The seven mares drank from their celebratory cider, until Midday lowered hers and made a slight noise.
"Not what I was expecting" she muttered, staring at it. She had never really been fond of cider, and she was slightly glad to see her opinion of the drink hadn't changed. Applejack smiled slightly.
"Don't take it so hard. Not everypony likes cider."
"I'll take that then" Rainbow Dash said, calmly taking Midday's glass before she could say anything, and downing it in one gulp. Followed by a rather loud belch.
"Charming" Rarity sighed, shaking her head slightly. "I pity any stallion who winds up with you." There was a small squeak from Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash just scoffed.
"But I'm so awesome, whoever I end up with would be glad to be with me." Rainbow Dash flashed a smug smile.
After a few moments of random conversation, the group dispersed to enjoy the celebratory party. Midday found herself standing near a snack table, which she hadn't noticed several minutes ago. There was a noise and she turned to see Granny Smith smiling at her.
"Evening, Granny Smith" she said, looking around uncertainly. The mare said nothing. "Is there something wrong?"
"No" the mare said, "Just wanted to thank you for helping out today." Then something seemed to occur to her.
"Ah never told you the story I'm promised, did I?" Midday shuffled slightly. She had expressed some curiosity in the origins of Applejack, but she was fairly certain at that point that she knew the basic parts of the story.
"Well, why don't ah tell you now. After all, you did help bring mah granddaughter back, buried the hatchet with her, and helped save my pappy's farm from them snake-oil salesmen." She spat at the last part. "Ah figure you're owed a reward."
Midday tried to look for an interesting appetiser.
"That's really not necessary" she said. Granny Smith's smile changed slightly. Midday got the feeling she wasn't getting out of this.
"Do it any way, ah rarely get a chance to talk to anypony these days. Most of 'em just wanna talk to Applejack. Not enough of them wanting to talk to McIntosh, though." She frowned and shook her head.
"Ah worry about that boy." Midday titled her head.
"Well, Hearts and Hooves Day is coming up, isn't it?" She said, a slight pang of dread hitting her at she realised what she said. Granny Smith nodded slowly, then glowered.
"Guess it is, but that boy spends most of his day workin' on the fields, or shut inside. Bit like that Fluttershy gal, ah always thought." She suddenly seemed to realise something.
"Anyway, yer hearin' the story, and I'm not taking no for an answer." Her sudden irritation shook Midday, who found herself unable to make some remark. She was certain she could hear Granny Smith muttering something about 'nuthin' like your mother'.
And so Granny Smith sat at a small table she had Big McIntosh set up, and calmly started to explain, of how a farmer and a slightly spoilt heiress from the city met and eventually fell in love, and even disclosed the origin of Applejack's hat. After she was done with the tale, Midday simply frowned.
"How much of that story is true?" she asked. Granny Smith just smirked slightly.
"Ya know, Applejack's never asked that" the old mare said. At that she walked away from the table, not answering Midday's question in the slightest. After a few moments she just smiled and went off to join in the party.
*****
The next few days passed entirely without incident, until one morning, Twilight declared that she was going out for a walk. and having nothing better to do, Midday followed her. They found Rarity and Pinkie staring into the sky.
"What are you looking at?" asked Twilight.
"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie smiled, "Isn't she the most daring devil? I mean the most devilish darer? I mean-"
"She's dazzling!" Rarity said. Midday watched the multicolour trail the pegasus was leaving. It was quite impressive. A small part of her smiled at the fact that the while the young Rainbow Dash was unbelievably foolish, she was still the same amazing speedster. But she was fairly certain she could see a grin on the mare's face. Rainbow Dash obviously knew she had an audience, and her stunts were getting more and more complicated, and more dangerous, and while she knew Rainbow Dash was likely to survive whatever happened, she was still going to hurt herself.
And seconds later, she crashed.
"So much for dazzling" Pinkie said. The four ponies quickly rushed over to the crumpled pile of legs and wings.
"Oh, this is bad." Twilight winced. Rarity lifted a hoof, and Midday slapped it away.
"Don't move her!" She hissed.
"But she's hurt!" Midday rolled her eyes at that.
"And nopony here is a trained medical professional." She turned to Pinkie, "Pinkie, rush over to the hospital and..." She saw a group of ponies approaching with a stretcher.
