Flowing water… Chirping birds…

And I'm back. The sound of that clock… wait, what?

My head is pounding, my entire body is aching from Celestia knows what, And where are these noises suddenly coming from? Did somepony drop a zoo into my bedroom?

Wait.There's something about this bed that seems… different? It's actually comfortable; no scratchy sheets or lumpy pillows, no metal frame or broken springs. My bed in the asylum has never felt this good before. As a matter of fact, the only bed I remember being this comfortable was…

No, Pinkie. You know that's not what's going on. You know where you are, you know you're still here. It's time for you to stop hoping.

But wait… what about the infirmary? What about Twilight's promise? Why would I even be able to feel this bed unless-?

My eyes open against my will. Honestly, Pinkie, what did you justget through telling yourself? It's never going to-

Even as I berate myself, there's something new about the room I'm in. For the first time in six years, there's something newabout this place. As my eyes adjust to the bright lights, I realize… it's not white.

I can barely believe my eyes. Not only is it not white, it's colorful. My room is colorful. Brown and green, blue and yellow and red, all plastering the walls and floor of my bedroom. For the first time I can remember, there's color in my life…

My eyes finally adjust to the light. This looks exactly like…

Exactly like my room at Sugarcube Corner.

Could it be possible? Could it have all been…?

I shake my head. The thoughts are cloudy, the memories unyielding. What happened to me? Last I remember, I was in that infirmary bed… Twilight was singing and-

My thoughts explode into a vicious torrent. Everything; I remember everything.What I did to Snails, all the years I spent in that tiny room. But there's still that nagging question: how did I end up here? I was…

But everything else seems to fade into the backdrop as I turn my glance to the window.

I giggle, barely able to contain my excitement as I near the glass portal.

"Open," I whisper incredulously. A joyful tear begins to slide down my cheek. "My room has an open window."

Do I do it? Place a hoof through it? Should I even believe this could be possible?

I'm right in front of it. I can even feel the breeze on my hoof, but I still don't know if I can…

I close my eyes, I can't help it… What's going to happen if I-

My hoof crosses the barrier; the barrier between my room and the outside, the barrier that held me captive for so long. It's… I'm…

"I'm back!"I shriek, sending the birds in the nearby trees fluttering away in terror. I may be terrifying everything and everypony within a mile, but I don't care; I'm back, I'm free. For the first time in what seems like an eternity, I'm truly free.

I feel like I've been reborn.

"Pinkie?" I hear a voice call up the staircase. "Pinkie, is everything alright?"

As I bounce off the walls, I can hear the door swing open.

"Pinkie, are you-" Mrs. Cake begins.

But she's interrupted as I return to the floor and wrap her in a fierce embrace. "Yes, I'm great. I'mperfect,"I say with a teary smile.

"What in Equestria happened?" she asks incredulously. "I know you're usually happy to wake up, but I've never seen you so excited."

That's really saying something… but it's true, I never havebeen this excited. "Let's just say I'm happy to be back," I reply.

She tilts her head in bewilderment. Funny, she does that justthe same way that Twilight and Rarity do. "Back? Back from what?"

"Oh, you're such a silly filly!" I laugh as I hop back toward the bed. "Back from the dr-"

She looks at me curiously as I stop dead, completely immobile as the gentle morning breeze caresses my coat.

"That what dear?" she asks with that same curious tilt of the head. Her mannerisms, they're so similar to the Twilight and Rarity I saw; could she be…?

"Mrs. Cake, do you think you can handle the bakery for yourself today? There's… there's something important I need to think about."

She smiles that same glowing smile, that smile that looks almost like my mother's. "Of course, sweetie. Have a good day!"

As she turns and leaves, a thought occurs to me: sweetie… for the first time in six years, I can tolerate that word. No, I can do better than tolerateit, I can enjoy it… it means that she cares.

But then that other thought comes creeping back in, rearing its ugly head, refusing to leave: what if this is all…?

I gallop down the stairs, out the door, out into the first sunlight I've felt in years. It feels amazing, it's like I'm feeling it for the first time; but…

I need to find Twilight.

The cobbled stone beneath my feet, the gentle breeze on my coat; birds singing, trees rustling… every bit of this is a new experience for me. I feel like a newborn filly, seeing the world for the first time. Flowers smell a thousand times sweeter, water feels a thousand times cooler, the smiles and greetings of every pony I see feel a thousand times friendlier; could it be that this…?

Well, my questions are about to be answered. I finally reach that tree; that hugehollow tree. I rap on the door for the first time I can remember, tapping my hoof impatiently as I await her greeting.

"Hello, who-Oh, hi Pinkie!"

She smiles brightly, enthusiastically. She's happy to see me. Happyto see me. "Hi, Twilight!" I reply with my customary enthusiasm. "Can I come in?"

