//------------------------------// // Personal Pony Companion // Story: Tales of First Contact: Unity // by Banjo64 //------------------------------// “Taylor?” … “Taylor…” … “Taylor, wake up!” … “Right, you asked for it…” Taylor awoke, once again, to the blaring sound of Pinkie Pie’s “wake up time” song. It never failed to get her up in the morning, and make her wish the pink pony had never shared her music files with her friends. “Ugh… Rainbow Dash, why do we have to go through this every morning?” she groaned as she rolled over on her bed to look at her Pony Compact Device. The pegasus on the screen rolled her eyes. “Well, if you’d stop staying up so late, maybe you’d be able to get up on time,” countered Rainbow with a roll of her eyes. “That’s coming for the pegasus who’s always napping,” countered Taylor as she sat up and stretched. “Yeah, except my naps are carefully timed so that I don’t miss anything. You, on the other hoof, are always oversleeping and running late,” said Rainbow. Taylor rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock. “Rainbow, it’s only… 8:30?! What the heck?! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?!” cried Taylor as she hurriedly threw off her covers. “I tried. Must I remind you that you put a lock on my system, preventing me from using the alarm before 8:30? I told you that was a bad idea, but nooo… You were just so confident you could get up on time without my help,” chided Rainbow. Taylor grumbled but didn’t argue as she quickly changed clothes. She knew better than to stroke Rainbow’s ego. “By the way, your mom called this morning,” said Rainbow. “Again? Sigh… short version please,” said Taylor as she dashed to the bathroom. “Ahem… ‘If you fail another exam because you didn’t show up on time, I’m coming over there and blah, blah, blah.’ You know how these things always go,” called Rainbow. After quickly brushing her teeth and making her hair look somewhat presentable, Taylor rushed over to pick up her purse and Rainbow’s PCD before heading for the door. “Hey, at least grab a poptart! You know how your mind wanders when you're hungry,” reminded Rainbow. “What are you, my mother?” asked Taylor, though she still backed up and grabbed a package. “No, but since you’re even lazier than me, I might as well be,” said Rainbow. Taylor managed to get to school on time, if only barely. She stopped and gasped for breath as soon as she reached her classroom. “Impressive. Now if only you’d put that speed of your to use in a sport,” commented Rainbow. Taylor pulled out her PCD and glared at Rainbow. “We… *huff...* are not… *huff...* having that… *huff…* argument… *huff…* again,” she wheezed out. “Well sorry for doing my job and trying to get you to work off all that body fat. But you’re right, this isn’t the time. Now get to your seat before the bell rings,” said Rainbow. Fighting through her cramp, Taylor made her way over to her desk and sat down. She pulled out her pencils, and clicked the PCD into it’s slot. “Finally. Do have any idea what’s it like being the fastest pony alive, but you’re always late to everything?” asked Rainbow. “Shut up,” mumbled Taylor as she gave her notes one last glance over. “Well, whatever. Catch you after school, Taylor,” said Rainbow before she jumped into Equestria. Taylor just rolled her eyes. “Stupid rule saying ponies are not allowed to help with tests,” she grumbled as the teacher entered the classroom. The moment Rainbow arrived in Equestria, she immediately activated a tracker program to prove that she didn't return to the classroom until the exam was over, then used a hyperlink to jump straight to the map room of Twilight’s castle. Unsurprisingly, her friends were already gathered and waiting for her. Twilight was busy making schedules for her university, Fluttershy was keeping an eye on a camera feed to watch her human’s puppy, Pinkie Pie was hacking the system to get infinite cake again, and Rarity was designing a new dress with a pony editor program. Applejack, however, was just sitting back in her chair with a smirk on her face. “Mornin’, Rainbow. Nice of ya to finally join us,” said Applejack. As her friends looked up and gave words of greeting, Rainbow just huffed as she took her seat. “It’s not my fault Taylor’s always staying up too late. I’ve told her so many times that she needs to start a proper sleep schedule, but she never listens to me,” she complained. “You could just ask for a transfer if it’s bothering you that much,” reminded Rarity. “Nah, I don’t want to leave Taylor to fend for herself. Transfers are for ponies who’s humans are outright torturing them or doing illegal stuff. Besides, I’d have to process all the paperwork that comes with it,” said Rainbow with a shake of her head. “That’s true. Anyway, everypony ready for today’s assignment?” asked Twilight. This confused everypony else. “Wait, we have an assignment today? I didn’t get a notice,” interrupted Pinkie. “Yeah, I thought the new Cloudsdale update was delayed till next week,” said Rainbow. “Oh dear. Please tell me it’s not another glitch hunt. It’s alway so scary removing those things,” said Fluttershy. “No, nothing like that. Sapphire Shores’ PCD had to make an unexpected system update today, so we’re going to be subbing for her in the approval department,” said Twilight. “All six of us? Ah mean, Rarity’s the only one of us with a design program. What can the rest of us do?” asked Applejack. “Testing, mostly. A new wave of amature designs were just submitted. Rarity can handle the design aspect, but the codes still needs evaluation to make sure it’s compatible with Equestria’s interface,” explained Twilight. Rainbow took a moment to run those words through her dictionary program. “Right, stress testing. Yeah, we can do that. Got to make sure the code can keep up with us. Just as long as Pinkie watches her modding. We all know how unstable amature code can be,” said Rainbow. “Hey, I just renewed my hacker license! I know how to control myself!” objected Pinkie. “Having a modding license doesn’t mean you can’t make mistakes, Pinkie. Remember that copy-paste incident?” reminded Rarity. Pinkie’s expression faltered a bit. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll just test Celestia-approved hacks. I really don’t want to crash Ponyville again,” admitted Pinkie. “Thank you, Pinkie. Alright, I’m sending the link now…” said Twilight. A moment later, Rainbow got the e-mail. She quickly opened it, and used the hyperlink to jump to the approval department. Taylor sighed as the final bell rang. She probably didn’t fail the exam, but her brain was spent. She hated to admit it, but Rainbow had been right about the poptart. It had been so difficult to concentrate towards the end. The rest of the day hadn’t been much better. And if the rest of the school year was going to be like this, maybe she should start listening to her pony. Nah. She reached over and sent a return ping to Rainbow before packing up her things. She didn’t really need to call Rainbow back, she could just wait until she got home, but it was just such a routine thing that Rainbow would probably freak out if she didn’t. The screen of the PCD flickered before the blue pegasus appeared. “Hey Taylor. You still alive?” she asked. Taylor rolled her eyes. “Yeah, unfortunately. And seeing as I have not meet my untimely demise today, what’s my schedule like?” she asked. “Same as every other day: nothing. Seriously girl, you need to join a club or something,” said Rainbow with a shake of her head. With a sigh, Taylor picked up the PCD and stood up. She really wished ponies weren’t so concerned about their humans’ social life. It’d make the daily grind that much easier to bear.