Shafts of pale light broke through the cloud canopy of Rainbow Dash’s home, painting the edges with an almost eerie glow. A light peeked through one of the windows, with a shadow swallowing the light every few seconds. As quickly as the light went out, it would come back with its faint brilliance. Pinkie Pie stood staring up at the home and counted the number of times it flickered off and on. Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine… It stopped. A moment passed before the window went dark. It was time.
There was only one problem: how to get up there? Having been so caught up on knowing what she wanted to do, she had not given thought as to how she would accomplish it. Where she would normally inflate some balloons to reach heights and places impossible to an earth pony, her spectral form made the easiest solution impossible, as the balloons would just ignore her presence and float off without her. No, that wouldn’t work at all, but what other options did she have?
Pinkie looked up helplessly. Her goal was in sight; so close, and yet so far out of reach. Lore Scripture had given her the knowledge to do what she needed, but it’s not as simple as levitating a rock and throwing it at Dash’s window to say she’s sorry. If anything, that would accomplish the opposite. But if she could levitate a stone, could she levitate herself? She may have been incorporeal, but she was still her. She had to be real enough for the magic to work on herself!
A determined smile crossed her face as she set her mind on the task. She closed her eyes and planted her hooves firmly against the ground; the only way she would be moving was up. She concentrated deeply on herself. The faded pink of her coat and mane materialized in her mind, followed by every feature that defined her. The image became as clear as her reflection in a mirror. She imagined her pose, and the cloud home high above, and she saw herself ascending from the ground; she felt the land beneath her hooves fall away.
She opened her eyes to a height, some distance above the earth; the detail on the ground below her faded into obscurity. It was working! She felt the sudden urge to cheer, and the image in her mind wavered. She suddenly saw her destination slip from her grasp and seemingly fly up and away from her. She was falling down again! She panicked as the ground raced toward her, and quickly tried to bring the picture back to her mind. She once again pieced the image together and willed it into action, and the ground beneath her retreated once more. Finally, when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the shade of a darkened window.
Pinkie cheered, gleefully clapping her hooves together whilst careful as to not lose the image that had gotten her there. She reached for the window to open it, but stumbled with a quiet yelp as her hoof passed through the glass. She regained her balance and air-trotted through the closed window.
Pinkie eyed the floor beneath her with hesitation. If she could pass through the walls, surely up here she would also pass through the floor. She assumed it would be no different here than it was for the earth below.
She lowered herself to the floor and passed right through, and then she quickly darted back above the floor. Realizing that it’s not so simple, she pondered what the difference was between the ground and the floor. She had recalled multiple times during her life having no issue walking on the floor here, which, while built in the clouds, was designed for everyone to walk on. This should make it no different than the ground below. The walls, however, were another thing altogether.
Then, it clicked. She smiled as she realized she had been overlooking what could be deduced by Lore Scripture’s lessons. After all, it was completely natural to walk on the ground down below. She just assumed she could, and so she was able. With this whole idea of spectral magic floating around in her head, she was definitely expecting more than required.
She closed her eyes and visualized the floor. She imagined herself lowering onto the swirls of tightly-packed cloud. She felt the coolness of its touch on the soles of her hooves, and she could see herself walk across it with the ease of walking down a cobblestone street. She opened her eyes and beamed with delight as she found herself standing on the solid floor. That was much easier than she thought; if you believe it’s a floor, then you’ll be able to walk on it as you would a floor!
Pinkie’s smile lightened as she set her mind to her task. Gotta get to Rainbow Dash! The cloud home was fairly large compared to most houses in Ponyville, except maybe Twilight’s castle, but she traversed its halls as she would her own home. She made her way up the stairs and to Rainbow’s room. She thought about knocking, but that would require too much effort, plus it would probably frighten Rainbow Dash. No, if she was going to wake up Rainbow Dash and tell her she forgave her, she would have to be much more creative.
She walked through the closed door and saw Rainbow lying in her bed, her blanket curled tightly around her. Pinkie crossed the room and sat down next to the bed to look at Rainbow Dash. The mare’s eyes were closed to sleep, but Pinkie thought she could see the faintest movement beneath her eyelids. Pinkie grimaced. Judging by the frown bent almost into a snarl, Rainbow must be having the same dream she told Pinkie about so many times before.
The pink mare felt her eyes moisten, a sensation she had found possible many times before when she’d felt so hopeless as a spirit. “I wish you would stop thinking about it…”
Pinkie remembered that day, so long ago now, where she had done so much to help Rainbow with her plans. Though Rainbow thought a simple display of the Sonic Rainboom would suffice to celebrate the day they all became friends, and the link they shared since they were all fillies, Pinkie had wanted to help make it extra special. A nice set of fireworks would do nicely; set them off at just the right time…
Remembering why she was here, Pinkie rid her mind of such toxic thoughts, which would only serve to slow her down. It is what it is, and the least Pinkie could do was try to make things better. She focused back on Rainbow Dash, and even with the presence of bad dreams, she couldn’t help but smile. Rainbow Dash had always had a tough exterior, but she looked as gentle as a foal in her sleep. Pinkie’s brow creased. Sitting there was not solving the issue.
