Knock knock knock.
Rainbow Dash’s heart threatened to burst out of her chest as she stood atop the welcome mat to the Golden Oaks Library. She passed a glance to the adjacent windows and upon realizing that the blinds were shut, shuffled in her spot as her wings relaxed against her back. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and bit her lip as she turned her gaze back to the door, which gave no response.
Ten seconds passed and Rainbow beat on the door again, making sure that her forehoof was at least stinging in pain so that her message could echo through the inside. After another ten seconds, there was no answer. Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat and she stamped her forehooves onto the welcome mat, her red face contorting with an eye twitch and grinding teeth.
“Are you bucking kidding me?” Rainbow asked the door as she turned to look behind her at the numerous ponies that passed her on the road, groceries in hoof or lists to fulfill. Rainbow raised a hoof and took in a few deep breaths, allowing the color in her face to dissipate as her heart returned to a normal pace. She instead sighed and began to walk away from the library.
“The one time that I’m ready to talk to Twilight... she isn’t here. Not even Spike is home to tell me where she is,” Rainbow muttered.
Rainbow trudged up the road and stopped as a familiar building passed by her vision. She focused upon the cupcake sign and licked her lips as she stopped near the steps to the confectionery store. She quickly plastered a smile on her face and opened the door, which prompted an immediate reaction.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow stepped to the side as Pinkie Pie jumped over the counter and zipped through the air, landing exactly where Rainbow was standing before she moved. Pinkie held a circular tray of cupcakes in one forehoof while the other grasped a bag of bits that was recently given to her. Despite her two forehooves being busy, she did not fall forward and merely remained on her two back hooves. A large grin took up Pinkie’s face, and it only grew wider once she noticed that Rainbow was smiling.
“How are you today?” Pinkie asked.
Rainbow shrugged as she ascended the final step to Sugarcube Corner and walked inside. Pinkie closed the door after her.
“Doin’ okay, Pinks. I just got off work and was flying around the neighborhood. I figured I should visit ya before I went back to bed.”
Pinkie nodded. “I’m so glad that you decided to come! I’ve actually been making a new kind of treat that I know you will like!”
Pinkie bounced over to the counter until she was behind it and jerked her head in the direction of the kitchen. “Come on, Dashie! I want you to try it!”
Rainbow sighed in relief and smiled as she followed Pinkie into the kitchen.
“Why do I ever worry about anything?” Rainbow asked as she looked around the dirty kitchen, unaware that Pinkie had heard her.
Pinkie’s spatula fell into her mixing bowl as she imploringly stared at her friend. Rainbow didn’t notice that the room was quiet until she blinked and shook her head a little bit.
“I... um... what?” Rainbow asked as she met Pinkie’s gaze, blinking a few times in response.
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “What are you worrying about, Dashie?” she asked.
Rainbow laughed nervously and shook her head. “Oh, nothing, Pinkie. I meant... why do I worry about eating too many sweets,” she replied, as she tried to inconspicuously wipe a bead of sweat from her brow.
Either Pinkie noticed, or didn’t care as her demeanor immediately softened to a smile and closed eyes. “Okie dokie lokie!” she replied as she picked up the mixing bowl and bounced over to a counter nearby the oven. The batter jumped up into the air before landing back into the bowl, completely defying the laws of physics as Pinkie poured the batter into a cake tin.
Rainbow quickly tried to break the silence. “So... you said something about a new treat?”
Pinkie gasped and disappeared from the counter in a puff of pink smoke. She reappeared next to Rainbow with a spherical cake in her hoof. The cake was colored the colors of the rainbow, starting with the center and working its way outward. Rainbow blinked and instantly recognized what it was meant to be, but Pinkie said it first.
“The Sonic Rainboom!” Pinkie cried, smiling as she placed the cake into Rainbow’s now outstretched hoof. “I made this today when I saw you clearing the clouds because I remembered that one time when you made a Sonic Rainboom during Cadance’s wedding! And then I started to think about you, and I wondered how you were doing, so I decided to make a cake as a celebration for you getting into the Wonderbolt Academy!”
