MLP: Conquering the Odds. Part 1

"Not one of my better jobs, but it's way too muggy to go on!"

Off to the east, within one of the more intact vales of vegetation and plant life of Equestria, lay the abode of the Apple family. As of this day, Equestria found itself under the influence of a life-withering heat wave, which had unfortunately resulted in a lack of work for both Applejack and her sister, Applebloom.

The two siblings had retreated to the confines of their house, desperate for salvation from this unacceptable weather, and were forced to spend the remainder of their day indoors. Applejack panted exhaustedly whilst wiping her brow of the gathering sweat, pouring forth from her currently lank hair and dripping upon the wooden floor, before she willingly collapsed on her living room sofa.

"This… was… too much…" she wheezed, unaware of her solitude within the room, but remained unwilling to consider such a petty concern. Applebloom, for her part, had collapsed carelessly on the bed in her bedroom, almost immediately falling asleep from the fatigue the weather had inflicted upon them. Eventually, Applejack followed suit and lost herself to her overwhelming exhaustion, resulting in the passing of two hours devoted to their recuperation.

Suddenly, Applejack was awakened by a loud 'Slam!', surprising her enough for her to lose her balance and land headfirst against the floor. "Argh! Who…" she questioned in frustration. Soon enough, the cause of the sudden onslaught against her ears had revealed herself, as Twilight hesitantly rushed to Applejack's side. "Applejack, are you awake?!" soon rang in Applejack straining ears, before she eventually stood up from the floor and held her head within her wrapped arms to quell the trauma. "Yes… What is it, Twilight?" she asked out of both curiosity and irritation.

"It's Pinkie Pie! She's not at her house, and I couldn't find her in town. So I thought she might be here!" Twilight blabbered nervously, before Applejack answered "Well, I haven't seen her today". Applejack then pondered Twilight's actions and asked "Why are ya so worried anyway?" Twilight simply stared at her as if she was insane and answered "What!? What if she's Pinkamena again?!"

Unlike Twilight, Applejack had considered the later encounters with the devious entity, and replied "Well, Pinkamena hasn't really done anything bad for a while… so what if-". "Are you kidding me!?" Twilight screamed maniacally, but her sudden outburst was then proceeded with a simple sigh. Twilight, having regained her composure, then stated "Well, we still have to make sure she's not done anything to hurt herself". Applejack then reluctantly agreed, and the duo quickly made their way from Applejack's orchard towards Ponyville.

Meanwhile, within the aforementioned town, a certain pink pedestrian slowly trudged her way through the streets, gleefully peering at multiple passerby and into shop windows. She grinned to herself and stared at one particular shop, as she greedily eyed the pastries that lay behind the window. Cakes, Pies, Rolls and above all, Cupcakes were displayed to her longing eyes.

She pressed her forehead against the glass and stared intensely at the latter pastries, her mouth practically drooling for a sample of their contents. "Hey! Miss Pie!" a foreign voice called, belonging to somepony that had apparently recognized her. She turned to her left to find an unknown pony standing before her, eagerly awaiting a response; but soon, the pony in question stood and eyed her with a curious expression, as if he had never seen her before.

Pinkie Pie's hair was hanging downwards over her shoulders, the left of her fringe covering the left half of her face. Her skin was somewhat paler than it's more natural healthy glow. But her face was the most diverting aspect of her features. Her eyes were wide open and her pupils had shrunken to disturbing measures. Her grin covered a majority of her cheeks, showing a large, white smile.

Pinkamena staggered towards the confused stranger, before sneering "That's me… What's it to you?" By this time, Pinkamena suddenly recognized the pony as the doctor from the hospital that confronted her, as he is possibly here to return her once again. The doctor stated "Listen, Miss Pie. I'm here on official business, and we require you to return to the hospital". Pinkamena scoffed rudely and replied "Sorry, doc; but I'm not interested in having my time wasted anymore". "I do not wish for you to think that I'm here to waste your time" the offended doctor muttered nervously.

Pinkamena smiled malevolently and mocked "Well, the only reason we're still here talking is to either waste my time or to make sure we never have to meet again". The doctor's jaw dropped as Pinkamena swept her lank hair back and proudly concluded "Either way, this conversation is over". Pinkamena then turned on her heel and strutted away from the doctor, the latter wearing an expression of disapproval.

---

"High hats and arrow collars, white spats and lots of dollars! Spending every dime~, for a wonderful time~!"

