Of Bubbles and Books

by Bunnybooze79

Chapter 4

The afternoon went by in a hurry.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle had been going over the pegasus' notes on similarities between them and the events in the Daring Do novels. Twilight soon added more things to the steadily growing list that Rainbow Dash had missed. It did indeed seem that the author had used them as inspiration.

Spike had taken the opportunity to spend some time outside and had left the two mares with their research. He did not know what they were actually researching, but the welcome break from his duties would not go unwasted. In the end he spent the afternoon eating icecream and napping in the park, after it became clear that Rarity had her hooves full with the crusaders.

Twilight had taken a moment, where Rainbow went out to fetch something to eat for them, to mark this and the previous day in her calendar. She felt that the events so far had to be noted down somewhere. For Rainbow Dash of all ponies to demand that she should read a book and then do research on her own was most certainly a noteworthy turn of events.

After eating the food that Rainbow Dash had picked up from the restaurant, they turned back to their research. Currently both were compiling a list of ponies that might be the author.

“Well…that brings us to thirty seven.” Twilight said and released the quill from her magical grasp.

“What about the Sofa’s and Quill’s clerk?” Rainbow Dash suggested while examining the stack of novels in front of her.

“Thirty eight then.” She added the name to her list.

“Kinda dumb that the author never put his name anywhere in the book. That would have made it easier to find him….or her.” Rainbow Dash sprawled out on the floor using a small stack of books as an impromptu pillow.

“I guess he or she wants to stay anonymous.” Twilight went back over the list and found a name mentioned twice. She scribbled out one of them.

“But why do that? If it would be me writing those stories I would love the attention they would bring me.”

“Some ponies just don’t like the attention as much as you do Rainbow Dash.” Twilight flinched as her pegasus friend suddenly bolted upright.

“Do you think it could be Fluttershy?” she asked.

“Well she doesn’t like the attention that’s for sure. I don’t think she writes or even knows of Daring Do.” Twilight said halfheartedly.

“Or what if it isn’t a he or she, but an it?”

“I don’t follow. An it? As in not a pony?”

“Yeah. Perhaps its one of Fluttershy’s animal friends. Perhaps even that bunny.”

“And you think Fluttershy wouldn’t notice? What am I saying….it won’t be the bunny.”

“You know what rhymes with bunny? FUNNY!” a sudden third voice joined in, causing both mares to jump at the unexpected interruption.

A loud bang echoed through the library and Rainbow Dash suddenly found herself covered in streamers. She glanced over to Twilight who fared no better and had her equal share of streamers covering her frame.

“Pinkie!” Twilight removed some of the offending material from her face. “What are you doing with your party cannon here in the library?”

“Setting up the party of course!” Pinkie happily explained and fired off another round that hit the table they were sitting at and inexplicably covered it with a tablecloth and an empty punchbowl along with several stacks of paper cups. Twilight would one day have to get her hooves on that cannon to see how it actually worked.

“Party? Oh right.” The unicorn glanced over to the clock on the wall and saw that the scheduled party was about to take place in less than an hour.

“You need any help setting up?” Twilight asked while removing the streamers from her mane.

“The rest of my supplies are outside. You could bring them inside if you want.” Pinkie answered while carefully aiming her cannon at a wall. Then she punched the button and with a loud bang a glob of cake batter shot from the barrel, coating the wall in a thick layer.

“Oopsie. Seems like I mixed the ingredients up again.”

Twilight gave the sheepishly grinning party pony an angry glare. Using her magic she collected the books from her earlier studying and carefully filed them away on an empty shelf.

“I guess I’ll be cleaning up then, before the party starts.” She grumbled and kept glaring daggers at Pinkie, who now was licking some of the batter from the wall.

“Okie, dokie, lokie! Should we leave this here for the guests?” Pinkie seemed to be serious about her suggestion. “It would save a lot of space if we just coated the walls with food. That way we could have more games for ponies to play. Oh or how about we coat the ceiling with the food? Then if a pony is hungry they would just have to look up and open their mouths. Hmmm…but how to keep it up without falling down all the time.”

Twilight decided to intervene before her plans got any more ludicrous.

