“Y-you made this?” Twilight asked, staring at the papers, the blueprints, the plans. Her head was glowing red because of the implications of what she saw, but she also couldn't help but feel impressed.
“Yep,” Pinkie answered in a hushed voice, grinning widely.
No matter what happened, no matter how much time they spent together, Pinkie Pie was an unsolvable riddle to Twilight. Even now, as they stood in the pony's room, she couldn't grasp how much Pinkie knew, how well she understood and above all else, just to what extend she would go for her friends. Twilight had never truly understood Pinkie. No, the whole world had never understood Pinkie. So the purple pony settled on letting her plot fall on the ground, staring blankly at the sheets.
“Why?”
“Oh, Twily-wily,” the answer came as Pinkie ruffled her friend's mane, “you're just really bad at hiding that stuff.”
“W-What? No!” Twilight stuttered, “I. . . I-”
“Well, you told Fluttershy almost immediately, then Rarity, you hid it rather badly at the library. I believe Roseluck found out simply by looking up to your room, and Ambrosia decided to ignore the bib you wore three Thursdays ago.”
Twilight didn't quite get the words out at first, instead tried to calm herself down. “I- I didn't think it was something that needed to be kept hidden all to well. It's a therapy method.”
She didn't dare look at Applejack right then, but the unbelieving gaze still pierced right through her. At least Pinkie didn't care, she only looked over the plans: “For what it's worth, I believe you, Twilight. It's not just you, though. Everypony has their own lives to deal with and for a lot of them it's really problematic. Except for me, I'm a pastry chef. If you can eat as much candy as I can, you hardly ever have anything to worry about. Except maybe sugar-related illnesses, but who cares about them, right?”
“You certainly don't,” Twilight said, with a hint of a smile, looking at the papers again. “Still, this is amazing, and actually quite embarrasing. I mean, you know.”
“Yeah,” Applejack, she had studied a plan for room decoration and shook her head. “I get that you're doin' this for Twilight, but I ain't getting why I'm involved in this?”
“He~he, we're going to make this our own super-special secret project,” Pinkie Pie answered. “We spent most of the winter apart from each other, so this would really help us be together, we can help Twilight and I can finally get that mega-slide I've been wanting my entire life.”
“Wait a minute, sugarcube, you're just doing this for the slide, aren't ya?” Applejack frowned.
Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.
“I still don't know, I just find it weird how easy you found out.” Twilight said.
“Ya just said that ya didn't think it worth hidin', make up your mind, Twi.”
“I am making my mind up. Somewhat, I still haven't even figured everything out myself and now I know that apparently half the town knows despite me trying to avoid that.”
“Actually, it's just us six, Ambrosia and Roseluck,” Pinkie Pie corrected her, which didn't make Twilight feel any better. At least she now got why Roseluck had wanted to talk to her, so that was something off her mind, “and aren't you trying to regress to get rid of the stress?”
“Well, yes.”
Pinkie Pie shrugged, “Just keep it at that for now, then. No need to figure out everything before the story ends, stuff either gets too convoluted or too boring.”
“What?” Both her friends asked deadpan.
“All I'm saying is that life's a really long story, which shouldn't be taken too hectically, you need to ease into everything and give it all time. Then even you can become a crazy old cat lady!”
Twilight blinked, “Wow, you just almost said something profound, Pinkie.”
“I do my best,” her pink friend grinned.
Applejack sighed and took another sip of the cocoa Pinkie Pie had offered her shortly after they had come in. “So, you want the western barn for it, right? I guess now that we ain't really usin' it no more, we can arrange something.”
She looked at Twilight, who just stared at the papers. “You still unsure about all this?”
“My whole life's falling apart, Applejack,” the unicorn answered with a bitter smile, “and now I don't even know what to cling on to. I mean, look at this. Is this what I've become? It all feels like running away.”
Suddenly, Pinkie pulled her closer. “Oh, Twily, you're worrying too much. All we're doing is letting Applejack here build a nursery in the old western barn that nopony even cares about anymore; with me taking care of the decorations, Rarity making more foalish clothing for you and the rest is in spoiler-tags for now, because the best thing about a surprise party is that it's a surprise.”
