scrapped work

fractured

No matter where you try to run...

No matter where you try to hide...

No matter how hard you try to pretend we aren't real...

We will be there.

And we will never be silent.

So go ahead.

Have your little parties.

Surround yourself with your little friends.

Keep up your delusions of laughter and happiness.

Because as soon as you're alone...

As soon as no one is there to protect you...

We will be there.

And we will never be silent.

Fractured: The Ballad of Pinkamena

-Rough Chronology-

Sometime in distant past:

-Pinkie, shortly after getting her mark, takes her sister to a party with a strange Colt. Bellamina is hesitant, but Pinkie convinces her, using the fact that the Colt has a similar 'party' mark.

-The Colt imprisons Pinkie and tortures, disembowels, and kills Bellamina in front of her.

-After some time, the Colt feeds a starving, delusional Pinkamena a cupcake made from the remains of her sister.

-When the Colt prepares to torture Pinkie in the same way, he turns his back for a moment, and his knife is left unattended.

-Pinkie uses the knife to attack the Colt, but does not kill him, slashing him repeatedly but deliberately not killing him, to make him suffer for what he did to Bellamina.

-Pinkie is found some time later by authorities. The Colt is not found; Pinkie assumes she killed him.

-The traumatic event leaves her psyche in ruins, but she represses the memory deeply and is able to remain semi-stable.

-Pinkie becomes extraordinarily happy and eccentric as a result of the repression.

*Details of Psychological Damage*

-Pinkamena believes that, due to the similarities in their marks, as well as what she did when she attacked the colt, that she is the same as him, and that inflicting pain and suffering

is her purpose in life. She rejects this and embraces her current idea of her mark, throwing parties. Thanks to the repression, she is able to forget the former and dwell entirely in

the latter.

Events of Party of One:

-Pinkamena believes her friends no longer enjoy her parties, and no longer desire to associate with her. This is the first step in opening up the old scar.

-The concept of her mark representing parties, as opposed to the more traumatic assumption she first had, is shaken. Though she does not recall the latter yet, the framework is set in place.

-She initially suffers a breakdown; though in the end her friends are able to bring her out of it, this marks the point where the repression begins to reverse,

as well as the point where Pinkamena's warped personality manifests itself.

Events of Lost in the Crowd:

-Upon being confronted with a party that is apparently vastly superior to her own, Pinkamena suffers another breakdown.

-Believing that her parties are inferior, thus they are (and by extension, she is) pointless, she contemplates leaving.

-This is the first time that "alternate Pinkamena" makes her presence known, though not directly; she torments Pinkie internally, leading her to the above.

-Rainbow Dash finds Pinkie before she carries through with her plans, and successfully counteracts the harm "alternate Pinkamina" does, convincing her of the "impersonal" nature of the party,

thanks to all their friends acting abnormal, compared with Pinkie's personal, friend-driven, heartfelt parties.

-Pinkie recovers from the breakdown, but lasting wounds are left.

-This also marks the point where Pinkie first realizes she has feelings for Dash. She opts to hide them, preferring their friendship over possibly ruining things with a relationship.

Events of Party Never Ended:

-Pinkie has been using coping strategies for a long time to deal with her hidden affection for Dash. However, the strategies are becoming less effective.

-Dash finds traces of the strategies but does not understand them. When Pinkie is confronted about them, she loses control and reveals her feelings, even going so far as to kiss Dash. Dash, overwhelmed, rejects her.

-Pinkie leaves Ponyville to contemplate the rejection and her own feelings. While she is gone, Nightmare uses the opportunity to trap her and a guilt-ridden and emotionally-confused Dash in a dream world. While Dash's is an endless nightmare,

Pinkie's dream world is a perfect one where dream-Dash openly loves her and they are the focus of a neverending party.

-Some time later, Twilight, nearly succumbing to the dream herself, manages to snap Pinkie out of it. Pinkie is told by the imaginary Dash that she knows the real Dash will feel the same as she does, and no matter what happens,

this dream Dash will always be in her heart, waiting for her at the titular party.

-Heartbroken at possibly giving up her true love, but determined to save the real Dash, Pinkie enters Dash's nightmare world, where she learns the reason for Dash's rejection.

-Dash's close friend, Star Catcher, made a very public confession of love to her. Dash, overwhelmed and embarassed, violently rejects her, despite feeling the same. Star is heartbroken, becomes a laughingstock, and soon leaves flight School.

