MLP: Rainbow Favored. Part 2

Rainbow Dash flew through the streets of Ponyville, searching for any of her colleagues to explain the events of the previous hour. She had already checked Fluttershy's house and found it vacant, so her next guess was the café. She was halfway across town when she came across a familiar face; a certain purple unicorn was running through the street before spotted the pegasus, shouting "Hey, Rainbow Dash! Over here!"

She didn't seem cheerful to see her, however, as an expression of panic on her face had met Rainbow Dash's eyes. Naturally, she couldn't help but approach her to learn what was worrying her. "Hey, Twilight. What's the matter?" she asked with concern. Twilight then told her the whole story of what happened in Pinkie Pie's house; particularly, the event it resulted in.

"Pinkie Pie and Applejack got in a fight?!"

"Yeah, and it was pretty rough. I don't even know how it happened; we were all just chatting, and then she just went crazy!" Twilight exclaimed. Rainbow Dash didn't know what to make of this, and simply stood in utter disbelief from hearing this information. She had guessed that Pinkamena was responsible for this attack, but such a violent outcome would still be impossible to predict.

Rainbow Dash then asked "Well, where's Applejack now?" Twilight hesitated to answer her at first, but eventually decided to tell her the bad news. "Well, Applejack did get hurt… And, well… she's in the hospital" Twilight increased her pace of speech in a failed attempt to undertone this horrific news, with predictable results.

"What?! Is she alright?" Rainbow Dash shrieked in fear, clearly horrified. "Don't worry, she's okay. But like I said, it was pretty rough; so she's pretty shook up. Personally, I think we should leave her for a while to get better" Twilight suggested, before waving goodbye and glumly taking her leave. Rainbow Dash was left to pondering the events of the week; Pinkie Pie fainting in the café, Pinkamena threatening her, and now she's attacked Applejack and put her in the hospital.

How did it all connect?

Later that day, Rainbow Dash decided to go visit Applejack anyway, just to be sure she would recover like Twilight said. Once she made her way through the hospital and came to Applejack's room, she found that she was asleep. Despite her better judgement, she decided to stay and watch her friend, just in case she happened to wake up. She grabbed a chair and sat quietly, waiting for a short while and getting a better look at her friend's injuries. To say the least, they were worse than she was expecting.

Applejack's body was covered in a variety bruises and lumps, ranging in various shapes and sizes across her body. The next detail Rainbow Dash noticed was a volatile blackness that had engulfed her left eye, possibly from either a headbutt or a kick. But the most startling injury of all was Applejack's left arm, which was bound inside a bandage within a plastic cast. Who could've thought that Pinkie Pie could do so much damage when she becomes out of control like this?

After around ten minutes, Rainbow Dash decided to leave and prepared to make her way out, before a voice stopped her in her tracks, "It was Pinkamena" she heard behind her. Rainbow Dash hung her head and responded "Yeah, I know. I saw her today". "I feel so bad for her, y'know… Oh, this is horri- Ow!" Applejack grunted in pain. "It's okay, I'll take care of it. And the others are going to help" Rainbow Dash stated, before making her way through the exit. Applejack then asked "Huh? Well, what are ya gonna do?"

Several hours later that evening, Rainbow Dash and the other ponies had arrived to Pinkie Pie's home. The ponies were beyond nervous by this point; they were genuinely scared, since they knew firsthand of what Pinkamena was capable of. They each peered through a window in search of Pinkie Pie's current position, but she was in none of the rooms on the first floor, concluding that she must have been upstairs in her bedroom.

Rainbow Dash crept towards the front door with caution and twisted the door knob slowly, only to find the entrance to be locked. She looked to her left to see Fluttershy still staring through the kitchen window, before quickly waving at her to get her attention. "The door's locked" she whispered nervously. "And all the windows are shut tight too" Fluttershy answered. "Over here!" Rarity called to the others, having apparently found a window that was still open.

By the time they all regrouped, Rarity had already climbed in through the window and was offering to pull the others through. After they were all in the house, Rainbow Dash commanded "Okay. First things first, we stick together. Understand?" They all nodded in agreement and snuck through the house, towards the stair and onto the second floor.

"… would be a lot of fun, don't you think?"

---

Behind one of the doors, they heard a familiar voice cheerfully chatting away. The four fell silent in order to hear what she was saying. "But what about the house? ... Well, we can have to halves of it, one for me and one for you. … A duplex? Heheheheh! But what about the bedroom? … We can get a double bed, and repaint the bedroom while we're at it. … And maybe we can get one with two closets, one for each of us. … Hahaha! That's a great idea! So where should it be, cherub? In the hills, on an island or by the beachside? … Oh, the beach definitely. I'd love the peaceful quiet of the beachside house. … Oh, that sounds so lovely!" the pair of personas conversed delightfully.

"What is she talking about?" Rarity whispered, wary of Pinkie Pie hearing them. "I think she's planning to move away!" Fluttershy exclaimed in sudden realisation.

