Rainbooms On the Mind

by Kevinltk


Chapter 22: Sleepover

It was the time of day when Celestia lowered the sun, allowing for Luna’s moon to take its place. For many ponies, this daily ritual was one of their favorite moments because during this celestial exchange, the sky was painted with a vibrant array of blues, yellows, oranges, and violets, creating a dazzling tapestry of colors. Multitudes of artists had drawn inspiration from the phenomenon, and the picturesque scenery was known to bring a sense of peace to other ponies.

In the skies not too far from Ponyville, however, a pegasus had something else on her mind besides enjoying the wondrous sight.

“Dude, I can’t believe that I almost barfed on Spitfire!”

Natalya chuckled while she flew alongside her complaining pegasus friend. “It’s your fault for letting Spitfire turn up the Dizzitron all the way, Rainbow. Besides, weren’t you bragging that you handled it like a pro when you first went through it?”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t know that Spitfire also had the Dizzitron upgraded since then,” Rainbow argued. “I should’ve known something was up. She had that evil grin of hers that she uses whenever she has some killer exercise planned for us. I swear that mare feeds off of our misery.”

“Stop whining. I handled the Dizzitron just fine,” Natalya boasted with a smirk.

“It’s because you handled worse stuff when you trained in the Abysmal Abyss, isn’t it?”

“Yep. Turns out that being tossed around by deadly gales and avoiding sharp rocks are great incentives to learn how to quickly reorient yourself.”

“Cause that doesn’t sound crazy at all,” Rainbow complained. “Still, I got to give you props. As insane as you are, it’s so cool that you can actually fly around in the Abysmal Abyss. I tried to do it when I went to Griffonstone with Pinkie, but I just got tossed right into the cliff walls.”

“Well, you can’t expect to hold up to those winds after just a few tries. It took me a long time before I tamed those gales. Still, I guess that I can give you some tips if you ever decide to go back to Griffonstone.”

“Really?” Rainbow uttered in surprise as her smile grew wider. “That’s really cool of you.”

Natalya shrugged. “I do owe you for all of the training time that you spent with me. Just make sure to bring a bunch of first aid stuff with you. When I first started out, I had a hard time getting things to patch up all of the cuts and bruises that I got, and that’s only the small stuff.”

Rainbow’s smile disappeared faster than a cupcake in Pinkie’s presence. “Uh, maybe I’ll take up your offer later… much later. I’m not in a hurry to getting a face full of rocks.”

“No pain, no gain,” Natalya retorted with a smirk.

“I don’t think that saying applies when broken bones are involved,” Rainbow pointed out. “Anyway, let’s move on from bodily injuries and talk about how awesome today was instead. I wanna know how much you liked your visit to the Wonderbolt Academy.”

“Well, hanging out with Spitfire was pretty cool. I thought that she would be all uptight, but she’s actually pretty chill when she’s not barking orders at you,” Natalya replied. The conversation about Lightning Dust was in still on her mind, but she was waiting for the right moment to press Rainbow more on the former partner.

“As for the academy itself,” Natalya continued, “trying out all of the different training equipment was neat. I never really had access to that kind of stuff, so it was definitely cool to give them a whirl. I even learned a few things to help finetune my own training routine. Of course, the highlight of the day was me beating you at the obstacle course.”

Rainbow chuckled. “I was wondering when you were going to gloat about it.”

“It took a bit for my victory to sink in. Guess that I was surprised back then because I thought that I would have needed the Sonic Rainboom to beat you. Turns out that all I needed was to put you up against a little wind.”

“Yeah, a little wind,” Rainbow repeated, rolling her eyes. “Wait, does this mean that you don’t need the Sonic Rainboom anymore?”

“Of course I still need it,” Natalya answered. “I might be able to beat you in an obstacle course, but that’s only because you aren’t able to do a Sonic Rainboom in those conditions. In a straight-up race, where you have plenty of room to pull it off, I know that I still don’t stand a chance against you.”

“Guess that you’re not going to be happy saying that we’re good at different things, huh?”

“Nope. Just means that I still need to get better.”

“Should’ve figured that you wouldn’t give up on the Sonic Rainboom so easily.” Rainbow sighed tiredly. “Well, I’m glad that you at least had fun today. Right now though, I’m pretty beat. I can’t wait to get home.”

