Pinkie Pie's Special Friends

by smirker

Insomnia

Pinkie Pie had closed up Sugarcube Corner for the night and was ready to sleep, she laid in her bed but could not fall asleep,

"*yawn* Wow, I still can't sleep even after how busy today was." Pinkie Pie said to herself, she walked around her room and looked at her things, she still could not sleep and began running around outside and around Ponyville in hopes of making herself tired. She dashed around Ponyville quickly for about ten minutes and went back home while panting. She tried to sleep again but could not, Pinkie Pie growled and walked around her room,

"This is almost like when I met that unicorn who made wine from grapes for a living, she couldn't sleep, either." Pinkie Pie commented, and she laid in her bed and looked up at the ceiling and began to remember.

---

Pinkie Pie was hopping around and became thirsty,

"Whoo-wee, it sure is hot today." Pinkie Pie remarked, and she continued hopping. She looked around while panting and sweating since she was out of fruit punch,

"Huh? What's that?" Pinkie Pie asked, she trotted to a building made of wood and 'Arcana's Winery' was written at the top in black letters,

"I usually don't serve wine at my parties unless it's a very formal occasion, but I don't think a few sips will hurt." Pinkie Pie commented, and she trotted. She arrived and knocked on the door with her snout,

"In a minute." a mare said on the other side, she opened the door and Pinkie Pie saw a unicorn,

"Yes?" the unicorn asked, she had a light blue coat, long, wavy, dark yellow mane and tail with bangs across her forehead, and purple eyes, she was wearing a blue long-sleeve lace dress with flower patterns on it and a white long-sleeve dress under it, they were closed in front of her hind legs and went all the way down to her hoofs, and she had black high heel shoes on all four of her hoofs. Pinkie Pie looked inside and saw many green and purple grapes and wooden barrels,

"Um, do you have anything I can drink?" Pinkie Pie requested,

"Sure, I normally charge my wine, but since you look on the verge of collapse, I'll give you a discount." the unicorn answered,

"You will? Oh, thank you! What's your price?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"Normally, fifty bits, but I'll give you a ten percent discount, so forty five bits." the unicorn responded,

"Well, still quite a bit, but better than nothing, I'll buy." Pinkie Pie said,

"Take your pick, red wine or white wine?" the unicorn questioned,

"Whichever one's sweeter." Pinkie Pie replied,

"That would be white wine." the unicorn remarked,

"I'll take it." Pinkie Pie responded, and she quickly paid the unicorn and she came back out with a glass of white wine. Pinkie Pie grabbed the wine and chugged it,

"Hey, slowly, you'll run me out of business like that." the unicorn remarked,

"Sorry, I haven't drank in hours." Pinkie Pie responded, and she gave the glass back,

"You got a place to stay for the night?" the unicorn questioned,

"No, I'm a drifter." Pinkie Pie answered,

"Well, come on in, you can stay here for the night." the unicorn said,

"Oh, thank you! I really can't thank you enough!" Pinkie Pie hollered, the unicorn smiled,

"I'm Arcana, by the way." the unicorn stated,

"I'm Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie responded, and they shook each other's front right hoofs, Pinkie Pie trotted into the winery while Arcana walked in and closed the door.

Pinkie Pie looked at all of the grapes and fermenting machines in awe,

"Wow, you must be really popular at social gatherings." Pinkie Pie remarked,

"Well, my wine's popular, but I'm not really one to interact much at parties." Arcana responded,

"Maybe I can buy and order some from you, organizing and throwing parties is my specialty." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Wait, are your parties for kids or adults?" Arcana questioned,

"Both." Pinkie Pie responded,

"Let me know when you're doing an adults only party, I'm not allowed to give wine to kids." Arcana said,

"I know, Equestrian laws, but I don't think one sip will hurt." Pinkie Pie stated,

"I'm still not willing to break the law." Arcana responded,

"Fair enough, I'll go ahead and look for a place to sleep now." Pinkie Pie stated,

"There's extra space in my study room in the back there, you can sleep there." Arcana replied,

"Oh, thanks, I'll go ahead and get ready." Pinkie Pie spoke, and she went while Arcana smiled.

