Rainbow Dash snored loudly as her back legs twitched under the blankets. She was in a deep sleep and she slept very soundly whenever there was a storm. The near constant sounds of thunder was like white noise to her and her aching muscles from the strong humidity in the air felt relaxed under the warm blankets.
It was days like this when she slept in late, but that sleep was soon disturbed by the ringing of the alarm clock.
Rainbow Dash peeked one eye open and groaned. She turned to the other side and gave one good buck to Soarin's side.
Soarin' jolted up and slammed the top of the alarm clock with his hoof on the table next to him. He then took the two ear plugs out of his ears. He wore these every night because Rainbow Dash was notoriously loud when it came to her snoring, but he couldn't hear the alarm clock ringing so he had to rely on her to wake him up. Soarin' placed the two earplugs on the side of the desk and stretched his limbs. He turned his head back to Rainbow Dash and asked, "Are you going to get up for breakfast, Dash?"
Rainbow Dash yawned and replied, "You know I don't do well on days like this. I'd have breakfast with you, but I'm in too much pain. I hope this whole business of you having to work more hours will end soon. We haven't been able to do much together."
Soarin' watched the blankets rise and fall as Rainbow's breathing became more relaxed again. He felt bad at this moment and thought about making a bigger breakfast and eating in bed with her since she was so tired and in great pain, but he knew on days like this, sitting up in bed to eat was sometimes hard enough for her. He wondered just how long she would have to go through this. Everyday was a struggle for her, but certain days, she was miserable. She could tell him whenever a storm was approaching just by the painful flare ups in her body and she was more accurate than the weather ponies when it came to predicting random storms coming in. Life was quite different now that he was married and he was still getting used to this whole living with another mare thing. Soarin' noticed her left leg twitch under the blankets. For if there was one pony in the world who could fall asleep in ten seconds flat, it was Rainbow Dash. Soarin's vision became blurry for a moment as he went into a trance. He shook his head quickly several times and got out of bed. He couldn't just sit there and watch her all day, he had to get going, especially since he was well known for being a little tardy to work. He enjoyed getting every extra second of sleep that he could possibly get.
"Come on, time to get up," Soarin' said as he forced himself out of the bed and slowly walked over to the door. Before he left the room, he looked back at Dash one last time and sighed. He said a silent prayer wishing that she would soon get over this suffering. Soarin' walked into the kitchen and had his usual four eggs and some toast. As he sat at the table, he began to dwell on their life together. Things were difficult now because he not only had to keep up with performing shows, but he also had to spend extra time training new recruit Wonderbolts. Soarin' looked at the clock in the kitchen and noticed that he was going to be late. He quickly inhaled the rest of his food and hurried to the door. He opened it up and spread his wings for take off, but noticed something on his porch. It was the newspaper. Derpy Hooves must have delivered it early for some reason. Soarin' quickly picked up the paper and tossed it on a small table next to the couch. He flared out his wings once more and left. He had a lot going on in his mind right now about his new life experience with Dash. He was finding that life was not going exactly as planned and he was expecting a bit more of a wild adventure with the fastest pony in all of Equestria, or at least she used to be the fastest. He wondered what he could do during this rather depressing time.
Rainbow Dash woke up several hours later. She opened up one eye and looked at the clock. It was already afternoon yet she did not want to get out of bed, but she knew that she should. She rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a loud thud. The pillow she was sleeping on fell off the bed and landed on her head when the blankets were pulled down. A glass jar also fell down from the side of the desk to the floor next to her. It was her thankful jar. Every night before she went to bed, she would think of the things she was thankful for on each day and would write them down on a piece of paper and then fold them up, and put them in the jar. At the end of the month she would take out all the notes and read them to Soarin' before starting the next month. It was an easy and effective way to help her keep her mood positive when life wasn't going her way.
