> Pinkie Pie the Trip Sitter
>  by oblivion2k
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Fluttershy - Marijuana
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Now Angel, it’s just one evening. Surely you can find a way to keep yourself entertained while I visit a friend?”

Fluttershy dodged another carrot, the fourth one tonight.

“Maybe you and Discord could play a game together?” She leapt out of the way of another carrot. “I’m sorry, but you can’t come with me tonight. There’s a nice salad waiting for you in the fridge. I’ll be back in the morning, I promise.”

Angel harrumphed and rolled his eyes. Not wanting to waste any more time, he hopped back to his basket and laid down, still glaring at Fluttershy with disdain.

Fluttershy smiled and opened her front door. Stepping outside, glanced over her shoulder. “That’s a good bunny. Don’t eat any sweets after dinner, alright? You know how your tummy gets.”

Fluttershy closed the door behind her, just as another carrot hit the door.

Fluttershy trotted leisurely to Sugarcube corner, taking in the sights and smells of the early October evening. Arriving at the cupcake-themed bakery, she cleared her throat and knocked gently on the door.

The door swung open a quarter of the way, a pink hoof grasping the edge, before Pinkie Pie leaned her head around to the opening and grinned widely.

“Fluttershy! What’cha doing here? Sorry to say but if Angel bunny wants carrot cake, he’ll have to wait until tomorrow. We sold out fast today!”

“Oh, that’s okay Pinkie. Angel has a nice salad in the fridge when he’s ready. He won’t admit it, but sweets upset his stomach if he eats them before bedtime. I actually came over to talk to you about something, if that’s alright?”

“Abso-dutely-lutely! Come on in!”

Pinkie opened the door the rest of the way and ushered Fluttershy inside before closing the door, ensuring the open sign was flipped to ‘closed’. She had a hunch as to why Fluttershy had come to the shop after closing time, alone on a Friday evening. Left eyelid twitch, right ear twitch, and tail tingles usually meant a pony was looking for her ‘special’ party favors. Either that, or it would hail tomorrow morning.

“C’mon Flutter Butter, let’s go up to my room for a bit and chat.” 

Fluttershy smiled and nodded, and they made their way up the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were still on vacation with the twins, so their room on the left was vacant. Pinkie and Fluttershy passed it and walked into the second room on the right, a modestly-sized room with not-at-all modest decorations: pink paint covered the walls and ceiling, while multicolored streamers and pictures of Pinkie’s friends and family covered the walls above a soft purple plush carpet. A Princess-sized bed dominated one corner of the room, covered with enough pillows to arm the entire Canterlot Royal Guard for a pillow fight. Gummy observed from atop the plush pink perch of pillows, staring down at the common rabble as they made their way to a small, short circular table in the middle of the room and sat across from each other.

“So! What brings you by tonight? I didn’t forget about a sleepover, did I?” Pinkie made sure to dial her usual volume down a notch. She knew Fluttershy could get nervous easily in new situations, and if her hunch was correct, Pinkie wanted to ease that tension and keep Fluttershy as relaxed as possible for the evening ahead.

“Oh, no Pinkie,” Fluttershy shook her head softly. “We didn't have anything planned tonight. I was just…curious about something, and thought you might be able to help me.”

“Oh yeah?” Pinkie grew a small grin. Her tail started tingling again.

“You see, I was talking to Tree Hugger the other day in her garden, and she showed me this plant that I didn’t recognize. She called it a weed, but it had such pretty flowers I don’t know why she would call it such a mean name, even if it smelled a little like Mr. Stripes back at the cottage…anyway, I asked her about it and she said I should ask you if I was curious. I didn’t know you liked gardening, Pinkie.”

Pinkie giggled, “Oh Fluttershy, that’s not a weed, It's WEED! And the only thing I can grow is gems, I buy all of my special plants from Tree Hugger.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow in confusion, “What…what do you mean ‘weed’? Special plants?” Pinkie could see the cogs in Fluttershy’s head struggling to make sense of the unfamiliar terms.

“It’s just slang, Flutters. The official name is marijuana, or cannabis if you wanna get sciencey. And it’s special becauuuse” Pinkie stood up and pulled a key out of her mane, unlocking and opening her closet door and pulling out a glass jar filled with clumps of what looked like green and purple moss. “It gets you HIGH!” She brought the jar back to the table and set it down gently in front of Fluttershy.

“High? Like flying? Pinkie, I’m confused. Does this plant help you fly better?” Fluttershy frowned slightly, still completely bewildered by the plant and Pinkie’s words.

“Hehe, nope! In fact, I reeeeally don’t recommend flying with this in your system. Weed might be legal now, but you’ll still get a F-U-I if the local guards think you’ve been ‘partaking’.”

“Flying under the influence? Oh dear, Pinkie, is this dangerous? I don’t really drink…” Fluttershy mumbled under her breath and ducked her head. Pinkie could just hear her mutter “...bit of a lightweight.” 

“Oh no Flutters, it’s not dangerous at all really, maybe a little too easy to turn into a habit, but that’s all. And you don’t drink it, silly! Well, maybe you could make tea with it, but yuck! No, most ponies burn a pinch of it in a special bowl and inhale the smoke, but there’s a couple of other ways if that doesn’t sound appealing.”

“I…” Fluttershy leaned over the open jar and gave it a sniff, her nose wrinkling and brow furrowing at the strong smell. “I don’t know, Pinkie, that doesn’t sound very pleasant.”

“I know, it’s pretty stinky. Takes a while to get used to it, but there are other ways that can be even more fun!” Pinkie stood, opening the window next to her bed and reaching out and up, feeling around for a second before her eyes lit up and she smiled. She pulled a small box back inside and shut the window. “These don’t smell at all, and they taste great!” Pinkie brought the package over to Fluttershy before sitting back down.

Fluttershy leaned over to examine the small box. It had a solid purple background with a picture of Pinkie’s alligator Gummy below the words ‘Gummy’s Gummies’ printed in a bright green font.

“Pinkie, why do you have candy stashed outside your window?”

“Silly filly, I have edibles hidden all over Ponyville, in case of edible emergencies!” Pinkie exclaimed, as if it were obvious.

Fluttershy pointed at the jar still sitting on the table, “and this is the same thing as the flowers in that little jar?”

“Pretty much! You can also bake it into brownies! That’s my personal favorite. But I don’t have any baked up right now, so these will work juuuust fine.”

Fluttershy continued to study the package. It looked professional, like something you could go buy at the candle aisle of a grocery shop. There were several flavors listed too, alongside various colored alligators: purple for grape, green for green apple, yellow for banana.

Fluttershy lifted her head and glanced back at Pinkie “So, it’s just like drinking alcohol, but you eat it instead of drinking it?”

Pinkie shook her head softly “Nah, not really. Alcohol and weed have some similar effects, but marijuana is more about relaxing at home with a good friend and sharing a pile of junk food, not going to a bar and partying or enjoying a festival with one of Applejack’s ciders. It’s more ‘mellow,’” Pinkie waved her front hooves in the air making quotation marks “and you don’t have to worry about nausea in the morning!”

“Oh, that’s nice. I promised Angel bunny that I would be home in the morning. I don’t want to spend tomorrow morning, um, in the bathroom.”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes lidded slightly, and her smile started to grow. To Fluttershy it looked almost…naughty? It reminded Fluttershy of the times when Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were planning their pranks.

“So Fluttershy, you wanna get high with me? Wanna get baked?”

“Baked? I, um…” Fluttershy chuckled and shrugged. She still didn’t get all the silly words Pinkie was using, but she smiled nevertheless “Sure Pinkie, that sounds nice.”

Pinkie’s grin magnified tenfold, and Fluttershy would swear she heard the pink pony squeak like a stuffed animal.

“Yay! Okay, you grab one gummy, and can you get another two for me? I have a bit more tolerance.”

Fluttershy opened the flap on the side of the box and tilted out three small candies. She took the purple gummy in her hoof and slid two green gummies over to Pinkie.

“Okay Flutters, down the hatch! Ooh, and make sure you chew it really well or you won’t feel very much at all.

Fluttershy did as instructed, chewing the soft candy thoroughly and enjoying the strong grape taste. For a second she thought she tasted something…peculiar alongside the grape, but it was gone as quickly as it came, and she swallowed.

Pinkie had evidently finished her gummies too. She stood up and made her way over to the door. “Yummy! Ok Fluttershy, make yourself comfortable. That beanbag chair by my bed should be big enough for both of us. I’m gonna go get some snacks and be right back up. Pinkie trotted out into the hallway, and Fluttershy could hear her giggling as she bounced down the stairs into the kitchen.

***


Fluttershy stood and stretched once she was back on all four hooves. She wasn’t used to sitting on the floor for so long, usually spending her evenings at home curled up on her big, soft sofa with a few of her animal friends.The cushion she was sitting on was decent, but it just couldn’t compare. After working out the soreness, Fluttershy meandered over to the large purple beanbag and laid down on top, before her eyes went wide in alarm as she began to sink into its depths. For the briefest of moments, Fluttershy thought she would be sucked into the chair like quicksand, until the bottom began to feel more firm and her descent into the depths ceased. 

Fluttershy noticed right away how comfortable she was. The chair perfectly molded to the shape of her body, and as she shifted her weight, the pellets inside rubbed her back like a miniature massage. She smiled and sighed, closing her eyes in relaxation.

A few minutes later, she heard hooves coming up the stairs and opened her eyes, shifting to sit more upright. Pinkie rounded the corner back into the room, carrying a dizzying array of snacks. She gently set them onto the table, making sure not to trigger an avalanche on Mount Munchie.

“Steady…steady…good! Okay Fluttershy, I’ve got potato chips, pizza rolls, brownies, nachos, mozzarella sticks, a couple bowls of fruit, quesadillas, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and of course, s’mores!”

“Um, were you planning to invite our other friends, Pinkie? I can’t eat that much. I don’t think YOU can eat that much…I mean, sorry, no offense.”

Pinkie laughed and dimmed the bedside lamp slightly before joining Fluttershy on the couch, raising Fluttershy up slightly as the pellets inside the beanbag chair adjusted to make room for the slightly pudgy pink party pony.

“No offense taken, Fluttershy, I know I can be a vacuum for sweets sometimes. Usually after I’ve had a few of these gummies. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll manage to help me conquer the summit of Mount Munchie, just give it time.”

Fluttershy glanced up, and up, and further up. The mountain of snacks seemed to almost reach the ceiling. “If you say so, Pinkie. Speaking of which, how long does this take to…you know.”

Pinkie Pie pursed her lips and looked up in thought. “I think it took me about half an hour to gather the snacks and get those brownies baked, so the gummies should be kicking in any minute now. Sorry I left you hanging up here by yourself for so long, by the way.”

Fluttershy smiled, “that’s okay Pinkie, I think I might have been falling asleep actually, this beanbag chair is so comfortable.”

Pinkie returned the smile. “It is, isn’t it? It’s perfect for when you just wanna zone out and listen to some music. Speaking of which…” Pinkie reached up to the bedside table and flicked on the radio. Fluttershy heard a soft melody, a long, low note drawn out by a violin, joined eventually by more synthetic sounds. An echoing reverb, a low, bassy drum beat, and an occasional snare. To Fluttershy it felt like the music was coming from multiple directions, bouncing off the walls of the bedroom to create an entirely new musical experience. It was mesmerizing. Her lidded eyes swung slowly over to Pinkie in awe.

Pinkie’s slightly bloodshot eyes returned the glance, and Pinkie giggled like a foal. 

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely hitting you now, isn’t it?”

“Pinkie…this is amazing! What is this music?”

“You know DJ-PON3? Vinyl Scratch? Her and her marefriend Octavia wrote some music together. They call it ‘ambient’. It’s super-duper chill-tastic! You can sink into the music and just…float away.”

Fluttershy felt like she was floating, alright. Pinkie was right, this was nothing like having a few too many glasses of wine after dinner. She gazed around the room in wonder. Little details she wouldn’t have noticed otherwise seemed to hold more meaning now. The length of the streamers on the walls, the portraits of her friends, the enormous bed behind them, all seemed to blend together to form a picture in her mind of what made Pinkie, Pinkie. The value she placed on her friends, her love of parties. A small voice in her mind tried to tell her that she wasn’t making any sense, but it all felt so…right. It was whole and complete. To Fluttershy, everything she was experiencing, from the music to the smell of the snacks to the texture of the beanbag chair and Pinkie’s giggling, was coming together in her mind to create a glorious, harmonious whole.

Her stomach gurgled, and she snapped out of her transcendent thoughts.

Pinkie’s ear twitched, and she opened her eyes slowly and smiled. “I’m gonna grab some food from the table, what would you like?”

“Oh, um…how about those nachos?”

“Sounds great! Be right back.” Pinkie climbed out of the overstuffed beanbag and slowly walked over to the table sagging with snacks, careful not to lose her balance.

Fluttershy began to lay down again just as she heard a POMF. She glanced at the noise and saw a small green alligator staring at her from the edge of the beanbag.

“Oh, Gummy! Come here.” Fluttershy scooped up the small reptile and squeezed him against her chest. Gummy was used to the silly antics of the pink one, but he hadn’t expected such forwardness from the shy pony. Sighing internally, he resigned himself to his fate.

