Pinkie Pie found herself in a cramped little space. It hardly bothered her since it was by no means the smallest space she had been in. It was smaller than the oven (and nowhere near as hot), but larger than a hat. Maybe it was about the size of a bread box, but it was rounder.

A quick bit of squirming gave Pinkie an idea on how to get out of there. Getting her legs under her, she pushed to sit up. After, she looked around.

It looked to Pinkie like she was in a dining car. All around her were tables with white tablecloths, candles, and cutlery. She was currently sitting on a table, on a serving tray, with the lid now on her head. There were no other ponies around that she could see.

But there was a dessert cart.

Pinkie's eyes grew wide as she stared, licking her lips. Cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, and even some weird jiggly red thing filled with fruit, all waiting for her. She had no idea what the jiggling red thing was, but she knew that it was on the dessert cart, so she was going to eat it.

Her target acquired, she leaped from the table she was on to another. Pinkie landed with the barest of sound, the items on the new table not even budging from the impact. Before all four hooves had even landed, she was leaping again for the next. With ease, she hopped from table to table, stopping only when she reached the last one before the cart.

Eyes narrowing in concentration, Pinkie Pie pressed her front half close to the table. Her hips and tail wiggled back and forth as she got ready. Once she was certain she had figured out the exact distance, Pinkie jumped. Her front hooves stretched out in front of her as she reached for the target. It was a perfect jump.

There was a faint squeak as the dessert cart suddenly moved forward.

Pinkie had just enough time realize she was going to miss, but there was no way for her to adjust for it. She could only watch as she slammed down onto the handlebar, the front end lifting up from the ground as the entire thing pivoted on the hind wheels. Pinkie slammed into the ground, knocking the entire cart over with her, and sending all of the desserts flying through the air.

A chocolate cream pie landed on her head, splattering across her face and hair. Another pie landed on her rump. It felt like coconut, but Pinkie could not be sure since she was unable to taste things through her fur (yet).

The sound of laughter started to fill the air. It started with a single laugh. Then another soon joined it, then another, and another. Soon, dozens of voices were laughing at the top of their lungs.

Pinkie wiped the cream from her eyes and sat up. She looked around, the laughter seeming to come from everywhere around her. Every table, every chair, even the cart itself, they were all laughing at her.

"Hey!" she snapped. "Stop laughing. That wasn't funny."

"Oh, but Pinkie," Discord said, his face appearing on the side of the serving lid that Pinkie had been wearing earlier, "I thought you liked it when you made ponies laugh." He looked at the claws on his eagle talon. "You make your friends laugh all the time, don't you?"

"That's different," Pinkie replied. "My friends laugh with me." She motioned with her hoof at the room around her. "They're all laughing at me."

A grin spread across Discord's face as he leaned forward. His eyes shifted, changing colors and swirling. The action was soon mirrored by Pinkie Pie's.

"Is it?" Discord asked. "Is it really, Pinkie?"

The image changed before the pink pony's gaze. No longer did it show Discord. Instead it was Rainbow Dash, hooves across her stomach as she guffawed. She was soon joined by Applejack, grinning and chuckling. Then came Shining Armor, Rarity, and even Fluttershy. As if that was not enough, they were soon joined by Mr. and Mrs. Cake, then Pumpkin and Pound. More and more ponies appeared until the entirety of Ponyville was laughing at her.

And it did not end there.

Next appeared the princesses, and Pinkie's parents. Soon, almost every pony Pinkie had ever met -- all except one -- were laughing at her.

Pinkie Pie continued to stare. A pink-tinged gray began to spread out across her body, starting from her nose and spreading out from there. The curly, puffy mane deflated and straightened, lying flat along one side of her head and straight down. The swirling colors vanished from her eyes, turning back to their normal blue. She blinked rapidly as they filled with tears, streams running down her cheeks.

"Stop it," she whimpered before speaking louder. "Stop it. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!"

Pinkie reared up on her hind legs, bringing her front hooves down to slam against the lid. There was a audible bang as the metal was struck, denting and warping from the impact. Pinkie stomped on it again, ears pinned back against her head as she brought all her weight and earth pony strength down onto the piece of metal. Tears ran down her face, flying with each lift and drop as she slammed down onto the lid again, and again, and again, and again.

"Stop laughing!" she yellowed as she continued to stomp the offending piece of dining ware. "It's not funny! It's not funny! It's... not.. funny... It's...not... It's... not..."

The lid a now unrecognizable mass and her anger exhausted, Pinkie dropped to the ground and curled up. Her chest rose and fell as it was racked with sobs. She pulled herself tight, trying to be as small as possible, and cried.

"Pinkie?" a soft voice said, drawing attention. Opening her eyes, she blinked away the tears to try and see who was there. The blurred image slowly came into focus, until she found herself looking at Shining Armor, Applejack, and Rarity. Of the three, only Shining Armor was looking at her. His head was tilted to one side, and one eyebrow was raised.

"Are you okay?" he asked, taking a step closer.

Pinkie looked away and sniffed. She reached up with a foreleg, wiping the tears from her face.

"What difference does it make?" she mumbled as she stood up. "Come on. I just want to go home."

Shining Armor stood there, watching Pinkie walk toward the door. Her steps were slow, her hooves barely lifting. It was more of a trudge really. It was strange. Whenever Pinkie Pie walked...

It was then that Shining realized the real issue. Trudge or not, Pinkie Pie was walking. Ever since he had known her, Pinkie Pie never walked. Or at least not that he could remember. Every time he had seen her moving -- and there were times where it just seemed like she popped up out of nowhere -- Pinkie had always done her hyper, happy little hopping motion.

He turned to look at Rarity and Applejack.

"Have either of you ever seen Pinkie like this?" he asked.

"She seems fine to me," Applejack answered, looking at one of the tables... or something.

Rarity gave no reply. Instead, she seemed to be grabbing the cutlery and candle holders, shoving them into a bag while growling "mine."

Shining Armor closed his eyes and rubbed his head. It felt like it was starting to throb. It also felt strange to rub it with his horn missing.

Dear Celestia, he thought as he started to follow after Pinkie, please let us all get through this okay.

Author's Notes:

I feel bad for doing this to Pinkie Pie.
I'm sorry, Pinkie! Don't be mad! I promise I'll try to make it up to you.
If you're curious, the picture is Always Happy created by tsand106 on Deviantart