"No offense sugarcube, but Ah think this is a bad idea."

"A bad idea because its gryphons or a bad idea because it's me visiting them?" The cyan pegasus glared at her rival from across the table. " 'cause if it's the first you can stuff it and if it's the second you can stuff it as well."

"Y'all can't blame me," she protested, glancing at the others for support, but Fluttershy outright glared at Applejack and Spitfire was avoiding her gaze. "Ah mean, ya ain't the best choice for a... diplomatic mission ya realize."

"Applej-"

"No Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash drew up to her full height and placed both front hooves onto the table with a deliberate slowness. "Here's the deal Applejack, I'm arrogant, loudmouthed and impulsive. But-" Dash glared the orange earth pony. "-I am also completely and utterly loyal to the Equestria and I only want the best for it and its inhabitants. I have never and will never do anything to endanger it. Furthermore, we equals and we're both in this together. You need to trust me and not try to do everything yourself."

Silence descended as Applejack thought over what was said before slowly nodding. "Ah trust you RD, ya know Ah do." She sighed and looked off to the side. "Ah suppose Ah'm just tense is all. Ya ain't the most diplomatic pony ever and..."

"And it's the fate of Equestria. I know AJ, but trust me, I know what I'm doing and I can be serious. Not to brag or anything, but I was the district weather manager for Ponyville."

"Wait, ya were the what now?" The earth pony looked up in surprise. "How come ya never told us?"

Dash merely brushed it off with a shrug. "I've got a reputation to maintain. Anyways, if we're done discussing whether I'm the right pony for the job, can I leave now?"

"Who else are you taking with you?" piped Spitfire.

"No one. I have to do this alone."

"I enjoy insane plans as much as the next pony, but going into Gryphon territory by yourself is not insane, it's stupidity and it will get you killed. We cannot risk that happening."

"It'll be fine." Fluttershy spoke softly, but her voice easily carried in the small room. "We can't tell you why, but Rainbow Dash will be perfectly safe."

"Oh come on!"

"Spitfire, let it go. Ah trust RD and Fluttershy, an' neither would lie to us." The earth pony looked as though she had just aged twenty years. "Go RD, but if Ah hear ya started a war or died Ah'll hunt you down myself. Got that?"

"Yep!" Making her way out the door, she took a left then right turn to get to the room she shared with Pinkie and Fluttershy. Grabbing the pack from her corner of the room, she slung it over her body and made sure to clip it in place so it wouldn't fall off while flying.

"Er... Rainbow Dash...?"

Dash glanced over her shoulder. "Oh hey squirt, how was your lesson with Echo?"

"Boring. He was going on about some pony that did something a couple hundred thousand million gazillion years ago." They shared a laugh. "Where are you going?"

"Oh you know, out. I'll be gone for a while."

"Oh..." Scootaloo looked down, wings slumping slightly.

Walking over, Dash nudged the filly into the room and sat down next to her. "Come on kiddo, you can talk to me."

"It's just... Well... I was- That is-"

"She wants you to teach her how to fly!" screamed Sweetie Belle from the door frame before running away.

"Hey!"

" 'cause ya're the coolest, most epic, super duper, awesomest flier evar!" added Applebloom before chasing after the unicorn.

"Girls!" This time Scootaloo was blushing as she yelled.

Dash blinked in surprise. "Is that true?"

Scoots nodded and looked down – anywhere but where her idol stood. Dash though felt her ego inflate to ten times its normal size. Here they were, living with the Wonderbolts, but Scoots still wanted to train under Rainbow Dash. A pegasus who had never taught anyone else in her life, just a weather pony – albeit the best weather pony in Ponyville and awesomest pony ever.

"Follow me kid." Walking together they made their way back to the lounge and Dash made her way to the bookshelf. After a quick scan she pulled out two books and laid them down on the floor in front of orange filly. "I'll be gone for the next week or so. If you're serious about wanting to learn under me, you will read these two books and when I get back I will be testing you."

"Oh man," she groaned.