“Gummy, you’re so smooth, and scaly, and cute! You’re the best alligator ever…” Fluttershy’s face was pure bliss as she hugged Gummy and rocked gently in the beanbag ocean.

“Oh, hey Gummy, you want some snacks too?” Pinkie sat back into the beanbag with snacks in tow, and nestled against Fluttershy and Gummy, enjoying the comfort of friends, music, and stoner snacks late into the evening. Eventually both ponies fell asleep, still cuddled against each other, a smile on both faces.

And sure enough, when they woke up in the morning there was nothing left of Mount Munchie.
> Rainbow Dash - MDMA
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed at the crack of noon on a brisk Autumn day. 

The Wonderbolts were on break between seasons, and she had the next few days off from cloud duty. What reason was there to get up?

Her stomach growled, and she sighed in defeat, leaving the soft, warm confines of her bed for the soft, cold cloud floor.

After fixing herself a small breakfast, she continued through the rest of her daily routine: brushing her teeth, setting out food for Tank, and stepping outside to check the mail.

When Rainbow Dash opened the mailbox, an explosion of confetti and streamers nearly sent her off the side of her cloud. After getting her heart rate under control, she briefly wondered how exactly Pinkie managed to get a letter into her mailbox hundreds of feet in the sky, but she quickly discarded the thought: this way madness lies.

Opening the envelope and retrieving the letter, Rainbow’s eyes widened. Pinkie wanted her to attend a party. This wasn’t surprising at all, but what was surprising was that Pinkie wasn’t going to be the host; she wanted Rainbow Dash to go with her to a rave.

Rainbow naturally knew about Ponyville’s late-night party scene; You don’t live in the same town as Vinyl Scratch without learning a thing or two. Occasionally Rainbow’s cloud house floated over the old repurposed warehouse where DJ-Pon3 worked her magic and the wubs could be faintly heard even from the sky. But actually attending? This would be new to her, and she started to smile in excitement.

After killing time in the afternoon playing with Tank and practicing her aerial acrobatics, Rainbow flew down and landed in front of Sugarcube Corner at 5 o’ clock sharp, just as the invite had instructed her. Rainbow knocked on the door, then let herself in. The bakery had closed for the evening and appeared deserted, but her ears flicked when she heard noise from the kitchen.

“Hey Pinkie, is that you? I got your invite.”

“Hi Rainbow! Give me just a sec, just getting everything put away for the night.”

She heard more clanging, a cabinet door closing, and after a few minutes, Pinkie Pie joined her at one of the many vacant booths on the customer side of the bakery.

“Whew! Another busy day today. So, you ready to party Dash?”
“Heh, you know it, Pinks. My first rave! Luckily I’ve got the day off tomorrow, so I can sleep in a bit.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Pinkie rubbed her chin and looked off to the side for a moment before returning her gaze to Rainbow. “Actually, you probably shouldn’t make any plans for tomorrow at all really. At least not if you really want to get into the spirit of the rave tonight.

Rainbow furrowed her brow. “Huh? Pinkie, just how long do these things go for? Ponies gotta sleep sometime ya know.”

Pinkie laughed and shook her hoof. “Oh, no, it’s not like that. They’re usually done by about 3 in the morning. It’s just that molly usually wipes you out the next day. Best to take it easy.”

“Who’s molly?”

“OH!” Pinkie bonked the side of her head with a hoof. “Duh! First rave, of course you’ve never heard of it. Molly isn’t a pony, it’s a party drug. Lots of ponies take it at raves, it’s just part of the experience really.” She reached up and pulled a sandwich bag out of her mane containing some small pink disks, and showed them to Rainbow.

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she pushed back slightly from the table. “Pinkie, drugs? Really? I mean, I know you’re the party pony in Ponyville, but I didn’t think you did that! Are you okay?”

Pinkie’s ears wilted slightly. “Rainbow, I might be silly sometimes, but give me some credit.This is perfectly safe in moderation. I’m not gonna hurt myself.”

“Oh.” Rainbow coughed. “Right, sorry Pinks, I just panicked a bit I guess. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories out there from the bigger cities while I was on tour. I should know that you’d be smarter than that. My bad.”

“That’s alright RD, you don’t have to take it if you don’t want to. It just enhances the experience.”

Rainbow was curious, but a nagging thought held her back. “I don’t think I can really. Gotta stay in top shape for the Wonderbolts, you know? I can’t have anything holding me back.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that! Like I said, you’ll just need a day off afterwards, maybe two, but then you’ll be right back to your dashy self!”

“Ok…but like, what does it actually do?”

“Welllll…ok, so it’s real name is MDMA, but most ponies call it Ecstasy, because it’s just that. It’s like you’re walking on clouds.” Pinkie paused and furrowed her brows in thought. “Wait, you’re a pegasus, that analogy won’t work. Umm…” Pinkie glanced at the ceiling, trying to find a way to do it justice, in a way that Rainbow would understand. 

“Got it! Do you remember how you felt when you finally got accepted into the Wonderbolts? That elation when all your hard work finally paid off? How it felt like everything was right in the world?”

Rainbow nodded, smiling at the warm memory.

“It’s…well it’s not quite like that probably, but it feels like everything is perfect. And you can party forever, and everypony else is having just as much fun as you are. Nothing else matters, just fun, friendship, and the music.”

“That…does sound pretty awesome. If it makes you feel like that, how come you aren’t always doing it?”

“Everything in moderation, my dear Dashie.” Pinkie said in a motherly tone of voice. Rainbow was briefly reminded of her instructors back in flight camp as a filly. “Besides, it doesn’t really fit the mood for the kind of parties I throw around town. This is Vinyl’s gig, she has more experience with the rave scene than I do. Still!” Pinkie clapped her hooves together. “It’s fun once in a while, and I thought you might like it too.”

“I…” Rainbow shrugged. “Well, why not. You do make it sound pretty fun, and I know you’d never put me in harm’s way…yeah, let’s do it Pinkie.”

“Yay!” Pinkie Pie jumped out of the booth and spun around to face Rainbow. “You’ll have fun. And I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Pinkie promise. Let’s have dinner, and then we’ll head over.”


***


It was dark, and Rainbow could hear the music long before she saw the club, but they were finally here. The Source was previously an empty, abandoned woodworking factory on the edge of town before Vinyl Scratch bought it and installed a dance stage, a sound booth, and an almost excessive amount of neon lighting both inside and outside. Dozens of ponies from all over Equestria were shuffling their way inside past a pair of bouncers flanking the entrance on either side. Their dark sunglasses hid their eyes but it was clear that they were on the lookout for any troublemakers. Upon seeing Pinkie, their faces lit up in happy recognition.

The bouncer on the left waved. “Well hey Pinkie Pie! You’re here early tonight!”

“Hi Creamsicle!” Pinkie gave the stallion a brief hug. “Yeah, just wanted to beat the crowd. I brought Dashie here with me and didn’t want to make her wait in line.”

Creamsicle turned to the newcomer. “Oh sweet! Welcome to the party Wonderbolt! Hope you have fun!”

“Heh, thanks.” Rainbow’s cheeks tinted slightly; she still wasn’t quite used to her new title.

“Head on in you two. Vinyl’s doing her final soundchecks, the party should be popping off pretty soon.”

Rainbow and Pinkie ducked through the curtain separating outside from inside and made their way to the stage at the opposite end of the build. Rainbow craned her head around as they trotted, taking in everything around her. Countless light fixtures lined the ceiling of the massive industrial warehouse, lenses tinted every color of the rainbow focusing the light into beams that danced across the checkerboard-patterned dance floor where dozens of ponies were already swaying to a repetitive, bassy beat. Rainbow saw the dopey, smiling faces of a few ponies swaying softly to the music and wondered if they had already taken drugs earlier.

Ducking through and around the crowds, Pinkie and Rainbow made it to Vinyl, who was adjusting dials on a massive soundboard with one hoof and holding one cup of a pair of headphones to her head with another. When she glanced up and recognized Pinkie walking toward the stage, she sat the headphones down and trotted around the soundboard to greet them.

“Yooo, Pinks! Good to see ya again! And RD!” Vinyl held out a foreleg for a hoofbump, which Rainbow gladly returned. “Welcome to The Source!”

“Heh, thanks Vinyl. I’m a bit nervous to be honest.” Rainbow scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “I’ve partied plenty of times with Pinkie, but never something like this.”

Vinyl waved her concerns away. “Aw, don’t sweat it Dash. Pinkie’s a good pony; she’ll make sure you have a great time.” Vinyl turned to Pinkie Pie and winked.

“Hehe, of course I will! I brought party favors and everything.” She fished the bag out of her mane and showed it to Vinyl. “You want one?”

Vinyl gently shook her head. “Thanks, but we’re expecting a big crowd tonight.” She pointed a hoof toward the crowd, which had seemingly doubled in size since their conversation started. Rainbow’s mouth opened in shock for a moment before she turned back around to Vinyl. “I gotta be on my A-game tonight. But you fillies have fun.” Vinyl winked at the pair before she leaned in close to them. “Rainbow, remember to stay hydrated. Drink some water at least every half hour, okay?” Rainbow nodded. “Pinkie, keep an eye on her, make sure she relaxes and massages her jaw muscles once in a while, kay? You know what ponies do when they’re tripping. Colgate will kill me if I send her a Wonderbolt with a chipped tooth.”

Pinkie nodded, looking more serious than Rainbow had seen her all evening. “I gotcha. It’s Dashie’s first time, so I’ll make sure it’s a good one. I’m not rolling tonight, just gonna make sure she has fun.” Pinkie grinned and glanced at Rainbow.

“And you tested it, right? It’s pure?”

“Of course! Every pill, every time, just like you told me.”

Vinyl mussed Pinkie’s mane with a hoof, making Pinkie giggle. “Good filly. Now go have fun! It’s just about time to unleash the wubs!”

Pinkie led Rainbow to a less crowded area by the restrooms, where she pulled out one of the pink disks and handed it to Rainbow. “Here you go, you can just swallow it like a vitamin.” She pointed to the water fountain near the entrance to the restrooms. “And wash it down with lots of water. No point getting dehydrated before we even get started.”

Rainbow glanced at the pressed pill in her hoof. It was a solid pink disk, maybe half the size of a bit, with a raised image of a generic smiling pony. “You sure you don’t want to do this with me, Pinkie? You made it sound like it’s not as fun without it. I don’t want you to be left out on my account.”

“Aww, Dashie!” Pinkie swooped in for a hug. “That’s so sweet! But not tonight. I’ll still have plenty of fun, but I wanna make sure you do, too. Next time we can both trip out, kay?”

“Well, alright, if you’re sure.” Rainbow looked at the pill for a moment, then closed her eyes, opened her mouth and popped the pill into her mouth. She stepped to the water fountain and washed it down with lots of water, as instructed.

“Alright Dash, let’s get this party started!”


***


Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had been dancing for a little while now. Rainbow didn’t feel any different than usual yet, but she did recall Pinkie telling her that it would take about half an hour to kick in, and that Rainbow would know when it did. A bit ominous, but whatever. While she waited, gently swaying and bobbing her head to the pre-recorded, repetitive beat that played before DJ-Pon3 started her set, she occupied herself by observing the crowd around her. Most ponies were standing around in small circles of friends, just chatting while they waited for the real party to start. Some ponies were gently swaying on their hooves roughly in time to the music, a lazy smile underneath half-lidded eyes. Rainbow wondered if that’s how she would look in an hour. A few ponies were acting even stranger, like the pair near the edge of the dance floor that she didn’t recognize. A pair of stallions, one an earth pony with a deep brown coat, the other a dark blue pegasus with a silver mane, were gently…stroking each other’s fur. Rainbow almost felt embarrassed, but on second glance it didn’t appear to be sexual. It was like both ponies were simply enjoying the texture of the other’s fur to an extreme degree. She turned back to Pinkie and was about to ask her to explain what that was all about, when the music faded out and the lights turned to illuminate the stage, where Vinyl Scratch, now DJ-Pon3, held up a microphone.

“Sup, party ponies? DJ-Pon3 is in da house!” The packed crowd cheered in unison. An ocean of ravers ready to party until sunrise. 

“That’s what I like to hear! You ponies ready to rave?” Another roaring cheer answered. “LET’S BUCKING GO!”

It was like all the dials were turned to eleven. The music got louder, the lights moved faster, and the crowd turned electric. Rainbow mimicked Pinkie who was bouncing in place to the beat, her cotton candy mane flying in every direction. Rainbow was starting to get into the rhythm, the infectious mood of the crowd around her lifting her up as well. She thought she might have been starting to feel the effects of the ecstasy a little bit, when it suddenly hit her, launching like a sonic rainboom. 

She suddenly felt as light as the feathers on her wings. Rainbow felt like it all made sense now; the multicolored lights beaming onto the stage, the repetitive trance music, the crowd swaying around her like a stormy sea, it all complimented the drug perfectly. She saw a flash of color at the edge of her vision and turned to locate it. Pinkie Pie had at some point attached dozens of glowsticks in loops around her legs and her neck, half pink and half blue. Rainbow Dash was mesmerized; the glowsticks seemed impossibly bright and vivid, illuminating Pinkie like an omnidirectional spotlight. Pinkie caught Dash staring at her and laughed.

