Fluttershy sat behind a cluttered desk in her small, quaint little office. Files nearly as high as a pony was stacked upon the desk, surrounding the meek mare in a wall of information as she wrote her latest report on Patient Number Eighty-Five.

It had almost been five weeks since she started her sessions with the infamous serial killer, yet while she was practically ordered by her superiors to simply forge the psychiatric diagnosis of the monthly evaluation to be rid of the insane pink mare once and for all, Fluttershy could not bring herself to do it.

The first session had started rather violently and while it unnerved the timid mare, Fluttershy had made a breakthrough by the end of it.

She had succeeded where others had not and although it was in poor taste for her to use the subject’s affection to gain leverage and control of the situation, it was essentially her only way into Pinkie Pie’s mind. Other psychiatrists had tried the same tactic in the past, but with little to no success.

So why did it work now?

Why me? Fluttershy thought.

Maybe the years of incarceration had softened the hard shell and web of lies that Pinkie Pie constructed around herself... Maybe now she wanted to reconcile with what she had done? Perhaps time in this facility for the mad and depraved may had indeed done some good for the mare’s mind; locked in an eternal purgatory of her own thoughts to mull over her wrongdoings in life.

It was not a stretch of the imagination to assume Pinkie Pie was capable of remorse, for the mare certainly possessed some kind of notion of this towards what she had done to a mare which she proclaimed in one of her sessions to be in love with.

If Fluttershy could open up the workings of Pinkie Pie’s mind, the murderer could be her meal ticket to stardom. She could write books on the pony—and boy, would they sell.

Fluttershy would get filthy rich out of this; and with the opportunity presenting itself before her practically gift wrapped, who was she to turn it down? All she needed to do was to gain the mare’s trust. They needed to be closer— friendlier than ever before and they were getting there. Albeit it slowly. But they were getting there.

Every session everyday produced results for Fluttershy.

Every time she stepped out of that cell, she left empowered and in control; sporting a library of snippets of information she could analyse and conclude to her assumptions.

Day by day she learnt more about the mare and the more Fluttershy learnt, the more she craved. The more she wanted to know the extent of her patient’s depravity.

After the first session, Fluttershy had already decided to put forward the recommendation of ceasing her execution at the Rainbow Factory, which subsequently shocked her superiors, but when revealing the details of her discoveries they simply relented, agreed, and praised her work.

The Butcher had something to give before she died, and she was giving it to the young upstart willingly. They could not deny Fluttershy her hard work and its pay off.

Even the Princess Twilight Sparkle commended her in a letter of her discoveries, also in agreement with Fluttershy's recommendations to stay the execution order.

However with her latest session, she may had just ruined it all.

She may had squandered the hours she spent resisting the bile in her throat whenever she had to speak to the insane mare with a idiotic and rather unprofessional mistake.

With a pen firmly grasped between her teeth; jotting down her latest observations within a log diary, her eyes flicking up to the tape player momentarily as she reached out with a hoof and pressed play.

The crack, hiss and pops of the poorly maintained rather outdated piece of equipment was harsh, but the voices that swam amongst the static spoke clear as day.

“This is session 31, this is Doctor Fluttershy’s daily report with Patient #85, Pinkie Pie. How are you feeling today, Pinkie?”

“Meh, I’m alright… Just feeling a little bit blue today.”

“Oh my, is something the matter, Pinkie Pie? Do you think it is a side effect of the medication I recommended?”

“No, no, it isn’t that… And really, thanks a bunch for getting me those. I’ve been feeling a little drowsy when I take them but it really does stop my mood swings. I didn’t even feel the need to attack the orderly that dropped them here, even though I really hate him.”

“Pinkie… That’s not a very nice thing to say, is it?”

“You’re right,” there’s a sigh. “The truth is I... I had a bad dream.”

“Oh dear. Would you like to talk about it? Pinkie? Pinkie... A-are you crying?”

“N-no… I’m not crying. See? I’m smiling! I’m not some sorry sad sack. Not at all!”

“Pinkie, dreams are not real, and they cannot hurt you. If you want to talk about it, I am here for you. I will not push the matter because I can see how upset it is making you. But I have to ask… And I’m asking because I’m concerned, as your psychiatrist and as your friend.”

“F-Friend? Y-you’re my f-friend?”

