Dark storm clouds shrouded the sun over a dull field. A single, drab, two-story house sat on a hill, overlooking a mineshaft, where large boulders lay in rows outside it. Very rarely could one hear a quiet bird song, and only if they listened closely, for little happiness could be found within the Pie Rock Farm. Within the home, a young, teenage mare, by the name of Pinkamena Emerald Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie for short, sat reading a book, a plate of cookies nearby, half of them had been eaten. The fireplace blazed to keep off the winter chill. Her mother, Custard E. Pie the Fourth, sat on the old, musky, forest green couch inches away. Orange earphones were in her ears, as the empowering voice of Haymes Earl Homes read the Scriptures of the Maker, Creator of Equis, into her mind. She blinked when the voice was cut off, replaced by a fatherly, powerful voice, that seemed to not come from the earphones, but from everywhere at once. "Lord Maker..." She whispered, tears of joy falling.
A faint ball of light shone in the air, hovering just two inches from the face of Custard, emanating a soothing warmth. It went unnoticed by the young Pinkie. A voice echoed from the orb, ancient, yet at the same time young, "Custard Esmeralda Pie, my faithful follower," the older mare bowed her head slightly in a mixture of fear, and awestruck reverence, "Your last, and beloved daughter, Pinkamena Diane Pie, has become corrupted by wickedness, you must purge this corruption." She nodded in understanding, as the orb dissipated.
Custard turned her head to look at her daughter, as a look of extreme disgust came over her face. Pinkamena was reading something seditious to her morality, that accursed Luna Shrugged. She grit her teeth, and snatched the book away, to her daughter's surprise. "This filth should have never been allowed in this sacred household." She was deaf to her daughter's pleas, as she carefully opened the grate of the fireplace, and tossed the book inside. Bitter tears streamed down her daughter's face, as she watched her newly bought book, which she had saved up for with her allowance, slowly burnt away, until it was nothing but scraps of charred paper, and ashes. Pinkie was then sentenced to her room, with only a bowl of smashed rocks and old milk as her dinner. This went on an on, the voice commanding Custard to remove more and more corruption, starting with the drawings Pinkie had made in her sketchbook, followed the small collection of dolls she had, and finally, every single cooking and baking cookbook she had.
A little over two months since Custard had heard the voice of The Maker, the orb of light appeared once more. Custard bowed her head, and waited for her Lord-Maker to speak. "You have done well, my loyal subject." A smile of gratitude appeared on her face, as she thanked the glowing sphere. "But, your daughter still holds corruption within, you must slay her, to prove YOU love ME above all. Slay Pinkamena, and burn her heart as an offering to me."
"It shall be done as you ask, My Maker." Custard bowed, as the ball of light vanished. She stood from her seat, and went over to an umbrella rack, where her trust pickaxe, which, in its infancy, she had named the Notched Pickaxe, she now named, as it gained her approval, Rockbiter, and picked it up her in her grasp. Pinkie, who has been watching through the stairs, scampered into her room, and tried searching for a way out. Her window was latched shut, and it would be a painful all, and even if she did hide under the bed, her mother would find her. She could hear heavy hoofsteps, and the sound of a pickaxe clanging against wood pounding on the steps. That was when Pinkie saw crumbling dirt under her bedroom rug. She flung it aside, revealing a hole. With a loud BANG, her mother burst through the door, pickaxe in hoof, grinning, "Pinkamena...." she said softly. A look of shock and fear on her face, Pinkie steeled her nerves, stood over the hole-and jumped down.
The orb of light appeared once more, its voice pitched in a way only it could hear, as Custard, looking despondent, seemingly having failed her task, trudged downstairs. The sound of buzzing flies could be heard, as the orb turned a sickly gray, "All according to plan...." it whispered, before dissipating into the ether, laughing darkly.
Pinkie screamed as she fell the immposibly long way down. She landed with a groan on her plot, as her head rung. "Where am I?" she asked herself, rubbing her sore rump with a hoof, as she slowly got up. The pale pink mare appeared to be in some sort of dank room, the walls were made of old, carved stone. The sound of dripping water rang in her ears. Taking a deep breath, she blinked, and turned, seeing a doorway into darkness. Trepidatious, she slowly trotted through the door, as she came upon what looked like copies of herself, except, they were a slate grey, and crimson streaks ran down their eyes, looking an awful lot like blood. They let out sounds that were a hybrid of a guttural moan, and a quiet sob as they advanced upon her. "S-stay away!" Pinkie yelled, as tears welled in her eyes. She gasped, as she noticed a cannon that she had dreamed about nearby. Scrambling to it, she hastily pointed it at her foes. She pulled the fuse, as a pale cannonball made of confetti and glitter slammed into her clones, causing deep cuts to appear in their flesh, letting out ribbons of sanguine. "I-I'm sorry." she whimpered, as more tears fired out, reducing the clones of herself to turn into globs of flesh and skin, dark puddles pooling from their remains. She sighed, said a quick prayer to them, and, before advancing, quickly picked up a shiny bit that had popped out of the blue. Exhaling, she entered the next door.
