Sorry for the moderately long wait, I wanted this chapter to be just right so the events would flow perfectly from chapter to chapter. Now, let's focus a bit on Rarity and Rainbow Dash!

Enjoy!

Blood and sweat; the outcomes of hard work, the inevitable results of one putting their heart and soul into a project until it was finished, and a pony could truly admire their work. For not only was it the finished product that mattered, but the time and effort put into that product. A pony could look back on how much work they put in, and that's what made it all worthwhile.

That's how Rarity was with her dresses. Blood and sweat; but more sweat than blood. Really no blood at all. The white unicorn was so skilled a dress maker she could go a whole day without sustaining any type of injury, be it needle prick, a mishap with the sewing machine; anything along those lines.

The textile studio of her store was set at a nice cool temperature not only to keep her awake but to dry the beads of sweat going down her milky-white forehead that could potentially stain and ruin the delicate fabric of her dress. So when she felt any kind of moisture drip down her forehead, she quickly swiped it away with her hoof before returning to her work; years of dressmaking allowed practice for her reflexes. They were fast enough to rival those of a cat, like her little white kitty cat Opalescence.

A stare of deep concentration fixated on her face, Rarity held the little red ball of soft fabric surrounding a cotton core between her teeth, the side in her mouth already moist with saliva. In the end facing away from the dressmaker was stuck every centimeter with needles of every size, thickness, and length. Rarity was manning a sewing machine so normally you would think she wouldn't need to use pins or needles unless she was sewing by hoof, but she used them to hook two pieces of cloth together for the sole purpose of keeping the cloth together so she could make a perfect seam.

"Oh, this is so frustrating…" Rarity scowled to herself in a muffled voice, slowly moving the magenta fabric through the path of the sewing machine's needle slowly so she wouldn't have to redo anything and ruin what would be a perfectly good dress. If she screwed up one more time she swore she was going to scream! This material was very expensive like most of the fabrics she used and she could not afford to mess up again. "Just concentrate Rarity, concentrate. This dress will look just lovely."

The fabric was a luxurious silk that would serve as the inside of the dress and unlike some of her other dresses, make it more comfortable than the others she put just as much sweat and work into. Rarity pushed her orange glasses up her snout, the eyewear constantly slipping down her face. Finally she used her magic to lift both the glasses and a rag that dabbed the sweat off her face and the glasses, then set them back in front of her eyes. That was much better.

Rarity's pushing of the fabric through the sewing needle gradually slowed down; the more she thought about the Grand Galloping Gala the slower her hooves moved. As you would guess she was still upset about the whole event, but she was really taking it better than others. Pinkie Pie was doing the best, so you could say she and Twilight were about equal.

The white unicorn looked down at her current handiwork, but couldn't find any solace in it. Try as she may, Rarity couldn't stop wondering if she wasted her time; wasted it by watching Princess Celestia's nephew from her place in the shadows of the lower-class ponies.

Rarity took the red fabric ball out of her mouth and set it next to the chart of recorded dress sizes. It was so obvious, but how could she have not seen it? It was right in front of her face like a big red sign with flashing neon lights and speakers that practically yelled it out at the max. Prince Blueblood was royalty; how could she think he would fall for a commoner like her. But it's not like it was her fault; the jerk obviously had a bigger ego than her. He wouldn't eat the treats Applejack was selling; he spat them out like they were a pile of manure; which was what he deserved. And when her dress, the dress she spent so much time working on, so much time meticulously keeping it in spotless condition, got coated in food scraps, he just acted like she had a horrible disease. The nerve! How could somepony do that!

"I should've seen it coming…I'm such an idiot!" For most of her young adult life Rarity saw herself as a pony of the upper-class. Like most of high class she had a bit of an ego that sometimes got to her head, but she never looked down on people, saw them as inferior to her, or anything really below her; this was a shot to her ego, shot down and left for dead like a wild animal.

"Come on Rarity, don't get yourself worked up." The young unicorn clenched the fabric, throwing off the path of the sewing machine's needle. For the first time in a long time since the fashion show that almost made her the laughing stock of Ponyville, she could feel tears starting to come up to the corners of her eyes Were her dreams of marrying a handsome stallion like him in truth, vain? "How could you have known…?"

