//------------------------------// // Epilogue - Summer Sun Preparations // Story: Winds of the Past // by Fantasia //------------------------------// "So," began Twilight, peering down at Spike; "do we have everything we need?" "If by everything, you mean ourselves and our assignment, then yes." Twilight smiled a bit, as she rolled her eyes at the remark. She turned to face her brother, who had accompanied her to see her off. The two stood atop one of Canterlot Castle's many towers. "Goodbye, Big brother. Promise me... we'll still be best friends?" "What are you so worried about, Twily?" Shining flashed her a confident smile. "I mean, sure, it's the first time you've left on your own, but you'll be back before you know i—" "Just promise me, Big Brother," Twilight cut him off, looking away. She bit her lip, scuffing the floor with her hoof as her voice weakened. "I... I don't think I could bear to lose my only friend." Spike's gaze widened the slightest bit before averting itself to the ground, his hand clutching his other arm's elbow, and not going unnoticed by Shining. He looked softly down upon Spike before returning his gaze to Twilight's. "Yes, Twily, I'll still be your best friend forever; but... I'm not your only best friend either. You'll see that someday..." And at that, Twilight started to laugh, stifling it behind closed lips. "Be serious, Big Brother," she managed to say, "More than one best friend would be ridiculous." Regaining her composure, she turned and began walking towards the chariot, but not before looking back over her shoulder at Spike. "Come along now, Spike. We have an assignment to fulfill." Spike hesitated before siding with her, nodding his head, and following along after her. The two boarded the chariot—operated by a pair of pegasi pilots—Twilight in particular looking back at her brother and waving softly. The two eventually entered the skies, still looking back at the place that had been their home for as long as they could remember. Twilight was the first to turn away, letting out a sigh, and resting her forelegs over the side of the chariot, the wind blowing through her mane. "Never thought I'd ever actually leave this place..." Spike turned as well, looking up at her. "Did you really have to laugh off what your brother said though? I mean, would it kill you to at least try?" "Maybe," Twilight stubbornly insisted. "You know I'm going to keep pestering you about it until you do," Spike replied. Twilight grumbled. "I mean..." He looked off, throwing caution to the wind as he murmured, "We could be friends." Twilight blinked, turning to him, surprised. "Oh, Spike; is that what this is about?" Spike nodded meekly and in return, she snorted lightly in amusement. "Well, you don't have to worry about that, Spike, because you're something better than a friend." He looked up at her questioningly. "You're my very best assistant, Spike." He deadpanned. "Assistant?" Twilight nodded. "Assistants never use you, or... abandon you—unless given the option to quit of course. They're helpful, and they never let you down." Twilight smiled down at him. "You should be very proud to be my assistant, Spike." "Proud, right..." Spike's gaze fell, and his brow crinkled. "Is that why you're so against friendship? You're afraid of ponies leaving you?" Twilight shot him a look before staring off into the distance. "I'm not really one to believe in dreams—they're just something that... occupy the mind while we rest, but... after what I dreamed about..." Her eyelids lowered, gazing, sullen, into the clouds. "The feeling of losing a friend is very painful, Spike... Even if it only happened in a series of dreams." "Twilight..." Spike placed a reassuring hand on her foreleg. "As awful as it must have been, they were just dreams. You can't let them get in the way of making new friends." Twilight shrugged in response. "If you experienced the same dreams I did..." She shook her head and sighed. "I just wish I could put them to rest..." Spike softly nodded. "Well... hay, maybe what you're looking for is... lying right in Ponyville," he mused, unraveling Celestia's letter and holding it out before him. "Speaking of... Let's go over what she's asking us again." Twilight groaned, burying her face in her forelegs. A pair of forelegs and hind legs laid sprawled out on top of a cloud, a certain mare's mouth hanging open while her body sucked in another breath of air. She snored soundly, her chest softly rising up and down. "Rainbow Dash!" Her eyelids winced, her right ear flickering once at the sound