Rainbow Dash always believed that she was the ultimate napping champion in Ponyville, and there was a real chance that she was the best in all of Equestria. It wasn’t actually all that easy to fall asleep when on a drifting cloud where the smallest gust of wind could nudge you awake. Apple tree branches also required careful balance to make sure that a strong buck didn’t throw her to the ground. So napping was a skill that she had turned into an exact science.
However, as she laid down curled up next to Fluttershy, listening to the quiet sounds of the nearby reserve, she was yet again reminded that she still had a lot to learn. Dozing in a cloud gave you the serenity of the sky and a nice gentle rocking from the breeze, but cuddling up with a friend was clearly just another tier. The steady breathing of her partner, the inherent warmth, it was a whole package. They had only been here for a minute, but Rainbow Dash could already feel the edges of her vision start to fade out as the call of slumber reached out for her.
Of course, like all good things in life, it soon had to end. Rainbow Dash was awkwardly jolted back to wakefulness as Flutershy shifted beside her, pulling her muzzle away from under Rainbow Dash’s chin.
“I wish we could stay here longer, but I need to finish my chores before the animals get hungry.” Fluttershy sighed as she looked over at the checklist of tasks that had yet to get a tick next to them.
“Do you have to do it now?” Rainbow Dash pouted, annoyed that the nice warmth of her friend was being taken away so unfairly.
“You know I do. If I don’t, Antonie will try to swallow Muriel again.” Fluttershy shuddered at the mess that had been made last time that happened. Thankfully none of her animal friends had been hurt, but she was always worried that it could happen again.
“Fine, do you need me to carry any more food down?” Rainbow Dash eyed the half empty saddlebags, not looking forward to another trip.
“You brought all of it already,” Fluttershy reminded her, giving her a quick nuzzle. “Though you could do us both a favour?”
“Sure. What do you want?” Rainbow Dash silently cursed herself for agreeing before she even found out what Fluttershy wanted.
“It would be nice to have a late lunch together, but I don’t have anything at home. So would you be able to get us something to share from Sugarcube Corner?”
“Oh definitely! I thought you were going to ask me to sharpen Brunella’s claws or something.”
“Brunella is a hippo...” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.
“She is?” Rainbow Dash looked back over to the reserve, trying to remember which one Brunella was, before giving up. “The crab dude’s claws, I meant.”
“June is a female crab...” Fluttershy sighed.
“...anyway I’m going to go get you some lunch. See ya!” And with that, Rainbow Dash made her aggressively abrupt exit, literally galloping away from the increasingly awkward conversation. It wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t remember all of the animal’s names.
The queue for SugarCube Corner was thankfully not overly long, the lunchtime rush practically over. Missing busy crowds was one of the main advantages with sleeping in, though her friends disagreed. Of course, there was also a chance that going after the lunch rush also meant that there was probably going to be less options available from the shop.
Most mares would see this as a problem, but Rainbow Dash figured that it probably didn’t matter, everything that they served was good enough. She had tried to eat nearly everything on the menu and she had not had a bad meal yet. Though, maybe that just meant that statistically she was due for an issue. Rainbow Dash frowned as she wondered how accurate that was, statistical stuff was a Twilight problem after all.
“Heya Dashie!” Pinkie Pie called out happily as she finished counting the last few bits from the previous pony customer.
“Hey Pinks. You got anything good for a late lunch for me and Fluts?” Rainbow Dash asked, bending down to look through the display to see what was left after the lunch rush. She wasn’t surprised to see that the cupcakes were completely gone, they always tended to sell out before even half the line was gone.
“I’ve got some vegetable quiche that I know that Fluttershy has wanted to try. Let me find a few slices for you two cuties!” Pinkie Pie cheered, diving behind the counter in search.There was an awkward silence as Rainbow Dash waited for Pinkie Pie to return from her epic journey to find the two slices of quiche.
“So.... it’s a busy day today?” Rainbow Dash asked in an attempt to break the silence. However she heard nothing back. Curious, she leant over the counter to try and see where Pinkie Pie had disappeared to.
“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash span around to see Pinkie Pie standing behind her, a wrapped paper bag of food held out for her.
