Pinkie Discovers Jazz

by Crisis_Vyper

The Turbulence of Honesty

Chapter 11 – The Turbulence of Honesty

“Alright now, you be careful now.” Applejack is now waving goodbye to the young filly who was now waving back at her as the filly walks back home. She was mighty proud of what she had done but then it soon dawned on her mind that she still needs to get to the library. With that she gallops out from the ice-cream store. When she arrived outside the library, she could see that her grandmother and Mr.Coltrane are outside talking to each other.

“Heya Granny, what’cha doing outside here in the cold? You know it is bad for yer back.”
“I know Jackie, but we can’t help it. We heard some drummin’ and we came out. But we could not figure out who played the drums when we finally got through the crowd.”
“Oh….really?” Applejack is now smiling nervously at Granny Smith. If she was a better liar, she would have covered this very well, but of course being the Bearer of the Element of Honesty makes that task almost impossible to do, even for the white lies. Sometimes she wished that she had some other element so that she could actually lie much better. But luckily for her, night is already up, and the lack of lighting actually managed to disguise Applejack’s expression from both of the old equines.

“Ah have to say that cat is a hummer of a skin-beater if that cat is usin’ trash to make some skins and take off with those tunes.” Mr. Coltrane reasons. Applejack could only smile nervously, and even though she has not a single clue as to what the zebra is saying, but the way he says it tells Applejack that he is definitely interested in her drumming skills. She wipes off her nervous sweat by pretending to adjust her hat.

“Well…that’s nice y’all. But Ah believe that we should get in somewhere warm and nice alright?” Applejack tries to change the topic, and her nervousness shows in her voice. Of course, the weather was quite chilly that night, and the old equines attributed the trembling nature of Applejack’s voice as that of the cold getting to her.

“Yer right Jackie. Let’s get into the library and be warm.” The old mare suggested, and the three equines proceed to walk towards the library. Applejack could only curse her luck, as she is bad when she’s under pressure when she knows that she is lying. She will crack like an egg when they started talking about the ‘mystery pony’. She will have to tell them the truth soon enough. Once they entered the library it seems that Spike is now preparing dinner for everyone in the room, and Pinkie are already at the dining table. It was then that Applejack remembered that she had not cooked dinner for both her brother and her sister, it is perhaps the best excuse to leave the library at once.

“Oh Granny Ah forgot that Ah have not done dinner for Big Mac and Applebloom! Ah should be going now. Twi, you help mah Granny alright and send her back to the farm, alright?” It was then that the most unfortunate thing happens to Applejack, as her only excuse to leave the place entered into the library.

“Granny!” Applebloom rushes into the library and hugs her grandmother. As Granny Smith looks around, she found that her grandson is at the door smiling at her. The red stallion started to speak before Granny Smith could say anything.
“Granny, Ah figured that Ah came here after takin’ Applebloom outta school and we could all….AJ what’cha doing here?” Big Macintosh is definitely surprised by his sister’s presence in the library.

“Oh goodie! AJ here had forgotten to cook y’all dinner, and Twilight could mah family join y’all for dinner?” Granny Smith asked the purple unicorn. Twilight smiles and then she turns towards the kitchen.

“Hey Spike do you think we could have a few more guest for dinner?”
“Sure thing Twilight, it will be my pleasure! Besides, the more the merrier right?” Spike answered to the sound of sizzling oil in the kitchen. Before long the red stallion and the yellow filly proceed to make themselves comfortable at the dining table, while Mr. Coltrane makes his way down the basement to get Octavia and the babies. As the atmosphere becomes more festive and warm, Applejack’s heart becomes a little more depressed and cold.

“Consarn it.” Applejack cursed, facehoofed and then walked to the dining table to join everyone else. Of course no one else noticed the laments of the cowpony.

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Soon enough, the dishes came out one by one and to the delight of almost everyone, the meal today is quite a meal. Twilight and Spike is slowly serving all the dishes that will be their dinner today; a big roasted Pumpkin with vegetarian stuffing, hot baked potatoes with sour cream with some sautéed broccoli, lettuce and spinach tossed with some balsamic vinegar, deep-fried veggie patties and cream of mushroom soup. And just to top it off, Spike decides to open a bottle of sparkling grape wine for everyone to enjoy. Of course for the babies, they are given some veggie paste as they are too young to feast upon such a meal.

“Wow….Spike, I did not know that you could cook.” Octavia could not help her mouth from watering, failing in her attempt to be civil on the table. The other ponies laughed at Octavia.

“Well, why do you think that Spike is so round?” Twilight jested, and everypony laughed. The dragon feigns displeasure, but then he gives everyone a smile before he went on to get the silverware for everypony. The only person in the room whose laughter is a little more reserved is that of Applejack’s. No one had noticed the nervousness of the orange pony, as their attention is on the food.

“Now this would be a great meal to celebrate, if only we could find out that mysterious drummer pony.” Granny Smith’s comment strikes Applejack cold. Pinkie was the first one to ask Granny about this mysterious pony, and as Granny Smith and Mr. Coltrane told their tale to everypony, Applejack could not help but feel that she is now in the spotlight that she does not want to be a part of.

