Chapter 15: Feeling Pinkie Keen
Daytime in Ponyville…
At a hill near the town square pavilion. Twilight Sparkle was testing a new spell on Spike, Chronicle standing by in case of emergencies. The baby dragon had a rock balanced on his head, some leaves around his neck, and a twig in his hand like a cane.
The purple unicorn was casting a spell and aiming her horn at her assistant, strain showing on her face. A quick poof turned the leaves into a tuxedo jacket and ruffled shirt with a red bow tie, and a second one left him holding a gold-headed walking stick instead of a twig. Spike looked back over his shoulder with slight trepidation.
"Eyes over here, Spike!", Twilight reminded him.
"Uh, sorry."
"Interesting.", Chronicle noted as the rock on Spike's head bobbed up off his head and changed into a glossy top hat.
"For this to work, it’s crucial we keep our concentration totally on the—"
Spike was suddenly distracted by a familiar voice a distance away. And the brand-new headwear promptly resumed its rock-like qualities, dropping squarely on Spike’s noggin, smashing him down. By the time he hit the ground, his tux and stick have turned back as well.
Twilight was annoyed at this. "Spike! This magic needs our full attention to make it happen! There’s no other way!"
"Can you teach me the specifics of that spell?", her bodyguard asked. "I need to know so I can decide whether or not to learn it."
"Why?"
"If I can temporarily turn any object into a shield or weapon, it'll be useful. If coordination between two individuals is required to make it work, I'll deem it as too much effort."
"Sorry.", Spike apologized as he got up. "I can’t help it!" He then gestured somewhere. "Look!"
The something was Pinkie Pie, who stuck her head—covered by an umbrella hat—out from behind a tree and dashes into some bushes. Next, she ducked underneath a porch, risked a peek, and zipped away to a rock. As the three looked on, totally bewildered, she lifted it up off herself and darted away, letting it slam back down.
Twilight sighed impatiently at this. "Never mind her. She’s just being Pinkie Pie."
Spike scratched his head. "Super-extra-Pinkie Pie today."
Pinkie’s next move was to tiptoe across the green space between two houses. Before she got clear though, she stopped stock-still and her tail begans to twitch. She eyed it as if it were a rattlesnake about to strike. "Huh…twitchy twitch-a-twitch-a-twitch." As it settled down, Twilight, Chronicle, and Spike approached.
"Pinkie Pie, what in the wide wide world of Equestria are you up to?", the bookworm asked.
"Oh, it’s my tail!" She put it in Twilight’s face. "It’s my tail!" Twilight raised her head and pushed the magenta fluff down with a hoof. "It’s a-twitch-a-twitchin’!" She then turned around to face them. "And you know what that means!"
There was a long pause. "Actually, Pinkie, I haven’t the slightest idea."
Pinkie dropped into a huddle. "The twitchin’ means my Pinkie Sense is telling me that stuff’s gonna start falling! You two better duck for cover!" As Twilight and Spike traded a smile, Chronicle decided to look up, and made a face.
"Oh, Pinkie, it’s not gonna rain. Why, there’s barely even a cloud in the—" She never got to finish that thought due to the frog that dropped from above and stopped an inch from her face. As it was, Chronicle managed to 'catch' it in time.
"Whoever said rain was the only thing that can fall from above?", Chronicle said as the frog gave them a loud, cheerful ribbit and Pinkie stood up.
"He just said 'nice catch' in Frog.", Pinkie translated. The frog repeated itself while she smiled and Twilight grimaced mightily.
"If I hadn't caught him, he might've landed on your horn, Twilight. And that would be terrible." He then looked up. "Hi, Fluttershy.", the bodyguard greeted as he waved a hoof upward, inadvertently 'dropping' the frog as it landed on his charge's face.
The two mares and one dragon looked up to see said pegasus hovering some distance up. She was toting saddlebags full of frogs, carrying a basket on one foreleg, hauling a cartload, and letting one extra ride on her head.
"Oh, I’m so, so sorry.", Fluttershy apologized. "You okay, Twilight Sparkle? I just couldn’t stand to see the pond getting so overpopulated, what with the frogs all hopping into each other and all. So I decided to fly as many as I can on over to Froggy Bottom Bog."
"Of course you did.", Twilight replied levelly as Fluttershy got the basket handle in her teeth.
"Bye-bye!" Once she was gone with her croaking cargo, the dropped frog was now hanging onto Twilight’s cheek.
"Um, Twilight? You got a little something on your face there.", said Pinkie.
Twilight replied with sarcasm. "Oh, really? Did your Pinkie Sense tell you that too?"
"Nah. I could just see it." As she trotted off, singing to herself, the frog took its leave of Twilight, launching itself with enough force to set her whole head vibrating for a moment.
"Come on, Spike. Let’s continue our practice session where there’s a little less commotion." As Twilight walked off, the boys followed, with Spike jumping on her back.
"Wow! That was amazing!", said the dragon. "Pinkie Pie predicted something would fall, and it did!"
"Oh, come on. She said something would fall, and a frog just happened to fall right around the same time. A coincidence. Nothing else to it."
"Well, the Pinkie Sense sounds interesting.", Chronicle said. "I mean, with pegasi having their wings and us unicorns having their magic—" He was interrupted by Pinkie rocketing right at them from behind and hopping frantically in place with her tail vibrating, then standing on her forelegs.
"My tail, my tail! Twitch-a-twitch! Twitch-a-twitch!" While Spike looked fearfully around, Chronicle looked around, not only up, but ahead as well, and noticed something. "Something else is gonna fall!"
As the the umbrella-hatted pony collapsed onto her haunches, Twilight walked away, carrying Spike. "Oh, Pinkie, please. Nothing else is gonna faaaAAAAAA—" She was cut off by a sudden pull of her tail and the front half of her body dropping—getting Spike off of her back and onto a ditch, which she would've fallen to as well if Chronicle didn't 'pull' her tail in time, leaving her other half dangling at the edge.
Knocked silly, Spike said, "Oh, no! I fell!"
"And Twilight almost did too were it not for me.", added the bodyguard, gently 'letting go' of his charge and letting her slide down. "And now she has." As Pinkie walked up to him, he turned to address her. "Is it, uhh…safe to go help them? Anything else incoming?"
"It’s okay.", Pinkie assured as she swished her tail. "My tail’s stopped twitching." With a toss of her head, she relieved herself of the umbrella hat and trotted away singing.
Chronicle regarded her and the dropped headgear, 'picked up' the hat, stowed it into "hammerspace", then peeked into the ditch with a groan. Twilight was growling quietly and she and Spike worked their way back up to vertical.
"That was amazing!", Spike said in spite of his injury.
"Oh, please.", groaned Twilight.
"Uh, Twilight?", they heard Applejack call. "Why are you hangin’ out in a ditch?"
