eyes looked over her posture for a few moments, and I could feel myself already squeezing the trigger.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.” I said solemnly.
“Pinkie” quickly banked toward me and charged. The space between us was closed nigh instantaneously, so I had to hop back before being able to complete my shot. I had an advantage, I realized. I stood five-foot-nine and stood on two legs. That meant I was more maneuverable than she was. I could bend in ways that a quadruped like her couldn’t… She only stood about four feet tall, so I also had better access to her head and neck area… Perfect… My left hand met her forehead as I jumped to the side. I threw her head off to the other, causing her to follow. It put a decent amount of distance between us; enough for me to tuck the gun back into my waistband and assume a crude stance. She came once again, eyes on my legs.
Cut them down to size… Immobilize your target… Then go in for the kill… Nice tactic, “Pinkie”… But I can see your moves before you even make them…
With a small hop backward, I evaded her strike, and then brought my right foot forward. She saw this coming, though and managed to duck the shot. She was craning her head to slice upward into my ankle, but I made a mad grab for her mane and yanked her toward me, shifting my weight to balance on my right leg and bring my left knee into her face. The strike connected, letting off a hollow thud. Two more successful knees brought me enough encouragement to throw her off again. I had managed to mangle her snout, and as she skidded on her side back into the middle of the room, I wanted more… More damage… I wasn’t going to let her off so easily! I bounded forward and pounced, landing in a straddling posture over the beast I so wished to destroy. A couple of punches connected with her already bloodied face, then an elbow, which ejected her weapon from between her now-shattered teeth. A blurry, furious haze of strikes later, I found myself pressing the barrel of my gun into her mouth. The first shot rang out. Then another…And another…And another… I soon emptied my five rounds into her throat.
Not enough…
I reloaded, then forced another storm of lead and fire to rain down on my foe’s face. All fifteen rounds… The holes had begun to split her skull open so I could see the grey-matter housed inside…
Not enough!!
My weapon raised high, I brought it down hard at the grip where the magazine would slide in. The crunch that sounded served only as encouragement. Twelve strikes of the same nature had reduced her head to a pool of mush.
“NOT ENOUGH!!!!” I bellowed, reaching for her knife.
The crimson that painted my vision in the moments that followed was… Beautiful… The way the blade slid in so perfectly… The ease of it all… I felt… Wonderful! Never had I been so powerful! I laughed at how feeble the pony beneath me was… The way she crunched and shifted at my will… I had dropped the knife and tore open the incision I had hacked into her torso, and shoved my hands inside, tearing at anything I could grab. A hand stopped my wrist before I was able to bring it down once again after tossing a roll of her intestines to the side. My head craned quickly to see Kevin, a razor thin line of red slashed across his features. He looked at me with a certain intensity in his eyes…
“That’s enough.”
I relaxed for just a moment and allowed myself a peek at my surroundings. The group was about me, save for my sister who was naturally a distance away from the rest of us. She looked horrified… Ace did too… It strained me to see them like that, but nothing felt worse than when I laid eyes on Jasmine and Scootaloo. Jasmine’s eyes were saucer-wide and her dilated pupils seemed to dance, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She mouthed my name and she looked as though she couldn’t speak… Scootaloo had a nearly identical expression, save for hands, her forelegs were covering her mouth… I looked down, taking in what I had done… Justice had been served… But at what cost…?
“My God…”
I couldn’t stay there. I had to get away from them! My haven came when I bolted off to the corner and curled up, ordering my friends to keep away from me.
For what felt like a short eternity, I sat, arms wrapped about my knees, shaking like a leaf. My eyes were practically glued the corpse I had torn open… Thoughts of insanity circled my head in an endless, restless storm of uncertainty. I had done what I had intended… I killed the beast… But why hadn’t I stopped…?
“Keith.” Nina called from the other side of the room. Her voice was oddly calm and commanding. Her “Big Sister” voice…
“What?”
“You gonna be okay? Can we find somewhere else to stay?”
I sighed, gathering what little energy I had left and made an attempt at standing. My legs wobbled uncertainly beneath me, but I was up.
“That’s a stupid question, Nina. Look at me. I’m drenched in an unpleasant, sticky liquid in a strange place and with you of all people. Sure, I’ve got my friends with me, but it’s still my responsibility to get us all out of here alive. No, I’m not gonna be okay, but I’ll see what I can do to get us somewhere at least half-way safe.” My voice was level, but my shoulders felt as though they were weighted by lead dumbbells. I was exhausted. By the look of it, so was everyone else… Pinkie Pie especially. She didn’t belong here… None of us did… My memory sparked back to the chapter where Pinkie fought herself in the story. She was banged up, but managed to get back up stairs and fall asleep.
“C’mon… Let’s get up stairs.”
I had to help Jasmine and Scootaloo back to their feet, but for the life of me, I couldn’t bring myself to look either of them in the eye. Upon reaching the ground floor of Sugar Cube Corner, our party was greeted by the same level of dilapidation and rot as the floor below and pretty much everywhere else in this God-forsaken realm… It was depressing, really, but everyone was practically falling asleep standing up. Kevin approached a counter and picked something off of it, turning to show it to the rest of us.
“A “Health Drink”? How does that work?” he asked.