The simple answer was she couldn't. All she got in the end was a ruined dress and a broken heart. Rarity pursed her lips together, trying to hold the tears back. Before any could escape down her cheeks she set her glasses next to the needle ball. The dressmaker's hooves tightened around the soft fabric and she gave it a soft tug. Her eyes clenched shut, teeth gritted together like a press; one hoof came over her left eye in a fruitless attempt to stop herself from crying. She felt like such a fool at the Gala, the horribly failed event that was quite possibly the worst night of her life, and the lives of her friends. Nothing could possibly make up for that.

For a brief minute after she wiped her wet cheeks, sniffling back her tears, she felt a warm breeze come over her purple hair. She was so deep in thought forgot she left the window next to her work table wide open, letting the warm outside air in. Rarity wasn't a forgetful pony; the past week had been so eventful. The unicorn sighed and left her work station, gazing out the open arch window. A few ponies were out and about on the Ponyville streets, going about their own business. It had been a few days since she stepped outside; the whole time she was in the studio, working on her dress to forget about the Gala. Rarity breathed in the warm air and sighed. She missed her friends, but she had to get this dress finished; she didn't like leaving a job undone.

She took hold of the window with her magic, but before she closed it a scooter and wagon rolled in through the dirt streets. She could tell it was her sister and her friends from a mile away.

"Sweetie Belle! Hello sis!" Rarity called out excitedly, happy to see her again. She didn't leave that long ago, but for Rarity it was much better than talking to herself the whole time. A smile spread across the unicorn's face when she saw the younger filly wave her hoof back. She saw her! They weren't too far apart to begin with but Rarity still got excited, her lovely and clean spiral tail flicking about. She had to admit seeing Sweetie Belle did make her feel much better. You wouldn't believe how grateful she was she had her little sister, otherwise it would just be her and Opal, and everypony knows you can't get a response from a cat.

"Oh girls…I hope you're all doing okay…" Rarity said out to the open Ponyville air before her magic closed the double-paneled window with a soft click. She hoped that her friends were doing okay; they all knew Fluttershy was still upset. She returned to her workstation, fixing up the mistake she made the best she could before running the in-progress dress through the needle. Anything to forget the Gala…

(Scene break)

Looking back behind her until the older white unicorn closed the window, Sweetie Belle smiled to herself as they zoomed along through Ponyville towards the park where they could reach Rainbow Dash's usual hangout in the clouds. Scootaloo flapped along, her wings spreading with each pump that propelled them forward.

"Scoot, why do you want to see Rainbow Dash again?" Sweetie Belle raised her voice over the roaring of the passing wind. "She already told us her cutie mark story."

"This isn't about our cutie marks." Scootaloo responded, making a sharp turn down the path as they exited Ponyville, the wheels clacking on the cobblestone path as they went up over the pink bridge. "I want to see Dash's killer flight moves. Maybe she can teach me a thing or two."

"But ya can't even fly very well sugar-cube…" Apple Bloom pointed out. The wings of a Pegasus pony Scootaloo's age were still in the process of developing all the way so she could only fly a few feet off the ground a short time before having to take a rest; much like Spike's wings, but his weren't as close as Scootaloo's. The lavender dragon still had a while to go until he could fly like his larger brethren.

Scootaloo narrowed her grayish purple eyes and scowled to herself, pursing her lips and breathing hard. "Don't remind me…" she gripped the handle bars of the scooter and zoomed off faster. The two in back had to hold on to the sides of the wagon to keep from flying out. "Someday I'll be as good as Rainbow Dash. I know it!"

"I'm s-u-u-ure ya will Scootaloo but could y-a-a please slo-o-w down a t-a-a-ad!" Apple Bloom's voice was shaky as the wheels rolled over the rocks in the path. Scootaloo craned her head over the handlebars and stuck her tongue out, squinting in the air hitting her face. The young Pegasus pony spread her wings open like a magnificent angel to create a slight drag, then thrust them back against the air to drive her forward.

Everypony knew Rainbow dash was Scootaloo's idol, her role model. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had their older sisters to look up to, but Scootaloo didn't. Rainbow Dash was like her in many ways, their tomboyishnes being one of them. To Scootaloo Dash was like an older sister, somepony that she could look up to and knew she could turn to if she ever needed anything; her parents weren't around all the time, so they weren't really the best ponies to turn to. Rainbow Dash was all she needed.

"Rainbow Dash here we come!" Scootaloo said to herself with her small tongue poking out the corner of her muzzle. She loved to feel the wind in her face; it was the best feeling in the whole world, plowing through the atmosphere with just your wings directing you, guiding you through the clear blue sky... Scootaloo dreamed of this every night.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other. Scootaloo was going faster, and they were about to zoom past where Rainbow Dash typically rested.