"Because Pinkie Pie predicted it!", Spike replied as he and Twilight peeked up from the ditch. There was a look of surprise from Applejack.
"Honestly, Spike, she did not. Two coincidences in a row like this may be unlikely, but it’s still easier to believe than twitchy tails that predict the future." Twilight swished her own tail at the proper moment to make the point.
"I'll have to agree for now.", said Chronicle. "Twice is still just a coincidence."
Suddenly, Applejack managed to voice an unnerved gasp and neigh at the same time. "Twitchy tail?", she gasped as she reared up. "Pinkie Sense?" Then she dashed and took cover beneath a nearby produce cart, pulling her hat down tighter with a scared moan before Spike crossed to her.
"Don’t worry, it’s safe. The prediction already came true. "
Twilight climbed out of the ditch as Applejack emerged from the cart. "Oh, wait. Don’t tell me you believe in this stuff too."
"I know it doesn’t make much sense, but those of us who have been in Ponyville a while have learned over time that if Pinkie’s a-twitchin’, you better listen."
Right on cue, Pinkie showed up. This time, though, her ears were doing the mambo. "My ears are flopping, my ears are flopping!"
Spike recoiled in terror with a cry. "What does that mean?"
Pinkie turned to face Twilight. "I’ll start a bath for you."
"Huh?", She then laughed as Spike and Applejack backed while Chronicle looked at the street. "A bath? This thing keeps on getting more ridiculous by the minute!"
The fact that she actually finished this bit of criticism did not stop another calamity from almost befalling her. In this case, she would've been splattered with mud thrown up by a passing hay wagon were it not for Chronicle putting up a panel barrier between her and the dirty water. However, the bodyguard had neglected to shield himself and was the one muddied instead since he stood next to her.
"Okay.", Chronicle managed to say. "Pinkie. You'll need to start a bath, but for me instead." Twilight just sank to her haunches with an infuriated groan.
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Later, in Sugarcube Corner…
Chronicle was in a full sudsy bathtub in the bathroom reserved for Pinkie and the Cakes, the owners of the store. His charge stood nearby much to his slight embarrassment. Even though nudity was a non-issue, being in a tub with a female in sight was something he was still getting used to. He blew some of the bubbles away as Pinkie emerged from behind him and the candy/sweets print curtain, a bottle of bubble bath soap balanced on her head.
"So basically, it works like this.", Pinkie explained her Sense as she set the bottle by the sink. "I get different little niggly feelings and they mean different things." She proceeded to demonstrate. "Like when my back is itchy, it means it’s my lucky day. And when my knee gets pinchy, that means something scary’s about to happen."
"Is your knee pinchy now?", Twilight asked.
Pinkie flexed the joint. "No, but my shoulder’s achy. That means there’s an alligator in the tub."
Chronicle plunged his head into the soap suds, then came up a second later 'holding up' a small one that bore impossibly pinkish-purple eyes. "You mean this alligator?", he asked flatly without a trace of fright.
Twilight however freaked out so badly that she jumped to a short stool just behind her with a cry and balanced all four hooves on it. "How come your knee didn’t get pinchy?", she asked as Pinkie took the little reptile from Chronicle's arcanokinetic "grip". "That isn’t just scary, it’s downright dangerous!"
"No, it’s not, silly!", Pinkie said. This is my pet alligator Gummy." Gummy opened its mouth, exposing toothless gums. "He’s got no teeth!" He then jumped and nipped her foreleg. "See?" Neither this nip, nor the ones that followed to her mane and tail, had any ill effects, and she even giggled as he plied his gums on her.
"Okay, okay. I get it."
"Strange. From what I read about alligators, their teeth regrow quickly.", Chronicle said. "And even without them, his bite still should've hurt hard. Where'd you get him?"
"I'm not allowed to say. Neither the writ—", Pinkie was about to answer when Chronicle gave a death glare. She then remembered the promise she made to him. "Oh, sorry."
"Never mind. Perhaps you can tell me later."
"Okey-dokey-lokey!"
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Later…
As the three ponies left Sugarcube Corner, Twilight still refused to acknowledge what just happened. "Well, I still don’t believe all this “special power” stuff. It’s just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo."
"What’s not to believe?", Pinkie asked. "You do magic." Twilight stopped in surprise as the earth pony went on. "What’s the difference?"
"Huge!" Twilight galloped to catch up, finding Pinkie stopped at a well near a cart selling cleaning products.
As Chronicle caught up, he saw his charge notice a crate on the ground, push the items aside and climb atop it. Soapbox, heheh., he mentally giggled.
"For one thing…", Twilight then cleared her throat. "…magic—"
"Unicorn magic.", he cut in.
"—is something you study and practice.", she continued as if he hadn't interrupted.
"Like science."
"It only happens when you decide to do it, and it’s meant to make something specific, that you choose to happen, happen! With you, uh…it makes no sense at all!"
"That’s so not true, Twilight.", Pinkie argued. "Sometimes it’s a bunch of random things happening to my body at random times that supposedly predict the future. I call ’em 'combos'."
Twilight jumped down and walked to the library, which was close by. “Combos?”
Pinkie hopped after her toward the library as they rounded Chronicle's training range. "Sure! You know, like ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter?" She showed off each movement in the sequence as she named it. "That means the sky is about to be graced with a beautiful rainbow."
"Yeah. Sure.", Twilight said dismissively as she headed for the door.
"Uh-oh. I feel a combo coming on." And it went off, step by step. "Ear flop…eye flutter…knee twitch!"
The bookworm unicorn just threw a skeptical glance back from the library doorstep, then got the entire door thrown at her—more precisely, slammed into her face by Spike, who backed out with a stack of books. When it swings shut, she was squashed flat across its woodwork, from which she slid down with a pained moan to wind up in a heap on the doorstep.
"You said that combo meant 'beautiful rainbow.'", Twilight moaned woozily.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no.", Pinkie said as she acted out. "You’re thinking of an ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter."
"Hmm…same movements, wrong order, different message.", Chronicle said. "Right, Pinkie?"
"Yup! This was an ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch. That usually means “look out for opening doors.” You okay?" Twilight got up.
Twilight was absolutely frustrated. "I don’t believe this!"
Pinkie got into her face. You don’t believe because you don’t understand." She then backed off.
"Hmmm…"
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In the basement of the library…
Chronicle looked in awe at the bubbling flask in a rack, then to the rest of the laboratory equipment, then at the root-covered ceiling. Stairs led down into this area. "Wow. How'd you get all of this in, Twilight?", he asked. "Unless the previous owner was a scientist, which I somehow doubt."
Pinkie stood on her hind legs behind a console, resting her forelegs on it and wearing a helmet covered with diodes. Near her was a strip chart recorder that has been hooked up to the console. Twilight—who had ignored her bodyguard's comment—gripped one last wire in her teeth and plugged it into the helmet. As the diodes winked to life, she threw a burst of telekinesis at two clamps on the console, causing them to flip shut on Pinkie’s forelegs and hold her in place.
