//------------------------------// // Second // Story: Egghead and Featherbrain // by TheLastBrunnenG //------------------------------// “And then Daring was hanging onto the vine for dear life, ‘cause her wings were still singed from crossing the lava lake so she couldn’t fly, and the evil High Priest of the Goat-God swung his ceremonial staff at her, but it was totally a trick, see? ‘Cause at the last second she caught the staff, flipped around, used it like a pry-bar to toss the Goat Priest into the acid pit, and then inserted the staff into the black altar, where it opened to reveal - are you ready for this, Twi? - it revealed the Sacred Stone of Flankara! But…” Rainbow Dash clutched her sides and rolled off the Library’s couch onto the floor with a dull thud, still cackling madly as she struggled to continue, “But it wasn’t a Sacred Stone at all! The Goat Priest went through all that for nothing, ‘cause the whole time what he thought was the Sacred Stone was really the bung to an ancient cider keg!” The azure pegasus wheezed and gasped for breath between gales of laughter, beating her knee with a hoof. “Oh, that was rich! Yeah, Daring Do and the Doom Temple was off the charts, right Twi?” Twilight sighed without looking up from a dusty, creaking tome in her hooves, her ears barely visible behind its oversized covers. “You do know we both read the same book last week, right Dash? I could’ve summarized it for you.” “Yeah, but when you tell it, it sounds like a history lecture. When I tell it, it just exhumes coolness.” “Exudes, Dash. ‘Exhume’ means to dig up a dead body. Although,” she purred, lowering her musty text to arch an eyebrow at the blue mare, “bonus points to you for trying to learn a new word! I might have to reward you for that later.” Suppressing a sudden wing-flare, Dash sprang back onto the couch, resting her head next to Twilight’s, nipping at a tender purple ear. “If that’s the case, baby, then try these on for size!” Leaning down, she whispered with hot breaths, “Parliamentary! Oxygenate! Moderate Cerise! What kind of reward do I get now, huh?” Flicking her ear, the unicorn cooed, “Mmmm, Dash… Do you have any idea what those words mean?” Dash’s nipping teeth still hunted for the flicking ear. “No, but you could teach me!” “Well, then,” the lavender librarian replied in school-marm deadpan, cuffing her marefriend on the muzzle, “get a dictionary and try again tomorrow.” “Ow! You coulda’ just said you weren’t in the mood, ya know.” Rainbow rubbed her bruised nose for a moment then grabbed the musty volume from the perturbed unicorn. “Hey egghead, I’m bored now. Whatcha readin’? Aerial Displays of Pegasi in the Pre-Unification Era? I think I remember using this for a pillow in class during Flight School. Aw, were you reading this for your little Dashie?” Snatching the age-worn book back in a glowing magical grasp, Twilight growled under her breath and narrowed her eyes. “Yes, my sweet featherbrain, I was. I doubt you saw this in flight school, though. There was only one copy I could find, and it was buried in the Canterlot archives.” “So, does it show any cool old tricks? Stuff ponies used to do back in the day?” “It’s mostly theory, really. But… there is one thing I thought you should see.” Lowering her voice and her eyes, Twilight opened the book toward Dash, a thin ribbon marking two creased and fading pages. “I wasn’t sure I should show this to you, but you deserve to know. Here, take a look at this illustration.” The stained and cracking pages opened to a hoof-drawn image, rough and hastily scrawled, obviously made without aid of magic. It showed a stylized pegasus blazing a razor-straight and fiery trail over cloud-covered mountaintops, a great blazing circle of flames radiating outward from its path. Twilight’s magic closed the book slowly, silently, and set it aside. “I’m so sorry, Dash,” she whispered, running a gentle hoof through the pegasus’ prismatic mane. “The descriptions are clear. There’s nothing else it could be - that’s a Sonic Rainboom.” The azure pegasus sat frozen on the couch for long moments, her eyes wide. “That - that can’t be. I was the first pony to do a Rainboom, Twilight. I was the only one. Ever. My teachers said so, my coaches told me so, even Spitfire said so! Are - are you sure?” Twilight moved gingerly upwards on the couch, shifting Dash’s rainbow-maned head to rest on her chest. She wrapped her arms around the blue mare and nodded her head. “I’m sure. This book was buried deep in the archives and forgotten centuries ago. There’s no way anypony could have known.” Tears welled up in Rainbow’s eyes, dropping fat and wet onto the lavender coat which cradled her, and her voice was a harsh whisper. “There are thousands of pegasi out there, fast ones, a lot of them with really great moves. There are new Best Young Flyers every year. And it’s not like I can just go grab the Element of Loyalty from Celestia’s vault when I need to feel awesome. Twi, the Sonic Rainboom - that was my thing. That was me. Now it’s like the Rising Phoenix or the Tornado Firestorm, it’s just another trick. It’s a matter of time now before somepony else figures it out. If I wasn’t the only one to do it, if I wasn’t the first, then what am I?” “You’re still the fastest pony alive. And if you weren’t the first to do a Rainboom, then you were still the first pony to do one in centuries. And you’re still the only pony alive who can.” Holding the shaking pegasus tighter, Twilight leaned down to place a kiss on Dash’s tear-streaked muzzle. They lay together on the couch for many minutes, the crackling of the fireplace uninterrupted by spoken words. Feeling Dash’s sniffling subside, she added, “Even if you weren’t the first, you’re still absolutely, positively the best.”