Rainbow Dash and the Perfectly Awesome No-Bad Very-Good Planby TwinkletailChaptersThe Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Finds Out What Those Jerks Did!The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Pulls Off the Perfect Plan!The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Gets Exactly What She Wanted!The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Finds Out What Those Jerks Did!Rainbow Dash had never felt quite as accomplished as she did after yesterday. At least not in this field; the Sonic Rainboom was her greatest achievement, and that didn't look to be changing anytime soon. As far as her weather-related achievements went, however, last night's storm easily ranked at number one. She hadn't done it all by herself, although she totally could have if she wanted to. The rest of the weather team had done their part, but it was she who had organized most of their efforts. She was the weather team's captain, and without her special brand of guidance, who knew if they would have been able to pull off the perfect storm? Actually, Rainbow knew. Se knew that they wouldn't have been able to. Even though they were very skilled, it took the raw talent of a great leader like Rainbow Dash to spur them on to success. The rainbow-maned pegasus zipped, zoomed, and even zammed through the skies. "Zammed" wasn't a word, as far as she knew, but with how awesome and amazing she was, she could probably get it to catch on. If other ponies heard that the great Rainbow Dash was zamming, then they would certainly want to zam too. Pretty soon, ponies all over Equestria would be zamming, and it would all be thanks to her. Rainbow was so distracted with her thoughts of zamming that she couldn't help but close her eyes, in order to better visualize the legions of ponies that would be signing up to receive zamming lessons from her. It was only when she heard a sudden yelp that she opened her eyes again. Thankfully, she had done so in just enough time to veer back up into the air and avoid flying smack-dab into Rarity and Applejack. She was quite thankful for this, because neither of her two friends were very fond of her crashing into them. Rarity would always complain that her mane had been ruined, and AJ would just get loud and angry. Then she would have to apologize, and Rainbow hated apologizing. She tried to avoid doing so as much as possible, lest she get a reputation of being somepony like Fluttershy, who said sorry to everypony and everything. Fluttershy was pretty great and all, but she apologized way too much and was way too much of a scaredy-cat. That stuff was totally not awesome. "Rainbow Dash! Do be careful!" Rarity called up. Rainbow rolled her eyes. She didn't even hit them and Rarity was still upset? There was no pleasing that mare. Rainbow refused to apologize, but she supposed she could say something back anyway to make Rarity happy. "Whoops! Didn't see ya there!" Rainbow said as she did a really cool corkscrew down to where her two friends were standing. Rainbow then tilted her head. It wasn't like Applejack and Rarity to spend time together. They were friends and all, but they were kinda like those two friends who dealt with each other because they had the same friends, but never really did anything together without the others. Rainbow inspected them closely to see if something was up. Maybe they'd just finished fighting each other? But they looked too happy for that, and also Rarity was too prissy to fight. Maybe Rarity had kidnapped Applejack and forced her to wear makeup and dresses? Rainbow laughed at that idea. AJ all prettified was a pretty hilarious thought. "What the hay are you laughing at?" Applejack asked. "Oh, I was thinking about you in a dress," Rainbow responded matter-of-factly. "...Why?" Applejack asked. "Cause you two never just hang out!" Rainbow answered, as if it was the most obvious answer ever. "That may very well change," Rarity said. "Applejack really is a wonderful pony when you get to know her. And I'm sure she would look quite fetching in the right dress." AJ blushed a bit. "You're pretty great too, Rare," the farmer responded. "And I reckon you always look great in your dresses." The two just kind of looked at each other for a bit, which made Rainbow get really bored. "So what WERE you two doing?" the pegasus asked. "Oh, we were just leaving Twilight's place," Rarity said, looking back to Rainbow. "Yeah, we just finished giving Twi her first slumber party!" AJ said cheerfully. Rainbow Dash froze in place. "...You what?" she asked. She had heard Applejack, of course. Her hearing was just as awesome as the rest of her. Still, she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "The two of us and Twilight had a slumber party last night," Rarity reiterated. Rainbow felt weird. It was nice that her friends were having fun, but she couldn't shake this strange hot feeling that she was getting in her chest. It was like anger, but different. It was close enough to anger, though, that Rainbow chose anger as her response. "And you didn't invite me?" Rainbow exclaimed, frowning at the two jerks in front of her. "It was rather impromptu..." Rarity told her. "I don't care how promptu it was!" Rainbow shot back. "You still could have invited me!" This caused Rarity to sigh. Probably because she knew that Rainbow was right. "She means that it wasn't planned, Rainbow," AJ cut in. "We were outside the library when the storm kicked in, and Twi invited us in. Then she offered to let us stay, rather than making us go home in the storm." Rainbow once again couldn't believe her ears. First they tell her that they slept over Twilight's without inviting her, and now they try to blame it on her awesome storm? They had some nerve. "Well...fine!" Rainbow shouted. "You just wait! I'll have a slumber party with Twilight and you're not gonna stop me!" "Why would we want to stop you?" Rarity asked. "Because you wanna have all the slumber parties with Twilight for yourselves!" Rainbow answered, landing on the ground and flaring her wings out. "Maybe I wanna have slumber parties with Twilight too!" "You sure seem to have your knickers in a twist over this," Applejack said. "Ain't somethin' ya wanna tell us, is there?" She and Rarity gave each other a little smile. Rainbow looked between them. They were probably plotting another slumber party right now! And AJ was probably trying to get her to tell them her schedule, so they could do it when she was busy! "Hay no!" Rainbow declared. "I don't have to tell you anything!" AJ and Rarity giggled to each other, which only served to infuriate Rainbow further. "It's alright, darling," Rarity said gently. "You can tell us." These two just wouldn't give up. Rainbow had to get out of here right now, or else they'd keep bugging her. "Whatever. I gotta jet," Rainbow said. "And stop giggling!" They didn't stop, of course, so Rainbow just flew away. She had no reason to stick around those two Plotty McPlottersons. She flew for a good minute or so, just to make sure she was far away from the two. She then found a nice, fluffy cloud and flopped down on it. "Who do they think they are?" Rainbow asked the most awesome pony she could possibly ask: herself. "Having slumber parties with Twilight and not inviting me...blaming it on my perfect storm...and now they're planning another one! That's some nerve!" She kicked a bit of cloud, sending it careening away. "I gotta figure out a way to have my own slumber party with Twilight! Because..." Rainbow stopped. Why did she want to have a slumber party with Twilight so badly? She was pretty sure it was to get back at Applejack and Rarity for having one without her, but for some reason, that didn't sound quite right in her head. There was something else. Some crazy reason that she couldn't come up with right now. She was no psychologist, but she knew that there were plenty of times before where some of her friends did something without her, and she usually didn't react like this. Except for that time when Twilight went to the Everfree Forest with Pinkie Pie and Applejack to rescue Fluttershy. She remembered being really mad that those two went with Twilight and she didn't. But that had nothing to do with this. That was an adventure, and this was just a slumber party. She finally settled on the fact that it was just the shunning that bothered her. She still felt like there was something else, but if she couldn't tell what it was, it probably wasn't important. Something had to be done about all of this. There was no way in Tartarus that Rainbow was gonna let those jerks beat her to another slumber party with Twilight. She would have to beat them to it before they beat her to it. She thought back over what they'd told her. Twilight had invited them in to get away from her awesome storm, and invited them to stay the night so they wouldn't have to walk home in it. The answer was obvious; she had to create another storm, then be near the library so Twilight would invite her to a slumber party! It was an absolutely foolproof plan, but that went without saying. Any plan made by the Dash was instantly the best plan ever. Except for one thing. There was one issue with this plan. It took a pony as amazing as Rainbow to come up with this plan, and in the same vein, she was the only pony brilliant enough to find the flaw in it. She already knew that AJ and Rarity were planning on having another slumber party with Twilight. If they saw another storm approaching, they'd certainly