//------------------------------// // Day 4 - Free Time // Story: Stuck In The Middle With You // by Vargras //------------------------------// "And that's how you do a hook. Got it?" "Like this?" "...you uh, did a jab again. Let's... start from the top." Luna had given all of the campers the day off, and with their new-found free time, they all busied themselves with various things. Rainbow Dash sighed and returned to the task in front of her - namely, teaching Pip how to spar. The colt's small size made him an easy target for bullies within his class, and the cyan pegasus had taken it upon herself to teach him how to fight back. Applejack had already taught Pip a little bit about defense, and the orange earth pony had since retreated to a spot underneath a tree, where she now spent her time playing various songs on a harmonica. Underneath that same tree were Rarity and Twilight Sparkle - the fashionista was in the midst of a nap, and Twilight had her nose buried in yet another book. Out in the training yard itself, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie ran about, chasing one another and enjoying themselves. Rainbow Dash had to suppress a laugh as she watched Pip continue to mimic her every move, and it wasn't uncommon for the colt to fall over when attempting a punch or a kick. A gentle lift from one of her wings was usually all it took to pick him back up, and then the lesson would resume. The cyan pegasus put on her best smile and took a seat upon the grass as she watched Pip practice. "Alright, try the hook again." The colt tried once more and would have succeeded if had hadn't lost his balance. Pip tumbled over onto his face and was quickly helped back up once more. "Did I do it?" "Almost, bud. Lemme help ya." Rainbow Dash had been especially careful not to use 'squirt' when referring to Pip. Though it had been her go-to nickname for Scootaloo and several other foals, his diminutive nature also put him at risk of being offended by it - it was best to play it safe. The cyan pegasus sat down beside Pip and grabbed hold of one of his forelegs, guiding him through the motions and keeping him stable throughout it. She repeated the gesture a few more times for him, explaining the intricacies and techniques behind a proper hook. "Think you got it now?" "Yup!" Pip nodded enthusiastically and hopped away from the pegasus, giving himself some space. He slowly repeated the movements Rainbow Dash had showed him, and after several practice runs, the colt threw a hook as hard as he could muster. And he did it. He nearly toppled over, but Pip quickly managed to regain his footing, and the colt beamed up at the cyan pegasus. "I did it! Did you see me?!" "Oh, don't worry. I definitely saw. You learn awful fast, kiddo." Rainbow Dash gave the colt's mane a playful ruffle, though she was a bit surprised when he hugged her leg in return. "You should teach more ponies. You're really good at it!" That was something the cyan pegasus had never really pictured herself as. Weather team, maybe. Wonderbolt, definitely. Teacher? She had never really given it much thought. Rainbow Dash certainly couldn't picture herself doing such a thing day after day - after all, she was born to fly. To feel the wind beneath her wings. To go fast and to 'wow' others. She would never be much of a teacher, but it had been an interesting change of pace for her, and it had been surprisingly enjoyable. Still, there were some things about Pip that reminded her of another foal. The colt was certainly determined and more than willing to learn about things, but... the way he had hung on her every word, and the way he had mimicked her every move? It reminded her of Scootaloo, and perhaps it reminded her too much. Pip was just like the orange filly, and though she hadn't ignored him, she had continually distanced herself from Scootaloo. Once the cyan pegasus had returned to Ponyville, she would have to fix that. Rainbow Dash glanced down at Pip and grinned. "Hey Pip, how about we go raid the royal kitchen for some ice cream? You wanna do it?" "You bet!" Rainbow Dash lowered herself down towards the ground, and as Pip hopped up onto her back, she stood up once more and trotted off towards the kitchen. From their spot underneath the tree, both Applejack and Twilight stared blankly as they watched the two depart. The lavender mare closed her book and quickly glanced over at Applejack. "Hey AJ? Was that... actually Rainbow Dash? Willingly spending time with a foal?" "Twi, if I hadn' seen it mahself, I wouldn' believe it either." The orange earth pony soon returned to her harmonica while Twilight Sparkle pulled out another book, and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie joined them not longer afterwards. The yellow pegasus was completely out of breath and dropped to the ground, rolling over onto her side and glancing up at the tree branches out of the corner of her eye. "No... no more, Pinkie... Too... too