Pinkie Pie laid in bed with Twilight Sparkle’s unmoving form sprawled on top of her. A river of red flowed from Twilight’s body onto the sheets, slowly wrapping Pinkie in a bed of blood. Pinkie stared at you, her eyes shaking, pupils shrunk to a pin needle’s size.

“W-who are you?” Pinkie asked, putting a hoof on Twilight’s back.

…

Pinkie choked on her words. “W-what do you want from me?”

…

“Answer me,” she demanded.

…

“Please… j-just… leave me alone…” she stammered with tears running down her cheek.

…

“S-someone… help me…”

Pinkie slammed her eyes shut. Her own sobbing was all she could hear. It did not answer her. It merely watched. Observed. Tormented. Pinkie didn’t know what to do. She could only lay there, unable to move, while one of her best friends bled out on top of her. Her entire bubbly world had just shattered into a million pieces.

She knew she had to do something. What could she do, though? Everywhere she went, it wouldn’t leave her alone. It was always there. Even her friends were gone because of it. What was left of her? Where would she go? Pinkie didn’t know. She didn’t know what to do.

Instead, Pinkie did what she would always do when confronted by fear.

Pinkie laughed.

Once she had regained her strength, Pinkie left Twilight’s castle in haste. As she ran, Pinkie couldn’t shake the feeling that it was still there. Her fluffy mane deflated into the straight, gloomy hair she hated to see. She couldn’t even bear to arrange a proper funeral for her friend. She left her in bed, closed her eyes, and let her rest eternally.

Pinkie dragged herself through Ponyville that night. She kept her nose pointed at the ground, and her straight mane dropped within her line of sight; it served as cover from her peripheral vision. The hair on her coat was perpetually raised as chills swam around her form.

As she traversed the town aimlessly, she giggled to herself at intervals. Whenever Pinkie reminded herself of what had happened in Twilight’s Castle, she wore a broken smile as she chortled, hoping that whatever did this to her would leave her alone.

Twilight’s hollow eye sockets, her ‘comforting smile’, the jar filled with her friends’ eyes, and the… thing that kept watching her—they all left her as a fragment of the joyful pony she was before.

Her friends were dead.

And she couldn’t escape that fact.

Pinkie knew she wouldn’t be able to hide.

All she could do was live with everything that had happened.

“I-I… can’t…” Pinkie stammered to herself, before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Her laughs hid the terror behind her visage. For the first time in her life, Pinkie didn’t just laugh her fears away.

Pinkie ran.

As far as she could go.

And she laughed all the while.

Pinkie Pie found herself deep within the Everfree Forest. It used to be a fond memory of her first trip with her friends. Instead, it made her wonder—what would have happened if her friends were still with her? Would they have been able to help her? Would everything so wrong with her life disappear in a mere moment?

Looking beyond the trees, she saw a cliffside. Still feeling chills crawling along her spine, she chortled a grim tune as she made her way to see the Equestrian night sky. Pinkie sat down close to the edge. She stared at the now-red moon; her vision still hadn’t cleared up.

“Who are you?” Pinkie asked the moon.

Again, the moon churned itself inside-out, resembling the gigantic, bloody eye she’d grown to recognize. It blinked at her. It stared at her. It never answered.

Pinkie giggled as she saw blood dripping from it once more. “W-what do you want from me?”

It blinked then stared.

Pushing herself up with force, she pointed at it. “It’s your fault that my friends are dead!” she yelled.

Pinkie dropped to the ground again, covering her eyes as tears streamed out. She sobbed on the cliffside for some time. She wanted to hear something other than her own cries, someone who would tell her why all this was happening to her. When she opened her eyes, it was still night. It continued to stare at her. She wiped away her tears, and noticed that her body turned gray.

“W-what?”

Pinkie hastily wiped her eyes again. It was still gray. Her vision shifted to a hue of gray.

“Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie flicked her head towards the sound of the noise. Behind her, she could barely make out the form of a zebra gingerly walking in her direction. The zebra’s signature stripes were almost impossible to see, masked behind her monochrome vision.

“I expected everyone at Ponyville to be asleep at this time of day, Pinkie Pie. Do tell, why are you out so late at night?” a slightly distorted voice asked.

From the rhyming, she knew it was Zecora.

She knew it was her, and yet…

“W-why are your eyes…?”

Pinkie stood up defensively. The only other part of her body that Pinkie saw wasn’t gray was Zecora’s eyes.

“My eyes are the same as they were. Rather, I must know, are you aware of the stream of red coming from your eyes?” Zecora asked, concerned. “Should you need, I am more than capable of procuring the proper remedies.”

