//------------------------------// // Part One // Story: Some Hugs Last Longer than Others // by HoofBitingActionOverload //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash sped down a Ponyville street, just barely ducking beneath an explosion of giggles and confetti. Pink fluff fireworks burst-scattered like exploding popcorn cotton candy over her head. But Rainbow Dash was already far and away. She couldn’t be caught. She was as fast as a racing lightning bolt. She was as nimble as a creeping crocodile. She was as agile as a c— Well, not a cat, because cats were boring and mean and didn’t know any tricks and weren’t good at anything but kicking their water bowls over and spilling cat spit-laced water all over the stairs. Rainbow Dash had babysat a gaggle of cats for Fluttershy once. It was stupid. Dash didn’t babysit animals for Fluttershy anymore, not after what those cats did to her signed bathroom Wonderbolts floor rug. She’d never managed to wash out the smell of roasted coffee beans. Dash was as agile as some animal that was cooler than a cat, like maybe a tiger. Were tigers agile? If they were, Rainbow Dash was as agile as one of those. It was thanks to this possibly-tiger-like agility, and also her hyper-situational awareness (she was as situationally aware as, like, some kind of bird, probably, except Dash sort of was some kind of bird, so as situationally aware as herself), that when another giggly pink blur rushed out of the bush on the side of the path Dash easily dove away and jumped into the air and out of reach. Dash hovered overhead and smirked down at the pony on the ground, trying not to look out of breath. “Nice try, Pinkie.” “Thanks!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing a little. “I really thought I had you that time, but you’re really, really fast. You were just, like, whoosh! And then you were gone!” She jumped again, just beneath Rainbow Dash. “Yup, sounds about right,” Dash said. She and Pinkie Pie had been playing a game all afternoon. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what the rules were, because Pinkie had never told her any of the rules. It started when Dash had walked out of the Ponyville weather office and Pinkie had jumped at her from around the corner of the building, and then Dash had jumped away, and then they kept doing that for a while. Oh, and they took a break once to eat lunch at Sugarcube Corner together, and the Cakes gave them free food and a table to themselves and kept smiling at them and then smiling at each other like they knew something Dash didn’t. And Dash and Pinkie had taken another break at Sweet Apple Acres to replace a few of Applejack’s buckets of apples with pineapples, but Dash was pretty sure that was a separate game. This game seemed to be all about Pinkie trying to hug-tackle her. Like a game of keep away, except instead of a ball, Dash was just trying to keep herself out of Pinkie’s hooves. Or it might have been something else. The game could just as well have have been about Pinkie trying to rub her down with body paint, and Dash might have been unknowingly, but deftly, avoiding getting turned purple all afternoon. It was hard to tell with Pinkie sometimes. Whatever the rules, Rainbow Dash was certain of one thing—she had won. Dash yawned and stretched in midair to show how still totally not out of breath she was. “That was fun, Pinkie, but I think I’m gonna turn in now.” “Aw,” Pinkie whined, and jumped again, mouth open. Her teeth closed down around the very tip of Dash’s tail. “Ow! Stop that!” Dash shook Pinkie off and flew a little higher. Pinkie lay on her back and pouted. “But you can’t quit now. I haven’t gotten to hug you yet.” “I don’t know,” Dash said. “I’m pretty sure I have a date with that cloud over there right about now.” “Ooo!” Pinkie oo’ed. “Are you taking it out to lunch? Could I come? I’m kind of hungry. Oh! We could make strawberry sundaes! I could bring this bush and then it would even be a double date! I was lying in him for, like, ten whole minutes while I was waiting for you, so I think we know each other pretty well now, and he’d probably appreciate a date. Between you and me, I don’t think he gets asked out on very many dates. Probably because he’s a bush.” “I’m not taking the cloud out to eat,” Dash said. “I’m going to sleep on top of it.” “On the first date?” Pinkie scrunched her face up. “Don’t you think you’re selling yourself a little short? I mean, that cloud isn’t that cute, and you should at least wait and see what kind of prospects it has before you start doing cooperative physical tongue twisters. At least, that’s what Rarity says. By the way, I make a whole bunch of bits selling candy and cookies for the Cakes, probably way more than that cloud does just floating around all day. And candy and cookies aren’t even half of what we sell!” “It’s not a real date, Pinkie. I’m taking a nap.” “Oh, phew!” Pinkie melodramatically wiped at a nonexistent dribble of sweat off her forehead. “But you can’t do that yet, either! Not until I’ve hugged you at least once.” “I don’t know, I’m kind of tired.” Dash yawned again, big and loud, this time to show just how tired she felt. Like most everything else, she was very good at reactionary yawning. “I’m pretty sure I’m too tired for hugs.” “No way! That’s crazy! There’s no such thing as too tired for hugs. I hug Gummy all the time and he’s almost never tired. