Author's Notes:

Sorry this took so long, summer started and I haven't had a lot of free time. Please, if you see any problem such as plot holes, grammar, etc. I'd appreciate it if you told me in the comments, other than that, enjoy! Also, sorry for it being so long, but I think longer chapters make for a better story. I may or may not have put an undertale reference in here, now with some major editing.

There were a lot of things about Pinkie that made her special: her personality, her childlike appearance, her parties, her positive attitude, and the overall wonderful person she was. She had many friends, both close, and people she was friendly with. But, none truly knew anything about her real life. No one knew about her family, her past, what her parents were like, why her siblings disappeared, except for Maud. And, especially, no one knew why she always tried to stay positive, the truth was much worse than any of them could have hoped to imagine.

She never knew that much about her family, not really. But, she soon found out when she reached eighteen, her family would take her away for ‘family business.’ Her father terrified her, he always had an emotionless face, no matter what it was he did. At least she knew where Maud got it. His yellow eyes never harbored any emotion, he always had a suit on, no matter the occasion, and always wore black pants to match his suit. He always had his hat on to cover his spiked, gray hair, he never looked different, despite how little Pinkie actually saw him, other than his clothes.

Her mother was… distant, to say the least. When she looked at any of them with those cold, blue eyes, it always put fear into Pinkie and her siblings, except for Maud, since she never seemed to look at her that way. She usually wore something fancy like a dress, or just something that would be more suited for a ball, despite whether or not she planned on leaving the house. She also kept her hair in a bun, except for when she was asleep, she let it down then.

She enjoyed her siblings though, Inkie and Blinkie, before they disappeared. She loved spending time with them, they always played together and gossiped like sisters normally did. Then, their birthday came. They were fraternal twins, but, they were still as close as twins would be.

When their birthday came, and they turned eighteen, Igneous Pie, their dad, came and took them away. He never showed up unless it was something important, or, at least, what he deemed important. Cloudy Quarts, their mother, was always around the house, but never treated them like she was their mother. She didn’t cook; she didn’t clean, she didn’t help her daughters with homework or boys, she didn’t do anything a normal mother would.

They never returned, not once did they come to visit or send letters, they simply vanished. Pinkie tried her hardest to find them, looked everywhere she knew about, but, she never found them. Maud said they were just helping dad with something, but, Pinkie wasn’t stupid. Everyone at school was asking where they’ve been and when they’d be back, but, Pinkie simply just made excuses, as she didn’t know herself. Then, recently, her eighteenth birthday came up, and she found out the hard way exactly what the family business was.

She went to school like any other day, talked to her friends, made plans for the party, those kinds of things. And, she did have a party, all of her close friends came, even Maud tagged along. After the party was over, and everyone said goodbye, Pinkie had started to clean up, but, she never got to finish.

Igneous came to the house and took Pinkie the same way he did Inkie and Blinkie. Neither Maud nor Cloudy tried to stop him, as they knew this day would come. He always had two bodyguards near him; they always wore the same kind of clothes Igneous did, except the only accessory they wore was a pair of glasses. Pinkie never knew why, as there was almost no reason to have any. There was rarely crime or muggings or anything, and when there was, it usually happened up in the city, not way down in the suburban parts. Pinkie didn’t try to resist, as she wanted answers, and resisting would just cause more problems. They took her into a car they had parked in front of the house, a normal, black van, with tinted windows. Basically, it was the kind of car either people in business have or criminals.

As they drove to wherever it was they were taking her; Pinkie tried asking both the guards and her father questions. Such as: Where they were going, when they’d be back if she would see Inkie and Blinkie, but, they just stayed quiet the entire time until Igneous told her to shut up, which she got the hint and did. Eventually, after hours of driving and traffic, they got to their location. Though, Pinkie didn’t really know where, as she had fallen asleep long ago, being too bored to stay awake.

What they stopped at, was a landing pad with an active helicopter in it. She had no idea why there was a helicopter here, as it was too late for anyone to be going anywhere. It didn’t seem like anyone was expecting them, there was no life except for the pilot in the helicopter. As the bodyguards let Pinkie out of the car, she noticed both of them were wearing body armor and had gun holsters with pistols in them. Which was scary for Pinkie, she had never so much as looked at a gun, so much as heard one go off. She doubted either one of them would use them, that kind of stuff didn’t happen here, right?

Igneous was the first to get into the helicopter, then Pinkie, then one bodyguard beside each of them. Igneous said something to the pilot, but Pinkie couldn’t hear it because she hadn’t adjusted to the loud noises yet. He seemed to nod at Igneous, as he began to press buttons that seemed to get the helicopter off the ground. After talking to the pilot, Igneous reached into his side pocket and pulled something out. Pinkie couldn’t see what it was, as he concealed it the second he pulled it out of his pocket, but she could see he also was carrying.

“Pinkamena, would you come here a moment?”

He always did call her by that name; it made sense since that was her name, she just preferred Pinkie. She did as he said, and began to walk toward him in excitement, thinking she was going to be getting a present, she was not.

“Ooh! What is it? Did you get me something? I love presents! Don’t you love pr-“

Before Pinkie could continue, Igneous injected a needle into her neck. He kept that stoic look on his face through the whole thing, his guards not reacting in the slightest. Slowly, She had started to feel sleepy, as her body got weaker until Igneous put her on the spot to the left of him.

“I’m glad you’re so gullible, it was much harder to sedate your sisters. But, we simply can’t allow you to see where we’re going, it would be too risky. Plus, you’re just plain annoying, it astonishes me that you’re my daughter. You don’t take after me or your mother, if I hadn’t taken a DNA test with you when you were younger, I would be convinced you weren't. ”

Pinkie’s eyes slowly closed, as the last thing she saw, was the blank look on her father’s face. He had one hand behind her head and the other behind her back, making sure she didn’t get hurt or anything. He didn’t care if she did or anything, it’s just she was going to need to be at her best for the test. It didn’t make any difference to him if she survived it, but, if she didn’t, he’d have to choose Maud as his protégé, and he was the only one of his daughters he disliked. He didn't dislike Pinkamena, per se, he just found her very annoying. But, Maud was just so...hard to read.

She was just so… strange, there are no words for girls like her. Besides, she was only meant to be an assistant, that’s all she was trained for. She wasn’t prepared to be a leader or go through the same kind of test. Igneous certainly didn’t want to have more children and wait until they were eighteen, he probably wouldn’t live that long.

Pinkie passed out, filled with confusion and fear, not knowing why this was being done to her or what happened to her sisters. But, she was too weak to think about it, as her world slowly started fading to dark and her eyelids felt too heavy to keep open. Whatever was in that syringe, was extremely effective, as she could feel its effects almost immediately. She didn’t dream; she didn’t really even know she was asleep. It was just darkness; maybe it was the drug? But, she didn’t dream before she knew it she was already beginning to wake up.

___________________________________________________________________________

“Careful! I don’t want a scratch on her! It may seem insignificant, but one scratch could cause an infection, which could cause death, which would destroy the whole point of this!”

She woke up to the sound of her father screaming, he never screamed at or around her, so, it was unrecognizable at first. She may have been waking up, but the effects of the drug were still there. She could still move, but she felt extremely weak. She was barely able to open her eyes, but when she did, she became further confused.

She was being carried by the two bodyguards that were with Igneous, both of them having disgruntled looks on their face. Both Igneous and the pilot were still in the helicopter; the former was yelling at the guards after he almost dropped her. While the pilot was remaining calm and preparing to leave, the helicopter still on, but on the ground. The thing that bothered her wasn’t what was happening, but where it was taking place.

They were in a forest, a huge forest from the looks of it. They were surrounded by tons of trees and bushes; the helicopter was landed onto a rather large clearing. Either they cleared this themselves, or mother nature was a very impulsive creator. After setting Pinkie down, the guards rushed back to the helicopter and sat on both sides of their boss. Pinkie had been watching them this entire time, expecting them to say or do something to indicate this was just an elaborate prank. But, they didn’t seem to notice her, though, her father did.

