Six mares debarked from the train into a warm and sunny afternoon—the usual weather in Ponyville. A dragon, three fillies, and a herd of animals had already waited for them. The two groups met, exchanged their excited greetings, and started their slow walk back to their homes.
"It was a really close shave with Miss Harshwhinny, huh, Rainbow?" Twilight broke the silence.
The pegasus, hovering above her friends along her pet tortoise, lowered her flight. "You said it. If it weren't for that farm pony she met at the spa, the Crystal Empire could kiss their chance at hosting the Equestria Games goodbye."
A pink face filled Twilight's field of view, prompting her to stop.
"Now that's what I call lucky," Pinkie chirped, hopping energetically backwards. "I mean, what are the odds of that? Like a bazillion to one, right?" She blinked expectantly at Twilight.
The unicorn rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's quite a correct approximation."
"Doesn't that take the cake?" Pinkie giggled, materializing the said piece of confectionery in her hoof, centimeters away from Twilight's face. Before the unicorn could so much as blink, the cake disappeared in Pinkie's mouth in one loud gulp.
Twilight planted her forehead in her hooves with an audible smack. "Pinkie, are cakes all you ever think about?" She let her frustration out, surprised at how irritated her voice sounded.
Pinkie blinked, her trademark smile faltering for the tiniest of moments, before it returned, brightening her face like a sun emerging from behind a cloud. "Nuh-uh. I also think of..." She extended her other hoof, revealing a couple of bonbons.
"Pinkie, I'm–" Twilight blinked. "Where did you even get them?"
The earth pony waved her hoof. "Oh, I have sweets hidden all over the place."
Twilight rubbed her head, already regretting having started this discussion. Arguing with Pinkie never made sense, but for a reason she couldn't name, this particular time her friend's shenanigans got on her nerves a notch harder than usual. "Let me guess, in case of sweet emergency?" she finally said.
The pair of innocent, almost childish blue eyes stared back at her for a moment, until Pinkie waved her hoof. "Nah, in case the cake turns out to be a lie." She waggled her brows at Twilight. At the same time, a drum and a cymbal encore reverberated in the air.
Twilight looked back at the crusaders trying various musical instruments at a nearby yard sale. She shook her head and turned back to her friend. "What... You know, I'm not even going to figure out what that meant. But would it hurt you terribly to be even slightly more serious from time to time? Even back in the Crystal Empire, all you ever thought of were cakes and jokes." Twilight advanced, letting her anger consume her. The conscious part of her mind that tried to stop her from hurting her friend's feelings, was pushed back, reduced to a tiny, easily ignored whisper. "Couldn't you have helped us look for Miss Harshwhinny with your Pinkie sense or something? Or at least do anything useful instead of stuffing your face with sweets all the time?"
Twilight stopped, noticing stifled chuckles from her friends. Her back turned at the unicorn, Pinkie gestured a yapping mouth with her hooves, with mocked disgust on her face.
The unicorn teleported between Pinkie and the rest of her friends. "I saw that." She glared the pink pony down, her eyes reduced to tiny slits.
"Saw what?" The innocence oozed from Pinkie's face like sweet molasses.
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The seed of anger at her friend's erratic behavior, planted way back in the Crystal Empire, grew and flourished, constantly nourished by more of Pinkie's shenanigans. She exhaled, extending a hoof from her chest in a gesture taught by Cadence. She briefly wondered how she would have survived the trip if it hadn't been for that simple gesture.
"What I'm trying to say, Pinkie," she locked her eyes with her friend's, "is that maybe sometimes, like for example when we're involved in a matter of national importance, you could grow up just a little and act like a mature mare, instead of fooling around like a spoiled foal."
Pinkie's face scrunched up as she flared her nostrils defensively. Twilight could have sworn her friend's mane lost some of its usual curliness.
"But Twilight..." Pinkie muttered, her eyes pleading. "I would have to change who I am, to become who you want me to be."
"I believe some growing up would only do you good," Twilight said, looking deep into Pinkie's eyes, her face nothing but serious. "You can't act like a foal for the rest of your life."
