How Pinkie Pie Met Rainbow Dash

The streets of Manehattan were calm that night; no silly clouds were visible on the horizon and everypony was safely nestled in bed. The clouds that had been present yesterday had developed into a super dense fog; which lingered over the normally busy city, covering it with uncertainty and a yucky grey tinge that made even the pink cake-house seem less colourful. However the icky greyness couldn't enter the tall bluish-grey building, currently buffering the sound asleep Pegasus pony from the outside troublesome air.

When the morning came, Pinkie Pie was the first to stir from the two ponies' shared slumber. Pinkie was still a bit groggy from last night's battle with the cobra, but she could feel something holding her tightly. Looking down at her stomach to see what was embracing her, she saw blue hooves rapped tenderly around her; Rainbow Dash was holding the pink pony in her hooves. Pinkie gasped and blushed deeply at what was happening. She tried to figure out why she had this new feeling of happiness when being hugged by Rainbow, but all she managed to do was smile in a kind of daze; at this moment, she was only able to think of one thing. With Dash's cyan-coloured hooves rapped warmly around her, Pinkie knew how nice it felt to have the blue pony cuddled up to her. With a deepening blush spreading across her pink face, she let herself relax in the Pegasus' warm embrace, wanting nothing more than to stay like this forever, but movement from behind her interrupted her balloon of thought. She gasped again. Dashie, no.

The gasp from Pinkie woke the rose-eyed Pegasus, but she didn't seem to notice what she was doing at first. When her rose-coloured eyes did focus on her bestest best friend, however, Dash soon found herself gasping, blushing, and instantly letting go of her as she pulled herself quickly out of bed. "S-Sorry Pinkie." She cantered into the bathroom; which still had its sink in place. Although the sink seemed to have been in an attempted removal, but had been given up on before it would come out properly. Rainbow Dash stared into the mirror angrily. What is wrong with you Dash? She's your friend. Your bestest best friend. You shouldn't feel this way around her: tense and anxious all the time.

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie called from the bedroom, breaking Dash from her scolding. Pinkie appeared at the door to the bathroom with an urgent look on her pink face. "There you are." As she walked in and stopped beside the Pegasus pony, Pinkie hesitated. "Dashie… it's okay; it was just an accident. You were asleep and–"

"No Pinkie." Dash interrupted the pink pony's speech and looked down into the sink. "It wasn't an accident. … In my dreams–" Rainbow choked up and turned her head away from Pinkie so the heat forming on her already reddened cheeks wasn't visible to her pink friend. She continued slowly, still looking away as if talking to a bathroom shower curtain instead of the pink pony's beautiful face would make it easier to speak her emotion filled mind. "I've wanted to do that for a long time now and I can't figure out why. I don't … want to know why." She paused, turned away from the sink, and gazed into Pinkie's round blue eyes with an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Whenever I'm around you I… I get this feeling; like if I didn't show you or tell you how I felt every moment I was with you… I would pop… like a balloon filled with too much stuff." She chuckled horsely, trying to ease her anxiety with something Pinkie Pie said, but that only succeeded in making her feel worse. She lowered her beautiful eyes away from the pink pony and let them float to the ground.

With a city such as boring old Manehattan, the buildings in it would be called anything but colourful. The houses of the bustling city were the same as the ponies themselves: grey, dull, boring, un-fun. But something about this particular house seemed different; different enough to know that even if you stared at the floor, the floor would be just colourful enough to gain a smile on anypony's face.

Pinkie noticed the Pegasus' trouble and walked forward uneasily, trying to comfort her friend. "Dash, it's fine. I don't–"

"Forget it Pinkie… i-it's not important." She turned away from the sink and walked beside the pink pony, facing the door to her bedroom while Pinkie still stared at where her friend had looked at her a moment ago. "We've gotta get ready for the move to Ponyville, right?" Dash tried to sound excited, but it felt like such a lie to her that she wanted to crawl back into bed and forget what she had said.

"Y-Yeah. I'll get our bags." The pink pony's dejected reply broke Dash's already shattered heart even more, but she couldn't find anything comforting to say to the Earth pony next to her.

The two stood frozen in place for a while until Pinkie Pie sniffed a little. This gained a concerned look in the Pegasus pony's eyes. "Pinkie?" No answer came from the pink pony as she turned and walked out sadly, with her head drooped in regret. Rainbow remained there; unable to see anything but the saddened look on her bestest best friend's face in her mind.

As Pinkie Pie moved from the bathroom and back into the bedroom to get the bags, she noticed a drawing of the Wonderbolts that she had missed. It was a crudely drawn picture of the three ponies and a fourth one flying in front of them. They all had a Wonderbolts uniforms on, but the blue pony had a cloud mark with a rainbow-coloured lightning bolt adorned on the flank of her uniform. At the bottom of the picture was written in blue crayon:

'Me with the Wonderbolts'.

