//------------------------------//
// Fourth Day: Soufflé Or Wafflé? 
// Story: And He Silently Painted A Rainbow 
// by WritingSpirit 
//------------------------------//

	"And now, Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow had been waiting forever in her life for this day to happen. Amidst the cheering crowd (and her jubilant group of friends) in the stands, the perpetual, psychedelic hail of confetti and her racing heart, she chattered with glee at the group of pegasi standing before her, with their renowned leader raising her golden hooves.
"You are officially part of..."

"Ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh..." her head chanted like a mantra, her hooves quivering just to snatch the grand prize from the pegasus before her: a pair of aviator goggles and the Wonderbolts' official flight suit.
Come on, Spitfire, she wanted to scream. Just say it already!!

"The Wonderbolts!!"

With that, the crowd erupted into a fiesta of cheers as Rainbow's heart stopped the moment she held the suit, her eyes sparkling like they were polished amethysts.
"Ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh...!" she said it aloud, before raising it up to the sky, showing every single pony present in the stadium; in return their cheers grew ever louder, bursting through the overwhelming blue of the skies around.

The reverberation of voices suddenly shook the clouds, or at least, so as she thought. The cheers suddenly turned to gasps of anxiety as the whole stadium wobbled tumultuously. Everyone started screaming, the ponies scattering around the stands and the arena itself.
"Earthquake!!" some of them screamed, which was pretty ridiculous by the fact that they were in Cloudsdale. Rainbow scurried around for a moment, before bumping into someone's shoulder and falling onto the floor.

"My suit!" she exclaimed, the garments having been tossed into the air. She reached her hooves out for it, her breathing slowed as it fell towards her.

"Rainbow!"
The otherworldly voice silenced the cacophony played out in the frantic scene, which slowly and strangely twirled and faded into white. "Rainbow!" it called again with an echo, before she felt something shaking her hoof.

"Rainbow!"

"Huh, what?" the mare muttered hazily, rubbing her tired eyes as she rose from her cloud bed, kicking her nimbus blanket away into a puff of wisp.
Her magenta pupils, surprisingly, met the black ones of Taciturn Bleach, who was perched at the very end of her bed with a beatific smile on his face. The mare sighed cordially at her sight, forcing out a grin.
"Hey there, Tassee," she said, trying her best to brush her bedhead. "You're an early bird today."

Taciturn nodded eagerly, which made her blink for a moment: what happened to the sophisticated, silent and unsocial patient she was taking care of yesterday? Where did he get all this energy suddenly?
He tugged insistently at her hooves, before scurrying out of the room. With a sigh, Rainbow got up while petting her sleeping tortoise's shell, following the overexcited colt out the door.
"What is it you want me to-"

Her sentence was left hanging once her jaw dropped at the canvas that Taciturn held in his hoof. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, at least from beyond the borders of what the colt hadn't displayed from his imagination yet.
It was her pet tortoise, Tank, munching on a Christmas wreath. There was a woolen Santa Hat placed onto the tortoise's head, complete with a bangle of golden bells on his right hind leg.

The best part? It was completely formed out of dots.
The moment she grew closer, so did her amazement and her realization. She marveled at the minuscule circles covering every shade and line, only wondering how long it took for him to finish this.
"Wow, Tassee... I just..." she couldn't put it into words, and that's saying something, being able to render the usually proud pegasus speechless.

"Pointillism," the colt murmured cheerfully, though his guardian was too amazed to bother.
Rainbow started to smile the more she looked at the heartwarming painting, getting closer and closer... wait. Was she doing what she think she's doing?

"It's good! Good!" the mare suddenly laughed with a haughty wave of her hoof. Taciturn slumped his shoulders down at that, though he did glance up to her once Rainbow continued happily:
"Come on, Tassee! We have to meet one of my other friends today!"

With that, she reached for her satchel, stuffing her quadruple ice skates (Spitfire limited edition!) inside. Handing Taciturn his black scarf, the two of them headed out of the door and into another fine morning of Hearth's Warming and, Rainbow wished, a day where the colt wouldn't mess up her programs.
His most recent painting was a little too captivating, besides that it showed her favorite pet. The way he executed it was what amazed her, and she would've blurted out to him on how good he was.