of somepony calling her name in her sleep. "Rainbow Dash!" "Zz—huh...?" Her eyes fluttered open, squinting at first from the sun. "Wha...?" Another loud cry of her name caused her to cringe slightly, her expression quickly becoming peeved. "Rainbow Daaaaaash!" Pinkie Pie... With a groan, Rainbow flipped herself over on the cloud she was resting on, staring down at the pink pony. Pinkie beamed upon seeing her. "Oh good, you're awake. See, I needed you awake real bad because moments ago I was walking through town, and everything seemed all nice and hunky-dory—that is until I ran into this unicorn mare with a purple coat, and blue mane and dragon assistant, and gasped because I'm pretty sure she's a certain somepony that we both know and love, so I ran off to find you and here I am and—" Rainbow closed her eyes, holding a hoof to her temple and outstretching her other foreleg down at the earth pony, silently asking her to stop. She was too tired for this. "Pinkie Pie... Enough, alright? I've never met any "purple unicorn," and neither have you—I'm guessing. I mean, knowing you and your active imagination, you probably just imagined or... dreamt up the whole thing." Pinkie cocked her head at that, but Rainbow continued, smiling reassuringly. "Take it from me, Pinkie Pie; you've never met this mare before, okay? You've never seen her before, and it's just gonna keep bugging you the more you try and think about what never, ever happened in the first place, alright?" "I've never seen her before..." Pinkie smiled up at her. "If you say so, Dashie." Rainbow rolled her eyes at her nickname. "Now," she grinned, "why don't you do what you always do and throw a party for this mystery mare. Show her some good old-fashioned Ponyville hospitality!" "Okey dokey, Lokey," Pinkie replied enthusiastically, saluting her before moving on down the street, bouncing up and down and humming merrily to herself. Could have sworn I didn't dream all that up. Maybe Rainbow's right though, and I did because she was so lonely all those months ago. Like, all those times I visited her, and she visited me, 'Twilight' was just somepony I made up. I... wanted to believe she was living a life of happiness, that... while she was away, she was with a pony who loved her, but that was just me trying to make sense of her going away... She sighed, shaking her depressive thoughts from her head. Well, she's home again for good, and... everypony adores her 'cause of that heroic stunt she pulled way back when! That unicorn however seemed like she could use somepony—maybe I'll set the two of them up so she and Rainbow can each have a new friend! I'll grab our closest friends too, and hay, the fact that she looks an awful lot like that pony I imagined maybe means that we were all destined to be friends! Pinkie smiled, barely able to contain her excitement. I always knew I'd make a great psychic! Madame Pinkie... I can see it now! Rainbow huffed, opening her eyes for the tenth time and staring bitterly up at the sky. And now I can't fall back asleep... Great. She sighed, sitting up and shaking her mane back into shape. May as well train some more. She flew around for a good half hour, pulling off some casual flips and rolls, when her eyes took note of a couple of someponies on the ground below: a blue-maned, purple unicorn mare, and a little dragon. She became so lost in them, that she didn't notice when she began slipping out of the sky—slowly at first, but her descent quickly began picking up speed. Rainbow's eyes widened. She was coming in right for her. Aw man! she fretted. Pull up, pull up, pull—! Her thoughts ceased as she knocked the poor unicorn off her hooves like she was nothing, and into a body of mud several feet away. She blinked, taking in what had happened, and her current position, which seated her on top of said very unicorn, who laid face-first in the mud. Splotches of it coated their manes, ears, and forelegs. Rainbow sat up, looking over her shoulder before grinning sheepishly. "Uh, 'scuse me?" She laughed softly, leaning in closer to the unicorn. Twilight groaned, narrowing her eyes as she lifted her face out of the mud. She sat up as Rainbow jumped into the air, proclaiming, "Let me help you." She flew off and came back with a thick cumulus cloud, positioning it just above Twilight, to which the unicorn eyed it skeptically. She jumped on the cloud a bunch, shaking loose a torrent of rushing water. Water that drenched Twilight to the bone, leaving her mane and coat dripping and soaked. Rainbow peeked out from over the