Pinkie Pie is making a point

Boo!

And also Hi. It is me, Pinkie Pie!

Nothing against that NeuStrasbourg-guy (though I could bring up one or two things), but I'm afraid we're running out of time.

So I decided to interrupt the regular narrative to make a point. It's an important one, too.

All my friends are traumatized, raped, near-comatose, suffering from nightmares and hallucinations or have become murderers, and what is little Spike doing in the meantime?

Nothing, that's what.

He is walking around in circles, sighting and moaning and weeping and shaking his little head.

There he is now, going on a little walk on the outskirts of Ponyville.

Oh, but little does he know that he is being followed. Without a warning, he is pounced by a scary pink creature and dragged into a dark ally.

He is screaming and squirming and then he dares to open his eyes, to check who captured him, and now he is screaming some more.

I resent that.

"P-Pinkie Pie... what do you want from me? Also, since when are you the narrator?"

I am a pony of many talents. Right now there is only one question that really matters: What is YOUR place in all of this?

"I... I..."

Don't you I-I me, buster! You know why I'm here, Spike. This has been going on for too long. You'll have to make a decision.

"I can't..."

OH YES YOU CAN. This pony is NOT going to let you drag your sorry corpse from one day to the next while avoiding the issues. You DO exist, I won't let you pretend you didn't! And you ARE responsible for your own destiny. And for our destiny as well.

It's getting worse every day. So what is it going to be, Spike? What are you, a little schizoid NAZI stooge? Answer me! The audience wants to know!

"Oh, so you want to KNOW, eh? FINE! I will tell you what I think. I think you are RIGHT. I AM a stooge. I was created to serve, I was created to keep you trapped, to help Them exploit you. That's ALL there is to me. I am not your friend. I am TOOL. And I'm not going to help anyone!"

I can respect that.

"WHAT?"

Only that you just lied to me. That is not what you actually think.

Tell me, Spike, how do you feel? No need to answer, it's quite obvious you feel like HORSEAPPLES. Stooges don't feel like horseapples, though they should. You feel like someone who is doing the opposite of what he wants to do.

Now normally I would say who am I, Pinkie Pie, to tell anyone what they should feel and what they should do, but right now, I need you. I can't afford to have you waste our time.

We need you. The REAL Spike. And I WILL break through to him, even if I have to kick him out of this sorry pile of self-loathing right in front of me.

Shall I start?

-

I don't think anyone has ever seen little Spikey run that fast.

Silly Spike. He should know better than that.

He runs and runs and then he looks around to see if he is being followed. He doesn't see anypony, but he is suspicious and doesn't want to take any chances.

So he pushes a big red button on the side of a building, and a trapdoor pops open in the middle of the road. It's another one of Ponyville's special features the average pony is supposed to ignore.

Spike jumps into the trapdoor and finds himself in a long metal pipe illuminated by little green lights. He is on his way to one of the many supply rooms where the MLP-staff is getting their "gems" and surgical instruments and other things that help them on their quest to enslave ponykind.

It's one of these little safe places everyone would like to have to hide from the big bad world outside. No one is going to find little Spike down here.

He unlocks the door and enters the room. Just when the door closes behind him, he realizes that he's not alone.

Hi there! Now where was I...

-

Again with the screaming and the running.

He is now taking another tunnel, this one will get him back to the library.

Spike is checking every room at least twice. He has activated the security program that is wrapping the entire structure in an iron armour.

He has programmed the local security cameras to watch out for a very special pony, and to make loud warny noises when she is spotted somewhere in the general area.

He still doesn't feel quite safe. He knows that there is no point in expecting the impossible, after all, good old Pinkie Pie is just a pony, and as scary as she might be, she doesn't have superpowers (she really doesn't).

Still, the paranoia is overwhelming.

There. A noise.

It almost makes him jump out of his scales, but after a minute, he tells himself that he's just imagining things. If you ask me, he and Applejack should create their own little association, "Deniers Anonymous" or something.

-

Finally, Spike is able to breath normally.

All of this panic is making him hungry. He is on his way to the kitchen, but then he steps on something tiny and pointy that pierces right through the skin of his little foot.

A little scream of pain and terror.

What is this? A trap? Is he going to die? What is going on?

He pulls the little stingy thing out of his foot. It's a tiny piece of metal. Nothing unusual, one of the many machines inside the facility must be broken.

Strange, though. This particular piece looks like it should be inside a security camera...

And sure enough, there is a noise coming from the kitchen.

This time, Spike knows it's the real deal.

But his feet seem to move on their own while the rest of his body is paralyzed with fear.

He is stepping around the corner, and then, trembling from spines to toes, he takes a look into the kitchen.

It is empty.

No one there.

No one.

Spike is scratching his head. He feels a little dizzy, so he decides to sit down at the kitchen table.

That's when the lights go out.

On the outside of the library, the steel barricades are vibrating from the mighty scream they are trapping inside.

-

When the lights come back again, Spike is still alone in the kitchen. Or should I say, again?

On the table, there is a pink cupcake.

And next to the cupcake, there is a note.

But when Spike opens the note, there is no letter inside. Just a tiny piece of glass.

Spike is looking into his own face: It's a mirror.