It was another fine day in Ponyville, and Twilight was with her student and Number One Assistant, the three of them working on a new spell. Spike posed, with a rock on his head, some leaves around his neck, and holding a stick. Twilight grunted, her horn shining, as she cast a spell, turning the leaves into a nice little tuxedo jacket for Spike, complete with a red bowtie.
Midnight clapped his hooves before saying, “My turn!”
He concentrated, his horn shining, but his spell worked much faster, transforming Spike’s stick into a fancy cane. Midnight beamed proudly, the spell was to turn an object into something else in accordance to another’s wishes, but the difficulty meant the recipient had to concentrate upon the desired object while the caster supplied the magic and was essentially going in blind to transform an object. In other words, both parties had to give the spell total concentration, distraction from either would mess the spell up.
Spike smiled as he looked at it and his new tux, Twilight saying, “Eyes over here, Spike!”
“Uh, sorry.”
Spike resumed his pose as Twilight reminded, “For this to work, it’s crucial we keep our concentration-”
Twilight’s spell managed to turn the rock on Spike’s head into a silk top hat… for a few seconds when Spike heard something, and the hat resumed its original rocky form and fell painfully on his head, and the magic quickly wore off of the tux and cane both of which also reverted to their original forms, Midnight sighing.
“Spike! This magic needs our full attention to make it happen!” Twilight snapped. “There’s no other way.”
“I can’t help it,” Spike then pointed, “Look!”
They all looked and saw a very familiar pink face, as she poked her head out from behind a (rather thin tree, which begged the question how she could hide behind it at all), wearing a rainbow-colored umbrella hat, as she looked warily up to the sky. She quickly jumped over to hide in a nearby bush, slid under a raised platform porch, and somehow slipped under a boulder, all the while keeping an eye on the sky.
“Heh-heh, oh it’s just Pinkie being Pinkie,” Midnight chuckled.
Puzzled, Spike scratched his head as he debated, “Super-extra Pinkie today!”
Pinkie tip-toed out when her tail started twitching, much to her concern as she considered, “Hmm…Twitchy, twitcha-twitcha-twitch.”
“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight and the boys walked up to her, “What in the wide-wide world of Equestria are you up to?”
“Oh, it’s my tail, my tail! Its’a twitcha-twitchin’, and you know what that means!”
“Actually, Pinkie, I haven’t the slightest idea,” Twilight admitted.
“The twitchin’ means my Pinkie Sense is telling me stuff’s gonna start falling!” Pinkei elaborated, “You should all be ducking for cover!”
“What’re you talking?” Midnight asked, “There’s hardly a cloud in the-”
He looked up, only to feel something wet and slimy and green fall onto his face, much to everypony’s surprise.
*Ribbit*
“He just said ‘nice catch’ in frog,” Pinkie informed the blue unicorn and he narrowed his eyes at the little amphibian invading his personal space as it ribbited again.
“Oh, I’m so-so sorry!”
They all looked up and saw Fluttershy flying while pulling a tiny wagon filled to the brim with frogs, that she was carrying saddlebags and a basket to carry the rest, including one on her head.
“Are you alright, Midnight? I just couldn’t stand to see the pond getting crowded, what with the frogs hopping into each other an’ all? So I decided to take as many as I can to a new home at Froggy Bottom Bog.”
“I see…” Midnight muttered as he felt the frog crawl on top of his head.
“Bye-bye!” Fluttershy then continued on her way while Pinkie, Twilight, and Spike looked at the frog on the annoyed Midnight's head.
“Uh, Midnight? Ya gotta little something on your face there.” Pinkie pointed.
“You don’t say,” Midnight muttered dryly.
“Did your ‘Pinkie Sense’ tell you that too?” smirked Twilight.
“Nah, I can just see it,” she then trotted away, singing, “La la la la la la la!”
The frog then hopped off of Midnight’s head, Twilight saying, “Come on, boys, let’s find a quieter place to continue our session.”
“Wow, that was amazing!” Spike stated, “Pinkie Pie predicted something would fall, and it did!”
“Oh come on,” Twilight said in a blasé tone, “she said something would fall and a frog just happened to fall a little after she said so, a coincidence! Nothing else to it.”
"Oh come on, Twilight,” Midnight chuckled, “You can’t honestly-”
“My tail, my tail!”
Pinkie was back, her tail going, “Twitcha-twitch, twitcha-twitch! Something else is gonna fall!”
Spike was already scanning the sky but Twilight scoffed and kept walking, “Oh Pinkie please! Nothing else is gonna fa-AUGH”
Midnight, Spike, and Pinkie looked to see Twilight had fallen into a ditch.
“Well, whattya know?” Midnight was honestly impressed.
“Is it safe to go help her?” Spike gave Pinkie a hesitant look.
“It’s okay, my tail stopped twitching,” Pinkie assured before throwing away her umbrella hat and trotting off merrily.
As Twilight stood up, feeling the ache go away, Spike and Midnight leaned from the ledge, Spike laughing, “Ha-ha! That was amazing!”
“Oh please!” Twilight muttered when they heard, “Uh, Miss Twilight?”
They looked to see Big Macintosh, giving them a curious look.
“Why ya hangin’ out in a ditch?”
“Because Pinkie Pie predicted it!” Spike answered as Twilight climbed out.
“Honestly, Spike, she did not," Twilight scoffed, "Two coincidences in a row like this may be unlikely but it’s still easier to believe than twitchy tails that predict the future.”
Mac gasped, “Twitchy tail?! Th' Pinkie Sense?!”
The big red farm pony bolted under a cart, a tad too big to fit under so his red rump stuck out like a sore fetlock. Midnight went over, saying, “Relax, bro, the prediction already came true.”
