"Piiiinkie. Pinkie do you want to have some fun?"
The room, if it could be called that, was completely black. She couldn't see her hoof in front of her face. Devoid of any sort of walls; it seemed endless. A cold gust of wind brushed up against her every now and then. Although this, she was not scared. She had been taught to never be afraid.
"Pinkie? What do you say?" the voice said again. She could not tell where it was coming from. It seemed to be only in her head, the sound never passing through her ears. It was strange, and strangely familiar. It possessed some sort of rich pony type vibe to it, although it was male and did not sound like anypony’s voice. It sounded like something else.
"Of course I want to have fun. Don't you know me?" she said in her typical flamboyant attitude, full of smiles and laughter. "What kind of fun?"
"The type of fun that needs more than two ponies, why don't you get those little foals? They must want to have some fun."
She woke with a start. The window to her side was open, cold air rushing in. She drudged over, sleep still in her eyes. The slam of the window woke her. She looked around and pondered the dream. It didn’t feel real at all. It was just a dream.
"Pinkie, I want to have some fun," the voice said in her head.
She stood still by the window, facing her bed. She did not know where the voice came from, or how it got into her head, but it was there. It was strangely familiar too, yet still she could not find where she had heard it before. She was sure that she wasn't dreaming now. She did not know who the voice belonged to, but she still was not afraid, although she was suspicious. “Who are you?” she whispered, so she didn’t startle anypony. “Where are you? How are you talking in my head? Why do you want to have fun so late?”
“Oh Pinkie, I can only answer one of your questions. I want to have fun because life is a game. I am alive, and games are made to have fun, so I live for fun. Unfortunately, where I am right now does not allow me to do that. I need you to have fun, so I can have fun. You can hear me, and you are just the right pony.”
Pinkie thought for a second, and said “Sounds fine to me. I’ll go get them.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Cake too Pinkie.”
Pinkie strode off to her siblings bedroom. The hallway always had a weird feeling to it at this time of night. The windows became alit for half a second as lightning struck down somewhere in Ponyville. Soon after that she heard the dull roar of thunder. Nice of the Pegasi to work late so they don’t bother anypony tomorrow. The hallway seemed endless, as if it expanded with every step, but she knew it was just an interesting illusion.
She stepped through the threshold to the foals’ bedroom. They always looked peaceful when they were asleep, even though they were the very essence of anarchy when they were awake. That was probably one of the reasons she loved the two foals. She stood on the side of the Pegasus, looking down on the small brown body breathing heavily in its peaceful sleep.
“Pst, do you want to have some fun?” she whispered, smiling and looking gleeful as ever.
The foals woke the same way she did, sleep still with them. “Pinkie Pie?” the two said in unison. As they started to wake they looked up at her smiles creeping across their faces and excitement becoming obvious within their little bodies. “Pinkie” they said again, arms outstretched towards her. “Pinkie, Pinkie, Piiiiiiinkie.” Their voices were strange, yet strangely familiar.
Pinkie woke to the sound of birds and the light of dawn. Her door was closed, and window as well. She didn’t remember returning to bed, but she had. She hopped out, newfound energy guiding her through her morning routine.
Half an hour later she stepped through the door. The two foals’ laughter was the first thing she heard, as if flour had been poured atop herself. Then she heard her Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s laughter from their bedroom. They must have had a fun night, she thought.
As she walked to the foals’ bedroom, she remembered Mr. and Mrs. Cakes’ trip to Canterlot. They were supposed to have left by now. She turned around and charged to the shopkeepers’ bedroom. They had told her to remind them, and she didn’t. That must have been why she woke last night, but she never remembered to wake them.
She galloped down the hallway, forcing herself to rush forward, the sound of horseshoes against wood loud against her ear. She finally reached it, and bucked the door inwards. “Canterlot!” she screamed with such speed she could have been insane, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. Come on, hurry. You may be able to catch the train.”
This brought even more laughter from the couple. They looked different somehow; as if something was missing or something was new, other than their maniacal laughter. The two fell to the wood floor, laughing hysterically. “Pinkie, oh oh, Pinkie” Mr. Cake said through the laughter, “you’re coming with us. Don’t you remember? You convinced us last ni-.” He burst out into laughter again.
“Last night!” Mrs. Cake screamed, scarcely breathing through the laughter. “We, we already got new tickets. We’re leaving at noon.” She laughed even louder.
“Oh. Okay then.” Pinkie said with a smile on her face and with her usual enthusiastic spunk. She trotted off down the hallway to her room to pack. She didn’t remember ever asking to go, but it did sound like fun.
“Big Mac!” Applejack screamed into the dense forest of trees, “get those apples quick! I don’t like the look o' that storm!”
A deep, far-off “Eeyup” was her reply.
There was a roar of thunder in the distance as she walked back inside the house. She had heard that a storm in Canterlot had gone haywire and the Pegasi couldn’t control it. Just her luck that it came straight towards the farm.