-Dash hid extreme guilt over lying to her friend and ruining her life. Pinkie's unexpected confession opened old wounds and provoked the negative response.

-The two overcome Nightmare, with Pinkie making a sacrifice to save a weakened Dash, and ultimately besting Nightmare in her own mind.

-Nightmare exposes her to bizarre dreams in which she, and later Dash, are violent, psychotic killers. Her focus elsewhere, no thought is given to what might have provoked these attacks, and they are easily dispelled.

-Thought dead, Pinkie revives upon Nightmare's defeat, and revealed it was Dash, who repeatedly and tearfully confessed her love to the seemingly-dead Pinkie, that gave her the strength to beat Nightmare.

-Dash requits Pinkie's love. The two agree to a relationship, once Ponyville is saved from Nightmare's storm.

-Dash, with Pinkie's help, prevents the storm, sharing a tender moment of bonding just before the do-or-die moment. Ponyville begins the slow road to recovery, and Dash and Pinkie make their relationship official.

Events of Light in the Darkness:

-some time later, the two are still going steady but are not officially living together yet. Pinkie begins suffering from vaguely-disturbing nightmares, and is unsure of their meaning.

-One night, however, she suffers a horribly-vivid night terror in which she brutally tortures and kills her beloved Dash, in the same manner as the Colt all those years ago (though she does not make this connection.)

-upon awakening, she suffers a prompt breakdown over fear that she could do such a thing. She is nearly psychologically destroyed.

-Dash finds the traumatized Pinkie and is able to break her out of it, convincing her that her breakdown as a result of the nightmare means she rejects it and thus, is nothing like the "Psycho Pie" in the dream.

-Pinkie successfully recovers, and their relationship grows stronger. Though she is convinced, Pinkie still harbors some doubts.

-This is the beginning of the end.

Prologue to Fractured:

-The nightmares do not stop. Pinkie remembers what Dash told her, and continues to reject the nightmares, but they continue, becoming more vivid and "real" each time.

-"Alternate Pinkamena" finally begins to manifest again, this time visibly appearing to Pinkie. Alt. Pinkamena begins to verbally torture her, exploiting every one of her insecurities and

convincing her her nightmares will someday come true. Pinkie actively fights her influence, throwing more parties than ever and surrounding herself with her friends as much as she can

to drown Alt. Pinkamena out.

Events of Fractured, Act 1:

-Pinkie begins to fall apart. The nightmares continue, becoming clearer, more memorable every night. Alt. Pinkamena is ever-present, always waiting until she is alone to tear her apart

and convince her of her own worthlessness, pointlessness, the destructive side of her she constantly rejects, and her inability to face the truth.

-Psycho Pie first appears. She begins to try to convince Pinkie that she is inevitable, and that Pinkie's true nature is not to cause laughter and happiness, only pain. Pinkie continues to

fight, but is beginning to show signs of weakening.

-The others begin to notice her troubles. Despite their attempts to help, Pinkie stubbornly pretends nothing is wrong, fearful of how she will be perceived if she makes her nightmares and fears known. Dash is hurt by her refusal to confide.

-Dash confronts Pinkie, accurately guessing that it is related to the nightmare from before. She repeats what she said then, but Pinkie doesn't respond. Dash makes one last declaration of love and begs Pinkie to come to her if she needs help. Pinkie says nothing.

-Alt. Pinkamena and Psycho Pie continue to pick away at Pinkie. When they finally find her weak point, her love for Dash, they drop all restraint and abuse that weakness as much as possible. Pinkie nearly cracks under the stress.

-Pinkie seeks comfort from Rainbow Dash, but overhears a conversation that, out of context, sounds as if Dash is just humoring her love. This is the final straw. Pinkie loses it and gives in.

-Pinkie becomes deeply depressed, much worse than before.

-Alt. Pinkamena convinces Pinkie to run away; she does so. The others, once realizing she's gone missing, begin to seek her out, Dash more feverishly than anyone. Pinkie is far away by this point, in the wastelands on the very outskirts of civilization.

-Here, alone, Alt. Pinkamena and Psycho Pie are free to torment her endlessly. Pinkie angrily demands to know why they won't leave her alone, now that she's given in and done what Alt. Pinkamena wanted.

-They indicate that they will never leave her alone, that they'll always be there, until she opens her eyes and finally sees the truth for what it is. Pinkie doesn't understand, and just wants to be left in her misery.