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen him sleep. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him close his eyes, and now I’m realizing that means I should probably take him to the vet. But not until after I hug you at least once!” “Hmm,” Dash hmmed, and mock-thoughtfully rubbed her chin. “Maybe just one…” “Pretty, pretty, pretty please?” “All right, I guess so, but make it quick,” Dash said, lowering herself down onto the ground. Pinkie leapt up onto her hooves and rushed towards her. “Wait!” Dash stopped her with a hoof, and Pinkie froze mid-rush. Rainbow Dash looked around to make sure they weren’t in sight of any other ponies. She didn’t see any. “All right, go ahead.” Pinkie Pie hesitated, which Pinkie almost never did, especially when it came to hugs, and extra especially when it came to hugs with Rainbow Dash. “Why does it matter if anypony sees?” “It doesn’t,” Dash said. And it didn’t. Rainbow Dash didn’t care if anyone saw. It was just all about being Rainbow Dash the right way. And public consensus agreed: getting caught hugging, snuggling, and cuddling with the local culinary talent was the wrong way to be Rainbow Dash. Which was a problem, because a certain local pastry chef was unbelievably good at hugging, snuggling, and cuddling. Pinkie Pie was the Rainbow Dash of hugging, snuggling, and cuddling. She could hug in ways that made grandmothers jealous, snuggle in ways that made puppies and kittens feel sorely inadequate, and cuddle in ways that made decent folk blush. Rainbow Dash used to occasionally let other ponies see them hug, snuggle, cuddle each other, but not anymore. The occasional group hug with her friends or a mandatory celebration hug was one thing, but Pinkie Pie was different. For some reason, ponies thought that because Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie hugged, snuggled, cuddled each other and went pranking together all the time and took naps together, and generally did a lot of cool and awesome things together, that Rainbow Dash liked Pinkie like that or something. That was obviously stupid because Rainbow Dash was way too cool for corny kissy things like marefriends and liking ponies. Marefriends had to go on dates to boring fancy restaurants and go on picnics and do nothing but talk about how pretty their marefriend’s eyes and mane were, and hold each other’s hooves, and pucker up their lips like doofus goldfish and then mash their faces together. It was all stupid. Way too stupid for a smart pony like Rainbow Dash. And that, along with it just being the wrong way to be Rainbow Dash, was why Dash checked to make sure no one was around before letting Pinkie Pie hug her. “Come on,” Dash told her after giving the all clear. “Just hurry up before somepony comes.” Pinkie Pie didn’t need to be told twice. She leapt forward and threw her hooves around Dash’s neck and withers, nearly knocked her to the ground. Rainbow Dash smiled and closed her eyes and hugged Pinkie back. Pinkie Pie felt warm and soft, like the fluffiest cloud in the sky on a sunny day. Afternoon cloud naps were the best naps (and Rainbow was something of an expert on napping). Falling into Pinkie’s hooves and chest and stomach felt like falling into the cottony tufts of a cloud warmed by the sun. The only significant difference being that Pinkie hummed and jittered and squeezed her back and smelled liked cookie dough, and clouds usually didn’t do any of that Pinkie Pie was a bouncing, blabbering, pink cloud, warm and sugary like a bakery’s kitchen, and nuzzled Dash’s cheek and squeezed her tight. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie hugged, snuggled, cuddled for a long time. Eventually, Dash decided it was time for the hug to end. The road wouldn’t stay empty forever. She tried to pull back. Pinkie Pie held on. Dash didn’t mind. She would have been insulted if Pinkie had let her go that easily. Rainbow Dash, while not nearly as good as Pinkie Pie, still considered herself an awfully good hugger, snuggler, cuddler. But, as the saying goes, all great hugs must come to an end eventually. “All right, Pinks,” Dash said, untangling her hooves from around Pinkie Pie and moving back. Pinkie Pie moved with her, her hooves firmly stuck to Dash’s neck and withers. “Gotcha’,” Pinkie said, her voice bubbling with nearly erupted laughter, a very familiar sort of bubbling to Rainbow. Rainbow Dash stepped back again, and Pinkie stepped with her again. “Pinkie, you can let go now.” Pinkie did not let go. She giggled, voice still bubbly with pent up laughter, and said, “I actually can’t.” Dash pushed at Pinkie’s legs, but they didn’t go anywhere. Pinkie held tight. “Pinkie, I said let go.” “And I said I can’t!” Pinkie gave Dash another squeeze. “Silly pony.” “What are you talking about? Just let go!” “I can’t!” “Why not?” “Because it’s a prank!” Pinkie cheered, and then the bubbling bubbles of her voice finally burst into an outright cathedral organ symphony of giggles and snorts. Dash