If anypony had been standing outside the Ponyville library, or anywhere in a mile radius for that matter, they would have been temporarily deafened from the loud screaming emanating from within the wooden, usually silent walls. The scream traveled out through Ponyvile, bouncing off the many buildings. Many ponies stopped and turned their heads in the direction of the library, confused about what could possibly make that sound.
Opal screamed in surprise and fear as Winona collided with her. The two ponies rolled along the ground in a swirling mess of arms and manes, only stopping when they smashed into one of the bookcases causing a shower of books to rain down on them. Opal took the opportunity to push the slobbering, growling pony off of her and run away. Winona quickly recovered from being struck by falling literature and gave chase. The two ended up in an endless chase around the circular room.
"Winona! Heel! Stop! ...Please?" Applejack demanded, she yelled at the top of her voice for Winona to stop but the earth pony would not be acknowledged. Winona was a single minded pony at the moment and all she thought of was chasing the unfamiliar Pony with the familiar cat scent. Each time they raced around the room everypony had to jump out of the way or be run over by the panicking Opal.
Owlowiscious backed up just in time to avoid her. Peewee had been placed on his back by Spike to protect him. "Opal! Stop running, maybe we can talk this out!"
"Talk it out?!" Opal had briefly changed from running around the room to being chased around Tank, the stout Pegasus providing some cover for the unicorn. "Are you out of your feathery mind?!"
"Um, Rarity." Dash spoke. "Don't you think you should try and help Opal."
Rarity was silent for a minute as she watched the scene unfold. She didn't seem to hear Dash at first. "Hmm? Oh, why don't we give it a minute or two?" She asked. "It's sort of entertaining."
"I heard that, fat-horn!" Opal shouted.
"Winona! Stop this right now!" Applejack charged her pet, and latched onto her back. Winona thrashed around and made Applejack slip off, accidently sending her into another bookcase.
"Girls!" Twilight spoke up. "Stop destroying my library!"
"E-excuse me? Miss Winona?" Fluttershy tried to talk to Winona, despite the fact that Fluttershy was speaking very quietly and Winona was on the other side of the room by then. "M-maybe w-we could just sit down and talk this out? Please?"
"Flutters." Angel commented. "I'm standing next to you and I can barely hear you."
"Oh, sorry."
He facehoofed. "Please stop apologizing."
"Sorry."
"Can we focus please?!" Opal shouted at them. She had somehow scaled the wall and was clinging to one of the book-filled crannies. Winona was directly below her, trying and failing to nab the unicorn just out of her reach. "Somepony stop this deranged mutt already!"
Everything seemed to dissolve into a lot of yelling after that. Applejack had recovered and was arguing with Rarity about their pet's behavior, and Twilight was yelling at the others to be careful with her books, all while Opal was calling for help, slash throwing insults at Winona who probably didn't even hear her. The others watched on in bewilderment.
"Applejack!" Rarity shouted. "Control your mangy dog at once!"
"Get your frumpy cat to stop and she'll stop!"
Rainbow Dash and Tank had been watching from the relative safety of the kitchen doorway.
She sighed. "Well, I guess the fastest Pegasus in Equestria needs to step in."
The ever determined Dash started to hobble back into the room but was stopped by an outstretched arm. "What?" She followed the arm to the pony it was connected to. "Tank?"
Tank said nothing; only looking on at the others. He lowered his arm after a moment and strode out into the room himself. Rainbow Dash just stood and watched. Despite the chaos at the moment, Tank easily got to the middle of the room without suffering any harm. The large Pegasus quickly took in everything that was around him and took in a deep breath. Building himself up, Tank opened his mouth and let the breath out in one word.
"Stop."
It wasn't even shouted, but the deep-sounding word spread out across the room cutting through the other noises and reaching the ears of all around. The entire room went silent, the word echoing off the walls in the silence. Everypony stared silently at Tank; even Winona stopped what she was doing and stared, albeit, with a confused expression.
"Tank!" Angel exclaimed excitedly. Next to him, Fluttershy's mouth was agape. "You can talk!"
Tank replied with a simple nod and slowly walked back to the kitchen. His owner, Rainbow Dash, equally shocked as anypony else and mouth agape. Tank gently pushed her mouth back up and stood beside her once again.