Pinkamena continued to ungraciously strut her way through the streets, singing a song to herself while searching for any form of mischief to partake in. "Gergh, this fresh air and sunlight, it's irritating my eyes!" she complained grumpily before sporadically returning to her previous, conniving nature. However, as she carelessly wandered through the town, she had soon noticed the lack of pedestrians that would surround her like before; she wondered "Wait… Where did everypony go?"

Pinkamena soon turned to examine her surroundings, realizing that the town was suddenly devoid of inhabitance, leaving the irresponsible pedestrian confused by this strange sense of solitude that surrounded her. She turned to face the opposite direction of the intersection from whence she came, discovering that the once populated suburb had become nothing more than an abandoned street.

She ran through the street and rounded a corner to her left, before stopping to find a lack of inhabitance in the following suburb. "Excuse me, miss?" said a voice suddenly. She turned to face the opposite direction for the call, only to find nopony in her view. "Miss, are you okay there?" a second voice asked. Pinkamena clutched the sides of her head in frustration and grunted to herself.

Before she even knew what had occurred, she was leaning against a wall in an alleyway, desperately gasping for breath. "What… what's going on?!" Pinkamena stammered, a bizarre sense of confusion sweeping through her mind as her heart began beating at an uncomfortable rate.

"Pinkie Pie? Is that you?"

A faint whisper had filled the air and infested Pinkamena's ears, filling her with a sudden sense of relief, before returning to question the affiliation of who it was that addressed her. She turned to pear towards her entrance into this foreboding neighborhood once again, to find Twilight and Applejack sprinting towards her in great hesitation.

"Ack! Not them again!" she thought to herself, before ducking behind the corner into a nearby alley way in a panic. As she gasped in fear, she had quickly concocted a scheme to prevent any evidence against her involvement. After grinning to herself in satisfaction, she suddenly lost all strength in her body as she slid down the wall and collapsed in the dirt.

And with that, by the time the distressed duo had happened upon Pinkie Pie, she was laying in torment against the brick wall to the left of the alleyway. "Pinkie Pie!?" Applejack screamed in horror before rushing to her companion's aid, while Pinkie Pie stirred into being and tilted her head towards the pair.

"Wh… am… What the-?" Pinkie Pie stuttered dizzily before regaining her senses and focused a single, open eye on Applejack. "How… did I get here?" she asked Applejack with eager expectance for an answer, which was unfortunately, but inevitably, a futile pursuit. "What do ya mean, gal? We just saw ya standin' in the middle of the path here" Applejack answered in confusion.

Twilight was standing on the sidelines as Applejack tended to Pinkie Pie, suspiciously pondering this peculiar action and questioned the cause to be either a simple action of panic, or that it was portrayed to appear that way. As she pondered this, she soon noticed the sound of hoofsteps behind her, encouraging her to face the oncoming figure for assurance of its identity. To her surprise, an unknown pony was running franticly towards her and stopped right in front of Twilight, hesitantly pulling a bag from behind her and searching it of a specific artifact of importance.

"SorryI'malreadylateIneedtogo!" the flustered messenger blabbered in a panic, before pulling out an envelope with a thick wax seal. "What?! Where's it fro-" the equally flustered Twilight asked, only for the messenger to interrupt "It'sfromCanterlotandtheysentmetogivethistoyouExcuseme HaveagooddayBye!" before clumsily spinning to face the opposite direction and disappearing into the street. Just listening to such an increased pace of dialogue was enough for Twilight to suffer a swiftly emerging headache.

"Who the heck was that?" Applejack exclaimed, whilst simultaneously supporting the stricken Pinkie Pie from underneath her arm. "I have no clue, but she gave me a letter from Canterlot" Twilight replied, before opening the letter and extracting the note from inside. However, upon reading it, she discovered a mere blank piece of paper in her grasp, devoid of any writing, illustration or attachment.

Twilight sat and pondered in confusion of what relevance this 'letter' could have, before suddenly having an idea; she retrieved a pen and levitated it to write upon the top-left corner of the paper. 'This is Twilight Sparkle' was written upon the paper, which resulted in the paper itself to begin glowing faintly as writing began appearing below her statement.

'Good afternoon, Miss Sparkle. This is Celestia writing to you'.

Twilight gasped in shock and quickly replied 'Your Ladyship! This is an honor to speak to you again'. 'I'm afraid there is little time to negotiate. I need you to come visit me in Canterlot'. Despite the lack of an explanation for this summoning, Twilight obliged and replied 'I'll be there by tonight, but is it alright if my friends join me?'

An unexpected pause had stretched for an extended period of time before a reply returned, 'Very well, but be sure to be here by tonight. This is of the utmost importance'. Twilight raised her eyebrow in concern for what Celestia required her for, considering her current predicament with Pinkie Pie, but inevitably obliged.

