//------------------------------// // Nothing is as it seems // Story: What happened to everypony...? // by sunlightcloud715 //------------------------------// "Discord." Applejack said coldly, looking at the draconequus from under her hat, crossing her left foreleg over her right. Pinkie Pie looked around curiously at the multi colored room, in a checkered pattern of purple and white, with wooden staircases all over the house, sometimes leading into the ceiling, and even into the wall. There were doors upside down on the ceiling and trapdoors on the floor and doors in the middle of walls, apparently leading to nowhere. Pinkie wondered how Discord got around. The dragonequus in question reared back in surprise at Applejack's cold demeanor, putting his lion paw over his heart, his yellow eyes wide open. "Why, whatever did I do? You two just come barging into my home, without even a hello. And I thought we were friends." He turned his back on the two ponies, while a bigger transparent version of his eagle claw appeared in front of Applejack and Pinkie Pie, daring them to come further. Pinkie Pie tried to jump up and push through the giant illusion, but it shoved her back to where she was. She sat down with her ears flat against her head, all hope drained right out of her. Applejack hated to see such a strong willed pony go out like that. She stomped right up to Discord's large magic claw and shouted up to him: "Hey, now listen here, Discord. Pinkie here has been havin' a rough day and she don't need you bein' so selfish as to bein' flat out rude and child-like. If y'all don't want to help, that's fine, we'll just be on our way. C'mon, Pinkie." Applejack walked to the door with her head held high. She didn't know what to do after this visit if he refuses, but she didn't want to show her uncertainty, especially to Pinkie, with the pink dejected mare trailing behind her, dragging her hoofs behind her. But when they got to the door, the doorknob suddenly grew legs from the flat part where it was attached to the wood and scuttled up the door and into an open door on the ceiling. The two ponies turned in surprise to see Discord sitting in a loveseat, wearing glasses and blowing into a pipe with bubbles drifting away from it. He tapped his goat leg against the purple wooden floor impatiently. "Fiiine, let's get this over with. But don't be too long, I have to feed my gravyboat. He gets very impatient, you know." With a big smile on her face, Pinkie jumped onto the seat, squeezing herself next to him. Discord let out an oof of surprise and smiled uncomfortably, pushing Pinkie away from him. Pinkie sucked in a huge amount of air, so much that Applejack wondered how she could hold it all in, and started her story: "ThismorningIwassoexcitedtofinallyspendtimewithDashiebutshewasreallymeanandIgotreallysadandlonely,thenIthoughtIcouldhangoutoutwiththeCutieMarkCrusadersonlynowtheyaren'ttheCutieMarkCrusaderssincetheyhavetheircutiemarksnowand"-she drew in more breath to continue going-"theywerebeingreallymeantoDiamonTiaraandwebothmadecupcakestogether!AndIbumpedintoRaritybut-" Applejack put her hoof in Pinkie's mouth to keep her from saying anymore. "I think he gets the idea, Pinkie Pie." Then she turned to Discord. "Long story short, all of our friends have been actin' different than usual." With a thoughtful look, Discord disappeared and then reappeared behind Applejack, his elbows resting on her back with her cowpony hat on his head. "And what do you want me to do about it hmm?" The southern cowpony snatched her hat back and flipped it onto her own head. "We were thinkin' that maybe you had somethin' to do with this Discord. You know, Everythin' in chaos?" Applejack said with a sheepish look, looking guilty of her decision for once. "We knew it was you! You're going down Discord!" Pinkie leaped up, preparing to pounce him. But Discord disappeared promptly before Pinkie hit him, making her and AJ crash into each other. They rolled three or four times before crashing into a nearby bookcase. The books made an earsplitting shriek, then they flew away, obviously annoyed by the disturbance. Applejack swatted them away with her hat, then glared at Pinkie. She smiled sheepishly back at her. Then they remembered the reason for coming here in the first place, they both glared at the dragonequus across the room. He put a hand to his chest, his yellow eyes wide. "I can't believe you thought it was me, of all ponies! Do you not remember the battle with Tireck? Princess Twilight Sparkle said herself that we were friends! What reason would I have to cause all this trouble between our friends?" Applejack stared at him, looking stumped, her eyes flitting back and forth between Discord and Pinkie Pie. "Well