Authors Note: So, I'm gonna try something out with this chapter. First off a trivia for you: In TV shows, episodes that take place in one room throughout the entire length of it is called a 'bottle episode', so I wondered what it would be like to write a 'bottle chapter'. So, apart from the beginning of the chapter, the rest takes place in the kitchen. I doubt that I'll do this again, but once I got the idea in my head I couldn't get rid of it, kinda like how you get a song stuck in your head and no matter what you listen to, be it Def Leppard or Rihanna, you just can't get rid of it. Also, this is one of those pesky extended chapters, but hopefully that won't bother anyone, plus it explains why this took so long to upload. So, with that out of the way I move on to the replies-

Wolfg4ng- Aw, thanks buddy! *cyber hug*

Tycser- Guess what? Now you've been in two Author's Notes! *cyber hug* for you, too!

Sparkling-nexis137- Brain Buddies! I really like the sound of that.

Litestardt- I agree with you entirely. New Vegas is my favourite, but I just got Fallout 3 for my birthday and I'm hooked! I have three words for you: Stupid. Fire. Ants!

RosaSilvermist- Well, Rainbow Dash does have a knack for getting herself into these kinds of messes…getting out of them…not so much.

YoungBlood23- Fallout is my favourite game series EVER! And this chapter will definitely be livelier. Know why?

Surprise and Pinkie are together again!

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES! ABANDON SHIP! GET TO DA CHOPPA!

And all that! ;)

---

"Yep…still empty," Spitfire grumbled, checking the anonymous tip box again. Ever since that time she'd found a tip reading 'I put the horseshoe in the storm cloud' there had been no progress with the case. It was getting kind of irritating now since the boot camp was almost halfway through and they were getting no closer to figuring out who did it.

Maybe she should start interrogating ponies. Whoever wrote that note obviously wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so she would have to see if Rainbow Dash knew anypony who had all the brains of a rock.

"We'll find out who did it eventually, Spitz. Then we'll throw a party to celebrate and eat ice cream till we barf!" another pony, who was standing next to the Wonderbolt captain chirped optimistically. Speaking of rock-brains.

"I sure hope so, Surprise. Whoever did this is in big trouble, and I swear to Celestia that when I get hold of 'em, I'll…" she stopped, realising that her threats might get a little extreme if she didn't stop herself now. One of the joys of having anger problems.

"Well, make sure your investigation doesn't get in the way of my visitor, okay? I want to give her a tour of the whole Academy, and the last thing I want is her thinking this is a crime scene," Surprise informed Spitfire, who gave her a baffled look. She had no idea that anypony was going to visit, which was pretty unusual since Spitfire knew practically everything that went on in the Academy, morning, noon and night.

"Visitor? Surprise, don't you think you should have let me know first?" the golden mare asked her friend. For all she knew, this pony could be some kind of thief or bounty hunter…okay, so that was highly unlikely, but it's always good to be alert, right?

"Sorry, I was so excited I guess I forgot. I wanted somepony to check out that new candy store with me, so I picked the obvious pony," Surprise explained. Spitfire couldn't understand why Surprise couldn't just take one of the friends she had here to the candy store.

"Why can't High Winds or Blaze go with you?" she asked the white Wonderbolt, who let out a small sigh.

"Um…they're busy doing other stuff, that's all. Ever since they started dating, I've been feeling like a third wheel," she admitted. Spitfire was surprised by this (which shouldn't come as a surprise by now…ooh, a double!).

"I didn't know High Winds and Blaze were dating," she put a hoof to her chin. "I didn't even know that they were into mares…let alone eachother."

"Well, maybe if you actually hung out with us once in a while you would know," Surprise folded her hooves. "You're not against that kind of thing, right?" she asked warily. Spitfire shook her head.

"Nah, it's fine by me. Love whoever you damn well please, stallion or mare," she replied and Surprise gave her a satisfied nod.

"Anyway, my guest is gonna be here soon, so do ya think you can smoothen out your tie, fix your collar and comb your tail?" she asked. Spitfire examined her tail for a second, not thinking that it needed a brush.

"Aren't you at least gonna tell me who this guest is? Do I know her?" she asked, absentmindedly fiddling with her collar. Surprise opened her mouth to reply but was suddenly tackled to the ground.

"SURPRISE!" the pony squeezed the poofy maned Wonderbolt, who returned the hug with just as much vigour. Welp, Spitfire definitely knew this pony.

"Pinkie Pie…why didn't I see this coming?" she asked nopony in particular, most likely herself. Pinkie jumped up and started shaking Spitfire's hoof so fast that it had to be moving several dozen miles an hour.

"GreattoseeyaCaptainit'ssogreattobehereSurprisetoldmeallaboutthisplacebutitlookssosoSOmuchbetterontheinside!" she babbled. Spitfire shook Pinkie's hoof off hers, wincing as she felt her hoof cramp up.

"Whoa, slow it down won't ya?" she tried to shake the feeling back into her forehoof. Pinkie shut up and bounced over to Surprise, giving her another hug.

"It's been so long since I've seen you," Pinkie nuzzled Surprise's cheek. "I was worried that you wouldn't even remember who I was," she put on a pouty face.

"It's been four days since the Celebration," Spitfire deadpanned, though the two perky mares just ignored her.

"So, you ready to check out that candy store yet?" Surprise released Pinkie from the hug and the pink livewire of a pony nodded her head up and down so fast that Spitfire didn't know how she avoided a head rush.

"Yeah! I just hope none of the candies are rainbow flavoured…way too spicy!" she answered before the two of them skipped down the hallway and round the bend to the main door, leaving Spitfire alone outside her office. She let out a stressed sigh and tipped her head back so she was looking at the ceiling.

"Great. One insane mare in the Academy was bad enough and whoop-de-doo, now I've got two!" she just shook everything off and went into her office. "I guess I'd better get all that stupid paperwork done…and I really need to stop talking to myself, this is just getting weird."

---

"Surprise, are you in there?" Spitfire looked over the kitchen counter. Yep, sure enough, Surprise was in there with Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Braeburn and that little blue cadet…what was her name? Starts with a C, starts with a C…meh, she couldn't remember.

"Hey, Captain!" Surprise waved. "Check out all the stuff we got from the candy store. We got chocolate!" Surprise waved a pouch of candy in the air. Oh, Celestia, Surprise had brought Spitfire's kryptonite. Casually, not wanting to seem like she desperately wanted that candy (she missed lunch, okay!), she flapped over the counter and landed beside the table that Surprise and Pinkie Pie were sitting at. Rainbow Dash was talking to Soarin not that far away, giving Pinkie an evil stare.

"I can't believe you told Surprise you were coming and didn't tell me!" she huffed. "And forgot to pay the hot air balloon mare!" she added. Pinkie Pie just shrugged and tossed something to Rainbow.

"Here ya go! Peppermints can cheer anypony up!" Pinkie gave Dash a huge smile that was both adorable and annoying at the same time before turning around and munching on some gummy worms. Spitfire was a little concerned about the price of all this candy, mostly because she could barely see the table under the mass of sugary treats.

"What did you do? Buy everything in the store?" the golden pegasus asked Surprise, who chuckled through a mouthful of cookies.

"Of course not; we only cleared out the entire jelly bean aisle and most of the 'classics' section. And we got personalized chocolate plaques," she listed the things they had brought, spraying some cookie crumbs across the table as she talked. Spitfire was about to ask her what the hay the cost of all that stuff was when another thought entered her mind.

"What's a personalized chocolate plaque?" she sat down beside Surprise at the table. Surprise dug into the pile of candy and pulled out a large slab of chocolate, with three balloons drawn onto it with vanilla icing.

"I got one, too!" Pinkie exclaimed, pulling out her own one, which also had three balloons on it. When Surprise saw that they had the same plaque her jaw dropped.