“Just a regular normal party, Pinkie. Any experiments of that nature you can do during one of your special themed parties.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief as the pink pony stopped her musings and happily turned her attention on decorating the room.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile had taken it upon herself to bring in the supplies form outside. How Pinkie Pie had managed to bring four tables, a huge trunk full of party games and several saddlebags worth of balloons here all by herself remained a mystery.

She was just about to bring in the last table as a familiar voice spoke up behind her.

“Hey, Boss.” Thunderlane said and landed beside his superior.

“What’s up Thunderlane? You here for the party?” she asked and stopped her efforts with the table.

“No, sorry. I promised Rumble to go out flying with him later.” He answered and nosed open one of his saddlebags. The letter he retrieved from within was open and bore the logo of Cloudsdale’s Weather Factory. “I got this by mistake I think. It’s addressed to me, but the letter inside is meant for you.”

Rainbow Dash took the letter from his hoof and began reading.

“Dear Rainbow Dash, we hereby invite you to the mandatory seminar of autonomous water collection methods. Please be in the…bla bla bla. Oh great, that’s tomorrow.” Rainbow Dash groaned at the prospect of having to sit through a boring seminar. “And it’s for three days. Ugh!”

“Sorry, Boss.” Thunderlane could easily sympathize with his boss. A three day seminar meant sitting still and paying attention for something most likely very boring.

“Can’t be helped I guess. At least Cloudsdale is close at the moment. So I won’t have to leave today and can still get there on time if I leave in the morning. Could you do me a favor?” she asked and stuck the letter back into its envelope.

“Sure thing! What do you need?”

“Could you take care of the weather assignments for those three days? If it’s not much to do you can divide my sector amongst the team. Otherwise recruit one of the backup weatherponies from the list. You know which list I mean?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, we can handle things until you get back.” Thunderlane gave her a confident smile.

“Thanks.” Rainbow Dash gave him a hoofbump in return and turned back to her task of bringing in the last table.

“Have fun at the seminar!” Thunderlane said as he went airborne.

“I won’t.” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk.

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Preparations went smoothly and soon the library had transformed into a party zone. Twilight had sent most of the time covering up the shelves of books out of fear they might be stained during the festivities. Rainbow Dash circled under the ceiling and put a few balloons in place, while Pinkie Pie set up the last game for the evening.

“And now the party can start!” she said with a trademark smile. “Aaaaand I thought of a perfect little pick me up for our guest of honor.”

“And what might that be?” Twilight asked a bit unsure of whether she really wanted to know.

“Well she loves muffins, so I am going to make her a huuuuge muffin later on. That does mean I have to leave the party for a while, but I am sure you can manage.” Pinkie ignored the unamused stare that Twilight gave her while she patted her head with a hoof. “The first guests should be arriving riiiight about now!”

As if on cue the front door opened and a pink maned yellow head peaked inside.

“I…uhm…am I too early? I could come back later if you want?” Fluttershy timidly asked. Before anypony could answer her she was slowly shoved inside by pony behind her.

Applejack ignored the weak protests from her friend and made her way inside with her. A somewhat impressive feat as she also was carrying a barrel on her back at the same time.

“Howdy! Guess we are right on time.” Applejack gave her friends a tired smile. “Ah brought a barrel of our special cider fer the occasion.” With practiced moves she hefted the barrel from her back onto the floor.

“The special special cider?” Rainbow Dash asked with a greedy glint in her eyes as she landed beside the barrel.

“Yup, the adults only variety.” The farmpony replied with a smirk.

“Awwww….and I have to be up early on Monday.” Rainbow Dash pouted causing the mare beside her to chuckle.

“Are you ok Applejack? You seem kind of tired.” Twilight asked noting the dark rings underneath the orange mare’s eyes.

“We had a bit of trouble at the farm last night. A timberwolf got inside the barn and we spent all night trying to chase it back to the forest. By the time we were finished it was day already, so we jus’ continued on with the harvest.” Applejack explained and yawned.

“Oh my. How did it get in?”

“Busted part of the fence. We fixed that real quick, right when we found it. Guess it musta broken during the last storm.” She reported and rolled the barrel over to a table in the corner.

