.out.of.character.

trotted into the drizzle of cold rain. She winced, standing fully outside the Boutique beneath a gray, gray world. She tilted her head up, squinting into an overcast sky. Droplets of rain splattered off her muzzle.

"Great," she grumbled to herself.

She figured that this was what the town got for her not being able to kick clouds for a week.

"Huh..." She blinked. "But I thought I only got my wing sprained yesterday."

A stallion galloped down the street, kicking up puddles of red and brown mud.

"Hey! Dude!" Rainbow waved at him. "Excuse me! Can you tell me what time it is?"

The stallion ignored her. He was hyperventilating. In a pale sweat, the stallion threw several frightened glances behind him.

Rainbow's head snapped towards the forest. Four rows of tree branches waved, swayed, and then were still. Rainbow glanced back down the road, but the stallion was gone.

She stood for a few seconds in the numbing rain. Then, with a shrug of her aching wings, she trotted forward and into the center of town.

Ponyville was awash in gray sludge and mud that day, but it didn't seem to deter anypony. Even the equines with soaked manes and soppy tails expressed casual nonchalance. Most of the villagers were out and about, trotting from sidewalk to sidewalk, having pleasant conversations, carrying about with their tasks and deliveries and other busy things. Not once did the overcast clouds break to expose the blue skies above. A few figures darted overhead. Rainbow tilted her face to see who the pegasi were, but she only caught blurred glimpses.

Just as well, she thought. The last thing she wanted to feel that day was a pang of jealousy to add to the ache of her sprained wing.

"So long as they're keeping Ponyville clean from above, I don't see what the big deal is," Rainbow muttered. "Besides, I'll be back in the air in no time. What's to be jealous about?" She looked sideways while trotting, and her pace slowed slightly.

Several ponies stood before an apartment building, only they weren't ponies. The creatures stood tall with thin limbs, cloven hooves, and wide branching antlers. The group numbered five... maybe six, and they remained dead-still, staring at the front door to the apartment. A mule galloped by, dragging a cart, and splashed them all with mud. Still, the bucks didn't budge a single inch.

Rainbow tongued the inside of her mouth. She heard what sounded like a muffled shriek to her left. She glanced aside to see the front face to Thunderlane's apartment. The curtain billowed from behind a window looking inside. Blossomforth lifted up into view, her face grinning in ecstasy. She tossed her mane and writhed with a mute gasp. Seconds later, a smoke-gray set of hooves dragged her back down, and she disappeared. The windows rattled once... twice... and then were still.

Rainbow bit her lip. She looked forward as she trounced through the mud.

It was a lot easier, she thought, to do all of her observations from a bird's eye point of view. From down here, it was far too confusing.

"I think I know what I saw," she grumbled, making her way to the side entrance of Sugarcube Corner.

But Pinkie Pie was already waiting. "Hiya, Dashie!" She stuck her head out of the upper door window and waved a pink hoof in the gray drizzle. "Whatcha doinnnn'?"

Rainbow Dash's stomach gurgled for cupcakes.

"Hoping you've got some muffins," she said with a slight fidget.

"Hmmmm! Scrumptious diddlylumptious! Stay here and lemme go check! I'm sure we have just the right stuff to fill your pegasus stomach!" Pinkie zipped back inside with a fuchsia blur.

Rainbow stood on the front stoop to Sugarcube Corner, her tail flicking at random intervals. Her fuzzy ears shook off the drops of rain as they pelted her from above.

She heard a metal scraping noise. Turning around, she glanced across the street to see Miss Cheerilee tending to her garden with a tiny hoof shovel. The town teacher hummed to herself, planting flower after flower. At one point, Cheerilee's ears folded back, and she reached deep into the earth, pulling out something slender and pale. Without a word, the mare brought the thing to her lips and began nibbling, as if eating a corn cob.

Rainbow squinted.

"Hey Dashie!" Pinkie hollered.

Rainbow flinched, spinning right around.

"I'm afraid we're all out of muffins!" Pinkie said. "But you can come inside and help me bake some!"

"I... uh..." Rainbow quickly glanced over her shoulder. The garden across the street was empty. "That's really nice of you to... offer, Pinkie."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Pinkie grabbed Rainbow by the shoulder and hoisted her inside. "Muffin mares awaaaaay!"

Rainbow winced as she was dragged halfway through the kitchen. "Ow ow ow ow... Pinkie!" She tripped over an overtuned baby's high chair and stood in place, frowning. "Watch it! My wing! Did anypony tell you?"

