When Fluttershy had gone home Thursday night, she had felt a dizzying mix of emotions. She fretted over the mishap with the sweater, try as she might to assure herself that Rainbow was determined to fix the matter for her. She also wondered nervously where the soccer player intended to take her Friday night. Despite all this, she couldn’t keep the grin off her face that Rainbow Dash would want to take her out at all.

The other girl hadn’t framed it like it was a date, but it certainly felt like one. The anxiety Fluttershy felt certainly could be blamed on Rainbow’s potential ulterior motives, but in all honesty, the pre-vet was quite relieved that the affair was not being treated like anything more than two friends spending time together. It felt safe. Approachable.

So while sleep was a little harder to come by than usual, Fluttershy didn’t stay up terribly late, and by morning she felt rested. When she checked her phone, she was disappointed to see no texts from Junebug or Rarity. Just as she started a message to the fashionista, she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Fluttershy?” Star Weld called through the wood. He sounded annoyed.

Confused, the girl got up and opened her door. Her eyes batted as her scowling brother shoved a blossoming flower arrangement under her nose.

“Who sent this? The card just says J.B.!” the man asked.

Fluttershy’s brow wrinkled for a few seconds before her face cleared with sudden understanding. “Oh!” she took the flower arrangement and smiled sheepishly. “This is from a girl I know. Her name’s Junebug. This must be the flowers she promised to send me.”

Star Weld’s scowl faded, and he even blushed a little. “Oh. Well…” He scratched his head and mumbled, “Tell her to use her full name next time. I thought those were from some creep.”

Fluttershy’s brow tensed. “You always jump to the worst conclusions, Star…”

He ruffled her hair and smiled crookedly. “I’m just looking out for my baby sister!” Star Weld started to walk down the hall. “See ya later, sis. Have a good Friday!”

She sighed with exasperation as she combed her hair back into place. Still, she smiled and waved. “You too, Star Weld.”

After she shut her door, Fluttershy plucked the small card Star Weld had mentioned, the front emblazoned with J.B., just as he had said. When she turned the card, there was a small note on the back:

Thanks again for your help! Sleeping beauty has yet to rise. Don’t worry, her sorority sisters are keeping a close eye!

That answered her question about Rarity, but Fluttershy didn’t find her worries eased. Poor Rarity… I hope she talks to me when she wakes up. Whatever is bothering her is clearly taking its toll!

But she couldn’t spend all morning fretting over her friend. She had a busy day to get ready for, starting with a chemistry lecture. The flower arrangement was bright and brimming with irises, coreopsis, crocus, daisies, and white heathers. Junebug clearly knew her flower symbolism. The natural piece, gathered in a glazed white pot and decorated with a pink bow, held messages of friendship, cheerfulness, innocence, and protection.

I’ll put this in the living room, Fluttershy thought with a pleasant smile. This will brighten up the space for sure!

She left her room to do just that.

---

Rainbow Dash awoke lying on her stomach, her mouth open and drooling onto her pillow. Her alarm hadn’t gone off because Fridays were her day off from both school and the gym. The only thing she had to worry about, aside from her plans that night, was a meeting with Sassaflash and the coaches this afternoon. Once she remembered all of this, she lifted her head, wiped the drool from her face, and started to roll over onto her back when something else occurred to her.
Sunset’s bed was empty.

Rainbow stared at it, blinking dazedly. She looked at her clock. This was typically about the time that her roommate started getting ready, but from the looks of the bed, she hadn’t even returned to the dorms last night. Sleep fled from Rainbow Dash as she kicked off her covers, grabbed her phone from her night stand, and sat up. She texted to Twilight Sparkle:

>R: Hey, is Sun with u?

She didn’t sit and wait for a response. Rainbow stood from the bed and glanced out the window, which presented her with a view of the lawn in front of the building’s entrance. Sunset was nowhere in sight. Licking her lips, Rainbow hurried to her desk chair (covered in a film of dust from lack of use) and propped it against the door to the hallway. As she moved towards Sunset’s night stand, her phone buzzed in her hand. Rainbow stopped and glanced at it.

>TS: No… Why?

The soccer player pursed her lips and started a response. The exchange continued quickly.

