Chapters "Somepony's making balloon animals!" said Rainbow Dash. This is where Pinkie Pie's previous life had ended, replaced with a more dark and sinister nightmare. Pinkie Pie couldn't hold it any longer. She just couldn't. And her lack of patience was the cause of her eternal sentence to the mirror pool. There are many rumors and myths about the Otherplace, all of them but one are just mindless speculation.
The legend of the mirror pool, like the pool itself, is only the shiny first half of the legend. The full legend, like the pools depths, is a dark and twisted poem. A warning, to any who may use it's depths thinking only good will come of its sparkling, reflective waters. It's called... The Otherplace...
The Otherplace
Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find, A pond beyond the most twisted of vines And into her own reflection she stared, Yearning for one whose reflection she shared, And solemnly sweared not to be scared, At the prospect of being doubly mared, But after she found of this second of her, Then she decided she just needed more, But she found that when it was all said and done, That she ended up with a hundred, instead of just one, Then stuck in a room staring at her future demise, An impatient pegasus brought her to- The Otherplace... The place where the non perfects go.
Hi, my name's Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can just call me Pinkie. I've been through a lot, and that's a- WHAM sorry about that interruption, ahem, that's a fact. I've been through so much, that I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to go back to my bubbly happy self.
I'm here to tell you about my story. And well, I hope someone from Equestria will see this, and if they do... That clone won't know what's coming.
I woke up in a gray room, filled with office supplies. Dust was scattered over the desk, the chair was hastily shoved to the side, like somepony had left the room in a hurry. A phone was left on the carpet. There was no color, there was no wind, it was quiet. I got up and reached for the phone, but I was repelled from the device by the horrible static on its screen.
I went to try and open the door, but it was locked. I panicked, and pounded on the door, hoping the room's doors would open eventually. I soon realized that it would not be so simple. It was when I started pondering on what I should do that I saw a note on the desk. I read it in hopes that it could help me to escape.
Of mayors and papers and twisted fates Of claws from a nest and a horrible place A pony pondering their existence will face A monster in the Otherplace
I assumed nothing of the note, and carried on looking through baskets for any kind of clues I could find, when I started thinking about my current predicament. "Why am I here? Is this really what's behind the Otherplace? Do I even exist? Is this a dream?" I thought.
I suddenly jumped as I heard scratching at the door. I didn't know what to do, and I started freaking out. I started looking for any exit I could find, but to no avail, there was no exit. I saw that the phone didn't have static on it's screen anymore, and I found that it was working, so in a desperate attempt to survive I talked into the phone.
"Please anypony, help me! I can hear scratching at the door... It's getting louder! It's so dark, it's so cold! Hello? Is anypony there?!'' I exclaimed to the phone.
It didn't respond. I put the phone down and learned that help wasn't coming anytime soon.
I looked for the nearest hiding place, and found that there was a space underneath a file holder. I dashed under it, hoping it wouldn't see me. I saw the door open, and saw only blood stained claws. They were covered in tall sharp black feathers. I heard a piercing shriek come from that monstrosity... I stopped breathing.
It looked under the desk and saw a stallion. It teared him to shreds, until all that remained was blood. I was horrified at the sight, and after shrieking again, it walked away. I resumed breathing.
I quickly walked out the door, making sure not to make any noise. I saw a hallway, with thousands of doors side to side. The carpet was stained with a red substance, and I swore I could see the monster's claw prints, freshly walked upon.
I trotted on the carpet, making sure that if anything decided to attack me, I would be ready to escape.
When I was walking across the hallway, I heard a door slowly creak open, and I jumped from the sound. I dashed across the hallway, and I could hear something running towards me, I ran faster, the footsteps were getting closer. I panicked, and I tried and tried to escape what was coming towards me and saw that the door to the staircase closed right in front of me. I closed my eyes.
But nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see a filly doll. It was yellow with red hair, and a bow. It's eyes were buttons. "It's okay. I didn't mean to scare ya," said the doll. "Name's Apple Bloom. Nice to meet ya.'' I was very surprised to see the doll say that it was Apple Bloom. I slowly backed away.
"Huh? What's the problem?" asked Apple Bloom. "Ohhh, you're from THERE aren't you! Well? How's it up there with Celestia? Isn't it NICE?! Isn't it GREAT?!" the doll was very angry now, it was stomping on the carpet.
"W-w-what do you m-m-mean?'' I stuttered. I accidentally hit my back against the door, I had backed away too much, and that just made the doll angrier.
"WHAT DO I MEAN?!" the doll shouted, getting closer to me. "I'VE BEEN STUCK IN THIS DOLL SINCE I WAS BORN! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE BEING STUCK HERE!?"