“Perhaps I could find some kind of warding spell to keep them away.” Twilight said more to herself.

“That would be mighty kind of ya. Ah am just happy none of the fillies were there, they most likely would have wanted to get their cutie marks in wolf catching or somethin’ like that.”

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It didn’t take long for more and more ponies to show up and soon the library was bustling with activity. One of the later arrivals was a grey pegasus mare who seemed uneasy as she entered the party zone. Before she could have a look around her field of vision became pink.

“Hiya! Sooooo happy you could make it!” Pinkie happily chirped and gave the pegasus a quick hug, that left the mare catching her breath. “Have fun and enjoy the party!” she said and bounced over to the next late arrival.

Derpy casually walked over to a table decked out in treats. To her disappointment there were no muffins to be seen anywhere. So she opted to have a slice of pie instead. A few ponies greeted her, but otherwise did not interrupt her walk towards a table in the corner. Here she could eat in peace and observe what was happening.

She was surprised to see that the decoration on the table was in fact the head of Berry Punch, who was resting face down on the surface. After careful prodding of the mare, who hiccupped once in return, she shrugged and ate her pie.

Applejack was watching of the cutie mark crusaders who were playing a board game of sorts. She looked like she was beginning to fall asleep. Derpy briefly wondered what had tired her out so much, assuming it must have had something to do with her work on the farm. Her gaze shifted over to two ponies in another section of the party. Rarity and Fluttershy were having a discussion.

“Oh I am so excited to visit Canterlot again.” Rarity said to her companion.

“Do…do you think a lot of ponies will be there?” The pegasus asked, looking rather nervous at the prospect. Indeed she did not seem all that happy to be here at this party, as large crowds made her uneasy.

“At Celestia’s garden party? Of course my Dear. It is the grandest of all parties, next to the Grand Galloping Gala of course.”

“Oh my….”

“Mind you, it is more of a private gathering of the most important ponies in Equestria. So I assume that there will be less in attendance.”

“That sounds much better.” A small smile briefly appeared on Fluttershy’s lips.

“Then again, those that will be there will no doubt scrutinize every single step you take and judge you mercilessly for any missteps.” Rarity thought back to Fancy Pants party a while back. While that had turned out alright, she was very well aware that had it not been for his intervention things would have taken a nasty turn. The social elite was indeed akin to piranhas that had sniffed out a drop of blood, in their case a drop of social misstep, and would tear into them with rabid fever.

“And we will be in the company of a lot of politicians if I understood Twilight correctly. They can also be quite the nuisance.” Rarity drank a bit of her punch levitating in front of her.

“No doubt that oaf Blueblood will be there as well.” she scrunched up her nose at the thought. “But I bet it will be a grand event nevertheless.”

“S…so there won’t be anypony nice there?” Fluttershy meekly asked.

“Well Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor will be attending. So that’s at least two ponies you know that are nice. And of course Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur De Lis will be there as well. You remember them from the garden party we crashed during Twilight’s birthday?”

“Yes, but I also remember a lot of angry ponies there.”

“Don’t worry about them. I am sure only a few of them will be there.” Rarity informed her shy friend.

“Only a few? Why?” Fluttershy asked out of curiosity.

“They are scared.” Rarity finished her drink and set the empty cup down.

“S…scared?” Fluttershy’s eyes went wide.

“Yes. After the Canterlot Royal Wedding this is the next big social gathering. Since the changeling Queen and her minions never have been found there is of course an element of uncertainty of when they might return. An event such as this would be a good place to strike, what with all important ponies being present.”

“Changelings? Strike?” Fluttershy had barely managed to squeak out those two words and was now shaking.

Rarity shot an angry glare across the room to Rainbow Dash, who was stuffing her face with some cake. The pegasus made sure that Rarity would see her gluttonous display.

“I hope that goes straight to your hips.” Rarity grumbled under her breath and made show of looking away from the now grinning cyan mare.

“I would not worry too much, my Dear. After all the ponies responsible for halting the changelings will be present and I am sure Princess Celestia would not let something like that happen again.” Rarity reassured her shaking friend.

