Chapter 12: Questions and Pain
“But Darling, I simply must insist that the first chance we get, you allow me to do your mane. You would look absolutely DIVINE if you let me have just an hour with it!”
Twilight sighed, “Rarity, as much as I appreciate it, there are much more important things that we need to be worry about.”
“Oh I am well aware of our present situation, I just would much rather not think about it. Instead, I would much rather worry about that mane and tail of yours.”
Twilight looked towards her companion, seeing the idyllic smile that Rarity was giving to her. Ever since the two of them started their trip several hours before, they had a series of very pleasant conversations. Sure many involved fashion, makeovers, and how the white unicorn was going to bring back “the lost art of nobility” to this world, but Twilight didn't mind. Granted once Rarity got to the part where about where she wanted to completely redo Twilight's complete look she drew the line, but the small talk was otherwise enjoyable.
In fact, she relished the conversations, and they even talked about things that she had more of an interest to. Books, magic, and what she was going to say to Celestia when they freed her from her stone prison were brought up, and Twilight was just as energetic as Rarity was when she talked. Twilight knew that while the Rarity had little interest in the books and magic, she politely nodded in the appropriate places and conversed anyways.
Twilight looked forwards, and saw that their path was taking them closer to the Everfree Forest. She was afraid that their travels would take them to this place, but now her suspicions appeared to ring true. The sight of the forest from several miles away gave away its dangerous nature. The trees themselves were mostly green, highly contrasting the world around them. Twilight couldn't see anything past the initial treeline, but if she were to guess, the inside was at least just as dark and spooky as before.
In fact, if this forest was scary and dangerous in their time, given one and a half thousand years to grow even more wildly out of control, the woods now must have been a truly frightening place. Cockatrices, Manticores, and Ursa Majors were three of the most terrifying creatures that the forest used to be able to muster. Now, however, with the world being even more violent and chaotic, Celestia only knows how much more powerful creatures lurk in the woods.
Twilight gulped.
“Say... say Rarity,” Twilight turned to her counterpart, attempting to get her mind off of her previous thought, “Sarlaka gave you that... uhh... sword, yes?”
“You mean this thing?” Rarity spoke as her horn glowed, pulling the piece of deadly metal out of the scabbard strapped to her back, the absence of the typical magical glow around the blade itself apparent. “Why of course. In fact, I do have to say that the whole encounter when he gave it to me was quite weird.”
“Can I see it?” Twilight asked. Rarity smiled as she moved it towards the purple unicorn. Enveloping the weapon in her aura, Twilight pulled the weapon closer to thoroughly inspect it. “Hmm...” she thought out loud. She looked into the weapon, analyzing its composition intensely, “... very interesting...”
“What's interesting, dear?”
Twilight thought about it a little more, then shook her head, “This steel is perfect in every single way. There isn't a single impurity, a single micro-fracture, or even a single bend in the steel. The diamond core seems slightly cracked, sure, but that shouldn't affect the integrity of the weapon as a whole. The time that he must have put into this thing must have been massive.”
Rarity looked away, “Yes... that is... quite interesting...”
She noticed the white unicorn turning away, as if ashamed of something, but Twilight let it slide. “Rarty,” Twilight spoke as she gave the weapon back to her companion. “You said that the whole situation with Sarlaka was weird. How so?”
“Did I say that?” Rarity chuckled nervously, “Oh it must have... umm... been a slip of the tongue as they say.”
Twilight glared at her, “Slip of the tongue my hoof. What happened?”
She turned away, and paused for a few moments. Eventually, Rarity turned back towards her, her face no longer cheery as before, “He was extremely interested in me in some weird way.” Upon hearing this, Twilight's eyes grew wide. Seeing it, Rarity opened her eyes wide as well, “Oh no! I don't mean like THAT dear! Dear Celestia no! I mean that when it came down to it, he wanted to make sure that I personally was prepared as much as possible. More so than the rest of the girls.”
“What do you mean? He did give the other girls his... well... 'gifts' as well.”
“Yes, but think about it Twilight. Even if it was from a phoenix, he gave Fluttershy a simple feather from a bird. All he gave Applejack was a set of climbing claws and some well made rope from a creature's hair. As for Pinkie, he gave her... well... I don't think I ever found out WHAT dear Pinkie got. But he didn't give you or Rainbow Dash anything. Yet with all of those things, they were just that, things. None of them actually had a significant amount of time or effort put into them. For me, not only did he tell me that he spent decades making this one... gift, but he gave me the largest bag of diamonds I have ever laid my eyes on! Doesn't any of that sound weird?”
Twilight was tempted to say it wasn't weird Rarity was treated specially for a single specific reason. Instead, she replied, “I'm sure there whatever reason there was, it was a good one.” Looking back towards their destination, she noticed that the two of them were standing a few hundred yards outside of the treeline of the Everfree Forest, which insides were no more visible than before. “Well, I guess this is a good place as any to stop for the night.”
