A/N
I revisited this account recently and found all my abandoned fics and the ones I thought were gone forever. Soul Harvest was one of them.
This is a from the ground up reimagining of the original, but made better and recent because there's a way to get rid of a few plot holes now.
/x/x/x/
[i]"...g-giggle at the ghastly...heehee...s-snortle at the spooOOooky...haha...heheheeheeeehaha! HAHAH! AHAHAHAHA! HAAAAAAAAHAHAHA!"[/i]
Rainbow Dash jolted awake with a start to her pulse pounding, her body sweating, and a feeling not too dissimilar to having swallowed a button hook stabbing into her abdomen. She rapidly scanned her surroundings to assess what was happening and where she was, fight or flight instincts kicked into high gear. The fur on the back of her neck was raised as an electric chill raced down her spine, sending her wings unfurling.
It was bright, very bright, but not blindingly so. Perhaps that was due to the canopy above, thick and green. Tree leaves. Apples could be seen interspersed among them. Definitely smelled like them. Apple trees. To the left and right, lines and lines of them stretching on for miles. The orchard. Nopony else around. Quiet but for the light breeze.
"That one was new..." the pegasus muttered as sense returned.
A nightmare. Similar to the many that interrupted any sleep she'd hoped to have, recurring for the past month. Every night, every nap, every single moment she closed her eyes for more than a few seconds at a time. Horrible, bloody, gory; always waiting on the edge of her subconscious mind.
They typically followed a pattern. Rainbow would be walking through Ponyville on a typical sunny day, when her friend Pinkie Pie would show up and ask if she wanted to try a cupcake, or some other sugary confection. Every time, "Sure Pinkie, I'd love to try one!" Never remembering what it always lead to, as was the nature of these vivid dreams.
They would go inside of Sugarcube Corner and it was always deserted. Desserted, too, filled to the brim with a multitude of various tasty treats and warm baked goods. One would be offered, usually dark brown with white frosting and a sprig of yellow, sometimes green. Rainbow would eat it, and lose control of her basic motor functions, then Pinkie would drag her into the basement, a torture dungeon full of dead bodies, mutilated corpses. The things that followed changed slightly from day to day, night to night, but always the same end result: death.
Dismemberment. Evisceration. Cannibalism. Electrocution, branding, one time waterboarding, strangulation, horrible events that each and every single time seemed to one-up themselves. Being skinned alive, having her bones and her organs surgically removed and one time eaten, somehow watching Pinkie wear Rainbow's own face as a mask... and she could feel every single thing.
This one was different, though.
Everything had been the same, up until the point of Pinkie offering the cupcake. But this time she remembered. This time she knew. She KNEW it was poisoned, she KNEW it was laced with toxin. She knew with every fiber of her being that the was going to die. Self defense instincts quickly took over. Pinkie approached, gleefully grinning, innocent as could be. 'Stop!' Rainbow cried, 'Don't come any closer!' But no heed was paid.
Panic set in. A scalpel had materialized itself and she had grabbed at it. Pinkie didn't stop coming, she kept advancing, she was right there, she was going to die, she had to do it, she had to kill her, she had to protect herself, she had to stab her, she had to slice her flesh open, she had to rend her neck and shower the floor with her wet crimson, she had to do it she had to do it she had to do it SHE HAD TO DO IT or she would die again like always. But this time it was real, it felt like it was actually happening, more real than ever before.
Rainbow leaned forward, sitting upright on the tree branch. "But it wasn't real..." she murmured to herself before stretching her wings. Digging a hoof in her tear duct, she cleared out the sand and grit that has built up during her- looking at the position of the sun with her free eye- five or so minute nap. "It wasn't real, it never is."
Oh, but it felt real.
The cool metal of the blade on her hoof. The sick sound of slicing through fur, skin, sinew, tendon, muscle, artery. The spurts of blood, the spatter on the floor. Pinkie's gurgling, drowning, sobbing from pain and betrayal. Her hooves feebly attempting to keep Rainbow from stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, screaming. The sad look in her eyes as her best friend Dashie murdered her. The reflection in her dying orbs of Rainbow turning into the monster that she herself so feared.
Rainbow sighed, tapping her hoof on her temple. "Get the buck outta there..." she murmured, before losing her balance. She felt herself falling and was jerked fully awake, flapping her wings to at least right herself and not break anything when she slammed into the ground.
"Oof!" she exclaimed, ears ringing, dust settling. She slowly set all four hooves on the ground and pushed, bringing herself to her full height. Eyes unfocused, equilibrium thrown off, and now coated in dirt that melded with the sweat in her coat and turned to mud. The Pegasus shook her head rapidly from side to side. Exhaustion and fatigue clouded most of her thoughts, as they always did nowadays. The misasmatic fog of tiredness settled in, and no amount of head shaking could get rid of it.
Sleep, restful sleep, was a friend that had been gone for far too long… and it was showing plainly.
She wanted to scream, to slam her head into the ground, to punch the apple tree until she collapsed or it snapped in half, whichever came first. Her chest buzzed, her stomach turned, her lower abdomen... was luckily not reacting. It had been Tartarus on Equestria during her menstruation the previous week. Her groin twitched, upset at not being used for pleasure in an entire month, but the most pathetic part of all of this was that she couldn't pay enough attention to things and put the effort into her forelegs to even find sexual release, as it just burned too much to get anywhere. And it's not as if she could go have sex with any of her regulars in this state, or even that she wanted to with fresh memories of gore and death. What sick weirdo thought that stuff was sexy? And even worse than an unsatisfied libido, she had a backlog of books to read but she couldn't sit still long enough to even look at the back!
She fought the urge to continue shaking her head, as the high from the dizziness was the last thing she needed right now. Inhibitions as low as if she was drunk on AJ's special cider, she just about succumbed to laying back down and falling asleep on the ground, but didn't since it wouldn't do her any good. She'd just have another nightmare.
No, it was best to just go back into town and buy one or two or ten cups of coffee with triple the recommended amount of espresso shots for a day in each one. If she could fly there straight. She certainly couldn't walk there in this state, but luckily her wings would work perfectly fine even if she was deadass drunk. She knew because she'd tried using alcohol to make the dreams go away, but that had only made them worse, since she couldn't move after waking up. She'd had a sleep paralysis incident before giving up on that route.