Laughing, Dash ruffled Scoots' mane. "Listen kiddo, getting out there and flying is fine if you want to be average. If you want to be the best you need to know the theory. You need to know how the air acts around you as you fly. How to angle your wings to get maximum lift or reduce drag. How to stop so you don't crash and burn."

"But-"

"This is how I was taught. I know all the theory off by heart and if you want to keep up with me, you'll learn it to." The corners of Dash's lips lifted. "You'll hate it. I won't lie to you, you will hate it completely and utterly and you'll be cursing my name before the day is through. But, it will save your life and it will make you a better flier. Also, the second book is on exercises to build up wing muscles and so forth. Don't overdo the second book alright?"

Dash took a deep breath before settling down next to the filly that looked up to her so much. "Most importantly, I will push you. Got that? We'll have fun and we'll laugh, but expect to be pushed beyond your wildest imaginations. You can drop out whenever you want and you can ask any of the other pegasuses to teach you instead."

Scootaloo gulped before staring up at Dash with determination. "I'll do it. I won't let you down."

"I thought you'd say that." Ruffling her mane once last time, Dash ran towards the door, her disguise flowing over her body as she did so.

The orange filly stayed sitting on the ground, gazing at the book sadly. "This is stupid," she muttered under her breath. "I want to learn how to fly, not stupid useless theory."

"If I had a pie every time I heard that one I'd be in love." Scootaloo looked up at Soarin in surprise with wide eyes. "You can ask any Wonderbolt here and they'll all tell theory is just as important as actual flying practice even if it is booooooring. Be glad it's not Crimson teaching you." He winced at the memory.

"Oh..." The filly looked down at the book and with a sigh opened it up. "More homework."

"I hate homework too. Unless it's for cooking class!"

There was something so depressing about seeing so many ponies in one place, but not partying. More ponies than Pinkie had ever known were crowded on the Manehatten street, but most chose to ignore each other. And then there was Pinkie Pie herself, not her usual bubbly self, rather a more subdued – though no less insane – version of herself. White coat, yellow mane, three semi-quaver cutie mark carrying a cello on her back as she trudged through the city. It was an... interesting skill she had picked up from a family member. Was it her sister? No, maybe cousin? Does it matter?

What's what? Oh! Apparently it was learnt from Lyra. Music and baking go hoof in hoof as they say. Or at least they do for Pinkie Pie.

Anyways, on this particular day – sorry, on this particular night (thank you for reminding me Pinkie) – Pinkie was walking down the street, her eyes constantly darting as she whispered her very own actions beneath her breath. It was to set the atmosphere apparently. Today she went with a slightly more light hearted narrative rather than the usual thriller she so loved. Furthermore, she has kindly asked for her such ramblings to not be recorded as to reduce the amount of reading that has to be done (and the amount of writing for that matter).

"Surprise!"

Oh yes, her alias is 'Surprise'.

"No, no silly, I was saying surprise to the audience. I mean, it's not every day I get to talk to third dimensional beings! If Twilight knew, she'd totally freak and be all-"

Ah hem. Pinkie? We do have a narrative to get through and as amusing some may find fourth wall breakages to be, others find it silly and stupid. Please refrain in the future.

Sorry about that.

It should be noted that Pinkie did not get a single weird look from passing ponies and she should have gotten plenty. After all, here was an earth pony carrying a cello and there was only one earth pony who dared to play a string instrument: Octavia. At any rate, even if she did Fillydelphia ponies knew to never question another pony's business. Especially at night considering the amount of bars that were open late. Every fiber of Pinkie's being was screaming at her to find such a bar, slip in and turn it into the biggest party of Equestria. An even bigger part of her – she assures me this is possible – wanted to bring all those party ponies out into the street and turn Fillydelphia into the party central.

