Pinkie yawned as she flipped the sign on the Sugarcube Corner’s door from open to closed. It had been a particularly long day for her with two birthday parties and a cute-ceañera all back to back.
Simply organizing one party to go off without a hitch was hard enough for most ponies, doing three of them in a day was something that only the pink party pony herself could do.
But that didn’t come without its toll. She was physically exhausted, although probably more so from the sheer amount of sugar she consumed than anything else. For the first time in what might have been years, Pinkie went up to her room and collapsed on her bed, falling asleep the second her head hit the pillow.
“Huh?”
Pinkie looked around her. She was back in the main dining area of the Sugarcube Corner. By the looks of the sun through the windows, it was around noon time. While the building would normally be packed for the lunch rush, it was devoid of any signs of life. Not even the Cakes seemed to be around.
“Hellooooooooo?” Pinkie called out as she trotted around the building.
Nothing. Not even a cupcake waiting to be frosted.
“Wow, I’ve never seen this place so empty before,” she mumbled to herself. “There’s only one cure for this, and that’s a PARTY!”
And with that, she was now standing in the middle of the biggest party that she had ever thrown. It was so big in fact, that not only was every single pony from Ponyville there, but there were ponies from all of the surrounding towns as well, some from as far away as Canterlot. Even Celestia and Luna had showed up.
And everypony was having a great time. Nopony was crowded despite the fact the entire population of Ponyville and more had squeezed into the Sugarcube Corner. There were more streamers and balloons and confetti hanging from the ceiling and walls than Pinkie had ever thought was possible. And not only did they hang, but they were endless too! No matter how many balloons were accidently popped, or streamers pulled down, there were always more.
But that wasn’t even the best part. The best part was the dessert table that had been laid out. It stretched as far as the eye could see, and it had every kind of cake, candy, and treat Pinkie could think of. And more!
Unable to resist anymore, Pinkie dove into the nearest cake on the table. She ate the entire thing in only one bite and it was only THE BEST CAKE THAT SHE HAD EVER TASTED! She continued to eat everything that she could get her hooves on until she had finally managed to eat enough to feel full. Not only had she eaten enough food to feed four regular ponies, but the table was still as full as when she had started. It was almost as if she hadn’t eaten anything at all.
Yes, this was definitely the best party ever. In fact, the only thing that could make it better right now was-
*GASP!* Her friends! There were all there, twenty feet from the dessert table, standing together. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack.
She was about to run over and give them all a super huge group hug when a stallion in a pressed black suit stepped in front of her.
He was a rather deep shade of blue, and had a cutie mark that appeared to be two dollar signs, and he looked rather serious despite being at a party.
“Miss. Pie, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do I know you?” she asked, feeling like there was something... off about this pony.
The stallion shook his head. “I don’t believe we’ve ever met. You see, I represent the One Stop Party Shop. I came here to ask how you were planning on paying for all of this.”
“What? Pay?” Pinkie asked, her confusion painfully obvious.
The stallion’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, pay. We need to know how you plan on paying for this party.” He stared right into her eyes. “You DO plan on paying for this, right?”
“I- uh… Yes! Of course!” she blurted out.
“Good,” he said in an emotionless voice as he held up a bill for her.
Pinkie simply took the bill and began to look it over.
It can’t be that bad, she thought. I have some bits saved up. I’m sure if I take those I’ll be able to-
She saw the total at the bottom of the bill.
-not even put a dent in it.
Pinkie had never seen such a large number before in her life. She didn’t even know that numbers could get that large.
“Is everything alright?” the stallion asked, noticing her sudden change of facial expression.
“Um, well… There may be a teency weency problem.” She chuckled nervously.
“A problem?”
“I, uh… I may not have enough money to pay for everything.”
The dark blue stallion simply nodded his head. “I see. Since you don’t have the money, I’m afraid that I have no other choice.”
Everything around them went black. There were no more sounds, no more visible movements, or even light. Pinkie suddenly felt herself grabbed by an invisible force and tied to a post that was sticking out of the ground.
When she looked back up, she could see that she was no longer in the Sugarcube Corner, but in some kind of warehouse. The whole place was dark and musky. A quick look around revealed that the post she was tied to was on some kind of stage, and in front of the stage were maybe five of six extremely bored looking ponies.
“Welcome ladies and gentlecolts!”
Pinkie turned her head and saw the blue stallion in the center of the stage, along with just about everything that she had ever owned.
“Today we are going to auction off this pink mare’s possessions since she doesn’t have enough money to pay her bill,” he announced with mock enthusiasm.
The ponies in the audience just stared at him indifferently, although he didn’t seem to notice as started the auction.
