Rainbow Dash, who was sitting with her forelegs crossed and her back to the wall in her room, was bored. Incredibly, supremely, cosmically bored. She had finished the Daring Do book Twilight had lent her in just under two days. Now, with her pranking on Nightmare Night having yielded unfathomably dull and even frustrating results and nothing new or exciting happening, it was all Rainbow could do to keep herself from slamming the back of her head against her own bedroom wall just so that something would happen.
She ultimately failed in this endeavor when she glanced up at the clock. The minute hand ticked once, indicating that in the time she had spent contemplating the merits of a concussion to sate boredom, a train of thought she had gone quite deeply into, only ONE minute had passed.
“GAH!” She semi-shouted in agitation before ramming the back of her head into the wall behind her with enough force to shake the framed photo ontop the nightstand next to her. She glanced towards said photo, one taken of her and Fluttershy during the latter’s visit, and frowned. “Ugh… we gotta make good on our deal to visit her sometime…” Rainbow mumbled drearily.
After a few more minutes of bored sitting, the silence and inactivity finally became too much for her to bear. With a grunt, she shot up into the air and turned to face her door. “Okay, that’s it. Where’s Twilight…?” she mumbled to herself before bolting out of her bedroom and down the halls.
“Can I have another piece of candy?” Spike pleaded with Twilight yet again, his claws clasped together under his chin and his eyes as big and puppy-ish as he could make them. He pushed out his lower lip in an adorable display of pure begging mastery. Twilight rolled her eyes at her number one assistant’s dramatic expression as they walked together down the halls of Canterlot Castle, en route to their room.
It had been a rather productive day, all things considered. The lessons in the public classroom had been informative, fun and challenging. Even on her own she had managed to use the supplied chemicals to grow an enormous, bioluminescent plant that high-hooved her in celebration of a job well done. Then Twilight had gone for the private lessons with Princess Celestia. Simply checking of notes and information from the previous assignments, but all in all, a good day.
Spike pawed pitifully at Twilight’s foreleg. “C’mon Twilight. Please?” he begged again, drawing a pitying chuckle from Twilight.
“No, Spike. You already had like, a dozen pieces today. We don’t want you to get pudgy, now do we? You already have enough of a waddle to your step as it is.” She said with a mirthful grin while bending down to look the baby dragon in the eye.
Spike huffed indignantly at the waddle comment. “Hey, if I can eat more candy, I don’t care if I get fat! It’s worth it!” He countered, then intensifying his pleading all the more with a deep-throated whine. Twilight was barely able to resist the cuteness on display, but managed to maintain her composure.
“Well, I do care, Spike. No more candy for you today.” She chuckled before returning to looking where she was going.
Spike, in response, let out a long, pitiful while and slumped his shoulders in defeat. He turned his eyes to gaze deeply into the rug below and sniffled. The display outright obliterated what little resolve Twilight had left. She mentally sighed and smiled affectionately at the little guy.
Gosh dangit, Spike…
“Okay, Spike. I’ll tell you what…” Twilight began, instantly earning Spike’s complete and undivided attention. “If you behave really well today and help me tidy up my workspace, I’ll let you have some candy before you go to bed, alright?”
“WOOHOO!” Spike leapt for joy, ready to profess his undying, eternal gratitude to the filly in front of him. He never got the chance to, however. Suddenly, Twilight let out a startled squeak before her voice vanished down the hall, a rainbow streak hanging in the air where she had been only a moment ago. A powerful gust of wind rushed by soon after with more than enough force to knock Spike off his feet. “...Aw, boo…” he muttered.
A little ways down the hall, Rainbow Dash chuckled in amusement while Twilight wobbily picked herself up off the floor she had been so casually dumped on. “Heh. You need better reaction time, Twi.” Rainbow said with a huge grin before playfully punching Twilight in the shoulder.
Twilight lost what little of her balance remained from the punch and toppled over, sprawling to the floor with a thump and grunt. “Woah! Rainbow, what the hay?!” she barked, quite irked and rubbing the side of her head with a grimace. “I was talking to Spike!”
“I saw that. Now you’re talking to me,” Rainbow said with a waggle of her eyebrows. Twilight grunted and pushed herself back to her hooves.
“Yeah, I am. I’d like to be done. Can I go back to talking to Spike now?”
“Yeah, go ahead. But make it snappy, I got something I wanna ask you.” Rainbow nodded along with a weird smirk crossing her face. Twilight shook her head in bewilderment before turning and trotting back down the hall to Spike, who looked lost and confused.
“Sorry about that, Spike. Somepony decided they wanted to be inconsiderate.” Twilight called out before Spike tackle-hugged her.
“She foalnapped you.” he said simply before glaring past Twilight at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow crossed one of her forelegs over the other and whistled innocently.
“Yes, she did,” Twilight replied before shooting a snarky grin back at Rainbow Dash, who simply blew a raspberry at Twilight. She rolled her eyes before prying Spike off of her. “Anyway, let’s get you back to the room, okay? Rainbow wants to talk to me about something, apparently…”
“Okay! Hi, Rainbow!”
“Yo.”
A short while later, Spike was busying himself with organizing and cleaning up Twilight’s room, the promise of candy spurring him on to do better than usual. As he worked, Twilight excused herself to frown at Rainbow Dash. “Alright, my prismatically obnoxious friend, what is it you wanted to ask me?” she said with no small amount of impatience in her voice.
