How Pinkie Pie met Rainbow Dash

by CookieCrumbles

Chapter 2

"No thorns aside from what you bring in yourself."

Chapter 2

Friendship is partying

It was late and the super-duper cool night air drifted calmly through the streets of Manehattan. The clouds hovering over the city had abruptly decided to become cumulonimbus clouds; once all of the water droplets were too heavy to be contained, the clouds burst open, dumping their contents onto the buildings and anypony unlucky enough to be out at this hour. However, the noise of the rain was buffered by the pink-coloured cake house and couldn't enter the ears of the sleeping Pegasus pony comfortably nestled inside it.

As Pinkie walked back down to the lower level to collapse on the couch, she thought of what she could do to thank Rainbow Dash. She's been so nice to me all this time and I haven't really done anything for her. What could I do for an awesome pony like her anyway? She slumped down onto her couch and put a hoof to her chin. She said she hasn't had fun in a long time, but what can I do to change that? With a moment more of pondering, she had her answer. A soft giggle escaped her lips as she face-hoofed. Silly Pinkie. Of course I know what to do for Dashie! She jumped up and off the couch and zoomed into a closet that seemed to appear out of nowhere; she wasn't seen again until morning.

As Pinkie went about her mysterious business in the previously none-existent closet – just off to the left of the couch, presently positioned off center to the room – a front window revealed many wet ponies (some with carriages in tow) cantering off for shelter at their dullier than dull homes. The sight would make a pony vacationing away from a more fun oriented place ask:

Why are all these ponies so boring all the time? Even in the rain they run for the shelter of their boring old grey homes. Another passing carriage would make that same vacationer add, Anypony with the least bit of fun in them would want to be out soaring in that downpour. With a huff the pony would turn around and leave with one more thought, being:

No fun at all.

The ponies of this city never had any true experience of what we call 'fun'; all they knew was work… how boring that must've been. Manehattan was a city of business and the ponies in it were quite content to keep it that way; at least, that's what it seemed to be. Now the whole party being un-fun idea was a very accepted concept of any Manehattanite's life; however, some parties cannot be anything… but fun.

In the morning, Pinkie had just finished her great work and was bounding up the steps three at a time to reach her room quicker. Ooh I can't wait until Dashie sees what I made for her. She's gonna be sooo super-duper excited! Ooh, I wonder what we're gonna do first… maybe we can– Before she could finish her thought, she heard something coming from the room. She put an ear to the door and listened closely.

"Pinkie Pie… you are sooo random." Rainbow muttered slowly. She was still sleeping; she must have been more tired than either of them had thought.

The pink Earth pony giggled to herself and smiled. That's me. But then she heard something else. Something that made her gasp, slip on the top step, and bounce all the way down to the first floor.

She sat up without a problem, but she still looked shocked as to what she had just heard from the Pegasus pony's lips. "D-Dashie… l-l-loves me?" She whispered to herself.

"Pinks, are you okay? What happened?" Dash's voice called from the top step. She stared down at the pink mess sitting on the bottom step with a worried look on her face.

"Oh, uhh… hi Rainbow Dash." Pinkie looked up into the concerned and still groggy eyes of her Pegasus pony friend and gulped. "Me? Happened? Why… nothing happened. I'm just sitting on the bottom step waiting for you to get up so we can have some more fun today. Other than that... abslotively nothing at all." She finished with a wide, uncomfy looking smile spread across her pink face.

A little put off by the ponies' noticeable, but untraceable nervousness, Dash raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Oookaay. So… what are we gonna do today?"

Pinkie suddenly gasped as she realised something. "Dashie! You're moving!"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be moving?" She asked, lifting up a hoof.

Pinkie was hopping up the stairs towards Rainbow as she spoke… quite rapidly and joyfully. "Yesterday you were hurt all over and I had to carry you back here so you could sleep and rest up, but now you're all better and you can move and walk and fly again. Oh, I'm so happy everything worked out!"

Rainbow looked down sadly. The pink pony noticed and stopped bouncing to look into her friend's rose-coloured eyes with her own worry glazed, circular ones. "About that Pinks." Attempting to move her wings cautiously, the rainbow-maned pony cringed; her entire body tensed up with a burning pain spread across her wings. "I don't think it's just a sprain anymore." She proceeded to relax them swiftly afterwards.

Pinkie immediately gasped at Dash's pain. "Oh no! Your wings, Dashie! Well, that settles it. You're staying here until you're better and I'm just the pony to make you well again. By the end of sometime, you'll be all better and flying in no time. That's a Pinkie promise."

Rainbow smiled and tilted her head to the left quizzically. "And what's a Pinkie promise?"

