"Ta da!" Applejack exclaimed enthusiastically.
"This is your idea?" Rarity said annoyed.
"Of course. Eatin' a big meal always makes me feel sleepy afterwards."
Applejack had an entire ensemble of goods on the picnic table, all of them of course apple themed. Apple pies, apple fritters, applesauce, apple cobbler, apple noodles, apple pancakes, apple muffins, apple juice, apple tarts, and of course, a good old fashioned bowl of, what else, Applejacks.
"Apples are your solution for everything," Rarity moaned.
Applejack looked at her a moment before saying, "Well, yeah."
Rarity groaned loudly as Fluttershy timidly approached the table. "That's an awful lot of food. I don't think I can eat all this."
"You don't have to eat all of it," Applejack said, eating a fritter. "Just eat as much as you can and you'll be snorin' in no time."
"Do I snore?" Fluttershy said alarmed.
"A little. Never mind. Just eat."
Looking solemnly at the table of food, Fluttershy took a bite out of some of the cobbler. There was still so much food to go.
Some thirty minutes of eating later…
"Oooooh," Fluttershy groaned.
"Come on, just one more bite of apple pie," Applejack encouraged.
Fluttershy had already been forced to eat half of the contents of the table and appeared comically fat, much to Rarity's continuing displeasure. The white unicorn had had just about enough of all this ridiculous eating.
Fluttershy ate the last piece of pie and fell over on her back. "I can't eat another thing."
"Now just finish it off with some nice warm milk." Fluttershy looked at the glass of milk with a bit of worry but downed it anyway. "That should do it," Applejack said, looking pleased. "You feel sleepy yet?"
The group of ponies looked on expectantly until Fluttershy finally responded, "No. I actually…" She covered her mouth for a moment and looked sick. Then she opened her mouth and quite plainly, and quietly said, "Burp." Her pale cheeks turned rosy, as she apologized to the others.
"If that was a belch then I'm a Thanksgivin' turkey," Applejack said in amusement.
"Turkey?" Fluttershy covered her mouth again but this time she ran off to the side of the barn where the other ponies heard very quiet vomiting sounds.
"Maybe I shouldn't have made her eat that third pie?" Applejack stated methodically.
"You don't actually eat turkeys on Thanksgiving do you?" Twilight asked with concern.
"What? Course not. Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Speaking of ideas, so much for this one," Rarity said haughtily. "Now I on the other hoof have a much better plan."
"Oh really? And just what might that be?" Applejack said annoyed.
"Come Fluttershy dear. Let's go to my boutique," Rarity called out. Fluttershy answered with more quiet vomiting noises.
"You're right Rarity, this is a good idea," Twilight approved. Rarity had tucked Fluttershy into her bed, drawn the shades, and plugged a nightlight into the wall.
"But of course," Rarity said proudly.
"But I still don't really feel like sleeping. And I'm still afraid of having more nightmares," Fluttershy pouted. She no longer appeared comically fat, possibly due to the quiet vomiting she had done earlier.
"That's because we haven't added the pièce de résistance. Sweetie Belle, are you ready?"
Sweetie Belle stood by her big sister's side, but she didn't look very certain. "Why does everypony always want me to sing? It's not like it's anything special."
"Of course it is, Sweetie. That's why I want you to sing a lullaby. Will you?"
Sweetie Belle looked hesitantly up at her sister and then looked at Fluttershy. "Well, since it is for Fluttershy's sake, I don't mind singing to her." Fluttershy looked nervous. Of course, she remembered the last time Sweetie Belle sang a lullaby. The young filly took a deep breath but before she could let it out, Rarity covered her mouth.
"Now Sweetie Belle, we want Fluttershy to sleep. So sing a quiet lullaby, as if you were singing to a baby," Rarity fluttered her eyes as she spoke.
Sweetie Belle took a smaller breath before beginning. Anyone who heard her could agree that she had the voice of an angel.
"Hush little Fluttershy,
Don't you cry.
I'm going to sing you a lullaby.
All nightmares will go away,
You'll dream about a happier day.
When you wake, you'll be with friends,
Safe and sound, when your dream ends.
