"What's the matter, Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked as she poked at her salad. "You've barely touched your breakfast."
Maud sighed as she stared at the plate of eggs and hay bacon in front of her. This was not her usual breakfast. She felt much more at home with a nice bowl of porridge, but apparently the choice of meals wasn't hers to make. Pinkie's friends had been oddly insistent on treating her to this breakfast, and her parents had always taught her that it was rude to turn down such acts of generosity. She figured she should have realized when Rarity mentioned ordering "her usual" that she and the pony whose body she currently inhabited would likely not share the same proclivities.
"Yes, Rainbow Dash," Rarity added. "This isn't like you. Especially with such high stakes on the line."
Maud glanced across the table at Applejack, who was eating at a pace that would put pigs to shame. Thankfully, her table manners did not reflect that same analogy. At least not entirely. She found it hard to care much about the "stakes" that Rarity had referred to. Her general lack of interest in competition already kept her from being interested in winning the impromptu eating contest that Applejack had challenged her to, and even though she would never admit it, the idea of Rainbow losing and having to spend a week doing some of Applejack's chores around the farm gave her a bit of perverse joy.
Maud didn't dislike Rainbow Dash. She thought she was an okay pony in general, and figured that if she got to know her better, she could probably consider her a friend. Her value as a pony, though, was far different than her value in the role that Pinkie wanted her to play in her life. Rainbow certainly had her merits as far as Maud could see, but as far as she was concerned, they were outweighed by her flaws. Pinkie was a sweet, sensitive mare who needed lots of care and affection from a potential special somepony. She needed somepony who would be patient with her random outbursts and spontaneous musical numbers, and who would be willing to not only withstand the showering of affection that Pinkie would give them, but return it in kind. While she had to admit that she didn't know Rainbow as well as Pinkie did, Maud was pretty positive that she didn't fit the bill.
"C'mon, Rainbow!" Applejack called, mouth full of food. "Ya gonna try and catch up, or are you givin' up?"
Maud looked again at her food. Something about it just wasn't appealing to her. It looked too intensely flavorful to fit her interests.
"Yeah, you win," Maud said. "I don't really want this."
All three other ponies stared at her in disbelief. Even Applejack's mouth was agape, a single strip of hay bacon hanging from it.
"Well...I thought I would never see the day," Rarity said. "Rainbow Dash giving up on a challenge and not wanting to finish her typical breakfast? I must be dreaming."
"I'm not Rainbow Dash," Maud said, even though she knew it would be fruitless. She'd told them this twice on the way over, but they were utterly convinced that it was a prank.
"Okay, Rainbow," Applejack said, finishing off the last of her eggs. "You've been carrying this prank on for long enough. You ain't gonna fool us."
"Oh!" Fluttershy interjected. "Um, you know who else loves pranks? Pinkie Pie!"
"Oh...oh!" Rarity exclaimed. "Why yes she does indeed! Such a prankster, that Pinkie Pie!"
"Now c'mon, she knows that already," Applejack said. "But I guess it's worth saying again anyway! Both of y'all sure do love your pranks! Right, Rainbow?"
Maud stared across the table at the three ponies, who were now smiling eagerly in her direction.
"...Sure," Maud said. There was no chance they would believe her at this point, and throwing her off even more was this sudden bizarre behavior by the three.
"Maybe you two could go out pranking later?" Fluttershy said with a smile. "I'm sure Pinkie would love that." Applejack and Rarity nodded in unison.
"Yeah, maybe," Maud said, noncommittal. She watched as Fluttershy gave the other two a little smile; a smile which faded when Applejack and Rarity did not return it.
"Ya know, Rainbow," Applejack said, leaning forward. "Since you lost and you gotta do what I say now, how about I make your first chore be going out pranking with Pinkie!"
"Applejack!" Rarity hissed. "Going pranking with Pinkie is not a chore! It is a privilege!"
"Um, yes, I agree with Rarity," Fluttershy said. "...Sorry, Applejack."
"I didn't mean to say it was!" Applejack said quickly. "Of course it's not! Going out pranking with Pinkie is...an honor!"
Maud blinked slowly. Something was definitely up.
"Then why don't you all go pranking with her?" Maud asked.
All three other ponies went quiet for about five seconds.
"...I have a spa engagement!" Rarity exclaimed.
"M-me too..." Fluttershy whispered.
"Uh, me too!" Applejack said. Once she saw Rarity's eyes sparkle, she quickly changed her tone. "I mean...something else!"
