//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Why Me?! // by Sapphire Harmony //------------------------------// “WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!!!!” Pinkie yelled into Rainbow Dash’s ear as the prismatic pony was sleeping in her rightful throne. “AHHH!” Dash shot up, “What the hay?!” Pinkie giggled. “Sorry, Dashie! But I wanted to talk to you about a very important thing about a very important day to so we can celebrate that very important day with all the very important ponies in your very important life!” Dash gave the pink party pony a confused look. Pinkie giggled once again. “Your birthday party silly!” Dash rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof. “Oh yeah, that thing. Look, Pinkie, you don’t have to do anything way special. You threw me the best birthday party last year, there’s no way you could top that!” Pinkie laughed as if she was told the funniest joke in Equestria. “That’s funny, Dashie! Since when do I NOT top my last party?! You should know me better by now!” Dash rolled her eyes as she finally sat up. “Fine, so what do you have planned?” “You have to follow me on that one! I can’t tell you, but you’re going to LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!” Dash thought of what her best friend meant, but shrugged it off and followed Pinkie. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two ponies went inside Sweet Apple Acres, where they saw the rest of their beloved friends. “Hey girls, what’s going on?” Rarity walked over to Dash as she began explaining the reason they were all gathered here. “Well, you see, darling. I explained to the girls about what happened the last time you were with the Wonderbolts.” Dash folded her ears back as she recalled that moment just a month before. Yes, she was proven innocent and forgave the Wonderbolts, but it still stung her that they thought she sent the captain to a dangerous part of Equestria just so she could fly with them for one show. Her thoughts were interrupted as Twilight spoke up. “And knowing you probably want to start over with some of the Wonderbolts, We got you VIP tickets to the Manehatten show!” Dash’s eyes beamed up as she heard the news. “Wait, VIP tickets? To Manehatten?!” Applejack smiled as she answered her friend. “You better believe it! And we’re going to!” Dash was even more excited than before, if that’s even possible. “But the Manehatten show is one of their biggest and most expensive shows, how’d you get SIX tickets?” “The Wonderbolts thought they owed you an apology for the whole incident, so they invited all of us to see the show and talk with them afterwards.” Fluttershy said. Dash then pulled them all in a hug. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” They all laughed as they all shared a group hug. This was going to be awesome! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Mane 6 were all at the train station with their bags packed and tickets secured. As Dash looked in the direction from where the train would be arriving from, she began to think about the events regarding that night of the show, that she never spoke of to anyone. "Soarin, I thought you trusted me! Why did you accuse me like that? Did you honestly think I would do that?!" yelled Dash. She and Soarin were in her room, arguing about the incident that happened just this afternoon. "What was I supposed to believe, Dash? I didn't want to think that you did it, but you were the only pony I could think of that could've done this! And I wasn't the only one you know!" Dash rolled her eyes at Soarin. "So you automatically assume I would've sent Spitfire away just to fly with you guys? Do you not hear how ridiculous that sounds?" "I know it's ridiculous but anypony can just do something crazy like that!"  "But we're best friends, Soarin! BEST FRIENDS! Do you know what that means? It means you defend me and I defend you!" "Then I guess we're not best friends!" "Fine!" "Fine!" Dash cringed at that moment, the last thing she ever said to Soarin. Rarity looked over at Dash as her best friend had a worried face. "Rainbow darling, are you okay? You seem to be unhappy about something." Dash looked over at Rarity. "I'm fine, I was just thinking."  Rarity looked confused as Dash answered. "About what?" Dash sighed before she answered. "Soarin and I got into a huge fight the night of the show. Now that I'm thinking about it, I realize he'll want to talk to me." "Then the ship isn't having a smooth sail." Rarity said, shaking her head. Dash perked her head up and stared at her fashionista friend. "Wait, WHAT?!" Rarity scoffed and waved her hoof in the air. "It's so obvious you two have chemistry! You didn't flip out on any other pony who accused you." "Well it's different." "How so? Because you like like him?" "Uh...." Rarity stared Dash square in the eyes. "Yes????" "So what if I do?" Dash said, only to the volume where Rarity could hear it. Rarity then squealed in delight. "I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Dash covered Rarity's mouth. "Shush! Don't tell anyone! It's bad enough that I told you!" Rarity removed her cyan friend's hoof as the train began to approach. "Fine, but you MUST give me details while we are on the train!" "Fine..."