I shrugged.
“Dunno. Save it, though. It’s a health item in a video-game spin-off. We might need it.”
He nodded and tucked it into his ruck upon setting it in front of the chair he seated himself in.
Each of us found a dry spot among the grime and rot and curled up. I chose a spot near the door, propping myself up against the wall. Scoots scampered over after attempting to get comfortable on a counter and failed. She plopped down under my arm and set her chin in my lap. Jasmine sat in the chair across from Kevin and allowed her head to drop backward. Through half-lidded eyes did I watch each of my companions succumb to sleep. I found myself stroking the filly’s mane as she mumbled in her light state of slumber. It wasn’t something I was used to doing. Back home, my luck with women had been scant… Only twice in my life before this moment had anyone fell asleep on me. It felt nice… Her hair was soft, even if it was a bit greasy from the sweat she’d shed since earlier today… A strange contentment washed over me as my lids became heavier. Sleep did not come easily, however. Twice I had woken and swept the room for any threat. The radios were silent, though…
I’m gonna drive myself insane this way… I thought after the second sweep.
A few hours passed before anyone else had begun to rouse. Pinkie was the first to groan in acknowledgement of the unwanted consciousness. Her nose crinkled at the stenches that assaulted her and she closed her eyes, trying not to see the disgusting state the bakery was in. I understood why… We had all seen plenty of this crap, but it seemed like it didn’t get any easier to look at it…
Jasmine was the second to wake, followed by Kevin, and Ace. Jas seemed to be in a bit of a haze as she rubbed her eyes, studying the faces about her, then quirking her brow when she looked at me.
“Did you take a shower?”
I tilted my head at this.
“No, why?”
She gestured to herself, indicating me.
“You’re clean. The blood’s gone.” She replied.
Sure enough, when I looked down to examine myself, it was as though the episode from a few hours ago never even occurred… No trace of blood or really any fluid of any kind remained on my person. Scootaloo began to stir upon my moving, groaning lightly.
“I bet you’re enjoying that.” Jasmine mischievously commented, pointing to the orange mare.
I looked down once again, nodding a bit. As Scoots lifted her head from my lap, I realized that she had fallen asleep with her mouth agape and had begun drooling. The small line of saliva that had soaked into my pant leg was weaving a small web at the edge of her lip which she promptly wiped away after noting it herself with a light gasp.
“Morning.” I greeted, disentangling my fingers from her mane.
“Morning.” She replied, getting to her hooves with a rather cat-like stretch and flex of her wings.
“Everyone alright?” I asked. They all nodded.
“At least we weren’t attacked by monsters.” Pinkie offered.
“Amen, sister.” Jasmine retorted.
My gaze fixed itself on my sister, who was still lying in her spot atop the counter, back to the group. I crossed over to her.
“Nina? It’s time to wake up.” I said as gently as I could manage, placing a hand on her shoulder. She rolled over, eyes closed, mouth agape.
“Is she dead?” Kevin asked, an edge of genuine concern creeping into his voice.
I chuckled at this.
“No, man. She has the sleep gene in the family. Watch.”
My hand began to rock her frame back and forth. It wasn’t hard, but she startled awake with an expression like someone had just threw her off a high rise.
“We have to go.”
Her features twisted into a look of irritation, then back to a blank visage once she looked around. It was clear she was in a state of disbelief initially, but memory had come back to her.
“Who has the map?” I asked, turning back to the group.
Pinkie turned her head and produced the sheet of tattered paper. Upon opening it, she and Jasmine recoiled while Kevin only tilted his head and grunted.
“That could be a problem.” He said.
“What could?” I asked.
I understood why they had recoiled… The map had gone blank. Sure, it was useless to our party before Pinkie showed up, but it was at least something… But now, my eyes were reading and rereading the same word in big, bold faced block letters…
NOWHERE
Looked like we’d have to play it by ear from here on in…
“Let’s get our bearings before moving on.” Nina offered.
“Good idea, Christina.” I replied, making to open the door behind me.
My synapses fired in wicked recognition of the scene I was looking at. All of Ponyville had become a nightmare. Rust, blood, grime and entrails were splayed out in the streets… Buildings were falling apart... The streets themselves had even become cracked and pitted, some of the stone falling through the grate holding up the frail rock into a great, black maw.
“We’ve been through a lot, everyone… We can handle this…” Pinkie offered.
As we all cautiously advanced down the Hellish street, we all had to use our lights, for the fog had become thick and sky as black as midnight.
A loud thud sounded off somewhere, sending vibrations through the grating beneath our feet. Each of us froze, but not before drawing our weapons.
Twenty bullets left… I’m on my last mag… Better make it count… I thought, scanning what little area was illuminated about our frightened party.
“What was that?” Kevin asked, turning his face slightly to let me know he was in fact addressing me.
“I don’t know…”
Irritation rose in my throat. Why couldn’t I remember anything when I needed to!?
Our radios sputtered to life once again, letting off those god-awful shrieks of static. A Groaner suddenly materialized out of the shadows, crackling out his disgusting noises.
“No way he’s the source…” Pinkie thought aloud.
