A Half-Day Without Pinks or Rainbows
“Where’s Pinkie Pie? And Rainbow Dash?”
The other girls shrugged as Sunset Shimmer spoke what were quickly becoming the top two questions of the day. First period had long since come and gone, but no one had seen hide or hair of the two all day. They did not call in sick, as far as anyone knew, and it was unlike them to be tardy. Pinkie Pie never missed an opportunity to hang out with friends, even if it meant school, and Rainbow Dash had to keep up a good attendance record to keep the captaincy she held on several of Canterlot High’s sports teams (which was pretty much every single one except the all-boys teams).
They were not the only ones to have noticed their absence. The students of Canterlot High had grown used to the sight of all six of them hanging out in the halls between classes, sometimes accompanied by the Crusaders or Trixie. The absence of just one of them from the group was somewhat unnerving. The absence of two with no explanation whatsoever defied belief and inspired an undercurrent of panic, particularly since their group had become a key factor in organizing school activities over the past few weeks.
Except for their first period teacher, he was just irritated because he had to deal with an uncooperative toupee, two unexcused absences and his coffee had not kicked in yet.
As the (uncomfortably small) group made their way down the hall to their second period classes, Rarity pulled out her phone. “Just one moment. A quick call and we should know what is going on with our good friends.” She pulled up her contacts list and dialed Pinkie Pie’s number. Applejack was doing the same on her phone, but attempted to call Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, I hope they’re alright,” Fluttershy quietly said.
“Ah’m sure they’re fine, Fluttershy;” Applejack responded, reassuring her. “You know how crazy things can get when those two are up to something.” They all nodded in agreement, remembering just how often the two went out pranking others.
Rarity waited but, to her annoyance, she only got Pinkie’s voicemail, “Hi, this is Pinkie’s phone, which is the phone of Pinkie Pie! I have some super-duper important things to do right now so leave a message after th-“
The fashionista quickly ended the call right then. “Nothing, she must have turned her phone off. Any luck getting through to Rainbow Dash?” she asked, turning to Applejack.
“Same here,” Applejack answered.
Now they had reason to be concerned. Rainbow Dash was one thing because she often missed phone calls for one reason or another, such as napping or practicing, but Pinkie Pie never turned her phone off and always had it on her. She even had it nearby when she bathed, which they discovered in an incident that they swore never to speak of again… They actually had a lot of those, now that Sunset Shimmer thought about it.
Since there was very little that they could do about the situation, short of ditching school themselves, they continued to their next classes and endured the awkward stares of the rest of the student body.
It was just so strange to Sunset Shimmer. She had grown used to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash being around that it felt like there was some void present. Even when Sunset had ran the school like a tyrant Pinkie would bounce about the halls, spreading smiles to everyone she met (well, except for Sunset herself). It also was not an uncommon sight to see Rainbow Dash bragging up a storm about how awesome she why. But now that they were not here, the halls seemed a little quieter, the school’s colors seemed a little duller and everyone’s smiles seemed the tiniest bit forced…
Sunset Shimmer really hoped that they would show up soon. It was hard to imagine getting through the day without seeing them anymore. A far cry from not long ago, when she only cared for herself. How had she been able to get through a day without them before? Not just Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, but any of them? It had happened, just recently in fact, and she was not eager to relive that experience.
Second period passed much in the same way first period did, as well as third period. However, on her way to fourth period, Sunset Shimmer heard Vice Principal Luna call out to her as she walked by. She did not look happy and tightly held a red object in one hand.
“What is it, Vice Principal Luna?” Sunset Shimmer asked nervously. She was still afraid that she may be on thin ice for all of her past actions, although the mess she made of the practice room recently did not help matters. Who could have known that magically conjured butterflies would fry the room electrical circuits? Or that “Rainboom Goo” would require professional, not to mention highly expensive, cleaners?
“Do you know where Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are?” Luna asked sternly, her gaze fixed on the girl that stood before her. “We’ve called their parents, but both families are insisting that they came to school today.”
