Chapters The morning sun is cruel.
Celestia's light was not easy on the eyes and never has been as far back as I can remember. I quickly covered my face with my pillow just to keep any hint that it was morning already.
As far back as I can remember…
As far back as I can remember...
Can I?
I heard my door open and something crawled into bed with me. I looked under the covers and saw a little pink unicorn.
“Mom, can you walk me to school today?”
She stared at me with those big emeralds she calls eyes. Even though mine were bloodshot, they were hard to resist.
“Okay, Baby. Just give mom a moment.”
I pulled the pillow off my face and slowly got up out of bed. Pinchy got out of the covers.
“I’m not a baby anymore.”
“Well, you’re my baby, Honey.”
I can’t count how many times I’ve been called baby and responded in a worse way than just whining. I used to not mind that.
After breakfast, we walked toward the schoolhouse, passing by all the familiar faces. It’s easy to be familiar with everypony in a small town like this, but it’s even easier when everypony’s got the same face each time you pass by them. I’m not that hung over, mind you. The faces aren’t blurred; they all just have the same expression. Pity. Disdain. All judging you each time you pass by. All for the life you lead and the life you’ve led. Pinchy never minded though. She was just happy to be walking to school with her mom. Simple pleasures.
Near Sugarcube Corner, Scootaloo passed us by. Pinchy called out to her as she zipped past us on her scooter.
“Hey Scootaloo!”
It didn’t register. She just kept on going.
“Maybe she didn’t hear you, Honey.”
Pinchy looked down.
“You haven’t hung out together in a long time have you, Baby?”
She looked up at me.
“I told you not to call me that, mom.”
She frowned at me. That frown could topple Canterlot if it ever got into the wrong hands.
“Okay. Come on, we’re almost there.”
We stopped about a block away from the Schoolhouse. Cheerilee was at the front door greeting all her students with the warm smile of hers. I turned to Pinchy.
“Okay, Honey, this as far as I go.”
“Okay, mom.” She planted a big kiss on my cheek.
“I’ll see you at home later.”
She ran up the little hill along with the other colts and fillies. I haven’t walked up that path in ages. It’s not because Pinchy doesn’t want to be seen with me, it’s just I don’t want to deal with that teacher of hers. She’s a good pony, but I can’t stand the preachy type. After I saw Pinchy disappear into the doorway, I made my way back home.
Along the way, I saw a bit of a hubbub near the newsstand. Everypony had a newspaper in their hooves and seemed to be worked up about something. I could already guess what. I picked up one of the newspapers that had been thrown on the ground. It’s hard to believe that some ponies can just throw things away like that. I read the headline.
Seventh Victim in Mystery Disappearances Police continue to be baffled.
Another missing pony.
This had been going on for six weeks now. Each week one pony would disappear and the only clue the police hadn’t a clue to go on. Now we were on the seventh and still nothing to hint at who or what might be causing this. The part of me that still feels, that isn’t hazy, often wondered what would happen if I were next. It’s the only fear that I’ve still got in me. I guess the only upside is that the missing ponies weren’t our kids. I don’t think I could handle it if Pinchy suddenly disappeared. Still, if I were to vanish next who would look after my baby? I looked up at all the other ponies as they read and talked amongst themselves. Then the low down dirty part of me crept up. Maybe it would be best if I were next, maybe then Pinchy would have someone better to come home to.
No.
I took the newspaper with me and continued walking home.
The sun had moved away from my window now. Little sunbeams peeked through the shutters and my room was almost dark again. It was silent save for the ticking of the clock on the wall. Each tick reminded me of how I was just wasting my time staying in my room, how I could be doing better things with my life right now. I looked at the bottle on my nightstand. I wanted to make an effort to reach for it, but couldn’t or didn’t want to. Instead, I got up and went toward the window. I peeked outside and saw how productive everypony else was. “I could be like that, too,” I thought, but who would buy anything from a notorious drunk? I heard the sound of my front door creak open. I looked at the clock again and saw that it was still too early for Pinchy to be home. I went downstairs to see who it was.
The door was open, but there wasn’t anypony there. I looked around for a bit and then made my way toward the kitchen. If it was Pinchy, then she might be in the kitchen fixing up something to eat. As I crossed the threshold I felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck. Everything went black.