“Then again I wonder if she has the time to check all ponies, specifically the staff. Hmm do you think changelings might be able to change into other species as well? Such as larger animals or such?” The last sentence caused any resolve the pegasus had to evaporate. She tried to hide behind a larger potted plant.

“I am not going to that party!” she squeaked and tried to bury her head in the soil.

“Oh come now Fluttershy, was it something I said?” Rarity asked with concern, oblivious to the effect of her previous thoughts on the looming garden party.

Derpy watched the strange behavior of Fluttershy from across the room. Obviously the fashionista had said something to the frightened pegasus that now made her bury herself in the pot of a large plant. She watched as the white unicorn tried unsuccessfully to coax her out of her chosen hiding place. The mare next to Derpy hiccupped once more, but otherwise remained motionless.

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Rainbow Dash had finished off eating the large slice of cake and to her glee she saw the desired effect it had on Rarity. She had learned her lesson of pranking Rarity the hard way, but that did not stop her from teasing the fashionista every once in a while. Briefly she toyed with the idea of having just a small cup of cider, but knew that it most probably wouldn’t end with just one. Any further thoughts on the matter were halted anyway as she heard the sound of small hoofsteps beside her.

“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said with a small flutter of her wings.

“Hey there, Squirt. Having fun?” Rainbow Dash asked and ruffled the filly’s mane with a hoof. She giggled in return, but it was obvious from her shuffling of her hooves that she had something on her mind.

“Yeah, uhm… could I ask you something? In private?” the little filly looked around making sure that nopony had heard her request.

“Of course.” Rainbow was intrigued to what the filly had to say. “Let’s go on the balcony.”

Together they made their way upstairs, Rainbow Dash opting to walk instead of fly. It had become second nature to her to walk everywhere with her number one fan and little sister, as long as she could not yet fly. Once outside Rainbow Dash greedily inhaled the fresh cool air.

“So…what’s up?” she said and settled onto her haunches in front of the orange filly.

“Errr…I heard you were going to the garden party.” Scootaloo began with an unsure smile.

“That thing? I bet that will be soooo boring, hanging around stuffy snobby ponies all the time. As I heard there won’t even be any of the Wonderbolts there either. If I had the choice I wouldn’t even go, but being the Element of Loyalty and all, I guess I have to go.” Rainbow Dash explained fully aware of the fillies reactions to her words.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t want to go the either if I were you.” She shakily replied and rubbed her foreleg with her hoof. “That sounds totally uncool.”

Rainbow Dash knew full well what the filly was playing at and couldn’t help but give her a lopsided grin.

“That’s too bad that you think that way. ‘Cause I was planning to take you along.”

Instantly the filly’s demeanor changed from semi-disappointment to exuberant excitement.

“Really? You want to take me to Canterlot?” her little wings buzzed with joy.

“Of course. Rarity and Applejack are taking their little sisters along and it wouldn’t be fair if I couldn’t take mine, would it?” She smiled as Scootaloo lurched forward to give her a big hug.

“Thank you!” the little filly smiled at her big sister with large eyes.

They remained in the hug for a moment, when Rainbow Dash had an idea.

“We haven’t been out flying lately. It’s still early so what do you say about going out for a spin?”

“That would be awesome!” Scootaloo hopped in place for a moment happy as could be.

“Cool, just wait here. I’ll tell somepony inside that we are heading out.” Rainbow Dash left the filly on the balcony and rejoined the party. After briefly scanning the attending ponies and grabbing her saddlebags from the corner, she decided to tell Applejack about her plans with Scootaloo.

The orange farmpony was barely able to keep her eyes open while watching Sweetie Belle and Applebloom play their little board game.

“Hey, AJ. Me and the Squirt will head out for a bit of flying together. I’ll drop her off at home once we are done. Can you tell the others if anypony asks?”

“Mmmh? Whazzat? Oh…uh yeah Ah’ll tell em.” Applejack managed a weak smile. “Ya two have fun.”

“Are you ok, AJ? You don’t seem too hot at the moment.” Rainbow Dash asked with concern, full well remembering the events that had happened the last time the orange earthpony had been so tired.

“Yeh, don’t ya worry none. Ah’m fine.” Applejack’s reply was slightly slurred. Rainbow Dash bent down to the fillies playing on the floor.

