It was a bright, sunny August morning in Ponyville. The Summer Sun Celebration and Summer Harvest Parade had come and gone, and planning was already well underway for the Foal and Filly Festival the following month. All around town, little fillies and colts frolicked and scampered in the fields and parks while their parents and many other adult ponies went about their daily business.
Over in Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville's local bakery, Mrs Cake had just finished placing a batch of freshly baked cream puffs in the display case beneath the counter, and was now awaiting a fresh wave of customers. As she stood at the cash till, the sound of the store bell caught her attention as a heavily pregnant Rainbow Dash entered.
“Morning, Mrs Cake,” she said cheerfully.
“Hullo, Rainbow Dash,” greeted Mrs Cake with a smile. “How was your air display in Baltimare?”
“Pretty much as good as it can get for a mare who's been with foal for the last nine months,” replied Rainbow Dash. “It's a wonder Spitfire even bothered to let me take part, really; even Soarin was worried about me hurting the baby or busting my water in mid-flight or whatever.”
Mrs Cake chuckled wryly. Having already had two foals herself (both at the same time), she could only sympathise with Spitfire and Soarin. “So how has your little one been coming along?” she asked curiously.
“Ah, it's been okay. It sure is quite the kicker, I tell you that much – kept me awake half the night after Soarin and I got home.”
“So you haven't discovered whether it's a filly or a colt yet?”
“No,” answered Rainbow Dash, “but I'm hoping it's a colt, personally. Anyway, do you know if Pinkie Pie's in?”
“Well, actually, I don't even know if she's awake,” admitted Mrs Cake, visibly worried and perplexed. “She's been behaving rather oddly for the last few weeks; we even found her sleeping in a couple of days ago.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion. That didn't sound at all like Pinkie Pie. “Any idea why?” she inquired.
“None whatsoever. We've tried getting her to talk to us, but she won't tell us what's wrong.”
“Hmm.” Rainbow Dash pondered the matter for a few moments before coming to a decision; “Ah well, maybe a visit from a friend ought to cheer her up. Worth a try, anyway.”
“Okay, deary,” conceded Mrs Cake. “I hope everything goes well for you – oh, and say hello to Soarin and Scootaloo when you get home.”
“Will do,” promised Rainbow Dash, and trotted briskly up the stairs.
Pinkie Pie lay sprawled out on the couch in her bedroom, a sad, distant, lonesome expression adorning her face as she stared lethargically down at the cushions. Normally she was so bright and bouncy and bubbly that she would have willingly joined the Cakes in making all sorts of tasty treats, including their namesakes; but today she felt so low and so horribly drained that she didn't feel up to anything of the sort. Rainbow Dash easily noticed this, but tried to pretend not to as she entered the room.
“Hey, Pinkie Pie,” she said casually. “How's tricks?”
Pinkie Pie didn't answer. She just sighed morosely.
Rainbow Dash tried again; “Um...Pinkie? It's me, Rainbow Dash. I'm back from Baltimare.”
But still Pinkie Pie didn't seem to acknowledge her presence. The gravid Pegasus mare tried waving a hoof just in front of her face.
“Pinkie? Hello?!”
That didn't do any good either. Pinkie Pie's right hoof slid off the couch and dangled next to it, but otherwise she neither moved nor spoke. At last, Rainbow Dash lost her patience and leaned in as close as she could. “PINKIE PIE!!!” she yelled out loud.
This had perhaps the most baffling effect on the pink-furred pony that Rainbow Dash had ever seen in her life. The moment she had bellowed out her name, Pinkie Pie leaped up with a startled yelp and began bouncing randomly around the room like a rugby ball out of a howitzer, in turn causing Rainbow Dash to assume a defensive position for fear of being struck. This went on for about ten seconds, until finally Pinkie Pie landed on all fours right in front of her rainbow-maned friend, staring blankly at her as if nothing had happened. “Yes, Dashie?” she answered.
Rainbow Dash lowered her front hooves, relieved that the danger of being flattened was now over, but still flabbergasted by what she had just seen. “Whoa, girl!” she exclaimed. “What in the hay has gotten into you all of a sudden?!”
“Breakfast,” responded Pinkie Pie, raising an eyebrow. “What else?”
“No, Pinkie, that's not what I'm talking about!” retorted Rainbow Dash. “You're acting way jumpier than Fluttershy after she's just seen a dragon! What gives?!”
At first, Pinkie Pie seemed even more confused – but after a while, her face fell, and she stared gloomily down at the floorboards, visibly embarrassed. “Sorry about that, Dashie,” she apologised unhappily. “Yeah, I guess I am getting a bit too jumpy for my own good – that and my Pinkie Sense seems to be playing up a bit.”
