In the morning, Twilight awoke to find that she was indeed feeling a lot better. In fact, unless somepony had seen her the night before, they wouldn't have known she'd been sick. She went into the bathroom and took a refreshing shower, then dried herself off, then left the bathroom and woke her assistant up to make plans for the day.

At the top of that list of plans was to gather her friends together to discuss what might have been in that pizza they’d eaten that could’ve caused such a reaction as she’d had. Did the others have the same reaction? She needed to find out in order to know what to do next.

She’d most frequently made plans in the main room of the library, which was where she was when, in the midst of this planning session, she heard the front door open. She turned around to see who was coming in, to find that it was Pinkie Pie, who excitedly called out, “Hi, Twily!” Her expression of excitement melted into worry as she said, “I came because of that pizza yesterday. I had a bad dream after eating it.”

Twilight smiled and said, “Come on in, Pinkie Pie. I was just making plans to get you and the rest of the girls together.”

As she approached the purple alicorn, Pinkie said, “Oh. Well, in that case, I guess I saved you some time. I’ll just sit over here.” And, with that, she proceeded toward one of five cushions at the base of the flight of stairs and sat down, while Twilight cantered to the door to close it.

Just as Twilight got to the door, though, she came nose-to-nose with Applejack, who said, “Howdy, Twilight. Ah hope you don’t mind me visitin’. That pizza we had last night had me feelin’ sick by the time Ah got home. Ah thought Ah could come here this mornin’ an’ talk ‘bout it with y'all.”

Again Twilight smiled as she stepped to the side of the door and said, “Well, come on in. Pinkie’s already here, and she also had a bad reaction to the pizza. I was hoping to call everypony and get them to come, but it seems that everypony’s coming without me having to call them.”

As the orange earth mare proceeded into the library and chose a place to sit next to Pinkie Pie, Twlight heard Rarity’s voice say, “Indeed. We really need to discuss that pizza place. I really don’t think we should be going there anymore.”

Then, from behind Rarity, Twilight heard Rainbow Dash’s voice say, “You’re tellin’ me. I ended up sleepin' outside because, after eatin' that pizza, I was too weak to fly up to my house.”

Twilight stood at the doorway while her friends cantered on past her, and said, “Alright, everypony, come on in. We have an important matter to discuss.” Then, as Rainbow Dash walked past her, she asked, “Uh, by the way, where’s Fluttershy?”

A second after asking the question, she heard the timid pegasa’s voice from outside say, “I’m right here.” The purple alicorn turned to see Fluttershy galloping toward the entrance.

The yellow pegasa stopped just in front of the doorway, panted a few times, then asked, “Am I late for anything?”

Twilight smiled at her and answered, “Not at all. In fact, you’re just in time. Come on in.” Then, as Fluttershy entered the library, the purple alicorn closed the door behind her and said, “Well, seeing that everypony’s here, we can get to discussing that pizzeria that just opened yesterday, … and that pizza we ate there.” Then, turning to her friends and seeing them lined up side-by-side on the cushions, she cantered a few steps toward them and asked, “So, anypony wanna start?”

Rainbow Dash rose and said, “I don’t know what all was in that pizza, but, like I said to Twilight, I couldn’t get back up to my house again. I couldn’t even get to my front porch before I blacked out. I freaked out some squirrel or something when I woke up and puked. I spent last night right there on the ground, because I didn’t feel like tryin’ to fly up to my house again.”

When Rainbow Dash was finished, Applejack rose to all fours and said, “Ah left that pizza place not feelin’ good. Ah was lucky to make it outta town ‘fore Ah got sick, an’ Ah was lucky to make it home afterward. There’s somethin’ wrong with that pizza we ate, at least.”

The next to rise and speak was Rarity, who said, “I was like Applejack, except I made it home before I, as Rainbow Dash put it, puked, just inside the front door, and collapsed. I woke up in my bed. I can only guess Sweetie Belle somehow managed to drag me up there.”

When Rarity was finished, the other five focused on Pinkie Pie.

The pink earth pony, seeing the others were looking at her, asked, “What?”

Twilight stepped toward her and said, “When you came in, you mentioned something about having a bad dream. Would you like to tell us about it?”

From the neck up, Pinkie Pie melted as she said, “Alright.” Then, she pointed her nose at the ground as she said, “I didn’t get sick or anything, I just got really tired. I went right to bed when I got home, … and I had this really bad dream.”

As Pinkie Pie started sniffling, Applejack draped her closest forelimb over the pink earth pony’s shoulders and said, “It’s alright, Sugarcube. When you’re ready, you can go ahead and tell us all ‘bout it.”

Twilight was about to speak, but Pinkie Pie, her voice trembling, continued, “I-I was in this b-basement—a-and I had Gilda … chained to a wall.” She sniffled again before she continued, “Sh-sh-she was alive … when I … when I …” Then she turned to Rainbow Dash and bawled out, “I murdered her!” With tear-filled eyes, she continued, “And, I meant to do it, too! I just cut and peeled her skin away, … and she just wouldn’t stop talking! She started sayin’ bad stuff, … and I … had to cut her tongue out! I butchered her, … and I was enjoyin’ it!” Pinkie Pie then collapsed on the ground and just bawled.

