Cloud doors don't slam shut, and the halls in a floating home don't echo when you stomp through them. Or at least not usually. With a resounding "thump" Rainbow slammed down on to her bed, taking no relaxation from the comfy surface. Instead her legs were still moving, her hooves squishing and tearing at the bed underneath. It wouldn't cause any permanent damage to the bed, but it felt good today. Well, better at least.
Rainbow wasn't even thinking about the bed though as her mind was in another place entirely. She was wrapping her head around what had happened today, how everything had looked so good in the morning and completely crumbled by night time. She had been wrong, Pinkie had been wrong and worst of all what they had done had been wrong. But it all still sounded so sweet...
"So it's a giant jack in the box?" Rainbow Dash said, contemplating the device Pinkie was so anxious to show her. It looked like a giant jack in the box for sure, from the traditional crank and shape right down to the bright primary colours.
"No silly!" Pinkie said as she hopped on over to the box from behind Dash. It never ceased to amaze Dash how nothing was simple with Pinkie, even just a two meter walk. Apparently this also applied to giant jack in a boxes as well. "It's so much better than that! Just try it!"
That last command came out just a bit too happy, even for Pinkie Pie. As Rainbow thought about it, she couldn't see anything else wrong with the picture though, except that Pinkie hadn't even blinked since she last spoke. With two warning flags in her head, Rainbow approached the crank. Pinkie Pie let out a brief giggle as she approached, but then covered her mouth with her hoof in a degree of subtlety only Pinkie Pie could have.
"It seems stuck." Rainbow said after pushing on it with all her might. Or at least she gave off the impression of pushing on it with all she could muster. Pinkie Pie's giggles faded away and were replaced with a look of confusion.
"Really?" she asked, pushing Rainbow out of the way. "It was fine just this morning. Here let me give it a go." Pinkie began to crank the box as she spoke. "Yeah, it seems to be working fine for me. Don't tell me all that weather flying has softened you up-" However Pinkie never finished that sentence as she was cut off by a pie traveling faster than any pie should coming right out of the box.
"A pie in a box? Priceless!" Rainbow Dash could barely get her praise out as she laughed. Pinkie was covered in pie and halfway across the room. "You okay Pinks?"
The only sound Pinkie could make was a cough, clearing her lungs of delicious apple filling. That was followed by the loudest lip smacking Rainbow had ever heard as she licked her face clean of all of the pie crust. She was still covered in Pie however from the neck down. "I'm fine," she said in mock anger, "but this pie was meant for you."
"How so?" Rainbow Dash replied, basking in her lack of pie.
"Well I made it with zap apples that would go great with your mane. It completely clashes with my coat, and that cannot stand."
"How so?" This time, Rainbow was a lot more tense, looking equally behind her to the door and at Pinkie. Pinkie never responded though, instead making her intentions clear by jumping at Dash in all her crusty covered, gooey glory.
With great effort Rainbow finally managed to pull off a section of her bed about half the size of her hoof. For an instant she felt good, the adrenaline pumping through her veins taking her mind out of it's recollection. But then it faded, and her anger went with it. In its wake she was left with no closure, instead filled with ennui and confusion. She let go of the recently separated cloud and let it float out her window. With a sigh she tried to relax, wishing she could just fall through the bed and be sucked up by it. That way at least she could stop replaying the days events over and over in her head.
"And I say that I know more about my chances with Rarity than you do." Spike said as he stocked the shelves of the library. Twilight let out a snort and moved to pat Spike on the head. It was late in the day and the library closed in twenty minutes, so it was just the two of them left. All of the hustle of the day was gone, and the sibling taunting had taken it's place.
"Spike, I'm one of Rarity's best friends so I think I'd know if she had a crush on you. Gossip that juicy doesn't stay a secret between friends and especially when one of those friends is Rarity." Twilight said as she stocked the shelves a bit out of reach of her young assistant.
"Yeah, but that doesn't count when the gossip is about herself. Anyway, who made you the expert on love?" Spike said turning to face Twilight, his voice combative yet playful. "You know that I have to check the records on who takes out what, right? Because I also know that a certain somepony has taken out the Encyclopedia of Love: Third Edition, four times in the past month."
"Oh be quiet." Twilight said as she pushed Spike back to the shelf, blushing slightly. "I'm studying friendship so I figure I should at least look in to love as a scholar." Spike rolled his eyes and from Twilight's nervous eyes it was clear that neither party believed her. "Whatever, I at least know the subject matter from an academic standpoint. What do you have?"
"A beautiful unicorn who is totally into me." Replied Spike smugly as he went to fetch more books.
Twilight might have grumbled, but the bushes outside found the scene to be an absolute riot. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were concealed craftily in the bushes, hidden from the world but most importantly the librarians. From their view-point they could see the back of the library, home to children's literature, encyclopedias and the supply closet. Today that supply closet was home to Pinkie's newest contraption.
