1115 A.S.D. - 2507 A.S.D.

“. . .I felt like I hadn’t seen her in forever…”

My end is nigh. Those were the words that ran through my head as the walls grew closer and closer. I could scream, run or cry; I had no other options. Normally, I was different, we all were. What happened to Twilight that day, nopony knows. This was a new future, an unexpected version of our twisted minds. Whether it was real or not was entirely up to them, the ones who believed. I was often laughed at; I was the oddball. I couldn’t answer that question of whether this life was real or not, so I chose the third answer. I chose to leave life, death and everything in between behind. It paid off, but not for long. I soon found the error of my ways; my choice often brought sadness when my goal was to bring the opposite. I made a choice and I planned to stick with it; I would neither live nor die. I looked up, staring deep into the eyes of the pony towering over me. She had been hunting me like the others; I knew what was coming. She had anger on her side, a quality that I would never side with. I closed my eyes,

“I’m tired; just get it over with.”

My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie.

The cold air nipped at my hooves, I smiled; watching the school ponies playing in the yard. It gifted me with warmth; it was a gift that could not be wrapped. I jumped up, walking toward Ponyville. I had no motives, but I knew something was happening there. There was always a funny tingling feeling whenever something was going to happen. It was different from Pinkie Sense; it was something more. The feeling lifted my heart and filled it with eagerness. I wanted to be there, to see what would happen; it was my life’s goal. I ran through the town, scanning each and every alleyway for anything. Twilight had said long ago that this may become an issue, but I never listened. I looked around, finding a small crowd of ponies surrounding the town hall. Ponies around the hall screamed in fear,

“Don’t do it! Stop! Think about the others around you!”

Confused, I pushed through the crowds to get a closer look and found a pony standing on the top of the tower. I giggled; walking up to him. He wasn’t a pegasus or a unicorn; I questioned his reasoning,

“It’s a nice breeze you’ve got here!”

Startled, he held on to the flag pole. I laughed,

“What’cha doin’ up here? Is it the birds? I love watching the birds at this time of year!”

He shook his head and then looked down as if he were guilty of something,

“I-I, don’t want to…”

I shrugged my shoulders, I couldn’t understand why this colt would want to stand on top of town hall,

“Don’t want to what? Got a bad rap, mister? I could write you a good one!”

I grabbed a pen and paper, showing it to him. He shook his head again, pushing the paper away.

“I-I’m… going to jump.”

I cocked my head to the side,

“OH! Are you going to sprout wings? I tried that a long time ago but it didn’t work. I wouldn’t recommend it.”

He shook his head a third time; I was beginning to feel a bit irritated with his lack of cooperation. He began to shiver,

“You just don’t get it.”

I shrugged my shoulders, shaking my own head this time.

“Get what? There’s nothing to get! Wait, you could… get funky!”

He fell; further and further still. I tried to grab him, but I failed. I watched as he fell to the floor with a loud crack. I laughed,

“Told ya! You can’t sprout wings from falling!”

There was no answer. I looked around nervously,

“I get that you’re probably tired after that fall, but I’d really appreciate it if you said something.”

Silence, I began to hear my own pulse; I walked down the tower to listen for his. I press my ear against his chest; nothing. The ponies around me stared blankly with their mouths open wider than I had ever seen them before.

“It’s alright, everypony. I’m sure he just forgot to beat his heart after falling. I do that all the time.”

A pony dressed in white put a hoof over my shoulder; I looked up not understanding.

“It was a nice try, but next time, let us handle it.”

The pony had an orange mane with a brilliantly groomed coat. I wasn’t sure what to say,

“I thought I wa-”

“Think before you say, Pinkie. Like I said, it was a nice try. You can visit him later after the ceremony, assuming he’s got a family.”

Two other ponies gathered around the sleeping pony; I watched as they worked together to pick him up and load him onto a carriage. It wasn’t until then that I realized I was alone,

“Ceremony? What kind of ceremony?”

Rainbow Dash walked up behind me, putting a hoof on my shoulder just as the doctor had,

“It’s to respect him; for whatever he did”

I rubbed my chin with confusion. Why would anypony want a ceremony for them if they weren’t going to attend,

“That doesn’t sound like that fun of a party.”

I could hear Rainbow Dash sighing in my ear; it was clear that she had given up,

“It isn’t a party, Pinkie. It's not supposed to be fun.”

She flew away into the sky by spreading her wings and soaring toward Cloudsdale. I didn’t know what to do next; I was stuck. I stared at the ground as if it were staring back; I was lost. I felt like I had awoken from a long, deceitful nap.

“What happened?”

I spoke out loud as if there was somepony listening; I knew there wasn’t. The sun set as the moon rose and I continued to stare at the ground wondering if the colt was going to be alright. Everypony was always so happy, I had never thought a pony would take their own life; it was foreign to me. The moon shone its brilliant light over all of Equestria; the light left no area unaffected by its breathtaking glory. Every area but mine was affected by this. I stood in the shadow of town hall wondering what else I could have done. I thought about what that doctor had said; I would be able to see him whenever. I wanted to see the pony; I wanted to care for him. I kept my head low despite my innocence. I felt guilty, I looked guilty and in my heart, I was guilty.

I opened the door to Sugarcube Corner, my workplace and residence, where I was greeted by Mrs. Cake.

“Pinkie, are you alright? I heard about what happened.”

“Yeah, I’m fine…”

I walked past her, erasing her from my mind completely. For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to talk to anypony. It was an odd feeling; a feeling that I dreaded. I felt alone, like the others around me didn’t care. Even as they tried to comfort me it all seemed fake, like it was all just an elaborate act put on by my friends. I walked upstairs and sat on my bed. I stared at the ceiling wondering what I was to do next. I felt like I had failed my life’s goal, to make everypony smile. I couldn’t believe such an immediate event could change my entire worldview. Gummy saw on the windowsill, looking out the window. I picked him up and stroked his thick scales, admiring the rain as it hit against the glass. What happened? I reenacted the entire situation in my mind, wondering each time what I could have done that’s different. Nothing would have worked because there was no way to test them. Gummy walked away, leaving me with my guilt. A knock on my door echoed throughout the room. I sighed, standing up and opening the door to see who it was.

“Hi, Fluttershy…”

Fluttershy walked into the room, looking around.

“Hi, Pinkie. I heard about what happened and I wanted to say, you did a good job.”

I looked at her with a puzzled expression,

“How did I do a good job? The pony fell to his death!”

Fluttershy put a hoof over my shoulder; I glared at her as if she were a stranger.

“Oh, but you tried! All the other ponies just watched while you went out of your way and tried!”

She was right; nopony else did anything to prevent the jumper, but I still wasn’t convinced. I should have been there for him before he jumped. I should have been there to prevent him from climbing; I should have been there to care for him before he had thoughts of suicide.

“That doesn’t mean anything, Fluttershy! I should have been there before he jumped!”

Fluttershy whimpered; I knew I had upset her.

“Fluttershy, I didn’t mean-”

She began to cry; I wasn’t myself. I would never make Fluttershy cry, I was not a mean pony;I cared for others. I looked down; if I cared, why would she be crying? Fluttershy wiped the tears off her face,

“Fine! If you think you're guilty then keep that to yourself! Don’t drag others into your misery!”

She burst out of the room bawling; I tried to stop her, but I feared I would only make things worse.

“Pinkie?!?”

Mrs. Cake walked into my room and wondered what was going on.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Cake. I guess I got a little angry.”

I’ve been aggressive before, but I had never been angry. I didn’t know what to say; I supposed a sorry would be in order, but I wasn’t sure how to go about saying it.

“Pinkie, anger is a natural form of expressing yourself. It requires control, but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”

Mrs. Cake left the room, laughing as she walked down the hall. I stood there in the doorway; alone and confused I went to sleep, trying to forget everything that happened that day.

What was I to do? Should I apologize to Fluttershy? I shook my head; of course, I should apologize! What was I thinking? There was no way I couldn’t; Fluttershy was a great friend and I was certain she’d understand after I explained myself. I grabbed a balloon from one of my bed knobs and left Sugarcube Corner. I smiled having remembered that my purpose in life was to make others smile. I skipped through the muddied streets as I hummed a happy tune,

“Come on everypony! Smile, smile, smile!”

The ponies around me waved as I skipped past them. I felt I had no choice but to wave back at them; they all seemed happy as if nothing happened. I watched as the street roads turned to dirt and the homes of the innocent turned to trees. The ponies’ backyards soon turned into empty flower fields as I happily sang my heart away. I was greeted by a wondrous blue sky and a bright shiny sun as Fluttershy’s cottage grew larger and larger in the distance. I could see the trees grow closer and closer together. I smiled; Fluttershy’s cottage really told a lot about herself. Vines grew on the walls of the cottage as if it were a part of the nature surrounding it. I stopped and flopped my ears a bit, wondering what I was hearing; it sounded like the cries of heartbroken ponies. I looked around, silencing a cricket sitting beside me. The different sounds that played throughout the field fell to a halt as I listened closely. I jumped up, scaring the cricket as I ran to the cottage. I reached out for the door but before I could I was greeted by Discord’s chaotic rage. I rubbed my head having hit against the door,

“Discord? What happened?”

He glared at me with red eyes, then pulled a small handkerchief from thin air,

“Problem? There is no problem here.”

I stared back at him with confusion,

“I didn’t ask about a problem; I just wanted to see what that cr-AZY noise was.”

His eyes squinted with suspicion as he walked closer and closer toward me; I backed away as a natural response,

“Noise? What noise? I certainly didn’t hear any… noise!”

I smiled,

“Maybe you were the one causing the noise. Or maybe you were having FUN and the loud music blocked the sound! OR!”

“ENOUGH!”

I stopped; I could see the fire growing brighter in Discord’s eyes. I backed into Fluttershy’s fence,

“I’m just here to see Fluttershy.”

Without a word, Discord pointed toward the door and stormed away into the flowery fields surrounding the cottage. I smiled, shrugged and knocked on the door.

“Fluttershy?” I sang, hoping for an answer. I had no idea what was going on inside but I was destined to find out. I began to knock on the door a bit louder, expecting a faster response. I sighed, closed my eyes and pressed my ear against the door. I listened over the sound of my heartbeat as I began to hear the pouting of ponies within the cottage. Shocked, I called out to her,

“Fluttershy! I-I, I’m sorry! I-I don’t know what happened! I-I just wanted to apologize… i-it wasn’t like me to lash out like that.”

I pressed my ear against the door once more as I listened for a reply. I continued to wait outside the door until I heard a small voice peep out from the darkness of the cottage,

“Go away…”

My heart sank; I couldn’t believe it, Fluttershy had rejected my apology!

I didn’t want to give up; I wanted to beg for acceptance after what I had done. Everypony was right, it wasn’t my fault that pony fell from the building; it wasn’t my responsibility to save that pony! I held my tongue having realized what I just said. Sitting down, I realized it was my responsibility; I should have done more to help. I turned around, walking away from the cottage as I pondered yesterday’s events.

What was I doing when it happened? Nothing, I was doing absolutely nothing. I stared at the building where the jumper had taken his last leap. I watched as the pony climbed atop the building and held onto the flagpole, looking down at the crowd gathering below. I sighed walking through the crowd as if they weren’t there. The ponies around me cried for him to get down; to leave and forget what happened. I heard many of the ponies begged for the colt to make sense of his actions; they tried to reason with him, cheer him up, and even bargain with him. I watched as the colt’s expression changed from nervous to determined. For a second, it seemed as though the comments were working; he started to slowly slide down the building, but alas, here I came. A small pink pony jumped up and down, running up the building and completely ignoring physics. The colt sprang back up to the flagpole in a sense that he was scared. I could see the pony becoming more and more irritated as the pink pony continued to pester the colt with her absent-minded speech. The colt turned away and stared at the ground as the pink pony continued to run her mouth. I knew what was about to happen and watched as my fears came true. The colt leaped to his death; the sounds of his body hitting the ground echoed throughout my mind as the walls around me collapsed. I shook my head, finding myself face to face with the Ponyville General Hospital. It was amazing that the hospital was still open; nopony ever went in or out. Everypony was usually very careful in what they did, but when that rare chance of injury did happen, the hospital was there to help. I sighed; this was the place that I had hoped to find peace. I didn’t dare skip to the door; too much had happened for that kind of attention. I placed a hoof on the doorknob and slowly turned it. The door opened without hesitation; I peered inside the seemingly empty building.

The lobby was empty with the exception of a parent and her filly with the sniffles. The lobby was a decent sized room with green embroidered chairs and small glass tables. It was not the best match in Equestrian history, but I wasn’t one for judging fashion. I laughed when I thought about what Rarity would say about these. The parent eyeballed me as I pressed my hoof against the chair. Small balls of cotton fell from a small hole in the side. I picked up the cotton and placed on the front desk; the pony behind the desk glared at me, wondering what I was going to do next. I narrowed my eyes,

“You do realize you need new furniture, right?

She looked lazily at me, checking the clock behind her,

“Anything else I can help you with?”

I looked around the room; I wasn’t exactly sure what to say next. I knew why I was here, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with it.

“I-I’m here to see somepony.”

I watched as an eyebrow rose on the pony’s face. I could see I was going nowhere with her,

“Anypony, say, I don’t know, specific?”

I began to sweat; I didn’t want to tell her that I was at the incident. I was sure she already heard about it, but I didn’t want to be put on the spot. The filly’s sniffles grew worse with every drop of sweat that fell to the floor.

“I-I was at the….”

I looked around the room; I wanted to shout, to scream and go home but I couldn’t. The pressure began to build up; I was ashamed of what I did, or rather what I didn’t do. I sighed and gathered whatever shards of courage I had left,

“I was at the… incident.”

The pony grabbed a pen and wrote something down a piece of paper beside her. She smiled and pointed to a stairwell leading to the morgue.

“Dr. Scalpal told me you’d be coming; it was really brave what you did.”

I looked at her nervously; I certainly didn’t think my actions were considered brave. I thought they were cowardly and completely useless. I walked downstairs with my head hanging low as I counted each step that came before me. I thought about what Fluttershy had said to me, ‘don’t drag others into your misery’. They were words I was unfamiliar with; nopony had ever said anything like that to me before. The phrase brought confusion every time I heard it; I never thought I would be affected by it. The lights grew dimmer and darker with every step I took; I was afraid. A large metal door greeted me at the entrance of the morgue. I could hear my teeth chattering as the cries of dead ponies called to me from beyond the doors. I placed a hoof on the door, refusing to listen to the paranormal calls. The doors swung open and released a bone-chilling breeze from within the room. I opened my eyes having closed them in fear. The room was lined wall to wall with what seemed to be steel cabinets. In the middle of the room was a single doctor, the one I met in the town square; he had been waiting for me. Behind the doctor was a table made from the same materials as the cabinets and on that table was the body of the pony who took his own life. I slowly walked toward the doctor while curiously looking at my surroundings.

“The atmosphere is nice, isn’t it? It’s peaceful, chilly, and nicely decorated. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The doctor turned around and smiled at me; he towered over me with his head held high. I was embarrassed for being so scared; it was just that I wasn’t used to being surrounded by the dead.

“H-how can you be s-s-so calm?”

He gave a hearty laugh and put a hoof on my shoulder; I could see he was used to this kind of conversation,

“It’s just a body, Pinkie! There’s nothing more to it than that!”

I began to shiver; I looked at him nervously,

“Then why do they still speak?”

He stopped and adjusted his glasses, giving me a series of questions,

“What do you mean? Are you feeling alright? The dead don’t talk, are you hearing things? What are they saying?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer; I could clearly hear them calling me. It seemed like a natural gift that I didn’t want to embrace; it was the pony.

“It’s him; he’s calling me.”

I pointed toward the pony standing on the table; he seemed confused and looked guilty. The doctor’s eyes squinted as he took a closer look at me; I back away in defense.

“That’s the jump victim; you watched him die. Are you having hallucinations?”

I watched as the colt sat down on the table while the doctor continued to pester me. I wanted to answer his questions, but I couldn’t stop stuttering. My heart raced; I took a deep breath,

“Can I have a moment alone with the… dead body?”

I tried to act as though I believed him; my only wish was that he didn’t see through my lie. He backed away from me slowly,

“Of course…”

It was obvious he was suspicious, but he was respectful too. He closed the doors behind him and waited outside. I could hear his hooves shuffling behind the door; I turned toward the colt,

“What do you want from me?”

The colt smiled as if he was awaiting another question. I continued to ask him an assortment of questions hoping that he would answer one of them but nothing came. I slowly walked toward him and continued to ask questions such as, “Who are you?” “Why did you do it?” “Why did you come back?”. The ghostly figure didn’t budge; he continued to sit and stare at him. I glanced at the body he was sitting on; it was his own. Petrified, I looked up and watched as the figure jumped down from the table and put a hoof on my head.

“You know why.”

With that, he disappeared in the thin, cold air. I froze, standing still as though I had seen something I shouldn’t have. The doors behind me opened as the doctor walked through them. He glanced at me and waved a hoof in front of my face, trying to snap me out of whatever trance I was in.

“Are you alright, Pinkie?”

I put my hoof on my head and wiped a small drop of blood from my hair.

“I’m fine. I just need time to think.”

The doctor nervously laughed and wiped a tear from his face,

“Oh thank Celestia! I thought something had happened!”

I glared at the doctor as he laughed at my problem; I left the room without saying a word. The doctor stood there as the doors sealed shut behind me; I could feel a dark energy building up inside me as I smiled. Who was I?

“What do you mean you don’t know! This is CRAZY!”

Zecora gave me a blank expression,

“Just because you saw something strange, does not mean you are derange.”

I rolled my eyes; for all the things Zecora had in her hut, she seemed practically useless.

“But you’ve got to help me! I don’t want to be haunted by a ghost!”

Zecora paced around the room, constantly checking on a certain potion she was busy creating.

“Perhaps what you see is not ghost, but instead, you are thinking as host”

“Thinking as host?” I repeated. She nodded her head, pouring a fine powder onto a wooden plate.

“Uh, Zecora. Dare I ask what you’re making?”

She laughed and opened a small green book with a plant engraved on the cover,

“Does it matter what I am making? I do not ask you what you are baking.”

I rubbed my chin; I suppose she was right, but she never stopped by Sugarcube Corner. A small wooden bowl fell to the ground, spilling a deep blue liquid across the floor. I gasped with surprise while Zecora bent over to take a look at the damage, cursing in the native tongue. I asked if she was okay but she continued to speak in zebra. I looked around the room nervously,

“Is there anything I could do to help?”

Zecora stood up, taking a deep breath,

“Perhaps this is all in your head,” she signaled me toward the counter where she standing, I obeyed, “here, find this and do be a friend”.

I leaned closer as she picked out a small green book and slowly turned each page; she gave one more instruction,

“Pinkie will you be a dear and find this plant, it is important, fail you can’t.”

She held up the book and pointed at a small illustration of a bright orange flower. The flower was oddly shaped and felt as if I had seen it before in Ponyville, but I couldn’t quite place it. I nodded my head; she thanked me and handed me a small brown bag and placed the book inside. She waved me on my way staying suspiciously quiet throughout my visit. It wasn’t until she waved goodbye that she said her final words,

“Hurry with my request, Pinkie! In the end, you will see!”

Confused, I turned back and waved to her. While she didn’t exactly offer the advice I had hoped for, it wouldn’t be too bad to help out a friend. I turned around and wandered deep into the Everfree Forest, ultimately regretting my decision. There had to be at least a thousand different plants growing within the boundaries of the Everfree Forest; it would take forever to find the one Zecora wanted. I opened the bag and pulled out the book she had lent me. Flipping to the correct page, I thoroughly examined every stroke of the illustration but it seemed just too generic; it looked like a simple daisy found in the Fields of Friendship. I began to doubt my sources; I looked around at all the trees as they stared back at me. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to be here or not. Zecora stated clearly that the flower was here, but I couldn’t help questioning whether or not it could be found in Ponyville. I shook my head and bounced my way to town. I was convinced the flower was the same; there was no other explanation for the odd similarities. I laughed my way to town, how clever I was! It would save me a tremendous amount of time and I would be able to finish the baking I had planned for later in the day.

“A wish” I stared deep into the dark cavern as it spoke to me, “you want me to make… a wish?”

I could hear the voice echoing through my head as I tried to make my decision, “For all the work that you have done, I grant you a wish. What shall it be? Chaos? Revenge? or perhaps even the gift of invincibility?”

