Prompt: The mane six all wake up in Sugarcube Corner after a wild night. But everypony remembers last night differently.
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Her head hurt.
That wasn’t altogether uncommon – long nights reading in the library by candlelight meant she almost always had a low grade headache. But this was a different feeling altogether – it was like a pressure in her head, squeezing her brain like a vice. She felt like she was going to explode. By Celestia, what was wrong with her? And why was she so cold?
She tried to pull her blanket closer around her only to discover it gone. In its place was something much squishier, if just as warm. That seemed odd. Not the change in the physical properties of what was clearly not her blanket – that just meant somepony was cuddled up to her. No, what was curious was how calm she felt. Normally she would have been slightly disturbed, eager to investigate. But today, it seemed, was not a normal day – she didn’t feel at all worried, or unhappy. She just felt a little dizzy.
Slowly the unicorn opened her eyes and looked around her. A prickling of unease rose up, quite suddenly, and again she was surprised by her own apathy – perhaps she was in shock? It seemed logical, given the still smouldering debris that lay scattered around her, decorated here and there with strands of confetti and three unconscious ponies. Four ponies, total – Rainbow Dash, it appeared, had somehow been imbedded in what remained of the roof and was shouting loudly, panicking. Another voice, softer and calmer, was talking to her and – Twilight Sparkle assumed – trying to get her free.
That accounted for Fluttershy. And Applejack was on top of that shelf over there, Rarity passed out – with one foreleg draped dramatically over her forehead and a cushion beneath her – in the center of the room. She was drooling, just a little. And Fluttershy was draped over Twilight Sparkle, face buried in her side and tears streaming – Twilight blinked.
Okay. That meant Pinkie was on the roof, trying to help Rainbow Dash. That was okay – she was allowed to be wrong sometimes, and in her defense it was slightly odd for Pinkie not to be the one shouting.
“Where am I?” She wondered aloud, and the Pegasus at her side snapped her head up and threw her forelegs around her neck.
“Twilight! You’re awake! I was so worried!” Twilight nodded calmly. That made sense. Fluttershy was often worried, though why she felt the need to announce it this time eluded the unicorn.
“I’m okay, Fluttershy. Are you? You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Well…um….I think I’m okay.” The Pegasus squeaked, “I was just a little startled when it backfired, that’s all….I’m um…I’m not used to explosions.”
Fluttershy hung her head, blushing as though not being used to explosions was some terrible failing, and Twilight hugged her. She herself was plenty used to explosions, but not everypony was – as her neighbours had been quick to inform her, when she had moved in. “It’s okay, Fluttershy. I don’t think anypony could reasonably think you’d be used to explosions. But…what backfired?”
“You…don’t remember?” A tilt of the head – usually a signal of confusion, or curiousity. Also unreasonably adorable. “But…you…and Pinkie…with Dash!” Fluttershy stared at her earnestly, as though that explained everything.
“Right.” Twilight said, dryly. “That explains everything. Lets wake up Applejack. She’ll know what happened.”
The apple pony, it turned out, did in fact know what had happened. This became quite clear when she slammed a hoof into Twilight’s face, and began yelling. Twilight was aware, dimly, that she should be upset by that. Yes. She was definitely in shock. “What were you thinking!?” Her friend roared at her, “I expect that kinda thing from them two up there, but not from you! You’re meant to be the smart one!”
She was meant to be the smart one. There really wasn’t any arguing with that. So she opted instead for another tactic – she put on her best Fluttershy impression, blinking up at the earth pony, and whimpered “Applejack, I don’t know what I did!” There were even tears. She was ninety percent sure that they weren’t real tears, but she didn’t remember trying to fake them. Odd.
“Oh, for goodness sake Applejack. Get off the poor girl – can’t you see she’s in shock? You’re frightening her. And this is all your fault, anyway.” That was Rarity, of course. Rarity would save her. Rarity was nice. “If you hadn’t encouraged her idiocy we wouldn’t be in this mess!” Rarity would save her. Rarity was a jerk, but Rarity would save her.
“Now wait just a minute – don’t you go blamin’ me for this! It wasn’t me who –“ If Applejack had sounded angry before, now she was furious. She was also cut off mid-sentence by Rarity, doing her best Applejack impression. Twilight noted that it wasn’t a terribly good Applejack impression, but logic suggested that Rarity was doing her best – Rarity did her best at everything.
“Well golly gee gosh, Twilight, do you really think you can launch these here apples all the way to my farm!? Sure would save me a lot of walking, even though I was just trying to talk you out of it and complaining about how dangerous it would be!” She nodded “As such, it must be an absolutely wonderful idea!”
Rarity has started out speaking calmly, though there had been an edge in her voice. Now she was yelling, and tears were forming in her eyes. “Did it not occur to you, in that tiny little head of yours, that Twilight has never been drunk!? Did it not occur to you that pushing her to do something she knew was a bad idea while she was dancing around the room with a wine glass balanced on her muzzle was unbelievably stupid!?”
“Listen here, princess –“
“No!” She stomped a hoof against the ground and narrowed her eyes at the earth pony. When she spoke again she just sounded tired. “We could have died, Applejack – that’s not me exaggerating. Look at this place. You’re all just lucky I hadn’t had anything to drink – if that delightfully stupid alligator hadn’t put me off Pinkie’s beverages I’d never have been able to cast that spell.”