“Hey filly, you having a good time?”

“Oh Celestia…Pinkie, this is amazing!” Rainbow pointed a hoof at the glowsticks wrapped around Pinkie’s neck. “You’re amazing!”

Pinkie laughed and gently wrapped a foreleg around Rainbow’s neck. “I didn’t think you were such a flatterer, Dashie!”

Rainbow Dash barely understood what Pinkie was saying, completely distracted by the feel of her fur meshing with the fur on Pinkie’s leg. She felt every individual hair in her mane move in tandem with the Pinkie’s movements. She felt Pinkie’s heart beating in her chest. She felt the breeze against her ear from Pinkie’s breath, heavy with exertion. 

It was overwhelming. It was electrifying.

It was perfect.

“Oh Celestia, Pinkie, keep…keep doing that.”

Pinkie giggled. “Oh, you’re the touchy-feely type when you roll, huh? Alright, I gotcha Dashie.”

Pinkie brushed her hoof through Rainbow’s mane, slightly damp and matted with sweat. Rainbow craned her head to the ceiling, a goofy grin stretched across her face. She was in heaven, Pinkie could tell. But then she noticed something that made her pause her brushing.

“Hey, Dash, look at me please.”

Rainbow didn’t react for a second, but she eventually noticed that the hoof brushing through her mane had stopped, and she turned to Pinkie.

“Open your mouth for me, okay?”

Rainbow complied. Or, at least she tried to; she suddenly noticed that her jaw was clamped shut like a vice. When did that happen? After some effort, she managed to unlock her jaw and open her mouth, a questioning look evident in her eyes.

“That’s called bruxism Dash. It’s bad for your teeth, especially if you start grinding them. Remember what Vinyl said? Try to stay loose, and massage your jaw once in a while, okay?”

“Got it…sorry Pinks, I didn’t even notice I was doing that.”

Pinkie giggled and brushed a hoof through her mane, sending another jolt of pleasure through her body. “It’s okay Dashie, I’m just making sure you don’t hurt yourself. I said I’d take care of you tonight, and that’s a Pinkie promise.”

Rainbow was practically crying in pleasure. At that moment, everything was right in the world. The music flowed into her soul and through her body in waves of bliss. She felt connected to the hundreds of ponies around her, dancing to the same beat in her heart. She was with one of her best friends, a pony she trusted completely in mind, body, and spirit. One who was dedicated to making sure that Rainbow had the time of her life.

Rainbow suddenly had an idea. An amazing idea. She turned her head to look directly at Pinkie.

“Hey, Pinkie?”

“Yeah Dashie?”

“I love you.” She leaned forward and pecked Pinkie on the lips.

Pinkie’s eyes opened as wide as dinner plates, before she relaxed and chuckled. “I love you too, Dashie. C’mon, let’s get you some water, silly filly.”


***


Hours later, two ponies exited the warehouse, leaning on each other for support. Pinkie Pie looked exhausted, but Rainbow Dash was still full of energy. Pinkie had let her redose as she was coming down from her high, but warned her that it would be the last one for the night. “You have to join the rest of us on the ground eventually” Pinkie had told her.

Rainbow Dash was fascinated with the new environment, particularly the new tactile experiences: the cold night breeze against her coat, the feel of individual grains of gravel against the frog of her hoof, as well as the now familiar brush of her fur against Pinkie’s. Despite dancing for at least 6 hours, she had never felt better. Whether this was because of the drug or her athletic training was anypony’s guess.

“Alright Dashie, let’s get you back to Sugarcube Corner. You’re definitely not flying home tonight, and I need to be there with you when you wake up.”

Rainbow nodded “Sure Pinks, that sounds great.” She didn’t feel like sleeping yet, despite the late hour, but right now she was cool with anything. Pinkie hadn’t let her down yet, after all.

Pinkie led Rainbow through the front door of the bakery and upstairs to her room, taking care not to wake Mr. and Mrs. Cake or the twins. Pinkie guided Rainbow to the bed and, after clearing space amongst the dozens of pillows, laid Rainbow atop the sheets.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes with some cocoa, and then we’ll get some sleep, kay?”

“Okay Pinkie, sounds good.” Pinkie saw that Rainbow's eyelids were starting to flutter. She was exhausted, she just didn’t realize it yet.

Pinkie returned to the kitchen and made herself a cup of cocoa with lots of marshmallows. She returned to her bedroom to see Rainbow Dash sprawled out on her bed, snoring softly. She gently smiled to herself.

“Heh, I knew I’d only need one cup.”


***


Rainbow Dash stirred to consciousness, briefly confused by the unfamiliar bed she awoke in before recalling the events of last night. She felt…okay. It was a bit sad after the euphoria she felt last night but she knew that this was normal; Pinkie had told her as much last night before she had taken the pill.

Pinkie walked in the door right at that moment, like she somehow sensed that Rainbow had woken up. She carried a tray balanced on her back. “Good morning, sleepyhead. I made prench toast. You want some?”

Rainbow’s stomach grumbled in reply. “Sure Pinkie, that smells…fine.” She crawled out of bed and joined Pinkie at the small table in the middle of the room.

Pinkie Pie smiled gently; she knew what Rainbow was feeling and emphasized with her. The day after could be pretty rough, especially after a redose. “How are you feeling?”

Rainbow lifted her head slowly to gaze at Pinkie. “I’m…alright. Normal, I guess. It just feels kinda…blah. You know?”

“Oh, trust me, I know.” Pinkie nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry Dashie, you’ll feel better tomorrow, okay?” Rainbow nodded, and they ate in silence.

Rainbow Dash thought back to last night, going through the evening in her head. The sounds, lights, colors like she had never seen before. The kiss…wait, the kiss‽

Rainbow froze. “Hey, Pinkie?”

Pinkie swallowed a piece of toast, then looked up. “Yeah Dashie?”

“Did we…did I…um…”

Pinkie raised her eyebrows. Here it comes. “Yes, Dashie?” She grinned in amusement.

“Did I really kiss you last night?”

“Yup. Do you wanna talk about it?”

Rainbow’s blush reminded Pinkie of the apples on Applejack’s farm. “Can it wait for a while? I need to get my head sorted.”

“Of course, Rainbow. Let’s wait until you’re feeling better.”

Several moments passed.

“Hey Pinkie? Thanks for last night, that was incredible.”

“Of course, Rainbow. I’m glad we both had fun.”
> Twilight Sparkle - LSD
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hiya, Twilight! Are you home? I got your message! Spike?”

Pinkie Pie looked around the vast entryway of the crystal castle, trying to spot the purple princess or her number one assistant. Finding nothing but books and bookshelves, she craned her ears just in time to hear a thump from the hall ahead.

“Ack! Hello Pinkie, I’m back in the lounge, come on in!”

Pinkie smiled and navigated the halls and stairways until she came to a cozy nook where Twilight Sparkle was clearly engrossed on a new study project. Several books were stacked on one corner of the desk, with another larger pile stacked on the floor behind. Twilight was laser-focused on an open book in front of her, mumbling too softly for Pinkie to understand. Pinkie looked at the cover out of curiosity, but she only got as far as “Opening the Mind” before Twilight heard her and looked up.

“Oh, Pinkie! Thanks for coming. I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything important.” Twilight stood up and trotted around the desk to greet her friend with a nuzzle, which Pinkie happily returned.

“C’mon Twilight! My friends are what’s important to me! And your letter from Owlowiscious said you needed my help. Are you planning a party?” A gasp. “Is it Princess Celestia’s birthday? I’ve tried asking her but she just laughs her princess laugh and says…” Pinkie stood as tall as she could on four limbs, tilting her head as if to look down on a shorter pony. “‘My little pony, I’ve had enough birthday parties for 10 lifetimes.’ Enough birthday parties‽ How could she-”

“Pinkie!” Twilight stood and placed both forehooves on the hyperventilating pony’s shoulders. “Pinkie, calm down. Even I don’t know when Princess Celestia’s birthday is.” Pinkie calmed slightly, and Twilight returned to all four hooves. “I’m not planning a party, but I am doing some research I’m hoping you can help with. Are you busy tonight?”

“Busy hanging out with my favorite purple alicorn!”

“I’m the only purple alicorn, Pinkie.”

Pinkie shrugged. “Other than that, my schedule is wide open. How can I help?”

Twilight looked over her shoulder back to the desk. Her horn flaring, the book she had previously been reading floated over to hover in front of Pinkie, who caught it and read the title: ‘Opening the Mind: An Exploration of Hallucinogenic Substances by Dr. Hoofmann’. Pinkie raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn’t expected that Twilight would be curious about such things.

“According to Doctor Hoofmann, well before the three tribes unified, some Earth pony tribes discovered a fungus growing in their wheat fields that, when ingested, would cause hallucinations, convulsions, and vomiting. Hoofmann synthesized a chemical from this fungus called,” Twilight glanced back at the book. “lysergic acid diethylamide-25. The chemical retained the hallucinogenic properties while stripping out the..less pleasant parts.” Twilight cringed and looked off to the side before returning to face Pinkie. “At doses as low as 1 microgram per kilogram, a pony can experience hallucinations in all senses, euphoria, and even out-of-body experiences. All that from such a small dose!”

Pinkie nodded along. “Yep! Hoofmann sure was surprised when he took it for the first time!”

Twilight smiled. “He sure was! His report…” Twilight paused. “Wait, Pinkie, you knew about this?”

Pinkie grinned and rolled her eyes. “Well yeah Twilight, I’m not gonna take something if I don’t know everything about it, where it came from, what it does, making sure it’s safe…”

Twilight’s eyes bulged so wide Pinkie was worried they would fall out. “Pinkie, you’ve ingested it‽ Why? Where did you even find it? It’s been illegal for almost 50 years!”

“Cuz it’s fun!” Pinkie winked and adopted a sly smirk. “And I have my sources.”

“It…you…” Twilight sputtered. “Fun?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yup! You can see sounds and smell colors. It’s like a party that’s inside your head, and the whole universe is invited. There’s nothing else like it!

Twilight cocked her head to the side in thought. A unique experience? Something brand new to learn about? She had to admit to at least an idle curiosity; it’s what drew her to today’s research in the first place. But her upbringing had instilled her with morals and societal norms that were warring for control against her natural curiosity. Maybe Pinkie Pie can teach me a bit more. Then I can make a decision considering all the facts. Right, that sounds logical.

Twilight looked back to Pinkie. “But what about when it’s not fun? I’ve read about ponies who had bad trips. They sound like somepony’s worst nightmare! Psychosis, delusions, PTSD? Even if that doesn’t happen to everypony, that’s risky.”

Pinkie nodded, a more serious look on her face than Twilight was used to seeing from the bubbly party pony. “I’m not gonna lie to you, Twilight. That does happen sometimes. Some ponies have a really hard time with it. Sometimes they take it in a place they aren’t comfortable in, with ponies they aren’t comfortable or familiar with. Sometimes they aren’t in a good place ‘up here’-” She pointed to her head. “and they try to fix that with drugs. Occasionally a pony will have underlying mental health disorders, like a family history, and LSD will trigger it. I’m not going to say that it’s all sunshine and rainbows, but in the right environment, with ponies you trust to steer you back on track if you start having a bad time?” She put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “It can be an eye-opening experience. I think almost everypony should try it. At least once, just to experience what it’s like.”

Twilight’s caution was rapidly losing the war against her curiosity and eagerness for new experiences, new knowledge. However, she still had concerns. “What about contaminants? I’ve read about ponies getting what they thought was LSD and it ending up being something more dangerous.”

“There are testing kits now, and I test everything I buy, even when I trust the pony I’m buying from. It doesn’t hurt to be safe.”

Twilight nodded, brows creased in thought. “No…it never hurts to take precautions. Pinkie?

“Yeah Twilight?”

“If I…if I was curious about it, could you get LSD for me?”

“I don’t know, Twilight. Are you curious?” Pinkie wiggled her brows teasingly.

Twilight sighed. “I am. I can’t deny that it sounds very interesting. A new and completely unique perspective on the world around me? I really can’t pass up that learning opportunity.”

Pinkie’s smile morphed into a grin stretching from ear-to-ear. “Great! You won’t regret it, Twilight. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you have the Best. Time. EVER!”

Twilight chuckled. “I know you will Pinkie, you’re a great friend.” They shared a nuzzle.

“Alright Twi-Twi, I’ll go pick up some blotters from a friend. I’ll be back this evening. In the meantime-” Pinkie swung Twilight around and deposited her into a couch against the wall amongst the bookshelves. “You should relax. Read a book for fun, not research. Maybe have some tea? Just enjoy yourself until I get back, ‘kay?”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks, Pinkie. No more research today, I promise. I’ll see you when you get back.”


***


Twilight sat in the crystal castle’s tea room and nursed a cup of cinnamon chai tea. The strong clove scent put her at ease, despite the lingering nerves surrounding what she was about to do. This was illegal, after all. What would her mentor say? Before she could dwell on the thought any further, she heard the ringing of the bell above the castle’s front door.

“Hey Twilight, I’m back!”

“Hello Pinkie, I’m upstairs in the tea room, come on up!”

“On my way!”

