//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Quesadilla Conquest // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// The acrid dust was bitter and the sensation of it in her mouth was like touching her tongue to a battery, something she had done once as a foal, much to her father’s amusement. Rarity, covered in dirt and grime, looked up and felt a sense of accomplishment. An orphanarium was being constructed with the hopes that it would be completed during the Appleloosa Friendship Festival. Finishing it would depend entirely upon the generousity of strangers, and Rarity was determined to do her part, even if her magic seemed a bit off. A silken scarf was wrapped around her head to protect her from the sun, and she somehow managed to hold up a parasol as she laboured. Her sunglasses were speckled with dust, mud and sweat, though she would never, ever admit that she was sweating. Above her, Rainbow Dash lifted compressed hay bales and they were lowered into place so they could be slathered down with adobe. The building was a tall, bulbous dome with the floor sunken down into the ground to help maintain a stable temperature. Rainbow Dash, small and slight even for a pegasus, was far, far stronger than she looked. She lifted multiple bales with ease and flew with them, quite a feat in this heat. Rarity marvelled at her friend’s endurance and wondered what sort of changes she had endured in the Druid’s Grove along with Fluttershy. Both had gone together, and both had returned… different. Fluttershy didn’t talk about what had happened very much at all, but Rainbow, Rainbow Dash never said anything, steadfast in her refusal to talk about it. It made Rarity worry. Pinkie Pie had stopped acting funny and that worried Sumac just a little bit. That was the thing with Pies, you had to watch them the most when they acted as though there was nothing wrong. Sly Pie, Pebble’s little brother, was not at all like his mother, Maud. Sly was a bit like Limestone, with a touch of Marble, and a smattering of Pinkie Pie tossed in for flavour. When Sly got quiet and shy, everypony panicked. And then there was Pebble, who was doing her darndest to show that there was nothing wrong, and it was from this that Sumac know that she might crack from the pressure. It was just a matter of who had a meltdown first; Pinkie Pie or her niece, Pebble Pie. Sumac knew that Applejack was aware of the danger, but Applejack wasn’t saying or doing much of anything, causing him to wonder what she was up to. Applejack was wily and with each passing year, Applejack only became more canny, becoming wiser and slicker with age. She was becoming Granny Smith. What Pebble needed was her sister, Megara, but Megara was at home, getting schooled in singing and piano lessons. Sumac wasn’t sure what the point was, Meg didn’t sing so much as she yowled, but Tarnish swore that there was talent there, and Octavia insisted that there was as well. Not only was love blind, but it was deaf too. Love did funny things to ponies, and Sumac knew this first hoof. He had reached a different stage of love with Pebble, a hot, bothersome, confusing stage that brought with it a lot of unsettling emotions. He had dreams at night of kissing her and a whole lot more, feverish dreams that left him sweaty and damp when he woke up, not to mention being quite embarrassed, as his mothers, all three of them, knew exactly what was going on. Of them all, Lemon Hearts was the worst, as she had a pressing need to talk about it. Even worse, he could no longer look Princess Luna in the eye, at all. She knew. He hadn’t worked up the courage to slip Pebble the tongue quite yet, but he had plans, grand plans, plans that involved sweeping her off of her hooves, seeing her naked, and finally finding out what her cutie mark was. So far, there had been quite a number of sweaty, gropy, nervous practice kisses while he worked up his nerve to go for something bolder. Following Twilight’s advice for success, he had a schedule, a checklist, and a roadmap to success. As his relationship with Pebble advanced, it felt as though his relationship with her family had soured a bit. Oh, they still loved him, but there was tension there now, a strange tension that Sumac could not ignore. Cloudy gave him funny looks and he lived in mortal fear of her spoon collection. Maud still loved him, of that there could be no doubt, but there were times when Sumac discovered that Maud was staring at him in some odd way that made him feel like digging his own grave. And then there was Tarnish. Tarnish could be scary. Fluttershy, much to her own surprise, had many admirers. Much to her frustration and distress, visitors were asking her for her autograph, which was baffling. She was no hero, the others were the heroes. Fluttershy always just sort of saw herself as tagging along to offer emotional support. Yet almost everypony that asked for her autograph seemed to be a bit like her, something she was just now starting to realise. Shy sorts, who stammered, who huffed, who puffed, and who struggled just to make a simple request. It dawned upon Fluttershy that she was a source of inspiration, and she didn’t know how to feel about that. Ponies, and other creatures as well, those who were just like her looked to her for inspiration, how to survive as a shy, reclusive introvert in a hostile, overbearing, unforgiving world. Everypony was looking at her, looking to her, watching her every move, and trying to emulate her. The very idea was panic inducing and Fluttershy didn’t like it, she didn’t like it at all. She didn’t know how she had ended up in this terrible, dreadful, awful mess. It made Fluttershy want to hide under the table just thinking about it. “I’ve reached my end,” Pebble announced, having reached her end and feeling the need to say something about it. She was with ponies that she trusted, that she loved, ponies that were family. And then there was Boomer, but her relationship with Boomer was complicated, too