"Nevermind" she said calmly. "That was fast" she added.
"Well," one of the ponies said, "after the first few crashes, we figured it was an idea to keep a watchful eye on her when she practices her stunts." There was a small hum from one of the ponies.
"Looks like a broken wing" the mare said, eyeing Rainbow Dash's obviously broken left wing. The ponies carefully lifted the pegasus onto a stretcher and heading towards Ponyville General Hospital, Twilight and the others quickly following after her.
*****
Middays' bored pacing in the hallway was interrupted when Applejack and Fluttershy arrived, both looking concerned, however the doctors still wouldn't let them see Rainbow Dash, until eventually they were shown into a room where a sleeping Rainbow Dash was spread out on the bed, her right wing quite clearly bandaged. Midday considered using some of her own wide brand of bone-fixing spells for her wing, but then she remembered the drawbacks, that while the bones would certainly be fixed, after a short bout of vigour the affected body part would become useless for a period of time, and given Rainbow Dash's usual behaviour, and unwillingness to listen to anypony, she'd probably still try to fly, resulting in her becoming Rainbow Splat. She grimaced.
"It is quite an alarming sight, isn't it?" Rarity said, apparently having noticed her look of concern.
"I've seen injured ponies before" Midday said grimly, trying desperately not to remember the last time she'd been anywhere near a hospital.
"Is she gonna be okay?" asked Applejack.
"It's only a broken wing" Midday said calmly, before she noticed the plaster over Rainbow Dash's right eye. "And possibly a nasty bump to the head." There was an irritated cough from the attending physician.
"And I though I was the doctor here" he muttered. There was a slight groan as Rainbow Dash woke up. The mare looked around the room in alarm before examining her wing.
"How is she, doctor?" Twilight asked. He was still examining a x-ray of Rainbow's wing, showing the very clear break in the bone.
"She's going to be fine. he said. There were several sighs of relief. Rainbow Dash folded her legs together.
"How long do I have to stay here? I've got things I need to do!"
"Well, that all depends on your recovery, but," he eyed the chart again, "I'd say a few days minimum."
Rainbow Dash suddenly looked terrified. She reached over and grabbed Fluttershy.
"You guys have gotta get me out of here, I'm gonna climb the walls!" Pinkie 'oohed'.
"Just like a spider." She turned to the doctor, "Did the crash give her super-duper spider powers?"
He stared at her with a look of mild concern, and calmly turned away. "No. Nor did it give her amazing healing powers. She needs to stay in bed for a few days" he said sternly, as he walked out of the room. Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to cry.
"A few days?" she whimpered, "Might as well be a few months, or a few years!"
Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Midday.
"It's nowhere near that bad, Rainbow."
"Easy for you to say" she muttered angrily.
"I bet the chow in here's hoof-lickin' good." Applejack said, uncertainly, leaving Midday to wonder if the mare had ever had to stay in a hospital before. Rarity looked at one of the gowns, and seemed to wince at the awful mucus green colour, probably chosen specifically to induce a sense of despair in any who wore in. Midday was amazed Rarity wasn't trying to burn it.
"And the clothes..." she looked around the room, and held the gown up against the curtains, "Match the drapes?"
"I think they're made out of drapes" Midday observed. Pinkie walked over to the small curtain by Rainbow Dash's bed and smiled.
"And look, you've got a roommate." She beamed, pulling the curtain back to reveal a truly unfortunate pony covered almost entirely in bandages. Midday slowly raised a hoof and waved to the poor stallion (or at least she assumed the pony was a stallion, it was hard to tell).
"Hello there" she said
Rainbow Dash said nothing to all of this, merely throwing the bed-clothes over her head. The uncomfortable silence was broken by the noise of squeaking wheels, and a mare brought in a trolley full of books. Twilight lifted a familiar looking book off the cart and waved it towards Rainbow Dash, who slowly looked at it, like it was a sample of Poison Joke.
"What's this?" she looked at the cover, "'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone'?" There was a truly adorable grin on Twilight's face as Rainbow looked at the book disapprovingly.
"It's the first story in the series. I own all of them." Her grin grew slightly larger and she made a slight squeaking noise. Rainbow Dash simply slumped backwards.
