1- In which Twilight examines Fluttershy more closely than she's ordinarily comfortable with

That Shrinking Feeling
By Professor Blue
Dedicated to Ingrid

~1~

In which Twilight examines Fluttershy more closely than she’s ordinarily comfortable with

“…So they change their color depending on where and when they hatch. Have you ever seen a caterpillar turn into a real butterfly?”

“You mean all those fuzzy worms on the plants are actually unhatched butterflies? Ugh! Blech!” said Rarity, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“Well, I’d think that you of all ponies would know beauty can come from the most unexpected places, Rarity.” said Fluttershy. Rarity’s forced wretch stopped as she thought of Fluttershy’s rebuttal. It was true that her cutie mark’s spell operated from the very notion Fluttershy had indicated, and so likewise her fashion inspirations sourced. Before Rarity could continue her pondering, suddenly a trail of a rainbow dashed across ahead of them and into a bush with a loud crash and rustle of the leaves.

“Speaking of things coming from unexpected places.” said Rarity, happily surprised by the arrival of Rainbow Dash.

“Urh- that one’ll need practice..” said Rainbow, stepping out of the shrubbery and completely unfazed by her less than graceful landing. She looked to Fluttershy, already putting her failed trick out of mind. “Hey, ‘you headed to the meadow yet?”

“Already on our way.” replied Fluttershy.

“Rainbow Dash is coming along?” asked Rarity.

“Fluttershy said she’d show me where a harrier lives, so I could try out their flying technique.” Rainbow dramatically posed her hooves. “Picture it: hovering without flapping your wings. It’d be like levitating! Why, are you coming, Rarity?”

“I was struck by inspiration- I was watering my orchids this morning when a butterfly came along and landed on one of them. Its color and form matched so perfectly that I simply had to pursue anything I could for more fashion ideas from butterflies! They’re simply fabulous!” She pulled up a small sewn pattern that showed a butterfly-like silhouette, out of orange and yellow fabric with a gold-like thread. “Do you like it? It’s something I pulled together.”

“Huh.” Rainbow Dash said with a deadpan expression and a shrug. Rarity’s smile winced at Dash’s appraisal as she started to consider her work. “Oh- I mean, it’s great Rarity.” Dash decided not to give a voice to her opinions of the Migration that Fluttershy so highly adored.

“It’s lovely.” complimented Fluttershy. The three of them continued on, talking of flying things and their respective wonders. The merry mood of the town was a typical one as they passed other groups of ponies enjoying the day with their own pleasantries; a thrown ball, an enjoying of ice cream, an exchange over the newspaper, or a rest on the parks benches. They went beyond the park and past a few houses, and eventually into the minor crowd of the market place, full of those contented with the trades of bits and bargains.
Beyond the market place they walked and talked until their paths crossed with the nigh-absent-minded reading of Twilight Sparkle, holding a gray scroll at quite an awkward distance to read- perhaps she was examining a picture that was best discerned with a bit of perspective. She continued with a wide smile on her lips and a quite fixated gaze.

“Hey Twilight!” started Dash. Twilight looked away from her scroll, turning her head carefully as if she had something stuck on the end of her nose.

“Hi Rainbow, hey Rarity, Fluttershy.” Twilight narrowly squinted at each of them.

“Something wrong? You’re looking funny.” said Rainbow, remarking on how Twilight was visibly having a difficult time focusing on them.

“Can’t you see?” said Rarity, trying to catch Twilights odd focal movements with bobbing her head. Fluttershy somewhat tried to shy away from Twilight’s determined gaze.

“Oh right.” started Twilight. A tiny puff of magic wisped away from her horn and Twilight seemed to observe them normally after a few blinks. “I was trying out some new spells. I was reading these notes far away because I was trying out a long distance detail spell.”

“Neato.” replied Rainbow.

“I know! I’ve been trying all sorts of stuff like this. I’ve been studying magic from Wizzawink the Wonderous. In his later years he started experimenting in medicine magic, and I was testing from this one…” Twilight looked backwards, rummaging in her rucksack with her magic. “Oh, looks like I left it behind. Anyways, I was using this page from one of his note collections. ‘Visual Unusual & Other Practical Spells’.” She lifted the parchment to their view. “It’s a lot of fun!”

“Visual Unusual?” said Rarity.

“Eye spells. Well, mostly. Wizzawink didn’t organize his research very well and his pen-work is pretty bad, but I can make it out pretty easily. Look at this.” said Twilight. Her horn began to glow with a bright intensity. A little flash appeared in front of Rarity’s face.

“What in the world?” Rarity said, noting that seemingly nothing had happened apart from surprising her a little. She looked to the side and saw Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s reactions were both equally surprised, but with no mark of fear or disgust. Her astonishment reflected that, trusting Twilight had not done ill of her mane (like that Trixie had in the past, Rarity thought). She looked back to Twilight who had procured a mirror from her saddle bag. Looking into the reflective glass, Rarity ‘s mouth went agape as she saw that her irises had turned from their enamouring sapphire blue into a brilliant purple that looked identical to her mane. She exclaimed in amazement, “My eyes!”
There was another little flash, and Rarity’s eyes returned to their normal coloration.

“There’s a bunch of these kinds of spells.” Twilight said.

“That’s cool. We’re headed to Skipper Meadows, maybe you’d like to come along.” offered Rainbow Dash, jumping up and hovering over them. “I want to try and copy some moves off of a harrier.”

“And we’re going to examine butterflies.” Fluttershy said. Rarity continued excitedly,

“I simply must get more of these fluttershies! I -I mean butterflies.” she stumbled.

“Wanna come?” Rainbow asked, directed at Twilight.

“Sure! I’d be able to get lots more experiments done with these visual spells if we do some bird watching or butterfly-finding.”

“Splendid, we’ll make the day of it.” said Rarity. The four continued on their way past the edge of the tented marketplace. It occurred to Twilight that her agreement to their invitation would not be so if she was still in the state of mind where oh-so-long-ago she always had many researches and “studying to catch up on” and she laughed in her mind at how things had changed through time, all for the better.

The conversation ebbed and blurred between their four topics of interest as they passed the old town train station, past a small row of short trees and over a green knoll, beyond which lay the gently rolling hills of Skipper Meadows- a small plain off to one side of the town.
It looked like a rippled lake of shimmering green. Here and there it was speckled with smallish flowers or taller grass and the transient flit of butterflies between them. Fluttershy pointed out near the middle of the wide space sat the home of the harrier, a stoic looking tree with broad branches and being slowly engulfed by ivy at the base of the trunk, with a nest resting on a larger limb on one side. A zephyr calmly brushed past the idyllic flow of the meadow, painting waves into the grass.

“Not all that much wind... probably too little to support a glide.” regarded Dash, looking up at the sky. “It’ll be a bit stronger higher up.”

“C’mon, Rainbow. I’ll introduce you,” said Fluttershy gently. The two of them headed towards the tree. “Then we can start looking for the butterflies you want by what color you’d like, Rarity.”

“Ooh, let’s.” said Rarity, following in the direction of Fluttershy with a keen eye on all the lazy motions of the butterflies.

