The Elements of Harmony

DJ-P0N3 breathed a sigh of relief as she wiped the last record clean; it was times like these, early in the morning that made her feel relaxed, the time of day where she can finally relax and be herself, Vinyl Scratch. Being a DJ wasn't that bad, in fact it had given her a quite surprising amount of popularity. However, being popular came with its disadvantages, like being hounded by wannabe DJs; working at night didn't really help either. So she liked this time of day, when she could take off her glasses and wander Ponyville.

Also this time of day enabled her to meet her good friend, the local baker of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie. Thanks to the pink mare, Vinyl was able to go to many parties to be the DJ there, even more than Octavia. She smirked that her rival was of lesser popularity than her, even if the grey mare went to play at the Grand Galloping Gala yearly. It was undeniably obvious that hanging out with Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter, saver of Equestria thrice and best baker in all of Equestria, would do wonders for her career.

Early into their friendship, Vinyl just became 'friends' with the mare for one purpose, and that was for her career. But after hanging out with the mare for some time, they eventually became good friends.

Trotting to Sugar Cube Corner, Vinyl garnered a couple glances from the ponies around her, but was later not given a second glance as the white mare had taken off her glasses for the day, and nopony had ever seen her without her glasses, maybe Pinkie, but other than that, nopony. She knocked on the door to Sugar Cube Corner, waiting for the pink mare to come out. Vinyl had gotten addicted to the little cupcakes, scones, and muffins Pinkie made and that everypony adored, and was looking forward to her dessert fix of the day. She put a hoof thoughtfully to her chin and tried to think what she should have today, maybe a wild berry panna cotta or a tiramisu with strawberry flakes, or something wild that Pinkie made up, like the Poison Joke Surprise. A dessert that would let the consumer have mild effects of the poison joke, Vinyl smiled, only Pinkie would ever think of such a dessert.

The door didn't budge. Weird, Vinyl thought. It had been about an estimated twenty minutes. According to her experience with element of laughter, she should have come out and given her a tackle hug before she even knocks on the door, why the wait now?

"Pinks? You in there?" Vinyl asked worriedly as she knocked on the door.

Could she have gotten stuck in the vat of dough AGAIN? Vinyl thought, Pinkie was a weird mare, with the weird ability to get out of any situation, but she'd always be freaked out if she fell in the vat of dough.

"I hope nopony sees this..." Vinyl muttered to herself as she used her horn to try to unlock the key lock, turning her head in different directions, waiting for that resounding click!

Thank Celestia, She thought as she looked into the skies above, she pushed her hoof onto the door again, thinking that it would open, but no such luck. Vinyl sighed, this was going to take some time, she moved behind before charging like a bull towards the door, with her strength, she had managed to make a hole big enough for her to go through a brick wall? Since when was there a brick wall behind the door of Sugarcube Corner?

Vinyl popped her head through the hole first, looking around the dark room, “Pinkie?" She then entered the room, looking around for sign of the pink mare.

"Ponies wallow in pity, Rarity. They do very much," Vinyl could hear a voice, similar to Pinkie's but without that gusto and was instead a low and melancholy voice. "Pinkie Pie?" Vinyl repeated. She could hear a couple sniffles from the corner of the room, but it was so dark, she could barely see a thing, even the light coming from the hole she created didn't brighten up the room.

The unicorn's horn started to glow and finally she could get a better view of the place. It was a mess. Chaotic even. Bags of flour were strewn all over the place, a distorted bucket, and turnips all over the floor. In one corner, a huddled pink pony is twitching. "Pinkie Pie!" Vinyl dashed over to the mare's side, "you all right?" The mare looked up and stared at Vinyl, an mix of anger, fear and sadness in them.

Then she started.

"Of course, I'm not alright! Look at Gummy! He's terribly upset, Mr Turnip is upset too!" The pink mare stood up and pointed at her alligator and a turnip with a faded pink hoof, before pointing at the freaked out unicorn, “I’m upset, he's upset, you're upset, we're all UPSET!" Pinkie Pie glared at Vinyl before mumbling to herself, “Maybe I should start the study of Upsetology..." And she then began to tear up, “I don't know what's going on... Stop laughing at me!"

Vinyl looked at the tearful pink mare and ordered, “Pinks, you need to get out, stat." The white mare tugged on Pinkie's tail, demanding her to move outside; maybe some sun would do much better for the mare. But she wouldn't move an inch, Vinyl pleaded, “Pinks, just come with me."

"I'm not moving!"

Vinyl sighed, something was definitely wrong here, and she had to get to the bottom of it, she jumped throug the hole to look for her friends and get to the bottom of this.

***

Octavia smiled as she waited for the owner of Carousel Boutique to return, she was looking forward to a nice plain dress design for the Grand Galloping Gala, a dress that might catch the eye of a famous musician.