Moment’s later, the door opened and Pinkie Pie stepped through the doorway, her head on a swivel as she took in her surroundings.

“Oh wow, you redecorated!” Purple curtains had been pulled over the room’s only window, filtering the light from the setting sun and bathing the room in a color reminiscent of Twilight’s coat. Pictures of her friends lined the walls: Rainbow Dash receiving her Wonderbolts uniform, Fluttershy surrounded by her animals in a grove, Applejack watching the sunset from amongst a row of apple trees, and so many more. A projector was set up behind a pink loveseat facing a blank section of the wall. In front of the loveseat was a small square table holding a lava lamp, the orange blobs inside slowly moving through their motions. “A lava lamp, Twi? Let me guess, you bought that from Treehugger?”

Twilight’s cheeks flushed. “Hey, it seemed appropriate!”

Pinkie snorted. “Yeah, maybe when your parents were our age.” She stepped over and ruffled Twilight’s mane. “I’m just messing with ya, it’s actually really cool. I’m kinda bummed that I won’t be tripping too.”

At this, Twilight replaced her embarrassment with mild confusion. She tilted her head to the side. “You won’t? I figured we would both be, um, tripping.”

“Not this time Twi-Twi. Since it’s your first time, it’s my job to make sure you stay safe and have a good experience.”

Twilight nodded, satisfied. “I suppose that makes sense.”

Pinkie joined Twilight in the loveseat, folding her legs underneath her. “So, are you ready to get started?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be. I’m still kind of nervous.”

Twilight glanced off to the side before a pink hoof touched her chin and guided her back to look at Pinkie. “Twilight, you don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Please don’t feel like I’m forcing you into this, okay?”

Twilight smiled, and the doubt left her eyes. “You’re such a good friend, Pinkie. Don’t worry, it’s just jitters. I still want to do this, and I know you’ll be looking out for me.”

Pinkie returned the smile. “You know I will, Twi.” She pulled a brown paper bag seemingly out of thin air and overturned it, dumping the contents onto the coffee table in front of them. A sheet of thin, white cardboard fell onto the table. On it were small printed illustrations: one was a collage of yellow stars surrounding the moon. Another, a magic wand with silver sparks shooting from one end. It reminded Twilight of Trixie’s cutie mark. The sheet was perforated into squares for easy tearing.

“These are blotters. You tear off a square, place it on your tongue and wait for it to dissolve. You should start feeling it in about 15 or 20 minutes, and the peak comes at about one hour. You’ll start coming back down in 4 to 5 hours and you’ll feel completely normal when you wake up in the morning.”

The sheet glowed in a purple haze as Twilight lifted it for closer examination. Seemingly satisfied, she tore off a square from the corner. “Well, here goes nothing.” She opened her mouth slightly, placed the square onto her tongue and closed her mouth. She settled back into the sofa and relaxed; all that was left to do now was wait.


***


Half an hour later, Twilight was beginning to notice visual phenomena she had never seen before. As she turned her head from one side to the other, she noticed trails of light seemingly emitting from the corners of the portraits on the walls, like visual traces of what her eyes had previously focused on. She wished, for not the first time that night, that Pinkie would let her take notes.

Pinkie noticed her friend rotating her head from side to side and giggled. “How ya feeling, Twilight?”

Twilight jumped at her friend's voice, snapping out of her trance, and turned to address her. “I feel fine, I guess. Something’s different about my vision, like it’s taking my brain a moment to catch up when I shift my focus somewhere else. Is that normal?”

“Totally! I know exactly what you’re talking about. Nothing to worry about. Remember, you’re safe here; I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” They hugged briefly, before Pinkie stood up and moved to the projector, browsing through Twilight’s collection of film reels hoping to find something they could enjoy together.

“Oh hey! I didn’t know you liked Sapphire Shores. That’s perfect!” She pulled out the music video reel and connected the film to the projector. Pressing play, she maneuvered back around the loveseat and sat down with Twilight.

Twilight watched with rapt attention as the video started. It was a recording of a concert from Sapphire Shores’ latest tour. The crowd cheered loudly at the beginning and end of every song. Spotlights shot a mix of blue and yellow throughout the state and the crowd, seeming to pulse in intensity to the beat of the music. Camera angles shifted wildly as the pegasi film crew darted through the air. The scene was almost overwhelming for Twilight, but she was too mesmerized to let it concern her. She felt like she was right there in the crowd. She felt the music physically pulsing through her body; the bass thumping into her chest, Sapphire’s voice whispering into her mind. 

As the spotlight colors changed, Twilight saw everything in her room change with it. The globs of oil in the lava lamp shifted and morphed; where once there were only orange lumps in water there was now a pony. A miniature orange Sapphire Shores danced and sang directly to Twilight, illuminated from above by orange spotlights. Twilight started with wide, dilated eyes, cheering when Sapphire finished her latest song. Twilight felt honored that Sapphire would host a private concert just for her.

As another song began to play, Twilight stood up and began lazily dancing to the beat. Pinkie reacted, standing up and scooting the loveseat and coffee table away from them to make sure that Twilight wouldn’t bang her shins on any nearby furniture..

“Hey Twilight, can I dance with you?”

Twilight turned out to face Pinkie, both wearing a matching pair of wide grins. “Of course!” In all honesty, Twilight had forgotten that Pinkie was even there at all, so captivated was she by the sights and sounds she was experiencing. As she resumed dancing, the walls around her began to lose focus, replaced by shadowy figures mimicking her awkward dance moves. The silhouettes stretched into the void, as if Twilight had been teleported into a hall of mirrors and was seeing her reflection repeated infinitely in every direction. She began to feel herself falling away, losing herself to become another shadow in the dancing, cheering crowd. Instead of fighting the oncoming assimilation, she leaned into it, and let herself drift away.


***


Back in the real world, Pinkie Pie noticed that Twilight had stopped dancing and was instead standing as still as a rock, staring at the projected concert with blank, unseeing eyes.

“Oops, maybe that was a higher dose than I thought it was.” She shrugged to herself. “Or maybe Twilight is just sensitive to it, who knows.” She carefully guided Twilight back to the loveseat and sat down with her. Twilight didn’t react to her surroundings at all, an occasional blink of the eyes and her chest rising and falling with each breath were all that set her apart from one of the many statues in the Canterlot Gardens.

“Wow, ego death from a single tab, Twilight? Sheesh, I hope you’re doing okay in there.” Pinkie  leaned against Twilight and held a hoof with her own, hoping that Twilight could feel her and draw some comfort from the touch.


***


In the nothing, there was suddenly a thought.

An eternity passed, or perhaps no time at all, and that thought became a collection of thoughts.

Slowly, very slowly, that collection of thoughts turned into a question.

“What is this?”

The question did not have the answer. Maybe the answer didn’t exist. Maybe it hadn’t been discovered yet. Maybe it never would.

So the question continued to float in the void, searching for the answer.

…

A new question appeared, and the old question was discarded. Cast into the void.

“Who am I?”

This question spawned something new, something previously unfamiliar. An emotion was born.

The emotion was named Curiosity. The question decided that it liked Curiosity, and they linked together. Joined as one in a bond strong enough to fight back the void of non-existence.

Joined as friends.

This realization prompted another question to spawn from the void, superseding the old.

“What is friendship?”

As if hearing its cue, the void exploded. Pictures, words, colors, sounds, smells. Names. Rainbow Dash splashing her with mud on the day she visited Ponyville for the first time. Fluttershy staring down a dragon. Applejack selling cider at the town square. Rarity giving Spike a large, heart-shaped gem. Pinkie Pie…

A new feeling emerged from the kaleidoscopic deluge of memories.

This feeling was called Touch.

The idea in the void, now calling itself Twilight Sparkle, slowly came into focus. She drew inward from her existence as a scattered collection of ideas, questions, and feelings, and began to condense into the form of a pony, like galactic dust compressing to form a star. That pony felt warmth in her right forehoof, and the right side of her body. Discovering that she had Sight, she saw a pink hoof wrapped around her own, and this brought her joy. An idea formed, not in the void of nonexistence this time, but in her own mind.

“This is okay.”

Twilight Sparkle discovered that she could Hear, and she heard a soft lullaby, floating within and throughout her.

“When I was a little filly and the sun was going down…”

The song brought a new feeling, comfort. Twilight Sparkle felt protected, and knew that everything would be all right in the end, as long as she had her friends by her side.

Two new feelings emerged, one after another. Taste was born, and Twilight Sparkle tasted the remnants of clove from the chai tea she had drank earlier that day. Smell came soon after, and Twilight Sparkle smelled the shampoo that Pinkie Pie had used that morning. Unsurprisingly, it smelled like bubblegum.

With her senses recollected, Twilight began trying to understand her surroundings. Slowly, the montage of experiences began to unravel and refocus. The first thing she saw was a large white square, her projector displaying a blank screen against the wall, the concert recording having finished playing hours ago. The surrounding walls began to coalesce next, covered in framed portraits of herself and her friends. Twilight shifted her gaze downward, and the walls disappeared, replaced by a purple hoof, her own hoof, and the pink hoof that was wrapped around it. She stared at the hoof, confused at first, but then so, so impossibly happy.


***


“You’ll see that they can’t hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear…”

Pinkie gently sang to Twilight, hoping that her words would bring the purple pony some peace.

It was late, and Pinkie was tired. But sleep could come later.

First, she needed to be there for her friend.

Pinkie had only ever experienced ego death on a couple of occasions. She wouldn’t describe either experience as a ‘fun’ time. But not necessarily a bad time either.

Intense, certainly. Mystical, eye-opening, revelatory? Maybe.

She felt Twilight starting to squirm, her hoof twitching as Pinkie held on. Twilight’s breath began to quicken, before it relaxed again, and Twilight opened her eyes.

Twilight looked first at the projector screen, then down at Pinkie’s hoof clasped around her own. And then she started to giggle.

The giggles evolved into outright laughter, and Pinkie’s worried frown became a smile of relief.

The laughter died down, and Pinkie took the chance to speak.

“Hey Twilight. Welcome back.” She leaned in and gently hugged the purple princess.

“Pinkie…what…what in Equestria was that?”

“I think you had a trip that was much, much stronger than I planned. I’m so, so, so sorry. I hope you weren’t scared.” Pinkie’s ears folded back and a single tear formed, dripping down her cheek.

“No, Pinkie…Pinkie, it’s fine. Really. It was…how do I even begin to describe it? I was floating…except it wasn’t me, I didn’t exist. Nothing existed. I was just an idea floating in nothing. And eventually, something changed, I became a question, and then lots of questions, and I saw all of you, all of my favorite memories of you and the other girls, and I was so happy…” Twilight tried to continue, but her emotions began cascading down her face as tears, and she jumped forward, gripping Pinkie in a fierce hug as she sobbed joyfully.

Pinkie felt an overwhelming weight lifted from her shoulders, and she sighed in relief, returning the hug. “There, there Twilight. Let it all out. I know that was intense. You can tell me all about it in the morning. C’mon, let’s get you into bed, okay?”

Pinkie helped Twilight stand on four wobbly legs, and slowly, carefully guided her to her bedroom. She tucked Twilight into bed, then walked around to the other side and climbed in beside her. 

Both ponies slowly drifted off to sleep, connected by a pink hoof wrapped around purple.
> Rarity - Fly Agaric Mushrooms
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright darling, I do believe I have just about all the topaz I’ll need for my latest ensemble. Again, thank you ever so much for your help!”

“Anytime, Rarity.” Spike shot Rarity a wide grin. He may have outgrown his childhood crush on the elegant white pony, but that didn’t mean they had to stop being friends. He was more than happy to offer his services when she mentioned an upcoming trip to Ghastly Gorge to collect materials for her new dress line. It meant spending a weekend with a friend, after all. And it certainly didn’t hurt that Rarity always sent him home with a bag full of less desirable gemstones. Spike salivated at the thought. He didn’t care what the gems looked like; a topaz was a topaz as far as his taste buds were concerned.

Rarity trotted over to their supplies, pulling out a basket containing their lunch. “Shall we take a break and eat before we journey home? I don’t know about you, Spike, but I am positively famished.”

“Oh, sure! But you don’t have to worry about feeding me, Rarity.” Spike picked up his bag of rejected gems and slung them over his shoulder before joining Rarity at the picnic blanket. “I’ve got all the food I need right here.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Now Spike, I’m not going to let you gorge yourself on gemstones just because Twilight isn’t here to say no. Do you really want to make the return trip with an upset stomach?”

Spike shrugged. “Eh, it was worth a shot.”


***


Celestia’s sun was nearing the horizon as they made their way through the Whitetail Woods enroute back to Ponyville. Rarity thanked the dense branches above for providing protection from the worst of the heat. However, that coverage came at a cost; the filtered sunlight provided barely enough light to guide their way through the forest. She carefully watched her steps as she walked over and around the myriad tree roots peppering the ground around her.

Rarity glanced up to see Spike. The young drake was happily bobbing around the forest on a set of leathery wings. Rarity felt a pang of jealousy before recalling her last experience with flight. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she returned her gaze to the forest floor just in time for something to catch her eye.

“Oh-ho-ho! What a brilliant mushroom! Spike, dear, wait a moment please.”