"Oh my gosh!" she squealed.

"TWINZIES!" they chorused before giggling and resuming their candy scoffing. Spitfire rolled her eyes at the two of them and walked away.

"Barfzies," she muttered under her breath, heading over to that blue cadet, who was pulling a tray of muffins out the oven with a towel. She had to stand on her hind hooves to put them on the counter, she was so small.

"Hey, cadet, what's your name again?" she asked her. The blue mare jolted with shock at the captain and gulped, mumbling something. "Speak up a little," she ordered the tiny mare.

"Cinder," she finally replied, wringing her front hooves, obviously feeling a little intimidated by her presence. Oh yeah, she was the one that Spitfire had chewed out yesterday for crashing into Whiplash. Okay, maybe she had been a little harsh, but somepony could have got hurt, so she was allowed to be a tad strict at times like that.

"Okay then, Cinder. What're you doing in here, never took you for the baking type?" she nodded at the tray of muffins, which actually smelt pretty delicious.

"Well…I just felt like helping Braeburn out. He's the best cook ever!" Cinder praised the earth pony. Spitfire looked across at the stallion, who was peeling apples. She had to admit that he was very good at what he did, and she was glad that Soarin had suggested he take the temporary spot as caterer after the old one, Marey Berry, quit. That reminded Spitfire of yet another thing that they were making no progress with; finding somepony who would take the job permanently. Holy Celestia, there was way too much on her plate right now. Between hiring ponies and catching the horseshoe pony, there was a lot to do. She couldn't catch a break, let alone a culprit.

"So you come in here often?" she asked the little blue mare. She nodded in reply and rested her head atop the counter, waiting for her muffins to cool.

"Yeah, Braeburn's fine with me helping out; he looks like he could use a hoof, feeding everypony in the Academy," she explained. This cadet certainly did seem pretty enthusiastic about baking; if only she could put this much dedication into her flying. Spitfire knew that some pegasi just weren't destined to become Wonderbolts, so she was pleased to see that this slightly clutzy mare had something to fall back on if she didn't make the cut.

Spitfire was about to speak again when Surprise cut her off.

"Hey, Spit, come over here. You have got to check this out!" the white mare called to the captain. Spitfire made her way over to the table

"Don't call me Spit!" she groaned as she sat in the chair next to Surprise. For as long as she could remember, ponies had called her 'Spit' and she hated it. Wait, no, hated isn't a strong enough word. She despised it, loathed it, execrated it! In short, every time she heard somepony call her it, she wanted to hit something. Unfortunately that was against Academy regulations, so she just had to grin and bear it. "So what's up?" Spitfire asked Surprise in a bored tone. Surprise held up an issue of Pick Your Pegasus.

"We got these at the market and-"

"Wait, you went around the entire market?" Spitfire asked her and Surprise nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't have time to take Pinkie Pie everywhere in Cloudsdale, so I just showed her all my favourite places: the market, the arcade, the theme park-"

"-and the theatre!" Pinkie finished with a huge smile that was so similar to Surprise's that it was disturbing. Spitfire hated all those places, so she decided that she didn't care.

"Can you just show me that thing you were talking about? I haven't got all day," she prompted the two hyper ponies. Pinkie Pie pulled out her own issue of the magazine and opened it to a specific page.

"We're taking a friendship quiz and we're getting the same answers every time!" Pinkie explained. "Watch- Which of these places would you rather go to for a vacation? A) Horseshoe Bay or B) Neighagra Falls?"

"Hmm…A," Surprise decided and Pinkie gasped.

"Me too!"

"TWINZIES!"

Spitfire grunted as her gaze danced between the two ecstatic mares. This was completely pointless, and she felt compelled to prove to the pair that these quizzes were a bunch of bogus baloney.

"Pfft, I bet everypony's compatible on those things," she said. Surprise put the magazine flat down on the table.

"Then you try, Spitfire," she said. The Wonderbolt captain was about to protest before realising that she had basically brought this on herself.

'Way to go you idiot, now you have to partake in one of Surprise's stupid games,' the little pony in Spitfire's head scolded her. Spitfire banished that voice and focused all her attention on Surprise.

"Okay then, go ahead," she flicked a forehoof signalling for Surprise to read out the question. The yellow maned mare scanned the question and read it aloud.

"You're going on a date with your crush. Do you A) See a movie or B) Get milkshakes?" she asked. Spitfire got a blank look on her face.

"Is there an option C that says I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than answer your question?" she used a blunt tone. Surprise shook her head.

"Nope, just pick one of those," she replied. Spitfire grunted and put her head atop her folded hooves.

'Well you kinda deserve this for getting yourself into this mess,' the voice in Spitfire's head scoffed. Spitfire finally settled on an answer.

"A," she replied. "So I wouldn't have to listen to him talk," she added bitterly at the end. Surprise shook her head.

"Nah, I choose B. Talking is great on a date, and everypony loves milkshakes," she disagreed. Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves excitedly.

"I pick B too!" she exclaimed. Spitfire sighed with irritation.

"Don't say it."

"TWINZIES!"

"Aaaand you said it," Spitfire rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache, which she would have if Pinkie Pie and Surprise didn't shut their chew-holes. Pinkie bounced clear over the table to give Surprise a tight hug, which she returned without hesitation. Spitfire grimaced at the two of them, feeling suddenly possessive. Once Pinkie had let go of her teammate, the golden pegasus put a hoof on Surprise's shoulder.

"Well, Surprise and I are alike too," she told the pink earth pony, knowing that she could say nothing further from the truth if she tried. "We're always finishing each other's…" she stopped talking, waiting for Surprise to speak. After a few seconds of absolute silence along with Pinkie and Surprise staring at Spitfire, waiting for her to say something, the captain sighed and gave in. "…sentences," she finished, feeling humiliated…again. Surprise started talking to Pinkie Pie.

"Hey Pinkie, have I told you about the time Spitfire and I went to the-"

"Museum," Spitfire tried to finish Surprise's sentence to make up for her slip-up. Surprise shook her head. "Park?" another head shake. "Manehattan arena?"

"The balloon animal exhibition," Surprise finished it by herself. "And Spitfire fell asleep during a lecture on how to tie a balloon-"

"Dog!" Spitfire tried to finish the sentence again but was only replied with another shake of Surprise's head. "House?" she guessed again. "Pony?"

"Elephant?" Pinkie guessed and Surprise's jaw dropped.

"Yes!" she gasped. "It's like you can read my thoughts!" she squealed.

"Glad you can't read mine," Spitfire muttered, so quiet she could barely hear herself. She then remembered why she was here in the first place. "Surprise, I need your help sorting out the fireworks for the airshow tomorrow," she told the white pegasus, who looked at her with a hint of guilt.

"Oh, sorry Spitfire, I can't. I promised Pinkie that I'd take her to the pizza place. She's been dying to see if the cheese here in Cloudsdale is better than the cheese in Ponyville," she explained. Spitfire's eye twitched with annoyance. She'd come all the way down here, got involved in a quiz and made a complete fool of herself just to get that answer.

"Fine, I'll just do it myself," she almost growled. She walked over to Soarin and Rainbow Dash, interrupting their conversation. "Guys promise me that if we ever find a third pony that acts like those two you'll put me out of my misery," she said to the pair, on the verge of a migraine.

"You okay there, ma'am?" Rainbow Dash asked her, and for the first time Spitfire realised that her irritation much be practically splattered across her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Those two are just so agitatingly clingy towards eachother. Some might say unbearably obnoxious!" she hissed that last part out as she saw Surprise hug Pinkie for the zillionth time that day. Soarin looked over at the two embracing mares and chuckled.

"I think it's pretty sweet," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders and Rainbow Dash nodded to show she agreed.

"Yeah, they're like 'Twinzies'," she added and Spitfire straightened herself up to look a little more threatening.