Twilight stared at what was before her. Drawings of where what should stand, a crib of her own, for toys and that slide, that damn slide. Twilight couldn't take her eyes off that drawing, mainly because of the loop. Why was there a loop to begin with? What was it going to accomplish? Since when did you build loops into slides? How did Pinkie expect it to work? Questions rushed through her head, questions she knew would go unanswered. When she finally did manage to take her eyes off the thing, she also tried to say something again.
“Why are you ponies all of this in stri-” Oh no, she thought, knowing full well that she had just mispronounced the damn sentence. It was so easy and yet she still managed to make a mistake. She tried to repeat the sentence, but failed again. She didn't come to the next try as Pinkie suddenly pulled her into a hug and Sssh'd her.
“I ain't really takin' nothing in stride. I already told you, I don't really like this whole foal thing, just doesn't seem natural to me. The thing is, it's small compared to that problem. Despite, I get to do some somethin' again, so there's no harm done at all.”
Pinkie loosened the hug up then. “It's a slide, Twilight. With a loop. You can't question that.”
She actually could, but let it be, instead gestured Applejack to come closer and pull them both in a hug. “I don't really know what to say, but thank you. I mean it.”
“Yeah, Twi', anything for you,” Applejack answered, answering the hug hesitantly.
“This is going to be the funnest fun we've had in a while!” Pinkie Pie said a bit too loudly, as suddenly a cry erupted from the neighbouring room. “Ah, horse-shoes. Sorry, I've woken the twins, I gotta calm them. There's bed sheets in the drawer, you two make yourself at home,” she said and stormed off, leaving Twilight and Applejack alone in her room.
“Does that mean-”, Applejack started.
“Yep, seems like we're having a sleepover.”
The orange earth pony sighed in resignation and moved towards Pinkie's wardrobe, finding more than just bed sheets in the drawers.
“How do you keep mattresses in there?” Was Twilight's first question as Applejack pulled it out, but then again, some companies enchanted their wardrobes so that a pony could store more within them. Either that or Pinkie. Both explanations worked in this situation.
She wanted to help Applejack, but the pony waved her off, “Not to be rude, but I haven't done any proper work in a while, so let me savor this.”
So she did. Twilight simply sat by the side, watching the other pony prepare two beds for them both. The sound of crying subsided from the background, faded out to Pinkie Pie singing a lullaby. It reminded her of Cadance. Did she miss her foalsitter so much? Maybe she should call her up one of these days. With a sigh, she went on an her eyes went over her friend again.
“Applejack?”
“Yeah, Twilight?”
“Why're you really helping?”
Applejack stopped in her tracks and looked at her. “When I say that winters are killing me it ain't no exaggeration. When I'm not on an adventure with you ponies, or not caring for Granny Smith I need to work on the farm. It's my life, really, just that I took a wrong turn halfway down. I don't know when exactly but at one point I just stopped giving much of a ball of hay about anything that wasn't the farm. If I can't work there, I start feelin' empty and it's horrible. Last weekend I was drunk throughout, I didn't even care about leaving. RD popped by, shortly after that. We talked, we had a small fight an' then she went off in a huff. I guess she was right, though.” The earth pony sighed.
“She told me that I should find something else, something that interests me and this? I dunno, but we could make it like a clubhouse for the Elements of Harmony. I guess I'd like that,” Applejack told her, giving a somber smile.
Twilight giggled. “A clubhouse, isn't that a bit childish?”
“You're one to talk,” Applejack retorted, giving them both reason to giggle. A short burst of laughter Applejack quickly broke. “But Twilight, you said you only wear them as a means to get into the mind of a child. Are ya sure you want to go this far with it? I mean, Pinkie's plan is kinda over-the-top.”
“Well,” Twilight mused, “I guess I'm just really desperate by this point. Plus, Rainbow Dash talked to me, too. I think I'm making an error in thinking, though I haven't quite found out what error it is, yet. The thing is, I don't know how far I want to go, but this. . . I mean, it's a nursery, there's a box of blocks, there's a big slide, there's a wardrobe that'll be full with the cutest clothing and, quite frankly, I am embarrassed at the thought that it's all for me. It's just that there's more than embarrassment. I'm also really happy, because this is kind of like a dream. I expected you ponies to hate me more, I expected you all to react like Fluttershy did, if not worse, and yet. . . you,” she was whimpering by then, tears falling from her eyes.
