>Day hexagon in Equestria.
>Every time you blink.
>Every time you try to sleep.
>There they are.
>Spinning.
>You look up at the sun.
>As it sears your retinas, you imagine you can see the little triangle spinning around it, dodging the oncoming madness.
>So fast...
>So spinny...
>The shapes...They're coming for you--
>Something waves in front of your face.
>”Hey! Anon! Nony-poo! A-non-a-long-a-ding-dong!” Pinkie Pie yells, her pink hoof flying in front of your face.
“Buh? Oh...Hex- hey, Pinkie. What's up?”
>There are blinding spots in your eyes. Pinkie cocks her head to the side.
>”What were you staring at? The sun?”
>You stare blankly at the mare.
“I guess. Just spaced out a little,” you say, almost slurring your words.
>She's looking at your hand.
>”Why're you tapping your fingers like that?”
>You look down. Your index and middle fingers tap against the park bench upon which you are seated, as if trying to control something.
“I dunno...”
>Now conscious of your peculiar behavior, you reign in your rogue digits and sit up straight.
>Pinkie leans on you.
>Her poofy mane is in your face, but you don't mind. It smells like cotton candy and honey.
>”Did you get your magic box working, Nonykins?” she asks, looking up at you and resting her head on your shoulder.
>The image flashes in your mind's eye again.
>The bright screen.
>The flashing lights.
>The spinning...oh God, the spinning...
“Yeah. Got it working. Yes. Working.”
1/
 
>Pinkie shakes you a little bit.
>”You're doing it again, Mousy,” she says, pouting slightly.
>You snap back to attention.
“Right, sorry. Yeah, I got it working finally. Took me all night.”
>”Well, that explains why you look so raggedy! C'mon! I know what will pick you up!”
>She pulls you by the sleeve off the bench with a rabid gleam in her eye.
>”Mrs. Cake's special super-duper chocolate coffee coffee cake!” the pink mare cries in excitement.
“Alright,” you say, pulling yourself together. “Let's go, then.”
>Pinkie's smile looks like it's going to split her head in half.
>”Yay! Follow me! I'll get you an extra special super slice!” she yells, bounding off down the street.
>You follow after her, picking up your pace slowly from a shuffle to a jog, to a run, to a dead-sprint to keep up with her.
>As you dodge ponies and market stalls, you feel a vague sense of familiarity wash over you.
>Your eyes go wide and the world starts to shift into neon hues. Just as you'd swear you can hear techno music playing, you collide with a produce cart and go flying.
>”Nony-poo! Are you alright?” Pinkie yells, zipping back to you.
“Ten thirty six...” you mumble.
>”What?”
“Er, nothing. Let's go?”
>Pinkie knots her brow.
>”Okie dokie...”
2/
 
>Five minutes later.
>Pinkie wasn't kidding about getting you a special slice of cake.
>Before you lies a veritable mountain of chocolate and frosting.
>The parry pony stares at her own slice with a look of furious hunger before devouring it in a flurry of terrifying bites.
>You think you see her jaw unhinge like a snake's at one point...
>She watches intently as you eat your cake. It's fantastic. Perfectly moist, with a rich chocolate and coffee flavor. You finish the baked wonder in under a minute and feel strangely refreshed.
>Pinkie looks to be excited again.
>”Was it good? Do you feel better now?”
>You nod, smiling.
>She grins and bounces into you, wrapping her hooves around you.
>”Oh, goodie! I knew you needed a pick-me-up!” As she comes back down and releases you, she looks around quickly.
>”So what do you want to do now? Go to Applejack's? She's putting up a new silo today- OOH! Or Rainbow Dash is practicing her new spin move! OOH! OR, Fluttershy is having her bi-weekly....” her voice fades in your mind.
>Spin move...
>Spin...
>The spinning never ends...
>Until it does...
>Then all is lo--
>”Nony!” Pinkie says loudly. “You did it again!”
“Sorry. How about we do that thing at Applejack's place? That sounds...stable.”
>Pinkie looks at you with scrutiny. You avoid her gaze.
>”Okay!” she says with new enthusiasm.
>You follow the mare up the hill to Sweet Apple Acres.
3/
 