“Could you two keep an eye out for AJ? Make sure she doesn’t fall asleep or do something crazy?”

“Sure thing Rainbow Dash! Ya can’t count on us!” Applebloom said and gave the mare a quick salute.

“Say good night to Scootaloo from us.” Sweetie Belle chimed in before the pegasus left them to take care of Applejack and their board game.

On the balcony a little orange purple maned filly was anxiously zipping about awaiting the return of Rainbow Dash. In an imitation of Pinkie Pie she bounced in place as her idol trotted on to the balcony.

“Ready for some fun?” she asked with a wide smile.

“You bet!”

“Then climb aboard the fun express!” Rainbow Dash said and bent down to allow the filly to climb onto her back. Once she was in position and felt the little forelegs get a grasp around her neck, Rainbow Dash flared her wings open and with powerful flaps took off into the sky.

____________________________________________________________________

Derpy had watched Rainbow Dash disappear upstairs with Scootaloo and then moments later seen her return. She watched her exchange words with a very tired looking Applejack and then going back upstairs after briefly talking to the two fillies on the floor. That was the last she saw of Rainbow Dash that evening.

The relationship that Rainbow Dash had with Scootaloo puzzled her somewhat. As far as she knew they weren’t related in any way and up until a few months ago rather distant. Obviously something had changed between them that she wasn’t aware of.

She took note of Twilight near the doorway to the kitchen. The unicorn seemed a little off somehow, as if she had something that preoccupied her thoughts and did not let her focus on the party. Pinkie Pie came bouncing over to the lavender mare and briefly chatted with her. Then faster than Derpy could blink the pink party pony zoomed out the front door at high speed. She had long ago stopped questioning Pinkie eccentric behavior and kept her eye on Twilight, while the other eye lazily gazed along the wall to her right.

___________________________________________________________________

“What did Pinkie Pie say?” Spike asked while holding a corncob at arm’s length. With a quick breath of dragonfire he popped the corn and collected it in a bucket underneath. This was the task given to him by Twilight to help with the party.

“Hmm? Oh, she just went to sugar cube corner.” Twilight kept a sharp eye out for Cheerilee in the crowd of ponies. The teacher was top of the list of possible suspects of ponies that might be the mysterious author of the Daring Do books. After an initial chat with the mare she had begun avoiding Twilight afterwards. This was highly suspicious in Twilight’s book and only made her more determined to corner the mare and interview her further.

“Why? Did she forget something?” Spike asked and began salting the finished bucket of popcorn.

“Mmmhm.” Twilight hummed and craned her neck up to spot her target.

“Are you even listening to me?” Spike raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Yes, you do that.” Twilight murmured.

“So, it’s ok if I eat a tub of ice cream for dinner?” Spike tried to see if Twilight was paying any attention to him.

“Yes, that’s nice.” Apparently she did not. Spike hopped down from the small stool he had used to reach the kitchen counter and made a bee line to the icebox. Just in case Twilight did catch on to what he had asked he wanted to get a few spoonfuls of ice cream into his belly. His fears were for nothing however, for when he turned away from his rummaging in the icebox the purple unicorn had left her position at the door.

Twilight circled the room almost like a shark looking out for her prey. She had briefly spotted Cheerilee ducking behind another pony out of her sight while she had waited by the kitchen doorway. The teacher was obviously avoiding her and Twilight wanted to know why that was. Amidst the ponies partying a game of cat and mouse took place.

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High up above Ponyville Rainbow Dash and her passenger landed on a cloud to watch the sunset. Their flight together had been relatively short, but fun all the same. Scootaloo had kept egging Rainbow Dash on to fly faster and do more loopings, requests that the cyan pegasus gladly fulfilled. The little filly slid off the larger mare’s back onto the cloud, her little wings still buzzing from the rush of flying.

Side by side they laid down on their bellies and watched the sun paint the landscape beneath them in a soft orange glow. Rainbow Dash rested her head on the cloud and lazily let her eyes wander over the houses down below.

“How was your crusading this weekend?” she asked Scootaloo, who was doing the same as her idol.

“It was fun. We tried rock climbing and deep sea fishing.” She reported and pressed her muzzle in the soft cloud.

