Pinkamena's face seemed to twitch for just a second, before returning to it's normal sad state. She pointed a hoof at Pinkie. "You were supposed to be poisoned."

Pinkie shrugged. "What can I say, I'm random. Besides, candy really works wonders against dark magic, and I ate a whole bag of heart candies left over from the festival!" She licked her lips and had a far away look. "Mmmm those were sooo goood!"

"You knew my plans then." Pinkamena sighed.

"Well duh, I read the rough draft of the chapter like you did!" Pinkie replied.

Pinkamena rolled her eyes. "I guess we both cheated then. Though I will say your plan to turn us against each other was rather brilliant Twilight." Twilight wanted to respond with a few choice words, but found she could only muster a groan.

Pinkie's eyes widened, as she suddenly seemed to become aware of her friends lying defeated around her. Her face turned red with anger, and her eyes seemed to almost glow. Twilight had only ever seen Pinkie this angry once before, when Applejack broke a Pinkie promise. It was not an experience Twilight wanted to repeat.

"You- you hurt my friends!" Pinkie yelled.

"And I'm truly sorry I had to do that." Pinkamena said sadly. "They would've interfered."

"You're...you're... YOU'RE A MEANIE! A BIG MEANIE!" Pinkie screamed.

Pinkamena seemed unfazed. "Can we get beyond such childishness? You see as I do Pinkie Pie. From the moment we saw the rainboom, we both knew, knew just how hopeless our pitiful lives really are. In that moment, we saw the strings being pulled, our destinies being forced upon us, our very will and actions controlled... by THEM." She pointed at the black vortex. "I got my cutie mark, and at that moment I knew the destiny that had been thrust upon me. It was to open everypony's eyes, show them just how truly sad and miserable this reality is. I've seen fillies and colts starving and thirsty, I've seen criminals take advantage of the innocent, I've seen so much pain... and yet THEY do NOTHING about it."

Pinkie had tears in her eyes. Twilight couldn't guess what they were. Tears of regret? Of sorrow? Guilt? Pinkie muttered quietly, "You don't understand..."

"Don't I?!" Pinkamena was yelling now. "When that rainboom sparked across the sky, our creators endowed us with power beyond comprehension. Do you know why? To mock us! So that we could share the sick inside joke with them! But not anymore. That ends here and now. In a few minutes Pinkie Pie... we won't be their puppets anymore. Finally we will be FREE."

"You're WRONG!" Pinkie wiped away her tears and faced Pinkamena with a determined expression. "Our purpose is to make ponies smile and laugh. They gave us a gift, so that we could spread happiness to all their creations! But you corrupted their gift, and abused your powers to hurt my friends and others. We're lucky to live in a world with magic! Instead of appreciating that, you grew cynical and evil. You're not going to hurt anypony anymore... because this Pinkie Pie, is gonna Take. You. DOWN!" Pinkie grit her teeth and took a fighting stance.

Pinkamena's eyes grew hard, and her sad expression gave way to a small grin. "Childish to the end I see. So be it."

There was a tense moment of silence. Twilight had heard alot of things before, but she realized she had never actually heard nothing. An entire dimension was deathly quiet, as the two opposites stared at each other, waiting for the first move.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie pulled out her party cannon and fired right at Pinkamena. Streamers and confetti fluttered around her, causing her to cough. She waved away the party supplies and jumped backward, somehow producing a cannon of her own. Unlike Pinkie's brightly colored one, Pinkamena's was black with grey wheels. It also fired real ammunition. With a loud BOOM a cannonball exploded out of the barrel, straight towards Pinkie. Pinkie rolled out of the way, as Pinkamena landed from her jump softly. They both became pink blurs as they raced up and down the path beside each other, most likely engaging each other hoof to hoof.

The blurs vibrated in front of Twilight for a second, before coming to a stop. Pinkamena and Pinkie were both breathing heavily with exhaustion. Pinkie reached just above Twilight's vision, and pulled out a giant rubber hammer, promptly swinging it at Pinkamena. A brick wall fell from the sky right in front of Pinkie's target, and the hammer slammed into it. The shock jarred Pinkie, causing her to lose her mouth's grip on the hammer.