"That was a bit less graceful than I had anticipated," she said as she freed herself from the tangled blankets that ensnared her body. She got up on all four legs and put her jar of thankfulness back on the desk. She was tough. Maybe not as tough and rugged as her friend, Applejack, but she could endure quite a bit of discomfort. Rainbow Dash made her way over to the kitchen and stared up at the fridge for a moment. She really wanted eggs, but she was too exhausted to bother standing over a frying pan. She had already spent enough early afternoons skipping breakfast and knew that she should try to eat something for breakfast even if it was already lunch time. She walked over and retrieved a box of cereal and a jar of raw milk she bought from Applejack's farm. She made her breakfast and brought her meal over to the couch in the living room. Sitting or laying on anything cushioned was preferred right now. Seeking any kind of comfort and warmth during these bizarre flare ups was needed. Rainbow put her bowl on the leg rest of the couch and shut her eyes tightly. She sat there wondering to herself just how bad this storm was going to be since she hadn't felt this awful with aches and pains in a while. She said a silent prayer hoping that Soarin' wouldn't get caught or hurt flying with this major storm approaching. Without him in her life right now, she would need a ton of support from her friends. It often seemed to her that the hours in a day were cut dramatically short for her because her sleep hours needed to be that much longer and she felt like she was missing out on so much in life because of that. She eventually had to welcome and accept her pain and disabilities no matter how hard she tried to force herself to believe that it was all in her head . She had to accept the fact that she was a different mare now and had serious limitations as to what she could do, which was arduous for her because she used to base much of her self worth upon what she could do in life, especially when it came to sports and physical fitness.
Just before she was about to pick up her bowl, she noticed the newspaper near her. Right there on the front page was an article about how Princess Celestia's guards caught one of the biggest trouble makers in Manehatten, Emerald Envy.
Rainbow Dash read the article, her eyes moving from the left back to the right. "Wow, I can't believe they finally caught her and right in the open too." Rainbow Dash was glad that Emmy wouldn't be a threat to anypony else, but she felt a little angry because of what she did to her since she was still suffering with pain. Rainbow Dash paused for a moment as she fought back the angry thoughts that came into her mind. "No," she said. "You forgave Risk, and you have to forgive her too. Getting angry won't undo the suffering." Rainbow pushed the paper aside and forgave Emmy for what she did to her. This new life was so foreign to her but it didn't matter that she wasn't feeling good and couldn't fly very well, nor was it a big deal that she felt alone because Soarin' had to work more hours for now. She was ultimately loyal to her faith, husband and friends, but right now she just wished for a little relief from her physical anguish. She ate her cereal quickly and thought about what to do next.
Rainbow Dash's body desired more rest, and just as she was about to lay down to go back to sleep, she caught a glimpse of the time on the clock. "Holy horse apples, I'm not going to miss it this time!" Rainbow Dash was in no mood to get up and go outside, but she had been missing out when it came to seeing her friends. Rainbow got off the couch and made her way outside. She looked down from the sky and spread her wings for take off. If she hauled flank, she'd be able to get there just in time. The pain was great in her wings as she took off and flew over to Twilight's place. Flying was difficult at first, but her body adapted as she went on. She knew that tomorrow morning she would pay for this big time with more pain and exhaustion, but her friends were worth seeing despite any extra discomfort that she'd have to go through.
Rainbow touched ground and hurried over to the door. She was surprised that it was left ajar since the library wasn't supposed to be open today. She quickly walked inside and found all her friends, except one key member that leads, Twilight.
Rainbow's friends all looked up at her with surprise.
Pinkie Pie raced over and pinned Rainbow Dash against the wall in a bear hug. "Dashie!" she cried out.
The back of Rainbow's head hit the wall hard. She struggled to breathe as Pinkie's front legs wrapped tighter and tighter around her body like a snake choking the life out of its prey before devouring it.
Pinkie Pie began talking as fast as she possibly could. "Oh, Dashie! How I've missed you so much! You never spend any time with me anymore since you're so busy with Soarin' all day. How many foals have you had yet? Ten, twenty, thirty? The Bible says to be fruitful and multiply and I want to make sure that you do that so that I can have way more birthdays to plan and celebrate!"
Rainbow Dash struggled for air, and somehow managed to speak. "Pinkie, let go! You know I have problems with pain right now."
Pinkie tilted her head in confusion and squeezed even tighter until she heard her friend's bones pop in her back and then let go. "Oh, I forgot about that. Sorry." She then bounced back to where she was seated before with the rest of her friends. "You can join us now. I think."
Rainbow Dash bent over and gasped for air with her head down low. She picked her head up and stared at Pinkie. "Pinkie, You are out of your mind. I know you're crazy and everything, but you're exceeding even that now." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with her hoof and closed her eyes from the pain.
"Well, I reckon Pinkie was just a tad bit excited to see ya. We haven't seen ya at group in quite a while, Missy," Applejack said "How are ya feelin'? I'm surprised yer even out of bed by now."