>R: She didn’t sleep here last nite :/

>TS: That’s not good! Is there anywhere else she might be staying?

>R: Dunno

>TS: I’ll try calling her.

>R: Pinkie, and now Sunset. Smh

>TS: Wait, what happened to Pinkie Pie?

Rainbow Dash winced. Oops. I don’t think I told her or Sun about the whole thing with Rarity and Pinks, huh? Damn.

>R: tl;dr = Pinkie is awol + Rarity freaking out and awake 2 days str8

>TS: That’s horrible!

>R: Ya. FS + me got Rare 2 sleep. Bet she’s still out. Nothin from Pinks yet, tho

>TS: Well… There’s ONE thing you could try.

Rainbow Dash frowned at her phone.

>R: What?

>TS: You could try saying a curse word.

“Are you out of your mind!?” the tomboy said aloud, her face drawing long and her eyes practically bugging out. Then she remembered herself and texted with more force on the screen than necessary:

>R: R U NUTS!?!?

>TS: But just think about it! Whenever you need Pinkie Pie to show up on the double, what’s the most reliable way to do that? Breaking a Pinkie Promise!

>R: She’ll kill me. >:I

>TS: Rainbow, don’t be silly.

>R: U do it, then!

>TS: It was just an idea! I’m heading to class right now, I can’t afford to be caught in a Pinkie storm.

“Class, huh? That’s convenient, Sci-Twi,” Rainbow sneered. Instead, she texted:

>R: g2g. Gonna search the room for clues while I can.

>TS: Good idea. You might find something that leads to Sunset. Call me if you find anything!

Rainbow Dash tossed her phone onto her bed and continued to Sunset Shimmer’s night stand. There wasn’t much on the surface. The magical book her roommate used to communicate with the Equestrian Princess of Friendship was missing. The drawer revealed nothing but useless knick knacks—pencils, sticky notes, highlighters, nail polish, etc. The cabinet below it much of the same.

Frustrated, Rainbow moved her search elsewhere. She peeked under Sunset Shimmer’s bed. She lifted the mattress. Looked under her friend’s pillows. When none of the obvious hiding places produced anything, the tomboy moved on to Sunset’s desk. Unlike Rainbow Dash, the former Equestrian actually made regular use of her study desk, and so it was clean and organized. Looking through the letter cubbies, she found some statements for overdue bills. There was even a letter of notice from a loan company claiming that Sunset Shimmer might have been the victim of identity theft.

“Geez, Twilight was right. Sun had more problems than I thought!” Rainbow muttered with a shake of her head as she replaced the letters. It was when she lifted the desk pad that she froze.

Rainbow’s eyes had fallen on a small, faded business card, one corner torn, as if it had been tacked to a wall and ripped off. In Olde English font, the word Tambelon was printed in black with some ink spatter, as if it had come from an old printing press. It had the address and phone number, and nothing more. Raising an eyebrow, Rainbow turned the card over to see 3/6 written on the back in Sunset Shimmer’s handwriting.

Three-six? As in March sixth? Rainbow replaced the desk pad, but kept the business card. If that’s what the note means, then Twilight was right. That day was when Spring Break started. Maybe this ‘Tambelon’ place is where Sunset goes to do her shady business?

Rainbow put the card in her drawer, then removed the chair from the front door and went to the bathroom for a shower.

I should scout that place out. Rainbow started to strip, her eyes unfocused as she thought hard. Twilight will want to come, but we’ll need backup in case things get hairy. No offense to her, but she’s not exactly great in a fight. At least, not if we want to keep a low profile. Twi’s gotten better at her magic, but I still don’t want to risk being accidentally turned into an orange like she did to Fluttershy that one time. She shuddered at the memory as she turned on the shower head. She held her hand in the water, waiting for it to get warm. Can’t ask Fluttershy to go because—obviously. Rarity is out because she needs to rest. Even if I knew where Pinkie Pie was, the last time I tried to do recon with her at Crystal Prep she drove me nuts, so she’s out. That just leaves… Rainbow Dash wrinkled her nose. Applejack.

