"So, Rainbow, are you excited?" a violet unicorn asked.
"Of course I am, Twilight!"
"Yer gonna show them Wonderbolts what you're made of?" came a cheery southern drawl.
"Yep! They'll love me!" Rainbow boasted.
Despite being in the lobby of the Ponyville library, none of the six ponies sitting in a circle in the middle of the room bothered to be quiet. This was a big day, and everypony knew how important this day was to Rainbow Dash. They also knew how important the same day was a year prior. They knew how their friend had reacted when it hadn't gone as she planned. Consciously, they were all trying to be good friends. Subconsciously, they were working hard to prevent a repeat of the near-disaster that shared its one-year anniversary with the annual Wonderbolts tryouts.
"Ooh, ooh! What kind of cake do you want for your party tonight?" A pink pony hopped around Rainbow Dash with a vigor that never ceased to lift everypony's spirits. "Vanilla? Chocolate? Ooh! Red velvet? Or carrot cake?"
"Surprise me."
Pinkie stopped hopping and smiled at Rainbow. "Oki-doki-loki. Oh! I almost forgot! If you meet any friends at the tryouts, invite them! The more the merrier, right?"
Rainbow stood and smiled back. "Well, if I run into anypony who might want to come…"
Pinkie cut in without letting her friend finish. "Ooh goodie! I'll make extra everything!" She hopped off rattling off potential menu items to herself, all of which involving nearly obscene amounts of sugar.
Fluttershy carefully worked her way into the conversation. "I… I'm very happy… um, that… that you got selected again."
Rainbow put a hoof to her chest in a gesture full of pride. "Well they won't let just anypony in. I can't help being awesome!" She smiled at Fluttershy. "I wonder how many ponies nominated me."
"Ah dunno, but ah reckon at least five, seeing as you can't nominate yerself." Applejack smiled, and the other four friends smiled as well. "'Course, five ain't enough to get ya to into a group of 12 hopefuls."
A young male voice called out, bringing a stack of books from downstairs. "It's at least six if they count nominations from dragons."
"Spike, I think they'll take nominations from anyone." Rarity turned towards Rainbow, who shrugged. "Regardless, she's in, and she's going to wow everypony! Isn't that right, darling?"
"I sure am. I've got everything planned out. And it's going to be so awesome!" Rainbow's voice heightened to a near squeak towards the end of her exclamation.
"And you're going to come to Sugarcube Corner to enjoy your party afterward, right?" Twilight suddenly spoke with a less cheerful tone. Everyone else noticed the change. Even Spike looked at Twilight with uncertainty.
"Um, yeah." Rainbow remarked curtly. Rainbow became very uncomfortable with where her friend was steering the conversation. The others looked blankly at the Pegasus and the unicorn, silently hoping they misread Twilight's inflection.
"I mean, why didn't you come back last year? I've been doing a lot of reading, and I refuse to believe being turned down is the only reason."
The other ponies glowered at Twilight. "Time and place, Twi… This is neither," whispered Applejack.
"I don't get it! Something else had to be on your mind," Twilight said with tears in her eyes. "What were you thinking?"
Applejack stood up and walked up to Twilight. "Dangit, Twilight. Not. Now."
"It's ok, girls," Rainbow said with a huff. "If you want to know, Twilight, I'll tell you. I've gone too long without telling any of you. But Applejack's right. Now is not a good time. Something hit me a couple months before the last tryouts. It was terrible. It was even in the Cloudsdale Times. But I'm not going to talk about it while I should be getting ready for the tryouts."
"But Dash," Twilight interjected.
"No. I have to go warm up. I don't want a cramp in the middle of my performance." Rainbow looked at Twilight with eyes that radiated annoyance. "I'm coming back for the party. I'll tell all of you after." Without another word, Rainbow shot out the door and flew towards Cloudsdale.
Applejack jabbed her hoof in Twilight's side. "What the hay is wrong with you?"
"What? I needed to know she'd be okay. And I figured if we knew more, maybe we could help her if she came back sad." Twilight sank her head.
"Well, that's not how ya do it!" Applejack growled. "Ah know you're concerned. We all are. But hours before the same event that… Ah can't believe you!"
"Um… I really… I really think you both need… to… um… calm down." Fluttershy made a barely audible attempt to moderate the argument. It seemed to work; for a moment both Twilight and Applejack were quiet. Applejack turned away, heading for the window. Then Twilight broke the silence.
"At least we have something to go on, now."
Applejack did a double take. "What d'ya mean by that?" A perturbed look began to re-shape on her face.
"I mean," Twilight stated simply, "that she said it happened two months before the last tryouts. That was right around last year's Summer Sun Celebration. If we check the newspapers from around then, we can figure out what she was talking about."
"Um… I really don't… I don't think that's a good idea." Fluttershy hid beneath her mane, her face almost completely covered. "She said she'll tell us herself… can't we just wait until then?"
"I agree completely, dear." Rarity flung her mane out of her face and stared at Twilight with as ladylike a discontent as she could muster. "I really think we should set this thought aside, and wait for Dash. Let's not even bring it up. We can talk about it when she's ready."
Twilight let out a gruff sigh. "Ok. You're all against it. What about you, Pinkie?"
She turned to see the normally exuberant pony sitting still. "I don't know," she said slowly. "It might help to know. Secrets don't usually help anypony."
"Thank you, Pinkie Pie." Twilight smiled at the weak but present vindication. "Besides, she told us herself, it's in the paper. She wouldn't have dropped that hint if she'd be upset with us looking."
"Ah don't think we should be pryin'." Applejack insisted.
"It's not prying if it's public information, Applejack."