“And I’ll see if I can get a good binocular spell to get a better view of the surroundings.” said Twilight, pulling up the bit of paper again. She read to herself quietly and they ventured on.
As they passed over the small rounded hills of the pasture, one small dip became deceptively deep, seeming to continue at normal grassy depth, but the long stalks of greenery hid the hollow. Rainbow Dash flew past as was her usual method of transport, and it was easy for the others to see as they walked through the broad bowl of deepened plants. The grass unexpectedly but harmlessly came up to about shoulder height. However ponies did well to keep their eyes on where they are going.

“Mind the mud, Twilight.” said Rarity. Forever fastidious on the avoidance of filth, her path curved as she neared the bottom of the basin, keeping away from its lowest point.

“Huh?” responded Twilight, her eyes just as entrenched in reading as her body was submerged in tall grass. Before Rarity could reply, Twilight stepped into a small puddle hidden in the greenery, a patch of mud probably no deeper than an inch. “Aw, yechk.” she remarked at the minor mess of her front hoof. A few more of her steps more carefully tread and intentionally wiped against the grass rendered it clean. They arrived at the old oak, the grass around still now only a half-leg’s height. Rainbow Dash was most eager to fly up and greet the harrier.

“I’ll go up first, Rainbow.” said Fluttershy, “Mr. Harrier can be pretty temperamental, he often behaves like an eagle.”

“Okay, but I can’t wait much longer,” said Dash eagerly. “I want to try this out! I still gotta come up for a name for it too… Wingless flight? Beatless glide? ‘Levitation’ just doesn’t fit.”

“Don’t forget me down here,” said Rarity as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ascended towards the branch that held the nest. “I still remember what you told me about that ‘Blue Morpho’ Fluttershy, and I so want to find one…” she said, looking around. For some odd reason at the back of Rainbow Dash’s mind it occurred to her that she was forgetting something. But obviously something of little importance if she had such difficulty recalling it.

“Eureka!” said Twilight. “I found a spell we can all use for a little while- I was trying to find a binocular spell and think I’ve got a winner. ‘Hawk’ly Vision on one’s mind, long-sought sights you gain in kind.’ When we want to see something far away, our eyes will work like binoculars, and when it’s normally close, our eyes will work like normal.”

“Charming!” Rarity said.

“That sounds useful.” said Fluttershy, midway up her course to the nest. The harrier popped its head up and flew off. Rainbow watched as it seemed to move backwards a little, and otherwise upwards, like a kite with very small wing movements against the feeble but relatively constant wind.

“It’s too far away to get a good view of how it’s doing that.” she said, looking carefully at its movements while the bird continued to drift away.

“Rainbow Dash, down here, I have a spell for that.” said Twilight. Rainbow landed, smiling with anticipation.

“Lay it on me.”

“’Here goes.” said Twilight, reading intently from the scroll. Her horn glowed brilliantly, building an increasingly thick bubble of power with small sparkling sprites pulling from out of the air towards it. Twilight’s magic caused a familiar sensation to her, but suddenly her horn felt a soft-ish snap, like a sock pulled tight over the leg. With an energetic swirl that shot through the air and arced at the bodies of each of her friends, they all instantly shrank like popped balloons, each to the size of a marble, midair.

“Uh oh.”

“AAAAAAH!!!”

Twilight plummeted from what appeared to be a dizzying height probably higher than a tower in Canterlot, from a world whose scale was so alien she didn’t even comprehend that she was still in the meadow. All was just a blur as she fell faster and faster, tumbling, spinning and losing her orientation, until she was caught by the flat edge of a blade of grass that bent under her motion. She slid down rapidly as it turned downwards into a little slide that she rode until she rolled onto the dirt ground with a rough collapse. “Oghaoff!-”

Fluttershy had remained flying after being shrunk, but had immediately seized up with fear with the world around her suddenly becoming so enormous, and by immediate following thought, how high up she suddenly was. Her wings locked in and she fell with a yelp. Rainbow Dash was equally astonished but quickly took stock of the sudden appearance of that nearest to her- a very tiny, very scared, and very falling

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Rainbow shot towards her, both hooves thrown forwards in a shocking acceleration, forcing past a disc of pressure and a sharp clap was heard as she scooped her out of the air just above the hard wood of one of the roots of the oak. Rainbow Dash turned her flight to a smooth curve around the tree as Fluttershy meekly opened her eyes and started to see as Dash did- a miniature Sonic Rainboom was evidenced by a thin rainbow contrail following them. Rainbow Dash slowed, flying in an arcing pattern until her speed was something Fluttershy would be able to fly alongside. They both approached the tree as they summarized to one another the giant world of the meadow beneath them, and hovered over where they had just been standing, near the dark thick trunk, looking downwards for evidence of their friends.

Rarity screamed as she fell until she hit something obtusely soft and was barely able to get a single glimpse of the dragonfly that she’d landed back-first on top of- which caused her to scream all the more. It fell a small distance with her before she rolled off and landed on the cap of a vaguely white mushroom about twice her size with a puff! She rolled off the fungi and onto the ground in a sort of relaxation, eyes pressed shut in certainty that she had died or similar such drama. There she lay, in convinced in her resignation to her fate, inaudibly whimpering to herself for a moment, before she opened her eyes.

“I’m alive!” she exclaimed happily.

A small distance away, Twilight shook her head and stood to regain her wits, looking around at the unexpected new environment. The ground was dirt as per usual, but it was as if the detail had been greatly enhanced and thickened. The tall grass that was so fine and spindly when they stood near the tree, now seemed a verdant forest of thin trunks of green as fine and upwardly as cedars. The sky was still its normal blue, showing through a fibery canopy, but the nearby tree instead of simply “a little bigger than normal” seemed “wholly monstrous” in proportions. She saw her saddle pack hovering above, where she used to be, and realized it was still plummeting towards her with alarming speed. She sprinted away from where she landed, and the rucksack landed with all the mighty force of a few books and fabric landing on grass almost exactly where she was naught an instant before. To Twilight the crash of the bag was enormous, despite appearing at a distance rather anticlimactic with the cushioning effect of fabric on grass.

“Oh my gosh, what just happened?” her mind began racing. Obviously some magic gone awry, but what would be complete consequence? She shouted, trying to regain some grasp of the moment. “RARITY! RAINBOW DASH! FLUTTERSHY!” Twilight listened intently for a response but none came, apart from a small skittering sound and the brustle of some of the stalks of the grass. She turned towards the source of the sound. “Fluttershy?”

A pillbug strolled out of the dense forestry of the grass in a skittering stroll. Twilight gasped, but then realized her scale and better realized what might’ve just happened, as she observed the insect crawl by slowly. It was standing not much less than knee-height, despite that normally a pillbug might be a disgustingly mistaken raisin or a tiny pebble in proper terms of size. She gave it a kick and it rolled up into a defensive ball.

“I’ve shrunk.” she realized fully. Never to lose her head in case of weirdness, she let all her stress out in worry for her friends and continued calling out, remaining relatively close and within sight of the fallen pack.“RAINBOW DASH! RARITY! FLUTTERSHY!”