“Same here. All of that flying was pretty exhausting. I just wanna grab some grub and then chill for the rest of the night when I get back to the castle.”

“I had the exact same thing in mind for when I get home. Good thing that Ponyville isn’t too much farther. Let’s hurry up. I can already hear my bed calling me.”

Driven by the promise of rest, the two of them picked up their pace. It did not take long for the pro flyers to see Ponyville came into view, however, thanks to her innate eagle eye, Natalya noticed something off with the town.

“Yo, Rainbow, is there supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight or something?” Natalya inquired, halting her flight to get a clearer look in the dwindling twilight. “There’s a bunch of dark clouds over Ponyville.”

“Yep. Big one too,” Rainbow replied, stopping right next to the griffon. “Weather factory has a backlog of storm clouds that have to be used up.”

“So you managed to get us back in time to fly through a huge storm?” Natalya asked dryly.

Rainbow scoffed. “Of course not. Sure, the weather team got all of the clouds set up earlier than I expected, but we still got more than an hour before it’s supposed to start. I planned out everything perfectly.”

A chain of thundering booms echoed through the air, and the storm clouds flashed with lightning, releasing a torrential downpour that began drenching Ponyville.

“You were saying?” Natalya said flatly.

“What?!” Rainbow groaned and facehoofed. “Okay, this is so not my fault. I double, no, triple  checked the schedule before we left. Some idiot must have messed up something because the storm was definitely not supposed to start yet. Seriously, those ponies really need to get their act together because I’m not going to be around when I become a full-fledged Wonderbolt.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re cool, they suck, but let’s focus on the real issue here. How long is this thing supposed to last?”

“All night,” Rainbow answered with a defeated sigh.

Natalya let out a sigh of her own, but with more frustration and exasperation. “Great… Just great… So what am I supposed to do? Make a mad flight to the castle? I might play around in the Abysmal Abyss, but even I’m not keen on flying through a thunderstorm in the dark. Doesn’t help that I’m worn out after everything we did today. ”

“Um… Well…” Rainbow took a moment to think before a wide smile split her face. “You know what? Your awesome buddy Rainbow Dash has your back,” she declared, smirking pridefully. “My place should be outside of the storm zone, so you can crash with me for the night.”

“Spend an entire night with you?” Natalya tapped her beak in thought for a moment and then shrugged. “Eh, guess it’s better than sleeping on a cloud.”

Rainbow stared back with a flat, unamused gaze. “We really got to work on getting you to say ‘thanks’ whenever somepony does something nice for you.”

Natalya snickered. “Thanks, Rainbow.”

Rainbow nodded in satisfaction then waved at Natalya to follow her. Skirting around the edge of the mass of black clouds, it took only a matter of minutes to arrive at Rainbow’s place, which was hovering a safe distance away from the thunderstorm. They flew in through an open window near the front door.

Her talons clacking on the floor, Natalya took in her surroundings and could not help but let out an impressed whistle. Decorative columns flanked the front door, and not too far on the side was an almost pony-sized statue of a flying pegasus. The floor was paved with some sort of pale-green stone with a circular motif on them, and in between the cloud-shaped outlines that adorned the walls were tall, arched windows. Across the room was a staircase leading up to the second floor, as well as a balcony that looked down at the foyer. While it was no castle, Rainbow’s place was still an impressive sight.

“What’s with all of the staring?” Rainbow asked, looking back at Natalya, whose eyes were still combing the area. “You’re acting as if this is your first time here.”

“Because this is my first time here, or at least being inside. Most days, you meet up with me at the castle or somewhere else in Ponyville. The few times I’ve been to your place was just at your doorstep to pick you up. You never actually invited me in.”

“Really?” Rainbow scrunched up her mouth in thought for a few seconds. Her eyes widened a moment later.  “Oh, wow. I really haven’t, huh? Uh, well my bad then. Guess I’m just not used to inviting ponies over since a lot of my friends aren’t pegasi.”

“Well get used to it because I wouldn’t mind coming here more often,” Natalya commented, returning to inspecting the room. “Being a weather pony must pay pretty well to afford a place like this. Seriously, it’s like a mansion here.”

