"C'mon, Tassee!"
Taciturn just stared at the floor, guiding his own hooves through a few bales of hay and the thick trunks of apple trees as he followed the overly-excited Rainbow Dash down the orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. The mare herself was chattering with exultant delight, guiding her patient down through the various ups and downs of the hillside path and approaching their destination at the end of the road: the Apple family's historic barn.
Rainbow had planned another urgent gathering with her friends. She had already briefed Twilight about it last night, explaining everything of her brilliantly fabricated plan to the bookish mare; a plan that will definitely satisfy the colt behind her and the ponies wanting to see his paintings, as well as the darn press. Of course the violet mare agreed: who wouldn't agree to such a perfect plan as that?
"Now," she muttered with anticipation, "we just have to tell the rest of them..."
The colt just stared blankly at his guardian, unaware on what her plans were. Rainbow never told him anything about it yet, and he complained by tugging her hoof every once in a while during their journey, eager to know more.
"I'll tell you when we reach the barn, Tassee," the mare assured him with a sigh.
"The rest of my friends are waiting to hear the plan too, y'know."
The large wooden doors of the red barn soon came into view. Without hesitation, Rainbow glanced around the fields, giving the door three firm knocks, pausing for a moment before giving another soft one. The loud click of a wooden latch resounded from inside, the door opening suddenly to allow her and Taciturn to step into the darkness.
"Glad yer finally make it, RD," Applejack's voice invited them inside, beckoning them into the circle. Sitting with her was Rarity, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh, in the center of them the only source of light; an antique oil lamp.
"Where's Twilight, Pinkie and Spike?" Rainbow asked, settling her and Taciturn down onto the hay-covered floor.
"They're bringing the issue of your injury to the city council," Rarity answered plainly.
"I wouldn't bother doing it, however. Those ponies are so... so air-headed... that they wouldn't even care if the end of the world is happening. You know who I'm talking about, I assume."
"Yeah..." the cyan mare's voice trailed off. Most of Ponyville's city council consists of the most money-minded ponies in town, such as Filthy Rich and Mayor Mare, among others. There were a few sensible members, such as Granny Smith (being one of the original founders of Ponyville, she had to be part of it) and its youngest member, Twilight herself, though she knew that wasn't enough to solve the matter.
"Enough of yesterday." she quickly uttered, trying not to think about it.
"I'm sure you guys know why we're here, right?"
"Eeyup," came Big Mac's reply. Fluttershy justified it by her very own question:
"Twilight said you have a plan...?"
"Yep, and it's the perfect one."
With that, she edged closer to the center of the group, her hooves gesturing about as she laid her plans out:
"So, the ponies and the press are dying to see the paintings that Tassee drew, right? But Tassee here can't handle the attention that he would be getting, right?"
"We know, we know," Applejack shouted with impatience, making the pegasus raise an eyebrow.
"Carry on already. Ah don't wanna be 'ere listenin' to things Ah already know."
"Rarity," Rainbow called her friend, the unicorn nodding immediately at the 'signal' as she reached behind, passing to the mare one of her art magazines she had brought during their last picnic. Everyone looked at her as she flipped through the pages, except for Taciturn, who had found something better to do; repetitively knocking at one of the wooden supports of the barn, not bothering to listen his guardian's ingenious plan.
"Just a sec..." she muttered, leafing through every page, before finally stumbling upon the one she desired.
"Aha! This is the one."
"The L'art Mondial Gallery of the Fine Arts?" Rarity questioned, looking at the header of the page.
"To display the greatest, most creative of what the art society can bring to all of ponykind in one location. You meant to say that your plan was..."
"Exactly," the athletic pegasus declared proudly, hovering in midair.
"We build up an art gallery somewhere in town that displays Tassee's paintings! Frame up all his previous works and put it on the walls. That way, all of Ponyville and the press would get to see his paintings, and he doesn't have to be there in the first place."
"Umm... excuse me, Rainbow... if you don't mind me asking..."
Fluttershy's meek voice, despite being nearly silent, caught her friend's attention immediately, the butter-colored pegasus popping her question:
"What about the reporters...?"
"Twilight and I are still thinking about that part. So... y'know..."
Rainbow pattered her hooves with excitement. "What do you think?" she asked her friends and, of course, the pony of the limelight. Taciturn just blinked twice, before kicking the hay beneath his hooves again; now that was slightly disappointing.
"It's a little far-fetched..." Rarity began, letting out a sigh.
