Armageddon

It was a bright and sunny day, just like pretty much every day in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was on her way to visit the Cakes at Sugar Cube Corner to help out in making delicious treats... or just getting in the way and making a big mess. Either way worked for her. As soon as she opened the door, however, she wasn't met with the loving smiles that she was so used to seeing; she was surrounded by fierce scowls from every corner of the shop.

"Hi, everypony!" she shouted, hoping that everypony's glares would transform at the sight of their bouncy pink friend, but rather than make them happy, their expressions became more enraged. "What's going on? Did something happen?"

One stallion got up from his seat with a cupcake in his hoof, making a slow trek to the pink mare, never losing eye contact. Once he was within inches of the pony, he grabbed Pinkie's mane with one hoof and smeared the cupcake into her mouth and nose.

"Hey!" Pinkie yelled as soon as she had enough space to breathe. "What gives?!"

"Don't you talk to me that way!"

Out of nowhere, the stallion threw a punch straight into Pinkie Pie's face, knocking her to the ground in a pile of cupcake and frosting. Other ponies got up from their seats and raced toward the action, readily cheering on the stallion as he stood above the terrified mare.

"G-guys...?" Pinkie muttered timidly. "A-anypony?"

"Shut up!" The stallion shouted with a swift kick to Pinkie Pie's stomach. Pinkie curled into a ball on the floor, grabbing her middle section in some attempt to ease the pain, but as she looked up for some shred of help, all she could see was a crowd of ponies cheering him on. In the midst of the ovation, she could hear the genuine malice coming out of the ponies' mouths, encouraging him to hurt her more.

The stallion then began to stomp on Pinkie Pie's rib-cage, pressing as hard as he could in an attempt to break her bones. Pinkie remained in a ball, but her hooves shifted from her stomach to her face, trying to hide the others from seeing her cry into her hooves. They noticed, though, and their cheers began to grow louder as they laughed Pinkie to scorn.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!"

"Step on her throat!" a pony in the crowd yelled. "Make her choke!"

"No!" another called. "Break her muzzle first!"

The stallion then began delivering blows to Pinkie's face, breaking her hooves away for him to get a good shot at her nose. After several hits to her muzzle, there was finally a snap, which filled Pinkie with insurmountable pain and the crowd with an abundance of cheering.

In a state of panic and with no other options left, Pinkie bucked the stallion off of her, sending him crashing into the crowd behind him. Both Pinkie and the group looked at each other with wide eyes, stunned that the pink mare actually fought back, but that shock soon turned to rage in the circle and panic in the terrified earth pony mare. Pinkie quickly got to her hooves and ran out the door, using her adrenaline to help her escape while her hooves and stomach were still in mounds of excruciating pain. The crowd began chasing after her as if their life depended on it, but fortunately for Pinkie, her determination to escape was stronger than theirs to catch up to her.

Finally, she had managed to lose the mob in the town market. Ponies were continuing to stare her down, but Pinkie was just hoping that it was because of the blood and frosting all over her face and coat. Eventually, she found a desolate alley in between two large buildings, made sure nopony was looking and broke down crying.

"Awww. What's wrong, Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie Pie jolted at the sound. Turning her head to see that the wall beside her had two eyes looking up at her, she squealed and jumped again. A figure then grew an outline around the eyes, and Discord suddenly appeared, changing his colors like a chameleon.

"Oh, it's just you," Pinkie said relieved.

"Oh, my goodness! What happened here?"

Pinkie's relief then immediately switched back into trauma as she began to cry loudly into her hooves. "It's so horrible, Discord! I don't know why it happened! I just walked into Sugar Cube Corner and this stallion... I don't know why... and there were other ponies and... Oh, Discord, I think they wanted to really hurt me!"

Discord slumped down to the pink mare's level and put his paw around her. "Oh, Pinkie. I was afraid this would happen."

Pinkie Pie sniffled. "W-what?"

"Well, you see, the ponies around here, they... How do I put this? They hate you."

The mare just stood there for several moments before giggling to herself. "Oh, wow, Discord! You really had me scared for a second! I mean, I don't do anything that makes ponies mad." Discord's grin had completely faded into a dull stare, and soon enough, Pinkie stopped laughing. "I don't... I can't!"

