Altering Harmony

The next morning was an absolutely disastrous one. Rainbow Dash flew around town mindlessly while paying the gathering storm clouds no attention at all, which resulted in a heavy rain. Rarity kept pacing back and forth in her Boutique, furious at the fact that she would miss Hoity Toity's fashion showcase yet doing nothing about it. Fluttershy locked the animals she'd taken care of for so long out of her cottage, leaving them to be drenched by the unrelenting rain. Applejack neglected to do her duties and just left the apple trees be. Pinkie, on the other hoof, was nowhere to be found.

"Pinkie? Are you here?" Twilight called out as she entered Sugarcube Corner. Ever since her friend had ran away from the picnic yesterday, Twilight had searched desperately for her all around Ponyville, trying to find at least one clue as to where Pinkie might have gone. As expected, her attempts were futile. Today being a new day, however, she decided to try her luck at the bakery once more. Pinkie can't have just left Ponyville overnight, so she must've returned since she lives here. Hopefully she's just playing a big hide-'n-seek game with me... come out, Pinkie, come out.

"No, Pinkie's not here," a familiar voice sounded from nearby.

"I know that's you, Pinkie," Twilight grinned. "No need to hide from me, you know; I just need to talk to you." She carefully scanned her surroundings, trying to find where Pinkie was hiding, before she finally noticed a pair of blue eyes peeking out from underneath a table that held several large cakes.

"You don't have to! I'm all cheery and happy and fun now, as always! I'm perfectly fine!" Pinkie replied, her voice sounding slightly choked.

Twilight knew she was lying; she could sense so from her voice. After exchanging a long stare, Pinkie went back under the table again, clearly unable to meet Twilight's eyes anymore. Slightly irritated, Twilight's horn glowed a pinkish-purple as she teleported next to Pinkie, getting on her belly as she was now also under the table.

"Ahh!" Pinkie screamed at Twilight's sudden appearence as she instinctively jumped up and slammed her head on the underside of the table. Twilight, feeling something wobble on top, immediately leapt out and realized that one of cakes was wobbling badly, about to fall and make a mess on the floor.

Using her magic to prevent its fall just in time, she then glanced under the table only to see Pinkie gone and no longer there. Great, she's gone. I guess I'll just leave now and get back to the library. Sighing in defeat, Twilight turned around to see Pinkie standing there, seeming perfectly fine except for the fact that she was unable to meet Twilight's gaze.

After another staring session that seemed to have lasted for hours, Pinkie finally broke. "Okay, okay... sorry for running off like that, Twilight."

"Pinkie," Twilight said, her tone urgent. "You running off like a chicken isn't important anymore. I need you, Pinkie... you're the only one who hasn't gone completely crazy like the others. I really need your help to get to the bottom of all this!"

"You can do that," Pinkie responded neutrally. "I've been thinking a lot since the picnic, Twilight. If my own friends don't think I'm a good comedian and party mare, then I guess I'm not."

"Are you listening to me or yourself, Pinkie?" Twilight retorted. "They only said that because they're now the opposite of who they used to be... of their Elements!"

"Whatever," Pinkie shrugged as she walked past Twilight and opened the door to go outside. Still determined to enlist Pinkie's help, Twilight followed her as she left, both of them barely noticing that the rain had stopped and was instead replaced with a cloudy sky.

"Pinkie Pie, please!" Twilight called after her as she tried to match Pinkie's quick pace and catch up to her.

Suddenly, Pinkie gasped, reigniting Twilight's hope until she realized that Pinkie was gasping at a small pebble she had picked up from the ground instead. "This is quite a fine rock," she murmured to herself as she examined it. "Maud would like it... I like it."

Twilight raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Uh... you alright, Pinkie?"

Receiving no response from the now rock-loving mare, she quickly turned and began to race in the direction of the Golden Oak Library, determined to find an answer as to why her friends were all acting so oddly. As soon as she arrived, she began to dig into every single book she had regarding magic-influenced behavior. Halfway through her reading, however, a dark purple fog began to seep into the room, immediately striking Twilight unconscious. When her horn had successfully absorbed the purple fog, she woke up with a start. "What was that?" she blinked, a perplexed expression on her face as she glanced around the library. "Hmm... well then, back to work. I've got to find an answer to all this as soon as possible."

Twilight powered up her horn, intent on bringining a book toward her using her magic; however, whenever she tried to maneuver said book towards her, it would always fall without warning.

"Ugh!" Twilight, frustrated, slammed her hooves so hard into the ground that the mountain of books beside her wobbled and toppled onto the lavender unicorn. "Seriously?" She managed to escape from under the book avalanche after quite a lot of difficulty. "Stupid books!"