//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Pinkie's Neverending Dream // by HikariAkai //------------------------------// It was a strangely quiet day in Ponyville, but Pinkie Pie barely noticed as she hopped down the road, full of endless, but steadily growing nervous, energy. Now where did those silly fillies go off to? Did they forget we had a party today? She had waited so long already; her mind racing with the possible reasons nopony had shown up, wondering if she had forgotten to send invitations. She couldn’t remember if she did, so she went looking for them, looking under baskets and mailboxes for her missing friends. They didn’t seem to be anywhere. She secretly hoped she had forgotten to send invitations, and that they would all laugh at how silly she was and then go to the party together. She was starting to lose hope. She had scoured every inch of Ponyville, but her friends didn’t seem to be anywhere. Growing steadily more frustrated, she continued to run circles around Ponyville, eyes twitching back and forth to try to catch them in her sight if they were hiding, smacking right into another pony. She hit the ground hard, and dazed, looked right up at Twilight’s hindquarters. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and all the others were there with her. Pinkie swore she had just looked there a hundred times, but thought nothing of it as she released a humongous sigh of relief and jumped in front of them. “Hey guys, where’ve you been? I’ve been looking all over for you! When no one showed up, I thought no one wanted to go, but that’s just crazy! We’re best friends right? You always want to go to my parties, right? Of course you do, everypony likes parties, you’d have to be crazy not to!” She jabbered on and on, while her friends stayed still. Pinkie suddenly realized that nopony had responded to her. They hadn’t even LOOKED at her yet. “He-LLLOOO! Can’t you hear me? I’m right here! ANYPONY HOME?!” She waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s face, but she didn’t even blink, and her mouth continued moving. Pinkie screamed in frustration. They were IGNORING her! How could they? She jumped up and down in front of them, grabbing their faces and staring right in their eyes, but they looked right through her, as if she didn’t exist. Something sparkled out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, Pinkie saw a gigantic mirror, with a crack perfectly dividing the mirror in two, right down the middle. Curious, she crept towards it, and took a long look at her reflection. It wasn’t there. No reflection, no Pinkie Pie. Just emptiness. Pinkie stared, incredulous. It didn’t make sense, even for her. She slowly lifted a hoof, and placed it against the mirror. No hoof moved in the mirror, but the mirror was shifting, a swirl of jumbled color slowly gaining cohesion, until something was looking back at her, something that was definitely not her. And it was moving closer and closer and… Pinkie Pie jolted awake, her chest heaving with every breath. Calming down, she took a look at the clock. It was past three. She groaned and pressed her face into the pillow. “Not again.” She mumbled. Would she ever get any sleep? Sighing, she got out of bed and stared out the window. She had had the same dream three nights in a row, but she still had no idea what they meant. She remembered someone telling her a long time ago that if you have the same dream more than once, that meant it was sure to come true. But that would mean her friends didn’t like her anymore… “Of course they like me silly!” she said out loud to no one in particular. “I thought I talked about this, I have to believe in my friends. If I don’t, I’ll lose them. And I’ll be all alone…forever…” This was the worst part of being awake in the middle of the night with no one to talk to but her own bad thoughts that kept popping up without her permission, little ghosties giggling maliciously at her inability to keep any friends. She giggled right back at them, trying to show them how ridiculous they were and hoping they’d go away. It didn’t work. Suddenly, a happy thought peeked in her head, lighting up her entire face and sweeping away the bad ones. She jumped out of bed, a plan formulating in her head, growing bigger the more she thought about it. I’ve gotta get started, she thought, biting down on a pencil, a surprise this big is going to need a lot of preparation. Mr. and Mrs. Cake woke up at the crack of dawn every morning to get Sugarcube Corner ready for the day. There were lots of delicious treats to bake before the rest of Ponyville woke up. They needed to be ready for their customers with the best they could offer, and nothing old or stale would do. Everything had to be fresh from the oven. However, they usually started by themselves. Pinkie Pie was not much of a morning pony. They joked that she needed extra-charging to be the Pinkie that everypony knew and loved, and let her sleep in. So they were shocked when they woke up to the smell of baked goods and found Pinkie in the kitchen, working on her fourth dozen set of muffins. She positively beamed when they walked in, and jumped at them. “Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Cake! You want some muffins? I made a whole bunch of them! Enough for everypony in Ponyville to have one!” She gasped suddenly. “I SHOULD! I’ll give every single pony a free muffin! It’ll make everypony so happy! What a great way to start a day! Don’t you think so, huh? Huh?” Mr. and