"Yes, I do," I said. The dolls' attitude changed instantaneously. "I was sent to the mirror pool by my friends, who thought I was a clone. I'm sorry that you've been stuck here, I shouldn't have acted that way. I just had an encounter with that bird thing, and it really gave me a bad feeling about this place,'' I said, shuddering about how that bird monster killed that stallion.
"Oh. I thought you were one of those sun-having VISITORS," she said. "They always fail the first test."
I was confused. "What's the first test?" I asked.
"It's that thing you saw before," she explained. "The monsters here are usually just normal. Although the more rarer of them accustom to their victim's greatest fears." I wasn't afraid of birds, although I wouldn't be surprised if that stallion was.
"The most important ones are called dream holders. They try to turn you against your friends, and then yourself. They're pretty rare, so you'll have to be very unlucky to see one," she added.
"And you wanna leave the Otherplace, I presume?'' I nodded. "Well, you'll have to face most of em, but I'll come with you for a couple of the easy ones, okay?'' I agreed.
This is where I started my journey. My journey to escape the Otherplace... The place where the non-perfects go.
I could feel the coldness of the wooden stairs, and the lifelessness of the handle above it. I descended down the colorless steps, however, the terror I had felt in the mayor's office was washed away when I was by that doll.
"What's it like in Equestria?" she asked, starting the conversation.
"Well, there's lots of color, and there are no monsters," I explained. "It's very different from here."
"That's really cool!" she exclaimed. The doll sighed. "I wish I was there..."
"Well... You can come with me,” I decided. Apple Bloom frowned.
"And how can I trust you?" she said.
"Pinkie promise?" I said. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
"Okay, i guess i can believe you." Apple Bloom said.
"So... What's it like living here?'' I asked. She was surprised that I had asked her anything about the Otherplace. She smiled, the smile reaching to her lifeless button eyes.
"Well, it's not much," Apple Bloom explained. "Sometimes I have to fight a monster or two, but otherwise, it's pretty much always the same. Of course, there's the occasional filly that falls into the pool, and I have to pretend I’m just a normal doll in order to-" my eyes widened and I stopped walking down the stairs. What was Apple Bloom doing? What did it have to do with foals?
I had so many questions and not enough answers.
It felt like the warmth from the stairs was fading away. "Um... What did you just say about... The fillies...?" I stuttered, backing away from the doll. The doll's smile warped into an uncertain expression.
"What do you mean?" it said, while it walked towards me. It was then that I hit a startling revelation.
"You're a monster too, aren't you?" I realized. I started backing away faster. It frowned, and started stomping on it's way towards me. I turned around and started running up the stairs. I kept going up the stairs, but I didn't get any closer to the hallway. I could hear the hoof steps of that doll getting closer.
I collapsed in exhaustion.
"...A...r.....y....u....o.....y...?"
I hurt all over. The ground was hard and cold. I weakly got up and jumped at the sight of a figure on top of me. "Oops sorry
"Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie," I responded.
I decided I was going to try finding anything in the buildings that would help me, but when I tried to move my back hoof, I felt something tugging on it. I looked behind me to see that Electric Tears was looking at me.
"Okay, fine," I sighed. "You can come with me. But be careful, okay?"
"I promise!" she said. she giggled. "Let's go!" I smiled.
We looked around Ponyville, and we decided we were going into the apartment on the left. It had cobwebs and looked run down, but at the time, the aged house looked better than any of the other houses in the area. We went down the path way to the house. And used the handle. To my surprise, the door was open.
I heard hoof steps behind us.
I turned around. I ran to the side and the monster just barely missed my neck. The figure was the Otherplace’s Lyra Heartstrings, she was scratched and her mouth was stretched down to her neck.
The filly stood still in shock, as the monster had scratched her right in the back of her head. She was bleeding profusely, and I just barely picked her up before it was able to grab her.
I ran into the house and locked the door.
I stopped to take a breath, a breath that was interrupted by a scratch at the door. I boarded up the windows with boards around the room. But they were rotten and falling apart, so they weren't going to last long, but they were all I could get.
I snapped back to electric tears. I looked around the room looking for a bandage, but all I found was a dirty cloth.
However, she was bleeding heavily, and she wouldn't last long before her lack of blood killed her. I put it on, and the bleeding stopped. She smiled. I smiled back.
"I can w-w-walk you... K-k-know..." she said. I put her down.
We looked around the room. The first floor of the apartment was fairly small, but it had all the requirements. The bed was rotten, and the covers were crimson colored. The mini-fridge had long ago lost it's access to electricity, and the floor was covered in musical scores.