"Oh, it's what I do whenever I have an incredibly super amazing and importa-rific promise to keep. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She answered and did the proper hoof jesters to her rhyme.

At the sight of Pinkie jamming a hoof into her eye without any visual discomfort coming from such an act, Dash couldn't help but giggle. "Pinkie Pie, you are soo random."

Pinkie smiled brightly. "Of course. I am the most energetic and happy pony in Manehattan."

"More like all of Equestria." Rainbow smirked and started walking down the steps.

Pinkie blushed at the statement, but then looked distressed when she noticed her Pegasus friend wandering down to the lower floor. "Oh, Dashie. You need to get back to bed… quickly!"

Dash reached the bottom and turned to glance at Pinkie. "Oh Pinkie, I'm fine… and hey… I didn't see this door here before." She turned her head to look at the closet Pinkie had been in the entire night; the Earth pony winced and quickly leapt to the bottom.

When she reached the last step it was already too late to shout. Rainbow Dash had opened the closet and was staring, open-mouthed, into a large room, full of brightly coloured decorations with rainbow coloured cakes and multi-coloured cupcakes and muffins and sarsaparilla and many other delicious looking sweets placed along the tables inside it. Gazillions of balloons were tied to all the seats at the tables, with green and blue and violet and yellow and orange and red colours all jumbled up confusedly. Streamers hung down from the ceiling and a giant cake was at the center; which read, in pink icing on top:

'Thank you, Rainbow Dash'.

Pinkie suddenly called from behind Rainbow Dash. "I– Well…" The Pegasus pony turned around to face her; her muzzle still hung somewhat open in disbelief. She saw the pink pony staring at the floor and rubbing a fore-hoof against the other nervously. Bouncing along in her Pinkie-mind with the strength she needed, the little pony continued her explanation. "I thought I should do something nice for you since you cheered me up so much yesterday. So I decided to throw you a huge 'thank you' party in your splendiferous honour." The bright smile returned to her face, along with a few giggles directed at her friend's befuddled muzzle.

"How did you do all this… in a closet?" Dash asked breathlessly with an eyebrow raised high and a hoof motioning behind her.

Pinkie smiled awkwardly and spoke uncharacteristically slowly and quietly. "I was up all night, finding all the decorations and streamers and cupcakes… and I even made that cake there too. It's the first one I ever really made. The other cakes for my parties were just bought from the old sweet's shop down the street, but this time I decided I wanted to make it all by my-pony-self. Ooh, it was super-duper fun to watch it bake too; I've never seen something so cool before – except for your terrifically colourful mane though – and it was even more fun to decorate it." A subtle silence swept over the room, like a huge pink blanket on a cold winter's night, and the pink Earth pony stared down at the floor dreamily. Breaking the silence after a few moments, Pinkie hesitantly looked up into Dash's eyes once more. "So, do you like–? Ooph!"

The pink pony was abruptly interrupted by a rainbow blur as Dash gave her pink friend a huge hug. But the sudden movement and contact with the mare made her wings spread out of their own accord; all that came from the Pegasus' lips as a response to this was:

"Oww, oww, oww!"

But she kept hugging the little pony, despite the stinging sensation pouring from her now splayed out wings.

Stunned at Dash's embrace, Pinkie Pie's hooves wouldn't move up to return the hug. "Rainbow Dash… are you–?"

"Thank you, Pinkie." The blue pony spoke as she closed her eyes and nuzzled the Earth pony's mane.

Pinkie's mouth was open for a few seconds after, but then a caring smile formed on her face and she finally hugged her friend back. "Sure thing, Dash."

The two held their hug for a few minutes; their eyes closed until Rainbow Dash released the Earth pony from her hooves. "So, what are we gonna do first Pinks?"

Pinkie's head tilted to the side in confusion. "What do you mean, Dash?"

"At the party." Rainbow Dash sat down and spoke with a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "I think it's a pretty big waste for me to be in a bed and for you to be looking after me, so let's go to your awesome party instead. We can have that candy eating contest too." She jumped back up and struck her flight pose.

The pink pony smirked, sat down, and looked at up slightly to properly count off in her pink mind, what she had set-up at said pony party. "Well, I brought pin-the-tail-on-the-pony and bobbing for apples and super tasty punch drinking contests and a whole buncha other stuff for us to do." She bounced up and kept bouncing as she finished. "And the tons and tons of goodies I made should keep us both fully energized for the whole entire day!"

"Sounds like fun. Hey, are you any good at pin-the-tail-on-the-pony?" Rainbow asked, gesturing quizzically to Pinkie with a sly left hoof.

