Pull The Switch (reformat)
It was a quiet morning as the unicorn trotted down Ponyville’s Mane Street. Ordinarily she wasn’t one to exert herself physically while in public, however today she had made an exception. An exception not made lightly mind you, as she would be quick to remind anypony who questioned her uncharacteristic appearance, but after pulling an all-nighter to finish perhaps the biggest order of the season without having so much as a biscuit, Rarity permitted herself this rare lapse in grace in order to fetch a morning snack.
It must have been around nine in the morning she reasoned as she approached the wooden stand, where a familiar orange earth pony stood looking bored. “Good morning Applejack,” Rarity greeted loudly, snapping her friend out of her stupor and hoping the volume would distract her from the breathless way in which she spoke.
“Wha… oh, hey Rare,” Applejack responded once she realised what was going on, “didn’t expect to see you here of all ponies. Ah take it you got your order finished then?”
“I did indeed, thank you for asking,” Rarity replied, leaning next to Applejack on the stand. “It was a trial, but I got there in the end. Although I am utterly famished.”
“Ah’ll bet,” Applejack commented, fishing out the juiciest apple from her stand and tossing it to Rarity. “Here you go sugar, that one’s on me; you look like you need it.”
“Thank you Applejack, I’ll admit it’s nice to be on the receiving end of generosity on occasion.” The pair shared a laugh before standing in brief silence as Rarity munched on the apple.
“Ah tell yah girl,” Applejack began as Rarity neared the core, “you work yourself too hard sometimes.”
“I really must be bad if you of all ponies say I’m working too hard,” Rarity retorted with a smirk, “but you’ll be pleased to know that with that order out of the way I now have some free time before winter rolls in.”
“Ah take it the first thing ya’ll’s gonna do with your free time is go straight to the spa,” Applejack replied, rolling her eyes.
“Oh Applejack you can read me like a book,” Rarity chuckled before catching sight of herself in shop window and flinching. “Although now that you mention it I suppose I could have cleaned up a little before heading out.”
“Oh yeah, ‘fore ah forget,” Applejack began suddenly, “ah ran into Pinks yesterday, she’s plannin’ a party for this Friday and wanted me to let yah know if’n when ah saw yah.”
Rarity quirked an eyebrow at this before replying. “This Friday? Didn’t she just have a party a few days ago?”
“’Course she did, this is Pinkie we’re talkin’ about,” Applejack said laughing, “she’d party everyday if the Mayor would allow it. Besides, she wanted to throw this one because you didn’t go to that one a few days ago.”
“Oh, how considerate of her,” Rarity stated a little taken aback, “well then yes I suppose it would be nice to see all the girls again. I’ve been dying to tell Twilight about this stallion I met in Canterlot the other week; I think she might know him.”
The effect was rather instantaneous, where mere moments before Applejack had been smiling along politely, the moment Rarity uttered Twilight’s name, the smile faded and was replaced with an odd look. “Um, Applejack?” Rarity asked, not missing this change in expression, “is there something wrong?”
Applejack opened her mouth, seemingly about to speak, only to close it again, adopting an expression of intense thought. Rarity was beginning to worry before Applejack finally did speak. “It’s nothin’ Sugarcube,” she tried to say, however the look Rarity gave her made it clear she wasn’t convincing anypony so she continued. “Well, it’s just…” she said hesitating, “when was the last time you saw Twilight?”
Rarity was a little thrown by the question, truth was she didn’t know what she had been expecting, just that it wasn’t that. “Well, I’m not sure,” she said honestly, wracking her memory. “I’ve been so busy with work lately, but I do remember visiting her little over two weeks ago to pick up book on Unicorn fashion before the founding of Equestria.”
“Did… did she seem alright to you?” Applejack asked in a low voice.
“Of course she did,” Rarity replied, now thoroughly confused. Had something happened while she was working? Had something happened while she had visited her that she had failed to notice? “Well she might have seemed a little distracted,” she admitted eventually, recalling Twilight’s behaviour on the day in question. “But that’s hardly uncommon for her; I probably just interrupted one of her study sessions.”
Applejack shook her head not looking convinced by Rarity’s optimism. “Ah don’t know Rarity, thing is, nopony’s seen her lately,” she said, her voice tinged with worry, “and any of the girls who’ve been to the library say she’s acting a might bit more than distracted.”
Rarity stared at her friend, concern slowly creeping into her mind, however she quickly dispelled it. “But I’m sure if something really was wrong then Spike would have told us,” she reasoned, again receiving a slight shake of the head from Applejack.
“Spike’s away in Canterlot,” she informed her, “he left shortly after you started work on your order.”
