MLP: The Trade Secret. Part 2

It was 10:00 at night, but the night itself was far from the relatively peaceful norm. The sky was cloaked in a thick blanket of clouds; clouds that bombarded the town below with an undying onslaught of rain. Barely anypony could sleep through such a hideous racket, and many had become fearful of what awaiting chaos this weather would eventually unleash. Sure enough, small chunks of ice fell from the sky and struck against the roofs of every home, leaving no peace and quiet in its wake.

One such house among this sadistic carnage was none other than Sugarcube Corner, owned by a certain pink delinquent. She had currently fallen asleep, but found such a task to be incredibly difficult with such an offensive sound of chaos ringing in her ears. Eventually, she gave in and slowly stirred from her slumber, groaning from a sudden pain in her neck.

As said section of her vertebrae emitted a sudden loud snap, she stretched restlessly and sat in defeat, having nothing to listen to but the harsh rattling from above. But soon, another sound caught her attention; a slight creaking noise, also emanating from above her head.

'RUMBLE!' 'CRASH!'

A short while past without interruption, as rain continued to pour upon the town without relent, Pinkie Pie stirred into consciousness. She soon found herself in her bedroom still, but partially buried under debris and constantly bombarded with the deluge from above. After a quick look towards the ceiling, she discovered that the roof had collapsed and almost flattened her. After hesitantly freeing herself from her weighted trappings, she staggered towards the more intact section of her roofing for protection.

She groaned in discomfort whilst rubbing her steadily reddening bicep, having most likely made utter mush from the originally organized blood vessels within it. Tears poured slowly down her cheeks as the unbearable feeling worsened by the second. "Grrph… Is… anypony here?" She whined desperately, preparing to lean against the wall lifelessly before yelping and jumping away from it in pain.

"PINKIE PIE!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOUSELF!?"

"Arrgh! My head!" Pinkie Pie shrieked from this sudden assault from within her subconscious. Her head began throbbing painfully as she began shaking uncontrollably; "Sorry… I didn't mean to…" was all she could hear before she suddenly fell to the floor with a 'Thud!'. She wrapped her arms around her head in a pitiful attempt to quell the storm that raged within it.

As her arm had done, her temple began shading to a much darker, sickeningly red tone, though Pinkie pie was oblivious to this alteration of her physical appearance, her condition had made its wrath known for good measure. She attempted to stand before grunting from forcing weight upon her shoulder again. "Quick! Get out before something else happens!" Pinkamena demanded, to which Pinkie Pie obliged and left her bedroom for search of a safer structure of her home.

That morning, Pinkie Pie had skipped breakfast to meet her friends in town; thankfully, the rain devolved into a simple shower by this time. After a short search, she eventually spotted them in the window of the café and quickly ran inside to join them. However, before entering, she pleaded to herself "Pinkamena… please, don't do anything crazy…" before entering through the front door.

"Hi, girls!" she called out with a newly regenerated sense of glee, waving her arms in the air. By the time her friends noticed this, she was already sitting at the same table as them, readying to order a milkshake for herself.

"Hey, gal!" Applejack greeted her in return, "Did ya get any sleep last night? So far, nopony else has". "Heh! No. Not at all…" Pinkie Pie giggled, before suddenly mentioning "Well, I did… But that was after the roof came down on us- me!" before abruptly falling silent. Twilight almost spat her drink out in shock, as she hesitantly swallowed and cried out "What!?" Pinkie Pie cringed in frustration, knowing the reason for this undeliberate tidbit of information, but remaining anonymous on the matter.

Upon refocusing her attention to the table, she was caught off guard as her friends all simply stared at her, each troubled by what she had told them; and by extent, her physical state from such an event. They each simultaneously wanted to ask if she was hurt, but her cheerful demeanor seemed to express the obvious answer to them.

After a few hours passed by, one conversation led to another, the next often unrelated to the previous. However, at some point during Twilight's monologue about her studies, Pinkie Pie began to feel abnormally queasy once again, resulting in her shutting her eyes tightly and groaning in discomfort. Applejack soon noticed this and asked "Hey Pinkie Pie, ya okay there?"

"Yes! I'm okay, just kind of… sick" she spouted half-wittedly, simultaneously applying pressure to each side of her forehead with her wrists. "Greaah! Not again!" she howled in mindless hysteria before leaving the table and dashing outside in a sudden impulse. Rainbow Dash shouted "What the? Where are you going?" and quickly raced after her.

Rainbow Dash burst through the café doors and nervously scouted the streets for her companion, peering through the alleyways and pathways she flies past. After a short search, Pinkie Pie was eventually found in a nearby alleyway, sitting quietly by herself without a single motion of movement.