"Okay." Twilight said as the recorder started cranking out graphs and chuffing steam. "Now when you get another twitch, we’ll have all kinds of scientific information."
"Okey-dokey-lokey!", Pinkie replied cheerfully. Her expression rearranged itself into stoic composure as she stood there and Twilight watched both her and the chart. Nothing happened for several seconds, except for the periodic puffs of steam coming off the recorder.
"This isn't gonna work.", Chronicle groaned.
"Any twitches yet?", asked Twilight.
"Nopey-dopey!", Pinkie replied cheerfully.
Chronicle decided ask questions to pass the time. "Pinkie, back in the Everfree Forest, when Nightmare Moon set up those faces in the trees, did your knee get pinchy?"
"Uh-huh."
"Did it get pinchy when you saw the Ursa Minor? Provided you did see it."
"A bit."
"Does it get pinchy during a thunderstorm?"
"Nope."
Okay. So she isn't scared of lightning. It's not even scary, just startling. "Did it get pinchy when you mistrusted Zecora back then?"
"Now that I think of it, no."
"Did your tail twitch before I fell off the ravine? Or the mountain? You know when."
"I do and yup."
"Did it twitch at any time during the buffalo-settler war back in Appleloosa?" Those falling attack pies.
"Uh-huh."
"How many times did your back itch?"
"Is this even relevant?", Twilight asked.
"Duh. Those events that would trigger the Pinkie Sense could've easily happened. And I needed to know." Provided she isn't lying.
His charge groaned in impatience. "Now? Anything?"
Pinkie concentrated for a moment. "Wait! Hold on! …Uh, no."
"Are you kidding me? After a whole day of nonstop twitching, now that I’ve got you all hooked up, you’re not getting a single one?"
"I don’t control it. They just come and go."
"That makes no sense!"
"Sometimes you just have to believe in things, even when you can’t figure ’em out."
Twilight got in her face. "I will not believe in anything I cannot explain."
"I don't think you're doing this experiment right.", Chronicle told his charge. "Given what we—or at least I—figured out so far, this place doesn't have the proper conditions for the Pinkie Sense to operate. No bathtubs, no alligators, no doors to look out for, nopony needing to look out for them, nothing here at risk of falling, luck being an incalculable factor, nothing that can elicit the need of a bath… There's just little chance to make it work right now." Unless a giant extraterrestrial object is about to land right here. "I mean, we're just standing in a basement without moving. That means nothing whatsoever is going to happen, so there's nothing for Pinkie Sense to predict."
"Wait!", Pinkie suddenly said. "Hold on…I’m feeling something…"
"Oh my gosh!" Twilight gasped as she looked at the chart. "What? What is it?"
The answer was a loud grumble from Pinkie’s gut. "It’s my tummy! That usually means I’m hungry. Let’s eat!"
"That's not the Pinkie Sense at work.", Chronicle grumbled as his charge gave out a loud groan. "Just about every sentient animal has that."
"You know what?", the exasperated scientist said before yanking the wires out with her teeth, shutting down the entire rig, and spitting them away. "Just forget it! I don’t need to know if this is real or not. I don’t need to understand it. I don’t even care!"
As she then walked off, Pinkie pulled her forelegs out of the clamps and flipped the helmet off her head. "Okey-dokey-lokey!"
"Still, that's a pretty useful trait.", Chronicle said as they went up the stairs. "I know a number of dangers that can trigger the Pinkie Sense."
Pinkie was the first to reach the door. As the three ponies approached it however, she went rigid with a little gasp and backed away. "Uh-oh." A combo then hit her—ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch—that caused her to gasp loudly and jitter backward.
Chronicle noted this and aimed his horn at Twilight, who was at the door, and had just enough time for one glance at Pinkie before it was flung open. Before it could smash her completely, her bodyguard already had his arcanokinetic 'grip' on her tail and pulled her away, but he wasn't fast enough, leaving the door to get just her head instead.
Spike, for the second time, turned out to be the one who opened it.
"Pinkie, have you seen Twilight? ", he asked Pinkie, who hopped merrily along the path.
"Uh-huh.", she answered as she left.
Spike did not find the unicorn he was asking for until the door swung shut, with her face pounded flat on the wall.
Good thing I managed to convince Twilight to drink that Resilience Potion Tricky Books gave me yesterday.
F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K
Yesterday, at Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns…
The two unicorns stood just outside the door after the rest of the students left.
"Here, Chronicle. I'd like you to test this out." Tricky 'procured' a corked erlenmeyer flask (or whatever counterpart Erlenmeyer has in Equestria) containing a pink not-glowing liquid, making Chronicle think of strawberry juice as he 'took' it from him. "It's a Resilience Potion. To help in surviving extreme blows with little damage. I made it myself." As it was, Tricky had managed to find a job in Ponyville as a lab assistant, although he made a few useful concoctions of his own.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?", Chronicle asked as he 'swished' its contents.
"Tested it. Completely works. I don't know if this is a side effect or not, but when I accidentally slammed a heavy weight on my hoof after drinking it, when I pulled it up, my leg was flat. I felt less pain than I should've, and then it popped back to normal a few seconds later."
"Wow. That's an interesting potion."
"Unfortunately, the materials I need are rare, so I can't make a lot of them."
"I see."
"Chronicle.", Mystic Shield called his attention, standing at the door between the dojo and his livig quarters. "Remember the wager?"
"Yes, yes I do, Master Shield, though I can't remember why you did it in the first place."
As it was, for some reason, while they and the others helped Applejack harvest the apple orchard last applebuck season, Mystic and Twilight made a small and generally pointless bet on whether or not she could go for the next three weeks without teleporting. He bet she couldn't. She bet she could.
If Mystic were to win, Twilight would teach him how to teleport and make sure he masters it. If she won, she would become a student in his academy—where the choice of whether or not she'll give the spell for others to learn is up to her.
Honestly, Chronicle—who was entrusted to tell Mystic if Twilight loses the bet—had no idea how Mystic would be disadvantaged by either result, but he didn't complain.
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As Chronicle finished reminiscing, he heard Spike say, "Twilight? What are you doing there?"
His charge groaned with effort and asked, "Did you two plan this?"
"Plan what?"
Twilight's head finally popped into its regular shape as she gave a louder groan. "This is ridiculous! This can’t be happening! This makes no sense! I have to figure this out."
This won't end well. I hope the potion lasts the day.
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Eyecatch (video-type) - A replay of the events concerning the door in the lab, stopping at the point before the reminiscing part. The show's logo is seen on the bottom.
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In the park outside Ponyville proper…
Near the park's fountain, Pinkie hopped along giggling to herself, and stopped to smell a flower. As she resumed her cheerful travels, a bush rose clear of the ground and began to follow her, moving under the power of four violet legs.