But Pinkie was on a mission. A mission of upmost importance. A mission that should have and would have been impossible for anypony other than Pinkie. Slipping between ponies and redirecting their attention like a pro, she moved through the densest crowds with ease (she assures me it's a lot simpler than getting a party cannon into Canterlot Castle). Walking into the empty market district (there weren't any bars nearby), she slipped the cello case off her shoulder and rested it on the ground. Reaching into her saddle pack, she pulled out a tube of yellow and red paintballs. A couple seconds of practiced hoof movement later, both tubes were slotted into the case at the top and screwed in tight. With a hoof braced under the neck of the case and the other wrapped around the handle, she pressed the first button. Pure ecstasy spread over her face as yellow ball after yellow ball fired out in rapid succession, the infernal party device powered by a small storm cloud Spitfire had gotten from the warehouse yesterday.

Easing off the trigger, she pressed the second button and this time red paintballs shot out. They mixed with the yellow paint to form a nice orange. Within the minute, an almost perfect replica of Princess Celestia's cutie mark was stained on the wall. Giggling to herself, Pinkie took the contraption apart and made her way out. Even now she could see dawn quickly approaching which meant ponies would be arriving to set up shop any minute now.

"I still don't see why you bother helping all these useless ponies," whispered a voice in her minute. "You'll just end up getting yourself killed. And then what?"

"They're my friends," hissed Pinkie under her breath.

"Your friends put you here all by yourself without any sort of backup. What happens if you get into a fight? You gonna assault them with cake?" /i replied Pinkamina sadistically. i "You'll fight, that's what you'll do. You'll fight and you'll hurt them and then you'll be ju-"

"Shut up!"

The laughter faded from her mind, but she could still hear that taunting voice whispering in her ear. It always whispered in her ear. Squeezing her eyes shut, Pinkie thought of all the happy times, all the parties and joy she had bought to those around her. The effect was immediate, hair poofed back up and she bounced down the street despite being on two hooves.

She had to be strong, she had to pull her weight. She wasn't just a party pony. She was responsible and diligent. Pinkie Pie would not let the others down.

The laughter continued echoing in her mind.

Deep breaths Twilight, deep breaths. Remember Nightmare Moon needs you. I hope. If not I'm dead. With a sigh, I chewed on whatever it was I was eating and swallowed before taking a sip of wine. Considering what I was about to do and the consequences of my actions, the drunker I was the better. Glancing up from my bowl on the ground, I noticed Nightmare Moon watching me out the corner of my eye even as she spoke to Ambassador Dusk from Leatus and Gryphon Ambassador Adriana. It warmed the bottom of my heart to see Nightmare Moon keeping such a close eye on me.

Or maybe she suspected something was up?

"Did you hear about the symbol they found at Fillydelphia yesterday?"

My ears perked up, trying to locate the speaker, but with the amount of idle chatter going on, hearing anything was impossible.

"-et yourself killed? Queen Nightmare Moon does not tolerate such gossip!" came the hushed whisper, but the closest I could get was that they were somewhere on the left hand side of the room.

Sighing, I waited patiently for the main course to be served. Whatever Nightmare Moon was discussing I couldn't hear it despite being right next to her. She definitely did not trust me. No doubt expecting me to betray her and until I did she'd probably continue to be suspicious.

This had better be worth it.

I waited patiently for the servants to enter the room, making sure to get as many as possible into the large dinning room. Taking one final deep breath, I telekinetically as many knives as possible and flung them at Nightmare Moon with all my might. Each one froze in midair, a good feet or so from Nightmare Moon's face. The room was silent, no doubt staring at us in silence with a slack jawed expression and hopefully something directed at me that told me they forgave me for the crap I had gone through.

I hope.

If I wasn't so busy staring down Nightmare Moon, I would have given them a smile and a slight inclination of the head to let them know I forgave them. But I was far too busy giving Nightmare Moon a smug grin. It was the smugest smug grin ever, I had been practicing it late at night when super sleep deprived. Oh no, I'm starting to sound like Pinkie Pie. I resisted the urge to head desk.

"Oh Twilight, I was so hoping you wouldn't try something so foalish."

My smile only grew. "And ponies call me naive."

