Note: I plan to make some significant changes to the story in the near future.

You can either go ahead and read it now (going by the feedback, it seems to be okay as it is), or you can put it aside and wait for me to start posting the revised chapters, but because I'm working on other stories as well, it might be a couple of months.

…

Chapter 1 - Now It All Began

To think that just weeks ago, she was in a happy place. Everything was fine. It was surprising how much could change in that time, Pinkie thought as she sluggishly crawled out of bed. She stopped to regard herself in the mirror, and looking back at her was a pink pony with straight flat hair hanging to one side, and lifeless eyes. Next was the kitchen, where she got herself some breakfast; just some cereal and a glass of water. Among the things that changed, she had gained an aversion to candy and similarly sweet things, because of what it reminded her of.

This was a Friday, so one more day of work at the hardware store before having the weekend off. She had taken this job when she first arrived in Fillyshire, and the kindly mare that ran the store even arranged for a place to stay. So she made a slight effort to make herself presentable, and headed out to start her day.

It was one of those days when the past events weighed more heavily on her mind. While she went through the motions of working away in the stockroom, her thoughts drifted back to how it all started.

…

Sunshine bathed the town of Ponyville, and Pinkie Pie was trotting along with a bounce in her step. Maybe it was her imagination, but there was a peculiar feeling in the air which she could not put her hoof on. For a brief moment the sunlight seemed to dim and she felt a slight chill. Maybe just a cloud passing over, she thought to herself, and continued on her way.

Further on, she saw Twilight and Fluttershy up ahead chatting about something. "Oh, hey girls," she said to them.

Twilight was caught in the tail end of what she was saying to Fluttershy, saying "... that stupid pink ... err, hi Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie gave her a suspicious look and said, "Wait, what was that?"

Twilight hesitated for a moment under her gaze, and then responded, "Oh yeah, I was just telling Fluttershy about a prank that Rainbow Dash pulled, which went out of hand."

"Prank?" What she wanted to say was, "Are you sure you weren't about to say stupid pink pony?" but she kept it to herself.

"Oh yes," Fluttershy added, "Rainbow has been doing a lot of pranks lately. Like yesterday, she took a bottle from Berry Punch's house, and poured it in the water that I leave out for the animals nearby." Her expression became sad. "Suddenly, the poor little critters were acting strange... like droopy and dizzy. I got worried and thought they were falling ill."

"So, where are you ponies off to?" Pinkie asked.

There was a hum, maybe like a gust of wind just as Twilight started to speak. What she picked up sounded like: "Why don't you mind your own business for once."

Pinkie made appalled gasp, "Well, that was a bit uncalled for."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight arched an eyebrow. The white noise was gone. "I don't see what's wrong with going to Rarity's and seeing if there's something we can do to help her business."

"But, that's not what you just..." The pink earth pony shook her head and raked her hoof over her face.

"Are you okay, Pinkie Pie?" asked Fluttershy.

With her eyes downcast, she said, "I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired or something."

"You didn't drink any of that water did you?" the yellow pegasus asked, suddenly sounding worried.

Pinkie giggled at the mental image of drunken bunnies. "No, it's not that."

"Well we should be going," Twilight added. "Perhaps you'll feel better if you have a rest. Or you could come along if you want."

"Nah, it's okay. I was up late last night, so it was probably just that."

At that, they nodded and said their goodbyes. Then Pinkie was left wondering what just happened. Was she starting to hear things... or were her friends messing with her?

…

A ringing sound distracted Pinkie from her train of thought. It was coming from the large set of doors at the back of the stock room. She headed down and slid open one of the doors to see an older male pony with a delivery uniform and a clipboard.

"Oh, of course," Pinkie said, "the stock delivery." The store got deliveries on Tuesdays and Fridays, replenishing things that were running low. There wasn't much being delivered this time, but there were some fairly large boxes to bring in.

The delivery pony flipped the clipboard around and held it out to her. "Just sign at the bottom." Pinkie took the pencil with her teeth and scribbled her signature along the dotted line.

When she returned the pencil, the courier nodded and headed back to the cart, and her co-worker was on his way to offload the packages. His name was Topsy Turvy, he was a white pony and his mane was a pale brown. Pinkie and her co-worker started by lifting the boxes off one at a time, using the grip holes on the sides, and placing them neatly to the side. Once everything had been removed, the cart was on its way.

