Lazy Bones

~5: Searching For Solutions~

Twilight paced attic, her mind was racing, Applejack was missing, Pinkie had escaped (after eating all their food again), Spike was still asleep, Fluttershy was being very un-Fluttershy, Twilight didn’t want to think what was wrong with Rainbow Dash, and now Rarity had robbed the entire Hamlet shopping district. She screamed in frustration, none of this made any sense!

She sat down at the desk and began furiously scribbling out a letter to the princess, whatever was going on Twilight had faith the princess could deal with it.

But Celestia will just take all the credit.

Twilight stopped writing suddenly, she had definitely just thought that, but the thought seemed alien, like somepony else had whispered in her ear.

I know it’s true.

Twilight shrugged it off and continued writing, but as she did she began thinking about what exactly she’d thought, would Celestia really just claim credit for something? What was she thinking… of course she would! Celestia was always taking the glory for the things Twilight and her friends… no just Twilight, did.

Celestia is always holding me back.

She is isn’t she? After all these years she still treats Twilight like a foal, refusing to let her study advanced magics.

I don’t need Celestia.

I don’t need her.

I can do this on my.

“I can do this on my own,” Twilight stated out loud. With that she stood up and threw the half-finished letter into the trash can next to the desk and stormed out of the room, leaving it empty bar a still snoring Spike.

~

Applejack awoke with a splitting headache, just another thing to add to the list of things that was annoying her. Next to add was finding herself in an unfamiliar room; her first thoughts were of the stallion from the night before. She was surprised she remembered it so clearly. Finally she found herself lying in a bed without her hat and hair bobbles. She looked around wildly, making her head spin but she didn’t care, they were nowhere in sight and she felt naked without them; well, more naked than usual.

Getting to her hooves she swayed slightly, but remained standing. With that first barrier crossed she made for the door of the room she was in. she still didn’t know where she was, but something about the building itself seemed familiar to her. Opening the door she found herself in a hallway, as this provided no indication as to what had happened to her she continued forward until she came to a flight of stairs. Descending the stairs proved to be the hardest part of her morning so far, as every step felt like a trial in of itself.

When at last she reached the bottom she took a minute to steady herself, and she heard a voice call out behind her.

“You’re up, good; I was starting to get worried.”

She turned around to face the source of the voice and was surprised to discover where she was. It was the bar from the previous night, the only difference being it was silent and completely deserted besides Applejack and the bartender who was cleaning tables.

“how in the hay did ah get here?” she demanded, normally finding herself granted shelter wouldn’t bother her but after what that stallion Patches tried to pull yesterday…

“I brought you here,” he replied simply, “found you lying in the park, not in great shape mind you.”

Applejack marched forward until she was face to face with the bartender, he didn’t even blink.

“First things first,” Applejack said in as threatening a manner as possible, “where’s my hat?”

“The Stetson? It’s over on the bar,” he said gesturing over his shoulder, “you threw up over it, figured I’d get it cleaned for you.”

Applejack was taken aback, backing away from the bartender who was still going about cleaning regardless of her attempts at intimidating, she crossed to the bar were her hat was indeed sitting, looking good as new.

“Thanks,” she said honestly.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied in a neutral tone, “your hair things were ruined though, hope you don’t mind, I threw em out.”

Applejack was about to shout at him, but found she didn’t mind. Dawning her hat she examined her reflection in the mirror behind the bar. While having her hair down was entirely impractical for working, she had to admit, it looked pretty good. She turned back to the bartender who was still paying her zero attention.

“How did you find me?”

“I searched,” he responded, but before Applejack could complain he elaborated, “After I found Patches in the restroom, I put two and two together and figured I should see if you were alright.”

Applejack froze, “you… found him huh?”

“Sure did,” then noticing the panicked look on Applejack’s face he continued, “don’t worry, he’ll live, not well but he will live. Of course there were questions but I wasn’t about to tell them the truth.”

“Why not?” Applejack asked incredulously, “you don even know me.”

“No, but I know a pony who’s having a hard time when I see one,” he said bluntly, Applejack felt strange talking to this stranger who saved her. “And I know that bloke Patches was sitting with before he spoke to you, supplies very questionable substances, no doubt where he got the drug he slipped you.”

