A shabby, dull purple pony with a cone tied to the front of her head pulled a lopsided cart covered with a dirty tarp into the entrance of a city park. The rain had finally abated, but the sky remained grimly overcast. City dwellers had gotten used to the perpetual smog overhead. For them, if they wanted sunshine, they would have to make a trip to the countryside, as the park itself was only mildly more pleasant than the surrounding streets. Grey foliage grew everywhere, and except in the main park thoroughfares it was left to go wild, leaving entire areas of the park as tangles of brambles and shrubs. Still, despite the bleakness, it was one of the few places in the city that one could even get a taste of nature, and youngsters and adults alike visited the park from time to time. Immediately after a rainfall, the vicinity was relatively quiet save for the purple pony lecturing her happily oblivious dog.
“—but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends!” Twilight hauled the cart a fair distance from the main path into a side clearing. After unhitching herself, she happily turned to the cart. “Thank you, sirs!” The cart failed to respond in kind because it was an inanimate object.
Meanwhile, several yards away, a group of five friends was walking down the path, thinking they had the park to themselves.
“I dunno, Dash, it just don't seem right. In fact, I know it ain't. How come you need to copy my homework, anyway? We had plenty of time on that last assignment. I bet you were spending all your time practicing on the field instead of doin' your work!” An orange pony wearing an out-of-place stetson and plaid shirt stamped a hoof in frustration at one of her companions.
A pony with a cyan hoodie, rainbow-colored cloth hoofbands, and a garishly dyed rainbow mane rolled her eyes. “Oh, come ON, AJ! What's more important: schoolwork or working towards your dream? I'm going to be a super-awesome famous athlete one day, but I can't do it with all this lame homework keeping me from practicing!”
A white pony wearing a slim-cut, highly stylish coat, fuzz-lined rain boots, and a sizable but undoubtedly fashionable pair of saddlebags tossed her hair casually and said, “Darling, I too wish that the school system emphasized more trade skills instead of pure academia, but that doesn't mean you can just skip out of doing your assignments. However, I suppose that just this once I could—”
“Ugh! Rachel, I'm not talking about sewing or knitting or anything like that! I just want to be able to train in peace! I don't care about the egghead stuff, and I don't care about other 'trade skills' either. I just want to train.” She paused for a moment. “And to nap, I guess. Oh, and to hang with you guys, too.”
AJ sarcastically replied, “Well, thank goodness we're included in that list. Glad to know we rank alongside yer precious naps.”
A pink pony with a mess of a curly mane and a similarly frizzy sweater trotted happily in front of the group, cheerfully ignoring the mild tensions behind her. “Yeah, I know what you mean! Naps are super-duper important! Especially when you're tired!”
Dash facehoofed. “Diane, that's not what I meant—”
“Ahem. Dash, if you weren't so busy being difficult, you would have noticed that I was making you an offer. Just this once, you can copy my homework.” Rachel stood proudly, as if she was making a noble sacrifice for the cause.
“Wow, thanks, Rachel! I appreciate it! At least somepony is being generous today.” Dash glowered at AJ, who directed her frustrations at Rachel.
“Dag-nabbit, you know she's just gonna do it again if we keep helping her like this!”
“Now, now, AJ, Dash hasn't done this that often, and this assignment is important!”
A quiet voice timidly piped up. “Um, everypony...”
Rachel turned to a yellow pony with a pink mane, dressed in a rather conservative and unassuming sweater. “Yes, Fiona, darling?”
Fiona quietly said, “I, um, I think...I think that it...sorry, but I agree with AJ. It doesn't seem right. We would be breaking the rules. The teacher did say not to copy...”
Dash facehoofed again and groaned. “Fiona—”
She stopped when she noticed that Diane, who had been happily oblivious of the growing argument as she led the group, had come to a dead stop in front of them, and for good reason. In the path in front of them, a filthy purple mare dressed in rags and with a ridiculous paper horn on her head stood almost nose-to-nose with Diane. A dog at her side yipped once excitedly.
“Uh, hello?” the mysterious vagrant offered hesitantly.
