Twilight waved goodbye as the last bit of Pinkie’s tail bounced out the door after its owner. She gave a content sigh, turning back toward her personal study where Rainbow Dash was waiting for her, no doubt bored out of her mind. Well, maybe not, Twilight thought with a chuckle. She did just get a new toy, after all. The image of Rainbow playing with the timekeeper as a cat would a squeaky mouse made her smile and slightly nervous at the same time.
Although, there was also the possibility that Rainbow’s mind could be elsewhere. Twilight didn’t miss the pointed look that Rarity had given her when she had asked the pegasus to stay behind for a while. Whatever was eating away at her friend, Twilight was determined that she could figure it out. And sure enough, when she stepped back through the doorway, she saw Rainbow facing away from her, staring idly at a spot up on one of her shelves. She grinned, quietly stepping closer to the middle of the room. When she was a hoof’s length away, she leaned close to the pegasus’ ear, and—
“You know, you’re not very sneaky, Twi.”
Twilight huffed as she abandoned her light-hoofed approach and sat down next to her friend. “I’ll get you eventually! I’ve been practicing.”
“Yeah, Pinkie told me about that time you guys ‘broke into’ the Canterlot library.” Rainbow raised her hooves in air quotes. “You got into a catsuit, huh? Me~ow.”
“No! Future Twilight was wearing one, so, you know, I thought…”
“Ah, so that’s it. You were checking yourself out and liked what you saw,” Rainbow said, waggling her eyebrows.
Twilight shoved Rainbow playfully as the pegasus fell to the floor in giggles. “You’re one to talk! I seem to remember finding you during one of our sleepovers making kissy faces and flexing in my bathroom.”
“Filly, when you look as good as The Dash, you’ve gotta flaunt it!”
They laughed at themselves, reveling in the silliness of their situations. Twilight was the first to recover, straightening up as the last laugh petered out of her system. “You know, you’re taking this whole thing better than I thought. No offense.”
“Rares means well, but she worries too much. If she doesn’t relax more, soon we’re gonna start hearing about her grey hairs,” Rainbow said as she swept a hoof through her mane, holding it in a faux-styled position. “‘Grey isn’t in this season! This is the worst possible thing!’”
Twilight suppressed another giggle. “You know she only wants what’s best for you, even if she does get a little dramatic.”
“I know, but I can take care of myself without her fretting like she’s my mom.” She snorted at the thought. “I’m not a filly anymore.”
“We don’t think anything like that, Rainbow,” Twilight said, laying a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “We’re your friends, and we want to help you if we can.” As Rainbow fell silent at that, with her brow furrowing in concentration, Twilight knew she had the trail now. Looks like Rarity’s intuition was onto something after all, she thought.
Rainbow sighed. “That’s just it, though. I can’t put this feeling in my gut into words. It’s kind of like when I had to take that history test for the Wonderbolts, but different at the same time.”
“Like test anxiety, huh?” Twilight stared at an unnoteworthy spot on the polished stone floor beneath their hooves. “Does this have to do with the timekeeper? If it’s making you freak out, we can always take it off at any time.”
“No, no, this started happening a few days ago… maybe a week? Before all of the soul mate stuff anyway.” She shook her head, idly pawing at the timer on her leg. “I really do want to help you with this, Twi.”
“Well, if it’s not that, what do you think it could be?”
“Like I said, it’s hard to say. You know I’m not the best at talking about this stuff.” She paused at that, but Twilight said nothing to interrupt the silence before Rainbow began speaking again. “But I’ve been thinking about it all…”
“All what?” Twilight asked.
“That maybe I don’t want to be the cool loner all the time. That maybe it’s time for me to start looking for a special somepony. And hey, any pony that I’m gonna be with has to be just as awesome as me!” Rainbow continued, and Twilight noted that her voice held more confidence. “When you brought up this time thingy, I just felt like it was right, you know?”
“Oh really?” Twilight smirked. “Is ‘The Dash’ going soft in her old age? At this rate, it looks like you’ll be too busy to hang out with the group on Hearts and Hooves Day!” She extended her wing, tickling the side of Rainbow’s belly with the feathered tips.
Rainbow laughed, squirming away from Twilight’s hoof and the offending limb. “Come on, you know I’d never abandon you girls like that! We’ve been having picnics every year since you came to Ponyville!”
