Metanoia

by littlerobotbird

03 [Arc 00 - Potency, Part Three] <rev. 08.07.2014>

"So are you girls going to tell me exactly wh—HURK!"

Twilight found herself rendered breath deficient as Applejack gave the rope one last tug. The farm pony's rear hooves pressed against the side of the unicorn's bed as, end clenched in teeth as she pulled it the full length of her body.

Twilight was going no place nohow if Applejack had anything to say about it.

"Sorry, Twi, but we can't have you going off like that again." The work pony finished tying the final knot before dropping down to the floor, Twilight’s face having taken on a reddish tinge.

"But I can barely breathe!" the unicorn gasped as she craned up head up from her pillow, eyes bulging. Quietly, Fluttershy plied at the bonds with a hoof, straightening them into more manageable rows.

"Applejack, surely this is a bit extreme," Rarity chimed in as she looked over the scene, eyebrow firmly raised in the face of the earth pony’s derisive snort.

"You saw what happened, Rarity. Not that I don't trust your judgment"—now it was Rarity's turn for a derisive scoff—"but, like you said, we don’ know how well that ring of yours'll hold up."

"Speaking of which, what is on my horn?" Twilight broke in as Fluttershy worked the coil of rope down the unicorn's body a bit so that it would rest on her stomach rather than her lungs, the unicorn's hooves still left free to point at the rings.

"They’re inhibitor rings. I'm surprised you didn't know immediately..."

"Oh… and why exactly do I need them?"

"You lost control again…" Fluttershy muttered softly as she slipped a few bits of thin, soft fabric through the ropes to keep them from digging into flesh.

“You dragged us across half of Ponyville! Almost right through the mayor's office too!” Spike declared excitedly. “You should have seen every… pony’s…” His excitement was quickly replaced by embarrassment before the icy glares of his friends. “Er… sorry. A little claw in the mouth. Heh…”

"Oh…" Twilight's face fell, her head flopping down onto the pillow. "I was kind of afraid you'd say that..."

"Don't worry Twi, we're all here for you... an'... an' we'll just…" Applejack stammered, glancing around the room for some hint of an idea before her eyes finally brightened. "We'll send a letter to the princess. If any pony'd know what's going on, it'd be Princess Celestia, right?"

"I… I guess you're right," Twilight replied, managing a small, wry smile as Spike dashed over to the bed from his place on the window sill, the little dragon glad to finally be of some proper use.

"I'll go get you some water," Fluttershy murmured as Rarity levitated over the purple unicorn's quill and ink along with a small bundle of parchment.

"But what do I even say to her? ‘I can't control my magic and I don't know why’?" Fluttershy could hear Twilight ask frustratedly as she descended the stairs.

"Well, perhaps not in those exact words…" she heard Rarity chime in before the Fluttershy’s focus shifted to the Library's kitchen, where a very bouncy Pinkie Pie and a surprisingly monochromatic Rainbow Dash resided, having both gone to prepare a late lunch.

"Rainbow? What in Eqestria happened?"

The typically cyan pegasus looked confused for a moment before glancing down at her flour-coated flanks.

"Oh, Pinkie's teaching me how to bake!" the pegasus stated, puffing out her chest as she rolled out a bit of dough before her grin became a bit sheepish. "Annnnd a bag of flour might have gotten a little bit away from me."

"It was awesome the way you dove all the way across the kitchen to catch it!" Pinkie chirped, coat surprisingly clean given the state of the rest of the kitchen. "It was like one of those spy movies, except instead of a detonator it was a bag of flour! And instead of catching it, you blew it up!"

"Yeah. Well, I make everything look cool." Dash smiled before looking over to the pink pony in confusion. "Detonator?"

"Y'know, for a bomb”—Dash simply stared at the earth pony quizzically—“Those little round black things or, or the bundles of little red sticks that go BOOM!" Dash crashed back to the floor as Pinkie shot up between the pegasus and her ball of dough.

“Pinkie!”

