The Flying Bookworm and the Weather Princess
When Rainbow Dash finds herself short on time to prepare for the Advanced Weather Certification test, Twilight Sparkle volunteers to help keep the skies together while she’s studying.
After all, how hard can it be?
[Dangerous Skies][Unprepared Princesseses Sparkle][Shipping]
EqD prompt: It's opposite day in Equestria! Write about someone swapping roles for a time.
Week 7
Simple Ways
-or-
The Flying Bookworm and the Weather Princess
A persistent knocking on the front door echoed through the Ponyville Golden Oak library, echoing around the empty first floor, up the stairs, and through the open door to Princess Twilight Sparkle’s quite occupied bedroom. The Princess pried one eye open to look at the clock, which still displayed a set of numbers much too small for proper morning activities to commence considering the amount of stargazing that she had done last night, and considering that the library was not supposed to open for — she took another look at the clock — two minutes, thirty-seven seconds.
Muttering a set of words that was supposed to be, “Just a minute. I’ll be right there,” Ponyville’s newest (and only) princess dangled one hoof out of bed, placing just enough weight on it to determine that the structural stability of the limb had been compromised by fatigue poisons enough to render such a trip impossible.
The knocking continued.
Twilight considered the amount of magic needed to soundproof her bedroom, compared it to the amount of magic needed to teleport downstairs, carried the two, and heaved herself out from under the covers.
Five minutes and thirty-two seconds of knocking later, a very frumpy Princess-Librarian fumbled the front door to the library open with her magic only to see something that woke her up faster than Princess Luna’s Coffee Treacle.
It looked like Rainbow Dash standing in the dawn sunlight. One changeling detection spell later, Twilight had narrowed the possibilities down to:
A) The universe was lying to her.
B) There was some sort of national emergency.
C) Luna was playing around with a dream again.
D) More coffee.
* * *
One pot of genuine ebon goodness later, with three sugars and a generous gloop of cream, Twilight very carefully arranged her mental notes and attempted to summarize Rainbow Dash’s last half-hour of sleepy rambling.
“So you need to borrow a library book to study for your Advanced Weather Certification test. Why didn’t you just fly in through the open window like you do all the time?”
Rainbow yawned, groping blindly for the cup of coffee Twilight had poured her. “That’s just for crashin’ into. This is official. Test is next week — good coffee by the way — so I figured I’d spend a little time in the morning this week going over the notes. I got my mornings free.” She dropped into her coffee cup, nose first, and began making a noise much like a drowning percolator.
“Ooo, this is going to be so exciting!” Twilight gulped down the rest of her coffee and darted out into the main room, her voice trickling back into the kitchen where Rainbow was licking the bottom of her coffee cup. “The weather section has always been on my to-do list, but now that I’ve got wings, I’ve been meaning to move it up on my schedule.”
“Yeah, yeah. Schedule.” Rainbow Dash plodded out into the library with one hoof wrapped around a new cup of coffee and walked over to the bookshelf that Twilight was hovering near. “Look for something called The AWC Made Simple by W. Whistler. There’s supposed to be a copy in each library in Equestria. Just gimmie it, and I’ll flip through it at home. No problem.”
“Uh, Rainbow? There may be a problem.” One thick tome over a hoof thick slid out of the shelves, followed by a second, and a third. “Do you want the sample tests too? Yes, I suppose.” A fourth heavy book slid off the shelves, and Twilight Sparkle levitated them over to a nearby table, sitting them down with a solid thump.
“Oh, ponyfeathers.” Rainbow Dash plunked down at the table and opened the first book, leafing through it with rapidly diminishing enthusiasm. “I need this certification to move up to the next step in Wonderbolt training. They don’t just do stunts; they also do the really dangerous weather like hurricane steering and disarming standing lenticular clouds. If I don’t pass this test next week, I’ll be put back a whole year!”
“Don’t worry, Rainbow. According to the index here, you should be able to work your way through the book, the study guide, and the sample tests in the week you have available.”
“That’s the problem,” moaned Rainbow. “I don’t have a whole week to just study. The weather team is down about six ponies from full, and we’ve got a whole set of spring rains scheduled all this week. The only substitute pegasus we’ve got available is Derpy, and I know she means well, but… Derpy.”
“How about bringing in some pegasi from the surrounding area to take up the slack while you’re studying?”
“No can do, Twi. Spring rains are the busiest time of the year. Every city in Equestria has got everypony with wings out—” The weather pegasus stopped and looked at Twilight with a huge and growing grin. “Almost everything with wings.”
* * *
“So, Your Highness, what would you like to work with first? You can sit over here while we move the clouds over to Sweet Apple Acres for this morning’s rain, or watch—
Twilight Sparkle regarded the weather pony who Rainbow had assigned to escort her around for the week. She hadn’t seen Thunderlane since that tornado fiasco, and although he was a handsome pegasus, he seemed to just fall to pieces around her. Finally, after listening to him ramble for a sufficient amount of time to be polite, she interrupted.