The bell rang and Miss Cheerilee let her class. "Class, remember to stay together until you get home and don't stay out too late unless you're with your parents or someone you can trust." The children quickly rushed out the door, only hearing very briefly what their teacher's warning. Ruby Pinch walked out with Dinky, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom as the rest of their classmates zipped on by them. Ruby Pinch remained silent as her friends talked about the homework Miss Cheerilee assigned them. Scootaloo's brief appearance this morning had been bothering her all day, so much so that Miss Cheerilee had to snap her out of it twice just to get her mind back to the matter at hand. Why had she been so elusive lately? What had come into her life so recently that it had become more important than their friendship? She glanced over to her friends who were still in the midst of conversation. "Hey Apple Bloom," she thought to herself, " do you know what's up with Scootaloo lately? Why she hasn't been around?" No, the question sounded too invasive. She thought again. "So how's Scootaloo been? I didn't see her in class today." Too casual, they might retort by asking her why she would ask them that, "aren't you supposed to be best friends with her?" Maybe she should mention seeing her this morning on the way to school. She started to think up of ways she could approach the question from this angle. The sound of her name broke her train of thought.
"Pinchy!"
She looked up and saw Apple Bloom.
"Hey, you've been zonin' out all day. Are you okay?"
She looked at the ground again and started digging her hooves in the dirt a bit. "I don't know. I guess I've been thinking about some stuff lately."
Dinky Smiled.
"is it hugs?" she snarked.
Ruby Pinch blushed with annoyance. "No, I've just been thinking where Scootaloo's been lately."
The three fillies fell silent and looked at each other, Ruby Pinch began to feel the gravity of the subject. Sweetie Belle spoke up.
"We were kind of hoping you'd tell us, Pinchy."
The four of them were silent now. Pinchy continued looking at the ground. "I don't know. I did see her this morning on my way to school near Sugarcube Corner, though, but that's about it."
Sweetie Belle smiled. "Maybe she's taking lessons from Rainbow Dash and she's just too busy to tell us."
Apple Bloom frowned. "But what does that have to do with Sugarcube Corner?"
"It doesn't have to do anything with Sugarcube Corner. I was just thinking of reasons why she hasn't been hanging out with us."
"Yeah, but if Pinchy saw her near Sugarcube Corner, then she musta been doing somethin' with Pinkie Pie or Mr an' Mrs. Cake."
"But she said near Sugarcube Corner. She could've been doing something with Rainbow Dash near Sugarcube Corner."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started to argue about the semantics of what Ruby Pinch had said. Dinky approached her and put a hoof around her shoulder. "Don't pay any attention to them," She said, "They're just kind of 'on edge' about the whole Scootaloo thing. I mean, they used to do everything together."
"She and I used to do everything together."
She dug at the dirt again. Dinky frowned. She looked at the disarray the absence of their friend had caused.
"I think we should get going, girls. Remember what Miss Cheerilee said?"
Sweetie Belle stopped to think. "This test is important, don't forget?"
Her comment lightened the mood. Apple Bloom smiled. "No, silly. She said that we shouldn't stay out too long and that we should go straight home right after school."
Dinky nodded. "Right."
The four of them resumed their walk and focus quickly moved from the Scootaloo situation over to Sweetie Belle's comment and laughter soon made it's way back into their lives again. Now, the only thought on Ruby Pinch's mind was getting home and seeing her mother.
During their walk, Ruby Pinch thought about how she had acted toward her mother this morning. She didn't act too bad and really the only thing that might have come off as being mean to her was when she saw Scootaloo this morning and her mother asked her if they weren't seeing each other much lately. "At least she took me to school today," she thought, "it's not her fault that Scootaloo aren't hanging out anymore." She thought about surprising her mom again by crawling into bed with her like she did this morning. Maybe she'd even let her get away with calling her "baby". She'd like that and in a way she still was like like her mother told her when they got up out bed. The idea made her smile and the more she thought about it, the better it made her feel. Soon, she was smiling as big as her friends were.
Ruby Pinch opened the front door of her house and walked in. It was dark save for the sunlight that filtered through the sheer curtains in their windows. She called out to her mother, but got no response. "She's probably still asleep," she thought to herself. She headed upstairs to check on her. As she made her way to her mother's room, she noticed that the doors to the other rooms upstairs were closed. "That's weird," she thought, "Mom, never has the doors closed like that. Even she doesn't close hers all the way." She entered the room and found the bed still unmade, the bottle of booze still on her nightstand. "I don't get it, everything looks alright, but why are all the doors closed?" She headed back downstairs. A few thoughts crossed her mind regarding the whereabouts of her mother. Maybe she's just at the bar again. That's always been the case whenever she wasn't at home. She thought about going just to put her mind to rest, but quickly remembered how her mother always disapproved of her going to look for her in places like that. How it wasn't appropriate for fillies like her to see things like that. "I guess she'll be home later." Ruby Pinched grabbed her saddle bag and went back upstairs.
