> Spook For Yourself
>  by Brass Polish
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 Groundhog
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Of all the strange surprises to await Vinyl Scratch upon waking up after a night of blasting tunes and downing drinks, finding a hole in her floor had to be one of the worst. She always has to hide some kind of mess while Octavia is away in Canterlot filling in for the symphony’s first chair cellist, but covering up a missing chunk of wooden floorboards would be difficult and costly. Needless to say, Vinyl wasn’t in a good mood today.

“Hey Fluttershy, look what I fished outta Vinyl Scratch’s place,” Crosspatch called through an open cottage window.
Fluttershy looked at the animal riding on Crosspatch’s back.
“Oh, my. This groundhog looks like he only just became an adult,” she remarked. “How did you end up in Vinyl’s house, little guy?”
Crosspatch envied Fluttershy for being fluent in other animals’ languages. All she could do was listen to her squeaking passenger’s incomprehensible explanation.
“So, what’s his excuse?” she asked when the young groundhog was done.
“He says he left his family two days ago, found a sweetheart yesterday and tried to dig a den for the two of them this morning,” said Fluttershy. “It was his first time doing it and he his sense of direction isn’t quite in tune yet.”
“That’s for sure,” Crosspatch grinned. “I don’t think he and his sweetheart would like to live with a DJ.”
The young groundhog started squeaking again.
“He says his girlfriend likes it just fine. Apparently, she doesn’t mind loud noises as long as she can live somewhere with a view of the pond,” Fluttershy translated.
“So he started close to the pond, eh?” asked Crosspatch. “I hope he didn’t dig too close. The tide rises at night and their new hovel might get flooded.”
Fluttershy caught the worried look on the young groundhog’s face and knew that he had done just that.

Fluttershy went to inspect the spot where the young groundhog had started digging and sure enough, it was too close to the pond’s shore to be safe during the night tides.
“You’ll have to start again, little guy,” she said bluntly to the young groundhog, who squeaked an exasperated response.
Evening was just over an hour away now. When Princess Luna raised the moon, it would surely raise the water level and flood the freshly made den.

Enter Rainbow Dash and her weather crew.
“Well, it’s not like making it cloudy all over Ponyville goes against the schedule or nothing,” Rainbow Dash said hesitantly when Fluttershy had made her request, “but it’ll be pretty hard to mesh a buncha clouds together without making it rain.”
“Oh, I see,” Fluttershy looked down at her hooves.
“But we’ll give it a try,” Rainbow Dash said confidently. “Right, team?”
Derpy, High Note, Cloud Chaser and Cloud Kicker agreed and immediately set off into the sky to collect some clouds.
“We can get rid of them in the morning, right?” Rainbow Dash asked Fluttershy for clarification on the plan before setting off herself.
“Definitely,” Fluttershy nodded. “I just need the moon to be hidden so it doesn’t make the pond’s tide rise. Then my little groundhog friend can make a fresh start on digging his new home first thing in the morning.”
“Got it,” Rainbow Dash winked and took off.

Vinyl Scratch was on her way from Hay’s Hardware carrying timber for repairing her floor when she found she was having trouble seeing. She took her shades off and looked up.
“It can’t be night yet,” she said. “Why’s the sky so dark?”
She spotted Rainbow Dash shoving a cluster of clouds together. She cast her loudening spell on her own voice.
“Hey!! Dash!!”
“Kinda busy here!” Rainbow Dash called back. “And you might wanna keep it down!”
Rainbow pointed, and Vinyl spotted Fluttershy wincing close by.
“Oh, it’s the fragile one,” Vinyl cancelled her volume spell.
Fluttershy picked up the thin, steel poles she dropped in her fright.
“It’s not supposed to snow tonight or something, is it?” asked Vinyl Scratch. “Are those poles for marking out the paths?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “That groundhog who tunnelled into your house today needs the moon to be hidden so his den doesn’t…”
“Could ya speak up?!” asked Vinyl loudly, digging her hoof into one of her ears.
Rainbow Dash looked down in annoyance.
“You wouldn’t have so much trouble hearing if you didn’t stretch your eardrums from here to Canterlot with your blaring music!” she called from above.
“If I didn’t play it as loud as it can go, everypony at the rave would complain!” Vinyl yelled back, this time not using her loudening spell.

