Twilight sighs and stares heavily across the table. Mrs. Cake only sighs back, gently rocking a sleeping Pumpkin Cake in the crook of her foreleg.
The bakery closed a bit early today, and Mr. Cake is off on a delivery. Soft sunlight filters through the open windows, and brings in the distant cheerful screams of children at recess; a warm sweet wind curls around empty tables and chairs, some of them still dirty and covered in crumbs. Usually Pinkie Pie would be bouncing about, sugary drinks and pastries balanced on her flank while she stocks the cake display. But now... if somepony were to listen hard enough, they'd be able to hear her snoring upstairs.
Twilight doesn't think she's ever seen Sugarcube Corner this empty before. Or this quiet.
She sighs again.
Mrs. Cake grimaces and fitfully taps the table with a hoof. The noise echos through the whole room.
"Well, deary? How is Pinkie?"
Twilight smiles just a little, but then it's gone again. "For right now I think she's fine. She's asleep, at least, and she seemed pretty calm and stable before I left the room."
There's a pause. Mrs. Cake gives her a sour smile and waves her free hoof in the air. "But...?"
"That's just the thing," Twilight mutters, rubbing her aching temple and staring at the table. "I'm not entirely sure. I've been monitoring Pinkie's progress for a while now, taking notes, scouring the books in the Royal Library. At first I thought her symptoms might indicate some sort of magical backlash, possibly from our use of the Elements, or maybe with just how much Pinkie pushes her magic every day. When that fell through I looked through curses, enchantments that could have been held in any type of object she comes in contact with daily, and even whether it was just Pinkie's body... being stressed out."
Twilight pauses but doesn't give Mrs. Cake a chance to ask questions; that should come... after all of this.
"And then... when it seemed obvious that it wasn't anything magical, or even physical... I thought to actually ask Pinkie how long this has been happening to her. She..."
Twilight stops again; she wrings her hooves together atop the table, flicks her tail limply on her chair, and struggles to keep her plumage from fluffing out too much. After breathing deep and rubbing her tired eyes, she looks up to Mrs. Cake. The older mare is concerned now, and is biting her bottom lip. Twilight doesn't know if that makes her feel better or worse.
Outside, there's the faint toll of the school bell.
"Pinkie Pie asked me to promise not to tell anypony, but I refused... and eventually she let me tell you, Mrs. Cake. And only you, for right now."
Mrs. Cake gasps and gently folds her hoof over Twilight's. "My! Whatever could be wrong that Pinkie wouldn't want to tell her friends?"
"She told me that she's been dealing with these symptoms... well, for as long as she can remember. Since she was a little filly, she thinks. Only now, they've only been gradually getting worse and worse over-- o-over the course of years," Twilight whinnies. "That certainly rules out magical influence as far as I know of... and that also complicates things."
Twilight stands up from her place at the table, and her chair clatters back against the linoleum. "I... I don't think I can help Pinkie Pie anymore than I already have, Mrs. Cake. At least, not in the way that you probably want me to. After studying her symptoms one last time and weighing them against textbooks in the castle, I think I might know what's wrong with her... but I'm not sure. I can't be sure! And even if I was, I don't think I would know how to help her, and I'm certain I'm not qualified, even if I am a Princess."
Twilight's body sags. She sighs, and sends a tired smile to Mrs. Cake and the stirring baby in her forelegs. Her eyes firm and her smile trying its best to be soft, Twilight pulls a list out of the saddlebag on her back. The scroll is covered in Spike's handwriting: names, addresses, and methods of contact.
"I haven't talked to Pinkie about this yet; what with her being asleep and being so stressed. And I plan to! But with her reluctance to speak to me about her symptoms, and how torn up she seemed earlier, I thought it would go better if she had another loving friend to talk to her about it," Twilight says. "Pinkie Pie is going to be fine. But it's imperative that she seeks help from a mental health professional."