"Well… don't let me interrupt," Fluttershy said, stepping carefully through the disaster area that Twilight's kitchen had become, grabbing a tray and loading it up with a few glasses of water.

"Stop doing that!" Dash exclaimed from the floor, wings fluttering in agitation.

"Doing what?"

"That! Whatever it is!"

"Bye, girls," Fluttershy bid farewell as she exited the kitchen, tray balanced between her wings as the bakers simply ignored her.

"Well, how can I stop it if you don't tell me what it is, Dashie?" Pinkie countered with a giggle.

"That thing you do with the appearing and the disappearing and, Celestia, I've got a migraine now..." Dash rubbed at her temples as she fluttered her way back onto all fours before glancing at the now emty entry to the kitchen. “Where’d Fluttershy go?”

“Back upstairs I think,” Pinkie replied, working an elbow into her dough with an almost manic vigor.

“She seem sorta… off to you since the thing with Twilight?”

“Hmmm…nope, seems like the same ol’ Fluttershy. And somepony’s dough’s looking all shaggy!”

“What?”

“C’mon, you got to work them ‘bows, Dashel!” Pinkie said, giving the pegasus a start as she seized her forelegs and began mashing them into the dough.

“I am! I am!” she declared, trying to shrug off the pink pony, but her eyes kept wandering back to the empty doorway. “Hm…”

[o-0-o]

Fluttershy was still shaking her head at the pair as she carefully made her way up, head to the side so she could keep an eye on her cargo.

"—that enough?" she heard Twilight ask, a block of silence following before Fluttershy made it to the top of the stairs in time to see Spike gripping the newly drafted letter to the princess. "Alright, Spike, send it."

"Can do," the little dragon replied and in a burst of green fire the letter disappeared into the air, off on its journey to Canterlot.

"So… now all we do is wait, I guess…" Twilight murmured sullenly.

The room was uncomfortably silent for a moment, the only sounds being those of the pair of ponies still arguing downstairs. As Fluttershy looked from pony to pony to dragon to pony, she saw the same look of helplessness on each.

"Maybe a distraction would help?" Fluttershy offered, shuffling the tray of water off her back and onto the nightstand.

“Oh, that sounds like a splendid idea!” Rarity declared, clopping her hooves excitedly. “We could make it like our slumber party!”

“Jus' with a few less trees through the window, eh, Twi?” Applejack replied, giving Twilight a nudge with her elbow, drawing a smile out the sullen unicorn.

“I guess a game might take our minds off all this,” the unicorn replied with a shrug. “I guess Spike can be my hooves for the time being.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Spike saluted, hopping up by the unicorn as Rarity began to levitate out several board games that had been stuffed beneath the guest bed.

“Let's see what we have here… checkers, chess, pony-opoly and Candyquestria?”

“Whoa!” Applejack yelled out as she was knocked aside by a sudden blur of pink.

“Did somepony say Candyquestria?!” the pink pony exclaimed, trotting excitedly in place. “Ooh, ooh, ooh! I love Candyquestria!”

“Pinkie, how do you always do that?”

“Always do what?”

“How do you always...” Rarity began before shaking her head. “Nevermind, I choose to accept that you are, and always shall be, Pinkie Pie.”

“Well, duh! Who else would I be, silly filly,” the party pony stated, drawing a laugh from the still fallen work horse.

“So, Pinkie, what exactly is Candyquestria?” Twilight asked, catching sight of soft blue glow before all light in the room suddenly disappeared as curtains were quickly closed.

Everything was shrouded in darkness a lantern clicked on to reveal the pink pony with a rather serious look on her face.

“Candyquestria, my little pony? Do you not know, do you not recall the legends of this most legendary and mysterious of places?”

Twilight opened her mouth, presumably to answer that no, she indeed did not know nor did she recall, but was quickly silenced as Pinkie continued, stalking about the room.

“Do you not know of the grand adventures, the great sorrows and greater triumphs to be had in this land, this most fabled land of Candyquestria?”

