Chapter III
A few days after the nightmare at Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight decided to visit Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner. She trotted into the bakery taking in the sweet smells. She went to the counter where Mrs. Cake was working.
"Good afternoon, Twilight." the kind baker mare greeted.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Cake, I was just wondering if Pinkie's here."
"Oh yes, she's up in her room. Poor dear hasn't slept in days, too scared to even try. Mr. Cake and I are getting really worried about her." Mrs. Cake said with a concerned expression.
"Well don't you worry, I think I've come up with a plan, several actually, to help Pinkie." Twilight reassured Mrs. Cake before heading upstairs to Pinkie's room.
Twilight knocked a few times on her door and after a few moments of silence, she knocked harder, until she said, "Pinkie I'm coming in." She then proceeded to open the door. Pinkie's room was darker and gloomier than usual despite all the party decorations. Pinkie was lying on her bed curled up in a fetal position with Gummy in her arms.
"Pinkie?"
At the sound of Twilight's voice she looked up with a pitiful expression. Her eyes were baggy and puffy clearly showed her lack of sleep. Her straight hair was a mess almost resembling her normal hair.
"Pinkie, Mrs. Cake tells me you haven't been sleeping, what's wrong is Zecora's charm not working?" Twilight asked concerned.
"No, It probably still works, I'm just too scared to even have a dreamless sleep, maybe the nightmares will flood in anyway." Pinkie replied pitifully, looking down at the floor while the alligator squirting out of her arms. It was another few tense moments until Pinkie spoke again, "Twilight I been thinking a lot these last few nights. I've started thinking that maybe these dreams are my subconscious telling me that I either have an evil alternate personality whose been murdering ponies or is trying break free. I think I need to be locked up somewhere until we know its safe."
Twilight pondered the possibilities of Pinkie Pie's theory's and unfortunately while she thought that Pinkie's nightmares were just that, she couldn't deny the possibility of Pinkie having another personality considering her surprise birthday incident. Another a few minutes of thinking Twilight came up with a solution.
"Pinkie, I have an idea. You, me, and the others will go to the places in your dreams to determine whether they actually happened or not." Twilight said to a rather confused Pinkie. Seeing her confusion Twilight clarified, "What I mean we are going to see if the places and events in your dreams actually happened or not by searching to see if those places really exist."
"O-okay Twilight, I think I get it." Pinkie replied.
"Great, I get the rest of the girls." Twilight then left to gather the rest of the mane 6.
About a hour later, the girls arrived at Sugarcube Corner. They all went up to Pinkie's room and sat down. Pinkie tried to smile a little, but couldn't get it out.
"Alright girls, I've gathered you all here in order to help Pinkie by going to the places that she saw in her dream if they exist that is. So why don't we start with her first dream. Pinkie, is there a basement?" Twilight asked the sullen pink pony. Pinkie nodded, and the everypony got up and went downstairs.
They spyed Mr. Cake and went over to him.
"Excuse us Mr. Cake, but can we go into the basement?" Twilight asked.
"Um, why exactly do you want to go down there?" Mr. Cake asked.
"We believe that if we show Pinkie that if the places in her dream aren't real than it will help her get over her insomnia."
Mr. Cake gave a pleasant smile and replied, "Okay then if it will help Pinkie."
Twilight and the others thanked Mr. Cake and he pointed towards the basement door. The girls then went over to the door and proceeded downstairs.
It was dark and a little chilly, but the girls bravely stepped forward until the lights suddenly went on. They jumped in surprise and turned to see that Pinkie was the one who turned the lights on.
"What, did you all want to search in the dark?" Pinkie said as a matter of factly.
The girls giggled in embarrassment and began to search. The basement acted as a store room for supplies, decorations and tools. Each pony decided that they would search a different section of the basement. Rarity looked around the holiday decorations and silently thought they were a bit tacky and thought to suggest to the Cakes that she could help improve them.
Rainbow searched around the extra bags of sugar, but found nothing. Fluttershy searched the flour, but only managed to find some sneezes. Applejack was looking through the bags of nuts and other miscellaneous things. Pinkie finally decided to speak up, "You girls know I've been down here several times, so I'm not sure if you'll find anything."
Twilight then noticed a large metal door and thought it was suspicious. "Pinkie where does that door lead?"
"Oh that, that's just the cooler where we keep the fruits and things." Pinkie explained.
Twilight decided it was worth checking out so she trotted over and opened the door. She peered inside and found only fruits, vegetables and other perishables. Still she searched thoroughly and found nothing.
"Twi, we searched this basement with a fine tooth comb, and haven't found a thing." Applejack stated.
"Well there is one more thing I want to try." responded Twilight as she lit up her horn with a spell and began scanning the area until she made a complete 360 degrees.
"Nothing." she said with both disappointment and relief.
"What the heck was that?" Rainbow asked.
"A spell meant to reveal hidden rooms and passages, and thankfully I didn't find anything." She explained and then turned to Pinkie and said, "See Pinkie, there is no way you could have tortured or hurt anypony down here."
With revived hope she responded, "Yah I guess you're right."
