//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Helter-skelter // Story: Pinkie Teaches Physics and Stuff Happens // by Yuki Harima //------------------------------// //----------------------------- // Story: Pinkie Pie teaches physics and stuff happens // Chapter 4: Helter-skelter //----------------------------- Yet again, the trio runs (Swims? Floats? At this point, who really knows?) frantically across Ponyville until they come to an abrupt stop at a very familiar place that they all know well. “How about we go in our tree house? It looks normal to me” says Scootaloo. They agree and go in without even considering for a second that the tree might be there to keep it from floating off like a balloon. They all make it to the tree house and much to their relief, it seems stable. Applebloom gives it a kick “Eeyup, it’s stable alright.” They sprint up the runway on the tree and enter the clubhouse panting. Scootaloo manages to catch her breath first and asks the group. “Alright, what the hay is going on!” Applebloom replies first, “Well I don’t know. The farm was fine yesterday. Nothin’ was floating and everythin’ was just dandy.” “I agree with Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle says, “None of the ponies were floating when I walked home and ALL of those buildings were on the ground.“ Then, Sweetie Belle remembers something very important. “Hey Applebloom, Scootaloo. Do you remember what Pinkie Pie said to us in class yesterday?” She questions her friends. “Pinkie Pie was right! Gravity is what’s makin’ everythin’ float.” Applebloom answers Sweetie’s question. “Exactly! And this affects everyone, including our families!” Sweetie Belle points out. “My sister might be in trouble!” “And mah entire family could be in trouble as well!” Applebloom worried. “We gotta go help them.” “Alright, Applebloom you will go to the farm to see what’s going on there and I’ll check up on my sister,” Sweetie Belle orders, “Scootaloo will…what are you doing Scootaloo?” Scootaloo is seen trying to practice her floating skills by mimicking what Rainbow Dash was doing earlier today. As she notices the looks on her friends’ faces she says, “What? I’m just trying to see if I can fly like this.” “Now isn’t the time Scoots,” Applebloom says, her country accent thickened by her irritation at her friend’s fooling around. “We gotta help our siblings!” “Well how about I remain here, inside the clubhouse, where it’s safe and make sure it doesn’t float anywhere else while you guys go and check up on your families?” The other two think it over. “Fine. You stay here. We’ll be back before nightfall.” Sweetie Belle says over her shoulder as she and Applebloom run out of the club house. Location: Sweet Apple Acres “Applejack! Applejack! Everythin’ is floatin’ in Ponyville and we have ta do somethin’!” Applebloom shouts. “What’re you talkin’ about, have you hit your head again or somethin’?” Applejack inspects her sister’s head. “Nope, no bruises here.” “No, I’m being serious Applejack!” Applebloom squirms out of her sister’s grip. “There are apples floating and the animals are just everywhere and you’re even floating right now!” “And what is wrong with that, might I ask?” Applejack queries, invalidating the second part of her question. “It's not natural!” the filly disputes, “Everythin’ should be on the ground!” Applejack is confused at what her younger sister is saying “What do ya mean ‘it's not natural’? Things have always been like this. Even you’re afloat right now!” “Ah know I’m floating but it doesn't make any sense!” Applebloom argues, “How would we buck apples if we’re always floating?” Applejack replies in a confused tone, “Buck apples? What the heck is that?” “It’s when... It’s when you...Y’ALL SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS!” Applebloom is close to the boiling point. Applejack raises her eyebrows “I should?” “We’ve been buckin’ trees our entire life.” She tries to tell Applejack, “ It’s your cutie mark fer cryin’ out loud.” “Sugarcube, I am not sure what ya mean by "buckin" trees or what that is…” Applejack blushes “…but to collect our apples, we just have to make sure the barn is positioned in the direction of the air current, so that they fly in.” “But...but...We didn't do that yesterday!” Applejack is starting to look worried at her sister. “Yes we did. Don't you remember when you I and Big Mac pulled together the barn yesterday over there?” Applejack points at where the barn is. “I don't remember doing that yesterday!” Applebloom continues to argue, “ I remember everything being perfectly normal! Not like this!” “Hey, what do ya say we pay Twilight a visit and see what she thinks?” “Ah am perfectly fine, Applejack” Applebloom slowly backs away from her sister. “Ah don't think you are sweetie,” Applejack mumbles, “I'll go and bring Twilight.” As soon as Applejack leaves, Applebloom starts to trot over to the tree house. “This ain’t happenin’!” Applebloom panics. As she is leaving she notices how her brother Big