Looking at Fluttershy’s clock, Pinkie realized she was way behind schedule already. The task of finding Fluttershy had taken up too much time. She gave a quick thanks and ran off, leaving a baffled pegasus in her wake. As she ran back into Ponyville, she bumped into Applejack, deep in conversation with Rarity about a book the former had recommended the latter.
Applejack turned to face Pinkie. “Oh, hiya there Pinkie. What’re you in such a hurry for?” Pinkie continued to run on the spot, and began to give an answer, but AJ stopped her and said, “Never mind, if it’s that important, you’d better get going.” With an appreciative look, she sprinted off again.
Rarity, who’d simply watched the exchange, looked to Applejack. “Well, I wonder what that was all about.”
AJ brushed it off. “Aw, I ain’t worried. That’s just what she does. You know well as I do that it’s weirder when Pinkie actually makes it all the way through a conversation without runnin’ off to do something else.”
Rarity wasn’t convinced. “Of course. But you can’t tell me you didn’t see anything about her that seemed strange to you? Nothing off?”
Applejack thought it over. “Well, she’s always off.”
“I mean off in relation to how she normally acts.”
“So, off of off? Wouldn’t that be on?”
The two of them pondered it for a second before they were joined by Fluttershy, who interjected, “Are you two talking about what’s weird with Pinkie Pie?” She was answered with a nod from Rarity and a head-shake from Applejack. “Well, I’d like to know too. She showed up at my house, forced one of my poor little hawks to yank off one of his own feathers, and ran off!”
Applejack cocked an eyebrow at Fluttershy. “You sure? That definitely don’t sound like Pinkie.”
Fluttershy hoofed at the ground. “Well, she didn’t exactly force him. But she did say she needed a hawk feather, and never told me why, only that it wasn’t for her.”
“Well, it looks like Pinkie’s got a secret of her very own this time,” said Rarity, as she began walking in the direction Pinkie had sprinted off, followed quickly by the other two. Pinkie had long since slipped out of sight, so all they had to go on was that she had went vaguely in this direction. As they walked, Applejack continued to insist that she didn’t notice anything wrong with her friend.
Fluttershy pointed out that the only thing this direction that made any sense for Pinkie to be in a rush to visit was Twilight’s library, and they all agreed.
As the group neared the library, AJ heard it first. Behind them was the general commotion that would be heard in Ponyville any day, but in front of them, where the library stood still hidden from their view, the noise was elevated. Not loud enough to turn heads, but loud enough that anyone who noticed it was going to have some questions.
A crowd had formed in front of the library in a semi-circle. Rarity found Pinkie Pie towards the front of the crowd and pointed her out to the other two. They slowly made their way through the crowd and to Pinkie, where AJ began talking over the crowd to her. “What’s goin’ on, Pinkie? Why is everyone stood out here?”
Pinkie turned to her. “I wish I could say, AJ, but I’m not really sure myself.” As they all stood looking on, the door to the library swung open, and Dash appeared for a split second. Her eyes widened, a look of panic settled on her face, and she attempted to run back inside. She appeared again, this time pushed by Twilight. Both of them appeared to have forgotten they had wings.
The two of them stood, the former nervous, the latter exhausted, in the center of the semi-circle. Twilight saw Pinkie, who made pleading eye contact with her. Twilight shook her head, and Pinkie deflated slightly. Facing the ground with a crushed look on her face, Pinkie crossed her heart and covered one eye.
AJ was busy eying Rainbow Dash, whose demeanor just kept looking worse and worse; Rarity, however, saw everything, and moved to AJ’s other side to question Pinkie about this, when a huge path began clearing through the crowd. A unicorn messenger for the mayor moved through, holding a letter in front of him. Twilight’s eyes became wider than Dash’s had ever been.
Once through the crowd, the messenger stopped in front of the shaking purple alicorn. With a deep frown on his face, he asked her, “Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
A loud gulp came in response. “Y-yes?”
He moved the envelope to a few inches in front of her face. “You’ve been served.”
Twilight looked at it for a few seconds. It certainly looked official, and was sealed, so she had no way of knowing what the charges were. She didn’t give her brain enough time to think before she decided to act. In one swift motion, she took the whole envelope in her mouth, swallowed it, and turned to Dash. Her horn began to glow, and both of them vanished.
The messenger stood there where there had once been a pony, and called out: “I don’t know if you’re close enough to hear me, but eating the papers doesn’t negate the charges.” He gave a few second grace period and shrugged, turning to leave.
The crowd dispersed in short order, no longer having anything to stare at. All who remained were the four friends, all but one of them still very confused about what had happened. The three who weren’t in on the story turned to the one who clearly was, but Pinkie Pie had began sprinting off, passing the library and running towards the forest behind it. Without a word, AJ and Rarity sprinted after her. Fluttershy took to the air for the first time that day, and they all chased after Pinkie Pie.