Paul was lost. He had no idea where he was or how to find the others. It felt like days had passed since they entered the maze and he was growing very concerned for his friends. His tummy rumbled, signaling that he was hungry. He whined slightly, and wished he had something to munch on, even if it was only a few mushrooms. Hanging his head, he plodded on, occasionally twisting his head from side to side when he came across a crossroads. The weird voice had essentially told him that Rainbow Dash had managed to escape, Paul had been happy to know that his friend was most likely to be okay, but she was probably lost somewhere in the woods, and he didn't trust the voice one bit. Paul was sad again, knowing that his friend was most likely alone and lost, and his other friends were trapped in this maze, maybe never being able to get out. He sighed, then his ears pricked. He'd heard something. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it sounded like it was on the other side of the wall. Running up to it, he placed his ear against the stone.
"...Ca.....eavy....na...co...pse."
"Wis..ight....ak....nd...walk." Paul recognised both those voices, they were muffled, and the first one sounded exhausted, but they were definitely the voices of Fluttershy and Rarity. Paul barked to get their attention
"Wha...hat?"
"...nded....ual." He barked again, louder this time
"...init...Pau..."
"Pa...! Pau...! ...ul! Paul started to bark rapidly and scratch at the wall, when he still couldn't get through to them, he began searching the wall for any cracks. Luckily, since the maze was so old, the wall had plenty of cracks, now he just needed to break the wall down. Carefully, he scrabbled at the loose parts of the wall and started to pull them down. He heard scratching from the other side and assumed that Fluttershy and Rarity were doing the same.
After a few minutes of scraping the wall finally collapsed and Paul came face to face with the Fluttershy and Rarity, both carrying an unconscious Twilight on their backs. Paul jumped forward and began to nuzzle them in delight, before looking at Twilight quizzically.
"Twilight fainted after learning that Pegasi can hold their breath for extended periods of time." Rarity simply stated, Paul made the best 'o' shape he could with his wooden doggy mouth. "Now, we must be off if we are to find the others, though I do hope that they are already at the centre of this dreadful maze."
"Raw." Paul agreed, nodding his head
"Paul, be a dear and help us out with Twilight would you? I don't think poor Fluttershy can take the strain much longer, even with me helping." Paul nodded and reached out for Twilight, gently nudging his nose under her and awkwardly turning to place her on his back. Though, as soon as Twilight was on his back, Fluttershy collapsed too.
Night Walker, the cutie mark crusaders and Applejack were trying to figure out how to get the orb down from the statue, while a despondent Pinkie Pie sat off to the side and watched. She continued watching, not saying anything, or moving to help. Whilst watching them, she thought about a few things,
'I was a real meanie pants to Applejack earlier...I should really apologise..'
'Apologise for what though? You were only telling her to be quiet...' A voice similar to hers hissed through her mind
'Yeh, but I was unnecessarily mean. I could have just asked her to be quiet...'
'Would she have listened to you?'
'Of course! Applejack is one of my best friends!'
'Would she really have listened to you? You, a crazy party pony who is known for being random, would she have taken your words into account?'
'...Yes. Applejack is my friend, she wou-'
'Is she though? Is she really your friend? Are any of them your friends?'
'Of course they are! How could you doubt them?'
'Maybe it's the lack of sympathy they hold for Rainbow Dash. The lack of sympathy for your feelings. How they just carry on without a second thought. They just brushed you aside, when you needed their comfort most.'
'That's not true! We need to stop Queen Meanie! There's no time to waste just sitting down all mopey and not doing anything!'
'You seem to have all the time in the world, after all, Nightmare moon isn't doing anything, and Twilight has already told you that she should be ready to take Equestria by now.'
'Maybe Twilight got it wrong! It's easy to get it wrong! Maybe Nightmare moon hasn't got her army yet, maybe they're not ready!'
'Maybe so, but if that's the case, then you still have plenty of time to sit and mope and grieve and comfort. All the things your friends don't seem to care about.'
'W-well, we're all stressed right now, and Dashie's gone...everypony's just trying to cope...'
'Well, their "trying to cope" isn't helping, is it? They aren't helping you, when you seem to be the one coping the least, they even said it, and they still won't help you...'
'B-but'
'NO BUTS! Your so called 'friends' aren't helping you when you need it most! And all they care about is stopping Nightmare moon, when she's not doing ANYTHING! What right do they have as your friends?'
'*sniff*, T-they c-care...don't they?'
'No they don't! Just look at them! Do they look they they care? Do they spare a glance in your direction?'
'N-no. T-they don't.'
'Then why should you consider them your friends?'
'D-Dashie's my friend.'
'But she's not here now, Is she?!'
'Paul is-'
'A figment of your imagination! Something you made up in that dream scope and just so happened to materialize into reality when you escaped! He doesn't count.'
'...What should I do?'
'You've already shown them how upset you are, and they ignored you, now it's time to get revenge...' The voice faded away as Pinkie's coat became slightly grey-er.
