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// Exit: Pinkie Pie 
// Story: Enter: Fluttershy 
// by Kirbster 
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	I've been staring in this mirror for some ungodly amount of time. I just... I just can't recognize the pony staring back at me. Its mane is unkempt and messy, slung over the right side of its face (or perhaps the left, my mind is too foggy to attempt to get my sides right, especially with the inversion effect of mirrors). Its eyes are flaring red, huge bags taking residence under them. Its nostrils are covered in some type of crusty dry substance. It looks dead. Unhappy. Unloved. No part of me believes that this pony used to be me. It used to be a happy pony. A happy pony who would have fun with its friends. Be loved. Love.

With every fiber of my being I want to stop looking at this mirror. But no matter how hard I try, my eyes find its way back to the reflective glass. It just... I can't... I don't want to believe that what's staring back at me. But it is. It is me. In all its lack of glory. 

It stares back with a look of disgust. I can't tell if that's me looking back on what I used to be, or me looking at what I am now, but the pony I'm staring at stares back with nothing but disgust. Its drooping, nearly crimson-red eyes pierce my soul. I only wish I knew what it was thinking.

Now I'm just starting to sound delusional. 

And those dreams. Whatever they are, they're swiftly robbing me of my sanity. Not so much the contents, but the reactions they receive from me. Every single time the inkling of a thought concerning them crosses my mind I dissolve into sobs. My eyes are no longer able to generate tears, however, so it's more so a painful and dry heaving kind of thing. Not a lot of fun.

Does whatever supernatural power that decides fate hate me? Do I deserve this? Was there some kind of wrong I never righted that lead to this? Is it simply karma working its magic? I've been a good pony, I think. I've been saying please, thank you, you're welcome. I've been polite. I've helped my friends. I'm never rude to anypony, don't have the strength to be. I don't understand why this had to happen.

There has to be some facade I can put up that will fool myself. Paint some kind of smile on my face and pretend nothing's wrong. Nothing is wrong, after all, right? They're all doing what they've always wanted to do. They're having fun. They're happy. I'm happy for them. Happy, yes, that's the word. Couldn't be happier. I have these pets, right? They could be my friends. I love animals, after all. Caring for them is my special talent, you know. They love me back. Of course. Yes.

They'll be my friends, and I'll be their friend. We can all be happy. Very happy. So happy, that it'll make all of my old friends jealous. They'll look back at how happy we are and how much fun we're having, and wish they were here. Of course.

Oh, I know. I could sew little clothes for the pets. I was always pretty good at sewing too, you know. I'll make them each little outfits and we could all be one big happy bunch of friends. And we'll be happy. I should get to that. It'll be fun. Fun, yes.

Oh wait, I have no materials to make any clothes. That's no good. I'll just go out and buy some, I'm sure the market is open today. Then I can make the little outfits. That will be fun. It will. Lots.

...

I'm going to forget I even began contemplating that.

Becoming delusional, and then tip-toeing into insanity? Fluttershy, you need to pull yourself together.

Moving on, I should probably get out more. Fresh air does a body good, after all. It'll be a nice break from all this moping. The weather outside today is lovely. Don't know what I'd do outside though. Maybe just play with the animals. I don't have the energy to do that, I'm just way too worn out.

Or I could go to the spa. I may not go as deep into the indulgence as Rarity, but I did enjoy our spa visits greatly. 

That actually sounds wonderful. I'll do that later today.

But first, Pinkie Pie's story of leaving:

Pinkie Pie bounced about Sugarcube corner, enjoying one of her many babysitting endeavors with the baby Cakes. After the first time, they had certainly become much more manageable. A faint sound of a door opening and closing was able to be heard downstairs, so Pinkie Pie, using her superior logic-defying athletic abilities, bounced down the flight of stairs, not a single one being touched, and landed at the bottom of the stairs. The two young foals attempted to follow her, crawling on all fours. As she saw this, Pinkie bounced in a similar manner back up the stairs and set up the baby barrier at the edge of the stairs as she had been instructed. Waving fondly to the two babies, she bounced back down the stairs.

“Thank you so much Pinkie,” said Mrs. Cake, “We're so sorry to leave you with the babies so much lately. We've just been so busy.”

“No problemo! You know I love the babies and they love me!” Pinkie said, continuing to bounce, though now in place.