Now it was time to bring this stuff in, unpack, inventory, and put away. Pinkie went to one of the larger boxes, nearly her height, and she started to nudge it forward with her forehead, slowly picking up speed as she made her way inside.

Her thoughts again started to wander. She wished it had ended with those misheard words, but that was just the start of it. It was not long before Pinkie Pie was certain that something was wrong. Maybe that peculiar feeling she had was related to how the ponies were acting, she pondered. Perhaps something was affecting their behavior.

…

Pinkie decided to take a stroll, hoping that the fresh air and some sunshine could do her some good. It was a nice change from the day before, which was overcast with a few light showers, though there were still some puddles and wet patches around.

Continuing along the path, she saw something up ahead. There was a large puddle to the side, and there was something sticking out. A pony tail! She made a loud gasp and ran over to the edge of the puddle. She reached out to grab the tail, but it felt strange. When Pinkie pulled at it, it turned out to be nothing more than a stick with bunches of fabric stuck to it.

Her attention was drawn to the sound of snickering, and she turned to see Rainbow Dash hovering nearby grinning. The pink pony just frowned back at her; not exactly the reaction she was expecting.

"Come on, you know it's just a little fun," Rainbow said.

Pinkie's frown faded and she let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, you're right... just a little fun."

Rainbow Dash landed, tucked her wings away, and walked a few paces closer. "I don't get it. This is usually the point where you talk about getting me back."

"I guess I'm just not in the mood right now."

"Alrighty then," Dash replied, and she spread her wings and lifted off again. "I'll see you around."

Several minutes later, Pinkie felt another chill. This time she had passed under the shade of a large tree. While passing underneath, she could hear a creaking sound from one of the branches. Then there was an unpleasant chuckling coming from above. She looked up and saw something moving around, and for a moment she thought she glimpsed rainbow stripes.

"Rainbow, is that you?" she asked, but there was no response. Pinkie decided to let it go and continue walking. Then out of nowhere, something whacked her hard on the back of her head. She let out a yelp and stumbled into a muddy puddle. There was a throbbing pain in the back of her head, and mud covering her forelegs and some of her mane. She felt hurt and humiliated.

"Why," she uttered almost as a whimper, and while turning towards the tree, she said "that was just..." she was going to say "mean", but it escaped her when she noticed that no one was up there. Then looking back down, she saw what had hit her on the head. It was a piece of a branch. It could have just fallen off by itself. But then another part of her was thinking, maybe Dash was quick enough to get away before she turned around.

…

She was startled back to reality with a crashing sound at the other side of the store room. Topsy had been reaching out to place something on a higher shelf, and he slipped and stumbled into a cluster of gardening tools.

"Jeez Louise, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Pinkie yelled in agitation.

"Sorry, my bad," he called out as he pulled himself out of the pile and started to sort it out. While he did that, she had finished putting things away, and then she sighed and went over to help.

"Sometimes you remind me of a pony I used to know," she remarked.

"Oh really?" he perked up at the reference. She never usually talked things from her past, but on the rare occasions that she did, he seemed eager to hear it.

"Yeah, there was this grey pegasus pony; can't really say I knew her, but I've seen her around." From there she continued to reminisce. "There was this one time when she accidentally damaged the town hall with a thundercloud. I think it happened when she was playing around with…" The pink pony suddenly fell silent, and her smile was quickly replaced with a look of sorrow.

"I… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Topsy said.

Pinkie gave a dismissive hoof and mumbled that he shouldn't worry about it, and she went on with her next task. This time, she took a notepad and hung it around her neck on a piece of string, and a pencil clipped to the side. She took this out to the shop floor where she would inspect the shelves to see what needed to be restocked.

The owner, Mrs. Plough never had any complaints about her work – if anything she would occasionally compliment Pinkie for doing a good job. Once, the mare asked if she wanted to spend some time serving customers, so she'd have something different to do. However, Pinkie declined because she didn't feel particularly sociable, and had become quite withdrawn. Mrs. Plough probably saw it in her eyes, and decided not to press the issue.

While busy with her next task, Pinkie continued to think about what happened that day. It didn't take long before more weird things started.

…

Walking along one of the main streets in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie was still a little damp from washing the mud off. She also felt a dull pain from being hit by that wayward piece of wood. There was that ambiguous sound again.

There were three ponies standing together and chatting away, and she thought she could hear whispering and giggling. When she walked past, she turned to face them and the whispering suddenly stopped. Was it about her? Further along, there was a stallion serving at one of the market stalls, talking to a couple of other ponies. Again, they seemed to be talking about something, and the tone changed when she got closer.