"Okay, the next pony who says 'twinzies' is gonna get hurtzies!" she warned the two of them, whose eyes became the size of plates. They gave her a salute to show that they understood before Soarin smirked down at her.

"Oh, I see what's going on here," he raised a hoof before booping Spitfire on the nose, causing her to slap his hoof away. However, he didn't seem to care since he skipped right to the accusation. "Somepony's jealous," he flicked his line of vision from the captain to the two perky ponies at the table. It took Spitfire a few moments to realize that Soarin was referring to her.

"What!? Me? Jealous!? Have you completely lost your marbles, Soarin?" she glared up at him with the ferocity of an entire army of changelings. Spitfire couldn't remember the last time anypony had said something that had shot her right to the head. Out of every emotion there is, jealously was certainly near the top of the list of ones that never bothered her. She couldn't remember ever being jealous of anypony in her life and she certainly wasn't going to start now.

"Nope, I can tell you're jealous. You look really annoyed, you keep looking at the two of them and your eye's twitching. That only happens when you're really mad," Soarin listed the tells that Spitfire was showing. The fiery Wonderbolt blinked a few times to get her eye to stop twitching like that. "So, do you have that meany greeny feeling that ponies get in their stomachs when they see someone they care about hanging around with somepony else?" the pale blue stallion asked the captain. Spitfire shook her head and put on her most stern face. That was not jealously she was feeling in her stomach…right? RIGHT!

"Soarin, with all due respect, SHUT UP!" Spitfire snapped. "I am not jealous of Pinkie Pie; I'm sure Rainbow Dash is a little annoyed that Pinkie's hanging with Surprise, too, right?" the yellow furred mare eyed Rainbow, who shuffled her hooves.

"Well, a little bit, but I know that I'm still Pinkie Pie's best friend, and I can't be replaced," she replied, smiling over at Pinkie, who gasped at that exact moment, holding up a sack of candy.

"Surprise, how did you get candy corn? It's not even in season!" she squealed before squeezing the white Wonderbolt in what had to be the tightest hug ever, though Surprise didn't seem to care that her circulation was being cut off. "Surprise, you are the bestest best friend a pony could ever have!" she cooed, nuzzling her cheek. Surprise giggled and rubbed her cheek against Pinkie Pie's.

"Right back at ya, Pinkie," she agreed. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire gave eachother the same pained look, whilst Soarin stood between them, watching the two hugging ponies and their jealous friends that stood on either side of him. He uncomfortably shifted his eyes from side to side before breaking the stiff silence.

"Oh, well this isn't awkward," he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head with a forehoof. He put a hoof on Spitfire's shoulder and gave her a small shake. "Don't sweat it, Spitfire, Surprise is still faithful to you above anypony else because you're her captain. All Wonderbolt's are loyal to the one that wears the tie," the co-captain pointed out and Spitfire gave a small shrug. Suddenly, a pink hoof shot towards her and pulled her tie off.

"Can I borrow this? Yeah? Thanks!" Pinkie Pie said without pausing to let Spitfire answer.

"What the what!?" Spitfire watched as Pinkie Pie looped the tie around her neck and put on a strict face.

"Surprise, drop and give me twenty! On the floor, NOW!" she ordered in a raspy voice that Spitfire supposed was meant to sound like her and Surprise dropped to the ground, beginning to press herself towards the floor and then back up again, giving a salute after her second push up.

"Yes, Captain! And that's a pretty good impression by the way," Surprise responded, grinning like a fool. Spitfire threw a hoof into the air.

"That doesn't sound anything like me!" she paused and face hoofed.

'Yes, that's exactly what to focus on, you numbskull!' the pony in Spitfire's head said to her; the captain could practically see her conscience roll its eyes. She stormed over and roughly unravelled her tie from around Pinkie's neck to show that she was really ticked. Surprise finished up her push ups, which happened to be one of the exercises she was best at, and wiped some sweat from her forehead.

"What was my time, Captain?" she asked.

"Don't know, don't care," Spitfire said at the same time Pinkie Pie said 'fifty three seconds'. Surprise jumped in the air and fluttered her wings to show that she was pleased.

"Yay, my muscles ache like crazy, but still YAY!" she cheered. Pinkie put her 'captain face' back on.

"Fifty three seconds…" she trailed off and looked off into the distance for extra effect before flicking her gaze back to surprise. "That's an Academy Record!"

"HEY! That's my catchphrase!" Spitfire snapped, her blood beginning to boil. Who did this mare think she was? She had no right to just stroll into the Academy, act like her and steal her friend!

…What?

'Ahem, hello, Captain Cruddy! What happened to 'I don't have time for friends', eh?' her conscience asked her. Spitfire's conscience was what kept her in line most of the time; in fact that little voice was probably the only thing keeping her sane. Anyway, Spitfire did consider Surprise her closest companion, closely followed by Soarin, and then Silver Lining. She had known those three the longest, so they were the most important to her. Pinkie led Spitfire off to the side.

"Heh…sorry 'bout that. I know that you really wanted Surprise's help, so I can understand if you want me to let her work," Pinkie said what was possibly the first normal sentence Spitfire had heard her say. Spitfire looked over at the white Wonderbolt, who was happily licking a lollipop. She was the captain and Surprise would do anything she told her to do. But…she looked very happy here. She couldn't drag her away from her earth pony friend, even though it kinda…hurt to see Surprise having so much fun with somepony else. Spitfire and 'fun' did not get along, but Surprise still liked to hang around with her. She had never understood why, and had never bothered to ask.

'Don't let yourself care!' Spitfire mentally yelled at herself, but she shoved that thought to the back of her mind.

"No, it's fine," Spitfire flicked a hoof to show that she didn't care. Pinkie tilted her head to the side.

"You sure? I know that you're her boss and the last thing I want to do is step on your hooves," the pink mare continued. Spitfire nodded at her.

"Yeah, I'll just do it myself. I don't need help," she insisted. Pinkie Pie jumped for joy.

"Great!" she yelled as she fell back down to the floor.

"YOW!" Spitfire yelped as Pinkie landed on one of her front hooves. Pinkie awkwardly chuckled before bouncing away. With that, Spitfire gave her hoof a shake to get it to stop hurting (it didn't work) and briskly headed out of the kitchen.

---

Rainbow Dash watched Spitfire leave, feeling a little sorry for her. Well, she understood how she felt; she had been a little jealous the minute she had heard that Pinkie had come to Cloudsdale, not to see her but to see Surprise. She and Pinkie Pie had been friends for years now, and seeing her so happy with someone else felt like a stab to the brain.

"You okay, Dashie? Soarin waved a hoof in front of her face, pulling her out of her thoughts. Rainbow had him a small nod and looked petulantly back at Surprise and Pinkie Pie, the two of them now trading candy bracelets. Soarin prodded her on the shoulder and the cyan pegasus glared up at him angrily. Didn't he know never to interrupt somepony when they were annoyed?

"Rainbow Dash, I know that you're a little jealous, too, but I just want to explain to you that Pinkie Pie favours you over Surprise by a long shot. You've been through too much together for her to not see you as her best friend forever," the co-captain explained. Rainbow still didn't buy it.

"I know that, but just look at 'em, Soarin. They have so much in common that they're practically twins! If somepony didn't know the two of us they would never even consider that we would be friends!" she argued. "Sure, we both love to have fun and we're the best pair of prankers in Equestria, but apart from that, we're nothing alike. Surprise and Pinkie share all the same interests, so they'll always have something to talk about. Surprise is just…better," she lamented, hanging her head, feeling even more upset as she finished her rant.

Soarin put a hoof around her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek, which did comfort her a little bit. She even leaned a little closer into him, finding that she didn't mind a hug every now and then. It felt even better since she wasn't in the best of moods at the moment.

