EQD Writer's Training Ground
Rainbow Dash was still ecstatic. She, the total opposite of an egghead, getting a perfect score at the Wonderbolts history test! Giddily, she did another double loop, wondering how to tell the girls. They would be so surprised!
“... Rainbow Dash will be so surprised! It’s going to be simply delightful, Pinkie.”
Curiously looking down to where the voice came from Rainbow Dash saw two familiar mares, a white unicorn and a pink earth pony. Grinning, she dove towards a cloud, where she lay, listening intently.
“I know, it’s great! I couldn’t believe when Twilight told Rainbow Dash got a perfect score! Well, I guess I could believe, after we all helped her, but still, it’s awesome!”
“And I’m certain Rainbow Dash will be absolutely thrilled with —”
A muffled, indignant mumbling came from the ground. Curiosity winning over caution, Rainbow Dash rolled over and peered over the edge of the cloud.
Pinkie Pie, her hoof covering Rarity’s mouth, was staring up at the cloud Rainbow Dash was hiding atop. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, then Pinkie and Rarity started cantering towards the huge oak that housed the library.
Rainbow dash rolled her eyes. How in Equestria did pinkie even notice —
A thought passed her mind. Looking back, Rainbow Dash noticed her tail dangling from the cloud’s edge. “Pony feathers!”
She took to the air again, glimpsing Rarity and Pinkie Pie entering the library. A grin took her face as she climbed above the library. Well, I just have to keep flying; I will find what they are doing in no time flat anyway. After all, I have this… how did Twilight call it? Amazing special skill? It’s not as if I’m spying on them —
A pink translucent dome appeared around the library, a few ponylenghts ahead of Rainbow Dash. Eyes going wide, she made a sharp turn to avoid crashing. “Hey!”
Rainbow Dash found another cloud to rest upon while still keeping an eye on the library. The shield made her sure; her friends were preparing something, and Twilight was involved. If she was involved, then the others would be…
“Bingo!” As Rainbow Dash watched, the bubble around the library popped and its front door opened, four mares leaving; Rarity and Pinkie Pie, plus Fluttershy and Applejack. They looked… Rainbow Dash ducked into the cloud. Yeah, they are sneaking around and looking at the clouds. They are trying to hide from me.
A flash of purple among the library’s foliage grabbed Dash’s attention. She blinked, rubbed her eyes and looked again. “Mare-do-well? What the hay! What is Twilight doing?”
The purple clad alicorn glided down, landing close to a house, and started creeping from shadow to shadow towards the Carousel Boutique… no, the spa.
Rainbow Dash shrugged and started to dive, intent on asking her friend what she was doing dressed like that, when she noticed something from the direction of the Carousel Boutique. Rarity was carrying some covered dresses, moving like she was hiding from pegasi.
Ducking behind a house, Rainbow Dash kept looking. The dresses were covered, but the hats and headdresses were in plain sight; those were the Wonderbolt uniforms and… Rainbow Dash’s gala dress?
Something black moving around the rooftops drew Rainbow Dash’s attention. Pinkie was wearing her black infiltration suit and night vision goggles, and carrying what looked like a cake box. After scanning the skies she dropped to the ground, the cake box securely held in her tail, and started crawling towards Sugarcube Corner.
Applejack and Big Mac were coming from the opposite direction, each pulling a cart, Applejack’s filled with apple barrels and Big Mac’s covered with a tarp. They reached the Sugarcube Corner at the same time as Pinkie; a corner of the tarp lifted and a yellow filly with rainbow mane —
“What?” Rainbow dash rubbed her eyes. It was not the filly’s mane, but a rainbow colored wig. The official headdress of the old Rainbow Dash fan club. Why was Apple Bloom using it?
Apple Bloom jumped out of the cart, together with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, both also using the multicolored wigs. As they entered Spike left the building, furtively carrying a covered, heavy-looking picnic basket, large enough for a seven ponies picnic.
Rainbow Dash took to the skies, shaking her head, and did a quick round over Ponyville. She ignored the ponies acting normal, seeking only the ones being furtive: Twilight — without the Mare-do-well costume? — was carrying a stack of books towards the spa, the first one clearly a Daring Do novel; Fluttershy was leading her friend’s pets towards her cottage, even — yep, that was Tank — and took the basket from Spike as they passed each other; the three Crusaders, still wearing the multicolored wigs, were on Scootaloo’s scooter and wagon carrying a full set of hoofball gear, including portable goals, and a large number of Wonderbolts pennants towards the town park; Big Mac and Applejack were returning to Sweet Apple Acres, both carts now covered.
“What is with these ponies?!”
Rainbow Dash hovered in place for a while, rubbing her forehead. What to do? Who she should go after? The only ponies that could be carrying everything needed for a party were...
“Gotcha!” Throwing caution to the wind, Rainbow Dash rushed towards Sweet Apple Acres leaving a multicolored contrail behind. The apple trees becoming a blur below her; she soon overtook Applejack and Big Mac, landing in front of them.
“So,” Rainbow Dash grinned towards Applejack and Big Mac, “what are you carrying in those carts? Supplies for the party at the barn?”
Big Mac lifted his head and looked right at Rainbow Dash, smiling. “Nope!”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Oh, come on!”
Applejack put a hoof over Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Rainbow, lookie here; what I’m sayin’ is the honest truth. There’s no party supplies in those carts, there is no party in the barn. I didn’t transport party supplies this whole day.”
“What?” Rainbow dash felt her jaw go slack.
“Go take a peek at the barn if ya want.”
