It was the first morning after Spike's unexpected trip away from Ponyville, and everything appeared to be running smoothly at the School Of Friendship.
All students were present and correct. The weather was fine and sunny. Every tutor had arrived, ready to teach lessons mostly based around the Element Of Harmony each one represented...
...With one notable exception. The reason this missing pony was so important was that she was supposed to be filling in for a certain absent reptile, and without her invaluable contribution, Twilight's carefully-constructed plans were bound to collapse like a house of cards.
Which, funnily enough, the headmare of this fine institution happened to be in the middle of creating, as she waited in vain for her tardy temporary substitute to turn up with growing impatience.
"I should've known Rainbow was going to be late on her very first day..." Twilight complained bitterly, as she went to move the five of clubs into prime position at the top of her delicate structure. "I bet she's forgotten about our arrangement already, and is even now soaring through the sky far away, blissfully unaware of the fact she promised she'd be here on schedule. Didn't I express enough how much this meant to me? Was that dedicated two-hour lecture I gave last night on the importance of everything going like clockwork all in my head? I swear Spike, I love her dearly, but sometimes I just wanna.... oh."
Not quite used yet to the fact that her unstintingly loyal friend was longer there by her side, at least for another six days, Twilight blushed momentarily at her memory lapse, before returning to her current precarious project. "Now, let's see... if I can just balance the roof like this... and lean the two of hearts to support the surrounding foundations like that... I can finally break my own record for used decks, which as far as I know hasn't been matched by anypony else in the kingdom! Gently does it..."
Unfortunately, for all of Twilight's care and attention, her laudable focus was useless in the face of a door crashing open, which had the dual effect of causing a sharp breeze to waft into the room, along with the complete demolition of the laminated makeshift building. Twilight stared aghast at all the senseless destruction of collapsing cards all around her, and began chastising her new visitor without even bothering to turn. Its identity was plainly obvious to her: it was as if the alicorn had eyes in the back of her head, her 'guess' of who it was being completely on the money.
"Rainbow, such an honour to finally make your acquaintance. Please, it doesn't matter at all that you missed giving me the alarm call Spike is reliably regular with, so that I had to fly at light speed just to get to work on time. I didn't even have chance to eat a delicious, nutritious breakfast due to your shameless slacking! Would you kindly inform me of the essential emergency that kept you from your sworn duty, then maybe I can begin to understand your shocking lack of timekeeping!"
"Oops, sorry Twi. And for interrupting... whatever it was you were doing in here." A sheepish-looking blue pegasus poked her head around the threshold, the scattered cards around the office enough of a clue to tell her that she'd goofed. Again. "In my defence, you were going on a bit of a rant yesterday, even more so than normal, and I probably nodded off at certain points. The bit where you requested to be woken up early must have been during one of those slight naps. On the plus side, the extra rest I got back then gave me enough energy to stay up to make a 'plan of action', which I hope will meet with your approval..."
"Wait a minute. Are you implying that my lectures, that take me so long to dictate and transcribe are... boring?" An unimpressed alicorn raised an eyebrow at Rainbow's not-so-subtle dig there. "With such a wandering brain, it's amazing that you even managed to pass the Wonderbolt entrance exam the first time of asking. How you organise yourself for simple everyday tasks, like writing up a basic shopping list, is beyond me."
"If you must know, I simply grab everything from the discount aisle and fling it in my trolley, but that's neither here nor there." Rainbow grinned broadly at a frowning Twilight, thinking that she'd just described something terribly clever. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't exactly enthusiastic at the thought of following you around all day to clear up your messes and carry stuff about like some kind of pack mule, but then I stumbled across a great idea! And, I have my favourite author to thank for my inspiration!"
"You mean, A.K Yearling?" Twilight's other eyebrow began to twitch at this venture, and not without precedent, a feeling of impending disaster began surfacing in the pit of her stomach.
"That's right! Of course you'd know that, considering you were the one who introduced me to her brilliant series in the first place!" Rainbow nodded affirmatively, before reaching into her saddlebag to pull out an empty notebook. "Here's my plan: I'm going to record everything I experience today in here, the same way she tells everypony about her experiences as Daring-Do. The difference being, when my self-penned masterpiece gets published, it won't be under a false name. There it'll be, pride of place in the bestseller section, and I'll be signing autographs for the lucky ponies who've been queueing for hours. I've already written the intro to ' My Day As A Princess's Assistant'. Rainbow Dash: World Saver. Star Wonderbolt. And now, Professional Writer. What do ya think?"