“So Twilight is currently alone in the library, hasn’t been seen out for weeks and causes concern to anyone who visits her?” Rarity summarised, now sounding thoroughly worried herself.
“Ah’m not tryin’ to stir up any mass panic or nothin’,” Applejack said quickly, “and it could be nothin’ to worry ‘bout. Ah really hope it ain’t nothin’ to worry ‘bout, but just in case…”
It wasn’t much later that the pair arrived in Sugarcube Corner, Applejack having hastily packed up her stall, not having had many customers that day anyway so she didn’t feel guilty closing up early. The bakery was a little more crowded than the market had been, and to the pair’s relief the three ponies they wanted to see were all gathered around the counter.
“Oh, oh, Applejack! Rarity!” Pinkie called out as she saw them enter, gesturing with her hoof for them to join. Walking over they found Fluttershy eating Swiss roll, Rainbow Dash slumped over the counter with a half empty mug of coffee in front of her, and Pinkie Pie managing the till. “Hey Rarity,” Pinkie declared loudly earning a groan from Rainbow Dash. “Is your order all finished? Does that mean you can party down this Friday?”
Applejack opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Rainbow Dash. “Seriously Pinks, can you turn down the volume for one minute,” she begged.
“Rainbow Dash, are you hung over?” Applejack demanded, temporarily forgetting the reason they came here in the first place. Rainbow Dash snapped around at this accusation.
“No!” she exclaimed, turning the heads of a few other customers. “For your information the weather doesn’t just stop at night, I don’t have some cosy nine to five job.”
Rarity and Applejack exchanged a wide eyed look before looking to Fluttershy for some explanation. “She gets a little cranky when she hasn’t slept,” Fluttershy offered meekly, earning a series of low grumbles from Rainbow Dash who now had her head flat on the counter again.
“Right, well as much as that sucks for you,” Applejack said flatly, making it clear she wasn’t in the least bit sympathetic, “we’re actually here to talk about Twilight.”
If Rarity doubted the legitimacy of Applejacks worries before, all doubt was immediately dismissed when her other friends heard Twilight’s name. Fluttershy gave a frightened squeak and hid behind her mane, Rainbow snapped up, all anger gone only to be replaced by what Rarity imagined was the closest Rainbow’s face could express to fear.
Only Pinkie kept smiling and was the first to break the uncomfortable silence left in the wake of Applejack’s statement. “Oh Twilight’s just going a little loopy loo again,” she said like it was an everyday occurrence, “she’ll be fine in a day or two, and if not a party will surely set her right.”
“Pinkie darling, what do you mean ‘a little loopy loo’?” Rarity questioned.
“Well I popped into the library a few times since I noticed she wasn’t hanging around town as much, or at all in fact, and she kept muttering to herself and constantly running to and from the basement.”
“The basement? Why is she going there?” Rarity asked looking to the other two.
“We don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted quietly, “she refuses to tell us anything, just keeps saying it’s something big, something important.”
“And she freaks out anytime we try to go down ourselves,” Rainbow continued, “but trust us Rarity, whatever Pinkie says this is more than just ‘a little loopy loo’, and I don’t see Twilight just shaking it off.”
“If it was this bad then why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Rarity demanded, she was now visibly panicking now.
“You were so busy, we didn’t want to disturb you,” Fluttershy said, scared by Rarity’s change in tone.
“Besides, we still don’t know exactly what we’re supposed to do,” Rainbow added, “Applejack suggested we tell the princess, Fluttershy wanted to try talking it out with her, I thought we should just remove her from there by force, and Pinkie… wanted to throw her a party.”
“Well then it’s clear some decisive action needs to be taken,” Rarity stated, assuming command of the situation, “I would hate to bother the princess with this, especially if it did turn out to be nothing, and without Spike we have no way of contacting her. I think if we all go together now and talk to her as Fluttershy suggested, keeping Rainbow’s idea in mind if we decide it’s gotten really bad and she won’t cooperate.” Rarity finished her plan and looked expectantly to each of her friends for some sign of approval. Applejack looked to be mulling it over, while Rainbow and Fluttershy both nodded approvingly, and Pinkie…
“Mrs Cake!” Pinkie shouted up the stairs, “Can one of you manage the till? I need to take a break to go have an intervention for Twilight.”
The sight of the library gave Rarity chills knowing what could possibly lie inside. The truth was it looked perfectly normal on the outside, but somehow that didn’t ease Rarity’s nerves. The five approached the door without a word to one another, the silence only broken by Pinkie’s humming and the comical ‘boink’ noise that sounded every time she bounced off the ground. Reaching the door Rarity looked back at the others who all watched her expectantly, apparently they had come to the silent agreement she be the one to knock, and so with a held breath that’s exactly what she did.
