My Dearest Twilight Sparkle,
I have read your latest letter carefully, and have consulted Luna for help in making a quality response. I hope things have gotten better since you wrote to me.
First of all, I would like to commend you for your quick thinking when you saw Pinkie Pie. Had you not acted properly, I would have no choice but to sentence her to imprison her for foal abuse. However, thanks to your intervention at the time of the incident and your well detailed account of Pinkie Pie’s actions given to the police, she will receive a minimal punishment. Fortunately, Miss Pie has an otherwise exemplary record and she never caused Terra any direct harm, or the punishment would be far less lenient.
Based on what you told me of the strange shield you saw Terra using, I can only assume that she must be a unicorn. Unicorns with microhorns or no visible horns at all are rare, but have appeared in the past and have been capable of doing instinctual magic. This said, it is unlikely that Terra is capable of using magic on the scale of a typical unicorn. She should live her life as an earth pony, albeit one that is unlikely to have the endurance and strength of her kin.
As for what to do next, I think you know the appropriate course of action. Pinkie Pie did something heinous, but she is your friend, and she desperately needs a friend right now.
None of us are fully innocent.
Princess Celestia
******
Pinkie Pie had spent most of the week in her room. Twice a day, after waking up and before going to bed, she would go downstairs to use the bathroom. Occasionally, the Cakes would leave food and water by her door. They offered to come in and talk to her, but she had violently rejected the offers.
Pinkie’s only companion was Gummy, who was a silent companion at best. However, this did not mean that Pinkie Pie lacked conversation that week. On the contrary, she had plenty of long conversations. Unfortunately.
It’s all your fault
“I know”
Pinkie Pie was walking back and forth, from her bed to her closet, over and over.
You hurt a little filly who did nothing wrong
“I… I wasn’t thinking”
How could you?
“I’m sorry!”
She’s back because she hates you.
“I’m sorry!”
You yelled at your best friend.
“I was scared.”
You deserve this
“What?”
You deserve worse than this
“…I know…”
You’re a parasprite. You eat all the Cakes’ food and just lie around up here all day.
“I’ll get back to work soon.”
Does it matter? You’ll just make so many mistakes and eat so many customers’ orders that they’ll just send you upstairs again.
“No! I promise to be better.”
For anypony else, that would be no challenge. You’re the reason she died
“No, it wasn’t me!”
Did you want to kill her again?
“I didn’t kill her!”
So you say. And yet, you saw her body go into the ground
“He did it!”
After you led her there
…
There’s a reason why you’re all alone up here.
“Shut up”
They hate you, as they rightfully should.
“When I was a little filly and the sun was going down…”
You scare them. Remember when Rainbow saw your party?
“The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown…”
One day, you’re going to kill them too.
“I’d hide under my pillow from what I thought I saw”
You’ll probably enjoy it too
“But… Granny Pie said tha-”
I know what you think, that the Element of Laughter means you’re pure or something. But I know you. Laughter is not about harmony. It’s not even about joy. Laughter is the pathetic mind’s way of dealing with things beyond its reach. In your case, everything.
…
You know how you throw so many parties, but only had five friends? You don’t throw the parties because you want to have a good time with them. You throw parties because that’s the only way you can interact with ponies. Fluttershy is more social than you, if only because she is capable of recognizing how pathetic she-
“Shut up Pinkie Pie!”
???
“You can be a mean poopyhead to yourself all day long. But you are not going to insult my friends”
Aw, how adorable. Pinkie Pie still thinks she’ll still have friends when this is all over. Who would ever be friends with somepony like you?
“Just because they won’t like me anymore doesn’t mean you can be a grumpy mean-meanie-pants to them! I’ll be their friends even if they won’t be mine!”
How noble. Very well Pinkie Pie, I will not attack your friends. You can do that for me.
“QUIET!!!”
…
Finally it was gone. For now.
Pinkie Pie jumped into her bed, face in her pillows. She thought it was behind her. She thought she could leave it behind when she came to Ponyville. And it had. Until Terra came to town.
