A gentle light nudged at Rainbow’s eyelids. She rolled over in her bed, grumbling and wishing for unrelenting suffering on whatever was rousing her from slumber. But try as she might, the light was persistent; giving up with a groan and a curse, her eyes flickered open.
She was in her own bed. The light, that accursed light, was coming in through the window. Someone had flung the blinds open, and let the sunshine illuminate the room in a golden glow.
Rainbow wished quite desperately for an eclipse.
She couldn’t help but spend a moment silently wishing for a miracle, but after that fleeting moment she decided to stop kidding herself. She dragged herself out of bed, and as her routine dictated stopped by the table on the side of her bed. Like every morning, a slip of paper from her wife was laid out for her, scrawled on with perfect calligraphy. She eyed it closely as she picked it up. This one seemed… odd, compared to the normal ones. The first half was scratched out. She could only make out a few words.
Rainbow…breakf…whenever you’re re…love, Twi…
It had been replaced by something a bit more, how could she put it. Frantic.
Please get down here quick! There’s something you need to see. Immediately!
Rainbow didn’t hesitate to bolt out the door and down the stairs. The thought of moving so quickly in the morning filled her with displeasure; but if Twi needed her, she was there. Simple as that.
She bolted into the main room, panting from the unexpected effort fresh out of bed.
“Whoo… OK Twi, I’m here, what’s the big…” her eyes grew wider and wider as she took in the sight. “…deal?”
A dozen stacks of papers, each twice the height of a fully-grown pony were arranged in a daunting formation, smack dab in the middle of her home. Twilight herself was sitting about four feet away, staring blankly at it. Dash cautiously approached her, waving a hoof in front of the unicorn’s face. No response. Rainbow scratched her chin.
“Twi?”
“…Yeah?” she responded at last, not taking her eyes off of the papers.
“Where did all this… come from?”
Twilight’s mouth moved a few times; it was as if, in her mind, she was still saying words, and they just weren’t being delivered. After those first few tries, she accomplished constructing an actual sentence.
“Derpy delivered it. This morning.”
“By herself?!”
Twilight nodded once, and only once. Rainbow looked back at the papers. An eye twitched. “How did she carry it all?”
“I don’t know, Dashie… I don’t know…”
Rainbow approached it, eying the stacks curiously. “What’s all this junk for, anyway?”
A magically-levitated slip of paper was delivered to the pegasus, who carefully read it. It was from Spitfire.
Hey Dash,
Sorry to spring this on you, but you know what the suits’re like. You need to get all this paperwork in before the Equestrian military will formally recognize you as Captain.
Good luck. I recommend Lunar Brandy—it’s what got me through it.
--Spitfire
Rainbow grimaced, feeling the revolt coursing through her as she stared down the veritable mountain of paperwork. After a moment, she shook her head, sharp disgust displayed.
“Nope. No way. Not touchin’ it.”
Rainbow turned away, and began to march back to her bed. “If the bureaucrats want their papers that bad, they can come get ‘em.”
Twilight knew this was the wrong choice; yet, she couldn’t help but smile. Rainbow remembered “bureaucrat”. I knew she was paying attention when I read to her!
The pegasus ultimately didn’t get far. She stopped at the stairway’s bottom, and looked back with flattened ears. Come on, what kind’ve lousy captain are you? You made a promise to Soarin, and you’re about to brush it off for a bucking nap.
She groaned, already beginning to regret her decision. Walking back, she said “I guess there’s no way around it. I’ve gotta get this done before anything else today, or else I’m probably never gonna do it…”
“What?!”
Twilight and Rainbow looked over to see Opal Dart had just come downstairs, and was staring at her mother with a mixture of confusion and betrayal on her face.
“Whaddaya mean? Mom, you said you’d help me do my science presentation in class today!”
Rainbow gasped and smacked her face with a hoof. “Horseapples, I did, didn’t I…”
Twilight leaned into the conversation, smiling hopefully. “Maybe I could help instead, so Rainbow can work?”
The cyan mare just shook her head. “Nah, Twi, it was about wingpower; she needed an adult pegasus to help demonstrate the average.”
“Oh…” the unicorn hung her head in disappointment, an expression shared by their daughter. Rainbow grimaced, guilt flooding through her as she saw the trembling little frown on her foal’s face. There had to be some way to make up for this.
