“Ooo, that one! Look at that one! It looks like cotton candy! Oh, and that one does, too! And that one, and that one, and that one…” Pinkie pointed at most every cloud they could see, making the same comparison every time with the same limitless bubbly energy that was slowly driving them all up a wall. “Wow, all these clouds are making me hungry!” she proclaimed, rubbing her stomach and smacking her lips.
They were all laid out on the Apple property, atop one of the hills with a peak free of trees. It was a lazy summer afternoon, with most everyone’s chores done for the day, and with nothing better to do they decided to laze about and enjoy the nice weather as best they could. The only one who had no business laying about was Rainbow Dash, who was scheduled to clear the skies but couldn’t bring herself to it yet, wanting to squeeze as much relaxation out of the day as she could. “Better enjoy ‘em while they last, Pinkie,” she sighed, ready to try and rouse herself for her job. With a yawn she rolled upright and stretched her wings, taking a few warm-up flaps before soaring off into the air to clear the skies.
They watched her take off, a prismatic blur as she dispersed the clouds, then Rarity turned to Pinkie to ask what was on all their minds. “Pinkie, how is it all you see in the clouds is cotton candy? You don’t see, for example, a rabbit?” She motioned to a cloud Rainbow hadn’t gotten to yet, very obviously a rabbit in striking detail. Lately, the cloud-shapes had been becoming more and more lifelike and varied, so Pinkie’s inability to see the shapes was doubly confusing.
Pinkie looked up at the cloud, tilting her head at what had to be an uncomfortable degree, and slowly shook her head right before Rainbow popped it. “Now I don’t see anything,” she said, and began to giggle. When her mirth died down, she noticed they were all still staring with matching looks of exasperation, and her eyes widened as she was hit with sudden realization. “Wait, you guys actually see stuff in the clouds? And ponies think I’m silly!” She laughed again, this time a bit longer, so they were forced to leave it at that.
Rarity looked from the sky back to Pinkie, and her mouth worked soundlessly, unable to process what she was hearing. Finally, she let loose a sigh of defeat and laid down next to Twilight, who patted her head in sympathy. “It’s okay Rarity. Pinkie’s just… Well, it’s probably best if you don’t try to understand her. Besides, Rainbow’s almost done, so we won’t even have to worry about the clouds for much longer.”
Rainbow zoomed towards the last cloud as her friends got ready to leave, getting much more excited than was strictly necessary. It was quite large, and she relished the puff as she drove her hooves into it and blew it into the ether. She smiled as the vapors drifted apart and prepared to land, but the appearance of another pegasi from the misty remnants halted her. It was no wonder this new arrival went unnoticed so far, as she was the same pure white as a cloud and her mane matched the sky. The most striking thing about her, though, was the paintbrush that was dangling from her slack mouth, a bit of white fluff on it. She stared at Rainbow Dash in shock for a moment before dragging her gaze across the empty skies, and Rainbow took the shock for awe. “Pretty awesome, right? I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I did do all this by myself. Please, no applause is necessary.”
The new pegasus stopped scanning the sky and snapped her gaze back to Rainbow Dash, her cheeks growing redder by the minute. “You did this?” she asked incredulously, the paintbrush flicking up and down like an angry cat‘s tail. “You burst all my clouds?!” Her voice rose, and she loomed over Rainbow, grinding her teeth deep into her brush. “How could you?” she seethed, scanning the empty sky again.
Rainbow carefully pushed the angry mare to fore hoof length, a bit confused and more than a bit insulted. “It’s my job. And what do you mean, ‘your clouds’? Your name on them or something?” She stuck her tongue out and began to descend, sparing a glance back to see the pegasus still glaring at her in hurt outrage. A small pang of guilt shot through her heart, but her pride wouldn’t allow it to go any further than that as she touched down amidst her friends.
“That a friend a’ yers, Dash?” Applejack inquired, eyeing the newcomer as she fluttered back and forth aimlessly. Occasionally she would stop and try to gather wisps of cloud together, then get frustrated and scatter them all back again. “Poor filly seem ta be a bit upset.”
Rainbow didn’t even spare a glance back, knowing full well that she was more than a bit upset. “Never seen her before. I think she’s crazy, tried to tell me those clouds were hers and yelled at me. Probably best if we let her work her problems out herself.” She flapped twice and was up in the air again, hovering impatiently as she waited for her friends to gather their things, occasionally sparing a glance up at the wandering pegasus.
