(WW)
“ No!” Rainbow Dash practically barked out, fear showing slightly in her eyes at the thought of the Siren Sisters discovering her magic.
She honestly didn’t care that she and the others had defeated the sirens during the battle of the bands, thus destroying their gems in the process. It was the fact that they had been able to steal the magic in the first place that freaked her out. Okay, so she hadn’t realised that they were stealing it until Sunset had made them all realise what was going on. But it was their subtlety that made them dangerous.
To make things worse, the fact that her own friend, Twilight Sparkle, had found a way to capture the magic as well was still fresh in her mind. Especially the pain she felt when Twilight’s magic stealing device literally drained the magic from inside of her. Regardless of what was said or done, if there was any chance at all where she could avoid situations like that, she was willing to take it.
For now, though, it seemed the only thing she could do was blatantly refuse any help from the siren sisters (or whatever they called themselves in this world) and deny any fear that may have snuck through. The only problem was, she was just like an open book when it came to her friends. And because these people currently around her being almost the exact same as her friends back home, it meant that they could read her just as easily.
Not to mention that – due to having dated this world’s Rainbow Dash – both this world’s Applejack and Rarity seemed to be able to sense things about the girl that the others couldn’t read. This, of course, led to both girls noticing the inner turmoil that Rainbow Dash had managed to find herself in, which in turn led the two of them to turn to each other with looks of worry on their faces.
As if in silent agreement, Applejack gave off a heavy sigh before turning away and taking a step towards Rainbow… though she was forced to stop when she noticed Rainbow Dash flick her gaze in her direction. It was like looking into the eyes of a scared and injured animal.
“ We’ve been through this, Rainbow Dash. You can trust them Siren Sisters.” The farm girl said as gently as she could.
“ I don’t care. I’m not going.” Rainbow Dash replied stubbornly.
“ They’re diff’rent here than in yer world.”
“ I’ve been tricked by them before and I’m not going to fall for it again.”
“ Would Ah lie to ya, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash merely glared at the farmer, her mouth drawn in a thin line of pure determination. At that point, the others knew they were fighting a lost cause. But Applejack was just as stubborn, if not more so. She tilted her hat a little over her eyes and glared right back.
Finally, after a good five minutes, someone broke.
“ As long as I can still walk on my own, there is no way you’re making me go over to the sirens.” Rainbow Dash growled.
With that, the rainbow haired athlete got off the stool she sat on, placed the guitar against it and walked out of the room. She didn’t care that pins and needles were rushing up and down her legs as she walked. And she refused to show how uncomfortable it was or that she was unstable on her feet because of it. She just needed some time to herself… even if it was in Sunset Shimmer’s room with her pet snake. At least she didn’t slam the door like she felt like doing.
“ Perhaps that wasn’t the best of ways to put things, Applejack.” Rarity said after a few seconds of silence.
“ You should know yerself that sometimes ya need ta force things on her jus’ ta get through that thick head of hers.” Applejack replied, a slight growl to her voice.
“ Yes, but given what happened a few hours ago, you could have been a bit more gentle.”
“ So mah guess is that ya didn’t see how tired she was after that one song?”
“ Of course I saw it, Applejack, but I was more concerned with… with whatever it was that gave her wings and those somewhat adorable looking ears.”
“ An’ that right there is the problem.”
“ What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“ Clearly that magic – or whatever it was – is what drained Rainbow Dash. An’ Ah bet ya two kegs of mah family’s apple cider that that’s what’s makin’ Dash need that wheelchair. Now Ah’m gonna be honest, but ya’ll should know that we can’t help her with what she needs. We’re knee deep in mud when it comes ta magic an’ what not. But them Siren Sisters seem ta know what they’re doin’. An’ whether anyone likes it or not, Ah reckon they’re the only ones that can help Rainbow Dash get home.”
“ So what do we do?” Twilight asked. “ We can’t just do nothing.”
At that moment, Pinkie Pie popped up in front of everyone with three plates balanced on each arm, each carrying two generous servings of cake.
“ We can give her cake!” She exclaimed happily, holding her arms out to her friends.
For a few seconds, the girls just stared at her in confusion; each one trying to figure out what cake had to do with helping Rainbow Dash get home. They still took a plate each, though, leaving a plate in Pinkie’s hand. But even so, Sunset still had a question playing around in her head at the sight of the expertly decorated cakes.
“ How did you manage…” She started before being cut off by a pink finger being pressed to her lips.
“ It’s best not to ask that question.” Pinkie said. “ But now I have a cake to deliver. I’ll be right back!” With that, Pinkie Pie started skipping out of the kitchen. She only stopped when she got to the hallway entrance. “ Oh, and you may not want to call your dad back yet, Sunny. I still need to clean up.”
Sunset watched as Pinkie Pie disappeared around the corner – a worried look coming across her face – before turning to her girlfriend. “ Why do I have a bad feeling about that last bit?”
“ Because it’s Pinkie Pie?” Twilight suggested.