Another thud and shake… I was just beginning to disregard them as a massive, ear-splitting roar erupted from the choking darkness. My whole body rocked and quaked at the force of it. Said force was so great, I actually fell over. Before I could right myself, the rumbling of the grate intensified. Something was coming… I knew this because the Groaner was actually ignoring us… It was hobbling as fast as it could, as though it hadn’r even detected the party of frightened teenagers only yards away from it… Something occurred then that my mind couldn’t quite comprehend… A massive form rocketed forth from the darkness and took the Groaner up, then made it disappear in a spray of dark red. I felt my eyes widen to saucers as I stared up at the massive beast before us. A single, pink… Thing… It was quadrepedal… No head, much less features save for a massive cream-colored half-sphere with a massive slit right up the middle. It looked a lot like a giant stomach… It stood as tall as three story building easily…
“Well… That’s interesting…” Kevin said with what would have been irritating calmness had I not been so panicked.
With another roar, I was knocked back to the ground and back to my senses. I hit the ground however, not because of the force of the roar, but instead because of how clumsily I had back-pedaled.
“Run!!” Jasmine cried.
With that, we all took off once again, making like madmen down the street in the opposite direction of our new assailant.
The Pink Demon! I recalled suddenly. Pinkie and Scoots can outrun this thing easy; Pinkie can consistently outrun Rainbow Dash, and Scoots outran Dash in the Rainbow Factory… But Jasmine, Nina, Kevin and I could never hope to be that fast… We have to rely on how maneuverable we are!
My legs were pounding the slick, disheveled pavement and my heart was threatening to punch a hole in my chest as I began scanning for any possible means of escape.
“Humans, follow me! Ponies, follow Pinkie!” I cried, banking hard to my right off into a narrow alleyway. As I went, I managed to grab hold of Jasmine’s arm and Nina’s collar. Kevin ducked in with us shortly afterward. The alley was cramped as a convoy of illegal immigrants, but I knew the demon couldn’t reach into such a small space… I was quickly proven wrong… The thing’s massive claw took a single swipe out of the buildings’ sides, leaving a near-perfect cleave.
“New plan.” I hastily called. “Kevin, you distract him! Nina, gimme that kitchen knife you got from back home!”
Knife in hand and after another few sprints, we were quite near an iron gate on the other side of which was a strangely new and quite out-of-place scene. A pristine country road.
That leads to the rock farm… Our endgame is almost at hand!
Kevin had done beautifully in distracting the beast. The few shotgun shells he had spent were well worth it. I had used the time he bought me to climb to the roof of a nearby structure. A couple of near-falls occurred, but I knew I didn’t have time to panic. The girls had managed to get to the other side, but now, as I stood high above the earth, I knew what I had to do. I had to kill it… Or at least try…
“KEVIN!”
He looked up to find me high above.
“GET TO THE GATE!! TRUST ME ON THIS, MAN!!!”
He threw me a confirmative nod and pivoted on his heels, bolting right between the colossus’s legs.
Once my friend was safely beyond the wrought iron barrier, I leaped. The demon was as wide as a two-lane highway, so it wasn’t hard to aim my fall. As I sank the six inch blade where it’s shoulder blades would be, I realized what a huge mistake I had made. The grate beneath the feet of the monster had begun to give out. To make matters worse, the beast’s skin consistency was just like that of the organ it resembled and split like a popped seam, drenching my lower half with it’s sickening grey fluid. I had to drop my weapon in order to take hold of a block of ruined cement only feet from the gate. The roar the Pink Demon let out as it plummeted ever downward into the eternal darkness was one of a gutted wolf… Morose and saddening, but at the same time, I was able to sigh with relief. Then I realized what I was dangling from… And I couldn’t pull myself up… Jasmine was looking down at me, fretful tears streaming down her face.
“Oh my God, he’s alive!” she sobbed.
“Yeah, I’m alive, now would you be so kind as to HELP ME UP!?”
“Say ‘Please’.” Kevin said with a smile.
“KEVIN!!” I snapped.
It took the combined efforts of Kevin, Jasmine, Nina, and Scootaloo to get me back to safety.
“Thanks… Is everyone okay?” I asked.
A collective nod was given.
“Good.”
Pinkie gasped then, bringing a foreleg up to her mouth in shock. I too turned, recalling the road we were on and the place it led to.
“The farm? It’s not supposed to be this close to Ponyville!” she exclaimed.
I wanted to tell her the truth… That none of this was real… That we were running through her subconscious in an attempt to unlock her long-pressed memories… But how would I, or anyone else for that matter, go about that? “Hey, Pinkie, these are just your memories.”? No! I just had to play along…
“You know this place, Pinkie?” I said, bringing my forefinger to my lower lip like an investigator intrigued by a bit of evidence.
A flash of grey caught my attention… A figure stood in the fog… Another pony…
Pinkie saw the figure too and took off at full gallop toward the distant shade.
Great. Gotta chase her…
“Pinkie! Wait up!” I called, taking off at a brisk jog after the eager equine.
It took a few minutes, but my party and I eventually caught up with her. Pinkie was reaching for the doorknob when I took a hold on her shoulder. Wordlessly, I gave Kevin a look and nodded at the door. He approached, waving Jasmine and my sister to keep back, pistol at the ready. Pinkie apparently caught on to the silent communication that passed between my companion and me.
