Izzy had heard many weird things in her time. But this one was positively belizzling her mind! "Sorry, Comet?" she asked. "Could you repeat that?!
"I can scarely believe it myself!" Comet said. "But I saw it with my own eyes! There's some sort of pony in the town square who seems very... off."
Izzy dropped down from her ladder, rolling out of the way as it hit the ground with a crash. "Off?" she asked. "Is she a robot?"
"No, she's a bit weird. And bouncy. And offering everypony confetti!" Comet sighed as he pulled some out of his glasses. "I have no idea how that lot got there. And my biggest surprise was her cutie mark."
Izzy's eyes widened. "Is she a blank flank? Because if so, I'll bring Misty to meet her!"
Comet looked surprised. "It's not that she had one cutie mark. She had two! She must be super powered with this cutie mark magic thing Sunny mentioned a few times."
Izzy nodded sagely. If anything silly needed to be looked at, then she was the mare for the job. After all, who in Equestria could possibly be sillier than her? "I'm on my way, Comet! I'll have it investigated in two shakes of a pony's tail!"
Comet looked at her blankly. "Uh, I have no idea what that means."
Izzy looked down. "Sorry! Forgot you come from another place for a moment. It means very quickly, if that's what you're wondering." Secure that all of her things were in their correct place, Izzy set off down the pathway from the Brighthouse and into the snowy day before her.
Maretime Bay was, as usual, full of snowball fights and ponies having fun. Decorations were everywhere, and Sprout was even helping a unicorn keep their balance to put a wreath up. What a sweet scene! He really had changed so much since that day two years ago when he'd knocked the lighthouse over.
Izzy was now in the town square, and suddenly spotted a pink mare with a pink mane and tail, who was talking to Posey. "Hi Fluttershy!" she said. "Fancy seeing you here!"
Posey shook her head and made a strange noise. "Yurgh! Who are you! And my name's Posey, not Fluttershy!" She then dashed off, her weirdness quota having been filled for the day. "Windy? Where are you?"
Izzy approached the mare, whom she now spotted had two cutie marks, one on each side. "Hi, new friend! My name's Izzy!"
The mare looked at her. "Hmmm," she said. "One cutie mark, and a wider snout. They really did change animation styles in the two years inbetween!"
Izzy was confused, but remembered to be friendly. "Well, what's your name!"
The mare smiled. "My name is Pinkie Pie, and I am here to say-"
Izzy quickly shushed her. "You can't sing! There's no backing music!"
Pinkie gasped as her eyes widened. "YOU CAN HEAR THEM TOO?!"
"The disembodied backing voices that appear when we launch into song for no readily obvious reason?" Izzy said. "Yep! But you look cold with no scarf!"
"As long as I have happiness and merriment with me, I'm always warm!" Pinkie smiled. "Though I would fancy a bite to eat."
The door to the Brighthouse flew open, and Izzy called out. "Hey guys! I'm back!"
Hitch looked over. "Hey Izzy. Have fun in town!"
Izzy nodded, her head bouncing up and down so quickly it appeared to be mounted on a spring. "I need to be careful how often I do that to avoid breaking the ragdoll physics."
"What are ragdoll physics?" Zipp asked, who had joined the scene.
"Never mind!" Izzy said, throwing a dustbin lid to one side. "I made a new friend, and she had two cutie marks!"
"Two cutie marks?!!" Misty asked, as she walked over. "She must be very powerful or very old. Opaline mentioned that in ancient times ponies had two cutie marks."
Izzy stepped to one side. "Introducing Pinkie Pie!"
The pink pony looked around and bounced around. "You guys are in a different art style!"
Pipp looked over the balcony. "Can you guys keep it down? My new single won't write it... self..." she trailed off, seeing the scene before her.
"Hello!" Pinkie said, suddenly floating in front of her.
Pipp dashed away. "I'll get Sunny!"
Pinkie floated back down to the other level. "Does everypony run away when I talk to them?"
"I didn't!" Izzy replied. "So, fancy spending some time with us, Pinkie?"
Zipp looked closer. "Hey, that cutie mark looks familiar. Where have I seen it before?"
Suddenly, a familiar canter sounded on the ramp, and Sunny dashed down. "Hey guys! What's going on?"
Izzy suddenly teleported in front of her. "Sunny, we have a new friend!"
Sunny's eyes widened when she saw who it was. "Oh my stars. YOU'RE PINKIE PIE!"
Pinkie nodded. "Weeeeeeell, technically, I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie, but I'm only that name when in my basement." She turned and winked. "Just a little thing for you guys reading."
Izzy pouted. "But I'm the one who breaks the fourth wall around here!"
Sunny, however, was too excited to listen. "I have so many questions I want to ask you! What's your favourite shampoo? How did you guys defeat Grogar? Favourite flavour of frosting? And most importantly of all; what was Princess Twilight like to know in pony?"
"Something got swapped or something," Pinkie replied. "Something about in the spell of something from my time being switched for something from this time. There was some sort of tree or something."
Zipp looked quizzical. "A tree, huh?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie smiled. "A nice tree on top of some stone looking out over some sort of valley."
Sunny looked at Zipp in shock. "Oh no. If Pinkie is here, and the tree is the thing from our time that is in her time, then what does that mean?"
Opaline bellowed with laughter as she appeared in the middle of Ponyville. "AT LAST! I AM FREE OF THAT TREE! TIME TO CONQUER EQUESTRIA!"
A small colt looked at her. "You are such a good method actor! Can I have your autograph?"
Opaline facehoofed. "Oh not again..."