The clop of Rarity’s hoof upon the wood of the door echoed thrice before silence once again descended upon the group. Twilight didn’t answer the door, they couldn’t even hear the sound of approaching hoofsteps, they had expected as much.
“Ah guess it’s a public library,” Applejack reminded them, “suppose we can just walk on in.”
Rarity nodded and tried the handle, to her and all the other’s relief the door was not locked and swung open slowly, giving out an ominous creak. The interior of the library was almost pitch black, the air thick with dust. Rarity coughed as she entered, looking to the windows where the curtains had been drawn.
Together the five had the curtains thrown open and the room illuminated fairly quickly, allowing them all to gaze around in shock at the state of the room. Saying it was a mess would be putting it lightly, books were strewn everywhere, some even lying open with pages ripped out, Rarity couldn’t imagine Twilight ever treating books this way. Not only books were scattered across the floor and shelves, but various junk items had found their way among the pile. Searching through Rarity found the oddest assortment of items such as mismatched buttons and brass gears. The others too were clearly disturbed by the state of the library, causing Rarity to wonder when exactly they had last been here, or how recently this had been caused.
“Well I don’t know about the rest of you,” Rarity began, breaking the silence, “but I would say this is definitely something to be worried about.”
“Ah’m with yah there Sugarcube,” Applejack agreed, fiddling with a section of sheet metal. “It was nothin’ like this when ah was here.”
“Yeah, I saw her carrying a lot of weird stuff around, but even I think this is a bit crazy,” Pinkie chipped in dashing around the room, trying to take in as much as she could, as quickly as she could. “Next thing you know they’ll make a reality TV show about her called ‘Equestria’s biggest hoarder’.”
“As interesting as that notion is Pinkie, we’re here to find Twilight now,” Rarity reminded her.
“Um, girls,” Fluttershy whispered in a voice that normally wouldn’t have caught their attention, but in the eerie quiet of the library they all heard and turned to see Fluttershy pointing to another door lying slightly ajar.
“The basement,” Rainbow whispered, fluttering over and opening it further. The rest joined her and looked down to see some light emanating from bellow, accompanied by various clanging and clinking noises.
“Alright girls, no time to waste,” Rarity said trying to rally them before leading the way into the initially dark basement.
The others followed quickly behind her and together they descended the carved stone staircase. As they travelled further down Rarity began to make out the room beneath them, she had expected something similar to the tip above, but was surprised to see the basement looking particularly neat and tidy, certainly more in accordance with the Twilight she knew. There were several wooden tables lining the walls, stacked with more scrap metal as well as tools large sheets which Rarity guessed were designs for something. But what stood out most, and captured the attention of all five mares, was the towering structuring filling almost the entire room.
Reaching the foot of the stairs they all stared up in awe at the thing now taking over Twilight’s basement. Rarity had seen Twilight’s lab once before, and was impressed at the time with the different machines she saw then, this however was a whole new level of awesome. The best way she could describe it was a simple cuboid constructed from wood and metal, then had an abundance of valves, gears, flashing lights, monitors and wires attached, and at the top sat what appeared to be a giant wheel. Rarity couldn’t begin to fathom what this device was, and by the wide eyed looks of her companions, neither could they.
But they didn’t have long to ponder the mystery as at that moment a figure stepped out from behind the machine, several tools held aloft in her lavender aura
“Twilight!” They all exclaimed upon seeing her. She snapped up, apparently only realising they were there, her eye gave a small twitch and her mouth stretched into a wide smile.
“Oh girls, what impeccable timing,” she exclaimed sounding far more energetic and upbeat than Rarity had been expecting, indeed the others seemed thrown off by this as well. “You arrived just in time to see my masterpiece in all its glory.” Flinging her tools to the nearest table where they landed in a heap she gestured to the machine in front of them whispering something they couldn’t make out.
“Yes, it’s very… um, great,” Rarity said in a falsely cheery voice.
“Yeah, great,” Applejack agreed sounding equally phoney, before elbowing Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, uh… I really like it’s… wheel,” she said uncertainly.
“Oh I knew you girls would like it,” Twilight squealed, sounding over the moon at their vague and possibly false praise.
“So this is what you’ve been doing? Building this?” Rarity asked, gesturing at the machine.
“Oh yes,” Twilight breathed stroking her own tail, “all I did was hit dead end after dead end, it was as if my studies were doomed to come to nothing… but then I was shown this.”
“Twilight we’ve been really worried ‘bout you,” Applejack informed her, failing to drag her attention away from her invention, “heck ah’m still worried, you look like you haven’t eaten or slept in days.” Indeed Twilight was looking quite thin, with heavy bags under bloodshot eyes.