At that moment, Pinkie saw the first smile on her father’s face. She’s tried multiple times to get him to smile, but it never worked. It wasn’t a smile that showed his teeth, just a simple uplift of his lips. But, his eyes, and the way he smiled, it was plain out evil. She had only seen a smile of that kind twice, the first time on Sunset Shimmer before and during her transformation into a demon. And the second time was on the faces of The Dazzling, she had really hoped she’d never see a smile like that again, and the fact she saw it again on her father’s face deeply disturbed her and made her afraid. More than her mother’s glare, more than any villain she’s previously faced, more than she thought she was capable of feeling.

He then lost his smile and returned back to his normal face, but the feeling of fear didn’t leave until they had long left. It took a long time of Pinkie laying there in both emotional confusion and physical fatigue before she was able to get up, and when she did, she immediately wanted to go back to sleep. Her head was killing her, her body felt extremely weak, she had no idea where she was, and she was hungry. As she was getting up, a note fell out of her pocket. It was a simple white piece of paper that was already open and was written in her father’s handwriting. As she slowly stood up, her headache was making it a difficult process, she picked it up and began to read out.

Dear Pinkamena

As you know, when you or your sister's turn eighteen, they will be taken away in a similar way that you were. This is the same thing that happened to both of your sisters, and what will happen to Maud, if what happened to them happens to you. Now, why am I doing this, you may ask? Well, let's make a deal. If you can survive one month in the woods by yourself without any help from outside forces, I’d be more than happy to tell you anything you may want to know. As for your sisters, well, if you’re lucky, you might just find them. But, considering how big those woods are, and how nature is, it’s unlikely. If you're smart, you may be asking yourself ‘but if these woods are so big, how will you know when I’m dead?’ There’s a simple answer to your question, which knowing you, you probably didn’t. The night before your birthday, I had Cloudy put a chip into your body while you were sleeping. You didn’t notice, as she was smart enough to make sure you’d stay asleep, which obviously worked.

This chip allows us to keep track of both your heart rate and your location, which means if you get near any kind of civilization, we will send several shocks throughout your body. If you persist in trying to talk to them, we will kill you. That is all, survive one month in the wild, by any means necessary, and you will get all your questions answered, probably.

From, Igneous.

P.S. Your friends aren’t coming to save you this time, it’s just you, the woods, and whatever feral animals you come across. Have fun!

After reading the letter, Pinkie just stood there for a while, slowly lowering herself down until she was sitting on the ground. She wasn’t really sure how to feel, for those few seconds, she was just standing there, she didn’t feel anything, she was in shock. Then, it all came at once. Fear, betrayal, depression, these feelings shook her to the core. The letter slowly floated to the ground when she dropped it, losing any common sense, as she screamed as loud as she could. Not really wanting to get anyone’s attention, just not knowing what else to do, realization of everything that just happened to hit her.

That’s when it sank in; this wasn’t a prank, this wasn’t some elaborate joke, this was real. She was betrayed by her family, practically kidnapped and drugged, taken to some forest in the middle of nowhere, left by herself to the mercy of nature. She collapsed onto the ground, her breathing erratic and frantic, her heart beating rapidly. Eventually, her breathing slowed down as she looked up at the sky, the scenery calmed her down.

That drug must have lasted a long time, as when she was knocked out, it was late and dark, but, now it was early, and the sun was bright. If she had to guess, she’d say it was around eight; her friends were probably wondering where she was right now. She had managed to go all year without any absences; it was so close to the end of school too, there were only a few weeks left. It was still spring; there was only one more day left in school before testing was going to start, seems she would miss it. Well, if by some miracle, she does survive, she at least could say she had a wild summer.

She then got furious, no, anger was an understatement, she felt hatred. She felt a deep, passionate feeling of hatred towards her father, for taking her away from her friends, for drugging and abandoning her in the middle of the woods, and for doing the same thing to her sisters. She had never hated someone before; she thought there was nothing anyone could do to her that would make her hate them, she was wrong.

She wanted to hurt him, badly. But, not before she could figure out exactly what happened to her sisters, and why. They just couldn’t be dead, he’s not that cruel, right? Pinkie wiped her face, getting rid of any tears that were threatening to fall down her face, and suddenly stood up, regaining her bouncy personality. If she was going to get her revenge, save her sisters, reunite with her friends, and live her life, then she needed to stay positive and get out of this alive. But, for now, she had to indulge him, she had to survive one month in this forest.

When she was younger, she went through a Bear Grills phase; she watched all the episodes well more than once. Though hopefully, she wouldn’t go as far as to drink her own pee, that would start affecting her negatively after a few days. She also talked to Fluttershy about animals, since she had so much experience with them, it would make sense to ask her what to do if she encounters any wild animals. She had everything she needed to survive out here, she just really hoped she wouldn’t have to kill any animals, Fluttershy would hate that. And neither her, or herself, would ever be able to forgive such an act.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to start by finding a shelter before it gets dark! Ooh! Maybe I’ll run into some friendly animals or something, that’d be awesome! Then, I could keep them as pets and have them watch for me when I’m sleeping! And then-”

Suddenly, there was the sound of a twig breaking from a bush not too far away from Pinkie, making her shut up and filling her with fear. The sounds stopped, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something there. When Pinkie screamed, it could have attracted a nearby predator, and she really didn’t want to deal with that, her memories of peaceful ways to deal with wild animals were hazy, at best. She slowly began to back away from the bush, intending to get as far away from that clearing as possible, being in plain sight for as long as she has was a bad move.

When Pinkie got away from the clearing, she started to run as fast as she could. She avoided any loose branches or anything, as tripping could get her killed, or something broken, which would eventually end with the same result. If something like her arm or leg became broken, which were essential to anything she would need to do to survive, she wouldn’t last a week, so much as a month.

Pinkie took a sudden left and went behind a tree, out of breath from the sudden running. That was stupid of her, if you rush your heart like that without building up to it, you’ll get tired a lot faster. She held her breath and closed her eyes, trying to hear if anything was following her, or any other noises that would indicate anything else. If there was, it was hushed; the only sound was the chirping of birds and the wind. If something was back at the clearing, either it was a deer or something, or it simply lost interest. Either way, Pinkie had to get as far away from that clearing as possible, staying out in the open where she couldn’t see any animals in the woods, but they could see her, was just stupid.

Pinkie began to breathe again and opened her eyes, seeing if there was anything chasing her, she was bound to hear it by now. Not many people know this, but, despite almost always talking and being loud, she could be extremely quiet if she wanted, it’s how she always snuck up on her friends, or set up pranks in the school after hours. When she was younger, she would play hide and seek with her siblings; she was rarely found. She was just good at hiding and staying quiet when the situation required it. This was a significant advantage in nature, because if she could stay hidden whenever a predator was around, then she might just make it out of these woods alive.

Pinkie looked at the tree she was leaning on, she noticed how high up it was. She decided that if she wanted to survive in these woods, she was going to need to learn a bit about her surroundings. She began to climb the tree, making sure to only get on branches that were big and could handle her weight. It took a long time, around thirty minutes, but, she got to the top. She was tired and covered with leaves and other things; she didn’t really care at the moment, she was too mesmerized by what she saw.

“Where did they take me?”

Pinkie said, in utter shock and confusion. There were miles upon miles of woods, with the occasional mountain in the distance. Wherever they took her, it was far from the city; there was no forest anywhere near the city that was this size. It would take her a month just to get out of this place; there must be tons of animals in these woods. There wasn’t a single human-made thing in sight, not any buildings or anything. It was going to be hard to survive in these woods; it would take more than a month just to navigate them, she wasn’t even going to waste the effort of trying to find civilization. Her only chance of survival was to find an area with water and stay in that area, without water, there was no chance of her staying alive.

She began to pay more attention to the view, trying to find any sign of a source of water, a river or a pond or anything that contains water will do. Maybe even a cave, occasionally, there can be water sources in caves. But, she wouldn’t be able to see a cave entrance from here, so, she wasn’t going to look for one. Then, she noticed something, a spot with a lack of trees. This wasn’t the clearing she woke up in, that was in a completely different direction. There didn’t seem to be any reason for this, as, past the spot, the miles of woods seemed to go on. The only reason why this would be is if there was another clearing, or there was a pond!

Pinkie’s face suddenly changed into a smile; she began to climb down the tree. She got a bit excited and rushed down, which caused her to scrape her foot against the tree. She gasped out at the sudden pain in her foot, but, she bit her lip to avoid any sounds coming out, she was afraid she might alert any nearby animals.