The quarters were pretty cramped in the bush, especially when you didn't want to be seen. Pinkie was so close to Dash that she could feel her breathing, but as Pinkie had pointed out it was necessary. Of course, there was another bush a bit too the left, but that one didn't have as great a view, and this was guaranteed to be a once in a lifetime sight. Twilight, with Pie all over her face. The best things in life...
Were simple. No way around it. Drama, sadness, tragedy, all complicated. Where was the philosophy behind flying fast? Where were the intricate details to spending a day with your friends? Things that were good didn't require decisions and all that other junk.
Simplicity. If there was one thing Pinkie Pie was, it was certainly not simple.
"So how much longer do you think we'll have to stay here?" Rainbow asked as she brushed a twig back out of her eyes.
"Oh don't tell me I'm boring you Dashie." Pinkie said in a mischievous whisper.To be honest that couldn't be farther from the truth. Even just sitting in silence, Rainbow was finding no signs of boredom. The eavesdropping was interesting when Twilight would walk by the window, and when Pinkie giggled quietly at Spike, for some reason it felt better than whatever Spike had said in the first place.
"Oh don't worry about that Pinkie. Your the type of hostess you can make even a bush fun."
"Oooh, bush party. I hadn't thought of that before." Pinkie mumbled, drifting off into thought. "That could work. Bigger bush obviously, but still. Anyway, don't worry. My knee is going to cramp when Twilight's about to be hit by a pie."
"Knee cramping, alright I'll keep an eye on that." As Rainbow settled down to wait for the inevitable pie impact, Twilight had came out with a small grey book. It looked older than all the other books at the library by a few hundred years. The grey cover was chipping, and the pages were yellow and fragile with age. The fact that Twilight was using telekinesis instead of her mouth was also probably intentional.
"Spike, is the display case wiped clean yet?" Twilight asked as she carefully levitated the tome.
"Yeah, just give me a minute to dry it off. I don't trust that book in an airtight vault, let alone a damp glass case." Spike said as he finished scrubbing the podium.
"Please Spike, this book has been around for two hundred years now. It might not look like it, but Its lived through at least three fires and countless attempts at censorship by various anti magic fanatics. If two centuries of earth pony extremists can't destroy the works of Starswirl the Bearded, than I think it can withstand our library."
"Ok, well you can tell that to the other 999 copies of the Starswirl collection who's ashes are floating around somewhere. I don't think our copy is any tougher than those oldies, and only about half of them were burned. The others just plain disintegrated."
"Yes, but our copy is a winner. Isn't that right?" She asked to the hovering book with the same affection a normal pony would give to a puppy. "That's right."
This time it was a miracle that nobody heard the bushes' snickers.
Everything was rattling around her head now, echoing and warping, coming back to her with more intensity than ever before.She just wanted to stop thinking about everything, to just shut her brain off. She wanted to scream, but her walls were to thin. Above all else, she just wanted to do today over again.
It was obvious, painfully obvious. Of course Spike would be the one to find the pie launcher, and obviously he would try it. And if Spike was the one to use it obviously the pie would fly right over his head. Anypony could have guessed where it would end up, right on the unicorn ten feet behind the closet. And from Rainbow's angle it all became clear an instant too late that it would hit the librarian right in her book.
The next part was even more apparent. There would be a gasp from the bush that would give the pranksters away in a second. But an even more piercing gasp, one of pain and surprise would come from within the library. Tears would fall, tempers would rise. Nopony would laugh and nopony would leave with a smile.
The only thing that wasn't obvious was why the fastest pegasus for miles watched it all unfold without being able to stop it.
Sleep was the last weapon Rainbow Dash had at her disposal. Tomorrow was a new day, and if everything else had gone wrong than at least she still had that. Maybe she could make things better with a cooler head, or wake up and find out it had all been a dream.
In the meantime though, all her struggle and anger was slowly draining away as she laid on her bed, blanket drawn. And for all her fight, the part of the day she wanted to think of the least just kept jumping to her head. Her yelling at Pinkie, Twilight crying, Spike pacing in confusion. But most of all she just couldn't stop thinking about how it had all happened.
"Hey Twilight, what's with this jack in the box?" Spike asked as he slowly appraised it. Rainbow knew it was only seconds now and her heart started racing. She was close enough to Pinkie to realize that she wasn't alone. She turned to Pinkie with a smile that could have rivaled Pinkie's trademarked grin. But Pinkie was already looking at her, her face more nervous than gleeful.
Then, she closed her eyes and leaned forward in a quick lunge. Surprise wasn't a big enough word to express what Rainbow was feeling. All she was able to do was let out a muffled "eep" as Pinkie kissed her.
It ended as quickly as it began, as Pinkie pulled back with a hesitant look on her eyes, looking right at Rainbow. But before Rainbow could think, let alone speak a pie was launched that quickly took precedence. The last thing Rainbow saw before Twilight started to cry was a very confused Pinkie. Confused, with a hint of fear hiding behind her worried blue eyes.
It had been hours now, and it had never left her mind. Worse, she still had no idea what had happened, or what to do as she drifted too sleep.