Conflicting Love

Pinkie hummed to herself as she bounced along the dark and long hallway. Doors where on every wall; to her left and right, even above and below her. Each door seemed to have a different object carved into it. One had a tree, another an egg, and many other things that called out to her curiousity. She stopped at a door that had an image of ghost in a red circle with a line through it. Opening it, she was greeted by a dark room with fire far below the non existent floor. Far off was a strange hound-like creature that looked right at her and yelled, "Zuul, motherbucker, Zuul." She instantly shut the door as quickly as she could before bouncing away like it hadn't happened.

She repeated this with several doors only to find even stranger things behind each one; a creature looking for something called Stephano, a round metal ball on the moon, even singing chipmunks. Finally she stopped in front of a door with two blue balloons and one yellow balloon etched into it. She slowly opened the door expecting more crazy things to behind it but all that was in the room was the silhouette of a pony in the corner.

"Hi there, are you okay? What are you doing in here? Are you playing hide and seek too?"

The pony raised its head to face her but said nothing. Pinkie tilted her head in confusion and took a few steps closer. "Who are you?"

At first the pony simply stared at Pinkie like she hadn't said a word until it started to laugh, and not in a nice happy kind of laugh. "Who am I?" The pony got up and slowly starting to walk towards Pinkie who backed away upon seeing them. The grey pink coat, the cold grey eyes, and the flat mane... "Have you forgotten about me just like that? I thought we were such good friends Pinkie."

Pinkie backed away in fear until she hit a wall where the door used to be. The only light in the room was a flickering lightbulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling. "No... You can't be here... You're not real."

"Not real? Poor Pinkie, have you truly come to no longer enjoy my company? How can I not be real if I am you?"

Pinkie slowly walked her way to the closest corner while her darker self took a few steps closer towards her. "Were all of those poor ponies not real? Those poor innocent ponies that had done nothing to you? What you did to them wasn't real?"

"T-that wasn't me... I w-would never do that to a-anypony. Y-you did that."

"And who was the one who created me when she was a little filly? You were so lonely and sad at that rock farm... all you wanted was a friend to keep you company. I was that friend Pinkie, the one who was always there for you. If you hadn't made me, then nothing would have happened to those poor unfortunate souls."

Pinkie curled up in the corner, tears forming in her eyes as she slowly shook her head in denial. "N-no... no... no."

Pinkamena laughed at the site, "You're so pathetic aren't you? What would all of your friends think of you if they knew what you had done? I doubt they would ever want you around, heck maybe they would turn you over to Celestia and have you turned into stone just like Discord. Maybe she'll be nice and have both of your statues next to each other," She taunted as Pinkie put both of her front hooves over her face, sobbing quietly.

"Aww, what's the matter? It's not like that beast would ever care for a pony, much less a pony as pathetic as you are. Everypony laughs at you every single day so what would make a draconequus like him any different?"

S-she's right. I'm so pathetic. All I am is the crazy pony that just throws parties and has a crush on an evil spirit of chaos and disharmony. I've done so many bad things to ponies that had never done anything to deserve it. I deserve to be turned into stone. Ponies always laugh at me and talk about me when they think I can't hear them. They always call me crazy, stupid, annoying, childish... They laugh at me for everything I do... and they're right. I can't even make two babies eat oatmeal without it spilling over the floor and on me.

Pinkie thought over the last part until she started giggling at the memory of taking care of Pumpkin and Pound which confused and enraging Pinkamena. "What are you laughing about?"

Pinkie continued her giggling which gradually turned into laughter as she rolled on the floor which only made the flat maned mare more angry. "Stop laughing right now. Is this how you deal with somepony talking to you?"

Pinkie started to calm down as she stood up and looked at her twin in the eyes. "Yep. You're right that ponies do laugh at me a lot, but why should I care? I don't think there's anything in the whole world that everypony likes. And some of the stuff I do that ponies laugh at me for are things that I can look back on and laugh too. Like that one time where I gave out the baked bads that Applejack made, everypony was super mad." Pinkie immediately resumed laughing.

