Ratchet stirred from his unconsciousness and opened his eyes. He realized he was laying face-down in the sand from before. He pulled himself up as he tried to piece together what happened.
"Pinkie?" He called out as he looked around. "Where are you?"
As Ratchet listened more closely he could hear muffled screams coming from behind him. He turned to find a pair of gray legs and a tail sticking out of the ground, flailing around uncontrollably. Ratchet reached over and plucked her out of the sand like a vegetable.
"Are you alright?" Ratchet asked with concern.
"Like you care!" Pinkie yelled bitterly as she was still coughing out sand. "I hate deserts!"
"Well I'm not too fond of them either," Ratchet replied. "The sooner we find that Element, the sooner we can go back home."
"Hmph, whatever," Pinkie replied grumpily. "So where is it then? I thought you just had it!!"
Ratchet's eyes sparked with realization. "That's right! I remember that I was reaching for it, but then…it goes blank. Where could it be now?"
"Maybe whatever's over there has something to do with it," Pinkie said flatly as she pointed one of her front hooves away from Ratchet. He turned to the direction she was pointing to see a large dome of mist in the distance.
"I suppose it's worth investigating," Ratchet muttered to himself. "Come on. Let's go check it out."
"You can't tell me what to do!" Pinkie yelled angrily. "You're not the boss of me!"
Ratchet quickly picked her up by the tail before she could protest. "I'm almost starting to actually want the old Pinkie back," he said to himself in an exasperated tone as he began running towards the mist cloud. Soon enough, he was standing at the cloud's edge and finally let Pinkie down again.
Ratchet looked deeply into the cloud to try and find anything that would give him some clue as to what was inside. He then noticed the shimmer of a feint blue light glowing in the distance.
"I think the element is in there!" Ratchet exclaimed aloud. One of his hands reached out to touch the cloud. As soon as his hand made contact, however, a chilling sensation ran through his entire body. He quickly pulled his hand out as a reflex.
"It could be dangerous to go inside," Ratchet remarked to himself as he looked down to the small horse that was accompanying him. She honestly showed no interest in what was inside this cloud and was looking away from him with a dissatisfied frown on her face.
Ratchet sighed to himself with a tone of exhaustion. "But I don't really have any other options, now do I?" He gathered himself up and made a running charge into the cloud of mist.
As soon as he made a few steps inside though, he was frozen in place. His mind was being flooded a thousand different thoughts of despair all at once.
"I can't do this. I hate you. I don't want to do this. There is no hope. I feel so much pain…"
He heard so many different voices crying out in his head all at once. It was as if every negative thought Ratchet had ever had was physically weighing him down. He collapsed to his knees in agony. He lifted his head to look towards the blue light shining in front of him like a beacon.
"Got to…keep going," Ratchet strained as he crawled toward the element. He tried to push himself forward as hard as he could, but he didn't get too far before his hands and knees gave way underneath him. He sprawled on the floor and could barely move an inch.
"Pinkie!" Ratchet cried out. "You've got to…help me!!!"
"Why should I?" Ratchet heard Pinkie shout back. "You said it yourself; I'm never going to just save the day with a little song or laughter."
"Maybe not," Ratchet replied. "But sometimes…a little laugh is…all we need…to get through the dark times. Deep down…you know it too. I'm sure your friends…have only…gotten though a bad day…because you were there…to cheer them up afterwards. I know…because I've had days…just like those."
Pinkie Pie listened to his words and thought heavily about what he said. An image of the rest of Pinkie Pie's friends laughing did flash in her head momentarily. She tried to ignore it and simply huffed in protest.
Ratchet took Pinkie's silence as a sign he was getting through to her. However he was certain she would still need more convincing. Ratchet realized what he had to do. He sighed gravely to himself as he prepared to do something that he hadn't done in the longest time, and something that he hoped he would NEVER have to do again. He took in a deep breath and got ready.
"When you're feeling…a little blue," he sung faintly. Pinkie Pie's eyes widened in shock as she recognized the words.
"Just give…a little laugh…to change your tune." Ratchet continued to sing under heavy stress as he inched forward on the ground, struggling to reach for the element of harmony.
"When you're having a bad day," Pinkie Pie started where Ratchet had left off. "A chuckle can make those worries go away." The tip of Pinkie Pie's tail started changing color from gray to its former pink glory.
"So why not…let out your frustration…and make some friends…across the nation…" Ratchet sighed heavily as he crawled closer to the element, which was now fully visible to his eyesight. "Cut all of your problems…right in half..." Ratchet held out his hand one last time to make a reach for the element, but no matter how hard he pushed himself, he was still mere inches from touching the necklace. His hand finally gave out under the pressure and collapsed to the ground. No matter how hard Ratchet struggled, he couldn't even lift a finger. He had come so close only to fail at the last moment.
"If you just…cheer up and…" Ratchet sang weakly, on the verge of passing out.
"GIVE A LITTLE LAUGH!" Ratchet was surprised to hear the voice finish the verse so upbeat and happily. Unknown to him, Pinkie stood outside the cloud of mist, now with her pink coat fully restored and a smile beaming on her face.
She immediately sprang forward and dashed right into the cloud. She bounced toward her necklace at full speed, not even the least bit affected by the mist as Ratchet was. All the while she still continued her song.
"We all have days where we frown,
But then we just turn it upside down.
We just find our friends, take a deep breath in-
And then we give a great big laugh!"
As she finished the last line to her song, she had managed to reach where the element was and lifted it up with her front hooves. Right when her song ended, the necklace emitted a large white flash that engulfed everything like before. When Ratchet and Pinkie came to, they discovered Pinkie had returned to her old self, and she had her necklace equipped once again.
Then the two just looked blankly at each other before both let out a good, hearty laugh.