Twilight's Deadly Limerick: The Killing Joke – by Twifight Sparkill
The Ponyville library was headlong into its commonplace quiet, while outdoors a splendid noon day hit its comfortable warmth leaving everypony to do as they pleased – whether eating, shopping, socializing, or merely engaging in welcome midday playtime; all were duly accounted endeavors, none of which had to do with borrowing books.
This allowed two local denizens, both located at the repository, an alloted serenity – or at least one of them, the other decidedly restless for a fiercely burgeoning trepidation.
"Look," Twilight Sparkle exhaled anxiously, "will you please just read it already?"
Atop the main desk of the aforementioned library lay a lone unfurled scroll upon which was scrawled a few written lines – beautifully scripted, all applied with deliberate practice – being scrutinized by a dubious cyan pegasus, despite the uncomfortable crowding of very nervous company.
"Will you stop hovering over my shoulder, then?" Rainbow Dash growled, shoving the fidgeting purple librarian sideways with a buffeting wing swipe. "You're breathing right in my ear! Makes it a bit tough to concentrate on reading um... whatever the heck this is you want me to look at, you know?"
"It's called a limerick," Twilight huffed in a diciplinary tone, stepping away to provide the aggitated mare with an appropriate berth. "According to my extensive study on comedic elements, on due completion of such you should be expressing mirth and pleasure with an audible vocal expulsion – it can range from a loud burst of sound to a series of quiet chuckles, and is often accompanied by erratic facial and bodily movements – provided you find it funny, of course."
Rainbow Dash grunted, regarding the composition and its contributor with a growing impatience.
"Before you lies the culmination of all my recent research into the farcical arts," the lavender unicorn declared, proudly indicating the document which displayed the apparent achievement. "I have, for no small effort, manufactured the perfect parody! I've also decided that since you're known throughout Ponyville as a premier prankster, and subsequently happened to be flying past the library a few minutes ago, you'd be more than qualified as my primary test subject!"
"Fine, whatever," Rainbow Dash relented, regarding her giddy cohort with grudging exasperation. "So what, you wrote a joke or something?"
"You're essentially correct," the studious unicorn surmised, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Though it's actually more akin to a sonnet – a kind of humorous verse; consisting of five lines, in which the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other. The third and fourth lines, which are shorter, form a rhymed couplet – all rife with undertones of raucous innuendo. That, according to my sources, should result in nothing less than pure, good-humored gratification! Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Rainbow blinked a few times, maintaining a vacant expression.
"It's a naughty little poem," Twilight muttered in defeat, "designed to make you laugh out loud. Read it and tell me if you think it's funny or not."
"Oh... ohhh! I get it now! Heh heh heh," Dash chuckled darkly, nudging the lavender mare pointedly in the side, nearly sending her sprawling headlong into the nearby bookshelves. "Well well. I gotta admit Twilight, you're the last pony I'd have figured to even understand a dirty joke, nevermind write one, but... all right, I'm game. Let's have a look at it."
"Finally," the head librarian grumbled, chewing at her bottom lip, watching on in eager anticipation.
Rainbow Dash started the passage – she carefully traced each line with a hoof as she read, concentrating upon every nuance and flourish, absorbing the short composition in earnest.
Twilight tried to glean some hint at Dash's decision, craning her neck to spy any sort of positive response.
The pegasus found herself unexpectedly awash in a cold, dripping sweat upon completing the stanza; she went all glassy-eyed, suddenly intently pained – her breathing began to escalate, foam bubbling at the corners of her mouth. The room began to spin beneath her hooves, an encroaching blackness developing in her periphery – her body felt as though it was falling, yet she couldn't move a muscle voluntarily. Eerie whistles tickled decidedly at her hearing, all sense becoming overwhelmed, unable to comprehend for a quickening unease.
"Uh..."
"Well? Come on, out with it!" the impatient unicorn whined, hopping up and down in utter frustration for her poor vantage. "What did you think? The suspense is killing me!"
The winged mare turned unsteadily to confront the fretting author, expectant to voice her vaunted opinion – she cleared her dried throat, raised an impassioned hoof...
... and promptly dropped to the floor in a heap.
"Rainbow? Rainbow!" Twilight shrieked, jumping to her fallen comrade. "Speak to me! Are you all right? I said the suspense was killing me, not you!"