“A bit?!” repeated Rainbow Dash, directing a strange look at the pink-furred party pony. “Normally you're the one jumping out at me when I come to visit, not the other way round! I'd say it's playing up big time!”
“Well...okay, yeah, maybe it is playing up big time,” Pinkie Pie corrected herself meekly. “I don't know why, but I do know I'm feeling pretty low at the moment,” and as if to make herself quite clear, she stooped down as low as she could go, frowning glumly as she did so.
Rainbow Dash's expression immediately changed from confusion to utter dismay. She had rarely known Pinkie Pie to be anything other than bright and cheerful, but to see her normally happy-go-lucky friend in a state of depression made the pregnant mare's heart bleed. “How come?” she asked anxiously.
“Because...well......” Pinkie Pie looked away again, blushing heavily. “...You know Applejack's cousin from Appleloosa?”
“As in Braeburn?”
“Yeah, that's the one,” affirmed Pinkie Pie. “Well......long story short, Dash, I've kinda had this thing for him since we gave him Bloomberg nearly five years ago.”
“What 'thing'?” quizzed Rainbow Dash, not quite understanding what Pinkie Pie was getting at.
“Um...well...you see...” stammered Pinkie Pie uneasily; but before she could explain properly, it finally hit home to Rainbow Dash exactly what she was talking about.
“Wait just a minute!” she exclaimed. “Are you saying you...have a crush on him?”
Pinkie Pie responded with little more than a slow, shy nod.
“Wow,” mused Rainbow Dash thoughtfully. “That explains a lot.”
“I didn't get to spend that much time with him before we went home, what with all the buffalo trouble we had to sort out, but I totally loved every second of it. I wouldn't have even minded if I'd been trapped in Appleloosa forever, far away from my friends and family, because it'd mean I get to spend way more time with him than I can ever hope to do now – and I would never have regretted it either,” went on Pinkie Pie, raising her voice emphatically, “because I like him, Dashie – LIKE HIM, I TELL YOU!” She paused, taking deep breaths to calm herself down before continuing. “As it is, I don't even have his name and address, so I can't even write to him. I would have asked Applejack, but I'm worried she might get all suspicious and ask me all sorts of embarrassing questions.”
“Actually, speaking of Applejack,” remarked Rainbow Dash, cutting her pink-furred friend off, “didn't you once discover you might be related to her? Because by extension you might be related to Braeburn too.”
“Well, yeah, I did,” affirmed Pinkie Pie pathetically, “but we never actually managed to confirm that, even after we went to check with Goldie Delicious. Besides, what difference would it make if I were? I found out about my feelings for Braeburn long before I found out I might be related to him.” A deep, wistful sigh followed; “I miss him so much, Dashie. I'd give anything to see him again – and I don't even care if we're related.”
Rainbow Dash frowned sympathetically. What Pinkie Pie had been telling her about how much she liked Braeburn may not have sounded quite the same as her own inner turmoil over Soarin, but she could still sense the pain and distress the downtrodden pink mare was experiencing. “So what got you thinking about Braeburn in the first place? You still seemed pretty carefree when I came to see you last week.”
Pinkie Pie sighed heavily as she remembered when it had all started. “Well...you know when you and Soarin got married?”
“Um...what's that got to do with anything?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“You know that party we had afterwards?”
“Yeah?”
“And you know that moment where you went out to the chariot?”
“Sure do.”
“The moment where you threw those flowers out and I caught them by mistake?”
Rainbow Dash stifled an amused chuckle. “How could I forget?” she remarked. “I'm still surprised Rarity didn't try to grab them for herself like she did at Cadance and Shining Armour's wedding!”
“Yeah, but when I caught that bouquet, I was thinking 'Wait a minute, who'd wanna marry some wild party animal like me' – and that was when I remembered that there was somepony who might – just might – wanna at least hit it off with me,” explained Pinkie Pie. “So yeah, after you and Soarin and Scoot left for your honeymoon, I started getting all these vivid dreams about me and Braeburn together. You know the rest.”
At this point, Rainbow Dash could only smile sympathetically upon her hyperactive pink-furred friend. “You really do like him, don't you?”
“Oh, Dashie,” sighed Pinkie Pie in a breathy, dreamy, wistful tone, “you can't even begin to realise how much I do. I so wanna run into that guy's arms and nuzzle him and hug him and kiss him and stroke his mane until the cows come home...” but almost as if she had completely forgotten about Braeburn, she suddenly clapped both her front hooves to her temples and let out a horrified gasp. “Oh my gosh! What if the cows do come home?! What if Applejack gets all mad at me for letting them out in the first place?! AAGH! WHAT IF THEY NEVER LET ME SEE BRAEBURN AGAIN?!?”