'I will be there'.

---

By the time night had engulfed the town and cloaked the environment in its volatile darkness, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were forced to travel for almost two hours until Canterlot was in their sights. During this journey, Pinkie Pie had fully recovered from her strange ordeal and was perfectly willing, and somewhat excited, to have the chance to meet Celestia in her abode.

However, an overwhelming sense of regret had lingered in Pinkie Pie's subconscious, as she had neither the chance nor the consideration to inform her sister. She was afraid for Maud to discover Pinkie Pie's absence from home and fear for her safety, just as Twilight ironically did a few hours ago.

As they finally came towards the gates to this luminescent palace, Twilight discovered the gates themselves to be oddly wide open, with a single, formally dressed pegasus standing before them to greet them. "Good evening, Miss Sparkle. We have been expecting you" the suitor informed the group, before furrowing his eyebrows in confusion; "But we were not expecting additional guests to join you".

Twilight became as equally confused as the suitor before answering "Oh! Celestia told me that they could come with me". The suitor eyed upon the two exhausted followers, before noticing Pinkie Pie and staring at her indignantly. "Now, now. I shall handle this matter!" called a feminine voice from behind the suitor, inquiring him to turn to face this commander.

Standing before them with her typical grace, as well as her impressive height, was the host of the palace herself, Princess Celestia; the representative of Equestria and Twilight's personal teacher. "Be on your way now, if you please" she ordered the suitor, who bowed in obligation and swiftly took his leave, allowing the guests to converse in privacy. "Please, Miss Sparkle. I would not have summoned you at such a time without a just reason" she informed, as to expel any ill assumptions that may linger within this ensemble.

"I believe you, but what was it that you needed me for?" Twilight asked. Before answering, Celestia quickly held her tongue and peered upon the guests in suspicion, before confessing "I'm sorry, but I must tell this to you, and only you. We can discuss it in my conservatory". Celestia then concentrated on Pinkie Pie and Applejack, suggesting "Meanwhile, your friends can seek comfort in my library. There will be food and drinks provided for them". As she stated this, her attention was immediately drawn to Pinkie Pie, who had suddenly begun shaking uncontrollably while breathing heavily.

"Goodness me; are you okay, Miss Pie?" Celestia asked in genuine concern, only for Pinkie Pie to ignore this question. As soon as Twilight noticed this, her heart was instantly filled with dread, terrified of what would ensue from this unforeseen behavior. Soon, though, her bizarre shaking eventually ceased and Pinkie Pie found herself surrounded by multiple fearful expressions. "Huh? What did you say?" Pinkie Pie muttered unconfidently, which proved to only further concern her observers.

"Miss Pie… Is there something you wish to tell me?" Celestia questioned, inviting an opportunity to explain any situations or causes for her strange actions, which Pinkie Pie was forced to unfortunately take advantage of. "N-nothing. It was just kinda… cold outside, and the chill just caught up with me, I guess" Pinkie Pie lied, immediately drawing Applejacks attention.

Thankfully, this response was sufficient to avoid any unwanted attention as Celestia replied "Ah… Well then, you may find many hot meals being prepared in the kitchen, and I'll have them delivered to you in the library". "Ooh, Yum! Thanks so much, um… your ladyship?" Pinkie Pie stumbled before finishing her sentence to judge how she would address somepony of Celestia's authority. Celestia herself merely blushed in amusement and assured "Oh, that's alright, Miss Pie. You can call me Celestia".

Pinkie Pie sighed in relief as Twilight quickly intervened and warned the duo "You two should get to the library quickly, before your food gets cold". Because of this, Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked at eachother mischievously before quickly making their way to the aforementioned library, while Twilight accompanied her tutor to the conservatory to converse.

One Hour Later.

Applejack lay comfortably in one of the library's sofas, sleeping contently after dining upon an almost unending string of delicious meals. As she lay undisturbed for nearly an hour after her feast, she eventually returned to the realm of reality and slowly opened a single eye, only to quickly shut it from the sudden onslaught of bright light. "Ugh… How long was…" she muttered lazily before sudden urge to yawn interrupted her, "…was I asleep?"

A silence was all that greeted her from her sleep, which prompted her to finally open her eyes and view the room, only to find herself all alone within the library. "Um, Pinkie Pie? Are ya here still?" she asked into the room, only for the lack of an answer to confirm her suspicion. Applejack quickly jumped from the sofa and left the library through the left corridor, before stopping in the middle of the narrow hallway.

"Pinkie Pie! Where are ya!?

To be continued…