Chaper 2: Questions
(I do not own My Little Pony. Please support the original series.)
* * * * * * * * * *
The smell of delicately fried eggs and perfectly golden toast that had been lightly buttered slowly lured Rarity into waking up.
"Mmm, that smells heavenly. I wonder..."
She climbed out of bed and followed her nose right into her bedroom window.
The thing that did not deserve even the name of monster came barreling towards her and hit her with a wall of its dark magic. She was sent flying. She could not see.
Rarity yelled and tore her sleep mask off. She was lying in the middle of the floor in her very safe bedroom on the upper floor of the Carousel Boutique.
"Oh dear, I must have been having another nightmare again. Sleepwalking is a new development, however. It's most unbecoming; I wonder if Twilight has any ideas on what might be causing it? I should pay her a visit! Oh, but I simply MUST bring some of that turquoise for Spike. That should keep the poor dear occupied while I... discuss this with Twilight. I simply can't understand what would be causing this? Nothing disastrous has happened recently... well, aside from Pinkie Pie putting chartreuse, maroon, and peach-colored streamers up for a party all at the same time. But that certainly should NOT be giving me these sorts of nightmares." She paused for a moment and sniffed the air. "That smells heavenly. I wonder if Sweetie Bell has been practicing her cooking again?"
Rarity thought about this briefly before panicking and rushing down to the kitchen as her memory replayed the days leading up to that one Sisterhooves Social. Sweetie Bell's culinary skills had not improved greatly since then.
She burst into the kitchen only to find it in pristine condition.
"Rarity?"
Rarity turned around.
"Oh, Sweetie Bell, there you are! ...Do you smell eggs and toast?"
"No. What's going on?"
"Oh... nothing! Nothing at all!"
Sweetie Bell just stared at her sister. "I'm going back to bed."
"Sleep tight, dearie!" Rarity gave her sister a smile that was slightly too large. Sweetie Bell looked at her for a moment and then turned around and returned to her room.
Rarity sighed. "Well. ...wait a moment. If that delectable smell wasn't coming from down here, where was it coming from?" She returned to her room and found that the smell had being wafting through the window she had left ajar. Disappointed that she would not get to taste something so obviously delightful, she nudged the window back into the closed position and stared at a smudge that had somehow found its way onto the glass.
"That's strange. I thought I cleaned these yesterday?" It was then she realized her face felt like it had bumped into something. She took a closer look at the window and found a scratch exactly where her horn would have hit if her face had made contact with the window. It was then that Rarity realized she had run into the window while sleepwalking.
"...I really must talk to Twilight."
Thoroughly awake now, Rarity began the daily ritual of preparing to be seen in public. Once finished, she went downstairs, ate eggs and toast for breakfast, filled a pair of saddlebags with turquoise for Spike, and began to make her way to the library.
* * * * * * * * * *
Three refined knocks on the door alerted Twilight Sparkle to the presence of a guest. She magically nudged the door open.
"Hello, and welcome to Ponyville Libr- Rarity! Good morning!"
"Hello, Twilight! Do you have a few moments to talk?"
"Certainly. Spike?"
Spike had, upon seeing Rarity, crept closer. If Twilight had not known better, she could have sworn that pink hearts had replaced his normal pupils and irises.
Spike had not yet responded, so Twilight tried again. "Ahem. Spike?"
Still no response. "SPIKE!"
"Huh? What? Oh, hi, Twilight. Didn't see you there. What's up?"
Twilight sighed and face-hoofed. "Did you finish organizing the quills and parchments in the back?"
Spike's head fell. There would not be very much opportunity to gaze upon his crush today, it seemed. "No. I'll just go take care of that, I guess."
Rarity felt sorry for him, but quickly remembered the contents of her saddlebags. "Oh, Spiiiike? Oh, Twilight, I hope you won't mind, but I found that I had a tiny surplus of turquoise, and I simply couldn't help but think of my sweet, little Spikey-wikey..."
Sweet, little Spikey-wikey had proceeded to drool slightly.
"...and I thought, 'Why don't I just give him the surplus?' It isn't 'In' this season anyway, so he would enjoy it the most, probably, and I would then have room for other gems that are all the rage or will be soon. Here you go, Spikey."
She opened her saddlebags, levitated the contents into a nearby empty bowl, and magically nudged the bowl towards Spike, who was, by now, having a significant amount of difficulty not letting the liquid contents of his mouth reach the floor.
"Thanks, Rarity!" He walked out of the room, though whether he had left to organize the quill and parchments, eat the turquoise, or a combination of the two was unknown.