try to take advantage of it and get Twilight to invite them again. Rainbow couldn't allow that to happen. She wanted to be the only pony who spent the night at Twilight's place. Well, besides Twilight. Rainbow instantly knew what she had to do. The idea came to her so fast that it would have made a normal pony's head spin, but since Rainbow was way faster than a normal pony, it seemed to come to her at a pretty normal speed. Applejack and Rarity had to be taken out of the picture. They were her friends, and good friends at that, but this was clearly what had to be done. Rainbow immediately headed back to her cloud house. That was where she made her best plans, and whatever this plan was gonna be, it had to be the best. Just like Rainbow Dash. The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Pulls Off the Perfect Plan!Rainbow Dash knew that for her plan to work, she had to really multitask. She knew this because she knew everything, and she knew everything because she was Rainbow Dash. The most important part of the plan, obviously, was setting up the storm. Without a storm, Twilight had no reason to invite anypony in for a slumber party, and if Twilight didn't invite Rainbow in for a slumber party, then Rainbow wouldn't be able to have a slumber party with Twilight. Seeing as the whole point of this plan was for Rainbow to have a slumber party with Twilight, it was very important for Rainbow to have a slumber party with Twilight if the plan was to succeed. Yesterday's storm had been a real doozy, without a doubt. However, it was nothing that Rainbow Dash couldn't handle. In fact, there really was nothing that Rainbow Dash couldn't handle. The most difficult part of this was going to be making it look to Twilight like it was something that Rainbow couldn't handle. This storm had to look tougher than yesterday's, and Rainbow had to pretend like it was too much for her to handle. Rainbow hoped that her acting skills were good enough to give that impression. Then she stopped hoping that, because the phrase "acting skills" contained the word "skills," and if there was anything that she had plenty of, it was skills. The most important part of the plan, naturally, was making sure that Rarity could not get herself invited to the slumber party. Rainbow could tell just by the way that Rarity had been talking about it that she had a great time at the slumber party. She was all for her friends having a good time, but in this case, it was a matter of principle. Rarity already had a slumber party with Twilight and not invited Rainbow, and from the looks she was giving Applejack a while ago, she was clearly planning on having another. That simply wouldn't do. Rainbow needed this slumber party to be just her and Twilight, and nopony else. Besides, if Rarity was there, she'd probably make them do dumb stuff like makeovers and junk. She was way too cool for makeovers, and actually, so was Twilight. Granted, Twilight wasn't as cool as Rainbow was, but she was still cool nonetheless. Cool enough that she wouldn't need any dumb makeovers. She didn't even need a makeover. She already had a pretty cool manestyle, one that always hung perfectly over her forehead and bounced just right when she was trotting. There was no way that Rainbow would let Rarity try to change that. Rarity had to be kept away at all costs. The most important part of the plan, of course, was keeping Applejack from getting herself invited to the slumber party. Applejack had clearly enjoyed herself at the slumber party as well, if her smiling had been any indication. AJ smiled a lot normally, but she seemed extra-smiley on her way out of the library. The way she was looking at Rarity, walking close to Rarity, giggling with Rarity...it was totally obvious what she wanted. She wanted Twilight all to herself. So did Rarity. They both wanted to have all the slumber parties with Twilight and leave Rainbow out. AJ, in particular, posed a huge threat. She was really strong and a hard worker, and if she spent too much time around Twilight, she'd probably try to make Twilight help her with her work. Twilight didn't need to help AJ with her work. If she spent too much time helping AJ with her work, she'd build more muscle. Twilight didn't need more muscle. She was a bookworm, and she was just fine with the soft curves that she already had. She couldn't imagine any muscle being added onto that body. It had just the right amount of pudge to give her the perfect shape. Or the second most perfect, second only to Rainbow's shape. Applejack would ruin all of that if she made her work. Applejack had to be kept away at all costs. Rainbow landed at Carousel Boutique first. She'd spent the entire flight over here gathering up clouds for later, because as stated, multitasking was important. She gave the door a quick knock. Then she gave it a longer knock when Rarity didn't immediately answer. Patience could wait. Now was the time for action. She quickly stopped herself from knocking more as the door opened. Rarity didn't like it when Rainbow accidentally knocked on her head because she wasn't paying attention to the fact that she had opened the door. She complained every single time it happened, even though Rainbow always told her that it wouldn't have happened if she'd answered the door earlier. "Good afternoon, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity said with a smile. Then she looked behind her. "Whatever do you have all of those clouds with you for?" Rainbow panicked slightly. She'd been positive that her natural awesomeness would keep Rarity from looking anywhere other than right at her. Maybe something was wrong with Rarity. Probably delirious from too much plotting behind Rainbow's back. "Hey Rarity!" Rainbow said, returning the smile. "Oh, these clouds? I'm...uh..." She thought for a moment. She certainly couldn't tell Rarity what they were for, or else Rarity wouldn't be able to be distracted from heading over for an imminent slumber party. "...I'm setting up an obstacle course!" Rainbow finished. She smiled, giving herself a pat on the back for being quick on her hooves, both physically and mentally. "I see..." Rarity replied. "How exciting!" "Totally!" Rainbow said. Rainbow thought Rarity was pretty cool. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be annoyed with her, and stopped thinking that she was cool. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Rarity asked. Rainbow took a deep breath. This was going to be really hard on her, but it was part of the foolproof plan, and the only surefire way to assure that Rarity would not be attending any slumber parties with Twilight tonight. "I kinda wanted to see you cause I needed a d-dress..." Rainbow barely managed to say. She watched as Rarity's eyes sparkled. Rainbow Dash was not one to scare easily, but the eager glow in Rarity's eyes following that statement shook her to the core. "You...you want me to make you a dress?!" Rarity exclaimed, looking about as happy as...uh...something that was really, really happy. "Oh yeah, definitely," Rainbow said through a forced smile. "You know me! Always...wanting dresses!" Before she knew it, Rainbow had been whisked into the boutique by the excited unicorn. Rainbow was forced to wonder if this was all worth it as Rarity whirled around her, taking measurements. Once she thought about how great it would be to have a slumber party without Rarity knowing, though, she had to admit that it was. "My, Rainbow Dash, have you lost weight?" Rarity asked as she wrapped some measuring tape around her midsection. "Yeah, probably," Rainbow answered, doing her best to sound enthusiastic. Rarity finished up her measurements and took notes as Rainbow thanked Celestia that she was allowed to move again. "So!" Rarity said cheerfully, sitting down on a nearby cushion. "What occasion is this dress for? Are you looking to impress a...certain somepony?" Rarity began to giggle again, just like she did earlier with Applejack. Rainbow couldn't believe that she was laughing at her! Rarity always talked about wanting to make a dress for her, and now she was laughing at her for it? Still, Rainbow kept her smile. She had to keep Rarity at ease and not draw any suspicion. "Nah, I've got...um...a wedding coming up," Rainbow lied. "For my favorite cousin. Who I've never spoken about because...reasons." "I see," Rarity said, tapping her chin with a hoof, having clearly been totally fooled by Rainbow's great story. "And what kind of dress were you looking for? Let me guess...something 'cool,' correct?" "You know it!" Rainbow answered. "But I've got some other specifics I'm looking for." "Oh?" Rarity asked, intrigued. "Such as?" Rainbow took a deep breath. This was the most important part. "I want a light red dress," Rainbow told her. "With sequins over the collar, but they've gotta be both silver and gold sequins, and they've gotta alternate and have a centimeter of space between them. There's gotta be a cape, made of a different color fabric and a little darker red than the dress itself. It should have big pink bows right near the tail, and the holes for the wings need to sparkle. It's gotta puff out a bit near my rump, but then be tighter around the bottom half of my hind legs. I want the sleeves to be made of that see-through stuff, but only the back halves of the sleeves. The front halves need to be solid and made of the same stuff as the cape, and they also have to be able to tear off and be reattached easily. And there's gotta be