After our bath, we opened the box from Rarity. When we did, it became instantly obvious why she insisted we clean up first. She really outdid herself this time. There was a dress for me, a suit for Mac, and a small black box.
The dress wasn't filly or girly, it was sleek and simple, red with green swirls at the edges. The suit was a pretty standard black suit with a white collar, but the tie was cyan and had a six-colored rainbow at an angle near the end. After putting on our respective outfits, we opened the smaller box. In it were two small pieces of jewellery, a lapel pin and a hair clip. The hair clip was adorned with half of a green apple, and the pin was in the shape of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. They were perfect. And a little embarrassing, but I didn't care. Much. It's also going to be woefully obvious that we're a couple now. Though the outfits kind of make it obvious too.
After fumbling with the jewelry for a little while, we left the bath, thanked Aloe and Lotus, and set off for town hall. As we walked through Ponyville, I noticed something. Ponies may have been glancing our way before, but now, they're outright staring. I even saw Thunderlane. His mouth was hanging open and I can only imagine that he's regretting every time he said, "yes sir, Mr. Dash, sir," during a weather briefing.
I never really thought it was possible to be feminine and awesome at the same time, but I'm kinda liking this. Especially the way Mac keeps trying to look at me without being noticed. If he likes it that much, I may have to dress up a little more often. But only if he does too, he fills out a suit pretty well. Too bad about the tie though. I know it's meant to match me, but it would have been nice if it went better with his eyes.
His eyes! He's looking at me! He saw me staring! Wait! He was staring too! Eyes forward, Rainbow! Eyes for-
WALL!
"CRASH!!"
"Oh, hello Miss Dash, Mr. Macintosh. It's nice of you to drop in, but I do have a door you know."
"Hello mayor." I swear, town hall has got to be the flimsiest building in Ponyville. I started trying to tug myself free from the wall, but it was no use. Mac and I are stuck here on display like the trophies in the Griffin consulate. "I like what you've done with the place." I'm just making small talk, the office doesn't really look any different from last time. Desk, paintings, walls, and paperwork. Yeah, same as always.
"Eeyup." Mac started sniffing the air. "Fresh paint." His head had gone through the wall right where a picture of the mayor had been leaning.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, Mac, you even look good in the mayor's suit."
He rolled his eyes. "That's funny, princess, you look good too." I looked down. Apparently, I went through a painting of Celestia. My head took the place of hers, making it look like I was wearing her tiara and neckplate.
The mayor cleared her throat. "As much as I hate to interrupt your playful banter, I need to speak to Rainbow regarding her weather duties." She pulled a sheet of paper off her desk and held it out in front of me. It was this week's weather schedule, and it had a big, red "X" at the top. "Or rather, her lack thereof."
"Yeah, about that-" I tried to scratch the back of my neck, but ended up putting my hoof through the wall just above my head. I swear! Is this building made out of paper, or what? "Uh, I'm grounded until tomorrow." I tried to free my hoof, but it wouldn't budge. Oh, horseapples. Thunderlane's out there. I bet he's staring at my flank and laughing his tail off. "I crashed the other day and dislocated my wing. The hospital knows I'm a weather official, they should have filed an injury report."
The mayor started rubbing her eyes. "They didn't," she groaned, "once you're healed, but before the end of next week, we need a solid downpour to make up for yesterday's missed storm."
"That was yesterday?!" Well, this is just great! "If we missed it, then the clouds will be too decayed and fragile to use." But Cloudsdale's having production issues, we're gonna have to import new clouds from somewhere. But who's gonna have enough? Manehatten always has extra, but the clean up takes forever. "Ugh!" This next week is going to be major pain in the cutie mark.
The mayor started nodding. "I see you understand how much of a headache this causes."
"But what about Thunderlane?" That lazy little- "He knew about the schedule, why didn't he take charge when I didn't show up?"