"But I'll do my best. I'll begin searching for the finest venues around town this instant!"
"Count me in, RD," Applejack exclaimed, tipping her hat before giving her friend a nudge.
"Ah know Apple Bloom would be glad ta help. Ol' Macintosh would help out too, won'tcha?"
"Eeyup."
"And I'll help too, if you don't mind..." Fluttershy spoke.
"Alright! That's the spirit!"
Rainbow turned to the one remaining pony in the barn that haven't gave an answer yet; the one that was staring straight at her with his brows furrowed in an expression of dissatisfaction. She could only imagine what he was planning in his head, unsure of what to do.
His eyes seemed to warp the longer she waited, her vision suddenly dissolving into a swirling funnel of black, washing down into the oblivion like a sink. Her mouth started to creak open once she felt the choking feeling around the back of her throat again, though there was something else this time.
Water. It was definitely water.
She wanted to cough and splutter it out, yet her body wasn't responding to her frantic attempts of distress. Instead, the vice grip around her neck tightened, her vision reduced into a scintillating world of black. Everything was clawing and scratching at her, her skin wrapped around as she sank deeper and deeper into the abyss...
"Rainbow!" Applejack's voice snapped her out of her nightmarish reverie, the dazed mare blinking as she glanced around, before back at Taciturn. He was smiling, before glancing down onto the floor again, returning to his realm of imagination.
"He said yes." the farmpony continued.
"Well, not literally, but ya know what Ah mean."
"That's great," Rainbow replied half-heartedly, staring uneasily at the colt, who was glancing up at the ceiling of the barn, waiting patiently for their impending departure.
She can't understand what happened. Hadn't she got over this yesterday by talking about trust? Why was she suddenly assaulted by these horrific thoughts lately?
"Well," the mare continued, shaking her thoughts away. She had a plan to assemble.
"What are waiting for?"
"What do you mean we need a warrant?"
Twilight couldn't believe her ears, staring at the stern, azure pupils of Filthy Rich, the tense aura enveloping around them from the stringent manner he was displaying. Everypony else in the town hall could only hold their breath at the two, bracing themselves for any argument that seemed to be starting.
"You don't understand," the violet mare spoke first, wanting to scream and pull his mane out.
"One of my friends got hurt by these reporters, and they have been parading through the streets like they own this town! Even Pinkie here was never involved in anything, and yet they still tried to interview her!"
"I understand your concern, Miss Sparkle," the stallion said gruffly.
"But you have to understand that the Mayor and the city council has agreed on the terms that the press can ask questions, providing that they have a registered license."
"And no ethics of any sort?" she shot back.
"They has gone too far, Mr. Rich! They can't even show proper manners and they came barging in and spewing out random questions that nopony wants to answer!"
"Yeah!!" Pinkie added, wrinkling her snout with cold hatred.
"I spent hours trying to kick every single of those nagging meanies out of Sugarcube Corner! The Cakes and I couldn't finish all of our orders on time, all because of those annoying jerks!"
"I'm certain we can figure something out," Mayor Mare stepped into the conversation.
"But until then, any and all of their actions are deemed harmless until further decisions can be made-"
"HARMLESS?!!"
Pinkie's loud screech nearly snapped their eardrums, the pink mare stomping her hooves harshly onto the table with a loud thud, letting out a harrumph of anger while gritting her teeth.
"They've hurt Dashie, for Celestia's sake!! They've hurt my friend, and you say that they're HARMLESS?!!"
"Calm down, Pinkie!" Twilight hastily said, pulling the pink mare back to prevent her friend for lunging at the mayor and strangling her. She gave a grimacing stare at the council standing before her, scowling accusingly:
"If you want to continue with all these problems, then fine! Go ahead! All I want is to know exactly what happened, and if it was by accident or on purpose, and you keep saying you want a stupid warrant!"
"I'm afraid it's the rules of law and order, Miss Sparkle," Filthy Rich replied bluntly.
"I'm sure you would know of those rules. Without a warrant, you can't just go and investigate to your heart's delight."
"What about the approval of the Captain of Her Majesty's Royal Guard?"
The familiar voice made every single pony to turn towards the main doors of the town hall, their eyes widening in surprise and disbelief at the figure standing at the doorway. Twilight gave a loud gasp at the stallion adorning the glorifying armor before her, removing his helmet before giving her a wave.
"Hey, Twily!" he exclaimed.