Rainbow Dash closed the door quietly and sat down on the floor with her friends. "What's going on? Where's Twilight?" she asked.
Applejack shrugged and replied, "I don't know. We have been waitin' here fer almost half an hour and Twilight has been a no show."
Rainbow Dash grabbed a Bible from the center of the circle and opened it up. The moment she did that, the door opened and in stepped their teacher, Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight walked in with her head low and her eyes spoke of fatigue. She was also carrying a book with her.
Her friends watched her as she walked passed them, not even making any eye contact with them. A piece of paper fell out of the book Twilight was carrying with her and landed next to Pinkie Pie. Twilight took her Bible and plopped herself down on the floor.
"Uh, Twilight," Applejack said with a worried look on her face. "Ya, could at least say hi to us. Ya kinda look like a zombie."
Twilight shook her head from side to side rapidly in an attempt to shake the sleepiness from her mind. She perked up with a weak smile and said, "Oh, I'm really sorry about that. I guess I just need a little extra coffee or something." Twilight noticed Rainbow and said, "It's good to see you back, Rainbow. We haven't seen you here in a while and I'm sure it's hard for you with your pain and everything."
"I don't mean to sound rude, "Rarity said. "But what is causing you to be late to group so often? This is the fifth time that you have been tardy."
"And it's also the fifth time that we don't have any snacks to eat," Applejack said. "I know we come here to study the Bible, but golly, ya can't focus as well when yer tummy is hungry. As Rarity would say, it would tickle my fancy if maybe Spike would make his signature Spikey snacks fer us again."
"It would tickle your fanny?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Wow, that sounds really weird, Applejack."
"I said FANCY! Clean the taters out of yer ears."
"Yeah, but that accent though," Pinkie said.
"I ain't got no accent!" Applejack said defensively.
"Ungh," Twilight moaned. "I'm really sorry how late I have been. To answer Rarity's questions, I have been spending so much time with other ponies who ask of my time and I guess I'm spreading myself too thin here. I apologize for being late again. Let's get started before I have to do anything else." Twilight opened her book to where they had last left off and then looked back up at her friends. "Okay, girls, we have spent a whole lot of time in the book of John and First Corinthians. Before moving on to another book, let's have a little pop quiz. I'll start off with an easy question for a warm up before I get to my special list of questions I made up for all of you. What's the entire purpose of the book of John?" Twilight's eyes scanned her friends as she waited for a response. "Come on, think, everypony. Think."
Rarity's mind was deep in thought. She remembered when they first started reading this book that Twilight had told them the answer to this a long time ago. "Was it because he wanted to show that Jesus was the Christ?" she asked.
"Bingo!" Twilight said with a smile. "The entire purpose of this book was to show that Jesus is indeed the Christ." Twilight looked around again and asked, "Okay, next question. Who can name a messianic prophecy for me?"
"Um," Fluttershy softly spoke. "Not a bone in His body shall be broken."
"That's correct. It was customary for Romans to break legs during crucifixion to hasten their deaths and Jesus died before they could break his legs. This happened to fulfill the scripture that says not a bone in His body shall be broken. Speaking of Jesus's death, the Bible says that between the evenings, meant to the Jews, between three and five O' clock in the afternoon. This is the time when Jesus died, which is the same time as the traditional sacrifice. Truly, He is the lamb of God. Moving on now. Why was it absurd when Jesus told the stallions to cast their nets on the right side of the boat?"
Twilight's friends all looked at each other as if expecting somepony else had the answer.
Applejack scratched her chin with her hoof and frowned. "Is it cause God is always makin' such a big fuss 'bout the right side all the time?"
Twilight giggled. "Nope, It's because boats in those days had a pole that was on the right side in order to dock as well as keeping all their gear on that side. Casting the net over the right side would most likely get the net caught on it and rip the net. These stallions were professional fishers and knew what they were doing. Catching one hundred fifty three large fish would have certainly broke the net, but John mentions that the net didn't break because it shows us that Jesus is the Christ because of this miracle. Nets back then were hoof woven and not that strong."
Applejack looked at her Bible and said, "Gee, I reckon it doesn't say anythin' 'bout the details of those boats in here. That answer feels like it's a bit over kill if ya ask me."
