Pillow Thoughts II

Pillow Thoughts II

Chapter 6
We need to talk

“Everypony be quiet!” shouted the colt that was standing on top of an old crate. The ponies settled down. He cleared his throat nervously. “The mayor has received a letter from the Princess herself announcing the possible attack of the alicorn—“

“Why didn’t you tell us?!” said a young mare, followed by a rain of insults and harsh words thrown at the colt. He took off his hat and ran a hoof through his dark blue mane. The sight of so many angry and confused ponies made him nervous. He wiped his forehead as the crowd’s voices grew louder and louder.

“Please, everypony, I’m just trying to calm things down. There was nothing we could do. Look at our officers, for Celestia’s sake!” he replied, pointing towards the group of medical helpers that were carrying stretchers. The ponies that were being carried appeared to be in pain. “We could not defend ourselves against such a powerful foe. The best course of action now is for each and everypony to return to their work. If you haven’t been hurt, go home.”

His last phrase raised an uproar of more insults and unflattering words. He had just about enough of all this mess. Putting his hat back on, the colt climbed down. He started walking in the opposite direction of the crowd, avoiding eye contact with anypony. He could still hear them shout after him. That alicorn did something to many of them.

He recalled the attack. Magic rays were flying everywhere, hitting various ponies and knocking them unconscious. Everypony was running, they tried to hide, but the alicorn kept finding them. It was so strange and scary. The alicorn did not seem to be taller than an average pony… “but that strength…” he mumbled to himself. “Unbelievable.”

In all his years of working for the mayor, he never encountered anything like this. Even if Celestia would’ve sent that letter a month ago, they still wouldn’t have had time to prepare for this. “And that magic… it’s like it… changed them!” he continued sharing his thoughts with himself. He took a glance back to see the crowd breaking up, partially due to the remaining officers asking ponies to return to their business.

The colt sighed and started dusting off his tan coat. He took quite a tumble when the alicorn hit him fully with its magic. He didn’t feel any different but he did make a mental note to visit his regular doctor after this whole mess got sorted out. The colt looked around him. The town had seen better days.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn towards a vehicle approaching him. It was a carriage. The pair of royal guards were panting heavily as they halted to a stop. It seemed they took an extra effort to rush over there. The doors swung open and seven mares climbed out. He quickly recognized Sugar Song, the music teacher.

“Miss Sugar Song! What the hay happened to you?” he asked, approaching the group.

“We found her running outside of town. She was terrified,” replied Twilight.

“Is it still here?” asked Sugar, quickly looking around her.

“No, it’s gone. It’s all fine, miss Sugar Song! You’re not particularly safe here, but it’s better than being killed by wolves out there,” the colt replied. He then looked at Twilight and nodded. “Wait here a minute.”

He dashed off towards the medical group of ponies and came back with one of them. “Please attend to miss Sugar Song. She’s been hit as well.” The nurse put a blanket over the olive pony and they both started walking towards the hospital.

The colt turned to the mane six and took off his hat. “I’m sorry for the rough introductions. I’m Aalden. I’m not too happy to meet new ponies right now, especially after what happened, so you’ll have to excuse my impoliteness.”

“There’s nothing to excuse, Aalden. We know about the alicorn… we were sent by the Princess to find a solution to this problem,” replied Rarity who seemed a bit too understanding regarding the colt’s rather rude way of introducing himself. She blinked seductively at him but he completely ignored her gesture. He measured the group from head to hoof and shook his head.

“Well, good job… you’re too late. It already struck here. I don’t know how many ponies were hit by its magic, but there’s more than a handful. We’re gathering them all and sending them to the hospital to figure out what’s wrong with them,” he said, putting his hat back on.

“We think we know what is going on… where can we talk about this without the risk of spreading… rumors?” asked the purple unicorn.

Aalden looked at the group and simply nodded. “Follow me.”

