Author's Notes:

Added on 18 May 2016

Formerly Come One. Come Some.

“-But what does that say about Equestria’s security?” asks a mare in a Canterlot accent over a dial radio sitting on a nightstand. “The griffins are on a hair trigger because of their arms race with Bernese, and now they are outraged by the EIB’s raid on the griffin community in Canterlot!”

“I am certain that the griffins won’t do anything,” replies a stallion sharing the same accent in a much calmer tone. “Griffins may be brutish, but they are civilized brutes. They know they cannot afford hostilities on our border with the ibex problem on their doorstep. Besides, what happened in Canterlot was an isolated incident and Princess Celestia has already made the steps-”

Click.

Pinkie Pie’s hoof slides off of the radio and she stares at her reflection in a mirror resting on a simple dresser. She has not had much time to look at herself after Trixie broke the mirror in their apartment, but after getting out of the hospital she hates what she looks like. Her eyes are tired, and the large bags under them are darker than her mane, like a raccoon. Her pale coat also makes her wounds easier to see and her puffy mane is no more than a frazzled mess. Pinkie Pie, without taking her eyes off of the mirror, tenderly rubs where Octavia shot her. Her coat is thinnest in that spot and the scarring from her stitches is painful, visually and physically.

Pinkie Pie looks down at the floor, wanting to go back to sleep so she can talk to Spike again. But as tired as her body is, her mind is too active to allow her to rest. For one, she knows her dream had told her that Roar Shock has become more dangerous and will burn Equestria to the ground should he get the chance. Also, if what Octavia said about Trixie dying in an alley somewhere is true, then Pinkie Pie knows that she has no choice but to put on the Mare-Do-Well suit and stop Roar Shock herself. Then she starts wondering about Laughter’s necklace. Celestia said that the Elements are beyond mortal understanding, and Pinkie Pie has speculated that they are alive somehow, given that they are picky about Bearers. However, even after she had gone against everything the Elements stand for Laughter still came to her and warmed her up in that frost field and comforted her when she first arrived in the dreamscape.

As Pinkie Pie ponders the reasons why Laughter had stuck around, her ear swivels towards the door when she hears it click open and sees Twilight carefully step inside the room with a tray of food and juice floating in front of her. When the unicorn sees Pinkie Pie sitting on the floor she stops and carefully sets the tray on the nightstand.

“Have you slept at all?” asks Twilight.

Pinkie Pie looks down at the floor again, shaking her head in silence. Twilight sighs sadly and approaches her with some caution.

“Pinkie, you need to get some sleep. Take it from somepony who knows what little sleep can do to you,” says Twilight.

Pinkie Pie swallows some tears and forces herself to look at Twilight in the mirror.

“I betcha you’re wishing you could find a stronger time travel spell to go back in time and save Spike,” she says quietly. “I know I wish I could do something like that. I could save Spike, Octavia, Trixie... everypony I hurt I could save if I could do something like that.”

Twilight looks at the floor, and Pinkie Pie looks at the carpet, eyes watering and gulping back a flood of tears. Twilight takes a deep breath and hugs Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie doesn’t lift a hoof, though, she remains stiff, only leaning into Twilight’s body and closing her eyes. There is a moment of depressing silence that Twilight tries to break, but the most she can do is open her mouth while her friend remains uncharacteristically quiet. They sit in silence for another minute or two until Twilight hesitantly pulls away from Pinkie Pie and sheepishly points at the tray.

“I brought you some pancakes and orange juice.” Twilight looks at the tray, frowning in disappointment. “Or they were supposed to be pancakes and orange juice.”

Pinkie Pie shuffles towards the tray, and her droopy eyes widening when she sees the so called pancakes. The pancakes are thin ashy plates that crumble to bits after Pinkie Pie pokes them, and when the pink pony looks at the orange juice the word “repulsed” comes to mind.

“How did you burn orange juice?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Twilight slumps to the ground, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Pinkie. I’m just not good at cooking, and I wanted to do something for you after all you’ve been through. I tried to see you at the hospital after the newspapers said you were alive, but when I got there you were gone and...” Twilight sniffles and wipes tears from her eyes. “And now Shining is being accused of murder and I just don’t know how much more of this I can take!”