"Okay, so maybe that's true…well, except for the part about Surprise being better, of course," Soarin started his pep talk, giving the blue mare a little squeeze. "But the truth of the matter is that friends come in all shapes and forms, and have you ever heard the phrase 'opposites attract', so maybe it's not all that strange that you and Pinkie are besties. Dashie, you and Pinkie are not alike, not even a little bit, but I don't remember the last time I saw a pair of friends that worked so well together."

Rainbow should have said that she appreciated his encouragement, but she didn't roll like that, so she just decided to tease him instead.

"For the biggest doofus in Cloudsdale, you sure have a way with words," she gave him a shove and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself a doofus," he defended himself. Rainbow gave him a blank stare, though she was still smirking at him.

"Well, I would, so deal with it," she chuckled. Rainbow's mind instantly thought back to the party that Spring Song was planning…would Soarin still be this friendly to her if she was caught there? She couldn't ask him about it because she'd give away the whole party thing, so how could she find out if her friendship with him was in jeopardy?

"Um…Soarin, can I ask you something?" she twiddled her hooves nervously. Soarin gave her a nod and she hesitated, trying to think of a way to word this without giving anything about the party away. "Well…if I did something bad…ya know, if I set the Academy on fire or…broke a rule…you'd still be my friend, right?" she questioned him. Yeah, that wouldn't give anything away; nicely phrased, Dash.

Soarin squeezed her a little harder, so that she was pressed against his side. "Dashie, you know that I'd forgive you for anything, right? You could make the whole of Cloudsdale fall out of the sky and I'd still be your friend. I promise that nothing you could ever do could make me dislike you even in the slightest," he replied and Rainbow Dash felt happiness rise in her chest. She was so, so SO relieved! For some reason, the idea of Soarin not wanting to hang out with her anymore was devastating, and it stung to think about it.

"Thanks, Soarin, that means a lot," she smiled up at him. Soarin smiled back and ruffled her mane.

"No sweat, Dash…but, why would you even think I wouldn't be your friend? Is there something on your mind?" he looked at her all concerned-like.

Dang it.

Rainbow Dash tried to think up an excuse, deciding to go ahead with the simple 'friendship test' thing.

"Oh, I just wanted to find out just how good a friend you were," she lied. Luckily for her, she was a very convincing liar, so she had no trouble getting past Soarin's lie-detector. "And, on a scale of one to ten on the friendship chart, you're a…14," she decided. Soarin looked pretty proud of himself and leaned back against the wall.

"Well, being a good friend is what I do best," he bragged. "Besides, ya know, flying, eating pie, and of course being incredibly awesome," he crossed one hind hoof over the over, only to fall to the side, crashing to the floor before quickly jumping up and steadying himself again by resting his side against the wall, clearing his throat and looking coolly off to the side. "It's all about the recovery," he said as he flicked some dust off his shoulder.

"Like I said: doofus," Rainbow repeated her phrase from earlier. Soarin trotted over to her and flicked her nose.

"There, now we're even," he said. She'd insulted him and he'd made her nose sore, so they were cool. "So, how's about I teach ya how to fly through those hoops backwards? That way you can really show off to your friends," he asked. Rainbow Dash didn't miss a beat as she replied with a cheerful 'YES!'

"And, Rainbow Dash, you are okay right?" he asked her, putting a hoof on her shoulder and giving her a serious look.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Rainbow shrugged.

"Well, it's not like you to ask things like that. Is there something going on that I should know about?"

Yes.

"No way. Everything's A-OK," she insisted, putting on the most convincing face she could. Soarin raised a brow as if to say 'are you sure?' and Rainbow nodded. "Seriously, if something was wrong you'd be the first to know."

Soarin took a few seconds to scan her features, most likely looking for any way to tell that she was lying. Eventually he just smiled softly.

"Okay, as long as you're fine, then that's all that matters," he replied. Rainbow was taken by surprise as Soarin reached down and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. It only lasted a moment, but it was enough to make Rainbow's cheeks heat up like crazy.

'Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!' she repeated in her head, her brain doing somersaults. After that was over, Soarin headed to the door.

"Last pony to the hoops has to call the other one 'sir' or 'ma'am' for the rest of the day," he challenged her, his face rosy, too. The redness still displayed on her cheeks, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and whizzed out the door.

"It's so on!"

---

"Thank Celestia that's over," Spitfire grouched, coming back through the kitchen door, to find everything the way it had been before she had left the first time, only Soarin and Rainbow Dash had left, most likely to train. She was grateful that Soarin had offered to be Rainbow's mentor, even if she had been against it at first. She had originally thought that it wouldn't be fair to the other cadets, but eventually agreed with him on account of she believed that Rainbow Dash had the most potential and being trained by a professional flyer would be great experience for her.

She made her way over to the table, where Pinkie and Surprise were laughing over one of Surprise's tall tales; the one about how she, High Winds and Blaze had tried to save Ponyville from a dragon. She was still pretty mad at the three of them for pulling that little stunt.

"That was you!" Pinkie exclaimed. "With your mane like that I couldn't recognise you. It's so clear, now!"

"Yeah, I prefer my mane like this anyway," Surprise bobbed her head up and down to make her curly mane wobble around to match her movement. "And I guess the uniform makes a difference, too," she tugged at the tie of her officer's uniform. Pinkie Pie looked her uniform up and down.

"It suits you," she commented. "But, I really don't get why mares have to wear ties. I mean, if mares were meant to wear ties, you would see it in business places, right?" the pink earth pony put a hoof to her chin.

"Yeah…you're right," Surprise agreed. "It's like I'm wearing something made for a stallion."

"Ouch," Spitfire thought, looking down at her own uniform. Sure, it wasn't exactly something a typical mare would wear, but she never chose what the 'Bolts were supposed to wear. Captains, mare and stallion, had been wearing this kind of uniform all the way back to the time of General Firefly. Every morning when she got changed into her uniform, she got to see herself in the mirror and in her personal opinion she thought she looked pretty good in it. As Misty Fly had said once, it looked very 'Spitfire-ish.'

"Don't question the uniform, Surprise, or I might strip it off you!" the fiery mare snapped. Surprise's eyes bulged out of her head and she turned bright red. Spitfire thought about what she had said and almost had a panic attack. "NO! No, no, no, you idiot! It means I'll demote you!" she thumped a hoof on the table. Thankfully, before things could get any more awkward, Cinder trotted up to them and put her forehooves on the table so she could address the three mares.

"Do any of you want apple juice?" she asked timidly, looking down at the table's wooden surface.

"Yeah, we'd love some!" Pinkie Pie replied in her usual chipper voice, bouncing over to the little blue cadet. "Aaaw, you're so adorable!" she squeed, messing up Cinder's mane. The cadet turned red and shuffled her hooves before heading over to the other side of the room with Pinkie.

"So, Spitfire, how should I wear my mane for the air show tomorrow?" Surprise asked the captain, who just let out a small sigh.

"How about you just wear it however Pinkie Pie's wearing it? You seem to have everything else in common," she replied harshly, folding her hooves on the table and staring straight down with slitted eyes. Surprise knocked a hoof on the table to get the golden mare's attention.

"Okay, I didn't want to say anything to you, but you've been acting a little jealous lately," the white Wonderbolt told her friend, who groaned with agitation. Again with the jealousy thing? Really!?

"Well…maybe I am a little jealous, but do you blame me? You've been hanging out with Pinkie Pie for…" she looked up at the clock. "Almost five hours now, and you've been ignoring me!"

'Pfft, do you sound pathetic right now or what? Quit whining like a baby already and get back to work!' her conscience teased her.

'Oh, will you shut up?!' Spitfire thought back.