"...Um..." Opal, who was still hanging from the book-cranny, called hesitantly. "Could somepony please get me down now?"
Twilight complied and her horn lit up, a purple aura surrounded Opalescence. She floated up into the air and across the room. She finally came to a stop and was lowered to the ground. The moment that happened, she quickly scrambled away, cowering behind her owner, Rarity. Rarity didn't pay much attention though; she seemed to be frozen in awe.
"Such a voice..." She muttered.
An unsure Applejack slowly approached her pet, who was looking around the library, confusedly. "Winona, are you okay?"
"Where are we?" She asked. "What's going on?"
"To be honest..." The Element of Honesty stated. "Ahm not too sure mahself."
Winona finally focused on Applejack, her eyes only half open. "Ahm really tired for some reason, so Ahm just gonna lie down now." She made her point by weakly flopping, face down, onto the floor. A few seconds later a light, muffled snoring could be heard, coming from the earth pony.
"So..." Applejack looked back at everypony else, her eyes wandering about while she searched for something to say and break the awkward silence. "What were ya'll talking about anyways?"
Twilight's eye began to twitch but she fought it back. "Okay, everypony better sit down right now because I'm only going to explain this one more time!"
***
It was late when Twilight finally finished filling the others in on what had happened. Luna's moon was visible through the windows, just peaking over the mountains in the distance. Each of them had sat down at the table and filled the others in on what had happened when their pets were transformed, everypony listened intently to Applejack when she mentioned the Timberwolf attack and when she and Winona fought them off.
"Oh my!" Fluttershy gasped. "Are they alright?"
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, sure we may have gotten some nasty splinters but nopony was really hurt and the cows were okay."
The timid Pegasus shook her head despairingly. "Those poor wolves!"
Applejack glared silently at Fluttershy, briefly evaluating their friendship before just waving it off. Rarity had been half listening since the talking began. Opal would not leave her side, even though Winona was basically comatose at the moment. Though, to Rarity's fortune, Opal had been mostly silent for the entirety of the conversation, only saying something sarcastic once or twice and constantly glanced nervously at the sleeping pony to see if she was still asleep.
Pinkie, who had been uncharacteristically silent since tank spoke, looked eagerly at her friends nonetheless. Gummy stood like a frozen statue, staring at the others with his usual fish eyes. A few of the ponies were nervous under his piercing stare, afraid that if they blinked he might attack.
"I so would have kicked their buts if I was there." Dash boasted. She had been previously trying to get Tank, who was still beside her, supporting her, to speak again, to no avail. "Stupid broken leg." She grumbled.
"And all of you were affected." Applejack thought aloud. "How far do you think the magic went?"
"I was thinking about that when I was tied to Fluttershy's tree." Owlowiscious said. "Considering the strength of Twilight's magic, it would probably spread out for a few kilometers, even more, and then disipate before it can reach anywhere else." He looked unsure for a second. "Probably."
"Well I guess the celebration can go on then." Rarity assumed. "Of course, we haven't done anything about it though-"
"You're right!" Pinkie gasped suddenly. "All this time we've been having so much fun with the pets that we totally forgot about the Sun Celebration!"
Angel chuckled mischievously. "Oh boy, when the Princesses finds out about this..."
"I'm sure they will understand." Fluttershy cut him off, the whole thing reminded her of the time she made a mistake. "The Princesses are really nice."
Twilight nodded. "And now that we're all here, I can finally tell you my plan." She stood up and cleared her throat, everypony watched with anticipation.
"All of our pets have been turned into ponies by a freak accident caused by me. And I'm sorry but I don't know how to fix it." Twilight explained and apologized as she looked over the group. "But if anypony knows how to fix it, Princess Celestia does. And even though the celebration isn't prepared for..." She took a moment to compose herself, as if saying this caused her discomfort. "...The Princess will still arrive here soon and we can get her to fix this mess."
Just then, Spike seized up in his chair, his face contorted in a weird shape. He opened his mouth and out came a burst of green flames in the form of a burp. The flames circled around the table and joined together, forming a long, white scroll that floated down onto the table below. Spike quickly excused himself, picked up the parchment and unfurled it.
"It's from the Princesses." He confirmed, not taking his eyes off of it as he spoke.