"You do and you always have. Haven't you ever met a pony that rubbed off on you the wrong way, and you thought to yourself, 'I can learn to love this pony if I just put on a smile! I'll warm up to them eventually!' As you can see, whoever did this to you is tired of putting on the charade that he's trying to be your friend. Everyone in Ponyville wants you gone. You annoy them. So much, in fact, that if you were to drop off the face of Equestria right now, everypony would be happy that they'd never have to see you again. I guess they've just all gotten together and decided that they want you gone."

"Everypony... wants me to leave?"

"No." Discord then grabbed Pinkie's ear and whispered, "Everypony wants you to die."

"No... NO! NOOO!!!!!"

Suddenly, Pinkie was running away at top speeds again, even though she wasn't being chased. If anything, she was just trying to escape reality, hoping that she could run to a place where everything would be OK. Somewhere like... Fluttershy's cottage! That would work! As she approached her pegasus friend's house, however, she no longer felt like this place would be any safer. Attached to her door was a note that read:

"Dear Pinkie Pie,

I can't go on pretending any longer.

You've made my life a living nightmare.

I think it's time I finally let myself be happy, but I can't do it with you in my life.

I'm sorry, but we can't be friends anymore."

"Fluttershy..." Pinkie Pie said as a tear rolled down her cheeks, "not you too... Rarity! I'm sure she hasn't changed!"

With tears welling down her face, Pinkie raced to Carousel Boutique, trying desperately to convince herself that Rarity would always be her friend. When she got to Rarity's boutique, however, she noticed a garbage can overflowing with games and presents that Pinkie had given her throughout their friendship. Pinkie's breathing began to grow sporadic until she finally broke down beside the garbage can, giving up all hope that anypony still cared about her.

After several minutes of nonstop sobbing, it finally hit Pinkie that she had nowhere left to go, nopony left who cared about her, and nothing left for her in Ponyville. Her crying just got worse after that.

"Awww, what's the matter?"

The pink earth pony jumped, turning her head to see Discord laying down beside her. "Oh, nothing," she said, trying to make it look like she wasn't just crying her eyes out. "I just uh..." As she tried to come up with something new, though, the tears came back, and she just couldn't pretend like she was OK. "What happened, Discord?! I thought I made everypony smile, but they all hate me now! Even my best friends! What changed?!"

"I'm sorry, Pinkie. I guess everypony was just tired of pretending. Here, let me show you." Discord reached behind his back and pulled out a mirror. As Pinkie looked on, her reflection changed into a party that she had thrown a couple months ago. "Remember this?"

"Yeah!" the mare replied with a sniffle. "That was a party I threw for the Cakes to celebrate their anniversary!"

"Do you know what happened afterwards?"

"No... why?"

The image changed into a room filled with deflated balloons and confetti all over the floor, which both Mr. and Mrs. Cake were attempting to sweep up.

"Can you believe her?" Mrs. Cake said to her husband. "Who throws a party for an anniversary?"

"I know, dear," Mr. Cake said with a sigh.

"This was supposed to be our special day, but she ruined everything! The day is almost over and we're busy cleaning up her mess instead of spending time together!"

"It's OK, honey bun."

"It is NOT OK! Ever since Pinkie moved to Ponyville, we've been babysitting her instead of spending time with just the two of us! I just don't think I can do this anymore!" Suddenly, Mr. Cake dropped his broom and went into the kitchen. "And just where do you think you're going?"

As soon as Mr. Cake walked back out, Mrs. Cake's jaw dropped, a smile reaching across her face. In Mr. Cake's mouth was a strawberry-flavored cupcake with chocolate frosting, Mrs. Cake's personal favorite, sitting on top of a glass plate. "Pinkie hasn't ruined everything. Happy anniversary."

The image then changed to a slumber party that Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had together just a few weeks before. Pinkie pulled out a book that she had under her bed and said, "OH! You know what would be so fun? What if we told each other our most embarrassing secrets, but don't worry! I won't tell anypony!"

The image changed again to Rainbow Dash sitting in Twilight's library, surrounded by all her friends. The five ponies were all laughing hysterically. "And you'll never believe this!" Rainbow bantered. "She actually believes that one day, she'll meet a tall, handsome stallion who will help her throw parties every day! Her dream is to meet a stallion who will say, 'Hey, candy-mane. You know where I can get somethin' sweet around here, cause I bet it's no match for you.'" All five of them erupted in laughter as the image of the mirror returned to Pinkie's reflection.

