“Hey, Gilda?”

“Yeah, Yang?”

“What’s with those tan things I’ve been seeing some of our guests wearing?” I pointed out a guest who had one on around his neck.

“The peytrals? Apparently, Rarity’s been giving them away for a couple weeks. They’re stone, but are apparently really comfortable, light, and very easy to wear.”

“Are you going to get one?”

“Pfsh, nah. I already look good as it is,” Gilda boasted. “That, and she doesn’t actually have any that fit me. They’re all sized for ponies. What about you?”

I looked over the peytral that was being worn by the guest. “Nah. It doesn’t look like it would fit me.” Sylvia came up and delivered a ticket with three meals on it, breaking up the conversation. “Back to work.”

“Hey, Gilda?”

“Yeah, Yang?”

“There’s more guests with those peytral things on now.”

“Yeah, there are. And no, I’m not getting one. They’re still only pony sized.”

“I’m not getting one either. There’s something bugging me though.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. We’ve got a pretty packed dining area as usual, but something’s off.”

Sylvia came up with a ticket that had three meals on it. “Yeah, something’s weird,” she concurred. “If I can figure it out, I’ll let you two know.”

“Thanks, Syl,” Gilda said before the three of us split and went back to work.

“Hey, Gilda?”

“Yeah, Yang?”

“I am seriously starting to get unnerved now. What. Is. Happening?”

Cloverleaf came up with a pair of tickets for two meals each. “Oddly quiet today, isn’t it?”

I paused for a moment as my thoughts hit a wall facefirst. “Now that you mention it. . .” I looked across the guests and saw quite a few of them with the peytrals on. Some of them were acting like normal, others were more subdued and drowsy looking, and a few were glassy eyed and apparently just going through the motions of eating their food, almost like a robot. “Gilda?”

“Yeah?” Gilda responded, sounding ready for anything I could ask.

“I leave the Carne Den in your capable talons for a bit. Call me crazy, but I think something’s up.”

“Gotcha. Where are you going?”

“Twilight’s.”

“Twilight?”

“Yes, Yang?”

“Have you seen the ponies wearing the peytrals acting strangely as of late?”

“As a matter of fact, I have.” Twilight’s horn lit up and a thick journal appeared in front of me, labelled ‘Peytral Observations’ on the front cover. “As much of a herd mindset as ponies have, everypony wearing the exact same accessories or clothing is rare, often limited to those working in the same place for the same job, like guards, construction workers, or servers, and even then, there’s often some degree of individuality.”

I opened the journal and started poring through its contents, full of charts and notes. “I’m guessing you’ve noticed something then? A pattern of some kind?”

“A few things. First, I haven’t observed anypony who has one be without it on subsequent observations.”

“You haven’t seen me without clothes before.”

“But I know you change what you’re wearing regularly. Whether it’s for work, a fight, exercise, or a day off, you change your clothes. Admittedly, that observation on the peytrals on its own is a bit flimsy, but there are a few other things I’ve noticed.”

I flipped back to the beginning of the journal and started actually reading some of the words. “Go on.”

“A few petitioners who had one on seemed to have forgotten they were wearing it when I asked about it. They also think that they simply forgot that they had put it on before leaving home.”

“Really?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. I’ve also seen a consistent pattern that usually takes about a week or so to run its course. For the first couple days, the wearer is fairly normal. After that, they start to become sluggish and drowsy, like they’re asleep at the wheel. Past that, they start acting very mechanically and move very rigidly, almost like they have no joints in their legs.”

“Glassy eyes?”

“Glassy eyes, and a monotone voice as well. I’ve also noticed one other peculiarity. Two, if you want to nitpick.”

“Hm?”

“Unicorns don’t cast spells and pegasi don’t fly. Basically, they don’t use their unique appendages and act more like Earth ponies.”

“Come to think of it, I have seen that in some of the unicorn guests. They aren’t levitating their food like they usually do.”

“Did they get them from Rarity?”

“Apparently. Did you get one from her?”