Mac is trying to catch some runaway apples, by flailing his hooves in the air like a lunatic and blowing air at them. “My sister thinks I’m crazy and that all of this is normal. I need ta go back and see what Sweetie Belle found.” Location: Carousel Boutique When Sweetie Belle enters, she sees that everything is perfectly normal. Yeah, you heard me, NORMAL. Nothing is floating around the shop. Sweetie sees Rarity’s cat Opalescence just lazily lying on her cushion. “Rarity where are you!” Sweetie yells while frantically looking for her sister. “I am in my room” Rarity answers primly from upstairs. Sweetie makes her way up and enters Rarity’s room. She sees her sister calmly sitting on a chair while drinking some tea. She puts down the tea cup. “What do you need Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asks calmly. “Rarity! The entire town of Ponyville is floating and we must find something to stop this!” She exclaims. “What are you talking about Sweetie,” Rarity said confusedly. “Everything is floating in mid-air and we need to fix the gravity.” Sweetie Belle explains. “What do you mean fix gravity? Everything is perfectly normal.” Rarity states. “But…but…EVERYTHING IS FLOATING!” Sweetie points out and raises her voice. Rarity becomes concerned for her sister safety. “Are you feeling okay Sweetie Belle, things have always been like this. May be we should make Twilight a visit.” Sweetie Belle becomes confused at what Rarity says. “But...if everything floats then why do we need magic to levitate objects?” “Levitate them?” Rarity repeats “Now why would we want that? We use magic to secure everything from floating too high up or getting carried away, if it wasn't for Twilight’s spells to help keep the town in place we would have all been who-knows-where by now.” “But...but...but...that's impossible!” Sweetie belle stammers. “Everything should be on the ground” Rarity is looking very worried now. What did she do with those other two fillies today to get like this? she thinks. “Alright Sweetie, let's go pay twilight a visit as it's clearly that you're not fine.” “No I’m fine! I swear I’m perfectly fine!” Sweetie Belle panics at to where this is heading. “Twilight is to decide upon that, now let's go!” Rarity insists. “No I don't wanna go!” She starts to retaliate. Rarity gets her coat and starts to push Sweetie towards the door. The filly floats towards the door; she can’t stay on the ground, for her magic hasn't developed yet. “NO!” Sweetie Belle continues to retaliate, “I need to get away from you and go tell my friends!” Sweetie Belle manages to get away from her sisters grasp and starts heading back to the clubhouse. “Oh my, this isn’t good.” Says the fashionesta, worried, “I must go to Twilight and see if she can help me.” Location: Cutie Mark Crusaders Headquarters Applebloom is the first pony to breeze into the tree house, panting from a tremendous run; Sweetie Belle is not far behind her. When they enter, Scootaloo was happily sleeping off the craziness but was awoken by the noise of her two friends. “So what did your family say?” Scootaloo asks hoping that their answers might be good. “THEY THINK I’M CRAZY!” they both shout loudly. “Well that can’t be good.” Scootaloo says, “So what exactly happened when you saw them?” In the next 20 minutes, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both tell their story about what happened to them when they went to their family. After they finish, it is obvious how sad they are by the turn of events, that their family would alienate them such. “Well this stinks,” Scootaloo bitterly says, “They think that we are all crazy now!” “They think that all of this is normal,” Applebloom lamented, “but this all went crazy after Pinkie Pie told us yesterday.” Then a light bulb went off in their heads after mentioning the name Pinkie Pie. “This is all Pinkie’s doing!” Scootaloo exclaims, “She could be behind all of this craziness!” “You’re right,” Sweetie Belle agrees. “It’s too much of a coincidence for all this craziness to happen after Pinkie Pie took over our class.” “We need ta go over an’ confront Pinkie Pie” Applebloom says. They were about to leave when they hear Twilight’s voice say “Girls are you up there? Your sisters came by and told me what happened. We need to check if you need medical help right away.” They all stare at each other, eyes wide, before bolting around the room trying to find a hiding spot to avoid Twilight. “Oh no Twilight’s here! How are we going to get by?” Scootaloo whispers. “Applebloom, I want ya to get down here. We need ta see iffin’ y’all okay.” Applejack tries to talk to the trio of fillies. Rarity chimes in, “Applejack is right. We need to check if everything is alright with you three and in case there isn’t something hmm... strange, with your minds.” “Great, our sisters are here as well,” Applebloom mumbles. “Now what are we gonna do,” “Well we could try to escape through the back window,” Sweetie Belle tells them. “With the reduced gravity, we can