A smile bounced onto Pinkie Pie's face, making her forget all the awkward moments the two ponies shared and stood motionless and happy. She stared kindly at the picture with a glazed look in her eyes until she heard Dash stepping out of the bathroom. Shoving the picture deep into a sattlebag, Pinkie whipped around and smiled largely at her bestest best friend. "Hiya Dashie! Ready to go?"

Rainbow looked confusedly at her friend's quickly brightened demeanour. She tilted her head to the side with her mane following swiftly. An equally confused eyebrow rose as an answer before the Pegasus pony replied. "Uh, sure… Pinkie."

Exiting the bluish-grey house, Dash turned back to lock up one last time; this gave Pinkie the time she needed to think about her discovery. How long has Dash actually wanted to be a Wonderbolt? She thought. The drawing looked like it was made when she was a little filly. A small smile bounded through her pink face and she looked towards her Pegasus friend. She looked sooo cute in that picture. She even had her cutie-mark drawn on her uniform. Pinkie's eyes shifted to stare at Rainbow's cutie-mark, but she shook her head and turned away. Not this again. Silly feelings… go away! She patted the side of her head with a hoof as if doing so would rid her of the energetic thoughts that raced around her mind and the deep red blush forming across her cheeks.

Before she could think anymore, Dash turned back around to face the pink pony and spoke solemnly to her friend. "Ready?"

Pinkie turned back to stare awkwardly into Rainbow's eyes, afraid to look anywhere else. All the pink Earth pony could do was nod and hope that the blush on her bright pink face had disappeared.

The two ponies began to walk along the busy streets silently, not taking much notice of the other residents wandering around. A few stopped to stare at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, but they had too much on their minds already to worry about them.

The ponies of Manehattan had a certain dull way of looking at the other residents. They seemed to have perfected 'the stare' to the extent that if one stared at somepony with a weak ability to lie, the Manehattanite would be able to force the truth out of the starie, or is it stariess? … Stariet? Oh, the pony that was being stared at! It was the sort of dull stare you'd expect from a large city that abhorred parties and candies and streamers and… and fun. But that didn't matter; there was always fun and joy to be found somewhere, even in a boring-as-hay city.

The two ponies felt rather uncomfortable with each other as they slowly walked through the streets of Manehattan. Dash kept glancing at the pink pony for any indication of sadness bouncing across her normally bright pink face, but Pinkie Pie only stared down at the ground with a calm look and tons and tons of thoughts troubling her already very befuddled mind; she refused to look anywhere else. She was even quieter than when Rainbow first met her; which didn't make Dash feel very good.

Thinking about what the curly-maned pony could be thinking at this moment unsettled Rainbow considerably. What do I do? How can I help her… without… without seeming–? She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought. She closed her eyes tightly and turned her head away, angry towards herself and towards the confusing feelings she held. Urgh, stupid feelings… go away! A thought struck Rainbow's mind; a thought that she didn't want to accept at first, but it kept returning... to tell her mind... 'say it'. And no matter how many times she fought to forget them, her thoughts continued until she wanted to speak those words more and more. She turned her head nervously to look at Pinkie again. Now the only problem is… She gulped. Saying it to Pinkie Pie.

She wanted to say it; she wanted to understand her friend and herself, but whenever Rainbow Dash attempted to cheer Pinkie up, she would choke up on her words before they even had a chance of forming on her lips. The Pegasus pony also struggled to keep up with the pink pony for a looong while; pushing through the crowds that appeared to swarm past her, but it seemed like every few steps a pony would walk by and prevent her from walking alongside her usually cheery friend to say anything while Pinkie walked on unhindered.

It was early in the morning, the crowds of ponies heading for work and going about their dull business. So the streets were quite packed with ponies at this time; which upset Dash considerably. She had never been up this early before, so she didn't know what it was like. Now that she did; however, she didn't like it one bit. But the crowds of Manehattanites grew less and less as the morning hoof-hour grinded to a halt and Pinkie and Rainbow were allowed to walk flank-to-flank again. Rainbow had long since lost the courage to ask Pinkie Pie her question and adopted a silent gaze at the Everfree Forest just outside the city. I wish… I could be back there. She turned her head to look again at her unbouncy pink party friend with anxious eyes.

As they continued silently through the streets and out of the city a collection of ponies from Manehattan caught on to what the two were doing and began following them to the border of the grey-oriented city. And as the two walked down the street and out onto the road, cheers rang through the city; confetti and streamers burst from cans in pony's hooves and a parade of ponies began behind them until they reached the outside of Manehattan. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash continued to feel uncomfortable the entire time; in fact, they were so nervous about looking at each other now they didn't even notice the pony parade or the streamers or the confetti raining down on them. All the two worried about was the pony beside them. When the crowd dispersed, Pinkie and Rainbow were long gone from their sight and the ponies went back to their boring office jobs like nothing had happened that minute.

Normally one of the two ponies would offer to give the other a lift, but as they walked along the dirt roads to Ponyville, the two said nothing. They didn't even glance at each other anymore, on fear of feeling more confusing emotions inside them. It didn't prevent their thoughts from entering their minds, however, as Dash wondered how the pink pony had taken her outburst and Pinkie wondered why she couldn't shake the thought of the morning hug she had received from the blue pony.