Vinyl held her ears open as Fluttershy explained about the flood risk.
“I’m helping the groundhog map out his new den with these melon-scented poles,” she finished.
Vinyl Scratch scowled. “Why don’t you just take him and his sweetheart in?”
“The only animal I’ve taken in as a permanent houseguest is Angel Bunny,” Fluttershy replied. “I’ve never kept an animal in my house for longer than it needed. This groundhog is a perfectly fine digger. He just took a wrong turn, that’s all.”
“Maybe you could get him to dig into a burger joint so he can make some money to pay for my floor,” Vinyl Scratch groaned.
“He told me he’s apologized to you a few times when you found him,” said Fluttershy.
“I couldn’t understand his annoying squealing!” spluttered Vinyl. “I don’t have some kinda freaky supernatural ability to understand animals.”
Rainbow Dash snorted and yelled to Vinyl Scratch from the cloudy sky.
“Don’t make fun of my friend’s special talent!” she ordered. “I don’t care if you are an honourary member of Ponyville’s Royal Taskforce. Me and her are legitimate taskforce members. So watch yourself!”
“Bah! I better get outta here before your best buddy makes her thunderclouds chase me,” Vinyl rolled her eyes and turned away from Fluttershy. “Have fun making your little rat friend’s life easy for him.”

Fluttershy frowned as she watched Vinyl Scratch leave with her lumber.
“I’m not making his life easy for him,” she insisted quietly. “I’m just giving him a chance to start over. He deserves a chance to prove that he’s grown up. Every creature does.”
Rainbow Dash’s keen ears easily picked this up. She and her weather crew had been careful to keep the clouds from combining and causing a storm. Now Rainbow herself was more likely to fire lightning than the clouds.
“That little twerp,” she grumbled. “How does she not know how sensitive Fluttershy is? I thought everypony in town knew by now.”
She watched as Fluttershy carried on with her melon-scented poles.
“You OK, Fluttershy?” Rainbow called.
“Oh. Sure,” replied Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t convinced. She was certain that Fluttershy was really hurt.
“I’ll get Vinyl for that,” she growled as she went about her work.

Soon, Ponyville was shielded from the sky, which was quickly turning dark purple. Of course, it was hard to tell due to the layer of clouds. Rainbow Dash was inspecting the weather crew’s handiwork.
“Great. This’ll definitely keep the tide from going up,” she said. “Good job, guys. Let’s call it a day, huh?”
“Sure. See you tomorrow,” High Note replied.
“Yeah. See ya,” answered Cloud Kicker.
Rainbow watched as his coworkers descended down towards Ponyville.
“Wait. Where’s Derpy?” she asked.
She looked around. She knew Derpy had been helping with this last minute job, but she hadn’t seen her since they’d started.
“Derpy?!”
No reply. All Rainbow Dash could hear was a train whistle coming from Ponyville station.
“Where’d ya go, Derpy?!” Rainbow shouted.
“I’m over here!” Derpy’s voice replied.
Rainbow Dash followed the sound. “Where?!”
“I’m above the clouds!” answered Derpy’s voice.
Rainbow Dash groaned. “You’re on the wrong side of the cover!”
“I know! I can’t find my way around all these clouds!” called Derpy.
“Just body slam them!” Rainbow suggested.
“Oh. OK!” Derpy responded.