Pinkie Pie entered the back room and stopped with surprise when she saw many books, runes, a chart for stars and constellations, a chart on moon phases, five small statues of a white tiger, a blue-green dragon, a red bird, a black tortoise, and a yellow dragon, a set of Tarot cards, and a map of a place called 'Astral Plane'. Pinkie Pie looked on with confusion and awe at the items and looked at the statues closely,

"Taken an interest?" Arcana asked from behind, Pinkie Pie became startled and turned around,

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to pry into anything personal." Pinkie Pie spoke,

"It's fine, a lot of those things are from my magic training back at home." Arcana explained,

"Ooh, looks like you were serious in your studies." Pinkie Pie remarked,

"I am, it's also why I came out here, my home was too loud for me to focus on my meditations, I needed somewhere peaceful and quiet." Arcana explained,

"And the wine?" Pinkie Pie inquired,

"It's how I make a living outside of home, grapes are my favorite food, and I have lots of it, so I figured, might as well use them to make money." Arcana answered,

"Oh, I would've thought of using them to make jam instead of wine." Pinkie Pie commented,

"Jam doesn't sell for as much bits as wine does, anyway, I'm going to be closing up my winery for today, it's starting to get dark and we should get ready to try to sleep." Arcana stated,

"Okay, I'll go ahead and get comfy, see ya later." Pinkie Pie said, Arcana smiled and she went to go close up her winery, Pinkie Pie dashed around and got a pink sleeping bag, she laid on it and zipped it up, Arcana came in a few seconds later and laid in her bed,

"Goodnight, Pinkie Pie." Arcana said,

"Goodnight, Arcana." Pinkie Pie replied, and she fell asleep.

Pinkie Pie was asleep but opened her eyes when she heard tossing and turning to her right, she saw Arcana struggling to sleep and let out an annoyed groan, she reached under her bed and took a medicine bottle out,

"Bad dream?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"No, I have insomnia, always had trouble falling and staying asleep ever since I was a kid." Arcana replied,

"Don't have a magic spell to help with it?" Pinkie Pie questioned,

"Already tried, didn't work." Arcana answered,

"Oh." Pinkie Pie said,

"I'll go ahead and leave the room so I don't keep you awake." Arcana spoke, and she got out of her bed and walked out of the room. Pinkie Pie tried to sleep but could not and worried about Arcana, she peeked out the door and saw her meditating behind her desk with fire, water, rocks, and wind floating around her. She looked on in awe and saw Arcana floating in the center with her front hoofs on her waist with her front left hoof under her front right hoof and her hind legs crossed together, she also saw a red, blue, yellow, and green aura around Arcana's horn. She watched her meditate and the fire burned brighter, the water moved faster, the rocks got bigger, and the wind became more aggressive,

"Whoa!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, Arcana then made her body out of the four elements while she continued meditating, she then divided into four with each body being one element, she then reappeared in the center of her four elemental clones and two more clones appeared with one above her and one below her, the clone above her was transparent and light blue while the clone below her was pitch black, Pinkie Pie realized it was her ghost and her shadow. The fire, water, earth, wind, ghost, and shadow Arcanas spun around her counterclockwise and soon went into her and an explosion of the four elements appeared, Arcana opened her eyes and floated back down,

"What did you think?" Arcana questioned,

"Oh, I thought I saw something I wasn't supposed to see." Pinkie Pie replied,

"No, you're fine, I keep myself occupied at night until the medicine kicks in." Arcana answered,

"So everything in your room is stuff you do at night?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"Pretty much." Arcana responded,

"I wanna see if I can help you with your sleeping problem, I've managed to help several ponies throughout my travels with their problems." Pinkie Pie stated,

"I'd appreciate that, I'll go back into the room when I feel tired, so don't wait for me, and I apologize in advance if I wake you up." Arcana responded,

"It's okay." Pinkie Pie said, and she went back into the room. She tried to sleep and opened her eyes a few hours later and saw Arcana come in, she laid in her bed and began reading one of her tomes, she sat on her bed and read quietly and soon passed out while dropping the tome onto the floor, Pinkie Pie fell asleep afterwards.