“N-no?” Fluttershy admitted from beneath Twilight's bed when she lay quivering.

“Then you also do not know of the mythical beasts that stalk these lands. The great treasures that lie in wait for an adventurer of great cunning and bravery. And it is a most cunning and brave adventurer whom you shall be if you choose to accept this most epic of quests. A hero to all ponykind.” As the party pony began to wrap up her speech, she strode on her hind legs to the side of Twilight's bed, the bound unicorn beginning to squirm beneath the ropes as Pinkie drew closer and closer.

“Uh, Pinkie?” Twilight squeaked out as Pinkie stopped just next to her, looking at her with a hard stare.

“You! Twilight Sparkle!” the pink pony decreed, pointing a hoof directly at Twilight whilst striking a heroic pose. “Do you choose to accept this role as hero for all of Candyquestria or let all fall into darkness and chaos?” Pinkie fell silent, hoof nearly pressed to the unicorn's nose as Twilight felt herself going cross-eyed staring at it.

“Um...yes?”

Immediately the curtains swung open, the room taking on its more natural warm glow as Pinkie, lantern gone, dropped back to her hooves.

“Yay! There's also candy! That's why it's Candyquestria instead of just Equestria. Get it? Candy, Equestria, Candyquestria! Or maybe it's because of copyright law...” The pink pony sat down on her haunches, pondering this a moment before bouncing right up again. “But still! There's candy!” she half-exclaimed, half sang out, clopping her hooves together excitedly.

“Candyquestria it is,” Rarity declared as the glow faded from her horn, earning a smug stare from Applejack as the work horse got to her hooves. “What? I told her I'd help her do her perform the introduction with proper style next time we played.”

Applejack merely shook her head as Fluttershy crawled out from her hiding spot. Pinkie tossed open the box and began to furiously set up the game's many pieces in a blur of hooves.

“Now,” Pinkie began as she finished her rapid set-up, a devious, almost sinister grin appearing on the party pony's face, “let us begin...”

[o-0-o]

“Seriously, Pinkie, how do you keep doing that?” asked a very frustrated, but now much cleaner and colorful Rainbow Dash as she resisted a growing urge to flip the board right out the window.

“Years of practice, Dashie me lass,” Pinkie replied with a nudge to the pegasus's ribs, drawing out a grimace as Dash begrudgingly moved her piece back a dozen spaces and out of the dungeon entirely. A good half-hours progress lost in the roll of a dice.

“That's like, the fifth time, though.” Dash pouted as Pinkie maintained her sly, all-knowing grin. “It just isn’t possible!”

“In the lands of Candyquestria, Rainbow, all things are possible,” the pink pony mused mysteriously as the rest of the ponies stared on with various levels of amusement written on their faces.

While most of them had been at least fairly successful in their own campaigns versus Pinkie's oft-times diabolical dungeonmastery, the rainbow-maned pegasi's strategy of rush all comers had been a bit of a flop, resulting in her avatar moving backwards far more often than not.

“Rainbow, dear, you really should try to pace yourself,” Rarity suggested, her own avatar having made it through to the third dungeon where much of the rest of the group resided, waiting for the impatient pegasus to finish the second.

“I'm a gonna have t’agree with Rarity on that one, sugar-cube,” Applejack smiled, taking a bit more pride than necessary in being out in front of the competition. “You're never gonna beat me at the rate you're goin'.”

“Oh yeah, then I'll just have to go faster,” Dash declared, eliciting a groan from Rarity as she rubbed a hoof on her forehead.

“That is exactly the wrong thing to do, Rainbow.”

“Oh I'll show you,” the impatient pegasus replied, ignoring the white unicorn's audible groan as Twilight and Fluttershy both choked back a chuckle.

The game had been going on for quite a few hours now and the purple unicorn's spirit's seemed to have greatly improved by the company and antics of her friends in spite of everything. They had broken only once for a late lunch that was surprisingly edible and even tasty considering the state Rainbow had been in when she brought it up to the rest, having been abandoned by her more experienced co-chef.