"Hm, yes, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said with a nod. "It does appear like you are he only one available to prank with Pinkie. Not that you would be her last choice though! Because...erm..."
"You would probably be her first choice," Fluttershy said.
"On account of how much you both like pranking!" Applejack affirmed.
"As we alluded to earlier," Rarity finished.
Maud sighed. It didn't look like she was getting out of this.
"...Alright," she finally conceded.
"Oh, how wonderful!" Fluttershy said.
"Yup!" Applejack agreed.
Maud just nodded. She barely had any idea what was going on with these three, but she had bigger problems to worry about as the bill arrived.
"Oh, I've got this, darling," Rarity said, grabbing the check before Maud could touch it. "After all, you are being terribly wonderful by agreeing to go pranking with Pinkie."
Maud just stared at Rarity as she sifted through her bag for the bits necessary. Was it really so unbelievable to these three that Rainbow would agree to do something with Pinkie? This was doing nothing to improve Rainbow's image in Maud's eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dash watched silently as Pinkie whizzed about the room, covering every inch of it in party decorations. She flexed her back muscles often, as if she thought that doing so would will wings onto this unfortunate wingless body. As strong as her will was, though, it had its limits, and this was certainly one of them.
Rainbow had to admit that Pinkie's behavior was confusing her. This was nothing new; Pinkie somehow managed to confuse her with the most mundane of activities. This particular situation, though, had her extra-confused. Pinkie had said that she and Maud were going to be making candy necklaces, but nothing of the sort was going on. There was candy set out, but not rock candy like they'd used the first time Maud came to visit.
"Pinkie?" Rainbow asked, causing Pinkie to look up from her current task of setting up a make-your-own-sundae stand.
"Yes, Maud?" Pinkie replied, shaking an ice cream cone off of her face. Rainbow rolled her eyes; it frustrated her to no end that Pinkie didn't believe her about not being Maud. Nothing was too crazy for Pinkie to believe. Well, except for this, apparently. Heaven knew she'd spent the better part of their breakfast together trying to convince her. Speaking of breakfast, she gave herself a quiet reminder to never ask Maud to make her breakfast if the situation ever came up. The plain gruel that she apparently enjoyed (and that Rainbow had to stomach down) was not exactly to her liking.
"What are we doing? I thought we were going to make rock candy necklaces."
"Nope!"Pinkie answered, tossing some streamers about. "That's not till the day before you leave, silly! We're getting ready for a party!"
Rainbow opened her mouth to ask what the party was for, but was interrupted by Pinkie draping a flower necklace over her head. Truthfully, it probably wasn't worth asking, anyway. She knew Pinkie well enough at this point to know that she didn't always need a reason for a party.
"By the way," Pinkie said, "I'm really glad you and Dashie worked on that prank together. I wasn't sure how you felt about her, but now I know!" Pinkie gave Rainbow a hug and a nuzzle. Rainbow found herself wondering why Pinkie was so worried about how Maud felt about her, but let it slide for the moment and returned the hug and nuzzle. Despite her oddities, Pinkie really was a great friend, and probably one of the only ones that she could stand to be a little sappy with.
"No problem," Rainbow answered. Then she smirked. "That Rainbow Dash is a pretty awesome pony." She stifled a giggle as she watched Pinkie gasp at hearing this.
"That's great!" Pinkie shouted. "Because I-"
Then Pinkie did the one thing Rainbow never expected her to do; she fell silent.
The pink mare's mouth hung open, but she didn't make a sound. Rainbow stared at her, concerned. A Pinkie that wasn't speaking a mile a minute (and wasn't sleeping) was a bit disconcerting.
"Uh...Pinkie?" Rainbow asked, waving a hoof in her face. Pinkie suddenly shook her head out and smiled as if the events of the last few seconds hadn't even happened.
"Hey!" Pinkie exclaimed. "While I set up, you should read me some of your rock poetry!"
Now it was Rainbow's turn to freeze up. She knew what an igneous rock was, but that was about as far as her rock knowledge went.
"Uh..." Rainbow began.
"Pleeeeeeease?" Pinkie asked, fluttering her eyelashes. Rainbow sighed lightly. She couldn't say no to such a request. She took a deep breath, racking her brain for whatever rock information it would give her.