The next day came and Pinkie Pie jumped out of her sleeping bag,

"Whoo-hoo! Another day has arrived!" Pinkie Pie hollered while Arcana got startled and jumped out of her bed,

"Can you please not be that loud, it's early in the morning, loud noises give me headaches if they happen as soon as I wake up." Arcana pleaded,

"Sorry." Pinkie Pie responded,

"It's alright, I'll go ahead and get ready for today." Arcana stated, and she brushed her teeth with her magic, Pinkie Pie looked on with awe at seeing four auras around her horn, they were red, blue, yellow, and green, she rinsed her mouth and then left the room. Pinkie Pie trotted out and saw Arcana using her magic to make grapes appear and began making wine out of them while she put more through a filter and into barrels, she stored them behind herself and began to doze off. Pinkie Pie ran to her and held her up while trying to shake her awake,

"I'm awake, Pinkie Pie." Arcana said while yawning, and she let go of her. Arcana walked slowly while dozing off and got through her day using magic,

"There, everything for today's done." Arcana commented,

"When do you open for business?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"Weekdays." Arcana answered,

"Okay, hold still, Arcana, I'm going to examine you and see if I can help you go nighty-night." Pinkie Pie said, and she held Arcana's face. She analyzed Arcana's eyes carefully and saw they were tired and just a little bloodshot,

"Hmm-mm, eyes are tired and droopy, you don't take in caffeine, you're on medication, and you seem to be on a consistent schedule, maybe physical movement can help." Pinkie Pie suggested,

"You mean as in exercise?" Arcana inquired,

"And manual labor." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Wait, Pinkie Pie, I'm not very strong physically, the barrels are too heavy for me to lift by hoof." Arcana warned,

"That's fine, I'll move the heavy stuff, you focus on carrying the light and medium weight stuff." Pinkie Pie replied,

"Okay, that sounds doable, let's start." Arcana said, and they did. They ran the shop and Arcana instructed Pinkie Pie where to carry the barrels, she messed up several times and Arcana glared and scowled while her facial muscles twitched but she managed to calm herself down by remembering it was Pinkie Pie's first time working in the winery. They made wine together while Arcana instructed Pinkie Pie on how to make red wine and white wine, she eventually began to become tired and Arcana carried the rest of the heavy items with her magic while Pinkie Pie sweated and panted,

"Whew, these barrels and packs of grapes sure are heavy." Pinkie Pie commented,

"Considering you're an earth pony and have super strength, that's saying something." Arcana responded,

"Do you feel tired, Arcana?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"I do." Arcana replied,

"Good, let's see if you can make it through the day till bedtime." Pinkie Pie stated, Arcana smiled and then went into the back room.

Pinkie Pie watched Arcana eat grapes and had nothing else for her meal,

"No hay or salad?" Pinkie Pie questioned,

"No, I'm fine with just grapes." Arcana answered,

"Oh, I'd take grapes over rocks any day." Pinkie Pie commented,

"Rocks?" Arcana asked while her eyes widened,

"Hmm-mm, I grew up on a rock farm, rocks were the only food source we had." Pinkie Pie explained,

"Ouch, I'm surprised your teeth are still intact." Arcana stated,

"Trust me, my baby teeth broke trying to eat the rocks, I cannot begin to describe how painful it was trying to chew the rocks with cavities, I was lucky my permanent teeth grew to be very strong." Pinkie Pie replied,

"I can imagine, well, break time, Pinkie Pie, we'll resume making wine after a bit." Arcana said, and she laid on her bed and almost dozed off. Pinkie Pie dashed to her with a pink trail behind her and shook Arcana awake,

"I'm fine, Pinkie Pie, I was just resting my eyes." Arcana stated,

"Mm-mm, that will throw off your sleeping schedule." Pinkie Pie spoke while shaking her head,

"What am I supposed to do then?" Arcana questioned,

"Well, you can talk about yourself and all of your tomes and statues here." Pinkie Pie suggested,

