Pinkie Pie's been a little less slap-happy than normal lately, due in no small part to the fact that her best friend in the whole wide world of Equestria—Rainbow Dash, of course—is nowhere to be found! After another one of her nightmares, she loses faith in herself, and her friends find themselves in a difficult situation. Old rivalries will be rekindled, things long lost may finally be found, but will Pinkie ever find her way back from her lowest point?
Artwork by tjtreece
Preread/edited by Orlunu
Chapters (10)
MOAR
Can I tell you how much i love you right now? Really dude this is awesome.
Thanks for the comments. Each one helps me do a better job the next time, and inspires me to keep trying. I've put up a prologue now, which I feel provides a better context for the first chapter. I changed the name because it didn't feel quite right for chapter 2+. Someday, I'll learn not to post until I'm satisfied. For those of you who have faved the story, though, a prologue is not what you're interested in. Don't fret - I'll have the second chapter up later this weekend. It's completely written now, and I just want to go over it one final time before posting.
Not a bad take on Cupcakes. I liked it, and I look forward to seeing where this is going.
I've never read "Cupcakes", at least not until the end, but I sure do know what happens in the story. It made me actually pretty sad. I really don't like the fic that much. I don't have anything against gore, but.. I dunno, it's so awkward.
But I'm so happy to read this! It's sososososo much better! And IMHO, your characterization is perfect!
And I really like the plot! And to know how much Dash cares about Pinkie just makes me so giddy! PinkieDash is probably my most favourite pairing! Reading this fic has given me goosebumps, and I didn't even know that was possible! XD
I really hope you update soon, this story gets more interesting with every chapter. I'm so disappointed it's not complete! D:
Oh and this deserves more comments darnit! More attention! WHAT IS WRONG WITH EVERYPONY?!?!?!?!
4203326
Thanks!
4224174
But I'm glad you've found my tale to be entertaining so far, and I'll do my best to keep earning your readership! 
Awww! Thanks so much! I appreciate the high praise, although I don't feel I've quite earned it yet.
Oh, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the original either. Poor Dashie!
And of course, as I've mentioned before, I'm still pretty new to this, so I welcome all comments and especially criticism.
Thanks!
well, besides not bein a fan of Cupcakes
or references of that icky story 
; i admit that this is interestin 
n' sure hope that pinks can hold out til twi can "mind-link" to her 
. Otherwise somepony needs to re-catch dashie 
n' bring t other elements in t loop of this grimy tragedy 
You...
what have you done?
How could you?
You're starting to make me feel like a bad guy here.
Seriously though, good story. It's an interesting spin off, keep it up!
4245222
Wow! Thanks! I'm glad you like it, but don't feel bad about your own work. I myself have read it several times, both due to its notoriety and influence as well as to prepare to write this, obviously. As you've either already found or are soon to find, it certainly has a wide following, with a large number of "Pinkamena" fics that are either direct sequels, sidefics, or reenvisionings like this one, as well as many others that just reflect the murderous Pinkie theme. For my part, this fic is the result of a spontaneous thought I had driving home from work, some sad brony song playing in the background, about an alternate scenario in which the whole Cupcakes deal could take place without leaving Pinkie a monster in the process.
It's good to see you here though, and thanks for commenting on my little story!
4244263
Thanks for reading and for your feedback! To respond to one of your comments, yes, the rest of the Mane 6 will be appearing/gain larger roles soon.
4245501
sweet t moar helpin hooves t better 
; altho i wonder if dashie is ever gonna slip bout t letter's contents 
? I mean she doesn't hav to thx to a her promise 
but, it'll get out eventually 
. Sooner is usually better most times 
I love this! I seriously love this!
I hope everything turns out alright for Pinkie, though! Poor, poor her.
I was a little annoyed that Dashie forgot about saving her for a little while.
But her determination to find our beloved pink goofball made up for it! It made me squee! 
Keep it up!
Hope you update as soon as you updated this chapter!
EDIT: HEY! The famous Sergeant Sprinkles commented on your story! How lucky! XD
4253462
Thanks for your comments and your support. I'm absolutely swamped at work this week, and I've had no time since writing the last chapter to get much past the idea stage on anything. It'll likely be a couple of weeks, at least, before I get another chapter out.
4252689
Just have to wait and see
4272722
. see ya when u get a new chappie out then 
awww, fine
This is awesome and I must say a while lot better version of Cupcakes I can't wait for more this is absolutely fabulous keep up the great work!
4274249
Thanks!
Hum... this story is taking an interesting turn...
4560918
Thanks for commenting.
And yes, the plot will just continue to thicken from here. Hopefully, you'll continue to find it interesting.
MOAR
I still love you for this man. just because i hate cupcakes with a fiery passion doesn't mean i cant forget that it gave us our favorite fanon version of pinkie pinkamena.
Ok i hate to double post but um is this story about pinkamena or fluttershy? pick one! sorry i came here for pinkamena. I didn't come here to read about my not so favorite pony. I am confused would the lost element be pinkie? Also why so much focus on fluttershy and the mane six? For a story about pinkie you sure have her not being shown from her POV in these recent chapters. Might as rename it the mane six's tribulations then. XD
4883876
Chapter 6. Sigh. So, some background. One of my frustrations with the earlier chapters (2 & 3, mostly) of this story is that they felt somewhat...unfocused to me. So for the last couple of chapters, I decided to narrow the scope to the development of a single story arc. In this case, that would be the Baltimare arc, which chapter 6 will be quite important for.