“Twi, we aren't the Elements of Harmony for nothing,” Applejack said, putting a hoof on her friend's shoulder. “Plus, as Pinkie said, you're adorable as is, chances stand good that a diaper and a bonnet wil turn you into a lethal weapon.”
That got Twilight blushing intensely. “I-I don't, I'm not.”
“You're gettin' flustered really easy tonight, aren't ya?”
The salty taste of her tears reaching her mouth, Twilight couldn't help but laugh. After so long, just being with her friends made her feel good again and she truly felt strong again. Then, as they both calmed down and Applejack finished up the beds, Twilight got a good look at them. The sheets were colored rose and decorated with pictures of candy. It was very Pinkie.
“The only problem that remains would be with whoever's gonna play your caretaker,” Applejack said, looking over her work again.
“Well, I could ask Ambrosia.”
Applejack giggled, “I don't think that's a job she'd want.”
“You said I was adorable,” Twilight joked and then a thought occurred to her. I'm going to hate myself for this. “Maybe you could do it?” She asked only half-joking.
Applejack did a double take, her head reddening, turning the orange into some kind of tomato. “Wha? No, nonono- No offense, I mean, but as I said, I don't really think this is all too good anyway, and I can't even iron Apple Bloom properly.”
Twilight laughed. “You're not supposed to iron your sister.”
“You're at fault for sayin' weird stuff.”
“Sorry, sorry. I couldn't resist,” Twilight said, waving with her hoof. She's not the one, but then, who is?
With that, Pinkie Pie entered the room again. “Okay, the twins are safe now. We should go to sleep, too. Sleeping's a virtue.”
Twilight looked at her for a moment, a very long moment. “Pinkie Pie, about the nursery, could you-”
“Ssh,” Pinkie said, putting her hoof to Twilight's mouth, “No more words, only dreams now.”
As patronizing as it sounded, she ahd to admit that it was late already and she was tired, too.
So the lights went out and they all went to their dreams. Twilight neatly tucked herself in, every notion as perfect as ever, even though she did miss her footie. That thing was so practical with the current temperatures, but, well, she went to the land of dreams without it. There, once more, she dreamt of falling pages, swings and a baby dragon, waving her goodbye.
It was going to be quite a bit of time, until everything was ready and the only thing that made it worse had been Pinkie's reaction to Twilight presenting her own, flawless timetable.
“Don't worry, Twily, Auntie Pinkie has everything under control,” she had said.
Applejack made for the western barn, checking out what needed to be done, what materials they already had and what they needed. Twilight couldn't quite decide whether it was that she had slept, or found new work, but Applejack seemed a happier pony this morning. She would have liked to share the sentiment, but all her mind could bring up was how none of this fit into an any schedule. She had come to dislike this specific voice in her head and so she decided to go out of her way and ignore it.
This had mixed results, but Twilight didn't really care, because no matter how bad she felt, there was a bit of childish glee in the thought that she might sleep in a crib. She didn't even really get why she was happy about that. Either she it was because she could go all out with her theory or she was just weird in the head. When everythng was said and done, the second seemed much more appealing to her.
She stomped through the snow, as ponies went on about their morning duties. Twilight saw Allie Way moving out to get the morning post, only for Derpy to land straight in her face; she saw Mayor Mare starting her walk for the town hall and Caramel staring at the snow before his house like a statue. Like he couldn't even believe that he had to shovel all of this.
The sky was still grey and foreboding. The sun wouldn't get much of a chance this week, either, going by the weather report. Twilight wondered just what kind of storm was planned that they had to go out of their way for it this much. She wondered if she should inquire the Princess about it, but she doubted the Princesses had much of a hoof in equestrian weather. The system was too well thought out for that.
Twilight made her way through the snow, until she stumbled across one of the rarer sights. Rainbow Dash working. For whatever reason one of the laziest ponies in town had taken up to shoveling the snow off the townsquare. All she was wearing were a pair of wonderbolt-styled shoes and ear warmers.