She merely waved a hoof and the knives slammed into the table, quivering from the force of the impact. "Why do you continue to fight me?" she spoke in a whisper, sounding tired and so very lonely. "Together we could do so much good for Equestria. Even as a rival it would greatly help my rule as all of these ponies are far too scared to speak out." At her glare all of the nobles shrunk back.

"Will you bring back the sun?"

"No."

"Celestia's out of the question then?"

"Correct."

"No deal."

"Why?"

"Did you just really ask that question?

There was a pause before Nightmare Moon burst out laughing. A genuine laughter filled with mirth that I could easily envision coming from Pinkie Pie. Giggling softly, she wiped a tear from her eye and said, "I suppose that was a stupid question wasn't it?"

Her eyes suddenly hardened. "But I'm afraid to say what you just did constituted an attempted assault on monarchy and that is a serious crime." She sighed sadly. "I have no doubt you know what's install for you. Nightwish, please keep a close eye on Lady Sparkle and escort her back to her room. She can at least sleep in comfort for one more night. Oh, and please make sure she gets some food."

I glared at Nightmare Moon and the smug look she gave me. There was no way she knew what I had planned and she had somehow managed to turn it on its head and get ahead as a result. My eyes narrowed and the look she gave me became even more smug if that were possible.

I hate my life.

Three days. It had been three days since my stunt at the dinner. Three days since I had seen Nightmare Moon. She wanted me to stew, to let my own mind to come up with some unholy torture and truth be told, it did. Even when I collapsed from exhaustion and lack of sleep, I still managed to come up with nightmares and when I woke in the morning, I was never quite sure if it had truly been a dream or not.

But now I found myself in the familiar torture chamber with the familiar cuffs cutting into my blood supply and the familiar sounds of my screams and whimpers still bouncing off the stone walls around me. My lungs burnt and I sweat streaked down my body. Each desperate gasp with air was met with an intense burning that coiled its way down my neck.

Then the blade descended.

I gritted my teeth, managing to fight back the pain enough to stop myself from screaming. But it still burned. I could feel the magic surging through my body, it felt like multiple spikes were being shoved through my arm. A pulse of power ripped a scream from my body. Every muscle tensed, my back arched off the floor, and then there was nothing.

"I really had hoped we wouldn't have to return to this." Her voiced floated to me in the void I found myself in.

Absolute darkness. I couldn't feel the cuffs binding me or the warm pool of liquid I lay in, but I knew they were still there. Sudden intense pain appeared in my stomach causing me to double over. Was I curled up in a ball? I knew that's what my body was trying to do, but without sensory feedback telling me so, it was impossible to tell.

Nothing.

I lay there, gathering my breath – was I even breathing? – and waited.

Still nothing.

So this was her game then, sensory deprivation. How origi-

Another scream ripped from my throat as pain suddenly flared in my right forehoof followed by my stomach then chest. Then it was gone just as suddenly. Before I could recover though I felt a sharp blow to my leg, breaking my femur. Once more the silence dragged on. Every so often I'd tense up, expecting a blow to come, but every single time there was nothing. The after a while Nightmare Moon would strike. Sometimes with fire, sometimes with her blades, sometimes with telekinetic blows or ice or other contraptions she could think of. And sometimes they'd come in quick succession, not giving me any respite.

"Why do you keep resisting?"

Every inch of my body hurt. It felt like I had been thrown through a mixer set on high. Unlike previous times, she did not keep up the constant healing so I could feel every single ache and pain. I could feel them throb and burn. I could feel the bone sticking out of my right arm. The only blessing was that I couldn't see the bone sticking out.

"What has Celestia ever done for you? You're a tool, a weapon to her – nothing more. A tool carefully crafted and honed with the sole purpose of bringing me down."

There was a sharp crack followed by my back exploding with pain. Blood trickled their way down through the fur. A second crack then a third. Each time it came it tore a new line down my back, ripping through flesh and muscle as though it was paper. Another crack and though I couldn't hear myself, I would bet all my bits I screamed.