Spike doubled back and swooped in for a landing beside the unicorn. “What’s up, Rarity? Oh wow, that looks neat!”

Rarity gathered several of the mushrooms growing in a bundle beneath a decaying log, gently lifting them out of the dirt, and brought them closer to examine. The cap was a vivid red patterned with white dots. The colors reminded her of the picnic blanket from earlier that afternoon. The underside of the cap was laced with cream-colored frills attached to a similarly-colored stem. 

To the fashion-minded pony it was a brilliant example of the inherent beauty of nature. Her mind was already conjuring designs for next year’s Spring catalog.

She brought the mushroom to her nose and lightly sniffed, but was disappointed when the candy-colored fungus smelled like any other mushroom she had encountered in the wild: Dirt, with a hint of mold.

“Rarity, shouldn’t you be careful with that? Twilight says a lot of mushrooms can be poisonous.” Spike maintained a distance, eyeing the bundle warily.

“Well yes Spike, I’m certainly not going to eat any old mushroom I find along the ground. But a smell won’t hurt me, even if the scent is slightly disappointing.” She opened the pouch resting against her side and tucked the colorful caps inside. “No darling, I’ll take these to somepony who can help me identify them first.”

Spike cocked his head. “Like who?”

Rarity smiled at him before resuming her walk. “Oh, I might have an idea.”


***


The bell above Sugarcube Corner’s door chimed as Rarity stepped inside the next day. The bakery was packed with ponies, as it always was during the lunch rush. Rarity joined the back of the line, glancing over the various baked goods. She made her decision just as she reached the register and the pink pony behind it.

“Heya Rarity! What can I get for ya?”

“Hello darling.” She leaned over the counter for a brief nuzzle, which Pinkie Pie happily returned. “Two cranberry muffins, please. Are you going on break soon?”

Pinkie bagged up the muffins and glanced up to the clock on the opposite wall. “It’s a little early, but it should be fine.” She stepped back to the kitchen, presumably to ask the Cakes to cover the register, then returned and stepped around the counter.

Once the pair had set down at one of the few remaining empty booths, Rarity pulled the muffins out of the paper bag with her magic and floated one over to rest in front of Pinkie. “One for you, and one for me.”

“Aw, thanks Rares! Always so generous.”

“Oh, pshaw!” Rarity scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You won’t even let me pay for these delectable treats. I can hardly be considered generous for sharing something given so freely!”

Pinkie giggled around a mouthful of crumbs. She swallowed and wiped her mouth. “Of course I’m not going to charge my friends, silly! Besides, that’s not the point; you thought of me when you got two muffins, and everypony knows that it’s the thought that counts.” 

Rarity sighed before returning Pinkie’s knowing smile. “I do suppose you have a point, darling. Very well then, onto the next matter.” She opened a flap on her saddlebags, pulling out a paper bag and laying it on the counter. She reached in with her magic and levitated out one of the mushrooms she had found the previous day, laying it on the table beside Pinkie’s empty muffin wrapper. “I have it on good authority that you might be able to identify this for me. I think I have a good idea of what I’m looking at, but I wanted to consult an expert first.”

“Oooh!” Pinkie picked up the mushroom by the stem and closely examined it. “Yellow gills, red cap, convex and slightly depressed in the center…yep! It’s fly agaric. Nice find, Rarity! I didn’t think these were in season for another month or two!” Pinkie paused for a moment, then tilted her head to the side. “Wait, you said you knew what this was?”

Rarity placed the fungus back into the bag before returning it to her saddlebag. “Well darling, I’ve seen a thing or two in my time working the fashion circuit. We are artists, after all, always searching for that next inspiration. Some of my colleagues seek that inspiration in less-” She twirled a hoof in the air, looking for the right word. “-Conventional means. As you can imagine, gossip travels in those circles. Why, my dear Coco told me just last week that she had spent most of the previous evening trying to convince a friend of hers that he was hallucinating. Apparently the stallion had taken mescaline and was seeing pony skulls floating through the air! The poor thing was frightened beyond belief.”

Pinkie visibly cringed. “Yeesh, must have been too high of a dose.” She shook her head in sympathy. “So you’re looking for some of that kind of inspiration, even after hearing stories like that?”

Rarity shrugged. “Well…I know it’s not always like that, and every substance is different after all. Hoity Toity was actually the one that first told me about these magic mushrooms. He said they were a fun way to relax after a busy week, and one experience he had actually inspired the interior design of his boutique.”

Pinkie nodded in understanding. “That’s not too surprising, actually. I came up with the idea for my Chimicherrychonga when I was tripping on mushrooms. Wait a minute, that reminds me…” Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “How did you know that I knew about all this stuff?”

Rarity chuckled. “Pinkie, it’s as I’ve said: word travels fast. Ponies say your special parties are not to be missed.”

“I bet Rainbow told you, didn’t she?” Pinkie wasn’t mad, of course, just curious.

“Now darling, a lady doesn’t kiss and tell. But then, you’d know all about that, isn’t that right?” Rarity teased, wiggling her eyebrows as Pinkie’s already pink cheeks darkened in tone considerably.

Pinkie coughed. “C’mon, Rarity, we’re just friends, and she was rolling hard.”

“Of course, dear. Whatever you say.”

Pinkie blew a raspberry. Rarity could be relentless if she caught scent of a juicy bit of gossip. It was easier to just change the topic. “Moving on…do you really want to do this, Rarity? Even if you don’t have a bad trip, the nausea can be pretty intense. And you’ll be out of it the next day, so you’ll need to plan a whole weekend around this.”

Rarity thought for a moment, weighing her options, before she nodded. “I’m sure, Pinkie. At worst, I’ll have a close friend comfort me through a rough evening, and then it’ll be over and I can move on. At best, I’ll have a wonderful time and maybe find some new ideas for my Spring ensemble. I’m ready.”

“Okie-doke! Let me borrow the mushrooms and I’ll dry them out. I’ll come over to the Boutique next Saturday and we’ll have some tea.”

“Special tea?”

Pinkie winked. “Yup! Pinkie Pie’s Specialty Special Tea!”


***


The next weekend arrived quickly. At the Carousel Boutique, the door’s sign was flipped to ‘closed’, and the curtains were drawn shut. Inside, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were sitting in Rarity’s workroom. Normally, this area was cluttered with half-finished projects and cloth samples on every available surface, but Rarity had done what she could to make her usually private inspiration room more hospitable for her guest. A spare dining table had been pulled out of storage, its surface nicked here and there over the years, but its cedar surface still shined with a glossy finish. A pair of violet sofas were brought in from the showing room, alongside Rarity’s infamous chaise lounge chair, or ‘fainting couch’, as her friends liked to call it.

Pinkie Pie pulled a stopwatch out of her mane. She glanced at it and nodded in approval. “Okay Rares, the tea has probably steeped for long enough now. Remember, slow sips, or your tummy will make you regret it. Speaking of, you didn’t eat lunch today, right?”

Rarity gently lifted the mug in her magic, taking a cautious sniff. It didn’t smell much different than when the mushrooms were freshly picked last week. Perhaps a bit muted. “Of course not, Darling. You did warn me, after all. Now relax, won’t you?” She waved a hoof at the matching mug in front of Pinkie. “Enjoy your own tea. I’m a big filly now, I can take care of myself, promise.”

Pinkie’s imagination conjured an image of a much younger Rarity saying that line, and she giggled. “Sure, Rarity. Whatever you say.” 


***


An hour later, Rarity was tossing upon her chaise lounge. She uttered a groan and rolled again. “Pinkie, you weren’t kidding about this nausea, it’s positively dreadful!”

Pinkie Pie lifted her head from the armrest of a nearby couch to face her. “I know Rarity, don’t worry, it should be over soon. Other than that, how are you feeling? I think it’s starting to hit me.”

Rarity rolled onto her back and stared up at her ceiling, focusing on her body. She felt…very relaxed, like she had just stepped out of a long bubble bath. Every muscle felt rested. Even her back, ever punished from long nights hunched over her sewing machine, felt like it would after a massage at the spa. “Apart from my stomach, I feel lovely darling. I don’t know if it's…hitting me yet, but…”

As if on cue, Rarity noticed something. As she stared at her eggshell-white ceiling, she saw colors creeping into the corners of her vision. Attempting to focus on the colors was like trying to look at the small dark blotches one occasionally sees floating in their eyes. As she tried to catch one in her vision it would dart away, staying out of reach and closer examination.

As Rarity gave up and returned her gaze to the ceiling, she swore the ceiling was moving. Waves would ripple out from the center, like a pebble thrown into a still lake. She traced one wave and watched it travel to the corner of the room and down the wall before disappearing behind a closet.

“Pinkie…Pinkie, are you still there?”

The pony in question was chuckling softly to herself. Laid on her back, she was waving all four limbs in the air, trying to catch tiny creatures that only she could see. “What’s up, Rarity?”

“Pinkie, the ceiling is moving.”

“It is?” Pinkie lowered her legs and directed her eyes where Rarity was pointing. “Huh, it sure is. Neat!” With that, Pinkie resumed her mission to catch the parasprites floating just out of her reach.

Satisfied that her friend had been made aware of the odd behavior of the ceiling, Rarity let her gaze drift lazily around the room, looking for anything else out of the ordinary. As she fixed her gaze to another corner of the room where two walls met the ceiling, she saw a small purple thread worming its way out of the wall. It was closely followed by a red thread, then a green one, until all colors of the rainbow were represented by dozens upon dozens of interweaving cords of color. They criss-crossed across her ceiling, spreading endlessly from one end of the room to the other, bobbing in and around each other like the universe’s most complex stitching. Patterns formed, disappeared, and re-imagined themselves endlessly, leaving Rarity breathless. Gasping in realization, Rarity rolled off of the couch and onto her hooves, and moved on wobbling legs toward her work table.

Pinkie’s mind came back into focus at the sound of movement, and she sat up, keeping an eye on Rarity. When Pinkie saw a pair of fabric scissors glow in Rarity’s magic, she moved to intervene.

“Rarity! Put the scissors down. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“But DARLING!” Rarity whined. “My muse has arrived! The magic, the inspiration! I must create! I MUST!” 

Pinkie smirked. Inebriated or not, Rarity’s theatrics could land her a role on Bridleway any day. “Hold your horses, Rarity, just give me a second…Ah ha!” She spotted Rarity’s sketchbook and picked it up along with several colored pencils and a piece of charcoal, and led Rarity back to the seating area. She laid the drawing materials out on the dining table and helped Rarity back into her seat. “Here you go, Rarity! You can draw to your heart’s content, and leave the scissors and sewing needles for tomorrow.”

“Pinkie, you’re a genius! Thank you ever so much.” Rarity picked up the charcoal and got to work right away, hatching lines and shades into her sketchbook that would eventually become a line of dresses that would turn the fashion world upside down.

“Of course, Rarity. Have fun!” Pinkie went to the kitchen to grab them each a cup of water. It seems the night wouldn’t be over anytime soon.


***


Rarity’s nose twitched as she was pulled out of her slumber by the scent of hay bacon and eggs. Her stomach grumbled, and she was reminded just how long it had been since her last meal. Returning fully to consciousness, she stood from the sofa and took a moment to stretch out her back. While her chaise lounge was comfortable, it was a poor substitute for her bed upstairs. Satisfied for now, she made her way into the kitchen to see Pinkie Pie hovering over the stovetop.

Pinkie’s ear twitched, and she turned her head to face the white unicorn dragging herself through the doorway. “Good morning, Rares! I hope you don’t mind that I made us breakfast.”

“Do I mind? Pinkie, that smells heavenly!” She stepped forward to wrap a hoof around the pink pony’s withers. Pinkie returned her greeting with a nuzzle.

“Great! Have a seat at the table and I’ll be there in a minute, just need to finish plating everything.”

Rarity began to make her way to the other side of the kitchen before remembering that she had moved the dining table into the workroom last night. She pivoted, returning to the workroom and retaking her seat. Settled, her gaze fell on her open sketchbook laying on the table. Her memories from last night were a little…hazy, but she assumed she must have divined a new design or two during last night’s adventure. Flicking her tail in anticipation, she turned back a page, then another, and yet another, her face twisting in confusion at each new scribble.

That was the right word, wasn’t it? These weren’t design sketches, they were foal’s doodles. Colored lines swiped from one side of the paper to the other without rhyme or reason. Several pages were torn when the pencil was pressed much too firmly into the paper. One page simply had the word ‘Universe!’ written repeatedly from top to bottom, a different color chosen for each iteration.

As Pinkie Pie set their plates down, Rarity looked up to her in confusion. “Pinkie, did you draw in my sketchbook?”

“Nope! That was all you. You were so excited for your new designs! How do they look?” She walked around to Rarity’s side of the table and looked at the page. Her shoulders started to bounce with barely-restrained laughter.

“-snrk- Oh, Rarity, that’s wonderful! Hehe, you’re truly a master of your -pff- craft!” Pinkie lost her composure entirely and fell onto her back, doubled over in laughter.

“Oh ha, ha, Pinkie. Laugh it up.” Rarity rolled her eyes at her pink friend’s shenanigans. Still, the laughter was contagious, and she couldn’t fight a smirk developing on her face. “I really thought I had found something incredible, too. Oh well, can’t blame a mare for trying.

