//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: "If you ain't got anything nice to say..." // by ManlyDerp //------------------------------// Clip clop clip clop A sound pierces the darkness of Rarity's mind. Clip clop clip clop It repeats and repeats and repeats, creating a rhythm that slowly becomes louder as the unicorn begins to awaken. Clip clop clip clop Long lashes gently flutter as the tired mare returns to the land of the living. "Ugh..." Clip clop clip clop "W-where... where am I?" Clip clop clip clop "Rarity!" a voice suddenly calls out. With the flapping of wings, Fluttershy soon appears by Rarity's side, a drenched piece of cloth hanging off her muzzle. Carefully, the pegasus slowly applies the cold cloth to the laying unicorn's forehead, just below the horn. "Does this help?" Rarity groggily nods her head. Her eyes dart around the room as she tries to get her bearings. "Where am I?" she again asks. "What happened?" Clip clop clip clop "Y-you're in my room," Pinkie Pie explains as she enters through the door, a plate containing a single cup of tea carefully balanced on her back. "I had my key on me, and it was the closest place, s-so we took you here so you weren't all passed out-y on the ground." With practiced ease, the pink pony easily slides the plate off of her back and allows it to land on the messy nightstand next to the bed the fashionista is lying in. "Here you go, Fluttershy," she says to the pegasus. "The Cakes were all upstairs, so I was able to sneak into the kitchen without a hitch." Fluttershy smiles as she takes the cup into her two hooves. "Thank you, Pinkie" she nods, before facing Rarity. "Here," she offers. "This will help your stomach." Clip clop clip clop Rarity weakly sits up and takes the cup into her own white hooves. She slowly drinks the tea; her friends watch quietly her as her condition visibly improves thanks to it. After a minute, she returns the empty cup back to Fluttershy. "Feel any better?" The unicorn nods her head to the normally shy pony, her somewhat messy mane bobbing as she does. "A bit, yes. Thank you, dear. Both of you." Her two friends smile. Clip clop clip clop "... But..." she continues, momentarily placing her once stained hoof to her forehead. "T-the blood..." "Don't worry," Fluttershy instantly assures. "We cleaned it all off as thoroughly as we could." Pinkie nods her head rapidly, some of her normal cheer returning. "Yup yup, we sure did! All gone!" Clip clop clip clop "Oh thank goodness," Rarity breathes a sigh of relief. "That is one load off my mind... but now I suppose the only other manner of business left to attend to is figuring out of how my face became so unclean to begin with..." Clip clop cl- The clip clopping of hooves suddenly stops as Applejack quits pacing. "Now ain't that the million bit question, sugarcube," the farmer replies in a gruff tone. Her hooves once again produce a clip and a clop as she closes the distance between the room to Rarity's bedside. "Just what in tarnation happened here?!" Pinkie Pie shrinks backwards, away from the stressed Applejack, but Fluttershy instead steps forward. "Applejack; there's no need to be so aggressive." "But Shy, sh-" "Breath in." "But-" "Breath out." "..." Applejack does what she's told. "... Alrighty then," the farmer replies after a moment, now seemingly more in control of herself. "... Let's try this again. Rarity?" Applejack asks, turning her head towards her bedridden friend. She smiles widely at her. "Did you impale my brother with your horn?" Rarity blinks blankly. "... What?" Still smiling creepily, Applejack waves a hoof. "Did you or did you not brutally murder my elder kin with your unicorn birthright? It's a simple question, Rare." "I-it is most certainly not, Applejack!" Rarity wails frantically. "W-why are you even accusing me of such a vulgar thing?!" "Because next to Dash and I, you're the best physical fighter of our little group," Applejack answers honestly if bluntly. "You ain't got the juice to make a pony explode like Twi can, but you can sure as shoot knock their block right the buck off. So, spill it; did my brother say something that ticked you off and if so... where's his body?" Rarity is too flabbergasted to respond. "Applejack!" Applejack waves off Fluttershy's comment. "Not now, Shy. I've been waiting too darn long for Rare to wake up, and I ain't gonna to waste anymore time standing around here!" "Applejack... look at me." "... Now what the sam hill do you wan-" Words, and all semblance of rational thought, evaporate as Applejack turns around and receives The Stare. Pinkie Pie moves back to Rarity's bedside as the two nervously watch the scene unfold. "Applejack," Fluttershy repeats, using the lessons she learned during the vampire fruit bat debacle to know when to tell her friends "No... Stop. "I know you're upset about what's happening to your brother; I know that you're increasingly becoming frustrated and stressed over not being able to help him... but we're your friends. We care too, Applejack; both for you and Big Mac... but accusing Rarity of things she has no idea about right after she's woken up isn't going to help anypony solve anything." "B-b-but..." Applejack feebly tries to respond. "B-but she..." "She probably doesn't even know about his condition, AJ. Pinkie Pie didn't know either." "C-condition?" Rarity