-Alt. Pinkamena decides that it's time to make her face the truth, the hard way; Pinkie is dragged within her own shattered mind, where Alt. Pinkamena and Psycho Pie force her to remember the events with the Colt. however, the view she gets is skewed,

deliberately portraying her as a deranged torturer and killer, who at heart only wants to inflict pain and suffering. Pinkie refuses to accept this revelation, trying to deny everything. The two mockingly chide her attempts to reject the 'truth.'

-When Pinkie decrees that she'll never hurt her friends, Alt. Pinkamena indicates that it is they, not her, who hold the power. Alt. Pinkamena gives Psycho Pie 'permission;' Psycho Pie then takes control of Pinkie's real-world form, sadistically stating

that Pinkie will have to accept it when she (Psycho Pie) makes it a reality. Pinkie, too weak to fight back, can only watch in horror as Psycho pie begins to put the motions of her nightmare in action.

-End of Act 2.

Fractured, Act 2:

-Psycho Pie sets up the events of Pinkie's nightmare, wondering who her first victim should be.

-Dash and Twilight, after the search was unsuccessful, have begun studying at the library in Canterlot for a spell that could help them. They find a spell that allows an individual to peer into and influence the minds of those with whom they share strong ties; Dash decides to use

this spell to try and track down Pinkie. Twilight warns her that the spell was deemed too dangerous and was never tested. Dash convinces her to proceed.

-The spell is cast. Dash tries to look into Pinkie's mind, but is confronted with alien geometries and unidentifiable sights; neither her nor Twilight understand. Celestia is busy heading the search for Pinkie, so they turn to Luna for advice.

-Luna suggests that the reason Dash can't clearly see into Pinkie's mind is because there is a great turmoil within it. Dash doesn't follow, but Twilight guesses that Pinkie must be having some sort of major breakdown. Dash, even more worried,

desperately asks what they can do. Neither Twilight nor Luna can offer an answer.

-Psycho Pie decides that Dash would make a perfect first victim. Pinkie is horrified, but Alt. Pinkamena and Psycho Pie have her too broken to act.

-The plan is put into motion. Dash is trapped and captured with no one being the wiser. Pinkie is forced to watch as Psycho Pie prepares to make her nightmare come true, mocking her about it all the while.

-Dash awakens, confused and afraid of what she's in. when Psycho Pie monologues about her intentions, Dash is horrified that this became of Pinkie; however, Dash does not entirely believe it. Psycho Pie begins to torture her.

-Within her mind, as the real Pinkie watches in horror, helpless, the two continue to mock her, telling her that this is her purpose in life. Pinkie just cries out over and over that she's sorry to Dash.

-Psycho decides that the perfect thing to finally snatch what shred of resistance Pinkie has would be to have her take away Dash's beloved wings. She brings the blade close to them, taunting both of them about her intentions.

-Pinkie snaps, crying out in abject despair. Dash, thanks to the lingering mind link, hears the cry. Thinking quickly about it, she concludes that this isn't the real Pinkie, and the real Pinkie must be fighting somewhere inside. She states her revelation to Psycho Pie.

-Psycho Pie attempts to attack her to prove she's real, but before she does, Dash calls out to the real Pinkie. She tells her to fight, that she's stronger than she thinks, and most of all, that she (Dash) loves her.

-Pinkie is finally broken out of her breakdown by Dash's desperate call to her. Seeing herself almost take Dash's beautiful wings, she hurls herself upon her psychotic mental counterpart. The shock of this is enough to paralyze real-world Pinkie's body, just before the blade strikes Dash.

-Dash realizes what she said is working. Remembering the mind link, she tries to look inside Pinkie's mind, and catches a glimpse of the conflict within.

-Psycho Pie gets the upper hand and nearly kills the mental Pinkie, before Alt. Pinkamena agrily stops her, telling her that if the real Pinkie's fragment is killed, both of them will disappear as well. Tensions between the two sinister fragments mount, and they begin to argue.

-Dash notices the conflict between the two, and begins to bait them. Thanks to the mind link, her words get through. As the two fragments fight, Dash feeds their animosity of one another, using the reveals each makes as new ammunition.

-Alt. Pinkamena and Psycho Pie fall to outright violence, each desiring to kill the other. This distraction gives Dash enough time to reach out to the real Pinkie, reassuring her of who she is and telling her that she has the power, not them.