I thought harder than ever before; I wasn’t sure what I wanted at the moment. My mind went blank as the questions ran through my head, chaos, revenge or invincibility. My head spun as I tried to make a decision; I had been searching for this spirit since I first heard about it. The spirit could do grant anything in the return of a favor; I had performed the favor, it was time for my reward.

“I-I’m not sure…”

I could hear the anger growing in the spirit’s voice; as each word spewed hatred into my mind,

“What is it you have been fighting for all this time? What has kept you up during so many sleepless nights? I know what troubles you but I cannot act. Tell me! What is it you desire?”

I could feel the tears of distress fall from my face as the words poured into my mind. For some reason, I simply couldn’t decide. It was true, all of it; I had fought for dates and dates just trying to reach this moment, but now that it was here, I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue. I searched my head, my mind, and my soul. I wanted to turn around but another voice told me to refrain from running,

“Why run? You know it is true; you know it is what you want. You have been mocked, attacked both verbally and physically; you have lost all you know. Now you have a choice, do you run or do you hide? Do you fight or do you flee? Do you walk or do you fly?”

My mind snapped at the last question; I knew what I wanted. I began to hear the voice getting more and more impatient as the seconds ticked by.

“If it is nothing you want then leave with your despair! I no longer have time to serve your feeble kind-”

“I know what I want.”

Deep inside the cave glowed two bright yellow eyes that were small enough to be interpreted as mere dots. I questioned my morals and then answered with all the confidence I could muster,

“I want… flight.”

The voice laughed with hysteria; I blushed.

“Flight? You wield wings that do not fly? This is what truly you desire? I knew not of this disparity, but if this is what you yearn for then I have no other choice then to accept your terms on a single condition.”

I could feel my heart racing; I was almost there.

“A... single condition?”

“Yes… If I were to give you wings then you are to show me the world! My soul shall be one with yours and you shall carry me high in the sky!”

I rustled my wings as a nervous habit; it was a simple term that I was willing to agree to.

“I accept”

The voice laughed with an ominous tone that would make even Discord suspicious.  

“Then it shall begin.”

I began to hop home knowing I had done a good deed. I waved goodbye to Zecora as she slowly shrank in the distance. I laughed my way to Ponyville; it was something that made me comfortable. Everything that happened seemed too sudden; I didn’t know why things were changing. I wanted to go back; I wish I had never been in the town square that day.

I shuffled around in the bed. The bed was soft and plush, decorated with my favorite colored balloons. I sat up and looked toward the window; it was sunny outside. How long was I sleeping? I stood up and walked toward Gummy who was still sleeping on the windowsill. Something in my mind clicked; it was time. I ran downstairs as fast as I could, “How silly could I be to forget?”. It was one of my favorite times of the year, Rainbow Dash’s Birthaversary! I simply could not believe I forgot! Mrs. Cake waved toward me as I burst out the door and zoomed toward the castle. Ponies all around watched me with excitement as I zipped past them. I jumped through the castle doors and slid across the floor, surprising everypony in the throne room. Twilight spoke out,

“Pinkie? Is that you? Try to be more careful!”

I smiled and walked as fast I could toward the others. Twilight threw in one more comment before I sat down,

“What’s the big rush, Pinkie? I get that you overslept, but I would take it too seriously.”

My jaw dropped, how could she not remember? It was clear as day; I knew I wasn’t mistaken, but I was certain that Rainbow’s party was within a few short weeks. I looked around the room, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were nowhere to be found. I shrugged it off and explained my sudden outrage,

“It’s Rainbow’s birthaversary! I’ve got to get planning! Say, where is Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight shook her head with a puzzled look on her face,

“I’m actually not sure. I figured she’d show up sometime today, but it’s already noon and she cleared the sky early, so I know she’s not just busy doing that.”

I looked around the room once more and found Applejack sleeping in her chair while Rarity was knitting a scarf with the letters, “M.N.” embroidered into it. I returned to Applejack and tilted my head. Twilight saw my interest and tried her best to explain,

“Oh, Applejack came in earlier. She was up late at the farm and couldn’t help but nap here.”

I nodded my head and looked at Rarity,

“Rarity? Why are you here? You usually work at your boutique.”

She waved a hoof at me,

“Yes, yes darling, but I’ve got Sweetie Bell and her friends over making a mess. I couldn’t work in that environment.”

I rubbed my chin,

“I guess that’s true. What are they up to?”

She shrugged with disgust,

“Crusading business, no doubt. Even with their cutie marks they still manage to find a way to cause trouble.”

I laughed and watched as Spike walked in the room with a large stack of old books. A small spark ignited in Twilight’s eyes,

“You found them!”

Spike rolled his eyes and gave a hearty yawn,

“Yeah, I got them all. You better enjoy that last one; it was a pain to track down.”

She hugged Spike and thanked him over and over. Curious, I asked what the big deal was, she smiled and excitedly clapped her hooves,

“Oh, these are some books from the Canterlot Archives. Originally, I was going to get them myself, but I grew busy when I ran into some trouble with Discord. Spike was generous enough to take a trip there and retrieve them.”

Rarity leaned over and called out to Twilight, “generosity is my thing, Twilight.”

Twilight let out a small giggle as she opened the book and began reading. I sat up and looked at Applejack who was fast asleep. I wondered what she was dreaming about, perhaps I would never know. The sounds of opened doors echoed throughout the halls as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy made and entrance. Rainbow Dash looked around the room as if she had missed something; in truth, she hadn’t. She flew to her chair and took a seat, but something was odd about Fluttershy. She seemed worried and deeply distressed. I wanted to ask her what the matter was, but lucky for me, Twilight beat me to it,

“What’s wrong, Fluttershy? You’ve got the strangest look on your face.”

She blushed and held the end of her tail, trying to hide her feelings,

“It’s nothing, Twilight. Just a little… confused.”

“Confused?” I blurted out. She shot me a glare; it was clear she was still angry at me. I didn’t want to intervene so I zipped my mouth shut. She sighed and turned back around toward Twilight,

“Yes, confused. Rainbow and I had a little… disagreement.”

Rainbow groaned, rolling her eyes with boredom. Twilight’s face immediately changed with that last comment,

“Disagreement? What happened?”

Fluttershy smiled uncomfortably as she once again tried to hide her feelings,

“Everything’s alright; I just need some time to rest.”

Twilight sighed with relief, “I’m glad to hear that, Fluttershy. Still… what were you two fighting about?”

Fluttershy looked around the room and shot a look at Rainbow who shrugged,

“It’s nothing, just a rogue weather cloud.”

I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer, “WHAT!?!”

Applejack bolted up in her seat, shivering and quickly scanning the room for intruders. Startled, we stared at her for a few seconds before returning to our conversation. Applejack rubbed her eyes while the others continued to question Fluttershy. I could see Fluttershy beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“Please, everypony. Everything is fine, Rainbow and I just had a teensy disagreement” reassured Fluttershy. Although Rarity didn’t seem convinced, she managed to hold her peace. Applejack sat up,

“What’s going on?”

“Fluttershy got in a fight with Rainbow and we’re all trying to figure out why, but she won’t talk so we’re all going to continue to ask her questions” I blurted out. Applejack stared at me blankly and said, “uh… okay, whatever pulls your carriage” before pulling her hat far below her eyes. Each one of us sat down and looked at each other in an awkward silence. Twilight looked around the room nervously as if she had something to say but was afraid to offend anypony. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind,

“Sugarcube Corner is getting a new treat! Dashie, you should check it out!”

She lazily turned toward me. It wasn’t the attention I wanted, but it worked nonetheless. Curious, she asked what kind of treat it was. I was more than happy to answer,

“It’s a new type of cupcake I’ve been specially designing for months! It’s taken forever just trying to collect the ingredients, but I know it’ll be perfect when it’s ready!”

She clutched her stomach and gave an uneasy groan, “I don’t know, Pinkie. I’m not a big fan of cupcakes.”

I laughed, deflecting her concern with a hoofwave, “Don’t worry about it! It’ll be fun! Who knows, maybe you could help me make them! I’d be more than happy to share the recipe!”

She groaned once more, “Like I said, Pinkie; I’m not much into baking.”

Disappointed, I lowered my head. Seeing my distress, Twilight pointed a hoof toward me and nodded her head, “While Rainbow might not like making them, I’m certain we’d all love to try them!”

My heart skipped a beat as I cheerfully expressed my delight, “Really! Oh, I’ll have to find more ingredients!”

With that, I jumped and rushed through the door, leaving Spike in my dust.

I busted through the castle doors and looked left to right for the perfect ingredients for my cupcakes as well as new things for Dashie to do during her birthaversary. It was early in the morning so there was barely anypony around to greet. I began to feel just the slightest bit saddened, but I didn’t want to let it get me down. There in the distance was a single pony, a pony I hadn’t seen before. Naturally, I sprinted toward her and waved a hoof in front of her. She wore a strange hat with a jacket in the same style. Her clothing made her looked as though she’d been through hard times. I didn’t want to impose, but I didn’t want her to feel left out; it was clear she was new to Ponyville. As I walked closer, she drew her hat below her eyes in a similar fashion as Applejack. I began to look around, other ponies were starting their days.

“Welcome! I’m Pinkie! Who are you?”

There was an awkward silence between the two of us, but eventually, she opened up. She had a raspy voice and an unbelievable stutter, but I managed to make out what she was saying,

“I-I’m D-Daring… Daring Do”

I paused, scrolling through my library of faces, eventually matching the face with the name. I smiled in an attempt to show her that I knew who she was, but she simply ignored me and tried to push through. I had to think fast,

“Oh! You must be here for Rainbow Dash! You haven’t forgotten have you? It’s been forever and ever since you two have been in touch. How long has it been? I remember when the two of you, well it was really all of us, went on an adventure! How long ago was that? Hold on, let me check my calendar.”

Her jaw dropped to the floor as I sprinted to a tree on the side of the road and pulled out a calendar. Quickly flipping through the pages, she finally spoke up,

“Where’d you get that?”

I smiled knowing she was finally opening up,

“Oh! It’s for emergencies! I’ve got calendars scattered all over Ponyville!”

Her face suddenly changed to something more serious; I started to back away. She began to speak in a firm tone as I then began to see that I was not wanted here,

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

I thought for a brief moment before answering,

“Nope! I’m off from work! Everypony is!”

She pushed me aside mumbling curses under her breath. I began to panic; I wanted to be friends with everypony in town. Everypony I met was required to feel happy at some point.

“You here to see Rainbow Dash, right?”

She coughed, spitting a wad of saliva on the dirt beside me,

“No, I’m just passing through.”

I tried my hardest to speak softly in an attempt to not feel offended by the rude gesture,

“Oh, that’s a shame. I bet Rainbow would be really happy if you made it to her party!”

She turned around, interested in what I had to say, “party?” she asked. I smiled, knowing my job was one well done,

“Yeah! A party! It’s for Rainbow, her birthday is coming up soon! Actually, in a few days from now! Oh, I’m sure she’d be happy to see you! When do you think you’ll be able to visit? Oh, I must tell Dashie about you coming to Ponyville and for her! She’ll be so happy to hear that I have something special planned for her, but maybe I shouldn’t tell her. She’d be really surprised to see you show up at her party! She practically idolizes yo–”

She cut me off, “have you been eating a lot of sweets lately? You seem to be really running it today.”

I rolled my eyes, “Well… duh! That’s like, my whole DIET! So what’s it gonna be? Are you going to Rainbow’s party?”

She sighed and started walking away, “Sorry kid, but like I said, I’m just passing through.”

“Wait!”

She stomped her hoof down on the ground, “What!?!”

I laughed, “Aren’t you going to at least say ‘hi’ to Rainbow Dash?”

Reluctantly, she rolled her eyes and stomped her way toward me, “where is she?”

“Hehe, she should still be in the castle over there” I pointed toward the bright crystal castle and smiled, “she’ll be really happy!”

I started to hop toward the bakery; I still had many cupcakes to bake. She turned around wondering, “aren’t you coming?”

I smiled, “sorry, I can’t help you there! I’ve got a lot to plan for!”

She turned around and headed toward the castle while I walked into Sugarcube Corner, humming to myself, “Oh this will be wonderful! Dashie is going to have the best birthaversary”

“Daring Do?!?” Rainbow shouted at the top of her lungs as I was happily greeted by everypony standing around me. Many of them shook hooves with me, asked for autographs and other things of the sort. I was stunned that so many ponies showed up for Rainbow Dash’s party; I had no idea she had become such a big star to the citizens of Ponyville. I pushed through the crowds so I could get a better look at Dash; she was astonished that I would have even shown up. She turned to the pink pony I met earlier and whispered something in her ear before Pinkie hopped away. I lowered my hat, clutching a book that I had been working on for the longest time. It was a document that only I knew of and since it was Dash’s special day, I figured I’d do something special. We used to be friends, she and I. I moved away though and she never came back. There was never much loss, but I figured she had moved on.

I bowed to Dash who in return flipped out like the fan she still was.

“Happy birthday, Dash” I smiled, lifting the small scroll above my head. I watched as her eyes glowed, accepting the customary birthday gift.

“Thank you, Daring! I will never forget this!” she hollered, laughing as she did several barrel rolls through the sky. I lowered my hat,

“I know you won’t, Dash.”

I stood in the midst of an afterparty mess; it was a sight that I was well familiar with. Everypony who came to Dashie’s party left in a mob of laughter and funny stories. Daring Do had left with a dramatic exit as ponies all around her hailed her presence. It was a funny sight to see and one that I would never forget. I sighed as I gathered each individual streamer from the ground and every balloon from its resting place. The tablecloths were stained with punch and the stage where Daring Do had her performance was wrecked to splinters. It was a normal party according to my standards but I was still happy that everypony enjoyed it just the same. I walked back and forth as I collected every piece of garbage off the ground when I began to hear the screams of fillies. I jumped and looked around the site, nothing. I began to panic as two fillies ran from behind the stage; each one screamed as I tried to stop them in their tracks. The three of them were familiar and I knew them well. They were the little sisters of

Applejack and Rarity.

“What are you doing this late in the night?” I asked, “and where’s Scootaloo?”

The two panted heavily; it seemed as though they had been running for hours. Applebloom coughed out the only words she could, “Scootaloo! Missing! Left us! Not here! Help!”

I looked around for Rainbow Dash while trying my best to hide my fear for the sake of the younglings. I spat out the first words that came to mind, “We’ll just have to find her. Where was she last.”

The two fillies looked at each other before pointing toward the one place I wish they hadn’t. SweetieBelle stuttered, “T-there.”

My legs began to shake as I walked closer and closer toward the Everfree Forest. I hadn’t been in there since I left Zecora’s place in search for that odd flower. Applebloom called out to me, “Are you sure you want to go in there by yourself? I could go get Applejack to help you!”

I nodded my head, “I don’t want to intrude; I’m sure Scootaloo is just… lost. I’m certain she’ll be easy to find. Don’t worry about it.”

Applebloom looked at SweetieBelle and exchanged faces, “alright then, we’re gonna go home. Uh… let us know what happens.”

I waved them off as they trotted away, “Why did this have to happen tonight? Or at all for that matter.”

The dark forest cast a shadow over me as I walked closer and closer to it. I called out to Scootaloo, “Scootaloo! Where are you?”

I listened carefully; entering the forest was the last resort that I did not want it to come to. I stood at the edge of the forest for several minutes. Waiting and waiting for a reply, but alas, nothing came. I swallowed my fears as I took one step toward my doom. The trees glowed red in the darkness, “Why did this have happened to me?”

I wandered deeper and deeper into the forest as I soon began to lose hope. Everypony would agree that Scootaloo was a special pony. She couldn’t fly, but I thought she knew better than to prove otherwise in the depths of the Everfree Forest. I called out once more, but again I was met with silence. I sighed and hung my head low; I could feel the fatigue taking me over as I walked further and further into the forsaken forest. Only one pony lived in this forest and I wasn’t even sure if she classified as a pony. Zecora always had an answer for everything; I wondered if she solved my issue with the jumper on townhall. I stopped and rubbed my chin to think about what happened, “Where was Zecora?” I thought to myself.

I turned to the left, “You hadn’t talked to her in a while. In fact, she hadn’t shown up in Ponyville for several days.”

I nodded and turned to the right, “I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably just busy with something more important.”

I smiled and turned back to the left, “But what if the potion you gave her changed something. What if she isn’t okay and could use your help right about now. Why are you sitting around looking for Scootaloo when you could have killed Zecora? Shouldn’t you be checking up on her?”

I began to hyperventilate as I turned to what my right had to say, “That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think? I’m sure Zecora is perfectly fine; she did say that the potion was for somepony else. Didn’t she?”

I sighed with relief as the left called out to me, “No she didn’t. She told you to leave her alone and not think about what she was making. It was for her and you gave a different ingredient! What happens when you mix something else into a pastry? Does it taste the same? Would it have the same effect?”

I shook my head, “No, it wouldn’t.”

The right laughed, “Ha! You have no proof she’s dead! She could be perfectly fine and you’d be upset over nothing!”

I nodded, agreeing with the right. The left spoke out again, “Proof? Why don’t you get the proof? Go on, go check on Zecora and watch in horror as you see her dead body hanging from the doorpost.”

I glared at my left, “that’s a bit graphic.”

Left shrugged, “What do you expect me to do? Sugar coat it?”

I licked my lips, “that would be nice. Would you?”

Right butt in the conversation, “Would you hurry up and get your proof? I’m getting angsty.”

I rolled my eyes, “Fine, fine. What about Scootaloo though? We can’t just leave her alone in this dark forest!”

Left laughed, “We don’t even know if she’s here! Applebloom and SweetieBelle could be lying for all we knew. This could be nothing more than a prank to show how insecure we are.”

I rubbed my chin, “I suppose that makes sense. Still. I want to look for Scootaloo after we’re done with Zecora.”

With that, I ran off into the forest; I really hoped she was alive and well. Avoiding the poison joke, I pushed through the trees and finally found myself face to face with Zecora’s hut. My heart raced as I realized all the lights were out. Not even the soft glow of Zecora’s ominous cauldron could be seen from outside.

“Maybe she’s just… sleeping” I said to myself. My left laughed,

“Yeah, fat chance.” I swatted my left and knocked on Zecora’s door. I placed an ear on the door in search of a response, but as with Scootaloo, I heard nothing in return. I knocked again before deciding to open the door. My right nonchalantly giggled, “Breaking and entering.”

Left shushed right while I slowly opened the door. Nothing seemed out of place and nothing seemed dead. I walked inside the hut and slowly crept toward Zecora’s bedside. There she was, sleeping soundly. I grinned at my left, “see, I told you she’d be fine.”

“What are you doing in my hut? Can’t you see I’m sleeping? How abrupt!”

Stunned, I placed an ear on Zecora; there was no breathing. I panicked, screaming out at the top of my lungs, “I killed Zecora!?!”

A heavy sigh could be heard behind me, “The answer is both yes and no. Now if you would please, go.”

I turned around and found myself face to face with what appeared to be a ghostly apparition of Zecora’s body. It reminded me of the jumper in the hospital. Left whispered in my ear, “Told you.”

I watched as Zecora quickly turned violent with every second I stayed, “Will you leave! Your entire life has become nothing but my pet peeve!”

My jaw dropped; it was something that Zecora would never say. The rhymes, sure; but kicking out her friends who cared was significantly peculiar. I opened the door and walked out to the cold forest beyond her domain. I jumped as she slammed the door behind me; it was clear that I would never be sent an invitation for the rest of my life. I hung my head low knowing that I had committed an unspeakable crime. Right spoke out from the fog, “Shouldn’t we be looking for Scootaloo?”

I sighed and wiped a tear from my face, “What’s the point now? We don’t want her to suffer the same fate as Zecora, do we?”

Left slouched back, “No, I suppose not. Still, we should, at least, try to look for her. Scootaloo’s friends would be worried sick if she never came back. Not to mention she's Rainbow Dash’s pupil.”

I raised my head, “You’re right; we need to stand up for our friends. We’re just ponies and we make mistakes but that shouldn’t hold us back!”

“But I’m left…” mumbled Left.

I rolled my eyes, “doesn’t matter anymore! Let’s go find Scootaloo!”

“If only I hadn’t taken the shortcut”, I moaned to myself. I had been searching for hours and the sun was already starting to rise. The woods had me running around in a circle calling out the same name over and over again, “Scootaloo! Scootaloo, where are you?”

I could feel my eyelids grow heavier the further I traveled, but I knew I couldn’t fall asleep when my friends were in need. Everypony was my friend and it was my duty to make sure that they are safe at all times. I called out to Scootaloo once more before turning around; there were limits to my duties. As I was walking away from Zecora’s house for the second time, I began to hear rustling in a bush nearby. Curious, I checked out the bush and low and behold, there she was.