The tomboy disliked that thoughts of AJ lately carried with them a sense of annoyance and maybe even apprehension. She honestly didn’t understand what had changed between them. It was true that they had all become busy since starting at Everfree University, but the country girl hadn’t become ornery with the others. Just Rainbow Dash.

The trouble was, Sunset Shimmer needed their help, and if Twilight Sparkle’s theories were correct (which they often were) then there could be real danger surrounding this place that Sun had felt the need to keep secret. Rainbow Dash could handle many things, but if they were really dealing with criminals, she would need help. This much she could admit. She needed someone brave. Strong.

The fact that AJ owns guns kind of helps, Rainbow thought wryly.

She sighed as she stepped into the shower stall.

I’ll send them both a text and see if they want to go tomorrow. I’m not going to freak out and assume Sun is in any trouble right now. She’s just not here. I’ve got my date with Fluttershy tonight, and I still have to get ready for that.

Rainbow Dash smiled goofily as she started to shampoo her hair.

“Tonight’s gonna rock!” she said.

---

Planning a date, a good date, was harder than it looked. Rainbow Dash had spent most of her morning just looking for decent places to eat. At first she had considered her old standbys—the burger joints, the taco stands, the yogurt spots—basically all the places she’d taken her past girlfriends. But something about that had felt…cheap. Lazy. Sleazy, even. The girls she had dated in the past weren’t important to her, and that attitude was clear in the places she’d taken them. So while Rainbow had promised Fluttershy she wouldn’t pick a place that required formal dress, she also didn’t want to pick some greasy hole in the wall that suggested she wasn’t serious about being with Fluttershy.

I can so go steady with someone, Rainbow thought with agitation. I’m not scared of commitment! I just… Her shoulders sagged a little. I just don’t know how to do this sappy stuff. I usually just ask a girl out for a milkshake, and next thing I know, we’re snogging.

So when she met up with Sassaflash at their usual spot for lunch, the tomboy was quite on edge. She was surprised (and a little miffed) to see Spitfire was there to join them today. The midfielder was sitting next to the vice captain on the bench beneath the maple tree. It wasn’t that Rainbow Dash disliked her fellow teammate. It was just that she felt a bit vulnerable, and that usually meant she preferred the company of those she saw all the time, not people she wasn’t as used to being around a lot.

Still, she reasoned, there’s no use in being a jerk to Spitfire. It’s not her fault I suck at being romantic.

“‘Sup, Sass. Spitfire.” Rainbow nodded to them both as she approached, her expression purposefully made blank so as to avoid any awkward comments on her mood.

“Cap,” Spitfire said with a quick tilt of the chin, the sun glinting off her aviator glasses.

“Hi, Dashie.” Sassaflash looked up at her, then froze. She screwed up her mouth and crossed her arms, her brow knotting. “What’s wrong?”

Rainbow Dash’s lip curled against her will. “Nothing.”

Sass rolled her eyes. “Rainbow… It’s clear as day that something is on your mind!”

“Look, it’s dumb. Just forget it.”

“Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow slashed a hand through the air. “Sass, drop it!”

Spitfire pushed her sunglasses down as she leaned forward onto a knee. The fiery-haired midfielder was, in fact, a few years older than most of their team, Rainbow and Sassaflash included. She had served in the military straight out of high school, and it wasn’t until she separated from service that she decided to use her government benefits to pursue college. Those life experiences were plain in the gravity of her eyes as she locked gazes with her soccer captain.
“Captain, I don’t mean to gang up on you,” Spitfire said with an arched eyebrow. “But Sass is right. You look like someone took a shit in your coffee.”

Rainbow made a face. “Gross.”

Spitfire shrugged and pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Just pointing out the obvious.”

“So would you like to scoop the poop out of your morning joe, or will I have to wheedle it out of you through incessant pestering?” Sassaflash asked with a scowl.

Rainbow groaned up at the tree branches over their heads. “Can we just go to lunch? Please?”

“Look, if you really don’t want to talk to us, then fine. But I’m not really interested in sitting through an hour of you brooding.”

Rainbow put her hands on her hips. “I brood that bad?”

Sassaflash and Spitfire nodded gravely.

The soccer captain bared her teeth and pinched the bridge of her nose. She could feel a stress headache coming on. A long silence followed.