Rainbow Dash was off before Applejack finished, her rainbow colored trail leading to the barn. In a hurry she opened the door, looking around; apart from hay bales and farm tools it was empty.
“Great. I just made myself a fool in front of Applejack. Now, where else could they be hiding a party?” Rainbow Dash gasped; it was obvious.
In a multicolored blur, she was soon flying over Ponyville and towards the Sugarcube Corner. She quickly entered and…
“Hey, Rainbow Dash! Whatcha doing here?”
Rainbow Dash looked around; there was nothing out of place. She turned to the pink pony beaming at her.
“Hi, Pinkie. You wouldn’t be planning a party, would you?”
“Don’t be silly, I’m always planning a party! Let me see,” Pinkie pulled out a calendar from Celestia knows where, “I have a cute-ceañera next week, a birthday party two days after, a…”
Rainbow Dash tried to catch Pinkie’s attention a few times by clearing her throat and waving, without much success. Shrugging, she left Sugarcube Corner. Perhaps the surprise wasn’t a party; perhaps…
Grimacing, Rainbow Dash remembered Twilight taking the pile of Daring Do novels to the spa. Perhaps they had planned a Daring Do afternoon; stranger things had happened…
But, as Rainbow Dash looked around the spa, she was certain that wasn’t it. Apart from Lotus Blossom and Aloe, and a couple clients, there was nopony else in the spa, and no pile of books on sight. The same at the park, no hoofball set anywhere and no Crusaders; at the library, where Rainbow Dash found only Spike dusting some shelves; at the Carousel Boutique, empty of ponies; at Fluttershy’s cottage, where Rainbow Dash found only Angel and no sign of either Fluttershy or the picnic basket.
She was already feeling a headache coming when she went back to Sweet Apple Acres; as she expected, Applejack was nowhere to be seen. She set off to Sugarcube Corner, expecting to see Pinkie gone.
Rainbow Dash stopped short of her goal when she caught sight of something purple among the clouds. She squirmed her eyes; yeah, it was Twilight, hiding in a cloud.
Twilight looked towards her and gasped, jumping out and flying away.
Rainbow Dash chased after her, and In a few heartbeats has already muzzle to muzzle with the alicorn. “What in Equestria is going on? Why are you all sneaking around with things like Daring Do books, costumes, games, cakes, picnic baskets?”
Twilight backed, her eyes flicking from side to side. “Well…”
“Spit it out!”
Twilight’s eyes were going all over the place… and then she looked right at Rainbow Dash, grinning.
Rainbow Dash’s world flashed purple and went dark. “What —”
“Surprise!”
The lights came back, revealing her five closest friends, inside… yeah, it was Pinkie’s room.
“What– how– what?!”
Pinkie was bounding as she spoke. “It’s a you-passed-the-test-with-a-perfect-score surprise party, silly.”
Rainbow Dash looked around, blinking. “But why were you sneaking around carrying things that didn’t have anything to do with the party?”
Fluttershy was sitting and touching her forehooves. “Well, you see, it was Pinkie’s idea.”
Pinkie bounced around Rainbow Dash. “I only said that if you had too many fun things to choose from, you wouldn’t guess which one we were preparing.”
Twilight nodded. “We knew you knew about the surprise, so we looked for a way to confuse you about it. Each of us thought of something you might like doing, like reading Daring Do books…” She looked around to the other four conspirators.
“... Or a picnic with our pets…”
“... Or playing with Wonderbolt costumes…”
“... Or a game of agility and skill…”
“... Or a party!”
Twilight looked back at Rainbow Dash. “... And pretended to prepare each of those things for your surprise. Well, except Applejack, she is very bad at make pretend, so we had the Crusaders get the hoofball game instead. We didn’t have to bring anything to the party, after all this is Pinkie’s room.”
Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie, one eyebrow lowered. “Wait a second, you were trying to hide a party and pretending to make one at the same time?”
Pinkie stifled a giggle. “Duh! if the only missing fun was a party it would be like a cupcake table without hot sauce, you would figure out what was missing in a blink!.”
Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie, blinked, and started laughing. For some convoluted reason she didn’t even want to consider it made sense, and even if it didn’t it wouldn’t matter; she had a party to enjoy with her friends.
Rainbow Dash looked around. The party was fun, but she felt like something was missing. Something, or somepony…
Scanning around, Rainbow Dash approached the closest pony. “Applejack, Why aren’t Scootaloo and her friends, Big Mac, and Spike here? They were helping with that featherbrained plan of yours.”
“Well, I can tell ya that they are all invited to your party.”
Twilight approached, a smile in her face. “I think I might know where they are. Wait a minute.” In a purple flash she was gone, leaving Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanging awkward glances.
It didn’t take long for Twilight to appear back, her smile even wider. She went to Rainbow Dash’s side and scanned the room, her eyes stopping at Rarity, who was by Pinkie’s bed. Slowly walking towards Rarity, she asked, “Rarity, would you like to tell Rainbow Dash where the other ponies we invited to the party are?”
“Certainly, dear.” Rarity looked at the approaching Rainbow Dash and gave a sweet smile. “Why, while we kept you entertained with this cozy pre-party everypony else was preparing your real party outside.”
“Wh-” A purple glow engulfed the three ponies still inside the bedroom; as it faded Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow dash were standing at the balcony outside, while the other three friends were just leaving Sugarcube Corner. “-at?”
The large number of ponies ahead, including everypony that helped her prepare for the Wonderbolts history test, registered in Rainbow Dash’s brain before the ear-ringing shout from the assembled ponies. “SURPRISE!”
Author's Note
Feel free to point flaws, errors, or to make suggestions; I'm here to learn.
