Just Blink

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Four

CRACK!

        I saw stars, and suddenly everything went black.

        I half expected to be unconscious, but instead I was suddenly very warm, like a thick blanket had been tossed over me. A feathery blanket.

        “Rainbow Dash!” came Twilight's muffled gasp. The blanket above me moaned and shuffled, flopping off of me. I stared wide-eyed into the sky, terrified to move.

        “Sorry, Twilight,” a voice sounded next to me. Must have been the blanket.

        “It's not me you need to be apologizing to!” Twilight chided.

        “What-” the voice started, but then was cut off. I assumed the owner (a she, it seemed) had finally noticed she FRAGGING TACKLED ME.

        “Oh, sorry dude,” she said, and suddenly I felt her helping me to my hooves. I turned to face her.

        She was a cyan pegasus, with a wind-swept rainbow-hued main that was cut short and wild. Her tail was similarly colored, while her eyes were a deep rose, cerise.

        “No problem,” I huffed, brushing some dirt from my side.

        “So, Twilight!” the pegasus- hadn't Twilight just called her Rainbow Dash?- Rainbow Dash said excitedly.

        “Yes?”

        “You promised I could teach you some flying tricks later, riiight?”

        “Yes,” Twilight said suspiciously, “I do recall...”

        “And it's later, riiight?”

        Twilight rolled her eyes.

        “Yes, it is Rainbow Dash, but I'm busy at the moment showing Aural Blink here the town.”

        Rainbow Dash turned back to me, looking me up and down.

        “Who is he, your coltfriend?”

        Twilight and I both facehoofed simultaneously, groaning. How long would it take to explain this?

        “No,” I decided to tell her, “I am her cousin from Anville, over by the griffon kingdom.”

        “I didn't know you had an earth pony for a cousin!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking perversely excited. I cringed. I could feel Twilight do the same thing behind me.

        My horn, as compact as it was, was easily hidden within my mane.

        “Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” I said as I slumped. “I feel my soul dying a little bit more as we speak.”

        “What?” she asked as my spirit floated from my mouth. “What did I say?”

        Twilight trotted over to me, using her magic to part my mane a little bit. There was my nubby little horn, the disgrace of me.

        “That wasn't very nice, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said sternly.

        “What?! I didn't see it!”

        I shook once, twice, then remained still.

        “Not like I'm self-conscious about it or anything, hehehe...” I mumbled, barely loud enough for the three mares around me to hear.

        “Oh- oooh...” Rainbow Dash said, realizing what she'd said.

        “Ya got to be a little more sensitive about those things, sugar cube,” Applejack said as she and Twilight prodded me until I rose to my hooves.

        “I'm... sorry?” Rainbow Dash said, obviously confused about what to say. She honestly hadn't known I was a unicorn.

        “It's alright,” I relented. “I get it more often than one would think.”

        I then stopped to think before turning to Applejack.

        “Hold on- did you think I was an earth pony, too?”

        “Well, ah, uh...” Applejack stumbled over her words, pretty much answering for herself.

        “I didn't want to say anything!” she ended up revealing.

        “Fair enough,” I said, letting the incident run down my hide like a slimy- never mind. I decided in my mind that I needed to get a hair-cut soon. Having griffons not realize I was a unicorn until it was too late was one thing, but this... was just humiliating.

        “So, anyways,” Rainbow Dash jumped back in, “Let's go Twilight!”

        With that, Rainbow Dash scooped up Twilight and blasted off straight up into the sky.

        I barely had time to scoop my jaw up from the ground before Applejack decided to comment.

        “That girl needs to slow down sometimes, I swear.”

        I assumed she was referring to Rainbow Dash.

        “Yeah, well now I've completely lost my guide for the day,” I grumbled as I returned to nibbling on my forgotten muffin. It was still delicious.

        “Your guide? Oh, right, Twi was showing you 'round town, wasn't she?”

        “Yep,” I confirmed.

        “Well, did she tell you 'bout the Great Apple Ball?” she asked excitedly. Jeez, were all of the ponies here this excitable?!

        “She mentioned it briefly, something about... well, I don’t remember most of what she said about it, to be honest,” I admitted.

        “No problem, sugar cube. Y'see, the Princesses are big on these dances and the such, but they're tired of the lot from Canterlot always making it so... stiff.”

        I nodded. I'd been to Canterlot exactly... once, almost twelve years ago when I met a certain purple filly. The ponies there definitely seemed... stiff, to put it one way.

        “And y'know how Twilight recently became an alicorn, obviously, so the Princesses decided to have a big 'ol dance here in Ponyville celebrating Twilight's recent- er, what's the word?”

        “Ascension?” I guessed. Applejack nodded.

        “Yeah, that one. Now, the only place in Ponyville really big enough for a big dance is the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, so that's where mah family comes in!”

        “The Apple family?”

        “Yessiree!”

        “But I still don't get one thing,” I voiced. “Why do the Princesses want to have the dance in Ponyville? And what is keeping the snobs from Canterlot away?”

