Sweating Bullets...Still Life

Maud Pie was drifting off into sleep after a hard day of studying rocks. The heat was surely intense that day. The grey pony's mane was now a little battered and wet from her sweat and her hard work. Maud was exhausted and ready to embrace her soft bed. She closed her eyelids and let her body go limp. For a while she was content with this, and was trying to go to sleep. Maud opened her eyes. She could not sleep.

As much as Maud would love to go to sleep, she absolutely could not for some odd reason. She arose from her bed, circles under her dogged looking eyes. She looked around her room with a blank expression. Maud then got off of her bed. At first she felt a little bit of dizziness and walked around like a drunkard. She opened the door and her eyes swelled with pain because the kitchen light was on. She jumped back and cracked the door, only allowing a little light from the kitchen to creep in her room. Her eyes began to adjust and she walked into her kitchen. The time was 10:34 p.m., as evidenced by her stove clock.

Maud pulled put a chair from the brown table in the middle of the kitchen and took a seat. She pulled the chair in and rested her head on the table. She just stared into space, feeling so tired and exhausted, but not being able to rest. It was scratching at her mind. 10:58, 11:46, 12:23, 1:45, 2:00. It had seemed like every minute of her agonizing lasted forever, but that the hours were flying by. Her now disheveled mane and her cheek were still laying on the table as Maud watched the time go by.

Maud's eyes began to feel like they were burning, her muscles ached in a numbing pain, and she felt unclean almost everywhere on her body. 3:59. Maud's usual seemingly casual attitude was not there, and thoughts were beginning to come into her head. Is it really this time now? It can not be... i have not slept... i am in great pain...i think i feel a migra-, her thoughts were cut short as her head began to pound in pain from a now relevant migraine. Maud now winced as she rubbed her forehead with her hooves.

Maud's tired and pain wrecked body lacked the energy she needed to do her rock studying today. She was contemplating going to the doctor. Through all her pain, she was still able to think, and with that she thought something was...off about this. Insomnia made you tired, sure, but it would never cause this much pain. Even though Maud has never had insomnia before, she could recall her friends simply saying that they were tired and did not have a lot of energy.

Maud's was way more intense. She had a pounding migraine, muscle pains shooting through her body, she felt so fatigue it was indescribable, and she had never felt this unclean, even when she dug through the ground at the farm a long time ago. Maud seemed to be more sensitive and alert. Enough of this..., Maud thought, I must take a shower; that might ease the pain.

The grey sweat drenched mare stumbled to her restroom, almost knocking herself into walls along the way. She could feel every beat the pounding pain in her head would create, and every sound, like the television's cry of urgency because of a murder of which nine were victim, or the pitter-pattering of the air conditioner, would just make it worse. The trip to the restroom, normally taking a few trots, felt like a large amount of time, and traveling the dim lit house was not comfortable or welcoming.

The air conditioner was emitting warm air, which to Maud felt like a thousand suns directing their heat down to her. Her focus was not the bathroom now; it was for the conditioner. She stood at the doorway of her restroom, staring at the emptiness of the room, wondering what she would do next. The mare gathered up all of her strength and limped to the tub, going for the cold knob. She turned the knob as fast as she could, and went in the tub. Maud looked up at the shower head and twisted the knob for that. Immediately, icy cold water rushed down the shower head and washed down Maud.

Maud's senses were now flowing with a pleasurable and refreshing sensation she had been waiting for; the cold. The mare's coat was now shiny and wet, and her mane laid down with a sort of dark glow to it. The shower head continued to drench Maud with the cold water she desperately needed. Maud leaned back, stuck out her tongue, and relaxed her body, stretching her hind hooves out in the process. Even the sensation of the water against her mare-hood did not affect her or even matter to her at the moment.

The mare stood tall on her hooves as she got up from her position in her tub. She felt at peace and pleased. Maud put one hoof out at a time, reluctant to leave her new found sanctuary. As soon as her body left the tub, she felt tired again. She turned the knobs to off, and went to her kitchen, not feeling overwhelmingly tired. Maud looked at her front door from her kitchen, not feeling like studying rocks at all.

She felt somehow reinvigorated from her shower. I really should get on top of studying those rocks..., Maud thought, taking one shaking hoof and meeting it with the ground towards her front door. The mare quickly jerked her hoof back. No...no...i can not... i must not...i don't know anymore..., she thought. I will go outside, get some fresh air...maybe find some interesting rocks.... This thought had made Maud light up. She was not going to search for rocks or study them intensely. She liked the idea of a casual stroll.

The mare slowly trotted to her front door, thoughts flowing through her head, conflicting and arguing every step of the way. The sound of her hooves on the ground echoed through the house. A rooster could be heard outside clucking, accompanied by light filling her house through half closed blinds hanging over her windows.

Maud was finally able to drag herself to her front door. Her hoof gave the door a gentle and weak turn, then gave it a good pull. The door opened and the light shined bright on Maud. The mare was still a little damp from the shower, and her mane and coat had not been brushed, but it usually did not frizz up very bad at all, so she shrugged it off.

The mare walked past her barren and vast rock farm, not looking back at it. She continued to follow a dirt path that eventually led her to a train station. She looked around, and tried to think. Maybe i'll go to my sister's town. That place is good for walking around. Even Maud questioned why she was going to go there. She could easily walk around her farm and get fresh air. Hell, if anything, the air was probably more fresh up here. I will admit it to myself...I am sick of this place for once in my life... Maud's jaw opened slightly and she looked at the sky, trying to grasp what she was just thinking. She looked down and shook her head.

I am going to see pinkie. That is it...that will help me.No... I am going because I...I want to. Having no reason other than being sick of her farm, she finally decided in her mind that she was going to go to Pinkie's town.