As they neared the border of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie stopped. Dash didn't seem to notice until she was a few hooves ahead of the Earth pony. She looked back over her shoulder worriedly when no pink pony was walking next to her and saw Pinkie with her head hanging down and her curly pink mane covering it. Given that Pinkie's mood is a difficult one to track; Rainbow Dash didn't know whether to be sad or happy about her friend sitting away from her. After all, she could just be setting up a huge 'surprise welcome to Ponyville' party for the both of them when they passed into the small town to try and cheer them both up. However, something about this made Dash feel uneasy. She slowly turned and trotted back over to the seated pony.

Before the Pegasus pony could open her mouth to ask what the problem was, Pinkie spoke. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes Pinkie?" The words just slipped out of her mouth, like they had always been spoken. Dash was more than a little stunned to hear her name in such a sad tone being spoken from the pink pony's lips; she stopped abruptly and lifted a fore-hoof in concern.

"I have that feeling too." Pinkie replied quietly, forcing her head up to finally look at the rainbow-maned pony.

Still a bit stunned and now confused as to what the Earth pony had said, her one liners continued. "Huh?"

"What you said back at your house; I kinda feel the same." The pink pony spoke immediately as if hoping that her friend would ask, so she could explain her answer more clearly to the Pegasus pony. "Whenever I'm around you, I feel… happy and confused… and anxious and… scared and bouncy and a buncha other weird stuff all at once." Her eyes began to glisten, but no tears came to her round blue eyes. She gulped and took a deep breath to collect her thoughts; which lay scattered across her bouncy mind. She looked back into Rainbow's gorgeous rose-coloured eyes for inspiration and continued to speak her mind. "I've really tried to figure out these feelings for a long time, like in the Everfree Forest, but no matter how much I try to understand… I… can't. It must be one odd Pinkie sense." She stared down at the dirt path and kicked some mud to the side with a shaky hoof.

Dash looked down at the pink pony for a while before replying to her friend. "Pinkie…" She began slowly. Rainbow sighed and stared down at the ground in front of Pinkie Pie. "I don't think it's a part of your Pinkie sense if I have the same feeling." She turned to face Ponyville and walked a few hooves away from her friend. "I just… don't get it."

Pinkie immediately looked worried when she saw her friend leaving and jumped up in fear. "Dashie!" This seemed to get the Pegasus' attention; she stopped walking, but she didn't turn around to face her. Pinkie trotted up to meet her blue friend with a calming tone, very peculiar for the Earth pony, accompanying her gentle voice. "I–It's okay. I know it's confusing, so you don't have to say anything. Let's just forget about it… okay? Please, Dashie?" She bounced in front of Rainbow and stared frantically into the Pegasus' tender rose-coloured eyes, hoping that she would hear the answer she was searching soo hard for.

Seeing her pink friend's trembling face and pleading blue eyes was too much for the Pegasus. Rainbow Dash glanced to the side to avoid looking her in the eyes before answering. "I don't think I can forget it. I've tried so hard, but…" The thought came to her mind again, and this time she didn't care what it meant. She needed to know what these feelings meant to her… and to Pinkie Pie.

The Earth pony only became more desperate with Dash's reaction and she tried to salvage the conversation… and their friendship. Pinkie sat down in front of her blue friend and put a pink fore-hoof over Dash's. "But we're still bestest best friends, r-right Rainbow Dash?" With a tender hoof on hers, Dash felt warmth spreading all over her again and she gazed into Pinkie's eyes, never dreaming to look away. With Rainbow's tender gaze on her alone, Pinkie's cheeks started to redden and she quickly removed her hoof from Dash's, turning her head to look at Ponyville in the distance. "A-And when we get to Ponyville we can split up and t-think about all this–"

"Pinkie?" The Pegasus pony lowered her head slightly but still stared in Pinkie Pie's direction uncomfortably.

This caught Pinkie off guard and she replied apprehensively, turning her head back to hear her friend better. "Y-Yes Rainbow Dash?"

Dash raised her head back to meet eye contact with the Premier pink party pony and gazed pleadingly into her deep-blue eyes, as if her entire life was poured into this one question. "Would you go out with me sometime?"

"Uh… uhhh…" Yes. A voice rang out. Her beautiful blue eyes had locked on to the Pegasus' rose-coloured ones, frantically searching for why she would ask that and how she should respond. The answer she came to in her Pinkie Pie mind only scared her more and she couldn't bring herself to speak, because she knew if she tried to only one word would manage to escape her lips. The voice spoke again, louder this time. Say it. Say it! She broke eye contact and gazed down at the dirt path. I can't! Tears made themselves known in the pink pony's eyes, but she blinked them back.

Seeing the Earth pony's apprehension to answer, she regretted saying those seven words to her bestest best friend and interrupted Pinkie's thought process. "You don't have to give me an answer right away. We can just find a house to unpack our stuff in and then…" She stopped herself from going on with how it sounded and looked at the tense pony in front of her.