But she was Rainbow Dash! She wouldn't just give an exaggerating compliment like that! After all, the only reason that he was talented was that he had the syndrome. If he didn't have it, he wouldn't be the artist he was now. Plus, her job was to help him get his guts up and act like any normal pony. To change him to a better colt!
She rid herself of those thoughts, pushing those problems later. Right now, she had a friend to visit.

And, hopefully not too much, a colt to entertain.







The journey to the frozen lake outside of Ponyville was a slightly long one on hoof and, despite the both of them having wings, Taciturn persisted on walking due to his presumed fear of heights, much to his guardian's displeasure. Rainbow had read up a little on anger management (Keeping Calm For Dummies, the book was titled; a 'Hearth's Warming Eve gift' from Twilight) herself, and had been trying to keep her cool after their slight disagreement through a few blundering breathing exercises.
The colt himself was glancing around, probably finding what he could draw from the wintry environment around him. He doesn't seem to mind trampling through the chilled woods, prancing around the snow with finesse that only Rarity would've mustered with her fashion.

Time and time again, he would start humming a small Christmas tune. It started with a small medley of 'O Little Town of Bridlehem' and 'Winter Wonderland', though she didn't bother to figure out the rest.
There were instances that he would stop to collect a few raspberries and blueberries and place them in his pouch. Rainbow had no idea why he would need that for, though her questions were pushed to the very end of her mind the moment the bushes parted into a clearing.

The gleaming surface of the frost lake was a refreshing sight for Rainbow, who flipped her satchel open in preparation for the activity to come. She glanced around the snowy banks, before smiling wide as she hollered:
"Hey, Pinkie Pie!! Over here!"

There was a loud, audible gasp from her pink friend, who raced towards the pegasus and gave her a tight, choking hug, squealing with delight. Rainbow's cheek started to turn a darker shade of blue as Pinkie hopped about with 'yay's of delight, still hugging her friend firmly.
"I knew you'll come! I knew you'll come!" she screeched, oblivious to her friend's attempts to gasp for air.
"You Pinkie Promised a week ago that you'll come, and you kept it! I was a little worried that you wouldn't make it because you took about fifteen minutes and forty-eight point three four six five eight seconds longer than last year! Oh, by the way, I counted with my hooves. So I spent the time thinking of things to do if you didn't come, like maybe helping the Cakes for their Hearth's Warming pudding sale, or maybe buy Gummy some new alligator treats because there's only five million and a hundred and eighty-eight and a half crumbs left because I used the can to make maracas for Pound and Pumpkin's birthday..."

"P-Pinkie!" Rainbow managed to choke out weakly, though that didn't stop the mare.

"... or maybe even finding out this new celebration in a parallel dimension! Ooh~! ooh~! I even have it's name! The, um... ponies? They call it Christmas there! It's like Hearth's Warming Eve, although everything looks like them! Even Santa Hooves look like them, and he even has his white beard! They even have-"

The sudden pin-drop silence was followed by a thud as the cyan mare fell onto the snow, gasping for air after being freed from the clutches of her friend. The other mare's eyes were focused instead onto Taciturn, who scurried into the bushes the moment his black eyes met her bubbly blue ones.
Rainbow got up, shaking the snow off her mane. It was then that Pinkie knelt close to her ear, whispering:
"Is that...... hi-him?"

"Him?" the pegasus repeated, slightly baffled.
"What do you mean 'him'?"

"You know! Him! The..." her whisper became a hiss, "Special One!"

"You mean Tarser... Tosser... darn it!" she rasped, eventually sticking to his given nickname.
"Tassee? Yeah, that's him. And what's up with that weird title? The... um... 'Special One'?"

"Ponies have been talking about him ever since they saw you and him together yesterday!"
Pinkie energetically bounced around her baffled friend, the rainbow-maned pegasus stopping to think as her friend continued:
"They kept calling him the 'Special One' like he's Princess Celestia, but that's pretty silly! If he's such a royal pony, then why not call him 'Your Highness' or 'Your Majesty' or 'Your Holiness' or even pickle-weird things such as 'Your Sugarness' or-"

"I get it, Pinkie!" Rainbow snapped in before she could continue.
"He's just somepony I have to take care of for the time being. No biggie."