Rainbow laughed as she surveyed the treat and then focused back on Pinkie. “I’ve been in the academy for a few months now, Pinkie. Isn’t it a little late for celebrations?”
Pinkie scoffed. “Nah... it’s never too late for celebrations! I mean, come on, Dashie! You’re talking to the world’s number one party pony!”
Pinkie jumped up into the air and ran over to the batter that she previously poured. After a few dials were turned and the oven was opened, another tin of batter was placed inside of the oven and Pinkie closed the door soon after. She zipped back to Rainbow and smiled brightly.
Rainbow laughed at Pinkie’s shenanigans and shook her head. “I could never get tired of you, Pinkie,” she said as she looked back to the cake. She sniffed it and closed her eyes in relaxation. It felt as if the scent was massaging her nose while at the same time, begging for her to taste the scent upon her tongue. After all, some senses could not get special treatment over others. “It smells so good,” Rainbow muttered again.
Pinkie’s smile remained as she hopped up and down. “Taste it, Dashie! I made it special for you!”
Rainbow opened her mouth and raised the cake to her muzzle, but immediately stopped. She turned to Pinkie as she stopped bouncing. “Wait a minute... you made it special for me? This isn’t a joke, is it?” she asked.
Pinkie giggled and shook her head. “Nope! Silly, if I was making this as a joke, then why would I have another twelve in the oven right now?”
Rainbow smirked. “You could have put hot sauce in this one. Do you swear that you didn’t do anything to this?” she asked.
Pinkie tilted her head to the side, but crossed her hoof over her heart. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
Rainbow nodded and raised the cake to her muzzle once more. One bite, and it felt like she was in heaven. Flavors assaulted her senses. Cherry, blueberry, lemon, and grape rolled around on her tongue, and that was just from the side that she bit off of. Rainbow leaned against the kitchen table and rolled her tongue around in her mouth, closing her eyes as she let out a guttural moan.
“Oh, Celestia... that’s...” Rainbow took another bite of the cake, nearly taking half of it as she munched and smiled. “So freaking good!”
Rainbow met eyes with Pinkie, whose smile grew wider from Rainbow’s recognition. “Pinkie, are you some kind of magician? How did you make this taste so... amazing!?” she asked.
Pinkie waved a hoof. “Ah ah ah, a magician never reveals her secrets.”
Rainbow popped the rest of the cake into her mouth. “It’s... it’s really good, Pinks,” she replied with her mouth full.
“I’m glad that you like it, Dashie,” Pinkie said as she brought the bowl of batter back to the kitchen. “I thought of you while I made it... and now that it turned out so well, I want to make even more!”
"Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash said, "You're like some kind of famous master chef, or something!"
"Well, I'm not a famous chef yet, but I am a master baker," Pinkie Pie said, "I'm glad you like it, Dashie. I thought of you while master baking."
Rainbow’s smile widened as she reached over to hug Pinkie Pie, the joke completely going over her head. Her forearms wrapped around Pinkie’s chest, resting behind her back as she replied. “Thank you, Pinkie. I really needed that cake.”
Pinkie looked away and placed her forehooves on top of Rainbow’s shoulders, the same smile still on her face. “Anything to make my best friends smile!”
Rainbow felt a wave of feelings rush over her as she snuggled into the bubble gum scented coat of her friend. She could taste remnants of the cake on her tongue; it was an understatement to say that she wanted another. Rainbow rubbed her forehooves along Pinkie’s chest before she let go, realizing that the hug probably lasted longer than it should. Pinkie didn’t seem to notice as she filled up some cupcake tins with the same batter.
“Pinkie, that cake made my day so much better,” Rainbow replied as she paused to wonder why she needed to repeat herself.
Pinkie took the compliment in stride. “I’m glad! Hey! Would you like to make some more with me? The Cakes got a recent catering order and they are out right now, so I figured I would get it done for them while they are gone and deliver it! What do you say!”
