Chapter 13: A Very Tough Day
And she stopped. She stopped because her trick hadn’t gone well, but whatever the case it needed to improve. She fluttered to a cloud and snuggled it as she pondered what had gone wrong: her turn was good, her angle was right, so why did her move feel so off? Was it the wind? Nah, that couldn’t be right. The weather was perfect today! Was it her wings? She fluttered her blue feathers, but nothing was wrong. So why did i— what the…? Did she just hear…? Nah, that was impossible. Well, her wings seemed fine but— there it was again. High-pitched sound pierced her hearing. Confused, she looked around. She didn’t see it, but she was sure it was near her. She looked around once more and…
*Ka-thump!*
“Ow!” —whined Rainbow Dash. Out of all the ways she awoke, this was the one she hated the most.
She stretched out her wings and her limbs. She didn’t have to get to work until afternoon, so she went to her bathroom and splashed her face to wake up: an advantage of living in the clouds was that there was never a water shortage.
This was it: this was the last day of work before the Summer Sun Celebration. The only thing Rainbow needed to do was work normally, not screw up and enjoy her day. If she didn’t… She didn’t want to think of her punishment, mostly because Cloudkicker was going paranoid and today was going to be the last day, so the only important thing to do was not set her off.
With a clear mind, Dash went out the door to make her no-mistakes day.
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“Alright girls, what’re we gonna do ‘bout it?!” —asked Applebloom.
—“Throw her in mud?” —suggested Scootaloo as she played with her set of stickers.
—“No, it’d be too easy.”
—“Oh, I know!” —interjected Sweetie Belle.
—“Yes, Sweetie Belle?”
—“What if we write her a love letter and sign it anonymously? We start it romantically and end it by telling her how much she sucks.”
—“Scootaloo?”
—“I’m game” —she said as she removed a sticker from her hoof.
—“So, it’s decided then: We’ll write a love letter to Diamond Tiara about how much a meanie she is!”
—“I’ll do it! Let’s go Sweetie Belle! You can help me out!” —offered Scootaloo.
—“Sure! Let’s do this. Now, what color is Diamond Tiara’s coat?”
___
“Are you girls finished?” —asked an anxious Applebloom.
—“Almost” —answered Sweetie Belle. “Scootaloo! Focus! Stop playing with your hoof-made Rainbow Dash stickers!”
—“Sorry. Um… Oh! I got it!” —exclaimed the orange filly as she finished writing.
—“Let me see!” —squeaked Applebloom. “Yes, this is good, but, shouldn’t we leave something as a signature?”
—“Nah, it’s cool as it is” —said Scootaloo.
—“Yeah, signing it would make her suspect something” —interjected the expert Sweetie.
—“Oh! Oh! How about this?” —said Scootaloo as she wrote the final touches on the letter.
—“Perfect!” —said Applobloom as she read the ending. “Now, ah gotta get ta make the order of muffins Big McIntosh wanted. You girls should head home.”
And with that, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo headed to their houses as Applebloom wrote down her order of muffins. The young filly finished writing and folded down the paper, ready to be delivered to Sugarcube Corner.
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The bell rung as a new customer stepped in.
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” —exclaimed the pink mare behind the counter.
—“Hi Pinkie Pie!”
—“Hi Applebloom!”
—“Ah came here ta leave the order of muffins ah asked fer big McIntosh.”
—“Nooooo problema! Leave it on the counter, I’ll read it later.”
—“Thanks, Pinkie Pie!”
The yellow filly walked out of Sugarcube Corner and headed home. Pinkie walked into the kitchen and grabbed two trays of baked pastries, which she left on the counter. Since some were still in the oven, she decided to read the order of muffins Applebloom requested.
“Pinkie Pie:
I’d like to order some muffins for my broder brother. He loves Apple & Sinnamon Cinnamon and Banana flavors, so I thought of ordering him a pack of six muffins with three of each. He says he wish hed come, but the farm’s been keeping him busy, so he apologises for it.
Thank You.”
She finished reading and turned to grab a couple of muffins when another sheet of paper flew loose. She picked it up and noticed the cloud and rainbow lightning bolt on the back. She began to read it with impatience. A letter from Rainbow Dash? Since when was she writing letters to anypony?
