Thanks to ganadoleader, Jake-Everfree, LaserLens4, Alex Barkhorn, Sandstorm3D, rederci939, and y1fellas for reviewing the last chapter! I'd just like to say that I'm really impressed and grateful for having so many reviews that are packed full of great compliments, criticisms, and ideas. It's really helpful to be able to take advice and apply it. So, thank you everybody who has reviewed thus far!
I don't own MLP… it's owned by Hasbro.
…
Rarity walked back from Twilight's room, yawning a bit as she realized that she was also more than a little bit tired. Being a Sunday night, the hallway was nearly silent; nevertheless, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. She glanced backwards, but nobody else was there.
"Oh Rarity, there you go worrying yourself again…" Rarity whispered to herself, and she opened the slightly creaky door to her dorm room.
Rarity found her own room to be unnervingly quiet as well. She slowly shut the door, and looked over at Pinkie Pie. The normally energetic girl was nodding off at her desk while trying to read over her notes for their psychology class. There wasn't any of her usual music that she liked to study to playing, and she didn't even notice Rarity come in.
"Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked, surprised and concerned.
"W-wha?" Pinkie said, shaking her head a bit to clear it. Her vision landed on her roommate. "Oh, Rarity, it's just you… not that I thought it would be anybody else, since you're the only other one who lives here…" Pinkie Pie yawned widely, and stood up. She stretched lightly, and seemed to wince a bit, which did nothing to ease Rarity's concern.
"Pinkie, are you alright?" She asked, taking a few uncertain steps forward.
Pinkie smiled. "I'm fine, just super tired from all of my super studying! By the way, do you have any advil?" She asked nonchalantly as she took a sitting position on her bed.
Rarity opened one of her neatly organized desk drawers, and pulled out a bottle of the requested pain-killer. "Why? Do you have a "super headache" as well?" She asked as she tossed the container over.
Pinkie caught it gratefully. "More like a super-everything-ache." Pinkie groaned, and took the prescribed amount of pills labeled on the bottle before tossing it back. She flopped onto her side so that she was still facing Rarity. "Maybe I'm coming down with something."
Rarity nodded slowly, then placed the advil back in its spot, and pulled a thermometer out from the same drawer. "You know, that does sound sort of like the flu… which I swear Pinkie, you had better not have." Rarity said, and stuck the thermometer into Pinkie's mouth.
After a few moments, Pinkie removed the object from her mouth and squinted at it. "Ninety-seven-point-four!" Pinkie exclaimed, looking shocked. "Gosh, that's really hot! I mean, my hometown in summer doesn't get that warm, what if I really do have - "
"That's normal, Pinkie." Rarity said, looking relieved. "Well, no matter then; I'm sure you'll feel fine after a good night's rest."
"Y-y-yeaaaah," Pinkie agreed while simultaneously yawning. Her eyes slowly closed, and her breathing became slower as she drifted off to sleep.
Rarity started organizing herself for bed as well. Suddenly, there was a loud belching sound, and a green light flashed briefly around the room.
Rarity gave a small cry in alarm and quickly tried to pinpoint the cause of the noise, but it wasn't immediately apparent. Pinkie didn't stir.
Rarity stood and looked anxiously around her room, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Rarity noticed that Pinkie's closet door was open, and she shut it with a sigh. There was also a slip of paper on the ground near the closet, which she picked up. Pinkie Pie really did try to keep her half of the room neat, but Rarity was a hard person to please.
She decided to pass the noise off as coming from outside, and glanced down at the piece of paper to determine whether or not it was trash. There were a few long paragraphs typed on one side. The first line read: 'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide – Chapter 1: An Overview'.
Rarity read through it for a couple seconds, but gave up when she didn't understand what the paper was talking about. She flipped it over, and found a much shorter note scribbled hastily on the back: 'Twilight: I think you will find this helpful.'
Upon realizing that the note was for Twilight, Rarity put it on Pinkie's desk. Seeing as it wasn't from her, it must had been from Pinkie; perhaps she had forgotten to drop it off today.
Rarity sunk gently into her perfectly neat covers, and was soon fast asleep.
…
"Spike! Spike where are you?" Twilight called anxiously the next morning. She had awoken to find that the pile of towels was completely dragon-less, and Spike didn't appear to be anywhere else in the room.
Fluttershy was also rushing around the room looking for the baby dragon, but she wasn't finding anything. "Could he have gotten out?" She asked, worried.
"I don't know, but if he did, he's gonna be in so much trouble." Twilight responded, feeling frustrated. They had to leave soon, which would effectively lock Spike out even if he did come back.
Reluctantly, the two girls gave up the search and left. As they closed the door to their room, Rainbow Dash opened the door to hers. She emerged wearing sunglasses and a rather disgruntled expression.
"Uh, Rainbow?" Twilight said, raising an eyebrow. "What's with the sunglasses? Even if we were outside, you know it's raining, right?"