“There’s no need to worry Applejack,” Twilight assured her laughing, “it’s fine, everything’s going to be fine.” Her words trailed off into frantic murmuring that none of them could make out as she rubbed her forehooves together.
“Twilight!” Fluttershy screamed catching sight of her left hoof which was wrapped clumsily in a filthy blood-stained bandage. “You’re hurt.” Twilight looked momentarily panicked and tried to hide her injury but Fluttershy rushed over and grasped her hoof eliciting a cry of pain from Twilight. The others hurried to Fluttershy’s side as she unwrapped the bandage to reveal the injury.
As soon as the spoiled cloth was removed a putrid stench hit Rarity causing her to twist her head away and gag. She didn’t see the wound but heard the others gasp; mentally preparing herself she turned her head back and looked down at Twilight’s hoof. The gash was deep and caked with scarlet blood as well as oozing a rotten puss like substance.
“Twilight this is terribly infected!” Fluttershy exclaimed, “This needs to be treated right away.” Twilight was struggling against Fluttershy trying to free her hoof.
“How did that even happen?” Rainbow Dash demanded, sounding both angry and scared. Twilight didn’t answer but Rarity saw her eyes briefly glance over at one of the tables. Following the line of sight she quickly found the tool, a brutal looking, blood-stained kitchen knife. This had gotten too bad, the time for talking had passed long ago, they needed to get her out of here and into hospital. Looking to the others she saw they reached the same conclusion she had, and with one nod, Rainbow and Applejack walked to either side of her, taking hold.
“Now don’t struggle Twilight,” Pinkie pleaded, her eyes missing their usual light, “we’re going to take you some place safe, some place you can get help.”
“No!” Twilight screeched struggling against the two athletes, bucking wildly with her hind legs, catching Fluttershy in the jaw who was still trying to tend to her wound. While Rainbow and Applejack were distracted looking to see if she was okay, Twilight’s horn lit up and she blinked out of their grasp. They looked around wildly, finding her quickly enough, standing panting next to the machine, her non injured hoof hovering over a giant novelty lever.
“Now Twilight slow down for a sec,” Applejack said in an uneasy tone, “don’t go doin’ something silly now.”
“I have to do it, he keeps telling me to pull the switch,” Twilight said weakly, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Who’s telling you?” Rarity asked while crouching next to Fluttershy. Twilight didn’t answer, just shook profusely. “Whoever it is Twilight, don’t listen to him. You’re stronger than that.”
“I can’t,” Twilight whined, still griping the lever.
“Think of the princess Twilight,” Pinkie exclaimed desperately, this seemed to strike a chord with Twilight whose eyes widened in horror. Slowly, very slowly she withdrew her hoof, shaking all the while. Rarity let out a sigh of relief, satisfied that everything was going to be okay, until a booming voice shouted out around them.
“DO IT!”
Twilight screamed in surprise and quick as lightning reached up and pulled the lever all the way down. Time seemed to hold still for a moment as the lever came down; Rarity sat nursing Fluttershy who was clutching a bloody nose, Rainbow Dash and Applejack charging forward in a desperate attempt to stop Twilight, and Pinkie looking on in hopelessness. Then all hell broke loose as the machine awoke, lights flaring on, bolts of electricity firing up the wires, all to the melody of echoing laughter from the voice that had shouted mere seconds before.
Rarity watched as the wheel atop the machine began spinning and the front wall of the device cracked upon like a door, revealing a swirling vortex within. None of them had any time to take this in as just then the floor beneath them erupted in a pool of darkness, tendrils of show spouting out to form phantom hands reaching out for them. The first thing Rarity felt was Fluttershy get torn away from her, but she had no time to react as a split second later she felt something cold wrap around her waist and knew one of the shadow hands had gotten her.
She tried to struggle, tied to call out for help, but deep down she knew it was all in vain. Very quickly she found herself being dragged into darkness, her vision drowning out instantly before very quickly it became hard to breath and her head began spinning. As she slipped out of consciousness the last thing she was aware of was the continuing laughter all inside her head.
The Bluejay took to the skies, startled as the mysterious blue mass it had chosen to perch on had begun to shift. Had the bird stayed it would have heard this mysterious creature mumble something along the lines of ‘When I get my hooves on you Twi…’. Rainbow Dash’s mutterings came to an abrupt halt as her vision stopped swimming, and her mind cleared. She laid motionless, staring at her surroundings, trying and failing to take them in while maintaining her cool.
Failing evident when she screamed at the top of her lungs, causing another flock of birds to take flight from the surrounding pine forest. Springing to her hooves she spun around wildly confirming that she was indeed standing in the clearing of a forest and not in the library basement with her friends. “Twilight!” Rainbow shouted at her lonely surroundings, “What did you do!”