Since she came, it came back with a vengeance. Why did she have to look just like Blinkie? Maybe it was inevitable that she would attack somepony eventually. It was taunting her, laughing at her, doing its best to rip her to shreds. It spoke over her friends’ voices when she tried to talk to them, to receive some support.
And now that she was alone, it was taking its time, trapping her in here, preparing for the kill.
Once upon a time, Pinkie Pie had tried to explain it to Granny Pie, before she passed away a few years ago. But she didn’t understand. An invisible, omnipresent voice that fed off of her joy and left nothing but despair? Surely that was just one of Pinkie Pie’s figments of imagination. Maybe Granny Pie was right. But that didn’t mean it was not real. That didn’t mean it was not deadly.
Pinkie Pie knew that one day, she wouldn’t be able to get rid of it. One day, it would have what was left of her.
******
The past few days had been somber for Terra. Aqua Mare and Cream Mare tried to keep her inside for a few days, but after seeing how Terra stared out the windows, they relented and brought her on daily activities, like getting food or talking to Purple Unicorn. She never saw the Pink One. Had she been punished? Probably. In retrospect, Terra felt foolish about being scared of the Pink One. She reacted loudly, but it was justifiable. Terra had invaded her privacy, and was doubtlessly doing great harm by simply existing.
Cream Mare and Aqua Mare had a new activity they tried to do with her: drawing. Perhaps they were inspired by how Aqua Mare used a picture to tell Terra what their plans were that fateful day, because they spent hours drawing pictures with crayons and sharing them with her. They showed things like the ponies they saw around town, the trio doing their daily activities, and what had happened with Pinkie Pie. They were very insistent on the last part. Terra had seen a gallery of pink stick ponies with angry eyes standing atop a frowning bluish-gray filly.
Aqua Mare seemed to make a point of only drawing using her magic. Terra guessed that she wanted her to do the same. Aqua Mare seemed to think that she was a unicorn, despite the obvious. Creating that shield had been a mistake, but it looked like they completely misunderstood the implications.
In any case, Terra decided that she would start drawing things in response. She couldn’t explain everything, but perhaps she could share some of her feelings. And maybe let a few details loose. There was no harm in a bit of understanding.
******
Lyra sighed as she sat on her rump, studying Terra’s drawings at the kitchen table.
Art therapy had been yet another of Twilight Sparkle’s ideas, apparently inspired by one of the latest scientific thaumological magazines. She and Bon Bon had been skeptical at first, but considering how poorly their attempts to teach Terra Equestrian had been, they decided to give it a try.
Now, after a few days, Terra began drawing her own things in response. Normally Lyra would have rushed to tell Bon Bon the news, but she was working a late shift at Sugarcube Corner, and wouldn’t be home until well after Terra’s bed time.
Despite Lyra’s frequent use of magic when drawing, Terra simply used her mouth to hold onto crayons. Perhaps Twilight Sparkle’s rambling about “microhorns” was just rambling. Once she understood that crayons were inedible, Terra also got into the hang of drawing pretty well for somepony who probably had little experience.
Some of Terra’s pictures were fairly ordinary, possibly done as tests of skill. Lyra’s favorite showed what appeared to be the Heartstrings household standing together and smiling. One picture showed Pinkie Pie standing atop Terra, but with tears coming down her face and a neutral look on Terra’s face. Was Terra repentant? She’d have to do a better job of explaining how what Pinkie Pie did was wrong.
One picture though, took priority over everything else.
Terra had started drawing this picture on a regular piece of paper, but soon ran out of space. Lyra, who was sensing a breakthrough, pulled a huge sheet, originally intended for future use as a sign at some important event, out of the closet. Terra nuzzled Lyra for her efforts, a shockingly affectionate act.
The picture required almost every red, pink, and purple crayon in the house. Terra spent half an hour drawing large shapes and slowly, methodically, coloring them in, until the crayons were reduced to nubs.