Rarity turned to Twilight and smiled. "I have a small problem that I was hoping you might be able to help me solve."
"Sure, Rarity. Would you like some tea?"
"Oh, that would be simply lovely. Do you have that sweet lemon brew?"
"Yes. Cream or sugar?" asked Twilight from the kitchen.
"Just as is, please."
Twilight brought out the teacups and saucers, tea leaves, tea strainers, and a teapot filled with hot water and began to make the tea.
"How did you heat the water so quickly, Twilight?"
"Oh, it's just a flash heating spell I've been working on lately. I ran across it one day and thought it might be useful. It's pretty easy; first you build up some magic in your horn, then you project a one-way heat transfer amplification field around the object you wish to heat, then you project the built-up magic in your horn onto the field, basically tell it to convert itself from magic energy to heat energy, and the field does the rest if you've set it up right! It'll absorb the heat energy and transfer it to whatever it's surrounding. I've been able to get the amplification efficiency up to 3,000 kilo-Joules transferred for every kilojoule I apply! It's scintillating!"
Rarity blinked twice and took one sip of her tea. "...Delicious."
"So... how can I help you?"
"Ah, yes, well..." Rarity looked around as if to make sure nopony else was listening. "...I've been having nightmares, lately, and for the life of me I simply cannot understand why."
"Really? So I'm not the only one, then."
"Oh, dear, you as well? What have they-"
Rarity's question was cut off as somepony came barreling through one of the library windows at high speed and crashed into the bookshelf on the wall opposite the two Unicorns, yelling all the way.
When the dust had settled, a bright, multi-hued mane unearthed itself from beneath the heap of books. A cyan head followed.
"Hey, guys, what's up?"
Twilight and Rarity looked at each other, and then got up and walked towards Rainbow Dash.
Twilight was the first to speak. Things that sent the library books into complete and utter chaos were so common that she had learned to not panic and simply speed up the efficiency and increase the reliability of her reshelving spell that she had developed after the first few incidents like this. "Are you alright?"
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with her hoof and looked down. "Yeah, just... heh... practicing a new trick. I tried to combine Buccaneer's Blaze with five consecutive Immelmann Turns. Didn't work so well. My head kind of hurts, now."
"Why am I not surprised?" Rarity asked as she rubbed her side. "I really should arrange a special trip to the spa; my sides are telling me that I need a massage."
"My head kinda hurt when I got up this morning, though. I dunno why, but this," she said while pointing to the pile of books that Twilight had already begun to reshelve, "didn't cause it."
Twilight paused in her reshelving efforts. "I don't know if you like tea, Rainbow, but there is some on the table over there if you want it. Rarity, you said your sides were bothering you. Did you just sleep funny last night, or did the pain start around the same time as the nightmares?"
Rarity looked a bit startled. "I... well, now that I think about it, they both began around the same time this last week, but I thought that was simply because I had neglected to get a proper massage. Why ever do you ask, darling?"
Twilight looked thoughtful. "Well, we've both been having nightmares for no apparent reason, and both of our sides hurt, and you just started experiencing this earlier this week?" Rarity nodded in response. "So did I."
Both were silent for a bit. Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Hey, weird. I've been having nightmares for a few nights now, too, but my sides don't hurt. It's my head." The Pegasus looked back and forth between the Unicorns, who were now looking at her oddly. "What?"
Five bangs on the door followed by a creaking sound. "Helloooooooo, everypony!!!"
* * * * * * * * * *
A rooster crowed in the distance.
"Mmph." Applejack rolled out of bed, grabbed her hat, and went downstairs for breakfast.
"Mornin', Mac."
"Eeyup."
Applejack smiled. "Eggs 'n' toast?"
"Eeyup."
Apple Bloom trotted into the kitchen. "Mornin', sis!"
"Good mornin' Apple Bloom! Didjya sleep well last night?"
"You bet. ...Why?"
"Aw, no reason."
Granny Smith hobbled into the kitchen. "Now, Apple Bloom, what did Ah tell you about not washin' yer hooves afore eatin'?"
"But Granny-"
"No 'buts' about it. Git yer tail to that there bathroom and clean yerself up, y'hear?"
Apple Bloom sighed and left. Big Mac and Applejack shared a look. Granny Smith turned towards them and they quickly acted innocent. Applejack did not want Granny to ask her if she had washed her hooves.
Granny fortunately did not think of asking the grown mare such a question and simply sat down at the table. Applejack had always wondered why she needed to go wash her hooves before a meal if she was only going to need to set them on the ground again to get back to the table.
Breakfast was served and the four ponies munched down hungrily.
A few hours later, Applejack had finished with work for the day. She walked back to the house.