Smile and cheer, just forget your follies
Then you'll find there's no more ghosties.
"
"That was wonderful, Sweetie Belle. Truly beautiful," Rarity praised her sister with pride. Sweetie Belle blushed, looking mildly proud of herself.
"So did Fluttershy fall asleep?" Twilight wondered aloud.
Fluttershy's eyes were wide open, even bigger than usual. She had raised the white sheets over her muzzle and stared straight ahead at nothing.
"G-g-g-g-g-g-ghosties?"
"Well, maybe ghosties wasn't the right word to use," Sweetie Belle said apologetically. The other ponies all glared at her. "What? There are only about 117 words or so that rhymes or comes close to rhyming with follies. It was an honest mistake." Sweetie Belle's response garnered a bit of surprise from the other ponies, but Sweetie Belle shrugged sheepishly.
"Well this idea was a bust," Applejack concluded. "Now what?"
"Can't you do anything, Twilight?" Sweetie Belle spoke up. "Can't you use some kind of magic to help Fluttershy?"
"I don't know. I don't really know any sleeping spells," Twilight answered.
"Come on Twi, you put an Ursa Minor to sleep before. How could Fluttershy be any harder than that?" Applejack encouraged her.
"You have to try, Twilight. It's for Fluttershy's sake," Sweetie Belle pleaded.
Twilight smiled at the little white filly. "You're right Sweetie Belle. I guess it couldn't hurt to try." Then she turned to Applejack and Rarity. "Come on. Let's see if we can get her out of bed. I'll need to look through the books in the library."
Twilight flipped through the pages of a spell book as Applejack dragged Fluttershy through the door. She held a death grip on Rarity's sheets and the ponies had been forced to bring them along too. She still held it over her muzzle, her eyes peeking over it, still as wide and red as ever.
"Fluttershy you better appreciate all this. I swear it would be easier to get oranges from an apple tree," Applejack said in annoyance.
"At least you won't have to do laundry after this. You didn't have to drag my sheets through the mud. They're 1500 thread count, Egyptian cotton. Do you know how hard it is to get Egyptian in Ponyville?" Rarity complained.
"Here we go. Sleeping spells," Twilight exclaimed. "Let's see… poison apples?"
Applejack gasped. "Poison apples! That's crazy! Who'd want to poison an apple! That's just… just…"
"Yeah. Definitely not that one," Twilight said quickly, skimming the list again. "Pricking your hoof on a spindle?"
"That can make you fall asleep?" Rarity gasped. "I've pricked my hooves plenty of times in the past! Is something going to happen to me?"
"Relax. You'd have to put a spell on it first." Twilight looked at the list again puzzled. "Oh, my mistake. These are long-term sleeping spells. The only way you can wake from these is if you receive a kiss from your Prince Charming."
"My Prince Charming you say?" Rarity said with a hint of fascination. She envisioned herself sleeping gracefully in a gorgeous dress (one that she undoubtedly designed herself) while a tall dark and handsome figure appeared above her, preparing to kiss her. Rarity's vision shattered when the figure abruptly turned into Prince Blueblood, the only prince she currently knew of. "On second thought…"
"Hmm…" Twilight flipped through a few pages of the spell book. "A lot of these spells are kind of hard. But I think I can pull this one off. And it sounds perfect for your situation, Fluttershy." She read the contents of the page. "Get a full night's sleep in the time it takes for a quick power nap."
"You can't have a nightmare if you're just dozin' for a while," Applejack said, trying to reassure Fluttershy.
"That does sound nice I guess," Fluttershy agreed timidly.
"If you're really going to sleep this time, then I guess I can let you keep my sheets for a little while longer," Rarity gave in.
"Okay, here we go." Twilight concentrated, until her horn shown in brilliant red light. Then the light drifted slowly from her horn and engulfed Fluttershy.
"Is it workin'?" Applejack asked.
But at that moment, the light changed color and enveloped the room. Fluttershy opened her eyes after the light finally died down. She saw her friends sprawled on the floor. "Girls?" she ventured. It took her a moment to realize that the other three ponies were asleep. "Oh dear," Fluttershy whimpered.