Once it settled down, a pair of binoculars poked out of the leaves. Twilight looked through them, focusing and zooming in on Pinkie. She donned a pith helmet and stuck a pencil in her teeth. She then quickly ducked behind the bush, resting the binoculars and a notepad on the ground, and then levitated the pencil to write, taking a cautious peek over the shrubbery as she did so.
"Twilight?", a voice called.
Immediately, she leaped straight up with a frightened scream and thud down by the bush. Spike, who had just come over, got yanked in with a yell of his own. "Honestly, Spike, don’t you know better than to sneak up on ponies?"
"Oh, sorry, but, um, well, isn’t that what you’re doing?", he replied as she peeked up. He proceeded to do so as well, only for her to gasp and tackle him to the ground.
"No…", she replied in a hushed tone as she peeked through the bush. "…I’m doing scientific research. I’m observing Pinkie Pie, scientific name Pinkius pieicus, in its natural habitat."
Spike peeked through as well. "Pinkius who-icus?" Both ducked down inside the bush.
"There’s something fishy going on with the whole twitchy prediction thing, and I’m getting to the bottom of it. So, shhh!"
The baby dragon acknowledged this with a finger to his lips. "Twilight?", another voice then called, startling the two as they looked around. "If you wanted to spy on her, you could've asked me to do it for you."
"Chronicle?", Spike asked. "Where are you?"
"I'm speaking to you through Surveillance." Both of them 'furrowed their eyebrows' before remembering. Back at the train to Appleloosa, Chronicle explained to them and their friends how it worked. One of its features—aside from letting him see and hear whatever's happening around who he's watching and what they're doing—was that he can talk to them, which he doesn't use as the ones he's watching aren't supposed to figure out they were being watched in the first place.
"You didn't answer Spike's question.", Twilight said.
"As for where I am, I'm somewhere you can't see me, but where I can see you without Surveillance. You could've asked me to watch her, you know."
"No. I need first-hoof sources, and that can only come from me."
"Oh, right. Hold on. Pinkius pieicus is on the move. You better too."
Immediately, Twilight lifted the bush and walked along, following Chronicle's directions. Spike, whose legs were too short to touch the ground, treaded air while she moved the greenery.
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Later…
At the schoolhouse playground just out of the town proper, Pinkie's three watchers observed her rolling about on the grass and humming to herself. One of the watchers noted that real equines did that and that it wasn't mere randomness from Pinkie.
Twilight peeked out from her bush to scope the scene with binoculars. From her perspective, Pinkie stood, scrunched up her face, and scratched her nose.
"Hmmm…itchy nose.", Twiight whispered as Spike took notes. Suddenly, Pinkie gasped wide-eyed, zipped across the playground, and huddled beneath an oversized horseshoe. Back at the bush, Twilight lowered her binoculars. "Aha! That makes no sense!" She then leaned down to Spike. "See? She’s hiding like something’s about to fall from the sky, but a twitchy tail means something’s gonna fall from the sky, not an itchy nose."
Chronicle however, from his vantage point at one of the trees in the area, saw something else coming. A swarm of bees could be seen overhead and streaking down to the playground. "Twilight, you should move.", he advised.
"This proves, perhaps conclusively, that—" She didn't notice Spike gasp as he saw what Chronicle (and Pinkie) saw until he bailed out with a yell "Spike! Where are you going? I’m trying to teach you the value of scientific obser—" he got no farther as the swarm descended on the bush with enough ferocity to make it jump in place as Twilight gets stung again and again. "Ow! Ouch! Ow! Ooh!"
Chronicle could do nothing for her as he took down his own notes from the safety of his tree. "Analysis: Pinkie Pie's itchy nose means that a swarm of bees is en route. Or stinging insects. Or a swarm in general. Need more conclusive info. Sufficient for now."
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At Sweet Apple Acres…
Wearing a plethora of Band-Aids in addition to her helmet, Twilight continued her investigation while watching from behind a stack of hay bales next to the barn. Chronicle had decided to join her after the bee sting incident and provided his intel.
"What’s she doing now?", Spike whispered as he sat on the ground beside the two unicorns.
From what they could see, Pinkie was smelling flowers in the orchard. "Smelling a flower.", Twilight answered him.
"Holy guacamole! I wonder what that means!"
Twilight lowered her binocs. "Probably that the flower smells good." She raised them again. "Wait! I’m getting something! Ear flop…eye flutter…knee twitch."
"Hold on." He then ran off to a second stack of bales several yards away as Twilight lowered her binocs. "You told me that’s the combo that says “watch out for opening doors”!"
Looking behind herself, Twilight took note of a door whose top half was open and laughed dismissively. "You really, really believe this stuff, don’t you?" She turned to the door. "Here. Let me show you there’s nothing to be afraid of." She propped one foreleg on the edge of the closed lower half and smirked across the way.
While she did that, Chronicle looked around for other doors that could still met the condition of the combo…and located one. It was a ground-mounted hatch. "You see?", he heard his charge say as she trotted away…and toward the hatch as it flipped open, not minding her step. "I promise you there’s nothing to fear from that—" Before she could reach the "open door" and fall in, Chronicle tugged on her tail with his teeth, forcing her to rear up, then fall over, dropping her pith hat, which proceeded to fall down the "doorway" and its steps. "What are you doing? I could've gotten hurt!"
"You could've gotten worse!", he retorted as he pointed at the open hatch whle Spike walked over and peeked in. "Not believing in the Pinkie Sense doesn't mean you shouldn't watch where you're walking to disprove it! And let this be a reminder to you. In farms, there are doors outdoors, and I know I'm not making sense with that statement."
Just then, Applejack popped out from the door, holding Twilight's pith helmet on top of her own hat. "Hey, guys!", she called. "You came to visit my new apple cellar? How nice!"
"Like that.", Chronicle continued, then turned to the farmpony. "Sorry 'bout that, Applejack, but maybe another time. Nice to hear you got that place, though."
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Later…
"If it weren't for me, you would've been in a wheelchair, got casts on your forelegs, and need to have them attached to traction wires with pulleys attached to a framework and operated by a lever just to continue in your observation."
"Isn't that a bit too specific?"
Chronicle was scolding Twilight as they both hid on the opposite end of a park bench. The latter had since discarded her helmet and bandages as she looked through the binoculars. Spike, the second one who spoke, stood behind them taking notes.
"Okay. Take this down.", Twilight whispered to her assistant. "Twitchy tail."
"Twitchy tail…" Right after taking it down, it took a second for him to gasp and go into a full-scale panic, throwing the notepad away. "TWITCHY TAIL!!"
This disturbed Twilight as she dropped her binoculars and Chronicle decided to look up just in case—and paled in shock. "Hush, Spike! We can’t let Pinkie know we’re here, remember?"