Sunset Shimmer recognized the look that Vice Principal Luna was giving her. It was The Look. It was vice Principal Luna’s way to warn her that if she lied, for any reason, she would be spending a lot of time doing after school activities. Many students had been on the receiving and everyone learned to fear it. Those who did not soon had that error corrected.
The logical part of her mind told Sunset Shimmer that she did not have anything to worry about. She really had no idea where her two friends were and so could not possibly lie to Luna. Unfortunately, the rest of her brain was currently unavailable and crumpled before the power of the Vice Principal’s will.
“I don’t know!” She cried a little loudly and a little too quickly.
Satisfied with the answer, Luna eased back, “Very well. It would be most unfortunate if that was not the case.” She held up the object that she had been holding all this time, which was a whoopee cushion. “Next time you see them, you can tell them I want to see them in my office immediately.”
Sunset Shimmer continued to stand there, wondering what sort of wrath that Luna was planning on unleashing upon her friends and just what possessed them to give her reason to.
Why did she put up with these crazy people again?
Fourth period was same as the others, but now Sunset Shimmer and the others were getting concerned. Half of school day had gone by and no one had heard from them. Having finished their lunch, they now lounged on the steps in front of the school, accompanied by Vinyl and Trixie.
“Still no word?” Sunset asked. Vinyl took out her phone and shook her head. There were no messages from Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash and if anyone would get messages from them, it would be Vinyl. She was connected to everyone’s phones and social networking sites.
Growling in frustration, Trixie hopped off of the step she was on and stomped the concrete with her boot. “Trixie shall not stand for this! Pinkie Pie was supposed to assist Trixie in preparing for her upcoming show! I had a routine planned out for her and everything!”
Applejack looked confusingly before snickering, “Uh, Trixie, hate ta break it ta ya, but you are standing.”
Trixie opened her mouth to retort, but settled for sitting back down. “You know what Trixie meant.”
Sunset Shimmer watched the interaction with slight apprehension, but that was outweighed by her amusement. Her friends were still adjusting to having Trixie, frankly she was still adjusting to it herself, but there was no doubt in her mind that they would all get along in time. Besides, despite her faults Trixie never failed to be entertaining.
The blare of a siren caught their attention. On the curb in front of Canterlot High was a police car, its red and blue lights flashing. Its rather irritated driver had already exited the vehicle and came around to open one of the rear passenger doors. To their surprise Pinkie Pie jumped out, waving at them energetically with a large smile on her face. In no way was she acting as if she had just hopped out of a police car. Truly, this was the Pinkie Pie they had been missing all day.
“Hi, everybody! We totally got arrested by cops!” exclaimed Pinkie cheerfully as a rather despondent Rainbow Dash followed behind.
They all looked each other, all wondering what their two friends could have done to justify being escorted to school by the police. Well, almost all of them wondered that. Trixie was quickly formulating an alibi so that she did not get dragged into whatever craziness that would undoubtedly unfold. The Great and Powerful Trixie did not think she would like wearing prison stripes, even if she could make anything look good.
“Oh my word, what happened to you poor dears?” Rarity asked, running up to her friends as the police officer escorted them into the school.
Rainbow Dash gave a shaky chuckle. “We sorta got caught… while sneaking around Crystal Prep.”
“We were spying on the Shadowbolts!” Pinkie added. Then she started adding too much. “But then I tried to show Dashie how to spy, then she got loud, so we had to run and we just got off Crystal Prep’s campus when this officer stopped us on the side of the road and said everyone’s been looking for us and so he arrested us for truancy except I don’t know what that means and-“
Sunset Shimmer quickly covered Pinkie Pie’s mouth with her hand. “Okay, we get it. Kind of. I think?” She shrugged, shaking her head to fight the pounding that she could already feel coming on. There was just no making sense of Pinkie Pie.
“Ahem.”
Realizing that the officer had actually escorted them into the building, the Rainbooms turned and saw a very displeased Vice Principal Luna standing in front of her office. Sunset Shimmer, Trixie and the other took one look and bolted. When Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie tried to do the same, the officer’s tight grip on their shoulders prevented them from doing so. Rainbow glanced at Pinkie Pie and could tell that she was thinking the same thing.
“We are so dead.”
