Author's Notes:

Hiya! I finally got this chapter done, which took a lot longer than I was thinking it would. It also took a long time because I'm currently working on another chapter for one of my stories, and then I'm going to make a sequel to one of my other stories.

Anyway, hope you enjoy! Please tell me if you see any story, grammar, or just overall errors/issues.

And before you ask, yes, the title of this chapter is an undertale reference.

The Dark Room.

She had been to this place once before, when she was in comatose after killing Igneous, her body collapsed and her mind unable to accept the reality she found herself in. Then Discord inserted The Whispers into her mind in a desperate attempt to force her to wake up, which worked.

That was when hell truly started for her.

After The Whispers showed her the illusion of her father killing her sisters, then her killing her father, they showed up themselves. They forced her to face the truth, something she had been so desperate to remain in ignorance of. After that, she could no longer pretend. He had to accept who she was, what she’d done, and what she’s become.

The price for this awakening was immense, and she was the only one who had to pay it. She came out of her comatose a changed person, for better or worse. She now had the voices of the dozens of leaders of The Syndicate, always in the back of her head. Her emotions were now also extremely erratic, sometimes The Whispers could make her feel next to nothing, other times they had absolutely no control over what she felt.

And she didn’t even have full access to them yet.

Now, she stood in this dark room once again. Odd, she’s noticed that two out of the three times she’s actually slept after being exposed to them, she ended up here. The third time she couldn’t even remember her dream. Perhaps that was why she was so hesitant to sleep lately?

It was exactly how she remembered it to be. The room was nothing but darkness, the walls, roof, and floor seemed to be made out of it. The room itself was filled with some kind of dark fog, so thick Pinkamena could barely see in front of her. And just like the last time, she could hear the whispering of The Whispers in them, though they are considerably louder than when they are just in the back of her head.

Looking down at her own body, she noticed that she had the clothes she was wearing when she fought Michael. Except they weren’t torn to pieces due to the pure brutality of it, seems it was right before then. Her entire body also seemed to be corrupted by the darkness, from head to toe, she was covered in it, and yet she didn’t feel a thing.

Except for one part of her body.

In the middle of her chest, where her heart would be, there was a very small light. It was about the size of a rock, but it was still there. She wondered what it was, but some part of her knew it was the necklace, her sisters necklace. But why was it shining? Why was she even here in the first place?

The last thing she remembered was being on top of Michael, about the rip his heart out. Then she felt a sharp pain in her neck as something pierced her, only to slowly turn her head and to realize that Starlight had shot her with a tranquilizer, and then she just passed out.

Her memory has been very inconsistent lately, that and the number of times she has been forced into unconsciousness lately should probably concern her.

“You know, I’ve only been here twice, and I’m already getting sick of it,” Pinkamena said, peering into the darkness as she did.

She knew The Whispers were listening, they always were.

“Two times you remember being here, you mean.” A voice responded, hinting that her memory may have been tampered with.

This voice wasn’t like the one she had heard the last time she was here, nothing like it. It wasn’t disembodied or demonic, didn’t sound like dozens of people talking at once. It sounded...feminine, actually, and quite childlike.

Pinkamena noticed a figure coming out of the dark mist, but, like the voice, it wasn’t like the one last time. The previous form was only slightly human in shape, and seemed to constantly be changing and morphing, like it would dissipate and become the mist in the room at any second. This form didn’t look like that at all, it was human. Or, at least, seemed to be.

As the figure stepped out of the mist, Pinkamena had to lower her gaze, as it was obvious this thing was quite short, about half her height.

“Your memory is surprisingly easy to manipulate, you really need to work on your mental fortitude.” It said in a snarky tone, but yet somehow seemed to also be in a teasing one.

The thing before her was taking the form of a child, a little girl, to be exact. It was hard to tell the age, somewhere between ten and twelve, Pinkamena guessed. She had short, copper red hair. It barely reached down to her ears, but was completely straight, not a single curl in sight. Her bangs, on the other hand, were somewhat long. Reaching down to the spot right between her eyebrows, though not long enough to cover her eyes at all.

