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// A Shoulder To Cry On 
// Story: My True Purpose 
// by TheMusicalBoy93 
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Twilight lifted her head from her pillow as the sound of somepony knocking at her door rang through the castle halls. The purple Alicorn took a moment to stretch her muscles, pop her joints and shake the sleep from her eyes before making the long trek down the stairwell into the main hall. Extending her magic out toward the door, she gently eased it open as she came within view of the entranceway, revealing a most peculiar spectacle. There, in the doorway, was a flat maned Pinkie Pie, wearing the most sombre expression Twilight had ever seen on the party pony’s face.

“Pinkie?” Twilight blinked, rubbing her eyes in the hope that the moonlight was playing tricks on her. The purple pony princess had only seen Pinkie’s mane flat once and, from what she heard from Rainbow Dash, that never meant anything good. The pink party pony gave a half-hearted smile, despite her tear stained cheeks, as Twilight reached palace doorway.

Twilight looked her usually hyperactive friend up and down one more time before slowly wrapping a hoof around her neck and pulling her close for a caring nuzzle. Pinkie snivelled into the Alicorn’s mane, fighting a losing battle to keep the dam from breaking. The longer Twilight maintained contact, however, the harder the task became, and it wasn’t long before pinkie was openly sobbing into her friend’s shoulder. But, unlike many other times where the pink pony had wailed, and her tears came spouting from her eyes like waterfalls, she wept silently, and her tears fell like rain over her cheeks, soaking both her own, and Twilight’s fur.

Twilight ushered her friend inside and escorted her up to her bedroom, collecting her tea set from the living room on the way. The two mares sat in silence while Twilight brewed a pot of tea for them both, the scent of the Alicorn’s favourite Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl brew wafting through the room. Once the brew was complete, Twilight poured two cups of tea and levitated one toward the bed where Pinkie sat. The party pony took the cup in her hooves with silent thanks, a weak smile gracing her lips as she sipped at the piping hot liquid. She cooed happily at the warming sensation that tickled her throat as the tea worked its magic inside of her. The silence continued a few minutes longer, which worried Twilight greatly. Never before had she ever known Pinkie to sit so still, or so silently, in all her life. Whatever happened to her to make her behave this way, it must have shaken her really badly. Twilight took a breath and was just about to break the drowning silence when Pinkie suddenly seemed to come to life with the most unexpected question she could ever ask.

“Twilight? Would you notice if I were to suddenly disappear?” Whatever Twilight was going to say died on her lips, and she closed her mouth with a clack of her teeth. Silence regained its choking hold over the room, as the two ponies looked at each other, one in earnest anticipation, the other in stunned confusion. Twilight blinked, uncomprehending as to where this question came from all of a sudden.

“Pinkie, you’re the most active, friendly and sociable pony in all of Equestria. If I went a single day without seeing you, even in passing, I’d notice it immediately.” The pink party pony let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding after hearing those words. “But, what in the world would make you think such a thing, Pinkie?” If Pinkie’s mane hadn’t deflated to its fullest before, it had now. Her entire complexion seemed to darken several hues, and the glimmer in her eyes fizzled out completely, leaving dull, lifeless pools of solid blue in her gaze. She turned her face away from Twilight’s, her mane flopping over her left eye as she stared at the floor, as if willing it to suddenly grow a mouth with which to swallow her whole.

“I was throwing a party over a Sugar Cube Corner,” she started, running a hoof in circles in the bed covers. “But when I started announcing the next party game, somepony just stood up and shouted at me.” Twilight’s wings snapped open in alarm that somepony would have the nerve to raise their voice at Pinkie Pie. The idea that somepony had hurt the child-minded party pony made her blood boil, and she could feel her mane turning into fire. “He said that I was annoying. That just because I’m the resident party pony of Ponyville, it doesn’t mean everypony actually likes my parties.” Twilight barely suppressed a snort of irritation at this accusation. Of course everypony enjoyed her parties. Pinkie Pie was an amazing friend, and was an expert at bringing out the inner foal in everypony at her parties. It was her childish demeanour that made her so approachable, and her highly contagious energy that made everypony she met smile. “He told me that most ponies probably only come to my parties because they feel like they have to come. He claimed I made them feel like they had no choice in the matter. And that, without my parties, I’m just a sad, lonely, pathetic pony with no friends,” Pinkie Pie cupped her face in her hooves as her tears burst through the dam anew, “and I can’t help but wonder. What if he’s right?” Twilight’s heart exploded. “What if I am a pathetic, lonely, pony who has no friends, without my parties?” Twice.

“Oh, Pinkie,” Twilight took a seat beside the sobbing party pony and pulled her in for a much needed hug. Pinkie’s arms clamped around the Alicorn’s barrel like a steel vice as the Earth pony cried on her friend’s shoulder. Twilight, for her part, was still reeling from the fact that somepony had even raised a harsh word at Pinkie. Only two ponies – well, technically, one griffon and a donkey – had raised a stern word at her before, but she’d never let that affect her before. But this seemed different. Something in the back of Twilight’s mind was yelling at her to find out what it was with what this pony said that was different, and why.

Before she could raise the question, however, Twilight realised that Pinkie’s breaths had suddenly become much smoother. Much calmer. She looked down and confirmed her suspicion that Pinkie Pie had fallen asleep. The Alicorn smiled as she laid the exhausted Earth pony down beside her and tucked them both into the bedclothes, making a mental checklist of questions to ask Pinkie when the morning came.

All through the night, the pink party pony slept fitfully, whimpering and begging with an unseen evil that wormed its way through her thoughts and tortured her sleep.