Pinkie Pie wakes up one morning to find out that no one in Ponyville likes her anymore... was it her fault?...what did she do wrong...?
This is my first submission so I hope you like it! Constructive criticism is appreciated! After a seemingly normal day for Pinkie, she wakes up to find out that her friends, including her whole town, hates her! Was it something she said? Was it something she sang? What did she do wrong...?
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT to anyone who hasn't watched the newest season 6 episodes!
Pinkie Pie bounced through Ponyville, humming her favorite song, with flowers blooming around her in the middle of a beautiful spring day, ponies walking around, saying friendly hellos to one another. She looked around at her handiwork, helping everypony to smile.
"My name is Pinkie Pie! And I am here to say- Woooaah!" Pinkie shrieked as she tripped over something in the middle of the road. Looking up, she saw Fluttershy on the ground next to her, rubbing her head as three baby birds scurried across and into a bush.
"Oh goodness! Are you alright Pinkie? I hope you aren't hurt..." Fluttershy extended her hoof out to her as Pinkie immediately began bouncing around her.
"Are you KIDDING? That was so much FUN! Let's do that again!! Here birdy birdy! Come to Aunt Pinkie Pie! Chirp chirp!" She started to crawl towards the bush where they disappeared, making ridiculous chirping noises. Once they started to fly out, she got up and started chasing them again. Fluttershy, with a panicked look on her face, hurried to try to keep up with her to catch the birds before they fell. As Pinkie was running, she ran smack dab into a purple barrier. Twilight fought to keep her balance as Pinkie was leaning into her.
"Pinkie Pie! What in Equestria are you doing? You could've hurt me!"
"Oh! Sorry Twilight! I was just trying to catch the little birdies before they flew away!" Twilight sighed, and prying Pinkie off her, gently grabbed the birds and levitated them to the ground and kept them there until Fluttershy came crashing through.
"Oh my! Come here, Softwings, Blue Stripes and Grey! You almost hurt yourself! Now what am I supposed to tell your parents..." Fluttershy's quiet scolding faded off as she carried the birds away on her wings, not taking any chances. The silence was broken by a not so quiet chortle and snort coming from Pinkie's direction. Twilight turned her head and saw her trying, unsuccessfully, to hide her laugh. She rolled her eyes and walked away quietly. When Pinkie was finally done, she looked around during but didn't see any pony. Maybe I overdid it a little teensy tiny bit with all the laughing, she thought. Nah! Everypony needs a good laugh, especially if they're feeling all grumpy mcgrumpypants. Feeling satisfied with her answer to her own question, she jumped up and started skipping all the way to Rainbow Dash's cloud home, humming a tune less song on the way there.
*** Looking up from the shadows of the cloud, Pinkie called Rainbow Dash's name over and over again. Hmmm I guess she isn't home right now... Spotting a rainbow looking streak in the sky, she bounced up and started running after it, planning to surprise her and maybe get her to play a few pranks on their friends. But as she got closer, she saw the rainbow land in front of three fillies in a grassy clearing next to the old CMC Clubhouse, looking up at the mare in awe. Jumping up and landing next to Applebloom on the end, she whispered to her,
"What are you all staring at?" she looked up, and feigning ignorance, looked anywhere but at Rainbow Dash.
"Aaah! Pinkie Pie! Ah didn't see ya there! Didn't ya see RD's amazin' tricks?" Applebloom asked while at the same time Scootaloo jumped up and down.
"Woo hooo!! Go Rainbow Dash!! Again! Again!" Scootaloo bounced, her tiny wings fluttering with each jump.
"He. Thanks squirt! I'm just practicing some of my Wonderbolts moves. Maybe I can even surprise Spit Fire enough to use them!"
"Oooooh that's SOO exciting!! Hey, Dashie," Pinkie suddenly got in Rainbow Dash's face, "Do you want to do some pranking today? I have the perfect pony to do it on!" Pinkie Pie already had in mind Bon Bon, or Special Agent Sweetie Drops, getting splashed by a bucket of water when she opens her front door. Pinkie giggled, thinking of what she would look like afterwards.
"Sorry Pinkie Pie. I already promised the former Cutie Mark Crusaders that I would show off my awesome tricks today."