"You've got to do your research about history in other books as well, Applejack," Twilight said. "I know we talked about this before not too long ago. You need to pay better attention."
"Say, what's with God and talkin' 'bout his right hoof anyway? What does He do with his left one?" Applejack asked.
"He takes His left hoof and flicks you on the back of the head when you ask silly questions like that," Twilight answered. "How about asking a good question?"
Applejack looked at her notes where she often wrote down questions. "Um, there are some names that are mentioned at the end of First Corinthians that I never heard of before. Who are these ponies?"
"Now that's a much better question," Twilight said. "Those names are never mentioned anywhere else in the Bible again. These ponies gave their whole lives to the building up of the church and got no recognition for it. This is much like today's churches, because eighty percent of the churches are run by about twenty percent of the ponies who get little to no appreciation for their service. Now how about letting me ask all of you some questions since I'm the one quizzing you?"
Fluttershy spoke up and asked, "But I have a question too."
Twilight sighed knowing that she had a weakness when it came to refusing to answer questions. "Okay, Fluttershy. Shoot."
Why did Paul keep telling the ponies to respect Timothy?"
"It was because Timothy was only about sixteen years of age and was in charge of all the churches in Turkey. At such a young age, many ponies much older than him might not appreciate being told what to do by a teenager. This is why Paul had to remind them many times." Twilight looked over at Rarity and said, "Judging from the worried look on your face, I can only sense that you want to ask something too."
Rarity looked down in her little book of notes and said, "I don't understand why Paul considered himself the least of the Apostles. Was it because of all the Christians he killed in the past?"
"No," Twilight said. "Would anypony else like to help her understand? I don't want to be the answer machine for everything."
"It was because he was teaching after Christ ascended and therefore was never physically with Him like all the other Apostles," Rainbow answered.
"Nice, Rainbow!" Twilight said as her front hooves clopped against each other. Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie who was currently watching a fly buzz around her head. "Eh-hem. Pinkie, I have a question for you."
Pinkie Pie blinked her eyes several times in confusion. "What?" Oh, I'm ready!"
"Name a role of an Apostle for me."
"Well, that's super easy!" Pinkie said cheerfully.
"Oh really?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah!" Pinkie shot back. "The answer is always Jesus!"
"Pinkie, no," Twilight said as she covered her eyes with her hooves for a moment. "Pinkie, that's like theology for a colt or a filly at the age of three years old." Twilight truly had forgotten just how bad Pinkie's learning disabilities are and how hard it is for her to pay attention. "I'll help you out on this one. One of the roles of the Apostle was to establish and build up churches. Jesus is the founder of the church and the Apostles were to build on Him. Paul's preaching was to establish churches and he would not go where this was already being done by another. Do you have anything else that needs to be cleared up?"
"Huh?" Pinkie asked. She pulled out a piece of paper that seemed to have nothing on it but randomly drawn pictures and numbers.
Twilight had a puzzled look on her face as she studied what appeared to be utter nonsense drawn on the paper, but the truth was that Pinkie had a very different learning style and drew pictures by means of remembering stories or what questions to ask. "Um, are you going to ask me something that I can help you with, or are you just going to stare at those smiley faces and rainbows that are drawn on that paper?"
"Shhhh!" Pinkie cautioned. "I am thinking!" A few seconds later, Pinkie had thought of a question to ask. "Okay, so which member of the Trinity is the greatest?"
Twilight Sparkle hit the side of her face with her hoof. "Didn't we already go over this before with you, Pinkie? Perhaps this time you can write it down. Are you ready?"
Pinkie Pie was distracted again and was watching that fly buzz around the room.
"PINKIE!" Twilight shouted.
"What?" Pinkie asked. "Oh yeah, I'm ready!" She grabbed a pencil and put it to the piece of paper. "By the way, we are in a library and you shouldn't yell like that."
Twilight, looking rather annoyed continued. "There is a hierarchy in the Trinity. Father, Son, Spirit. This ranking in order does not mean that one member in the Trinity is lesser or greater than the other. The Son is equal to the Father, but by His choice, He left all that was comfortable and became lower than the Angels in order to save us. It was in this order that the Father sent the Son, and the Son gave us the Holy Spirit and since we are talking about Paul, he makes a big emphasis on the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ was proof of the Father's approval of the sacrifice. Is that clear, Pinkie? No member of the Trinity is greater or lesser, older or younger."