"Rainbow Dash... How could you?!"

"Oh, it's not all that bad," Discord said sympathetically.

"Yes it is! I guess it's time I move back in with my family and farm rocks for the rest of my life."

"Before you do that, you might want to look at this."

The image in the mirror changed again, displaying Pinkie Pie's mother washing dishes and her father looking through his mail. "We got another letter from Pinkie Pie," her father said.

"Oh, dear, I'm not sure if I'm in the mood right now," her mother retorted.

"We'd better read it. She'd probably get worried if we didn't."

"We just need to let her grow up!"

"She's not like that, though. If she doesn't have a letter by the next day, she'll probably give us a surprise visit, using half our rocks for party decorations."

"What if we moved? She wouldn't have to know! You could find a farm somewhere else, couldn't you? I'm sure the girls could use a change in scenery anyway! Maybe we could switch to farming beets or--"

"No!" Pinkie's mother jumped back in surprise. "I'm not going to let her ruin our lives like that! We can write her a letter when she gets lonely every once in a while, and at least this way she's out of the house!"

"You're right, dear... I'm sorry. Every family has its challenges, and I guess we should be grateful that it's not as bad as it could be."

As the mirror returned to normal one final time, Pinkie's eyes were red, her coat pale and her cheeks covered with silent tears. "M-mom? Dad?"

The mirror in Discords paw then shifted its shape into a pen, which Discord used to draw a circle in the ground. With a stern kick, the earth within the circle tumbled down, revealing an infinite black abyss beneath it. "Pinkie, I think it's time."

"Time for what? What's going on?"

"I'm going to let you decide whether or not you want to live. If you choose life, I'll let you continue in your endeavor and leave you where you left off. If you feel like nothing will ever get better, however, this portal is the most peaceful way to die. It contains a gas that will put you to sleep almost immediately, leaving you to pass away gently in your sleep. The option is yours."

Pinkie peered over the black abyss, her mind racing back and forth between the options she had been given. On the one hand, she could easily forget about all of her pain, and maybe everypony would be better off this way anyway. Still, though, was she really ready to leave Ponyville behind forever?

"Discord?" Pinkie gulped. "Do you think anypony will be sad if I'm gone?"

Discord shook his head.

"I think your friends deserve this," he said. "Let them go. Let them be free."

The pink earth pony looked over the abyss one more time, her hooves shaking as she really took into mind what was about to happen. All those times she had spent with her friends, all the fun times she had in Ponyville would be gone. They were all a lie, though, and Pinkie couldn't kid herself anymore. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, took a step forward and fell into the hole...

...But she wasn't falling asleep...

It felt like she was falling a thousand miles per hour, wind pulling her mane and tail into the air with violent force. Her eyes jolted open as she looked up and flailed her body, seeing that the portal back home was gradually disappearing above her.

"DISCORD! I CHANGE MY MIND! I DON'T WANNA DIE! SAVE ME! PLEEEEASE!!"

"It's too late for that."

Looking down, Pinkie then saw the ground far beneath her. She was falling into the depths of Tartarus, with nothing but fire and brimstone left for her. If she wasn't crushed to death by her fall, she would surely be burned to death, or worse... she would spend eternity here, in Hell.

"I TRUSTED YOU!!!"

I suddenly snapped back to normal, remembering where I was and what Celestia had told me. Without taking a second to dwell on it further, I ran as fast as I could, looking for a new place to hide. I wasn't as concerned about finding a place where Discord wouldn't find me as much as finding a place where I could hide out while I read the others' final memories. I was too afraid that if I took to the sky, Discord would spot me in a flash, so on I ran, trying to run behind as many obstacles as I could.

Finally, I found an abandoned carriage laying sideways next to a heap of rubble, probably the aftermath of one of Discord's attacks. I slipped inside the door of the carriage, closed it shut and ducked as low as I could get, hoping that if Discord showed up, he wouldn't see me through the side window.

It had been just moments since I had woken from the vision, but with all that was going through my mind, it felt like hours, and I couldn't wait any longer. Maybe the next memories would give me some clue on how to defeat Discord. All I cared about, though, was what happened to my friends. Closing my eyes, my horn glowed green, sending me to the final thoughts of Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.