//------------------------------// // A Sweet Conflict Chapter 2 - Reality // Story: A Sweet Conflict // by CaptainSteve //------------------------------// Pinkie trotted along the old beaten path that led towards Fluttershy's Cottage. It had been a week since the start of her treatment by Twilight, who had been called in to help due to her malicious nightmares. Ever since, the nightmares had gotten worse. Pinkie had found it more difficult to feel happy. It wasn't that she didn't want to be happy, it was only that she kept asking herself: Are they really my friends? Her friends had decided to throw her a party to help with the treatment, which consisted of talking about the problems, and having some fun. All Pinkie wanted was to feel happy again. So she'd happily agreed to do anything Twilight said. "Hey sugarcube, how ya doin'?" A familiar voice sounded from behind her. She spun around to see Applejack galloping at full speed, wearing a grin that Pinkie could only recognize as her own gleeful smile. However, Applejack didn't look like she was going to stop. "Watch out!" Too late. Applejack had already collided with Pinkie, but this didn't matter in the least to the two ponies, who now lay laughing uncontrollably in the middle of the path. After a minute or two, Applejack managed to regain her composure, and began helping Pinkie get to her hooves. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, sugarcube, I just couldn't stop," began Applejack, "It's just felt like so long since I've seen ya, I mean you've been cooped in that house of yours for far too long." "But it's only been a day, AJ! But it's so great to have parties with all my friends, which makes me feel so happy!" Pinkie beamed. That however, wasn't how she really felt at the moment. She felt something she had only ever once felt before, and it was a cold, dark feeling that ate at her heart. She tried ignoring it, but it kept coming back. Maybe she wasn't meant to have friends. "Uh, sweety-pie, you alright?" Pinkie suddenly realised she had just phased out, and responded with a quick nod. The two ponies began walking towards Fluttershy's cottage. She began wondering what this feeling was, because she couldn't express how it felt to her, and as much as she detested the feeling, she couldn't help but to be curious. "So, Twilight's doin' a good job then?" Pinkie had to be quick not be caught off guard by the sudden question. "Of course she is, silly!" "Well, I'd expect nothin' less from our Twilight." Applejack trotted on. Pinkie noticed the troubled expression on her face. She knew everyone was worried sick about her, but what could she do? Twilight had simply said: "Come on Pinkie, we'll get through it together." However, she somehow knew this wouldn't be nearly enough to help her. Despite her growing worries, she set aside this idea and smiled. What wasn't there to smile about? The whole town cared for her very much, the sun was shining, and she was going to a party organised just for her. Instantly her day got better. They don't like you, Pinkie. She stopped. She was sure she had heard a voice, but the only other pony here was Applejack with her funny accent. The voice was most certainly not Applejack. She recognized the voice. It was cold, sinister, yet surprisingly friendly. She could only recognize it as herself. "Pinkie? Hey Pinkie, you alright?" The words didn't register. Pinkie was glued to the spot, staring at a non-existent object in front of her. Every muscle in Pinkie's body had tensed, leaving her nothing more than a statue in the middle of the dusty path. This feeling she felt was indescribable, incomprehensible to the party pony, but Pinkie instantly recognized it. It was sadness. Were Pinkie able to process anything happening outside herself, she would have seen her four other friends galloping at full pace towards her and Applejack calling out her name. The other ponies were crowded around her, shaking her with their hooves, calling out her name. Nothing could reach her. She was in a separate world, where only she existed. She had a growing sadness inside of her, and something else. Something more painful. Something malicious. It was so familiar to her, and she suddenly realized what it was. A dark figure began materializing in front of her. It gave off an evil aura, so distinguishable to her, so familiar, that she could only shudder in fear. She was staring at herself. Only, this was her alternate self from her dreams. The one who tormented her in her nightmares. The one who jeered her. The one her made her nights unbearable. Her. "Hello, Pinkie," Said the other Pinkie, "Miss me?" "W-what are you doing here?" stuttered the shaken Pinkie. "I simply wanted to pay you a little visit, that's all," An evil smile began forming at the sides of her mouth, "And oh yes, before I forget, I'd like to be called Pinkamena, since I haven't actually been named yet. Funny that, considering I'm, well, you." "But why? Why are you doing this?" "Because," she paused, taking the moment to revel in her own menace, "Because it's fun!" "No it's not! It's not fun at all to make people sad!" Pinkie had collapsed to