Diane was suddenly released from her self-imposed paralysis and gasped in startled surprise before making a hasty retreat. The rest of her friends followed suit until they were all almost out of sight of the purple pony. They all eyed her nervously as she stood unmoving, seemingly perplexed.
“Consarn it, Diane! What did we all run for? Just because she appeared out of nowhere and scared us—”
“I totally wasn't scared,” interjected Dash. AJ ignored her.
“—she's probably not dangerous! Maybe she wanted directions! You're the most friendly pony I've ever met, too! I thought you would've been all over meetin' a new friend.”
“You're right, AJ! I just got a big jump, and I twitched all over, and I just didn't know what to do, so I ran! You know how it is.”
“With you, sugarcube, I never know how it is. Still, I'll try to make peace with her and see what she wants. It would be rude ta just run off and ignore her.”
“Sounds good to me, AJ! We'll all be waaay back here supporting you!” AJ focused a devastating glare at Dash. “What? It's not like I'm scared, she just probably smells or something!”
AJ confidently advanced towards the purple pony as Rachel soundly chastised Dash for being inconsiderate and rude. As her friends' voices faded behind her, AJ saw the purple pony start to walk forward as well, looking at the dog happily trotting by her side.
“Hey there!” AJ called out. The pony jumped before sighing and looking disgruntled.
“Let's get this over with,” AJ heard the pony mutter to herself as they neared each other. As they reached a comfortable conversation distance, the pony composed herself and presented a winning smile.
“Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She announced proudly.
AJ almost exploded into laughter at the unexpected name, but managed to remember her manners and plastered on a friendly demeanor. She offered Twilight a firm hoofshake. “Howdy, miss...Twilight. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm AJ. We—ah mean, me and my friends—”
Although AJ had already finished the hoofshake, Twilight's hoof remained comically wobbling in front of her, and she seemed a bit out-of-sorts from the hoofshake. AJ hadn't thought she had THAT strong of a grip.
Twilight uttered a confused “Friends? Actually, I...” and trailed off.
AJ waited awkwardly for a moment. “So...what can I do ya for?”
Twilight composed herself again and stood importantly. “Ahem. Well, I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?”
A bamboozled AJ just stared blankly for a moment. This pony clearly was missing something. Summer Sun Celebration? AJ had never heard of such a thing, and a pony like the one in front of her was unlikely to be here to supervise anything in an official capacity, though she couldn't decide if it was more because Twilight didn't look much older than her, or because the mare looked like she had just stepped out of a landfill. Maybe she should just play along? Maybe Twilight was just hungry, and this was her unusual way of asking for food. AJ supposed there were stranger ways. She had the leftovers of her lunch with her, and she didn't mind giving some food for the good of a stranger.
“Uh, sure? Would you care ta sample some of the, uh, food?”
“Ah, as long as it doesn't take too long.”
AJ was surprised by the lack of enthusiasm, but pushed forward, reaching into a pocket and pulling out an apple and a small wrapped bundle. “Heh. Soup's on, I guess. Here ya go. Hope ya like apples, cause my family tends ta favor em, see.”
Twilight seemed uninterested. “Thanks, but I really need to hurry.”
Getting uncomfortable, AJ decided to just push onward. Why was this pony, who had come to her with a question, in a hurry to leave? “The package's an apple fritter, and that there's a Granny Smith. Ah can eat dinner later with mah family, so you can have these.”
Twilight inexplicably spewed a fountain of spit to the side before chuckling awkwardly. “Ok, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way.”
AJ was beyond words at this point. Fortunately, the dog was not.
“Arf!” It looked up at the food plaintively.
Twilight turned apologetically to the dog. “Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do...”
The dog engaged beg mode, radiating maximum pitifulness.
Twilight sighed and grabbed the still-extended food offering from AJ's hoof. “Fine.”
“All...righty...then?” AJ hastily retreated back to her friends as Twilight dug into the food.
“So what did she have to say, AJ?” Dash chuckled at her friend's apparent confusion as she trotted back to the group.
“Ah think she wanted food, but Ah've never encountered a pony that asks like she did. Ah hate ta say it, but it's like she's living in her own world or somethin'. Says her name's Twilight, which seems kinda weird ta me, and ya can tell by that horn thing that somethin's odd.”