Mrs. Cake silently gulped. Pinkie wasn’t exactly known to have the greatest sense of flavor. Giving every pony a muffin made by Pinkie Pie might shut down all of Ponyville for the rest of the day. Pinkie’s gigantic smile drooped just the teeniest bit. “Please have one, Mrs. Cake. I followed the recipe as closely as I could, and I didn’t put anything extra in them. I just know you’ll love it!” Mrs. Cake smiled back and took a muffin. “Oh, of course I’ll have one dearie. It’s so sweet of you to get up so early to make us these for us. It makes our morning go much faster” She took a bite, a bubble of warm blueberry flavor popped in her mouth, burning her tongue ever so slightly. “Oh my, Pinkie! These are simply wonderful!” Pinkie squealed, wrapping her hoofs tightly around her. “Oh thank you SO much! I worked so hard to make them, and I made so many mistakes, but I wanted to make the bestest muffins in the whole world for my most favoritest ponies in the whole world! You see, I was thinking about how there’s always such yummy treats made when I woke up, and that no one ever does that for you, and that made me so sad, so I got up and made lots and lots of treats! And yay, you liked them!” Mr. Cake glanced around the room, a trash can already overflowing with burnt goods, and the rows of cupcakes, carefully and delicately frosted and decorated with smiley faces, balloons and flowers. She had obviously been baking for hours. “Sweetie, how long have you been awake?” “Oh, how could I possibly sleep? I was just so unbelievably extremely excited about today; I couldn’t just sleep all morning and waste it! Today is gonna be the best day ever!” She bounced around the room, singing. Mr. and Mrs. Cake smiled. You could always expect a surprise from Pinkie Pie, that’s for sure. She must be planning something special for today. “Dearie, why don’t you take a break and eat some breakfast with us?” Mrs. Cake offered her a muffin. “You’ve worked so hard today, you deserve it.” Pinkie looked away for a split second, then grinned. “I’m not really hungry; I ate a whole bunch earlier. And I gotta deliver these muffins to my friends! See ya later, gotta go!” She shouted, racing out of the bakery in the blink of an eye. The Cakes chuckled over their silly young friend, and took another bite of muffin. Outside the bakery, Pinkie Pie was gagging in the bushes. The overly sweet smell in the kitchen burned her nostrils and made her stomach all twisted up like a swirly straw, even though she hadn’t eaten a thing all day. And it was way too sunny outside, which made her head hurt really bad. Pull yourself together, Pinkie Pie! You don’t get sick, that wouldn’t be fun at all! And a Pinkie who’s not fun isn’t a Pinkie at all! She pulled a notepad out of her bag, and turned to a page titled “BEST DAY EVER!” in giant multicolored letters on top. Pinkie made a few changes to the list, and now number one read “Bake muffins for ALL OF PONYVILLE!” Satisfied, she stood up shakily and put away the notebook. Today was going to be great, no matter what. Pinkie shivered as she trotted up to her first house. Pinkie had not expected it to be so cold today and cursed how quickly she raced out of the bakery without checking the weather. Still, she was determined to make it work. She pasted a huge grin on her face, cleared her throat, and rapidly knocked on the door. A lavender unicorn filly with blonde hair opened the door. “Oh, hi Miss Pinkie. Mommy just left for work. Whatcha want?” “Guess what day today is?” The little filly could not think of anything that would make today special. Pinkie giggled at her confusion. “Well of course you don’t know! It’s a surprise! But believe me, it’s gonna be a real doozy! Maybe even,” she paused for emphasis, “THE BEST DAY EVER!” She pulled out two muffins from her pack. “Here’s free fresh muffins from Sugarcube Corner for you and your mom!” The filly’s eyes lit up. “Thank you! They look so good, Mommy’s gonna love them! You’re the best neighbor ever Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie Pie felt familiar warmth inside, in spite of the cold weather. This made everything worth it, running around in the biting cold, the headaches, the nausea, it was all worth it, to see somepony else so happy about something she had made. “I gotta go sweetie! Still have lots of muffins to deliver before they all get cold.” She hopped to her next stop, rosy-cheeked and cheerful, the beginning of a happy song writing itself in her head. This was exactly what she needed to feel better. She had been going at it for several hours now, and was starting to get pretty tired. For some reason, maintaining her normal volume was becoming a huge chore, and her throat was getting all scratchy and weird sounding. But everypony was enjoying the muffins so much, and she was determined to deliver a muffin to every single citizen of Ponyville. She needed to hurry with the delivery though, there was still so much more to do to make today an extra-special day! “Next stop, Carousel Boutique!” Pinkie announced as she bounced inside the boutique. “Hello, and welcome to Carousel Boutique!” Rarity put on her customer service smile and voice, dropping it as soon as she saw Pinkie. “Oh dear! Pinkie, what have you been doing all day? You look absolutely chilled to the bone! Have you been running around in this weather with nothing on? You simply must come in and have some hot chocolate!” “No thanks Rarity!” Pinkie’s voice wheezed out awkwardly, “I’m just here to deliver