“Hey, Squirt?”
Opal looked up at her. Dash leaned down and nuzzled the side of her face. “Look, I know it doesn’t make up for bailing on you like this, but I really need to get this work done. So I was thinking, instead, maybe all your friends would like to see your old mare pull of a Sonic Rainboom at your party?”
The filly was dead-set on disappointment, so she tried to hide the new glimmer in her eyes. “You’d have time for that?”
The elder mare smiled, rustling her foal’s hair. “Of course I would, don’t even talk like there’s some way I wouldn’t, you hear me? Now go on, get your plot to school; I’ve got… eugh, work to do.”
Opal repressed a little giggle as Twilight corralled her to the door, planting a kiss goodbye on her forehead and waving her off as she trotted off. The unicorn shut the door and turned back to the kitchen, where Rainbow had already set herself up with the initial stack. She set straight to work, brow furrowed as her quill pen furiously scraped across the parchment.
Twilight eased up behind her, looking over her shoulder at her work. Rainbow’s penmanship was improving, she noted—still awful, but improving to be sure.
“I need to go pick up a book shipment for the library,” the unicorn informed her wife. “do you need anything while I’m out?”
Dash grunted, heaving her shoulders up and down. “No. Just some peace and quiet,” she grunted between her teeth, wrapped around her pen. “so I can get this crap done as fast as physically possible.”
“Well, all right.” She darted in and placed a smooch on the other mare’s cheek, withdrawing quickly and making for the door. “I heard there was a clear sky tonight; maybe we could go stargazing once you finish up with this.”
“Eh. Maybe.” Rainbow tersely responded, fully absorbed by the horrors of bureaucracy. Twilight opened the door, stepping through it after one last look at her wife. Dash was far too preoccupied to spot the quivering frown tugging at her lips.
It was nearly noon, and Opal Dart was fidgeting about at her desk. Willow Wisp was up at the front of Cheerilee’s classroom, weaving some nonsensical story about how his styrofoam cup of dirt somehow constituted a science project. He was the last one up before her; and just as the young pegasus had feared, everypony else had been able to present their science projects without a hitch. She would be the only one that couldn’t.
She could already feel the paranoia building up inside her. She could hear—no, she could feel the awful things Diamond Tiara would say. She loved being a pegasus like her idol, Rainbow Dash. But sometimes she envied Twilight. Mom’s probably got a really nice spell for making ponies disappear…
“Opal?” Cheerilee asked. “You’re up next.”
A cold chill ran down her spine, as all eyes turned to her. She stammered out a response, standing up out of her seat with a blatant embarrassed blush on her face.
“Um… I-I lost my volunteer, Mrs. Cheerilee… do you think I could have another day?”
A rippling wave of snickering spread across the room, though to her credit the teacher did an excellent job of shutting them up with a well-placed glare. Her expression was gentle talking to Opal, but her voice was firm. “I’m sorry, Opal, but you had several weeks to prepare for this assignment. I can’t give special treatment to any students.”
“I—I—but…” she sighed and sat back down. “Yes, Mrs. Cheerilee.”
The teacher nodded politely at her an addressed the rest of the class. “Well, everypony, since that was the last thing I really had planned before recess, I suppose you can be let out a few minutes early. Go have fun!”
Like a cannonball, her horde of students smashed out of the doors, leading off into a growing layer of snow outside. Winter was in full force, now, and the little foals couldn’t get enough of it. Fresh flakes were constantly falling, as little groups set up fortresses for the impending snowball fight, while others were content to get to work on constructing their greatest snowponies. Opal Dart herself strayed to the edge of the group, looking out at the risen roofs of Ponyville off in one direction, calmly pumping smoke into the sky.
“Well, well,” came the sound of a smug little colt. Opal was already scowling before she even turned around to see him. “if I didn’t know better I’d think you were avoiding me, Opes!”
“Shut up, Gold.”
The foal in question had a lustrous gold coat, with a pearl-handled switchblade comb for a cutie mark; his mane was a downright outrageous auburn pompadour style, through which his unicorn’s horn stuck out proudly. He had a smug grin smacked on his face that made the pegasus want to knock all of his shining teeth out of his stupid face.
“Come on, lighten up!” he said in a mocking tone. “You always like standing out, right Opes? You did! You were the only one to fail! Isn’t that special?”
