“Gummy, don’t be silly!” Pinkie-Pie giggled as she lifted the small alligator from the empty bowl, “That’s not a swimming pool!” Gummy looked back at her with his usual vacant stare. Pinkie-Pie giggled again and was about to start cooking when she heard the bell jingle as the door swung open. Immediately she was at the front desk, smiling and ready for whoever might be waiting.
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, home of the Sugarcube, may I take your order?” It was about this time that Pinkie-Pie realized that no one was there. There was not a soul to be found in the store. It was odd, because she was certain that she heard the bell ring. The pink pony shrugged and went back to the kitchen. As she reentered the room she felt that the air was somewhat colder than it had been only moments ago. It was as though she had stepped into one of Applejack’s cellars. A peculiar smell hung about the air. It was an earthy smell like a shovelful of fresh dirt.
“Well that’s weird,” Pinkie muttered to herself. The pink pony trotted back to the table. She looked at the recipe card that Applejack had given her.
“Now let’s see,” she said as she followed the words with her hoof, “ Take three cups of…Oats?” The pony raised an eyebrow. “What kind of cupcake has oats?” But she merely shrugged her shoulders and retrieved a heavy bag of oats from a cabinet, dropping it on the table with a heavy thud.
“Okay then,” she said as she looked back at the card, “Place in bowl with two cups of milk.” The pony dumped the oats into the bowl and went to the fridge to get the milk. After pouring it into the mix, she looked at the card.
“Now let it boil…Boil?” Pinkie looked at the card again, thinking she’d made a mistake. But there it was, plain as day, in Applejack’s hoof-writing. Once more she shrugged, poured the mix into a pot and set it on the stove. The pony started to tidy up the room.
“Huh?” she muttered as her hoof touched the table. The wooden spoon was gone.
“Gummy?” called Pinkie, “Did you take the spoon again? It’s not a chew toy!” The pony glanced around the room for the alligator, but couldn’t find him anywhere. She left the counter and began to open up all the cupboards.
“Hide and seek?” she said excitedly as she stuck her head in a cabinet, “I love this game! Come out, come out wherever you are!” She pulled her head out and was about to continue looking when she glanced back at the stove. The pot was missing. The pony narrowed her eyes and starred at it.
“What the?…” she muttered as she started back to the stove. She turned the burner off and looked around. “Gummy?” She was about to go to the other side of the room when she spotted something mushy on the counter. Pinkie scooped it up and sampled it. Her eyes went wide.
“…Oatmeal?…” she said quietly.
“Parritch.” Pinkie’s already wide eyes grew wider as she leapt up and latched onto the ceiling fan. Her head spun about her shoulders as she searched for the source of the voice. She found nothing. Then all of a sudden all the cabinets swung wide open, and every single pot, pan, utensil, and ingredient came shooting out as though fired from a canon. A sinister laugh echoed out and the back door opened and slammed itself shut. Pinkie tightened her grip on the blade of the fan and stared at the door. At that moment Gummy popped out of the only drawer that had remained closed. Pinkie screamed and fell off with a loud crash into the mess.
Rainbow Dash soared through the air, seeing how fast she could go without running in to any clouds. She was really supposed to be organizing the clouds that morning, as it was her turn to do so. But as usual she had gotten distracted. The Pegasus zoomed effortlessly through the white clouds, not grazing a single one. All of a sudden a huge black shadow zoomed overhead.
“What the?” cried Dash as the draft from whatever just passed caused her to tumble into a cloud. She poked her head out and looked around angrily. Ahead of her she could see a black shape weaving in and out of the clouds.
“Oh, you wanna race?” grumbled the Pegasus as she shook the cloud off of her wings, “Okay then, we’ll race!” Dash suddenly soared forth in an attempt to catch up with whatever had beaten her. She was the very embodiment of determination as she flew towards it. As she drew nearer the black shape became more defined. She could make out the form a great eagle with feathers as black as a crow’s. It dipped and dove in a zigzag pattern, but still it managed to keep a fair distance before her. Dash narrowed her eyes as she forced herself to fly faster. But even that didn’t seem to be enough to catch the bird. She wasn’t even sure what direction she was going in. Her only concern was beating the eagle.