Rainbow brushed her hoof against her shoulder, feigning disinterest. “Oh, I don’t know, Pinkie. I mean... I’m in the Wonderbolt Academy now. I’m not even sure if I can spend time doing stuff like this when I should be training,” she replied before she smirked.
Pinkie looked to Rainbow with a pout, but upon seeing her smirk, she lit back up into that cheery smile. Rainbow nodded as the image of Twilight’s locked house lingered in the back of her mind. It was a good thing that fur could hide goosebumps.
“Yeah, what the heck. I have nothing else that I want to do, anyway,” Rainbow replied.
"Great!" Pinkie Pie said. As if on cue, Pinkie zipped around the room, placing one more table nearby the first one while another wave of utensils followed shortly after. Rainbow felt a chef’s hat fall onto her head while Pinkie circled around her and tied an apron onto her.
"Now we can both be master bakers! Won't it be fun to master bake together?" Pinkie asked while she tied the apron.
“Woah!”
Rainbow circled around with Pinkie until she was stopped by Pinkie’s hoof and she stumbled around the kitchen until she made it back to her table, her forehooves gripping the side to avoid falling. She chuckled even though she felt the cake fighting against her stomach for a moment.
“Next time, just give me the clothes, alright? I don’t want you dressing me unless you’re buying me dinner first,” Rainbow replied.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said in response as she turned back to her bowl.
Rainbow realized what she just said and bit her lip, her face reddening while Pinkie focused on her bowl, not even noticing Rainbow’s broken composure. Rainbow turned to her bowl and picked up the bag of flour. She inspected it for a moment and opened the bag, only to cough as the flour expelled into her nose. She coughed a few more times and covered her muzzle before she closed the bag.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was already making more batter as she placed the whisk inside of her bowl and began to beat the batter until it was a nice and fluid texture. The smell that came from the bowl reminded Rainbow of the cake’s divinity and she sidestepped closer to Pinkie so that she could take a whiff. Pinkie turned to Rainbow and smiled.
“Didja want to just help with my side?” Pinkie asked.
Rainbow nodded and laughed nervously as she scratched a hoof behind her head. “Yeah... I uh... have no idea how to bake. Once I became a teenager... it was mostly takeout and delivery food, heh,” Rainbow admitted.
Pinkie giggled and bounced once to the side, allowing Rainbow to face the bowl. Rainbow placed her hoof on the whisk and nearly jumped to the ceiling when Pinkie moved behind her and placed her forehoof on hers.
“Alright, Dashie! Making a cake is easy! Since we are doing the Sonic Rainboom cakes, we don’t have to worry about layers and all of that! Just the filling and icing!” Pinkie said as she slowly guided Rainbow’s hoof to the whisk since it retreated previously from her touch. Rainbow followed and gripped the whisk once more.
“Gently, Dashie,” Pinkie whispered, lowering her voice since her head was on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Hold the whisk gently, but still with control. You gotta make sure that the whisk knows who’s boss! Once it’s all ready, you have to spin it gently too.”
Rainbow nodded and relaxed her grip on the whisk. She sighed in relief as Pinkie guided her hoof in a circle. She was slowly whisking the batter now, allowing the smell to waft into her nose once more. Rainbow couldn’t help but take another selfish whiff. Pinkie smiled.
“It’s relaxing, isn’t it?” Pinkie asked.
Rainbow nodded, allowing her hoof to go on autopilot as she whisked the batter. Pinkie released her hoof and Rainbow kept it going, eventually to the point where the batter was nearly perfect for baking. Pinkie pulled a cupcake tin close and stepped back. “Now, go ahead and pour the batter into the tins,” Pinkie said, her voice a little louder since she was farther away from Rainbow’s ear.
Rainbow poured the batter flawlessly and stepped back as well to admire her handiwork. “Aww yeah! Better cupcakes in ten...” Rainbow glanced at the kitchen clock and her ears drooped onto her head, “minutes flat. Did it really take that long?”
Pinkie nodded, but kept her smile. “You can’t rush perfection, Dashie!” she replied.