“I just want to make sure this is what you want, Rainbow. It’s going to be a big change in your life, and you’ll need your friends supporting you every step of the way.”
“Heh, I could say the same to you,” Rainbow countered as she turned her head to look at the other timekeeper on Twilight’s desk. “I’m not the only one who’ll be wearing one, after all.”
“Mine is more of a scientific curiosity,” said Twilight. “Cadance and Shining are counting on me to test it out to make sure it’s safe and functional for the average pony.”
“Twi, if I’ve learned anything since you first rode that chariot into town, it’s that you are anything but average.” She winked at her friend and saw a flustered blush rise on Twilight’s face. She rose to her hooves, stretching briefly. “I’m gonna head out and get some shut-eye. Gotta pull a double shift on weather duty tomorrow thanks to Thunderlane being out of town.”
“Of course.” Twilight pulled her friend into a quick hug before she left. “If anything comes up, or even if you just want to talk, you know where to find me. I want to document as much information about the devices as I can before I have to return them to Cadance.”
“You’ve got it. See ya, Twi!” Rainbow gave a swift leap into the air, and left through one of the large windows facing the gardens outside. Twilight watched her intently until the pegasus zipped around one of the castle turrets and out of sight.
Left alone once more, Twilight heaved another sigh. She had managed to get Rainbow talking, but the pegasus revealed little that she couldn’t deduce on her own. Simple jitters and anxiety wouldn’t spark this kind of reaction from her friends, and Twilight knew there was still something going on with her feathered friend.
She flicked her horn, sparking the fireplace to life with a burst of magic. Night was fast approaching, and the enormous castle would become unbearably cold until she figured out that large-radius space warming spell. She could call Spike down from upstairs, where she had asked him to stay while she talked with Rainbow, but he could offer little but his company at this point. As helpful as he was with practical matters as her assistant, he wasn’t yet at the age that she felt comfortable talking to him about romance, least of all Rainbow’s feelings on the matter.
And, after all, she had one last matter to attend to before turning in for the night: the remaining timekeeper still lying on her desk. She pulled open a drawer on the desk, levitating a notebook from its confines, and took a seat on the comfortable cushioned chair behind it. From the shelf behind her, a quill and ink well floated down in her magic, and she readied herself for her first report.
“70th of Autumn,” Twilight narrated aloud as the quill began to move meticulously across the page. “Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor have tasked me with testing the timekeeper, a magical device designed to predict and count down to the moment a pony meets his or her soul mate.”
Hours passed, and before she knew it, she had several pages of notes ready for formal documentation. She had written about meeting Cadance, Shining, and the science team, the minutia of the timekeeper that she had learned in the Crystal Empire, and even her interaction with the elderly stallion aboard the train. Amidst her detailed notes on the device, Twilight had scribbled some of her personal reactions and feelings in the margins.
As her recollection reached her return to Ponyville, however, she found herself distracted. She threw another log into the fire, which had since dwindled into embers, and glanced around the room. In many ways, the study reminded her a lot of her bedroom in Golden Oaks; several thick textbooks lay scattered on the desk tables around her, each bookmarked with notes for later use. Several trinkets and knick knacks adorned the shelves above the fireplace: souvenirs that she had taken to collecting when their adventures had led them to faraway locales.
Perhaps most familiar of all were the beanbag chairs nestled in a corner of the study. Rarity might have called them tacky, but Twilight had grown fond of them over the years. They were perfect for curling up with a book, a blanket, and a warm mug of cocoa for a quiet reading day. Next to the chairs, a pair of books lie stacked and ready to whisk their readers away to a land of temples, artefacts, and a certain adventurous pegasus mare.
“Rainbow Dash,” she mumbled aloud, turning back to the task at hoof, “has volunteered to test the second timekeeper. Upon connection to her left foreleg, with what she describes as a ‘ticklish sensation’, the timekeeper device was activated. She has exhibited signs of trepidation with the situation, but is eager to assist in the experiment.” Twilight chewed the tip of the quill in thought. She moved the quill to a spare sheet of parchment and scribbled a memo to herself. ’Consider asking Rainbow to keep a journal for posterity’. Twilight chewed the tip of the quill in thought. ’And invite her over to finish chapter 6’.