“I need a place to take Fluttershy to dinner, all right!” Rainbow snapped suddenly.

She dropped her hand and gauged her friends reactions. Spitfire’s eyebrows went up. She knew who Fluttershy was, being a former student of Canterlot High. Though she was part of Maud Pie’s graduating class, so she’d missed all the magic-fueled drama. Still, Rainbow and her friends had been a recognizable presence at the high school, even in freshman year.
Sassaflash’s face had gone blank, her mouth dropping open. Then she popped up from the bench, spread her arms wide and hugged Rainbow so hard, she lifted her off the ground. “Omigosh! Rainbow, you’re finally gonna do it, aren’t you!?”

“Sass! Put me down!” Rainbow yelped as Sass twirled her once around. When her friend complied, she asked with a scandalized glare, “What the heck do you mean?”

“You’re gonna try and go steady with your friend, huh?” Sassaflash sing-songed, practically dancing on the spot. She poked a flinching Rainbow in the gut. “Come on, admit it! When’s the last time you freaked out about where to take a girl for dinner?”

“I’m not—hey, quit it—I’m not freaking out!” Rainbow said, swatting at Sass’ hand when her vice captain tried to poke her again. “I’m just frustrated, okay? I’m trying to do something different!”

“Like commit?” Sassaflash asked, batting her eyelashes.

Rainbow blushed red and shoved her friend lightly in the shoulder. “Why does everyone keep acting like that’s so hard for me?”

“Maybe because you’ve never done it?” Spitfire offered helpfully from the bench.

She earned a glare for her trouble. “Shows what you know! I’ve gone steady before, it just…” Rainbow shuffled her feet and mumbled. “It just didn’t work out.”

Sassaflash’s teasing grin faded. She reached forward and squeezed Rainbow’s upper arm. “Aw… Hey. Don’t worry! We can help you find a place to eat.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Sass and Spitfire with reluctant hope. “Really? You guys think you know a place?”

Spitfire plucked up her cell phone from its place next to her on the bench. She unlocked it and started to tap the screen quickly. “What are you looking for?”

Rainbow squinted one eye and scratched at the back of her head. “Um… Food?”

Sassaflash giggled, her phone also in her hand. “Duh. What kind of food, dummy? What does Fluttershy like?”

“Vegetables?” Rainbow said helplessly.

The vice captain snapped her fingers and started tapping her phone quickly. “Right! You told me she’s vegetarian. Hmm, lemme see… What are my favorite spots?”

“It’s gotta be nice!” Rainbow emphasized with both hands. Then she added hurriedly, “Oh! But, nothing too fancy. Fluttershy doesn’t have fancy clothes, and neither do I. Plus, I only have a hundred to blow on tonight.”

“More than enough,” Spitfire muttered distractedly.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Sassaflash. “And no veggie-only places! I still eat meat!”

Sassaflash shot her a pout. “Well that narrows things down considerably…”

The minutes ticked by. Her teammates had offered a combined three different places, but Rainbow Dash had shot down each one. They just didn’t feel good enough. The soccer captain became impatient and took a seat on the bench to rejoin the search herself.

Sass sighed roughly, her head shaking. “I’m coming up empty, Dashie.”

“Me too, Cap,” Spitfire said with puckered lips.

Rainbow covered her face with a hand. “Aw geez, I’m so screwed…”

“Hey,” the midfielder said to her right. The tomboy looked at the older girl. Spitfire was peering at her over her glasses again. “Have you tried asking Pinkie Pie? I remember that kid used to be crazy good at findin’ decent places to eat!”

Rainbow Dash slouched and started to say that she couldn’t reach the party planner. Then she broke off mid-sentence, her eyes widening.

The best way to get Pinkie Pie to show up is to break one of her promises… Her face tightened. Man, I don’t want to do that. Not after last time. To this day, huge staircases still made her nervous.

Then her eyes landed on Sassaflash.

Rainbow smiled a curling, evil smile. “Hey Sass… What was that thing Spitfire said earlier? About someone pooping in my coffee?”

“Shitting,” Sassaflash corrected automatically. Her eyes were still on her phone. “She said you look like someone took a shit in your coffee.”