“My dear sweet sugar cube,
Since the moment I saw you I thought you were the best filly in the world. Hearing your laughter made me feel like I was up in the clouds and your face reminded me of those of a Princess. I thought your regal attitude was what any pony would look forward in a girl, and I couldn’t wait to wrap my hooves around your pink coat."
Wrap her hooves? Who knew Dashie was this romantic?
"Sadly, that is not the case with you. You are self-assorted in your world and only think of yourself. You are the most selfish girl I have ever seen. You don’t care about anyone and your gossipy attitude drives everyone crazy. I made a big mistake in thinking that you and I could even get somewhere. You are my worst mistake and I hope to never see you again.
P.S. I won’t bother in signing, since probably you don’t even remember me.”
Pinkie Pie felt smashed. She felt the world going in circles around her. Her heart slowed down. She didn’t want to live anymore. Was she really selfish? Was she really self-absorbed? She didn’t care. What was the purpose of living if one person didn’t want to be her friend? Her hair deflated and she turned glum as she went crying to her room.
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Oh, it’s not a big deal” —said Fluttershy.
—“Alright” —said Rainbow Dash. “Take care little fella. I’ll be back for you.”
Sure of her decision, Dash left Fluttershy’s cottage as the tortoise was left once again to the yellow pegasus care. It was just one more day until the Summer Sun Celebration and the only thing Dash needed to do was take care of a small drizzle for noon and everything would be in order.
_________________________________________________________________________
“Ooops, my bad.”
—“Derpy! Watch where you’re flying!”
Derpy hooves had bumped into another pony again. Her lazy eye made her constantly lose her balance. The drizzle had already started and everypony was trotting to get away. It made them wet, but they didn’t need any umbrellas, especially since it was going to be the last drizzle and it would be a short one. She spotted a distinct cyan mare and approached her.
“Hey Rainbow Dash!” —she exclaimed.
—“Hey Derpy” —answered a very tired Dash.
—“What are you doing?”
—“Just finishing a drizzle with the weather team.”
—“Is there anything I can do to help?”
—“No! Uh— I mean… No, Derpy. Not for now.”
—“Oh, well. I just wanted to help, that’s all” —said a disappointed Derpy.
—“Oh… Well, if you take care of these clouds for a while, then that would help a lot.”
—“Great!”
—“Yeah, I’m gonna take a break.”
—“Oh, can you please pass on to Sugarcube Corner? I’d love a couple of muffins.”
—“Sure, why not? I guess I gotta pay you somehow.”
—“Yay! Thanks, Rainbow Dash!”
With her situation controlled, Rainbow Dash flew away to get a break from all the work and went to Sugarcube Corner, where she needed to not only get Derpy’s muffins, but also to speak to Pinkie Pie. Without Applejack (even for a day), she sometimes needed to speak to somepony, so she guessed Pinkie would be a good alternative.
She arrived at Sugarcube Corner and the bell rang.
“Welcome, Rainbow Dash.”
—“Huh?”
Behind the counter was Mrs. Cake.
“Mrs. Cake? Where’s Pinkie?”
—“She’s upstairs. Poor girl went to her room and closed it shut. She won’t open and I don’t know what happened. I’m worried about her.”
—“Well, I just want an order of muffins. Then, I’ll go talk to her.”
—“Oh, please be a dear and do so.”
—“Now that I think of it, where is Mr. Cake anyways?”
—“Oh, he went to take the babies on a stroll. He left me in charge of the bakery” —said the blue mare as she put 6 muffins in a bag.
—“Oh, alright. Thank you Mrs. Cake, and don’t worry. I’ll talk to Pinkie.”
—“Good luck, dear” —said Mrs. Cake.
Rainbow grabbed the bag of muffins and put it in her saddlebag. Afterwards, she went to Pinkie’s room. Pinkie’s apartment was at the topmost part of the bakery, with the second floor being her bathroom. Rainbow approached the room and a chill ran down her spine. Everything was suspiciously quiet.
She raised a nervous hoof and knocked on the door.
“GO AWAY!” —yelled a voice inside.