Immediately, Rainbow lightened back up. She smiled as she brought the batter-filled tin over to the adjacent empty oven and placed the tin inside. Rainbow then pushed it closed with her rump and smirked as Pinkie held out her hoof for a bump.
“Good job, Rainbow!” Pinkie replied. “Those cakes are going to be so awesome when we get to decorate them! We have another 50 to go, so let’s keep going!”
Rainbow nodded, but paused once she walked back to the bowl of batter. “Shouldn’t you be doing this, Pinkie? I mean...” Rainbow looked back at the bag of flour that previously almost choked her. “I’m not exactly quick when it comes to this.”
Pinkie shrugged as she walked back behind Rainbow. “You’ll get better at it. Let’s bake some more!” she replied, her wide smile eliminating any desire for Rainbow to step aside. She placed her hoof back on the whisk and felt the warmth of her friend’s hoof as the two of them whisked, dripped, panned, and placed the batter in the oven.
~~~
“Dashie?”
Rainbow looked from the batter bowl to Pinkie, who was in Rainbow’s old spot, making more batter for the cakes. She was frowning and had her eyes completely fixed on Rainbow. Rainbow smiled as she continued to whisk.
“Yeah, Pinkie?”
“Can I ask you something?”
Rainbow felt her heart sink into her chest.
“Oh no... here it comes... why else would Pinkie be so close to me during the whole time while we were baking? I don’t even know if I’m ready for that... how could I be so stupid and think that we weren’t already in this step of our friendship?!”
Rainbow turned to Pinkie and smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. Go ahead, Pinkie.”
“Are you doing okay?”
Rainbow blinked a few times at the question, obviously taken aback.
“I... is that a trick question? Is she trying to pick my brain?”
Rainbow let her whisk fall back into the bowl and she placed a hoof underneath her chin. “Um... I told you that I was doin’ okay when I came in here,” she replied. “I’ve only gotten better since you gave me that awesome little cake.”
Pinkie sighed and placed her whisk into the nearby bowl. “Dashie, I don’t like it when my friends lie to me,” she murmured.
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Pinkie, I’m not lying to you,” Rainbow said as she placed a hoof over her heart. “I told you that I’m okay.”
“You’re okay, but you aren’t awesome,” Pinkie replied. She stepped closer to Rainbow and placed a hoof onto her shoulder, her eyes staring into Rainbow’s vacillating violet eyes. “You haven’t told me that you were okay since you came back from your dad’s house. Your day is always awesome unless something bad happens.”
Now it was Rainbow’s turn to sigh. She was as good as caught. Rainbow proceeded back to the whisk and continued making the cakes while she spoke, wondering how Pinkie was able to not only guess that she was upset, but why as well.
“I just... had a rough couple of days lately. I’m fine, really I am,” Rainbow said.
“But you didn’t want to tell me. The days must have been really, really bad!” Pinkie replied, ditching her somber tone for a more energized response.
Rainbow noticed the tone, and wasn’t exactly sure why, but at the same time, didn’t care enough to question it. It was probably just Pinkie being Pinkie.
“Yeah... they kind of were, Pinkie,” Rainbow said as she poured more batter into a cake tin. Pinkie placed a forehoof onto Rainbow’s own hoof and stopped her before she smiled widely.
“Come on, you know you can tell me, Dashie!” Pinkie said. “Of all the ponies in Equestria, you know that I can help turn that frown upside down!”
Pinkie’s smile spread to Rainbow and she looked away from her friend, silently cursing Pinkie for being able to lighten her mood so easily. She wanted to be frustrated with Twilight, not happy with Pinkie. Although, if that was the case, then why did she come to Sugarcube Corner in the first place? She knew that this was going to happen, but now that she felt her friend’s gaze burning a hole into the back of her head, she wasn’t sure what she preferred. Rainbow sighed.
“No, Pinkie, I’m fine. It’s nothing that you have to worry about.”
Pinkie groaned in disapproval and bounced up into the air before she landed on her hooves on the table, facing Rainbow and her averted gaze. Her hooves were right between the flour bag, batter bowl, cupcake tins, and milk, as if she perfectly positioned herself. Pinkie kept that smile on as she looked down at Rainbow.