Before I had time to breath, the boards broke and the window was broken. The monster had crawled through the window and was coming towards us. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. We ran up the stairs and ran through the door to the second floor.
I looked around to try and find somewhere to hide. I decided to hide under the bed. Electric tears limped toward where I was hiding too. The monster looked around in the room. It looked under the table, and then walked off. I slowly got up from the bed. We looked around the room and saw a note on the table.
Flowers and towers we had at the time, Our land full of creatures, something we could never mime,
"Huh. " I thought. "Maybe the Otherplace wasn't always like this? But then how would it become this way? " I got lost in my thoughts. I heard a sound of hoof steps, and I ran towards the filly and picked her up and hid. The monster was this world's Bon Bon. It's hooves were tall, and it had thousands of mouths all over its body.
But it was too late, the monster had already heard us, and was coming towards the bed. I looked around for anywhere I could go.
In a blind panic, I jumped out the window.
I woke up for the second time. I opened my eyes to see that I had fallen. Electric Tears was fine, but I was covered in scratches. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine." I said weakly. I struggled to get up, and I had broken one of my hooves. I saw that she had something in her hand. I squinted.
"Hey Pinkie Pie! Look at my new dolly!"
I stared in horror at the doll in her hand. I jumped up and started running towards the doll, with the little strength I had. Electric Tears ran to the side to avoid me. She was scared and started hugging the doll harder. The cold hard ground hit against me as I tripped.
"W-w-hat are you doing?" she said, distraught. She continued hugging the doll. I got up.
"You have to get away from that doll," I said. The cold air of the Otherplace reached my lungs for the first time in a while. "It's a monster. You have to give it to me." she shook her head and started backing away.
"But she's my doll! You can't take her away from me." said electric tears, tearing up. I ran towards the doll. I touched it's fabric surface and I felt a glimpse of hope.
"What are you doing? Apple Bloom was a friend, and you decide to burn her in return? What happened to your morals?
A shiver was sent up my spine. I felt my hooves tingling as I fell into an abyss of horror. I fell and fell and fell, until I reached the bottom. I saw Apple Bloom. I reached for her, as a friend. It was interrupted as I was shoved by something towards a nearby wall.
I saw the figure that had pushed me take out a match, and light it. The figure flicked the match against the doll. I saw it scream in agony as the fabric curled against the orange flames. I shouted for them to stop, but they didn't listen. I closed my eyes to try and avoid the horror, but to my avail, my eyes stayed open anyway.
"Huh. I thought you liked this kind of stuff after what you were going to do, Pinkamena. "
I woke up.
I felt the coldness of the ground, but I got up as soon as possible anyway. The only thing I cared about was the doll's well being. I looked up and saw that Apple Bloom was fine.
"Are you okay Pinkie Pie?" asked Electric Tears. I nodded weakly, remembering the injuries I had gotten.
"I'm fine Electric Tears," I replied. "I won't take it away from you, but I will be keeping an eye on the doll, okay?" she nodded.
I walked upon the path in the town center. The town center consisted of a fountain, and a couple of benches. I sighed. I realized that escaping the Otherplace would not be as easy as it sounded. "Hey Pinkie Pie! Dolly says we should look under the benches!" I tensed up.
"W-w-what do you mean?" I said, still tense.
"Dolly said we should look under the benches!" she replied.
I shuddered. "Um o-okay."
I looked under the darkness of the bench. I saw nothing but emptiness under the wooden seat. I relaxed. Maybe there wasn't anything under the bench.
Crack.
Well... At least I wasn't wrong.
The bench collapsed while I was under it. I just barely moved my head out of the way. I was half relieved that it was not electric tears who had looked under the bench, as the bench's fall would have surely broken her neck.
"Oh no! Are you okay?" she exclaimed, rushing over to me.
"I'm okay," I replied, "I just got scratched." I knew that was a lie. I looked at the doll. It was smiling. I shivered at the uncanny smile of the doll, but I resumed walking anyway. I heard a creak and turned around.
In front of me was a house. The house was quite large, with tall, tall, windows on all sides. The windows were quite foggy, and the glass looked like it had not been cleaned in a while. The door had accumulated dust. I could feel something off about the house, like something was watching me.
Although the house was eerie and unsettling, I could feel like something was telling me to enter. Like something was pulling me into the depths of nothingness. Despite my best interests, I walked into the house, leaving Electric Tears behind.
The sides of the hallway were covered in dust, and the floor was covered in red torn carpet. However, the furniture was fairly
She walked upon the carpet, hidden crimson round the red, She walked upon the carpet, walls covered with paint of lead, She walked upon the carpet, all was fine.