fast..." "Aw, it's okay, Flutters! We can play tag some more after you're all rested up!" Pinkie Pie was hopping about in a circle, and she didn't look the least bit exhausted after playing with Fluttershy - the pink earth pony never seemed to run out of energy, no matter the situation. "Hey, where'd Rainbow and Pip go off to?" Twilight set down her book briefly and looked up at Pinkie. "I think they ran off towards the castle. Something about 'raiding the kitchen'." "And they didn't invite me?! Oh, I'm not letting them hog all the food!" With that, Pinkie Pie hurried off towards the castle, leaving the remaining four to wonder just what was even going on. It was doubtful they would ever get the answer. ----- Midnight. All seven of her guests had already gone to bed, as did many of the others that lived within the castle. Only a few ponies were still up, and not surprisingly, Princess Luna was one of them. It was hardly a shock, given her very nature. After all, she was the Princess of the Night. This was her time, and her domain. To be up during the day and asleep during the night felt unnatural to her. Having the day off hadn't been without benefits, of course. For once, the quiet and solitude had been rather welcome. It wasn't as if she disliked her campers - oh no, it was anything but. Luna truly enjoyed their company, but she still needed some time to herself as well. The young Princess had spent much of the day confined within her room, painting and drawing as she pleased. Her subject material had shifted as well, drifting away from landscapes and moving towards actual figures such as her very own guests. In that one day alone, she had already managed to paint four of them, and only three remained. That would be for another time, however. The sun had already set and the moon had been raised, and now Luna was stuck trying to keep herself busy until she felt tired enough to go to sleep. For the first time in what seemed like months, she felt restless. She didn't really want to paint or draw at the moment, nor did she want to play with her toys or observe the night sky. She didn't want to read and she didn't want to make stars either. The Princess of the Night rolled around on her bed and groaned with agitation as she tried to find something she could do to keep herself occupied - boredom simply irritated her even further, and only exacerbated her own restlessness. Luna felt a sudden urge, though, once she had not felt for at least a thousand years. The young Princess opened up the doors to her closet, her horn softly glowing as she levitated a phonograph out of the depths of the closet and into her room. It was a dusty old thing, one that hadn't seen use in... a very long time. Though she couldn't remember just how long it had been, Luna took a deep breath and blew most of the dust off of it, coughing and waving a hoof to clear the air as the dust floated about. With that matter taken care of, her magic picked up a stack of records hidden underneath her bed, and she began to rummage through them as she searched for an artist she might like. Some of these records were definitely new, but she wasn't entirely sure just where they came from. Regardless, Luna was left with two choices - on the left was a record from an artist who went by the name of Vinyl Scratch. The album art itself was rather... flashy, and it was somewhat obvious that this probably wasn't the kind of music one played during the middle of the night. The other record was much more subtle, a plain black background with white text, and had apparently been created by a pony named Octavia. At the very least, she recognized that name. Celestia had invited her to one of Octavia's concerts, after all, and she had declined. The young Princess felt a bit more inclined towards classical music anyways. She carefully set the record upon the phonograph, and after making sure she had plenty of room, Luna placed the needle upon the record. And then she began to dance. It had been years - thousands of years - since she had last danced, yet it was just like swimming. Slowly but surely, it began to come back to her. It was nothing more than a simple ballroom dance, but Luna still went through the steps in her head, closing her eyes as she walked herself through the timing. "One... two... three... one... two... three..." It must have been a truly odd sight for anypony that happened to peek into her room, to see the Princess of the Night dancing alone and talking to herself the entire time. Luckily for her, she didn't have an audience. Not yet, anyways. ----- Twilight Sparkle wasn't normally one to have insomnia, but it was especially bad tonight. She had spent several hours simply laying in bed, tossing and turning as she tried to get some semblance of sleep. Instead, she had been stuck hearing all the other ponies within the barracks as they slept peacefully, and it was almost as if they were all mocking her. Frustrated, she