"He was paying a fine and witnessed the altercation between wishy and his brothers. He was stuck in court testifying and didn't get a chance to tell somepony else to do it." She walked over to the office door and opened it. "I'll be right back." She slipped out and closed the door behind her, leaving Mac and I alone in the-
"HEY! WHO WAS THAT?!" Somepony just poked me in the flank! If that's Thunderlane, I'm gonna kick his flank six ways from-
"Good to know I'm not the only clumsy pegasus in Ponyville."
"Derpy!"
"Howdy do, Miss Doo."
I heard a giggle from the other side of the wall. "Howdy do to you too, Mr. Mac, and you too, Rainbow Dash. Are you two enjoying your date?"
Nice to know she's as cheerful as ever. "Derpy, why did you poke me?"
She giggled again. "I was gonna bop you on the nose, but I can't reach it. Anyway, I have a message for you. It's from Fluttershy." She cleared her throat. "I never do quite what you'd think. I love sugar and the color- That's all you get. Now, I have to make a rush delivery to Canterlot, bye! See ya Friday, Mac." She hummed as she walked away.
"CRASH!!"
"Hey! Watch it!"
"Sorry! Here, let me help you with that."
"No! It's ok, I can-"
"CRASH!!"
"Oops, I didn't mean to, just let me-"
"CRASH!!"
"Look, I've got it, please just go."
"I'm sorry, I just don't know what went wrong."
"Derpy?! You okay out there?" I listened intently, but there was no response to my question. I guess she left. "Hey Mac? What did she mean about seeing you on Friday?"
I'm guessing he shrugged, because the picture frame around him moved a little. "Ain't nothin' ta be worried about, if that's what yer thinkin'."
"I'm not, I trust you." Besides, AJ and Granny would kill you if you ever cheated. "It's just that you mentioned it before."
He put a hoof to his chin, busting another hole in the wall. "Ah don't remember ta- Right. Painkillers." He let out a sigh. "Rainbow, Ah didn't do anythin', um, unbecomin' while Ah was out of it, did I?" He looked down at his hoof and tried to wiggle it free.
I shook my head. "Nothing too bad. The kiss was a little sloppy, but you've fixed that. Now tell me about what happens on Friday. Does Derpy really beat everypony up?"
"Eeyup." He leaned his head down so he could scratch his nose against his hoof. "Comes ta sparrin' every Friday and challenges ponies to fight. Most ponies walk away with icepacks."
"How?" She's so clumsy sometimes, how does she manage to fight.
"She's a weapons expert, even Pete don't stand a chance against her. Fluttershy's about evenly matched, and Ah'm the only one who can consistently win against her."
"But how does she fight? She can barely fly in a straight line because of her eyes."
Mac let out another sigh. "She closes 'em ta fight."
"Whoa." That's hardcore. I knew she was my friend for a reason.
"CREEEAK!!"
The office door opened and the mayor trotted in, followed by a lightly colored unicorn in a light blue police uniform. "Sorry about the wait," said the mayor, "this is officer Beat, he-"
The police officer cleared his throat. "Street, Ma'am."
The mayor blinked. "What was that?"
"I'm officer Street," said the unicorn, standing at attention, "My brother Beat's out of town until later tonight."
"Oh, of course." The mayor cleared her throat and turned back to us. "This is officer Street, he's a specialist in teleportation spells. He'll help you get out of the wall. Any questions?"
I raised my free hoof.
Ok, that was stupid, my hoof's still outside. "I have a question."
The mayor nodded. "Go ahead."
"Are we gonna end up all crispy like Twilight does? We're kinda dressed up for something."
Officer Street started laughing. "A common worry, to be sure. Miss Sparkle has the greatest individual teleportation range of any unicorn by far, but she pours way too much power into the spell. That results in the trademark singed mane which she then has to repair with another spell."
"So, no burnt mane?" I gotta be sure.
He closed his eyes. There was a flash of greenish yellow light and I found myself a few feet away from the town hall building, staring through the hole I made. Officer Street smiled at me through the hole. "No burnt mane."
