Rainbow dashed through the air, splitting it apart like an arrow. Through the whipping wind, she could almost feel the color barrier pushing against her mane as she cut through the cloud, spun around, and shot a smug glance back... only to see Twilight less than a furlong behind. The new princess's whole barrel was puffing, and she looked relieved as she slowed, but all the same, she was too close!
"Wow!" Dash exclaimed. "Nobody's ever come that close in the thirty-mile dash!"
"Thirty-mile Dash..." Twilight puffed, swooping down to land on another cloud slightly below them. Dash tucked in her wings and swooped down to join her. "And... you seem... ready for thirty more."
"Ha ha!" Dash put a broad smile on her face as she looked at Twilight more closely than she'd done since... she didn't remember when. Her friend had definitely grown. Her neck stretched higher, her wings and back were set in a more graceful curve, but there was something more about her that Dash couldn't place. Maybe it was just egghead stuff, or Princess stuff, but it felt important for some reason.
"Wow, how you've grown," she said.
Twilight glanced down at herself. "I suppose so. Spike's been complaining how high he needs to jump to get onto my back these days."
"Well, just tell him he's still the first person to ride a Princess since... whenever!"
"Since I was five," Twilight chuckled.
Dash jumped back almost off the cloud. "You rode Princess Celestia!"
Twilight gasped. "Oh no no no! I'd never dare do that! But Cadance was so - so close! And," she added with a laugh, "I was just a filly. But even then, I could see she was growing... sort of like I'm growing now, though she was already a Princess."
"Oh?" Dash settled down to listen to her newly-alicornified friend.
"Princess Celestia told me I'm growing into my alicorn stature. It'll take about thirty years, and even then I'll never achieve quite the size of her or of Princess Luna unless I associate myself with another spring of magic like theirs -"
"Woah, woah!" Dash held up her forelimbs. "No lecture on magic! Just, I guess, you were born as an alicorn, and now you're growing up as an alicorn?"
"Um, that analogy completely neglects the nature of the magic involved, and the infusions of aetherical -"
"But it's basically right?"
"Um, yes. I guess." She added in a mumble, "All the books use it, anyway..."
"But... what's this really going to mean?" Dash pawed at the cloud. "I mean, are you gonna keep getting faster and faster..."
Twilight fluttered her wings thoughtfully.
"... how fast is Princess Celestia, anyway?"
"... oh! If you're really looking into alicorn speed, you'd want to look atLuna. Princess Celestia hasn't done any real flying since the last Griffin Wars, and that was more for show than anything else."
Dash looked down. They'd been racing along the edge of the Everfree Forest; it still beckoned off to their right. There was a little village ahead, with a few farmponies out in the fields under Celestia's sun... and a small group of ponies coming out of the forest right beneath them. Dash couldn't tell what they'd been doing there - they were too far away to make out any signs of saddlebags - but they milled around each other slowly as if they'd found something uncomfortable.
"You wanna swoop down and see what's going on?"
Twilight looked down, extended her wings, and shook her head. "No; I think I can fly back to Ponyville if we take it slow."
Dash cocked her head. "You sure?"
Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment but then grinned. "Give me a moment to drink... I saw a stream by that village."
Dash nodded.
But as they slowly flew down, two pegasi from the forest party flew up to meet them. "Princess Twilight! Princess Twilight!" the lead pony cried pleadingly.
Twilight tried to straighten out her mane, but it only rumpled again. "Um... yes?"
"Princess Twilight!" The pegasi both tucked their wings into the traditional flying-bow. "What a surprise to have Your Serene Highness visiting - are you here for any particular concern?"
"We're out flying," Dash interrupted.
"Oh!" The second Pegasus perked up. "I've never have the privilege of seeing a princess fly before! Might we have the honor -"
Her companion silenced her with a quick glare. "Pray pardon Cloudy Wings. But..."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Twilight said, "Of course. Were you trying to say something?"
"Um, I don't mean to presume, but since Your Highness happens to be here..."
"Just get on with it!" Dash interrupted.
"What Spiral Hooves's saying," Cloudy Wings burst out, "is that we found some big aura of magic in the Everfree, and none of us know what it is, and we'd like it if you came to take a look!"
"Yes!" Spiral Hooves said. "I mean, if Your Highness would rather we talk to the mayor first -"
"No need," Twilight said with a smile. "I'd be glad to help!"
Both ponies sighed with relief.
"Um, just how far into the Everfree is this?" Dash asked.
Spiral Hooves looked uncomfortable, and Cloudy Wings said uncertainly, "A few miles?"
"Oh." Dash frowned. "I don't think I can come then - there's a storm gathering on our end of the Everfree, and we need to clear the skies in advance of it."
"Do you think they're linked, Princess?" Spiral Hooves suggested.
Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash; Dash immediately shook her head. "Nah. The storm's just ordinary wild weather."
"Well then," Twilight said, "I'm sorry we can't fly back together. But this could be important - I mean, the last wild magic we found here stole away the Princesses!"