complicated for words. Hunched over the table, miserable, sweaty, and far too hot, Pebble let out a groan. “I think I’m about to have a full blown freak out. I can’t deal with this crowd or this heat. I’m tired, I’m stressed, and I can’t stop worrying about the Shatterstone competition. I’ve been practicing nonstop for the past eighteen months for this and I just can’t deal with the pressure any longer.” “You wanna go back to the hotel?” Pinkie Pie asked as she lifted her head up and away from her glass of minty lemonade and the straw scraped against her fuzzy chin. “I’m either going to start crying or punching stuff if I don’t,” Pebble replied. “Uh oh.” Boomer looked a little worried, and the drink she held in her tail trembled, causing the ice cubes to clink. “Well thank you for actually saying something, rather than just exploding. I appreciate that.” Applejack, looking quite sweaty and worn out, let heave a tired sigh. “You know, being back in the cool might be nice. It’s too darn hot out here. When I was younger, I didn’t mind the heat so much, but I am tuckered out.” “You don’t need to act tired,” Pebble said in a flat deadpan. “I don’t need a foalsitter to watch over me in the hotel. I can nap without having my hoof held.” “Don’t get snippy, Missy.” Narrowing her eyes, Applejack stared down the chocolate brown filly with a stern scowl. “I am actually tired and I wasn’t trying to treat you like a foal.” Head dropping, Pebble looked down at her half-eaten plate of food. “Sorry. I’m out of sorts right now. I didn’t mean it. This is why I need to go back to the hotel.” Wickering, Applejack let the issue drop, much to Pebble’s relief. Sumac nibbled on his cornmeal fritter and Pinkie Pie resumed slurping her minty lemonade through her straw. When Pebble pushed her plate away, Boomer took the opportunity to gobble everything down. Nothing ever went to waste with Boomer around, as Boomer was fond of eating everything. “I have trouble being perfect,” Pebble said while Boomer gobbled down a jalapeño-laden cornbread fritter. “I want this, more than anything else, I really, really want this. It eats away at my insides and I’ve been having trouble sleeping at night. Princess Luna has even been tormenting me in my dreams because of this.” “Tormenting?” Pinkie Pie’s tone was incredulous and a bit worried at the same time. “Tormenting is a strong word, Pebble. I thought that you and Princess Luna were friends.” “Well, it feels like torment,” Pebble replied as she folded her forelegs over her barrel. “Princess Luna and I are penpals and I’ve written to her about my dreams, and she hasn’t said anything in return yet. I feel like she’s avoiding the issue.” “Huh.” Pinkie gave Pebble a sweaty shrug. “You don’t lose very well.” Boomer, looking a little afraid, ducked her head down low and her yellow eyes were fearful. “Sorry., but it’s true.” “It’s true,” Pebble admitted, “I don’t lose very well. It’s why my aunt Limestone and I get into fights. Neither one of us loses very well. And that’s what happens in my dreams. I lose, and then I lose my marbles, and in the last dream, my Aunt Marble lectured me for destroying all of Ponyville.” “Some dream.” Boomer spoke with a smoky whisper. “Getting lectured by Marble is the worst,” Sumac said, wincing. “It’s like being lectured by Fluttershy. You just kinda know that if either of them are lecturing you, you’ve crossed a line and you deserve it. You can’t complain about it, you can’t protest it, you just have to take it.” “Yeah,” Pinkie sighed, having been lectured by both. “The chicken lecture will become a legend in Ponyville, I think—” “Shut up, Boomer.” “Don’t tell me to shut up, Itchy!” Boomer’s head swiveled around and she glared at Sumac with a taunting smile. After a few seconds, Boomer slumped down when Sumac didn’t take the bait, so she resumed eating everything in sight. “Getting lectured by Octavia is no picnic either.” The corners of Pebble’s mouth contorted downwards and made her whole face wrinkle as her ears drooped. “Ooh ooh ooh… look at me, I’m all prim, proper, and perfect, and I’m going to explain to you in detail why you suck with my snooty Trottingham accent… blah.” A loud snort escaped Applejack and she covered her mouth with her hoof to keep from laughing, because she knew that she shouldn’t be laughing. When the hoof didn’t work, she pulled off her hat and began chewing on the brim, her whole body shaking with silent laughter that she couldn’t keep in. Tears, like sweat, rolled down her cheeks, causing stray strands of her mane to cling to her face. Across the table, Pinkie Pie wasn’t faring much better, and she squirmed as she fought to hold everything in. Sumac was far too stunned to laugh and he sat there with his mouth hanging open, having been the victim of far too many Octavia lectures… he and Vinyl both. He and Vinyl both had actually spent a fair amount of time stood in the corner together, with the hopes that they might learn from their misdeeds. It hadn’t worked yet, but Octavia was a hopeful sort who never gave up. “I’m tired, I’m itchy all over, my dress is soaking wet in all of the wrong places, and I wanna go home… back to the hotel… whatever.” Pebble’s eyes darkened and her ears angled out over her face, revealing the pink flesh inside of them. “I feel hideous right now, ugly, I know I’m stinky, and I absolutely hate everything about this place. It’s noisy, it’s crowded, it’s hot, it has to be over a hundred degrees in the shade, and I am miserable!” “Let’s go back,” Pinkie said, hoping to avoid a full blown Pebble meltdown. “I’ll carry you on my back, Pebs.” “It’ll be all hot, sweaty, and gross.” Sulking, Pebble slumped down and a low, rumbling growl could be heard. “But thank you, Aunt Pinkie. You’re the best.” Pebble’s words were low, flat, and difficult to hear, but hear them, Pinkie did. “Aw, thanks, Pebble.” Pinkie turned a brighter shade of pink and she clapped her hooves together. “I wonder if I can get you to smile?” “Don’t push your luck…”