//------------------------------// // The lies we tell // Story: Awakening // by punisher143 //------------------------------// “You’re right, peanut butter makes this taste a whole lot better,” Rainbow said and swallowed another bit of alfalfa. “I told you,” Twilight said spreading a bit of peanut butter on her alfalfa and looking over her journal. After a moment she hummed and levitated out a quill and inkwell. “You still have some of that stuff?” Rainbow asked. “I’m running out, but it should be enough for a couple more notes. I wonder if I should mention Cheshire.” “I don’t think that would be a good idea. Imagine what some random pony would think if they read something like that.” “I guess you’re right. She also seems to prefer being out of sight and out of mind.” “I guess. Are you going to eat that?” “Wha- is that all you’ve been paying attention too?!” “I’ve been hungry, and it’s not like there’s anything else to do. Where are we going anyway?” Twilight was quiet for a moment before smiling sheepishly and rubbing her neck. “We’ll find out when we get there?” Rainbow stared at Twilight flatly until the latter sighed. “I’m sorry Rainbow, I’m not even really sure where we are in relation to Manehattan.” “So, we don’t know where we’re going, but wherever we are going it will take us away from ugly. Good enough for me, we’ve been pretty much winging it this whole time anyway.” “I wish that wasn’t the case. Any kind of a plan to work towards would be nice.” “We can figure something out. So are you going to eat that?” “I’ll eat it on the way. Let’s get moving Rainbow, it looks like it’s going to be dark soon.” Rainbow looked up as the sun was well on the way toward the horizon. “Yeah, I guess so,” Rainbow said standing up and stretching her wings. Twilight finished her can of alfalfa before joining Rainbow. “So, on to the next town?” “Yes, wherever that is.” “Are you ok Rainbow Dash? You’ve been watching those trees for the last day or so.” Rainbow snapped out of the trance she had been in for the last hour or so, which were now a large mixture of reds and browns. “Have I?” Rainbow asked and shook her head, “Sorry something has just been bugging me about them. Do you mind if I…?” “Sure, go sate your curiosity Rainbow.” Rainbow nodded and flew up to the leaves on one of the trees. She inspected and played around with some of them before flying to another tree and doing the same thing. Twilight sat down and took turns watching the road and Rainbow Dash. After a few minutes and about five more trees, Rainbow landed and walked to Twilight. “I knew something was wrong. We may be in trouble Twilight,” Rainbow said looking back at the trees. “Why, what’s wrong?” “The leaves aren’t in the right stage. They’re much later into autumn then they should be.” “Is that a problem?” “Well… nah, it’s probably nothing. It’s probably just my paranoia getting to me.” Rainbow started trotting down the road, though Twilight gave her a curious look to her and the trees before trotting after her. Whatever Rainbow was curious about, she didn’t mention it for the rest of the walk. The pair made it to the next town two hours later. It was a fairly small village, only slightly smaller than Ponyville, and Twilight could tell by the nearby marketplace that they had probably gotten there during the dinner rush. She pointed to a nearby bench and Rainbow nodded and flew over to claim it. Twilight levitated a map out of her saddlebag and trotted over to the bench. “So, where are we exactly?” Rainbow asked when Twilight sat on the bench. The unicorn opened the map and traced a hoof across it, from Ponyville along their path until it stopped at Manehattan. “Do you remember which way we left Manehattan?” Twilight asked and looked at Rainbow. “Uh…” the pegasus shut her eyes and rubbed her mane, “after I caught you I flew with the moon to my right for about an hour before we stopped to sleep. When we woke up I… think we walked west?” Twilight traced a hoof according to Rainbow’s directions and landed on a marking representing a village. Unfortunately it seems the mapmaker didn’t think it was worth writing a name down on this map. “I think we’re here,” Twilight said showing Rainbow the map, “and assuming Carver has been following the same rough path as us, then we would be safest leaving here west. There’s a road that goes west-northwest up to Stalliongrad and-“ “No, bad idea,” Rainbow interrupted, “we shouldn’t go to Stalliongrad at this time of year.” “Why?” “Winter. If I was right about those trees earlier, then Stalliongrad should be starting winter preparations now.” “Do they get bad? I mean, Ponyville winters can get cold, but-“ “Listen Twilight, I’m an awesome flier as you know, but my job is still being a weather pony. About two miles south of Stalliongrad is a danger line in winter and I want to be as far away from there as possible.” Twilight gave the map a once over and looked back at Rainbow Dash. “Are you certain?” she asked, to which the pegasus nodded. “Alright then, we’ll plan our route once we leave