Zap Apple

by The_Incognito_Brony

Sugarcube Secrets

Author's Note:

Howdy, y'all!
Again, super sorry for how long I've taken with this chapter!
I'm going to be off work for the foreseeable future due to current worldwide events, so I'm determined to get this whole thing done within that time!
Anywho, hope y'all enjoy chapter 3!

Signed, Incognito

The night grew darker, colder, and began to feel somewhat deserted; seemingly more so for Rainbow Dash than Pinkie Pie. The two ponies made their way to Sugarcube Corner in the middle of Ponyville, which wasn’t too far to travel from the train station. However, with all the foreign thoughts entering her mind, and her unusually slow-flying pace, the short journey seemed to be endless for Dash.

Pinkie Pie bounced ahead as Rainbow Dash flew slowly behind her. Dash held her head low, flew close to the ground, and didn't say a word as she continued her pursuit of the bakery. She didn't want it to happen, but her mind wouldn't give her a moment's peace. She was overthinking, which was a rare occurrence for Rainbow. She was famous for being bold, daring and spontaneous, yet there she was; calculating every possible outcome to her current mindset. Twilighting, if you will.

---

“WE’RE HERE!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed as the two arrived at the doors of Sugarcube Corner.

The party pony sprung inside the building with a huge, goofy smile on her face. She sprinted upstairs to greet the Cakes, tucked Pound and Pumpkin into bed, and then made her way down to tend to Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie knew that something strange was going on with Rainbow. She hadn't been acting like herself all day long.

Her constant distance and silence on the train journey; the way she looked at Applejack; her incessant squirming and stuttering; her proposal of a sleepover; and her overall depressive attitude pointed to only one thing.

And Pinkie Pie knew what that thing was.

The pink pony was determined to investigate her case further, but she knew that Rainbow Dash needed cheering up more than anything else. So she, instead, brought out her cake supplies.

"Get on over here, Rainbow! I wanna show you the new cupcakes I've been working on!" Pinkie proclaimed as she whipped out a tonne of ingredients at record speed.

Rainbow Dash, still daydreaming in the doorway of the bakery, looked up suddenly to see her curly maned friend beckoning her to the kitchen.

She couldn't help but crack a smile upon seeing Pinkie Pie's face already covered in flour, proving, once again, that nopony is more deserving of the element of laughter.

Baking cupcakes wasn't Dash's area of expertise by any means, but she didn't care. She needed a distraction from her wild thoughts, and Pinkie plus cupcakes was a pretty decent choice in her book.

"So, where do we start, Pinkie?" Rainbow inquired as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Well, I've already prepped the flour, eggs, baking powder, sugar, butter and salt. All we need to do is mix them all up!" replied Pinkie cheerfully.

Dash stood for a moment, hoping Pinkie Pie would explain her process further. Alas, she didn't.

"Uh, okay. H-how do we do that?" said Rainbow inquisitively.

Pinkie Pie cocked her head in confusion for a moment.

"Have you ever made a cake before, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie asked.

Rainbow's eyes widened suddenly. She'd seen Pinkie Pie and the Cakes baking tonnes of things before, but she'd never tried it herself. She genuinely had no idea how to go about it.

Giggling nervously, Dash finally spoke up.

"Heh, okay. You caught me, Pinkie. Never baked a day in my life. Mind teaching me a thing or two?" the Wonderbolt asked somewhat shyly.

Expecting Pinkie Pie to perform her infamous gasp of horror, Rainbow braced herself for the worst.

Instead, the baker of the two grinned at her prismatic friend, offered her a whisk, and began a step by step tutorial on cupcake making. The main surprise to Dash was that there wasn't a spontaneous song and dance thrown into the mix.

---

Despite her mediocre technique, Rainbow Dash found herself thoroughly enjoying her baking experience. She'd mixed the ingredients, preheated the oven, prepped her icing and was almost ready to cook her creations.

For the first time in the last few days, Rainbow Dash felt distracted in a positive way. Her mind had stopped racing with thoughts about the future, about her friends, about Appleja-

"Hey, Dashie! I'm going to put some apples into my mixture to test out my apple pie cupcake recipe! Wanna put anything else in yours?" said Pinkie Pie as she licked her mixture covered spoon.

