Authors Note: Okay, so I'm back from my vacation and it's time to get back on track.

AND WE HAVE OVER 70 FAVOURITES NOW! ALL OF YOU ARE AMAZING! :D

Captain Alaska: Wingy-thingies are a sign of arousal in my view. Okay I admit I didn't put a lot of thought into this so I don't know what happens if they get one mid-flight. Ooh…

The Jagdpanther- Glad I didn't confuse you too much this time around, and those two do need some of the spotlight once in a while.

RosaSilvermist- Yeah, Froot Loop is such a cutie pie… OH MY GOSH I should make him and Gummy interact. Don't ask me what they'd do because I have no idea but it should happen anyway! And I like to keep in mind that these are still horses and horses do things; now flying horses are a different matter, but I based Flying on the mating ritual of the eagle… so pegasi are now Eagle Equines. Why not, eh? Heh. But yes, this will most certainly cause a little bit of a stir in Brae and Spitz's (non-existent) relationship.

Amellia Rose- Be assured that this chapter will be chock full of character develop for four mares in particular.

Luna'snight625- Aw, thanks. I put a lot of thought into that because I have too much free time… heh… but yeah if I wasn't terrified of bats I'd have one and call him Froot Loop! And for your safety you should know that the last person to tell Spitz to calm down either wound up in hiding or the hospital.

YoungBlood23- Well he certainly can't grow a pair… of wings! If you thought I was gonna say something else then you are dirty! xD

Litestardt- Yeah I couldn't just have her let the idea go… I just want one of those shirts. And you can have Lightning back if you like, even if he is adorable!

Tycser- Hey dude, good to see ya back. I agree on the silly Soarin thing, but his intense silliness is what makes him my favorite character to write. I'll make him a little more serious in certain chapters of course. And we still have plenty of time to see whether or not the Apple and the Bolt get together, but it'll definitely be a bumpy ride. Also, I saw Remembrance and it is amazing! Argodaemon is an SFM legend! It's such a beautiful video! 3

Ripstickmario- This is a long chapter, dude. And I was on vacation for a week, too. Plus, you try writing a complicated psychology/character development smorgasbord with writer's block! I do apologise for my outburst, it's just that when people remind me that I'm running late it freaks me out and makes the situation worse by causing me unnecessary panic. Ah, the joys of anxiety.

NOW LET'S GET THIS CHAPTER ON THE ROAD!

CUE CHAPTER THEME SONG PARODY THING!

We

Are the Wonderbolts

We'll make our readers day

And if you think we can't

We'll always find a way

That's why the people of this site

Believe in

Spitfire,

Surprise,

And Misty Fly

And Feather Duster!

I do not regret parodying the Steven Universe theme song! :P

---

"You want me to what?" Spitfire asked, flicking her gaze between Surprise and Feather Duster, the former of whom was bouncing excitedly on the other side of the captain's desk while the latter sat on her rump with sagging shoulders, looking like she just wanted to leave.

"Join the two of us for a super duper slumber party!" Surprise repeated. "We'll talk about our problems, and tell each other about our traumas, and then we'll all have ice cream!" She ranted. Spitfire gave Surprise the most unamused flat stare she could muster.

"If I wanted to tell random-ass ponies about my issues I'd go to my therapist." She replied. "Frankly your idea is the worst one I've heard since Fleetfoot suggested we all live in the Academy."

"What was wrong with that anyway?" Surprise asked.

"Have you met Fleetfoot? I don't wanna wake up to 'unexpected guests'." She used quotation marks with her wings.

"WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!" Surprise did the quotes, still not getting a response. Feather Duster raised a hoof.

"Yeah, I'm with Spit on this-"

"Don't call me Spit!"

"-I knew it was a bad idea to come to you for advice. Your head is basically a coconut!" The dusty mare continued. Surprise harrumphed and stuck her nose in the air.

"My head is not filed with milk, thank you very much," she insisted, and Feather Duster promptly face-hoofed.

"So is there any other reason you're in my office?" Spitfire spun around in her chair, which is something that would drive her insane if it were anypony else doing it. Surprise shook her head.

"Nope-a-rooni, but I really want to have this sleepover. It'll help you relax and you'll get a good night's sleep." Surprise insisted.

"Not happening." Spitfire sipped her coffee. Surprise rolled her purple eyes and scooched closer to the desk, placing her chin on top of it and looking sadly up at Spitfire.

"Pleeeeaaaaasse?" She pouted. "I'll be your best friend!"

"Get your face off my desk, please." Spitfire said, not looking up from her drink. Surprise tipped backwards and tumbled onto her back on the floor, exasperated with the captain's stubbornness. Feather Duster nodded at the door.

"I'll just let myself out…" She moved for the door, but when she was a step away Surprise popped up a few inches from her face, frightening the life out of her.

"YOU HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Surprise put a hoof on Feather Duster's chest and pushed her backwards until her butt bounced against the desk.

"Listen Senorita Psychopath," Feathers spoke up, pressing her nose against the white mare's. "I don't want any part of this- I should have just read something. Seriously, you are so lucky that I don't have my stun gun!" She seethed. Surprise got a dastardly look on her face; one that could rival Feather Duster's.

"You don't know what I know," she smirked. "I know the answer to your problems, and I will happily answer every question you have… but I want something, too."

"What are you two pea brains talking about?" Spitfire rubbed her forehead in agony. Couldn't they do this outside?

Feather Duster stared straight at Surprise, unblinking and stern. "…go on…" she invited. Surprise backed up and began pacing back and forth, just like the cool ponies who made deals in the movies did.

"I can answer anything, Feathers. Whether it is 'what is five plus eight' or 'did the egg or the dragon come first', so in order to get what you want, you need to come to my slumber party." She looked at Feathers out the corner of her eye. The dusty mare remained sturdy.

"You're blackmailing me." She sneered. "And you're bluffing- you don't know what the answers are."

Surprise's smirk curled tighter. "Are you willing to risk that?" She asked. Now that got Feather Duster's expression to fall a little, and after that there was a two minute long stare between the janitor and the Wonderbolt, each trying to see into the others very soul. Finally Feather Duster exhaled and cast her brown eyes down to the floor.

"Fine, I'll stinking come to your stinking party you stinking pony." The 'evil mastermind' gave in. Surprise then snapped out of her cool demeanour and hopped up and down.

"Yippee!" She cheered. "Nooooooow…" she side-stepped over to the captain's desk again, where Spitfire was lazily stamping stuff, missing the paper a couple of times and stamping the desk instead where she was so tired.

"Go away." Spitfire said without any effort put into her demand. Surprise felt that pang in her chest again. She just wanted to help her bestie out, but she refused to accept any assistance she offered, and in truth it broke her heart. She decided to use her powers of persuasion again.

"Spitz, just think about it for a minute: You, me, and Feathers all at my place, pillows on the floor with fluffy blankets everywhere. We'll have a nice talk, and then you'll settle down and have a nice, long sleep. And then if any bad dreams come for you you'll have the two of us there to wake you up. It's the perfect plan, right?"

Spitfire hated the plan. She seriously did. But the sound of sleep sounded like a dream in itself. And as much as she hated to admit it, Surprise was completely right. She didn't want to be alone… at least not until she could see straight again. She'd almost fallen asleep right there in her seat at least ten times that day. She chose a response.

"I'll come," she said, getting a smile from Surprise. "On one condition."

"What's that?" Surprise asked eagerly. Spitfire felt proudly evil. If Surprise was gonna put her in an uncomfortable situation, then it seemed only logical that she should return the favour.

"Misty Fly has to come, too."

Surprise's face melted into a big frown, and she burst into a long babbling rant.

"No way, no how, never gonna happen. I'm not letting her into my house, not for all the muffins in the world, NEVER I say, if she goes inside my house I will throw myself out the window and make sure that you don't invite her to my funeral, nope, nada, never ever, ever, EVER-"

---

The doorbell rang and the door opened to reveal a very disgruntled Surprise.

"Hi Misty…" The white mare said with her best fake smile. Misty Fly gave Surprise the best grin she could muster and Surprise grinned back the best she could, trying hard not to reconsider shutting the custard coloured mare out in the evening cold.

"Surprise…" She nodded at her co-worker and walked past her into the living room, where Feather Duster and Spitfire were already sitting, Feathers standing on the arm of a sofa giving some kind of angry speech while Spitfire lay back on a couch with a magazine over her face. She had been reading it but she had nodded off and let it fall on her face. She was even snoring!

"Aww," Misty smirked as she sat on the other end of the couch, gazing fondly at the dozing captain. "How long has she been asleep?" She asked Feather Duster, who stopped ranting. Misty was actually surprised that Spitfire had managed to sleep through all the shouting. Feathers looked shocked.

"SHE WAS ASLEEP?!" She yelled, and Spitfire merely kept snoring. It was pretty impressive indeed if you asked Misty Fly. "I was telling her all about my laser beam pistol!" Feathers pouted. Misty rolled her eyes.

"We all know that thing is just a flashlight with a red sock over it!" She sighed. Feathers looked appalled.

"It is not! It has all the gears and it even has solar power! It's deadly and good for the environment at the same time!" She insisted. Misty shook her head.

"If it helps you sleep at night," she muttered, and Feathers slumped down into the sofa.

"Where's commander Whack-a-doodle?" the small mare asked. Just then Surprise popped up beside the sofa.

"Looking for me?" She trilled, and Feathers clutched her chest, glaring at her viciously.

"Is it your goal in life to give me heart attacks?" She asked. Surprise's expression grew ever so slightly unamused.

"It happened to one pony!" She threw her hooves in the air and stuck her bottom lip out. Feather Duster stared at her for a few seconds before just turning away and shaking her head with a loud exhale.

"So, now that we're all here… what now?" Misty asked, shrugging her shoulders. Surprise beamed.

"I'm glad you asked Misty, because I've spent the past four hours coming up with a list of fun activities for us all!" She pulled a scroll out of her mane and unraveled it. Feather Duster raised a hoof and gave it a small, slow pump.

"Yay…" She slurred unenthusiastically.

"Though," Surprise mused, "I should probably wake up Spit"-

"Don't call me Spit!" Spitfire suddenly shot up, making Misty shriek with terror since she had been distracted at the time. Misty screaming made Feathers scream, and that make Surprise and Spitfire scream. After that it was a loop of screaming that must have lasted at least half a minute before somepony saw sense.

"Stop! Everypony stop!" Spitfire yelled, silencing the group. Surprise froze mid screech and let her tongue loll out, looking a little psychotic at the moment due to the fact that her pupils had shrunk and she was breathing very heavily. Feather Duster glared up at the golden captain.

"Thanks for the panic attack." She said sarcastically. Surprise put her hooves on her hips.

"Panic attacks, heart attacks, you are all over the place this evening!" She sneered. Feather Duster fell backwards on her seat, grunting. Spitfire yawned and pushed herself up, noticing Misty Fly for the first time.

"When did you get here, Misty?" She asked, rubbing her eyes, forgetting that she was meant to act stern and weakness-less in front of all of her comrades. Misty Fly gave her a sympathetic smile.

"About three minutes ago… a lot has happened in three minutes," she ran a hoof trough her bright and light blue mane.

"You get used to it," Spitfire sighed, sitting up straight in her seat and checking her mane to see if it had ruffled in her sleep. Sure, it was already pretty messy in its natural style but even she had limits when it came to her appearance.

"Hey now," Surprise jumped on the sofa between Spitfire and Misty Fly, "just imagine how boring your lives would be if you didn't have ponies like me and Feather Duster in them to spice things up."

Feather Duster raised her head, looking offended. "Hey, I'm not insane!" She said.

