My Honour and My Fatherland

Pinkie Pie awakens with a shock in her bed. She sits upright, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she does and looks around. She's lying in her soft bed in the room that the Cakes have allowed her to sleep in ever since she first came to Ponyville.

She breathes a sigh of relief. Nothing wrong in her room, nope, all is as it should be.

She smiles and lies her head back down on the pillow, but instead of the soft, feathery pillow that she always sleeps with (except when it's being washed, then she uses a different one with a big, pink balloon on it) she feels all too familiar scales upon her cheek.

She can't help but laugh a little as she lifts her head to look upon her favourite little alligator.

Gummy is standing on her pillow with his trademark, stoic and emotionless expression that only she, for some reason, can understand. Weird, you'd think after so long her friends would begin to understand him just as well as she does. Oh well.

”Yeah, Gummy? What's up?” She asks him in a quiet voice so as to not awaken the twins sleeping in their room just down the hall. Sometimes they sleep like rocks, other times like...hmm, what sleeps light and awakens easily? A dragon? A timberwolf? A timberdragon?

Before she can reach a conclusion, the room lights up from a lightning strike outside followed mere moments later by a thunderous roar, which in turn is followed by the heavy pitter patter of rain against her window.

”Hmm.” Pinkie muses and gets up out of bed, placing Gummy upon her back, before she tip hooves over to her window to look outside.

She can't see much of Ponyville through the rain and darkness, but there isn't much to see anyway. Most ponies have gone to sleep by now, and those who haven't were probably out for some late night partying with friends or at a bar.

Although a night party would have been pretty fun to attend, she can't, atleast not tonight. She's promised Mr. and Mrs. Cake to watch Sugarcube Corner and the twins while they were at a baking convention in Canterlot, so for tonight she's all alone at home.

Well, except for Gummy and the twins of course.

”Did the thunder scare you, Gummy?” She turns her head and asks her alligator, who blinks slowly in return, not letting a single sound escape his maw.

”Aw, it's okay, Gummy, I think it can be scary sometimes too, but remember what Granny Pie said about being scared?” Pinkie doesn't wait for an answer, instead, she takes a deep breath and, still in a quiet voice, begins to sing.

”When I was a little filly and the sun-” Suddenly, she hears another loud thundering noise, except this time it's coming from downstairs, in the bakery kitchen.

Pinkie blinks, then blinks again. Maybe one of the twins has somehow gotten out of the crip, climbed down the stairs and started causing mayhem?

That has to be it.

After all, what else can it be? A thief?

”Nah, I don't know any thieves. Except Gilda, but that was only once. I think.” Pinkie didn't want to think ill of Gilda, especially after she saved her and Rainbow Dash back in Griffonstone, buuuuuuut.

She slowly opens the door that leads out to the hall. She takes a peak towards the stairs, then at the twins' door.

Nothing seems to be amiss in the hall, but she should probably still check their room, just to make sure they're still in bed and asleep.

With Gummy still on her back, she continues to tip hoof over to the twins' room, making sure to be as quiet as a mouse, or a fly.

Those nasty flies. One time, she was trying to bake a cake for Fluttershy's birthday, and there was this fly that just WOULD NOT-.

She shakes her head. Now is not the time for an inner monolouge about cake and flies: she has to check on the twins.

She opens the door and heads silently over to the crip, only to find that both Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake are lying there, sleeping soundly away in foal dreamland with occasional small snores.

Pinkie breathes a sigh of relief. ”Well, guess it's not you two who made the noise.” She whispers before leaning down to plant a kiss on each of their foreheads, making them wiggle their little hooves, trying to catch whatever touched them in their sleep.

”Pinkie...” Pound mumbles, followed by his sister, ”Pie...”

'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw.' Pinkie nearly sheds a tear of joy. That always helps to make her day, no matter how many cupcakes got burned or how many rude customers she had.

”But if it isn't them,” Pinkie closes the door behind her when she's exited the room, and heads for the stairs once she's back in the hall. When she reaches the top of the stairs, she listens closely for any possible sounds over the thunder and rain.