She nods and gestures inside. With a spring in my step, I bounce into the expansive center of the Ponyville library. The sun is streaming through the windows, just the same way it always used to. Twilight has her familiar stacks of books strewn across the floor. I can't help but laugh a little… some things never change.

"So, Pinkie, what brings you here today?" she asks as she turns back toward the bookshelves.

"I'm… I had a few questions about something, if that's OK." My question is cautious; I don't know what's going on here. I have no idea how she'll react to me.

"Fire away!" she says enthusiastically as she levitates yet more textbooks from high atop their shelves.

"Well, this is sort of hard to ask, but… do you remember what happened to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?"

"The Sweet Apple Acre barn?" she replies, "Yeah, Applejack and Big Mac weren't very happy, they're just going to have the kids help out on their farm to repay the debt. Why those fillies felt the need to fire a bazooka is beyond me, unless they were trying to get their weapons of mass destruction cutie marks. I don't even know where they-"

"Wait a second," I hold up a hoof. "Did you say… barn?"

She looks at me in bewilderment, like I'm a spell she can't quite figure out. "Yes, I did. Weren't you asking about how Apple Bloom and her friends got punished?"

"You mean… they're not dead?"

She whips around, attention sudden diverted from her studies. "Of course they're not dead!" she answers in shock, anxiously approaching me as she sets down her books. "Pinkie, are you feeling alright? This isn't at all like you."

"What about Snails?" I demand, ignoring her concerns.

She just turns back toward her books and chuckles. "Oh, I get it… this is all just a joke isn't it? Are you still going on about that crush? I thought you were just going to ask him out, that would make this a lot-"

"It's not a joke," I insist. "I need to know, what's going on with Snails? Is he alright?"

"Of course he's alright," she answers without turning. Obviously, she thinks I'm 'just being Pinkie Pie' again. "But is everything OK? You seem a bit… flustered this morning."

"I'm… it's… forget it, I'll explain later,"

She shrugs and makes an about face toward her books. "Whatever you say! Have a good one, Pinkie."

I sigh and turn toward the door. "I'll try, Twilight."

What do I do now?

I laid in that hospital bed, I watched as my friends came one by one to say goodbye. I felt those drugs go into my body and put me to sleep. I felt myself drift off to nowhere.

And yet here I am, sitting on a park bench. The birds are chirping, the wind is blowing; everything seems so real.

So which is it?

Was that the dream… or is this?

"What do I do?"

I pose the question to them empty park, to the vacant merry-go-rounds and picnic tables.

"What do youthink, mom?" I ask the sky. "What if I spend years here, only to find that it's all fake?"

I shudder as I glance back down. "Even worse, what if I waste my life here, only to find out it was real?"

As I close my eyes, I can feel the wind dance across my body, I can feel the sun's warmth on my face.

Would it matter? Would I care if this was all a lie, after spending years wishing I could just be outside, after wishing I could just come back and live with my friends?

Should I risk wasting my whole life out of fear?

I need an answer; I need something.

"Well, look who it is!" a voice calls from the distance.

Could this be my answer? Could this really be her?

"Rainbow?"

The voice snorts and becomes clearer as it approaches me. "Well, it sure isn't my granny!"

She lands softly on my left side. "Why are you hanging out here? It's not like you to be alone."

All I can do is shrug. "I don't know; I'm just working through a lot of feelings. I've got a lot to think about right now."

She giggles slightly as she plops down on the bench. "Well, what do you say we stopthinking and start playing? This isn't like you, sitting alone in a park!"

She's right; this isn't like me at all.

So what if this is all a dream? So what if I'm just laying in a bed in the asylum infirmary?

I give Rainbow a glowing smile. Whatever the truth is, thisis real to them…

And it should be real to me, too.

"What did you have in mind, Dash?"

She chuckles and lays a hoof on my back. "I was thinking of a few pranks we could pull on Applejack and Big Mac. Are you in?"

I leap from the park bench and rush down the park trail. "Race you there!"

She laughs and follows my lead. "In your dreams!"

As I run down the dirt road, her words stick in my mind: "In your dreams."

Maybe this is all just an illusion; should I care?

I feel the wind in my magenta mane, the ground beneath my hooves and the rush of adrenaline in my veins; it's amazing. And as I rush toward our goal, my conscience tells me: no.

I got my wish; for the first time in six years, I'm with my friends. I can live my life the way it was meant to be lived.

As the sun rises over Ponyville's hills, as we race toward Sweet Apple Acres, I realize something:

If this is all a dream, so be it.

I've been given a second chance, a new life. Whether or not this is the truth, I would rather spend one day here with my best friends than a thousand anywhere else. Whether or not this world is just surreal, it's only just begun; I'm going to make the most of it.

The way it should always have been:

The fun way,

The Pinkie Pie way.

The End