“Woah, take it easy Twi,” Rainbow said defensively, putting her forehooves up in a placating manner. “Sorry about that earlier. I’m just... SO. BORED.” Rainbow said, putting as much of an emphasis as she could on the last two words. Twilight blinked.
“Bored? You? That’s a first.”
‘I know, right?” Rainbow nodded in exasperation. “I want to do something exciting!”
“Well, what’s stopping you?” Twilight probed with a slight tilt of her head, now genuinely curious.
“The fact that Canterlot is, like, one of the most un-exciting places to be for somepony like me right now. I finished the Daring Do book, the Wonderbolts’ performance isn’t for another week and a half and there isn't a single pony in this city who could even challenge me in a race! It would be a snoozefest!” Rainbow explained before sitting down and looking to the skies in mock despair. “It’s driving me up the walls!”
“And you thought tackling me was a good source of excitement…” Twilight deduced with a raised eyebrow before giggling slightly. “Rainbow, you need more hobbies.”
“I mean, maybe… but that doesn’t help me right now!”
“Well, what do you want from me then? Another sport or something?”
“Nah,” Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. “We have to deal with too many limitations with anything conventional. Even if I can technically veto those limits because of my status, Celestia’ll roast my hide if I overdo it, so i just don’t.”
“Well, then what do you want to do that you can do?” Twilight asked, her patience with the tangent wearing thin.
Rainbow shuffled uneasily, as if looking for an answer herself. Then, the proverbial lightbulb lit up over her head. Rainbow flashed Twilight a massive, playful smirk. “Wanna see something cool?”
Twilight looked at Rainbow for several long seconds before she spoke. “Huh?”
“I can show you something I doubt you’ve ever seen,” Rainbow added with a beckoning tone of voice. “I know how much you like seeing new things and I know you’ll love to see this. I’m offering to personally show you something awesome. Whaddya say?”
Twilight took a step back, not liking Rainbow’s smile. “Er… what would I be seeing?”
Rainbow clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Tsk, tsk tsk. That would be telling, Twi. Can’t do that. Would ruin the surprise!”
Twilight groaned in mild frustration. “Okay, okay, fine. Just make it quiaaaaaAAAAAYYYYYEEE!!!” Twilight’s snarky tone quickly devolved into a panicked shriek as Rainbow, faster than Twilight could track, scooped her up, deposited her onto Rainbow’s back and then shot out of the hallway and out an open window. Spike poked his head out of the room a moment later, whimpering sadly when he realized Twilight was gone.
His whimper turned into an evil cackle when he realized that Twilight was gone and would be unable to stop him from stealing some extra candy…
“PUT ME DOWN, RAINBOW DASH! RIGHT NOW! AAAAHHHHH!” Twilight screamed in a panic while Rainbow climbed in altitude. Finally, their speed decreased and, after a few moments, they came to a total stop. Twilight took a few moments to gasp for breath before glaring down at the mane of Rainbow Dash. “What the HAY?!”
“Twilight, look.” Rainbow said simply while pointing forward. Twilight growled and did so, turning her gaze from Rainbow’s mane to whatever was before them. She instantly lost her angry expression to one of amazement and awe. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
“Oh… oh wow…”
“Heh. told ya you’d love it.” Rainbow snickered below Twilight before going silent to let the filly on her back take in the view.
They were hovering many hundreds of feet above the highest peak of the mountain Canterlot rested on, looking out at an impossibly beautiful view of Equestria. Rainbow very slowly rotated in mid-air so Twilight could look in every direction and take it all in. The clouds were smothering some regions, but the way they were formed made it look almost like a masterwork painting. The sun’s angle cast shadows across the land, creating a stunning array of contrasts.
“I… wow. This is amazing…” Twilight mumbled when they turned to look towards the frozen north. Even this far away they could see the way the land gradually began to turn cold and more hostile further north.
Rainbow smiled warmly. While not as exciting as she would have wanted, it more than made up for it by letting her see her friend take in such an amazing sight and sit in awe and wonder. The fact that it was a surprise made it all the sweeter.
Rainbow Dash certainly wasn’t bored now.
It was a beautiful city, of that there could be no question, none at all. Anypony who would dare to accuse Canterlot of being anything shy of glamorous, cultured and sophisticated would likely receive a very stern scolding if the little filly heard them making such blasphemous claims. But that took secondary priority right now. Rarity kept pace with her parents as much as possible, despite every fiber of her being yelling at her to stop and gawk at the wondrous city around her.
Her desire to do anything but follow her parents was likely spurred even further by their destination; the most reliable Canterlot mental health clinic her parents could find. She scrunched up her face in anxiety as she thought about what may come out of this visit.
Her train of thought was swiftly broken, however, when somepony nearby looked up and pointed into the sky. “Hey, it’s Princess Rainbow Dash! What’s she doing up there?”
“I have no idea.” a mare next to him replied with an interested look on her face. “Looks like she’s coming in for a landing, though.
“Er, wait,” Rarity interjected, her parent’s pausing a few paces ahead when she stopped. “Princess Rainbow Dash? As in the adopted daughter of Princess Celestia?” she peered up into the sky and spotted the rainbow trail gradually arcing down towards them.
“Why yes, little ma’am, who else would we mean?” the stallion asked with a raised eyebrow.
Sensing a chance to not only stave off her visit to the clinic, but also sensing an opportunity to meet a member of the royal family, Rarity looked up at the oncoming speedster, determined roughly the route she should take to be where she would land, steeled herself and broke into a gallop.