After a few more giggles, Pinkie recovered and rolled to her feet. She wiped a tear from her eye before she returned to her breakfast and started to dig in. “Sorry for laughing, Rarity. Don’t feel bad, maybe you’ll find your inspiration next time.

Rarity set her fork down and brought a hoof to her chin. “Hmm…maybe I will, Pinkie. Maybe I will.”
> Applejack - Peyote
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow before unscrewing the cap from her canteen and taking a long pull of the cold water inside. Another day’s farm work was complete, and in good time too. While the farm needed less care as the Fall season drifted towards Winter, there was still plenty to be done to make sure her trees were healthy and ready to resume growing when Spring came along next year. 

She squinted toward the Sun in the sky, judging its distance from the horizon. About 3 o’ clock I’d reckon. Glad I got an early start on the chores today. She smiled and began trotting back to the farmhouse.

Applejack hadn’t had a chance lately to catch up with the girls due to her work on the farm. Yesterday Rainbow Dash had invited her to see a hoofball game in Canterlot, and luckily the season’s work was winding down enough for her to tag along, as long as she worked quickly.

Just in time for cider season, too. I’ll have to bring some along with me or Rainbow will never let me live it down. She chuckled to herself.

As she made her way back for a well-deserved shower, she spotted a gray-coated pegasus come in for a landing near her mailbox. Applejack waved at Ponyville’s resident mailmare. “Good afternoon, Ditzy! How’re the rounds treating ya?”

Ditzy Doo opened her saddlebag, then returned the wave. “Afternoon, Applejack! It’s going swell! Just one letter to give you and then my day is done and I can go pick up little Dinky from school.”

Ditzy hoofed over the letter, gave a lopsided salute, and sped away into the air. Applejack watched her leave with a smile. Such a loving parent. Reminds me of Ma, she does. Applejack soaked in the warm nostalgia for a moment before turning over the letter in her hooves. Cousin Braeburn? Shoot, I haven’t heard from him in months! She tore open the letter and began to read.

Dear Cousin,

Hope the farm is doing well! 

Us Appleloosa Apples are getting ready for this year’s Coming of Age Ceremonies. It’s time for you to gain a deeper connection with the Earth, just like ol’ Big Mac before you, and your Ma and Pa before that. Don’t eat supper the night before, or breakfast on the day of the ceremony, and come down with nothing but an open mind.

We’ll see you next week.

Love,
Braeburn & Family

“Shhhhoot! Forgot all about that mumbo-jumbo!” She stomped a hoof in frustration. “And what the hay does he mean a ‘deeper connection with the Earth’? I’m an Earth Pony, I get along just fine already!”

Braeburn’s side of the family were known to have some odd ideas about Earth Pony magic and how it works, which caused some tension with her extended family in the past. Still, despite their strange beliefs, they were honest folk, and hard-working as any Apple should be, so the rest of the family humored them to stay on good terms. Applejack remembered when Big Mac left for a week a few years back for his own ‘ceremonial retreat’. Oddly enough, when he returned he seemed to work harder on the farm than ever before, and their crops that year were even better than usual.

Spying the large red stallion exiting the house, Applejack trotted over to meet him. “Hey Big Mac, just got a letter from the cousins in Appleloosa, looks like it’s my turn for that Coming of Age malarky.”

Big Mac paused in thought before he replied. “...Yup, I guess it is. Would’ja look at that, my little sis is growing up.” He gave a playful noogie to the orange mare before his hoof was swatted away.

“Consarnit Mac, I’ve been working at this farm since I was a young’un, same as you.” Applejack snorted in frustration. “Ain’t no need for any of this ‘Ceremony’ nonsense.”

Big Mac chuckled and shook his head. “I said the same thing when it was my turn. You’ll be fine, little sis. In fact, I bet you’ll have fun.”

Applejack opened her mouth to reply, then shook her head. She knew that she was already pushing her limits with the normally quiet stallion, so she left him be and went inside and upstairs to wash off. Now I’m really looking forward to that hoofball game, gotta get my mind off of all this Appleloosa nonsense.


***


The train coasted to a stop, and Applejack stepped out onto the Appleloosa platform, keeping a hoof on her hat to keep it from sailing away in the desert breeze. She already missed the temperate climate of Ponyville, but luckily the changing of the seasons had come to Appleloosa too, bringing the thermostat down from ‘sweating buckets’ to ‘almost tolerable’. Applejack didn’t like to complain, but she wasn’t a fan of the Summer heat, and was always glad when it started to cool off and she could switch her focus from bucking apple trees under the sun to brewing cider in the Fall.

“Hey cousin, over here!” Applejack glanced over to the end of the train platform, recognizing Braeburn’s voice. The yellow stallion wore his usual stetson and vest, just as she remembered him. She returned his wave and trotted over to give him a familial hug.

“Good to see ya, Braeburn. It’s been a while.”

“Sure has! Glad you could make it.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “You know just as well as I do that I couldn’t miss this. Literally. You woulda hog-tied me and carried me over yer back if I said no.”

“Aw cousin, don’t be like that, it’ll be a good time. And I wasn’t kidding around in that letter, we’ll help you get a deeper connection and a new appreciation for the world we all live on.”

“Sure Brae, whatever you say.” Applejack knew there was no way out of this. She was already here, might as well go along with it and make nice with her extended family.

Just then, Applejack heard a high-pitched noise. For a moment, she thought it might have been the train’s whistle signaling for departure, but when she looked the doors were open and ponies were still filing into the passenger compartments. She perked her ears and glanced around.

“...jack!”

“Applejack!”

“AAAAPLEJACK!”

A pink blur knocked the wind from her lungs and gripped her in a bone-crushing hug. “Pinkie Pie? What in tarnation are you doing in Appleloosa? How come I didn’t see you on the train?”

Pinkie Pie unclamped herself from her friend, and Applejack took the opportunity to catch her breath. “I got here yesterday to help set up for tonight’s ceremony! It’s gonna be so much fun!” The party pony hopped in excitement.

Applejack’s eyebrows came together in confusion. “Wait, you’re here for that?” She turned to Braeburn. “But I thought this was exclusive to the Apple family.”

Pinkie cut in before Braeburn could say a word. “Aw c’mon Applejack, don’t you remember when Twilight found that scroll that said I was your fourth cousin, twice removed? And then Big Mac loaded the cart and took us to Goldie Delicious’ house to check the family history book but the page was all smudged? And then you said-'' Pinkie suddenly adopted an exaggerated country accent. “‘It doesn’t matter what tha book says or doesn’t say. It’s obvious yer an Apple to tha core.’”

Braeburn laughed at Pinkie’s imitation and threw an arm over Pinkie’s withers before turning to Applejack. “And if it’s good enough for Applejack, it’s good enough for me. I’d be happy to have you join us for tonight’s festivities.”

“B-but Pinkie, you’re a baker. Why would you need to ‘deepen your connection with the Earth’ or any of that mumbo-jumbo?”

“Mmm…” Pinkie held a hoof to her chin in thought. “I don’t! But I’ve never tried Peyote before, and it sounds fun!”

“Peyote? Now what in the sam hay is-”

Braeburn cut her off “You’ll find out soon, Applejack. Don’t worry about it. You’ll have a good time, just like Pinkie said. And Pinkie, who knows? Maybe you’ll decide to take up gardening or something after all this is over.” They shared a laugh.

Pinkie led Applejack off the platform just as the train started to depart. “C’mon Applejack, let’s get to the hotel room and get out of this heat. The ceremony doesn’t start until after nightfall.”


***


Pinkie entered the hotel room, followed by Applejack, who closed the door behind her and hung her hat on the coat rack by the entrance. The room was sparsely furnished: plain wooden planks made up the flooring, and aged white wallpaper patterned with bright yellow sunflowers covered the walls. A simple wooden dining table occupied the center of the room, matched on either side by equally unadorned dining chairs. Two cots sat in each corner of the room, and a small refrigerator plugged into the room’s single power outlet on a wall opposite a door leading to a bathroom.

In short, the room would never pass in a place like Canterlot or Manehattan, but Appleloosa was far removed from the hustle and bustle of those cities, and it fit the needs of the ponies here just fine.

Applejack collapsed on top of one of the cots, and blew out a sigh. “Pinkie, what in the hay did we get ourselves into this time?”

Pinkie was in the middle of checking the fridge for snacks, but pulled her head out to address the incredulous mare. “Don’t worry Applejack! They’ve been doing this for generations, it’ll be fine!”

Applejack lifted her head from the pillow to look Pinkie in the eyes. “Can ya at least tell me anything about this ‘peyote’ business? I don’t have a plum clue what that is.”

Not finding any tasty snacks, Pinkie closed the fridge door and walked over to sit in front of Applejack’s bed. “Well, to put it simply, it’s a cactus. A super-duper special cactus. It contains a chemical called mescaline that causes you to see things that aren’t there, and gives you a feeling of warmth, like that happiness you feel the day you finally get your cutie mark. It can also make you feel woozy, or like you’re floating through a dream. Some ponies feel a deep connection to the world around them, which is what it sounds like the Appleloosan ponies are going for here.”

Applejack raised her eyebrows. “That actually doesn’t sound too bad. ‘Cept for the whole ‘seeing things’ business, that is. Sounds downright scary.”

Pinkie raised a hoof over the edge of the bed and rested it on top of Applejack’s own. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. Usually milder hallucinogens like this one are pretty tame. You might see or hear ponies that aren’t there, but they’ll disappear just as quickly as they appeared, and they won’t turn into some spooky monster or anything like that.” She gave a visible shudder, recalling an experience Vinyl had told her about in gruesome detail. “You might even come out of the experience learning something new about yourself. Maybe find yourself a new calling in life!”

Applejack scoffed. “My apples are a perfectly fine calling, thank you kindly.” She leaned up into a sitting position and swung her legs over the bed and onto the floor. “So how long do we got before this whole ceremony begins, anyway? I’m plum famished, and the sooner we’re done with this, the sooner I can get some grub.”

Pinkie looked out the window. The sun was just disappearing over the horizon. The sky was painted in the kinds of brilliant reds and purples that you could only find in a desert sunset. “Braeburn told me to be there an hour after the sun went down. I’m glad you listened to him and didn’t eat anything, that’s to help prevent the nausea, by the way.”

“Well, I’m glad he didn’t say anything about water, at least.” Applejack left the bed and walked over to the pantry, grabbing a glass from a cabinet and filling it from the sink. “I could never live with this heat year-round.”

Pinkie shrugged. “The family rock farm wasn’t much better, to be honest. It should start cooling down now that the sun’s set.”


***


Applejack took a deep breath of the cool night air. “Well I’ll be. You were right, Pinkie! It’s downright pleasant out here now!” The two ponies were walking to the site of the ceremony. Small rocks made a perfect circle around a large bonfire where several members of the Apple family were engaged in conversation. Hammocks were set up outside of the rock circle, which seemed odd to her. Laughs were heard all around. If Applejack didn’t know better, she would have thought this was a simple family reunion. 

Pinkie nodded. “Yup! Nights in desert towns like this cool down quickly. There’s so little humidity in the air that it can’t hold the day’s heat in, and the heat just floats off into the sky.”

Applejack stopped and started at the pink pony. “Where in the hay didja learn that, Pinkie?”

“Twilight told me how it worked the last time we came here for a visit.”

“Ah, Twilight, of course.” Applejack resumed her trot, Pinkie bouncing alongside her.

“Ah, there you are, cousin! Hope our hotel was to your liking.” Braeburn had a wide grin on his muzzle, clearly excited for the night’s festivities to begin.

“Suited us well enough, thank you kindly. So, Pinkie filled me in a little bit, but how’s this all gonna go down, Braeburn?”

“Welp, first we’ll lay down some mats for everypony to sit around the fire. We’re getting that set up now. Then we’ll have ol’ Cosmic Crisp over there say a few words, and we’ll hand out the brew to everyone. After that?” The stallion shrugged. “Whatever feels right at the time, I suppose. Some ponies sing, others dance, some just lay in their hammock the whole night, lookin’ up at the stars.”

Applejack glanced over to the fire upon hearing the unfamiliar name. The stallion named Cosmic Crisp was chatting to some ponies beginning to sit down, and he was certainly a character. He wore a large, feathered headdress, and had small gems inter-woven into his braided brown mane. A brown blanket covered the top of his bright red withers all the way down to his dock. He leaned his weight on a long, gnarled walking stick that rattled as he stepped, like it was filled with dozens of little pebbles.

Pinkie Pie approached Applejack's side. “Huh. He reminds me a little of the chief of Yakyakistan.”

Applejack held in a snort of laughter, but only barely. “I can see the resemblance. Let’s go take our seats, I suppose.”

As Pinkie Pie and Applejack picked out a pair of simple thatched straw mats next to each other and sat down, Cosmic Crisp raised his voice, addressing the small, assembled crowd as a whole. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, thank you for coming to the 107th annual Apple Family Coming of Age Ceremony!” The aged stallion stood shakily on his rear legs and raised his arms to the sky to the sound of clopping hooves all around. “This year, like every year before it, we welcome our family members from all around Equestria as they make their journey into adulthood, and seek to give them guidance and greater understanding as they take the next steps in their own personal journey through life. Braeburn will start us off by passing out the tea.”