"Can I talk to him?"

"What?" the cyan mare spoke up in surprise, a little too late however.
Pinkie suddenly launched herself towards Taciturn before Rainbow could stop her, her surprise attack sending the colt screeching and wallowing towards the lake, his guardian watching in horror the moment he did so.
"Tassee! Wait!"

Once his hooves touched the smooth surface of ice, Taciturn slipped and fell onto his back, sliding across the ice and smashing into a pile of snow. Both mares quickly rushed to his side , heaving the dazed colt up from the snow with Rainbow checking him frantically for any bruises or wounds.
She let out a sigh of relief soon after, turning to Pinkie with a stringent glare.
"He's not comfortable with strangers, Pinkie," she scowled. "He needs to get used to you first."

"Aw..." the pink mare responded, hunching her shoulders.
"Can I talk to him now?"

Rainbow let out a small sigh, turning to the whimpering Taciturn below her hooves, trying her best to smile.
"It's okay, bud," she assured, lifting him up. "She's my friend! She wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Yeah!" the pink mare instantly added.
"Well, except for the time one flew into the oven and I baked it. It was by accident, of course! I had to make a new batch of cupcakes after I found its wings melted over-"

"That's enough disgusting stories for now, right Pinkie?" the cyan mare cut in, giving her friend a warning of a nudge.
"Now, how about you introduce yourselves?  Maybe you can ask him a few questions after that."

Pinkie gave an exuberant nod, sticking her hoof out.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

There wasn't any sort of response: the colt was too busy hiding behind his guardian in fear of this new stranger.
"His name is uh... Taciturn! Taciturn Bleach!" Rainbow answered for him, her stomach gurgling once again at the mention of the pony's last name.
"What questions have you got for him?"

"Easy ones, of course!" the pink mare proclaimed, wearing an excited smile.
She suddenly raced off, before returning with two pebbles: one big, one small. The other two ponies could stare at each other in complete bewilderment, leaving Pinkie to explain:
"I'll ask him some two-answers-only questions! If he prefers the first choice, he can tell me by placing his hoof onto the small rock," she demonstrated for Taciturn to see, "and if he prefers the second choice, he can do the same for the bigger rock. What do you say?"

"Well, that sounds pretty neat."
Rainbow turned to the colt, beckoning him forward as she said: "What do you say, Tassee? Wanna give this a shot?"

There was a moment of brief hesitance, before he finally stepped forward with wavering confidence, bracing himself as Pinkie asked her first question:
"Do you like Hearth's Warming? Yes or no?"

The two mares watched as he reluctantly raised his hoof, placing it onto the small pebble of a stone.
"Alright, Tassee," the pink mare continued with a cheerful grin.
"Next question. What kind of milkshake do you prefer? Strawberry, or chocolate?"

Taciturn chose the big rock, making Pinkie squeal with glee.
"Now I know what milkshake I can make for you! My special creamy chocolate frappe! The most scrumptious, most sugary milkshake in all of Equestria!"

"Alright, Pinkie. Enough advertising already! Geez..." Rainbow groaned suddenly.
"Get on with the next question. I can't wait for us to get skating!"

"Dashie's a little impatient~!" the mare said in a quirky, singsong voice, her friend rolling her eyes.
She quickly turned back to Taciturn and, having been eager to go skating herself, hurriedly gave him the last question for today:
"Alright. Do you like soufflé or wafflé?"

"Wafflé?" Rainbow quipped at the word.
"Waffle-lay? What's with the extra part?"

"You know! Like soufflé is spelled 'soo-felay'? So waffles would be like 'waffle-lay'!"
Pinkie gave a wide grin as her friend pondered over the pronunciation of such, though she quickly turned to Taciturn once he made his choice, saying it aloud:
"Wafflé it is!"

Rainbow kept on wondering for the next few minutes, though she stopped after that, shaking her head.
"What am I doing..." she cursed at herself, quickly grabbing the ice skates from her satchel.
"Come on, Pinkie!" the mare yelled to her friend," Let's go ice-skating already!"

