So here’s the situation, as far as Pinkie could tell; Rainbow and her Quetzalcoatl friend were off on an adventure to take out their enemy’s secret weapon, while the rest of the Lightning Knights’ forces stayed back in the village that the family was after in order to protect it.

Or rather, to protect the resources the village could provide. No one was under the illusion that the Knights would give two shits about the comfort or safety of the villagers if they weren’t a valuable source of magic, and potential bodies to throw against their enemies.

Pinkie, for her part, also stayed behind, and was doing a little dance as she waited for Spitfire, the phoenix finally approaching her to deal with her.

“So, uh,” Spitfire rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as Pinkie danced back and forth in front of her, “what am I supposed to do with you now?”

“What do you wanna do with me?” Pinkie grinned ear to ear and waggled her eyebrows, Spitfire stumbling back into a tree.

“I just need to make sure you’re out of harm’s way for the upcoming battle,” Spitfire said, brushing herself off to regain composure. “And that you won’t try and escape. Either of those things would have the commander after my head.”

“Hmmm, maybe you should put me on a leash,” Pinkie smirked, and Spitfire gave her a bemused glance, though the faint pink tint to her cheeks clued Pinkie in that her flirtatious remarks were getting through at least a little.

“How about there?” Spitfire pointed to a crumbling wooden house, and Pinkie shrugged.

She led Pinkie over to it with a couple of other soldiers in tow, then pushed Pinkie inside as she whispered something to the soldiers.

“You can stay here,” Spitfire said to Pinkie. “These guards will make sure that you’re safe, and that you stay put.”

“Awww, you’re not even gonna tie me up?” Pinkie teased, Spitfire gritting her teeth and turning pink.

“Stop that!” she barked, and Pinkie giggled, which of course sent a wave of magical energy coursing through Spitfire’s body; such was the effect of Pinkie’s magic.

Spitfire didn’t say another word as she turned around and left, and Pinkie flomped onto the ground. Neither of the soldiers Spitfire left her with did anything for her; total bores, both of ‘em. So Pinkie may as well have been alone with her thoughts, which didn’t usually bode well for her.

But alas, thinking was all that Pinkie had to do, so thinking is what she did. She laid on her back, holding her arm above her head with hand outstretched. There was a hole in the roof, through which Pinkie could see the void hovering overhead.

She missed the sky.

How long had it been since Pinkie was stolen away from the surface? About a decade, if she wasn’t mistaken. Close enough if she was. She still missed her sisters, she missed her friends, she missed the love of her life.

She missed a lot of things, damn it! She wanted to go back so bad, but she’d been trapped underground so long that she felt… responsible, somehow. Things in the Underworld weren’t like what she was told on the surface, and the people here felt trapped.

The Empress, the one who stole souls from the surface and that everypony lived in fear of, that fear dripped from every crack and pore of the Underworld too. Creatures’ lives were defined by that fear, by how they cowed to it or fought against it, and how anyone who did the latter either died or disappeared.

Pinkie wanted to go home, she wanted to forget all about this nightmare. But even if she somehow left the Underworld, her dreams would be haunted by the horrors and fear she experienced underground.

She could never escape from it, at least while the Empress still drew breath.

But what could she do? She was little more than a slave to the commander of the Lightning Knights; a court jester made to laugh for her captors so they could carry out their campaign of bloodshed more efficiently. Pinkie was no one.

Pinkie let her hand fall limply to her side. She missed the sky, she missed the sun. She wanted to see a light at the end of this tunnel she was in.

But then Pinkie had an intriguing thought. Something was different about today; someone who was different. She didn’t treat Pinkie like a tool the way Lightning did, or an object the way Spitfire did, she was considerate of Pinkie’s feelings and respectful of what little agency Pinkie had. She even said she wanted to talk to Pinkie, like really talk to her, after the battle was over.

Maybe Pinkie couldn’t see the sun in the sky, but she was pretty sure she could see a rainbow.

a bit of a shorter one, but i felt like it was important to get inside pinkie's head too

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