Pinkie Pie lays in her bed, looking up blankly at her pink and vibrant ceiling; she shuffles around in her mind feelings that confuse and overwhelm her soul. Trapped by the constant intrusions that she wish would give her solace, just a bit of relaxation, but to no avail. "Why do I have to feel this way? Why do I have to be this way? No pony has ever given me a chance, so why should I expect he'd be any different?" Like an endless loop, her mind fixates on emotions she feels so deeply about; emotions, he'll never see.
October 31st, Nightmare Night
"Oh where is it, where is it!" Pinkie tears her way through piles of clothes, trying to find her special lingerie that will complete her exotic outfit. "Ah ha! Here it is!" Her mind eases down with relief at the sight of her silly, yet cute costume. The day is slowly creeping down to dusk, Pinkie made sure to finish all her chores around the bakery before settling down to get ready for tonight's event; it's a special day that makes her giddy with excitement just thinking about it.
She hurries to the bathroom to put on the finishing touches. Looking at the mirror that reflects her pink gaze, she applies makeup ever so carefully. She wants this look to really wow all the pony folk, and of course, her best friend. "Honk, honk." She says while staring at herself in the mirror, booping her nose. Another snort filled giggle escapes her joyful body, feeling nothing but hopefulness at her simple, crafty design.
Pinkie heads down stairs, making sure all her final quirks are in order before heading out. "Oh, are you leaving already?" A familiar soft voice echoes its way towards Pinkie's ears.
"Uh-huh! I got everything done Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie asserts assuredly.
"All the peppermints stocked up and filled?"
"Yep!"
"Every last chocolate piece wrapped up, and ready to be used?"
"Yep, yep!"
"Oh I can always count on you can't I dear." Mrs. Cake speaks with care. "Just make sure to be careful, I shouldn't need to tell you how crazy things can get on this day in particular."
"I know Mrs. Cake; and don't worry, you won't see Ms. Pinkie getting in any sorts of trouble!" Pinkie inquires with a playful demeanor.
"I know I won't dear. Have a good time, and be sure not to stay out too late!" Mrs. Cake waves a hoof with a slightly worried smile as she see's her pink worker happily hop out of the bakery.
"Bye Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie waves a hoof right before the door closes. She turns around and looks at the delightful view before her; as usual, foals and fillies of all kinds are taking part in the great celebration of today. It always brings a warm smile to Pinkie's face seeing all the young ponies experience the wonder of this magnificent holiday. Pinkie shakes her head to focus on her train of thought.
"I need to find Anon! He's probably been waiting for me for Celestia knows how long!" Just like that, her four hooves move without a second thought. She's experienced Nightmare Night with her human friend before, but never when it was just the two of them. Her heart feels full as she trots along, thinking about all the exciting festivities she can share with him.
She spots Anon standing by one of many snack booths, eating what seems to be a candy filled apple; though something else catches her eye. "Is that Rose?" Pinkie questions, as she see's Anon talking lively with another mare.
"Oh Pinkie, there you are!" Anon says with anticipation, mouth full of his food bought delight. "I got to say, I love the costume." He compliments, seeing the cheerful looking clown attire that Pinkie dawned on herself.
"Thanks Nonie!" Pinkie smiles.
"Nonie?" Rose says, standing behind Anon, a little view away from Pinkie.
"Oh uh, it's just a nickname she gave me a while back." Anon explains, a hint of embarrassment shown on his face.
"Oh, I see." Rose answers back, understanding the sudden and strange name calling. She steps beside Anon, showing herself fully to the silly pink clown. "Hey Pinkie, it's nice seeing you again." Rose smiles, delighted to see one of her many friends in Ponyvile.
"You too Rose. Sorry I came so late, I had some things to finish up back at the bakery. Me and Noni- Anon, are going house to house getting delicious candy, playing carnival games, and seeing that spooky attraction that opened up a couple days ago. Sorry again for having to wait around and give Anon company while I was getting here, I hope you have a good Nightmare Night tonight!" Pinkie inquires loudly with enthusiasm, just thinking about all the things her and Anon are going to have fun doing tonight, makes her giddy with anticipation.