"Scootaloo, we're going right past her!" Sweetie Belle looked up at the sky, barely seeing the blue rainbow-maned filly resting on a small low-floating cloud. It usually took Scootaloo a lot to NOT see her idol laying on a cloud in plain view. The amber filly was too busy in her mind; there she was, now a Pegasus pony Rainbow Dash's age, rocketing through the great blue at the speed of light. Challenging Rainbow Dash herself to a race, a contest to determine which of them was the fastest. She told herself before that she would never be as great as the only Pegasus pony to pull off the Sonic Rainboom, but the prospect that she could match her skills up with Dash made her happier than anything. These thoughts had her completely distracted; she had the scenery in front of her changed into a sky filled with clouds, not caring if she plowed through any of them. She just wanted to live, live the most exciting life possible.

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle nearly fell out of the wagon when she grabbed her shoulders and shook her. That was enough to draw Scootaloo back into reality. "Scootaloo!"

"W-What? Huh?" the amber pony didn't know what was going on until she realized she went right past Rainbow Dash and were almost out of the part now! "Oh shoot!"

Scootaloo tried to turn the scooter around with a leftward flap of her wings, but the results were not what she expected. The scooter turned, but the wagon did a tip on its wheels and brought the scooter and the girls down with it. All three fillies gave surprised and slightly panicked cries as they ended up on the ground in a less-than-pleasant landing, dirt clouds flying in their face.

"Scootaloo, what…" Apple Bloom coughed, her head a bit rattled by the sudden scrambling of their means of transportation. "…what were ya'll doin'?"

Scootaloo took her helmet off and shook her forehead, her cranium aching from having hit the ground. She opened one eye to look at her two understandably confused friends. She laughed slightly to make up for the awkwardness of the past few minutes, a blush coming over her cheeks. Scootaloo never blushed so this was a new thing.

"H-hehe, s-sorry guys…" she said with her front hooves resting on the dirt path. "I g-got a bit distracted back there…"

Apple Bloom sighed and helped them both up, brushing the dirt out of her coat. "Ya know you almost missed Rainbow Dash. We were on our way to the Everfree Forest for hay's sake!"

Scootaloo could only nod, still embarrassed by the whole thing. She helped them get the fallen wagon and scooter back up right, hooked her helmet back on, and climbed back into the driver's spot. Once Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were in the wagon she started it back up and this time carefully turned around, then went down the path towards Rainbow Dash's cloud. Scootaloo drove with less enthusiasm, her shoulders scrunched together and her wings flapping with anything but grace. Scootaloo was considered the leader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, so how un-leader-like of her to just lose focus. She was the tough one of the group darn it, it was embarrassing when she made a fool of herself.

Maybe she was just overreacting.

They came closer to the low-hanging cloud which definitely had a resting Rainbow Dash laying on her back with her forelegs tucked behind her head. Scootaloo let go of the handlebars and fanned out her wings, slowing the scooter down until it came to a gentle stop. Scootaloo looked up at the cloud with a wide smile.

"Rainbow Dash!" she called out, loud enough to catch her attention. "Rainbow Dash!"

The blue pony was asleep when the little filly called her name. She gradually woke up to the intense light of the descending sun practically burning her retinas. Rainbow Dash groaned and put her foreleg over her eyes, sitting up and looking around even though she couldn't see anything. Her nap had produced a rather wonderful dream of her flying alongside the Wonderbolts, a member of the group , performing for hundreds upon thousands of screaming, adoring fans who wanted to see more of their amazing aerial moves. Now that she was awake, she was justifiably disenchanted that it was only a dream. Rainbow Dash groaned and sat forward, slowly pulling her foreleg from her face to help her eyes get used to the sunlight.

"Rainbow Dash!"

She now noticed that somepony was calling her name; she recognized the tone of voice anywhere.

"Scootaloo?" Rainbow Dash called back, looking around her for the filly.

"We're down here!" Scootaloo said. Giggles came from the two other fillies.

Rainbow Dash peeked over the edge of the cloud, looking down at the girls who seemed to be waiting for her anxiously; at least Scootaloo was by the excited look on her face.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash jumped down from the cloud, slowing her descent with her wings and making a gentle landing on the dirt. "What's up girls?"

"Rainbow Dash, could you do something for us?" Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash adoringly, like she was the greatest Pegasus pony who ever lived. To Scootaloo, she was just that and more.

