//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Secret of Pie // by Cesar //------------------------------// CRASH! Twilight jolted out of bed, galloping out of her bedroom as fast as she could. What in Equestria was that? She wondered as she careened down the stairs. Did Rainbow Dash crash into the library again? No, I had Shiny set up that invisible shield after last time. What could have- Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs and froze. The library was a disaster. Books were strewn right and left, some stacked up in large heaps, others just lying on the ground. Not a single book had stayed on the shelves. She let out a small groan. Great. Just great! Now I’ll have to reorganize everything! How did this even happen? As if in answer, one of the piles of books shifted, and a bright pink head and mane popped out. “Hi Twilight! Sorry about the mess! This book I needed was reeeeally high up, so I had to make a book ladder to reach it!” Of course it was Pinkie. Twilight thought as she facehooved. “Pinkie, what have I told you about messing up the library?” she said, looking sternly down at Pinkie. “Oh, I know!” Pinkie made a silly face that looked vaguely like the one Twilight currently had, and said, in a voice that sounded a bit like Twilight, “You said ‘Pinkie, if you need a book, just ask either me or spike. Don’t tear the place up when I’ve already got an organizational system in place. After all, I am the Princess of Organizational Systems! Now organize!” “I don’t sound like that!” “Okay, maybe I made up the last part, but still!” Pinkie playfully stuck her tongue out at Twilight. Twilight rolled her eyes again. “Well, why didn’t you do that?” “Do what?” “Get me or Spike.” “Oh, that! Well, you were asleep, and I didn’t want to be rude, but you’d locked the door for the night, so I just tunneled in through your lab so I wouldn’t wake you up!” “You… what?” Twilight looked a bit confused. Pinkie sighed. “Twilight, do I have to explain everything? You were asleep, and you’d looked really worn out yesterday, so I figured you could use some extra sleep, but at the same time, I needed to get a book. However, you had Shiny put up that force field thingy, so just going in through the window quietly like I normally would was out. So, I tunneled in through the lab.” Twilight was about to say something, but Pinkie cut her off, “And before you ask, no, I didn’t drink any of those fancy juices you have in those funny glasses down there, and no, I did not press the buttons on that machine that spits out the squiggly lines. Although, I was tempted,” she said with a sly grin. “But, I put those needs aside. I had to find out something important!” Twilight was considering being stunned, but then she remembered exactly who she was talking to and instead just sighed. “Okay, fine. Next time, just ring the doorbell. I really don’t mind being woken up. Anyway, what was so important it couldn’t wait until I open the library in…” she glanced at her clock, “ten minutes?” “Well, you know how I went on that super amazing road trip with Applejack and her family the other day?” “Umm… I think so?” Pinkie looked slightly offended. “Really? You don’t read what I write in our friendship journal?” “It’s a journal! You don’t read other ponies’ journal entries! It’s rude!” “Twilight, it’s a shared journal! You suggested it, you silly goose! Of course we’d read the other’s entries!” “Celestia never read Luna’s entries! I asked her!” “And look where that got them.” Pinkie said, suddenly somber. Twilight paused, considering this. The sisters had kept a shared journal for years, but still Celestia didn’t seem to take notice of any of Luna’s concerns until it was too late. She’d hate for herself and her friends to go through something similar. Imagine if Rarity somehow became the next Nightmare Moon! She shuddered at the thought. “Okay Pinkie, I see your point. I’ll be sure to read the other entries once I get some time.” Pinkie brightened up again. “Good! Oh, and you may want to ask Dashie if she’d like you to rewrite her entries. Her penmareship is terrible!” Twilight chuckled. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. So, what about this road trip?” “Right! Well, we got a little lost, we saw some cool creatures in this cave, we referenced The Emperor’s New Groove-” “What?” “Nothing. I took some pictures, we sang a ridiculously catchy song that I’ll have stuck in my head for a month, and then we finally made it to Goldie Deliciouseseses cabin!” “…Okay? And what does this have to do with my library?” “Everything, twilight. Everything has to do with everything. Especially your library.” Twilight looked puzzled, but Pinkie continued before she could say anything. “While we were there, I found a book that would have said if I was related to the Apple Family or not. One of those geological types.” “Genealogical.” “Old stuff, same sort of thing.” “No they aren’t! They’re two totally different-” Twilight stopped herself, then took a deep breath in while extending her hoof just like how- “Ooh, is that that thing Princess Cadence taught you?” Pinkie remarked. Twilight did her best to keep her focus, then breathed out again. “Yes. It is. Now then, what about the genealogy book?” “Well, I was reading it over Goldie’s shoulder, and I saw that the smudge that blotted out whether or not I was part of the Apple Family looked exactly like the smudge that I found on that scroll you were looking at. You really ought to just make books, you know. Reading your scrolls involves a lot of walking backwards.” “Um… okay?” “Anyways, if I know my smudges, and I know my smudges, there is no way there would be two identical smudges over the same thing in two different books! And I didn’t see any smudges like that anywhere else in the Apple Family’s book, just that bit where it mentions the Pie family. So, I needed to check that scroll again, just to be sure that they were the same. And… they were! Twilight decided that it was appropriate to be stunned this time. “Pinkie, are you saying…” “Yes! I think somepony, somewhere, made those smudges deliberately! On top of that, when I looked through all those other genamology books you have, I couldn’t find a single other mention of the Pie family anywhere. Not. One. Somepony went to a lot of trouble trying to hide something, and you know what that means!” “I think so, but-” “The Pie family has a big secret that somepony doesn’t want anypony to know about! Isn’t that exciting!?” Pinkie’s grin was so large, Twilight wondered how exactly her face contained it all. Her words, though, were a different matter. Pinkie thought that there was some conspiracy against her family? That certainly was big news. Ordinarily, Twilight would have just said that it was Pinkie being random or something like that, but this was different. She had done some research, and had come to a conclusion that, Twilight had to admit, was completely within the realm of possibility. Still, that was only one option. There had to be other possible explanations. “Pinkie, as interesting as that theory is, I don’t think you have enough solid evidence to make a case.” “Of course I don’t, silly! That’s why I need your help!” “My help? With what?” “I need somepony who can get the answers. A hard-boiled detective who can crack the case wiiiiiiide open. Someone with investigatitive skills who can get to the bottom of this!” “…and, that would be me?” Pinkie laughed. “No, silly, that’d be me! But everyone knows that a good detective needs a sidekick! Every Sherclop needs a Trotson, after all!” Twilight was a little taken aback, but she knew there was no arguing with her when she was this excited, so she just went along with it. “Fine, I’ll be Trotson,” Twilight said, exasperated, “I’ll start going through my books, see what I can find.” “No need! I went through them all while you were still asleep, and I couldn’t find anything about big Pie secrets. No, for this, we’re going to have to go straight to the source.” “…which is?” “Pack your bags and tell Spike to start cleaning, because we’re going… to the Rock Farm!”