A loud rustling snapped Rainbow out of her moment of anger forcing her to spin around, looking for the source of the noise. The forest looked still enough, could it have been her imagination? “Okay Rainbow,” she addressed herself loudly to give the illusion she wasn’t alone, “keep it together, just gotta get your bearings and find the others.”
Craning her neck to the heavens she saw a few stray clouds drifting lazily overhead, she could get a good view from one of them… and she wouldn’t have to worry about anything sneaking up behind her. She cast one last suspicious glance into the tree line where she heard the noise before spreading her wings and taking to the sky.
Oh that felt good. Rainbow hadn’t realised just how stiff her wings had been until she kicked off, it was like she hadn’t flown in days. Nearing the cloud, she slowed her ascent, hovering slightly above the puffy haze before allowing herself to drop onto it.
If there was a moment she should have been screaming, it was now, as she plummeted to the ground, but instead she simply stared slack jawed and wide eyed at the fast approaching ground, the gears in her mind refusing to click as to what just happened. It was until her innards were about to become fertilizer in the forest clearing that she snapped back to reality and pulled up at the very last second, losing control quickly and hurtling across the ground.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that things could so easily have turned out worse, that she didn’t feel the pain in her limbs. The cumulative shock of everything that had occurred must be numbing her to the sensation. So while she lay there incapacitated, she allowed her mind to wonder to the problem at hoof, namely her apparent inability to interact with clouds. True Clouds were made of water vapour and weren’t solid anyway, but it was common knowledge that Pegasus magic allowed them cluster the water particles closer together so they could be treated as solid for the purposes of managing the weather.
So what had changed?
Again that rustling noise. Rainbow tried to turn her head in the direction of the noise, but her neck wouldn’t respond. The noise was definitely not her imagination this time, and it was getting closer by the sounds of it. She groaned inwardly as her wings twitched feebly beneath her, what would her fan club think of her if they could see her now?
Pinkie Pie removed her hooves from her ears, satisfied Fluttershy was done screaming now that she was curled up behind Pinkie in a quivering ball. “Come on Fluttershy,” Pinkie said in her usual upbeat tone, “there’s nothing to be afraid of, look.”
Pulling her tail free of Fluttershy’s iron grip she bounced forward to imposing tree in front of the pair. “We’ve been through this before remember,” she tried reminding Fluttershy, gesturing at the tree, making a point of what looked like a gaping mouth and shut eyes. “Just giggle at the ghosties, would it help if I sang the song again?”
“Ugh, no I still remember it,” Fluttershy said, the fear in her voice temporarily giving way to exasperation which Pinkie failed to pick up on.
“All you have to do is…” Pinkie began looking back at the tree, “ha, ha, ha!”
The pair stood still following Pinkie’s declaration, Pinkie waiting with a self-assured smirk and Fluttershy peeking from behind her mane to see if the source of her fear was gone. It wasn’t long before they began to realise something was wrong, Pinkie’s smile faded as she approached the tree giving it a few experimental laughs in different pitches. Fluttershy meanwhile had returned to trembling in fear, and was now backing away from the tree.
Had she not been ‘backing’ up and instead looking at where she was going, she would have seen the tree root jutting out of the ground beneath her, and she wouldn’t have tripped on said tree root, falling in a heap on the forest floor. As she fell she let out a little scream, but it was quickly blocked out as she fell face first into a plant of some kind.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaimed, abandoning her attempt at exorcising the tree with laughter to care for her fallen friend. Grabbing her by the shoulders she heaved Fluttershy off the ground and onto her hooves where she began coughing and spluttering. Quickly examining her she found Fluttershy muzzle, already caked in dried blood, was now covered in murky coloured leaves, but otherwise she was no worse for wear.
As she brushed the leaves, or more accurately petals, off Fluttershy’s face she looked down at what she had fallen into. It was difficult to make out considering how crumpled it was now, but it resembled some kind of thistle like flower. “it’s okay Fluttershy, I think the plant will be fine.”
“Pinkie!” Fluttershy yelled in an indignant, yet muffled tone, “I think Twilight already broke something, I’m now in a lot of pain.”
Pinkie backed up slightly, she had only made a joke to cheer Fluttershy up, but since Fluttershy hardly ever lost her temper it was obvious she’d crossed a line. “I’m super sorry Fluttershy,” she said, her hair deflating slightly and her voice losing its bubbliness. “I was only trying to cheer you up.”
Fluttershy’s eyes softened at the sight of her upset friend, she regretted snapping and she made a mental note to make it up to Pinkie later, but right now she needed treated. “It’s okay Pinkie, I’m sorry for yelling. But could you maybe fetch me something for this?”