The Earth pony on the other right hoof looked insulted. "'Any good'? Who do you think you're talking to, Dashie? Anything partier-ific is my specialty." She answered with a hoof to her chest proudly. She beamed a wide, closed eyed smile at the Pegasus pony; her proud jester turning into another self-inflicted giggle-fit. She looked down at the floor with a hoof to her mouth to suppress her laughter.

"Then I challenge you to a pin-the-tail-on-the-pony contest. Now where's a suitable prize for one of us to win?" Rainbow Dash progressed to sit down on her rump and tilted her head around the brightly coloured room in thought. She strained to find something for a prize to such a contest, but couldn't find anything that they didn't already have plenty of. There's gotta be something here worth winning. Suddenly, an idea came to her. Perfect. "The winner of this first competition gets the name of… the Premier party pony. Deal?" Proud of her brilliant suggestion, she turned back from gazing longingly at the stairs for an answer to her self-imposed question and put a hoof out to shake Pinkie's, but found that she was nowhere to be found.

Before the Pegasus could figure out where her pink friend could have gone, a cheerful, but impatient sounding voice called from inside the room. "Dashie? Are you coming… or do I have to play all by my-pony-self?" Dash looked over at the back corner of the extraordinarily large closet and spotted Pinkie on her rump next to the pony poster with her back legs spread out in front of her and her fore-hooves placed between them in a sitting posture. She wore a jokingly bored expression on her face.

Rainbow giggled and began to wander over to the Earth pony, navigating through the maze of tables and streamers that the pink pony had set up. "Wow! Those games must last for a long time." She said, sarcastically.

"Heh, tell me about it." She answered, just as sarcastically rolling her beautiful blue eyes in acknowledgement of the continuing joke.

The two ponies initiated their game with a coin flip to decide which pony would go first; Pinkie would always call 'tails' no matter what game they played. Unfortunately for her, Dash was aware of this fact all too well, be it from the two ceremoniously flipping a coin to decide on what prank they should pull next on the ponies of Manehattan or from boredom when the pony being pranked wouldn't show up. This time, like all the others, with this knowledge, won her the flip. Rainbow would be the first pony to go.

Pinkie tied the blindfold carefully behind the rainbow-maned pony and began spinning her around and around. Once she had stopped turning Dash, the Pegasus could only just stand on all four hooves; walking clumsily towards tables of sweets and bowls of punch, the pink pony only just managed to keep her bestest best friend out of trouble. However, she did unintentionally allow Dash to dunk her head into the punch bowl in front of the poster in order to eat a few cupcakes placed right next to the punch bowl. This earned Pinkie Pie a swift pink and blue cupcake to the face from the Pegasus soon after words, allowing the pink pony to have the first cupcakes of the party; which she accepted gratefully of course. When Rainbow was finished laughing at Pinkie for licking the tiny cake from her bright pink muzzle in the most comical and cute way she possibly could, she placed the blindfold on again and walked carefully to the wall.

As Rainbow Dash had her turn, Pinkie could have sworn the Pegasus pony had played this game tons and tons before. She watched her friend in amazement at how she had focused back to her task so quickly and how her hoof was nearly perfectly aligned with the center of the poster; she wanted to win.

Dash's hoof slowly moved from left to right, trying to find her mark while Pinkie began to tremble with excitement. She seems so calm and relaxed about everything. Ooh, this'll definitely be a fun-tabulistical game of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. I can feel it in my hoovsie-oovsies. With that, she saw Dash place the tail a centimeter from the 'X' and her muzzle fell open.

Removing the blindfold to see her achievement, Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie with a smug look on her pretty face. "Top that Pinks." She smirked at the pink pony.

Pinkie gulped. No pony but me has ever got that close before. Oh, maybe I'm not as partier-ific as I thought I was.

Rainbow noticed that her friend was uneasy about something and her competitive attitude dropped to one of encouragement. "Come on Pinks. If I can get it that close to the mark, then you have nothing to worry about. Now get your rump up there and hit that 'X'."

From the Pegasus' reassurances, Pinkie suddenly drew on a face of pure concentration and fortitude. She nodded her head at Rainbow Dash's stunning rose-coloured eyes and turned to the poster to take her turn. The intensity of the situation only became more so as the rainbow-maned pony prudently wrapped the blind-fold around the pink pony's head and spun her around and around, being careful not to spin her too much as to make her fall over. When Pinkie Pie had spun Dash around, the ordeal left her cyan-coloured friend a tad dizzy, but the Earth pony was so focused on the task at hoof she didn't even notice.

The blue pony's words still bounced around in her curly-maned head:

'Now get your rump up there and hit that 'X''.

