The Party Hasn't Ended Part 9

The Party Hasn't Ended Part 9 starring Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie

Rainbow Dash stood at the end of the cloud-colonnade and looked over the edge, gazing down towards the surface of Equestria far below her. Tears fell steadily from her rose eyes and she watched as each tear spiralled down through the night air until it disappeared. It would be so easy to just fall forwards, to keep her wings furled tight against her sides, and to just spiral down to the earth herself until she disappeared as well!

It was then that she felt somepony approaching her along the colonnade, from the direction of Cloudsdale Flight School's hall where the Autumn Sky Ball was coming to an end. She didn't turn her head, but sobbed and rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"Just go away!" she whispered harshly at the unseen newcomer. "Can't you see I just want to be alone?"

"Oh, Miss Dash," It was a cultured voice, soft and resonant, and Dash immediately recognised it. "Thank goodness I've found you at last!"

"Lord Cozmar?" She turned now. And it was him! The unicorn pony lord from Canterlot who had been the guest of honour at the Ball. She stared at the darkly handsome stallion, with his charcoal-grey coat, his sable mane and his striking green eyes. But she tore her gaze away when she remembered how she looked – her eyes must be red raw by now, tears staining her cheeks. She felt so humiliated to be seen like this.

He came close and stood beside her. "I know how you must be feeling, Miss Dash. It was a terrible thing that happened – and so public!" He tutted. "Really, the foals of today have no sense of decorum, no conception of proper etiquette when it comes to matters of the heart!"

Dash scrunched up her eyes at the pain of the memory as it came flooding back. "Please, Lord Cozmar…"

"It is such a horrible thing to have one's innocent love thrown back in one's face," he continued. Dash wasn't looking at him, now, but was gazing at the landscape lying in the darkness far below, and so she didn't see the toothy grin of perfect white teeth that opened across his face. "It is such a wound to the heart! And although it might heal over, it will always be there – a tiny little wound perhaps, but the slightest thing will break it open again."

"Please," sobbed Dash, hot tears bursting anew from her eyes. "Please leave me alone. I just want to be alone!"

"Why the rush, Miss Dash?" Cozmar asked. "You will have so much time to be alone! You'll be alone for the rest of your time here in Cloudsdale. You will push every pony that wants to get close to you away – and even when you leave here, nothing will change." He sighed. "It is so very sad."

Dash turned to him now. Her face was a mixture of despair and disbelief. "Why… why are you saying these things to me? What've I ever done to you?"

Cozmar chuckled. "I think this game has gone on for long enough. It might be all new to you, but for me it is becoming a little tiresome." He waved a hoof before her eyes and Dash gasped as the memories that had been taken from her blossomed back into her mind in a frantic instant. She gaped at Cozmar and scrambled away from him. The edges of his body had lost definition and a black mist was rising from his coat, and the gaze of his piercing green eyes seemed to burn into her.

"I know you!" cried Dash. "You're…"

"Nightmare. Yes," His teeth flashed white in a sharp smile – they were pointed now. "You always say that!" He moved closer and Dash, standing on her hind legs, took a step back towards the edge.

"Come any closer, Nightmare, and I'll jump!" she cried. "I'll let myself fall. You can't take my body if it's broken!"

Nightmare laughed so hard his face seemed to split open. "You always threaten to jump!" His eyes blistered in savage humour. "And do you know what? Sometimes you DO jump. Such loyalty! Such self-sacrificial bravery! And yet despite such courage, here we are again."

"What are you talking about?" Dash took another step backwards, closer to the edge.

"Again and again and again!" Nightmare laughed. "This little scene has played itself out at least two dozen times now – and each time, the tragedy and despair compounds upon itself. It's only a matter of time until you break, Rainbow Dash. And while we indulge ourselves in this little masquerade, Ponyville is being further devastated –not that that seems to concern you very much!"

"Ponyville?" Dash's eyes grew wide in horror.

Nightmare waved a fore-hoof in the air, and up against the night sky an image burst into life in a flash of pale green fire. It was Ponyville! But the little village was scarcely recognisable through the maelstrom of wind and rain that was scouring it. And there was her squad, the Weather Patrol! But it wasn't just her squad.  All the Pegasus ponies in Ponyville were there. They were in V-formation, flying straight up against the screaming winds, tunnelling through the ash-black clouds. Cloud Kicker was leading them, and beside her was... was that really Fluttershy? The Pegasus pony looked exhausted – all of them did, as if they would drop out of the sky at any moment! Dash knew exactly what they were doing: they were struggling to slow the storm system down, to keep it from reaching critical mass and developing into a final, destructive hurricane that would wipe the little village off the face of Equestria.