"Calm down Pinkie," she thought aloud, "you're starting to get a little paranoid." With a rising feeling of unease, she returned to Sugarcube Corner and went upstairs to have a lie down.

A couple of hours later, after waking from her nap, Pinkie was alternating between sitting and pacing around, not sure what to do with herself. There was a knock at the door, and she headed down to answer it.

At the door was Twilight. "Hey Pinkie Pie. I wanted to see if you were feeling any better," she said.

"I don't know, I guess so."

"Anyway, I'm having a little evening picnic out in the field, and I was wondering if you would like to come," Twilight added. "Sadly, Rarity and Applejack were busy, and Spike was tired and just wanted to stay in. So it's me, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash."

At the last name, Pinkie suddenly looked hesitant.

"What's the matter?" the unicorn asked.

"Oh it's not important. I'd be happy to come along," Pinkie Pie responded, though slightly lacking in enthusiasm, and they headed out.

…

The sun was low in the sky, and it bathed the scenery in warm colors. When the two ponies got to the spot, a picnic layout and various other things were already set up. Also, the two pegasi had already settled in. They both turned when they heard them approaching.

Pinkie smiled at Fluttershy, but when she turned to Dash she quickly averted her gaze.

Rainbow Dash happened to catch this. "Pinkie Pie, are you still upset about what happened earlier? It was just a stick with some dumb fabric on it." Suddenly, Pinkie's gaze shot back to meet Dash's, with anger and irritation in her eyes.

"Well what about the other thing you did? Later on, when you were hiding in a tree, and threw a piece of wood at me!"

Dash's eyes went wide, and became self conscious as all eyes were now on her. "I don't know what you're talking about." Then shifting glances with the other two, she added, "Seriously you guys, you know I wouldn't do that."

"Oh yeah?" Pinkie persisted. "I have the bump to prove it."

Twilight checked the back of her head, and noticed a small bump that was starting to bruise. But not wanting to jump to conclusions, she said, "Tell me what happened, exactly."

"Okay, let's see." Pinkie glanced upwards as she tried to recall it. "I was passing under a tree, and I heard movement up there. I could've sworn I saw Rainbow's tail… then suddenly a piece of wood smacked me in the head." In reaction to the memory, she flinched and reached back to nurse the sore spot where it hit her.

Fluttershy didn't like what she was hearing. "Rainbow, did you really do that?"

"No, of course not," she protested. "Look Pinkie, I'm telling you it wasn't me."

Pinkie cast her eyes downwards, feeling embarrassed for accusing a friend of such a thing. While everyone was sitting down she looked back at Dash, but there was something strange about her. Nothing obviously different, but she felt it. Then she turned to Pinkie and gave her an almost sinister grin. The pink pony blinked hard and rubbed her eyes with the side of her hoof. When her view of Dash returned, she was in a conversation with Fluttershy and Twilight.

Then there was that sound again. She thought she heard one of them mention her name, and then something along the lines of, "yeah, it makes me wonder why we put up with her."

"Hey, I'm right here guys," she asserted, bewildered at what they were saying, but they looked at her with slightly confused expressions, as if nothing happened. "You know what, fine, be that way. See if I care!" Pinkie got up and started to walk off.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Twilight.

"If it's all the same, I want to be alone," Pinkie responded, sounding more hurt than angry.

Her friends were continuing to act strange, and she had no idea why. All she knew was she kept hearing that sound… or was it even a sound? Was it background noise, or was it in her head? Whatever it was, it was usually accompanied by ponies saying mean things about her, and then acting like it didn't happen. She wished that that was the extent of it, but something far worse was still to come.

…

Now Pinkie's shift had ended, and she did a few last minute things before heading off. Outside, the buildings and landscape of Fillyshire was not too different from Ponyville, as it was just another small town several miles away. Here, the ground was drier and the grass was starting to go brown. It seemed that the pegasi in this town were getting a little lazy and negligent.

When she got home, she kept the lights off and sauntered over to the couch. She didn't want to relive it again, but she knew it would weigh down on her until she let the memory run its course.

…

About an hour after she walked away from the group, Pinkie was wandering along a high ridge overseeing the lake. The sun had now sunk below the horizon – one of the reasons for Twilight's picnic was to watch the sunset. She stopped and looked out at the lake. Watching the dark glistening surface of the water felt peaceful.

