Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

58 The Coming Storm, Part Six

The lightning storm crackles outside, the storm raging as many ponies throughout Ponyville nervously glance through their windows. Thinking, perhaps, that maybe they too should have taken a vacation, left the dismal task of making sure the experimental defense project functions correctly to somepony more capable. Or expendable, if the danger surrounding them is starting to get to them.

Much like many others, the Carrot House is cloaked in darkness. Only a single candle lights the main room, the flame flickering back and forth and casting everything in shadows. Two ponies sit in the dark, two blue forms in rapt attention. One sits, a cross between boredom and feigned interest, while the other has a mask of stark terror.

Doug whispers in a high-pitched, coltish voice, “I see dead ponies.”

Rainbow’s eyes widen, her body shaking as she tries to keep her composure. ‘It isn’t real,’ she whispers to herself, repeating her mantra over and over. ‘It isn’t real.’

Doug continues, this time in his normal voice, “When?”

Trixie looks around for another carrot or something to munch on.

His whisper returns, even quieter, the two ponies straining to hear him. “All the time.”

Rainbow Dash ‘eeps’ as she spins, grabbing onto Trixie and gripping the mare, her gaze going every direction as she tries to spot any of the dead ponies. Trixie grunts in surprise, trying to dislodge the mare without being too violent and, when that fails, trying to soothe her frenzied panic.

Doug mentally grimaces at Rainbow’s fearful reaction; he isn’t sure how much more of this the mare can take. He continues in a more stately, narrative voice, “It was then that the stallion started putting together the clues. The dropped ring. The quiet nights, the one sided conversations with everypony besides this one colt. So, he gets up from the table. He goes to the bathroom, to the full sized mirror. He slowly peels back his cloak, hoping against hope that nothing is there.”

Rainbow’s teeth chatter against each other, her ears splay back, her head shakes slightly from side to side. Trixie slyly shifts Rainbow’s hooves so the mare is hugging herself, huffing slightly at the display.

“But there, staring back at him in the mirror, is a small sword wound. And he realizes, as he goes to the other side, spotting the gruesome exit wound,” Doug pauses as he leans in close, staring Rainbow in her wide eyes, “That he was a ghost all along.”

“AAahh!” shouts Rainbow Dash, hunkering down as she peers into her own hooves, her own soul. “What if I’m a ghost!?”

Doug leans back, lighting another few candles, the oppressive darkness of the room pushed back just a little more, “And that’s the abbreviated version of The Sixth Sense, by M. Night Shyamalan.”

“What if we’re all ghosts?” Rainbow Dash quivers as she glances between Doug and Trixie, then to the foal’s rooms. Her hooves come to her teeth, gnawing small pieces away.

“Trixie thought it was obvious from the start,” Trixie snorts as she levitates over another plate of food. “And she thought ghost stories were supposed to be scary. Not moderately suspenseful scenarios designed to make us question ourselves.”

“But, Trixie!” Rainbow Dash gasps, dashing over and violently shaking the blue unicorn, “What if none of this is real?”

“Then Trixie will be not real and hungry. What’s next in the book?” Trixie nods at Doug as he grabs Rainbow, spinning the pegasus to wrap her in a hug. “Perhaps I should check.” Trixie levitates the book over next, frowning. “Truth or dare. Ooh, the chapter after that is s’mores. Can we skip to s’mores?” She flips through the book regardless, glancing down the instructions and ingredients, salivating as she stares at the chocolate.

Doug nods, stroking Rainbow’s mane as she slowly calms down, “Sure. We don’t have a fireplace, but we can use one of the burners on the stove. Or, what kind of magical fire can you produce?”

“Hey, I thought you didn’t know what sleepover activities are,” Rainbow says as she snuggles up next to Doug, her plan working perfectly. Of course she wasn’t actually scared! That’d just be sappy.

Doug continues scratching Rainbow’s ears, “I’ve never heard of s’mores used as a sleepover activity, but they are a common camping treat, roasting marshmallows around a fire.” Doug glances over at Trixie, waiting for her response.

“Well, there is a backyard camping section.” Trixie sighs, looking to the kitchen, “I can make fireworks, and a small flame, but they would be unsuited for doing this for a long time. Maybe enough flame to light a fire, but nowhere near the blowtorch that we would need to toast anything more than once.” She looks around the room, “How come you don’t have a fireplace?”