"Whoa." That was much smoother than that time Twilight teleported me. Except for the flash, I didn't even feel anything. "Okay, Mac your turn."
"Nnope." I looked over just in time to see him tear his head free from the wall, knocking a decent chunk of the wall loose. "Ah'm good." He shook the dust from his mane and head and brushed as much of it off his suit as he could before looking through the hole he made. "Sorry 'bout the wall."
The mayor sighed loudly. "Forget it. We need to fix this place up once and for all, and one of these days, we just might. Anyway, enjoy your date. And Rainbow, stop by the weather office tomorrow morning and set up the cloud shipment."
"Will do, mayor!" I walked over to Mac and nudged him in the side. "Let's get out of here," I whispered.
He glanced back at the holes in the wall. "Eeyup."
We made a hasty retreat and stopped once we were out of sight of town hall. "So, Mac? Any idea why Fluttershy left a message for us."
He shook his head. "Nnope. But it's obvious that the last word is s'posed ta be pink."
I nodded. "Sugarcube Corner?"
He nodded back. "Sugarcube Corner."
The walk to the edible-looking bakery was short, a few minutes at most. When we got there, Pinkie was waiting for us at the counter. We knew she was waiting for us because she had a giant sign hanging up behind her that said, "Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh, over here! I'm waiting!" She was waiting very well, for Pinkie that is. Meaning, not at all. She was bouncing up and down like we were having an earthquake.
"Hey, Pinks!" I called out before walking over to the counter. "What's goin' on?"
She stopped bouncing. "I can't tell you, but I can tell you that you two look so cute together, almost like two peas in a pod, or two twins in a stroller, or two kumquats in a jar of peanut butter or two guppies in a fishbowl, or whatever else comes in twos and looks really cute together, but that's enough about that." She leaned over the counter. "So, what brings you to Sugarcube Corner?"
"Uh." What?
She let out a loud gasp and ducked behind the counter. "I almost forgot!" She popped back up with two boxes sitting atop her head, one yellow, one blue. "You're here for these!" She set them on the counter and dug out a shopping bag from somewhere. "The yellow one is from me. The blue one is from Fluttershy, and she said to tell you not to open it." She carefully placed both boxes in the bag and held it out in her hoof. Mac took hold of it in his mouth. "Yay! Now for the next clue!" She ducked back out of sight. After a few seconds, the lights went out.
"CRASH!!" The door to Sugarcube corner was thrown open and a flash of lightning illuminated a dark figure standing in the doorway. It approached us slowly. "Now, my dear Rainbow, what can you deduce from from these words? I once lost these and caught some flack, I sometimes work the fields with Mac." The lights flickered back on, revealing Pinkie in her Fetlock Holmes hat, blowing bubbles from a pipe. "That's all you get from me! Quite a stumper isn't it?"
Mac pointed his hoof in the air. "Ifs Harmel." He looked at me before continuing. "Ee os ze rass seez urin' inner wrah-uh." I stood there for a moment, staring at him. I didn't get any of that. I leaned forward and took the bag from him.
"THAT COUNTS AS A KISS!!" Screamed Pinkie, clapping wildly. Good to see she's enjoying the show. "Well, I've gotta go, I promised Thunderlane I'd teach him how to make his brother's favorite nut brittle cookie bars in exchange for the lightning." She bounced out the door with her hat still on.
"Haf fum." I'm not entirely sure it'll possible for her not to have fun, but still. I turned to face Mac. "Ooh er aying?"
"It's Caramel, he lost the grass seeds durin' winter wrap-up."
That makes sense. "Ih ih Harmel or he rass eez? Eh where an we bind 'em?"
Mac scratched his head. "Honestly, it could be either one of 'em. Ah think Caramel's house is out past the library, but the vendor we bought new grass seeds from was set up in the square nearby."
I nodded. "Oh ee eck at un hurst."
"Eeyup. Sounds like a plan." Mac leaned forward to take back the bag.
