//------------------------------// // 7: Unveiling the Jelly Jar // Story: Space Captain Pinkie Pie // by terrycloth //------------------------------// “This has got to be some kind of sick joke,” Rainbow Dash said, as she watched Pinkie Pie bouncing towards the launch hangar – also known as Applejack’s barn – with a huge box full of familiar blue plants floating after her in Twilight’s pinkish-purple levitation aura. “They’re not sick, silly. We picked the healthy ones!” Pinkie said with a grin. “Well we didn’t pick them, we put them in planters. It is a joke, though. Poison joke!” “Given the constraints placed on us by our mission parameters, it’s really the only choice,” Twilight Sparkle explained. “We need magical plants that can grow by horn-light, since we’re travelling at night, and they have to appreciate Pinkie Pie’s sense of humor.” “And this was really the best choice?” Rainbow Dash asked, fluttering up into the air and backing away from the box. “Well, it was the first thing we tried, and it worked,” Twilight Sparkle admitted. “And a good thing too, since there aren’t that many magical plants that we could find in any quantity, even if winter hasn’t actually started inside the Everfree Forest yet.” “Twilight, those plants are evil,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing at them gingerly, unwilling to put her hoof any closer to them than she had to. “Nuh uh,” Pinkie Pie said, “they’re chaotic neutral. It’s totally different.” She gasped, and ran into the barn. “Is that it? Is it is it is it?” “Well, think of it this way,” Twilight said, following at a steadier pace. “Which is worse, poison joke or Discord?” Rainbow Dash folded her arms. “I wouldn’t want trapped in a jar with either of them.” “The point is, even Discord didn’t kill anypony,” Twilight continued. “He was a ‘big dumb meany’, but he didn’t even turn ponies into stone. If things go horribly, horribly wrong, and we end up touching the poison joke, it’s not going to do anything really dangerous.” She carefully maneuvered the box through the barn door, and gave a gasp. “Oh! Wow.” “I know!” Pinkie Pie said, staring back at her through the giant jelly jar. It was still easily recognizable, since the overall shape hadn’t changed, but in the week or so since they’d last seen it it had undergone quite the transformation. “So we’ll be sitting on the middle level with all the cushions?” Twilight asked. “The plants go in the bottom, with that –“ “Automatic sprinkle-system plant-waterer!” Pinkie squeaked. “And the top part with all the nets is for the pegasi to rest in?” “Hammocks!” Pinkie Pie said. “And look! There’s cupboards and drawers for all the food and water and games and confetti bombs on this side, and the other side has a huge pile of scary fiddly metal and glass and creepy colored liquids for you!” “Well, that I knew about,” Twilight said, teleporting the poison joke plants out of their planters and into the layer of dirt lining the bottom of the jar. “They’re instruments to help us navigate, and, well, gather data. After all, it isn’t every day you fly to the moon.” She set down the box, and started telekinetically planting the poison joke through the glass wall. “And I had Applejack pack my chemistry set, since there are a couple of mixtures that should come in handy.” “And an OVEN! They put in an oven!” Pinkie Pie said, pressing her face up against the glass as if trying to get to it by osmosis. “Now the moon ponies can have fresh cupcakes!” “It’ll come in real handy when you need to heat up the bubble bath after you get us all joked,” Rainbow Dash said. “You did bring some antidote, right?” “Yes, Rainbow, we had Zecora mix up some of the antidote,” Twilight said, her saddlebag glowing as the flap opened and a small paper packet hovered out for a second before dropping back in. “But this looks surprisingly professional. I’m sure we’ll be just fine.” “I’m glad you gals like it,” Applejack said, entering behind them. “The whole family pitched in to build it. Just make sure you bring it back in one piece, okay? A lot of that stuff is borrowed, and we don’t want it to end up like Fluttershy’s wagon.” “I can’t make any promises, Applejack,” Twilight said. “The biggest danger is that the jar will shatter as soon as the pressure outside drops. That should happen while we’re still low enough to teleport everypony home, but I don’t think I’d be able to save the whole jar.” “Oh, don’t you worry none about that,” Applejack said. “Granny Smith put this jar through its paces, and it’s a good’un. It won’t crack under pressure.”