As she made her way to the poster, Pinkie found a sense of absolute calmness coursing through her entire being. There was no outside noise, no audible interruptions; just the echoing words of the Pegasus pony to keep her company. As they hopped this way and that inside her mind, her head somehow knew she was at the poster:

Her head had hit the wall.

The pink Earth pony quickly proceeded to rub the now tender spot with a hoof and whispered a soft, "Ow" before returning to her game. With the sudden pain fading, she focused her thoughts back on the game at hoof.

Memories of the numerous pin-the-tail-on-the-pony games she had planned and partaken in began to rush into her Pinkie Pie mind, developing a perfect rendition of the wall before her. The words still bounded in and out of perceptibility inside her pink head, calling out to her:

'Come on Pinks.'

The image of the 'X', implanted in her brain, was glaring at her to miss, but the Earth pony would not be swayed from her given task. And still the splendourifical encouragements of her bestest best friend kept with her, declaring:

'You have nothing to worry about.'

Pinkie was smiling, knowingly. She was going to win… For Dashie.

When she removed her blind-fold, she peered at the spot she had placed the tail. It was smack dab in the middle of the 'X'.

The pink pony stepped back, flabbergasted. I did it. Perfectly centered and everything. She couldn't believe her deep blue eyes no matter how long she stared at the poster.

Rainbow Dash trotted up to stand next to her friend, nudging Pinkie's shoulder with an elbow to get her attention. "You did it… yes! Right in the center. See? I told ya you could do it." The Pegasus looked from the poster to the pink pony for her response, but none came. "Uh… Pinkie Pie?" Dash wondered if she had broken her somehow or if she was in deep thought about something and couldn't hear her. Why is she staring at me like that?

Pinkie gazed dreamily into her friend's utter-tastically gorgeous rose-coloured eyes for a moment; they were soo beautiful she felt herself becoming lost in them. Freeing herself from those compassionate eyes, she leaned forward slowly and kissed her on the cheek. It only lasted a few seconds, but that was long enough for both of them to feel heat forming in their cheeks. She knew now what had helped her win, but the sensation from that realisation felt so odd and somehow relaxing to her.

"Thanks, Dash." The pink party pony spoke absentmindedly to the Pegasus pony, with a hesitant smile on her face. Realising what she had just done and what she remembered from the morning, she began to move away, blushing profusely.

Meanwhile, her friend's cheeks were rapidly becoming as red as an apple; this sensation was continued with another wide spread of her wings, but the magenta-maned pony was already out of viewing range to take notice. Nice going Pinkie. She scolded herself. You're not supposed to kiss other girls. … I must have heard her wrong anyway. Maybe she said, 'I love your mane and tail, Pinkie'. That must've been it; I mean… we're friends. Bestest best friends.

Seconds after Pinkie's lips touched her cheek the blue pony's wings flew open again, but this time she didn't even notice the pain that came along with them. She was too shocked to notice anything but the growing feeling on her reddened cheeks.

It's okay Dash, She told herself as she looked down at the ground and slowly recovered from the situation. She was just saying thank you; no big deal. Dash looked at Pinkie, wandering away. Then why am I so nervous? Shaking that unsettling question to the back of her mind, she found herself suggesting their next party move. "Hey, Pinks… why don't we have that candy eating contest now?"

"Ooh, great idea Dashie! I'll get it all set up in a jiffy!" She shouted with a sudden spring in her step.

And it was all there in a jiffy. Before Rainbow Dash's eyes, Pinkie Pie became a blur of pink as she zoomed from table to table and placed an equal amount of goodies on the two tables directly in front of the Pegasus pony.

The only thing Dash had time to say before she too was grabbed by the pink blur was:

"Wow."

As Pinkie placed Rainbow at one table, she rushed over to hers and began speaking. "Ready? Steady?"

By the time she had got there, Dash was by no means ready or steady and she tried to say so: "W-Wait Pinkie I–" But she was again interrupted.

"GO!" The pink pony yelled and she dove into the tables contents and began chowing down.
Reluctantly – and with an air of regret for ever challenging Pinkie to a contest like this – she too dove her head in and started with the rainbow cupcakes at the front of the surprisingly well organized pile of sweets.

In fact, all of the treats along the two tables were organized into their correct piles. The multi-coloured cakes were in one pile, as were the rainbow sprinkled, pink frosting cupcakes; which were stacked next to the sarsaparilla with pink and blue straws and beautifully decorated chocolate sundaes and blueberry muffins and just about every other sweet tasting food you could imagine. There were even some delicious looking piñatas stuffed on the ends of the two tables, full of candies that the pink pony had made and filled herself.

