"Twilight?... Nope... Twilight?... Nope... Twilight?... Nope..." Pinkie Pie bounced from place to place, poking her head into every nook and cranny, her mane going from floof to flat with every nope and back to floof with every new spot Pinkie thought to check.
Meanwhile, Applejack was executing a more straight forward approach. She was checking each building in town in a row. They had already asked everypony in Ponyville if they had seen Twilight and were now searching on hoof.
Or rather, Pinkie Pie had asked everypony; she had bounced from pony to pony before Applejack even stepped hoof in Ponyville.
It was late morning before they admitted defeat.
"It's no use, Pinkie." Applejack said with a sigh. "If Twilight were here we'd have found her by now."
Pinkie Pie slowly slid down from the fountain-top she had been standing on. As she sank into the water beneath her, tears fell down her face. There was a sound of a deflating balloon as her mane sagged and straightened.
"Now hold on sugarcube!" Applejack said quickly; the last thing they needed was for Pinkamena to make an appearance. "Maybe Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found her in the parks."
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Pinkie's mane poofed up with a BOING! and she was off to the train station in a flash. "Come on you silly slowpoke! Twilight could be waiting for us RIGHT NOW!"
Applejack sighed in relief and hurried after Pinkie Pie.
"Ah sure hope so." Applejack said under her breathe as she galloped to catch up to her friend.
"Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash braked to avoid crashing as Pinkie Pie popped out of a tree in front of her.
"Did you find Twilight?!" Pinkie Pie asked, somehow bouncing in place on top of a very tall and very narrow pine tree.
"Woah Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew down to the ground. With a BOING! Pinkie Pie jumped down from the tree to land next to her.
"Woah there sugarcube!" Applejack said, putting a hoof on Pinkie Pie's shoulder to keep her from mowing Rainbow Dash down.
"Where's Fluttershy?" Applejack asked, struggling to keep ahold of Pinkie and search for Fluttershy at the same time.
"Ooh! Ooh! Maybe she's with Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said pulling away from Applejack.
"There she is!" Pinkie shouted as she rushed towards Fluttershy, who had just landed on the other side of the clearing.
"Did you find Twilight?, Huh did ya?" Pinkie Pie asked leaning closer and closer to Fluttershy.
"Oh... um... actually... I uh... I didn't find her..." Fluttershy whispered, backing away from Pinkie Pie.
"Yeah, we were hoping you guys had." Rainbow said.
"Nope. We didn't have any luck." Applejack said, and then groaned.
Pinkie Pie had stopped bouncing around the clearing, and was now sitting in the middle of it, hugging her tail to herself tightly as if afraid it would leave her too if she didn't hold onto it. But even more worrisome was that Pinkie's mane was no longer up in wild curls on top of her head, but was hanging limply around her face. It was a sure sign of depression.
"We'd better do something fast, before she goes all Pinkamena on us!" Applejack whispered frantically.
Fluttershy walked up to Pinkie and wrapped her hooves tightly around her friend.
"Shhh, it's ok." Fluttershy whispered, patting Pinkie Pie softly on the back.
Pinkie Pie slumped forward into Fluttershy's hug.
Fluttershy continued to pat Pinkie on the back as she said encouragingly, "Maybe Rarity and Spike found h- Eep!" Fluttershy squeaked in surprise as Pinkie launched out of her hooves and bounced towards the train station, her mane poofed up again.
"Let's go!" Pinkie called back to her friends.
They all sighed in relief.
"Come on, y'all!" Applejack said as they hurried after Pinkie.
The train had barely pulled into the station at Canterlot when a pink blur jumped off and started rapidly bouncing through the city, followed closely by a rainbow streak and an orange earth pony with a yellow pegasus bringing up the rear.
"Tourists!" a group of Canterlotians said with their noses in the air, disgusted by the display.
"Rarity!DidyoufindTwilight?" Pinkie Pie asked in a loud whisper.
"Shh!" A librarian appeared around the bookcase and shushed Pinkie.
Rarity blinked and stared at the rapidly approaching Pinkie as she mentally sorted through the sounds coming out of Pinkie Pie's mouth.
"I'm afraid not, darling." Rarity said quietly.
