Silence in Equestria

The Sector II: Episode XXX

The party of the year.

Silence still had a hard time figuring out what the close future with Pinkie is going to bring. Being a completely random hyperactive party pony, she wasn't that much of something Silence is keen on. Though the pegasus didn't judge the rest of the day dead already, moreover she looked forward what crazy things might happen when Pinkie is around. The Sugarcube Corner was open, ready to welcome the hungry mouths.

"Hello Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie greeted the shop's owner, who responded with a similar manner. Silence also said a quick "Hello!" before Pinkie walked upstairs. The place surely lived up to its name, all kinds of cupcakes were standing on dishes on the side of the counter, with even sweeter looking ones under its glass. Even the walls were filled with candy-shaped ornaments, and on the top of that, the pillars were looking like candy-canes. Though, the actual candy canes and lollipops replacing the flowers in vases was something she found as an overkill.

"May I help you?" asked Mrs. Cake from the wandering gray mare, who was sort of lost in the sight of the shop.

"No, thank you. I came to help Pinkie." she replied.

"Ah, Lyra's party, I see now. Well, have fun together, I'm sure it won't be hard." the mare chuckled as she went to the kitchen.

"Here they are!" said Pinkie, coming back with a large pink tablecloth she dropped on the round-shaped table on the side of the room. She then walked over to the other table placing a yellow variant of the cloth.

"Hey Silence, could you get my party cannon for me while I order this up? It must be upstairs." she asked her friend while flattening the wrinkles on the table. Silence nodded and walked up the stairs, thought the only door open. Yes, it was Pinkie's room as the device was seen in the corner, facing towards the walls as a bad foal in the middle of his punishment. She grabbed the end of it, turned around and pushed it out from the room, though the stairs seem to cause her trouble.

"Here, let me help." said Pinkie who was waiting for her as she raised her hooves to aid Silence, who slowly pushed the pink cannon down step by step. Afterwards, Pinkie brought some confetti and streamers and to fill her precious party device up with, and with a careful aim and a press of a button she began to shot them in all direction she thought there are not enough decorations, rinse and repeat she kept loading and shooting until she was pleased with the results.

"Now comes my favorite part." she jumped in excitement, running upstairs. Silence followed her this time, back into her room again, where the pink little pony took a pack of balloons out from her self, opening it up and pouring it's containment on the floor.

"Well a party is not a party with balloons I guess." noted Silence, grabbing a small green piece of latex and beginning to blow it up.

"That's right, and we want the party of parties now, so need twice as much." Pinkie agreed, letting the blue balloon she blew go wild and fly all over the place, ending up in slapping Silence in the face and sticking there. Pinkie couldn't hold back her laughter, only for the time of a little "Oops.". Somehow Silence also found it a bit hilarious, and the pink pony's laughter lit up a small mischievous and playful feeling inside her.

"Oh, you're calling for it, eh?" she said, launching her piece as well, that hit Pinkie in her exposed tummy, as her hooves covered her face by natural reactions.

"Uuh, it is on now." she replied, taking up another balloon from the floor along with Silence. They blew it up larger and larger, her eyes viciously battling with each other as their tongue made a large, sticky layer of drool at the end. With an unexpected and sudden move, Silence charged towards the enemy, ruthlessly firing her light blue, inflatable weapon that made hilarious noises while spitting the liquid where it was pointed at. Pinkie with a high-pitched "No!" fell to her back as she turned away to minimize the amount of injuries while also wildly shooting with her latex gun. As they emptied their clips Silence backed away to reload, but little she saw about Pinkie still having a few more air in hers, enough to launch the weapon towards her. It missed however, but she didn't mind, there was plenty of where it came from after all. However as soon as both mares began to reload the ammunition they realized: It's impossible to blow a balloon while laughing.

Being all tired, with their cheeks rosy red and somewhat aching they expanded on the floor in heavy laughter waiting for it to wear off.

"Ah, Celestia, this was good." Pinkie sighed. A few minutes of lying later they got back on their hooves and gave the balloons another try, blowing them nicely up and tieing them to as much places as possible.

"By the way, now that I think about it, and we're together, you could really tell me what that Pinkie Promise thing is." Silence told, making the pink pony let out a huge gasp.

"You don't know the Pinkie Promise?! Impossible. Don't you dare lie to me Miss Liar Lyington." she shouted, not believing the suspicious statement.

"I really don't know. I just heard ponies mentioning it." Silence explained.

Pinkie's eyes filled with doubt as she scorches through the pegasus' soul, but with a sudden, playful smile she replied "Okie, dokie, then let me teach you."

She sat down and continued "A Pinkie Promise is the ultra, super-secret promise only my friends know, so watch closely." she said, and with her signature moves she began her to sing her little song "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Now it's your turn, show me a practice promise." she pointed towards the pegasus.