then, who else could it be? Who would have the motive to do such a thing to all of us?" Pinkie tapped her hoof against her chin, thinking hard. Then she jumped up and raised her hoof excitedly as if she were in a classroom. AJ shook her head, and amused smirk on her face, then pointed at her. "Yes, Pinke?" Pinkie jumped up and put a dark blanket around her and raised her hooves up to her face and waved them around spookily. "The Pony of Shaadooowss! Ooooooh!" "Pinkie, ah thought we already established that the Pony of Shadows was just an old pony's tale," Pinkie slumped down. To amuse her, AJ added, "But ah think we can make an exception for this occasion. Right Discord?" She asked him as the latter struggled to keep from bursting out with laughter. At this, he straightened up and put on a poker face. "Right indeed, Applejack." He pulled out a notebook from behind him, and read out loud as he wrote: "Ideas for Cause of Strangeness. Number one, the Pony of Shadows." When he was done writing, he looked back up at the ponies expectantly. "We can't do all the thinkin' around here Discord! We came to you for you to HELP us, not just write the notes. In fact, give here that notebook o' yours. I'll do the writin'." Just then, the lights went out, rendering it useless for anypppony to see. Pinkie giggled, then they heard a crash behind Applejack. As quickly as the lights had turned off, they turned back on again. Discord and AJ were left blinking in the sudden light, while Pinkie was among the fallen debris of a mini table and a lamp, rubbing her head. Discord, with his sharp hearing, heard a distinct growl, but couldn't tell where it was coming from, even with his trained senses of direction from living in his chaotic house. "Did you two hear that?" Discord asked them, turning his head toward where AJ was pulling Pinkie out of the table's remains. With a snap of his fingers, the table returned good as new, with a Discord lamp on top of it. "Hear what?" Pinkie asked, cocking her head slightly at where Discord was, rubbing her ears as if that would make her hear it better. "Never mind, it's not important." Discord waved his eagle claw away, brushing it off as no big deal. Pinkie got easily distracted by a sudden pink balloon that drifted into the room, and followed it, humming softly. But Applejack looked at Discord suspiciously, trying to discern whether he was telling the truth or not. Discord visibly gulped, looking anywhere but at those prying green eyes. After a while, Applejack seemingly lost interest, but inside, she was pondering on how best to get the truth out of him. *** Pinkie and Applejack trotted with Discord back to Ponyville, determined to show him what had brought them to his house in the first place. After a twenty or so minute walk, (Applejack insisted on walking this time instead of using Pinkie's weird magic), with Pinkie rambling on about how Equestria was made, her parents, her best sister Maude, and even how Pinkie got her cutie mark (that was the longest one), they stopped with shock on the grassy hill above their once beautiful home. Ponyville was in chaos. Literally. Clouds covered up the sun, with rain pouring down on only their beloved little town. Ponies ran everywhere, tearing apart their own homes and surrounding areas. Almost all of the houses were on fire, spreading with each second, stubbornly refusing to go out in spite of the rain. The few standing ponies they saw looked raving mad, spittle flying out of their mouths, and crazed dilated pupils. Pinkie looked on with horror. This wasn't the Ponyville she knew and loved. The one where she had all her friends, the one where she could be happy in. Ponyville was her safe haven, away from the rock farm where she lived in as a filly. This wasn't her home. She raced down to the wrecked village, not knowing what to do, but she knew she had to stop this madness. But an invisible force gently held her back. Discord's magic. She pounded on the veiled wall, tears flying down her face. "Let me GO! Please, let me go! I need to stop this! All my friends..." She slowly slide down the wall, curling up into herself on the ground, sobbing openly. Her mane deflated again, losing all the bouncy-ness it used to have. Pinkie felt soft hooves wrap themselves gently around her as she bawled, hugging her to the orange mare. Applejack looked sadly at Discord, seeing her own sadness reflected back at her, then looked toward the town, wondering what had caused all this. She then looked at the usually peppy mare in her forelegs, sobbing loudly. She thought to herself: If I find out that somepony did this to deliberately hurt Pinkie to make her cry like this, I will personally buck them in the face... "Pinkie Pie? Pinkie!"