After waiting a few seconds to see if she was noticed, she continued to climb down the tree in a more cautious manner. Almost immediately after she got to the bottom, she began to sprint towards the direction of the clearing she saw. She knew that she would get tired sooner, but the clearing wasn't that far away. She kept a concentrated look on her face; she was trying to remain quiet while maintaining focus on her surroundings, she had to make sure that she didn’t make too much noise or run into anything.

Avoiding any and all obstacles the same way as when she was running from the clearing, quickly getting tired. When Pinkie was younger, she went through an athletic stage. It was either to compete with Rainbow Dash or to try to get her father’s attention; she wasn’t really sure. She practically signed up for everything, track, basketball, soccer, football, baseball, everything the school had to offer. She kept in sports until middle school, when she and her friends had a falling out. But, muscles don’t just disappear, especially not with metabolism like hers.

She was nothing compared to what she used to be, but she was still in fairly good shape. She couldn’t run as far or as long as she used to, or hit a home run so far they had to get a new ball, but, if push came to shove, she could win a fight or outrun her opponent. Animals might be a different story, if she ran into a pack of wolves, for example, there was no way she could fight them or outrun them, hiding was the only option in that scenario.

After what felt like an hour of running through bushes, jumping over loose tree roots, hiding behind trees at sudden sounds, and eating berries that Pinkie was ninety percent sure wasn’t poisonous, she could finally see the clearing. It wasn't far; it only took so long because she kept getting tired, or it was farther than it looked. It was a huge waterfall, that fed a small pond. She couldn't see where the water was coming from, as it was too high, it was probably from a river or a stream.

It was barely big enough to fish out of, but, hopefully, it had fish in it. She couldn’t tell, the water was too dense to see through. Around the pond, was rocks and mud and such, with it being surrounded by Cattails and other plants. This was good; She could set up a shelter around here. While it was in plain sight, she wouldn’t be sleeping here during the night, and she could sleep in a tree or something. The shelter would be more for storing food and waiting out weather, no other real purpose.

She walked forward and smiled out of satisfaction; this was perfect, this would work. This was a great, practically endless water source, and the surrounding area is pulsing with edible plants and berries. This made her smile stretch even further, having both water and a food source was key to survival, and she had both of these things in one, somewhat safe area.

All she needed now was a shelter of some sort to protect her from the weather, and she could sleep in, one that could be easily made and efficient. Not a wooden shelter, she needs a shelter that doesn’t take too much time to make. Not a cave, she really didn’t like enclosed areas. What she needed, was a moss shelter. They keep heat stored in a small area, they’re easy to make, they can protect from rain and snow, and they provided a good amount of cover, it was the perfect shelter for her!

At that, she began to gather up moss in the surrounding area and pile it all up to use for the shelter, when she thought she had a sufficient amount of moss for her makeshift home, she began to gather up branches. Some she could find on the ground, others she had to tear off trees. This is a similar process to what she would need to do for a wooden shelter, except this takes a lot less wood. Wooden shelters can’t contain heat as much as moss shelters do, and also can’t protect from weather like rain or snow as well. While there are environments where wooden shelters would be the better choice, this wasn’t it.

She would need about twenty decent sized branches, and one log to hold them all together. It was hard to carry all these branches back and forth into one pile; it was even harder to find a log big enough to hold all the branches in one place, but, luckily, she did. She had found it lying between a few trees, probably the remains of a tree that fell over. She couldn’t carry something that heavy, so, she rolled it over to the pile.

By the time she was done getting everything she had needed, she had two piles, the pile of moss to her left, which was almost as big as she was. And the pile of branches, plus the log to the right of her, she still felt like she forgot something, something important.

"Let’s see; I’ve got the wood, the moss, the log, what am I missing? Oh, yeah! Rocks, lots of them!”

To keep the branches standing up without falling over, she was going to need to surround the base of the branches with rocks, which there were plenty of. She was also going to need to save some rocks to make a campfire, but, she won’t be making that until she was done with this. She began to gather rocks in the area, both the ones near the pond and the ones beside the trees. When she thought she had enough, she put them in a similar pile beside the moss one. Then, when she was positive she had what she needed to make shelter, she began to work on it.

First, She got the log and lifted it up, it was cumbersome, and she was barely able to get it off the ground, a look of strain was on her red face, but, she did. She angled it to wear one part was leaning against a tree, and the other was pushing into the ground. Next, she rushed some rocks into a pile around the base to prevent it from collapsing. She got the branches and did the same thing with them that she did with the log, except the branches were leaning on the log, and the piles of rocks around their base was smaller.

There were ten branches on each side of the branch, making it both even and able to support their own weight. Finally, she got the moss and put some on top of the log until it covered it from top to bottom, until there was so much on the log, it was dangling off the side. She did a similar thing with the branches, except, she had to do it vertically from head to toe, or it wouldn’t have stayed in any other way, she did this with all twenty branches, until moss was both on and in-between the branches, not making any entrances or exits except the area at the bottom of the log.

She stepped back covered in dirt, moss, and sweat, but, still had a huge prideful smile on her face. It was decent sized, had rocks at the base of all the branches, enough moss covering it to make it seem like the wood was green, and was obviously hastily made, but, it was home, and it had to do. As Pinkie was bathing in pride at her creation, she noticed something dangling from one of the branches of the tree the log was leaning on, something familiar.

It was a necklace, a silver necklace. Pinkie’s face went from joyful to worry at this; she didn’t come here wearing a necklace. She walked over and slowly grabbed the necklace, not wanting to break it, she had no idea how long it had been there. It was covered in dirt and other things showing how long it had been there. She took the necklace over to the pond and dipped it in, using her hands to clean it.

It took a few minutes to get all the muck and such off, but, eventually, it was clean. It was a silver necklace, with a matching silver chain. The chain wasn’t entirely silver; there were slight parts of it that had rust. Which didn’t necessarily mean it was old, just that it had been out in the open, vulnerable to rain and wind and such, it was still in fairly good state.

The pendant at the bottom was the color of gold, with a little red jewel at the top of it. It was also hollow, most likely one of the necklaces that you opened and it had a picture in it. This was good! This meant there were other people in the woods with her, maybe even someone she knows! Technically, she wouldn’t be breaking the rules, if she talked to someone who was already in the woods. With woods this big, it was entirely possible there were hikers or campers who may have gotten lost in the woods. In the excitement that she might meet other people, she quickly opened the pendant to look at the picture inside, but it wasn’t what she was expecting.

What was the pendant made Pinkie gasp, and filled her with dread, not knowing how else to respond. It was a picture of her, Inkie, and Blinkie. The picture was taken two or three years ago before they disappeared. This was the necklace Inky always wore because if she ever was sad or scared, she could look down and see the smiling faces of her sisters. It’s been so long since she’s seen them, she forgot all about it, which filled her with guilt. The picture was taken during her sixteenth birthday, the necklace was a present from Blinkie, she swore she’d never take it off, and she didn’t. If something this important to her was here, that either meant she lost it, and some bird picked it up, or she was dead.

“No! I can’t think like that! I have to stay positive, thinking like that isn’t going to get me anywhere.”

She shook her head and quickly stood up, not wanting to feel the worry and dread that was creeping up on her, she hated feeling like that, feelings like those made people do the opposite of smile.

“Just because this is here, doesn’t mean she’s dead! She can’t be, she just can’t! But, it does mean she’s been here, maybe she’s still in these woods somewhere!”

Pinkie said to herself, not really having anyone to talk to like usual, she has no other choice, she never was an inside thinker, she preferred to voice her thoughts. She closed the pendant and put the necklace around her neck, after all, someone has to give it back to her. She looked down at the heart-shaped pendant, the water glistening as it slowly rolled off of it, she was filled with determination.

She had to see them; she just had to. It’s been years since she’s ever even had contact with her sisters, she nearly jumped in joy at a chance to see them. She couldn’t wait to catch up with them, tell her about new and old friends, about the Elements of Harmony and magic, all the drama in her life, all sorts of things.

Pinkie smiled at the idea of what her sister's reaction would be if she told her sisters her and her friends had sprouted ears, ponytails, horns, and wings, and used magic to defeat a demon who was now their friend, it would take a lot of convincing, but she was more than happy to try, and had plenty of time to.