"Shining!" her voice burst out, galloping to give her older brother a tight hug.
"What brings you here? Where's Cadance?"
"Princess Celestia had gotten your letter about your friend. She told me you would do something like this and... well... thought it was necessary for you to have some backup."
Shining marched into the building and towards the rest of the ponies, his head turned to the violet unicorn that was marching right beside him while continuing his answer:
"As for Cadance, she's going to come down here tomorrow, along with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Something about dealing with those who crossed the line."
"Wait," Mayor Mare cut in, her jaw starting to tremble with her ears drooping.
"All three pr-pr-princesses are coming to Ponyville? T-tomorrow?"
"Yes, and unfortunately, they're not in the brightest of moods once they have heard of the incident with my sister's friend here. I overheard some of you mentioning about allowing them to continue their acts?"
The stallion raised an eyebrow as the council ponies started to wear apologetic looks on their faces, before he turned back to his sister, trying his best to look serious. Twilight started to giggle at his attempts to do so, forcing out a smile from him as he asked:
"By the way, where is your friend anyway?"
"Right here!"
Rainbow trotted in with a proud smile on her face, guiding Taciturn alongside her with the rest of her friends following close behind, all wearing confident grins. She gave Shining a small, reassuring nod once he noticed the faint mark of her bruise on her face, before turning to Twilight.
"You told them about the plan yet?"
"Not yet," the scholarly mare admitted sheepishly.
"Couldn't get a chance to. We were too busy arguing at each other to care."
"Never mind 'bout that," the cyan mare replied, glancing at her friend's brother.
"Come to think of it, I've figured something out. Something that can fix the problem with the press wanting all these interviews from Tassee."
"Really?" Twilight asked skeptically, to which Rainbow gave a nod.
With that, both mares marched up to the presence of the Mayor and the city council, with the cyan pegasus being the first to speak up:
"You probably might be wondering why I'm here. Well, I came here to tell you just that. I'm the legal guardian of Mr. Bleach," her stomach gurgled again, "and I'm here to speak for him of the fact that my friends and I are proposing an idea; one that will satisfy the three sides: the ponies of Ponyville, the press from other towns and, of course, my fellow buddy Tassee here."
"What are you suggesting, Miss Dash?" Filthy Rich asked, her words piquing the businesspony's interest.
"Rarity," Rainbow called her friend again, the white unicorn huffing in a slight stint of irritation before pulling out the exact same magazine from earlier, passing it to the mare to reenact the demonstration of their plan once more.
She turned to Taciturn, who gave an eager nod, prompting her to continue. With a sigh, she cleared her throat, her inner voice groaning:
"Here we go again..."
"Can you believe it? I can't believe it either!"
Rainbow Dash was laughing on the whole journey back to her house at their new triumph, with Taciturn happily grinning along with her. She brushed her mane to the side and, along with it, the thin layer of snow over it. Cloudsdale still hasn't sent notifications on the unscheduled snowfall, and she would've asked around about it if not for what she was planning to do tonight, and that was to prepare for the coming day. Her proposal of an art gallery was met with affirmative nods from every council member back in town hall, permitting her and her friends to do so, starting from tomorrow.
The colt just blankly stared at her as she giggled with glee suddenly, leaving him all the more bewildered at the abruptly weird behavior of his guardian. Rainbow seemed to have noticed him, faking out a cough while she tried to control the overwhelming sensation of victory within her head, though she couldn't resist fluttering briefly into the air for joy once in a while. It feels great to win, she thought to herself and, being the competitive athlete she was, there was nothing better than this.
"Who knew that having Twilight as a friend could sometimes be so awesome~!" Rainbow cheerfully spoke, remembering of Shining Armor's powerful presence in the room. He did solve their problem between Taciturn and the press just by being there; it was the best spontaneous plan she had ever concocted.
According to the plan, Taciturn would stay in a room along with her, with Shining and his group of ponies standing guard and making sure everything is running smoothly. Only one interviewee can enter the room; the rest has to form a line if they want to get their questions answered.
Genius, Rainbow said to herself, puffing her chest proudly. Pure genius.
"Everypony's gonna love your paintings," she said to Taciturn, stopping once they were below the cyan mare's cloud house. Once again, the colt hitched a ride on his guardian's back, flying up to the building in a routine that both ponies were getting accustomed to under the golden sky of dusk.
"Finally," the mare murmured under her breath once her hooves touched the insides of her home, kneeling down to allow Taciturn to climb off. She gave a colt a small nudge; one that made him harrumph in displeasure at its suddenness, before heading off into her bedroom.