“COOL IT, PINKIE!!!” interrupted Rainbow Dash, a little more sharply than she intended.
Pinkie Pie promptly subsided. “Sorry, Dashie,” she grinned meekly, pulling a giant key out of nowhere and started turning it in her left ear. “You're probably right; I'm probably just getting myself all wound up over nothing – except perhaps for a new Pinkie Sense sign or......or something,” she added uncertainly.
This took the rainbow-maned Pegasus quite aback. “But...I thought you said your Pinkie Sense wasn't working as well as it used to.”
“It isn't, but every so often I get this weird ache in my chest for no reason,” Pinkie Pie clarified. “My legs all seem to wobble whenever that happens, and then my face gets all hot too. I dunno why.”
“I do,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “I went through the exact same thing when I realised my feelings for Soarin – as did Rarity when she realised she had fallen for Spike, and Spitfire when she began crushing on Fire Streak, and Scootaloo when she discovered her own feelings for Rumble, and...well...you get the idea anyway. But yeah, that's not Pinkie Sense; that's just being in love.”
“And not being able to do anything about it in my case,” added Pinkie Pie gloomily, staring down at the floor again.
Rainbow Dash nodded in solemn understanding, placing a hoof to her chin as she pondered over Pinkie Pie's situation. If only there was some way in which she could help, she thought...
Almost at once, her face lit up again as she realised that there was a way in which she could help. “Tell you what, Pinks,” she suggested brightly, “Soarin's got a bit of time off after that air show in Baltimare, and I'm on maternity leave for the next two months until Junior comes out. How about we take a vacation in Appleloosa with Scootaloo, and then you can come along too?”
Pinkie Pie's eyes widened with anticipation. “Really?” she asked hopefully.
“Sure,” replied Rainbow Dash cordially. “I'll have to run it past Soarin and Scoot first, but I'm sure they'll be more than happy.”
That was more than enough to improve Pinkie Pie's mood. With a joyous squeal, she bounded around her room again for a few seconds shouting “YES, YES, YES, YES, YE-E-E-ES!” before pulling Rainbow Dash into a tight hug and thanking her over and over again.
Rainbow Dash smiled modestly. “Hey – no problem, Pinks,” she replied as her pink-furred friend's happy episode drew to a climax. “It's what friends do for each other, after all.”
“Yeah – and you're the best, Dashie!” gushed Pinkie Pie ecstatically. “I so can't wait to see Braeburn again! Somepony, speed up time, please! I'm gonna burst if I don't see him soon!”
“Whoa there, Pinkie!” laughed Rainbow Dash heartily. “I still haven't run it past Soarin or Scootaloo yet, let alone made the travel arrangements, so hold – your – horses!”
“But you will be taking me to see Braeburn, won't you?”
“Of course I will,” replied Rainbow Dash, turning to head back downstairs, “but first things first; I need to go speak with my hubby and our little filly about this – starting now.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” chirped Pinkie Pie. “See you round, Dashie!”
“So long,” and Rainbow Dash trotted cheerfully downstairs and out of the bakery towards home.
Back at the magnificent cloud mansion in which Rainbow Dash and her family lived, everything seemed rather quiet. Soarin was in the living room, busily leafing through the various leaflets and holiday brochures spread out over the coffee table while Scootaloo, their adopted daughter, lay on the floor and worked on a rather scrawly drawing of her favourite aircraft. In front of the orange-coated filly stood a small model which she was using as a template for her drawing, and Tank, the family's pet tortoise, was hovering sedately nearby.
It was Soarin who broke the silence first; “Anywhere you can think of, Scoot?” he asked resignedly.
But Scootaloo was too absorbed in her handiwork to pay him much attention. She simply looked up, shrugged in reply and went straight back to her drawing.
Soarin slouched against the armrest with a deep sigh. “Gee, I sure hope Dashie can give us a few ideas when she gets back.”
The pale blue stallion's remark couldn't have been better timed – at that precise moment, he heard the front door open, and a few seconds later, Rainbow Dash stepped into the living room. “Hey, Soar,” she said casually, “how's it going?”
“Okay, I guess,” replied Soarin absent-mindedly, leafing through another brochure as he spoke. “Still haven't had any luck trying to find a good place to spend our vacation, but I'm sure we'll work something out soon.”