Then, suddenly, her stomach loudly rumbled, reminding Pinkie she’s had nothing to eat but a few berries every now and again. She blushed in embarrassment at that, glad no one was around to hear that. Then, she looked over to how many rocks were left, and there were just enough to make a campfire. She gathered some nearby wood and the rocks she left in a pile and started to put the rocks in a small circle. It was just small enough to cook something decently sized, but not big enough to make a lot of smoke, as that would attract unwanted attention from nearby animals, be predator or prey.

After she was done making the circle of rocks, she put a bunch of twigs and such into the middle, making enough fuel to last a fire a couple of hours. Now all she needed was food, not necessarily a big animal; it could be a frog or a snake or something, Pinkie was sure Fluttershy wouldn’t have minded that considering how many of her animals snakes have eaten. She understood it was the laws of nature for predators to eat prey, which didn’t make it any less tragic. She hated to admit it, but she needed to kill and eat an animal. It was starting to get too late to go out for berries, plus, she was too tired from making her shelter to go too far. She had no choice.

She began to look in and near the pond, hoping she might see something she could catch with her hands. Like a frog or a fish, just something she didn’t necessarily have to kill to catch. Usually, you would have to make a spear to catch fish or a makeshift fishing rod. The basic spear is a long piece of wood with a sharpened rock taped with lots of grass to keep it there. But, considering how much she had already gotten done today, and that it was an hour or so away from being night, she was both too tired and too scared to do any more work like that today.

After a few minutes of looking, she saw a fish near the edge of the pond; it seemed to be just staying there, no indication it was even alive except for its tail moving back and forth. From what Pinkie knew about fish, which was only from the occasional conversation about them with Fluttershy, and the occasional video or documentary that would talk about them, it was most likely a Bluegill, considering the size and environment. Bluegills were usually quite small and not very nutritious, but it’s still better than having nothing to eat.

She started to walk over to the area in front of the Bluegill, remaining quiet to make sure the fish wouldn’t get scared and swim away, she most likely wouldn’t have gotten another chance like this. The closest she could get was just on the edge of falling over, making it very hard to keep balance, but not impossible. She slowly leaned down towards the Bluegill, making sure not to make any sudden movements or sounds, it could cause her to go to sleep hungry tonight.

The Bluegill remained in the same place as before, either not noticing or not caring that something was leaning closer and closer to it, until Pinkie had suddenly grasped towards it, successfully capturing her target. The Bluegill being suddenly attacked in its environment began to squirm violently trying to escape the grasp of whatever predator had it in its paws, or hands.

Pinkie had kept a good grip on it, despite how wet and slippery it was, because if it got back into the pond, there was no chance of her getting it back. She threw it as far in the opposite direction as she could, making it land a few feet behind her, flopping in every which direction, trying to get back to a water source. Pinkie didn’t want to kill the fish, well, not directly anyway; she was going to let it suffocate. It may not have been the most pleasant death, but, fish didn’t feel pain, it wouldn’t suffer.

As the fish flopped back and forth, desperately trying to live, Pinkie had a disgusted look on her face as she wiped her hands on her jeans. She hated anything slimy or as wet as that; she just hated it! She sat there for nearly a minute wiping her hands on her blue jeans; she had just recently got them too! It went so well with her bright pink and yellow shirt!

Well, not really, she knew she didn’t usually wear these kinds of things. But, she got them for her birthday from her friends, so, she wanted to wear them while they were partying to know she appreciated it. But, it seemed she was stuck with this ‘dreadful outfit,’ as Rarity would put it, though, there were worse clothes to be trapped in the woods with.

After she was done making sure every last drop of slime and water was off of her hands and on her clothes, she walked over to the no longer flopping fish. Which, while Pinkie was cleaning off her hands, it was desperately trying to live, until it ran out of energy and couldn’t flop anymore. She noticed this, and just stood there with a sad look on her face, knowing, not directly, she had killed it.

It sat vertically on the ground in front of Pinkie, opening and closing its mouth, in a last, desperate attempt to live. Pinkie felt bad for it; the fish had done nothing wrong. It was simply born, lived in the pond, and probably had fish friends, and was suddenly taken from it’s home, and is now dying.

"I’m sorry little guy; I don’t WANT to do this! It’s just berries won’t keep me full and healthy, and it’s going to be getting dark soon, I don’t want to risk going in the woods, you were just the closest thing I could find. I Pinkie Promise I will make sure to eat every last bite of you, so your death doesn’t go to waste! Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

Her face changed from a sad one to a joyful one as she made the gestures of her signature promise, the fish still opening its mouth, not responding to Pinkie’s declaration in any way. Then, suddenly, the fish stopped, it’s body no longer showing signs of living. Pinkie, realizing the fish was now dead, lowered her hand from her eye, her face going back to her depressed face.

“Goodbye, Mr. Fish.”

She then walked over to the campfire and began to start the fire, using the simple sticks method. As she put the slightly on fire twig under the pile of wood, she went over to the fish as the fire slowly spread to the rest of the wood. The fish still in the same place as she left it, obviously not moving, it was dead.

She picked it up, ignoring the remaining slime and other disgusting stuff on the fish, and the fact that it was dead. When she got back to the campfire, noticing it was surely, but slowly, spreading to the rest of the wood. She put a stick through the fish, making a disgusting squishing sound that grossed her out more than the slime did. Then, she stuck the stick into the ground at an angle to where the fish was right over the pile of wood so that the fish wouldn’t get over or undercooked.

As she waited for her dinner to be cooked, she walked over to the pond and began to wash her hands, not wanting to get any more gross stuff on the clothes she’s going to be wearing for the rest of the month. As she was washing her hands, she had a blank look on her face. Then a sob suddenly came out of her, it was short and the only one she did, but it was full of emotion.

She had never taken life before, human or otherwise. Not even as a kid did she ever kill a fly or anything, despite how they might bother her. She always believed, no matter how different two things may be, they’re both alive. Whether it was a fly, a fish, or a person. No matter how advanced humans may be, they’re no different than animals. Everything deserves just as much reason to live as anything else. She understood that animals and insects were killed by people daily around the world, but that didn’t mean she had to be the same.

She also understood that it was necessary to kill that fish, or she may not have had the energy to get food, but she still hated it. She broke the rule she made to herself so long ago, which both made her disappointed in herself, and hate towards her father, who put her in this situation. True, she didn’t have much choice in killing the fish. But, if he hadn’t put her in these woods, then she never would have had to kill it.

“I’m gonna kill him!”

Pinkie suddenly slammed both of her hands into the water, making some of it splash onto her face, but her face was already wet with tears before that. It wasn’t just the fish that made her cry, nor was it the rage she felt for her father. It was the combination of knowing she’s most likely going to have to take the lives of many animals, knowing her sisters most likely had to do the same thing despite them making a similar promise, that her own father did this to her, that her friends will be worried sick about her and there’s nothing she can do about it, and that her mother and sister simply didn’t care. These thoughts gave her the feelings of dread, rage, spite, depression, and betrayal. Most of these emotions are ones she’s never felt before and had no idea how to deal with them; no one could deal with all these emotions at the same time, especially not someone so positive.

She began to cry, with her wet hands on her eyes, despite how wet they were. She didn’t care how loud she was being or if she attracted any attention from animals, she just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears of pain and rage fell down her face, landing into the pond in front of her.

After a few minutes of letting out some of her emotions, she began to wipe her face with both water and tears. She then got up, turned around, and began to walk over to the fish that she nearly forgot about. By now, it was cooked enough to eat, which, despite Pinkie knowing she had to do, disgusted her. She sat down in front of the campfire and began to eat her meal. Pinkie gagged at almost every attempt to swallow it, not because it tasted bad, it actually tasted quite good, it just disgusted her so much.

By the time she was finished eating the fish, she had felt like she was going to puke. Sometime during her meal, it had turned dark, the campfire was now the only light source in the night. She threw the bones of the fish into a nearby bush. She then started to walk over to her moss shelter, both too physically and emotionally exhausted to do anything more for the day.

As Pinkie began to walk-crawl in her shelter, with a sad look on her face, a sudden sound rang through the forest that filled her with fear, howling. Now, she understood that this was normal, as wolves would howl for a multitude of reasons, the problem was, this was nearby. This wasn’t the kind of howling you would hear in the far distance and shrug off thinking it was an echo; this was close, maybe a mile or two out?