As Rainbow Dash had finished her fifth cupcake and was headed for some punch to gulp it down with, the Earth pony was already half-way through her sixth large cake and was showing no signs of slowing down.

Pinkie dove into the pile of cakes and sweets like any other time she would eat… with her mouth wide open as she gobbled the sweets down in one particularly messy go. She wasn't really trying to win; in fact after a while of eating soo many cakes and cookies, she almost forgot she was actually in a contest until she glanced up and spotted Dash eating like crazy to keep up with the now candy-coated pony.

Pinkie Pie was just eating at her natural pace, but after watching Rainbow struggle out of the corner of her eye for a while, she felt so sorry for her friend for not being able to sustain such a substantial pace like she could. It wasn't her fault she couldn't eat as much as Pinkie; the Earth pony just had more of an appetite for cakes and cupcakes and other tasterific goodies. She decided then that she would let Rainbow Dash win this time.

I don't mind giving up my title for a friend like her. She smiled at the thought of Dash being happy to have beaten a candy-crazed pony such as her on her first try and put her hooves on her stomach. She gladly began a very exaggerated and very fake sounding speech of defeat at the hooves of the Pegasus pony. "Oh, no more. I can't… eat… another bite." Pinkie pushed the cake she would normally be gobbling right now away and rested her hooves on her stomach again. "Too full, Dashie. I think you've finally beaten me at my own game."

Rainbow Dash looked at the pink pony quizzically for a moment, then smirked. She pumped a hoof into the air in triumph. "Yes ha ha! Victory is mine!" Dash looked happily down to her Earth pony friend and found that she was staring back at her with widened blue eyes.

"Dashie… you-you're flying! Your wings are all better!" She quickly jumped up from her seat and started bouncing up and down happily.

Dash was shocked to see the pink pony was correct. She was in fact right near the ceiling of the first floor. Huh? When did that happen? She shook off the question and smiled back down at the pony as she hovered back down to the ground. "I guess I am. And I guess they are." She answered, flapping her wings about. There's no pain at all. How is that–?

Leaping on top of the Pegasus and knocking her yet again to the ground in a huge Pinkie Pie hug, the pink pony shouted with glee. "Yay! You're okay again!" She relaxed her grip on Rainbow Dash once she remembered doing that was what had injured her friend and she looked down at the blue pony underneath apologetically. "Oops. Sorry Rainbow Dash. I wouldn't want to hurt your wings again just after they got better." Looking down happily at her friend, she noticed that Dash was staring back up at her with a look of calmness and curiosity that made Pinkie Pie feel a bit self-conscious. Getting off Dash, the Earth pony lent a hoof to pull her back up.

Regaining her senses the Pegasus pony took the pony's fore-hoof gratefully. "That's okay Pinks. Thanks." She replied trying to sound relaxed about being tackled.

It didn't fool Pinkie though.

As she stood on her hooves Rainbow saw the ginormous cake the pink pony had made with her own four hooves and stared, entranced at it. "Hey, Pinks. Think it's time we had some real cake?" Dash grinned back at the Pinkie Pie, who smiled softly.

"Waaay ahead of you, Dashie." She quickly zoomed off to the table directly in the center of the closet. The Pegasus pony chuckled to herself at her friend's energetic bounciness and trotted casually over to the table.

Hoofing over a freshly cut piece of rainbow-coloured cake – with red velvet filling – to Rainbow, the Earth pony wore a smile that seemed too large for her to actually manage, but somehow it worked on her large and vibrantly pink face.

The Pegasus took the cake in her hooves and began eating it right away; while Pinkie cut herself a noticeably larger piece for herself. She licked her lips and prepared to gobble the first cake she ever baked ever.

Rainbow Dash noticed her obvious excitement to gobble her creation and grinned almost as widely as her pink friend was. "Hey, Pinks. You know you sure got your appetite back fast. A few seconds ago you seemed to be about to explode." She was just barely holding back bursts of laughter as she saw Pinkie's face grow redder and redder.

Pinkie looked over to her friend uncomfortably and tilted her head to the side. "He he yeah, maybe even twice."

"Good one, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash was having a giggle-fit at seeing her friend so nervous for being found out. She held out a hoof for the pink pony to low-hoof, but kept pulling it back before she could reach. After two tries the magenta-maned pony burst into laughter, being followed soon after by Rainbow Dash.

Once the fits of giggles had died down, Pinkie opened her eyes and stared into the rose-coloured eyes before her. "… I guess I'm not much of a pretender am I?"

"Well you're not the best liar in Equestria, but you still have the Premier party pony sown up." Dash finished eating her piece of cake and waited to see how her pink friend ate hers in one bite. It was quite fascinating for Rainbow to watch Pinkie manage such a bizarre feat as this.