attempts to ask, fearing what the immediate response would be from either of her suddenly high-strung friends. "He stepped in poison joke today, Rarity," answers Pinkie Pie helpfully, her ears lowered gloomily. "It made him all talkative and the bad kind of truthful." Understanding dawns on Rarity's face. "Oh my... I guess that would explain a few things then..." Applejack's eyes dart from The Stare to Rarity. Unable to leave The Stare's pull completely, the farmer asks her friend with the side of her face "D-do you think you could tell us what happened here, Rare? "... Please?" she adds in a deflated voice. "We're plum out of ideas... This 'incident' here was our best shot at figuring out where he went, but nopony else wants to talk about it..." Rarity stares at the clearly pained Applejack for only a moment before she turns to Fluttershy and says "Darling, that's enough. You've made your point." And thus The Stare ends. Fluttershy looks away, too ashamed to face any of her friends. Seeing this, Pinkie Pie quickly trots away from Rarity's side and instead up to the Fluttershy's. She reassures the pegasus in the calmest fashion she can think of; by rubbing her head with her own. It doesn't take long for Applejack to attempt to do the same; cautiously approaching her side and waiting for a sign that it was okay to add to the embrace. Fluttershy nods and soon the three of them are able to face Rarity together. "Ahem," the unicorn begins be clearing her throat. "First of all, the obvious; I may have some holes in my memory, girls. After all, I hadn't realized until after the fact that I had become bloodied at some point during the ordeal... but nonetheless, I will try to tell you all that I do remember..." ____________ I was waiting in line at Sugarcube Corner around noon today, happily chatting with those in line with me, when a sudden flash of light blinded us all. It had simply come out of nowhere! Once we were able to see again, the first thing we were easily able to spot was the inclusion of a rather large stallion in the room with us. He was lying flat on the ground in a heap, moaning loudly. As he returned to his hooves, I, along with I assume anypony else not new in town, was able to identify the stallion as none other than Big Macintosh. ... But I knew something was wrong the moment I attempted to talk to him. The poor pony was madly chattering to himself under his breath; muttering meaningless things with no rhyme or reason. Even during his time in the Pony Tones, I had never seen him do such a thing... it quite frightened me. I was not the only pony who had noticed this odd new quirk of his; Torch Song, who I had been pleasantly talking with prior, drew Big Macintosh's attention away from mine as she made a offhoofed comment about his rambling after he had just finished with a rather long string of the word 'nope'. Big Macintosh... then called her fat... not in those exact words, obviously, but it is what his words meant. He instantly tried to apologize, of course; unsuccessfully muttering compliments about her singing voice and her personality... but that didn't stop Song's husband, Toe-Tapper, from asking the stallion what right he had in saying such a hurtful thing. Big Macintosh started mentioning something about a flower, which I only now know was the dreadful poison joke, when a very stressed looking Bon Bon interrupted him by yelling something concerning her friend Lyra and the park. Carrot Top backed her up on this, adding her own two cents about his behavior and underhoofedly mentioning how it reflected poorly on the Apple Clan as a whole. He then yelled right back at her; telling her she had no right, then mocking her own family for their lack of unity and their scattered nature... though I use the word 'mock' lightly. One doesn't normally 'mock' a pony while crying profusely, you see. Regardless, every single word that came out of his muzzle paralyzed me where I stood; every single line was successfully tarnishing mine, and everypony else's, mental image of the hard working stallion. The tears and rants continued; soon the whole store was in an uproar. While he looked distressed, obviously pained by what he was saying, Big Macintosh never seemed to be able to back down whenever confronted. He tried to make his way to the door; trying to, I now assume, leave and never come back... but more and more ponies kept rushing him, seeking answers for his behavior or attacking him outright with serpent-like tongues... He always replied in kind. First he insulted Miss Scratch's visiting Canterlot friend's music; calling it a poor, self-centered imitation of the classical pieces they were supposed to represent. How he knew Miss Octavia or her work is anyponies' guess. Then he suggested terrible things about Miss Blossomforth's 'flexibility' and questioned what kind of life it was she lead. I was ever so grateful that school was still in session at the time. Next he made Mister Biceps cry... ... Not too hard a task, I'll admit... but I shutter to bring up how Mac accomplished it this time. It was only after making another grown stallion cry that the large farmer took one very long, tear stained look at the oblivious Miss Hooves. ... She wasn't even participating in the rant, for ponysake! She was simply sitting there, her face covered in the remnants of her