“Pinkie?” Cup Cake’s voice softly called, rousing the young mare from her sleep. “Sweetie, its time to wake up.”
“Not the cupcakes!” Pinkie Pie yelped, quickly jumping to her hooves. Taking a moment to look at her surroundings, Pinkie quickly settled down as she realized that she was behind one of the counters in the bakery.
“Did you sleep here all night?” Cup Cake asked, with a slightly concerned look.
“I guess,” Pinkie replied with a sheepish grin and chuckle.
“Why would you do that?” Carrot Cake asked as he came into view, the twins on his back.
“I guess I just wanted a midnight snack?” Pinkie Pie replied, still smiling sheepishly. It was at this point that Pinkie finally noticed that Gummy was gone and not in her hooves like he had been the night before. “Has anypony seen, Gummy?”
“I think I saw him wandering around upstairs,” Carrot Cake said as he made his way into the kitchen.
“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie chirped, making her way to the stairs, leaving Cup Cake to open the bakery. It didn't take long for Pinkie Pie to find Gummy as he watched Surprise slowly trudge toward the bathroom.
“Good morning, Surprise, did you sleep well?” Pinkie asked while she walked up to the filly. Surprise simply stared down at the ground silently.
“Are you okay?” Pinkie Pie asked, trying to catch Surprises attention.
“Yeah…” Surprise grumbled. Reaching the bathroom, Pinkie Pie stood outside the doorway while Surprise repeated her morning steps from the other day.
“Is there anything special that you want for breakfast?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Can I have pancakes again?” Surprise asked back, a hopeful look in her eye.
“Of course!” Pinkie Pie replied with a joyous smile.
* * *
“I got it, I got it,” Rainbow Dash replied with a agitated sigh. “Don’t take her too high, don’t let her over exert herself, don’t push her off a cloud, blah blah blah. I got this, Pinkie Pie, don’t worry.”
“Okay…” Pinkie Pie replied, just about staring Rainbow Dash down in her stern gaze. After a moment, Pinkie Pie looked down at the filly standing next to her. “You know, it’s not too late to change your mind. I was just thinking we could—“
“No,” Surprise replied without a second thought. Before anything else was said, Surprise rushed forward and began to bombard Rainbow Dash with questions.
“Okay then,” Pinkie Pie sighed as she turned to leave. “If anypony needs me, I'll be... around.”
For a few moments, Pinkie Pie waited for a reply. But because of Surprises constant questions, neither pony heard her. So, hanging her head, Pinkie Pie slowly trudged away.
“So, Pinkie, you never did…” Rainbow Dash began when she finally had a chance to speak. But when she looked up, Pinkie Pie was already gone. “Where'd she go?”
“Where did who go?” Surprise asked, drawing Rainbow Dash’s attention again.
“Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash stated. “I wanted to ask what she was doing today.”
“I don’t know,” Surprise shrugged as she began to smile in excitement. “Can we fly now?”
“Uh… sure,” Rainbow Dash replied as she leaned down far enough for Surprise to clime on her back. “What do you wanna do first?”
“Can you teach me how to do a Sonic Rainboom?” Surprise asked as she wrapped her front hooves around the older mare’s neck.
“Trust me kid, it’s a lot more complicated than you think,” Rainbow Dash replied, taking to the skies. Flying upwards, Rainbow Dash leveled herself out just over the highest house top.
“Aww,” Surprise sighed as Rainbow Dash continued to fly over several houses. Surprise couldn’t help but smile as she carefully looked down at the ponies in the streets below.
“If you really wanna know more about it, you could always ask, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash called back as she flew a little higher. “I guess she did a whole report on it for a class project. Miss Cheerilee told me about it and, I gotta say, I was impressed.”
“Why?” Surprise asked as Rainbow Dash began to fly lower, the local park in sight. “Did Scootaloo do a good job?”
“About as good as any seven year old filly with an attention span to match my own could,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, settling next to a small flower patch. “But it was still pretty good.”
“Oh,” Surprise chirped as Rainbow Dash bent over, causing the filly to slide off. Once she was back on the ground, Surprise turned to look back at Rainbow Dash, slightly confused. “What are we doing here?”
“I thought I’d show you some of my tricks,” Rainbow Dash replied with a slightly smug grin.
“Okay!” Surprise cheered, clapping her front hooves together.
Flying up into the sky, Rainbow Dash made sure she was easily visible to the small filly and vise versa. Without a second more wasted, Rainbow Dash began her normal routine of tricks. Her body curled and spun easily through the air, a beautiful rainbow colored contrail following her almost every move.
