Insanity in Ponyville

by Aether Spark

Fixing the maddened town

Twilight hurried through town, avoiding any loopy ponies that acted hostile.

Twilight hid under a table and looked around for Rainbow dropping things off of clouds or Pinkie on the prowl.

“Ook… I’m the only sane mare around, Discord is too sick to help, and my hopes of fixing this lie on Zecora not being infected, great,” Twilight said as she crawled out and snuck under another table, avoiding a stallion falling over every two steps.

“The situation is unpredictable, I need to be careful,” Twilight said as she snuck over to the salon and peered around a corner.

She made her way past the salon only to be grabbed by a pair of hooves and pulled in.

“Aaah!” Twilight yelped, she ended up in the lobby of a dark salon “Uh… hello?” Twilight said starting to regret not bringing Spike with her.

“Princeeeeess,” A voice sang from elsewhere.

“I’m not staying,” Twilight turned to leave… before running into Aloe “Ah!” Twilight yelped.

“Hello!” Aloe said with a big grin.

“Uhm… hello?” Twilight said wondering what fresh hell this is.

“Do you have an appointment?” Aloe asked.

“No, in fact I need to-”

“GOOD!” Aloe suddenly spoke loudly startling Twilight before she grabbed her and dragged her to the mud room.

“Let me go!” Twilight shouted.

“So eager! Let’s get you set up!” Aloe dropped Twilight in a mud bath.

“ACK!” Twilight came out of it and spat out the mud.

“What are you doing in there? The mud room is closed!” Lotus appeared suddenly and pulled Twilight out and tossed her into the main room.

“Ooof!” Twilight grunted as she landed.

“Wasn’t that pleasing?! Now for a relaxing massage,” Aloe asked before dragging Twilight onto the massage table and she started giving Twilight a very painful massage.

“OW! Get off of me!” Twilight flared her horn and pushed Aloe away before she got off the table.

“Princess! What are you doing here?!” Lotus demanded before grabbing Twilight and flinging her away.

“Ow!” Twilight yelped as she landed in a chair.

“The massage table is closed too! Leave!” Lotus said.

“Now for a deep shampooing!” Aloe cheered and she strapped Twilight down and began washing her mane while occasionally pulling her mane too hard.

“OW! STOP IT!” Twilight cried and she lost her patience and flared her horn before teleporting out of the chair.

“The mane care station is closed!” Lotus ran at Twilight.

“Come back! We haven’t visited the hot tub yet!” Aloe also ran at Twilight.

“I’m out of here!” Twilight shouted booking it out of there towards the door and she made it out… before bumping into Bulk Biceps who was lifting a big barbell with several ponies stacked on it, he set it down and glared at her.

“Uh… sorry,” Twilight said.

“New weight!” Bulk Biceps grabbed Twilight and chucked her into the air.

“Aaaah!” Twilight landed on the platform attached to the barbell and Bulk resumed pumping.

“Ugh… can anything go right for me lately?...” Twilight asked herself before hopping off and running for it.

As Twilight ran past several more insane ponies she could see the Everfree! Almost there…

Twilight was suddenly pounced on by Fluttershy who was snorting and sniffing her.

“Fluttershy? Get off!” Twilight demanded.

“Oink!” Fluttershy squealed and she headbutt Twilight in the chest making her cough as the air was taken out of her lungs.

“Ugh! Fluttershy must think she’s a wild boar or something…” Twilight wheezed before using her magic and levitating Fluttershy off of her.

Suddenly Fluttershy began cawwing and flapping her wings and she managed to break out of Twilight’s grip and she flew into the air.

“Now what?” Twilight asked as Fluttershy swooped at her and Twilight jumped out of the way.

“She’s acting like a bird of prey?!” Twilight exclaimed before running for the forest.

“Caw caw!” Fluttershy screeched and Twilight dove into a bush to avoid being snatched like a worm.

