Pumpkin's Struggle (Part 4): The Darkest Hour

The recent days of Pumpkin’s life were starting to get darker and darker as time went on. The curse inside was planning something that even Pumpkin doesn’t know about; but all that she does know is the fact that this curse was driving her to the edge of her sanity and she didn’t know how much more of it she could take.

That early morning, after Pumpkin told her parents and Pinkie about her recent dream, they became overly devastated. It seemed to them that something serious was going to happen soon; but they didn’t give it a second thought. Pretty soon after getting everything ready and in place for opening later, they set out with Pumpkin to the Ponyville Health and care center to have a new emergency appointment with Dr. Star, their family doctor.

Once Dr. Star went through with the whole procedure, the results were quite surprising to him.

“Hmm, this is… most bizarre; there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her at this point. Her magic energy readings show that her emotional levels are normal.”

Once Pumpkin’s family received the details, they all had different, mixed thoughts of what Dr. Star told them.

“What,” questioned Pinkie, “Are you sure that your computer reading thingy isn’t broken?”

Pumpkin was just sitting there on the examiner’s table calmly with her head down and her legs slowly moving back and forth; but there was still a trouble look on her face.

“There has to be a mistake, Dr. Star,” Pound protested, “Pumpkin told me last of exactly what she dreamed about! There is no way my sister’s emotional levels are normal after dreaming that!”

Pumpkin suddenly groaned a bit slightly and held her hoof up to her head while using the other to keep her balance on the table. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, quickly came over to her to see if she was alright.

“Pumpkin, sweetie,” said Mrs. Cake out of concern, “h-how are you feeling right now?”

“I… d-d-don’t know,” Pumpkin responded weakly, “Everything seems all hazy right now; I can’t even think st-t-traight.”

Seeing his sister’s response, Pound pleaded to Dr. Star, “You have to try the procedure again, please; do it for me!”

Diamond Star just sighed out deep guilt, “Listen Pound, I’ve tried everything; really I have. Unfortunately, I just don’t  know if I have the power to help you guys out anymore.”

“What?” Pound gasped

Diamond Star went over to Pumpkin who still had her head down and her eyes closed; and as Mr. and Mrs. Cake stepped out of the way, he tapped on Pumpkin’s shoulder to gain her attention.

“Pumpkin… can you look at me for a second?”

Pumpkin slowly rose her head up in Dr. Star’s view; but when she opened her eyes, Dr. Star suddenly gasped and stepped back slightly as he saw the crimson red eyes staring back at him.

“Sweet mother Luna.”

Although, Pumpkin’s expression still appeared to be calm.

“D-Dr. Star, what’s… wrong; is there s-something wrong with me?”

"Her eyes," Dr. Star thought to himself, "they've turned to that crimson red color and she doesn't even know it; not a good sign."

He then turned to the others and notified them, "This curse... this... demonic power; I'm no expert on these kind of things, but... it's obvious to me that the curse's hold on her has been getting worse overtime. But now... I'm afraid that there's nothing we can do anymore; she's far out of our help's reach now."

This did not bode to the Cakes very well; this was exactly what they feared might happen one day. But suddenly, Pumpkin was groaning from dizziness again; and then before they knew it, they heard Pumpkin fall off the side of the table and collapsed on the floor.

“PUMPKIN!!!” shouted Pinkie.

They all gasped and quickly rushed over to her; mainly her mother who stood over her feeling worried.

“Pumpkin, are you alright?! What happened; say something!”

Mrs. Cake heard her daughter respond, but her voice sounded a bit… demented.

“N-n-no, g-g-get away from me… or I’ll kill you.”

“What?”

Pumpkin suddenly tilted her head in her mother’s direction showing her eyes completely filled with glowing red.

“Oh snap!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Mr. Cake noticed Pumpkin’s horn was starting to glow and quickly warned his wife, “H-h-h-honey, get away from her quick!”

Mrs. Cake happened to dodged just in time as Pumpkin shot a single aura beam at her and it went just past her snout as she stumbled on the floor trying to get back up. They all panicked but stood their ground as the possessed filly got up and growled at them; threatening to shed their blood.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Dr. Star suddenly got a hold of her with the usual soothing spell that suddenly calmed her down and lowered her magic energy. Her red eyes went away as she slumped back down on her underside; groaning and rubbing her head. As she looked around, she noticed that her family seemed a bit tense.