“Yeah. Poop. Like I said.”

Sass rolled her eyes and glanced at Spitfire. “Has she told you yet?”

“Told me what?” Spitfire asked. She looked at Rainbow Dash, and the soccer captain schooled her expression to one of clueless innocence.

Sassaflash grinned and finally lifted her eyes fully from her screen. “She says she made a promise to a friend to never curse. Ever.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Spitfire smirked and regarded Rainbow with an air of knowing. “Is it the friend I’m thinking of, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Who, Pinkie? Yeah. It was her.”

“Damn. Pinkie Promised to never curse… That explains so much!”

Sassaflash’s grin took on an edge of disbelief. “Hold up. You believe in that crap?”

Spitfire regarded her nonchalantly. “Sure I do. I went to school with Pinkie’s oldest sister. I know what that girl can do.”

Sass scoffed. “Oh please!” She looked at Rainbow next, one hand finding its place on her hip. “Pinkie Promises are dumb!”

“Is that so?” Rainbow returned with a crooked smile. “Care to prove it?”

Spitfire tensed next to her. “Rainbow,” she said warningly.

“Shh!” Rainbow said with a stern look. Let the big mouth hang herself!

Sassaflash licked her lips and made a bring it gesture with her free hand. “How do I do this ‘sacred vow’ of Pinkie Pie’s?”

Spitfire whistled and stood from the bench. “Oh boy…”

Rainbow Dash stood with an air of great solemnity. With a serious expression, she recited, “‘I, Sassaflash, do promise that from this day forth, I will not utter a single curse,’”

Sass snorted, but said without fail, “I, Sassaflash, do promise that from this day forth, I will not utter a single curse.”

Rainbow crossed her heart, and slapped a hand over her eye. “‘Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!’”

The vice captain’s face screwed up. “Seriously?”

Rainbow Dash glared.

Sassaflash rolled her eyes. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” She threw up her hands. “There! Happy?”

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Now you just gotta put your money where your mouth is, and break the promise you just made!” Sassaflash opened her mouth, Rainbow slapped a hand over it, her eyes turning huge with alarm. “Not yet, doofus! Wait for me and Spitfire to stand back!” When she removed her hand, she turned, jumped over the bench, and ran to hide behind the maple tree. Spitfire, ever the preemptive one, was already there.

“Okay!” Rainbow Dash called to a bewildered Sassaflash. “You can curse now!”

Sassaflash laughed. “You two are a couple of fucking boobs!” She held out her arms. “Oh shit! Look! I haven’t been struck by lightning!”

Rainbow’s eyes focused on something behind her friend. She exchanged a brief look with Spitfire, then snickered out. “Um, Sassaflash—?”

Sassaflash cupped a hand to her ear. “Yes, Dashie? What’s that? You’re a scaredy bitch?”

“Sass—”

“No really, this is fucking nonsense. Can you guys come back out here so I can laugh in your faces?”

“Sass—!”

“What!?” Sassaflash snapped.

Rainbow and Spitfire pointed behind her.

The vice captain frowned, her eyes fluttering. She smiled disbelievingly. “No way…” Sass looked over her shoulder. Rainbow couldn’t see her expression, but judging by the way her blonde friend tensed up, this was not the result she had been expecting.

Pinkie Pie stood behind Sassaflash, flames practically burning in her bright blue eyes as the two stared each other down.

After a long, tense moment, Sass looked down and asked hoarsely, “Is that a cannon?”

“Yes,” Pinkie answered flatly, before she pulled the firing string.

---

“I didn’t even know it could fire cake batter!” Rainbow said with wonder as they milled in Spitfire and Sassaflash’s dorm room. The midfielder sat with Rainbow Dash on the edge of her bed. Pinkie Pie stood in the center of the room, her eyes cheerily drinking in their surroundings. From the open bathroom door, steam curled and the sounds of a shower could be heard.

Sass shrieked from the shower stall, “That could have killed me!” It was about the tenth time she’d said this.

“Hush!” Rainbow admonished. “I told you Pinkie Promises were no joke!”

Spitfire cast her a sideways look. “She wouldn’t have done it had you not baited her, Captain…”

Pinkie looked at Rainbow sharply.