"And we'll find somewhere remote, somewhere far away from this place. … No joke! It becomes pretty fuzzy when phonies are constantly leeching off of your back. … I'm so sorry, Pinkamena. You were always trying to tell me, but I didn't believe you. You were right all along. … I know, I heard the whole thing. They were so rude to you! And then that one pegasus was going to attack me! … I thought that they wouldn't try to act so mean to me, especially during April Fools Day when they apologized; but this was something else entirely".

This was incomprehensible for her friends to hear; they had never heard this from her in the time they've spent with her. Was what she was saying now what she really thought, or was it just Pinkamena poisoning her against them; either way, Rainbow Dash couldn't bear the thought that these circumstances could be the reality. Unbeknownst to the ragtag team of infiltrators, though, Pinkie Pie had stopped talking and the house became silent.

The group soon realised this and each had redeveloped their sense of dread. However, after eventually mustering enough courage, Rainbow Dash slowly twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. They all individually stepped into the room, but were met with a surprise; strangely, Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd she go?" Rarity asked fearfully, but was met with no answer. She then understood the reason for the lack of conversation, as the other three were too distracted by the state of the room itself. Pinkie Pie's room seemed relatively the same as always, but the furniture had been rearranged since the last time they saw it.

There was two of everything in her room now; the left side had a desk, a book shelf and a collection of toys and stuffed animals aligned along a window sill, and the right side was symmetrically identical, down to the very millimetre. In the centre of the room was Pinkie Pie's bed, covered with a pink and violet quilt cover and a matching pillow. "W-what's this all about? Why is there two of everything in here?" Fluttershy asked, bewildered by the bizarre layout of the furniture.

"Perhaps it's for both her and Pinkamena to have one?" Twilight assumed curiously. Rarity then replied "So one side of the room is for Pinkamena and the other is for Pinkie Pie?" before turning to view the room once more; "That's pretty out there. This is just getting stranger and stranger".

'CLUMP!'

The bedroom door had suddenly slammed shut behind them, causing a widespread panic amongst the group as they turned to face it. There, standing in the doorway; with a wide, sadistic grin and bloodshot eyes, was the dreaded Pinkamena they had feared crossing. "Do you like our new layout?" Pinkamena smugly questioned, before snickering insanely to herself. She made her way towards the group, who were frozen to the core with fear.

"Thanks for knocking, by the way" she then sarcastically sneered, apparently aware that they had indeed broken into her house. "Make yourselves comfortable if you'd like to" she stated before stopping in front of the intruders of her abode, asking "Now, can I do anything for you four? Eh Hehehehe!" This scene was incredibly odd for the group to witness, as Pinkamena would never speak to them so politely; this they knew without a doubt. Rainbow Dash stepped forward and asked "Um… can we… uh… talk to Pinkie Pie, please?" attempting to take advantage of their host's hospitality.

Pinkamena erupted into laughter, before answering "Sure thing! Let me get her for you" and stood silently, eventually exclaiming "Whoa!" Pinkamena's smile quickly dropped into a frown as she confessed "I don't think she wants to talk". She then folded her arms, and angrily demanded "Hey, come out here and play nice!" before a second silence fell throughout the room. After a few seconds passed, Pinkamena huffed and said "Whoa, she really doesn't want to talk! And quite honestly, I DON'T BLAME HER!"

The four 'guests' knew what this aggressive behaviour would eventually lead to, and Twilight was the first to attempt changing it, and did so by asking "Don't blame her for what? What did we do to upset her?" Pinkamena stomped her hoof against the floor and yelled "What did you do!? What didn't you do!? You flat out insulted her! You took advantage of her good nature yet again, and FOR WHAT!? Was it funny to you? Is it fun to toy with her emotions like you have? LIKE YOU ALWAYS HAVE!?"

"What are you talking about?!" Rainbow Dash accused, having lost a majority of her temper once again. Pinkamena sneered, "'You've always been a freak, Pinkie Pie', 'Oh look, somepony's getting cranky', 'What is wrong with you Pinkie Pie!' DO ANY OF THESE RING A BELL!?" she shrieked in rage, though her voice also displayed a hint of despair. Rarity stepped in and asked "At what point did we say anything like that?" Before Pinkamena had the chance to, Twilight answered "Never! We'd never say that to you, Pinkie Pie. NEVER!"

"STOP LYING TO ME!"

This brought a silence to the argument; an atmospheric, almost deafening silence. The entire group, even Pinkamena herself, seemed shocked by this sudden outburst. Most likely because Pinkamena's wasn't the voice that shouted this accusation, but was Pinkie Pie's instead. Pinkamena shut her eyes tightly and groaned in frustration.

"Change of plans, Pinkamena. We're leaving now!"

---

Pinkie Pie then spun around and prepared to leave. However, Rainbow Dash suddenly flew past Pinkie Pie and guarded the doorway, shouting "Sorry Pinkie Pie, but you can't leave this house!" She stopped and growled with rage, spouting "Oh yeah? Are you gonna try and stop me?" During this time, the other three ponies had run out the door while Rainbow Dash had kept her distracted.