        “Ah, well y'see,” Applejack explained, “Twilight would never have gotten to where she is today if she hadn't have come to Ponyville, or at least she says so- personally, ah think she would have gone done it anyways, but she insists it was us who helped her- so she wants to repay the town for helping her. So, the only ponies getting an invite are residents of Ponyville!”

        She ended her explanation with a big grin on her face. It was scaring me slightly.

        “Okaaay...” I said. “So... I'm guessing you have a lot of work to do, right?”

        “Darn toot-in!”

        I continued munching away on my muffin until it was gone. Applejack still had this expectant look on her face.

        “Yes?” I asked.

        “Alright, I'll cut to the chase,” Applejack said. “Could you help out at Sweet Apple Acres 'til Twilight's done doin' her thing with Rainbow? It would be mighty appreciated!”

        I considered the option. It would be a neat, helping assemble a dance. Hey, I was seventeen years old and I'd never been to a dance before, so lay off me. I was perfectly aware of what symbolism dances carried. It wouldn't hurt to help out a little bit.

        “I suppose it wouldn't hurt-”

        Applejack suddenly reared up on her back legs, whooping loudly.

        “That's just great! Here, let me make sure Apple Bloom and Granny Smith are fine watching the stall for a little bit, then ah'll show you to the farm!”

        With that, she trotted away back to the stall, where she began talking with an older green mare and a small, yellow filly with a red mane and a big bow in her hair. After conversing with them briefly, she rushed back over to me, she rushed back over, grabbing one of my hooves and dragging me behind her.

        “C'mon!” she insisted, and I teleported beside her. It surprised her momentarily, but she took on a determined face and charged ahead.

        A race, eh?

It's on, girl, I thought as I picked up my pace, returning to her side. She was pouring out the strength, a wild smile across her face. I wasn't pressing myself all too hard, but what I wasn't feeling in my legs I was feeling in my lungs. I always felt my asthma rather quickly, but seeing as it hadn't actually hindered me since I was younger, it never really mattered. If anything, it drove me harder to succeed.

        I overtook her, ending up in front. I looked back, wearing a smug grin, but I barely had time to see the edge of her tail disappear down a bend.

        Then I realized, I had no idea where we were actually heading.

        Growling to myself, I teleported back to where Applejack had turned, seeing her off a ways ahead of me. A quick blink later, we were once again neck and neck.

        “Hey, no fair!” Applejack complained when she noticed I was back next to her. “Teleportin' is cheatin'!”

        “And knowing the directions is a fair handicap?”

        She smirked before she took off like a rocket, working her legs like pistons against the ground.

        With only a tad more effort, as well as much more labored breathing, I kept pace.

        We took a bending path, and before us I saw a big red barn and silo, with a nice two-story house out front. Homely.

        Applejack's face was utter concentration and dedication. She wanted to win, badly.

        Naturally, I bled forward dramatically, hopping the fence surrounding the house and even having enough time to catch my breath and lean against the house on an elbow in a completely cocky manner before she made it.

        “You mad?”

        She laughed, taking the defeat rather well.

        “Well, I sure wasn't expectin' a unicorn to be built so... well, built in general. I think the only unicorn I've seen with more than a single slab of muscle on him was Twilight's brother, Shining Armor!”

        “Well, seeing as he's the one who trained me, not too surprising!” I countered.

        “That-” she started, but then stopped. “-actually makes sense, a bit.”

        I shrugged off what sounded like a subtle jab at me and turned to face the fields before me, ripe with full apple trees.

        “So, what did you need me to help with?” I asked.

        Suddenly, a heavy yoke was dropped over me and a firm swat at my backside delivered. I reared up on my back legs instinctively, whinnying in surprise before turning to glare at Applejack.

        “Not. Funny.”

        “Was a little funny,” she insisted, trying to contain a burst of laughter.

        I looked over the heavy yoke over my shoulders. It wasn't heavy enough to cause serious discomfort, but...

        “Why am I wearing this?” I asked. Meanwhile, Applejack was attaching a big plow to the back of it.

        Oooh...

        “Yeah, funny thing is, I'm not going to be able to pull this,” I tried to explain to Applejack.

        “Nonsense,” she grunted as she hefted a thick strap over one of the pegs. “Even I can pull this, though not for long.”

        “No, I don’t think you understand. I'm built for running and... that's about it. Agility and speed, not... strength and endurance.”

        “I'm sure you'll do just fine!” she insisted as she finished attaching the heavy plow to my yoke. I could feel the strain the straps were already pulling against, and I hadn't even started moving yet!

        This was going to be a long day.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

        I fell into an exhausted heap the instant the yoke was lifted from my shoulders. I felt the stitches in my sides, the tearing pain in my lungs almost unbearable. My hide was dirty and drenched in sweat, and I had the aroma of a wild beast.

        Applejack slapped my on the back, congratulating me on my work. I looked around me in my miserable state.

        The entire southern field was plowed of all the dead crops the family hadn't been able to focus on. The huge plot of land was now bare and ready to be used for the ball two weeks off.

        I was incapable of feeling joy in this. Applejack assured me that I had done well.

        I didn't care. I hurt.

