Pinkie

“I still can’t believe that happened,” Rainbow Dash said from her seat by the shore of the lake. “It was so funny!”

Pinkie Pie blinked in slight confusion from the water’s surface. She sat on a yellow duck raft, listening to her friend retell what happened at Sweet Apple Acres two days ago. “I hope the tree is okay,” she replied. “That would be a horrible surprise.”

It was a few hours after Spike and Rarity had left on the train for Manehattan, and now the two ponies were relaxing at the lake beside Ponyville. Rainbow Dash had called the Ponyville Flyer’s training session off for today, because she thought she and her students deserved a day off. That’s what Pinkie heard, from the cerulean pegasus saying how they were all slacking and that she needed a break from them.

Rainbow Dash waved a forehoof. “Nah, it’ll be fine. I helped Applejack replant it after I stopped laughing. She said it would be alright.”

“What about Spike? He must have been worried.”

“He left right after it happened.” Poor Spike, Pinkie thought from her comfy spot. She dropped off from the raft and paddled it back to the shoreline. “Hey, what did you two do on your day?”

The pink pony shook off the water from the lake as she walked up on dry land, drenching Rainbow Dash in the process. She grinned back as Rainbow Dash shot her an irritated glare. “Oh, well I told you that I took him to see Pound and Pumpkin Cake. Other than that we hung out and pulled pranks all over Ponyville. You should have seen one of them. We dressed up as famous ponies from hundreds of years ago and made it seem like the street we were on was from the same time.” Pinkie sighed and giggled at the memory. “Those confused looks were hilarious. They had a good laugh when we told them what was going on and what we had done as well.”

“That…sounded like it was…fun?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, as if she didn’t know quite how to respond to that.

Pinkie Pie giggled again and began to bounce in place. “Oh, it was. We also told everypony we could about the party that afternoon, but that was about it.”

Rainbow nodded her understanding and slouched against the seat. She sighed. “Cool. So, what do you wanna do now? We shouldn’t stay out here all day.”

“Well,” started Pinkie, sitting down and placing a fore hoof under her chin. “we could see how Fluttershy’s doing. I wonder what her day was like with Spike.” Oh, I bet he told her all sorts of stories about his assignments over tea or something. I wish I had thought of that earlier.

“That’s true.” The Ponyville Flyer’s captain nodded again, standing up from her chair to shrug. “Though they probably just had a boring tea party and talked about what they did the whole time Spike was away.”

Pinkie frowned at the pegasus, raising a hoof to emphasize her opinion. “Aw, come on Rainbow Dash. I’m sure they did something fun. I can sense it.” I can also sense that Fluttershy still has some leftover cookies that we can eat. She licked her lips hungrily.

The pegasus scoffed. “Yeah. Sure, Pinkie.” Pinkie Pie tilted her head slightly, seeing Rainbow roll her eyes. “Come on. We might as well. I can’t think of anything else for us to do anyway.”

“Great,” the pink mare said, brightening up significantly. “Good thing I have a shortcut.”

“Huh? Shortcut-? Whoa!” Rainbow Dash gasped as Pinkie grabbed her by her waist and popped the yellow raft with a needle. She took hold of the tail and giggled as it took the two ponies all the way to Fluttershy’s cottage by the Everfree.

As they went, Rainbow screaming incessantly all the while, Pinkie kept spotting ponies she knew walking around below them and waved to them. She knew all of them, of course, but she thought it would be rude not to say a passing hello. Even if they can’t hear me. She chuckled.

“Ooph!” cried the two mares as they hit the ground just before their destination.

“Woohoo! Let’s do that again!” Pinkie shouted, hopping up first.

“What the heck, Pinkie Pie?! That could have been really dangerous!” The party pony recoiled slightly at her tone and volume. But soon she was looking at a widely grinning Rainbow Dash again. “No wonder I like hanging out with you so much.” Rainbow chuckled. Pinkie grinned from ear to ear.

“Thanks. You’re fun too, Dashie!”

“Of course I am,” she scoffed, tossing her rainbow coloured mane and gesturing to herself. “I’m Rainbow Dash. But enough about me. Let’s see where Fluttershy is.”

