“Special ingredient?” Dash was now breathing
heavily and starting to panic. “What special ingredient?”

Pinkie giggled and
responded “You, silly!”

I may have been mistaken about this not having to do with the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Dash’s eyes widened, and her face contorted in fear. Then she started to
laugh and said, in a voice bordering on hysteria, “Woo, you really got me
there, Pinkie Pie. I mean, tricking me into thinking I’m gonna get made into a
cupcake? I gotta tell you, this the best prank yet. You win, you’re the best.”

Oh yeah, the pranking!

…that’s not what’s going on here, though, is it.

Pinkie only giggled even more. “Aw, thanks Dash.
But I haven’t done any pranks today, so I can’t accept your praise.”

Dash was struggling again.
“Pinkie, come on, this isn’t funny.”

Yeeeah, Dash, might be time to drop the denial and officially freak out. Your friend appears to be the newest Slaughterhouse Nine member (apparently not all of them are in Brockton Bay at the moment), or at least a psycho of some other variety.

“Then why were you laughing?” Before Dash could answer, Pinkie grabbed
the cloth and whipped it off the cart. On the cart was a tray containing
various sharp medical tools and knives, carefully organized and wickedly sharp,
as well as a large medical bag.

Those looks suitably deadly.

Dash shrugged and popped the pastry in her mouth. She chewed a bit and swallowed. Not bad.

Nom.

“Ok, now what?” Dash asked.

“Now,” Pinkie informed
her, “You take a nap.”

Wait, WHAT?

Did she spike the cupcake??

Puzzled, Dash opened her mouth but felt instantly lightheaded. A wave of
dizziness washed over her, the world spun, and seconds later she collapsed to
the floor.

…apparently she did. Why?? What’s going on here?

Looks like there’s more plot to this than I thought.

“Baking?” Dash was disappointed. “Pinkie, you know
I’m not good at baking. Remember last time?”

What happened last time? I hope it was a mishap involving powers.

“Oh that’s not a problem at all. I only need your
help making them. I’ll be doing most of the work,” Pinkie explained.

Dash thought for about it
for a second. “Well, alright, I guess that’s ok. What exactly do you need me to
do?”

Kitchen assistant Rainbow Dash?

“That’s the spirit. Here you go.” Pinkie handed
Dash a cupcake.

Wait, what? Aren’t we here to make those?

Dash was puzzled “I thought I was helping you bake.”

Dash shares my confusion.

“You will be. I made this one just for you before
you got here.

“So, is this like taste testing or something?”

“Sorta,” Pinkie said.

Did she just make the one cupcake? I’m no expert on cupcakes, but I thought you kinda had to make them in batches.

Actually, maybe Dash’s blueness could also be in terms of her outfit rather than her skin. I don’t know.

When Dash walked into the store, she was immediately greeted by her host, who was bouncing in excitement.  “Yay, you’re here! I’ve been waiting aaall day,” said the jumping pony.

Wow, cheerful one, are you? Nice.

Also, the use of “pony” here is a little weird. If it’s just a nickname for citizens, you should be able to replace it with “Ponyville citizen”, but “said the jumping Ponyville citizen” sounds very out of place given Dash’s and Pinkie’s friendly relationship.

“Sorry if I’m a little late, Pinkie.  I was doing my afternoon exercises and lost track of time,” Dash apologized.

Yeah, sure, you totally weren’t considering blowing her off, no sirree.

Pinkie giggled and responded in a gleefully reassuring tone, “Oh that’s
ok, you’re here now. What‘s a few more minutes? I’ve been sooo excited thinking
about all fun stuff we’re gonna do, I haven’t stopped bouncing since I woke up.
I mean, I almost forgot to breathe I’ve been so happy.”

Really cheerful.

It’s… kind of contagious, actually. I don’t even know what they’re doing yet and I’m already a little excited.

Dash gave a slightly uncomfortable laugh. She had
always appreciated Pinkie Pie’s friendly, outgoing way of life, but Pinkie’s
overabundant enthusiasm almost creeped her out.  Dash maintained a polite
expression, however. If Pinkie was this worked up, whatever she had planned
must be good.

Dash isn’t quite as sold on it, but at least she recognizes it’s a good sign.

Suddenly, Dash remembered that she had somewhere to be; she was supposed
to meet with Pinkie Pie in five minutes.

Oh, hey, plot. And another new character… Pinkie Pie? Certainly an unusual name. I mean, Rainbow Dash isn’t super typical for Worm either, but at least that sounds like a cape name.

Dash had gotten so caught up in her exercises that she’d nearly
forgotten that Pinkie had asked to meet her at Sugarcube Corner at three.
Pinkie hadn’t said why or what they’d be doing, but Dash knew that with Pinkie,
it could be anything.

Hm, sounds like Pinkie is an unpredictable one.

So does this Interlude just… not have anything to do with the Slaughterhouse Nine after all? I mean, we’re following these new characters in a town we’ve never heard of as they do something at a place called “Sugarcube Corner” (a bakery, maybe?), and the Slaughterhouse Nine are supposed to be in Brockton Bay?

Dash wasn’t sure if she really wanted to go, though. She was so engaged
with her stunts that she thought about blowing Pinkie off to continue flying.

Rude.

But, Dash’s conscience got the better of her. She knew that it would
hurt Pinkie’s feelings; after all, Pinkie had said it was going to be something
special just for the two of them. Dash considered it and thought “why not?”
What did she have to lose?

That’s the spirit.

Heck, it might be more pranking. Pinkie might have found a bunch more
fun stuff to pull on folks, and they’d had so much fun the last time. Dash
kicked into overdrive to make up for lost time, and sped to her appointment.

Ooh, mischievous couple girls, huh?

The air was warm, the sun was shining, and everypony in Ponyville was having a glorious day.

Huh? Looks like we’ve got a new location. Is this a real place? “Ponyville” doesn’t seem like a name Wildbow would come up with.

The town square was bustling and crowded and busy ponies filled the streets.

Ponies?

What?

Is that like a nickname for the citizens of this town?

All the pony folk seemed to have somewhere specific to be. All except Rainbow Dash; her place was in the sky.

Looks like we’ve got our POV character – apparently a cape with the power of flight. What else does she have, I wonder? I think we all know characters in Worm don’t generally have just flying on its own.

The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t for the life of me remember why.

She tore freely through the air, speeding one way and the next, buzzing
the tree tops and racing the wind. The blue pegasus swooped over a schoolyard,
much to the delight of the children, then climbed several hundred feet and
dove, streaking downward as fast as she could. Seconds before hitting the
ground, her wings flew open and she pulled up back into the clear blue. Rainbow
felt alive.

Good to hear she’s having fun!

But, uh. Blue pegasus?

I guess if she have the power of flight in a town where the citizens are nicknamed ponies, that would make her a flying pony, or pegasus. I wonder if her power actually gives her wings, though. That’s something we don’t see a lot with the flying capes in this story. The closest I can think of was Iron Falcon, and I don’t recall if those wings were real or just a costume choice.

As for blue, I suppose blue skin isn’t too out there.