"Why do you do this to me Twilight? We could have ruled together and bought about a new era of harmony. Instead we're stuck here in this silly dance you've created for us. Ah well, plans always change." The silence dragged on. "Do you want to know the real reason why Luna invited the Nightmare into her?"

So they were two separate beings. Or was this an elaborate trick to make me think that so I may start trusting the Luna that visited me? A groan escaped and I would have given anything for the ability to rub my temples. All this constant second guessing was giving me a headache.

"Then again, if I told you, it wouldn't be much of a torture session would it? Hm... Ah, I know!" She sounded happy. Oh Celestia, she sounded happy. Gaia have mercy on my soul.

Something wrapped around my body, biting into my skin and cutting off my circulation. They started at my muzzle, clamping it shut tight before making its way down my neck and winding around my body and limbs forcing me to hold my legs flush against my underside before ending at the base of my tail. All I could manage was a shallow wheeze when I tried to breathe, they prevented my chest from expanding. Not to mention it dug into my throat, suffocating me.

"On second thought, I think I'll tell you. I want to see your face crumble away when you hear the truth. You see, Celly held the Element of Laughter." My eyes widened and shuddered at the thought of Pinkie ruling a nation. Nightmare Moon must have noticed for she chuckled softly. "I see you have an idea of what it was like then. She pulled pranks, threw parties, left all the running to me. There was a reason I called her Trollestia. If not for me, Equestria would have fallen into ruin a long time ago. She got all the recognition for all of my work. What caused me to snap though, was when she pranked the Gryphon Ambassador in the middle of the banquet. You would not believe the amount of ass kissing I had to do to smooth that one over."

And then the burning started.

"And that was why I let the Nightmare in. Celestia was not fit to rule. Why are my rulings to similar to hers? Because she copied me. The five years after my banishment where chaos reigned supreme? It wasn't because Celestia was distraught or sick. It was because she had no bucking clue what she was doing."

The smell of burnt fur filled the air and I gritted my against the pain. I was used to being burnt, it was unavoidable when taking care of a sick baby dragon, but those were small patches. This was my entire body from muzzle to tail was being seared to the bone. I'd like to think I held out for an hour or two being I started screaming and beginning. The truth though, was probably closer to a couple of seconds. Maybe a minute if I really wanted to push it.

But her words burned more.

The pain was like a piece of music, slowly building towards a climax. Each second the pain intensified, the smell thickened and the coils became tighter. This... this was vastly different level of pain compared to what I experienced in the past. It was making me poetic. Was this insanity then? Thinking relatively clearer when I should have nothing, but pain filling me mind?

Celestia, what is wrong with me?

"I think this is a fitting punishment, don't you think?" She sounded as though she was talking about dinner. "I'll be back eventually. Why don't you hang around till then?"

A whimper escaped... at least I'm fairly certain I whimpered – it was impossible to tell with my senses cut off. Slow, steady breaths Twilight, don't give in to the pain. Never give into the pain. Again and again I repeated it to myself, willing it to be true, but no matter how many times I said it, they were just words.

Steam coated my body as my sweat evaporated from the burning chains. I knew, just knew I was begging and whimpering and groveling despite her not being there, but I couldn't help it. The pain, I wanted it to end.

At least there were no tears.

A/N: Okay, so I decided to try something a tad different for the Pinkie section tell me if you think it worked or not. I was aiming to capture her fourth wall breaking and insanity, but I'm not good at writing comedy so any input anybody has would be greatly appreciated.

For those confused as to why Twilight attacked knowing she'd fail, I outlined it in previous chapters, but I'll do so here again. Basically Twilight expects Nightmare Moon to expect her to try something and as a result Twilight believes Nightmare Moon will be keeping an eye on her preventing her from doing anything. Therefore she's playing to expectations so that when she gets reintegrated into society at a later date, she'll have a bit more freedom. It's a rather convoluted, yet it can make perfect sense.

As always, critiques please.