Pinkie Pie awoke. She looked bleary-eyed around her "prison". She was in some sort of spherical ball, the walls light blue but transparent enough for her to see outside. Not that there was much to see anyway. The outside world was dark, jagged rocks jutting from the surface of the grey ground, like shark's teeth, although the landscape seemed familiar. Faint music played from somewhere far away, a chaotic and merry tune, but also had a key of sadness about it. She reached up against the confining walls of her prison to find them rubbery and thin, like the skin of a... BALLOON! Pinkie suddenly realised that she was standing in a balloon reminiscent of her cutie mark. She swivelled her head around quickly to find that her prison was not the only one. A giant red apple stood near a pink butterfly contraption, who was brushing against a giant crystal. Squinting, she saw in the distance a hollowed-out cloud shooting rainbow bursts at random times. A fizzling sound emitted near her, and she turned around to face the source of the noise, a giant star emitting sparkles, at the top of a giant throne.
"Do you like what I've done with the place?" a charming yet malicious voice spoke in her ear. With a jolt Pinkie remembered why the landscape had seemed so familiar. She was in fact floating above the rock farm she grew up on as a child.
"It could do with some cotton candy clouds." Pinkie said, trying to sound like her usual self despite trembling with fear. Discord had changed, there was no doubt of that. His voice was crueller sounding and not as playful as he had been before, and reminding Pinkie of the past she so desperately wanted to forget was not the sort of way she had imagined Discord would greet her with.
She still didn't turn to face him as Discord whispered into her ear again, obviously noticing her fear. "What's wrong Pinkie Pie? I thought you liked my chaos? Too bad your little friends aren't here to save you."
"They will come! I know it!" Pinkie whispered, this time not even trying to conceal her fear.
"Oh yes, they will," he replied, gesturing to the frozen bodies of Celestia and Luna. "And then I will have myself a few more statues."
The next day...
"Achoo!" Scootaloo sneezed into a tissue Miss Cheerilee had given her. She still wasn't talking to Applebloom or Sweetie Belle, not after yesterday's argument. For the past week the CMC's main cutie mark activities seemed to be fighting and betrayal. Applebloom sat next to her old friend Twist, Sweetie Belle chatted to Dinky Doo, and that left Scootaloo all alone. Not that she wasn't used to it.
"Maybe you need to go see Ms. Band Aid, the school nurse?" Cheerilee kindly said, interupting Scootaloo's train of thought.
"Oh, um, yes Miss Cheerilee!" Scootaloo replied, snatching her tissues of the desk and walking out of the class. Ms. Band Aid's room was only a short walk from the class room. She shivered, even though the day was warm. She was also very tired. Granted sleeping outside with no blanket was never very comfortable, but still she had grown used to it and was surprised that she was feeling this drowsy. She knocked slowly on the nurse's door, and a light yellow unicorn stuck her head out.
"Oh! Hi Scootaloo, are you feeling okay?" She asked, opening the door for Scoots to walk through. She then levitated a thermometer and stuck it in Scootaloo's mouth, and after checking it she fetched her a blanket and wrapped it around the cold filly's body. "Hmmm... 33 degrees Celsius..." She muttered to herself, squinting at the thermometer.
"What does that mean?" Scootaloo asked, blowing her nose.
"Well, for a start, you have a cold. Hold this." Miss Band Aid said, handing Scootaloo the thermometer.
"And?"
"You've got hypothermia."