Rainbow Dash swooped over to her tormented colleague and called "Hey, Pinkie Pie, what's going on?" hoping for at least an inkling of enlightenment on this situation. "I SHOULD'VE KNOWN YOU'D DO THAT!" echoed throughout the narrow confinement. Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks and replied "What? What are you talking about?"

The next exclamation from the pink misfit, strangely, was in a more feminine, sophisticated tone; "No, I swear. I didn't mean to. … Stop lying! I hate liars! … It wasn't my fault! I'm not lying! … STOP IT!" she screamed hysterically at herself. While thrashing her head from side to side, Pinkie Pie finally realized her lack of solitude at the hands of her observer, and franticly screamed "AAH! Rainbow Dash!?" before lifting herself from the grimy street floor, "GO AWAY!"

Before Rainbow Dash could question this unnerving behavior from her best friend, Pinkie suddenly dashed out of the alleyway, barely aware of which direction was her home and, as is predictable, hardly considering it. Flustered by the event that had just unfolded before her, Rainbow Dash simply sat in the alley, cowering in fear of what possibilities could be responsible for this troubling phenomenon.

"Why wouldn't she tell us that Pinkamena was back?!"

---

That night, the clock chimed 12:00 pm. Everypony was asleep by this point, and all shops had been cleaned and closed. Everypony slept soundly; all except for the tormented residence of Pinkie Pie's bakery, who had spent the past number of hours warding the manipulative anomaly from her subconscious, having only recently lost her pledge for self-control to the latter.

She was barely staying awake from the time spent sitting on her living room sofa without any form of exercise for her numbing muscles. Pinkamena had been in control of Pinkie Pie's body ever since she returned home, though she couldn't find any use for her newly gained free will.

Suddenly, the rhythmic canter of hoofsteps had caught her attention, the hoofsteps themselves steadily growing louder and louder through the hallway door. A shadow was then discovered beneath the doorway, its visibility heightened by the lack of lighting within the living room itself. "Pinkie Pie?" an accented whisper was heard through the door.

Without answering the intruder, the door creaked open to reveal an all too familiar face; Applejack. In the time she's known her, Pinkamena had developed a particular dislike towards Applejack specifically, possibly ever since the struggle they had a few months ago. Despite the reason for the fight not having even been rational, the memory of such an incident remained on both personalities' minds ever since.

"That's me. What do you want?" Pinkamena sneered, lacking the courtesy to face her intruder. "I… need to talk to ya. Both ya and Pinkie Pie" Applejack stepped into the bedroom and cautiously approached the manifested negativity of Pinkie Pie's psyche. In the time that's past, Pinkie Pie's friends had been growing accustom to the split personality, to the point of referring to them as two different entities instead of one.

Despite it salvaging them from any confusion that may occur, both Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena greatly disapproved of it. "Um, well… Pinkie Pie's not here right now. It's just you and me" Pinkamena snidely informed. Before Applejack could consider the illogic of this statement, Pinkamena had moved onward with the conversation and asked suspiciously "What are you doing here?" Applejack answered confidently "I had a feeling that it was you that made her freak out in the café, but Pinkie Pie tol-".

"THAT'S A LIE!"

Pinkamena suddenly lunged forward and pinned Applejack against the door by her arms. "I'd never do that! She knows I wouldn't! Not like other phonies like you!" the former accused maliciously, before sighing in resignation and lowering her defenses. After being let down from the wall, Applejack caught her breath and dusted herself off. Once regaining her composure, she asked "Why? It's strange. She says that ya enjoy her company, but all I see ya do is fight with her". Pinkamena huffed and exclaimed "Hey! We don't always fight, we're just… well… what's the word?"

"Complicated?" Applejack offered a term. Pinkamena tilted her head slightly, remaining deep in thought; "Not the word I was thinking of, but fair enough" she huffed. Applejack then remembered why she came in the first place, "Actually, I was wondering… Why do you…" She began, before stopping herself in hesitation.

"You're wondering why I don't like Pinkie Pie being with you lot?" Pinkamena answered, "That's a really long story… but… her family…" before pausing in concentration. Applejack then explained "It's just that… Pinkie Pie doesn't talk about her family much, and it really bugs me".

"Do you know why?" Pinkamena asked curiously. Applejack almost half-mindedly answered before pondering the question for a few seconds, until finally answering "No, I don't". A frown stretched across Pinkamena's cheeks, before she sighed in resignation. "Pinkie Pie had it pretty rough when she was a filly.

Her family was possibly the worst family ever! Her sisters, her mom and dad, none of them could've known any fun in life, even if it was right in front of them… which it was". Applejack then interrupted "Pinkie Pie told us that part. Ya were the only friend she knew on that farm, and you didn't like her family. But she threw them-".