She walked upon the carpet, whispers coming from her sides, She walked upon the carpet, crimson liquid crossed the wall, She walked upon the carpet, all was fine...?
She walked upon the carpet, whispers getting louder. She walked upon the carpet, their hearts beating faster. She walked upon the carpet, never getting closer,
She walked upon the carpet, all was... Fine?
She walked upon the carpet, blood spilling from the walls, She walked upon the carpet, screams coming from the doors, She walked upon the carpet, hooves trying to grab her through the holes, She walked upon the carpet, all was f...i...n....e...
She weakly walked upon the carpet, while the hooves were getting claws, She weakly walked upon the carpet, as they just barely scratched her... She weakly walked upon the carpet, all was f...i...n...e... H...a...h...a...h...a....HA...HA...HA...
She weakly walked upon the carpet, all was F...I...N...E...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA She weakly walked upon the carpet, she weakly walked upon the carpet,
She weakly walked upon the carpet...
All was fine.
I ran across the hallway and into the next room, barely missing the hooves from the walls. With the last of my energy, I closed the door behind me. I took some time to catch my breath, but I was interrupted by a sudden figure approaching me.
"Golly! Another visitor! I haven't had one in a while!"
I fainted.
I sat up. My heart was racing from when I had ran down the hallway. I looked up and saw that the figure was under light, making the figure visible.
The Pegasus filly was pink, with blue curly hair. She was smiling at me. I jumped up in fear. "Golly, i didn't know that you were gonna react so quickly!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry if i scared you. My name's Cozy Glow! What's your name?"
"My name is P-P-Pinkie Pie," I replied. "Why did you save me?"
"Because we're best friends!" cozy glow explained. "Best friends don't hurt other best friends!" I smiled.
"I suppose you're right!" I said back. I looked down at myself. I was covered in bandages.
"I'm gonna go have dinner! Want to join?" she said. I nodded. We walked down the hallway, which was now devoid of abominations. Although the hallway was warm, and dare I say, cozy, I still shivered at the memories of my past experience with the hallway.
The hallway was much easier to see with the lights on. The walls were covered in blue paint. There were doors on all sides, making me regret not going into one of them before.
A cozy glow opened the door. The room's walls were red and so was the carpet on the floor. The table was wide on the sides, but short on the ends. The table's white cloth was covered in plates and silverware.
Cakes and other delicacies were on the larger plates, while the small plates held the silverware and napkins. The most bizarre thing I saw on the table was two dolls, sitting in the center of the table, inanimate. I sat down on one of the chairs, and after a couple of seconds, so did Cozy Glow.
I saw that suddenly, the dolls began to rise to their feet. They started to twirl and spin around the table. I was extremely confused. Cozy glow noticed my confusion and knew that I needed an explanation.
"Oh! These are my dolls," she awkwardly explained. "They live in the dollhouse. They love their homes! Don't you all, everydolly?"
Hundreds of tiny voices spoke. "Yes The Powerful and Just Cozy Glow!" they all chirped. Cozy Glow glared at them.
"Don't worry about them," said Cozy Glow. "They're just dolls. So, would you like to eat something?" she put a cupcake on my plate. I nodded. I took a bite out of the cupcake.
Something happened that second.
Cozy glow began to contort and change, to only but a blur. The walls were moving, like they were falling in...
Cozy Glow smiled.
I walked down Sugarcube Corner's pink stairs, excited for today's picnic. I opened the door and walked out into the cold, stone path, soon to be graced by the morning’s sun.
I waved at everypony, but they didn't wave back. 'Huh. Weird... ' I thought. I must’ve seemed very frustrated as all the ponies began to turn their back on me, with tears in their eyes.
I shrugged it off as I brushed off a drop of sweat, put on a smile, and walked towards the picnic place, and waved towards my friends.
But they didn't wave back.
I walked toward my friends, however, they didn't even notice my existence, creating more beads of sweat as I walked towards them.
"Hello, everypony!" I exclaimed, a weak smile holding my face from a concerned look. "Sorry, I'm late!"
Crack.
Twilight Sparkle's head twisted to look at me.
"Pinkie Pie, don't you remember? We're not friends anymore, " she said, smiling. "Get lost before we have to run you out of Ponyville. "
"W-w-what do you mean we're not friends?" I stuttered, backing away. My fake smile began to fade.
"Twilight's right!" hissed Rainbow Dash. "you're SO annoying! Every time you hear the word "Party", you pop like a balloon animal!" the rest of my friends laughed. I couldn’t hold it any longer. I cried and ran away as fast as I could.