The tomboy broke into a sweat as Pinkie loomed over her. “Er, well, I mean… It’s not like I put a gun to her head!” the tomboy argued nervously.

“You know how important promises are to me, Dashie,” Pinkie scolded with a cartoonish-level of indignance: her mouth corners turned down hard, her eyebrows were practically at a full slant, and even her hair seemed to puff up with frizzy insult. “I don’t appreciate you teasing your friends with them! It’s about as fun as old fish and dead leaves!”

Rainbow Dash had the good sense to look rueful, her hands lacing together as she tucked her chin in and looked up at her friend through her lashes. “Sorry, Pinks…”

Pinkie Pie glared for a full three more seconds before the fire flickered out of her eyes, her frown turned upside down, and her hair settled. “Aw, it’s okay Rainbow Dash. I know you were jes’ tryin’ta get in touch with me since I was hiding.”

Rainbow straightened at this. “Pinkie, you were hiding?”

The party planner’s smile went stiff. Somehow she managed to say with barely any facial movement, “Did I say hiding?”

“You did,” Spitfire confirmed with a frown.

Pinkie let out a false laugh. “I meant to say playing hide and go seek! And you…’seeked’ me!” She ruffled Rainbow’s hair. “Good job, Dashie! You win!”

“‘Sought me out,’” Spitfire corrected, crossing her arms. “She sought you out. Not ‘seeked’ you.”

“Gesundheit!” Pinkie Pie chirped with more natural cheer.

Spitfire scratched her head. “Huh? But nothing I said sounded like a sneeze!”

“Is anyone going to address the fact that a girl with a cannon managed to get the drop on me!?” Sass yelled from the bathroom.

“No,” Rainbow and Spitfire answered in unison.

“Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said next, her gaze piercing into her pink-haired friend. “I’m asking you seriously. Like, really. For serious, okay? Can you answer me straight and honest?”

Pinkie Pie nodded jerkily. “Okey dokey! What d’ya wanna ask?”

“Why did you disappear on everyone for three days? Why didn’t you respond to my text? And why did you just say you were hiding?”

The other girl sighed dramatically, her hair deflating and even losing some of its magnificent shade. “Well…” she started reluctantly, before biting her lip.

Rainbow crossed her arms and glared. If she thinks I’m dropping this, she’s nuts! She’s had us all worried!

“I went to the doctor and got bad news,” Pinkie Pie said, her gaze turning away.

“Bad news?” Rainbow stood up, her eyes wide. “Like… ‘Three months to live’ kinda bad news?”

Pinkie shook her head. The soccer captain let out a relieved breath.

“Pregnant?” Spitfire asked. Rainbow glared at her. The midfielder gave a small shrug. “What?”

Pinkie’s chin tucked in to the point that her hair curtained forward, covering one side of her face as she gazed at her shoes. “No. I’m not pregnant,” she mumbled.

Rainbow Dash rubbed at her neck, feeling at a loss. “O-kay? So it’s not life threatening. It’s not that you’re preggers.” She grimaced. “Is it like… an STD thing?”

Pinkie Pie made a face to mirror Rainbow’s. “Yuck! No!”

The soccer captain put her hands on her hips and shifted to one foot. “Help us out here, Pinks! You’re not leaving much for us to even guess!”

The party planner stuck her tongue out and turned to face the opposite wall. “You asked for an honest and straight answer, Dashie. I gave one! You never said I had to give you the skinny on my private health stuff!”

Rainbow Dash stomped a foot in frustration. “But—!”

“She has a point, Cap,” Spitfire said from her bed.

“Quiet, you!”

“Anyway,” Pinkie Pie said over her shoulder. “I thought you wanted help to find a place to have dinner tonight!”

Rainbow relented by flopping back onto Spitfire’s bed. “Yeah…”

Pinkie’s lips curled as she turned her body a quarter of the way around. Her curls and volume had partially returned to her hair. “So who is this super special someone that you’re taking out, anyway? You never mentioned their names!”

“Fluttershy,” Spitfire said.

Pinkie Pie buried her hands in her hair and shouted, “What?”

Rainbow punched her teammate in the arm, “Dude, what the heck!?”

