"I'm gonna make you smile and I will..."
"Can you stay quiet for at least five miserable minutes?!" Pinkie Pie yelled at Lickety Split, who was cheerfully singing. Pinkie Pie, however, wasn't cheerful at all, she was all grumpy, since the moment Discord made his appearance. Lickety Split quieted down and looked down, she followed without another word, wondering, what ever happened between Discord and Pinkie Pie?
Pinkie Pie didn't speak through all the trip from Canterlot to Appleloosa, and more importantly, she didn't smile. They walked trhough Appleloosa's sandy streets and everything was as chaotic as anywhere else. Grey ponies around yelling at each other, others were doing nonsense, digging like moles and barking like dogs. They passed through the Apple's farm on their way to San Palomino Desert, only to be interrupted by a happy-go-lucky, optimistic stallion.
"Hey there! Welcome to AAAAAAAPPLELOOSA!", a light yellow earth pony jumped out of nowhere in front of Pinkie Pie and her friends, his green eyes staring directly at Pinkie with a huge smile on his face, "ah remember ya! You're one of my cous' compadres! Pink Dash, am I right?"
Pinkie Pie passed him by and ignored him, her sight was focused only on San Palomino Desert. The stallion frowned upon beig ignored, but he decided to follow, getting on Pinkie Pie's nerves, for he simply won't shut up. As they ventured themselves in San Palomino Desert, the Stallion was endlessly giving the tour details.
"And over there, is the Lemonade Oasis!", the stallion was proud of himself, "see those small trees far ahead?"
"Ohhh! And why is it called like that, mister?" asked Lickety Split
"Call me Braeburn. And they say the water is as sweet as lemonade, but I doubt anypony has actually gotten that far into the desert."
"Well, you are about to find out, pony, for we are heading there, right now", Quetzalcóatl replied, as Braeburn did his best to not freak out.
"Santa cachucha! It's a talking snake?!" the stallion was shock.
"I am not an snake!" said Quetzalcóatl, "I am Quetzalcóatl, the Dragon Lord of the Winds! One of the six Dragon Lords of the Ancient Dragons! I was once considered the god of life and wisdom! I am the god of the four winds!" the dragon summoned a hurricane to manifest his power, but to the ponies, it just fell like a small breath of wind.
"Yeah, right", the stallion wasn't impressed, for the wind barely blew his long blonde mane.
"So you want to go beyond the Oasis? That's a joke right?" Braeburn asked, he laughed nervously, but Pinkie Pie looked back at him, not a single trace of a joke was found on her face.
Pinkie Pie looks scary and intimidating when she's angry, every Ponyvillager knows that the pink eccentric earth pony doesn't get mad easily, but when she does, that's a mare you don't want to mess with. However, not a single one of her companions were residents of Ponyville, so they don't know how to approach her when she is like that. In fact, not even Ponyvillagers know how to.
They walked through a sea of dunes, feeling the hot sun aiming its rays on their backs, and the Lemonade Oasis still looked pretty far. Lickety Split was a pony used to the Frozen North, so the warmth of the desert was affecting her more than others, she struggled even more, not even separating her hooves from the sand with each step she had to make. Next to her was Quetzalcóatl, he summoned a small wind current, trying to keep Lickety Split still conscious. Braeburn was less tired than Lickety Split, but tired still, he had ventured deeper into the desert than any other pony from Appleloosa, he was trying to act cool and collected, but Pinkie Pie put him to shape. Pinkie Pie was walking nonstop, she ignored the sun, the sand, there was no natural power that could prevent her to traverse the desert. Unluckily for her, Screwball was waiting, and her powers are everything but natural.
All of a sudden, far behind the crew, there was a sandstorm approaching at a terrible high spead, like a wave from the sea storming toward Pinkie Pie and her companions. they all completely ignored their fatigue and started to run away from the storm. The sandstorm was quickly gaining advantage over the ponies, getting closer and closer to them. Lickety Split looked back to see how close the storm was, but the sandstorm transformed from a wave of sand to a sand cocodrile which opened his fausts to swallow the ponies.