“Hmm?” Rarity looked up and started realize the magnitude of her smallness, immediately forsaking her former consideration of her fall for the curiosity of the thick grass blades. In the cool quiet of the grass, she recognized a voice calling her name and others, despite the muffling distance and impeding foliage. “Twilight?” Rarity called back. She walked in the direction of where she thought she heard the voice, eventually coming upon a giant back pack. She repeated her response, standing on the top of the spine of a protruding bluish text.

“Rarity!”

“What’s happened? Everything’s enormous!”

“I’ll say!” said Rainbow, descending alongside Fluttershy through the limits of the grass above. “Why the hay is everything so huge?”

“This isn’t right at all! We were supposed to have our vision enhance- not enhance the whole world!” said Twilight, scrambling up to the top of the pack. The others watched as she tried to use a spell to pull a book out of the pannier, but her effort failed to produce anything, even a budge of the paper. “No! My magic doesn’t work!”

“Neither does mine.” said Rarity, failing to pick up a bit of gravel nearby. Her horn's glow sputtered like a choked garden hose, and made a most unappealing sensation. Twilight suddenly leapt over the side of the pack, onto the ground nearby where the scroll lay, partly unwound. She began reading it quietly, mostly to herself, trotting from one side to the other for her parsing through the words. “‘Hawk’ly Vision on one’s mind… Magnification spell, this should be right!” Twilight said, frustrated. She began reading again as Rainbow Dash flew closer, and Fluttershy landed near Rarity. “Magnification spell… …?...Force my pony’s scale littler, Change us all to miniature? Augh!”

“What is it dear?” Rarity approached Twilight to try and retain some stability of the moment’s thought.

“I read it wrong, I’m such a dummy!” berated Twilight, lurching away from the paper and looks of her friends. “It’s not a Magnifying spell, it’s a Microfication spell! Now we’re all tiny, and I didn’t even copy down how to reverse it!”

“How can we reverse it then?” asked Fluttershy softly. Twilight bounded up the pack, standing on the highest point. Seen through some of the edges of the grasstops, she could see the peaks of the tallest buildings in ‘nearby’ Ponyville.

“Visual Unusual is back in the Library. We have to get there if we ever want to return to normal. But if we’re little like this, it might take us all day to get there. Assuming we don’t get squashed or kicked or who knows what else.” ascertained Twilight with a frown. In her mind there was a complex of thoughts that insulted her and whinged at the simplicity of the explanation to their shrinkage. “I’m an idiot. One tiny mistake and now we’re all tiny and could be in a lot of trouble.” She said, climbing down.

“You can say that again!” exclaimed Dash angrily. “It’ll take forever to get back to the library! You screwed up big time, Twilight!” The lavender unicorn felt as if she wanted to shrink even more, her frustration compounded by Rainbow’s words.

“…It could be wor-” Fluttershy suddenly found a hoof stuffed in her mouth, Rainbow Dash preventing her from speaking with a frown. Twilight looked at her friends dejectedly, silently searching for words to say in her own defense. Rarity looked at her disdainfully, but her look was interrupted by a shadow that passed behind Twilight. She looked up and saw another butterfly pass overhead, and it suddenly reminded her of Fluttershy’s earlier words.

“Beauty can come from the most unexpected places…” She said, the words rolling over her tongue in similar fashion to how the thought was still rolling around in her mind. Rainbow looked at her.

“What?”

“It is Twilight’s fault, you’re right Rainbow,” reinforced Rarity. “But what good is blaming her if she’s the only one that can help us?”

“She’s gotta help us get back to normal size, because this is her fault.” said Rainbow, annoyed at both Rarity’s reply and the fact’s simplicity.

“Isn’t that just pointing out the obvious?” said Rarity. Dash’s frown deepened, and Rarity continued. “Playing the blame game doesn’t solve anything, so we may as well make the best out of what we have.”

“Why?”

“Which would you rather do? Think about all the things you could do while you’re small, or complain about being small until you’re normal again?” Rainbow Dash hovered in place, considering Rarity’s words.

“…I could pull off a few pranks like this…” she said. Her mind slowly turned from irritation to amusement as she imagined possible jokes that only a bird-sized being could accomplish. Her face changed to a delighted smirk and she rubbed her forehooves together mischievously.

“And I’m already getting all sorts of inspiration.” said Rarity, looking around the lawn they stood in.

“I could talk with some of the animals, maybe they can help us.” offered Fluttershy softly. Twilight’s despondent contemplation faded in reaction to her friends.

“But this is all my fault.”

“Friends forgive friends.” said Rarity generously with a gentle smile. “It’s just a little accident- accidents happen.” She gave Twilight a consoling nudge.

“And I might not get to practice with the harrier, but at least whatever we get into today should be fun...” said Rainbow, landing beside.

“Well then.” said Twilight, her countenance returning. “Let’s go.”

“To the Library!”

~
Impending upon Chapter 2: The actions of Derpy Hooves (however honorably intended) are of an imperiling sort

2- In which the actions of Derpy Hooves (however honorably intended) are of an imperiling sort

View Online

~2~

In which the actions of Derpy Hooves (however honorably intended) are of an imperiling sort

Rainbow Dash flew above the canopy of the grass, looking out to the surroundings of Skipper Meadows. True to the estimation of Twilight, their carefree walk from Ponyville had now become quite the long trek to cover. It was then that Rainbow had a small imagining moment- if all her friends were pegasi like her, how useful that would be in alleviating their dilemma. That would be, assuming Twilight as a pegasus would also be able to perform magic. As she came to think of it, if Twilight was not a unicorn they wouldn’t be in their mess in the first place. Partially annoyed by her mind’s diatribe and satisfied with her observation, Rainbow flew low again to the collapsed backpack and three other ponies.

“Ponyville is this way.” said Rainbow Dash, hovering in front and pointing her hoof. Rarity began following towards Dash, but Fluttershy began considering their course.

“How will we know we’re still headed in the right direction?” she said.

“I had a compass in my pack, but I don’t think it’ll be much use anymore.” replied Twilight, looking at the pack and the immovable books inside. The compass was visible in the darkened opening of the bag, and it was larger than the four of them put together. They all looked around at the forest of fine green- thick as the Everfree, no landmarks could be seen through the foliage. It would be easy to get lost without a good continual indicator of direction. A thought occurred to Twilight. “Rainbow, if you just hover above us, we can just follow you back to Ponyville.” she said with a smile.

“That’ll work,” said Dash, excited at the leaderly opportunity. “C’mon!” She flew back up to the tips of the grass and began flying at a slow pace, aiming herself towards the nearest building of Ponyville. She looked down and saw her three other friends, still quite visible through the colorized shade cast by the greenery, and beginning on their own way following under her shadow. In all irony, Rainbow figured that while flying high over them, the expression that they ‘all looked like ants’ was so perfect that she would have to use it as a witty joke sometime in the near future, before they managed to return to proper size. Quietly below her, she could hear Twilight and the others starting to converse some more, which let her small comfort in how quickly they were adjusting to a happenstance that lesser ponies would have lost their heads over. The thought made her realize how quickly she got so angry with Twilight. Justifiable perhaps, she reasoned, but definitely not a necessary anger. With little else to do and nothing but thoughts to distract, she began theorizing possible social situations which she could use for the ‘ants’ remark.