The storm was the least of the news coming out of Canterlot. Strange things were going on in that city; only no pony could ever tell her what, just that it was strange. Pinkie had left for Canterlot two weeks before, and Applejack hoped she was alright. She saw Granny Smith knitting on the rocking chair as usual, and she heard Applebloom upstairs playing some game by herself, the wood creaking under her footsteps.
The thunder roared again, followed by a blinding flash of lightning. Light came through the windows for a split second, illuminating the living room Applejack sat in. She heard the front door slam open and the wet hoof-steps come into the house.
“It’s here. I got as many apples as I could. I think it’ll be enough to last us,” Big Mac said in his freakishly deep voice as he walked upstairs. He was dripping wet, and the wood underneath creaked under his weight and he left muddy horse-shoe prints with all his steps. “I’m going to bed.”
Applejack figured she should follow his example. It was getting late, and there was nothing they could do with the rain coming down hard as it was. She sat up from the chair, and said good night to Grannysmith. A snore was her reply.
She chuckled as she walked up the steps. Just like that old pony to fall asleep in a thunderstorm. She heard the deep snores of Big Mac as she passed his room on the way to her own. Through the snores she could barely make out Appleblooms’ soft breaths as she passed her bedroom. The rain pounded on the roof above, creating a relaxing a sensation. She lay down in her bed and closed her eyes.
A boom woke her from her peaceful sleep. The storm had grown wild, lightning flashing like Pinkies fireworks and the thunder matching it. Rain came down like the apples she grew, and the wind was strong enough to lift the barn. Through the plethora of chaos around her, she made out the deep laughter of Big Mac. She had no time to pay the odd noise any mind.
The pounding on her closed door pulled her from delirium and rushed her forward. She had to save the family, to get them to the storm shelter. She thrust the door inwards, nearly hitting herself in the head. The young filly, Applebloom, stood in the threshold, panting.
Her sister rushed herself into the room and screamed “Shut the door!” in her young, filly voice.
Applejack was confused, and obeyed the command. The laughter could still be heard, and the chaos of the storm had grown. “Applebloom? What’s going on?” she screamed so her voice could be heard to the shadow of Applebloom hiding in the farthest corner of the room.
At the sound of Applejack, the young filly came rushing forward to her sister. She thrust her little body on Applejack, clutching her tight in a hug. Applejack could see the sparkling tears in her sisters’ eyes and feel the warm water soak her orange fur as Applebloom pushed her face closer to her sister.
“Applebloom, what’s goin'.” Time seemed to stop as footsteps came closer to the door.
Applebloom screamed, the sound being lost within the booming thunder and pounding rain. The two backed away from the door, neither taking their eyes off of it.
The creak of the door was all they could hear; the slow swinging, all the two could see. Applebloom screamed louder.
Applejack did not need the lightning to tell who it was. The pink mane and bushy tail almost blocked the other two ponies standing behind her. Pinkie Pie stood in the threshold, with a hysterical Big Mac and Grannysmith behind her. The two seemed different somehow, rather than the maniacal laughter, but Pinkie was the same.
“Pinkie, what in Cele-,” Applejack began to say.
“Do you want to have some fun, Applejack?” Pinkie cut in, in a voice that was strange, yet strangely familiar.
The storm drew near. Lightning touched the ground as Rarity watched from her bedroom window. She couldn't watch any longer. This was going to be it, this storm was going to be the end of her, and it was the worst possible thing. She might have been able to deal with it during the day, but night is a different thing. Those darn Canterlot ponies. If she made it through the night, she was going to give them a piece of her mind. No longer could she watch it.
She walked away from the window and towards the door. She would help Sweetie Belle with whatever she was doing, any excuse not to be alone in this horrific show and thunder and lightning. Thank Celestia she watched her sister tonight, at least she was not alone.
The roar of thunder overhead forced her to hasten her trot. "Sweetie Bell? Sweetie Bell, where are you?" she called out, her nervousness prevalent in her speech.
"Over here," called back the filly.
"Oh there you are darling. Whatever are you doing?" Rarity asked as she came into Sweety Belles' room. Her little sister seemed unaffected by the horrible manifestation of a storm outside.
"Just trying to get my cutie mark. Now I'm trying acting. Can you help?" She handed Rarity a script. "Just start reading from here, and then continue on with me." Thunder boomed again, followed by a strike of lightning behind her. Her sister didn't flinch. Her little sister having more courage than her, how pathetic.
"Sure thing." Rarity took the script and cleared her throat. "Ms. Equus, I need you to stop this madness. There is no way that the Horseshow daily is ever going to print this. It's just too controversial," she said, motioning the gestures of an upset editor.
"Oh yeah miss, uh... miss... Just one second, Rarity." Sweetie Belle plunged her face into the paper of the script.
Rarity couldn't help but giggle. "How did you ever get anything in that paper of yours?" she said in her fancy, proper voice.
“Hey..." protested her sister. The laughter was contagious though, and soon both ponies were reeling on the wooden floor.
