//------------------------------// // Don't Think Poorly of Her, Those Are Hard Words // Story: Thirty Minute Express Train to Story Town // by Predhack //------------------------------// “Thank you again for doing this, Rainbow Dash. I know it was short notice,” Celestia said as she guided Rainbow Dash through the halls of the palace, “I know it can’t have been easy to rush out here, but I’ll make sure you’re properly compensated.” “Don’t even worry about it Princess. I’m always happy to help,” Rainbow Dash answered happily. She followed the alicorn’s footsteps with energy. “Just lemme know what you need and I’ll take care of it.” “I appreciate that,” Celestia smiled, “As I said in my letter, this should be fairly simple for you. She’s very well behaved despite her apparent age though she does have a bit of a silly streak. She is aware of her condition, but the nature of it does sometimes cause her to make mistakes that would otherwise embarrass her any other time. It’s very important I have photographic evidence of these for um… reasons. Your job will mostly come down to keeping her in the tower and from bothering anypony. We do try to keep her condition quiet so if you could just clean up after her and head off in any forseeable trouble she could get herself into I’d appreciate it.” Celestia stopped outside a large set of double doors and cast a worrying glance between them and her pegasus follower. “Normally it isn’t this bad but the sun moon and earth have aligned against her quite strongly,” Celestia explained. Rainbow Dash nodded and looked at the doors for a long moment before turning back to Celestia to ask, “If you don’t mind, can you tell me why you can’t watch her? This seems pretty important to you.” Celestia smiled and nodded, “I’m afraid that same alignment I mentioned has locked me into an engagement I find myself unable to turn down.” “I’ll be honest, Princess, I’m kinda surprised you chose me for this. Are you sure there isn’t anypony else you would have preferred?” “No,” Celestia said in a resigned voice, “Everypony else I could trust with this task was otherwise engaged this evening. You were the closest pony I could find who didn’t have anything of dire importance this evening?” “Even Twilight?” Rainbow asked incredulously, unable to think of anything that would keep the unicorn from dropping EVERYTHING to come help. “Hmm,” Celestia looked thoughtful for a moment, “Twilight has a very important test on alicorn physiology and anatomy this evening that I don’t want to drag her away from.” A purple flash of light blasted from the opposite side of Celestia from where Rainbow stood and she heard the sound of hooves stepping in place on the stone floor of the palace. “Princess! I just checked, the weather and the new moon make tonight ideal for the star viewing part of our date. Wait, did we want to call it a date I don’t remember maybe we-” “Twilight?” Rainbow asked the voice. The voice cut off and a moment Twilight’s head dipped low so she could see beneath the Princess, then with an embarrassed squeak her horn lit and she vanished as she had came. Rainbow and Celestia stared at the spot for a moment. Then another moment passed as they refused to meet each other’s eyes. Finally, Rainbow Dash let out an awkward cough. “So, uh, a test huh…” Rainbow began with some discomfort. Celestia cleared her throat and answered, “Yes, uh hum. A test. Oh look here we are. I’m sure she’s eagerly awaiting your arrival. Don’t mind if she’s a bit sour at first. Her malady can make her a bit sensitive about her image.” Celestia lowered her head and the doors before them swung open obligingly to allow entry to the two ponies. “That reminds me. You never did say what her condition was or who sh- Princess Luna?” Rainbow changed subject midsentence at the sight of the Princess in question. Lying on a small hill of pillows sat a small pudgy blue alicorn filly with a lighter grey blue mane was half burrowed into the nest cushions, and glaring at the two ponies entering. A black night’s relief imprinted on her flank betrayed her identity to Rainbow Dash and for a moment all Rainbow Dash could do was stare. “P- Pr- Princess Luna is the filly you want me to foalsit?!” Rainbow exclaimed. Celestia gave a shallow fake sounding laugh. “Hahaha, oh didn’t I mention? Oh well, now you know and I really should be seeing where Twilight got off to. Tata!” In flash of sunlight Celestia disappeared like her student had moments before, leaving Rainbow Dash and Luna behind. “We will allow you to laugh at our position once and then we ask that you do not do it again,” the filly Luna commanded in a high childish voice. Rainbow stared back in answer before laughing into her hoof. Luna glared at her as the hoof became insufficient and Rainbow Dash lost her ability to stand and started rolling back and forth on the floor, laughing, and clutching her stomach like it was going to burst. “We are not that funny! We appreciate the situation is unusual but do not think this much merrymaking is necessary!” Luna finally shouted indignantly, stomping one little hoof on the pillow mound and blushing in the exact manner of a filly her age. Rainbow Dash laughed harder. After a couple minutes Rainbow managed to rain her laughter in and wiping a tear from her eye spoke, “I’m sorry Princess. It’s just pffft how did this happen?” Luna turned her nose up indignantly. “It is a natural consequence of our tie to the moon. As it waxes and wanes so too does the nature of our magic and power,” Luna deigned to explain. “Tonight is a new moon and thus the most physical portions of our power at their ebb.” “Wait,” Rainbow visibly stifled a chortle, “So you’re like this every new moon? That sucks” “Nay,” Luna replied harshly, “Normally there are a normal of balancing factors that allow us to retain our more majestic form. However this evening the moon is at apogee and with the very nearing of the sun’s perigee along with-” Luna stopped at the sight of Rainbow’s eyes glazing over. “Nay, this is a special situation.” “Okay,” Rainbow allowed, recovering her feet after her laughing fit, “So does Celestia turn into a foal too sometimes?” Luna huffed derisively and glared out the window at some unseen entity, “Nay. Celestia’s sun affects only her energy level. One might notice that during the winter when the sun is at-… during the winter when days are short that Celestia reduces her workload and may spend days at a time sleeping in her room.” “Wow. So she sleeps for days?” “Yes, but we maintain that is more from laziness than any serious deprecation of power. She has always viewed the cold seasons as a time for her to take a holiday.” “Huh,” Rainbow hummed and tried to process that. Then looking around she grabbed a sheet of paper. “Wanna do some origami to kill time?” Luna looked down the mound of pillows and then smiled happily, prancing down like a child. “Okay”