“Hel~looo? Rainbow Dash, anypony home?”

Derpy Hooves was perched on a window of Rainbow’s house, peering inside hoping to spot a blue pegasus. With no success, she lifted her hooves away and began hovering away from the misty home. Her hooves had made two small indentations into the pillowy surface of the window sill- two amongst about a dozen others made into similar window sills by similar attempts to look inside.

“Aw, nuts.” The gray pegasus said to herself, “She promised I could help her with the drizzle today, and then she doesn’t even show up!” To her own mind, a countering opinion said that perhaps Dash had been delayed somehow, by another chore or a favor. “Maybe she forgot…” she said aloud in rebuttal. The possibility silenced both her voice and thoughts sadly. She began flying away from Rainbow’s house and back towards Ponyville, mulling over her disheartening conclusions. Her thoughts were such a thorough engagement that Derpy lost attention to where she was going and plowed gently into a low lying cloud, impaling her head into the rounded folds. She pulled herself out with a pop! and shook herself, clearing the evidencing droplets of moisture off her face. An ever-so spiteful expression shaped her mouth and misaligned eyes with a sudden idea.

“Rainbow’s not around for the rain.. Maybe I’ll just do it myself!” she continued in thought with the reasoning that maybe if she did a good enough job of the rain today, then maybe Rainbow Dash would feel all the worse for having forgotten in the first place! It would serve the double purpose of doing the work Dash had neglected, and help her be a better friend.
Her logic was infallible.

Derpy flew higher, using her knowledge and speed to its utmost to push around some smaller rain clouds into a bigger one, making it grow in size and deepen in shade. She sped this way and that, gathering up other wispy little puffs and rather flimsy clouds, which all solidified into a much stronger, more pronounced raincloud. In no time at all she had constructed a grand looking cumulus with a thick grayish blue look to it, sized much larger than a barn. Pleased with her hoofwork, she began pushing it upwards towards the center of Ponyville. However the edges lagged and bended as she pressed into it, and eventually it buckled: as gently as cookie dough, the cloud split into two smaller rainclouds. The one half she tried to stay with, while the other drifted on its own accord before gently it slowed to a stationary position high over the town square.

“Oh. Well, that shouldn’t be a problem.” Derpy said to herself.

Initially she tried to push the two halves back together, but the small static charge of their lightning potential would have none of being reunited and repulsed whenever they neared each other. Repeating her efforts from earlier, she managed to revive the two sub-sized clouds into two large ones by adding and mixing smaller clouds. And again, trying to move them by pushing against the middle only caused them to split. Within a few more minutes, she had both successfully made seven large rainclouds (pushed quite far from one another) and successfully convinced herself that none of them were going to be a problem.

The Town Hall clock struck the hour and Derpy realized that she’d better start the precipitation post-haste. She hopped on top of the nearest cloud and gave it a few bounces from the top, initiating a pressure that immediately began pouring water out of the rain cloud, as if it were a bowl that suddenly became a colander. The sound of the rain was a great confirmation for her effort, and Derpy sped off to another cloud, instantly making for some more hopping to continue starting the rain.

By the time she initiated the fifth cloud, she looked at how much water was being disgorged, and how wet the parts of town and surrounding areas were that lay in their effective shadow. She jumped up and down, starting the cloud but with a slower intention. It occurred to her that perhaps she had prepared too much rain. Then it struck her: oh yes, she had. She was supposed to take one large one and bring it down to a lower level –a two pegasi job- so that it dispersed and flattened out. Not keep big ones high up- that would both bring heavy glob-like droplets and make the rain more uncomfortable, and also make the rainfall’s coverage patchy.

“Whelp, Dash says you gotta finish what you start…” she said aloud, “Besides, since when did a little rain hurt anypony?”

Over the meadow, rain quickly faded from small falling mist into thick droplets that plummeted as tenderly as ping-pong balls. An enormous bead of water struck Rainbow in her left wing.

“Gah!” she exclaimed. The impact was only as painful as a large water balloon, but it was as unwelcome as it was unexpected. She was sent spinning towards the grassy ground, barely able to remain stable as she crumpled face-first into the forgiving bloom of some clover, a short distance away from the others.

“Rainbow!”

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight quickly rushed nearer to Dash’s crash.

“Look out-!”

Rainbow was cut off by the plop of another raindrop splattering directly in between her and her friends. The droplets of rain exploded against the ground, throwing hoof-sized globules of muck in all directions whenever they struck. Rainbow jumped out of the clover, looking upwards. With a yelp of surprise and a splash! Fluttershy was suddenly entirely wet and half covered in mud. Another droplet landed directly beside Twilight, and the force of water pushed her against one of the blades of grass, and speckled with grime similar to Fluttershy. Rarity shrieked and ran at the sudden barrage of what appeared to be her worst imaginable nightmare come to life; dirt grenades wherever the rain impacted. Not taking the time to have a more logical reproach, Twilight and Fluttershy ran after her trying to avoid the rain, and Rainbow Dash sped off after them through the bristling grass. Color began to fade slightly as the sky became foggy with the falling of water, and clouds above began to disperse over much of the sky, shading the world in a softer and fainter light. They were cast into darkness as they ran on, the height of the grass becoming taller and throwing more shadow. Their visibility became like night, against the cool sky’s illumination, the rain and the thickening forest of the meadow.

As Rarity ran, a droplet threw a few small blotches of dirt on her. She screamed again at the cold, damp and unwanted sensation on her flank, and she sprinted all the harder. What came into view startled her even more, and she locked up her front hooves to stop. Sliding forwards nearer and nearer through the darkened loam of the ground, Rarity finally slowed to a standstill on the thinnest edge of the mud patch she avoided earlier, the front of her legs partially buried in the bunched up edge of mire. Twilight’s mis-stepped hoofprint could still be seen in the shape of the mud, but it was fading as the rain pelted down, melting the shapes of the mud slowly into a soggy puddle that was gathering depth.

“Aaah! Yuck!” she jumped away and stomped her hooves. The motion shook the mud off, its meniscus peeling easily. Before Rarity could even muster a reaction to how happy she was with removing the filth so quickly, Fluttershy careened into her knocking both of them off center, and Twilight ran into them both.

Rainbow Dash flew above and witnessed the spectacular sight of all three ponies flying through the air and into the dark miniature pond with a mucky splash. Rarity popped out of the sullying water with a loud gasp and a wail, followed by the two others.

“Gah! MUD!”

Rainbow landed near the pond and watched for a moment as they struggled to get their bearings at a little less than neck’s depth in the thick black water, with mud still over their eyelids and inhibited from seeing into the poor night-like visibility the puddle’s hollow formed. She opened her mouth to call them towards her, but a rustle interrupted her thought.

She looked behind and suddenly leapt out of the way as a wild snake appeared out of the tall grass, with its mouth open wide and lunging at her.

“Rainbow Dash! Where are you?” called Twilight’s voice. Rainbow ascended and hovered over the puddle. She glanced down to see the disoriented unawares of the lavender unicorn, one eye partially open and trying to seek her out, and her vague mud-covered shape being the her only visibility against the puddle. “Where’s the shore!” Rainbow Dash watched the snake look directly back at her- it seemed like it was having just as difficult seeing in the lack of light as she was.

