Magical Mystery Cure (my take)

by Phazon_Corrupted_Unicorn

Day 1: Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash and Twilight watched as the rest of the girls left the library, then they looked at each other.

“Betcha won’t last three minutes in the sky,” Rainbow Dash scoffed.

“And I bet that you won’t last fifteen minutes in this library,” Twilight shot back.

“Pfft, Please, using magic isn’t that hard! All you do is concentrate on stuff and *poof* it happens!” Rainbow laughed.

“Besides, flying isn’t that hard. It’s just reading the wind and the atmosphere, I’ll have it down in a day,” Twilight shook her head.

“Guess we’d better let Princess Celestia know about your mistake, huh?” Rainbow sneered.

“Mistake? Hardly. Science, yes!” Twilight retorted, then raised her voice. “Spike!” she shouted, causing the scrambling of clawed feet to be heard upstairs. A moment later Spike came running down with a quill and parchment in hand.

“Yeah Twil-“ Spike started to say, then stared at the two ponies in the room. “What happened? Why does Rainbow Dash have a horn and you have wings?”

“Long story, but just know that I tried to cast a spell that I didn’t know what would happen and this is the result. Take a letter,” Twilight answered, then started strolling around the room like she did when she was thinking. Spike held the quill at ready and nodded to her.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to inform you of a development in my studies on the magic of friendship. It seems that I have received a book from an unknown source that contains spells relating to friendship. I proceeded to cast one on myself and my friends and it caused unexpected side effects, which I will list below:

Applejack now has a horn.
Pinkie Pie has wings.
Rarity has neither wings nor a horn.
Fluttershy has neither wings nor a horn.
Rainbow Dash has a horn and no wings.
And I have wings and no horn.

As I do not have a horn, I am unable to reverse this spell. I apologize for contacting you about such a matter, but I request that you reverse the spell so that I may continue my studies on magic.

Sincerely your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

After Twilight ended the letter, Spike rolled it up and, breathing in, sent the letter with a burst of dragonfire. They only had to wait a few seconds before Spike belched out a reply, sealed with a golden C. Spike caught the letter and unfurled it, then started to read.

My faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle? That’s a funny way of spelling your name. I thought for sure that you’d learned how to spell your name correctly, Rainbow Dash. Perhaps I should send you back to Magic Kindergarten?

Your mentor,

Princess Celestia

Spike looked over the top of the scroll to glance at Twilight and Rainbow, both of which had their mouth hanging open. Then Rainbow started to snicker, trying to silence her laughs by sticking a hoof in her mouth. This only caused Twilight to glare daggers at her.

“What’s the matter, Rainbow? Got something in your mouth?”

At that, Rainbow couldn’t take it any longer and she burst out laughing, falling onto the floor and rolling around clutching her sides.

“This is great! Princess Celestia has kicked you out of her mentorship! This is hilarious!” Rainbow cried, tears streaming down her face. Twilight glared down at her, then sniffed.

“Well, it looks like you’re her new student. I hope you like reading, because that’s all you’re going to be doing!” Twilight snapped, then leapt out the open window that Rainbow had entered in at the beginning. Rainbow stood up and hobbled over to the window just in time to see Twilight flap her wings once, then fall the ten or so feet to the ground and crash into the side of the library’s mailbox.

If she thought she’d been laughing before, Rainbow didn’t know what to call the fit of laughter that had overcome her at that sight. She couldn’t stop laughing for ten minutes and when she finally did stop, her sides hurt so bad that she could only roll over on the ground.

Then she stood up, her side still smarting a bit. Spike had left after Twilight had flown out the window. More like crashed out, she thought.

Then she looked around. The library had a wide variety of books on hundreds of subjects. She’d been in here before, mostly keeping to reading Daring Do books in a corner, but there was a secret that she had, one that her friends would make fun of her for if they ever found out.

She strode over to one of the bookshelves and started to scan the book titles and authors.

Flight, Flight, she thought to herself as she roamed through the subjects, then she gave a yelp of joy as she found the correct section. She scanned the authors until she found one she wanted. She awarded herself a small grin then, checking to make sure that Spike wasn’t anywhere near her, she pulled the book out from the shelf with her mouth. She trotted over to her reading seat and sat down, flipping open the book as she rested it on the floor. She smiled as she read the first page.

“Unicorns and Pegasi weather control techniques, a comparison,” she muttered to herself, then looked down at the author’s name. “Prism Bolt,” she whispered.

This was her secret. To her friends and the world she was Rainbow Dash. To the writing community, she was Prism Bolt. She’d had dozens of book signings, all of them far away from Ponyville. She’d almost doubted that anypony here had even read or heard of her books, but she wasn’t surprised to see that Twilight had a copy.