Pinkie immediately perked up at the prospect of helping. Leading Fluttershy by the hoof, she walked her away from the creepy tree and sat her down on an old stump before addressing her with a salute. “You stay here ma’am, Doctor Pinkie is on the case.” And with that she sped off into the thicket leaving Fluttershy alone wondering if she even knew what to look for.
Fluttershy rubbed her eyes as if trying to clear them. It could be her imagination, but it looked like the forest around her had become rather blurry, trees stretching and warping slightly, and was that whispering she heard?
Grass is quite prickly, not like Ponyville grass at all; even the Everfree has softer grass than this. Pine trees aren’t exactly common around the middle of Equestria either, judging by that ah’d say I must be quite far north.
Applejack stopped walking, her train of thought stopping with her. She had been wandering through this forest ever since she had awoken, and still even as the sun passed overhead and began its steady descent, there was no indication of it coming to an end. “Well shoot,” she exclaimed, lowering to her haunches, “Twi’s really gonna have a lot to answer for this time… ah hope she’s alright, and the others.”
Her monologue was cut off by a loud groaning noise, accompanied by a bubbling feeling in her stomach. Walking had kept her mind off her impending hunger, but now that she had stopped it was quickly catching up with her. Casting her gaze around she noticed a single solitary berry bush amidst the pine forest. “Well it ain’t apples, but it’s better than nothin’.”
Standing up once more, her joints popping slightly as she did; she began walking forward examining the bush. The berries looked quite ripe, and certainly in no shortage. Reaching the bush she licked her lips slightly before leaning in, intent on plucking a particularly juicy berry off the branch with her teeth.
“Gobble Gobble!”
“Agh!” Applejack yelled, jumping back in surprise as something jumped out from behind the berry bush. “What in Tarnation?” she demanded staring up from where she sat at the bizarre creature now standing between her and the bush. At a first guess she would have said it was a chicken of some kind, a very large chicken admittedly, almost her own size. The bird cocked its head, blinking back at her curiously before turning its back on Applejack and sizing up the berry bush.
“Well that’s a might bit strange… Hey!” Applejack exclaimed as the creature began pecking through the bush, munching up the berries faster than Applejack could blink. “Get outta here ya varmint!” Applejack yelled, rushing the bird and startling it out of eating any more berries.
“Gobble Gobble!” it exclaimed indignantly, bouncing into the forest, its wings flapping in a panic.
“Well that sure was…” Applejack trailed off as hers eyes fell back onto the bush, which was now, impossibly, picked clean. Not daring to believe her bad luck she searched desperately for any one berry that might have survived the assault. When it became apparent that she would have no luck she slumped to the ground with a groan.
As she lay there her stomach let out another grumble. She needed to find something to eat soon, and it hadn’t escaped her notice that the sun was sinking fast.
“Oh heavens!” Rarity declared turning her head away from the steaming pile in front of her, “I can’t believe any civilised creature would just leave such a thing lying here for anypony to step in!”
Side stepping the pile of… excrement, Rarity continued on her way, glad to have the stench behind her. She had been managing surprising well since she had awoken, considering she was stranded in the middle of nowhere. She had begun to feel the pinch of the cold and found herself craving one of the cloaks she had worked tirelessly to create for the last couple of weeks.
But she was able to shrug off the feeling, especially having just spotted something encouraging moments before she nearly trod in a turd. The small cluster of wooden houses had become visible just as she left the forest and entered what appeared to be a meadow of sorts, littered with flowers and the occasional beehive.
While she was worried for her missing friends, her mood was greatly heightened at the prospect of civilisation. However as she drew nearer to the houses she began to notice something odd about them. They were awfully small, or more accurately, thin as they were at least twice her own height. They resembled outhouses more than actual homes, but Rarity couldn’t fathom why any creature would need so many outhouses, especially when it was apparently socially acceptable to use the path as a toilet.
Undeterred she continued on her way until she was standing directly in front of the door. It couldn’t hurt to see if anypony was home, and so with that in mind she reached out with a hoof and rapped gently on the wooden door. Then she waited, until the silence continued to stretch to unbearable levels. Finally she became tired of waiting and tried calling out. “Excuse me, is there anybody home? I’m in need of some assistance.”
Again, only silence. Rarity harrumphed before stepping around the tiny house and looking over the rest. It seemed pointless to have all these houses here if nopony lived in them, but then where were they? Rarity was about ready to give up and continue on her way when a movement by one of the houses caught her eye.
Upon seeing the creature, her mind immediately jumped to the pigs she sometimes saw when visiting Applejack. However this specimen appeared to be standing on its hind legs, much like some skilled ponies Rarity had seen. And unlike Applejack’s pigs, this one appeared far more hulking, with patches of mangy hair over its shoulders and face. And to tops off the image, it was wearing some kind of skirt woven from grass.