“Yo, Twilight,” she said, waving at the purple unicorn.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash, I see you're helping the town this morning.”
Rainbow Dash grunted, “Yeah, the ministry's orders came down, says we need to prepare everything for the storm of the century. Means the roads need to be clear at least beforehand, so everypony get supplies easier, or something. There's a note on the town's billboard about it, if you can get through all that boring drivel.”
“I don't think the 'storm of the century' is boring.”
RD shook her head, “No, not the storm, but the preparation. I'm almost thinking about visiting my parents back in Cloudsdale, there're hardly ever any storms up there.”
Twilight nodded, “So, why a storm- wait, why. A. storm. . . Why a storm of the century?”
Rainbow blinked, opened her mouth but then thought the better of it. A long and ongoing friendship with Fluttershy had taught her when to keep her mouth shut. Well, somewhat at least. “I think we had this before, didn't we? The last few winters have been too weak in this region, so they're going all out with this one. It's going to be like the Winter of Windigos, hopefully without the death toll.”
“Hopefully?”
“A blizzard's still a blizzard and I think Big Wig isn't taking this all too seriously.” Twilight went through her mind. She didn't know all the names in Ponyville, but Big Wig was one of Allie's friends, if she recalled right.
“What do you mean?”
“She's got herself a tent, that's what I mean. Who'd want to camp through a blizzard?”
“As far as weirdness goes, everypony's got their own,” Twilight cited.
“Whoever said that must've been the most gorgeous pony in the entire universe.”
“Please don't get too full of yourself.”
Rainbow laughed. “Too late for that. Still, how did things go after our talk?”
“Well, Fluttershy can't stand me anymore and I'm now involved in one of Pinkie's schemes.”
“That's... woah,” was all the cyan pegasus could bring out to that. “What happened between you and Fluttershy.”
“I was stupid and misjudged a situation in the worst way possible,” Twilight sighed. “Worst. Worst way. In the worst way possible. Aw, horse apples, this is getting on my nerves.”
Rainbow Dash sighed, “So you confronted her about what we talked? If that's so, I guess I'm at fault, too.”
“What do you mean?”
The pegasus looked up to the sky, studying it for a moment. Her eyes seemed far away, then. Like she was visiting another country, deep in her mind. “Well,” she said, “she stayed in Ponyville since shortly after Flight Camp. I know it doesn't sound like much, just, she was still a kid by that point. I guess, she simply had a really distant relationship to her family, especially her peers. She never liked Pinkie's 'auntie'-schtick, she never liked any mares doting over her and she never liked to assert herself as the oldest in our group. It's complicated, but you know, if she did anything rude, you have to forgive her.”
Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. “I didn't know.”
“And officially you still don't. Anyway, what's this scheme of Pinkie's?”
“I guess it's going to be a clubhouse for us.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah, I don't really want to talk about the details out here, but Applejack's working on the western barn to get it right.”
Nodding, the pegasus said: “I'll check it out later, if you don't mind. How're you going to spend the day?”
“Well, I had a good, long walk now. Haven't felt this- Haven't felt this fresh in a while. So, what I am going to do is: Clean up the library. I'm behind my schedules enough already and I should at least try to put my energy into some work until vacation time is here.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “If you're going on a vacation, go before the blizzard and come back after it.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. Bye, Dash.”
“Bye.”
With that, she left the pegasus behind, strolling farther through the streets of Ponyville, where life started to bustle more and more. The blizzard was coming soon and now everypony decided to start preparing. Like the Winter of Windigos, Rainbow Dash had said it was going to be. There was a bit of anxiety within her, because some parts of history should never be repeated.
Rarity looked up from her sewing-machine, as the door to Carousel Boutique opened. Her mane told the world that she had been working overtime again, the empty mugs by her side spoke of the coffee beans that had died so that she might finish her work on time. Twilight had a schedule for everything, but it was at least a possible schedule. Rarity never had an eye for time. Her's was an eye for detail, an eye for art, an eye for fashion.
“Twilight, darling, what brings you to this graveyard for failed dresses?” Rarity asked jokingly.
“Well, I just wanted to check up on you, since I've been meaning to ask-”
“About Spike?”