Pinkie Pie slowly deflated in a heap on the library floor.
"Oh dear." Rarity said as she hurried to Pinkie's side. As Rarity was craning her neck to try to find her other friends, a 'Shhh!' alerted her to their presence.
"I guess that means you didn't find her either." Rainbow Dash said, with a nod towards Pinkie Pie.
"No, I'm afraid I was rather hoping you girls had had better luck." Rarity replied.
"Shhhh!" The group jumped as the librarian appeared behind them, pointing towards the door.
"Alright, we're leaving!" Applejack whispered as she herded her friends out of the library before the librarian called the royal guards.
"Sheesh!" Rainbow Dash said indignantly once they were out of the library. "What a grouch!"
"Um, girls?" Fluttershy said quietly.
"Hey, Where's Spike?" Rainbow Dash asked as she noticed their group was missing one.
"Uh... Girls? I think we-" Fluttershy tried again
"Oh, he's at the other library. We split up since there's two of them and they are both quite large." Rarity answered.
"Girls, Pinkie is-" Fluttershy tried, pointing at Pinkie Pie who was starting to talk to her reflection in the fountain outside of the library.
"Well where is this other library-" Applejack asked
"GIRLS!" Fluttershy suddenly shouted.
Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all turned to look at Fluttershy in surprise.
"What is it, darling?" Rarity asked in confusion.
"Look at Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy said sternly, pointing towards their friend.
Pinkie was sitting next to the fountain in the library square, talking to her reflection. Which wouldn't have been anything to be concerned about, if it weren't for her flat mane and the frown on her face.
Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity all facehoofed, wondering how they got so distracted that they didn't even notice Pinkamena's appearance.
"Pinkie Pie..." Rarity said gently, walking slowly up to their friend.
Pinkamena ignored her and kept talking to her reflection.
Undaunted, Rarity continued, "Why don't we see if Spike had any luck?"
Fluttershy placed her hoof gently on one of Pinkamena's shoulders and Applejack put her hoof on the other.
"Maybe he's with Twilight now and they're just waiting for us to show up!", Rarity smiled.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash said flapping her wings to lift off the ground. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go find Twilight and you can throw a big 'Welcome Home' party!" Rainbow Dash leaned back with a grin, for if anything can get rid of Pinkamena and bring back Pinkie Pie, it's a party.
"Okey dokey lokey!" Pinkie Pie sang, bouncing off to find Spike, the mention of Twilight and a party having instantly floofed up her mane and cheered her up.
They all sighed in relief as they followed Pinkie Pie through Canterlot.
"That was a close one." Applejack said.
"Too close." Rainbow Dash agreed.
"It was almost a catastrophe!" Rarity wailed. Quietly, so as not to let Pinkie hear.
"I hope we find Twilight soon." Fluttershy said. "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up." They all nodded in agreement and quickened their pace, hoping to get to Spike before Pinkamena reappears if Twilight's not there.
"Hiya Spike!" Pinkie Pie sang, causing Spike to nearly fall off the ladder he was balancing on as her face appeared between the shelves of books he was looking behind.
"Uh... Spike, why are you looking in a bookshelf?" Rainbow asked from above him. "We're looking for a unicorn, not a book, remember?"
"Maybe he found Twilight and is getting her a book?" Rarity suggested.
"If that were true, then Twilight would be here. And they would have found us so we weren't still worrying. Right Spike?" Applejack asked, looking pointedly at the young dragon.
Spike looked down at the books in his claws and then up at the ponies surrounding him. His shoulders shook as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Fluttershy quickly grabbed Spike off the ladder as Rarity grabbed the books in her magic.
As Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy lower Spike to the floor, Rarity added the books she was holding to one of the stacks surrounding them.
"Oh Spikey Wikey!" Rarity exclaimed, scooping Spike into her hooves as soon as he was close enough. As soon as Spike was safely in Rarity's hooves, Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and glared at Applejack.
"Good going Applejack, now we have two crying friends to cheer up!" Rainbow Dash said with a groan.
While Rarity was comforting Spike, Fluttershy had hurried over to comfort Pinkie.
Applejack groaned and facehoofed, and then glared at the librarian coming to shush them.