“Thank you, Thunderlane, but I’m up here to help out while Rainbow Dash is taking time to study for her AWC test, not just sit on a poofy cloud and watch other ponies work. Now what do we need to do first? Do you have a checklist? And please, call me Twilight.”
“Um. Yeah.” Thunderlane shifted positions on the cloud and pulled out a wrinkled scrap of paper with a series of scribbles on it. “It’s going to be a pretty busy day. Are you sure you’re up for it Princess Twilight? I mean Twilight?”
“Absolutely. I mean, how difficult can it be?”
* * *
The Ponyville Golden Oak library was silent except for the faint rustle of turning pages and the scratch of scribbled notes. Although Spike had offered his services in researching, a few minutes of wading through weather terminology and he quickly decided his best role was to deal with any library patrons and allow Rainbow to study on her own.
“You can do this, Rainbow Dash. It’s only weather, and you’ve been busting clouds since you could fly. True, they’re not multivortex tornadoes…”
She paused and read out loud. “Three-core multivortex tornadoes require a team of six pegasi to safely unwind using the Filbert Flyby maneuver, although as few as four can still accomplish the same task with the much longer Cloudy Cuthburt’s Countercircular Collapse. See Appendix B.8 for additional details. This is impossible!”
“Hey, Dashster. Looks like I got here just in time.” Soarin dropped in through the library skylight and landed next to Rainbow Dash in a small flurry of scribbled notes. “Just dropping by to see how everypony in your academy class is doing and I find you trapped inside on this beautiful day. Wana go flying?”
“All righ—” Rainbow Dash stopped with the books thrown halfway across the table before pulling them back over to her chair and sitting down. “Darn it, Soarin! I can’t. I’ve got this darned advanced weather test coming up—”
“And you haven’t studied a minute for it, am I right?” Soarin stood at the side of the table, tapping one hoof until the peeved polychromatic pegasus nodded with a powerful pout.
“It’s not fair! Everything I’ve dealt with so far has been all instinct and reflex. This stuff takes studying!”
“And the ability to be absolutely right every time,” agreed Soarin. “You peel off the wrong way while trying to steer a Class 5 Hurricane and we’ll be picking pieces of colorful pegasus out of the ocean for weeks.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash flopped the book open again before Soarin dropped a hoof in the middle of it.
“Tell you what. How would you like it if I brought over my notes tonight from when I took the AWC test and we have a little study session. I’ve got a few days rest leave coming up, and nothing says I can’t give you a little help. Spitfire would kill me if you flunk your test while I’m lounging around in Las Pegasus, watching the fillies.”
“You’d do that? Cool!” Taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash ran a hoof through her mane and tried to look cool. “That is… Yes.”
“Great! It’s a date.” Soarin winked broadly before zipping up into the air and out the skylight, leaving Rainbow Dash in slack-jawed amazement.
“Wait a minute. Date?”
* * *
“You’re doing better, Princess. I mean Twilight. You actually hit this one kind of square and got it to dump most of its rain on the ground, although you should probably check for anypony below next time.” Thunderlane waved weakly at the furious earth pony standing in her carrot patch, soaked to the skin. She returned the gesture with some descriptive motions and expletives he had never heard before.
“Shut up and pull me out of the cloud,” came Twilight Sparkle’s muffled voice in response. She had hit this one head-first, and nothing was sticking out in front of her cutie mark. Still, it had gone better than the thundercloud she had accidently set on fire, the hailstones in an isolated section of Sweet Apple Acres, or the waterlogged pets surrounding Fluttershy’s house and her new moat. “What’s next on the schedule?”
“Wheat!” announced Thunderlane. “Got a few hundred acres south of town that needs a good, long soak today. It seems a paperwork issue shortchanged them water over the winter, and now we’re going to need to pay special attention to keeping it watered while avoiding various rusts and blights that can be promoted by excess moisture.”
“You seem very knowledgeable about farming,” said Twilight once they began pushing clouds over to the wheat fields.
“You mean, for a pegasus, right?” Thunderlane rolled his eyes at Twilight’s abrupt protest and continued, “I like to keep up on things we’re helping with, but sometimes there’s only so many hours in the day. I’m about two weeks behind on the Weekly Hooves And Topics Book Club every since the spring rains started, but I should get caught up once summer gets into full swing.”