Her eyes were still closed and her head was tilted away slightly. "I can't."

Rainbow stepped forward trying to reason with the pony. "Pinkie please–" But she was prevented from speaking further.

"I need some time to think Dashie; think about us." Her head never shifted from the ground in front of her, afraid of Dash's certainly heart-broken expression. She spoke slowly and more than a little regretfully to her bestest best friend. "Ponyville's just ahead; there must be tons of cloud homes there… so you'll have no trouble finding a place to sleep tonight, but me… I need to be alone for a while." She tried to speak with a spring in her hoof she no longer had, but she managed it for Rainbow Dash.

Dash gulped hard and tried to hold back tears that began forming on the edges of her beautiful eyes. She angrily shook them off as she answered Pinkie tensely. "Of course Pinkie. I'll see you later then." She slowly turned away from the pink pony, but glanced over her shoulder at her with glossy eyes when her pink friend spoke again.

"Thanks for understanding Dash." Her curly magenta-mane blocked Dash from seeing her expression, but the Pegasus pony was already hidden behind the disappointment and heart-break she felt from Pinkie's response – a feeling now she desperately wanted to understand –to know that the pink pony wanted to say "Yes", but wouldn't allow herself to because it might break up their friendship. Because of the new bizarre feelings she now felt from Pinkie's rejection, Rainbow became flustered and began stepping back angrily with her wings spread wide.

"Oh, I understand more than that; I completely get where you're coming from… I get it." She spoke those last words quietly, as if to herself, and kicked off towards the small town, leaving the confused pink pony to stare ahead at her equally baffle-minded friend.

At those last spoken words, Pinkie stared up at the sky where her friend was now soaring angrily through on her way to Ponyville. "Dashie…"

As Rainbow Dash flew quickly into town, she saw the small houses and shops placed all around the square and began to regret yelling at the pink pony. I'm sorry Pinkie Pie, it's my fault. I started all this, but I don't know how I'm supposed to fix it. I'm so confused. I like Pinkie… more than I think I should and I can't tell her. It'd ruin our friendship… I just met her… What if she doesn't like me the same way? She always seemed so awkward around me, but what if she's just… being Pinkie Pie… and I ask her and she gets all upset and never wants to see me again? Dash suddenly glared up at the sky angrily. "And why aren't there any cloud-homes around here? Tons of clouds, but nowhere for Pegasi like me to live in! What's the deal?"

She was correct; no cloud-homes could be seen over the small town of Ponyville. There were a large amount of them in Cloudsdale and Manehattan was more of a city for Earth and Unicorn ponies, but this small open town had quite a few Pegasi flying around and to Rainbow Dash there weren't any places for them to sleep. So she thought. Guess I'll just have to make my own house. Yeah, that'll get my mind off things.

While Dash began building her own home, Pinkie Pie wandered along the road absentmindedly as she continued to struggle with the feelings she has towards the Pegasus pony. Why do I feel this way? Why do I feel this way about my bestest best friend? I just met her a few days ago and now–

A loud kicking noise, following swiftly by many thumping noises, was heard from close by and Pinkie tried to find the source. She ran through trees populated by apples and eventually found herself in a clearing. The kicking and thudding continued undeterred by the pink pony's sudden presence.

"Yeeha!" A Southern accented pony's voice rang loudly through Pinkie Pie's ears, taking her confused heart away from the confusing thoughts that confusedly replayed itself throughout her confusingly Pinkie Pie mind; confusing isn't it? This was followed by yet another plethora of noises and thuds and Pinkie saw the cause of the commotion. A blonde-maned cowgirl Earth pony could be seen running up to kick a tree – a few hooves away from the pink pony –with three baskets underneath ready to catch the falling apples. "Well howdy there pardner. What can ah do ya fer?" She asked as she noticed the stunned pony in front of her.

Pinkie Pie's glistening blue eyes met with the cowgirl pony's kind green ones, but dropped to the floor when she saw how worried the pony began to look. "I… I…"

The brown pony stepped forward, concern for the glossy-eyed pony before her growing. "You alright sugarcube? You sure seem worried 'bout somethin'."

Pinkie's head shot up with a tense look on her pink face as she smiled as best she could. "There's nothing wrong, I'm fine. Perfectly perfect all the way around. I'm just as…" She sighed, lost her cheerful momentum, and glanced back down at the floor. "Bouncy as ever." She tried to sound happy, but the teary round eyes she wore with shame – trapped in deep thought, still searching for an answer to the question posed by the pink pony – betrayed her.

"Nah don'tcha lie to me. I wasn't born yesterday and ya'll missy are worried somethin' fierce." She took a few more steps forward and looked caringly into the lowered eyes of Pinkie Pie.

Her head was still tilted to the grassy floor, but her blue eyes met the gaze of the cowgirl pony. "Well, there's this pony… and I might… actually–" She began, but was interrupted by the Southern accented pony.

