“Dashiiiiie!” Pinkie Pie giggle-snorted. “Why didn't you tell me you were gonna visit my home town on the same weekend I did?!” She stood up inside the cave and brushed off her hoof in Rainbow's direction. “Naughty, naughty, Pegasissy!”
“I... I didn't know... I mean... I guess I knew... cuz of... that... it...” Rainbow's ruby eyes crossed. “Rocks.”
“Oooh! I bet it was Maud!” Pinkie vaulted over Rainbow and hooked a forelimb over the deadpan mare's shoulder. “Was it you, Maud? Come on nowwwwwwww!” She winked, cotton candy mane flouncing. “Fess up or throw up!”
“I don't want to get gravel in your hair.”
“Snkkkt—Haaaaaaah hah hah hah hah hah!” Pinkie flailed and cackled hysterically while Maud blinked on. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Maud!! You always know how to crack me up, you goofy clown you!”
Maud droned, “What are placed on this earth for if not to decay and laugh at it while entropy consumes us.”
“Duaaaaaaaah—THERE SHE DOES IT AGAIN!” Pinkie shrieked. “Ahhhhh ha ha ha ha ha!”
Trixie winced, covering her blue ears tight as she leaned away from the bellowing laughter. “Luna spare Trixie! Just dealing with one of them was enough!”
“Hey... I kinda like her!” Daring Do remarked with a wink from across the tiny cavern. “She's like a pillow with the vocal cords of a hyena!”
“Wait a minute...” Rainbow grimaced, fidgeting in her suit. “Hold the dragon's breath and lemme get this straight.” She pointed. “THIS is Maud? Your Maud?! All this time I've been fumbling around your goddess-forsaken hole-in-the-ground town with your oft-talked about sister?!”
“YEAH!” Pinkie Pie wheezed, still reeling. “Isn't that spectacular, spectacular?! Whinnies above vernacular?! Heeeheeeheeeheee!”
While Pinkie hung limply off of Maud's neck, the gray mare stared Rainbow's way. “I must admit, there are a seldom few qualities that differentiate the two of us.” Three and a half seconds of blinking. “It might be because I'm adopted.”
“Hey! M-Maudie!” Pinkie Pie squealed, fighting tears. “Tell her about the one time you accidentally hit me with the rock, y'know, in rock school!”
“So, this one time, in rock school.” Maud slurred. “I hit Pinkie Pie with a rock.”
“Haaa-haaaah-haaaaaaaa!” Pinkie Pie rolled on the floor, in stitches.
Maud continued at a snail's pace. “It didn't hurt as bad as the stone I accidentally hit her with the previous year. We were really tiny ponies back then.” Maud blinked. “I wish the rocks were tiny too.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie nearly threw up, wheezing. “We certainly lost our marbles back then, d-didn't we?!”
“I still have the scar from when the surgeons cut into m—”
“SOOO...” Daring Do leaned in, rubbing her hooves together. “Looks like quite the team you've assembled here, Sparky!”
“I didn't assemble—snkkkt!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “I didn't even know that Pinkie Pie was here!”
“Really? She seems like a close friend of yours!”
“Yeah, well—”
“Seems kind of a jerk move to totally miss out on her friggin' home town and stuff, pal. Heheheh—”
“Look, this was my first time here!” Rainbow pointed out the cave. “And in case you noticed, it doesn't exactly scream 'Pinkie Pie' from the looks of it outside!”
“Trixie feels like sc-screaming!” The unicorn gulped. “D-does that count?”
“Trixie has a point, Pinkie,” Maud said. “Mom and dad will murder you in cold blood if you walk home wearing that.”
“What?! Oh you mean this ol' thing?!” Pinkie gestured at her nude pink self. “Oh, it's just something I threw on!” She giggled. “I got it on my birthday!” She giggled some more.
“Nnnnnngh...” Rainbow face-hoofed.
“Pinkie. The rules.” Maud stared.
“Heeheehee! Okay! Okay, fine! Watch this!” She stood up on her hind quarters, slapped her forelimbs together, and spun spun spun spunspunspunsp-sp-sp-spun until she was a fuchsia blur. When at last she swiveled to a stop, Pinkie wore a star-spangled leotard with a silver lasso and matching golden hoof-braces. “Tadaaaa! Linda Canter, eat your heart out!” She beamed at the others. “What do you think?”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow blinked.
“Two hooves up, Chuckles!” Daring grinned.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie's brain is breaking...” She sniffled. “Just like her h-home.”
“Awwwwww!” Pinkie pouted. “Nopony deserves a long face! Even if they were a ursa minor mulling meanie head in the past!”
“For the last time, Trixie did not—”
“It's okay! I'll change!” Pinkie grasped the leotard and yanked it off. A fluffy pink dress fwoomped out. “See? I'm Princess Trotstool! Heehee get it?!”
Trixie gawked. “...Trixie demands to know if you are a wizard...”
“Pfft! Nothing to it!” Pinkie twirled a parasol above her golden crown. “You'll be amazed what kind of stuff you can hide in your mane while bouncing cross-country!”
“I've been struggling to contain my excitement,” Maud Pie droned. “But Pinkie, perhaps you may have—”
“Of course, ya horse!” Pinkie reached into her mane, fiddled around, and pulled out a buttery brown mass. “There ya go! Sugarcube Corner Peanut Brittle! Just the way you like it!” She tossed at Maud.
Maud took a bite out of it without moving. She chewed and chewed, her lazy eyes blinking across the cave. “Mmmmm...” She gazed at Rainbow Dash. “...it's hairy.”
“... ... ...” Rainbow sighed. “Look...” She pivoted. “Pinkie—”
“I'm sorry, Rainbow!” Pinkie squealed in a raspy voice, eyelashes fluttering bashfully. “But I'm afraid your Pinkie is in another castle—”
“Darn it!” Rainbow slapped her hooves. “I'm serious!”
“Heeheehee!” Pinkie giggled into a lace glove. “Well, everypony can see that, silly!”
“I think the champ here...” Daring wandered over and slapped a hoof over Rainbow's shoulder. “...was about to tell us about this team she had assembled to gather the shard!”
“What?! I... I'm telling you!” Rainbow snarled. “I did not assemble a—” She paused. She glanced aside.
Pinkie sashayed around in her flouncing dress. Maud stood, chewing on a muzzle ful of peanut brittle. Trixie stood, forelimbs folded under her robe as she bore the mother of all scowls. Daring Do tilted her pith helmet and grinned at Rainbow expectantly.
“... ... ...” Rainbow took at look at her saddlebag with a Lancie-shaped lump inside. She took a deep breath. “So... this team is gathered together to help me find something.” She narrowed her eyes. “Something that will get the heat off our backs and even possibly earn Trixie her stupid shack back.”
“Ooooh! Adventures! I love those things!”
“Mmmmffffnnnghll...”
“Heh, now we're talkin'!
“The Great and Powerful Trixie will do anything for her stup—... er, I mean her wonderfully crafted house back!”