Dusky galloped up out of the Rag n' Bone and into the street, Spike clinging on to her mane in an effort not to fall off and get lost in the crowd that followed her. She reached what she took to be the scene of the explosion, a patch of cobbled street that was scorched black and surrounded by wide-eyed spectators. In the middle of the road was a pink mare with a bushy mane that defied gravity. She seemed to be unhurt, and just as Dusky was about to ask if she needed any help or medical aid, a little green thing popped out of her mane and stared down at her. The pink pony sighed. “That wasn't different at all, was it, Gummy?”

Dusky was considering leaving when the mystery mare turned suddenly and pointed at her, with a shocked expression on her face. “Aha! You!”

“Me?!”

“Yes! You! You're the one I needed to find! I just knew you'd be around here somewhere and here you are!” Dusky wasn't sure whether she was being accused or congratulated.

By this time, Moonstone and Comet Trail had made their way to Dusky. The crowd was dispersing slowly. “Do you two know each other, then?”, asked Moonstone.

Dusky gave an emphatic “No!”. She turned to regard the newcomer. “Wait, do we? I don't remember ever meeting you.”

“No, we haven't. Well, we kind of have. A bit. Her name's Dusky Glimmer.”

“What? How do you know my name?”

Comet sighed and rescued her head in one hoof. “Pinkie, this isn't another one of your feelings is it?”

Pinkie considered this, adopting a pose that suggested deep thought. “It's not so much that it's a feeling, it's more like she's giving me all kinds of feelings. She's a feeling magnet. Or she's radioactive, but with feelings. Actually, come to think of it, do we even have radiation and nuclear power and stuff?”

“Hold up a second.” By this point, Dusky was starting to feel a little lost. “Feelings? What do feelings have to do with whether or not she knows me? How can somepony sort of maybe know somepony else? And what was that freaking explosion, anyway?”

“The explosion isn't important. Feelings are important! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I have feelings.” She seemed inordinately proud of this.

“But everypony has feelings.”

Pinkie shook her head so fast that Dusky could see nothing but a pink blur. “Nope! Not like my feelings, they don't. I don't just feel happy or sad about stuff, I feel how things are meant to be! Wait, no, that's not quite right. I feel how things are.” She looked at Gummy as if asking for guidance. Unfortunately for her, Gummy did nothing but sway on his feet.

Moonstone leaned close to Dusky and whispered, “Sometimes she gets like this, the poor dear. She spent weeks pestering me to dye my mane purple.”

“Purple?”

“Dark purple. Can you imagine? I mean, it looks good on you, but I just can't imagine that I could pull it off at all well.”

Dusky turned back to Pinkie. She had started sketching a diagram of – well, of something on the road in bright blue chalk. As far as Dusky could tell, it was equal parts mathematics, psychology, biology and nigh incomprehensible philosophy. Giant monsters also seemed to fit in somewhere, but they were apparently pretty unimportant compared to the real core of whatever it was.

“So, hang on – if you feel how things 'are', and that's different to how things actually are here, does that mean we're not...I don't know, not right or not real or something?”

Pinkie looked up from the monster fight she was acting out with action figures she had gotten from... somewhere, at any rate. “Nope! The way things are is the way things are, but there are other places and ways and stuff. So, I work here, but I also work on a rock farm, and as an actress, and in a hospital. Just not me me, you know?”

“I...I...no.”

Pinkie sidled up to Dusky and put a foreleg over her shoulder. “Look, here's the deal, toots.”

“Toots?”

What light there was got sharper, turning the shadows pitch black. Pinkie was suddenly wearing a fedora and a pinstripe suit.“You gotta meet a bunch of ponies to be your friends, see? And then you learn about the magic of friendship, see? And then you move here and have adventures, see? Yeah, see?” Gummy was on her back, dressed in a miniature tuxedo and compulsively flipping a tiny coin. Meanwhile, Pinkie was picking a candy stick from a paper box and jamming it in her mouth. Somehow, smoke came out of the end. “Yeah, see?”