here.” Twilight rolled up the map and placed it to the side as she placed her bags in front of her, “For right now, let’s see what we need and do some shopping.” “Yeah, and maybe we can get some sweets?” Rainbow asked placing her own bag next to Twilight’s, “Alfalfa gets stale after a while.” After a few minutes of comparing bits and debating, they agreed that Rainbow would get a couple of sweets and a newspaper if she could afford it while Twilight would focus on essential foods and more writing materials. The pair agreed to meet back at this bench and went their separate ways. The marketplace was just as busy during this time of day as Ponyville’s market was. Ponies rushed from stall to stall while vendors tried to outshout their competitors. Twilight did her best to block out most of the noise as she walked around resupplying. “What does that mean?” She soon got additional help from the voice in her head. ‘What does what mean?’ she thought back. “Sweet Luna! I didn’t think that was open.” Twilight started to picture her alter ego lying in the middle of a mess of images, which she was most likely doing. ‘I apologize for interrupting you if it was something important.’ Twilight walked up to a fruit vendor and started some light bartering while Cheshire sighed. “No, it wasn’t anything all that important. I’m just musing on something about Carver is all.” Twilight payed for her produce and walked back into the crowd while Cheshire continued. “After all this time, it has demonstrated superb intellect, yet it’s only talked once.” ‘That’s what you’re hung up on today, that it can talk?’ “More like what it said and how it said it. It sounded like a rhyme made to warn foals of a danger the never knew about.” Cheshire chuckled darkly and said, “Like that story of the slender pony your brother told you when you were 8.” ‘Don’t even joke about that! I had nightmares for a month after that.’ Twilight sighed and thought, ‘So, how did that rhyme go? I was too busy running at the time to pay attention.’ “I’ll have to dig up the memory. I’ll leave you to your shopping while I do that.” Cheshire closed the link between her and Twilight, which resulted in Twilight getting a sharp pain not dissimilar to an ice cream headache. Twilight shook the pain away and focused on finishing her shopping. Twilight wasn’t all that surprised to find Rainbow had beaten her to the bench, and apparently with enough time to be half done with a lollipop. “I take it you found your sweets well enough?” Twilight asked with just a hint of sarcasm. “Mhmm, and don’t worry, I got one for you too,” Rainbow said and pointed to a newspaper on her bags, “newspaper too, and with plenty of bits leftover.” “That’s good.” Twilight grabbed the paper magically and sat on the bench to read it. “Anything else of note happen?” “Nah, this town’s pretty quiet. I did see that hunter pony from a while back though.” “Really, what was he doing?” “Mulling over pears like they were gems. The dude’s a bit of a weirdo. So how did your side of things go?” “Well enough. I’ll be sure to split what I got with you before we go.” Twilight flipped a page and was surprised at some familiar words. “Ponyville just had its Running of the Leaves.” “Yep. Applejack must be so mad at me right now, since I promised I’d run it with her again this year.” Twilight heard the sadness in Rainbow’s voice and agreed with the sentiments. “I wish I could have been there too. It was so much fun the first time I ran it, even if you and Applejack were busy sabotaging each other.” Twilight quickly scanned the rest of the paper and asked, “Are you done with this?” “Yeah, the only thing I was interested in was the running.” “I think I’ll save the crossword for later.” Twilight carefully ripped it out and placed it in one of her bags. When she saw to disposing the rest of it properly, she began sorting through her purchases, splitting them with Rainbow and taking a lollipop for herself. Rainbow quickly finished her candy and threw the stick away as Twilight placed her bags on her. “So, where we going?” Rainbow asked. “We leave heading west. After that, we’ll figure something out.” Rainbow nodded and took off in a hover, where she stayed as she followed the unicorn out of town. “Um, are you sure it’ll be alright if we bother Spike about this?” Fluttershy asked. “Of course it will be,” Rarity answered and knocked at the library door, “Twilight and Rainbow have been gone for far too long. I’m certain Spike can get in touch with them.” “Well, I suppose so, but-“ Fluttershy was cut off when the door opened. She hid behind Rarity slightly as Spike peeked out of the door. “Oh, hi Rarity, Fluttershy. Um… how can I help you?” Spike scratched the side of his head and opened the door to let the two ponies in. “Oh, it’s nothing serious. I just had a question for you, if you don’t mind indulging me,” Rarity said and fluffed her mane slightly. “Um, ok. What did you want to ask?” “I was just wondering about Twilight and Rainbow.” Spike’s nervous face immediately fell into a stoic one when