Last chants for the slow dance

There is not much light. Rainbow Dash looks toward the horizon and shifts her bag as she waits for the train. It is good for her to be getting away, especially after making a doofus of herself yesterday.

Pinkie is on the bench to her right chatting her ear off, not having had breakfast yet apparently not enough to stop her flow of words. Pinkie is the only one of her friends to show. It’s still before dawn so Rainbow Dash doesn’t blame them. She wouldn’t be up now if it wasn’t worth it. And it’s Wonderbolts business, so it is totally worth it!

“—and that’s why everything went all wrong.”

“What’s that, Pinkie?” She tunes into Pinkie’s rambling.

“I’m just saying, don’t mess up!” Pinkie chirps. “If you mess up, everything will go to hell.”

“...That’s something morbid.”

“Yep. But the sun hasn’t risen yet. It has to rise first before it can set. So there’s still the rest of the day at least.”

“If that’s what you say.”

“You can never be sure if there will be a new day.”

Dash looks out before them. The station lights don’t light up much past the dim glow around their bench and the only other pony is lying on his own bench further down. “Pinkie, quit talking stupid. There’s always another day, it’s a law of the universe. Now stop with the mentioning, you’re killing my mood here. The show’s not even been till tomorrow and I need to be amped as I can be.”

“You would think so,” Pinkie says but then dutifully shuts up about it. She squirms in her seat and stares at the cracks in the cement.

Rainbow Dash thinks again to make sure she has all her stuff packed. Canterlot isn’t even that far for her but she’s going for half a week, and then who knows. Get a bunch of Wonderbolts together and next thing you know they’re taking off to go gambling in Las Pegasus. Involuntarily she grins, it’s one of her better memories.

Then Pinkie opens her mouth again. “Hey, Dashie, why are you wearing that ascot? It goes well with your jawline, you know.”

Dash is caught off guard and she glances down to her neck and sees red fabric with a zigzag pattern. She doesn’t really remember why she put the thing on, it isn’t her usual style, just that it had seemed important. She shrugs her shoulders. “Don’t know, who does? For good luck I guess.”

The earth mare kicks her feet. Her voice isn’t very sure. “Okay. That’s pretty important, if you believe in luck. I guess with magic there’s no real reason not to…”

“Yeah.”

“And like they say, friendship is magic... Do you think that counts? Do you think friendship is enough, that it’s as good as luck?”

Pinkie Pie is staring at her with an odd expression and Dash feels awkward. Pinkie’s usually strange but not like this and she isn’t sure what to say. Maybe Pinkie just misses her. They don’t really do much these days.

She takes a moment to order her thoughts. She says, “I think as long as you’ve done your best, things will go how they need to.” The genuineness feels strange on her tongue.

Pinkie seems satisfied.

Finally Dash hears the roaring of the train and sees it approach in the rising pink light. It stops and the doors open. The other stallion gets up and enters.

Dash grabs her suitcase and gives Pinkie a hug. “Look, Pinkie, I got to go now. When I get back, we’ll hang out more. Say bye to the girls for me.”

Pinkie nods her head. “I will. Try to get some rest for that cold.”

She looks at Pinkie inquisitively. “I don’t have a cold.”

“Enjoy your time, Dashie.”

“Yeah.”

She boards the train and her spirits pick up again as she leaves the mood of the station behind. She envisions the tall spires of Canterlot as she grabs a seat. It’s going to be her first time performing as a Wonderbolt for the princess. From her window she calls, “Tell them, it’s gonna be awesome! I’ll write all about it so you guys don’t miss a thing!”

Fluttershy’s been up all night. After dinner, she had found Spike collapsed outside her house and she’s been too worried about him to sleep. She carried him in and tucked him in blankets on her couch but he hasn’t woken up yet.

He doesn’t seem well at all to her. His scales are scratched up and his legs are oddly stiff. There is some weird zipper attached to his mouth and it took her an hour just to get it unzipped. It looks magically grafted to the skin and she’s afraid to try to detach it.

For a long while she does not leave his side, but then Fluttershy has to go and care for her critters. She rushes through that and then some of the animals complain she didn’t give them enough so she has to go back and take care of them.

It is late in the morning when he finally wakes up.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, it won’t happen again!” he says as he bolts up so quickly his head swims. He’s surprised to find his words weren’t muffled, and even more when he sees Fluttershy.

Fluttershy feels guilty she startled him. She puts her hoof on his arm and rubs it comfortingly, saying, “Calm down, there is nothing to worry about. You are safe, this is a safe place.” Then she feels she’s being weird so she puts her hoof back down.

Spike calms at that. He looks around cautiously at his surroundings. “...Fluttershy?”

“Yes, I am here for you.”

He leans forward and whispers, “Is Twilight here?”

“Sorry, it is just me. Did you want me to get Twilight?”

“No!”

Fluttershy scrunches her face. “I don’t understand,” she admits, and then feels bad that it is probably something she should. Maybe there was some context clue a normal pony would have picked up on. She tries hard to notice.

“Sorry... Just, don’t get Twilight. Please.”

She thinks maybe it is something to do with the zipper on his mouth. “Spike, who put a zipper there? Why would somepony do that?” She points.

Spike gets really upset at that and for a moment she thinks she said the wrong thing. Then he says, “It’s her. I know what I shouldn’t,” and she knows she’s said the right thing.

