The Evergreen Meadow
Applejack stood under a tall cypress tree to keep out of the sun which beat down with a fierce intensity. It had been one of the hottest weeks on record in Equestria, but the spell the unicorns had put on it years ago kept everything alive. even when some of her toughest apple trees had started to die from the scorching heat. she tapped her hoof impatiently against the ground.
"Where is that mare, I don't have much longer and the sun’s beating down harder than an over confident drummer. Applejack wiped the sweat off her forehead and flung it into the grass. "Maybe she's not coming." Applejack said sadly.
Right when she was about to head back to the farm, she noticed a small white blot on the horizon. She looked closer and noticed the pony carrying a massive, purple umbrella with her magic. Applejack rushed out of her cover underneath the tree to meet the pony. Her smile was impossibly large
The white mare trotted at a leisurely pace towards the orange mare. She felt as if the sun was frying her even with her massive umbrella. ‘We need to find a new place to meet. Somewhere a little less, hot and, outside.’ She thought to herself. Normally she hated the idea of stepping a hoof outside in this weather, but for Applejack, it was worth it.
Meanwhile up in the sky, Rainbowdash watched the two mares with interest. “What in the name of Celestia are they doing outside in this weather.” She asked herself peering over the edge of the cloud she had been napping on. In this heat it’s hard to find a good cloud to nap on.
Sometimes the weather council frustrated her with their weird traditions of severe droughts every few years, but they were the ones who had the bits.
Back on the ground, twilight was doing some field research on bumble bees. Princess Celestia had asked her to find out a bit more about their anatomy and report back to her. At first, Twilight had thought it was going to be a dull job, but now that she had started working on it, she realized it was quite fascinating. She observed one of the black striped insect's wings as is danced its dance on a daffodil. Suddenly, a noise in the distance spooked it and it flew away.
“Pony feathers.” She cursed turning behind her to inspect the noise that had interrupted her research. The sound came again from over the hill. It sounded like a high pitched squeak. “Probably just a couple foals playing around.” She said.Walking up the hill and peering down. But what was happening below her, she didn’t really understand. Applejack and Rarity appeared to be having what looked to be a tickle war underneath a tall oak tree. “What?” She asked herself not totally understanding. Applejack and Rarity were both friends, but didn’t hang out very much, or did they?
While Twilight was going back and forth in her mind, Fluttershy was leading a small group of her bumble bee friends over to the meadow where Twilight was studying them. She had been leading them to the meadow through the trees to avoid the sun and it’s heat. But even under the dense canopy of leaves, it was still hot as blazes and Fluttershy, not being the most fit pony in Equestria, was starting to pant slightly.
She turned her head to see how her little bee friends were doing and was surprised to see that they had disappeared. “Umm, little bees,” She said stopping. “Where are you.” She said looking around. “We don’t want to keep Twilight waiting in this heat, that would be rude.” She said in her soft voice as she looked inside a hollow log but saw no sign of the bees. Fluttershy was starting to get concerned, normally her animals came to her when she called them, especially the bees. Terrible thoughts started to pop into her mind.
What if something bad had happened to them. What if a stray bird had come and eaten them. But that would be crazy, no bird could eat that many bees. ‘They’re probably just playing hide and seek.’ She told herself in her head and began to look around the area for them.
Her searching began in a very calm fashion but grew more frantic as time passed. She had looked all over and still couldn’t find them. She figured that she would be able to get a better view and may be able to see them if she climbed a tree. So she spread her wings and flew up to the top of a tall oak tree and looked out. Now that the sun was un obstructed Fluttershy could feel the fierce intensity of the burning ball in the sky. She scanned the horizon for any sign of the bees. Her eyesight was incredible compared to most so she could easily spot the bees from where she was, but something distracted her from her search. A noise that sounded like laughter.