edge of the cloud, holding her hooves to her cheeks as she sheepishly chuckled. "Oops, I guess I overdid it." She tapped her chin. "Um, uh, how about this?" Twilight's mouth fell open right before the pegasus encircled her in a mini tornado, drying up all the mud as well. "My very own patented Rain-Blow Dry!" she boasted, setting down in front of her. "No no, Don't thank me. You're quite welcome." Twilight only glowered at her as Rainbow took a look at her and saw what her stunt had done to the unicorn's mane and tail. It's... poofier than Pinkie Pie's! she thought, tears building in her eyes before bursting out laughing Spike couldn't help but burst out laughing as well, falling on top of Rainbow. Twilight raised an eyebrow, staring at the two, unamused. "Let me guess. You're Rainbow Dash." Rainbow stopped laughing and sprang to her hooves, accidentally flinging Spike off her back in the process. She stood flattered before Twilight, holding a hoof to her chest. "The one and only. Why," she asked, hovering and leaning in close to Twilight, Twilight herself leaning back, perturbed. "You heard of me?" "I heard you were supposed to be keeping the sky clear." Rainbow flew up to a nearby cloud as Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, deciding to start over. "I'm Twilight Sparkle—" Rainbow stifled a laugh behind her lips, facing away from the unicorn as she reclined on the cloud she had flown to. "—and the princess sent me to check on the weather." "Yeah, yeah." Rainbow waved off her concern. "That'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing." Twilight cocked her head, looking at Rainbow in puzzlement. "Practicing for what?" "The Wonderbolts!" Rainbow exclaimed, pointing to a poster on the side of a building behind them. "They're gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!" "The Wonderbolts?" Twilight repeated, skeptical, with a humored smile on her face. "Yep!" "The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?" "That's them!" "Pfft! Please," she teased. "They'd never accept a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." "Hey," Rainbow shot back, pointing out to the sky. "I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat." Twilight grinned, giving her a daring look. "Prove it." Rainbow scowled. The gall of this unicorn! She catapulted into the sky, obliterating the surrounding clouds with such force it swept through Twilight's mane and caused her to flinch. "Loop the loop around, and wham!" Rainbow stopped to hover above the bridge in front of Twilight and Spike, setting down on the bridge's right railing. "What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging." Rainbow chuckled, seeing Twilight's open-mouthed, stunned expression as she continued staring up at where she had been sitting. "You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle." Rainbow hovered beside her, Twilight's eyes widening but never gazing away, her mouth snapping shut at what Rainbow said next. "I can't wait to hang out some more!" The End Years later... "I don't understand it, Spike." Spike sat sideways with his feet reclined over the armrest of his throne, a comic in his clawed hands. "Spike?" Twilight, with her left cheek resting against her hoof and her other tapping a bored rhythm on the table in the center, looked to her assistant. "Spike!" Spike sighed, closing his comic between his hands. "Waiting around for it isn't going to make it go any faster, Twilight; and besides, isn't a lack of emergencies a good thing?" "It isn't the map, Spike. It's the chandelier the girls made from the roots of our old library. Er, more specifically, the decorative stones that hang from its roots." "What about them? They... are just decorations, right?" "Maybe... but, when I look at them, I see all the memories I've shared with them there, and yet... Spike, there's one I just can't make out." "Alright, well... describe it to me. What's it look like to you?" "Foggy... like, something's interfering with my memory of it." "That's silly, Twilight. Why would anything want to mess with your memories?" Twilight gazed away solemnly. "I don't know, Spike." "H-hey, I... wasn't being serious, you know," Spike quickly assured, though it didn't snap her out of it. She stared up long and hard at the red gemstone, to the point of where she swore it was making her brain hurt. She brought her hoof up from her cheek to her left temple to massage it gently, when her eyes widened. She let out a breathless gasp as she finally made something out. Something very familiar. Rainbow?