The purple librarian frantically checked her friend for signs of life – she was breathing, thank goodness. Upon closer inspection, it was soon quite apparent that Rainbow Dash was struck comatose.
"Omigosh," Twilight gasped in horror. "My limerick! It was designed with such an unyielding consummate intellect, it must have instictively shut her entire system down! How could I have overlooked the possibility that my joke could potentially be too funny for ill-prepared ponies?"
She rose, poised in disbelieving dread above her sufficiently stunned associate, stark realization setting in.
"I'm... I'm a destructive humorist genius scientist terminator!"
---
At the nearby Ponyville Hospital, Nurse Redheart marched towards a cramped little waiting room where the dutiful compatriots of Rainbow Dash awaited news regarding her confounding condition – Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie remained steadfast by an inconsolable Twilight Sparkle, each having arrived promptly upon hearing the shocking news.
"This is all my fault," Twilight whimpered, hiding her face in her hooves. "If I'd known how dangerously humorous I was, I would never have subjected Rainbow Dash to such a startling, savage silliness. Have I been doomed to a decidedly deadly drollery without due discourse?"
"That's just nonsense, er... about it being your fault," Rarity consoled quietly. "I'm sure she's just suffering from exhaustion, Twilight. You know how Rainbow Dash is – she's notoriously careless! For all you knew, she could've been dehydrated or even badly concussed for constantly hurting and overexerting herself to impress those garish Wonderbolts, hm? She's suffered far worse for less effort, goodness knows."
"Nurse!" Pinkie howled, jumping at Redheart in hysterics as she entered the room, grasping her roughly by the shoulders. "How is she? Is Dashie gonna be okay? Please say yes! Pretty please with sprinkles on top? Tell it to me straight, I can take it!"
"Relax everypony," the nurse ushered, regarding the gallery with a practiced smile whist brushing Pinkie aside nonchalantly. "Your friend is going to be just fine – the doctor has performed his examination, and everything appears to be all right."
"Thank goodness," Fluttershy sniffled, "we were so worried about her!" She wiped her eyes dry in light of the good news, reclaiming a winsome little smile. "Um, if it's not too much trouble, could... could we go see Rainbow Dash now? She must be so frightened, being all alone in a big, scary hospital. That is, if you wouldn't mind terribly."
"I'm afraid you won't be able to see her today," Nurse Redheart explained, shaking her head. "Although apparently in good health otherwise, she's still very much unconscious."
"Well, can you at least tell us what in tarnation happened to 'er?" Applejack quipped, frowning amidst a somber concern. "Rainbow ain't precisely what we'd call a delicate pony, nurse ma'am – she's more ornery than a herd of incontinent buffalo at an all-you-can-eat cheese buffet with the toilets out of order. What coulda caused this, do ya reckon?"
Redheart paused, checking her clipboard notes. "We... don't know just yet, I'm afraid. We're still running some tests to discern the cause of her unusual affliction."
"I'm responsible for all of this, can't you see?" Twilight wailed desperately. "My lascivious levity very nearly liquidated our best friend! She's been rendered catatonic by my accursed comedic cruelty! I just wanted to write a funny little poem, not the most dangerous joke in the world! I'm a terrible, terrible pony!"
The remaining Elements collectively rolled their eyes for the ridiculous notion – all except Pinkie Pie, who was currently trying to wrest candy from a nearby vending machine that'd stolen her bits.
"Come on, you miserable ol' mechanical miser! Grrr!" she cursed, smacking the contraption on its sides, pressing every button on the device's keypad, even attempting a running tackle or two. "I paid my bits! Gimme the chocolate you owe me or else, got it?"
Without warning, out spat several hundred candy bars, burying the dumbfounded party mare up to her eyeballs.
"Wowwee! Jackpot!" Pinkie delighted. "Anyone want a caramel choco-mallow bar? They're yummy-yum scrumptious!"
Nopony paid her the least bit of notice.
"... but it really did!" Twilight looked to each of her gathered friends, shirking their dubious glares. "Rainbow Dash read my lethal limerick, then fell into a sordid slapstick suspension! I created a salacious slaying shenanigan! A murderously maligned menace of mirth! A hideously hateful horseplay of horror! An amalgam of annihilating absurdities!"
"Please stop doing that," Rarity glowered. "Honestly, it's like hooves on a chalkboard."