Rainbow Dash descended a little bit as she didn’t know exactly where Derpy would be colliding with the blanket of clouds.
Poof!
Derpy came pelting through Ponyville’s cover. A tiny bit of moonlight shone through the Derpy-shaped hole. Rainbow Dash flew to the hole and repaired it easily. Derpy hovered close by, shaking her head to recover from the light but firm impact.
“Problem solved,” Rainbow Dash patted the covered hole in the clouds.
“Great,” smiled Derpy. “See you later, Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah. See ya,” Rainbow waved as she and Derpy parted ways.
They didn’t get too far before they heard a terrified scream coming from below.
“What’s that?!” cried Derpy.
“Come on!” Rainbow ordered.
The two pegasi dived down to see what the trouble was.

They found Octavia lying on the ground shivering and covering her eyes with her hooves. They saw her cello case was lying next to her as they approached.
“What is it?!” asked Rainbow Dash. “What’s going on?!”
Octavia looked up and pointed.
“It’s a ghost!” she whimpered.
Rainbow Dash and Derpy looked. There, hovering next to a tree outside a shop, was a fluffy, white pony.
“That’s not a ghost, Octavia,” chuckled Derpy. “That’s I piece of cloud I punched out of the sky.”
Octavia watched as Derpy flew next to the floating, white pony and took hold of it so they could compare size and shape.
“Oh,” Octavia blushed and stood up. “I’m awfully sorry. I saw it go right through one of those tree branches and thought it had to be a ghost.”
Rainbow Dash picked up Octavia’s cello case.
“Just get back from your gig in Canterlot?” she asked
“Yes,” Octavia nodded. “In fact, that’s where I heard the ghost story that’s made me so nervous.”
“What ghost story?” inquired Rainbow.
“It’s about the spirit of an earth pony who roams Equestria looking for a horn to steal from a unicorn,” Octavia said.
“Well what are you worried about?” Derpy giggled. “You’re not a unicorn. You’re safe.”
“That doesn’t make ghosts any less terrifying, thank you,” Octavia frowned.

Rainbow Dash looked at the stamped out cloud that Octavia had mistaken for a ghost. Derpy had body-slammed the overcast on her side, so the white, fluffy copy had no wings. If Octavia wasn’t nervous before, she certainly was when a devilish grin crept across Rainbow’s face.
“Please, Rainbow. Don’t you know I often go through this sort of thing?” frowned Octavia. “Vinyl Scratch is always making me jump with her loudening magic. At least once a week, I get a fright from something as simple as a door handle.”
This only intensified Rainbow Dash’s grin.
“Well then, wanna get some payback?” she asked.
“Payback?” Octavia repeated. “Oh, I don’t know.”
“You just said Vinyl’s always scaring you. Why not prank her back?” insisted Rainbow Dash.
“Well, she hasn’t played a trick on me lately,” reasoned Octavia.
Derpy chuckled. “That’s because you’ve been out of town.”
Octavia considered. “Well, it’s not just her volume spell that gets me. It’s also things like sneaking hot sauce in my food and not telling me when something about the house needs to be seen to.”
“So?” Rainbow Dash pressed.
“Alright,” Octavia smirked. “You’re the authority on pranks in this town, so what would you suggest?”
> 2 Octavia's Tale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Vinyl Scratch was useless when it came to repairing things. Barely a month went by when she woke up to find she or a party guest had damaged something, and her efforts to hide the damage before Octavia found out were nearly always futile. It seemed she would never learn that duct tape is a dead giveaway. As for this hole in the floor, Vinyl was having a terrible time with the measurements, and she found sawing difficult to do with magic. She’d just given up and decided to use her hooves to saw the wood manually when she heard the familiar heavy hoofsteps that could only come from somepony carrying something heavy.
“Aw, fudge monsters. She’s back,” Vinyl groaned.
In the seconds she had before Octavia entered the room, she threw a pillow over the hole and kicked her planks of wood against the wall.