“Macintosh, don’t tell me you believe in this stuff too?” Twilight could not believe that the stoic, mature farmer could believe in such nonsense.
“Ah know it don’ make sense, Miss Twilight,” Big Mac replied as he pulled himself out from under the cart, Midnight holding it steady so it didn’t tip, “but those of us who’ve lived in Ponyville long enough eventually learned if Pinkie’s a’twitchin’ ya better listen.”
Suddenly, Pinkie popped out, her ears acting funny as she announced, “My ears are flapping, my ears are flapping!”
Spike shied fearfully, “What does that mean?!”
Pinkie looked to Twilight sympathetically, saying, “I’ll start a bath for you.”
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at that, ignoring the boys backing away from her, “A bath?! This keeps getting more ridiculous than-”
She didn’t notice somepony gallop behind her and accidentally splash her from a nearby mud puddle. She plopped down, growling in frustration.
The boys enjoyed some pastries Pinkie gave them at Sugarcube Corner while she’d taken Twilight up to her apartment for her bath. As they ate, Midnight asked, “So this is for real? Pinkie can really predict the future cause her tail twitches or her ears flap?”
“Not only that,” Big Mac replied, “She gets all kind o' different feelin’s an' such that tell her different things are about t’ happen. This one time, she told me her back got itchy when she saw me, an’ tha' meant it was mah lucky day! An’ y’know what? It was! Ah was runnin’ an errand tha’ day and plum-fergot t’ pack muh lunch but then from outta nowhere, an apple pie landed on mah lap after Ah sat muh rump down t’ rest!”
“Wow, that is lucky!” Spike commented as he stuffed a cupcake into his mouth.
“Well I still don’t believe in this… special power stuff, it’s nothing but a lot of mumbo-jumbo”
They looked to see Twilight and Pinkie coming down the stairs, Pinkie responding, “What’s not to believe? You do magic, what’s the difference?”
“Huge!” Twilight went over and stood on the guys’ table, ignoring the looks they gave her as she cleared her throat. “Magic is something you study and practice. 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, Pinkie Pie, it makes no sense at all!”
“That’s so not true, Twilight,” Pinkie responded defensively before smiling, “Sometimes it’s a bunch of random things happening to my body at random times that supposedly predict the future. I call `em combos!”
“Combos?” Midnight echoed.
“Sure! Like, ears flap, then knee twitch, then eye flutter,” she went on with visual aids, “that means the sky is about to be graced with a beautiful rainbow!”
“Yeah, sure,” Twilight muttered as she started to take her leave.
“Uh-oh!”
They looked and saw Pinkie as she said, “I feel a combo coming on… Ear flap, eye flutter, knee twitch!”
Twilight gave her a look, only to feel a lot of pain as the door to Sugarcube Corner flew open, and in walked Carrot Cake, “Afternoon, everypony!”
As the baker went into the kitchen, everypony else looked to see Twilight, looking flattened and sticking to the door as it edged shut, and she slid off groaning. Midnight went over to check on her as he looked to Pinkie, “Didn’t you say that combo meant beautiful rainbows?”
“Oh no-no-no-no-no,” Pinkie shook her head, “You’re talking about ear flap, knee twitch, then eye flutter. This one was ear flap, then eye flutter, then knee twitch, that usually means ‘look out for opening doors’.”
“Confusing,” Midnight muttered as he helped Twilight up.
“I don’t believe this..." she groaned.
“You don’t believe it because you don’t understand it,” Pinkie corrected, making Twilight consider her words.
Later on, Midnight was reading what he thought was a really good book! Twilight had suggested it to him a few days ago, and he only got started last night, ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone’.
“‘The mosquitoes buzzed loudly, the macaws cried from the high trees. Yet all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step-’” Midnight read when he heard the door open and in walked Spike. “Oh hey, bud! All done with those errands?”
“Uh-huh! Mayor Mare was really glad to get those books she ordered and I also got this week's weather report,” Spike said when he looked around. “Where’s Twilight?”
“Downstairs in that crazy lab of hers,” Midnight answered, putting the book down. “It seems she trying to take a… scientific approach to understanding this Pinkie Sense stuff.”
“It is a mystery,” Spike agreed. “But I gotta ask, what do you think of the Pinkie Sense, Midnight?”
“I don’t think anything of it though I do admit it’s surprisingly reliable,” Midnight replied as he looked at a spellbook. “What bothers me is how vehement Twilight is in denial of it. Has she always been so... narrow-minded?”
“Twilight’s always been one for 'facts and logic',” Spike explained as he did that air-quote thing with his fingers.
“Surprising, for a pony who excels in magic,” Midnight muttered. “Y’know what? I’m gonna go talk to her.”
He headed down the stairs, and threw open the door. He saw Pinkie bounce past him and he asked, “Hey, Pinkie, have you seen Twilight?”
“Uh-huh,” she simply replied on her way out.
Then Midnight heard a groan and walked in, calling, “Twilight? You okay?”
“Ergh!”
He looked and his eyes popped to see Twilight in a familiar situation, given it had happened back at Sugarcube Corner, as she glared at him, “Did you two plan this?!
“Plan what?” Midnight asked, helping her down.
“Ergh, this can’t be happening, it makes no sense!” Twilight protested. “I have to figure this out!”
“Y’know what your problem is, Twi?” Midnight asked as he opened the door. “You’re so narrow-minded that refuse to consider that the impossible could very well be possible, even if it can’t be truly explained.”
“I will know Pinkie’s secret!” Twilight vowed at him, which he ignored with a shake of his head.