The midfielder just chuckled at her, rubbing absently at the place she’d been hit. “Captain, how else is she going to help you find a place to eat? Magic?”

“That’s what I was kind of hoping for,” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” Spitfire leaned in with an ear cocked.

“Nothing.”

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile was staring with mouth agape at Rainbow Dash, her gaze that of the biggest starry eyes imaginable. In fact, Rainbow couldn’t think of a single other person she had ever used the word ‘starry’ to describe the literal expression they held in their eyes. She was half certain if she looked closer into the depths of Pinkie Pie’s dilated pupils, she could actually see an entire universe of stars in there.

Rainbow Dash shivered. Woah. Creeped myself out!

“Rainbow,” Pinkie finally managed to squeal. “Do you mean to tell me that you are finally dating Fluttershy?”

“Geez, did you guys have a money pool going or something?” Rainbow griped.

“We did, actually.”

Rainbow could feel the blood flood her cheeks. “Not cool!”

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Hey, we all knew you two would end up together! We just took bets on how it would happen!”

“And what was your bet, Pinkie?” Spitfire asked with a grin.

Pinkie pouted. “I bet that Rainbow Dash would confess her feelings with a birthday cake.”

Rainbow shook her head. “Wow, that was a bad bet! After all, a birthday is only once a year!”

Her friend just tutted at her like she had said something amazingly naive. “You can have birthday cake whenever you want to, silly!”

“Uh…” Rainbow squinted one eye. “Rrright.” She wheeled a hand through the air. “So about the dinner ideas?”

Pinkie Pie went very still—which was vaguely creepy given that she was staring at Rainbow Dash and smiling. Then she sucked in air for a gigantic gasp. “I just had the best idea ever!”

Rainbow flinched and leaned away from her. “Wh-what is it?”

Pinkie Pie pumped a fist in the air. “You can take her to Sugarcube Corner!”

The tomboy flopped backward onto Spitfire’s bed. “Aw, man! No, Pinkie. That’s the same ol’ place we went to all the time in high school!”

“Yeeeah… But when was the last time you went there?”

Rainbow blinked at the question. “Since we graduated?”

“And when was the last time Fluttershy’s been there?”

“Dunno.”

“Since graduation, silly! I know. The Cakes told me they haven’t seen the other girls in forever!”

Rainbow propped herself up onto her elbows. “Okay. Fine. So we haven’t been there in a long time. So what? That place is for dessert, not dinner! And anyway, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not that special for a date.”

Pinkie Pie crossed her arms. “Hey there, missy! Sugarcube Corner is plenty special! They also sell sandwiches too, remember? Fluttershy loved their food!”

Spitfire nudged Rainbow Dash, earning her an irate stare. “Yeah, Cap,” the older girl pitched in. “What’s better than going somewhere that the owners know you? They might do something special for you if you call ahead.”

“No need!” Pinkie said with a giant smile. “I work there part time now! I even have a shift tonight, so if you guys swing by, I can have something super uber special prepared for you!”

Rainbow jutted out her lower lip in thought. Pinkie Pie’s cakes are pretty rad… And she’s right, they sell more than just dessert down there. I promised Fluttershy something casual, and that’s about as casual as it gets. She smiled without thinking. I bet going somewhere familiar will make her feel more relaxed, too. We have so many cool memories there…

“I think I see a ‘yes’ on your face,” Pinkie Pie sang.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but smiled. “All right, Pinkie Pie. Sugarcube Corner it is!”

Pinkie Pie jumped up into the air. “Woo hoo!”

“You know she’s going to use this as an opportunity to try and win that bet, right?” Spitfire muttered to Rainbow out of the corner of her mouth.

Rainbow Dash just shrugged, her grin widening. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Hey!” Sass shouted as she turned off the shower. “Come to think of it, what did Pinkie do with the cannon, anyway? I don’t remember bringing it with us!”

“It’s a party cannon,” Rainbow Dash answered dryly. “And believe me, you get tired of asking those kinds of questions really fast when it comes to Pinkie Pie.” She looked at her friend and winked. “Right, Pinks?”

Pinkie Pie just giggled.

Next Chapter: Chapter 17 Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 39 Minutes