Equestria: Fabrication

The day was, as it always was in Equestria, beautiful. The sun bore down on the land and donated just the right amount of warmth, perfect for meaningful activities such as sunbathing or sleeping.

It was important for ponies to do so in order to maintain a functioning society. Because frankly, without joy in the world what was there?

Klip smiled and pressed her "happy face" to her muzzle. She then let out a breath of relief at the comfort of the mask—almost everypony wore one, and the happiness it donated was as good a reason as any to use it— before she glanced about her little village. As soon as her eyes landed on two ponies, the Teas—Cinnamon and Herbal—she waved as eagerly as she could and then leapt to her hooves. She all but bounced over to them and beamed even wider, nodding her head and saying loudly, "Lovely day for it!" She was not quite sure what "it" was, truth be told, but it was always a nice thing to say.

"Lovely day for it!" the couple repeated before they looked down at Klip's bulging saddlebags. Herbal Tea, the stallion of the household—though, with their son and daughter both away on an extended holiday, it was not a particularly lively family—cocked his head slightly and took a step closer; his mane fell in front of his eyes when he did so. As he then raised a hoof towards Klip, she had to hold back a yelp as a wave of déja-vu swept over her. A memory from the war morphed in her mind's eyes as he did so, a similar scene with a rather scraggier and much larger hoof which shook hers on a battlefield.

War? Battlefield? Klip laughed as she took a short step backwards and shook her head. What an imagination she had.

Instead of dwelling on that particularly horrible but vivid thought, she let her smile grow wider as she reached behind herself. She then clasped the offending bulge in her teeth and pulled it out of her saddlebags slowly, carefully; she was determined not to spoil them.

"Et voila!" she mumbled through her teeth as she stepped forwards and passed a plate of cookies to Cinnamon Tea. With a nod and a wave, she then walked around them slowly and opened the door to their cottage, passing inside with ease. Neither Tea made a fuss—and why would they? It wasn't as if Klip was a Mena, after all.

Truth be told, Klip felt sorry for the Menas. Named after Pinkamena, the famous mare who had returned home to a warring country from her quest to keep the yaks happy. She had—

What?

Klip shook her head quickly as she fell to her stomach just inside the lounge; a low moan escaped her lips and she flattened her ears against her head with her hooves. There were noises now; crying, screaming. It was torture.

There was nothing for it. With a moan and a whimper Klip unsteadily rose to her hooves and began to pat her saddlebags. Her pupils dilated and she then ripped the pack from her back; a moment later she pounced on it, throwing the flaps open before she shoved her muzzle inside. But, despite her efforts, she came out empty-mouthed; with a yelp, she hastened to stumble towards the Teas' kitchen counter. It looked wrong for some reason, though she couldn't quite place her hoof on it—but she didn't have time to think on it right now, anyway.

"Rainbow, rainbow..." she muttered under her breath when she crashed into the worktop. She recovered quickly and leapt up; with a groan she threw open the doors to the cupboards and rooted about maniacally. Cartons and packets from the shelves fell on the floor and burst open, but she did not so much as falter; she couldn't hear anything over the screams which rung in her pinned back ears. "No, no! Where is it?"

Klip gave a quiet yell when the last cupboard came up empty and quickly jumped back down to the floor. As she looked about quickly, she then gave another yell and galloped to the door—and promptly froze before she slammed it open.

Breathe, Klip! she thought whilst she took a deep breath in. She then plastered a smile on her muzzle and pushed on the door gently—just as Cinnamon Tea reached out to open it. The older mare flinched in shock before she smiled at Klip. Nevertheless, she wore a frown on her masked face; never a good sign. Nopony was ever unhappy—unless they were suspicious of something.

"L-lovely day for it!" Klip said, suddenly aware of how foolish she sounded. She laughed a little and forced as big of a grin as she could; after a moment's consideration, Cinnamon Tea returned her enthusiasm (but much more convincingly). Which of them was genuinely happiest, though, was actually hard to tell.

What was more realistic; artificial happiness or forced happiness?

What?

Klip kicked her foreleg with the rear as she scooted around Cinnamon Tea's side, fiding herself pressed up against Herbal Tea. He merely nodded and ruffled her forelock, however; with a barked out giggle, she zipped under his raised forehoof and shot off. She waved wildly as she did so and shouted back, "Excuse me!"

Once she was safely out of earshot, she let out a breath and slowled to a wobbly walk. She wiped her brow with a hoof and scrunched up her nose at the wet fur. When the noises in her ears returned once more, however, she began to shake and shot forwards as she whispered under her breath, "Where's the dispensor? Where is it?"

To her relief, the phone box which Discord had made to dispense the rainbow pills was close. It wasn't as if the thing had moved; it was in exactly the same spot that it had been for weeks. But her rainbow levels were depleting—she could feel it in the way that the world became duller and her distress grew greater. And without the benefits of the meds, she hardly could find it at all.

Klip all but fell into the phone box, the screams and shouts now accompanied by the unmistakable boom of an explosion. She yelped at the sounds and fumbled about as she smashed her hooves onto each of the machines buttons. She didn't care which of the flavours she got—anything would have settled her for a while, though admittedly the lime didn't give her any more than half a minute's relief.

But the machine only hissed and sparked and clunked as she waited impatiently, still smashing her hooves against the buttons and wailing. A moment later, a bright white light engulfed her vision and, as pain overwhelmed her body, she felt herself slip away from reality.