//------------------------------//
// Day Off 
// Story: Her Frontier 
// by FromTheMoon 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 9: Day Off	

Closing the door firmly behind her Rainbow Dash turned her attention to the package that was on her bed. With a quick hop she landed on the covers and brought the parcel to face. Examining it quickly she became content with the fact that Top Notch had not opened it. She undid the string that sealed the package and with out a moments hesitation dumped out its contents on top of the bed. To her delight and relief she saw that Apple Jack had sent her collection of Daring Do books. "Alright! Now I can finally find out if Daring escaped the clutches of Warlord Silver Back!" The Pegasus quickly began to take the books one by one and began arranging them in a stack on the side of the bed within hoof reach of the spot on the bed that she favored. 

She next turned her attention to a small plastic container with a good  idea of what was in side it. Bringing the container to her face she took a quick whiff of it and immediately began to smile. "Sweet..." She popped the lid of the container and saw an assortment of sweets and treats packed inside. "Knew I could count on Pinkie Pie to send me some stuff from Sugar Cube Corner. Huh, whats this thing?" At the bottom of the container was piece of paper stained with frosting and covered in sprinkles. She took it out and seeing that it had writing on it began to read it in her mind.

Dashie,
Wanted to send you a super duper awesome Good Luck and Have Fun cake but the girls told me that there wasn't enough room in the package for one. I Pinkie Promise to send one in the future along with more sweets from Sugar Cube! Trying to get the Cakes to spring for some vacation time so I can come visit you soon!  We all already miss you and hope you'll come back soon. Well tah tah for now, got to get back to watching to the twins. Have a super terrific time with Apple Jack's cousin and don't forget to write this time.
 -Love Pinkie Pie
P.S. Never thought you were the type of mare to get wooed over by a Stallion heh heh!

Rainbow couldn't help but laugh at the letter and then rolled her eyes. "Same old Pinkie Pie. Wait a minute, what did Apple Jack tell the girls?" Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack had agreed that for the time being only they would be the ones who knew the real reason why she was staying in EverGlade. Apple Jack said that she didn't like lying to her friends but that she'd come up with some excuse to tell the girls that technically wouldn't be a lie. "So what excuse wouldn't be a lie then?" She raked her mind thinking and came to an annoyed conclusion. She quickly read over Pinkie's letter again and began blushing. "Seriously?" She grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it. "Not you too AJ!Why?"

She put the pillow back after she regained her composure and looked at the last two items on the bed. Both of them were picture frames. She picked up the smaller one and smiled when she looked at it. It was a picture of her with Tank perched on top of her head. "This was taken last Spring at PonyVilles Twelfth Annual Pet Games. I remember the look on Rarity's face when Tank came in first place during the Obedience Competitio!. Not my fault her snooty cat threw a hissy fit and scratched the judges face."  A grin appeared on her face. "Heh no pony ever suspects the tortoise!" She put the picture on the night stand next to her bed and moved on the next picture frame.

Picking up the frame  she frowned a bit before finally forcing herself to smile at the picture. It was a picture of Rainbow at the Young Flyers Competition surrounded by all her friends. The picture has been folded back in one corner to hide a certain lavender unicorn. "Best day of my life. I save one of my friends and performed a Sonic Rainboom. They were all so happy for me back then and I thought I was luckiest pony in the world to have such awesome friends. Thought we would all be friends forever...guess I was wrong." She moved to put the frame on the nightstand next to the picture of her and Tank but stopped. She reasoned that she still had four other friends who's smiling faces would be staring at her and put the picture frame down on the nightstand. 

Rainbow Dash let out a long tired yawn and rubbed her eyes. Before falling asleep she made her way over to the window and looked up at the night sky. She gazed at the moon for a bit before turning her attention to the stars. To her they seemed to sparkle without a care in the world high above the troubles that the rest of the world face. "Must be nice to not be able to care about anything."

Making her way back to her bed she slid the package off the mattress and taking the plastic container in her mouth she made her way downstairs placing her sugary delights inside of the fridge. Back in her room she closed the door behind and slowly laid herself out on the bed. Taking one last glance at the the pictures on the night stand she blew out the lamp before allowing herself to fall asleep with the knowledge that at least she was still loved by her friends back home. 





Rainbow's body had gotten used after a week of working on a farm that she began to wake up at around the right time every morning. This morning however was different, usually the first thing that Rainbow would see was the morning darkness outside her window. This time though she saw rays of light coming through her window. "Crap I overslept, here's hoping that Top Notch won't be too mad me." Slowly she began to rise out of bed and made her way downstairs towards where she thought Top Notch would be at this hour, the kitchen. 