"Well, that's just because you're working so hard," Surprise insisted, springing over the table to stand next to her captain. "You're my best friend, Spitz, and Pinkie will never be able to take your place. You can both be my BFF's, but only one of you can be my BFFWIAMC!"

"Your what?" Spitfire was flattered, but she found herself once again puzzled at Surprise's crazy language.

"Duh, my Best Friend Forever Who Is Also My Captain," the poofy maned pegasus explained, giving Spitfire a look that suggested that she thought it was obvious.

"Hey, Surprise!" Pinkie popped up between the two friends, placing two glasses of apple juice on the table. Spitfire was about to ask why she didn't have one but Pinkie Pie spoke first. "Wanna see who can eat the most jelly beans in a minute?"

"Hey, yeah! You come up with the best ideas Pinkie!" Surprise agreed. Spitfire felt that twisting feeling in her gut again and tried her best to banish it. She eventually allowed her head to sink to the table and her ears drooped.

'Would you stop moping?! You're meant to be tough, so go do something… tough!'

'Like what?'

'I dunno… stamp things really hard?'

'Sounds good enough for me!'

'You're having a conversation with yourself in your head again aren't you?'

'Yes, yes I am!'

---

Braeburn watched the three mares at the table, observing how Pinkie Pie and Surprise were leaving Spitfire out of all the fun. Sure, he didn't exactly see Spitfire as a pony who found fun…fun, but he could tell that she looked pretty hurt.

"What's up?"

"Huh?" Braeburn, as well as being pleased to have finally said something in this chapter, felt pretty embarrassed that Cinder had seen him so deep in thought. "Oh, nothin', Cindy."

"Are you sure? You just looked a little…confused there," Cinder sat on a chair so she was at eye level with the earth pony, who was struggling to get a blueberry stain off the counter.

"Yeah, really, everythin' is perfectly fine," he lied. Of course there was something wrong. He had been eavesdropping on the conversations of the other ponies and was very much aware of the jealousy Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were feeling because of their friends. He hated to see the two of them unhappy, even though one of the mares seemed easier to cheer up than the other.

"You're certain?" Cinder checked again. "Is there anything I can help you with?" she sounded pretty concerned for him. That was one of Braeburn's flaws; he was terrible at concealing emotions, worry and lies being a couple of the ones he was worst at hiding.

"Seriously, it was nothin', Cindy. And Ah've got this stain completely under control," he scrubbed the counter harder. Why. Wouldn't. This. Stupid. Stain. Come. OFF?! "But, if ya want, there are some dishes t' wash."

"Okay then," Cinder hopped down from the chair in that cute little spring of hers and headed over to the sink. That was a strange thing about this little mare, she didn't mind doing chores. Ever since she had started helping him out, she had been doing anything and everything he had asked her to do without one single protest. She actually seemed to enjoy baking and cleaning.

"Having some trouble there, Cowboy?"

Oh, holy mother of Celestia!

Braeburn's ears pricked up at the familiar voice of the mare behind him. He whipped round to face her, forgetting that he was still wiping the counter. "Captain-" he slipped and fell forward onto the floor. As fast as he could, he leapt to all fours and leaned against the counter trying to look cool, even though his stetson was wonky on his head and hung loosely off one ear. "Um…can Ah help ya?" he asked, pushing his hat onto his head. Spitfire shook her head at him.

"I suppose you're catching Soarin's clumsiness," she commented and Braeburn looked down at the floor, embarrassed. "And, I'm fine, okay…" she looked back over at the two mares. "They are annoying right, it's not just me," she looked expectantly at him. Well, Pinkie and Surprise hadn't irritated him in any way, but even he had to admit that their over-the-top perkiness was a little…frustrating. Wow, this must be how ponies felt when he greeted them at the Appaloosa station. Yikes.

"I guess?" he decided on saying.

"Look, I'm a little conflicted. I mean, I know that Surprise is allowed to have other friends, but for some reason seeing these two together makes me wanna kick something," to demonstrate she kicked out blindly with a hind hoof and managed to hit a chair, causing it to promptly topple over. She seemed to change her mind instantly…several times. "No, I have an obligation to my work so friends aren't even an option for me anyway. Ugh! But that doesn't make me hate those two and their stupid clingy friendship any less. NO! I respect all ponies and their dumb little decisions, so if Surprise wants to hang around with Pinkie Pie then that's fine by me. So, I'm gonna shut up about the subject and get back to work!" she settled, stamping a hoof on the ground to show that this decision was final. She gave Braeburn a small grin. "Thanks, Cowboy. You always know what to say," she nodded at him and then left.

"Um…yer welcome?" Braeburn called after her, aware that he had barely said a word. Usually it was the other way round for the two of them. Still, her last sentence had improved his mood greatly and he felt that familiar warmth in his face.

"Hey…Braeburn?"

The earth pony looked down to see Cinder tugging at his shirt.

"Yeah?" he asked her, dropping to all fours so she wouldn't have to sit on the chair to talk to him. The small cadet played absentmindedly with one of her pigtails.

"Do you mind if I ask you something…it's…kinda personal, though," she looked up at him with wide eyes that could make a dragon go 'aaaaaaw!'

"Oh, o' course," the earth pony stallion replied, smiling down at her warmly. Cinder looked down at the floor, still a little uncertain.

"Really? You don't have to answer me if you don't want to," she mumbled. Braeburn stroked her mane, feeling really attached to this cadet. They didn't know each other all that well but Braeburn was already thinking of her as a little sister kind of figure.

"You can ask me anythin' ya want," he assured her. Cinder held her breath and puffed her cheeks out as if she were worried of freaking him out or anything (which she was). Finally she exhaled and blurted the question out.

"Is Captain Spitfire your marefriend?" she sat on her haunches and let out a 'phew', looking pleased that she had managed to ask. Braeburn immediately blushed a blood red colour that he was unable to hide. He tried to ignore the happy feeling that the word gave him, but he just couldn't help but smile like a complete fool. He looked over at the door that the captain had walked out of.

"Ah wish."

Cinder gave an excited gasp and clapped her hooves together with glee. Braeburn gave her the sternest look he could and 'shushed' her. In response, Cinder 'zipped' her lip and bounded away, still looking pretty thrilled at the revelation. Okay, so one more pony knew, but fortunately they were two ponies Braeburn could trust. Still feeling warm inside he glanced back at the door.

"Ah wish," he repeated.

---

"Soarin, can you believe those two are still eating those sweets?" Rainbow asked the stallion, looking with a faint hint of dislike over at the candy loving mares, who looked like they were beginning to get full.

"I honestly can't," Soarin replied. Even he couldn't handle that much candy. Rainbow shot him a sly smirk.

"Pardon?" she asked. Soarin groaned and dipped his head.

"Sorry, ma'am, he muttered, since he had lost the race to the hoops, he had to call her that until the day was over…woohoo. He flapped over to the table where the mares were chewing on some liquorice and sat down next to Surprise. "Do you guys need some help eating that?" he offered, eying the delicious looking snacks spread out on the table with his mouth watering. Surprise lifted her head from the table and nodded.

"Sure, take anything you want," she affirmed and Soarin instantly reached for some peanut butter cups. Suddenly, Surprise slapped his hoof away and he winced with pain. Surprise may not be all that good in a fight, but when it came to slaps, she was a boss!

"What was that for?" he asked, giving her an evil eye.

"Anything but those. Those are mine," she told him and Soarin shrugged. He'd just choose something else. He stretched across the table to grab a box of jawbreakers. This time it was Pinkie Pie that slapped him.

"Ow!" Soarin drew his hoof back sharply. "What was that one for?" he shook his hoof, which was beginning to turn red from being hit.

"Those are mine, bud. Hooves off," she ordered him. Soarin looked around for something he was sure they wouldn't mind him taking. He eventually decided on some mega-mints.

*SLAP*

"What the hay are you doing!?" Soarin yelled at Pinkie and Surprise."