“Ah still think ya coulda handled that better,” Applejack grunted, driving her hooves into another tree. A shower of apples rewarded her, all of which were gathered up quickly with Rainbow’s ‘patented’ Rainblow Dry as she fetched an empty bushel. “Far be it from me ta lecture ya, RD, but maybe bustin’ all them clouds was a mistake. I mean, ya’ll saw how upset ya made that poor filly.” It was barely an effort on her part to heft all the apples into the bushel and cart them back to the barn, the sun setting behind the hills. The apples could have waited a few more days to be harvested, but Applejack forced Rainbow to help for the chance to talk to her.
“It’s not my job to worry about how the clouds look, AJ. It’s my job to break ‘em up, everypony knows that!” She swooped down and filched an apple from the bunch, blissfully unaware of the glare she was receiving as she bit into it. “’Sides, she was talking crazy,” she mumbled around a mouthful of fruit. “Tried to tell me those clouds were hers! Can you believe that?” She finished off the rest of her apple as Applejack stowed the bushel and shut the barn, both of them turning towards town. “I don’t see why it bothers you so much, either.”
Applejack sighed and shook her head, anxious to get to Rarity’s so she could try and forget the whole ordeal. “Maybe ya ought ta have Twilight teach ya a little somethin’ called ‘empathy’. Makes it a whole ton easier ta get by.” She was quickly losing patience with her blockheaded friend, ready to lecture her like she would Applebloom. But the proud pegasus would only get angry and try to argue back, a course she wasn’t ready to go down, so she was willing to sweep the issue under the rug for now, after Rarity’s new obsession with a ‘girl’s night.’
Rainbow scoffed as they knocked, crossing her hooves. “I have loads of empathy. I have empathy shooting out of my hooves! That was just a crazy filly with her head actually in the clouds!” The door opened, and Rarity’s face was plastered with an embarrassing smile as a crest of blue mane peeked from around her. Rainbow furrowed her brow and trotted in, locking gazes with the filly from before. “What is she doing here?!” she cried, settling her glare on Applejack.
She ignored the glare and made her way over towards the new guest, who was busy sipping a healthy amount of tea. “Well, we figured that it’d be best if ya’ll talked about it, make sure there’s no hard feelin’s and whatnot. Can’t have ya scarin’ away a new neighbor!” She again ignored Rainbow as her jaw dropped, instead focusing on the newest addition to their town. “I hope ya don’t mind Rainbow much, Pastel. Her mouth gets going a lot faster than her head.”
Pastel finished her cup and leveled her gaze at Rainbow, eyes darting across her face. She took a deep breath, then turned to Applejack with a small smile. “You don’t have to apologize for her, Applejack. I just want to hear it straight from her.” She resumed staring at Rainbow, eyebrow cocked, and twirled one hoof expectantly.
Rainbow managed to regain her composure in time to feel rage and embarrassment burn through her, gritting her teeth and extending her wings. “Apologize for what?! Doing what I’ve been doing for years? You’re new here, so you should apologize for getting in my way!”
Pastel sighed and poured herself another cup of tea, a perfect image of calm. “We’re not talking about how long you’ve been working, Miss Dash, though if you want to get technical I‘ve also been working for years. We’re talking about the rampant destruction of my art, and how you ruined my whole day’s work so quickly and mercilessly.” She sipped her drink with a bit of a grin, eyes leveled at Rainbow throughout. “I honestly don’t see what the big deal is: you apologize, I accept, we move on. That’s how it goes.”
Rainbow snorted and stamped her hoof, shaking the table and spilling some of the tea. “No, what I’m talking about is you going nutty and yelling at me! I didn’t know somepony was up in the clouds playing Pablo Picassoat! I’m not going to apologize for doing my job!”
“Now, you’re setting such a great precedent!” Pastel yelled as she tried to shake tea from her coat, losing her composure in an instant. “Not only can you not appreciate art, but you can’t even sit down for a moment without making a foal of yourself! I was trying to be civil, Miss Dash, but I think we’re well past that point!” She stomped towards the door, glaring at Rainbow as she passed. Once out the door she turned, addressing them. “I‘m sorry everypony, but I simply can‘t be around such an uncultured beast! It’s time somepony taught her some manners!” With a huff and a flap, she was gone.
Rarity broke the silence with a sigh, levitating a mop over for the spill. “Would it be too much to ask that just once we get a new arrival that doesn’t have some kind of issues?