>That night.
>Pinkie falls asleep in your arms on the couch, the book you were reading with her lying open on the coffee table.
>She snores ever so softly, nuzzling up to you and hugging you ever tighter as she dreams.
>You sit, wide awake, staring at the wall.
>After a few minutes, you worm your way out of Pinkie's cuddling and walk to the kitchen.
>The tiles on the floor are in a honeycomb pattern, you notice.
>As you stare at the floor in the low light of the moon, the sides start to shift and move.
>They start, slowly, to spi--
>NO.
>You slap yourself and pour a glass of water. Returning to the couch, you sit down once more. Pinkie immediately latches onto you in her sleep, happily sighing to herself.
>It isn't long, however, until you feel the urge return.
>You turn reluctantly and look towards the room with your 'magic box,' the laptop computer that you've finally managed to get working here.
>It calls you.
>The most super.
>The Madness Without End.
>The Whirlpool of Shape and Time.
>You rise from the couch and walk to the computer room.
>The laptop powers on with a cheerful tune and casts its bright blue light into the house.
>No resisting it now. You drag your finger along the track pad and ready your spin-fingers.
>Then, behind you, in a weary and confused voice, “Nonykins?”
>Pinkie stares in wonder at the screen.
>”What's that?”
4/
 
>Six days later.
>You're just coming home from a weekend in Canterlot.
>The last few days have been blissfully shape-free.
>Ever since Pinkie came up on you with the computer, you've been able to resist its call.
>You walk into the house.
>Silence.
>That's odd.
>Usually Pinkie has tackled you by now.
“Pinkie? Baby? You here?” you call out.
>There's some incomprehensible grunt from--
>Oh God, no.
>You charge in as you hear techno music growing louder.
>She's sitting in front of the computer, frantically tapping at the keys with her hooves.
>There's a hauntingly trance-like expression on her face.
“...Pinkie?”
>”You must spin...Spin to survive...beat the clock...”
>She doesn't move except to hit the controls.
>”It called me. Last night. I heard it. In my dreams,” she mumbles, never looking away from the screen.
“Pinkie, look at me.”
>”Can't. I see all things. I can see through time, now. All that is and will be. In the hexagons. Waiting. I have to watch. Have to spin.”
>You lean in to try and pull her away from the computer, but are repelled by the smell of her mane.
>It's like gasoline and burning tires...
“You were fine when I left. How did you-- you smell like you've not bathed in weeks! How is that even possible!?” you cry, nose burning.
>”Time is irrelevant. The shapes transcend all. I can see dead kings, Nony.”
“It's been THREE DAYS.”
>”For you, yes.” You don't like how calm she sounds. “For me, eternity is stretched ahead; all past lies behind.”
>The mare freezes when the triangle finally collides with a falling hexagon.
5/
 
>Before you can react, she's hit the 'retry' button.
“Pinkie, please stop...”
>”Can't stop. Won't stop. Have to spin. Have to hexagon.”
>You realize what you must do.
>To make this right.
>To keep her from a terrible, geometric fate.
>You run to the toolshed.
>Pinkie is still sitting before the screen when you return with the sledgehammer.
>She only flinches finally when you bring it crashing down on the computer, sending scraps of silicon flying around the room.
>After a few seconds of vacant blinking, she recoils, nearly falling off the chair.
>You catch the mare and lift her up in your arms.
>Her mane bounces around while she scratches her head.
>”Wh- huh? What happened-- Nony! Your box! It's broken! How di-- OOMPH!”
>You squeeze Pinkie with all your might.
“Thank God I'm not too late. The hexagons...they consume you.”
>”I could see everything...in the shapes...the spinning...” she whimpers.
“I know...I know...It's over now. They can't get us anymore.”
>Pinkie shivers and looks up at you, panicked.
>”Wait!”
“What? You didn't tell anyone about the hexagons, did you?”
>”I- I mentioned it to Twilight...”
>There's a loud knock at the door. Twilight's voice rings through the wood.
>”Pinkie Pie!~ Pinkie Pie!~”
>You watch in horror as the librarian stalks around to the window, looking manic.
>”I recreated the magic box you told me about...Hexagonest, Pinkie Pie. Hexagonest! Thirty three seventeen, Pinkie! The secrets of the ancients are made manifest to me!”
>Everything is spinning.
>The shapes have you.
>They always have.
>The hexagons are truth.
>The hexagons are life.
>All is lost...
6/6