"You can't have those either," Surprise replied. "We were gonna split those between us fifty-fifty, right Pinkie?"

"Right," Pinkie grinned. Soarin put his head in his hoof and grumbled.

"Well, what can I eat?" he asked them. Pinkie and Surprise rifled through their stash of sweet sugary stuff, chattering to one another as they decided what they wanted to keep for themselves. Soarin leaned back in his chair, whistling as the two ponies pushed the candy around the table, organizing them in different categories. Soarin didn't hear what all the categories were, but he did catch them saying: 'Nasty', 'Tangy' and 'Sweet'.

"Okay then, Soarin. We've arranged the candies into different groups so it'll be easy for us to decide which ones you can have," Surprise announced, standing straight as if she were in the middle of a drill. Soarin sat up and looked over the candies. The table definitely did look less messy than it had been with the treats scattered over it in one huge heap.

"Great!" Soarin's tongue lolled out at the thought of candy. "So which ones are mine?"

"Those," Pinkie Pie popped up behind a pile of chocolates. Soarin raised a brow since it was obvious that he had hardly any of the sweets.

"That's it?" he asked. He knew he sounded ungrateful, but the other two ponies had enough candy to feed a large family for a week and he had these. "Um…what kind of chocolates are they?" he asked cautiously.

"These ones are the Swirly Mint Surprises," Pinkie held up one of the chocolates.

"And these are the Cherry Delights," Surprise added, picking up a hoof full of the other kind of chocolate. Soarin's face scrunched up with disgust.

"You mean the ones that taste like they're filled with toothpaste and the ones that are just full of smushed cherries?" he asked them. Pinkie and Surprise shrugged and nodded.

"Pretty much," they chorused. Soarin grunted and pushed the candy away.

"You can have 'em. I've lost my appetite," he made up an excuse, sinking back into the chair and folding his hooves.

"That's a first," Braeburn called from the other side of the room, earning a scowl from Soarin and a giggle from Rainbow Dash and Cinder. Soarin had only this morning been acquainted with Braeburn's new 'kitchen sidekick' as he had called her. Cinder was a pretty sweet little pony and from what he had seen, she had more interest in cooking and helping Braeburn out than flying. He had watched her fall down from the sky in drills several times and was beginning to question how she even got accepted into the Academy in the first place. She had no special tricks, or at least none that he had seen thus far, and was afraid of her own shadow. Kinda like that friend of Rainbow Dash's, um…Fluttershy, that was it.

"Psst!"

What was that? Soarin's ears pricked up and he looked from side to side, almost certain that he had heard somepony whispering.

"Psst!"

There it was again. He got up and turned round and round in circles, trying to pinpoint where that voice was coming from.

"Rainbow Dash!"

"Who's there?" Rainbow Dash began looking around, too. Phew, so Soarin wasn't hearing voices that didn't exist after all.

"Over here!"

Rainbow Dash headed over to a rack of spices, pushing the cans on the top shelf to the side.

"I'm not that tall," the voice from behind the rack deadpanned. Rainbow bent down and pushed the spices on the bottom shelf aside, only to see some green furred legs.

"Really?" the voice asked with disbelief. Rainbow finally pushed the cans on the middle shelf away and found herself eye to eye with that green cadet…Parasol…no, Paradise, that was it.

"What do you want, Paradise?" Rainbow asked, looking a little irritated to see her there. "And how did you get in here without any of us noticing you?"

"Oh you must not have recognised me coming in because I'm covered in pieces of the fourth wall," she answered.

"The what?" Rainbow cocked her head to the side.

"Oh, I got some of the insulation from the fourth wall of the Main Hall stuck in my mane. It must've made it look like I was somepony else," Paradise shrugged. "That makes sense, right?"

Soarin smiled and shook his head. "Not at all," he told her, knowing that her theory was completely bonkers. For one thing they had not seen anypony enter the room…oh, never mind, she was just being Paradise. "So what brings you by?" the pale blue Wonderbolt asked the green mare.

"Oh, I was just coming to see if Rainbow Dash could help me with the arty-pay ights-lay!" she hissed that last part to Rainbow. Fortunately for Paradise, Soarin couldn't understand Pig Latin, so they once again managed to get away with the arty-pay with no issues.

"Sure, I'll help," Rainbow Dash agreed, sounding a little hesitant. Paradise led her out of the kitchen, whistling the Parasprite March as the door swung shut.

---

Spitfire poked her head over the serving counter, and didn't even try to hold back her seething groan as she saw Pinkie and Surprise still at the table…actually, they were on the table now, on their backs with their hooves resting atop their slightly swollen tummy's.

The Wonderbolt captain had tried to focus on her work, but with Surprise always springing around in her brain it was almost impossible to focus. It had gotten to the point that she had become so distracted that she'd stamped her hoof instead of the paper. Eventually, at about 6 O'clock, she'd got fed up and stormed down to the kitchen, purely to see whether the Troublesome Twosome were still stuffing their faces with candy. All that candy had gone and by the looks of it the excessive eating had taken its toll on the pair of mares.

"Ugh…I've gotta go use the little fillies room," Pinkie Pie excused herself, letting out a belch before rolling off the table and trotting towards the door, still smiling despite the tummy ache she had.

"Hey there, Spitzter!" she greeted Spitfire as she left the kitchen.

Spitzter?!

'Let her have it!'

Spitfire almost agreed with that little pony in her head before stopping herself. She really hated it when ponies gave her nicknames. She didn't exactly know why; it just really put her off big time!

"Hey, Spitfire!" Surprise called her over. Spitfire slunk over to the table the white mare was flopped down on, aware of the stares she was getting from Soarin, Braeburn and Cinder, who were all eating leftover fritters on the other side of the room, which of course reminded her that she had forgotten to eat dinner…and didn't get any of that chocolate Surprise had bought.

"What?" was all Spitfire said as she sat down by her teammates head, so she could look down into her purple eyes. It was quite an amusing sight.

"Do you think that tomorrow you could let announcer know about those Fizzy Cracker Jacker fireworks I got. I don't want the audience to be too surprised at the air show. Surprises are nice and all, but sometimes if they're too sudden they can just startle you," she asked.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have your new best friend and captain and uniform critic do it instead?" she answered her question with another question, turning away so that her left side was to Surprise. The white pegasus heaved herself onto her haunches with a grunt and scooted across the table so that she was sitting on the edge.

"Oh, Spitfire, we've been over this. There's no reason for you to be jealous," Surprise assured her, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Spitfire pulled away and stood up, flaring out her wings and standing at her full height to make herself look a little more threatening.

"Well I AM!" she declared, her orange eyes practically ablaze now. "I am sick of the Twinzie stuff and I'm tired of you two pea brains ignoring me! I have more dignity than that!"

Right now she didn't care that everypony was staring at her, she couldn't focus on anything except how mad she was at Surprise.

'Congratulations, loser, you've embarrassed yourself in front of your peers. Hope you're proud of yourself 'cause I'm not!'

"Well, the only reason I'm not including you in the stuff we do is because whenever I ask you if you want to do it you say no!" Surprise argued back. "Pinkie says yes all the time. Pinkie says she loves my ideas. Pinkie says-"

"Pinkie says, Pinkie says!" Spitfire mimicked Surprise's high pitched voice. "Who cares about Pinkie!?" she snapped, forgetting trying to spare Surprise's feelings. "…I guess the other massive idiot, eh, Surprise?" For an awkwardly long time the room was quiet after that, the two Wonderbolt mares staring eachother down whilst the other ponies watched in silence, all secretly wondering whether they should step in and help out. Soarin cleared his throat and ushered Braeburn and Cinder out of the room, the only sound being the click as the door closed.