“What are you even talking about?” Dusky turned to Moonstone and Comet Trail, but they couldn't offer an explanation either. Slim bars of light were falling across Moonstone's face, as if she were standing in front of Venetian blinds, even though the only sources of light were a few open windows and Luna's myriad of stars.

“Yeah, see?”

“Cut that out! Seriously, what are you talking about? I have plenty of friends back in Canterlot, not to mention all my responsibilities and the fact that it's my home and I love it. I mean, Moonstone and Comet Trail and Penny Bun are nice ponies, but I can't just move here.”

Comet nodded. “Sure. You have a life, we have lives, they happen to be crossing briefly, whatever.”

“Exactly.” Said Moonstone, “Dusky, I like you perfectly well, but it's not like I want to...I don't know, attend a slumber party with you or something.”

Pinkie looked utterly crestfallen. She was wearing such a miserable expression that Dusky was just about to say something vague and comforting when she noticed that a tan pegasus with a dark pink mane was hovering above their conversation. Hanging from her left ear was a rather irritated looking fruit bat. Dusky frowned. “How long have you been up there?”

“Oh, uh...only since the thing about the feelings. I didn't hear much, just something about Dusky and purple and ponies being nice, but I wasn't eavesdropping or anything.”

“You were listening in that long and I didn't notice you? What the hay? What are you even doing here? Who are you?”

The pegasus kicked the air nervously. “I'm, uh, I'm Shydolon. I was going to ask Pinkie not to blow anything else up please because it scares my bats but you were all talking and Pinkie was playacting a gangster again and I know how much she loves that and I kinda didn't want to interrupt.” She landed gently, and though Dusky knew she was full grown she seemed to take up as much space as something half her size. Dusky wondered if it would be possible to simply walk through her.

Pinkie removed her hat and held it over her chest. “Oh no, I totally forgot about your bats! Don't you worry, Shydolon, I'll be as quiet as a really quiet thing from now on. You won't even know I'm here. Unless you look at me, I guess. Oh! I know! Me and Gummy can go on a sneaking mission! Come on, Gummy! We have to stop my evil identical twin sister who for some reason has a green mane and totally different facial features to mine!” Pinkie stripped off her suit in one fluid motion to reveal a skin-tight outfit made of some dull silver material underneath. She tied a bandanna around her head and placed a darker outfit on Gummy, who seemed pretty nonchalant about the whole affair, before tiptoeing off under a cardboard box. The sound of muffled humming followed her down the street.

For several seconds, all Dusky could do was blink. “OK, what?”

Comet Trail patted her on the back. “Yeah, that's Pinkie for you. She's not always as weird as this, but sometimes she's just totally chaotic, you know? I mean, don't get me wrong, she's great and all, but it was pretty unlucky that you caught her like this.” Moonstone nodded her agreement.

Dusky sighed. “You know what? I don't think I care at the moment. I just want to find the other heads of department and take an early day. It's been one of those nights.”

Shydolon raised a hoof. “If you want to get it done quickly, I could fill you in on the, uh, music. I'm not the head of department, but I'm her second in command.” A few seconds after she said this, she noticed that she had left her hoof up, and withdrew it sheepishly.

Dusky grinned. “Perfect. So, how's the music going?”

“It's, um, it's good. We have a choir all set up, and there's this one bat who can – well, you'll see.”

“That's great! And who's the head of department, anyway? You know, not to impugn your statement or anything, just so I know. I mean, if I can't fill out certain forms in certain ways, it'll be a daymare.”

“Oh, sure.” Shydolon, Dusky noticed, was standing somewhat taller than she had been at the beginning of the conversation. She was still slouching, and her mane was still hanging in front of her eyes, but she seemed less like a terrified child and more like she was simply timid. Even her voice was steadier. “Her name's Lyra Heartstrings. She's teal, with a lyre cutie mark.”

“OK, great. I'll just go look for the others and then I'm done for the night – and I'll tell you what, I'm darn well looking forward to that.”

Shydolon agreed and they went their separate ways. 'Such a nice little town – and such friendly ponies! It'll almost be a shame to go back to Canterlot.'