"Something’s gonna fall! Something’s gonna fall! Run for your lives!" And he did so, whooping crazily.
"Ugh! Spike, honestly. You’re overreact—"
"Time to go!", her bodyguard cut in as he tried to pull her away, but to no avail.
"Honestly, you too?"
He never got to answer as the prediction came true. In five seconds, a flowerpot, anvil, hay wagon, and piano all crashed squarely down on his charge's head. He quickly looked up to see a delivery truck floating in midair (he had no idea how it was possible, probably by innate pegasus magic or something) and pulled by Merry May and Dizzy Twister. At the tailgate, the forepony—a khaki stallion with a grizzled white mane/tail, a crate cutie mark, cap, and five o’clock shadow (which puzzled the unicorn)—glared at Derpy and another pegasus pony he remembered was named Raindrops, who had a jasmine coat, tiffany blue hair, turquoise eyes, and three of her namesakes as her cutie mark.
While Parasol carried a box away, the forepony was glaring at Raindrops and Derpy, who both grinned sheepishly at the apparent lapse of concentration that did all this damage, and the latter gasped as well.
"Careful down there!", Chronicle called from below as he then quickly 'lifted' away all the debris and unearthed his charge, who looked extremely dizzy and had swirls for eyes for some reason. Is this another of the Resilience Potion's side effects? "I gotcha." He then cast the "magical bandage" spell he learned from Lemon Hearts. Unlike most unicorns, he was a fast learner. The only reason he doesn't have more spells in his "arsenal" like Twilight is because he's selective in what he learns.
Right after casting the spell and 'placing' it on a spot not covered by the actual bandages, something strange happened. The moment the 'bandage' was on, most of the visible injuries in Twilight's body faded in seconds. As she quickly got up and shook off the debris on her, it was apparent that some of the invisible internal injuries as well as the head trauma was gone as well. Looks like yet another of the potion's side effects.
C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP—C—TS—S—PP
At the park…
Pinkie was humming and licking at a spot on a front hoof when she saw a familiar farmpony come over with a basket of apples on her back. "Hey, Applejack! Whatcha doin’?"
"Takin’ more apples to my new apple cellar. How ’bout you, Pinkie? What you doin’?"
"Oh, letting Twilight secretly follow me all day without me knowing."
As if on cue, said unicorn hobbled over, wearing casts on her forelegs, which were healing up slower than the other parts of her body, but still recovering faster than normal.
I'll have to inform Tricky Books about this., Chronicle thought as he walked alongside her.
"You mean you knew all along?! Why didn’t you tell me?"
Pinkie giggled, insensitive to the misfortune that had befallen her friend during her observations. "Silly, that would have spoiled the secret."
Her huge smile was met by a series of contorted, lopsided grimaces and a groan as Spike poked his head out from behind Twilight’s tail. Spike asked fearfully, "Tail still twitching?"
Pinkie looked at her own, then said, "All done. Clear skies from here on in, as far as I can tell." But then she pulled a new trick; her entire body jittered briefly.
Spike ducked behind Twilight again as Applejack lets her basket fall. Chronicle stood wary. "Oh, no! What does that one mean?", the dragon asked.
"Don’t know. Never gotten any like it before. But whatever that shudder’s about, it’s a doozy! Something you never expect to happen is gonna happen!" Another, longer shudder wracked her as all four watched. "And it’s gonna happen…at Froggy Bottom Bog!"
Applejack gasped, "That’s where Fluttershy’s headed!" Just as she said that, said pegasus pony flashed in Chronicle's mind and he put a hoof to his chest, breathing heavily, although nopony noticed.
A heart attack? But I've been eating a healthy diet! Why is this…
Spike peeked from behind Twilight. "Oh, no! Is it about her?"
"Uh…I’m not sure.", Pinkie replied.
"We’d better go and make sure she’s okay.", Applejack said as Chronicle suddenly galloped off ahead of her. Immediately, she followed.
"Calm down, everypony.", Twilight assured as Pinkie followed, Spike doing the same shortly after. "All we know right now is that Pinkie Pie just got a case of the shivers. That’s all." She then finally realized that she has lost her audience, much to her discontent.
The other three ponies meanwhile were making good time; Spike was slowly falling behind, but Twilight pulled up and slipped her head underneath to flip him onto her back. When Chronicle stole a look back, he could see that she has completely recovered from her injuries. Another side effect? No, can't think of that right now! Fluttershy is in danger, I just know it!
"Hey! I thought you didn’t believe in this stuff!", said Spike.
"I don’t. I just want to be there to see the look on Pinkie’s face when we find out nothing’s wrong."
"Okey-dokey.", said Pinkie.
"I think you lost your original motive, Twilight.", Chronicle said as Applejack led them along the road toward the overgrown quagmire. "And aren't you the slightest bit concerned? I just know she's in trouble."
"Next thing I know, you're telling me you got the Pinkie Sense too.", his charge replied with sarcasm.
He decided to humor her. "Maybe I do. That heart attack didn't just come out of nowhere, you know. But since it's the first time, I'm not gonna say if I do have any special senses."
C—TS—S—A—PP—C—TS—S—A—PP—C—TS—S—A—PP
At the outskirts of the bog…
As the group charged, with Spike off Twilight’s back and running under his own steam, Pinkie suddenly stopped short, struck by another shudder.
Twilight stopped and spoke in a sardonic manner. "Cold? Need a jacket or something?"
Pinkie started ahead as everypony slowed their pace." No, thanks. I’m fine." She then got another one. Chronicle seemed to be tense, wanting to run ahead, but not wanting to leave his friends behind, and not trusting enough to leave behind a magical clone to do either task.
Spike turned to Applejack. "So, what do you think happened to Fluttershy?"
"I hope nothin’."
"I know, but…what do you think happened?"
"I’m tryin’ not to think about it."
"Me too." He became fearful. "But…I’m thinking about it anyway. Like…what if…she exploded?"
Applejack was skeptical. "Just exploded, for no reason?"
"Yeah, like, boom!" Everyone stopped.
"Whoa!", gasped Pinkie.
"I know!"
"What if…what if she exploded, and then…" She jumped up. "…and then exploded again?"
"Can you do that? Can you explode twice?"
Applejack testily started ahead. "Of course not."
Spike followed, "But what if…she exploded…and exploded again…and then—" He was stopped short by Twilight, who had put her hoof on his tail.
"Will you two stop!" She let go as Pinkie skidded up. "She’s fine, I’m sure of it." All of them then moved ahead.
"I hope you’re right, for Fluttershy’s sake.", Applejack said.
"Oh, I can't take it!", Chronicle cried out as he made his decision; he was about to go on ahead when Applejack cried out and turned to the right. He looked as well to see a broad stretch of swampland.
"Look! There’s Froggy Bottom Bog!"
