MLP: The Trade Secret. Part 1

It was 12:00 at night, and the whole town was sleeping peacefully without disturbance. It had been a relatively quiet week, and also incredibly boring for all. It was so peaceful and quiet for everypony that the townsfolk actually wanted something catastrophic, or at the very least abnormal, to happen. Unfortunately for them, there were no shocking events to be discovered, nor was any ill will expressed to invoke such occurrences.

One such house was the bakery that belonged to a certain pink, excitable misfit. Pinkie Pie and her friends had decided to have a sleepover at her house for the evening, each sleeping in their own cozy corner of the building. Pinkie Pie herself slept in her own bedroom, which was shared by Rainbow Dash, who slept in a beanbag in the corner.

Pinkie Pie herself was having a less than content sleep, unlike the others, as she was tossing and turning restlessly in her bed, possibly from some form of a bad dream. Whatever the cause, she was grunting and emitting an occasional shriek as she flipped and shivered tensely during this restless slumber. This activity was proven loud enough for Rainbow Dash to hear, as she sleepily arose from her temporary sleeping quarters to find the source of the disturbance.

She silently crept towards the bed, all the while listening to her friends unintelligible muttering and steadily growing more concerned for both Pinkie Pie's wellbeing and her own pledge for rest. "Grrgh… ack… no… hmmph… no…" faintly echoed around the room. Rainbow Dash was tempted to awaken Pinkie Pie from her torment, but became wary of what Pinkie Pie's reaction would be upon awakening.

Just then, the door creaked open slowly, diverting the pegasus's attention to a cautious Applejack leaning halfway through the doorway. "Wha… What's that sound?" Applejack whispered nervously. Rainbow Dash looked back towards the door, replying in an equally nervous whisper "It's Pinkie Pie, I think she's having a bad dream". "Wake her up. It'll be fine" Applejack suggested.

"Gergh… ilk... Eh Hehehehehehahahahahahahahaha…"

Pinkie Pie began giggling uncontrollably as she slept, snickering as she tossed and turned in her fitful slumber. This wouldn't have been such a problem, if not for the laugh itself. Both ponies recognized it immediately and were filled with a new sense of fear. "Okay… wake her up now!" Applejack demanded hesitantly.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie rolled out of the bed and lay sprawled across the carpet floor, howling and cackling hysterically. Her body twitched and shivered as she slowly wore herself out, though displaying a lack of intent to cease her actions. "Pinkie Pie, WAKE UP!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she shook her friend violently to awaken.

"PAHAHAHAHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- Hehahaha… heh… ugh… wh- what?"

Pinkie Pie steadily sat up from the floor and caught her breath, panting heavily to steady her racing heartbeat. "Ugh, what's happening? Why am I on the floor?" She asked distraughtly, understandably confused as a result of her obliviousness to the past five minutes. The two witnesses looked at eachother in unison before Rainbow Dash answered "Well, you fell out of bed. That must've been a pretty rough dream you were having".

Applejack then continued "Yeah, gal. You were tossin' and flailin' like a mudfish. Then ya started laughin' up a storm while you were still asleep. It was really bizarre". "I was laughing? How in the heck did I do that?" Pinkie Pie asked curiously. "No idea" was all they could find to respond, followed by another all-too-familiar, awkward silence.

"Oh well. It's done now… let's just get back to sleep" Rainbow Dash recommended, hoping to end this conversation before it got any worse. Without another word, the two nodded in agreement and each returned to their own beds. But now, the only one who couldn't sleep was Rainbow Dash, who was growing increasingly worried of what this peculiar occurrence could mean. Pinkie Pie obviously had a dream about Pinkamena, there was no doubt about this fact; and what could entail from this is no less than unspeakable.

---

The next day, however, was much more typical, to which the motley crew of six were very thankful. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had told the others about what happened the previous night; each member of the group having given a different reaction to the news. Fluttershy confessed her personal fear of Pinkamena and had explained her encounter with the sinister entity prior, which frightened her incredibly.

Rarity explained her own concern for Pinkie Pie's mental stability for some time, wishing that there was some way to remove Pinkamena from existence altogether. Surprisingly though, Twilight explained that she found Pinkie Pie's dilemma genuinely fascinating, as she herself had attempted to tie the loose ends together into a consistent formula, to no current success .

Twilight's most credible theory is that Pinkamena was a representation of her original negative outlook on the world, due to her apparently lonely fillyhood. Her extremely morbid personality, her random mood swings, and her hatred towards any who would possibly put Pinkie Pie in danger.