had left the barracks and now wandered the halls of the castle by her lonesome. It's not like she would get lost - this place was a second home for her, after all. It still felt odd for the entire castle to be this quiet, though the unicorn knew quite well that this wasn't exactly normal either. Luna normally held court during these hours, and even if the Princess of the Night wasn't that busy during such a time frame, it at least meant that there would have been more ponies around. The castle was still fairly well guarded, of course - Luna's own retinue of royal guards kept watching during the night, and it was Twilight's first real encounter with any of them. They proved to be much more talkative than the guardsmen that followed Princess Celestia around, and they all seemed to know her as well. She stopped and talked with some of them while she wandered about, and contrary to their appearance, they were quite friendly. Still, there was one pony she wanted to talk to, and that same pony was likely the only one who would be able to help her get some sleep - Luna. The lavender mare continued to make her way towards her destination, her hooves softly echoing off the tiles as she made her way through the halls of the castle, and her ears twitched slightly as she drew closer to Luna's room. "Is that... classical music?" Intrigued, she picked up her pace a bit, halting outside the young Princess' room and peeking in. What lay within certainly hadn't been what she was expecting, and her eyes widened as she watched Luna dance by herself. She had known that Celestia's sister had a knack for the arts, but she had never known that the Princess of the Night also enjoyed dancing, and she remained silent as she continued to watch the alicorn step to and fro. Luna continued to dance and twirl in-time with the music, her ethereal mane twisting about her body with every movement, and Twilight was somewhat awed by it all. Luna certainly appeared graceful at times, but this had taken it to the next level - to see her move so fluidly, with the very stars seemingly wrapped around her, had been something else entirely. The lavender mare would have continued to watch, if it hadn't been for one thing. The music had stopped. And Twilight had felt herself picked up by magic, forcibly brought into Luna's room, and now found herself staring eye-to-eye with the Princess of the Night. "Is there a reason why you continue to spy on me, Twilight Sparkle?" "Oh, um... n-no. It's just that... well, I didn't want to disturb you or anything! And you seemed to be enjoying yourself, so I... thought it'd be best to just stay quiet." The unicorn grinned nervously, but the alicorn didn't necessarily buy it. "So you gawked at me instead." It was becoming increasingly clear that Luna hadn't been prepared for this latest visit, and she was quite irritated as a result. "What? Never seen a pony do a ballroom dance on her own?" Twilight blinked and nervously glanced about as she desperately searched for something that might not offend the Princess any further. "I have, it's just... it was so different." "Different? Different how? In a good or bad way?" "Good! In a good way! It looked really graceful and pretty, with... you know." She gestured at her own mane with a hoof, and Luna quickly picked up on the message, though she seemed somewhat confused by it. The Princess blinked and raised an eyebrow, quickly setting the lavender mare down upon the floor. "...That doesn't explain why you even came here, though." "I uh... I couldn't sleep." "You too, huh?" Luna smirked and slowly shook her head. "I apologize for being so rough with you. I'm not used to having guests at this hour... sorta becomes habit after you run the kingdom during the night for over a year, and the only other ponies around during such hours are your own guards." "It's alright, Luna." Twilight briefly glanced around the room, pawing at the floor with a hoof before looking back up at the alicorn. "...so um... can you do anything to help me get some sleep?" "Nope. Dreams, I have a bit of control over... sleep itself? Completely out of my grasp. Best thing I can think of to help you get some sleep is to tire you out, and I have a few things in mind to help with that." Luna grinned slyly, her horn glowing as she shut her bedroom door. "Tell me, Twilight Sparkle... have you ever danced?" "Um..." The unicorn thought back to when she celebrated her birthday in Canterlot, just a few months prior. The dancing she did then... hadn't really been dancing. It was more like flailing about in a fancy manner. "...no." "Excellent! You can be my dance partner!" Luna giggled and clapped her hooves together, quickly stepping forward to stand beside Twilight. "Okay, it's been thousands of years since I've last taught this to anypony, but I think I remember it well enough to do it again. Just follow my lead. Ready?" Twilight Sparkle smiled and nodded, and then... The music started.