Rainbow Dash was still a bit drowsy. She didn't get much sleep the night before. Half the night was spent tossing and turning in her bed before she finally left her house in the sky and found a nice fluffy cloud that was able to put her to sleep. The bright yellow sun made it harder with its sharp piercing of her eyes, a pain that felt like a knife spreading through her head. A groan came out of the filly before she had a chance to respond to Scootaloo's request. Darn she was more tired than she thought, and that was only a few seconds ago.

"S-Sure, what is it…?" Rainbow Dash couldn't get her mind off that dream. Every now and then she had that same exact dream; at least once every week. That would in turn lead to the question, was she good enough to someday become a member of the Wonderbolts like she always dreamed since before she was in Junior Flight School? Was good enough to even meet them? The night at the Gala certainly wasn't the best night in Equestria to try to get their attention; there were plenty of distractions. She knew she should understand that, but she still felt very upset she never got even one chance to talk to them, even though they were right in front of her, her childhood heroes. She was almost convinced she would never get another chance to meet them.

"Dash, you okay?"

Rainbow Dash almost forgot the girls were right in front of her. She blinked a few times as her eyes finally adjusted to the daylight.

"Y-Yep, I'm just fine…" she said with a smile. "I'm a little tired, that's all. So, what do ya need of me?"

"Scootaloo, I think we should let her get back to sleep." Sweetie Belle suggested, knowing that Scootaloo would shoot her down anyway.

"No!" Scootaloo suddenly said, looking back at the white unicorn filly. "Nothing can stop the Great Rainbow Dash!" she looked ahead at the said Pegasus pony and smiled. "Right?"

Rainbow Dash only smiled. She understood what Sweetie Belle was saying; Rainbow Dash was still tired, and therefore would be unable to successfully perform the moves that Scootaloo desired to see, and as much as she wanted to reschedule for another time when she would be more alert and energized, the smile and look of pure admiration on Scootaloo's young face – not to mention the compliment of her being the "Great Rainbow Dash" – made her unable to say no.

"Right…" Rainbow Dash managed to not choke out, shaking her head to wake herself up. Spreading out her wings Dash flapped and lifted up, hovering over the ground. "Okay Scootaloo, what do ya want to see?"

"Anything!" she beamed. "Show us your best moves!"

"My best moves? That'll be a snap! I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash lifted higher past the cloud until she was a good distance above Ponyville where she wouldn't cause any damage but the girls could still see her. Down below the ponies were much smaller but she could still see the bright smile on Scootaloo's face. Simply flapping her wings gave her more energy and woke her up, but she still wanted to go back to sleep on the cloud below her.

Bracing herself Rainbow Dash spread her wings far apart, scrunched her body together, and with a single push propelled herself forward. The scene quickly zoomed by as the Pegasus pony shot through the air, Ponyville going by beneath her. The fillies would have a hard time seeing her with the rapidly increasing distance between them, but that was all part of her plan. If little Scootaloo wanted to see some totally impressive moves, oh she would get them alright. There were a few moves up Rainbow Dash's sleeve she wanted to show off, and now was the perfect chance.

Right before she reached the edge of Ponyville and would go into the Sweet Apple Acres area Rainbow Dash pointed her left wing down and flapped madly with her right one, shifting her body about so she would make a long left u-turn, then went off in the direction she just came. This was it, the big moment she could show off the moves she spent months planning out in her bedroom, the moves she wanted to show to the Wonderbolts to show them she was good enough to become a member.

"Go Rainbow Dash go!" Scootaloo called out as she zoomed by at incredible speeds, smiling with great amounts of excitement flooding her young body. She felt all the adrenaline building in Rainbow Dash, like they were transferring over to her via a psychic connection of sorts. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle weren't as pumped as their friend only because they weren't Pegasus ponies, but this was still nice to watch.

Tongue sliding out the side of her mouth, wings beating the air, Rainbow Dash made her first planned tactic. A single downward push of her wings sent her higher in the air and with an arch of her back, the Pegasus pony did a smooth mid-air back flip with her forelegs out and hind legs pressed tightly together to increase how aerodynamic she would be. Rainbow Dash shut her eyes, just picturing the Wonderbolts among the little audience watching her, mesmerized by her skills and feats of flight. She looped down, then repeated the maneuvers in a series of loops and turns like a fish through the crystal clear waters of the ocean, an angel flying gracefully through the heavens. While not her most impressive move she was just getting started. She looped around a few more times then preformed a number of zigzags, u-turns, and dives over the heads of the watching fillies.