Pinkie Pie finished writing and nodded her head yes.
Twilight looked at the paper and saw nothing but randomness that made no sense in her mind. She wondered if Pinkie picked up a single word that she said. "Anything else?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie said. "Paul says that we can eat the sacrificed food, yet we can't. Which is it? I love to eat all kinds of food, especially sweet foods!"
"Paul does say that we have every right to eat the sacrificed food to idols because there is only one true God, but don't do this if it makes other unbelievers who see this to sin by thinking that you are worshiping their Gods."
"I've got another question," Applejack said. "It ain't fair that Pinkie gets to ask all the questions!"
"You know, I think I was supposed to be the one asking questions here," Twilight said with disappointment.
"Yeah, but ya always ask stuff that makes me think too hard and I don't like that."
"Right, right. Go on," Twilight said.
Applejack looked down at her notes. "Um, what exactly was Jesus's thing with the whole I come to bring a sword deal? I thought He was peaceful. Also, I always hear that our faith isn't the oldest religion in the world and now that we are talking about Paul, why did he say he knew better not to do certain things that were wrong yet did them anyway? Did he not care or somethin'? I also found an error in John and Mark where they have two different answers for the time. Also, how come we have all these religious wars and slavery and..."
Twilight put her hoof out in the air signaling for her to stop. "Hold on a second. That's a lot of questions! First of all, Christ forbade the use of the literal sword. So when He said I came not to bring peace but a sword, His message results in a division of society. The choice to decide for or against Him and He will honor that choice. Let's not forget that Jesus put the ear back on the young pony that had been cut off from the sword by Peter. Second question, I think you're getting things confused with the oldest written religion. It was Jewish culture to share stories orally and not written, so the writings occurred later. Third question, Paul claims that even though he knows something is wrong, he still does it anyway. This is because our will is corrupt. The problem of evil is not of knowledge but a problem of will. The so called error that you mentioned isn't actually an error. John and Mark used different timing methods. One used Jewish and the other used Roman. They actually both equal the same time." Twilight thought to herself for a moment but couldn't remember what else was asked. "What were the last two questions?"
"Religious wars everywhere and slavery."
"Right, that's a topic that can get really out of hoof sometimes and I have a book that would be of very much interest to you in this library. One of the most absurd claims is that religion is the number one cause of war. In the Encyclopedia of Wars, the recorded history of war is documented. Of the one thousand seven hundred sixty three wars presented, only seven percent involved a religious cause. When Islam is subtracted from the equation, that number goes down to three point two percent. In terms of casualties, religious wars account for only two percent of all ponies killed by warfare. This pales in comparison to the number of ponies who have been killed by secular dictators in the twentieth century alone who swore to bring about the utopia by means of slaughtering millions upon millions of innocent religious ponies and destroying all of the religious books in hopes to eradicate religion from the world. We can talk more about those statistics later, but that's another can of worms to open. Let's not forget that one of the reasons that the most savage, powerful and blood thirsty empires had it's warrior spirit crushed and was defeated by Christianity simply because Christians were too peaceful despite the sheer brutality the early followers of Christ went through. Do you all remember the horrible things that Nero did to the Christians?"
"Yeah, but it figures that Islam would be responsible for the most religious wars," Applejack said. "Especially since they started that whole suicide bombin' thing."
"Be careful, Applejack," Twilight cautioned. "That's a bit of an ignorant statement. A group called the Tamil Tigers are the ones who invented suicide bombings, and they are Hindu. I think we need to remember that when we see things like the thirty years war and point our hooves and say they are killing because of religion, we need to take a closer look at what the true, ultimate motive is for fighting in the first place and in that situation, that war was fueled by political contests of power. When we look at the middle east fighting, they're fighting over land, not because of religion, and that land is the Jew's ancestral land. They are not fighting over it because it's holy. We see so many other instances like fighting because of ethnic rivalry or fighting over which group gets to rule what. And just because ponies have fought over religion, doesn't make religion bad." Twilight pointed her hoof at Applejack and asked, "You own lots of land at Sweet Apple Acres, right?"
"Uh-huh. We own so many acres and we keep expandin' when we can," Applejack replied.