Twilight slumps against the bed, covering her eyes with her hoof and crying quietly. Pinkie Pie sits next to Twilight and rubs her shoulder, this only makes Twilight cry harder and Pinkie Pie pulls her in for a hug. Twilight wraps her hooves around and cries into Pinkie Pie’s shoulder, and she rubs the unicorn’s back, closing her eyes and bowing her head on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I'm sorry for everything,” whispers Pinkie Pie.

“No, I’m sorry. I drove you to this. I broke our friendship. I broke everypony.”

Pinkie Pie pulls away and looks at Twilight’s soaked, bloodshot eyes. “What do you mean? You still have the others.”

Twilight shakes her head, sniffling and wiping a thick stream of tears from her face. “Rainbow Dash hasn’t said a word to me since the Pre-Gala. She took your death the hardest and blamed me and Rarity for what happened, and Rarity hardly talks to me now. Then when Applejack and Big Mac disappeared Fluttershy became paranoid. She told me that she saw them taken away in government vehicles and I told her she was crazy. I haven’t heard anything from her since then. And me and Shining have been arguing a lot about what Celestia is doing. It’s all over. The Elements of Harmony are broken and nopony trusts Celestia anymore. Nopony but me.”

Twilight looks at Pinkie Pie hopefully, and her state brings a lump to the pink pony’s throat and twists her heart in a knot. She remembers when she would comfort Twilight to the best of her abilities, usually in the form a party or a treat from the Sugar Cube Corner, and in spite of what she had done to her, Rainbow Dash’s statement pertaining to the Element of Magic replays in her mind. Pinkie Pie wants to stay mad at Twilight. She wants to tell her off for how bad of a friend she was when she was needed the most. She wants to beat her to a bloody pulp and-

Pinkie Pie suddenly looks away from Twilight, shivering and shaking her head.

“And why don’t you want to hurt her? She was mean to us,” says Pinkamena grimly.

“Do you still trust Celestia?” asks Twilight.

Pinkie Pie looks at Twilight for a couple of seconds before she hugs Twilight in a tight embrace, and strokes her back when she feels her quiver.

“She’s my goddess, I have to trust her,” says Pinkie Pie softly.

She feels Twilight nod and her tears drip on her shoulders. Pinkie Pie wishes she could stay with Twilight and tell her that she forgives her and that it will all be okay. She wishes, but she cannot find the words.

“Wow, you are so quick to forgive that meanie,” sneers Pinkamena.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes snap to the doorway and expects to see her evil self to be standing in the doorway with a knife, but all she sees is the hallway wall.

“This is perfect, though. Just one quick twist and her neck will break like a celery stick. You can end one problem, right here, right now,” says Pinkamena.

“Pinkie, are you okay?” asks Twilight uneasily.

“No. What’s wrong?” says Pinkie Pie.

“You’re kinda strangling me with your hug.”

Pinkie Pie releases Twilight instantly and backs away from her, trembling and barely suppressing a whimper. She sits on her haunches and looks at her hooves with eyes wide and terrified. Her ears twitch and her eyes water while her breathing becomes heavy when she hears Pinkamena giggle.

“One quick twist,” says Pinkamena.

Pinkie Pie gulps. “No... No, I can’t.”

Twilight places her hoof on Pinkie Pie’s shoulder, making her jump and scream, which in turn makes Twilight jump and scream. Both ponies stare at each other, hearts racing and gulping for air with their hooves over their hearts.

“You scared me,” says Pinkie Pie after a few seconds of panting.

“Sorry,” says Twilight, “but you were, I guess, talking to yourself.”

“Psychos tend to do that.” Then she gets a twitch in her leg. “I need to go to, like right now.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“I spent too long her and need to get to Bernese.”

Pinkie Pie dashes out of the room and Twilight runs after her. When they are in the hallway, Pinkie Pie comes to a sudden stop when something grabs her tail, and when she turns around she sees Twilight’s horn glowing and a magical mist wrapped around her tail.