Twilight closed the door behind her, leaving the cold winds outside. It was the third day since Pinkie had told them about her plans, and also far too long since last she had seen her faithful assistant. “Yeah.”
Rarity leaned back. “I forgot to tell you, didn't I?” The pale unicorn sighed. “He's with Fluttershy right now. He said that he wanted to help her with preparing for the storm. It has everypony on their hooves, this thing. Especially with that dreadful writ on the board. Cloud Dancer apparently chained her house to the ground, because of it and the Flower Trio has started giving everypony these pamphlets.” She held one up and Twilight moved closer to it.
THE END IS NEIGH
Twilight didn't even bother with the rest. Despite the artsiness of the three panicking ponies hugging each other on the front of it, this just seemed to go overboard. On the other hoof, that was kind of the trio's schtick. She shook her head at it. “Well, this is apparently the event of the winter now, so whaddaya know. Still, when I get Spike between my hooves I'll make the storm look like a walk through Candyland,” she announced, even though she was more annoyed than angry. “He should at least tell me where he's going. Now I just pointlessly wasted 2 hours a day worrying.”
Rarity looked at her, queerly. “You didn't schedule your time of worrying, did you?”
“So what if I did?”
The white unicorn sighed. “Well, by this point it's pretty much to be expected, isn't it? No matter, he's safe with Fluttershy and you can relax.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I just thought something bad happened to him, don't know why.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Well, it's only natural. I'm also sorry. For keeping him with me for so long, I mean. He's just so helpful with everything, though.”
“It's not a problem, Rarity, really. He's fine and that's what counts.” She said that and took a look around. “Also, you're not really drowning in work, are you?”
“Right now all the work I do is similar. Everypony got some warm clothes at the start of Winter, I'm only selling mittens, boots, scarves and hats right now. At the moment the only different things would be your stuff and something for Diamond Tiara.”
“Filthy's daughter?”
“Rich, he prefers to be called Rich, and yes, it's for her. Apparently her room gets dreadfully cold at night and considering how pajamas are now a fashion trend he came here with her to have one made for her. I must say, if you took all of Sweetie Belle's stories, you'd think that girl had escaped from the deepest dungeons of Tartarus. For that, she can be quite adorable.”
“What do you mean?”
“I asked her if she had any specific requests, since the garment would be her's. She demanded frills, lots of frills. And she did quite the dance when I told her that I can do it.”
Twilight gave a smile. “Well, we could give her time and maybe she'll be adorable to everypony.”
“That would certainly be in Sweetie's interest. No matter, why I actually brought it up. When Pinkie came to me she said I could go all out with the designs.”
“Well, we kinda proved our fashion senses were nonexistent before the gala,” Twilight said with an awkward smile.
“Please don't remind me about those abominations, darling,” Rarity teased.
“Yeah, yeah,” Twilight answered, rolling her eyes. She looked on the sewing machine, seeing a light blue piece of cloth with frills, probably the pajama for Diamond Tiara.
Still, Rarity gave her a smile. “It's nothing to worry about, even a pony as talented as you cannot be good at everything. Nopony ever is. That's why special talents and Cutie Marks exist.”
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “Anyway, is there a problem with that request?”
“Well, I was half expecting for you to disagree,” Rarity told her. “You hadn't been all that comfortable with the subject in the beginning.”
“Neither were you, but. . . Yeah, I guess it's just that now I feel better, what with all of my friends knowing and even accepting it, or at least making a good show of it,” she said, although she thought about Fluttershy. She has her reasons. I still need to go and apologize.
Rarity nodded. “I have to admit, everypony is taking this rather lax. I guess it's just been the right time for anything to happen. This town gets ever so dull in winter, but as far as a changeup goes, I prefer this over some magic force attacking the world.”
Twilight giggled. “Yeah, it's definitely better than being chased by a hydra, too.”
“Or fighting a spirit of chaos,” Rarity agreed, before she looked at the cloth before her. “Plus, I have to admit. It's unique projects like this which make me appreciate this job all the more. I just hope duck costumes become a fashion trend in the future.”
“Next Nightmare Night, Rarity, we can all go as ducks.”
Rarity laughed at that. “Sure thing, then we'll all be adorable.”
The writ on the board said it in big letters.