"Let me guess! One day, she threw them a party in their barn. They loved it and everypony lived happily ever after! Is that what she told you?!" Pinkamena suddenly snapped. Applejack stood silently, signifying her confusion and surprise. "That's what she tells everypony else" Pinkamena continued, "Tell me, Applejack. Have you ever actually met her parents?" to which Applejack simply shrugged in denial.

This was a good point, since Pinkie Pie's parents had never met her or come to visit her at any period, nor did she know where they currently resided. "In that case…" Pinkamena then started, before leaning towards Applejack with a disgusted expression.

"Here's what actually happened".

---

Applejack sat beside Pinkie Pie's sofa in a seat from her desk, eagerly listening to the life story Pinkamena was freely describing. She explained Pinkie Pie's life on the rock farm, her family and their lifestyle, and how her alternate persona came to fruition in this time. Applejack chuckled to herself and jokingly said "It kinda makes ya… wish ya got out more often, eh?"

"What makes you say that?" Pinkamena asked; not from curiosity, but from confusion. Pinkamena was pondering why Applejack was so willingly acquainting with her, since she should have been scared beyond belief for her very life.

Applejack asked "What happened at that party ya made for them?" Pinkamena frowned heavily and lowered her head, "Well… I… uh-". Applejack leaned in closer and reassured "Don't worry, ya don't have to tell me". Pinkamena cringed from this nurturing statement and stood up from the bed, before something suddenly latched around her shoulders and pulled her back down.

"I wasn't serious! Please tell me. I really want to know" Applejack nervously blabbered, still holding Pinkamena's shoulders. Pinkamena raised an eyebrow at this strange act, before frowning deeply and asking "What do you mean? You just said that I don't have to tell you". Applejack suddenly went red in the face with rage and shouted "TELL ME NOW! I HAVE TO KNOW!" in a flurry of frustration.

Pinkamena, for her part, felt rage boil up inside her once again from this outburst, and soon planned to relieve the stress through a practical means. "Get out of my house!" she demanded. Applejack huffed grumpily "No way! I ain't goin' anywhere!" The two stared intensely into eachother's eyes for a good while before Applejack growled "Honestly, I cannot see what those ponies see in ya. Ya're an insane wreck!"

"WHY YOU-! I've… wait a minute… those ponies?"

Pinkamena stared suspiciously at Applejack as she said this, believing that this may not have been who she thought it was. Applejack jumped up and attempted to make an escape, only for Pinkamena to tackle her and pin her against the cold floor for a second time. "What's going on?!" she demanded furiously, only to be met with an insidious laugh from her captive. "What's going on? An insane, violent lunatic is attacking me. That's what's going on! Hehehehahahaha!"

Applejack suddenly vanished into thin air and reappeared behind Pinkamena in less than a second. A familiar deep, malevolent voice said "I must say, your story was incredibly fascinating; until it was cut short, of course. I really got to know the two of you. Hmhmhmhmph!" Pinkamena knew that she had been tricked by the same reason that this all started in the first place.

As she lay face down on her floor, the imposter smiled as he soon transformed into his true form, becoming none other than the spirit of chaos himself, Discord. He simply watched his accomplishment with a smile, waiting eagerly for what was going to happen next.

What happened next, to say the least, was completely unexpected. He heard a lifeless groan from this singular audience, who twitched and shivered as she sat up. She grunted in agony upon forcing pressure on her shoulder and shook uncontrollably. Discord scratched his chin with a mixture of confusion and fascination, whispering "Hmm, how very odd…" to himself.

"GGRRRUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Discord watched the spectacle unfold before him, debating whether to laugh or be disturbed be this sudden twist of events. Pinkamena held her head painfully and applied pressure against it, hoping in vain that the welling storm would miraculously cease. Discord soon came to a decision: Be disturbed. He always enjoyed confusing ponies and toying with them for his own amusement, but this was something else entirely.

Soon enough, Pinkamena stood up and stumbled her way through the bedroom, having apparently forgotten all about Discord as she eventually lost all function in her muscles and fell to the floor, eventually losing consciousness at some point afterwards.

As an hour passed by, Discord sat by himself on a rooftop, contemplating what he had just witnessed. He soon snapped his fingers and disappeared from the rooftop, soon to reappear outside of Pinkie Pie's bakery. He flew up to the window and found Pinkie Pie sleeping soundly in her bedroom, the bedroom itself littered with debris and sporting the lack of a roof.

Pinkie Pie herself showed neither sigh nor trace of the earlier event; her hair was back to normal and her skin had returned from its prior poor complexion to its natural, healthy glow. Discord slapped his forehead in disbelief before soaring up into the sky. "I don't understand it! What is she hiding?" he asked himself. He then rubbed his temple and sighed glumly before fading away into the night sky.

"This town is really going to pot now. Who knows what'll happen next? They'll all probably start eating eachother".

The End?