Twilight poked her head out of the bush and saw Fluttershy swooping towards new prey.

The CMC!?

They were just laughing and drawing on eachother.

“My new cutie mark is being sparkly!” Sweetie cheered pouring glitter on herself.

“Mine is looking cool!” Scootaloo said painting herself blue like Rainbow Dash.

“Mine is having the biggest smile!” Apple Bloom said as she gave a big smile.

“CAW!” Fluttershy swooped at the oblivious fillies.

“Look out!” Twilight flared her horn and teleported them and Fluttershy missed.

As the CMC wound up beside her Twilight turned to see them continuing to draw on each other.

“Whose cutie mark was for teleporting, and can I have one too?” Scootlaoo asked.

“I dunno,” Sweetie said.

“Sure!” AB said getting to work.

“You three are in danger like this,” Twilight said levitating them into the air and carrying them with her “Oh please don’t be insane like the rest of Ponyville Zecora…” Twilight begged.

---

Twilight entered Zecora’s hut grounds and she saw that it was barricaded.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Twilight said before approaching the hut and knocking on it.

“Zecora!? It’s Twilight! I’m not like the rest of Ponyville which has gone off the rails as of late, please tell me the same goes for you,” Twilight asked.

Suddenly the door opened slowly and Twilight could see the inside had light.

Twilight gulped and entered.

As she looked around she saw Zecora’s hut was trashed… save for red writing on the wall… in paint… whew…

“Read the book?” Twilight asked outloud before approaching… and backpedaling when something lunged at her.

“AH!” Twilight backed away and saw it was Zecora bound to the wall.

“Zecora?! Who did this to you?” Twilight went over to help her but Zecora lunged again and was pulled back by the rope.

“Oook… so you're insane as well…” Twilight sighed.

“Insane, caine, -phane, aine, ane, ayn, bain, baine, bane, bayne, blain, blaine!” Zecora shouted.

“And you're rhyming everything you hear…” Twilight said.

“Rhyme, time, fine, line, shrine, sign!” Zecora erratically babbled.

“This was a wasted effort…. Unless,” Twilight turned to the book and wondered if there was a solution, after all, there was a painted message in it…

“Worth a try,” Twilight approached and opened the book.

“...Huh? It’s just a recipe on making a cure for poison joke… why would it……. Wait…” Twilight’s eyes widened, everyone acting crazy… it’s almost as if they’ve been affected by something… something random and magical…

“It’s poison joke… the town has gone crazy because of poison joke!” Twilight said excitedly knowing she’s found the solution… but how can she be sure that is the case? She needs to test this…

Twilight looked around the hut and saw many ingredients for many brews.

“Only one way to find out,” Twilight got to work and began mixing the ingredients while the crusaders were drawing on Zecora now.

“Mark, park, lark, clark-” Zecora shouted as she thrashed.

“Hold still! We're helping you get your cutie mark!” Scootaloo demanded.

When Twilight had finished the brew she put it in a cup.

“Here goes nothing,” Twilight hoped it would work “Hey, Sweetie Belle!” Twilight called the unicorn filly.

“Huh?” Sweetie turned to her.

“Want some… water?” Twilight asked.

“Nope! I don’t have my water-drinking cutie mark yet!” Sweetie giggled.

“Um… you can get it if you drink this,” Twilight offered.

“Really?! Yay!” Sweetie ran over and chugged the potion… before getting woozy and collapsing.

“Sweetie Belle? Are you okay?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“Oooohhh…. My head… my stomach too…. What happened?” Sweetie raised her head and looked at herself “Why am I covered in cutie marks?” Sweetie asked.

“Your back!” Twilight scooped up Sweetie in a hug.

“Back from what?” Sweetie asked confusedly.

“It’s been terrible, the whole town went crazy because of poison joke, but now we have the solution,” Twilight said levitating the rest of the brew and dumping some of it on Zecora and the other two CMC as well.

“Huh?!” The other two gasped in surprise.