What didn't fit together was why such a contradictive personality would put so much devotion towards the other's well-being. Half the time, they seemed to despise eachother with a passion; while every other time, they were perfectly cooperative and tolerant of each other's conflicting opinions. By this time, Twilight had given up attempting to figure out a formula and left it to the most obvious conclusion.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie had decided to walk around the outskirts of town, cheerfully whistling to a song to distract her from the passing time. Despite the concern her friends felt, she carelessly paid no heed to any of it. She thought to herself "I wish they wouldn't worry about me. It's been a while since Pinkamena came back; there's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine".

As she continued her joyful meander, however, she felt a strange presence surround her; somepony, or something, was watching her, though the observant was nowhere to be seen. She continued her search for the source of this unnerving atmosphere, surprised to find the trees waving from side to side and the leaves melting while randomly changing colors.

The dirt beneath her had turned to mud and Pinkie Pie found herself immobile; slowly, she sank into the repulsive muck without a hope of escape. Despite the lucid quality of these absurd occurrences, Pinkie Pie knew that this was not a delusion; as she soon discovered by a deep, malevolent chuckle filling the air.

"Ha! I knew you were getting sloppy, Discord; but I didn't think you'd be inspired by it" she teased childishly. Sure enough, a nearby tree uprooted itself and levitated into the sky, instantaneously transforming into the infamous spirit of chaos. He grinned smugly, retorting in a pompous fashion "Why, hello Pinkie Pie! Personally, I find no humor in your witty deduction. You've always been good at solving mysteries when the answer was pathetically obvious. Hmhmhmph!"

Pinkie Pie huffed defensively and replied "Hah! Nyuk-nyuk; I hope you didn't come all this way just to insult poor little me". "Hehe! Actually, I've been watching you for short while" Discord replied with a smirk, "Like your little friends, I myself find your… dilemma… quite interesting".

"My what? What do you me- oh no…" Pinkie Pie exclaimed to herself. Beads of sweat streamed down her forehead as she absentmindedly stepped backward, knowing perfectly well of what he was referring to. "I must say, I am astounded by your, shall we say, 'complication'?" Discord smiled wickedly, before floating to ground level and leaning against a nearby tree. "At first, I thought it was some kind of dark spell, or perhaps a form of mind control" Discord confessed, before adding "But I see now, it is something entirely different.

Naturally, I had to find out for myself. Hmhmhmph!" Pinkie Pie gritted her teeth and snapped "I don't wanna talk about it! Go away!" Unfortunately, this was exactly the reaction Discord was hoping for. "Well… I'm just interested. That's all" Discord replied, holding his hands in the air to emphasize his supposedly unintended nosiness.

"So tell me, what was it that brought about this random force of negativity? Heartbreak? Nightmares? Or perhaps… bad memories?" he asked curiously, his smile stretching ever wider across his cheeks. This was tipping Pinkie Pie over the edge, as she leapt to all fours and yelled "Stop talking to me! I don't like talking about-" before slapping her mouth shut. But it was too late, as Discord raised an eyebrow and flashed a devious grin.

"Aah, so something must've happened a long time ago, eh?" Discord blew on his claws before scraping them against the tree. Pinkie Pie hung her head in disappointment and whimpered "Discord, please… don't", shaking her head violently as if it would banish this cruel manipulation.

"Oh, let me guess! Were you humiliated on a certain occasion? Or perhaps it was something more… traumatic". Pinkie Pie knew exactly what Discord was trying to do, but hadn't the strength nor the will to retaliate. Finally, Discord questioned "Or maybe it was something that happened with your family? Something must've went w-".

"SHUT UUUUUUP!" Pinkie Pie screamed hysterically from this psychological torment and shouted threateningly at the culprit, who simply smiled in accomplishment. Discord was unaffected, as to be expected, and simply snickered from this outburst. However, as time passed, he was able to notice several different features to Pinkie Pie's appearance, causing him to smile with accomplishment.

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, I presume? Glad to make your acquaintance! Hahahahahahahahahaa!"

---

"Pinkamena?! No! Why?!" Pinkie Pie cringed with frustration; "I'm not gonna let him bully you like that. … I don't need your help! … I'm not gonna leave you like this with him, you know. … Stop it, Pinkamena! Go away! … Pinkie Pie, get a grip! … STOP TALKING!" Discord's smile grew ever wider from this bizarre spectacle, and soon interrupted this 'conversation' by exclaiming "Hahaha! This is amazing! I've never seen anything like this! How did this come about for you, Pinkie Pie?"