“ Uh, Sunset…” Rarity’s words faded out.
“ Ya may wanna turn ‘round.” Applejack finished for her.
Sunset dreaded what those words meant as she took a deep breath and followed Applejack’s orders. Needless to say, her dread did not go unwarranted.
Oblivious to the panic she had left the kitchen in, Pinkie Pie happily skipped down the hallway with Rainbow Dash’s plate carefully balanced on her palm. However, she was also oblivious to the fact that Rainbow Dash had closed Sunset’s bedroom door in her attempt to not let the Siren Sisters know about her magic. So it was, by some miraculous movement, Pinkie Pie managed to not splatter the cake when she skipped right into the door.
“ It’s cake time, Dashie!” the bubbly girl yelled enthusiastically as she pulled herself away from the door and opened it.
“ Thanks Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash replied almost with a sigh, her eyes not even turning from the screen before her.
Pinkie looked from Rainbow Dash up to the television screen and back again. Something was clearly wrong in the room, and it wasn’t the fact that Rainbow Dash was in second place to a computer player on the car racing game. But what it was exactly was another question. Everything seemed to be in order. Herman was locked in his tank. Nothing was out of place from when she had left the room. And Rainbow Dash was lying down in her sleeping bag and focussing on the game in front of her. It honestly brought a frown to the pink girl’s face.
“ You okay Rainbow Dash?” She asked, making her way over to the athlete and taking a seat beside her.
“ I’m fine.” Rainbow dash replied automatically.
Judging by the tone of her voice, however, Rainbow Dash was not fine. In fact, as she said those very words, Rainbow Dash forced herself not to wince as the final throbs of pain shot down her legs in time to the pounding of her heart. She couldn’t even find it in herself to swear at the computer game as she crossed the finishing line a close second to the car she was trying to beat.
And it was because of that that Pinkie knew that something was wrong.
“ You know I can tell when you’re feeling down, Dashie.” Pinkie smirked. “ Now tell Mama Pinkie Pie what’s wrong.”
“ Nothing is wrong, Pinkie Pie.” This time there was a definite growl in Rainbow’s voice.
“ If you say so. But I’ll tell you one thing. Cake will make it better! It always does!”
With that, Pinkie got up and skipped out of the room, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with her game and her slice of cake.
Rainbow watched her leave before looking down at the two slices of cake next to her. They were so innocent, so delicious… and so similar. Both were seemingly ordinary, vanilla cakes with what looked like a hint of orange in one of them (knowing Pinkie Pie, the orange one was hers). Yet on the outside, they showed two completely different scenes; the orange cake looked like it may have been part of a rainbow with chocolate rain clouds, the plain cake (possibly Fluttershy’s) looked like it was a meadow full of butterflies. Though it wasn’t until closer inspection that Rainbow Dash noticed the drops of chocolate rain on the meadow cake.
Maybe it was just a coincidence, but this was Pinkie Pie she was dealing with; anything was possible with that girl. Heck, there were some days where Rainbow and the others had more than a sneaking suspicion that her own Pinkie Pie regularly travelled between the portals to Equestria. So it wouldn’t be a total surprise if it turned out there was some hidden meaning behind the cakes.
Whatever the case, Rainbow Dash heaved a sigh and started eating, all the while, trying to avoid looking down at her now numb legs.
Pinkie Pie returned to the kitchen only to find that her mess was almost completely gone. Sunset and Twilight were both at the sink, cleaning up the various dishes that had once been strewn around the kitchen counter, while Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy were busy cleaning up the mess that hadn’t been on the dishes. Even the cakes had been covered and placed on the dining room table, out of the way of the cleaning.
“ Aw, you guys. You didn’t have to do anything.” Pinkie called, alerting the others to her return. “ I was just coming to fix it all up.”
“ Don’t you worry about a thing Pinkie Pie.” Applejack said with a smile. “ We would have helped ya whether you were ‘ere or not.”
“ That and Dad would have had a fit if he walked in and saw the kitchen the way it was.” Sunset added.
Pinkie Pie could only smile. She would have gone to try and help clean up if it weren’t for the fact that everyone was pretty much finished with the work. Instead, she was forced to wait until her friends were finished with the clean-up job… which only lasted a few seconds before she started banging random rhythms on the counter with her hands. But there were times when even her hyperactivity was forced to a stop by a single question.
“ How is Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked.
“ She’s not happy.” Pinkie admitted, a frown on her face as her hands stopped their music making. “ She’s lying in her sleeping bag and playing that car racing game but I think her legs have gone numb again.”
“ So this is getting more serious than we thought?” A new voice asked.
It took a while for the girls to locate who was talking, but eventually they found a familiar, blue haired girl standing in the doorway to the laundry room. Surprisingly, there was a concerned look on her face, but none of the other girls were sure about how much she had heard or how long she had been there for. In fact, they were all trying to sus out if it really was who they thought it was.
Only one person was excited to see the newcomer, and that was because she was always excited.
“ Hi Sonata!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, running off to give the girl a hug.