"Alright, these tomes are all of my studies from my home, I'm from a place called Dreaming Paradise, it's not on the map, we are divided by pony types and are trained to be warriors since birth, unicorns like me cast all kinds of magic, Pegasi are trained to be spies and stealth experts, and earth ponies are trained to be soldiers, we live on a very strict schedule and are on strict diets to stay in shape, we don't get visitors often, but they're welcome as long as they don't cause problems." Arcana explained,

"Oh, so everything here is part of your training." Pinkie Pie deduced,

"Yes, these books and runes are for magic training, the books have spells divided into three types: spells cast by the horns, spells that are triggered with incantations, and spells produced from the hoofs. The runes are enchanted with magic, each one has a different effect on either the carrier or the opponent." Arcana explained,

"Why does your magic aura consist of four different colors?" Pinkie Pie inquired,

"Each color represents the four elements of nature, red is fire, blue is water, yellow is earth, and green is air, some charts in my home separate earth into three sections, you still have earth, then there's wood and metal, there is no air in that chart, and the last element we have is aether, it is sometimes called void, it is basically the non-physical aspects of life like emotions, the element usually deals with ghosts and spells that involve it." Arcana explained,

"Wow, so you basically have seven elements." Pinkie Pie commented,

"Yup, fire, water, earth, air, wood, metal, and aether, we usually don't use wood, metal, and aether." Arcana replied,

"Wow. What's that chart of stars and constellations for?" Pinkie Pie inquired,

"They're mostly labels, but they help with meditation, that's what that map of the Astral Plane there is for, as you can see, it is divided into four sections, each section representing a season, the stars and constellations is my home's way of telling which section is weak or powerful on that day, we also use them to keep time and make calendars." Arcana answered,

"I assume that's what that chart of moon phases is for, too." Pinkie Pie deduced,

"Yes, that is also used to keep time and make calendars, but that's only one half of making a calendar, we use the sun, too, we need both to make a full calendar. The moon phases are mainly for telling how powerful black magic and curses will be on that day, they're spells designed to cause harm, same with necromancy, those are spells that control the dead, how weak or strong they are depends on the moon, too, they're at their weakest on a new moon and at their most powerful on a full moon." Arcana explained,

"Ooh, that is so cool." Pinkie Pie chirped,

"Anything else you wanna know?" Arcana asked,

"What are those five statues you have there?" Pinkie Pie questioned as she pointed to them,

"They are the rulers of the astral plane, White Tiger, Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Yellow Dragon, White Tiger rules the western domain is at his most powerful in the spring, Azure Dragon rules the eastern domain and is at his most powerful in the autumn, Vermilion Bird rules the southern domain and is at his most powerful in the summer, Black Tortoise rules the northern domain and is at her most powerful in the winter, and Yellow Dragon rules the entire place and resides in the center and is at his most powerful during the midsummer." Arcana responded,

"Wow, that is some pretty neat stuff. So, um, last thing, what are those cards there?" Pinkie Pie asked while pointing to them,

"Those are Tarot cards, it consists of twenty two different cards, they're called Fool, Magician, High Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, Lovers, Chariot, Justice, Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Strength, Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, Sun, Judgement, and The World, the cards are magically enchanted, when I present one, I can make people show the traits of what the cards represent and change their behavior, each card has two behavioral representations, which one I use depends on whether I activate the card while it's upright or upside-down, I can use more than one card on a person, too." Arcana explained,

"Whoa! That sounds scary." Pinkie Pie said,

"It can be, well, come on, Pinkie Pie, break time's over." Arcana replied, and they left the room.

They worked on making more wine and Pinkie Pie grunted while carrying the heavy barrels and pack of grapes to be put in the fermentation machines, she panted while Arcana sweated from carrying the light and medium weight items,

"Hold on, Pinkie Pie, I need to rest for a few seconds." Arcana stated, and she did, she started working again and used her magic when she and Pinkie Pie got too exhausted to do anymore physical work,

"Okay, that's all for today, thanks for your help." Arcana said tiredly while panting and sweating, and she yawned and went into the back room while Pinkie Pie trotted and followed her. She saw Arcana eating grapes with her magic and almost dozed off, she managed to stay awake and drank some red wine, she struggled to stay awake and Pinkie Pie held her up while another pair of her front hoofs held her eyelids open from behind,

