I woke up with something today.

It was… something silly.

They (who were silly) told me it was okey-dokey-lokey, and that they would keep me company.
I told them that they were silly and that it was okey-dokey-lokey with me!

I got up out of bed,
Made my sheets,
Put on my smile,
Made the sheets again (my smile wasn’t on yet),
Put on my smile again (it felt wrong on my face) and made the sheets again (they weren’t silly enough),
Walked out of the room,
Trotted into my bathroom,
Looked straight in the mirror,
And saw my silly smile.

I wondered if it was okay to smile.
I wondered if the feeling in my tail was somepony wanting to talk to me or they had the wrong number and were frantically calling in a house fire.
I wondered if my teeth were solid or if they were made of cotton candy.
I wondered if that dimple on my cheek was always there or if I was imagining it.
I wondered if my eyes were too big or if that was just the light.
I wondered…

...if I was being silly.

They told me nothing was wrong:
It’s okay, Pinkie,
It’s okay.
It’s just something silly!
Smile.
Stand still.
Take a picture.
Look at it, it’ll last longer.
Just like me, being here with you.
Just like you, being here with me.

…

I turned around and made my exit.
Down the stairs
Up the stairs
Down the stairs
Up—I stopped myself.

I shook my head.

I went down the stairs.
Clip, clop; clip, clop.
To the counter.
Where I stood.
Waiting.
Looking.
Quite silly.

…

The door wasn’t open yet.
The seats weren’t set.
The tables were dusty,
And the counter was too.
At least the lights were on.
There was so much to do!

I trotted over to each table,
Grabbed their seats,
Dusted them off,
Scooted them in,
And adjusted them until they were juuust right!

I looked at the tables.
Dust grew there too, just like the seats.
I pulled out my totally awesome and not-so-wacky-but-actually-wacky cleaning supply set Dashie got me!

...

Two spritz, wax on, wax off.
A towel against the gruff.
A smile against the rough.

I looked at the counter.
The same for it, too.

Couple more dollops,
Couple more cleanups,
Couple more moments,
Couple more thoughts.

I sighed and trotted back over to the table, wearing that
Silly
Little
Smile
I
Saw
In
The
Mirror
This
Morning.

And I stared at the door—
Wait.

Why isn't it open?

...

Oh! Silly me. I forgot!
I forgot to open the door!
Let my friends in, greet them like I always do!
Silly me.
Silly… me.

I trotted to it, a huff in the air.
I trotted to it, hoofsteps in my ears.
I trotted to it, my pace lock step.
I trotted to it, my forehoof at rest.
I was at it now and I...

The door swung open.

It creaked.

...

There was no pony there.

...

Oh, Pinkie. You’re being silly.
Oh, Pinkie. It’ll be fine.
It's early morning!
Of course no one is there.
They’ll be here. Don't you worry.
They’ll be here soon.

I walked back.
Each hoofstep echoed.

They echoed

And echoed

And echoed

And echoed

And echoed

And echoed

And—

I stopped hearing my hoofsteps.

I was behind the counter, inspecting my work.

It was just silly doing all this.
Stressing about who was outside.
Stressing about every detail:
How colorful the cake was,
How fluffy the muffins looked,
How tasty the ingredients were (they were scrumptious!),
How normal the oven was (when did this get installed again?),
How...

...all of them mattered.

Every singular thing had to be there.

They will make them smile.

That's all I wanted.

Yet, why did it feel so… silly?

...

I gulped down my pride,
Set it aside,
Told them to get out,
They needed a time out,
And suddenly,
My smile stopped feeling so silly.

Author's Note

God I love pretzels.