It was your usual night in Ponyville. All but one slept. She was preparing for a party. Tomorrow was her birthday, but not one soul in this town but one knew what was coming up next.
How could she prepare so quickly, you may ask. She is the party pony of the small town, after all. Pinkie Pie. She was only slightly softened by the pit-pat of rain landing on the roof of Sugar Cube Corner. She was tired, for every little thing had to be perfect. She only had one birthday per year, after all. The moonlight shone through the lightly tinted window. Pinkie Pie had cleaned the area from the last party that was only yesterday. She was having a pre-birthday party, after all.
The web of a spider strung in a high corner, covered only slightly by streamers so no one would notice. A spider lived in this web. The web so generously protected swayed in the moonlight. Everything seemed to glow. Pinkie Pie set up the pictures hanging on the walls of all her friends, one by one. Polished them, dusted them, she did everything in her power to make sure this birthday was perfect. The streamers, they were the brightest colors imaginable. The pictures shone in the minimal light offered, and Pinkie Pie was laying in her bed, sound asleep. Her breathing was soft, and if you could touch her, you'd feel the beating of her heart and her lungs expanding, letting in air, and forcing it out.
The sun rose for dawn, and Celestia had flown up with it. Pinkie Pie awoke, earlier than usual, to make her final touches and to decorate the sweets she baked the night before. "This... This seems too quiet." Pinkie Pie commented. "Too peaceful." She added. "Something's being planned. We just need to plan ahead as well..." And Pinkie Pie continued her work. When she finished, the clock in her room said 8:05. "They will all arrive in 25 minutes!" She cheered. She danced on the rug and picked up a pin laying on the table. She used it to pin up a picture she forgot to pin up. A picture of herself. She placed it in the middle and stuck heart stickers on the walls for fun. Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash walked in one by one.
"I've been waiting for this party for-ever!" Rainbow Dash burst out.
Meanwhile, at Bonbon's home, she invited Lyra in. She knew the party wouldn't start for a while. Lyra invited somepony else in with her, Big Macintosh. He stood there, waiting to be invited to sit down or do something else like play a board game with them. "Big Mac seems a little too polite today.. It's suspicious!" Lyra whispered to Bonbon. Bonbon decided to clean up and invited Big Mac to come along as well. Lyra sat and read a book she was anticipating to finish. Lyra was listening closely and heard an odd bump behind the couch. She looked behind there and saw nothing at all. She decided to investigate the room while Bonbon was sweeping and Big Mac was giving her some company. Big Mac seemed slightly darker than usual and looked like he was wearing a fake horn that could glow any color. When Bonbon asked about this, Big Mac just said, "I like wearing this." Bonbon then suddenly turned back to work. She was okay with Big Mac just hanging out and not helping her. She usually worked alone, anyways.
Big Mac turned on the fake horn and it started to glow green. It zapped Bonbon but it was painless, and Bonbon never noticed. Big Mac walked away suddenly, and took off the fake horn. He walked straight into the bathroom and suddenly, oh no.. Big Mac was an imposter. He was a changeling the whole time, sent by Chrysalis to clean up these what she calls, 'mistakes'. It used a piece of technology and turned invisible, then flew off back to the hive. Bonbon noticed a few minutes later when she saw something that looked like a black bruise on her left leg. It began spreading and Bonbon screamed and fainted. Lyra was listening to music for some odd reason so she did not notice. The music was turned up too high for the scream to hit her ears anyways.
Here is where the war begins.