Pinkie nodded and trotted up to the front door with the cerulean pony close behind. She knocked a few times and waited, hearing muffled voices from within. The two friends glanced at each other queerly and each placed an ear to the door to listen.

“I’m sorry Angel Bunny,” began a muffled voice beyond the wooden door, “but I only have the usual food for you. You’ll just have to eat it.” The quiet voice Pinkie recognised seemed to grow louder as she spoke. Before she could realise that the pony attached to that voice was walking closer to the door to let them in, it swung open and Pinkie found herself in the doorway underneath a sprawled out Rainbow Dash. “Oh! My goodness. Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Yeah, I think so.”

“I’m okay!” yelled Pinkie Pie cheerily, bouncing up soon after the pegasus stood. “What’s going on, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy blinked timidly and turned slightly for the two friends to see. A bowl of carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and several other vegetables lay on the floor next to a very upset looking white bunny. “Oh, well, I’m feeding my animals. Angel has a bit of a temper when it comes to not having what food he wants. But after my day with Spike I felt like I should stand up for myself more. He doesn’t need to eat really elaborate meals every day.”

“Good work, Fluttershy!” cried Pinkie, swinging a hoof over the mare’s back. “I’m proud of you. I hope me and Rarity helped with that too.”

“Oh, but you did,” Fluttershy nodded in response, sidestepping out of the party mare’s hold. “I’m truly grateful for your help.”

“Speaking of hanging out with Spike,” Rainbow interrupted, “what was your day like with him?”

Pinkie watched as her friend placed a hoof over her mouth, thinking about how to answer the impatient pony’s question. Her turquois eyes sparkled for a second before she replied. “You know, it was actually kind of…exciting. We went to the Everfree Forest.”

“Really?” gasped Pinkie in awe. I wish I had thought of that too! Oh, I never think of the coolest stuff. She pouted.

“You?” Rainbow pointed at the mare with much more doubt in her voice than Pinkie. “Let me guess. You were the one who suggested the trip?” Fluttershy smiled uneasily, hiding behind her mane. The pink pony watched Rainbow’s mouth fall open, understanding what the yellow pegasi’s silent reaction meant. “Are you kidding?”

“W-well, I didn’t mean for him to actually say yes,” Fluttershy waved a hoof at the two friends, most likely embarrassed about the whole situation. “I just couldn’t think of anything else that we could do.”

“Wow, Fluttershy! What did you do?”

“Uh, well…do you want to come in for a snack?” she offered, stepping aside to allow her and Rainbow Dash entry. “I can make some tea and bring out some cookies while I explain.”

“Sure!” shouted Pinkie, bouncing into the cottage without a second thought on the matter. “Sounds yummy, Fluttershy.” I knew she had some cookies left.

“Yeah, I guess.” Pinkie Pie watched as the Ponyville Flyer’s captain shrugged into the couch in the living room.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash. I think this will be a good story.” Rainbow huffed indignantly. Fluttershy had left to make the tea and find the cookies, and the earth pony could hear the opening of cupboards and the boiling of water. Pinkie sat and waited on the couch next to her friend, bouncing up and down slightly as she smelled the fragrant scents coming from the kitchen. Yum, can’t wait. Leftovers are always the tastiest, especially when the leftovers are cookies.

After a few moments the sounds ceased in the other room and the pink-maned pegasus flew out, carrying a plate of cookies and a tea pot full of hot water. “Go ahead and have a cookie. I just need to grab some cups and then I’ll pour us some tea.”

Pinkie hummed as the scent of cookies wafted passed her nose. “Smells delicious! Thanks!” She grabbed the closest cookie and quickly shoved it into her mouth.

“Your welcome, Pinkie. Rainbow Dash, would you like one?”

The flight team captain propped herself up on the couch and smiled a little. “Yeah, sure, why not? Thanks, Fluttershy.”

“No problem,” the timid pony grinned back. “I’ll be right back.” The pegasus once again flew into the kitchen, Pinkie Pie watching her leave. She tried one of her cookies and felt like she’d been hit by a flavour truck; one with chocolate chips and sprinkles and tasty multi-coloured chocolate chips packed into the back.

“Wow!” exclaimed Pinkie as she fell back in her seat. “These are super-duper tasty!”