Okay. So, ignoring the lies Rarity was spouting about her dancing - which was technically remarkable and followed all the rules of the books she had read on the subject – what did that leave? She had allegedly done something stupid, though that seemed unlikely, her friends couldn’t be trusted to keep her lack of a social life secret, and apparently Rarity had saved all their lives, somehow. There was also a nagging fear that she had forgotten to check her punch for alligator related contaminants.
“Rarity.” The unicorn didn’t answer, having already spun on a hoof and started away. She didn’t get very far – Fluttershy stopped her, and hugged her. And then Rarity was crying, and Applejack was looking very ashamed. That was good – nopony should ever hit a friend, even if that friend was an insensitive jerk who wasn’t worried for her crying friend. Except she was, wasn’t she? She could tell from the way she suddenly wanted to vomit and cry, even if the feelings themselves were absent.
Gently she lifted Applejack off of her with magic, and dropped her – maybe a little roughly – back to the ground before heading over to speak with the other unicorn.
“Rarity?” She began - and then stopped immediately, as Fluttershy caught her eye and shook her head slowly, never stopping the soothing flow of words she was saying – except, Twilight noted, to kiss Rarity squarely on the muzzle. Twilight frowned at that. She hadn’t noticed any feelings between the two mares before – they hadn’t been exhibiting any of the classic signs of infatuation, and she knew all of them off by heart –
“Ummm, Twilight?” A bright pink hoof danced back and forth in front of her eyes, and was followed rapidly by a rather dull, though still breathtaking, pair of delightfully blue eyes. They normally made Twilight smile, but today they looked empty. And the voice accompanying them was uncharacteristically hesitant – Pinkie Pie was afraid, or sad, and she needed Twilight to make things better. Normally, this would be a dream come true – technically it still was, but something about the fact it had cost Pinkie Pie her home made it hard to feel good about.
“What is it, Pinkie Pie? Are you okay?”
The other pony blinked at her, as though she had asked the world’s stupidest question. This was, Twilight decided, probably because she had just asked the world’s stupidest question. The Pink Pony still nodded though, and offered Twilight a little smile. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Don’t you worry, Twilight – Pinkie Pie always lands on her hooves. Eventually.” Then she glanced up, and added “But I think Dashie’s gonna land on her cute little butt –“ She paused for a moment, to give the ensnared pegasus a chance to hurl expletives down at her, and then continued, “- real soon if we don’t help her. The roof is coming apart. I was hoping you could catch her, maybe?”
Of course. Of course that was what she wanted. Twilight remembered now. Bits, anyways. She remembered Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down, excited at the prospect of finally launching a pony – a real one – out of the party cannon. She remembered Dash, standing proudly atop the monstrousity, swaying slightly due to her intoxication. She remembered the way Pinkie’s face had lit up when Twilight had suggested making the whole thing more awesome – bringing more bang. She lived for that expression.
She remembered Pinkie giving Dash a good luck kiss – a very good luck kiss indeed, and a very long one – before letting her climb into the cannon. And then there was only confetti.
For just a moment, she considered letting Rainbow Dash hit the ground. She deserved it, for stealing Pinkie’s heart away. She and Pinkie were more compatible, darn it – how many famous couples consisted of a straightmare and her goofy sidekick? Twilight didn’t actually know. But she bet it was a lot. And she bet there were far fewer functional couples in which both partners were goofy lunatics. She also wondered, just briefly, if she might be biased. But that was impossible – she was a scholar. Twilight Sparkle was never biased.
She sighed. It felt good, to hear real emotion come from her. Of course she would catch Dash. Of course – Dash was her friend an she would never let her get seriously hurt. Especially not when she could stop it. Not even the sound of splintering wood could distract her from her task. Nor could the sound of Rainbow Dash screaming as she plummeted down towards her just – oh, that wasn’t good.
At the last possible second her horn flared, and Dash stopped, suspended in midair. She didn’t stop screaming quite as quickly. That was unsurprising – her wings were trapped in the piece of ceiling that had fallen loose with her, and falling like that with no control had to be new to someone as brilliant and amazing and perfect as Rainbow Dash apparently was. Stupid Rainbow Dash. Her yelling was hurting Twilight’s head, like her Pinkie-stealing hurt her heart. Twilight decided to stop it.
She hugged the Pegasus and held her for a moment. “It’s okay, Rainbow. You’re among friends. We’re here for you.” Slowly, the Pegasus calmed. First she stopped screaming. Then she loosened her hold on the unicorn. Then she whispered a thank you. And finally she shoved Twilight away, angrily announcing that she didn’t like mushy stuff. That was normal. And it was good. Twilight felt good.
It was good to know that even if she kind of hated Dash right now, she still loved her a whole lot more. They were still friends. Neither Pinkie nor Dash was going to race away on rainbow contrail made of awesome and parties. She still had them. And they were still the same. She smiled, a little bit of happiness seeping back into her, and pushed herself up – only to immediately be tackled by Pinkie Pie, who peppered her face with tiny kisses as Dash fell over, laughing hysterically.
“Pinkie!” Twilight giggled, “Enough!” She grinned at her friends – all her friends – and looked around her. “We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want this place cleaned up for the party tonight!”