a matching headdress that's long enough to trail on the ground, but made of some kind of material that won't pick up too much dirt. And finally, my cutie mark should be embroidered into the back, in some kind of material that looks shiny. Oh, and I need it for tomorrow since the rehearsal dinner is tomorrow. Is that all doable?" Rarity stared at Rainbow wordlessly, her mouth wide open. Rainbow could almost see the onset of panic in her friend's face. Said panic was quickly replaced by a bizarrely serene smile. "...O-of course, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said weakly. "It might take me all night...but I shall have the dress ready for you!" "Awesome!" Rainbow said. That was exactly what she needed to hear. She gave Rarity a big hug. Even though sappy showings of emotion were lame, Rarity deserved it for agreeing to all that. Rainbow did feel a little bad for deceiving her, and promised to herself that she would give her a big tip for her troubles, even though Rarity would be getting her payback when Rainbow actually had to model this thing she came up with for her. Rainbow bid Rarity a quick goodbye, comfortable in the knowledge that she would be a non-factor tonight, then took off, trailing her bundle of clouds behind her. Rainbow eventually came up on Sweet Apple Acres, her bundle of clouds having nearly doubled along the way. She stopped before she reached the farmhouse, landing in a tree and grabbing a delicious apple off of it. She knew to only take one. As awesome and powerful as she was, even she knew to restrain herself, lest she incur the wrath of Applejack. AJ was happy to give her friends a freebie here and there, but she wouldn't allow herself to be taken advantage of. Even though Rainbow knew she could outrun, and even outwrestle, Applejack, she didn't want to be a jerk like AJ and Rarity had been about the slumber party thing. She made quick work of the juicy treat, then intended to head to the farmhouse. As it would turn out, there was no need for that. "Howdy, RD!" Applejack greeted her. Of course she was still working. Applejack did nothing but work. Well, nothing but work and plan/go to secret slumber parties with Twilight. "Hey AJ!" Rainbow answered. "Whatcha got all those clouds for?" AJ asked. Rainbow silently cursed; how could both of them not be distracted by her unadulterated awesomeness? Thankfully, she had an excuse ready-made this time. "Obstacle course!" Rainbow answered confidently. It had worked perfectly on Rarity. Of course it would work on AJ. "Why'd you bring 'em here?" AJ asked. Crap. "I...uh...found them on my way here!" Rainbow quickly stammered. AJ raised a brow, giving that annoying "I think I know everything" look she sometimes gave. She definitely didn't know everything. Otherwise, she'd be Rainbow Dash, and there was only one Rainbow Dash. Though it would probably be kinda awesome if there were two. "Uh-huh..." AJ said. "...Well, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" "I totally had the greatest idea ever!" Rainbow exclaimed, giving AJ a big smile. "I was thinking about how you and I still need to have a race where neither of us cheats or anything. So I figured that you and I should go and run a giant marathon against each other! We could start here and see who can do fifty laps around Ponyville first! Sounds totally awesome, right?" Rainbow beamed proudly as she finished that sentence. There was no chance that this couldn't work. AJ was the second most competitive pony she knew--Rainbow was the first, of course--and there was no chance that she'd turn down a race. She'd just need to start the race, then drop a bit behind her. The fifty laps would definitely keep AJ occupied long enough to keep her away from the slumber party. It was absolutely flawless. Just like Rainbow Dash. "Hmm...nah," AJ said. "Great!" Rainbow said. "We'll start...wait, what? No?!" Rainbow frowned a really big frown. Why would AJ choose now, of all times, to stop being competitive? "Sorry, Rainbow," AJ said, like a big dumb jerk. "I was actually thinking of going to see Rarity tonight." AJ smiled a little as she said that. Rainbow narrowed her eyes. She knew what was going on here. "Oh yeah? And why would you wanna go see Rarity?" Rainbow demanded. AJ's face turned a bit red as she kicked a hoof in the dirt. "Thought she might wanna do something tonight," AJ answered. "Riiiiight..." Rainbow said, giving her a glare. There was no doubt in her mind that the "something" AJ was talking about was more plotting against her. "Besides," AJ continued, a big grin forming on her face. "Figured you might wanna go do something with Twilight too." Rainbow stared at her, completely baffled. She thought Rainbow wanted to "do something too" with Twilight? Why would Rainbow want to plot against herself with Twilight? And Twilight would never want to do that either. She was way too nice and sweet to plot against anypony, let alone somepony as great as Rainbow. Then, like a ton of bricks, it hit her. AJ somehow already knew about Rainbow's plan. And if AJ let her go see Rarity, then she'd find Rarity working on the dress, and she'd tell Rarity about the plan, and then both of them would come and ruin Rainbow's one-on-one slumber party with Twilight! Something drastic had to be done immediately. "...Hey AJ?" Rainbow asked. "Could I buy a few apples from you?" "Of course!" AJ answered cheerfully. "What kind would you like?" "I'd like some of the cold ones down in your cellar!" Rainbow answered quickly. "Sure thing!" AJ said with a smile. She opened the cellar door, turned on the light, and headed down. Rainbow waited until AJ was deep in the cellar, then kicked the door closed. She heard AJ yell from downstairs and scrambled to grab a giant rock from nearby. She put the rock down on the door, barricading it. She then grabbed her clouds and flew away as fast as she could, AJ's muffled yelling still audible until she was a good distance away. Despite her aversion to doing so, Rainbow figured an apology would be in order for Applejack. It could wait until tomorrow, though. She had a slumber party to get invited to. The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Gets Exactly What She Wanted!Rainbow Dash flew awesomely towards the library, her giant bundle of clouds in tow. She wasn't at all surprised by all the attention she and her clouds were getting from the ponies in town. Rainbow Dash was used to getting tons of attention wherever she went. It was the burden that came with being as utterly amazing as she was, a burden which she was more than happy to bear. Rainbow felt herself fill up with excitement as she reached the library. The slumber party was so close, she could taste it. She wasn't really sure exactly what a slumber party would taste like, but somehow she just knew that the taste she had in her mouth right now was pure slumber party. Pure slumber party apparently had a dry, nervous taste to it, which made total sense. Rainbow Dash never got nervous about anything, so it had to be the taste's fault. She whirled around the library, depositing clouds all over the place. Within moments, the entire place was blanketed in clouds. Satisfied with her job, she got herself into position. She'd laid the clouds out so they were all in contact with at least one other, a giant mesh of clouds hanging over the library. She thought about how Twilight would probably have some sciency stuff to say about the chain reaction she was about to pull off. In truth, it would probably be nice to hear her praise Rainbow and her awesome cloud-chaining abilities, but to do so would ruin the plan. Twilight couldn't know that Rainbow had set this up. If she did, it wouldn't seem real that Rainbow needed to come inside, and without coming inside, there would be no slumber party. Duh. Rainbow reared back and gave the closest cloud a mighty buck. It immediately started to pour, and one by one, so did each other cloud. Rainbow quickly dove to the ground and took her position under what had now become a giant rainstorm, centralized over the library. She watched the library door. Any minute now, Twilight would look outside, see the storm, see Rainbow standing in the storm, and invite her in. She just knew it. Rainbow waited for about a minute before she got bored. Her usual reaction to being bored with a situation was to just fly away, and she nearly did just that. Thankfully, she thought better of it, since everything would have been ruined if she did. She needed something to speed up this process, since it seemed like Twilight hadn't even noticed the storm. She found a small rock on the ground and hurled it at the library door, expecting to hear it make contact with wood. What she did not expect to hear was a small yelp of pain as the rock hit an emerging Twilight squarely in the forehead. Unfortunately, the sound she was greeted with was the latter. Rainbow's first instinct was to apologize. This was odd. She tried to avoid apologizing for things as much as possible. To apologize would be to show weakness, and Rainbow Dash was anything but weak. Seeing Twilight in pain and knowing that it was her fault, though, made her feel awful, even though it was only a tiny bit of pain. She almost called out an apology, but stopped herself. She couldn't let any of this look like she planned it. She just watched as Twilight rubbed her forehead, then looked up. "Another storm?" Twilight mused. "I didn't think we were due for another one for a while..." She then looked