"W-Whoa there! Wait just a..." Twilight waved her hooves frantically, thinking perhaps her enthusiastic friend was getting a bit ahead of herself. "Can I just add a slight question mark to your dreams of fame and glory, please? For one thing, wouldn't you have to get my permission to publish this 'magnum opus'? After the disaster that was the Friendship Journal, I'm not sure we need any more 'eye-opening' exposes, thank you. Also, are you absolutely sure you can do this on your own? I mean, writing an entire book is a pretty big deal. Just because you're a voracious reader, it doesn't mean you'd be good at..."
"Pffff! How hard can it be? I've done enough friendship reports to get the basics down, and I'm sure everything else will just fall into place!" Rainbow dismissed Twilight's concerns with a slight chuckle, before producing her feather quill to get started. "Now... opening paragraph. Fed Tank, left home, bought journal, arrived at school..."
"...Was half-an-hour later, ruined my house of cards, refused to listen to reason..." Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow's determination to continue with this patently ludicrous idea, before trying to see the upside of it. "Well, if it helps keep your notoriously fickle attention span on the job at hoof, I suppose it can't be too bad. Okay, first of all I need you to water the potted plant on my desk, it's beginning to look a little thirsty. Then, if it's not too much trouble, you could..."
"Done, and done!" Before Twilight could even finish her sentence, her mane had been flicked over her eyes, as true to her name Rainbow 'Dashed' off... only to return a few seconds later with a small nimbus cloud in tow. "This should do the trick!"
"W-What the... there's a faucet and a watering can just outside, you know..." Was all that Twilight could add to the conversation, before the eager pegasus squirted the contents all over the leafy life form.
Alas, it wasn't just a trickle of moisture that emerged, which would've more than quenched the tiny plant's meagre appetite.
Rather, it was a regular flood, that not only nearly drowned the poor thing but soaked the entire desk area, leaving a few inches of liquid remaining on the floor in its wake too.
"O-Oopsie." A blushing Rainbow gulped apologetically in the air. "I guess I must've underestimated the amount of rain in that particular cloud. You never can tell, I suppose..."
"Ya think?!" An irate Twilight splish-sploshed over to where Rainbow hovered just off the ground, to unceremoniously snatch the notebook from the pegasus's hoof. "Here, let me make a few more entries for you: Rainbow finds a mop and a bucket. Drains this entire room from top to bottom. Regrades the papers that took Twilight all last night to do, but now have smudged ink everywhere thus making them practically illegible..."
"Uh oh..." Rainbow began chewing her hooves at this juncture, realising that this day wasn't going to be quite the cakewalk she thought it was, even with the added distraction of her upcoming non-fiction project.
With all the extra work it looked like it was going to cause her today, it'd better launch her to international stardom.
..........................................
Despite clearly winning the battle for 'thickest skull' amongst his intellectual buddies by a country mile, and with the comfort of his new digs to look forward to, it was a troubled Garble who made his way through the dimly lit cavernous corridors of the royal palace.
Who does that puny pony-loving runt think he is? First, he steals away my Phoenix omelette. Then, he ruins my chance to be Dragon Lord only to give it to that unworthy female. Now, he thinks he can just show up, say 'hi' and everything will be forgiven? Not a chance. Just wait 'til I get my claws on him, he'll be chargrilled by the time I've...
The optimistic notion briefly crossed Garble's mind that his sighting of Spike in the sky might've just been just an unfortunate optical illusion, bought on by too much brain-bashing and cranium-crushing. After all, it must be impossible for such a pathetic excuse of a dragon to ever learn to fly, and zoom by at such a speed. Maybe he just imagined the whole thing, and this wretched reptilian nuisance hadn't returned to bother him once more.
Sadly, this fanciful idea was somewhat dashed upon the red drake entering his stolen quarters. No sooner had his surprise at not being intercepted en route by Princess Ember looking to throw him out began to fade, his adrenaline levels began to rise once more upon seeing which unwelcome guest currently languished on 'his' rocky bed.
"You." Garble stated with blunt hatred, as if that single undistinguished word was poison on his tongue.
"Hello, Garble." Spike responded with an equally contemptuous tone, not intimidated by the larger dragon's threatening demeanour an iota. "I believe we have a few things to discuss. Let's start with something easy, like the illegality of squatting, shall we?"