"No thanks. I so don't read. I'm a world-class athlete." Midday desperately fought the urge to point out the obvious error in that statement, "Reading's for eggheads like you, Twilight" She looked at the slightly hurt expression on Twilight's face. "No offense, but I'm not reading." She lay back, placing her hooves behind her head.
"It's undeniably, unquestionably, uncool." To that, everypony laughed slightly.
"Is she serious?" Applejack said, "Who doesn't like to read a bang-up tale from time to time?" Midday raised an eyebrow at that. She hadn't expected Applejack to say such a thing.
Rarity gave a slight sigh. "Why, a good book is almost as magnificent as silk pyjamas on a sunday morning"
"Reading is for everypony, Rainbow Dash" Twilight said in her best 'teacher' voice.
"'Uncool'?" Midday asked, "Seriously? You do realise, Rainbow Dash, that being a Wonderbolt requires extensive reading. Why, Spitfire herself frequently chairs seminars at Cloudsdale University." Rainbow Dash looked like she'd been kicked. Midday smiled as innocently as she could manage. "Actuallly, now that I think about it, 'Doctor Spitfire' sounds like a superhero. But she does have at least one doctorate, or so I've heard."
"You... You're making that up!" Rainbow Dash said plaintively. Midday just looked at her.
"Am I?" She patted the book slightly. "Well, I'm sure you can find plenty of other things to do to occupy your time here. In my experience, boredom's a brilliant cure for all ills."
"Is it?" Pinkie asked, horror evident in her voice.
"And it's either this or..." she looked at the book cart, "The Highlights of Equestrian History." She flicked through the book, and frowned. "And surprise, surprise, almost no mention of the Crystal Empire." Her frown grew worse, "or Luna for that matter. And absolutely nothing on the bearded one."
Twilight looked irritated. "There's no such thing as the Crystal Empire" she said. There was a knocking sound, and everypony turned to see a nurse standing by the door.
"Alright my little ponies. Rainbow Dash needs her rest. You'll have to come back tomorrow." And with that they started moving towards the door. Twilight took one last look back at Rainbow Dash.
"I think you'll like Daring. She's a lot like you. Adventurous, fierce, and undeniably, unquestionably unstoppable."
Midday frowned as they walked out towards the door.
"I though Stoppable was her sidekick."
"That never happened." Twilight said calmly.
"But-"
"Never happened."
Midday smirked at that. "Does somepony not like book six?" She said as they walked out into the lazy afternoon sunlight.
"It... has its merits. It's readable" Twilight said, quickly. Midday nodded, knowing what Twilight meant by 'readable'. She looked at Fluttershy, who seemed oddly interested in their conversation.
"I hope Rainbow Dash will be okay." She said, in her usual quiet voice. Midday smiled at that.
"I wonder if she will read that book." Twilight said, her voice slightly far-away. "How can she not think reading is cool?!"
"I'm fairly certain, knowing Rainbow Dash, she probably will end up reading it. And knowing her, she'll probably start trying to hide the fact that she did, with all her usual subtlety and grace." There was a slight pause.
"Still, I always though Azy was a pretty entertaining villain. 'You think you're so daring, Daring, but you're not!'" she smiled. "Of, course, that was after he stopped being a threat. Which did you prefer, Fluttershy?"
The pegasus jumped slightly. "What, me?" She asked, looking around nervously.
"Yes. C'mon, you read Daring Do, don't you? I saw that book on your coffee table." Fluttershy looked at her.
"Oh, I... that was for Angel. He likes those books" she said, shuffling her hooves slightly. Midday just smirked.
"And has anypony ever noticed how Rainbow Dash looks like Daring Do?" Everypony suddenly stopped walking.
"Hey, yeah..." Applejack said slowly, "Y'know, that's true."
"Does she?" Fluttershy whispered. Midday's horn glowed, and a slight wave of magic washed over her. Her coat turned a golden-mustard yellow which she had always though rather resembled Wisp slightly, and her mane appeared to shorten to look like Rainbow Dash's, only in varied greys.
"Goodness." Rarity said, "It's uncanny. She does look like Rainbow Dash."
"What a coincidence." Fluttershy said to herself.
"Certainly is." Midday said calmly, noting the obvious distress on Fluttershy's face. "Perhaps the writer just saw her when she was younger, because there's no way she could have met Rainbow Dash, right? I mean, the books only came out when you guys were what? Ten, twelve?"
"Twelve." Fluttershy whispered.