And then Surprise and Misty broke out into crazy laughter, and Spitfire flinched away at the sudden noise. Sure, if she wasn't exhausted she would probably at least grin at Feather Duster's blatant lie, but this hysterical laughter seemed a little out there for her groggy mind. Surprise leaned against Misty and thumped a hoof on the couch cushion.

"She… she thinks she's sane!" Surprise guffawed, and Misty wiped a tear from her eye.

"I know… it's crazy!" She snorted and threw her head into the air, letting out her signature dorky laugh. Surprise started laughing into her colleague's shoulder. Spitfire turned to Feather Duster and gave her an apologetic look.

"I actually feel kinda sorry for you." She admitted, and Feathers just shrugged, a little fed up. The laughter from the other two mares died down and they turned to look at each other. They paused as they realised that they were actually laughing about something together, and looked away, seeming a little uncomfortable now. Feathers chuckled a little at that.

"You two are idiots." She said bluntly, sitting up again. "Now what are we supposed to be doing again?"

Surprise hopped down from the chair and stood in the middle of the room, clearing her throat and pulling out her list again. "Now before we get down to the main event of discussing our problems, let's all warm up with some games!" She reached into her mane and pulled out a bag of M&M's. Feather Duster threw her hooves in the air.

"Okay seriously, what the frick is wrong with your hair?!"

"So we're going to… eat candy?" Misty shrugged. Surprise shook her head.

"Nope, I'm gonna put the candy in a bowl-" she pulled a bowl out of her hair.

"That's it, I give up!" Feathers exhaled.

"-then I'm gonna assign a meaning to each color and then we're gonna pick out some candy, and tell each other stuff about ourselves."

"I hate this game already." Spitfire said bitterly, suppressing a yawn.

"Party pooper, much?" Surprise rolled her eyes and poured the candy in the bowl. "Okay, now let's see… um… blue means 'social life', green means 'job', yellow means 'hobby', red means 'love life', orange means 'family', and brown means 'issues'. So who wants to go first?"

Nopony seemed eager to step up, and after a few seconds of waiting in silence Surprise just shrugged. "Meh, I'll go first." She fished into the bowl and pulled out a- "Green! That means job!" She munched on the M&M and then sat on the ground, thinking… and thinking… and-

"Just say something!" Spitfire sighed, and Surprise's ears perked up.

"Got it! My boss yells at me a lot, but I love her anyway!" She grinned widely, and Feather Duster chuckled at the golden captain, who smacked her face into that magazine she had worn on her face not too long ago. Feathers raised a hoof.

"Ya know this is actually kinda fun. I want a turn." She smirked at the glare she got from Spitfire.

Surprise let Feathers extract some candy from the bowl. "Um… what's blue again?"

"Social life," Surprise reminded her.

"Dang," Feathers muttered, barely audible. Everypony was looking at her, so she thought of something to say while she ate. "Well, I'm kinda married to my work, so I don't have much of a social life-"

"What work?" Spitfire and Misty Fly asked at the same time. Feathers pouted at the pair of pegasi for a moment before raising her middle wingtip at them.

"One day when I've taken over the world, you two will be my first slaves." She told them before folding her tiny wing again. "But, I do have friends! Um… Surprise, you're my friend right?"

"Of course!" Surprise smiled, though it was a little forced, but Feathers folded her arms and triumphantly smiled anyway.

"There ya go! Something about my social life! Cap, you're up!" Feathers put the bowl on the arm of Spitfire and Misty's couch. The captain eyed the bowl and groaned.

"Do I really have to play this idiot game with you ponies?" she asked, rubbing an eye again.

"Yes." The other three all chorused. Spitfire grumbled again.

"It seems a little-"

"I'll ensure you never sleep again if you don't do this."

"Gimme the stupid candy now!" Spitfire grabbed one from the bowl and popped it into her mouth. Surprise raised her voice.

"SPITZ!"

"What?" Spitfire asked.

"What color was it?" Surprise asked. Spitfire felt like a fool for not looking, but she stuck her tongue out to look at the candy on it. It was green.

"Okay, something about your job." Surprise invited her to speak. Spitfire swallowed the M&M.

"Um… I'm the captain of the 'Bolts, and I like my office more than my house which is why I work overtime so friggin' much. NEXT!" She pushed the bowl towards Misty, who dipped a hoof into the bowl without hesitation, looking a little excited.

"Brown…" Misty frowned and let her eyes roll upwards as she remembered what brown was.

"Okay, you got 'issues'… well we all knew that already." Surprise smirked. Misty gave her a narrow-eyed scowl and then sighed.

"Well… I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder… does that count?" Misty asked, eating the candy. Surprise had been hoping for something that was a little more humiliating, but that technically did count, so she nodded and grabbed the bowl for herself again.

"Is there a point system for this?" Feathers asked. Surprise shook her head.

"Nope, this is all about breaking the ice and getting to know each other better."

"Wow, isn't there at least a prize?" She moved onto the next question.

"Um… no?" Surprise felt a little vulnerable now. Feathers just shrugged and leaned against the side of the chair.

"Well things had better get interesting again soon 'cause the captain looks like she's about to pass out." She nodded at Spitfire, who was tipping forward off the chair. Misty reached out and held onto her, pulling her back a little and waking her up, making her give a few confused snorts before she realised what was happening around her.

"Need… coffee…" she yawned, tapping a hoof against her forehead as if to knock the tiredness out of it.

"Don't worry Spitz, the sugar from the candy will give you a boost." Surprise reassured her before picking out another M&M. "Yellow! Okay, hobbies." Surprise munched on her candy. "Well I love throwing parties and Pinkie Pie's teaching me how to bake by sending me detailed instructions. You guys should have seen the one I made the other day; I was the exact size and shape of an armadillo. Don't worry, it wasn't armadillo flavored though- it was banana!"

"Okay, my turn!" Feathers had another dip into the bowl. "I'm gonna liven things up this time- red." Her face fell. This was the color the little mare had been hoping not to get. Misty looked a little excited though.

"Ooh, go ahead Feathers. Anypony special?" She bounced in her seat and got a teasing look on her face. Feathers angrily crunched on the M&M and scowled.

"No." She said simply. Surprise butted in.

"What about Fire Streak?"

"SURPRISE!"

"You're kidding me, right?" Spitfire found the whole thing amusing, although she didn't have enough energy to bother chuckling. Misty just squealed a little.

"Aw, that's so cute!" She smooshed her cheeks together, and for once Surprise agreed with her. "Do you date him?"

"No." Feathers repeated.

"Well I can fix that," Misty started plotting. "I'll sort out a location, arrange a schedule- oh, I'll have to find out what his favorite kind of juice is."

"NO!" Feathers cut her off. Surprise jumped on the coffee table.

"Besides, I'm the one she came to for help first." The white Wonderbolt told Misty proudly. Misty Fly blinked a couple of times before giggling.

"Is she insane? …Stupid question." She added, smirking at Feathers, who was staring at her evilly.

"Spitz, have a turn!" Feathers raised her voice. When there was no response, everypony looked over at the captain who, sure enough, was asleep again. Misty leaned closer and listened out.

"No more… paperwork… inbox… overflowing…" she grumbled in her sleep. Misty giggled and stroked her shoulder.

"She even works in her sleep. Poor little sweetheart." She cooed. Feathers snorted.

"Oh my gosh, if she'd heard you say that you wouldn't have a head anymore." She told Misty, who chuckled nervously. "Then again, it's probably best to just let her-"

"WAKE UP!" Surprise yelled in Spitfire's ear.

"CHEQUE!" Spitfire shot up, eyes wide and wild. Surprise shoved the candy bowl in her face.

"It's your tuurrrn!" She sang. Spitfire looked like she was straining to keep from strangling Surprise, and she grabbed an M&M from the bowl.

"Fine, brown! I have issues with you not letting me sleep! This was part of the deal!" The captain raved. Surprise hopped out of the room.

"Well your turn's over, so I'm gonna make ya something that'll keep you up for sure." She called over her shoulder as she vanished into her kitchen. Spitfire grumbled and sat up, using her hooves to keep her eyes open.

"Okay, I'll have a go…" Misty slowly chose a sweet. "Orange… um… SURPRISE, WHAT DID ORANGE MEAN!?" She called.

"IT MEANS 'FAMILY'!" Surprise yelled back.

"THANK YOU!" Misty shouted and then quietened down. "Well… I live by myself (with a cat), my mom and dad live all the way over in the Fillypines, and I spend a lot of time with my brother and his son." She revealed. Feather asked a genuine question, probably the first one of the night.

"Is your brother single?" She asked.

"No, he's married," Misty replied, chuckling at Feathers. Spitfire spoke up.

"What happened to the whole 'married to my work' thing you had going two minutes ago?" She asked, blinking rapidly to keep her vision straight. Feather Duster rolled her eyes.

"The one time you listen to me…" she grumbled. Surprise then hopped back in with a large mug of something. It sure smelled good.

"Here," she gave it to Spitfire, "a couple of sips of that and you'll be bouncing off the walls."

Spitfire yes the warm fizzing drink cautiously. "Surprise, will this cause me any harm at all? As in, I want to ensure that I won't explode, inflate, deflate, pass out, choke, get poisoned, turn inside out, set on fire, freeze, burst a blood vessel, have my eyes pop out, go into cardiac arrest, get amnesia, have my hair fall out, start speaking backwards, lose my sense of direction, go cross eyed, lose my wings, or just plain drop down dead."

Everypony stared at her as she finished her long ramble. Spitfire noticed their bafflement and decided to clear the air with an explanation.

"I made a list of possible dangers around Surprise and memorized it." She told them all, and they all nodded in understanding.

"Um… no." Surprise answered her lengthy question, and Spitfire took a sip of Surprise's weird drink. Suddenly something like a firecracker went off in her brain and she even let out a 'whoo' of shock.

"What is this stuff?" She asked as her head started tingling.

"Rooftastic Tea." Surprise revealed. Spitfire felt a shudder go down her spine and shook a little.

"Rooftastic?" She echoed. Surprise nodded.

"Yep, as in you wanna climb on top of a roof and yell how great the tea is!" the poofy maned pegasus thrust her arms up. Spitfire had to admit that it did the trick indeed.

"Let me guess. One of Pinkie Pie's recipes?" She took another gulp and started jittering. Okay, maybe she should slow down a touch.

"Yep-a-rooni. She tasted it herself and said that it didn't work, so I asked her for some and now that I've tested it on you I can see it works. She'll be so happy to hear about this!" Surprise grinned. Feathers spoke up.

"Well now that Captain Snores-a-lot is awake should we move on? The game got boring after the first go." She suggested, and Surprise nodded.

"Good idea, I think we pretty much know all about each other anyway," Surprise shrugged. Misty slowly raised one hoof.

"That's not strictly true…" she stopped talking when Surprise gave her a glower.

"Anyway, next up we all play Pictionary!" Surprise reached into the next room and pulled out two giant drawing boards.

"Oh okay, this should be easy." Misty said optimistically. Surprise propped the two boards up a few meters away and got a pair of markers out, too.

"So we'll get into pairs, and then we'll play, got it? We all know how to play Pictionary, right?"

"Yeah." Feather Duster jumped over to sit next to Spitfire. "I take the captain as a partner, and that leaves you two!" Feathers grinned and pointed from Surprise to Misty Fly, who both looked a little uncomfortable now. Spitfire whispered quietly enough for Feathers to hear.

"You do realize that this is a recipe for disaster?" She asked, now wide awake thanks to this glorious drink she was now sure she could never live without. Feathers chuckled.