“Twilight! Rarity, Fluttershy, stay in the water, there’s a snake!”

“A snake? Where?!” they all became even more agitated but not daring to run without being able to see. Twilight and Rarity hugged and trembled in fear as Fluttershy stood out.

“What does it look like?” said the other pegasus.

Dash squinted at the shadows, looking at the snake whose camouflage fit well. Its tongue flicked in the air.

“It’s really dark gray…” said Rainbow, “And has black ziggy-zag line from its head to its tail.”

“Is it poisonous?!” said Rarity, quivering.

“How should I know?!” retorted Dash.

“Does it have a color or shape on its head?” replied Fluttershy, tranquil despite being unable to see nor speak directly towards Dash. Twilight and Rarity calmed at Fluttershy’s serene voice through the sound of the rain catching on the tall grass around and above.

“It looks like a little V-shape pointing towards its mouth.” replied the blue pegasus.

“Is it poisonous!?” Rarity asked again, grabbing Fluttershy with a shake. The snake began approaching Rainbow into the puddle. She gasped and flew closer to the edge of the puddle, away from being directly over her friends. The snake followed her movements, not approaching any closer to the three huddled ponies.

“That sounds like it’s a common Field Adder.” remarked Fluttershy.

“What do I do?” said Dash, still hovering continuously away from the snake. It slithered to the side and began crawling up a small leafy plant, quickly approaching her height. “It’s following me- I can’t distract it forever!”

“We can run! Then Rainbow can catch up to us after she loses the snake.” said Twilight, finally managing to wipe the mud from her eyes. She began helping Rarity with the sludge over hers.

“No!” exclaimed Fluttershy. “The snake would feel us running through vibrations in the ground.”

“Why doesn’t it feel us now?”

“Because we’re in water.” noticed Twilight. The three ponies in the puddle watched as Rainbow Dash backed away from the reptile’s snaking through the grass, supporting itself by tightly clenching the stalks while trying to approach what it saw to be the tiny colorful morsel of Rainbow Dash. Twilight noticed the flick of its tongue and an idea abruptly became clear. All of a sudden, the snake jerked forwards in another leap towards Dash. Rainbow shot upwards and was hit by a smaller raindrop that had managed to descend through the tall grass. The snake fell down to the puddle’s shore, its attack failed. Rainbow re-gathered her stability and hovered, looking down at the snake that seemed to have lost focus of its prey.

“Rainbow Dash, head down here! Hurry!” called Twilight.

“What?”

“It can’t smell you if you’re covered in mud! Jump in!” Fluttershy smiled at Twilight’s cleverness and rejoined.

“C’mon Rainbow, in the water!”

Dash held back, looking at the vague shapes of her muck-covered friends in the puddle and the snake looking around and unaware, directly below her. She frowned, grit her teeth and flew down to the puddle, slowing just before she contacted the surface, then dropping the tiny distance into the water, past her head with her eyes pressed shut. She bobbed back up and was pulled close by Fluttershy, who wiped her eyes clear. The four friends watched as the snake sniffed the air with its tongue, confused at how the delectable scent of bite-sized pegasus had disappeared. It let out an annoyed hiss and slithered farther into the shadows. The ponies held still, holding their breath in patience and anxiousness, until the coast seemed clear.

After what seemed to them a few minutes, Dash cautiously crept out of the water and onto the shore of the puddle. She jumped upwards but her dreck-covered wings offered no lift. Still, she peered out at the space around the puddle and the between the grass roots and concluded,

“It looks safe. C’mon.” she gestured towards herself. Twilight and Fluttershy walked out of the water but Rarity ran, shaking and trying to escape the mud that clung to her mane.

“Gah! Ifh! Getitoff-getitoff-getitoff!” she cried, darting around in hatred of the uncleanliness.

“I thought you liked mud baths.” joked Twilight. Rarity stared daggers at the other unicorn.

“Calm down Rarity.” ordered Rainbow Dash. She walked to a small gravelly patch and pointed at the ground. “Stand here, I’ll get the mud off.” Rarity did so, heeding Dash at a sullen loss of constitution and quivering with impropriety. Dash gave a strong buck with her rear hooves to the stem of a nearby plant and Rarity suddenly was drenched with smaller droplets of dew falling from a fern leaf above her. The mud washed clean easily and she gasped at the cold trickle. She slowly trod away, her frown dampened at being clean.

“Thank you, Rainbow.” Rarity said flatly. Fluttershy and Twilight formed up in a similar position under a different leaf. Dash kicked the stem again and lept over to where the other two were standing, catching the fall of small droplets. The four made much cleaner, sat down with their wet manes, Rainbow Dash and Rarity with negative dispositions.

“Still think we should make the best of it?” said Rainbow spitefully.

“Well…” began Twilight.

“Don’t you start,” interrupted Rainbow. “This is all still your fault.”

“Wasn’t today supposed to be sunny?” Rarity said, cutting Rainbow off. Her voice carried an inflection of irritation. “If you’re not doing the weather, who is?” Rainbow turned to face her, but as she did her face changed from annoyed response to remembrance.

“Oh…”

“‘Oh’ what?”

“Derpy was gonna help me today with what was supposed to be a light drizzle over Sweet Apple Acres. Clearly she prepared a bit too much rain.” Dash said in an accusing voice.

“Was that supposed to be before or after we did some practice with the harrier?” Fluttershy inquired innocently. Rainbow inhaled to reply but she stopped herself as she considered her answer, and all that came out was,

“…Uh.”

“You forgot about your weather duty?” Rarity charged, “Now who’s to blame, hmm?”

“Girls! This isn’t helping, we need to stop arguing and keep heading to the Library.” exclaimed Twilight. Rarity and Rainbow exchanged icy stares before looking at Twilight. That shrinking feeling Twilight had when she felt the strenuousness of their ire returned, forming a pit in her stomach as she looked at the prosecuting eyes of her two frustrated friends. “Everypony makes mistakes. Forgive and forget.” She said with a crackled confidence, partly trying to convince herself of the validity of the virtue.

Rarity’s mind wound around the suggestion, and her generosity towards Twilight made her the first to soften her expression.

“You’re right, Twilight.” Rarity’s look went back to Dash. “Everypony makes mistakes- As long as you learn from them.” Rainbow returned her look, still seeming quite bothered- so much so that she did not want to speak. Rarity looked back at the other unicorn. “I forgive you, Twilight. Just, please be more careful with your magic in the future.”

“..Thank you, Rarity.” said Twilight meekly, through her eyes that still told of how much guilt she was still thinking about.

“And I forgive you too, Rainbow Dash. On such a lovely day as it was, anypony could easily forget about chores.” Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow at the offer. “Even so, I’d have to wash my mane even if we hadn’t thrashed about in the mud.”

“Pbbbhpt-” Rainbow stuck her tongue out. “You would’ve washed your mane even if we went through a soap factory.” She retorted with a humored shrug.

“Yes I would,” said Rarity, matter-of-factly. “Dry soap would make my hair all-”

“Rarity.” interrupted Twilight.

“Yes- well.. I forgive you, Dash.”

“…Thanks, I guess.”