meal; her lazy eye completely swirled around and unfocused, her mane sweaty and matted, a clearly undelivered letter left forgotten between her ear and her head... the poor dear had no idea what was going on around her as she simply sat back and enjoyed her, I can only assume, well earned lunch break. At the sight of it all, Big Macintosh inhaled deeply... ... and then promptly said "Nope nope nope" in rapid succession as he started to try to push his way through the gathered crowd, towards the exit. But more ponies blocked his way as the store devolved into pure chaos. Cloudkicker was accused as being as bad of a showoff as Rainbow Dash. Lucky Clover was called out on his self-damaging gambling habits. Pokey Pierce's business was credited as being just as harmful as it was frivolous. ... ... A-and... and then one pony, who had every right to do what she did, stepped forward and tried to stop what was going on... ... The only result was her tears spilling all over the ground. After that... everything is foggy, I'm afraid. I don't remember if there was any actual fighting, or if he had even said anything to me... The blood on my face though suggests that violence did occur... from whom I don't think I could discern... Everypony was told such harsh things... ... The violence very well could have been me, for all I know... The blood isn't mine... but after that last comment he had made to that poor mare... "G-girls?" ____________ Rarity's retelling is halted by the appearance of a fifth pony in the doorway. Mrs. Cup Cake carefully enters the room, a large tray of tea balanced on her back. "Hello, girls," the blue earth pony greets weakly. "I thought you all could use some refreshments." Applejack notices that Rarity has looked away. "T-thank you ever so much," Rarity says. "But that wasn't necessary. Y-you should be lying down in bed... being comforted by your husband..." Fluttershy and Pinkie make the connection at the same time Applejack does. "M-misses Cake?" Pinkie Pie asks quietly. "D-did Big Mac... h-h-h..." The party pony is too hurt to finish the words. The baker looks away though, indicating that she had heard her clear enough. "... Yes, he did, Pinkie... he did say something that was painful to hear... A-and... well..." she looks up at Rarity. "Rarity, dear; my hubby needs to tell you something." Clip... clop... clip... clop... The group falls silent as the sound of slow, lopsided trotting echos throughout the room. Mr. Carrot Cake, trotting on three hooves with foals balanced on his back, enters the pink living quarters. His right foreleg remains still, being firmly wrapped in stained bandages. The stallion gently sets Pound and Pumpkin next to Pinkie Pie, who numbly cradles them. "M-miss Rarity?" Carrot Cake begins as he sits down before the bed, gripping his hat with his good leg. "I'm so very, very sorry for the mess I made after Big Mac and mine's... talk." The four young mares are silent. "... I-it's no problem, Mister Cake," Rarity replies in a small voice. "In a-all honesty, I don't remember it all too well. I hadn't even noticed what was on my face until my friends pointed it out to me! H-heheh..." Carrot Cake looks away. "I didn't realize what I had done either until after the fact. My honey bun saw your friends cleaning you though and put two and two together for me... Can you ever forgive me?" Rarity smiles. "Well, dear; it's hard for one to maintain their anger when they can't even remember what it is they are supposed to be angry about." "... You really don't remember?" Carrot Cake asks. Rarity shakes her head. "No... I remember Misses Cake's role in the awful affair, but that is the extent of it." "Big Mac didn't mean it!" All eyes in the room fall on Applejack as she huffs and puffs from her outburst. "Look, Mister and Misses Cake?" the farmer rapidly explains as soon as she's able to catch her breath. "I don't know what it is that mah brother said to you but you have to understand that he can't control himself right now! He's under the effects of poison joke!" Applejack looks pleadingly at the two bakers. "Please, you can forgive him for whatever he did... can't you?" "..." The Cakes can't bare to look at the saddened pony. Applejack looks back and forth between the two, her face dropping with each painful turn. "..." "... In a way, I think I can forgive your brother, Applejack," Carrot Cake finally admits after a moment of silence. "But... that's not going to be for a very, very long time... and that's going to be the case for a lot of the ponies in this town right now." Applejack stomps a hoof. "Not true!" she reaffirms, trying to gather up her dwindling strength. "N-not everything he's been saying has been completely soul crushing!" She points a hoof at Pinkie Pie "Pinkie forgave him!" Though her face is blank for a moment, Pinkie soon nods her head and allows a small smile to appear. Applejack points out the window. "Those mares from the park will eventually forgive him, y-you'll see!" she goes on, though it doesn't seem even she herself fully believes in what she is saying. Regardless, Applejack then points a hoof at Fluttershy, who only looks away. "And F-fluttershy... even Fluttershy admitted that she liked-" Carrot Cake silences Applejack's ramblings with the gently push of his hoof against her own. "T-that's not what I meant, Applejack," he