To Rainbow's surprise Top Notch was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs with a smile on his face. "Morning Rainbow! Did you sleep well?"

"Uh yeah I guess. Wait you're not angry that I slept in?"

"Nope, why would I be upset with you for sleeping in on a day off?"

"I mean after I accidently poured Iodine into ten gallons of milk yesterday morning I thought that...day off? What?"  Rainbow Dash found herself confused. Top Notch had told her that she would get days off every now and then but he would tell her a few days in advance. "You heard me right Rainbow, oh but its not just you who's taking a day off. I decided that with the hard work that I've put in I've also earned a day off myself."

Now Rainbow Dash was certain that Top Notch was joking. Ever since he had gotten injured all he had done was supervise Rainbow around the farm and give her instructions. "Right, because its real tough work to talk non-stop and laugh at your own jokes all day." Ignoring the remark Top Notch made his way to the kitchen with Rainbow Dash lagging behind him. 

The scene in the kitchen might as well of been a murder scene to Rainbow, on the kitchen table were the remains and crumbs of several sweets that Pinkie had sent her. The sight alone was almost enough to bring a tear to Rainbow's eye, almost. Top Notch casually walked up to Rainbow Dash munching on a blueberry muffin.

"He y te ong ace? U ould tri som o tese, tey retty ood!" Bits and crumbs flew from the stallion's mouth as he spoke to the still shocked Rainbow Dash. It was only after a soggy muffin bit hit her in between the eyes that Rainbow Dash finally snapped back into reality. "Okay two things. One, wow that's gross. Didn't your parents teach you not to talk with your mouth full? Two, why are you eating my food!?"

Complying with the wishes of Rainbow Dash the stallion finished his muffin before addressing her again. "Oh that was your food? Whoops, only meant to eat one cupcake but then one thing lead to another and then another, and another until I found myself face first in a strawberry short cake. But hey its not like I ate all the sweets myself, there still a good amount of goodies in the fridge. I was just about to brew up some coffee, I'd recommend you eat up since we got a long day ahead of us."

"Wait I thought you said we had a day off today?"

"You heard correct, today is our day off."

"So then whats with the long day comment?"

"That's because I'm taking you out for a little stroll through the scrub land. Did you think I forgot about that list of activities I had planned for you and my cousin Apple Jack?" Rainbow Dash had honestly forgotten that Top Notch had made plans for her and Apple Jack. A quick gaze over Top Notch's upper body reminded her of the reason why he had to cancel his plans. Shaking her head a bit to clear her thoughts Rainbow looked Top Notch in the eye again. "Okay so where are we going?"

Following his iconic laugh Top Notch had told Rainbow Dash that it would be a surprise. To silence any further questions from the pegasus he quickly shoved a muffin into her mouth and was met with a protest. Rainbow quivkly spat out the muffin. "Ew! Don't shove your damn hoof in my mouth! Surprised that I'm not tasting Vaseline right now."

"Oh come on, I thought I told you I was only kidding when I said that!" 

"Sure you were Top Notch...sure you were. I know that stallions get a bit embarrassed when it comes to this sort of thing." When Top Notch failed to come up with a counter to the remark Rainbow Dash happily walked towards the kitchen counter and began to make the coffee. She was content with herself for finally shutting Top Notch up.





The rest of breakfast passed rather smoothly and after they were finished both ponies left the farm and made their ways towards town. Top Notch told Rainbow Dash he wanted to pick up some lunch and a few drinks from Whisky before they headed out into the scrub land. The pegasus had complained saying that it would be faster if she just flew into town alone to pick up the food like she always did but Top Notch had insisted that he head into town too. 

Inside the restaurant Top Notch placed the food that Whisky handed him into his saddle bag and made his way outside where Rainbow Dash was waiting. Before he made it five feet from the counter however he heard Whisky call him back from behind. "Hey where you going in such a hurry? Doc said to take it easy while you recover."

"Well Whisky old buddy of mine I'm actually on my way with Rainbow Dash into the scrub land. I'm going to show her my-"

"Whoa! Little straight forward don't you think Top Notch? At least take the girl out on..."

"-favorite spot in EverGlade. Wait, what did you think I meant?"

Whisky laughed a little but stopped when he realized that Top Notch was being serious. "Oh, um well I thought you meant that you were going to um...you took Seventh Grade Health right?"

Top Notch rolled his eyes at what Whisky was implying. "Wow, and ponies say that I've got a dirty mind."