"Spooky." Pinkie said, before making 'ghost'-noises.
"I'd love to meet her someday," Twilight sighed, "But apparently she's a recluse. There's not even a photo of her." She looked down at the ground, and smiled slightly, "It's probably for the best. I'd probably bother her to death asking about her books and all the errors." There were a few shared giggles, and even Fluttershy cracked a slight smile.
"Well" Rarity said, "I should probably get back to work." She looked back to the hospital. "See you girls later."
"I gotta get back to Sugarcube Corner." Pinkie said suddenly, then she beamed at the thought of seeing Pound and Pumpkin Cake again.
Slowly everypony else went off, Fluttershy barely mumbling out wherever she was going, leaving Midday and Twilight walking back to the library. Twilight occasionaly glanced at Midday.
"What?" She asked eventually.
"Crystal Ponies? Really?" The purple unicorn asked.
"What? You don't think they're real? Ask Luna, next time you mail her." She stopped, and appeared to consider something. "Actually, ask Celestia. I think all you'd get back from Luna is a piece of damp paper."
Twilight looked at Midday in confusion, thought the mare said nothing further on the matter.
*****
The next morning, Fluttershy visited the library, asking Twilight if she wanted to help visit Rainbow Dash. The librarian agreed, and Midday decided to follow after them, out of curiosity. When they reached the room Rainbow Dash was being held in, Midday saw the mare quickly shuffling something out of sight. Something that looked almost like a book. And Rainbow Dash, with her usual grace and subtlety, tried to look nonchalant.
"Hi Rainbow Dash!" Twilight and Fluttershy chimed.
"Hey... guys" Rainbow Dash smiled.
"We thought we'd come and cheer you up" Fluttershy said. Twilight lifted a small cardboard box onto the bed.
"We brought your favourite board-game" she smiled.
Midday watched as Rainbow Dash very quickly declared herself the loser of this particular game, at which point Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged uncertain looks.
"But Rainbow Dash, you didn't even get a turn" Rainbow Dash laughed and shrugged.
"You win some, you lose some" she smiled.
"But you don't 'lose some'," Twilight said, "I don't think you've ever lost a game of-"
Rainbow Dash made the most fake yawn Midday had seen in years.
"Thanks for coming" she said quickly. Midday wandered over to the window, trying not to smirk as Rainbow Dash shuffled just enough to obscure what was quite clearly a book.
'Subtle' Midday thought.
"But yesterday you were desperate for things to do." Twilight added. Rainbow Dash suddenly looked alert.
"Do? Who said anything about Daring Do? I told you I'm not interested in reading." She yawned again and leaned back into her pillow, before reaching over to the light by her bed and turning it off. "It's nap time for me." She said, before making the most fake snoring noises Midday had ever heard in years.
"Glad we could cheer you up" Fluttershy said, before hesitantly walking away, leaving Twilight staring at Rainbow Dash, who opened her eyes. Twilight leaned right into Rainbow Dash's face.
"Alright then" she said, before turning to leave. Midday followed, stopping at the door to smirk at Rainbow Dash.
"What?" The pegasus asked. Midday just smiled and laughed.
"What chapter are you?"
"Fou- HEY!" Rainbow Dash yelled, but Midday quickly rushed off before the mare could say anything else.
"What's so funny?" asked Fluttershy.
"Just messing with Rainbow Dash's head." She smiled back. Twilight was just looking concerned.
"I don't know what could possibly have gotten into Rainbow Dash." She said.
"Seven hundred and fourteen pages of excitement and adventure, I'd hazard." Twilight just looked confused.
"But Rainbow Dash said she wasn't interested in reading." The purple unicorn frowned. Midday just smirked further.
"I worry about you sometimes, Twilight" she said, not noticing Twilight and Fluttershy sharing confused glances.
*****
The next day, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie visited the library, sharing an incredibly descriptive tale of how Rainbow Dash had driven the three mares out with some highly disgusting eating.
"Maybe she's gone mad." Trixie wrly observed from what appeared to be a book on illusions. "Actually, how would you be able to tell if she'd gone mad?"
"Nah, Rainbow ain't the sort of mare who'd go mad after just a day in a bed. Pretty sure she just didn't want to see nopony." Applejack said. "Can't imagine why."