“No, I’m really serious.” Opal said in a disturbingly deadpan tone. “Keep talking to me, ALL those teeth are coming out.
“Oof, your words sting, Opes, they really do.” Goldenboy replied with a dripping abundance of snark. “But, I guess us refined society ponies just don’t have what it takes to tangle with the kind of sharp tongue you get from a life on the rails.”
Opal’s mouth dropped agape, before her frown became even more furious than prior. “Oh, you shut your prissy little mouth or I SWEAR—“
“Swear what?” Gold asked. “Swear you’ll brush your teeth? Because if that’s my punishment I think I can stand to talk a little longer. Oh, speaking of teeth-rotting, how’s your party coming along? If it’s anything like last year’s, maybe I’ll get another rousing dentist pamphlet as a party favor. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“You take that back!” Opal yelled. “My party’s gonna rule this year!”
“And why is that?” Gold asked, leaning closer towards her. She obliged him with the same motion, the two foals butting heads as she retorted.
“Because my MOM is gonna pull off a Sonic Rainboom and blow your stupid high-society mind, that’s why!”
Goldenboy was silent towards this. But Opal soon realized why; they’d drawn a crowd. The entire class was watching them fight. A few were gossiping, mostly involving the two of them up in a tree, but the rest were all asking questions. Was it true her mom really was Rainbow Dash, like everypony always said? Was the Sonic Rainboom real? Would they really get to see one?
Sensing an opportunity, Opal sent a hoof sweeping, pointing at the entire crowd. “Yeah, you all heard me right! My mom, the one and only Rainbow Dash, is gonna be blowing all your little minds with the Sonic Rainboom of the century! Only bother to show up if you like stuff that’s awesome, got it? And spread the word!”
Satisfied, the colts and fillies dispersed, ready to tell all their friends as the big day approached. Opal bore a proud look on her face; one that was deflate the moment her nemesis starting talking again.
“Big goal you’ve got set for yourself,” Gold said, jabbing her in the side with a hoof before walking off. He looked back as he went to add, “let’s hope you’ve got what it takes to reach it!”
Opal seethed at that colt as she meandered back towards the center of the playground. Where did that jerk get off? Her mother would totally be there, no question. And it would definitely be amazing.
It had to be.
The sun was setting on Ponyville as the door to the library shut for the final time that day. Twilight Sparkle entered, carefully levitating a nearly-full cup of cocoa, made to wake her up in preparation for that night.
“Rainbow Dash!” she called out as she entered. “You should probably get ready, it’s gonna be about time to go and pick our spot any—“
She stopped, and looked into the kitchen. At the table was a gargantuan stack of papers, neatly ordered and filed after they were finished. The orange glow of the setting sun bathed the room, presenting an almost serene atmosphere. Rainbow Dash was slumped over onto the table, head resting snugly on top of her forelegs. Her face was pleasant, caught up in the sweetest of dreams as her breaths lifted her up and down in a gentle rhythm.
Twilight’s face fell agape, as she felt the surge of disappointment. She set down her saddlebag, and opened up a pouch, looking face to face with the new star charts she had purchased on the way home. The same little frown from that morning was back. Thoughts of an evening spent with her wife danced in her head, out relaxing, rolling in the grass in the dead of night. Like before, when they were younger. Just like that, out the window.
She wanted to get angry, to cry, to do something to express her disappointment. But as she stared at every last ounce of that paperwork, wrapped up and ready to be sent back, nothing but satisfaction and love swelled up in her chest. She withdrew from the room silently, returning a minute later with the perfect accessories for the occasion: a pillow, and a blanket.
It was difficult work, not waking her, but Twilight managed to gingerly slip the cushion between her hooves and her head. When she was released, Rainbow’s noggin bounced once against the feathery object, before snuggling back into the perfect resting spot.
Twilight defied the use of her horn, and used her own mouth to lay the blanket down over the pegasus. The soft, periwinkle fabric draped and spooled as it enveloped her. Twilight smiled down at her, admiring the way the light gave the scene such an innocent glow; she couldn’t resist, and leaned down to Rainbow’s ear.
“Sweet dreams,” she whispered. “I’m proud of you.”
She turned and walked away at a brisk pace. She couldn’t bear the turmoil she might feel if she looked back.