For the first time since they’d moved in together, Octavia didn’t call Vinyl out on a hidden problem within a minute of returning home.
“How’s it hanging, Tavi?” Vinyl asked, as if prompting her roommate to point out the obvious problem in their house.
Octavia didn’t answer right away. She just gazed at Vinyl Scratch for a moment before rushing over and hugging her.
“Vinyl,” she said, a quiver in her voice, “I’ve been so worried about you.”
“Uh…”
Octavia pulled back, her cello case sliding off her back. “I’ve heard a dreadful story in Canterlot. The triangle player in the royal symphony has gone through a dreadful ordeal.”
“Did he realize he bangs a bent metal rod for a living?” Vinyl sniffed.
“No, no,” Octavia shook her head. “He’s seen a ghost.”
“A ghost?” repeated Vinyl Scratch. “Cool.”
Octavia grasped Vinyl’s shoulders. “It isn’t cool, Vinyl. It nearly had his horn!”
“Wha?”

Octavia sat on the floor in front of Vinyl Scratch; too close to the hole in the floor for the DJ’s liking.
“There was a student at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” Octavia explained.
Vinyl Scratch took a seat as well.
“She was a top drawer student and an adroit magician,” Octavia went on. “But she…”
“Wait. And android magician?” asked Vinyl, tilting her head.
Octavia sighed. “No, no. Adroit. It means skilled and capable.”
“Oh. OK. So what was the problem?”
“There was a terrible accident with a potion,” Octavia explained. “Mixing potions was the only subject she struggled with. One day, she was mixing a potion on her down time to try and make it right after failing the first time. But she didn’t manage to do it correctly this time. In fact, she made an even worse mistake.”
Octavia gulped, and pressed on.
“Her brew gave off poisonous fumes. It made her horn hurt. She managed to dispose of her muddled up potion before its fumes could harm anyone else. But her horn was in utter agony when she tried to use magic.”
“So what did she do?” asked Vinyl.
“The school’s doctors discovered that she’d gotten an illness that would soon spread from her horn and cause her whole body pain unless… unless…” Octavia shuddered, clearly having trouble with the subject.
Vinyl Scratch caught on and her eye’s widened so much, Octavia could see them from behind her shades.
“Did she have to have her horn surgically removed?!” she gasped.
Octavia nodded.
“Whoa! That’s a bummer,” Vinyl rubbed her foreleg. “I mean, horns aren’t legally allowed to be transplanted. There’s no way she could find a donor.”
“That didn’t stop her from looking,” Octavia told her.
Vinyl Scratch gave her head a shake. “Wha?”
“It is widely believed that after the procedure to remove her infected horn, the magic potential in her refused to lie dormant,” said Octavia. “It welled up inside her until her final days, and allowed her to leave an imprint behind after her funeral. And from then on, she’s been roaming Equestria looking for a unicorn whose horn she could harvest. And it’s that very ghost my colleague swears he narrowly escaped.”
“So you were worried that I might’ve had my horn snatched by that ghost?” Vinyl asked with a grin. “I’m real touched, Octy.”

Vinyl Scratch gave Octavia a friendly noogie. As the cellist pulled back, she accidentally kicked the pillow aside. She looked down and goggled at what she’d uncovered.
“Vinyl, why is there a hole in the floor?!” she demanded.
“It was a stupid groundhog,” Vinyl Scratch growled. “I swear. Ask that softy, Fluttershy. It tried to dig its first den and ended up in ours.”
Octavia nodded. She had heard this story already from Rainbow Dash and Derpy, who were lying in wait outside, but she let Vinyl give her explanation for the sake of carrying on with the plan.
“So it’s not your fault for a change?” Octavia asked. “Congratulations.”
“Whatever,” groaned Vinyl Scratch. “Anyway, the groundhog whisperer asked the weather team to cover the sky with clouds so the moon wouldn’t raise the tide and flood this dumb den.”
“Lucky for us,” Octavia remarked.
“Huh?”
“If water got into this tunnel,” Octavia pointed to the hole in the floor, “it would have gotten into our house as well.”
“Oh, snap! You’re right,” Vinyl Scratch jumped. “Huh. I hope those clouds are enough to keep the tide from rising.”
“Oh, I’m sure they are,” said Octavia. “But if you’re feeling nervous…”
“Yeah, I’m more nervous than when you told me that bogus ghost story,” nodded Vinyl Scratch.
“Perhaps you’ll settle down if you looked to see if you can see any moonlight,” Octavia suggested.