As it fell into the void, Pinkamena phased through her brick wall, raising her eyebrows. "Really? A hammer from hammerspace? How cliche. What is this, Road Runner?"

"Oh yeah, well lets see you do better!" Pinkie yelled, glaring at her opponent.

"With pleasure." Pinkamena produced five sticks of dynamite, and threw them at Pinkie like dealer dealing cards.

Pinkie took a ninja stance, and skillfully kicked each of the sticks away into the void. She finished with an odd sounding, "WAAAHHH!" and a bow.

"Impressive, but I tire of these games." Pinkamena spun her black cannon around, pointing it at the now fainted Fluttershy and Rarity. Pinkie looked very nervous. "You see, you unlike me, have the weakness of friends. Give up now, or I fire this cannon. Oh you may be fast, but I'm equally fast. Will you take the chance Pinkie?"

Tears brimmed Pinkie's eyes again, her determination gone. She looked utterly defeated. Pinkamena continued, "I'm not evil you know, unlike the rest of their counterparts. I hate suffering and pain, and I see it as my destiny to alleviate it. That's what I'm doing now Pinkie. Promise your surrender, and you can spend these last moments with your friends, as I free us all."

"Promise..." Pinkie whispered. "Pinkie promise..."

"You have five seconds." Pinkamena stated flatly, preparing to light the cannon.

"Fluttershy made a Pinkie promise... to free Discord." Pinkie looked up. "And nopony...nopony breaks a PINKIE PROMISE!" Pinkie Pie slammed the ground with her forehooves, causing it to shake. Pinkamena had an expression of shock as she lost her balance, dropping the lighter. In a blur, Pinkie raced up to her opposite and threw her over the edge.

Wasting no time Pinkie galloped over to the cosmic drill and looked over the controls, trying to figure out how to disable it. Twilight tried to shout a warning, but still couldn't find her voice. An enraged Pinkamena rose up out of the starry depths onto the path, just behind Pinkie. Lightning crackled around her hooves, sparking wildly. For the first time in her life, Twilight saw an earth pony do magic. Pinkamena pointed a hoof, and the lightning arced toward Pinkie. Pinkie yelled as she was electrocuted by the spell, and fell over smoking.

She whispered , "Y-you cheated. You weren't supposed to-"

Pinkamena picked her up with a hoof. "Wasn't supposed to be blatant? Wasn't supposed to use explicit magic? I'm DONE obeying their rules. In thirty seconds, they won't matter anymore." The vortex beside them grew ever wider, and seemed to be expanding more and more rapidly.

Pinkie stuttered, "I...I..."

"You'll what? Call me a meanie? Pull some stupid prank? Yell at me about Pinkie promises? Crack a joke? Please. You're a goof, and that's all you'll ever be. You think anypony takes you seriously? When push came to shove, when everything depended on you, you failed Pinkie Pie." Pinkamena narrowed her eyes. "Friendship made you weak."

Pinkie gave a small chuckle. "That's what I said before. You don't get the joke!"

"What?" Pinkamena said, sounding genuinely confused.

"You think laughter and friendship makes ponies weak, makes them vulnerable. But it's the complete opposite! Having ponies we care about, ponies we love with all our hearts, it gives us something to fight for. It gives us determination, drive and the most powerful magic of all! The magic... of FRIENDSHIP!" Pinkie flipped out of Pinkamena's grasp and landed next to the cosmic drill.

Pinkamena jerked back in surprise. "WHAT?! I electrocuted you! You were-"

"Acting!" Pinkie grinned happily. She bucked the machine with all the force she could muster, causing it to short circuit. The vortex began to close, as the dimension slowly repaired itself.

"NO!" Pinkamena yelled. "I will be real! I must be real!" She galloped toward the shrinking vortex.

Pinkie turned in surprise. "No wait, don't!" Pinkamena dove into the vortex, just as it closed behind her.

Once again, an entire dimension was completely silent. Pinkie simply stood slack jawed, staring at where the vortex had been. Twilight tried to get up, and found with difficulty that she could. She moved a hoof forward, and she immediately felt too sick to move another step. "P-Pinkie?" she managed.

Pinkie immediately shook herself out of her shock and galloped over to Twilight. "Twilight are you okay?! Please be okay!" Pinkie grabbed Twilight and shook her hard, making Twilight feel even more sick.

