The air was cool, the sun hot on the life beneath it. The leaves came down from the trees in large splashes of brown and yellow. The birds chirped harmoniously across the lands, their songs bringing joy to all who partook in them.

Pinkie was asleep on the ground, covered in pine needles. Her soft snoring and slight drool attracted all the animals nearer to her, all sniffing for signs of life on the sleeping mare. When she woke up, almost all the animals from the nearby forest were licking her.

“Hey! I’m not Fluttershy!! Hehe, but that kind of tickles...haha alright guys, go on. I need to get up!”

Truthfully, though, Pinkie didn’t really want to get up. The pine needles were really warm, and she felt comforted underneath their blanket. If she didn’t get up, on the other hand, she would probably get way too hot under the sun. In the end, the choice was imminent.

Standing up, her legs wobbled from side to side. She felt as if she had just gotten off of a roller coaster-

“Hey, Mr. Narrator, what’s a roller coaster?”

Roller coaster, or maybe just got done drinking one too many cups of cider. Pinkie frowned, a little agitated that she didn’t get a response to her mysterious question. Looking around, she noticed that she was in the middle of a grassy area, no town in site. A mountain towered over her on her left side, a desert lying behind her.

In a quick moment, Pinkie realized she would be able to see further from the mountain, and made her way to the base. Looking up, the mountain was tall. With a snow-capped peak and rivers running to the bottom, it was obviously a few miles high, if not more. With a shaky step, Pinkie put a hoof on the first rock, finding it to be stable.

As she ascended the mountain, the oxygen levels slowly depleted, making it harder and harder for her to breathe. About a fourth of the way up, she heard a voice.

“Pinkie Pie, how did you get up there!?”

She turned around and saw Rarity running towards her. Her mane was down, which was unusual since she was always so picky about her hairstyle. Running up to Pinkie, she let out one last pant, resting her whole body on top of her. Pinkie Pie looked down at Rarity with a smile.

“Hey Rarity! Where’s everypony else?”

Rarity looked sadly at Pinkie. Pinkie could tell that there was something wrong with her.

“We’ve been searching for you, Pinkie. You’ve been missing for days! Where did you go?”

Pinkie looked down, sweat slowly dripping down her cheeks. A tear fell from her eyes. She decided that it was finally time to tell her friends what was happening to her. She put a smile on her face, wiping the tear off of her lips. “Let me tell you when we’re all together, okay?”

Rarity smiled back at Pinkie, a shine returning to her eyes. Rarity helped lead Pinkie off of the mountain, walking away from both the mountain and the desert.

~~~

Her friends gathered around, showering her in hugs. The journey back to Ponyville took about an hour, but it was all worth it to see her friends once again. Twilight was the first one to speak up. “So, I had a few tracking spells put out to try and find you, but they all said you weren’t even in Equestria! Where did you go, Pinkie!? We were all really worried…”

Pinkie opened her mouth, but then shut it again. If she told them, would they think she was crazy? She was already sad enough...what would she do if her friends hated her…? Instead, she hastily came up with a story that told about half the truth.

“I wasn’t in Equestria. I talked to Celestia and asked her to send me to a different universe for a day, where I could be alone and think. I hope I didn’t worry you too terribly, guys...I would hate myself if anything happened to you…”

It was her friends’ turn to look at each other with worry. They were obviously hiding something, and Pinkie couldn’t help but ask about it.

“Guys...is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?”

Pinkie broke inside. She thought she had done something, or somepony had gotten hurt because of her. Her mane shrunk down, no longer puffy. All of her friends spoke in simultaneous unison.

“The town is in silent chaos...

“All the ponies are fighting with one another…

“Without you here to help…

“Nopony could smile…

“And all turned to fighting…”

Pinkie’s eyes went white. She had that much of an impact on Ponyville!? Was she really the reason that everypony stayed sane…? Why couldn’t her life just be normal!?

For all of Pinkie’s life, people picked on her because she was so different. They all attended her parties, her being such a good party planner, but they all ignored her. The only time when she actually felt accepted was when she was with her friends, but she could never tell them the truth. She would always have to be happy for them…

“Guys...why do they all depend on me to smile? Can’t they see the good things in life without me?”

Now it was AppleJack’s turn to talk. “Sugarcube, they all should, but they can’t. I reckon if they just opened their eyes t’the real world, maybe everything’d be better.”

Pinkie Pie looked down, shielding her eyes from her friends. She didn’t want them to see her tears. She ran out, bumping straight into a blue stallion. Looking up, he yelled at her. “Watch where you’re going!”

This just made Pinkie cry even worse. She ran off, towards Twilight’s library, a trail of sparkling tears trailing behind her. Her friends chased after her, all running into the library, coming to find out that Pinkie, yet again, was gone.

Twilight started to freak out. “Oh no!! She’s gone again! Send out all spells immediately! Search the vicinity! We need to find our friend!”