Rainbow Dash was outside the house with her ear pressed against the door.
Groundhog whisperer? she thought bitterly. I’m so glad Octavia agreed to this. This’ll teach you to cheek Fluttershy.
Now that she’d heard the cue from Octavia, she waved to Derpy, who was waiting on the other side of the house. Derpy waved back with an excited smirk, and the two pegasi began flapping their wings while remaining standing on the ground. Their aim was directed at the Derpy-shaped cloud they’d brought with them. They’d let it hover just above the window that was facing the direction of the pond. Now they were propelling it towards the window just as it opened.

Vinyl Scratch hadn’t even gotten a glance at the cloudy night sky before she was compelled to step away from the open window by the sight of a ghostly shape floating towards her.
“What is that?!” she exclaimed.
Octavia feigned fear. “It’s the ghost!”
Rainbow Dash and Derpy managed to stifle their laughter as they wafted their cloud imprint into the house, but something happened that neither they nor Octavia had anticipated. Vinyl’s shock subsided as she felt a draft enter the house through the window. She quickly suspected that someone was blowing a prop in her face. She lit her horn to try and catch out any silent pranksters outside with her loudening spell. That was when the ghostly prop passed right through her. Her pupils shrank. Her jaw dropped. Her horn was still glowing.

If Luna had still been living on the moon, she would have had to cover her ears from Vinyl Scratch’s magically magnified scream of terror. The whole of the sleeping community of Equestria was at the very least disturbed by this screech. As for the citizens of Ponyville, not one head was resting peacefully on a pillow. All over town, ponies were jumping out of their beds as if mouse traps had snapped on their ears. The first sight that greeted their eyes upon walking up was shattered glass bursting into their rooms. Windows, mirrors, drinking glasses and spectacle lenses were breaking in every home, plant and office. There was an understandable amount of panic and pain going around, but for four ponies in particular, it was perhaps the worst experience of their lives. Rainbow Dash and Derpy had been shoved into an outside wall of another house by this gale-force noise. Octavia had perhaps the full front of the impact. She felt as though someone was shoving her against the wall with a bed mattress. She couldn’t move or even see. All she could do was hear the scream that was clawing into her ears. And as for Vinyl Scratch, her fright at seeing a real ghost which caused her to lose control of her loudening spell was replaced by panic at the violently shaking room she was standing in. This ordeal lasted a good seven seconds, and had done an hour’s worth of damage.

Every single Ponyville citizen had a pair of ringing ears. There were shards of glass virtually everywhere, making mobility extremely difficult. Conversation would be near impossible. But there was hope for communication yet. Twilight and Spike were well on the case. With his thick hide, Spike was able to walk around without being injured by the broken glass. He had soon cleared a path for Twilight, who had to avoid flying for the time being so that she didn’t blow the glass shards around. The first thing she did was light the code red lamps around town, and then she sent a message of glowing purple letters in the sky, which could easily be read against the dark clouds. Then when she could safely get to her desk, she wrote a message to Princess Luna requesting immediate medical and janitorial help. After much gesturing, Spike had sent the note on to Canterlot and Twilight flew out of Ponyville Castle to survey the whole of the damage. High above, her bright, violet message read “Please remain where you are and wait for help to arrive.” It would be a long night for Twilight, who manoeuvred around town checking up on each pony and providing assistance. Spike was also in for a great deal of toil as he wandered across Ponyville with his dustpan and brush.