“Oh…thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said, returning with three cups and saucers in her hooves. She set them down and poured tea into each one. The party pony noticed how she served herself last. “It’s…it’s always nice to know that my baking is appreciated; especially from somepony like you.”

“Yeah, these are pretty good,” Rainbow Dash mumbled in between bites.

The two other mares chuckled. “So Fluttershy, how do you like the new Spike?” Pinkie blurted out. She took a sip of her tea and hummed a happy tune of approval.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh…w-well, to be honest…I was a little afraid of him at first. When he first stepped off of the Ponyville Express, I almost didn’t recognise him. Those claws and his tail too…but I told myself that he was still Spike. He would never do anything to hurt me.”

“Hey, just like Rarity,” Rainbow intoned as she took another cookie.

“Huh?” Pinkie replied, turning to face the cerulean pegasus.

She chewed the tasty treat and swallowed. “Mm. She was scared of Spike too.” Pinkie looked from Fluttershy and back in silence, looking surprised. Rainbow must have noticed the exchange and grumbled. “What? I notice things. But I wasn’t scared of him.” She puffed out her chest and took another cookie from the plate on the table.

Yeah, right. Pinkie raised a skeptical eyebrow at the mare. Rainbow Dash seemed to catch on and averted her gaze awkwardly. The pink pony turned back to face Fluttershy with a grin. “Well, I’m sure you’re not scared of him now, right?”

“Oh, no, of course not,” she said, placing her cup down on its saucer before continuing. “In fact, he saved me from some direwolves in the Everfree Forest.”

“Direwolves? What are those?”

“I’m not really sure, actually. Spike said he’d seen them on some of his travels, but never expected them to live so near us.” Fluttershy visibly shook as she retold the ordeal she and Spike had gone through. “They’re like timberwolves, only much larger and they have black fur. They’re also much further in.”

“What did he do?” Rainbow asked, leaning in. Pinkie giggled as she saw that Rainbow Dash was at full attention now, waiting to hear where this story was going. Told you it would be exciting. My back left thigh was pinchy after all.

Fluttershy’s cheeks flushed a light pink as Pinkie Pie looked on. “He…uh…he protected me and fought them off.”

“Them?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head to the side.

The timid pegasus nodded her head. She stared at the tea pot on the table and continued her explanation. “There were two. One started off…I suppose she was distracting Spike while the other snuck up, but…he managed to out manoeuvre them; although…he was…bitten a couple of times. I was so worried for him, and at one point I thought he was trapped. Oh, I thought Spike was in trouble then. One had his jaws on his back leg, while the female charged…probably going to attack his neck.”

Fluttershy shuddered and held a hoof up to her own neck. She took a calming breath and relaxed in her seat. “But the next thing I knew, Spike took a deep breath and blew fire at the charging wolf. It was so bright and I could feel the heat in it from a few feet away. It…it didn’t actually touch the direwolf, but I think she quickly realised that if she didn’t back down it would. She ran back into the forest, leaving Spike to deal with the male. He flew up into the air and scratched at the wolf until he let go and ran away too.”

The room went silent. Pinkie stared wide-eyed at the timid pony for a few seconds, before checking on Rainbow Dash. She had the same expression that she did, but seemed to regain her senses as she blinked.

“Whoa! He really breathed fire?” she asked. Fluttershy nodded her response, still blushing from the attention. “What the hay? I thought he said he’s never used his claws before. Sounds to me like he knew what he was doing. It sounds like those wolves were lucky they ran when they did.”

“W-well, it could have just been instinct,” Fluttershy offered, fiddling with her hooves.

“I thought Spike was really good at smelling nice all the time; probably because of Rarity.” Pinkie giggled uncontrollably as she rolled around on her chair. She looked at Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes at the joke.

“Speaking of Rarity, don’t you two think she was being a bit odd today?” the Flyer’s captain questioned. “With Spike, I mean.”

“W-well, she did have a valid reason for not wanting to bring her bags for Spike to carry.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I’m not talking about that, though that’s still pretty weird. She just…I don’t know. The way she looked at him when Spike offered to help her up and her buying the best seats on the train. I mean, she had to have known that Spike could buy his own ticket, right?”

