//------------------------------// // Good ol' Twilight Sparkle // Story: Keeping your Promises // by RaylanKrios //------------------------------// As Rainbow stood outside the library, she was forced to admit Twilight wasn’t entirely wrong. She had called her friend ‘princess’, and knew exactly what she was doing when she did so. She was angry and scared, and when she got angry or scared she tended to disregard things like the feelings of her friends who were only trying to help; instead, she lashed out at any pony near her. Lacking any better options, she trudged over to Sugarcube Corner, for no real reason other than that it was nearby. “Hey, Pinkie,” she said glumly as she walked through the door to find her friend behind the counter. Pinkie greeted her with a big smile. “Hiya, Dashie! Why the long face?” Rainbow ignored the well-worn joke. “I think I may have hurt Twilight’s feelings, and now she’s not talking to me.” “What’d you do?” Pinkie asked, her ever-present smile softening. “I called her a princess,” Rainbow admitted sheepishly. Pinkie giggled, “Well, that’s a silly reason to be mad at you. She is a princess.” Rainbow threw up her hooves in frustration.“I know, right?!  But I kinda maybe called her a princess like she wasn’t really my friend.” Pinkie's smile was now noticeably subdued. “Oooh, why’d you do that?  Twilight’s a great friend!” “I know, I know. I was angry and I spoke without really thinking and now she’s mad at me and I just want her to be my friend again.” Pinkie rested a hoof on her chin. “Hmmm.”  Suddenly her face lit up. “You need a great big grand gesture to show Twilight that you really do think of her as a friend,” she exclaimed with a big smile. Rainbow was forced to admit that what Pinkie was saying made sense. Despite her often-crazy antics, she was incredibly tuned to the moods of other ponies, and was usually pretty good at cheering them up, that one incident with Fluttershy notwithstanding. “Great, got any ideas?” she asked hoping that Pinkie could solve her problem for her. “Hmmm... nope! What’s in your bag?” Pinkie asked, the same grin still on her face. “Just some paperwork I have to do,” Rainbow replied sullenly, her excitement at being Scootaloo’s guardian on temporary hiatus until she could fix things between her and Twilight. “Ooh, you could ask Twilight to help with your paperwork; Twilight loves paperwork!” Pinkie suggested. “Thanks, Pinkie, but I don’t think that’s gonna help.” “Okay, well if you’d like to do your paperwork here, I could make some muffins,” Pinkie offered with a level of restraint that Rainbow wasn’t used to seeing from her. The thought of one of Pinkie’s blueberry chocolate chip muffins managed to cut through her morose mood. “Thanks, Pinkie,” she said, and meant it in more ways than one. As Pinkie headed to the kitchen to whip up a fresh batch of muffins, Rainbow Dash took out the stack of papers Misty had given her and began to sort through them. If Twilight wasn’t mad at her, she actually would have asked for her help. But, as she tried to decipher the legal jargon, one page jumped out at her and suddenly she knew exactly what she had to do. “Hey, Pinkie, I’m gonna need a rain check on that muffin,” she said excitedly as she bolted out the door and flew as fast as she could back to the library. She was about to burst through the window again, but her better judgment prevailed and she opted for the door. Twilight looked up from her book as Rainbow walked in, the bell hanging from the door frame announcing her arrival. “I’m still mad at you,” she said, glaring at Rainbow, though at least a little pleased that her friend opted for the door this time. “Yeah, okay, but I need you to sign something,” Rainbow said, almost dismissively. Twilight stood up from behind her desk. “If you actually think I’m going to use my authority to-” she said, her voice growing louder. Rainbow shook her head. “Nope. I don’t need Princess Twilight’s signature; I need good ol’ Twilight Sparkle’s,” Rainbow said beaming with pride. Twilight let out an exasperated sounding sigh. “What are you talking about?” “The reason I came here earlier was to tell you that I’m officially going to be Scootaloo’s guardian; well, one of them anyway.” Hearing the news, Twilight couldn’t quite bring herself to make any snide comments; it seemed wrong to tarnish something she knew was that important to a friend, even if she was angry at that friend. “That’s… great, Rainbow,” she said rather flatly. “Yeah, uh huh; anyways, I have to fill out all these forms, and on one of them I need to list who I want to take over caring for Scoots if something were to happen to me. Well, I mean if something were to happen to me and Misty wasn’t around, and also I think Misty has a sister or something; but if all of us were gone…” Rainbow paused so Twilight could register her sincerity. “I’d want you to take care of Scootaloo. Because you’re the smartest, best pony I know, and I’m lucky to have you as a friend.” Rainbow paused again, using the occasion to look Twilight in the eyes. “There’s nopony I trust more than you, Twi’, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, but I can’t think of anypony else that would be better for this, and not because you’re a princess, but because you’re Twilight. If you don’t want to do it for me, then do it for Scootaloo, maybe?” she said with wide eyes and an earnest softness that she rarely used. Twilight teared up ever so slightly, blinking rapidly. “Oh, Rainbow,” she squeaked. Twilight quickly got out from behind her desk and tackled Rainbow in a hug. “Egghead,” Rainbow whispered softly into Twilight’s ear as she gently hugged her back. Twilight giggled and broke the embrace. “I’m an egghead, huh? Well, you’re… a good flyer! How about that, huh!? ” “Thanks, Twi!” Rainbow said with an exaggeratedly large grin. “I need to read a book about how to do this,” Twilight muttered. “Sure ya do, cause you’re an egghead.” Rainbow tilted her head to the left slightly. “So… you’re not mad at me?” Twilight responded with a small shake of her head. “No, I’m not mad. That was really sweet what you said just now.” A curious look suddenly appeared on Twilights face as she pursed her lips. “What about Fluttershy? Wouldn’t she be a better choice? Or maybe Applejack? What you really should do is make a list and-” Rainbow held up a hoof to stop Twilight before she could enumerate how many categories should be on her proposed list. “Do you really want to ruin my grand gesture, Twi’?” “No, but if you’d really rather put Fluttershy’s name down, I’d understand.” “Thanks, Twi’, but I made the right call. The squirt is actually spending the day with her mom and I don’t have anything to do. Wanna go do something fun?” “Like what?” Before Rainbow could propose anything, Twilight let out an excited squeak and clapped her hooves together. “Ooh, there’s a traveling exhibit about early Equestrian settlers. We could go to that.” Rainbow tried her best to fake her enthusiasm. “Sure, Twi’. That sounds great.”