Either way, this was bad. This meant that there was a predator in her area, one that had an acute sense of smell, which meant it probably already had her scent. Or worse, a whole pack of them.

She slowly crawled out of her moss home, looking in the direction where the howl had come from, she could feel the adrenaline from the fear starting to rise up. If they were visible from where she was, that meant she was in danger and had to hide. If they weren’t, that meant she still had time to run, maybe lose them or climb up a tree; she was pretty sure wolves couldn’t climb trees.

Pinkie squinted her eyes in the direction of the howl, it was dark, and there were lots of bushes and such blocking a clear sight, which meant if whatever amount of wolves hunting her had a dark enough coat that they blended into their surroundings, she had no chance of surviving. Then, suddenly Pinkie saw it, a wolf.

It had a dark gray coat that made it very hard to see it, if it hadn’t been so large, she probably wouldn’t have. It had golden like eyes, which were looking around for tonight’s prey. Pinkie’s eyes widened as two more smaller, but similar wolves came behind it, one with its nose to the ground as if it was tracking a specific scent, which it probably was. The other was remaining beside the first one, appearing to be searching for any other predators in the area.

This was bad! Really bad! They must have smelled the cooking of meat when Pinkie put the fish over the campfire and followed it here. The wolf tracks must have been trying to pinpoint its exact location, which, if they’re as good as trackers as Pinkie had seen and heard of in the documentaries, would lead them to the campfire. The big one was probably the alpha male, as it wanted to lead them to the prey, and was the largest among the three.

Pinkie slowly crawled back into her home, as she weighed her options. She had three choices; the first was the stupid choice, fight them. Which shouldn’t even be considered, these are predators. Creatures who spend every day hunting their food and killing other predators, Pinkie hasn’t even been in a fight, that wasn’t an option. The second option was to make a run for it, where the wolves will most definitely notice her, she might outrun them. She wasn’t as fast as she once was, but she was still fast. Besides, humans can run longer than any animal, so she didn’t have to outrun them, just outlast them.

But, considering it was this late at night, she would probably run into objects and fall, which would slow her down. Even if one wolf fell, the others would keep going, and with their vision more adjusted to the night than hers, they wouldn't fall. Which left only one option, hide. While it was true they could track her down; it didn’t matter if she hid to the point to where they couldn’t find her. Considering this one was most likely to work, and her only real option left, this was the one she was going to choose.

She began to look around for a good close, hiding spot, dense bush, a tall tree, anything will do. As Pinkie looked around for a good hiding spot, the wolves slowly began to get closer and closer to her spot. She couldn’t see this, of course, but she assumed they were, she seriously doubted they were just standing there. Her eyes eventually fell onto the pond; she was seriously considering just going under and holding her breath. Then she noticed something, something she hadn’t noticed before.

At the back of the pond, where the waterfall was, The walls seemed to get smaller as they got closer to the waterfall as if there was something back there. She looked as closely as she could at a waterfall at night, trying to notice any details. And then, she saw it; there was a cave behind the waterfall! This was perfect! Not only would the water mask her scent so the wolves couldn’t smell her, but the wolves wouldn’t go so far for there prey as to swim through a pond, into a cave, and adventure through it just to find her, probably.

Pinkie then slowly began to crawl toward the pond, hoping she’d get there before the wolves found her. The wolves had been continuing their hunt, remaining slow, they still weren't if any other predators were around. Pinkie was also going slow, but she was closer to the pond then the wolves were to her. By the time she was at the edge of the pool, the wolves were mere feet from her shelter, and they were still getting closer.

Pinkie felt hesitant, if the wolves did notice her in the pool and jumped in themselves, she would have nowhere to go. But, if they didn’t, she would still have to swim through water filled with fish. Then, the wolves noticed the campfire and the shelter and began to speed up, getting closer and closer to being able to see her every second. If She didn’t jump in soon, they would most definitely see her, and then, option one will be her only remaining choice. Pinkie then slowly got into the water, trying her hardest not to make any noise, she succeeded.

The first thing She saw when she was underwater was fish, lots of fish. Some on the floor of the pond eating plants and algae and such, others hiding in holes in the wall of the pond and sleeping, or, at least, the fish version of sleeping. She then began to swim towards the waterfall, noticing the cave entrance from where she was. It was hard to keep her eyes open, the water began to burn her eyes, but she had to, so she could make sure where she was going. What bothered her most though, wasn’t her eyes or having to hold her breath, it was more the fact she was basically swimming in a fish sewer, and they lived there.

‘Fish both defecate and urinate in their home, as they don’t have the brain capacity to do it in a specific place or time, so, they just do it when and wherever they are.’ Pinkie had learned this from a documentary on the ocean she had seen a few years ago, this fact disgusted her then, and it still disgusted her now.

Eventually, after what felt like hours of stinging eyes, burning lungs, and disgusted feelings realizing she was swimming in the equivalent of a fish sewer, Pinkie made it to the waterfall. After climbing into the cave, which was hard with the pressure from the waterfall keeping her down, she began to rest.

The second she got into the cave, she had a coughing fit, which lasted almost a minute. She really hoped the sound of the waterfall was louder than her coughing, because if it wasn’t, then the wolves most definitely heard her. She drank some of the water from the waterfall, despite just swimming through a pond, she was quite thirsty, it was probably the fish earlier that made her thirsty.

As Pinkie was drinking from the waterfall, she noticed in the time it took her to get there, the wolves had arrived at their destination, the campfire. She wasn’t worried though; she was positive the water had covered her scent, so, even if the one tracking her did get her scent, they still wouldn’t be able to find her.

The one tracking her was smelling both the campfire and the area around it, while the alpha male was investigating the moss shelter, the third one was watching for other predators. Pinkie sat and watched as the wolves tried to find her, she smiled knowing she had won, then, the smile faded when something unexpected happened.

The wolves began to gather at the moss shelter, and they all went inside. They cuddled together and began to sleep, with the alpha male on top. This filled her with distraught, they weren’t just looking for food, they were looking for a place to sleep, and Pinkie provided them with one. Not only did this mean she had to stay in the waterfall all night, but that the wolves would now know of her shelter, and might come back to sleep there while she’s asleep. This certainly wasn’t good news, but still, it was better than being eaten alive.

Pinkie decided she might as well explore the cave; she had nothing else to do since the wolves were now residing in her shelter for the night. The first thing she saw when she had turned around was darkness, lots of it. Which made sense, considering it was a cave, they tended to be dark. Though, since Pinkie had been out in the night, and she was pretty good at adjusting to things, she could see, not as well as in the daytime, but enough to make out large objects, or anything she could get close to.

Pinkie was tired, but not tired enough to immediately go to sleep, not with all the fear adrenaline running through her veins, which would probably leave her exhausted when it’s gone. She decided, since this cave was such a great hiding place, had a clean water source, and she was able to see incoming predators without them seeing her, this would be her new, better shelter. While she did say she didn't like enclosed areas, this cave wasn't as enclosed as most. But, it would be stupid to make this cave her home when she hasn’t even explored it, even for her. She waited a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the darkness better and began to explore.

As Pinkie was exploring the cave, making sure to watch out for bats or anything of the like, her thoughts began to put more fear into her than the wolves did. Not too long ago, she and her friends decided to watch a movie, then they all started voting in the genre. Fluttershy voted on an animal documentary; Rarity wanted to watch "The Notebook," which Pinkie had already seen tons of times. Twilight and Sunset wanted to watch one of the Star Trek movies. The genre that got the most votes though was horror. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie voted on a scary movie.

After some bickering between six of them, with Fluttershy just trying to hide behind her hair, not wanting to get into an argument, they finally got them to at least watch it. The horror movie they had agreed on, was the one that was making Pinkie scared now, "The Descent." The movie was about, to sum it up, a group of girls who get lost and find an unmarked cave, and due to human curiosity, they explore it. What they find in there, was humans who had gotten trapped in there, and had devolved into something that couldn’t even be considered human anymore. The creatures were cannibalistic, of course, as they had eaten or killed all of the girls except for one, which led to a sequel, but they didn’t watch that one, as the first one already terrified them from going anywhere near caves.

