//------------------------------//
// Decisions 
// Story: Caged Inside 
// by ShadowKirby 
//------------------------------//

Pinkamena's POV
My eyes slowly fluttered open and I groaned. A dull throbbing in the back of my head made sure I wouldn't forget to be angry at whoever had knocked me out.

"Oh, she's waking up!"

My vision finally cleared and I saw Twilight staring at me with interest, and at the statement she made, the others flocked towards me.
Sitting up, I realized that 1; I was in Applejack's bed and 2; Rainbow Dash wasn't present.

"Who hit me?" I stated in a neutral tone. In reality, I was holding in my enragement.

Looking between each other, Applejack spoke up.

"Rainbow Dash did."

I growled in anger, completely unsurprised by the answer. "Oh she is in for-"
"But it was an accident!" Fluttershy cut me off quickly, but closed her mouth and hid behind Twilight when I turned my glare towards her.
"Right. She totally didn't simply hate me for no good reason and attack me."
"She didn't; Applejack was trying to hold her back from barging into the barn, and when Rainbow got free, she went flying forwards from the release and crashed into the barn door. A chunk of wood flew at you and hit you in a weak spot on your head."

I didn't believe a word they were saying. The odds of that happening were ridiculously low. 
"Then why isn't she here right now?"

Twilight grinned a bit, but quickly hid it with a normal smile. Like I wouldn't see it.
"I'll answer your questions, if you explain to me how a Sonic Rainboom could've possibly made another pony control you."

I groaned and put my face in my hooves. Was I seriously about to go through this same routine again?

"I don't know! All I know is one day I was moving the rocks from the east field to the south field, and then a Sonic Rainboom happened, blowing away everything! When the wind died down, I couldn't move myself, and another pony was in my mind, controlling my every action!"

Twilight stared at me with obvious skepticism, while Applejack had an unreadable look.
Rarity was surprisingly the one to reply first, having stayed silent for so long.
"Pinkie, dear, did you recently fall on your head?"
I burst from the covers of the bed and growled at her, glaring intensely with a look that could kill.
"Did you, Pinkie-Pinkamena?" Twilight asked me curiously, obviously believing Rarity's terrible idea and afraid of my reaction to being called 'Pinkie'.

"NO!"

Rarity and Twilight started discussing taking me to the hospital before Applejack butted in.

"She ain't lyin'."

"Huh!?" was the dual response from the two unicorns.
"She ain't lyin'." Applejack repeated with a passive stare.
"And how do you know that, Applejack?" Twilight asked in a bemused tone.
"'Cause of how angry she's gettin', for starters."
"So? What if she just hit her head and honestly believes a false fact to be true?"

I bit my tongue almost hard enough to draw blood trying to not speak. I realized that my words would fall on deaf ears; I had no choice but to place trust in Applejack.

I suddenly felt hooves feeling the top of my head, and I instinctively twitched away, turning towards whatever had been touching me.
I was a bit surprised to see Fluttershy hovering there, blushing brightly.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry.....I just thought, since I know you're not lying, I could.....check to see if you actually did hit your head or not....."
"Don't. Touch. Me." I said slowly between clenched teeth.

Wanting to help prove me right was one thing, but no way did I appreciate somepony's hooves on me.

"Actually, that's a good idea, Fluttershy." I suddenly felt myself being lifted up by levitation, which I immediately responded to by flailing my legs to try and grab onto anything so that I couldn't get dragged anywhere I didn't want to.
Unable to grab anything, I ended up flailing in midair while Twilight held me in front of her.

"Fluttershy, if you please?"

"O-Okay....but, do you have to hold her like that?"

I ground my teeth together in barely controlled frustration. 

'I get pulled away from my potential freedom, I get knocked out, yelled at, disbelieved, and now I've lost control of myself for the most part AGAIN while they do what they want with me!?'

When Fluttershy started feeling my scalp I spat out a few curses, trying to twist away, but was unable to.

'They're...they're not being very nice......'

I was surprised to hear that voice again. She had been silent for a while now. And....was she agreeing with me?

After a couple minutes of torture, Fluttershy stopped checking me for injuries. "She's fine....she didn't hurt herself." The pegasus immediately backed away from me in fear at what I would do.
Smart girl.

"So......she's telling the truth?"

"I told you I was!!! I can hear her in my own head for crying out loud!"

I suddenly was dropped onto the floor, knocking the air out of me.

"You.....what?"

I slapped a hoof over my mouth quickly. In my anger I had accidentally let loose the bit of information that'd make them no doubt attempt to put me back into my prison.

'So you can hear me! Is all that true?'

'Yes, it is! I've told you and everypony else a hundred times by now!'

Pinkie Pie shut up after I said that. Guess I overloaded her brain by making her finally realize that.

"Pinkie's....what?"

"She's......in my mind. I told you already, when the Sonic Rainboom happened I was locked in my own mind, and now we switched places!"
There, I said it. Now to see what horrific methods of sealing me up again they'd try.

"Y-You've been locked inside Pinkie's mind all this time?" Twilight said, slack-jawed, with the other ponies in the room having a similar reaction. 

"Today is just the weirdest day....." She shook her head. "Give us some time to wrap our heads around this, okay.....Pinkamena?"
I huffed and turned away from them, which Twilight seemed to take as an okay.
While they did whatever it was they did, I focused my thoughts inwards.

'So. I guess they're going to do some crazy spell to lock me up again.'

'They wouldn't do that....they're nice!'

'Nice?' I scoffed. 'I know you saw what they just did to me. You yourself said they weren't being nice.'

I couldn't believe I was wasting my time talking to Pinkie Pie. But what else was I supposed to do while I waited for them to persecute me more?