Rainbow unfurled her wings and glanced at them, making sure that they were indeed still there. After enough dreams of Pinkie Pie slicing them off if she was lucky, straight up tearing them off replete with sickening crunches if she wasn't, it was just a little nervous tic she picked up. She was about to flap and take off when a thought occurred to her.
"I probably shouldn't go to the Corner..." she contemplated before biting her lip. Pinkie was there. Not that she didn't love Pinkie, because she did with all her heart as she did all of her friends, but the fact was that she wasn't entirely convinced that this wasn't just the beginning of another nightmare, since the one she'd just had started very similarly. If it was then Pinkie would just offer her a cupcake again and then it would start all over, and then she would either eat it and earn a one way ticket to the slaughterhouse, or she'd just snap and kill Pinkie again, and she really did not want to do that.
And even worse, Rainbow thought as she felt her stomach drop out of her body (figuratively of course, as the feeling of her stomach literally falling out of her body after having her abdomen cut open was a lot different, as her dreams could attest to), what if it really wasn't a dream but she still really did snap and hurt Pinkie? What if she lost control, thinking that it was just another nightmare, but it was the real Pinkie in real life who just offered a cupcake like the friendly mare she was, and Rainbow really hurt the poor girl for real?
"No," she mandated, stomping the ground. "I'm not gonna let that happen."
Then... what to do? She should probably get help for this, actually. Before, when it was just Rainbow getting chopped into bits, it was manageable. It only hurt herself, so it was totally not that big of a problem. She was strong enough to deal with it, even if she did hysterically sob for an hour each time when it first started, but now the fear passes quickly. And sure, she was a little bit brusque with others without meaning to, but that had already happened before on regular occasion, and after a complaint from Applejack, she had fully gone out of her way to accommodate more personalized weather requests as a form of actual apology, and it worked. Everybody was happy.
Everybody but Rainbow, of course, but that was worth it. She could sacrifice her own happiness if it meant her friends, family, peers, coworkers, and neighbors remained content.
She didn't slack off from work. She made time for Tank. She hung out with her friends whenever they missed her or gathered together. She was using vacation days and sick leave and paid time off for the Wonderbolts, much to the chagrin of Spitfire and the rest of the team, but honestly it was an off season anyway so they weren't really missing her for her abilities as much as for her company and presence. She didn't lose or sacrifice anything for anybody else except for the way she felt during her downtime, which now mostly consisted of stress stimming by rocking back and forth while alone, desperately trying not to fall asleep for what seemed like hours at a time.
"Maybe Twi has a book about dreamless sleep," she wondered aloud. "And maybe she'll let me drink some of her delish imported Saddle Arabian coffee, win win!"
With a set destination in mind, Rainbow took off and set her wings on autopilot as her mind wandered.
"I should still at least look in the window of the Corner to make sure Pinkie's okay," she said to nobody in particular. "I mean, if she's not there then I can buy some muffins for Twi or something. We haven't hung out just the two of us in a while."
Pinkie was okay, of course. She had to be! It didn't make sense for her not to be totally fine, merrily humming a jaunty little tune to herself while she mixed up a cake batter or something. What happened in that dream had just now happened. She remembered coming to the orchard to be alone in silent solitude for a few minutes, then the events in the nightmare happened, and then she woke up. There was no possible way that in the five minutes of sleep she flew all the way to town, actually did it, then flew all the way back and settled back in just to have the nightmare and wake up again. That was stupid.
But still... it wouldn't hurt to at least glance through the window.
She gave her body a once over. Dirt caked her chest and belly, twigs and leaves sat nestled in her mane, her hooves were in horrid shape, her wings were in dire need of a preening, and she could only imagine how bloodshot, gunky, and puffy her eyes looked. It might be best to wash herself via cloud on the way to be at least a little more presentable. Rarity would probably pass out if she saw her regardless but it was easy enough to just avoid her since she always stuck out in any crowd.
Resigning herself to clean up on the way to Sugarcube Corner and then subsequently to Twilight's castle, she jumped, flapped a few times, and was off.
/x/x/x/
Applejack noticed the rainbow contrail in the sky and sighed. "Y'all could've asked to nap in the barn, Dash... maybe then you'd get some real sleep."
She glanced over at said barn, watching as Mac went in, about to work the cider press. The wind picked up, blowing her mane in her face, so she slid her hat so as to prevent the obstruction in her vision. A funny feeling in her gut stubbornly refused to go away, since the strange conversation they'd had earlier. Something about Mac seemed... off, today.
Between his nonchalance about where Applebloom was, the oddly specific detailing of his plans for the day, the utter lack of warnings about not overexerting herself like she did every single year for applebuck season, and the way his eyes lingered slightly on her flank as she turned and walked away, something was definitely weird.
She glanced back at her rear legs. Well, she had been putting on a little bit of weight recently, but that was hardly her own fault. Pinkie had that deal going on they'd been doing, exchanging a bushel of apples for two dozen cupcakes under the table. With a sheepish grin she remembered that they had scheduled one more for later that afternoon. The last one, for sure.
Besides, half of them were going to be going to Rainbow. The pegasus had seemed really rough around the edges recently and seemed to be in dire need of a pick-me-up. She noticed recently after Rainbow had forgotten to bring rain to the orchard that she had thick bags under her eyes and freaked out when Applejack had set a concerned hoof on the pegasus' shoulder, and it wasn't lost on her that she was avoiding Sugarcube Corner like the plague for some reason. Her sister might even be at the bakery anyway so it was certainly worth a trip into town for.
Mac was also behaving a little... strange, but to be perfectly honest he was always a tad bit quirky. The day he'd brought Twilight's doll home would be forever emblazoned in the hall of fame for things that she got to tease him relentlessly over. And of course she had found out all about "Cousin Orchard Blossom" from the other ladies at the Social. She chuckled to herself. Mac was probably just being Mac, and she loved him for it, whether he was in a dress or not.
Her mind wandered back to Applebloom. She bit her lip out of concern, and her stomach turned. She couldn't put her hoof on why but every fiber of her being felt like her sister was in danger right now. It was the same feeling she'd gotten when that dirty rotten no-good changeling queen had kidnapped the filly once upon a time.
"Easy, girl," Applejack muttered to herself. "Yer just nervous. She's fine, she's just... probably just eatin' cupcakes with her friends." The nagging doubts didn't stop and she bit her lip. "...I hope."