“Oh stop Applejack, that tickles!” She heard a voice that sounded just like Rarity. ‘Maybe she knows where the bees had gotten to. Fluttershy hopped from the tree she was on to another, and another using her wings to assist her. She hopped onto the last branch and looked down and was slightly confused by what she saw. Applejack had Rarity pinned to the ground underneath the tree and was tickling her chest with her tail. Fluttershy watched them for a moment in confusion, not really knowing how to take what she saw.
“What?” She asked herself.
Pinkie Pie trotted alone in the meadow. The sun was beating down on her back but she didn’t mind. Earlier that day she had visited the Ponyville Orphanage and entertained the children which always put a smile on her face so she was extra super duper happy today. Which was like regular happy, but on caffeine tablets and adrenaline. Suddenly, her right foreleg started twitching. Pinkie gasped and immediately started looking around.
“Somepony’s having fun without me!” She exclaimed pricking her ears and listening for sounds of joy and happiness. She found where it was coming from and began bouncing in that direction.
Pinkie Pie crested the hill to where Applejack and Rarity were under the tree and gasped loudly. “Tickle fights, my favorite!” She exclaimed pulling her party cannon out of the ether and climbing into the end of the barrel. She pulled the string and launched herself across the meadow and landed right next to Applejack with a soft thud.
“Gah!” Applejack exclaimed jumping back a few feet. “Pinkie, yah scared me!”
“Hey guys what’s up?” She asked happily ignoring Applejack.
“Oh, you know, just hanging out, as friends.” Rarity said picking herself up off the ground and dusting herself off. She tried to hide her embarrassment even though she knew Pinkie Pie wouldn’t think anything of the fact that they were out here meeting secretly.
“Yeah, just a casual little get together.” Applejack said though she was a terrible liar.
“Casual get together party!” Pinkie yelled obnoxiously loud as she pulled her party cannon out of the ether once more and fired it into the air. A burst of confetti shot out and into the air with a loud BANG that started Fluttershy who was lying in the tree above them.
She held tightly to the branch but lost her balance and fell off and into Pinkie’s cannon. “Silly, that’s a party cannon. Get outta’ there.” Pinkie said with a chuckle as she pulled the string firing the cannon again sending Fluttershy straight up into the air.
Rainbowdash had been spying on them from above on her cloud, but had dozed off after a few minutes but was awoken for the second time that afternoon to a cannon blast. She peeked over the edge just in time to see Fluttershy fly right past her and into the air. “Fluttershy?” She asked as the cream colored mare flew up into the sky.
Fluttershy kept flying a few feet after she saw Rainbowdash before she began to fall She spread her wings and tried to slow herself down, but she wasn’t the strongest flier and couldn’t stop herself from slamming into the ground.
“Ooof.” She said as she slammed into the ground and the air was driven from her lungs. She was seeing stars for moment that that would pass and otherwise, she was fine.
“Uhh, oops.” Pinkie said bashfully wheeling her cannon into a small bush.
“Oops, OOPS! Do you know how dangerous that is launching someone out of a cannon?” Rainbowdash called as she descended down towards the group. Rarity let out a sigh, at this point she knew they weren’t gonna be left alone.
“It’s alright Dashie, I’m fine, honest.” Fluttershy said picking herself up off the ground and dusting her cream coat off. Rainbowdash ignored her and flew right up to Pinkie Pie who was trying to be as unnoticeable as possible. “Fluttershy could have been seriously injured, even worse had she landed on somepony!” Dash shouted getting so close to Pinkie that their noses were touching.
“But she didn’t get hurt and neither did anypony else.” Pinkie said trying to keep her rising anger inside.
Twilight watched the entire thing unfold from a slight distance using her binoculars that Princess Celestia had given to her on her thirteenth birthday. She saw Pinkie’s mane start to lose its regular puffiness as Rainbowdash continued to yell at her. “Uh oh.” She said putting the binoculars in her saddlebags and rushing down the hill. Rainbowdash obviously hadn’t noticed Pinkie was starting to go from her normal state to her slightly less normal state. That being said, Pinkie really never acted normally.