Lickety Split grabbed Quetzalcóatl by the tail with her mouth, then she pushed Braeburn to make him fall to the ground "Dig under the sand!", she shouted, but Pinkie Pie didn't hear her, so Lickety sprinted to catch up with her, but Pinkie was too fast for her, and the sandstorm was right behind her tail, I'm sorry, Pinkie Pie, she thought, then she threw herself and started digging to cover herself from the sandstorm, closed her eyes, and hoped for the sandstorm to wallow her.
Pinkie running as fast as possible was captured and taken away by the sandstorm, rolling on the air as if she was captured in a sphere that rolled down a rocky slope, until she began lost consciousness.
"Pinkamina Diane Pie... what have you beem doing?", an old and familiar voice of an old mare called for Pinkie Pie.
"Who are you...?" Pinkie Pie responded, "Do I know you...?"
"This is not what I taught you", said the voice.
"He broke... a pinkie promise..."
"Shut it! Don't question me, you stubborn girl! you are not being yourself, anymore... find yourself... Pinkie..."
"NOW WAKE UP, STUBBORN GIRL!"
"WAKE UP!" An light brown mare yelled at Pinkie's ear.
"GRANNY PIE?!" Pinkie Pie shouted, waking up with a jump, she was lying on a red sleepbag, she was all sweaty and having trouble breathing. She looked around and found herself inside a dark brown tent. She quickly sat on her thighs, there was a cauldron with hot water over a bonfire in front of her, and a hot wet compress fell down from her forehead.
"Granny? How did you know?" the earth pony next to Pinkie widened her eyes in shock, "ha ha ha! Sorry, I'm just kidding."
"Where am I?" Pinkie rubbed her head, "Lickety and Quetzal and Braburn! Where are they?"
"I buried them a while ago... and you don't have much time yourself..." The earth pony looked down, as Pinkie perked up her ears and her face showed a concerned expression, as this heavy feeling dropped from the inside of her throat passing down to her chest and getting stuck deep inside her stomach.
"Ha ha ha! Kidding again! Sorry!" The earth pony started laughing, cleaning a laughing tear from her eyes, "I'm sorry filly, I only found you lying on the sand two days ago, which considering the current state of Equestria, was like three hours ago. Ahh... buried them... that was a good one."
"Hey! Where are you going?" the mare asked, watching how Pinkie Pie frowned, and stood up.
"My friends, I gotta find them!" Pinkie Pie headed out.
"You can't go like that!" the mare turned serious for once, "you are a disaster! You are angry, and sad, you won't last more than five seconds."
"Oh! What do you know!" Pinkie Pie yelled.
"You have to rest, organize your ideas, you can't conquer anything if you don't conquer yourself!"
She found herself in Lemonade Oasis as she walked a few steps outside the tent, but suddenly, she fell on her flank, unconscious again. The earth pony midclosed her eyes, she let go of a sigh and draged Pinkie Pie by the tail to bring her back inside the camp.
Somewhere out in the desert, Lickety Split came out to surface, panting, and with Quetzal completely inside her mouth, she opened her mouth with a big Ahhh, and the feathered snake came out soaked in Lickety's saliva. Braeburn came out from under Lickety Split, he stood up and grabbed his hat which he put on his head again, a shower of sand which came out of the inside of his hat fell down on his head. Then he stared to his right, where Lickety was lying because he made her fell on the sand while he was standing up. He helped her up.
"We're alive! How did you know what to do?" asked Braeburn.
"I got experience with storms", Lickety Split was shaking her body to clean the sand, "they're made of snow instead of sand, though."
"Where is Pinkie Pie", asked Quetzalcóatl, "we must find her! She has to win the game", Lickety Split turned serious and nodded, Braeburn nodded, too, but he had no idea what the snake was talking about.
Meanwhile, in the oasis, the earth pony was taking care of Pinkie Pie. She was a considerably tall pony, wearing an explorer suit, her long orange mane was combed as a ponytail, and her tail was straight down. She picked up the compress from Pinkie's forehead and squeezed it, then she soaked it on the cauldron's hot water again, to put it on Pinkie Pie's forehead, but not before her carelessness caused her to knock the caludron on the bonfire. Not again, she thought while making an annoyed look, and picked up the cauldron and left the tent to fill it up with water again.