“Wha… what happened; did I do something wrong?”

Dr. Star sighed and shook his head realizing what was happening, “I fear that we won’t have long before this curse takes her over; I would guess less than a week.”

“A week?!” shouted Pumpkin’s parents.

“No way, my sister is stronger than that,” Pound protested, “She won’t let it!”

Pumpkin lightly shook her head, “P-P-Pound, it’s okay; w-we all knew that it w-would be pointless in the end anyway.”

“Don’t even say that!” Pound responded, “We haven’t given up hope yet!”

“So… what do you suggest we do, Dr. Star?” asked Mr. Cake.

“Take her home, let her rest, and hope that the worst outcome doesn’t happen.”

Pumpkin was thinking over what her brother said to her and realized that she was giving up too easy and she chose to continue to have faith in herself and her family.

“P-P-Pound is right; I won’t… let this curse… take me… o-over.”

Her father came over to her and picked her up by her neck laid her on top of her mother’s back to relax and rest.

“By the way though,” said Dr. Star nervously, “w-we do have an alternative plan to offer you.”

They all looked at him curiously and were wondering what he was talking about.

“An alternative plan,” questioned Mrs. Cake, “Will it harm her?”

“Far from it,” Dr. Star responded, “You see… over time for the past year studying this curse that lays within your daughter, we had… prepared a… certain special… containment room t-that could possibly hold her power if it ever unleashes.”

Mr. and Mrs. Cake froze for a bit and looked at each other with a worried look. Pound however, didn’t look too happy; he felt rather angered at what Dr. Star offered as he glared at him.

“What; are you saying that you want to cage up my sister against her will again; is that what you’re saying?!”

“P-P-Pound, calm down,” said Pinkie holding Pound back, “Let’s not be so hostile, okay?”

Pound pulled away from Pinkie and sighed, “Look, I’m sorry, but…I just don’t want to see her locked up like some kind of wild animal again; it’s… i-i-it’s too much to bear for me.”

“I completely understand, Pound,” Dr. Star replied, “but it might be the only way to solve this problem.”

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were talking things over with each other trying to land on a single decision. Then they both faced towards the doctor as Mr. Cake gave him their answer.

“I’m afraid that… we’re going to have to come back to you on that.”

“We really don’t wish to resort to doing that,” Mrs. Cake added.

“I understand,” Dr. Star responded, “just be aware of what might happen. We don’t wish to do this either, but if things get out of hand… this may be our only choice. But even though you don’t want this, would you rather do this… or watch your daughter mercilessly murder everypony… just like in her dream?”

Not even the Cakes could protest to that; this was going to be a hard decision for all of them.

After a while, Dr. Star was escorting the Cakes as they were making their way out of the Health and Care center. But once they got to the exit and came out of the building, they were met by a few familiar ponies.

“Hello again, guys.”

“Oh, hey Minty,” Pound responded.

“Hey, lookie who else is here,” said Pinkie, “it’s Ruby and… Envy.”

“H-hi guys,” Ruby responded.

Envy Rose looked over at Mrs. Cake and noticed Pumpkin Cake was out cold on her mother’s back; sound asleep. However, she knew that something felt wrong.

“Can you… allow me to look at your child… for a second?” Envy requested.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were a bit unsure of letting Envy check out their daughter; especially of what happened about a year ago. But they decided to let bygones be bygones and Mrs. Cake came over to Envy for her to look at Pumpkin.

Envy was careful to not provoke anything from inside Pumpkin as she emitted her horn over her to sense the magical energy. But a few seconds after she did… she suddenly gasped and backed away while holding onto her head as she placed away her magic. To the Cakes, they seemed troubled by her reaction.

“Her energy essence reeks of the curse’s evil aura; yet her body seems… so calm at the moment.”

“Mrs. Rose,” said Mrs. Cake as she faced her, “I know… we don’t see each other eye-to-eye 100% at this moment, but are you sure that there was no possible way to stop the curse all those years ago?”

“No, I’m afraid that there isn’t,” Envy responded, “Even now after almost a whole year, even the Princess of Equestria couldn’t figure out a way; this curse is one the deadliest known to ponykind. I fear for your child getting out of control, because if that happens…”

Envy couldn’t even finish the sentence, but she didn’t need to; they all knew what could possibly happen if the curse took over Pumpkin’s body completely.

