Chapter Seven

Reunion

Applejack grabbed Pinkie and stood on her hind legs, lifting her wheelchair up a few inches before it slammed back to the ground. Pinkie screamed as she frantically struggled to get out of that farm-hardened, muscular grip.

“Applejack! Please don’t hurt me! It wasn’t really me that killed Rainbow Dash! Nightmare Moon did it, I swear!”

When Applejack lifted her head, we could see her tears. “Ah know all that, sugarcube.”

They hugged as Applejack began to sob.

Pinkie nuzzled her as she cried, “I’d give anything to bring Dashie back, I swear it!”

“Ah believe you, darlin’.”

“I thought you would have hated me more than anyone else.”

“A couple of months ago, Ah guess Ah did. A grief councelin’ group’s been helpin’ me, though. Ah don’t hate yew, darlin’. Ah just hate the thought of yew gettin’ used by that monster.”

Rarity asked, “How long have you been out here, dear?”

“I’ve been living in an old prospector’s shack for a few weeks.”

“By yourself?” inquired Spike.

She shrugged. “Well, yeah! I can’t run the risk of anypony from Appleoosa recognizing me, even with my makeover. The buffalo never read newspapers, so they don’t know what happened to me.”

“Oh, my,” said Fluttershy. “You must be terribly lonely.”

Pinkie looked at the ground, her hair flattening. “You have no idea. That shack I stay in is near a cliff that has a half-mile drop. On the really bad, ugly nights, I find myself standing on the edge of that cliff with one hoof held up. All I need to do is lift the other hoof and I fall away from a life I hate.”

We huddled around her as a fresh stream of tears came to Pinkie. “But then I think of how Rainbow Dash would react if she found out I committed suicide. She’d hate me for taking my own life.”

The dead always know the secrets the living keep. That’s what Nightmare Moon told my dad. That’s what I told Pinkie after that tyrant was sent back to the moon.

She stamped a hoof. “I can’t stand that idea! Too many people hate me already for something I didn’t do. For Dashie to hate me for something I did do? That’s too terrible to risk. So I put my hoof back on the ground, turn away from the cliff and walk back to my empty home.
I sleep in an empty bed and I sit next to an empty chair.”

Applejack nodded. “Ah know what you mean. Ah almost killed someone not too long ago, but Ah was afraid of gettin’ on Rainbow’s bad side, too. Looks like we have a lot in common.”

Pinkie sniffed, wiping her nose. “For the first time in my life, I’m actually afraid of people. But I’m also lonely. I thought that just being safe from harm would make my life better. But the badlands are worse than the rock farm I tried so hard to get away from. It’s almost as if I’m destined to be this way. To be alone.”

“Ah once felt that way, but Ah’m tellin’ you that’s stinkin’ thinkin’, Pinks,” said Applejack as she picked twigs out of Pinkie’s mane.

She raised an eyebrow, tilting her head. “Really? The life I struggled to find is gone. The only mare I ever loved is dead. There’s nothing but quiet and solitude out here. I hate quiet, it makes me jumpy. I can’t stand solitude, because if I’m not helping others, I just don’t feel alive.”

Twilight sat next to Pinkie. “It had to have been horrible in that asylum.”

“The screaming was the worst,” Pinkie admitted. “Top of their lungs. All day, all night. The only smiles I found there were from ponies that were way worse off than even me. The badlands are a little better than that, I guess.”

Rarity snorted. “Giant bug problems notwithstanding.”

Pinkie’s ears shot up. “Those bugs cut the phone lines before they cleaned out the town. Did a call for help get out before the lines went down? How did you guys get here so fast?”

Octavia said, “Equus was threatened and even attacked by one of those grey insects back in Ponyville recently. A trail of clues led us here. The timing of our arrival is just a coincidence.”

“But how do those icky bugs know you, Equus?” asked Pinkie.

“I’m not sure the insects are entirely to blame,” I replied. “I don’t know how, but I think Quietus somehow hired these creatures to hunt me down and lure me into the Malarson Mountain caves.”

Pinkie scratched her head, puzzled. “Hired them? I don’t think bugs spend bits like we do. What could thousand year old ghosts offer them to do this kind of damage?”

Twilight got up and said, “Only one way to find out. We’re almost out of daylight, so we’d better get going if we want to read the caves by nightfall.”

Applejack brushed away the rocks that kept Pinkie’s wheels in place. “Ah guess you can head on back home, Pinks. We’ll take it from here.”

“Nope. I’m coming with you.”

Taken aback, I said, “What? Pinkie, I don’t want to sound cruel, but you’re not really in full fighting trim anymore.”

Pinkie walked over to me, looking me over. “Do your legs ache whenever it rains? I bet they do. Is it hard to live with just one kidney? Probably. Yet here you are.”

Applejack shook her head in disbelief. “Darlin’, Ah don’t want to sound mean or anythin’, but we’ll be fightin’ a lot of bugs with no hope of reinforcements. How can you help us in yer current condition?”

“I may be in a wheelchair, but I’m still pretty fast.”

Vinyl snorted. “I was faster.”

“Vinyl! Don’t be rude!” growled Octavia.

“Sorry, babe,” said Vinyl, blushing.

Twilight rubbed her chin. “Hmm. Pinkie, if your sense can help the buffalo find water, do you think it can help us find those bugs?”

Pinkie’s hair poofed out like a popcorn kernel. “I bet it could! Let’s go!”

Spike climbed onto Twilight’s back and smiled at Pinkie. “Just like old times, huh?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie squinted at Spike’s brass knuckles. “Hey, what did you do to my Element of Laughter?”

“Twilight gave it an upgrade,” He replied, grinning with pride. “The Element gives me the punching power of a fully grown dragon now.”