Rarity wouldn’t claim to be an expert on pigs having had very little interaction with any, but from what she had seen they shouldn’t like this, and were most certainly not intelligent and thus would not be wearing clothes, no matter how savage said garments might be.
Rarity mentally slapped herself after making these assessments. “Shame on you Rarity,” she whispered harshly to herself, “saying such things based on little or no knowledge and experience is positively discriminatory.” Looking back up at the pig creature she saw it was munching on something cupped in its hands. “I’m sure it’s a perfectly intelligent creature, and I ought to give it a chance to prove it.”
With her mind made up she took a breath before strutting lightly over to the pig creature, hoping her perfect manoeuvres would let it know she was a pony of class. As she came near the pig seemed to hear her and it looked up, its jaw hanging slack, its beady eyes showing no emotion.
“Good day to you fine gentle… uh, pig,” Rarity began, pronunciating her words with finesse. “I was wondering if perhaps you could…”
“THAT MY SPACE!” The pig squealed, hobbling away from Rarity still yelling hoarsely, “STAY AWAY!”
“Huh,” Rarity said, staring blankly at the now empty space in front of her, “maybe perfectly intelligent is a bit of an overstatement.”
The rabbits dived for cover as the pink menace dashed through the forest trail that had, seconds before been so peaceful. “Oh, that looks tasty!” Pinkie exclaimed, halting next to a small sprout of green leaves which she uprooted with her teeth to reveal a bright orange carrot. twisting her neck she tossed it into the back pack she had cleverly woven from some long grass, along with the other various food items and plants she had collected since leaving Fluttershy.
“Alrighty then,” Pinkie began, surveying her horde. While she would admit to not knowing the first thing about medicine, she could recall a few odd statements exchanged between Rarity and Fluttershy during one of the rare spa visits Pinkie had attended. Hence she had a good idea that herbal remedies could be made from all kinds of flowers and herbs, the carrots and berries were just for when she got snacky.
With this in mind she stared in utter confusion at the assortment of items, baffled at how these could possibly help Fluttershy. Finally shrugging and accepting her own lack of understanding, she decided it would be best to carry on gathering and let Fluttershy decide what to do with it all when she returned. Closing over her backpack she carried on her way, but not before waving goodbye to the bunnies poking their noses out of their burrows to see if the coast was clear.
Humming a little tune, she hopped down the trail, only vaguely aware of the lack of harvestable plants the further she walked. It had also grown increasingly dark, which she was sure wasn’t due to the sun which she had noted had only begun its descent in the sky. Not worried in the slightest she kept going, sure she would emerge from this dark section soon and discover an abundance of plants, then she would go back to Fluttershy and then…
Pinkie’s inner monologue came to a screeching halt as her hooves planted firmly on the ground and remained stuck there. Curious, she looked down to see the forest floor, until recently blanketed in pine needles, was now covered in a thick, pale substance. She tried moving her hooves, and while the substance gave slightly it continued to be stubbornly sticky. Pinkie recalled a time her Granny Pie had warned her to ‘look before she leapt’; the memory caused her to giggle slightly despite the situation she was in.
As troublesome as this was, Pinkie was not dismayed. Looking around, she scanned the area for something that might aid her in getting unstuck, which resulted in her eyes falling on something not too far away. It was difficult to make out in the low light, but it appeared to be some mound, crafted from the same sticky material she was standing on, what was more, it appeared to be quivering.
Eyes wide with childlike curiosity, she leaned in as far as she could, being stuck to the ground, examining the egg shaped object. As she did she began to hear a faint clicking noise, lots of them. Bolstering her courage she called out in the warmest tone she could muster, “Hello? Is there anything in there? I’m a little stuck.”
The clicking stopped abruptly, and Pinkie was worried she’d frightened whatever it was off… when suddenly the egg thing burst open, releasing five giant creatures, pitch black but for their glowing yellow eyes and shining white fangs. They all hissed, moving towards Pinkie, their long spindly legs moving undeterred by the substance Pinkie now realised were webs.
“Whoa, would you look at the time,” Pinkie said, her voice now trembling slightly as the spiders moved in, “I really better get going.” Pinkie tried to shift her legs, but the webbing refused to give way enough for her to make her escape. “I said,” Pinkie said, more firmly this time, “I’ll… just… be… GOING!”
With that she wrenched her legs free, leaping away from webbing plastered over the ground and the spiders which were now charging in on their prey. Landing safely on ordinary ground, Pinkie wasted no time in turning tail and running as fast as she could away from the predators, unfortunately she could hear the spiders giving chase behind her. “Why couldn’t Granny Pie have a song for laughing away giant killer spiders?” Pinkie wailed as she ran, the sound of the spiders snapping at her tail all too loud in her ears.
