Light. That was the first thing Pinkie Pie saw that day. To her, it was just a normal day in Ponyville. To everypony else...it only seemed that way.
Waking up, Pinkie was confused when her vision was blurry, but soon chalked it up to just her being still sleepy. What confused her most was the fact that, if only for a few moments, she could see nothing but a bright, white light. She was relieved when the outlines of ber bedroom in Sugarcube corner appeared, and forgot about the light soon enough. Yawning, Pinkie Pie turned to her her alligator, Gummy. "Morning, Gummy. " said Pinkie, sleepily. Strangely, Gummy continued sleeping. Pinkie chose not to wake him as, for some reason, she felt like he could use the extra energy his still sleeping would provide, though he usually didn't do much.
Pinkie turned to the window, getting ready for the gorgeous morning ahead of her. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there wasn't a cloud in the sky...but then Pinkie looked outside. Sure, the sun was shining, but it was obscured by dark clouds, and the birds sounded melancholy and not at all like their usual chirpy selves. In fact, that sad sound was the only thing Pinkie could hear.
But, being Pinkie Pie, the pink pony instead looked in the mirror and, after having a solo 'who can make the brightest smile' contest, went downstairs to greet the Cakes. "Huh? I wonder where the Cakes are?" Said Pinkie, seeing that Mr Carrot Cake and Mrs cupcake were nowhere to be seen. She inspected the rest of the bakery, but she was the only one there. She remembered she hadn't heard any noise from the babies room when she woke up, so concluded that they'd all gone for a walk or something. Yes, that was it, they hadn't invited her because they didn't want to wake her up. Pinkie decided to go outside instead, and start cheering ponies up on his cloudy day, though when she stepped outside she saw that the clouds looked like the beginning of a storm.
Pinkie that almost everypony looked sad or upset, and told herself she had a lot of work to do. "Hey, everypony, why are you looking so down!" Said Pinkie, hoping to break out into a song. She was shocked when everypony glared at her, though at the same time, they seemed to not notice her. Pinkie resolved to go to better tactics. "I give a smile, I get a smile." Said Pinkie, ready to do her best to turn those sad frowns upside down. She walked further into Ponyville and started saying Hello to random ponies who passed by, but they didn't respond. A stallion walked right towards her and she braced for impact, but nothing happened. "Sorry for almost bumping into you!" Called Pinkie, but the stallion didn't reply. "I guess he's in a hurry." Thought Pinkie, walking on. Suddenly, she heard a voice. "It's time you understood, Twilight, it's not your fault. It couldn't be helped." It said, sounding like Rarity. "Rarity?" Asked Pinkie out loud. She decided to head towards the library, knowing her friends would probably be there. She was still ignored by most of Ponyville, but ignored them too, in favour of finding Rarity or Twilight. She saw the library door was closed, but could hear voices on the other side. "Come on now, Twilight, things like this happen all the time." Said Rarity. Pinkie walked inside, but to her surprise, there was nopony there. "Rarity? Twilight? There's no point hiding, I heard you in here." Said Pinkie, walking further in and closing the door gently behind her. She saw everything looked normal, piles of books on the floor, some even leading up the stairs, and one or two looking as of they'd been read through a dozen times. Pinkie looked everywhere in the library, but couldn't find her friends anywhere. She decided to ask Fluttershy where they were, knowing the yellow pegasus wouldn't ignore her.
Walking outside, she saw that the sky was starting to look scary, and knew she'd have to rush home in case there was a storm. "Hey, Fluttershy!" Pinkie almost screamed, happy to see someone who looked at least kind of happy. "Oh, hello, Pinkie." Replied Fluttershy. "Sorry about nearly screaming, I was just so happy to see you, everypony just looks so down today." Said Pinkie. "Apparently there's a big storm coming, so that must be why they look upset." Replied Fluttershy. Pinkie had to agree, she was worried about the distant sound of thunder too. She suddenly remembered something she'd meant to tell Fluttershy a while ago. "Hey, Fluttershy, you know when you were singing for the Ponytones, and I made your stage fright even worse?" Asked Pinkie. Fluttershy nodded in reply, still not used to being in front of so many ponies. "I meant to tell you before, but I forgot. I'm sorry about it, Fluttershy. You know me!" Replied Pinkie, cheerfully, though somewhat serious. Fluttershy seemed to perk up at the apology and smiled, accepting it. "Then...thanks, Pinkie. I know you were only trying to help, in your own way." Replied the yellow pegasus. Pinkie said Goodbye to Fluttershy and decided to cheer everypony up. She walked back to the center of Ponyville and started saying Hello to everypony again, but still they hurried to get inside. "Everypony is still ignoring me?" Asked Pinkie out loud. She suddenly heard Rarity's voice again. "I hope she's all right. She was out in that storm for a long time before it happened." Said the unicorns voice.
