Pinkie rolled over in bed and let out a groan that dissolved into a tired yawn. After a moment, she realized that the bed felt funny. Almost like a rock bed, but that was silly. She hadn’t slept on a rock bed since her days on the rock farm.
Ignoring the discomfort, she rolled over again in an attempt to get comfortable. She felt a sharp flash of pain as her muzzle collided with something, jolting her awake. Her eyes snapped open to reveal, of all things, a shelf.
Pinkie blinked a few times as her mind caught up. Even for her, this was odd. She had never woken up with a shelf before. Getting to her hooves, she looked around the room. Oddly enough, it was the basement. It was difficult to see in the darkness, but a lone candle burned in the far corner of the room to provide enough light to make out a few objects. She reached up with a hoof to rub the last bits of sleep from her eyes, but froze as it entered her vision.
It was white.
Gone was the pink coat that she was named for. Turning about, she realized that her cutie mark was washed over as well with the whiteness. Everything was white.
Pinkie began to hyperventilate as the implications of it all hit her. What had happened? What had become of her perfect pink coat?
“I know I’m not white, but Rarity is. Maybe Twilight switched our bodies like she did with our cutie marks!” She was just about to congratulate herself on a mystery well solved when she realized a major flaw in her theory. Her mane was white as well. Rarity would never stand for such a bland white-on-white color scheme, so she couldn’t be in Rarity’s body.
“Maybe I’m a ghost?” Carefully, Pinkie raised hoof and pressed it against her barrel. “Nope, still solid.”
As she continued to use her amazing detective skills to discern her current situation, she realized just how little she looked like her normal self. Then another flash of horror hit her.
"What if my friends don't recognize me?"
This could change everything. "Will anypony recognize me as Pinkie Pie? Will I have to change my name? I suppose I will, since I’m not pink anymore."
She began pacing as panic threatened to consume her. "What if I have to create a new identity for myself? What if nopony accepts me and they cast me out into the wilderness? What if they don't let me bring any cooking supplies?!"
She froze in place as the worst thought of all came to her. "What if I'm not really Pinkie Pie at all?"
Looking herself over again, it was obvious that she looked nothing like Pinkie Pie. She had no balloon cutie mark, no pink coat, no poofy pink mane. Nothing to connect her to who she believed herself to be.
"What if the real Pinkie Pie is out there somewhere, am I just think I'm her? Will she think I'm trying to replace her? Will she hate me forever?"
"No," she said with a shake of her head, forcing those thoughts out. "None of that will happen. Twilight will be able to fix this. She always knows what to do to help her friends."
She walked over to the door and was just about to leave when doubt crept up on her again. "But what if she doesn't see me as a friend if I'm not really Pinkie Pie?"
She sat down in front of the door and stared at it, silently begging for an answer. The door did not respond.
"What if the real Pinkie Pie is missing and the townsponies think I did something to her? What if they form a mob and come after me with torches and pitchforks?"
The first tears began to fall as she sunk further into despair. "What if they hate me?"
Indeed, nothing could be worse. She lived for making ponies smile. Angry ponies didn't have happy smiles. It would be all her fault that they would be angry. She didn't want to make them angry.
"What would Pinkie Pie do?"
Of course, Pinkie Pie would throw a party. But she wasn't Pinkie Pie, so she couldn't throw anypony a party. That would be stealing Pinkie's job, and stealing things didn't make anypony happy.
Suddenly, an idea came to her. What if I went and found the real Pinkie Pie and said that I'm sorry for impersonating her?
It was brilliant. Nopony would be mad at her for apologizing. She could prove that she was a good pony, just like the real Pinkie Pie. Maybe they could even throw each other a party to celebrate them both being good ponies! If that was okay with Pinkie, of course.
Even that most brilliant idea was not safe from the doubts within herself. "What if I accidentally throw a party that's better than Pinkie's party? What if she gets really sad that I usurped her position as Ponyville's Premier Party Pony?"
Aha! A solution! "I just have to make sure that Pinkie's party is better than my party! I'll throw a party so terrible that everypony will appreciate and love Pinkie Pie's parties more than mine!"
"But if I throw a terrible party, that will make ponies unhappy. I don't want them to frown, I want them all to smile at my party. I can't make them smile at my party, because then they might like it more than Pinkie's party! But if I don't make them smile, then they might frown and that would be sad!"
She flopped onto the floor and began weeping. "I can't take it anymore!" she shouted, crying out to the cold, harsh world.
A moment later, the door to the basement flew open. Standing in the light that flooded the room was the pony that could ruin her life.
Twilight Sparkle.
"I'm so sorry!" she shouted, throwing herself at the hooves of Pinkie's friend.
"Sorry for what? I heard yelling and came to see if you were alright." Twilight said.
"I'm not the real Pinkie Pie and everypony will hate me and I don't wanna throw a better party and pitchforks!" she cried.
Not-Pinkie held back a sob as Twilight's eyes narrowed, her head tilting over to the side in confusion. "I think you need to get some more sleep. You're making even less sense than usual… and why are you covered in flour?"
“Flour?” said Not-Pinkie in confusion.
Twilight fired up her horn and encased her in a magical glow. In a moment, all of the white covering her disappeared. Her pink coat was back, along with her poofy pink mane and balloon cutie mark.
"I am the real Pinkie Pie! Yay!" the real Pinkie shouted with glee.
Twilight sighed and facehoofed. "Pinkie, I don’t… nevermind. I’m not even going to try."
Ignoring Pinkie's joyous bouncing, Twilight continued. "Anyway, I came to Sugarcube Corner to congratulate you and bring you along for a picnic with the others. If you feel up for joining us, that is."
"I’d love to go to a picnic!” Pinkie stopped for a moment as a yawn escaped her. ”What are you congratulating me for?"
Twilight began to look moderately concerned. "You really don't remember?"
Pinkie gleefully shook her head just a little bit too forcefully. "Nope!"
Twilight stared at the party pony, her eye twitching as she sat back and rubbed her face, before looking back up at her with a frown. "Pinkie, you set the world record for longest continual baking session. You beat the previous record by four days, eight hours, twelve minutes, and forty-two seconds."
"I did?"
"Yeah, and you were getting a little crazy by the end. You started muttering weird things and messing up recipes. You finally ended it by assaulting a sack of flour and then passing out. It was quite impressive, but you made a mess of the basement in the process. Nopony wanted to disturb your sleep after that spectacle, so we cleaned up and put the ingredients back on the shelf for you,” Twilight looked over at something behind Pinkie and gave a small chuckle. “Although it looks like we missed something.”
She turned to see what Twilight meant, and suddenly everything became clear. The sack of flour sitting on top of the shelf had a hole in the corner that had spilled out onto the floor directly where she had been sleeping.
“You look really tired, Pinkie. Are you sure that you want to go to the picnic?”
Pinkie gave a massive yawn before replying back with a sheepish grin. "Not really. I should... go get more sleep."
Twilight grinned back. "Okay, Pinkie. I'll save some food from the picnic for you, and I can fill you in on your record later."
"Thanks, Twilight," Pinkie said before letting out a another yawn. "I'm gonna go hit the hay."
Twilight giggled as she left Sugarcube Corner, a large smile plastered across her face.
Pinkie always like seeing Twilight smile.
Author's Note
This is my second story and first comedy, so don't expect a grand hilarious tale. If the story can make you chuckle or smile, then it will have served its purpose well.
Please drop me a comment and thumbs up/down to tell me how I did. I appreciate all kinds of feedback and would love to hear what you think about my writing. How else am I to improve?