"Millions upon millions of ponies have died fighting over owning land. Does this mean that owning land is an evil thing? Of course not. That would be silly to think so, just like how silly it is to think that all religion is evil because some wars have been fought over religion. Sure, some may say that religion helps to fuel the fighting, but the truth is that even without religion in the world, these fights and wars would still be happening and if religion wasn't a factor in finding means to encourage two or more groups to put further distance between them, they would still find some other reasons to not like the opposing side and would continue to belittle each other and think that they are better than the other side. The bottom line is that just because two groups are at war with each other and both sides happen to be religious, doesn't automatically make the war a religious one."
"And what about slavery?" Applejack asked.
"Now, as for slavery, in brief, the slavery in the Bible is incomparably different from the horrific slavery that we know of from not too long ago. Most slaves were indentured servants who swore to pay off their debt or get themselves out of poverty. The law concerning these slaves in the law of Moses were uniquely humanitarian; compare them to the Code of Hammurabi. In the Law of Moses, slaves' debts were to be cancelled completely after seven years unless the slave wanted to stay with the master. That comes from the book of Exodus, and in the book of Deuteronomy, it says, if a slave ever wanted to leave his master, he could, and his master could do nothing about it. Let's not forget that slavery was a all over Equestria and accepted everywhere. It was actually the Christians who were the first group to oppose and start an anti-slavery movement in this land based on one specific verse in the book of Galatians when slavery was horrific. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there stallion nor mare, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Even the civil rights movement was Christian." Twilight took some very deep breaths. She didn't realize just how fast she was talking.
"One more question, Twi," Applejack said.
"No!" Twilight shouted.
Applejack took off her hat and hid her face behind it, her sad eyes peering out from above the rim of the hat. "Please?" she asked in a sad voice.
"Ungh! Last question and I mean it!"
"I always hear ponies askin' what created God. What would yer answer be?"
"God created time along with the universe. God, outside of the universe does not need a cause like that inside of the universe.
God created time outside of the universe as well." Twilight paused and thought to herself. "You girls seem to be a little bit weak in your knowledge of the Bible and I would be a little concerned how you all might handle criticism of scriptures by skeptics. I think a good verse to keep in mind comes from the book of Peter. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." Twilight perked up and said, "Now, my turn to ask you all the questions I had planned." Twilight put her hoof in the air for a moment and then her mind went blank. "Um, I had forgotten all of the questions I had mentally prepared for all of you. Hold on a second, I know I had a list of very specific questions I wrote down for each and everyone of you." She opened up one of her books looking for the piece of paper where she had made up questions for them but it was missing. She looked through her notebook where she thought she might have put the paper in, but could not find it. "I can't find my quiz questions I had made for you all. I spent a lot of time on it." Twilight looked at Pinkie's note sheet and realized that the paper she had written on was yellow and crumbled a bit like what she took her notes on. She used her magic to levitate it it over to herself. She could barely make out the words, but she saw that this was her quiz sheet ruined by all the chaotic drawings on the paper. "Pinkie! How did you manage to get a hold of this piece of paper?"
"Uh, you dropped it coming in so I figured that you wanted me to take notes, especially since you really wanted me to understand about the Trinity and all," Pinkie said.
Twilight Sparkle gave the paper back to Pinkie. "You'd think that if a pony drops something, then the common and courteous thing to do would be to give it back to them, but then again, I have no idea how your mind thinks. I can't even read what I wrote on the paper."
"So does this mean that we all get a one hundred percent on the quiz and win?" Pinkie cheerfully asked.
Twilight sighed. She was very disappointed that she got so distracted with all of these questions, not to mention her fatigue wasn't helping her at all. "Yeah, I guess so. Next time, I guess I should be a bit more assertive with you all when it comes to asking you questions." Twilight looked around at her friends for a moment and felt very upset that they hadn't been learning that much. It also seemed like none of them were as excited to learn about the Bible these past few studies, which discouraged her from asking if they'd like to start reading their next planned book. She remembered when these girls were on fire when it came to wanting to study the Bible and now that fire inside of them all has seemed to have died down judging from the lack of enthusiasm that Twilight saw in all of them. "So I guess that's it and we are done for today." Twilight Sparkle closed her book and noticed that there were small puddles on the floor next to Pinkie. She looked up at Pinkie and noticed there were tears streaming down her face and she was also grinning madly. "Uh, Pinkie? Are you feeling okay?"
"I think so," Pinkie replied. "I haven't felt so happy and sad all at the same time!"
"Why are you crying?" Twilight asked.