“Ugh… my head feels hazy, yet at the same time less crazy,” Zecora said before looking to Twilight with a grateful smile.

“You got my message, thank goodness, my efforts were not worthless,” Zecora said shaking herself off.

“Zecora, do you know what happened?” Twilight asked her.

“Yes, I sensed it as soon as I took a bite and swallowed, because of Pinkie the entirety of Ponyville in insanity wallowed…” Zecora said grimly.

“Pinkie did this… how? Why?” Twilight asked.

“She baked poison joke into the food from last night, I barely clung to sanity as I wrote the message in fright, when poison joke is consumed at that quantity it causes madness to take over the host possibly,” Zecora said.

“I don’t believe it… Pinkie has some answering to do,” Twilight said “But first we need to make more and distribute it,” Twilight said.

“What do we do?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I have an idea,” Twilight said.

---

After making a massive batch Scootaloo called for Rainbow.

“RAAAINBOW!” Scootaloo called.

Rainbow was in the middle of throwing things off of a cloud when she heard Scootaloo and she flew to her.

“What’s up squirt? Can’t be long, I gotta whole lot of weather demands,” Rainbow said.

“Uhm… well, weather command just called in, you need to make it rain this next,” Scootaloo said in a completely not rehearsed voice as she gestured to the large batch of poison joke cure, stored in a barrel.

“Odd, didn’t think you were in weather patrol, and I was supposed to make it rain bowling balls next….. Ah well!” Rainbow chuckled and she grabbed the barrel and flew up into the clouds.

“Let’s hope this works,” Twilight said coming out from behind a tree.

Rainbow began pouring the barrel out in the clouds and threw the barrel aside before kicking the clouds.

“Let it rain…. Whatever this stuff is!” Rainbow cheered… before it began raining cure on her and she suddenly got woozy and shook her head.

“Huh? Wait… why am I in the air again?...” Rainbow asked herself.

As the rain came down on the ponies everywhere they began snapping out of it.

“Huh?” One pony said as he stopped walking on his hindlegs.

“Tahw si… happening?... I can talk normally!” a stallion cheered.

“Huh? Why am I lifting a bunch of ponies…. Ah well,” Bulk resumed lifting the ponies on the barbell platforms even as they snapped out of it.

Fluttershy was hopping like a kangaroo when she suddenly fell on her face.

“Oof!... huh?” Fluttershy looked around confused.

---

Discord was waiting outside with Spike who was… taking a restroom break…. in Fluttershy’s yard.

“This’ll be something I can use when he owes me something,” Discord chuckled.

Suddenly the rain came down and Spike shook his head and got up.

“Looks like she did it, it’s about time,” Discord said.

“Huh? What happened? Is the party over?” Spike asked before sniffing “Eww, what’s that smell….” Spike went ridged when he turned around and saw what he did in Fluttershy’s yard.

“I expect you to clean that up,” Discord said going back inside.

“....Oh crud…” Spike said embarrassedly.

---

Twilight saw the town turning back to normal and she beamed happily.

“It worked! Oh thank Celestia!” Twilight sighed happily.

“Yay!” Sweetie ran around splashing in the puddles.

“Thank goodness…” Zecora said.

“Now we need to get the uncured ponies out and fix them, and then I need a little talk with Pinkie…” Twilight said.

---

Twilight splashed cure all over Pinkie who jumped.

“AH! COLD!” Pinkie yelped before looking around “Huh? What happened?” Pinkie asked.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Twilight asked and Pinkie turned and looked nervous at Twilight's scowl.

“What’s wrong?...” Pinkie nervously asked.

“Explanation, now, why did you trick Ponyville into eating poison joke?” Twilight asked firmly.

“What do you-” Pinkie jumped when Twilight stomped.

“Now Pinkie! What were you thinking?!” Twilight demanded.