“Wait!” she blurted. Kevin and I looked to her. “This is my old house! We don’t have anything to be afraid of! Don’t break the door down!”
Another look passed between Kevin and me, then he spoke.
“Yeah, and it was also your old bakery, and look what happened there.” He said pointedly.
I parted my lips to agree with him, but my memory flashed back to the story again. I knew as soon as I saw that gate that we would end up here anyway… Pinkie’s home… Where she would confront her old memories and face down with the SlenderPony one last time before… Before what? I had forgotten… Still, within these walls lay a haven… The last one before the ultimate end…
“She’s right.” I stated after a moment.
Kevin looked to me. His face held a visage that would be blank to most, but the ever so slight quirk of his brow told me his question.
“Don’t worry about it, man. There’s nothing dangerous in there.”
“You sure?” he asked, still eyeing me incredulously.
“I’m sure,” I stated and waved the others over. “C’mon, Pinkie. Let’s get you home.”
We each drew our lights before opening the ancient, rusty door. It looked like a normal house to me… A couch, coffee table, chairs… The only notable differences were that no furniture looked to be in disrepair and that the house didn’t smell of decay…
“It’s kinda cute.” Jasmine offered, breaking the silence.
We stepped inside at last, Ace closing the door behind us. My eyes drifted right, off into the kitchen. It looked just the way I would have expected it to. Old wood oven, rough table, crude chairs. Like something out of The Little House on the Prairie.
Pinkie gasped suddenly, dropping her lantern with a loud clatter. My eyes shot forward again to see what was wrong only to gasp myself. Before us stood a shade –the one from earlier, I assumed- staring at Pinkie. She had stopped the rolling lantern with a small, grey hoof.
“B-Bellamina!” Pinkie stammered.
The ghost of her younger sister looked down at the lantern beneath her hoof and dipped her head low, biting the handle and setting the thing right side up.
“I’m surprised you made it all this way, Pinkamena,” she looked back to us again with almost hollow eyes. “I guess I was wrong. Looks like you can handle the truth.”
Something about the ghostly hollowness of the young filly’s eyes put me on edge… More than anything, hollow eyes frightened me…
Eyes are the windows to the soul. Why can’t I see anything in hers? Does she have no soul…? Are we just staring at a projection…?
“You’re not really here, are you?” I asked.
The filly ignored me, staring only at Pinkie.
“You’ll find the truth here,” she said, turning to point a translucent hoof to the staircase behind her. “This house will be your last safe haven, however… Once you leave, there’s no turning back.”
The warning was ominous, but still very potent. There was no getting around how serious the implications of her words were, no matter how nonchalant they seemed…
“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked.
The ghost merely looked forlornly upon her sisters face for a moment, as though memorizing it.
“Goodbye, sis.” Bellamina said before fading away into nothingness. Back to the oblivion from whence she came… Pinkie was silent for several moments, staring at the spot her sister once stood. The hurt was obvious on her face… It pained me to see her like this, but before I could speak, Jasmine did.
“At least you spoke with her.” she said, patting our friend between the shoulder blades.
“Yeah…” Pinkie replied, shaking her head a bit and putting on a hard expression. “Looks like it’s time to find out what the “Truth” is.”
As we ascended the staircase, I knew Pinkie was walking to her destiny… That was how the story put it… The top of the stairs gave a door that lead to a hallway made up of four square holes, two on either side of the hall. We stepped inside very carefully, none of us making a sound. Ace yelped when the door slammed behind us. I startled as well, but when we found it locked tight, I remembered the story. Nina yelped as well, taking hold of my forearm at the creature behind us. The Slender Pony…
“Oh, hey. How ya doin’?” Kevin asked him conversationally.
I knew he was just trying to keep us all calm, but there was something about it that irritated me… Sure, he wasn’t afraid of anything, but did he really have to flaunt it like that…? Especially now of all times! The Slender Pony just ignored him and phased through the door on the other end of the hall. It was a warning… He was waiting… A collective sigh was had as we all attempted to calm ourselves…
“We’ve come this far,” Pinkie said. “Through Hell and back. We can handle this. My sister said I’d find the truth here.”
“We have to have faith.” Jasmine said.
Kevin, Nina and I all nodded.
Our attention turned to the first square depression. Beneath it was an iron plaque with a riddle on it. The words were quite worn, but my sister read them aloud.
“Eyes gleamed over.
It stalks before striking.
Its tail wags in anticipation.”
Silence fell over the group for several moments as we each tried to turn the cryptic note over in our heads. Kevin snapped his fingers and made to remove the tiles we’d collected before facing down with the corrupted Pinkamena.
“I think I’ve got it,” he said, laying each of the tiles before him on the floor. “Each of these tiles fits a hole and it’ll unlock the door at the end.”
I considered this for a moment, trying desperately to recall what happened with those tiles. Doors came to mind, but I wasn’t sure why…
“You’re probably right,” Jasmine asserted. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”
Scootaloo gestured to each tile as she stated what was on it.
“A cat, a bird, a snake, and a fish.”
Nina spoke then, her voice strikingly calm. Maybe she was coming around…
“Well, only a cat can sway its tail. This riddle must refer the Cat tile.”