Meanwhile in Ponyville, several residents were gazing up at the sky as a rainbow ring was forming around the borders of the town. It seemed to be gathering up all the clouds into one big mass, and the white fluffy color turned to a dark, stormy gray.
Rainbow Dash was flustered. As far as she knew, she’d always been the fastest thing in the sky. For a full hour she had been chasing the bird, which seemed to have an inexhaustible energy reserve. Dash herself was beginning to tire. But all of a sudden she felt as though she was charged by a lightning bolt. Somehow she found the strength to force herself to go faster than she’d ever gone, even faster than the Sonic Rainboom. Her wings almost strained themselves as they propelled her forward. The form of the bird became larger and clearer. This filled her with even more determination. She flapped her wings so hard that she felt as though her feathers would fall out. But she had done it. Dash saw the air around her darken as she moved into the creature’s shadow. She was right beneath the great black bird. Using every single fiber of her being, she forced herself just an inch in front of the eagle. She looked up at the golden-eyed creature to gloat. But at that moment she saw that the bird clutched a cooking pot in its talons. Her eyes grew wide in surprise.
“Wha-”
CLANG!
“Alright, we have to make everything absolutely perfect for this year’s Nightmare Night!” Twilight said as two volunteers hung an orange and black banner on a couple of streetlights. She turned to Spike, who was as usual keeping check of the progress.
“Is that the last one?” he asked hopefully.
“Oh my gosh I think you’re right,” said Twilight, “We’d better have Rarity make some more!” Spike sighed, but said nothing.
“Twilight!” Spike and Twilight looked over to see Sweetie Belle running up to them through the thick crowd of ponies. She looked absolutely out of breath as she finally made it up to them.
“What’s the matter?” Twilight asked as she ran up to the exhausted filly.
“I’ve been looking all over for you!” she panted.
“Well what is--” Twilight was suddenly interrupted when something crashed into the roof of the post office. Ponies screamed in surprise and fright. Twilight’s head swiveled to the sight of the incident, and her face became one of sheer panic.
“No, no, no, no, no, NO!” she cried as she galloped over to the damaged building, “This can’t happen now! Not when it’s so close to the festival!” Spike started after her. Sweetie Belle let out an annoyed groan and followed as fast as her tired legs could carry her.
The interior of the post office was covered in letters that had fallen from their shelves when the disaster had struck. A gray Pegasus was desperately trying to place them back into the designated slots, but as the shelf had been knocked crooked they kept falling out.
“Derpy!” called Twilight as she surveyed the damage, “What happened?!” The Pegasus turned to look at the unicorn with her peculiar walleyed face.
“I dunno,” she said with a shrug, “The sky fell.” She turned and went back to sorting out the letters as Twilight rushed passed her. The Unicorn looked around wildly for whatever had crashed. Suddenly a large pile of boxes and envelopes shuddered.
“Guh…Birds?” Twilight instantly recognized the voice and pounced into the pile. She dug wildly until she found the blue form of Rainbow dash, who lay at the bottom.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight cried in horror. She pulled the Pegasus from the pile and dragged her out in the open. She immediately began to check every inch of the pony for injury.
“Dash, what happened? Are you alright? Can you hear me?” she muttered nervously as she tested her arm for broken bones. Dash quietly mumbled something unintelligible.
“What was that?” Twilight asked as she opened up the Pegasus’s mouth to check for chipped teeth. Dash tried to say something, but it came out as a gurgle on account of her mouth being held open. “Never mind!” said Twilight, “Come on, we’ve got to get to the hospital! Spike, come on and help me!” The dragon and the Unicorn picked up the downed Pegasus and started for the door. Sweetie Belle edged up to Twilight’s side.
“Twilight,” she said, “I-”
“I’m sorry,” said Twilight as she rushed out the door, “I’ll find you as soon as I can!” Sweetie stood and watched as the purple Unicorn and Dragon hauled Rainbow dash into the street. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. The sky suddenly erupted in a horrible storm. Strangely enough, the sun was still shining through the clouds.