"Rocks," Rainbow began, clearly off to a good start. "You are...rocky." She looked to Pinkie, who was smiling and nodding along. She started to suspect that the quality of whatever rock poem she came up with wouldn't concern Pinkie terribly.
"Rocky rocks, among rocks that rock," Rainbow continued. "We walk a rocky road to find you, but you were there all along. On the road. That was...rocky," she finished lamely.
"That was great!" Pinkie shouted as she hung a brightly-colored piñata. "I really liked the part about the rocky rocks!"
"Me too," Rainbow said, fighting back a grin. This was much easier than she'd expected. "Do you want to hear another?"
"Do I?!" Pinkie replied. Rainbow nodded and went into another improvised poem. The words barely mattered; Pinkie was going to smile either way.
~~~~~~~~~~
"...You want me to do some tricks?"
Maud stared awkwardly at the ponies in front of her, knowing full well that none of them knew just how crazy a request this was.
"Did we stutter?" Applejack asked with a smirk.
"I-I might have stuttered," Fluttershy said, letting her mane fall over part of her face.
"Yes, darling," Rarity said, nudging Maud slightly. "We would simply love to watch you perform an aerial display!" Maud coughed, trying to find a way out of this.
"Didn't you have appointments to get to?" she asked the three.
"Y-yes, well..." Rarity said, clearing her throat. "We actually finished breakfast earlier than we'd expected. Fluttershy and I do not have to be at the spa just yet."
"And whatever I'm doing doesn't start till later either!" Applejack insisted. All three other ponies looked at Applejack, who was now smiling awkwardly.
"Yes..." Rarity spoke through gritted teeth. "We are all still available for a short period of time, and we would very much enjoy seeing our good friend Rainbow Dash entertain us with her impressive athletic feats. Now, what say you, Rainbow Dash?"
"I'd really rather not," Maud answered, keeping her wings tightly folded. She'd moved them before, and while a bit awkward, it had felt much more natural than she'd expected. Perhaps the ability came with the pegasus magic inherent in the body, and it was just the talent that was specific to the pony themselves. Either way, she had no desire to try any tricks. Just like she'd never expect an amateur rock farmer to manage a massive rock slide, she would never expect an amateur flyer to try stunts.
"Oh Rainbow Dash, don't be so modest," Rarity sang.
"Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear," Applejack added.
"I'm sorry," Maud said.
"And so is that!" Applejack laughed. Even Fluttershy couldn't help a little giggle. Maud just shook her head. So Rainbow Dash was a braggart who didn't apologize. All the more reason to keep her away from Pinkie, at least in a romantic sense.
"Yes, well," a flustered Rarity said. "I still think that--oh!" A look of realization struck the fashionista, and her smile grew wider than any non-Pinkie smile Maud had ever seen. "I see what's going on here."
"You do?" Maud asked, almost excited over seeing that someone might finally believe her about what had happened.
"Indeed!" Rarity said. "You do not wish to hurt yourself before you go pranking with Pinkie Pie! How thoughtful of you, Rainbow Dash!"
"...Sure," Maud replied. At this point, it was easier to just go along with the things they said. Other than the suggestion of stunts, of course.
"That's wonderful news!"Fluttershy said with a little squee.
"Darn tootin'!" Applejack agreed. "Reckon Pinkie didn't need to surprise you after all!" She instantly felt the eyes of the other three fall on her once again, and she let out an exasperated groan, partially out of embarrassment and partially from frustration. "Well land's sakes, why are you trusting the bearer of the Element of Honesty to be good at lying?"
"Pinkie's surprising me?" Maud asked. The other three wore looks of panic before Rarity finally stepped up to the plate.
"I do apologize, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said. "We have not been completely forthright with you. But you must promise us that you will pretend to be surprised. Pinkie Pie has worked ever so hard on this, after all."
"Worked hard on what?" Maud asked. "What's going on?" If whatever was going on was so urgent, she figured Pinkie would have told her about it...unless she planned to tell her during this time that Rainbow and the others were away. Yes, things were starting to make a little more sense now. Only a little, but every little bit helped.
"Well," Rarity said. "You see, Pinkie Pie has held a bit of a torch for you for quite some time now."
Maud tried her best to act surprised, but the combination of her prior knowledge of this information, her disapproval of the idea, and her general lack of emotion were a bit of a hindrance.
"Huh," she responded. The other three shared a look before Applejack spoke up.
"That's it? Huh?" Applejack said, frowning.