Content with her progress for the night, Twilight stretched wide, hearing the satisfying pops of her spine and wing joints loosening. A quick glance at the clock on the wall told her that Spike was likely asleep by now, and that she should have been in dreamland herself more than an hour ago. She quickly gathered the notes into one pile and placed them in the top drawer of the desk. Another quick swish of her horn extinguished the fire as she locked the door behind her.
Her footsteps echoed through the dark, empty hallways as she made her way to the other side of the castle. Sure enough, when she walked past the closed door to Spike’s room, she could hear his telltale snoring from within. Twilight giggled to herself; if there was one thing better about the castle, it was that she would no longer be woken up in the middle of the night by a particularly throaty snore from her dragon friend. A few moments later, she passed over the threshold to her own bedroom and gently shut the door behind her. Without hesitation, she flomped face-down onto the bed, only bothering to pull the covers over her body as an afterthought.
I really needed this. Whew, what a day… Twilight thought as sleep overtook her. As she passed into the dream realm, her foreleg fell over the side of the bed and out of the sheets, devoid of any small devices attached to it.
Two hours. Rainbow Dash stared at the fluffy ceiling of her cloud house as she lay sprawled out on top of the covers. It had been two hours since she had made it back home, and yet she was utterly unable to fall asleep. She’d tried all of her known methods: counting cloud sheep, making herself a warm glass of milk, and staying as still as possible to try to trick her brain into powering down, but to no avail. Half an hour ago, she had thrown her favorite stuffed bear at the wall in frustration, but not even the miserable squeak it made could lull her into unconsciousness.
With an annoyed huff, she sprang off the bed and threw the window open. Perhaps a night flight would calm whatever nerves her brain insisted on keeping wound up and allow her to catch some shut-eye before her morning shift. The cool autumn wind whipped through her mane as she soared over quiet Ponyville below. Up here, Rainbow felt untouchable, unstoppable, and in her element. Nopony flew like she did, even when she wasn’t trying to show off, and nopony ever would. It was one part of her life in which she felt in complete, absolute control.
Rainbow took in the landscape below her. Many houses in the town were dark, and the few lights remaining were quickly winking out. A wry grin crossed her face as she thought of the warm bed waiting for her at home, if only she could will herself to sleep.
She banked wide, swinging a wide turn toward the outskirts of town. If she wasn’t going to get any sleep right now, then she could at least spend a while with a friend. She knew that while Applejack followed her ‘early to bed, early to rise’ mantra to a fault, Fluttershy tended to stay up late into the evening. More than that, Fluttershy was her oldest friend and Rainbow knew she could share anything with the pegasus in confidence.
Her touchdown outside of the hillside cottage was rougher than she’d intended, no doubt due to her drowsy state. She shook her head to quickly clear out the cobwebs before trotting up to the door. Sure enough, the lights inside were still on and Rainbow could hear the hoofsteps of Fluttershy moving around her house.
She rapped heavily on the front door, rolling her eyes when she heard the surprised squeak from inside. “Fluttershy, it’s me. Can I come in?”
“Rainbow?” Fluttershy opened the door slowly, relaxing as she caught sight of her friend. “Goodness, I was so frightened for a moment. I don’t usually get visitors this late at night. Of course you can come in.”
Rainbow nodded in thanks, following the mare into the living room. She collapsed onto the couch, letting her head loll back onto the cushions.
“Would you like some tea? I have a kettle that I could warm up a bit.”
“Nah, you know I’ve never liked the stuff.” Rainbow waved a hoof without looking. “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d check in on ya.”
“Well, that’s thoughtful of you,” Fluttershy said with a smile. She moved behind Rainbow’s head to place a pillow behind her neck. “I was just waking up Mr. Owl and his family for their nighttime exercise.”
“Good, good…”
Silence followed their short conversation. Though she couldn’t see Fluttershy next to her—her eyes were still closed out of sheer exhaustion—she could feel the mare next to her shifting uncomfortably.
Fluttershy scooted a little closer. “I-Is something the matter? You don’t usually visit this late in the evening. Not that I mind having you, it’s just—I mean—”
“I know; I didn’t mean to just barge in like that.” She sighed as she thought of how to phrase her troubles. “Today’s just been a weird day for me.”
“Well, I can understand why,” Fluttershy replied. She glanced down at Rainbow’s foreleg where the timekeeper was attached. “Taking on such a big responsibility is very admirable, Rainbow.”
“Yeah…”
“But,” she continued, “there’s something else, isn’t there?”