“Come on, Dashie! If it’s nothing that I have to worry about, then you can tell me!”
“No, Pinkie.”
“If it’s something that we have to worry about, then we can worry together!”
“I don’t want anyone to worry about it.”
“Okay! Then I won’t worry about it! Just tell me!”
“No.”
Rainbow turned her back to Pinkie and looked at the ground, her expression contorting along with her rapidly sinking mood.
“Just let me handle it, Pinkie. It’s something that I have to deal with, on my own,” Rainbow said.
Pinkie stepped off of the table and let out an “Aww” in disappointment before she smiled again and hugged Rainbow’s back, squeezing her as hard as she possibly could.
“If you say so, Dashie! Just let me know that if there’s anything that you ever want to talk about, then you can tell me!” Pinkie said, accentuating some words with particularly hard squeezes. Rainbow gasped as she felt her body slowly starting to crush under the love. “Pinkie... Pie,” Rainbow choked.
Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Oop!” She let Rainbow go. “Sorry, Dashie! Sometimes, I guess I forget that I can love everypony a little too hard!” she said with a giggle.
Rainbow gasped for air and held out a hoof as if motioning Pinkie to wait a moment. She panted and sucked in air as if she was never going to acquire it again. “Pinkie... you need... to stop doing that,” Rainbow said once her breathing was back to normal.
Pinkie smiled and nodded. “Okie dokie lokie!” She turned back to the batter bowl. “I’ll just finish off these Rainboom cakes, okay? You can help if you want, but you don’t have to,” Pinkie said as she began whisking away. Once a small bell rung throughout the store, Pinkie froze, jumped up in the air, and zipped out of the kitchen.
Rainbow looked outside the kitchen at Pinkie, who was now behind the Sugarcube Corner counter while another pony began asking for cakes. Rainbow sighed in relief and sat back against the wall as she rubbed a hoof through her mane.
“I never thought Pinkie would be so... draining,” Rainbow admitted in a hushed whisper as she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes, enjoying the small amount of quiet in the room before Pinkie came back.
“Should I tell her about it? Maybe Pinkie knows where Twilight usually goes when she isn’t at her house. I could try and get the answer out of her without mentioning Twilight, but I’ve already got her attention. I don’t exactly look like the happiest pony either, and she isn’t going to have that. She sees right through me... somehow. She knows something is wrong.”
Rainbow covered her closed eyes with her forehooves, blocking out the bright kitchen light.
“I could always tell her about Twilight... but... I doubt she would be able to help me with anything. The last thing I need is for her to spring into a song and dance about how I need to share my dad with Twilight.”
Rainbow’s eyes opened and widened as she lowered her forehooves.
“What if Pinkie already knows about the two of them? She’s friends with nearly everyone in Ponyville, and she did take my father out to a party once. The two of them could be catching up. Or...”
Rainbow grit her teeth.
“Maybe Twilight told Pinkie about it. She probably told Pinkie so that the two of them could arrange some sort of anniversary party for my dad and her. Judging by the way they were kissing... either they have no shame... or they’ve been dating for a while. And I’m sure I don’t want to bucking find out which one it is.”
Rainbow rose back to her hooves, her wings blocking the doorway to the kitchen as they extended. After a moment however, she sank back to her haunches and shook her head with a sigh. She buried her head into her forelegs once more and continued thinking.
“Come on, Rainbow, Twilight has no reason to do that to me. She may be an egghead, but she isn’t heartless. Matter of fact, if she was, then I wouldn’t be having this problem right now.”
Rainbow sighed again.
“I should talk to Pinkie. Maybe she knows where Twilight could be. I need to talk to her more than anypony else, and I’m sure that Pinkie knows all the places that Twilight goes with that memory of hers.”
“Thank you, Minty Fresh! Come again!”