But now, with Pinkie in a cave, the thoughts of those creatures being real became very much more terrifying, despite how unrealistic it was. Pinkie was a Christian, that’s how her mother and siblings raised her, though, her siblings raised her more than her mother did. She didn’t believe in evolution or any of that stuff, so, she just assumed that whatever those creatures were, they couldn’t be human. She just assumed it was a bunch of blind, albino, hairless monkeys who bred together and made a whole bunch of their kind, and, for some reason, decided to live in the cave. Fluttershy said it was immensely unlikely but possible.

The idea of one of those things popping out of a nearby rock and attacking her in the dark made Pinkie much more terrified than a whole pack of wolves did. But, this was a cave behind a waterfall, not some unmarked cave in the woods. So, she laughed away her fear, thinking how funny it would be if her friends were here. But made sure to laugh quietly, there may be no blind monkeys in this cave, but that didn't mean there was nothing in here.

Rainbow Dash would probably act all confident and nonchalant, while Applejack would be trying to calm her down, as not to wake any possible bats, especially Vampire Bats. Fluttershy would probably be hiding behind someone, afraid of the cave. Twilight and Sunset would probably be trying to find the solution to all of this, and Rarity would be throwing a fit because the waterfall messed up her makeup.

The thought of being with her friends again put away her fear, replacing it with confidence and dedication. She had to get through this so that she could make her fantasy a reality. She put the idea of cave creatures in the back of her mind and replaced it with the smiles of her friends. If she let the fear keep her from doing the things she needs to, then she’ll never get out alive, and she needed to.

She needed to see her friends, to let them know she was fine. She needed answers, why her father did this, and what happened to her sisters. But, most of all, she needed to live. She was too young; there were too many things she needed to do. With that notion in mind, she continued through the cave, with a look of confidence on her face.

The cave wasn’t as deep as it looked, not even close. It was actually quite small and wasn’t very cave-like. There was barely any water, other than the occasional dripping from the ceiling. And, as far as she could tell, there weren’t any bats or anything. Her eyes had further adjusted to the dark about as well as they were going to, but only to the point to where she could see distant large objects and shapes more clearly.

She had seen many rocks and such on the ground, so, she could vaguely tell when one was in the distance. Which is why when she saw two objects on the floor at the end of the cave, she could tell by their size and placement, they weren’t rocks.

She wasn’t sure what they are, they could be sleeping bags hikers left behind, or something else. Whatever they were, they were either inanimate or dead, as they hadn’t seemed to move an inch.

“Hello? Anyone alive over there?”

Pinkie called out, trying to see if it might have been people who lived here and were sleeping. After waiting a few seconds to see if there was any indication of life. Pinkie didn’t want to think they were dead, as other than funerals; she never wanted to come anywhere near a dead body, so much as two. She began to walk forward, intending to see if they were truly dead or not.

She couldn’t tell a lot of detail about either one of them; they were both turned to the other side of her. Both of their hair was long, but that didn’t mean anything, as if a boy was lost in the woods long enough, their hair would get just as long as girls. She couldn’t tell the hair color of either, both of them were covered in dirt, muck, and other gross things, making it hard to tell what their original hair color was.

It was very dark, but, she could vaguely tell what kind of clothes they were wearing. The one in front of her had a dark gray shirt; Pinkie couldn’t tell if that was its original color, or if it had been something else and it just faded it. It was also wearing long, dark blue jeans, which were covered in dirt and mud. The thing that stood out about it the most though was it was wearing a rainbow-colored bracelet on the arm that was resting on its leg, she assumed it was it’s right. Her sister, Inkie, was wearing a similar bracelet when she disappeared.

Pinkie shook her head, thinking it was just a coincidence. Inkie wasn’t the only one to have a bracelet like that; it was possible this person just happened to have a similar bracelet. She diverted her attention from body/person in front of her to the one a little bit to the left.

It was laying similar to the one in front of her, except, it was laying on its right side, where the one to the right of her was laying on it’s left. Its hair was longer than the one she was looking at before; it seemed this one already had long hair, meaning, it was probably a girl. It was wearing a dark blue shirt, though, it might have been bright blue before. It had a matching blue skirt, which meant it was a girl or a bizarre guy, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

After examining what they looked like, Pinkie needs to find out if they were alive. She slowly put her right hand onto what appeared to be the neck of the one in front of her. After a tense few seconds, there was no pulse. The tension wasn’t gone though; she still had to check the other one. She pulled back her right hand from the now confirmed body and moved over to the other. She then put the same hand on its neck and felt for a pulse. After a similar tense waiting, the same result came of it, and there was no pulse. Both of these people were dead, whoever they were.

Pinkie wanted to cry; she really wanted to. These weren’t fish that Pinkie had to kill for survival, these were people. People who had friends and family wondering where they were. Who were probably still in high school and had much of their life ahead of them. And, despite how much Pinkie wanted to avoid thinking about, she probably knew them. Even if she didn't, they still reminded her what could happen to her.

Pinkie knew everyone in high school and a lot of people in and around the city. She seriously doubted her father took her that far away from the city, from what she knows about him, he doesn’t have that much patience. These could have been someone from her school who went camping or something and ended up getting lost in the woods. Though Pinkie didn’t like it; she knew it was possible, but, there was only one way to check.

She had to flip them over; it was the only way. The bodies were at the end of the cave, parts of the bodies were touching the wall, there was no other way. There were lots of reasons to find out who they were, to see if she knew them, to find out who they were so when she got out, she could tell the families and many other reasons. But, none of them could justify what she was about to do, no matter how good the reasons may have seemed.

Not only did she never want to see a dead body, she was about to touch one. She hated the idea of it, but there were family’s out there that had missing children, and needed closure, this could provide it for them. She put away the hesitation in her heart, thinking whoever the families of these two are, need closure more than her.

She slowly put her right hand on the shoulder of the body in front of her, doing the same with the other body with her left hand. The feeling of their cold, dead bodies sent shivers down her neck, but, she ignored it. She knew this was probably going to traumatize her for the rest of her life, but she had to go through with it, for the families.

She closed her eyes and began to count, intent on flipping both the bodies at the same time.

“One.”

Her grip on the bodies got stronger, as she tried to fill herself with confidence. With thoughts of her friends encouraging her, and the smiling faces of the families as they thanked her for finding their family.

“T-two.”

Her voice began to get shaky; she suddenly had a thought. Sure, a family member going missing was bad, but being told they’re dead was worse. If you know they're dead, then you know they're never coming back. You’re never going to hear their voice, see them smile, get to tell them how much you loved them, or any of that. But, if they're just missing, in her opinion, that was better.

If they were missing, then there was still hope. They could have amnesia and be living somewhere as someone else, they could just be lost somewhere, they could be held hostage, and the kidnappers were holding them for ransom somewhere. If they're just missing, then there’s always the chance they're going to show up one day on your doorstep. But, if instead, someone came to your doorstep telling you they were dead, that hope is gone.

“Three!”

Pinkie acted unconsciously, despite the internal battle she was having with herself. Some part of her wanted answers wanted to know who these people were. Perhaps it was human nature, to be curious, human nature was extremely hard to resist, especially in these kinds of situations.

After hearing the sounds of the bodies being turned over, and quickly pulling back her hands, not wanting to touch them any more than necessary, she slowly opened her eyes. The second her eyes had readjusted to the dark, and she saw who they were, she wished she had just let them be. She gasped loudly, as she began quickly scooting back until her back hit a rock.

Their faces were similar to the rest of their bodies, covered in dirt and other various things, but they were still recognizable. The one on the right was Blinkie Pie, her oldest sister. Those bright, yellow, lifeless eyes, her tomboyish features, there was no mistaking it, that was her oldest sister. The one on the left was her other older sibling, Inkie Pie. Her longer than normal hair, her purple eyes, and her shy, innocent features, both of them were her long-missing siblings, and both were indirectly, or maybe directly, killed by her father.

Pinkie felt numb, her body still pushed against the rock behind her. Despite the cave being warm, she felt cold, freezing. It wasn’t the water that made her cold, that had already dried. Her sisters, her friends from the day she was born, were dead. Put into the forest and abandoned by their father, all for a reason they weren’t even been told. They didn’t deserve this; there was no reason they had to die.