"Look here hun," Applejack murmured, slipping a supportive forearm about the embittered librarian. "You know we're yer friends and we all love yeh dearly, right? Yer an excellent overseer n' event organizer, most definitely the smartest pony ah've ever known, and more'n likely the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria – nevermind a member of the Elements of Harmony. However, and ah'm sayin' this in all seriousness despite, there's simply no way in Tartarus your joke could've done this to poor Rainbow."
The bookish unicorn mopped at her tears, brightening for the reassurance. "Are... are you sure, Applejack?"
"Ah'm absolutely positive, sugarcube," the fruit farmer affirmed. "Because you ain't funny in the slightest."
Twilight froze, taken completely aback by her friend's straightforward candor.
"It's true," Rarity nodded in agreement. "I certainly mean no offence dear, but you wouldn't be aware of a good joke if it waltzed up and bit you on the flank." She paused a moment then, tilting her head in abject thought. "Perhaps if it started chewing on some of your precious books, there's a possibility you might notice, though even that seems highly unlikely. Please don't be upset – we've all come to accept that being studious and unfunny are what define you, darling! We wouldn't have it any other way!"
"But... but I researched the matter so thoroughly." Twilight stuttered in disbelief, her left eye twitching madly. "I mean, the math was sound and... and I carried the nine that time... I even have little dents in my hooves from having to recalculate every possible incur with an abacus. Why... why am I not funny?"
"Oh Twilight, it's okay," Fluttershy whispered, nudging at the despairing purple mare with concern. "I'm not funny either, if that helps... although ponies used to laugh at me sometimes, it was never with me. Not everypony is meant to be a comedian – don't be sad though, that means you didn't hurt Rainbow Dash. That's a good thing, right?"
Pinkie Pie bounced into the middle of the tense huddle, spilling confectionary wrappers and bodies in varied directions. She landed immediately next to Twilight, inadvertently grinding chocolate and nougat into the unicorn's hair for gathering her up in a big squeezing hug.
"Hey now, don't get all down in the dumpy-dumps because you're always so super-duper serious all the time," she uttered, stroking the gloomy librarian tenderly. "You should be grateful for who you are and what you have, Twilight – chasing after rainbows never allots you time to stop and heed your own brilliant splendor, mm? Trust me, you're positively radiant as you are!"
Everyone stared incredulously at the curly-maned fuchsia pony, none of them exactly sure they'd heard her correctly – or a bit terrified they actually had, honestly.
"What?" Pinkie shrugged a bit. "I read it on a greeting card in the gift shop."
"Oh-kay, well on that fancy note," Applejack chuckled, affixing her stetson, "ah'd say we wrap this up already. Ain't much we can do fer Rainbow right now, so we might as well git back to doin' what we gotta do – fer me, that's buckin' apples all day."
With that, she rose and headed for the hospital exit, waving as she went.
"Later girls! If you hear anythin' about Dash, y'all lemme know pronto, ya hear me? Seeya!"
"I suppose we should go back to town as well," Rarity sighed, returning Applejack's wave before gathering the large sunhat she'd donned for the walk to hospital – a far too cumbersome adornment to be worn indoors. "You'll be kind enough to notify us the moment miss Dash awakes, won't you nurse?"
"Of course, as soon as she's cleared for visitors you'll all be contacted," Nurse Redheart affirmed, then trotted off to attend other duties.
"Well... um, what should we do for now?" Fluttershy wondered aloud, nudging a dumbfounded Twilight towards the outdoors. "Maybe we can stay as a group, if that's okay? Rainbow Dash could wake up at any moment, and it would be nice if we could all come back together at the same time... that is, if you want to."
Pinkie Pie nodded in oblige, unable to verbalize for the dripping gooey sludge she was still chewing – once a colorful myriad of sweet delicacies, now all that remained was mashed into a globulous, gluttonous mouthful of mess. Precisely the way she liked it.
"I see no reason why not," Rarity chimed thoughtfully, affixing her gigantic hat with a rueful smirk. "If anything, we should all keep Twilight company in case she happens to recite any sharp rebuttals publically – can't have her hacking the heads off of poor defenseless ponies, now can we? Especially with crimson being so horribly out of fashion this time of year."
Twilight snorted bitterly then, regaining some semblance of awareness. "... oh sure, and i'm the unfunny one? Yeah, that's a totally fair assessment."
To Be Continued.