Twilight felt the room instantly tense. The pink pony opposite her shuddered slightly, and gulped. She had a bad feeling about where this was going...
"Twilight, I'm going to warn you now. This next part, why I exist, it's not a happy story like Surprise's. I was a shield, someone who could stay strong and help the others through dark times. I...I was born from a need to end suffering." Pinkamena looked Twilight in the eye as she warned her. Twilight gulped. She didn't like the way Pinkamena's voice shook. It spoke of old scars, and a hidden anger. But she was in too deep to stop now. She needed to know the rest of this story.
"Please, if you can, go on." she said. "I want to understand."
Pinkamena took a few more deep breaths. She hated thinking about the hospital. But right now, she had to.
"Alright. But I'm warning you, you're not going to like it...
After Surprise came into her life, Pinkie was confused for a while. Apparently, she had ended her first party so full of joy she was almost floating, and then she woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. Pretty soon, there was somepony else speaking in her head, an energetic-sounding friend that she couldn't see or touch, whose voice came out of nowhere and nopony else could hear. Her parents, at first, simply thought Pinkie had made an imaginary friend. It was a logical assumption, to be fair.
Anyway, Surprise was just as confused as Pinkie. I mean, she had literally just come into existence. I think she knew the basics of life, but she didn't have any real personal identity- she didn't know who she was, what she was, or why she was in Pinkie's head. She didn't even have a name, to start off with. Pinkie actually named her, on account of the fact that her appearance was such a big surprise.
Eventually, Surprise got restless. She wanted to get out into the world, to do things, to play games and have fun. The two had thought by now that Surprise was a pony that had somehow been trapped in Pinkie's head. They reasoned that since Surprise seemed to be a separate pony, maybe she was a baby that had been born into Pinkie's head rather than into her own body on accident. Hey, Pinkie was in single digits, she didn't know where foals came from at that point. It was a perfectly reasonable explanation- in her eyes, at least. Anyway, Pinkie wanted Surprise to experience the outside world, and so they swapped.
I think I'd better explain how that works. See, we can swap who's in control of the body, like me and Pinkie did earlier. The only restriction is that both parties involved have to want the change-over. We can't just force our way into control. So, when Pinkie and Surprise ended up swapping, they loved it. Here was Surprise's chance to play in the outside world, and Pinkie's chance to experience life from Surprise's point of view, and also teach Surprise about the world. Soon, they were swapping back and forth all the time. With swaps, it kinda looks like you're fainting for a moment. Pinkie's dad quickly noticed his daughter was nodding off all over the place, and asked her if anything was wrong. Pinkie cheerfully told him all about what was going on, of course. She didn't see any reason to keep it a secret. He thought she was playing a game at first, so to prove it, she and Surprise switched. Right in front of him.
Pinkie's parents flipped. Their daughter was suddenly claiming to be her imaginary friend, and was practically fainting all over the place. They went to the local doctor. The doctor referred them to a hospital, which was dedicated to psychiatric conditions. That's the nice way of saying asylum, by the way. They took Pinkie along, and the doctors diagnosed dissociative identity disorder. They explained that it was a severe psychological condition, and recommended immediate intensive therapy.
Pinkie spent months in there. Every day, she'd be taken from her room on the quieter wing of the hospital to a psychologist's office. The guy wasn't good with children. On the very first day, he told her that Surprise shouldn't exist, that she was wrong and that they needed to get rid of her. As you can guess, Pinkie didn't take that well. To her, he was saying that the doctors wanted to kill Surprise. I suppose, in a way, that's true. They sat Pinkie down on a sofa, and asked her to tell them about Surprise. So that they could help Pinkie to get rid of her. Pinkie didn't co-operate. She was certain that they were all evil.
I think Pinkie...confused the doctors. To the best of their knowledge, split personalities were often unaware of each other. The different personalities could only remember what they experienced first hand, and often had very poor memories. Pinkie, on the other hand, had said right at the start that she could sit down in her mind and watch what was going on, like there was a big window to the outside world hanging in the sky. She and Surprise could swap at will, and communicate with each other, things both unheard of in similar cases. They knew exactly what had happened whilst the other was in charge of the body. Eventually, they took brain scans, and discovered Pinkie's wacky wiring. That really got them confused. It could explain some of what was going on, but at the same time raised more questions about how her brain actually functioned. I'm just glad that they didn't notice the pinkie sense. Who knows what they would've made of it.