I looked to the sides of me to see thousands of ponies laughing maniacally, pointing their hooves at me. the laughter bounced around the town. I closed my eyes and ran faster, the world had become nothing but a blur. An illusion, you could say.
I heard a popping noise and opened my eyes to see hundreds of balloon animals. the laughing ponies started throwing pins at them. Disgusting.
Pop!
Pop!
Pop!
I closed the door to the Sugarcube Corner behind me, gasping for air as I felt "Reality" slip from me.
"Hey! Did you hear about that new visitor?"
"Yeah! wasn't she cute? I hope she liked my painting!"
"I'm sure she liked it."
I heard a gasp, most likely from one of the ponies. "Princess! why are you here?"
"The visitor is leaving."
"Awww..."
I opened my eyes and saw an empty void. I turned around and saw Cozy Glow. The filly was on a gray couch, sewing a pink earth pony doll. Seeing the doll made my skin crawl.
I stomped my hooves on the ground. "Let me out!" I cried in anguish. Cozy Glow jumped, then looked at me, confused, still with that… Smile on her face.
"Oh!" exclaimed Cozy Glow. "Hello! Seems like you came early." She showed me the doll. it looked like me. "What do you think?" I didn't respond, giving the message that I wasn't in the mood. Cozy Glow put the doll away. "Golly! You want to leave? Sorry, but I can't let you!"
I was confused. "Why?" I hissed, however from her increasing smile I could tell I wasn’t very threatening.
She laughed. "I need you in order to make the best Pinkie Pie doll possible!" She looked like a sad puppy, falling to the floor. "if you ran away now, I'd be very sad!"
"Well... If all you need is me to be here... I'm sure I can wait a little,” I trembled. Her gleeful smile reclaimed its spot on her face, as she bounced back up on the couch.
"Golly, thank you so much!" chirped Cozy Glow, continuing her sewing. After a few minutes of silence, Cozy Glow finished the doll.
"I'm done!" exclaimed Cozy Glow. " Now just stand still..." she said sweetly, as she stood up, with a menacing smile on her face.
I knew I had to run.
I dashed to the side, as I heard the noise of a sharp object through the air. I looked to the side to see a small figure, however, it was blurred as I had little time to ponder the shape as another blade slashed through the air, barely missing me.
"What are you doing? Can't we compromise?" I pleaded as I dodged another knife, this time coming from the back.
"Oh, silly Pinkie!" laughed the small filly. "Sometimes you can't compromise a hard decision."
I began to look around and look for any place to go, but all was void.
I looked closer and saw the dolls from before, but they were armed with sharp weapons.
I bounced, walking to the side, I began to try to time bounce. I felt my hooves moving, and everything slowed down as my body felt itself changing its space and-
I dodged to the side as one of the dolls tried to stab one of my legs, I trembled as I was not accustomed to physical fighting.
When I dropped the thing, one of the dolls came up behind me and tried to stab me while I was still shocked at the bite, although I threw it to the side, although I had kept it from injuring any vital organs, it still managed to stab me in the leg. Cozy Glow looked down at me.
"Hehe! Goodbye!" she said, smiling. But as she was about to stab me with the sewing needle-
Another small figure came, this time aiming at Cozy Glow. Cozy Glow shouted as the small figure began to drag me as I lost consciousness from the pain.
I woke up outside the mansion in the other Ponyville, relieved that I was outside. I got up, however, feeling a sharp pain in my left front hoof, making getting up much harder. Outside to see a large fountain that was still running. What interested me was a note on the side of the fountain. I walked up to it and picked it up. It was made of the same paper as the other letter from before. I read it.
A foal of power came through the pool to us And pranced around the fountain while laughing, Soon we’d know, it was at us.
"Huh..." I thought. "I wonder what these papers are..." I put it in my pocket, and walked around the fountain, looking for where to go.
As I walked around the fountain, a figure appeared.
"Well, look I'm not here for whispery, mysterious stuff," said the figure. It sounded raspy. "but in order for me to talk to you, I'm gonna need to wear this disguise or something." the figure seemed annoyed. I was confused. As I walked closer to see the figure, I saw it was covered by a dark velvet cloth, torn with small holes at the bottom.
"W-why?" I questioned, tensed in place, beginning to remember the pain of that knife striking my skin. I shivered.
"I-I said I'll tell you later, o-okay?" They said. "Just follow me."
I finally gave in, having no bucks to give, and followed the figure into the darkness.
Author's Note
I know I know I can't rhyme. I haven't written in a while. I'm sorry about taking a while, Its just for a while I had some irl stuff that made it so I couldn't write and I thought I would never be able to really write this story.
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