"We're goin'! We're goin'!" Applejack said as she and Rainbow pushed their friends out of the library.
Once outside, Rarity manged to coax Spike into telling them what had happened. As Rarity kept a comforting hoof on his shoulder, Spike hiccuped and told the others how he wasn't able to find Twilight anywhere. Evidently he had gone a little crazy and had been looking for her as if she was a lost book.
"Thats quite alright, Spike. I daresay it happens to the best of us." Rarity said, with a pointed glance at Applejack.
Applejack turned away and muttered something under her breathe.
Rarity opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by a loud rumble.
"What in tarnation was that?" Applejack asked, looking around for the source of the noise.
Fluttershy squeaked and ducked her head, taking refuge beneath her long mane. "Was that thunder?" She asked nervously.
Rainbow Dash shook her head sheepishly. "No. Sorry. That's just my stomach. I guess I'm hungry..."
"Well I suppose we could all use a little snack." Rarity said.
"Maybe something sweet will cheer up Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said, looking at the still despondent Pinkie Pie.
"Since ya know the neighborhood better than we do, why don't ya pick where we stop for lunch, Spike?" Applejack suggested.
Wordlessly, Spike lead them across the street to a donut shop.
"Donut Joe's." Applejack said grinning, reading the sign out front. "Ya really do know the best place for grub, don't ya?"
Spike shrugged. "Twilight used to bring me here all the time when we lived here. It was her favorite spot for studying and snacking." He pushed open the door and lead the way to a table towards the back.
The mares looked to each other and shrugged. Hopefully, the sweet treats would make Spike a little better. Plus, sugar is a great way to cheer up Pinkie Pie.
It sort of worked. Pinkie's mane was only a little droopy and she was almost smiling as she ate her donuts.
"Now what?" Rainbow asked as she started on her ninth donut.
"Beats me." Applejack answered as she finished her tenth.
Fluttershy just sighed as she nibbled at her third and Rarity said nothing as she was busy chewing a mouthful of her fourth.
Spike had already eaten two dozen and was working on another when he said, " I guess we'd better head back to the castle and tell the princesses that we failed." He swallowed his donut in one bite and reached for another.
"Ah reckon he's right." Applejack sighed as she grabbed another apple glazed donut from the pile.
"Yeah." Rainbow agreed, grabbing another chocolate one.
"I'll get the bill" Rarity said, raising her hoof to summon the waitress. Fluttershy just sighed again and reached for one of the frosted ones. Pinkie Pie bit into one of the fudge ones when she suddenly brightened.
"Oh oh!" She mumbled around the donut as she waved her hoof in the air.
"Yeah, Pinkie?" Applejack asked.
Pinkie Pie swallowed her donut whole and said in one breathe of air, "You know how whenever Twilight has a problem and then fixes it she sends a letter to Princess Celestia? Well she usually uses Spike right? Only she can't use Spike right now because he's here and she's somewhere not here so she would have to deliver the letter herself."
Pinkie gasped and continued, "So what if she's at the castle RIGHT NOW and we need to get there to throw her the awesome 'Welcome Home Twilight Party' come on!" and with that Pinkie put the rest of the donuts in her mane and bounced out of the bakery.
Her friends sighed and followed her, not too hopeful that they'd find Twilight at the castle but figuring it was worth a shot. Besides, they needed to go there anyway.
Twilight smiled, her stomach had gotten the best of her and she had just finished eating the lunch (?) ('what time is it anyway?' Twilight wondered, that magic painting made it hard to tell...) Discord had left. It was surprisingly good, and the tea was still hot.
'I wonder how he did that.' Twilight mused. 'and how did he know that this is one of my favorite books?' Twilight shook her head.
'Well he is considered the God of Choas. It makes sense that he would have unusual magic. That's just about the only thing that makes sense about him.' Twilight yawned, suddenly pleasantly tired. She slowly walked over to the over-stuffed arm chair and, grabbing the book with her magic, she settled in for a few comforting hours of reading. Only to fall asleep after a few pages.
"Yes, sleep tight, dear Twilight." Discord said softly as he magically tucked a blanket around the sleeping mare.
"After all, tomorrow is a big day." Discord grinned diabolically and poofed away in a quiet puff of smoke.