Immediately, he was on it, followed by the rest as they then started searching for Fluttershy, calling out her name. Twilight climbed a sloping tree, Applejack scoped the scene from a small neck of solid ground, Chronicle looked around desperately, and Pinkie lifted the edge of a lily pad to peek beneath. A frog promptly jumped onto it, knocking it flat and eliciting a surprised gasp.
Next, Spike leaped onto the magenta mane to drive its owner’s face into the muck…and he saw Fluttershy standing a few feet out on a rock and emptying her basket of frogs.
"Fluttershy!", the baby dragon as he—and Chronicle—jumped over, the former hugging her, and the latter entering a protective stance. "You’re okay!"
She was more than a bit surprised by this greeting. "Of course."
Twilight and Applejack watched from shore. "Whoo…what a relief.", the latter sighed.
"I’m so glad everything’s all right.", Pinkie said.
"For the moment.", Chronicle said as he maintained his stance.
Twilight was smug however, "Sorry. I know it’s not nice to gloat, but…AHA!"
Spike was so surprised that he fell into the water, the three ponies she was facing aimed slightly vexed looks her way, and she did not notice a large, brown, scaly something swim by.
"Twilight…", Chronicle attempted to warn.
But she didn't listen. "I told you there was nothing to worry about, and I was right." Green mist started to rise. "Pinkie Pie said whatever she was shuddering about was a—" She let out a cough as Applejack walked away. "—doozy, and *cough* and the only *cough* doozy here is how right I am.
Spike was now out of the water and Chronicle was flaring a spell as he, Pinkie, and Fluttershy stard at a vertical stretch of the brown thing as it slowly rose from the water, throwing the green mist as it did so. Twilight had her back to it and was still oblivious as Applejack, near her, caught a look at it.
"Um…" the farmpony gave a hard swallow. "…Twilight?" She then crosseed to the others
Twilight was still ignorant, however. "Pinkie’s made a lot of predictions today, but—ugh, what is that smell?"
"Twilight.", Chronicle called as he noticed three vertical things standing up from the mire, hemming the group in, and a guttural growl drifting down over them.
"But what we’ve shown here—"
"Twilight."
"—is that there’s no point in believing—"
"Twilight!"
Another cough. "—in anything you can’t see for yourself."
The bodyguard can't take it. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"
"What?!" It was then that she noticed that everyone else save for him and her were moaning and terrified, looking the threat straight on the entire time.
Spike answered for Chronicle as he pointed. "W-W-Well, then, s-s-see what’s b-b-behind you, Twilight!"
The scientifically minded unicorn finalled turned and looked up to see the expanse of scaly brown hide that now filled her vision. The growl intensified by a few dozen decibels, and she could see four snakelike heads and necks standing up from the bog. "I see it…but I don’t believe it!" Three of the four heads roared in unison, the fourth—second from left—joining in a moment later.
"Well, you better believe it."
C—TS—S—A—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—F—PP
Eyecatch (picture-type) - The huge beast stands on the left side of the screen. Twilight Sparkle is with the others as Chronicle puts up a shield while they stand on the right side of the screen. The show's logo is seen on the top.
C—TS—S—A—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—F—PP
"Is that a hydra?", Pinkie asked.
"Who cares?", Applejack said. "RUN!!"
The group bailed out save Pinkie, who found herself on the receiving end of the creature’s hungry stares and started to back up, and Chronicle, who thought better, quickly picked her up, and skedaddled as they avoided a bite from one of the hydra's heads.
"Pinkie! Come on!", Twilight called as he caught up with them.
"Time to go!", her bodyguard said as the pink earth pony suddenly flung herself off his back and ahead of the others, running mid-air as she bypassed Fluttershy, who in turn passed one of the frogs she brought to the bog as it fled.
"Oh, I’m so sorry.", she said.
"Don't worry about him. We're the hydra's current target since we're a bigger meal. Not that that's a good thing for us."
Just then, another head focused on Twilight, throwing a good scare into her, and the hydra’s entire lizard-like body emerged from the ooze. A strike at her came up just short. Ditto the next one, which targeted Applejack as she hopped from root to root. Fluttershy managed to barely get away thanks to Chronicle, who quickly hoisted her up his back, jumping from a chomp that caught the rock they were standing on. The second head from the left, the only one to stay out of the action, laughed at the other three—angry, with a mouthful of tree, and dazed.
Fluttershy got off Chronicle's back as they and the others bolted for it while Spike scrambled along a low-hanging vine. Eventually, the ponies stopped short at earth outcropping blocking the path ahead. Twilight took a swift look around, then galloped to one side as she said, "Everypony up that hill!"
"HEEELLLP!!", Spike cried out in distress.
He was bogged down in the morass and only dug himself in farther when he tried to swim away from the approaching hydra.
Twilight was about to charge back, only to see Chronicle already on it. "Coming, Spike! Hang on!", he called.
Racing into the mud, a spell on his feet to keep from being bogged himself, he 'scooped' him up on his head and made tracks an instant before the reptilian jaws slammed shut at where he was a second ago. As the others sprinted uphill and he caught up, the four heads gave chase but snap back suddenly. As it turned out, one of the hydra’s feet was mired in glop. It pulled loose after a moment and resumed the pursuit.
"Just wonderin'.", Applejack asked Chronicle. "Why didn't you decide to fight that hydra?"
"You kiddin' me? I read that if I cut off one of its heads, two more will grow in its place."
"You were considerin' that?!"
"Hey, it's either it or us! And I don't think Fluttershy's in the condition to talk them down, given its many heads. And even if she was, we don't have time to plan this right now."
"I think we’re gonna make it!", Twilight said.
Spike pointed ahead. "But Pinkie’s still shuddering!"
Indeed she was, but stopped abruptly and ended up standing still as Fluttershy galloped by. "Oh, looky there. It’s stopped!" Only for a moment, though. "Ohhh! The-e-ere i-i-it i-i-is aga-a-ai-i-in-n-n!" Spike arrived on the end of this to push her up the slope, and Twilight followed him while glancing back down the way.
Unfortunately, Applejack let out a gasp. As the others caught up, they realized that they were at the edge of a cliff. Half a dozen tall, narrow stone pillars, separated by large gaps, stood between them and the cliff on the opposite side of the canyon.
A tremor from the beast’s footstep brought a frightened gasp from the group; the hydra was beginning to climb the hill. Twilight cried out before putting together any coherent words. "He’ll be up here in no time! Quick! One at a time! Cross!"
When Spike zipped up to the edge, his momentum brought him within an ace of going over it. He yelled, got himself safely back, and turned to Twilight as Pinkie’s shudders resumed. "Uh, do you know any spells for turning a hydra into a mouse?"
"No!"
"How about a squirrel?"
"No!"
"How about—"
"No small rodents of any kind!"
"That’s too bad."
"What about anything less dangerous than it currently is?", piped Chronicle.