Applejack knew she was losing the argument quickly, as were Fluttershy and Rarity. Nothing stood in the way of Twilight Sparkle searching for knowledge. Applejack decided not to bother replying, but instead shook her head and walked back towards the window.
"Ok then," Twilight chimed in. "Now there isn't enough room in the library to keep newspaper records. Those are all in Canterlot. I'll ask the princess to send us some of the archives. We can start with the week of the celebration. Spike, take a letter."
"Nuh-uh. Twilight, I know you mean well, but…" Spike was obviously uncomfortable with the idea. "I'll send it, but I'm not writing it."
"Fine." Twilight pouted and levitated a scroll and quill from a nearby table, dipping the quill in ink as it floated to her. She quietly narrated to herself as she wrote with the quill and parchment hanging in the air. "Dear Princess Celestia, I understand you are preparing to attend the Wonderbolt tryouts, and apologize if this letter finds you at a bad time. If you are not too busy, would you kindly forward issues of the Cloudsdale Times from the week of last year's Summer Sun Celebration? Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight rolled the scroll and sent it over to her assistant. "Ok, Spike. Send it."
Spike grumbled as he plucked the scroll from the air. He took a deep breath and exhaled a thin flame towards the top of the document. The scroll vanished into a puff of sparkling smoke.
"There. Now we just wait for a reply." Twilight looked towards Fluttershy, Applejack, and finally Rarity. "If she's too busy, or we can't find anything in the first batch of papers, then we'll wait."
Twilight began to pace the floor, and a few moments passed without anypony speaking a word. Eventually, Pinkie Pie hopped in front of her.
"I know what that look means!" Pinkie said teasingly, poking Twilight's pouting face. "It means you need to be cheered up! And you know what cheers up a pony real quick? Do ya?"
"Pinkie," Twilight muttered. "If you say, 'party'…"
"A party? That's a good idea, but I'm saving all my party energy for tonight! It's gonna be super! But right now, I was thinking cupcakes!" Pinkie jumped in the air for emphasis. "I'll be right back with some, with extra hot sauce on the side!" Pinkie bounced to the door, pushed it open with her nose, and bounced outside.
Twilight stood in awe at the behavior she just witnessed, but quickly disregarded it as normal for Pinkie. For a moment, she almost forgot about what she was thinking about previously. Just as it started to come back to her, a voice came behind her.
"I'm back! Vanilla or chocolate?"
Twilight spun around and saw Pinkie standing behind her, with a platter of cupcakes and assorted bottles labeled with peppers balanced atop her back. Pinkie stared at the careful balance, then back at Twilight. "Go ahead. Grab one! It'll make you smile!"
Twilight stood for a second. "How… never mind." She lit up a chocolate white-frosted cupcake in a faint glow and lifted it off the platter. Immediately the platter began to wobble under the slightly upset weight distribution.
"Quick, Twilight! Take one from the other side!"
Twilight set the cupcake down, then lit the entire platter and floated it to a nearby table. She then plucked the cupcake she originally selected and took a bite. To her surprise, it did help ease her tension. She was still very worried, but she had less of a desire to show it.
"C'mon! I brought enough for everypony!"
Spike was the first to approach the platter, but he stopped mid-stride. He turned around and produced a very large belch of green flame, which materialized into a stack of paper roughly one quarter his height, bundled in twine with a scroll tied to it. The stack hovered for a second before landing with a thud.
"I… I didn't know you could do that much… all at once." Fluttershy squeaked, still hiding in a corner, nearly out of sight.
"Ugh," Spike replied with an uncomfortable expression, holding his stomach. "I didn't either."
Applejack and Rarity turned their attention to the stack, then both shook their heads slowly at Twilight. "Dear, I do think it's best if we put this aside and just wait for Rainbow Dash to tell us herself," Rarity softly insisted.
"She knows we both disapprove, but ah reckon there's no stoppin' her," Applejack said. "Ah'm half tempted to leave right now so ah don't hear none of it. Then again, ah can't help but wonder what's so big to be in the papers."
Twilight untied the scroll from the bundle and read it aloud.
"My dear student, Twilight Sparkle: I apologize in advance for the short response, as you are correct in your assumption that I am preparing to leave to attend the Wonderbolt tryouts. I have sent the periodicals you have requested. Additionally, I hope you do not mind, but since you did not specify what you were researching, I did glance at the headlines before sending these. I can only say that I found something that appears to relate to your friend Rainbow Dash, and should it be what you are searching for, please be prepared for what you read. Your mentor, Princess Celestia"
"Be p-p-prepared for what you r-read?" Fluttershy shivered and buried her face in her hooves. "That sounds… scary."
"It means," Twilight deemed, "that we're on the right track."
"We? Twi, this was all your idea," Applejack stated.
"Ok, I'm on the right track," Twilight admitted. She undid the twine binding the stack of papers. "The princess mentioned that whatever it was is in the headlines, so that'll save some time." She picked up the first newspaper, scanned it, then set it down. She did the same with the second. Upon lifting the third paper, she gasped. "Oh my. I think this is it."
"Ooh? It is? Lemme see, lemme see!" Pinkie ran up to Twilight so quickly that she knocked her friend off her hooves when she failed to stop.
The newspaper escaped Twilight's levitation and slid across the floor to Fluttershy, who was lying flat with her hooves covering her eyes. The paper came to a stop, barely touching Fluttershy's nose, eliciting a slight peep. Fluttershy uncovered her eyes and shrieked at the photographs on the front page.
"Fluttershy, darling! What's the matter?" Rarity slowly walked towards the startled Pegasus with a look of clear concern.
"It… It's… It's Rainbow's parents…"
