The Neighcronomicon

"There, that's the last of 'em." Applejack nodded to herself as she set the barrel of apples on its end. Taking a step back, Applejack marvled at the collection of barrels and crates filled with apples, all packed up and ready to be shipped all over Equestria. Chuckling softly, Applejack amended that idea in her head.

"They're only goin' ta Canterlot and Cloudsdale. Tain't like I'm gonna get an order from Trottingham or Saddle Arabia. . . yet." Couldn't hurt to dream though. Like Granny Smith said "Reach for the stars, and at the very least you'll get a good stretch."

With a flash of purple light and a faint pop of displaced air, Twilight Sparkle finished her teleport directly next to Applejack. Ninty-nine times out of one hundred, these acts of magical translocation had no negative side effects.

"Twi, are you okay?" Applejack asked. "Yer lookin' a mite green around the gills there. . . "

Squinting at the fuzzy orange blob in her sight, given a halo by the much brighter yellow blob in the background, Twilight opened her mouth to assure her friend that she was, indeed, quite alright.

"BLAAAAAAGHH!"

Applejack lept back as Twilight proceeded to noisily eject her breakfast from her face, liberally coating the barn floor with partially digested daffodils and bits of bread. "Land sakes Twilight, a bit of warnin' woulda been nice to have!" Applejack shook her head and trotted over to the spigot by the barn door, filling up a bucket of water. As Twilight's bouts of puking tapered off, Applejack tossed the water across the floor, sluicing away the accumulated sick.

"Sorry Applejack," Twilight gasped, wiping away flecks of vomit with the back of her hoof. "I guess I'm just a bit shaken up. I need you to get the rest of the girls together and head to my place, Rarity really needs you."

"Huh? Twi, what are you doin' here if Rarity needs help?!"

Twilight looked like she was gonna be sick all over again, but seemed to push down her rising gorge. "I don't know why, but when I talked to her she started screaming and crying. Something about what I said, or how I sounded really upset her. I was going to teleport around and collect you all, but it seems my stomach had other ideas about that."

"Hold on there Twi. What do you mean she got upset by what you were sayin'?" Applejack could hear the quaver in her voice and hated it, but Twilight wasn't making any kind of sense. She was itching to gallop off and round up the others, but little warning bells were clanging and banging in her head, like she'd regret not asking what happened if she didn't do it now.

The groan Twilight unleashed was nigh on mythical for its quality; a seamless blend of exasperation and weariness, hinting at untold leagues of mental turmoil. "I just don't know! I wish I knew, I almost wanted to stay there and question her so that I'd know what to say and I could answer you but I can't! I didn't stay, so I need you to just trust me and go get the girls!" Twilight gulped down air, staggering over to the still running spigot to parch a sudden thirst that hit her. Maybe she was coming down with something, the way her voice kept getting all raspy?

"O-okay Twi, I'll uh, I'll go get the girls and meetcha back at your place." Applejack galloped off, a sheen of sweat on her brow and her heart hammering the inside of her ribs like it wanted out. Those last few 'words' Twilight had used. . . well, no wonder delicate Rarity had broken down.

* * *

Twilight looked at Applejack's rapidly receding form. Thank goodness she'd stopped asking about what'd happened, Twilight didn't know how much more her poor throat could have handled. Sweet Apple Acres was fairly far from Ponyville, so Twilight had a fair bit of ground to cover. Given that, aside from Rarity, the rest of the girls could easily out pace her on a good day (which today was decidedly not), Twilight resolved to get moving as soon as her head stopped spinning.

"Ugh, of all the days to get a headache. I really wanted to read more or the Neighcronomicon." grumbled Twilight after a few minutes of no improvement. Huffing a little sigh, Twilight started trudging her way down the winding path to Ponyville. Pain or no pain, Twilight needed to be present for Rarity, even if she couldn't talk.

A muted boom thundered through the air, and Twilight glanced up to see a rainbow contrail roar overhead. "Well, Rainbow Dash definitively got the message, I aught to pick up the pace." Forcing herself into a slow trot, Twilight almost paused to marvel as her headache diminished. Maybe she'd get to read the Neighcronomicon later today after all.

Relieved that her headache had receded a bit, Twilight increased her pace again. Sure her head still hurt, especially around her horn, but the cool autumn air and scent of apples seemed to be soothing that pain away. It wasn't very often that Twilight got out and about, and it was almost unheard of when she had a new book to read. But, as much as the Neighcronomicon interested her, her friends came first.