“Scootaloo? What are you doing in a bush?” I asked politely. She mumbled a bit before she regained consciousness. I placed a hoof on her head; I knew how she felt. It was a long night we were all tired. She coughed once before speaking out, “I wanted to look for the spirits, but I couldn’t find him.”

I tilted my head in confusion; I knew a lot of the legends around this part of Equestria, but I had never heard of a spirit roaming these parts. “Spirit? What spirit?” I questioned further.

Scootaloo wore a small white satchel that had clearly seen better days. It was slightly stained with what I assumed to be blood. From the satchel, Scootaloo pulled out a large brown book,

“I found the legend in here; it was in Twilight’s library. Please don’t tell her; I know how she feels about stealing books.”

I grabbed the book and flipped through it. Scootaloo was right; the book did contain a lot of the popular legends as well as many obscure ones I had never heard of. I glared at Scootaloo,

“Where’s the legend you’re talking about?”

She began to shake and took the book out of my hooves. I watched as she flipped to a bookmarked place in the book and ran a hoof down the page then pointing out a specific paragraph.

“There,” she said, showing me the book while still pointing a rough illustration, “it says that it grants a wish for something in exchange.”

I shot Scootaloo a concerned look, “Why would you want something like this? Don’t you know that all spirits are greedy and unfair? What would you want that could possibly cost your life for?”

Ashamed, Scootaloo sighed and spread her dwarfed wings, “Flight.”

I gave her an uneasy expression and tried my best to calm her down, “Don’t worry about it; I’m sure there are plenty of pegasi who don’t know how to fly.”

“Yeah,” she coughed, “all the newborn fillies; I’m five times older than them.”

“Still, I’m sure everypony who learns how to fly has a hard time,” I reassured, “don’t worry about it. Your time will come; just got to be patient!”

She rolled her eyes and spat at me, “Look at the Cakes’ filly! She learned how to fly a few days after she was born! What about me? I need to be able to fly; I want to show that I can! I’m tired of being a flightless turkey!”

I laughed, “You’re not a turkey! You’re a brave pegasi who just has a little problem. Nothing more to it than that.”

“Brave?” she stood up, “I’m the opposite of that! Everypony would agree!”

I put a hoof over her shoulder, “If you weren’t brave, you wouldn’t be here.”

She held her tongue and looked around at the eerie forest that surrounded her. She knew I had a point; she coughed once more, “Fine. Let’s go home; I’m tired.”

I smiled, “That’s the spirit, so to speak.”

We laughed and walked out of the forest together. Waiting for us at the edge of the forest were Applejack, Rarity and of course, Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash glared at Scootaloo, “What were you thinking? Running through the woods by yourself?”

Scootaloo looked down, shedding one, and only one single tear, “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash. I-I just wanted to… fly.”

Rainbow looked down upon her, “Fly? Flying takes practice, patience, and determination. Without that, you’re lost.”

Scootaloo hung her head low, “I understand.”

Applejack placed a hoof on Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow, don’t you think you’re taking it too hard on her? She’s been up all night; give it a rest, Rainbow.”

Dash rubbed the back of Scootaloo’s head and sighed, “I guess you’re right; it has been a hard night. Come on, Scoot; let’s go home.”

Rarity clapped her hooves, “Thanks for going off looking for Scootaloo, darling. I don’t know what would happen if she never returned.”

I laughed, “No problem, Rarity! It was my pleasure to help a friend in need.”

Rarity headed for the hills and waved good-bye. I smiled knowing I did a good deed; it was the first one in a long time. I thought about Zecora and her situation; what should I do? Everypony had left the scene and I was still curious about Zecora's corpse. I turned toward the forest and took three careful steps forward. I wanted to do something more; I wanted to heal her. I knew I couldn’t; there was no way I would ever be able to do such a thing. I wasn’t a unicorn and even so, there was no way I would ever be able to perform a magic powerful enough to bring the dead back to life. Not even the Element of Magic would be able to do that. I sighed, “What do you guys think?”

Right looked at Left and exchanged supposed faces, “Why don’t you look at the book? Didn’t Scootaloo say something about a wish?”

I nervously looked at the dusty old book still in my cold, cracked hooves. Sitting down, I opened the book and flipped to the marked page. Below was a well researched; the book claimed that the illustration a well-known piece of art in the past, but was long forgotten after the Alicorn Era. I rubbed my chin thoughtfully,

“I don’t know much about Equestrian History, do I?”

I continued reading, “According to the legends, the Everfree Spirit is known for granting wishes of any extreme. Why this is documented is being questioned by the top researchers. One researcher says, ‘We’re not sure how this phenomenon happened, but we are certain it was first recorded sometime around the end of the Silver Era (240-299 A.S.D.).’

Currently, the subject of Everfree Spirit is in heavy debate. Many ponies around Equestria classify and dismiss the subject of pseudoscience, but many still wonder what the ponies of that time were thinking. However, this path of thinking greatly changed during this date of 815 when a researcher found a piece of ripped parchment deep within the Equestrian Falls.”

I stared at the photograph below the passage. It was a rough illustration like the ones in Twilight’s book; the two seemed to be identical in art styles. The painting’s trim was decorated with what appeared to be black rubies, a similar jewel to the ones I had seen in the Crystal Empire. The picture itself was dark and featured a large opening in what seemed to be what I assumed the Everfree Forest. In the middle of the brilliantly painted picture was a small pool of water that, based on the description, glowed a bright baby blue in the dark. I read the caption on the bottom,

“While the original legend concerning the Everfree Spirit is forever lost, many speculate that the spirit can only be seen with an urge to fulfill their deepest (and potentially darkest) desires.”

I held the book up to the reflection and watched as the picture holographically glistened in the moonlight. It was beautiful and contained heavy shades of blue from across the color wheel.

“Darkest desires, huh?” I whispered to myself. I read on,

“Many other ponies discussing the topic speculate that the color of the water may have something to do with the strange disappearance. One researcher, Dr. Heartdust, says that the lake itself may have been either an apparition or a place used for ritual during the olden times of Equestria.”

I closed the book and took a peek at the dark forest that loomed behind me. Standing up, I blindly walked into the forest; I wanted to finish Scootaloo’s quest. She had gone through a lot tonight and I wanted to make her trip worthwhile. I could feel the cold grass under my hooves as I slowly walked toward my undeniable doom. I held the book close to me, repeating what the painting’s caption had said,

“Forever lost… deepest desires…”

I  shook my head and took a step back, “another day…” I thought to myself. I knew entering the forest would be the last of my days; I wanted no part of it. I turned around and watched as the sun slowly broke the horizon.

“It’s late… I should be in bed. Mrs. Cake would be upset with me if I slept in all day.”

I ran toward Sugarcube Corner, my thoughts circling around me,

“What are you doing? Turn around. Finish Scootaloo’s quest, it’d be all well worth it.”

Tears streamed down my face as my mental cries echoed in my ears. I wanted no part of it; I wanted nothing to do with Scootaloo’s devilish spirits and incantations. Twilight always said that hexes don’t exist.

“Another day,” I said once again, creating a promise to myself as I sprinted across the fields of friendship.

“Pinkie? Where’ve you been? How was the clean-up? That sure was some party!”

I smiled, “oh! The clean-up took longer than usual; one of Applebloom’s friends got into some trouble so we all had to sort it out. No biggy.”

Mrs. Cake smiled, “well that’s wonderful; I certainly hope Applebloom is doing alright!”

I smiled and walked upstairs, lying down on the bed in an attempt to mute the voices in my head telling me to go back to the forest. In truth, I wanted to go back and find out what Scootaloo was after, but I knew that it wouldn’t end well. I wanted to find out what happened and what could possibly drive Scootaloo into going to the Everfree Forest; where the legends true? I sat up, looking around the room filled with balloons, “what if I could ask somepony?” I thought to myself, “Twilight, she would know what to do.”

I ran downstairs and said goodbye to the Cakes as I headed toward Twilight’s castle. I knew she had been very busy lately, but I really needed to see her. Even though we had seen each other just yesterday, I felt like I hadn’t seen her in forever.

The streets were bustling with ponies quickly going back and forth to their destinations. I smiled; it was nice to see everypony living in harmony and having a good time at it.

“See, Pinkie. It’s a very normal day in Ponyville. Nothing more to it than that.”

Ponyville shined brightly around Twilight’s castle; I felt Twilight had really made our small little town a better place since she moved here. I was glad Celestia had done what she did then; it was nice of her to give that opportunity to stay. I stopped for a moment,

“Was friendship the only reason Celestia sent Twilight to Ponyville?”

I rubbed my chin and shook my head, “don’t be silly Pinkie. I’m sure Celestia has a perfectly good reason to send Twilight here. I’m sure she was assigned here to both make Ponyville a better place and to be with her friends.”

I knocked on Twilight’s door and called out to whomever was behind it. Nothing; I had a feeling it was starting to become a common theme among ponies these days. Once again, I knew Twilight had been busy lately and probably didn’t want to be disturbed so I sat outside and waited.

“Twilight would come out and greet the morning eventually, right?” I pondered, wondering if waiting was the best solution. I wanted to open the door, after all, the six of us shared the castle as one; it’d be wrong to lock everypony out of something we all shared. I sighed, “Twilight needs time alone; she’s been busy”

I waved to a pony who walked by and smiled, “good morning!”

She waved back and returned the smile; it made me happy. I watched as she turned a corner and disappeared from my view. I could feel that wave of happiness disappear as the feeling was short-lived. I coughed, bored out of my mind.

“How long is this going to take?”

I sat down and laid my head upon the grass, watching a small insect climb up a single blade of grass.

“You go, little dude.”

My eyelids grew heavy as ponies walked around me, wondering what I was doing. I didn’t want to answer them; I wanted to sleep in peace. So I did.

There was a loud clang that echoed throughout the halls. I felt tired as if I had fought for many hours without end; it was as if I had been relieved from carrying a burden for far too long. The hall was lined with an archaic red brick style, something I had not seen in a long time. The walls were decorated with what seemed to be an infinite line of torches that descended into the equally endless corridor. I walked toward the sound I had previously heard and lifted my hoof, finding it stained red by the bricks. Rolling my eyes, I continued to follow the sound down the dark and dreary passage. I noticed, however, that the further I continued down the hall, the darker it became; it seemed as though no amount of torches could brighten the place. As I walked I began to see bit and pieces of a bright pink velvet cloth. Curious, I picked up each piece as I moved descended deeper into the darker end of the tunnel. There lying on the floor, illuminated by a strange white light source coming from the ceiling, was a strange crescent shaped bone. I rubbed my chin, it was strange to see such a thing in Equestria; we were far too civilized to make cannibalism a noticeable practice. I looked down the hall, but that was all there was; the hallway ended in front of where the bone lie. I picked up the bone and looked at it, setting aside the pieces of velvet. Upon the backside of the bone were several small holes that lined up horizontally. I gently scraped my hoof against each one with hopes of closure, but as always, there was no hope and I still didn’t understand. The light from above shone brighter, repelling the darkness and revealing three wall-sized mirrors around me. It was a jaw bone; I was now certain of that. I rubbed the loose piece of flesh dangling from my face. It didn’t hurt and I did not feel a thing; it was numb. I turned around and glanced at the small collection of what I thought to be a velvet cloth and shot it a horrified look as small patches of missing skin appeared upon my body. They came with a slight burning sensation from all around me; I was scared. I placed my hooves over my eyes and cowered over in fear. The light died down as I heard a voice from above,

“Do you understand?”

I nodded my head no; I didn’t understand. The walls around me fell backward like cardboard; I blinked and the flesh turned to velvet. I rubbed my chin and sure enough, it was there. There were nineteen pieces of velvet and thirteen holes engraved upon the bone.

I awoke to the sounds of a very concerned Twilight Sparkle whom had been getting ready for what I assumed to be another flight to Canterlot,

“Pinkie, how long have you been out here?”

I looked up at the sky and watched as the sun rose over the roofs of the houses. I looked at my wrist, pretending I was wearing a watch,

“Since yesterday,” I rubbed my head, traumatized by the vision I had seen in my dream, I tilted my head, “I can’t remember why. . .”

Twilight rolled her eyes; I gave a nervous laugh,

“Heh, I guess I’ll see you later… Where are you off to?”

She gave me a saddened look; I could almost feel the sorrow pouring from her eyes,

“Canterlot, I have some business there” she spread her wings to the fullest, “I’ll be back soon enough, don’t worry about me.”

I smiled, “Oki Doki Loki!” I thought about Applebloom and her friends, “I’m going to check on Applejack!”

With a simple wave and nod, she took off in a cloud of smoke toward Canterlot Castle. I waved her off as she flew away. I turned toward Sweet Apple Acres and walked along the dirt road.

“Why was I going to see Applejack?” I thought to myself as I hung my head low, “did I really want to see Applebloom?”

I shook my head, “of course, I should see Applebloom; she’s a friend and that’s what friends do.”

Applejack was doing her regular day job, bucking apples and collecting them as they fell. I waved “hello” to Applejack, but Applebloom was nowhere to be seen. Applejack called out to me, breaking my blank stare,

“How’s it hangin’, Pinkie?”

I laughed and rubbed the back of my neck, “oh, nothing much. I just wanted to see Applebloom; have you seen her anywhere?”

Applejack wiped the sweat from her forehead as she bucked another apple tree,

“Sorry, Pinkie. I can’t say I do. You’d have to talk to Granny about that one.”

When I asked her where Granny Smith was, she simply smiled and pointed toward the barn. I thanked her and stopped myself before I knocked on the door.

“Are you sure she’s ready for this?”

Placing an ear against the door, I recognized the voice; it was Applejack’s brother, Big Mac. I listened longer,

“Yes, I pretty sure.”

The second voice, it was Granny Smith; I was certain of that. I closed my eyes and listened harder than ever before,

“And how long have you been planning this?”

Big Mac seemed cross; I could tell he was disagreeing with whatever Granny Smith had been planning,

“Big Mac, our family has been planning this since Sweet AppleRaven’s time. I think she’s ready.”

I could hear Big Mac give off a rather hasty comment,

“But how will you know for sure? We’ve had no news from Canterlot concerning another depression!”

I examined the door and looked through a keyhole; Granny Smith leered at Big Mac,

“Are you saying my sources aren’t reliable? AppleRaven had predicted this downfall from over a thousand dates ago!”

Big Mac rolled his eyes at Granny, “A thousand dates is a long time, even after all the things she had done, I’m not sure even she could be that accurate.”

Granny began to pace back and forth as if she were giving a speech to a platoon of ponies,

“Haven’t you seen the signs? This has been our least profitable harvest yet, that only happens when Equestria senses bad things are coming.”

Once again, Big Mac didn’t believe her and stood his ground, “are you sure the land knows something that the ponies don’t?”

I had been crouching throughout the entire conversation and I was finally beginning to feel the consequences. My legs began to burn with fatigue as my hoof slipped against the front door porch. Granny Smith opened her mouth but held her tongue. She walked to the door and opened it, revealing my clumsiness.

“Pinkie? What brings you around these parts?”

I gave an uneasy smile,

“Oh, I’m looking for Applebloom; have you seen her around?”

Granny Smith smiled, but it was short-lived; I couldn’t understand why. Her eyes narrowed as she leaned closer to me,

“Are you the one responsible for what happened to her friend, Scoot’?”

I looked around nervously, trying my hardest not to look guilty,

“Why would I do such a thing?”

Granny Smith gave a hearty laugh, “I’m just jokin’ with ya! Applebloom should be in her little treehouse. If not, you might want to take a look around town; who knows how many ponies she’s pulled out of the dark?”

Closing the door behind her, Granny walked back into the house with a playful chuckle as she went along. I stood up and brushed the dust from my hooves as I made my way to “out back” where she had predicted Applebloom’s whereabouts. Of course, Applebloom was nowhere to be found; I sighed knowing that even I had expected this to happen. Sitting down upon the rich Apple family soil, I stomped my hoof against the ground and wondered what would be next. I missed Twilight; it was something that could not be mistaken. Standing up, I made my way to town where I assumed I would find Applebloom. I didn’t want to find her if it meant going through all this trouble; after all, perhaps Rainbow Dash knew where Scootaloo was and I was just wasting my time. Scootaloo was the entire reason I was going to find Applebloom.

The streets bustled with hurried ponies rushing from point A to point B; I began to feel out of place. Everypony knew where they were going; Ponyville had grown so much since Twilight began to take more and more responsibility from Celestia. Many of the townsponies say she’ll one day be princess and rule over all of Equestria, but I can’t see that happening. Twilight has always been a student and even though it’s nature for the student to be the teacher at one point; I can’t see Twilight being any higher along the scale. I watched as a pony tripped over another pony’s hooves; I laughed. There were a lot of ponies who came from other cities to live here and eventually, we had to start building more homes for them. With one event leading to another, Ponyville started to look more like a city rather than a large group of houses. The inflammation wasn’t too bad, though, many of the ponies moved away to make room for the others while the rest helped build the houses. The newer remodeled homes still look the same with the only difference being a new roof and a higher quantity of residents living within them. The dirt roads still looked like dirt roads, the ponies around me were still civilized and I was still happy to make new friends. I stopped to stare at the town hall, the place where that lonely pony had died and where my problems all began. I never said anything about them because of one underlying reason: they would be impossible to believe for anyone, even for a pony with a fetish for ghost stories. I sighed and continued to comb Ponyville.

“SCOOTALOO?”

I rubbed my ears, “Was I hearing things again?”

I listened harder and tried to follow the voice calling out. Although it was a young and familiar voice, I still couldn’t quite recall it’s origins. As I walked closer and closer toward the Everfree Forest, the voice began to grow louder until I knew immediately who it was. I facepalmed knowing that I should have remembered the second she called out Scootaloo’s name. It was none other than Applebloom and SweetieBelle standing at the edge of the Everfree Forest.

“Scootaloo! Come back! Don’t do it!” Cried Applebloom, wiping tears from her face as she watched her friend descended deeper into the forest.

Watching from afar, I saw Scootaloo shuffle her hooves as she began to hesitate about leaving. Despite the hesitation, I knew in my heart that she would go.

“Applebloom, I need to go. I need to fly.”

Applebloom continued to cry as SweetieBelle put a hoof over her shoulder; she cried out to Scootaloo, “Why would you want to leave your friends? Do you remember what happened last time?”

I nodded my head, Sweetiebelle had a point. Scootaloo moved her hind leg back as she slowly walked toward the darkness behind her,

“I remember what happened; I didn’t get my wings. That’s what happened. Now you could either come with me and help, or run home and take care of yourselves!”

With that, the two fillies looked at each other and thought for a bit while Scootaloo stood there, huffing and puffing away at the anger unleashed within her. Finally, the two looked toward their rogue friend and nodded their heads, walking away and leaving her behind. Scootaloo lowered her head as she half-expected them to follow her. She cried out to them,

“You would leave me to save your skin! How dare you! Fine! I don’t need you anyway!”

She burst into tears as she marched into the forest with her head held high. At first glance, it seemed patriotic, but watching how the tears rolled down her face with her hooves moving at a lazy pace, it was unbearable to watch; she was pathetic. I began to feel sympathy for the lost pony, so I ran after her into the woods. Calling out her name, I cried,

“Scootaloo! Come back! We need you!”

Her small set of hooves began to move faster as she broke into a full sprint toward the unknown. In a way, I envied her for being able to dive head-first into danger without any feeling of consequential guilt. She called out to me,

“I don’t need your help! I can do this on my own!”

I ran after her, “I know you can! I want to help!”

“No, you don’t!”

Trying to think of ways to make her stop, I thought about what I read,

“I know where to find it!”

She came to a dead halt as her ears rang with the lazily thought out lie I had told. She turned around, “is this true? Do you really know where to find the Everfree Spirit? You know how to get my wings?”

I never felt so nervous in my entire life; I didn’t want to lie again, it was not right,

“Yes, I know where to find your wings, but in order for me to help you find them, I need you to go home to your friends.”

She gave me an evil eye, “are you lying to me, Pinkie? I can see through lies you know!”

I laughed and rubbed my hoof against her head, “of course not! I know exactly where it is and I’ll ask it to deliver your wings to you personally.”

Her eyes lit up as she comprehended each word, “you’d do that, for me?”

I gave her a smile and a big hug, “of course I would! You’re a friend and nothing could change that!”

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, “thank you, Pinkie. You’re a real friend!”

She turned around and began to walk toward Ponyville; I put a hoof out to her,

“Are you going to make amends with your other friends?”