Pinkie stood up and looked around the room. There was a mirror on the wall with a picture of her and Rainbow Dash slid into a narrow opening in the corner of the frame. She remembered it as a time where they had just gotten back from their mission to Griffonstone. Rainbow had been in such a good mood that they had decided to celebrate at Sugarcube Corner—at Pinkie’s suggestion, of course. After they both had their fill of sweets, they had gotten their picture taken by Mrs. Cake. Though the picture had proven that Mrs. Cake’s talents were better suited to baking, it was still good enough to capture the cherished memory. Obviously, Rainbow Dash had thought so, too.
Finally, she decided to put the reminiscing aside and get to work. But how? Looking once more at the photo, an idea sprang to her. She found a notebook on the dresser and levitated a pencil over, with some effort. She found a blank page and visualized the pencil sliding across the paper, forming letters, then words, then a sentence. She felt exhausted by the time she was done, but she was happy with the letter she wrote, even if it was only a short sentence in length.
Please don’t blame yourself. I forgive you, Dashie!
- Pinkie Pie
It was short and sweet, and got the point across well enough; it would have to do. She levitated it up to a vacant corner of the mirror and tried to slide it in. It wouldn’t catch, so she tried again, and again, and again. The paper curved just enough at the top that it just wouldn’t slide into the tiny opening between the mirror and frame. “C’mon, dumb mirror… Let me slide the paper in!”
After a few more tries, she growled and tried a different corner. After failing that, she grit her teeth in frustration and focused on applying some pressure to the page and the mirror and then tried to slide...
A crash rang out across the room as the mirror shattered into shards and flung around the room every which way. Rainbow sprang up from her sleep with a shout and shielded herself with her blanket as shards of glass rained down. Once the last shards had fallen, Rainbow uncovered her head and looked wide-eyed at the broken mirror.
Pinkie panicked and quickly grabbed another framed photo of them along with the pencil she had been writing with and tried to point to herself.
Rainbow screamed as the objects floated in front of her. Pinkie quickened her pace and tapped the glass of the picture frame, accidently cracking it over Rainbow’s face.
“Oh, no, no no. NO!” Rainbow shot up from her bed and shot toward the window, fumbling at the lock to open it.
“Rainbow Dash, please!” Pinkie cried out, “I’m just trying to tell you that I forgive you!” She brought the frame closer to her friend, and Rainbow screamed again, kicking open the window and flying out.
“I was just trying… to tell… you…” Pinkie felt tears well up in her eyes as Rainbow disappeared into the darkness.
~~~
Pinkie Pie lay motionless in a patch of open field, her eyes fixated on an apple rocking gently in the breeze. She wished she could feel the coolness of the air on her body, and with a discontented sigh, bemoaned her inability to feel any physical force. She hated feeling foreign, like she didn’t belong. And although she could see, everything was less saturated than when she breathed living air. Her sense of sound was slightly muffled, but she hadn’t noticed it with Lore Scripture the night before. The smell of the environment, and the apples that surrounded her, was but a faint, dull aroma. Not only could she not feel anything of the physical world, she couldn’t even feel her own heart beat. Granted, this did not come as a surprise to her, given her ghostly nature.
Strangely though, she could feel exhaustion even as a spirit, and with another sigh, she let her head fall into the hooves lying beneath her.
She had waited in Rainbow’s room for her to return, and had set out to fix the objects she had broken. The picture frame was pretty easy; she had just inserted the image of the frame into her mind, and erased the cracks from existence. It was amazing what spectral magic could do! What wasn’t so easy was fixing the mirror. She had to levitate every shard, every speck of broken glass, into its former shape. Then, envisioning it in her mind, she stuck the pieces together as if with glue and removed the cracks. The end product was a mirror untouched by violence, and a pit of exhaustion that had been dug inside of her afterwards.
Rainbow still hadn’t returned by the time everything was restored, so Pinkie had decided to make her way to Sweet Apple Acres to wait for her arrival; she remembered that Rainbow Dash had an obligation she had to fill that morning.
The sun was high enough in the sky to begin the work day. Where was Rainbow? Pinkie yawned and closed her eyes. I think it’s okay to rest my eyes for a couple minutes…
“There you are! Where’ve you been?”
Pinkie jumped and looked around. Applejack was leaning on a fence several yards away talking to… “Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie shouted, sprinting to see the pegasus.
Rainbow Dash hovered several feet off the ground. Her ragged, unkempt mane matched well with the drooping bags beneath her eyes. She stifled a yawn, “Sorry, AJ… I, uh, had a late night.”
Applejack raised her brow, “A late night, huh? Well, you look it. You sure you’re good to work?”
“Pfft,” Rainbow exclaimed with a smirk, “I’ve had less sleep than this during Wonderbolts practice, and still outperformed the competition!”
“Uh-huh,” Applejack chuckled, “Well, exhaustion sure ain’t slowin’ your boasting. Alright, let’s get to it, then.”
Pinkie watched the two mares walk the length of the fence to a collapsed section. Three segments of the wooden fence had fallen over or completely cracked from the wear of time. Applejack pulled a cart closer to the section and began lifting boards. Rainbow Dash yawned and joined her.