And so continued through the night. Rarity read her part and Sweetie Belle failed to deliver over and over again. Once she memorized one line she would forget another. The two eventually became tired and Rarity declared it time for bed. Sweetie Belle did not give any protest to the decision, but rather trotted off to her bed. Rarity left the room, the chaos of the storm lacking any effect on her in her drowsiness.
She fell asleep the instant her head touched the pillow. Her dreams were odd, yet she only remembered fragments of it, an endless room, maniacal laughter, and Pinkie Pie.
A thump woke her. The storm had grown chaotically wild, and Rarity was instantly frightened. It sounded like there was sort of scuffle inside the house. Hoofs slammed on the floor, sounds of struggle throughout the hall and rooms, and a slam against the wall. Rarity lay in her bed; sure the sounds were the cause of the storm and her imagination.
Sweetie Belle laughed, like Pinkie Pie had in her dream. The sound was heard through the storm, cutting through the thunder and pounding of rain like a sword. It was as if her sister had just heard the funniest joke in her short life. Rarity was forced to investigate, if not for herself than her sister.
She struggled out of the bed, willing her shaky and fearful legs to push her forward. She was frightened as to what she might find residing in her house. She travelled toward the sound of Sweetie Bells laughter, the lightning was strong and frequent enough to light her way. To her surprise, the laughter did not originate from her sisters bedroom. It brought her downstairs, into the store.
"Sweetie Belle?" she called out. Only the storm and the laughter was her reply. She walked further, and further, continuing to call out for her sister. She eventually rounded a corner and walked through a large wooden door. The room was filled with mannequins, some adorned with her latest work, and some naked. "Sweetie Belle?" She called out again.
Lightning struck again, illuminating the room. She heard the door slam behind her. Her sisters' frantic laughter became the only sound. Rarity screamed.
One of the mannequins stared back at her, with a pink bushy tail and mane.
Fluttershy curled into the red, fluffy chair, book in hand. Thunder roared in the distance. She heard the squawking of her frightened chickens and screams of the others. "It's okay. We are all safe in here," she reassured in her soft, sweet, voice, more to herself than them. She tried to concentrate on the book, to take her mind off of the imminent storm, but the shrieks of the animals wouldn't let her.
Thunder roared again, and lightning touched the ground. She jumped. Oh, why did the ponies in Canterlot have to lose control of the storm? She stood up and walked to her kitchen. "Does anybody want a little snack?" she asked nervously to the throng of animals by her.
Angel ran up to her, excited at what he just heard. Some of the animals quieted down, but the noise was still deafening.
She started to prepare the snack. It was an activity to try and take her mind off of the plethora of thunder, lightning and rain coming towards them. She slipped a knife whenever lightning struck, nearly cutting herself, and jumped when thunder boomed. The activity was enough to keep her from having a breakdown, though, and after an hour and a half, she was finished. What had started as a snack had turned into a feast of salads and sweets of all kinds.
She brought the food out to her animal friends. All at once their noise quieted as they gorged themselves on the delicacies of Fluttershys' cooking; except for the patter of rain on the roof and the boom of thunder, it was quiet. She realized that she was a very good cook when she was very nervous.
As they ate, Fluttershy recollected why she didn't run to Twilight, or even Applejack, maybe even Rainbow Dash. She had to get the animals to safety, and that took time. By the time she was done gathering and securing them, travelling would have resulted in her being caught in the chaos and... she didn't want to think about it. She watched angel gulp in enough food to match his size three times, and the rest of the animals eat generous portions. By the time the meal was finished, Fluttershy felt bloated and some of the animals had fallen asleep, including Angel.
She slowly got up from her chair, gathering as many plates and bowls as she could hold. It was late, she saw, yet the storm had only increased in strength. She tried to ignore the window as she walked back into the kitchen to clean. The repetitive process of scrubbing helped to ignore the storm, but not as much as the cooking and the storm was stronger than before.
By the time she was done, however, she was too tired to care for it. Her fear had left her, and drowsiness had taken its place. She walked past Angel and the rest, only a few remaining awake and each of them barely making a sound.
She walked up the stairs to her bedroom, and threw herself onto her bed. She would have fallen asleep that instant if it wasn't for a knock on the door. Fluttershy awoke then, all drowsiness leaving her. Whoever was outside had to be in trouble. She could feel the force of the wind even though she was inside, and the rain sounded like eggs being thrown on her roof from the sky.
She galloped to the door, eager to aid the pony and to have another face around her. She would get some comfort from that. When she reached the bottom, she saw Angel hysterical, lying down on the floor, stomach up, trying to catch breath between the laughter. The rest of the animals were asleep. She ignored the strange rabbit and continued on to the door. She thrust the wet wood open, simultaneously welcoming the pony in.
The pony slowly walked in without a word, shadows blocking its face with mane and tail dripping wet. The pony walked slowly and silently, as if it was just another day and Fluttershy's shack was its home. When the visitor was finally inside, Fluttershy tried to push the door inward with all her strength, the wind preventing it from closing. One back-kick from the visitor and it was shut.