“I-I… no, I’m fine, thank you—”

Pinkie’s head roared in pain. She dropped to the ground, writhing. A piercing screech resounded in her mind. She covered her ears with her hooves in an attempt to stop the noise, to no avail. Her body screamed at her to do something—to intervene. Yet, she was powerless to do anything. Her gaze met the eye in the sky that still stared at her. Pinkie slammed her eyes shut.

Zecora hastily approached Pinkie, sat her down, and checked her pulse, vitals, and eventually her eyes. Zecora gently opened Pinkie’s eyes, and what Pinkie saw spurred another panic attack. Meeting Zecora’s gaze, she saw a world of gray around her, and Zecora’s eyes were enveloped in an aura of bright red. Black tendrils sprouted from the back of her head, wrapping around the zebra’s eyes.

“Zecora—”

“Pinkie Pie?” Zecora spoke in a distorted voice, placing a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder.

Her eyes were enveloped in the black coils. Each one dug deeper into her eyes, and blood began to drip from Zecora’s cheeks. Her mouth curled into a toothy grin.

Shakily grasping Zecora’s leg, Pinkie’s mouth stammered open and closed. Her ears folded behind her head. Her hoof dug deeper and deeper into the ground. Zecora mouthed words that came out twisted to Pinkie. Her breathing grew erratic the longer she stared at Zecora. Yet, she couldn’t muster the strength to look away. The tendrils burrowed deeper into Zecora’s eyes, and Pinkie couldn’t think of anything to do. She shuffled in place, screaming, writhing in disgust.

Pinkie could suddenly move her body again. She glanced up at the veiny eye peering down at her. It felt like her heart was about to burst through her chest. Her hindlegs bobbed in place—she knew she had to help her friend.

She had to do something.

Pinkie pounced on top of Zecora and stared into her blackened eyes. Zecora struggled against her weight, trying to push off the pink pony. Pinkie shakily pulled back one of her forelegs before shooting her hoof into Zecora’s eye and ripping away the coils.

“I-It’s okay, Zecora!” Pinkie smiled nervously as she attempted to save her friend. “I-I’ll help you!”

Zecora’s resistance against Pinkie increased. She flailed as Pinkie tore away the tendrils from her eyes. Her hooves slammed against Pinkie’s barrel, but Pinkie ignored the blows. Zecora’s deformed screams reached Pinkie’s ears, yet none of her words came through.

As Pinkie yanked away, color slowly returned to her vision. Each swing of her foreleg brought back a piece of herself; a wisp of the life she had before. A glimmer of hope sparked inside of her. She could put herself back together—slowly, piece by piece. Pinkie laughed nervously, instilled with doubt that she would be left alone once and for all.

Minutes passed, and Pinkie could finally see the world in full color once again. She glanced up at the sky, staring at the pale blue moon. Her forelegs dropped to her side as she sighed in relief. She let out a giggle, basking in the ability to finally see Equestria the way she used to.

“I-I’m better now!” Pinkie chirped. She tapped her eyes with her hooves as she glanced around her surroundings. Not being able to help herself, she wrapped her forelegs around herself in a hug, and laughed in joy. Tingles spread throughout her body as her hindlegs stomped in place.

Despite remaining atop Zecora, Pinkie’s friend didn’t respond. Pinkie’s celebration came to a screeching halt.

“Zecora?”

Pinkie lowered her neck to look at Zecora. Pinkie’s pupils shrunk. Her heart rate skyrocketed once more. Pinkie jumped off of her friend, slowly crawling away, hoping that maybe she was just seeing things.

Zecora’s visage was bathed in blood. Red stained her face, her body, and the grass below her. Her eyelids were open, yet her eyes weren’t there. All Pinkie could see were bottomless pits for eyes with nerve endings hanging out of them. Zecora’s actual eyes were on the grass, covered in blood, left carelessly moving with the cold breeze.

Pinkie raised her hooves to cover her mouth. She flinched at the sudden warmth of her hooves. Finally, she spared a glance at her own hooves; they were covered in blood. Pinkie’s vision began to blur as realization hit her. Foreign blood stained legs and chest; even her mane had splatters of crimson on it.

“D-did… I…?” Pinkie could hear the beat of her heart in her ears. The spastic banging against her head made her cover her ears. Yet, she could still hear the dissonant melody that repeated in her head. Now, her mind had cleared. Zecora’s screams forcibly played in her head. Pinkie recalled the sensation of tearing away at her friend’s visage.

Pinkie laughed. “N-no way…”

Blood trailed between her and Zecora’s body. There were hoof marks, bruises, and wounds on Zecora that only another pony could inflict.