"Exactly. This is gonna be great." She rubbed her hooves together and snickered. Surprise pulled out the Pictionary cards and set them on the coffee table, pulling Misty over to the right side of the room, while Spitfire and Feather Duster stood on the left.

"Spitz, Mist, you're up first." Surprise gave Misty Fly the first turn drawing since she had promised Spitfire to try and be friendlier towards her. Feathers was perched rather sweetly on the edge of the leather sofa so she could see and Surprise took a spot on the chair closest to the front door. Spitfire and Misty looked at their card and then nodded at each other. Surprise was (oddly) surprised to see that Spitfire seemed to be enjoying herself with this, though Pinkie had warned her that the Rooftastic Tea had a lot of stuff in it and that it could cause weird things to happen to a pony mentally… ah, if there ain't a label, there's no need to pay attention to any of that.

Spitfire began sketching a curved thing with a handle, with a little difficulty as all ponies knew that pegasi and earth ponies had a tougher time writing and drawing than unicorns.

"Um… knife? A crescent moon?" Feathers began guessing. Misty Fly began doing a lot of squiggles at the top of the page.

"Birds!" Surprise exclaimed. Misty booped her nose to show that she was getting closer. "Pigeons? Ducks? Geese?" She kept guessing to no avail. Feathers kept on saying possible answers as Spitfire sketched some blood onto her shape.

"Death… kill… murder!" She cheered as Spitfire confirmed that the answer was correct. Misty groaned and bumped her head against the drawing board. Surprise marched over to her and poked her in the chest.

"What the- how is that 'murder'?" she asked, irritated. Misty pointed to the birds she drew on the board.

"They are crows! A group of crows is called a…"

Surprise didn't answer.

"Murder!" Misty finished for her. "It is a murder of crows!"

"You're an idiot!" Surprise took the marker off her and faced the board, trying to thinks calm thoughts.

She was a graceful little wave… gliding across the ocean… drifting peacefully towards the shore… smacking Misty Fly in the STUPID FACE!

Then it was Surprise and Feather Duster's turn to draw, so Misty and Spitfire sat on their respective sides of the room, Spitz sipping her tea, enjoying the feeling of her entire body shuddering, while Misty ate from the bowl of M&M's.

"Um… a cloud?" Spitfire guessed as Feather Duster hovered into the air and began drawing. Surprise began drawing the exact same thing.

"It's a soufflé!" Misty guessed.

Surprise shook her head.

"It's a tray with a soufflé on it!" Misty guessed again.

"Nothing with soufflé!" Surprise threw her head up and tried not to scream. This was so frigging easy! Luckily since Feather Duster had trouble flying and drawing at the same time she had an advantage… hopefully.

"A chef's hat!" Misty guessed again.

"NO!" Surprise growled.

"It's a muffin!" Spitfire called out, and Feather Duster flew in a somersault.

"You got it!" She flew over and landed on the captain's head.

"Get off." Spitfire said sharply, making the smaller mare do as she was told. Surprise tapped the board, where her obvious muffin was being displayed.

"How did you not get that?" She asked. Misty huffed and tucked a loose strand of her mane behind one ear.

"If you wanted me to guess 'muffin' you should have drawn chocolate chips on it." She insisted, and Surprise saw red. Spitfire called over to Misty.

"Mist, you might want to be a little less specific with things because little bubbles are forming in the corner of Surprise's mouth." She leaned back in the chair and kept drinking.

"Fine, it's our turn anyway." She got up, took the marker from Surprise and started drawing. Spitfire just sat down next to Feather Duster and watched. The little dusty mare cleared her throat.

"Aren't you gonna draw something?" She asked the taller captain. Spitfire made a 'meh' sound and shook her head.

"We've got time… and I really wanna see what this is like from your view." She added, holding back a smirk at the prospect of Surprise and Misty getting into one of their classic arguments.

"Okay, um…" Surprise stammered as Misty started drawing a quadruped animal that looked a little bit like…

"A llama!" The white mare guessed. Misty shook her head. "An alpaca!" Another shake. "A camel?"

Misty Fly nodded, showing that Surprise was correct. But that wasn't the complete answer. Feather Duster's ears pricked up when Spitfire started chuckling beside her.

"What's funny?" She asked, and Spitfire whispered to her.

"You'll see."

Surprise kept on guessing, but only got more head shakes from her sketching buddy. "Humps? Hooves? Spit?"

Misty sighed and rolled her eyes, then she drew something else underneath the picture of the camel.

"A… a cow!" Surprise exclaimed, and Misty nodded. The custard pegasus then drew an arrow pointing to the cow's head. "Um… head? Horns? Ears?" She sighed and Misty pointed from the camel to the cow. "Farm!" She guessed, and Misty shook her head. "I don't know- lunch for a dragon?" Surprise rested her chin on the arm of the chair and allowed her ears to droop a little.

"How about now?" Feather Duster looked up at Spitfire, who was examining one of Surprise's magazines. Who knew that Surprise had a dozen issues of 'Gravity Defying Manes Monthly'.

"A little longer." Spitfire mumbled, looking up at Surprise and Misty Fly's struggle. She was drawing something else at the bottom of the page.

"Okay, I can't make it any more obvious than this." Misty was saying as she finished doodling what appeared to me some kind of fork.

"Neptune's trident thingy!" Surprise guessed. Misty shook her head, her expression flat. "Um… Camel the Cow Killer?" Surprise started pulling at her mane. Misty shook her head and groaned. Spitfire sighed and stood up at last.

"Okay, it's time." She drew an ice cream sundae with a fork and knife on either side of it.

"Ice cream… dinner… dessert!" Feathers guessed.

"You got it!" Spitfire confirmed, and Feather Duster flapped into the air and zipped around the room while Misty Fly cursed under her breath. The custard mare looked down at Spitfire.

"No, it's desert. See…" she pointed at the camel. "Camel- which you commonly associate with the desert." She then pointed at the cow. "A cow- the arrow pointing to its head refers to the overused idea that every desert is littered with cow skulls because of the movie trope." She then pointed at the 'fork'. "And this is a cactus for Celestia's sake! All of these things are related in some way to the desert, so how could you not guess it, Surprise?"

"It's dessert, Misty." Spitfire showed Misty Fly the Pictionary card. "See- there are two S's."

Misty stared long at hard at the card before looked awkwardly at the floor.

"Oh."

Surprise was done at that point.

"Well, that's enough of Pictionary, don't you guys agree? Let's do something more fun like…"

"Wrestling?" Feathers suggested excitedly. "Then I can overpower all three of you with my crippling strength!" The resulting silence she got was enough to say that none of the slumber pals thought that it was a remotely good idea. Feathers pouted at them. "You guys are boring."

"Tell ya what, how about I go get the sleeping bags ready since none of you brought your own?" Surprise suggested, secretly just eager to leave and possibly hit her head against something.

"Sleeping bags?" Spitfire echoed, ears perking up. "I thought we were using beds. You have four bedrooms!" She reminded Surprise. The white mare shrugged.

"I thought it would be more fun if we were all in here. Ya know… comfy cozy and peacefully dozing off together. Fun!" She punctuated the end of her explanation with a chirp. Spitfire looked down at the floor and groaned.

"There aren't enough pills in the world for this torture." She muttered to the carpet. Feather Duster bit her lip and flapped onto the coffee table.

"Surprise, I've never really understood what's so fun about sleeping in a bag." She confessed.

"And on the floor…" Misty Fly added, shuddering a little. Surprise looked a tad offended by that.

"Hey, I do clean my floor!" She folded her hooves. Misty Fly looked around at the room, which was a little messy… okay, in some places in the room it looked like a bunch of stuff had just been shoved there. Surprise must have finally run out of room in her mane.

"Just the floor?" Misty asked, tilting her head. "It does look a little… untidy in here." She fumbled for the right word. Surprise pouted and averted her gaze.

"I have a system." She insisted. "Okay, if you don't want to sleep in the sleeping bags then… I'll set Froot Loop on you!" Surprise whistled and her pet bat flapped out of her mane.

"Oh good grief, not that bat." Spitfire slid a hoof down her face. Misty Fly looked up at the hovering creature with confusion and Feather Duster snorted.

"Yeah Surprise, you do realize I'll just kill it." She pointed out. Surprise whistled again and Froot Loop made his squeaking noise before dive bombing down at the three slumber guests. The bat skimmed the top of Spitfire's mane, made Misty shriek as it flew at her face, and pursued a flying Feather Duster around the room for a few seconds. Feathers took cover under the coffee table as the bat continued flying.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Misty asked and she cowered on the couch and shoved a pillow over her head since she had a mild phobia of bats. "Get that thing away from us!" She buried her face in the couch. Surprise stood in the doorway to the kitchen, leaning against the wall with a smug smirk on her face.

"Only if you'll sleep in the bags." She sing-songed, absentmindedly examining a forehoof. Misty nodded frantically.

"Fine, we'll do it! Just make it stop!" She winced as Froot Loop fluttered in front of her face for a little while. She then completely submerged her head in the couch, doing the foalish thing of thinking that if you couldn't see the thing that scared you then it couldn't see you. Surprise shook her head and left the room.

"We're not giving in that easily!" Feather Duster declared, standing on Spitfire's back, though she was thrown off almost immediately. Spitfire had gone back to drinking her now lukewarm tea, and had seemed to have forgotten about the bat attack that was commencing in Surprise's living room.

Froot Loop was flying around the perimeter of the room. The bat erratically swooped around the room as a shocking swift speed before knocking the cushion of Misty's head. The custard mare took one look at the bat, gasped, and dove off the chair, running frantically around the room.

The bat chased her for a little while before changing tactics, turning left and hitting Spitfire in the side of the head. The captain snapped out of her tea induced trance and rounded on the bat, embers in her orange eyes.

"You picked the wrong day!" She yelled before lunging at it, almost crashing into Misty Fly, who was running around like a headless chicken with no clue what a sense of direction was supposed to be at this point. Froot Loop let out a squeak that sounded suspiciously like a giggle before he was snatched out of the air.

"I got it!" Feather Duster declared, a maniacal grin on her face. "Now should I stuff it or experiment on it." She put a hoof to her chin, thinking, and then threw her arms up in the air, too drunk on the idea of her diabolical acts that she didn't even notice the mistake she had just made. "Nah, I'll experiment on him first and then stuff him! Victory is mine! Praise me! Praise me!" She was suddenly on the floor with a throbbing in her left cheek. Once she had stopped seeing stars, she looked up to see Froot Loop blowing a raspberry at her with his tongue. He then shook his little batty booty at her before flying off again. Feathers rubbed her cheek and stood up. "What is that bat made of? Iron?" She spat.

Spitfire had ducked down next to the couch, trying to see where the heck the bat was, when Misty Fly poked her head over the edge of the couch to speak to her, blue eyes wide with terror.

"What should we do, Captain?" She asked, and her ears started to flop, signalling that a classic 'Misty Fly Mental Breakdown' was about to take place. The blue maned mare stood up and started hopping up and down on the couch, laughing nervously despite the sweat on her brow. "We need to make it land!" She decided, standing straight and cupping a hoof around her mouth, yelling at the bat, which was flying around the edge of the room while Feather Duster chased him with a baseball bat. "INITIATE LANDING SEQUENCE! INITIATE LANDING SEQUENCE!" She started shouting, and Spitfire looked up at her, confused.

"What the frick are you doing, Misty? It's a bat!" She growled. Misty Fly, having lost all sense in her moment of panic as she usually did when she was frightened, didn't listen to what she was saying.

"Don't worry Spitfire, I've been in situations a lot worse than this." She then started speaking madly, the deliria of her panic attack settling in. "Okay kitten, hide behind the couch while your knight in shining armor kills the bat of death- GYAH!" Misty fell face first off the chair and landed on the floor. Spitfire stood up and picked the custard mare up.