Rainbow looked up from her forelegs and peeked her head around the corner. Pinkie Pie had just finished selling some cupcakes to a random pony and was walking back into the kitchen while the customer left. Rainbow quickly raised herself to her hooves and walked back over to the kitchen table, her hooves grabbing a whisk as she continued to make cakes. Pinkie smiled once she saw Rainbow and walked back over to her side.
“Thank you for helping while I was gone, Dashie,” Pinkie said as she gave a glance towards Rainbow’s mixing bowl. Rainbow hoped that Pinkie didn’t notice the lack of cakes that were made while she was gone, and that seemed to be the case as a small bell rang behind Rainbow. She turned around to see Pinkie pulling the tins out of the oven and placing them on the nearby kitchen counter to cool off. When every tin was pulled out, Pinkie walked back to Rainbow and smiled.
“Those cakes are going to be super duper good!” Pinkie said as she bounced one time to accentuate her excitement. “I was thinking of bringing them along with me to the party that I’m catering. What do you think, Dashie?”
Rainbow smiled. “Whatever you think would be best, Pinkie,”
Rainbow sighed in relief and poured some batter into the nearest cake tin. “I think that a lot of ponies will love these cakes.
Pinkie nodded and giggled as she walked to a door in the corner of the room and opened it. She pulled out a large cart and inspected it to make sure that it was structurally safe before she turned to Rainbow. Rainbow wasn’t sure if Pinkie could be smiling any wider.
“Everything that I need for the party is all set!” Pinkie said as she bounced over to the kitchen table. “The only thing that I need is a smiling friend! Then I can go prepare the party!”
As if on cue, Rainbow quickly smiled and looked up into Pinkie’s eyes so that it could be seen. “I’m smiling, Pinkie. See?”
Pinkie shook her head as she walked over to Rainbow’s side and placed a forehoof on her shoulder. Her smile softened only slightly as she brushed her mane up against Rainbow’s cheek. Rainbow’s face started to brighten and she quickly finished pouring the batter into the tin.
“Here you go, Pinkie,” Rainbow said, a little quicker than she thought she would. “Put these in the oven!”
“Thanks, Dashie!” Pinkie replied as she bounced over to an unused shelf of the oven and placed the tin inside.
Rainbow looked towards the bag of flour on the right corner of the table and smiled as she grabbed it. However, once she looked back to the batter bowl, it was gone. In its place were three pink hooves, standing on top of the table. Rainbow looked up at Pinkie and frowned.
“Uh... Pinkie, can you give me my batter bowl back? I’m trying to help you,” Rainbow asked, slight irritation oozing into her tone.
Pinkie merely smiled and shook her head. “Uh uh! You can help me by telling me what’s wrong!”
Rainbow reached up for the batter bowl and growled as she rose into the air, her wings beating lightly until she was eye level with Pinkie. However, Pinkie’s legs merely grew in length as she rose up to the ceiling. Rainbow kept staring into Pinkie’s eyes, so she didn’t notice as she reached up for the batter bowl.
“I’m not telling you,” Rainbow merely said.
Pinkie whined and stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “But Daaashie! How am I supposed to take you to the party if you’re going to be all sad and focused on something else?”
Rainbow blinked. “Um... wait. You want to take me to the party that you’re catering?”
Pinkie’s pout disappeared in an instant, replaced with that trademark smile of hers. “Mmhmm!” she said with a nod. “You looked really sad when you were walking down the street, so I thought that there was probably something on your mind. But I remembered that I shouldn’t press you too hard for the problem because that’s how I angered Cranky Doodle Donkey and almost lost him as a friend. So I waited for you to be a little happier by giving you one of the Rainboom cakes but after asking you again, you still didn’t want to talk about it. So I decided, ‘hey! Maybe I should invite Rainbow Dash to one of the parties that I am catering! She’ll have a lot of fun with that!’ And here we are!”
Pinkie dropped the batter bowl onto the table below and gripped her left ear. She started to crank it counter-clockwise while her legs slowly shrank until she was normal size. Rainbow’s eyes widened as she descended until she was back onto her forehooves. She decided not to question another law of physics breaking before her very eyes. Pinkie continued.
