Six Ways, Book 1: Unity

by the_bioXpony_guy

Chapter 2 Party in the Apples

“Ding-dong!”

Flinching in surprise, Twilight switched her gaze to the front door. “I don’t have a doorbell,” she murmured to herself as she came up to the door. Using her magic, Twilight let the door fling right open. In its place was Pinkie Pie—who bounced up and down like a filly on a trampoline.

A warm smile appeared upon the purple pony's face when she exclaimed, “Oh, hi Pinkie! What are you doing here?”

“I’m just here to tag along with you and AJ. Wouldn’t wanna miss out!”

“Speakin’ of which,” an accented voice called from behind.

Her ears vibrating with the sound of this voice, Pinkie Pie moved to her left, revealing their friend, Applejack. The freckle-faced pony didn't look too good; she didn't even smile!

“Oh good!” said Twilight, “I was just about to head over to your house.”

Applejack tipped her hat in response to those words, yet still made no effort to smile.

Taking a look back at her dragon, Twilight asked, “Are you ready, Spike?”

“You bet I am!” Not taking a single moment to hesitate, Spike leapt upon her back.

Feeling as Spike’s rough scales scraped along her flank, Twilight turned around—facing the inside of her house—and shouted. “See you in a bit, Owlicious!”

“Hoo,” the owl responded.

After shutting the door, Twilight listened when Applejack announced, “All right; ya’ll just follow me.” And off they went, keeping close behind Applejack all the while.

Twilight carried Spike as Pinkie Pie sang, “Laa-la-laa-la-laaaa!” while bouncing on her hooves. Twilight, Spike, and Applejack could practically hear the spring beneath her feet.

“So—Applejack,” Twilight began, “What exactly was it you wanted me to burn down?”

Without even turning to meet Twilight’s gaze, Applejack responded, “We got some rotten apples me and Big Mac wanted you to burn down. We’re running out of room for seeds and the dang things just smell awful! We got enough things to worry about what with the Equestria farmers' market comin' up and all."

“Well,” chuckled Twilight. “Good for you I just finished the book on spawning fire—so I think it’ll be all right.” She sighed. “I've just never actually tried this before.”

At that moment, Pinkie Pie started snickering mid-bounce. Perplexed at her laughter, Twilight—without looking back—wondered, “What’s so funny?”

At that moment, Pinkie Pie flinched, bringing herself to a stop. Twilight’s words had caused her cheeks to blush an even darker shade of pink than usual.

The boinging sound of her friend's hopping came to a halt, making the unicorn stop and turn around to her pink friend.

Sweat rolled down Pinkie Pie’s face as she showed the biggest smile Twilight had ever seen.

“I’m not mad,” Twilight explained, “I just want to know what’s up.”

“And I wanna know what’s the holdup!” a frustrated Applejack shouted from behind.

Shaken by the pony’s sudden anger, Twilight and Pinkie Pie turned in Applejack's direction and continued walking.

“What’s the deal with her?” Spike whispered into Twilight’s ear.

“I’m not sure,” Twilight responded with a whisper of her own, “Did she not get enough sleep last night?” Just by looking at Applejack, she could tell something was wrong. The undersides of her eyes were purple; Twilight could just see the earth pony's face burning with sleepiness.

What they didn't know was that Applejack had spent the past three nights breathing in the horrid stench of rotting apples. Every night she would inhale their fumes—unable to ignore the odor they threw upon her. Applebloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith felt the very same way.

After passing through the town square and over the grassy hills surrounding Ponyville, the three ponies and Spike caught sight of Applejack’s home. Just a few minutes' time was all it took to go from small-town Ponyville to beautiful Sweet Apple Acres.

Immediately apparent was the Acres' stench. Applejack was right! thought Twilight, resisting the urge to gag. It smells repulsive here! And this is being caused by apples? Usually she loved the smell of apples—especially when they were freshly picked and clustered into a bucket. She couldn't imagine, couldn't fathom a living creature coming anywhere near the foul air. Twilight literally had to cover her nose with a hoof just to keep herself from vomiting.

How Pinkie Pie still kept a smile on her face was anybody's guess. Pinkie Pie was just being Pinkie Pie—at least that was the only answer Twilight could come up with.

After breathing through her mouth for what felt like an hour, Twilight caught sight of the pile of apples. There was no doubt: those apples were filled with worms.

“Alrighty then,” Applejack coughed. “See if you can burn this down.” For the first time that day, the orange pony placed a smile on her face—a smile of intimidation.