“Well Granny, I am sure you can ask everypony else tomorrow. I mean you did see a crowd of ponies around that drummer. They might remember who that is.” Twilight reasoned as she passes over the baked potatoes over to Octavia.

“Yeah Edith, y’know by morning.” Mr. Coltrane is also rather eager to know the identity of the mysterious pony, but at the same time he’s starving and immediately dined on his meal. Before long however, the topic shifted with Octavia asking Spike how he prepares the pumpkin to be so divine to the mouth. Applejack is relieved and she could not help but to enjoy the good meal that she is having right now. However, the fact remains that almost everypony (or so she thought) have saw her play that trash drums to please that little filly and she would have to spill the beans tomorrow.

“Hey everyone, look outside the window!” Applebloom shouted out and points to the window. Before long everyone could see the thing that excites the young filly. The first drops of snow started descending upon Ponyville like crystals falling in the night sky, marking the first days of winter for everypony in the town. But little did anyone in the town knew, there is something fierce coming their way.......

The first thing that greeted them in the morning is a blizzard and it soon dawned on everyone’s mind that somehow they are in deep trouble. Soon enough, they found out what caused the freak weather, with the courtesy of a loud banging on the door by an almost frozen rainbow-maned pegasus. After she was covered in a lot of blankets and downed three cups of hot chocolate without even waiting for it to cool down, Rainbow Dash told them that a certain cross-eyed pegasus accidentally set the snow to come down as a blizzard for the new few days rather than the gentle snowfall that was supposed to fall on Ponyville, essentially trapped everyone in their homes. Of course the pegasi are mustered to try and fix the problem as soon as possible, as Ponyville would not survive the raw fury of the ice tempest for long.

Even as Rainbow Dash explained to everyone in the library about this unfortunate turn of events, a magical scroll appears in a puff of flame. Mr.Coltrane opens up the letter and confirmed Rainbow Dash’s story. The blizzard soon becomes even bigger which caused Rainbow Dash to become the newest guest in the library. Luckily for everyone in the house, Twilight’s obsession with backing up her plans with more backups and those backups with more backups, everyone is now facing a stockpile that would allow the entire Ponyvile survive through three very bad winters. Somehow despite the unfortunate event, Applejack was quite relieved that no one in the library would discover her identity as the mysterious pony drummer. But instead now she had to deal with the issue of her secret and also the pressing matter of trying to survive with everyone else. Twilight managed to send a letter to the Cakes that their foals are alright using Spike’s dragonfire. Spike however was curious as to why Twilight did not just teleported the Cakes back to their parents.

“Spike, you know more than anyone else that my teleportation has its own limitations, and I prefer to not push them whenever I could, especially when other ponies could suffer from the consequences.” Spike knows about her limits alright, as she tends to have a lot of physical strain whenever she teleports anyone alongside herself, and anyone else that teleports with her could have some odd side effects. It was then that Twilight noticed that everyone is now looking at all the books of the library with a sense of apprehension, and could not possible know that everyone is thinking that the books in the library could be the only thing that will keep them warm when the time comes where there is no longer any firewood to burn.

“Guys, why are you looking at the books like that?” Twilight looked rather uneasy as she noticed the atmosphere and the looks on their faces, especially that of Pinkie Pie. The foals however did not notice the odd expression on their caregiver’s face. Soon enough, the ponies spread out to try and do something, or to be exact are motivated to do something else other than sitting there and letting the boredom and paranoia get to them. All of them tried to pass the time in whatever way that they could think of. Mr. Coltrane with a tune on his saxophone, Granny Smith taking care of the Cakes, Octavia and Big Macintosh are talking to each other, and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Spike and Applebloom are now playing ‘Snakes and Ladders’. Of course, Applejack and Twilight are now searching through the books in the library to try and see if they could do anything about the raging snowstorm.

“Twilight…..find anythin’ yet?” Applejack is now beside the purple unicorn, and the unicorn is levitating several books and reading from all of them at once. She looks at her friend and shakes her head.

“Nothing so far.” Twilight sounds rather dejected as she answers the cowpony. And so, the only two that are willing to search for a solution to their problems are now going through the books, even if there are just on a wild goose chase.

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- Night Time at Golden Oaks Library –

As night descends upon Ponyville, Applejack could not help but to be plague by both the worsening weather and also her secret. She does not want it to be such that she would be going to the other side with regret in her heart, but yet at the same time she will not know the reaction of her grandmother when faced with the issue of her being the mysterious drummer. And then there is Pinkie. If she told her friend that she does truly want to join her band, she might have both a sad and crazy Pinkie Pie on her tail. She does not even want to know the bad and volatile combination of these two factors could affect her wellbeing. What she does know however, is that with every passing moment, a she could feel that there are a pile of bricks being dumped on her heart making her even more depressed than before.

As Applejack searched through the books, flipping every page and taking a short glance in them before moving on to the next book she could only wonder how long will it be before she snaps from the pressure. She might be hardy from all the work in the farm, but her heart is as soft as that of Fluttershy’s when it comes to honesty. She frowns as she is looking through the books, trying her best to focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about her secret. Instead what she got is a combination of the two, and now she felt like she is now being drowned in a tub of water from her anxiety.