“So he did!” Applejack exclaimed, she knew already, but hearing it confirmed out loud was another thing entirely.

“Afraid so, I’d feel sorry for you, but by the looks of things you were more than capable of handling yourself.”

“Well ah wasn’t bout to roll over an give in.” the bartender nodded approvingly at Applejack’s response.

“Well, unless you have any other questions, I’m just getting ready to open up; you can rest here as long as you want.”

Applejack just stared, after what had happened here just a few hours ago, she found it amazing that such kindness could exist.

“What’s your name?” she asked, noticing that her voice had softened great deal.

“MacArthur,” he replied.

“Well then MacArthur, thank you,” she said tilting her hat, “the name’s Applejack by the way.”

The first smile passed across MacArthur’s face at that but he didn’t say anything else, so Applejack excused herself and returned to the room where she had woken up. As she entered she saw a couple things she hadn’t picked up on last time she was here. At the foot of the bed was an empty bucket, and on the dresser lay a still damp cloth. Applejack suddenly had a mental image of MacArthur sitting at her bedside watching over her as she slept, the thought made her feel… contented. Smiling, she climbed back into bed and fell steadily to sleep.

~

Rarity fidgeted nervously in her bedroom, still terrified that at any moment her fears that Twilight alerted the guards would be confirmed by the sound of breaking of doors. But hour after hour passed and so far there had been no indication Twilight had reported her. Still, she couldn’t wait here any longer; she needed to move her loot somewhere it couldn’t be found. Looking down at her trove she frowned… that was a lot of loot.

Rainbow Dash woke up very late in the morning, she tried to remember how she slept so well again, then she remembered last night’s events. At first she had a very smug face, but that quickly faded away as she begun to think about it properly. Fluttershy was her oldest friend, one of her dearest friends, was last night right? Of course it was, there was nothing wrong with granting Fluttershy a small piece of her awesomeness. But deep down she knew she was just fooling herself. She hated feeling bad about herself, she didn’t deserve that, she was amazing, wasn’t she? She yelled out in frustration before leaping into the air. She needed to fly, and with that one goal in mind she zoomed out the open window into the bright morning sky.

Fluttershy stroked Spike as he slept. She smiled at just how peaceful he looked; she had also had an amazing sleep. But now that was behind her, and she needed to know where Twilight was.

“Spike,” she cooed gently, “Spike.”

The baby dragon stirred and looked lazily up at her; he mumbled something that could have been her name.

“Spike, I’m looking for Twilight, do you know where she is?” she asked in her sweetest voice.

“Sorry Fluttershy,” he murmured, “I’ve been sleeping, can’t help you.”

“Spike this is very important,” Fluttershy said a little more agitated now, “where is Twilight?”

“I told you I don’t know,” he said trying to turn away from her, but she grabbed him and forced him to turn to face her.

“And I don’t believe you, now…” her eyes opened wide and she felt herself drawing on the mysterious power she possessed, “where. Is. Twilight?”

“I don’t know,” he exclaimed sounding more awake and honest than before, “I was asleep.”

Asleep? He may be a baby dragon but surely even he doesn’t need to sleep that much. Softening slightly she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek before letting him go and exiting the room. It hadn’t escaped her notice Pinkie was also missing, shame, Fluttershy was sure she would have been game. Entering the lounge she looked to the sofa and wasn’t surprised to see the scrap of paper with Iron Heart’s address was gone. Shame, she had planned on waiting until tonight, but now it appeared she would have to advance her engagement, she didn’t want Twilight beating her to the prize.

~

Pinkie Pie licked her lips, that had been delicious. But now there were some angry gardener’s shouting at her, but she guessed if somepony had come along and eaten all her plants, she’d be annoyed as well. Not sticking around to receive another telling off she bounced away to find her next meal. As she hopped through the street she noticed Rarity hauling a heavy looking bag, maybe there were snacks inside. With that thought in her mind she rushed towards Rarity, surely her friend wouldn’t mind if she had a nibble.

~

Twilight Sparkle hadn’t had a good night’s sleep. After overcoming her desire to consult the princess she left the house and travelled to the town library. She didn’t usually use her position as the Princesses student as a form of authority, but in this case it had proved necessary to gain access to the library so late at night. Luckily for her the librarian suffered from severe insomnia and so was available all night to help her find books.

