Dark Laughter

Pain. The pain of the arrows that were stuck inside of her being pulled out. She wouldn't scream, though. She'd never give them that satisfaction.

Solitude. Darkness as she was blindfolded, tied up in thick steel cords, her large bat-pony ears plugged with some substance so she couldn't hear a thing. Gagged, blinded, motionless as she was carried by the guards to Celestia knows where. Or...Celestia did know where, probably.

Fear. Eating away at her thoughts. Where were the guards taking her and her best friend? Were they going to be publicly executed for their crimes, or tortured with no mercy? If she could shudder through her unbreakable restraints, she would.

The bad feelings mixed inside of her, making her want to explode. She just couldn't take it anymore. Why wasn't she dead?

There was a pinch at her flank, a cold feeling in her veins, and then, relief. She could feel her already dark world fading into a hazy, distorted reality.

It took Pinkie a long time to figure out that they were injecting her with some sort of drug. A drug created with magic in special Canterlot laboratories, meant to trap ponies in a hazy, hallucinating, unconscious state. The first few hallucinations were mostly just her reliving early scenes of her life on the rock farm. Nudging rocks, breaking rocks, kicking rocks...it was enough to make Pinkie practically die of boredom. How in the world did she ever survive without fun?

Then, there was blackness. Perpetual blackness. Pinkie couldn't move or even think straight. Her mind was a jumble, and her thoughts were slow and incoherent.

After eternities, Pinkie felt as if she could move her muscles again. She didn't hesitate to open her eyes, but when she took in the scene around her, she gasped. This had to be another hallucination. No...this wasn't a hallucination. This was a dream. A normal dream.

Pinkie was standing in the meadow of red flowers once again. The blood flowers.

"Well, I'm a bat-pony, so eating the blood is okay," Pinkie chuckled to herself, taking a bite of a flower. The tangy flavor of blood soothed her stinging throat, and she moaned in pleasure.

"Pinkie Pie?" a soft voice called out.

Pinkie's head jolted up. "Fluttershy!" she squealed. Fluttershy was standing a few yards away from her, a pegasus for some reason, her mane and tail embroidered with blue flowers. Wait...why was Fluttershy a pegasus but Pinkie still a bat-pony? And why was she wearing blue flowers, when there were only red ones in the meadow? Oh, it didn't matter! Pinkie was just so happy to see her best friend again. "Fluttershy, I'm so glad to see you! I was so worried...that you got...killed." Pinkie hid her head, a couple tears dropping out of her eyes.

Fluttershy flitted forward and gave Pinkie a hug. For some reason, her touch was hard to feel, as if she wasn't entirely there. "Don't worry, Pinkie, I'm fine now," she said with one of her signature tiny, sweet smiles. "I'm just glad you...escaped, too."

"Escaped?" Pinkie repeated.

Fluttershy frowned. "Pinkie, you did find the way out, didn't you?"

"The way out of what?"

Fluttershy's teal eyes widened. "Oh, Pinkie...you're still being kept by them, aren't you."

"Fluttershy, I don't understand what you're talking about," Pinkie said with a giggle.

Several tears streamed out of Fluttershy's eyes. "Pinkie, this is serious. You're being held prisoner in a hospital by the Equestrian government. They're keeping you from escaping by giving you magic drugs so you won't realize what's going on."

Pinkie was speechless. Why were they doing this to her? It didn't make sense. "How...how did you escape?" Pinkie asked quietly. "How do I escape?"

Fluttershy didn't meet Pinkie's eyes. "There's only one way to get away from them, Pinkie. I took it."

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy...I just don't understand what you mean."

"Pinkie Pie, wake up!" A voice emanated through the meadow, and the dreamland became distorted and hazy. The dream was ending; Pinkie could tell.

"Pinkie, the way to get out is...you have to..." The land started to ripple and tear apart, fading away entirely.

"C'mon, Pinkie, open your eyes!"

"What do I have to do?!" Pinkie screamed as she woke up.

Pinkie was staring into the faces of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack. Normally, she would've been ecstatic at the sight of her friends, but instead, she just felt irritated and suspicious. The huge smiles on their faces seemed plastered on. Pinkie just didn't trust them, not after everything that had happened. Especially because she was in restraints on a hospital bed.

"Oh, Pinkie, we're glad you're finally awake!" Twilight said giddily. "We missed you so much."

"Really," Pinkie replied bitterly, refusing to meet Twilight's eyes. The four ponies exchanged worried glances, probably wondering what happened to the cheerful, happy Pinkie Pie they knew.

After an awkward silence, Rarity spoke up. "Honestly, I have no idea what you were thinking, trying to leave Equestria."

Pinkie gave Rarity an intense glare. "Hm. Maybe you didn't think that we would get KILLED  if we stayed?"

"Oh, yeah!" Rainbow Dash grinned. "We forgot to say: Princess Celestia interfered with the court and got you an innocent sentence! Isn't that awesome?"

"I guess," Pinkie said with a slight smile. "But what am I gonna do now? I can't live with other ponies if well, you know..."

"That's why you're here," Twilight said. "The other princesses and I have been working on a magic spell that will eliminate the bat-pony urges. It's already working, see?" Twilight levitated a mirror in front of Pinkie's face. Pinkie didn't notice at first but when she looked a little closer, she could see that her huge ears had shrunk a bit, and her eyes were more of a violet than bright red.

"Aren't you happy, sugar cube?" Applejack said tentatively. "In a week or so, you'll be back to normal!"

Pinkie hesitated, then slowly broke out into a grin, making her friends sigh in relief. But the grin vanished when Pinkie noticed that they weren't telling her something. Although they seemed to be in a good mood, their eyes were red and puffy, as if they had just been crying, and the way they stood seemed hunched and defeated. Pinkie knew immediately what they were hiding from her.

"Where's Fluttershy?"

As soon as Pinkie said this, her friends looked at each other nervously.

"She's, er...fine," Twilight said.

"Can I see her?" Pinkie asked excitably. The four ponies didn't meet her eyes. Rarity turned around and stepped away, but that wasn't before Pinkie saw the tears streaming out of her eyes.

"Tell me the truth." Pinkie said firmly. "I...I know she's not fine. You're lying."

"We...we seriously thought she was gonna be fine," Rainbow Dash winced. "The doctors here are really good with healing magic. The arrow cuts would be nothing for them to fix."

"But then," Applejack continued, silent sobs racking her strong body, "it was as if she stopped fightin'. She started resistin' the treatment, nopony knows why. It was like...like she gave up the will to live."

Pinkie froze, remembering the dream. There's only one way to get out...

"Pinkie Pie..." Twilight breathed. "Fluttershy is...dead."