he realized where this was going, and Rarity noticed this. “Would you happen to know when they would get back?” “They should be back in a month.” “So… you can get in contact with them?” Fluttershy asked and smiled hopefully, “Can you tell us if they’re doing alright.” “I’m sorry, I’m only telling you what I already know. I don’t even know if I can send a letter to them in time for them to get it.” “So you don’t have a way to contact them?” Rarity asked. “Rarity, if I could get in contact with them, you know that I would. But don’t worry, when they do send a letter you will be the first to know.” “But why would they leave town to find herbs?” Fluttershy asked, “I’m sure I could lead them to some herb patches if they asked.” “She told me it was a really rare. I’m sorry, but I have some really important things to do for Twilight while she’s gone.” Spike pointed back at a rather large pile of books. “Oh, of course dear. And if you ever need help, you know we are all here for you,” Rarity said placing a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “Thanks Rarity, I’ll remember that.” Spike patted Rarity’s hoof a couple of times and smiled at the white unicorn. “Oh Spike,” Fluttershy spoke up and scrapped a hoof when Spike looked at her, “can I… check out some books?” “Huh? Oh sure, just go choose what you want and I’ll check them out.” Fluttershy gave a small nod and trotted over to a bookcase. “I’m going to go see if anything catches my fancy as well. Thank you for indulging my questions Spikey.” Spike blushed and chuckled embarrassedly as Rarity trotted over to Fluttershy. “I hate to think it Fluttershy, but I think Spike is lying to us.” “Um, maybe you’re overreacting just a teensy little bit Rarity?” Fluttershy quietly asked looking back at Spike, “Why would Spike lie about something like this?” “I… you’re right Fluttershy. I guess I’m just really worried about them.” Rarity took a deep breath and started looking at the bookshelf as well. After a few quiet minutes of browsing they both had found something and had Spike check them out. “Alright, they’re both due back in a week,” Spike said closing the registry. “I hope you like those, I heard that they’re pretty good.” “Oh, I will,” Fluttershy said and walked out after saying her goodbyes. “I’ll tell you what I think. I will see you soon Spike, and please let us know if you hear anything from Twilight or Rainbow.” “I will, don’t worry.” Spike, like a true gentleman, led Rarity to the door and saw her off. He waited until she was a good distance away before shutting the door and letting out a held breath. “Ok, that was way too close.” Spike looked around the library floor and he could have sworn he saw Twilight a couple of times reading a book. “Twilight, you know I trust you to take care of yourself out there, but the others are starting to ask questions. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” Spike sighed and decided to clean the bedroom, which he knew was pointless since it was cleaned earlier that day. Still he walked up the stairs and into the bedroom only to stop when he saw Twilight’s research desk. There were still a neat pile of scrolls along with the standard writing tools. “Oh, they’re going to kill me if they find out about this,” Spike said and walked to the desk. “We’re not exactly rolling in bits are we?” Rainbow asked staring at their slowly diminishing pile of bits. “Unfortunately not,” Twilight replied and started levitating the bits into separate piles. While she did that she happened upon something that was most definitely not a bit and levitated it into view. “What is this?” “That’s mine!” Rainbow shouted and snatched it from Twilight’s magic field, “I forgot I put that in there.” “What is it?” Twilight asked again trying to get a look. “It’s nothing Twi.” Rainbow moved whatever it was into her saddlebag, “It’s just a trinket I didn’t want to leave behind. So how much bits do we have?” “Um, hold on.” Twilight continued counting the bits until they were in organized piles. “We have 85 bits. That might be enough to live off of for a while, though we may have to find a way to make some more bits soon.” Twilight then split the money as evenly as she could and gave Rainbow forty of the bits and kept the rest for herself. “I guess we can do some kind of part time job in the next town we go to. Where are we going anyway?” “I don’t know yet. For now, let’s focus on setting up a place to sleep for tonight.” “Ha, no worries, just leave that to me!” Rainbow pounded a hoof to her chest and took off to the skies. Twilight looked at Rainbow’s saddlebags for a moment and argued with her thoughts over whether or not to snoop in her bags. Her reasoning won out though and she left the bags be, instead pulling out her journal as well as a quill and ink well. “I better get caught up on this while Rainbow sets up,” she whispered to herself and opened the journal to the last written page. “I have a lot to catch up on.” With that last thought she took the quill, dunk it in the ink well, and started writing.