"Yes." Midday said from the Daring Do book she was reading through, which she had chosen to read of her own free will "I do wonder entirely what could possibly have made her so anti-social. Maybe she decided to read that book on Equestrian history, and read all about the wonderful exploits of Mimic."
"Rainbow Dash isn't the sort of pony who reads history books." Spike said, over by the non-fiction section. Midday just rolled her eyes slightly.
"Maybe she just doesn't want us to see her in her injured condition," Rarity said, "she's always been extremely sensitive about how others view her, after all."
"Like during the whole Mare Do Well fracas?" Midday said.
"I'd say it was more of a ruckus" Pinkie said, blowing a bubble pipe she hadn't been carrying seconds ago.
"What's the difference?"
Pinkie shrugged. "Semantics, mostly" she said calmly, before blowing some more bubbles.
A question occured to Midday. "If Rainbow Dash can't fly, where's she going to stay?"
Applejack fielded that question. "She'll be staying with Fluttershy. The gal's got a spare bedroom she doesn't use."
"Oh yeah" Said Midday, quietly.
"I was going to let her stay at Sugarcube Corner, but Pound and Pumpkin Cake keep crying, and that wouldn't be really restful for Rainbow. It's not really restful for anypony, actually" Pinkie said, rubbing her hoof against her chin. Midday had to agree. Every now and then for the last few weeks she'd heard the twins crying in the night. She slowly closed the book, and set it down gently.
"I'm sure Rainbow Dash doesn't mind her friends seeing her in a weakened state, Rarity. It's more likely she started reading that Daring Do book and doesn't want anypony to discover that she is in fact an 'egghead'."
There were a few moments of silence, before Pinkie started laughing.
"That's just silly. You're being silly, Midday."
The royal blue unicorn's only response was to raise an eyebrow and go back to reading her book. She knew Rainbow Dash of her time read, and had even on a few occasions written, books. She was fairly certain the events of the past few days were Rainbow discovering her fondness for books. She calmly turned the page. After a few lines she smirked.
"Ahuizotl, you scamp."
Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie exchanged nervous glances, and shrugged. Midday continued reading. She frowned, and wondered where Fluttershy was.
*****
Later that night, as Midday was finishing off the book, inbetween laughing fits at Ahuizotl's rather campy attempts to take over the world, there was a knock on the door. Midday looked about. Twilight and Spike were upstairs, and Trixie was off doing whatever she did. She sighed. She hated leaving the book unfinished, but she walked over to the door. Standing there was a pony wearing a dark cloak, which a part of her mind noted wasn't as good for disguising oneself at night as something dark green or blue. And the yellow hooves sticking out from underneath it made it quite clear who it was, and slightly comical.
"Hello, Fluttershy" she smiled. Suddenly the pony motioned for her to move closer. She considered resisting, but then remembered Fluttershy could fight bears, and whole swarms of Changelings. So she stood next to the mare. She hoped nopony would walk in and see her talking with a pony dressed like one of Sombra's Witch-King Ministers.
"Please don't tell anypony." Fluttershy said.
Midday blinked. "Tell anypony... what?" She was aware, without being able to see Fluttershy's eyes that she was being Stared at.
"You know what" the pegasus said. Despite her utter terror of Fluttershy, she couldn't help but smile.
"You are saying that you, you of all ponies actually..."
"Shush!" Fluttershy hissed. Midday's smile grew into a grin.
"Is this the point where you offer to do 'anything' to stop me blabbing to everypony about this? Since I'm assuming you just want a quiet life not being badgered by Twilight critiquing every single book."
There was a slight pause, and the sound of feathers moving against cloth.
"Would I help if I promise to not tell anypony?"
"Yes. It would help." From the sound of it, Fluttershy had some greater plan which she'd managed to completely derail. Midday wasn't quite sure why Fluttershy hadn't expected that. Just like with her mother, plans tended to fall apart around her.
"Well, that's good. Thank you." Fluttershy said, and she turned to leave. Midday coughed.
"However, Fluttershy, I would like to point out that somepony will probably figure it out sooner or later. And, by the way..." she said, solemnity seeping into her voice.