“So you gave her your food? AJ, dear, that was very kind of you. Just make sure you don't go hungry yourself.” Rachel looked towards AJ with mild concern.
“Naw, I had plenty ta eat earlier today. I'm sure I can last till dinner. Anyhow, I think we should leave her be. She seemed in a hurry—hey Dash, what do ya think you're doin?”
Dash had broke off from the group and was accelerating towards Twilight, from a trot to a canter. “AJ, I can't let you have all the fun! This pony sounds like a bunch of laughs! I'm going to go talk to her.”
“Dash, ah swear, if you make fun of that poor pony, I'm gonna tan your hide!”
“I agree with AJ, Dash! Don't antagonize her!” Rachel called after her.
Fiona quietly added, “Let's all be nice...”
Diane was temporarily distracted by a cluster of flowers and did not contribute to the conversation.
“Don't worry, guys, I'm not gonna do anything bad!” Dash called back at them. Unfortunately, she had continued to accelerate as she looked behind her, and when she returned her gaze forward she found herself closer to Twilight than she had expected.
Dash attempted to skid to a stop in front of Twilight. Unfortunately, while Dash was very skilled at going fast, she was less skilled at stopping fast, unless stopping involved high-speed collisions. She had plenty of experience with those.
The still-muddy ground under Dash's hooves turned into a slick, near-frictionless conveyor that sent her sailing into Twilight and caused them to both tumble into a nearby puddle.
Dash, who had landed on top, had been spared the worst of the splash. She hopped off, laughing. “Uhh...'scuse me? Heh heh. Lemme help you.” She pulled out a water bottle and a small towel from the pockets of her hoodie, and then poured a rather large portion of water onto one end of the towel. She helped Twilight up and wiped off a portion of mud from her side and mane. Unfortunately, the towel was more wet than Dash had intended, leaving a large damp patch on Twilight's side and her mane sopping. Twilight was unamused.
“Oops, I guess I overdid it. Um, uh, how 'bout this?” She scrubbed vigorously with the dry end of the towel before stepping back and announcing, “No, no, don't thank me. You're quite welcome.” She then bothered to actually look at the product of her efforts.
A slightly cleaner, slightly drier, but no less ridiculous looking Twilight stood before her, with her mane completely tangled from the toweling. Her paper horn remained on her forehead but was slightly crumpled, and her ragged clothing, while relieved of the worst of the tumble, was still flecked with mud.
Instead of apologizing, Dash couldn't help but be amused. She erupted into laughter and was so overcome that she rolled on the ground, chuckling. The dog frolicked excitedly around her.
“Let me guess. You're Rainbow Dash.” Twilight remained serious.
Dash was merely a nickname, but Dash very much liked it and went by it whenever possible so she could ignore her boring and uncool given name, which she purposefully refused to think about at that moment. However, despite her affinity for dying her mane into an imitation of the visible spectrum, she had not considered incorporating “rainbow” into her name. The idea was AWESOME. It evoked...well, it evoked something that would require many boring words to analyze and explain, but Dash's gut feeling was all she needed. Whoever this pony was, she must have good taste to immediately guess and even improve upon Dash's awesome nickname. She reacted with her classic lack of tact or humbleness.
“THE one and only! Why, you heard of me?”
Twilight looked at her indignantly. “I heard you're supposed to be keeping the sky clear.” She sighed, attempting to regain her composure, while Dash looked at her, confused. “I'm Twilight Sparkle and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.”
Dash was too busy attempting to process the implications of the fact that this pony expected her to somehow control the weather to notice the mention of a princess. She was supposed to keep the sky clear? She tried to imagine how that would even work. Regardless, she wasn't one to back down from overconfidently bragging about her abilities, and since this strange pony thought she could do something impossible, she would bravely … pretend she could do that thing. All she had to do was think of an excuse of why she couldn't at that moment.
Dash waved a hoof casually. “Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy—just as soon as I'm done practicing.”
“Practicing for what?”
Dash drew from her own lofty aspirations. “The Wonderbolts! They're gonna play in the Equestrian Cup tomorrow and they're gonna win! One day, I'll show em my stuff and get on the team!”