***

“Let me see if I got this right,” started the colt, rubbing his chin. “We don’t know where this alicorn came from, we don’t know why it is doing all this… but we suspect that its magic makes ponies tell the truth and only the truth… and it uses this as a weapon to hurt the Princess and the whole of Equestria. Is that about it?”

“That’s about it,” replied Twilight.

Applejack looked around the room. It reminded her of her own home. The scent emanating from the wooden walls was playing with her memories as she remembered broken glints of her foalhood, of her parents. She looked towards the stone fireplace and noticed that Aalden didn’t put up any picture on the mantelpiece. He only had a few old dusty things spreaded across it.

She noticed that the colt’s home, while welcoming, was rather empty. Nothing seemed to tie him to his family, no pictures, nothing that would resemble a gift received from somepony else. The orange pony started thinking about her own family, wondering what they were doing… if they missed her too.

“Well, that doesn’t help much, Miss Twilight. Besides, how do we know your theory is correct?” asked Aalden, leaning back on his chair and crossing his front legs.

“Alright,” replied Twilight, who tried not to enjoy herself too much at the thought of a challenge. “What do you think of Rainbow’s mane?” she asked, pointing to the pegasus.

“Hey!” jumped Rainbow, pulling her mane with her hooves, trying to get a look at it to see if something was wrong. “What is it with you ponies and my mane?! It’s totally awesome!” she squeaked, annoyed.

Bill chuckled. “A little eccentric for my taste, but it’s alright.”

“Okay,” said the unicorn, not giving up so easily. “What about Rarity? What can you tell me about her?”

The colt looked at the white pony who immediately took a pose. “She strikes me as somepony who would do anything to be noticed. Must be pretty sad being her.”

The white unicorn’s gasp could be heard on a 50 meters radius… through walls. The mares started chuckling, accentuating Rarity’s frown. “Well then, you… sir… are a mule”, she sharply replied, tossing her hair.

“Was she hit by the truth-magic too?” he asked, amused.

“No… she just speaks her mind easily”, replied Twilight with a smile.

“Listen, Miss Twilight, no disrespect… but I have no time to play games with you. Until we can be 100% sure that this is what you claim it to be, we can’t be of use to each other. Yes, I was hit by the magic… but I am also a good judge of character.”

“And, apparently, your thoughts don’t wander too much,” continued the unicorn.

“You got that right. I like keeping focused.”

“Okay, last shot… Applejack,” she replied. The colt sighed and took a glance at the orange pony.

“As Twilight explained earlier… you must be the Element of Honesty, huh?” he asked. Applejack nodded. He measured her in a way that made Rainbow a little uncomfortable, especially since the pegasus noticed a slight blush on the earth pony’s face. “I’d love to get a little bit of that Honesty in private…”

THUD!

Aalden quickly picked himself up from the floor after he accidentally toppled his own chair in shock of what he just said. “Wait, no, that sounded wrong! I meant to say I wanna see you without anypony else bothering us!” He shoved a hoof down his mouth to prevent other words to form and make the situation worse.

“Oh my!” said Fluttershy covering her ears. Pinkie was just giving one of her “not sure if party-time” faces, trying to figure out if she should arrange a special dinner date for them or not. Rarity was too proud to be amused by all this but Twilight had no trouble giggling over it.

“I suppose you don’t usually open up conversations like that, do you?” she said, happy that she proved her point.

Applejack was really blushing now. She didn’t know how to react to that… on the other hand, Rainbow tried her best to hide the waves of emotions that crashed on her head right then. She suddenly felt a gush of fear filling her up that transformed into anger and ultimately breaking into bits of desperation.

Aalden tugged down on his hat and cleared his throat. “Alright, I got it. I’ll make sure the hospital finds out about this. Maybe they can find a cure now that they know what’s wrong. In the meantime, how can I help you?”