“Ha… ha…” Pinkie laughed louder. “I-I… didn’t mean… to…”

Pinkie dragged her bloody hooves along her cheeks, scratching herself and bleeding in the process. Her own blood mixed with Zecora’s. As she continued to wound herself, she laughed. Yet, she mourned for the loss of her friend. Both tears and blood streamed down her cheek. Her giggles overpowered her cries of sorrow. Paranoia seeped in as she felt that was still watching her. Her body began to grow cold as she realized just how alone she was, now.

Her best friends were dead.

And she just killed another.

“W-what do you want from me?!” Pinkie yelled into the sky. Her question fell on deaf ears. Instead, she saw broken visions of an eye blinking at her.

Pinkie stared into the night sky. As her tears mixed with both her own blood and Zecora’s, she stayed there—frozen, unable to move. Even after everything that had happened, it still wouldn’t leave her alone.

Would it ever leave?

What do I do about my friends?

W̸̱̣͌́̈́̃͛͝͝h̶̳̖̦̱̲͈͌̇̐͋̚͝͝͠ͅỳ̷̢̧̺͔͔̘̤͇͛̒͂̉̌͒͐͘͜͝ ̷̛͕̟̱̠̅͛̉̏̈̔̅̚̚̕͠ą̸̮̠͈͔̗̝̰̣̗͚͈̥̩̿̆̽̾̇͘r̵̨̬͍̣̫̙̚͠ḙ̴̛͓͎̝̗̘̤͔̤̳̖̺̾͊̋̾̇̍͌̉̕͜ͅ ̶̢̢͓̤̗̣̳̒̓̄̾̂̈́̒͂̉͂̇͝ỳ̴̢̱̟̜̼̝͎̹̯͎͚̗̑͆͛̆̾͒̆̌͗̓͘̕o̵̞̺̙̳͖̳̟̘̤͙̅͐̚͝ṵ̵̥̟̳̏̀̄͂̑ ̷̻̈́̈́̍́͐́̅̈́̏̑̒̕h̷̡̦͍̥͔̥͓̳̰̼͘ę̴̛͖̻̥̓͆̊̊̈́̈́̊̈̌̑̑́r̵̛̖̭̜͖̮͚̻̺̜̳̀̾̌͂̈͋̈́̈́̐͐͠e̵̢̖͓̫̳̬͖͇̝͕͊̾̍̓͒̀̚͘͝͝͝?̴͖̬̳̄̾̌̾͒̒͊̋̈̅͘̕

The screams of her friends echoed in her mind. Apparitions of Twilight violently pulling out each of their friends’ eyes as she grew anxious of how to ‘fix’ Pinkie. The piercing scream of Fluttershy and Rarity, the pained shouts as Rainbow Dash and Applejack struggled against the alicorn all played in her mind. Followed by the screams of the latest victim—her victim, Zecora.

Pinkie stared at the ground below her. She saw her own reflection. She was covered in blood. Scratch marks traced down along her cheeks, and her mane had deflated as well as garnered a dark sheen of red. Pinkie felt something bubbling up from her stomach as the gruesome sight of the state of her friends reappeared in her mind. She pressed down on her stomach, trying to keep it in. She wouldn’t want to dirty herself more than she had her own hands.

Yet, she couldn’t hold it in.

Instead of a mess…

She found herself laughing.

Pinkie laughed the loudest she ever had. No tears accompanied her voice, nor did any signs of sorrow. This time, she laughed in understanding.

Pinkie slammed her hooves against both of her eyes. She laughed the pain away. Her voice grew louder as she saw nothing but black, yet felt the mixture of blood dripping from her eyes.

Pinkie pulled.

She felt her eyes cling to their sockets. They refused to leave their place. Pinkie would have her way. She howled as she tugged on them harder. Inside her skull, she felt a sharp, lasting pain as she forced them out of their socket. She felt the pain of her optic nerves being torn apart; she could feel the thin nerve clinging to her skull. Her body screamed at her to stop, yet she knew she had to do it. Pinkie needed to do something.

Pinkie forced out one, piercing shriek of a laugh as she let go of her eyes.

She pulled her hooves away from her face.

The world was black to her.

Yet, at the same time, it became so much clearer.

A bright red glow emitted from her black eye sockets, and her old eyes fell to the ground, forgotten—next to the blood that tainted her form.

“Hey, everypony!” Pinkie giggled, extending a hoof that shattered the wall that separated you. “My name’s Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie giggled.

She smiles at you with her bloody, hollow eyes.

“What’s your n̶̹̒̔̚͝a̷̞͍̲̐̐m̶̪͍͓̆͆ë̵͙́̀̓͑̚?̷̹̍̽̚ͅ"̸̥͔̂̓̈͌̒ͅ

Author's Note