Nodding to each other, they quickly started to set up camp in a way only an unicorn could. To an outsider, especially in this crazy new world, the sight of the two unicorns setting up camp with only their magic must have been a very astonishing sight. The two unicorns planted their feet, and proceeded to build their tent, place their items inside of the tent, set up and start a fire, and even set up an area to lay next to the now raging blaze, all without moving a single step from their respective positions. Smiling at a job well done, Twilight noticed that Rarity had already laid herself in front of the campfire, basking in its warmth. It was then that Twilight came up with an idea, an idea that Rarity would not like in the slightest.
“Not quite yet,” she said as she stopped the white unicorn's relaxation, “I think that since we have at least an hour of daylight left, I was hoping that we could do something before dinner.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow, “Darling, what are you getting at?”
Her horn glowing, Twilight pulled a very familiar jewel encrusted scabbard out of the tent, and placed it at Rarity's hooves. “Practice!”
“Wha?”
Rolling her eye's, Twilight elaborated, “Rarity, I don't know much about Ponyville's education system, but I'm fairly certain that classes that went over the intricate styles of sword fighting weren't in the core curriculum. And from what I've seen, even the royal guards didn't get much training with weaponry, much less using unicorn magic to wield them, so we both have to figure out what you will be capable of. And for us to figure all of that out, we need to practice!”
“But Twilight!” Rarity whined, “Not tonight! We've been traveling all day, and my legs are tired, and my hooves ache, and... and... umm... you don't care, do you?”
Twilight shook her head, a grin plastered on her face.
“Alright, fine, but you cook dinner tonight then.”
Rarity slowly started to get up onto her four hooves, only to have something hit her. Turning her head towards the source, she saw Twilight smiling, a small clump of dirt hovering next to her. Twilight's smile grew wider as she saw a small playful scowl grow on Rarity's face.
“Oh... it. Is. ON!”
“Then I swear I saw something resembling a cucumber attack me!”
Applejack was doing her best to keep her mind on their mission to find and bring a certain currently annoying pink pony to her Element of Harmony. Because they were passing by Conflound on their journey, Applejack wanting to be as far away from that town as possible, they had traveled for the entire previous day. In fact, they only stopped several hours after the sun went down. Now, they were in the middle of their second day, and were actually making decent time. Countless hoofsteps now separated them from Sarlaka's lair, and she really was trying her best to achieve the nearly insurmountable task at hand.
“And then!!! The fishy wishy went blubba blub blubblely blub!!”
However, with every passing second, the idea of bringing Pinkie to her element hogtied and gagged was becoming more and more appealing. For the entire time that the two had traveled, she listened to the non-stop chattering of the pink mare. At first, she listened and conversed with her, but Pinkie could talk a mile a minute, never letting her say anything in response. Then, she tried tuning it out, but the incessant droning had the same effect of a constantly dripping faucet when trying to sleep. Then, she tried getting the unstoppable mare to get on a subject that Applejack could at least listen to, like a story similar to that Pinkie told on the way to Sarlaka's lair, but that was a failure as well.
Now, all Applejack could do was hope that either her sanity would survive until they got back to Sarlaka's lair, or her eardrums would burst from the pink pony's verbal assault, relieving her from the torture. Regardless of the outcome, Applejack welcomed it.
“And then!!! A giant marshmallow came up and tried to impersonate Sweetie Belle, which is weird because Sweetie Belle's fur isn't actually that sweet tasting. Trust me, I know”
Applejack tried to recall how much farther they had left until they hit the river that bordered the Sarlaka's domain to the south... or at least used to be south before the sun stopped its slow crawl across the sky, and instead stayed directly above them most of the day. There, they would come across a border guard post, and, according to Salaka, the guards would let them through easily enough, thanks to the medallions. After that, it was only a hop skip and a jump to where Pinkie's Element was held. Where exactly that was, whether a fortress or a hollowed out rock, Applejack wasn't sure.
“Then Twilight used her magic to turn the pumpkin into a bunch of slippers!! Squishy ones!!”
Applejack did have one question though, “Pinkie...”
“But then the slippers turned into evil mind controlling footwear bent on ruling the universe, and they almost won!”
“Pinkie...”
“But all the sudden!! Zoom!! Whirrr!!! Bam!!! Rainbow flew in and saved the day with math of all things!! Of course, then Flut-”
“PINKIE PIE!!!” Applejack wailed at the top of her lungs, forelegs flailing in the air as she stopped walking.
Pinkie just looked at her, “Yes Applejack?”
“Could ya please, for five minutes, be... quiet!?”
“Hmm.... okie dokie lokie!”