For a few moments there's nothing, but when a particularily loud thunder crack roars outside, she hears what sounds like another bowl hitting and smashing onto the wooden floor followed shortly by a yelp from somepony downstairs.

Oh, she hopes the twins didn't hear that as she winces a bit, listening for any babies crying.

A few moments pass by, and, thankfully, no noise comes from their room

”Pehew.” She sighs, happy they didn't wake up, but now what should she do?

It sounds like somepony is down in the bakery, maybe a thief who's stealing all their baking utensils! But why would a thief steal those? Don't they have their own kitchen? Or maybe the thief is homeless, and when he saw how deliciously delicious Sugarcube Corner looks, maybe he thought he could steal some cupcakes.

If that was the case, Pinkie certainly wouldn't mind giving the poor pony a cupcake or three. Infact, she'll happily stay up a couple hours to bake for a pony in need, especially since afterwards they might even become her newest friend!

Pinkie becomes a bit giddy at the thought, smiling to herself when she thinks of the fun things she'll soon be doing with her new thief friend. If they're a thief, they'd have to be really good at sneaking, so they could help her get back at Rainbow after that last round of pranks.

But what if it's not a nice thief? What if it's a big and really nasty thief? Aha, of course!

”If the thief turns out to be a nasty pony, you'll protect me, won't you Gummy?” Pinkie says in a hushed voice and turns her head to Gummy.

He blinks.

”Ah, my hero!” She hugs his little form close before she lets him go, steels herself, and begins to head down the stairs.

When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she can see light coming from within the kitchen, but it's not bright enough to be from the ceiling lamp. Puzzled, Pinkie makes her way to the open door and peers her head inside.

The fridge stands completely open, full of cakes of various kinds, shedding its light throughout the kitchen. Surrounding the fridge are the remains of cupcakes and muffins that look like they were devoured by a starving animal: there are crumbs all around the floor, and the paper packing of the cupcakes and muffins have been bitten into, presumably eaten as well along with the actual pastries.

Pinkie turns her head to the right side of the kitchen where the counter and the drawers are that store the utensils for bakery. She nearly gasps loudly and quickly retracts her head when she spots a figure kneeling infront of one of the windows to the outside world.

”It is a thief, Gummy!” She whispers to her scaly pet before she ever so slowly pokes her head through the bat doors again, squinting her eyes to try and get a better look. It looks like its resting one of it forelegs on the counter to the window as it peers out, like it's looking for something.

”Wait,” Those aren't frontlegs, they're arms, kind of like Spike's except much bigger and longer. Actually, comparing it to Spike isn't too much of a stretch. Looking it over, it seems to be kneeling on one knee while its other hoof stands firmly planted on the floor.

It wears some odd looking clothes that cover its entire body. On its head is a metallic looking hat that looks like some kinda soup bowl, and in its right hand that rests close to the counter top, hidden from view of anypony that might look through the window, is an object that also looks metallic with a grey colour and an odd L shape.

Good thing Rarity isn't here or she'd faint at the mere sight of this thing's clothes.

Pinkie's eyes travel back towards the fridge, where she notices a trail of crumbs from the fridge to where the thing is kneeling now. Besides the crumps, she can also see the remains of two ceramic bowls shattered on the ground. Those must have been the things she heard shatter on the floor earlier.

'It must have been starving, I mean, why else would it devour my cupcakes like that?' Pinkie can understand being really hungry for cupcakes, but she's never been so hungry she went and stole somepony else's cupcakes.

A sour pout crosses her libs when she has a realizing thought, 'Still, it could have asked instead of just taking from the fridge. I'd be happy to spend a bit of time baking if it meant feeding somepony in need.'

Pinkie begins to think a bit more, 'Not a pony, though, it's shaped more like a diamond dog would.'

She shakes her head to try and regain her focus, 'No time for thinking on that, it's still a thief! Buuuuuuut, I suppose I can't blame it if it was so hungry it was willing to break into somepony's home to steal it.'

Pinkie took a deep breath. No matter what she had to try and talk to it, to see if she could help it in some way. She becomes giddy again at the thought that maybe she can get a new thief friend.