—“Pinkie? Pinkie! It’s me! Rainbow!”
—“Rainbow?!” —yelled back the pink mare.
For a moment Rainbow felt relieved. Like she could see Pinkie had realized it was her and decided to calm down and let her in. Instead she heard hoofsteps and was surprised when she got an angry pink face pressing against her nose.
—“What do you want, Rainbow?” —asked Pinkie, putting more emphasis on her name.
—“I was just passing by and heard you locked yourself. I just wanted to see if you were O.K.”
—“Since when are you so worried about me? Didn’t you say I was selfish? So why would you even bother to see me?”
—“Pinkie I don’t know what you’re talking abou—”
—“Really?! Because unlike you, I do. See? I do remember! And you said I didn’t. Rainbow Dash” —there it was again. The same emphasis on her name, like it was a grave insult of some sort.
Pinkie turned around and climbed the stairs back into her room. Rainbow followed suit. Pinkie was obviously angry, but Dash didn’t want to take risks. This was not the first time she saw her friend like this, so she was worried about what she could do to herself.
She stepped inside Pinkie’s room. Although she was not happy to see her friend like this, she was glad that at least Sir Lents-a lot, Madame LeFlour, Rocky and Mr. Turnip were not present. Pinkie grabbed a knife with her right mouth and approached Rainbow.
—“Whoa, Pinkie. No, don’t do it! I’m sure we can get to some sort of agreement.”
—“What? Now you wanth thoo depraph me frum my fav’rite fooths ath well?” —said Pinkie. She approached Rainbow wielding the knife and… Cut herself a big slice of pink cake, probably stolen from the counter hours ago to keep herself from going out again.
Dash let out a relieved sigh she didn’t know was holding.
“So, why are you here, Rainbow? What was that about not wanting to see me again? Did your other ‘friends’ let you down?”
—“I don’t know what you’re talking about Pinkie. Why are you acti—?”
—“LIES!” —yelled Pinkie.
—“Huh? What in the hay?”
—“Do you recognize this?” —said Pinkie as she flailed the letter in Rainbow’s face.
—“What is this?”
—“Oh, you don’t remember? Well, I guess having your head in the clouds keeps your mind numb. Oh, and I do know what that means, unlike you.”
What? Since when did Pinkie assume Rainbow didn’t know some words? In fact, when did she boast herself to be treated like this? Yeah, there was that Mysterious Mare-Do Well incident, but that was water under the bridge and the lesson was learned. Why was she bringing this up (she was, wasn’t she?) again?
“Go away Dash. Go back to your pathetic job and leave me alone.”
Pinkie kicked Rainbow out of her room and closed the door again. Rainbow was not sure why Pinkie acted so tough, but she certainly needed to see that letter. She had only seen a big blur of black and white, so there was nothing she could see per se. Too bad Pinkie kept the letter to herself.
Rainbow let a frustrated sigh and walked out to the front door.
—“Did she come around?” —asked Mrs. Cake.
—“No, Mrs. Cake. She didn’t.” —answered a defeated Rainbow Dash.
With that, the cyan pegasus left the bakery and flew away.
She kept soaring the sky, but her mind was elsewhere. She needed to talk to someone, but she wasn’t sure who could be the one. Twilight was surely making huge checklists for the Summer Sun Celebration; Fluttershy was taking care of her animals and Dash didn’t want to upset Tank for a faux visit, so she wasn’t an option. This only left Rarity for the job. She flew towards Carrousel Boutique and landed on the entrance.
The bell rang as she entered the store.
“Hello?”
—“In a minute!”
In a matter of seconds Rarity appeared from the back of the store.
“Rainbow Dash? Oh, dear, what brings you here?” —said the white mare with a concerned look on her face and a gleeful smile.
Rarity’s mane looked unkempt, like she just woke up.
—“What happened to you?” —asked Rainbow.
—“Oh, this? This is just a side-effect” —said Rarity.
—“Well, I’ve got a problem.”
—“What’s wrong?”