"Ooh, goodie, goodie, goodie~!!" the pink mare squealed happily, picking her pink ones up on the ground. The two friends settled onto the snow, putting on their ice skates as Taciturn watch them from afar, kicking the snow around his hooves aimlessly. Rainbow slid onto the ice first, flawlessly gliding towards the other side of the lake.
"Wait for me!" Pinkie exclaimed, swiveling about the ice jubilantly towards her friend. The two laughed for a brief moment, before resuming their skating, their blades carving about the frozen surface of the lake.

The pink mare suddenly jumped, twirling about the air in a graceful arabesque, landing perfectly onto the ground. Rainbow glided to her friend's side, propelling herself with her wings whilst carving through the ice, though she quickly noticed Taciturn at the edges of the bank.
What was he doing, she asked herself, gliding to his side. She raised an eyebrow the moment she saw him tossing the various berries that he had collected from their journey here across the snow, stopping only once he sighted his guardian trudging into the snow.

"Whatcha doing, Tassee?" she asked, to which he turned away. It was a little surprising and, for Rainbow, a little bit degrading, having been trusted by him all this time.
"Come on, Tassee," the cyan mare beckoned again. This time, Pinkie skated to her side, slightly concerned for her friend's patient as well.

"What's he doing?" the party pony asked, her answer being a shrug from her friend.
Taciturn suddenly pointed at Rainbow or, more accurately, at the ice skates on her hooves, making the two mares look at each other in surprise. Pinkie stopped to wonder for a moment, though the answer quickly struck her like a snowball.
"He wants to use your ice skates!"

"Wait, what?"
Rainbow just blinked at Taciturn, then at Pinkie, who could only tilt her head with uncertainty. She looked down at the precious ice skates on her hooves, before blowing her mane to the side, stammering:
"F-fine! Just this once, Tassee."

The colt was never more happier than she had ever seen once she handed her the four ice skates. He strapped the back ones first, though it seemed he had other plans for the pair on the front.
Without hesitation, he suddenly, much to his guardian's horror, squashed the berries with the blades of the ice skates, the juices painting all over the metal blades, the skates and the snow around. Rainbow's jaw hung agape once he did that, stunned after Taciturn finished, who was humming quietly with delight as he trotted merrily towards the frozen lake.
"D-did he..." the cyan mare began to stammer, "did h-he just di-did what I think he d-did?"

"Umm...... Dashie?" her friend called out worriedly, watching her starting to simmer into the snow.
"Y-you can have mine! I mean, it's just ice skates, r-right?"

"Those are the Spitfire Limited Wonderbolt Ice Skates!!" Rainbow yelled, seething with rage.
"They're not just ice skates, Pinkie! They're special ones! I saved up a gallon of bits trying to get those in for Canterlot just so I could use it, not him!!. Now look what he's done!"

The mares glanced at the colt, who was skating freely with a jubilant grin, unaware of his guardian's fuming state. Rainbow began to buckle her hooves with a whinny of hate, though not before Pinkie pulled her back suddenly.
"Wait!" her friend screeched, the cyan pegasus sporting a confused look.
"Look what he's doing!"

And, with a humph of irritation, Rainbow did. She crossed her hooves in an act of defiant resentfulness, scrutinizing the weird, sudden sharp turns that the colt was doing.
Her rage soon calmed into amazement (once again) as the juices beneath the blades were carved along with the ice, streaking his paths a purplish red. There were a few times that he stopped to replenish the juices, before continuing where he left off, leaving both mares in awe.

He concluded by grabbing a few pails of already-mushed blueberries, taking off the skates and returning it to its owner. With that, he skid back to the lake before anypony could stop him, though he landed perfectly onto his intended spot, now pouring and spreading the blueberry mix around a few, carved-out ovals.
The remainder raspberry mix was used soon after, the colt pouring it all out at the very side, before spreading it evenly across the ice. Carefully, Taciturn quickly slid back to Rainbow and Pinkie's side, beckoning his guardian to fly.