out and saw Rainbow standing there, dripping wet. "Rainbow Dash! What are you doing just standing out there in this weather?" "Oh!" Rainbow exclaimed. Time to call upon her great acting skills. "Uh...I was just walking around, not doing anything suspicious, when this rain started! Woe is me!" Rainbow grinned to herself. She totally nailed that. "Well, come on inside!" Twilight called out. "You'll get a cold if you stay outside in this weather!" Rainbow could barely contain her excitement. This was going great! "Well, if you insist!" Rainbow said, playing coy as she trotted towards the library. She gave Twilight a big old smile as she entered, and her ears perked up as Twilight smiled back. That was the smile of a pony who was totally about to invite her for a slumber party. "You know..." Rainbow said as Twilight passed her a towel to dry herself off. "It would be kind of a pain to fly back home in this storm. Could get zapped by lightning or something." "You're absolutely right!" Twilight responded. "Hey! I just had a slumber party with Applejack and Rarity last night!" "I heard," Rainbow answered without thinking. "Well, I'd certainly be up for having another one if you wanted!" Twilight said, smiling warmly. Rainbow felt a warm feeling in her chest as Twilight smiled at her. Probably because she was getting exactly what she wanted. "Sure!" Rainbow said, beaming. Then she realized how overeager that sounded and cleared her throat. "I mean...yeah, sure, that could be cool." Twilight giggled, which made Rainbow feel even happier. "Great!" Twilight said. "So first on the list of slumber party activities is makeovers!" Rainbow blinked. This didn't sound right. Rarity wasn't here. Why were makeovers being brought up? Makeovers were totally lame, and not what she wanted from a slumber party. She was cooler than makeovers. Twilight was cooler than makeovers. "Nah," Rainbow said. "Not really into the whole makeover thing." Rainbow smirked, expecting Twilight to agree completely, and was surprised when Twilight looked confused, her earlier confidence gone. Rainbow had never seen Twilight look quite as uncomfortable as she did right now. "...But the book says we should start with makeovers," Twilight said. Rainbow just shook her head. "But makeovers are lame," she told Twilight. "How about we do whatever's next in the book? Or, like, do whatever we want without following a book?" Twilight looked as if Rainbow had just asked her to cut off one of her hooves. "B-but...the book...says to..." Twilight stammered. Rainbow sighed. Twilight looked upset, and something in her told her that she should fix things and make Twilight not upset. "...Okay," Rainbow finally said. "But really quick makeovers, okay? I don't like getting all frou-frou." Twilight clapped her hooves and ran off to the bathroom to get the makeover supplies. Rainbow sighed to herself. This was gonna be awful. But at least it was making Twilight happy. And she wanted a slumber party with Twilight, right? So this was a necessary evil. Hopefully this particular stage of the slumber party wouldn't last long. The makeovers lasted for half an hour. That was roughly half an hour longer than Rainbow wanted them to last. She had spent the first five minutes trying, for Twilight's sake, to at least look like she was having a good time, but such a thing became more and more impossible as time went by. Finally, she could take no more. Twilight watched, bewildered, as Rainbow suddenly galloped to the window and stuck her head out, washing all the mud on her face off. She then pulled her head back inside and shook it off, somehow managing to look just as awesome as she had before the makeovers started. "Okay...I guess the makeovers are...well...over!" Twilight said, offering an awkward smile. Rainbow watched her shuffle awkwardly on her hooves, and figured she was doing so because she was only just realizing that she was in the presence of the great Rainbow Dash. "Great!" Rainbow responded. "What's next?" "Um...oh!" Twilight said, perking up a bit. "Ghost stories!" Rainbow yawned. "I've heard like every ghost story," Rainbow told her. Twilight got that nervous look on her face again. "Um...well, I mean, I've read a lot of them..." Twilight said quietly. "Maybe I have one that you haven't heard?" "Fine," Rainbow said, shrugging and plopping herself down on the couch. "Try me." "Okay!" Twilight said happily. She rubbed her forehooves together. "Once, there was a mare and a stallion who wanted to go on a date at Lover's Leap..." "Hook on the chariot door," Rainbow said, yawning. Twilight's enthusiasm began to fade. "O-okay..." she said, thinking. "...Oh! A pony was in his apartment, when somepony told him that the viper was coming..." "Windshield wiper with an accent," Rainbow sighed, waving a hoof in the air. Twilight looked even more uncomfortable, so much that Rainbow began to feel bad. She didn't even know why she did. It wasn't like it was her fault that she knew all of these ghost stories. Something about Twilight looking upset just made her feel bad. "Look, we covered ghost stories. Maybe the next thing'll be more fun?" Twilight smiled a little. "Um...alright," Twilight said, flipping through her book. "Next up is truth or dare." "Ugh..." Rainbow groaned. Truth or dare was the lamest of the lame. This was definitely not what she was expecting from tonight, although to be honest, she wasn't quite sure what she was expecting from tonight at all. She gave an annoyed look to Twilight, but then let that look fade as she saw the look of utter disappointment on Twilight's face. "I thought you wanted to have a slumber party..." Twilight said quietly, looking away. "I'm kinda getting the feeling you don't really want to." Rainbow's heart dropped. Of course she wanted to! It was the perfect way to get back at AJ and Rarity...but that couldn't be it. That feeling from before, the feeling that there was something more than just getting revenge on those two, was starting to come back, even stronger than before. "Of course I do!" Rainbow said quickly. "Uh...truth! Ask me a truth!" Twilight looked at her, seeming unconvinced. "Okay..." Twilight said. "Tell the truth. Why'd you say that you wanted to have a slumber party if you were going to say no to all the typical slumber party activities?" Rainbow blinked a few times. Why didn't she pick dare? She couldn't lie to Twilight now. She didn't even feel right lying to Twilight at all, let alone after she'd specifically promised to tell the truth. She took a deep breath. It was confession time. "So I was flying by here this morning," Rainbow said. "And I ran into AJ and Rarity, and they said they had a good time at the slumber party with you, and I got really upset because I wasn't invited, so then I said that I was gonna have a slumber party with you even if they didn't want me to, and I could tell they were already plotting to have another slumber party with you, so I made sure that neither of them would be around tonight, and then I set up another storm here so you would invite me to a slumber party, because I just wanted really badly to have a slumber party that was just the two of us!" Rainbow sighed again, waiting for Twilight to get mad and kick her out of the library. Instead, she saw Twilight staring at her, shocked. "You...just wanted to spend time alone...with me?" Twilight asked, her eyes glimmering a bit. "Yes!" Rainbow shouted. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. "I...want to spend time...alone...with you. ...I want to spend time alone with you! Of course!" Each time Rainbow repeated that, she watched Twilight's smile grow more and more. That made her really happy. All of a sudden, she was noticing little things about Twilight that she'd never noticed before. She had this really pretty little smile, prettier than she'd ever remembered noticing before. When she smiled, it made the corners of her big, pretty eyes crinkle in the most awesome way. The weirdest thing about this whole revelation was that Rainbow had a feeling that these things were there all along, but she just hadn't noticed them before. It was like somepony had turned on a "Twilight is pretty" switch in her brain. She wanted to do everything she could to make Twilight smile more. Without even thinking about it, Rainbow trotted over to Twilight and wrapped her in a hug. She heard Twilight make a little squeaky noise as she returned the hug. Rainbow had always thought that hugs were lame and sappy, but this hug was far from that. This was the least lame, least sappy, most awesome hug ever. A hug fitting of the most awesome pony ever in Rainbow Dash, as well as another awesome pony in Twilight Sparkle. "So...does this mean that this is a slumber-party-slash-first-date?" Twilight asked. "If you want it to be, then yeah!" Rainbow responded, giving her a smirk and ruffling her mane. Twilight sighed a happy sigh before letting go of the hug. Rainbow wasn't as quick to let go. She honestly never thought she'd like hugging as much as she just did. "I think that'd be nice," Twilight told her with a smile. Rainbow couldn't help but agree. "So what's next on the agenda?" Rainbow asked, shifting herself over so she and Twilight were side by side. Twilight giggled a bit and began to answer, when the library door suddenly burst open. Rainbow and Twilight were greeted with the sight of an enraged Applejack, splintered bits of cellar door still stuck in her mane, and a slightly-less-enraged-but-still-pretty-upset Rarity. Both of them were holding sodden pillows. "Pillow fights," Applejack said. Rainbow smiled awkwardly. And also awesomely. Now this was what she wanted from a slumber party.