Rainbow didn’t know where to start. There were so many emotions going through her about the whole Pinkie incident that she didn’t know how to tell Rarity about everything. Then there was the wording problem. Rainbow Dash had learned to keep her mouth shut t times, and she had learnt it the bad way. She always said things like how they popped themselves into her mind, and sometimes the words were not carefully thought, so she ended up having everypony shooting scornful looks at her. She carefully thought how to approach the subject and how to say things as to not offend Rarity, who aside from all of that was obviously stressed.
—“Well, um…”
—“Yes?”
—“Mmm… Rarity, how would you react if I told you your job was pathetic?”
As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted everything. Rarity looked at her with the angriest look she had ever seen come out of her.
—“What are you implying Rainbow Dash?!”
—“N-nothing! It’s just tha—”
—“Are you saying my dresses are horrible?!”
—“N-no! Of course no—”
—“Because I work hard on them, you know?!”
—“I’m fairly certain you do, bu—”
—“Are you implying, then, that my work is worthless?!”
—“No, I’m not. What I’m trying to say is—”
—“You know, if you don’t like my dresses, then fine, you can tell me. But don’t you ever. Ever. Dare to say I’m pathetic.”
—“Wha—? But…”
Rarity made her look angrier, telling Rainbow in the most subtle, non-yelling manner to get out of the boutique.
With that sign, Dash turned around and flew away. What was it with everypony today? It was probably a coincidence, but it sure as hay didn’t seem like it. Pinkie was a mystery, but Rarity was understandable: she was really stressed, and her perfectionist attitude had put her on the edge. Still, she didn’t quite understand her sudden burst of anger. ‘I mean, she had no right to get angry. She’s not pathetic. She knows it, I know it, and I was not implying that. If I had asked her if her job was pathetic, then I guess she’d have a point, but this was not the case, so why did she get angry all of a sudden? Why did she make a big deal out of something we both know is not true? And why did she keep saying things I did not say?’
“Ungh! Why is everypony so crazy today? Has everyone lost their mind?” thought Dash aloud. She was so angry she could buck the first person that came across her.
—“Hey, Rainbow Dash!”
Dash turned around and saw Derpy. She got her muzzle to her saddlebag and took out the bag of muffins, throwing it at her.
—“Here ya go, Derpy!”
However, her anger seemed to take the better of her because as she delivered them, she did it with such a huge force that when she gave them to Derpy, the poor grey pegasus went flying into the nearest cloud. The impact came with such a force that the cloud altered the others and the rain came pouring down. First one cloud, then the other, then the other. Soon the storm was out of control.
—“Who did this?!” —asked Cloudkicker as she gathered every team in one place. “Derpy! Was it you?”
Derpy was shocked by the accusation. She was not even a weather pony and she was being yelled at for something she didn’t do.
“How many times do I have to tell you to watch where you’re flying?!”
—“She didn’t do it” —said Rainbow Dash, trying to defend the poor filly. “I did.”
—“Rainbow Dash?” —Cloudkicker’s look was perplexed.
—That’s right. If you’re going to punish someone, then let it be me. “
Derpy looked as if an angel had saved her life.
—“I’m sorry, Dash” —said Cloudkicker with a disappointed tone in her voice. “But the rules are the rules. You have a day to leave. If I see you tomorrow, I’ll need to fire you.”
—“What?! But—”
—“No ‘but’s. These are orders from above… I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go for tomorrow.”
—“But tomorrow’s the Summer Sun Celebration!”
—“Precisely. They don’t want anyone goofing around tomorrow, so anyone caught making the slightest trouble is getting banned from the local Celebration and sent elsewhere.”
—“So where should I go?”
—“That’s up to you. Maybe there’s somepony outside of Ponyville who can let you a have bed for a night.”
Rainbow Dash was angry, but it all seemed so logical she didn’t want to argue. She had had enough of ponies yelling at her for today. Tomorrow Ponyville was going to awake with mud puddles all over town, so she knew she had really messed things up.
With a lot of things on her mind, Rainbow Dash walked away deep in her thoughts. ‘And then, packing time’. This was going to be a long night.
‘Alright! First things first!’ —she thought. ‘I need to tell the others about today. Pinkie Pie is obviously out of the question, and Rarity is probably still making a fit and would probably ban me from the boutique like that one time, so I guess I’ll see Twilight first and then Fluttershy.’