All though. . . if Rarity didn't want to hear her speak, surely it wouldn't hurt to do a bit more reading while the others helped calm her down? Grinning at the prospect, Twilight broke into a full gallop. If she got there before all the others, she could do even more reading. Breathing out a raspy little laugh, Twilight slipped out of the gate to the farm and raced homeward.

* * *

Skidding to a halt just before her doorstep, Twilight took a few deep breaths. Bursting through the door with her mane out of order and gasping for air wouldn't do anything to calm down Rarity. Knocking on her own door, Twilight gently pushed it open and stepped into the library. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were sitting on either side of Rarity at the table, a show of solidarity. Rarity looked a bit better, a gently steaming mug of tea clasped between her hooves. The tremors that rattled her mug, sloshing droplets of tea onto the wooden table-top were barely noticeable as Twilight slowly walked in.

Twilight opened her mouth to ask how Rarity was doing, but paused when she saw the raw terror in the fashonista's eyes. Twilight shut her mouth dumbly, and reached for the Neighcronomicon with her magic. If she couldn't talk to Rarity, she might as well get some reading done.

"Hey, is that a new Daring Do book Twilight? It looks really awesome!" Rainbow Dash zipped over to the plush chair Twilight had flopped onto. Looking up in annoyance, Twilight waved her hoof at the Neighcronomicon's cover as if to say "Do you see Daring Do on the cover of this book?".

"Ooo, charades! I love charades!" Pinkie Pie rummaged in her poofy pink mane briefly before pulling out a pencil and notepad. "I'm all set Twilight, let'er rip!"

Sighing, Twilight resisted the urge to bury her face in her hooves. Gently closing the Neighcronomicon, Twilight reached out with her magic and pulled Pinkie's pencil and notepad in front of her. Moving over to the table Pinkie and Rarity still sat at, Twilight scribbled on the notepad as she lay the Neighcronomicon down next to her new seat. Settling herself down, Twilight turned the notepad around for Rarity and Pinkie to read.

"I'm not going to talk since it made Rarity upset last time. No Dash, this is not a new Daring Do book, it's the Neighcronomicon. It is very rare and valuable, so please don't try and swipe it from me to 'double check'," Twilight turned her head around as Pinkie Pie read off the notepad, leveling a glare at the prismatic pegasus who was hovering just behind her, hooves outstretched to grab the Neighcronomicon.

"I uh, was just gonna brush some dust off of it? Heh heh..." Rainbow Dash ducked her head sheepishly and flapped her way to the other side of the table to sit next to Rarity again.

Twilight smirked at Rainbow Dash and rolled her eyes before quickly scribbling on a new sheet of paper. Frowning with concern, Twilight held the notepad up in front of Rarity.

"Am I okay? Thank you Twilight for asking, it does seem as though my moment of hysteria has passed me by." Rarity offered Twilight a somewhat fragile smile; even a bookworm like Twilight could see the pain lurking behind that mask. "I realized that you must have gone to get help when Rainbow Dash burst in with Pinkie Pie in tow. Rainbow here was polite enough to get me sitting upright and fetched me a cushion, and Pinkie Pie got me some tea." Frowning down at the mug, Rarity cast a sideways glance at Pinkie Pie. "I still don't know what possessed you to put marshmallows in it though."

"Silly goose, marshmallows make everything better, even other marshmallows!" As if to demonstrate her point, Pinkie leapt up and lifted up a tray of baked goods from under the table, a veritable mountain of sweets split down the middle. "See, these ones on the right don't have marshmallows, and see how they look kinda sad? Well, not this cupcake here, but she's such a pretty little cupcake I think I agree that she should be happy. On the other side of the rail road tracks," Pinkie swept her hoof like some sort of showmare, pausing briefly to point out the rail road made of candy canes and what could only be chocolate covered pretzel sticks, "we have all the sweets made with marshmallows, and they look so much puffier, and fluffier, and happier, right?"

Twilight was saved from having to answer that rhetorical question by the library door swinging open to admit Applejack and Fluttershy. The butterscotch yellow pegasus wasted no time and swooped over to Rarity, planting herself in Pinkie's recently vacated seat. Applejack made her way slowly to the table, sitting down next to Twilight as Pinkie Pie sat on Twilight's other side.