“You’re a member of the WHAT club too?” Twilight Sparkle flapped a little harder to push her cloud up next to Thunderlane as they began to assemble rainclouds over the vast expanse of green wheat. “Two weeks ago would put you either at the end of Contrails Over Stalliongrad by Elegant Teal, or just starting—”
“Actually I skipped Contrails after a few paragraphs and have been working on Diary of Nightmare Moon instead. Teal just can’t write a good sky scene, and her errors were just too distracting.” Thunderlane shoved a cloud into place on the assembling overcast and flew back with Twilight to get the next one. “I mean, she has cirrus clouds underneath a thunderhead, of all things. That’s such a rookie mistake for an author to make. And then…”
* * *
“And another perfect score for the perfect filly.” Soarin closed the test answer book and yawned in perfect synchronization with Rainbow Dash. “Holy cats, look at the time. I’ll get back to Cloudsdale just in time to catch a cup of coffee and start flying back here for tomorrow’s study session.”
“I thought you said it was a date, you heartbreaker,” said Dash with a second yawn. “B’sides, I’ve got a second bed for Scootaloo. You can crash at my place so we can get started early tomorrow. Can’t believe I said that.”
Soarin stood up and pushed the book to the center of the table. “What, that I can stay overnight at your place?”
“No, that I was going to get started early tomorrow. Egghead’s rubbing off on me. Come on, before we fall asleep on the table and shock Spike in the morning.”
Soarin paused as a thought occurred to him after they flew out the skylight. “Hey Dash, you don’t think Princess Twilight is sleeping over with Thunderlane, do you? I didn’t hear her come back yet, and it’s awfully late.”
“Thunderlane?” Rainbow spared her study buddy an unbelieving look. “He’s as big of an egghead as she is. The two of them are probably off discussing literary theory or something.”
* * *
“I am going to die,” mumbled Twilight Sparkle, lying spread-eagled on a cloud under the night sky with her wings buried in the soft cool cloudstuff.
“Told you not to overdo it,” said Thunderlane, lying beside her with his wings in much the same position. “Just let them soak for an hour and that should take some of the swelling out. I thought you said Dash had been training you?”
“Flying practice, yes. Shoving tons of raincloud around all day long from sunrise to dark, no. What if they fall off? I haven't had them very long. Maybe the glue will come undone or something. Wonder if they’re under warrantee.”
“You’re just tired. Tell you what, why don’t we watch the stars for a while, and then I’ll fly you home.”
“D’wanna go home. W’na keep this cloud foreeeeeeever.” Twilight wriggled around a bit, tunneling deeper into the cool surface until she could get all four legs under it, leaving nothing showing but her nose and her distracting rump.
“Stars!” said Thunderlane, turning back to look at an entirely different heavenly body. “Yes, stars. Like the constellation of Booty over… I mean Boötes over there. Yeah. Did you know the astronomer Plotlemy traced the constellation over two thousand years ago, and named it for his cow lover?” In response, he heard nothing but a snore and a faint moan of pain. Looking over, the Princess of Friendship was completely out cold with only a whistling snore and a small spot of purple nose and horn to show the cloud was occupied.
With a shake of his head to scatter any leftover cloud bits, Thunderlane grabbed their sleeping cloud and started to push. There was no way it would fit into the library, but at least cloud homes were able to be remodeled on the spur of the moment, and he had always wanted a second bedroom.
* * *
“Rainbow, you’re out of coffee.” The beatific scent of freshly cooked haycon and eggs filled Rainbow Dash’s home, dragging the pooped pegasus out of her bedroom and trudging into the small kitchenette. Soarin had both of the the frying pans she owned put to good use, as well as every plate (both) and cup (also both) ready to collect their bounty. “Also you’re out of eggs, milk, pancake batter, butter, toast, and jam now.”
“Whoa.” Rainbow Dash took a long look at the food before diving in with knife and fork. “I had no idea what kind of benefits came with studying to be a Wonderbolt.”
“You should taste my pie.” Soarin flipped the last pancake out of the pan and over to the table with one expert toss. “I don’t get to do this very often at work. The cafeteria does all the cooking, and we do all the flying. Sometimes it’s nice to be appreciated for something more than your wings, don’t you think, Rainbow?”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate those bad boys too, does it?” Rainbow grinned through pancake bits as Soarin blushed. “Now come on. The library’s got coffee, and we’ve got studying to do. I just hope Twilight is out of the library and back in the air. She’s probably doing some egghead thing now.”
* * *
“Help. Guards. Your Princess needs a rescue,” moaned Twilight as she was roughly rolled over on the cloud.
“Well, you’re the one who slept all night that way. Tuck your wing up a little so I can get better leverage on those quads.” Thunderlane resumed his massage down Twilight Sparkle’s side, working his way down the knots and lumps of mistreated muscles with little squeaks and moans from his patient. His room seemed different than she had expected, with more books and fewer trophies, although Twilight's view on what a pegasus house looked like was severely warped by her exposure to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. One nearby book became enveloped in a magenta aura and Twilight floated it closer to read while she was being pummelled.
