Twilight opened her eyes, slowly blinking at first, but became more awake and rose out of her bed. It was still early in the morning and the sun was just now rising. She crept down the stairs of the library, careful not to disturb Spike, who was still sleeping soundly. Today, she was supposed to meet Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner. Spike's birthday was coming up in a few weeks and she needed help setting up the party, so, naturally, she asked Pinkie Pie, who was more than happy to help her.
Twilight brushed her mane, grabbed her scarf and party supply list, and opened the door cautiously and quietly to set off for Sugarcube Corner. At this time in the morning, not very many ponies were awake, so the streets were mostly empty, with the only ponies out so early in the morning being ones who had set up vendors selling various items. As Twilight neared Sugarcube Corner, she noticed that the lights inside were off, which was odd. Though, the Cakes were out of town for the weekend with the babies, so it might not be too crazy to assume that she may just be sleeping still.
The front door was unlocked. though, which was worrying to say the least, as Pinkie Pie was supposed to lock up the store each night and open it in the morning. Inside, the counters where pastries were supposed to be set out were empty. Twilight went up the stairs to Pinkie's room and knocked on the door, no answer. She tried slightly harder, which made the door creak open slightly. As Twilight peered her head inside, she noticed how it was nearly pitch-black, with only a small amount of light pouring in from the blinds on the far side of the room.
Twilight opened the door all the way and walked over to the window, but was only about halfway across when a loud pop made her jump back a few steps.
"Seriously?! Balloons?!" Twilight couldn't help but angrily hiss.
Twilight regained her composure, and with a sigh, trotted over to the window, thankfully not setting off anything else that may have been in the room. Twilight opened the curtains so the now risen sun could flood through, making the room visible. Twilight gazed at the pigsty before her, balloons and streamers hung from the ceiling and lay strewn across the floor. But her attention was drawn to the bed. Amongst the confetti-covered bed lay some sort of creature with eight tentacles, bulging blue eyes, and a puffy, pink mane.
"Is that... an octopus?" Twilight gasped.
The octopus atop the bed focused its two eyes on Twilight and excitedly looked at the purple unicorn, then began to squirm its tentacles around, making slimy schlicking . The octopus also had something on its back, three balloons, identical to those that are on Pinkie Pie's cutie-mark.
"Pinkie? I-is that you?"
The octopus began to squirm more frantically, as though trying to communicate, it appeared it lacked a mouth.
"Oh... this is bad! Wait here, I'll go get help!" Twilight was beginning to break down, this made no sense at all.
She quickly raced out and to the Carousel Boutique in search of Rarity, who had been the closest pony to her. Twilight began frantically slamming her hooves on the door until she could hear voices inside and what sounded like shattering glass.
"Hold on! Hold on! NO! SWEETIE BELLE, PUT THAT BACK!"
"Oh, c'mon, Rarity! I just want to earn my cutie-mark! Maybe I could be a famous doctor, one day!"
"Actually, Rarity, doctors can perform surgeries at times, too."
"Sweetie Belle, can you just stop for now? WAIT, NO! PUT OPAL DOWN, I HAVE TO GO ANSWER THE DOOR!"
Rarity answered the door to see a panting Twilight.
"Twilight? Are you okay? You look horrible!"
"RARITY! PINKIE PIE! OCTOPUS! BALLOONS!" Twilight got behind Rarity and began shoving her, "WE HAVE TO GET TO SUGARCUBE CORNER!"
Upon arrival, Rarity began gagging at the sight of the Pinkie Pie octopus hybrid. Her slimy tentacles were still slapping against the bed, which were moistening the sheets.
Rarity picked her up, "Pinkie Pie? Are you there?!"
This caused her to have a worried expression and also had caused a black liquid to secrete from under her and onto her hoof, causing the unicorn to drop her and faint. Pinkie Pie had landed safely on Rarity's stomach, and with slight hesitation, Twilight ran out the door to find other ponies. She would need more help if she wanted to figure out what was going on and how to solve it.
"Maybe Rainbow Dash can help me.." Twilight mused she sped through the town square, now bustling with ponyfolk shopping through out the markets. Up in the sky, Twilight could see a familiar blue pagasis clearing out the sky.
"RAINBOW!" Twilight attempted to get her attention, but to no avail, she was too high and going to fast to pay attention to her. Upon further inspection, she noticed a green blot in the sky flying in circles far below her: Tank, Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise. He was flying much closer to the ground, and would likely be easier to get the attention of. Tank looked down toward her and saw she was flailing her hooves in the air, obviously trying to get him down there.
"Tank, I need to get Rainbow Dash down here, it's an emergency!"
Tank slowly flew up to where Rainbow Dash was and got her to stop for a moment. At this instance, Tank flung himself upon Rainbow's back and repeatedly pulled his head back and rammed his head into her neck, lowering her down to the ground, where she then noticed Twilight.
"Oh, hey Twi."
"Rainbow Dash, I need you to follow me, it's an emergency!"
"Why? What's wrong?"
"It's Pinkie Pie, she's... an octopus."