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Chapter 4

As Rarity and Fluttershy left the spa, the Unicorn couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. The sort of beauty that the fashionista had to spend substantial time, money, and effort to achieve, the shy Pegasus apparently had naturally. Fluttershy bought her shampoo from Barnyard Bargains, for heavens’ sake!

Her train of thought was interrupted by a rumbling, felt more than heard.

“Fluttershy, did you feel that?”

The rumbling intensified. The ponies in the town square started looking around and murmuring to each other.

“Oh my, I hope it’s not an earthq-” Fluttershy began, before a familiar voice interrupted her.

“HEYRARITYHEYFLUTTERSHYWOWEVERYTHINGSALLBLURRYIWASTRYINGANEWRECIPEFORULTRADOUBLEDELUXESUGARSNACKSBUTTHEYWERESOGOODSOIATETWOBATCHESBUTTHEYMADEMETHIRSTYANDTHECAKESHAVEANEWCOFFEEMACHINEITHINKITSCALLEDEXPRESSOANDSOIMADESOMEBUTTHEREWASNTHARDLYANYSOIMADEFIVESERVINGSANDNOWITHINKICANSEETIME!!!”

Pinkie Pie was a blur, bouncing up and down incredibly fast as she darted back and forth. It was obvious that her vibration was the cause of the rumbling.

“Pinkie! Slow down, I can’t understand a word you’re saying!”

“WOWRARITYYOURVOICESOUNDSREALLYDEEPANDWHYAREYOUTALKINGSOSLOWICANTUNDERSTANDYOUOKAYIMGOINGTOGOSEEIFRAINBOWDASHWANTSTORACEANDTHENITHINKIMGOINGTOMAKEMOREEXPRESSOANDSUGARSNACKSIFEELREALLYGOODRIGHTNOW!!!” With that, the baker took off in a blur, leaving her friends staring after her.

“What just happened?”

***

Rainbow Dash finished washing up by pouring the bucket of water onto herself. Practicing done for the day, the polychromatic pegasus was looking forward to a nice nap. It was at that moment that a pink blur materialized in front of her.

“Huh?”

“HEYDASHIEWANNARACE?!?” Dash raised an eyebrow.

“Pinkie, you know I love to race, but I just finished my routine. I-”

“WHYISEVERYONETALKINGFUNNYTODAYISITTALKDEEPANDSLOWDAYANDNOPONYTOLDMENOITCANTBETHATISNTUNTILNEXTMONTHOHMYGOSHDIDITRAVELINTOTHEFUTURENOIFIDIDTHEDOCTORWOULDHAVESENTMEBACKLIKELASTTIMENOEVERYONESJUSTSLOWANDBORINGIMGOINGTOGOSEEIFAPPLEJACKNEEDSANYHELPOKAYOKAYBYEDASHIE!!!”

***

Thunk-thudthudthud. Thunk-thudthudthud. Applejack relaxed as she hit her stride. There was a certain rhythm to applebucking that most ponies didn’t seem to understand, that you could just settle into the rhythm and the apples would just fall straight into your buckets. Even Macintosh sometimes had trouble with it, substituting sheer brute strength to make up for any deficits in skill, but Applejack had never had any such trouble.

“What in tarnation?”

“HIAPPLEJACKHOWAREYOUYOULOOKREALLYBUSYANDYOUSOUNDFUNNYTOOISEVERYPONYSICKDOYOUNEEDANYHELPIREALLYWANNADOSOMETHINGFUNWHYISNTMACINTOSHHEREHELPINGYOUIMBOREDHUHIFEELFUNNYANDkinda...tired…” Like a switch had been thrown, the pink party pony collapsed to the ground.

“Uh, Pinkie?” Applejack gently poked her friend. “Are y’alright?” Another, harder poke. “Pinkie!” A shake, as the cowpony started to get nervous.

In response, Pinkie rolled onto her side and started snoring. Applejack facehoofed.

“Applejack!” It would have been a shout, except that Applejack wasn’t actually sure Fluttershy could raise her voice loud enough to be called a shout. If she could, Applejack had never heard it. “I don’t mean to bother you, but have you seen Pinkie Pie? We saw her coming in this direction and...oh.” She had clearly just caught sight of the sleeping pony. “Oh my. Is she okay?”

“Ah dunno.” Applejack shrugged. “She just appeared an’ started yellin’, an’ then she jest fell over an’ started snoozin’. Ya wanna help me get her ta th’ barn so she ain’t just lyin’ here?”

***

Pinkie Pie groggily fought her way back to consciousness. That wasn't how it was supposed to happen, she was supposed to spring out of bed like a spring-loaded pony (though she'd forgiven Feather Stuffed at the mattress store for not having any spring mattresses that actually worked like that) and wide awake (though why they called it wide awake when she wasn't any wider than she usually was- maybe it had something to do with how Mrs. Cake sometimes complained about feeling fat in the mornings. That was silly, how could you feel fat, you either were fat or you weren't, though obviously calling ponies fat was a good way to get them to be angry, so Pinkie didn't do that anymore). She delivered an eloquent verbal summary of her train of thought, alongside an inquiry into the unusual nature of her waking.

"Mmphrgl"

That didn't work as well as it should have.

"Whrpnd?"

"Huh-Wha? Oh, hey, you're waking up!" That was Rainbow Dash! And that was clearly a waking-up noise! How come Rainbow Dash could wake up so fast? Wait. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie? Waking up? Together?

Had they had a sleepover? Had Pinkie Pie forgotten a sleepover? A quick check of her memory banks (that was a good phrase, memory banks. You were always making deposits into your memory bank, and then when you needed to remember something you withdrew it. But what was interest? Obviously it wasn't interest going on in the memories…unless…everypony knew if you were interested in something you paid attention to it…Ohmygosh! I need to tell Rainbow Dash! Hang on, wasn't there something-?) indicated that there hadn't been a sleepover, and that Pinkie had in fact fallen asleep while talking to Applejack (That had been rude. Pinkie resolved to throw Applejack an apology party). Oh well, somepony would surely explain things to her.

Shaking her head, the pink pony forced herself awake and upright. She was in Applejack's barn, with Rainbow Dash looking curiously at her.

"Hiya, Rainbow Dash! What happened?" The Pegasus quirked an eyebrow at her friend.

"That's what we were wondering too. You were zipping around like crazy and then you just fell asleep in front of Applejack, and then Rarity and Fluttershy and I were following you because you were acting funny." She paused to consider this. "Well, weirder than usual. And you didn't even wake up when AJ threw a bucket of water on you, and we couldn't just leave you there. I didn't have anything else to do, so they had me keep an eye on you, but then, well, I… guess I kinda sorta fell asleep myself."
Pinkie thought for a moment.

"Is today Talk Deep And Slow Day?"

"Uh…no?"

"Oh, okay! It must have been me, then. I ate a bunch of Ultra Double-Deluxe Sugar Snacks, and then I drank a bunch of the special coffee from the new coffee machine because I noticed I accidentally used the caffeinated sugar Mr. Cake ordered by mistake and told me never to use ever under any circumstances. Expresso is like decaf, right?"
Both of Rainbow Dash's hooves met her face.

Author's Note:

I've had this written for a while now, but honestly, my muse for this story seems to have gone into hibernation. I'll try and revisit it someday, but right now I just want the load off my back.

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