“No luck with your cutie mark?” Rainbow Dash asked although she already knew the answer. The filly lift her head to look at her blank flank and simply sighed a no.

“Don’t worry, Squirt. I bet you will have an awesome cutie mark one day. Way more cooler than rock climbing or deep sea fishing. How did you try for that anyway?”

“We tied a bit of string to a long stick and went to the lake.” Scootaloo explained and rested her head back on the cloud.

“So…like fishing?” Rainbow Dash enquired.

“It was a really long piece of string. And a longer stick of course.”

“Of course.” Rainbow Dash repeated and hid her smirk in the cloud. “Catch anything?”

“Nah. I said we should have used bait or at least a hook. Just tying a rock to the end didn’t really help all that much.” Scootaloo explained and prodded the cloud a bit with her right hoof.

“In the end we decided to try our hoof at building a mudcastle.” The filly continued. Rainbow Dash could not help but laugh a bit.

“I bet Rarity was fond of that idea.” The cyan mare snickered at the thought of muddy hoofprints all through her boutique.

“She totally flipped out for a moment. Couldn’t even make a sound, but just made some kind of wheezing noise. For a moment we thought we broke her.” Scootaloo giggled along with the larger mare beside her.

“But we made it up to her later, after we cleaned the mess we made.”

“How did you do that?” Rainbow Dash wanted to know.

“We had to help her make dresses.” Scootaloo said and folded her ears back. That had been an activity she did not enjoy.

“Like sewing and stuff?” Rainbow Dash’s knowledge about dressmaking started at sewing and ended there as well.

“We just had to stand still as models, while she did all the work. She made me wear this really girly froo-frooey dress.” Scootaloo scrunched up her nose at the memory of having to stand still for hours on end.

“Didn’t like the dress? That’s bad news, Squirt. ‘Cause that’s the one you’re supposed to wear at the garden party.” Out of the corner of her eye she watched the filly’s eyes widen with surprise.

“You mean you are giving me that dress?” she asked and failed miserably at concealing her joy.

“Rarity is. She insisted to make you each a dress to wear and keep for future occasions like that.” Rainbow Dash explained and shifted onto her side.

“Really? Just like that?” Scootaloo seemed genuinely surprised.

“She is the Element of Generosity for a reason, you know?” the larger mare gave the small filly beside her a smile.

“That’s…wow…that’s just more than I have ever…” she trailed off at the end, at a loss for words.

They remained lying side by side until the sun finally set. Scootaloo kept smiling all the time, while Rainbow Dash simply looked down below at the houses. An idea popped into her head as her gaze shifted to the large mansion of the Rich family. Her head shot up from the resting position and she turned to the filly beside her.

“Say, Scoot….how’d you feel about covering Diamond Tiara’s house in toilet paper?” Rainbow Dash put on her most innocent looking face possible. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, but could not keep a smile from forming on her lips.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah. You in or not?”

“You bet I’m in. Right now?”

“Need to get the paper first and of course we have to prepare ourselves for that mission.” Rainbow Dash stood up and lowered her front half to allow Scootaloo to climb on.

“Prepare ourselves? What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked while she gripped Rainbow Dash around the neck.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Rainbow Dash answered with a lopsided grin and took to the skies.

_________________________________________________________________

The party was not going well for the grey pegasus. She had briefly ventured out to other tables to procure some more food or drink, every time trying to strike up a conversation with ponies near her. While they did greet her and gave her a friendly smile, they were all wrapped up in their own discussions with other ponies. In the end Derpy always returned back to the table with the unconscious Berry Punch. At least the drunken passed out mare was not avoiding her, a feeling she picked up from the others in the room.

She sat with drooped ears at the table and nibbled at her third slice of pie. Out of the corner of her left eye she spotted Twilight Sparkle heading her way. The unicorn had managed to catch Cheerilee a few moments earlier and seemed to have a very animated discussion with her. A loud snore from Applejack had distracted Twilight and the other mare had taken the chance and fled somewhere else. Now it seemed as if the unicorn was back on the hunt.

She smiled briefly at Derpy when she arrived at the table. Without warning she thrust her head under the tablecloth and pulled back after not finding her target.