"Thank you," she said. "Oh dear, oh dear. You must be soaking wet. Wait here; I'll go get a towel." Fluttershy said as she started to walk off. Before she left the visitor, lighting struck. In that flash she saw a pink mane and tail, with a tri-balloon cutie mark. "Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy quietly asked, fear creaping into her voice.
Pinkie slowly turned her head to face Fluttershy, the shadows still covering her face. She stayed in that position, and Fluttershy could feel her staring daggers into her soul. Fluttershy stood still, petrified. Another flash of light revealed Pinkies' twisted smile, reaching across her face and exposing each last tooth, with large eyes staring straight into her.
Flutterhsy tried to run, but the storm was too strong.
Grey storm clouds ran by underneath. She flew aimlessly, away from Cloudsdale, admiring the scene below her. Rainbow Dash hoped that her friends were alright. She would have gone down to help them, but not even the Canterlot Pegasi could control this monster, and she would surely be caught in it if she went down. Lightning flashed through the dismal, dark gray clouds, and cold mist slammed itself into her fur. The scene was twistedly surreal. In Cloudsdale it was just another warm night, as the ground below was torn to shreds.
"Rainbow! Rainbow there is nothing you can do! Come back!" some Pegasus called to her. Rainbow Dash did not recognize the Pegasus, but heeded her call. It was true, there was not a thing she could do but watch.
She flew back to Cloudsdale, wallowing in self-pity. She went back home, never saying a word to the Pegasi she passed. Most of them seemed to share her mood of hopelessness, aware of the fact that the world below them was being destroyed as they sat here, safe above the clouds.
She entered her home and went straight to her bedroom. A stack of Daring Do books rested on her nightstand. She had to return them to Twilight at some point, but she never remembered to. She wasn't done with all of them either; three more still needed to be read. She curled into her bed, Daring Do in hand.
She read far into the night. Occasionally she would peak at the stars above, or the shining moon, the serenity of it occasionally interrupted by a faint boom of thunder. Eventually she accepted the fact that she could not concentrate on the book, and left her home for a fly.
As she flew, she pondered the storm below. What could have happened to make the Pegasi lose control of the storm? Was everypony ok? Was there anything that Cloudsdale could do, and why didn’t Canterlot call for help at the beginning? No answers came to her.
The city seemed dead at this time of night. No classes were being held, no sound came from the homes below, and the only light was the moon and the stars above. Twilight loved those stars. Rainbow Dash tried to connect them like she saw Twilight do; she tried to see at least one of the constellations of that her friend always rambled on about.
She thought she saw the Pegasus in the stars, but she wasn’t sure . At the sight, she thought of Scootaloo. The little Pegasus might not have been related to her, but she still was the closest thing she had to a sister. Why didn’t she teach her to fly, she would have been safe in Cloudsdale with her. But no, in her selfish ways she neglected her adoring fan and left her to the grips of the hellish storm. Then she thought of Fluttershy. The sweet, caring pony must have been scared out of her wits of the storm. She should have helped her; she should have invited her up to her home to wait out the storm. Instead she worked on the new trick she learned. Selfish her.
She had enough flying for one night, and headed home. Thunder roared faintly below, and she felt the cool mist again as she flew. The city felt different as she flew back into it. She could not name it exactly, yet it was prevalent as the city itself was prevalent. Cloudsdale had changed in her brief fly, yet she could not say how.
Rainbow figured that all the nervous thinking she had been doing had finally gotten to her, and she ignored the strangeness as she flew back home. The stars glistened overhead and the moon mocked her with its faint light, just enough to know it was there but not enough to see by.
After navigating through the immense streets and buildings of Cloudsdale, she reached home. She ignored the doors and other rooms and went straight to her bedroom, the immense stack of books beckoning her closer. Now she would be able to concentrate, she wasn’t tired and the books looked so inviting. She stared at them, and hastened her steps to grab the top one, the one she was reading. She almost overlooked the small body lying on her bed.
She backed away the instant she saw it, and put herself in the fighting stance. Flying wasn’t the only thing she’d learned in school. “Who are you?” she screamed, hoofs held high, “get out!” Laughter was the reply. The figure on the bed threw itself onto its back, clutching itself and grasping for breath through the hysterical fits of laughter.
“What the,” Rainbow said as she went for a candle. She lit it as fast as she could, nearly dropping the match. The bed contained the small orange body of her biggest fan, Scootaloo. A smile was swept across her face and she sprawled side to side, occasionally pointing towards Rainbow. She knocked her books off of the nightstand and fell to the floor, choking on laughter.
Rainbow was immediately relieved. “You can fly!” she screamed, overjoyed that at least someone had made it out of the storm. “You can fly!” she screamed again, as if she needed to say it again to believe it. Here her adoring fan was, miles above Ponyville, in Cloudsdale where the only access was flying.