After almost a half an hour of continues tricks, a small group had joined Surprise, watching as Rainbow Dash did her stunts. Each one clapping as Rainbow Dash shifted from one move to another without the slightest hesitation.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash stopped midair, a confident grin on her face as she looked down at the small crowd of ponies watching her. With nothing but a nod, Rainbow Dash rocketed up into the sky, flying higher then she had throughout her performance.
Surprise watched as the rainbow mare shrunk to the size of a small speck in the sky. Before it even happened, Surprise knew what was coming Her heart began to beat faster as Rainbow Dash quickly began to plummet back towards the ground, her wings forcing her to go faster and faster.
It happened in an instant; the explosion of rainbow colors washing over the crowd several moments before the wind and sound did. Surprise couldn’t help but star in awe as Rainbow Dash flew too fast for her to see, a constant rainbow contrail following behind her.
For a split moment, Surprise forgot all about the problems that had been plaguing her life for the past few weeks. The pain of loss and being thrust into something she never wanted being overshadowed by the pure beauty in the sight before her.
Then, almost as instantly as it had started, it was over. The colors were gone and the wind had settled as Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop just a few feet away from the small crowd.
“Yeah, I’m awesome!” Rainbow Dash stated confidently, brushing one of her hooves against her chest. Walking past the small crowd, Rainbow Dash made her way towards Surprise, absorbing the usual praise she would receive after performing for the town as the ponies went back to what they had been doing. “So, what did you think, Surprise?”
It was only then that Surprise realized that she hadn’t been breathing, her lungs begging for air before she could even open her mouth to do so. “That was… Amazing!” the filly wheezed, trying to catch her breath and settle her rapidly beating heart before it got too bad.
“Whoa, calm down kid,” Rainbow Dash replied as she looked at Surprise with concern. “Breath with me now, in through the nose, out through the mouth,” Rainbow Dash continued, leading the filly in the breathing exercise. Soon enough, Surprises heart had settled and her breathing was back to normal.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but that was just so… so…” Surprise began to reply; only to fall silent as Rainbow Dash chuckled.
“It’s okay kid, at least you didn’t faint like, Scootaloo did,” Rainbow Dash replied with a slight shake of her head and a chuckle.
“But that was still really cool!” Surprise chirped, bouncing slightly on all four of her hooves, her wings fluttering in excitement. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but chuckle at the filly’s reaction, remembering how mush similar Scootaloo usually acted, and oddly enough, it reminded her of Pinkie Pie too.
“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow Dash replied. “How about we—“
“Oh, there you two are!” Rarity’s voice rang, catching Rainbow Dash and Surprise’s attention.
* * *
Pinkie Pie stopped momentarily to watch the rainbow colored shockwave slowly fade away. She couldn’t help but smile as the memory of the day she got her cutie mark quickly resurfaced. But like the rainbow shockwave, it soon faded back to whatever part of her brain it had come from.
With a heavy sigh, Pinkie Pie continued up to the front door of the town library, barely stopping as she pushed open the door and walk in.
“At least somepony realizes that this is a ‘public’ library,” Spike voiced, looking down from the ladder he was on.
“Hi, Pinkie Pie,“ Twilight greeted as she made her way around the library’s center display. “How are you today?”
“Just super de duper,” Pinkie pie replied with a halfhearted smile.
“It sure doesn’t sound that way,” Twilight commented while leading Pinkie Pie to a side of the room. “Is something the matter?”
“Well…” Pinkie began; sighing heavily as she quickly glanced up at Spike.
“Oh… uh, Spike, could you give us a moment?”
Shrugging, Spike climbed down the ladder and rushed up the room’s stairs, disappearing in to one of the upper levels. Once Twilight was sure that the young dragon wasn’t listening, she turned back to her friend with a concerned look.
“What’s wrong, Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked. For a few moments, Pinkie Pie remained silent while she stared at the ground, debating whether or not it was worth even talking to Twilight about her worry and concerns.
“I kinda wanted to spend the day with, Surprise,” Pinkie Pie finally responded as she looked up at Twilight. “But she didn’t seem to like the idea.”
“So where is she now?” Twilight asked.
“Rainbow Dash is watching her until the crusaders get out of school. I dont know if they heard me, but i told them I'd be at the bakery,” Pinkie Pie glumly replied. “Then after that, I’m sure, Surprise will want to spend the rest of the day with the crusaders.”
“Pinkie… I know how this seems, but—“
“But what, Twilight?” Pinkie Pie interrupted with a pleading look. “I know she doesn’t like me, but I hoped she would at least talk to me.”