By now she was back at her house again. After checking in to make sure Granny was still asleep, she stepped into the bathroom to brush out her mane of all the tangles of the day's chores. For the third time that day she checked Applebloom's room to see that it was indeed still empty, and she felt her heart sink. As much as she was regularly annoyed by the girl's frequent hyperactivity, she hadn't seen her sister for over a full day now and missed her terribly.
Resolving to find her by the end of the day, and only to administer a light scolding, she shouldered the wicker basket full of her bartering goods and set off for Sugarcube Corner.
/x/x/x/
Fluttershy was worried.
It was normal for Angel to not eat the first few food items that she offered him. It was often typical for the temperamental bunny rabbit to reject a dozen items that weren't exactly what he wanted. Some days she even offered every single item in the entire cottage with him still stubbornly refusing to eat any of them. What was abnormal was when he rejected every single item she had offered him from in town.
"Come on, you have to eat something!" She mandated sternly. In the past she had been a doormat, letting him walk all over her, as if they had reversed roles, he the master and she the pet. However in recent years she had gained more confidence in herself; abilities, demeanor, speech, and the way she carried herself. It also helped that she had to be both mom and dad for her brother (as well as her parents) until Zephyr had finally graduated. Angel's obstinacy was no longer a match for her own steely determination to put his needs over his wants.
Or at least, it hadn't been until today.
"Look at you," she reproached, gently now. "You can't even stand up," motioning at his slumped posture.
He just glared off into the distance. He had slept for nearly twelve hours so there was no reason for him to be so cranky. Everything had been totally fine the day before: they had a very nice picnic and then upon returning she had performed all of her chores. The pegasus had made him a lovely salad, then made herself a sandwich, and the two had a quiet dinner before he fell asleep as she read a book. It was quite a lovely day, if she said so herself.
Today, however, had been absolutely horrible. He'd adamantly refused to wake up at a normal time of day, instead plowing his way through to the afternoon before finally rolling out of bed. Literally, all he did was roll a little and ended up on the floor, still as unmoving as when he'd been dead asleep. She had delivered an ultimatum, that he was to choose something to eat by the time she finished her midday chores. Upon returning and noticing that he had not moved a muscle, she had initiated their current squabble.
"You haven't eaten since last night," she continued. "You're hungry and that's why you're so sluggish."
He gently rocked his head back and forth, signalling a 'no'. This was pretty much the most he'd moved all day. Curious that the only thing he'd responded to was an accurate assessment of their current situation.
"You're not sleepy, because you've slept all day. You're not tired, because you just woke up." Going down the list of possible things that could be wrong, striking out all of the impossibilities, until the result that required the least amount of assumptions. Twilight had explained the concept to her, that it was some kind of razor, and it had served her well with all of the animals. She didn't know what it had to do with razors but if it worked, then what it was called didn't really matter.
"You're not hormonal because we had you take that surgery. You're not sick, are you? So that leaves-" Thump.
The surprise of him moving again threw her off more so than the sound.
"Are... are you feeling sick, angel bunny?" Yes, he nodded.
"Oh! Oh my, I'm so sorry." She stepped towards him and nuzzled his fuzzy little ears. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
He slowly moved his shoulders up and then down again. Fluttershy bit her lip, now seeing the signs for what they are. He wasn't hungry, he was just feeling too under the weather to even indicate that something was wrong! The poor boy!
"Come on," she murmured, scooping his little body into her hooves and hugging him close to his chest. "Everything I need to do is finished, so let's go into town. Doctor Fauna's office is closed today, but Twilight surely has a book that can tell me what I can do for you." She hobbled with three legs over to her saddlebags before using her wings to slip them around her body, and then tucked him into the wool-lined pocket (courtesy of Rarity) before setting off.
He nestled into the fluffy fabric and let his eyes drift closed. Fluttershy felt awful for not having noticed, but in her defense this wasn't something she'd ever seen as a result from sickness. From being naughty and having a bad attitude, yes, but in those instances he still retained the ability to move, he just didn't have the will. Today it seemed he had the latter but was lacking in the former.
She didn't fly, as to do so she'd have needed to strap him in, but she didn't want to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was, so she walked. It was a brisk stroll rather than a slow trot, rolling the weight of her body on each individual leg. She wanted the ride to be as smooth and fluid as was possibly, as jostling him around could have made him feel worse. He'd already been groggy like this for hours, so what was a few extra minutes?
She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "You just rest your head, Angel," she cooed. "I'll wake you up when I know how I can help you, okay?"
No response.
"I love you."
He smiled, and that was good enough for her.
She continued on through the woods, on the dusty path into town. Birdsong greeted her as she walked, and she nodded at each feathered friend as she offered a polite though quiet 'hello'. Eventually the wild birches and maples faded into apple trees, and the Sweet Apple Acres fence cropped up. Almost directly overhead she noticed a familiar rainbow streak in the sky.
"Dashie?" she asked, curiosity giving way to concern. "If you wanted to take a nap in peace and quiet you could've just asked to borrow my bed..."
She bit her lip again and was temporarily distracted from her worry over Angel by her worry over Rainbow. Her oldest friend hadn't seemed herself recently. It used to be that whenever they talked, Rainbow would always be so expressive with her wings and hooves, constantly moving at least something as she spoke. Nowadays, however, her movements were all dull and muted, some nigh imperceptible.
She never looked like she had enough sleep, her reaction time was a lot slower, and she didn't even talk as much as the rest of the girls even though most of the time she tended to dominate the conversation. Fluttershy had no idea what was going on at Wonderbolts Headquarters, what Tank had eaten last week, her most recent sexual conquest (which she was thankful for), or which Daring Do book Rainbow was in the middle of, and that was extremely telling that things were significantly different.
She'd asked if Rainbow was having trouble sleeping. The response was on the surface noncommittal, but a brief flash of fear crossed her face before she said it was nothing big. It made Fluttershy's heart ache to see, but she didn't say anything. Rainbow would talk about it when she was good and ready, and not a minute before. She simply offered the opportunity to chat and would be there for her when the time came.
In the distance Fluttershy noticed another familiar face adorned by an equally familiar hat. A small smile came to her own face as she realized she wouldn't have to walk in solitude and silence the rest of the way into town.