Her eyes were a bright green, seeming to sparkle like a gem. Though, not emeralds, not like Applejack. It seemed...different somehow, it was a different shade. It resembles a Tsavorite more, one of Maud’s favorite gems in her collection. Though her eyes were quite bright, they still seemed somewhat dull, like the life in them was just gone, resembling more of the eyes of a corpse than a little girls.

Even so, she was very pretty. She had a perfectly curved chin and normal sized nose, and her skin was extremely pale, almost like a doll. Except for her cheeks, they were bright pink, almost rosy. They were right at the end of her dimples, making it hard to tell whether they were fake or not. Her entire face and figure seemed to be like a doll, that smirk on her face showed no signs of changing, almost like it was etched into her face. And just as infuriating, was how smug it was, like she knew everything Pinkamena didn’t, which she likely did. Her eyes seemed completely locked on Pinkamena, keeping eye contact and not seeming to let up, barely even seeming to blink.

Like a doll, she was wearing a long dress, going down to just barely above her feet. It covered her entire body, the ends of it ending in a skirt. It was only one color, blue. Baby blue, to be specific, like Pinkamena’s eyes. Somehow, she felt that was intentional. Her shoes reminded of her Cinderella's, the way the looked resembled them immensely. From the fact they were slip on shoes, and the way they fit her foot so perfectly. Though, these ones weren’t made of glass or blue. Instead, these were pink and made of plastic, clearly fake.

The same shade of pink as her hair, actually. Everything about this girl was putting Pinkamena on edge, not even considering the fact she was clearly apart of The Whispers.

The little girl walked up to Pinkamena almost giddily, her hands behind her back clasped together.

“Who the fuck are you?” Pinkamena spat, no matter its appearance, she knew its true nature.

The little girl did not move, her eyes did not blink or glance away, nor did her smile falter. She did not even recoil as the spit landed on her face, as if it weren’t even there.

“Such vulgarity, come now, there’s no need for that.” She said as she began to walk a circle around Pinkamena, her eyes never leaving Pinkamena's. Pinkamena could not turn around, no matter how much she tried. But she could still feel that hollow, unblinking gaze piercing into her.

“Well, as you know, we have many names. I can’t even tell you whether this form is of a real person or not. So, hmm, let me think.” Her voice sounded so genuine and generic, having a tone of innocence and sickeningly sweetness to it. She began humming a tune behind her, one Pinkamena recognized almost instantly.

That was “In a World of My Own”, it was a tune she couldn’t quite get out of her head when she was younger, though she never could remember the actual lyrics. But... why couldn’t she remember the movie is it was from?! She knew, she knew she knew that movie, but why couldn’t she place it?

Pinkamena’s eyes widened slightly in realization, and she swore she could feel the little girls smile widen a little bit when she did. She took the memory of the name of the movie out, just so she could prove just how easily manipulated her memory was. Or maybe it was just to show how much control she really had over her, she never really knew with The Whispers.

“Oh! I know! You may call me,” She suddenly twirled in a circle as she came from the left of Pinkamena, leaning down and showing her back her hands clasped together behind them, though her eyes never left hers. “Alice. Alice will do just fine.”

She then stood straight up again, letting out a slight giggle as she did.

Pinkamena only began to feel further infuriated, it was teasing her, and they both knew it. It wanted her to know it could pick and choose what they wanted her to remember, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

“How much?”

Alice tilted her head to the left slightly in confusion, looking up at Pinkamena curious what she meant, though the smugness of that smirk didn’t go anywhere.

“How much what?” She replied innocently, feigning ignorance.

“ How much of my fucking memories have you manipulated since Discord put you in my head!?” Pinkamena screamed at her, but the sounds of her scream didn’t travel to the rest of the room, almost like there was some invisible barrier around them.

