“Ah said, NO!” Applejack glared into the faces of the guards. “Ah don’t care what Princess Celestia said! Winona is my responsibility.”
“Ma’am, please let us take your dog. It is our orders. We can’t allow anypony else to be harmed.”
“Fluttershy didn’t have just one dog, and Ah sure am stronger than mah one dog. So go away and let me handle her.” Applejack snorted as she stared the guard defiantly in the eye. She’d tied Winona up in the barn with a muzzle the moment she’d gotten back to her Apple Orchard from the hospital, and that was where she was determined to have her dog stay. “Ah don’t see ya pestering the Princess ‘bout her keepin’ Spike!”
The guard gulped. “Spike is different-” he began.
“But still affected. So get yer laws, and yer pointy spears, and go get some other varmints! Ah can deal with mah own dog. Ah ain’t a wimpy mare! Now scoot!”
The guard let out a defeated sigh and turned to leave. Before he did, he turned to her. “If we catch that dog outside the farm, we’re bringing it in, no questions asked.” With those words, he trotted out, not even giving Applejack time to answer.
She snorted once more in anger and pawed the ground with her hoof before turning to see Apple Bloom looking up at her with worry. “They aren’t takin’ Winona… are they?...” She sniffed.
Applejack frowned and hugged her little sister. “No. They ain’t takin’ her anywhere. Don’t ya’ll worry now sugar cube.” She replied, calming the little filly. “But ah want you stayin’ away from the barn until we figure things out, alright?”
The filly sniffed once more and nodded.
“Good. Now run along and go play with yer friends.” Applejack set the foal down and sent her on her way before walking into the fields to get her work done.
“They still can’t figure it out?” Granny asked as she walked up beside her granddaughter.
“Doc Stables says Fluttershy tested negative for rabies, as did Spike, so that’s not it.” Applejack sighed. “Still, nothin’ else is comin’ ta mind. We try, look, test... nothin. Right now, Twilight thinks the best thing for our pets is ta keep them close and talk to em. It’s what’s helpin’ Spike. But ain’t none of them are sleepin’. Winona won’t even sit down.” Worry crossed the farm mare’s face. “Ah’m plum oughtta ideas ‘bout what’s wrong with em… an’ ah’m worried ‘bout Winona… It’s gotten so bad Granny, she’s too busy barkin’ at who knows what even to eat half the time.”
Granny sighed and pat Applejack on her shoulder. “Ain’t nuthin’ ya can do, hun… just get yer chores finished an’ ya’ll can help me bake some pie fer dessert.”
Applejack gave Granny Smith a weak smile. She always loved helping the old mare bake, it took her mind off things. Not to mention the pies were delicious when they were finished. She nodded and hugged her grandmother. “Thanks Granny, that sounds quite nice…”
She watched Granny Smith slowly walk back to the farmhouse before once more turning and heading into the orchard for work.
Applejack rubbed the sleep out of her own eyes. She’d been out in the barn every night since she’d tied up her precious dog and the lack of sleep was beginning to get to her. She knew that sooner or later, Granny or Mac would probably catch on and force her to sleep, but she found it hard. She was worried. About her, about Winona, about a lot of things really. The mare sighed and dragged the baskets off the cart she’d left in the field the other day and placed them under the tree like she had so many times before. Without thinking, she placed them down and turned, bucking the tree hard and causing the apples to tumble down.
She turned to pick up the ones that had fallen to the ground and stopped dead. She stared at the apple on the ground, and then all the ones in the baskets. They were sucked completely dry.
“Not bats!” she gasped. “Not on top of everythin’ else!” She pulled her hat down lower on her head just in case a few were sleeping in the top branches of the trees, but nothing came.
Before she did anything else, Applejack darted to the rest of the trees, checking them for any sign of bats, but got nothing more than more shriveled remains of what used to be various types apples. “Where are they? Ah thought we dealt with those nasty things already…” She heaved a heavy sigh, the stress from the past few days starting to pile once more upon her and crush her. She shook her head and turned back to the farmhouse.