I nodded and picked up the tile, then offered it to Pinkie who grasped it between her front forelegs and slid it into place. Another hush fell over the party as we awaited a response of some kind. Suddenly, the tile burst into a fantastic white glow. I gasped and backpedaled, shoving Kevin and Nina back. The glow began to spread and lengthen and eventually died down. Before us was a door… This one was different, though… Instead of being a plain wooden door, this one seemed to be made of porcelain, embellished with various precious metals… It was actually quite pretty… The fact that such an ascetically pleasing object could even exist in this realm stunned me for a moment, but Jasmine’s voice brought me back.
“I think it’s for you, Pinkie.” she said.
Pinkie’s eyes set on me for a moment. Those large blue orbs reflected a great anxiety and a longing for company. She didn’t want to go in alone, for she feared what was on the other side…
“You won’t be alone this time,” I said in as assuring a manner as I could manage. “I’ll go with you.”
“Me too.” Jasmine and Kevin chimed in simultaneously.
God, I love my friends…
I opened to door and held it for the four. When they entered, I looked at Scoots and Ace who shook their heads. Nina scoffed when I looked to her.
“Fuck that.” she said.
Fair enough…
Upon closing the door behind me, I realized Pinkie’s lantern was the only thing illuminating the plain walls… A twinge of panic surged through me when it flickered out on its own, but fear was quickly replaced by confusion as the walls around us lit up with images. One of a young Pinkie and her sister making their way down a dirt path in the middle of the woods somewhere moved to the wall just opposite us as though coming into focus. Bellamina wasn’t looking too sure of herself as she looked about herself.
“I’m not sure about this, Pinkamena. You’re certain this is a good idea?” She said aloud.
“Of course it is!” Pinkie said jubilantly as she led her sister about. “I tried to invite Mother, Father, and Octavia, but they had things to do. That just means more fun for us!”
The two reached a clearing in which decorations had been set up… Streamers, balloons, the whole nine yards…
“We’re here!” Pinkie called out, seemingly to nopony…
“Who are you talking to?” Bellamina asked, a confused visage plastered on her face.
“The host, of course!” Pinkie replied happily.
The young Bellamina looked about for a moment before something emerged from the brush off to her right. It was a colt… He was quite tall, almost as tall as me… His coat was just as disheveled as his hair, and his whole frame simply emitted the essence of danger. The soft glow given off by his unnaturally pale grey fur sent a cold shiver up my spine… This guy was trouble…
“Hello, Pinkamena, I see you brought a friend.”
The guy’s voice was deep and gravelly, much like the set of his eyes. The red orbs almost seemed sunken into their sockets… They were hollow… His eyes were absolutely devoid of any feeling at all…
It’s like staring into the eyes of Lucifer himself… I thought.
Bellamina seemed more nervous than before… She sensed something was wrong.
“See? He’s the host!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing to his side and indicating to his flank. “Look, Bellamina, we’ve even got similar cutie marks! That means he’s gonna throw us a super-duper-wonderfully-fantastic party!”
“R-really now?” Bellamina stammered.
“Indeed. I always throw the best parties,” he said, giving a low, guttural chuckle. “Come,” he turned. “The party’s this way.”
“Yeah! Party time!” Pinkie shouted, bouncing alongside the unnatural colt.
Memories! I realized. These are Pinkie’s memories! The ones that lead up to the death of her sister… The memories she’d forced from her mind long ago… She pressed these images out of guilt… She never realized the vibe that creep gave off until it was too late…
My eyes settled on the distraught earth pony. She knew what this meant… Where it was going… And she didn’t like it… Her jaw hung open in a visage that only spoke of trauma. Much like that of someone who’s been in a terrible accident and is re-opening old wounds. Poor thing… I placed my hand between her shoulder blades for a moment, then after realizing it wasn’t enough, I took a knee and wrapped my arms about her neck.
“It’s alright, Pinkie… I know you’re scared, Hell, I’m scared! But you need to hold out… Each of these rooms contains a memory you forced yourself to forget a long time ago. It’s going to hurt to see them play out again, but that’s why you’ve got us here. Now come on, let’s get this over with.” I tried to assure her as best I could, but even though her eyes were locked on mine, they looked glazed over. She wasn’t there for the time being…
“Pinkie?” Jasmine asked.
Pinkie looked to her, the pony’s eyes setting in a stern manner.
“I can’t let you guys see what happens from here on in. When we unlock these next few rooms, stay outside, okay?” Pinkie asked, half ordering half requesting.
The slightly harsh tone she had used caught me off guard, but that only served as discouragement from arguing with her.
“Alright, Pinkie…” I confirmed a touch hesitantly.
She was so brave… Facing all of this on her own… My heart fluttered a bit at the sight of her resolve. It was quite exhilarating, really. My impressions of Pinkie Pie had changed so much in so little time... From a bubbly, obnoxious, loud pony that got a little more screen-time than the others, to a deranged psychopath hell-bent on tearing her friends open to sell them in a very Sweeny Todd-like fashion to what I saw before me: a woman of good intentions, broken heart and shattered mind… A mare of intense strength and determination… One that I could learn so much from…
“Sleek and smooth,
Stalking its prey,
Its tail lets it move.” Nina read aloud again.