'A thief friend sounds really sneaky. Oh, I can't wait to try all the fun pranks we're going to do together!'

Just as she's about to step forward towards the crouching figure, another thought strikes her, 'But what if it's not a nice thief? What if it's actually a big and nasty thief that wants to rob Sugarcube Corner!'

Pinkie pushes the thought out of her mind, 'No, I won't think like that! If there's anything I've learned from Zecora, it's to never judge anypony based on how they look. Besides, Gummy said he'll protect me. He'd never let anypony harm me.'

With a self assuring nod, Pinkie goes out from behind the doors and slowly approaches the being. Can it be a diamond dog? Those are the only things she knows that fits the way this thing looks. Or maybe it's a small minotaur.

Pinkie gasps inside herself so as not to alert the maybe-diamond-dog-maybe-minotaur, 'Maybe it's a minotaur baby that got seperated from its mom!' Pinkie certainly doesn't want to be seperated from her mom in a big, strange place with weird looking creatures in a town that gets attacked once a week by something straight out of a Daring Doo book.

Maybe Rainbow knows if there's a part where a diamond dog or minotaur breaks into Daring Doo's kitchen and eats all her pastries.

When she gets closer, she can see a bag at its side that's being held in place by a strap that's slung over the thing's head. It looks full, but she can't tell what's inside it. Besides that, she can now see that its clothes are really brown, like dirty, icky mud.

...No wait, they're blue, but just really, really dirty. There's also specks of a red colour smeared all over it, as if it took a bath in strawberry juice, the kind that's really hard to get out of your clothes. It smells pretty bad too, kinda like Winona when she hasn't been bathed in a week, and has slept in the barn with the big, fluffy pigs that week.

When she gets to within 2 meters of the thing, she raises her hoof in a friendly wave like manner, but before she manages to speak, the bright light of lightning shines through the kitchen, briefly illuminating everything, before it's followed not a second later by the roaring of thunder.

The figure reacts violently as it begins to shake heavily, and its hand quickly smacks onto its metal helmet, pushing it further down on its head. She can hear its ragged breath while it shakes before it says something barely above a whisper, but thanks to the pitter patter of the rain Pinkie can't hear what it is.

”Uh, hello?” Pinkie asks carefully after she swallows the massive lump in her throat. She's never been this nervous about talking to anypony before, at least not since meeting the yaks of Yakyakistan. Then again, this isn't exactly a pony or a yak.

It didn't seem to hear her, though, as its gaze has returned to looking outside the window out into the cold, dark night of Princess Luna. It seems dead set on scanning all that's outside, looking for anything, anypony, but Pinkie has no idea why it wants to do so.

”Hello?” She tries again, ”Can-can you understand me?” She takes a few steps closer.

”I-I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?” Even though she's as nervous as she is, she still puts on her friendliest and biggest smile possible.

It seemed to hear her this time, as it gives a tiny jump before it turns around so quickly it gives Pinkie a shock and makes her reel a bit. ”Oh, great, I was worried-” Pinkie stops midsentence as her face turns from one of pure joy and eagerness to make a new friend to one of shock as she finally sees its features up close

Its muzzle is almost completely flat with a tiny nose that rests above its mouth. It doesn't seem to have any fur except a mess of hair on top of its head that pokes out from underneath the helmet along with a light beard. She can clearly tell that this is neither a diamond dog nor a minotaur.

What catches her attention the most, though, is its small eyes that are...empty. She'd heard a pony once say that the eyes are the window to the soul, but its eyes are completely devoid of emotion, of any feeling or spark of life. It's as if it was just a doll with pony like eyes that's starring at her.

No, wait, there is one emotion she can see, or maybe that's just her own reflection she's seeing in its eyes: fear, fear is rampant in its eyes, the kind of fear that a cornered animal will have when it knows there's nothing else to do but fight.

”A-are you okay?” She asks with worry upon seeing how lifeless its face and eyes look.

Instead of answering, the thing points the grey, metallic object in its hand right at her. There's a barrel at the end pointed at her that looks like a miniature party canon.

