Inside the stadium, Pinkie was having tremendous fun, her and Si sitting eating cake while watching the crowd fill the stadium below. Even with only half an hour till show time, the box was empty apart from Si, that pony at the bar and her. Still it was nice, at least Si was good company, loved joking and laughing, although he made sure to tell her he couldn't act like that if other guest arrived.
However, the best thing, at least in Pinkies opinion, was the large spread of food available. The posh box came with complimentary refreshments, and boy were they stocked. There were masses of cakes, as well as buckets of hay fires, and food that looked like it came from all across Equestria. Next was the drink, there was all sorts of water, soft drinks, and cider which despite not being Apple Family cider, wasn't all bad.
It was on the third bottle of cider that her tail began to twitch, causing her to pause her laughter from a particularly funny joke. It started off slow, but soon built up a to rapid pace.
"Uh, Pinkie, what's up with your tail?"
"I don't know," She sounded nervous, "Normally it means something's going to fall, but the sky is clear and it's never twitched this fast before."
"Wait, are you telling me you can tell if something is going to fall from the twitching your tail?"
"Uh huh, my body tells me all sorts of things, like shaking knees means watch out for opening doors."
"Right..."
"Si, don't tell me your a skeptic weptic like my friend, Twilight."
"I don't know, I did have an Uncle who said he could tell the month a mare was born by licking her flank, only seemed to work for one in twelve apparently. I guess that's something like this."
"Don't be a silly billy, of course that's nothing like my pinkie sense. Pinkie sense makes sense, whereas that makes none at all, I mean how would licking someones flank help you know the month they were born in. Besides, one in twelve odds, what's the point in a skill that isn't right all the time?"
Si wanted to face hoof, it seemed Pinkie didn't quite get his uncle's somewhat disturbing sense of humour. Also, she did seem to be taking the twitching of her tail rather seriously. 'She can't possibly believe her tail can detect falling items can she? Then again, she is good company, and it's not the strangest thing I've heard. I mean who would of thought the mare in the moon was real.' He thought to himself.
He decided that he would at least play along, chuckling at Pinkie's antics. For her part, she was busy jumping up and around the box, constantly turning her head this way and that to see what was falling. It was in the middle of hanging upside down from the roof of the box, causing great alarm to Si, especially since she wasn't attached through any visible means, that her tail stopped twitching. Pinkie looked at it confused, when it stopped, it meat that what ever was falling had also stopped it's decent. Yet, nothing had seemed to have fallen.
"Hmm, seems like a false alarm Pinkie," said Si
"It's never wrong, never," she struck a pout. "I just hope no one got hurt by whatever it was that has fallen. It must of been super dooper important to make my tail go a-twitching if it didn't happen nearby." For a moment she thought about her friends, they would be important enough, but she dismissed the thought. After all they were all sitting safely in another end of the stands, waiting for the show to start.
-x-
Soarin pushed himself against the resistance forming around him, it felt like he was flying through tar, an experience he hoped he would never face again, not for real. He quickly dismissed the thoughts of one of Spitfire's failed training schemes, he had to focus, a ponies life could be quite possibly be at stake here. As he rushed towards his goal, he noticed the silence in the air, the pony had clearly resigned themselves to their fate.
He sighed, at least that would make her easier to catch, he remembered the screaming unicorn he had tried to catch during the young fliers competition. Her screaming and flailing about had made it impossible to catch her, especially after she knocked them senseless.
Sweat streamed off his body, a mixture of effort and fear, as he urged himself forwards. For a moment he thought he might not make it, but with a last burst of effort he caught the pegasus mere meters from the ground. The sudden weight change however overbalanced his tired wings, and he went tumbling into the ground, plowing a furrow as he went. Eventually, he came to a stop, and lay there as he felt his body come alive in pain. Silently he cursed, it was unlikely he would be able to take part in this condition and Spitfire would be pissed, they had been rehearsing for weeks.
After a minute, slowly struggled to his feet and went to check on the pegasus. Something about her struck him as familiar, but his head was still ringing from his impromptu landing and he couldn't quite think straight. She looked ok, passed out from shock, but otherwise physically fine. Hearing the distance sounds of calls, he looked around, there was what seemed to be a crowd of ponies coming towards them. No doubt they had seen what had happened.
He had to get away, his body was aching and he was already going to get a earful from his captain, he didn't want to deal with some hero worship as well. Making a snap decision, he picked up the pegasus and headed into the nearby forest. Hopefully he could skirt around the crowd of ponies there, and take the pony to their changing rooms to recover.
As he flew he felt her put her fore hooves around him and bury her face in his chest, it made him blush slightly and almost fly straight into a tree. It was probably just a reflex in her sleep, but it felt really weird, kind of warm and fuzzy. Most of all it was a distraction and could get them in further trouble, however he didn't try to move her leg, he hadn't been hugged like this in a long time.
Authors Note: sorry it took a while to get this next chapter out guys, hope you like it.