It was raining in Ponyville, which did nothing to dampen any spirits. While the air outside was cool and damp, the air inside was warm and dry where Rainbow Dash and Rarity sat inside Sugarcube Corner, eating lunch and making pleasant conversation, or at least pleasant conversation according to Rainbow Dash.
"There they were," she said as she started another one of her yarns, "three filly pegasi stuck in the middle of a field of thunderclouds. So I swooped in, grabbed them, and raced out of there, all the while coming this close to being struck myself!" She swung her legs about while making imitations of thunder and lightning. She then sat down, for in her excitement she had started hovering a couple of feet off her chair.
"That's nice dearie," Rarity said as she sipped her drink, "I'm sure those fillies are very grateful to you." She sipped again, "Now, why don't you listen to what I have in store for my summer fashion line?" She cleared her throat.
Rainbow Dash sighed and hung her head over the back of the seat, but even she knew that she would have to give Rarity a turn to talk about whatever was interesting to her. So she got comfortable in her chair and prepared to attempt to follow Rarity's conversation. "Lay it on me."
Rarity started, "So I was thinking about maybe a gold base with green trim, which I call Summer Radiance. But then that may be too intense, you know? So I decided to add a deep blue to counter it, which just looks absolutely lovely. Also, I've developed a new telekinetic sewing technique, which–"
Rainbow Dash of course wasn't really listening, as much as she tried. She thought mostly of her rescuing of the three fillies, of how her adrenaline-filled wings beat the air and propelled her through the air. If Rarity noticed or cared about Dash's inattention, she didn't show any indication.
Eventually Mr. Cake brought over a cinnamon roll, to which Rarity thanked him. "Oh," said Rarity as she looked wantingly at her pastry, "I guess this will have to wait a minute, I have to use the-" she whispered, "ladies' room." She got up and went.
"Youg thoo tfat" Rainbow Dash said with a mouth full of pancakes. She swallowed, "You do that." She reclined in her seat, listening to the rain and slowly chewing her breakfast.
The doors threw open and Pinkie Pie bounced in with a saddlebag on her back, an audible boing going off every time she leapt. "Hiya Dashie!" she bubbled as she shook off the water.
"Hey Pinkie, what's up?" Dash said as she took another bite. "These pancakes are great by the way."
Pinkie hopped, "Yeah! Pumpkin Cake's getting a lot better at it!"
Rainbow Dash stopped eating for a second, "Pumpkin Cake made this?" She looked at her breakfast.
Pinkie nodded, "I've been having her help bake breakfast for the past three weeks now."
"But isn't she, like, three?
"Two!" Pinkie said brightly.
"Oh..." said Dash as she looked at her food that had been handled by a barely potty-trained foal. She was deciding whether or not to continue eating when she noticed a glow coming from Pinkie's bag. "Pinkie, what's that?" she said as she pointed at the bag.
Pinkie's head turned towards her bag, "Ooo! It's doing that thing again!"
"And what's it exactly?"
"This," Pinkie said as she pulled out what seemed to be a triangular object with rounded corners and divided into a green, blue, and red section. The green and blue sections were glowing. "That's funny," said Pinkie, "the red section was glowing when I showed it to Lyra earlier." She tapped it a couple of times with her nose, "I found it in the Everfree Forest while collecting poison joke."
"And why...?"
"Rarity learned that poison joke is harmless when extracted and makes-" she switched to an impression of Rarity "-the most unique shade of blue, of which I must have," she said with a dramatic swoon.
Dash laughed at the accurate representation of their friend until Rarity returned. "Oh Pinkie!" Rarity said, "have you got the extract?"
"Yup!" Pinkie said as she pulled out three jars of extract from her bag and put them on a nearby table.
Rarity examined the jars. "Splendid," she turned to Pinkie, "I know the perfect use for this."
The three didn't notice the now forgotten object start to levitate a few feet off the table and rotate, gaining speed as it did.
Rainbow Dash looked around. "Hey, you guys hear some sort of humming?" The trio turned and saw the object revving up and glowing almost blindingly bright, causing them to shield their eyes. "Um, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash said, followed by beams of magic arcing to the three and, unknown to those three, most everyone in Ponyville. The scene would have suggested pain, but all anyone felt was a warm tingling all over, which would have been nice if not for the somewhat rough vibrating it gave them all. And though it felt longer, the whole thing lasted about ten seconds.
There was no flash of light, no large boom, and no one was knocked unconscious. In fact, after the three seconds, the rumbling and arcs went away as quickly as they had come, leaving nary a trace save for the object which slowly lowered to the ground in the very middle of the three mares.
Rainbow Dash rubbed her head. "Pinkie."
"Hmm?" said Pinkie, who had already disregarded the event for the moment and was looking at the extract again.
"We're going to Twilight."
They left in a haste. Meanwhile, Rarity's cinnamon roll lay there, getting cold.