“I tried to get one from her, but she just won’t give me one without trying to put it on me. She also won’t tell me where she gets them. I also can’t just go in and take one because of legal reasons, even though we’re friends and I’m concerned for her and everypony in Ponyville.”

I closed the journal and took a moment to think over Twilight’s phrasing and tone. “Is this the part where you ask me to do some investigation work for you?”

“This is that part.” Silence hung in the air for a bit as Twilight waited for a response. When it was clear she wasn’t getting one from me, she continued. “Yang, I would greatly appreciate it if you could find out where Rarity’s getting these peytrals from and, if possible, grab one or more for me to study.”

“Alright, I’ll do it,” I quickly agreed.

“Excellent. And I promise, I will reward you for your efforts, as a proper quest giver should.”

“I already have more bits than I know what to do with.”

“I’ll make bits a smaller portion of the reward then. Mostly to keep things legal.”

“Fair enough.”

I started my investigation the next day simply enough. I had a picnic basket, a tree with a view, and Carousel Boutique in sight. After jumping into the tree, I set the basket down on some branches that formed a natural little table of sorts, and pulled out a few items: a pair of binoculars, a notepad, a pencil, and a watch. I left my lunch in the basket, as I had had a rather filling breakfast some time before starting my task.

For a while, nothing happened, and I was getting bored. The first thing I finally saw happen was Sweetie Belle leaving the boutique with her saddlebags, glassy eyed and moving like a robot. She didn’t even stop to say “bye” to Rarity on the way out. I also saw that she had a peytral on, and made notes on it.

The next thing I saw was Berry Punch going in, appearing to be slightly tipsy. Less than five minutes later, she came out with a peytral on, moving just as tipsy as she had when she had entered. I made a note of it, and also began wondering how it would affect my liquor and bar supplies, as she was my main supplier of both.

As the day wore on, I saw ponies heading in and out of the boutique. Some went in without a peytral and came out with one on and some both went in and came out without one. There were a few that went in with the peytrals on, looking half asleep and stumbling worse than Berry had. They came out standing and moving a bit stiffer than when they had went in, and their eyes looked like they were beginning to glaze over.

Eventually, I took a break from my stakeout and pulled a small steak out of the basket for a quick bite to eat. I was only three bites in when I was interrupted by a familiar mare with a southern accent. “What are ya doing up there, Yang?”

“Huh?” I looked down and saw Applejack there. “Oh, hi, Applejack. Have you seen the peytrals everyone’s been getting?”

“Yeah?”

“Rarity’s the one giving them away. I’ve been watching the place for a while today, and I can tell that something’s going on in there.”

“Berry came by not too long ago and bought some apples. She had one on.”

“Was she acting any different from usual?”

“No, she wasn’t.”

I checked the time I’d written down for Berry on the notepad. “It’s been, wow, about three hours since she got her peytral.” I made a note based on Applejack’s observations of Berry. “I have been up here for a while. What are you doing here anyways?”

“Taking a short break from the farm. Ah saw your hair from the house and thought Ah’d visit.”

“Ah. And how are things on the farm?”

“More hectic than usual. Fluttershy’s critters have been migrating over for some reason and the weather’s not getting done right.”

“The weather?”

“Haven’t you noticed that it’s unusually warm? And that there hasn’t been much rain either? Some parts of Ponyville’s dirt paths are almost as hard as a rock, and Ah’ve been to a rock farm.”

I jotted down Applejack’s extra observations and started drawing some conclusions. “Okay, I think I know what’s going on. Twilight’s noticed that the pegasi with the peytrals don’t fly, so that probably explains the weather not getting done. As for Fluttershy’s animals, I can only assume that she’s under the effects of a peytral. Knowing her, she probably got one from Rarity early on.”

“Want me to go check for ya?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Ah’ll be back then.” Applejack left and I wrote a few notes down on my conclusions before returning to my lunch.

“Ah’m back, Yang. See anything new?”

“One more pony got a peytral a couple minutes ago. How about you?”

“Fluttershy has one on.” I noted the confirmed conclusion. “Ah asked her some questions about it as well.”