"What do you mean?" Maud asked. Applejack furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to respond with what was likely to have been a shout, but Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder to calm her down.
"We just thought you might have been a bit more...excited," Fluttershy told her.
"We actually believed you might return her feelings, darling," Rarity explained. "I mean, you two are always rather close."
Maud considered her options. With the girls still not believing that she was not actually Rainbow Dash, throwing a wrench in the plans to set the two up was so easy it was laughable. Then she thought of her poor sister and how devastated she would be if she'd made all these plans just to be rejected. Maybe she didn't trust Rainbow, but she wasn't about to purposely make Pinkie miserable for her own peace of mind. She could simply tell Pinkie when they arrived back at the farmhouse that she needed a day to think about it, and then leave things up to the real Rainbow Dash once they were swapped back. She would most likely mess it up herself, and then she would be there to comfort Pinkie.
"And you're always helping each other out," Fluttershy added. Maud's ears perked up at this. The idea of Pinkie helping Rainbow made sense, but the other way around?
"Like that time when you were at Wonderbolt Academy, and you sent letters specifically to Pinkie every day to let her know you were okay?" Applejack said. "I figured that was a dead giveaway."
Maud blinked. That certainly didn't sound like the Rainbow Dash she thought she knew.
"And don't forget that time when Pinkie hurt her leg during a stroll," Fluttershy said, more talking to Applejack and Rarity than Maud. "And even though she was fine to get home, Rainbow Dash wouldn't leave her side until she knew she was safe at home."
Maud was surprised, to say the least. She hadn't expected any level of compassion from Rainbow Dash.
"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed. "Or when Rainbow Dash won that sweepstakes from the candy bar promotion, but she knew how badly Pinkie wanted to win, so she ever-so-carefully wrapped it back up and gave it to Pinkie as if she'd never opened it! Oh, Pinkie was delighted!"
Maud reflected upon all of this. She had thought herself to be a semi-decent judge of character, but perhaps she had been wrong about Rainbow Dash. If she was that sweet and caring about Pinkie's needs...
"Oh, but it's such a shame that you don't feel the same for her," Rarity lamented. "Please just let her down easy, alright?"
Maud thought for a moment , then shook her head. With how much Pinkie liked Rainbow and this new information she'd found out about the pony whose body she currently inhabited, she just couldn't ruin this for the two.
"I never said I didn't..." Maud began. She never got the chance to finish as Rarity hugged her tightly.
"I knew it!" Rarity shouted. "Come then! Let us get back to the farm! The party must be ready by now!"
~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, Pinkie," Rainbow said. "I think that's enough poetry for now."
Rainbow was pretty positive that she'd exhausted every single bit of rock knowledge she had; not a difficult feat in the least. Plus, if she heard the word "rock" one more time, she was liable to scream.
"But I wanna hear more about rocks!" Pinkie said.
Rainbow did not scream. The temptation to do so was certainly there, but she fought it.
"I'll read more tomorrow," Rainbow told her instead. With any hope, she would be back in her own body by tomorrow, and the task of continuing with the poetry would be left in the hooves of the expert.
"Prooooomise~?" Pinkie asked, fluttering her eyelashes. Rainbow rolled her eyes a bit, holding back a smile. That Pinkie Pie could be awfully persuasive, especially when she did that.
"I promise," Rainbow told her. She would have felt bad for making a promise for another pony to keep, but with how innocuous the promise was, she was sure that it wouldn't be a problem.
Now that she wasn't stuck ruminating over rocks, Rainbow took a moment to look over the room. Pinkie had really outdone herself for this mysterious party, so much so that it barely seemed possible to do as much as she did in the amount of time she'd done it. Streamers of every color of the rainbow hung from the walls, balloons dangled from the furniture, and there was even a giant heart-shaped piñata suspended above the center of the living room. If it was anypony else that she was dealing with, Rainbow would have deemed this impossible. Being that it was Pinkie, though, she simply settled for improbable.
Rainbow walked her way up to Pinkie. This body was still a bit heavy and clunky for her, but walking was walking no matter which way one looked at it. She certainly would have preferred to fly, but obviously that wasn't in the cards. She couldn't wait to get out of Maud's body and back into her own. Things weren't particularly awful as Maud, but they weren't at all optimal. The only real plus was spending extra time with Pinkie, but she probably could have done so as herself anyway.
"So Pinkie," Rainbow said. "You never told me what this party was for."
Rainbow watched Pinkie's smile change from completely genuine to slightly nervous.