"Sit down hero," she placed the shuddering Misty Fly on the couch. "Feather Duster, KILL IT!" She'd had enough. Feathers roared down at her.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!"

Unfortunately while she was distracted with her 'conversation' with Spitfire, she forgot to turn and crashed into the wall above Misty Fly's couch. She had the cushion over her head again at this point and was muttering something shakily. Feather Duster's impact with the wall sent her tumbling down and bouncing off the chair, then onto the floor. She had also knocked the wall phone off the wall and it had landed next to Misty. The slim pegasus heard somepony speak from the other end.

"Surprise, what's all the racket? Are you alright?"

"NO! IT'S A BAT UPRISING! CALL THE POLICE!" Misty yelled back at the phone, before Froot Loop flew at her again, making her leap off the couch and run in circles a few times before running into the bathroom and slamming the door.

"GRRRRR…" Spitfire growled. "I've had enough of this madness. It isn't worth it. SURPRISE!" She yelled. A whistle was heard and Froot Loop stopped mid-loop, flapping around and swooping into the kitchen. A second later, Surprise peeked around the corner, smirking again.

"Yeeeeees? She asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Spitfire grunted and felt a migraine coming on.

"We'll sleep in the dumb bags." She said as quickly as she could. Surprise squeaked with glee and hopped round the corner.

"That's good, 'cause I already got 'em." She reached back into the kitchen and dragged four sleeping bags into the living room. After flinging a red one at Spitfire and a pink one at Feather Duster, she put a purple one aside for herself and set the other white one on the couch for Misty Fly.

"Surprise if you ever do that again I will cut you!" Spitfire threatened, nosing her sleeping bag a few meters away from the other ones, before deciding to just shove it on the armchair. "I will perform an autopsy on your still-conscious body."

"Are threats really appropriate right now?" Surprise asked, then she grinned, beginning to trot away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go potty."

"Potty?" Feather Duster asked, poking her head out from underneath her sleeping bag, which she had moved to the side of the coffee table, wanting to ensure that she was the closest to the door in case they needed to escape. "What are you, three?"

Surprise shrugged and raised a brow. "It's a potty. What do you call it?" She asked, noticing that the wall phone was on the sofa and returning it to its rightful place.

"A toilet." Feather Duster replied, wriggling out from the sleeping bag and poking it a few times for a reason that only she seemed to be able to understand. Surprise gasped and put a hoof to her chest.

"That seems a little foul mouthed for a slumber party!" She exclaimed. Feathers scoffed and stopped her poking.

"And 'potty' is okay?" She snickered. Surprise nodded rapidly.

"Yes! Potty is sweet. It's adorable!" She explained, hugging herself. Feather Duster settled down on her belly.

"And what do you do in the potty? Wee-wee?" She smirked. Surprise nodded and blushed a little.

"If I don't need to make a boom-boom…"

"I do not need to hear this!" Spitfire insisted, finally finishing her tea. It was cold by then but it still tasted good. What kind of tea tasted good cold? It was simply unreal!

"Now I'm gonna go to the potty," Surprise leaned forward as she said the last word and then hummed as she walked across the room to the bathroom. Spitfire sighed and looked down at her empty cup in a melancholy fashion. Maybe Surprise had some more of that stuff 'cause it was literally like drinking magic! Suddenly she realised something.

"Hey where's Misty Fly?"

And then-

"SON OF A MULE!" Surprise's voice rang out from the bathroom.

"I think that answers your question." Feather Duster grinned, awaiting the satisfaction of what was to come.

"Get out!" Surprise opened the door again and pushed Misty Fly out. The custard furred pegasus awkwardly looked over to her fellow slumber guests and smiled nervously. She trotted over and sat on the couch, checking out her sleeping bag and nodding with satisfaction. Feather Duster sniffed the air.

"Do you smell… chocolate?" She asked. Spitfire inhaled the air and felt a foalish thrill in her head at the scent of her favourite teat.

"I do…" She confirmed. Misty shook her fur out and the smell increased.

"It's chocolate perfume! Chocolate! I need to ask Surprise where she gets her cosmetics!" She gushed, sniffing one shoulder. The three then sat in slightly uncomfortable silence until the sound of a toilet flushing was heard and Surprise emerged, looking miffed.

"Enjoy your potty break?" Feathers teased, chuckling. Surprise said nothing but glared over at Misty Fly, and she didn't stop until she reached her spot next to the coffee table on the side opposite to Feather Duster. This was followed by even more silence… until Misty broke it.

"…sorry…" she muttered, hanging her head, though the sniffing sounds indicated that she was loving the chocolate scent. Spitfire looked from Surprise to Misty Fly and felt a sense of frustration rise in her chest. What these two needed was to make friends; granted she didn't care how they went about doing that as long as she didn't get involved, but it just had to be done.

"Hey what time is it?" Feathers looked up at the clock and her pupils dilated. "You're kidding me- we haven't even been here an hour?!"

"It feels like we've been here for a month," Spitfire lamented. "Is it too early to start drinking?"

"Captain, it's not even eight O'clock… of course not." Feathers replied, letting out a yawn. "Gosh, why do these sleeping bags have to be so comfy?"

"Ya know what you need, Spitz? More tea! I'll be right back!" Surprise sprung out the room and Spitfire seemed to perk up at the idea of more of that heavenly tea. A couple of seconds after Surprise left, Misty stood up as well, heading to the front door.

"I'll be right back, I just need a quick smoke." She prodded the pouch around her neck and left. That meant that it was just Spitfire and Feather Duster. In perfect unison the two grouchy mares heaved a sigh of agony and lay on their fronts.

"Cap?" Feathers asked.

"Yes?" Spitfire replied.

"Why are we here?"

"Beats me…" the golden Wonderbolt groaned, "I think that at some point in the last day or two my sleep deprivation may have made me lose some IQ points and I want to be around Surprise's insanity to seem normal by comparison…"

Feathers was quiet for a little while. "…that seems plausible."

"Meh." Spitfire sighed once again.

A couple more minutes of silence followed.

"Cap?"

"Yes?"

"Should we escape?"

"That sounds great."

The two mares got up and started flapping towards the door, trying to keep silent to avoid alerting Surprise to their getaway. And then as Feathers reached for the door knob-

"Hey did- ACK!" Misty gasped as she swung the door open, sending the tiny Feather Duster hurtling across the room and smacking face-first into the wall next to the kitchen doorway. Surprise emerged right then, not noticing the pony embedded in the wall.

"I got tea~!" She sang, skipping across the room with a cup balanced on her back, somehow managing to keep all of the contents inside it. Misty Fly was a little freaked out by that. Surprise noticed this and smirked. "What's the matter Mist? In awe of my awesome skills? This is nothing; check this out."

Surprise proceeded to tip the cup onto its side and roll it along her back, up her neck, through the back of her mane and out the front, where it rolled down her muzzle and was flipped up to stand on the end of her nose. But she wasn't done yet. She flipped the cup up in an arc over her head, sending the contents flying into the air; then she caught it on her rump and let the tea splash back down into it, not spilling one single drop.

Misty was silent, and her jaw hung open with shock. Spitfire was secretly impressed, but only really cared about getting to drink the stuff, not seeing it get tossed around. Then Feather Duster peeled off the wall at last, landing on her back and letting out an 'oof' noise. Surprise finally noticed her and smiled down at the poor heap of pony.

"Oh hey Feathers, I wondered where you went… I've never noticed that pony shape in my wall before, though. I kinda like it." The white mare then gave Spitfire her tea, and looked at Misty, who was still staring, unblinking, with her jaw dropped open. Surprise then placed a hoof under the custard mare's chin and closed her mouth for her, letting out a small chuckle at her state of bewilderment. "Now let's all sit down. It's getting dark and I'm feeling in the mood for horror stories!" She proclaimed. Feather Duster began dragging herself over to her sleeping bag, still a little dazed from face planting the wall, and just as Spitfire was about to move, Misty fly yelled:

"THAT'S NOT HOW PHYSICS WORKS!"

---

"So who knows any horror stories?" Surprise asked, and to her delight, Spitfire was the one to raise her hoof. "Go ahead Spitz."

"Okay," Spitfire cleared her throat. "Once upon a time there were four mares; one of them was a psychopath-"

"I like where this is going," Feathers muttered with a smirk.

"-and against the others' will the psychopath trapped all of them in her house. She then proceeded to torment them with trivial games and tasks, until…" Spitz trailed off. Surprise bounced up and down in her spot on the floor.

"What? What happens next?" She asked. Spitfire gave her a glare.

"I'm not sure, but either the psychopath tortures the rest until they form a suicide pact or the three sane ponies all team up and kill the psychopath. You get to decide which one happens!" Spitfire took another swig of tea, and found herself relaxing. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm so glad you met Pinkie. This stuff tastes like bliss."

"Wow, you really like it?" Surprise was a little confused at her captain's uncharacteristic cheer. Spitfire nodded.

"Yep. Give it all to me if ya like!" She said enthusiastically, and Misty fly scooted away from her on the couch. They were on separate chairs, but the slim mare was aware that the captain could be like a bomb. It could explode and send shrapnel flying all around it.

"So, does anypony have any real stories?" Surprise asked. When nopony spoke up, Surprise's expression grew appalled. "None of you? Seriously, what has this world come to that we can't even create our own stories? It's like the universe has lost is creativity. Surely there's some kind of… personal story enthusiast out there somewhere. Equestria, Griffinstone, maybe even another dimension. JUST GIVE ME A SIGN!" Surprise was suddenly hit in the side of the head with an M&M. "Hey, what was that?" The poofy maned mare asked. Feather Duster swallowed a mouthful of the candy before answering.

"It was a sign… that you should shut up and let us do something that's actually entertaining!" She snapped. Surprise humphed and took the bowl off the smaller mare.

"No more candy for you!" She hissed, then brightened up about half a second after. "So should we start talking about our problems?" She asked. Spitfire scoffed and shook her head.

"You're gonna have to give me a lot more of this tea before I agree to that," she declined, and went back to drinking.

"I can make that happen," Surprise said seriously, and for a second it looked like Spitfire was about to react, but she turned her attention away before anything could be said.

That lasted all but three seconds.

"Where is the tea?" Spitfire asked, snapping her head back up. Surprise pointed to the kitchen.

"Second cupboard on the left as you go in. The instructions are on the tin." She instructed, and Spitfire left without another word, still holding her tea in her mouth. Misty Fly spoke up.

"Well this slumber party was a nice idea Surprise; I forgot to say that," she said sweetly. Surprise gave her a single nod and pouted.

"Well nopony seems to be having any fun…" she sighed. Misty bit her lip and fumbled to find an explanation.

"Um… Surprise, I know you put a lot of effort into... purchasing rainbow coloured candy. But did you ever consider that maybe we're all just a bit too… mature for this?" She asked. Misty then felt a tap on the top of her head and she looked up, finding herself looking into Feather Duster's brown eyes. The tiny mare leaned down and pressed her nose to the larger mare's.

"Boop," she smirked. Misty then sprung up from her chair and leapt at Feathers, who began flapping around the room, laughing her head off and obviously enjoying Misty's cries of 'I'm gonna get you for that!' as she gave chase, trying to snag hold of Feather Duster's tail.

Surprise watched them zoom around the room a few times while silently chewing on the M&M's. She had no idea who invented that candy but she wanted to find them and hug them. Suddenly, she got an idea of how to liven up Misty and Feathers' chase so she quietly whistled and felt something emerge from her mane. Froot Loop perched on her nose and squeaked a couple of times. His owner then told him what to do, and with an affirmative nod the bat launched himself off Surprise's nose and flew around the room in the opposite direction of Feathers and Misty.