"The Princesses?" Opal asked, mildly curious. "What would they have to say?"
"It's probably a letter announcing their arrival." Twilight answered. She let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, read it out, Spike."
He looked at her. "Are you sure?"
She nodded cheerfully. "Go on."
He brought his eyes back to the paper and read aloud.
"My faithful student, me and my sister have been looking forward to this year's celebration and seeing you once again for a long time. Seeing you and the other ponies of Ponyville is a great pleasure of mine..."
Twilight smiled, her face beaming with happiness.
"...This is why I must regretfully inform you that we will not be able to make it today. Unexpectedly, a large mass of storm clouds suddenly showed up out of the blue and is now covering Canterlot. The weather team denies any accusations put against them and are hard at work clearing the clouds away but I don't think it will be done in time. I apologize for not being able to get there in time and will send word when the storm is gone.
Your faithful teacher, Celestia."
Nopony said a word. Each of them silently looked at the paper in Spike's hands and then to Twilight.
Twilight stared blankly into space, her smile gone from her face.
"Twilight? Say something." Dash said.
After a moment, Twilight opened her mouth and spoke.
What came out was not very friendly.
Spike quickly reached over and covered Peewee's ears.
***
Twilight eventually calmed down and everypony sat down again. With the new news fresh in their minds, everypony didn't know exactly what was going to happen.
"So...what do we do now?" Angel asked.
Owlowiscious and Twilight looked to one another.
"I... guess we... wait it out." Twilight answered. Her entire body seemed to droop with depression.
"It's the only thing we can do." Owlowiscious added.
The rest were silent, they didn't like to see one of their friends in such a mood, especially Twilight.
"Look on the bright side!" Pinkie chirped, always searching for something to cheer her friends up. "We now have time to work on the celebration!"
"The celebration...?" Twilight perked up a little at this. The others did too.
"Yeah!" Pinkie grabbed Gummy and gave him a squeeze, causing him to squeak for some reason. "And our pets could help us prepare!"
The owners looked to their pets and vice versa. That actually seemed like a good idea.
"Do you think ya'll could help?" Applejack questioned.
"Of course." Owlowiscious said. "I've always wanted to help."
"I could work with Fluttershy." Angel decided. "I guess."
Fluttershy gave Angel a warm smile which he tried to return but came out as a sneer.
"Winona and Ah have already worked together." Applejack noted. "We'll be just fine."
"Opal?" Rarity looked down at the still-cowering pony. "Would you like to help me in the shop?"
"Hah!" Opal laughed, regaining some of her usual vanity. "You think I want to work in that sweat shop, making dresses designed by you!?"
In the corner of the room Winona kicked and growled in her sleep. Opal cowered again at the sound.
"That doesn't sound so bad." She squeaked.
"Then it's settled." The farmer concluded. "We'll all go home and have a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we get to work."
They all agreed and the friends made their leave. Soon everpony was out the door and gone. The last to leave was Applejack with Winona on her back.
"Ngh... sleeps like a rock, weighs just as much, and runs like a train..." Applejack muttered as she was out the door. "She's an Apple alright."
Twilight said goodnight and magically closed the door behind her. That left only Twilight and company, as well as Fluttershy and Angel.
Spike yawned. "We're going to bed too." He cradled a drowsy Peewee in his arms, who was mumbling something about 'giant doggies' and walked off. "Night, Twi."
Twilight looked over at Fluttershy. "Sorry about having to stay here, Twilight." Fluttershy apologized.
"It's okay Fluttershy, really!" Twilight just couldn't understand her friend's need to apologize for everything. "Nopony's used the guest bed in weeks."
She nodded happily. "Thank you."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Angel cut into the conversation. "Did you say...guest bed?"
"Yeah, guest bed; only one."
He looked at Fluttershy, a dawning realization on his face that Fluttershy didn't understand.
"It's okay Angel, we can share the bed."
That was all it took. Angel's face went red like a chili pepper and he bounded off into the rest of the house, screaming incoherently. Fluttershy, still not understanding, chased after him. "Angel, wait! Was it something I said?"
Twilight watched the two run off, shook her head and moved to the stairs that led up to her room. It had been a very long day and she just couldn't find the strength, or the wit, to get involved.