“The History of Roan by Titus Liverius Patavinus. Not exactly Rainbow Dash’s reading material, is it?”
“We all have our little corners of the literary world,” grunted Thunderlane as he worked a particularly difficult muscle. “Cloud Kicker reads racy romances, Blossomforth reads non-racy romances, Raindrops has her Spider-Mare comics. I read histories.”
“I lived with history for over ten years,” said Twilight with a grunt. “You should hear some of the stories Princess Celestia tells about those ‘historians’ and their idea of what Truth should have been.”
“I would love to hear them, Princess Twilight.” One purple wingtip popped him gently in the face. “I mean, Twilight, of course.”
“Shut up and rub my back a little more, handsome. We’ve got clouds to move today, and you can apologize over breakfast at Sugarcube Corner.”
~~*~~
One week later
“A perfect score! I can’t believe it. And I owe it all to you.” Rainbow Dash kissed her instructor gently and snuggled up closer in the bed. “A perfect score.”
“Well, I don’t know about perfect. I think there’s room for improvement, with practice.” He kissed her back, giggling as she licked his nose in revenge. “So, I thought you would want to fly back to the library and tell Twilight Sparkle the good news first instead of celebrating in this particular way.”
“Nope. Not there. I looked. Secret.” Rainbow Dash punctuated her words with kisses, ending in a huge I’ve-got-a-secret grin that just begged to be revealed.
“A Pinkie Promise secret?” He nuzzled up one ear and was promptly smacked by an opening wing. “Tell or I bite.”
“Nooooo… Ok. But that doesn’t mean you can’t nibble. I checked with Spike. She hasn’t been back to the library all week except once to check out a book.”
“The Egghead’s Guide to Weather?” he hazarded, with a nibble.
“Nope! An original edition of the Pony Sutra, with illustrations.”
“Oh? Oh!” Soarin looked in the direction of Thunderlane’s house. “I thought I heard thunder from over there. Did you know that alicorns are rumored to be able to have—” Soarin whispered into Rainbow’s ear, making her turn pink and giggle.
“I think I hear a challenge. Since you still have the day off, let’s see about breaking that record.”
“Yes, Princess Dash. Your wish is my desire.”
“You got that backwards,” whispered Rainbow Dash, moving in for a kiss.
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I'm going to Pony Heck for this one. Shipping Twilight x Thunderlane and Rainbow x Soarin at the same time. That's a lot of wings.
Cute, I like this version of Thunderlane.
Dash? Is there something you want to tell us?
Woah! Go Dash, go Twilight!
3938604 Fixed. You had me worried. It thought it was in the story description.
3938958 I'm starting to think I'm writing "The Lives of a Winning Alicorn" with as much shipping that has slipped into my stories as of late.
3938532 It's always the handsome, quiet ones.
I thought Raindrops was a girl.
Anyway, so much shipping!
3939347 Darn it, that's two. I swear it's the fault of that gender-flipped story I did previously. Fixed. Thanks!
3939007
Well your book selections seem to fit with the Winning-verse
I fell over laughing when I read that part.... been a while since I last heard of a Pony Sutra mentioned in a story (the last time I read one with this fictional book of love making it too was in a comedy one shot, though it was sent to Twilight as a prank by Luna against Celestia -seeing as the sun princess was the female subject in each position lol). Edit: Found it! It is mentioned in chapter two of the story Do You Really Want to Know? by Friendly Uncle.
Another fun EqD Writer Training Grounds tale. Cannot wait to see what else you have in store for us.
P.S. The only complaint I have about this chapter is a minor one. You call her "Spidermare', but if you it to be an official parody, it should be spelled "Spider-Mare" (hyphen and capital letter for the M.). I know it is a small and mostly inconsequential gripe on my part, but seeing as I grew up reading the Spider-Man comics (because my second cousin is Mark Bagley, a long time artist in the comic book world for both Marvel AND DC), it sorta makes me take notice when I see it not spelled like I know it to be. The reason that Spider-Man (and thus why Spider-Mare should be too) is because Stan Lee wanted to differentiate his red and blue spandex wearing superhero from DC's Superman (also a hero clad in reds and blues). I figure perhaps this could also be the case in Equestria so that no one confuses Spider-Mare with Supermare.
But take my rant with a grain of salt (or a salt lick block if you prefer).
3968588 Fixed it. Spider-Mare is now correct. Yeah, I've got enough copies of the 80s comic books that I should have seen that. As close as I've come to being related to a comic book artist is I have a very good friend in San Diego who is friends with Sergio, of Groo fame. I don't collect 'em for future generations to look at through plastic sheeting, I collect 'em to read.
I think I really like literary!Thunderlane.
rusts and blights
rusts and blights.
Rusts. And. Blights.
img2.blog.zdn.vn/42254090.jpg
I do hope that this is a recurring meme.