The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Finds Out What Those Jerks Did!Rainbow Dash had never felt quite as accomplished as she did after yesterday. At least not in this field; the Sonic Rainboom was her greatest achievement, and that didn't look to be changing anytime soon. As far as her weather-related achievements went, however, last night's storm easily ranked at number one. She hadn't done it all by herself, although she totally could have if she wanted to. The rest of the weather team had done their part, but it was she who had organized most of their efforts. She was the weather team's captain, and without her special brand of guidance, who knew if they would have been able to pull off the perfect storm? Actually, Rainbow knew. Se knew that they wouldn't have been able to. Even though they were very skilled, it took the raw talent of a great leader like Rainbow Dash to spur them on to success. The rainbow-maned pegasus zipped, zoomed, and even zammed through the skies. "Zammed" wasn't a word, as far as she knew, but with how awesome and amazing she was, she could probably get it to catch on. If other ponies heard that the great Rainbow Dash was zamming, then they would certainly want to zam too. Pretty soon, ponies all over Equestria would be zamming, and it would all be thanks to her. Rainbow was so distracted with her thoughts of zamming that she couldn't help but close her eyes, in order to better visualize the legions of ponies that would be signing up to receive zamming lessons from her. It was only when she heard a sudden yelp that she opened her eyes again. Thankfully, she had done so in just enough time to veer back up into the air and avoid flying smack-dab into Rarity and Applejack. She was quite thankful for this, because neither of her two friends were very fond of her crashing into them. Rarity would always complain that her mane had been ruined, and AJ would just get loud and angry. Then she would have to apologize, and Rainbow hated apologizing. She tried to avoid doing so as much as possible, lest she get a reputation of being somepony like Fluttershy, who said sorry to everypony and everything. Fluttershy was pretty great and all, but she apologized way too much and was way too much of a scaredy-cat. That stuff was totally not awesome. "Rainbow Dash! Do be careful!" Rarity called up. Rainbow rolled her eyes. She didn't even hit them and Rarity was still upset? There was no pleasing that mare. Rainbow refused to apologize, but she supposed she could say something back anyway to make Rarity happy. "Whoops! Didn't see ya there!" Rainbow said as she did a really cool corkscrew down to where her two friends were standing. Rainbow then tilted her head. It wasn't like Applejack and Rarity to spend time together. They were friends and all, but they were kinda like those two friends who dealt with each other because they had the same friends, but never really did anything together without the others. Rainbow inspected them closely to see if something was up. Maybe they'd just finished fighting each other? But they looked too happy for that, and also Rarity was too prissy to fight. Maybe Rarity had kidnapped Applejack and forced her to wear makeup and dresses? Rainbow laughed at that idea. AJ all prettified was a pretty hilarious thought. "What the hay are you laughing at?" Applejack asked. "Oh, I was thinking about you in a dress," Rainbow responded matter-of-factly. "...Why?" Applejack asked. "Cause you two never just hang out!" Rainbow answered, as if it was the most obvious answer ever. "That may very well change," Rarity said. "Applejack really is a wonderful pony when you get to know her. And I'm sure she would look quite fetching in the right dress." AJ blushed a bit. "You're pretty great too, Rare," the farmer responded. "And I reckon you always look great in your dresses." The two just kind of looked at each other for a bit, which made Rainbow get really bored. "So what WERE you two doing?" the pegasus asked. "Oh, we were just leaving Twilight's place," Rarity said, looking back to Rainbow. "Yeah, we just finished giving Twi her first slumber party!" AJ said cheerfully. Rainbow Dash froze in place. "...You what?" she asked. She had heard Applejack, of course. Her hearing was just as awesome as the rest of her. Still, she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "The two of us and Twilight had a slumber party last night," Rarity reiterated. Rainbow felt weird. It was nice that her friends were having fun, but she couldn't shake this strange hot feeling that she was getting in her chest. It was like anger, but different. It was close enough to anger, though, that Rainbow chose anger as her response. "And you didn't invite me?" Rainbow exclaimed, frowning at the two jerks in front of her. "It was rather impromptu..." Rarity told her. "I don't care how promptu it was!" Rainbow shot back. "You still could have invited me!" This caused Rarity to sigh. Probably because she knew that Rainbow was right. "She means that it wasn't planned, Rainbow," AJ cut in. "We were outside the library when the storm kicked in, and Twi invited us in. Then she offered to let us stay, rather than making us go home in the storm." Rainbow once again couldn't believe her ears. First they tell her that they slept over Twilight's without inviting her, and now they try to blame it on her awesome storm? They had some nerve. "Well...fine!" Rainbow shouted. "You just wait! I'll have a slumber party with Twilight and you're not gonna stop me!" "Why would we want to stop you?" Rarity asked. "Because you wanna have all the slumber parties with Twilight for yourselves!" Rainbow answered, landing on the ground and flaring her wings out. "Maybe I wanna have slumber parties with Twilight too!" "You sure seem to have your knickers in a twist over this," Applejack said. "Ain't somethin' ya wanna tell us, is there?" She and Rarity gave each other a little smile. Rainbow looked between them. They were probably plotting another slumber party right now! And AJ was probably trying to get her to tell them her schedule, so they could do it when she was busy! "Hay no!" Rainbow declared. "I don't have to tell you anything!" AJ and Rarity giggled to each other, which only served to infuriate Rainbow further. "It's alright, darling," Rarity said gently. "You can tell us." These two just wouldn't give up. Rainbow had to get out of here right now, or else they'd keep bugging her. "Whatever. I gotta jet," Rainbow said. "And stop giggling!" They didn't stop, of course, so Rainbow just flew away. She had no reason to stick around those two Plotty McPlottersons. She flew for a good minute or so, just to make sure she was far away from the two. She then found a nice, fluffy cloud and flopped down on it. "Who do they think they are?" Rainbow asked the most awesome pony she could possibly ask: herself. "Having slumber parties with Twilight and not inviting me...blaming it on my perfect storm...and now they're planning another one! That's some nerve!" She kicked a bit of cloud, sending it careening away. "I gotta figure out a way to have my own slumber party with Twilight! Because..." Rainbow stopped. Why did she want to have a slumber party with Twilight so badly? She was pretty sure it was to get back at Applejack and Rarity for having one without her, but for some reason, that didn't sound quite right in her head. There was something else. Some crazy reason that she couldn't come up with right now. She was no psychologist, but she knew that there were plenty of times before where some of her friends did something without her, and she usually didn't react like this. Except for that time when Twilight went to the Everfree Forest with Pinkie Pie and Applejack to rescue Fluttershy. She remembered being really mad that those two went with Twilight and she didn't. But that had nothing to do with this. That was an adventure, and this was just a slumber party. She finally settled on the fact that it was just the shunning that bothered her. She still felt like there was something else, but if she couldn't tell what it was, it probably wasn't important. Something had to be done about all of this. There was no way in Tartarus that Rainbow was gonna let those jerks beat her to another slumber party with Twilight. She would have to beat them to it before they beat her to it. She thought back over what they'd told her. Twilight had invited them in to get away from her awesome storm, and invited them to stay the night so they wouldn't have to walk home in it. The answer was obvious; she had to create another storm, then be near the library so Twilight would invite her to a slumber party! It was an absolutely foolproof plan, but that went without saying. Any plan made by the Dash was instantly the best plan ever. Except for one thing. There was one issue with this plan. It took a pony as amazing as Rainbow to come up with this plan, and in the same vein, she was the only pony brilliant enough to find the flaw in it. She already knew that AJ and Rarity were planning on having another slumber party with Twilight. If they saw another storm approaching, they'd certainly try to take advantage of it and get Twilight to invite them again. Rainbow couldn't allow that to happen. She wanted to be the only pony who spent the night at Twilight's place. Well, besides Twilight. Rainbow instantly knew what she had to do. The idea came to her so fast that it would have made a normal pony's head spin, but since Rainbow was way faster than a normal pony, it seemed to come to her at a pretty normal speed. Applejack and Rarity had to be taken out of the picture. They were her friends, and good friends at that, but this was clearly what had to be done. Rainbow immediately headed back to her cloud house. That was where she made her best plans, and whatever this plan was gonna be, it had to be the best. Just like Rainbow Dash.