"Thanks Dashie." Pinkie popped the ginormous piece into her mouth with party pony ease and chomped down on the pink and rainbow-coloured frosting, succeeding once again in making Dash smile with confusion on how the pony managed to eat soo much. After swallowing loudly, the pink pony smiled at her Pegasus friend and continued to return Rainbow's compliment. "You're a good bestest best friend and a totally terrifitastic flier… So what should we do now? You're all better, so I guess you'd wanna get back home right?" Pinkie asked as she rubbed a fore-hoof against the other.

Dash put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Well, actually… I was kinda hoping to get some flying and pranking done with the only pony in all of Manehattan that can eat as much candy as Rainbow Dash. How 'bout you Pinks?"

A second later all that could be seen of the pink pony was a streak of pink, beginning from in front of Rainbow Dash, leading out the door, and into the streets. Dash chuckled and flew out of the house as well. Phew. It feels good to be able to fly again, but how did it happen so quickly? I thought I'd be down for a whole week with an injury like this. The only thing I can think of that would have helped was–! She shook the sudden thought from her head. No, that can't be right; ponies can't affect the healing process just by being happy and cheerful all the time.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, where are you going?" The pink pony shouted from the ground.

Rainbow stopped and looked at the small pink mare on the ground far below. She had been flying up into the sky absentmindedly while she was daydreaming and didn't even notice. It must be from a lack of sleep, she thought, trying to calm herself down. Yeah, that's it. I just need a little rest is all. I'll just make up a fluff ol' cumulous cloud for a little nap later. With that relaxing thought in mind, she coasted back down to Pinkie Pie. "Sorry Pinks, I was thinking of something and I must've gotten distracted." She scratched the back of her mane apologetically.

"Oh? What were you thinking about?" She implored with rapidly blinking blue eyes as her head and mane tilted to the side questioningly.

The rainbow-maned Pegasus pony began sweating nervously. "Oh, you know, just all the things I'm gonna have to catch up on in flying to make up for my injury, that's all." The smile spread awkwardly across her face didn't seem at all natural for her, probably because what she just said was a terrible lie to an embarrassing thought she had had. She was thinking that Pinkie Pie and her ever cheerful demeanour had been what healed her wings.

Realising that only made her feel worse.

The pony in question noticed the nervousness of the rainbow-maned pony before her and stared deeply into Rainbow Dash's rose-coloured eyes. Dash had never felt tenser in all her life than how she felt right now.

It appeared to her like Pinkie was staring right through her soul and it made her quite uncomfortable. She felt shivers run down her spine; however she kept staring into her friend's beautiful blue eyes as if she was in an inescapable trance to which there was no end. But just as suddenly as it had made itself known on the pink pony's face, the stare disappeared and was replaced by a look of genuine bouncerific gladness. "Okie dokey lokie!" She shouted and she began bounding away cheerfully.

"Phew. That was close." Heaving a huge sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash spread her wings gracefully and took off after her. As she caught up to the pink pony, she noticed something different about her bouncing. It seemed more forced to her now, like she was worried about something. Is it another prediction? Rainbow pondered. Nah couldn't be. After a prediction like the one yesterday, she wouldn't let me go anywhere if she had another one. She chuckled at her bestest best friend's concern for her safety. I'm sure it's nothing.

With her head cleared of worry and full of new pranking ideas for the silly inhabitants of Manehattan, Rainbow Dash flew down low and landed next to her bestest best friend, with a smirk across her beautiful cyan-coloured face. "So Pinkie, who're we gonna prank first this time?" While Rainbow looked absentmindedly in Pinkie's direction, looking for somepony new to prank, Pinkie Pie had her shoulders raised high against her body. She was smiling broadly at Dash's face with eyes half-closed in giggly anticipation. "We need another victim who's made of tougher stuff." When Rainbow turned away from the pink pony, to look about the streets for said victim, Pinkie turned her head to the opposite side she was and began snickering to herself with a hoof raised slightly in an attempt to muffle her laughter. "So, who's it gonna be?" Keeping pace with the Earth pony, Dash looked back to the front slyly.

Rainbow heard a faint chuckle from beside her and the Pegasus pony looked to see Pinkie giggling almost uncontrollably now. What is she laughing at? She thought to herself. Before she could answer it herself, the pink pony stopped laughing and looked at Dash.

She smiled back fondly and switched to a slow trot with her bestest best friend following swiftly. "Oh, I've got somepony in mind." A hoof rose again, managing to hold off her giggle-fit as she continued. "The toughest around." She turned her head away from Rainbow with an even larger grin, muffling her voice with increasing difficulty.