Braeburn carried a tray filled with orange cups made of clay, and passed a cup to everypony present. Applejack glanced around at the crowd. She didn’t recognize anypony besides Braeburn and Pinkie Pie, but most of the other ponies present, only 8 or 9 in total, had cutie marks which openly showed to anypony looking that they were a proud Apple.

Braeburn came around the circle to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and both ponies took a cup from the tray. Applejack looked inside the cup and held back a grimace at the sight of the thick, brown liquid. The way it slowly sloshed around the inside of the container reminded Applejack more of the mud inside the pig pens back at the farm than any kind of tea she’d ever drank. She gave a tentative sniff of the brew and was unsurprised to find a decidedly earthy scent, with maybe a hint of flowers.

Once all of the cups had been passed out, Cosmic Crisp began to sing, if you could call it that. A deep, rumbling voice began chanting in words Applejack had certainly never heard before. It certainly wasn’t Equuish, and Applejack wouldn’t have been surprised if somepony had told her that what she was hearing was plain ol’ gibberish. Cosmic Crisp danced in a wild, uncoordinated fashion, spinning on a point while hopping on two hooves, then the other pair of hooves, making a loop around the bonfire all the while. The sound of the ceremonial walking stick rattled through the air underneath the chanting. Applejack turned her head to the side. Pinkie certainly seemed to be enjoying the performance, her eyes wide in rapt attention and her mouth forming a small ‘o’.

The start of the singing seemed to be an unspoken cue, as the ponies around her began to drink from their cups. Applejack took a tentative sip, and wasn’t surprised to find that the bitter brew tasted just like it smelled. There was a hint of lemon, however, probably added in to help with the otherwise bland flavor.

Once everypony had drained their cups,Cosmic Crisp brought his performance to a halt, and took a moment to catch his breath. Once he collected himself, he addressed the crowd once more. “The night is now yours to do with as you please. I ask only that you remain nearby so that those of us who have gone before you can keep an eye on you to make your journey a pleasant one. Please ask any of us if you need some water, or if you feel yourself becoming ill. Thank you, everypony, and may your ancestors watch over you, now and in the future.”


***


Some time passed, and Applejack had weathered the worst of the nausea. She occupied her time rocking back and forth in the hammock, content to simply watch the stars while she waited for the effects to intensify. Her anxiety surrounding the experience had melted away more and more as the ceremony progressed. While the ideas and behaviors were strange to her, it was clear from the organized nature of the proceedings that these folks knew what they were doing, and they had the experience to step in if anything went wrong. Applejack figured she might as well try to enjoy herself. She tried to stop thinking about the work she was missing out on back at the farm, and attempted to let go and fully participate in the experience.

Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie on the hammock beside her own. The newest member of her family sat on her back, hooves folded on her stomach with her eyes closed. Applejack would have thought she fell asleep if it weren’t for the occasional giggles bubbling up from the perpetually peppy pony.

Wanting to check up on one of her best friends, Applejack opened her mouth. “Hey Pinkie, you doin’ alright?”

Pinkie’s eyes fluttered open, and she turned to meet Applejack’s own. “Yupperooni! Just watching the party going on inside my eyelids.” She giggled at her own nonsensical statement.

“...Pinkie? The hay are you talkin’ about?”

“You don’t see it?”

“See what?”

“Hmm. Try closing your eyes for a minute.”

Applejack let out a soft sigh. Just Pinkie bein’ Pinkie. Let it go. She closed her eyes and waited for something to happen, but nothing changed.

Wait a minute…nothing changed. I can still see the stars.

Applejack stared incredulously at the night sky painted on the back of her eyelids. Blinking a few times, she did notice some subtle differences. With her eyes closed, there were less stars, and they were in different positions in the sky. Clouds of color floated behind and between the stars in a mix of colors alien to the nights she was used to in Ponyville, like otherworldly nebulas.

Keeping her eyes closed, she waved her hoof in front of her face, and was amazed to see a ghostly silhouette of her own hoof pass through her personal sky, mixing up the clouds and scattering the stars.

“Well ain’t that somethin’.” Applejack continued waving her hoof through the air. Pinkie giggled and laid her head back against her hammock, resuming her own journey through the cosmos.

A few moments later, Applejack opened her eyes again, expecting to see the sky as she remembered it, but was shocked to find that every star in the sky was swaying slowly back and forth alongside the moon. She followed the dance for several moments before she put the pieces together and realized that the stars weren’t swaying at all. Applejack was still swinging the hammock gentle back and forth. She chuckled to herself, feeling more than a little silly.

She felt an urge to move, and Applejack rose from the hammock and swung her legs onto the ground. Something was telling her that she needed to sit by the fire, and she dutifully complied. However, as she took the first few steps away from the hammock, her ears caught a sound that immediately made her nostalgic. A filly’s laughter filled her ears, and a young orange mare with a yellow mane and tail darted around her side, closely followed by a larger red colt chasing in a foalhood game of tag. The pair looped around her once, twice, ghostly neon traces of light following in their wake. Then, they sped off and disappeared behind the flames of the fire.

“That…that was me. That was Big Mac and I when we were foals. We played tag in the orchards after school all the time…” Applejack felt an immense feeling of peace deep in her chest as she resumed walking toward the bonfire and took a seat on one of the mats.

The light from the fire seemed brighter than normal. The glow spread farther into the sky than it had any right to, lighting up the surrounding area in an orange haze. Applejack smiled, the heat of the flames adding to the warmth and all-consuming feeling of contentment she felt in her heart. She spotted Braeburn out of the corner of her eye as he took a seat on the mat next to her.

“How’re ya feeling, cuz?”

“I’m…I’m great, Braeburn. I saw something. A memory from years and years ago. Just tryin’ to make sense of it, is all.”

Braeburn nodded in partial understanding. “What was it, if’n you don’t mind my asking?”

Applejack shook her head. “I don’t mind. It was Big Mac and I when we were still foals. Neither of us had our cutie marks yet. We were playin’ a game of tag, I think. We used to play it all the time, back when our parents were still alive and we didn’t have to worry so much about the farm. We’d finish up with school for the day and just play out in the apple orchards ‘til Ma called us in for supper.”

Braeburn smiled and nodded. “Sounds like a nice memory. Do ya think it means anything?”

Applejack was caught slightly off guard, and had to think about the question. After a moment, she replied. “I think I’m workin’ to hard, if I’m honest. I think my inner filly was telling me to slow it down a touch, spend more time with my friends and family. Somethin’ like that…” She trailed off, lost in thought again. “...Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Braeburn smiled. “That does sound nice.” Both ponies returned their gaze to the crackling flames.

Some time passed before Applejack raised her voice again. “Braeburn, would it be alright if I took a walk? Jus’ feel like I need to be on my hooves for a while.”

Braeburn stood and helped applejack to her hooves. “Sure thing cousin, I’ll go with ya.”

Applejack simply walked with no destination in mind, letting her hooves take her where they would. She passed the hammocks and saw Pinkie Pie sitting up and talking animatedly to Cosmic Crisp. Applejack saw tears in the pink pony’s eyes, but the large smile on Pinkie’s face let her set her worries for her friend aside.

Applejack came to the crest of a sand dune and took a seat, the sand still retaining a trace of the sun’s scorching heat and giving a pleasant warmth now in the middle of the night. She gazed into the desert, away from the frontier town and just watched, content to simply be present in the moment. Far removed from the heat of the bonfire and the laughter of the other Apples going through their own journeys. She spotted movement in her peripheral vision, and turned her head. Further along the sand dune she spotted something which caused her heart to skip a beat.

Applejack caught Braeburn’s attention and pointed into the distance. “Braeburn, that’s a timberwolf! What in the hay is a timberwolf doing out in the desert?”

“Hmm…” Braeburn squinted his eyes. “I don’t see anything, cousin. We don’t get timberwolves this far South. Ain’t nothing out here but coyotes and snakes.”

Applejack knew that, of course, but that knowledge didn’t make what she saw feel any less real. 

She resigned herself to watch and wait to see what happened. The timberwolf slowly approached, its glowing green eyes seeming to stare through her and directly into her soul. Applejack’s anxiety rose as the beast came closer and closer. Time seemed to slow and the background noise of the ceremony faded away. Closer still. She could make out the grooves in the wood that made up the Timberwolf’s body, and started to smell its musky, woody scent. The timberwolf was right in front of her now, and showed no signs of stopping its slow, steady gait.

The timberwolf was right in front of her now, its piercing gaze pinning Applejack in place. Despite her fear, Applejack didn’t sense any hostility from the beast, yet it didn’t show any signs of stopping. Finally it made contact with her, and Applejack flinched away, but opened her eyes in surprise when she felt nothing. The beast passed around her, through her, and continued on. Applejack looked behind her and watched as it faded away, motes of light drifting off toward the horizon which had begun to glow in anticipation of the rising sun. She felt a tickle on her cheek and rubbed it, surprised to find moisture on her hoof when she pulled it back. Her eyes teared up, but they were tears of joy, not sadness.

Braeburn stood and motioned back toward the camp. “C’mon cousin, let’s get back to the bonfire. It’s time to start wrapping up the ceremony.” Applejack nodded and silently followed. She was relieved to smell the scent of food in the air, as bowls were passed around to everypony present. Some ponies were laughing, others hugging, and a few were content to watch the sunrise in silence. She spotted Pinkie Pie at the head of the line, helping to dish out the meals. She smiled and joined her, giving the pink pony a bone-crushing hug.


***



6 months later


Applejack yawned, and leisurely rolled out of bed. She glanced out the window at the rising sun and smiled before heading downstairs to find something for breakfast. She hadn’t needed to rise before the sun since she hired some helpers for the farm, and she enjoyed the slower pace her life had taken in recent times.

Pouring herself a glass of apple juice and popping two slices of bread into the toaster, Applejack took a seat at the dining table. She raised the glass to her lips, but the front door slammed open just as she was about to take a sip.

The burly voice of her brother called out. “Applejack! There’s a timberwolf running amok at the edge of the orchards. I need yer help!”

“On it!” Applejack stood and swiftly galloped out the door, following her brother through the trees. She spotted a pair of stallions in the distance, Caramel and Thunderlane, the laborers she had hired last month, and went to meet them.

Skidding to a stop, Applejack took a moment to catch her breath before she spoke up. “Where’s it at?”

Thunderlane raised a hoof and pointed through the trees. “Over there, just down the hill. Big Mac was the first one to see it, said it was running around like it was possessed. It’s weird though, don’t they usually travel in packs?”

Visions of sand dunes and stars flashed in her eyes. Applejack spoke. “Yeah, they do. Stay here. I’ll see if’n I can’t drive it off.”

She walked past them, despite their protests. She passed Big Mac who nodded to her. “Be careful, sis.” She turned her head and returned the nod before continuing down the hill.

She heard a crack of splintering wood, and spotted the beast. True to Mac’s description, the Timberwolf was acting wild, running around without rhyme or reason and tearing grooves into the dirt in its wake. It paused and raised its nose to the air, sniffing for a moment before turning its head to Applejack. Glowing green eyes focused on Applejack’s own. It’s mouth opened and a howl echoed out. It began to sprint directly toward her.

Applejack spread her hooves and held her ground, keeping her head raised high. In spite of all common sense, she felt no fear. The scent of cacti and sand filled her nose.

The beast began to slow, its gallop slowing to a trot, then a cautious walk before it stopped right in front of her. Applejack met the Timberwolf’s stare with her own. The standoff stretched on for what felt like several minutes before Applejack heard ponies calling her name from up the hill.

Applejack smiled and addressed the timberwolf. “Thank you, for everything. Now go on, back to the forest with ya.”

The beast cocked its head to the side, then turned and meanered past the property line and into the wild trees of the Everfree.

She heard hooves stomping behind her, and turned to greet her brother as he skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

“You okay, sis? Is it gone?”

She nodded, and smiled in contentment. “Yep. Everything's fine now. Let’s get back to work. We need to wrap up early today so I can meet up with the girls.

Big Mac nodded, and they climbed back up the hill. As they reached the top, Applejack glanced behind her into the forest and smiled, before turning back and giving out the day’s work orders to the gathered ponies. 

A feeling of absolute peace followed her throughout the rest of the day.
> Pinkie Pie - Salvia Divinorum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ya know, Journal, a lot of ponies ask me: “Pinkie, what got you into drugs? Pinkie, isn’t that stuff bad for you? Pinkie, why do you have soooo many pillows on your bed?””

“Well little journal of mine, let me tell you a story. This story takes place a few years ago, just a few months before I met Twilight Sparkle and my life changed forever. This was the day that I first met Zecora out in the Everfree Forest…”


***


The air was thick and damp with a cold fog as I slowly made my way past the border of the forest bordering Ponyville. Earlier that day I overheard a pair of customers at Sugarcube Corner chatting about a Zebra that had visited the morning market, and I started to plan a surprise party. After all, I can’t claim that I’m friends with everypony in Ponyville if I’m not friends with EVERYPONY in Ponyville, right? Right.

This was my first time entering the Everfree Forest since I escaped my family’s rock farm and moved to Ponyville, and the sun was starting to set. I hummed my Granny’s favorite tune, trying to drown out the sound of twigs cracking and leaves rustling around me. 

