Nothing but Darkness and Cupcakes

………It happened.

………Once again, it happened.

………Another night of no sleep.

It’s already bad that she already deals with insomnia, but with these nightmares, her nights of sleeplessness gets even worse.

Steady Beats always laid awake at night from her sleeping habits; the unicorn mare suffered mass amounts of abuse from her family, which caused her to leave her old town and into a new home where she could live without fear. She lived in Ponyville for about 6 years while working as an artist who earns her living from the commissions. Her days living in this town was more peaceful than she expected despite the bright ponies she encounters; she prefers being alone though since that meant she doesn’t have to fear being hurt again and maybe try to stay alive this time. She’s gained suicidal tendencies because of her past and has even tried killing herself many times only to fail each time.

Lately, Steady Beats’ sleep patterns have gotten worse due to some very odd nightmares, which usually wasn’t a problem since she’s always had very weird dreams and nightmares that she could make into her art, but these were…….more unusual. She couldn’t even begin to understand why they were occurring. They all shared one thing though; a bright pony in a stitched outfit chasing her with different weapons. The face was always obscured and the color was unidentifiable, but it was always the same pony.

After checking the clock and seeing that it was almost 8 in the morning, Steady decides to get up and get ready for the day. She walks to the bathroom and starts brushing her brown mane while staring at herself in the mirror; she noticed her blue fur looking paler than usual and even her dark brown eyes looking kinda dull from the exhaustion, void of life and light. She then looked down at her wrists and arms, eyeing each individual scar that was on her skin and under her fur. Nothing felt better to her than the release of numbness, even if what she felt was pain, and it was better than remember the past.

Once Steady Beats got done brushing her mane, she brushes her teeth and washes her face. For a few minutes, she stared at herself in the mirror and just thought about the nightmares; she didn’t know why, but they actually didn’t really scare her as they did make her feel numb. Why was she just feeling so numb? When will it end? And what can she do to finally have the permanent release? At least it was better than the past or things would be messier than it is now.

After leaving her bathroom and using her magic to grab her glasses, she thought deeply about what to do for today; she didn’t have any commissions to do and she didn’t really have any friends since she lived alone. She sighed and decided to go into town to do some shopping; she was running out of food and art supplies and since she still had money from her last commissions, she was able to spend a bit of bits.

After grabbing her saddlebag and her sack of bits, Steady leaves her home and walks into town, kindly saying hello to any pony who greeted her. For the next 3 hours, she walks through different stores to grab her groceries and art supplies; the owners who do know her did comment on her looking pale, but she told them how she wasn’t feeling well but needed food anyway. She starts walking to another shop when she accidentally bumps into another pony while thinking about the nightmares again; she saw that she bumped into the pink party pony Pinkie Pie.

“Oh….I’m so sorry Ms. Pinkie….Guess I wasn’t paying attention….” Steady said in a low and solemn tone, her expression not changing.

“It’s ok SB, it happens!” Pinkie said in a chipper voice but then frowned when seeing how pale the blue mare looked; Pinkie was familiar with Steady with her art and even commissioned her a few times. “Hey Steady Beats, are you ok? You look pale.” The pinkie pony asked, obviously worried.

“….I’m ok Ms. Pinkie….just feeling a bit ill….but I need to get more food….” Steady said kindly, giving a weak attempt at a smile but it only made Pinkie raise an eyebrow; she knew about her past and knows how it can mess up others, while she knows that SB was quite depressive, the air around her felt very different.

“I don’t believe you! Do you know what you need? A trip to Sugarcube Corner for some cupcakes!” Pinkie said with a hop as she starts dragging the blue mare towards the shop, ignoring her arguments.

Once Pinkie and Steady Beats reach Sugarcube Corner, the party pony sits the mare down then trots to the kitchen; Steady was always interested in Pinkie’s energy and was jealous of it since she can’t even remember the last time she even had childlike energy. While waiting on Pinkie, she uses her magic to grab one of the bottles of lemonade and starts drinking it, trying to pick up her spirits so maybe Pinkie might let her go home.

After 10 minutes, Pinkie Pie bounces up to Steady Beats and sets down a cupcake, the frosting matching the color of her blue fur and topped with a bright red cherry; Pinkie knew how she enjoyed anything cherry flavored, so the cupcake should entice the blue mare, which it did. Steady Beats sighed and used her magic to take the cupcake and inspect it before finally taking a small bite, tasting the vanilla cake infused with a cherry filling while the frosting tasted of cherry as well. The mare nodded slowly and kept eating; the cupcake tasted amazing, but she just could not give more than a nod because of feeling so numb.

“Do you like it SB? I bet you do!” Pinkie said with a jump, waiting for a smile to appear on the mare’s face.

“It’s amazing as always Ms. Pinkie….” Steady Beats said as she finished the cupcake, making the pinkie pony frown from her not smiling or even giving any emotion; this made Pinkie pout and sit on the chair.

“I usually would get mad for anyone not smiling at my baking, but since you say you’re not feeling good, I’ll let this slide!” Pinkie Pie said as she rested her chin on her hooves, watching Steady Beats nod then taking a drink of her lemonade.

“Thank you for the dessert Ms. Pinkie……and I’m sorry I can’t express my gratitude more.” The blue mare said kindly, but noticed that Pinkie looked at her like she was waiting for something to happen; Steady looked on her body and checked her face to make sure there wasn’t anything on her, but there was nothing. “Is something wrong Ms. Pinkie?”

“Nope! Just waiting!” Pinkie said as she kept her gaze locked on Steady Beats.

“…….What are you waiting for?” Steady Beats asked as used her magic to put the bottle into the garbage, but misses; she thought it was because of her being so tired, but for some reason, she started feeling more tired than usual.

“Nap time!” Pinkie said with a wide grin as Steady started to sway, falling out of her chair and falling asleep on the floor.