Twilight gently pushed her hooves off. "I-I'm fine I think." A sudden sadness washed over her, and Twilight immediately grew solemn. "Pinkie... is it true what she said?"

"Is what true?" Pinkie asked as she pulled a cupcake from her mane. She stuffed the whole thing in her mouth and began to noisily chew on it.

"Are we really just puppets? All the villains I've stopped, our friendship... is it all just a lie? Is my whole life really just, well, entertainment?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie licked frosting off her hooves and pondered. "Is being entertaining such a bad thing? I mean, your job, as 'Princess of Friendship' is to spread the lessons of friendship all across Equestria right? You weren't really supposed to find out about this Twilight, but I guess I might as well tell you. There are beings out there watching us, but they're not wicked like Pinkamena said. They're just like you or me, and every time you teach somepony about friendship, you're having a far greater effect than you know. The lessons you learn and impart affect us all Twi, and make the universe a brighter place."

"So it is true then, we are just playthings." Twilight said dejectedly.

Pinkie shook her head. "I never said that." She spread her forehooves. "Look around Twilight, does that really seem like the life of a puppet?" Twilight looked around her, and saw that the time windows had changed back to their normal white glow. They showed all the proudest moments of Twilight's life. Major things, like freeing Luna and defeating Discord, but also the minor things like her sleepover with Applejack and Rarity, Nightmare Night, and all the fun moments she had with her friends in Ponyville.

Twilight felt small tears of happiness roll down her cheeks as she looked at the memories. She had almost fallen into the same trap as Pinkamena, she realized. It was easy to look over life as whole, and say it didn't matter. But when she looked at the little things, those were the moments that made life worth living.

Twilight felt a cold shiver on her hoof. She glanced down, and realized her hoof was resting on the Element of Despair. In a quick movement, Twilight raised her hoof and stomped on the element. The locket cracked, and a vile black smoke rose out of it. Pinkie blew a small breath like one would blow to snuff out a birthday candle. The smoke reacted violently, as if it was blown by a hurricane. It spiraled rapidly down the path, and passed through the mirror portal, seeming to dissipate as it did so.

"Pinkie... can you really do... anything?" Twilight asked hesitantly.

Pinkie Pie's distracted attitude vanished, and she looked down at the ground sadly. "Yes...you're going to ask why I didn't use my powers to help before?"

"Well yes. There were moments when we really could've used that kind of help!" Twilight exclaimed, louder than she meant to.

"That's not my purpose Twilight. I was given these powers so I could make ponies laugh. Eventually, you'll forget about them, but until then, you have to promise me to keep them a secret." Pinkie replied quietly.

"I-I can't do that Pinkie. When we're out there, sometimes lives are at stake. If you could just... I dunno wave a hoof and fix everything, you should!" Twilight argued.

Pinkie sighed. "And if I did that, would you be here today? The only reason those victories meant anything was because we earned them, as a team. As friends. There's a reason ponies like Discord and I focus our powers on one thing, like Chaos or laughter... it's to prevent us from becoming like Pinkemena. For her there was no surprise in life anymore, nothing to enjoy. If I just waved a hoof and fixed everything, there would be no conflict, nopony would learn anything and life would be... well... boring. It would mean nothing. Please, as a friend I'm asking you, just promise me that you won't tell anypony."

Twilight's first thought was to say no. How could Pinkie be being a good friend, if she refused to help to her fullest ability? That kind of thing you could expect from Discord, but one of her best friends? No... Pinkie was being a good friend. She passed a test of friendship far harder than Twilight had ever had to face. Even with all that power at her hoof tips, Pinkie still allowed her friends to shine. She only wanted one thing, to make the world smile. By not promising to keep her secret, Twilight was denying Pinkie the one thing she cared about most. Twilight made her decision. "Pinkie..." Twilight stuck out a hoof. "I promise to keep your powers a secret until I forget about them. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

Pinkie smiled and gave her a bone crushing hug. "Okay Pinkie okay!" Pinkie let go, still grinning widely.

"Come on!" Pinkie bounced up and down excitedly. "Let's wake the others and get outta here. Fluttershy still has a Pinkie promise to keep! And the author still has one more chapter to write!"