Twilight winced, both surprised by how harsh her voice had sounded, and by her friend's reaction to her last remark. Pinkie took a step back, her blurred eyes looking at Twilight like a wounded animal on the predator that was about to attack it. She opened her quivering mouth, but no sound came out. She swallowed and tried again, with the same result. Finally, she dropped her head, her ears pressed tightly against it, took Gummy by its tail, and galloped off into the town, her ironed-out tail waving behind her.
Twilight lowered the hoof she realised she had raised, probably in a mute attempt to stop Pinkie. Only now did she notice the awful silence, creeping out from every nook and cranny, covering everything around her in a soundless veil. She turned her head, seeking understanding in her friends' eyes, but before she could as much as blink, an iron hoof shoved her against the wall of a nearby shop.
"What the hay did you say that for?" Rainbow shouted straight into her face, her nostrils flaring aggressively.
Her eyes widened with bewilderment, it took a moment for Twilight to collect and defend herself. She forced the pegasus' hoof down. "What's wrong with you, Rainbow?" She clashed her snout against the pegasus', withstanding the daggers the pink eyes looked at her. "For that matter, I believe what I said was true. She really could stand growing up."
Rainbow punched her hoof against the wall, missing Twilight's face by a hair's breadth. "No, Twilight, she couldn't. And if you knew her any better, you would know exactly why. And how fragile she is!"
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but the pegasus had already been away, a rainbow trail slowly disappearing behind her.
The unicorn turned around, noticing equally surprised expressions on her friends' faces. "What was that all about?"
Confused silence was the only response she received.
***
Twilight paced nervously around the entrance to the Sugarcube Corner. The usual morning line, she had hoped would give her time to take a calming breath before confronting Pinkie, hadn't formed yet. She looked at the clock tower and let out a sigh. It was much earlier than she anticipated. She replayed her yesterday's outburst in her mind. Was what she had said wrong? She still wasn't quite sure, but she had decided to apologize nonetheless, if only to satisfy her guilt and heal the atmosphere between her and Pinkie. She did another round in front of the stairs, revising a couple of scenarios the conversation could take. She drew a sigh, shaking her head as she realized that no amount of planning would ever prepare her for Pinkie's randomness. She did another round in front of the entrance, took a deep breath, and trotted inside.
Ms. Cake's polite smile greeted her from behind the counter. "Hello, dearie. What can I get you?"
Twilight reciprocated the smile. "Thank you, missus Cake, but I'm not here for sweets. I was hoping I could talk to Pinkie for a moment."
The baker's expression dropped ever so slightly. "I'm sorry, but she's out."
Twilight raised her eyebrow. "Really?" she asked, mentally smacking herself in her cheek when she realized how rude it had sounded. "I mean..." she hurried before the other mare could react. "I'm sorry, it's just that I had a little, um, argument with Pinkie yesterday, and I truly want to apologize." She turned towards the door. "But I will understand if she doesn't want to see me.
Ms. Cake rubbed her chin. "So that's why she was so down in the dumps when she got back with Rainbow..." She offered an apologetic smile. "It's not like I'm hiding her from you or anything... Pinkie is simply doing her morning errands."
A meaningful cough from behind Twilight broke their conversation. Both mares looked behind the unicorn, on a line of ponies waiting to get their morning snacks, their impatience clearly displayed on their faces.
"Oh, um..." Twilight stepped aside. "I think it would be best if I left you to your customers. Thank you, missus Cake."
The baker nodded. "Any time, dearie."
Twilight left the Sugarcube corner, letting out a terribly unfulfilled sigh. She squatted on a nearby bench, contemplating on what to do next. Waiting for Pinkie Pie was out of the question, as she had no idea when her friend would finish her errands. Searching for Pinkie would most likely prove to be an even bigger waste of time. She dropped her head with a heavy groan. She was reluctant to leave the matter hanging, if only because of the guilt that tormented her throughout the night.
"All right, team!" A familiar voice pierced through her thoughts, breaking her apathetic stupor. She looked up. Sure enough, a familiar blue figure rounded several pegasi on a cloud above.
"Flitter, you take care of mist forming over the Whitetail Woods. Cloud Kicker, you kick those clouds from over the square. Bulk, Sweet Apple Acres are falling behind with water supply. Get them some rain."
"YEAH!" The white hunk of pegasus replied eloquently.
