The Life of the Party {semi-open}

[Twilight Sparkle]

{I'm mostly looking for the various ponies, Spike, and/or Discord to join in, but Twilight's likely to take whatever help she can get. Per usual, it'll make more sense with the actual post}

Twilight frowned, which really didn't match her environment at all. The unicorn girl was standing in the middle of the faire, right at the spoke in the middle where everything sort of came to a point in an open area often used by busking musicians. Twilight was pretty sure that she'd seen a lanky brunette tramping around, and she thought she vaguely recalled seeing the woman before, at a party. And thinking of parties made Twilight stop and wonder. Pinkie Pie had been here; Rainbow had seen her, talked to her, and even dragged Twilight to a party.

But if Pinkie Pie was here, she'd be here. she'd be somewhere in this crowd, probably near the food, doing her Pinkie Pie thing. Yet somehow, Twilight hadn't been able to find her pink-haired fan anywhere. She'd even bought some candy floss hoping that maybe having some candy would lure Pinkie out from wherever she was. It was just... odd. Twilight saw Rainbow and Applejack nearly every day, Fluttershy at least once a week, Discord wouldn't leave her alone, and even Spike was here. But Pinkie had been all but invisible since that first meeting. Twilight had counted it to their not doing the same things, though it did seem odd that her friend hadn't sought her out.

Now though, now she was getting worried. Pinkie should be here. She should be bouncing about, eating sugar, entering a contest of some kind. Yet Twilight couldn't find her friend anywhere.

"I should find the others," she muttered, frowning. she took a piece of her candy, chewing it more by routine than out of a desire to eat. It tasted vaguely of pumpkin. Determined, Twilight nodded and began striding confidently. She needed to find people, preferably people that knew Pinkie, and form some kind of search party. Fun could wait: they needed to figure this out, and soon.

[Applejack Smith]

Applejack had been at the fair for hours it seemed. She was having a great time, though she hadn't been doing much. She'd been feeling a tad homesick lately with the arrival of fall. Usually around this time, the whole Apple family would be out in the orchards, picking apples and storing them away. This year, she was stuck in this strange place with very few reminders of Ponyville. Sure, her friends were here, but they hardly even looked like her friends. Recently, a fall faire had been set up in Tenebrae, and the faite had provided just the thing to cure her homesickness: a hay ride.

Technically, the hay ride was supposed to be used as transporation for the faire. Applejack had dismissed that though when she'd hopped on several hours ago and had yet to hop off. Everything about the hay ride made her feel peaceful: the smell of the hay, the gentle clip clop of the horses' hooves, and even the slight stink from the sweaty fairgoers. Everything was just perfect. She'd been sitting at the back of the wagon near to the driver, so people could easily get on and off. It seemed some people weren't satisfied with this though and had complained about her to the driver. "Sorry, miss, but it's time to get off now." Applejack frowned for half a second before smiling. "Well, fine. I was just about to get off anyways." She hopped down and just stood there while the wagon rolled away. What was she gonna do now?

She started walking slowly down the lane towards the center of the faire, picking pieces of hay off her as she went. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, so it surprised her to see a familiar head lf purple hair walking not two feet ahead of her. "Twilight!" She shouted and rushed over to join her friend. "How's it goin', sugarcube?" She looked at the pile of candy floss and smiled brightly. "Enjoyin' the faire?"

[Deleted]

Fluttershy walked timidly through the fairgrounds, ducking her head slightly to avoid eye contact from the passerby’s and skirting over to the very edges of the crowd. It was clear that she wasn’t very comfortable with such busy and loud gatherings, and every shout caused her to jump and look around a little in surprise. She had really only come here to see the booths in the Falle Market, where she had heard there were nice little crafts on display, a few of which involved bird houses. She had hoped to buy a very nice one for the birds around her home, but the crowd seemed to be getting the best of her and turning her around in the wrong directions. There was just so much going on at once, so many people, and so much noise!

“Oh oops- I’m sorry, it was my fault. Um, excuse me. I’m very sorry, I must’ve not been watching where I was going,” the girl apologized and stammered every time someone pushed or brushed past her, which was often in this rush. She ducked and dodged her way out of people’s paths until she suddenly found herself in a nice open area. “Oh, good,” she thought to herself quietly as she breathed in relief. It was then that she looked around, wondering where exactly she was supposed to be heading, that she recognized the familiar purple hair of Twilight. “Oh, hello, Twilight!” Fluttershy quietly greeted her friend as she made her way over. Or, well, she was going walk up to greet her, but then stopped as she realized that she must already be speaking to someone and glanced down at her shoes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” There was another girl with a light colored mane beside her. Fluttershy thought maybe that she looked sort of familiar, but then again, she wasn’t certain. She tried to avoid the strange girl’s gaze though, as she would to anyone she didn’t know well.

