"Mare of purple, listen I plead, there is a scroll that you must read!
Twilight, who had been about to head towards the library-based party with Spike and Rarity, turned towards the voice, "Zecora? What is it?"
The zebra seemed to struggle with words for a moment before just giving Twilight a scroll. The unicorn skimmed through its contents and then, seeming a little flustered, started to read it properly.
"What... Is this? None of this makes any sense!"
"What doesn't make sense, dear?" asked Rarity.
"This scroll, it-"
"Hey, what's taking you so long?"
Twilight looked to see Rainbow Dash flying over and as she did so Spike plucked the scroll away from her magic.
"What do you mean, Twilight? It makes perfect sense, It says that draconequi are dragons that look like ponies for a bit, see?"
"No Spike, not like that, I mean... DISCORD was a draconequus, he didn't look like a pony!"
Rainbow Dash landed next to the group, "Maybe he did before we knew him?"
"My friends I do not mean to rush," interrupted Zecora, "But the symptoms list, look at you must!"
Twilight yanked the scroll back from Spike and read aloud, "The early symptoms of a young draconequus include mostly unusual thinking patterns. Despite tending to be of high intelligence they will normally seem to be in a world of their own, often solving problems without realising the significance. Occasionally other, more abnormal, abilities will present, the most frequent of these being preco-..." The unicorn paused, gulping before reading the word out, "Precognition..."
"Precognition? ...Now wait a minute!" Rainbow Dash grabbed the scroll from Twilight, "What's this thing implying???"
Magically snatching the scroll back Twilight continued, sounding worried, "Once the metamorphosis begins new symptoms will quickly appear. The first is always the "body softness" transformation, during which the pony will change shape whilst keeping in general equine form. This will shortly be followed by the ability to mimic other animals and objects..."
"That's what Fluttershy said she spent the morning doing..." Rarity spoke under her breath, cold realisation sinking in.
"Hey, have you all gone nuts? This is PINKIE we're talking about!" yelled Rainbow Dash defensively, in the air again, "She's NOTHING like Discord! She's our FRIEND!"
"...Whilst this occurs the pony will become more obsessed with their new abilities, showing decreased empathy and judgement... Reality-changing powers... Full transformation ability... As they head towards their final form after which it will... Become permanent... And they will no longer be a pony..."
"Not a pony?" Spike took the scroll as Twilight dropped it, reading it through.
"Hey, have you all gone nuts??? Come on guys, this is absurd, you can't..."
"I am sorry, friend in blue, that I did not bring good news for you..." Zecora looked over to one side, avoiding Rainbow Dash's gaze.
"She did seem unusually... Forward... And very upset by us not liking her new look..." mumbled Rarity.
"Guys... You can't really think that... Twilight...?" the pegasus gave the unicorn a pleading look, only to see tear-filled eyes staring back.
"I... I think... This could really be what she has..." the purple unicorn managed to blurt out, trying her best to stay strong.
"It says here that, traditionally by the royals of the land, she is to be... Terminated? Twilight, what's that mean?" Spike looked up to her only to be caught in a strong hug, the only answer she gave.
Rainbow Dash fell the short distance to the ground, staring straight ahead. One by one the others present followed her gaze... The princesses of Canterlot had joined them.
"No..." whispered Twilight, for the first time looking upon Celestia with fear.
"Twilight, my dearest student..."
Suddenly the addressed pony didn't seem scared.
"Princess, WHAT IS GOING ON?!?" yelled the little unicorn. The sun royal faltered, taking a step back. Her sister did not.
"Lower thine tone, Twilight Sparkle, we are not here to kill your friend."
There was some relief to be found there.
"So... This isn't what...?"
"I am afraid that it is."
The purple unicorn glanced to her Ponyville friends, then back to the princesses, "I... I don't understand..."
"Twilight..." Princess Celestia stepped forwards again, wincing as she saw the distrust in her student's eyes, "I... I am sorry... We... We did suspect but I wished it were not so... I am sorry I did not tell you..."
"But why didn't you?"
The sun princess sighed. Why hadn't she told her? Of course, she didn't know how, she still didn't... Especially not to Twilight, who she'd known since the filly was so small and innocent... How can you express pain to one such as that?
Looking up to her sister's moon Celestia spoke, "Let me tell you a story, young Twilight... Perhaps it will explain...
"Once upon a time there was a young zebra named Distant Chords. He lived with his parents in Canterlot, near the castle itself. His parents were well known and very busy musicians and, taking advantage of this, their son would often sneak away into the castle, to explore and entertain himself. In the castle lived two sisters, let us call them Bookworm and Midnight Oil. These sisters were also very busy types and their duties kept them apart, to the point that they were more strangers to each other than to most of the castle's staff.
"One day Distant Chords stumbled upon the elder sister's study. Bookworm seemed young and bored, so he tried approaching her. She was, however, unimpressed by the young colt and promptly ignored him. He moved her quills and played with her ink, but she ignored him. He talked to her for hours and she never said a word. Eventually he left the room. Bookworm thought that would be the end of the matter but the next day he came back. He told her that he had found another like she and speculated on whether or not they were related, for neither had spoken to him. He then went on to take sheets of parchment, folding them into paper toys as he again spoke to her for hours on end before taking his leave. The next day he came again, and the next. Most days the zebra would appear and, whilst steadily making a mess of her stationary, tell Bookworm all about himself. He talked about his travels around the castle, about his parents' work, about how proud they'd been when his tribal mark appeared, about his narrow escapes from the guards, about his thoughts for the future; about the whole of his life he would tell her, though she said not a word.