"I see you have unique magic of your own, Pinkie Pie." Arcana commented,

"Really? This is something that simply runs in my family." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Do it again the next time we work, I'd like to observe and analyze it." Arcana requested,

"Okay." Pinkie Pie said, and Arcana continued eating grapes and drinking wine. Arcana yawned and laid down but Pinkie Pie held her up,

"No, Arcana, you need to make it to the end of the day." Pinkie Pie said,

"Can you try to keep me awake then?" Arcana requested,

"Sure, I can give you a message, your muscles in your sides here are tense." Pinkie Pie stated,

"My back hurts after doing physical work today." Arcana responded,

"Okay, go ahead and turn around." Pinkie Pie instructed, and Arcana did. Pinkie Pie massaged Arcana's back, she exhaled a little hard and soon laid down,

"Wow, Arcana, I'm feeling knots everywhere." Pinkie Pie remarked, and several sets of her hoofs appeared and massaged Arcana's back, she breathed and grunted while Pinkie Pie undid her knots and cracking sounds were heard on every part of her back. She massaged Arcana's knees and more cracking sounds were heard, she then took Arcana's shoes off and massaged her hoofs, Arcana almost fell asleep but managed to keep herself awake. Pinkie Pie then massaged the back of Arcana's neck and undid more knots,

"Okay, I think that's the last of it." Pinkie Pie said,

"I do feel better, thanks, Pinkie Pie." Arcana replied,

"Hang in there, Arcana, we're almost at the end of the day." Pinkie Pie reassured, Arcana smiled and then began meditating,

"Ooh, I wanna try." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Come join then." Arcana responded, and Pinkie Pie sat the same way Arcana did,

"Clear your mind, detach yourself from reality, you must have your head completely empty to meditate properly." Arcana instructed, and Pinkie Pie tried. She saw her own head filled with everybody having fun and partying, there was sunshine, rainbows, and flowers everywhere, confectioneries and fruit punch made up the land and there was an unlimited supply of them, she shrieked and her head exploded and black smoke came out,

"You alright?" Arcana asked stoically without opening her eyes,

"Yeah, this clearing out my mind stuff is really hard." Pinkie Pie responded,

"Well, it's probably your personality type, too, you're hyper, it's easier to meditate if your natural character is a calm one." Arcana deduced, she then fell down and dozed off again, Pinkie Pie had a clone of herself appear outside and saw it was night time, she noticed Arcana has passed out and put her in her bed, she then went into her own sleeping bag and slept. The night passed and they slept peacefully until Arcana began tossing and turning, she let out an annoyed groan and took her sleeping medicine, Pinkie Pie watched her and saw Arcana about to get up and leave the room but she fell asleep immediately, Pinkie Pie smiled and went back to sleep.

The next day came and Arcana struggled to get up,

"Arcana, it's morning." Pinkie Pie said,

"I know, I'm still tired from yesterday." Arcana replied,

"Do you work today?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"Yes, I open for business today, hold on, let me get some energy and I'll get up, have breakfast, and open my winery." Arcana answered, and she rested for ten minutes and got out of bed, she had grapes for breakfast and then opened for business. Arcana moved slower than yesterday but managed to attend to her customers, she carried the wine bottles around while Pinkie Pie dashed quickly when a customer ordered a large amount,

"Is she a new hire, Arcana?" a unicorn stallion asked,

"No, she's only staying a short time, I let her stay here since she seems to have nowhere to go, she's trying to help me with my sleeping problem, she'll be leaving after she's done." Arcana explained, and she gave specific wine to the customers while ordering Pinkie Pie around, she yawned while Pinkie Pie dashed and teleported around and tended to the many customers,

"Hey, you're Pinkie Pie, aren't you?" a male Pegasus questioned,

"Sure am." Pinkie Pie responded,

"You know her?" Arcana asked,

"Yeah, her parties are famous throughout Equestria, she's really good, her parties and your wine will make for an excellent combination." the Pegasus stated,

"Thank you, but I'm still mostly a kid's party planner and thrower, can't serve wine to them, maybe I can if it's an adults only party." Pinkie Pie replied,