Rainbow smirked, her chest slightly puffing out in pride. “Yeah, the pay’s pretty good, but the actual reason that this place looks so nice is because the weather factory often lets us take home leftover cloud materials. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good at cloud sculpting as well. I saved a bunch just adding to the place on my own over time.”

“That’s cool. So what about—”

A loud rumbling echoed through the room. At first, Natalya thought that it was thunder from the rainstorm outside, but the sheepish grin Rainbow was wearing, along with a small blush, told a different story.

Rainbow chuckled weakly and patted her stomach with a hoof. “Guess it’s time for grub. Come on. I got the perfect meal that we can whip up.”

“We?” Natalya repeated. “I guess that I could help, but I hope that you’re not expecting some sort of fancy feast because all I know is some basic cooking stuff.”

“Don’t worry. What I have in mind is easy to make. I’ll be in charge, and you can be my assistant.”

Despite her skepticism, Natalya slowly nodded, following after her friend and the promise of food.

The next room was a great room, complete with a kitchen, dining area, and a living space. Besides being well-furnished, Natalya noted that Rainbow was not kidding about not having visitors over often. A few food wrappers were scattered on the floor, and old magazines were thrown onto various furniture surfaces. Still, the place was not overly messy, and Natalya had no right to complain since she did not exactly keep her room at the castle perfectly clean either.

In the corner of the room, Natalya also noticed a sizeable turtle shell resting there. At first, she thought that it was simply an odd decoration, but to her surprise, Rainbow trotted over to it and gently knocked on the so-called decoration. A moment later, a turtle head poked out of the shell and smiled up at the pegasus.

“Hey there, Tank. How you doing, buddy?” Rainbow cheerfully greeted, rubbing the reptile’s head with a forehoof.

“You have a turtle as a pet?” Natalya could not help but ask in disbelief.

“First of all, he’s a tortoise, and second, yes, Tank here is my pet.”

“I do recall you talking about a pet, but I guess I never cared to ask about it. I just assumed it was a bird or something else that can fly.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what I thought I was going to get at first, but Tank here just won me over. Let me introduce you to him.” She smiled down at the tortoise and then waved a hoof at Natalya. “Tank, this is my good friend Natalya. Natalya, this is Tank, the best pet that I could ever ask for.”

Tank simply smiled at the griffon and slowly blinked, which Natalya assumed was the pet’s way of communicating.

“Uh, hi,” Natalya replied, giving a short, awkward wave.

Tank nodded in satisfaction, following that up with a yawn as he turned his head back to Rainbow. This earned him a chuckle from the pegasus.

“Alright, buddy, you can go back to sleep. Sorry for disturbing you. I’ll catch you tomorrow,” said Rainbow.

Tank nodded once again before his head retreated back into his shell, leaving the two flyers alone.

“So why a tortoise?” Natalya asked.

“I’ll have to give you the full story later since I’m starving,” Rainbow answered as she headed toward the kitchen area. “The gist of it though was that I had a sort of pet competition to determine who to pick, and one of the events was a race with me at a place called Ghastly Gorge. I had a little accident, and since Tank was the only one who stopped to help me out, how could I not choose a loyal guy like him?”

“I’m guessing that he stays here most of the time since he can’t fly,” Natalya noted.

“Actually, he can fly… well, sort of. Twilight whipped up this cool mini-helicopter thing for him, but yeah, even then, he still stays home a bunch. Fluttershy also often checks up on him for me since I’m sometimes away for Wonderbolt stuff, so even more reason why I don’t have to bring him out too much. Actually, we have a Pony Pet Playdate coming up in a few days. You can come see Tank in action.”

“Eh, I’ll think about it,” Natalya halfheartedly replied. “For now though, let’s hurry up and get our food.”

Once they were in the kitchen, Rainbow quickly pulled out a large pot from a hanging cabinet and then filled it with water from the sink. Once the vessel was more than half-full, Rainbow plonked it on the stove, fired up the appliance, and motioned for Natalya to stand in front of it.

“Just wait for the water to start boiling then you can throw in all of this stuff,” Rainbow instructed, pulling out three small boxes from another cupboard and then tossing them at the griffon. “About half of each box should be enough for us two.”