Scootaloo continued to laugh, pointing at Rainbow more and more. “Ok, I guess it is kind of funny. You were this close to getting beat up, you know.” She held up her hoof to show Scootaloo how close. The laughter continued, on and on until Rainbow started to get nervous. “Are you okay?” she asked the hysterical filly. Scootaloo continued to point at her, not at her, behind her. Rainbow turned her head to see a pink pony standing on a cloud, devoid of any wings. Rainbow dash held the candle closer to the figure. “Pinkie Pie?” she asked, “How are you standing there? Oh wait, Twilight’s here too, isn’t she? She’s using a spell, right? You can’t fool me Pinkie.”
“Did you forget? I’m Pinkie Pie,” the pink pony said in a flamboyant attitude, with a smile creeping slowly across her face.
“Excuse me! Excuse me!” Twilight Sparkle screamed through the plethora of voices, “I need everypony to step away from the door in case some more come!” The throng of worried and anxious ponies opened around the door.
Books were strewn across the floor, some of the young ones using them as pillows or piles of them for beds. Ponies cluttered against each other, packing themselves tighter and tighter in the library. She pushed her way through the crowd to the nearest window, the one Spike usually rested on. She heard the nervous murmurings of nervous ponies through the crowd, one talking about their house, another about their business, and another their possessions.
Eventually she was able to fight her way to the window. Spike lied on the small alcove just outside, quill and paper in hand. The baby dragon acted nonchalantly, as if it was everyday a life-threatening storm came and the library was used as a shelter. “Do you want to send the letter today, Twilight?” he asked her. “It’ll still get there.”
“No Spike, not right now.” She replied as she stared upwards to the sky. She tried to make out the constellations she knew, but the starry sky was blocked by her purple-pink force field. She was still able to make out flashes of lightning, and see the ripples of rain as it pounded on the magical barrier, but she heard no thunder. Her horn still glowed as she kept magic flowing through it.
At first sight of the storm she had put up the force field, knowing the danger of it. As she cast the spell outside, she saw the worried and frightened faces of all the other ponies. Originally, she had not intended the library to be a storm shelter, but that is what it ended up as. She invited a frightened family in first, and had given a sickly mare her bed to rest in. After the first family came in, more came and she had no choice but to open her doors to them. They all stopped coming when lightning struck a building next door, lighting it on fire. A pony had fallen down bawling when that happened.
Unfortunately, she had not seen a glimpse of her friends. She had been selfish. She should have thought of making the library into a shelter sooner, and sent word around town. Then her friends would have been with her, safe within her magical barrier. She would have to find a way to apologize when the storm was over, and if everypony was alright.
“How are you so calm?” she asked her dragon assistant.
“I’m safe, that’s how. As long as you keep that magic up, I know there’s no way anything can ever harm any of us,” he said. He stared up at her bubbly shield.
Twilight sighed. “I should have thought of this sooner. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, even Rainbow Dash could have come. Pinkie Pie is safe. She went to Canterlot and must have found shelter there when the storm got out, but there’s no doubt Fluttershy is having a panic attack. Applejack is probably trying to hold down the barn. Rarity is probably crying her eyes out, and Rainbow Dash could very well have been caught in the storm. I’m useless.” She sunk her head in self-pity.
Spike grabbed her head and forced her to look inside. “And what about them? You saved them Twilight. Without you they would have been alone in their homes, hoping to make it through the night. Instead they were able to come here, where they have the best unicorn in all of Equestria protecting them with her awesome magical powers.” He flicked her still glowing horn in a gesture of playfulness. “You are definitely not useless.” He went back to laying position, and looked at the storm.
Twilight was near tears. “Thank you, Spike. I’m ready for that letter.” He grabbed the parchment and quill by his side, and curled his knees up in preparation. The dragon nodded his head to signify her to begin. “Dear Princess Celestia…” and so she spoke about the lesson Spike had just given her, of how friendship didn’t just mean helping out your friends, but being friendly and helpful to all ponies. When she was done he curled up the parchment and sent it with his natural dragon magic.
She nodded to her assistant and went back inside. She climbed through the crowd to the top level. She saw the sickly mare tossing in its sleep, with signs of a fever. When the storm was over she’d have to get her to hospital. She looked down on the crowd. “Everypony!” she screamed with a fiendishly loud voice. They all stopped their chatter and turned to look at her. Some of the sleeping foals had woken. “I think it’s best if you all got some sleep. I’m going to stay up and keep the shield up, but you need to rest. I don’t think any of you are going anywhere, and it should be a busy day tomorrow with clean-up. So just relax, get comfortable, and get some shut eye.”
Most of the crowd heeded her warning, and immediately lied down and shut their eyes. Some sat down, eyes wide open with worry. They looked on as if they were in some other world, but their body was still here.
Twilight went back to Spikes window. The green and purple dragon had disappeared from his spot. She looked down below to make sure he hadn’t fallen, and when she saw nothing she thought he must have walked to his bed and went to sleep with the crowd. Rain pounded harder on the pink bubble, and lightning flashed brighter.
With a flash of light she thought she saw the silhouette of a pony deep within the storm. Immediately she waded through the crowd to the door. The outside ground was moist from the early rain, but much drier than the earth outside of the shield.
