//------------------------------// // 99 - Bonus Chapter: Why is the Moon Made of Cheese ? (Part 1) (canon-disputed) // Story: Synch // by sunnypack //------------------------------// CHAPTER 1: Why is the Moon Made of Cheese? So why is the moon made of cheese? Was it because of the holes that made it look vaguely like Swish Cheese? Or perhaps Harry the Bear's ancestors decided that launching CamemBear into space would be an excellent idea. Unfortunately, we would probably never know how the moon got to its dairy-like consistency. Only that, the Princesses, whose hooves remain tied behind their prodigious and royal backs, would decline to comment when asked, and are as tight lipped as the next mare when it came to the contents of their saddlebags. One pink party pony however, was Tartarus-bent on finding out the truth of the claim, after all, such magic could benefit all of party-kind. The information was restricted and no matter how many cupcakes she bribed the guards with, they would stoically shake their heads and deny the energetic mare entry into the forbidden archives of Canterlot. Luna had been furious when she found out. She had taken a short break from court to fight a growing infestation of owl-bears in Northern Equestria, only to return and find that her moon had been converted to a delicate fromage. After many an attempt to shift the moon back to proper natural rocky state, the alicorn Princess of the Night finally achieved the feat in under a week and would not speak of it again. This of course, did nothing to sate Pinkie's ravenous curiosity. Twilight had been interested too, but not more persistent when Celestia had gently advised to leave that can of worms alone. Fast running out of friends to help her in such an important mission, Pinkie turned to one of the only friends she knew would help her with something dangerous and daring. # "Nope. No way Pinkie!" The rainbow mare replied to the gooey eyes that Pinkie positively exuded. "But this is an emergency!" Pinkie pleaded, turning up the doe-eye expression. Rainbow's eyelids slid down half-mast to consider the excitable pink pony. "Hmm. No. Still no." Pinkie pouted. "I haven't even told you what I was going to give you in return for helping me out!" Rainbow shook her head. "I don't think there is anything that could convince m-" Rainbow started but stopped as her jaw dropped a good length towards the cloud floor as Pinkie waved a pair of golden tickets in her face "-okay you got me there... Just, don't tell Twilight about this." Pinkie positively exploded in excitement, hugging the cerulean pegasus. Rainbow got that sinking feeling. No, it wasn't guilt, not yet at least. No. This was the feeling she usually got when a heavy Earth pony weighed down a Pegasus pony on a cloud. Pinkie's flying contraption died a fiery death belatedly below as Pinkie and Rainbow shared a look. "Wow! I never knew my thingo heli-thingo could go boom like that!" Pinkie commented excitedly. Rainbow groaned. "You know that in about two seconds we're goi-" The rest of that statement was cut off as gravity did its inexorable work on the two ponies, sending the both of them plummeting to the hard, hard, ground of Equestria. "Pinkieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Rainbow yelled as she flared out her wings and flapped madly in an effort to slow down. Her powerful wings slowed the duo considerably but they were still going quite fast. "Hang on, I see somepony down there, I'll steer us towards them!" Rainbow growled. Pinkie just let out an excited laugh. Rolling her eyes, Rainbow aimed for the unfortunate passerby. "What's that soun-" "Oof!" "Yippie!" "Ouch!" Rainbow picked herself up from the tangled mess of limbs. Pinkie was already up and bounding on the spot. "Weee! That was fun Dashie! Can we do that again?" Rainbow was fast to recover but Pinkie was just at a different level. She shook her head to clear the few floating birdies that seemed to be sticking around her skull. Brr! "Eheh." Rainbow looked down at the downed pony they crashed into. "Sorry." Applejack just shook her head and glared at the two of them. "Consarn it, Rainbow! Ah warned ya about crashin' into other ponies like that!" Rainbow shrugged, pointing an accusatory hoof at Pinkie. "I had a Pinkie-related accident." Applejack snorted and stamped her hoof in frustration but couldn't really say much. A Pinkie-related accident was pretty much a force of nature. You couldn't stop it even if you wanted to. She settled for being disgruntled. "Okay then, jus' be careful next time, or maybe Ah