Rainbow Dash groaned. "Something's wrong with my eyes! They're, well, they're red!" She explained, sounding worried.
Twilight frowned. "Let me see." She requested. Twilight was expecting a case of pink eye, so she was left speechless when Rainbow took her sunglasses off. Dash's brown irises had turned a frightening blood-red.
"I know, it's so weird. They were like that when I woke up." She explained.
"Rainbow, that's not normal." Twilight finally said, unable to take her own eyes off of the other girl's. "Broken blood vessels, maybe? What do you think, Fluttershy?" She asked, knowing that the other girl aspired to be a veterinarian. She figured an animal doctor and a human doctor couldn't be too different.
"I don't know…" Fluttershy murmured, also staring into Dash's eyes. "Maybe you should go to the clinic after class, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash slipped her sunglasses back on. "Yeah, I guess so." She agreed a bit reluctantly.
Twilight noticed Rarity coming down the hall towards them. Oddly, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were not with her.
"Where's Pinkie Pie and Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked, voicing Twilight's own thoughts.
"Oh," Rarity said, looking a bit flustered. "Pinkie's really sick. I don't know what's wrong, but I've never seen her so lifeless. She's exhausted and sore." Rarity explained, worry lacing her words. "It's really quite concerning… the poor dear could barely even speak, but she insisted I go to class and take notes for her." She sighed. "And I think Applejack might have the same thing. When I knocked she didn't answer the door, she just told me she wasn't feeling well and to go ahead without her. Perhaps I should take them both to the clinic after calculus…"
"Heh, they can just join me." Rainbow Dash offered. "I'm going there anyways." Before Rarity could ask, Rainbow briefly removed her sunglasses.
"O-oh my God…" Rarity said as her eyes widened in shock. "Rainbow, that's really creepy. Please put those glasses back on."
Rainbow Dash shot her a red-eyed glare before popping the glasses back over her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know…" She mumbled.
…
As Twilight browsed the buffet for breakfast, the normally inviting scent of bacon and sausages made her feel like vomiting. She automatically moved to the other end of the buffet, where a large bowl of fruit salad sat by itself. Twilight took a bowl, and headed to their usual round table.
When all four of them were settled into their seats, they laughed as they realized they had all taken the same fruit salad.
"Great minds think alike." Rainbow Dash commented before they dug in.
…
After a rather boring psychology class, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy turned to separate from the two calculus students.
"I'll go check on Applejack and Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said.
"I need to stop at the greenhouses for biology," Fluttershy said, "but then I'll check on them too. And I'll be sure to, um, check on…" Fluttershy trailed off, apparently uncertain of how to word the statement, but Twilight nodded appreciatively.
When the two girls entered their calculus classroom, Twilight claimed a seat on the very end of a row. Her seating choice was very purposeful, since it meant that when Kyle finally entered the classroom, he was forced to sit beside Rarity, who didn't seem to mind. Twilight found the entire situation very awkward, and she tried to make herself appear busy while Rarity distracted him with idle chitchat until class started.
As soon as class ended, Twilight was out the door. Rarity almost had to run to keep up with her.
"Twilight…" Rarity said, glancing backwards at the others students who were miles behind them. "Don't you think you might be making this whole situation a bit awkward? You can't avoid him forever."
"Well, I can try."
Rarity shook her head in exasperation, but as she focused her gaze back on Twilight, she narrowed her eyes as if trying to focus. Twilight looked uncomfortably back at her, unsure of why she was being stared at. "Twilight, I don't remember your eyes being blue… are you wearing contacts or something?"
Twilight shook her head, a bit surprised, but not overly concerned. "It must be the lighting. My eyes are hazel, not blue." She explained.
Rarity looked uncertain. "Are you certain? They're really quite a stunning deep shade of blue at the moment… deeper than my own eyes…" Twilight nodded absently, and Rarity decided to drop the topic. "Alright, well, we'd better get back to Kismet to check on the others…" The worry in her tone was not lost on Twilight, who felt the same way.
When they had arrived on the third floor, Twilight decided to accompany Rarity to check on Pinkie Pie. When Rarity unlocked the door to their room, however, they found it was deserted.
"Rainbow Dash must still be at the clinic with them…" Rarity realized. "I hope everything's alright…"
Twilight gave a hopeful smile. "I'm sure they're fine. They probably just caught some bug that's going around."
Rarity nodded, though she didn't appear convinced. "I'll let you know when they get back."
Twilight nodded gratefully, and headed back to her own room.
As she opened her creaky door, she froze as she took in the scene. Fluttershy was rushing around, looking panic-stricken. Around their room, there were about twenty plastic cups filled with soil. Fluttershy didn't even look over as Twilight entered; she appeared preoccupied scribbling down notes and prodding the cups worriedly.
Even more surprising was Pinkie Pie perched brightly on Fluttershy's bed, with Spike the dragon sitting casually next to her.