“Didn’t think we’d need it, and Applejack doesn’t care for keeping the house that warm. I just bundle up, same with the fillies.” Doug releases Rainbow as she searches for a suitable substitute for graham crackers, ending up with some thin wafers, small marshmallows and chocolate chunks.

Rainbow dumps the collection onto the table before she takes a small hooffull of each, cramming the lot into her mouth. “Mmm,” she purrs as she chews, going for another helping. She yelps as Trixie smacks her hoof with the book, glaring at the unicorn and exclaiming, “Hey, what gives?”

“You’re not doing it right! We’re supposed to roast and melt the marshmallows. Not just devour them like a filly with her Nightmare Night spoils!” Trixie shakes her head, snatching the s’mores away. She begins making s’more the proper way, with one quarter of a wafer, because that’s how big the marshmallow is, followed by a solitary marshmallow, and one piece of chocolate. Her horn lights, toasting the whole contraption, the chocolate and marshmallow oozing everywhere. She levitates it up, admiring her hornwork, “There. That is a proper s’more.”

“Easier just to eat them,” Rainbow remarks as she shakes her head. She makes another pile of dry ingredients, roughly stacking marshmallow on chocolate on wafer this time.

“You don’t like toasting your marshmallows?” Doug says, his fork in hand skewering a slew of marshmallows and holding it above the lit stove.

Rainbow shrugs, “Well, they’re fine and all, but I don’t like the stickiness. Too gooey.” She glances down, “Plus, I probably shouldn’t eat too much of this.”

“Aww, live a little!” Trixie says, lightly nudging Rainbow towards the s’more. “I’m sure you can find some way to work it off.” Doug comes over, the stove off and a plate of wafers oozing marshmallows and melted chocolate placed between himself and Trixie.

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes, “Fine.” She takes another bite of the treat, feigning a large smile. “Mmm. There. Can we go now? What’s the next thing?”

“Jeez, you’d think a mare of your prowess could hoof a few carbs.” Trixie flips open the book, taking a big bite of s’mores as Rainbow huffs. “Ah, speaking of a way to burn it off. Pillow fight!”

“Finally!” Rainbow Dash exclaims, leaping to her hooves. “Something I can get behind!” She darts over to the couch, looking for any of the throw pillows to use. Only finding the two she moves to the master bedroom, hovering above the three sleeping fillies to grab all the pillows off the bed.

Rainbow creeps back into the main room, softly closing the door behind her. “You realize there are three fillies in there, right?” she says to an empty room. Her eyes narrow, scanning around until her vision rests on the couch, spotting the barest hint of a unicorn tail poking out from behind. “Gotcha,” she whispers to herself, readying a pillow.

No sooner does she go to release the pillow than the soft tap tap of foot on wood from behind her gets her to turn around, just in time for a pillow to smack her right in the face. Rainbow squawks in alarm, hooves full of pillows coming up to try to block the next shot. Only for Doug to tackle her, the two crashing onto the couch and bouncing off the cushions directly onto the mare trying to maneuver out of their way.

Fortunately the pillows cushion their fall, the three sprawling out onto the floor. Doug goes on the offensive, twin terrors softly bludgeoning the two shrieking mares caught next to him. Rainbow curls into a ball, trying to evade the seeking cushion that keeps finding her flanks. Soon both pillows are focusing on her, the unicorn having escaped his clutches.

Rainbow Dash giggles as another pillow swats her in the side - she really missed this kind of fun. Far too frequently the days just devolve into routine: waking up early, training with Scootaloo before a rushed breakfast, then skipping naps to keep working on her Wonderbolts routine. And then maybe not even seeing Doug or the rest of the herd until dinner, if she didn’t have to train some of the newbies.

Rainbow grabs a wayward pillow in her teeth, whipping it around to catch Doug as he swings at her again. It catches him right in the face, momentarily stunning him and getting him to drop his pillow. Rainbow grins, grabbing two pillows in her wings as she returns the favor, tackling Doug to the floor and pelting him with both in quick succession. Rather than grab new pillows, though, she wraps her hooves around his chest, pinning him to her as the feathers of her wings find his sides.

“No fair!” grunts out Doug as he twists this way and that, trying to dislodge the tickling devil atop him. Rainbow merely cackles, employing her greater number of limbs to keep him in place as he continues to struggle against her.

Until a series of pillows smack her in the face, courtesy of the other blue mare in the room.