“The Wonderbolts?”
Twilight's incredulous look didn't faze Dash. “Yup.”
“The most talented fliers in all of Equestria?”
“That's—wha-huh? What? They're a hoofball team! What?” Dash went from posing proudly to eying Twilight confusedly.
Twilight seemed to ignore Dash's confusion, instead rolling her eyes and saying, “Pfft. Please, they'd never accept a pegasus who can't keep the sky clear for one measly day!”
Now Twilight was back to the weather manipulation shenanigans, which sort of explained her Wonderbolts comment if Dash didn't think too hard about it. She seemed to really be expecting the impossible of Dash. Well, if the impossible was what she wanted, the impossible was what she was going to get. It was bluffing time!
“Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat!” Dash silently added if I had a really, really, really big fan to the end of the sentence in her head.
Twilight narrowed her eyes in a fiendish smile. “Prove it.”
Dash gulped. Her last bluff had put her in a bit of a bind. She looked up at the low clouds above, willing them to part in an a random act of good fortune. To her surprise, it appeared her luck was indeed with her, as a large hole in the cloud cover was slowly approaching from the west. Her smile grew increasingly cocky as the sun slid over the wet ground and the two ponies below.
“Wha'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave a pony hanging.” Dash watched with amusement as Twilight's jaw dropped in amazement, and she decided that it was time to cash in before her luck ran out. She figured she could make a quick exit while the other pony was stunned by the apparent “miracle” they had just witnessed. She laughed, half at Twilight's slack-jawed expression and half in nervousness as she prepared to dash away. “You should see the look on your face. You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more!”
True to her name, Dash sped away in a rainbow blur as Spike barked happily after her. Twilight's surprised expression remained for a moment before lapsing into mild irritation as she walked away towards an overgrown gazebo further in the park, Spike trotting along behind her.
Dash skidded to a stop in front of her friends, who had seated themselves on a pair of benches several yards from Dash's conversation with Twilight. AJ immediately jumped to her hooves.
“What in tarnation did you say to that mare, Dash? She looked downright flabbergasted!”
Dash flinched at the sudden accusation. “Nothing! I didn't say anything mean or anything like that. I did, maybe, kinda, um, imply that I could control the weather though.” She quickly tried to quell AJ's objections by saying, “But it was totally her idea that I could, and I didn't want to look stupid, so I decided to wing it.”
“You didn't wanna look stupid, so you claimed you could make it rain whenever you wanted or something? That don't sound smart ta me, and you lied anyhow.”
“Well, it made sense at the time, ok?” Dash snorted. “Anyway, it wasn't about making it rain, it was about clearing the clouds—”
Rachel stepped forward, cutting off Dash. “As much as I would love to listen to you two argue about how rude Dash's actions were, and while they were undoubtedly quite rude—”
“Hey!”
“—I think that the real issue at hoof here is that poor mare's dreadful condition. She clearly does not have full control of her faculties, and therefore she does not seem to be taking proper care of herself. I think we have a duty to help her instead of bickering.”
“We were not bickering, Rachel! I'm just sick and tired of Dash being so darn full of herself all the time,” AJ replied heatedly. She turned to Dash. “Would it kill ya to admit that you can't do something for once?”
Dash was still on the defensive. “Come on, AJ, she thought I could clear the clouds! Plus, she called me Rainbow Dash, which is twice as awesome as just Dash! I didn't want to let down such big expectations.” Dash's eyes glazed over and she stared into the distance. “Maybe you should just call me Rainbow. That kind of sounds cool too.”
AJ rolled her eyes and sighed before turning away from the rainbow-obsessed mare. “You're hopeless. Anyhow, Rachel, you're right, Twilight could stand for a little help. But how do you think we can do anything?”
Rachel pulled out a bolt of cloth from her saddlebags. “Why, my dear, I always come prepared for fashion emergencies! The first thing we can do is clean her up and get her warm and dry, all while making her fabulous in the process! I do love a challenge, after all.”
AJ watched across the nearby clearing as the purple pony approached a run-down gazebo. Even from such a distance, Twilight's ramshackle state was obvious. Rachel was certainly going to have her work cut out for her.