Rainbow Dash lay lazily sprawled out on the front counter, her head nestled in one hoof, the other lightly tracing the outline of a loose mushroom. When it was unable to continue to hold her attention, she flicked it to the other side of the counter, managing to fling it past the napkin holder, a new record for her. She let out a heavy nose sigh, a mildly horse-like pant escaping from her nostrils.
Dash hated working the late shift. Well, actually, for starters, she hated working at a bucking Domino’s Pizza in the first place, but giving her the late shift on a Friday of all days was just plain cruel. She should be out practicing her flying routine, or at the very least, doing something with her friends tonight, but instead, here she was idly playing with loose toppings while watching the clock slowly tick towards closing time. She didn’t even know why Domino’s insisted on staying open until midnight, they almost never got any customers anyways, and really, who in their right mind would want a large pizza this time of night, anyways?
She glanced up at the clock: 11:15. She lightly smiled to herself, less than an hour left. She didn’t figure that any of her friends would still be up at this hour, but if she raced home, she might be able to finish a chapter or two in the most recent Daring-Do book before knocking out. She looked around the restaurant, and it was suitably devoid of activity; the only ponies remaining were Snips and Snails sitting in a corner booth. As boring as the night shift was, Rainbow did appreciate the calm atmosphere. Given how active her lifestyle tended to be, she rarely had a chance to just sit and relax in a quiet environment outside of her afternoon naps on the cloud patch. And if there’s one thing that working the late shift let her do, it was let her mind go blank for a little while, at least when she wasn’t making deliv-
“HI RAINBOW!”
The sudden-high pitched voice right in her ear caused Rainbow to jump out of her seat and land on the floor, losing her train of thought. Unfortunately, moments of quiet were usually short-lived when she shared shifts with the pink party pony, which was most days since Pinkie requested to work similar shifts with Rainbow. As much as Dash welcomed the company, Pinkie’s...demeanor did sometimes tend to grate on her nerves (then again, when did it ever not?).
Rainbow picked herself up, rubbing her head with her hoof slightly as she planted herself back on her seat.
“Hey Pinkie,” said Rainbow flatly.
“Our shift for the week is almost over, isn’t that great?” said Pinkie with an ear-to-ear grin, sticking her face mere inches away from Dash’s. Rainbow had no idea how Pinkie was able to stay so excited and cheerful at all hours of the day, especially working the graveyard shift with her at Domino’s, but at this point in their relationship, she stopped trying to make sense of it and just go with it. It saved her the extra aggravation, at least.
“Yeah, and then we get to do it all over again next week. Yay,” sighed Rainbow Dash with feigned excitement.
“Aww, don’t be such a grump, Dashie, we should celebrate!” Pinkie’s voice reverberated off the walls.
“By doing what? Cleaning out the grease from the ovens, mopping the bathroom floor? Or maybe we should re-alphabetize the toppings in the fridge again? Ugh, I hate this job...” glumly replied Rainbow, her voice trailing off on the last few words.
“Well, you wouldn’t have to have this job if you didn’t crash through Twilight’s window and break one of her bookshelves, silly!” said Pinkie, not losing one bit of her jovial attitude.
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” said Rainbow as she buried her face in her hooves.
“C’mon Dashie, the best way to make light of a bad situation is to smile and have fun with it! That’s why I requested to work the same shifts as you, because I knew you’d be miserable having to work all by your lonesome self, and I wanted to be here to cheer you up!” said Pinkie.
Rainbow considered Pinkie’s comment for a moment. “Really?” she asked. Pinkie enthusiastically nodded her head, beaming brightly. Rainbow couldn’t share her same enthusiasm, but couldn’t help but let out a small smile. As irritating as Pinkie could sometimes be, she was at least genuine and always had her friends’ best interests at heart.
“I think I’m gonna go wipe down the tables one more time, hopefully that’ll help the next 30 or so minutes pass,” said Rainbow, hovering over to the other side of the counter and grabbing a washcloth. Pinkie watched her go but couldn’t help but let out a sigh herself. She really tried to bring up Dash’s spirits since she had to take the job to pay for Twilight’s window (and other subsequent property damage she caused...it was a doozy of a wipeout, to say the least), but she knew how much Rainbow hated her situation. Dash had never been one to process personal failure well, and Pinkie could tell that, in Dash’s eyes, this job was really nothing more than an embodiment of her failure. The damage to Twi’s house weighed heavily on Dash, and this job certainly wasn’t helping her take her mind off it.
Pinkie snapped out of her train of thought and noticed that she, too, had began to form a depressive frown on her face. She quickly stiffened her face up, not wanting to succumb to the same sadness that Dash currently occupied. She began thinking, looking around at the counter hoping that something would give her an idea. She didn’t even know what she was thinking of, but she knew that she had to do something to help lift their spirits.
Suddenly, her head and ears shot up as a lightbulb went off in her head (and in the lamp above her), her face returning to a bright smile. Without an extra moment’s thought, she dashed off to the back and picked up the phone.
Rainbow wiped her brow as she finally finished cleaning the last table. In the corner of her eye, she saw Snips and Snails make their way to the door, a pizza box surrounded in magic aura floating next to them. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked up at the clock, now 11:50.
“Yes!” Rainbow quietly exclaimed to herself. She flew back to the counter and stuck her head into the kitchen.
“Hey Pinkie, it’s time to start closing, finally,” she called out, to no response.
“HI RAINBOW!” Pinkie’s voice rang out as she inexplicably appeared right next to Dash at the door. Rainbow jumped and flew headfirst into the doorframe, a painful CRACK ringing through the kitchen. She fell on her back on the ground.