"We're meeting here after lunch."
Twilight waited for the flock of pegasi to disappear behind the clouds, cleared her throat, and called her friend.
Rainbow looked down and descended slowly from her cloud.
"Hey there, Twi." She rubbed the back of her head, her eyes diligently avoiding the unicorn's face. "Listen, about yesterday–"
"I'm sorry, Rainbow," Twilight interjected, her cheeks blushing with embarrassment. "I shouldn't have criticized Pinkie's behavior like that."
"Heh, I should be the sorry one." Rainbow offered an apologetic smile. "For blowing up like that and pushing you." She offered a hoof. "Still friends?"
Twilight bumped the hoof with her own. "Still friends."
The faint smile on the pegasus' face brightened considerably. She gave a vigorous nod and flexed her wings, her eyes looking longingly at the sky above her.
"Um..." Twilight began. Rainbow folded her wings and turned back to face her. "Look, do you know where I could find Pinkie at this hour? I really wanted to apologize to her as well."
Rainbow's expression dropped as she pawed the ground with her hoof. "Can't you wait till evening? Pinkie's probably doing her morning rounds now."
"That's the same thing missus Cake said. Just what are her chores? There's not much work in the library, maybe I could help her?"
"No!" Realizing she was a bit too fast to answer, Rainbow looked at her hooves. "I mean, you couldn't help her." She fidgeted under Twilight's confused glare. "I mean, she doesn't need help." The pegasus began sweating, her expression only making Twilight's confusion greater. She flared her wings. "Look, I've got jobs to do, places to be! Gotta go, bye!" She started off, but was stopped in the air by a gentle telekinetic tug at her tail. Realizing she won't get away that easily, Rainbow reluctantly turned around.
Twilight met the pegasus' wary glare with a delicate warm smile. "Rainbow, just what are Pinkie's morning rounds? Does it have anything to do with what you said yesterday? That she can't grow up?"
Rainbow bit her lips, her eyes looking anywhere but at Twilight's face.
"I really do want to learn about Pinkie," Twilight continued, "if only so I don't hurt her feelings again." She put her hoof on the pegasus' shoulder. "Please, can't you tell me the truth?"
Rainbow closed her eyes, her breath hastening. With each gulp of air she swallowed, her brows became more and more furrowed. Suddenly, she let out a cry and bucked her hoof hard against the ground, making Twilight take a surprised step back.
"Do you have any idea," she forced out between pants, "how hard is it for the element of loyalty to choose who to be loyal to? Pinkie asked me not to tell anypony anything about it."
"And losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend." Twilight recalled the lesson Pinkie had given her what seemed like a few lifetimes ago. She dropped her ears. "I understand. I won't pry further."
Rainbow bit her lip, her eyes focused on the cobble path beneath her hooves.
Twilight turned around. "I think I will just visit Pinkie in the evening, then."
Before she could walk away more than a few steps, Rainbow stopped her with a clear and decided "Wait!"
The pegasus hovered in front of Twilight, her serious eyes locked with the unicorn's. "Are you busy? Like, right now?"
"No," Twilight answered without hesitation. "Why?"
"I will show you." Rainbow pursed her lips in a thin line. "It's the only way you could hope to understand Pinks."
***
"How much farther are we going to run?" Twilight panted, galloping behind Rainbow who glided effortlessly in the air.
"We're almost there."
Twilight followed the pegasus' extended hoof with her eyes. "But... That's the hospital. Do you mean to tell me Pinkie's ill?"
Rainbow chuckled, landing beside the unicorn, keeping up with Twilight's mad gallop with her relaxed run. "Nah. I don't think she's ever even been sick."
"Then why–" The rest of Twilight's query was shoved back into her throat along a blue hoof.
"Shh!" Rainbow whispered. "Wait here."
Twilight was all too happy to comply, thankful for a break to catch her breath. She observed the pegasus circling around the hospital, taking cautious glances into each window. Finally, Rainbow decided to fly down.
"You're lucky. They're on the ground floor." She lowered her voice to a conspirational whisper. "Now, duck and crouch behind me. And remember—Pinkie mustn't see us."
"Why?" Twilight protested. "Just what is going on?"