“Hello?!” She called out. “Is anypony there?” The door slammed shut behind her. She didn’t care; she needed this pony to hear her, for it to come closer. She stood there for three minutes searching for any sign of the pony and shouting, hoping for a response. Countless flashes of light held no other evidence of anything that stood in the storm. Twilight figured that she was simply allowing her restless mind to play tricks on her.
She turned back to the library, and nearly smacked her face in the closed door. She had been too lost in her thoughts and worries to care about it. She was sure that some frightened pony didn’t take too kindly on looking at the monster of a storm and shut it in terror. She used her hoof to open it, since she still had to keep the shield up with her magic.
She was taken back when she found the library empty. The candles had been lit out, and where there had once been throngs of scared and worried ponies there was only piles of books and darkness. She feared to go inside, should she meet whatever had made all of them pack up and leave. She took a couple of steps away from the door, and at once thought of the sickly mare on her bed. There was no way she could have gone anywhere, not in her condition. She had to go in, to see if the mare was okay, and to ask her if she saw anything.
Twilight sucked in a breath, and using every bit of her courage she stepped slowly back into the library. The glow of her horn gave her enough light to walk by and avoid the books strewn across the floor. She scanned the room for any trace of evidence of the cause of the sudden disappearance. She couldn’t find one piece, and by the time she was upstairs she was entertaining the possibility they fell through a giant portal into another dimension. She walked up to her bed to find the mare still lying down as it breathed heavy and she clutched herself in pain.
“Hey,” she whispered when she was near enough to the bed. “Do you know what happened? Psst, where did everyone go?” The pony seemed to relax at her words. She slowly turned to face Twilight, large black pupils and blue eyes staring straight into her. The mare started to laugh, a hysterical, maniacal laughter that Twilight knew was not due to any joke. Twilight sensed something behind her caused the hysteria.
She turned around and saw the white horn and wings of her alicorn mentor. “Princess Celestia?” Twilight questioned. Her mentor stared daggers at Twilight, until the laughs passed from the mare to her and she fell down in maniacal fits of laughter, wings flapping crazily. The two had just bowled over in tears from laughter at a couple of words. Twilight backed away, and noticed movement outside. She was sure that she wasn’t imagining anything this time as she saw each pony that was in her library outside in the storm, through her magical barrier, and laughing and playing in the monstrous wind and rain.
Twilight couldn’t take her eyes off the scene outside; they were in the same state as Princess Celestia. Within the cavort crowd, she spied Spike, frolicking and laughing like all the others. None of the crowd cared that their lives were in danger. It was a full five minutes before Twilight stopped watching to turn her attention to her hysterical mentor and maniacal mare.
Twilight realized, through the insane laughter of her mentor, that the mare wasn’t laughing anymore. Twilight gasped as she connected the dots, and the pony began to rise from the bed. As it did, it stared at Twilight, the blue eyes peering into her very soul. When the pony had fully risen, she realized that the mare lacked a cutie mark. A long tongue emerged from the mouth of the staring mare, and it strongly licked its own fur, burrowing deep within the individual strands of fur. Twilight saw the color change from a dark blue, to flamboyant pink.
“This paint is so yummy,” Pinkie Pie said.
The first signs of dawn broke through the windows, lines of dusty light and the songs of cheerful birds. Pinkie walked idly through the library, gazing at every tome and scroll that the shelves held. She had no particular interest in the books, but they were colorful.
She had only faint images of what had occurred the night before. She remembered gazing at Applejacks barn as rain pelted her skin, Raritys’ latest work fashioned on a mannequin, Fluttershy trying to run into a storm only to be thrown back in her shack, a warm and silent Cloudsdale, and the very building she walked in now, the library. She had no clue what she had done the night prior, but she didn’t care. Memories sometimes weren’t made to be remembered. She knew she had woken in Twilights bed though.
She pushed the vague memories from her mind and instead thought of cupcakes. She wanted a cupcake. She turned to the door to gallop toward Sugarcube corner, in desperate need of a cupcake.
She ran through the doorway, her hoofs trotting along the wooden floor. A familiar bird-like arm stopped her. A horned face, one horn that of a stag and the other straight with a loop design, filled her view. One tooth hung out of its pointy mouth, and a little patch of white hair hung underneath its pointy chin. Yellow eyes with red pupils stared directly to her.
“It’s your favorite Draconequus… me!” Discord said in Pinkies face. He jumped away, arms outstretched to show himself off. “Did you miss me?”
Pinkie forgot about her desire for cupcakes at once. “Did I?!” she excitedly screamed, “Where were you? Do you know how boring it’s been without you? Something’s different; did you get a haircut on your chin?”
“No, I let it grow longer. I also got my horn sharpened, do you like it?” He pointed his horns towards Pinkie to show them.
“Like it? I love it! Do you have any cupcakes?” Pinkie felt her craving again.
With a snap of his fingers, one of the nearby books on the ground folded into itself many times until it resembled a cupcake, and with a flash of light, blue frosting appeared in the top and the smell of sweet, freshly baked dough filled the air. Pinkie Pie grabbed it hungrily and swallowed it in one gulp.