Pinkie admired the sculpting job. “Gee, I just used it to fire rainbows.”

Spike shrugged. “Everything changes.”

“Tell me about it,” Pinkie replied, stroking back her blond hair.

* * *

As we continued walking towards the Malarson Mountains, I heard the buzzing sound again, this time from the other side of a nearby hill. Pinkie’s tail began to twitch.

“Uh, guys?” said Pinkie. “I think we’re being followed.”

“You hear that too, huh?” Vinyl replied as she stared out into the purple dusk.

“He must be a scout for whatever’s waiting for us in those mountain caves,” observed Twilight. “I wonder if it’s a black bug or a grey one?”

Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. “Why would that matter?”

“The black insects are fighting the grey ones,” I informed her. “So I guess there’s dissention in their ranks for some reason.”

“So not all bugs are mean?” Pinkie’s ears pricked up. “Cool! Maybe we’ll team up with them.”

Octavia smiled. “I admire your optimism.”

“I’m just happy to be surrounded by ponies that know who I am and don’t care.” Pinkie smiled at Octavia and Vinyl as they walked side by side. “You two are that music group ‘Boards Of Equestria’, right?”

Vinyl lit up, grinning. “Hey, another fan. How did you hear about us, Pinkie?”

“Rainbow Dash used to listen to your music all the time when she was cloud-busting. When we were together, I’d listen with one ear-bud while Dashie banged her head with the other.”

“Octi and I do that in the studio sometimes,” Vinyl remarked.

“I can tell you two have been together for a long time,” Pinkie said.

Octavia raised a brow as she asked, “How did you know?”

“Oh, there’s a bunch of hints. The way you exchange nuzzles once every few minutes. Or how you don’t hold a grudge for the stuff Vinyl said to me.”

“Before I met my mare, I was much quieter,” said Octavia. “My conservative background raised me to keep myself to myself. That included keeping my preference for mares quiet. Vinyl showed me a world where I didn’t have to hide my true self.”

“And I used to be a lot louder and meaner to other ponies.” Vinyl confessed. “Tavi taught me to throttle back on the snark, to think before I open my cookie-hole. I still slip up sometimes. She’s always there to catch me, though.”

Pinkie grinned as she pondered. “So one of you had gotten louder and the other one’s become quieter. Neat!”

Her hair was now as frizzy as a hay-bale. Pinkie’s front legs had a cheerful canter as her wheels bounced over the rocks. If you ignored the white fur and wheelchair, you could swear that she was the same Pinkie Pie Ponyville loved having around before I ever left Manehattan.

Everypony’s mood began to darken, however, as we climbed over a hill and saw the massive cave entrance. You could fit the Ponyville Train in that maw. With the last gleam of fading sunlight, we could see maybe ten hooves into the cave.

“Twilight?” I asked. “Did you say that these mountains have large, deep caves?”

She was lighting her way with her horn. “That’s what I’ve read in Equestria Geographic magazine. Some of these caves have a hundred miles of tunnels.”

“How deep does this cave go?” asked Spike.

“Noone knows.”

I inquired, “Why not?”

“If I remember correctly, this is cave LV426. It has no official name because every pony that’s tried to map this cave has never returned.”

Spike gulped, rubbing his brass knuckles as if it were a lucky talisman. “Oh. No worries, right?”

Twilight grunted as she maximized the bright purple glow. Vinyl trotted over beside her and lit up even more of the cave with her red-tinted magic. Rarity joined them with stellar blue radiance.

Vinyl chuckled. “Hey, it looks like one of my raves, Tavi!”

Octavia rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, dear. The terrifying cave of unknown peril does indeed look like a dance party.”

“Yep! Complete with sparkles! Wait, what?”

Pinkie’s back began to ripple. Her tail trembled. “Ooh, I don’t like this, guys!”

I walked cautiously towards the cave. The three light-beams revealed more of the cave, showing dozens of rocks and stalactites. Some of the rocks gleamed as if encrusted with jewels.
Some of those gleams moved away from the lights.

“My Pinkie sense is going bonkers!” She hollered as her wheels rattled around.

I heard a now-familiar buzzing sound again, but this time from within the cave. It wasn’t just one set of wings beating, however.

Rarity squinted into the cave. “Why are the walls moving?”

We heard hundreds of wings.

And saw hundreds of eyes.

From deep within the cave came a deep, low voice. “Hello, Equus.”

I was so stunned from hearing my name, it took a moment to open my mouth. “Who are you?”

“Do you not know your own family history? When we lost the war and had to scatter across Equestria, I and three thousand of my followers ended up here.”

Shaking my head, I couldn’t deny what I was hearing. It was impossible for normal ponies to live that long. But “normal” parted company with me a long time ago.

“Quietus Mortis?”

The voice chuckled. “Very good. You may be a traitor, but at least you’re educated. And you brought a celebrity with you.”

“What?”

Pinkie walked up to me, her body shivering. “Who’s he talking about?”

“You, Pinkie Pie.”

She frowned and looked away. “There’s no way you could know me.”

“Nightmare Moon did.”

Pinkie’s eyes bulged as she stared into the cave.

“She told me that it was simple to take over your body. Your anger over Rainbow Dash preferring to fornicate with Applejack instead of you made Rainbow’s death easy to achieve. She only made you do something you’ve wanted to do for a while.”

“You lie!” She yelled. “You’re just saying that to hurt me!”

“Oh, I haven’t begun to hurt you yet. But I and my followers will have plenty of practice taking all of you apart. Grab them! Bring Equus to me!”

A sudden gust of wind from the cave kicked up a roiling hill of dust. A sudden brazing of wings pierced our ears.

Then we were smothered by a massive swarm of grey bugs.

Author's Note

The theme song this time is "From The Heart Of Darkness" by Kevin Braheny and Michael Stearns.