Rainbow wrinkled her nose as she entered the cabinet-sized room where they were supposed to eat. It smelled musty after the fresh afternoon air outside. You could tell that you were over the ocean from the air even without any training in the subject; it smelled exciting, like adventure. Rainbow sighed, that was probably why she hadn't seen Flutters much this trip. At her exhale the dark room was lit by a soft violet light, and she could see Twilight's wan face. It looked like she had been hunched over a book since breakfast, since there was one in front of her, next to an empty bowl with a spoon in it. She was such a bookworm!
“Oh. Hey Rainbow.” said Twilight. She sat lighting the shadow while Rainbow rummaged around.
“Ugh, it’s so dark in here!” complained Rainbow. “Didn't anypony think that ponies would need light as well as breakfast?”
“The sun shines in through the window in the morning…” replied Twilight, causing Rainbow to glance at her. She didn't seem to be nitpicking even, just stating a fact. Typical Twilight. Rainbow found the oats and poured some into a clean bowl.
“Dry oats again….” she sighed to fill the silence as she tried to muster up the desire to eat them.
“Oh, here,” said Twilight, dumping part of a pitcher of water into Rainbow's oats. “Rarity found these raisins in the pantry too.” she continued, picking several of the shrunken fruits up with her magic and throwing them into the bowl, before pushing it to Rainbow
“Umm…” said Rainbow, poking the bowl with the tip of her hoof and looking at the tidbits floating in the puddle that filled it. “Raisins are great and all, but I don't think soupy oats are so much better than dry ones.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Here,” she said “let me.” her magic took hold of the bowl and scooted it closer to her, and the air began to hum softly. Rainbow wondered what Twilight was doing until she saw wisps of steam coming out of the bowl. Twilight’s magic released the bowl and Rainbow took it back with both forehooves, peering inside. The oats had absorbed the water and been cooked, and the raisins were plump with the leftover steam. It smelled delicious.
“Thanks Twilight!” she managed before tipping the bowl back to pour porridge into her mouth. “Uhr da behst!” she continued.
Twilight just smiled slightly and watched as Rainbow gulped down porridge. Hey, she was hungry.
“Hey Rainbow?” asked Twilight all of a sudden.
“Mmm?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Uwa!?”
“What would you do if you found out that ponies were arguing about you? Like fighting over what type of food you liked or something?”
Rainbow finished off her porridge, swallowed and gave a contented sigh before turning to Twilight.
“Easy,” she replied, “I’d just tell them what type of food I liked.”
Twilight groaned. “No, like, what if they were actually physically fighting? What would you do then?”
Rainbow laughed. “I’d knock them both down and call them losers for fighting over me before I told them who was right. You know, that reminds me of this one time my fanclub…”
“No, no, no! What if they still fought anyway? What if you couldn't stop them? What if you found out that lots of ponies were fighting about somepony else, like Cadance, and that she hadn't stopped them? What would you think then?” Twilight looked visibly upset, like she was about to cry.
Rainbow spent a moment staring at Twilight wondering whether she should answer or just pat her on the shoulder while she cried. After a moment, Twilight brought her gaze to meet hers, and she still wasn't crying, so Rainbow went with the first option.
“Geez Twilight, these questions don't make sense. Do Cadance and I have armies fighting each other now? What's up?”
Twilight frowned, and her lower lip quivered. “I… I just found out that the Saddle Arabians have been have been fighting over Celestia and Luna for thousands of years. It was mostly just stuff like who was the better alicorn, but when Celestia sent Luna to the moon there was a massacre. The Luna followers revolted, took control of the government, slaughtered other ponies, changed the currency… and Celestia let it happen.” Twilight was crying now, head in her hooves, tears dripping occasionally down her cheeks.
Rainbow wasn't sure how to reply. She stared across the table for a moment. “Wait, what?” she finally said. “Why were Celestia and Luna so important to Saddle Arabians?”
“They, they think alicorns are gods. It was originally intended to be classic dualism…” Twilight was speaking from behind her forehooves now, head slumped on the table. “Celestia and Luna each got their own churches, and it wasn't long before they began fighting…”
“Hey,” interrupted Rainbow, trying to get Twilight away from her unhealthy obsession with past events. It could almost be sort of cool when Twilight knew somepony who’d been dead for ages, but crying over somepony’s great-great-great-great aunt didn’t do anypony any good. “Didn't this all happen thousands of years ago? Equestria had just barely been founded, and everypony was still fighting over whether it was better to have bones sticking out over various parts of your body or not. Celestia had her hooves full I bet. Besides, what's-his-name and what’s-his-face like different princesses, and them seem fine. By the way, horns? Totally overrated.”
In reply, Twilight sniffed, sighed, and sat up. “You're right, Rainbow.” she said, her tone now calm again. “But how did you know Lumen and Veris worship different princesses? I had my suspicions, but they’re very tight-lipped about religion.”
“Oh, ah.” said Rainbow, suddenly embarrassed, “They may have asked me which princess I liked better. I didn't really know why it was so important to them, but they obviously expected different answers.”
Twilight fixed Rainbow with an intense gaze. “What did you say to them?”
“Uh. Heh, heh. Funny story.” replied Rainbow. “I… may have told them off just for asking me.”
Twilight’s face fell a bit. “In my defense they were standing in my way, and I really wanted more of those dinner rolls they served.” Rainbow finished.
“Seriously?!” replied Twilight exasperatedly, “I was going to talk to you about that, it was so rude! They're called dinner rolls instead of Rainbow Dash rolls because everypony is supposed to be able to enjoy them at dinner, not just Rainbow Dash!”
“Yeah, well…” replied Dash redly, “the cook didn't think so. He made an entire batch just for me and told me how much his daughter loved my skywriting. I bet he’d rename them Rainbow Dash rolls if I asked!” she finished.
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Whatever.” she replied. “You're right; we don't have to understand their weird religious thing, all we have to do is cast a protection spell and make sure they're okay, and we'll be back to Equestria in no time.”