Dash turned to Nightmare, her face livid with anger. "Nightmare!" she screamed. "You sadistic monster!"

Nightmare chuckled, and with another sweep of his hoof the image dissipated into green mist. "There is only one avenue of escape for you AND for your beloved Ponyville and your friends , Rainbow Dash," he said. "And that is to submit to my will!" He leapt forward and gripped her around her forefoot, and where his hoof touched her coat a sudden, glacial coldness burned through to her bones and she gasped. It continued to burn her as she struggled, and she cried out in pain – but at last she pulled herself free.

"A lie! It's all just a lie!" she shouted at Nightmare in grief and rage.  "If I give in to you, you might save Ponyville from the storm – but just so you can do something even more terrible to my friends!"

Nightmare shrugged. "Well, that may be true. But surely slavery is preferable to total annihilation?"

Dash shook her head, and when she spoke her voice was calm, devoid of any despair or anger. "That line obviously didn't work last time, Nightmare, and it mustn't have worked all the other times before that," She closed her eyes and breathed out. "You'll never make me betray my friends."

And with that she stepped backwards off the edge and vanished into the icy darkness below.

Nightmare scowled, and stepped forwards to the edge. He watched the tiny form of the Pegasus pony plummet down through kilometres of darkness until it finally disappeared.

He sighed and turned away. "Such a terrible waste. I guess that the song must continue then." He strode back along the colonnade towards the hall, and with each hoof-step everything behind him grew dark and faded away into blackness. "Next verse, same as the first!"

************************

"So YOU'RE the little filly who pulled of that amazing stunt?!" The white-coated Pegasus filly's wide blue eyes glittered. "That is SOOOO cool!" She beamed at Dash who was in the middle of unpacking her saddlebags onto her own bed. "Hey, hey – you know what they're calling that trick you did?"

Dash shook her head. She was blushing. Everypony had heard of the trick that she had pulled off in Junior Speedsters last year, and had been eager to talk to her about it. It was a strange new experience for Dash to be the centre of attention, and now her roommate was doing it as well!

"They're calling it the Sonic Rainboom!" The white-coated filly jumped onto her bed and sprang off it, her long blue-pink pastel mane fluttering behind her. "Oh, I DO hope you'll teach me how to do it, Rainbow Dash!"

Dash nodded. "Uh, no problem! But… you haven't told me your name yet!"

The other Pegasus pony stopped her leaping and lay on her bed. Her long mane flopped down onto her back and Dash suddenly realised how pretty it was. She'd noticed that a lot of the Pegasus ponies at Flight School cut their manes short to help reduce wind-resistance during high-speed manoeuvres, and Dash was thinking of doing the same thing. But looking at how beautiful this filly's long mane looked made her think twice.

"My name's Star Catcher," said the filly. She turned her blue eyes on Dash. "I'm so pleased to meet you, Rainbow Dash!"

"Likewise," replied Dash with a shy smile.

"Oh, I just know we're going to be the best of friends!" Star Catcher leapt off the bed and trotted over to her. "Hey, Rainbow Dash, show me your cutie mark!"

Dash's eyes widened. "Oh – OK," She brought her back half closer to Star Catcher, and as the white-coated filly looked it up and down, her tail swished against Dash's face, soft and warm.

"Just as I suspected!" said Star Catcher. "It's totally cool as well!"

Dash blushed. "I… I always thought that three lightning bolts would have been cooler," she said.

Star Catcher shrugged her shoulders. "Well maybe, but only about 20% cooler, max. Hey, check out my cutie mark!" She brought her own flank right next to Dash's face, and the rainbow-maned filly blushed as Star Catcher's coat rubbed against hers. She smelled of vanilla and powdered sugar. "So, what do you think?"

Dash looked at the cutie mark being shoved in her face. It was a pink love-heart surrounded with blue pastel cumulo-stratus clouds.

Dash swallowed. "It's…"

"It's cool, isn't it!" Star Catcher gushed. "The heart symbolises the passion I have for flying, while the clouds – well, they just symbolise clouds I guess…"

As Star Catcher continued talking about cutie marks, Dash unpacked the rest of her belongings. She'd been worried she wouldn't make any friends at Flight School, but things looked like they were going to work out after all!