Deftly catching the items in her claws, Natalya could not help but raise her eyebrow when she saw that one box contained noodles, another with macaroni, and the last with lasagna pasta sheets. “So this perfect meal is just a bunch of pasta stuff?”

“That’s only part of it,” Rainbow explained. From the same cupboard, she took out several potatoes, and after grabbing a knife with her hoof, she began peeling and cutting the vegetables on the counter with surprising, well-practiced ease.

“Potatoes and pasta,” Natalya commented. “Carbo-load much?”

“Yep, top athletes like us need all the energy that we can get. Besides, this is one of my favorite meals.” Rainbow grinned and grabbed a small bottle from a shelf filled with a white and yellow viscous liquid and held it up with pride. “Especially when I add my family’s homemade secret sauce to it!”

“Uh huh… So what exactly is in it?”

Rainbow shot the griffon a deadpan face. “What part of secret sauce do you not understand?”

Natalya rolled her eyes in both amusement and resignation as she turned back to her assigned task. It did not take long for the water to come to a boil. Using her talons, she easily cut open the tops of the pasta boxes, and per Rainbow’s instructions, she dumped about half of each box’s contents into the bubbling water.

“Now what?” Natalya asked after setting aside the half-used boxes on the counter.

“And now we wait for stuff to cook. You can go ahead and relax while the master does her work,” Rainbow instructed while she threw the prepared potatoes into a second, smaller pot.

“Fine by me,” Natalya said, stepping aside to sit down at the dining table right outside the kitchen area. “So, what are your plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m heading to the weather office in the morning, and not just because I want to find the idiot that messed up today’s storm and give them a good buck in the head,” Rainbow answered without turning away from her cooking. “I have to help clean up the storm leftovers. Still, that shouldn’t take long because I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat.”

“So what I’m hearing is that you’re free to do Sonic Rainboom training after that.”

Rainbow snorted amusedly. “Should’ve figured that was on your mind. You sure that you’re up for it though? Sure, you did great at the academy today, but still, it hasn’t been that long since your, uh, accident. Maybe you should give your wing some rest tomorrow?”

“I’ve recovered from worse and got back to training just fine. It’s just been a while since I got any Sonic Rainboom training done, and I hope that all of the downtime hasn’t set me back. I really need to get things back on track.”

“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll make sure that we at least get some training in tomorrow. Gotta admit, I admire your dedication. Even I’m not that hardcore with my own stuff. Makes me wonder what you’re going to do if you do manage to pull off your own Sonic Rainboom,” Rainbow said offhandedly.

Natalya opened her beak to answer, only for her mind to draw a blank.

“Something the matter, Natalya?” Rainbow asked, noting the griffon’s pause.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Natalya brushed aside. “I do got something I want to talk to you about though. You remember that I was talking with Spitfire while she had you do those laps around the academy, right?”

“I was right about it being about me, wasn’t I?”

Natalya nodded. “Spitfire didn’t want to talk about it with you around, but she’s not here now, so sucks for her. Anyway, I got her to tell me about Lightning Dust and what happened between you two since you never gave me the details.”

“Oh…” For a moment, Rainbow just stood there, staring at the stove, the bubbling water being the only sound in the room. Eventually, with a sigh, she turned to Natalya. “Guess that I should’ve seen this coming since I told you about her. Sorry that I never gave you actual details though. It’s a touchy subject for me, but I still should’ve got around to telling you more.”

Natalya casually waved the apology off with her hand. “Not a big deal. It’s not like I really cared about it before.”

“So you care now because we’re such good friends now?” Rainbow asked, putting on a small smirk.

“I just had an interest in learning more about the pony that I remind you of,” Natalya retorted. “Besides, I had to talk about something with Spitfire while we waited on you.”

“Alright, sure.” Rainbow chuckled softly before taking a deep breath and shifting to a serious tone. “So, what about Lightning did you want to talk about?”

“Well, according to you and Spitfire, she’s stubborn, reckless, and does everything that she can to come out on top, so yeah, I get why I remind you of her. What I don’t get is why you want to waste your time with her when she’s nothing but trouble.”

“You do realize that you were pretty much the same way when you first came to Ponyville, right?” Rainbow pointed out.

