Pinkamena let out a long breath as she saw Pinkie fall to the cobblestones. Good, she hadn’t managed to be absolutely insane. Maybe now she would fall back? Collect her mind and realize that she was just hurting herself like this. Yes, she would not let them die.
“Wouldn’t you allow yourself to die if it meant getting Pinkie back in front?”
Pinkamena turned back, but whatever was there had gone away, the familiar rustling of feathers being the only hint towards the motion. She could feel Pinkie moving, but didn’t turn back. This voice had been back at the Asylum, and there was no way for her to know if it was friendly or not. “Please leave.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t have to!”
A small chuckle came from the being, before a long beak of metal came an inch from her face. “So brave, aren’t you? Is it because you know you’re about to die? Is it because you feel safe with Petrus? Trust me when I say your counterpart isn’t as good as ignoring the world, just like me and my best friend.”
Pinkamena stepped back, allowing the stranger to fade into the darkness, before she could feel the swords that raked Pinkie’s body. She whipped around, staring at the screen. Pinkie had killed one of four undead, but now she didn’t move. She could easily dodge out of the way, maybe even with a boob. They were too slow to stop her after all.
’Maybe death wouldn’t be that bad. Not when I want this game to just end.’
“The world is a harsh place. You learned that, but she never did. Not properly. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that your world’s inhabitants are just as weak as this one.”
Pinkamena shut her eyes, before the ground beneath her sunk in a little. Looking down, she could see that her beautiful darkness was turning gray, before… before… “P-Pinkie, our friends are waiting for us! We can find a way back. W-we can do better.”
The cracking wouldn’t stop as Pinkamena backpedaled. Thoughts, terrifyingly familiar thoughts ran pass her. No, this couldn’t be the end. She hadn’t woken up to just die had she? To allow all of this to be loss, right?
”I can offer you a solution, if… if you want it. It won’t be easy, but it could fix all of this, and maybe even give you something I could never find for my small sprites. And… it would mean the world to me if someone would actually be happy with my gift again.”
“I’m so happy! I just hope… hope you won’t regret this, and… and maybe one day, might even call me friend.”
Pinkamena stopped, on the last of her dark platform. The looming ash ate at her pillar as she looked up. The words weren’t from the stranger. In fact, she didn’t know where they came from, or when she heard them, but they had stopped this last time.
And wanted her to be her friend.
Pinkamena raised her hoof, her body shaking.
Reject.
Her fists curled into balls.
Disgusting.
Two streams of black fire ran down from Pinkamena’s eyes.
Never should have been-
“No!” Pinkamena slammed her hoof to the darkness, the same black fire from her tears spreading out from her, restoring her void. A glance there, and a chair appeared, where she could happily recline, another look brought a table with fresh fruit for her to eat.
And one more, where she could see you died in her eyes, brought her a pony. A pony who thought she knew despair and desperation.
Pinkamena brought her fist around, smashing it into Pinkie’s cheek. The blow through the latter back. She would have gone far if not for the pillar of black that appeared to catch her, almost breaking Pinkie’s back in the process.
Pinkie’s eyes shot open as a hand shoved her up the pillar, pinning her against her. She couldn’t make out what it was she was looking at. She could see traces of pink, but so much of it was shrouded by pictures. When she tried to focus on them, they made her almost forget about the fact that she just died. That everything was over and she would never be able to make-
Pinkamena’s fist cracked across her ‘host’s’ face again as she seethed, her face feeling like it was burning off from the tears that ran down it. “No! You don’t get to think that. You aren’t the one whose wanted to die a hundred times. You’re not the one who has no one waiting for her back home. You’re not the one who’s never had a purpose except to live.”
Pinkamena let Pinkie drop, this time catching her by the throat as she brought herself inches from her sister’s face. She hated doing this, but if it meant their survival, the ability to get them home, to make anyone smile again, she would be tough with Pinkie, no matter how much of her pain it brought up.
In Pinkie’s eyes, she could only see two blazing motes of black, outlined in white.
“Now, are you ready to take this seriously?”
Pinkie swallowed hard, sniffling as she tried to think about it. It hurt so much. This place was so much harder than Equestria. It all reminded her of the rock farm…
”Finally, you’re the little ray of light I knew you always were supposed to be.”
Pinkie smiled as she remembered her Granny Pie’s smiling face, as well as the rest of her family’s joy at what she could bring them. Sure, it was always hard, but it always made it all the more worth it.
“Yes, I’ll go back.”
And she opened her eyes to being back at Firelink, blinking as Pinkamena collapsed into tears, wreathing herself in flames for how scared she was.
1) Familiarity
2) A Possible Adventure
3) Darkness