"Hiya, Tank," she greeted her tortoise, handing him a small piece of lettuce. Tank chomped and munched happily at his owner's present, looking at her with a wrinkly wide smile while she let herself fall onto her bed.
With a long sigh, she ran through the various things that had happened today. The plan was settled, the problems were dealt with, and now the ponies of the city council were expecting results. Good results, to say the least.
Rainbow rose from her bed, heading out to the living room to pack up a few of Taciturn's art materials, just in case if any of the ponies suddenly demanded for any live draw sessions or demonstrations of some sort. She knew Scootaloo would want to see something such as that; that squirt did mention a few times that she had always wanted to see him draw.
Unsurprisingly, Taciturn was using them again, his set of art tools arranged like a train while he used his ornate paintbrush; the same one that Rainbow had given to him the day they had first met.
Rainbow's heart crept with nostalgia: has it really only been eight days? With a smug grin, she sat beside the reserved colt, watching with a calm smile as he drew various strokes onto the canvas, with any emotion leaking from his lips brewed into the concentration of finishing the painting before him.
"Hey, Tassee?" the mare chirped his name, stopping him in his work immediately. With that, she placed a small Santa cap onto his head, the colt just blinking before it dropped over his eyes, the sight making Rainbow giggle.
"I bought this for you in the market," she explained as Taciturn took it off, looking at the festive headgear with a murmur of curiosity. He suddenly handed it to her, making her stop to look in pure bewilderment.
"R-Rainbow."
"What?" she asked. The colt nudged his hoof a little, wearing a pleading look.
"You want me to try it on?"
Taciturn nodded happily the moment she got his message. She wanted to say no and forget about it, probably even throw the cap back to the vendor she had brought if from, but of course, she wouldn't dare to find out what would happen to herself later on.
With a sigh, Rainbow plopped the cap up onto her rainbow mane, smiling once he started to sway jubilantly about while he was sitting on the floor. She suddenly gave him a wink, before the pair burst out in a slight fit of laughter, rolling about the floor with their bodies convulsing rapidly.
It wasn't long before they died down, leaving them to lie on the floor to gaze at the puffy ceiling above them. Rainbow still held her smile, passing the cap back to her patient as she asked:
"Do you like it?"
There was a nod, with Taciturn reaching his hooves out like an eager foal wanting to be hugged by its mother. The fuzzy feeling of its furry exterior made his smile ever wider, hugging it tightly with a loud squeal of delight; one that she had never heard from the colt before.
She glanced down at his unfinished work, pursing her lips at the possible cleaning up she had to do later. The ghostly colt was too busy enjoying his new cap to continued his painting; it wasn't long before he placed it onto Rainbow's mane again, catching his guardian by surprise.
"What the hayyyyyy-!!"
Rainbow Dash suddenly felt herself being yanked forward, the soothing feeling of warmth suddenly enveloping the whole of her body as Taciturn gave her a thankful hug, his wings wrapped around her. The mare just widened her eyes in bafflement at the sudden embrace, her cheeks blushing a deep red once she realized what was happening.
Her eyes darted down to Taciturn's face buried in her chest, the colt wearing a beaming, cheery smile. Her wings ruffled a little, before he finally let go, wearing a bright smile while the mare tried to process what had just happened.
"Um... thanks for the hug, Tassee? I g-guess...?" she stammered, trying to find her words to say.
"That's uh...... very nice of you! Yes! Very nice to give me a hug and such..."
Taciturn trotted back, turning to her once to give her a happy smile. Something tingled her heart once she saw that beaming face of his; something that made her lips just curl despite whatever problems she thinks she's having. Rainbow didn't know what it was, but it felt comfortable... and so right...
Blinking once more, she watched as Tassee resumed his painting again, now wearing the Santa cap on his head. The ornate gift that she had bestowed to him waded through the gloppy puddles of paint, before he carefully used the tip of the bristles to carve out a portion of the painting. Rainbow soon patted him on the back, letting out a small yawn while she headed back into her bedroom.
"Goodnight, Tassee," she muttered, closing the door. Taciturn stopped to turn once she shut the door, before smiling happily, with a tint of pale scarlet reaching down the tips of her cheeks whilst muttering out what he could recall from memory, the thought of it only stopping to grin with realization at the wall.
"R-Rainbow... Dash......... Dashie...!"