Since then, they had found themselves ensnared in the intricacies of Pinkie's particular brand of Candyquestria, which the pink pony had taken to raising to the level of ancient Equestrian theater with bouts of dramatic monologues and choreographed death scenes for the dungeon bosses. At the moment, with the sun beginning to set on Ponyville, the pink pony had taken to wearing a dark, flowing cloak and affected the persona of some devious dungeon master with a nigh unpronounceable name.

“C'mon, Dash, make your move,” Spike stated as the cyan colored pegasus mulled over the board, the dice balanced precariously on her hoof as she did so.

“I'm going, I'm going. Don't rush me,” she replied, ruby eyes focused intently on the board before her. She shook the dice lightly before juggling them with a hoof and rising dramatically onto her hind legs, eyes never leaving the board as she prepared her roll.

“Rainbow, roll alr—BRAAAAAP!”

A sudden and rather large belch seized the dragon, drawing everypony's attention as a scroll materialized in a burst of green fire and knocking him to the floor with the sheer force of it before another crash split their attentions.

“Aw, Rainbow, now the boards all messy,” Pinkie moaned, the rainbow-maned pegasus now splayed across the board, having lost both the dice and her balance.

She laughed nervously, before flapping into the air, many of the game's pieces coming with her only to fall back down in a series of soft clinks. “Um...new game?”

“Hold up there, Dash.” Applejack waved a hoof dismissively as Spike grasped the scroll and climbed back up to Twilight's side. “We best be seein' what the princess has to say.”

“Spike, if you’d please,” Rarity said with a flourish of her hoof as the five unbound ponies huddled around the little dragon, Twilight craning her neck so she could read the letter over his shoulder.

“Ahem. To my dearest, most faithful student Twilight,

“I regret that I cannot come directly to you at the moment in your time of distress. As there is a diplomatic crisis in Canterlot, my schedule is at present dominated by the affairs of state despite my wish to help you personally. I have no personal experience with what you have described, but I have passed along your exhaustive list of symptoms to my personal physicians.

“While they are uncertain of an exacting cause, they came to the conclusion that your magic's instability may be a stress reaction compounded by insomniac tendencies.

“I do hope that you are not upset with me for having taken the liberty of disclosing some of your old habits to the Doctor Sterling. I hope that I have not overstepped any bounds in having done so, but I know that you would most certainly be honest about this particular quirk, given the severity.

“The doctors have concluded that, with some proper rest and relaxation, you should find yourself and your magic back in optimal shape in several days time. Given some of the details you've included in your letter, it seems you may have been hitting the Equestrian Journal of Medicine a bit hard lately. I suggest you take a good long break from your studies in books and simply enjoy yourself with your friends as much as possible.

“Time permitting, I would like to come for a visit as soon as it is feasible. I hope that when I arrive I shall find you in better health and good spirits should you follow their advice.

“Your loving teacher, Celestia

“P.S. If the more eccentric symptoms worry you, perhaps you should take measures to keep yourself stationary while unconscious. Common sense may be common, but sense is sense.”

“Common sense, indeed,” Rarity quipped with a small smile as Twilight blushed a dark fuchsia.

“Well, if'n those doctors say so, I s'pose we just ought to get you a whole lot o' bed rest,” Applejack affirmed before looking around at the group of ponies assembled. “Maybe we really ought to have a slumber party. Keep you from goin' stir crazy an' all.”

“Ooh, ooh, a slumber party! I love parties!” Pinkie chirped, looking rather ridiculous as the once grim dungeon master hopped about like a filly on one too many cupcakes in her dark flowing robes. “I don't think I've ever had a slumber party… isn't it hard to party while you’re asleep?”

“I dun think most would be gettin' any with you around,” Applejack joked, the pink pony's bouncing having shaken off most of her costume by now. “Maybe me an' Rares take the lead on this.”

“I think we should make plans first,” Rarity stated, a worried look on her face. “Just so no pony wonders where we've gone. I've already closed the boutique for the day, but Sweetie Belle might worry if she drops by.”