"You know book ten? You are going to tell us the backstory between Daring and that guy eventually, right?" She couldn't help herself. She could practically feel Fluttershy's blushing. She laughed slightly. Book ten had been quite controversial, even by the usual complaints about the newest Daring Do books, usually along the lines of each new one being not quite as good, or focus not given to cool sounding characters. She'd actually liked it, herself. It was better than the times when the writer (or Fluttershy, rather) tried to get out of writing Ahuizotl and replace him with different villains.
Fluttershy just mumbled something. Midday laughed. "Good night Fluttershy." She said, as the mare walked out the door, closing it gently behind her.
"Who was that?" Asked Twilight, walking down the stairs.
"Just some writer." Midday said, picking her book back up and smiling at Twilight, "Nothing more."
*****
"Congratulations, Rainbow Dash, we're checking you out of the hospital."
"What, later today?"
"No. Right now!"
*****
Midday woke up at somewhere around eleven in the morning, and eventually managed to get out of bed, having dreamt of wandering around an ancient temple which quickly turned out to be a giant spaceship of some sort.
"I think I preferred the nightmares" she muttered. After breakfast, she went for a walk, feeling the need to shake thoughts of pith helmets from her head. She found Rainbow Dash slouched on a bench, looking miserable.
"Hey, Rainbow. What's the matter?" she asked. The mare slowly looked at her.
"Nothing," she said, frowning slightly. "I'm fine. Except I can't fly. But other than that, completely cool, radical and awesome, same as usual."
"Good to know." Midday said calmly. She stood there for a moment. Rainbow Dash looked uncertain.
"You couldn't finish the book, could you?" she grinned.
"What book? I have no idea what you're talking about, you're crazy Midday Eclipse, if that is your real name, which I doubt. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm busy thinking."
Midday raised an eyebrow.
"You know, you could just 'ask' Twilight to give you her copy of the book, if you really want to know what happens. Though, if you'd listened to what Twilight said, you'd already know Daring survives."
Rainbow Dash glowered at her, with all the hate of a pony who's just had a book ruined for them.
"Don't go glowering at me, Dashie. Of course she survived, she's the heroine. The heroine always lives." She looked about, uncertainly. "Barring that one with time-travel, which doesn't really count. That one was weird..." She shook her head at the memory of reading that one.
"I can't go ask Twilight. I called her an egghead."
"Technically, you called everypony in the room an 'egghead'. And Doctors Spitfire and Soarin'." Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide.
"Soarin's a what-now?!" There was a pained groan as Rainbow Dash buried her face in her hooves. Midday just shook her head.
"Besides, Twilight's probably forgotten what you said already." Rainbow Dash said nothing, still apparently mourning for the death of her world-view. "Well, I'll let you get on with your thinking." She turned to go, stopped, and turned around, "You do know the library's always open to somepony who wants to read, right?"
But Rainbow Dash was clearly thinking up something cunning, something that would leave analysists pondering for ages just how she came up with such a plan.
'Who am I kidding?' Midday thought to herself.
*****
"Oh, the pain! The PAIN!"
*****
For the rest of the day, there was calm, save five crying jags from Pound and Pumpkin Cake. There was a brief debate whether it was actually six, but eventually Twilight and Midday agreed that the amount of time the infants spent not crying was too small to count as anything more than a brief pause for breath.
"They get cute at some point!" Trixie yelled over the fourth and loudest of the jags, "Explain to Trixie exactly how that works!"
But apart from two extremely loud newborns, there were no incidents. However, Midday felt uneasy. Rainbow Dash, even in her time, was difficult to sway from her train of thought, so this younger, brasher mare was unlikely to stop until disaster struck. And so, as Midday was drifting off to sleep, she wondered whether it would have been an idea to just give Rainbow Dash the library's copy of the Quest for the Sapphire Stone (Like heck, Midday vowed, she was going to call it by it's lesser title. Sapphire Stone was what Fluttershy had called it, and that was that for her.).
'Rainbow Dash would probably have refused to take it' she told herself as her eyelids began to droop.
She wasn't sure exactly when she fell asleep, but she the slightly low hanging moon when she was woken by a great amount of shouting and yelling going on from outside.
"What in Luna's mane is that noise?" she mumbled. She followed Twilight and Trixie (who she saw was wearing a purple night-cap) outside, to find Rainbow Dash surrounded by several unhappy looking hospital workers, wearing one of Pinkie's stealth outfits. Then Applejack came along, and from all evidence she looked like she'd been awake for a while.