They were just as innocent as Pinkie was, maybe more. Blinkie pie was much like Rainbow Dash, she was athletic, outgoing, confident, and many other things that made her like Rainbow, they probably would have been competitive rivals, but good friends. While Inkie was more like Fluttershy, she was anti-social, kind, and extremely shy, but she was a good person. While she didn’t care for animals as much as Fluttershy, she was just as nice.

Blinkie may not have been as innocent as herself or Inkie, she made dirty jokes every now and again, but she didn’t deserve to die, neither of them did! They both, despite Inkie’s shyness, had friends, hopes, dreams, things to do, but they’ll never get to. Because of her father, because of his sick, twisted, version of entertainment, they never will.

Before Pinkie’s thoughts could fill her heart with rage, one of the bodies moved, or more specifically, Blinkie’s mouth. It had shifted a little, just barely. This replaced the hate in her with a hope that maybe she could be alive. In few cases, there was something called open eye comatose. Where the body enters a comatose-like state so quickly, their eyes don’t have time to react and stay open.

Pinkie was about to go forward until she saw why her jaws moved, her worst fear. A black rat came out of Blinkie’s mouth, slowly crawling out and began to climb on other parts of her body. Pinkie hated rats; they were riddled with diseases, they eat disgusting things, and just looked terrifying. Pinkie was about to scream until she saw what exactly the rat was doing.

Pinkie hadn’t noticed it, but her shirt was loose on her body. Which shouldn’t be, even if she was starving, which she wasn’t, her facial details were dirty but weren’t giving away any signs of starving, which made her wonder how they died, the shirt still shouldn't be that loose.

The slight movement of the rat moving under Blinkie’s shirt caused it to fall to the cave floor, and what was under it made her eyes dilate to unimaginable levels. The rat wasn’t alone; it had a family, lots of them. The reason Pinkie hadn’t seen any rats in the cave, was because they were living in their home, or should she say, food source, or maybe both. If Pinkie had to guess, something caused Inkie and Blinkie to try to use the cave as a shelter as Pinkie had, but they weren’t as lucky.

The rats had attacked them, and being the disease carriers, they were, probably infected them with something that they didn’t have the medicine to protect themselves from, and killed them. Rats were extremely adaptable scavengers, who use whatever they need to in order to survive, whether it be the horrible or the unimaginable. Since rats don’t particularly like water, they would do choose any other option than to deal with it, and that’s exactly what they did.

They used Blinkie’s body as both a home and a food source, Inkie’s too, rats were crawling out of her shirt, making it slip off and reveal a similar view as Blinkie’s, but not as bad. The rats had decided to eat through Blinkie and Inkie’s skin, leading to their organs and other internal body parts. They had been eating away at her, eating her organs, skin, muscle, anything they could find in there that was edible. Since they had already eaten through the skin, whatever organs were left were falling out of their bodies, with the rats living in the place of the organs they had already eaten.

This was more gore than Pinkie has ever seen in any movie, more than she’d ever want to see. This had shattered her mind, not only had she found out her sisters were killed by her father, but she had seen the exact gruesome way they had died. The rats didn’t notice her; they were too busy enjoying their meal.

Pinkie began to chuckle, while slight tears began to fall down her face. Then, it escalated into full-blown laughter; tears rained down her cheeks like a waterfall. Her mind and sanity were shattered, going from an innocent person, into a fractured mind, similar to that of a war veteran who’s seen things no one should have to. Except, her mind was much weaker and more innocent than any normal person. Meaning, she was much easier to break.

Her father sending her to the forest for his entertainment, leaving her to the cruelness of mother nature, having to go against her oath and take a life, and knowing she most likely will have to do it lots of more times. Seeing her siblings dead, and seeing the horrible way they died, and many other things that put pressure on her, piled up in the back of her mind, waiting for the perfect moment to push, and it did.

The rats noticed the sudden noise, but, decided against attacking her. They already had two huge food sources; they didn’t need a third one, they were scavengers, not greedy. Pinkie didn’t care if the rats noticed her, she didn’t care about anything at that moment. She was overcome with all the emotions she had pushed away, the same emotions that broke her sanity. The immense grief for her siblings, the dread of all the things she’ll have to do to survive, the pure rage she felt for her father, but most of all, the depression she felt, knowing for the rest of her life, she’ll never be the same after this, she couldn’t be.

For a few minutes, she just sat there, laughing insanely as tears rained down her cheeks. She watched the rats that killed her siblings devour their bodies, eating them like it was the best meal they’ve had in years. Slowly, her laughter died down, as did her crying, until she sat there, blankly staring with lifeless eyes similar to her dead siblings.

When the rats were done eating, they moved around inside the bodies, until they were all settled in, and began to sleep. For the entire night, Pinkie sat with her back against a rock, staring with dead eyes at her siblings. There wasn’t a single noise in the cave, from the rats, or Pinkie. After hours of sitting there, she got up and walked out of the cave, not caring about anything anymore.

She ignored everything, her feeling of grief, her depression, everything. She focused on one thing, one emotion that kept her moving forward, the one feeling that gave her reason to live, rage. Rage for her father, rage against the world for letting such innocent people die in such a painful way, rage that no one, not even her friends, could hold back. She was going to kill him, no, she was going to destroy him.

From the day she was born, she was taught that killing was wrong, that no one but God should decide when someone should die. But this, this wasn’t right! He killed her sisters, probably tons of others, and tried to do the same to her! At that moment, Pinkie remembered a saying; she couldn’t remember where she heard it but recognized how much it fits this situation. No one deserves to die, but some people don’t deserve to live.

Pinkie made a promise to herself, a promise made on the spilled blood of her sisters. She was going to kill him; she didn’t care if God put her in hell for all of eternity, if there was a God. What kind of benevolent, all powerful and all knowing deity, would let something so horrible, happen to people who didn’t deserve it. Even after Pinkie had left the cave, the water making her hair straight, her hair never went curly again, neither did she want it to.

The first thing Pinkie noticed when she walked on the land, was that she had been in there longer than she thought, it had been morning, sometime around six. She looked forward, looking for the wolves, which she found, sleeping in the different pile she had left them. Apparently, they left the moss shelter and slept in the open, in a similar dog pile that they were in before. She slowly walked toward the wolves, being quieter than when she was trying to catch the fish.

When she got right beside them, looking at their faces as they slept, she felt rage. Not as strong as the rage for her father, and not nearly the same amount, but rage. THEY had made her find them! THEY had forced her to leave her home, making her stumble upon the horrible sight of her siblings. She picked up a large rock to her left, and raised it over her head, rage filling her every thought.

She slammed the rock onto the head of the closest wolf, smashing its skull and brains, killing it nearly instantly, bringing a smile of satisfaction to her face. Then, the other two wolves began to wake up, noticing their dead pack mate. Pinkie didn’t want to give them the chance to attack her, so, she tried to slam the boulder on the other wolf’s head, but it quickly moved away. Luckily, it wasn’t fast enough; the rock slammed against its paw. Making it impossible for it to move, as a majority of its right leg was trapped under the rock. Then, suddenly, the Alpha wolf, noticing what's happening, pounced on their attacker.

Pinkie, still crouched over from her recent attack, wasn't expecting the attack, and was on the ground in seconds. The Alpha wasn’t bigger than her, but still stronger than her, giving the wolf an advantage. Pinkie was trying her hardest just not to get hurt; the Alpha was clawing back and forth, the only thing stopping it from hurting her, was her hands right under its paws, pushing it as far up as she could.

With its paws being pushed back, it tried to bite her, snapping its jaws down at her, while Pinkie was trying to avoid her face getting bitten off. Saliva is going everywhere with every snap, mostly on her face, luckily, her mouth was closed. Slowly, her strength was leaving her, making her regret no longer working out. She knew, eventually, she was going to die.

This wasn’t some fight in school that the teachers would break up, this was a life or death battle, against an experienced predator. A wolf who has lots of experience in taking the lives of other animals, whether it be alone or in a pack, it was made to kill. While Pinkie, other than the fish, has never taken a life. This was bad; she was outmatched, her opponent had the advantage of strength and experience.

She was going to die here, is what the old her would have said. But the new Pinkie, the less innocent, more rage-filled Pinkie, wouldn’t accept that. After everything, the things she had to do, the things she saw, changed her. She had to live, not for her friends, or her human needs for self-preservation, but for her revenge. That’s what made her different than the rest of its prey, they tried to survive to live, but she’s trying to survive for death.