Anon and Rose look at Pinkie, confusion being static on their faces. "Didn't I tell you Pinkie?" Anon questions.
Pinkie gives a small nervous chuckle, looking just as confused as the two staring at her. "Tell me what?"
Anon and Rose look at each other, before directing their attention back to the bubbly earth mare. "All three of us were hanging out tonight... at least, that's what I thought." Rose says a bit uncertain, as if Pinkie had already known this from the start.
"O-Oh... r-really?" Pinkie responds with a shy, yet still slightly carefree tone. Her ears perk down a bit, though under her delicately poofy mane, it's barely even noticeable.
"Well yeah Pinkie, didn't Mrs. Cake ever give you that note?" Anon replies.
"Note?" Pinkie ushers back, thinking long and hard of any note she could have gotten from her boss.
"Sorry I couldn't tell you in person, I was busy with work last week but I knew somehow I had to tell you. When I went to the bakery, you weren't there, so I asked Mrs. Cake if she could pass along a note.... she did give it to you, didn't she?"
Pinkie stares at Anon, remembering that Mrs. Cake had told her that one of her friends dropped by to give her a message. "I.. guess I must've have overlooked it." She chuckles nervously again.
"If you guys just want to hang out by yourselves I can go with Lily and-"
"N-No!" Anon interrupts his friend's awkward jump-in. It wouldn't be right to just drop plans with his friend all of a sudden. Rose looks at Anon with uncertainty of what she should do. "Pinkie would love for you to come along Rose, she just misunderstood the situation is all; if anything, I think it'd be great for Pinkie to have some company, since it was just going to be me and her this year, I'm sure she'd love to have any more friends she can take. Right Pinkie?"
Anon says with confidence, thinking that Pinkie would want more then just the two of them to hang out surely. "Uhm.." Pinkie shuffles around, hesitancy sprung in her vocal cords. "Why.... not?" She doesn't want to be rude, but she really wanted this night to be just Anon and Pinkie, having another pony in the picture squanders all her plans she had built up to this moment.
Rose chuckles embarrassingly. "Oh geez guys, I'm sorry." She confesses. "I do tend to over read situations sometimes, I have been excited about this night in particular for a while now-"
"You and me both." Pinkie mutters under her breath.
"-And I can't wait to try out some of the new attractions this year!" Rose finishes excitedly.
Anon smiles and laughs at Rose's innocent, child like, sentiment. "That's good to hear Rose. You and Pinkie are bound to have a good time I'm sure."
"'Me and Pinkie?'" Rose questions.
"You are coming in the spooky attractions too, aren't you Nonie?" Pinkie inquires.
"Um, well." Anon rubs his arm, trying to find the words to say that would match Pinkie and Rose's expectations; though as clear as day, his expression is all telling to the two mares. Pinkie and Rose look at Anon with disappointment. "It isn't that I don't want to, it's just that-"
"You don't want to?" Pinkie says, reading Anon like a book.
"..." Anon stays rubbing his arm.
Rose trots up to him, taking his hand away from his arm and placing it on her lifted up hoof, it's warm and soft to the touch. "If you're scared, don't be. I'll be there every step of the way." Rose talks to Anon with a warm tone of voice, she smiles at him as his worried face turns from a bashful form, to an angelic solace.
"Ok Rose, I'll do it."
"I'm so happy to hear that." Rose clambers with a returned solitude.
Pinkie looks awkwardly at the two of them. A weird, almost, envious feeling filling her mind as she see's the both of them appear so close.
"Come on, let's get moving, we have all night but that doesn't mean we should be waiting for ponies to fill up the lines."
Anon and Rose walk together, talking about all sorts of different things that the two share chemistry over. Behind them, Pinkie trudges along, a slight feeling of pain creeps into her body as her self is neglected by the aura of her two friends.
