Pinkie had always been the center of attention. There were always at least one hundred ponies at every party that she hosted, because everypony in Ponyville knew her. If somepony was sad, Pinkie would always be around to cheer them up. But the thing was, Pinkie couldn't cheer herself up.
"Hey, mare friends!" Pinkie began, talking to all of her friends who we gathered in Sugarcube Corner. "Guess who's birthday it is?" She left no time for the mane six to answer. "Gummy's!"
"Oh, congrats! Tell Gummy I said 'Happy Birthday'," said Twilight.
"So, what are you telling us for?" Rainbow Dash grumbled.
Pinkie answered, "I'm inviting you to his party, silly filly! It's here at twelve."
"Oh, why thank you Pinkie," said Fluttershy. "I will make sure to come. I'll bring Angel, too. That is, if you don't mind his coming."
"Oh, of course I don't mind. The more, the mare-iry, I always say. Ha!" Pinkie laughed.
"Wait, didn't you have a party for him just yesterday?" asked Rarity.
"Oh, I didn't invite you to that one because it was just a pre-birthday party. We were practicing for the real party."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Pinkie Pie, you are like so weird."
"Uh, Pinkie? What exactly do ya git fer a toothless crocodile?" inquired AppleJack.
"You know, some toys. He especially likes squeeky toys."
After Pinkie's friends left, Pinkie decided to go out to get some fresh air. Shortly thereafter, she met Trixie.
"Heya there, Trixie!" greets Pinkie.
"Oh, hello Pinkie," says Trixie unenthusiastically.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing," Trixie mumbled. "It's just that, I am never going to be famous. The Great and Powerful Trixie is not the Great and Influential Trixie that she wants to be."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Can I help?" she said, worried for the sad little unicorn who just wanted to be recognized.
"No, there's nothing you can do. You throw parties, and everypony loves you. I do magic, and all anypony does is hate me. I just don't understand," Trixie sniffled.
"Do you want to come to Gummy's party tomorrow?" she offered.
"Really? You're inviting me? I tried to banish Twilight from Ponyville, and you want me to come to your party? Why would you be so nice?" Trixie barraged Pinkie with questions.
"Please come, Trixie," Pinkie pleaded.
"What time is the party?"
"Noon. You can bring a gift, but you don't have to."
Trixie waved good-bye to her new friend, and Pinkie watched her with a smile on her face. She had done a good deed.
The next day, Pinkie spent her morning decorating Sugarcube Corner. At the front of the store was a big sign that read, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GUMMY!" in all caps. Pinkie thought the capital letters would make it much more noticeable, as if it wasn't already.
"Good morning, Ponyville!" she shouted to everypony. Some waved, some guided their foals away from the scene.
After Pinkie finished decorating, she could hardly stand to wait until noon. First, she twiddled her hooves and twirled her hair, then she made an extra batch of cupcakes for the party, just in case somepony got extra hungry. Plus, she had invited an extra pony, Trixie.
When noon finally arrived, she stood right in front of the Sugar Cube Corner entrance. By five minutes past noon, all the ponies she had invited were there. Except Trixie. She waited, and waited. After fifteen more minutes, Trixie showed up, with her head hung low, almost between her front hooves.
"Aw, cheer up!" Pinkie said to Trixie. "It's a party after all!"
Trixie didn't say anything. She just walked into the store. I wonder why she still seems so down? Pinkie thought. She shrugged it off, then went inside.
"Okay, everypony! Are you ready to par-tay?" she yelled.
"Yeah, we're ready!" everypony shouted back in unison, as if they were reading a script from a play.
"Okay," she began. "Let's play Gummy's favorite game first, limbo."
Mr. and Mrs. Cake brought in the limbo bar and set it on two stand on the top slot. Mr. Cake turned on the stereo. It started playing Pinkie-inspired music. Everypony formed a line. Except Trixie. Worried, Pinkie Pie walked over to Trixie.
"What's the matter?" Pinkie asked.
"Them." Trixie pointed to a group of beautiful young mares. Pinkie could hear them whispering amongst themselves.
"Who invited her?" said the pink pegasus.
"Ew, I don't know. She's such a liar and no pony is even friends with her," said the light blue pony.
"She's probably going to try to show off again, even though she can't do magic to save her life," said the gray unicorn.
Trixie head hung to the ground, as she slunk off into a corner, all by herself.
"C'mon, Trix! Don't let that get to you," Pinkie urged.
"No, Pinkie. Whatever I do, wherever I go, I am always going to be made fun of. It's because you held this stupid party. I shouldn't have come at all. I'm going home!" Trixie yelled, then ran out of the building. Alarmed, Pinkie raced out after her.
"Trixie! Trixie!" she called. "I need to talk to you!"
Trixie just kept running as fast as she could. Pinkie could tell that Trixie's lungs couldn't take the stress much longer, so she slowed down to a trot. Trixie dashed behind a tree to catch her breath, and Pinkie followed her behind it.
"Just leave me alone. You don't even like me," Trixie whined.
"Why would you say that? Of course I like you!" Pinkie insisted.
"Nopony else likes me though. You heard them! Nopony would even approach me, let alone talk to me. I am the Wimpy and Misfit Trixie."
"Pinkie wrapped her legs around Trixie's shoulders. "Don't say that."
Trixie pulled away. Unexpectedly, she shouted, "Just leave me alone! It's all your fault anyway! You just have too much pride in yourself and your little parties. Nopony cares, Pinkie. Nopony. Not about me, or you. We don't matter, okay? So just go away and stop trying to be the hero." Trixie ran away again. Pinkie didn't dare to follow this time.