I startled out of my stupor. I’d been so lost in thought; I hadn’t realized we were in the hall again. Pinkie picked up the snake tile and slipped it in the depression. Another door came into being. This one was made of iron with long cylinders of the grey metal running up and down its frame at measured intervals… It looked like a jail cell…
As Pinkie entered and shut the heavy door behind her, my memories began playing through my mind once again. Pinkie was in there watching her dearest little sister be gutted alive before her very eyes like some kind of macabre test subject… But what happened was no test… It was a game to him…
“That prick treated it like a game…” I mumbled aloud without meaning to.
This caught the attention of my friends.
“Treated what like a game?” Kevin asked.
My gaze was fixed on my feet for a moment, and then I threw him a sidelong glance.
“He tore her open… Made it a game… Just like the other Pinkie… He’s sick. He’s evil. But there’s nothing I can do about it…” The last phrase exited through clenched teeth.
It hurt… I could hear poor Bellamina sobbing aloud, begging for mercy at the top of her lungs… I could hear the young Pinkie screaming at him to stop it. To let them go…
Pinkie came forth slowly, fresh tears brimming in her eyes again.
“Two to go.” Kevin assured her. I myself patted her between the shoulder blades and kept close to her as we neared the next depression.
“Soft to the touch.
It soars over its fears.
It’s tail stabilizes.” Nina once again read aloud. Her tone was almost sage-like.
I turned this over for a moment in my head, then looked to Jasmine. She returned my gaze, examining me as though the answer were written in tiny letters on my face. She smiles after a moment, then makes for Kevin’s rucksack, bringing the bird forth and placing it in the whole.
The door produced was made of some kind of light wood and had small paper cut-outs of blood-spattered pastries. Pinkie hesitated as she went for the knob.
“Pinkie,” I said, placing my hand on her back again. She craned her head about to look at me. “What you’re going to remember happened a long time ago. It’s not real. What happened wasn’t your fault, got it?”
The mare gave a slight nod and a weak smile.
“Thanks…”
As she disappeared behind the door, I began examining the door itself in an attempt to recall just what my Pinkie Pie would witness behind it… Bellamina had fallen victim to the Colt in the last room… He was a baker… The cupcakes…
“Oh my God…”
Jasmine looked over at me, tilting her head a bit.
“What is it, Keith?” she asked.
For several seconds, I stood in horror, my gaze looking beyond the door and through the years, back to that horrid day. Pinkie was hungry… The Colt had just opened the slide and offered a pastry. She didn’t want it… He was pleading with her to eat. She conceded only to have a horrid realization… The pastry in her mouth was made of poor Bellamina…
“That room…” I said, my voice suddenly turning raspy.
Jasmine put a hand on my shoulder then.
“What about that room?” Kevin and Jasmine both asked in unison.
“I have to get her out… I have to get her out!!”
I didn’t realize I could become so frantic, given all that had happened, but panic seized me and I began trying to open the door. I began yanking on the knob. When that didn’t work, I took a couple of steps back, then sent my right leg into the lock… And again… And again… My friends and sister were trying to stop me, warning about what Pinkie said… But I wasn’t listening… Sometimes, you need someone there, even if you don’t want anyone else to see…
The door splintered with my fifth strike against it, and I bolted inside, all but pouncing the small equine to cover her eyes. But it was too late… A figure was reaching out to her on the wall…
“It’s okay. We’re the good guys,” he said. “We’ve come to take you home.”
Damn it! I’m too late!!
My palm then slid away from Pinkie’s eyes in defeat. She… Didn’t seem affected… Thoughtful… Distant…
“I was rescued,” she muttered. “But they didn’t get there in time to save my sister… And that vile treat…”
“It’s hard to believe anypony could be that cruel…” I said, finishing her thought.
Upon exiting the dark space, Pinkie kept muttering…
“Those words I spoke in that other memory make sense now… Having eaten that thing, I never felt like eating again…”
My eyes drifted from the face of our forlorn friend to Scootaloo. She was having a really hard time keeping herself together, seeing all of this…
Of course she is, I thought to myself. She just jumped from one nightmare to an even worse one… I’m impressed she isn’t bawling right now…
“Keith?” Christina called. I turned to her.
“Yeah?”
“What’s going on here? Why is Pinkie so out of it?”
The question really struck me. Nina had just referred to Pinkie by name… Maybe she was concerned? Interesting… My voice dropped to a whisper when I answered, for I did not wish to disturb the forlorn party pony.
“Pinkie Pie is facing her past. It’s not easy, as you know, Nina… She watched her own sister be gutted and made into a pastry, then forced to eat it…”
My sister ceased breathing for a moment, struck by the news…
“That’s…” She began, but I cut her off.
“I know, Nina. I know. Listen, we need to support her right now… And that son of a bitch out there –that SlenderPony?- We’re gonna make him pay.”
She nodded then, her eyes shifting. Something changed in my sister then… I wasn’t at all sure what, but there was an air of… Certainty about her… Upon reaching the final room, Kevin read the final plaque.
