//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: To Jack a Rainbow // by Toraka //------------------------------// Once again airborne. Even though it was one of the most natural things to do as a pegasus, Derpy loved flying. It took her away from all of the evil ponies who called her offensive and whatnot. She felt almost like a super hero that high above the ground. Mare Derp Well, maybe. A hero of true heart and nearly nonexistant depth perception. She chuckled at the thought. She didn't understand why ponies could get so heated up over her eyes. She wasn't handicapped or anything... Well, maybe she was. A bit. But she didn't let that handicap her. It was how she was born and she was good with it. Living with permanently crossed eyes had its benefits, too. Her focus could shift from one object to another in a timespan most ponies could only dream of, without even making any visible movements. Like when she passed over a lone tree, looking at the clouds, and saw five differently colored blobs with her second eye. Judging from position and time, those had to be Twilight's friends having their every-so-often pet play date. Looking more closely confirmed her suspicion. Those five were currently on her service list, so Derpy dived down to them. "Hi Derpy! Got something for one of us?" Pinkie joyfully greeted her. "Sure thing! I've got mail for you... and you, and you and you and you..." Derpy pulled it out of her mailbag. "Erm, if you share." Once again, there were five names, each belonging to one of the present ponies, in the receiver adress. Rarity took the letter the mailmare offered the group into her magical grasp. "Thanks, Derpy. Stop by my house sometime, would you? I'd just love to catch up to what's happened to you since last time." "Will do, miss Rarity!" "Save the miss, please." Rarity tried to educate the pegasus, but she had already flown off. "Ugh. Always behaves like she's still a little foal..." "Ain't that how we love her? Now, what's this about? 'S it from Twilight again?" Two pegasi and two earth ponies rallied around the unicorn. "Looks like it. Five names, written with magic, no return adress." "Not Twilight." Everypony turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "What? It's obvious. Twilight uses ultramarine ink. This is cyan. Do the math." "You actually remember her ink color?" Fluttershy asked as four ponies bent closer to the letter, visibly none able to follow Dash's train of thought. "Photographic memory. It's not as awesome as it sounds, most of the time. Sometimes, I just want to forget..." "Like wha'? You don' wanna tell me nothin', right?" "No no, I want to remember every moment with you as good as I can. It's... other things." Rarity interrupted the lovers before their conversation could drift off into the awkward zone. "Girls? Mind on the cause, please." "Erm, of course. Why, we won't find out anythin' from jus' lookin' at tha outside. Let's open it." Rarity concentrated and the letter folded itself open without ripping anywhere. The sticky material keeping it together seemed to simply vanish. "Ooh! How did you do that? I wanna be able to do that too." "Believe me, you are doing enough things you shouldn't be capable of already. I don't think Equestria could stand you having a horn. Let's see..." "Tha' ain't Twilight. Look at the writing." "Or that she's adressed in third person? Or that it SAYS it's from her parents?" Rainbow couldn't help herself when confronted with AJ's obvious statement. "Fillies! Can everypony read it?" Rarity looked around. Fluttershy was at a much too big angle, but obviously didn't dare to speak up. "Oh, darling, come over here, you can look over my shoulder." Giving an embarassed nod as a response, the pegasus walked over behind Rarity. Greetings, ponies from Ponyville who Twilight insists are her friends and I should notify. By the end of that line, there was a long line of ink going outwards, as if the unicorn writing had temporarily lost focus due to an outer stimulus. Okay, fine, Twilight's friends then. I am her father and currently a pony tortured heavily by pokes into my side. My dear daughter has now gone through her exams and the results are in. "Oh yeah, it's The Day. None of us remembered, right? Okay, synchronise stories. We always thought of her and were very confident in her abilities." Dash rambled. "Shh!" Rarity silenced her. Don't tell her, but we're taking her out for dinner in a fine restaurant to celebrate and I know it'd mean much to her if you could come. It's short notice, I know, but if you can, come to The Bannered Mare in Canterlot tonight around eight. Rainbow Dash felt full. There were a thousand reasons and ponies telling her to only eat lightly and, most importantly, never so much at once, but right then, she did not care. She didn't care about her figure. She didn't care about the old creed she once used to follow. Or maybe still did. She didn't even care