However as yet more hours passed she found herself hitting dead end after dead end. Nothing seemed to explain what was happening to her friends, it was almost like they were suffering from a never before seen illness, but Twilight refused to believe this was anything books couldn’t help her with. After the sun had risen and Twilight was at her wits ends she was approached by the librarian, Ms. Papyrus.

“Excuse me dearie,” she said making Twilight jump in surprise, “you’ve been reading for some time, do you need help finding something in particular.”

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed,” I need to know what could drive ponies to steal anything, eat everything, sleep constantly, kill anything that looks at them funny and puts out like it’s going out of fashion.”

Twilight was so exasperated with her situation she didn’t even realise the elderly librarian was sniggering; clearly she thought Twilight was joking.

“That does sound very familiar yes.” Her response made Twilight sit up straight and spin around.

“Really?” she asked excitedly, at last she might get somewhere.

She followed Ms. Papyrus to an aisle where she pulled out a newish looking book.

“Here we are, ‘Myths and Legends of Panchea’.” Twilight frowned, a book of fairy tales, that’s what she thought this was. Twilight was so angry she just turned and stormed out of the library, ignoring the old librarian’s calls. Once outside she thought again what she was expected to do, then the thought struck her, Iron Heart had mentioned having books that might help in this matter. Whipping out the address she tried to think where that was. Other side of town if she correct, it would take her a while but hopefully it would be worth it.

~

Fluttershy rang the doorbell, as she waited she ran a hoof through her hair, making sure she looked just right. The door opened and Iron Heart stood at the threshold looking surprised but not annoyed to see her.

“Oh hey Fluttershy,” he said sounding more pleased to see her after getting over the initial shock, “have your friends got themselves arrested again?”

“Oh nothing like that, I just wondered if you’d like to hang out?” she asked as innocently as she could.

“Sure, come on in,” he said leading her into the house, “would you like a drink?”

“That would be nice,” she said following him into a kitchen she found to be considerably fuller than their own. He poured them both glasses of lemonade and they sat at the kitchen table making small talk. After a short while Fluttershy casually suggested moving somewhere more comfortable which Iron Heart was only too glad to oblige to.

Now in the living room Fluttershy sat next to him on the sofa.

“So is your friend Pinkie feeling any better? She knows she has to report into the barracks tomorrow right?”

“Oh I know that’s not what you’re interested in,” Fluttershy said edging steadily closer to him, he smiled though he didn’t seem to notice her advance.

“Really then what am I interested in?” he sounded genuinely oblivious to what was coming.

“Me,” Fluttershy said simply pressing up against him.

He looked shocked, but after second or two he just smiled again.

“You read my mind,” he said, Fluttershy had to stop herself from laughing at how easy this was, stallions are so predictable, even Rainbow Dash was more challenging. Not hesitating any longer Fluttershy leaned in and their lips met. And now hooves, do your thing.

~

Twilight reached his house in good time, turned out it wasn’t as far as she thought. Knocking on the door she waited patiently. She hoped she looked all right, hopefully he wouldn’t notice she had been up all night. She knocked again, louder this time. Still nothing, could he be out? Twilight didn’t think so, there was smoke rising from the chimney, he must be in. after knocking once more and getting no reply she tried the handle.

The door opened, he must be home then. Entering the hall she looked around, she spotted glasses on the kitchen table, another hint he was still about, though she hadn’t picked up on the fact there were two or what significance that might hold. After searching downstairs and finding no signs of him she moved cautiously upstairs. She felt weird about entering somepony’s home without being invited, but surely Iron Heart wouldn’t mind.

Now she was on the upstairs landing she could hear faint noises coming from one of the rooms, sounded like he was doing some work, she remembered he mentioned he was into DIY. Crossing the hall she reached the room where the noises were coming from, and without hesitation she opened the door. Time froze. Twilight stood with her jaw hanging open, staring at the bed where Fluttershy sat on all fours with Iron Heart directly behind her, what they were doing was unmistakable, and they’d seen her come in.

“Oh hey Twilight,” Fluttershy said, sounding tired but happy none the less, “come to join in?”