"Come on Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo called to her. "Do more!"

Rainbow Dash smiled to herself. More? You got it Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash turned around and flew out a long way out until she was out over the large green canopies of the Everfree Forest, almost over the deepest areas of the wood. The distance would give her plenty of time to pull off a successful aileron roll. And if she was lucky she would even be able to do another Sonic Rainboom! Imagine how awesome a spinning Sonic Rainboom would be! She was shaking with excitement, she wished the Wonderbolts were here right now!

"Here we go…" Rainbow Dash prepped herself, spreading her wings out and flapping a few times, stretching the muscles and tendons beneath the feathers. "Sonic Rainboom here I come!" The chances of her lucratively producing another Sonic Rainboom were relatively slim like they were the first two times, but that didn't mean it wasn't worth a try. She flapped backwards to give herself a little more space, Ponyville further away than ever.

Rainbow Dash gave a single hard flap of her wings and shot forward. Her forelegs directed in front of her like a superhero, hind legs kept together, she left a faint rainbow streak in her wake. The vibrant colors spread across the sky, just like a rainbow after storm lighting up the gloomy afternoon sky. The filly was determined to pull off the spectacular move again and show how skilled she really was. She was good enough for the Wonderbolts! She was certain of it!

Wind beating down on her face, Rainbow Dash squinted as moisture gathered in the corners of her eyes. She blinked to dispel them. Her wings flapped frantically to build up her speed, faster, faster, gradually getting even faster by the second. As she neared the Ponyville-side of the forest edge, the sounds of cheering faintly discernable, she pointed her wings back diagonally like an arrow to increase her speed, then shifted her weight to the right. The result, followed by a constant shifting of her weight and repositioning of her wings made her spin through the air like a drill. Behind her, the once-straight line of rainbow became a magnificent, expanding spiral filling the sky. The girls below were in awe, but mainly Scootaloo, whose mouth was hanging open.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes as a wave of happiness and satisfaction washed over her blue body. The praise she knew she was getting made her feel a bit better; of all the things that Dash feared it was failure. Failing what she wanted to accomplish in her life; that of course included the Wonderbolts. But the fact that Scootaloo idolized her the way she did the world-famous flyers meant she wasn't a complete and total failure.

A sharp smell hit her nose. Rainbow Dash cringed. It smelled like smoke, sharp and stinging the sensitive lining of her nostrils. She was still spinning when she put her hooves over her nose, blocking out most of the smell. What was that, that smell? Rainbow Dash opened her eyes but she couldn't tell exactly what was in front of her with the spinning of the landscape. The one thing that didn't match up with the blue sky, but almost blended in with it was a pluming cloud of blue flame and smoke that came in towards her – she was actually flying towards it and like an arrow and a target she smashed through.

An intense heat overtook her face, virtually scorching her like she went through a bonfire. Rainbow Dash cried out in pain – but mainly surprise – as the heat stung and burned her eyes. She had absolutely no idea what was going on; she could hear few ponies yelling up to her but what they were saying was beyond her right now.

"What the heck?" Dash yelled as her aerial maneuver went completely off course. She spun around but not in the way she expected she would, doing a full summersault until she started to lose altitude, spiraling out of control. To add to this sudden confusing event her something appeared in her mouth. Rainbow Dash let out a muffled cry over the hot rolled up scroll tied up in a neat red bow.

The sky dropped down from her sight so the Ponyville buildings were all she could see, what looked like Rarity's tall decorated shop in particular. She closed her eyes and scrunched her body up, bracing for impact while her wings flapped clumsily to recover.

(Scene Break)

Rarity looked at the part of the dress she finished sewing up, cutting the string connected to the machine's needle. For the most part she'd been able to calm down, relax over the whole Gala ordeal. There were more important things to think about and show concern over. Rarity sighed and looked over her dress, loving the work she put into it so far. The silky fabric shined magnificently in the studio light and with how soft it was under her hoof, she knew it would feel great when she or any other lucky pony wore it.

"Marvelous." Rarity said with a smiled and smoothed out the material. She inspected the dress, and came across a loose flap of cloth. The white unicorn shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Oh now that just won't do! I've got to take care of that."

With no more extras of the correct material she needed, Rarity went over to the over side of the room and dug through her cabinets looking for what she needed. Sometimes she would be so consumed with sewing that she would occasionally forget to rearrange her supplies in the proper order; Rarity could be a bit scatterbrained.