“Enjoying the party?” Twilight asked, but kept looking all over the place instead of focusing on the pony she had asked. Derpy decided to answer honestly.

“No I am not. As a matter of fact I am feeling rather left out.” She gave the unicorn an expectant look.

“That’s great. Happy to hear that.” Twilight said and trotted off to the next possible hiding spot, obviously not having heard a word the pegasus had said.

Derpy sighed and took another bite of the pie in front of her. Berry Punch hiccupped once.
“You said it.” Derpy answered her, letting her head hang moments later as she realized that had been the most meaningful discussion she had all evening.

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Rainbow Dash landed with Scootaloo on her back in front of Town Hall. Luckily she had packed the keys to the place earlier when gathering her research for Twilight. She unlocked the big front doors and ushered the little filly inside once she had hopped off Rainbow Dash’s back.

“What are we doing here?” the filly whispered in the dark reception area.

“Supplies, Scoots. No need to whisper, we are all alone here.” Rainbow Dash closed the doors and trotted past the filly up the stairs to their right. Without hesitating and not wanting to be left alone in the dark empty room Scootaloo followed her up the flight of stairs.

She was breathing heavily once they reached the top floor. As to be expected Rainbow Dash wasn’t breathing heavily and most likely saw the trek up the stairs as just a warm up. Accompanied by Scootaloo’s sound of breathing and their muffled hoofsteps on carpet they arrived at a plain door. Scootaloo could not read the little sign attached to the door, but figured Rainbow Dash would tell her eventually. She was still uneasy about being here, as the upstairs areas were meant only for ponies who worked here.

Rainbow Dash unlocked the door and switched on the light in the room. The sudden change in brightness blinded the filly for a moment and she stumbled with a hoof raised in front of her eyes into the room. After a while her eyes had adjusted and she looked at the surprisingly large room she was now standing in.

“What is this place?” she asked and looked over to Rainbow Dash who had sat down behind a desk. The cyan mare spread her forelegs in a wide gesture and gave Scootaloo a trademark grin.

“This is Ponyville’s weather team headquarters. Feel free to look around.” Rainbow Dash began opening the drawers of the desk and rummaged around in them looking for something.

Scootaloo sat down in the middle of the room and looked once around the room. She had wondered sometimes before what the weather team’s workplace looked like. As usual in these type of situations her imagination had been a lot better than reality.

A large window dominated the outside wall and was big enough to let a pegasus fly in with ease. Left and right of the window were several lockers that had seen better times in the past, but looked sturdy and robust enough to last a few more decades. She briefly scanned the names on the lockers.

Flitter, Blossomforth, Cloud Kicker, Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash.

The other five lockers in the corner also had names on them, but the light did not quite reach all the way so she turned her attention away from them. A small two seater couch with a beaten up coffee table in front of it also had seen better days. The dark brown material had rips in it and Scootaloo could see a bunch of feathers of all colors stuck between the cushions. A few magazines were scattered over the table. Next to the couch a small refrigerator hummed. Judging by the state of the other furniture she decided not to have a look inside. On top of the refrigerator an old coffee maker had its place. Years of coffee stains had turned the previously white top of the refrigerator into a dark brown surface.

A small niche followed outfitted with a sink and a small surface to prepare things. An open packet of sugar lumps was currently the only thing on the surface. The wall above the sink had an open rack fixed to it with ten large mugs waiting to be used. After careful inspection she saw that each mug had a spoon in it and were surprisingly clean.

Scootaloo gave the mostly empty bookshelf next to the sink only a quick glance. The three books she could spot seemed to be uninteresting. The door through which they had entered came next. Beside it was a hat stand with one long lime green scarf hanging from it. Judging by the coat of dust covering it, it rarely saw any use or the owner simply forgot it was here.

Next was the desk that Rainbow Dash was rummaging through, a light brown simple but sturdy desk. The same kind of desk that almost all governmental institutions seemed to have. All Scootaloo could currently see of Rainbow Dash were her wings and her mane bobbing up and down as she dug around in the drawers. The surface of the desk was painfully bare. One notepad, a couple of pens and a small lamp seemed lost on the large surface. Behind the desk and the single boring chair that Rainbow Dash had ignored, hung a selection of posters. A few movie posters, one Wonderbolt poster and a few postcards plastered the wall and would have brought some color to the place, but the colors were faded from prolonged exposure to direct sunlight and everything seemed to blend into various shades of brown.