The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Pulls Off the Perfect Plan!Rainbow Dash knew that for her plan to work, she had to really multitask. She knew this because she knew everything, and she knew everything because she was Rainbow Dash. The most important part of the plan, obviously, was setting up the storm. Without a storm, Twilight had no reason to invite anypony in for a slumber party, and if Twilight didn't invite Rainbow in for a slumber party, then Rainbow wouldn't be able to have a slumber party with Twilight. Seeing as the whole point of this plan was for Rainbow to have a slumber party with Twilight, it was very important for Rainbow to have a slumber party with Twilight if the plan was to succeed. Yesterday's storm had been a real doozy, without a doubt. However, it was nothing that Rainbow Dash couldn't handle. In fact, there really was nothing that Rainbow Dash couldn't handle. The most difficult part of this was going to be making it look to Twilight like it was something that Rainbow couldn't handle. This storm had to look tougher than yesterday's, and Rainbow had to pretend like it was too much for her to handle. Rainbow hoped that her acting skills were good enough to give that impression. Then she stopped hoping that, because the phrase "acting skills" contained the word "skills," and if there was anything that she had plenty of, it was skills. The most important part of the plan, naturally, was making sure that Rarity could not get herself invited to the slumber party. Rainbow could tell just by the way that Rarity had been talking about it that she had a great time at the slumber party. She was all for her friends having a good time, but in this case, it was a matter of principle. Rarity already had a slumber party with Twilight and not invited Rainbow, and from the looks she was giving Applejack a while ago, she was clearly planning on having another. That simply wouldn't do. Rainbow needed this slumber party to be just her and Twilight, and nopony else. Besides, if Rarity was there, she'd probably make them do dumb stuff like makeovers and junk. She was way too cool for makeovers, and actually, so was Twilight. Granted, Twilight wasn't as cool as Rainbow was, but she was still cool nonetheless. Cool enough that she wouldn't need any dumb makeovers. She didn't even need a makeover. She already had a pretty cool manestyle, one that always hung perfectly over her forehead and bounced just right when she was trotting. There was no way that Rainbow would let Rarity try to change that. Rarity had to be kept away at all costs. The most important part of the plan, of course, was keeping Applejack from getting herself invited to the slumber party. Applejack had clearly enjoyed herself at the slumber party as well, if her smiling had been any indication. AJ smiled a lot normally, but she seemed extra-smiley on her way out of the library. The way she was looking at Rarity, walking close to Rarity, giggling with Rarity...it was totally obvious what she wanted. She wanted Twilight all to herself. So did Rarity. They both wanted to have all the slumber parties with Twilight and leave Rainbow out. AJ, in particular, posed a huge threat. She was really strong and a hard worker, and if she spent too much time around Twilight, she'd probably try to make Twilight help her with her work. Twilight didn't need to help AJ with her work. If she spent too much time helping AJ with her work, she'd build more muscle. Twilight didn't need more muscle. She was a bookworm, and she was just fine with the soft curves that she already had. She couldn't imagine any muscle being added onto that body. It had just the right amount of pudge to give her the perfect shape. Or the second most perfect, second only to Rainbow's shape. Applejack would ruin all of that if she made her work. Applejack had to be kept away at all costs. Rainbow landed at Carousel Boutique first. She'd spent the entire flight over here gathering up clouds for later, because as stated, multitasking was important. She gave the door a quick knock. Then she gave it a longer knock when Rarity didn't immediately answer. Patience could wait. Now was the time for action. She quickly stopped herself from knocking more as the door opened. Rarity didn't like it when Rainbow accidentally knocked on her head because she wasn't paying attention to the fact that she had opened the door. She complained every single time it happened, even though Rainbow always told her that it wouldn't have happened if she'd answered the door earlier. "Good afternoon, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity said with a smile. Then she looked behind her. "Whatever do you have all of those clouds with you for?" Rainbow panicked slightly. She'd been positive that her natural awesomeness would keep Rarity from looking anywhere other than right at her. Maybe something was wrong with Rarity. Probably delirious from too much plotting behind Rainbow's back. "Hey Rarity!" Rainbow said, returning the smile. "Oh, these clouds? I'm...uh..." She thought for a moment. She certainly couldn't tell Rarity what they were for, or else Rarity wouldn't be able to be distracted from heading over for an imminent slumber party. "...I'm setting up an obstacle course!" Rainbow finished. She smiled, giving herself a pat on the back for being quick on her hooves, both physically and mentally. "I see..." Rarity replied. "How exciting!" "Totally!" Rainbow said. Rainbow thought Rarity was pretty cool. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be annoyed with her, and stopped thinking that she was cool. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Rarity asked. Rainbow took a deep breath. This was going to be really hard on her, but it was part of the foolproof plan, and the only surefire way to assure that Rarity would not be attending any slumber parties with Twilight tonight. "I kinda wanted to see you cause I needed a d-dress..." Rainbow barely managed to say. She watched as Rarity's eyes sparkled. Rainbow Dash was not one to scare easily, but the eager glow in Rarity's eyes following that statement shook her to the core. "You...you want me to make you a dress?!" Rarity exclaimed, looking about as happy as...uh...something that was really, really happy. "Oh yeah, definitely," Rainbow said through a forced smile. "You know me! Always...wanting dresses!" Before she knew it, Rainbow had been whisked into the boutique by the excited unicorn. Rainbow was forced to wonder if this was all worth it as Rarity whirled around her, taking measurements. Once she thought about how great it would be to have a slumber party without Rarity knowing, though, she had to admit that it was. "My, Rainbow Dash, have you lost weight?" Rarity asked as she wrapped some measuring tape around her midsection. "Yeah, probably," Rainbow answered, doing her best to sound enthusiastic. Rarity finished up her measurements and took notes as Rainbow thanked Celestia that she was allowed to move again. "So!" Rarity said cheerfully, sitting down on a nearby cushion. "What occasion is this dress for? Are you looking to impress a...certain somepony?" Rarity began to giggle again, just like she did earlier with Applejack. Rainbow couldn't believe that she was laughing at her! Rarity always talked about wanting to make a dress for her, and now she was laughing at her for it? Still, Rainbow kept her smile. She had to keep Rarity at ease and not draw any suspicion. "Nah, I've got...um...a wedding coming up," Rainbow lied. "For my favorite cousin. Who I've never spoken about because...reasons." "I see," Rarity said, tapping her chin with a hoof, having clearly been totally fooled by Rainbow's great story. "And what kind of dress were you looking for? Let me guess...something 'cool,' correct?" "You know it!" Rainbow answered. "But I've got some other specifics I'm looking for." "Oh?" Rarity asked, intrigued. "Such as?" Rainbow took a deep breath. This was the most important part. "I want a light red dress," Rainbow told her. "With sequins over the collar, but they've gotta be both silver and gold sequins, and they've gotta alternate and have a centimeter of space between them. There's gotta be a cape, made of a different color fabric and a little darker red than the dress itself. It should have big pink bows right near the tail, and the holes for the wings need to sparkle. It's gotta puff out a bit near my rump, but then be tighter around the bottom half of my hind legs. I want the sleeves to be made of that see-through stuff, but only the back halves of the sleeves. The front halves need to be solid and made of the same stuff as the cape, and they also have to be able to tear off and be reattached easily. And there's gotta be a matching headdress that's long enough to trail on the ground, but made of some kind of material that won't pick up too much dirt. And finally, my cutie mark