“I know I’m your doctor and you know I’m paid to help people overcome their problems. I won’t deny that is the only reason I am here… But Pinkie Pie, I feel as if we have grown close over these past few weeks. I want nothing more than for you to get better and walk out of here and live a normal and happy life. I really hope that comes true, so I am going to do everything in my power to help you get through this. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll be there to listen and help. Because that is what friends do, right?”

A light sobbing permeated the air of the office for several minutes, Fluttershy’s eyes locked upon the tape player with an avid attention.

“… I didn’t mean to hurt her. I loved her you know? Her smiles and her accent… Her flank… Her lips… They belonged to—no, BELONG, to me… So why did she—how could she go and… And… With her!”

“You mean, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes... I didn't know they were a thing! I thought they were good friends… So when I caught them doing all kinds of things in the barn I… I just, flipped you know?”

“It was the first time you were never in control of the situation. What you wanted more than anything in the world was taken from you. And it hurt you. I understand, Pinkie. But what you did in retaliation was simply—”

“I didn’t lose control! I was spreading smiles indiscriminately for years and meticulously picked my playmates so that no one ever missed them when they went to play with me! No one suspected a thing! But I… I… I didn’t mean to pick Rarity, I—”

“Can I ask you something, Pinkie?”

“Y-yes. Sure.”

“Pinkie… When you say playmates, you mean… Victims, right? And by play, you mean other things, right?”

“… I don’t like that word. They were playmates… W-we played together. Smiled together...”

“Pinkie Pie, I know this is hard for you to understand, but, what you did was not just playing with them. They were your victims.”

“I don’t like that word—”

“And you killed them.”

“No! No, I didn’t kill them... What’s that? What is that, Flutters?”

“This may seem harsh but as your friend, I want you to get better. I know this is going to make you uncomfortable, but please look at this picture, Pinkie.”

“No… No, keep it away from me. I didn’t do that... I would never do that!”

“Pinkie, please—”

“Stop! You’re making me sad!”

“You did not only just kill Rarity, Pinkie. You... killed her little sister, too. Her name was Sweetie Belle.”

“I was their friend! I would never do that! You are lying to me—they never died! Get that THING away from me!”

“You forced Rarity to watch as you served up her little sister on a silver platter and then fed it to her.”

“I thought we were friends! You’re being so mean! How could you?!”

“No, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy’s voice raised, growing in confidence, “if there is anyone mean in this room, it is you! You are not going to get better if you do not accept the fact that you did these things. Your dreams will only continue to haunt you and you will only remain in this cycle of madness for the rest of your days in this cell!”

“I am not, INSANE! I just wanted to make them smile and guess what! I fucking did! I even slit their cheeks wiiiiiiiiiide open so that they had great big, BLOOIDIED smiles! And guess what?! They laughed and sang and played with me all day long!” Pinkie giggled, "Welllllllllllll, until they fell asleep of course! My parties are always so tiring! They always fall asleep! Forever, and ever!"

“Pinkie, don’t come towards the line. You know what happens when you do.”

“So, Fluttershy, if we’re so-called friends, then let us play together! Let us play tag—”

“Please, Pinkie Pie! You need to try and control yourself!”

“And you, are, IT!”

Fluttershy slammed a hoof down onto the stop button so hard, it caused the files that were neatly piled on top of her desk to slip off and scatter its contents all across the wooden flooring. With a sneer, she quickly dropped her head onto the desk with a thud and cursed silently to herself.

"This is going to take weeks to repair..."

Lifting her head up from the desk, Fluttershy glanced down to the report she had left unfinished and read a passage aloud.

“To conclude, the patient is unstable and dangerous. All psychiatric methods to correct her have failed. Medication also bears minimum and unsatisfactory results. My recommendation as the patient’s psychiatrist is that she be placed for immediate expedite to the Rainbow—”

The door erupted open and two orderlies followed by Nurse Redheart flooded into the room with expressions of grim determination, causing Fluttershy to yelp in surprise to flail her hooves in a panic.

“We have a problem,” Redheart commented as she approached the desk, "a big problem," she added with worried stare.

“P-problem?” Fluttershy stuttered, trying to collect herself and stop her heart from jumping out of her throat.

“Patient Number Eighty-Five attempted suicide.”

Author's Note

Re-edited on 09/06/2014 for corrections and added content.