As Pinkie stares down the barrel, she can't help but look up in order to make direct eye contact with it. Its eyes are a light brown colour and completely bloodshot, as if it had been awake for days or had cried alot. There are small scratch wounds on its cheeks as well, as if it has dragged its claws down its cheeks with enough force to tear off the skin, with dried blood smeared all over its face.

It's a gross fascination she feels as she looks into its eyes and features, for even though they're terrifying her to her very core with just how emotionless the eyes are and how bloody its face is, she can't make herself look away.

”H-how'd this happen?” She whispers more to herself than it. Her terror mixes with worry as a near paternal instinct comes over her, like with the twins. She wants to try and help it, to try and do whatever is needed for it to get its spark of life back.

But right now there's nothing in its gaze except rampant fear and a steely determination to live.

Pinkie likewise steels herself and slowly brings her hoof forward, ”I-I want to help you, please, let me help you, you must be so hungry and frightened.” She tries desperately, hoping that it'll recognize her gesture as one of friendship and of wanting to help.

It stares at her hoof, then slowly lowers the mini cannon. ”Yes, that's right, no one'll hurt you. How about I sing a song about being scared?” Pinkie's songs seems to always calm ponies down in scary situations, maybe she can calm them both down with one?

”When I was a little filly and the sun was going do-”

Just then, another crack of lightning comes with roaring thunder, and the being cries out in a distinctly male voice before the room lights up again as a loud bang rings through the room. Pinkie can see smoke rising from the barrel of the cannon, and a look of horror resurfaces on her face as she slowly looks behind herself.

On the wall behind her is a shelf where a fine collection of some of the best ingredients for cake baking sits. These ingredients had cost a lot of bits, and some the Cakes had gotten from Zecora. There's a particular brown sugar that Zecora had been kind enough to mix up for them, which was a traditional sugar mix from her homeland.

The tiny bag that had held the sugar on the shelf is now ripped apart with brown sugar all over the shelf and floor, and in the wall itself behind where the bag sat is now a small hole through which a pony could peek.

Click click

She freezes, standing stock still, before she slowly returns her gaze to the crouching figure. The barrel of the cannon is pointing directly between her eyes. 'I-it wants to kill me?! Why?!' Her flight instinct finally takes over, and she bolts for the batwing doors of the kitchen.

Just as she reaches them, another loud bang rings out, and this time the projectile slams into the batwing door mere inches from her, leaving a hole in the door that goes straight through it.

She turns her head, looking at it with a terrified look. It looks at her with a scary determination, a determination to live, to survive...to kill.

Her mind screams at her to run, to get the twins and run away from this thing, this thing that wants to kill her! She has to get the twins and get somepony who can help!

She can see how it places its thumb upon the back of the cannon and pulls back. Click click

Before it can fire its cannon again, Pinkie bolts out the doors and runs as quickly as she can up the stairs. She clicks her teeth together, a look of pure desperation clear on her face before she practically breaks down the door to the twins room, only to find them awake and leaning on the rail to the crip with their front legs.

They look confused and scared up at her. They must have awoken when the thing fired its cannon.

”Sorry, guys, no time to explain, but we gotta get outta here!” Pinkie nearly screams the last part at them, making them shy away from her before she quickly scoops them up in her hooves, and throws them onto her back along with Gummy, whom they both hug close as their eyes dart around in fear and confusion.

She runs back down the stairs, casting a last glance towards the batwing doors that leads to the kitchen. She notices now that the cannon's projectile hit the cash register where it's blown apart the "s" key.

She swallows before more thunder roars, yet this time it's followed by a gut wrenching, terrible scream from within the kitchen. At the sound of the scream, the twins begin crying themselves, but whether they're spooked by the thunder or the scream she's not sure of.

She can't stay here, though: if it wants to kill her, then the twins...no, she can't take that chance. She runs out of the main entrance of Sugarcube Corner, out into the dark streets of Ponyville towards the home of the only pony she can think of who can help.

”Oh, please, please, please be awake, Twilight.”

End of Chapter 1: The Thunder and The Thief