“Maybe she was just being nice,” Pinkie suggested, feeling like she had to say something or else she’d be suspected. She felt her heart beat quicken and she tried to shake off the sensation. Just calm down, Pinkie. All of those things can just be labelled as things that friends do.

“Pinkie? Hello?!” Pinkie flinched back as she saw a cerulean foreleg wave back and forth in front of her face.

“Hm?” she asked innocently.

“I said: ‘she’s not normally that nice’; at least not to Spike. She’d be asking him to carry all of her things. That reason for them leaving seemed awfully fishy to me too. I think something’s going on between them. Why else would they go on a trip together like that?”

“It does seem a little bit strange,” Fluttershy agreed hesitantly.

“Hey. Wait a minute.” Pinkie took another sip of her tea, a fairly long one, as she saw Rainbow Dash’s cyan eyes fall on her from her peripheral vision. The party mare began to sweat, feeling the seconds begin to tick by quite slowly. “Pinkie? Do you know something about this?”

She gulped when she heard her name, and set the empty cup down on its saucer. “Nopey dopey, not a clue. But I just think those are things that friends do for each other.” Phew, good cover-up, Pinkie.

“Maybe she’s right,” said Fluttershy, bringing up the tea pot to pour more tea for Pinkie Pie. “I mean, she’s always appreciated Spike for being so nice to her. She’s even told me so on some of our spa days. Maybe she wanted to pay him back now.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, eyes still trained on the pink pony. “I don’t think so. You can’t fool me, Pinkie Pie. I know when you’re not telling me something. What do you know about this?”

“Nothing.” Pinkie shrugged easily. “I’m just as in the dark about all of this as you and Fluttershy are.” Oh, please don’t do this. I promised.

“Pinkie, tell me,” Rainbow jumped from her chair and tackled Pinkie to the ground, pinning her in place. “You know what I’ll do if you don’t. I’d rather not have to do it in front of Fluttershy, but if you don’t say I will tickle you.”

“Ah! No!” Pinkie Pie squirmed uselessly, trapped beneath the cerulean pegasus. She began to struggle even more as Rainbow started to tickle her, eliciting uncontrollable giggling and guffawing from Pinkie.

“You asked for this, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash shouted over the laughter. “What are you hiding?”

“I-I can’t! Ha! Say! I-I just can’t!” She snorted and writhed around on the carpet of Fluttershy’s cottage, but she managed to keep her mouth shut about Spike’s secret crush on Rarity and Rarity’s changing feelings for Spike as well.

The flight captain scoffed and hopped off of Pinkie after a few more minutes of tickling, losing interest like Pinkie had hoped. “Fine. You must have Pinkie promised one of them, anyway.”

“How do you know she would tell you anything from tickling?” Fluttershy asked.

The party pony bounced up from the floor and shuffled over to grab another cookie. She then gulped down another cup of tea, hearing the cerulean pegasus clear her throat. “It was at one of our sleep overs with all six of us a few years ago. She was snoring away like crazy and I couldn’t fall asleep. I tried everything I could think of to wake her up and stop her snoring, but nothing worked. The last straw was to tickle her, and she ended up confessing that on the month before she spent all of her paycheck from Sugarcube Corner on candy and party streamers.”

“It was a last minute party! I had to improvise,” Pinkie countered.

Rainbow Dash huffed. “Yeah, well, when she Pinkie promises something, even that can’t get whatever she’s hiding out of her. So that leaves one thing to do.”

“What?”

The rainbow-maned pegasus stood up from her seat, making for the door of Fluttershy’s cottage. “We’re going to see Twilight. If she knows what’s going on with Spike, we’ll have her tell us.”

Pinkie stared on as Rainbow Dash opened the door and flew out. She turned to the timid pony across from her, seeing the same look of surprise that she guessed she was wearing. Twilight. You Pinkie promised not to say anything about Spike’s crush on Rarity too. She won’t get anything from her either. She took a deep breath as she pushed herself up to her hooves and began hopping after her impatient friend. “Come on, Fluttershy, let’s go visit Twilight.”

“Uh…okay, just uh…” The party mare spun around to see Fluttershy fretting over the items on the table. She began to mumble incoherence as she picked up the tea pot, packing up the tea set in a rush.