"Oh! Right!" Pinkie said, looking rather uncomfortable. "Buuuuut are you sure you don't wanna do something else? Maybe play some camouflage?"
Rainbow nearly grumbled at the idea of playing camouflage again, having received a bad taste in her mouth from the first time.
"No, Pinkie," Rainbow said, as calmly as she could manage. "I'd like to know what this party is for." She'd never seen Pinkie get this defensive about the nature of one of her parties. Usually she'd be shouting her partying intents to the rooftops. She watched Pinkie's expression change to one of desperation.
"I've been wanting to tell you, Maud!" Pinkie told her. "I know sisters are supposed to tell each other everything and I've wanted to tell you but I'm really nervous about how you'll react!"
Rainbow looked at the poor nervous pony with pity. Pinkie really looked upset about this, whatever it was, and seeing her this upset made Rainbow upset as well. Pinkie was a wonderful friend and such a happy pony. She didn't deserve to be this worried, and Rainbow made a vow to herself to do whatever it took to turn that frown upside-down. She gently placed a gray hoof on Pinkie's back.
"I'm sure it'll be fine, Pinkie," Rainbow said in the most reassuring tone possible. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."
"You promise?" Pinkie asked. Rainbow sighed, knowing exactly what was called for.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she said, with as much enthusiasm as a box of hair. Pinkie looked a mix of satisfied and entertained by this; something she would likely have referred to as "satistained," or maybe "enterfied." Probably the former, since it sounded a bit sillier.
"Alright," Pinkie said, a little more at ease but still clearly nervous. "Well..."
In retrospect, Rainbow should have anticipated the giant wall of words that would pour from Pinkie's mouth. If she'd thought about it, she probably would have.
"I've been thinking about this for a really really long time but never done anything about it so I figured I would now and the easiest way was to get the others to distract Dashie so I could get all of this prepared for her because I've been wanting to tell her for the longest time that I really like her and not just like but like like because she's so nice and pretty and wonderful so I'm setting this all up and when she gets here I'm gonna surprise her by telling her how I feel and I'm nervous about it because I dunno what she'll say and because I didn't think you really liked her very much so I've got all these nervous tummy rumblies!"
Pinkie took a deep breath right at the same time as Rainbow. Rainbow could hardly believe her ears. Why wouldn't Maud like her?! She was awesome!
Then the more important part hit her. Pinkie...liked her? Like, like liked her? She felt like she was a schoolfilly again as those words permeated her thought process. All of a sudden, things started to make sense. How much Pinkie liked to spend time with her. How she went out of her way to make her smile. Rainbow would have been upset with herself for being too dense to notice these things earlier, but she was too busy being ecstatic over this news. Pinkie wanted to go out with her! The more she thought about the idea, the more it appealed to her. Sure, she might not have considered it before, but it was certainly an enjoyable enough idea to give it a shot. Pinkie was such a fun pony to be around, and was easy on the eyes to boot. She nearly opened her mouth to tell Pinkie this, only remembering at the last moment that she was still Maud.
And Maud...didn't like her very much? This was definitely something that she'd have to talk over with her.
"Are you okay, Maud?" Pinkie asked. "You haven't said a word since I told you that! And you don't normally talk a lot to begin with, but no talking is even less than not a lot of it!"
Rainbow blinked, not having realized how long she'd been silent for. She nodded, wondering how she would handle this. As it would turn out, though, she wouldn't have to wait long, as the front door suddenly opened. The two ponies turned to the door to see Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack pushing a rainbow-maned pegasus into the house.
"Dashie!" Pinkie shouted. "Surprise! I've got something I need to tell you and I need to tell you right now because I'm all nervous and jittery and if I don't say it now I might explode! I mean not literally but-"
Pinkie was quieted by Rainbow putting a hoof over her mouth.
"Just tell her, Pinkie," Rainbow said, turning her gaze to the pony inhabiting her body. Then she came to a terrible realization: if Maud was her, and if Maud supposedly didn't like her, then she could easily just reject Pinkie. Her temper got a hold of her before she could restrain it, and she leapt towards Maud.
"Aw, Maud's happy to see you!" Pinkie bubbled.
Maud had different thoughts. With a nimbleness that she didn't know Rainbow's body had, she hopped out of the way. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself hovering clumsily above the ground.
"Mayyyybe she isn't?" Pinkie offered.