She gave me a puzzled, but deeply saddened look on her face, “Why would I want to do that? Is it them who would have helped me? No, it was you instead. I thank you for that, but I don’t think I’ll be needing them anymore.”

“I can help you earn your wings,” I began, “but I cannot help you apologize. You should learn to forgive your friends; they meant well.”

I could see her sense of pride drain from her face as each word came from my mouth. Her eyes guided away from me as I spoke; she too knew it was the right thing to do. Smiling, she stood in front of me and reached her hoof out, “thank you, Pinkie Pie.”

Rubbing my eyes, I smiled, “it is my pleasure.”

Before she left, she said one last thing. It was something that changed my point of view entirely; nopony would have expected it,

“Oh, by the way, Pinkie. Say hello to Zecora for me! I’ve been really itching to give her a visit. Maybe she’s got method to fix my flight issue… Anyway, I’ll see you later, Pinkie!”

The sky continued to darken as I traveled further and further from my home. I could feel the book grow heavier as my hooves grew sweatier. A cool breeze blew through my mane; I was alone. I knew it to be true, but this was the first time I had noticed it. It was strange knowing this whole time but not thinking anything of it. My eyes began to water with tears of not sadness, but guilt. I fell to my knees crying out to the world and all those who would listen. My mouth gaped open, shouting past regrets,

“How could I! How could have I have ended the lives of others? Who am I really? What have I done?”

My knees gave in as I fell face first into the grass. The trees closed in around me, blocking all chance of escape, but even in a life and death situation, I no longer cared. I sat, I cried, and I surrendered. My legs began to cramp as my head began to throb. Pain was now a welcome guest that I had greeted into my home and I gave in to it. I could feel my thoughts slowly ascend into the heavens as a bright light parted from the trees.

I opened my eyes and was greeted to the world around me with a flood of white light. I looked around at the strange environment around me; dark trees, white sky, black grass… These things puzzled me, but I wasn’t sure how to interpret it. Where was I? What was I doing here? Everything seemed so… colorless. Where was everypony? Was I… dead? As the thought crossed my mind, I noticed a bright blue pond appear in the distance. It glowed and seemed to reflect all that was evil in this new world. I ran to the pond; it was hope that I found. I came to the edge of the water and bent down on my knees,

“perhaps it was a gateway home” I thought to myself, placing a hoof into the water. I watched my reflection as it changed to a phase I was not proud of. In the reflection looking back at me was someone very close but at the same time very distant. It was a side of me I wished I had forgotten but simply couldn’t. I turned away from the water and arched my back, now slumping over on a tree near the pool. To my left was a small red rock that glistened in the pond’s light. Out of curiosity and sheer boredom, I picked up the rock and tossed it into the pool. My vision blurred as the rock bounced on the water, “what was I doing here?” I said to myself, looking at my red-stained hooves. A small light appeared over the pool of water and spoke to me with a deep, raspy voice that would have sounded a lot better with a small glass of water.

“What are you doing here? What brings you here?”

He was as confused as I was; I knew not why I had come. My voice cracked as I tried to please the voice,

“I-I don’t know…” my voice echoed throughout the woods in an unnatural way, “why am I here?”

“What have you done? Surely you must have done something to provoke your death.”

My mind spiraled as I tried to accept my fate,

“I… died?”

There was a grunt of laughter that followed my confusion. I blushed,

“Yes… it does appear that way.”

I began to feel like a corpse myself as I repeated the words over and over again in my head,

“I died… I… died.”

“Yes… yes, you have. But alas, it appears I am no longer alone. Since you are here, why don’t you tell me a bit more about yourself… other than the fact that you and I and in the same situation.”

I sighed; I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to let loose while I was here. I placed my hooves behind my head and yawned,

“I don’t see why not…”

I wandered the caves alone in search of a light, everypony did. The systems of caves went deep underground and swallowed anypony in search of shelter. We had run here in fear of what happened, my dear friend had become something she isn’t. After we saw the lights we knew immediately what would happen. She had warned me about it, Scootaloo did. She told me that on the 5th day of the 3521st date, we were to run as far as we could. I heeded her advice and by the looks of it, so did everypony else. Of course, many ignored the sad truth and was burned from where they stood. No army in Equestria could cause as much damage as this has, it was something else, a force of some sort. We had been wandering these caves ever since then; these caves were once owned by a race known as the Dwellers. They were ponies, yes, but they were considered animals, monsters even. I had heard stories, from Twilight, that the Dwellers were one of the three tribes in Equestria. She mentioned that the Dwellers stayed alone on Stalbon for several hundred dates before following suit and migrating to Equestria. They, however, lived entirely in caves and good ones at that. The cave systems were like ant farms in the mountains, and the Dwellers didn’t seem to mind it. According to Twilight’s history, the Dwellers lived at peace with one another until the early 200’s where the Dwellers decided to split from one another thus creating a feud between the two different tribes. Many of them fought peacefully for they themselves were a peaceful kind. Some, however, did not care about the other Dwellers or what they called, “the Surface Ponies”. Many of them created large battles under Equestria’s surface and it began to show. Earthquakes plagued the land and nopony knew why; it was a mystery to all but one. Twilight mentioned that during this time, StarSwirl the Bearded’s expedition had just begun and he was constantly finding new ways to make life simpler. After banishing King Sombra, StarSwirl took his expedition to explore Equestria and came across a small cave on his way out of what we then called the Apploosian Plains. Out of curiosity, StarSwirl entered the cave and was unhappily greeted by the residents there. With persistence, StarSwirl befriended the residents and learned about their culture, thus documenting it in the Canterlot Archives. However, it wasn’t until StarSwirl’s friends discovered something that made him become restless. StarSwirl’s documents stated that the Dweller’s found a way to reach Equestria’s Core and use it as a weapon against their feuding neighbors. Once StarSwirl heard the news, he immediately faced his demons and requested immediate action that the Dwellers were to all be eliminated. Princess Celestia saw the danger that would soon come to be and sent her top assistant to bring information back from the Dwellers and report them to royalty as soon as possible. After the information was received, she sent the order and thousands of troops were sent to killed every Dweller that lived under those ground.

“Are you reciting that story again, Applebloom?” Cried SweetieBelle. I gave an uneasy smile,

“Sorry SweetieBelle, but I paid attention during Her Time.”

I laughed as she rolled her eyes and spat out whatever came to mind, “please, Applebloom. You couldn’t figure out a Rubix cube even after Twilight showed you how to do it a million times.”

I went silent and SweetieBelle knew exactly why; she continued to dig.

I shook my head, how could I have forgotten? I weaved my way through the tunnel and made my way to another wall, pushing away rocks as SweetieBelle had done,

“How long do you reckon we’ll get out here?”

A shard of uncertainty came from SweetieBelle’s voice as she spoke in a soft tone,

“I don’t know, Applebloom. I just… don’t… know…”

There was more silence following that comment; it was painful, merciless silence that filled my ears. I closed my eyes; we had been searching for a way to leave for three dates and so far it has shown us nothing but the fact that we live in solitude. Even with each other, we were still lonely. I missed the farm, the trees, the sun, but most of all… my sister. From what the other ponies had said, it has been 928 dates since she died and I haven’t spent a breathing moment without thinking of her. Her death gave me strength to excel where all others had failed, but I was still troubled by her sudden disappearance.

“Why did Twilight kill Applejack? Why?” I thought to myself. I didn’t know the story behind it all, the only thing I knew was that I came home to the farm and watched as a large group of pegasus ponies tore down our barn. When asking why they simply shouted at us explaining that Applejack had been eliminated and that they needed to the space to build something. They thanked us for her service to their cause. I remember the funny look I gave them, what happened? I pressured them for further answers, but they just nodded and said Twilight was the one who took her life.

I bashed my hoof into the rock, tears rolling down my face. A hoof was placed on my shoulder, it was none other than SweetieBelle who understood what I was going through. She had forgiven me for what my sister had done. She said it wasn’t her fault and that the hard times were getting to everypony. I still had feelings of anger toward SweetieBelle; she had told me one day that she felt redeemed when Applejack died. At the time, I couldn’t believe what she was saying; I tried to fight her, but she was too quick. She ran her mouth throughout the entire fight, constantly reassuring me that when Twilight died, I too would feel redeemed. I remember lowering my hoof and giving her a hug, bawling out my anger and practically soaking her satin blue cloak.

“Don’t worry about it, Applebloom. We’ll get out of here soon enough.”

“It’s not that…” I coughed, brushing the dust off my sore hoof. SweetieBelle went quiet,

“Oh… I see. Listen, I’m sure she died in the fires, you’ll get over it.”

Something in me snapped, “As the way you did?”

SweetieBelle backed away, cautiously grabbing hold to whatever she could, “now, Applebloom. We’ve all got problems, let’s not be too violent about it.”

“Problems? We’ve all got problems huh? I’ll show you the problem!”

I charged toward her, head first. I could hear SweetieBelle gasping before moving out of the way. I braced as I ran into the pile of rocks. Blood ran down my face as I rubbed my head. Something else came from behind me, something nopony would have expected. Light

SweetieBelle’s jaw dropped to the floor as we examined the strange phenomena. It had been forever since the two of us had seen light in the caves. We rubbed our eyes as they burned with delight; how long had it been? I forgot about the blood running into my ear as the light was too captivating. Nopony would want to resist its warmth. SweetieBelle placed a hoof on the rocks once more and pushed them aside. The light grew brighter; she looked at me with a face that I had not seen since we were just fillies. I quickly jumped to my hooves and began digging alongside her. Together, we dug as fast as we could, shaking with excitement; we had finally found the way out. I watched as the rock fell to the side, revealing a passage just big enough for a pony to squeeze through. SweetieBelle and I looked at each other, proud of what we had discovered.

“You should go first, Applebloom.”

Teary eyed, I turned to SweetieBelle whose eyes glistened in the sunlight,

“No, SweetieBelle, you go first. You deserve it more,” I wiped the combination of blood, sweat, and tears from my face, brushing my hoof off against a rock behind me.

“Applebloom, this is your time. I want you to find yourself; you need it more than I do.”

I knew what was going to happen; I felt as though I had seen it before,

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

She sighed and nodded her head, keeping it low and avoiding eye contact,

“I’m sorry, Applebloom, but I have other plans I’ve been wanting to keep.”

“You’re going after Scootaloo…”

She sighed once more; it appeared as though I had her beat. There was no reason to keep secrets anymore,

“Yes, I’m leaving and yes, I’m going to find Scootaloo. I need to find her, wherever she is.”

I bowed my head low, “So this is goodbye, then? Will I ever see you again?”

She smiled and placed a hoof on my head, “of course I will. You know me all too well to leave you for dead.”

Those last words left a long lasting chill down my spine, “I’ll be looking forward to it then.”

A tear rolled down my face and dampened the soil beneath my hooves. I walked out to the light and covered my face as best as I could. The sunlight burned my eyes; it was painfully beautiful. My eyes teared up more than before; I kept my eyes shut and called out to SweetieBelle behind me,

“Are you coming? It’s not that bad!”

I could hear her struggling and tripping over the rocks at the entrance,

“I’m coming! Ngh… Hold on!”

I dragged my hoof along the ground and made my way to her voice,

“Where are you?” I called out again. She coughed,

“Here…”

A hoof patted me on the back; it was her. I smiled and tilted my head toward where I thought she was, “looks like we’re stuck with each other until we adjust, huh?”

She happily chanted, “it certainly looks that way.”

We both laughed and tumbled our way back into the tunnel. The two of us decided that it would be best if we were to stay at the mouth of the cave until our eyes adjusted. Until then, we’d be living together in the safety of the cave. I sighed, I didn’t want to leave her; we had been together since this all started. I laid my head on her side, smiling as I remembered the time when we found each other in these dark tunnels. It was a happy day for the both of us, but I remember seeing her as a different pony. She wasn’t the same as when she left Ponyville. I knew about what happened to Rarity and Applejack; she had told me, but ever since then, she seemed more… determined. Throughout the past three dates, she always spoke of other plans, plans to recover Equestria; it seemed like she had figured everything out and didn’t need me anymore. We had gotten into fights about it, but we always forgave each other. I remember asking her why she hadn’t tried to kill me after what happened to Rarity; she smiled and simply replied, “you aren’t your sister, Applebloom. You’re a different pony and I know you wouldn’t fall down that same path as she did. Learn to let go, my friend.”

It was a strange response as I had not let go as she did. I wanted revenge; I strived for it and I needed it. SweetieBelle was different; she aimed for a solution, and because of that I admired her. SweetieBelle brushed my hair with her hoof as she hummed a song I was more than familiar with. I smiled and closed my eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.

“So what is it that you desire?”

I looked thoughtfully at the bright light that gracefully glowed over the pond. “Want”, it was a word that I rarely used. I always put my friends before myself; I thought again. I was no longer a part of their world; what was the point in thinking of others if there was nopony to think of?

“Want? I’m not sure…”

A the color of the light changed to a warm orange color,

“Not sure? Everypony wants something and you, Pinkie, are no exception.”

I rubbed my chin and recollected on everything that happened, the suicide, the murder, but most of all, my death. It felt like a cycle that had finally come to an end; I was trapped. What was I doing here? I didn’t belong; I was never meant to die. I swallowed my fears and spoke with determination,

“Life, I want my life back.”

The light glowed to a dark red color; what did I say?

“Life… such a precious thing. Unfortunately, it is something that only I can provide once more. You have heard of me, no? Am I not the soul you sought for?”

I nodded my head, “yes… I did search for you and alas, I have found you. Now, how do we begin.”

The light grew brighter, covering the trees around it with its presence,

“Everything comes with a price, my pony friend. I desire something that cannot be found in a cave or atop a mountain. I, myself, desire… happiness”

I choked and spat out at the pond,

“Happiness? You have powers that grant life to those who have met their death. How is it that you need… happiness?”

“Pinkamina, not everypony gets a second chance. You are the lucky one; you are the one to lead them out of destruction. You are the one to make a difference. You were sent to me for a reason and my gift to you will be life in exchange to a small invitation of happiness.”

I sighed, “life, it was a chance to see my friends again. A chance to remember their warmth and be with them. How could I let such an offer down?”

“I will give you... my… happiness,” I stood up, not sure if I made the right call. The light changed to green,

“Good. Shall we begin?”

I closed my eyes and counted the stars; there were many, but none of which that caught my eye. The constellations aligned to match the cutie marks of my friends. It was as if they were trying to tell me something. Perhaps it was the time, their names, my memories, the date. I frowned,

“Where did they all go?”

A bright light consumed the land; a light that was soon followed by darkness. It was a short-lived phenomenon, but I still remembered what happened. I solved it; I solved Scootaloo’s mystery. I was alive. I counted the stars once more; it was the final day of the 1117th date.

Voices ran through the halls,

“What happened to her?”

“We’re not sure, we just found her like this.”

“What’s going to happen? Will she be alright?”

“We appreciate your concern for her; I think in due time, she’ll recover just fine.”

A bright light flashed before my eyes; my head throbbing as the light blinded me.

“She’s coming around. Pinkamena Diane Pie! Are you alright?”

I spoke as loud as I could, but nothing came through. A pony appeared over me; a pony who constantly flashed more lights in my eyes,

“Pinkamena Diane Pie, if you can hear me, blink once.”

I blinked and waited for another response. The pony turned to another beside him,

“She’s still a bit confused; it may take some time before she’s able to leave. I encourage you to stay with her, but I warn you, it will be a long road to recovery.”

A second, more familiar voice came out from behind me,

“We’ll wait for just a bit longer; she is our friend after all.”

The same pony appeared over me once more, this time turning his head to wherever the second voice came from,

“That decision is entirely up to you,” he turned toward me, “as for you, Pinkamena, I want you to blink once for yes and twice for no. Do you understand?”

I blinked once; the pony nodded, “good, now, did you wander in the forest alone?”

I blinked once; the soft sound of a hoof hitting the ground could be heard all around me. Another pony behind me stood up and ran to the other side of the room. The pony introduced himself,

“Pinkamena, I am a doctor. We’re here to help; your friend Scootaloo found you unconscious somewhere inside the Everfree Forest. If I were you, I’d thank her for what she did. She really risked her life going after you; who knows what could’ve happened.”

My eyes drifted to the side; I swallowed hard and closed my eyes, struggling to talk. The doctor walked away,

“I’m sorry Miss Shy, but I believe she needs some time alone. You are welcome to stay as long as you want.”

“It’ll be fine; I won’t be long.”

Fluttershy leaned over the bed and stared at me in the face, “what were you thinking?”

I sighed as best as I could, but Fluttershy shook her head with disappointment, “It’ll be fine Pinkie, but I just don’t know what’s going on with you. You, no, we all seem so different lately. I suppose it affects some more than others.”

With that, Fluttershy left the room, closing the door behind her. I was alone, sad, but certainly alive.

I closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep; I was alive.

“Was it everything you wanted?”

I stood on an empty plain with nothing beneath my hooves. I called out to the voice,

“No, it wasn’t”

“If I got a bit for every time a pony said that.”

A gray pony appeared beside me, together we sat down and stared deep into the white horizon,

“What about you? Did you get everything you wished for?”

The figure sighed,

“Sadly, no. For now, I am nothing but a living figment of your imagination. Nothing more. I should have wished for freedom, but perhaps I’ll save that for another deal.”

“Why did you become a figment of my imagination? What else do you want from me? Didn’t I already pay off my debt?”

The gray pony turned toward me and smiled,

“Sorry, but your debt is never paid.”

My jaw dropped, “why’s that?”

“When a pony makes a wish upon me, I become part of them. It’s strange, but it’s true.”

I turned toward him, looking deep into his eyes,

“What happened to you?”

He lowered his head, “I’m afraid that is a story for another day.”

“Pinkamena, can you speak?”

I opened my eyes; it was the doctor. After blinking once, he placed a hoof over my mouth and unwrapped the oxygen mask. I coughed,

“W-what happened?”

The doctor turned around for a moment, slapped his hoof against the floor and leaned over me once more.

“You had an accident, Pinkamena. It was an incredible discovery and from the looks of it, you’ve gotten better. Despite this, I’m afraid you cannot go back home for a while now.”

I coughed once more and scanned the room for Fluttershy or any of the others. The doctor caught my signs of interest and adjusted his glasses,

“Yes… your friends were here. They left just recent, in fact. If you want, I could give them a call. Would you like that?”

I stared ahead at the wall directly in front, “it’s up to you.”

The doctor stopped and looked around, “well… I’m not your mother, who in fact dropped by earlier.”

I bolted upright in the bed, “what?”

The doctor laughed as he readjusted the bed, “yes, your parents, or at least who they claimed to be, dropped by as well,” he raised a hoof at me, “you were out for a while; you must be hungry, can I get you anything?”

I nodded my head, but my stomach made it fairly clear what it wanted. The doctor laughed once more,

“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better Pinkamena. What would you like for lunch?”

I glanced at the clock; he was right, it was around noon.

“How long did I sleep?” I thought to myself, adjusting to the room’s new atmosphere, “whatever you’re serving is fine with me.”

The doctor hesitated, “alright, I’ll bring you our recommendation.”

“What happened?” I said to myself, lost in thought, “where is everypony? Should I tell my friends about what happened? Where was Scootaloo?”

The doctor, still trying to comprehend my change of mood, stood there in confusion, “Pinkamena? I may not have known you as well as I should have, but are you feeling alright?”

I looked at him, breaking my gaze into the strangely captivating wall, “yes. I’m perfect. Could I have my meal, please?”

The doctor backed his way out of the room, “sure thing.”

“Pinkie? Is that you?”

Standing at the door were two of my friends, Rarity and Applejack who had taken the time out of their days to see me. Applejack took her hat in respect and made her way to my bedside, taking my hoof. Rarity wiped tears from her face as Applejack rubbed her hoof against mine. Rarity smiled,

“Pinkie, we missed you, darling. How are you feeling?”

I monotonously looked at Rarity, “I’m great. Never been better.”

Applejack glanced at Rarity, exchanging faces. Applejack placed her hat back on her head,

“Really? You don’t look well.”

Applejack placed a hoof on my forehead, a hoof that I immediately swatted away. Applejack backed off, making way for Rarity,

“Applejack’s right, you aren’t acting right.”

I crossed my hooves, “and I feel fine. That’s all that matters.”

Rarity put a hoof around Applejack, “Come on, Applejack. Maybe she just needs some time to… adjust to… whatever it is she’s adjusting to.”

I turned away and watched them head for the door. After a long silence, right finally spoke out, “Pinkie! What are you doing? These are your friends! If you’re going to act this way, at least, do it with the slightest bit of consideration!”