“But at least I eventually took your advice… Well, at least some of it,” Natalya countered. “Lightning, however, ignored your help and even left you without a word. Plus, I have never put your friends in danger.”

Rainbow winced. “Yeah, that whole tornado thing really sucked. I’ll admit that even I was really mad at her at first.”

“So then why are you so hung up with her? Do you have a crush on her or something?”

“W-what?!” Rainbow yelped, her face growing hotter than the stove behind her. “No! We were just friends! Honest!”

For some reason, Natalya felt a bit of relief from Rainbow’s protest.

Rainbow took several deep breaths, her face regaining its usual cyan color. “Look, I know that Lightning has got a bad rep, but it’s not like she tries to hurt other ponies. It just happens because she’s too focused on her flying and doesn’t pay attention to the consequences of her actions. She just needs a friend to help put things in perspective and nudge her in the right direction, pretty much like how I did with you.”

“So how come it didn’t work with her?”

“You saw how intense Spitfire can be. With all of the Wonderbolt training we had to do, it did not give me a lot of chances to sit down and talk with her. Didn’t help that Lightning also hated how I replaced her as lead pony. Still, we were friends, and I should’ve tried harder.”

“Rainbow, I get that she was your friend and all, but you really need to stop stressing over Lightning,” Natalya stated. “What happened, happened. There’s no changing that. If you meet her again, cool, do what you need to do, but you also have to keep in mind that you might never see her again as well.”

“I know that!” Rainbow replied with a harsh glare and a raised voice, only to sigh and shake her head. “Sorry. It’s just that… it sucked when Gilda and I fought, and even though I hated how she was a jerk to the others, it still hurt to lose her as a friend. We patched things up when I went to Griffonstone, but maybe if I had done things differently back then, we could’ve avoided our fallout. That’s kind of what’s going on here with Lightning Dust. I know that there’s a chance I won’t ever see her again, but if I do, I want to be prepared to help her out.”

Natalya remained silent. She still thought that Rainbow should just forget about Lightning, and even though she wanted to argue more, it was clear that prodding Rainbow more would only upset the pegasus more, and Natalya did not want that. Fortunately, the silence did not last long as the cooking pots lids began to clatter loudly because of the escaping, bubbling water.

“Oh shoot!” Rainbow cried out, hastily turning around to shut off the stove and check on her cooking.

Natalya breathed a sigh of relief, glad for the interruption. Hopefully, it would also end their little dispute. While Rainbow finished preparing their meal, Natalya turned her attention to the burning question that was raised from Rainbow’s earlier comment.

What was she going to do when she learned the Sonic Rainboom?

When she had first came to Ponyville, Natalya’s plan was to beat Rainbow to prove that she was the best. Of course, that plan went out the window, and she had to add learning the Sonic Rainboom to her itinerary after her scathing loss. She figured that at most, she would be spending a week or two to learn what she needed from Rainbow before she would return to Griffonstone and her life of competing.

She did not expect that it would take so long to learn the Sonic Rainboom.

She also did not expect that she would become best friends with Rainbow Dash.

As Natalya mulled over her future, she was jarred out of her musing when a plate of what can only be described as a huge mess was shoved in front of her face.

“My famous pasta potato sandwich on sourdough!” Rainbow pronounced proudly before sitting down on the opposite side of the table with her own sandwich, her mood back to its usual energetic self in the presence of food.

As Rainbow commenced messily devouring her food, Natalya could not help but continue staring at the abomination in front of her. Toasted sourdough bread held the whole sandwich together, and after each bread slice was a sheet of lasagna pasta, followed by a mix of mashed potatoes, macaroni, and potato wedges. They all met in the middle, where a mound of spaghetti noodles and even more potato wedges were smashed together.

“Something up, Natalya?” Rainbow asked with her mouth full. “You said that you were hungry earlier, and yet you haven’t touched your food.”

“I am both disgusted and intrigued with how you managed to come up with this crime against nature,” Natalya bluntly explained.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she swallowed, freeing up her mouth. “Trust me, it tastes better than it looks. Just try one bite, and if you somehow don’t like it, we can get you something else.”

“Fine, but if I die from food poisoning, I’m coming back as a ghost to annoy you.”