“Stop doing that!” grumbled Rainbow as she rubbed a small egg forming on the top of her head.
“Sorry Rainbow, but we have a delivery!” cheerfully responded Pinkie.
“What? Can’t you tell them we’re closed? And who the heck wants a pizza at 12 at night?” asked Rainbow Dash, incredulous.
“Well, I would have, but they placed the order 20 minutes ago. OH! That reminds me, you have ten minutes to deliver this to Sweet Apple Acres!” said Pinkie as she grabbed a pizza box sitting on the counter, the tone of her voice, again, ill-matched for the information she was relaying.
“WHAT!? Why didn’t you tell me!?” said Dash, grabbing Pinkie by the ears.
“I wanted to make it a challenge for you! I know how much you like those,” said Pinkie, seeming to ignore the vaguely-threatening look on Rainbow’s face.
“Ugh, give me that!” snapped Dash as she snatched the pizza from Pinkie and bolted out the door.
“Have fun!” called out Pinkie to a now-empty restaurant.
“Ohmanohmanohmanohman...” Rainbow chanted to herself as she raced through the streets of Ponyville. She had to keep herself from flying too fast lest she crash into an unexpected pedestrian or, worse, accidentally Sonic Rainboom en route (the last thing she needed was to be responsible for even more collateral damage by accidentally setting one of those off in the middle of town). The wind howled past her ears as she flew at breakneck speed, navigating the streets with expert precision. She looked behind her and saw that a rainbow beam was being left in her wake as she flew. She smirked to herself, not above feeling a little bit proud of her abilities.
She crossed the bridge that led the way out of Ponyville and spotted the familiar apple orchard just on the town’s outskirts. Rainbow lowered her hat on her head and accelerated, rising over the tops of the trees and just skirting their top layer of leaves. This was a race against time, and she wasn’t about to let a delivery go late on her watch. She flew with such strength and speed that some of the leaves and apples at the top of the trees were flung from their branches as she passed over them.
A rainbow-colored flash landed in front of the Apple farmhouse with enough force to kick up a large cloud of dirt around the landing zone. Rainbow stuck her landing with expert precision, but lost no time celebrating and glanced at her watch. 11:54.
“YES! Hah, Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres in 4 minutes! That’s gotta be a record! Oh yeah, go Dashie, go Dashie!” cheered Rainbow Dash, doing a small victory trot in place. Her celebration was cut short when she noticed the lights and noise emanating from inside of the farmhouse, realizing then where exactly she was and who was the probable recipient of this delivery. She sighed, her demeanor falling back to its former level as she slowly walked towards the barn door and knocked on it. A few seconds later, the exact person Rainbow was expecting (and hoped it wouldn’t be) answered, the loud music leaking out of the opened door.
“Pffthmm...’ey everypony, the pizza’s...pizza's here!” said Applejack with a hoof to her mouth, trying to stifle giggles. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Ha ha, very funny, AJ. Here’s your midnight snack, fatty, that’ll be $22.50,” she replied, shoving the pizza into Applejack’s hoof. “And don’t be stingy about the tip, you don’t know how fast I had to fly to get it here in time.”
Rainbow looked inside the barn through the crack in the door and, sure enough, the inside was lined with balloons, streamers, and confetti. A series of speakers were setup in the back connected to a phonogram, the apparent source of the loud music.
“What’re you doing in here?” asked Rainbow inquisitively.
“Oh, we’re just havin’ a little end-o’-the-week get together is all,” calmly said Applejack. Rainbow’s jaw dropped.
“You’re having a party and you didn't invite me!?” asked Rainbow, caught somewhere between being upset and offended.
“Nah, sugarcube, we’re not havin’ this party without you, we’re havin’ it for you! And now that you’ve brought the pizza, we can really get this thing goin’!” proudly proclaimed Applejack. Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look.
“Pinkie gave us a call not but a half hour to forty-five minutes ago sayin' you were in pretty low spirits, and that she had this crazy idea to throw you a little impromptu shindig to help cheer you up or somethin'.”
“Really? She did that?” asked Rainbow Dash, lightly scratching the back of her head.
“Eeyup, now c’mon, Rainbow, can’t have this party without its guest of honor!” said Applejack as she opened the door for her friend. Inside, Fluttershy and Rarity were putting the finishing touches on the streamer arrangements. Twilight was seated at a nearby table and waved at Dash with surprising enthusiasm. It was then that Rainbow noticed the mug of cider in her other hoof and a slight flushness to her face, which caused Rainbow to chuckle.
“Alright, awesome, just let me just fly back and help Pinkie close up shop-”
“I already took care of it, Rainbow!” cheerfully said Pinkie as she hopped up the dirt path towards the barn, still dressed in her Domino’s attire.
“Pinkie, you really did all this for me?” asked Rainbow, genuinely touched by her act.
“Yup yup! I couldn’t just leave you feeling all sad and down, I had to cheer you up somehow. I mean, what else are friends for?” Pinkie said. Rainbow smiled.
“Now c’mon, LET’S PARTAY!” loudly proclaimed Pinkie.
Applejack retired back into the barn with Pinkie hopping along behind her.
“Hey, Pinkie?” Rainbow softly asked. Pinkie stuck her head out the door.
“I...thanks. I really appreciate this,” said Rainbow, an uncharacteristic humility in her voice, lightly rubbing her arm with her hoof. Pinkie acknowledged her a smile and nod of her head, and then returned inside. Rainbow followed along right behind her, quickly wiping away a tear from her face before entering the barn.