won' be as nice", she grumbled, flinging back her Stenson onto her head. Rainbow watched Applejack trot away for a while before turning back to the matter at hoof. "Okay Pinkie, what's the plan?" She asked eagerly, ow committed to the adventure. After all, nopony could pose a challenge to Rainbow after she was committed. Pinkie zipped over to Rainbow and flung a pink foreleg around Rainbow's neck. She gazed out at the surrounding courtyard and gestured outwards towards the scenery. "Look around my dear Dashie, what do you see?" She asked the rainbow mare excitedly. "Houses and ponies", Rainbow replied, with a confused look scrunched on her face. "No, no, no!" Pinkie cried, shaking Rainbow. "I see opportunity! Look up there!" "Pinkie, I know what you're after I'm asking about how we get i-" Pinkie tutted, waving a hoof in a random direction. "But they don't know that, we have to create an exposition of events!" "I don't know wha-" "Okay, let's go find a spell to turn the moon back into cheese!" "Pinkie when you say it like that I don't think that-" "Hush now Dashie, hush. Let the cheese flow." With that, Pinkie trotted gaily in the direction of the train station. Sighing, Rainbow followed, slightly regretting the decision to come along. But those tickets! Pony feathers. # The train came into the station with an ominous wheeze and crunch that set Rainbow's teeth on edge. She wasn't nervous. Rainbow doesn't get nervous. Rainbow also never talks in third pony. But nopony knows that. Rainbow was sure of that. "Uhh Dashie, why are you talking to yourself?" Rainbow reared back at the curious pink and blue blur that filled her vision. "Ah you gave me a scare- I mean, you might have thrown me slightly off!" Rainbow wheezed, clutching her chest. Pinkie smiled really wide. "Okie dokie lokie!" She sang, bouncing along the train platform to their favourite carriage. Rainbow followed after only a slight hesitation. There was something about Pinkie... Nah. # Arriving in Canterlot, the dynamic duo set off to obtain the spell to turn the moon into an unfortunate dairy by-product. Rainbow finally asked the question that had been bugging her the whole train ride. "Pinkie, you know the spell we're looking for?" "Uhuh" "Don't you need, like, a unicorn to cast it?" Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks. She clonked herself in the head with a bashful hoof. "Oh, I didn't think that far ahead, silly me!" Rainbow barely suppressed a moan and settled for an epic face-hoof of legendary proportions. "This is so not cool", Rainbow grumbled to herself. Pinkie looked at Rainbow, eyeing the sky. "I agree, today is kinda hot, let's get some ice cream!" Rainbow just stared at Pinkie, then just shrugged. "I'm doing this for the tickets, I'm doing this for the tickets, ..." Rainbow repeated this dictum all the way to Soft Swirly's ice cream parlour. Pinkie exploded into the store. "HiyatherecanIhavethecaramelcreamfudgeextravanganzawithextrabananassprinkledwithalmondsandcherryandglazedwithchocolatesyrupanddippedinthethreedeckercreamyvanillalayeredbase, please?" Soft Swirly smiled and immediately begun preparations for such a masterpiece. Pinkie threw down the prodigious amounts of bits required. Rainbow reached into her saddlebag but was stopped by Pinkie's hoof. "No need Dashie, I got this! We can share!" Rainbow looked doubtfully at the growing mass of ice cream being stacked in a bowl as wide as she was. "Uhh Pinkie, can we actually finish it?" Pinkie looked at Rainbow as if she were a crazy equine. "Of course we can! You can never have too much ice cream!" # "Ooooh", both ponies groaned as the ice cream they scoffed settled uncomfortably at the pits of their stomachs. On top of that bloated feeling was a killer brain freeze. "Pinkie?" Rainbow called over, flopping onto her side. She tried to get up several times but the motion almost caused her to invert the normal direction that ice cream would usually travel in her digestive tract. Pinkie flopped around trying to get up. She gave up just as quick as Rainbow did. "Yes, Dashie?" "We had too much." "I-" Pinkie started, but grew sheepish at the withering look Rainbow shot at Pinkie. "Yeah..." They sat in comfortable silence, listening to Soft Swirly making more ice cream in the back. A low hum filled the room, lulling the two to sleep. Rainbow struggled to stay awake. Something was missing... "What did we come here for?" Rainbow asked, suddenly. Pinkie let loose a muffled reply. "Wfgh mgh nghhng fimn." Rainbow let her eyes droop back down. Eh, it probably wasn't important anyway.