Apple pie.

Apples.

Applejack.

To her dismay, Rainbow's thoughts had swiftly taken her over once more.

With her mouth agape, she stood staring at her pink friend in the hope that her words might save her.

"I mean, you don't have to put anything else in if you don't want. Might taste a little icky on it's on, though" explained Pinkie Pie with a mindful smile.

Rainbow Dash breathed sharply as she finally processed her friend's sentence. Coughing slightly, she grabbed a nearby bottle of vanilla extract and began to drop some into her mixture.

"N-Nah. I'm good with this, thanks" Dash remarked casually.

Noticing that she'd been dropping vanilla into her mixture for a while, Pinkie Pie calmly reached over, took the bottle away from Rainbow, and proffered her a wooden spoon.

Taking the spoon from her friend, Rainbow smiled as if to say "thank you". A small smile, but a smile all the same.

Going back to her side of the table, Pinkie Pie began peeling some cooking apples for her mixture.

"So, speaking of apples" Pinkie elongated.

Again, poor Rainbow's ears pricked up upon hearing that particular word. Why did it terrify her so much?

"What were you and Applejack talking about on the train? Anything juicy?" continued Pinkie.

"Oh, Celestia!"

"I knew somepony would catch on!"

"What do I say?"

"I can't tell Pinkie, can I?"

"Man, even I don't know how I feel!"

"Well, maybe I do".

"I just don't want to admi-"

"Rainbow Dash?"

The number of times Rainbow had zoned out was starting to aggravate her. Maybe it wasn't the best idea for her to be around other ponies. Her mind was getting in the way of more important things.

"Huh? Yeah. Um. I-I was pretty bummed out about Spike and Twilight earlier, so AJ came over to snap me out of it" Rainbow finally responded.

Not buying it, Pinkie stroked her chin and nodded at her friend's reply.

"She uh- She told me we'll all get through it together, just like we've always done" continued Rainbow.

Pinkie continued to nod at Rainbow's story. She knew there was more to be told, but would Rainbow Dash spill the beans? She did not know.

Realising that Rainbow Dash wasn't going to play ball, Pinkie decided to up her game.

"Yeah, it's going to be super weird not having Twilight and Spike around Ponyville" Pinkie Pie began as she threw some apples into her mixture.

"It's like my Sombra-vision all over again" she continued with a shiver.

Looking up from her bowl, Rainbow's diverted her eyes towards the pink Earth Pony.

"Your Sombra-vision?" Dash asked in a hesitant tone.

"Oh yeah! When Sombra came back and showed us all our worst nightmares right before we kinda, sorta defeated him, I saw you all leaving Ponyville. You said you didn't need me anymore, so you left me on my own" Pinkie reflected.

Rainbow's ears drooped upon hearing Pinkie's story. She knew that Pinkie became paranoid about things sometimes, but never to that extent. But there was something else. Something else that made her mind wander.

"Anyway, I know now that it was just a silly old vision from silly old Sombra. But I know what you mean, Dashie. It's going to suck for a little while, but we'll get through it together! Just like Applejack said!" Pinkie declared as she put her cakes into the oven.

Sombra-vision.

Applejack.

Rainbow's mind was whirling inside of her head. Memories were all of a sudden unlocking themselves. Memories that Rainbow had tried her best to eradicate.

Her worst nightmare had become clear as day.

Applejack was dying.

She wasn't sure why or how, but Applejack was dying.

Rainbow sobbed into her hooves as she watched the orange mare become lifeless. She felt helpless, but she managed to utter three short words before it was too late.

It was at that moment that Rainbow Dash realized something, and it frightened her more than anything else ever had.

She stood up from the table abruptly and darted towards the door, knocking over her mixing bowl in the process.

"Hey! Where you off to, Dashie? Aren't you gonna finish your cakes?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Stopping in her tracks, Dash turned to the party pony, sporting a fake smile as she did so.