safely land on the ground and not make so much noise and then we confront Pinkie Pie at the bakery. “Sounds like a plan.” Scootaloo agrees, “Now let’s do so before they come take us away. The Cutie Mark Crusaders quietly sneak out of the clubhouse. They manage to avoid detection from Twilight, Applejack and Rarity. Once past them, the CMC trot at full speed towards Sugarcube Corner. Location: Sugarcube Corner Pinkie Pie is at her job filling up some orders for the cakes. She hums a tune in her head while working on the ceiling. Somehow all of the cooking equipment was on the ceiling, but it doesn’t bother her in the slightest. She’s Pinkie Pie, after all, so craziness is the natural state of affairs in the immediate vicinity around her; she’s attuned to it. The Cutie Mark Crusaders barge into her shop, interrupting her from her working trance. They are all out of breath, so they don’t have time to say anything before... “Well hey there girls! Isn’t this super-duper fun!” Pinkie smiles cheerfully. Scootaloo was the first to regain her breath, “No, this isn’t fun! Everything is crazy and floating.” Anger tinges her voice. “My sister thinks we don’t buck apples anymore,” Applebloom bitterly tells Pinkie Pie, “She thinks that we a catch them with our floating barn.” Sweetie Belle, however, was upset at the outcome, “My sister thinks that I’m crazy and doesn’t believe what we said.” Pinkie Pie starts to feel sad that the CMC aren’t finding any joy in this altered state of gravity. “So you all are saying that you hated to be in a floating world?” “YES!” they shout in unison. “Well, as your substitute teacher, I think I need to quiz you in order to make sure you’ve learned a good lesson from this all!” The pink pony is exuberant with this proclamation. “Ughh,” groan the three in unison. “Fine.” “It’s an easy test, don’t worry. If you pass, if you pass, everything will be explained as to why it's like this. But if you fail,” Pinkie’s voice drops deep, almost to a monotone, “you’ll only have to take my class again and again and again... until you pass. So!” Her voice returns to it’s normal, cheery self, “what did you learn?” The Cutie Mark Crusaders shudder, they can’t even begin to think how that would be, repeating the entire class, the entire year, with her. It was bad enough for one day, I mean look at what happened, can you imagine a whole year of THAT? No, they must pass, they have to pass, for their sake and everypony else out there. “Wait.. what did she ask again?” Scootaloo whispers to Applebloom. “Uh... Ah think she wants to know what we’ve learned about gravity.” She says back. Seeing as her friends don’t know what to say, Sweetie Belle decides to take initiative and says, “I learned that... The heavier something is, the more it... floats?” Pinkie gives the other two a fierce glare, ordering them to speak with only her eyes. Scootaloo, not wanting to give the last answer says, “I learned that, uh, dust can fly too, or something...” Applebloom chips in, “Ah learned that gravity can make ponies act very ridiculous!” “Well those are all good things to know,” says Pinkie, “but you all forgot the most important thing!” The CMC look very nervous at this statement, “And what might that be?” They ask in unison. “Gravity is fun!” They all groan together, synchronized more efficiently than any swimming team. “I am sorry to say this...” Pinkie Pie glumly says but soon becomes her normal, chipper self. “But, I guess you all passed!” After nearly having a heart attack from the scare Pinkie gave them, they ask “So will you tell us how to make everything back as it was?” “Of course” says Pinkie. The crusaders look at her full of hope, waiting for the answer to come. And keep looking and looking and.. “Pinkie! Answer our question!” the CMC shout as they loose their patience. As Pinkie continues, none of them notice the approaching form that has been making it’s way behind them. Very stealthily, I might add. “Oh, you meant now? Okey dokey lokey!” she replies with a sly smile. “You see it is very simple, I’m amazed you girls haven’t figured it out on your own until now.” “How could we, nothing makes any sense!” the crusaders say in an exasperated tone. “Look behind you and everything will be made clear” Pinkie says with one of the biggest smiles she could make. “I am not falling for that old trick you hear me! You’re just going to run when we turn our backs on you” Scootaloo shouts in anger. The thought that Pinkie even tried that on her made her furious, how could she after all they have gone through today? “Uhm, Scoots,” Applebloom says as she taps her on the back. As Scootaloo turns around, her eyes widen and only a single word manages to escape her mouth, "No!" Now, that they were all facing backwards, they could see that in front of them lay an;ikoer!pienpt;ehi *chzzz* ERROR *chzzz* We regret to inform you but we seem to be experiencing technical difficulties, we will be back shortly after a message from our sponsors. *GAK GAK GAK GAK GAK GAK...*