"Maybe you can ask Arcana to lend you some grapes so you can make jam." an earth pony mare suggested,

"Nope, I need all the grapes I have." Arcana remarked,

"Oh, that's too bad." the earth pony mare lamented,

"Well, hurry up and order, you guys are holding up the line." Arcana said, and they did. Business continued and rush hour soon came, Pinkie Pie panted while sprinting and giving out the wine bottles while Arcana ran around and filled the bottles with fresh wine, they panted and sweated while customers came in, Pinkie Pie got the barrels forward while Arcana filled the bottles with either red or white wine. Rush hour ended after a while and they panted heavily,

"There, rush hour is done." Arcana commented,

"How do you deal with that many customers daily?" Pinkie Pie inquired,

"Magic, it makes tending to the customers easy, I can assure you I'm having a much harder time keeping up physically than I do magically." Arcana explained,

"Oh, makes sense." Pinkie Pie commented,

"Come on, lunchtime." Arcana stated and she got a stem of grapes with her magic while Pinkie Pie made candy and chocolate appear in front of herself and stuffed her own face. Arcana stopped eating and watched Pinkie Pie gobble a large amount of junk food in seconds,

"How are you not out of shape?" Arcana inquired,

"My body works differently from a typical pony's." Pinkie Pie responded,

"I've noticed how you can break the laws of physics without casting magic, it seems you and your family could have some kind of magic inheritance that very few ponies have, it's an extremely rare gift." Arcana deduced,

"You mean like a magic spell?" Pinkie Pie inquired,

"No, genetics, you probably have some extremely rare magical mutation in your genes." Arcana explained,

"Ooh, that sounds really mysterious." Pinkie Pie remarked,

"It's a very rare occurrence, but it's possible your ancestors got the mutation and it passed down to you and your current family." Arcana stated,

"Hmm, I never looked into it." Pinkie Pie said,

"Well, it never hurts to check." Arcana replied, and she ate a few more grapes and went back to work. She and Pinkie Pie tended to the customers and work has slowed down, they worked at a steady pace while Arcana sweated and moved slower than before, she panted and began struggling to walk, so she began using her magic to tend to the customers while laying on the floor. She tended to one customer after another in seconds while using her magic to fill up about thirty wine bottles at once, she panted and sweated while Pinkie Pie struggled to keep up with Arcana's work speed while using her own tricks, she appeared and dashed everywhere and tended to each customer after the ones Arcana tended to and the customers watched with awe, they finished and the customers thanked them and left.

Pinkie Pie and Arcana sweated and panted while Arcana closed her winery,

"Thanks, Pinkie Pie, you were a big help." Arcana stated,

"Thank you." Pinkie Pie responded,

"I'll rest for a bit and then count the bits and have dinner." Arcana said, Pinkie Pie nodded, and Arcana continued to take a break. She stood back up about fifteen minutes later and began counting the bits, she counted every coin individually with her magic and then divided them into two even piles and gave one to Pinkie Pie,

"Here, Pinkie Pie, your half." Arcana stated,

"Thank you!" Pinkie Pie chirped,

"Well, you can leave now if you want." Arcana stated,

"No, I'm staying until you can make a routine so you can sleep at night and stay asleep without needing medicine." Pinkie Pie declared,

"*chuckle* Thank you, Pinkie Pie." Arcana said happily,

"You want a massage?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"I'll see, but first, supper." Arcana responded, and she went behind her counter. She ate more grapes while Pinkie Pie drank a whole bottle of fruit punch, she gulped it down quickly while Arcana chewed her grapes very slowly, she finished having supper after thirty minutes and yawned,

"Going to bed?" Pinkie Pie questioned,

"Soon." Arcana replied,

"Can you show me how some of your magic works?" Pinkie Pie requested,

"Sure, to the back room." Arcana responded, and they went.