Pinkie was confused, sure that Rarity was nowhere close by. She shook her head, knowing she was probably just hearing things. For a while, she simply wandered round Ponyville, still unsure of why she was hearing voices and why nopony was paying attention to her, she saw Rainbow Dash flying overhead and called to her, relieved when the pegasus flew down and hovered near her. "What is it, Pinkie, I have to report this storm to cloudsdale." Said Rainbow Dash. "Dashie, do you know why everypony's ignoring me?" Asked Pinkie. Rainbow Dash shook her head, not knowing the answer. Suddenly there was a great clap of thunder, and Dashie hurriedly said Goodbye to Pinkie and flew towards Cloudsdale to report the storm. Pinkie simply stood there and wondered what to do next. She watched Rainbow Dash flying away, and for a second it seemed as if Rainbow Dash disappeared into thin air, and Pinkie didn't see her reappear, but chalked it up to the clouds making it hard to see. She jumped again at another thunderclap. As she was about to laugh, she heard what must have been a lightning strike close by. It shocked her into running, but the lightning seemed to follow her. As she was about to run into Sugarcube corner, a bolt of lightning struck her, practically pushing her inside. Pinkie groaned, feeling pretty mixed up after that lightning strike. She looked outside and saw that other ponies were being hit by lightning too, but when it hit them, they faded away into thin air.
"Fluttershy!" Cried Pinkie, as the pegasus was hit by lightning too and disappeared. Pinkie ran outside, only to see Fluttershy disappear. Pinkie turned to run back inside, but was shocked at what she saw. Instead of being colorful and bright, Sugarcube Corner was dark and gray, the windows covered in so much dust they could hardly be seen through. Suddenly, Pinkie heard some kind of steady beeping sound and walked inside, to where it seemed to be coming from. It sounded like it was coming up the stairs, so Pinkie went to see. As she weakly climbed the steps, the effects of the lightning strike starting to get to her, she heard voices, though they weren't easy to understand through the beeping. Pinkie reached the top of the stairs and walked towards a room that had appeared in the end of the hall. Pinkie knew there'd never been a room there before, but walked towards it when she realized the beeping was coming from it. As she neared the door, she could finally make out the voice of Twilight Sparkle, and another voice she didn't recognize.
"Promise you'll be all right, Ok?
"Wait and see."
Pinkie opened the door hurriedly, wanting to finally know what was happening. She suddenly had some kind of vision. A feeling of being more exhausted than she'd ever been, somepony running, a lightning strike and then...nothing.
Pinkie heard the beeping again, but this time it was simply one long, continuous sound. To Pinkie, in thar moment of realization, it sounded more like an electronic death rattle. "But...no, that can't be right! I can't be dy-" Pinkie stopped herself before she could say that awful word.
Suddenly, the room and everything behind her seemed to fill with darkness, a shadow that was crawling towards her and ready to engulf her. Pinkie looked at herself in horror, as she turned see-through. She was disappearing, fading into oblivion, ceasing to exist in this world...and there waa nothing she could do bit weep. Pinkie sat down, practically hugging herself, hoping to find some comfort in whatever nightmare she'd found herself in. Then she started singing, a song she often sang to herself when she was scared. It was all she could do.
"Giggle at the ghosty..."
"Pinkie Pie, wake up!"
Pinkie slowly opened her eyes, seeing a bright light, and nothing else for a few seconds before her sight gazed at a familiar pony. "Twilight?" Askes Pinkie. "Yeah, Pinkie, it's me. You were hit by lightning out there, I guess you weren't fast enough to outrun it after all the work you were doing, trying to cheer everypony up." Replied Twilight. Pinkie heard that steady beeping sound again, though in the back of her mind she knew...that beeping would be continuous soon, and she wouldn't be. "Twilight, can you promise me something?" Asked Pinkie, holding her strength up for as long as she could. "Of course, Pinkie, what is it?" Replied Twilight. "If i'm not here after today, you have to continue to smile, smile...smile..." answered Pinkie, "of course, Pinkie, but you promise you'll be all right, OK?" Askes Twilight. Not wanting to make Twilight more worried or scared than she already was, Pinkie looked at her as the continous beeping of that electronid death rattle began, and she smiled slightly, knowing her work in cheering everpony in Ponyville was done, with her closest friends being the only failures. But they'd smile again one day.
For now, as Pinkie closed her eyes, and felt herself falling...she could think of only one thing to say.
"Wait and see."