Applejack noticed her as well, and waved before altering her own course to meet up with Fluttershy's.
"Hey there, sugarcube!" she greeted. "Out for a stroll?"
"Hello Applejack," Fluttershy replied, falling into stride next to the orange mare. "Unfortunately I wish I could say that this was a walk of pleasure, but Angel bunny is feeling sick and I don't know what's wrong with him. I'm going to see if Twilight has any medical texts that can help me find out. Are you making a sale?" she inquired, motioning at the bushel.
"Aww, poor guy," she offered, adjusting her stetson. "I'd make him a get well soon card but he probably can't read. As for me, this ain't exactly a sale. More of a barter. Y'all know my little black market with Pinkie Pie?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Apples for cupcakes. What flavor are you looking to get this time?"
"I dunno," Applejack said with a shrug. "I might just ask her to surprise me, or I'll get Dash's favorite. I'm gonna give her most of 'em." She indicated her flanks. "I've been eating way too many myself."
Fluttershy glanced back, seeing nothing but her strong, rippling leg muscles built up from years of hard farm work and applebucking. Next to those trunks, her own legs looked like sacks of pudding in comparison. Not that she herself was out of shape, mind you; her figure was certainly trim. She was a former supermodel after all, and she walked a lot more than most pegasi did and so by extension had a much nicer set of legs. However, they merely appeared in a way that social standards for equine beauty suggested was 'superior'. She envied the farmer her raw power, putting more value in practicality than aesthetics. It was a value that the two shared, although unlike Applejack, Fluttershy did enjoy looking and feeling pretty on occasion.
"I'll take your word for that," she responded, mind getting back on track. "And that seems like a good idea; Dashie will appreciate that, especially since she isn't feeling very well."
"I'm not the only one who noticed?" she inquired, somewhat incredulous. "I feel bad for the girl. I've never seen her look so down, or tired for that matter. Y'all know what's up with her?"
Fluttershy sighed and sadly nodded. "I wish I knew," she said, pensively. "I know something is wrong, but you know Rainbow. She won't let anypony know anything is even wrong until it gets really bad, but we'll all be there for her when she crashes. We always are."
"Mmhmm."
The two walked in silence for a moment.
"Did you happen to notice her flying out of the orchard earlier?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yup," Applejack replied. "Dunno why she's been sleeping there recently. If she needs peace and quiet then there's more comfortable places to lie down than a tree branch. I just hope she clues us in before things get really bad."
"I'm sure she will," Fluttershy remarked with a hopeful tone coloring her voice. "She's one of the strongest mares I know along with you and Rarity, and of course the Princesses. And," she gulped. "And Tempest..."
"Aw, shucks," Applejack shyly said, rose tinting her cheeks. "I appreciate that. And yeah, she sure is powerful. Good thing she's on our side now, huh?"
Fluttershy nodded. "I know she's really nice at heart, but I'm still nervous around her, especially knowing what she can do. Even Starlight still intimidates me a little bit sometimes."
"Hun, I'm pretty sure if y'all can tame Discord, ain't nopony gonna be able to mess with you."
Fluttershy giggled at this. "You have a point there, but Discord is like... a big fluffy teddy bear."
Applejack barked in laughter. "I'd love to see him as a fwuffy widdwe teddy," she said.
"Wouldn't that be something?"
The pair continued to walk as the town's outskirts showed through the tree line.
"Hey, I gotta question," Applejack said. "Have y'all seen my sister around?"
Fluttershy nodded. "I'm sorry, but I can't say that I have," she answered. "Is everything okay?"
Applejack pursed her lips. "I haven't seen her all day. Even if she stays the night at one of her friends' houses she always comes home by at least lunch. But she didn't show today."
"I will definitely look out for them today," Fluttershy promised, nudging Applejack's foreleg with her own. "They're probably busy with a client or something. Applebloom's a growing girl. I remember you missing curfew quite a few times when we were little."
Applejack let out a chuckle before smiling warmly at her friend. "I guess you're right, Shy. I'm just worried is all. Last time this happened..."
Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around her friend's shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. "Last time this happened the girls were still fillies. They're practically full grown mares at this point." She pulled back and sat on her haunches. "They'll be okay."
Applejack nodded. "I know," she said. "And who knows, she might even be at Rarity's."
"Maybe," Fluttershy affirmed with a smile. "And if you don't mind, will you let me know what Rainbow thinks of the cupcakes?"
"Absolutely."
The two hugged again.
"I'll see ya later, Shy!"
"You too!" she bid farewell as the two walked their separate ways, Applejack to Sugarcube Corner and Fluttershy to Twilight's castle.
Little did they know they were being watched...
/x/x/x/
Twilight Sparkle signed the final full stop on her manuscript before scanning through the scroll. Satisfied with the end result, she cracked her neck to either side before rolling her shoulders, ruffling her wings, and stepping out of the chair she sat upon.
She sprinkled sand over the wet ink before bringing her quill over to a basin of water, rinsing the nib and replacing it at her writing desk. After capping the ink, she elected to leave the paper to dry as she went to find something to eat, since she'd skipped breakfast and it was now the afternoon.
The alicorn's hoofsteps echoed off the walls, as she had yet to receive the extended rugs she'd ordered from the Canterlot Collection. The chill of the crystalline floors would always seep into her hooves during the winter months, which was really a bother when she got a hankering for a midnight snack, which was quite often with how frequently she missed meals. Sure, she could use her wings, but she wasn't yet good enough to fly while half asleep, and teleportation in that state could end her up as far as Yakyakistan for all she knew!
She strode past her pupil Starlight's bedroom, giving a gentle smile at the sight of Fizzle's old armor resting against the door. When those two had first met (well, officially speaking...) they had immediately hit it off, what with their similar pasts in trying to kill Twilight and enslave her friends. It was a bit awkward at first, but no more than when Starlight and Discord had first met.
Twilight didn't mind at all that two of her students, two of her friends, had found happiness with each other, regardless of how temporary it may or may not be. She slowed for a moment in thought. She would eventually either have to comfort the two through an inevitable breakup, or help make plans for a wedding. She shook her head and continued at her earlier pace. That wasn't something to think about for right now. Besides, the last two weddings she went to involved a changeling invasion and a bugbear attack, and Celestia only knew what would happen at the next one.