They sat and Arcana activated a few of her runes, some of the objects transformed into various objects while some made objects form or get destroyed out of thin air,

"Do you have any teleporting runes?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"No, I can do that with magic from my horn." Arcana responded,

"Oh." Pinkie Pie said, Arcana made her Tarot cards float and Pinkie Pie looked at the cards with awe. Arcana cast a spell on the Sun card and Pinkie Pie became energetic and ran around, she then flipped it upside-down and Pinkie Pie lost her energy and enthusiasm and laid on the floor. Arcana flipped the Sun card upright and Pinkie Pie became full of energy again, she activated the Empress card next and Pinkie Pie began hugging and rubbing Arcana, she smiled and turned the Empress card upside-down, Pinkie Pie became emotionless and distant and Arcana flipped the Empress card upright,

"You wanna try more?" Arcana asked,

"No, I'm good, I get how they work now." Pinkie Pie answered, Arcana chuckled and put her Tarot cards away. Arcana stretched and groaned a little due to sore muscles, Pinkie Pie massaged her shoulders and neck and heard more cracking,

"Thanks, Pinkie Pie, but I can massage myself." Arcana said, and she used her own magic on herself to massage her own back, she moaned and soon fell asleep, Pinkie Pie realized it was dark and she laid in her sleeping bag and slept, she woke up in the middle of the night and realized Arcana did not wake up nor take her medication, she smiled and went back to sleep.

The next day came and Arcana woke up in the morning,

"Wow, I actually slept through the night without my medicine." Arcana chirped,

"Good job, Arcana, now the final part, try to do the work of your winery without me helping you at all." Pinkie Pie stated,

"That's easy, I can do all of your work with my magic." Arcana responded,

"Oh." Pinkie Pie said,

"Well, I'll go ahead and get ready for the day." Arcana stated, and she left the room. She ate more grapes and began making more wine,

"Um, Arcana, can you speed up your wine making with your magic?" Pinkie Pie suggested,

"I can, but it doesn't taste as good in the end." Arcana answered,

"Oh." Pinkie Pie said, Arcana finished getting ready for the day and opened her winery for business. Arcana tended to the customers while doing Pinkie Pie's work with her magic while also doing manual labor,

"Aren't you going to help, Pinkie Pie?" a Pegasus stallion questioned,

"Not today, I need to see if Arcana can sleep at night with no medication after a day's work alone since I'm going to be leaving in a few days." Pinkie Pie explained,

"Oh." the Pegasus stallion said, and Arcana kept working. She had a hard time doing the physical work while the work she did with her magic was very easy for her, she tended to her customers and finished within a few minutes. There were no customers for several minutes and Arcana went back to making more wine while the ones that were on the final step of becoming wine were stored into barrels, she worked at making more wine until another customer came in, she tended to her quickly and went back to working on making more wine. Arcana used her magic to gather grapes from behind her winery, she sorted them with her magic and divided them in half, she then took the skin off of one set of grapes and began making wine with them.

Pinkie Pie watched Arcana do physical work and used her magic to get things done quickly and looked on in awe, rush hour began and Arcana stopped making wine and tended to the many customers, she took a deep breath after she finished tending to the first set of customers and sat on the floor. Arcana almost dozed off while Pinkie Pie watched worriedly, she snapped awake when she heard the door open and the next set of customers came in. Arcana tended to them really quickly while moving slowly on doing physical work, she panted and sweated but rested for a minute while moving things with her magic, she recovered and did more physical work and finished tending to the second set of customers.

Arcana sighed and sat on the floor again, she ate a few grapes and her body began to ache,

"You alright?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"Yeah, I can massage myself later." Arcana responded, and she stretched her legs out and yawned a bit, she sat and continued working on making more wine with her magic until more customers came in. She got back up and gave the wine the customers wanted and they left, Arcana sat on the floor and waited for the next customer, she began to doze off a little but stayed awake until the next customer came in a few minutes later, Arcana tended to her and rush hour ended. Arcana took a deep breath and ate a few more grapes and drank a glass of red wine,

"I want some." Pinkie Pie said,

"You'll have to pay if you do." Arcana replied, and Pinkie Pie paid her fifty bits and drank a glass of sweet red wine, she shook up and down and began flying around the winery,

"Whoo-hoo!" Pinkie Pie hollered,

"Hey, careful not to knock anything down." Arcana reminded, and Pinkie Pie continued flying around and soon stopped,