“In any case, I just thought I could come by to wish you all good luck after Minty here told my daughter and me everything.”

“Well, um… thanks,” said Mrs. Cake; and Envy just nodded a smirked a little.

“Come along, Ruby,” said Envy as she walked away, “I’m afraid that our time together for today is narrowing down.”

“Oh, of course,” Ruby responded, and then she took her leave of the Cakes, “Um… see you guys later?”

“Well I’ll leave you guys to get to your house safely,” said Dr. Star, “Please be careful.”

“Thanks a lot,” said Mr. Cake, “we’ll inform you of our decision later.”

With that, Diamond Star made his way back into building.

Pound was shyly approaching Minty who was still there with them as he was aiming to thank her, “Hey, um… th-thanks again for your support, Minty; we need all of the good help that we can get right now.”

“Aw, it’s nothing,” Minty responded as she gave Pound a little kiss on the cheek, “I’m very glad to help.”

Pound smiled a bit goofily and blushed feeling the warmth of Minty’s kiss.

Suddenly, they heard little tired moans as Pumpkin slowly woke up and was looking around… only to see her earth pony friend.

“M-M-Minty?”

With her there, she looked around to see if possibly her coltfriend was there too.

“A-Acer… where’s Acer?”

“Sorry girl;” Minty responded, “I did my best to reach him, but I think he’s tending to some business right now.”

“Oh, o-o-okay,” Pumpkin responded softly.

“But if you want, yer ol’ gal Minty can come with you for a little while.”

Pumpkin smiled while still feeling exhausted, “Okay… th-thanks.”

“No problem.”

Pumpkin’s parents were relieved that she was calm and collective at the moment and Pinkie was just smiling while bouncing in place.

“Well,” stated Pound, “we better get Pumpkin home before something happens.”

Pinkie jumped ahead of all of them and was pointing her body straight ahead while shouting, “Onward, Ponies!” which frighten them half to death.

As The Cakes, Pinkie and Minty were making their way towards Sugar Cube Corner, things seemed to be going along smoothly. Many different residents went out of their way to make sure that they had a clear path forward; and many of them were looking at the Cake’s daughter with such remorse. Some knew about the curse and some didn’t, but either way it didn’t change any residents’ thoughts or feelings towards her.

Suddenly, Pumpkin picked her head up again and was slowly looking around her again; but something didn’t feel right to her.

“Wha… what’s going on?”

Pound looked up at his sister and was wondering what was up, “What are you talking about sis?”

“L-look at them… all of them; they’re all… laughing… at me.”

Pound was confused, “Huh, n-no they’re not, Pumpkin; they’re all just looking at you, but they’re looking at you feeling concerned.”

“No…” Pumpkin continued as her voice suddenly altered a bit sounding a bit cynical, “look, they’re… laughing at my pain. How dare they… Do They Dare Mock Me?!”

They started to get worried; it looked like the curse was trying to get through Pumpkin’s sub-conscious again and was making her see things that weren’t real.

“Oh dear,” said Mrs. Cake feeling startled, “Sweetie, calm down; we’re almost there, okay?”

Minty and Pound were on their guard along with Pinkie in case Pumpkin tried anything. Her eyes were still crimson red as she was huffing and puffing, and then she turned her gaze at a random group of ponies putting fear into their eyes.

“What Are You Laughing At?!!!”

“Sweet mother of Celestia,” shouted Mr. Cake in panic, “everypony make way!”

They all started to make run for it before the curse made Pumpkin do something destructive; but it was too late as Pumpkin quickly leaps off of her mother’s back. Pound and Minty both tried to catch her, but she weighted them down on the ground with her magic.

Minty looked up and saw Pumpkin taking aim at the group of ponies she was aiming at and quickly got up on her feet, “Oh no girl, you’re not going psycho on my watch!”

She charged at her at full speed, and when she just got to Pumpkin, the cursed filly sensed her coming and took a swing at her with her horn. Minty got startled and quickly ducked and then out of self-reflex, she bucked Pumpkin with her hind hooves… knocking her out cold.

Pound quickly came over to see if his sister was alright, “Minty, why did you do that?!”

“Well sorry if I had to act quickly so me and nopony else was killed,” Minty scoffed, “B-besides… I didn’t mean to knock her out.”