A slick texture
It is sustenance for most
Its tail propels it forward
We didn’t take long in lingering on the riddle as we only had one tile left. Jasmine inserted the fish into the depression and stood back. In a white haze, the tile grew in size, just as the others had, and ended up as a simple wooden door. In fact, it was the front door to the cottage…
“Wait a minute,” I muttered. “This is where you…” I wasn’t actually talking to anyone in particular, but the words were meant for Pinkie.
I could feel her eyes on me, so I tilted my head at her and addressed her properly.
“You’re going to see your grandmother in there… She’ll give you a certain piece of advice… We’re almost done in this dreadful place, Pinkie. We’ll finally be able to get you home.”
Our pink friend nodded slowly, then pushed the door open, disappearing into the darkness within. I closed the door behind her and waited.
Several minutes passed in silence. The only sound that could be heard was that of Kevin inspecting his weapon. I brought my forefinger to my lips and thought over what was happening in the room Pinkie had just entered…
“Laugh your fears away…” I muttered.
Jasmine, my sister, Scootaloo, and Ace all looked to me.
“It’s what her grandmother said. Not sure what it means, though… The fic is going to end when we beat that monster… Anyone got any theories of where we’ll go? Or even if we can even get out of here?”
There was a long silence.
“Maybe back to Ponyland?” Ace offered.
I startled at the colt’s voice. He hadn’t spoken a word since we arrived in this realm… Not to mention the mention of Ponyland… What was with that!? It struck me after a moment that I had gotten involved in the Brony community when the fourth generation came out… Ace Swift was a colt from the first generation, back when the realm was called “Ponyland”…
“U-Um… Maybe…” I stammered.
“Or maybe Equestria!” Scoots spoke up.
“That’d be nice.” Jasmine replied.
“Maybe Phoenix Wright?” Kevin said.
I quirked a brow at him.
“What makes you think that?” I asked.
He simply shrugged and loaded another two shells into the shotgun’s breach, then closed it, resting the butt upon his shoulder. He looked quite calm. Just looking at him had a calming effect on me that I hadn’t realized was even needed…
“What about home? Back where we belong?” Christina said lowly. Her voice spoke of anxiety and worry… She really didn’t want to go anywhere else…
“We can always hope!” Jasmine said, trying to perk her up.
The attempt seemed to work a bit, causing Nina’s eyes to loose their gloom.
Pinkie joined us in the hallway once again, looking each of us in the eyes with a resolute nod. She was ready to face what lie beyond the door before us.
“This is it…” I began.
“The end of the line…” Kevin continued.
“And with it comes a new beginning.” Jasmine finished.
“Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Nina said. “We still have to fight that thing.”
I threw her a nod.
She’s right… I thought, trying to calm myself down.
Kevin stepped forth, pushing the rough door outward, revealing a plain space. It was probably once a field where many a filly played their days away, but now it was just a dull, lifeless shell filled with falling ash…
My eyes drank the pathetic scene in, but my attention was drawn in by the looming figure about two-hundred yards out in front of us… The Slender Pony…
Single file, we each stepped through the threshold and fell into a single line formation, shoulder to shoulder with one another, I was in the center with Jasmine and Kevin to my left and right respectively… Forward we marched, staring directly at the faceless being before us.
Anger began to well up within me as my party and I came to rest only ten yards from our faceless adversary… Not even the flames of Hell itself could compare to the inferno I felt dancing behind my eyes…
This was it… My chance to kill Fear itself…
We stood across from each other for maybe thirty seconds, and in that time, the Slender Pony seemed to be made of stone, his eyeless gaze fixed upon me like glue. I knew the feeling I was getting… It was just the same as earlier when the beasts humanoid counterpart drove me to get my family inside… The pounding headache, the mild nausea, the feeling of unseen burden upon my shoulders… He was trying to deter me…
I finally made a move, flourishing my bat and stepping out of formation with a furious wale. Weapon high, I dashed forward with a Hellish cry for blood. The creature didn’t flinch, but instead did something I had seen in illustrations… Tendrils, black as midnight and thick as low branches, erupted from between the demonic pony’s shoulder blades. The new appendages didn’t squander any time… About six or seven flew forward in strange waves that made it difficult to distinguish them for one another… I panicked and tried to stop, but instead only skidded forward. On instinct, I made a wild swing and managed to strike something. Three of the tendrils shifted in flight and stopped, curling like an accordion would, but the other four struck me in the chest with enough force to send me back almost four yards right onto my shoulder. Upon righting myself, I caught the sound of gunfire and watched as the pony’s frame was riddled with hot lead, tearing holes into it’s suit only for it to shake off the impacts and take a calculated step forward.
I have to get close to it… I need to be faster!
Removing the strap from my shoulder, I tossed my satchel to the side and took my bat up once again, charging full force toward the Slender Pony.
Alright, Keith, FOCUS! You have to catch the tendrils midflight. See them!
Another assault of the disgusting appendages came, but I refused to allow myself to slow down… I had to at least hit it…
This time, I noted that there were twelve coming from all sorts of angles, but something was off about them… The spread was too wide for my frame… Only four of the twelve were a threat… It seemed like… Like he couldn’t aim them… Like firing a shotgun and hoping the spread is tight enough to hit your target… I smiled.