Pinkie's brain apparently has more connections than normal. Lots more. All those extra cross-over points between the different parts somehow let me and Surprise have more balanced personalities than alternate personalities in normal brains. Don't ask me how that works, even the doctors were baffled by it. Maybe we have better access to the parts of the brain responsible for emotions? Alternate personalities generally display only one or two emotions, you see, often to extremes, but Surprise and I differ from that. For example, Surprise is always cheery and hyper, sure, but never to any harmful extent, and she is perfectly capable of more negative emotions as well.
The doctor's attempts to treat Pinkie and put her mind back in one piece varied in method, and none of them worked. Any medication they gave her, she spat it out. Visits to the shrink had gone out the window before the end of day one. They even tried sedating her when Surprise was in charge at one point. Pretty soon, Surprise wasn't swapping with Pinkie any more, because when she was in charge all the doctors did was try to get her back into Pinkie's head. But Surprise was still talking to Pinkie. And Pinkie was talking back.
The doctor's constant attempts at treatment were turning Pinkie's life into a daily nightmare. She hated being there, and what they were doing. She refused to get along with them- not like her at all. The doctors were tearing their hair out over her, and she was just miserable over it all. The doctors didn't know what to do with her, and I think they were ready to throw in the towel and send her home, as Surprise clearly wasn't malignant.
I wish they had.
There was this one unicorn stallion that was...obsessed with Pinkie's case. She never knew his name. He wanted to experiment on her mind, test what it's limits were, and how Surprise affected that. He was constantly testing her IQ, her mental capacity, putting her through every psychological test and examination there is. When they discovered how unique Pinkie's brain was, he only got worse.
Brain monitoring suddenly became common with him. Pinkie spent a lot of time hooked up to one analysis machine or another. A few times, he forced her to switch with Surprise and measured how the brain reacted...All the time, he was coming up with more and more outlandish treatment methods. Hypnosis didn't work. There were forcibly-given injections of various drugs. After a while, just when the doctors were starting to think about sending Pinkie home, he even tried electroconvulsive therapy- a standard procedure, apparently. Although I doubt patients are usually given it in the dead of night, and threatened to not say a word about it. The patient is typically administered with anaesthetic and muscle relaxant, and given an electric shock to induce seizures. It's meant to provide relief from several psychiatric conditions, although not usually personality disorders. It's not recommended for foals. I'm not sure if he was even trying to cure Pinkie at that point.
Eventually, it all reached a boiling point. One night, he decided to try it without the anaesthetic and relaxants. We still don't know why. It only happened the one time, but... well, lightning still scares Pinkie to this day. She's gotten better, but I think she'll always be reminded of that day when there's a thunderstorm. She passed out in agony, still wired up to the machine and screaming out for him to stop. We found out later that he didn't. Not for another five whole minutes.
That's where I came from. She needed somepony to stop the pain. She needed a protector, somepony who could tell her that it was alright and that everything was going to be ok. Somepony that could take charge in difficult times. The morning after that sick monster electrocuted her, I was the one who woke up. He'd taken us back to our room whilst she was out. Pinkie had... well, disappeared. I'm not sure where she went, I think it was kind of like the mind equivalent of hibernation. She just couldn't cope anymore. Surprise was still around, but she hardly spoke.
I knew what the situation was, Pinkie had somehow passed that information along. So, the very first thing I did was leave our bedroom, go down to the psychologist's office at the end of the corridor, bang on the door, and tell the pony who answered exactly what had happened the night before. The guy was in prison so fast he probably left scorch marks on the floor. The doctors weren't stupid, they knew that I wasn't Pinkie. But after that, they didn't try anything else as a cure. We tried coaxing her out, but she just didn't want to. They thought that she might come back if she was back home, so after observing me long enough to make sure that I wasn't a danger to anyone, they discharged me, on the condition that I went for regular check-ups to see if Pinkie was resurfacing.
Her parents didn't know what to make of me at first. They had been told what I was medically speaking, of course, but they weren't really sure who I was, if you know what I mean. So, they just treated me like they did Pinkie. 'Wake up Pinkamena! Time for school!' they called in the mornings. I didn't have any other name to go by, so Pinkamena became my name. Yes, I know it's Pinkie's as well, but she prefers the shortened version.
Eventually, about two months after being discharged, I had to go to court to testify against the doctor. He was denying everything, of course, but once he realised that I was testifying against him he pleaded guilty, insanely hoping for a shortened sentence. The judge gave him an extended one, without parole. While I was watching him being dragged away, I heard Pinkie say 'Thank you'. And just like that, after a whole two months of me being on my own, she was back.