-------*-------
"-So then Lily says, 'oranges? I thought you wore a dress with Rose pedals on it for your aunts wedding?'" Rose tells Anon, a long and uneventful story being recollected out of her mouth.
"No way, how could she forget what you were wearing? Didn't she come to?" Anon speaks with attendance, almost at the edge of his seat with how interested he is.
"I know right?! She was right there! Anyway-"
Rose keeps blabbering on with her long tale as Pinkie slowly trots behind them, not being able to get a word out between the two that are seemingly so interested in each others presence. Pinkie looks around her surroundings to take in all the hard work the pony-folk have done. Her mind rehearses the beginning lines of her poem she'd written for Nonie, a poem she was so excited to share with him. "Spooky ghosts who's faces can send even the heartiest of ponies into fright, jack-o-lanterns crafted so marvelously with delight, skeletons, goblins galore! Oh do I know nightmare night can offer so much more!"
"Uh Pinkie? Pinkie?!" Pinkie twitches with the sudden touch of a hoof touching her side, parting focus at the vanilla shaded pony who's trying to garner her attention.
"We're here Pinks!" Anon tells her.
"'Pinks' 'Nonie'... You two sure are close huh?" Rose inquires suggestively, taking note of the cute nicknames the two friends have for each other.
"Well of course we're close we-"
"I-It's not like that!" Pinkie stands vulnerable yet defensive at Rose's accusation.
"Pinkie?" Anon looks to her at a loss.
A teasing giggle is heard from between them as Rose suavely matches her hoof to her mouth. "Oh you guys are too much! I was only joking! I know Pinkie isn't that type of gal anyways."
"What do you mean Rose?" Anon questions.
She giggles some more. "Not a thing, 'Nonie.'" She gives him a wink as she trots forward with a lighthearted prance. Anon looks at Pinkie and shrugs and then back to Rose as she's almost made her way inside the spooky house.
"Rose wait up!" He begins going after her. "Man she sure is fast isn't she Pinkie?... Pinkie?" He looks to his side, predicting to see his pink bubble right beside him, only to be blindsided by the air of nothingness that night brings. "Pinkie come on, Rose is already two steps ahead of us!"
Pinkie stands amongst the many ponies walking around and in front of her. Her hooves feel like steel and her mind tries to collect itself. "Oh it's no problem at all Anon, I'm not feeling very good on this one, I'll be sure to go to the next though!" She shares her carried over enthusiasm as Anon gives her a thumbs up and a nod before dashing towards his friend, not wanting the crowd to get too messy.
She watches as he runs away, excited and rejoiced to be acting in such fun activities. She watches him go, once again. She stands looking as if to not have a care in the world, looking like... she always does. "Maybe I'm not." Her mind plays around. "Maybe Rose is right; maybe you're not... 'that kind of girl'. No! That isn't true, she was just kidding! But words hurt you, don't they, Pie. No, you're lying, trying to make me feel... bad, or something, I don't know! But I'm right, you know it, I know it; you aren't the mare you think you are, you're comic relief, a quick gag here and there, some pony to be there only when someone else is feeling down. Besides that your purpose is nothing. It hurts doesn't it? Having friends who've never been there for you, never been there to help through tough situations, having friends who will never feel the same about you. What drives you Dianne? What makes you think he will ever-"
"Get out of my head!"
"..."
Echoes of foals and fillies laughing as they play with each other stop, ponies sharing the joy of one another, customers asking for what items they wish the carriers to give them; all cease. She looks around, frightened, confused at the eyes drawn on her. Panic ensues her being as she looks towards the haunted house.
"Oh my gosh that was sooo much fun!" Rose enforces through excited terror. "We have to tell Pinkie!" They look jovial at their friend whilst heading up to meet with her. Pinkie watches with a meek gaze as she makes contact with her two friends. She can't help but notice how happy they seem together. "Oh my gosh, Pinkie, you will not believe what we experienced in there it was soo crazy!"