“And thank you for being so brave in front of that poisonous snake.” Fluttershy said, light as her namesake.

“IT WAS POISONOUS?!” shouted Rarity, shocked.

“Heh… I guess I’m braver than I know.” said Dash, with a retrospective fear hidden by a face that declared she knew all along. Color started to restore to the little bog they stood beside, as sunlight began to filter through the thin translucent leaves, bathing their scene in an amiable natural green.

“The rain’s stopped.” observed Twilight.

“If Derpy did what I think she did, there’s no way the rain shower would’ve lasted much longer. The sky will probably clear up to a sunnier day than it was earlier though. That downpour woulda’ changed the humidity.”

“Then let’s be on our way,” said Rarity, a confidence in their journey restored. “And hopefully we’ll be able to secure some lunch before too long.”

“Yeah.” replied Dash, taking flight, “I’ve had enough of almost being a snack for someone else for a long time.”

They continued on their way into the grass following under Rainbow Dash. The forest of Skipper Meadows presently thinned and shortened, bringing back direct exposure of the sun to the ground, and with the sunlight finally reaching forth to the four little ponies, their moods brightened as their environment did.

~
Impending upon Chapter 3: Rarity succumbs to pastry because of Pinkie Pie’s doing

3- In which Rarity succumbs to pastry because of Pinkie Pie’s doing

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~3~

In which Rarity succumbs to pastry because of Pinkie Pie’s doing

Birds called out into the calm quiet after the rain and the season seemed to shine vindictively from the out-of-place downpour. The dew still festooned on the blades of grass began to disappear with the warmth of the restoring sunny day, and the four ponies headed out of the tall plants into the small shortly-cut lawn of the hill that marked the verge of the meadow. Rainbow Dash landed near her friends, having completed her task of guiding them through the forest of the pasture.

“Here we are, gang.” said Rainbow.

“Finally, out of the meadow-” Rarity said, and they stopped at the view. From the mound beyond the town, it was an odd perspective to see the expanse of Ponyville like an enormous thatched-roof and tiled mountain range. Colorful and welcoming as the constructions were, Twilight still didn’t like the appearance of the community from their level. Windows should’ve been at eye-level, not towering over them.

“Okay, we’re that much closer to the Library,” said Twilight. She furrowed her brow as she planned their course. Her friends looked on, at the almost mystically alien perspective of the end of town. “But once we get onto the streets, we should stick to the edges and corners of buildings so we don’t get stepped on.”

“Oh my.” said Fluttershy. “I don’t like Ponyville like this. I think it’s too big even when I’m normal sized, let alone being small…”

“I think it’s fabulous!” said Rarity with an interested smile. “It makes me think about how I could do my dresses on a different kind of scale. Like if it was a miniature dress but made normal size, with extra large buttons and thick thread…” she was eying the passing of a stallion on a laneway nearby, wearing a cream-colored vest. Rainbow Dash suddenly leapt up, looking quite mixed and concerned.

“Wait- why are we just walking? Can’t we just ask somepony to help us?”

“Rainbow?” replied Twilight, incomplete in her grasp of Dash’s suggestion.

“Stay here,” Dash sped off towards the stallion with an exclamation. “Hey! Wait up!”

As Dash shrank into the appearance of a tiny blue dot in comparison to the dark brown stallion, she hovered next to his ear for a moment and the stallion stopped mid-step. He looked around, trying to spot Rainbow Dash, until she landed on his nose. Neither of them moved for a moment, until the stallion spoke aloud.

“Aw, she’s so cute.” which suddenly was followed by a rather odd reaction to his words. His legs flung upwards with a yelp and kick, and ran off down the path leaving Dash hovering in the air. “It’s the parasprites! They’ve returned! AAAH!!” he screamed. The three friends watched the scene with a hope that became quite thoroughly smashed as the stallion disappeared around the corner of a smaller house. Rainbow Dash flew back and landed in front of her friends, kicking a pebble as she did. She looked back up with a frown at where the stallion ran.

“Big dummy!” she yelled.

“What did you say?” asked Twilight.

“Not much, I said we needed help and that we’re tiny.”

“Months past and those awful, awful parasprites are still doing damage.” said Rarity sarcastically.

“It’ll be okay. I’m sure there’s somepony in Ponyville that can help us.” replied Twilight, sighing with resignation to the challenge of their adventure.

Another few minutes’ walk brought them closer, but a previously unnoticeable stick lying in hiding in the grass stopped them like a chest-high wall. Easily enough they navigated around it, seeing the building-tops through the grass stalks that stood just a tiny bit above head-height. As they rounded the edge of the stick, they saw a wall. Their view obscured earlier prevented them from noticing it in the first place, but there it was. A sturdy-looking, partly rusted grayish black wall that stood a good four times their height, resting on a patch of gravel. They looked left and saw the wall went on as far as the horizon, and equally far to the right as well.

“What’s a wall doing in Ponyville?” said Twilight. Dash flew higher and looked at what they were seeing from above. About three feet farther was another identical wall, and between them sat thick tarred segments of heavy wood. Down the way of the wall a field’s length sat the Ponyville Train Station, and a locomotive standing idle.

“They’re railroad tracks!” she surmised. “Looks’ safe to cross. C’mon, let’s keep going.” She encouraged, hovering lower.

“How are we to cross over a wall like this?” said Rarity, looking at the side of the rusty track with disdain. Twilight gave a little considerate grin at the track and looked at Fluttershy. Twilight smiled and said,

“I have an idea!”

Far less than comfortably but more than adequately, Rarity stood on top of Twilight, who stood on top of Fluttershy, who stood on top of Rainbow Dash. Their tower-like form was precarious but served well enough, standing next to the track.

“Hghh! Hurry up!” grunted Rainbow, bearing the weight of her friends.

Rarity was able to step onto the metal, and reached out to Twilight, who took her hoof and helped her on the top of the beam.

“We’re up.” said Rarity. Fluttershy was quick to jump off Rainbow as her knees wobbled. Dash gasped with a smile as the weight of her back vanished, and she took a step in relief.

“Phew! Great! Now me and Fluttershy will just fly over.” Dash leapt up the height to the top of the smoothed weight-bearing surface of the track, alongside Twilight and Rarity. “C’mon, Fluttershy.”

“Oh… but it’s so high.” she said hesitantly.

“It’s not all that high, Fluttershy.” said Twilight happily. She turned and jumped into the track bed between the rails, on the other side of the track from Fluttershy.

“Come now dear, think about it!” said Rarity. “This isn’t even as tall as your bunny Angel. Surely you can fly up here?”

“…Alright.” Fluttershy’s resistant neutral expression formed into a mirror of Rarity’s encouraging smile. Dash and Rarity jumped into the track bed as Fluttershy flew up and landed perched on the top of the rail delicately, so she wouldn’t slip. She looked down at her three friends, who returned warm grins. As she tensed herself to jump forwards again, a loud screech emanated to her right. She turned to see the locomotive suddenly burst forth with an enormous white plume of steam out of the funnel. Its whistle blared loudly and Fluttershy seized with surprise.

“Fluttershy, c’mon!” exclaimed Twilight, looking at the train.