-Pinkie gains control long enough to free the injured-but-intact Dash, and urges her to run. Dash tries to refuse, but Pinkie beomces furious and demands she leave. Dash doesn't want to abandon her, but Pinkie confesses she still has doubts and that she can't hold them off forever. She begs

Dash to flee before she loses control and hurts her, her eyes tearing out of fear and suffering. Her desperation convinces a pained Dash to comply.

-Psycho Pie begins to lose their fight. Alt. Pinkamena takes advantage of her vulnerability to call out her flaws. Psycho Pie loses it and finally reveals that she regrets what she has become, after the imaginary events of her fictional life, and laments that she can never change it,

crying out that Alt. Pinkamena would never be able to understand. She says that Bella's death was random and without meaning; thus the only way she can give meaning to her sister's death is to kill randomly. She cries out that, even if she is a monster, at least she still loved Bella.

         Alt. Pinkamena, unimpressed, delivers the killing blow. As Psycho Pie dies, she weakly cries out in joy that the pain is finally fading.

-Alt. Pinkamena decries the dead Psycho Pie as a failure, but that the nature of Pinkie's broken mind means another one can be easily made, once the real Pinkie is dealt with.

-End of Act 2.

Fractured, Act 3:

-Alt. Pinkamena pulls Pinkie into the final area of her mind, the old family farm, but with the sky pitch-black and the farm surrounded by a deep, impenetrable void. Alt. Pinkamena finally gives the full story of the events of the Colt, pointing out that their marks and the things they did mean that the Colt and Pinkie are one and the same.

-Meanwhile, Dash contacts Twilight and tells her to gather all their friends; Pinkie needs their help.

-Alt. Pinkamena tells Pinkie that there is nowhere left to run or hide; it all comes to an end here, and once Pinkie is dealt with, and can no longer fight the truth of her sinister purpose in life, she'll be a 'blank slate' that can be molded into something that would put Psycho Pie to shame.

She states that she (Alt. Pinkamena) has served her purpose, bringing Pinkie to the final threshold. She laments that she won't be around to see Pinkie finally give in, but confesses that she had a lot of fun breaking her spirit, and she'll look forward to seeing what kind of suffering the new

Pinkamena will deliver to Equestria. With this, Alt. Pinkamena leaps to her death.

-The final phantom arises, Slendermane.A symbol of the monstrous colt that Pinkie has tried so desperately to forget, this is the gatekeeper of truth, the harbinger that will force Pinkie to accept her nature as a bringer of pain. Pinkie falls back to the very edge of the abyss as Slendermane slowly draws closer.

-Pinkie makes one last, final decision. She recalls that all of this is tied to her; Psycho Pie, Alt. Pinkamena, and even Slendermane. If they are gone, she can never hurt someone, hurt her friends...hurt Dashie. She is the foundation...and without her, they can never touch the real world. Pinkie smiles sadly as she prepares to step off the edge into the void.

-A voice stops her. Pinkie recognizes it instantly. Dash is contacting her. Pinkie tells her that this is the only way she can be sure she'll never hurt anyone. Dash tells her she's wrong about her nature.

-Dash, along with her friends, proceeds to go over everything that has happened, explaining exactly why Pinkie's reactions to them mean she is not what she thinks she is. She ends with the incident with Bella; Pinkie is horrified that she knows, but Dash reveals she saw it, fractured but there, the first time

she looked into Pinkie's mind, even if she didn't understand it then. She states that Pinkie did what she did to the Colt not because she is a killer like him, but because she is his antithesis - whereas the Colt only lives to hurt, Pinkie lives to bring happiness. Pinkie did what she did

to the Colt because she loved Bella, and hated the Colt for what he did to her. Pinkie was taking revenge. Any joy, any satisfaction she felt, it was because she was avenging the suffering of her beloved sister.

-Pinkie makes one last confession; it was her fault Bella died. She was the one who convinced her to come along with the Colt. Pinkie directly led Bella to her demise.

-The desire to avenge Bella's death led to Pinkie doing what she did to the Colt. There was no sadism in her actions, only pain and rage and sadness at the loss of her sister. Her mind was so clouded by what happened that afterwards, she began to warp the events of that night, telling herself

she was the same as the Colt, because she caused Bella's death. She realizes now that this isn't true.

-However, that doesn't change the fact that Bella died because of her. Pinkie believes it should have been her, not Bella, that died. Pinkie still decides that to atone for causing her sister's death, she, too, must die. She prepares to step off the ledge again.

-A voice stops her...but it isn't Dash, or any of her other friends. It's Bella; whether a spirit, or just another fragment, is unclear, but Bella is speaking to Pinkie.

