Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Athame

"Pinkie?"

"Yes. That is my name," Pinkie replied.

"No, I mean, are you okay?" Sunset said, worried. "You look like you had no sleep last night."

"I didn't," Pinkie replied. "Is it that evident? Good. I'm glad."

Sunset's mouth hung open for a moment as she processed the flatness of Pinkie's tone. Then she chose to ignore it. "It's also your hair. It looks... straighter than usual? But in a messy way."

"Yeah," Twilight agreed. "It does. However that works."

Pinkie smiled with only a corner of her mouth, and said nothing else.

"Was it the nervousness that kept you up?" Sunset asked, leaning a little closer to Pinkie.

Pinkie looked down. She opened her mouth slightly, but didn't answer immediately. "Let's say it was. Sure. Let's go with that." She gave a very brief, very dry chuckle.

Twilight and Sunset exchanged a worried look. The latter then cleared her throat, and tried to bring the conversation onto a different topic. "How long until the others get here?"

As if on cue, a blur of motion resolved itself into a girl suddenly sitting next to Twilight. "Fluttershy should be here in a few minutes, Rarity and Rarity are coming a little later but not too long after," Rainbow Dash said. "And, uh... Trixie will be here sometime too. We're hanging out together later today, and she did ask to know about what's going on exactly, so... You know..."

"It's okay," Sunset said. "You can probably tell her enough."

Pinkie was quietly having an uncharacteristically raspy giggling fit in her chair. She'd also taken to sitting at an angle, one leg on the front part of the chair and one on the side.

Rainbow looked at her, lifted her eyebrows, and leaned towards Twilight. "Is she okay?" she whispered.

"She apparently didn't get any sleep last night," Twilight whispered back.

Sunset eyed Pinkie again, but either she hadn't heard the other two or she didn't care. She was busy playing with a knife, and while Sunset had internalised not asking questions about where things in Pinkie's hands came from she was still mildly shaken by realising her talents could apply to less friendly items than what she was used to.

"Anyway," said Twilight, clearing her throat again. "I actually got a message from Lemon Zest, asking about this whole situation. It looks like her and Indigo are worried about this as well. Presumably the rest of the old Shadowbolts group too."

"Is there anyone you expect not to be worried about it?" asked Rainbow. "Honestly. The whole town felt that. I'm pretty sure everyone is at least a bit concerned."

"You underestimate the average person's ability to force blissful ignorance upon themself, even when trouble comes knocking on their door," Twilight said. "Especially when trouble comes knocking on their door. It's usually the made up things that get people railed up instead. They take the lack of existing answers as a personal challenge."

"You know who isn't worried about it?" said Sunset. "Celestia. The principal, not the former princess."

"You're the only one here who needs that clarification," Rainbow said.

"Yeah. Well, anyway, at this point she's just used to this kind of stuff. And it's not like money is a problem for the school."

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Rarity and Rarity are coming a little later but not too long after,

Right, I'd forgotten about the emotional support unicorn plot thread. We haven't gotten updates there in a while.

I do wonder if Lemon's mentioned Applejack's inclusion in her social circle.

"You underestimate the average person's ability to force blissful ignorance upon themself, even when trouble comes knocking on their door," Twilight said. "Especially when trouble comes knocking on their door."

And Pinkie kept playing with the knife...