Pinkie didn't even notice that Pinkamena was slowly starting to fade away as she put her hooves on her ears, "Stop laughing this instant."

"But laughing is so fun, why would I want to stop?" She asked still giggling on the floor to the other mare's horror as she slowly disappeared with a small clank on the floor.

Pinkie didn't notice for a few minutes while she was thinking of other things that she had done that were silly. "Where'd she go? Ooh, she left me a present." Pinkie picked up her element that had dropped and placed it around her neck, causing it to glow brightly. "Ooh pretty."

"...And that's how I got my cutie mark," Pinkie finished causing everyone including Discord to give her a strange look.

"Um Pinkie," Rainbow started. "All you said was that you opened a cool looking door. How did opening a door today get you your cutie mark that you've had for years?

"I don't know but isn't my necklace a lot shinier now?" She replied causing Rainbow to bring a hoof to her forehead with a smile.

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random."

"Indeed I am, but everypony knows that. What's new with you girls?"

"Applejack is in love with a pony but won't say who it is," Rarity said.

Pinkie gasped, ran over to Applejack with a smile on her face bigger than an Ursa Major asking very quickly, "Really? Who is it? Is it somepony we know? Is it somepony new in Ponyville that I haven't met yet? Is it you know who?"

"... Yes Pinkie, it is."

Pinkie's smile somehow became even bigger as she bounced around Applejack. "I knew it, I knew it. I just knew the two of you were perfect for each other. Once we get you two together, you can confess your love and go on a romantic canoe ride, and then years later the two of you will get married and live happily ever after."

"Um Pinkie, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Applejack begged hiding her red face with her stetson hat.

"Wait, you know about this pony?" Rarity asked surprised. "Applejack, you can tell Pinkie about this mystery pony but none of us?"

"Uh, well... uh."

"Go ahead Applejack, tell them about the pony who has stolen your heart even though you shattered theirs," Discord said with a soda cup in his lion paw. "It would be extremely entertaining."

"Where's Applebloom?"

Discord yawned as he snapped his fingers making the final element appear around Applejack's neck as it glowed like the others. "There you go."

"I asked where my sister was, not my element."

"Oh right, hmmm, where did I put her? Was it in the Gobi desert? Maybe the Arctic Circle? I'm so sorry Applejack but I may have forgotten where the poor filly is."

"Discord if you don't give me my little sister back then I'm-"

"Going to use the elements to turn me back into stone, leaving you with no way of finding Applebloom?" He guessed with a smirk.

"Why not? You said in your riddle that we would find her in this castle, so that's what we'll do."

"Hmm, in theory that would work since she is in this castle technically but she also isn't in this castle."

"What in the hay does that mean?" Twilight demanded.

"Simple Ms. Worst-thing-ever-to-exist Sparkle. Though I'm sure that it would only take you a few years just to figure out what I mean and then another few years just to find the way to get to her and then-"

"Okay we get it, we can't turn you into stone yet," Applejack glared at the spirit who clearly was enjoying every second of her frustration. "But when I do get my sister back and you're turned to stone, I'll make sure that you never can get back."

"And here I thought we were getting along swimmingly. Alright fine but I'll only take you to where she is on one condition."

"What?" She asked. She instantly regretting having asked once she saw the grin on his face.

"Oh not much, just simply tell your friends who the pony you are in love with is and we're good to go."

"What?!" She exclaimed.

"Or not and never find Applebloom. Though to be fair, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be that stoked to see you again after hurting her so bad. But the choice is yours; tell your friends so you can get your sister back or don't tell them and never see her again."

"I swear Discord. Never. Coming. Back."

"Applejack if it's me that you love than all you have to do is say so but I'm sorry to say that my heart belongs to another," He said trying his hardest not to crack a smile.

Applejack was getting extremely ticked off by Discord at this point. He was forcing her to have to tell her friends about her feelings for Applebloom and having fun at her expense. She turned to her friends who all gave her sympathetic looks. "I guess I should explain everything huh? It started when Applebloom was on her way to the train station..."