Each of the trio ran downstairs and made their way to the first floor, soon to depart and each run to a different door, standing in the way of it in case Pinkie Pie made any attempt to escape. This was soon discovered to be the case when Pinkie Pie leapt down the stairs and stopped in her tracks, though Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen or heard.

She stopped and looked around her living room, finding herself trapped within her own house. Fluttershy guarded the front door, Rarity sat against the backdoor, and Twilight stood in the way of the kitchen's side door. Rainbow Dash leapt down the staircase and jumped in front of Pinkie Pie, yelling "There's no way out! All of the doors are blocked off and the windows are all shut!"

"This is ridiculous! I'm not gonna be your prisoner!" Pinkie Pie replied aggressively, before abruptly calming herself. Unbeknownst to the other four, Pinkie Pie was still listening to Pinkamena as a voice in her head; but stranger than that, was what Pinkamena was saying to her.

"Pinkie Pie, just calm down!" echoed within Pinkie Pie's mind. "Why? After all they did to us? You were right about them the whole time! They're all liars!" Pinkie Pie shouted maniacally to herself. "You don't know… I mean, they might be telling the truth this time!" Pinkamena replied, out loud this time. Pinkie Pie stood silently in the middle of the room, considering what this last sentence could mean, before replying "But that doesn't make sense… then you'd be lying".

Her hair was sweating and her legs were trembling with tension by this time. Her captors simply sat in fear, watching this latest event unfold before them. "If they were telling the truth, you would be lying! … But I didn't lie! … You lied to me, didn't you? … Now cherub, just calm down. … I trusted you, Pinkamena! … Stop being stupid, Pinkie Pie. I'd never lie to you! … I attacked and hurt Applejack for a LIE?! … Pinkie Pie, stop getting angry! … SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU ALL! Get… get… … ou…"

Sweat trickled down her neck as she suddenly lost all strength throughout her entire body. She fell to her knees as she slowly lost her senses, while her friends quickly rushed in to help her. She slowly fell forward and collided against the carpet floor, rapidly losing the energy to stay awake. She couldn't understand what her friends were screaming to her, and didn't seem to care. Once again, darkness had engulfed her senses, and all control had slipped away from her for a second time. She shut her eyes and slipped away into unconsciousness.

Unbeknownst to her was while she was rendered motionless, her friends had carried her to her bed and left her to recover. After a few hours had past, she eventually did return to a portion of her former health, while awaking to a familiar sight. She laid in her bedroom and it was almost 3:00 am according to her clock, but the rest of her furniture remained in their current positions. "Where did everypony go?" she asked into the cool night air, the question echoing throughout the house.

Although she wasn't actually expecting an answer, an answer seemed to have been expecting her. "They're all here, still. They decided to stay over for the night in case you woke up; but I'm the only one still awake now" whispered a familiar voice from a bright blue pegasus. Pinkie Pie soon scanned her eyes throughout the room, and found that Rainbow Dash was right. The others had taken refuge within her bedroom to sleep; using seats, cushions and other resources as beds.

Rainbow Dash then asked "And what about… uh… Pinkamena?" "Well… I can't hear her… so that's something" Pinkie Pie replied, before sighing with relief, "That was real weird what she was doing, though", Pinkie Pie explained "When I got really angry, she was trying to calm me down; even saying that you may have been telling the truth the whole time.

Maybe she doesn't like me getting angry… I dunno". Rainbow Dash then replied "Actually, that might be right. You were… in control when you got angry, weren't you?" "Yeah, she actually… seemed scared, now that I think about it. Maybe she knew we were gonna pass out from it". She sunk into the pillow and muttered to herself "Poor Applejack. I hope she didn't hurt her too badly". Without anything further to discuss, she sighed before dozing off and laying back into her bed.

Rainbow Dash laid next to her bed and pondered Pinkie Pie's dilemma, attempting to fit the pieces together. Up until now, everypony thought Pinkamena simply represented all of her negative emotions. But according to Pinkie Pie, Pinkamena tried to defend them from Pinkie Pie's rage; but whether this was a random act of compassion towards them or to protect Pinkie Pie from harming herself remained a mystery.

Also, according to Pinkie Pie, she had her split-personality since fillyhood, and they were apparently cooperative and relatively neutral. This only proved to confuse Rainbow Dash ever further, and fill her head with more questions to consider. But by this time, she had already begun to fall asleep and eventually slept comfortably beside her best friend.

Since then, everything seemed to return to the way it was; not just before this week's events, but before Pinkamena ever became an occasional occurrence. Pinkie Pie returned to her old, loud, excitable self, and Pinkamena hadn't come back since then. Weeks passed without any mishap or incident, and for a while, everything in Equestria was in proper order. One day, however, Rainbow Dash had come back home from her daily routine and was looking forward to some rest.

Before she went in, however, she noticed a small letter laying in the grass; prompting her to approach it and pick it up to find the address. Oddly, there was neither a name nor a postmark, meaning that it was delivered singlehandedly by the sender. She pulled out the paper from the envelope and unfolded it, and what she read froze her to the core with terror.

'Don't forget the favor.'

The End?