Pinkie chuckled and bounded back over to her timid friend. “It’s okay, Fluttershy. You don’t have to come along this time. It’s no big deal.” She trotted up to the pegasus and rested a hoof on her shoulder. “We can always hang out later. I’m sure this won’t take too long.”

Fluttershy blinked at the mare and set down the tea pot. After a few moments, the pony smiled at Pinkie Pie. “That’s alright. Angel, I’m going out for a few minutes. I’ll be back to clear the table later.” With just a nod and another soft smile, Fluttershy started for the door. “It’ll be nice to see Twilight again, after all.”

Pinkie watched her leave, smiling about the little pony’s dramatic change in attitude. I wonder if Rarity knows just how much we helped Fluttershy. I’ll have to let her know when she gets back with Spike. She started bounding after the other two mares and smirked as another thought occurred to her. Ooh, I wonder if Spike has wooed Rarity yet.

Catching up with Rainbow Dash was relatively easy, even as Pinkie stopped around to speak with several of her neighbours about how their days were going. The Ponyville Flyer’s captain was mumbling angrily to herself as Pinkie and Fluttershy watched on. It was a clear and crisp day out this morning, though Pinkie saw a large rain cloud off in the direction that the train had taken. Soon all three ponies were at the door to the Golden Oaks library. The cerulean pegasus knocked on the door and Pinkie Pie listened for approaching hoof steps.

Minutes passed by and she heard nothing. Not even any screams or explosions from within the building. Maybe Twilight’s out somewhere at the moment?

“Hey, Twilight, you in there?” Rainbow began to knock on the door harder. Fluttershy stepped a bit closer to Pinkie, the pink pony catching the motion out of her peripheral vision as she stood on the steps. “This is important, open up!” The door creaked open, revealing the first floor of the building. “Twilight?”

What’s going on? Pinkie shifted to the right to peer around the pegasus. The aura around Twilight’s horn faded as she looked forward at her and her friends. “I’m glad you’re all here. I just received a message from Princess Celestia. She wants me to meet her in Canterlot immediately. She said it’s about Spike’s trip.” The three visiting mares gasped. “I’m going there now, but I need you three to go and get Applejack and come back here. I’ll tell you all about it once I return.”

“But Twilight…why can’t we come with you?” Fluttershy asked, stepping up to stand beside the Ponyville Flyer’s captain.

Twilight shook her head apologetically. “There isn’t time. I can’t teleport all of you over there at once and waiting for a train to go there would take a few hours, so I’ll go by myself and hear what the princess has to say. I wish I could say more, but I need to leave now.” Twilight nodded at the ponies, and Pinkie Pie watched as her horn lit up again. The lavender alicorn clenched her eyes shut and took a few deep breaths, before a flashing light caused the pink pony to blink.

When Pinkie reopened her eyes, she was staring into the now empty first floor of the library.

“What was that all about?” Rainbow asked as she walked into the building. “Can I not just ask a question and get a proper answer anymore?!” She grumbled and took flight. “I’ll go get Applejack, I guess. I’ll be the fastest, and I need to do some serious flying to relax right now. Later.”

Before either Fluttershy or Pinkie could protest, the cerulean pegasus zoomed off for Sweet Apple Acres to fetch Applejack. Pinkie looked on after her for a few seconds before turning back to face the library. Spike? What’s going on?

Author's Notes:

And here is chapter 14, the second chapter not focused on Spike or Rarity. From now on the chapters will be split more, and it will all become clear soon.

So, the trip is called into question by more than just Rainbow Dash. This was one of the more difficult chapters to write for. It's a bit of a connecting chapter, but I felt that it was necessary. I liked the idea of transitioning from Fluttershy's house to Twilight's library to discover that something was up.

I hope no one minded the recap on chapters prior, but I felt that the three of them would like to be brought up to speed on what happened on their day with Spike. Pinkie Pie seeing through Rainbow Dash's lame attempt at pretending that she wasn't afraid of Spike when he left the train was a funny addition.

Lots of jokes and funny things happening in this chapter; of course it is a Pinkie Pie chapter, so it is to be expected. Any who, onward to more chapter editing. Enjoy. Ta ta! ^^