Princess Luna soon arrived along with a team of medical and janitorial ponies. Slowly but surely, the buildings were cleared of all fragments of broken windows and mirrors, and ponies were being treated for ear trauma. Ponyville Hospital was the first building to have all of its glass shards removed, and as most of the staff had been victimized, a group of volunteers led by Zecora took over the building bringing medicine and instruments from their homes to see to the patients. Gradually, ponies were leaving the hospital with their hearing fully restored. There was little doubt what the source of the “scream heard across Equestria”, as it had been dubbed, was. Many had identified the voice they’d heard as Vinyl Scratch’s, and it wasn’t a little known fact that her magical talent was making things louder. Vinyl herself was in no condition to divulge any details as she was one of the four ponies whose treatment was taking a long time. The other three were Octavia, Derpy, and Rainbow Dash. From this information, Twilight had supposed that Vinyl Scratch’s scream was prompted by a prank spearheaded by Rainbow. For now, she would have to wait to get any definite answers.

About a week after that annoying night, Twilight was flying above Ponyville looking around. Most of the square holes in the town’s buildings had been refilled with fresh windows. Ponies were out and about, and chatter could be hard amongst them. Everyone was talking a little louder than normal, but it appeared as though no one was entirely deaf. Twilight spotted Bon Bon and Twist leaving Sugarcube Corner. Twist was wearing a new pair of glasses. Bon Bon was carrying an ice cream sundae in a tall soda glass.
“Well, it looks like things are getting better,” Twilight sighed.
At that moment, she saw Rainbow Dash and Derpy flying towards her.
“Oh. You’re out of the hospital,” she remarked.
“Hey, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash. “I have an apology to make.”
“What’s that?” asked Twilight, sure that her guess had been correct.
“It’s my fault Vinyl Scratch screamed and lost control of her magic,” Rainbow Dash confessed. “I came up with a dumb idea to scare her with a fake ghost made outta cloud.”
“I was involved too,” put in Derpy. “I’m the one who made that imprint because I got stuck above the cloud cover that night.”
“And we found out Octavia heard a spooky story in Canterlot that was perfect for the set up,” finished Rainbow. “So we made Vinyl think a ghost was after her horn.”

Twilight nodded and looked at the two pegasi’s apologetic faces.
“To be honest, I never would have expected this much damage to come out of a random need to prank somepony,” she said.
“Well, it wasn’t really random,” ventured Rainbow. “I was hoping for a chance to get even with Vinyl Scratch for what she said to Fluttershy.”
“Oh? What’s this about?” inquired Twilight.
“Well, after that groundhog made that hole in her floor, Vinyl was talking down to Fluttershy for babying it,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I see,” said Twilight. “And did Fluttershy take it really hard?”
“Well, yeah,” Rainbow answered. “How could she not?”
“Well, what was Fluttershy like after Vinyl insulted her?” asked Twilight.
“How do you think? She was really upset,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I’ll bet she was,” Twilight nodded. “But one question. Are you absolutely certain?”
Rainbow Dash was taken aback. “Maybe my hearing isn’t quite back to normal. Could ya ask me that again?”
“Are you absolutely certain that Fluttershy was really upset about what Vinyl Scratch said to her?” repeated Twilight.
“Yes!” said Rainbow Dash. “Come one, Twilight. You know Fluttershy.”
“Uh, huh. And you do too, right?” asked Twilight.
“Heck, yeah!” nodded Rainbow. “Hey, me and her grew up in Cloudsdale together. I guess you could say we’re lifelong friends. So yeah, I know her really well.”