"That's…" Surprise looked away, beginning to look pretty hurt. A tear rolled down the white mare's cheek and she sniffled, before looking at Spitfire with an emotion she had never shown towards her before: anger. "That's the meanest thing you've ever said to me!" she choked out, biting back more tears. Surprise decided to fight fire with fire, wanting to hurt the captain as much as she had hurt her. "And…you've said some pretty mean things over the years. I never wanted to say this to you but sometimes you can be the biggest jerk in Equestria!"

Spitfire felt her heart twist and she fought to keep her stern face on. She was Captain Spitfire and she did not get upset.

"I've been friendly to you ever since our Academy years, Spitfire. Even after you became Captain I gave you my friendship. Why? Because I didn't want you to feel alone. I know that you were shattered after… after…" Surprise bit her lip and trailed off. "…so, I wanted you to always have somepony there for you. I thought I'd be good enough, but you just keep pushing me away! So why now, all of a sudden, do you want my attention? I find a new friend and you want me all to yourself? Why would you put me in such a horrible position? I thought we were friends!" she started yelling. Spitfire had never seen Surprise so furious before, not even when somepony stole all her cookies. She was struggling to remain calm, a fact made obvious by that eye twitch of hers.

"I am your friend, Surprise," she said through clenched teeth. Surprise shook her head rapidly from side to side.

"No, Spitfire, I…lemme explain something to you. Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between two or more ponies. When you're someone's friend, you put all your trust in them, support them and sometimes even give up your own time for them. You're too busy hating the world to even try to be a friend to me, but I still hung out with you, because I care about you. And if you can't see just how much I care for you then…maybe we're not best friends," Surprise continued her rant, saying that last part with a hint of regret. The two mares were silent for a while, as if they were having an intense staring contest. Finally Spitfire broke the silence with three words that made her chest hurt, as if something had just been ripped out of it.

"…maybe we're not…"

And then she left without another word.

---

Soarin led Braeburn and Cinder back into the kitchen, casting one last glance over his shoulder at the Mess Hall door that Spitfire had stormed through just a few seconds ago. Surprise was sitting back at the table, her head resting in the crook of her elbow, staring straight ahead at the wall. What worried Soarin the most was that she wasn't smiling. Surprise smiled 24/7, so seeing her in this state was a rarity, and not a good rarity.

Braeburn and Cinder awkwardly walked away to find something to clean whilst Soarin headed over to the table to sit next to Surprise. He wasn't all that good with words so he decided to stay silent, gently stroking the white Wonderbolt's poofy mane. Suddenly, somepony popped up next to him, and he jolted with shock.

"I heard everything," Pinkie Pie confessed worriedly, sitting on the other side of Surprise. "And I'm really sorry, Surprise. I didn't mean to cause a rift between two best friends," she pulled Surprise into a hug and softly nuzzled her forehead.

"It wasn't your fault, Pinkie," Surprise sighed. "I'm the one who said things that I didn't really mean," she buried her face in her hooves. To Soarin it was like listening to a completely different pony. The Surprise he knew always spoke in a high, lively voice, but this Surprise spoke in a lower voice that almost seemed to suck the life out of the room.

"Guys, what's going on?" Rainbow Dash opened the door and strode in. "I just saw Spitfire and she looked mad…well, madder than usual anyway," she told them. She then noticed Surprise miserably slumped on the table and she looked around the room as if looking for something. "Surprise…you aren't happy. Did… did I just walk through the door to a parallel universe?"

Braeburn pulled Rainbow Dash over to the side, most likely to explain to her what was going on. Soarin couldn't hear them because they were whispering, but he did see Rainbow nod her head a few times and her mouth fell agape once the earth pony had finished explaining. Soarin couldn't blame her though, he never thought he'd see the day where Surprise would be sad and Spitfire would be jealous, much less on the same day!

"Well, what are you guys just sitting around for?" Rainbow addressed the five other ponies in the room. "This is an obvious friendship problem, and besides being undeniably, unquestionably, awesomazing, my best quality is fixing those problems. Pinkie Pie and I will get this thing sorted out in no time," she explained her plan. Soarin knew how good Rainbow Dash was when it came to these friendship challenges, so he could happily trust her with this.

"So, what's your plan?" Cinder looked up at Rainbow Dash with eyes wide with interest. Boy, this cadet looked adorable no matter what she did. Rainbow's face immediately fell and the look on her face suggested that her mind was completely blank.

"I'll tell you how; the idea's just forming in my head…" Rainbow awkwardly looked away. Soarin could tell at that moment that Rainbow wasn't the one who came up with the plans most of the time; judging by what he knew about her Ponyville friends, Twilight Sparkle was the brains of the outfit. "We will… set up a tripwire outside Spitfire's office…" she plotted.

"A tripwire?" Pinkie looked at Rainbow Dash like she a complete buffoon. Great, you knew when something was strange when even Pinkie Pie was acting negatively towards it. Rainbow nodded once, gritting her teeth.

"Yes, a tripwire," she confirmed. It couldn't be more obvious that the cyan mare had no idea where she was going with this. "And then we'll surround her when she trips and annoy her until she agrees to be friends with Surprise again," just when Soarin thought she was done, she continued, looking oddly enthusiastic. "Or, maybe we'll get another trap; we'll get a net! And then when she trips the net will land on her. OR, we could weigh down the net with anvils so she'd be stuck!" Rainbow got a desperate look on her face. "It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!" she threw her hooves into the air with triumph. However, when she looked around the room at the assembled ponies she found that they were all staring at her like she had lost her mind. The reaction to Rainbow Dash's plan got…not-so-good reactions from the others.

"Um…"

"That was…"

"…yeah…"

"Well…"

"That idea is simply the worst."

Everypony stared at Pinkie Pie as if they were saying 'way to be subtle'.

"Rainbow Dash, as smart as you are, we're not going to trap Spitfire in a net," Soarin tried to be gentle, even though he was sure that Rainbow Dash detested her plan as much as the rest of them did.

"This is ridiculous," Surprise declared, getting up from her chair. Soarin finally snapped there and then, his eyes darting to each of the ponies in the room in turn.

"This is ALL ridiculous," he yelled. "Surprise is a depressed wreck, Rainbow Dash is being a nitwit, Spitfire's jealous; HAS THE WHOLE OF EQUESTRIA GONE MAD?!"

It was then his turn to be stared at as he lost it in the middle of the kitchen. Giving a final look around, he cleared his throat and slouched down in the chair, wanting to turn invisible.

"Continue, Surprise," he told the Wonderbolt mare to carry on speaking, resisting his urges to add 'please' at the end of that sentence.

"I'm gonna fix it myself," Surprise tucked her chair under the table as if preparing to leave.

"Yay!" Pinkie praised her Twinzie.

"My way," Surprise continued.

"No…" Pinkie Pie frowned.

"So first-"

"Yes?" Pinkie leaned forward, wanting to hear what Surprise was going to say next.

"I'm gonna make a trip to the candy store."

"No…"

"And then-"

"Hmm?"

"I'm gonna fix things with my BFFWIAMC!"

"Your what?" Rainbow asked only to have Surprise raise a hoof to silence her.

"I refuse to explain it twice in one chapter," she stated firmly, stomping a hoof gently on the floor and pointing her nose up.

"Seriously. Can't we go ten minutes without breakin' the fourth wall?" Braeburn threw a hoof in the air. Surprise shrugged.

"Meh, we'll try not to in the next chapter. For now, I've got some candy to buy!" she started to strut confidently out of the room, only to trip and flounder around to regain her balance.

"Tripped!" Pinkie called out, chortling a little. Surprise sneered at her playfully.

"No, I didn't. I meant to go out the door like this-" she then continued to thrust her legs every which way as she made her way to the door, trying to cover up her mistake. Finally, when the door closed, Soarin began to wonder if all the craziness had finally disappeared. Just then, Surprise popped up on the other side of the serving counter

"Oh, one more thing. Can one of you lure Spitfire down here for…" Surprise sighed and came back through the door. She looked up at the clock on the wall and nodded, walking back through the door and resuming her position by the counter. "…Seven O'clock?" she finished her sentence.