“Oh, Pinkie,” started Mr. Cake. He looked into his saddle bag for something he had been given earlier, “Somepony gave me this. He told me it was for a 'Pinkamena Diane Pie.'” Mr. Cake got a letter out and handed it to the bouncing earth pony.

“That's me! I wonder who it could be from.” Pinkie exclaimed, putting a strange enthusiastic emphasis on the word 'me'. Pinkie ripped the envelope apart with blinding speed, reading the note as fast as she could. She threw it in a random direction and burst into confetti as she had finished. “Professionally plan parties?! Then I can make everypony happy! 'Pinkie Pie's Party Patronage'! Catchy, isn't it?” 

“Very,” sighed Mr. Cake, tired after a day of hard work, “Who was that letter from, anyway?”

“I dunno, but he said that Princess Celestia herself said that my parties are fantasti-mazing!” Pinkie shouted, "he said he wanted someone to plan a party for him and Celestia recommended me. And then I got the idea to plan parties professionally, so that I could bring smiles to ponies faces everywhere!"

“Oh Pinkie, I'm so happy for you! Do you know what this could mean for your future?” said Mrs. Cake.

“Not really, but I love making ponies happy! And this way, I can make so many ponies happy with my parties!” With this, Pinkie gave herself a happy-lap around the bakery, with more of a happy bouncing skip than a run or trot. After this, she said “but wait, the letter said that he was in Canterlot. Does this mean I have to go to Canterlot too? What about my friends?”

“Pinkie, if you set up a party business you could be set for life,” said Mrs. Cake, trying to give her sensible advice.

“But if I don't see my friends, how can I make them smile?” Pinkie said, all essence of enthusiasm leaving her in one fell swoop.

“You can make plenty of new friends in Canterlot, I'm sure there's plenty of friendly ponies there,” continued Mrs. Cake.

“But I like the friends I have here! If I go somewhere else, I'd have to get to know everypony there too. That's not easy you know!” Pinkie got gradually more worried about leaving as time went on.

“Pinkie,” interjected Mr. Cake, “This is such a great chance. You can't let this slip by.”

“I guess you're right...” Pinkie said, quite notably begrudgingly.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake nodded in unison, smiling at the pink earth pony. “Don't worry, the choice will make much more sense to you once you make it.”

“Well, I guess I better tell my friends about this...” said Pinkie, “but how will I break the news to them? They were all so sad when the rest of our friends left...”

“How do you solve the rest of your problems?” said Mrs. Cake.

“With parties...” said Pinkie, dejectedly.

“This'll be a great start to your business,” said Mr. Cake,” You haven't thrown a party in awhile. It'll be nice to get back into the swing of things.”

“Okay...” said Pinkie, she slowly trudged her way back up to her room to start planning the party.

Pinkie knocked on the tree house door, waiting patiently for it to be opened. Once it did, she bounced forward and began to sing “This is your singing telegram-” before being interrupted by Twilight. 

“Oh, a party?” she said. 

“Yup-yup,” Pinkie said, completely unphased that her musical number was abruptly stopped.

“What's the occasion?” Twilight went on.

“You'll see~” Pinkie said, bouncing off in the general direction of Fluttershy's cottage. Upon arrival, she gave Fluttershy an invitation as well and made her way to the location of which the party would be taking place.

“Okidokey Pinkie, you've rehearsed this enough, your friends will be fine...” Pinkie said to herself. She was then broken out of her zen-like state by a knock on the door. “Hello~ I'm so glad you could make it!” she said upon opening the door. Both Twilight and Fluttershy stood at the door and walked in at the same time.

“Where is everypony? How early are we?” Twilight said.

“Oh, you're early. But you guys are the only ponies I invited,” Pinkie told them.

“That's odd, you don't usually only invite us to your parties.”

“I know, but this isn't really a party for partying's sake...”

“Oh, then what's it for?”

“Well,” Pinkie began, nearly teleporting across the room and kicking the radio to get the music for her musical number. She took a deep breath and began “If you love something let it go. That's what Granny Pie always said-” Awkward stares were the only thing Pinkie received from her friends. As she saw this, she stopped and jumped forward “Oh, I can't do this! I'm leaving!” Pinkie said, falling to the floor.

“Why?” Twilight said.