“First of all, we need a place to stay for the night. A local inn should be alright, we’ll pay for the accommodations—“

“I’ll hear nothing of it. If the Princess sent you here, she knows what she’s doing. I’ll arrange everything with the mayor, you’re staying for free,” replied the colt. “While I’m at it, I’ll look for a map that will guide you to the nearest town with a harbor. That’s the extent of my possibilities,” he continued.

“That would be perfect, thank you very much!” said Twilight.

“Don’t mention it,” replied Aalden as he headed towards the door. “Oh and, what I said…uh… earlier… to miss Applejack… I’d appreciate it if we wouldn’t mention that either,” he concluded as he drew his hat lower on his forehead and went out.

***

“So where will you go?”

“Nowhere.”

“Oh, you’re staying at home, that’s even nicer! I love home parties… I mean, dinner dates! Well, both are kind of the same thing, only one of them has fewer ponies in it!”

“Pinkie, Ah’m not going on a date with him!”

“But he likes you!”

“PINKIE!!” shouted Dash all of a sudden, making other ponies turn their heads towards them. Pinkie stopped bouncing around Applejack who, surprisingly enough, turned towards the pegasus.

“Anything wrong, Dash?” asked the orange pony. She tried looking bored and uninterested. Emphasis on ‘tried’.

The pegasus looked away, focusing on the pebbles in the middle of the road. “No. I just want her to settle down. We’re in a new town, we don’t want to attract too much attention.”

“Since when are you the caring type?” replied the earth pony as Pinkie watched the dialogue like it was a tennis match.

The other three ponies stopped as well to see what was the matter. Twilight and Rarity exchanged worried looks. That particular choice of words hit Dash full on, but it wasn’t like she didn’t expect it.

“I’m just saying that we should focus on our mission. For all we know, the alicorn could have spies in every town in Equestria. The less we attract attention, the better,” replied the pegasus.

Applejack wanted to snap back at her but she had nothing to reply with. Keeping her straight face, she just turned around and started walking again without saying a single word. Pinkie looked at Rainbow then at Applejack. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, unsure about her position in all this.

“No, Pinkie,” replied Twilight, comforting her. “We’re probably tired and—“

“Well, you keep saying that, Twilight! I can’t believe we’re all tired ALL the time!” the pink pony said, crossing her hooves. “Something is weird with you guys and by the end of this day I WILL figure it out!”

“Alright, Pinkie… until then, let’s just head to the inn and we’ll see what happens afterwards, alright?”

“Alright,” replied the pony, pouting.

Dash didn’t like the way her unspoken fight with Applejack affected their friends. If this wouldn’t stop, they wouldn’t be able to work as elements of harmony. If the alicorn would attack again, none of them would be strong enough on their own to defeat it.

But how the hay was she supposed to fix things if they only got worse? Not only did she lose Applejack’s trust, she was risking losing her altogether to this ‘stupid colt’ who cannot lie. Perfect match for the Element of Honesty.

She picked up the pace. At least that ‘stupid colt’ said one thing right. Maybe focusing on one disaster at a time might not be a bad idea after all…

They entered the inn. The place seemed much darker than the previous one. The sound of metal hitting the tile-covered floor made Twilight jump.

“Here are your keys,” said the innkeeper. He was a rather big unicorn, but by no means tall. His white, short mane made him look older that he really was and his yellow coat was not helping either. “You’re the six mares I was told about, right? I can’t say that I regret acting this way, but you ARE staying for free at MY inn… The only clients I had all week and I have to offer them free rooms!”

“We’re sorry—“ started Twilight, only to be interrupted by his snort.

“Trust me, nopony regrets this more than I do. All this ‘telling the truth’ nonsense will no doubt affect my clientele… Just go to your rooms and, hopefully, we won’t get in each other’s way,” he concluded as he exited the room, slamming the door behind him.

The mane six looked at each other, a bit confused.

“Does this mean that everypony actually doesn’t like us?” asked Fluttershy, looking down and slightly brushing her own mane.

