//------------------------------// // The Invite // Story: Friendship Through the Years // by Fire Feather //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash awoke to loud snoring from across the room and sunlight straight in her face. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, inching to the edge of the bed in preparation for actually getting up. All of a sudden, the phone rang. This caused the snoring to come to an abrupt halt as the owner woke up and started searching for the phone. Her and Rainbow collided, sending the rainbow haired girl crashing to the floor with an audible thump. Aria Blaze quickly apologized and grabbed the phone. "Hello. Aria Blaze speaking. Who is this?" "HELLO ARIA!!!" Confetti burst from the phone, showering the half asleep Aria. "This is PINKIE!!! How've you been?" "Uh..." Aria's mouth hung open as she tried to figure out what was going on. Confetti coming from the phone was just too much for her half-asleep brain to comprehend. She covered the mouthpiece with her hand as she turned to look at Rainbow. "What do I do? It's Pinkie. Help me," came the frantic hiss from a now terrified Aria. She had only just gotten used to the idea of being friends with the overly energetic pink thing that was Pinkie, and being called by Pinkie when she was still sleepy and in her pajamas did nothing to endear Pinkie to her. "Put her on speaker," came Rainbow's responding groan from where she was still tangled. "Ok. Um, hi Pinkie. I'm just going to put you on speaker now." "OK! Hi, Rainbow Dash! Have you made any new songs or won any medals? I bet you've won lots and lots. I think you've won a gold, and a sliver, and another gold, and another silver, and a-" Pinkie's rambling was quickly cut off by Rainbow Dash. "Pinkie. Pinkieee. PINKIE, SHUT UP ALREADY!!! Sometimes other people want to talk as well." Silence. Awkward silence. "Oh, ok Dashie! I'll be quiet now." "Thank you." "Um," Aria asked, "Why are you calling us at 7:30 in the morning? I know RD always gets up this early, but I actually want to sleep in, if you don't mind." "Why am I calling you?" Pinkie asked in a pondering tone of voice, like she had forgotten. "No, Pinkie, that's what we're asking," Rainbow's reply was an irritated one. First she had been tangled, and now that she was untangled, she had to deal with a easily distracted Pinkie Pie. The day was not looking up. An excited 'squee' came from the phone. "The reason I called you is cause all of us are going to go to an island resort. Doesn't that sound awesome?" "Um, Pinkie?" Rainbow sounded slightly worried. "Yeaah?" "What exactly do you mean by 'all of us'?" "What do you think I mean? All of us are going. Coming. Is it coming or going? I just confuzzled myself. Oh well! Applejack, Twilight, Sunset, and me are going!" "What about the others and their ah... roommates?" Aria interjected nervously. "Are they coming too?" "Well, you two are, so of course the others are! It's. Going. To. Be. AWESOME!!!!" Both Rainbow and Aria were forced back from the phone as Pinkie proclaimed the vacation's awesomeness. "Ok, Pinkie. So, when are we going to go?" "Today's Friday, right?" "Yes..." "Ok. Our flight leaves in about two hours. Island Hopper Airlines. Flight 248. See you there!" With that, Pinkie hung up, leaving a shell-shocked Rainbow and a worried Aria behind. "Uh, Rainbow? Are we actually doing this?" Aria addressed her roommate, jolting her back into reality. "Yeah! With me there, it'll be 20 percent cooler! You heard Pinkie. Our flight leaves at 9:30. Get packed! This is going to be epic!" Aria could only worry about the upcoming trip as she brushed her teeth and changed out of her pajamas. With this bunch, you could never predict what would or could happen. They had been friends for a few years now, and things had been going well. Rarity had discovered that Adagio had a talent for designing, so she had taken the former siren under her wing. Aria was almost as competitive as Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow had introduced her to sports, which was a great idea. Kind of. After the shattering of her gem, Sonata lost her voice completely and became very shy. Fluttershy felt sorry for her and helped her get used to the idea of no talking. Sonata had quickly become a helper at the animal shelter and got along with the animals well. They had graduated highschool and gone to different colleges, but they were still friends. Twilight and Sunset both got scholarships one of the best colleges there was, which was no surprise to their friends. Pinkie Pie had skipped college and gone to some T.V. show auditions, much to the skepticism and disapproval of Twilight. She managed to land a spot as a host for a little kids' show, which surprised everybody. Rarity and Adagio had gone to a fashion/design college, while Applejack took business classes at the community college when she had time. Rainbow and Aria had gone to the college with the best athletic program, plus they each had a partial scholarship. Fluttershy was taking veterinarian classes and hoped to travel around the world raising awareness about endangered species. Sonata was working with some kids at the local college, trying to create something that would allow people who had lost their voice to speak. Although the ten of them went to various different colleges and took different classes, they regularly saw each other and video called every Saturday. They shared songs that they came up with, and hoped to compose an album that showed how such different people could get along. Twilight had come up with the idea that 50 percent of the profits would go to various charities, and the rest would be split evenly between all of them. The island trip would be interesting, Aria decided as she stuffed clothing in her suitcase. "Hurry up!" Rainbow yelled at her. "Yeah, yeah," Aria grumbled as she slammed her suitcase closed and jumped in RD's car. Slamming the gas pedal, Rainbow sped out of the apartment's parking lot and towards the airport, Aria yelling at her to slow down.