“I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie’s scream just caught everyone off-guard. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash rushed beside their pink friend, trying to calm her down from her ‘friendship’ worries. Pinkie looked like somepony who had not taken a sniff from some quality sea salt, and her hair is a little less puffy than it is. The price of having everypony as your friend does take a toll on you, as you are just plain worried about them all.

“Calm down Pinkie, it is only like a few hours since we got stuck here.” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly. Of course, being a pony of the air she is also feeling the pressure of her being; the desire to be out in the skies again and feel the clouds under her hooves again. Now that she think about it, it was by chance that she had taken Tank to Fluttershy for a checkup just right before the storm hits. She could not imagine how Tank would survive for a week without anypony to feed him and take care of him. She thanked Celestia for this foresight of hers.

“But what if the snow had gotten too thick that the snow collapsed on their house?!? What happened if they are not as fully stocked as we do? What happen when they just needs help? Beyond that, what happens if they forget me? Will they be like ‘Pinkie Pie? Who’s Pinkie Pie? They will not even remember my face! What if….” Twilight hates to do this to a friend, but the situation calls for it. She raised her hoof but just before she could slap Pinkie to sense, Applejack literally bucks her pink friend so hard that she was now bouncing all around the room like a rubber ball before falling down on the exact place where Pinkie was before she got bucked. To everyone’s surprise, everyone was surprised that it was Applejack that went on talking.

“Will you just get a grip Pinkie? Twilight’s already checked up on them just a minute ago, teleported to each one of their houses and send them some of the food that she stocked up for such a situation! Twilight even said that they said ‘hi’ to you! And….” It was then that Rainbow Dash prods Applejack’ss shoulder, and the light orange earth pony glanced back at her, with some daggers in her sight and looking somewhat agitated.

“Ur…not to bother you on your roll, A.J but I don’t think anypony’s eyes supposed to do that.” Applejack wondered for a split second before she looks back at Pinkie. Apparently, her eyes had little birds flying around in circles in them, and Pinkie is down on the floor. Twilight is now very much confused over what she is seeing here, but the purple unicorn went on lightly prodding their pink friend before putting her hoof on Pinkie’s neck. Twilight gave a sigh of relief and then voices out her assessment.

“Yep, she’s out cold. Gosh Applejack, that is a little excessive.” Twilight looks at the pink pony with a newfound respect and a sense of fear. Twilight remembered how Applejack literally kicked several dozen changelings up at once in the air during the changeling invasion and they are all knocked unconscious by it. If a single pony is at the other end, she highly doubts that the pony would have pieces all around Equestria, if there are any pieces remaining. Seeing from how Pinkie was only knocked out from Applejack’s bucking, she could only marvel at the toughness of Pinkie Pie.

“Oh…”Applejack blushed as the comments from both of her friends seeps into her head. Nonetheless that also means that Applejack is feeling the strain of keeping her secrets and the bad weather that threatens their very survival , not to mention being afraid that her friends might get hurt in more ways that one. As of this moment, all she did was to buck her friend in the head, and that had already made her regret her sudden outburst. She would not know what will happen when she bucks somepony else that is not Pinkie. She shudders at the thoughts, and all she could try to cover the image with are apples...lots of apples getting squished. Applejack walks to a corner of the room and just sit on her haunches in self-punishment. It was then that Big Macintosh asked Twilight a question. When the most silent of ponies started talking, everyone listens.

“Twilight, Ah hate to ask you this, but can’t we just ask the Princesses for help? Ah mean….they do have their magic and all.” Twilight shakes her head, and everyone’s attention is now on Twilight.

“Princess Luna is in Saddle Arabia on official business, while Princess Celestia is visiting my brother and Cadence in the Crystal Empire, so they can’t help us in stopping this magical storm. If they knew about the storm they would have acted immediately.” The red stallion nods, understanding the logic of Twilight’s rationale.

“Isn’t there a spell that could have stopped this storm?” Octavia asks Twilight.
“Well, so far we are searching through the books, but we are not finding anything other than asking us to let the pegasi to take care of the weather. It frustrates me a little how we take the weather for granted at times.” Twilight is now looking at the floor, frustrated that she is unable to find a solution to their conundrum as quickly as she could have done. It was then that the saxophone playing stopped, and Mr. Coltrane speaks to them all.

“Well we better collar some of them books if we wanna help our hep cat here. Y’dig everyone?” As usual the sing-song accent with the weird slangs is hard to understand, but somehow everyone in the room knew what the old zebra is saying. It was Applebloom that took the first step.

“Ah think Ah am gonna search in this section right here.” The young filly points at the stack of books right next to her. Before long everyone is now searching through the books to find a way to get rid of the storm. Everyone could now feel that the library is much colder than it is earlier in the day, and the frost has started to form on the windows of the library.
Applejack could only wonder how much she could bear from all the turbulence within her heart, seeing that not only is she being pressured from the storm, but also from the issues of honesty within her heart.