Pinkie just sat there for a few minutes, trying to hold back her tears. It's all your fault anyway! The words echoed in Pinkie head. She believed those desperate words from that voice full of misery. Nopony cares, Pinkie. Maybe they just came to her parties to be nice. Maybe they actually hated Pinkie. Maybe she did take too much pride in her parties. Maybe...
Tears rolled down her face, and plopped down onto her hooves. Wiping her face, she galloped back to Sugarcube Corner. She walked in, a wreck.
"Everypony," she yelled, trying to steady her voice. "The party's over."
The music stopped. Everypony sat there, looking confused, thinking she was losing her mind. The first pony walked out the door, and soon afterwards the building emptied out. Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake go to Pinkie and surround her in hugs when they see her sobbing.
"What in Equestria happened?" asked Mrs. Cake.
Mr. Cake hooved the tissue box over to Pinkie, and she quickly snatched up a tissue and blew her nose into it. She breathed in deeply, and said, "I'm not having parties anymore."
The Cakes looked at each other in astonishment and confusion. Turning his head back to Pinkie, Mr. Cake asked, "Whatever do you mean?"
"Just what I said." Pinkie freed herself from their hooves and trudged to her bedroom. She slammed the door behind her.
If I stop having parties, nopony gets hurt. Nopony has to cry anymore. Nopony will blame me. she thought. She looked at her self in her bedroom mirror and immediately saw her flattened hair. Sighing, she walked into the bathroom and prepared to curl her hair. She didn't want her friends to worry about her, after all.
She suffered through the rest of the day, trying to keep a smile on her face. Despite her efforts, Mr. and Mrs. Cake knew something was up. But they decided to leave Pinkie alone, thinking that she was just going through an episode. They made sure, however, to give her lots of sugar. She passed up on a lot that the couple offered her. At eight pm, Pinkie went to bed. The sight of the moon through her window reminded her of Luna's loneliness for all those years, and the tears gushed out that she had held in all afternoon.
Pinkie's routine from that day on consisted of waking up wearily from her bad night's sleep, curling her straight, pink hair, making cupcakes that didn't taste good to her anymore, and walking through Equestrian fields and meadows. The fields seemed to stretch on and on, as well as her depression.
Ponyville didn't seem exciting at all without partying. It was just like any other town in Equestria, where the residents just lived to survive, and nothing else.
After a few months, Pinkie had given up on living. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen, walked into her bedroom, and slit her throat. With blood squirting out, she fell down to the floor and screamed. The Cakes hurried to her room, terrified. Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw.
They raced Pinkie to the hospital, Mr. Cake carrying her on his back, and Mrs. Cake putting pressure on her neck. In the ER, they sewed her up. Pinkie had long since passed out from blood loss, and all the Cakes could do was hope that she would wake up.
Nobody cares, Pinkie. Not about me, and especially not about you. Die already, die!
We love you, Pinkie.
Pinkie! Pinkie!
Look, she's opening her eyes.
Pinkie woke up staring at the blinding white ceiling of the hospital. "Where am I?" she asked.
"Look, nurse, look! She's waking up!" hollered Twilight.
Nurse Redheart ran in when she heard Twilight's cry of joy and relief. She confirmed Pinkie's state of consciousness, then congratulated Twilight on her friend's recovery. She then left the two alone to talk.
"So, what happened exactly?" asked Twilight.
Pinkie blinked and stared. "I can't remember. I don't know why," she lied. She didn't want to make her friend be any more worried than she already was.
Pinkie thought she saw a tear stream down Twilight's face. "I guess that's expected. The doctor said you might not remember anything for a while. I think it's a defense mechanism."
All of a sudden, Pinkie jumped up and hugged Twilight, pressing her muzzle into her mane. "Oh, Twilight," she said through the mane muffling her voice, "I don't know what happened, but I'm so glad you're here."
Twilight felt her mane dampen with snot and tears. She embraced Pinkie, and patted her back. "There, there," she assured Pinkie, "Everything will be alright now."
Mr. and Mrs. Cake peeked around the corner to Pinkie's hospital room. Pinkie saw Mrs. Cake holding out a pink and white, extravagantly decorated, delicious, sweet, and sugary cupcake. Suddenly, Pinkie stoped crying and her hair fluffed up.
"Cupcake!" she screamed. "Yay!" She leapt over Twilight and ate the cupcake out of Mrs. Cake's outstrectched hoof.
"Goodness, Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake said.
That one cupcake, a symbol of celebration, partying, and enjoyment made Pinkie remember her purpose in life: throwing parties. She hadn't thrown a party in so long that she forgot why she threw parties in the first place. Celebration made her happy. Without her parties, Ponyville had become a solely a place of work and study.
"Citizens of Ponyville!" called Mayor Mare at the center of Ponyville. "I have an important announcement." She waited a couple minutes for everypony to gather around. "I have Pinkie Pie here to tell you all something." She nods, cuing Pinkie to step up to the podium.
"Um, hello everypony. From this day on, I Pinkie Promise to not stop throwing parties ever again."
Everypony in the crowd looked at each other, shortly followed by loud cheering. The excitement of the crowd was a triumph for Pinkie Pie. But she was not the only pony who gained something that day. All of Pinkie's best friends were so glad to finally have Pinkie's normal self back. Pinkie though she had hidden her depression well under her poofy hair, but true friends can tell when a pony's down.
Pinkie didn't even have to go to a therapist. All she had to do was turn to her friends for support. She was so lost in her depression before her attempted suicide that she forgot what friends were for.
Though the doctors at the hospital had saved her life, her friends kept her living.