The cough of the pistons pumping sounded menacing to Fluttershy, and she froze solid in trembling as the adamant noise accelerated and became louder. The train was approaching down the track, and the speed with which it approached also accelerated. The yellow pegasus whimpered softly.

“Hurry up!” exclaimed Dash. She leapt up in instinctive fearful reaction as the locomotive came nearer and nearer, sounding all the more brutish and unyielding the closer it came. She flew forwards to grab Fluttershy and push her off the rail, but Fluttershy seemed to faint, falling sideways and collapsing down the near side of the track as the first set of wheels sped by nearly at the same time. Rainbow kicked off the rail just below the passing wheel’s flange and caught Fluttershy as she fell before hitting the ground. The train thundered overhead covering their world in a wash of mechanical noise and the huffing racket of steam and fire. The locomotive passed and was followed by the slightly less loud tackatack-tackatack of coaches behind it.

“Fluttershy!” shouted Rarity. The two unicorns ran nearer.

“Are you alight?”

Fluttershy looked quite woozy as the intermittent light passed over them, the gaps between the coaches being their main source of illumination. Her sight was confused as she saw the dizzying movement of the almost formless parts of the carriage undersides pass above. She focused on the unmoving things: the faces of her three friends and their concern.

“…I don’t like being small.” said Fluttershy weakly, almost inaudible against the sound of the train. Rainbow Dash helped her stand and hugged her firmly, her expression tightened. The day’s lightness returned as the last coach rolled by, and Dash slowly let go of her friend.

“Fluttershy, I-” Dash choked. “I was... I’d never forgive myself if-” she pulled Fluttershy close again, her eyes pressed shut, trying to hold something in.

“The train’s gone now.” said Twilight.

“I’m sorry.” said Fluttershy, tearing up from the reflection of her fear. Rainbow Dash only murmured,

“You don’t have to be sorry, just…”

“We’re here for you,” said Rarity, and joined their hug. “It’s alright, we’re all safe.”

Twilight joined as well and they stayed there for a calming moment.

Fluttershy calmed with a few deep breaths and the four relinquished their union. Twilight was the first to break away from their restoring solace and looked around at the track bed. She looked at the opposite track, using the landmarks of a nearby building to conclude where they were.

“It’ll be safe to cross the other rail,” said Twilight. The others stood and gathered their position between the tracks. “There, look.” She pointed to a small gap between the wooden boards under the track, about the height of a small piece of fruit. “We don’t have to go over the rails if we head under there.”

“Uhh!” said Rarity in protest. “You mean crawling through a dirty little hole in the ground?” Rarity looked disgusted by the load-bearing stones that sat directly underneath the beam of the rail.

“It’s not dirt Rarity, it’s gravel.” said Dash. She jumped up and hovered over to the rail and Fluttershy followed. “Can’t really get stuck to you, so what’s the problem?”

“Technically this isn’t gravel, it’s ballast.” said Twilight. The stones right near the gap were almost the same size as they were.

“What’s the difference!” said Dash rhetorically, pressing her hoof on one of the chunky rocks. “‘Can’t get stuck in your mane either way.”

“…Fine.” said Rarity. Twilight snuck under the gap first, ducking her head low, and Rarity watched carefully, noticing the space under the rail and where she’d have to move to avoid actually touching any part of the slab of the rails’ gritty underside with her hair or head. On the other side of the rail, Twilight and Rarity looked at the small open space as they stood next to a small plant. The stalk of timothy wheat seemed to mock their stance like an improperly juxtaposed lamppost. Dash and Fluttershy flew over the rail and landed and they took stock of their next obstacle to tackle: a street.

The street was an average sort of width and edged by two two-storied houses that sat next to one another with a thin alleyway between them. Twilight thought and realized that the day being late-morning now, would likely usher in more traffic come lunch time. She ran across the empty lane into the alleyway, and her friends followed, and they slowed to a walk as they entered the shadowed space. The alleyway had a few small wicker baskets and a left-out pogo stick sitting idly on the ground. At the edges where the foundations of the buildings met the ground, overgrown grass and small weeds poked out of the seams. Twilight lead them to the corner of the building and poked her head around the edge to spot the village square in front of them. Rarity and Rainbow Dash popped their heads out as well, above and below Twilight, and Fluttershy snuck a look out as well, below Rainbow. The first thing they spotted was a delight in heart, mind and stomach.

“Sugarcube Corner!”

“Pinkie Pie’s probably inside!” said Rarity. “She’ll be able to get us back to the library.”

The pink and brown gingerbread building of Sugarcube Corner was a welcome sight, and the four ran onto the roadway. There were other ponies in the square but too distant to be of any danger to them, and they went to the small flower garden beside the front steps of the bakery. They approached the small complex of pink flowers that smelled quite fresh, still relishing the rain they received.

“Hmm. This could be a problem.” said Twilight, looking at the stone steps up to the door. They were each at least twice the height of the railroad track. “How are we going to get inside?”

Rainbow Dash flew up and Fluttershy followed her. Fluttershy landed on the window sill and peered in while Dash hovered farther back, taking in an overview look of the front of the building.

“…I see ponies inside, but no Pinkie Pie.” said Fluttershy. She turned around and looked down at her friends waiting expectantly on the ground.

“I think I’ve got an idea,” said Rainbow, and flew back down to the ground. Fluttershy came back down as well, and Dash stood near to one of the flower’s stems. “Can you stand here, Twilight?”

“Okay,” she agreed, and replaced her position. “What are we gonna do?”

“Push on the flower here.” directed Rainbow, pointing at the stem just below the trunk of one of its leaves. Twilight did so and the flower bent over easily, bringing the bloom to near ground level. Rainbow walked and stood in front of the petals. From where Rarity stood, the stem looked like one smooth semicircular arc from its root to the top.

“Are you planning on using that flower as a catapult?” said Rarity, confused by the impropriety of her induction.

“What? No,” retorted Dash playfully, with a tiny chuckle. She grabbed the bottom edge petals of the bloom and pulled one off. “Twilight you can let it go now.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Dash’s idea but released and let the stem return upright.

“Dash, what are those supposed to-”

Rainbow held one of the petals down against the ground and tore off a patch with a bite. She looked up at her friends as she began to chew, and her friends returned her look with confusion.

“Whah? Ah wath hnngry.” said Rainbow, part of the torn petal still stuck out of her mouth.

“Couldn’t it wait until we’re inside?” said Rarity.

“We could go inside on this.” said Fluttershy, motioning towards one of the doorposts. The candy-cane beveled edge was wide enough to walk on, which lead like a spiral stair up to the overhang and eaves-trough above the front entrance.

“Great idea Fluttershy.” said Twilight, turning to approach. “C’mon, girls. We get Pinkie Pie on board-”

“More like, we get a ride on Pinkie Pie!” interrupted Dash, finishing off one of the petals. Twilight gave Rainbow an irked look. She continued with a returning hope,

“And then we’ll be back to the library and back to normal!”