“Just shut up and eat your sandwich.”

Sighing in defeat, Natalya hesitantly picked up the monstrosity, the tower of carbs barely holding together in her talons. She had to open her beak wide just to take a bite out of the sandwich, but when the food hit her taste buds, to her surprise, it did not taste like a trainwreck. The myriad of flavors was odd, and yet, they somehow worked together to produce an oddly satisfying taste.

“So?” Rainbow asked, staring at the chewing griffon.

“Not bad. Weird, but not bad,” Natalya admitted as she proceeded to eat the rest of her meal, the sandwich tasting better now that she was not suspecting that it would kill her.

“Told you that you would like it.”

“You’re just lucky that I was starving. Now shut up and let me eat.”

Other than loud chomping and satisfied moans, most of which came from Rainbow, the two flyers sat in silence while they finished their meal. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow finished her sandwich first and sat back in her chair with a smile of contentment. “Oh man, that was good. I really needed that after those killer laps Spitfire made me do.”

“You do know that this is going to take us like a week to burn off all of these carbs, right?” Natalya commented, working on the last bits of her own sandwich.

“Please,” Rainbow dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “Pro flyers like us can burn them off in ten seconds flat. But that will have to wait until tomorrow because for now…” With a tired grunt, she got up from the dinner table and walked over to the living room area, unceremoniously belly-flopping onto the couch over there.

“I’m just going to chill for the rest of the night,” Rainbow explained as she lazily turned onto her back while one forehoof scratched her full belly.

Natalya quietly snorted in amusement at Rainbow’s not-so-majestic pose, but she could not deny that her friend’s idea had merit. Today had been a real workout, and as filling as the sandwich was, she was starting to feel lethargic as her body processed the heavy meal.

After finishing off the surprisingly delicious sandwich a moment later, Natalya went over and joined Rainbow on the couch, lazing herself on the opposite side and finding the cushions to be as soft and comfy as clouds.

It did not take long for Natalya to realize that even a simple, mundane activity like chilling with Rainbow was pleasant. While at first, the pegasus had been a major annoyance, Natalya had to admit that Rainbow’s constant badgering had led to much-needed stress relief, among other positive benefits. The very presence of her best friend brought a sense of contentment to Natalya, and she even had to admit that she always seemed to look forward to whenever they planned to spend time together.

However, her pleasant daydreaming gave way as her question from earlier once again crept to the forefront of her mind.

“Hey, Rainbow. We need to talk,” Natalya informed.

“Hmm? Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said, lazily waving a hoof while she remained on her back. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

“You were wondering earlier what I would do when I eventually learn the Sonic Rainboom, and it got me thinking. You know, the only reason I came to Ponyville in the first place was to beat you in a race. After that, I was pretty much going to leave right away.”

Rainbow quickly sat up, giving the griffon her full attention. “Please don’t tell me that you’re leaving as soon as you learn the Sonic Rainboom.”

“Well, that was my plan at first…”

“But?” Rainbow asked warily.

“But now…” Natalya sighed. “You really are one of the best flyers I’ve ever seen, Rainbow, and when I first watched you at the Equestria Games, I saw you as a threat. I came to Ponyville to prove that I was better than you, but instead, I got my flank handed to me because of the Sonic Rainboom. Yes, it’s true at first that I was planning to leave as soon as I learned the Sonic Rainboom, but somehow along the way, we actually became friends… good friends.

“Rainbow, you know that I pretty much live for competitive flying, right? The rush of victory, the thrill of pushing yourself to the limit, and the satisfaction of crushing your opponents. For the longest time, that was all I needed. Now though, after spending so much time with you…”

“You want to keep hanging out with me,” Rainbow finished, softly smiling as she patted the griffon’s shoulder.

“Pretty much.” Natalya sighed again. “You know, things would be a lot simpler if I just kept on hating you.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Just could not resist the old Rainbow charm, huh?”

Natalya snorted in amusement, allowing herself a small smile, but only for a moment. “But seriously, I’m not sure what I want to do. I should be leaving Ponyville so that I can go back to concentrating on my flying and winning competitions again, but another part of me kind of doesn’t want to leave this place either.”