Pound placed his head on his sister and realized that she was alright, just knocked out. He just looked over at Minty and smirked.

“Well, you definitely have a strong hind buck, that’s for sure.”

“Oh… well thanks for noticing,” said Minty while blushing.

Mr. Cake awkwardly came over to his knocked out daughter and picked her up and placed her back on his wife’s back. He look at the surrounding ponies and stated, “Um… sorry if our daughter gave you all a scare, everypony; everything is okay now, heh.”

And then he went on ahead with his wife. Pinkie was waving her arms around to notify everyone.

“Alright everypony, back to your daily doing things; nothing to see here, everything is under control!”

The poor random group of ponies was still standing there in the same position shaking and they couldn’t move; their lives flashed before their eyes.

Once inside Sugar Cube Corner, Mrs. Cake brought Pumpkin over the couch in the family room and laid her down on it.

“Here, put this blanket over her quick,” said Mr. Cake as he brought over a blanket to place on their daughter.

After doing so, Mrs. Cake place her hoof on Pumpkin’s forehead, “Her fever is okay,” and then laid her head against Pumpkin’s body and sighed with relief, “and her breathing is still good as well.”

“Whew, thank goodness,” sighed Mr. Cake out of exhaustion.

As they went out of the room, Mrs. Cake looked down at her son, “Pound, do you think you and your friend Minty can look over your sister for a little bit?”

“Of course Mom,” Pound responded, “I’ll do it.”

“You can count on us, Mrs. Cake,” added Minty.

“In the meantime,” said Pinkie, “I think I’m gonna go and make some of my special strawberry ‘Pinkie’ cakes; they’re guaranteed to lift everypony’s spirit!” And then she happily skipped off to the kitchen.

As Mr. and Mrs. Cake were getting things situated in the main room, Mrs. Cake pulled out a single tissue and started to wipe away some tears that were leaking from her eyes.

“Oh what are we going to do now, Carrot? Our daughter is really suffering so much. I know that this particular moment was to be expected at sometime, but… I really didn’t want it to happen. I feel like somepony who is afraid to of putting their rabid dog down.”

Mr. Cake came over to his wife held her close to him feeling her sadness and trying to comfort her, “Let’s… try to not think about that, okay CupCake? Our little girl will be fine for now after a little rest.”

“I know,” said Mrs. Cake while calming down a bit, “but it’s the ‘for now’ that worries me.

“You know, Minty,” said Pound as he and Minty were sitting in the family room keeping an eye on his sister who was still out of it, “it’s times like this that sometimes I wish that… i-i-it was me suffering from this curse instead of her.

“Well obviously this curse was more interested in a unicorn over a Pegasus,” Minty responded, “Can’t blame it though, with the power unicorns possess.”

Pound just continued to look at his sister; just lying there on the couch, moving around and mumbling in her sub-conscious. He couldn’t help but shed a couple of tears while feeling a bit of guilt like he thought that there was something that he could’ve done to prevent this. But since they were only toddlers at the time it happened, how could he have stopped it?

“You’d think that I would be used to this now, that I wouldn’t be bothered by it; but it just… it tears me up to see Pumpkin like this,” he said with sadness in his tone, “And being her twin, I can feel how troubled she is and how scared she is. Even as she is sleeping right now I can feel her emotional stress building.”

He suddenly just kicked down a chair that was behind him and was huffing out of frustration, “Ugh, what has she done to deserve this?!”

Feeling Pound’s remorse for his sister, Minty came over to him and wrapped her hooves around him and gave him a kiss on his cheek, which did calm him down a little.

“It’s going to be okay Pound; as long as she has you guys and friends like me and Acer, Pumpkin will resist this. You do believe in her, right?”

“More than anything,” said Pound looking at Minty with a determined face, “I don’t want to lose her; none of us wants to lose her… and we won’t.”

Over at the Town Hall, Mayor Mare had fallen asleep at her desk while some of her assistants were doing some tasks for her. It was obvious that she was tired and exhausted from a lot of work she’s done. But during her little nap, she had an interesting dream; one that showed her and answered a huge question that has been going on in her head for the past year.

She suddenly gasped as she shot her head up from her desk and realized what it was that she had dreamed about.

“Heavens to Celestia, Envy… was right. I have to find Cheerliee, quick!”