//------------------------------// // Summer Sun Preparations (Part 2) // Story: Little Glimpses // by Skijarama //------------------------------//     Since Rainbow flew off to find the weather bureau's office, Twilight and Spike had made their way for the town hall mostly in silence. A few ponies on the streets gave friendly, welcoming waves as they passed, but otherwise everypony was going about their own personal and superficial preparations for the celebration that night and the following day. Twilight had to admit that she felt much more at ease as she went about. This town was incredibly relaxed and carried a very… calm atmosphere to it. Canterlot was very different, between a fairly high number of ponies always on the streets on their way somewhere, and a generally up-tight attitude among the wealthier populace.     This town just felt… inviting.     Twilight was jarred from her musing when she realized they were almost at the town hall. “Okay, Spike. Does the list say anything about who we’re meeting?”     Spike squinted at the list in his claws before giving a shrug. “No, it doesn’t. Just that she’s probably the most aesthetically aware pony in Ponyville.”     Twilight nodded while ascending the steps of town hall. “Alright, let’s try and make this quick. I’d like to get to the library sooner than later.” she said before grasping the doors in her magic and pushing them open.     Spike nodded and gave a salute before glancing back at the list again. As he did so, he didn’t notice the obstruction he was walking up towards until he collided with it. He grunted uncomfortably before taking a step back and realizing he had just walked into Twilight’s hind leg. She had stopped moving and was looking around the room they were now standing in with wide, trembling eyes.     “I… know this place…” she whispered. Twilight then let out a gasp as her vision seemingly split into two. She could see where she stood now, but also she could see herself speaking to the pearly unicorn mare at the head of the room with her own mane looking like it had gone through a windstorm. Her eyes locked onto the mare ahead. She could see two of her. One looked like she had just seen a terrifying monster lumbering up to her, while the other simply looked uneasy and approached with a worried look on her face.     “Wait… Twilight? Twilight Sprinkle?” came the accented voice of Rarity, snapping Twilight out of her trance. Twilight shook her head before raising a hoof to her forehead to try and suppress a sudden ache that had formed there.     She then glanced up at Rarity, recognizing the white unicorn mare not just from when they had met as fillies, but also from the flash that had just overlapped with reality. “Uh… ow, it’s Sparkle, Rarity,” Twilight mumbled before setting her hoof down. She then put on a wide smile. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting to see you here! Are you in charge of the decor?”     Rarity blushed lightly upon realizing her mess-up with Twilight’s name, but cleared her throat and spoke politely regardless. “Oh, ahem. Yes, I am. I just finished with the ground floor and will be moving onto the balconies in moment.”     Twilight looked around and nodded with a wide smile. Rarity had clearly done very well, as the decorated room looked absolutely beautiful. “You’ve done an amazing job so far, that’s for sure…” she looked at Rarity again and frowned slightly. “...Have you had more flashes since the last time we met?”     Rarity nodded slowly. “Yes… a few. Nothing ever came of them, though. Oddly, you and Princess Rainbow Dash were in some of them.”     Twilight didn’t at all look surprised. “That seems to be the trend, yeah. The ponies who have the flashes often see other ponies who also experience them,” she said simply before shaking herself a bit. “Well, I’d love to stay and catch up some more, but Spike and I still have to check up on the music preparations. Royal orders.”     As Twilight turned to leave, Rarity nodded softly. “I understand. Go on and do your work. Perhaps we can catch up when the celebration gets started tonight?” she asked casually.     Twilight paused and smiled back at Rarity. “Maybe. It all depends on a, uh…” she pursed her lips together in thought. “...certain somepony showing up. If they don’t, then sure.”     Rarity raised an eyebrow with a small, mirthful smirk. “Ooooh… is it a certain special somepony?”     Twilight cringed, lifted Spike onto her back with magic and shook her head. “Er, no thanks. Bye, Rarity.” she said quickly before trotting out the door and closing it behind her.     “Wasn’t she wonderful…?” Spike murmured in a pleasantly swooning voice. Twilight rolled her eyes in response. She hadn’t noticed during the meeting, but Spike had been positively smitten by the sight of Rarity. The little guy hadn’t stopped swooning and crooning to himself for several minutes. Finally, Twilight jolted herself intentionally to get his attention. Spike sat bolt upright, yelping in alarm.     “Keep it together, Poneo,” Twilight snarked out with a playful smirk before coming to a stop. “Check the list this is where the music is being rehearsed, right?”     Before Spike could give an answer, the sounds of numerous birds singing in sync got their attention. Twilight tilted her head and ears slightly to listen in better before slowly trotting to follow the sound. Once she and Spike emerged from behind a few bushes that had been obstructing their view, they saw what they were looking for. Instantly, a smile formed on Twilight’s face as she recognized Fluttershy.     She refrained from speaking until Fluttershy quietly called for the music to stop before drifting up to one of the birds, presumably to correct him on something he had messed up. Twilight couldn’t hear her from here, but determined it would be safe enough to draw Fluttershy’s attention. Remembering how easily frightened she could be, Twilight decided to simply use her magic to gently tug on Fluttershy’s mane in the direction she and Spike were in.     Fluttershy turned curiously when she felt the tugs, and then smiled widely on seeing the two ponies. She turned back to her birds, said something and then fluttered down to stand before Twilight and Spike. “Oh, Twilight! Spike! I wasn’t expecting to see you, here!” she whispered happily.     