“Oh and Gummy'll be wondering where Momma Pie is. I can't worry my little baby,” Pinkie said, the bounce in her step coming to a sudden halt.

“I best tell Big Mac and Bloom where I'm gonna be, too.”

“I haven't been to my cottage since this morning. I should at least have Angel watch over things while I'm here.”

“Alright, so we all go make our plans, then come right back,” Dash stated, brushing the last few bits of board game out of her hide.

“But, we can't leave Twilight here with just Spike to look after her,” Fluttershy reminded them, Twilight's face brightening up at the suggestion. “I'll keep Twilight company while the rest of you make your plans.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Let's get her started then,” Applejack said as the four ponies began to file down the stairs. “We'll be back afore you kin say ‘Appaloosa,’ Twi.”

“Thanks, girls,” Twilight smiled as they disappeared from view one by one, the door to library slamming home distantly.

Fluttershy flew up to the window overlooking the front of the library and waved a hoof at the departing ponies, Spike joining the pegasus on the window sill.

“Twilight, how are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked as she turned around to find the unicorn pressed flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Mostly fine, I guess...” the unicorn muttered as Fluttershy fluttered back, putting a worried hoof to her shoulder.

“Mostly?”

“Yeah… I mean”—the unicorn closed her eyes, liquid cresting her shut lids—“I'm really happy you girls are here and that you'll still be here, but…”

“But you're still scared?” Fluttershy offered as Spike leaned over the back of the bed, silently worrying.

“Yeah. I mean my talent is magic. My element is magic. I've practically lived, eaten and breathed magic since even before the Princess took me under her wing...” Twilight trailed off as she blinked the tears out of her eyes, Fluttershy carefully wiping them from her cheeks with a wingtip. “Thanks.”

“Think nothing of it,” the pegasus replied, giving the unicorn a soft smile before both fell silent a moment.

“It's just...” the unicorn began, biting her lip as she tried to find the words. “It's just losing control like this. I want to understand it… I want to know what is going on. I hate not knowing, not being prepared...”

“None of us do, Twilight. Nopony does, but it's one of those things every pony has to deal with sometimes, right?”

“I guess...” the unicorn muttered, unconvinced.

Fluttershy bit her lip, mind racing for an example to soothe her friend's worries. “Remember when you were researching Pinkie Pie?”

“Yeah, load of good that did… still don't know what makes that pony tick,” Twilight replied with a chuckle, brightening at the memory.

“I don't think any of us ever really will, but that's not my point. Sometimes we don't have to understand things in order to be able to deal with them. If we did, I think Pinkie would have driven a lot of ponies to the asylum… probably in her Pinkie-copter,” the yellow pegasus admitted, drawing a smile out of the unicorn.

“Give her time, I'm sure she'll manage,” Twilight joked. “That or she'll throw a party so big the universe will have a second big bang.”

“It'd be the funnest Armageddon anypony ever attended.”

“Have you two been looking in my diary?”

“Aaahhh!” Twilight yelled out as a chaotic pink mane appeared just behind Spike, sending the baby dragon onto the bed as Fluttershy merely looked on with eyes seemingly too large for her head. “Don't do that.”

“How did you know about the Ponygeddon?” Pinkie inquired, squinting her eyes as she leaned uncomfortably close to the unicorn's face.

“Ponygeddon?” Twilight laughed awkwardly, eyes whipping back and forth between the party pony and Fluttershy.

“So, you don't know?”

“Know about what?”

“I was hoping you'd say that,” she stated, giving Twilight and Fluttershy one last stare before reverting to her normal happy-go-Pinkie self. “It'll be the bestest, most awesomest surprise ever!”

“I'm sure it will be, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said as she and Twilight shared a sigh of relief. Pinkie, meanwhile, bounced in place, eyes screwed shut as she presumably imagined the universe-shattering awesomeness that would be the Pinkie Pie's Ponygeddon Party Palooza.

