Pinkie Pie walked back to Sugarcube Corner after Fluttershy's funeral, with no miniscule amount of her usual bounce and cheer left. Her mane and tail hung straight instead of taking on their usual fluffy style, and no laughter glittered in her eyes, no smile was plastered on her lips.
Fluttershy's death had crushed Pinkie's spirit. Despite Fluttershy's plea in her letter that Pinkie not let bereavement stop her smiling, Pinkie just couldn't force her face into even a small smile, let alone the toothy grin which was more often than not spread over her features. Pinkie trotted back into the kitchen at Sugarcube Corner and began to pour sugar into a mixing bowl on the side. After emptying the full kilo of sugar into the bag, Pinkie followed it with a whole bottle of vanilla extract, a full 5 kilograms of flour, and was about to empty a whole pot of baking soda into the mix when Mr and Mrs Cake trotted in. As Mrs Cake went upstairs to check on the twins, Mr Cake cast a quick glance at the contents of the bowl and said tentatively,
"Pinkie?"
Pinkie mutely turned to look at him.
"Pinkie, I think you added too much flour... and sugar... and vanilla."
Pinkie shrugged and dumped the baking soda into the bowl before reaching for a bowl of chocolate chips to her right. Mr Cake blocked her hoof firmly.
"Pinkie, you're obviously too distracted to work today, why don't you take a few days off?"
Pinkie shook her head, pushing his hoof out of the way to grab the bowl, emptying the chocolate chips into the bowl before cracking twelve eggs one by one, ignoring the bits of shell which fell into the bowl. Mr Cake watched her pile ingredients into the bowl before going to throw the bags, pots and tubs away.
He came back into the kitchen just as Pinkie attacked the pile of ingredients with an electric mixer on full power. "NO!" shrieked Mr Cake, but too late; flour, icing sugar and baking soda flew everywhere, followed by the eggs; and then there was a bang and some smoke as the whisk became jammed, a large, very solid block of butter wedged firmly in the spinning whisks.
Mr Cake ordered Pinkie to take a few weeks off, and she walked through town feeling very miserable. She went home, curled up and fell asleep. For two weeks she moved around in a daze, eating and sleeping when the need took her. Other than that, she just lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling, something her old self could not have done for more than 10 seconds, but now she was content- well, not content, for she felt very little these days- but she had no aversion to lying there for hours on end.
On one of Pinkie's rare trips into town for food, Twilight saw Pinkie walking past from the library window, and called to her. "Pinkie!"
Pinkie trained her blue gaze on the lavender unicorn. "What do you want, Twilight?"
Twilight, though slightly unnerved by Pinkie's tone and appearance, beckoned the pink pony. "Come in!"
Pinkie pushed the door open and Pinkie saw that Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were there too. Her heart took another hit from Fluttershy's absence, and she lowered her head.
Applejack patted Pinkie's back. "Now, sugarcube, we're all sad 'bout Fluttershy, but you cain't let the fact she ain't 'ere no more drag you down."
Rarity nodded. "You can't walk around constantly grieving. That's not what dear Fluttershy would have wanted, is it?"
Twilight looked into Pinkie's eyes. "Don't you remember what Fluttershy wrote in her letter? She didn't want you to-"
"I KNOW!" screeched Pinkie. "She didn't want me to stop smiling! But friends- you four, and Fluttershy- are the most important things in my life, so I can't be happy when one of them isn't here!"
Rainbow sighed in exasperation. "Pinkie, Fluttershy's gone, okay? She's dead, and there's nothing we can do to bring her- mfff!"
Applejack had shoved a hoof in Rainbow's mouth, but the damage had already been done.
"NO!" screamed Pinkie; her irises shrunk to a miniscule size and a savage snarl shaped her features; she looked quite mad. "SHE'S NOT GONE! She can't be dead... not when she's... right here...". Pinkie placed a pink hoof over her heart. "But I can see you have all just forgotten her. 'The second she's in the ground, let's all pretend SHE NEVER EXISTED.'?!" Pinkie's voice rose until it reached fever pitch in her fury.
Tears glistened in Twilight's lilac eyes. "Pinkie, you know we'd never-"
Pinkie turned on Twilight, her eyes wide. With an insane giggle, she hissed, "Or maybe you cast a spell to make them forget! Yes, the oh-so-clever Element of Magic could have done-"
Rainbow threw herself in front of Pinkie. "You're crazy! We haven't forgotten Fluttershy, and we never will!"
Pinkie stared at the blue pegasus for a few seconds, suddenly shuddered, then her eyes went back to normal, her expression turned to horrified confusion, and then her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted.
Pinkie woke up lying on Twilight's bed, her four friends standing over her with worried expressions. The memories of what she had done came rushing back to Pinkie and she began to cry harsh, broken tears.
"Now, now, darling, it's okay."
"Yeah, Pinkie, you didn't mean it."
"Ah understand why ya did it; ah was angry at first."
Twilight gazed sadly at Pinkie. "We'd never forget Fluttershy, Pinkie."
Pinkie sat up and got off the bed. For a moment she was dizzy, and remembered that she hadn't eaten since the day before. But strangely, she didn't feel at all hungry. Pinkie began to trot towards the stairs.
"Pinkie, where are you going?" said Twilight.
"Home." said Pinkie vaguely. "For... sleep. Yeah, sleep."
The other four exchanged glances, and then Twilight said, "Okay, then. Remember, we're all here if you want to talk to us."
Pinkie nodded in a glazed sort of way, before trotting home. Once there, she went to her bedroom and fell asleep.
She woke to darkness outside. Her stomach growled, and she hefted herself up off the bed, descending to the kitchen. But though she stared at the cookie she got out of her cupboard, she just couldn't work up the appetite to eat a single bite. She climbed back up to bed.
In the morning, she woke up to pain in her stomach. She dragged herself out of bed, using almost every scrap of energy she had. Rising onto her hooves, she swayed as she stared at herself in the mirror. Her body, so used to being constantly crammed with sugary treats, was suffering even from just two days of only water. Her ribs showed beneath her pink coat, her cheeks were concave, her legs skinny and face gaunt. Yet still she was not hungry. Pinkie took one step and her legs gave way. Unable to get back on her hooves, she sunk into unconsciousness.
She woke once more to horrible pain and skeletal limbs, before she passed graciously into death.