They went up the sharp turn of the climb, rounding the same view of the door, street, shops across the way, the alley they came from, the near side of Sugarcube Corner, the wall fixture and the door again and again, each time slightly higher than the last, until the spiral intersected the frame and they stepped out onto the small edge of wood under the overhang. Rarity’s curiosity got the better of her and she leaned, looking down at the perilous distance from the wood crossbar balcony they stood upon, to the stone pad on the ground with a welcome mat on it. The door was naught much taller than the tallest pony in Ponyville, which made it as though it were ten stories high for the miniaturized friends.

“My my my, what a drop.” commented Rarity. Fluttershy avoided looking down and leaned to the inside edge of the wooden structure.

The crossbar lead to angled siding panels beside the front door light, which were wide enough for them to squeeze through, and they found themselves in the cavernous space of the few inches’ height of rafters between the floor of the second storey and the ceiling of the first. They walked in single file along a broader board that seemed to go the length of the room. In a few moments their eyes adjusted to the light and they saw that the rafters were the same brown-stained wood as the inside of the parlour, and fluffy cherry-colored fiber insulation padded the spaces between the joists. Apparently the candy-and-chocolate motif that was present in the design of the building permeated every nook and cranny of its construction. Rainbow leaned over to the side of the rafter, getting a look through a small knot-hole in the ceiling board.

“What do you see?” asked Twilight.

“We’re still over the tables,” Rainbow shifted, walking in a small circle with her head still centered at the aperture. “If we keep heading this way, we’ll end up in the kitchen… and..” At the far end of the room, behind the register counter and a round stand covered in jars of jelly beans, she saw an open door to a room with several baking sheets sitting on a counter. A pinkie-pink blur darted from one side to the other. “Pinkie Pie’s there!” Dash leapt up in excitement, nearly hitting her head on the floorboards above. “C’mon!”

They kept at a regular pace, Twilight choosing to walk at a slow-ish speed so there was no risk of slipping on the dusty beams of timber, and Rainbow hovered alongside them. Eventually the joist ended where it met the wall. Twilight noticed what appeared to be a mouse hole a small distance off to one side and her friends followed, jumping down from the joist onto the ceiling boards, until they went to the hole. Rainbow was the first to head through and she stopped just on the other side. Twilight and Rarity followed, finding a place to stand on a narrow precipice that joined with the rafter that spanned over the kitchen. Fluttershy decided to stand in the space of the hole, not even approaching the edge of the precipice. As they looked down into the room, they all went agape at what they saw.

Pinkie Pie was busily moving this way and that around the room, fiddling with an inordinately complicated contraption that seemed to span the entire kitchen, every once and a while coming back to a thick book that was resting partly upright on a bag of flour. Narrow wiry tracks, marble conveyers, tiny toy carts and trains, a bowling ball, pool balls, beach balls, an accordion, a crate of eggs, roller skates and building blocks seemed to be but a small hoof-full of the implements in the strange machine. The rough tracks of the machine led from the sink to the island counter, past the pantry, up the wall, down the wall, across the floor, in a helical arrangement around a motorized mortar-mixer, overlapping over the island again and then attached to the front of the oven.

“…which will turn on the mixer, spooling the thread, which pushes the bowling ball into the rod, gently nudging the pan into the oven!” Pinkie said to nopony in particular in her normal ecstatic mood. “The rod hits the wire, triggers the wibbly-wobbly marbley dohicky,” she motioned to a framed cradle of several metal spheres suspended by wire. “Which hits the start and turns on the timer!” She leapt up and stood on the island counter. “Making the Auto-Matic Marvelous Muffin-Maker Machine completely complete!”

“Look at all that junk!” said Rainbow Dash, marvelling at all the implements.

“It’s a Rube Goldberg Machine.” commented Twilight.

“Goodness...” said Rarity, leaning closer to get a better look over the edge. Pinkie Pie cartwheeled to the far corner of the room and carefully placed a feather on the bridge of Gummy’s nose, then placed the alligator –holding perfectly still- onto a stool near a small roller-paintbrush pan suspended by a length of yarn. Pinkie Pie stood back and watched, excited as ever. She counted down, her anticipation redoubling with every word.

“Three… two… one…!”

Gummy blinked. The air movement pushed the feather off his nose and gently began descending, flittering sideways and rolling, until it landed on the paintbrush pan. The pan began very, very, very slowly descending, pulling on the yarn. The yarn tightened and pulled a pencil with a wire through it, making the writing utensil rotate partly. It was enough to nudge a marble into motion that quickly accelerated down a small track, spinning and looping and then striking a set of dominos, which went off in three directions, assembled all over the floor near the kitchen back door (where they likely could have been screwed up by anypony entering through there). One set of the dominos fell onto a small light switch which activated a small toy train along a track, another set of dominos flicked the starter of an egg timer, and the last fell on the trigger of a mousetrap, which flung a knitting needle forwards like a projectile, popping a nearby balloon.

“We can’t just watch her set all this stuff off!” exclaimed Rainbow. She began flying towards Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie!-”

Far from being close enough to be heard, the train drove straight into a brick mounted on the track, which pushed on two ice cream cones into a button marked “START” and another marked “HI CHURN” on the side of the mortar-mixer. The noise of the rotating concrete barrel and its motor was incredibly loud and it let out a small puff of brownish black smoke. The barrel of the mixer began slowly turning, tumbling around some golf balls but Rainbow Dash continued flying towards Pinkie, shouting her name. Dash was suddenly hit flat in the flank by a suction-cupped dart that was just as big as she was, fired from a toy gun mounted in the corner of the room with a bit of string attached to it. The dart’s interception shot her all the way down to the bulls-eye mounted on the sink faucet handle, and she fell into the bowl of the sink entirely stupefied and the wind knocked out of her.

“Rainbow Dash!”

Rarity suddenly slipped on the dust of the rafter and fell with a shriek. Before Twilight or Fluttershy could even respond, the white unicorn landed in a muffin tin with a splut! as the pan turned around and around, held on a broomstick and suspended by what appeared to be an enormous slinky mounted vertically.

“Rarity!”

“Are you all right?”

“…I’m fine!...” said Rarity as she spun around, iteratively passing in and out of sight from the rafter as the broom turned. “…I’ll get out… …what about Rainbow?... …is she all right?…”

Twilight squinted towards the sink and saw Rainbow Dash standing upright, obviously trying to regain her bearings and still stuck with the dart on her rear-end.

“I think she’s okay.”

“…that’s good… I-”

Suddenly the pan stopped and slid off the broom onto a bit of parchment paper that let it slide to a small wired track. Rarity yelped as the pan lurched into position, her sound muffled by the creamy brown batter. Some other device of the contraption started an egg-beater which quickly wound up a length of red thread on one of the beater’s rotating bits. As the thread became taught, as delicately as a whisper, it nudged a large blue bowling ball, mounted on a track aligned with the muffin pan. The ball rolled a tiny distance as Rarity watched it approach in fear. It was stopped by a tiny copper rod that put the teensiest bit of pressure against the pan, which set it in motion along its track. Rarity turned around to see that the pan was on the verge of the edge of the counter directly facing the oven. Its large windowed mouth dropped open with the violent tightening of a cable below, and the pan continued to slide forwards, slowly gaining speed. Rarity struggled in the batter but found herself partly sinking in the small cavity of the tin.

“Rarity!”

Impending upon Chapter 4: There are insects that are very very interested in Rainbow Dash