the floor, but her gaze had been trapped onto Pinkamena. "Oh but how much joy it brings to me!" The evil Pinkie suddenly began approaching the broken Pinkie, who sat on her flanks cowering. A sinister look was etched across her face. "Pinkie." "Y-y-yes?" "Take a look around you." Her body did as was commanded, not as Pinkie willed though as she anticipated a gruesome scene to materialize behind her. Much to her surprise, her friends had suddenly appeared around her. They were shaking her, calling her name, asking how she was and what was going on. All of a sudden, Pinkie stood up, filled with a new confidence. "Hey! You were lying about no one liking me, because look! All my friends are trying to help me and make me feel better!" Pinkie began taking small steps in the direction of her internal menace. "Or… " grinned the dull version of herself, "Or are they?" Pinkie was confused. What was she talking about? All her friends were helping her, trying to comfort her, trying to help her in her darkest of times. But they weren't. The five ponies stood around Pinkie, staring at her. Suddenly, they started laughing at her, smiling sadistically, stepping forward. Every one of them looked different. Their manes and coats were a duller shade of what they used to be, and their intimidating, lifeless eyes didn't carry the sparkle they normally did. Something was terribly wrong. The ponies began assaulting Pinkie with taunts. "Pinkie, you're such a crybaby!" shouted Dash at the top of her voice. "Ugh, you are such a hassle, always 'parties' this or 'cupcakes' that, it's sooo irritating!" Jeered Rarity, who looked unlike herself. Applejack took off her hat. "Hey, Pinkie, ya see this?" she reached into the hat and pulled out a necklace from inside the compartment in the hat, "This is our friendship necklace. Or was!" She ripped it in two and threw the pieces to Fluttershy who then stomped on them and threw them in the bushes. Both ponies laughed hysterically, causing the distraught Pinkie to back away, holding back the tears. She couldn't comprehend what was going on. Her friends, her true and closest friends, had turned on her and were causing her to feel this immense sadness. Maybe, just maybe, she thought, the other Pinkie, or Pinkemena if she was willing to give in to her demands, was right. Finally Twilight stepped forward and leaned in close enough to touch her forehead. Her eyes were full of loneliness and sadness, but also madness, reflecting what Pinkie secretly felt at times like this. A smile crept onto Twilight's face. "Oh, Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie. So useless, all those pointless parties were nothing. Who needs friends anyway? Oh yeah, you!" she threw her head back in crazed laughter, "No one cares, and best of all, no one likes yo-" "Pinkie! Hey, Pinkie!" Pinkie looked around. Twilight's voiced echoed in the air, disrupting her sadistic counterpart, the very sound of her comforting voice turned her internal foe's smile into a scowl. "Hey, sugarcube, come on, you gotta snap out of this!" Applejack's voice now resounded through the air, and the five dark ponies' expressions had become angered and frustrated, and their features began to darken until they were nothing more than black shadows that dissolved into the air in a dark and murky haze. "Pinkie!" The collective voices of all her friends and many of the residents of Ponyville had made Pinkie strong, and strong enough so to finally get back to her hooves and confront herself. "See! My friends are trying to help me! Ha!" She looked at her darker self, with her flattened mane, and her dull fuchsia coat, and her slightly bloodshot eyes. Pinkie had become defiant of the trickery, and stood snout to snout with herself. Pinkemena simply chuckled, then turned away. "Well, it seems you broke through this time. What a shame." She paused. "But you do realize that I'll be back one last time, and when I do," her voice became crazed and ecstatic, "I'll defeat you and claim my rightful place as the real Pinkie!" And with that, she began laughing manically. So much that she began losing the ability to stand correctly, and instead of falling over she jumped up into the air and began floating. She decided it'd be best to leave, as not to damage Pinkie's conscious too much. However, she decided to play one last card from up her sleeve, just for the hell of it. "Goodbye, Pinkie, sleep well." "What? I'm not sleepy at al-" The air had suddenly become heavy, and continued to get heavier with every passing second as Pinkemena continued to laugh. Pinkie soon found it hard to breathe properly, and began struggling to stay conscious. She collapsed on the floor, and suddenly the hooves of her many friends became visible, standing around her. Her vision began to fade, and the last thing she saw, and heard before falling unconscious was the face of Twilight Sparkle bending down in front of her. "I think she's gone unconscious. We need to get her to my place, quickly." Pinkie managed to utter one last word before she blacked out: "Girls……" And with that, she drifted into a long and empty sleep. Help me, please. End of Part 2