The tower of ponies fell as Applejack turned around to see who was calling her name.
"OW! Applejack! Why'dya do that?"
"Sorry, sis, Night Walker, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle."
"Applejack!" Her voice was called again
"Rarity?"
"Applejack! I'm so glad to see you!" Rarity exclaimed "This maze is just dreadful! I've been walking for ever! My hooves feel like they're going to fall off!"
"Ah'm sure ya c'n survive till we git outa this place. Speakin' o' which, think ya c'n help us git this orb thingy down? Pinkie ain't doin to well and is bein mighty difficult."
"I suppose I could try, but I'm not sure how much of a help I would be, without my horn and all."
"We've tried pryin' it from the statue's grip, but it's stuck tight an' won't budge."
"Have you tried pushing upwards from underneath?"
"Ah don't think we 'ave. Did we?" Applejack asked, turning to the crusaders
"Nope, we didn't." Scootaloo replied. The Cutie mark crusaders then ran off to see to the two unconscious mares, Paul had carefully slipped off of his back.
Paul padded over to Pinkie Pie, she was looking back at him with almost uncertain eyes. Her pink coat had turned more of a crepe colour, and her mane was sagging slightly. Her eyes glistened with new tears as they formed and she turned away, muttering to herself incoherently. Paul became worried, what had happened to his friend? Then he remembered what that voice had told him, and how he had to fix Pinkie Pie to get Rainbow back. He gently nudged her, but she didn't respond, he nudged her again, a bit harder, this time she shrugged him off and scooted away slightly. She was still muttering to herself, and Paul could hear some of what was being said.
"..My friend....never hurt....gone...still...him...me alone." Paul was confused, but it seemed that Pinkie had stopped talking to herself as she slumped down onto her belly, with her head in her hooves. Paul crouched down beside her and nuzzled her. She ever so slightly tilted her head in his direction, and Paul could see her eye just barely peeking over her leg. She sniffed and ducked her head back between her legs, mumbling quietly "Go away."
---
Pinkie knew Paul was there, but the voice in her head was convincing her otherwise. It was just Nightmare moon trying to get inside her head.
'The others can't see him, he's not real. Don't give into him, if you do, then Ye olde Moon Butt wins. She'll use him to twist you against your friends, and then your friends won't be happy, will they?'
"No...B-but Dashie cou-"
'Dashie isn't here, stop bringing her up, and Nightmare moon was trying to get into her head too. Things may not have played out like that, but they worked for her in the end..with Rainbow Dash, you know...'
"S-shut up, Dashie isn't gone, she's still with us...in our hearts."
'Ughh, do you really believe all that sappy nonsense? "She'll still be with us in our hearts?" It makes me want to puke.'
"Yes I do believe in it!" Pinkie snapped "Grannie Pie said that when ponies we care for d-die, then they still stay with us, as long as we can remember them, and sometimes, sometimes they might come down to visit us, they may not be able to talk to us, and we might not be able to see them, but they're still there! And I bet that Rainbow Dash is with us right now!"
'*Sigh* fine, maybe she is watching thanks to some weird creepy magic. But I doubt it.'
"Why do you say that?"
'I mean, come on! It's not like she's even going to make it to pony heaven, or whatever you call it.'
"Hey! Dashie's a good pony! Of course she'd make it!"
'Only if one exists. Trust me, I'm your sub-concious, I know what does and doesn't exist, and Pony heaven? Doesn't exist. So maybe her spirit is still wandering around, lost and lonely, she was your only friend, and she's gone. If you really want her back, then why don't you abandon these nincompoops to go and look for her?'
"Because...because I'm needed to help Equestria, and if I go looking for Dashie now, then Equestria will be destroyed, and us along with it!"
'Right, but do you need to like these guys? I mean, look at them, they're failures, they can't do anything themselves, they expect it to come from you, and you alone, they want to make you sad, while they can sit back and relax, doing nothing.'
"But..."
'See, they aren't your friends, they never were, they were just using you, you thought you were making them happy, making them laugh and smile, but in reality, they were laughing at you. And you were too ignorant to notice.'
---
Paul noticed Pinkies fur become completely grey, her mane and tail had fallen flat. He was becoming really worried for her now. Pinkie stood up, and turned to him, but she didn't look at him, she looked passed him, as if he wasn't there. Then, she turned around and started walking away, towards one of the paths. Not knowing what to do, Paul acted instinctively and pounced on her, tackling her to the ground in what would best be described as a hug. His massive paws were wrapped around her, and he placed his head atop of hers, squishing her against his body. She struggled a bit to begin with, but the longer the hug went on, the less she began to resist, and eventually, she started to hug back. Paul felt a slight wetness on his chest and looked down to see Pinkie crying. Her coat colour was returning to normal, but her mane and tail remained flat. She pulled herself back against Paul and squeezed him tight, seeming a bit afraid. They stayed like that for a few minutes before she pulled away, sniffing. She looked up and Paul could see hurt in her eyes, the type of hurt you get when you realize that you've hurt someone else.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled
"Raw." Paul responded, and then gave her his, biggest, sloppiest lick, making her giggle, telling her that he forgave her. Pinkie looked over to the others, who had noticed the exchange, and she smiled widely. Applejack smiled back, and wandered over.
"Applejack, I'm really sorry about how I treated you, I was awful, I made you all feel so saddy waddy. I don't know what happened, one minute I'm bouncing along, the next, I feel like you guys hate me. I'm sorry."
"it's ok Pinks, this maze's gittin' ta all o' us. Now, why don't ya'll both come an' help with gittin' this orb free."
"Yes!" Pinkie responded, before zipping off to the statue. She then proceeded to bounce as high as she could without a trampoline and grab the orb. She yanked it out of the statue's grip and fell back down to the ground, landing with a 'thump' as she hit it. The others just stared at Pinkie, slack jawed.
"How did you do that! It took you barely 3 seconds to do that, but we couldn't get it down in hours!" Scootaloo complained.
"I dunno." Pinkie responded with a laugh.
'NOO!' Shouted the voice from earlier in the back of her mind 'I can't lose!' Pinkie ignored it.