Granny Smith was out on the deck in her rocking chair. "Y'done?"
"Yep. Just finished."
"Why don't you go see yer friends fer the rest o' the day?" Big Mac walked up. Granny continued. "Y'been working yerself awful hard, lately; y'should take a break."
"Yer sure?" Applejack asked.
"Eeyup," Big Mac added.
"Alright, then, Ah'll see all y'all later."
"Have fun, dearie!" said Granny.
The walk into Ponyville on a sunny morning like this one was always a pleasant one, whether Applejack was hauling a cart of produce (usually apples) or not.
Fluttershy was also headed into Ponyville.
"Hey, there, 'Shy."
Fluttershy eeped and turned around quickly. "Oh! Good morning, Applejack! You startled me."
"Sorry 'bout that, sugarcube. Where're ya headed?"
"Oh, I'm just returning this book to Twilight. Would you like to come with me? I mean, if you want to..."
"Ah'd love to."
The two mares chatted quietly-- Applejack about the farm, and Fluttershy about the animals. Several minutes passed before they ran into Pinkie Pie.
Or... before Pinkie Pie ran into them. Quite literally.
"HEY GUYS WHAT'S UP???"
Applejack jumped. Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind Applejack, who was quickly recovering. "Pinkie... mornin'. Fluttershy here was jus' headin' down t'the library to drop off this here book, an' Ah have the rest o'the day off, so Ah'm goin' with her."
"Can I come? Huh huh huh?"
"Sure thing!" Applejack said. Fluttershy peeked out from behind Applejack and nodded.
They got to the library. Pinkie banged her head into the door five times and it creaked open. "Helloooooooo, everypony!!!"
* * * * * * * * * *
Twilight was startled by the sudden greeting and dropped all of the books she had been magically gripping. Somehow, there were now more books on the floor than when Rainbow Dash had crashed into the one shelving unit. These sorts of consecutive organizational disasters with seemingly exponential results in severity were another one of those phenomena that she had long ago stopped trying to justify. They just happened, and when they did she simply needed to deal with them.
At least not all of the books were on the floor.
The six friends were quiet until Pinkie Pie spoke up. "So what are we gonna do today? Huh huh huh?"
Twilight smiled as she saw the book Fluttershy had been carrying. "Well, I'm assuming you're here to return that book, Fluttershy." Fluttershy nodded. "So when I finish getting it checked back in, why don't we make a trip to the spa? Rarity mentioned a massage earlier and that sounded like a good idea."
"YES!" Rarity said happily. Most of the others were happy about the idea, as well.
Not everypony was happy about the suggestion, though. "Aww, seriously?" Rainbow Dash groaned.
"You said something about a slight headache earlier, Rainbow. They might have a solution for that."
"...Yeah?"
"Have you ever heard of acupuncture?" Rainbow Dash looked clueless. Twilight proceeded to explain to Rainbow Dash exactly what acupuncture was and what it was supposed to do.
Rainbow's mouth was hanging open when she was finished. "That. Is. Totally. Hardcore! I'm in!"
"Great! Let's go!" Twilight exclaimed. She looked back at the books on the floor. "If my friends and I aren't here, this mess can't get any worse. I'll just take care of it later," she thought.
The girls arrived back at the library in the evening after spending the day out on the town just in time to see the last remaining book on the shelf fall to the floor.
"...so much for my official re-shelving day being yesterday," muttered Twilight. "Suspicion formed: there is a source of chaos magic in this library that I don't know about." She saw Spike sprawled out on the floor asleep surrounded by crumbs of turquoise. He belched contentedly. Rarity grimaced.
"Uhh, Twilight?"
"Yes, Applejack?"
"Wouldja like some help cleanin' up 'round here?"
Twilight turned around and looked at her friends. They looked like they genuinely wanted to help.
"Sure, everypony. Thank you so much! Wow, this should go so much more quickly with all of--"
Three suspiciously regal knocks at the door.
"...who could that be at this hour?"
Twilight magically opened the door to reveal both Princesses waiting to come inside.
"Good evening, Twilight!" said Princess Celestia. "I see you've had a busy day! May we come in?"
The place was a mess and the six mares simply froze as they were.
(To Be Continued...)
Author's Notes: And I thought my room has been bad on occasion... ahem.
Achievement Unlocked: Pre-reader acquired. Special thanks to Glassed!
If anyone else also wants to help with the proof-reading part of editing, let me know! Not that that person couldn't pre-read at all. It kind of comes with the package. ^_^ (EDIT: The Equestrian Gentlecolt is my proofreader now! Kudos and many thanks to you, good sir!)
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