Clenching her eyes shut as she ran, not a wise decision in hindsight, she didn’t notice when she left the dark canopy and re-entered the fading sunlight. She also didn’t notice the beehive in front of her, which she preceded to crash head first into. Falling back dazed, Pinkie wanted to believe she had received a concussion, and that the sound of clicking now mixed with buzzing was all in her head. To her dismay however, she saw the spiders bearing down upon her, and she saw the bees buzzing in for the kill. Utterly drained of hope, she clenched her eyes and waited for the end…
Which never came. the sounds continued, in fact they became more frantic and feral, but while Pinkie lay there, curled up not daring to move an inch, she remained untouched, un-stung, un-maimed and most importantly, alive.
After a short few minutes, silence descended upon Pinkie, and she dared to open her eyes a crack. She was in a meadow, dotted with flowers, next to her sat a plump beehive, one side caved in, honey spilling out. It didn’t take her long to find the spiders and the bees, or what remained of them. All around her were spider carcasses and deceased bees, it was clear they had fought and killed done another over their prey.
Pinkie let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding in, and began to walk away, desperate to put some distance between herself and this massacre. As she walked however, something in the back of her mind called out for her to stop. She did, and she quickly found herself approaching the dead spiders again, her eyes trained on something attached to the underside of one, some pale bulbous object. Her eyes moved from it to the honey dripping from the beehive, and as some unknown instinct kicked in, she gulped down her disgust and opened her backpack.
Pinkie shuddered as she walked along the familiar route to where she had left Fluttershy, partially to do with everything she had witnessed, more so to do with the new contents of her backpack. She had tried desperately to keep the honey and what she assumed were glands of some kind separate from the rest of her supplied by quickly waving some parchment like material from nearby reeds.
She just hoped, with some level of desperation that Fluttershy could make use of them. It didn’t take long for the unforgettably creepy tree to appear out of the thicket, and Pinkie then looked to where she left Fluttershy… and found the spot now empty. While a spark of worry made itself known, Pinkie suppressed it, sure Fluttershy was nearby, probably just picking flowers or talking to the wildlife.
“Fluttershy!” She called out, sounding happier than she felt, “I’m back; I’ve got tonnes of stuff for you!” There was no reply. Sure there was a reasonable explanation; Pinkie began scouting the area for any signs of her Pegasus friend. She probably just took a nap under a tree, yeah that makes sense, that’s why she isn’t answering. However the longer she looked, the harder it became to think up excuses as to where her friend was.
Very quickly she was out of excuses all together, and panic was beginning to set in. “Fluttershy!” Pinkie screamed into the now obviously empty forest. Something must have happened to Fluttershy, she would never have left otherwise. Terrified, Pinkie ran back to where she left Fluttershy, only now with fresh eyes she saw clearly the ground was torn up. She followed the path of minor destruction away from the creepy tree into the forest.
The trail went cold quickly, but Pinkie stubbornly refused to give up hope, and carried on in a straight line, sure she would come across Fluttershy soon. Through the trees, Pinkie could make out a clearing, as well as something brightly coloured, something that looked out of place. With new found hope spurring her on, Pinkie charged forward, not even caring that the thing wasn’t yellow. The braches rustled all around her as she powered through, bursting into the clearing and laying eyes on the figure there.
Her jaw dropped as she saw the broken, bloody form of Rainbow Dash. “Dashie!” she screamed, racing forward and collapsing at her friend’s side. Dash’s eyes rolled weakly over to Pinkie, and her mouth moved as she tried to speak. “Don’t speak,” Pinkie ordered quickly, realising it was causing Dash a lot of pain to try, “Don’t worry… I’ll help you… somehow.”
trying her best to lay Dash out in the recovery position (or what Pinkie thought the recovery position was) without hurting her, Pinkie pulled her backpack off and scattered its contents on the ground. Now what? She didn’t know a thing about herbal remedies; she was relying on Fluttershy to know what to do with this stuff. No! Dashie needs you Pinkie! Just… just think of it like a recipe.
With that thought, Pinkie found herself more relaxed. Quickly she organised all her supplied, setting food items off to one side and separating flowers from the more questionable items. Now surely it was as easy as figuring out the right mixtures and combinations. A sudden chill went up Pinkie’s spine as she prepared. Looking up she noticed the sun was almost touching the horizon, it would be night soon enough, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything if she couldn’t see.
“Don’t worry Dashie,” she said with newfound confidence to her friend, who was breathing heavily and sweating despite the cold, “I will help you, but first I’m going to light a fire.”