~~~

In another dimension, Pinkie Pie found herself strapped into a seat, a table of various tools to her side. Her stomach was slightly cut, and “Dr. Sparkle” stood in front of her, writing furiously on her clipboard. She looked up, jumping back in slight surprise at Pinkie’s awakening.

“Ah, I see you’ve woken up. Well, to make this short, I’ve strapped you to this chair to conduct research on how your brain functions while in your fantasy la-”

“It’s not fantasy! This place is fantasy! Just let me go!” She struggled in her chair, the straps shaking with each hard tug, yet still they prevailed in holding her.

“Haha, Ms. Pie, that’s a worthless attempt. I control you. Just face it, your depression is your downfall. You’ve already shown all of your friends that you’re just a weak and pathetic pony who only does parties so she can hide the fact that she wants to die.”

“Just shut up, will ya!! I’m not depressed!” In her mind, could she ever actually believe that…

“Can you not see, though...your friends think you are crazy. You can’t hide your true self much longer from them, and you know that. So please, stay with us. We will accommodate to your every need, and we promise to make your life better.”

Pinkie still shook her head. No matter what happened, she knew her friends would always love her. She couldn’t just abandon them because of some silly depression. She still had one final act of independence, though. This would be her last shot.

“You know I can’t do that, but I do want one thing. I want to write a letter. A letter that, in the future, will be read and understood.”

For a second, Twilight looked slightly puzzled. Why would Pinkie want to write a note? Who would it even be for? It didn’t really matter, because Pinkie would always choose this path in the end. “Fine, you can write your note. You can only write it on one condition. Next time you return to this world, the game is over and you must choose. Understood?”

Pinkie nodded, feeling the steel braces on her hooves clank open. Dropping to the floor, she stood up straight and walked with Dr. Sparkle back down the hall that she had seen enough times already. This time was slightly different, though. This time they entered a room, labeled “Dash.”

The inside walls were coated with blood. The smell was absolutely putrefying, and Rainbow Dash, wrapped in a straightjacket, sat in the center of it all. At the sound of the door opening, she turned around, her eyes wide and a smile permanently frozen on her face. She laughed as they walked in, yelling at the top of her lungs.

“YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE, PINKIE PIE!! THEY’LL FIND A WAY TO GET YOU! HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Pinkie Pie was slightly freaked out. She leaned in towards Twilight, simply asking, “What happened to Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight looked solemnly towards Pinkie. “It’s a tragic story, really. She lost her job as a weather pony, so she took one at a place called the Rainbow Factory. She was so good at her job. Her job involved killing all ponies who failed their flying tests. One day, she just snapped.

“She took all the staff members, and crushed them into rainbows. When we brought her in, she wouldn’t stay in the cell unless we coated the walls like you see here. She never seems to move from that one spot, but don’t be fooled. She’s the fastest pony in Equestria.”

Pinkie took a mental note of that statement, looking around. “So, why are we in here?”

“Since she rarely moves, we just keep office supplies in here.”

She reached over with her hooves and grabbed a pen, along with a stack of papers. “Here, write your note, and afterwards, you will be immediately sent back with it. Now get back to your room. There will be food in there.”

Pinkie took both supplies and walked back to her cell. So, all of her friends in here were crazy...that was predictable. This was an insane asylum, after all. Walking into her room, she shut the door behind her. She didn’t even poke a hoof at the sandwich on her bed. She just sat at the small side table and began writing furiously. She would never be forgotten, and she would make sure of that.

Author's Note

The story is so close to being finished! It's projected to have just one more chapter :) Then I'll be working on the other stories, which I love so much! I hope you all are enjoying this story!!