The only bit of color in the room seemed to concentrate on one side of it. On the opposite wall from where the couch stood was a large whiteboard covered in squiqqles and lines that made no sense to the young filly. To the left of it was a rather large bulletin board and to the right of it was a single unmarked door. All that was between the door and the lockers was a single paper basket filled to the brim with crumpled up balls of paper. Scootaloo decided to inspect the bulletin board more closely as it was the only interesting thing here.

It turned out to be less interesting then she had thought it would be. A couple of memo’s about sudden weather changes that deviated from the schedule, two notices to keep an eye out for lost items during weather patrol and a picture of the weather team standing side by side and grinning into the camera. What did catch her eye was a drawn picture that she recognized immediately.

“Hey, that’s the picture I drew for you a few weeks ago.” Rainbow Dash froze for a moment before looking over to the filly. Slightly embarrassed she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Yeah. I thought it might make this place a bit nicer and I….well…kinda wanted something here from you as well.” Rainbow Dash had a distinct pink coloring of her cheeks at this point. “Kinda sappy huh?”

“Kinda, but in a good way.” Scootaloo smiled at the larger mare, who returned it and continued going through the drawers.

“Come on, come on….I know you are here somewhere.” She mumbled to herself.

“What are you looking for?” Scootaloo asked and hopped up onto the chair behind Rainbow Dash.

“I am looking for….aaaaaaHA! I am looking for this!” Rainbow Dash proudly held the item towards the filly. It was a laminated badge indicating that Rainbow Dash was Ponyville’s captain of the weather team. Birthdate, and various other numbers littered the small piece of plastic. What made Scootaloo laugh out loud was the small picture of Rainbow Dash. Never before had she seen her with such a bored expression.

“Hey…don’t laugh. It’s mandatory for all employees to look as bored as possible when taking these pictures. Only then do they believe that you work for the government.” She explained and nudged the filly playfully in the side.

“What do we need that for if we are toilet papering a house?” Scootaloo asked and stopped her giggling for a moment.

“I need this for Monday. I have to attend a three day seminar in Cloudsdale and they’ll only let me in if I wear this thing.” Rainbow Dash explained and put the badge into a special compartment in her saddlebag. She glanced inside and trotted over to her locker. With practiced moves she unlocked her locker without even looking. Carefully she placed her research notes from the study session with Twilight into it. She would need all the space she could get for the plans of the evening.

Once the bags were empty she shut the locker again. The letter that Thunderlane had given her she tucked under her wing and trotted up to the whiteboard. What had just been weird symbols to Scootaloo, were complex weather diagrams to Rainbow Dash. A quick look revealed that the forecast for the next few days would not involve anything complicated. Unless something massive came in from the Everfree Forest her team would be able to manage the weather without her for those three days.

She trotted over to the bulletin board and pinned the letter to it to inform her team of where she was in case Thunderlane somehow forgot. Scootaloo followed her movements closely and hopped from the chair when the cyan pegasus opened the previously closed door. A glance inside revealed that it was a bathroom with a shower.

“Catch!” Rainbow Dash said and lobbed a roll of toilet paper to the filly who jumped up and caught it without any problems. She threw two more which Scootaloo caught with ease. They continued their little game until Scootaloo was sitting beside ten rolls.

“I think that will be enough.” Rainbow Dash said and rejoined Scootaloo in the office.

“Isn’t anypony going to miss these?” the filly asked and pointed to the items in question with a hoof.

“Nah. This is a government building, Scoot, and if there is one thing a government building will never be short of, its toilet paper.” Rainbow Dash explained much to the filly’s confusion. In the end she shrugged it off and helped her stow the items into the saddlebags.

Together they left the office and finally the building proper, Scootaloo patiently waiting beside Rainbow Dash while she locked the doors back up. She climbed on Rainbow Dash’s back when asked and were once again flying above Ponyville on course to the pegasus’ cloudhome.