Rainbow blocked her mouth with a hoof and shushed. Twilight rolled her eyes, but followed her crouching friend to the hospital wall. The pegasus pointed at the window, which Twilight promptly looked through. She had to block her mouth with a hoof to stifle a loud gasp that threatened to come out. She ducked under the windowsill, hoping that nopony in the room saw her. She waited a few seconds and raised her head once more.
The room was filled to the brim with fillies and colts of different ages and races, sharing but one common trait—each and every one of them fought a valiant battle against their disability or illness. Some were bound to their beds, drip stands never leaving their sides; others rolled in on their wheelchairs, their limbs cast in plaster; others—lucky enough to be able to move on their own—squatted or stood spread throughout the room. There was one other thing everypony in the room shared—a bright and genuine smile Pinkie's performance had brought to their faces.
The room burst with laughter, clearly audible even from behind the glass Twilight and Rainbow watched through. On top of a makeshift stage, Pinkie plastered a pig snout on her nose, wiggling back and forth on her tail.
Twilight watched the spectacle, mesmerized by her friend's performance and the foals' reaction to it. She looked around the room, noticing doctor Stable and nurse Redheart stifling their giggles in the door.
"She comes here every single day." Rainbow's raspy voice broke her concentration.
Twilight slowly turned her head around. "How long ago did you learn about this?"
"Remember when I broke my wing and was grounded here for a week?"
Twilight nodded.
"Well, at that time I was obviously too lost in that book you gave me." Rainbow scratched the back of her head, a tiny blush painting her cheeks red. "But a few days later I was clearing the sky over here, when I heard a burst of laughter. It seemed weird, hearing it from the hospital, right? So I took a peek inside and saw pretty much this." Her hoof pointed at the glass they were peeking through. "So I watched, dumbstruck, as she brightened the life of those poor foals, her performance bringing genuine smiles on their little muzzles. I wanted to talk with her, of course, but she– Look!"
Twilight's eyes followed Rainbow's hoof inside the room, where the atmosphere had changed considerably. The laughs were slowly dying, as it became pretty obvious that Pinkie's performance came to its end. Fillies and colts pleaded and begged Pinkie for an encore, while her eyes kept darting between a clock hung on a wall and her audience.
Finally, she sighed, and motioned the foals to gather around her, her radiant smile transforming into an apologetic one. Standing on her rear legs, Pinkie raised a hoof to the ceiling in a dramatic gesture. She seemed to be chanting, or maybe singing, Twilight couldn't tell from behind the closed window. Then her hoof fell down, dropping what looked like a small ball on the floor. Pink smoke filled the room, making the foals scatter in surprise. It dissipated quickly, however, revealing a glaring lack of Pinkie Pie. Where she stood moments before, a tray full of cupcakes was left on the floor, decorated with a small card depicting a smiling pink pony. Smiles on the foals' faces returned instantly, as they jumped forward, ready to raid the unexpected bounty. Fortunately, nurse Redheart stepped in to help with equal distribution of loot.
"Every time she thinks of a new trick," Rainbow chuckled, her snout glued to the glass.
Twilight looked at Dr. Stable, who shook his head disapprovingly—albeit not without a sincere smile—in the direction of the door. Pinkie offered him a sheepish smile, stuck her tongue out, and galloped off.
The hospital entrance burst open with a bang as the pink rocket blasted through, leaving an equally pink trail behind her. Her mouth agape, Twilight watched the pink blur until it disappeared behind a hill.
"She's unbelievably fast for an earth pony," Rainbow remarked. "Can you believe even I couldn't escape her that one time when–"
"Wait a moment," Twilight interjected and entered the hospital.
"What was that all about?" Rainbow asked as the unicorn emerged from behind the door several minutes later. Before Twilight could respond, however, she waved her hoof dismissively. "Never mind. C'mon. We have to hurry back." She flapped her wings, hovering above the unicorn.
"What? Why?"
"You think her chores are over? You've seen nothing yet."
Rainbow motioned to follow her, and was off in a multicolor flash. Twilight pursed her lips and galloped behind.
***
After what seemed like miles, Rainbow finally lowered her flight, the panting unicorn teleporting behind her.
"We're at school," Twilight announced, once the universe had stopped spinning around her.