Giving Pinkie a skeptical look, Applejack saw the pink pony standing there, giving her the widest smile she thought a pony could possibly hold, as if Pinkie was completely oblivious to her frustration. Seeing the pink pony not saying anything, Applejack started her trotting once more, hearing the hoofsteps of her companion next to her. The silence, while a complete relief to the constant noise, was weird. It was as if Pinkie's voice dropped off the face of the earth, and was stolen from her forever.
Perfect.
“Hey Pinkie. Ah been meanin' ta ask. What'd Sarlaka even give ya 'nyways?” Applejack waited a few seconds, but didn't hear a response. “Heya Pinkie. Ya hear me?” Applejack looked over to her right, and saw Pinkie was looking straight ahead, her face drained of any emotion. Pinkie continued her blank expression as they walked, though Applejack noticed that the pink pony's right eye had started to twitch slightly, and her body trembled.
Applejack stopped, giving a concerned face as she saw her companion look as though she was about to explode. “Pinkie Pie? Ya sick?” was all the orange earth pony could ask.
Suddenly, Pinkie jumped several hooves into the air, easily high enough to vault over Applejack, “Wow! I'm never doing that again! Being quiet for five minutes when I have sooooo much to say is hard! Its like not breathing, except when I talk I exhale, and when I breathe I inhale! Anyways, silly filly, what did you ask?”
She blinked, “Wha'? Ya weren't talking because... Ah told ya?”
Pinkie nodded furiously.
“Oh... Ah see, “Applejack was left speechless for a second, before shaking her head, “Anyways, Ah was wonderin' wha' Sarlaka gave ya when we all were in tha caves.”
“Hmmm... nope!” Pinkie started to resume her typical bounce-walk, “Can't tell you!”
“An' why not?”
“Because Mr. Dragon told me,” Pinkie took on an uncharacteristically deep voice, “'Pinkie Pie, whatever you do, you must keep what is in the bag a secret from Honesty. Because if you tell her, Honesty will take it away from you, and a mare taking a filly's toys is no fun.'” Pinkie smiled again, resuming her normal soprano voice, “So nope!”
Applejack blinked, “Ya tellin' me tha' the reason ya not tellin' me about your gift, is because tha dragon told ya to keep it a secret, even though knowing what it is could be important?”
Pinkie again nodded furiously.
Applejack blinked again, “Ya serious?”
Pinkie nodded for the third time, her head looking as though it would fall of its shoulders from the quick movements.
“Ugh. Fine. Then can ya tell me where ya been keepin' it? Ah saw ya saddlebags when you dumped them last night when ya tried to sleep in them, only Celestia knows what ya was thinkin', and ah didn't see nutin' interestin' in them.”
“Well silly filly, that's a secret too!”
Applejack growled silently, “Can ya at least tell me what its used for?”
“Nopsie wopsie!” Pinkie gave her a toothy grin. “So what about you silly filly? What did you get from Mr Dragon boy?”
If it wasn't for the fact that Applejack wasn't sure if Pinkie needed to be conscious to obtain her element, she would've committed her first act of battery right there. Suppressing the new source of rage, she responded, “Uhh... Pinkie, ya were there when Ah got mah gift. Its tha' rope and claws, remember?”
“A rope! That's so cool, Jackie! You can do things like tie up mean fillies and colts and dragons and monkeys and deer and-”
“Pinkie!”
“-fishies an-, oh, Yes Applejackie?”
The orange mare looked in front of her, seeing the landscape expand in front of her. The land before her remained brown with the dead grasses, but she could swear that in front of her, if she cocked her head to the left, closed her left eye, and squinted, she could see the river that they were supposed to be crossing. 'Ah hope that Ah'm going to last long enough to get thar'.
“Neva'mind Pinkie.”
“Hmm... Ok! So Applejack! Wanna know what's amazing about pie!? Well, other than that I was named after it, though I don't think that there's a pink flavored pie, which is sooooo sad! Anyways, it all started when I was talking to a bucket of radishes...”
She folded her ears down, 'this is gonna be a long trip...”
A/N: Well I'm back! And two things I'd like to say. First, I sincerely apologize for this chapter. I looked over this thing so many times, and rewrote it twice, and it still ended up (in my eyes) a short piece of garbage. Never again! Second, I will try to keep up my twice a week schedule for as long as I can, but if I need time off, I'll make sure to let you all know!
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And then Applejack suffocated Pinkie Pie with the rope.
The End
So glad to see that this story's back in action!
Oh pinkie. You might want to stop talking before you get to the river. You could drown you silly filly.
It's one AM in the morning, and after reading all of this I can sadly say I enjoyed it a little too much. Your prose is consistent and appealing in comparison to 90% of the fics out there right now (namely mine) and I'm finding the work and story arc to be appealing and fascinating at the same time, giving us a good long while to think over the mysteries. (I fucking KNEW he was Spike from how he reacted, and when he explained he watched his mother, sisters, friends and lover die one plus three plus one plus one is six, that was nothing short of absolute fucking genius!) Point is, I don't have much to say other than continue you magnificent fuck, for my insomniatic tendancies will stay solidified if you keep posting onto this story. Shame it's not appreciated nearly enough as it should be, far more appealing than Living the dream and more emotionally jerking than Decay.