“Alright, let’s start off with her bed, shall we? One hundred bits. Do I hear one hundred?”
None of the ponies seemed interested.
“No? Let’s try seventy. Do I hear seventy? Anypony? How about thirty?”
“I have two bits,” one of the ponies finally said.
“Sold for two bits!” the blue stallion said as he stomped his hoof, making it official.
Pinkie stared in disbelief. She needed this to somehow make enough money to pay her bill, but her bed had just been sold for the same price as a cup of cider! This would never make enough the way things were going.
“Onto the next item!” the stallion called out, snapping Pinkie back to reality. “Here we have this lovely dresser that matches the bed. Let’s start off with the selling price of the bed, shall we? Two bits, do I hear two bits? No? How about one? Anypony?”
Nothing.
“Oh well,” the stallion said as he pulled a lever, opening a trapdoor beneath the dresser, causing it to fall into a pit. After a few seconds, fifteen foot flames shot straight out of the hole, no doubt reducing the dresser below to nothing but ash.
As the flames died down, the stallion moved onto the next object like nothing had happened.
Item after item, Pinkie watched as her stuff was offered up for auction. Occasionally something would sell for a bit or two, but there was never even an offer made for most of it. When that happened, the item would simply meet the same demise as the dresser.
Her favorite ball? Incinerated.
All of her stuffed animals? Into the fire.
The chest that she kept all of her party supplies in? Reduced to ashes.
Gummy’s bed? The stallion incinerated that before he even tried to sell it.
Before she knew it, there was only one thing left to be sold.
“And here we have a lovely picture of Miss. Pie and five of her best friends. It looks like something that would hold quite a lot of sentimental value to her. One bit. Going for only one bit. Do I hear one? Anypony at all? Going once, going twice, and-”
“No!” Pinkie called out at the last second. “You can’t burn that! Those are my friends! They mean so much to me. I don’t know what I would do without them. You can’t just burn something like that…
“I’m sorry Miss. Pie, but that’s not how it works.” He flashed an evil grin at her. “You see, we now own everything that you did. In order to get back the money you owe us, we’re selling it all. If nopony wants to buy it, we have to get rid of it. And we do that just. Like. This.”
He just let the picture fall from his hoof into the pit, relishing the shock he saw on her face when the flames shot out, destroying it forever.
“And with that,” he continued, “we are all out of stuff to sell. It seems you haven’t even come close to being able to pay us back.”
Pinkie was now worried about a lot more than the picture of her friends. “S- So what are you going to do then?”
The stallion took a step forward. “We’re now going to take the last thing from you that we can.” The world closed in around them.
Pinkie tried to move, but was still securely tied to the post.
The stallion continued with another step forward. His lips pulled back to form an evil grin. “In taking this from you, we will essentially take everything you have in your life.”
The skin on his face seemed to shrink and pull to an unnatural tightness as it turned bone white. His eyes bulged and his already creepy smile seemed to grow to a sickly width. Pinkie could see his teeth. What had once been a normal set was now crooked and yellow.
“By taking these, we will take away your family, your friends, everything you have ever worked for.” The suit he was wearing turned ragged, his gait less refined and more primal. He didn’t look like a normal pony anymore, but something from only the deepest, darkest corner of your mind that you never dared venture to because if you did, you would go insane the very moment that you entered it.
“You won’t ever make other ponies laugh again. You will never throw another party as Pinkie Pie, because we are going to take away the one thing that makes you who you are.”
The… thing was now right in Pinkie’s face, only an inch away. She could smell the odor coming from it. A mixture of sorrow and death.
“Y- You’re going to take my soul?” she stuttered.
“Even worse,” the thing said. “If I take your soul, there won’t be any pain. No, that won't do. What I’m going to take are your memories. You’ll be forced to wander through Equestria, not knowing who you are, where you came from, or why you’re even here. You’ll suffer through the rain and the wind as you go from town to town looking for answers. And I will forever follow in the shadows to make sure you suffer for every single possible second that I can.
Pinkie was trying to cry. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. She was too scared to do anything else. “But- why?”
“BECAUSE THAT’S THE KIND OF THING I THINK IS FUN!” And with that, the thing reached into her mind and ripped out every last memory that she had.
Pinkie shot straight up, her entire body drenched in sweat.
She couldn’t remember when she had last had a bad dream, much less a straight-up nightmare, but this one definitely took the cake.
She went into the bathroom and splashed some cool water on her face. A visit to Twilight wouldn't be a bad idea. Pinkie knew it was only a dream, but it wouldn't hurt to talk to one of her friends about it.
As she looked back up into the mirror, she saw the ghostly reflection of the horrible thing from her dream.
"Soon..." it said before disappearing.
END