“What did you learn?”

“She got hers about two weeks ago. She was all glassy eyed and sounded like a machine or something like that. Ah also got a good look at the peytral, and it’s not carved from stone.”

“It’s not?”

“The lines in it are too good to have come from any kind of natural stone. Clean and always the same distance apart from their neighbors.”

“Anything else?” I noted the observation on the parallel lines as I continued listening.

“When Ah tried to pull it off, she swatted mah foreleg away. Ah tried to get mah hoof on it a few more times, but she swatted it away every time. Ah got fed up, apologized, and smacked her on top of her head. She went down and Ah tried to get it off her neck.”

I wrote down a slightly abridged version of Applejack’s recollection. “What happened?”

“It was stuck on her. Ah tried a few different ways to get it off, but nothing worked. Ah even braced against her body and tried to pull the thing off with more and more of mah strength. Ah stopped when it felt like Ah would pull her neck off her barrel before getting the thing off her. She was still out cold when Ah left.”

“That definitely sounds like a sticky situation.”

Applejack briefly levelled a glare at me. “If this wasn’t such a serious problem, Ah’d come right up there and smack you for that pun. The worst part is that you’re also right.”

I briefly hid a smile behind the notepad and finished writing down Applejack’s observations. “Well, thanks for the information. I’d better report this to Twilight and see what she thinks of it. Have a good day, Applejack.”

“You too, Yang. Please get this figured out soon.”

“Of course.” I kept watching the boutique for a bit. After a whole lot of nothing happened, I decided to pack things up and call it a done day for observations. Just as I was setting the last of the observation tools in the basket, I decided to do some further investigations.

I left the basket in the tree and went into the boutique. It looked good inside, but I saw the thin layer of dust on everything and knew that Rarity, even if present, wasn’t home. Shortly after the observation, Rarity came out from the back. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique. Would you like a free peytral?” Her voice and movements were almost stiff enough to make an old oak tree look like a professional yoga practitioner.

“As a matter of fact, I would like one” I answered. “I’ll put it on later.”

Rarity’s head moved up and down ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, but all peytrals must be put on here. I’m afraid I don’t have any that will fit you either though.”

“Where do you keep them?”

“I cannot tell you.”

“How many do you have right now?”

“I cannot tell you.”

“Where do you get them?”

“I cannot tell you.”

“Is there anything you can tell me about the peytrals?”

“They are light, comfortable, and go well with any coat color.”

“Nothing else?”

“They are light, comfortable, and go well with any coat color.”

“Thanks, Rarity.” I left the boutique with only a little bit of information, much less than I was hoping to get. After collecting my basket, I went back to Twilight’s castle.

“I’m back, Twilight.”

“Did everything go well? Before you answer, let’s go to a conference room. The throne room is too big for this kind of conversation.”

“Sounds good to me.” I followed Twilight out of the throne room and through some hallways, ending up in a conference room.

“So what did you learn?”

“A few more ponies got the peytrals today. A few went in and came out without one. Some went in looking half asleep and came out moving more robotically than when they went in.”

Twilight winced a bit. “That’s troubling.”

“Applejack visited me while I was watching the place, and she’s noticed a few things. Namely, the weather’s not getting done right, which is why it’s warmer and drier than usual according to her. Also, Fluttershy’s got a peytral on. Her animals have migrated over to Sweet Apple Acres.”

“That’s not good.”

“No, it isn’t. I tried to find out where Rarity gets them from and how many she has, and she did not say.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“No, it isn’t. What’s next?”

“Waiting for Rarity to run out of peytrals and following her to see where she gets them from. If it doesn’t lead to the source, then follow the chain to where it does.”

“I guess I’ll get on that then.” I opened the door leading to the balcony and leapt off the railing, going into a swan dive and turning over to land on my feet. Unfortunately, I didn’t judge the move quite right and landed flat on my back. “Ow.”

“Are you okay, Yang?” Twilight shouted from above, clearly concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine. My aura took the worst of it.” I got up and felt fine, if only a tad sore. “The ground really is hard though.”

