(AiE) "Confiding in Pink"

>With a tired yawn, you slouch into your booth’s seat with a mopey, sullen look to you.
>You’re tired a lot.
>Mainly because you're literally the only human in all of the universe, thus all alone.
>Like, think about it; you’re just this guy who had no meaning on Earth, you’re transported here to merely watch as an alien observer, not a single friend to confide in except...
“Helloooo mister customer! Welcome to Sugarcube Cor--Oh! Hiya Nonny-Poo!”
“Hi Pinka Po,” you murmur sluggishly at your only close friend/server. “Whatcha got in store today? Something neat?”
>“Psh, c’mon, silly-head, everypony knows we always bake something neat!”
“Right. Silly me. Uh, I’ll have whatever it is then. You know, the neat thing.”
>The sound of your voice is sunken deep down in your throat, spoken in a grumble that resides in your chest.
>Ponki Pu tilts her head upon hearing you, a look of slight curiosity and intrigue in her cerulean eyes.
>“Anon, you don’t sound so good. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” you answer flatly.
>“You suuuure?”
“Yes.”
>“You sure you’re sure?”
“Very sure.”
>“You sure you’re sure you’re sure you’re--”
>Casting a glare, she knows to silence herself, doing so with a sheepish laugh.
>“Uh, eheh. Sorry, you just sounded kinda sad, though...and now that I think about it, you even /look/ sad.”
>Squinting her eyes exaggeratedly, she begins zipping around you with investigative and inquisitive looks; one moment she studies your face on the table, then in a fraction of an attosecond she’s at your side, seeing if whatever may be troubling you is perhaps on you.
>You remain still, sitting like an anchor at the bottom of the ocean.
>After about 5 brief seconds of her thorough look over, she looks you up and down where she originally stood, hoof resting beneath her chin as she hums in thought.
>“So if you look sad...and if you sound sad...”

>Suddenly, upon a gigantic epiphany she’s struck with, the mare brings her hooves to her cheeks, letting out a gasp that sucks in so much air, it might as well have wasted the entire oxygen supply in the building.
>“OMIGOSH! ARE YOU SAD!?!?”
“Great job Ponka Poirot, you cracked the case. Now seriously, can I just get the--”
>“SH-SH-SH! Don’t worry, Anon! Tou don’t have to say a word to Auntie Pinkie Pie!” she says, silencing you with her hoof clamped over your mouth.
>You don’t even change your facial expressions nor move whatsoever.
>“Just take in deeeeeeeep, deep, deep, deep, deep breaths and you’ll feel all better!”
>You remain silent, glaring into nothing as thoughts of where it all went wrong haunt your mind.
>“Breathe IN 1,2,3...” she says, taking an incredibly large breath, holding it in her cheeks, “...AND OUT 1, 2, 3...”
>Her breath smells like bubblegum and hot air.
>She looks at you, removing her hoof from your mouth.
>“All better?” she asks with a beaming smile.
>You look at her with the exact same face you’ve worn the entire duration she'd been with you.
“...Can I just get my food to-go, actually?”
>Her belated smile deflates, turning into a sad pout.
>The huge blackness in her massive eyes grows wider, the intensity of her eye contact increasing ten-fold.
>“You mean you’re not all better?”
>You shift in your seat a little.
“...No, but I will be. I’m just a little sad. I’ll be fine with some sweets I think.”
>“I see...”
>Her eyes land on you, then your booth’s seat and the vacant space left on it.
>With a newfound smile spread across her face, she climbs into the seat, sitting at your side as you sigh.
“Pankee, no, you don’t need to--”
>“Be a good friend?” she chirps, eyes batting excessively.
>You look at her, seeing that cute, cheesy grin staring up at you in your own booth now.
>“Well?”
>You grumble.

“So what, I’m supposed to share my feelings or some shit?”
>“Only if ya want to!”
>You take that as ‘yes’.
>So, you take a short moment to ruminate your answer.
>Eventually, you decide to just wing it with a dismal shrug.
“Well, fine. I’ll tell ya what, Ponka--I’m alone. I’m all friggin’ alone here. I mean, think about it Pocki Poo; I literally have nothing left. I have a nice life here, yeah, and I’m thankful more than ever for that but...I mean, life’s nicer here, but I still feel like I have the same problems…”
>She raises her brow at that with surprise, almost shocked to hear that you even had problems in the first place.
>“You? Have problems? Like what? I used to have a big problem with a lotta things, y’know, but that doesn’t mean I let it all get to me. Oh! Have I ever told you the story ‘bout what my Granny Pie said to me when I was little?”
>You shake your head ‘no’.
>“Gee, I haven’t? Huh. Well, when I was a little filly, I had this suuuuper big fear of ghosts because they’re spooky and scary...though now that I really think about it, I’m sure that not /all/ ghosts are scary. I dunno. I’ve only met three.”
“You met three ghosts?”
>“Pssh, course I have! But one night, I wasn’t just ordinarily scared, I was sUUUUper scared! The shadows looked bigger and meaner, and it was really, really dark! I hid under my pillow from what I thought I saw, crying cause I was so afraid of things I didn’t know if I made up in my own silly head or not!”
>There's a pause...
“Um...Then what?”
>She smiles.

>“Well, that night, I thought I heard a huuuge monster at the door, walking its way to gobble me up! I cried and cried and cried, but it only started to run to the door! I was just a filly, I didn’t know what to do, so I then cried even more! But then, as the door opened and I was sure I was a goner...I saw it was just my good ol' Granny Pie! Can you believe it? And when she walked in my room, she sat on my bed, turned on the lights and was like: ‘Pinkamena Diane Pie, don’t tell me you’ve been staying awake all night again!’ But I was all like: ‘I’m so sorry Grandma, I just get really scared every night and I thought you were a ghost or a monster or an ogre and those all scare me a lot!’”
“And…?”
>Pinkie smiles pleasantly as the memory starts to warm her from the inside.
>“And she said to me: ‘Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall--learn to face your fears!’ And then she turned the lights off again, but I was still scared, ‘cause I thought I saw a shadow about to snatch her up in its creepy claws! But when /she/ saw it, she just laughed! Can you believe it! Laughed! So she was then all like: ‘Ya see, Pinkie? They can’t hurt you! Just laugh! Just laugh and make ‘em disappear!’”
>She smiles, leaning with her elbow atop the table with a happy sigh.
>This is some deepest lore shit, mang.
>“So from then on, whenever I saw a scary lookin’ shadow, then another, then another...I started to look at them for what they REALLY were. They’re all just silly shadows making funny shapes! And I was like: ‘Wow! I can’t believe I was scared of /that/,’ and started laughing! And now? Now I play with shadow puppets eeeevery night and giggle at the ghosties!”
>You purse your lips with a thoughtful look, followed by a nodding of the head.
“I see...Interesting. So what does that have to do with /me/?”
>“Well, are your “problems” actually dangerous? I mean, do they really affect you that much today?”

“No, not really…Just stuff I have trouble forgetting.”
>“Then laugh at it! Look back at it and just take a giggle! I do it all the time!” she urges you with a persuasive smile. “Embrace it! Laugh at it!”
>Huh...
“...Heh.”
>She playfully bumps your arm.
>“There ya go, Nonny! See? Makes it sooo much better.”
>You giggle a bit more.
“Thanks, Pinkie Pie.”
>“Don’t ya mean, ‘Ponka Po’?”
>You genuinely smile and return the playful bump to her leg.
>The two of you both share a tiny laugh.
“Pinkie Pie? You are so random,” you say with an elated grin.