"It still counts!" Pinkie yelled. I looked over to see her pressed up against one of the windows, waving at us. "Ok, I'm going for real this time." She ducked out of sight again, but I had to check. I walked over to the door which Pinkie left open and peeked out. It seemed like she was gone, but with Pinkie, you never know.
Mac walked up to the door behind me. "Uh, ya want me ta take that?"
"O," I shook my head, "I'm ohing ah oh ih."
"Ya sure?"
"Esh!" I looked around again. "I own wan Inkie reating ush kissie ike a eckator sort. Ih sumsing secial etwee se who of ush."
He sidled up beside me and chuckled. It was deep and rumbling, just like his snores. "That's awful sweet a' ya, Rainbow."
"Uh, Ack? Ow ooh you ow wha I'm aying?"
He shrugged. "AJ used ta have braces, ya just get used to it, Ah guess."
"Oh." AJ? In braces? I would have loved to see that. "Sho, eed de way." I wonder if they have any pictures.
"Right this way, miss." He led me out of the bakery and down the street to the market square where. A brown earth pony, probably Caramel, was waiting near one of the folded up carts. Mac waved to him and we walked over. "Howdy Caramel, we were told ya might be here."
Caramel waved back with grin. "Big Mac, you lucky dog, you finally found somepony?"
"Eeyup." He glanced over at me with a proud smile. "Literally fell outta the sky, like a little angel." Aw, Mac, that's so sweet. But it's so cheesy, that it's embarrassing. He turned back to Caramel. "what's the next clue?"
Caramel lifted a box off the cart and gave it to Mac. "Fair warning though, this is the last of the easy clues." He cleared his throat. "I can find any book you like, I'm short and cute, my name is-"
I set down the bag so I could speak. "Spike! We gotta go to the library next." What is Fluttershy up to with this little treasure hunt? And what is in these boxes? I took the one Mac was holding and placed it in the bag. I'm tempted to crack one open, but I don't think Mac would let me. I tucked it under my wing so I wouldn't have anymore speech troubles. "Let's go, Mac!"
"Oh, um, before you go," Caramel was tapping his hooves nervously, "Mac, you're neighbors with the Carrot twins, right?"
Mac squinted his eyes in suspicion, but just a little, like, a teeny-tiny, almost unnoticable bit. "Eeyup."
Caramel, meanwhile, was glancing around to make sure nopony overheard him. "W-would you know if, um, either of them are seeing anypony?"
Mac blinked in what, for him anyway, was the equivalent of a long drawn out sigh. "Nnope."
Caramel couldn't decide on a smile or a frown and ended up with a weird halfway expression. "Is that a, no, they're not seeing anypony, or a ,no, you don't know if they're seeing anypony?"
"Eeyup."
Caramel rolled his eyes. "Come on, Mac! You've gotta help me out on this? Please?"
"Nnope."
"I'm only asking you because the rumor was that you and them were an item."
"Nnope."
Mac and one of the Carrots? That's actually pretty sensible for a rumor. A little more sensible than the truth actually. "Which one?" I asked that mostly to make Mac squirm. Well, not really squirm, he's way too stoic in public for that, it's more of an eyebrow twitch.
Caramel scoffed in response. "Uh, the Carrot twins?"
"Both?" I gave Mac a teasing punch on the shoulder. "You stud, I knew there was a reason I liked you. Hoof." I held up a hoof for a hoof bump.
Mac's eye twitching was pretty close to being noticeable by a casual observer, apparently this shook him up a little. "R-Rainbow, it's just a rumor, this is the first Ah've heard of-"
I punched him in the shoulder again to stop him. "I'm teasing, you fuzzball. You're too clueless to handle one mare, let alone two. I guess you're just lucky that I'm as clueless as you."
"Eeyup." He turned around and started walking in the direction of the library. I followed.
"Hey, wait!" Caramel called after us. "What about the Carrot twins?"
Mac looked back, but didn't stop walking. "Ask 'em yerself!"