Rarity would turn around, holding the small container of finely woven silk yarn in the air, and see the scroll laying in the middle of the work desk, right on her finished product. The white unicorn blinked and pushed her orange glasses up in front of her eyes, blinking again.

"Hello?" she called out to the otherwise empty room. Somepony had to have left that there, but who, or even what? "Hello?"

Rarity set the container next to the sewing machine. Her horn's magic transferred over to the letter and carefully undid the pretty red ribbon, setting it aside for later use on one of the hats she was in the process of designing.

"Now let's see what we have here." The white unicorn unrolled the scroll and smiled at the very formal handwriting printed down on the parchment.

'Dear Rarity. I'm having a slumber party tonight, and I would just love it if you came! All the girls will be there. We're going to have so much fun just like last time, but better! We're going to have so much fun! Party starts at six, I hope you come!

Signed, Twilight Sparkle

XOXO'

Rarity's eyes went wide when she saw the set of hugs and kisses. Understandably she blushed, but she knew better; Twilight didn't send this letter. Obviously Spike did. Rarity huffed and shook her head, but then she giggled.

"Spike, you silly little dragon you…" Rarity smiled. "So Twilight's having another slumber party? As if the last one wasn't bad enough." She laughed a bit, clearly joking around. Rarity honestly enjoyed the sleepover even if she had a difficult time tolerating Applejack at first. In the end they had lots of fun and it ended up being one of the best times she ever had with Twilight, or even Applejack for that matter.

"Twilight you marvelous pony," Rarity set the letter down and smoothed it out. Despite how filthy the paper looked it didn't leave any filth marks on her dress which she was thankful for. "I need to finish my dress but it can wait. This will be absolutely-"

A crash, the loud noise of glass shattering, and out of the corner of Rarity's eye a blue and rainbow streak flew by. She jumped, crying out in surprise as shards glass flew in every direction across the room. Rarity's attention wasn't focused in the direction behind her so she didn't know what just happened but all she knew was there were shards of glass all over the floor, the window next to the one she just closed completely broken except for a few jagged fragments still attached to the pane.

"What in the world?" she gasped, looking around the room. "*gasp* Rainbow Dash!"

In front of a huge dent in the wall the rainbow Pegasus pony lay sprawled out, not moving. Rarity galloped over to her.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" Rarity shook the Pegasus pony, turning her over on her side. Little red cuts covered her coat everywhere, a bigger gash along her shoulder. "Oh my Celestia! Rainbow Dash what happened?"

A small pained groan from the Pegasus, then she moved around on the glass buried into the fabric of the carpet. She looked like she just got out of a big fight with an angry and very annoyed cat. Rarity lifted her hoof and gasped when she saw a little bit of red on her hoof. She made a soft 'ew', unsure of where to wipe it off. She resorted to wiping it on Dash's tail. "Rainbow Dash get up!"

One minute she was flying through the air, and the next she was laying here on Rarity's floor. Her whole body hurt, her head in particular from the impact she had with the now-cracked wall. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, her vision blurry, the room spinning in front of her in a pink and purple mess.

"Holy…what just happened?" Rainbow Dash groaned, rubbing her throbbing cranium. She tried to move, but pain attacked her and she winced. It took her a few seconds to notice the white unicorn right next to her. "Rarity, what are you doing here?"

Rarity arched her eyebrows at this. "Rainbow Dash darling, you're in my studio! You crashed through my window!"

The Pegasus pony looked around, obviously disoriented by her hurtle through the window. It was pretty ironic but mostly funny; if any of the Pegasus ponies from Junior Flight School had seen that they would be calling her Rainbow Crash right about now. Thank Celestia they weren't…

"Darling are you okay?" Rarity asked as she helped the fallen Rainbow Dash to her hooves. "You took a pretty nasty fall there."

"A-Are you kidding?" Rainbow Dash said with the sudden appearance of the confidence she usually had in her tone of voice. "I'm fine! Never been better!….Ow…"

Rarity sighed and helped Rainbow Dash away from the broken glass all over the floor. The studio floor was a complete mess; it would take forever to get this cleaned up, but Rarity tried to not concern herself with that right now.

"Rainbow Dash you're hurt." Rarity pointed out, which was clearly obvious, but it seemed like Rainbow Dash didn't want to admit it. It was part of her fear of failure; most would see that as a sign of failure. "You need to go to see Nurse Redheart."

"Rarity I'm fine! It's not that bad!" she dismissed it all by waving her hoof.