“Augh!” Rainbow Dash squealed, before realising that it was just Pinkie Pie. She quickly brushed her mane back out of her eyes and tenderly took the offered bag. “Do you have to do that every time I come here?”
“I’ll keep doing it until you stop jumping, it’s too cute to not do.” Pinkie Pie promised with a devious chuckle, knowing all too well that Rainbow Dash would never get used to her antics. “Anyway, it has been a bit busier than normal. I think with Twilight hanging out here so much has made a whole lotta ponies want to spend time here as well.”
“Probably hoping that they get to hang out with Twilight now that she is famous or something?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “She is the most famous pony in all of Equestria by this point.”
“You’re pretty famous as well, being an awesome Wonderbolt,” Pinkie Pie protested.
“Sorta,” Rainbow Dash somewhat agreed, wiggling her hoof as it was on a seesaw. “I’m awesome, but as a Wonderbolt I have nothing on Spitfire or Soarin. If they have dinner, then it makes headlines. I could crash into a food stand and would probably not even make it into the local paper.”
“Are you sure?” Pinkie Pie jumped back over the counter and ducked down to search through the drawer under the crash register. “I think I saw a newspaper article about you this morning. I had it here somewhere.”
“Was it about how I sprained my wing or something,” Rainbow Dash asked, curious about whether anypony had noticed Spitfire’s flat spin screw up that had caused her sprained wing.
“Nope!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully slammed the newspaper onto the counter in front of Rainbow Dash. “See, you got to be on the front page.”
Rainbow Dash looked down at the newspaper with a smile that quickly twisted into a grimace as she realised what the news story was actually about. The title alone was not good. ‘Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash accused of being in a relationship with Spitfire and Soarin’.
“Oh come on, this picture of me leaning on them is from the Baltimare show where I messed up my wing.” Rainbow Dash complained.
She read through the first few paragraphs, her frown growing deeper. “The newest member of the Wonderbolts, the Element of Harmony’s Rainbow Dash, has been accused of being involved in a secret relationship with two prominent members of the team. Spitfire and Soarin were both approached for comment but refused to provide any clarity about what extent their relationship was with the youngster. We have reached out to Rainbow Dash, but have yet to get a response.”
“Wow, you get to be with Spitsy too?” Pinkie Pie asked, waggling her eyebrows.
“It’s a bunch of manure Pinks. I’m not dating any Wonderbolt.” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“I should hope not” Twilight called out cheerfully from behind then as she entered the small shop, the ever growing checklist extended out behind her. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both wisely did not point out the massive bags under Twilight’s eyes. They also didn’t mention the twitching from her left eye. They even managed to not mention that Twilight’s checklist was trapped in the shop door and that she’d just torn off the last few hoof lengths of it.
“Oh hey Twi. Here’s your muffins!” Pinkie Pie shoved a six pack of muffins onto the counter, on top of the newspaper that Rainbow Dash had been reading.
“Thanks Pinkie Pie,” Twilight grabbed the muffins off the counter in her magic, pausing as she saw the headline. Carefully she placed the muffins back onto the counter and pulled the newspaper over to her, frowning as she scanned through the entire article. She turned to Rainbow Dash, looking none too pleased.
“Rainbow Dash, what is this?” Twilight asked with a frown, her magic waving the newspaper in front of Rainbow Dash far too closely for her to actually read.
“It looks like a newspaper,” Rainbow Dash replied sarcastically.
“Dash! This is serious.” Twilight shot back.
“It’s a load of horse apples,” Rainbow Dash snorted, “Spitfire kicked out a reporter in Manehatten after they asked a bunch of dumb questions. So this is probably them being angry or something so they made a bunch of stuff up about us.”
“Dash, reporter ponies aren’t allowed to just make up stuff.”
“I’m pretty sure that a lot of them do exactly that. It is just a dumb article put out by a tabloid.” Rainbow Dash shoved the newspaper back onto the counter, but Twilight grabbed it back into her magic and shoved the newspaper back against Rainbow Dash
“It’s the Manehatten Marecury!”
“And?” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“You’ve always looked up to the Wonderbolts, and now a real newspaper is saying that there are rumours that you are pursuing them.” Twilight bit her lip. “I mean, I do believe you, but newspapers are meant to report the truth. Are you sure that nothing happened?”