"P-Pinkie? Spike?" Twilight exclaimed, not sure what to think first. "How… how did you…? Aren't you suppost to be sick?"
Pinkie smiled. "It's okay Twilight! I was really sick, but then all of a sudden, I was perfectly fine! So you don't need to worry about me!"
"…All of a sudden y-you were perfectly… but… Spike?" Twilight said, staring at Spike in disbelief. "You've met Spike!"
"Oh, Spike?" Pinkie asked, glancing at the little purple dragon next to her. "I found him in my closet. He said he lives with you, so I brought him over! But of course, I forgot that you had calculus, so you weren't home. Luckily, Fluttershy was -"
"Wait, wait, wait." Twilight interrupted. "A talking dragon pops out of your closet, and this is okay with you?"
"She's telling the condensed version." Spike supplied helpfully. "The long version would take forever to explain, because gee does she like to talk."
Twilight suddenly shot Spike a death-glare, and he winced. "And what, pray tell, were you doing in Pinkie Pie's closet?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
Spike looked nervous. "I've been so bored cooped up here… I thought maybe I could go for a small walk last night, y'know, just a little one!" He explained, clearly trying to be truthful without making Twilight any angrier. "When that beautiful girl came to visit last night," Spike's eyes glazed over, "I took the chance to sneak out… but I couldn't help but follow her… she was just so… so…" He sighed happily, then shook his head to clear it. "I wasn't paying attention, and I got stuck in her room when she closed the door. I was scared of her finding me, cause you warned me so much, Twilight. So I hid in what turned out to be Pinkie's closet for the night."
"So," Twilight said slowly, glancing between Pinkie and Spike. "You followed Rarity home, hid in Pinkie's closet… and then popped out of it the next day, effectively ruining the entire point of hiding in the first place?" Twilight asked accusingly.
Spike rubbed the back of his head. "I got bored?"
Twilight groaned and rubbed the spot between her eyes in frustration. Pinkie Pie giggled. "It's okay Twilight, when I found him, he promised that you would explain everything. Well, Fluttershy explained everything already, so your job is done!" She stated happily. "I wish you'd told me earlier! I'd always wondered why I dreamed about weird colourful ponies; I mean, that's not something most people dream about is it? Well, maybe it is, I'm not sure, but it doesn't really seem like something most people would dream about."
"Twilight, Pinkie told me that Rarity has dreams about ponies too." Fluttershy said quietly, though she didn't turn around as she wrote out more notes. "So, um, maybe it's okay to let her know, too? I mean, it seems like the fairest thing to do…"
"Fluttershy…" Twilight said, glancing at the soil-filled cups that had invaded their room. "What on earth are you doing?"
Fluttershy finally glanced over, looking confused. "I-I'm sorry?"
"Why are there plastic cups filled with dirt scattered around our room?"
"Fluttershy's planting bean seeds for biology class!" Pinkie said, grinning. "I tried to help, I mean, I'm not super great with plants or anything, but it was fun!" She pointed to one particular plastic cup, which she had apparently planted herself.
Fluttershy looked between the three others, exasperated. "It was suppost to be a simple assignment to test how plants grow better in different soil conditions, but none of my plants even sprouted…" She looked sadly around. "I was the only one in the class that this happened to… they're suppost to sprout within three days, but it's been a week and nothing's happened. My professor offered a few days for an extension, but our class's time in the greenhouses was over… so…" She looked apologetic. "I'm so sorry, Twilight. I promise they'll be gone in a few days… sprouted or not…" She sighed.
"No, it's fine," Twilight said quickly. "I was just wondering. I'm sure they'll sprout soon, Fluttershy. Maybe Applejack can help you when she's feeling better; she's taking agricultural studies, after all."
Fluttershy gave her a small, grateful smile, then returned to her notes.
"Is Rarity back?" Pinkie asked. When Twilight nodded to affirmative, Pinkie Pie jumped up. "I should let her know I'm okay! Thanks a lot for everything, you guys. I'll be back soon!" With that, she zipped out the door.
Twilight was left with even more questions. Obviously, it was no coincidence that four of them had dreamt of a world where a spectrum of ponies lived peacefully. Twilight wouldn't have been surprised if Applejack and Rainbow Dash had also had similar dreams. She made a mental note to ask them, then she went over to help Fluttershy better organize the to-be plants. As Twilight picked up the cup that Pinkie had planted, she realized in amazement that a tiny sprout had already popped up.
…
I don't think this was one of my better chapters, but thanks for reading! I know that RD's eyes aren't red in the show. You'll see. I don't have much else to say on this one.
Oh, and by the way… I got the job at that amusement park! Well, not officially… they're suppost to call me on Wednesday, but my friend is a manager there and he said my name was on the list of people they were going to call. So, yay! :D Life is better. I requested twenty hours a week, which should be just enough to keep me sane enough to survive until school starts again and the real work begins.
So, now that you've read this far; would you mind dropping me a review? That would be really awesome of you. See ya!