"Oh. Ok." Trying not to show her disappointment, Pinkie turned and hopped away. I know Rainbow Dash already promised the former CMC, but it's been SOOO long since we did any pranks together! she thought. But she PROMISED them, that's almost like making a Pinkie Promise! I would HATE it if someone broke a Pinkie Promise just to hang out with another friend... Pinkie decided to go to Rarity's house. She always had fun stuff to do there, like when she's designing dresses, and had toys strewn about to play with!
As Pinkie got closer to Carousel Boutique, she saw a paper on the door of her shop.
"Ooooh pretty!" She grabbed the piece of parchment and admired the paper. After a while, she decided it was time to read the note:
I have gone for a couple days to my boutique in Manehatten. If you need anything, go to Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle. I have entrusted all my designs and materials to her.
Rarity
"GONE??? For a couple DAYS??" Pinkie groaned and fell on her rump. "This is a DISASTER!!" Then she got a thoughtful look on her face. "Oh well. I can just go to Applejack's barn, and see if i can hang out with her!" The spring in her step back, she skipped over to the barn on the other side of Ponyville. Wandering for a while in the big apple orchard, she finally saw the orange mare bucking the trees and apples falling into her saddle bags on her back.
"Hi Applejack! What are you doing?" Pinkie asked, running up besde her.
"Oh! Howdy there Pinkie Pie! I was just buckin' these apples down 'fore they get all rotten. Wanna help?" Applejack asked as Pinkie's mouth slowly spread into a wide grin. Finally! Somepony who wanted to hang out with her!
"Would I!! Yes yes yes yes!! Woo hoo!!" Pinkie hopped up and down really fast. "Where do I start?" Applejack chuckled.
"You can get baskets and saddle bags right over there, sugarcube." She said, pointing inside the barn. "They'll be on your-" Before she could finish, Pinkie Pie zoomed inside the barn and back out already wearing a saddle bag before she could say "apples".The two of them worked bucking apples and doing other chores until the sun went down. Pinkie didn't want to seem like she wasn't having fun, so she tried her best to keep her eyes open and her hooves on the ground. Applejack walked over to her.
"I think you should be gettin' home Pinkie. It's gettin' awful late, and you look like you're about to fall asleep on your hooves."
"Oook Applejack," Pinkie Pie said sleepily, then yawned really loudly. "Can I help you tomorrow?"
"'Course you can, sugarcube. You're always welcome here, you know that." Applejack gently pushed her in the direction of the town and stayed there until she saw Pinkie get to Sugarcube Corner safely, then walked back to her house and went to sleep.
Pinkie Pie could barely remember walking back to her bed, but when she finally got into her bad, she couldn't go to sleep right away, so she did what she always did. She counted cupcakes flying into her mouth until dream Pinkie got too full and fell asleep herself. One of her last thoughts before drifting off was:
Pinkie woke up the next morning, stretching her hoofs up and yawning so widely her mouth felt like it was stretched over most of her face. She looked around her room above Sugarcube Corner sleepily, then scratched herself with a hind leg like a dog. Pinkie looked out her window and saw the sun still pretty low in the sky, meaning it was still early in the morning. She suddenly gasped and grabbed her pet alligator Gummy on her bed and swung him around.
"Gummy! Guess what today is!!" Gummy looked back at her with unblinking purple eyes. Pinkie giggled. "No, silly, it's not random holiday day! It's later! Do you know what that means?" She didn't wait for Gummy to "answer", "Dashie and I will finally do some pranks together! It's been SOOO long!!" Pinkie set Gummy back down on her bed and kissed him lightly on his head. Then she hopped excitedly out of her room and out of Sugarcube Corner, not paying any attention on anypony around, just her fun-filled day before her. Pinkie suddenly saw Rainbow Dash out with Cloudchaser, a pegasus with a purple coat and a spiky white mane, and they were giggling together by an outside table, stealing glances up at Pinkie. Pinkie stopped before Rainbow Dash, confused.
"Hey, Dashie, it's later! Are you ready to do some more pranking today? Huh huh huh?!" With a big smile on her face, she got closer to Ranbow's face. With a disgusted look, Rainbow Dash pushed Pinkie away roughly.
"What are you talking about? I'm just hanging with my cool friend here, Cloudchaser." She put her hoof around Cloudchaser's neck and smirked at Pinkie. Cloudchaser did the same, and said:
"So buzz off, weirdo." Rainbow and Cloudchaser high-hoofed each other and stared at Pinkie. She put her ears flat against her head and slowly backed away.