“Alright, Rainbow, simple work. All I need ya to do is place these here boards in the posts I already have up.”
Rainbow laughed, “That’s it? I’m shocked that you need my help with this, AJ!”
Applejack grinned, “This is only the first of a dozen places that need patchin’, and this is the shortest bit.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened in response, flying up a bit and staring down the long length of fence surrounding the farm. “Great…”
Pinkie sat watching as the pair began their work, but she didn’t see them, as her vision was overlaid by a reminder of her blunder. Writing a simple note amounted to unwittingly intensifying the stress of an already emotionally shattered pony. Regret is all she felt, all she saw, for making matters worse. After Rainbow had flown away, Pinkie had thrown the note out the window. Let the wind do whatever it wants with it… Pinkie thought sourly.
“Uh, Rainbow? You sure you can work in that state?” Applejack asked, noticing Rainbow’s slumping form.
As Pinkie shook herself from her thoughts, she saw Rainbow jerk much the same way she had. Once the troubled mare had settled, she put on another of her grins, though Pinkie could see that she was only masking what she actually felt.
“Oh yeah, I got this. Just a power nap, that’s all. Good for giving quick boosts of energy!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Right, well if you start feeling too tired to work, you can go—”
“Home?” Rainbow interjected as she laughed nervously, “Nah, I’m good. I spend way too much time kooked up in that place anyway. I think I’ll go on a camping trip or something, enjoy some fresh air!”
“Maybe that’ll do ya some good!” Applejack said with a chuckle.
Pinkie didn’t laugh, however. Had she really scared Rainbow so much that she didn’t feel safe going home? She hadn’t meant for that to happen. She sighed. Maybe it would be best to forget this whole endeavor before she hurt Rainbow Dash even more.
Pinkie studied the pegasus; she fumbled with the boards, barely able to fit them into the slots of the posts. The least Pinkie could do for her was to help finish her work so she could get some much-needed rest.
She bided her time, glancing over at Applejack. The farm mare had moved down to the next gap in the fence several lengths down and was concentrating on the work in front of her. Pinkie nodded, looking back to Rainbow Dash. She had closed her eyes and laid her head against a board she had managed to get slotted.
Pinkie smiled sadly at her friend. “Oh, Dashie… You need rest.” Checking for any prying eyes, Pinkie focused on one of the boards and willed it off its pile. She allowed it to slide easily into the first post, and then she squeezed it as gently as she could into the second post. Easy! She could vaguely remember a time where she hadn’t enjoyed farm chores, but this was a piece of cake!
She did the same with the remaining boards, focusing her mind on each board, and sliding them into their respective posts with little effort.
“Rainbow?” Applejack called out.
Rainbow Dash jumped, “Huh?! Wha-What happened?”
Applejack walked up beside the fence, placing a hoof on the beams, “Huh, I know it wasn’t a lot of work, but you sure finished that quick!”
Rainbow blinked at Applejack and turned to face the fence, almost jumping at the completed fence, “What?! But I didn’t do—Well, I didn’t think I did…”
“Well, somepony did, and you’re the only one I see around here.” Applejack said as she looked at her worriedly, “Look, Dash, I’m worried about ya. You’re actin’ like you haven’t slept in a week. Maybe you should get some sleep. I’d understand.”
“No! I promised I’d get this done, and ain’t no way I’m gonna let sleep get in the way!” Rainbow huffed over to the cart of planks and began pushing in off to another section of fence. Pinkie followed.
A short time later, Rainbow was back to dozing on a length of upright fence. Now’s my chance, Pinkie thought, taking the boards in her mind and completing lengths of fence as quickly and quietly as she could.
Almost done! Just a few more...
“What in the—!”
Pinkie shot a look at Rainbow Dash, who was gaping wide-eyed at the floating plank. To Pinkie’s shock, the board bolted towards Rainbow Dash. She dodged out of the way as best she could, but the weight of exhaustion slowed her reflexes. She screamed out as the board struck home on her hind leg.
If Pinkie’s heart could beat, it would have stopped there. She rushed to Rainbow’s side, while Applejack sprinted from the other direction, “Dash! What happened? You alright?!”
Rainbow scrambled to her hooves, taking care as to not put weight on her injured leg. “Yeah, fine. Just flippin’ fine!” she scowled, looking at the fence. “I swear the world is trying to kill me!”
“Rainbow—”
“Leave me alone!” Rainbow Dash shouted up at the sky, rage blazing in her eyes. Or was that fear? “You hear me? LEAVE! ME! ALONE!”
Rainbow rocketed into the sky and bolted away from the farm.
“Rainbow, wait!” Applejack sighed, looking at the work left to do before shaking her head and running off in pursuit.
Pinkie slumped to the ground, the grass cushioning her fall, though she couldn’t feel it. She couldn’t feel anything but a sting of pain in her chest; a clenching knot of despair gripped her, and moisture pooled heavily in her eyes.
She wanted to do nothing more than to help her suffering friend, but she had done nothing but make things worse.
She curled herself into a ball on the ground. All she wanted to do now was cry.