"Fine!" Yelled Caramel. "I will!" He stormed off in the opposite direction.
"Good luck!" I called after him. Then I smacked Mac on the shoulder again. "Mac, you didn't have to mess with him like that."
"Nnope."
"And you know how long that will work on me."
"Eeyup."
"Cut it out, or I will make you cut it out."
"How?"
"Gotcha."
"Eeyup."
"You're funny, Mac."
"Eeyup."
We traded little one word one-liners for the rest of the short walk to the library. When we got there, we were greeted by Twilight's owl, you know, the one with the ridiculously jumbled name? Owlylicious or some such nonsense. He was sitting beside a stack of four boxes with a scroll on top, but when we approached, he flew off. I broke the seal on the scroll and read it aloud. "Dear Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh,
I sincerely apologize for interrupting your plans for this evening, but certain events have occurred which required Twilight Sparkle's immediate presence in Canterlot and Spike is asleep. Fluttershy and Pete left the final clue and package in front of the the Lofty Lily restaurant.
Princess Celestia
P.S. Allow me to offer you my congratulations on your newfound friendship and love. Should things go well, I trust you will let me know. It's been far too long since I last officiated a wedding."
Mac let out a long, low whistle. "That'd be a mighty fancy event, don't ya think?"
"Yeah." ai stuffed the boxes in the bag. Hopefully, a fancy event without the threat of impending invasion. "Yeah, it would." I'm actually considering it! Subject change, now! "So, let's get over to the Lofty Lily."
"Eeyup." He turned and led the way through Ponyville once again. As we walked, I found myself wondering, would it be Rainbow Apple, or Rainbow Macintosh?
The Lofty Lily was a newer two story building, sort of fancy without overdoing it. The most striking feature was the balcony. The entire second level was a large balcony overhanging the main building, giving the restaurant the impression of a large flower. The package was a little obvious and easy to find. A rainbow-colored box sitting on the ground kinda stands out. The final clue was taped to the top of the box. "Look up."
"Hey, Mac? What do you suppose that means?" Maybe we're supposed to go back to the library and look something up? But what?
"Rainbow." I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Look up." I looked over to see Mac pointing towards the restaurants upper level.
There, on the balcony, chatting away and dressed to the nines, were Pete and Fluttershy. They hadn't seen us yet, so I whistled and waved to get their attention. Fluttershy noticed first and waved back. "Hello! Rai- oh my," she put a hoof to her mouth and walked over to the edge of the balcony, " I should have known Rarity would never let it go. I asked her to invite you two to the boutique so you could pick something out to wear. I half expected you to both show up wearing suits. I mean, that's ok, of course, but this is much better."
"Yeah, she did a great job at matching them up, didn't she?" I stuck the last package in the bag. It's a good thing that the boxes aren't that big, or else they would be hard to carry. "Hey, what's the deal with the whole scavenger hunt thing?"
Fluttershy glanced over at Pete. "Why don't you come up here? If you don't mind, that is. Just give your names to the doorpony."
We did as we were told and the grey-suited doorpony led us through the restaurant. The lighting was dim and warm and soft music was playing, giving the place a laid back, comfortable atmosphere. Not quite my thing, but still kind of nice. Oh, and it smelled so good too, I bet the food here is awesome. The doorpony led us out to the balcony where Pete and Fluttershy were waiting. As Mac and I sat at the table, Pete lowered his head to his hoof and started shaking it. Fluttershy rolled her eyes before smiling and shaking her head.
What? All we did was sit down.
Pete opened his eyes really wide at Mac and started shifting his eyes between Mac and me. What is he doing? Mac stared back in confusion, and I could see why. Pete suddenly started jerking his head in my direction. Mac started mimicking the movement and gave an exaggerated shrug. After a fomew more moments of gesturing, Pete groaned loudly and dropped his head to the table, rattling the silverware. "You're supposed to let her sit down first, you dolt!"
Mac looked over at me. "Really?"
I glanced over at Mac. "Why?"
