//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Ponyville Horror // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Rainbow Dash awoke at what felt like late morning, far earlier than what she usually slept to. Twilight had liked to get up early, so Rainbow Dash found herself waking early as well. Rainbow Dash sat up and looked around the room that she had found to sleep in. This room, clearly, what had once been the personal quarters of Doctor Emerald Sparkle. Everything in the room might have been over a thousand years old, but it all felt as if it was brand new. Rainbow Dash looked over to the door, and jumped slightly when it opened, a maintenance robot, a robot in the shape of an earth pony with two manipulator arms jaunting out of the side of it had come check if the room needed tidying, as it likely had every day for the last for who knows how long. The robot studied Rainbow Dash for a few moments before speaking in its artificial voice. ‘Please. Vacate the bed’. ‘Why?’ Rainbow Dash asked. The robot continued to study Rainbow Dash for a moment before giving an answer. ‘So that the sheets may be changed’. Rainbow Dash hopped off the bed and let the robot do its work; it pulled the sheets off the bed and just as quickly put new ones on. ‘Thank you... I guess?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘You are welcome’, the robot said. ‘Is there anything you require?’ ‘I’d like to be happy, think you can manage that?’ Rainbow Dash asked sarcastically. The robot stayed silent for a moment before answering. ‘I will require a hardware upgrade before being able to perform that function’. ‘What?’ Rainbow Dash asked, then she realised something, Emerald Sparkle had lived here, alone, for who knows how long, that had to get pretty lonely. Rainbow Dash found herself getting disgusted at the images that were popping into her head. ‘No! I don’t want that! You can leave’. ‘Affirmative’, the robot said as it turned and departed from the room. Rainbow Dash had to wonder if the robots even recognised the significance of the fact that she was living here now? Probably not. Rainbow Dash was bored already; she couldn’t exactly show herself around Ponyville right now. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had probably all found out about what had happened by now, and they were likely rallying to Twilight’s side. Good, they should. Twilight was the victim in the matter, not her. She’d stay here for a couple of days, out of sight, out of mind... hopefully. It’s not like anypony would come looking for her here. Twilight had told her and the rest of their group of friends the password to the door of EPMB, but the likelihood that they’d come looking for her here was pretty low. Glancing around the room, Rainbow Dash noticed rows of books upon books. Emerald Sparkle and Twilight Sparkle were clearly related. Rainbow Dash picked one up at random and opened it up. She noticed instantly that it was a physics text with complicated mathematical equations scribbled into it. Contrary to popular belief, Rainbow Dash actually wasn’t half bad at math, and she had taken a number of physics courses in her stint at flight school before she’d been kicked out. She put a stop to that line of thought immediately; Flight School wasn’t something that she wanted to think about. She already felt terrible as it was. Knowledge of mathematics and physics may not be exactly required to fly, but if you wanted to fly well then it was pretty much necessary. Mathematics never lies. Proper math can get you results. No pun intended. Getting ready for the year 1000 Best Young Flier’s Competition, Rainbow Dash had done a lot of work trying to figure out exactly what she’d need to do to pull off the Sonic Rainboom. Six months of discrete research, she did have a reputation to uphold and she wasn’t going to get anywhere with the reputation for being an egghead, and she had finally worked it all out. Then it just came down to practicing and trying to make it work... well, everypony knew how that turned out. Rainbow Dash immediately shut the book again, returning it to the shelf. The equations scribbled in the margins of the books were far too complex for her mind to grasp, maybe even too complex for Twilight. Rainbow Dash pulled another book; this was a book on robots. Printed design documents for the various robots that Rainbow Dash had encountered. Spritebots, combots, and the protecolts, which were the maintenance robots that had just changed the bedsheets, Rainbow Dash read through the book, discovering that it was quite easy to follow, and decided that, since she really had nothing better to do, might as well read it. ... Rarity had finished Twilight’s new saddlebags ahead of schedule; she draped them over one of her mannequins to inspect her handiwork. ‘Ahh, simply divine! Twilight is sure to love them!’ Rarity said as she pulled them off the mannequin and headed out the door to take them to her, almost literally running into Pinkie Pie in the process. ‘Oh! Hey Rarity!’ Pinkie Pie said with a smile. ‘Ah... hello Pinkie Pie, sorry, can’t stop to chat, I have a delivery to make to Twilight’, Rarity said. ‘What a coincidence!’ Pinkie Pie said. ‘I’m just on my way to see Twilight, she showed up in my room in the middle of the night hugging me and mumbling to herself, saying she was glad I was okay’. ‘Oh? I wonder if that has anything to do with what happened between her and Rainbow Dash?’ Rarity asked. Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened. ‘Something happened between Twilight and Dashie!?’ she asked in surprise. ‘She didn’t tell you?’ Rarity asked in surprise, figuring that if Twilight had been to see Pinkie Pie last night, then Pinkie Pie was sure to have already gotten the scoop. Pinkie Pie shook her head in the negative. Rarity frowned and motioned for Pinkie Pie to follow her. ‘Come, walk with me Pinkie Pie, we need to be very supportive of Twilight, she’s going through a rough patch, Rainbow Dash cheated on her’. ‘What!?’ Pinkie Pie cried out. ‘That doesn’t sound like Rainbow Dash at all!’ ‘I know! That’s what I said!’ Rarity said. ‘I cannot believe that Rainbow Dash could do something so... horrid. Cheating is the. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!’ Pinkie Pie nodded her head in agreement. ‘So we need to be very understanding and supportive of Twilight in her time of need’, Rarity said. ‘Uh huh!’ Pinkie Pie said, nodding her head firmly in agreement. Now it made sense to her why Twilight’s bed had been empty when Pinkie Pie had taken her home last night. Pinkie Pie wondered if her choice had been the right one. If she had known, maybe she could have comforted Twilight... but the more she thought about it, the more she was glad she had taken Twilight home. She would have felt like she was taking advantage of Twilight’s emotional state otherwise. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had made the trip across town and arrived in front of the Library. Rarity reached out and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened up to reveal Spike. ‘Oh! Hi Rarity, Hi Pinkie Pie’, Spike said, as if he’d been expecting somepony else. ‘Hello Spike!’ Rarity said with a smile. ‘Is Twilight in?’ ‘Uhh... yeah, she’s upstairs, you can go on up... just let me warn you though, Twilight’s not in the best state of mind right now... last time I saw her she was crying and hugging this book that she got real close like’, Spike said as he stepped aside. ‘Thank you Spike’, Rarity said sweetly. ‘You... you’re welcome’, Spike said with a nervous grin. Rarity and Pinkie Pie trotted up the stairs and knocked on Twilight’s bedroom door. ‘Go away Spike... just... leave me alone right now, okay?’ Twilight said sadly. ‘Twilight! It’s Rarity!’ Rarity called out to her. ‘And Pinkie Pie!’ Pinkie Pie added. ‘May we please come in?’ Rarity asked. Twilight was quiet for a moment, but eventually gave them permission to enter. Rarity pushed open the door. Twilight was lying on her bed, wiping tears from her eyes and clutching a very large and heavy looking book close to her. ‘Twilight, darling!’ Rarity said as she trotted over and took a seat on the bed next to Twilight. Pinkie Pie took a seat on the opposite side. ‘I can’t possibly imagine what you must be feeling right now, but you can talk to us about it!’ ‘Yeah Twilight! We’re you’re friends! We’re here for you!’ Pinkie Pie said, smiling brightly at her. Twilight offered Pinkie Pie a weak smile back. ‘Thanks girls... I... I just keep thinking to myself, what happened? Did... did I do something? Did I not please Rainbow Dash enough? What did I do wrong?!’ ‘Oh Twilight! There’s nothing wrong with you! It’s Rainbow Dash who’s got something wrong with her if she can’t see how good you are!’ Pinkie Pie said, patting Twilight reassuringly on her flank. ‘Indeed! When I see Rainbow Dash, I intend to give her a piece of my mind!’ Rarity said. ‘Now, you need to get out and have some fun! How about you set that book down and we’ll...’ ‘NO!’ Twilight cried out as she clutched the book closer to her. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both taken aback by Twilight’s outburst, and she began to eye the two ponies nervously. ‘Uh... heh heh... I... I’m really sorry girls... I think you’re right, I need to get out and have some fun, give me a few minutes to get ready’. Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked at each other, it was the stress, it had to be, the two of them smiled at Twilight, they departed from the room to give her some time to get ready, and not giving the outburst another thought.