"You don't say, Sheerclop Hooves," the pegasus chuckled, pricking up her ears like she was trying to discern a particular sound. "Aha! This way."
As she rounded the building, a cacophony of sounds hit Twilight's ears. "What in Equestria?" she squinted, covering her ears. "Aren't schools supposed to be quiet? Like in the library, you need to maintain silence in order to reach the level of concentration–"
A hoof in her mouth stopped her further complaints.
"Sheesh, you could stand pulling the stick out of your tailhole sometimes, ya know?" Rainbow said, shaking her head.
Twilight blinked. "I beg your–"
"Never mind about that," Rainbow interjected, pointing her hoof at the classroom.
Twilight rubbed her horn with a groan, but ultimately looked inside. It took her a while to convince herself that she was, in fact, witnessing a lesson.
Every filly and every colt in the classroom was equipped with a musical instrument. Braving the noise with her trademark smile, Pinkie hopped between the foals, while Miss Cheerilee sat at her desk, her hooves clamped tightly against her ears. Occasionally, Pinkie trotted to a student, pointed at the music sheet that lay on their desk, grabbed the same instrument they were playing from behind her mane, and played the specific tune.
Confident in her knowledge of the music theory, Twilight tried to count and name the instruments the foals were playing. However, after counting several various cellos, basses, flutes, drums, triangles, harps, and lyres, and one balalaika, she gave up. She pointed at the classroom, where Pinkie restlessly hopped between the rows of desks in her noble quest to discern any false notes in the overwhelming cacophony and offer a helping hoof. "What, pray tell, am I watching?"
"Behold, one of Pinkie's famous music lessons." Rainbow chuckled.
"Lessons?" Twilight's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How can this... this unorganized talent show be called a lesson? And, for that matter, how can this noise be called music?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Hay, I dunno. Music has never really been my forte. Unlike Pinkie's." She patted the wall. "That filly can play, like, any musical instrument you can name. And most of those you can't. And look –" she pointed at the classroom "– it seems like, despite all the noise, she can hear when the foals play their parts wrong."
Both mares listened in silence for a while.
Inside the classroom, Pinkie leaned over Silver Spoon, pointing at the filly's note sheet. Then, she hopped over to Featherweight, who apparently held his flute wrongly. No matter how much Twilight tried to focus her hearing on one particular instrument, she couldn't discern any particular tune over the terrible mash of sounds coming from the classroom.
"The way I heard it," Rainbow muttered, her eyes transfixed on her pink friend, "Cheerilee had real trouble finding a suitable tutor. Octavia wasn't up to the challenge, she'd rather not have her students follow Vinyl's lifestyle of a DJ, and nopony has ever seen Lyra playing her lyre. Some say it's enchanted with dark magic or something." She shrugged. "Well, as the urban legend goes, Cheerilee had lost all her hopes on finding a music teacher, when one day Pinkie simply barged into the school with a wagon full of various instruments, turning the classes into a wild, loud party. Typical Pinkie style." The pegasus chuckled. "You'd have to ask Cheerilee for the details, but it seems the foals like her way of teaching."
Rainbow and Twilight watched the spectacle for several more minutes, when the classroom got noticeably quieter. Cheerilee unclogged her ears with a sigh of relief, as Pinkie produced a tray of sweets from her wagon parked outside the school.
Every student waited anxiously for their tutor's verdict as Pinkie scrunched her face in deep thought. After a moment of hesitation, her face brightened with a radiant smile, and she trotted to a purple unicorn filly with a blond mane, a delicious cupcake held in her hooves.
Some of the foals sighed, others waved their dismissive hooves, displaying their disappointment with the judge's decision, but they soon forgot it, when Pinkie passed the consolation prizes, in the forms of crunchy bonbons, around the classroom.
"That's Derpy's daughter, right?" Twilight asked, observing the unicorn filly happily munching on her cupcake.
Rainbow nodded. "Yup. Pinkie says she's amazing with a flute. She once mentioned she would be surprised if it didn't appear on her flank one day."
"I wonder how she can even tell who plays how in that ruckus." Twilight rubbed her forehead.