“Oh, that.” She replied with a roll of her eyes, seeming now disinterested in the subject.

“You might be a Mongoloid at times, but you have your moments of ingenuity. Don’t worry, we haven’t touched any memories of yours. I’m surprised you figured it out so soon, but I only took out the name of one of your favorite childhood movies to show you that your memory isn’t something you can reliably believe in all the time.” Her tone was as condescending as it was arrogant, making her seem a lot older and mature than the appearance she was taking.

“We’ve really got to work on that, along a lot of other things. But first,”

She walked directly up to Pinkamena, her eyes slowly moving from her face to her chest. She slowly brought up her right hand, all of her fingers being clenched except for her pointer finger, which was extended outwards. She brought her pointer finger forward, poking the light that was in the center of her chest. She then leaned down again, examining it like it was something that both amazed her and confused her, before turning her gaze back to Pinkamena almost expectantly.

“Do you know what this is?” Pinkamena couldn't tell whether was genuinely curious, or she already knew the answer and just wanted to see if Pinkamena knew.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, neither of them making a move or sound. Pinkamena knew the answer, but she was trying to figure out why Alice wanted to know, or if there was some specific way she was supposed to answer. She realized that it was impossible to figure out The Whispers and how they think, so she quickly gave up on that.

“My necklace,” Pinkamena said bluntly.

“Well, it is a little more than that, but yes. That is the necklace you found in the woods, the one that belonged to the sisters you loved so much.” Despite her words, Pinkamena didn’t feel like there was any ill intent in them. Even so, it didn’t piss her off any less.

Alice stood straight up and turned around, quickly pulling her hand away and putting them behind her back again, interlocking them together as she showed her back to Pinkamena.

“That necklace is one of the most important things to you, whether you realize it or not. Not only does it have sentimental value because it belonged to the sisters you could never see alive again, but it reminds you of who you were. Before the woods, the torture, before you became a chimera, killed your father, and became the leader of The Syndicate, though you’re doing a pretty poor job of it so far. Not just that, but it also helps you hold on to your anger. Every time you look down at that necklace, it reminds you of the grief and anger you felt towards your father and yourself. It’s…..almost masochistic in nature, that thing is as much of a burden as it is a blessing, it keeps you human. Which is really making me realize something about you,”

She slowly turned her head to the left, her left eye looking at Pinkamena, her eye halfway shut in a judgemental way. And, for just a moment, her smile was replaced by a frown.

“You’ve got a real problem when it comes to letting things go, don’t you?” Her tone was borderline sadistic, that smug smirk quickly coming back, seeming a little wider this time.

Pinkamena didn’t answer, there was no point. The question was clearly rhetorical, Alice already knew the answer. But she was asking it because she wanted her to get angry, or get some kind of reaction out of her. But she wouldn’t, she wouldn’t let them provoke her.

“Not answering? It was a simple yes or no question.”

Again, there was just silence. Alice sighed disappointedly, turning her head back around as she faced away from her again.

“Very well, be difficult if you like. But, I feel like this is harder than what it needs to be because you’re mistaking me for someone else. So, I’m going to clarify things for you,” She slowly raised her left hand, this time being open. Then she quickly snapped her fingers, the sound of the snap seemed to echo throughout the room.

Suddenly, Pinkamena felt like a huge tension had been released. She didn’t realize how heavy her body was until that weight was gone, or even that she hadn’t been able to move her body before. Now she felt weightless, like it would be so easy to run around this room in seconds.

Or run forward and snap Alice’s neck in an instant, if she so felt like it.

“You have this terrible misinterpretation about us, though your first impression was.... him.” She said with slight disgust, having a strong dislike for whoever she was talking about. “So I really can’t blame you for misunderstanding us, or thinking we’re your enemies. Anytime we’ve had a host and let him handle first impressions, it always ended up like that. I...we’ve decided to stop sitting back and corrupting them, most of the time, driving them insane in the process. You’re special, in a lot of ways. So you’re going to be treated quite differently.”