"Granny... where are you...?" Pinkie Pie mumbled to herself, as she laid on the sleepbag, turning left and right, as if trying to shake the bad dream off. Her consciousness, however, was stuck in a dark blue labyrinth. Hanging on the walls, there were pictures of Pinkie Pie's memories, set symmetrically along the corridors. She turned to look the picture hanging on the wall to her right.
"It's me..." She saw the small pink filly with the straight mane, rolling rocks with her mouth, the filly didn't look happy at all. She moved along the corridor to watch the next picture. There was the same filly, but she was smiling, she was dancing with an old earth mare, as pink as her, but her mane was white. Pinkie made a small smile while a tear droped from her left eye. She moved on, to contemplate the next picture, the pink filly was frowning again, staring at a tombstone in front of her. Shortly after, a galloping sound echoed from the end of the corridor. Pinkie Pie turned around, and saw a pinki silhouette running away from her. Pinkie chased her.
Pinkie sprinted really fast. After all, she is so fast she can even compete with a Rainbow Dash flying. However the mysterious pony was a fast one too, and she skillfully turned the corners of the maze, first left, then right, and then left again, but the pony stopped when she found herself cornered in a dead end. The pink pony turned around to face Pinkie Pie, and when she did, Pinkie gasped.
It was like looking at herself through a mirror, the pink pony was exactly just like Pinkie Pie, but her mane was straight down just like when she was a filly, she frowned at Pinkie Pie.
"What are you?" asked Pinkie Pie lifting her left eyebrow, inspecting the second Pinkie Pie from hoof to head, but no response. "Where you come from?" she asked again.
"It's all your fault!" said the other Pinkie, she pushed Pinkie Pie away, and ran away.
"My fault...?" Pinkie Pie touched her chin, thoughtfully, she continued exploring the labyrinth. As she kept going, some of the hallways had turned twisted, others turned into loops, and others in spirals or turned outside down, and the dark blue color of the walls turned to a bright pink color.
Pinkie Pie was amazed by it. She looked at one of the pictures hanging on the wall, that was the Pinkie Pie she was familiar with, the happy Pinkie Pie was being welcomed by the Cakes. The next picture portrayed Pinkie Pie meeting with Twilight for the firs time on Ponyville's main street.
Pinkie Pie smiled and kept walking, she found a hallway filled with balloons and confetti, she turned her sight to see where the corridor led, and there was a huge bright pink colored door, decorated by more balloons, and lights, and ribbons of all colors. It was like a door for the best welcome party ever. Pinkie Pie couldn't help but to gallop to it and open it. There was nothing inside. Really, it was nothing, not walls, not floor, it was completely blank and empty. Pinkie Pie closed the door in front of her disappointed, and kept exploring the maze.
She reached a section of the labyrinth with cracked red colored walls, and floors. The pictures hanging on the walls were all disorganized. As she walked, she stepped on one of the pictures inside a broken margin. Pinkie Pie looked down to see the picture, she was terrorized by the image. Pinkie Pie was chasing down Applejack, very fiercely, Applejack's eyes showed terror and distress as she ran away from Pinkie Pie. Then, a shadow suddenly covered the picture, Pinkie Pie looked up to find another Pinkie.
"What are you doing here?" asked the mysterious Pinkie, she looked angry, "you don't belong here!" she turned her back.
"Wait! What is this place? who are you?" Pinkie Pie questioned, and the other Pinkie stopped to face Pinkie Pie again.
"You really don't know", she said, "this is your mind, but it's broken now, just like these pictures. As for us, we are your creations. You imprisoned us here, in the darkest space of your mind, to be forgotten and buried away by the dust of your blurry memory! And all for what? This?!" She pointed at Pinkie Pie, staring at her with disgust, "look at you! you are an empty sack with no emotions, and now you are erasing us one by one!"
"Erasing you...?" Pinkie showed confusion.
"So... am I the next one?" the pink pony confronted her, "well, bring it, then! I'm not scared! Do it at once!"
"Don't do it!" shouted the Pinkie Pie with the straight mane showed up, holding Pinkie Pie by the tail, "Just leave us alone, ok? You've made enough damage! Go away and never come back!"
"I see now", Pinkie closed her eyes, "It's my fault... the empty room belonged to happy Pinkie Pie. But I erased her because I'm not being myself anymore, just like Granny Pie told me. And it's not HIS fault, it's MY fault... And just like that mare in the tent said, I AM angry and sad, that's why you two are still here."