Pinkie put all of her strength into her right hand, flipping the wolf over with her on top. Before the wolf had the chance to counter, she began to beat it, hard. Punch after punch on the wolf’s face, slowly turning its growls into whimpers. All the while, Pinkie was imagining she was beating her father, which is why she was smiling all the way insanely through, with a manic look in her eyes. She keeps going, even after it was dead, not wanting to lose the feeling she was getting from this new experience, a feeling of… bliss.

But, like all good things, it had to end. Though, Pinkie didn’t stop herself. While she was beating the long-dead dog, she was bounced from the back. It was the dog Pinkie had trapped, which confused her. She looked over to the boulder, thinking it had somehow pushed the boulder or pulled it’s paw out or something, but neither of these was the case.

You know that saying, ‘ A wolf will bite off its own paw if it means survival.’? Well, in this case, that’s exactly what happened. The wolf had bitten of its crushed paw to survive or save its alpha; there was no real way to tell. Pinkie knew this because she could still see the paw, there was a pool of blood coming from under the boulder, and a trail leading straight to her, with blood on the wolf's teeth. The wolf was at a disadvantage though, since it can’t use its right paw, and it’s back ones were mainly used for travel, it could only use one.

Though, it did have the advantage of a sneak attack, which did end up harming Pinkie. While Pinkie was using her left hand to keep its left paw away from her, and her right hand was trying to push the wolf off, something unexpected happened. Since the wolf wasn’t using its right paw, it decided to use that to its advantage. It snapped its jaw from the right, which it couldn’t have done before if it was using its right paw. This surprised Pinkie, she wasn’t expecting it would do that. Luckily, she noticed it and moved away at the last second, but it still got a good cut on her neck. Not a very deep one, but enough to bleed.

This enraged her; she didn’t want a pathetic creature like this do harm to her or anyone. Pinkie always had high confidence and self-esteem, even after her mental transformation. She was attractive, she knew it, and she flaunted it. Not in a slutty way, of course, she wasn’t that kind of girl, or at least, she didn’t used to be. But now, she was different. This encounter with death changed her in a lot of ways, physically was just one of them. Now, if she survived everything and killed her father, she was going to change the way she lived.

She was going to take more chance, live life more dangerously. She was also going to change her appearance, before, she tried to hide her body. She wanted people to be attracted towards her for her personality, not her appearance. But now, she was going to change everything. Wear less makeup, more revealing clothes, date more boys, both bad and good. She wasn’t going to be a slut and sleep with anyone. She just wanted people to pay more attention to her, and be more proud of her body. But first, she had to get through this, before she would get the chance to do any of these things.

Pinkie’s face was no longer a smile, but slowly, contorted to that of rage. She rammed both of her knees up as fast as she could, slamming into the stomach of the wolf on top of her, throwing over her. It landed on it’s back, with the breath knocked out of it so quickly and unexpected, she wasn’t able to move for a few seconds. Pinkie took this chance to attack, with that insane smile back on her face.

“I thought you were supposed to be elites!”

Pinkie screamed, with a mixture of sarcasm and disappointment in her voice. She was honestly expecting a challenge, if she was going to take on her father and his goons, she needed to be prepared. She wanted whatever challenge nature sent to her, no matter the risk. If she couldn’t handle a couple of mutts, she couldn’t dream of killing him.

“Three of the most dangerous predators in nature, with years of experience in hunting and killing, killed by a teenage girl!”

Despite now being driven by nothing but rage, bloodlust, and insanity, Pinkie’s conscious remained. Pinkamena wanted to regard her situation as two personalities. The old her, which she will regard as Pinkie. Joyful, outgoing, caring, but above all, innocent. Then, there’s the new her, Pinkamena; she couldn’t think of a name that would fit better. Sadistic, bloodthirsty, angry at the world, didn’t care for anyone, and a shattered mental state.

But, her old personality, it’s symptoms maybe gone, but it was still very much there, and won’t be going away. And, like mono, it will occasionally come back, and this was one of those times.

*Please, stop! You don’t need to do this! Just leave them be!*

She was talking about the wolves; she didn’t want her to kill them, despite both of them knowing it was too late to stop now. But she ignored her, everyone always told her if she ever hears voices in her head, just to ignore whatever they tell you to do. The wolf, now getting it’s second wind, was standing on whatever paws it still had. It started to growl at her, trying to be as intimidating as it could with only three paws and a couple fractured ribs.

The wolf made it’s move, rushing to her as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in its chest and paw. Though, it was pathetic compared to what it was before, making it extremely easy to avoid. Pinkamena simply sidestepped quickly, making the wolf smash into the ground. She kicked it in the chest, really breaking a few ribs this time.

She played with it for a little while, putting pressure on the place where its paw should be, kicking her a few more times in the chest, and the occasional punch to her face. Until the wolf didn’t have any more fight, even if it did, its body wouldn’t be able to do anything. Pinkamena decided there was no longer any more fun she could have out of her, and to just kill her, eat her and her friends, and sleep, she really needs to rest.

Pinkie was still trying to stop her, telling her to stop and giving as many reasons as she could. But, Pinkamena just ignored her, not wanting to stop. Eventually, she found what she was looking for. It was a branch she had thrown when she was collecting some. This branch was quite sharp, and wasn’t big enough to be used in the campfire, so, it was tossed, but now, it had a reason to be used. Pinkie, knowing exactly what that branch was going to be used for, started trying harder to get her to stop.

“NO! STOP! Please, you can just walk away. Let the wolf go! PLEASE!”

She didn’t listen and continued to move back to the wolf. The wolf had tried to crawl away but wasn’t very successful. It was just a few inches from where she left it; it couldn't really crawl very far. Pinkamena put her foot on her neck, not enough to stop it’s breathing, but enough to stop it from moving, which didn’t take a lot. Pinkamena raised the branch over its head, as Pinkie was protesting and trying to get her to stop. Then, like a plane beginning to crash, Pinkamena slammed the branch down into the wolf’s head, with a huge smile on her face.

She aimed for her eyes, which she got, and it had killed the wolf almost immediately. Almost immediately after she did, Pinkie stopped. There was no more protesting, not even crying, just silence. Maybe, it was gone. Whether it was Pinkie, her conscious, or some slight part of her that wanted to stay pure, it was gone. She had killed it like she had the wolf, and neither was coming back. Well, Pinkie might, she may have been innocent, but she was stubborn.

Pinkamena got on her knees, her smile spreading as far as it could, and she laughed. She laughed both from the satisfaction of killing the wolves and finally getting rid of that annoying voice in her head. There were no tears this time, just laughter. Dark, evil laughter. She was no longer the pure ball of sunshine she once was; now she was the exact opposite. She was exactly what she never wanted to be, and more.

For one month, she lived in those woods. Killing predators and prey alike, out of either necessity or just wanting to. She ate everything she killed, whether she was hungry or not, she hated being wasteful. Whatever time she wasn’t spending killing animals, she was exercising. Push Ups, sit-ups, planks, those kinds of things. She wanted to be strong again like she once was. She had to be strong, both to be able to survive in the woods, and to kill her father.

And strong she was, pushing herself as much as she could before being exhausted daily. She had abs, a simple six pack, and muscles. She felt she was ready by the time the month ended, for whatever her father threw at her. Just like he said, at the clearing where he had left her, after a month, the helicopter was there. What disappointed her though, was that she could not see her father in the helicopter.

Then, without warning, tall men in suits, similar to the ones she saw with her dad, came out of the helicopter. She tried to fight back, but they had tasers and numbers. While it’s true she was strong; she’s only ever fought animals. She didn’t know how to fight, while these guys knew how and had strength. Whenever they finally got her down, one of them injected her with a syringe, similar to the one her father gave her.

Like the one her father gave her, she felt the affects immediately. Passing out into the arms of the bodyguard in front of her. They took her to the helicopter, which had been ready to go this whole time, and flew off. When Pinkamena would wake up, she would soon learn her test is not over yet, and she would have much more to endure if she wanted her revenge. Before, she thought she could handle whatever they threw at her. But after what they were going to do to her, she would be more broken than what she was now.