"Jumping through more of Spitfire's hoops, huh?" Pinkie giggled, rummaging through a closet. A bag or two of flour fell to the floor. A roach skittered in a zig-zagged pattern, eventually scurrying into a red-stained hole in the wall. "From the way I hear it, you're gonna put poor Soarin' out of a night job! Heeheehee!"

Rainbow frowned. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Awwwwwwww poopsies!" Pinkie leaned back, frowning at at the closet. "I seem to be out of bread mix for the muffins."

Rainbow Dash really wanted cupcakes.

"How... about I-I go fetch some muffin mix from another store?" Rainbow asked, rubbing her head and wincing.

"Duaaaaaah!" Pinkie gasped, eyes bright. "I know! The basement! Of course!" She took two bouncing strides and opened a thick brown door, unlatching three padlocks in a row before pulling the loud, creaking thing open. "There should be oodles of baking supplies downstairs!"

"Yowsers..." Rainbow squinted from afar. "It looks super dark down there."

"Nothing my ol' Pinkie sense can't handle!" Pinkie grinned wide and trounced fearlessly down the steep, steep wooden steps. "This should only take a second!"

"Yeah, well... just be careful, will ya?" Rainbow said, wincing from her left wing. She paced in a lazy circle, trotting over a loose baby's rattle and monkey plushie dotting the kitchen floor.

Rainbow's stomach gurgled and her mouth became dry.

"It doesn't have to be a whole bunch of muffins, y'know?" she murmured. "All I want is a little nibble."

Silence. The dark throat of the basement lingered below.

"Pinkie?" Rainbow craned her neck to peer down.

Something rattled through the ceiling above, followed by a thumping noise.

Rainbow blinked. She glanced up to see the chandelier wobbling slightly. "Uhhhh... Pinkie?" The thumping persisted. "Are the Cakes at home?"

There was no answer.

Rainbow Dash trotted to the edge of the kitchen where a flight of stairs led up to the second story hallway. She tilted her head at an angle, ear raised. Holding her breath, she thought she could make out the rhythmic grunts and yelps of a fully grown mare, timed with the thumps through the ceiling. The chandelier wobbled again, making the shadows around the kitchen twist and bend.

"Dashiiiiieee."

Rainbow spun towards the dark, dark basement.

Pots and pans clattered beyond the shadows, followed by the distant rummaging of hooves. "Could you lend me a hoof, Dashie?" The voice fluttered up like a spectre's. "It's a lot darker than I thought. I can't see my own muzzle-wuzzle in front of my face! Mind hopping down here to help me? Just for a little bit?" Metal grinding. Hooves dragged, and there were more resonating scrapes. "Just a hop, skip, and a jump, Dashie." Rusted clattering. "It won't take lonnnng!"

Rainbow Dash wanted to go downstairs and help her.

Rainbow felt her heart pulsing in the back of her throat.

It was okay. Pinkie Pie was her best friend.

Rainbow slowly, slowly trotted away from the basement. Cl-Clunk! She tripped on the baby's high chair and stumbled. "Augh!" she yelped from having to catch her balance with her left wingfeathers. Her eyes teared slightly, and once the fog had cleared, she thought she saw a shape bouncing its way up from the basement, followed by a giggling voice and the glint of metal.

Then Rainbow saw nothing, for she had promptly bolted out of the establishment. She was two blocks away from Sugarcube Corner—galloping through the mud puddles—before she finally braved a look back. From a distance, the mauve candy establishment looked as bright and innocent as it did on any other given day. A pink shape stood in the window, staring directly at her, unmoving. A few ponies who had lingered outside the bakery along the sidewalk also appeared to be standing still. Rainbow Dash swore she saw all their beady eyes in a single blink.

At last, Rainbow Dash slowed to a gentle trot. She pressed her back to the town's post office, catching her breath. Shaking the mud off her hoof, she brushed her bangs aside and stammered, "What's my deal today?" She swallowed a lump down her throat. "Get it together, girl. You're all over the place."

Splash! An orange slab of meat plummeted into a mud puddle right next to her.

Rainbow looked straight down, blinking.

A limp pegasus filly lay face-first in the damp earth, puny wings outstretched.

"Sc-Scootaloo...?" Rainbow grimaced. "What in the hay, kiddo?!"