The unicorn pulled her in front of the mirror, and Rainbow Dash could see just how scratched up she was. She winced, the scratches all over her body suddenly hurting more than they felt at first.

"Okay fine, it's bad…" Dash admitted, biting her lip. "Man that hurt."

"What were you doing Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked, looking at her in the mirror. "You didn't fly through a cloud again did you?"

"No…I can't remember…" The blue Pegasus suddenly couldn't remember what exactly made her crash; it was just one big blur after she hit the wall. "Bleh…my head hurts."

Suddenly Rarity had a rolled up scroll with a red bow around it; the one that made her crash.

"I think you dropped this darling." Rarity's words muffled, she raised it up and undid the ribbon, then unrolled it.

"Dear Rainbow Dash having a slumber party tonight, and I would just love it if you…Rainbow Dash this is the same letter I just received!"

Rainbow Dash brushed shards of glass from her mane. "What now? You got one of those too?"

"Yes I did!" The unicorn smiled.

"So what is it anyway?"

"Twilight is having a slumber party!"

Rainbow Dash looked at her. "A slumber party?" Dash wasn't the most feminine pony in the world so one would expect her to think more than once about attending something that usually involved 'feminine bonding' "I-I don't know…"

"You don't want to be rude by not going!" Rarity said with a slightly dramatic voice. "When Twilight held her first slumber party she was so happy and excited to have Applejack and I with her…" she sighed. "If she's inviting everypony, you need to go Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash sighed too, rubbing her hoof on the carpet. "Well I've never really been to one before…"

"There's really nothing to it Rainbow Dash, once everything is absolutely perfect nothing can go wrong. We'll have smores, tell ghost stories, give each other makeovers…"

The Pegasus looked up with wide eyes at the sound of "makeovers".

(Scene Break)

Spike's current mission was to make a timetable of all the activities Twilight and the girls would do at the slumber party; he didn't mind doing it, he would do anything for Twilight, but progress was slow; next to the slip of paper was a second one, which Spike used to doodle down an adult dragon guarding a horde of jewels. He licked his lips. He was so hungry for gem stones that even the ones drawn on the scroll were starting to look tempting…

"Hey Twi, do you want ghost stories before or after the smores, or do you want it during or after the makeovers?"

After he spoke the library was silent. Spike looked up from the podium at the filly sitting at the table, her face buried in that old book. It wasn't an exaggeration that when Twilight found a book she was really interested in, she couldn't stop reading it. Nothing could take her attention away from it.

"Did you hear me Twilight?" Spike spoke up again, his quill creating an ink blot where the sharp tip was pressed on the document. She didn't turn around. She flipped through the next few pages in her book but other than that she made no response to the baby dragon. "Twilight?"

Twilight was too consumed by the book's knowledge. This old tome that had been hidden in the library's basement for this long…it was simply astonishing to her. How could something this old and up her alley slip from her detection just like this? She wished she found this sooner, because each page was better than the last!

Though it may sound a little odd she got this excited over a book of spells, if you were a bookworm like Twilight or had incredible interest in improving your magic, you would be just as excited as her.

One of the more interesting things about the book were the illustrations. They all had a very vague cartoony appearance about them but a few were rather confusing to look at, some were smudged, and others she couldn't tell what the heck she was looking at. Others were pretty graphic, such as the page on 'Piranha Beetle Repel'. That page wouldn't have been so bad if the spell wasn't designed to work after the beetles already started to devour you. Twilight cringed, remembering when she saw her first picture of one of those little monsters in a book on exotic creatures. Piranha beetles were carnivorous insects that looked like a cross between an insect and a fish. Only about a few centimeters long, one beetle was nothing but in a swarm…you don't even want to know. They were only found deep in the southeastern jungles but they could instill fear in Twilight Sparkle wherever she was. She flipped to the next page to get it off her mind.

"Twilight!" Spike called again, but still wasn't able to elicit a response from her. Spike didn't really like it when Twilight did this because it made him (mostly him, but everypony else too) feel second best after her books.

That of course wasn't true, Twilight loved Spike to death, but books were very important to her and she could get lost in them as a result. She couldn't help it, she didn't do it on purpose, it was just something that happened. Her deep immersion in the book was partly due to her looking for something that could help Fluttershy. She wasn't sure how the Pegasus pony was holding up at this time; there was the possibly she could have gotten over what happened, but somehow she didn't think so. Fluttershy is a very sensitive and emotional pony; that incident at the Gala could have a deep impact on anypony, and it sure did on most.