"Whoa!" Feathers halted mid-flap as she saw the bat hovering in front of her face. Froot Loop then poked his tongue out at her and flew vertically into the air, just in time for Misty Fly to crash into Feathers and send them both falling ungracefully to the floor.

Feather Duster's eyes spun round and round in her skull a few times, and she made a slurring noise, feeling a little nauseous at the sight of the ceiling being on the floor… or was the floor on the ceiling? Suddenly she was aware of a pair of yellow eyes staring at her and she tried to regain her vision. When she finally did stop seeing swirling stuff she took note of the position she was in. She seemed to be underneath Misty Fly, whose tail was lying next to her face, though her vision was taken up mostly by the tiny bat. Froot Loop squeaked at her almost tauntingly and took off towards Surprise.

"THAT'S IT!" Feathers crawled out from underneath Misty Fly (who may or may not be unconscious) and rocketed after the bat. Froot Loop squealed in terror and picked up speed, zooming into Surprise's mane. Feather Duster refused to stop and dove right in, and only a rustling sound was heard before… nothing. Feathers had vanished.

Spitfire came back into the room, a huge flask of tea on her back, and another cup in her mouth, and she was actually humming. Seriously, what was in that tea? She looked around at the room. Misty Fly was on the floor with her eyes swirling around, Surprise was looking curiously upwards, and Feather Duster was nowhere to be seen. Meh, maybe she managed to get away. Lucky thing.

"So, what's up with Misty?" She asked as she set her flask down on the coffee table and got up on the armchair, deciding that she could make this night tolerable as long as she had that tea. Pinkie had sent Surprise a whole cupboard full of the stuff so she didn't have to worry about running out anytime soon.

"Do you want the long explanation or the short one?" Surprise asked, still staring upwards.

"The short one."

"Feathers- boop- chase- bat- splat."

"I'm going to pretend I understood that." Spitfire decided that she didn't give a damn anyway. Surprise trotted over to Misty Fly and looked down at her. She was conscious, but was staring straight up.

"Get up then," Surprise chirped innocently. Misty Fly gulped and shakily sat up, looking a little sick. Surprise eyed her curiously and decided to ask what was on her mind. "Why are you so shaken up? It was just a little fall."

Misty Fly cleared her throat and looked down at the ground. "I'm scared… petrified even, of crashing and falling mid-flight." She confessed. Surprise kind of knew that she was scared of something to do with flying, but she had no idea that it was this serious.

"Really?" Surprise wanted to know more now. She had started this slumber party to help ponies with their problems, and this kind of counted, right? Misty looked at her with wide baby blue eyes, but didn't question Surprise's motives.

"Yeah, it's a little embarrassing…" she muttered. Surprise scooted a little closer, making puppy dog eyes at Misty.

"Pwease tell me mowe?" She stuck out her bottom lip and batted her eyelashes. Misty was a little freaked out, but bit back any retort she had.

"Um… it's a boring story. You wouldn't wanna hear it." She insisted, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere. But Surprise wouldn't budge.

"I've heard stuff that's much more boring. Have you heard Spitfire when she talks about… well I don't know what she talks about because I kind of just watch her jaw move up and down, but it sure is boring. She's the Mayor of 'Boringville.'" To her delight, this got a giggle from Misty Fly, and it only got funnier when Spitfire didn't react at all, still drinking the Rooftastic Tea.

"You really wanna hear?" Misty asked, raising one eyebrow. Surprise nodded her head. Misty sighed. "You aren't gonna let me go until I tell you this, are you?" Surprise shook her head. Misty rolled her eyes and smiled at Surprise's behaviour. "Fine."

"Yay! Story time! I knew I'd get a story from somepony tonight!" Surprise sat up straight and stared at Misty in a slightly creepy fashion. Misty Fly scooted back a space just to distance herself from those purple pools of terror and began her story.

"Well, when I was a little filly I was literally obsessed with the Wonderbolts. I had posters, autographs, I wanted to go to all of their shows, even when I couldn't afford it (I still got into them, but I'll get to that in a minute) I had a plushie of Captain Nighthawk at one point. Those things sold like hot cakes! Seriously, the pony who sold hot cakes was jealous." That got a laugh from Surprise, whom prior to this hadn't had a clue that Misty Fly even knew what a sense of humour was.

"Keep going, Mist." Surprise invited, and Misty obeyed.

"Okay… where was I?"

"Hot cakes and Nighthawk plushies."

"Ah, thanks. Well, I also had this friend who loved them too. She was a little bit of a rebel, and she's the one who managed to sneak us into all the air shows. We pretended we were a famous flying duo and did a bunch of other foalish stuff that I kinda can't believe I did." She chuckled, though she frowned a little while afterwards. "I did feel bad for her when she didn't make it into the Academy but I did."

"That sucks…" Surprise knew how it felt to want to be in the Wonderbolts Academy so badly that it felt like you would give anything for it, so she felt the pain of Misty's friend. Misty Fly continued.

"Yeah… well she sometimes came to visit me. And my that I mean she busted into the Academy through my dorm window and dragged me out-"

"Wait what? When was this?" Surprise asked. She didn't get involved with the cadets back when Misty was in the Academy so she was unaware of any breaking and entering friends.

"Um… it's in the past so let's just keep it there." Misty Fly gulped, trying to look innocent. "Anyway, one time when we snuck out, we got into a little trouble at the Weather Factory and my friend suggested using this trick we'd been working on to get out of there quickly. It… didn't work so well. We crashed, and we fell and… Surprise it was horrible!" Misty's voice caught in her throat. "I was so terrified. We were up so high and it hurt so badly and I busted up both of my right legs and- I need a paper bag!"

Surprise pulled just the thing out of her mane and gave it to Misty Fly, who began breathing into it. Surprise awkwardly patted her shoulder, feeling a little unnerved about how much this freaked her out. She must have been really high in the sky. Spitfire looked over her shoulder at the scene playing out behind her and raised an eyebrow.

"What did I miss?" She asked, sipping some more tea. Surprise shook her head at her.

"Just some issues I'm helping Misty Fly with. Everything's under control." She saluted with one wing. Spitfire looked a little unconvinced.

"It looks like everything's spun out of control if you ask me," she mused, and Misty let out a gasp, breathing slower but harder into the bag. Surprise hissed out the corner of her mouth.

"Bad choice of words, Spitz!"

"Whoops…" Spitfire's eyes darted from side to side before she turned back around, deciding that if she didn't know what was happening then there was really nothing she could do to help out. Misty finally calmed down and put the bag down on the floor beside her. She looked apologetically up at Surprise.

"Sorry for being such a nuisance about all this," she looked a bit embarrassed to have had a panic attack in her less-than-friend's house. Surprise just shrugged it off, deciding to cut Misty Fly some slack since this was clearly a shaky topic for her.

"It's okay. You can't help it Mist, so it's not a big deal. I mean it is a big deal that you feel like this, but I just mean that you can freak out as much as you want in my house. I mean I freak out in my house all the time, so I don't see why none of you can, too." She got an idea and flapped into the air, touching down swiftly on the coffee table, sending some magazines fluttering off the table and making Spitfire jump since the table was right in front of her. "HEY! I just got an idea! Let's call my house 'The Cocoon'."

"Why 'The Cocoon'?" Spitfire asked, legitimately curious. Usually she would have just told Surprise that she was stupid and gone back to whatever was taking her attention before, but she actually felt like listening for a change… she must really be tired.

"Because a 'cocoon' means a safe haven where little traumatised baby caterpillars can bloom into healthy, sane butterflies." Surprise explained. Spitfire kept a blank expression on her face.

"Considering you've lived in 'The Cocoon' for about five years now, I highly doubt that this will do anything positive to our mental health." She deadpanned. Misty Fly spoke up as she walked around Spitfire's armchair to sit on the left couch cushion.

"Keep talking Surprise… you're in The Cocoon, so you can say whatever you like." Misty actually went along with this. Spitfire was torn between one half of her that thought that the custard mare was bonkers, and the other half that was relieved to see her siding with Surprise. The white mare gave Misty a grateful look.

"That's right, Misty Fly. Because anything goes in The Cocoon; it's an anxiety-free zone. Our Cocoon of Fun… I've said the word 'cocoon' too much now. It's stopped sounding a word. Cocoon… see, it sounds like gobbledegook- which also doesn't sound like a word anyway-"

"Get to the point." Spitfire sighed, tipping her head back in agony.

"Okay!" Surprise snapped, a little miffed, "But as I was saying; there's nothing we can't say, think or do inside The Cocoon."

"That's good, 'cause I'm thinking a lot of things right now, Surprise." Spitfire's head was still tilted upwards. Surprise shook her head at the captain's bitterness, but decided to focus on the positives. She now knew about Misty Fly's problem… but now that she thought about it this just started a whole new set of problems. Surprise had been mad at Misty Fly for the longest time for that little incident, but now she felt sorry for her. And knowing that she was scared of falling mid-flight revealed why she had been in a panic before that air show; both of them had suffered back then, but neither of them had realised that the other one was in a pickle, too. Surprise was still mad; she would likely never get over this, but at the same time she wanted to help Misty Fly- that's what this whole slumber party was about anyway. Who knew? Maybe they could even help each other get along? Surprise hoped they'd find away, because she did want to be friends with all of her colleagues. But it was just so hard to look at Misty and not feel a pang in her heart. Why did things always have to be so complicated?

"Surprise?" Misty Fly broke her from her thoughts. Surprise blinked a couple of times and looked at the blue maned mare. "Are you alright there? You looked like you were miles away."

The white mare flushed with embarrassment at having drifted into daydream land right there in the middle of her living room, but she shook it off and tried to play it cool. "Yep-a-rooni, everything's fine." She insisted. Misty Fly nodded and then looked over at Spitfire.

"So Captain, what's-"

"FREEDOM!" Feather Duster suddenly lurched out of Surprise's mane and flopped forward onto the floor. Spitfire was so scared by Feather Duster's freaky reveal that she started choking on her tea, Misty Fly clutched her chest in terror, and Surprise screamed with shock. Feathers looked utterly freaked out, laying on her front on the floor, her fur ruffled and her mane sticking out all over the place. It looked like she had gone through hell.

"Oh my gosh, Feather Duster, what happened?" Misty helped the janitor to her hooves. The small mare's eyes were wide and she was shaking.

"It was yellow… so yellow! I could hardly breathe and everywhere I turned there was hair… and a bunch of random stuff… and more hair… there was even one terrifying moment where I was sure I was dead. It was like a whole new dimension… but I'm back and I am never returning to that awful place. It was a nightmare, Mist!" Feathers grabbed Misty Fly's cheeks and smooshed them together, shaking the taller pony as she yelled about her adventure in the unknown.

"Surprise, maybe now's the time to explain to Feathers that this is an anxiety-free zone?" Misty asked Surprise as Feathers started wringing her tail in her hooves, jittering and muttering something under her breath that sounded a lot like 'I am in my happy place.'

Surprise clicked her tongue and nodded slowly, looking a little awkward about this herself.

"Yes, that's probably a smart idea."

---

"It's nine O'clock," Feathers reported as she came out of the bathroom. "so what's next? That suicide pact thing sounds fair."

"Oh hush," Surprise shushed her small companion. "once Spitz gets back from the kitchen we're gonna do pillow fights!"

"Pillow fights… meh, that's cool. But I'm going for you first," Feathers replied, smirking evilly.