Rainbow glares to the side at the interruption, Trixie wagging her tongue at her from behind the couch. Another two pillows levitate up, but Rainbow doesn’t give the unicorn the chance to get her sights. She dashes over, winging one pillow directly into the smirking violet eyes. Trixie yelps, dropping the pillows as she raises her hooves, just in time for Rainbow to snag the two pillows out of the air and dispense justice on the interloper.

A few seconds of wailing from the pegasus and quieter wailing from the unicorn later, and Rainbow Dash smirks in victory! Trixie is cowering under her might, holding her hooves up in surrender! “Hah!” Rainbow Dash exclaims, raising her hooves.up. “Looks like I win!”

Trixie shakes her head, pointing up and behind her. Rainbow’s eyes grow wide as she turns. Doug is behind her, holding up all of the pillows, unceremoniously dumping them all on her head.

Rainbow squirms back and forth, trying to endure the eight or so pillows that lightly bounce off of her. Finally the torrent comes to an end, only for her to find herself lifted, quickly rolled to the side and laying next to Trixie amid a sea of pillows.

Doug, madly grinning, places one hand on each of the mare’s bellies. “So,” he says as the tips of his fingers press into the soft fur, “I believe somepony was talking about winning?”

None of them notice the door to the master bedroom cracking open, a stack of fillies staring through the slit. Three sets of eyes watch as Doug’s hands find their bellies, fingernails scraping up and down.

“Well, it looked like fun at first,” Scootaloo whispers, eyes locked on her dam.

“I-I don’t know if I want to watch this,” Sweetie Belle quietly states, though her eyes don’t move.

“Ah do,” Apple Bloom whispers back, wriggling from her spot on the bottom of the stack. “What’s gonna happen?”

“Remember a couple weeks ago?” Scootaloo motions towards Rainbow, “She’s got the face.”

“So does Trixie.” Sweetie Belle glances up at Scootaloo, then down at Apple Bloom. “I think we should give them their privacy.”

“Oh. Yeah, Ah don’t want a cutie mark in… whatever this is,” Apple Bloom agrees, backing up and shutting the door.

Trixie groans, turning her head away as Rainbow shudders next to her. She glances over at the pegasus - Rainbow’s tongue is lolling out of her mouth as she pants, Doug’s unrelenting hand pressing harder and sliding further up against her barrel, and then down even lower with every stroke. She gulps as she can feel his other hand doing the same against her own belly.

She’s certainly enjoyed the month she has spent on the Apple farm, whether it is planting, keeping an eye on the fillies, or helping them catch up on a few jobs that really just needed a unicorn’s touch. Perhaps she will start up that store she was thinking of, and continue doing shows when she is able.

The hand stroking her changes tone, no longer pressing deep but pausing, lingering as they travel lower. Trixie gasps as one hand finds itself just above her teats. She glances over; Rainbow is no longer panting, instead watching her carefully. No longer with a look of repressed disgust, or restrained fury. But an almost worried look, like she is afraid that Trixie would refuse this, or belittle her, or somehow ruin this with words. Well, there is one way to avoid that.

Trixie’s mouth pushes forward, her forelegs tugging him closer, the mare next to her breathing a sigh of relief as Trixie finally gets that private magic show. Well, mostly private.

Comments

[badninja]

Well it looks like Trixie is going to have a relaxing night. I wonder how her store will do out here in Ponyville?

[Eclipse_Nova]

I wonder more how this will affect the alicorn amulet

[WanderingPony]

If Doug ever got a cutie mark, it'd be a mare stuck to a magnet.

[Doug Graves]

9425176
Yes, he's a very polarizing figure.

[AuthorGenesis]

9525523
9425362
It must be thanks to his magnetic personality!

[JLtheking]

D’awww this is one of those chapters that make me really love this series. So wholesome

[chibilink]

Yay looks like Trixie is gonna stick around. :D

[DarkPhoenixx]

[DarkPhoenixx]

I love that little bit w the CMC poking their heads out the door. It was just so cute.

[f0st3r21]

“Oh. Yeah, Ah don’t want a cutie mark in… whatever this is,” Apple Bloom agrees, backing up and shutting the door.

That line.

[vustrunreyth]

“But, Trixie!” Rainbow Dash gasps, dashing over and violently shaking the blue unicorn, “ What if none of this is real? ”

would it matter if it was? reality is subjective. it is what you think you are experiencing, reality is just a collectively agreed upon hallucination. no one experiences it the same way

[Poparakelis]

Trixie’s mouth pushes forward, her forelegs tugging him closer, the mare next to her breathing a sigh of relief as Trixie finally gets that private magic show. Well, mostly private.

Took a while