The fireplace was lit in Pinkie Pie's room above Sugarcube Corner. With Tank beside her, Rainbow Dash lay on the floor in front of the fire, enjoying the warmth as Pinkie read her latest chapter. Her eyes began to droop closed. It was just so comfortable here.
"Aww." Pinkie sighed. "No Gummy this time?"
Rainbow Dash blinked her eyes, fighting against sleep. "Mmmm? Oh, did you finish reading, Pinkie?"
"Yup!" The pink pony grinned, bounding up from her bed with the new pages in hoof. She came over to lie by the fire with Dash, putting the story down in front of her. "But you didn't write anything new about Gummy...."
"Oh. Yeah, sorry Pinkie. I just felt like, y'know, I should give some other characters a shot. You did say to put in more characters." Rainbow Dash yawned.
"It's okay. So, anyway. Rainbow Dash? Are you awake?" Pinkie's voice was starting to become a blur past the edge of Rainbow Dash's senses. She thought she could feel something prodding against her shoulder, but maybe it was her imagination. The fire was so comfortable. This was like laying on a whole cloud stuffed full of sunshine. Rainbow Dash wished she could get a fireplace in her own home, but she didn't think clouds were made for holding fires well. That was okay. She could just come visit her friend at Sucarcu—
Why did it feel like somepony had just folded her face in a very tight, wet towel?
"RAAAINBOW DAAASH!"
The eyes of the blue pegasus shot open wide, and found themselves staring into two huge purple orbs. Her wings tried to shoot her into the air, but the motion wound up as an ungainly flop onto her back. "Mrkmrrm Mrr! MRKMRRM!" She tried to yell back at Pinkie, but Gummy was clamped onto her face so firmly that she couldn't get her mouth open.
Pinkie calmly reached over and plucked the little alligator off of her face. Rainbow Dash sat up panting, her eyes still as wide as teacups. "What–! Pinkie–! Why did–! Aaagh, I'm all slimy now!"
Giggling quietly, Pinkie Pie offered Dash a towel. "You fell asleep on me, Rainbow Dash. I thought you wanted help with your story. I can't help you if you're asleep, silly."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean... Eeew! Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash scrubbed her face with the towel. After a few moments of cleaning herself off, Dash finally started to get her composure back. Her eyes darted around the room and found Gummy. The smug little alligator looked totally unperturbed. She did her best to transfix him with a glare, but Gummy didn't seem to notice.
"Don'cha want to know what I think!?" Even sitting on the floor, Pinkie was able to bounce up and down.
"Oh. Oh! Yeah, the story! Was it awesome!?"
"Yup!" Pinkie giggled. "Much better than last time. Not that last time wasn't awesome too. But this was much better." She peered at the pages for a moment. "Though... I really liked the action you put into your first story. Maybe you can try to put some more of that back in? Remember, characters first. That's the most important. But your readers wi— I mean, stories are always cooler if they have a little bit of action in them too."
Rainbow Dash frowned in thought. "That sounds kinda hard, Pinkie. Characters and action?"
"You can do it!" Pinkie gave her a wide smile. "Just spend some time thinking about the scene you want to tell next. See if you can find a way to develop your characters while they're doing something more active than standing around talking."
"I dunno Pinkie. But I guess I'll try..."
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The Amazingly Awesome Adventures of Tank the Tortoise
By R. Dash
Chapter 4 – Ninjas on a Train!
The train was rumbling through a long valley between two mountains when the white rabbit waiter arrived at Tank and Winona's room with dinner. Winona had apple fritters while Tank dined on leaf-flavored cupcakes.
"You and Commander Spike go way back, don't you sir?"
Tank grunted stoically. He might be saddled with a partner, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Tank the tortoise was a loose cannon, and he wouldn't let Winona's by-the-book attitude keep him from doing his job.
"Sir, do you have a plan for locating the Carrot Cita—"
All the lights in the train car blinked out, and Tank felt something metallic ping off his shell. Immediately, he threw himself across the room and tackled Winona to the ground. The brown-and-white dog gasped, but Tank threw one hand over her mouth to silence her.
Winona nodded in understanding and reached into her purse, pulling out two sets of night-vision goggles. Tank took one, exchanging it with his normal flying goggles. Staying low, Tank crept to the door of the compartment he shared with Winona. He poked his head out quickly to look around, and then pulled it back into his shell as another metal projectile whizzed by.
"Who is it?" Winona asked worriedly.
"Ninja-bunnies," Tank growled. "Stay here, Winona. I'll handle this."
Tank tensed, preparing to dash out into the corridor, but Winona rested a paw on his shell to stop him. "No, sir. We do this together."
Tank hesitated a moment before nodding. "All right. You take the ones on the right and I'll deal with the ones on the left."
Winona nodded, and on a three-count the pair rushed out into the corridor. The train left little room to maneuver for a flying tortoise, so Tank was forced to fight in the style of his forebearers. Sighting a clump of ninja-bunnies clustered down the corridor, Tank ran forward and kicked off with his left foot a moment before tucking his head and all his limbs into his shell. The shell rocketed along the ground, spinning faster and faster until it crashed into the cluster of ninja-bunnies. As the rabbits went flying, Tank came out of his shell and assumed the Tiger Stance. Down the corridor in the opposite direction, he could hear the high-pitched screams of the rabbits facing Winona.
"Tank the tortoise," came a squeaky voice from the shadows. "Thou wouldst quake in terror, shouldst thou know the plans our glorious master has lain for thee!"
Tank turned to face the voice, and a black rabbit clothed all in white ninja clothes stepped out of the darkness. "Rochefort! You traitor! We thought you were killed in the explosion at the rainbow factory. If Spike saw you now, serving Angelbunny, his heart would weep!"
"DOCTOR Angelbunny, my esteemed Tank. Thou and thy companion wouldst do best to grant thy new master the respect he is due." Rochefort cackled. "But the time for games is at an end. Minions! Come, we return to the Citadel!" And with a puff of smoke, the black rabbit vanished.
Winona came running up behind him, panting. "Sir! Who were those rabbits!?"
"Minions of Dr. Angelbunny," Tank growled. "Our worst fears have been proven true. Winona, take a letter. 'Dear Commander Spike....'"
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Rainbow Dash finished reading the new passage to Tank. He grinned up at her, but he usually did that whenever she gave him any sort of attention. Was he enjoying these stories? She hoped he was. "What do you think, buddy?"
In response, Tank's propeller whirred on and he hopped up to lick her cheek. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but giggle a little. "I hope Pinkie likes this one too. She seems really good at this kind of thing." Dash didn't understand why Pinkie would know any more than anypony else about writing, but she'd always had a very good memory for names and dates. Maybe she knew more than that, too. It was weird to think that Pinkie, in her way, might be as much of an egghead as Twilight Sparkle. But thanks to them, even Rainbow Dash liked reading and writing now. Having friends who were eggheads was kind of nice, sometimes.
Not that she'd let anypony hear her say that out loud. She had a reputation to maintain.