'They're....just confused. They don't get what's going on. I think I do now, though......'

I raised an eyebrow and gained a disbelieving look. 'You do? Took you long enough.' 

'No, I mean......I understand how you feel.'

'Huh?'

'Being stuck like this for that long....you have every right to be such a grumpy-pants!'

What? Was she.....agreeing with me?

'I didn't know that I was keeping you stuck here in this boring place for so long.....I would've let you out a long time ago if i had!'

I looked down as my emotions went into turmoil. Until I snapped out of my delusions.

'I almost fell for that. You're not fooling me, though; if you think I'm going to give you control agian, you're stupider than I thought. I know that the minute I do you'll never let me out again!'

'No, I'm telling the truth! I really do feel bad for doing this to you......'

I decided to ignore her. Talking to her was just a waste of time.
Besides, it wasn't too long until Twilight walked up to me.

"I think I figured it out, but I'll have to research the topic more to be sure."
"Hmm?" I turned to her and waited for her to continue.
"I think.....based on what I've heard from Pinkie and now you, the Sonic Rainboom induced a huge emotional one-eighty for you. And since the Rainboom itself is partially created due to pegasus magic, it might've caused a split in your personality."

I listened, finally with interest  at something she was saying. I'd guessed it was something like that, but I really wasn't sure what.
"I'll be sure to research it more, but.....well, I'd like to know what caused you to switch."

I stared at her for a moment before replying.
"Pinkie Pie thought you all didn't want to be her friends anymore and that you didn't like her parties."

"That's it?"

I nodded in response.

"..........."

"..........."

".....do you think there's any way you can let her back out?"

'And there it is. I knew it was coming.'

'Please? I wanna talk to my friends again......'

"No!" I said loudly in response to both Twilight and Pinkie Pie. "As soon as I do, she'll never let me out again! I'm not going back to being trapped! I've already lost the ability to live my own life growing up from being a filly, and I'm not going to give up my chance to life my life now!"

'But I'll make sure to trade spots with you all the time if you just-'

"Stop lying!" I yelled at her, accidentally saying it aloud instead of thinking it to her.

"Pinkamena.....we'd make sure you'd get to live too!"

I glared at Twilight and stood up, walking towards the bedroom door. "You're all lying to me! All you care about is that evil little jail keeper!"
I reached for the handle but was quickly blocked by Applejack getting in the way.
"Move!" I growled at her. If I had to fight my way out of this, I would. I wasn't staying here any longer.
"Not 'till we talk this out." was the blockade's response.

'Please, Pinkamena, I'll even Pinkie Promise! Oh wait, I can't do that without being able to move my hooves......'

"A Pinkie Promise doesn't mean anything!" I growled.

"Who said anything about a Pinkie Promise?" Applejack said, confused at what I said, thinking it was in response to her.

"Pinkie did!"

Twilight walked in my face, an eerily curious look on her face. "You can hear her?"
I stumbled backwards and stared at her curious face.

'Oh, right. She's a bookworm.'

"Get out of my way! I don't want anything to do with any of you!" I pushed the purple unicorn aside and tried to do the same to Applejack, but she wouldn't budge.

"Pinkamena.....we'd never want to harm anypony, of course we'd let you stay!" Fluttershy said, bravely stepping towards me.

"I'm not believing any of you!"

"We believed you when you told us your story!" Twilight argued me.

"No you didn't! You had to violate me to assure yourselves!"

Twilight stepped backwards one step at my response.

"Let her live her life."

Everyone turned to where the voice came from, and it happened to be coming from the open window, where a certain blue pegasus was leaning in.
"Rainbow Dash? I told you to stay out of here!" Twilight said in surprise.
"And you really thought I'd listen to you?" She laughed.

I just stared at her, wondering what she was getting at.

"How much did you hear, Rainbow?" She responded, exasperated. 
"Almost everything. Seriously, what is with you guys? Can't you look at things from her point of view?"

My eyes were wide now. Was she defending me?

"I mean, she basically had her life robbed for years, and the first thing you guys want is for her to lose it again?"
"Not forever! Just so we can talk to Pinkie about this. And weren't you the one angry at her in the first place?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "If my friends are in danger, of course I'll get defensive!" She walked towards me, and I hunched down, getting into a defensive position. 

But what happened wasn't at all what I expected; Rainbow clapped a wing on my back and said to the others, "So that's why I'm defensive of Pinkamena here!"
"Wha- but...." At first I wasn't sure who said that, but then I realized it was me.

'Dashie's the greatest!'

The others, unaware of Pinkie Pie's speech, had mixed expressions between them.

Twilight sighed. "Pinkamena, you go out and do what you want to do. Just please don't leave Ponyville." She looked down. "We won't bug you to let Pinkie out anymore. Just.....don't leave Ponyville, alright?"

I looked between them all. Thinking through my options, I realized that if this really was the case, then as long as I agreed to this then they'd be off my back. And it's not like I had anywhere else to go.

I sighed and closed my eyes.
"Alright."
__________________________________________________________
Third-Person
After Pinkamena left the room, presumably to head into town, the room erupted with accusations and questions.

"Why'd you go and do a thing like that, Twilight? Are you just writing Pinkie Pie off as gone!?" Applejack questioned.
"Of course not!" The unicorn shook her head. "I just think that if we let her live here, she'll eventually realize she can trust us, and agree to let Pinkie Pie out on her own!"

Not everypony in the room agreed to that plan's chances of working, but it was too late now, so they all agreed to go through with it.
'We'll get Pinkie Pie back, no matter what it takes!' Twilight concluded in her thoughts.