-Bella tells her that she never blamed Pinkie for what happened. In fact, it was Pinkie's parties that gave her life in the first place.

-Life on their farm was unbearably dull. For the longest time, Bella never even knew what being happy even meant; every day it was always the same. Pinkie changed that; that first party, so unexpected, was one of the best moments of Bella's life. Even if she didn't know how to show it,

Pinkie's parties were the highlights of her life on the farm. It was the first and only thing in her life that had truly made her smile...and laugh. Bella tells Pinkie that what happened was not her fault. No matter what happened, Pinkie could not have known. Pinkie could not have predicted what would happen,

and in the end, Pinkie had no power to stop what happened. Bella isn't mad, and she isn't sad. She doesn't blame Pinkie for anything; in fact, she thanks Pinkie for bringing her the first and only happiness she had ever truly felt in her life.

-Pinkie is tearful. She regrets what happened, but she'll never regret the time she got to spend with Bella. Before fading, Bella makes one last request; for Pinkie to never give up her parties. They were the only thing that ever made Bella happy, and the world does not deserve to be deprived of them.

Pinkie promises to fulfill her desire.

-Pinkie has a flashback to the time Granny taught her to laugh in the face of fear.

-Confronting the approaching Slendermane, Pinkie slowly but steadily begins to laugh, her laguhter growing in volume and strength, the Element of Laughter appearing around her neck as she laughs at the phantom approaching. She finally accepts that the fragments were wrong. Through her laughter, she tells the phantom

that she finally understands the truth, and it no longer has any power over her. As if her words were magic, Slendermane begins to dissolve into ash, and Pinkie's laughter begins to fade, the element around her neck vanishing, its purpose served.

-Back in the real world, Pinkie returns to normal. She reunites with her friends, who saw everything. She embraces them and happily says that she will never forget any of them. She then hugs a tearful Dash and thanks her for saving her, for being her light in the darkness.

-They ask if she wants to celebrate with a party. Pinkie happily agrees, but suddenly stops and says there's something she needs to do first.

-Cut to Pinkie speaking to her sister Octavia, asking to visit Bella's grave. Octavia is shocked that Pinkie suddenly brought this up, but agrees to accompany her.

-End of Act 3.

Epilogue 1, Party for Two Sisters:

-That night, as she sleeps at the family farm for the first time in years, she has a dream...but this time, it's a happy one.

-Pinkie dreams of having one last party with her sister. The party lasts all day and all night, and it's the best, happiest party Pinkie has ever

had. However, as it goes on, Bella begins to tire. Finally, as the night ends, she says that she had a lot of fun, but she's growing weak. She promises

that maybe someday they can do it again, but for now, it's time for her to go. Before fading, she says she'll never forget Pinkie or her parties. Pinkie, with tears of joy, states that she'll never forget Bella again.

Epilogue 2, Whole Again:

-One of Twilight's letters, describing the events that have transpired. She states she never dreamed that Pinkie could have gone through so much in her life, but is happy that she's finally over it all. She mentions that Pinkie and Dash have taken a vacation to the Swayback Mountains, noting that Pinkie needs to unwind after

all that's happened. She notes that the two seem to be closer than ever, and she's happy that things are finally lookig up for them.

-She then expresses a lack of understand how a mind could be fractured so deeply that alternate personae could directly interact with and cause so much harm to the host persona; she laments that there are some things that ponykind will probably never truly understand.

-She adds a note of concern; Fluttershy has been restless lately. After all that's happened, it's got Twilight nervous, but she admits she's probably just being paranoid and brushes it off.

Epilogue Stinger, My Party Never Ended:

-Twilight gets a return letter from Celestia. She does not read the whole thing out loud, but one part troubles her.

-Celestia notes that she looked over the records from the time of the Colt incident, but no Colt was ever found by the authorities, dead or otherwise. Pinkie and the remains of her sister were found, and there were signs that coincided with Pinkie's actions, but no Colt was found by the authorities, there or anywhere in

the surrounding area.

-Cut to a shot of a rural-looking town. A silhoutted figure is standing on a cliff overlooking it. As he monologues about the unreliability of memories and the tendency of the mind to conveniently forget undesired truths, shots of his heavily-scarred body are shown.

-Second-to-last shot shows a view of his face, hung low and eyes closed, heavily veiled in shadows. "And as for me...?"

-Final shot. Same scene, but Colt is looking at the camera, his eyes are open and have a soft red glow. "My party never ended..."

THE END