The final product portrayed several figures. By far the largest was some strange, pinkish-purple behemoth. Its body didn’t seem that large, but its head alone took up more space than the average sheet of paper could support. The mouth was full of sharp, triangular teeth, its eyes were yellow triangles, and its ears were sharp and pointy. The main body, which was laughably undersized, sported a pair of bat-like wings, along with a tail that, once again, ended with another triangle. Peculiarly, there was some yellow blot between the ears. It seemed out of place, but the rest of the image was so meticulously made.
In front of the creature was a picture of Terra, drawn using a mix of blue and black crayons, crying as she faced the creature.
Beside her was the outline of a pony, apparently black, who was lying on their back. This mysterious pony’s eyes were replaced by a pair of X’s.
Was this the creature that had orphaned Terra?
******
Twilight Sparkle was not scared of Pinkie Pie. She was scared of meeting Pinkie Pie. The last time she had parted with someone on such harsh terms was Spike a few years ago. True, they eventually made up. But that had been with someone who was like a brother. Would Pinkie reject her?
As Twilight Sparkle entered Sugarcube Corner, she berated herself for not visiting Pinkie sooner. All of their other friends had stopped by at least once, though they were all turned back at Pinkie’s doorway. Rainbow Dash had even tried entering via window one evening, albeit unsuccessfully. It turned out that Pinkie had locks on her windows, and was using them for possibly the first time.
From behind the counter, Mr. Cake simply pointed towards the stairs. He knew why she was there.
Climbing the stairs seemed to take ages. Halfway up the flight that led to Pinkie’s room, Twilight heard her breathing heavily. Applejack had told Twilight that Pinkie had been crying when she came to visit. She also had given Twilight a dirty look when she asked when Twilight was going to stop by.
It was just so hard though. How do you confront a friend after… that?
Twilight Sparkle reached the top of the stairs, and looked into Pinkie Pie’s room. The floor was littered with a few days of trash, including a few leftover pieces of food. Pinkie was lying on her bed, face in her pillows. Gummy stood on the nightstand, apparently too distracted by Pinkie’s turmoil to notice the new arrival.
Now for the hard part.
“Pinkie?”
Pinkie Pie’s head shot up and turned around. The two ponies stared at each other for a moment before Pinkie leapt across the room, landing in front of Twilight. Before Twilight could react, Pinkie had her forelegs around her neck. She wasn’t crying anymore, but Pinkie was still breathing heavily as she repeated her mantra.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I‘m sorry…”
Twilight Sparkle, though an introvert, knew what to say.
“It’s alright Pinkie. Shh.”
Pinkie did not let go for a long time. Eventually, she pulled Twilight over to her bed, where she sat down, dragging Twilight down with her.
“Is Terra okay?” Pinkie asked.
“She’s fine.”
“…do you think she hates me?”
“I think you scared her, but now she’s just confused.”
“Do Lyra and Bon Bon hate me?”
“They’re more worried about how Terra is doing than anything else. I don’t think Bon Bon will have too much trouble working with you when you’re better.”
“Oh. Twilight…”
“Yes?”
“Do you hate me?”
“Pinkie, I could never hate you. You’re one of my best friends.”
“But don’t I scare you? I mean, I’m always popping out of places and doing strange things and saying the wrong things and…”
Twilight Sparkle put her front-left hoof on Pinkie’s back.
“Pinkie, I love how you do all of those things. I love how random you are sometimes. All of us do. It’s a part of who you are, and we all love you.”
“So it was lying.”
“What?”
Pinkie Pie lay silently for a moment. She faced Gummy, who had been watching the conversation in his usual passive fashion. Pinkie Pie poked him with her nose, and he affectionately clamped onto it in response. She giggled.
“Twilight, can I tell you a weird story? And could you promise to believe it? Or at least, put up with it for a while?”
“Of course”
“And do you promise not to tell anypony? I’m not ready to share this story.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Pinkie Promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my OW!”
“Actually, Applejack found a way out of that. Could you just not tell anypony?”
“I won’t”
Pinkie Pie twisted for a moment before smiling. It was obviously an unfamiliar position after this past week.
“Well, it started a long time ago, a little while after I got my Cutie Mark…”