Pinkie took a deep breath, and began to say, “well, Mr. Cake gave me a letter that was from somepony in Canterlot. He said he heard from Princess Celestia that my parties were the bomb and that he wanted me to plan one of his parties so I got the idea to set up 'Pinkie Pie's Party Patronage' in Canterlot and Mr. and Mrs. Cake thought it was a great idea so they told me I should do it, but I didn't want to 'cause I'd have to leave you guys, but they told me that this was the opportunity of a life time and I shouldn't let it slip by so I listened to them and now I'm going to Canterlot to set up 'Pinkie Pie's Party Patronage'...” All of which was said in one breath and with no breaks inbetween. “Do you guys hate me?”

“We would never hate you, Pinkie. That is really a great opportunity,” Twilight said, trying to reassure her friend through teary eyes.

“But I don't want to leave you guys,” Pinkie said.

“You could always write like the rest will.”

“But it's not the same! I won't get to SEE the smiles on your faces then!”

“You know we'll smile whenever we hear from you, isn't that enough?”

“I guess...” Pinkie stared at the floor. In what appeared to be deep thought, something not like Pinkie.

“Don't be sad, Pinkie,” Twilight began, before being interrupted by: “Do you guys promise to welcome every new pony who comes into Ponyville for me?”

“We promise,” responded Twilight.

"Pinkie promise?"

Twilight and Fluttershy chuckled together before saying "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," doing the necessary gestures.

Pinkie smiled faintly, “You can borrow my welcome cart, just remember to put the cake batter and confetti in the right places. I always mix them up.”

“Of course.”

Pinkie, through a wall of tears, stared at her friends and brought them close for a group hug. A faint smile graced her lips, but more than anything, tears were what was being produced by her face. No partying was done that day, but the decorations were never taken down.

And so, Pinkie took her luggage and went off, a waterfall of tears escaping each eye and leaving a trail of wet sadness behind her. The only thing she left behind was her pet alligator, Gummy. Who now was relaxing in the small pond outside Fluttershy's cottage.

First off, Pinkie's points. Still going to do this, might as well. So I'll give her one point for being somewhat torn up about leaving, and one more point for attempting to break the news lightly (party, song and all). That's a grand total of two points. Not doing too well for yourself, Pinkie. Being tied for last place isn't very impressive.

What's it about Canterlot that attracts all my friends? Three out of five now reside there. Is it really that great of a place? It mostly seems like its filled to the brim with snobs and other unfavorable types of ponies, if you ask me. But I guess no one really did or ever does.

Now that I think about it, why did Pinkie need to go to Canterlot to plan parties? She couldn't have set one up in Ponyville, or somewhere a tad more local? She already throws everypony in Ponyville parties, whether they ask for it or not.

Perhaps that's the thing. Because she already throws parties for everypony in Ponyville without request, doing it strictly on request and for a fee would probably elicit little business. I truly doubt that ever crossed her mind. And maybe Canterlot just has some type of business air to it, so everyone's off there to seek the best opportunities. 

Whatever the case, she's gone. Just like everypony else. And she's probably having the time of her life, doing what she's always wanted to do. Lucky her. She probably doesn't even think back. Sure, she was all depressed when she had to leave, but now that she's there, she's loving it. I know she is. It's all fun and games for Pinkie, after all.

Maybe that's a bit harsh. I'd like to think that under that overly energetic exterior is a working, sensible brain, but sometimes I can't convince myself that that's even possible. The inner workings of her mind truly are an enigma. If they can make Twilight surrender to senselessness, then they've got to be something really special.

I don't know what to think about Pinkie at this point. To be honest, I never did. I just accepted her as what she was and had fun with her while she lasted. I guess that's all she really wants. Even trying to think about it is starting to make my head reel. Probably best not to try.

I've been doing far too much thinking lately, anyway. All of this incessant moping probably isn't good for a pony's health. Well, I can say that I'm practically certain it is. 

I'll just retreat to the spa for now. I could most definitely use some R&R. It's been far too long since I had some nice "me time." And not "me time" as in time alone, because I've had quite enough of that. I'll just do a few things for the pets quickly and be off. I'm determined to keep each of these pets in great conditions, so when they come back and rave about how bad of friends they've been, I can gloat quite whole-heartedly that I was a good enough friend to have kept my part of the bargain. Winona's been getting better. She's regained a considerable amount of her energy and hasn't been making those strange wheezing noises she used to. I'm no trained professional, but I think she just needs some rest at this point.

Anyway, I'm off to the spa. Hopefully it'll be a nice reprieve from all of this grief, even if just for a short while.