recognized those gigglesnorts, though she hadn’t experienced them this intimately in a while. They were the same gigglesnorts Pinkie always let out after a successful prank. Rainbow Dash sighed. Pinkie could come up with the most delicious of pranks, like the time she had replaced all of the milk in Dash’s fridge with whipped cream. She could also come up with the lamest of pranks, like now. “You’re pranking me by hugging me and not letting go?” “No,” Pinkie said, voice still shaking with giggly aftershocks. “I’m pranking you by gluing myself to you.” Rainbow Dash then became aware of how stiflingly hot Pinkie’s body felt against her, how Pinkie Pie’s hooves pressed against her wings and held them closed, how Pinkie felt like a leaden but still kind of brilliantly soft and warm but mostly leaden weight stuck to her chest. “What?” “I hugged you and then glued myself to you,” Pinkie said again. “It’s weird that you couldn’t hear me the first time I said it, because my mouth is right next to your ear.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, and then another, and then another, and she felt her chest push against Pinkie. She shouldn’t panic. Panicking would be bad. If she panicked, somepony might hear and come look. She gently but insistently tried to push Pinkie away, but Pinkie stayed put. Dash took another deep breath, and another, and another, and Pinkie pressed down against her. “Dashie, are you okay? You’re breathing kind of funny like Fluttershy does whenever she talks to that cute stallion who runs the strawberry cart. And, like, gee whiz, when is that train gonna leave the station, am I right?” Rainbow Dash grunted and reared up onto her hind hooves and tried to throw Pinkie off. All she accomplished was losing her balance and falling over into the dirt with Pinkie on top of her. “What the hay, Pinkie!” Dash cried, scrabbling to her hooves. “Um, it’s a prank, duh,” Pinkie said, and laughed, the sound of it loud in Dash’s ears. “Well, great. Good work.” Dash spun spun in a circle, trying to see past Pinkie’s poofy mane and into the street. Thankfully still empty, but it couldn’t stay that way for long. “You’re great, blah blah, pranks are fun, blah blah, you got me. Okay? Just get off before somepony comes and sees us like this.” “Thanks!” Pinkie said, and did a little victory bounce that nearly tipped Dash over again. “But, um, I don’t think I can let go of you.” “Why not?” Dash asked, still swiveling back and forth to check both sides of the street, Pinkie Pie’s back legs swiveling through the air behind her. “Just unglue yourself.” “I don’t think that’s how glue works.” “What kind of glue did you use?” “That’s the coolest part!” Pinkie said, trying to bounce again but she only kicked her legs in the air instead. “Magic glue!” “What?” Dash felt warm, way, way too warm with Pinkie wrapped around her. “What does that even mean?” “Um, it’s glue that’s magic. Duh.” “Where did you even get magic glue?” “I found it,” Pinkie replied innocently. Rainbow Dash took another deep breath. The air felt hot in her throat and smelled saccharine like sugar. “Okay, whatever, how do we get rid of it?” “Um, I’m pretty sure the label said we just have to wait for it to wear off.” “And how long will that take?” “Hmm,” Pinkie hmmed, and kept on hmming for a long time after that while Rainbow Dash ground her teeth. “I think it said it would take a couple hours.” Rainbow tried to take another deep breath, but it exploded in her lungs when Pinkie decided to squeeze her. “Ugh, are you kidding me right now?” “Um, about which part?” Rainbow Dash just barely kept herself from shouting. “The part where you’re stuck hugging me for hours while we’re standing in the middle of the street and anyone can see us and I can’t even fly away because you’re stuck to my wings!” “Oh, that part?” Pinkie giggled again, horribly. “Nah, that part’s totally true. I’m stuck to you till the spell in the glue wears off.” “What the hay, Pinkie?” Dash shouted, spinning in a circle while trying to look Pinkie in the face so she could glare at her, but never catching more than Pinkie’s mane. Dash stopped spinning and settled for that, and glared at Pinkie’s mane as hard as she could. “Why would you do that?” “Um, prank?” “No,” Dash said, stamping her hoof in the dirt, kicking up a small cloud of dust. “Because pranks are fun, and this isn’t fun. This is just lame.” “I, uh, think it’s kind of fun,” Pinkie said, and her voice, even so close to Dash’s ear, started to sound quieter. “Well, you’re wrong, and it’s not.” Dash scanned the road again. Still empty. “Now get off before somepony comes or I’m going to buck you off.” Dash felt Pinkie shift on top of her, but the earth pony didn’t go anywhere. “I really can’t get off.” Rainbow Dash set her front hooves firmly on the ground, kicked her back legs into the air, and bucked with all her might.          