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight whispered as the yellow pegasus began to leave for her cottage, prompted by the collection of voices below.

“It was nothing, Twilight. Now, you just relax and we'll all be enjoying a nice, soothing slumber party in no time.” With that, the pegasus took off down the stairs, nodding to her returning friends before emerging into the dusk-covered streets of Ponyville.

As she trotted down the streets, Fluttershy found herself chewing her lip nervously, going over the advice she had just given her friend. She wasn't sure if she even really believed her own advice, but it seemed to have worked for the unicorn so they had to have been the right words. Hopefully.

It was the right advice… there might be plenty to be scared of though. Even if the doctors think its stress… Fluttershy thought to herself as she glided on the last dying thermals, watching as Luna's moon crept steadily into the sky. As the pegasus stared at the glowing white orb, she couldn't help but feel a shiver course down her spine. The feeling of those staring eyes returning, if only for a second before she shook the memories from her mind. It was probably all in your head, Fluttershy… everything will be fine in the morning. You'll see.

[o-0-o]

By the time Fluttershy had fed and taken care of her animals, the day had been subsumed entirely by the night. The glow of the street lanterns shining in the distance were the only sign of Ponyville as the yellow pegasus prepared to leave her home. She hoped in reliable paws.

"And you'll remember to change Mr. Mouse's sling, won't you? And check the splint on Ruby's wing?" Fluttershy asked nervously as she adjusted her traveling bag.

The little white rabbit—to whom she had entrusted the cottage and its inhabitants to—gave a sharp salute and a vigorous nod of his head.

Fluttershy knew the rabbit could be trusted. He ran a tight ship after all, lording it over most of the animals. With a surprisingly comforting, iron paw as well. She gave the saluting rabbit one last nuzzle before trotting towards the door.

"Okay, Angel, now you take care of yourself," Fluttershy began, turning to leave before looking over her shoulder at the rabbit now retreating up the stairs. "And I don't want to hear about any wild parties when I get back, mister."

The rabbit stopped dead in his tracks, turning to face the pegasus from the third step. He stood on his hind legs, giving his caretaker an aptly angelic grin beforing sign her promise to be a good little bunny scout. If an angelic halo could have appeared above the rabbit's head, it probably would have.

"Alright, Angel, take care." With that the rabbit vanished up the stair.

Fluttershy made her way to the door when something caught her eye—a titleless volume on her bookshelf, wedged between volumes of Bird Fanciers Weekly and Crochet Workshop Quarterly.

She plucked it from the shelf, tipping it open to reveal a hollow cut into the pages filled to bursting with letters. Pulling out one in particular, she slipped it into her bag.

It might make Twilight feel a little better, she thought, running a hoof over the other letters, the rest of them all unopened. Might make us both feel a little better.

Shutting the book and slipping it back into its hiding spot, she trotted out the door, shutting it softly, but firmly and taking off in the air towards Ponyville

As the the night breeze flowed beneath her wings, she swore for a moment that she could hear music playing behind her.

Perhaps the little rabbit would at least remember to clean up this time.

Smiling softly, the pegasus began to follow the lanterns that lined the streets of Ponyville towards Twilight's house, the library looming large in the distance.

"I hope I wasn't gone too long," Fluttershy murmured to herself as she realized that all the windows in the tree house had gone dark as were most of the windows in little town. As she made her final approach, she landed just before the entrance way to find it ever so slightly ajar, the smell of burning reaching her nostrils.

Maybe Rainbow tried cooking dinner for everypony.

Fluttershy made her way into the library, striding carefully into the darkened innards of the great oak.

“Hello?” the pegasus whispered into the dark, wings still half-extended as her body sent reflexive flight signals coursing through her body. “I—is anypony here?”

There was no answer as the pegasus made her way up the stairs.

“Rainbow Dash?” she asked in barely more than a whisper as she came to the second floor of the tree, not making it another step before her hoof hit something soft and warm. “Did you burn something?”