"Oh, that's ok, I guess! Everypony can have new friends. Have fun, you two! Wait," Pinkie suddenly perked up again, "What ARE you ponies doing any- Aaahh!" A shadow came over her head. A heavy downpour came down and soaked Pinkie to the bone. Pinkie looked up, surprised, at Rainbow Dash on top of a raincloud laughing hysterically. Cloudchaser was looking at her and laughing as Rainbow Dash flew from the top of the cloud down to where Cloudchaser was sitting. All around her, Pinkie could hear ponies laughing at her as she stood there, her mane in wet strands around her face. Pinkie looked up at Rainbow despairingly.
"Dashie, what was that for? Did I do something wrong?" Rainbow Dash just looked at her, smirking.
"What's wrong Pinkie? I thought pranks were harmless?," her face got serious, "And don't call me that." Rainbow Dash walked closer to Pinkie as Pinkie shrank beneath her glare. "You got that?" As an answer, Pinkie just ran away, not knowing where to go, the laughs echoing in her ears. She finally slowed down near a lake and looked at her reflection, a wet, sad, miserable, version of her normal self. She thought to herself, Why would Dashie do such a thing? She wouldn't do that on purpose, I know that. But what if there was a reason for it? Maybe... maybe this is all my fault. Dashie didn't want to put up with my annoying tactics anymore. I WAS kind of in her face yesterday, when she was trying to hang out with the CMC. Maybe... Just then, there was a ripple in the water, and Pinkie was surprised to learn that it was a tear. She shook her head vigorously, trying to clear her head. She noticed her mane was still straight from the rain. That wasn't supposed to happen. Pinkie ran her hoofs through it, finally getting it to some representation of its former messy glory. Looking up, she saw the CMC with another young filly. Hmm, maybe I should go apologize to them for yesterday... Plastering on a big smile on her face, Pinkie bounced over to where they were. She saw them talking to the other filly, who, after a close inspection, she found out it was Diamond Tiara, whom she had thrown that cutesenera party for. Looking closer, she heard what was being said between them and her eyes opened wide in shock.
"Why did you take away MY tiara? You KNOW you shouldn't take what's not yours! That wasn't very nice, was it? Oh well, I guess you'll have to be punished!" Sweetie Bell, of all ponies, was in Diamond Tiara's face, levitating the tiara Diamond Tiara usually wears, and twirling it around in the air. Applebloom and Scootaloo were in a circle around Diamond Tiara, glaring at her, making sure she doesn't get out. The once so confident filly shrank back, closing her eyes and whispered:
"But-but Sweetie Bell... that tiara is supposed to be mine..." She curled up, not wanting to see her face. But Sweetie merely smiled and put on the tiara. She giggled.
"Oh, is it? Well, it's mine now." Sweetie Bell made eye contact with first Applebloom, then Scootaloo, and they slowly closed in on Diamond Tiara, shielding her from Pinkie's view from the sidelines. Pinkie got over her shock just enough to run over there, and shout:
"Hey! What are you girls doing? Leave her alone!" They all looked up in shock, and, only seeing Pinkie Pie, just stopped and smirked at each other, then at Pinkie. She skidded to a stop in front of them, and taking a short break to catch her breath, glared at the three of them the best she could.
"What are you fillies doing? Can't you SEE that she's hurt and sad? Why are you doing this??" Even she was surprised with the harshness in her voice. She had NEVER talked to ANYPONY like that before.
"Oh, we're soo sorry that we bothered you, Pinkie Pie. We were just messing around with our friend here. Surely even YOU get friendly teasing." Sweetie Bell said with a pathetic looking pout on her face, sure that Pinkie would just bounce away with a carefree 'Okie dokie lokie!' But she couldn't be so wrong. Instead, Pinkie Pie held out her hoof to the still trembling pony inside the circle.
"C'mon! I know how to make you smile!" Diamond Tiara slowly removed the hoof over her face and looked up at Pinkie with shock. She was wearing a broad grin and was eagerly holding her hoof out, hoping with all her might that the scared little filly would come with her. She smiled shakily and grabbed the hoof. Pinkie smiled and pulled her up, then the filly followed her as she bounced away happily, with the CMC scowling after them. Pinkie Pie took Diamond Tiara straight to Sugercube Corner, confident that, throughout all the strange things happening today, her adopted home would never change. Without her noticing, Pinkie's hair had gone straight again, meaning that she wasn;t as happy as she claimed to be on the outside. Truth was, Pinkie was only doing this to make the filly feel better. It did nothing to soothe her cracked heart over Rainbow Dash's behavior. And the former Cutie Mark Crusaders! She thought they were friends with Diamond Tiara now that she was nice to them, and helped them get their cutie marks. When they got to the sweet shop, Pinkie led her through the back kitchen door, where she made all her yummy treats for all of Ponyville to enjoy.