Twilight shared the smile. “Trust me when I say we could say the same about you. When did you move to Ponyville?”     ‘About a year ago,” Fluttershy replied while looking up at the birds in the tree. “There are so many more animals down here then in Cloudsdale. I’ve been working on helping strays find homes and helping the more wild animals get better before they return to their natural habitat if they are hurt or sick.”     Spike looked impressed. “Wow, that’s awesome Fluttershy! Does Rainbow know?”     Fluttershy wilted a bit. “Um… no, she doesn’t. I never really got a good chance to tell her, and… well, I didn’t want to make her feel like I was bugging her when she’s, um, a princess and everything.”     Twilight sighed softly. “You know she doesn’t care at all for that title, right? I mean, yeah, she goes with it and appears when she needs to, sometimes she has to resolve a matter because she was on scene and Celestia wasn’t, but she never even wears her crown or wants her title used. She doesn’t even like ponies bowing,” she re-explained to fluttershy before putting a hoof to her shoulder. “She wants you to write to her, Fluttershy. You are her oldest friend.”     Fluttershy’s mane fell in front of her eyes a little bit, but after a moment she nodded and smiled before brushing the fallen lock away. “Right… thanks, Twilight. I guess I forget about that sometimes…”     “Kinda a hard detail to forget, if you ask me, considering how much she nails it into everypony's skull,” Spike muttered dryly. “I mean, did you know that the local newspaper in Canterlot doesn’t even use her titled anymore?”     Fluttershy looked surprised with a hoof scuffing the ground. “No, I didn’t.”     “That’s how hardcore she is about it,” Twilight concluded before smiling softly and hugging Fluttershy. “It’s good to see you, though. And the music sounded beautiful.”     Fluttershy blushed at the praise, but smiled all the same. “Thank you, Twilight. We still need to rehearse a few times, but I think we’re almost ready.”     Twilight nodded before disengaging from the hug and looking to Spike. “Are we done now, Spike?” She asked. Spike put a check mark on the parchment, glanced up at Twilight and gave her a big thumbs-up. Twilight giggled at the adorable pose before lifting him onto her back with magic again. “Well, Spike and I need to get going. We’re staying in the- what was it called?”     Spike looked at the parchment again. “The Golden Oaks Library.”     “Right, we’re staying there while we’re in Ponyville and we, uh, should get familiar with our surroundings before the celebration gets started, I think.” Twilight nodded and explained before turning to leave.     ‘Okay. I’ll see you at the celebration tonight!’ Fluttershy called after them before turning to resume work with her birds.     When the library came into view, Twilight was a little surprised to see that it was a literal tree house. She hadn’t really taken any time to find or look at it until just now, and she had to admit, it looked nice. Rainbow Dash was leaning against the sign outside, looking bored. When she saw Twilight approaching, though, her face twisted slightly into one of, what Twilight could only call, ‘fear.’     “Oh, Twilight!” Rainbow began before shifting off of the sign. “Heh. You got here fast.” she said in a way that instantly set off red flags in Twilight’s head.     “Uhm… I’m me. You never call me fast.” She pointed out quizzically, causing Rainbow to fidget and look around a bit.     “Uh, well, that is, ah, fast by your standards!” she tried, though she was clearly grasping at straws. Twilight’s frown deepened.     “Rainbow… what’s going on?” Twilight asked, taking a step for the door to the golden oaks library. To her surprise, Rainbow quickly put herself between Twilight and the door and tried to redirect her movement to move away from the library.     “Uh, you don’t wanna go in there right now,” Rainbow stuttered out a bit too quickly. Twilight put her hoof on Dash’s chest and lightly pushed her back.     “Uh-huh. Why?”     “There’s, uh…” Rainbow lifted into the air nervously, seemingly not even realizing that she had done so. “There’s a rat infestation in the basement! Yeah and, uh, some ponies have shown up to clear them out before we go in there.”     Twilight glanced past Rainbow Dash at the library to see a grey mare with a blonde mane and bubbles as a cutie mark walk into the Library undeterred. She then looked at Rainbow with narrowing eyes. “Rats, huh? Then why did that mare just go in there?”     “Uh, she’s one of the ponies cleaning them out?” Rainbow tried.     “Without any equipment? Or a mask to prevent catching something from the rats?” Twilight asked before brushing past Rainbow and making her way for the door with a deeply unamused grimace on her face.     “Twilight, no-” Rainbow moved to stop her, but Twilight’s hoof flew up into Rainbow Dash’s path. The cyan mare slammed face-first into Twilight’s outstretched hoof and toppled backwards from the impact. “OW! Hey, what was that for?!”     Twilight turned to glare at Rainbow Dash. “That was for you trying to keep me out of the library - the place where we’re staying, I might add - like there’s some horrible secret inside, but you’re not bothering to take the time to tell me what's wrong! You are bad at beating around the bush and lying, Rainbow and, frankly, I just want to start reading up on clues about Nightmare Moon! Now, if you don’t mind-” she opened the door with her magic.     “Aaaaww! Dashie, you weren’t supposed to let her in yet!” Came the disgruntled whine of a very pink pony. Twilight recoiled when she saw a lot of balloons, party streamers and some confetti bags strewn about the room. A few unopened plastic bags of plastic cups and paper plates were stashed in one corner, along with several platters of various sweet treats. There was also an assortment of drinks and sauces on the table near the stairs.     In the middle of it all was Pinkie Pie, looking very disappointed. She huffed sadly. “No surprise welcome parties today, I guess…”     Rainbow came up next to Twilight with a disapproving frown before looking at Pinkie in confusion. “Did you just call me ‘Dashie’?”