“Look, Twilight. I promise you. I am not in a relationship with any of the Wonderbolts. I love y-” Rainbow Dash paused as her mind suddenly brought her argument with Fleetfoot back. Fleetfoot had been very insistent that Rainbow Dash had been acting improperly around Soarin. Maybe it was Rainbow Dash’s own fault for making this newspaper article appear. Maybe she had accidentally hit on Soarin somehow and a newspaper pony had seen her do it.
“Dash? You kind of stopped talking” Twilight’s words knocked her back into the present, where she had to face an amused Pinkie Pie and a confused Twilight Sparkle.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about something weird that they told me about the reporters.” Rainbow Dash half lied as she pondered what she should say. She wanted to be honest with Twilight, but she didn’t feel like she even knew what the truth was, so she decided to just say what should have been the truth if she could just think right. It was barely a lie, right? “I love you Twilight. I love our herd. I promise that I am not rushing out to be with any pony or any creature else.”
“Oh, sorry.” Twilight sighed, looking rather apologetic for her outburst. “I might’ve jumped to conclusions there. I just can’t believe that they would publish something false. ”
“They just stretched the truth a little you silly billys,” Pinkie Pie jumped over the couch and grabbed Twilight and Rainbow Dash into a hug. Thankfully she released them before they could begin to suffocate.
“Stretching the truth?” Twilight pulled the newspaper back over and scanned through the article again, looking rather annoyed. As soon as her eyes flicked over the last line, her magic flared and the newspaper was crushed into a ball. “I think I’m going to have to have a talk with a certain newspaper. They are reporting on their own rumours and using the fact that you didn’t respond as evidence that it was true.”
“So, are we cool?” Rainbow Dash asked, offering up a hoof. Pinkie Pie tried to hoof it, but Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and lifted it away from the pink party pony.
“Of course.” Twilight reached out and tapped her hoof against Rainbow’s, still looking very apologetic. “I can’t believe that I didn’t read what they were saying and accused you of not loving us. I know that we all love each other, and I should have never questioned it. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash awkwardly rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, unsure if she could truly say that Twilight was even right about that. “Look, you look like you’re running on zero sleep with nothing but coffee and desperation keeping you awake to plan this wedding. So it’s no issue, but maybe it would be a good idea for you to go have a nap at least. When was the last time you slept anyway.”
“I think it was Wednesday,,” Twilight yawned.
“It’s Friday!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, folding her forehooves and looking at Twilight with a deep pout. “You need to go right home now missy and get a proper sleep.”
“I would if I could, but I have a lot to sort out today,” Twilight bit back another yawn, trying her best to not look like the smallest breeze would knock her over.
“Let us help then?” Rainbow Dash asked, rolling her eyes as soon as she realised that she had once again volunteered for work. “I’ve got to get lunch back to Fluttershy, but leave this checklist with Pinks. She will break it down and let us cover some of it so you can sleep, okay?”
Twilight looked like she was going to protest, but one glare from Pinkie Pie was enough to silence her. So she instead nodded and wordlessly hoofed over the checklist. Her magic did pause just before Pinkie Pie could grab it, but Twilight sighed and let her magic release it into Pinkie’s grasp.
“Hmm,” Pinkie Pie rubbed her chin as she studied it, before looking up with a smile. “I got this. Twily, go get some nap time.”
“Thanks,” Twilight yawned, her eyes beginning to droop down considerably further than before.
“Need me to do anything?” Dash asked.
“You keep Fluttershy happy while I take care of this. I’ll get this done faster than you can say ‘Cooks cook cupcakes quickly’ three times.” Pinkie nodded to herself.
“I might need to help her get home,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, looking over at the terribly tired Twilight. She ushered Twilight to the door, hoping to get her home before she fell asleep. Rainbow Dash did not want to find out how hard it was to carry a heavy sleeping alicorn.
“See you at the sleepover date!” Pinkie Pie called back as she shoved Twilight’s food order into Rainbow Dash’s hooves before disappearing back inside, not giving her a chance to even respond.