Excellent…
Just before impact, I threw my hips to the right and swung my bat left. Two tendrils curled, while the other two flew right by me. My theory was correct… When he sent the things forward like that, he couldn’t control them… It was my chance! Redirecting the weapon in my grasp, I made to strike yet again, but he backpedaled and spun on one hoof. Time seemed to slow as he brought up his hind legs and bucked.
All I could see was white… I couldn’t breathe… I felt a wind, but it was cut short as I tumbled end over end, skidding to a stop upon my face. Voices… I could hear voices, but only faintly over the ringing in my ears.
“…Eith… Keith! KEITH!! HEY, ARE YOU OKAY!? ANSWER ME, PLEASE!!!”
I attempted to speak, but it came out as a raspy grunt. I pushed myself up and made it to my feet only to stagger. My head was swimming so badly that I was getting motion sickness just from standing… Then I felt it… That movement in one’s stomach that cannot be stopped… I heaved once and evacuated what was somehow still sitting in my stomach at my feet… Scootaloo hopped up on her hind legs and took my head between her forelegs to stop my moving so much.
“Are you okay, Keith?” she asked.
I nodded and wiped my lip of bile, then turned to see my sister and friends locked in mortal combat with the pale equine. I had to help them… Even Ace was weaving about and bucking like a mad-colt…
Guess all that soccer will coming in handy…
I looked to Scoots then, my resolve hardening once again.
“Stay back, and keep Pinkie safe, got it?”
The filly nodded, a distinctive worry in her eyes, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it.
Spinning on my heel, I bolted once again to assist my party. With each blow we threw, he negated it with no problem and landed two of his own.
“Kevin, fall back and give me some cover fire!” Nina called.
Kevin did just that and hopped six paces backwards, unloading ten rounds of .9mm at the beasts body while Nina ducked and rolled to face his flank, bring the butt of Kevin’s shotgun into it’s crotch. Naturally, the blow didn’t seem to have any real effect on it. This caused her to hesitate and in turn be sent flying by a barrage of tentacles. Jasmine used the distraction to fire two rounds from her .30-.30 into the pony’s face, again with no real effect but to cause it’s head to snap to the side while Ace and I delivered a dual kick to it’s chest. Ace had some legs on him, that was for sure… However, panic gripped me when I didn’t drop back to Earth from the kick, but instead had several of those slimy tentacles wrap about my legs, arms and neck.
The Slender Pony had me well in his thrall and drew me closer to him, splitting my half-healed brow wound open again… My sight was filled with his featureless face for several seconds… My heart pounded against my ribcage as I tried to struggle, but he had me too well-entangled… Fear surged through me at the wonder of what would happen next… And what did happen next was something I’d never forget… No matter how bad I wanted to…
The creatures face began to contort and twist… Then… Split… His face began to split open, spewing a vile black fluid which I assumed to be his blood onto the ground, revealing several rows of beyond razor sharp teeth… To make matters even more terrifying, the maw between his non-existent jaws widened… A great deal… Soon, the abyss of black and teeth was wide enough to swallow my upper half whole… But the sound… That God-awful sound –that roar- that accompanied it… It all but made my heart stop… I could feel my eyes bugging out of my skull and had an acute awareness of my pupils becoming pinpoints…
I’m really going to die here… Aren’t I, God?
A shriek came then, though if it was mine, I was unsure… For it was Jasmine the dove into the Slender Pony’s side and slammed the butt of her rile into the thing’s head so hard that it broke the gun in two… He let me go, and directed a tendril blast at her as well as one for me… Everyone was down now… The whole party… I lifted my face from the dirt to see that even Kevin was at his limit, blood streaming from his brow and nose… I myself was bleeding profusely from my mouth and brow… Jasmine was covered in scuff marks and various cuts… Nina had a massive gash in her shoulder… Scoots was tending to her… Ace was only feet from me, face covered in his own blood… Pinkie was left standing alone, staring at the beat in sheer terror…
“Keith… I-I’m scared…” Ace barely managed.
I looked to him, Pinkie still visible to me from the angle my head lay.
“Just giggle at the ghosties, Ace…” Jasmine coughed weakly…
That did something to Pinkie. Her brows drew up in realization… She spoke then, her voice surprisingly firm, addressing our faceless, pale assailant.
“You’re the Colt… Or at least my image of the Colt… But you’re gone now. I have no reason to be afraid of you… That’s what she meant… That’s what Granny Pie meant… She wanted me to laugh my fears away… She wanted me to… Giggle at the Ghosties…”
The Slender Pony flinched at her chuckle… It hurt him… As her chuckle grew into a chortle, then to a laugh, he backed away, shrinking a bit in fright and pain… Soon, Pinkie was cackling aloud as though she had heard the funniest joke ever conceived… And that was all it took… The Slender Pony burst into a blinding white light that took the shape of a large rectangle after a few moments… A door into the light… Not death, but… Light…
The pink-coated equine scrambled to Kevin’s ruck and produced the Health Drink we had picked up before leaving Sugar Cube Corner. We each only got a few sips, as the bottle was quite small and it tasted absolutely awful, but it was enough to get us back on our feet and our bags on our backs.
Pinkie stood before the door, a genuine Pinkie Pie smile on her face and said only one sentence… A sentence I had been hoping to hear for what felt like an eternity…
“Let’s get out of here…”