"I could handle that," Rainbow Dash volunteered. "I could tell her that…Soarin and Braeburn are being held hostage in the kitchen. And maybe I could say that it's burning down, too?"

"Okay, you really need to stop coming up with plans," Cinder shook her head at Rainbow Dash, who looked pretty astounded to see the dark blue cadet disagree with something.

"Fine. I could just say that Surprise has stuck herself to the table with bubble-gum and I need help pulling her off with a crowbar," Rainbow came up with another plan.

"It's pretty crazy how something that sounds so ridiculous could actually really happen," Soarin commented. Braeburn rubbed his forehead with a hoof.

"Ah wanna know how it got t' the stage o' muh life where that wasn't a strange sentence t' me," he murmured. Soarin really needed to go home and rethink his life.

"Okay, let's hop to it. Operation: Twinzie is at go!" Surprise gave them all a salute before whizzing off in a blur.

"…well …I guess we're all waiting," Soarin leaned back in his chair. For a long while afterwards there was no movement or speech of any kind whatsoever. It was especially, awkwardly quiet with the cricket chirping by the window, but Cinder managed to take care of that problem.

"So…anyone for a game of Go Fish?" Soarin finally suggested.

"Meh, why not?" Rainbow Dash shrugged.

---

"I can't believe it; I just don't believe it!" Spitfire huffed and she walked through the kitchen door with Rainbow Dash. "This is the third time this month that she's stuck herself to something with gum!"

"SURPRISE~!"

"Whoa!" Spitfire exclaimed as the white pegasus in question toppled her onto the floor. She looked up into the once again bright purple eyes of Surprise and grumbled. "Don't tell me this is your idea of an attack," she folded her hooves.

"Nope-a-rooni!" Surprise got off of the captain and reached out a hoof to help her up, only to have Spitfire push it away and get up herself.

"So, you called me down here just as I was about to head home because…" Spitfire waited for a response.

"Well, earlier I might have said a few things that I didn't intend to, so I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," she admitted. Spitfire still didn't look convinced. She had been a jerk, and she believed that nopony could forgive someone that fast.

"Do you need musical support?" Pinkie Pie piped up from her spot next to Soarin by an oven. She reached behind her back and pulled out a ukulele. "Because I was working on a little number while you were out and I think it could be of use here," she strummed the instrument a couple of times to show that she knew how to use it.

"No songs!" the other ponies chorused and Pinkie Pie gave a small shrug of her shoulders before putting the ukulele back where it belongs (not that anypony knew where that was). Surprise hopped forward and hugged Spitfire tightly before she could protest.

"I'm sorry for leaving you out…and calling you a jerk…and saying that you were a terrible friend. I'm the terrible one for treating you like that. I guess I wasn't thinking about how you'd feel," Surprise confessed, nuzzling Spitfire's cheek, which the captain wasn't too comfortable with. Physical contact was not on her list of tolerated things, but she decided to deal with it just this once. She ignored the ukulele music that was playing in the background.

"I'm sorry, too," she admitted, grimacing when she discovered just how hard it was for her to say sorry. It was like the word was refusing to leave her mouth. "I shouldn't have been jealous of you and Pinkie. It was unprofessional and really, really stupid of me," she apologized, too. She had never even considered how hard it was to say such sentimental things.

'GAG! It's like I'm watching one of those TV shows you like to make fun of,' Spitfire's conscience taunted her, though she ignored it.

"Pweeeeease be my friend again!" Surprise almost begged the fiery Wonderbolt, giving her an extra tight squeeze. Spitfire rolled her eyes as Surprise latched onto her, clearly not going release her until she said yes.

"Fine," she sighed, though the corners of her mouth were pointing up. Surprise let out a happy 'YAY!' and hugged impossibly harder. Spitfire looked over her shoulder at the source of the ukulele music that was still playing. "Will you give it a rest already?" she asked Pinkie harshly. Pinkie Pie chuckled nervously and tossed the instrument over her shoulder, somehow causing cymbals to crash and a cat to screech (typical Pinkie Pie).

"I'm just as sorry as you are," the pink earth pony shuffled her hooves. "I didn't mean to come between you and Surprise, so from now on just tell me if I'm stepping on your hooves," she told the golden Wonderbolt, who for the first time, smiled at the excitable mare. Suddenly, Pinkie stood on her hind hooves and spread her arms wide. "Bring it in!" she squealed cheerfully. Spitfire, as said before, not a fan of physical contact of any kind, uncomfortably scuffed the ground with a hoof.

"Uh, no thanks," she declined. Still Pinkie Pie refused to get out of 'hug-mode'. "You really wanna hug me, don't ya?" she groaned. Pinkie nodded enthusiastically in response. Spitfire dipped her head and muttered something. "Fine, bring it in," she gave in. A second later, Pinkie was hugging her fiercely with enough force that she actually lifted Spitfire off the ground.

'Can I quit my job as your conscience, 'cause you're just embarrassing me!" the pony in Spitfire's head grumbled. Finally after a metaphorical eternity of hugging and humiliation, Pinkie let Spitfire go and hopped away to talk to Rainbow Dash, humming a sweet little tune. Once everypony's attention was away from the two mares by the door, Surprise cleared her throat to get the captain's attention.

"Hey, Spitz, I got ya something," She pulled some stuff out of her mane: Two chocolate plaques from the candy store. Spitfire's mouth immediately watered at the sight of chocolate. "And check it out…" she gave Spitfire her plaque, which had the signature Wonderbolt badge iced onto it, before revealing her own plaque, which also had the Wonderbolt badge on it. "We're Twinzies!" she sang. Spitfire felt uncharacteristically touched at the gesture and grinned despite herself.

"Thanks. I appreciate it," she looked up at her friend. "But, you and Pinkie Pie can be Twinzies," she then looked over to the side to make sure nopony was watching before wrapping her hooves around Surprise and hugging her, not anywhere at tight as the hugs she would get from Surprise. "I'm just glad we're 'Besties'."

"Me, too," Surprise hugged back, and not in that usual suffocating squash style of hers. Spitfire, being the tough captain she was, took the opportunity to give Surprise a warning.

"Still, if you ever tell anypony I said something so gushy I will skin you and hang your fur on my wall," she threatened. Surprise nervously laughed and patted Spitfire's back.

"Noted."

---

Hi guys,

You won't believe it (well, Pinkie Pie will) but I had to deal with another friendship problem today! I know that Rarity had to learn this lesson herself when Fluttershy got that modelling job and she became jealous, but I'm not so sure if anypony has had to deal with their friends hanging out with somepony else, 'cause I know that it feels pretty awful.

Oh wait, what am I saying? I remember that Pinkie was a little jealous when me and Gilda were hanging out a few years back so she knows how it feels, too. I guess that's why she was so understanding today. But I even learnt for myself that seeing somepony you're really close to want to spend time with someone else can sting a little, but I suppose it's times like these when you discover just how loyal friends are to each other.

I'm gonna get some shut-eye now. Dealing with friendship issues is tiring business, especially when you're the one coming up with all the plans…yeah, even I wouldn't believe that plan part. I just wanted to see how it looked on paper.

I'll write to you tomorrow, as usual. Oh, and make sure that Pinkie Pie paid the hot air balloon pony this time.

Yours friendshipilly,

Rainbow Dash

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Endnote: Whew, that took longer than I thought to write but hopefully it was worth it. Anyway next chapter is Spring Song's party, and it's gonna be one insane ride.

Soarin's sister- check

Cake the size of a couch- check

Paradise dancing like an electrocuted monkey- check.

See ya then!