"The hydra's too big for any transfiguration spells!"
"Thought as much."
"A hop, skip, and a…" Fluttershy leaped toward the first pillar. "…jump!" And hit it dead center, bounding away for good measure.
Good thing she remembered., Chronicle thought as he momentarily looked back at the dragon incident—and Mystic Shield's first adventure with them.
Spike was next to go, thrown by Twilight. He landed on the flat and watched as the equine jackhammer skittered up, then jumped ahead. She went over the edge, taking one pop-eyed look at the air below her hooves, but remained suspended in midair long enough for Applejack to get a mouthful of tail and yank her back.
"He’s too close!" She lowered her head and pawed the ground. "I’ll distract him. The rest of you go! Now!"
While the farmpony pushed off from the brink, hauling Pinkie along, Chronicle stayed back. "As if I'd leave you behind! I'm your bodyguard!"
But she wasn't listening. "Ohhh…what would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do?"
As an idea caused her eyes to widen and her ears to perk up, while she put a fierce expression, Chronicle closed his eyes and flared his horn. He opened them to see that he had summoned two magical clones. He felt proud for a moment, only to hear Twilight cry out, "CHAAARRRGE!!"
He turned to see that she was in full gallop down the slope. Quickly, he ordered his two clones to go after her and he did so himself as well.
All four of the hydra’s heads whipped down toward her, but she held her course, followed by three blue unicorns. After a few seconds, the heads stopped and the second from left voiced a puzzled grunt, looking back toward ground level. As it turned out, the fierce and/or foolhardy unicorn raced directly beneath the underbelly and kept running, three heads peeking down and snaking through the legs after her. As the entire body started to overbalance, the puzzled head—which had stayed out of it—gaped after the others, just in time for the hydra to flip itself forward up the hill and land on its back.
Immediately, after Twilight skid to a stop, Chronicle and his copies jumped onto the Hydra's belly and started striking it with their "magic horn blades". At the far side of the chasm, where the rest of the group had made it across, Pinkie was shuddering again.
"T-T-T-Twilight! Ch-Ch-Ch-Chronicle!", she called.
The hydra began to peel itself up and took note of Twilight rushing past uphill with a puzzled little whimper. It then noticed the three attackers and one of its head struck…sending the real one back up the cliff's edge.
Luckily, he didn't lose enough focus for the clones to be automatically dismissed. In fact, as long as he's alive and breathing, they'll stick around until dismissed by him or hit really hard. After all, he called one up in his sleep back in Twilight's first slumber party.
A giant brown foot slamming to the turf and a feral growl terrified Twilight all over again as Chronicle's copies continued the futile assault. The purple unicorn jumped back to avoid being eaten alive when the cliff’s edge got smashed away, luckily stopping where Chronicle lay. The first of the stepping-stone pillars wound up at a crazy angle after the hit, and as Twilight got turf under her hooves, she saw it topple over and knock out the next three like dominoes.
Chronicle regained consciousness in time to hear his friends gasp, and the head that went in for the strike woozily regarded the fresh lump on its crown before roaring in unmitigated fury. Meanwhile, his two clones were now climbing up two of the necks with difficulty as Twilight cowered for a moment, then got upright and eyed the now-impassable gap before her.
"Aww, for Pete's sake!", he complained.
Pinkie shuddered briefly. "G-G-G-Guys! You have to jump!"
Twilight was hesitant. "I’ll never make it!"
"You’ll be fine!"
"I will not!"
"We won't be either if that hydra gets us!", Chronicle said as his first clone was chomped and dissipated by one of its heads as it added a bellow that turned into a quadraphonic yell. "My copies won't be able to hold it off much longer. While I can certainly deal with this guy, I still have you to worry about."
Pinkie shuddered. "It’s your o-o-only ho-o-ope!" The trapped ponies took one more look over the precipice as the hydra closed in, one of its heads snagging Chronicle's second copy and hurling him right where the rest were, dissipating into in a series of twinkles. "You have to take a leap of faith!"
"Go!", Chronicle said. "I'll hold the hydra off for as long as I can! Once you're safe, I can go all out!"
After one very last quick glance, Twilight swallowed so hard enough she would've sent a brick down her gullet if she were chewing on one, backed up a few steps, then galloped as her bodyguard stopped some of the heads with a panel barrier, but missed the others as one of them descended.
It bashed the clifftop loose just as she poised herself, and she was forced to jump clear while it starts to tumble away. "No!" As Chronicle risked a look back, he saw her sail toward the first unbroken pillar, only to comes up well short of the flat and begin a hoof-flailing plummet.
Immediately, as his friends' eyes popped and jaws slacked, Chronicle broke off from defending against the hydra and jumped after his charge, although it was too late for him to catch her. Just then, he and Twilight noticed a large bubble has begun to grow at the surface. Don't tell me…
Twilight realized it too. "Oh, no! NOOOOOO!!" She landed spread-eagle on the bubble, which hurled her upward and then burst— "Whooooaaaa!" —causing her to land on the first intact pillar, from which she bounced to the second and then into a rock face on the far side. As she wound up sitting against it on her haunches, all the sense knocked out of her, while the others eyed her worriedly, Chronicle continued falling down to the bog.
By instinct, he did what he always did whenever he fell; teleport. As Twilight shook herself back to normal and gave her friends a big squeaky grin, getting a round of cheers and leaving the hydra to pout by itself across the way, Chronicle emerged from his teleport and landed on top of her. Before he could get off, Pinkie lay a king-size hug on the two.
"I knew you could do it, Twilight!"
"Now why didn't I just ask her to do this in the first place?", the stallion in the group grumbled to himself as Pinkie let go. "Oh well, at least Mystic hasn't won his bet yet." But why didn't Twilight? Another side effect of the Resilience Potion, perhaps?
"I don’t know how it happened.", his charge said. "Coincidence, dumb luck, or what. But you said there’d be a doozy here at Froggy Bottom Bog, and I’d say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy. I mean, that hydra…" She cut herself off when the pink prognosticator’s face went slack and the rest of her started jittering all over again. "Pinkie?"
She stopped shuddering. "That wasn’t it."
"Huh?" The shuddering started again.
"What wasn’t what?", asked Spike as Pinkie stopped again.
"What are you talkin’ about, Pink?", Applejack wanted to know.
"The hydra wasn’t the doozy." Everyone turned to the hydra, which stomped away, one head blowing a raspberry.
Pinkie’s tremor kicked in again. "I’m still getting the shudders!" Her quaking moan stopped when they did. "You see? There it is again! Whatever the doozy was at Froggy Bottom Bog, my Pinkie Sense says it still hasn’t happened."
"Huh? But I—" Twilight was furious and was slowly losing it. —what?!? "The hydra wasn’t the doozy? How could it not be the doozy? What could be doozy-er than that?!
"Dunno, but it just wasn’t it."