“...Oh ok… you caught me, I did it as a prank, I figured the towns ponies would get poison joke and we’d all have a laugh about it, but what happened, I was eating a croissant at the party and then-”

“All the ponies went insane Pinkie, somepony could have seriously gotten hurt!” Twilight said turning to walk away.

“I didn’t mean to! It was supposed to be a prank!” Pinkie pleaded.

“Regardless, ponies were in danger, this is coming from a friend Pinkie, confess, or I will,” Twilight said leaving.

“Oh….” Pinkie sighed knowing she has a scolding ahead of her.

---

The town's ponies were understandably livid when they learned the truth from Pinkie as she stood atop a stage and told them how apparently her attempt at a prank nearly destroyed the town and Pinkie promised to make it up to them.

One week later

Twilight trotted through a now normal Ponyville, cleanup had taken a long time, especially because Pinkie’s punishment for what happened was cleaning the town up, but being the pony she is she got it done in a week.

But Twilight was working hard to prevent everypony from hounding Pinkie for what she did.

Meanwhile Discord admitted his part and had to help her out. He was less than pleased but Fluttershy made him do as Mayor Mare requested.

As Twilight arrived at the last house needing repairs from Rainbow dropping heavy things on it, she saw Pinkie hammering away at the nails.

“How’s it going up there Pinkie?” Twilight called.

“It’s going super! I think I'm nearly done!” Pinkie said, wiping her brow.

“Well when you're done come see us at Sugarcube Corner for your shift, we want to celebrate you finishing your punishment early!” Twilight called before walking away.

“Gotcha!” Pinkie waved before getting back to hammering.

All in all, it was an insane week or so, but at least everypony is… mostly normal again.

But then again, what is normal these days?

Author's Note:

And here's the end, I hope you enjoyed.

Comments

[Alex Warlorn]

Twilight turned to the book and wondered if there was a solution,

WHAT BOOK? I don't think Zecora would have one book in her entire house. Sorry. This is a bit jarring for me. Sorry.

[Mr cold ghost]

This was nice. I think this could work as a episode.

[Da Beak]

Aww shucks... You butchered it! Fluttershy kink has gone rather repetitive. Damn you, fan service! You're supposed to work for me! Not against me!

Thanks for the show. Truth be told, there are not so many stories that involve things getting out of hand, be it for comedic purposes or grotesque ones. Seeing it all devolve could be a nice setup for a series of one-offs.

Here's a pitch.

Discord is bored, right? Afterall, he's not allowed to be his cool chaotic self anymore. All because of some dumb goody princess constantly keeping a close eye on him.

For you see...
When something smells...
Its always discord who's being at fault.

But wait. Maybe instead of unleashing chaos all at once (like he always does), Discord begins doing it with a lil' more... Pizzazz?

How do you fix a smoker? Why, apply some nicotine bandages, of course! Chaos is addictive but perhaps doing it on a much smaller scale can finally satisfy Discord's urgers to go baroque?

With each snap discord would plant his seeds of wisdom waiting to blossom.

Things like...

Changing twilight's eating habits.

Or influencing spike's lifestyle by making him walk on all fours.

Without raising suspicion. Discord will slowly keep altering the mundane life of the forever unsuspecting residents of Ponyville. Warping their minds, things around them, one by one untill the whole town goes KA-BOOM!

And since it's a slow process, it'll take long before Celestia finds a true culprit behind all these small adjustments. And that's a big IF since she's also be getting her adjustments to follow shortly.

After everyone else's.

Celestia is left for dessert, you see.
Like a cherry on top of a perfect sundae.

So, lke an addict, discord would keep popping social cues in and out of existence, breaking one norm after another. Always eager for piling more notes atop of his symphony of madness. Never satisfied with cutting one life's strings, replaced only by a hollow essence of despair keeping it afloat.

Now that's something I'd dig my peepers into.

Maybe I'll write something like that...

[benjovi2004]

Bro this story is wild, but in a good way, Nice story!

[Aether Spark]

11879225
Thanks