"Hey you can't blame a guy for assuming given whats been going on lately." 

"What do you mean assuming? Assume what?" Top Notch asked. 

"I mean come on Top Notch! Its pretty obvious isn't it? Ever since Rainbow Dash started helping you at the farm the whole town hasn't seen you. We all just assumed that you um...e'hem... found the gold at the end of the rainbow?"

"And ponies say I have a dirty mind." 

"Hey, I'm just saying what we're all thinking man. The whole town pretty thinks the same thing."

"Well you can go ahead and tell the whole town that it ain't like that. I'm just trying to help the girl relax and get rid of her problems, that's it."

Whisky let out a small laugh before going back to wiping down the bar counter. "Whatever you say old buddy of mine...whatever you say."

"Don't take this the wrong way Whisky but how about you worry about your own interests?" With that Top Notch made his way towards the front door again and heard Whiskey say one more thing. 

"Oh don't worry Top Notch. I'm definitely keeping a close eye on my own interests."





Rainbow Dash waited for Top Notch to come out of the restaurant. "Ugh whats taking the guy so damn long? This is so boring!" The stallion told Rainbow that he didn't need her to escort her everywhere and had insisted that he could order the food by himself. "Well at least the guy ain't helpless but still...I don't think that he'd kill himself by hurrying a little."

She heard Whisky laugh from inside the restaurant. At first she passed it off as nothing but after a minute of no show from Top Notch she began to suspect something was up. Curiosity finally got the best of her. "Buck it, I'm going in there!"

Before she got the chance to march into the restaurant Top Notch appeared through the doors. "Sorry that took so long, Whisky and I were having a little...hey are you okay? You look a little worked up."

"Oh uh...its nothing. I was just just going to go in and see what you two were talking about."

Top Notch started darting his eyes back and forth as worry stated seeping into his mind. "Why? Did you hear what me and Whisky were talking about?"

"No but I heard him laughing so that's reason enough to do a little investigating."

A few moments passed as Top Notch thought of an adequate excuse to avoid an awkward situation and the potential rage from the mare that would follow. "It was nothing really, Whisky just told one of his jokes and laughed at it. I didn't because it was bit too um perverted...YEAH! perverted for me."

"Really, too perverted for you? Nah I don't believe it. What were you really talking about in there?" It like to Top Notch that Rainbow was no looking at him but rather through him as if trying to see inside the restaurant. Top Notch swallowed hard before attempting to change the subject. "Hey come on now, don't you trust me? It was just a little joke, nothing more and nothing less." He glanced down at his right foreleg as if looking for something. "Oh will you look at the time? We got to get going if we're going to make it there!"

Rainbow Dash looked at his foreleg and then shot him a a confused look. "You're not wearing a watch."

"I can tell what time it is by looking at the sun!"

"Really? Me too! I was a weather pegasus back home and had to take a three day course on this stuff. Weird cause they never taught me how to tell the time when the sun is blocked from view by a couple of buildings and a water tower."

Letting out a long sigh Top Notch decided that there was only one option left. "Look would it be alright if I told you this later?" 

"Later huh? Pinkie Promise?"

"What Promise?" Top Notch asked with a confused look on his face.

Rainbow Dash blushed slightly when she realized who she was talking to. "Oh um never mind but do you promise?" Top Notch held out one of his front hooves and signaled for the Peagsus to shake it. "I promise that I'll tell you later."  Rainbow shook his hoof and the pair made their way out of town and into the scrub land. 





Top Notch wasn't kidding when he said that they had a long day ahead of them. Rainbow Dash had thought that he'd meant 'long' as in full of stuff do. The harsh reality of it though was that he had meant 'long' as in four hours of walking/flying.

Most of the trip had been filled with conversation between the two ponies about their jobs, favorite foods, and favorite hoof ball teams. At one point the two had gotten into a heated argument when the debate came up over which team was better. The two of the them agreed to disagree before changing the subject to something less debatable.

Feeling her wings tiring from continued flight Rainbow Dash  had decided to walk for the past twenty minutes alongside Top Notch. "So you going to tell me where we're going now?"

"Nope, I intend it to be a surprise. But I will say that it is one of my favorite spots in EverGlade. Its pretty neat too!"

Her twentieth attempt had once again come up short. The difference this time being that the answer was a little less vague. The two walked along side each other for a couple dozen more minutes before Top Notch seeing that his destination being just up ahead stopped in his tracks and turned to face Rainbow Dash with a smile on his face. "We're here!"