Even though it felt strange and somewhat embarrassing to her, it was Pinkie Pie so Silence didn't mind, she repeated the movements and the lyrics making the little pony's heart shine with a cute smile and claps.

"Well, the decoration is done. All we need is the cake. Hope you're ready for baking some baking bads." asked Pinkie with a kinky tone and smile.

"Okie dokie, first of all we'll need a cup of flour." said Pinkie. Silence nodded and handed the flour she already prepared, along with other ingredients. As they continued their work together a familiar voice sounded from outside the kitchen.

"Is Pinkie here?"

"No, I'm here! Come in!" she shouted, making the pegasus roll her eyes. It was Spike. "Hi Spike!"

"Hey Pinkie, Silence. What are you up to?" the dragon asked.

"Uh it's the super-special birthday cake for Lyra we're up to."

"Yeah, we just call it "Baking Bad". added Silence. Spike was a bit of shocked hearing that.

"I see, well, have fun baking." he replied, rushing out afterwards. Silence was pretty confused, but Pinkie didn't mind it at all, just continued her work with a wide smile.

"Baking Bad?!" gasped Rainbow Dash outside hearing the shocking news "I KNEW she's up to something, but poisoning the cake? You know what this means Spike?" she shook the dragon wildly at his shoulders.

"Lyra's in danger?"

"Everypony's in danger! If she can poison the cake she can poison everything! The cookies, the punch, the cupcakes, everything!" the pegasus explained.

"So, what now?" asked Spike in panic.

"There is only one thing we can- Watch out!" she shouted her whispers, as they grey unicorn suddenly appeared at the door next to them. Rainbow grabbed Spike and jumped into the bush.

"Bye Pinkie, see you afternoon." Silence said as the door of the house opened.

"Thanks for your help, also please tell Twilight it may take a while till I find her book." Pinkie shouted as she waved towards her assistant.

"Will do." Silence smiled back as she went on her way to see her beloved.

"Tell Twilight, huh? I doubt that." Whispered Rainbow menacingly.

"Hey Dashie!" screamed Pinkie "What are you doing in Rose's rosebush?"

As time passed on, and the sun started to take its way downwards, the little ponies in the Sugarcube Corner got more and more excited. A mint coated one walked the way there, with a little grumpy face, but as soon as she entered the hut her face cheered up... right after her near-death experience in heart attack caused by a horde of voices shouting "Happy Birthday!".

Lyra was in awe, as a friend of hers stepped forwards, Bon Bon. "I'm sorry for that lame excuse with the cupcakes, I just needed to improvise." she apologized.

"It's okay, though I should have known something is fishy."

"You like it? We made sure your nineteenth birthday will be nineteen times as much fun as the last eighteen." squealed Pinkie from the side of Silence.

"Thank you Pinkie, it means so much to me." replied with a moved tone.

"Let's get this party started! So what do you say? Should we play "Pin the tail on the pony"" she screamed, turning on the music provided by a little pink radio on the table. Lyra nodded with a chuckle.

Silence rather stood back and observed instead of participating, she wasn't much of a party-pony. Something touched her back however, gently poking it, seeking for attention. Twilight.

"Thank you for throwing this party for her, it's so kind of you." she said with an ever so gentle voice.

"Most credit goes to Pinkie, I was just assisting here and there."

"I'm not really into these huge parties either." she chuckled as she noticed the reclusive behavior of her friend. "Would you... like to sneak out to the nearby restaurant, just you and me?" she asked with a slight blush on her cheeks as she turned her head in shyness.

Silence got hit hearing the offer, Twilight asking her out like that? It seemed so... strange from her. But the blush and her mind convinced Silence that they could not expect her falling for just the same thing twice. It was most likely her one and only opportunity, missing it was not an option. With a nod of confirmation, the purple little pony lead the way out the backdoor and as prisoners who escaped from the jail sneaked away from the seeing eyes.

The Lucky Clover was empty, seemed like many were at Pinkie's party. Twilight lead her friend inside and took a table.

"Hello, Twilight, long time no see." a gray and black stallion greeted her.

"Oh, hi Lucky. I thought you also went to the party." she explained.

"Ah, I can't, who'd keep the business running then, besides I have a lucky day." he said, pointing his sight to a tall pony in the corner: Princess Cadence. "Would you like something to eat or drink?" sounded the question.

"Just some apple juice."

"Her highness?"

"A glass of apple juice, dear, now that you're at it."

As Lucky went for the drinks Twilight turned to Silence, with passion burning in her eyes she tried to fade away.

"Maybe it's not the best place to tell, but nowadays, I... kept thinking." she explained.

"Your apple juice, girls and... your highness." Lucky arrived, serving the drinks, with a slight, modest giggle of embarrassment when he arrived at the princess' table, leaving them alone afterwards.