“You’re on.” Seeing Applejack’s remark as a challenge, Twilight marched over to the rank fruits. Her nostrils stained with their odor, she took a step forward and searched her mind for the proper technique. What did the book tell me to do? Oh yeah!

Growing purple, her horn started working its magic. Within heartbeats, the tip of her horn started growing hot. I’m getting somewhere, Twilight thought, but I can’t continue to keep my horn on fire.

In slight desperation and panic, she thought, Maybe it’ll work if I count to three. Yeah—that should make it work! Keeping the thought in mind, she counted, One…two…three. All the while she felt as the intensity upon her horn only grew fiercer and fiercer. Now!

In a show of flame and magic, she released all her horn's energy. Just a little fireballs shot out of her horn—and while it didn't look like much, it became the start of a mission accomplished. She had almost forgotten about Spike—who sat upon her still when he congratulated, “Great job, Twilight!”

Sweat rolling down her face, she watched as flame gradually seeped over all the apples. It was intriguing to see how the faded skin melted when exposed to such devastating temperatures. While proud of herself, Twilight couldn’t help but feel slightly uneasy.

Although it had taken the ponies a while to notice, the ground started to shake.

Just as quick as it had come, the shaking ceased. “What in tarnation?” asked Applejack, scratching her head.

As Applejack stood in utter confusion, Pinkie Pie placed an excited smile on her face. “It’s coming!” the pink pony cried in excitement, giving a little hop.

In both confusion and anger, Twilight shot a look back at Pinkie Pie when she asked, “What on Equestria are you—?” Without any warning, the ground gave another great shake.

“It’s gonna blow!” chirped Pinkie.

“What?” Twilight shrieked. Not taking a single moment to hesitate, she leapt out of the way—her rump pointed toward the burning apples—and shielded her eyes. Spike did the same. Only a heartbeat passed before the sound of fireworks blasted in their ears.

Both bewildered and surprised, Twilight cautiously took a look over her shoulder. The apples had all but disappeared; in their place stood an army of sleeping fireworks—the likes of which quickly shrunk.

Exploding in the sky was a vibrant array of colors. Blues, purples, pinks, and reds came together in a fiery outburst. After maybe half a minute had come to pass, the fireworks stopped—just for a split-second—before one giant pink firework exploded into a formation of Pinkie Pie’s smiling face.

“Yay! It worked!” cried the victorious Pinkie Pie.

Applejack rubbed her eyes, wondering if they were dying. After confirming what she had just witnessed was real, she shot a kind, yet tired look at Twilight when she murmured, “Twi—thanks a bunch for clearin’ up all those apples.”

Her face slightly sterner than before, she turned toward Pinkie Pie and continued, “And Pinkie—what in the name of all things red and delicious did you do?”

Pinkie Pie snorted. “Well—when I heard Twilight was going to be learning about how to make fire, I decided I would set some fireworks in your apples. So then when Twilight set the apples on fire, you would both get to see my face—but all fireworky! All Twilight had to do was light up the apples and—ta-da!—fireworks away!” Pinkie Pie stood on her hind legs as she uttered those last few words.

She flicked her gaze toward Twilight and Spike when she concluded with a wink, “It’s all thanks to you!”

Unsure how to respond, Twilight stammered, “Uh—s-sure thing!” At the same time, the quivering Spike said, “Don’t mention it!”

Her nose wrinkling and her eyes squinting, Pinkie Pie looked over Twilight's head and wondered, “What’s that?"

“What’s what?” asked Twilight, turning her head. She gasped at the sight before her.

In place of the apples and fireworks stood a dark, jagged stone. A dark essence seemed to emanate from the little rock—causing a sense of dread to envelop Twilight’s mind. Wh-what is that? she thought, briefly witnessing all the horrors of her life story flashing before her eyes. What is it doing? Twilight pushed those thoughts out of her head and—itching to find out what this strange artifact was—sauntered up to it.

Understanding how Twilight felt, Spike looked at the stone in fear. “Twilight, wait!” called Spike from behind. Despite his sympathy toward his pony friend, he knew there was no way he could possibly bring himself closer to the stone. Instead of helping Twilight, he merely cowered away from the face of danger. Please— he silently begged. I don't want to lose you.

As Twilight came closer, she noticed a horrific smile and a pair of slanted eyes carved upon the black stone. “Hello?” she asked, wondering if this stone was alive or not.

“Twilight!” a soft voice cried from the distance.