“What about your basket?” Twilight floated the basket into sight.

“Can you teleport it to my place? The main office will do.”

“Sure thing.” In a flash, the basket was gone. “Take your time, but please hurry.”

“Sure thing.” I quickly got my bearings and made my way back through town towards the tree.

Along the way, the call of nature struck, and I went into the nearest business, which happened to be Sugarcube Corner. The first thing I noticed when I stepped in was just how deserted the dessert place was. The second thing I noticed was Pinkie slumped over the counter, clearly in a blue mood. “Hm? Oh, hi, Yang” she greeted with less cheer than usual. “What do you want?”

“To use the restroom.”

“Go ahead.”

I passed Pinkie and found the restroom easily enough. Once I was done, I returned to the counter, where my big heart got the better of me. “Alright Pinkie, I know we haven’t really talked much, but I can tell something’s got you down. Is it the lack of guests?”

“Yeah. And everypony’s just been acting all-” she made motions and sounds like a robot would. “-and some of them had birthdays recently as well. One was yesterday and she didn’t react to her party at all! Speaking of birthdays, I can’t believe I haven’t gotten yours yet. When is your birthday?”

“Well, it was mid-October before I came here, but, when did I show up here?”

Pinkie started counting on her forehooves. “Let’s see, there was that, then that, then that, carry the seven, add a dash of cinnamon, put in the oven for fifteen minutes, have a strawberry milkshake, tilt by exactly 37.2534 degrees clockwise, about April 27th last year, which is, AUDIBLE GASP! Less than a month away!”

I took a sip of the strawberry milkshake Pinkie had given me during her calculations. “Really? I guess you want to know how old I’m going to be?”

“That would certainly be helpful.”

“Well, I was 25 before I came here, Yang in the show was 17 at the start, and since we’re apparently going by when I came here, that would make me 18.” I took another sip of the milkshake before I realized something. “Wait, why am I talking about this right now? I need to follow Rarity to find out where she’s getting the peytrals.”

“Chill, Yang. Just take a moment to talk and relax. Rarity’s not going anywhere today.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I’m up to date on everything around here, and I know that Rarity’s been going into the Everfree twice a week recently, like clockwork. She will head there again tomorrow.”

“How are you so certain about that?”

“You should know by now, Yang. I’m Pinkie Pie!”

After a second of dawning comprehension, I let my head hit the countertop. “How did I forget that?”

“Probably by getting worked up over the situation with the peytrals and not talking with me very much. How about we discuss your birthday party for now?”

I lifted my head and took a deep breath. “You’re sure Rarity’s heading out tomorrow?”

“Not sure what time tomorrow, but she will.”

“Let’s talk party then.”

Pinkie brightened at that and went into party guru mode. “Alright! First off, the cake. What kind do you want?”

I looked into my strawberry milkshake as if it were a crystal ball, trying to divine some kind of answer from it. The only crystal thing about it was the glass it was in. “Any kind?”

“Any kind.”

“How about plain vanilla with strawberries in it? I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for them now for some reason.”

“There shall be an appropriate amount of juicy strawberries in your cake then. What flavor of icing do you want?”

“What do you have?”

Pinkie gave me a sly grin. “What do you want?”

I thought for a bit on the flavors I knew of. “How about a subdued mix of orange and pineapple?”

“It can be done. Would a rectangular cake suit your tastes?”

Another sip of the strawberry shake vanished. “It would. I think I’ll leave the rest of the cake design to you. What else is there to discuss?”

“Quite a few things.”

I went into a deep dive on the details with Pinkie, talking with her for nearly an hour. In that time, only two ponies, both without a peytral, came in to get something. It made me wonder why nopony was visiting the bakery, especially when it should have been at least somewhat busy.

The silence in the bakery was just as unnerving as it was at the Carne Den. I knew something was going on, but I hoped that I wouldn’t get more involved than I already was.

Author's Notes:

After a brief winter hiatus, and a bunch of writing, it's time to publish a new chapter! . . . Right as the snow starts falling and I get sick.