Pinkie blinked, seeing a doorway across from her. She looked around, seeing four bonfires, one at each corner of the room, and in the center, a cracking stone pedestal. On said pedestal appeared to be a single Tailon, a paper version of Griffon currency. Picking it up, Pinkie's eyes widened, and she grinned as it vanished, instead replaced with a large number of bits pooling around her. She looked down, finding a saddlebag on her that she hadn't been wearing when she went down. Scooping up the money, she placed it in the bag, which vanished, leaving a floating message above her saying "FOR WHEN YOU NEED IT." She rubbed her chin, "Curiouser and curiouser." Pinkie mumbled, before shrugging, and continuing onward. Her hooves echoed against the cold stone floor. There were flies buzzing about in this room, "Aww, so cu-" She stopped when they began to angrily buzz, and come after her, "Ah! Not cute, not cute!" She yelled, running around the room. She popped off confetii balls at her assailants, as each exploded in a puff of bile. A sad look came over her face as the flies vanished, before she looked down. A dark grey sphere with two yellow hooves and a fuse waddled over, "A-a bomb? Are you here to help?" The explosive nodded, before jumping into the saddlebag. She smiled slightly, and continued on, squeezing through the door.
She came upon an empty room, with a cluster of rocks in the center, and, to her disgust, some piles of horseapples among the cluster. She saw two of those cute bombs huddled together in one part of the cluster, and some bits in the other. Pinching her left foreleg, she fired twin cannonballs at the manure, shuddering in revulsion when bits popped up.from their remains. She carefully swiped them up, then grabbed the rest of the bits, and the bombs, who silently thanked her with a nuzzle. She patted their fuses in return, before stowing them away. "Now, which way to go?" She thought aloud. There were two doors, one in front of her, and one to her left. The one on her left looked just like all the other doors she had come across, yet the one in front appeared to have a light grey border, with a glowing light emanating from within, in contrast to the darkness of the unknown of the previous door ways. "Hmm, scary dark-darkness, or pretty, happy light?" She mumbled, deep in thought. "Hmm, pretty happy light seems better." She said, and bounced into the room, closing her eyes as she was enveloped in a warm glow.
The pink mare shook her head, looking around. In the center of the room was a statue of an Alicorn, one of the immortal, holy servants of The Maker, except this one was faceless, its wings and forelegs were outstretched, as if to hug anypony that came close. Two pedestals were positioned in the center of the room. One held what appeared to be a floating pony, it was a filly, with a pale coat and a dark grey mane. The second platform held a small, swirling vortex in suspended animation. Something about the filly tugged at Pinkie's earliest memories, so she reached out her hooves to the filly, who vanished. "Wh-GAH!" She had turned around to find the floating head of the filly, except it was now her age, and, in lieu of a body, had a wispy tail. She shook slightly, "Um, who are you, Ms. Ghost?" She asked, faintly recalling the song her grandmother had taught.
A sad smile crossed the spectre's face, "I'm your sister, Blinky." Pinkie cocked her head in confusion, "You never met me. It was freshmare year at Rockwell University. The chariot we were in lost a wheel...." Ethereal tears started to stream down her face. Pinkie frowned, and hugged the ghostly form of her sibling. Blinky sniffled, "Thanks sis." she wiped her tears with her tail/body, "I'll help you out the best I can." She grinned. Pinkie nodded, as she left the room. With her sister by her side, she went in through the door on her right.
Pinkie and Blinky looked around the room. On the strip of land that ran from door to door, there were four rocky platforms, one jutting from each corner of the room. Two, small, spider like creatures were crawling on the wall. Pinkie turned towards them, and barely had time to duck as a volley of bile was thrown her way. "Eww, thats it, eat my confetti" She readied the cannon, which, considering it fired confetti and other things one would find at a party, she had nicknamed it the Party Cannon, and aimed. She let out a grunt as one pile of bile got her in the shoulder, but soldiered on, blasting the two into glitter and streamer based oblivion. She panted, wiping her brow.
"Sis, watch out!" Blinky yelled, causing Pinkie to turn around. There had been another one of the spider monsters, which had been hiding in a crack in the wall. Blinky fired a beam of pulsating, icey blue energy from from her eyes, turning the monster into a pile of crimson and eyeballs, which fell from the wall, into the black depths of the cavern.
Pinkie grinned, brohoofing her ghostly sis, "Nice shot Blinkerino!" She picked up the shiny silver key that had popped into existence. Stuffing it into her saddlebag, she headed off down the next door.
Meanwhile, a sickly grey orb watched the pink mare, and sneered.