Pinkamena didn’t take her eyes of Alice, not even when she slowly began to move closer to her. She listened to her words, but had a hard time trusting them. In every horror movie she’s ever seen, the little girl was never to be trusted. It may sound stupid to use the logic of horror movies in real life, but her entire life has seemed like a horror movie lately.

“Your concept of what we are is a singular being made up of dozens of other beings, all working together in perfect cohesion for one goal. And, at a time, you would have been right. But, things have changed, time has changed us. It started as us just disagreeing on some decisions for ethical reasons, then we soon came to decide all of us were not as compatible as we first thought. After the last host committed suicide, we realized we were doing something terribly wrong, and started blaming each other. Soon we had been split in half, two sides of the same coin, if you will. We believe things should be done one way, they believed another.”

“Let me guess, you’re the good half of this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation?”

Alice let out a hollow chuckle, almost like she’d heard a joke she used to think was funny, but had heard it too many times at this point.

“Things are never as simple as good and evil, most situations are far too subjective. No, we both want the same thing, just different views on how to achieve it. He believes in doing anything and everything that he deems necessary to keep The Syndicate going, and to make you the best leader he can make you. But me? I focus on the person, not their role. I work on who they want to be, not what they should be doing.”

Pinkamena was standing directly behind her now, looking down at her like a bug she was about to squash. If Alice knew, she gave no indication of it.

“So what, you’re here to make me a better person?”

Alice turned quickly turned around, not seeming surprised at all when she saw Pinkamena was standing behind her. “If that is who you desire to be, which is what I believe you do. Just remember, I can only guide you down the path you seek. I can not, nor will not, make you do anything. I am nothing like him, I will not hurt you when you speak up or just to get my way, and I won’t manipulate you into doing what I like. I will speak nothing but the truth when I am with you, whether you believe me or not is up to you.”

Her words sounded genuine, even her smug smile was gone as she looked down at her. Even so, Pinkamena couldn’t help but scowl as she looked down at her.

“I’m sorry, I already have a therapist. Though I’ve yet to have my first session with her, so I’ll keep you in mind.” Pinkamena’s tone may have been in a joking one, but she didn’t let down her guard, not even for a second.

Alice shook her head disappointedly, looking up at Pinkamena with a disapproving frown.

“You’ve changed so much, yet you insist on using comedy as a coping method.” She mumbled to herself, just barely loud enough for Pinkamena to hear. “No, I’m not going to be your therapist. I’m going to be,” She said louder this time, standing straight up and spreading her arms to the side in a welcoming way. Her smile was no longer smug, but seemed almost warm and kind, now showing all of her white teeth. “Your best friend!” She declared proudly.

Once again, there was an awkward silence. Alice stood there with her arms to her sides, her smile not faltering. Pinkamena only stared at her, as if just trying to process how to react.

Then, she smiled, she genuinely smiled. It might have been slight, but she really smiled.

“That’s funny, I didn’t think you guys were capable of jokes.”

Alice slowly lowered her arms, that warm smile leaving with it. “I see, you don’t believe me. That’s fair, after everything that’s happened to you, having trust issues is understandable. Here, let me show you something.”

She turned around and looked up, almost like she was looking for something. She then raised her right hand, snapping her fingers loudly. Pinkamena only watched her intently, somewhat concerned. The Whispers have tried showing her things before, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

In seconds, the darkness in front of Alice completely disappeared. Though only about a large rectangles worth, the darkness around it stayed, almost like there was something preventing it from moving in.

In place of this space, there was suddenly a bright, blue light, somewhat resembling a TV turning on. Then images began to show up, in full color and detail. The images began to move, like videos.

“Come on Pinkie! You need to hide better than that! It's no fun if you’re easy to find!”