Pete sighed loudly. "Have either of you ever been to a restaurant before?"
"Eeyup." Mac nodded once.
"Yeah." I've been to plenty. "What's that one with the good hay fries?"
"Oh," Mac smacked his hooves together, "Ah know that one, starts with a d."
"Yeah!" It's on the tip of my tongue. "Doc's!"
"Eeyup." Mac nodded. "Good fries."
Fluttershy started giggling, "you two really are perfect for each other, aren't you?"
"I'd like to think so," I said with a smile. "So, what's with the treasure hunt?"
Fluttershy looked over at Pete with a smile. "It's something we did when we started getting to know each other again."
Again? "So you two knew each other before you started dating?"
"Uh." Fluttershy shrugged. "Kind of."
What the hay does that mean?
Mac spoke up. "So that's why ya took such a shine ta him after the tournament?"
"Um, no." Fluttershy put a hoof on top of Pete's. "It's kind of a long and complicated story, but that was the first time we met. Is it ok if I tell you some other time?"
"Yes," said Pete as he started flagging down a waiter, "plenty of time for talk later. For now, we're treating you to a fancy dinner." Sweet! Free food!
Another pony in a grey suit came to the table with a basket of breadsticks and two menus. He set the basket on the table and gave one menu to Pete and the other to Mac. I leaned over to look at the menu that Mac was holding. I had no clue what any of the dishes where, since they were all in a different language, but the descriptions made everything sound really good.
"This one looks good." I poked at the menu to show Mac which one I was talking about. Sautéed turnips and leeks in a brown sugar butter sauce. "Or this one?" I poked at another item. Apple medley spring stir-fry. Can you even stir-fry apples? "Of course, this, this, and this look good too. And these-"
The menu was suddenly yanked from Mac's hooves by a panicked-looking Pete. "How many did you-" His eyes went wide as he looked at the menu. "I've got to go stop them!" He jumped out of his chair and ran into the restaurant, almost losing it around a corner.
What was that about? And where's the waiter? "Hey, Fluttershy, aren't they going to take our order?"
"They did." She held up the other menu and and tapped two of the dishes listed on it. The ink turned from blue to red. "Magic menus."
Oh, hailstones, I just ordered half the things on the menu.
Fortunately, Pete managed to stop the cooks before they got to my order. The rest of the dinner was pleasant, if not very eventful. We ate and talked and laughed. The food was great, especially the breadsticks. Between Mac and I, we went through at least five baskets of them. But the best part was that it was really fun to just hang out and chat. Fluttershy's always been a good friend of mine, but until now, we never really had much in common. I love the sky, and I'll never give it up, but the time between flights was always filled with boredom. There have been so many things these last two days that I just never gave the chance, fancy restaurants being one of them. I think I'd like to do this again, I just don't want to be the one who suggests it. Knowing Fluttershy though, she'll suggest that we do this whole double date thing every week. I'll just shrug it off and say "sure, why not. I've got nothing else planned." That'll work.
That didn't work!
The dinner ended and then Pete and Mac started arguing over who would pay. Pete wanted to split the cheque 50-50, but Mac wanted to pay for everything since they commissioned our clothes. They settled on 60-40 and we started to leave, but Fluttershy wasn't asking!
We walked out through the restaurant, Pete grabbed a box from the counter before we left, but Fluttershy still wasn't asking. They started leading us down the street to the park fountain. What is taking her so long? We found an empty bench and everypony sat down. Then Pete opened the box he brought from the restaurant. Inside were four Ice Cream cones. Anytime now, Fluttershy! We each took one and ate it, then they thanked us for our time and started walking home. She's not going to ask! "Gahh! Fluttershy, you're supposed to ask if we could do this again sometime!"
She stopped and turned around. "Oh, really," she said, "why? Would you want to?"
"Yes!" I sighed. "I just didn't want to be one to suggest it."
She smiled, "in that case, how about we do this again?" She ran up to me and gave me a hug. "Same time next week?"