"Well now we have to search Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight said, but then her stomach grumbled in hunger. Embarrassed, she added, "But before that why don't get some lunch upstairs?" Everypony agreed and ascended the stairs back up to the bakery.
Everypony sat down and ordered some slices of apple pie and tea. Mrs. Cake took their orders and in a few minutes placed their pie on the table. "So girls, did you find anything down in the basement?" Mrs. Cake asked with curiosity.
"Nah, we didn't find anything, but some flour, sugar, and cold fruit. We're all headin' to Sweet Apple Acres after we're eatin'." Applejack answered as she took a bite of her pie.
"Yum, this pie tastes just like one of mine."
Mrs. Cake responded, "Well of course, it's made from your apples, I'm so glad we started buying them in bulk 2 months ago, and Big Macintosh is such a sweetheart for delivering them."
"Huh, so you're the ones that's buying them, funny Big Macintosh never mentioned it." Applejack replied. After that everypony finished eating their pies and were about to leave when Mrs. Cake called for Pinkie.
"Pinkie dear, could you help me get some flour and sugar down from the top shelves?"
"Sure Mrs. Cake." Pinkie trotted into the kitchen and helped Mrs. Cake with the heavy and high up bags. Mrs. Cake has had a bad back since the twins were born. When she finished Pinkie looked out the window to see Mr. Cake and Big Macintosh were talking to each other. She leaned out to hear what they were saying.
"So you heading to the Tipsy Stallion tonight?" Mr. Cake asked the red stallion.
"Eeyup." Big Mac responded.
"Great, it's been a while since I've had a drink." the cheerful yellow stallion responded.
"See yah there." Big Macintosh finished as he left.
Pinkie Pie turned to Mrs. Cake and asked, "How long have Mr. Cake and Big Macintosh been friends?"
Mrs. Cake thought for a moment until she said, "Oh for about a month or two before I got pregnant with the twins. It's really nice since Carrot doesn't have many friends."
Pinkie was a little startled by this revelation as she prided herself in knowing what everypony did in Ponyville. She shrugged it off and went to join her friends.
The air was sweet with the smell of fresh grass and apples when the mane 6 arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack immediately led them to the root cellar which was filled with apples, and canned jam. The cellar wasn't very large and it didn't take them long to search it.
"Well Pinkie there doesn't seem to be anything here either." Twilight commented gleefully, "Well at least this proves that you didn't anypony…yet" she said whispering the last part.
"Yah, but this doesn't look like the same cellar that was in my dream, it was more rotten and dirty." Pinkie stated.
Applejack expression became troubled and it was noticed by Rarity.
"Applejack is there something wrong?"
Everypony turned to her and she felt a little uncomfortable, but finally spoke up, "Alright I do know of another cellar that sounds like the one Pinkie described"
"Okay so take us there." demanded Rainbow Dash.
"It ain't that easy, you see this cellar is kinda private, and it's where Big Macintosh goes when he wants to have some alone time." Applejack replied uncomfortably.
"That's even more of a reason to search it or did you forget that it was Big Macintosh who was in that dream!" Rainbow shouted.
Applejack became a little peeved at this remark and retorted, "Now hold on just a minute, Rainbow we already established that mah brother would never do anything like so don't you go accusing' him of wrongdoin'!"
"Girls!" Twilight shouted and stopping the two from arguing further. "Remember we are trying to help Pinkie, so Applejack I think we need to see this cellar, I'm sure Big Macintosh will understand."
Feeling all the others agreed with Twilight, she agreed in defeat. So they went to the western orchard near the White Tail Woods as they were walking Rarity curiously asked, "Applejack why exactly is the cellar all the way out here?"
"Well yah see Rarity we didn't build it. It was part of house that a family lived in out here, but the later moved away and sold us their land. The house is pretty much gone, but the cellar's intact. Daddy used to use it for hiding his whiskey and later showed it to Big Macintosh. He basically intended it to be a place where he could get away from all us girls. To be honest, Ah've never actually been inside, but Big Mac told me where it was, oh we're here." Applejack finished as they reached the remains of house which was rotted down to the foundations. She looked around until she found the cellar door and opened it.
The mane 6 descended into the dark dank cellar with admittedly a little fear. Twilight light up her horn in order to see and the light revealed an old dirty cellar with a dirt floor, rotten wooden shelves with a few broken jars on them, and some undergrowth on the roof.
Pinkie finally spoke up, "This definitely looks a lot like the one in my dream." She said this with a bit of fear.
Rainbow Dash looked around until she spotted something on the ground, "Hey I found a lantern." Upon hearing this Twilight used a fire lighting spell to light the lantern and then lifted up to a hook on the ceiling.
Like before everypony began looking around for any evidence of wrongdoing. Rarity took to a corner where she noticed a strange shape under a blanket. Twilight also noticed and came over to her. Cautiously Rarity pulled the blanket off to reveal a pile of bottles and mugs. Relieved, Rarity took one of the bottles and sniffed it.
"Aw! What is that horrible smell!" Rarity inquired with disgust. Applejack came over and also took a sniff.
"Apple Whiskey." she stated.