___
“What?! Tomorrow?!” —exclaimed Twilight as the news hit her. “But tomorrow’s our weekly Pony Pet Play date! And we had already agreed to see the fireworks at the Celebration!”
—“I know, and I’m sorry, but it’s either that or my job.”
—“First Applejack, and now you! There’s nothing that can worsen things.”
—“Um… Actually…”
—“Actually what, Rainbow Dash?” —said Twilight through gritted teeth.
‘Oh no, not again. More yelling? Haven’t I had enough already? Well, I might as well tell her quickly before anything worsens.’
—“Um… Pinkie Pie is sad and Rarity is angry.”
—“And?”
—“Heh… Twilight… I think I may have to repeat myself: Pinkie Pie is sad and Rarity is angry.”
—“You mean sad and angry or—?”
—“Oh, no. I mean sad sad and angry angry.”
—“Oh, no. Why today? I mean, if we don’t get together then we can’t have fun, and if we can’t have fun then maybe trouble will arise and if trouble aris— *pluck!* OW!” —exclaimed the lavender unicorn as she rubbed her head. Rainbow had smacked her to keep her from rambling.
—“Twi! It’s gonna be alright! It’s just one day! Besides, it’s not like the princesses will be here. They’ve chosen another place to host the Celebration! Chill down, nothing’s going to happen.”
—“Still, I was hoping we could enjoy this day… As friends…”
—“C’mon, Twi! Don’t get so down! Maybe next year will be better.”
—“*sigh* I hope you’re right Rainbow. I hope you’re right.”
After talking about her plans, Dash ran out of Twilight’s library and went to Fluttershy’s cottage. Twilight had asked her if she could help with the packaging, but Rainbow had refused: Twilight was already stressed enough with preparing the Summer Sun Celebration to further make her mind busier. As she neared her timid friend’s hut, Rainbow felt guilty in telling Tank about the situation she had created. She could already see the little tortoise’s sad eyes in front of her.
‘Snap out of it! It’ll be OK!’ —she told herself.
She knocked on the door and waited for a response. Within a matter of seconds, Fluttershy was standing in front of her with a slight grin on her face.
“Rainbow!”
—“Hey Flutters” —answered Rainbow with a sheepish grin.
—“Come in, you’re soaking.”
—“Well, I just needed to drop by.”
As she rubbed the back of her head, she saw Tank the tortoise fly up to her with an excited smile on his little face. Dash’s heart tugged at her. She knew the little guy would not like being told to stay again.
—“He really missed you, you know?” —interjected Fluttershy, snapping Rainbow out of her thoughts.
—“Oh. R-Really?”
—“Yeah, poor guy. In the end he met with his old mates and played with them. It seems he sometimes forgets his situation so he doesn’t feel so lonely.”
Rainbow gulped. What she was about to say would not be hard for either of them.
—“T-Tank? I’m sorry. I’m really really sorry.”
—“Is something wrong, Rainbow?” —asked a concerned Fluttershy.
Rainbow took a deep breath and sighed. ‘Here we go again’ —she thought.
—“I have to leave tomorrow.”
As she expected, Tank’s face frowned as the words left her mouth.
—“Why?”
—“Because of that” —said the cyan pegasus, pointing a hoof at the storm outside.
—“B-but why?”
—“Orders from above. Anyone causing havoc in the weeks prior to de Summer Sun Celebration is to be banned and sent elsewhere.”
—“Oh. So what are you going to do?”
—“Pack.”
—“And what about…”
Rainbow didn’t let her finish. She slowly walked to her tortoise and looked at him in the eyes.
—“I’m sorry, tough guy. But I need to go. Do you think you can hang in for a couple of days without me in here? Fluttershy’ll take care of you.”
The last part seemed to lighten the green reptile up as his eyes sparked with hope of seeing her owner again and not being abandoned.
“I swear I’ll try to be back as soon as possible, but until then, take care of Fluttershy for me.”
Rainbow quickly neared her yellow-colored friend and whispered “Please take care of him for me.”
With this, the multi-colored-maned pony ran off and into the storm to try to reach her house. This was indeed going to be a long night.