“Why do you have to go to Bernese? More importantly, how can you even think of going? Look at you! You can’t go anywhere!” cries Twilight hysterically she motions towards Pinkie Pie’s injuries.

Pinkie Pie jabs the base of Twilight’s horn, making her yelp painfully and tenderly rub it, and Pinkie Pie continues her path. Each of her steps are filled with determination and worry, and when she passes a window blocked by a lavender curtain, her leg cramps up. Pinkie Pie winces and continues her walk, and when she passes the window the cramp disappears. She stops, and backs up to the window. Her leg cramp returns.

“Oh great,” groans Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, do you understand me?” asks Twilight sourly as she walks in, tenderly rubbing her horn when she comes to a stop.

“Yeah, yeah, I understood you loud and clear,” says Pinkie Pie as she moves one of Twilight’s lavender curtains out of the way for a better view of Canterlot. “But I’m still leaving since I’m putting you in danger.”

She closes the curtain and goes to Twilight’s kitchen with the unicorn in pursuit. The kitchen is small to begin with, but just large enough for Pinkie Pie to move around with bare minimum comfort. Since the kitchen is tucked away in the back of the apartment with no windows around Pinkie Pie is spared of another leg cramp.

“Okay, I think you need to tell me what’s going on,” says Twilight.

Pinkie Pie sighs loudly and looks at Twilight, knowing that she won’t stop badgering her until she gets some answers. She tries to think of how she would explain what is going on to Twilight in the least time consuming way possible, and thinking of what to say is not made any easier by the way Twilight is staring at her.

“I guess there’s no point in hiding it,” says Pinkie Pie as she anxiously paws at the ground. “I Pinkie Promise I’ll explain everything when this done, but right now you’ll have to settle for the simple version.”

To emphasize her point, Pinkie Pie does the motions and chants the Pinkie Promise, and gets a small smile of relief when Twilight nods she motions her to explain her situation. Pinkie Pie takes a deep breath and exhales slowly while staring at the ground. Then she looks up at Twilight to give her basic story.

“The guys that attacked Ponyville and killed Spike and the Mayor are after me and I’m losing control of my sanity, so I have to leave to Bernese to get an advanced Mare-Do-Well suit from Iron Will and stay away from you and the others until I get Pinkamena under control and stop Roar Shock from killing millions of ponies. The end.”

Pinkie Pie takes a breath and Twilight’s reaction to the really long run-on sentence is a blank blink. And after a few seconds of silence Pinkie Pie starts rummaging through Twilight’s kitchen, searching for anything she can use on her trip out.

“That was a very simple version,” says Twilight.

“Yep, sure was,” says Pinkie Pie.

“So you are buying a Mare-Do-Well suit from Iron Will? Isn’t he the minotaur that, you know, turned Fluttershy into Flutter-” the last part is too low for any normal pony to make out.

“Same guy.” Pinkie Pie opens the fridge and spots two cartons of expired milk and a wall of take-out containers. She sniffs the milk and puts them by the sink. “When I was in my coma I had a dream inside a dream and it was about Roar Shock. He was all weird and green and had destroyed Canterlot, and probably killed Celestia and Luna, and so now I have to stop him so that the dream doesn’t come true. That is where Bernese and Iron Will come in. I’ll need the suit to stop him.”

Twilight stomps the floor. “But you can’t face him! You are in no condition to be doing anything! We have to alert Celestia of this! She’ll know what to do!”

Pinkie Pie opens up the cabinet in search of something she can pack, and she pulls out a container of chocolate cookies with rainbow colored sprinkles on them. While she’s pulling them out, it dawns on her as to why Twilight hasn’t starved to death. Her whole cabinet is stuffed to the brim with canned goods, insta-cook and just-add-water type of meals, and pudding. Lots and lots of pudding. All of which is organized by flavor and then sorted alphabetically, just like all of the canned items. Another thing that Pinkie Pie spots is a series of six binders resting on a lone shelf, and she reaches for the nearest one, which just happens to be pink.