Now the other two Pinkies were the confused ones, they stared at each other, as Pinkie Pie kept talking.
"My granny told me that I should always be happy. I thought it meant I should lock you in here to never be seen, but I was only hurting myself. Being sad, and being angry are sometimes needed to be happy. I owe you two an apology, I was being ignorant, but not anymore... you are not creations of mine... you are part of me... No... You are me!"
"What do you say?" Pinkie Pie offered her hoof, "please, forgive me, you will be free from now on. We'll all be together as one smiley and cheerful pony, we'll all be happy Pinkie Pie!"
Sad Pinkie Pie was a little scared, but then she looked at Pinkie's smile, warm and fearless. As for angry Pinkie Pie, she didn't doubt, she put her hoof over Pinkie's, then sad Pinkie put her hoof too. As soon as they touched Pinkie Pie, they all fused together, a bright pink flash glew from Pinkie Pie's persona. Then, Pinkie Pie woke up, inside the tent again.
She stood up in one jump, and saw that the mare was coming inside the tent with a cauldron of hot water.
"You're up! how are you feeling?" asked the mare.
"Yeah! I feel amazing!" Pinkie Pie bounced around the mare cheerfully as she used to, "How do I look, huh? pretty different?"
"Well... I didn't want to tell you this", the mare replied, she was frowning, "your lungs are full of sand, and you need a transplant pretty bad", and so, Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing in front of the mare, looking pretty surprised.
"Ha ha ha! I'm just kidding, I'm sorry, I can't help it", the mare said and began to laugh again, then Pinkie Pie started laughing too, she dropped on her back and shook her hooves while laughing.
"transplant... I'm on fire..." said in between laughs.
"Yeah! that was a good one!" Pinkie Pie added.
"Sorry, I need to go find my friends! thank you for everything!" she went quickly went out to the desert, the mare just poked out the tent door to see the pink pony leaving to the desert.
Out in the desert, Lickety Split, Braeburn and Quetzalcóatl were heading to the desert. When suddenly, another sandstorm was approaching dead ahead. Braeburn started digging, but Lickety Split and the dragon smiled at each other. It was no sandstorm, it was the cloud of sand dust that Pinkie Pie was leaving behind her while sprinting on the sand. The small pink dot in the horizon was getting closer giving form to Pinkie Pie, who was smiling as if she just had the best party of her life. Pinkie arrived and crashed through an invisible wall that broke like crystal upon reuniting from her friends.
"What was that?" Lickety Split wondered. And then, from the sand, a small filly took form, transforming into Screwball.
"What?! How are you still conscious?" Screwball seemed annoyed, "for a party pony, you know how to ruin a party! I set that barrier so that these losers never get to that oasis!"
"What does that mean?" Braeburn asked.
"We have been walking in the desert without advancing", responded the dragon, who was resting on Lickety's head.
"I'm sorry, filly", Pinkie Pie taunted the small pony of chaos, "Your party is no fun, come on, friends, we got an Element to find!"
Pinkie Pie turned around and led her friends to Lemonade Oasis, ignoring the Chaos Pony. Angered, Screwball created another sandstorm to bury the ponies alive, the winds blew around her and the sand obeyed her wishes, as the wave of sand attacked Pinkie Pie and her friends. Screwball laughed like a maniac, but when she noticed, her opponents were, each one, riding a surf table on the sandstorm toward the Oasis. Screwball just stood there, watching how the ponies and the dragon fled from her.
Screwball took out her Strategy Guide to read Pinkie Pie's articles.
Pinkie Pie
Extremely fast.
Not so strong (May vary).
Intelligence unknown.
Extremely brave.
Extremely overpowered.
Tactics
No tactics available, if found an effective strategy, please redact. Avoid any kind of confrontation.
Notes
I swear this pony has chaotic powers! There's no other logical explanation!
The rest was easy, Pinkie Pie returned to the Lemonade Oasis with her friends, the tent was no longer there, though. They looked all around the Oasis, until Pinkie Pie found the balloon shaped jewel resting by a coconut palm, near by the spot where the mare's tent used to be. Pinkie Pie could return to Canterlot.