“Mmmm. That was good.” Pinkie rubbed her stomach and felt the treat slide down her body. “So where were you?”
“Walk with me and I'll tell you.” He started off, his scaled tail swinging side to side with each step. Pinkie Pie followed close behind. The ground was mushy and made funny sounds as the two walked on it. “First I want to say I missed you. You’d think the one that causes laughter in the world would be able to entertain himself, but no. Apparently when you’re encased in stone, you lose some abilities. That’s where I’d been by the way. I also know how dull it’s been without me too, that’s one of the reasons I just had to get out. Do you remember that dream you had about two weeks ago?”
“Oh yeah. It wasn’t too different from my other dreams.” Pinkie Pie said, flamboyancy filling her voice as it usually did. As the two walked Pinkie noticed the eerie silence of the town. Wood was scattered across the ground, and a building had a huge hole and burn marks on the wood. Ponies were usually waking up and going on their business in the morning, but today it seemed as a ghost town.
“Yes well that was me. It’s a neat little trick I taught myself, the ability to communicate in dreams. After that I learned how to switch bodies. So… when you woke up I took over your body and had some fun. I’m not sure where you went when I was in your body, though. It doesn’t matter though, because I’m here with you.”
“So what did you do when you were me?” Pinkie said, admiring a pair of birds as they flew overhead. She didn't care what he did, but wanted to keep the conversation going.
“This,” Discord said, as he ushered to the main part of town, the market. Within the confines of carts and buildings was everypony of Ponyville. Some of the earth ponies lay sprawled on the ground fighting for breath through fits of hysteria, some unicorns made leaves turn to marshmallows and buildings into piles of cabbage with their magic, laughing all the while. Pegasi flew overhead, twisting and turning at odd angles and flipping in the sky, as they laughed hysterically. A Pegasi with bluish-gray fur and a blonde mane flew overhead, her eyes rolling about in her head.
Discord stared up at the Pegasus in confusion, as if he she was some unknown creature. “Your friends are over there Pinkie,” he said, never looking away from the odd Pegasus, and pointing to a far corner where Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight all laid on top each other, laughing hysterically. Discord never took his eyes off of the googly eyed pony, who flew among the others with a confused expression on her face.
“Her name’s Derpy.” Pinkie told Discord.
“Derpy,” Discord repeated, a look of furious determination came on his face as he followed the flying Pegasus with his eyes. “Why don’t you go to your friends? Unfortunately, I have some work to do.” The Draconequus walked off through the crowd of hysterical ponies.
Pinkie walked to her friends. As she walked through the crowd of mania and hysteria, she brushed up against hysterical ponies that seemed to be laughing at nothing in particular. One unicorn tried to turn the ground underneath it into one long piece of taffy, only to have her horn shudder and the magic die off. It seemed as if it was the funniest thing in the world as she fell back gasping for breath. Pegasi flew down towards her many times, only for them to pull back up at the last second. Pinkie Pie eventually waded through to her friends.
“Her tail!” Rarity shrieked as she pounded Applejacks stomach in laughter. The rest of the group burst out in laughter. Pinkie Pie looked at her poofy tail and giggled, it was pretty funny to look at.
“It is pretty funny.” Pinkie agreed.
Twilights horn shined as she made a nearby cloud rain balls of yarn. Even louder fits of laughter come from the group. Rainbow Dash flew upwards and grabbed it. She pushed it through the hysterical crowd, hitting random ponies with balls of yarn and making her friends laugh deafeningly loud, as well as many within the throng of ponies.
Pinkie Pie watched and laughed along at the random acts of everypony. It was funny, and doubly amusing. By the time Rarity tried making a dress with blades of grass, Pinkie was hysterical.
Soon, however, she heard a strange voice through the crowd. It cut through like a blunt knife. The words were a little slurred, and it sounded like the Pegasus’ tongue was touching the roof of her mouth as she spoke. “What is wrong with you guys?” Derpy said, “We have to clean up. There’s a building on fire!” The Pegasus hovered over the crowd towards where Discord and Pinkie stood not too long ago.
Discord rose from the crowd, standing at least a building over everypony else. He still stared at Derpy, but no longer with the look of determination but with his typical smug smile.
“Wait a second, I know you!” She let one eye stare at Discord and another look at the sky, “My friends told me you were bad.” Discord laughed.
“How could you ever get a friend?” He asked smugly.
“They’re right over there, and I have six.” She pointed towards Pinkie and the other five. All but Pinkie burst out in more laughter. Pinkie’s face drooped in worry for the bluish-gray mare.
Discord looked at Pinkie. He glanced at the five others laughing atop each other, and looked back at Pinkie. It was as if he could smell Pinkies worry, like he could see it on her. Still staring at Pinkie, he snapped his fingers.