Rainbow closed the book, she didn’t need to read it. She remembered the hundreds of hours spent researching and investigating in order to collect the massive store of data contained in the book. She walked back to the bookshelf and placed it back in its spot. She then glanced down at the other books that she’d written.

The History and Duties of the Rainbow Factory, Cloudsdale, a Historical, Political, and Economic Analysis, The Sonic Rainboom, the Science, the Myth, the Reality, Loyalty: An Detailed Study on the Characteristics and Personalities of past Bearers of the Element of Loyalty.

Each book title called up dozens of memories and making the smile on her face grow even wider. She pulled out the Rainbow Factory one and flipped it open. She chuckled as she saw the notes written in the margins of the books and she sat down to read them.

Time flew by as Rainbow read Twilight’s notes. She was about to read the chapter on the creation of rainbows when she heard Spike walking up the stairs. She slammed the book closed, then shoved it behind her and out of view from the stairs.

“Hey Rainbow! Ready for some lunch?” Spike asked as he came up the stairs with a tray in his claws. It had several sandwiches and a glass of water, a rose sitting in the glass. He walked over and placed the tray on one of the small tables around the room and Rainbow stood up and walked over. Spike smiled at her, then looked back at where she’d been sitting. He saw something and, walking closer, he saw that it was a book. He reached out a claw and picked it up, reading the title.

“The History and Duties of the Rainbow Factory? I though you knew all about the Rainbow Factory!” he said, turning and facing her.

“I do, I wrote the book,” Rainbow whispered, but she’d forgotten how sensitive dragon ears are.

Spike raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean, you wrote the book?” He looked down at the author, but before he could get a good look, Rainbow had snatched it away and placed it back on the shelf.

“What? Me, write a book? That’s silly! I wouldn’t be caught dead writing anything!” Rainbow laughed nervously.

“Really? But do you know Prism Bolt?” Spike asked.

“What makes you think I’m Prism Bolt?” Rainbow gasped, looking around wildly for anything to draw Spike’s attention.

“I didn’t say that you were Prism, I’m just wondering if you know her. She seems to be quite a popular writer, especially among pegasi readers. Many of the pegasi living here in Ponyville have asked for her books. Hay, I’ve even read them!” Spike said, smiling.

“Really?” Rainbow’s attention was now back on Spike, “and what do you think of them?”

“I think they’re great! Some of the best works on flying and the dynamics of Cloudsdale! I may not have wings yet, but I can’t wait for them to come in so I can see Cloudsdale and try out some of the tricks she describes,” Spike stated, excitedly. Then he remembered something. “Oh yeah! One more thing! Twilight usually sends her budget in to Princess Celestia today. It’s there on the tray, maybe you could sign it and then I’ll send it!” Spike had pulled out a book as he was talking and Rainbow noticed that it was the one on Cloudsdale.

“Sure Spike, not a problem.” Rainbow walked over and picked up a quill and ink well, then moved over to the tray and picked up the budget. She shook her head at the size of expenses Twilight accumulated in her studies. She signed the parchment and laid the quill down. She glanced at the allotment that Twilight received from Princess Celestia in a month and she smiled. The sum was an impressive amount, but it wasn’t as much as Rainbow got from royalties from her book sales as well as her salary from the Weather Teams, as well as several large sums that Rainbow had received as she helped, as Twilight would say, further the cause of science.

Rainbow sat down and ate a few of the sandwiches, almost crying at the taste. If Twilight ate like this every day, then Rainbow needed to look into getting Spike to make her food as well.

Rainbow stood up and turned back to Spike. “I’m going to go outside for a walk. It’s a bit stuffy in here and I want to get some fresh air.” Spike merely nodded, his head spines bobbing slightly. He was busy reading her book and, Rainbow noted with a sly smile, he was quite engrossed in it.

Rainbow strode down the stairs and out the front door, breathing in the fresh air outside. She looked up at the sky and smiled, seeing a few colorful streaks among the clouds, clearing them and moving them out of the way. Good, she thought, the weather crews aren’t behind, even though I’m not there.

Rainbow continued to walk down the street, not heading in any particular direction. She stopped at stalls, glanced in windows and greeted the few ponies that were out today. Then she looked straight ahead and smiled as she saw a small, orange pony come bolting down the street on a scooter.

Cool, my number one fan come to show me a few of her new tricks! Rainbow smiled. But the smile shrank and vanished as Scootaloo buzzed past her in a blur. Rainbow Dash stood there, slightly stunned, but she shook her head and continued to walk down the street. Scootaloo was probably on her way to meet with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, most likely to come up with a dozen or so ways to try and get their cutie marks.