Not that she had time to think about it anyway, as she could hear the massive double door entrance to the castle swing open. Within half a second she calculated the trajectory and power needed to teleport herself to the foyer, and within another she found herself there and face to face with-
"AAAHHH!"
Both mares screamed, not expecting to be in such close proximity to the other within such a short amount of time, and fluttered backwards. Twilight clutched at her heart with one hoof before flapping her way slowly back down to the ground and catching her breath.
"Rainbow," she panted. "I'm so sorry, I didn't expect you to be right there."
The pegasus was crouched; head low, wings aflare, tail raised, foreleg muscles pushing hard enough into the ground that if the floor was anything but solid crystal it would have been damaged. Her eyes were wild, feral, and full of indignant fury. For some reason, and for only a mere moment, a small part of Twilight feared for her own safety before Rainbow blinked a few times and relaxed herself.
"Hey... Twi..." she shook her head and placed a hoof on her temple. "Sorry, I... I just..." she took a deep breath. "Can, can I talk, talk to you about something?"
Twilight ceased hovering and brought herself to the ground, close to her friend. Her eyes searched the cyan mare's before briefly wandering to the rest of her body. She was slightly wet, her posture droopy, and her wings were horribly out of shape. This was normal, actually, but something else seemed very off.
"Of course you can," she answered. "You've actually caught me at a really good time. I just finished a report on a little pet project of mine concerning short wave radiation. Do you want some tea- er, probably some coffee?"[i]'Or a nap?'[/i]
The pegasus' eyes briefly lit up at the mention of the bitter bean nectar. "Sure," she said with a nod. "That'd be nice. I don't know about radi-whatever but it seems like you enjoyed it."
Twilight nodded. "Let's go into the kitchen then," she said, turning. "We'll have a bit of time alone, Spike's with Rarity and Starlight is... occupied."
"So Tempest is here?"
Sigh. "Yes, Rainbow. They're in Starlight's room, and they'll probably be there for a while yet. Do you just want your usual?"
"I'll bet some 'exploratory magic' is going on up there," she sniggered. "But yeah, that'd be great."
Twilight side-eyed Rainbow in a faux no-nonsense manner reserved for dirty humor, glad that she was at least in a joking mood. "First of all that's not really how that works. Second of all that's kind of racist." She turned back forward and pushed open the doors to the map room, barely concealing the small smile that had threatened to crawl across her face. "And third of all can you please not make sex jokes about my roommates?"
Rainbow delivered a half hearted apology, mentally hoofbumping herself.
"Alright," Twilight muttered. "Just gimme a sec..." her horn glowed as from a room away she made up the cups of tea and coffee while tossing herself a salad for the purposes of eating after Rainbow had talked about whatever it was she'd wanted to talk about. Hopefully it was whatever her recent funk had been over.
For some reason Rainbow had seemed... off... for about a month now. She was always just slightly more on edge than normal: quicker to anger, to laughter, to tears. Imperceptibly so, though still noticeable by her closest friends. Fluttershy was especially worried, and had confided in Twilight her concerns. There was a chance she was merely seeing things, but Applejack had also mentioned that the polychromatic mare was a bit of a wreck nowadays. And Pinkie hadn't even had a conversation with her in as much time!
Though she'd never admit it, Twilight had abused her princesshood a tad and gleaned some information on Bow and Windy, just in case Rainbow was struggling with family troubles or something. Nothing was particularly wrong with them, they were their usual selves. Then again, that drove Rainbow crazy, but the constant tiredness was a more recent change to the status quo. After a brief interview with Spitfire, there hadn't been any marked issues at the Bolts HQ that had changed as of a month ago.
She'd even asked Princess Luna to take a gander at her dreams last week out of sheer desperation. Yet surprisingly enough, the dreamwalker had no significant information. Rainbow just hadn't been dreaming for some odd reason. Any time she tried to enter Rainbow's sleeping mind there was just a sea of black. There was a thin veil of worry and concern crossing her face as she'd said this, but Twilight had attributed it to the oddity of the situation. Perhaps this was what Rainbow had wanted to discuss? Dreamless sleep?
The kettles began whistling, lurching Twilight back to the present. After warping her magic fields to accelerate particle movement, she superheated the liquids so they would cook almost immediately. This was actually what she had been doing research on: Twilight was looking for a way to harness the power of her spell and store it in some kind of energy source, maybe a crystal, then to mass produce it so that every home in Equestria had the ability to cook in short amounts of time. It was a little idea she'd picked up in the human world thanks to Sunset, from an appliance that was as everyday as the stove or refrigerator.
Within another ten seconds the alicorn had emptied the canisters into two glasses: one a thin metal cup and small saucer, and the other a thick ceramic mug. Adding a splash of milk to her own tea and a waterfall to the coffee, and then dropping in one and three packets of sugar, respectively, Twilight presented the drink to a perplexed and not at all ready Rainbow Dash.
"That was fast," she murmured, taking a sip. "Thanks Twi."
Twilight nodded. "It's a new spell I've been working on. I won't go into too much detail but it's definitely been a lot of fun." She took a sip of her tea as the two took their respective seats at the map. "So how's life been for you?" she asked. "We haven't really had a chance to chat just the two of us in a while."
Rainbow shrugged. "Could be better, could be worse." She took a swig before wiping her mouth with the back of her hoof. "I've just been having a bit of trouble sleeping. Kinda what I wanted to talk about."
Twilight nodded and gave an encouraging smile, glad she was finally opening up about it.
"I've been having nightmares," she continued, oblivious to Twilight's incredulous expression passing across her face. "Really bad ones. It's a problem and I wanna fix it, so I'm curious about sleeping without dreaming. I'd ask Princess Luna for help but..." she grimaced before taking a sip. "I guess she just thinks I can handle it myself since she never shows up..."
Twilight opened her mouth but closed it before she said anything. That's... really strange, actually. This was definitely something to write to Luna about! The dreamwalker should be able to see every dream, every nightmare, and the fact that her presence wasn't even felt was... not really something you see everyday. Or any day. That was completely unheard of! The Princess of the Night's magical presence was so intense that there was no possible way NOT to know that she was in your mind!
...unless she was being intentionally blocked out...
"I have a few books on dreamless sleep," Twilight said after the pause. "I'd be more than happy to loan them to you, but... well, Zecora has them right now. Or, more specifically, a friend of hers has them."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this. "Really?" she asked, incredulously. "I mean, it's great that you've got stuff to help, but what would Z need them for?"