should be embroidered into the back, in some kind of material that looks shiny. Oh, and I need it for tomorrow since the rehearsal dinner is tomorrow. Is that all doable?" Rarity stared at Rainbow wordlessly, her mouth wide open. Rainbow could almost see the onset of panic in her friend's face. Said panic was quickly replaced by a bizarrely serene smile. "...O-of course, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said weakly. "It might take me all night...but I shall have the dress ready for you!" "Awesome!" Rainbow said. That was exactly what she needed to hear. She gave Rarity a big hug. Even though sappy showings of emotion were lame, Rarity deserved it for agreeing to all that. Rainbow did feel a little bad for deceiving her, and promised to herself that she would give her a big tip for her troubles, even though Rarity would be getting her payback when Rainbow actually had to model this thing she came up with for her. Rainbow bid Rarity a quick goodbye, comfortable in the knowledge that she would be a non-factor tonight, then took off, trailing her bundle of clouds behind her. Rainbow eventually came up on Sweet Apple Acres, her bundle of clouds having nearly doubled along the way. She stopped before she reached the farmhouse, landing in a tree and grabbing a delicious apple off of it. She knew to only take one. As awesome and powerful as she was, even she knew to restrain herself, lest she incur the wrath of Applejack. AJ was happy to give her friends a freebie here and there, but she wouldn't allow herself to be taken advantage of. Even though Rainbow knew she could outrun, and even outwrestle, Applejack, she didn't want to be a jerk like AJ and Rarity had been about the slumber party thing. She made quick work of the juicy treat, then intended to head to the farmhouse. As it would turn out, there was no need for that. "Howdy, RD!" Applejack greeted her. Of course she was still working. Applejack did nothing but work. Well, nothing but work and plan/go to secret slumber parties with Twilight. "Hey AJ!" Rainbow answered. "Whatcha got all those clouds for?" AJ asked. Rainbow silently cursed; how could both of them not be distracted by her unadulterated awesomeness? Thankfully, she had an excuse ready-made this time. "Obstacle course!" Rainbow answered confidently. It had worked perfectly on Rarity. Of course it would work on AJ. "Why'd you bring 'em here?" AJ asked. Crap. "I...uh...found them on my way here!" Rainbow quickly stammered. AJ raised a brow, giving that annoying "I think I know everything" look she sometimes gave. She definitely didn't know everything. Otherwise, she'd be Rainbow Dash, and there was only one Rainbow Dash. Though it would probably be kinda awesome if there were two. "Uh-huh..." AJ said. "...Well, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" "I totally had the greatest idea ever!" Rainbow exclaimed, giving AJ a big smile. "I was thinking about how you and I still need to have a race where neither of us cheats or anything. So I figured that you and I should go and run a giant marathon against each other! We could start here and see who can do fifty laps around Ponyville first! Sounds totally awesome, right?" Rainbow beamed proudly as she finished that sentence. There was no chance that this couldn't work. AJ was the second most competitive pony she knew--Rainbow was the first, of course--and there was no chance that she'd turn down a race. She'd just need to start the race, then drop a bit behind her. The fifty laps would definitely keep AJ occupied long enough to keep her away from the slumber party. It was absolutely flawless. Just like Rainbow Dash. "Hmm...nah," AJ said. "Great!" Rainbow said. "We'll start...wait, what? No?!" Rainbow frowned a really big frown. Why would AJ choose now, of all times, to stop being competitive? "Sorry, Rainbow," AJ said, like a big dumb jerk. "I was actually thinking of going to see Rarity tonight." AJ smiled a little as she said that. Rainbow narrowed her eyes. She knew what was going on here. "Oh yeah? And why would you wanna go see Rarity?" Rainbow demanded. AJ's face turned a bit red as she kicked a hoof in the dirt. "Thought she might wanna do something tonight," AJ answered. "Riiiiight..." Rainbow said, giving her a glare. There was no doubt in her mind that the "something" AJ was talking about was more plotting against her. "Besides," AJ continued, a big grin forming on her face. "Figured you might wanna go do something with Twilight too." Rainbow stared at her, completely baffled. She thought Rainbow wanted to "do something too" with Twilight? Why would Rainbow want to plot against herself with Twilight? And Twilight would never want to do that either. She was way too nice and sweet to plot against anypony, let alone somepony as great as Rainbow. Then, like a ton of bricks, it hit her. AJ somehow already knew about Rainbow's plan. And if AJ let her go see Rarity, then she'd find Rarity working on the dress, and she'd tell Rarity about the plan, and then both of them would come and ruin Rainbow's one-on-one slumber party with Twilight! Something drastic had to be done immediately. "...Hey AJ?" Rainbow asked. "Could I buy a few apples from you?" "Of course!" AJ answered cheerfully. "What kind would you like?" "I'd like some of the cold ones down in your cellar!" Rainbow answered quickly. "Sure thing!" AJ said with a smile. She opened the cellar door, turned on the light, and headed down. Rainbow waited until AJ was deep in the cellar, then kicked the door closed. She heard AJ yell from downstairs and scrambled to grab a giant rock from nearby. She put the rock down on the door, barricading it. She then grabbed her clouds and flew away as fast as she could, AJ's muffled yelling still audible until she was a good distance away. Despite her aversion to doing so, Rainbow figured an apology would be in order for Applejack. It could wait until tomorrow, though. She had a slumber party to get invited to.
The Part Where Rainbow Dash is Awesome and Gets Exactly What She Wanted!Rainbow Dash flew awesomely towards the library, her giant bundle of clouds in tow. She wasn't at all surprised by all the attention she and her clouds were getting from the ponies in town. Rainbow Dash was used to getting tons of attention wherever she went. It was the burden that came with being as utterly amazing as she was, a burden which she was more than happy to bear. Rainbow felt herself fill up with excitement as she reached the library. The slumber party was so close, she could taste it. She wasn't really sure exactly what a slumber party would taste like, but somehow she just knew that the taste she had in her mouth right now was pure slumber party. Pure slumber party apparently had a dry, nervous taste to it, which made total sense. Rainbow Dash never got nervous about anything, so it had to be the taste's fault. She whirled around the library, depositing clouds all over the place. Within moments, the entire place was blanketed in clouds. Satisfied with her job, she got herself into position. She'd laid the clouds out so they were all in contact with at least one other, a giant mesh of clouds hanging over the library. She thought about how Twilight would probably have some sciency stuff to say about the chain reaction she was about to pull off. In truth, it would probably be nice to hear her praise Rainbow and her awesome cloud-chaining abilities, but to do so would ruin the plan. Twilight couldn't know that Rainbow had set this up. If she did, it wouldn't seem real that Rainbow needed to come inside, and without coming inside, there would be no slumber party. Duh. Rainbow reared back and gave the closest cloud a mighty buck. It immediately started to pour, and one by one, so did each other cloud. Rainbow quickly dove to the ground and took her position under what had now become a giant rainstorm, centralized over the library. She watched the library door. Any minute now, Twilight would look outside, see the storm, see Rainbow standing in the storm, and invite her in. She just knew it. Rainbow waited for about a minute before she got bored. Her usual reaction to being bored with a situation was to just fly away, and she nearly did just that. Thankfully, she thought better of it, since everything would have been ruined if she did. She needed something to speed up this process, since it seemed like Twilight hadn't even noticed the storm. She found a small rock on the ground and hurled it at the library door, expecting to hear it make contact with wood. What she did not expect to hear was a small yelp of pain as the rock hit an emerging Twilight squarely in the forehead. Unfortunately, the sound she was greeted with was the latter. Rainbow's first instinct was to apologize. This was odd. She tried to avoid apologizing for things as much as possible. To apologize would be to show weakness, and Rainbow Dash was anything but weak. Seeing Twilight in pain and knowing that it was her fault, though, made her feel awful, even though it was only a tiny bit of pain. She almost called out an apology, but stopped herself. She couldn't let any of this look like she planned it. She just watched as Twilight rubbed her forehead, then looked up. "Another storm?" Twilight mused. "I didn't think we were due for another one for a while..." She then looked out and saw Rainbow standing there, dripping wet. "Rainbow Dash! What are you doing just standing out there in this weather?" "Oh!" Rainbow exclaimed. Time to call upon her great