She needed to do something to relieve herself. With the apples dried up, most of her chores were pointless. She passed Big Mac, who was frowning up at the trees before glancing at her, his frown deepening as he eyed the mare. Her eyes had dark bags under them, and her mane was frazzled and messy. The usual confidence in her step was all but extinguished, and she just seemed… defeated.
He walked over to her and laid a hoof on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks as he forced her to look at him. He stared her dead in the eyes for only a moment before hoisting her onto his back.
Applejack’s eyes widened as she tried to slip off. “Big Mac! Put me down! Where are ya takin’ me?” She questioned as he made sure she couldn’t get off.
“Bed,” he answered. “Ya need ta sleep, AJ.”
She frowned but said nothing.
Big Mac continued in one of his rare moments of talking. “Ya think ah didn’t notice that ya were sneakin’ out at night ta go be in the barn with Winona? Ah know you Applejack.” He said as he trotted into the farmhouse and up the stairs. Without another word, he dropped Applejack onto her bed and laid a hoof on her chest so she couldn’t move. She tried struggling in vain under his vice-like hold, but it took little time for her to give into her exhausted body and pass out.
“AHHHHHHH! Getitoff! Getitioff! Getitoff!” Pinkie came running into the room, her eyes wide and her foreleg outstretched as she shook it wildly, it being a blur of pink and green.
Mrs. Cake walked lazily into the hallway and yawned, frowning as Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake crawled into the hallway as well to see what all the commotion was. “Pinkie Pie, why are you being so loud? Do you know how early it is? The shop doesn’t open for two hours…” The older mare groaned tiredly.
She whipped her head around to Mrs. Cake, who now had Mr. Cake standing next to her, equally as tired. “It’s Gummy! He won’t stop gnawing on me, and I’ve tried everything!” She shouted as she frowned and shook her foreleg harder. “Gummy! Get! Off!” She pounded her hoof to the ground and glared at the little alligator. She started rapidly bouncing up and down, trying to shake the animal off of her as she began bouncing towards the stairs unknowingly.
The foals had burst into laughter at the ridiculous sight of their playmate and occasional caretaker as she struggled to rid herself of Gummy. The wall-eyed alligator only responded to his owner’s reactions by biting down harder onto her leg.
Pinkie soon reached the end of the hallway, and Mr. Cake’s eyes widened. “Pinkie, be-”
Before he could say anything, she stood floating over the first step for a moment before her eyes widened and she looked down. Almost immediately she began falling down the stairs. “Oh. Ah. Ee. Oo. Oof.”
Crash
Pinkie slammed into the shelf at the bottom of the steps and bags of flour dumped on her, as well as empty containers.
“Careful…” Mr. Cake winced, and the family walked to the top of the stairs, gazing down at the pink mare.
The Cake twins took one look at her and were immediately sent into yet another fit of giggles as they fell onto their backs. Mr. and Mrs. Cake frowned as they eyed the empty containers surrounding Pinkie, and one even sitting on her head as if it were a hat. “Weren’t those containers filled with sugar yesterday?” Mrs. Cake asked as she eyed the empty plastic tubs. The couple picked up their two foals and trotted down the steps into the bakery shop section. Mr. Cake walked into the shop area, and his eyes widened. All the cakes and pastries that had been in the display cases just the night before were now completely gone. There was only one explanation for this.
“Pinkie!” He shouted angrily.
The pink mare was glaring at the pink and green blur before she immediately stopped and looked up at the yellow stallion towering over her with a glare. Her ears pinned back and a nervous smile crossed her face as she looked between the seething baker and the pet still latched tightly to her foreleg. “Hehe…”
Moments felt like minutes, minutes like hours, hours like years... Spike didn’t even know if he was awake. He thought for sure he was. The noise was nearly constant now, as was the flashing lights, and changing color.
He still wasn’t sure if he was conscious or not. Everything around him felt wrong. It felt really wrong. It was as though he could see both normally, and... not.