Pinkie took a while to get adjusted to the outside world again. She wasn't as happy as she is now, but she was getting better by the day. Surprise was starting to come out of her shell too. This time around, her parents didn't say anything if they heard her talking to us. She was happy, and that's all they cared about. She really cheered up and got back to normal the next time she threw a party- I think that might have been the one Cheese Sandwich went to. The years passed, and when she grew up, she moved to Ponyville. By then, we had decided to keep Surprise and I a secret. We didn't want to risk being taken to another hospital. Who knows what state she'd be in before ponies who knew the situation got her out.
S-so that's all there is to it, really. The whole story. Pinkie's fine, she really is. If she wasn't, she'd get help. She's not stupid. You've got to believe me. I- Oh...Oh no..."
Twilight was crying. Her eyes were wide with shock and a tinge of horror, and her entire body was shaking. Pinkamena had been too caught up in her tale- how long had Twilight been like this? Blinking back her own tears, she quickly drew the sobbing alicorn into a close hug. "It's ok. She's fine now. We're all fine." She said soothingly.
"Why...why did he...how could he...to a foal...." Twilight was soaking Pinkamena's shoulder in tears. In her head, Pinkie and Surprise were also crying, although they weren't nearly so badly affected. Just old, although rather painful, memories returning for a short while. They'd soon be gone.
They stayed that way for a while. How long exactly, neither could tell. Eventually, Twilight pulled back from Pinkamena, still sniffling slightly.
"I...I...I can see why you three don't want treatment. And I can see that you don't need it either. I'm sure the other doctors weren't so irresponsible as to let you go when you really needed to stay. Just...If anything starts going wrong up there, you tell me right away.You hear me, Pinkie?"
Pinkamena smiled and nodded, as Pinkie gave an affirmative. "She hears you. Surprise too. In fact..." She closed her eyes. Realising what this meant, Twilight drew closer, curiosity and a hint of fascination clear on her face.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!" Out of nowhere, Surprise rammed into Twilight, catching her off-guard and gripping her in a crushing hug. Her mane, meanwhile, sprang back into the familiar poofy look with an audible 'Sproing!'.
"P-Pinkie.." she gasped "Can't breathe..."
"Oops! Sorry!" giggled Surprise, quickly releasing her. "But I'm not Pinkie, silly!"
Twilight's eyes were almost like saucers. "Then you must be...Surprise?"
"Yup!" nodded Surprise.
"Wow!" gasped Twilight, tears completely forgotten. "What does it feel like, switching? And does the time taken differ? Or is it constant? Does it depend on who's swapping?" she gushed out a torrent of questions, clearly in curious scientist mode.
Surprise thought for a moment. "I dunno!" she shrugged, smiling.
Twilight smiled. The relaxed, light-hearted mood was returning. "Oh well. Maybe Pinkamena or Pinkie will be able to answer me later?"
"Probably!"
"Ok! So...Would you like to tell me about yourself, Surprise? I think I know Pinkamena a little now, but I don't know you at all."
"Oh-Ok! My name's Surprise- oh, but you already knew that...oh well! Introduction time! I'm Surprise! It's nice to meet you, Twilight!" said Surprise brightly. She shook Twilight's hoof vigorously, to the point where Twilight's entire body was being shook, reminiscent of her first meeting with Applejack.
Surprise, please don't shake Twilight so much... warned Pinkamena. She would have added a (most likely unfunny) joke about Twilight's hoof falling off or something, if it weren't for the fact that it might have resulted in Surprise taping Twilight's body-parts together.
"Oops- sorry! Are you alright, Twilight?" asked Surprise apologetically, stopping her rather one-sided hoof-shake.
"I'm ok..." said a slightly dizzy Twilight, slowly recovering from the impromptu shaking. She shook her head slightly to clear it.
"Great!" cheered Surprise, jumping in delight. "Oh oh oh! Do you want to play a game?"
"A game?" asked Twilight, her head tilting to one side. "What kind of game?"
"Truth or dare! We were playing it before, but then you started knocking and kinda interrupted us..."
"Here we go again..." groaned Pinkamena.
"Oh, don't be such a grumpy-pants, Pinkamena. What's wrong with playing truth or dare for a while?"
"Nothing, it's just...well, this is us we're talking about. Playing a game with three ponies in one body? Twilight's going to get very confused, an-"
"Sure!" smiled Twilight, oblivious to the internal conversation she had interrupted. "I'd love to. The truth questions will be a great opportunity to get to know you and Pinkamena! Is that ok with Pinkie and Pinkamena, Surprise?" Twilight was clearly coming to grips with the situation very quickly.
"Fine with me!" beamed Pinkie
...Fine. Let's not take too long, though. We're meant to be moving that cake, remember, not playing games all day!"