“I’m sure this is just an… isolated case,” replied Twilight. She then quickly grabbed her key and, with a motion of her head, she urged the mares to do the same.

***

Rainbow lounged into her bed only to discover that the mattress was as hard as a rock. She grunted and shifted, trying to find a comfortable position. The room was not so big and it smelled a bit funny. Twilight was picking up the remains of their lunch, throwing them in the semi-broken basket that served as a trash bin. She looked towards the pegasus, wondering if she should try re-opening the discussion they had a night ago.

Suddenly, Rainbow picked up a noise coming from the hallway. Somepony was giggling. Not just somepony. She got up and quietly opened the door to their room.

“Rainbow, what are you—“

“Shhh!” she prompted Twilight. The pegasus peeked outside only to see Applejack talking to the blue-mane colt. The orange pony nodded, smiling, and both of them started walking towards the staircase. Rainbow heard them exit the inn as the heavy entrance door closed behind them.

She closed the door to her room and dragged her hooves towards the bed. Despite the hardness of the mattress, she threw herself face-down into her pillow. A few minutes of silence passed by. Twilight tried her best to make herself look busy with a book. It was really hard for her seeing two of her best friends acting that way but, as far as she understood about how relationships work, she couldn’t flank in on them. She nearly dropped the book, that was upside-down anyway, when Rainbow called her name.

“Twilight?”

“Yes?”

The pegasus took a deep breath and then sighed heavily. She rolled on her back and gazed at the ceiling, trying to find the right words so she wouldn’t sound… selfish.

“I hate that we agreed to go searching for that Ophil mare or whatever her name is.”

“… Okay…” replied the unicorn.

“And I hate that I messed up…”

“Why don’t you talk with her?” replied her friend, not missing a beat.

The pegasus paused. “And tell her what? That I’m sorry I let her down in a crucial moment? That it can happen again at any given time?”

“Well, saying that you are sorry is a good start”, the unicorn said, placing the book on her nightstand and turning towards her friend. “Many ponies make mistakes, Rainbow. You can’t be perfect in a relationship. Nopony is!”

“But I failed her…”

“And you keep failing her by not talking about it.”

“Well… no point in worrying about that now. She just left for a romantic date with that Aalden-colt,” concluded the pegasus.

Twilight frowned. She wasn’t really convinced that Applejack would do such a thing. Then again, letting Rainbow think that might help her gather up the courage to actually DO something about it.

“Okay… well, since you think there is nothing more to lose, why don’t you—“

“Follow and spy on them?”

The unicorn blinked.

“Not exactly where I was going with this… I just wanted to say that maybe you should actually say what you have to say to Applejack. You could be surprised by the results,” she continued, smiling.

Dash gave it a moment of thought. It’s not like she didn’t want to talk to her marefriend, they didn’t really get the privacy needed for such a talk. Then again, I never really asked for it either. She is right, what else do I have to lose now?

“I’m going to stretch my wings for a bit… Thanks for the talk,” she said to her purple friend as she opened the window and took off.

***

Night fell over the little town when Rainbow returned to the inn. She saw that Applejack’s window was open though the lights were off. She took a deep breath and gently entered the room. After her eyes got used to the darkness she realized that neither Applejack nor Rarity were in the room.

She’s not back yet? …

She sighed and turned on the light.

Then I’ll just wait for her. Might actually be the last time I’ll be entitled to say anything…

She turned to look at the stars, trying to form a tiny speech in her head. Shortly after, she heard the room’s door being opened.

Well, here goes nothing.

“I’m sorry to barge in like this… but I think that we need to talk,” said the pegasus, her voice almost down to a whisper.

“Well, not exactly what I was aiming for, but you’ll have to do, Dashie!”

The pegasus jumped and turned around when the voice she heard was not the one she expected.

Pinkie closed the door behind her. “I think I know what’s going on… and you’re right, we need to talk.”

End of Chapter 6