"You done working for today?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"No, I still got a few more hours before I close up." Arcana replied, and she drank a few more sips and waited for her next customer, one more customer came in a bit later and Arcana took his order and gave him his wine, he paid her and left and Arcana then closed the winery for the day. Arcana walked slowly and laid in her bed while panting,

"Wow, you actually got through the day, I'll watch you for the rest of the week and see if you can make it." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Okay." Arcana responded, and she ate a few more grapes and slept as soon as bedtime came, Pinkie Pie laid in her sleeping bag and Arcana did not wake up, she smiled and fell asleep. The next days passed and Pinkie Pie watched Arcana work on her own, she smiled at seeing her able to handle doing work physically and magically and rested for a few minutes every now and then, she slept through the nights without waking up or needing her medication. The weekend came and Arcana was off, she had trouble waking up and overslept, she yawned and stayed in bed,

"Sore?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"Yeah, tired, too, give me a minute, Pinkie Pie, I'd like to rest before getting up." Arcana replied, and she laid in her bed for thirty more minutes and got up while grunting a little, she stumbled and cast telekinesis on herself to float. She began working on making more wine with the grapes behind her winery and moved slowly due to her sore muscles, she sat and massaged herself with her magic,

"Well, I guess it's okay today since you're off, I'm going to see how you are at night and whether you need your sleeping medicine or not." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Oh, so that's why you stayed here longer than I thought you would, alright then, I'll see if I can make it." Arcana remarked, and she did physical work all day at her own pace and rested when she felt tired, she read her tomes when she was done working for the day. She had a peaceful day and slept at the end, Pinkie Pie watched her and saw her wake up in the middle of the night, she groaned under her breath and took her sleeping medicine and fell asleep immediately, Pinkie Pie smiled and went back to sleep.

The next day came and Pinkie Pie stretched and yawned, she heard snoring and saw Arcana was still asleep, she left the room and looked around since today was her last day staying with Arcana, she got ready to pack her things and Arcana woke up and came out in the afternoon,

"Oh, you're finally up." Pinkie Pie commented,

"Turns out working at this winery without using my magic for everything is more exhausting for me than I thought." Arcana responded,

"Sorry I couldn't get you to sleep without needing to take medicine." Pinkie Pie lamented,

"It's fine, you managed to reduce the amount of times in a week I have to take it, and by a lot, I'm grateful for that, and I only need to take my medication one or two days a week instead of seven because of you, you really helped me, Pinkie Pie." Arcana replied while smiling,

"Really?" Pinkie Pie inquired, Arcana nodded,

"Whoo-hoo! I'll be going now, I still got places in Equestria I wanna see." Pinkie Pie said,

"Go on then, and thanks for stopping by, don't lose that part of yourself that wants to help others, Pinkie Pie, it's people like you that fill lives with happiness even on the darkest and gloomiest of days." Arcana replied,

"Thank you, well, see ya, Arcana, hope we can meet again one day years later." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Me too, Pinkie Pie." Arcana replied, and they hugged one another and Pinkie Pie left the winery.

---

Pinkie Pie was still laying in her bed and could not sleep, she growled and began lifting stuff in her room as makeshift weights, she panted and sweated and soon laid back down in her bed and slept. She almost overslept the next day and quickly dashed to behind Sugarcube Corner's counter, she tended to the customers in the morning until the line was gone. She looked out the window and saw Rarity was getting a wooden box delivered to Carousel Boutique, she opened it with her magic and took out bottles of red wine, Pinkie Pie's eyes widened when she saw they were from Arcana's winery. Rarity put the wine bottles on round outdoor tables with umbrellas on them and several ponies wearing newly made fashion outfits sat and posed with the tables and wine bottles while Photo Finish took pictures of them, Pinkie Pie smiled and continued working for the day.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

11570296
How do you think she would handle them, then?

[smirker]

11643862
I can see Pinkie Pie trying to be nice and friendly with them at first but quickly notice something is wrong about them, and maybe try to teach them the error of their ways, she would probably get angry and violent if they refuse to change their ways or they target her.