Suddenly, Dash heard the sound of light knocking – as if somepony was tapping on glass. And there was a voice as well… a familiar sounding voice, repeating her name. But it too sounded muffled, like it was coming from somewhere far away.

Dash turned to Star Catcher, who was now in the middle of unpacking her own saddlebags. "Hey Star Catcher, did you just say something?"

Star Catcher looked up from the cosmetic box she had just pulled out. Her bed was already covered in brushes and combs and piles of tack. "Uh uh," she shook her head.

But then there was the buzz of a bell and Star Catcher leapt up and grabbed Dash. "Hey, that's the mission bell! Our very first class!" she bubbled with enthusiasm. "Oh, I'm so excited!"

Dash smiled. "Uh, me too!" But she had no time to say anything else as the white-coated filly hustled her out of the room. And so she didn't see the hand mirror that had slipped out of one of Star Catcher's saddlebags hop across the bed and finally fall onto the floor. On its surface could be seen a blue-eyed earth pony with a shock of curly pink hair and a desperate look on her face, tapping on the mirror with a hoof just as if it were a window she was looking through.

"Dash! Dash! Come back!" she cried. "It's me, Pinkie Pie! Dash, come baaaacccckkk!"

*****************

"C'mon Dash! I know you've got a lot more left in you!" laughed Star Catcher as she edged ahead towards the mountaintop that they'd decided was going to be the finishing line for their race. Despite her delicacy, Star Catcher was fast! Her wings beat in a steady rhythm, piercing the air, and it was difficult for Dash to stay alongside her. She was used to sprints rather than long distance, but flight training demanded that she build up her endurance – and so here she was, training again with the white-coated Pegasus filly. Star Catcher's pastel mane flew behind her like a pennant, and whenever it flashed in front of Dash's face, that gentle vanilla perfume surrounded her and she fell a little further back. A bank of cumulo-stratus loomed ahead. The finish wasn't far away now!

"Concentrate, Dash! Concentrate! You can't let this dainty little filly outgun you!" She dug deeper, and with an agonising burst of energy she pushed ahead. The bank of cumulo-stratus was streaking under them now, and Dash could see their shadows wavering across its white surface…. and suddenly she saw Star Catcher's shadow right next to hers. They were neck and neck again!

"How did she catch up so fast?!" Dash looked across at her friend in awe, and Star Catcher poked her tongue out at her.

And then they reached the mountaintop and streaked above it. It was a tie! Star Catcher glided across Dash's path, slowing to a coast and landed with a flump on the grassy green meadow on the summit of the mountain… and Dash belly-flopped next to her, giggling.

"How in Equestria did you catch up so fast?" asked Dash, lying on her stomach and panting in between giggles.

Star Catcher blushed. "Like you always say, Dash – I just have 'a need for speed' I guess!"

Dash turned over and smiled at her. "That is some impressive flying! I haven't seen anything like it since I was in Junior Speedsters…"

Star Catcher arched her eyebrows in interest. "Oh really? What was their name?"

Dash's smile dropped away.  "Her name was Gilda. She was a griffon."

"A griffon?" Star Catcher whistled through her teeth. "I heard they're some top-notch fliers!"

"Yeah," said Dash. She stood up. "Hey, why don't we do some aerobatic training now? Just to mix things up a little?"

Star Catcher hopped onto her hooves. "Great idea Dash! I'll go first. I've got this sweet move I've been working on – but you have to promise not to steal it from me!"

Dash lay on her back. "Show me what you got, Star!"

As Star Catcher flew up into the sky and began her routine, pirouetting and spiralling, Dash sighed. She was graceful as well as fast!  But then she heard a voice.

"Pssst! Dash! Rainbow Dash!"

Dash leapt up. "Who… who is that?"

"It's me Dash! It's Pinkie Pie!"

"Who-ie… What?" Dash shook her head.

"PINKIE Pie!" came the incessant voice again. So she HADN'T imagined it!

"Where are you?" Dash looked around her, but apart from herself and Star Catcher high up in the sky, nopony else was there.

"Down here!"

In the centre of the meadow was a pool, and in the soft autumn light it glistened yellow and gold. Dash stepped over to it, and when she looked into it she saw not only her own reflection, but that of a round-faced pink pony.

"Dash!" the pony laughed, a wide smile blossoming onto her face.

Dash yelped, turning around and expecting to see the pink pony standing behind her. But there was nopony there.