"This went on for weeks until one day he came in and instead told Bookworm of her own sister. "She does much less work," he told her, "She spends most of her study hours writing poems and stories. When I come in she no longer ignores me and together we play such fun games!" Shocked, Bookworm looked to him, hurt to hear that her sister ignored her duties whilst she slaved away! Seeing her surprise the colt told Bookworm that she should come with him that night and that together they would catch her sister in the act of idleness. Bookworm did not verbally respond but late that evening turned up as planned to where he was waiting for her. Together they went to Midnight Oil's room and crept in to spy on her.
""You foal!" Bookworm had exclaimed, "She is working just as I do!" With this Distant Chords fell into laughter, for he had tricked Bookworm into speaking! At first both the sisters were surprised but it was so ridiculous that soon they laughed with him. The noise brought guards bursting in and they moved to take the young colt out, but the sisters stepped forward and insisted he was an aide for their studies.
"Finally they talked the guards into leaving and Distant Chords laughed all the louder. He insisted they worked too much and that, as their newly-appointed aide, he would do his best to see that they spend time enjoying themselves. From that day on the sisters spent much less time studying but much more time together with Distant Chords, and with him had the best times they had ever had..."
"It was fun..." mumbled Princess Luna, "He was a good friend..."
"He certainly was..." Celestia sighed, "...But then one day he turned up... Stranger. His neck was longer, he joked that the result of his grandmother's neck rings had been passed down to him. Then he got stranger still... Over the course of the day his hobby of disorganisation grew far beyond disrupting studies; it became part of his very body. By the time we realised what had truly come over him, it was too late... He had become Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony; a true draconequus. It was then ponies turned to us, expecting my sister and I to kill him. We could not... After all, he still seemed friendly, and without intention to do harm, we thought that perhaps old books were best ignored..."
Celestia trailed off into silence, both she and Luna looking remorseful.
"So what happened?" asked Spike.
Luna spoke up, "First it was Fillydelphia... He went to visit family and began to act like a draconequus... He warped it, truly..."
Celestia stamped the ground, her voice sounding strained, "The whole time, he acted like it was just a game... It seemed fine at first and those around him seemed happy enough, but as his power spread ponies found it terrifying and worried about how oddly their loved ones behaved when under his command... It was truly monstrous, yet, strangely... So few of those actually under his spell seemed unhappy... Nopony was hurt apart from those who went there trying to do him harm, and even then..."
"We requested he keep to one area and he did," interrupted the moon royal, apparently not considering this a time to muse, "But he would not leave Fillydelphia and we would not kill... We were at a standstill. Then came the Elements of Harmony... We summoned their power and the fate they picked was one of stone."
"...He posed for it..." mumbled Celestia.
Luna ignored her sister's words, "Twilight Sparkle, you must use the Elements to stop your friend before harm occurs."
In the library the Cutie Mark Crusaders were cheering their work. The gems had been chosen and arranged, and the green scales swapped for apple tree leaves; a big mane around the Pinkie's neck and trailing down her back.
"What do you think?" asked Sweetie Belle, holding up a mirror.
"Wait just a minute!" Rainbow Dash was back in the air, "You said things only got bad after he was "truly a draconequus" right? Well Pinkie isn't! She's definitely still Pinkie!"
The moon princess shook her head, "I'm afraid there's no way to stop the transformation, i-"
"Well I'm not about to give up!" cried the Element of Loyalty and shot over to the library.
Applejack glanced over as one of her friends smashed in through a window, "Rainbow Dash? What's all this commotion for?"
Rainbow Dash got up, shaking glass off herself, looking blearily at the crowds as she tried to get her head straight, "No time to talk, got to-"
Twilight looked to her mentor, "Princess... Is there really no other way...? Surely, after all this time, we could... Might the Elements be used differently? Isn't there something, ANYTHING, else we could do?"
Luna stamped the ground, "We must not waste time!"
"It's almost perfect, almost!" Pinkie Pie was cheerfully remarking, having not noticed Rainbow Dash, "It's just missing one thing! My PARTY FACE!"
"Oh no..." whimpered the blue pegasus.
"What the hay..." mumbled Applejack, looking from her worried blue friend to Pinkie.
Twilight didn't respond to Luna, her eyes fixed on Celestia.
"I have looked... My dearest student, truly I have looked, and I will continue to look until-"
Her words were cut off by screams from from the library. Frightened crowds of ponies came running out, among them Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash carrying the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"WAIT! What are you doing???"
It sounded almost like Pinkie.
"Being scared... Is fun, isn't it? Well then..."
Her voice suddenly seemed to come from the air itself.
"If you won't laugh with me then panic, PANIC!"
Lighting zigzagged down, striking the library, and Twilight watched in horror as her home exploded into a cloud of confetti.