"Ah see, colt trouble is it?" The cowgirl Earth pony raised her sweat-soaked face up to the sky, proud of figuring out what the problem was.

Pinkie looked confused and a little embarrassed at the quick question, but shook it off just as quickly. "Well, sort of. Hmm." She sat her rump down with a hoof to her chin as she attempted to think of how to explain her teensy-weensy problem to the brown pony. She saw the pink pony's eyes become thoughtful and she looked quizzically at Pinkie Pie, hoping to bring the answer out of the fluff ball faster. "What're you tawkin' about Pinks? How can tha' sorta be it?"

The pink Earth pony gave up trying to figure out where to start and shrugged her shoulders hugely. She decided to answer the questions as they came. "I'm not sure. I don't actually know how I feel towards this pony. But whenever I'm near this pony… I get a funny fuzzy feeling inside me and I can't think about anything else." A slight smile appeared on her face and her sadness seemed to fade away as she spoke from her Pinkie heart.

"So, this here pony… is a friend ah yers?" She asked as she tilted her head from the left to the right, trying to figure out the pony's position.

Pinkie Pie nodded while looking down at the ground. "Bestest best friend. The only true friend I've ever had and these feelings are pushing us away from each other. My heart wants me to throw a party for having these feelings, but my mind is telling me to forget them and this pony. I don't know what to do. I don't wanna forget."

Pinkie looked towards the brown pony staring back at her motherly, waiting attentively for an answer from the cowgirl. "H'ah seriously doubt that; 'specially the whole 'only got one friend' thing. And the 'heart and mind' stuff ah don' really get, but ah do know one thing."

"Yeah?" She asked hopefully.

No hesitation showed on the Earth pony's sweaty, sun-tanned face as she threw her head up proudly once again with the pink pony's long awaited answer. "You mah friend are in love."

The smile she now wore dropped off completely and a look of shock and distress replaced it. "L-Love? No I can't be. I just can't!" She got up and took a few steps back, shaking her pink head with her magenta-coloured mane following swiftly after.

That wasn't the kind of response the brown pony was expecting. It was rather odd to her. "Simmer down sally; it ain't that big a deal–"

"Yes it is! She's my bestest best friend in all of Equestria and I love her!" Her yell surprised the blonde-maned pony and she took a few steps backward before realising what Pinkie had said to her.

"Her?" She was tawkin' 'bout a mare this whole time? That's embarrassin', but that's not important right now; right now she needs somepony to understand her. "Come 'ere sugarcube." The blonde-maned pony took the crying pony in her hooves. She needs a friend right now.

As the day and pink pony's tears drew on, the cowgirl pony managed to bring Pinkie into her family's barn. Sitting down on a bale of hay, Pinkie managed to dry her tears; however, the new thoughts and newly understood feelings still bounced around in her pink mind. The other pony sat uncomfortably on the bale opposite her. For a while the two ponies sat in silence, except for faint sniffles coming from Pinkie.

But just as surprisingly as she had burst into tears the pink pony showed a very odd, but very Pinkie Pie style mood change as she leapt off her hay bale, and bounced to the Earth pony. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! Sorry I was so sad earlier, I was super-duper confused by all these feelings I've been feeling forever and I was just soo scared to tell anypony about them, but that's not a problem anymore 'cause I told you…" She gasped suddenly and stopped bouncing to look at the pony on level hay. "And I don't even know your name yet!"

The intense stare from Pinkie made Applejack uncomfortable, as if the pink pony was staring into the cowgirl pony's soul. After a couple seconds of rushed thinking, the pony smiled as her mind registered all that Pinkie Pie had said. "Ya didn' let me tell ya mah name yet. Hi Pinkie, it's a pleasure to make yer acquaintance… mah name's Applejack." Pinkie Pie, She thought. Can't believe ah didn't think o' that before; guess the name ah used earlier was more accurate than ah thought.

The pink Earth pony tilted her head to the side quizzically. "Ooh, Applejack. That's a nice name. Well Applejack," She paused to giggle at the 'accurate to what the pony was doing' name and continued with what she was asking. "Didja really mean what you said about being my friend?"

She nodded with a bright smile. "O' course Pinkie Pie." And she sure knows how ta tawk too. She thought.

Pinkie gasped even louder and started bouncing about the barn uncontrollably, with a smile on her face three times as large as Applejack's. "Yay! I have another friend; this is all thanks to her: my bestest best friend forever in all of Equestria." She stopped bouncing and put a hoof on Applejack's shoulder with a suddenly strict look on her face. "You can't never ever tell her Applejack, promise me you won't."

With the stare back to make the cowgirl pony tense up again, she nervously answered the pink pony invading her personal space just a tad. "Relax sugarcube. Ah ain't no blabber mouth." She held a hoof up into the air and closed her green eyes. "Ah promise ah won' tell 'er…" She opened her eyes when she thought of something. "Ah don' even know 'er name… and ya don' have ta say it neither, but when ya do get the chance ta tell 'er how ya feel… you better come 'n' let me know how she loved ya twice as much back. 'Kay sugarcube?" She winked at the Earth pony with another honest smile on her face.