Rainbow cracked an eye open to look at her friend. “You could tell?”
“Rainbow, you were practically fighting against Pinkie when she pushed you back into the castle. How could any of us not notice?” She lay a comforting hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”
Rainbow paused for a moment before nodding resolutely. “I know, Flutters. You’re my best friend, and that’s part of the reason I came over tonight.”
“I’m all ears, whenever you’re ready.” Her hooves moved back into her lap.
“This whole thing with the timekeeper has my head all messed up,” Rainbow said. She leaned back, closing her eyes once more. “You know how Twilight asked me to stay after everyone else? Said she wanted to talk to me more about the test?”
“Right.”
“Well, I think she could sense that something was wrong, too. She kept asking if everything was alright in that egghead way of hers.” When Fluttershy said nothing in response, Rainbow took it as her cue to continue. “But you wanna know the worst part of it? I couldn’t even tell her the whole truth. I just sat there, telling her everything was alright.”
“What didn’t you tell her?” Fluttershy leaned close as to not miss anything.
Rainbow hesitated. She took a deep breath, knowing that Fluttershy didn’t spread rumors, much less those about her friends. “There’s… kinda somepony that I’ve got my eye on.”
A knowing smile crossed Fluttershy’s face, unseen by the pegasus next to her. “Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Now we know why the countdown was so low to start with.”
Rainbow sat up quickly, causing the mare next to her to jump back. “No! I mean, yes, but… Ugh, I don’t know!” She lay her head in her hooves. “What if this doohickey doesn’t point to the right pony? I don’t want it to be another pony!”
“I think I see what the problem is. You feel that you have very strong feelings for this pony, but if the timekeeper points to somepony else…”
“Then everything would be wrong!” Rainbow shouted.
Fluttershy chose her words carefully before responding. “Rainbow, I know it might not be what you want to hear, but I think that right now, we need to trust in the timekeeper. Twilight assured us that everything would work out in the end. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about and it will point to the correct pony.”
“I don’t know. And I hate not knowing,” she huffed. “I hate not being in control.”
“If you want my advice, I think you should talk to Applejack,” Fluttershy said calmly.
“Applejack?” Rainbow scoffed as she rolled onto her side. “No offense Fluttershy, but that sounds like a terrible idea.”
“Now why do you say that?” Fluttershy said with a frown. “You two have been friends for years!”
“Yeah, but you know what we’re like. Every time we get together, it’s bickering or messing with each other.” She gave a barking laugh. “Other ponies probably see us as rivals more than as friends.”
“W-Well, this isn’t a competition, is it? You’d be going to a friend for advice, not for a challenge. You’d have nothing to bicker about.”
“Even if we’re not fighting, it sounds like a good chance for her to laugh in my face.”
“Applejack may be a bit blunt, but she’s not a jerk, Rainbow! I’m sure that if you tell her that it means a lot to you, she’d be more than happy to be serious about it.”
Rainbow sighed, mulling the idea over. “I don’t know. I’ve never asked Applejack for advice before… but I guess I’ve never asked anyone besides you for this kind of advice.”
“I promise that you don’t have to go into specifics if you don’t want to, but she might be able to help you see it from another side.” Fluttershy ventured a hoof forward to soothe her friend again. “There are a lot of things that you guys agree on. Maybe she can understand your point of view better than I can.”
“Hmm…”
“Just promise me that you’ll try. Please?”
“Alright, alright… I promise I’ll see her tomorrow.” Rainbow stood up from the couch. “Thanks for talking with me, Flutters. It means a lot.”
“Anytime,” she said as she pulled Rainbow into a hug. “Do you want to stay the night here? If you’re having problems sleeping, I could make up the guest bed…”
“Nah, I think I’ll be fine. I just needed some help clearing out my head.” She headed for the door, waving goodbye. “Tell the owls that I said hello.”
She saw Fluttershy return the wave as she opened the front door and stepped out into the cool night once again. A few powerful wing beats had her back in the skies and she made a beeline for her cloud house, desperate to get in a few winks while she could. As she passed by Sweet Apple Acres, she glanced down at the farmhouse, where the Apple family was no doubt snug and soundly asleep in their beds. Applejack could help, she heard the voice in her mind say. But it’ll have to wait.
Rainbow darted back through the open window and made a crash landing on the inviting fluff of her cloud bed. She was snoring before her head even hit the pillow.