"What's with all the ruckus?" she asked.
"Oh, I'd say it was more of a fracas than a ruckus" said Pinkie, who underneath her usual cheer sounded slightly irritated from being woken up.
"I think I can answer that" Midday said. Everypony turned to stare at her. "Rainbow Dash really wanted to finish that book, and she didn't want everypony to find out she's an 'egghead'."
"Will you stop air-quoting that word?" Twilight asked.
"Never."
Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash, who looked ashamed.
"It's true" she said quietly, "I'm an... an egghead..."
"Wow" said Twilight. "I knew that book was good, but I never knew it could drive anypony to theft."
"Good?" Rainbow Dash started to smile, "try awesomely amazing!" Midday looked over to Fluttershy, and raised an eyebrow. "This book is undeniably, unquestionably"
"Those mean the same thing" Midday said, fighting down a yawn.
"Un-put-down-able!" Rainbow Dash finished. She looked over at the doctor, who'd remained behind after all the nurses had chased off some over patient, who for some reason seemed to think she was a dog. "But then I had to put it down; I was sent home before I could finish."
There were a few seconds as everypony giggled at this.
"Well" Twilight smiled, "I'm glad that's all this is about."
Applejack shook her head.
"There's no reason to go causin' a ruckus-"
"Fracas!" Pinkie cut in. Applejack rolled her eyes.
"Causin' a fracas just because you like to read."
"Indeed" Rarity sighed, "Now if you'll all excuse me, I having a wonderful dream that I don't think I'm ever going to see again. And I'd just impressed every fashion critic in Canterlot as well" She sighed, before walking away, shooting an irritated look at Rainbow Dash as she did.
Everypony quickly dispersed, and Rainbow Dash slowly walked into the library. Trixie walked back upstairs without a word, slamming the door as she went.
"Like I said," Twilight smiled, her horn glowing slightly, "I have every book in the series, and you can borrow them all" Twilight apparently didn't notice the slight noise of annoyance from Midday, "Any time you like."
Rainbow Dash looked at the book and smiled.
"Thanks, Twilight," she looked down at the floor, "I'm sorry I made such a big deal about all of this. I thought reading was for smart ponies like you."
Midday raised an eyebrow at that. She looked over to Twilight, who looked suitably shocked. Whatever she may have thought of Past-Rainbow Dash, stupid wasn't exactly one of them. Foolish, yes, overconfident certainly, but not stupid.
"Rainbow Dash, just because you're athletic doesn't mean you aren't smart!" Twilight said, in what sounded a little bit like an attempt to imitate Princess Celestia.
"Yeah, just look at me!" Midday jumped at the sound of Spike coming from behind her. The little dragon was flexing his arms and kissing non-existant muscles.
The three mares all looked at each other in the slight silence that followed Spike's statement.
"Reading is something everypony can enjoy, if they just give it a try" Twilight continued.
"Just be sure to take some breaks inbetween reading every now and then" Midday smirked, thinking of a bright pink pony sitting in an isolated library, reading any book she could get her hooves on. Rainbow Dash just nodded.
"Yeah, I get it. 'I shouldn't knock it 'till I've tried it'."
"That's a good lesson, and it would make a great letter to the Princess."
Rainbow Dash turned to Spike.
"In the morning." Midday said, sternly. Rainbow Dash looked from Midday to Twilight.
"I think we should all try and get some sleep right now."
Rainbow Dash was about to protest, and then she yawned.
"Alright, whatever" she sighed in defeat. Midday smiled slightly, and walked towards the stairs, noting Rainbow Dash hadn't gone anywhere.
"Hey, Midday," Rainbow Dash said. She turned to look at the pegasus, "you were right. About just asking. Thanks for the advice."
"Anytime" she said, calmly. Suddenly Rainbow Dash's slight grin vanished.
"But don't think I've gone easy on you for one minute."
Midday just looked at Rainbow Dash and shook her head.
"Good night, Rainbow. Try not to stay up too early reading."
And with that, she calmly walked upstairs to bed, the current crisis solved, and Rainbow's love of reading assured. She felt good, and slightly relaxed. And then she walked past Twilight's schedule. She looked in horror at the date, circled in bright pink and underlined, as if to taunt her further.
'Hearts and Hooves Day'. She felt the bottom of her stomach drop.
"Oh, Belgium."