The book still had a lot of pages to go but so far she hadn't found a page on anything that looked like it could cure anypony of depression; anypony bigger than a Parasprite at least. But if this book had a spell on curing somepony who had a nasty temper, then this had to have something that cured depression.

"Twilight!" Spike called louder, leaning forward on the podium. But still she didn't hear him. The dragon grunted, clearly frustrated, and grabbed a piece of paper from the stack beside the podium. His scaly paws crinkled it into a tight ball and he chucked it at the purple unicorn, hitting her square on the back of the head.

"Ah!" Twilight cried out in surprise, whipping her head around to look at Spike, rubbing the area he hit. "Spike what was that for?"

"Twilight you were ignoring me!"

"I was not!" She defended. "I'm sorry but I didn't hear you." Twilight stopped, then took a slow and deep breath. "What do you need Spike?"

"I asked if you wanted the ghost stories before or after the smores, or if you wanted the smores during or after the makeovers?"

Twilight paid attention to what he said this time and thought it over. "Put the ghost stories before the makeovers, and the smores after that."

Spike nodded and jotted it down. "That book must be pretty interesting."

Twilight smiled and nodded. "It really is Spike; this is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. But I can't find anything that could even help cheer up Fluttershy…"

Spike went back to adding detail to his drawing, his scaly lips moistening as he sketched down more gems behind his dragon. The last time he found jewels he almost met his end by a larger adult dragon; the only safe way was to ask Rarity for some of her gems.

Twilight read over page after page of spells. Page after page, and still no luck. The average pony would've given up by now, but she wasn't the average pony. If Fluttershy still needed help she was more than willing to spend all the time she had from now to the slumber party finding one. Twilight sighed heavily and rested her head on her hoof, skimming over each spell and their descriptions. Things weren't looking too good…

Then she found something that made her ears perk up. The page had a slight fold on the corner, meaning whoever read the book last tried to dog-ear it but the fold was so small it was amazing Twilight even found it.

The title of the page simply read "The Filly's Pleasure".

Twilight blinked at the illustration given beneath the title. It simply showed a filly in a rather odd but fancy-looking dress, possibly matching the time period the book was written in, lying on her back. The most notable feature about her was the satisfied, almost pleasured look on her face. Twilight didn't make anything of it because, well, she was in a dress and there wasn't anything provocative about the image. The drawings weren't all that detailed to begin with.

"'The Filly's Pleasure?'" Twilight murmured to herself so Spike wouldn't hear. Twilight skimmed down to the description of the spell. The only problem she faced was a few words were smudged or gone altogether.

"A Charming spell, the Filly's Pleasure only aff cts females of the po y race. ot recommended for no ices." Twilight could fill in the missing letters. "R k shou be taken when performing is spell due to the power ul effects, but expert spell-cas ers will find this a us ful tool. The Fil y's Pleasure can cure the w rst depression, bring blis ful euphoria, and stimulate every inch the nerves and nses. Fillies experience intense se…..by the doing of this spell. M….actitioners only. "

Needless to say Twilight was already piqued by this spell. This was exactly what Fluttershy needed, although the huge smudge of ink between the 'se' and 'by', as well as the other one after the 'M' made her confused and disappointed. But surely that didn't matter! This could cure Fluttershy of her depression.

"I think I found it Spike!" Twilight said excitedly. "I found it!"

"Huh?" Spike looked up, drool forming on the corner of his mouth. "Found what?"

"The spell I've been looking for!" Twi took the cloth ribbon attached to the binding of the book and slid in down the page, closing it to mark her place. "I'm going to see if Fluttershy's doing better."

Twilight smiled with pure delight. The answer was finally discovered, and if her sleepover couldn't make her feel better, then this would. But first she had to verify if she was doing any better. If not she needed Twilight's intervention.

"I'll be back soon!" Twilight headed out through the front door, leaving Spike alone in the quiet library.

The list was finished so there was nothing else to do but…well draw. Spike spent most of his attention to detail on the gemstones after a while, drawing ever line to give the gem its correct shape on the two-dimensional plane.

"Man what I would give for a nice juicy diamond right now…" Spike sighed, suddenly thinking about the ones on Rarity's flank.

Some days I couldn't get this chapter done, and I hope I didn't rush the part with Rarity and Rainbow Dash X( Sorry about the length, I wanted this chapter to be just right! I hope you enjoyed anyway!

R&R!