Pinkie shrieked in terror and threw the rattle away from her. The rattle hit the wall and shattered into pieces, scattering beads and plastic about the room. Pinkie's chest began to heave uncontrollably, she felt as if she was going to be sick. Where did the rattle come from? She didn't have one in her room to grab late in the night. It couldn't have just manifested itself into her hoof from her nightmare, could it? She finally calmed her nerves enough to where she didn't feel like vomiting, so she got out of bed and went over to investigate what was left of the rattle. Maybe it was her imagination, maybe it wasn't there. She could have been seeing things, she just thought it was a rattle because of the nightmare. As she walked around her bed, her heart sank. There in the corner was the pieces of the pink baby rattle. Frankly, she didn't know why it was so startling and unnerving. Maybe it was because a rattle was the thing she was holding in her nightmare. A thought popped into Pinkies head, maybe the Cakes left the rattle in her hoof to show that they had come home early. It seemed far fetched considering the Southwestern Bake Off was never cut short, rain or shine. There was no reason for them to even consider leaving early, she guessed she was just telling her self this so she wouldn't have to accept the fact that the rattle appeared out of nowhere. She picked up the pieces of the rattle and threw them in the trash before heading downstairs to the shop.
"Yep, just as I figured," Pinkie said to herself with a sigh, "empty."
She was worried, maybe she was losing her mind. Maybe she had the rattle all along but just forgot about it.
"Ponies always said you would lose your mind," Pinkie told herself, "Look at you, talking to yourself. You have gone crazy."
Pinkie walked out the shop door and breathed in deep, after the start she had received this morning, she didn't feel like opening the shop up today. She needed a break, a chance to get some fresh air. She locked the shop behind her and went for a stroll around Ponyville. As she walked she could feel her troubles melting away. She breathed in deep and let a smile spread across her face. Maybe she was right, all she needed was a little fresh air. She entered the residential district and found something odd. She didn't see any pony around. She glanced up at the town clock and noticed it was about one. Meaning most ponies were probably in the market district shopping. She began trotting in that direction, with just a hint of pep in her step, She was feeling pretty good. The sun shone down, the bright blue sky hung overhead with not a cloud in the sky. Birds chirped and she felt as if everything was finally at peace. She breathed in deep once more and began hopping, she hadn't felt this good in a long time.
As she hopped into the market district, the streets were full of hustle and bustle of ponies buying goods, conversing or selling their wares. Pinkies smile grew larger, seeing all these ponies just brought back her old Pinkie self. As she walked past the stalls she said hello and waved at every pony she passed. As Pinkie looked about the stalls and carts she noticed all of the smiling faces and heard everypony talking and laughing. She had completely forgotten about her nightmares. She continued down the street and came to a stall selling flour and other ingredients for baking.
"I am almost out of flour," Pinkie said to herself.
Pinkie stepped into line and began humming to herself. She was feeling so good that she may go back and open up the shop.
A good five minutes later and it was Pinkies turn.
"Next," the clerk said.
Pinkie stepped forward, "Hi, can I get a small bag of..."
"Next," the clerk cut her off.
Pinkie looked at her confused, she glanced around, "yes, can I get a small bag of flour?"
The clerk just stood there, "Sir, could you please step forward. You're holding up the line."
Pinkie noticed she was looking past her, she turned around to see Doctor Hooves in a conversation with Lyra. She turned back to the clerk, "But I was in front of him.:
Yet again she just stood there, "Sir! Could you please step forward."
Finally, Lyra pointed Doctor Hooves to the clerk. Pinkie stepped out of line and let the doctor approach the counter.
Pinkie was baffled, she turned around and noticed Minuette. She walked over to her, "Did you see that? She completely ignored me."
Minuette stood there continuing to converse with the pony next to her.
"Um, Minuette," Pinkie said raising her tone, "Why is everypony ignoring me?"
She waved her hoof in front of her face, Minuette didn't even flinch.
"What the heck is going on here?" Pinkie said, her worrying feelings returning back to her, "Is this some sort of joke?"