"Probably just another Pinkie sense or somethin'," Applejack butted in.
"I asked her, not you, Applejack," Twilight said.
Pinkie Pie wiped the tears streaming down her face and looked at her wet hooves. "I-I-don't know. I've never experienced anything like this before. I think I'm just happy that Dashie has finally made it to the study again and maybe I'm just sad because it has to all end now, but yet I'm smiling because we finally got to see Dashie again and that makes me so, so happy!"
"I, uh, think there might be some kind of serious underlying problem with you, Pinkie," Twilight suggested.
"Nope!" Pinkie shot back. "How can I have any problems at all when I have my friends?!"
Just then there was a knock at the door. Spike went over and peeked through the peek hole.
Twilight Sparkle gulped. "Who is It today, Spike? Jehovah's witnesses or militant atheists?"
"The latter," Spike replied. "Do you want to talk to them?"
Twilight sighed heavily and said, "No. I need a break. Everypony has been bothering me and I just can't get any rest. I have visitors every single day asking me questions and it seems like everypony in this town makes it their mission to win me over and convert me to their beliefs. I can only give so much of my time away. I'm going to bed. Tell them I can't speak with them today."
Spike nodded and opened the door to tell the two ponies to perhaps stop by another time.
"Wow! Atheism makes me laugh!" Pinkie said.
"Why is that?" Applejack asked.
"Because it's a non-prophet organization. Get it? Non-prophet?"
Applejack felt like giving Pinkie Pie a slap upside the head but she simply sighed and shook her head from side to side. "Only Pinkie would think of somethin' like that."
Twilight got up and headed up the stairs. She paused half way up the stairs and looked down at her friends. "Thanks for coming. I guess I'll see you all next week." She continued up the stairs and entered her room where she could finally close her eyes and recuperate for a short time. It was times like this when she was extra grateful for Spike. Twilight Sparkle looked out the window and saw the two stallions who visited her so often leaving. She felt bad that she didn't want to talk to them, but she was very tired and couldn't even get her thoughts together. She also felt sad about her group today. She felt that perhaps she was a horrible teacher and that maybe she just didn't explain things well to her group and the way Pinkie was behaving, it was almost as if her teaching was boring or ineffective. She closed her eyes and fell onto her bed, face first into the pillow.
Back downstairs, Fluttershy was putting away the Bibles and Pinkie Pie was circling around her friends quickly. "Hey Rarity!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Do you want to hang out and have some fun, fun, fun!?"
Rarity backed up and cringed when she saw that Pinkie was breathing heavily, smiling, and still had tears streaming down her cheeks. She quickly looked to her left and to her right as if she wasn't sure if escaping through the door or the window was the quickest route. "I do think that perhaps you may need to get a bit more normalized and stop making every kind of pun and innuendo at every moment possible. You're getting to be a bit too much and I really should be taking care of my foal. Maybe ask the others."
"Oh, okay. I understand, I guess, but I didn't really make many jokes today yet," Pinkie said. She quickly hopped over to Fluttershy who was organizing some of the books on the shelf and yelled in her ear. "Let's party! May I come over to your cottage? We can have tea parties, chew bubble gum, feed the ducks, and..."
"No. I mean, no thank you, Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy softly interrupted. "I need to take care of Sammy and Angel Bunny. And I need to do it alone."
Pinkie Pie frowned with disappointment and ran over to Applejack. She grabbed her hat and placed it on her own head. She then jumped on Applejack's back and kicked her back hooves into Applejack's side. She threw up her front legs and said, "Giddy up, work pony! I want to help you out with some farm work. Maybe we can plant new crops and pick bananas off the vines together!"
With one mighty buck, Applejack sent Pinkie Pie flying across the room and into a book shelf that knocked down many books around the pink mare. The hat fell off of Pinkie's head and landed next to Applejack. She reached down and grabbed the tip of it with her teeth before lifting her head back up and flipping the hat back onto her head. "I reckon yer talkin' nonsense. Bananas don't grow on vines, they grow on trees. Besides, bananas are blasphemous to me. I don't like them, especially 'cause of their texture and yeller peel. And don't touch my hat again!"
"Fine." Pinkie Pie said. She got up and charged towards the stairs where Twilight went up but was stopped when she felt a tug at her tail.
'Yer not botherin' Twi either," Applejack said with a mouthful of pony tail.