The rainbow-maned pegasus did so immediately, flapping up towards the sky and landing onto a passing cloud. She let out a silent gasp the moment she glimpsed at the lake below, unable to fathom the possibility of such a creation.
Carved by the blades of ice was a portrait of Pinkie Pie giving a wink, complete with her singular open eye painted with blueberries and her mane the mixture of raspberries. The outline was a purplish hue of the two fruits mashed together, carved deep into the fissures by the blades of her own roller skates.

"I can't believe it...!" Pinkie's voice suddenly spoke up, Rainbow turning in surprise to see her friend floating up with three balloons on her back. The sight of such a painting had rendered her friend speechless, though it was soon before she started speaking:
"That's me! In the ice! This is so, so wonderful!"

With a chuckle, Rainbow guided her friend back down to the ground, the pink mare instantly racing towards Taciturn and giving him a huge, choking hug.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!" Pinkie screeched, hugging him tighter.
"This is the best Hearth's Warming gift EVER~!!!"

Taciturn could only let out a squeak of help, leaving Rainbow to just shake her head at Pinkie's overenthusiastic behavior. The pink mare suddenly raced towards the other mare, her cotton candy tail wagging with anticipation as she asked:
"Can we take a picture of it? Can we, can we, CAN WE?!"

"Relax, Pinkie," the rainbow-maned mare croaked out a reply, clamping her ears shut. She quickly grabbed a camera from her satchel and zoomed up into the air, leaving her patient and her party-crazy friend to watch.
"Alright, guys!!" she shouted back, raising the camera as Pinkie skidded towards the center of the ice lake with a delighted grin, yanking Taciturn along as well.
"One... two... three!"

"Toffee!!"







The journey home was full of laughter with Pinkie around.

It was already dusk by the time they left the frozen lake, having skated almost every stretch of its frosted crust. They have left the section with Pinkie's portrait untouched, though both Rainbow and Pinkie knew it will disappear by the next snowfall.
Taciturn was more livelier than ever, even wanting to walk beside her guardian when he would usually hide behind her. There were a few times where he would suddenly talk, which only encouraged the party pony's excitement even more. Along the way, Rainbow brushed off the few splotches of juices and shredded skins of berries on the blades of her ice skates, all the while laughing heartily at Pinkie's randomness and her ample stash of jokes.

It wasn't long before the two friends had to part ways, saying their warm goodbyes. Rainbow shook her head with a smile as she watched her friend hopping cheerfully back towards Ponyville, in her mouth a few photos of her portrait.
The pink mare had told them she wanted to show the Cakes and Gummy, even wanting to reveal Taciturn's method of drawing it. She knew it wasn't long before the whole of Ponyville would know of Taciturn's creation, starting with the rest of her friends.

Speaking of Taciturn, Rainbow turned to the patient, who was grooming the sides of his pale wings. She nudged him on the shoulder, giving a small chuckle as she said:
"You really outdone yourself today, Tassee."

The colt just looked around the forest, before the two continued their path back to their cloud home. The cyan mare let out a small whistle on the way, before feeling something brush her mane.
"Wh-what are you doing?" she questioned, biting her lip once she felt Taciturn's hoof through the strands of her colorful mane. She felt a lump sinking down her throat and her gut being dragged across the floor, though everything stopped once she looked into his black eyes.

There was an infinite swirl of darkness in there. A whirlpool of jet-black oblivion. It sucked her in like an ink-splattered tornado, grasping at her by the throat with claws of despair. Of lost hope.
She suddenly fell backwards into a few snow-covered bushels, her breathing stilled the moment she saw Taciturn standing over her, a look of worry on his face. "Rainbow?" he muttered softly.

"I... I'm fine," she said dismissively.
"Come on, Tassee. We're almost there."

The patient eagerly followed behind, leaving Rainbow to think of what had happened just now.
She knew Taciturn has a thing for rainbows, but that was a little too much for her. Why was he acting so creepy all of the sudden? Or was it just her? There was something lurching in her heart, though it immediately dissipated, the thoughts of such being pushed to the edges of her mind.
"You have to be brave, Rainbow," her inner voice whispered, her hooves clenching with steadfast determination as she reminded herself of her duty.

"You're his guardian, and your job is to help him."