Life is a Party

Pinkie was sitting in a pool of blood and tears. She wasn't really aware that she was soaked, just that she was alone and in need of a greater good cry. It was something she hadn't let her friends know about; it was all about the show, wasn't it? She lived to make ponies smile and laugh. Who cared how Pinkie was feeling? She certainly didn't. It was a trivial matter in the grand scheme of things.

Until then. Because, despite all odds, the job of cheering ponies up had been handed off to certified party stallion Cheese Sandwich. Without a need to please everypony, Pinkie had found a time for her own emotions, and how badly they needed attention.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked weakly, staring at the mess of a mare. "Pinkie, what happened?"

Pinkie Pie didn't want to look at her friends. They didn't deserve to see her like this, and she knew that they had done nothing wrong. With great effort, she forced her hair back into its generally poofy state and grinned up at her friends.

All three ponies took a step back. She couldn't understand why, and more tears pooled in her eyes, splashing onto the puddle beneath her. Looking down, she stared at her reflection and understood why, all of the sudden, her friends were terrified of her.

Her hair hadn't returned to its aloof state. Instead, it had merely become extremely disheveled, straight as a board and tangled into knots. Her smile, stretching from ear to ear, was far too wide to be sincere, and was greatly contrasted by the crazed, desperate look in her eyes. Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as her knee started feeling pinchy, bouncing around like it had a life of its own.

"It's my knee! It's all pinchy! Something scary's gonna happen!" she exclaimed, her voice high as she looked up at her friends in fear. "You guys better hurry and get the Cakes! I'll tickle the monsters away! I'll tickle..."

The horrified expressions on her friends faces were enough to silence the pink pony. It took three seconds and a sudden shudder through her entire body for Pinkie to realize that it was a doozy.

She was the scary thing.

Then she began to laugh.

***

Twilight stared through the glass at her sleeping friend. The princess, unlike the slumbering Element of Harmony, had been up all night, worrying after Pinkie Pie.

"Your Highness?"

Twilight turned to see Nurse Redheart standing behind her, holding a clipboard and smiling in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I have Pinkamena Pie's file here," she said, gesturing to it. "Miss Pie has suffered from immense blood loss and dehydration. When we woke her up, she seemed to be taking it all rather well, though she didn't remember inflicting those wounds on herself. From the cuts, we can determine that it was done with a kitchen knife, and they are self-inflicted, but she claims to not have done it."

The nurse pony looked somberly at the slumbering Pinkie Pie, whose hair had reverted to its normal frizzy curls. Twilight's mind spun, as she tried to imagine how far under the bar Pinkie must have fallen to hurt herself and not remember it.

"Despite the traumatic circumstances, she seems to be of stable mind," Redheart continued. "We should be able to release her in the next day or two."

Twilight stared anxiously at her friend, then back at the nurse. Her head was reeling with the impossibility of the situation, but she found a way to get her lips to move.

"Has her family been informed?" she asked. The nurse nodded.

"The Pies have been notified. We have been informed that they will be visiting shortly," she said grimly.

"Thank you for your help," Twilight said gratefully, shuffling her wings.

The nurse bobbed her head in a slight bow and turned away to speak to the next worried visitor. Twilight took one last look at her friend and turned to go find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They needed to know.

***

Inside the Trauma Wing of the hospital, behind the glass of the waiting room, a broken mare stared at the ceiling, all alone.

***

Angel's party was still going on, though it was well into the early morning. Twilight watched with drooping eyelids as the sun peeked over the horizon, as if it were a signal for the partygoers to go home and rest before a belated day of work. She had sent Rarity and Applejack home when the two had expressed no desire to return to the festivities.

Twilight was going to have to put a stop to this. The parties were interfering with daily life, and it was her duty as a princess of Equestria to ensure the wellbeing of her citizens, even if she had only been a princess for less than a year. Cheese Sandwich had made his mark, but the partying had started to go overboard, and it had already put a pony in the hospital, albeit indirectly.

The alicorn slipped into the cottage holding most of the town and saw the ponies still going at it, as if no time had passed at all. Every curtain was drawn, and a disco ball had been hung in her absence. She groaned and ignited her horn, sending all of the blinds up and drawing each drape in a matter of seconds. The ponies stopped moving, blinking in the sudden light of the rising sun, and Twilight spotted her targets almost immediately.

Rainbow Dash, having abandoned the cake in favor of her athletic figure, was encouraging Tank to play with some of the other critters. Full of resolve, Twilight steeled herself and trotted over to Rainbow Dash, her expression grim.

"Hey, Twi, where'd ya go?" the pegasus asked, smiling at her friend. The smile faded as she took in the purple pony's expression, and she immediately abandoned her post at Tank's side. "What happened?"

"Pinkie's in the hospital," Twilight said quietly, looking around to ensure that none of the other ponies overheard. "She's... she hurt herself, Rainbow. We found her in a pool of her own blood, crying her eyes out."

Rainbow Dash stared at Twilight for a long time, uncomprehending. Then Twilight was reeling, blown back by the gust of wind the flier had thrown off as she burst out of the room, screaming after Pinkie.

"Pinkie Pie! I'm coming for you!" she cried. The scream echoed back into the house, silencing the townsponies and stopping the festivities.

"The party's over," Twilight informed the crowd grimly. They stared after Rainbow Dash, then filed slowly out of the door. Twilight went to go tell Fluttershy the inconceivable news.