The urges were more, and more frequent now as well. Spike hated to admit it, but more than once he had felt Twilight more forcefully holding him down. During the first several, the very presence of his lifelong caretaker, and nearly mother had been enough to pull him back into sanity. But as he went longer and longer without sleeping, the harder and harder it was for his rational mind to process through the situation.
The past few days were very easily the hardest in his life.
“STOP!” He sobbed, thrashing around. Nothing could get through the high pitched scream that attacked his ears from every direction. “Make it STOP!”
Twilight gazed sadly down at her young assistant. Something was going on, something that was affecting the animals, and Spike as well. Something the ponies couldn’t see, hear, or detect in in any way.
Celestia herself was stumped. And to make matters worse, it was spreading. Similar cases had been reported in Canterlot and Cloudsdale.
Spike had only gotten worse, the comforting she'd been giving him no longer working. He'd been losing sleep, and despite his exhaustion was refusing to go to bed, saying the screaming wouldn't let him.
At times, Twilight was afraid that he’d been possessed. His body being jerked around. The last time she had tried to comfort him, he had turned the frustration on her. Now she stood on the outside of the bubble; watching as he screamed. His body convulsed violently from the random jerks and spasms as he fought his violent urges and thrashed around, tangled in his blanket.
Twilight's heart was torn in two as she watched her faithful assistant suffer through the pain she could not see nor hear. She’d tried sleep spells, but he’d been immune! She’d tried holding him; still, he just thrashed harder. She even tried putting him in a straight jacket like a shield. Even then, he’d had no relief. Nothing, nothing, she did could protect him.
And it wasn’t just Spike. The same thing was happening to all the animals. In her room, Owlicious was throwing himself at the bars of his cage. To the point that Twilight had swaddled him in a towel to prevent him from moving.
In the Library, Angel bunny could be heard throwing every book he came to down from the shelves. Nothing she had tried was able to get into the barricaded room. Every shelf, once emptied, had been thrown against the door, preventing her entry. And teleportation... she had thought about it, but she didn’t want to get in only to be confronted by- the same thing that had brought down Fluttershy.
Twilight’s stomach churned, it’d been three days. And while Fluttershy was healing, she was in such pain from that broken rib. It hurt all of them to see their timid little friend in such pain. Each breath she took was forced and ragged. She normally was soft spoken, that is when she spoke at all, but she had hardly said a word to them since the incident.
What was making all this happen? What in Equestria could it be?
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” A cry from Spike pulled Twilight back into the present. She shook her head unable to come to anything. If she could get into the library... no, she could get in, if she knew what she was looking for? No, that would be a book.
The exhaustion she was feeling was beginning to get to her as well. She rubbed her eyes, the shield spell she had around Spike starting to wear on her mind. They had to do something, and they had to do it soon.
Pinkie Pie grumbled angrily as she stirred the cake mix, muttering under her breath. She'd been lectured for the past hour about getting her sleep eating under control and it was getting on her nerves.
She hadn't even done anything!
“I got my sleep eating under control months ago.” She muttered under her breath as she vented her anger into her bowl of cake mix. “I can't believe the Cakes don't believe me!” She whined childishly.
Pinkie huffed angrily as she cast a glance over at the lemon cake she'd made earlier. It was slowly disappearing. She shrugged and went back to her cake mix before stopping dead in her tracks.
Disappearing?!
She dropped the bowl and stared at the lemon cake in shock. Inch by inch, the cake was slowly disappearing. One bite after another of the lemony deliciousness was being devoured by some unknown source.
“DISCORD!” she yelled up at the ceiling. “I know it’s you!”
There was no reply from the mismatched beast. Pinkie felt a weight of dread twist her stomach. Her tail began to twitch, her ears flopped, her nose felt itchy- this wasn’t right.
As if all the other things she’d ever seen in her life wasn’t enough, this took the cake... literally.
She watched as the last few bites were finally devoured by the unknown force and flopped to the ground, her legs like jelly now. Jelly legs… that could only mean something seriously wrong was happening.
“Mr. Cake! Mrs. Cake!” She yelled. “I think you should come see this!”