Flinching at the sounds of such a whispery voice, Twilight took her eyes off the rock and caught sight of her friend: Fluttershy.

Turning her head over her shoulder, the yellow pony called out, "I found it!” At that moment, Rarity came poking out from under a hill, a blue glow shining off her horn.

In the clouds flew Rainbow Dash—who had just paused mid-flight to see what the commotion was all about. “Did you find it?” she called from the sky.

“Yes,” murmured Fluttershy, a smile on her face. It was then when Fluttershy happily trotted over to the dark stone. Not a worry, care, or dreadful thought seemed to cross her mind—at least her face didn't show any trace of such thoughts.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Spike were all but dumbstruck. Fluttershy wasn’t a brave pony; she would shy away from Twilight if she felt the unicorn's magic had the power to hurt somepony. And here she was—of all ponies—trotting toward the dread-invoking stone.

The glow upon Rarity’s horn vanished when she caught sight of the stone. Releasing a gasp, the white unicorn asked, “That is what you have been looking for this whole time? That horrid thing? You told me you were looking for a treasure—a gem, if you will—but no! You dragged me with you just so we could find—that?” Like Applejack, Rarity had bags under her eyes. Had she been awake all night, as well?

Not even sensing the anger in Rarity’s voice, Fluttershy gave a quick nod.

As Fluttershy neared the black rock, Rainbow Dash gradually floated down to the ground. “Where is it?” she asked, hooves touching the ground as she turned her head here and there.

“There it is,” scoffed Rarity, not even looking at the stone. “It’s simply awful!”

Upon scanning her eye over the rock, Rainbow Dash started feeling a strange depression clambering over her thoughts. What’s going on? she wondered, sweat rolling down her cheek. It’s just a little rock—right? How much harm could that do?

In the midst of her thoughts, the fearless pegasus heard as a deep voice growled, Rainbow Dash—join me! Be part of my power!

The simple utterance of these words caused a shiver to crawl down her spine. After swallowing her fears, she took a step forward when she stammered, “I-it’s just a little stone. How much h-harm could it p-possibly—?”

She found herself at a loss for words. Tears started forming in her eye ducts. Don’t cry, you pansy! she shouted at herself. Now she had two options: either weep in front of her friends or run away and scream. She decided to take the second option.

The five ponies and Spike watched as the bravest of the bunch fled the scene. Her screams echoed in their ears, making the majority of them cringe and ask themselves, What did it do? Fluttershy instead frowned and thought, Why do they have to treat him like that?

But Fluttershy didn’t care what anybody thought; she would take her stone back to her home—where she would show pride and faith in it. As her friend stood, mesmerized by the very sight of the rock, a confused Twilight wondered, “Fluttershy?”

“Yes?” the pegasus responded, not even looking back in Twilight’s direction.

“Where did you find that?”

“Well,” began Fluttershy, “When I woke up yesterday morning, I felt something sitting under my pillow. I picked it up and felt like I had known this little thing my whole life—like I had just found my hiding brother.”

She sighed before continuing, “Every time I get near it, I feel protected.”

“Protected?” snorted Rarity, flabbergasted at such a use of the word.

“That's odd, cause whenever I get near that thing,” Twilight admitted, “I feel horrible. I don’t feel like I just found my brother; I feel like somebody forced me to—well—kill my brother.” A pause slipped into place before she realized, “And besides, Fluttershy—if you really woke up with this thing sleeping under your pillow, then why did it end up under the rotting apples and fireworks?”

“Beg your pardon?” asked Fluttershy, an ear twitching.

“That’s what I asked her,” sighed Rarity. “She just won’t listen to reason.”

“Hmm,” murmured Twilight, trying to think of somebody she could contact to help Fluttershy. Did she need help at all? Were the others merely overreacting?

Maybe Princess Celestia knew something about Fluttershy’s ignorant state. Twilight could only hope.

It was while thinking those thoughts over when Twilight heard her assistant's stomach grumble. A little more grumbling caused him to let out a loud burp—and bring with it a letter from the princess herself. Knowing this, Twilight grabbed the scroll before it could touch the ground, opened it up, and glued her eyes to its front.

Dear Twilight,

I might know something about those symbols you were talking about. Meet me at the castle this Wednesday so I can see it.

Your mentor,

Princess Celestia

That's it? thought Twilight. Usually the princess writes a lot more than this! But even with that thought in mind, she let a shrug roll over her shoulders.

"What does it say?" wondered Rarity.

"Oh, nothing important."