"I'm worried about Spitfire…" Misty said suddenly, looking towards the kitchen, where the captain was getting more tea. Feathers scoffed and sat on her sleeping bag.

"We're all worried about the captain Mist." She snorted. Misty gave her a look that said 'shut up'.

"I mean that she's getting totally addicted to that tea… and she obviously has some unspoken issues that need to be cleaned up. Surprise should have her work cut out there."

"Oh," Feather Duster blinked. "I thought by 'worried' you meant something like 'I'm worried that Spitfire will someday roundhouse a pony's head off because they didn't produce enough sweat during drills to wash a barn.'"

"Get serious," Misty rolled her eyes. Surprise stood up for her bestie.

"Yeah, Spitz isn't that bad." She defended the captain. Feathers raised a brow.

"Are we talking about the same pegasus? She's cranky as a mule with a broom shoved up-"

"Hey!" Surprise cut her off. "She's only cranky because she's under a lot of stress. I'd like to see you handle her work for one day!"

"I could do her job!" Feathers insisted, standing up. "I'd make the Academy my evil lair and I'd make all the cadets my slaves and you Wonderbolts would be my entertainments. Okay, I'd make special use of you two, and Fire Streak. You two could take turns carrying me and Fire Streak would be like, my bodyguard or something."

"Thank… you…?" Misty was baffled. Surprise rolled her eyes.

"Feather Duster, do you have any idea how hard Spitfire's job is? She has to sign a bunch of boring paperwork (and she even reads the fine print!), she has to train the cadets, she needs to make sure she exercises regularly, she needs to arrange all our schedules, make sure we all get our correct payment, she needs to keep us all in order and ensure that we all show up for our own training sessions. She needs to book our airshows and then sometimes she even rechecks to see if they stay booked. She gets a bunch of fan mail that she actually reads, and she has to handle all of the rabid fans and stay away from any stupid tabloid ponies. And even then she has to deal with foalhood trauma- I don't know how she does it."

"Whoa…" Feather Duster's pupils had shrunk. "I'd get a migraine from all of that work. Ya know, I think I'll let her do all of that shtick and I'll rebuild my sonic death ray."

"You built a sonic death ray?" Surprise asked. Feathers pouted.

"Yeah… it didn't even slow down the cops, though."

"Wait," Misty waved a hoof to get Surprise's attention. Surprise looked over at the blue eyed mare and invited her to speak. "Did you say 'foalhood trauma'?"

Surprise heard some kind of alarm going off in her head, and as soon as she had reached into her mane and switched off the alarm clock she looked away, putting on a poker face.

"Nooooo…" she lied. Misty looked concerned.

"Surprise, did something happen to her?"

"No!" Surprise insisted, sitting up straight on the floor. Misty looked Surprise right in the eye.

"You're telling lies." She said the obvious. Surprise shook her head roughly.

"No I'm not. This is just the face I make when… I have a cold." She fibbed once again. Misty Fly folded her arms and scowled.

"Yep, you sure have some kind of sickness. Its symptoms include a growing nose and a burning sensation in your fur. It's called 'Liar-Liar-Fur-On-Fire-Itis."

"I'm not lying, Mist!" Surprise stood up.

"Surprise, you said so yourself that this whole thing is about helping each other with our problems, so shouldn't we know about this?" Misty shot back, sliding off the couch. Surprise narrowed her eyes.

"Well what if Spitfire doesn't want anyone to know?"

"Then what's the point of this slumber party?"

"I… I do want to help Spitfire with her problem. In fact, that's the reason I started all of this. I knew that she wouldn't come here by herself so I picked out the one pony possibly more screwed up than her to come, too!" She pointed at Feather Duster, who looked insulted. "And then she made me invite you so I'd 'suffer' as well!"

"I am not screwed up!" Feathers insisted.

"Three words," Surprise shot a glare her way. "Sonic. Death. Ray."

"Hang on, this whole thing was just a set up so you'd force Spitfire to come to terms with things she's not comfortable with?" Misty snapped at Surprise, whose fur was standing on end with irritation.

"That's what you were doing just a few seconds ago!" Surprise accused her, and Misty Fly shook her head.

"No, I was genuinely concerned for her because I thought this was all some retarded therapist appointment. I came here because I thought that you could actually help me out; that we could put aside whatever this whole rivalry is about. But knowing that you know about what's wrong with the Captain, knew she doesn't want anyone to know, planned a slumber party where she'd have to talk about it in front of everyone, and pretty much demanded that me and Feather Duster be a part of it, I see that you need to get your head examined. You can't just expect someone to step outside their comfort zone just because there's another mentally unfit pony here!"

"I'm sitting right here!" Feathers raised her voice.

"Ponies! Plural, Misty Fly! You have mental issues too and you know it! Little Miss Panic Attack and Breathe Into a Bag!"

"That is a health condition!" Misty argued.

"No, it's from a traumatic event that you told me about!" Surprise felt her blood boil as she stared down the custard mare.

"And now you're pitting it against me to make me feel bad about myself."

"That was not my intention!"

"It may as well have been!"

"How is this my fault? You're the one who was bringing up Spitfire's problem?"

"You could have said something like 'It's too personal for me to tell you'."

"I basically did do that but that wasn't good enough for you!"

"No, you lied and said that there wasn't a problem!"

"There's not!"

"You're doing it again!"

"Oh for the love of Celestia, JUST KISS ALREADY!" Feather Duster suddenly shouted out sarcastically, silencing the room at last. Surprise and Misty just stared at Feathers, the anger in their eyes meant for each other and not the smaller mare, but Feathers shrunk down anyway.

"I can't believe," Misty looked over at Surprise again, "that not too long ago I was telling you about a very personal issue. I actually thought that there was a chance for us to connect with something."

"Well whose fault is it that we're in this position?" Surprise said it calmly, but there was even more venom in her tone somehow when her tone was like this. It stung Misty right in the heart and made her want to be swallowed up by the ground. Suddenly there was a buzzing noise, the lights flickered, and suddenly the whole house went dark. There were for consecutive cries of 'what the hay?!' from around the house before Surprise groaned. Feathers squinted in the dark but she could not see what was going on.

"Great, now the power's out. Nice going, Misty Fly." Surprise's voice came from the left side of the small janitor.

THAT'S IT!" Feathers heard some hoofsteps a few meters in front of her followed by a grunt and the sound of something smashing a way off.

"Did I get you?" Misty asked in the dark. "Are you dead?"

"No." Came Surprise's reply.

"Darn it." Misty sighed. "Please don't hurt me if whatever I threw was expensive."

"Hey," Spitfire came back through the door from the kitchen, "I looked outside and the whole street is out of power. Just great…" came the satirical groan.

"Well I can't see Surprise's blubber-butt anymore so I call it an improvement." Misty humped to Spitfire's left.

"Hey, my flank is amazing!" Surprise whined, clearly offended.

"Guys, whatever you do, do not stop bickering," Spitfire told them all, "I'm going to follow the sound of your incessant whinging and-" there was a crunching sound. "Huh… what's this all over the floor? Broken glass? Did you guys break something?" Her voice went shrill. "I was gone for… not long, so what were you guys up to?"

"You were in the next room, how could you not hear the yelling?" Feathers spoke up from by the door. Spitfire couldn't imagine why.

"I'm not really in touch with things today… my head's a little blurry and I'm angry; mix those two up and I just don't care about anything that's going on around me." Spitfire explained. "But I made more tea so I'll just be content with what I've got. I'll have to ration this out now that the power's out."

"How many cups of that stuff have you had?" Misty asked and Spitfire began following her voice.

"Um… I don't know. Eight?" She didn't care.

"Cap, can you light up the room or something with your weird fire trick?" Feathers asked. There was a long pause followed by a lengthy exhale and the sound of flesh hitting flesh that suggested that a facehoof had occured.

"Feather Duster," Spitfire began, calmly. "Why would I perform a dangerous stunt inside somepony's house that while not only being physically impossible would send said pony's house up in flames if it was?"

"So we can see our hooves in front of our faces." Feather Duster replied casually.

"I don't know why I try with you ponies." Spitfire sighed and kept walking. There was an 'oof' as she collided with the coffee table but she just hoped that nopony had taken notice and took her spot on the armchair again.

"Now what?" Misty asked, and Feather Duster could hear the distinct sound of somepony clambering onto a chair. She decided to speak up.

"How about truth or dare?" She suggested.

"Good idea!" Surprise yelled and stood up, which was exactly what Feather Duster had hoped would happen.

"What did you do that for?!" Spitfire yelled from Feather's left. Feather Duster shrugged, despite the fact that Spitfire could not see it.

"You're a tea addict!" Feathers just yelled. She half expected Spitfire to get up and strangle her, but nothing happened.

"Right, truth or dare. Let's go!" Surprise sounded super angry. Feathers called out into the darkness.

"I dare Surprise to get out the booze."

"It's not your turn," Surprise told her, "that's not how this works."

"Yes, that is how it works!" Feathers was pretty sure that truth or dare started with one pony giving another pony a truth or a dare, and that is precisely what she'd done! What was Surprise's problem?

"No it's not. It's not your turn!" Surprise said again. Feathers scoffed, sticking her nose up in the air.

"Well then I dare Surprise to make out with Misty Fly."

"IT'S NOT YOUR TURN!" Surprise stomped her hooves on the ground.

"Well then those turn is it?" Misty asked, sounding frustrated.

"I don't know," Surprise answered, "the game hasn't started yet!"

"It's my turn." Feather Duster insisted, and there was nothing but silence for about ten seconds.

"…no it isn't." Surprise said blankly.

"Yes it is."

"Tell ya what. It's my turn!" Spitfire barked from the direction of the armchair.

"Why?" Feather Duster looked in her direction, and her eyes had adjusted to the light well enough to see an outline of the golden captain.

"Because I'm the captain and I get the final say in how things work. So guess what; Feather Duster, truth or dare?"

"Truth." Feathers sat up.

"Hey Misty Fly, truth or dare?" Spitfire moved onto the next pony, kinda disappointing Feather Duster.

"Um… dare?"

"I dare all four of us to shut up and go to sleep." The captain settled, stamping a hoof on the arm of her chair to punctuate her order.

"Can you do that?" Surprise asked, and Spitfire made a 'meh' noise.

"I hope so." She sighed.

"But we haven't done any psychological stuff yet." Surprise whined. Spitfire groaned and unzipped her sleeping back, deciding not to even bother zipping it back up when she got back in, and resting her back hooves on the coffee table since there wasn't much room for her entire body on the armchair alone.

"Honestly, none of us are really in the mood for it Surprise. I think that by this stage all of us want to brutally kill you, chop you into little pieces, and hide you in the walls, so go to bed and we might not smother you in your sleep."

"Okay." Surprise gave in, terrified by the death threat. Welp, one of them would not sleep easily tonight.

---

"Okay, here's how this is gonna go," Spitfire told the others once she was certain that her two fellow prisoners (and Surprise) were in the sleeping bags. "we're all going to zip it, lie down, go to sleep, and in the morning this will all seem like a bad dream. We don't need to say a word to each other, we don't have to care about what anypony's feeling; we're just going to have an agonizingly long sleep."

"Sieg heil, sleep Nazi," Feather Duster piped up on the floor to Spitfire's left. "Vhen do we put Surprise in der concentration camp?"

"Shut up." Spitfire said gruffly. Feathers sat up and looked over in Surprise's direction, now being able to see her a little clearer.

"Vhat is dis?" She smirked, "Un psychopath is sleeping in mein kamf radius. Unacceptable." She then raised a hoof in a Nazi fashion and spoke to Spitfire. "Mein Furher! Furher! Excuse me, Furher!"

