Mr. Original in: Look Before You Sleep

Mr. Original’s Dictionary
Original Edition

Stiff Whip
/stif (h)wip/
v.

-when someone Sharply strikes a pose, or moves suddenly before becoming abruptly still for a slight moment

[Theme Song]

Before the two mares could recover, James thrust his umbrella towards Rarity, the unicorn catching it in her magic subconsciously.

"And that, is why I don't Flash during thunderstorms." He walked over to Frag Cat, who was still lying face down on the ground. "Frag Cat, please tell Rarity and Ajax that you're okay, they're scared stiff for you right now."

Upon hearing his name, the dazed Frag Cat removed his face from the ground, and coughed up a cloud of soot. "Heheh. Toasty." He looked at James with half-lidded X-eyes and a dumb grin. "My legs feel all tingly." The girls visibly relaxed, but only a little.

"See? He's fine," James Cheerfully picked up the puppycat. After a second, he deadpanned as he looked himself over. "And now I'm all wet."

"James! Applejack! Rarity!" they heard a voice call out. Everyone including Frag Cat turned their heads to see Twilight standing in her doorway, waving at them. "James! Applejack! Rarity!" she called again.

James facepalmed and waved back before she repeated herself. Again. James put down Frag Cat, and the four made their way towards the library.

"Come inside, quick," Twilight said as they got closer. Rarity galloped inside followed by Frag Cat, but Applejack skidded to a stop in front of the door.

"Whoa, nelly. Is inside a tree really the best place to be in a lightning storm?" she raised an eyebrow.

"It is if you have a magical lightning rod protecting your home like I do. Come on in!" Twilight smiled.

Rarity sighed and smiled back. "We are most grateful for your invitation." The smile disappeared when she saw Applejack walking through the door.

"Thank ya kindly for yer hospitality," the farm pony said, but stopped as Rarity put her hoof up in front of her. The white unicorn pointed downward. Applejack followed her gaze and noticed that her hooves were covered in mud.

"Uh, do be a polite house guest and go wash up please, won't you?" Rarity smirked before walking away. As the orange mare grumbled under breath and walked back outside, and Frag Cat went to a corner to clean himself, Twilight spoke to Rarity.

"Some storm, huh? The pegasus ponies sure have outdone themselves this time. I hope you and Applejack don't have any trouble getting home."

"It may indeed be a problem," Rarity said slowly with a nervous smile.

James was the last to arrive to the house. As he was barely through the door, he Stiff Whipped, flinging a good amount of moisture from his clothes and out the door. Then he Exploded, completely drying himself. "There. Much better," he smiled.

Twilight smiled at Rarity. "Well, you're welcome to stay if need be. Spike is away in Canterlot on royal business. I'm home all alone tonight." After a moment, her expression lit up and she gasped. "You and Applejack should totally sleep over! We'll have a slumber party!" she clapped her hooves in excitement. "I've always wanted one of those."

The white unicorn blinked. "...Oh! Uh, goodness, uh, I do believe I have another engagement scheduled for this evening that completely slipped my mind until just now," she laughed nervously. "Ah silly me, I can't possibly stay here all night... with Applejack."

Frag Cat, who had finished licking himself clean of soot, walked over to the girls. "That's a great idea!" he chirped as he looked at James. "Can they sleep over?"

"This isn't my house, Frag Cat," James raised an eyebrow.

Twilight walked over to a wall and levitated a book from a higher shelf and brought it to the other mare's face. "Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask," Rarity read out loud.

James deadpanned. "...You're kidding, right?"

"My own personal copy. It's a fantastic reference guide. You should see the table of contents. I've been waiting for a chance to use it, and today is the day! This is gonna be so great!" Twilight smiled brightly.

"How long have you had that book?" James asked.

"I just bought it about a week or two ago."

"Okay, good," James nodded.

"Yes. Great," Rarity smiled nervously as she glanced outside the window at Applejack, and grimaced as the earth pony ended up accidentally spraying herself in the face with the hose.

"This is gonna be fun!" Frag Cat exclaimed Cheerfully.

Applejack finally reentered the library, the water on her hooves making them glisten in the artificial light of the library.

"Looks good, Ajax!" she heard James compliment. She looked up to respond, but gasped at what was, to her, a bizarre sight.

"What in tarnation?"

Twilight was getting some pistachio green substance smeared across her face by Rarity, who apparently also had a similar treatment before.

"...What? Did I say something wrong?" James frowned at the mare in confusion.

"Now wait just a goll-darn minute. Ya make me wash the mud off my hooves, but it's okay for y'all to have mud all over yer faces?"

"What? No!" James answered indignantly. "Absolutely not."