"In case you don't know, a doozy is something outstanding or unique of its kind.", Chronicle decided to explain. "And I'm sure while hydra attacks are rare, they can happen to anyone who enters this bog, or any other hydra territory."
The terminally frustrated violet unicorn scrunched her face in a silent growl and gave voice to it. Her mental teakettle sang in an insanely high register for an unbearable moment—and then she completely lost it with an unhinged snarl and a huge vertical leap. Her entire body went bone-white, her eyes blazed red, and her mane and tail went up in flames, giving her an uncanny resemblance to some other unicorn (not unicorn pony) Chronicle was familiar with, one that—to everyone's surprise—absolutely terrified him.
"RAPIDASH!!!", he squeaked like a filly as he zipped right underneath Fluttershy, cowering there while the others recoiled before Twilight's glare, which lasted nearly four seconds before it burned itself out, leaving her hanging, with soot all over her normally-colored body and her mane and tail a half-burned shambles.
Finally, his charge gave a weary sigh, "I give up." She then dropped to the ledge, all the burn marks instantly vanishing (perhaps another side effect of the Resilience Potion, or what happens after whatever just happened to her) when Spike crossed to her.
"Give what up, Twi?", Spike asked as Pinkie started shuddering again.
"The fight…I can’t fight it anymore. I don’t understand how, why, or what. But Pinkie Sense somehow…makes sense. I don’t see how it does, but it just does! Just because I don’t understand, doesn’t mean it’s not true."
"Y-Y-You mean you b-b-believe?", Pinkie asked.
"Yep. I guess I do."
The tremors then intensified, then gave way to a quick succession of cartoonish contortions that stretched the pink body in ways it was surely never meant to go. When they stopped, Pinkie was left standing perfectly normal and motionless.
"Oh!" Pinkie then looked herself over and gasped. "That was it! That’s the doozy!" Twilight and Spike gaped at her, the latter shaking his head clear.
"What?", Twilight asked as she crossed to her. "What is?"
"You believing! I never expected that to happen! That was the doozy!" She then gave off a laugh. "Oh, and oh, what a doozy of a doozy it was!"
"Are ye sure that was the doozy?", Applejack asked. "If anythin', I'd say Chronicle screamin' like a filly and hidin' like that was the doozy." She gestured to him, who was still shivering with Fluttershy on top of him.
Everyone walked over to the cowering bodyguard, then Spike poked his flank. Immediately, he jolted up, shoving Fluttershy into the air, who hovered right after he landed, looking real unhinged. "Wha—is it over?!"
"What's over?", asked Pinkie.
"Twilight's mane turning into fire! Is it over?!"
"Yes, I think it's over.", his charge answered and the stallion gave a sigh of relief.
"Wait! Is fire your phobia, Chronicle?!", Pinkie asked as she got up close.
"Can't be.", Spike argued as Fluttershy landed right next to him. "I've been breathing fire in his presence for quite a while and he didn't so much as shudder those times."
"Spike's right." Chronicle confessed. "I got a more specific fear than just fire. You see, one of the phobias you've just discovered is that I'm afraid of being who have fire coming out of their bodies, with the exclusion of phoenixes and fire breathers like Spike."
"Oh."
"And one more thing; let's keep what happened between us, okay? Please? I'll never hear the end of it I get found out."
"Okey-dokey-lokey." Pinkie.
"All right." Applejack.
"Okay." Spike and Fluttershy.
"Of course.", Twilight.
"Thank you very much."
They then walked along the cliff back to Ponyville, Pinkie singing to herself all the way as the others stared incredulously at her.
"Umm…Chronicle?", Fluttershy asked.
"Hmm?"
"Who or what is Rapidash?"
"That? Somepony I met who occasionally pulls off what Twilight just did back when she was a charge of mine, minus the rage.", he fibbed. "I don't wanna talk about it."
"Okay."
C—TS—S—A—F—PP—C—TS—S—A—F—PP
The next day…
As Spike made his way to the library, presumably after finishing whatever business Twilight sent him off to (or seeing Rarity, or both), he heard voices laughing upon opening the door and peeking in.
"Oh, good, Spike.", Twilight said. "You’re here. Take a letter."
He stepped into the reading room and toward a quill and scroll set up on a stand. "With pleasure, Twilight." He picked them up, ready to write.
“Dear Princess Celestia…” Instead of jotting the words, Spike looked ahead with a suddenly puzzled stare. “I’m happy to report that…” She then realized that her assistant wasn't writing as usual. "Spike. What have I been saying about focus?" She tapped a hoof against the floor to emphasize the point.
"I know, but I…well…"
"What’s wrong, Spike?", she asked with a smile. "Never thought you’d see me with an umbrella hat on?" Indeed she was, which was the Chronicle had given to her after he took it after Pinkie dropped it yesterday.
"Not really, no."
Twilight looked to her side. "Pinkie’s tail’s a-twitchin’." Indeed it was as the pink earth pony stood beside her. "What else can I do?"
"Stay indoors, remember to look up, watch your step while you walk…", Chronicle suggested, about to put on a similar hat, but colored in blue like his own coat.
The two mares shared a laugh and the two boys joined in after a moment, Spike continuing well after the others have gone silent and the tail has quit. A gentle nudge from Twilight’s hoof helped him focus on the problem at hand, and he began to write.
Twilight dictated, “I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can’t explain, but that doesn’t necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them.” She turned to Pinkie. “And sometimes, it takes a friend to show you the way.”
Pinkie touched Twilight’s nose and said. "Honk!" And Spike wrote it down.
“Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
"You know, if we hadn't gone to Froggy Bottom Bog, Twilight wouldn't have admitted that Pinkie Sense was real, which would have made her right about it in the first place.", Chronicle remarked. "The again, that would mean that…" His irises shrunk in horror. "Fluttershy would've been probably left to the mercy of the Hydra, which in turn might've been a doozy depending on what might have happened."
The two mares shuddered for a moment before resuming their smiles and trotting out. Chronicle followed for a while before Pinkie stopped short when her tail went off. "There it goes again!", she said.
"I wonder what’s gonna drop out of the sky this time.", Twilight asked.
"You never know." The two mares walked off, Chronicle turning to go around the library to his training range when he heard a loud thump, which had been heralded by a loud whistling sound. He turned around to see Spike having opened a window, about to send the letter to Princess Celestia when she landed on the balcony railing, nearly breaking the entire platform loose from the tree.
"Twitchy tail?", Spike asked.
"Well, I'll be…", Chronicle remarked as Celestia took the scroll in her mouth, and lifted off at a much more comfortable rate of speed. Both boys gaped up after her, flabbergasted that Pinkie’s last prediction has come true in such an extreme way.
"Holy guacamole!"
Immediately, the stallion set aside thoughts of his training and took off after Twilight and Pinkie, catching them in his sights. "Girls! You won't believe what just happened!"