//------------------------------//
// In Retrospect 
// Story: Snapshots 
// by Shingo 
//------------------------------//

Many things seem different in retrospect. Most of the time, they seem like bad things after a few moments of thought. Other times they could be seen as good. Pinkie was experiencing both sides of this as she was leaving the Everfree Forest. In retrospect, it was a good thing that she brought a basket. Without the basket, she wouldn’t have been able to carry all of the Aspear Berries that she picked. In retrospect, it was a good thing that she picked up that stone idol. The idol depicted a bipedal creature with a crescent moon head. It had a mad smile on its face and was playing an instrument that looked like a violin. It would make a great decoration in her room. In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to eat those blue glowing mushrooms. They made Pinkie feel funny. Not as in a “ha ha” funny, a funny kind of funny. She couldn’t find the right words to describe the feeling. Before she could try finding the right words, she reached Fluttershy’s cottage. The yellow pegasus was sitting at a table with a group of mice standing on it. She just finished tying a bandage on a mouse’s foot. Pinkie approached her friend with a smile on her face.

“Hi Fluttershy!” she said. Fluttershy and all of the mice turned to the pink pony. They all waved at her and Fluttershy smiled.

“Hello Pinkie Pie,” she said. “How have you been doing?”

“I’ve been doing great!” Pinkie set the basket down. “I just came back from the Everfree Forest. Look at all of the Asper Berries I got!” Fluttershy’s smile grew.

“You have Asper Berries?” she asked. “Does that mean you’ll be making those special fruit tarts?”

“Yep! But that’s not all I got from the forest,” Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out the idol. “I found this on the way back.” She placed it at the center of the table. All of the mice circled around it with wide eyed curiosity.

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked.

“I have no idea. But I think that it’ll make a great addition to my room. I could put it beside the lamp that Mr. Cake got me for…” Pinkie suddenly stopped. Her pupils dilated to the point where her eyes looked like giant pupils.

“Pinkie? Are you alright?” Fluttershy waved her hoof in front of her friend’s eyes. Pinkie however, wasn’t paying attention. To her, the world changed. She could hear Fluttershy’s voice, but it sounded as if she were talking underwater. Pinkie looked down at the idol. It somehow acquired a dress shirt, a vest, a bow tie, an armband on its left arm, a pair of pants, and shoes. The smile on its face was still as mad as ever. The mice’s appearance drastically changed. They looked as if they were drawn by a cartoonist. The idol brought its arms to its side. Pinkie took a step back.

Fluttershy’s mouth moved, but all Pinkie could hear was the sound of bubbles coming from her. The idol took a step forward and the mice did the same.

“Met the ghost of Stephen Foster at the Hotel Paradise,” it said. “This is what I told him as I gazed into his eyes: ships were made for sinking, whiskey made for drinking. And if we were made of cellophane, we’d all get stinking drunk much faster!” The idol then laughed.

“Gwine to run all night!” the mice sang. “Gwine to run all day!” The idol put its violin to its neck. 

"Camp town ladies never sang all the doo dah day," it said. "No, no, no." The bow was placed on the strings and moved. The mice pulled pitchforks from out of nowhere and pointed them at Pinkie. An eerie melody was coming from the violin as the bow moved. Accompanying it was a drum beat. The idol leaned forward and approached Pinkie. All of the mice did the same. They jabbed their pitchforks forward with the beat of the drum as the idol’s bow moved back and forth. Pinkie backed away. When the mice and the idol jumped off the table, she screamed. What Pinkie saw was one of the eeriest things she had ever seen. Laughter most likely wouldn't drive them away. So she grabbed her basket and ran as fast as her hooves could carry her.

Fluttershy looked at the receding pink dot in the distance. All of the mice looked to her with confusion.

“I don’t know what happened either,” she said. “I’ll go after her to make sure she’s safe.” Fluttershy’s wings opened up and she launched herself into the air. The mice looked back at the idol’s mad smile. They could hear echoes of creepy violin music as well as mad laughter.