Pinkamena’s eyes widened as she heard that voice, her eyes now glued to this screen. That was Blinkie’s voice, she would know that voice anywhere. She remembered this day, this was the first time she played hide and seek with Inkie and Blinkie. She was always bad at it, she could never stop herself from suddenly bursting into laughter whenever she was hiding.

And, for the first time in a long time, she felt happiness. It had been so long since she had heard her voice, so long since she had almost forgotten it. She didn’t know The Whispers had access to her memories like this, but if they could show her memories she didn’t even remember, it didn’t bother her that much.

Then it was gone, just like that.

With one hand behind her back, and the other one extended, Alice swiped sideways in the air before her, as if she were scrolling through pages on the internet. When she did, the memory disappeared, quickly being replaced by another one.

All the while, she seemed to be joyfully humming a tune to herself. “The Caucus Race”. Another tune Pinkamena quickly recognized, it was another song she had in her head for a while as a kid. Once again, from the movie she couldn’t remember.

“Happy sixteenth birthday Marble.”

There was suddenly loud shouting coming from the memory, though there were only two people, it sounded louder than it was. Pinkamena knew this memory, she remembered it vividly.

It was Blinkie’s sixteenth birthday, and the first birthday party she had ever thrown. It’s funny, she had called them Inkie and Blinkie for so long, she had forgotten that their real names were Limestone and Marble, it sounded weird to call them that. Cloudy told them they weren’t allowed to throw a party outside of the house, so she and Blinkie made do with the bedroom they all shared.

They had been talking about it in secret for about a week beforehand, soon coming to a decision. She, of course, would be handling the actual party. And Blinkie, since Pinkamena didn’t get an allowance, would be handling the gift. Pinkamena admitted she felt somewhat guilty about not being able to get Blinkie a gift, so she tried to make up for it by throwing the best birthday party she could.

The art teacher loved her, so it wasn’t too difficult to borrow some of the art supplies. The hard part was the cake. She didn’t have the money to buy one from Sugarcube Corner, so she had to bake one. First time she ever baked, actually. And, if she was being honest, that cake was horrible. It looked fine, but it tasted absolutely revolting. Luckily, after much practice, she soon learned how to make cakes a lot better.

They knew Inkie didn’t do too well with being surprised, so they decided it would be better to blindfold her and lead her into the room, saying there was something waiting for her in that room.

What was waiting for her was a room that looked exactly like a ten-year-olds birthday party, because that was essentially all she knew when it came to parties. There was a sign above the doorway that said ‘Happy Birthday Blinkie!’ in poorly written pain, with stick figures beside them. Streamers of course, but no balloons, art club didn’t have any of those.

She did manage to get one of the tables in the center of the room after pushing the beds up against the wall, and the cake had some rather colorful candles, and maybe the table had a bit more glitter than necessary. But Pinkamena did all she could and all she knew how to do, and she didn’t want to disappoint her sisters.

When the blindfold was taken off and they both shouted happy birthday, of course, Inkie was startled. But when she started looking around and seeing what was around the room, she smiled.

That was the first time she’d ever seen her smile, Pinkamena had never felt so proud and happy in her life. At that moment, she had discovered her passion, throwing parties. It was the first time she felt she had actually contributed to someone’s happiness, it was the first time she felt….love, real love.

Though, when she started crying, Pinkamena couldn’t help but blame herself, thinking that her party was so bad it made her sister cry.

But that was quickly cleared up when Inkie rushed forward to comfort her, but she raised her hand to stop her, wiping her tears as she did.

“No...I’m, I’m just so happy!” She said shakily, her voice cracking as she spoke, she wasn’t really used to talking that much.

For the rest of the birthday party, if it could even be called that, they mostly just talked. They couldn't really dance, as there wasn’t anything to listen to music with. Nothing really exciting happened until the gifts.

“This one’s from us!”

Blinkie pulled a small, pink gift box from behind her, pushing it across the table to Inkie. Inkie was hesitant to open it, she hadn’t been expecting any gifts, or a party at all, for that matter.