some free muffins, and then I’ll be on my way! I’ve got too much to do today, and I’m already running behind.” “Pish posh! You’ll catch your death! I insist that you warm up and stay a while.” “Oh Rarity! You can’t catch death silly!” Rarity rolled her eyes, knowing perfectly well Pinkie knew what she meant. Pinkie smiled reassuringly. “I’ll be fine! Besides, have you ever seen me sick? Pinkie and sick doesn’t go together! You’ll get lots and lots of wrinkles if you keep worrying about silly things like that!” Rarity sighed, knowing full well that she couldn’t change Pinkie’s mind. “Promise me you will go home and rest once you’re done with all you need to do. I would hate so for you to get sick while you’re so busy." “I will Rarity. I’ll see ya later!” “Before you leave, take this.” Rarity wrapped a light blue scarf around Pinkie’s neck. “Oh my, that color is simply ravishing on you! But most importantly, it will keep you warm. Now hurry up, and get finished!” Pinkie pulled her into a hug. “Thanks a bundle!” she whispered hoarsely. Rarity patted her on the back, and sent her on her way. Maybe Rarity’s right, Pinkie thought, maybe I do need to take a break. Everypony’s been enjoying the muffins so much, maybe I can leave the rest for tomorrow. She shook her head vigorously. No, there’s still ponies that hadn’t gotten a muffin yet! If they don’t get one too, they’ll think I don’t like them anymore! Pinkie felt a sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought. She knew that leaving somepony out would completely ruin their friendship, forever. That was the last thing she wanted to happen. No, today is going to be everypony’s bestest day ever, and they’ll always be friends, and nopony was going to be left behind. She arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, hoping Applejack wasn’t already out apple bucking. As she knocked at the door, she noticed it was strangely loud inside. She could hear tons of little ponies inside, screaming and shouting, and the sound of something crashing. What’s going on in there? Pinkie wondered, as a very frazzled Applejack opened the door. “Howdy partner. Them muffins done already?” Pinkie gasped. “How did you know that I was bringing muffins? Did you use…” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “MAGIC?” Applejack gave her a very confused look. “Y’all see a horn on this here pony? I ordered breakfast from Sugarcube Corner an hour ago. Our oven broke, and it’s the Apple family reunion, so now we got all these hungry ponies, stuck inside because it’s so dang-nabbing COLD outside, and,” Something else crashed inside, and Applejack turned around suddenly, screaming “Y’ALL DON’T QUIT THAT NOW, AND YOU’LL BE SPENDIN’ THE NIGHT IN THE BARN!”, the volume of her voice making Pinkie jump nearly five feet in the air. Applejack turned back to her pink-maned friend, groaning. “I’ve got half-a-mind to tan Rainbow’s hide for not warning us about this weather! This reunion is a complete disaster! I don’t know how much more I can take!” “So, you’re going to be busy all day, huh?” Pinkie Pie was irritated with herself. How could she have forgotten that today was the Apple reunion? How was today going to be the best day ever if one of her friends was busy? “Darn-right. Sorry sugarcube, but we’re gonna need a lot more food than that. Three muffins ain’t gonna feed everypony here.” “Okay, I’ll head back to Sugarcube Corner and get the rest of your muffins!” Pinkie pulled out a grin so huge it hurt her face. “You’ll be swimming in muffins when I get back! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake-“ “Great! I’ll see you then Pinkie!” Applejack replied, distracted, slamming the door before Pinkie could finish the oath. Pinkie Pie raced back to Sugarcube Corner, the wind seeming to carrying her along as it picked up, growing more bitingly cold with each instance. Pinkie chose to ignore this as she raced along determinedly. What are you getting all mopey about? Applejack’s party is about to be ruined, and as the master of parties, I can’t let a single party get ruined! A party that’s not fun isn’t a party at all! The cogs in her head were turning quickly, ideas about how to make the Apple reunion the most spectacular reunion they’d ever see. Fireworks! The hugest bonfire ever! A dance party, ON THE MOON! It was going to be- WHACK! Pinkie crashed right into a tree. Pulling away, she shook her head quickly, trying to clear her swirly and blurry vision. Where was the path? She stumbled around; trying to find it, but everything looked the same. The wind had started to blow furiously, carrying with it little blades of ice, stinging her face and eyes and covering the ground with white, making finding the path now impossible. But Pinkie Pie was set on finding her way back to Sugarcube Corner, a combination of blind panic and single-minded determinism. She wasn’t going to let this party get ruined, not if she could help it, and she continued walking, the wind whipping her hair around and smacking her in the face over and over, praying she was walking in the right direction. She stumbled over her hooves, and tumbled down a hill, getting battered and bruised in the process, and coming to a rest at the end. She was at her end; chilled all the way through, exhausted, her body a throbbing mass of pain, she allowed her grateful eyelids to shut, despite the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that sleeping was the worst thing she could do right now. And everything went black.