"I'm not sure," Twilight shrugged, "She borrowed them a few days ago, but then came to me the next day and asked if she could loan them out to a friend. That's where they'd be now, so if you go ask her then you'll have everything you need."
Rainbow nodded before draining the rest of her mug. "Alright, cool." She slipped off her chair as the castle's front door opened, making her way into the kitchen.
From the other room she heard rapid hoofsteps growing louder.
"Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed, sprinting into the room, panic drenching every syllable she spoke.
In her wings was a convulsing rabbit.
"Angel's having a seizure!"
/x/x/x/
The ring-a-ling of the bakery's front doorbell alerted one fluffy-maned mare to the presence of a possible customer. Maybe a friend! Maybe one in particular...
"Ooohhh!" she exclaimed excitedly, accidentally dropping the spatula she was holding into the bowl- or should one say bucket- of bright green cupcake filling. Taking a quick peek into the shiny chrome, she quickly rubbed at her mane and released all the flour entrapped within the curls. Placing either hoof to the sides of the cloud, she moved it off to the side for later.
"Keep an eye on this," she said, turning to face the toothless alligator she was speaking to. "Please make sure it doesn't go anywhere, okay Gummy?"
A slow one-eyed blink was her answer. Satisfied, she nodded back and headed out of the kitchen.
"Dashie!?" she asked, opening the door into the bakery proper.
"Sorry darlin'," the new arrival chuckled. "Wrong pony."
"AJ!" Pinkie cried, embracing her other friend. While Applejack may not have been the pony she was expecting, it was certainly always a treat to spend time with her questionably distant cousin. Still, the two had seen each other several times over the past few weeks, so Pinkie wasn't wanting for her company, but she hadn't seen Rainbow Dash at all for a month until this afternoon.
It was really weird. Earlier she'd been working the counter like usual, and in the window she'd seen Rainbow Dash put her hooves up against the glass. She waved, but Rainbow immediately stepped away and flew off. Pinkie wanted to exercise the benefit of the doubt and think that there was a perfectly valid coincidental reason why she looked so afraid at that exact moment, but it still hurt a little.
The pink mare had racked her brains for hours trying to think of what she did a month ago that could have driven Rainbow to avoid her like she was... well, a pie. They didn't talk anymore, Rainbow tended to take to the sky if she wasn't on the opposite side of the room, she didn't even hug her hello or goodbye and she used to always do so! It was really upsetting, and though she didn't let it be known on the surface, she really missed her best friend.
"I... got your apples," her guest said, snapping Pinkie out of the reverie.
She pulled back with a sheepish grin before taking the bushel off of Applejack's hooves. Well, off of her back. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the farmer bite her lip. She could tell what was up.
"What are y'all plannin' on doin' with 'em?"
Pinkie smiled at the distraction.
"I'm glad you asked! I'm super duper excited right now because I just made a whole bunch of new flavors and one of them was an idea I haven't tried yet for apple brown betty flavored cupcakes, and I'm not talking about your aunt! Hahaha, sorry for stealing that joke but it's gold! But anyway I think if I take the apples and mix them with some brown sugar and cinnamon it'll be super scrummy-ummy-umptuous, and when I was thinking about that I figured wouldn't it be nice to mix that flavor with a bunch of other flavors too? So then I was thinking about what all flavors I can mix together for it to taste like a flavor symphony! So I'm really glad you're here right now because I need somepony to do some taste testing and I was gonna ask Dashie earlier when she came here but she didn't give me a chance to ask her which is really upsetting since I haven't talked to her in forever but I don't wanna talk about that right now because I'd rather talk about the super amazing cupcakes I baked and this one is probably my favoritest idea of the whole bunch even without any frosting at all, so here, will you try one for me pretty please?"
In Pinkie's hooves was a purplish-brown lump that was shaped like a cupcake. The brief sadness on her face had dissipated as soon as it had been brought on, and she was now genuinely flashing her trademark grin.
[i]'Dash... why are y'all ignorin' Pinkie?'[/i] Applejack thought to herself, supplying a fake but convincing smile in return. [i]'You know how much she loves you... you've always been her favorite friend.'[/i]
"So what flavors did y'all mix?" the farmer asked, stowing the thoughts away to worry about later. She reached out and took the cupcake from Pinkie's hooves, and raised an eyebrow due to how dense it felt. "This got a rock in it or somethin'?"
"No, silly," she snorted. "You don't eat rocks!"
Applejack laughed along with her for a moment before taking a bite. Immediately her mouth was filled with a hearty sweet-and-salty taste, creamy and very familiar, reminding her of her childhood and the cookies that Granny used to make way back before they found out Applebloom was deathly allergic to them. Yet accompanying it was a gently bitter fruity sweetness that perfectly complemented both the taste and texture of the rest of the cake.
"I shink I've got it," she let out through the bits that we're sticking to the roof of her mouth. "Peanut buttuh and rashberry jerry?"
Pinkie rapidly shook her head up and down, not moving any other part of her body except for her hair, flinging vertically with reckless abandon. "...aaaaand?"
Applejack's eyebrows went back up as she continued to chew. Something else?
Wait... she was getting something.
"It'sh somefink elsh but I can't quite put mah hoof on it..." It was fresh, herbal, with a very slight savory yet tart bite to it. For some reason her mind was brought back to the restaurant the girls had eaten at during a brief weekend getaway to Los Pegasus. And then it hit her.
"Pinkie..." she asked as she finally swallowed, now fully aware of the conflicting aftertastes warring for dominance on the battlefield of her tongue. She glanced down at the cupcake whose secret hidden color was now fully revealed, a bright green that was more out of place than a purl stitch on a knit scarf.
"Is that... guacamole?"
"WHOOHOO!" the proud confectioner exclaimed, wheeling her party cannon from a corner that was empty just a few moments ago and blasting it hard enough to send Applejack's hat flying, bathing the entire room in confetti, streamers, and glitter. It looked as if a blizzard had tore through the room leaving party supplies rather than snow. Not that she was going to eat the rest of it anyways, but the cupcake was sufficiently ruined... more so than it already had been.