        “Ah remember the first day ah wore mahself out that bad,” Applejack reminisced, apparently feeling empathy towards my state.

        “Had to spend a couple hours in the spring, ah was so tense!”

        Somehow, I felt the energy to turn to her and utter a few words, barely a phrase. Actually, it was a single word, laced with desperation and hope. A word that would set my future on a peculiar path. Not a bad path, but not necessarily one I would have chosen right away. It was just, well... peculiar.

        “Where,” I croaked out.

        Applejack pointed past the edge of the southern fields, towards the small peak of a rocky cropping that was on Ponyville's western edge.

        “Just follow a little path that way for, er, ah'd say three miles. We've got a little shack built at the edge, and the spring's right past it! Ya might have to do a little climbin', though...”

        Somehow, defying every and all laws of pain and tolerance that I knew of, I staggered to my hooves and made it to the edge of the field, disappearing into the brush.

        Sure enough, there was a little trail. Key word here: trail. It couldn't have been used in years, it was so overgrown and tight. I almost got lost a couple of times, but after what felt likes hours (it was probably barely a half hour, actually) I fell out of the forest, cackling like a madcolt.

        “HA! TAKE THAT, ACCURSED WOOD!”

        I took in the scene before me. The rocky was before me was, unlike the forest I'd tore through, very clean and actually looked maintained. A tidy wooden shed stood before a path chipped into the rock, leading upwards a few stories before it looked like it evened out.

        I peeked in the shed, seeing a few clean, pressed towels sitting neatly on a shelf, along with a rack for wet towels and an empty bin sitting atop a small stool. Homey.

        Turning my view upwards towards the lip of a nearby ledge, I teleported up and almost fell straight into the steaming water. The cuts and bruises I'd earned while hacking and stumbling my way through the... forest would... disappear...

        I facehoofed.

        Why hadn't I just teleported to the shed in the first place?! Surely there were ways to have done so accurately, I was aware of a few very such measures at the moment! Why, I could have teleported straight up in the air and looked for the springs from there, teleporting straight to them! I could have even been teleporting paces in front of me along the trip, shaving not only time but energy and many scratches from my journey!!

        I sighed as I slipped into the blissfully warm water, the setting sun in the west making the water ripple gold.

        The spring was actually pretty well designed, I doubted it was completely natural. The entire spring was facing north, with a perfect vantage both west and east. However, there was absolutely no wind. None at all. The lips of the spring were perfectly studded to block everything, and several draining pools held old leaves and even a few branches that had managed to end up in the spring.

        The warm water was like heaven to me, soothing my body immediately. I could feel my muscles unclenching as I fell below the surface, closing my eyes and holding my breath. My mane floated lazily about me. I let my limbs sprawl out, just laying underneath the water, relaxing. I knew I only had a few minutes tops to enjoy the bliss, but what bliss it was.

        Suddenly, the water rippled towards me, and I was vaguely aware of a muffled splash. Internally sighing, I carefully surfaced, not creating any ripples of my own.

        Twilight was on the opposite side of the spring as me, back to me. She sighed heavily as she dipped herself into the spring, steam ruffing her coat.

        I felt the blood rush to my face before I had the decency to realize what was happening.

        She lowered herself down, down, under the surface of water before bursting from below, spreading her wings wide, stretching them in a rather compromising manner. Her wet mane clung to her face in some places, others it flung about in wet strands.

        I had conflicting emotions as she arched her back before throwing it down, crackling her spine while quietly moaning. The blood was going to another head, if you catch my drift.

        Finally, Twilight ended her unintentionally attractive showing and flopped into the water, leaning against the back of the spring and throwing her head back, tongue lolled out.

        Well then, I guess she really liked hot springs.

        Meanwhile, I was frozen in place, too petrified to move. Let's take a look at my situation as it ran through my mind at the time:

1.I had just watched my cousin provide a rather stimulating show of relaxing herself short of, well... the other way.

1. I had no interaction with mares in the other way, so I was naturally petrified.

2. I'd just gotten a boner over my cousin.

3. If I moved, I'd be discovered in all my glory.

4. I did not want to be discovered.

5. Don't move.

        So that's how I remained, not breathing, my head barely breaking the surface of the water. After a few minutes, it felt like the blood in my head was starting to boil when Twilight turned, throwing her torso over the side of the spring and giving me a wonderful view of her flank, her wet tail dropped between her thighs. The stars on her cutie mark winked at me.

        I tried to take a breath, but all I got was a mouthful of scalding water. And thus started the coughing. Trying to remain hidden resulted in me thrashing. As soon as I stopped breathing, my vision started getting black.

        I sputtered for air, desperately trying to refrain from creating ripples in the water, but it was no use. My head was getting light. The heat was getting to me. Twilight had been smart in letting herself cool off, while I'd been in for twice as long and had spent most of the time fully submerged. Idiot.

        The last thing I saw was Twilight look over her back, eyes half-lidded until she spotted me practically drowning. They shot open in surprise.

        The blackness overtook me. It was a warm blackness.

        Was it worth it, hiding from Twilight while she gave me that... show?

        Even in my dream-like state, I had my answer.

        Totally.