Tilting her head to look around the stallion standing in front of her Rainbow Dash saw nothing but more scrub land and a few large rocks ahead of her. "That would be where exactly?"

Top Notch pointed towards the rocks with one of his front hooves. "One of my favorite places."

"One of your favorite places is a bunch of rocks?"

"How about you trot over there and take a look at just whats behind those rocks. You'll probably be in for a surprise."

With a little nudging Rainbow Dash made her way to the rocks with Top Notch following behind her. Once at the base of the rocks she opened her wings and leapt onto one of them and went wide eyed when she saw what was on the other side of the rocks. 


Hidden below the scrub land was a large chasm with a river flowing through it in such a way that gave it the impression of "Welcome to Horse Shoe Bend Rainbow Dash! A real sight to behold ain't it?"

"Gee I wonder why they called it that."

"Well as you can see the river goes around this bend making it look like oh you were being sarcastic weren't you?" Rainbow Dash answered by simply lifting her eye brows.

Letting out a small chuckle he motioned for Rainbow Dash to come closer. "Come on, I know a spot with some shade where we can eat our lunch." A few more minutes of walking and Top Notch lead Rainbow Dash to shade under some rocks that still had an impressive view of the river below. When both had finished their lunch Top Notch had Rainbow follow him down a path that lead to the river below. 

"So how do you know about this place?" Rainbow asked. "it would be pretty tough to spot this place unless you were a pegasus in the air."

"My mother used to always bring me here on the weekends when I was a colt. At first I wouldn't want to come here because I thought it was boring but lets just say that my mother had a way of convincing ponies otherwise." Top Notch walked up to the waterline and dipped his front two hooves in the river. "Oh boy now that hits the spot. Shoot if I wasn't banged up I probably dive right in and start swimming. Don't mind me though, you go right ahead and..."

A loud splash came from in front of the stallion followed by the spray of water. 

"...dive right in because it might help you relax. Hmm"

Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the water after a moment and moved her mane out of her eyes. "You know what? You were right, this does hit the spot." She swam for a little bit before heading back to the shore line until the water was shallow enough to stand. She stood up shook her body vigorously sending water every where. Top Notch turned to look away in order to avoid staring at her. "What are you part dog?"

"Hmm? You got a problem with a wet maned mares?" Rainbow Dash leapt into the sky and once she was high enough dove down at an extreme speed opening her wings only a few feet off the ground with her mane and coat now completely dry. Casually walking right next to Top Notch she bopped him on the head. "You can look now. Geez never would of took you for a GentleColt. Most stallions back home probably would of paid money for the show I just put on."

Rubbing his forehead Top Notch glanced over at Rainbow Dash and was impressed that the mare had actually dried herself off completely. He saw that she was relaxed and decided that it was now or never to move on to the next stage. "So do you know why I brought you here Rainbow Dash?"

"I dunno, to hang out?" 

"Yea sort of. Remember that talk we had last night about you staying here and all that."

Rainbow Dash's ears splayed back and she began nervously rubbing the back of her head with her hoof.  "Yeah,  I guess I do." 

"Well I brought you here to try and get you to relax a bit and what better way to wash your troubles away than with a dip in a beautiful river."

Feeling a little betrayed to his true motives Rainbow Dash went on the defensive. "So let me get this straight. You brought me here to get me to lower my guard and open up to you."

"No, I brought you here to relax. Like I said last night I ain't going to force you to open up to me. I'm not going to lie though it would be pretty nice if you did."

Rainbow Dash thought hard about what to say next. She began to feel a pang of guilt since Top Notch in his current state forced his injured body this far away from town with out any help. She considered telling him the whole story but couldn't shake the feeling that he was still hiding something from her. 

She settled on a solution after a few more moments of thinking. "Look I'm trusting you not to tell anypony about this alright. One of the reasons why I decided to stay was because I'm having some trouble with a certain pony back home alright?"

"Greatly appreciate you trusting me Rainbow Dash, really I do. I know that ain't the whole story but we've all got to start some where right?" Top Notch gave her a warm smile and she found herself just smiling back. Rainbow Dash felt relieved in away telling Top Notch. 

The stallion put a hoof over his eyes and looked up into the sky. "My expert sun reading tells me that we better get going back to the farm. Can't forget that we both have work tomorrow." Top Notch started making his way back up the slope and when he wasn't looking Rainbow Dash let out a small laugh.

"Heh heh, guess this guy is actually turning out to be pretty cool."















 [So while I was browsing through DrawFriends #856 over at Equestria Daily I came across this picture and decided to add it here.]