"Don't you think it'll be even better with the apple brown betty flavored frosting?" She excitedly began to ramble. "I've got so many more ideas that are just like this. I've always kinda wanted to start doing peanut butter and jelly cupcakes and I know that everypony loves avocado and I thought that the cilantro and lime would emphasize the peanut and it definitely took me a while to pick the right fruit flavor to go with it because grape is too dark but strawberry doesn't have enough punch to counter balance the avocado and apple butter would probably have worked if I wasn't gonna put the apple icing on top and it's not like I can switch the two because there isn't any such thing as a raspberry brown betty, wouldn't it be silly if we had those? Oh hey, are you gonna finish that?"
The look of disbelief that had been frozen on Applejack's face the entire time Pinkie was talking had not moved at all until the request came. Green eyes met blue as she silently handed over the half eaten glitter covered crime against nature. Pinkie simply popped the cupcake in her mouth and she swallowed it whole.
"Ya know..." Applejack began, tentatively, taking her first small step into the minefield that was giving constructive criticism to something that Pinkie Pie had baked. "Personally I don't think the cupcake even needs any frosting. It's already, um..." Wow was it suddenly hot in here? "Delicious enough as is."
Pinkie slowly removed her hoof from the bucket that had materialized some time in the past few minutes, before gently setting the spatula back in.
"Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Applejack?"
The orange made removed her hat and set it on the counter between the two of them before inwardly taking a deep breath.
"Okay, so... let's start from the beginning. This is a peanut butter and jelly cupcake. A good idea, and one that's sure to make the Cakes more bits than they know what to do with. It's simple, and it reminds y'all of home. I reckon everypony n' their brother has eaten one at least once before in their life. It's got everything ya need: protein, fruit, grain, and y'all can wash it down with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Eat a salad on the side and that's the most balanced meal I can think of."
Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, that's why I added the avocado!"
"Ain't that a fruit though?"
She shrugged in response. "Same difference."
"Okay-" Applejack sighed. "Well, y'all don't put the salad inside the sandwich, do ya? You eat it separately."
"So... you're saying I should use the guac as the icing?"
"No!" she cried. "I'm saying y'all don't need no guac at all!" She took a breath and continued more quietly. "What's wrong with just a plain ol' regular P B and J cupcake?"
Pinkie shrugged again. "I mean I guess there's nothing really wrong with it," she stated matter of factly. "But I wanted to go crazy with the mixing and swim upstream. That's why I made a salmon vanilla lemongrass flavored one too!"
"I... don't wanna know that. But irregardless! Y'all can't just go smashin' random flavors together all willy nilly like that. Ain't nopony gonna be as adventurous as you. I learned hard a few years back at our first gala that y'all gotta know your customers if you wanna sell your merchandise. It wouldn't really be good if all yer creations just went bad at the end of the day because nopony wanted to buy them, right?"
This caused Pinkie to place her hoof on her chin in contemplation. "I guess so..."
"And it ain't like y'all gotta throw away the guac or nothin'. Y'all can make corn muffins or somethin' and use that in 'em, since y'all normally eat that with chips made outta corn anyway, right?"
"But I don't wanna make muffins!" she exclaimed, panicked. "Those are just inferior cupcakes!"
They were interrupted by a thump at the window. As they turned and looked, a gray yellow-maned pegasus was glaring at them with one eye while the other stared off in a different direction, and she was holding up a sign that said 'HERETIC'. Pinkie exchanged a concerned glance with Applejack before their visitor turned and walked away.
"So, um..."
"Yup."
An awkward silence filled the air before Pinkie turned and looked at all of her cupcakes and her frosting. "I can still try," she said, determination coloring her voice. "I can put my advertising skills to the test. I'll make ponies like this idea!"
Applejack put her hoof over her face before she figured out how she would make Pinkie finally see the light.
"Ya know..." she slowly sauntered over to the trays of cake. "Havin' all these flavors together is kinda like a big party, right?"
Pinkie gasped. "That's right!" From behind the counter she pulled out a giant whiteboard and began rapidly scribbling... something or other with some markers that were absolutely not behind her ears just a moment ago. "That's such a great idea Applejack! I knew I'd convince you sooner or later."
She grinned and continued. "But y'all gotta be careful that it don't get to be too big of a party. Noise ord'nance violations and whatnot. Y'all gotta make sure there's plenty of food so nopony goes hungry. I know I ain't in no partyin' mood when I'm famished."
"Yup, we can't run out of food! That just spells disaster."
Applejack nodded, though Pinkie couldn't see it. "Yeah, y'all really gotta match the invitations to the venue. If too many ponies show up, then that's not a fun party since most of 'em will just have to wait outside, or worse, everypony inside will just be crammed tighter than a pack o' sardines."
Pinkie stuck her tongue out at this. "Gross."
"Have y'all ever been to a party that big, Pinkie? Surely you have."
"Well... there was this one time a few years ago where me and Dashie were in Manehattan and there was a super fancy nightclub that had Vinyl as a guest DJ and so we wanted to pop in for a little bit and maybe say hi but there were way too many ponies in there at once and it was super crowded and you couldn't even make it to the bathroom so some legal ponies came in and said that a lot of us had to get out but the club owner came up and he said he would pay Vinyl to have a second party the next night and everypony who had to leave would get a rain check for tomorrow and so Dashie and I decided to do that and sure enough the second one was a lot more fun because we actually had room to move around and it was a really great time. Why do you ask?"
Perfect...
"Well now, it seems to me like splittin' up a really big and crowded party into two smaller parties was a whole lot better than just crammin' two parties worth o' ponies into one. Otherwise it would've overwhelmed everypony and y'all wouldn't have had as nice a time as you did."
Pinkie's scribbling abruptly stopped before a wave of realization crashed onto the beachfront of her mind.
"Having two different parties is just like having two different cupcakes!"
Applejack inwardly heaved a huge sigh of relief.
"So I'll have it be the peanut butter and jelly cupcake and I'll throw in the avocado apple cinnamon one for free as a trial run!"
Well... that was better than nothing.
"I sincerely wish y'all the best of luck in that. Mind if I pick out my dozen for payment?"
Pinkie nodded and set out a box. The two then began to select an assortment of cupcakes that Rainbow would be sure to enjoy. Pinkie either didn't notice, or chose to pretend not to, as she didn't say anything. Applejack hated coconut though, so it was very likely the latter choice. She didn't have to ask to know that things were not going well for the pegasus.