“She’s been through a lot, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said as she placed a reassuring hoof on her friend. “Losing the ponies you care the most for and being placed somewhere you know nothing about can really effect somepony; especially with a filly her age.”
“I know that, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie replied, her mane beginning to sag slightly. “But… what do I do?”
“Just be there for her,” Twilight simply replied. “I know things between you aren’t that good, but if you at least show her that you're there for her, Surprise will come around.”
“I hope your right , Twilight,” Pinkie Pie sighed, falling silent once again.
“There is one thing you should know though,” Twilight began with a sheepish smile.
“And what’s that?” Pinkie Pie asked, smiling slightly.
“Rarity knows about, Surprise’s parents,” Twilight lightly chuckled, still smiling sheepishly.
“What?!” Pinkie Pie responded with a look of shock and horror. “How did she find out?!”
“I may have told her,” Twilight continued, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “She came by yesterday, worried about you. So I told her it was because of what happened to, Surprise’s parents.”
“Oh…” Pinkie pie replied as her ears folded down. “So you didn’t tell her about…”
“No, I told her that there was something else, but that it was something you would have to tell her herself,” Twilight said. “I’m actually surprised that she didn’t go see you right after that.”
“I’m glad she didn’t,” Pinkie Pie said a groan. “I know I said I would tell everypony, but…”
“It’s okay, Pinkie Pie, I understand why you don’t want to say anything yet,” Twilight replied with a caring smile.
“Thanks, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said as she pulled her friend into a tight hug.
“No problem, Pinkie,” Twilight said as they pulled apart from the hug. “Is there anything else you wanna talk about?”
“Not really,” Pinkie Pie replied in her normal, happy tone. “You mind if I hang out here for a while though, I kinda took today off in hope that, Surprise did want to hang out.”
“Not at all, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight replied with a smile.
* * *
“Rainbow Dash really went to the spa?!” Scootaloo almost shouted in horror as she slammed her hooves down on the clubhouse table. "No way, you have to be lying."
“Well, she kind of just sat to the side with this weird look on her face,” Surprise replied as she looked down at the piece of paper in front of Sweetie Belle. She wished the crusaders would finish their homework faster so they could play instead of talking.
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash doesn’t really like the spa,” Apple Bloom chuckled. “We sorta found out she has a problem with ponies touching her hooves.”
“But I can’t believe she went there though,” Scootaloo grumbled. “The place is just so… girly.”
“She said she wasn’t going to at first, but then, Rarity whispered something to her and she thought it would be a good idea,” Surprise replied as she slouched down slightly. “It was actually really weird.”
“Well, duh,” Scootaloo replied. “What did, Rarity even say to get her to go in the first place?”
“I don’t know,” Surprise replied. “All I know is that, Rainbow Dash started acting different towards me after, and I didn’t really like it.”
“I… I think, I know what she said,” Sweetie Belle chimed in meekly.
“What?” the three others asked in return, equal looked of wonder and confusion on their faces.
Instead of responding, Sweetie Belle simply looked towards Surprise with a slight frown. It wasn’t until several minutes later that she finally found her voice.
“She probably told her about what happened to your parents, Surprise,” Sweetie Belle chirped. Almost instantly, a deafening silence filled the clubhouse.
“But, how did… I haven’t… I mean,” Surprise began to stutter.
“I guess, Twilight told her,” Sweetie Belle replied. “She asked me last night if I knew anything about it.”
“But how does, Princess Twilight know?” Surprise chocked as she began to sob. She couldn’t help but feel betrayed by such an important pony. “She didn’t even ask me.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean to make you upset,” Apple Bloom began. “She probably just thought that, Rarity might be able to help.”
“I guess that’s okay,” Surprise lightly sobbed. “I mean, she is a princess.”
“Yeah, and she only wants the best for you,” Scootaloo added. ”That’s what princesses do.”
“I still don’t like it though,” Surprise replied as she dried her eyes.
“Do you wanna talk about what it?” Apple Bloom asked.
“No,” Surprise sighed. “Can we just do something fun now?”
“Uh, sure,” Apple Bloom replied, a caring expression on her face. “But you gotta promise to at least talk to us about it, okay?”
“I don’t know…” Surprise glumly said, clearly not liking the idea. She hadn’t talked to anypony about what had happened and the thought of doing so scared her.
“Please, Surprise,” Sweetie Belle pleaded, giving her best puppy dog eye's to the filly.
“Okay…” Surprise hesitantly replied. “But can it wait for a little while?”
“Okay…” all three crusaders sighed.