NOTE: Applejack and Rainbow Dash are certified cartoon ponies, and cinnamon did not harm them as much as it should have. You are not a cartoon pony. The cinnamon challenge is a dangerous and sometimes fatal stunt! Please do not attempt the cinnamon challenge by any means whatsoever.
Rainbow Dash held the metal spoon in her mouth. It was a beautiful, sunny day outside, and she had led Applejack out with a video camera to record themselves performing something called the "Cinnamon Challenge". Although Applejack had never used a type of newfangled contraption quite like this video camera, she was able to turn it on and begin filming Rainbow Dash with ease.
"Hey, guys! Today, I'm going to be taking the Cinnamon Challenge," Rainbow Dash said to the camera. Applejack still wasn't sure of how this sort of thing worked: was there an audience of tiny little ponies just sitting and watching from inside of the camera, or has Rainbow finally lost her mind?
"Applejack is behind the camera in case anything bad happens." Rainbow's tone indicated that she didn't really care if something bad happened; it didn't really seem likely in her mind. The pegasus gestured to Applejack, who waved an orange hoof in front of the camera lens. "Now, where's the cinnamon?"
"Ah told you to bring it," AJ responded.
Rainbow face-hoofed. "Aw, man. I only brought the spoon. Don't you have some at home?"
Applejack sighed. "Yeah. Ah guess Ah'll run back home 'n get it." She trotted off, leaving the camera unsupervised.
"Well, AJ's gonna get the cinnamon," Rainbow Dash groaned into the camera. "It'll be a while before we can begin, but now I am able to serenade you with only the sweetest of tunes." She smirked and opened her mouth.
"Ah'm back, Rainbow! And Ah brought the cinnamon!"
Rainbow coughed, for her song had been cut short. She turned to Applejack, who was carrying the familiar spice in a red saddle bag. AJ rustled through the bag and pulled out the red jar with her mouth.
"Awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she opened the container and poured a generous amount of brown dust onto her spoon. "We have to get a big spoonful," she added to the camera.
Once she had a mountain of cinnamon on her spoon, she stuck it in her mouth and swallowed roughly. The cinnamon wasn't even halfway down her throat when she began to cough and kak, sounding like a beagle who had just swallowed something not suitable for eating. Brown dust flew from Rainbow's mouth and tears welled up in her rose eyes. She held her stomach from all the coughing and kaking. Applejack laughed from behind the camera.
"You think you're so tough, Applejack?" Rainbow was able to muster from between rough coughs. "You should try it."
"Well, Ah'm not gonna use the same spoon you used," Applejack replied.
"We don't have another," Rainbow Dash groaned, her voice cracking.
AJ sighed. "Ah'll just run back home 'n get a spoon." She trotted off, leaving the camera unsupervised.
"Well," Rainbow said into the camera, "she's going to get something from home again, and I would sing for you guys, really, I would, but my throat is so dry from all that cinnamon. So I'll just dance for you instead." She smirked and lifted herself up on two hind legs.
"Ah'm back, and Ah brought a spoon for mahself!"
Rainbow jumped, leaving her amazing "Gangnam Style" dance moves behind. "So, are you ready for the cinnamon challenge?" she asked, lifting the jar.
Applejack nodded nervously. Rainbow Dash unscrewed the container and dumped another mountain of cinnamon onto the spoon. "Enjoy." She grinned and stepped behind the camera.
Applejack stuck her tongue out and slurped up some of the cinnamon. It was a bit dry and awful-tasting, but it wouldn't be nearly as torturous if she took her time -
"AJ! You've got to do it all at once!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed from behind the video camera.
The farm pony sighed, sticking the rest of the brown dust into her mouth. The cinnamon wasn't even a quarter of the way down her throat when she began to cough and shake violently, more so than Rainbow Dash had when she attempted the challenge. Applejack's eyes welled up with tears. The shaking of her body grew faster and faster until...she was gone.
Rainbow Dash gasped, clearly confused. "W-what happened?" She reached for the camera, placing it atop her head. "We'll be going mobile for a while to figure out what happened," she told the supposed tiny audience.
In this world, there was nothing. Not even gravity existed here. Any life that somehow made its way here would only float aimlessly. Only empty space and - was that a giant apple?
"Help! Help!" the orange equine shouted.
Her only response was silence.
The giant apple floated in front of her and began to speak in a thick, unfamiliar language that only the equine knew. She nodded, her blonde mane shaking a bit, then her blank expression changed to one of confusion and fear. "What?"
The apple replied to her, and the confused and fearsome look still remained on her face. "B-but...why?"
For the last time, the apple mumbled something, then released the equine back into her own world, but as something so different to you, me, and that rainbow equine who was with her.
An extremely stressed, emotional, and frazzled Rainbow Dash finally returned to the grassy park where she and Applejack challenged themselves before. Her video camera had fallen from her head about two hours ago, and she had wandered practically all of Ponyville in pursuit of her friend. She felt a creature's presence behind her, and grinned as she turned around. "Applejack! You're ba - "
Her grin changed quickly to a disturbed, disgusted look. Her familiar best friend had returned from an empty void of space and was now a small jar of Sweet Apple Acres Quality Applesauce.
THE END
Author's Note
Just a little one-shot. Based on a stupid comic I wrote once. It was basically this story, but in a condensed nine-panel.