"What was that for?" Maud shouted. She landed next to Rainbow and tried to hold her back , but wasn't prepared to be combating her own strength. Rainbow looked surprised herself as she easily shrugged Maud off. She was no weakling, but the amount of strength behind Maud's body was like nothing she'd experienced.
"Don't you ruin this for Pinkie!" Rainbow said sternly, the amount of emotion behind her words shocking the others.
"I'm not ruining anything!" Maud shot back. "You haven't even given me a chance to talk!"
"That's cause I know what you're going to say to Pinkie!" Rainbow said. "She told me you didn't like me!"
"I never said Dashie didn't like you, Maud," Pinkie said, looking very confused.
"Well, maybe I changed my mind!" Maud told her.
"Wait, Rainbow Dash didn't like Maud?" Rarity asked. "Oh, this is so chaotic!"
"No, I-" Rainbow began. Then she stopped. "Wait. You...changed your mind?"
Before another word could be said, the farmhouse door flew open once more.
"Girls! Thank goodness you're all still here!"
The ponies watched in surprise as Twilight burst into the farmhouse, followed closely by Spike. The looks of relief on Rainbow and Maud's faces went entirely unnoticed by the other ponies.
"Twilight! Spike!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I thought you two wouldn't be back until tomorrow!"
"We...weren't supposed to be," Spike said, catching his breath.
"We were midway to Canterlot," Twilight explained. "And I was thinking about the spell I used last night. And then I realized that I cast it wrong, and with the mistake I made, there had to be side effects."
"There were!" Rainbow and Maud said together.
"I knew it!" Twilight said. "I'm so sorry, girls! I sent a letter to the Princess to tell her I'd be late so I could come fix this! Now just hold still..."
Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack watched, confused, as Twilight lit her horn up. Rainbow and Maud found themselves surrounded in Twilight's magical aura, unable to move or speak. They watched, unable to react, as magic poured out of their mouths, blue out of Maud's and gray out of Rainbow's. Their senses dulled as these essences drained from them, but soon returned as the trails of colored magic swirled around each other in the air, then each surged into the pony they hadn't left. As Twilight's aura dissipated from around the two, they both took sharp breaths, shaking their heads out.
"There," Twilight said, looking a bit exhausted. "You're fixed."
"Fixed?" Rarity asked. "What was even wrong, darling?"
"Well," Twilight said, looking sheepish. "I put a bit too much power into the casting of the spell. Instead of just swapping their voices, I accidentally caused them to switch bodies, albeit on a bit of a time release. That was why the two of them got so woozy after the spell. The swap must have taken place after they both went to sleep as a fail-safe, considering how problematic it could have been if it happened while one or the other was doing something."
"So...that wasn't a prank?" Applejack asked.
"We tried to tell you!" Rainbow coughed, finally finding her voice again. She flapped her wings happily, having missed them terribly.
"And you thought we were pranking you," Maud said, her look of indifference betraying her disappointment. The other ponies dropped their heads in shame.
"We're terribly sorry, you two," Rarity said. "I suppose with all the extraordinary goings-on we've dealt with, believing such a story should not have been so inconceivable."
"We just got so caught up in the idea of it being a prank," Fluttershy said.
"You gotta admit, Rainbow Dash pulling a prank ain't exactly out of the question," Applejack added. "And Pinkie seemed so sure of it."
All eyes turned to Pinkie. By this point, her look of guilt had faded, replaced with one of shock. She approached Rainbow slowly.
"So..." she said, much more quiet than usual. "When I thought I was telling Maud how I felt about you..."
Rainbow smiled lightly, putting a hoof under her chin and looking into her soft blue eyes.
"And I'm totally cool with it," she told her. Then she glanced over to Maud. "That is, if your sister's cool with it."
All eyes now turned to Maud. She looked back at the group, face unchanging. The silence lasted long enough to start Pinkie worrying. Finally, she gave a slight nod.
"Just don't hurt her," Maud said.
"I'd never dream of it," Rainbow responded, smile growing larger. Pinkie grabbed Rainbow in one of her patented Pinkie hugs, and Rainbow sighed a satisfied sigh. There were indeed interesting times ahead. She held her hoof out towards Maud for a hoof bump, an offer which went unrequited.
"Oh come on," Rainbow said to Maud, grinning a playful little grin. "Why won't you bump my hoof?"
Maud was quiet for a moment, before the corners of her mouth turned into a tiny smile.
"I know where that hoof's been."