She noticed a sound and turned to see Rainbow Dash landing several paces away. Maybe it was the dimming ambient light, but there almost seemed to be a strange dark aura around her.

"So this is where you've been moping around," Dash said, and Pinkie felt there was a mocking tone in her voice.

Pinkie Pie frowned. "Just leave me alone."

"By the way," the pegasus started, "you still have a spot of mud from when I knocked you into that puddle." Then she started snickering. "You should've seen your face. It was all hurt and shocked, like 'oh I would never expect a friend to do that to me'".

Pinkie gasped, but then trying to assert reason, she said, "Rainbow, you're not yourself. Why are you acting this way? In fact, why is everypony…"

"Mocking you behind your back?" Dash responded, finishing her sentence. "Haven't you figured it out yet?" Her features had gotten darker still. Was something controlling her, and making her say these things?

"Stop it, you don't know what you're saying," the pink pony pleaded.

"The rest of us actually make ourselves useful, but what do you do… you know, other than eating candy and being annoying?"

"Don't talk like that," Pinkie said more firmly, but with a tremble in her voice.

"Like a dumb little piggy," Rainbow returned, clearly as an aggressive taunt.

"You take that back!"

"Or what?" she asked, and that ambiguous white noise was getting louder. "Are you going to make me listen to one of your stupid songs?"

"I SAID STOP IT!" Pinkie screamed at the top of her voice as she threw herself at her antagonist. She barreled into her, knocking the blue pegasus on her back. They frantically grappled and struggled and rolled around the ground. Dash then kicked with her hind legs, knocking Pinkie off of her.

Now free, Dash flipped over and got back to her feet. Taking off and slowly hovering further into the air, she said, "Okay, now it's my turn." Her wings started flap faster, then she flew head on towards the earth pony. When they collided, the impact sent them both rolling down the slope. They were grappling and tumbling, but they also lost control as the slope got steeper the further they went.

The last part near the bottom was almost a sheer edge, and Pinkie felt herself leave the ground and fall through mid air. All she recalled was a dull thud, a faint snapping sound, and bouncing and landing again. There must have been a few shrubs at the bottom. Aching and slightly stunned from the fall, she lay there for a few moments. Good thing something broke my fall, she thought, hopefully Dash was just as lucky.

Broke my fall? Her eyes shot open again. Pinkie slowly got up, and looked to where she had first landed. Rainbow Dash was lying there, and she wasn't moving.

"Come on Rainbow Dash, rise and shine," she said with a forced cheerfulness, but there was a rising fear in her voice. There was a sinking feeling when she realized where the snapping sound must have come from. She slowly took a step closer. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you for what you said." There was still no movement, and she started to feel like she was suffocating. "Please, say something." Her voice came out as little more than a whimper.

Taking the last few hesitant steps, she leaned down. Dash was on her side, and Pinkie tried moving her foreleg, but it fell limp. Then she leaned in and, using her nose, moved the prone pegasus' head to the side, but it just slipped back down, and it felt a little cold. The pink pony recoiled; her heart raced, and her breathing was rapid and shallow.

"Rainbow?" she whispered with a tremble. Her vision blurred as tears started to well up. Just then, a distant sound caught her attention. It was Twilight's voice. Her grief was rapidly replaced with a feeling of dread and panic.

"Pinkie Pie, are you there?" called out Twilight. "We heard yelling."

As the voice got closer, Pinkie was terrified of what would happen if they saw her, and Dash lying there lifeless on the ground. After this, there was no way she could stay here. She slowly backed away from the source of the voice, and then turned and ran, moving as fast as her legs could carry her.

…

Pinkie lay on her couch in the dark, feeling another tear trickle down her cheek, and the occasional faint sob. This was why she hated thinking about it. Sometimes it felt like she was reliving it, and the pain she felt would come flooding back. To this day, she still couldn't figure out the strange things she experienced, or why Rainbow Dash acted the way she did. There was no way of knowing for sure. Maybe that was why a part of her kept dwelling on it.

The terrible thoughts finally started to fade from her mind. Between a day of hard work and the emotional ordeal, she was left feeling drained. Weariness slowly swept over her and she drifted into sleep.

…

Author's Notes: Hope you liked the story so far, and I hope you stick with me for the remaining three chapters. Feel free to let me know what you think (but please keep it constructive).

Also I noticed someone post on the MLP Facebook page, something about a land called Fillysire. I just want to clarify that the town in my story (Fillyshire) is not directly related to this other place, and that the naming similarity is purely coincidental.