"Got it." She answered, closing her eyes with a happy giggle.

Applejack chuckled back at the pink pony's rapidly changing demeanour and remembered that she was behind schedule with her work. "Nah before ah get back ta mah apple buckin', ah was jus' wonderin' where it is yer from."

Pinkie answered quickly as if she had expected the question. "Oh I'm not really from anywhere right now, but I moved from Manehattan yesterday and was looking for Ponyville, but then I started getting these bizarrie-warrie weird feelings in my stomach when around my bestest best friend as we walked to the town and then I stayed behind as she went on ahead of me and I came here to meet you and now we're here in your barn and now we're talking." Her grin never faltered as she spoke the one looong sentence to her obviously stunned friend.

"Oh." Was all she managed to say after hearing the pink pony's long-winded speech.

Before either of the ponies could respond, Pinkie's tail started twitching wildly. She took it in her fore-hooves and brought it up to her thoughtful blue eyes. "Hmm, twitchie-twitch-a-twitch-a-twitch–!" She gasped and jumped forwards at the cowgirl pony. "Look out!" Applejack, unable to do anything else, was tackled to the ground and away from the ceiling where a piano came crashing down through it.

Outside the barn, a Pegasi crew had been delivering mail to Sweet Apple Acres and a cross-eyed mailmare looked – well sorta looked – at the driver with a very embarrassed expression on her grey face.

Pinkie looked unfazed by the sudden obstacle in the barn and glanced down at Applejack to continue speaking calmly and sweetly. "Yeah, so I need a house to sleep in quick before it gets too dark out there." I'm sure she can help me find a fun place to stay. She thought with a quizzical expression towards her friend. Ooh, maybe there's a house almost as colourful-wolourful as the one in Manehattan. She began to bounce up and down again, hopeful.

Applejack stared slack-jawed at the collapsed piano. "Wha? What was that?"

"Hmm?" Pinkie replied, still bouncing up and down joyously.

Applejack shook her head and stood up impatiently. "Landsakes Pinkie, you just saved me from bein' crushed by a piano!" She gestured over to the pile of wood and keys with a slightly shaky, but grateful for not being squashed, fore-hoof.

Pinkie looked to where the brown pony was pointing to and immediately understood. "Oh yeah, silly me, that's my Pinkie sense." She stopped bouncing and smiled warmly at her Earth pony friend.

The cowgirl pony proceeded to tilt her head to one side and rub a fore-hoof through her blonde-coloured mane in confusion. "Pinkie what?"

"I'll explain along the way, 'cause I'm sure to get lots more meekly feelings today, but I need to find a place to sleep first." Pinkie jumped up and made a play bow in front of Applejack, with her fore-hooves spread out. "Can ya help me Applejack? Pretty please with cupcakes on top… and icing… oh, and sprinkles–! Darn, now I'm hungry."

The brown Earth pony blink several times at what Pinkie had said, but she decided to forget about that right then. Somepony needed her help and she wasn't the type of pony to let another pony down, even if that pony is a teensy-weensy bit strange.

"Alright alright I'll help ya. Hmm." Applejack placed a hoof under her chin and followed her bouncy friend with her green eyes for a few minutes while she thought of any vacancies available in town. Looking downcast after a few moments, she dropped her hoof back down and spoke. "Yeah, it's gettin' late and ah'm not real sure what houses are still up fer grabs– Wait a minute!" Her expression hardened as she remembered something that had happened recently to her cowpony knowledge. She locked eyes with her new pink friend as Pinkie kept bouncing in place happily. "It jus' so happens that ah know the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner are lookin' fer a helpin' hoof around their sweet's shop."

Pinkie Pie had stopped jumping at the word 'cake'. "You had me at 'Cakes'. Mmm cake." She licked her lips rapidly and giggled to herself and at the cowgirl pony's expression once she was finished.

Applejack's head tilted to the side, seeming to be worried about the pink Earth pony's baking skills… and the whole cake thing too. "Are ya good at that kinda thing?"

Pinkie looked hurt for a moment; she sat down and put a fore-hoof to her chest in pretend shock. "Am I good?" Her act was broken quite easily as she started to giggle at her attempt at feeling hurt and continued ecstatically. "I live for cakes and muffins and cupcakes and anything else super-tastically tasterifical and sweet." She held back giggles both at her made-up words and the look Applejack gave her for them soon afterwards.

Her baffled look didn't change at the pink pony's laughter. "… So… that a maybe?"

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof up as she answered. "Of course it's a 'yes' silly… Misses Applejack." She winked at the brown-coloured Earth pony.

"Well alright then, but ya can drop the 'misses' stuff. The way ah look at it, tawkin' like that is jus' wasted time that could be spent apple buckin'." She began to walk to the door with the pink pony bounding swiftly after her. "So, ah'll show ya where ta go and maybe after that ah can show ya ta mah friends. And then ya can explain the whole Pinkie sense thing too." She chuckled and glanced to the side to await the pink Earth pony's response.