Dash took to the skies once more and rubbed her fore-hooves together in anticipation. "Oh awesome! Who who, do I know them?"

Pinkie looked back at the rainbow-maned Pegasus as her eyes began to sparkle with glee and her laughing became more profound. "Oh yes. You're very close." She struggled to hold back giggles as she kept walking forward.

Rainbow Dash stopped to think; her wings flapping just enough to keep her at Pinkie's level. Who do I know here that she knows I know? Hmm. Dash looked around at the residents of the town to see if she knew any of them, but was coming up blank. I don't know anypony here, so who could she be talking about? Suddenly, something in a nearby mirror caught her eye.

Soaring over to it, she saw her face covered in pink and blue frosting from the party they just came from. Smirking, Dash wiped the icing off on her hoof and heard the pink pony breaking into a rather loud giggle-fit a few hooves ahead of her. With her eyes closed from her laughter, Dash managed to crash into Pinkie Pie, successfully knocking the party pony to the ground. "So ya think you're a funny pony, huh?" With a broad smirk, Dash glared down at the Earth pony and held up a hoof covered in icing; she waved it over her hyper-active pink friend menacingly.

Pinkie gulped loudly and waited, with her eyes shut tight, for her inevitable demise; which was surely filled with pink and blue frosting. This is it. Waves of imaginings and possible outcomes to this situation bounded in and out of her Pinkie Pie-mind; all of them left her imagined self with a face full of sugary cake frosting.

The intensity of the situation only grew as seconds went on for the captured pony, lapsing into minutes and yet more minutes.

But nothing ever happened.

There was no sound or movement the pink pony could pick up; she was becoming anxious. Am I… already gone? She thought. That was fast; I didn't feel anything. Pinkie paused to feel her tummy with both hooves and came to a relieving realisation. No, I'm still here. But– Her ears rose up, picking up a new sound.

Interrupting her thought process – which would surely have more bizarre assumptions and imaginings later – she heard a high-pitched "Mmm", resonating in her ears from on top of her. Pinkie then cautiously opened one blue eye to see Dash licking the last of the icing off of her hoof and giggling at the pink pony's confused pink face.

With her mouth still full of face-cake, the Pegasus' words came out muffled. "What? This is good." Dash replied, licking her candy-coated lips and smiling.

Shortly after that comment, the two erupted with laughter at the pranks they pulled on each other; neither of them even noticed that Rainbow was still lying on top of Pinkie's pink form. Hopping off of the Earth pony, Dash leant a fore-hoof for Pinkie to grab and allowed her bestest best friend to jump onto her back again. With Pinkie laid comfortably on Rainbow's back, the Pegasus pony kicked off and zoomed further into Manehattan city.

The two adventure loving ponies had another terrifical day of pranking and soaring through the skies, but Pinkie made sure that Dash would land on the ground as soon as she felt any pain in her wings. Dash never stopped flying her around the busy and bustling city until it was quite late in the afternoon. And this time, Rainbow Dash flew Pinkie Pie back to her cake home. As they landed Pinkie hopped off and walked up to the door, nudging it open for her friend to walk through.

They chatted long into the evening about another prank day well achieved and how much they both loved the prank they played on Paul:

Dash flew through a deep grey rain cloud hanging over the city and collected the rain into a rather large water balloon and then – carrying Pinkie in her hooves – she flew just above the colt's head, allowing the Earth pony to drop it for a direct hit on him. The result was obviously hilarious when they saw just how much water his mane could actually hold when wet.

After their laughter died down at the memory, they both sat down and faced each other as they smiled. "Another great day, Pinks." She stood up and stretched her back and legs. "Well, I better get out of your mane so you can sleep tonight. Making that party must've been quite the task… even for you–" Rainbow Dash started walking towards the door to leave, but Pinkie called back to her.

"Wait!" Dash looked back to her friend, wondering what the pink pony could have to say. "We can have a sleepover here if you want. I mean yesterday you were just resting up, but now that you're all better I thought we could tell some ghost stories or have a pillow fight or something. I've never really had a sleepover before… 'cause without any friends to join you in the slumber party it's really just bedtime and since you're my bestest best friend in all of Equestria I thought you'd be the number one choice for my first one." She finished with a small smile and gazed pleadingly into the rose-coloured eyes of her friend, waiting for an answer. Both ponies were silently staring at each other now and before Pinkie could regret what she asked, Rainbow Dash gave her reply.

"Sure Pinkie." She answered with a joyful smile.

Pinkie seemed surprised at the blue pony's quick response. "Really?" Standing up, the Earth pony began walking over to Dash.