Rainbow smiled wistfully as she thought of the hundreds or so ways that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had tried in the past few years since meeting each other.

She wandered around, letting her legs stretch, for about an hour before she decided that she should head back. Apparently she needed to come up with a lesson for Princess Celestia and she hadn’t even started on it.

She strode back to the library and was almost there when an orange blur came out of nowhere and slammed into her, knocking her to the ground and into a mud puddle.

“Oops, sorry!” Scootaloo’s familiar voice sounded in Rainbow’s mud-covered ears. She stood up and shook off most of the mud. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, squirt. But what’s got you in such a hurry?” Rainbow asked.

Scootaloo looked slightly embarrassed. “Earlier today, I saw you in the marketplace and I ran past you. I was eager to get to our regular meeting place and watch you do some tricks today. But when I got there, Pinkie Pie was there, flying around. She had wings! She explained everything to me and helped me realize that I had past you, in my haste to see you.” She scuffed the dirt with a hoof and glanced up at Rainbow.

Rainbow just shrugged and smiled. “Listen, squirt. I know how it is to rush around a lot, heck I do it most days. But we can’t always be in such a hurry that we don’t even notice the ponies around us.” Scootaloo perked up at that and smiled. Rainbow smiled back at her, then placed a hoof on the door to the library. “Come on kid. I may not be a pegasus, but I still got a few surprises up my sleeve.” She pushed open the door and stepped aside to let Scootaloo in, then she closed the door and turned around to see Spike standing there in the center of the floor, a book in one claw and a piece of parchment in the other. The book she recognized as the one he’d been reading when she’d left and the parchment was the budget.

Spike smiled a knowing smile at her. “Well, well, well. How long did you think you could hide it from me?” he asked and Rainbow was confused.

“Hide what from you? What are you talking about?” she asked.

“Oh I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. Or as you’re known to your book fans, Prism Bolt,” Spike held out the parchment and the book. The book was opened to the title page, her signature very distinct along the bottom. She had signed that particular book as a gift to Twilight for her birthday. The parchment also bore her signature, but that of Rainbow Dash where the book bore Prism Bolt’s.

Scootaloo blinked at the two of them in confusion. “Did I miss something here?” she asked and Spike gave a small smile, then he walked over to a table and placed the two objects on it.

“Rainbow Dash is Prism Bolt,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Scootaloo’s eyes almost bugged out of her head in surprise. “Wait, so you mean that my hero, Rainbow Dash, is also a writer who goes by the alias of Prism Bolt?” Spike nodded.

“I checked the signatures and they’re almost a perfect match in quillponyship. Several of the letters are written the same and I even went back and pulled up the letter that Rainbow had sent Princess Celestia after the Mare-Do-Well incident. The writing style is the same.”

Rainbow sighed, then looked at both Spike and Scootaloo. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything, but you have to Pinkie Promise that you’ll never tell anypony anything that I say.” She watched as both Spike and Scootaloo performed the required promise and motions. Then, satisfied, she plopped down on a cushion and started to speak.

“It all started back when I was in Flight School. I didn’t drop out, but rather I excelled so much that my teachers weren’t challenging me enough. So they moved me to a more privileged school…”

By the time Rainbow had finished her story, the sun had almost vanished below the horizon. She stood up, stretching her stiff muscles, then looked down at Scootaloo.

“Well, kid. It’s time to get you home.”

Scootaloo blinked in surprise, then shook her head. “Um, there-there’s no need for that! I can get home by myself! I’ve done it before,” she said, a bead of sweat falling down her cheek and before either of them could do anything, she darted out the door and onto her scooter, vanishing into the fading light.

Rainbow shook her head, then turned to Spike. “Let’s get some rest. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Author's Note:

Yay! 5 out of the 6 done! Then we're onto Day 2!!! This will only go to Day 3, then we'll have a finale. Hope everypony's enjoying the ride! Please tell me if you don't, I like feedback and it helps me be a better writer!

Comments

[Shade the Pegasus]

Well I must say, overall magnificent writing. This brings a mixture of logic and well rounded storytelling. I can't wait to see what happens next! Personally I envy your ability to write in such a way. I still haven't summed up the courage to write anything! I'll read this till the end.

[Phazon_Corrupted_Unicorn]

2644638
Thanks! That means a lot! You're in for a wild ride, though. Hope you can hold on!!!

[Shade the Pegasus]

I hope for much excitement in the next couple stories. But please by all means take your time. I would hate to see you rush.

[Shade the Pegasus]

Oops! Sorry just one more.