"Uh. No can do, Pinkie. I've um- Gotta feed Tank! Thanks for the lesson but I've gotta go!" Rainbow replied as she shot out of the bakery in a flash of colour.

Left alone with two lots of cake batter, Pinkie Pie decided it was high time to take action.

"Time to bring in the big guns!" she told herself as she picked up her telephone with sticky hooves.

---

Back at Carousel Boutique, Rarity and Fluttershy were putting together their very own plan of action.

"Do you really think it'll work?" asked Fluttershy unsuredly.

"But of course, darling. It's the perfect plan. Now, let's see if we can get Miss Pie involved in our little scheme" Rarity responded as she trotted over to her desk.

"Oh, I don't like the idea of scheming" Fluttershy whispered to herself.

Just as Rarity was about to pick up her telephone, it began to ring.

"Ooh. How odd" said Rarity before answering the call.

"Carousel Boutique. Rarity speaking. How may I help y-"

"Rarity, hey! It's me, Pinkie Pie!"

"Oh. What a coincidence, Pinkie Pie. I was just about to call you" Rarity responded.

"That's super-duper crazy, Rare! You must have a Pinkie-sense like me! Or rather, a Rari-sense!" said Pinkie Pie with a chuckle.

"Eh, quite. Well, what was it you wanted, my dear?" Rarity asked.

"Rainbow Dash just bolted right outta here! We were baking some cupcakes, talking about Twilight and Spike, reminiscing about King Sombra, and then blamo! She turned tail and flew out of the bakery!" explained Pinkie as she gestured to the open door of Sugarcube corner.

"Did she say why she had to leave?" Rarity asked as she took a seat at her desk.

"Nuh-uh! I mean, she said she had to go and feed Tank, but I saw right through her. Not literally, cause that'd be crazy!" Pinkie responded.

"It's worse than I thought. We must stage an intervention!" exclaimed Rarity.

"Exactly!" Pinkie sang in an elongated tone.

"Uh, what's that?"

Rolling her eyes, Rarity gestured for Fluttershy to take over the conversation.

Nervously taking the phone from her friend, she cleared her throat before speaking.

"Um. H-Hello, Pinkie Pie" Fluttershy stuttered.

"FLUTTERSHY?! I didn't know you were there too! How ya been?" Pinkie asked as she twirled her phone wire.

"Um. I'm fine since I last saw you three hours ago, thank you" the yellow pegasus responded.

"We'd like you to come on over to the boutique to help us out with something. I-If you're free, that is" Fluttershy continued.

"Of course I can, silly filly! Does this have something to do with Dashie?" the party pony inquired.

"Well, sort of. We'll tell you when you get here, Pinkie" Fluttershy explained.

"Okie dokie loki!" Pinkie shouted.

"Will we see you soon?" the shy pony queried.

"Indeedy! I'm on my way!" said Pinkie as she slammed her phone down and raced out of the bakery.

"Oh, I do hope this works, Rarity" Fluttershy stated restlessly.

"Of course it will, my dear. I've known Applejack as long as you've known Rainbow Dash, and with Miss Pie thrown into the mix, I'm certain things will become clear to them both" countered the prim unicorn.

Just as Fluttershy was about to respond, she was knocked down by a pink blur. Pinkie Pie had entered the building.

"You called for me, ladies?" Pinkie pronounced as she tried to lean against a nearby wall, but fell to the floor instead.

The unicorn and pegasus chuckled to themselves as they watched the element of laughter struggle to find her hooves, but Fluttershy soon trotted over to help her stand up.

"Thanks, kindness!" the pink pony stated as she nudged Fluttershy's shoulder, making her blush slightly.

"So, what's the dealio?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Come and help me make some tea and we'll tell you all about it" Rarity responded as she gestured to the kitchen.

And with that, the three friends spoke deep into the night, hatching a plan for the very next day.

Comments

[VCLR]

I can’t wait for the next chapter, I made an account just to comment that I really love this

[The_Incognito_Brony]

10173409
Hey, friendo! I must say, that comment of yours has genuinely made my day! Thank you so very much for your kindness