Pinkie looked around, no one was paying any mind to her.
"Okay guys, this isn't funny!" Pinkie shouted, no one turned in her direction. She walked next to Minuette and put her hoof on her shoulder, she didn't seem to notice, it was as if she wasn't there. Pinkies chest began to heave again, this time she was sure she was going to be sick. She gagged and ran off behind one of the stalls to vomit. Once finished, she wiped her mouth and began to walk back to Sugar Cube Corner. Her fears were now confirmed, something was seriously wrong. Everything was indicating such, the reoccurring nightmares, Twilight's strange behavior yesterday, and now this. A knot was growing in the pit of her stomach. Whatever was happening she couldn't even begin to figure it out. As she rounded a corner she could see Sugar Cube Corner in the distance, and what she saw made the knot in her stomach grow larger. Sugar Cube Corner appeared to be in shambles, but not like somepony had ransacked the place, but as if it had been abandoned for many years. Pinkie sped off toward the bakery and came to a halt at the door. All the windows and doors were boarded up and a letter was nailed to the doorjam. Pinkie approached the letter and it read: "FORECLOSED DUE TO ABANDONMENT BY OWNER." Pinkie stepped back with a look of utter horror on her face.
"No, no," Pinkie stammered, "this can't be, I was just here this morning, it was in complete repair then. How could this be?"
Pinkies entire sense of reality was slowly falling around her. Had she truly lost her mind, was she even really here. She reached up and grabbed her head. Letting out a primal yell full of sobbing and anger. She didn't know what to do, so she just laid down and buried her head in her hooves and began to sob uncontrollably. She cried for what she felt was like hours, she cried well past the point of tears. All that she had left were sobs and sighs of anguish. Finally, a flickering and a slight crumbling noise caught her attention and as she raised her she noticed what it was. Sugar Cube Corner was now set ablaze, but not just the shop. The sky appeared to be on fire as well, and as it melted away, nothing but emptiness was left in it's place; pure darkness. Pinkie let out blood curdling scream of complete terror. She furiously glanced around for anypony coming to help. But they all appeared oblivious to the fire. Nothing but the skeleton of the bakery was left and nearly all of the sky was engulfed in emptiness.
"Somepony help!" Pinkie screamed, "Please, call the fire department or something!"
No one payed her any attention. Pinkie saw Octavia walking by, she ran over and placed a hoof on her shoulder to stop her. But as she did, Octavia collapsed into a pile of ash and blew away.
"AHHHH!" Pinkie shrieked, clambering backwards.
To her horror, all the ponies stopped in there place and collapsed int.o piles of ash. Pinkie began to hyperventilate.
"What the heck is going on!" she screeched, tears of terror poured down her face.
The emptiness had nearly engulfed everything, the only area untouched was the spot Pinkie was standing on and the smoldering remains of Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie looked around at the blackness in fear, she had no idea what was happening, why it was happening, or what she could do. So, she just stood there and excepted the inevitable, she was soon engulfed by the encroaching emptiness and she felt herself begin to fall, just like in her nightmare, except this time there was nothing to slow her dissent. If the ground was quickly approaching, she wouldn't be able to see it. She closed her eyes and shortly after felt herself come to a complete halt. When she opened her eyes she was crawling through light, continuing where her nightmare left off. She realized she still had the rattle clutched tightly in her left hoof and pulling herself through with her right hoof. Her hooves were still badly injured and with each tug she could feel skin being ripped from her leg, but with each tug she could also see the light dim and an entrance or exit approach. She continued to crawl onward, and just as the pain was nearly to much to bear she reached a doorway. She released the rattle and attempted to stand up. As she put pressure on her hooves a crippling pain shot through her body. But, she just had to grin and bear it. She had to figure out why she was being put through this torture and she had a feeling the answer was on the other side of this door. She turned the knob and pushed the door open. A bright light poured from the other side, she turned her head until it dimmed down. When she looked back she was surprised to see it was the shop of Sugar Cube Corner, and across at the counter was her and the Cake twins latched to her ankles. She immediately knew what this was, it was her memory of the accident.