“Everypony, please.” Rarity stated, drawing her friends’ attention. “You’re all overreacting.” She continued, looking back to her newspaper. “Gabby Gums is just engaging in some harmless gossip, nothing more.”

“But it’s all lies!” Twilight cried, putting her hoof on top of Rarity’s newspaper. “Gabby Gums just prints whatever she wants; she doesn’t care whose reputation she destroys!” She flipped to a page of the newspaper, revealing an exposing page. “Fluttershy has tail extensions!”

The girls all looked at each other, then at Fluttershy, who sank down behind the counter in shame.

“Pinkie Pie is an out-of-control party animal!” Twilight continued, flipping to another page.

“WHAT?!” Pinkie cried, pulling the paper over to her. Shoving her face into the newspaper, she began to read. As she read, she felt a sob building up in her throat. Tears formed in her eyes as she realized how much these “lies” correlated with her real life.

“IT’S TRUE! I DO HAVE A PROBLEM!” Pinkie wailed, collapsing to the floor, a mess of tears and misery.

Her friends glanced at each her, then went back to their gossip column without another word in Pinkie’s direction.

Or at least, that’s what they would have done if they were pricks.

Instead, all of the girls rushed over to Pinkie Pie, their faces filled with sorrow. “Oh my god, Pinkie, are you okay?”

“NO! No, I’m NOT okay! I’m the most un-okayest not-okay that a pony can ever BE!” Pinkie howled. “I – I try to stop, but I just can’t! I throw parties every day, heck, twice on most days! I have an addiction, it’s true! It’s driving me INSANE!”

“Shh-shh-shh… Pinkie…” Twilight whispered, stroking Pinkie’s back.

“NO, Twilight! I can’t take it anymore!” Pinkie cried, shaking Twilight by the shoulders. “The parties, mare… the parties have got me by the nose! I can’t stop! I CAN’T STOP PARTYING!”

“Pinkie!” Rarity said firmly. “Snap out of it! You’re making even ME look down-to-earth.”

“But it’s true! It’s an addiction! It’s been tormented me every day and night ever since I got this stupid cutie mark!” Pinkie wailed. Then she abruptly craned her neck around and started snapping her teeth at her cutie mark. “If I can bite you off, then I’ll be able to stop!” She whimpered, gnashing her teeth furiously, even though her neck wasn’t long enough to reach her mark.

“PINKIE!” Twilight said, grabbing Pinkie’s cheeks and turning her head to face her. “Stop.” Twilight said, and her tone left no room for argument. Pinkie sniffled, but was quiet, looking into Twilight’s eyes. “Biting off your cutie mark won’t cure your addiction. Do you know what will?”

“….Biting off my OTHER cutie mark?” the earth pony asked, a questioning look in her sky-blue eyes.

“No.” Twilight said, her voice not changing. “discipline. That is what will help you get through this. We’re going to help you through it, Pinkie. I swear it.”

Pinkie opened her mouth, but was cut off by a BANG! Everyone turned to the door of Sugarcube Corner, which had just slammed open. A enormous, flying pile of newspapers hovered in, before collapsing onto the floorboards. “Well! My life is officially OVER.” Came a familiar raspy voice from deep in the pile.

Rainbow Dash popped out of the pile, a newspaper clutched in her hooves. “Gabby Gums has made it to – hey…” Her eyes widened, seeing the scene in front of her: the still-sobbing Pinkie Pie, the glaring Twilight, and all the rest.

“Pinkie has an addiction, Dash.” Fluttershy was the one to say it. “A party addiction.”

“It’s true…” Pinkie whimpered, looking at the floorboards.

“WHAT?!” Dash cried, bursting out of the pile of newspapers. “Forget my problem, your problem is WAY worse!”

“I know…” Pinkie whispered, her body racking with sobs.

Twilight glared at the prismatic Pegasus. “Nice job, Dash.” She hissed, still stroking Pinkie’s back.

“How was I supposed to – ugh…” Rainbow Dash said, sighing as she trotted over to Pinkie. “Hey. Pinks. Look at me.” Pinkie looked up from her hooves at Rainbow, who was smiling encouragingly. “Don’t you worry. We’ll get through this, all of us, together.” Rainbow continued, smiling.

“B-but…” Pinkie whimpered, her eyes still brimming with tears.

“No. no buts.” Rainbow said, her hoof still under Pinkie’s chin. “It’s not going to be easy, Pinks. We’re all going to go through hard times in the coming months. But we can get through it. It’s not my opinion, it’s a fact.”

Pinkie sniffled. “Really?” She whimpered quietly.

“Hey – if we can beat the god of darkness and the ancient spirit of chaos, we can cure some stupid addiction.” Rainbow Dash said, smiling. “You’re gonna be okay, Pinks. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She performed the motions as she swore, still looking into Pinkie’s eyes.

Pinkie smiled for the first time. “You girls… you really are the best friends a mare could ever ask for.” She said quietly, wrapping her arms around her friends.

XXXXXXXX
Six Months Later
XXXXXXXX

Pinkie woke up with a smile on her face; she’d been dreaming about that day all that time ago. So much had changed.

Her room was notably less full of party decorations, now; she’d cleaned it out, with the exception of a few balloons for old times’ sake.

The last few months had been hard; VERY hard. Her friends always were there for her, though. From the very start, they confiscated all her party equipment; down to the last piece of confetti. Then they’d put her on a strict detox: No parties. At all. Pinkie shook her head when she remembered that time, a week into her training, when she’d run to her friends, foaming at the mouth, and cursed at them, begging them to let her plan a party.

Her friends had held firm, though. Pinkie remembered that one time the girls had caught her snorting confetti off of a table in her room; they’d had to drag her away, kicking and screaming. After that, the hammer really came down: They made Pinkie go through town, and destroy every one of her secret party stashes. That little endeavor took almost twenty-four hours of nonstop trekking from one location to the next, each one more obscure than the last.

Pinkie remembered those miserable first two months. However, as time went by, she did indeed make progress. She remembered the day she woke up, and her first through wasn’t to plan a “breakfast-party”. She remembered the first time she’d turned down a cupcake, offered to her by one of her friends. She remembered how the scars she never knew she had slowly healed.

Now, Pinkie was pretty much cured of her addiction. She did throw small parties once a week or so, but never big enough ones to cause her to relapse. She still ate sweets, but on a more moderated amount; her pudgy tummy had thanked her extensively for that.

She shook her head, smiling as she poured food into Gummy’s bowl. The little guy had been devastated when he found out news of her addiction and her party-ban; he didn’t blink for days. Eventually, though, even he grew to accept the reality of the situation.

As Pinkie was about to walk downstairs, she saw something on her bedside table. The latest edition of the “Ponyville Foal-free Press”, the newspaper which had jump-started her road to being cured. She glanced into its pages. The newspaper had really gone downhill; after the first month, it had quickly lowered in quality, until now it was just filled with smut and trash, just tabloid junk.

Pinkie smiled, before crumpling the paper into a ball, and tossing it into the garbage where it belonged. Then she trotted off to meet her friends.

Author's Notes:

Again, just a little something I wrote on a whim. If you like it, let me know! If you really want, I may even write a more in-depth look at Pinkie's rehab, but that's only if the story gets relatively popular.

P.S. bonus micro-chapter here!
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/384125/pinkies-addiction-bonus-microending