[Twilight Sparkle]

The sudden shout caused Twilight to jump, nearly choking on a piece of her candy floss. She was still coughing as Applejack approached her, but the unicorn girl still managed a wobbly smile. "I'm... okay," she managed, still coughing a few more times. She held a fist up to catch some of it, which was probably a good thing, as she felt something wet and sticky connect. Twilight winced and held out the hand, waving it a few times to try and dislodge the goober that clung to her. "I was enjoying myself, well, mostly, you see---" but just as Twilight began, she noticed someone else. That was one advantage to being a pony, well, ex-pony here at Tenebrae: nearly all of them stuck out. Considering the massive amount of odd people here, that was certainly saying something. Even then, Twilight would have recognized Fluttershy anywhere. She brightened immediately, waving Fluttershy over.

"Fluttershy! It's fine, really," insisted Twilight. This wasn't quite as good as finding their other pink-maned friend, but Twilight would take what she could get. The unicorn girl began gesturing wildly as she continued talking. "I was just talking to Applejack, well, she'd just walked up anyway. But I was just wondering: have either of you see Pinkie? Pinkie Pie, that is," just in case there was another Pinkie running around. It wouldn't have surprised Twilight. "it's just... I saw her at a party; both Rainbow and I did. Yet I haven't seen her since, and, well...' Twilight gestured with the candy floss at the faire around her.

The message was clear: if Pinkie Pie were here, she'd be bounding around. She would, in point of fact, be completely impossible to miss. And it was entirely likely that her Pinkie-sense would have led her right to one of her three best pony friends. Twilight smiled sheepishly, looking from one friend to another. "I'm not worrying about nothing, am I? She was here, well, at Tenebrae, so she should be here," Twilight gestured down with the candy floss, which caused a bit of it to slough off and fall to the ground. She didn't care: there were vastly more important things to worry about.

[Applejack Smith]

Applejack had been trying not to laugh at Twilight trying to fling the wad of sticky floss off her hand. She only partly succeeded, letting loose a few good chuckles. It was then that she heard someone shout out to Twilight. Did everyone know her purple-haired friend? A. J. looked up to see a slight young woman with pink hair. She tried to give the newcomer her trademark gentle smile, but the woman seemed determined to avoid her gaze, just like--

"Fluttershy!" The shout had originally started by Twilight but Applejack soon followed. As soon as she knew it was Fluttershy, Applejack stopped trying to catch the woman's eye and instead enveloped her in a tight hug. "I'm so happy to finally get to see you!" She started talking excitedly, actually talking over Twilight. "I knew ya were here, but I've just been a bit busy. I probably shoulda found ya sooner. I really oughta tell ya not to be worryin' about all your Ponyville critters. I went to your house just before I Shiftted and found 'em all there. I sent 'em over to Sweet Apple Acres. I'm sure Applebloom and all her friends will just have a fine time takin' care of 'em." She gave Fluttershy a bright smile and another hug before backing away a few steps. She knew the other woman usually liked her space, but A. J. had been so excited to see her. She'd managed to calm down a bit now though.

That didn't mean she was done talking to her. In fact, Applejack had been about to ask Fluttershy how she liked Tenebrae when she finally heard Twilight's words. "Pinkie?" She asked in confusion as she turned to look at the purple-haired woman. When had they started talking about Pinkie? A. J. looked around her as if expecting someone with bright pink hair to come bouncing up to them. When this didn't happen, she frowned and looked back at Twilight. This, of course, was the whole point. Pinkie wasn't here. "Well, where is she?" She asked, looking around again.