Rainbow Dash approached her and said, stroking her mane, “Now, Pinkie Pie, it’s alright. It was just a dream. Remember, Gilda’s back at her home in Griffonstone. She’s just fine.”

Pinkie Pie, still trembling and sniffling, but not longer crying, looked up at Rainbow Dash and said, “I hope you’re right. I-it just felt so real.”

As Pinkie Pie tried to recompose herself with her friends’ help, Twilight turned her attention to the yellow pegasa and asked, “So, Fluttershy, did you have any bad reaction to the pizza last night?”

Fluttershy looked down at the floor in front of her and started drawing circles with a front hoof as she answered, “Well, to be honest, I don’t remember. I’m sorry, everypony.”

Twilight said to her, “That’s alright, Fluttershy.” Then, turning back to the others, she continued, “I wasn’t feelin’ very well when I left the pizza place, and I felt worse and worse as I got closer and closer to the library. I collapsed just inside, and I was lucky to make it into the bathroom and over the toilet before I threw up.” After a pause, she continued, “So, this is what we know about each of our reactions. Most of us got weaker and weaker. Most of us vomited, except for Pinkie Pie who had a nightmare, and probably Fluttershy. She apparently blocked the whole thing out.” Finally, she asked, “How long was it before the rest of you left?”

Rainbow Dash turned to the purple alicorn before answering, “We all left, I think, a minute after you, Twilight. All of us, except … for …” The azure pegasa trailed off as she turned her attention to Fluttershy.

As three more sets of eyes turned to the yellow pegasa, she tried hiding her face in her mane as she said, “Oh, please don’t look at me that way. It makes me nervous.” After a second or two, she added, “I just stayed behind to clean up. I didn’t want to leave a mess behind.”

At that point, Twilight divided her attention among the other five as she said, “Alright, girls, let’s not go accusing each other before we have the full story. Until we know for sure, nopony is responsible for our experiences with the pizza at the pizzeria, or afterward. Is that clear?”

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack lowered their heads and nodded, and Rainbow Dash said, “Yeah, you’re right, Twilight.”

Pinkie Pie was still too distraught over her memories of her dream to think about anything else.

Twilight, looking at each of her now humbled friends, said, “Well, at any rate, we can agree that each of us had a bad experience with the pizza we had there. Now, my next question is, how many of you made a full recovery by morning?"

At Twilight's question, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy all stood on all fours.

Seeing this, Twilight said, "Well, that's one more thing we all have in common." Then, she asked, "Now, my last question is, what are we going to do about this pizzeria?” After an empty pause, she continued, “It seems to me that we need more evidence, we need to investigate. So, I propose that I go in there and see what I can find.” Then, looking up and scratching her chin with a forelimb, she thought aloud, “I wonder if they allow take-outs.”

Fluttershy asked, “Take-outs?”

Twilight turned to the yellow pegasa and restated, “I wonder if they’ll allow somepony to order a pizza and take it home with them.”

Applejack shrugged and said, “Ah don’t see how takin' a pizza home and eatin’ it’s gonna make that much difference.”

Twilight turned to the orange earth mare and answered, “Oh, I won’t be eating it. I just want a sample to send to some place that can analyze the ingredients. Once we know what’s in those pizzas, we’ll know better what to do next.”

At this point, Pinkie Pie had sufficiently recomposed herself that she rose to a canine-style sitting position again. She, along with the other four in Twilight’s audience, exchanged looks, after which Rarity turned to Twilight and said, “Well, if you think that’s best, then go right ahead. we’ll await your decision.”

With a little uncertainty in her voice, Twilight said, “Uh, alright, then. I’ll order a pizza to go tomorrow, then send a sample of it to Canterlot for them to analyze, and I’ll get word back to you when I’ve found out what was in that pizza. Until then, we’ll call this meeting to a close.”

As the purple alicorn held the door open for the other element bearers, she noticed that Fluttershy led the group out, while a calmer but still shaky Pinkie Pie brought up the rear. After closing the door behind her pink friend, Twilight turned to her assistant and said, “Alright, Spike, we need to make a checklist of things we need to do to investigate the pizzeria. What do we know about it so far?”

Spike responded by asking, “Uh, shouldn’t we get something to eat first?”

Twilight smiled at her assistant and said, “You’re right, Spike. Just so long as it isn’t at that pizza place. No need for me to get sick again. And, I don’t want you getting sick, either.”

The purple dragon made his way to the kitchen as he said, “I’ll just make some pancakes.” And, before Twilight could respond, he disappeared through the door.

Which was just as well. It gave Twilight time to gather her thoughts on what she could investigate in and about that pizza place.