The burgundy pegasus started to come back to consciousness, though he didn’t even try to open his eyes. No way am I taking the chance of seeing that mare do something crazy again. Never again. Of course, he could still hear, and he finally took heed of a couple voices nearby.
“Pinkie, I can’t believe you just did that! What happened to doing harmless pranks?” His ear twitched slightly, curious about this voice that sounded so much like his own.
Then came the bubbly, high-pitched voice he’d have been glad to never hear again. “He needed cheering up, Dashie! I figured a good laugh would do him some good!”
“Still, I don’t think-” The rough voice stopped for a moment, and Enigma could imagine the look of confusion on the as-yet-unidentified-gendered pony. Probably a mare. Yeah, like I’m one to talk... “...he? Pinkie, why did you-”
“Ooh, he’s awake!” A pair of hooves placed themselves in his side and started to shake him energetically, forcefully. “Come on, sleepy-head! Time to wake up!”
Enigma slowly opened his eyes, groaning softly. His bleary gaze moved around the room, trying to locate the source of the voices. His eyes landed on a patch of rainbow, taking their sweet time focusing. “...who brought the Skittles?”
A hoof thunked him on the forehead, sending him toppling onto his back. “What they hay! Why are you comparing me to...” He looked up at her with one eye, rubbing the sore spot with one hoof, wondering why she’d trailed off. The mare - yeah, definitely a mare - was staring at a spot somewhere below his waist. “...oh. So he is a he.”
Enigma quickly righted himself, glaring at the other pegasus. How did I not notice those wings flared behind her? “Of course I’m a he!” He crossed his legs, blushing a bit. “And I’m sorry about that. Just woke up, and all.”
She gave him a confused stare, her lips in a frown. “Really? I thought you were just excited to see me.” She couldn’t keep the teasing smile from overpowering her disapproving look.
He sighed, rubbing the side of his head. “...sorry, but I have my heart set on somepony else...” He continued to rub his temple, staring off into the distance. ...did I really just say that?
The two mares in front of him looked at each other then back at him, concerned. The blue pony moved forward, poking his shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?”
He didn’t register this question, his mind having crashed.
‘Dashie’ turned to Pinkie, shaking her head. “His brain’s out to lunch.” She thought for a few seconds before smiling brightly, an idea coming to her. “Maybe seeing my awesomeness in action will snap him out of it!”
Before the party mare could say anything, her friend had grabbed the catatonic stallion and flew out of the building. She sat there for a few moments in silence before shrugging and turning back to her preparations. Her eyes brightened up suddenly, a grin quickly appearing on her lips. “Ooh, I know! The Parasprite Polka! That’ll get everypony moving!”
Rebooting the Mystere Operating System
Please Stand By...
Enigma blinked, shaking his head rapidly, groaning softly. “...ow, that hurt...” He looked down at his hooves, noticing the comfy little cumulus cloud he was sitting on. This is nice. Just like my old bed back home. He glanced around, curious. “What happened to me, anyways?”
“Don’t know, don’t care.” His gazed snapped over to the mare with the technicolor-mane in front of him. She seemed to be excited about something. “But I do know what’s about to happen - you’re about to see me practice the Sonic Rainboom for the Royal Wedding!”
He narrowed his eyes at her, his mouth opening slightly. Wedding? What is she talking about. He sighed, shaking his head and latching onto the one thing that made sense to him in that sentence right now. “You’ve gotta be kidding. I mean, there’s only one pony in all of Equestria who can do that, and she’s-”
“Rainbow Dash, that’s me!” She smirked, flicking a hoof through her mane. “Did my mane not give that away?”
He facehoofed, groaning softly. “...how did I not realize that?” He slowly slid the hoof down his face, quirking a brow at the pony in front of him. “Okay, then, ‘Dashie’. Show me this ‘Sonic Rainboom’.” Though he appeared to be indifferent about this, inside he was squealing like a little filly. I’m about to see the Sonic Rainboom in-pony! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!
She scowled at his apparent nonchalance, snorting in annoyance. “Fine. You’ll be cheering soon enough - believe it!” She flew over to another cloud, flexing her wings to limber herself up.
Enigma brought a hoof to his chin, thinking a little. “...‘believe it’? Who is she, Na-” Her taking off from the cloud stopped his monologue, his eyes following her every move. “...she’s approaching the sound barrier...well, there goes any thought of duplicating this...that’s easily twice as fast as I ca-”
Suddenly the sky burst into a wave of color, making his jaw drop in shock. He didn’t even realize that his thoughts were interrupted once again. “That was awesome! I can’t believe that she - hey, why is she suddenly going up?” He glanced down and froze, his eyes narrowing to pinpricks.
His cloud was gone.
As he was falling, he facehoofed, groaning softly. “What am I worried about? I can fly!” He snapped his wings out, gently gliding back down to the ground. The force of the Sonic Rainboom must have destroyed the cloud. I’ll have to tell that mare to be more careful the next time I see her. A voice behind him caught his attention.
“Oh my stars, darling!” He turned around, looking at the white unicorn behind him. “Whatever happened to your coiffure?”