//------------------------------// // Ch 1 // Story: Pegasus Mating Dance // by PostPony //------------------------------//         Twilight Sparkle was having a bad day, or maybe a bad month would be more accurate. That’s not to say that she didn’t like being the Princess of Friendship but that didn’t mean that it didn’t have its own load of headaches that were surely part of the job description. Ironically enough, knowing the title is not the same as knowing what a Princess of Friendship does.         Settling minor disputes between individuals and groups in the name of ‘friendship’ is both the most intuitive idea, and the most absurd. There are simply too many ponies and nopony would ever take their disagreements to a royal office to get them settled, and one would simply not have a castle with a throne if they were supposed to hunt down the issues themselves.         No, a Princess of Friendship does not actually deal with friendship, but diplomacy. This is okay too. Twilight and her friends rarely had to do something major like meet with foreign leadership, but they did see a minor dignitary or two once every few months and had the occasional trade agreement sent their way which they looked over and passed to the relevant corporations and bureaucrats. Twilight would usually have several of her friends present and things would go smoothly, but the last source of work was where the trouble came from.         Local disputes where international laws came into play. Twilight saw a lot of issues where one non-Equestrian species would wrong another, different species on Equestrian soil who would then try to go through the Equestrian legal system to solve their problems. Far too often, the issue was laid at her hooves. She could, of course, refuse anything that she deemed to be unworthy of her attention, but she would have none of that.         Currently, Twilight was looking over a case where a pair of minotaurs had assaulted a gryphon shipping warehouse to steal ‘a precious historical artifact’ which was in fact a tube made of a strange steel alloy with a worn down mechanism on one end. The conflict resulted in arrests for all involved.         All of this left Twilight to research all the circumstances and laws pertaining to the event, and that was only the seventh case that day. Twilight really was an excellent choice for being the one to deal with things like this, being extremely knowledgeable with a straight moral compass and when word got out, a huge number of these cases were directed towards her instead of the regular courts. It was driving her into the ground. And her friends could tell. “It’s been what, two or three weeks since everypony started sending her all that stuff? We really need to find a way to pull her out of it!” “I know darling and I really am trying to think of something, but she has once again fallen into an obsession with her work. Even Spike refuses to leave her side.” Rainbow dash fumed. She needed to find some way to help Twilight get over her workaholism, and being the Element of Loyalty made her feel especially obligated to at least do something. She just needed to think. Rainbow plopped down onto her haunches where she stood, in the open streets of Ponyville, and stared at the empty space ahead of her with her most serious thinking face. Rarity’s response to this never made it to her conscious thoughts, which were occupied by schemes to get Twilight to take it easy. After a while of fruitless contemplation, something finally did manage to insert itself into her consciousness. “C’mon, I can do this. I’ve asked plenty of others before, why am I getting cold hooves now? Oh, right, she’s a princess.” Rainbow’s ear twitched. She looked up at the clouds above her. “I can probably take her to a nice restaurant in Cloudsdale, but how will I get her there?” Rainbow grinned. The solution to her problem had presented itself. Rainbow flew up and landed in front of Thunderlane, who jumped at her arrival. “Oh, hello Rainbow. How things are? I mean how are things?” Still grinning, Rainbow leaned forward and spoke, “Hello Thunderlane. I have a proposition for you…”         “C’mon Twilight, it’ll be fun! You know that you could use a break and the paperwork doesn’t care either way.”         “But this is important! The regular system might take weeks to deal with this, and in the meantime the gryphon and minotaurs will be in an Equestrian detention center! I can’t enjoy myself at their expense can I?”         “They are getting fed three meals a day! Besides, it’s unfair to everypony else for their case to get done so fast. You are letting criminals off easy at your expanse.”         “It’s expense.” Twilight meekly corrected her friend.         “Whatever! Are you going to come or not?”         Twilight hesitated for a moment before letting her body sag in defeat. “Fine Rainbow. What was it that you wanted to do?”         Rainbow relaxed her body and smiled her winning smile in spite of Twilight’s dour attitude. “Tomorrow we are going to fly to Cloudsdale, I am going to fly in a quick race and you are going to watch. Then we get something to eat and come home. Simple as that.”         “Alright Rainbow. Can I get back to this now?” Twilight was already back in her chair.         “Yes, Twilight. You do your boring stuff. I’m gonna go get ready.”         Rainbow walked out of Twilight’s office and closed the door behind her. Twilight sighed and pulled the current case back in front of her. She already knew that it would take a while, even for her, to resolve.         “It’s not boring,” she said to the empty room. This is fun right? She thought. I like doing this… okay I don’t really like it but it’s important, right? She sighed again. Maybe Rainbow was ri-.         “Hey Twilight!”         Twilight flinched at Rainbow’s sudden return. She was poking her head through the door.         “U-um, yes Rainbow?”         “Can I borrow a book?”         “Go ahead Rainbow.”         “Thanks, see you tomorrow!” She said before speeding away again.         Twilight shook her head and went back to work.         “Alright Thundy, she agreed and I have exactly what you need to get her attention.”         The dark stallion sighed in relief before looking at what Dash was talking about and sniggering. “Suprise! It’s a book!” He laughed to himself. “Are you sure I shouldn’t wear a book costume? That might work even better. Don’t you think Dash?”         “Har har,” she deadpanned. “Look, do you want my help or not?”         Thunderlane froze before nodding rapidly.         “Good. What you’re going to do is read this book and do what it says. I want you to give it your all. Tomorrow I’m going to wake you up with the sun and see if you’re up to snuff. If you pass then you are going to fly to Cloudsdale ahead of us. I’ll give you the rest of the plan tomorrow. Okay?” She punctuated her last statement by forcefully hoofing the book into Thunderlane’s chest to which he reflexively raised a hoof to hold it.         Rainbow leaned close to him, her hoof still pressing the book into his chest. “You won’t disappoint will you?” Rainbow asked with dark tones in her voice.         “No Dash!” Thunderlane quickly responded. His voice sounding slightly strangled.         “Good!” She said with sudden joviality. “And good luck!” With that she flew off.          Thunderlane took that moment to take some deep breaths before looking at the book she was so serious about.         “The Ancient Pegasus Mating Dance and You.” Thunderlane stared at it for a moment before shouting, “Are you kidding me?!”