Days until the Storm: 2
Twilight had no idea how to feel about that, but the sun had stopped piercing through the clouds every once in a while by now. She had often wondered how the ponies during the Winter of Windigos must have felt, cold and without the sun above. Well, truth be told, this must have been pretty close to it.
A lot of ponies had gathered around the board, with some of them commenting on this. Cloudkicker was talking about the weather team's effort, while Caramel needed to be comforted by his special somepony that the pamphlets were made up. Lily shook her head at the naivité of said mare, before talking about how she and the others had built an emergency bunker for a situation just like this.
All in all, it was shaping up to be yet another interesting day in Ponyville. Even for herself it appeared to be going quite spectacular. She had managed to get out of bed in just four attempts and had managed to get through her morning without looking in the mirror even once, all while maintaining the rest of her schedule perfectly. Whether the rest of the week would shape up to be this good remained unknown as of yet and Twilight found herself turning away from the masses with that thought on her mind.
“Uhm. . . Twilight?” she heard a meek voice call out from her side, the tone making her freeze up. It was too soon, she wasn't ready for this talk, yet. She took a deep breath before she turned towards Fluttershy, who seemed to find this situation just as problematic as she did.
“H-hey, Fluttershy,” the unicorn answered awkwardly. There was noise all around them, but for that one moment there was only silence between them. Twilight didn't quite know what to so say, then, so she looked to the ground. She had her reasons, she thought and gave her friend a smile.
“Do you think we could go for a walk?” She finally asked.
Fluttershy nodded, “Yeah, sure. I'd like that.”
The thing about Ponyville was that it wasn't all that big, a pony could walk from one end to the other in under ten minutes, it only got seemingly long once a pony stepped out of it and walked towards Fluttershy's place or Sweet Apple Acres. As such, you'd always find yourself surrounded by faces you knew. Whether it made talking harder or easier was something Twilight couldn't quite decide on, so she said it anyway: “I wanted to apologize for before. I kinda forced myself onto you and I should have been more considerate of your feelings.”
Fluttershy didn't answer, her hooves making that crunching noise as they stepped on the snows. She merely looked down and sometimes her gaze went over Twilight, just to hit the ground again.
“I've always been kinda bad when it comes to coping, so I wanted you to know that I'm genuinely sorry.”
“Oh, Twilight, it was my fault, really,” Fluttershy finally said, showing her smile afer a long while. “I'm not normally this brash. It's just, I like friends and family being parted, since with the former I have better experiences anyway. Well,” she giggled to herself, “it's not really a story worth telling, but you have to know that I was the one at fault, not you.”
Twilight looked at her friend, she looked so empty when she talked about her family. Now that Twilight thought about it, she had never inquired about it and a voice inside her told her not to. “Well, I think I'm at fault, you think you're at fault. Let's just agree part seven to three and call it a day,” she said, pulling Fluttershy into a hug, “Sorry I waited so long to resolve this.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Fluttershy muttered, but Twilight felt that her heart wasn't entirely in there. As they then loosened their grip on each other, Fluttershy gave her one last smile. “I hope the storm rushes through quickly. I think the last thing we need is another actual Winter of Windigos. The play always scares me enough.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
She, too, was hoping for the storm breezing through, but with everything going as it did, she thought it might end up the first actual scary winter in a long, long time.
“How much food do you have stacked away, Fluttershy?”
“Oh, me? I believe me and the critters can last up to three months on our own,” Fluttershy answered.
“Three months? You and the critters?” Were the only questions Twilight could ask.
“Well, some of their hideaways weren't really made for a storm like the one coming, so I'm keeping them with me and, well, when you care for animals, you always prepare a lot of food. Considering a lot of us are herbivores anyway only makes it easier,” the pegasus then explained.
“Okay, well, good to see somepony's prepared.”
Silence followed that statement and soon thereafter, they parted. The sky was getting grayer and grayer and as Twilight reached her home again, she had forgotten to inquire about Spike. He hadn't shown up at her place after all and Rarity had insisted that he had been needed at Fluttershy's, that she shouldn't worry too much. Knowing both Fluttershy and Spike, she could trust them and once this all settled down, then she could have a talk with her baby brother.