acting skills. "Uh...I was just walking around, not doing anything suspicious, when this rain started! Woe is me!" Rainbow grinned to herself. She totally nailed that. "Well, come on inside!" Twilight called out. "You'll get a cold if you stay outside in this weather!" Rainbow could barely contain her excitement. This was going great! "Well, if you insist!" Rainbow said, playing coy as she trotted towards the library. She gave Twilight a big old smile as she entered, and her ears perked up as Twilight smiled back. That was the smile of a pony who was totally about to invite her for a slumber party. "You know..." Rainbow said as Twilight passed her a towel to dry herself off. "It would be kind of a pain to fly back home in this storm. Could get zapped by lightning or something." "You're absolutely right!" Twilight responded. "Hey! I just had a slumber party with Applejack and Rarity last night!" "I heard," Rainbow answered without thinking. "Well, I'd certainly be up for having another one if you wanted!" Twilight said, smiling warmly. Rainbow felt a warm feeling in her chest as Twilight smiled at her. Probably because she was getting exactly what she wanted. "Sure!" Rainbow said, beaming. Then she realized how overeager that sounded and cleared her throat. "I mean...yeah, sure, that could be cool." Twilight giggled, which made Rainbow feel even happier. "Great!" Twilight said. "So first on the list of slumber party activities is makeovers!" Rainbow blinked. This didn't sound right. Rarity wasn't here. Why were makeovers being brought up? Makeovers were totally lame, and not what she wanted from a slumber party. She was cooler than makeovers. Twilight was cooler than makeovers. "Nah," Rainbow said. "Not really into the whole makeover thing." Rainbow smirked, expecting Twilight to agree completely, and was surprised when Twilight looked confused, her earlier confidence gone. Rainbow had never seen Twilight look quite as uncomfortable as she did right now. "...But the book says we should start with makeovers," Twilight said. Rainbow just shook her head. "But makeovers are lame," she told Twilight. "How about we do whatever's next in the book? Or, like, do whatever we want without following a book?" Twilight looked as if Rainbow had just asked her to cut off one of her hooves. "B-but...the book...says to..." Twilight stammered. Rainbow sighed. Twilight looked upset, and something in her told her that she should fix things and make Twilight not upset. "...Okay," Rainbow finally said. "But really quick makeovers, okay? I don't like getting all frou-frou." Twilight clapped her hooves and ran off to the bathroom to get the makeover supplies. Rainbow sighed to herself. This was gonna be awful. But at least it was making Twilight happy. And she wanted a slumber party with Twilight, right? So this was a necessary evil. Hopefully this particular stage of the slumber party wouldn't last long. The makeovers lasted for half an hour. That was roughly half an hour longer than Rainbow wanted them to last. She had spent the first five minutes trying, for Twilight's sake, to at least look like she was having a good time, but such a thing became more and more impossible as time went by. Finally, she could take no more. Twilight watched, bewildered, as Rainbow suddenly galloped to the window and stuck her head out, washing all the mud on her face off. She then pulled her head back inside and shook it off, somehow managing to look just as awesome as she had before the makeovers started. "Okay...I guess the makeovers are...well...over!" Twilight said, offering an awkward smile. Rainbow watched her shuffle awkwardly on her hooves, and figured she was doing so because she was only just realizing that she was in the presence of the great Rainbow Dash. "Great!" Rainbow responded. "What's next?" "Um...oh!" Twilight said, perking up a bit. "Ghost stories!" Rainbow yawned. "I've heard like every ghost story," Rainbow told her. Twilight got that nervous look on her face again. "Um...well, I mean, I've read a lot of them..." Twilight said quietly. "Maybe I have one that you haven't heard?" "Fine," Rainbow said, shrugging and plopping herself down on the couch. "Try me." "Okay!" Twilight said happily. She rubbed her forehooves together. "Once, there was a mare and a stallion who wanted to go on a date at Lover's Leap..." "Hook on the chariot door," Rainbow said, yawning. Twilight's enthusiasm began to fade. "O-okay..." she said, thinking. "...Oh! A pony was in his apartment, when somepony told him that the viper was coming..." "Windshield wiper with an accent," Rainbow sighed, waving a hoof in the air. Twilight looked even more uncomfortable, so much that Rainbow began to feel bad. She didn't even know why she did. It wasn't like it was her fault that she knew all of these ghost stories. Something about Twilight looking upset just made her feel bad. "Look, we covered ghost stories. Maybe the next thing'll be more fun?" Twilight smiled a little. "Um...alright," Twilight said, flipping through her book. "Next up is truth or dare." "Ugh..." Rainbow groaned. Truth or dare was the lamest of the lame. This was definitely not what she was expecting from tonight, although to be honest, she wasn't quite sure what she was expecting from tonight at all. She gave an annoyed look to Twilight, but then let that look fade as she saw the look of utter disappointment on Twilight's face. "I thought you wanted to have a slumber party..." Twilight said quietly, looking away. "I'm kinda getting the feeling you don't really want to." Rainbow's heart dropped. Of course she wanted to! It was the perfect way to get back at AJ and Rarity...but that couldn't be it. That feeling from before, the feeling that there was something more than just getting revenge on those two, was starting to come back, even stronger than before. "Of course I do!" Rainbow said quickly. "Uh...truth! Ask me a truth!" Twilight looked at her, seeming unconvinced. "Okay..." Twilight said. "Tell the truth. Why'd you say that you wanted to have a slumber party if you were going to say no to all the typical slumber party activities?" Rainbow blinked a few times. Why didn't she pick dare? She couldn't lie to Twilight now. She didn't even feel right lying to Twilight at all, let alone after she'd specifically promised to tell the truth. She took a deep breath. It was confession time. "So I was flying by here this morning," Rainbow said. "And I ran into AJ and Rarity, and they said they had a good time at the slumber party with you, and I got really upset because I wasn't invited, so then I said that I was gonna have a slumber party with you even if they didn't want me to, and I could tell they were already plotting to have another slumber party with you, so I made sure that neither of them would be around tonight, and then I set up another storm here so you would invite me to a slumber party, because I just wanted really badly to have a slumber party that was just the two of us!" Rainbow sighed again, waiting for Twilight to get mad and kick her out of the library. Instead, she saw Twilight staring at her, shocked. "You...just wanted to spend time alone...with me?" Twilight asked, her eyes glimmering a bit. "Yes!" Rainbow shouted. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. "I...want to spend time...alone...with you. ...I want to spend time alone with you! Of course!" Each time Rainbow repeated that, she watched Twilight's smile grow more and more. That made her really happy. All of a sudden, she was noticing little things about Twilight that she'd never noticed before. She had this really pretty little smile, prettier than she'd ever remembered noticing before. When she smiled, it made the corners of her big, pretty eyes crinkle in the most awesome way. The weirdest thing about this whole revelation was that Rainbow had a feeling that these things were there all along, but she just hadn't noticed them before. It was like somepony had turned on a "Twilight is pretty" switch in her brain. She wanted to do everything she could to make Twilight smile more. Without even thinking about it, Rainbow trotted over to Twilight and wrapped her in a hug. She heard Twilight make a little squeaky noise as she returned the hug. Rainbow had always thought that hugs were lame and sappy, but this hug was far from that. This was the least lame, least sappy, most awesome hug ever. A hug fitting of the most awesome pony ever in Rainbow Dash, as well as another awesome pony in Twilight Sparkle. "So...does this mean that this is a slumber-party-slash-first-date?" Twilight asked. "If you want it to be, then yeah!" Rainbow responded, giving her a smirk and ruffling her mane. Twilight sighed a happy sigh before letting go of the hug. Rainbow wasn't as quick to let go. She honestly never thought she'd like hugging as much as she just did. "I think that'd be nice," Twilight told her with a smile. Rainbow couldn't help but agree. "So what's next on the agenda?" Rainbow asked, shifting herself over so she and Twilight were side by side. Twilight giggled a bit and began to answer, when the library door suddenly burst open. Rainbow and Twilight were greeted with the sight of an enraged Applejack, splintered bits of cellar door still stuck in her mane, and a slightly-less-enraged-but-still-pretty-upset Rarity. Both of them were holding sodden pillows. "Pillow fights," Applejack said. Rainbow smiled awkwardly. And also awesomely. Now this was what she wanted from a slumber party.