Pinkie Pie stayed put. “Rainbow Dash,” she started, “do you—” “Quiet!” Dash whispered. She raised her head and looked down the road. Still a long ways off, but coming closer, she saw two ponies walking towards her. Rainbow Dash threw herself, and Pinkie, into the same bush Pinkie had burst out of earlier. It was scratchy and prickly, but she was pretty sure it was big enough to hide them both. “Dashie, this is—” “Be quiet,” Dash said, watching the two ponies come closer. They didn’t look like they suspected anything. “But, Rainb—” “Pinkie, I said shut up!” And, mercifully, Pinkie shut up. Rainbow Dash silently crouched in the bush, hardly breathing. The two ponies walked towards her bush. They paused just feet away from her, glanced at the bush, shrugged to each other, and then moved on. Dash let herself breathe again. While she waited for the two to get out of earshot, she sat and felt Pinkie’s soft warmth around her, felt Pinkie’s jittery heartbeat, felt the quick rise and fall of Pinkie’s chest with her breaths, and almost relaxed despite herself. She needed to think. Rainbow Dash was good at thinking. Relatively, at least. Obviously not as good as someone like Twilight, but she was pretty sure she was better at thinking than Rarity, and she was definitely better than Applejack. “Pinkie,” she started, trying to stay quiet. Those two ponies were still nearby. “Is it actually gonna take hours for this glue to wear off?” “Um,” Pinkie said. She seemed to have caught on that she had done something wrong, because her voice was quiet, too, a rarity for Pinkie unless she was in trouble or planning a surprise party. “I think so. I’m not sure.” That was probably as clear of an answer as Rainbow Dash was going to get. She contemplated sitting around in a bush with Pinkie all night long. It wasn’t the worst possible scenario, certainly better than getting caught hugging, snuggling, cuddling with Pinkie Pie. In the bush, she might even get to hug, snuggle, cuddle Pinkie anyway! But if she did get caught... Jeez, the way ponies would look at her after that! The things they would say, what they would think. There would be jokes, and she would be at the center of all the punchlines. She hated jokes sometimes. Sometimes she hated the way ponies laughed and talked about each other, too, hated thinking they might laugh and talk about her that way. Stupid ponies. Like it was any of their business what she did. Most of all, though, Dash was frustrated with Pinkie. Of all ponies, Pinkie Pie should have known, known what this could do to Rainbow Dash’s reputation, how important Dash’s reputation was. She should have understood what a terrible, horrible idea this was. Pinkie wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t mean, so why would she do something like this? She must have known. Pinkie couldn’t have hug, snuggle, cuddled with her for this long and not known how Dash felt about other ponies finding out. Pinkie had known and she did this stupid prank anyway. Actually, now that Dash thought about it, she didn’t really feel like being stuck in a bush with Pinkie Pie all night. She didn’t really feel like being stuck with Pinkie anywhere for any amount of time. “Where did you get this glue from?” Dash asked, still quiet. Pinkie shuffled awkwardly on top of her. “I don’t think I should tell you.” “I need to know so I can find some way to get rid of it,” Dash said. “So where did you get it?” “Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anypony.” Rainbow Dash kept silent. Pinkie cleared her throat. “I found it in Twilight’s castle, and then I took it. And I didn’t ask, and Twilight didn’t know, and I don’t think I was allowed to take it, because Twilight kind of sort of told me no when I asked. I’m sorry.” One of Twilight’s egghead experiments then. Twilight had warned Pinkie away from those often enough in the past. She would probably be even more upset with Pinkie than Dash was. There was a silver lining here. If Twilight made the glue, she would know how to fix this. The problem would be in finding Twilight. With luck, she would be cooped up in her castle’s library, as per usual. But Rainbow Dash was a long ways away from the castle, and getting all the way there without being seen wouldn’t be easy. Better than sitting around doing nothing, though. “All right,” Dash said, louder now that she was certain there weren’t any ponies near enough to hear. “This is what’s going to happen. We’re going to find Twilight. She’ll probably be at the castle, so that’s where we’re going. You’re not going to let me be seen like this, and you’re not going to screw things up and get us caught, and you’re not going to say anything or make any noise at all until we find Twilight.” “Can I ask you something first?” Pinkie asked, voice still quiet. “What?” Dash scanned the street, impatient to be off before they lost their opening. “Rainbow Dash…” Pinkie hesitated, sucked in her breath. “Do you like me?” “No, Pinkie,” Dash said. “I think you did something really lame, and I think you did it on purpose, and I don’t like you very much at all right now.” Pinkie slumped down against her after that, seemed to deflate, but she didn’t say anything else. Rainbow Dash swung Pinkie around so that she was more on top of her than in front of her, and then checked to make sure no one was around. All clear. She sprinted out of the bush and dove behind a nearby crate. She hadn’t traveled more than a couple feet, and the castle was on the other side of town. It was going to be a long trip.