Pinkie had caught up and bounced beside the cowgirl pony to keep in time with her friend's pace. "Sounds good to me, I'd love that. But Applejack, are you sure they want a pink party pony for a helping hoof?" Her cheerful attitude lowered just slightly, but the blonde-maned pony picked up on it.

She glanced to the side at Pinkie Pie with a sly smirk. "'Cause the pony that was their last helpin' hoof jus' about blew up the shop after puttin' waaay too much bakin' soda instead o' jus' enough bakin' powder inta a cake."

The pink Earth pony's slightly lowered grin turned into a mass of muffled giggles at the thought of seeing something like that happening before her. "Whoa, that musta made a huge mess. I wish I coulda been there to see it; I've never ever had cake made with baking soda before." Pinkie paused her response to think for a moment, but turned back to the Earth pony with a very good question. "Do you think it'd be wet, Applejack?"

The brown Earth pony couldn't help but laugh at her friend's bizarre, but valid question. "Good one Pinkie. Yeah, poor Caramel hasn' got a job anywhere in town since that little… inc-ee-dent."

"Oh Applejack, you're such a great and funny friend to have. Especially with that… funny accent you got there, pardner." She nudged the Earth pony's shoulder with a joyful giggle.

The brown Earth pony seemed to have a permanent smirk plastered on her face as she replied. "Har har, very funny… miss party pony."

"Haaah!" Pinkie stopped and placed a fore-hoof on Applejack's muzzle triumphantly. "You said… 'miss'!" With that, she collapsed to the ground and burst into laughter as she held her sides together.

Applejack stopped, unable to reply. She dropped her smirk and her head to look down at the squirming pony. "Ah shoot, yer right. Ya big city ponies always have an instant effect on meh."

Pinkie ceased laughing when she realised something quite important to her, bounced up onto her hoovsies, and started bouncing ahead to the barn's large front door. When she didn't hear accompanying hoof steps behind her, she glanced back at her new friend. "Come on Applejack, we gotta get there fast so the other ponies don't get all the cake… oh and the job too!"

"Right behind ya, Pinks." She shouted ahead and began in a trot to catch up to the bouncy pink pony.

Pinkie stopped at the door and blocked Applejack from exiting when she had caught up.

"What's the matter Pinkie Pie?" She said quizzically as she pushed the pink pony's hoof down to see better outside.

Pinkie scratched her itchy nose and nervously pointed outside as a swarm of meanie-pants type bees flew by. Once they had left, to the relief of Applejack, Pinkie leapt from the barn and spoke happily as she bounded forward. "An itchy nose means an angry swarm of bees are nearby. They can be real mean sometimes too."

Applejack was again dumbstruck by the Earth pony's bizarre comment, but she quickly shook the thoughts of Pinkie predicting such things from her mind. Ah'm sure it's just a coincidence. Nopony can predict that sorta stuff, right? A few stray bees flew past Applejack, making her flinch quickly. Heh, or maybe not. Reluctantly, the brown Earth pony cantered off to catch up with the bouncing pink pony.

Applejack lead Pinkie into Ponyville while listening to adventures she had gone on with the Pegasus pony, such as the pranking and the partying; however, some parts she left out and while that happened her Pinkie sense acted up. Applejack began hiding behind and under things to escape what Pinkie had predicted, such as things falling from the sky (not always being rain from the clouds mind you). This, added with Pinkie Pie stopping quite a bit to converse with the ponies of Ponyville, made the trip all the more long, but the pink pony didn't even seem to notice. The cowgirl pony leading her, however, did. "Hurry up Pinkie." She yelled to the pony. "We gotta get you a house before it gets dark remember?"

"Oops, sorry guys, gotta go. Coming Applejack!" Pinkie answered and raced off towards her friend again.

As Dash finished her cloud house, she felt exhausted; she quickly made a couch out of a nearby cirrus cloud, and flopped onto it. "Phew, that was a lotta work; maybe I should reconsider being a Pegasus pony. The rainbow river was especially difficult to perfect. I can't believe it's so hard to form a rainbow after a cloud burst and turn it into its liquid form; you've gotta get all the colours just right and organized or the light won't catch and the whole thing'll be ruined." She sat up angrily on her couch, causing it to hover for a few seconds before relaxing and settling down to the other clouds. This allowed Dash to hang her hooves over the edge. "What am I talking about? Why do I care so much about rainbows? It's made up of seven different colours; seven stupid colours. It's not like it's… pink." Something had caught her eye as she got up and cantered over to her cloud window to look out at the street below. She saw a pink pony and a brown pony walking down the dirt path in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, the sweet's shop just behind her own home. She flew out of the window to land just on the edge of her cloud home to see the ponies walking together. "Pinkie Pie? Wha– What is she doing with another pony? Who is she?" She suddenly felt angry towards the brown pony. "What is she doing with my Pinkie Pie–?" Rainbow Dash gasped and closed her eyes. What am I talking about? She felt a sudden heat in her cheeks and her eyes opened. "I'm flushed? Why am I flushed?" She glanced back and noticed how happy the pink pony looked with the cowgirl pony; she felt anger welling up inside her again and heat spreading through her body. "Because of Pinkie Pie, who else?" She glared at the bouncing pink pony. "She said she needed some time alone and now she's hanging out with some other pony? Am I not good enough for her to share her feelings with? And what makes her so awesome anyway?" She was just about to react to what she saw and thought and felt inside; however, a huge group of Pegasi had gathered above her.