Rainbow flapped her wings impatiently. "Hay if I know. But every time I saw one of Pinkie's lessons, Dinky was the filly to get the cupcake. I guess– Duck!" Rainbow gasped, shoving Twilight into the bushes and following herself.
A pink flash rocketed out of the building, her wagon rattling and clanging behind her. Moments later, the noise ceased as the pink pony disappeared in the town.
Twilight welcomed the silence with a sigh of relief, though it was rather short-lived as it was quickly interrupted by Rainbow.
The pegasus crept out of the bush and helped Twilight out. "Ready for another dash?" She flexed her wings.
"One of you is quite enough, thank you," the unicorn chuckled, unable to stop herself from making the terrible joke. Before Rainbow could comment on it, though, the unicorn had disappeared inside the school.
"Hardy har har, miss smartflanks," Rainbow muttered, an embarrassed smile slowly creeping on her face. She had walked right into it, hadn't she?
***
Twilight sighed from behind her binoculars. She turned to her friend, her face nothing but disapproving. "Aren't we taking this spying thing too far?"
"Oh, puh-lease!" Rainbow waved her hoof. "Quills and Sofas' rooftop is the best vantage point. Well, second only to a cumulus placed carefully just a few meters higher. But that's for pegasi only." She winked, flapping her wings.
Twilight's hoof met her forehead with an audible smack. She took a calming breath, looking back through the binoculars. "What is she doing?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Dunno. You're the one with the binocs."
Twilight's eye twitched ominously as a purple glow shoved the binoculars before the pegasus' eyes.
"She's baking doughnuts," Rainbow announced in a proud voice.
Twilight opened her mouth, staring silently at her friend. She shook her head to clear her mind, and jabbed Rainbow's chest with a hoof. "How do you know? It's all a pink blur to me."
Rainbow waved her hoof. "Come on, it's Thursday. Look!"
Before Twilight could turn her head, a pink comet blasted out of the bakery and down the street. A cloud of dust settled behind the pink pony, leaving a strong fragrance of freshly baked doughnuts in the air.
Twilight's stomach picked just this moment to protest with a loud rumble.
"There's no time," Rainbow said before the unicorn could so much as open her mouth. "Let's go!"
She flew down, following the doughnut trace. Twilight sighed, teleported from the roof, and followed.
***
Rainbow stopped before a building on the other side of the town.
Twilight stumbled into the bushes, her legs burning as much as her throat. She took a few painful moments to clear her head of colorful shapes that danced before her eyes. She was sure she had run longer in this single day than in the rest of her life combined.
When she was finally able to move her head without sending the universe into a mad spin, she looked up. "But... That's the orphanage."
Once again, Rainbow shushed the unicorn, pointing at one of the windows. Twilight obediently looked inside.
A small group of young colts and fillies was gathered in the room. There was no performance this time. Instead, the group seemed to be playing various games, with Pinkie acting as the score keeper and the animator. A batch of fresh doughnuts was piled on a tray on a small table in the corner of the room.
Pinkie Pie motioned at some of the foals, gathering them in a conspirational circle. Hushed whispers were exchanged with obligatory cautious glances around, and Pinkie motioned at the mare standing in the door, her smile wider than it was physically possible.
Miss Whiteheart, Twilight recognized, was instantly swarmed with foals, who surrounded her like a miniature tsunami, and led her to join the game. After Pinkie explained the rules, the group divided in two and the contest resumed.
Twilight took a look around the room, gasping in surprise as she noticed a familiar figure. "Hey, isn't that–"
Twilight's hoof, pointing accusatively at the filly, was forced to the ground. Her head spun as she was grabbed by a pair of strong hooves and turned around.
Rainbow glared daggers at her, her eyes reduced to tiny slits. "Twilight Sparkle, if you ever tell anypony about it, I swear by all the stars in Princess Luna's mane that I will personally break off your horn."
Twilight backed away, shocked by her friend's violent reaction. She was certain Rainbow would never actually commit such a cruel deed, but such a vivid threat could only be a proof of how much her friend cared for the filly. Twilight rubbed her horn, as if to ascertain it was still attached to her head. She gulped and nodded, causing Rainbow's expression to soften.
"Look, I'm sorry," the pegasus muttered, freeing Twilight's shoulders, her eyes focused on her hooves. "She's just very sensitive about it, y'know?"
