//------------------------------// // Focus (8/27/2016) // Story: A Pony a Day // by OfTheIronwilled //------------------------------// Pinkie stops dead in the air. Half-way through her jump she just falls back down, heavy as a rock. Her smile lessens. Her eyes widen and gloss over. Usually Pinkie Pie is always thinking about things -- she means yeah, of course she is! She has so many fun things to prepare for, after all. There are birthday parties and welcome parties and goodbye parties, plus she has to talk to all of her friends everyday and let them know just how important they are, plus she needs to remember to feed Gummy so that naughty little reptile guy doesn't nibble on the Cakes' nice curtains. Superplus she has to play with the twins, and feed them, and change nasty diapers, and give them stuff to chew on. Specifically those cute little plastic ring thingies she chills in the refrigerator. So when her mind goes blank, she knows it's bad. Her Pinkie Sense doesn't even go off, because it doesn't need to. She can already feel it. She's a little wrong, a little off. But... but this isn't too bad... It only takes a few seconds for it to really start. Everything is too quiet. She's seeing and feeling the things around her, but she can't really see or feel. She tries to think but she can't. Her eyes feel too big inside her head, her body goes heavy, and she-- "Oh no," she hears herself say. Because she-- she's doing it again it's happening again, it's-- No! No, silly filly, she just has to list things around her like Twilight told her to! She flicks her eyes around the kitchen with a smile. There are bowls on the counter. There are spoons too. The counters are pink, and the floors are white. She smells cake. It doesn't help. Somewhere, someplace, Pinkie Pie starts to shake but-- but she doesn't want to, she just wants to bake those cupcakes and smile and sing a song-- b-but she also doesn't want to?! She should a-and she needs to and she would like to but she can't, it's all too heavy, her hooves don't feel like they're her own, she feels like she's in somepony else's body and the world feels wrong and-- She wants to lift her hoof. Pinkie Pie wants to lift her hoof. She thinks that to herself, and her body does it, and it doesn't feel real. But it happens, and she lifts a hoof to her neck where her pulse is. It's fast. Way too fast. Pinkie thinks she's breathing hard; her chest is heaving, and her lungs hurt, and her visions getting those funny splotches in it. But it feels... muted... far away... Pinkie Pie whimpers, she thinks. And it must have been loud, because her body watches Mrs. Cake walk around the corner. "Pinkie, dear, is everything okay in here?" Pinkie's body slowly shakes it's head, and her face smiles (Keep your head up, Pinkie; remember what Granny Pie used to say!) but stays silent. "Oh my, Pinkie. It's happening again, isn't it? Now don't you worry; I'll run on down to get the Princess as fast as I can," Mrs. Cake says. She grab's Pinkie's hoof, and gently pushes Pinkie's body to the floor. Her eyes blink. "You just lay hear and relax, alright honeybunch?" "Okay, Mrs. Cake," her mouth says. "Thanks a whole bunch!" Mrs. Cake frowns, mewls something soft and concerned, and pecks Pinkie on the forehead, before she rushes out to the front of the store. And then Pinkie is alone. Like Mrs. Cake was never even there. Maybe she wasn't and none of that was real? Maybe Pinkie isn't even here? Her friends always do say that she has a wild imagination... She... sh-she doesn't know for sure, a-and... It's okay, something tells her, somewhere. Twilight will get here soon, and she'll have you up and baking again lickety split! "Oh, you're right," Pinkie answers, smiling. "I can always depend on Twilight!" The world is silent. Pinkie blinks. Nopony is here. Nopony was there to tell her that. It feels like she's dreaming, but she doesn't know. It feels like she's going crazy, but she doesn't know. Pinkie's body puts its head in its hooves, and shuts its eyes.