"Nnnngh..." Scootaloo lifted to her hooves. She gazed up, squinting through a rough mask of mud. "Rainbow Dash!" She beamed wide, in spite of her pain and embarrassment. "It's so... nnngh... g-great to see you!"

"Scootaloo, did you just..." Rainbow backed up, gawking at the two-story rooftop looming over them. "Did you just jump off the roof?!"

"Uhhhhh..." Scootaloo rubbed and rubbed some of the mud off her face with a jittery hoof. "M-maybe?"

"What in Celestia's name for, ya little fuzzbrain?!" Rainbow squawked. She knelt before the filly and scraped the rest of Scootaloo's muzzle clean. "You might have hurt yourself!"

"I-I couldn't help it, Rainbow," Scootaloo said with a slight tremble. Her pretty lips pouted as she avoided the adult mare's stern gaze. "I want to fly more than anything!"

"I thought you wanted to earn a cutie mark more than anything."

"If I don't fly, then I'll never be as awesome as you!" Scootaloo finally looked up, her eyes sparkling and demure. "And you're as awesome as they come, Rainbow!"

"Scoots, look at me." Rainbow rested a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder, smiling gently. "I'm flattered that you wanna take after the awesomest pony there ever was." She took a moment to wink. "But the talents you get and the way you're destined to live your life is something you have to discover on your own! It's not something you can simply get by copying other ponies, no matter how cool they might be!"

"But... if I don't practice flying..." Scootaloo sniffled. "How will I ever learn to get off the ground?" She shuddered, gazing down at the muddy earth as her wings hung limply by her sides. "I want to believe that there's more to me than... than this."

"What are..." Rainbow blinked, her face scrunching in confusion. "What are you even talking about? Have you been listening to Diamond Spoon and Silver Tiara again?"

"Hrmmff. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters," the filly droned.

"Now, don't be giving anypony that kind of attitude!" Rainbow frowned, tilting Scootaloo's chin up so that the two stared face to face. "Especially not yourself! You'll..." Rainbow murmured. "You will..."

Scootaloo's face looked so tiny and scrumptious.

"What... I-I mean is... uhm..."

If Rainbow Dash licked the filly's cheek, she was certain it would taste like cinammon.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, sweating against the rain. "You w-will learn to fly in due time, Scoots!" She smiled awkwardly, leaning away from the lithe little filly and her cooing lips. "Don't force it! Just let it come naturally!"

"You... you r-really think I can?" Scootaloo grinned, eyelashes fluttering.

"So long as you don't go throwing yourself like an idiot off two-story buildings!" Rainbow exclaimed, slicking the raindrops off her bangs and eyelashes. "That's no way to learn! What would your buddies think? What would your parents think?"

Scootaloo instantly paled. She grimaced, wrangling her way out of Rainbow's embrace. "I... I gotta go..."

"Huh?" Rainbow blinked.

"Sorry, Rainbow. I just... I-I just remembered something I had to be doing." And the filly limped off amidst the gray haze of the rainy afternoon. Her nubile tail flicked, collecting moisture from the air.

"Scootaloo?" Rainbow reached forward with a hoof. "Where are you—?"

A sharp pain pulsed across Rainbow's left side.

"Guh!"

Rainbow winced, clutching her left wing. Her eyes clenched shut as an annoying ringing sound picked up, filling her ears. Rainbow flexed her jaws, hoping to pop her eardrums and get rid of the noise. She felt the taste of cinammon in her mouth... or was it iron?

Scootaloo had nice, supple thighs, and a soft tail that was easy to grab onto.

"Mmffnngh... what..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "...why?"

As her eyes flashed open, she spotted three figures across the way. Cloud Kicker was strolling across the street, but she wasn't alone. Two stallions murmured things into her ear, grinning wickedly. Cloud Kicker giggled, then cooed, stretching her neck as one stallion nibbled beneath one ear and the other kissed her flushed muzzle. Her tail lifted up instinctively. Not long after, a third stallion touched down on pegasus wings and braced two legs against the back of her shoulders.

A drop of rainwater bounced off Rainbow's nuzzle and into her eyes, blinding her. She stumbled to the side, mumbling curse words out loud.

"Gnnngh... don't... d-don't know any..."

Catching her breath, Rainbow rubbed her eyes dry and looked back down the street. Four sets of hoofsteps ended in the middle of the muddy road. There was nopony to be seen.

With flaring nostrils, Rainbow turned and