But...the Baltimare arc is going to take longer to get through than I initially thought (and as you noticed, it doesn't exactly focus around a Pinkie-perspective). Based on all that...well, the next chapter is (at this point) all Pinkie.
Or Pinkamena. 
But I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression with that last chapter. The story is definitely Pinkie/Pinkamena's. It revolves around her character conflict, and the resolution of that conflict will resolve the story. Rainbow Dash and Twilight are both central characters as well, and their actions will continue to be important. Everybody else: Fluttershy, AJ, Rarity, Lyra, and Luna, right now, I consider to be side/supporting characters. Given that this story is only 43k words right now, though, I can see how giving those side characters about a quarter of it might muddle things up.
But...we're only a third of the way through, and that's an optimistic measure. RIght now, it's outlined to be 22 chapters. Of course, that could change; Chapter 6 really wasn't in the outline at all. But, honestly, we still haven't gotten around to one of the most key elements of the story here. We'll get there, though, I promise.
And thanks so, so much for taking the time to give me your feedback. I'll never become a better writer without all of you, the readers, showing me all the places I've gone wrong. I hope you keep following this story, and that I can justify your continued readership of it.
4885027
Sure it's no problem. I just got confused that's all. It felt like they just forgot about her and started acting like she never ran away.
Great story so far, the way you made Fluttershy's personality was really nice to me, you showed her shyness and social issues in a darker and more problematic light than most others I've read. And what the doctor thought about AJ and Flutters? Plus it apparently being a rumor around town?
I like all the little details this story has, Lyra's involvement, the mental fraying Twilight is going through, Dash's pain. It must be killing Dash to be stuck in prison instead of helping Pinkie, and for Twilight to have to wait a few days to even possibly get Dash out has got to hurt.
But man, This story shows Twilight having some major social problems of her own. She talks about how she didn't notice her friends having issues, she acts so cold and non understanding about why Dash never told what happened at the school that day. Her upbringing is really showing through on this. I can only imagine the amazing shouting/rant Dash is going to go off on next chapter *or whenever they come up again*.
I like the little flashbacks of Dash and Pinkie's, though the dreams aren't my thing, I usually either don't understand what the writer is trying to say in them *You're on the wrong side? Why do you hate?*, or they just feel like filler to me.
It'll be a while, but I am interested in when/if Pinkie and Dash meet up and we get the romantic/sad drama. But hey, we have Sea pony Pinkie atm, so fun times are ahead!
5179623
Thanks for the very thorough and positive review of the story so far (though don't hesitate to tell me things you didn't like either. I certainly want to know!). I'm glad you've found something to enjoy in it. It's definitely been a learning process for me, and I'm sure that really shows in the earlier chapters.
I'm going to try to stick to flip/flopping the chapters from here on out (Pinkie/everypony else), to keep consistent progress on all plotlines. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stick to it, but that's the plan. So yes, next chapter (whenever it comes out) should have the Twilight/RD action you're anticipating.
As far dream sequences are concerned, I generally agree with you. I promise, it was necessary, although I definitely intend to avoid any dreams of that length in the future. And you're correct, the sequence you quoted from doesn't make sense. Yet.
All in good time.
Again, thanks for reading—and the detailed analysis. I hope to continue to earn your readership.
I don't mean to seem rude but are you planning to be updating soon. It has been a while.
Also I have a question with what happened to pinkie. just in case I will put the spoiler thing up.
Sea Pony?
5259212 It's not rude at all. Honestly, I feel terrible about it. I know I left things somewhat...indeterminate there.
If you haven't checked my blog on this already, you might find that in between all the emo ramblings, I've tried to put up semi-regular updates there about this. The gist of it is that several things have been happening lately that have prevented me from keeping to my usual schedule of monthly updates for this fic. This includes:
- Work continuing/increasingly being a pain in the ass
- Certain uncomfortable personal issues, which I've already said too much about
- Having less time due to other things at home, including my spouse being home substantially more due to a job change
- Having serious writer's block every time I open up the google doc for the next chapter. I'll note that it's not that I don't know where this is going, it's just that I'm having a lot of trouble writing a few of the scenes we need to get there.
- Various dead-ended attempts at other fics as they strike me
I know I owe you guys something. I've got quite a few segments already written; if I can't get anything else done, I might just take some of that and try to slice it up into something that makes a sensible chapter. The resulting chapter certainly wouldn't be as long as most have, though.
But I certainly haven't forgotten about this fic. It will be updated. I just can't say when at this point.
As to your other question, all I'll say on that is that I won't answer that one just yet. Take from that what you will.
5260474 cool I was just kind of worried you had forgotten about it. That would have been a shame.
Sorry I don't exactly follow the blog posts, I guess that's why I was worried (my bad).
Thanks for saying it's still going, even if it's a long wait if the next chapter is any where near as good as the last ones it will have been worth it
Also good luck with your work
yaayyy update
Ha called it.
Seriously though well done. A bit of a bombardment of information but good none the less.
5609646 Heh, yeah, I suppose this chapter's got more than its fair share of exposition—but, well, its a whole new world. Kinda
. Glad you found enough there to enjoy anyway, though. 
As always, thanks for reading!