“Wait, Pinkie that’s-”

Too late. Pinkie Pie has already opened it and her hair stands up as she jumps back, screaming at the horrendous sight. The book falls open on the floor and Pinkie Pie shakes her head as she backs away from the monstrosity.

“Private. Thanks, Pinkie, you are the queen of overreacting,” says Twilight with half lidded eyes and drooped ears as she levitates the binder back to its proper spot.

“You have an entire cabinet filled with canned food and pudding, and a shelf full of binders with fast food and special order coupons!” says Pinkie Pie as she points an accusing hoof at the offending object.

Twilight furrows her brow. “Thanks, Ms. Exposition. I already told you that I can’t cook to save my life.”

“Yeah, no kidding. When this is all over, I’m going to teach you how to cook. No ifs, ands or buts or about it.”

“Pinkie, this is getting ridiculous.”

“You’re right. I have to hurry this up.”

Pinkie Pie opens up a container of chocolate cookies and puts four in her mouth. She chews them slowly, ignoring Twilight’s flabbergasted stare, and while doing so, her eyes shift in circles, trying to figure out what is wrong with the cookies. They taste a little hard for her, like eating minty flavored sand rocks, and when she swallows them, it dawns on her what was wrong with the cookies.

“These cookies are expired,” says Pinkie Pie while staring at the expiration date on the package.

“I knew that. I was keeping them on purpose... For science,” Twilight says uneasily as her eyes shift away from Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie shakes her head and after she throws out the expired cookies she starts pulling out random assortment of canned food. Twilight arches an eyebrow, but remains quiet.

“Where is the money you found me with?” asks Pinkie Pie.

Twilight leaves the room and comes back a minute later with a tiny bag of bits floating in front of her. Pinkie Pie finishes putting a can of spinach and spaghetti on the counter when she sees that, then her eyes narrow and she points at the bag.

“That better not be all of the money,” she says.

Twilight takes a step back. “No, it’s all there. I just enchanted it so that they are, well, tiny, since walking around with all that money will be difficult. Especially for somepony in your condition.”

“I guess you’re right about that. So is it like sand? Are the bits like little grains of sand?”

Twilight nods and Pinkie Pie snatches the bag with her mouth and tests the bits by tipping the bag to its side. The grainy bits fall out and grow to their normal size, and they sound like a metallic rainstorm when they roll off the counter.

“That is pretty cool,” giggles Pinkie Pie as she stuffs the bits back into the back with the help of Twilight’s magic.

The two giggle and Twilight throws in her own bragging rights, but then Pinkie Pie’s face turns deadly serious and she grabs Twilight by her cheeks and pulls her close so that their snouts are almost touching. Twilight’s eyes dart side to side nervously as Pinkie Pie zeros in on her pupils.

“I’m going to need your help with something,” says Pinkie Pie.

“What do you need help with?” asks Twilight, her voice slightly distorted from the way her cheeks are pressed together.

Pinkie Pie’s grip tightens on Twilight’s cheeks and she moves to where their noses are nearly touching, making Twilight take a half step back and her ears fold down.

“I need you to stay away from me, and to stay with Celestia. Those guys from Ponyville know I’m alive and they will hurt you badly to get to me.”

“But-”

Pinkie Pie jabs her hoof in Twilight’s mouth. “No buts! There’s those League of Justice nuts and then there’s me. I am as much of a threat to you as them, since my alter ego kinda wants to kill you.”

Twilight pales and Pinkie Pie’s eyes zero in on Twilight’s.

“Pinkie Promise me you’ll not follow me and you’ll go to Celestia as soon as possible.”

Twilight nods.

“Pinkie Promise!” says Pinkie Pie.

“I Pinkie Promise!” says Twilight.

“Good.” Pinkie Pie hugs Twilight tight for only a moment, and then holds her at hoof's length. “I promise I'll fix all of this Twilight. You'll see.”

And then Pinkie Pie runs out of the apartment, into the hallway, leaving Twilight alone, and when the door is locked behind her she takes a deep breath and looks both ways. Then she gallops away without a second thought.