TL;DR: LURVS IT NEED MOAR
278422 Yup! That's the end of the story! I'll let you know when I write another
278474 Considering that hurt my brain just trying to think about... well... hmm... *scribbles on notepad*
281069 Applejack would never do that... well... maybe she wouldn't... possibly... in a way that she could get caught at least
283508 Wow! Not sure what to say about such a glowing review other than many thanks! And as a "Magificent Fuck," I promise I will do my best to provide the best quality possible!
Oh, and I think you read that part about the "mother/mate/sisters" wrong. Unless even I read it wrong, I only listed 5 ponies (not including the pegasi and unicorns in general) when he made that speech. 
277610 I find it amusing that you always seem to comment either the day before, or the morning of my updates, and yes, its coincidence! I'll reply to your comment once you do the latest chapter.
For this review I am going to try and be short and concise while still retaining my usual level of analysis. Thinking about it having an intro saying that I do such a thing already goes against what I'm planning as an introduction such as this one does not allow me to immediately comment upon pro's and con's of the chapter which I will now proceed with.
This chapter was, in regards to writing, more of the usual. It had a good amount of detail, with an enormous amount on the scenery and location, but was never dull to read. Sure you're simply describing the areas the characters are walking and walking too but it was an enjoyable experience of such a thing. Humour was great and suited each of the characters with the interactions between the two pairs in this story brining out some brilliant comedic moments (as well as showing off once again how well you present these characters).
Though this chapter was not dull it wasn't exactly eventful and we didn't even learn anything new from it making it feel somewhat redundant. For instance it doesn't seem like anything I've read in this chapter is vital in being able to read later chapters. A couple of sentences felt disconnected from the rest of paragraphs of description and I was disappointed about the lack of a Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy scene to go with the other two.
While it is true that there are some clear mistakes within this chapter and that the writing of it all does not seem to be on par with the rest of your story it is not something to apologise for. We all have our off days and the odd chapters of our story that do not shine as brightly as others, but be glad in knowing that even with such a fast update schedule (I consider once a week to be impressive, and once every three weeks being the satisfactory standard, so twice a week just seems ridiculous to me) you are able to bring out some pretty impressive writing. This may not be excellent writing in this chapter but it is at least great writing and never falls into the realms of being poor or most importantly, uninteresting. Great job, keep up the good work!
287046
As always, thank you for commenting! I love the feedback from all my readers, and feedback as detailed as this always helps
Yeah, the reason why I apologized for the chapter (even though you say I shouldn't) is because I am well aware that NOTHING happens. Its just a bunch of going over things that you already know, with very minor new stuff. Do not worry, this is not the case with my next chapter (already written but minor tweaks still being made), which will actually be something I will admit I wrote two years from now!
All that said, I know you will probably be disappointed in this considering your comment, but I will most likely be doing two pairs for every chapter. If I get all three pairs going in a single chapter, then an average chapter for me (we'll say 3600 words for easy math) would leave me only 1200 words for each group... not what I want. On the other hand, if I devote closer to 2000 words to each group (or "worse", 3000), then the word count on these chapters skyrockets compared to the length I'm writing already. So 2 pairs a chapter, unless there's a weird situation, is going to be the norm
Of course, I'm well aware your favorite pair is FlutterDash, so maybe I'm looking too much into this, and you are merely disappointed in no pegasi action? Hmm!
Aaaand we're back. Time to chug along through the rest of this story!
So, since not much happened in this chapter, I want to mention something that I was just reminded of. Once upon a time, when I first stumbled upon this fic, it sported a shiny purple tag. I almost didn't Read Later it because of that. But now it's gone. So, uh, what does that mean for the story? Did you change it to friendshipping? If so, that would make me a very happy reader. I tend to not enjoy the common interpretations of Romance around this site, so I avoid it as a general rule.
1981964 The reason it sported the big "romance" tag before was that I felt it needed it, because of the... well... inclusion of romance. However, after thinking about it for some time, I realized that while it did have romance to it, it wasn't a romance STORY per say. Same reason why I took away the sad and dark tags. There are sad and dark elements sure, but it isn't actually a sad or dark story. It is an adventure story, and it is definitely an Alternate Universe story.
That's why.
Small chapter, but pretty important. Setting up that Twilight knows Rarity need's to practice, and that she's keeping a secret from Rarity... and of course, how Pinkie is going to be getting on AJ's nerves... and she trusts the dragon.
Poor Applejack, another similarity Pinkie has to Deadpool, their greatest weapons are their mouths.