I wiped a tear from my face and stopped my friends, “wait… I’m sorry.”

Applejack stopped dead in her tracks; turning around, she lowered her hat, “Pinkie?”

I cried; I was different. I was nothing more than a broken accident,

“I’m sorry, I did something terrible.”

I wanted to tell them everything about what happened, but I just couldn’t; I was afraid of what would happen to our friendship. I coughed,

“Rarity, where are the Elements of Harmony?”

She turned around and laughed, “The Elements of Harmony? Why? They’re in the Tree of Harmony! How could you not remember that?”

“oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

Rarity’s eyes squinted with suspicion, “why would you ask a question like that?”

My eyes looked elsewhere, “oh, nothing. I was… just curious.”

I gave off a nervous laugh that Applejack pitched in, letting out a more awkward laugh that killed the conversation. Thankfully, the doctor walked in with my meal, shoo-ing my friends out of the room.

I let out a fake smile, “Thank you, doc.”

The doctor smiled broadly, “anything for you, Pinkamena. You are my patient after all.”

“I want it back.”

The gray pony looked up and showed a face of unsurprised rage.

“Back? Want what back? I’m just having fun.”

He laughed; I placed my hooves on my shoulder. He stood up and created a nice little patch of grass for the two of us to stand on,

“You really should fill this place up. Have some imagination, it would be nice.”

I  scraped my hoof against the grass, “I want my gift back; you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

The gray pony danced around on the newly thought up grass plain, “Oh, don’t be like that, you know very well what will happen if we were to undo that wish.”

I sat and thought for a bit, “What would happen?”

The gray pony rolled his eyes and drew up some butterflies to fly around me,

“Everything that I made possible would… disappear.”

“Disappear?” I repeated. He smiled,

“Exactly right my new friend. That means no more Zecora and no more LIFE”

I took a step back, “you would kill me just so you could have happiness?”

The gray pony stopped his dancing, “Well, now that you put it that way, it does seem a bit selfish, but whatever! That’s life! It’s something to enjoy!”

I glared at the prancing fool, “life is something you don’t have, remember?”

He laughed, “True, but life is something that I gave to you, is it not? Either way, whatever I give, I can always take back.”

I coughed, it seemed like my medical condition could reach the farthest parts of my mind, “So what you’re saying is that you would be willing to kill me again?”

He stopped before giving me another pointlessly selfish answer, “I suppose that is what I’m saying.”

I shook my head with disbelief, but he did have a point. Taking back my own traits in exchange for the gift he gave would be wrong. Everypony who was affected by the deal would be changed, I as well. I walked off the island of grass with thoughts of my own; I could hear him laughing as he created more things my mind could not handle. I shook my head and woke up to face reality.

The doctor walked into the room carrying what appeared to be a clipboard,

“Good news, Pinkie! You’re free! Go out and make the world a better place!” He smiled, winking at me, “your mother and father are waiting outside. Go on and give them a hug!”

I rubbed my eyes; it was true, I hadn’t seen my parents in a long time, but at this moment, I didn’t really want to see them. I stood up, pushing the comforts aside as I stepped out of bed. The floor was cold and well polished, a rare sight to see at a hospital. The doctor smiled as he guided me out of the room, I looked toward my right,

“Are you sure this was the right call?” I whispered, keeping an eye on the doctor so not to look like a fool in front of the other ponies.

“Why wouldn’t it be? You’ve got another chance to live! That’s an honor on your part.”

I looked around uneasily, “yes, but I don’t feel anything; I feel so… alone.”

I could almost see my right hoof sigh with disappointment, “Sorry, but was part of the deal, you knew that. Besides, you would have been stuck in that forest if you hadn’t.”

“But I never would have died in the first place if I hadn’t gone looking for the spirit.”

“But you did find it.”

“But at what cost? Eternal sadness? Everlasting sorrows? What’s the point!?!”

Everypony stopped to stare at me; I blushed as the doctor put a hoof on my forehead,

“Are you feeling alright, Pinkie?” He gave a concerned look that I knew well. I tried my best to smile, “everything’s fine, I’m just… talking to myself.”

I watched as his eyes ran up and down before drawing his conclusion, “well if you say so, I guess there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Everypony around me went back to their business, talking to patients, filling forms and answering phones. I began to feel more and more out of place as I walked down the dreary halls, taking turns left and right; I didn’t know when it was going to end. Finally, the doctor pointed toward what appeared to be the main entrance,

“There you go! May you have a healthy, happy day!”

My heart sank; I wished I could tell him but I knew that in itself would be too hard for anypony to understand. He opened the door for me and I thanked him; I felt as though I had been in that hospital forever without end. That was when I saw them, my parents; they had been waiting all day for me to check out all day.

“Pinkamena? Is that you?” Grammy Pie smiled with open arms. I gave them an uneasy grin,

“Hi, Grammy.”

My father was the only one who wasn’t smiling; he never smiled. I only remember him smiling once and that was when I threw my first party. He took off his hat respectfully and bowed,

“Pinkamena, how are you feeling? Are you well?”

I gave a slight giggle, “yes, father, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

He placed a hoof over my shoulder, “I pray they treated you as well as we would have; the Pies have heard of your incident and we apologize for not being there.”

I smiled, “it’s alright, Papa. I would never have known it were to happen. There was no way you could have been there.”

“But alas,” announced Grammy, raising a hoof as if preaching to the entirety of the Pie family, “we are here now and that is all that matters.”

Maud, who was poking at the dirt, finally spoke up, “I am glad you are healthy now.”

I stared at Maud and smiled, “thanks, Maud. I’m glad everypony was able to make it dow-”

My head began to spin as I stared at the ground; what was happening to me? Papa Pie noticed my discomfort and quickly called out to somepony within the hospital. I placed a hoof on his chest,

“I’m alright… I think I just ate something bad…”

My legs began to shiver as I walked away from the hospital, my family following me. I shook my head, “What was going on?” I thought to myself. Papa Pie still had his leg around me as we walked toward Sugarcube Corner.

“You are still of residence here?”

I gave a concerned smile to Grammy Pie, “yes, indeed. I never left despite all those invitations to return home.”

I winked at her which she then proceeded to whisper into Papa Pie’s ear. I didn’t care what they thought of it; I knew Sugarcube Corner was where I belonged and nothing could change that. I opened the door and was greeted with the most pleasant of surprises, my friends. They danced around me wearing party hats and singing. They had made it fairly clear that I was home at last. My family stood outside the ruckus, waiting for it to die down. Maud was the only one who didn’t seem to care; I blushed knowing everypony else would be embarrassed with my friends’ behavior.

“Could you tone it down?” I whispered to Fluttershy who was dancing to one of her favorite tunes. The record stopped, Fluttershy’s eyes squinted with suspicion,

“Pinkie? Are you feeling alright?”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m fine… I just want some peace.”

Fluttershy glanced toward Rainbow Dash, who was responsible for stopping the record. Rainbow nodded and put a hoof around my shoulder,

“Pinkie, I think we need to talk.”

I looked nervously at my family who were still standing at the door, their mouths gaping open. Rainbow Dash pushed me along to the kitchen where she proceed to push aside bags of flour with a “bad cop” attitude.

“Pinkie, what’s going on with you?” She pushed aside another bag which I watched as the white substance spilled all over the floor.

“I’m not cleaning that up,” I gave her the lazy eye and turn around. Cross, Rainbow Dash raised a hoof across the doorway,

“You’re not getting off that easily. Fluttershy, get in here,” she demanded as Fluttershy gave off her signature whimper that would make everypony in town feel sorry for her.

“Y-yes, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes squinted as if she were actually thinking about something for once. Fluttershy tried to hide her face from me as the two talked in a huddle.

“What do you think happened?” Complained Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy looked up for a brief moment before returning to her completely unnecessary huddle,

“Why don’t we just ask her? She’s not a complete stranger.”

I rolled my eyes, getting sick of their continuous debate over a simple situation,

“You do you know I’m standing right here.”

“Oh, uh… sorry,” blushed Fluttershy as she tried to break Rainbow Dash’s undeniably strong grip, “I guess we got a little carried away.”

“A little, huh?” I snorted, lifting my head high and storming out of the room, leaving both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in awe. The doors burst open as the rest of my friends’ mouths dropped to the floor. I made my announcement once and I made it as clear as possible,

“Party’s over. Please, leave. I’d like to spend as much time with my family as possible.”

“B-but we threw this party just for you! You can’t just throw us out!” Stuttered Rarity, her mouth full of disappointment. I frowned, “Yes, Rarity. I can and I am.”

As much as I hated seeing my friends leave, I felt as though I could not stop them. I felt as if it was the only thing to do to keep my sanity in check. Then again, “would I even be considered close to sane at this point? I know my friends usually disregard my behavior, but am I sane?”

Fluttershy grabbed my hoof before she pushed me out the door,

“Pinkie Pie, I don’t know what you’re going through, but I want you to be there at the castle tomorrow; Twilight is coming home. Even in your state, I don’t want you to miss that; it’s important to all of us.”

She closed the door behind me as I sat in my silence. My family was present, but alas, they did not care. I wished they could understand and I wanted to tell them everything; I really did, but nothing would come to mind. Even if I did tell them, there would be nothing I could do to help them understand. I wanted to see Twilight; I needed her. Maud put a hoof on my shoulder,

“I understand, Pinkamena. You need time off… we understand. We are going to return to the farm so you can think about what has happened.”

Tears began to flood my eyes, “do you all feel this way?”

Simultaneously, they all nodded. I burst into tears as each walked away with once again, another pony stopping at the door to give her regards, “We are going back home. I hope that one day you will be able to join us.”

I was alone, again. The short-term silence rang in my ears as Mrs. Cake walked downstairs with confusion,

“Did everypony leave already?” She’d say. I looked at her with deeply saddened eyes, but I could already see my own confusion through the eyes of her own, “Pinkie, I’m not sure what’s happened, but I think you need to think about what’s going on!”

The anger boiled within me, “you don’t think I know that? I’ve been trying to figure this out, but I just can’t! There’s no way I can understand what happened!”

“Pinkie, what happened in the hospital?”

“I can’t tell you that! Not like you need to know!” I stormed off upstairs. It was a bad day for everypony. I wanted peace and silence while the ones who cared for me wanted to question. I closed my eyes, I didn’t want any of this; this wasn’t the deal I made or the deal I deserved.

“Then again, you never deserved a deal at all.”

I opened my eyes, finding myself in the same grassy plain as before,

“I see you’ve gotten your imagination back; was it really worth it?”

The spirit flew by me with uncontrollable laughter, “but of course it was worth it! Why wouldn’t it be? You amuse me, Pinkie Pie. You really do. It’s such a shame that you will never be able to feel happiness again considering how much you humor me.”

I cringed as the spirit spawned a dozen balloons to fly around me in a hypnotic manner,

“Why would I want to humor you? You’ve done nothing but cause me pain! You’re toxic! Contagious! Pure poison! Why would anypony in Equestria want to make you laugh? Let alone care about you?”

The spirit laughed and acted as though it were offended, “Words can hurt, you know? You’ve really got to watch that mouth of yours!”

I screamed at the open space around me, “how do I get rid of you!?!”

The spirit laughed again; with my element of laughter, nothing could calm it, “Get rid of me? Why would somepony like you want to do such a thing? To be honest, there is no way you can get rid of me! I’m afraid not even Twilight Sparkle could get rid of me!”

I stomped my hoof at the ground, “how do you know about Twilight?”

“I’m a part of you now, there is nothing you can do about it. I have access to all of your memories too, you know. Not to mention your everyday subconscious.”

“Get out of my head!” I screamed, pulling my hair, ultimately straightening it. I could feel my voice quickly grow course as I shouted at the top of my lungs. It was all for not; nothing I did would stop my nightmare. My heart raced,

“What if I died?”

The spirit stopped to think, “But you can’t; I’ve made sure of that.”

“You gave me a second chance, not eternal life.”

He rubbed his chin, “No, it’s impossible. It cannot be done; I will forever be a part of your mind.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I sighed, “there is no hope.”

The cold morning air blew through my mane as I made my way to Twilight’s castle. We were all expected to show up and I wasn’t going to be the one to back out. I wasn’t until a single piece of parchment rolled down the road the I realized I was alone. All of Ponyville was still asleep in their beds and the sun itself had hardly risen; but alas, my friends were still waiting outside the castle for their fellow friend. Actually, friends, it appeared that Rainbow Dash was absent. With confusion, I turned toward Rarity who had overpacked on scarfs to prepare for the cold morning,

“What happened to Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh,” she shivered, “we think Rainbow Dash slept in so we sent Fluttershy to try and find her, after all, it is quite early”

I nodded, “it did make sense.”

I looked around, hoping to find everypony else, but it just seemed to be Rarity and me who showed. Rarity read my face and turned around, pointing to a bush where Applejack had passed out to take a nap. She laughed and I followed along with hopes of replicating a laugh that seemed believable to anypony. Lucky for me, she believed it and carried on.

As the two of us stood shivering in the cold morning air, I began to wonder what would be taking Twilight and the other two ponies so long. Rarity leaned over,

“Don’t worry about it, darling. They’ll be here soon enough.”

I sighed; Rarity was right and I needed to stop worrying. Applejack sat up, oblivious to the world around her, “what happened? Did I miss Twilight? Is she upset?”

Rarity smiled and laughed, “you didn’t miss a thing, Applejack. She’s just taking her time,” she turned away and muttered, “same with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.”

Applejack rubbed the back of her head, “say… where’s Rainbow and Fluttershy?”

I rolled my eyes, “Rarity said that Fluttershy went looking for Rainbow,” I checked my watch, “she should be here any minute now.”

Neither of us talked as we waited patiently for any of the three to return. Each of us stared into the distance, watching the townsponies slowly awoke from their sleeping tombs. I shuffled my hooves in the cold grass as I began to hear the sounds of wings ground louder and louder. I turned toward Rarity who had heard the same as I did.

“Is it?” I questioned; Rarity nodded and pointed toward the small yellow pony growing larger as she approached the castle,

“Looks like Fluttershy has finally decided to show up.”

I nodded toward Applejack who was still trying to piece the whole event together,

“If that’s Fluttershy, then where’s Rainbow Dash?”

The thought had struck me as odd; it wasn’t until now that I just realized Fluttershy was flying alone. As she came closer, sounds of weeping could be heard from the castle’s porch; Applejack nodded her head and pointed toward Rarity who immediately denied responsibility. My eyes narrowed as I tried to confirm the strange sounds of sorrow,

“Is Fluttershy… crying?” I concluded, taking a short glance toward Rarity. She wore a worried face, “I believe so…”

Fluttershy landed in a pool of tears as she slid across the dirt; my jaw dropped.

“Where’s Rainbow Dash? What happened to her?” I asked, wiping the tears from her face as she stood up.

“Rainbow Dash is not coming…”

We all gasped simultaneously as our worst fears were yet to be realized.

“Rainbow Dash has decided to join the cause in Cloudsdale,” she cried, “she’s not coming anytime soon. I’m sorry, everypony; I tried to stop her.”

Applejack smiled nervously, “don’t fret, sugar cube. It’s not your fault; if anything, we all should have been there to convince her. Maybe we all could’ve done something to prevent this.”

“I’m sorry,” nodded Fluttershy, “but it was no use; there was no changing her mind after the letter she received.”

“What letter?” I interrupted, puzzled more than ever before, “what kind of letter was it?”

Fluttershy displayed the size of the letter with her hooves; it was a standard sized stationary that I assumed to be more personal than business, “it was a desist letter from the army. They said Rainbow Dash’s parents had formed a contract with the army long ago and were requesting she join to support the cause.”

The more the story came together, the more the story didn’t make sense, “aren’t her parents dead?”

Applejack lowered her hat with sorrow; she had suffered the same fate with her parents long before Rainbow Dash had. Fluttershy rubbed her chin,

“I suppose you’re right, not to mention the army hadn’t even been formed by the time the supposed ‘contract’ was signed.”

“Do you think we could discuss this inside?” Shivered Rarity, fluffing herself in her hoof-weaved scarf.

I looked up at the sky, “I suppose Rarity’s right; it is pretty chilly outside. I’d hate it if anypony were to get a cold.”

Fluttershy nodded and turned to Applejack where she too, nodded in agreement. Together the five of us gathered inside the castle and took our individual seats to discuss the matter at hoof. Rarity was the first to speak,

“How did Rainbow Dash respond to the message? Were you there when she received it?”

Fluttershy nodded her head, “yeah, I was there when she received the letter,” she coughed, “it was the letter that we were disputing about last date.”

We all grunted in unison as I raised a hoof for her to continue; she thanked me and moved on, “I’m not sure how she reacted, but I guess she was more frustrated than anything.”

“But what would Rainbow Dash be frustrated about? Would you be sad if you found out your parents had died and left you to nothing but a bogus contract?” Interjected Rarity. Applejack stood up and started making her way to the foyer; I called to her, “Applejack, where are you going?”

She took off her hat with respect, “sorry, Pinkie Pie, but I wanted to walk Twilight in. It’s kind of… a family courtesy we’ve passed down; all the Apples in our family do it.”

Rarity shrugged, “seems reasonable enough.”

The sounds of closed doors echoed throughout the hallway as the sounds of hooves could be heard on the lawn. I looked down, “does this mean that… Rainbow Dash will never… return?”

Fluttershy wiped a tear off her face, “I think so…”

Rarity began to panic as she looked around the room nervously, “but what about the Elements of Harmony? What will we do without them?”

She sighed, “I suppose we’ll have to fight without them. You know, I was sent one of those letters too.”

Rarity and I both gasped; Fluttershy nodded, “it’s true; the newly formed Pegasi Army is trying to recruit all pegasi big and small, young and old,” she pulled out a piece of paper and read it with haste, “at least I think that’s what it says.”

Curious, I blurted out, “you’ve had one the whole time? What does it say?”

I watched as Fluttershy’s eyes trailed back and forth as she read through each and every individual line, “oh, it’s nothing much. Just a summoning to Cloudsdale for inspection and other things of the sort.”

“Well, come on, darling! Let us see the letter!”

“Oh… well… I suppose so,” hesitated Fluttershy as she threw the piece of parchment across the table, stopping right before our eyes.  

“To the hooves of Faunalas Fluttershy,

We, members of the highest order in the Pegasi Army, politely request that you sign for our cause. During recent events, we have discovered that our Unicorn Allies have betrayed our own and as a response are willing to fight for that cause. One of our former princesses, Twilight Sparkle, has committed crimes against our treaty with their kind; we ask that you report to the Capital of Cloudsdale immediately for inspection and fitting of gear so that you, Fluttershy, may fight for what is right. In the meantime, do not associate with any other ponies other than your own for any other race of pony is now an enemy and should be disregarded entirely. We await your arrival,

Formally,

Colonel Spitfire”

“I don’t believe it!” Declared Rarity, stomping her hoof on the table, “this is outrageous! Why would anypony take this seriously?”

I myself couldn’t believe it, “Rainbow Dash was… gone? What did Twilight do to cause this?”

“Everything; Twilight did everything to cause this.”

The voice echoed through my head even though my friends were still debating the issue; I blushed, “what are you doing? What do you mean Twilight tried to cause this?”

“Don’t you see? Twilight caused this; Twilight is the reason your friend is gone because of her evil deeds. Why else would she have taken the deal so easily?”

“Why are you doing this? How long must you vex on me?”

“For as long as I deem necessary”

The tears that rolled down my face caught Fluttershy’s attention, “Pinkie Pie? Are you alright? I had hardly said anything. What’s going on?”

I went silent and cried without end. Rarity put a hoof around me, rubbing my back with comfort, “Was Rainbow Dash’s letter the same as yours?”

“Well, I’m not sure, we didn’t compare letters. Although, I do know that her letter was significantly longer than mine. Maybe they had blackmailed her into joining using some other methods,” answered Fluttershy. Rarity continued to rub my back as she tried to draw conclusions, “I suppose that’s a possibility, but what about Twilight? How would Twilight have been able to cause such a large rift between our two races?”

“Because your princess is corrupted with evil.”

“Shut up”

“I’m not sure,” began Fluttershy, “but I think we should all ask Twilight what happened when she comes. Are you in, Pinkie Pie.”

I shivered with fear, “n-no”

Rarity back away, “Pinkie? What do you mean, ‘no’? Twilight and Rainbow Dash are our friends and we have the right to know what is troubling them!”

“J-just leave me out of this.”

A beam of daylight burst through the door as none other than Twilight herself walked in the door, stopping as she looked down the hall. I could see her through the tears in my eyes; she was counting.

“Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

Rarity quickly snatched the paper from the table and smiled, “uh… Twilight, we need to talk.”

Applejack walked up behind her and placed a hoof around her neck, “I’m sorry Twilight; I just got the news myself.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she examined the face of each and every one of us; I turned away to hide my watery shame.

“What happened to Rainbow Dash? Did she…?”

We all knew what Twilight was thinking, even if she didn’t say it.

“Do you see the error of your ways? Even you could have prevented this.”

“No, I couldn’t have.”

“Ah… but you could have at least avoided feeling the pain you feel now by not committing to what you desired.”

“Not making that wish would have been devastating to all of my friends; I would never want to hurt my friends.”

“See, that is where you are wrong. You have already hurt your friends and now they doubt you even more. They see that you have changed and now that wish to have nothing to do with your newer self. Is that the way you want to be seen as? A dull, depressed pony with no morals of any value?”

“Of course not, but they do still have the memories that we’ve shared. With those memories, the six of us will always be friends.”

“Five… the five of you.”

My heart stopped, “right… five…”

“My point exactly, even you have changed your views of your friends. It is because of Rainbow Dash’s decisions that you have disregarded her friendship, and now you fear that you will no longer be able to keep your relationship strong with your other friends because of the decisions you’ve made yourself.”

“I never disregarded Rainbow Dash…”

“Oh, Pinkamena, don’t lie to yourself. You and I both know the true hatred you have toward Rainbow Dash. It’s only a matter of time before the others hate you the same way.”

I bawled in my chair, interrupting everypony in the room; my crying even caught the attention of Twilight. Worried, Twilight walked over and put a hoof over my shoulder,

“Pinkie Pie? What’s wrong?”

I didn’t know what to say, so foolishly, I turned around. She tried again,

“Pinkie Pie, what happened to you?”

The tears that ran down my face were a diluted black color as if they had run through a thick eyeliner or another one of Rarity’s makeup appliances. I pushed her hoof away from me; I didn’t want comfort or anything else for that matter. I wanted to sit there and cry until the moon rose; I could hear Twilight’s impatience grow within her as everypony, including herself, took a seat. The thoughts that ran through the everypony’s minds were almost audible as each screamed to themselves. I could only imagine what the others were thinking.

“You know what they are thinking, don’t you?”

“How could I? I’m not psychic.”

“But you have a hunch and that is all that is needed for you to understand what is going on.”

“But if I go with my hunch, how will I know what is really going on? I would end up blaming my friends and turned them against myself; what would be the point in that except for creating more tension between everypony’s pre-existing relationship?”

“True, but you are used to being laughed at, are you not?”

“I am used to being laughed at what I did, not for who I am. There is a large difference between the two. Someday you will understand that.”

“Ha, I see that the student is trying to become the teacher. Very nice.”

“But I am not trying to become anypony’s teacher. You were never a teacher. You are no more than a bug trapped inside the subconscious.”

A loud crash came from the foyer that startled everypony; nopony knew what happened, but we all had a feeling that we knew who caused it.

“Rainbow Dash! How could you?” Cried Twilight, rushing over to see the damage done to her castle. Rainbow Dash laughed casually,

“Heh, it was a new trick that I haven’t quite gotten down yet.”

Twilight shook her head, “no Rainbow, I mean how could you do this to me? What possessed you to sign up for the Pegasi Army? Don’t you know they’re plotting to kill me?”

Rainbow’s eyes looked at each and every one of us as we all stared back, waiting patiently for an answer that we could be satisfied with,

“Oh… yeah… that. Listen, Cloudsdale is my hometown; it’s my duty to protect my family no matter the costs.”

Twilight shook her head again, this time with disappointment, “but Rainbow Dash, your family… they’re… gone…”

Rainbow’s eyes began to water, “w-why would you say that? I know that! T-that’s why I’m doing this; I’m signing up because of my family. If my family wanted me to do this, then so be it! I will fight everypony who isn’t with me until the very end!”

Twilight gasped, “you do know what this means! Didn’t you hear what I said in Canterlot? The Pegasi Army are trying to take over Equestria and overthrow Canterlot! Why would you want to fight for that cause? You’d be fighting against me! Why would you want to hurt any of your friends?”

Twilight pointed toward the group of sad ponies who were still waiting patiently for a reasonable cause that they could all agree on. I could see the hesitation through my watery eyes; it was an unbearable sight to see. Applejack stood up, taking her hat off and placing it on the chair beside her. She walked to Rainbow Dash calmly as if nothing were at stake; I admired the way she was trying to handle things,

“Listen, Rainbow. We are all going through hard times right now, but that just means we need you more now than ever before. Rainbow, you’re like the glue that holds this place together; without you, Rainbow, we’d all be lost. You keep us united; you have a gift of loyalty and I know that you’ll see the right thing to do. Please, Rainbow, stay with us, we all need your help. Look at Pinkie,” she pointed toward poor, miserable me, “Pinkie needs your help, she’s been more emotional now than ever. It’s important for all of us that you stay. I know that you feel you have to serve your duty to your hometown, but this is Equestria and we’re all at home here. I can respect that you want to help out your country, but friends come first and you know that. Please, Rainbow, stay with us and help us stay together.”

Rainbow Dash was speechless; it was a powerful speech that had me in even more tears than before. I thought it could be enough, but I had never been so wrong in my life. Rainbow lowered her head,

“Yeah, I’m the Element of Loyalty and that means I’m loyal to everypony, but you’re wrong Applejack. Family comes before friends and I am expected to honor that.”

Applejack’s mouth opened, “listen to what they’re expecting you to do! They want you to kill all of us in a genocidal war against not just the Unicorns, but all of the Earth ponies as well! Is that what you want? Do you really want to cross swords with me or any of us?”

“Of course not, but I’m not expected to sit idly by as my homeland fights to conquer.”

Applejack nodded her head, “so that’s it? That’s the whole reason why you’re signing up? To fight?”

Rainbow Dash sighed, “it certainly does seem like it, doesn’t it?”

Applejack was furious and everypony knew it. It was a rarity to see Applejack grow so outrageously mad and I myself had only seen it a few times.

“I don’t believe you, Rainbow Dash. After all these dates we’ve been together, this is how you treat us? Your friends, the ones who cared for you, you’re going to stab them all in the back? You better be ready to fight then because I’m not going down so easily.”

With that, she stormed out of the room and left the castle, leaving us all in silence. Twilight stuttered more now than any of us had ever heard before,

“L-listen, R-Rainbow Dash… I’m-”

Rainbow raised a hoof in front of her face,

“I don’t want to hear another word from you,”

With those words ringing throughout the castle corridors, she stormed out of the castle. The small droplets of tears that ran down Twilight’s face could be heard throughout the throne room; even I began to feel bad for her.

“Just as I said it would, do you still doubt me?”

“I cannot say anything else besides… you were right.”

“Your friendships are doomed; there is nothing more you can do to preserve it. I want you to run far away from here and never return for there is nopony who needs you.”

“Where would I go even if I were to leave Ponyville? There is nopony outside the town’s borders that would even give me a second look.”

“Your family might, go to them, seek them out and return. They will need you.”

“Why does it sound as though you are trying to help me? A second ago you tried to convince me to destroy my friends and now that you’ve succeeded, you try to help me by telling me to run away from my troubles? What made you change your mind?”

“I only wish to prevent further suffering, your mind can become a very clouded place without a clean conscience.”

Fluttershy stood up and headed to the door, Twilight gasped, “Fluttershy? Where are you going? Are you going to?”

Fluttershy gave a faint smile, “no, Twilight, I’m not signing up. I’m going away; it’s over.”

Twilight called out to her as she walked away, “no! Fluttershy! Stop! We can work this out!” One by one, we all started to stand up and leave the room, first, it was Fluttershy, and Rarity, then finally it was my turn. Twilight, put a hoof on my shoulder,

“Are you sure? Where would you be going? I heard about what happened to you in the hospital and I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. Please stay, it won’t be the same without you.”

I sighed as another tear dropped to the floor, “I’m… going home. There’s nothing for me here; I need to go…”

As I walked onto the lawn, I looked back at Twilight to see her standing there, speechless. I sighed, it was the only thing I could have done.

“Now run. Run far away and do not come back.”

“Why should I listen to you? Look what you’ve done to Twilight!”

“I did nothing, but you did what was right.”

“Why do you say it was the right thing to do? She’s hurt and I am not there for her.”

“You staying there would have given her a false hope that she would forever cherish. Besides, there are much more important things for her to do in the future where friendship will not be her focus.”

“You know what will happen to her in the future?”

“No, not exactly. I am afraid what I know is mere prophecy and cannot be proven, however, the Pre-Exists have always been correct.”

“The Pre-Exists?”

“Another time, my dear Pinkamena.”

“Pinkie Pie? How did it go? Did you see Twilight? Is she alright?”

Mrs. Cake greeted me at the door as I slowly walked upstairs, “yeah, Twilight’s fine. Everypony’s great; never been better.”

“Hmm… is that so? I heard that some big event happened in Canterlot; everypony’s going crazy over it! I don’t know why, but I do I wish I could’ve been there!”

I stopped, “event? What kind of event? Do you know what happened there?”

She rubbed her chin, “no, I can’t say that I do… It’s a bit odd, though, why would everypony go so crazy over a single speech? Must’ve been pretty powerful! I wonder if it was Twilight’s speech! That’d be pretty good on her part; being able to tell a powerful speech is an important skill for a princess!”

“Yeah… important…” I repeated to myself, “listen, Mrs. Cake, I’m going away for a while. I’m sorry I won’t be able to work here anymore. I’ll try to pack up my things as best as I can.”

Mrs. Cake gasped, “you’re leaving? Where’re you going?”

“Oh… my family’s rock farm; they need me there.”

She tilted her head with confusion, “what about your friends? Are they alright with you leaving? You know, Twilight just returned home and I’m certain she’d be needing your help with returning to at-home life!”

“Yeah… friends…”

She sighed, “it’s going to be terrible without you, but I’m sure you’re leaving for a good reason. If you ever want to come back, I’ll be right here with an open door!”

I smiled as best as I could, “thank you, Mrs. Cake.”

I went upstairs and grabbed all that I could or rather all that was necessary. It was nothing more than a week's supply of food and a coat for if it ever became too cold. Those were the only items I brought, no balloons, confetti or any other party accessory of the sort. With the items I selected, I ventured out into the vast land of Equestria guided only by the night sky. Mr. and Mrs. Cake waved me off as I walked further and further away from their little store. I remember seeing the moon reflect off the tears in their eyes as I walked off.

“You did the right thing.”

“Did I? I’m not so sure.”

“Of course, not very many ponies could have done as you did.”

“But those many ponies would have died by now, considering the fact that should have fallen into that fate.”

“Perhaps, but you survived and that is all that matters now.”

“Why am I leaving my home?”

“Why wouldn’t you? There is nothing for you here; you no longer need anything this place has to offer.”

“And my family’s rock farm does?”

“That is up to you; you choose where you wish to go. I suggested it because it was where you wanted to be; I do not control your actions, only your thoughts.”

“I don’t want to leave my home.”

“But your family is your home; you’ve been away from it for far too long now.”

“But will I truly be happy away from my friends? Or rather, my former friends? I still have many who still look up to me.”

“But you also have many who despise you. Why would you want to fall into their evil hooves and be cast out by their criticism?”

I sighed, “Would it hurt?”

There was a silence that lasted for quite some time; I wasn’t sure if it’d ever give me a response. I was weak and feeble; I needed help. As much as I despised the voices in my head, they were the only ones I could really turn to.

“That is dependent upon you; you choose whether or not to accept the criticism bestowed upon you. However, your actions in response to such words will ultimately change the way you think, act, and believe.”

“How long would it last? Would it ever end if I were to return to my home?”

“Only Celestia could know such things as she has the past, present, and future written upon the back of her hooves.”

I stopped to look back at the tiny speck upon the horizon that was Ponyville. Looking up at the sky I realized that I had been traveling much longer than I had expected; was there a point to moving on?

“What should I do? I need help in deciding.”

“Go home to your family; they need you more than your acquaintances would.”

I sighed, lowering my head and moving on toward the side of Mount Canterlot. I watched as the train whistled by, only to be stopped by a small herd of ponies gathered around the entrance of Canterlot. It was a strange sight to see, but I had a feeling I knew what the commotion was about. I began to feel bad for Twilight as she had done all she could to stop this from happening. Well, at least, that’s what I thought; nopony but her would know the truth about the events that took place in Canterlot. The train came to a halt as the ponies tore it piece by piece and throwing each part down the mountain. I watched as each wheel continued to roll past my hooves and across the hills behind me. They were rusted and well worn; the Friendship Express had seen its last days on the road. I cringed as I tried to make out the screams of ponies perched on the summit of Mount Canterlot. They spoke very lowly of Princess Twilight; they wanted her dead above all else. Turning around, I began to see a large puff of smoke rising above Twilight’s Castle; it was too bad, the castle really was one of the best in Equestria. I remember it shining brilliantly in the sun as we each were called to the map and greeted to a new adventure. Equestria really was a strange and mysterious place; I began to wonder if there was ever a beyond.

“Probably not”

The plume of smoke rose higher and higher as it began to block the moon’s light, leaving me in darkness. Lowering my head and avoiding the debris from the mountain high above, I continued to make my way to what I perceived as home.

“Would I still be accepted there? Has my family moved on knowing that I still held on to the same unorthodox traditions that I so willing desired to be a part of?”

“Of course they will accept you. You are a part of their family.”

I gave a fake chuckle, “What do you know about family?”

“I used to be a part of a family, but just you fear, I fell into a hole I could not dig myself out of.”

“Is that why you are the way you are?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I’m afraid my greed has taken its toll upon my past life. Now I’m here, with you.”

I smiled warmly, “That does sound sweet, doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

The smile melted away as the words echoed in my mind.

“I was only joking, but I guess it’s a talent that I’ve lost, isn’t it?”

“Indeed, it is.”

With that, I watched as the fires outside of Twilight’s castle grew brighter and brighter until I could see nothing but a tiny speck of light which I then assumed to be the sun’s rising.

“You’re home”

I looked up for the first time in hours to find myself face to face with my home, the old worn down shack that I had grown up in. While it brought back memories, it wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.

“Hello?” I called out, waiting for a response; I could see no reason why there wouldn’t be. But again, I fell victim to my own assumptions; there was no reply and I was greatly confused. I weaved back and forth through the soulless rocks that surrounded the shack as I attempted once more to draw the attention of my absent family. I knocked on the door and called out,

“Hello?” I cried, “is anypony there?”

There was no answer; I gave up, pushing the door open as it was left ajar. The house was empty with the exception of a few fallen chairs and a badly damaged table.

“Where had they gone? Were they still visiting Ponyville?” I rubbed my chin and thought for a second, “there’s no way they could’ve abandoned the rock farm.”

I walked around the table; it had been used by my family for years; I had never thought they would leave it behind, “Where is everypony?”

I walked upstairs to the bedroom Applejack had once visited, “It appears I stand corrected.”

My jaw dropped as I gasped with horror. My heart dropped several stories before me as a chill ran down my spine. It couldn’t be, it just couldn’t be, “No… It can’t be.”

There was a sigh coming from the voice in my head, “I’m afraid so.”

“They were just so… normal. How could this happen?”

“It appears the hatred of the few outweighs the love of the many.”

“Who did this? What do you know about this?”

“I’m sorry, but I can tell you this; the marks of the weapons used to harm your family were not made on land.”

“How would you know that?” I shuffled my hooves as I walked around the cold, dead bodies of my relatives.

“I came from an Older Equestria, where the land and ponies were cruel, primitive, and foolish.”

“What happened to them? What is your story?”

The spirit sighed and sat upon an old tree stump he had conjured up, “I was but a young filly…”

“Equestria had been in peril for one-hundred sixty-two dates when I was born. My mother, ShiningStar, had been there since the beginning. She used to tell me stories of her youth; they were always filled with dread and death. ShiningStar had three children, FarLight, StarBright, and myself, Silverhoove. While my mother was never a good role model, her reason behind it was understandable to everypony. The stories she told were, from what she said, true and were always taken from her past. They often spoke of the aftermath to the what is now rumored and studied to be the Second Demolition.”

Tears rolled down my eyes; I still couldn’t believe they were gone, “Why would this happen?” I kept repeating in my mind.

“Time went on between me and my brothers; they continued to pursue their dreams and I was left alone with nothing but my troubles. At that time, I became very skilled at what I did. Little did I know that Celestia had made a prophecy that would forever change Equestria. In fact, from what I’ve heard, it’s a prophecy that is still very relevant today. However, this supposed ‘prophecy’ was by far, one of the more… complicated auguries and was often misinterpreted. Celestia hired the top ponies across the land to decipher its riddles until it eventually fell into my name.”

“How could I have turned them down? I could have changed it; I should have spent more time with them.”

“At the time, I was but a thief and as I mentioned before, I was very skilled at it. Some thought it was my special talent and cursed me because of it. I, on the other hoof, had different plans; I wanted to be something more. Eventually, I pulled a job that landed me in what I assumed to be my eternal doom; I thought they were going to execute me for the crimes I had committed. Instead, I was taken into the hooves of the Graceful Celestia who would relieve me of my crimes if I were to partake in a special trial to retrieve information from a neighboring nation whom we were butting heads with.”

“Help, I want another chance; please give my family back to me. I know you can do it; I’ve seen you do it before.” The spirit ignored me and continued with his story.

“I took the opportunity as a fresh start, a job that I could use to release the stress of my thieving career. The job was a simple and one I had done before with my closer enemies; I was chosen to eavesdrop on the tribe and bring information back to Celestia. The murdering of ponies was excusable, but only if it was for a good cause; I tried to avoid this at all costs. I returned from my job soon after it was finished; stopping only to see my boasting brother who had found his love, Hellanhoove. I despised and murdered him where he stood; leaving his wife alone and bloodied in the roads outside of Canterlot.”

My mind went numb as he spoke of his brother, “How could you do that to your own family? Why would you bring that up now?”

The spirit sighed as he continued his story, “I hated my brother; he would always boast to me about his life achievements and would never leave me be. Eventually, I grew tired of it and did as I did to save my conscience.”

I cried some more before he continued; his story was interesting, but I knew it would never help me in any way.

“I returned to Celestia successfully, lying about the death of my brother and the injuries I had inflicted upon his wife. Surprised that I was not deemed dead, she lifted my burden and in exchange for residence in Canterlot, gave me a second mission to be on one of the support teams that would be sent to destroy the tribe. I thought my options through and chose to go with the teams as a residence in Canterlot was a mighty big change and honor.”

“You chose to cheer for the homicidal destruction of an entire tribe than to stop and enjoy your freedom? Why would you even think of doing such a thing?”

“I did not cheer for them; I killed for them. I had been charged with murder in the past and the princess knew this. What she didn’t realize is that my ego was larger than what she could have ever imagined. I enjoyed murdering of thousand of cave-dwelling ponies; the feeling gave me power. I felt like I could do anything I wanted during those moments. It was something that Celestia should have seen long before she put me in charge. Thousands of ponies died under those grounds with only a few being our own. Celestia saw how high of a success rate I had put upon the other ponies as she put me in charge of all her military actions. Soon enough, I had become her personal hitpony.”

“You murdered thousands of ponies, and you had fun doing it? What kind of pony would do that?”

“As I said before, those were dark times, but my story doesn’t end there; I then became the top royal guard but despised the position. I was not one for armor even if I was respected almost as much as the two sisters themselves. Eventually, I was brought before Luna, who appreciated my work in the night and convinced a Celestia to create an organization held in my honor. Celestia was not fond of the idea but was able to establish such organization in exchange for my title. The group was designed to protect the ponies of Equestria by enabling others who were interested in deep-cover. Ponies across Equestria came looking for enrollment and only a few were selected for their jobs. Many stayed undercover for tens of dates before checking in.”

The spirit yawned with fatigue as it was getting late and my mind would be forever numbed.

“Eventually, things went downhill and I did something that removed me from life itself.”

“What did you do?” I could feel the spirit’s warm smile as it knew I was interested in what he had to say,

“I had a fight with Celestia; it was nothing really. In the end, I lost, but I was prepared to do so. I had saved half of my soul within the leaves of a tree that had been growing alongside a pond deep within the Everfree Forest.”

“Which part of the soul are you?”

“Sadly, I am the part who died, but while my body died, the piece that was left transformed into something horrid. Even in my personal death, I still rose to challenge the Princesses. Last I heard, I lost and was banished from both life and death. Afterward, I was never seen again; even now I cannot recognize myself. I am a lost hope.”

