Rainbow Unicorn: Friendship is Magic

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof


Among the Angry Trees

Pinkie Pie continued to hop along the path, smiling and humming to herself as she went. She was still excited and full of energy. Unfortunately, the other five ponies were not so.

The six of them had been up all night partying as they waited for the sunrise. That was after most of them had spent the day making final preparations for the celebration. Now, after working hard most of the day and being up all night, they had been walking through the forest for who knew how many hours.

Exhaustion was catching up with them. Some were feeling it more than others.

The previously mentioned Pinkie Pie was feeling hyper, even for her. She was tired from lack of sleep, but right now she felt anything but. Pinkie was not aware of it, but she was going to crash -- and hard -- later. For now, she was more than ready to keep going.

Rarity was doing relatively well for the most part. She was tired -- extremely so -- but she could manage. Working long hours well into the night had been something that had happened to her from time to time, but she also always made certain to get plenty of beauty sleep. The night before the celebration had been one where she had gotten more than sufficient rest. Still, she had been planning to have managed at least a nap by now, so she was feeling rather fatigued.

Applejack was dragging. Quite literally. Her wings were unfurled, with the tips touching the ground. Being a farmer, she was used to long hours of hard work. Except she normally got up with the sun instead of staying up for or past it. Between meeting and spending time with her family, working on the harvest, and helping to prepare all the food for the celebration, the last few days had been long, hard, and exhausting. Now it was all catching up with her.

Flowershy clenched her jaw, trying to stifle the yawn. Working with animals, she was used to having an erratic sleep schedule. There were numerous times where she would go without sleep to take care of a sick or injured animal then have to spend the rest of the day doing chores. So being tired from sleep deprivation was something she had learned to deal with. Although normally she at least got to have some coffee and one or two of Pinkie's cupcakes to help her keep going.

Speaking of coffee, Twilight could use a cup as well. She had stayed up a little later than she should the previous night studying the weather patterns of The Everfree, setting up schedules for the weather ponies so everypony could enjoy the celebration while keeping any unexpected events to a minimum. It had not been too bad, but she had planned to have grabbed a nap by now.

Rainbow wished she could get some rest as well. Actually, she really wished that she could go back to Canterlot and forget this whole thing had even happened. Staying up late the night before with nervous excitement about the celebration followed by sleeping on the way to Ponyville had screwed up her already erratic sleep schedule already (going to bed and waking up at a set time was something she never really gotten into).

Unnoticed by the six ponies, the canopy above them grew thicker, blocking out more and more of what little light there was.

"Look out for that rock," Pinkie Pie called out.

"What ro-ow!" Twilight cried out as she stubbed her hoof on a rock.

"What the hay!" Applejack shouted in surprise as she felt something rub against her flank.

"Sorry," Flowershy said, almost whimpering. "I didn't see you there."

"That's hardly a surprise," Rarity huffed. "It's become so dark, I can't see a thing."

"Maybe Pinkie and I can do something about that," Rainbow Burst suggested. "We could cast some light spells."

Before Rainbow Burst or Pinkie Pie could start collecting magic for the spell, something happened. The six mares suddenly found themselves staring at glowing red eyes and gaping, jagged filled mouths.

Five of the mares screamed out in terror as they stared into gaping, glowing maws. The group turned to run, only to have their path blocked by more of the same.

"I don't want to be eaten," Flowershy whimpered, moving to hide behind Applejack and Rarity.

Huddled close together, the mares all held onto each other and shivered, staring at the glowing eyes and yawning mouths that were surrounding them.

"Joooiiiinnnn uuuussss...." a faint voice whispered before... giggling?

Pinkie Pie stood on one of the branches a tree that had a glowing, vicious face on it. She was pushing up and down on one of the branches, making it shake it claw looking end at the group.

"Joooooiiiinnn uuuussss...." Pinkie said again before giggling more.

"Pinkie?" Rainbow Burst called out in confusion. "What are you doing with that tree?"

"Why?" Pinkie asked, her eyes half closed as she caressed a hoof along the branch. "Are you afraid of what these trees are going to try and do with me if they got me alone?"

"Pinkie," Twilight snapped. "What are you doing? This is serious?"

"Serious?" Pinkie Pie gasped, eyes going wide. "Really?"

Her horn began to glow as she turned to look at the trees. There were then puffs of magic.

"How about now?"

The others looked at the trees again. One of them had the fake glass rims on, with a plastic nose and mustache attached. Another had an eyepatch and a bandanna with a skull and cross-bones on it. Still another was painted up like a clown, complete with rubber nose and curly, brightly colored hair.

The other five continued to look. All of the trees that moments of ago had been glaring at them with menacing faces now looked... silly. Pinkie Pie had put funny faces and goofy accessories on each and every one of them.

"P...Pinkie..." Rainbow said with a slight snicker. "What is this?"

"Don't worry," Pinkie replied with a grin as she hopped down. She gave one of the trees a pat. "You don't have to worry about them biting you. The worst they can do to you is their... bark."

This statement was met with a collective groan.

"Pinkie," Applejack stated in a serious voice, "that... was... terrible." Still, she found herself having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"See?" Pinkie said as she moved toward the others. "Everything's fine. It's like my granny used to tell me."

She gave the other five a hug.

"Sometimes, just laughing at something will make it less scary. Just like the song says."

"....what song would that be?" Rarity asked, looking at Pinkie Pie in confusion.

"Don't worry about it." Pinkie let them go taking a step back. "Now come on. Steve's probably waiting for his part."

"... who's Steve?" Rainbow asked, getting a shrug from the others in response. Pinkie Pie said nothing, continuing to make her way down along the path. Slowly, the others started following after her, with Rainbow Burst in the end.

This was all making her feel even more conflicted about the whole matter. A part of her did feel better after laughing, like something had been lifted. She also felt more awake and less tired. She also felt more like she did not belong here.

Applejack and Twilight had managed to save her and the others at the cliff. Flowershy had managed to calm the angry manticore and remove the thorn from its paw. Now Pinkie Pie had managed to get them past some scary looking trees by making them silly enough for everypony to laugh at.

And what had she done? Nothing. For a unicorn that was supposed to have a talent and natural gift for magic, Rainbow Burst had not even managed to use it once so far this trip. Not that it really mattered. Of her spells, her best and most practiced were the ones she used for pranks and jokes. It seemed unlikely that she would somehow manage to save the day by changing Nightmare Moon's mane color (could she even do that to ethereal mane?), or strategic use of a whoopie cushion or cream pie.

Rainbow continued to walk after the others, looking more at the ground than ahead, and letting her mind work over everything going through it.

If Rainbow had been aware of it, she would have realized that it was kind of something she had never really done before.