"What are we doing?! What kind of sick, twisted ponies are we?"
The four other ponies in the room turned to Rainbow Dash. Twilight was the first to speak.
"This is what she wanted–"
"And?!" Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. "One of our best friends die and we throw her a PARTY?!"
The room fell silent. Nopony quite had a response to her outburst. Figured.
"I'm going outside."
With that, she opened the front door of the library and stepped out.
"Why...?" She plopped down on the front steps as the door closed behind her.
One of her closest friends, gone without the slightest warning. She wasn't even sure how to feel.
"We had so many good times together... Why did it have to end?"
She let her mind begin to wander, in an attempt to relax. She soon found herself thinking of a certain day from a few months ago...
"Oh, we just saw Twilight! She was headed back to the library. You should go find her; she was getting a tad bit impatient."
"Th...thanks! Oh, I hope she isn't too angry..." Spike ran off towards the library, at the suggestion of Rainbow Dash.
As soon as Spike was out of earshot, Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie, and they burst out laughing.
It was a bright sunny day, and Pinkie Pie and she had decided to do a round of pranks. Twilight had passed by earlier; she had sent him out to restock on quills, and he was taking a long time, so she set out to town to find him. A few moments later, Spike had passed by in a panic, and, well...
"So, Pinkie, how mad do you think Twilight will be?"
Pinkie giggled. "At Spike? Not very. At us? Maybe a bit."
Dash smiled, and flopped onto her back. "I love days like this."
Pinkie flopped on her back as well. "I know! They're so much fun!"
Dash looked over at her. "We've been doing this for a while, haven't we?"
Pinkie nodded. "Yup."
They fell silent for a moment, simply enjoying the warmth of the sun. Then, Pinkie gave a slight gasp.
"That's right! It's that day!"
She got up and walked over to a bush a short distance away. She pulled a large, wrapped box out it, and walked back over to Dash. "It's the anniversary of the day we started pranking together!"
Dash took the box, a little puzzled, but very pleased. "Th...thank you!" She quickly ripped the wrapping off of the box. She heard a slight sound from Pinkie as she reached for the lid, but disregarded it. She pulled it off...
And suddenly, streamers and confetti burst in her face. The sheer shock of what had happened sent her careening onto her back.
Pinkie burst out into laughter. "Ah, you fell for it!"
Dash frowned for a moment, but quickly reverted into a grin. "I guess I did."
Pinkie shook her head to regain her composure. "But, no, really, the gift's at the bottom of the box, silly."
Rainbow Dash got up and peered into the box, and saw a dark blue scarf. She pulled it out.
"I know Winter's a ways away, but I figured since it's colder up in the sky anyway..."
Dash grinned. "You don't need to say anything more. I love it!" She took put it on with a slight flair. It felt a bit warm– it was just the start of autumn– but it didn't bother her. "Thank you so much, Pinkie!"
"You're welcome!" she said with a smile.
"Pinkie, Rainbow! Have either of you seen Spike?"
They looked at the source of the voice. No surprise; it was Twilight.
Pinkie quickly responded. "We told him that you went into town, and he went to look for you. I don't know how you two missed each other!"
"Dang it. See you two later!" She quickly ran back in the direction that she had come from.
They took a moment for her to disappear from sight, and then burst into laughter once more.
"How long do you think we can keep this going for?"
"I don't know!" Pinkie grinned.
Rainbow Dash gave a warm smile. "Thanks for doing this with me. I'm sorry I don't have a gift for you..."
Pinkie raised an eyebrow, then shook her head. "Dashie, never stop smiling."
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash's expression changed to that of confusion.
"That's always good enough a gift for me. So please; don't stop smiling. I know you'll have times when you're sad, times when your angry; but I just want you to be able to stop yourself and smile every once and a while, even without me around. Okay?"
Dash thought for a moment, then smiled again. "Okay."
"Pinkie Promise?"
She sighed, and began to go through the motions. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
"Good. There's your gift back..."
"Never stop smiling."
Dash looked up at the sky. If they were to all start mourning, how would Pinkie feel? No...
Always, always, she wanted them to smile.
She got up, put a smile on her face, at least as best as she could manage, and opened the door to the library once more.