"What you were thinking about?" Silence asked.

"You... actually. I know it may sound disturbing but I couldn't get you out of my mind." Twilight replied. "You're like a good book, filled with secrets and mysteries, waiting for them to be explored, or at least that's what I think is the situation. It's so... charming and magnetic, I simply can't put it down." she continued. Silence felt as she received a heart attack, so sudden, like an ambush of confessions, she became confused more than ever. On the top of that, as she tried to reply with no success other than a few "uuh"-s a message popped up in front of her, it was urgent, top priority.

"I...uh, I need a moment, will be back in a second." she said, and as lightning rushed out from the complex.

Twilight saddened a little, turned to Cadence asking "Was I that bad?".

The princess however just chuckled "Give her some time, it must have been a shocker."

"Yeah, right. At least she makes our job easier, quick give me the vial."

Cadence took a little glass of a dark green liquid from under her wings and threw it towards the unicorn.

"What's wrong? I'm in the middle of a date." Silence asked replying to the message she received from MERCY.

"Who cares?! This is fucking important." MERCY shouted back, but before Silence could say anything she continued. "Remember that node the changelings had, well, I extracted it, and guess what, I found a way to use it as a second-hand magic wand."

"You mean we can transform anything with it?"

"Yes, but there is a twist: shit needs fuckton of black mana and gonna die off with the process, or if we wait for long."

"Chance to get the Core back, how much time do we have?"

"I can keep this thing working for a day or so. Hope there are some fancy tricks in the book of yours because no way I'll miss this chance. I'm out."

The communication shut down. MERCY really had her nerves on fire this time, though she couldn't be blamed. There were a light showing at the end of this tunnel filled with hiding and suffering, yet the chance to failure was so high. But Silence just stared there like a statue, as she realized her fatal mistake.

Her mind screamed in panic "(Oh, God the book! I forgot the damned book under the bed! What if Twilight- No!)" with shaking her head she tried to set her mind free from the frightening thoughts, it was not time for panic right now, but it was the time for sweet romance. With a few deep breaths she calmed herself into the belief Twilight could not possibly check under the bed's sponge for no reason, then she headed back inside.

Silence slowly walked back inside the restaurant, with her eyes like lasers burning through everything.

"I'm sorry, dear, it just came so suddenly." she confessed, sitting back on her beanie. "You know, I always wondered if you'll ever... return what I feel towards you."

"I do... it's just so difficult to grasp the fact that we're both mares. Then I realized that it doesn't matter, because I love you emotionally, not physically." the purple one explained as she placed her left on the table, making Silence reach out for her.

"We share so much in common..." Silence replied.

"So much..."

They just gazed into each other's sparkling eyes for long, long moments, as the red ribbon tied their hooves to each other gently stroking them back and forth. Twilight cover her glass in a purple glow as it hovered up, and without a word, she leaned it towards Silence's. With a bit of difficulty but Silence also took the glass with her mouth and with a confident move they clung it, drinking them up afterwards. After they put it down back on the table Silence felt a need to ask something.

"Were you thinking of saying what I was thinking of?"

After a blink of quite both voices spoke up loud the magical sentence: "For our relationship!" ending up in a small burst of laughter.

"Nothing can brake this one." Twilight explained, gently shaking her head.

"No rain, no snow, no fire or poison." Silence replied. Twilight's eyes notably shrunk after the last word, but she kept her sweet expression as much as she possibly could.

"Shall we get back then, I think the others might have noticed the lack of our presence." the pegasus suggested.

"Good idea." Twilight nodded, waving to the bored Lucky for the check, who brought it immediately.

"Thanks Lucky, one more thing." she said waving her hooves signing there is some secret she wants to tell. "No hard feelings?"

"Um, no why?" he replied, but he couldn't even finish his question properly as the unicorn zapped her mind with a magical channel, rewriting the stallions recent memories quietly. All three mares decided to get back to the party as soon as they could, but what they found in the Sugarcube Corner was more then surprising.

"There she is!" shouted Rainbow as soon as the gray pegasus set foot in the building. The building which was a complete mess inside. Pieces of icing all over the place, covered by confetti and streamers, as well as a herd of angry, disturbed or confused ponies.

"We know about your little plan." the mare continued.

"What are you talking about?" Silence asked in confusion.

"Don't pretend the innocent."

"Yeah, we know you poisoned the cake so everypony will fall in love with you, so you can take over Ponyville." added Spike.

"The hell are you talking about?!" shouted Silence in fury.

"Stubborn, huh? "Baking bads", reminds something?" the rainbow pony asked menacingly, only to get answered by Pinkie Pie.