“Maybe sooner than you think, Soarin. I'd been to see Pinkie Pie about half an hour ago, and......well...she seems to be having problems of her own,” said Rainbow Dash gravely. “She's actually been feeling pretty down lately, and I...”
“Wait, what?!” Soarin was so taken aback by what his wife had just told him that the brochure dropped out of his front hooves and onto the floor. Pinkie Pie – depressed?! How in the hay was that even possible
Needless to say, Scootaloo was equally flabbergasted by Rainbow Dash's update on Pinkie Pie, and in the inevitable double-take, she accidentally created a rip in her sheet of paper. “What, Pinkie Pie?!” she blurted out in disbelief. “But...but...but Pinkie's always so cheerful! Why so sad?”
“She's been missing Braeburn an awful lot since our wedding, and it's even beginning to affect her Pinkie Sense,” the rainbow-maned mare explained. “Normally when I go and visit, she's always acting as if she knew I'd be coming all along, even if I never gave her a heads-up. Heck, she even manages to jump out at me a few times!” She paused impressively. “But not today – no, sir! She was so unresponsive that I had to shout in order to get her attention......and I may have given her a bit of a jump-scare in the process,” she finished sheepishly.
“Wow,” murmured Scootaloo. “What are the chances of that?”
Soarin raised an eyebrow. “I don't get it, Dashie – who exactly is this Braeburn you're talking about?”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to explain further; but at that very moment, she was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable attack of hysteria, which caused her to collapse onto the floor with laughter. Soarin and Scootaloo could only roll their eyes in amusement as the gravid Pegasus mare struggled to contain her laughter; it wasn't the first time she had been experiencing such spontaneous mood swings since she had announced her pregnancy, not by a long shot – and they knew all too well that it could hardly be the last.
After nearly a minute of rolling about on the floor and trying to contain her giggling, Rainbow Dash finally staggered to her hooves. “Oh, Soarin, what a memory you have!!” she spluttered heartily. “Braeburn is one of Applejack's cousins, remember? The one from Appleloosa who helped us try and smooth things over with the buffalo?”
“Oh, that Braeburn!” exclaimed Soarin, finally catching onto what Rainbow Dash was talking about. “Yeah, I remember now – you and Applejack had been talking about him when we were invited to lunch at Sweet Apple Acres last month. And you say Pinkie Pie misses that pony?”
“Yeah, she's had this crush on him ever since we went up there with Applejack to deliver one of our trees to his orchard.” By now, Rainbow Dash had managed to calm herself down enough to avoid bursting into laughter again, and her grave expression had returned along with her composure. “She doesn't know his address, so she certainly can't become pen-pals with Braeburn; but even worse, she hardly ever seems to get the chance to go and see him in person, and that's what's really bugging her right now.”
“Is there anything we can do to cheer her up?” asked Scootaloo hopefully.
“Already thought of that, squirt,” chuckled Rainbow Dash with a broad smirk. “Since we're gonna be taking our vacation soon anyway, I thought maybe all five of us could go spend it in Appleloosa – just you, me, Soarin, Pinkie and he or she who has yet to be born.”
A look of ecstasy quickly spread its way across Scootaloo's face. “No way!” she squeaked in delight. “We get to go visit a real live Western?!”
“If you and Soarin are okay with it.”
“Need you ask?” beamed Soarin. “I've heard a lot about these Wild West towns, but I've never actually seen one for myself before. It'll be a trip of a lifetime!”
“I'll say!” agreed Scootaloo eagerly. “Buffalo herds...”
“Rodeo competitions...”
“...Wild West dances...”
“...old-time wagon trains...”
“So that's a yes, then?” assumed Rainbow Dash.
“You bet it is, Dashie,” affirmed Soarin emphatically, and Scootaloo nodded in agreement.
“Alrighty then! I'll go book us a place on the train to Appleloosa,” and Rainbow Dash zoomed out of the house like a bullet out of a gun.
Soarin watched with a broad smile – even now that she was with foal, that mare never seemed to lose her speed and agility. “Ah well,” he mused at last, turning towards the other door, “we'd better get started with our packing, Scoot. You never know – could be that the next Appleloosa-bound train is due to leave tomorrow morning!”
“Yeah, could be,” chuckled Scootaloo. “Boy, I'm sure looking forward to seeing what Appleloosa's really like, though!” With that, she too turned to head off to her room and prepare a few belongings for their vacation – but before she was over the threshold of the door, a thought occurred to her that caused the orange-coated filly to pause in her tracks. “Hang on a second – what do you take on a Wild West vacation anyway?”