"What?" asked both unicorns.
"Apple Whiskey." Applejack repeated and picked up a mug and sniffed it, stating, "and Hard Apple Cider. I guess Big Macintosh picked up on Daddy's private drinking, thankfully he's never been drunk around us." Applejack finished putting the bottle and mug down and recovering it with the sheet.
Rainbow Dash was looking in another corner of the room when she found something.
"Did you find something Rainbow Dash?" asked Twilight when she noticed Rainbow picking something up.
"Yah, some dirty magazines." The girls gathered around to see this. The magazine featured a mare with a rather large plot on the cover with the title, Playpony.
"Oh, how deplorable!" Rarity announced.
Applejack rolled her eyes and said, "Well what do yah expect? Bigh Macintosh is a stallion after all."
"Those are so fake." stated Rainbow Dash looking at one of the pictures.
Annoyed Applejack said, "Yah my brother likes dirty magazines, it don't mean that he's killing ponies."
"Yah, but some of the other magazines might reveal something you didn't know about him." Rainbow said as she waved another magazine at Applejack.
She took it, her curiosity aroused, and saw that it was a dirty magazine, but unlike the others this one had a picture of a stallion. "Ah can't believe that he likes these kinds of magazines!"
Rarity tried to be shocked, but it was obvious that she was trying to peek at it. Fluttershy hovered over them with a red blush on her face. Twilight also took an interest. Applejack then looked down and saw more, but then noticed something familiar.
"Hey, this one's mine!"
"What! Don't tell me YOU look at those magazines!" Rarity responded with shock.
"Rarity, Ah don't have much time for datin' and Ah have needs to." Applejack rebuffed. "Regardless they belong to Big Macintosh so we're putting them back, except this one." Applejack then took the magazines and put them back.
"Hey I didn't get a good look!" Pinkie whimpered almost like her old self.
The girl continued their search. Fluttershy floated around until she noticed some dirt was disturbed. She went over to the others and said softly, "Uh, girls I think I found something." However she wasn't heard as the others began arguing with each other.
"Twilight we've searched every inch of this place and all we found was old booze and skin mags. I don't think there's anything here." Rainbow said with annoyance.
"That's a good thing Rainbow, it means that Pinkie's nightmares aren't real." Twilight rebuffed.
"Um, I might have found something." Fluttershy said again trying to be heard.
"Well if they aren't real then how did she dream about this place?" Rainbow questioned.
"It's just a coincidence." Twilight replied with a slight irritation.
"I found something over there." Fluttershy again tried to get their attention.
"What if her dreams have something to do with her Pinkie sense, did you ever think about that?" Rainbow continued.
"I have thought about it, but her Pinkie sense, from what I observed it only predicts immediate events, it's not a prophetic." Twilight responded with her know-it-all attitude.
Finally fed up Fluttershy took a deep breath then tapped Twilight on the shoulder. "Um, excuse me Twilight, but I think I found something that might be interesting."
"Oh, why didn't you say so." Twilight responded to an exasperated Fluttershy. They all went over the spot that Fluttershy mentioned and dug up the odd mound of dirt, revealing a heavy chest. Twilight levitated it up and set it down. They all saw that it was locked.
"So are we gonna open it or what?" Rainbow Dash asked. All the girls looked at the chest nervously, especially Pinkie, thinking of what horrible things might be inside.
"Well I guess we have to." Twilight replied. So she used her magic to unlock the padlock and then held her breath as she reached down and opened it revealing…bits, lots and lots of bits, as well as some precious gems.
Applejack stepped forward and said, "This is probably Big Macintosh savings. Daddy always believed in storing valuables in a safe place. This also explains the money he gave us during our shortage a couple of years ago." Satisfied with this revelation, they locked the chest, put it back in the hole, and buried it again. Afterwards, they left.
They all went to Applejack's house for some refreshments, and while they were eating, Twilight spoke to Pinkie, "Well Pinkie, I think we proved that the killings in your dream didn't happen."
"Yah, I guess you're right, I'm super glad that nopony's dead, but there is still the possibility that my dreams are warning me about Evil Pinkie."
"Evil Pinkie?" everypony asked in unison.
"It's the evil part of me that's trying to break out and these dreams are trying to warn me about her!" Pinkie answered excitedly.
"Calm down Pinkie, as I said before, while you may not make much sense at times, I highly doubt you would develop an alternate personality, in my psychology books, it said that most of the time it's caused by a severe trauma, and the only thing that could even qualify was your little breakdown last year. I don't think it was bad enough to cause that much of problem."
Twilight took another sip of apple juice, and then said, "Pinkie I think you should tell yourself that these dreams are only dreams and try to sleep. If you have another nightmare, then I'll contact Princess Luna and see what she can do for you."
"Okay, so all I have to do is tell myself that they only dreams, thanks Twilight, I'm really, really grateful for what you and the others have done for me." Pinkie said with her old spirit though her hair hadn't poofed out.
"Well, Ah'm glad y'all like the food and juice, but now Ah got to explain to Big Macintosh about us violating his private sanctum." They thanked Applejack for her generosity and left.