"Come on! It's CUPCAKE TIME!" She laughed halfheartedly and started to grab the ingredients for a batch of delicious cupcakes. She only hoped they would go out better than when she taught Applebloom how to make them, back before the CMC got created. When she looked back at Diamond Tiara, she was staring at her, a confused look on her face.
"Why are we making cupcakes?" But Pinkie only giggled and patter her head lightly.
"Because, silly, it ALWAYS gets ponies to cheer up after having a no good, very bad day!" She went back to all the cupcake ingredients laid out on the counter, and poured some flour into a big mixing bowl, making a powdery mess all over the kitchen, and getting both of the ponies all white. Pinkie snorted and fell on the ground laughing. After a while, Diamond Tiara joined her on the ground, laughing and snorting with her. Wow, Pinkie thought. She would NEVER laugh like that in front of another pony before. Maybe I did do something good today... Smiling, Pinkie got up, and helping the still white filly up, got to work making the cupcakes. Pinkie was sure that tomorrow would be a better day. As they were working, Diamond Tiara noticed that Pinkie's once lifeless mane had inflated a little bit after having fun and laughing.
Pinkie Pie dropped Diamond Tiara off at her house- Pinkie noticed that it was a regular house, not a mansion, like what she used to have- with a dozen of the yummy cupcakes they made together. Pinkie waved at her excitedly until she saw Diamond Tiara disappear inside the house. Then she slowly walked back to Sugarcube Corner, her mind churning with so many thoughts that she could barely keep track of all at once. Why would all my friends be acting so super strange? There must be a reason behind it! Suddenly Pinkie sat down with a thump in the middle of the road, tapping her hoof against her chin.Think Pinkie. What would a smart pony like Twilight do? She gasped. She would do research! Twilight loves research! Smiling grimly with determination on her face, Pinkie got up and started bouncing all the way to Twilight's castle, hoping that Twilight would be able to help her.
*** When she arrived at the castle a minute later, Pinkie started banging her head against the door as loudly as she could, then waited until the door opened. When it did, she cringed with shock, backing up a step.
"Twilight?" Twilight walked out with large bags under her eyes, her mane in a tangle on her head, and her mouth contorted into a scowl when she saw who it was outside her door.
"What do you want, Pinkie?" She spat out her name. "I'm TRYING to study. But you crazy ponies are always interrupting me!" She waited impatiently, then started to close the door on her when she wouldn't answer.
"Wait! I-I was just wondering if I could ask you something! I mean, you were always a super smart smarty smartpants and you would ALWAYS help ponies when they needed help, especially your friends! So I would love love LOVE it if you can help me with this teensy tiny ITTY BITTY little thing," Pinkie was starting to ramble nervously, "PLEASE Twilight?!" She brought her face right in Twilight's, smiling a wide, hopeful smile. But the alicorn frowned even more, if that was even possible.
"No." She said coldly and grabbed the door in her magic and shut it loudly in Pinkie's face, trapping her head in the crack between. She pulled back, stretching her head out, and freeing it with a giganticslap! Rubbing her face with her hoof, Pinkie stared at the door for a second longer, then turned and slowly walked away, her hopes crushed as she realized that even Twilight was like her other friends. Now that she thought about it, she realized that nopony in Ponyville were like how they were before. To test her theory, Pinkie Pie decided to pay a visit to Fluttershy. Fluttershy would NEVER be mean to her friends, Pinkie thought as she was racing to her cottage on the other side of town, She's the nicest pony around. Or, she WAS, before all my friends turned loco in the coco. She couldn't be THAT much different, could she? As she was running, she ran into a pony with a white coat and a curly purple mane, levitating bags of materials that tumbled to the ground when Pinkie crashed into her and knocked her down. Rarity looked up annoyingly as her beautiful mane got all messy in the dust.
"Pinkie Pie! What did you do?! You messed up an entire week's worth of fabric I WAS going to use for a VERY important customer! Now it's all ruined, thanks to you! When will you grow up out of your childish ways?!" Rarity gently lifted the silk material and examined the wrinkled, torn, and unusable piece of fabric that was once beautiful. She looked at Pinkie angrily for an explanation. She laughed nervously, then lookd at Rarity sheepishly.
