//------------------------------// // Party of the pine-heads. // Story: Don't say goodbye. // by Rubycast //------------------------------// When Dash awoke she expected a bright world full of sunshine and ponies walking up and down the streets, chatting away as they did their tasks, or maybe one of her friends yelling at her to awake, but instead she awoke to a dark world. With sleep still in her eyes she looked up at the sky and saw twinkling stars looking back at her. She looked down at the town and saw all the shops were closed for the day. She scratched her head. ‘How long did I sleep?’ She thought before the town clock chimed. She looked towards it and saw that it was eight o clock. ‘Eight hours? Heh. That’s my longest nap yet.’ She got up and bent down to stretch, popping all the bones in her back. She let out a sigh of relief. ‘It was totally worth it.’ Before she could enjoy another moment of peace, her mind fully awoke and showered her with not only raw emotions, but also images from her dream. She sighed with a heavy heart before looking up at the sky. ‘Not even in my dreams can you leave.’ She flopped down on her back and stared up at the stars. “Dashy!” Dash jumped high into the air. She turned around, and stared down at the pink pony who was smiling like they hadn’t seen each other in years. Dash groaned. “I can’t believe I let Pinkie scare me.” She muttered to herself before flying down in front of her friend. “Hey, Pinks. What’s up?” Pinkie blinked a few times before she gasped. “Is this a game?! Ohohohoh! I wanna play!” “Uh, actually Pinkie I meant-” “Your house, the sky, the stars, that bird. Hey, why is that bird flying at night anyway? Don’t they normally fly during the day? Oh! What if it’s lost, or confused because of the party lights?” She gasped loudly. “Maybe it thinks it’s daytime, so it’s flying around looking for its friends, but it won’t be able to find them because they’re all sleeping, then-” “Pinkie!” “Yes?” “I meant what did you want.” “I’m here to bring you to your party, duh!” “Party?” “Yeah! Your ‘Welcome-Back-To-Ponyville-Dashy!’ party! I told you about it earlier, remember?” ‘Oh yeah.’ Dash thought as she remembered her friend’s long rambling earlier that day. She couldn’t remember everything, but what she did remember was it was held in Ponyville center and the whole town would be there. There was also something about Princess Luna eating all the candy at Nightmare Night, but she had no idea what that had to do with the party. “Come on Dashy,” Pinkie said breaking her from her thoughts. “we’re wasting time talking, when we could be shaking our booties!” Dash smirked. “Then let’s get going!” She took flight to the party before Pinkie could even blink, but the pink mare easily caught up. Ponyville center was where town hall was located. When there wasn’t an event going on, the farmers’ brought their own carts to sell their goods to the residents. Sometimes ponies just stood around and chatted with one another. There was hardly a time when something wasn’t going on, and this was no exception. There were purple-colored lights twisted around the light poles that were turned on once night came, but this time they were kept off so they didn’t overpower the colored lights. There was a long table off to the side, so the dancing ponies couldn’t bump into it and knock anything off or cause accidents. Next to the town hall was Vinyl Scratch--or better known as DJ Pon3 to her fans--DJing one of her songs while ponies danced or stood, bobbing their heads to her music. Dash quickly scanned the area once they arrived. She saw her adopted sister Scootaloo dancing in the center of everything with her two Cutie Mark Crusader friends. Dash had to admit that the little pegasus couldn’t sing to save her life, but she did have awesome moves; on and off the dance floor. Perhaps she could get a cutie mark in dancing. Dash made a mental note to bring that up at a later date with her. She saw Cheerilee and Big Mac standing on the cobblestone bridge--which was decorated with colorful streamers hanging on the side--talking and drinking punch. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she didn’t need to, to realize they were talking about something that only required Big Mac to respond with a “Eeyup” or a “Nnope.” Her eyes travelled to the large snack table. Varies cakes and sweets were crowded on the table, along with bottles of hot sauces and the large punch bowel with paper cups beside them. Beside the table stood a large chocolate fountain for dipping food. She knew by the end of the party Derpy Hooves would have her face in it, drinking all of the chocolate, even with Mr and Mrs Cake standing behind the table. Dash’s eyes stopped their wandering when she spotted Fluttershy standing beside the punch bowl. She was about to fly over and talk to her childhood friend--maybe convince her to dance with everypony else--when she saw who the yellow pegasus was talking to; Rarity. The sight of the unicorn made her scowl. She quickly tore her gaze away and focused her attention back to the dance floor. She couldn’t find the CMC, but she did find her country friend Applejack stomping her left and right hoof, bobbing her head up and down, smiling as if she was the greatest dancer in Equestria, instead of looking like an armature. Dash always loved to tease the mare about her dancing before showing off her own moves, creating a dance competition between the two athletics until either Pinkie dragged them to another activity, or they gave up to eat food or do something else. She nudged her way through the crowd until she was in front of her earth pony friend. She didn’t seem to notice Dash as she continued to dance. The pegasus opened her mouth to speak, but her words died when she caught sight of a horn moving in her peripheral vision. She turned her head and saw Twilight dancing near Applejack. Her eyes were closed, her tongue was out, and waved her fore hooves up and down. It was the same dance she had done at her birthday party in Canterlot. Being near her made the knots from before return, expect they felt bigger, tighter this time. ‘Why do I keep feeling this way?’ She asked herself. She suddenly lunged forward, almost falling into Applejack, but quickly put her left fore hoof out to balance herself. She turned her head to glare at the pony behind her. It was a blue unicorn with a white mane. “Sorry.” He said, but he didn’t sound sincere. No. He sounded sarcastic to her. Were all unicorns jerks? Everywhere she looked there were unicorns: On the dance floor, at the snack table, in a group talking to each other. Even the DJ was a unicorn! She never noticed how many pine-heads there were in Ponyville. She could feel herself scowling as the heat of rage filled her chest like running water. It continued to grow and spread through her body, and she had no intention of turning it off. The heat uncurled the knot in her stomach and replaced it with fire. She took short fast breaths as her teeth grounded together. Everything before her turned a dark shade of red. “..bow? Rainbow?” A voice said from behind her, but she couldn’t hear them. All she heard was the pounding of her heart. She felt something touch her shoulder. She quickly spun around and punched whatever it was. “Aaahhh!” It screamed, causing everypony to look. Everypony gasped and froze, mouths hanging open and eyes wide as they could be. She began to huff as some of her rage cooled down, but not completely. The pounding in her ears slowly faded until the only thing she could hear was the rustle of the wind as it passed. Slowly the red from her vision faded and bloomed into different colors. Only then did she notice the fear and confusion in Twilight’s eyes, tears falling from them at a rapid speed. She was holding her right cheek with her hoof. Her body was shaking as she stood on three hooves, but Dash knew she was shaking out of fear. She felt a stinging in her hoof and looked down at it. Against her bright blue fur was blood, but it wasn’t from her. She had no cuts on her hoof. She slowly looked up at Twilight and noticed the edge of a cut peeking out from behind her hoof. Her eyes widen as she pieced together what had happened: She had struck Twilight. She had hit one of her best friends, and it felt... Amazing.