explains, moving the farmer's hoof to the ground. "... I was talking about me forgiving other ponies." Applejack blinks, not knowing what the baker was implying. Hooves clip and clop against the floor as Mrs. Cup Cake steps forward. "It... might be best if I explain." Rarity form wilts from her seated position on the bed. "You don't have to, dear... They can hear it from me, if you'd like." Mrs. Cake's eyes water, but she shakes her head. Pinkie hugs the twins closer to her chest as she sees the pain in the mare's face. "N-no... better it be from me..." she replies, her voice very weak. She then looks at her cooing and babbling children momentarily, a small smile forming... before sighing and steeling herself. "... Big Macintosh believes that I cheated on my husband." Outside of her children's voices and Fluttershy's beating wings, the room is deathly silent. In the silence, Applejack's head slowly lowers to the ground, her hat sliding down over her eyes. This successfully hides her fresh tears. "N-no... no, Mac, no..." she whispers to herself, hoping beyond hope that this wasn't happening. It was just too cruel to be true. "He's not the only pony in town who thinks that," Carrot Cake interjects, taking over the explanation. "His exact words were 'I'm in the group of ponies who believe this is true'..." "... 'It's such a darn shame too, because you're always so nice to everypony'," Cup Cake finishes hollowly. "C-carrot Cake... C-cup Cake... I'm... I-I'm..." The two bakers shake their heads at Applejack. "This isn't something you can apologize for, Applejack," Carrot explains neutrally. "And your brother already tried to do that anyways... behind his broken nose, after I rammed my hoof into it and accidentally splattered Miss Rarity with the blood." He looks at his broken hoof passively. "I think that was more then enough of an 'apology' for now... at least to me." "S-still," the apple pony mumbles, her throat feeling dry. "I-it still ain't f-fair..." Despite the circumstances, Carrot Cake smiles. "No... it really isn't... but some good did come out of this." "W-what's that?" Fluttershy asks, finally regaining her earlier strength so she could talk in the now heavy atmosphere. "Well... thanks to what I said after I 'punched his clock', but sadly not before he disappeared in another flash of light, those rumors are going to have a hard time sticking. "Girls... I told everypony in that room... how I'm sterile." Silence fills the bedroom. Cup Cake picks up the slack. "My hubby can't have foals, so we used a donor. W-we never told anypony because, well..." "Because we didn't think it needed to be said," Carrot Cake continues. "Well... I didn't think it needed to be said... and in truth I was afraid of telling ponies about it, so I kept quiet... "... I was scared, girls; scared of what ponies would say... "I now know that this was a terrible and selfish mistake," he goes on, getting chocked up."B-because I was too much of a coward to admit to it, those rumors were allowed to circulate for far longer then they should have..." The stallion makes his way over to Pinkie Pie, then lowers his head towards the foals. He gently nuzzles the laughing twins. "I never wanted to hurt my family," Carrot explains, his voice gaining strength. "S-so, in a way, it was a good thing that I was finally confronted over it... It would have been h-horrible if those kind of rumors were still being secretly spread around years from now, when Pound and Pumpkin are old enough to be affected by them... "I could never have done that to them," the yellow stallion states confidently, his whole heart thrown into his words. "B-because, while they aren't 'mine'... I will always love them all the same, no matter what anypony else ever thinks or says." The tired stallion, using the one good foreleg he has left, scoops up the two foals and brings them close to his chest. "No matter what happens..." Mr. Cake says, his whole body shaking as he cradles his children. "... these two will always be my little ponies to me. A-always..." "D... d..." The room is quiet as an unfamiliar voice tries to speak up. An unfamiliar pair of them, to be precise. "D...d...d-daa!" Pound Cake squeals. "D-d... d-dy!" Pumpkin Cake finishes with a giggle. "..." An emotionally drained Applejack silently slips away from the group as the room she found herself in slowly breaks down into an unintelligent, but happy, mess thanks the foal's heartwarming display of family bonds and pure love... ... the very two things that have been hanging over the farmer's mind like an terrible rain cloud all day long. '... I love them all except for...' From Pinkie's balcony, the farmer sighs loudly as she stares out over Ponyville, wondering if her wayward brother was even still in its borders... ... And then, for only a moment, her eyes wander downwards towards her hooves. '... all except for...' For the first time in a long time, Applejack considers her colors... 'except for...' Her orange, non-apple related, colors. 'for...' Again Applejack sighs. Her thoughts are filled with questions and worries. ... Her heart is heavy with confusion and doubts. ____________ In the middle of the Everfree Forest, an injured stallion finds himself alone amongst the foliage. Alone... POP ... except for the draconequus that now stands looming over him, grin plastered to his face