"Well, we're all here now. Mind telling us what the hay happened, Rarity?" Rainbow Dash blurted out.

Rarity took a sip of the marshmallow infused tea before clearing her throat. "Well, I had asked Twilight yesterday to help model for me. I have a commission from a client in Canterlot who shares Twilight's coloring, so I felt that having her model for me would be quite helpful."

"Twilight had agreed to meet me at Carousel Boutique at ten. Unfortunately, she never showed. I finished up another little project and came over here to find out what had gone wrong." Rarity smiled wanly, "After all, it would not have been the first time Twilight got wrapped up in a new book or project and lost track of the time."

The mug of tea made a shaky return journey to the tabletop, and Rarity's voice took on a decidedly fearful tone. "So I knocked on the door, as any proper gentlemare should, and after the third or forth time Twilight seemed to hear me. I came in, and asked her what had kept her from coming over. When she answered, I . . . I w-wish I had not asked."

Tears filled Rarity's eyes, and Fluttershy wrapped a wing protectively over her shoulders. "Twilight. . . you weren't talking. It didn't s-sound like you. But it hurt, whoever or whatever was t-talking." Tears spilled from Rarity's eyes, and with a strangled sob she buried her face in Fluttershy's shoulder.

Rainbow Dash scratched her head "What's that even mean? Twilight, you wanna write out your side of the story?"

Pencil already in motion, Twilight nodded absentmindedly. In truth, aside from the last bit, Rarity had covered everything Twilight had thought. Pushing the notepad to Applejack, Twilight sighed and lay her head on the table.

"Twi here says that what Rarity was sayin' is what happened, though she didn't know the bit about her voice bein' all screwy." Applejack set the notepad back down. "Ah can verify that what Rarity said is right though. Twilight, you got somethin' terribly wrong with yer talkin' today, though ah only caught a lil bit of it."

Twilight's head shot up at Applejack's remark, all fired up and ready to question her friend's statement when a pink hoof slapped over her mouth. "Shh shh shh, it's okay, it's okay, no one's pointing hooves here, just relax and don't melt our brains with words, shhh shhh." Pinkie Pie stage whispered, stroking Twilight's mane and staring at her in a rather unsettling fashion. Twilight found it oddly comforting nonetheless, even on a terrible day like today, Pinkie Pie would always be Pinkie Pie.

"After you telaported to mah barn, at the very end when you were tryin' to convince me to run and get the girls, them last few words you said came out all wrong. Ah heard you right and clear, but I also heard somepony else talkin'. It was downright unnerving, ah don't think you coulda payed me to not start runnin'." Applejack tugged her stetson down, hiding her eyes. "Ah didn't say anythin' cause I was hopin' I had just imagined it. Hearin' what Rares had to say made it clear that it wasn't just me."

"Do you think -" Everypony looked to Fluttershy, who flushed and glanced around skittishly. "Do you think that, maybe, this new book has anything to do with it?" The looks became stares, and Fluttershy slowly began sinking down to the floor, wings fluttering like she wanted to fly away from all the attention. "I just mean that if Twilight hasn't been doing anything else new, then it makes sense that the new thing in her life could be . . . eep."

Twilight placed a hoof over the Neighcronomicon possessively, her stare having upgraded to an outright glare. "Fluttershy, that's ridiculous. It's just a book. No harm ever came from reading a book!"

Looking up from Fluttershy, who was silently crying a flood of tears as she pressed herself against the floor in a vain effort to sink through it and escape, Twilight saw that all of her friend bore expressions of terror. Pinkie Pie's normally cotton candy mane had deflated, and her eyes took on a slightly glassy sheen, as though she was no longer looking at her friends in Twilight's library. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were holding up the best, but even the stoic farmpony and athlete bore tears in their eyes and clear tension in their shoulders, as hooves and wings begged them to flee.

Poor Rarity suffered the worst, and was huddling in a bookcase, having knocked its contents to the floor to give her just a few more precious inches to flee from Twilight, or more accurately, Twilight's voice. Twilight saw all of this, finally resting her gaze on the Neighcronomicon, where the abstract whorls and swirls of dark ink on the cover drew her eye. Where once those simple whirls of shades of darkness were a pretty distraction, now Twilight could only see a mocking, sneering face of an indistinct pony.

"Oh buck."