"So are you sure you're not gonna be doing any more of these deals?" She asked with only the slightest hint of a lip quiver.
"Yup," Applejack said simply with a nod. "I gotta get back into shape for applebuckin' season proper, so this'll be the last box I get. But... maybe we can start doin' this again next year."
"Yay!" Pinkie cheered before pulling her friend into an embrace. "And... will you tell Dashie that I miss her?"
"Of course, sugarcube." They pulled away. "And I'm real sure she misses you too."
The two gave bittersweet smiles to each other before Applejack reached over and returned her hat to its rightful place.
"I oughta get back home soon. Applebloom hasn't shown for over a day now and I'm gettin' real worried. She ain't dropped by here recently, has she?"
"Not today," Pinkie replied, "But yesterday I saw her and the other girls outside, and your brother told them he had something to show them in the barn."
"Hayfeathers," the farmer spit. "He's pressin' cider there right now so if they're still there he'll find 'em. I mean, worst comes to worst she could be havin' a sleepover at Rarity's and just forgot to tell me. I'll check there next. Have fun with yer..." she wasn't able to finish her sentence as Pinkie had dumped the guacamole into the blender with several apples.
"...that's the worst thing I think I'll ever see in my entire life."
/x/x/x/
Angel was now sleeping soundly in Fluttershy's forelegs as the trio of mares sat around the Cutie Map, sipping tea, coffee, and 'just water, thank you'.
"That was pretty awesome," Rainbow declared after draining her mug. She glanced at Fluttershy's raised eyebrow before clearing her throat. "The, uh. Twilight's magic. Not Angel being hurt."
"It wasn't really magic, Rainbow," Twilight interjected. "All I did was put together the medication he needed. More science, really. That'd be like me saying that you move clouds with your wings rather than you attunement with nature magic."
"Oh but it was at least a little bit awesome," Fluttershy murmured in her friend's defense. "And we owe you Angel's life."
"Aw," demurely, "It was just a little bit of basic teleportation, light reading, and the fusing of rings of benzene and diazepine before applying them intranasally and producing a little cocktail of phenobarbitol sodium before giving it to him intravenously."
Rainbow and Fluttershy shared a glance of mutually not knowing what the heck Twilight was talking about.
"Well whatever sciencey stuff it was," Rainbow said as she broke the silence, "It at least looked super cool."
"Well I appreciate that, Rainbow." Twilight took a final sip of her own tea before slipping off of her chair. "But there is one little thing that very well could become a problem. Fluttershy, since we don't know what caused the seizure, there's a chance that it may happen again. You're lucky that you were already here before he began the attack, because if you were any later he very well could have died. There's a type of medicine that can be used in case of emergency like this, but I can't synthesize it without soybean oil. You'll be able to get some from Zecora."
"Huh." Rainbow muttered into her empty mug. "That's an interesting coincidence..."
"So," Fluttershy began to ask, voice quivering slightly. "I just have to... g-g-go through the E-everfree F-f-f-forest... okay. No problem. I can do that."
"Not to worry, Fluttershy," Twilight said, laying a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Rainbow has to go see her as well."
"OH THANK CELESTIA!" she cried, frightening Twilight away upside down across the table. "Um. sorry."
"It's okay," she called from the other side of the room, ignoring Rainbow's feeble attempts to keep her laughter concealed. "I know how much you hate that place." She clambered fully up onto her hooves and fluttered back over the table to settle down between the two pegasi. "I know I'm super wary of the cockatrices after my run-in with one. Thanks again, by the way."
"And I know I'll be safe if we run into a manticore with an owchie," Rainbow teased. "But anyway, we gotta pick another day to hang out, Twi, since this is kinda an emergency."
"Of course," Twilight said with a nod. "Angel's welfare comes before a little chat, and I'm sure you'll want to get that book sooner rather than later."
"What book?" Fluttershy asked as she turned to leave.
"I'll tell you on the way," Rainbow replied. "But yeah, let's hurry up and get these beans. The less time we spend in the woods the better."
"I'll see you two later," Twilight bid farewell as the pegasi began to glide away, waving goodbye as they did so. The last thing they saw before the map room doors closed behind them was Twilight levitating a bowl of salad to the table.
"Rainbow..." Fluttershy began to ask. At her friend's sidelong glance she thought better of the intended question and went in a different direction at a strand of guilt pulling at the back of her mind. "Are you giving up your plans with Twilight so you can escort me? Because if you had something you wanted to do and I'm getting in the way of it-"
"Nah," she interjected with a dismissive hoof wave. "I mainly came here to get a book on dreamless sleep and maybe some free coffee. Hanging out with her was just an added bonus." Rainbow leaned towards her oldest friend. "And being perfectly honest, I kinda didnt wanna go into Everfree alone anyways... I'm really glad you came because- oh! Hey Starlight! What's up?"
Fluttershy glanced over at the startled unicorn who had just entered the foyer, having had let off a brief spark of magic. She flapped her wing hello and was returned a hesitant hoof wave.
"Hi girls," she said, brightly, eyes scanning. "Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. What brings you two ladies here today?"
Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy and back to Starlight again. She opened her mouth but was cut off by her usually-timid friend.
"Angel is sick and we need some plants from Zecora so she can make some medicine for him. Dashie here was coincidentally just visiting Twilight and she said she'd come with me through Everfree because it's scary."
The gears in Rainbow's head started turning before she cracked a smile.
"Yeah, just your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash escorting ponies through the forest, no big deal. So how've you been? Sleep well? How's Fizzy?"
Starlight glanced between Rainbow's suggestive wink and the blush on Fluttershy's face and back. Her eyes flashed briefly to the right as she bit her lip before hesitantly responding. "Y... yeah, I've been well. Been sleeping fine. And... okay. So you're heading to Everfree?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Didn't mean to make you uncomfy, it was just a joke. But yeah, we're heading out. Twi's at the map, having a salad and watching the bunny."
"Oh!" she cried suddenly as her eye twitched. "Okay. Well, have fun in the woods! And I'll tell Fizzy you said hello."
"Cool." Rainbow nodded before she and Fluttershy bid farewell and headed out the front doors, leaving Starlight alone and waving. Once they left she turned and walked towards a side room, flashing away the illusion covering her necklace.
It began vibrating.
"With them gone I should have two hours... He should be done by then... heh heh heh..."
/x/x/x/