“Mmm...five more minutes, Sweetie Belle...” came a familiar moan as the soft and warm something rolled over and grasped Fluttershy's hoof.

“Rarity?”

“Huh, whuh?” came the less than dignified reply. A short cough later and the room was suddenly covered in a soft blue glow as the unicorn's horn flared into life, revealing her confused face. “Oh, Fluttershy. What happened? Why am I on the floor?”

The pegasus didn't reply as she surveyed the scene, all of her friends lay scattered, unconscious, around the bottom of the second story awkwardly with the exception of Applejack and Twilight. Ignoring the confused fashionista for a moment, Fluttershy lifted herself into the air and gasped at what she saw curled up next to Twilight's bed.

“Applejack!” she cried out and shot to the earth pony's side.

The earth pony was shaking terribly, a bit of smoke rising off her coat, glowing eerily as it was lit by Rarity’s magic.

“Fl-fluttershy? Where's Twi?” the work horse asked, trembling she clutched her barrel with her hooves.

“She’s...” Fluttershy let out a second gasp as she saw the empty bed, the ropes laying on the floor, their singed ends still smoking. “She's gone!”

“Twilight's gone?” Rarity cried out before scrambling to her hooves and up to Twilight's bed, taking up the burnt rope in her magic. “Where could she have gone?”

“She was goin’ for… the stairs… bunch of you j-just kinda dropped when she went by y’all… I-I tried to tackle 'er… but she had this weird glow about her...” Applejack explained through clenched teeth as she tried to roll to her hooves, Fluttershy acting as a willing crutch.

“Applejack, what happened to you?”

“S-same as yer hoof I r-reckon,” she replied, tipping over and slumping down against the bed to reveal a long, ragged burn running along her underside. “Th-think it's mostly just the shock of it. Hurts like the briar fulla brambles though.”

“I-I'll go see if I can fetch some bandages,” Rarity asked, her complexion having taken on a rather green hue.

“I should have some in my bag,” the pegasus stated bluntly as she shimmied her saddlebags to the floor. “Rarity, I could use your magic.”

“Of course, dear,” the unicorn seemed less than sure, but she held her ground as Fluttershy’s supplies cascaded onto the bed.

“C-can't waste no time… we gotta go after Twilight. Somethin' bad’s got into her,” Applejack pleaded as Fluttershy began to set cool wet cloth over the wounds, sending shivers through the work pony.

“I know, Applejack, but we've got to get you ready to first...” Fluttershy trailed off as she noticed the smell of burnt wood amidst the scent of branded flesh that threatened to overwhelm the pegasus gag reflex. Glancing down, she could see a distinct trail of hoof prints, glowing a soft blue in the glow of Rarity's horn. The unicorn glanced down, following the pegasi's gaze.

“It seems she's left us a path to follow at the least,” the unicorn stated before moving to follow the trail, pausing a moment to relight the bedside lantern with her magic before trotting down the stairs.

“G-good… now we just got to git to following it,” Applejack stated as she tried to roll to all fours only to have a yellow hoof pin her in place with a surprising amount of strength.

“We're getting you bandaged first, then we wake up all our friends, then we all go after Twilight,” Fluttershy commanded.

Applejack tensed before relaxing fully beneath the hoof with a sag of her shoulders.

“If it's any consolation, it doesn't appear that she was in much of a hurry,” Rarity called from the front window and from their vantage point, Applejack and Fluttershy could see the evenly spaced hoof prints disappearing into the dark of Ponyville, each pair spaced a hoofstep or so apart at most.

“Alright, get me fixed up so we can go sort this mess out.”

Applejack sighed, lifting herself onto the bed so Fluttershy could begin her work.

As she bandaged the earth pony, hooves working off muscle memory, her thoughts drifted to the wayward unicorn.

In the morning, Twilight... Everything will be better... You'll see.

Author's Note:

[revised 08-07-2014]

Comments

This is a prologue?!

[Thespurgin]

3072 IF this is the prologue... I fear the actual story.