“What do you know, Spike?” she asks. It’s a vague question but she hopes she is on a roll and he will know what she means.

“I can’t!” Spike yelps. “She’s got a machine, I’m not supposed to tell!”

Fluttershy looks at him. She can’t really imagine anything that would have left him like this. It’s a bit strange for the greedy maw of the world.

“I think you should tell.”

Spike’s voice catches. He looks around again and blinks away tears. Slowly he works up words and tells her everything.

After seeing Rainbow Dash off, Pinkie returns to Sugarcube Corner. She doesn't like how Dash looked.

She eats a bunch of brownies. They already have chocolate frosting but Pinkie puts vanilla on them as well. There is no need to decide when you can just have everything. She thinks she can have everything today, now that her belly is full again.

While eating she also prepares a huge cake with strawberry fudge frosting. Featherweight’s birthday party is today and as usual she is running that, so she can serve her favorite snacks.

Today looks like it will be bright and warm sunsets. Applejack comes to mind; it seems good to give a quick visit to Applejack. After baking the rest of her orders for the morning, she leaves to the Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie starts by skipping but quickly runs out of breath, so she just strolls and admires the outdoors on her way.

Applejack is dragging crates of apples into the barn when Pinkie Pie arrives. Her morning does not seem to be going as well.

“Dangit, Pinkie,” Applejack squints. “What did I tell you about distracting me when I am working?”

“But you’re always at your farm working. You really need to leave more.”

“That’s what I have Applebloom for.”

While she remembers she says, “Oh, Rainbow Dash says Hi.”

Applejack does not seem pleased at that and Pinkie remembers what she heard about the market yesterday. “You tell that one I am not talking to her until she apologizes.”

“If she returns from Canterlot. Anyway, it’s not like you need to spend all day working. It’s nice sunshine today! There are places to see and ponies to spend time with…” Pinkie latches onto Applejack in emphasis.

Applejack shrugs her off. “Especially now, I need to work more than ever. You of all ponies would know cider season is coming up and I’ll have to work extra hard to make up the losses of poisoning one of my fields.”

She looks at Applejack like she grew a second head. “Applejack, you aren’t supposed to poison your own crops. That’s supposed to be the work of some villainous madmare.”

“Well it isn’t like I wanted to,” she says as she moves another crate. “Well I did, but only because it was contaminated. It probably would spread if left be.”

“That sounds like it matters. How did your apples get contaminated?”

“It’s not like I know. My best guess is something with the weather.”

“Shouldn’t you tell Twilight about that,” Pinkie says. “That is what friends do.”

Applejack’s glare is disapproving. “No, this is not anything that concerns fancy alicorns, and it isn’t something that is going to be solved from reading books in a basement. This is farm business. And I run this here farm so it is up to me.” Applejack sets down her crate.

“Oh. Well, if it's up to you, then shouldn’t you be doing something about it.”

“I am. I’m working my farm.”

“About the problem? We want things to go swimmingly.”

“That does not concern you,” Applejack says as she retreats inside the house and closes the door on her.

That doesn’t bother Pinkie and she just crawls in through the window to meet Applejack in the kitchen. Her tail twitches so she checks in the pantry for cookies and finds oatmeal apple. Her Pinkie Sense has been overactive lately but that doesn't mean anything these days.

Applejack enters and is only mildly surprised. “Bah. Damn you, can’t you let a mare get her business done in peace?”

“Shouldn’t you be going to the bathroom then?” Pinkie giggles but it is more a cackle.

“I mean chores. I am trying to do my chores.”

“You need to fix your apples before everything goes to hell,” Pinkie whines.

Applejack leans underneath the cabinet below the sink, searching for her extra cider squeezer. Pinkie thinks for a moment there will be words she doesn’t want to hear but Applejack only says, “Don’t test me.”

“That’s a great idea,” Pinkie says. They seem to finally be on the same page. “Test the apples, and see what’s wrong with them!”

She turns around and pokes Pinkie. “If it bothers you so much, then you figure out what’s the cause. Quit telling me about my business.”

Pinkie Pie checks her watch but does not have one. There is not much time and she needs to help set up. “Sorry, I would but I’ve been invited to a party,” she says.

“Some of us have important things to do with our time.”

She smiles so everything is fine. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

The hours fade away and time is meaningless while Twilight works. Scientific theory takes over her mind and she becomes too preoccupied to think.

Too preoccupied to brood on the myth of friendship, to enumerate her points showing it nothing but a foal’s figment. To notice how things don’t get better, time only goes on. She’d risen to the heights of harmony and life, become a princess, and there was nothing at the top. Still the world was empty.

When in her books and plans, Twilight doesn’t have to feel all this.

It is very difficult to find that elusive magic element, not detectable through normal means. And searching for it in the right location and frequency of space is very difficult. It is very possible that while searching she could go too far, rotate her drill just too much and completely miss it. That is why her tunes are so fine, so microscopically precise she can not even tell it moves anything, except that she designed it herself.

It’s moments like this where the danger of what she is doing wracks through her body. Just a second, before being absorbed, the awe of her task and audacity of it. Processing and pummeling the grain of existence to a fine liquid. It requires nothing less than perfect care.

Twilight has gotten in the habit of muttering to herself as she works. “It’s all coming together. All coming together.”