“Sleepover date? Sure?” Rainbow Dash muttered in bewilderment as she used her wing to carefully take hold of Twilight’s food. Taking care, she placed her own paper bag of lunch against her mane. It wasn’t the best place for it, but she would mostly be able to keep it in place for a short walk. Probably.
“A sleepover date? It’s good to see you trying to be a bit more intimate with the others. Rarity was worried that we were pushing you a bit fast.” Twilight yawned, rubbing one of her eyes to try and stay awake just a little longer.
“It’s not really a date, I’m just going to be staying over there the next few days as I sprained my wing. So my cloud house is a bit inaccessible at the moment. I guess Pinkie Pie is hoping to make it something more than that. I’m not really sure.” Rainbow Dash admitted with a shrug, pushing the intimate part of Twilight’s words out of her mind.
“I hope Pinkie Pie isn’t making you uncomfortable.” Twilight sighed, blinking a few times.
“Nah, she’s fine,” Rainbow Dash looked over at the sleepy alicorn and stepped closer, resting her good wing over Twilight’s back to keep her a bit more stable. Normally throwing a wing over another pegasi’s shoulders was a sign of intimacy, but Rainbow Dash knew that Twilight would take it as the friendly gesture that she meant it as.
“I could always fly you up to your home.” Twilight offered between yawns, stumbling slightly as Rainbow Dash had to push back or end up in a pile of pony limbs on the ground.
“You can barely keep your eyes open, so how about we focus on getting you back to this crystal eyesore?” Rainbow Dash pointed out as they finally reached the main door of the Castle of Friendship.
“I thought I told you all to stop calling it the crystal eyesore,” Twilight pouted.
“You ask the impossible!” Rainbow Dash jokingly protested.
“It wasn’t the only impossible thing that I may have asked of you recently.” Twilight sighed as they stepped inside and made their way along the long hallway towards Twilight’s chambers.
“Huh?”
“I’m sorry that I just dumped this wedding stuff on all five of you and just asked you all to be okay with it.” Twilight admitted, a frown working its way back onto her face.
“It’s fine. A lot of the others are pretty eager for it, Applejack only saw it as a good thing.” Rainbow Dash tried to placate Twilight, not wanting to see her stress out any more than she already was.
“They might be, but Rarity made it all too clear to me that you’re not yet,” Twilight stopped, turning to face Rainbow Dash. “I know that this is overwhelming, but I will do anything to help you get used to it.”
“It’s a bit much, but going too fast is kind of my thing,” Rainbow Dash lied, doing her best to give Twilight a smile. She was the element of loyalty, not honesty after all. It was better to give a little white lie rather than see her stress out any more.
“That’s a relief, Rarity was not all that happy with me when I met up for lunch today. She had a lot on her mind that she wanted me to know all about.” Twilight admitted.
“It’s fine, Twi. Now come on, we need to get you to bed.” Rainbow Dash told her, nudging forward.
“Only if you make me a promise,” Twilight asked with a smile.
“Sure, I’ll give you a kiss goodnight or whatever,” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“I was actually going to ask if you could get me a guest list tomorrow of who in your family needs to be at the wedding so we can get invites out.” Twilight laughed, though it was taken over by a yawn. “However I wouldn’t say no to a kiss.”
“Come on, sleep time for the princess,” Rainbow Dash pushed Twilight into the oversized bed.
Twilight tried to protest but her tiredness was catching up on her, a loud yawn hitting her as she laid down into the overly soft bed. Twilight fell asleep almost the second that her head hit her pillows, quiet snoring coming from her within mere seconds. Rainbow Dash groaned as she ponyhandled the alicorn princess the rest of the way into bed, setting down Twilight’s muffins on the nightstand. The oversized bed fit for an alicorn was very comfortable, but the large size made it rather cumbersome for Rainbow Dash as she pulled the heavy comforter over Twilight’s sleeping form with her teeth. Stepping back she was satisfied with a job well done.
“I’m not really sure if I’m okay with this, but I promise to not stress you out.” Rainbow Dash whispered quietly to the sleeping Twilight as she pulled off her crown and set it down on the nightstand beside her muffins. She knew that Twilight deserved the chance to actually get a good day’s sleep, so Rainbow Dash decided that she would just have to deal with her issues herself.
Besides, it’s not like she really knew what the problem was anyway.