Twilight rubbed her chin. She had a slight smile on her face.
“Um…” Derpy had been hoping to get a word in for a few minutes now. “Would it be alright if me and Rainbow went home? We kinda wanna see what’s happened to our houses.”
“You go ahead, Derpy,” said Twilight. “Rainbow, I want you to do something before you go back to your house.”
“What’s that?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“I want you to go back to the hospital and visit Vinyl Scratch,” said Twilight. “Right away.”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “You want me to apologize to her?”
“When you get to her room,” Twilight answered, “you can decide what you want to do from there.”
Before Rainbow Dash could reply, Twilight turned around and flew away.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t too thrilled about returning to the hospital after spending a week in the ear trauma ward.
“Does Twilight expect me to feel sorry for Vinyl when I see her?” she wondered.
The first pony Rainbow met was Nurse Redheart, who had recovered from her own hearing problems and was now back at work.
“Princess Twilight wants me to visit Vinyl Scratch,” said Rainbow Dash.
Nurse Redheart nodded and stood aside. “Room 426. She has another visitor there right now, and her hearing’s completely back to normal. So knock first.”
“Gotcha,” Rainbow Dash replied as she made her way to the stairwell.

Rainbow Dash supposed Pinkie Pie or Neon Lights might be visiting Vinyl Scratch, but when she got to the right door, she heard a voice coming from the other side that sounded familiar. But it was hard to pinpoint because Rainbow had never heard that voice sound quite this forceful before.
“Let’s see if you can repeat anything I’m saying!” the voice’s owner said before clearing her throat and continuing. “I have spent the last week tending to deafened animals!”
“I have spent the last week pretending to defend anime!” Vinyl Scratch’s voice attempted to echo.
“Uh, close!” said the first voice. “And please remember, you don’t need to raise your voice for me! My hearing is just fine!”
“Right. Sorry,” said Vinyl’s voice calmly.

Rainbow Dash knocked, wanting to see for herself if the visitor was who she thought it was.
“Someone just knocked!”
“Oh. Enter!” Vinyl called.
Rainbow Dash opened the door and there was Fluttershy standing at the foot of Vinyl Scratch’s bed.
“Oh! Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy beamed. “Are you all better?”
“Yeah, I should be fine,” replied Rainbow Dash. “What about you?”
“I’m alright, thank you,” smiled Fluttershy.
“Great. Uh…”
Rainbow Dash spotted a brightly coloured basket half full of comfort food.
“Did you bring that?” she asked Fluttershy.
“Uh, huh. I knew Vinyl Scratch must have suffered the most even though she was the cause of the damage to Ponyville,” said Fluttershy, looking suddenly sad. “I didn’t mention this to her, but some ponies are angry at her for screaming like that. I find it so unfair. She didn’t mean to lose control. She was just scared by something.”
Rainbow Dash understood what Twilight’s objective was now.
“You were really concerned about Vinyl Scratch, weren’t you?” she asked.
“Ever so much,” nodded Fluttershy.
“And what about what she said to you before this happened?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Well, yes, it was hurtful,” said Fluttershy, “but I couldn’t hold it against her. I know that her job means she has to stay awake late. It’s only natural she’d be short with ponies from time to time. Besides, I wouldn’t be too pleased if I found a hole in my floor either.”

“I thought I knew you really well, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. “But I guess I can’t possibly know how you think. I should never have acted on my assumptions about you. I can’t act on your behalf if I have no clue how you really feel.”
“Oh. Well that’s alright, Rainbow Dash,” smiled Fluttershy. “I appreciate the thought. I know you care about me.”
“Thanks for understanding,” said Rainbow Dash as she and Fluttershy hugged.
“Um, I’m kind of in the dark here,” came Vinyl’s voice.
The two pegasi went red when they realized that Vinyl Scratch hadn’t heard a word of their conversation.
“I’d just speak into her ear if I were you,” suggested Fluttershy. “She’s not quite ready for long-distance hearing and shouting might make her ears throb.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, walked up to Vinyl’s bed and leaned into her ear.
“I want to apologize for that prank,” she said. “Me and Derpy made that ghost out of cloud and Octavia agreed to help us.”
“Really?! Tavi was in on it?” Vinyl asked with wide eyes. “Didn’t know she had it in her. Well, lesson learned. No more scaring Tavi.”
“Oh. Huh. She’ll be happy to hear that… when she’s finally able to,” smirked Rainbow Dash.
Vinyl hadn’t heard this and once again, was left oblivious as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy chuckled.