"Silly," Rarity batted a foreleg at her. "This is called a mud mask. It's to refresh and rejuvenate your complexion."

"We're giving each other makeovers!" Twilight exclaimed giddily. "Although, we were missing two," she looked at James.

"What are you talkin' about?" James looked at her in mock confusion.

"Okay, let's see...," Twilight looked at her Slumber 101 book. "Ooh!" she gasped. "First on the list are makeovers!" James and Frag Cat exchanged a glance.

Hearing this, Rarity seemed to forget all about her nervousness and hesitation. "Why, that's a grand idea!"

"Um... makeovers?" the puppycat asked with a nervous smile.

"Yep! See?" Twilight floated the book over to James.

As he read over the contents, he nodded. "Oh, okay. I guess it does say WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" he suddenly pointed across the room. The girls looked over to see Frag Cat trying to creep out of the room. He froze at James's exclamation.

Turning around and glaring, "Really? You're gonna do that to me?" he gestured a paw back over to where James was standing. The mares turned their heads back to look at James... but he was gone.

"Wait... where did he...," Twilight trailed off as she looked back over to where Frag Cat was standing, but did a double take when she realized Frag Cat was also gone. "B-but... but..."

James High Chortled at the flash back of Twilight stuttering. "And then a while later, Twilight got to the BOTTOM of the situation. BUTT, then we realized we were at the REAR END of the joke, because she was going to find something that we could all DOO. BUTT, since we disappeared, they continued on with giving each other makeovers. So, in the END, it turned out that Frag Cat and I made an ASS of ourselv--" The mares flinched when James slapped himself across the face. "Sorry about that." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, Twilight has this book that she's using. Because only she would need a guide for something social," he muttered as he held the book up to Applejack's face.

The earth pony read aloud. "Slumber 101: Everything You--" she suddenly recoiled with a grimace. "Oh hay," she chuckled, "would ya look at the time. I gotta skidaddle on home quick, I'm powerful late for, uh, for somethin'. Uh, g'night!" she walked toward the door. But she let out a cry of fright at another clap of thunder and lightning. Zooming back over to the group. "Or maybe I'll sit here for a spell," she smiled nervously.

"Hooray slumber party!" Twilight clapped her hooves in excitement as James put the book down on a nearby table.

A sudden scoop of 'mud' was flung at Applejack's face, before Rarity's hoof rubbed and spread it across. Then the unicorn applied a cucumber slice to each eye.

"What in the world is this for?" she asked in bewilderment.

Rarity sighed in annoyance. "To reduce the puffiness around one's eyes, of course."

"Puffiness schmuffiness!" Applejack pulled the cucumber slices into her mouth with her tongue, and swallowed. "That's good eatin'!"

James raised an eyebrow (and Rarity deadpanned) as the earth pony continued to chew. I thought she already swallowed them, he thought to himself. "But yeah," he continued, "Frag Cat was nice enough to cut the cucumber slices for us. And before you say anything, yes, he takes very good care of his claws."

Their attention was drawn to Twilight, who giggled as she looked at her guide book. "Isn't this exciting? We'll do everything by the book--" (James facepalmed), "and that will make my slumber party officially fun."

Rarity turned to the Applejack. "Did you hear that, Applejack? You certainly would not want to do anything that would ruin Twilight's very first slumber party, would you?" she gave the earth pony a pointed look.

"Of course not," Applejack replied indignantly. "'N' you wouldn't either, I reckon?"

"Wait, this is Twilight's first sleepover?" James spoke up, "So apparently she's been an introvert nearly all her life in Canterlot." He shook his head. "Well, I can't really talk. I mean, I've had a couple of them when visiting distant family, but I've never actually had one with my peers before. Guess this is my first official sleepover too!" he Signature Shrugged.

Their attention was drawn to the sound of a door upstairs opening, the rain suddenly more audible. The sound of the door being closed again had also re-reduced the volume of the rain. A second later, a charred-looking puppycat toppled over himself down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom of the case. He stood up and rolled his head along his shoulders, his neck cracking audibly.

"My word! Darling you should really be more careful," Rarity frowned.

Frag Cat seemed not to pay this statement any mind. "It was nice and dry at the balcony. I got struck by lightning again without getting wet!" he shook the soot off himself, looking clean again and wagged his tail. "See? Much easier."

"Wait, wha--" Applejack didn't finish as Twilight popped up in between the four and pulled them close with her forelegs.

"This is going to be the bestest slumber party ever! Yay!"

"Yay!" Frag Cat echoed Cheerfully.

"Yay," James, Applejack and Rarity said flatly as the two mares exchanged unpleasant glances. Although James was smiling, genuinely eager and was looking forward to the rest of the night. As long as the activities in the book were agreeable.