[Deleted]

Fluttershy looked hesitant and opened her mouth to object to interrupting Twilight while she talked to her new friend, before of course she was suddenly rushed up and clung to suddenly. She blinked in surprise and glanced around wildly, wondering just who this person was that had all so suddenly invaded her personal space. Strangers were enough to make her uncomfortable without surprise-hugging her! “Oh- um… hi?” Her voice was a slightly squeaky whisper. She looked uneasily to Twilight for help, but that was just as Twilight had begun to explain what she was doing, while the other girl was also suddenly talking about Ponyville. Applejack! Oh, how silly had she been to not recognize her own friend! She did look a lot different here though, and Fluttershy still wasn’t used to all of these human appearances. “I’m so glad that you are all right, Applejack! I was so worried that something had happened to you and Rarity, and all of the other ponies too… I hoped that you hadn’t been lost like I had!” She exclaimed quietly to her friend. She was even more relieved to hear about the state of her poor critters, whom she had also been worrying about ever since she had arrived her. “Oh, thank you, Applejack! They didn’t look too upset or hungry did they…? I’m sure that Applebloom will do a wonderful job taking care of them.” She sighed as she tried to picture all of her critters and how they must’ve looked. At least now they had someone to keep them company, look after them and feed them. Still, she wished she could be there to see them herself, as well as tell Applebloom everything she could possibly need to know about her critters and what they liked.

When she heard Twilight mention Pinkie Pie and the predicament, her expression clouded to worry once more. “Oh, yes, Pinkie Pie lives in the same home as I do, but no… I haven’t seen her for a while when I’ve been at home. I thought that maybe she was too busy going to parties, so I didn’t think anything of it,” Fluttershy admitted and shuffled a foot. It was true that she hadn’t seen their friend in quite a while, and she did often wonder and worry about her- but Pinkie and Fluttershy had two separate personalities when it came to interacting with people. Pinkie was always the pony who was everywhere, and not one to sit still in a quiet setting or relax at home. Fluttershy wasn’t one for parties and preferred quiet places like at home, and so she had assumed that Pinkie had probably been out and about without inviting or telling her for that reason. Of course she hadn’t minded the thought, she was grateful of it really, but now that she knew that Pinkie was missing, well- she felt anxious! Who knows what trouble she could’ve run into in this somewhat scary place?

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight sighed in impatience as her two friends got reacquainted with one another. Honestly, they'd both been here long enough that they should have done this before now. Then again, Twilight had been busy nearly since her arrival, so how could she expect anything less from either of them? She could have sworn she'd told one or the other that the other was currently in residence, but again: so much was going on lately. Plus, she'd been much more concerned about the current lack.

Which, thankfully, the other two got around to soon enough. Twilight nodded as they both got around to the same point she had. Fluttershy even provided more information, which in Twilight's mind was always a good thing. The unicorn girl was picking things up though, knowing that action and more direction was needed:

"Exactly! Pinkie Pie was here; she got here before even you did, Fluttershy," Twilight wasn't positive about that, but she felt confident in saying it. she knew that Rainbow had been here before even Pinkie. Though come to think of it, Twilight hadn't seen much of her other roommate lately. That for later; they had another pony to worry about now. "And if Pinkie's here, if she's in Tenebrae at all, then she's got to be at this Faire somewhere, right? You two have known her longer than I have. Have you ever known Pinkie to miss something like this?" Twilight again gestured, turning slightly to look throughout the Faire as she did so.

No Pinkie. Twilight didn't even see anyone with pink hair, well, besides Fluttershy, who was already standing next to her. "So what I propose is that we go looking for her," said Twilight, nodding confidently. "We need to figure out if she's here and where. She's just got to be here somewhere..."

Or else there was something about the Shifting that nobody had expected: that it was reversible, somehow.

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow's quick course in bartending had gone extremely well, and she'd begun looking for jobs at the various bars, staying up all night talking to managers and getting to be a part of the night scene. More and more, her schedule involved coming home at 4 am, crashing in her bedroom, and waking up only after Twilight and AJ were out of the house doing actually productive things. It was fun to go out, but she was a little upset about not seeing her friends as often. So she made a special point to be at the faire so she could hang out with everyone there. A nice big party, who wouldn't want to be at something like that?

Despite her best intentions, she still arrived late. When she arrived, she scanned the crowd for her friends and sped toward Twilight's bright hair. "Hey guys," she said, "sorry I'm late. Couldn't find a clean jacket. I hate clothes." She nodded at Twilight, AJ, and a pink-headed pony who couldn't be Pinkie Pie and therefore must be Fluttershy. "Hey, look at you! Good to see you here. Now we just need to find Pinkie and see if Rarity...wait, where is Pinkie?" She scanned the crowd, pulling down the hood of her jacket to get a better peripheral view. "She can't be that hard to miss, right? AJ, give me a boost up and I'll try to see if I can spot her from above. Or, ooh! Twilight, can you use your magic to find her? Then we can really get this party started!"