"Hello! Uhm... hi! Could ya just—consarnit!"
Applejack pushed her trot into a brisk gallop, approaching a pair of ponies shuffling out of a closed bar in the Diamond District. They were just locking up when she approached. They glanced at her with dispassionate expressions.
"Uhm... yes... howdy..." Applejack came to a stop, panting. She lowered her hat and smiled politely at the pair. "So sorry to bother y'all. But... have you seen a lil' pony around these parts...?" She winced at her words, sighed, and spoke further: "A pegasus. Kinda sorta... er... fun-sized, if that makes any sense."
"Hmmph," one pony hmmph'd.
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Is... that a 'yes' or a 'no?'"
"Ahem..." The other Canterlot bartender pocketed away his keys and squinted at Applejack haughtily in the streetlight. "Could you possibly be more specific?"
"Er..." Applejack raised her hoof out and lowered it to about scamp-level. "About yay-high. Sky-blue coat. Matchin' feathers..."
The two ponies stared blankly at her.
Applejack blinked. "She's got a rainbow-colored mane." Another blink. "I mean it! Every dang color of the rainbow! You couldn't miss her!"
"Sorry." The stallion's nostrils flared. "Haven't seen her."
"Well..." Applejack took a bold step forward before the two could trot off to their homes. "M-maybe y'all heard her!"
"'Heard' her?" the other pony droned.
"Well... yeah! She's got a very distinctive voice!"
The stallion sighed, rubbing the fuzzy slope of his muzzle. "Would you wish to describe it...?"
"Very foal-like... but also kinda adolescent too."
Applejack spoke.
"Has this lilt to it.. and it cracks a lot..."
Applejack smiled.
"Kinda adorable—when you think about it—but you'd have to get to know her better before you heard it in full, since she's always puttin' on airs. Pegasus bravado and all that."
Silence.
Applejack's smile faded.
"Well?"
Three waitresses standing outside their establishment merely gaped at Applejack.
"I... uh..."
"I haven't heard anypony that sounds like that..."
"Yeah... you sure you shouldn't be looking for her in some sort of hospitable or something?"
"Sounds like a respiratory disease."
"What?!" Applejack recoiled. "No!" She shook her head, then frowned. "Look, lil' missies, she's just as healthy as the rest of us! Just small as the dickens and fuzzy as all get-out!"
"'Fuzzy,' huh?" One waitress smiled.
"There's an awful lot of that going around." Another giggled.
"You sure the mare you're looking for isn't in the Red Awning District?"
Applejack clenched her teeth. "She's a friend."
"Oh, I'm quite sure."
A sigh, and Applejack rubbed her temple. "Do any of y'all at least remember seein' her mane color?"
"Would you mind describing it again?"
"Colorful!" Applejack hollered.
"What?!" a stallion shouted back from across the bar.
Loud dance music blared out of nearby speakers. Young ponies danced and gyrated all across the cramped nightclub. Applejack had to lean clear over the drinks of wincing patrons to throw her words into the bartender's ears.
"I'm tellin' ya—she's got every color of the dang rainbow in her mane!" Applejack grimaced as a continuous bass rhythym rattled the glasses between them. "Like... instead of a pot of gold at the end of it, you've got her purdy lil' head! Her name is 'Rainbow Dash' for cryin' out loud! She lurves winnin' trophies and talkin' about the Wonderbolts!"
"What?!?"
"The Wonderbolts! It's some fancy sky cheerleadin' squad! Or somethin'! I think!" Applejack winced, rubbing her ears. "Dag nabbit! Just what the heck is all this dang noise?!"
"Cyan Sings!"
"Huh?!"
"Cyan Sings!" the stallion repeated, this time smiling at the music.
"... ... ...what in apple's name is a cyan?!"
"A color, apparently!"
Nearby dancers chuckled.
Applejack wasn't amused. "Look, partner, my friend isn't exactly in a good state of brain-noodlin'! She could be rollin' over in the gutter right about now! She ain't got time for none of yer fancy hoof-tappin' music! So could you help me out here?!"
"There are a lot of flashing lights in this club! I can't hardly ever tell a pony's mane color!" the stallion hollered back. "Could you give me a different description of your friend?!"
"Like what?!"
"Well... what's her attitude like?! I'm a good guage on that when it comes to customers!"
"She... lurves life," Applejack murmured thoughtfully. A cool gust of mountain air kicked at her blonde threads, and she gazed off into the glow of a neon light. "She lurves every moment of livin'. You can hear it in her voice... see it in the way her tail flicks... heh..."
A tender smile graced her freckles.
"...she only boasts all proud-like about her accomplishments 'cuz she reckons it's the whole point of livin'. After all, t'ain't a bad thang if all of life is a competition. It only means yer workin' that much harder to do that which you do better. And who here in Celestia's Equestria doesn't fancy livin' life to its fullest? Even when it's to its fastest?"
A soft sigh. She tilted the brim of her hat back.
"Yes... I'd say she does everythang passionately. Whether it's bein' loyal to her friends... defendin' the ponies she cares 'bout... or kickin' the flank of some nasty varmint that deserved it. She only wants to be the best... and she brings out the best in everypony around her... even if she has to tear it out by bein' an annoyin' lil' scamp about it. I must say... life's only been excitin' ever since she came around..."
A dull-eyed mare nodded back at her. "'Exciting,' huh? Well, that's one way of putting it."
Applejack jerked in place. "Huh???" She leaned forward. "Does that mean you saw her?!"
"Yeah..." The waitress leaned back against the doorframe of the bar entrance. "...I saw her, alright."
"Whewwww doggy!" Applejack reared her front hooves.
"I saw her when I threw her out," the waitress spat.
Applejack landed back on all fours, ears drooping. "Whewwwwwwwwwww doggy..."