"Uh, it does." she screamed as she ran with an orange book in between her hooves, with the black title "Baking Bread" where the "Ba" and "Br" was conveniently placed in two black squares, with the orange filling the letters.

"See? It is my favorite book, I lost it back when I was a little filly. I always played with the words in it, its so much fun." she giggled.

"Yeah, but how do counter this?" asked Spike, showing a book from the library, exactly the one and exactly on the page with the love poison. "You were the last one who used the library today, since Twilight was away." However, Twilight stepped up and took it out from his claws using her magic, along with pulling the large scale on his head wickedly.

"Give me that! Spike that has nothing to do with Silence, I needed that to research how the potion's ingredients work." she shouted furiously, pulling the screaming dragon out from the room "We have some serious talking to do." The townsfolk started to follow their lead, as the party was clearly over.

Rainbow was sort of confused "Wait, so does that mean-"

"The whole thing was just your messed up imagination, good job Rainbow." Applejack said sarcastically as she left from the building as well.

"I strongly advise holding your horses for a while, I understand you don't sympathize with Silence but such barbarism was really unnecessary. Hmpf." Rarity told as she slapped Dash with her tail the way out.

"Nineteen years old Dashie, you know how many times do you turn that old? Once. And now she got to wait a year so she can have a birthday again, and even that won't be the same." Pinkie explained, holding Dash's face against hers, until she saw Lyra leaving in the corner of her eyes. Quickly she rushed out to follow her and even from the streets her apology was heard. Silence was the last to leave before her, her eyes filled with hate and disgust as she looked over the blue mare. Dash stared at the ground for a few seconds, then she punched the ground with all her might and with a body shivering from wrath and eyes tearing up from anger she left the mess as well. The Sugarcube Corner became as silent as a graveyard. It was clearly one of the worst parties it served so far.

As the cold midnight breeze blew through the air an alicorn princess collapsed on the back of her husband "Shining...".

"Signals?" he asked. The Royal Guards had no rest even at midnight. They settled in two houses in the town, as both was for sale and the situation was critical, the owners were asked by the princesses if they can home them there. While one half of them patrolled the streets at noon, the other one did so at night, so there was no need to sleep on the floor. Shining, however had the leading role in case of unnatural events happening. And this was one of them.

The captain alarmed all nearby units and as they arrived to the maim street she asked his beloved "Can you feel where does it come from?"

"I guess... that way." she said, pointing towards a gigantic tree the roads were leading up to.

Armor needed confirmation, such thing was beyond his imagination. His little sister would be behind all this? The black magic? The eruptions? The suffer of the princesses? "Are you sure?" he asked, but all he received was a nod. There was no other choice, and despite Shining was shocked, deep inside he had this fear, as all odds, the talent to use black magic, the location of the eruptions, the curious nature behind it, somehow all of these pointed towards her. What had to be done had to be done, however. With a couple of armed soldiers he intercepted the library.

"Twilight Sparkle!" echoed through the library as the officers kicked in the door.

"The basement guys, Cadence said it's coming from there." "(Twily... don't do this to me.)"

"Dragon!" shouted a guard noticing Spike running downstairs, but the captain signed to focus on the primary target, who- or whatever it was. He kicked in the door of the basement, only to see his nightmare coming true. The sight and the fact that the last bit of hope has faded away was beyond comprehension. Twilight Sparkle, his very sister, a criminal, and standing right in front of him.

"Twily..." he said, with a saddened to, and a huge sight "You're arrested by the Equestrian Royal Guards for illegal usage of black magic... take her guys." he said, his tone filled with disappointment as he turned back.

Twilight didn't fight back, didn't say a word, just accepted her terrible fate, the fact that her entire life just shattered into pieces in a blink of an eye. The guards put the chains on her hooves and surrounded her, guiding the unicorn out from the room.

"Twilight? Shining what's..."

"She'll be in good hooves now, Spike." replied the stallion quietly.

Outside waited three figures, who Twilight knew very well, with varying emotions around the topic. She walked by her very mentor, Princess Celestia, but their sight were not connected. She was extremely disappointed at her favorite student, so much she refused to even look at her, like a mother whose daughter brought shame on her. Next to her stood Princess Luna, her face trying to withdraw the overflowing mixture of sadness, anger, shock and disappointment. It just made Twilight so uncomfortable she couldn't look in her eyes. Last stood Cadence, with her face full of worry. She leaned to the unicorn and whispered calming words "Don't worry, not all hope is lost."

But Twilight didn't answer, just looked away in embarrassment and with her eyes shut. Tears began to show up in her eyes that quietly, peacefully descended down her cheeks while she was guided onto the small carriage the princesses use. They also hopped on with a flap of their wings and flew away in the night.

They didn't know the actual criminal was watching through the window, with her head hot from frustration.

"(I'm gonna need another plan, and fast.)"