Pinkie watched, horrified, as Derpy began to change. Her hoofs started to turn to dough, and it spread up the rest of her body. Her wings changed to blue frosting, along with her mane. Before her head was turned into the sweet bread, she let out a quiet shriek. It was deafening to Pinkie Pie. She watched in horror as the Derpy shaped cupcake fell and splattered to the ground, eager ponies crowding around for a chunk.
Her friends behind her burst in a deafening roar of laughter, along with the rest of the crowd. Pinkie was silent. Discord gazed at her, analyzing her response.
“You didn’t have to do that!” She screamed at the Draconequus, “She didn’t know any better!”
Discord adorned another smug smile. He stared at Pinkie, smiling all the time.
“Come on, Pinkie. We’re just having fun. You should be an expert at that,” Twilight said, erupting in laughter. The group followed her example.
Through the laughs, Rarity said “Come on darling; enjoy the joke, or the cake.” This made the entire group fall back, clutching themselves for breath.
“Take your friends advice, Pinkie,” Discord warned, the smile still on him.
Pinkie fumed. The Draconequus used to be her friend, but now that he killed another of her friends, albeit in a delicious way, she wanted revenge. She wanted Discord to pay with his life. “You once told me life is a game, Discord,” Pinkie said, a smile creeping across her face. “I don’t play fair.”
All at once the world fell to true chaos, with Pinkie being the center of it. A rift had cut through the crowd, a portal to another world, Pinkies world. Other Pinkies marched out, all charging to Discord. He simply flew over them. A storm brewed once again, materializing instantly and engulfing the entire town. Where lighting touched down there was an explosion of strawberry frosting and flame, chocolate milk poured down instead of rain, and thunder was made by a giant Pinkie Pie in the sky frolicking among the clouds, humming a merry song to itself. Pinkie floated to Discord on a hunk of earth dug up with her power, and threw everything she could think of at him. He avoided three dimensional butcher knives, rolling pins with spikes coming out of the wood, and hunks of dough laced with a poison that would kill instantly. Through Pinkies chaos, he still kept the smug smile, and the crowd below continued to laugh hysterically.
Discord made a “tsk” sound, as if this was just an everyday annoyance. He made a move with his arm for Pinkie to look behind her. As she looked behind and down, she saw her friends adorned in their elements of harmony. The five were staring upwards at Pinkie, with chuckles of laughter.
“So this is your world,” she heard Twilight say, “I read about it in a book, but it is better to see it with my own eyes.”
“Um, Pinkie. Is it okay if you stop? It’s all too funny and I think Angel may not be able to breathe,” Fluttershy said. Pinkie saw the white rabbit trying to grab breaths while clutching on Fluttershys’ back.
“Yeah Pinkie, this is cool and all, buuut, Discords was, like, twenty percent cooler,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Come on, sugarcube. Come down off tha' floating thingamajig and tell us one of your funny stories,” Applejack said. Rarity nodded in approval of her friends’ words.
“Listen to your friends, Pinkie Pie. You still are my friend, so my advice applies too,” Discord said, the smug smile still on his face.
Pinkie Pie threw a giant cake made in the shape of a knife at him in response. He slithered away from it, and it demolished a building behind him. She noticed her own element, laughter, adorned on a horn. Discord looked to give some sort of signal, and she felt a blast heat on her back. She looked behind to see her friends using their elements power, launching a single, enormous, bright light at her. She felt the same sensation from where Discord floated, and knew he was using her own element against her.
The world started to darken. She heard the maniacal laughter of her friends all at once. It was all she heard. By the time her vision became completely dark, it had grown to a spine tingling chorus.
Pinkie stood in the familiar endless room, devoid of any walls and a chill from an unnamable origin reaching down her back. She could not move. Discord appeared to her through the darkness. He was still smiling.
“Oh Pinkie, I thought we were friends. So what if that annoying Pegasus got what she deserved, why did you to try and kill me?”
“I’ll kill you five times!” Pinkie screamed at him. “She didn’t deserve that!”
Discord sighed. “Do you know why I was going around in your body getting everypony to join and enjoy chaos?”
“Because it’s fun,” Pinkie said, still fuming.
“Well... yes, but also because I needed an army. That Celestia you praise so much took my throne. I am the one who should ruling, and with my army I will do just that. I may have the throne now, physically, but not Equestria. There are more cities and towns than just Ponyville and Canterlot, you know. There are so many more and they reject me. Poor old me. Me, their lovable tyrant of chaos; so disheartening. They have grown to love that idiocy known as order. They do not care about fun, unlike you and me. You and me, we know that life is just a long game, and that games are made to have fun. You see, it’s not about the power. It’s about showing everpony this truth. I thought we were on the same page with the whole life thing. Why couldn’t you just have fun? Oh well.” He slithered forward and touched Pinkies forehead.
She woke lying on the ground. “You fell asleep!” Twilight called, and the rest of her friends broke out in laughter. She laughed with them, barely able to get off the ground. She fell asleep, asleep! Suddenly she had an idea, and she ran forward to Twilight and flicked her horn. It made a plucking sound. She fell back again, hysterical, along with her friends. A horn, it made… it made a pluck!
Life was a game, and games were made to have fun.