Paul and Rarity wandered through the maze, Paul carrying his two unconscious companions on his back. They were lost and they knew it, they had no clue where they were going, Rarity was pretty sure that they had been down this path twice already, she thought Paul agreed with her, but, unfortunately, unlike Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, Rarity couldn't understand him. It had come as a surprise when Fluttershy had announced that she couldn't understand him, I mean, she's Fluttershy! Animal pony, can talk to and understand all beasts...except timberwolves, apparently. Rarity sighed, her hooves were aching terribly, she had been walking for DAYS! OK, so she couldn't tell how long she'd been walking for, but it felt like days. Her mane was an absolute mess! It was covered in twigs and leaves, and in her panic of becoming lost in the maze, she had completely forgotten to whine about it! She couldn't not complain about how tired she was, or how filthy her mane and coat was, everypony would think she didn't care! And then she'd never be able to make it to Canterlot, and open up her business because nopony would believe she liked fashion, and then she'd never be able to make it to Canterlot nobility and meet HIM! The most gorgeous, and handsome and sweet, and kind pony ever! She didn't know what he looked like exactly, but she was hoping he wasn't a relative of that snobby so-called 'Prince' Blueblood. Eugh! Just the thought of the name made her hurl. AHA! That gave her an idea, she's fake being ill, that way, they'd have to stop! Also, she wasn't sure why she was talking to herself, she was pretty sure Paul could hear her mumbling and hoped that he couldn't pick up the words.
She was just about to start whining, when, suddenly, her mind went blank, flashed green and went back to normal, well, almost normal. While she could see everything that she'd been able to before, she could also now see a line of curious green orbs. They looked like they were heading somewhere. She looked up, Paul hadn't seemed to notice it, as he was still walking down the path, and now taking a right turn away from the orbs. Walking up to an orb, Rarity touched it, and instantly, her mind went blank again, only this time, it didn't flash green and return to reality, instead it showed her where the path lead, at the end of the pathway, there was an opening, and in the opening was a statue holding an orb, and currently creating a tower of ponies to reach the orb were,
"Our friends..." Her mind winked back to reality, "PAUL!" She shouted and ran to catch up, "Paul wait up! Your going the wrong way!"
Paul turned to look at her, confused "Raw?"
"We have to go the other way, I know how to get to the others!" And with that, she turned and galloped off in the other direction, leaving Paul to try to process what she just said,
"Raw?"
Pinkie Pie watched as the ponies in front of her stood atop one another in a pony pyramid, Applejack and Night Walker were at the bottom, with the crusaders standing on top of them. Scootaloo was at the very top, standing on Sweetie Belle, who, in turn, was standing on Applebloom. Scootaloo could only just reach the orb and, to no avail, was trying to pull it out from the statue's grip.
"Pinkie, c'n ya, help us?" Applejack called to her, straining slightly
"Why should I?"
"Cause we need th' orb t'git out o' here maybe?" Applejack said
"Hmph!"
"What is up with ya today Pinkie?"
"MM."
"Look, ah know yer upset 'bout Rainbow, we all are, but ya gotta help us. Y'ave been good with this 'till now." Pinkie just stuck her tongue out in reply. Applejack sighed and shook her head.
"I can't get it." Scootaloo said from above, "It's stuck."
"Try pullin' it harder!" Applebloom replied
"It's not working!"
"Let me try then."
"How are you gonna reach? Both me and Sweetie Belle are standing on top of you."
"Sweetie Belle and I" Sweetie corrected
"Who cares, Sweetie? If ya haven' noticed, we're tryin' ta save Equestria here."
"I was just saying..."
"Oh shut up, both of you! I can't concentrate with you blabbering away."
"Concentrate on whut?"
"Trying to move this stupid orb!"
"Technically, an orb can't be stupid."
"Sweetie Belle!"
"What?"
"Will all three o' ya be quiet!?" Applejack called up to them
"Scoot's can't git th' orb!"
"Fine, Pinkie! Git yer pink flank over here! We need an extra hoof!" Pinkie ignored her, and turned away "Gosh darnit, PINKIE!" But Pinkie continued to ignore the orange earth pony
'See, what did I say? They're just using you to get what they want.'
"*Sniff* But they need my help, why won't you let me help? None of us will get out if I don't help"
'Yes you can, they don't need your help, they just want you to do the dirty work.'
"B-but they're doing the dirty work."
'What? Standing around like lemmings whilst the fillies get the orb? They're using the fillies just as they want to use you.'
"But that's just Applejack! Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity aren't here yet!"
'Exactly, they're just waiting for you to get the work done. They're freeloaders. They will only come once they get fed up of you trying to get the orb'
"But I'm not trying"
'Exactly, you're not playing along with their little game, don't worry, they'll come and get the orb down for you, you don't have to do any work for this pathetic lot.'
"They are not pathetic! They're my friends!"
'*Sigh* I see I won't get that through to you just yet. But it doesn't matter, you'll come around eventually.'
"What do you mean?" But the voice was already gone.
Pinkie sat quietly for a while, just staring at the ground in front of her. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there, but eventually, the sound of hoof clops became evident in her ears. It was faint, at first, but it kept getting louder, it sounded like the pony was running. Then, she could hear a softer clopping sound, like paws. No-it couldn't be, could it? He wasn't real, he shouldn't be real, he was just a figment of her imagination. But, it had to be him. A voice, she could hear a voice, it was faint, but she could definitely hear it. And she recognised it. It was high pitch and girly. It was Rarity. What was she saying? Pinkie didn't know. Another voice, but this one was of another language, it sounded like a form of bark to anyone who couldn't understand the speaker. But to Pinkie, to Pinkie it sounded more like a word, or a string of words, rolled out into a sentence. A sentence she could just about make out. One of pleading and hope.
'Please be there, Pinkie.'