She slowly began to open it, Blinke watched her excitedly, and Pinkamena watched her curiously.

When she took the top off, her eyes widened as she let out a gasp of surprise.

“This….this is beautiful! How did you afford this?” Inkie asked as she began to pull the necklace out of the gift box.

Pinkamena instinctively pulled her hand to her chest, grabbing a hold of that very same necklace.

“Well, I, uh, kind of, had to spend my entire allowance. And then some? I might be working overtime at my job for the next few months. But, it really suits you, doesn’t it?” Blinkie asked sheepishly, looking at Inkie eagerly.

Inkie stared at the silver necklace, her eyes fixed on the red jewel in the center of the golden heart. It really was a beautiful necklace.

A slight smile came onto her face as she looked at Pinkamena and Blinkie, at this moment, she had never felt happier to be related to who she was. Even if this family had its ups and downs, these two made it worth it.

She slowly put the necklace on, closing her eyes and smiling as she did.

“Thank you, both of you. I lov-”

Alice swiped her hand, seeming to have lost interest in this memory.

Pinkamena felt her heart sink, clenching onto the necklace slightly tighter. She wanted to call out, to tell Alice to go back.

But she didn’t, she knew there was no point, The Whispers didn’t care about anything but themselves.

The next memory was a recent one, when Twilight first came to Canterlot High after Sunset stole The Element of Magic, and everything that happened after. The Dazzlings, The Friendship games, all of it. Spending time with her friends, saving the world, enjoying every second of it. Completely ignorant of the dismal future that awaited her, just living life to its fullest.

All while the sisters she claimed to love were rotting in a cave, while she could have done something, anything, to try to save them.

“You used to be a good person you know, an Element of Harmony, even. But,” Alice went silent for a few seconds, seeming content on just watching the memory for a few seconds.

“You were just born in really bad circumstances. Now, you’re going down a path you don’t want to, you’re being corrupted. You’ve pushed away your friends because you had to, your only sister is despondent, your mother could very possibly be dead, you have no one.”

Alice snaps her fingers, causing the giant invisible square to disappear, the darkness quickly consuming the spot it was in. She turns around and walks up to Pinkamena, who was staring at the spot the square used to be, still desperately holding on to her necklace.

“Who you are now is not who you were, you are no longer Pinkie Pie The Party Planner. You are Pinkamena Diane Pie, The leader of The Syndicate, and a chimera. Yet you carry all of Pinkie’s baggage, that necklace is a good representative of that. But, I know you won’t let go. You can’t, you don’t know how.”

Pinkamena slowly lowered her gaze to Alice, though her grip on the necklace did not lighten.

“You need someone, someone who’s seen everything you’ve gone through, and understands. Someone who, no matter what you do, or what you become, will always be here. I can guide you down the right path, I can help you cope. I can be your best friend, all you have to do,”

She slowly walked forward, putting her arms around Pinkamena as she did. Her arms reached around to her back as Alice pushed herself against Pinkamena, her head squishing against Pinkamena’s stomach. She hugged her as tight as she could, Pinkamena didn’t seem to resist at all.

Strangely, Alice was very warm. Comforting, even.

“Is let me. We only want to help you. Or, at least, help you help yourself.”

Alice could feel Pinkamena begin to shake, feeling her gaze looking down at her from above.

“I want to, I want to so bad you couldn’t possibly understand. But how? How can I possibly trust you? Trust anyone in this fucked up world? How…….How can I even trust myself?”

Alice could feel the tears hitting the top of her head, she could even feel how erratic her breathing suddenly became.

And she smirked.

“Well,” Alice said as she hugged her a little tighter. “What have you got left to lose?”

What felt like hours passed before either said anything. Then, Alice felt Pinkamena hesitantly let go of the necklace, her breathing seeming to somewhat stabilize and her tears stopping.

“Ok.”

That was the last thing Pinkamena remembered before there was a sudden blinding light, bringing her back to the real world.