"Go. To. Sleep. Feather Duster." Spitfire rubbed her temples and reached out to the side for her flask of tea and taking a swig. Maybe she shouldn't drink it before bed… meh.

"But der ist un psycho! And you are in charge of de sleeping!" Feathers pouted. The silence that followed was practically a deadpan look in itself. Feathers snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag, mumbling. "You could have at least tried to play along."

"GOODNIGHT!" Spitfire yelled, making Misty Fly jolt with shock and she stuffed her face as far as she could into the corner of the armchair.

And then it was quiet…

For about thirty-two seconds.

Spitfire felt something brush her ear and on instinct, it twitched to swat whatever it was away. She figured that her ear must have brushed against the chair or something.

But she felt it again, and once again her ear flopped down and then back up again. It was always pretty irritating and uncomfortable when a pony's ear did this. After the third brush of her ear she let out an annoyed grunt and tried to slap whatever the cause of this was away, though her hoof made contact with nothing. There must have been a draft somewhere.

But-

"STOP THIS MADNESS!" Spitfire shot up after her ear was brushed again, finding herself looking right into Feather Duster's grinning face.

"You're silly when you're mad," Feather Duster leaned back and fell off the chair to avoid an infuriated swipe of Spitfire's hoof.

"Feather Duster, what will it take for you to go to sleep?" Spitfire felt her sanity slipping further away than it already was. She was hearing voices in her head that were telling her to grab a carving knife and have Feather Duster for dinner tomorrow, but she decided to just call that Plan B.

"I didn't get my turn in truth or dare," she hopped back on the arm of the chair and smirked at the sleeping captain. Spitfire briefly buried her face in the couch cushion again and swore a couple of times while her voice was muffled. She finally lifted her face up and glared at the tiny pegasus mare.

"Fine. You can have your turn, but I expect you to clean the whole gymnasium tomorrow… with your toothbrush." She added that last part for extra measure. Feather Duster just shrugged.

"Meh, I don't use toothbrushes; I use an aqua-pick because I have pretty sensitive gums-"

"I don't care," Spitfire cut her off. "Just take your turn so we can go to sleep… I'm smothering you as well by the way…"

0000000000000000000

Fifteen Minutes Later

0000000000000000000

"'I dare you to fill your living room with clouds, Surprise'!" Spitfire mimicked Feather Duster's high voice as she popped her head out from the huge mass of clouds that was currently crushing her against the wall beside the stairwell. "You didn't think she could do it, did you? BUT SHE COULD!"

"Well…" Feather poked her snout out of the vase she had hidden in (Luna knows how she fit in there) "you have to admit that it was pretty funny until the clouds got in here."

"UGH!" Spitfire groaned as her face got smushed against the wall thanks to Misty Fly flailing around somewhere in the huge mass of white. "If I wasn't getting crushed by these- (the next word was muffled by Spitfire getting briefly engulfed by the fluffy stuff) – clouds, I would smack you so hard your brain would fly out the other side of your head!"

Surprise then emerged from the far end of the room, where the clouds were smooshing her into the top corner of the room near the kitchen. "Misty, I blame you for this!" She announced, and winced as a large hunk of cloud was suddenly thrown at her.

"What did I do?!" Misty thrust herself out from the clouds, almost flying into the ceiling, though she stopped herself barely a hairsbreadth away from it. "I was the only one of us who didn't initiate any of this!"

"It's a reflex," Surprise pushed some of the clouds away from her face, though some remained around her mouth and chin making it look like she had a fuzzy white beard, "if something goes wrong blame Misty Fly!"

"Captain!" Misty called out as she got swallowed up by the clouds for a few seconds before resurfacing, a scowl upon her face. "Smack her, too!"

"Gladly!" The golden mare pressed her back against the wall and tried pushing the clouds away with her back legs. "But don't you think we should get rid of these frickin' clouds before the neighbours complain about the noise!"

"Excellent notion!" Feathers poked her snout out of her enclosed sanctuary. "Just wait for me to get out of this vase."

"How in Celestia's name can you fit comfortably inside that thing?" Misty asked, pawing at the clouds in frustration, barely paying attention to what she was saying at all. Nopony could see it, but they were sure that Feather Duster was wearing a deadpan expression when she answered that question.

"My knees are in my armpits; does that sound comfortable to you?"

"Shut up so I can think of a plan!" Spitfire silenced the other and gripped her head, though she was becoming more aware of a foggy, numbing sensation in her brain rather than the clouds.

"Captain!" Spitfire was suddenly picked up off the floor. What the- how did she get down there? "Captain, what's wrong with you?"

"Wha- nothing… what's happening?" The world was all swirly. Oh gosh, of all the times to finally snap, why now?

"You just passed out right after you said that you were thinking of a plan… you must have been thinking pretty hard." It sounded like the speaker was Misty Fly.

"This is no time… for jokes," she tried to grasp reality, but hopelessly failed.

"Captain, are you feeling okay?" Misty(?) asked. Spitfire nodded.

"Of course I'm fine- I love you guys," she slurred towards the end of her sentence. The pony holding her up made an awkward, concerned noise, and twisted her head.

"Surprise, what's going on with Spitfire?!"

"Um…" Surprise looked a little nervous. "Hold on a second, please?" Surprise then dove down into the clouds, leaving Misty Fly alone with a woozy captain and a stuck janitor.

"I think I can feel my elbows again!" Feather Duster called from her spot in the vase.

"Aha!" Surprise popped up right next to Misty Fly, living up to her name by surprising the blue manned Wonderbolt.

"Turn down the volume nodules private, this is quiet time!" Spitfire flopped backwards and leaned against Misty, giggling.

"Surprise, I'm scared!" Misty looked cautiously down at the laughing captain, having never heard Spitfire laugh unless she was being sarcastic about something.

"Well…" Surprise held up a tin of something. "I think I know why Spitfire's acting like a deer that's been tranquilised." She read the contents off the tin to Misty Fly, and when she got towards the end of the list, Misty Fly finally began to catch onto what the problem was.

"…and it also has essence of despair, and… delusia bee blood." She gulped. Misty smacked herself in the forehead.

"Why in the name of Celestia herself would your friend Pinkie Pie make tea with something called 'essence of despair'?" She asked in disbelief. Surprise made a surrendering sign with her arms.

"I asked her that, too- yes, I do read the contents like you should- and she said that she thought it was a kind of baking soda!"

"And the bee blood?"

"SHE LIKES BEES!" Surprise stood up for her friend stubbornly. Misty nodded down at the limp captain, who was rather adorably but lazily batting at the hanging part of Misty's mane whilst being half submerged in the clouds, which had stopped shifting around due to none of the ponies fidgeting.

"Surprise, you nitwit, this is serious! This stuff is making her go wackadoo!" She felt Spitfire tugging at her mane and winced. "Stop that!" She tried not to raise her voice.

"Well what do you expect me to do about it? Pinkie said that the tea might have some side effects on ponies who don't understand our clockwork, but she never said anything about this…" she remembered learning something about those ingredients. "Um, isn't essence of despair supposed to make you go limp?"

"I don't know! What do I look like, the Retarded Essence Police?" She asked sarcastically. Surprise ignored that comment, though she was sure that if anypony else had said that she would be rolling on the floor laughing. Damn Misty and her annoying effect on her.

"And delusia-bees are exactly what they sound like. Their blood is used in hospitals to make patients' lose their grip on reality so they won't care or feel anything if they go under the knife."

"How do you know all of this stuff?!" Misty asked Surprise, slightly irritated that the excitable pegasus knew things that she didn't.

"I have a life outside of the Wonderbolts ya know!" Surprise made up an excuse.

"That's a terrible explanation," Misty shook her head, "how do you know this stuff? Answer me honestly!"

"Fine!" Surprise bit her lip, "I watch medical dramas and documentaries. I know a lot of things about medicine! I even went through a secret medical schooling thingy two years ago! Okay I've said it, now let's get rid of these clouds!"

"Wait… what's wrong with watching medical stuff?" Mist was confused. It seemed like an awesome talent to have.

"Um… it's kinda related to something traumatic with Spitz; but that's not important. I'll explain my medical knowledge to you later, but we've gotta get these clouds out of my house… I would really appreciate that!"

"Hey do ya think that you can glue me back together with your medial know-how once I'm out of this Luna damned vase?" Feathers asked. The little mare had somehow shifted inside her makeshift sanctuary so that her left ear was poking out the top of the vase instead of her muzzle. It made her voice a little muffled, but to some ponies that would be considered a very good thing.

"What should I do with Spitfire?" Misty hoisted the captain up higher so that she was being propped up on her shoulder. Surprise shrugged.

"Put her on that table next to Feather-Vase. The clouds won't reach them so long as we don't shift them that way." Surprise explained, a little afraid that she would have to lead the process of getting the clouds out of here instead of Spitfire.

"Okay," Misty Fly did as she was told. "now… do you have a plan?"

"No. Do you?"

"No."

"Great…" Surprise looked around the house. She and Misty were almost reaching the ceiling from their spot in the clouds, and honestly it was a pretty uncomfortable situation. Surprise had a fear of getting her head crushed after all… wait, these were clouds; that wasn't possible. The most she could do was suffocate- oh crud.

She looked over at Misty Fly and tried to think. "Um… hey Misty, do you have any cloud busting tricks that could help us out of this pickle?" She asked, taking a shot in the dark with this.

"I…" Misty rolled her eyes and cast a glance down at the clouds below. "Yes, my wingpony and I used to cheat in cloud busting by using a trick me and that friend of mine invented." She admitted with a sigh. Surprise lunged forward, eyes wide and pressed her nose against Misty's, freaking her out a little.

"I might not punish you for that if you use it to clear the house. So go!" Surprise back up and clapped her hooves together before nodding down at the clouds. As irritated as Misty was to be treated like this, she obliged, diving into the clouds and swimming through them towards the door. She emerged into the dark of the night and looked at the damage.

Through the living room window there was only whiteness. Gosh, how had Surprise managed to pull this off? Well, she was an unpredictable pony; anypony who was anypony knew that, usually just by hearing her name. The custard mare pinpointed the right spot for her trick to take place and then thought over how this would work out.

The High Velocity Vortex was a trick that Misty hadn't used since her Academy years, and even then it had only been a few times because she had been afraid of getting caught. Unlike her special trick, which was her ability to skim over water and then use it to create a trail of mist behind her as she flew (The Foggy Flyby), this was a trick she preferred to keep classified unless it was with trusted ponies; she would hate for someone else to take credit for it after all. But it looked like the Vortex was the most logical way of getting the clouds out of Surprise's house. Of course, she would have to make a pretty small one so the walls, or the rest of the house, didn't get sucked apart, too.

But there was one downside to this…

"Surprise, can you come outside?" Misty called as quietly as she could so she wouldn't disturb any sleeping ponies… oh what she wouldn't do for some sleep right about now. A few seconds later, Surprise emerged from the house, Feather Duster in tow.

"I'm out! Thank Celestia that Spitfire's a kicker when she's drunk." The small mare rubbed her right flank, which had a small bruise on it, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Spitfire had smashed the vase on the floor.

"She isn't drunk," Misty Fly felt compelled to correct her. Feathers shrugged.

"Well, she's woozy, talking nonsense, giggling like a crazy pony, and making weird sounds. Call it what you want, but in my opinion she's as tipsy as a Weeble™."

"This is no time to reference well-loved 70's toys, Feather Duster. I need Surprise right now." She looked at the white mare. Surprise raised a brow and stepped forward.

"What's up doc?" She asked, slowly pulling a carrot out of her mane and crunching down on it. Misty rolled her blue eyes and sighed.