“So that’s why I wanted you to help with the cake baking! Because if I could get you to help, then that would give me more time to talk to you about your problem! And now that we are on the subject, what’s the problem, Dashie!?”
Pinkie hopped off of the table and zipped out of the room for a moment. When she came back in, she was holding a crimson armchair which she placed underneath Rainbow, sitting her down in it. Pinkie dashed out of the room again and came back with her own amber couch, which she placed nearby the kitchen table and sat down. Rainbow blinked while Pinkie stared at her.
“Can’t have a good story without some comfortable furniture!” Pinkie said.
Rainbow merely sighed and leaned back against the armchair. “Fine, Pinkie. I’ll tell you. But you have to promise that you will not tell anypony else. Do you promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my—”
“You don’t need to Pinkie promise, Pinkie,” Rainbow said. “Just regular promise.”
Pinkie shook her head. “I can’t promise anything unless it’s a Pinkie promise, Dashie.”
Rainbow sighed. “Fine, whatever.” She waited for Pinkie to quickly do the appropriate hoof motions before she continued. “Now, you remember my dad, right?”
“Blue Streak! His birthday is in 36 days!” Pinkie replied as she pulled a calendar out of the couch cushions and turned the page to October. “Your birthday is in ten days! What do you want for a present?”
“Nothing,” Rainbow replied. “All I care about right now is telling you what happened. So... remember that time where you took my dad out to a party to try and cheer him up?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yep! He had a blast!”
“Well... he found out a new way to cheer himself up.”
“How!?”
“He’s dating Twilight.”
Pinkie paused for a moment, her forehoof raised since she was about to say something. However, she closed her mouth and let her forehoof drop back to her lap.
“Huh... your dad is dating Twilight? I don’t think she would appreciate having fruit thrown at her,” Pinkie replied.
Rainbow groaned and pressed her forehooves to her head.
“I knew you were going to say that,” Rainbow muttered.
Pinkie frowned. “That joke killed at the comedy club. Continue!”
“Well... I went to my dad’s house yesterday morning. I wanted to take him out to breakfast or lunch because I haven’t seen him in a while. The last time I checked up on him, nothing made him happy, and I tried nearly everything!”
Pinkie nodded as she placed the calendar back into the couch cushions.
“I remember him. I’m sorry that I couldn’t help any more with him, Rainbow,” Pinkie said.
Rainbow waved away Pinkie’s apology. “It’s fine, Pinkie. It doesn’t really matter now, since Twilight took up the position of making him happy.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Do you mean... Twilight and Blue Streak are going out?”
Rainbow nodded. Pinkie immediately bounced out of her chair and ran over to the kitchen sink, where she pulled out another clean bowl from the dishwasher. She zipped back to the table and placed it nearby the rainbow cake batter bowl. She smiled as she started to crack some eggs for the batter.
“That sounds awesome, Dashie! We should throw a party to celebrate!”
Rainbow’s teeth gritted and she stood up from her chair. “No, Pinkie, we are not going to throw a party for those two,” she said, defiance lining every word.
Pinkie stopped cracking the egg she was holding and looked over to Rainbow, her head tilting slightly in confusion.
“Why not? Aren’t the two of them happy?”
Rainbow paused. “Um... yeah. At least, as far as I know.”
“Then shouldn’t we throw a party for them in order to make them more happy?”
“They shouldn’t be happy!” Rainbow yelled, her wings flaring out as she stamped a forehoof onto the floor. Her pupils turned into pinpricks once she realized what she said.
Pinkie placed a hoof underneath her chin while Rainbow fell to her haunches and bent her head down.
“Hey, Dashie? How old is your dad?” Pinkie asked.
“Forty-one.”
“Wow... and Twilight is barely even twenty-one! Your dad really robbed the cradle with this one, didn’t he, Dashie?”
Rainbow gritted her teeth, but didn’t respond.