"What the..." She turned back to the pool – and there the pink pony was again, smiling up at her!

"Oh Dash! I finally found you!" cried the little pink pony in joy, clopping her hooves together.

"Who... who are you exactly?" asked Dash. She looked about herself again. But there really was nopony there at all!

"It's me, Dash! Your gal pal Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie's face grew concerned. "You... have you forgotten who I am?"

Dash frowned. Was... was this what those third years had meant when they were talking about "high altitude hallucinations"? "Yeah, that must be it!" she laughed. "Too little oxygen in the blood. Or too much nitrogen. Ha ha! Or at too much something, anyway..."

"Dash!" the little pink pony cried out again, waving her hoof to get her attention. "We don't have any time! You have to wake up!"

"I have to... what?" repeated Dash.

"Who are you talking to?" It was Star Catcher. She had finished her aerobatic display and had flown down to find Dash seemingly talking to her own reflection in the glittering little pool.

Dash almost leapt out of her coat. "Uh, nopony! Nopony at all!" she blustered. "Those... those were some pretty sweet moves, Star!" Dash clapped herself on the chest with a hoof. "But wait til you see what the Dash has got in store!"

Star Catcher clopped her hooves together. "Oh, I can't wait!"

"OK then... here I go!" She turned and as she trotted across the grass to get a run up for takeoff, she sneaked a look at the pool. Its surface was again blue and gold, and the strange little pink pony had disappeared. She sighed in relief.

"I should totally get a check up once we get back to Cloudsdale," she thought to herself as she unfurled her wings and glided off the mountain top and out into the crisp autumn air.

**********************************

"I keep seeing this little pink earth pony," explained Dash. She was lying on her bed watching Star Catcher choose what she was going to wear for the Autumn Sky ball. "It's totally weird, and I've got to admit it's starting to freak me out a bit."

Star Catcher murmured something from behind the wardrobe's open door.  The chime of hanger after hanger being drawn along the rail rang out. But then the chiming suddenly stopped and the white-coated filly poked her head around the door and looked at Dash in surprise. "You're joking right, Dash? An earth pony? What in Equestria would an earth pony be doing in Cloudsdale?"

Dash sighed. "I know, right? But the strange thing is she looked so... familiar to me. I see that round face with its curly pink hair and I keep trying to remember – but it's just no use!" She banged a hoof on her forehead.

Star Catcher shrugged. "How strange! It might be one of those high altitude hallucinations we learnt about in that lecture on stratospheric flying."

Dash nodded. "That's what I thought as well at first, Star. After all, I HAVE been flying pretty high recently!" Dash had recently become famous around the school for her death-defyingly high flights into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. "But the thing is, I've started seeing her in Cloudsdale as well and we're nowhere near high enough here to get those hallucinations."

"So this... pink phantom pony only appears when you're alone?" asked Star Catcher.

Dash nodded.

The white-coated filly smiled. "Then there's an easy solution! You should stay at my side at absolutely all times."

Dash laughed. "But we spend like almost every minute together already, Star!"

Star Catcher trotted over to Dash and brought her face close to the rainbow-maned filly's. She was wearing a serious expression. "So tell me... does this scary pink pony come to you in your dreams as well?" Dash swallowed and blushed. She shook her head and Star Catcher immediately smiled. "I'm so glad! I would have been terribly jealous if she had been."

Dash frowned. "The strange thing is that I haven't been dreaming at all recently," she added.

Star Catcher laughed. "Well, I'VE been dreaming," she said with a wink. "Oh, and you've just given me the perfect idea for what I'm going to wear!" She returned to the wardrobe and after disappearing behind its open door for a couple of minutes she came out wearing a black satin dress-blanket with cashmere lining, and a matching halter with a gold buckles and tie-rings. "So how do I look, Dash?" she asked, striking an exaggerated pose and batting her eyelashes.

Dash breathed in. Star Catcher looked so gorgeous and she did it without any effort at all. "You look fine," said Dash.

Star Catcher pouted in theatrical annoyance, and then she laughed. "Oh Dash, you can do better than that! I took so long to choose this tack and you haven't even started to think about what you're going to wear. The Autumn Sky Ball is an important event, you know!  It's like Cloudsdale's answer to the Great Galloping..."

"...Gala, yeah I know." Truth was Dash didn't really want to go. She had to get dressed up? What a waste of time! And there was no way that she would look as pretty as the other fillies. It just sounded like a total drag. "I haven't decided whether I'm going to go or not yet."