"Odd, Rarity's late, she's hardly late." Octavia said in her British accent as she squinted at her watch that said 10.25 a.m. "It has been twenty minutes, where is she?" She said impatiently, her hooves thumping the table she was sitting at, “Settle down, Tavi, a lady does not get mad. But it is rather late and I do have to receive my dragon-scale strings from the string maker. It would only be available for today and today only!"

Octavia was a perfectionist in her career, unlike her rival, who only cared about having fun, as Octavia thought. However, this grey mare only wanted the best of things; after all, she could not bear to give poor quality music to the ponies at the Grand Galloping Gala, even at the expense of savings. Ponies come to the Gala for music, not noise.

Also, she wanted to show her rival, Vinyl, that ponies would be attracted to quality music, not the number of weddings, parties or any celebration one has attended.

Finally, in the far distance, she could see a white unicorn coming her way, she couldn't hold back her excitement and she shouted, “Rarity darling! Tavi here!" Waving her hooves to show her presence. Rarity stopped at the table and asked sweetly, “Yes, Octavia?"

Octavia smiled, “Rarity, where is that dress you promised that would be prepared originally for me? I really need it quick as I have to be going to string-maker soon. It's 50 bits right? You're the best designer ever! Offering such a low amount for such wonderful dresses. Now where did I put my purse...," The grey mare dug into her purple bag as she said.

"Oh, I'm really sorry Tavi. But my price has gone up, it's now 150 bits." The unicorn demanded curtly.

Octavia stopped her rummaging and looked up, asking in shock,"150 bits?! I don't have that kind of money!"

Rarity, indifferent by the mare had claimed, said, “Well that's too bad dearie. I guess you won't have a dress for the grand galloping gala then. Maybe you could sell some strings to pay up?" The white mare observing her hooficure hinted.

"Why... All of the dirty..." By now, Octavia had already stood up, annoyed by the unicorn in front of her, “Then I won't pay up! It's my career sacrifice, rather than the ponies at the gala not getting to listen to good music. Good day to you!" Octavia huffed as she trotted off.

Rarity shrugged and trotted off in the other direction. "Element of generosity, my hoof!" Octavia hissed through clenched teeth as she trotted to the string maker.

***

Derpy sat in the middle of Ponyville square, looking like she was waiting for somepony, often waving at ponies she didn't know or randomly saying the word 'muffins' out loud. Her yellow mane bounced around as she turned her head in all directions, her derped eyes watching everypony's single event. She knew everything about this town, just like Pinkie Pie. Only more, she knew that Scootaloo was actually a chicken/Pegasus hybrid, she knew that Colgate's mane was half toothpaste and half mane.

However, the grey mare came to the spotlight when she was chosen as Ponyville's best mother on Mother's day, also she got chosen as 'Best Mailmare of the Year' and she won the muffin eating contest. Those were a lot of acknowledgments, but that never gave the hardworking mailmare her chance to shine, for she was often discriminated. Once, some fillies even complained to their mothers about seeing a 'monster', and that threw Ponyville into a frenzy, that almost involved exiling Derpy. But that is another story for another time to tell.

Her flank was donned with a bunch of bubbles, of which nopony knew they for as she stared into the sky. Her eyes went closer and closer to each other, and her face was plastered with her signature smile.

"Derpy?" An orange hoof waved in front of her, breaking her concentration.

"Oh hello Carrot!" The grey mare quipped cheerfully as she looked up to see an orange mare, with carrots on her back, looking down at her.

Carrot Top was one of the most famous ponies in Ponyville, in farming, that is, but was hardly recognized as Applejack's farm would outshine hers. Carrot Top's farm, Crunchy Carrot Farm, was one of the renowned farms in Ponyville, a close second to Sweet Apple Acres. Carrot Top and Applejack always have been good friends, schooling together as fillies and even going to the same high school. But they soon drifted apart as they each had to take care of their own family businesses.

Panting slightly, Carrot questioned, “What are you doing here? Sitting in the middle of Ponyville?"

"Oh I'm waiting, Rainbow Dash told me to wait for her here. So I had to, you can never leave a friend hanging!" Derpy replied with her optimistic attitude.

Carrot suddenly realized something; she had seen the rainbow-maned mare, on a cloud, napping not long ago. This meant her friend Derpy has been waiting in vain, should she tell Derpy that? Well it was the right thing to do. "Derpy...," Carrot started uneasily, gaining the attention of one's of Derpy's eyes, “I don't think Rainbow's coming, I just saw her napping on a cloud."

"No way!" Derpy exclaimed, voice cracking a bit, “Rainbow won't do that to me, would she?" Her eyes now looking in the same direction, focusing on the orange mare, hoping what she had just said wasn't true.

Carrot tried to remember again, Rainbow Dash's mane did look kind of grey earlier... Could it be?! Now her face, the epitome of shock, she suggested to the grey mare, whose eyes were again derped, “Could it be that Discord is back?" Her voice a low whisper when mentioning his name.

The mailmare said nothing and there was silence between the two ponies for a while. Finally, Derpy spoke,

"Discord who?"

Carrot sighed and just dragged the mailmare to the Treebary.

To be continued...