“That’s a pretty tragic story you’ve got there. I’m sorry to hear about it.”

“It’s fine; you’re not the only pony who’s heard about it.”

“Really? Are there other soulless ponies who know about it?”

He chuckled, “Oh, no; of course not. At least, not that I personally have told.”

“Then how could anypony have known your story without you telling it?”

“While I was entrapped in that tree, I wrote a detailed parchment that described every detail of my memoirs. Sadly, I have no idea where it is; I would’ve told you if I did.”

“That’s fine, I don’t think I want to know any more of it.”

The spirit shrugged, “Fine, suit yourself. Anyway, let’s get out of here. I think the bodies here are starting to smell.”

“They are; I’m sorry everypony.”

I paid my respects and left the sad little home; it really was my home. I would never have known how much I really appreciated it if I hadn’t come back to visit, but I knew I couldn’t return. Even for the most heartless of monsters, returning to the resting place of their kin would be devastating for anypony. I sighed, leaving the rock farm for the last time,

“Where should I go now?”

“The only home you have left, Ponyville.”

“What about the others? What will I say to them?”

“Nothing more than the truth.”

With that, I headed toward Ponyville, forever lost in thought.

“What’s going to happen to me? Will I survive this? Will I be prepared to take on whatever the future has to hold?”

I could tell the voice was growing tired of my moaning, but he understood, “I’m not sure what will happen; the future is not written. You’re a strong pony, dear Pinkamena. I know that you will be able to accomplish anything you put your mind to.”

I smiled, “Thanks… I needed to hear that.”

“Don’t worry about it; it’s one of the only good things my mother would tell me.”

“Really? Is that so?”

“Indeed, it is; that saying has a lot of magic to it. It’ll motivate you no doubt.”

While I couldn’t quite see it, I could tell he was winking at me. I blushed and continued to walk toward Ponyville.

“Pinkie! What are you doing here?”

Mrs. Cake was as surprised as I was to see her. Everypony else had either abandoned the town or were rioting outside of Twilight’s Castle. I felt bad for her; I didn’t believe she did anything wrong.

“Oh, hi Mrs. Cake…”

She quickly sat me down at one of the tables in the dining room, brushing the dust off the table tops.

“How did it go with your family? Did you find what you were looking for?”

I sighed; I really didn’t want to tell her what happened, but I knew that she would find out eventually. It was in her nature; she was always prone toward getting her way. She had a certain set of skills that went with seeking information.

“They… didn’t make it.”

She gasped loud for everypony to hear, fortunately, nopony had visited Sugarcube Corner since I left, “what happened?” She exclaimed, jumping up with an unforgettable nervous expression wiped across her face, “where’s your family?”

Tears rolled down my face as I thought about them, “they’re gone, every one of them.”

Mrs. Cake straightened herself out, her tone fixed in the same manner, “Pinkamena, what happened to your family.”

I buried my face in my hooves; she retreated her tone and comforted me by rubbing my back with her hooves,

“I’m so sorry, Pinkie. They were such a nice couple.”

“I know,” I cried out, “I just wish I had spent more time with them.”

She went to the kitchen and whipped up a milkshake, placing it on the table before me. I glanced at it for just a moment before returning to my sorrowed state.

“Pinkie,” she smiled, resuming her rote rubbing, “please drink. It’ll make you feel better, it always has.”

“I’m not sure I want to,” I shook my head and pushed the drink aside, “it won’t do anything to bring back my parents or my sisters.”

Mrs. Cake sighed, “I know it won’t, but I made it just for you; please.”

I lifted my head for the time being and took a look at the glass as a single drop of water dripped from the side. It looked cold, which was perfect for a time like this. She nodded her head and turned away, calling out to her husband, Mr. Cake, to let him know that I would be once again taking residence. I reached over to the glass and took a sip; it tasted of strawberries and cotton candy. It was a somewhat strange, but delightful mixture. I gave a happy smile,

“Thank you, Mrs. Cake.”

She smiled back, taking the glass from me and placing it on the counter, “it’s no problem, Pinkie. You’re a dear friend here; you’ve done a lot to make this place what it is.”

Mr. Cake walked downstairs and gave off a grin large enough for a pony to see across the street, “Pinkie! So glad to see you again! How was your trip?”

Mrs. Cake froze as the tears once again flooded my eyes.

“My trip was,” I choked, “fine.”

Mr. Cake, as confused as he was, immediately understood the second he turned toward his wife who had been giving him the “cut” signal since he walked downstairs. He coughed, “well, you’re more than welcome to stay here for as long as you want.”

“Thank you,” I smiled, “I mean it.”

They stood together like all happy couples; it was the only thing that made me feel the slightest bit of happiness. I longed for a companionship like that as of now; I believed it was important for a pony to find someone before they died.

“Before they died? Why would you think that?”

“Everypony knows it happens eventually, it’s all a matter of time before we all drop to the floor.”

“What changed your way of thinking so fast? If you thought as you do, your parents’ death would not have mattered.”

I choked again, holding back the tears as best as I could; I didn’t want to cry in front of the only friends I have left. Mr. and Mrs. Cake began to show their discomfort as I nervously shook in my chair, “Why would you bring that up? Can’t you see I am trying to cope with such thoughts?”

“It is clearly on your mind, yes, but nopony will never accept you as a friend if you constantly think they will all die in due time.”

“It is nothing but the mere truth.”

“Perhaps, but it is also a sad fate that some ponies would not like to acknowledge.”

I sighed, standing up and making my way upstairs. Mrs. Cake smiled nervously,

“Your room is exactly how you left it. You’re more than welcome to stay here for as long as you want. Feel free to come back down as soon as you get hungry! I’d be more than willing to cook something up for you.”

I silently gave a thankful smile and opened the door to my room; they were right, my room was exactly how I left it. Nothing had changed; not even the bedding had changed. I threw myself upon the bed; it was as comfortable as ever.

“Sometimes it’s best to realize a sad truth than live knowing a happy lie.”

“Yes, but many would like to live that lie until the end. Some would rather prefer to solve problems as problems arise.”

I coughed; it was impossible to win this battle. I would like to have thought I had won it before, but that itself would be a lie. I rolled on my side; I had only been here a day and I was already starting to feel miserable. I wish I had left Ponyville forever, but something drew me back; I could’ve chosen any town in Equestria, but I chose this one.

“Yes… why did you choose to return to Ponyville?”

“You told me to; who am I to argue?”

“You never had to listen to me; you could’ve ignored me and did as your heart desired.”

“I could? Would you not pester me until you got what you wanted?”

“An older me would have done so, yes. But with your happiness within me, I don’t feel cruelty would be the right approach.”

There was a warm glow within me as he spoke. A glow that was soon followed by a bright light coming from my window.

“What is that? Check the window.”

I wanted to try out this whole, “disobedience” idea, but I was the one who agreed with him. I jumped out of bed and ran toward the window, seeing a giant plume of smoke rise from Twilight’s castle. It was the second time I had seen such a phenomena; I wondered if she would be alright. I wanted to believe that she would be so I could stay indoors, but the audible screaming from across town suggested otherwise. It sounded like her; I knew it was her. I ran downstairs and slid across the floor as I burst through the door.

“Leaving so soon?” Asked Miss Cake, “we can talk about this if you want.”

I shook my head, “Twilight’s in trouble; we have to do something!”

Miss Cake looked as worried as I was, “bring her in if you find her! Be careful! These ponies are not the same as when you first left!”

I nodded, acknowledging the knowledge I had just received. I sprinted toward the castle as fast as I could,

“Please be okay… please be okay…”

“Why do you still care for her after what you assume she did?”

“I may be unhappy, but I am not heartless.”

“Fair enough.”

I skid across the dirt as the castle came into view. It was nothing more than a pile of ashes with a few small sparks of fire still dancing upon the dead branches of the fallen tree. I called out to the ponies rioting,

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

One of the ponies stopped, “we’ve found one of them! Get her and skin her where she stands!”

My heart dropped to the floor as the mob ran toward me at full speed. I quickly scanned the crowd, “There’s too many; how will I outrun them?”

“You can start by actually running.”

I coughed, “yeah… right.”

I broke into a sprint toward Sweet Apple Acres; it was the only open space I could think of. I weaved through town as I avoided the heavy fire of rocks, pitchforks and other household appliances that weighed more than a couple pounds. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, but the voice in my head told me otherwise. I had to stay determined for my own sake and survival. Tears streamed down my face as I thought of Twilight’s suffering. I needed to get away from these ponies; I needed to break free. As the farm grew closer and closer, I took as many sharp turns as possible, but they were persistent. They shouted nasty comments that fazed me into slowing down until I came to a dead halt. I was at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

“Why would you say these things? What has Twilight done to you to make you hate her so?”

A heavy rain broke out all over Equestria; it poured like none before. A pony stepped forward, it was who I assumed to be the leader. He spoke out,

“She is the one who abuses the Equestrian Laws and denies any credibility! She destroys the relationship between us and our neighboring pegasi. We can’t fight against an entire race!”

I lowered my head as the rain soaked my mane, “no, you can’t fight against an entire race, but it’s always worth trying. Killing the leader of your military force because you can’t fight on your own won’t help you in anything; it’ll make your situation worse.”

Another pony cried out from the audience which was then followed by another and another. Soon enough, the entire mob had fired up again and was now parading past me to Applejack’s barn. I sighed as they all walked past me,

“I failed…”

“No, you didn’t. You were smart enough to create a diversion for you to get to Twilight. Now, run to her. You are right, they cannot fight the Pegasi alone.”

I nodded and ran toward the castle as fast as my hooves could take me. I sincerely hoped that Twilight was okay or at least alive. She had to be; she was important to Equestria. I knew she would do great things for Equestria, she had to. As the mud began to slow my hooves, I eventually made my way to the remains of the castle where Spike could be seen caressing Twilight’s injured body.

“Spike!”

He immediately looked up with teary eyes, “Pinkie? Is that you?”

I nodded and looked at Twilight’s body; she mumbled in her sleep as even I could tell the pain was too much for her. I felt sorry for her; she had done so much to keep this land from falling down, yet here I was standing over her injured body.

“Will she die?”

“Not if you take her and care for her. Bring her back to the house; the Cakes will understand.”

Spike cried out loud as he tried to brush what was left of Twilight’s sindged mane. More tears rolled down my face, moistening the pre-existing dried ones.

“Twilight?”

I turned around as quickly as possible, finding myself face to face with another pony. I didn’t trust anypony anymore. There were too many bad ponies in Equestria to separate the good from evil. As cross as I was, I demanded that the figure states his business.

“I was assigned by Celestia to watch over Twilight. She looks ghastly; will she be alright?”

I held in all my anger; I wanted to blow up in his face, “well? Does she look alright? Come here,” I pushed the pony aside until he was staring at her face to face, “she has a side wound deep enough to fit a small filly inside, her mane is burned to a crisp and her eyes have been completely sindged off. Do you think she’s going to be ‘alright’?”

The pony’s jaw dropped as I examined every scratch of Twilight; she was my friend and it was my duty to take care of her. He, on the other hoof, was speechless. I scanned him up and down,

“What’s your name, stranger?”

He shook his head, leaving the trance I had put him in, “my name? Oh! My name is Flash Sentry and as I said, I was assigned by Celestia herself to guard and protect Princess Twilight.”

I loosened up; I knew the name well. He was the captain of the royal guard up in the Crystal Kingdom. Despite this new piece of news, I was not amused, “you seem to be doing such a great job protecting her! Just look at all the progress you’ve made!”

I pointed toward her miserable soon-to-be corpse. He had an unforgettably guilty expression on his face. His head lowered; I knew as well as he did that there was no way to prevent this.

“I’m sorry,” he stated, wiping a tear from his face, “I wanted no part of this.”

He began to walk away as though he had done all he could. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; there was no way he was giving up,

“Where are you going? You still have a job to do!”

He turned around with a fiery glow in his eyes, “I’m going home! No, I don’t have a job anymore. This was my last assignment from Princess Celestia and afterward, I’m retiring; no questions asked. I’ve been in this game for far too long, and I want out!”

He threw down his helmet and walked away with undeniable rage. It seemed as though even I couldn’t stop him in his tracks.

“Talk to him; you need him more than you think.”

“Wait…” he stopped as I collected myself, “I’m sorry.”

He snorted, “that’s the first time anypony’s said anything like that to me in a while, but that still doesn’t change my mi-”

“I need help more than you’d think. Twilight is in trouble and we both need your help. You’re the only connection to the royal guard that we have right now. We need you more now than ever. Please, help us.”

He looked around nervously, his eyes stopping at Spike, who was now crying over Twilight’s bloodied body. He sighed, “alright; what do you need?”

I wanted to smile, but even I knew it wasn’t the time for such things, “we need to bring Twilight inside to Sugarcube Corner; I have a residence there.”

Flash held up a hoof and pulled out a large white towel big enough to be a tablecloth from a satchel he had been wearing. I nodded as we elegantly laid it out beside Twilight, rolling her onto it as soon as we deemed it fit. Spike stood up for the first time in about thirty minutes and wiped the tears from his eyes. I nodded toward him as we slowly pulled Twilight’s moaning body toward Sugarcube Corner where Miss Cake had been waiting patiently for us to return. Flash began to look uneasy about the whole situation; it was clear that I wasn’t the only one being affected by Twilight’s moaning. She spoke highly of Canterlot, repeating the name over and over; I began to wonder why she would want to go back after all that happened there.

“She wants to go back; isn’t it clear?”

“It is, but why would she want to go back? She was almost killed there and returning to the jaws of death is a move not even Daring Do would want to take part in.”

“True, it is a bit absurd.”

Mrs. Cake hurried us inside as she desperately held the door open. She quickly ran inside and grabbed a small white handkerchief, wetting it before she placed it on Twilight’s forehead.

“Is she going to be alright?” Curiously asked Miss Cake, “I don’t what would happen if we lost her.”

I nodded toward her, “I think she’ll be fine,” Flash shot me a look of concern; I nervously smiled, “she’s just a little… broken. We just need to fix her up.”

Cries of ponies could be heard outside; I was afraid they had come to look for Twilight. I shot a look at Miss Cake, telling her to close the door as fast as she could, which she understood. The lights in the shop grew dimmer as the storm had grown more serious than anypony could have predicted.

“Was this a plague brought on by the Pegasi?”

“There is no doubt about it. Focus on Twilight’s wounds; she needs you more than the lights.”

I nodded to myself, puzzling both Mrs. Cake and Flash. I turned toward Miss Cake, “get some candles for Twilight; we need as much light as possible.”

She ran into the kitchen, panting heavily as she brought out three small candles made of sweet-scented wax. It was embarrassing to use such fragrances at a time like this, but there were no other options available to us. Out from silence came a scream that showed true pain; it was Twilight. She was conscious but too weak to be mobile. She screamed loudly and all I could think of was to put a hoof on her lips as I spoke in a soft tone,

“Shh, it’s going to be alright.”

Miss Cake, startled by the sudden outburst, began to jitter her hooves, “will she? Based on that scream, I’d say she’s as good as gone!”

Flash, showing all the patience he could, tried his hardest to answer calmly, “I’m afraid she’s been through a lot. The damages she’s encountered are beyond extreme; there’s a chance she may never fully recover from her injuries.”

Miss Cake didn’t seem convinced, “so will she live? Will she die on my floor? I’m not sure I could live with that!”

I snorted; Flash glared at me before calmly answering again, “she will live only if we believe she can. Hope is half the battle, Mrs. Cake.”

My eyes widened as Twilight turned her head toward Spike, who had been gently rubbing her scalp the entire time. Twilight began to mutter words to him, words that were inaudible to us. Spike jumped to his claws as he paced around the room, “she’s awake! She’s awake!” He’d call out, jumping for joy.

The burned body coughed out to us, reaching her hoof toward Spike, which he immediately grabbed, “w-where am I?” Cried the body.

Flash raised a hoof before I could speak, leaning over her body, he spoke softly into her ear, “this is Sugarcube Corner; Pinkie and I brought you here to hide from the rest of the rampaging ponies.”

“Subtle,” I snorted at him; he glared back. Twilight was oblivious to everything in the room; it seemed as though she was blinded by her injuries,

“Where is everypony?” Her voice was raspy beyond belief; she could hardly speak as her mouth filled with blood. She coughed, “Where are my friends? Where is Applejack?”

Flash gave me a nervous look; he wasn’t sure what to say. He carefully bent over her, now kneeling, he whispered into her ear, “Applejack is gone, we haven’t seen her since she left several hours ago. Pinkie Pie is here with me; she helped me bring you in. Rarity as far as we know is gone. I’m sorry.”

Twilight’s legs began to move as she struggled to stand. I quickly ran to her side and held her down, repeating the same words over and over, “don’t move; it’s going to be alright,” and “you need to rest, stay here.”

Twilight cringed as I pressed against the cuts in her legs; she called out to Flash, “who are you? What do you want from me? Why can’t you let me be? Where are my friends?”

Flash tried to act as though he was under control. He smiled and laughed nervously, “heh, Twilight, you know me! I’m, uh, you know… Flash!”

Twilight left eye blinked rapidly; I glanced at Flash who had noticed the same strange phenomena. Twilight’s right eye teared up,

“Flash? Is that you?”

Flash blushed as though he had rehearsed the response, “that it is!”

Twilight shook her head in denial, “Flash? What are you doing in Canterlot business? Aren’t you supposed to be in the Crystal Kingdom’s Royal Guard? Why would you be taking orders to protect me? Who sent you?”

Flash smiled and laughed in his same silly fashion, “one at a time, Twilight. My orders came from Celestia; yes, it’s strange, but I’m afraid with the way things are changing in Equestria it would be more than normal to understand that. Celestia passed a law that Princess Cadence was forced to agree to; it was the unity of the two armies. So now I work for both Princesses; pretty cool, huh?”

She obliviously nodded toward him and turned toward me, who was still holding her down as best as I could,

“Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be on the farm?”

The color in my face drained to my hooves; I didn’t want to answer. I stared at her awkwardly,

“Do I really have to answer this? What would she benefit from me by telling her the truth?”

“She’s worried about you; tell her the truth. She will understand.”

“No, she won’t. I’m certain of that. She doesn’t understand death as I do. At least, not first-hoof.”

“She may not understand death, but she knows suffering more than anypony you know. Look at the state she’s in,” I did as I was told; I stared into her painful eyes. It was a pain that could not relate to; I had no idea what she was feeling, “she knows pain more than you. Of course she would understand.”

I wiped a tear from my face, “t-they didn’t make it.”

Twilight’s face grew more serious as she tried her best to sit up; I didn’t stop her. I watched as the sludge-like blood detached itself from the towel and clung to her wings,

“What?” She cried in disbelief; I didn’t want to talk about it, “what do you mean, Pinkie?”

I looked around, trying to think of the best lie. I knew it would be pointless but I gave it a shot anyway, “there was an accident, they fell off a cliff located beside their home. They didn’t survive the fall.”

She shook her head in denial, “there’s no way…”

“I know; it was a tragedy,” I cut her off before she said my story was unbelievable in a reasonable sense. She shook her head again,

“Your whole family died in a fall? Every one of them?”

I began to cry, “yes.”

Twilight lifted her hoof, crying in pain as she placed it upon my own. She turned toward Flash, who was weeping loudly in his own hooves. She weakly smiled as she tried to stand up; I tried to give her all the support I could. Before she could get a good standing on the ground, she slipped and fell back again in a puddle of blood, sweat and tears. She cringed as the floorboard hit against her wounded wings. She turned toward Flash, “need a hoof?” She cried.

Flash wiped the tears from his face and turned toward me, nodding. I gave a determined smile and nodded toward Spike who had settled down to see what was going on. Together, the three of us lifted Twilight to her hooves as she struggled to stand. Her wings opened as small droplets of blood sprayed across the room. Her knees shook restlessly as she looked toward Flash, who had stood back to see her stand from a distance. She rolled her eyes as best as she could,

“C-Canterlot. W-We need to get to C-Canterlot. P-Please, Flash. W-Will you c-carry me there?”

Flash snapped out of his faze and patriotically called out, “yes, m’lady!” He turned toward Spike and I, “will you help Twilight upon my back?”

I smiled, “of course! Spike?”

He saluted in a comical manner; we both rolled our eyes as we both knew it wasn’t the time for such games.

With much trouble, the two of us lifted Twilight’s struggling body onto Flash Sentry’s back as he marched out of Sugarcube Corner. Spike, of course, trailed along. His duty to Twilight was too great of a responsibility to be matched with any other task. Flash turned around as he waved to Miss Cake,

“Pinkie? Will you be joining us?” He’d ask with wonder. I nodded my head as I knew Canterlot was not the place for me. I had done all I could to help Twilight; I saved her life and that was enough for me,

“I’m sorry, but I can’t come. I’ve had some things to take care of.”