Just as my teeth started to chatter from the chill air, I spotted a tree that stood out amongst the rest, and sighed in relief. Zecora’s hut kinda reminded me of the library in Ponyville that Twilight would eventually move into. What set it apart were the pouches filled with who-knows-what hanging from the branches, and Zebrican totem masks lining the exterior walls closer to the door. Readying my party cannon, I knocked on the door, and waited. And waited.

I started tapping my hoof on the dirt. You can understand my impatience, considering the stories I heard around town about the creatures lurking in the Everfree. Paranoia was getting to me, and my party plans were taking a backseat in my mind behind the instinctive need for shelter and safety. I placed my ear against the door. Did I simply get unlucky, and arrive when she was out gathering herbs?

But no, there was definitely someone inside the hut. Was that chanting? It wasn’t Equuish, that’s for sure. Wait, was that a scream?

I tried the door latch, found that it was unlocked, and let myself in.

“Zecora! Are you okay? My name is Pinkie Pie, and I can help you!” I snapped my eyes around the room searching for the striped mare. The walls on all sides of the round room were covered with shelves holding glass jars filled with all kinds of plants, powders, and provisions. More of those creepy masks were tacked up higher on the walls, and in the center of the room sat a huge cast-iron cauldron placed above the ashes of a small fire. Although the fire had clearly gone out a while ago, I could still smell the remnants of a bitter, acrid smoke.  Suddenly I spotted my target: a striped leg laid prone behind the cauldron, slightly twitching.

“Zecora!” I rushed to the other side of the cauldron and knelt down to examine the zebra. Thankfully, the situation wasn’t nearly as dire as I dreaded. In fact…was Zecora laughing?

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and Zecora gasped loudly, as if taking a breath for the very first time before she once again began to giggle as she slowly worked her way up to a sitting position.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, before she slowly turned to me and met my stare with one of her own.

“Um…hello? My name is Pinkie Pie.” In retrospect, my greetings back then needed some work. I didn’t meet very many new ponies at the rock farm, after all. “I’m sorry for trespassing, but I came here to welcome you to Ponyville, and when I knocked I heard screaming.”

Zecora tried to stand, but her legs started to wobble, and she retook her seat on the dirt floor. “I must apologize, little pink pony. Please give me a moment to come back to me.”

She closed her eyes and brought her arms out to her side in a meditative pose as I cocked my head to the side in confusion. What does she mean, ‘come back to me?’

I waited, and after a moment she opened her eyes again. This time, a smile graced her muzzle..

“Ah, here we are, back to the real. Now tell me, Pink one-” Her smile curved into a suspicious frown. “-are you here to steal?”

“What, no no no!” I shook my head vigorously. “I told you already, I came here to throw you a party to welcome you to Ponyville. You see, I’m friends with everypony here, but you’re new, and that means you’re a new friend, and that means I need to throw you a new friend party!”

Zecora chuckled and her shoulders relaxed. “I am relieved that your intentions are kind and not dire. Come take a seat, and I’ll relight the fire.” She stood up and slowly walked to an alcove near the back of the room. Opening a hatch, Zecora pulled out some firewood and returned to the cauldron, stacking the logs underneath. Pulling a burning torch from a sconce on the wall, she held the flame to the wood until it lit. I felt the heat building; a welcome warmth after the trek to get here.

“Ooh, thanks! Hey, do you always rhyme like that? It’s really neat!”

Zecora closed the hatch and returned to the fire, taking a seat next to me. “Not always.” I waited with baited breath for the rest of the rhyme, but Zecora just winked, making me giggle.

I took a moment to watch the smoke from the fire as it drifted toward the roof of the small hut and escaped into the air through a cleverly placed hatch.

Zecora took the silence as an opportunity to speak. “Again I am sorry to you on this night; seeing me on the floor must have given you a fright. I was in fact completely unharmed. Yet, you were understandably alarmed.”

I nodded, glad that she forgave me for barging into my home, and that nothing bad had happened to her. “I’m just glad that you’re alright. What was that, anyway? When I came in it smelled like something was on fire…besides the cauldron, I mean. It smelled kinda weird. Were you making some kind of spooky Zebra brew?”

Zecora laughed gently and shook her head. “Not this time, my new pony friend. Though the real answer may be hard to comprehend. I was partaking in a ritual of my tribe. Though like I said, it is difficult to describe. Let me show you instead, so that you are not misled.” She stood once again and grabbed a glass tube from the wall, sitting the contraption down between us.

I took a closer look at the strange device. It appeared to be a hoof-blown glass tube with a muzzle-sized hole on the top and a smaller hole on the side. The smaller hole was currently plugged with a tiny glass bowl that appeared to be removable from the main device. The bowl was filled with a fine gray ash; the remnants of something burned. The tube widened at the bottom into a larger bowl filled with water, and the whole thing sat on a flat glass base.

Zecora saw my obvious confusion and explained. “This device is called a water pipe. It is as common to the Zebra as our stripe. Using it, we inhale smoke from mystical plants as our tribe leader recites to us ancient chants. We ascend to a new realm of being, and we view new sights with eyes unseeing.”

My eyes lit up. “Oooh! Sounds spooky, can I try?”

I saw Zecora tense, and her eyes widened. “Pinkie Pie, I can see that you’re excited, it’s true. But you might not be ready for this new point of view. The experience is known to be rather intense, and warning you beforehoof would only make sense. Once you begin, you are in for a ride. Which for better or worse, you must abide.”

I creased my brow in thought. “But, like, you’ll keep me safe, right? You’re my friend now, you wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me, would you?”

Zecora gave me a sad smile, and closed her eyes. “You will be safe from harm in the physical sense, but I cannot make guarantees against your mental defense. From pony to pony, experiences vary, but for pony or zebra, it can be quite scary. One consolation: the experience is short, and after it’s done I’ll be here for support.”

Zecora told me more about the plant, which I learned was called Salvia Divinorum, or ‘Divine Sage’ in ancient Equuish. She showed me how the water pipe worked; Zecora would light the end of a small stick of kindling on fire, then hold it to a pinch of the salvia placed into the bowl on the side of the pipe. I would then hold my muzzle to the hole at the top of the pipe and inhale, which would pull smoke from the plant in and through the water to cool it down before it entered my lungs, making it easier to inhale. Once the smoke filled the long stem leading to my muzzle, Zecora would remove the bowl from the side of the pipe to open the airway and allow me to breathe deeply. She instructed me to hold the smoke in my lungs until my vision started to shake, then exhale and resume breathing normally. Once I completed a practice run without Zecora lighting the contents of the bowl on fire, we were ready to begin.

Zecora stood, and pulled a mask down from the wall, placing it over her face. Clearing her throat, she began chanting.

“Under the stunted oak I waited for her
the Green Mare
clothed in the black of the mystified, the lost,
but more truly, naked and unshriven, seeking a dying moment.

Under my tongue, the bitter mint
above my head, invisible leaves,
known only for the moonlight they intercept
below my back, the green grass that saw me through my youth.

She came to me in a spirograph body
wings twined with ivy in curliqued ringlets
her fingers the thorns of roses pointed with the blood of the unworthy
the edges of her smile reaching up to the stars, her teeth, barbed spikes.”

Zecora paused, and nodded to me to begin. I held the pre-lit kindling in my hoof and touched the ember to the flakes of salvia in the bowl. I began inhaling from the pipe, and saw the smoke flowing through the water and up the stem. As it reached about half-way up to my mouth, I removed the bowl and the smoke quickly made its way into my lungs. The cool water helped, but I still had to fight the urge to gag. Still, I fought through it, and held my breath as I looked back up to Zecora.

“I had not expected fear, but terror came with her
and tho I sought a dying moment, she showed me a dying eternity
and tho I sought to bring wisdom into the real, she tore the real from me
and I was no more, and in unbeing, I lost my fear

She made me into a mist, expanding slowly until I was all
everywhere, blown by the wind of her breath
into eddies and whorls within myself
and it was I that her wings beat, to keep her aloft

She flew in me, acrobatically spinning and turning
casting off parts of myself in colors I have never seen
I flowed across her wings, she breathed me
and I flowed through her grasslike hair.”

The walls began to vibrate and change color, and I took that as my cue to exhale. I was surprised to see very little smoke leave with my breath, considering the amount that I had just inhaled. I think vertigo hit me at this point, and I laid back, flat on my back with my arms folded and relaxed against my chest. From this point forward, concepts such as time and feeling are subjective, but I’ll do my best to describe them.


***


I saw a forest illuminated in deep greens, like somepony took the light from a bright, sunny day and slapped a filter over everything. The forest was thick and deep with tall trees twisted around and through each other into impossible shapes. Reflections bounced around my vision, as if I was staring at the scene through a constantly shifting stained-glass window. I couldn’t smell the typical forest scents of wood and fungus, but looking back on it, I don’t think I even recalled that I could smell; like smell was a foreign concept that I had never encountered or even heard of. I think I could taste…something, though trying to figure out exactly what was completely foreign to me as well. The sounds though.

The sounds.

I realized at that moment, while trying to piece together my shattered psyche, that sound meant everything in that twisted, alien forest. Sounds were the building blocks which held time and space together, and without sound all of existence, all hope, would be lost.

And I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t understand anything.

I think I started to weep, if I still had eyes, that is. I couldn’t be sure of anything at that point.

The sounds morphed into something resembling voices, yet I couldn’t understand them, and I was cast away as punishment, thrown violently into the space between spaces to await the next chapter of my trial.


***


I floated in the garbage bin of the Universe, joining all of the mistakes and abandoned ideas stacked up since the beginning of Everything. I watched my limbs in horror as, molecule by molecule, they unfolded, split apart, and drifted away to mix with the sharp, vibrating edges of shattered glass that made up everything which had ever been. The atomization of my body continued past my legs and arms and into my core, and this was the last moment where ‘Pinkie Pie’ existed as a concept. My ego drifted away, mixing with the aether between.

Bits of what had been ‘me’ were inseparably joined to the Universe itself. I was reused, recycled, and discarded, again and again. It might have been two minutes, two hours, or two millenia; time did not exist in this place. I noticed myself being put back together, remembering who I was, and desperately trying to cling to that idea before losing my grip and falling apart again, and again, and again. Since time had no meaning here, neither was there a timeline, so I would find myself back in Zecora’s hut, falling away into the forest, melting into the aether, and reforming again and again, the scenes playing in a random order every time. The only time that I could even recognize what was happening to me were in those brief moments of clarity as I found myself back in the hut as I recalled in terror the hundreds of years I had spent broken apart before being reformed anew. Each time, I cried, not in terror but in ecstatic joy at the opportunity given to me by the Universe to be myself. To be a pony, laughing, crying, and sharing my experiences with others. I lived a hundred thousand lives in the span of a heartbeat, and I felt blessed to be present for all of it.


***


Slowly, impossibly slowly, the cycle of death and rebirth began to stop. I saw myself reborn to my parents back at the farm, being doted upon by the ones who raised me, learning how to work the farm, and finally escaping the farm for Ponyville. I saw the events that lead me through the Everfree to Zecora’s hut, and I saw myself laying on the floor by a discarded pipe. I watched as an outside observer for a time, before I decided I was finally ready to rejoin my body in the real world.


***

"Soon, oh, too soon,
boundaries encircled me and I contracted, condensed
and rained myself on the stunted oak, and dripped from it in rivulets
and froze beneath it into this mortal body, clothed in black of the still
mystified, but no longer lost."

Zecora’s chanting slowed, then stopped as I opened my eyes again. I felt moisture making a trail down my cheek, and I flicked it away instinctively with a sluggish, trembling hoof. I stared at the ceiling, watching and waiting for it to return to ‘real’ colors and cease its impossible movements.

Eventually I felt stable enough to sit up, and did so. Once my vision caught up with the rest of my body, I looked over to Zecora, who had finished her part in the ritual and sat next to me with her head tilted in thought.

I gasped, remembering how to breathe, and voiced the only question that came to mind. “What happened to me?”

Zecora nodded, as if she expected those exact words, and replied. “What exactly happened, I cannot know, for all take part in a different show. Just remember, none of what you saw was real. However, I hope the knowledge gained can appeal. While your memory is strong, I suggest that you write. In time, you may look back fondly on tonight. Come with me now, and let us roam; I will guide you safely back to your home.

Zecora helped me to stand and regain my balance, then let me out the door of the hut and into the forest. I smelled the familiar scents of wood and fungus, and knew finally that I had made it back from my trip.I leaned on the zebra heavily, both for physical support and to show her my thanks for the experience.

Was it intense? Of course. Was it scary? Certainly. But I don’t regret it. It was a completely new experience unlike anything I had ever known before, and the memory would stay with me for the rest of my life.

I returned to the hut in the forest occasionally, seeking new experiences and spending time with my new friend. Eventually, I shared my budding knowledge with some of my best friends through new rituals. Whether it was a relaxing night with Fluttershy, a dance party with Rainbow Dash, a trip to the void with Twilight Sparkle, a creative escape with Rarity, or a sacred family bonding with Applejack, I made sure that my friends felt as safe and comforted as I did leaning against Zecora on that trip back to Ponyville.