Star Catcher's mouth fell open. "You haven't decided if you're going yet? You have to go! There's going to be Canterlot royalty there! In fact, one of Princess Celestia's nephews is the guest of honour – a Lord Cozmar or something."

Dash shook her head. "That's exactly why I don't want to go. What do I have in common with all those aristocratic types?" She looked across at Star Catcher. The white-coated filly really DID look like royalty herself dressed in that tack!

Star Catcher was distraught. "You have to go, Dash! Who else am I going to dance with?"

Dash snorted. "Oh, come on, Star! You can have your pick of any of the colts in our year, or any other year – you know that!"

Star Catcher shook her head. "If you don't go, then I'm not going."

Dash sighed. "Fine! I'll go then. But I've got nothing to wear."

Star clopped her hooves together in joy. "Awesome! And don't worry about what you're going to wear –I've got a piece of tack all picked out for you!" She walked back over to wardrobe and brought out a cerulean blue satin dress-blanket lined with pashmina and a halter with silver buckles and tie rings.

"But... that's so...so totally gorgeous!" Dash protested. "I could never wear anything like that."

Star Catcher giggled as she put the tack back and closed the wardrobe. "Oh Dash!  You know, you're so utterly adorable sometimes! There's just something so charming about a beautiful filly who doesn't know she's beautiful." She looked at the clock and screamed. "Oh Celestia! I forgot all about my appointment at the farrier's!" She went to leave, but then turned back to Dash. "Oh Dash, I'm so glad you decided to come to the ball! So glad!" And then she trotted out, closing the door behind her.

Dash sighed. Beautiful? She snorted. When was the last time somepony called her beautiful? Well, Gilda might have said it to her, once or twice, and in that sarcastic way that she had always used to tease her with.

Dash leapt up off the bed and pulled open the wardrobe door. She looked in the mirror that was set into it. Beautiful? She glared at her face, then turned it in profile, first left and then right. It was just the same old face she always saw. Star Catcher didn't realise how much she hated being teased like that! Dash shook her head, and her mane fell over her eyes. She angrily tossed it back – and when she looked again that little pink pony was standing right behind her in the mirror.

Dash yelped. "You again! I told you to leave me alone!"

Pinkie shook her head. "I just HAVE to keep trying to get you to remember, Dash! Like I keep trying to tell you..." She saw that Dash had grabbed the edge of the wardrobe door and was about to slam it and she winced in anticipation – but when the door didn't shut, Pinkie opened her eyes again. Dash was staring at her.

"I always kind of suspected I was nuts," said Dash. "It would sure explain a lot of stuff I've done. Lay it on me, pink pony. What's your deal?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Oh Dash, you're not nuts – although nuts ARE delicious. Except those yucky brasil nuts," She stuck out her tongue. "But wait – I'm getting distracted again! Bad Pinkie!" She tapped herself on the head with a hoof. "You're not crazy, Dash – you're just dreaming a whole lot crazy stuff, because this big meanie pants evil pony is trying to..."

"A dream?" repeated Dash.

"Or a memory. Or a dream of a memory?" Pinkie tapped her forehead again. "Oh, I wish Twilight Sparkle was here to explain things!"

"Twilight who'll?" Dash narrowed her eyes. "You mean there're more ponies inside that mirror with you?" Weren't hallucinations meant to make at least a little sense?

Pinkie frowned. "Oh, you REALLY don't remember anything, do you Dash?" Her face was troubled. "You don't even remember the party, or our kiss, or..."

"Our kiss?" Dash laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound.  "Unless I'm very much mistaken, you're a filly just like me, Twinkle Pie!"

"No, Dash, you big silly!" Pinkie tried to smile, but it sat on her face wrong. Oh, this wasn't going right at all! "My name is Pinkie Pie!"

"OK then – 'Pinkie Pie'," Dash replied, eyes narrowed. "And just for your information, 'Pinkie Pie', I don't do fillies – that's so totally gross!"

Pinkie's upper lip started to quiver. "Oh Dash!" she cried. "Please just wake up! Even if you hate me when you wake up and never, ever want to see me again, it won't be so bad because I'll know that you're alive," Tears fell from her eyes. "If I just know that you're OK somewhere, even somewhere far, far away from wherever I am, I'll be happy."

