//------------------------------//
// Equestria Interlude: Last Few Weeks 
// Story: The Sparkle in his Eye 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight settled Rainbow in the middle of the library.  "Alright, time to help you study for the Wonderbolts history exam," Twilight stated firmly.  "You need to pass it to get into the Wonderbolts Reserve."

Rainbow groaned under her breath.  "Why the heck do I need to learn this stuff?" she grumbled.

Twilight tapped her chin.  "Well, either because 'those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it'-"

"Not that tired old saw," Rainbow growled irritably.

"-or because given my adventures, there's a very real possibility you might end up reliving it," Twilight concluded.

Rainbow blinked a few times.  "...okay, that makes sense."

"I've personally always felt the best way to learn something is to experience it as best as possible," Twilight continued.  "As such, I've asked Grandpa Orvus to lend me one of the Great Clock's temporal viewers so you can watch the founding of the Wonderbolts unfold as it happened."

As the massive screen took shape and began showing images out of Equestria's distant past, Rainbow's eyes slowly widened.  "So...awesome..."

"I thought you'd think so," Twilight allowed with a gentle smile.

"Best history teacher ever..." Rainbow moaned as she soon became completely wrapped up in events, her wings flapping idly as she hovered from sheer excitement.





Twilight stared flat eyed down at the ponies gathered before her as she listened to what had happened.  "So...let me get this straight," she clarified as she turned to the stranger pony.  "You told Rainbow Dash you'd trade that book for this Orthos-"  She gestured to the two headed dog that sat panting in the center of the courtyard.  "-but by the time she'd managed to acquire one and come back to you, you'd decided you didn't want one because it was too much of a hooffull."

"That's right!" the mare confirmed.  "But-"

Twilight raised a hoof, silencing her.  "But Fluttershy convinced you that an Orthos could be handled easily if you knew what you were doing, at which point you agreed to the trade...on the condition that Fluttershy came to stay with you until the Orthos was fully trained."

"Uh...yes, Princess," the mare confirmed, beginning to get nervous.

"And what did Fluttershy get out of that deal?" Twilight clarified.

"B-beg pardon?" the mare asked.

"The trade of Orthos for book is perfectly valid," Twilight clarified.  "That's a straight trade of the property of one pony for that of another.  However, Fluttershy was not party to the trade, and thus her time wasn't something Rainbow could trade away in the first place...which is why she's brought this to my attention in my post of Trade Fair Princess as soon as she came back to her senses.  So..."  She leaned forward intimidatingly.  "What did Fluttershy get out of the trade?"

The mare began to sweat.  "Err, I...uh..."

"Because the laws of the Trade Fair are very specific," Twilight clarified.  "Anything may be traded, whether product or service, as long as all parties of the trade come away satisfied with the results."  She pointed to the mare.  "You are one party to this trade."  She pointed to Rainbow.  "She is another."  She then pointed to Fluttershy.  "And Fluttershy is the third party to the trade."  She turned to Fluttershy.  "Are you satisfied with the outcome of the trade?"

Fluttershy hemmed and hawed.  "Well...I want Rainbow to get that book she really wants...but I don't like the idea of leaving Ponyville, especially not to stay with somepony I don't know..."

Twilight then turned back to the mare who was now visibly sweating.  "Well?  It certainly seems to me that this trade isn't abiding by the rules of the fair.  Unless there's some part of this trade I'm missing..."

The mare glanced beseechingly towards Fluttershy for help.  While the rules about what sort of trade was allowed at the fair were relatively lax, the rules regarding trade violations - such as this was shaping up to be - were exceptionally harsh, part of what kept the Trade Fair open and friendly.

"Well..." Fluttershy began softly.  "I...I was hoping to trade my bear call for a bird call..."

Quickly searching her inventory, the mare pulled one out.  "Trade you the bird call for your training services?" she asked desperately.  "You can write me when the Orthos is fully trained, and I'll come pick him up!"  She looked up at Twilight.  "That work?"

"If those terms are acceptable for Fluttershy," Twilight concluded.

Smiling, Fluttershy took the Orthos leash and the bird call.  "I'm okay with that."

"Then that's that," Twilight declared.  "This trade fair is officially closed."

As the group dispersed, Rainbow Dash flew up to her.  "Thanks so much for that, Twi-"

Twilight promptly smacked Rainbow Dash on the muzzle with a rolled up newspaper.  "Friends don't trade friends into indentured servitude for books!" she snapped out.  "When we get back to Ponyville, you're going to need to make this up to Fluttershy big time...after you finish copying lines."

"Copying...lines?" Rainbow gasped worriedly.

" 'I will not put my desires before my friend's well being', however many times it takes the lesson to stick," Twilight stated firmly.  "That's what you get for disappointing a teacher."





Twilight grinned widely as she watched Spike ignite the torch for the Equestria Games.  Having remembered her own troubles with stage fright and how suddenly it could hit - that first commercial she was in sprung to mind - she had talked to Spike before he went up to light the torch, teaching him the way she'd discovered worked best to get past stage fright.

Close your eyes.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Forget everyone.  Forget the world around you.  It's just you and me, back at the library.  You're building your wind for bigger fire again.  It's just practice.  Forget everyone watching you.  Just show me.

While not Ratchet's exact words after that first TV interview, the gist of it was the same as the coaching he'd given her so she could handle being on camera.  And as she watched the torch ignite, she knew they had helped Spike, too.