Exactly five minutes later, Twilight started to stir. "Huh? What happened?" she said sleepily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"You all fell asleep," Fluttershy informed her, just as Applejack and Rarity started to wake up.
"I feel like I've slept for a hundred years," Applejack yawned.
"I don't understand. It should have only worked on Fluttershy. Why…?" Twilight groggily examined the book and read the line just below the directions for the spell. "This spell will be repelled if the target is in possession of Egyptian cotton."
"You gotta be kiddin' me. What're the odds?" Applejack said, still sounded sleepy.
"Maybe I should have gone back to Chinese silk after all," Rarity said sleepily.
"Well then Fluttershy should just ditch the sheets so Twilight can try again."
"I feel so tired, my head hurts. I don't know if I could do it a second time. I think we should try something else," Twilight suggested, still sounding half asleep.
"What else is there to try? We all gave it our best shot already," Applejack complained.
"We're kind of late now, but I guess there's still whatever Pinkie Pie's idea is."
"Great. But at this point, I guess we don't have much choice," Applejack drudged sleepily out of the library with the other ponies in tow.
"Twilight?" A voice rang out in the library a few minutes after the ponies had left. A few moments later, Spike walked in through the back door and looked around. "Good, she's not here. Come on in." Spike waved to his new friend and Owlowiscious who both came in at his call. "Guess we can get some grub without Twilight finding out about you," Spike said to his new friend.
"Who!" Owlowiscious hooted while perched above a book.
"Oh no, I'm not playing that game again." Spike pointed at the owl who pecked a little at the book he was sitting on. Spike came over and read the contents. "Get a full night's sleep in the time it takes for a quick power nap. That sounds like a great idea. I'll have to get Twilight to use it on me sometime."
"Who!" Owlowiscious pecked at something else on the page and Spike read that part too.
"That sounds bad. But what are the odds of that happening?"
It was getting dark already despite the fact that it was only a little past noon. The ponies didn't take much notice of it though since they had other things on their minds.
"I thought it was supposed to give you a full night's sleep. Why do I still feel so groggy and icky?" Rarity complained.
"Maybe it's because we already had a full nights sleep last night. That spell is meant to help somepony who needs to sleep but doesn't have time," Twilight reasoned.
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault," Fluttershy apologized. She walked along wearing Rarity's sheets like a cloak since her mane and face still looked horrific.
"Yeah. But we forgive ya. We are friends after all and…," Applejack yawned. "…and what are friends for, right?" For a moment, Applejack thought she saw something strange walking next to her, but it was just Fluttershy. Then again, the way she looked, maybe she was strange. "Let's just get on over to Pinkie's before your lack of sleep gives us all nightmares."
Fluttershy lowered her head. She felt awful that she was putting her friends through this just because she had decided to read a book. A scary book, but still just a book.
"Wwwwhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyy." The four ponies all stopped with their ears perked when a strange noise filled the air. "Wwwwhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyy."
"What was that?" Applejack asked alarmed.
"A ghost?" Fluttershy squealed.
"Probably just the wind," Twilight said, though she didn't sound certain.
"Wwwwhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyy."
"Ghost! The pony who wasn't there!" Fluttershy shrieked. She dropped to the ground and covered her eyes. The other three looked at her with concern.
"If it's not there, then what do we have to be afraid-" before Rarity could finish, something appeared before them. It was misty, out of focus, and moved about like a piece of paper in the wind. Its monstrous face glared at them in incredible magenta light almost like a giant fireball. It looked a lot like a…
"Ghost!" Applejack and Rarity shouted.
Fluttershy didn't need to see it to believe it. She took off galloping as soon as her friends screamed. She didn't look back until she had galloped so far, she didn't think she could gallop anymore. That's when she realized that she was alone. What was worse, Rarity's sheets had obscured her vision while she ran away, and she only then realized that she had found her way onto the Everfree Forest where all kinds of unnatural nasties resided.
"Rarity?" she called out. "Twilight? Applejack!" Fluttershy shivered. This was just like the first ghost story she had read. Why was this happening?