“Who says you have to leave Ponyville?” Rainbow asked. “You’re always complaining how Griffonstone sucks, so why not just move here? You can still go around and compete. You’ll just have a new home with awesome friends to cheer you on.”

“I did think about moving to Ponyville, but there are a few issues with that. First, there are too many things here that would distract me from my training.”

“Things like what?”

“Pinkie Pie,” Natalya stated bluntly.

Rainbow opened her mouth, frowned, then slowly nodded. “Fair point.”

“Speaking of training, I won’t have the Abysmal Abyss anymore, and even you have admitted it has done me a lot of good. There’s also the issue of me having to sink a bunch of bits in getting a place of my own because I doubt that Twilight will let me stay in the castle indefinitely.”

“Well, of course, I would help out with getting you a place, and I’m sure that the others would too.” Rainbow bit her lip. “But about the Abysmal Abyss thing… Yeah, I don’t think that there’s anywhere around that’s like that, and it’s not like I can take you to the Wonderbolt Academy anytime I want.”

“So you see that moving to Ponyville would not be so simple,” Natalya concluded.

“Yeah,” Rainbow conceded in a glum tone. “So it’s pretty much a choice between your flying or friends.”

“Gee, way to make it sound like I’m heartless,” Natalya huffed.

“What? What did I… Oh… Aw shoot,” Rainbow lamented, slapping a forehoof into her face. “Sorry, Natalya. I didn’t mean to make it sound like you were being a jerk. If it makes you feel any better, I can understand what you’re going through.”

“Do you now?” Natalya asked, unconvinced.

“I do. Really! While my situation is not as extreme as choosing a place to live, I still find myself juggling between Wonderbolt stuff and hanging out with my friends here in Ponyville. It’s not so bad now since I’m still a recruit, but once I become a full-fledged member, things are only going to get more complicated. Good thing that Twilight has been helping me plan things out since she’s a master at making schedules. Hey, maybe she can help you.”

“I don’t think that a little scheduling help will work on my situation.”

“I know. But I mean, she’s super smart and could probably come up with some ideas. Point is, you don’t have to figure this out on your own. The others and I would be happy to help you, and we’ll support whatever decision you make.”

“Thanks, Rainbow. At least, I don’t have to make a decision right now. Probably going to be a while before I finally learn the Sonic Rainboom anyway.”

“Yeah, we can worry about this later. Let’s just enjoy our time together now. Right now though, I want to enjoy my bed. I’m beat, and I got an early day tomorrow. You mind if I show you to the guest room so that I can hit the hay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Natalya complied, getting up from the couch.

Rainbow led the griffon back to the foyer, up the stairs, and into a hallway with several doors on each side. Apparently, like the Castle of Friendship, Rainbow’s place was a lot bigger than it looked on the inside.

“Bathroom is over here,” Rainbow informed, pointing to the first door on the left. “My room is two doors down on the right, which is right next to where you’ll be saying,” she finished, opening the first door on the right.

Looking into her quarters for the night, Natalya saw that the room was barely furnished, with only a bed, a small armoire, and a nightstand being the only pieces of furniture. It was a far cry from her room back at the castle, but at least the place was clean, if a bit dusty.

Rainbow chuckled sheepishly, noting the less than pristine state the room was. “Sorry that it’s not much. Again, don’t really have guests over.”

“It’s cool,” Natalya assured. “It’s only one night, and I’ve dealt with plenty worse.”

“Let me know if you need anything, although if you don’t mind, make it quick because I think that I’m going to pass out as soon as I get in bed.”

“I’ll probably do the same, so I should be fine.” Natalya paused for a moment and then added, “Thanks again for letting me crash here.”

Rainbow smiled and nodded. “No problem, Natalya. I’ll see you tomorrow. Night.”

“Night, Rainbow.”

Rainbow started closing the door, but she stopped halfway, pausing for a second before saying, “Um, Natalya?”

“Yeah?”

“For the record, if it wasn’t obvious, I would really like it if you did choose to stay.”

“I figured. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you in mind.”

Rainbow flashed a smile again before closing the door, leaving the griffon alone.

Exhausted from the day’s events, Natalya promptly threw herself into bed. She might have to make a big decision later on, but that can wait. For now, as sleep began to overtake her, she planned to enjoy her time with Rainbow while she could.