if the Wonderbolts would invite her to training to prove her value and eventually join them. The only thing on her mind was that she was together with the ponies she knew and loved (literally, in one case). She glanced over the table. There was the relieved Twilight, receiving a compliment for her 105% at the examinations from Applejack. Then there were Fluttershy and Rarity, currently in a conversation about how dying her hair orange would suit the pegasus. Fluttershy didn't seem to be eager to try it. To her right was the hyperactive-as-usual Pinkie, looking genuinely amazed at the folding technique the mare Dash knew as Twilight's mother (She was bad with names, so Rainbow didn't bother trying to remember it and simply avoided calling her anything but 'you') demonstrated to her with a napkin. "Hey, Sparkle!" As the eight ponies had just walked out of the restaurant into the cool night, a call from a voice unknown to seven of them disrupted the calm, slow chatter. "Wuh...Midnight! How did you know how I really look?" "Spell detection, of course. We had that right before the holidays. Didn't you study it?" "Who's that, Twilight?" Applejack was the element of Honesty, not good manners. Sometimes, her questions could be a bit blunt. "Oh, Midnight's a class mate of mine. Or was, rather." "Well, what are you going to do now?" Midnight asked. "Go home to Ponyville. Keep doing... Erm... Like, you know, being Celestia's personal student and things. Studying friendship. What are your plans?" "Now that I have my degree, go to work, I suppose. Some nursing. Like, what's on my flank and such." She pointed at her side, where two round single color pills, blue and orange, were added into her purple fur. "In case anypony needs a place to sleep for the night, we have a guest bed ready. If it has to be, Twilight's bed should be big enough for two ponies." Her father offered the group. "No thanks. I'll just fly home..." Fluttershy kindly declined. "Oh, I couldn't. I have some relatives of my own in the area, I'll pay them a visit." Rarity said and instantly walked away with a yawn. "Where's Binkie?" Twilight's mother asked. "At home. I think. Don't worry, Pinkie doesn't need physics. She's fine." Twilight reassured her. Applejack turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Leaves the two of us, sugar." "You, to be exact. I'll be over at my house in ten minutes. Why, less even. We've got winds coming from Ponyville, it'll float over. But... Hey, it's such a clear night. How about we both go to my place and do some stuff there, far from the light?" "Why not? Ah'm gonna need tha' cloud spell thingy then, right?" Twilight stepped closer, within effective casting range of Applejack. "One cloud walking spell, coming up. Twenty-four hours. Don't forget." She said as she quickly enchanted Applejack again. "Thanks, Twilight." Rainbow grabbed the earth pony from above and lifted her off the ground. "Ugh, didn't lose your strength, did you." "You're lucky mah legs are on the wrong side." "Just the right side for me. Bye!" Dash departed with Applejack tucked in under her. "Well... Let's head home now, shall we?" Twilight stopped right after turning around and seeing the look her father was looking after the two lovers. "They're stargazing, dad." Clearly, the only thing saving him from getting bucked off the mountain for thinking such things were the ponies around them. "Rainbow?" "Hmm?" Rainbow Dash was conscious, but not by much. The dark of the night, the quiet, the softness of the cloud underneath them, Applejack's presence, all of those things were working together to send her into a slight snooze. She should be inside her house and sleeping already instead of staying outside, looking at the stars together with Applejack. "You don' look like ya wanna talk 'bout it, and Ah'm not sure if tha's the time fer it, but Ah really need ta know... Where did ya get all o' those skills, like blending in, spottin' ponies in the densest of crowds, and so on?" "I dreaded the day you would ask this. I reckon we can't get happily married if I have to keep secrets from you. I will explain everything to you, right tomorrow morning. And I'm not avoiding like you did with the rodeo." "But why tomorrow? Why not today?" "Getting impatient? The writer's tired. Uh, I mean, I am tired. It's late, and we should get to bed. Look." Rainbow pointed a hoof towards the moon. "Half past one already." "Fer instance, Ah'd like ta know how ya know all o' dis. Once, ya hardly knew the Polar Star, and now ya named more constellations than Twilight herself would recognise." "In time. Come in. I don't exactly have a guest bed, but if we shape a bit of cloud, it should be pretty nice for you." "Eh, you don' wanna share yer bed with your future wife?" Rainbow blushed slightly from embarassment. "Now that I think about it, that's a pretty solid idea. I wonder why I didn't think of that." "Ah love it when yer like that."