//-------------------------------------------------------// Recovering your Smile -by El1er4to- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Recovering your Smile //-------------------------------------------------------// Recovering your Smile Pinkie Pie slowly walked out of the twin babies’ room, panting, she was tired, stressed, and sleepy, but a smile filled her face with the joy she always had. “Phew, I can’t believe the Cakes convinced me into taking care of these two little devils again.” She said with a grin on her face. The day was hard, she did everything in order to make the foals sleep, which of many included her being buried on a bag of flour. At the end, they got tired, and to Pinkie’s surprise, they fell asleep. “They are cute when they are asleep” She thought for herself. There was something about their faces, something about their eyes, something about their spirit, something that reminded her of home. “Ahhh, Home” Pinkie said with her eyes on the fields, past Sweet Apple Acres, across the window which separated her of the cold, starry night. She remembered her times on home, her times on the Rock Farm which belonged to her father. Sure, hard work and sacrifice were present at all times, but there she was raised, there is where her past belonged, there is where her memories, both good and bad, were kept. “I don’t wanna go to sleep yet, I might aswell do something productive, something useful, something FUN!” She made a little jump to emphasise that last word, that meant so much to her, but immediately lowered her voice in order not to wake up the foals who so pleasantly were sleeping in the room just a few steps far. “something fun” Pinkie whispered. “I could bake something, I mean I’m in a bakery so...” She thought out loud, as she walked to the kitchen in the floor below her. Pinkie loved baking, anypony she knows know that, and Pinkie knew everypony. Baking was something that kept her occupied, something that she had as a hobby, something that she enjoyed. But baking wasn’t her profession, even though she was the apprentice of the town’s bakers, Pinkie never thought of taking baking as a career. “I could make a cake, or a pie. Oohhh, I should make muffins, I’m sure Derpy would love them! Or maybe I could bake...” She was interrupted by a voice she recognized... and hatred. “Cupcakes?” The voice Pinkie heard was known by her, but she didn’t like to talk about her, or even think about her. The voice of her nightmare, the voice of her cruelty, the voice of her past, the voice of Pinkamena. “What are you doing here, what do you want?” Pinkie looked at the room, but it was empty, the lamps were turned off, and the only source of any light was the moon, the moon that illuminated the night and guided ponies to their homes, the moon that scared little foals at night, the moon, both hated and loved by everypony. “I’m just here to remind you, that I’m not gone” The voice was the same as Pinkie’s, but with a lower tone, and a much darker one. Pinkie shot a glare at everything in sight, but no. The mare of her nightmares wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Oh, I know you exist, but I wish you wouldn’t. Why are you doing this to me? Why do you keep torturing me?” Pinkie lost the smile on her face, she was talking to horror itself, but she wasn’t scared. Pinkie was angry. Angry of all the hours of Pinkamena trying to control her. Angry of the countless times Pinkamena talked about how horrid her past was. Angry of the pain, the horror, the scars that the mare of horror had put on her. “Why such a long face, Pinkie? Why aren’t you smiling? Oh, I remember, you’re not smiling because you’re not happy” The voice was heard from different directions, like if it was moving. This disturbed Pinkie, since the voice appeared to come from behind her sometimes. Pinkie tried to prove her wrong, but it failed. It is not easy to laugh at the face of horror itself. “My, my, I think somepony is sad” Pinkamena giggled “ I think I made you sad. But, again, It’s easy to make you sad, since you are weak. That’s why nopony likes you” That was it, Pinkie had enough of it. “There are many ponies who love me and care for me, you’re lying!” Pinkie’s face was red with anger, the mare had gone way too far. If there was something Pinkie loved, it was her friends, friends who were there for her. She still remembered coming to Ponyville after leaving the Rock Farms, and seeing a little orange filly bucking apple trees, her first best friend. She still remembered the little blue pegasus, who cleared the rain just for her and her outdoors party to take place, her second best friend. She still remembered the little white unicorn who designed a special dress for her birthday party, her third best friend. She still remembered the teenaged yellow pegasus, who found Gummy that one time she lost it, the first time she cried since she