"I don't have to bother her," Pinkie said. "I was just going to take a nap with her so that maybe me taking a nap with her might give her sweet, sugary and pleasant dreams!"
"Uh, I don't think Twi would appreciate that and I think ya need to be alone and chill out. Yer crackin' up, Pinkie. I mean, ya were just grinnin' and cryin' at the same time. I don't know if that's some kind of new and bizarre pinkie sense or not, but golly, yer gettin' weirder and weirder as time goes on. Ya best better get back to Sugar Cube Corner before ya cause any trouble 'round here. I got enough work to get done on the farm. Don't ya dare bother Twi. She clearly needs some time alone."
Pinkie Pie scanned the room of her friends. "Wait a moment," she thought to herself. "Where's Dashie?" Pinkie Pie looked around and noticed the door was ajar and hurried over to it. There she saw Rainbow Dash getting ready for take off. "Wait!" Pinkie cried out. She ran and leaped into the air grabbing a hold of Rainbow Dash before she could take off. The two ponies went tumbling across the ground and landed against a rock. Pinkie Pie stood up on top of Rainbow Dash with one hoof on her chest.
Rainbow Dash looked up at her and gulped. She had a look of extreme worry and fear written on her face.
"Dashie! You spend WAY too much time with Soarin'. It's time you and me have a fillies night out together! What do you say?"
Rainbow Dash looked around as if somepony would come to her aid to get this crazy pink mare off of her. She looked back up at Pinkie hoping that she would get off her soon. "Hey Pinks, I hate to burst your bubble, but I've got to go grocery shopping for Soarin'. This stallion eats like a....like a horse."
Pinkie Pie's coat turned a dark shade of crimson. The sudden boiling of rage overtook her mind and she suddenly felt extremely suicidal. She didn't realize that she was grinding her teeth very hard because of this sudden mental anguish. For if there was any kind of weapon or sharp object nearby, she would have instantly tried to take her life. Never before had she felt this wave of rage and hopelessness.
"Pinkie? Are you feeling okay?" Rainbow asked.
Pinkie's mind was so focused on rage and depression at the same time that she seemed to be in another world.
"Pinkie."
Pinkie Pie felt the boiling rage quickly leave her mind and the sudden gush of wind from the approaching storm against her coat. Her breathing became normal again and her coat was now changing back to it's normal color which brought her senses back to reality.
"Pinkie."
Pinkie Pie felt overwhelmed with sadness at this moment and she looked down at her friend.
A tear drop fell from Pinkie's chin and landed in Rainbow's eye.
Rainbow Dash squirmed a bit. "Hey, Pinkie. I think you need some help. Like, not go home and eat ice cream therapy like Rarity does so often, but like serious help. You look a bit psychotic right now. Maybe you should go speak with Twilight when she's in a better mood."
Pinkie Pie stepped off of her friend and looked away. "I don't need help, Dashie. I have Jesus, remember? He'll fix me if I pray."
Rainbow Dash got up and dusted herself off. "Yeah, but Jesus didn't come to fix all of our problems here or to be our cosmic bell boy. He often uses other ponies to do His will."
"I actually think I don't want to be with you anymore," Pinkie said. "I'll find my own route in life. Clearly, no pony can accept me for who I am."
"It's not who you are, Pinkie, It's what you're becoming. I don't know what else to tell you, but I have to get going. You can stop by my house at any time if you need me. Just don't hurt yourself or anypony else." Having said that, Rainbow Dash took off leaving her friend behind. Rainbow Dash had seen a disturbing change in her friend and Pinkie was like a different mare now. Everypony including herself seemed a bit different to her and not even Twilight seemed to be her usual self which really spoke volumes because aside from some O.C.D. moments, Twilight seemed to be the most stable and level headed member of their group.
Pinkie Pie watched Rainbow Dash fade away into the distance. She once again felt a nearly uncontrollable amount of anger and hatred towards her friends, family and even her faith. She was losing her mind but was in denial. "If God can't solve my problems, then no pony can. I don't need my friends. I only need God and if my friends can't accept me, then I'll be fine on my own," Pinkie said as she left to go home and find something else to do. Pinkie listened to the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves in the trees and the snapping of branches. She looked up at the sky and saw the incoming dark storm clouds which matched her brooding mood. She knew something was going on with her but she was oblivious as to what it could possibly be.