"Whoa, it really is her." One whispered.

"It's Rainbow Dash!" Another cried.

A third yelled. "I can't believe it!"

One of the Pegasi flew down beside the blue pony. "Hey Rainbow Dash, is it true that you did a Sonic Rainboom?"

"Yeah and how fast do you have to go to make one?" Another pony added as she stopped and hovered just above Dash.

The rainbow-maned Pegasus pony lost her intense gaze on Pinkie and suddenly looked miserable. "Girls please… I'm not in the mood okay?" Her eyes didn't shift from the pink Earth pony walking along as another Pegasus pony flew up to the others.

"There you girls are; back to your cloud clearing. Shoo shoo!" The pony had her hooves on her hips and a heated look on her face. The ponies looked away and mumbled irritably to each other. As the Pegasus ponies regretfully flew off, the deep blue Pegasus with a rain cloud cutie mark looked back at Dash. "Sorry about that." She scratched at the back of her neck inattentively and shrugged. "All of the Pegasi here have heard of your famous technique and are trying to figure out how it works."

Rainbow Dash's head only tilted slightly to the side to glance at the deep-blue pony. "It's okay." She replied with a sadness in her voice that she hated to be reminded of. "Thanks for your help." She tilted her head back towards the ground slowly.

"It was no trouble. My name's Cloudkicker." The Pegasus pony tilted her head as Dash continued staring over the edge of her cloud home. She ignored it and sat down next to Rainbow. "You know, me and the other Pegasus ponies have been thinking that we need a captain. Somepony that's fast and agile and can clear the clouds like nopony's business." She lifted a hoof up towards the pony beside her. "And after seeing that display of cloud making expertise I'd say all the girls, myself included, have decided that it should be you Dashie–"

Dash sharply spun around at the seated Pegasus pony angrily. "Don't call me that!" She glared up at Cloudkicker until she saw the look of fear on her face. She felt suddenly terrible for yelling at a pony she had just met for a feeling she didn't even understand. The yell had surprised Cloudkicker into the air and she hovered there, startled at the Pegasus' extreme mood swing. Dash's rose-coloured eyes dropped their gaze and they looked down at the cloud she was seated on. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just that… only my bestest best friend has ever called me that… It just felt so strange coming from you." She looked back down to see the pink pony had gone; she sighed. The deep-blue Pegasus pony smiled gently as she came to understand the situation.

"That's okay Dash. Hey, who're you looking at?" She asked trying to pinpoint where she was looking and was startled again when Rainbow's head shot up again, but nervously this time.

"I-I wasn't staring at anypony!" She answered, staring at the Pegasus pony with widened eyes and a slight blush. Cloudkicker's eyebrow rose and Dash gulped. "Well I was… just looking at all the lazy ponies walking around casually while we worked our rumps off to keep the sky clear." She chuckled awkwardly as Cloudkicker adopted a sly smirk, knowingly.

The airborne pony wasn't convinced and she smiled down at the rainbow-maned pony with eyes that spoke of her lie. "Dash I might not be Applejack, but I can still tell when somepony's lying."

Rainbow sighed at her failed cover-up and looked into the pony's blue-grey eyes. "I'm sorry Cloudkicker, but… I think I just need some time to think."

The sudden look Dash gave her melted the Pegasus' heart and she agreed to leave her be. "Alright then… but about the captain position?" She looked back over her shoulder as she turned to fly off.

"I'll think about it." She answered with her best fake smile.

"Great. See ya later then!" She flew off, leaving the blue pony alone again.

As Cloudkicker flew away an idea struck her. Hey, weren't the Wonderbolts coming to Ponyville later this month? I have some pretty good relations with the ponies in Cloudsdale; maybe I can pull some strings and get them done here sooner. She turned her head back to Rainbow's cloud home and saw that the Pegasus pony had gone inside her own hoof-made home. Rainbow Dash just seemed so down about something and Spitfire always said the team needed a new member when I spoke to her. I'm sure with her skills the Wonderbolts will want Dash on their team immediately. That'll cheer her up no problem. With that, she blasted off to her home to prepare for tomorrow. She had fliers to hoof out and letters to mail.

As Rainbow crawled into her cumulous cloud bed, she could only think of one thing. This night would be the first one Rainbow and Pinkie spent apart since the day they met. And to Dash, more bizarre and confusing thoughts came along with that then the nights they spent together ever had. She wanted the little pony back.