came to Ponyville, her fourth best friend. She still remembered the adult purple unicorn, who she surprised with a welcome party, and opened her hooves into Ponyville, her fifth best friend.She still remembered... she still remembered. A corner of Pinkie’s mouth lifted. “You think those are your friends? They barely know you, in fact, they know NOTHING about who you are. But I, oh, I know exactly who you are, I know exactly what you are able to do, I know perfectly the things we could perform... if you let me get inside” Pinkie’s eyes opened as much as her eyelids let her. She was offered this many times, she had been tempted, but she always refused it... She couldn’t let her in. “Never, I could never do that to equestria, that would turn me into the monster you are, and that is something I will never do.” Pinkie was smirking, she knew she had to stay happy. Pinkamena had appeared many times, and she always dealt with her. But Pinkamena always found a way back... “Here, let me show you...” The mirror on top of the sink was engulfed by darkness, and the picture of Pinkamena herself appeared on it. Then, the faces of Pinkie’s friends. What Pinkie saw next twisted her mind, her eyes twitched involuntarily at the sight of the atrocities shown before her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she saw, nor she wanted to. Her stomach made a turn and Pinkie gagged several times. But she was strong. When the gore ended, there was the image of Pinkamena covered in blood, smiling maniacally. Pinkamena put her hooves on the mirror, which began to crack slowly, like a wound, extending from where where hooves were. “NO!” Pinkie smashed the mirror with her hoof, shattering it into pieces, hundreds of little mirrors spread on the ground... and hundreds of horror mares that watched her. Pinkamena appeared in every single piece of mirror in the ground. The voice was now multiplied by hundreds. “See Pinkie, look at what we can do, watch them fear, feed on their pain, enjoy their suffering.” The voices were perfectly synchronized, they penetrated Pinkie’s head and filled it with desire, desire to cause pain, desire to inflict horror, desire to be feared. Pinkie was dying in the inside, Pinkamena was taking control. Pinkie began to  lose the colour of her coat, turning it into a much paler pink. Her mane fell flat, covering one of her eyes, which were twitching involuntarily. And there, on that kitchen on Sugarcube Corner, Pinkamena was born. “Perfect” The voices became one, the pieces of mirror didn’t have the image of Pinkamena on them anymore... Pinkamena was alive. “Not so fast!” A joyful voice came out of nowhere, and the living image of Pinkie Pie appeared in every piece of shattered mirror on the floor. The room was filled with giggles and laughter. “It’s not over yet!” The thousands of high-pitched voices yelled. Pinkamena lost her smirk, but soon it came back. “What will you do? Kill me? You couldn’t, it’s not in your blood” Pinkamena laughed evilly as she stared at the floor, where the images of hundreds of pink ponies were. “You know what Pinkamena? You’re right. I can’t kill you. But I can show you who I really am, I can show you all the beautiful things I’ve done, I can show you all my friendships, I can show you my life. I am surrounded by love, it irradiates everypony I know and love. I am surrounded by friendship, friendship from neighbours, friendship from my best friends, friendship from everypony. I’ve learned something in my life, something that you’ll never know. Do you know what I’ve learned? “What?” “I’ve learned that Friendship is Magic” All the pieces of the mirror levitated and joined together again, forming its initial mirror. The mirror with the image of Pinkie Pie placed itself in the wall, as energy started to accumulate inside it, the mirror began to glow with the colours of the rainbow. Pinkie talked “And I have a lot of it” A rainbow beam came out of the mirror and engulfed Pinkamena, who roared like the beast she was. “What have you done!” Pinkamena was exploding with anger, panic and fear at the same time as the rainbow took over her, and her body collapsed against the wall, roars, screams and giggles filled the air. And then, Darkness. The body of Pinkamena Diane Pie laid on the floor, with its hair still straight. She wasn’t moving, she wasn’t breathing, she wasn’t thinking. She was smiling. Her hair poofed up and Pinkie stood in the darkness of the room, with a smile on her face. Pinkamena was gone, and this time, she wouldn’t return. Pinkie walked into the foals’ room to see if they were still asleep. They were lying calmly in their beds, sleeping like angels. Pinkie giggled and trotted to her room, Gummy was sleeping on Pinkie’s bed, but she didn’t care. She got into her bed and closed her eyes, still smiling, thinking about her friends, thinking about happiness. The horror was over. The End