"Surprise, this requires two ponies to work, and frankly you're the only option I've got."

Feather cleared her throat. "I'm standing right here, and I can help!" She insisted. Misty Fly had a look on her face that suggested she thought otherwise.

"Feathers, I just don't think you could keep up with me… and the Vortex will be more stable if it's done by ponies of similar size." Misty explained. Surprise blinked at the mention of a vortex, and Feathers just hummed in thought.

"Fair enough," She admitted. Surprise raised a forehoof.

"So, what's this Vortex, and how can we make it?" She asked. Misty was relieved to be getting questions that made sense from the yellow maned mare.

"The two of us need to fly in a vertical rotation angle fast enough that it creates a small vortex that will suck all the clouds out of the house." Misty hoped that her wording was simple enough for Surprise to understand, because she had a theory that despite not knowing much about her, the excitable Wonderbolt was a bit dim-witted. Unfortunately she was unaware of just how much Surprise knew about all kinds of different things. She was smart; she just preferred randomness and surprises over brains.

"Okay, like a giant vacuum cleaner." Surprise just nodded. "Let's get this over with," she cricked her neck from side to side and allowed Misty to tell her where the vortex was supposed to be and then backed up so they'd have enough room to take off. Misty spread her wings and took a deep breath, which she did out of habit before flying anywhere, then looked over at Surprise, who had her wings out as well, only she was ruffling them a little with a smirk on her face, which to a pegasus was a slightly offensive gesture… not very offensive, but translated into words, a wing ruffle before a joint flight meant 'I'm going to be much better than you at this'.

Misty grunted and rolled her eyes before flapping into the air, telling Surprise to do the same, thanking the princesses that the older Wonderbolt was doing as she was told. Feather Duster sat back and watched, pretty excited to see the Vortex. She loved all of the Wonderbolts' tricks, though she would never tell any of them that to their faces, but this was a trick that she hadn't even heard of, which meant that it was probably gonna be awesome.

Well… awesome probably wasn't the right word.

The two pegasi started off okay, building the flight into a steady rhythm and slowly picking up speed as the moments passed, but after a while, Surprise began flying a little faster than Misty Fly, which resulted in Surprise being hit in the face with Misty's tail, causing her to abruptly stop, which made Misty propel into Surprise's back head-first. The two mares fell to the floor, both rubbing their heads.

"Um… could have been better?" Feathers threw a critique out there. She wished she could help them, but apparently size mattered here and her stupid Molecular Growth Gun didn't work. Surprise shook her head and booped herself on her nose to get her purple eyes to stop rattling in her skull.

"So… how about we redo that?" She scowled. "A little faster."

"I thought you knew that we had to be the same speed," Misty accused Surprise of screwing up, and Feathers wished that she had a bag of popcorn, since she enjoyed watching these two argue a lot.

"Well, you could have sped up!" Surprise argued back.

"We could have done this if your flying wasn't so random," Misty insulted her rival's techniques.

"We're teammates!" Surprise fumed. "It's basic Wonderbolt logic that you have to know how your fellow 'Bolts fly."

"And yet you didn't know how I flew!" Misty shot back. Surprise growled and pointed at her front door.

"I've had it! Get in there, out of my sight!" She ordered. A little confused, Misty Fly made her way into the clouds in the living room and shut the front door behind her. Surprise then realised the error she'd made and growled in anger, marching over to the door and opening it, grabbing Misty Fly before she could completely vanish into the whiteness.

"What?" Misty asked, blank-eyed.

"I'm supposed to send the pony I'm mad at out of my house! We can't even argue properly!" Surprise was yelling at herself more than she was yelling at Misty now.

"Guys!" Feathers walked up to them and sighed, knowing that if the Random One was angry, the Logical One was miffed at the Random One and the Tough One was too drunk on tea to function, then the Evil One was going to have to step up and become the Responsible One.

"What?" Misty and Surprise asked at the same time. Feather Duster cleared her throat.

"I know that you two are in the middle of some weird argument that really doesn't make sense to anypony but you guys…" she paused for a moment to let that get into their heads, "but there are more pressing matter than your petty rivalry right now. So you need to stop going for each other's throats for just a minute and create a frickin' vortex so Surprise can have her living room back, and the rest of us can get to sleep. Honestly, I'm super tired now and I just want this all to be over. And if you can't do this just for the sake of clearing out this house… then do it for your captain. She's counting on you right now; she may never say that to you, but it's true. Right now, she needs you to clear out these clouds so we can clear out whatever it is that's wormed its way into her brain and made her act like a pissed college pony. So what do you two say? Forget your differences for three minutes so we can get things back on track?"

Misty Fly and Surprise paused and blinked, looking from Feather Duster to each other, both with the same look in their eyes. They had never heard Feather Duster talk like this before (neither had Feathers to be honest), and it kinda gave them strength. If Feathers could put aside her supposedly evil nature to pep-talk them, then the two of them could do the same with their rivalry. It had caused enough problems for one night, and they both needed a break.

They nodded at each other in the exact same moment and backed up, not saying a word, but each knowing exactly what the other was about to do.

Feather Duster sat back and observed as the two pegasus mares took off and began flying round and round vertically, gradually picking up speed, faster and faster until they were a yellow, blue and white spinning blur. The smallest mare backed up a little as the Wonderbolts got so fast that she couldn't tell where one of them started and the other one began, and let her jaw fall open at the brightly coloured spinning shape that was beginning to vacuum the clouds out of the house, and when they got sucked into the vortex they just poofed out of existence.

"You're doing great!" Feather Duster called out to them, though she was unsure whether it was possible for them to hear her at this stage in their trick. The clouds were coming out faster now, and Feathers started jittering in place at the marvel she was beholding; sure she had watched the Wonderbolts perform before, but this was just something else; it was probably because she had been the one to make the two 'Bolts do the trick that made it all the more amazing… well, she just had that effect on ponies, she figured.

Finally, when there were no more clouds left, Surprise and Misty slowly retracted pressure on their flight and descended back down to the ground, having to lean against each other for support since they were pretty dizzy after all that spinning. Feathers jumped onto Surprise's back.

"That was so freakin' cool, you two!" She complimented them, punching Surprise's shoulder, which she could barely feel.

"Great…" she grinned despite the fact that she wasn't sure which way was up. Misty Fly let out a groan and rubbed her head again.

"We were pretty good," she agreed before gulping and moving away from Surprise, tipping from side to side as she made her way to the front door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need to lie down." She went inside, one hoof pressed against her forehead.

"That sounds like a plan," Surprise practically dragged herself through the front door, Feathers hitching a ride on her back.

---

"So, she'll be back to normal when she wakes up?" Misty Fly asked as she looked over at Spitfire, who was fast asleep on the armchair. After they had got back inside she, Surprise and Feather Duster had found the captain out for the count where they had left her, and she was so deep in sleep that she hadn't even stirred when they had moved her into her sleeping bag.

"Yeah," Surprise replied, "the effects only last a few hours and they're easy to sleep off; though if the essence of despair gives her nightmares we'll need to be on the lookout."

"So maybe it's for the best that she doesn't tell us what's wrong," Misty sighed. "It's great to share your worries with other ponies, but if you don't feel comfortable doing it then it's only going to be all the harder."

"Words of wisdom, my friend." Feathers said from her spot on the floor, finally tucked into her sleeping bag. The power had also come back on, and surprise had lit one lamp in the corner of the room, illuminating the rest of it so that it was just the right amount of bright.

Misty blinked in her direction. "We're friends?" She asked, admittedly a little surprised to hear such a word coming from Feather Evil Duster. Feathers shrugged with one arm.

"Well, aren't we?" She asked with a smirk. Misty thought about it. It had been one heck of a screwed up night, but in a way it had brought the four of them closer together, especially when Feather Duster had talked some sense into her and Surprise. As odd as it seemed, it appeared that Feather Duster was the real hero of the night. Misty smiled over at the small mare.

"Yes. Yes we are." She agreed. Feather Duster grinned back, and then looked over at Surprise.

"Well, what about you? Are we friends or not?" She asked the white mare. Surprise grinned and hopped over, grabbing Feather Duster and hugging her tightly, making the little dusty brown mare choke as she was gripped with a great amount of force.

"Of course we are, Feathers!" She chirped, letting Feather Duster go. The small mare arched her back until it clicked back into place and then stretched out all four of her legs.

"Friendship hurts," she grumbled to herself before looking up at the others. "So what about you two; are you two friends now?"

Misty and Surprise's eyes shot open and they looked at each other. There was a long pause before Misty Fly hesitantly spoke to Surprise.

"Baby steps?" She asked, and Surprise gave a nod.

"Baby steps." She agreed.

Feathers was satisfied with that, so she got into her sleeping bag again; though the conversation that took place after that intrigued her.

"Hey Misty Fly…?" Surprise asked quietly. Misty Fly's ears perked up and she glanced up at the older Wonderbolt.

"Yes?" She asked.

"That was a good idea, ya know… using the Vortex." Surprise admitted. Misty flushed pink at the praise and smiled proudly.

"Thank you." She grinned, and Surprise managed a tiny smile back.

A few seconds of silence.

"Listen," Surprise spoke again. "We need to talk."

"Um… about what?" Misty looked completely baffled by the conversation she was currently having.

"I want to help you." Surprise said to the custard mare, who seemed confused. "I want to help you get over your fear of crashing mid-flight."

"Huh…" Misty wondered if this was a joke, and Surprise was going to yell 'psych' all of a sudden. But it didn't happen. "Why?"

Surprise cleared her throat and tapped her hooves together nervously. "I started this slumber party to help you three. I may have lied to Feather Duster to make her show up and… I may not have wanted you here in the first place… and I was trying to force my best friend into sharing stuff she clearly didn't want to. I've done so many awful things tonight that I want to do at least one thing right." She looked sincerely up at Misty Fly. "So what do ya say? Will you let me help you?" She got up and held out her hoof for Misty Fly.

The custard yellow pegasus looked straight at Surprise for a few seconds, contemplating whether or not somepony was about to jump out of Surprise's bathroom yelling 'Ya just got punk'd!'

Again, it didn't happen, and so Misty Fly decided that this was something that needed to be done. She took Surprise's hoof in hers and gave it a single shake, though Surprise just went ahead and shook it some more.

"Alright," She sounded pleased. "Now don't you worry about a thing- I'll fix your flying issue. Trust me; I know exactly what I'm doing."

"One can only hope," Misty chuckled softly. Surprise blinked in realisation and looked Misty in the eye.

"Hey, are we… becoming friends?" She asked. She hadn't ever had this kind of barrier with anypony before, not even Spitfire, so she wasn't sure about the process of going from enemies to friends. Misty looked down at the ground for a split second before glancing back up to let her blue eyes lock with Surprise's purple ones, a small smile on her lips.

"I think we're getting there."

---

Endnote: And then Spitfire wakes up in the middle of the night with a nuclear headache and they have a lot of explaining to do. You guys imagine how that one goes.

BUT THAT SEASON FINALE!

Oh my gosh, who else just loved that finale! Should I review it or not? Oh who cares, THE FINALE WAS EPIC! :D

Anyway, the next chapter is a short one so it shouldn't take long, and it focuses on the three main characters that weren't in this one. I'm pretty sure you'll like what's about to happen next.

And just as a thing I have to share… if you combine Misty Fly and Surprise's names you get MISPRISE!

MISPRISE!

Misprise means that somebody fails to understand the value of something or someone else. This is some insane coincidence. I didn't even know that word existed until I just randomly searched the internet for 'Misprise'… imagine what you will... but this must be fate! These two ponies were meant for this word!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna make some tea… and don't worry; this kind is perfectly safe.