"Yep. I'd be honoured to be the first slumber party guest of Pinkie Pie's, but you have to promise me something." She looked sternly at the pink pony in front of her.

"What's that Dashie?" She asked with a quizzical smile. She sat down in front of her Pegasus pony friend and leaned in close to hear her demand more clearly.

Dash kept her stern expression, but it was betrayed by the growing smile on her face. "No more late-night closet-party planning. You have to actually sleep this time, okay?"

Pinkie held back giggles. "Okie dokey lokie. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She agreed with her hoof jesters.

The rainbow-maned Pegasus laughed at Pinkie's strange way of making promises and began stretching her back and wings. "Great. Guess I'll turn in then; I'm exhausted from all the running and flying away from angry citizens. Goodnight Pinkie Pie." She said sleepily as she began climbing the stairs to bed.

"Okay. Good–" Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped, grabbing Dash's full attention. "I just remembered I have a sleeping bag in my room. You can sleep in my room in my bed and I can use the sleeping bag in my room too! It'll be just like a real sleepover." She exclaimed, clapping her hooves together.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the pink pony with a sincere expression on her blue face. "Well Pinkie, are you sure you don't want your bed back then? I don't mind using the sleeping bag."

"Nope. The hostess always gives the guest her bed to sleep in. That's the rules… at least that's what Granny Pie told me." She put a hoof to her chin in thought.

"And who's this Granny Pie of yours, Pinks?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in interest.

"Oh silly. She's my Granny… duh." She replied, waving a hoof at Dash.

Dash tilted her head to the side with an impatient grin. "I know that Pinkie Pie, but what is she like? Is she a good Granny?"

"Oh, all Grannies are terrifically abso-posilutely perfect… but yes mine is good too. In fact, she's the one who taught me to giggle at all the ghostlies and guffaw at all the grosslies that are out there."

"And how did she do that?" She asked sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

Pinkie yawned suddenly. "I'll tell you tomorrow, 'kay Dashie? I'm real tired right now."

Rainbow Dash chuckled loudly at her usually hyper friend yawning. "What happened to the 'never ever gets tired Pinkie Pie' you told me about?"

"She's already asleep. This is the 'tired and wants to go to bed Pinkie'." She answered with a tired smile on her face and an even larger yawn than before. The Pegasus pony snickered at Pinkie's response.

Apparently Pinkie's yawns were contagious, because soon Dash was doing the same thing as she walked up the steps and slipped into her bed. Before Pinkie went to hers, she trotted over to Dash's bed and pulled the covers over her friend with a final:

"Goodnight Dashie."

Rainbow Dash suddenly felt flushed and afraid for a reason she couldn't understand; she gazed deeply into the pink pony's round, shimmering blue eyes as if they held the answer to her confusing and rather frightening question.

Pinkie didn't seem to notice her friend's gaze and turned around to begin walking to her sleeping bag, but Dash called back to her. "Pinkie?" She wanted these next seven words to be heard and understood only by herself and the pink pony. She spoke slowly and quietly, like this sentence held a deeper, more important, and more troubling meaning to her than anything else; a meaning that she both tried to figure out and fought to forget. "There's… something I want to tell you."

Spinning around and smiling brightly, the pink pony answered. "Yes Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie froze, as if all the warmth in her pink body was moved at once and was all gathered again at the spot where Dash had kissed her. The kiss didn't last long though, because the feeling that came with it only made the Pegasus pony more confused.

Dash pulled away from the kiss and concentrated, with some difficulty, on forming her next words. "Thank you… for looking after me." Her glimmering rose-coloured eyes were shut tightly, waiting for any response from the pony before her. Not hearing anything coming from her bestest best friend, she opened them and found that Pinkie still stood there with widened eyes and an unreadable expression on her pink face.

Her surprised expression softened considerably, being replaced with a very small smile, but her blush was all the more present on her face as she gave her reply. "S-Sure." Was all the little pink pony could say.

Pinkie Pie gradually turned around, looking at the floor, and walked over to her sleeping bag with a face as red as red can be. She had never been soo happy, sad, and confused in her entire life; she crawled clumsily into her sleeping bag with a dumb smile on her face and new scary feelings in her heart.

The Pegasus pony in bed was just as confused and flushed as the Earth pony was; she lay there with her wings spread out behind her, trying to determine her feelings. The bizarre thoughts that now raced through her mind were blocked by the sudden regret she felt for doing that and was about to apologize to Pinkie, but instead found herself fast asleep in the fluffy pink bed. The magenta-maned pony too soon found herself drifting off to sleep comfortably and they both dreamed of each other until the morning.