"We can tell her on the way to the next attraction, come on you guys." Anon smiles as he motions them along. "You ready Pinkie?" She looks up at Anon with a hidden sorrow, trying to hide her expression.
"I uhm, am kind of feeling a little uh, under the weather."
"Oh no Pinkie, what's wrong?" Rose asks, concerned.
"Nothing really, or maybe there is, uhm-"
"Pinkie, you were excited about this day, it seemed to be the only thing you could talk about for weeks. C'mon let's head over to the next frightening set piece, we have a lot more to get to and this was just the tip of it!" Anon pronounces to her, trying so hard for her to stay.
Pinkie looks around at the ponies who're still looking at her; somehow Rose and Anon are oblivious, or at the very least, uninterested at the wandering eyes. "I know, I just have things to do, yeah things to do, exactly! I Uh, I'll talk to you guys later for sure though!" She tries desperately to put on a face, to show she's fine, it's already embarrassing enough having ponies stare at her this way, she doesn't want to act sappy too.
"Are you sure?" Anon asks her once more.
"Absolutely!" Pinkie cheers back. "This pink girl has some important work, so I shouldn't dilly-dally! See ya later!" Without another word she trots off; Rose and Anon stare bewildered at their friend as she becomes enveloped by the night, completely out of sight.
"This is my fault, isn't it?" Rose looks back to Anon, a sideways frown in clear view to him.
"Rose?"
"I should've let you two have time to yourselves, not butting in and such. Oh how naive could I be?" She scrunches her eyes out of frustration and puts a hoof to her forehead.
"You didn't do anything wrong Rose, Pinkie Pie is just tired is all." Anon tries to reassure her.
"No, that wasn't tiredness Anon." Rose says. "Tell me, did she ask for more ponies to come? I know you told me she would love it, but did she actually ask for more company?" She implores with one eyebrow raised, interrogating this tall human before her.
"Yeah, she did."
"She did?!" Rose sounds off, surprised.
"I mean she didn't ask me directly.." He trails off.
"Anon, what are you saying?" She goes back to detective mode.
"Well she told me last week that 'the girls weren't coming', or in layman's terms, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow-"
"What was her reason?" Rose asks, exaggerated.
"I don't know really."
"You mean you didn't bother to ask her!?"
"No, what I mean is, wait.... no, I didn't bother to ask her." Anon says in a way that makes him feel guilty, but why should he be? He didn't do anything wrong, so why be put on blast for something so minor such as this?
"Did she seem even a little bothered by this?" Rose continues questioning him for another five minutes, both of them are sat on the curb as she does so.
"No, she didn't. Rose, what's this all about?" He questions back.
"It's obvious." She rolls her eyes. "She wanted to spend time with you." Anon blinks a couple times. "You know, alone?"
"You mean...?"
"Yeah, I mean."
"No, not Pinkie! She's the type of pony who wants to spend the world with everyone, there's no way she'd just want to spend this day, of all days, together just me and her. Rose, you can't possibly think-"
"You guys even have nicknames for each other." Rose states, as if more proof she just wanted it to be the two of them. She exhales a soft sigh before standing back up. "I don't know what I think Anon, but I have known Pinkie longer then you have, and if there's one thing Pinkie will not do, it's run away from an exciting event. Maybe I'm over thinking it, maybe I'm not, but she cares about you, that's for sure."
Rose offers a hoof to help Anon stand back on his two legs, the two of them decide it's best they call it for this short night as they both seem to not be in the mood to do anything else. Anon waves a friendly goodbye as him and Rose exchange smiles before going there separate ways.
"She wanted to spend to with you.... alone. Maybe I'm over thinking it, but she cares about you, that's for sure." Her words sink into his mind as he starts to think a different way about Pinkie, thinking of a side, unlike one he's become accustomed too. He knows she cares about him, and he does to.
"She couldn't think that way about me, could she?"