Twilight managed to make it down to the tree before Pinkie completely lost it, but she was pretty darn close. Her mane had gone straight and her pink coat had lost its normal luster. Her eyes had drifted apart from each other and a wicked smile adorned her face.
“Take it easy Dash.” Twilight said coming between the two of them and slowly pushing her back.
“Calm down? She could have hurt Fluttershy!” Rainbowdash exclaimed. trying to get around Twilight but she just grabbed her with her magic and moved her back a bit.
“Dash, do you remember what happens when Pinkie gets really REALLY mad, or happy, or anything at all really?” Twilight asked her quietly so Pinkie couldn’t hear her. The rest of the ponies got the message and began edging away from the pink mare, all except for Rainbowdash who just stared at Twilight quizzically. “You know that big ‘Surprise’.” Twilight said. Rainbowdash’s pupils shrank to the size of pinheads. She turned her head upwards and surveyed the sky above her.
“Don’t you dare Dash.” Twilight said as Dash looked at her and then back up to the sky. “You know what’ll happen if y-” Rainbowdash didn’t wait around to listen and flew upwards as fast as she could, breaking Twilight’s magical grip on her and soaring up into the sky at such high speeds that she broke the sound barrier. A massive rainbow ring pulsated away from her followed by a tremendous bang that shook the ground.
“Pony feathers.” Twilight said turning to Pinkie who’s mane was now sparking with energy. “Pinkie, just calm down and-” Suddenly, a brilliant white light blinded Twilight and her friends followed by a devastating pressure wave that blew everypony back. Twilight wasn’t sure about her friends, but she felt herself slam into a tree and her shoulder snap. She bit back a cry of pain and opened her eyes as the light began to subside. Where Pinkie had stood was now a beautiful white mare with a golden mane. And wings, two of the most magnificent white wings that glimmered in the sunlight.
“Surprise!” She exclaimed before flying up into the sky at impossible speeds after Rainbowdash.
***The next morning***
Twilight opened her eyes to the sound of a heart monitor. Her ears were ringing her vision was splotchy, but she could make out the full body cast that she was stuck in. She tried to speak but her mouth was encased in the hard plaster cast that surrounded the rest of her body. Actually, the only thing she could move was her neck which she turned the the hospital bed next to her and saw an unconscious Rainbowdash with her wings wrapped tightly in a bandage and her right hind leg was in the same kind of cast as Twilight’s body. Suddenly, the knob on the door turned and the heavy wooden slab swung open.
“Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed rushing into the room and wrapping her hooves around the purple mare with impossible strength. Twilight swore she heard the cast crack at least twice before Pinkie let her go. The rest of her friends had entered the room, but were keeping their distance from Pinkie, and who could really blame them.
“Glad to see yer awake Twi.” Applejack said tipping her hat.
“Thanks AJ.” She said trying to sit up a bit in the uncomfortable bed, but her back flared in pain at the movement and she sat still once more, only letting a small whimper escape her lips. “How long am I gonna have to be like this?” She asked her friends.
“About a month and a half before we can let you back on your hooves.” A nurse said walking into the room and over to Twilight’s IV bag to check the fluid. Twilight groaned and looked pleadingly to her friends. Particularly Applejack and Rarity.
“What were you two doing in the Meadow anyway?” She asked racking her brain for a possible answer. Rarity blushed heavily and edged towards the door while Applejack stood stone still.
“Well?” A voice said next to Twilight. She looked over to see Rainbowdash looking at the two mares with her hooves crossed. Applejack looked to Rarity for guidance but received none.
“Err, well. It’s a, uhh, long story.” Applejack said tipping her brown stetson forward to hide her face.
“I’ve got time, a month and a half I think.” Twilight said. She’d have crossed her hooves if they weren’t bound by the plaster. Rarity could take no more and sprinted out of the room.