"And why would we tell you?! Stay away from us, you repulsive freak!" Pinkamena threatened with malice. "Good, good! Use your aggressive feelings!" Discord taunted while stifling a snicker.

"Pinkie Pie, what're ya doing?!" called a nearby voice from the distant bend in Pinkie Pie's previous turn. Pinkamena grunted and stared down at the ground, having recognized the southern accent all too easily. Applejack and the others all ran to Pinkie Pie's aid, with Rainbow Dash yelling "Hey, Discord! What do you think you're doing!?" Discord burst into manic laughter and replied "Nothing at all! Just testing a little experiment".

They all stared down at Pinkie Pie, who was sobbing to herself distraughtly; Rainbow Dash boiled with rage and screamed "IF YOU'VE DONE ANYTHING TO HURT HER, I'M GONNA-". Discord waved his hand in a gesture of disregard, nonchalantly replying "Do what? You're in no position to threaten me with such hostility" before chuckling cruelly. "Well, this has been a great pleasure for me, but I'm afraid I must take my leave" Discord explained, "I'm already late for a vital engagement as of now. Toodaloo!" Discord then bellowed with malevolent laughter before vanishing without a trace.

After Discord's departure, all of her rescuers turned to find that Pinkie Pie was no longer among them, and was instead slowly staggering down her originally set path and back home. "Who was that? … It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it! … He made you cry! No freak gets away with that while I'm around. … That's my point. … What? What do you mean? … I don't want you hurting anypony!"

Pinkie Pie continued to bicker with her alternate personality until Rainbow Dash ran beside her and asked "Hey, Pinkie Pie, where are you going? What did he do?" Pinkie Pie either didn't notice her presence, or deliberately ignored her. "Pinkie Pie, stop!" Rainbow Dash grabbed her by her shoulders and spun her around to face her, "Something's wrong, Pinkie Pie. Your hair is hanging down again".

"It's nothing, I'm alright" She insisted hesitantly, then she turned to take her leave once again, only to find Applejack standing directly in her path. "What did he say to ya? He made ya cry, for the love of Pete!" "LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed, to which Applejack jumped back in fright. From her threat, Pinkie Pie shook her head and growled through clenched teeth "I'm sorry. Just… Let me get home".

Applejack nodded, her expression clearly showing her shock, and stepped aside. Without another word, Pinkie Pie slowly staggered her way home, her friends watching from the distance. Rainbow Dash shut her eyes angrily and grunted "Discord, you evil brute! What did you do to her?"

Pinkie Pie spent the rest of the day in her room, sitting at her desk while arguing with herself over today's events. She knew by this time that there was no getting rid of Pinkamena once she had manifested, but still attempted to keep control of her actions.

"Well, if he thinks he's gonna hurt your feelings anymore, I've got that fat, ugly… whatever he is! … I've already said, there's nothing wrong. … Oh, I don't think so. We have enough problems without a freak of nature like that bothering us. … Hmm… maybe, you're right. But, still. … Trust me, I know what's best for us. … Oh really? Who was it that punched my friend in the face? Twice!? … They are not your friends! … They are! … And besides, who was it who wanted to move away? That was all you're idea. … Well, I… I…".

Pinkie Pie slammed her head against the desk; she and Pinkamena had spent hours talking, but each with a different goal in mind. Pinkie Pie simply wanted peace and quiet from such a harsh day, while Pinkamena wanted to regain her best friend's trust. "Ugh! Let's just go to bed, cherub. … At long last, something we can agree to".

Without another word, she lazily crawled into her bed and laid her head comfortably against the pillow. "Wow. You really do care about me, don't you?" she asked into the night air. After a short silence, she rolled her eyes and sternly replied "Oh, of course I do; I live with you, don't I?!" Pinkie Pie simply sighed and fell asleep, hoping not to suffer another disturbing dream resembling the previous nights.

Meanwhile, in a nearby café, Pinkie Pie's friends all sat at a table in the corner, discussing today's situation. "Discord? What has he done to her?" asked Twilight, clearly as worried for their excitable companion as the others were. "I have no idea. Whatever it was, she was crying from it. What do you think he said to her?" replied Rainbow Dash.

Applejack answered "I dunno, but I'm in a good mind to find out!" "But why… would she run away from us?" Fluttershy asked, to which Rarity stated "She seemed awfully confused to me. She probably couldn't handle it and got nervous". Rainbow Dash's lips tightened, as if reminded of a bitter flavor previously sampled, before concluding "Well, whatever it was, it's been done" and sighing in defeat.

"I just hope she'll be alright".

To be continued…