Dash looked at the pink pony in the mirror. She felt suddenly... criminal for making her cry, even though she was just a hallucination. Maybe Pinkie was like her... conscience or something?

"Oh, don't cry Pinkie Pie," said Dash suddenly, and she reached backwards so that her reflection's hoof was touching the pink pony's face. And she gasped when she realised she could feel the warmth of a soft coat against her hoof. But just as quickly as she had felt it, the sensation disappeared.

"Wait! You ARE real, Pinkie Pie!" said Dash, her eyes wide.

Pinkie sniffed and nodded. "I'm real as real can be, Dash! I'm just stuck here, outside your dream. Nightmare is keeping me out with some kind of scary ju-ju I think..."

"Nightmare?" asked Dash.

"Oh, the spooky ghost-pony shadow meanie I mentioned before!" Pinkie explained.

"A ghost-meanie-shadow-pony... thing?" repeated Dash, furrowing her brow.

"Well, what I actually said was 'spooky ghost-pony meanie'... wait, 'shadow meanie'," Pinkie nodded up and down in excitement. "But yes, exactly! He's the one who's trapping you here... although he is sometimes a she...." Pinkie's shoulders slumped. "Oh, dreams are soooooo super-confusing sometimes, aren't they?!"


Dash chuckled. "Whatever you say, Pinkie Pie! But you look to me like the one who's trapped."

Pinkie tapped on the inside surface of the mirror. "Oh, I just KNOW I could bust out of here if all those memories that sneak Nightmare stole from you came back!" Her face grew resolute and she punched the air with a hoof. "And then we could go and teach that Black Snooty a lesson he'd never forget!"

"Black Snooty?" Dash shook her head. "Let me guess... another ghost-pony?"

Pinkie nodded. "Well, kind of. Black Snooty and Nightmare are just different names for the same ghost-pony."

"So let me get this straight. All of this," Dash waved a hoof around the room. "All of Cloudsdale and the Flight School and this room here, all of it is just a dream created by some spoooooky ghost pony, and he...or she... whichever it is... is keeping me trapped here?"

Pinkie nodded. "Exactly!" she cried. "Oh Dash, you're such a smarty smart pants!"

"And I guess YOU'VE come to save me, Pinkie Pie?" Dash snickered.

Pinkie laughed and clopped her hooves together. "Yes! Yes! Oooh, you always WERE good at guessing games!"

"But why would you want to risk your own life to save mine?" asked Dash.

The smile dropped from Pinkie's face and she blinked. "Because we're... friends, Rainbow Dash! Best friends!"

Dash cocked her head. "My best friend is a pink earth pony?" She chuckled. "What in Equestria could we have in common?"

Pinkie beamed. "Oh, barrels and barrels of things! We both love hot-sauce on muffins and vanilla lemon-drops and sarsaparilla and splashing around in the mud on rainy days and...and... ooh ooh! We both love jokes and pranks! In fact, were the biggest, most super hilarious pranksters in all of Ponyville, and..."

Dash suddenly interrupted Pinkie. "Well, if you really ARE as big a prankster as me, Pinkie Pie, it DOES explain your craaaaazy story!" She shook her head. "I can't believe I've been standing here and talking to a hallucination about ghost ponies," Dash lifted a hoof and started to close the wardrobe. "Goodbye, Pinkie Pie, and good luck with the whole Black Snooty Nightmare thing."

"Wait!!" cried Pinkie. "Oh Dash, don't leave me stuck in here!" Desperation tinged her voice. "We're running out of time! Oh, if you die I just couldn't..."

"Die? Isn't that a little... melodramatic for you, Pinkie Pie?" Dash rolled her eyes. "You've obviously been hanging around Rarity too much," She suddenly noticed the reflection of the clock on the wall behind the pink pony. "Oh no! Star Catcher'll be back any minute!" There was no way she was going to be caught talking to Pinkie again. That last time had been so embarrassing!

"But Dash, you're starting to remember!" Pinkie protested. "You just mentioned Rarity! Rarity!"

"Whoity?" Dash sighed. "Look, Pinkie. I'm not sure what I remember. I remember remembering something, but that's it." She turned and looked at the door. "I... I have to go now. My friend will be back soon and I have to get ready for the ball..."

"The ball?" Pinkie repeated. "No, Dash! We don't have time to go to a ball! We have to..."

But Dash had already stopped listening. She grabbed the tack that Star Catcher had picked out for her off the rail and closed the wardrobe door without another word.