Twilight narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Is she afraid her friends would be ashamed of her if they knew?" This, she couldn't believe. "They make such a close-knit group together, searching for their marks and all."
Rainbow shook her head. "Nah, they never would, and I'm sure she knows that. But not everypony is as understanding and forgiving as her teammates." She sighed, her unfocused eyes looking at the distant sky. "A young filly's life can be pretty harsh."
Twilight could only take Rainbow's word for it, what with her brother being her only friend throughout her entire foalhood.
Leaving Rainbow to her own musings, Twilight looked into the room again. The game had already finished, leaving both victors and losers to swarm around the table, devouring the freshly baked doughnuts like a flock of hungry griffins.
Pinkie waved her goodbyes to the foals, exchanged polite nods with Ms. Whiteheart, and turned to leave. Twilight and Rainbow ducked behind the bush, letting the pink pony pass without noticing them.
"Is she going to run off in a hurry again?" Twilight whispered.
"Doesn't look like it."
Twilight emerged from their hiding place and entered the orphanage, motioning to Ms. Whiteheart. The two mares began their conversation, while Rainbow took a peek inside. Locating Scootaloo in the crowd of foals wasn't difficult—not with a trained eye. The filly swallowed her doughnut, a bright smile on her face igniting a flame of warmth inside Rainbow's heart.
A glint of purple in the corner of her eye prompted Rainbow to turn her head.
"Shall we go?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow nodded.
***
The two ponies walked down the road to Ponyville, keeping at a safe distance from Pinkie. The sun was slowly lowering behind them, basking the town in a blanket of golden rays.
"Is her every day like this?" Twilight asked, biting her tongue to omit the word 'crazy' as she followed the pink dot with her eyes.
"Hey, it's not like I'm stalking her all the time." Rainbow mocked an offended pout. "She does take a break from time to time, though. To play some pranks, throw a party, welcome new ponies in town, stuff like that..." Rainbow counted. "And when she feels somepony is sad."
Twilight raised her eyebrow. "How can she know that?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Beats me. But it works, I've seen it once or twice. She says it's her Pinkie sense."
The mares stopped, noticing that their friend had done the same, a wild case of shivers rocking her body up and down. After it was over, Pinkie looked up, then down, then under her tail, and finally around her. She then trotted to a small group of trees near the road.
Squinting her eyes, Twilight noticed a smaller pony curled under one of the trees. Pinkie trotted to the filly and placed a calming hoof at her back. The foal turned around, cleared her eyes, and pointed at the crown of the tree.
Pinkie brushed her chin for a moment and exploded in a wide grin. She rummaged in a nearby bush from which she pulled her party cannon. The foal stopped her sobbing, her mouth agape at the pink mare and her crazy contraption. Pinkie threw a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of her head. Her hoof supporting her chin, she then sat on a nearby rock, deep in thought, reminding Twilight of the famous Thinking Pony sculpture.
Pinkie's face lit again with a smile that seemed to produce its own light. She jumped off the rock, tinkered with her canon, and pushed its trigger. Instead of spitting confetti with the usual loud bang, it vomited several balloons with but a quiet pop. Pinkie grabbed their strings before they could fly away, pulled a basket out of her mane, and tied everything together into a floating platform.
The filly wiped her eyes, a wide smile spreading slowly across her snout, as Pinkie presented the platform to her. She climbed inside, and the pink pony let the balloons go. The platform rose to the treetop, where the filly took hold of a trembling orange ball. She gave down a signal, letting Pinkie pull her back with her cargo. Once on the ground, the filly tackled the mare in a wild hug, her rowdy kitten hissing at his mistress' new friend. Then they trotted to the town, Pinkie waving at them until they disappeared behind a building.
"It's just like she somehow senses when foals need her help," Rainbow said, looking into Twilight's eyes. "Adults can handle themselves, y'know? But foals are often left on their own, until somepony lends them a hoof. That's why–"
Twilight put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Say no more, Rainbow," she muttered, her eyes glistening in the setting sun as they followed Pinkie back to town. "I know just what to do." She turned to the pegasus, her face full of determination. "Will you help me?"
Rainbow offered a confident smile. "Sure! What'cha need?"