“I wonder how the two of them met... I mean... I doubt that they met at a supermarket or something and immediately went out to dinner. Reminds me of the time when I went out with Soarin and we ate at that fancy restaurant! The food was good, although, I don’t know why Soarin asked if I wanted to go to a motel with him. We could have just went to my house if we wanted to go to sleep! Silly stallion. Why are stallions so silly, Rainbow?”
Rainbow’s right eye twitched, but she still didn’t say anything.
“Maybe it’s an experiment! Ooh ooh! Like the time when she was trying to study my Pinkie Sense! Maybe she’s discovering the sense of spread out wings when stallions turn all red! I remember I was eating some ice cream, and Soarin’s wings were all spread out and tense. I don’t even know why! I always eat ice cream in a cone!”
“PINKIE PIE!”
Pinkie stopped and turned her attention to Rainbow, whose face reddened and eyes leaked as she removed her hooves.
“Can you please... stop being yourself for a few minutes and talk to me like a normal pony? My father... is dating one of my best friends. After my mother did everything that she could in order to make him happy... there he sits... probably at some fancy restaurant with Twilight, ordering the same thing that he got when he took my mom out to dinner. She is not going to replace my mom! I have only one mom, and her name is Firefly!
“Does this mean anything to you, Pinkie? What if my dad dumps Twilight, and our friendship is hurt forever because of him? What if she dumps him, and I can never have the two of them at the same celebration because of their breakup? What if...” Rainbow sniffed and wiped her nose. “What if Twilight lives on... like Celestia and Luna, and has to endure her lover passing on before us? What if... it’s all an experiment, like you said, and she’s getting me and my dad all worked up, only for nothing since their relationship will never go anywhere!”
Rainbow buried her head into the armchair’s cushion while her right forehoof beat on it as if it was a punching bag. She raised her head and looked into Pinkie’s eyes as she continued.
“I don’t know anything! I wanted to talk to Twilight today about it. We had a fight the day that I found out, and I wanted to apologize to her today, but she wasn’t home. I don’t know where she is, or where she could be. That’s why I came to you. I wanted to try and ask you if you knew where Twilight usually hangs out, apart from her library, but then you gave me that cake, and I saw that smile on your face. I didn’t want to make you sad after you tried your hardest to lift me up, so I didn’t tell you. But you kept pushing and pushing, even though I said that I could handle this myself. But I can’t. I can’t handle this myself, Pinkie.”
Rainbow sobbed and bit her lip.
“I tried to handle it myself. I talked to Applejack, and she told me that I needed to talk to Twilight. I know that I have to talk to Twilight. I want to talk to Twilight, but I’m scared. I don’t know what I’m going to say, or if I’m going to blow up again.” Rainbow paused and lowered her voice. “Like I just... did... to you.”
Pinkie blinked a few times before she dropped the cracked egg into the bowl, abandoning it as she walked over to Rainbow and hugged her. Rainbow closed her eyes and let the tears leak down her cheeks while Pinkie brushed them away with a forehoof.
“I’m sorry, Dashie,” Pinkie said. “I’ve... never dealt with a big problem such as this before. I thought that a simple party could lighten you up... but I guess... parties don’t solve everything.”
Pinkie stood up and helped Rainbow back to her hooves before she looked over at the rainbow cake batter.
“If you want to know what I think, I think you should talk to your dad first. The last thing that you would ever want is to... have a bad past with your dad.” Pinkie smiled consolingly as she let go of Rainbow and picked up the couch behind her. She pushed it back into her pocket while Rainbow gave a glance towards the cakes.
“I’ll talk to him tonight. He’s probably out somewhere with Twilight, so he’ll be home when the two of them are done with their date. I guess... we can go to that party and I’ll leave early to go talk to him.”
Pinkie nodded and frowned slightly, her ears flattening against her head. “I wish I could go up there and talk with you, but I can’t walk on clouds. I’m sorry, Dashie.”
Rainbow laughed and walked over to Pinkie. She placed a hoof onto her shoulder and hugged her once more. “That’s one of the few things that you can’t do. Come on, Pinkie, cheer up. We still got some cakes to bake!”