I can't see. I can feel my eyelids open and shut, but I can't see. Everything is dark. No. Everything is black, the absence of color. If something was dark then at least you can make out something very faint, but you can't here. The back of my head feels sore. I try to move, but I can't. It feels like I'm strapped down to something flat. It's not a table because I can feel that I'm at an angle.
I feel weak. Every muscle in my body feels soft. It's the same feeling that you get when you wake up first thing in the morning, only much worse. I try to struggle, but I can only muster up some light tossing and turning. Oh Celestia, where am I? Is this where all the missing ponies had gone when they disappeared? Was this all some nightmare I was having? I wanted to believe that I was still at home sleeping in bed, waiting for Pinchy to come home and crawl under the covers next to me. The pain in the back of my head made sure that whatever nightmare I was having was all too real. I started to contemplate whether or not I wanted to yell for help. Would anyone hear me? Would I have enough strength to even do it? What if who was keeping me here heard my cries? There were too many possibilities. I thought I about giving up, but the urge to see Pinchy again kept me from doing that. Now I thought about going back to sleep, but the possibilities of what might happen during that came back. I decided that staying awake might be best. Maybe if I did that long enough my eyes might adjust to the darkness. While I waited for that I thought of ways I could pass the time. At first I thought about playing I Spy, but I realized that would've been impossible considering the conditions. The thought made we smile. A joke about the darkness. I thought of other things I couldn't do in the dark. Jump rope? Nope, I was tied to a slab or something. A puzzle? Nope again. I wouldn't be able to see the pieces let alone use my hooves to put them in the right places. Ooh, I know! Chess! I don't have to move the pieces, I can tell someone else to do it for me. Wait, I'd still have to see the pieces and have someone to play with. Checkers would have the same problem, too. Heh, strategy games in the dark. Almost like Battle Clouds. Pinchy loves that game.
Pinchy. I almost forgot about her.
In my growing craziness, I almost forgot about my baby. No. She doesn't like to be called that. My little girl. Oh Celestia, what's going to happen to her? What is she doing now? What time is it? If it was late, then she would probably start looking for me around town, hitting every bar in Ponyville. All three of them. I've never liked the idea of her going into bars looking for me. It's bad enough that she has to be exposed to me when I'm drunk, I don't want her to see me when I'm drunk in public places. The challenges of preserving your daughter's innocence. I guess the only upside will be that when she doesn't find me, she'll panic and go straight to the police. Who am I kidding? All that'll do is make me a headline and show how bad their jobs the cops are.
I spy with my little eye...
"Well done, Berry."
I had heard her voice before.
"Most ponies would've started to yelling the minute they woke up, but you've spent this whole time analyzing the situation. Maybe you should be sober more often."
That voice had so much joy in it before, bought so much laughter that it was hard to imagine that the coldness in voice came from the same pony.
"What's the matter? Are you too weak to to talk? Is that why you haven't tried to call for help? Do you want a drink of water? Maybe something stronger might get you going. What's your poison? Oops! I said poison. Get it? Poison? Because I'm going to kill you!"
Her laughter was so unpleasant to listen to now. It's hard to believe that she was going to kill me, even less so that she was responsible for all the disappearances.
"Still nothing? Wow, I don't know what to say."
"Why?"
Pinkie leaned in with her hoof to her ear. "What?"
"I said, 'Why?'"
She smiled. "Do you mean 'Why am I doing this?' or 'Why you?'"
"Both."
"The old motive question. Well, I guess I do owe you an explanation, but I don't want to give you one. I don't have to give you one. It's just more cruel that way."
She was right. It was more cruel that way, but that's okay. It just made me more mad at her. She saw that.
"Ooh, there's fight in this one or maybe you'll just pussy out like all the others."
She was serious now. The twisted smile and maniacal stare gave way to something dead now. It was as if the coldness in her voice now took a life of it's own and took the place of the pink sadist that was before me.
"You're going to die here. I'm going to kill you very slowly and you're going to feel every minute of it. Not because I'm punishing you or something stupid like that. You're going feel everything because I enjoy it. and I want nothing but my own enjoyment."
She was very close to my face now. "I'm going to enjoy you." She smiled. I tried to take a bite out of her muzzle, but she moved out of the way.
"You have so much fight in you, so much hate, I think I'll let you stew in it for awhile."
She disappeared into the darkness. I was alone again.
