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Chapter 3

The Cold, Empty bottle of Sarsaparilla
Part Three

The two doctors sat in the break room sipping at their cups of coffee, Dr.Mathews seems quiet. At this point of the day he and Nathan are usually chatting it up about their work with the patients; things like whose acting better, who’s getting worse. Exchanging theories about their perspective fields, but today there’s not a sound in the room, even the nurses seem to pick up on this and have been keeping conversation to a minimum.

Dr.Mathews pours another cup of coffee, taking slow sips as not to burn his lips, he lets out a great big *sigh* which penetrates through the silence. Nathan looks at his notes on patient #109’s file; he works up the bravery to finally bring up the elephant in the room. “So what do you think went wrong?”

A surprised Dr.Mathews looks up at him; “I think the transition between complete fantastic other-worldly delusions, and a cold hard reality can be painful for some-” he shakes his head “all people. I mean think about it! She lived in this world....this......Equestria for almost ten years now! She’s had many friends, imaginary friends, yes! but sometimes that’s all we have when the world turns its back on you, like a lonely child. Humans have a flight-or-flight response for physical danger, why not emotional danger? Maybe at the most troubling of times maybe people flee into the sweet bliss of denial, taking them where no one can hurt them. That is why I fear treating them my friend, I desire to make people happy and sometimes the right type of crazy is what happiness really is.”

After that the silence set in again as the intern contemplated on his well thought out response “So why do we do it?”
Taking another sip of coffee Dr.Mathews looks at his apprentice inquisitively “hmmmmm?”
“I mean why do we treat them, Pinkie- I mean the girl was perfectly happy in her fantasy, then why do we treat her?”

“The social consensus believes it is better for them, that reality, despite its flaws is better than a lie. But who’s to ague what is our reality? If you woke up tomorrow, in a twisted, horrifying world with alien beings telling you everything you know is a lie, what would you think?”

“I’d want to get back to this world, I suppose.” Nathan answered. “Right! Despite all that it is our duty, whether we choose to do it or not, to cure this girl; I just hope she’s strong willed enough to handle things when we go talk to her again.”

Pinkie Pie woke up in the middle of Sugarcube Corner, she looked around; everything seemed queer and distorted, the bright colors replaced with dreary faded colors, like that of an abandoned carnival. An empty shell of what fun there used to be in times long since past. There was another thing, everything looked.........off. Pinkie Pie didn’t even know how to describe it, “three-dimensional” and “textured” would be the words she’d use, had they been in her vocabulary. Every crack and crevice seemed meticulously placed, different objects had a different set of these bumps and jags, Some things, like the slice of cake sitting on the table, was full of tiny bubbles of air trapped in the cake. While other things, like tiles seemed to remain smooth, like in the world she remembered.

The properties of the room itself seemed abnormal too; the room seemed more “spacey” things seemed to be placed in an odd fashion. The cake sat on a table which was in the middle of the room. It seemed easier to tell how far away it was other than the size of the table. She walked up to it, and looked at the cake; taking in all the tiny bubbles trapped inside. Pinkie grabbed the plate and rotated it, making these tiny shadows move relative to the light, at one angle it looked different than it did at other angles.

Pinkie continued looking about the room, exploring this new “feel” to everything when an all too familiar *ding* as the shop door opened.

It was Twilight; she looked the same despite all the surroundings, Pinkie Pie’s face lit up. “OhmygoshTwilightI’msogaldtoseeyouIcouldscream!” She jumped in the air and gave her a massive hug “What are you doing here?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight just looked at Pinkie, with a cold blank expression on her face “Pinkie, I think I’ve figured all this out”

“Oh you do? Thank Celestia! Cause I’ve got no clue as to what’s going on!”

“Pinkie, I think this is all a hallucination.” she stated bluntly; Pinkie stared at her blankly. Twilight rolled her eyes “It means that this room, myself, and every pony in Equestria are all a fabrication of your mind!”

Pinkie just looked at her with a confused look “That’s odd, that’s the same thing those creatures were trying to tell me!” her eyes widened in realization. She took a couple steps back as her eyes began to tear up “NO! That isn’t true!”

“Pinkie, think about it! Danmit! This isn’t real! Those two creatures, they’re called humans, they’re trying to help you! I know you’ve been seeing them all your life! You just have been trying to deny everything!”

“NO! I’ve never seen them before until the other day!” Twilight Sparkle shook her head “No Pinkie, I know that you know that isn’t true”

“And how do you know that?” Pinkie enquired.
Twilight just looked at her for a moment “I’m part of your subconscious” before Pinkie even had a chance to ask what does “Sub-launch-ness” means she stopped her “I means, that I’m part of your mind, I made this room to show you what the real world is like, I brought you here to tell you that your life in Ponyville is over”

Pinkie Pie began bawling “WHHHHHHHHYY!”

Twilight went to comfort her friend “I’m sorry, but this is the way it has to be.” Pinkie Pie’s face was sopping wet with tears

“But what about all my friends? You, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy?”

“We’re all here, we’re part of you! You’ll never leave our sight, and we’ll never leave you!” She gave Pinkie Pie the biggest hug she’d ever received “It’s time to say goodbye, Pinkie Pie”

Goodbye......................