He nodded, understandingly as he made his way to Canterlot. Spike supported Twilight’s body as she nearly fell off balance.

“Why didn’t you go along? Is it really the truth what you say about your duty? You say you are a friend to Twilight, but is that really true? Would a friend stop there to support her?”

I sighed having not thought my decision through, “No, it wasn’t right, but I cannot join them. I have no place in Canterlot. They need to walk their path while I walk mine; I would only slow them down.”

“So that’s how you feel about all of this? Would you simply ‘slow them down’? Surely you must regret your decision!”

“I do regret my decision, but I am afraid it is the only decision to be made.”

I closed the door to the sad little bakery; Miss Cake was already working on cleaning up the bloodied mess on the floor.

“You aren’t going to join your friends?” She asked, pondering the thought. I myself didn’t know why I didn’t want to join the rest,

“how could I possibly explain something I didn’t know the answer to?”

“No, I’m not going; I don’t belong there.”

She gasped, “what do you mean, Pinkie? Of course, you are destined to be with them! They are your friends and you should help them out!”

“No,” I snapped, “no, I don’t! They have their own business to attend to and I have mine!”

I walked upstairs, regretful of the words I had said. I could hear Miss Cake’s regretful sighs as she mopped the floor. She began to whisper to herself as she cleaned, making me feel guiltier than before.

I closed the door behind me as I laid myself into bed,

“Did I make the right decision? Should I really have left my friends to fend for themselves? Then again, would I have been a useful asset in the first place?”

“That was a choice that you made on your own; I had no part in it. All I can say is that you are the only one who can determine whether or not it was right.”

“Perhaps, but how would it have turned out if I had gone along with them?”

“Who knows? You could have helped Twilight regain her throne, you could have succeeded her throne, or you could have died along the road. There is nothing that could have changed that.”

“Why is this all happening to me and my friends? What happened to the ponies who used to be so kind to each other?”

“Things change as time flies by; how a pony perceives them is dependent on you.”

“Is everypony like this? Or is it just my friends and me? What will happen to Cloudsdale? Will they claim victory?”

“Time itself can answer many of those questions. How many answers you expect will depend on how long you wait for them. Cloudsdale is a strong city, but from what you’ve seen, I know that the Unicorn Alliance will be victorious having a strong leader and friendship in charge of it.”

I sat up in my bed; the sun was setting and I was growing restless. I had been having a bad feeling ever since I brought Twilight back to Sugarcube Corner.

“Where are my friends? Where are they as of now?”  

“That is a question that you will have to answer on your own. Fear not, your answer will find you before you find it.”

Puzzled, I rolled out of bed and sat on the floor; there was no point in sleeping now.

“Will you not rest?”

“No, there’s is no point to it. How can I rest when I know that I will be haunted by my family’s spirit? Where would be the sensibility in that?”

His voice changed to a calmer and more understanding tone; he understood as well as I did the meaning of loss.

“If you will not rest then neither will I.”

I laughed, “you don’t need rest; all you need is a host to live on.”

“I have wandered many dates without a host. How is it that only now I need a host but never before?”

“I don’t know how you will respond without a host. Would you then be considered a wandering spirit again?”

For the first time since I had awoken from the hospital, there was silence. I treasured the moment greatly as I smiled and walked around the room with the slightest bit of joy. I felt as though a ten-pound weight had been lifted off my head as I waltz downstairs and greeted the world. Miss Cake, confused now more than ever, tried her best to understand,

“Pinkie? What’s going on? Are you alright?”

My mind was numbed from Silverhoove’s dwelling, I repeated the same phrase over and over, “I can think! I can think! I can think!”

Miss Cake rubbed her chin and fixed her hair nervously, “what do you mean, ‘you can think’? What happened to you upstairs?”

I wanted to explain it all to her; there was no shame in doing so. I took a deep breath and tried my best to word everything out so that she could understand. I watched as her expression changed from confused, to worried, to confused once more. When I finished, I was greeted by acceptance. She smiled and put a hoof over my shoulder,

“Thank you, Pinkie.”

I cocked my head to the left, “what for? I didn’t do anything.”

She nodded her head with disagreement, “no, Pinkie. You did everything; I finally understand what’s been going on with you. If only you told me before; thank you for opening up, Pinkie.”

She gave a hearty laugh, “Pinkie, get some sleep; you deserve it more than anypony in Equestria.”

I walked upstairs but I didn’t go to sleep; I paced about the room wondering whether or not she was being sincere.

“Why would she laugh like that? Does she really believe me?”

I waited, expecting a response, but alas, none came. I smiled and continued to waltz around the room. Jumping into bed, I closed the curtains behind my bed post. For the first time since I left the hospital, I was going to get some real sleep.

It was Ponyville. The Ponyville that I used to live in with happiness; a time when harmony was still a powerful force. I looked at the similar building designs; it was before the massive expansion. There were familiar faces everywhere; I could even recall the names of my neighbors. There I stood, standing in the doorway of what I assumed to be Sugarcube Corner. Ponies walked to and from their destinations with warm smiles as they spoke with one another. I began to feel in my chest, a light, as the sight pleased me.

“Pinkie!” Called Miss Cake. She didn’t show anger, but instead, satisfaction, “Pinkie, we need you at the counter!”

I smiled and turned around, “no problem, Mrs. Cake”

I hummed a happy tune, “was this real?” I thought to myself as Fluttershy walked into the bakery. Surprised, she smiled,

“Oh! Pinkie! How do you do?”

I laughed, “I’m wonderful! You?”

She looked down and shuffled her hooves, “oh, I’m fine.”

My jaw dropped as the room, turned pitch black with the exception of Fluttershy’s beady red eyes glowing with a sense of wonder. Fluttershy tilted her head,

“Pinkie? Are you alright?” She spoke with her signature soft tone; color resumed with the blink of an eye. I shook my head; confused, she tried to answer her own question, “no?”

Rarity charged into the room, holding up a piece of paper, “Pinkie! I need an order!”

I laughed nervously, “of course! What do you need?”

The color drained from the two ponies’ faces as Fluttershy dropped to the ground, limp and gray. Rarity’s arms were lifted with the help of a puppeteer’s key and threads. Her mouth opened with the scent of rotting bread, “your life.”

I blinked, rubbing my eyes furiously as Rarity softly spoke, a hint of concern in her voice, “Pinkie? Did you get all that? I need a triple-layered white frosting cake, decorated with the shiniest looking blue finish you can muster!”

I stared into oblivion, dazed by the order, “how soon do you need it?”

Rarity gasped with horror, “oh! I need it by tomorrow! Please tell me you can finish it in time!”

I couldn’t believe my ears, “A triple layered cake with a full sapphire finish by tomorrow? That was nearly impossible! Even with my set of skills, there was no way I could get it done by tomorrow afternoon!”

“I’d be happy to help you,” coughed Fluttershy, “but if you don’t need me, I’d understand that too.”

I nodded happily, “I need all the hooves I can get!”

Fluttershy blushed as she continued to shuffle her hooves,

“What’s going on in here?” Exclaimed Twilight as she walked into the room, “oh! Hi there, Pinkie! What are you three up to?”

Twilight looked younger and did not have the honor of carrying wings; I looked around the room nervously, still fazed by Rarity’s extensive order, “oh, Twilight! You’re just in time! I need help! I’ve got to fill out this order for Rarity’s party tomorrow and I need to bake a triple-layered, sapphire finished cake! It needs to be done by tomorrow afternoon!”

Twilight looked around the room at her friends; she apologized, “sorry, Pinkie. I’m a bit busy this weekend; I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

I was furious, but in a way, I understood what she meant. She was a very busy pony and even if she wasn’t a princess, she always had things to do. My neck arched downward as my head sank to the floor, “oh, okay. I understand; I can’t keep you waiting then! I’ll see you at the party?”

Twilight graciously smiled, “of course! There’s no doubt about it!”

She left the store without a rush in the world; I was happy for her. Rarity, however, was a different story. I wasn’t mad at her, but I could see her stress levels rising above her limit. She had a million things to plan, her hooves jittered about as she rapidly paced about the room,

“I’ll see you tomorrow, darling! Make sure it’s exactly as I ordered!”

I smiled and waved her goodbye, “don’t worry about it, Rarity! I’ll make sure it’s better than what you ordered!”

She shot me a cautious look before sprinting out of the shop, repeatedly reminding herself of all things she to have planned by tomorrow. Fluttershy calmly smiled, “is there anything you need me to do?” She’d say. I rubbed my chin; I needed to get this finished in a jiffy, but I wasn’t sure how to begin. Beginning a project was always the hardest part of making anything. I glanced at Fluttershy,

“Do you remember what kind of flavor Rarity wanted for the inside of the cake?”

Fluttershy thought for a second before answering, “actually, she didn’t say anything about what flavor. All she said was that she wanted a white frosting on the outside of the cake.”

“Exactly!” I snapped as I darted outside, “what’s better flavor than apples?”

“Um…” she thought about it long and hard, “what about cotton candy? Isn’t that one of your favorites?”

I stared at Fluttershy with disappointment; she retreated into her regular shy self as I glared her down, “oh, uh, sorry.”

I smiled, slapping her on the back as she gave a little yelp, “don’t worry about it, Fluttershy! We just need to talk to Applejack and see if she’ll lend us a few dozen apples!”

“A few… dozen?” There was a hint of concern in Fluttershy’s voice as she spoke. I could see she was dreading the way back, “how are we going to get the apples back to Sugarcube Corner?”

I laughed, “we carry them, of course! How else?”

“Oh… of course.”

Together, the two of us walked past the smiling civilians as Sweet Apple Acres grew larger in the distance. The sounds of apple bucking could be heard from the edge of town; it filled me with excitement knowing I was finally met with a baking challenge. Fluttershy trailed behind me, dreading the heavy load she was most likely going to carry on her own. Applejack stood along the side of the road, counting the apples present on a tree growing behind a fence. Curious, I asked her what she was up to; she smiled, “well howdy th’r, Pinkie! What c’n I do ya’ for?”

From my hair, I pulled out a single piece of paper and presented it to Applejack, her face blushing as she read it. My hoof began to cramp as I held it, the trees changed to a shade of deep red. Applejack looked up from the paper, her mane was a brilliantly colored purple color that Twilight would’ve envied. Her coat was a neon blue and her hair ribbon darker so. Although it wasn’t the hair or the coat that disturbed me, it was her eyes. They were a deep black color that looked as though somepony could get lost in them. Within her eyes was deep, dark red stain that corresponded with both irises. I shook my head as Applejack presented her confusion; I rubbed my eyes,

“Uh, Pinkie?” Questioned Applejack, looking nervously toward Fluttershy, “are ya’ al’ight there?”

Fluttershy expressed her concern, “Pinkie, is this cake thing too much for you? I’m sure Rarity would understand if you want to cancel the order.”

I shook my head violently, “no, it’s fine. I’ll get the cake done before she can ask me again; I’m sure of it!”

Applejack pushed her hat back, “well, if ‘ya want t’ah start bak’n now, I’d suggest ‘ya start now. So what’s it gonna be? Do you want ‘yer apples now? Er lat’r?”

I snapped out of it, “I’ll take ‘em now, if ya don’t mind,” I winked. Applejack smiled and walked through the gate,

“‘Ya comin’?” She opened the gate with a swift wave of the tail; I nodded toward Fluttershy as she sighed with loathful sorrow. Applejack lead us through all the trees in the orchard until we found ourselves standing outside the barn. She opened the door where she then stopped, turned around before she nervously winked. I shrugged as Applejack lowered her hat, “uh… do ya’ mind stay’n out ‘er for a sec’ while I go get the apples?”

I glanced toward Fluttershy; she didn’t seem to have a problem with it, after all, Applejack was willing to grant us several apples use for free. It would be rather rude to expect more from a generous act. We nodded; Applejack smiled and closed the door behind her. Fluttershy and I awkwardly stared at each other, shuffling our hooves in the dirt as a short raspy cry came from above the barn. I raised a hoof above my eyes to block the sun; it was Rainbow Dash who was falling towards us at the speed of light. Fluttershy panicked, pushing me out of the way before the two of us got hurt. During that time where I was suspended in the air, grasped firmly by Fluttershy’s softened hooves, I noticed the trees returning to their reddish state. Rainbow Dash’s fall began slowly as her head impacted the ground. Her neck bent hard against the ground as it slowly arched over, ultimately snapping in half. Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew larger as the pressure began to build up with each on popping out of their sockets like small discolored grapes. The blood poured from her neck as it splashed against the dirt, moistening it like a florist's flower bed. My eyes widened as I watched everything unfold,

“What’s happening?” I thought to myself as I the horrors came to reality. I closed my eyes to shield myself from anything else that could happen only to land upon the ground with Fluttershy atop me. She rolled off and ran to Rainbow Dash who was, to my surprise, alive and well. I rubbed the back of my neck,

“What’s going on? I saw you crash, and, and…”

Rainbow Dash laughed, cracking her back as if it were cool, “heh, don’t worry about me, Pinkie. I’m fine with not a scratch.”

She walked away limping; Fluttershy raised an unconvinced brow. Dash gave an unflattered smile, “heh,” she laughed. With that, she walked off the orchard toward town. Waving goodbye, she called back to us, “I’ll see you on the flip side, got it?”

I cupped my mouth, “see ya’, Rainbow Dash!”

She raised a hoof, leaving it suspended for a second before bringing it back down. Applejack opened the door, but as she opened her mouth, she paused; everything paused.

“Did you enjoy my absence?”

I could feel all the happiness drain from me, “what?”

Fluttershy and everypony around us seemed cold and still. I couldn’t believe it was over, “why would you do this?”

“To see how you would react if I ever left, of course. Once I saw that you were having a pleasant dream, I couldn’t resist dropping by and giving my salutations.”

“Well now that you’ve given them, can you put everything back in their place?”

There was a wild laugh from above me, “What would be the fun in that? Didn’t you miss me? Nopony to talk to, alone in your room with no one but me? Don’t you miss that?”

I thought about it; I actually was starting to miss him. He had a point; I was very much alone.

“Now, that wasn’t so hard was it? Let’s go back to life and leave this land of dread forever. You don’t want to know what was in store for you.”

“Why? What am I missing? Was there more a purpose to this dream than the melted images of my friends?”

“Of course! There is a reason for everything a pony does, but let’s just say that this was a dream you did not want to see the ending to.”

I awoke in a pool of sweat; I sat upright in my bed, alone as always. The room was dark with my curtains drawn. I called out to the spirit,

“Hello? Are you still there?”

I waited for a response, but none came. I heard the front door open and close; I began to panic.

“Hide. I’ll explain everything when you do.”

I looked around the room as fast as I could, eventually looking toward the closet on the opposite end of the room. I dove in, “what is going on?”

“The dream you had was going to tell you your fate; I never imagined it would come this soon.”

“What is going to happen to me?”

The floorboards in the hallway outside my door began to creak as I began to sweat, “was this the end?”

“Your death is soon and no matter where you hide, you will not survive.”

My mind began to run in circles as my bedroom door slowly opened and a single figure appeared from the darkness. I couldn’t think straight; I didn’t want it to.end. I wanted to see Twilight succeed; I wanted to do more; I wanted a second chance. I closed my eyes, covering them with my hooves, “what can I do to prevent this?”

The voice in my head grew quieter as though he was in the room, hiding from the predator beside me, “there is but one solution; you can become like me.”

“Split my soul and wander the trees for an eternity? I don’t think so.”

“Yes, but you will live for another thousand dates; you will live until your host dies.”

I weighed my options, jumping when Mrs. Cake burst through the door, turning on the lights. She yelled at the top of her lungs while I did my best to ignore her.

“If I die, what will happen to you? You’ve wasted your time with me! Now I will die live on and you will forever be in silence!”

“My time was worth it, but you have a duty to fulfill. You, Pinkamena, must take on my task and follow the legends as they were. You will watch Equestria grow into something more! You will get that privilege! Is that not what you want?”

I nodded to what seemed like myself. All I’ve ever wanted to do was help my friends and watch them grow. I wanted to make them smile and remember the good times we had. The catch was that I too wanted to remember those times. I wanted to be a part of the experience; I was always doing out of ordinary activities to show that I was different, that the absurd is the most memorable. Nopony would forget my deeds for as long as they lived. I had done it; I had made my mark in Equestria. Now it was my time to help others grow; I had the chance to show others my true colors for their own good. I could grant the wishes of others; I was ready to uphold that responsibility. I nodded once more,

“I will do the task that will be put upon me.”

“Good, you are prepared. Now, face your fears!”

I stood up, opening the closet door to find myself face to face with none other than Applejack. She was dressed in a dark blue cloak with a small shiny blade pressed against Mrs. Cake’s neck. Mr. Cake stood in the back, behind my bed crying for his life as his wife’s life was in danger. I closed my eyes as I prepared my speech,

“Hello, Applejack.”

Applejack dropped Miss Cake as she scurried toward her husband. Applejack cruelly smiled at me; she readied her small blade,

“Pinkie Pie! How nice to see you! How’ve you been?”

I turned away from her as she slowly walked toward me, “I know what you’re here for, Applejack. Just get it over with.”

She stopped, nodding her head, “no, I want this moment to last as long as possible. You’ve got a long death ahead of you.”

Miss Cake began to cry, “I’m so sorry, Pinkie. We had no idea you were in trouble. If we knew, we would have done more to protect you.”

Applejack turned to glare at her; I stood still to show no weakness, “don’t worry, Mrs. Cake, I didn’t know either.”

“Should I fight back? Would there be a point to it?”

“No, let your fate ride you until the end.”

“Just get it over with,” I sighed, “I want no more of this.”

Applejack hesitated as I turned around and lowered my head. Closing my eyes, I began to cry. The soft droplets that hit the wood echoed throughout the room. Applejack put a hoof on my shoulder as she raised the other above my head. I sighed once more, “is this really what you’re meant to do in this world? Kill your friends? End their lives and walk away as though you did a good deed?”

Applejack viciously jerked my head, “what do you know of purpose? All you do is prance around in your underwear and expect ponies to laugh at you. What have you done to contribute to Equestria? Nothing! You’ve done NOTHING!”

I lowered my head as a sharp click reigned throughout the room, “I’ve done more than you.”

She stopped to process the words before laughing, “is that so? Tell me then, what have you done to change Equestria? What have you contributed to this dying land?”

“I have witnessed a suicide, killed a friend, died only to become resurrected again, saved a friend and now I will live forever as an immortal force. What’s on your resume?”

She laughed it off, “you lie, Pinkamena. You’re really over-shooting your chances of survival. At this rate, you’ll be dead before you know it.”

“I never asked you to stop. I’ve accepted my fate, but what about you? Do you know how you will die? I certainly do,” I bluffed, luckily it worked. I could almost see Applejack blushing from behind me. I asked but one more question before I braced,

“So answer me, is this really what you were meant to do?”

Applejack raised her hoof high above her head and brought it down upon me, puncturing my neck, “yes.”

A stream of tears rained from my eyes, but I did not yell. I could feel the blood pouring from my neck as Applejack walked away from me, leaving the room and the shop with a feeling of “job well done”. Mr. and Mrs. Cake ran to me screaming loud enough for Canterlot to hear them. They had lost someone they loved and I shared their pain. My vision began to fade as they embraced me as tight as they could. Silverhoove was right; there was no way I could survive this. I accepted my pain and I thrived above all else. My tears were unstoppable, but my cries were silent. I closed my eyes knowing I had defeated my enemy.

“So here you stand. Welcome to my point of view.”

It was a starry void that reached to the depths of space. Small shards of light glowed around me as I tried to imagine living here for eternity. I sighed, “how long do you have?”

He sighed and for the first time, I could see him. His looks were indescribable; his face matched no others, his mane was pure silver and his cutie mark was no more than a shadow upon his flank, “I do not have long,” he echoed, “you must now take my place and forever remember your friends. I am sorry I did not tell you about your fate earlier. It didn’t seem like the time to bring up death while you were still mourning about your parents.”

I nodded my head, “I understand; there is no need to apologize. I will take your place and wait under the pool of those unfortunate to find it. There I will serve anypony who finds me and I will then grant them their heart’s desire. Silverhoove, you are relieved.”

Silverhoove bowed to me before fading away into oblivion, “I thank you, Pinkamena Diane Pie. You have taught me more than I could have imagined.”

“Then it shall begin.”