At The Golden Oaks Library, the young dragon, Spike, was waking up. Since they did not have as prep work to do, or need to try and get customers on their way to work, he and Shining Armor got to sleep in later than some of the others. Even more so lately, since there was no need to see Twilight off to school.
After a yawn and good stretch, Spike got up to go get breakfast.
"Wheeeeee!" he heard someone squealing out. Curious, the young dragon rushed to find out what was going on.
Reaching the stairs, he watched as Pinkie Pie climbed, then hopped onto the banister, and slid back down, shouting as she went.
"What are you doing?" Spike asked as he watched Pinkie hop back up the stairs.
"Sliding down the railing," the mare answered before jumping onto the rail and sliding down it again.
Deciding that was probably as much of an answer as he was going to get, Spike dropped the subject and continued downstairs.
Or, he tried to at least. Before he could even make it down the first step, a pair of pink hooves wrapped around him, picking him up.
"Why go that way?" Pinkie asked as she put him on the railing. "I mean, it's so boring, and this is way more fun!" She then gave him a gentle push, sending him sliding down.
She was right, it was fun.
Until he collided with the decorative end cap at the bottom. A very high pitched cry escaped the young dragon as very sensitive parts he had yet to use came in contact with a very solid wooden sphere.
After half a minute of lying on the floor holding the point of impact, Spike finally managed to recover enough to get back up and continue on. Admittedly, he no longer felt very hungry, but hopefully he would have his appetite back once he made it to the kitchen and made breakfast.
Entering the main room of the library, Spike stopped, staring at what looked like Pinkie Pie straddling the horse head statue in the middle of the table, with a cowboy hat on.
"High-ho, Silver! Away!" she shouted, pumping a hoof in the air.
Taking a step back, Spike turned to look at the stairs. Pinkie was still there, climbing up the steps and sliding down the banister. He then stepped forward and turned back. He could still see Pinkie pretending to ride the statue.
Even as strange and quickly as she could move, she could not be in two places at once... could she?
With a groan, he shook his head. He would figure it out after breakfast. It was too early for this.
Reaching the kitchen, Spike stopped again, staring at three Pinkie Pies.
"...what's going on?..."
"We're making breakfast!" the three Pinkies answered at once.
"I'm making pancakes," one stated.
"I'm making waffles," another added.
"I'm making french toast, " said the third.
"Hungry?" the three of them asked at the same time, giving big grins.
"Uh..." Spike said, staring back and forth between the trio of pink ponies with massive grins on their faces. "...I... think I forgot something upstairs." He took several steps back, leaving the kitchen. As soon as he was out of sight, he turned and ran back upstairs as fast as he could. Reaching the door to Shining Armor's room, he threw it open.
"Shining! Wake up! Something weird's going on!"
"How weird?" Shining asked automatically as he woke up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"There are Pinkie Pies in our house."
Turning to look at Spike, Shining Armor blinked, trying to get his still tired mind to process what he just heard. One eyebrow slowly raised up.
"That's not too weird," he finally said. "Pinkie Pie can pretty much get in whenever she wants."
"No," Spike said, reaching out to grab Shining's face. "Pinkie Piessss." He pulled the unicorn closer. "Plural! As in... more... than... one!"
Shining's horn lit up, taking a hold of Spike and gently pulling them apart.
"Okay," Shining admitted. "That is weird." Tossing the sheets aside, he rolled out of bed and got up to see this for himself.
The first Pinkie Pie he came across was hanging off the steps. Somehow, she had managed to get her head stuck through between the railings, and her body was dangling off the edge. As the two of them approached, Pinkie looked up at them and grinned.
"Hi!" she called out, waving a hoof at them.
"Uhm... hi?" Shining said as he looked at her. "Do... do you need help?"
"Pff," Pinkie huffed, waving a hoof. "I'm fine." She smirked, letting out a snort. "Just... hanging around is all."
The sound of a rim shot echoed through the air.
"Uhm... okay then?" Shining said as he continued down that stairs. "We'll... leave you to it, then..." Slowly skirting around the strange pink pony, he continued down the stairs with Spike not far behind him.
The next Pinkie they found was in the main room, lying on the floor, hog-tied with rope.
"Be careful," she said in a way that sounded like it was supposed to be a whisper, but was actually very loud and clear. She motioned toward the table with the horse head statue. "He's really good!"
"How..." Shining Armor started to asked, but then stopped. Things were already weird...er than usual without trying to figure out seemingly normal-ish Pinkie Pie behavior from multiple Pinkie Pies.
He and Spike gave a very wide berth to the hog-tied pony and made their way on to the kitchen.
"Morning!" three voices rang out at the same time.
Two Pinkies shot forward, one grabbing Shining Armor while the other took a hold of Spike. The stallion and dragon were suddenly sitting at the kitchen table, with plates dropped in front of them.
"Breakfast is ready," one of the Pinkies called out. The three of them then started zipping back and forth, dropping off stuff.
"Pancakes!"
Pancakes appeared on their plates.
"Waffles."
Waffles joined the pancakes.
"French toast."
"Butter."
"Apple Butter."
"Zap Apple Butter."
"Syrup."
"Whipped cream."
"Sprinkles."
"Crushed nuts."
"Shredded coconut."
"Banana slices."
"Strawberry slices."
"Blueberries."
"Milk."
"Orange juice."
"And hot tea."
The last three ended up on a small stool that was being used a miniature side table. All the food had been placed on the table. In such abundance that the entire thing was covered. The plates had been lost under all of it. More so under what was pretty much a massive pile of whipped cream, covered in toppings, with the breakfast foods poking out in a few places.
There was a knock at the door.
"I'LL GET IT!" Shining shouted, jumping up from the table. Horn lighting up, he grabbed Spike and whatever of the original breakfast foods he could get a hold of through all the topping, taking both with them as he ran for the front door.
Tearing the waffle in two, Shining passed half of it to Spike while settling the dragon on his back.
"We need to figure out what's going on and how to stop it before it can get any weirder," he stated before taking a huge bite of the waffle. It was... hard to describe. All of the other stuff the Pinkies had added still clung to the surface, mixing so much, that he could not taste the waffle itself. It was all just a mishmash of different flavors.
"So, where do we begin?" Spike asked.
"The first step is to see if we can find the real Pinkie Pie."
The knock at the door repeated, louder and more urgent.
"Bet you a new comic book that's her," Spike said with a grin. He then shoved the entire waffle half into his mouth.
After swallowing, Shining rolled his eyes and let out a snort.
"We've been over this, already, Spike. You can't expect something to happen just because of your comments, like in a comic." He motioned at the door with his nose. "Yes, it could be Pinkie, but it could be another friend." He paused and smirked. "Or even that mystery princess."
Spike hopped off Shining's back and rushed the last bit to the door.
"Only one way to find out," he said as he grabbed the door and pulled it open.
Shining came to stop as he saw Zecora and Crystal Heart, with Crystal carrying an unconscious Pinkie Pie across her back.
"Apologies for the early arrival," Zecora said, "but I fear it is a matter of Pinkie's survival."
Crystal Heart stepped inside, turning slightly to let them see their passed out friend across her back.
"What happened?" Spike asked.
"I fear that she was a bit of a fool," Zecora explained, "and tried to use the power of Everfree's Mirror Pool."
Shining tilted his head, raising an eyebrow. He had never heard of a mirror pool before.
"Spike?"
"Consider me already looking," Spike said, heading toward the reference section.
After giving the young dragon a nod, Shining returned his attention to the arrivals.
"Come on," he said as he turned toward the stairs. "There's an extra room upstairs we can put her in. And anything you can tell me about what's going on would really help."