"I'm so so so so sorry Rarity! I really am! But I'm late, for a very important date!" Pinkie nervously hopped back and forth between her legs, anxious to get going. When she didn't say anything, just stared at her, Pinkie thought she could leave and started zooming onward to Fluttershy's cottage, but was stopped by a strange pulling on her tail that jerked her backwards. Shw looked back and saw a light blue glow around her tail, preventing her from moving. The source of the magic, Rarity, was glaring at her.
"You are going to help me clean this mess up, and then YOU are going to make it again." Then she started dragging Pinkie Pie back to her boutique, in the opposite direction that Pinkie was trying to go. She sighed and dragged her hoofs along the ground. Then she heard quiet giggling, and over that, full out laughter. Looking over to her side, she saw Fluttershy giggling at her with a hoof pointed in her direction. Behind her, was Rainbow Dash, hovering above the ground, laughing at Pinkie with a hoof over her eyes and another hoof pointed at her.
"Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie asked quietly. Sure, she'd hhad her suspicions, but she never actually believed Fluttershy would be this mean, even for her.
"Oh, sorry, Pinkie Pie! You just looked so FUNNY being dragged along like that! And by RARITY, no less!" With that, Fluttershy started laughing a little harder. Pinkie covered her face with both of her hoofs, hoping that all the laughing would stop, even for just a minute. With all the humiliation and hurt of being laughed at by her friends, her mane deflated a little, as Pinkie's tears started soaking up the ground in front of her as they got closer to the boutique.
*** After a full day of "helping" Rarity out, more like doing all the work and Rarity fixing her mistakes, Pinkie trudged along quietly with her head down all the way to Sweet Apple Acres. Not giving up hope, Pinkie thought there was still one more of her friends that could possibly be helpful too her, after all she's been through. Applejack wanted to hang out with me yesterday, even after annoying all my other friends. Maybe she could be different. But the more she thought about it, the more unrealistic it became. Maybe I shouldn't even try... all my other friends have been so mean to me today... No. She put on a brave and determined face. Pinkie Pie NEVER gives up when things get tough. Never. With that thought, she began bouncing halfheartedly the rest of the way to Sweet Apple Acres, her lifeless mane drooping in front of her, trying to brace herself for whatever was going to happen.
"Oh, hey, Pinkie Pie. What're you doin' here 'round these parts so late at night? Shouldn't you be gettin' to bed?" Applejack looked at Pinkie confused as she just stared at her in shock.
"Uh, Pinkie? Are ya oka-oof!" Her breath got knocked out of her as Pinkie suddenly jumped her and threw her forelegs around her, crying tears of joy. Choking on her tears, Pinkie let go and just smiled widely at Applejack, unable to say anything for fear of crying again. Her mane poofed up again.
"Okay, Pinkie Pie. I think it's time for you to tell me exactly what's been goin' on with you." In between crying fits, Pinkie told her everything that's been going on with her that day, ever since waking up hopeful that Rainbow Dash would hang out with her. After she was done, Applejack just let her cry it out for a bit on her shoulder.
"Ah'm so sorry ya had to go through all that, Pinkie. Why didn't you come to me in the first place?
"Because-" she sniffed wetly, "I was afraid that you would be the same way as all our friends." Afrer a while, Applejack gently pryed Pinkie off her shoulder and started thinking:
"If Twilight can't help us, then we have to figure all this out on our own. Hmm, strange occurrences with everypony actin' weird. Nopony actin' their usual selves... Pinkie, ah think I have an idea of what's goin' on." She whispered her thoughts into Pinkie's ear, and she perked up.
"Of course! What would I ever do without a super smartypants like you, Applejack! I'm SO glad we're family!" Without waiting for a reply, Pinkie grabbed Applejack with her hoofs and took here with her as they started bouncing towards their destination. After a couple of seconds of dizziness for Applejack, they came to a floating house in a black expanse. Pinkie rang the doorbell, which sounded like a rooster crowing, and the door itself opened a set of jaws in the middle and swallowed them up inside the house.
"Now, who is this we have here? Why, it's my dear friends Pinkie Pie and Applejack!" a voice sounded within the house and a pair of eyes appeared out of nowhere and looked at them, and with a poof, Discord appeared.
"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...