"Yeah," I sighed, resigning myself to the embrace, "that sounds great, thanks Fluttershy."
She broke the hug and bounded off after Pete, turning back to wave. "I'll look forward to it! Bye Rainbow."
I waved back in response. "Bye."
Mac and I walked back to the farmhouse slowly, enjoying the moonlight. The moon wasn't quite full, but it was still bright enough to see by, I think Twilight called it a waxing gibbon, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong about that.
When we got back to the barn, we took the fancy clothes off and carefully hung them up. Then we sat on the mattress and started opening the various gifts. Pinkie's gift was a box of the mini cookies she was preparing earlier. She must have seen me staring at them. I closed up the box and set it on the table for later. After that meal, what with the breadsticks and ice cream, I couldn't eat anymore.
Next up were the seven boxes from the treasure hunt. Mac picked up the rainbow-colored box and opened it carefully. I face-hoofed hard when I saw what was in it. Earth and Sky, volume one, paperback edition. It was accompanied by three pieces of paper.
--------
Rainbow, Mac,
We hope that your relationship goes well and we hope that this gesture is unnecessary, but these books helped us through a rough patch even though they were originally meant for couples like you. It may appear to be copies of the same book, but it is actually different volumes of the series. We learned about your visit to Ponyville hospital shortly after purchasing them, so we apologize if you have two copies of the first book. Um, you may want to start with book two. But if you'd rather start with book one, then- No! Trust us on this. Start with book two.
Pete and Fluttershy
---------
Rainbow,
I want you to know that I truly am happy for you, and wish you the best of luck. I must say though, that you and Mac seem to be moving forward about as fast as Pete and I did. We were completely unprepared when circumstances beyond our control tore us apart. I made a stupid decision and ended up in over my head. I got hurt very badly, and for a long time, I blamed Pete. I didn't find out until much later that he had gone through the same thing and worse in order to help me. I know that what happened to us will never happen to you, but if you're unprepared, it may be the smallest of things that cause the biggest problems.
Wishing you many years of happiness,
Fluttershy.
----------
Mac,
It took you long enough, but you finally found somepony, good for you. I bet seeing her fly is one of the things you love most, isn't it? I don't know why, but when you're stuck on the ground, flight just becomes this beautiful thing and demands to be treasured. Fluttershy doesn't fly much, but when she does, I can't help but watch. Anyway, about you and Rainbow. I probably don't have to tell you to take care of her, I know you well enough. But be careful of pride, for both of you. You might think you know her well enough to know when something is bothering her, but when you think that, you stop paying attention. She may not think you care, then she'll hide her fears and worries. When she stops sharing her problems, you'll stop sharing yours. Things do not go well when that happens, you will lose something. I lost the use of my wings, I almost lost Fluttershy. I probably would have been started down a very dark path if that had happened. Don't let it happen to you.
Name one of them after me,
Peter Mallory
----------
Mac let out a loud sigh after we finished reading. "Ah don't know if we should."
I leaned up against him. "Why not?"
He put the papers back in the box and closed it up. "Peter Dash or Peter Apple just don't sound right."
I put a hoof to my chin and made an exaggerated show of thinking it over. "Peter Dapple sounds ok."
Mac nodded. "Ah think we should see if it's an earth pony or a Pegasus first."
I started laughing. "Are we really having this conversation?"
"Eeyup." Mac put his own hoof to his chin. "Let's ask AJ, Ah bet she could come up with a good name."
There's an idea! "I'll ask her as soon as she steps off the train." It'll be great! I can just imagine the look on her face. "Say, Mac? I've got to head to the train station pretty early, but before I do, could we make breakfast?"
"Anythin' in particular?"
"I don't know, I don't really know how to make anything. I was kind of hoping you could teach me."
He nodded slowly. "Pancakes it is. Ah'll do my best, Rainbow."
"Thanks Mac."
He started digging through the boxes. "Ya want to start reading?"
"Yeah." Which box has book two?