Spiral Hooves and Cloudy Wings both shivered. Rainbow Dash shrugged ostentatiously. "I'll be getting back, then. See you... tomorrow morning?"
Rainbow Dash flew into Ponyville at her normal cruising speed, turned a figure-eight over the town square, and peeled off to the weather patrol offices. A few straggling weatherponies followed on her tail.
"All right, everypony!" she announced to the large herd of pegasi in the meadow outside the patrol offices. With all hooves on duty, they could hardly fit inside. "We've got a wild thunderstorm brewing in the Everfree Forest! Since we can't get to it in there, we need to keep any of the clouds here from fueling it. So, time to clear the skies all over the township! Any questions?"
A hoof was raised in the back.
"Yes, Blossomforth?"
"Can't you clear the skies by yourself?"
Rainbow Dash winced. "Over the town, yes. But we need to get the whole area clear! And I'm giving you all a chance to prove your worth! So, get to it!"
Dash hung back as the weather patrol flew away. She felt she was missing something. She didn't know what to do with that feeling - it wasn't quite like when she was choosing between the two teams for the Games, or when she'd almost traded Fluttershy away; that felt bad, but she knew what to do about it. Look for which friends she was forgetting, and do something about that. But this was a different something she was missing now, and it still felt bad.
She flexed her wings, wondering if she should fly up, call the team back, and try to clear the skies by herself. No - she wasn't sure she could do the whole area, and definitely not after racing Twilight earlier.
But should she?
Making her decision quickly, she dashed up to the slowest team of pegasi. "Hey, Bluebell, I'm coming with you!"
"A little more oomph in that kick, Bluebell!"
"Over there, Blossomforth - we're not trying to arrange them; we're getting rid of them!"
"No need to make them rain, Bon Voyage; we need to get them all out of here tonight!"
Finally, as afternoon turned into evening, the skies were all clear as far as Dash could see. After dismissing the weather team with praise for their good work, she glided slowly back into town. Another job had been well done, and she'd been there bustling around ever part of it... but it still felt like she was missing something.
Maybe a good Daring Do book would help? That's what Twilight would recommend, she thought. But that idea just made her somehow feel even more uncomfortable.
"WATCH OUT!"
Dash swerved just in time to avoid crashing into the newspaper stand. "Thanks, Rarity," she said, extending a hoof down to the unicorn who was quickly stuffing a glossy magazine into her saddlebags. The other ponies in the market square glanced at them for a moment before deciding it was just another near-crash by Dash.
"Oh, think nothing of it, Rainbow. I was just finishing up my shopping and about to head home for supper; would you like to walk with me back to the Boutique?"
"Sure!" she said brightly.
Rainbow Dash wafted through the air above Rarity as she started talking about some dresses she was pressing on Twilight for some event at the Crystal Empire. "Fortunately, Spike's been ever so helpful. I don't know what I'd have done without him - Twilight's much too busy to come stand for measurements every week, and I can't be confident in any of her old numbers now that she's growing into her alicornity. That new neck of hers needs something to show it off properly. I can understand now why the Princesses -"
"Huh? Alicornity?" Dash interrupted a little late.
"Why, of course!" Rarity stepped to one side to look at the pegasus without craning her neck. "Haven't you noticed? It's the most marvelous thing!"
"Ah, that."
"You look... downcast."
Dash shrugged, flying a loop around Rarity.
Rarity paused for a moment before continuing. "... and Spike's going along, and he could wear his darling old tuxedo, but - don't you tell him - I'm planning to make him a new suit as thanks. I was thinking about white, with the snow in the Crystal Empire and all. And it would match the glimmer on his scales. But don't you think blue would go better with Twilight's coat, at least?"
"Huh? Oh? Whatever you think."
Rarity paused a moment, looking ahead at her Boutique, now just down the street. "Perhaps both. Blue suit set with white diamonds. Why, just last week Photo Finish was showing a simply marvelous outfit in all the magazines..."
It was another minute before Dash thought to ask, "Hey, by the way, talking about magazines - what was that magazine you were getting?"
"Oh!" Rarity's hoof went to her mouth as she glanced around with an affected laugh. "That - that thing? It's just a little something I picked up out of mere curiosity -"
"Come on..." Dash pressed.
"Oh, if you insist... come on inside."
A little suspicious now, Dash entered. The room was strewn with the usual frou-frou accessories, but one space on the table was clear between a half-stitched seam and some gems. Rarity reluctantly set the magazine down there. In large glossy letters, between pictures of... were those strands from Fluttershy's and Rarity's manes?... it promised:
The Elements of Harmony: Who's the Prettiest?
Dash burst out in laughter.
"Please understand, Rainbow Dash, I'm not taking this seriously," Rarity said. "I just want to..." (she gestured in the air) "keep my ears up for what people are thinking of us."
"Okay, okay," Dash guffawed. "Go ahead - who do they say's the most frou-frou of us all? You?"
"Well, I did win the title last summer..."
"You mean this's a regular thing?"
Rarity nodded. "Twice a year, ever since Luna's Return! And laugh as much as you want, Rainbow Dash, but some ponies take this seriously!" She tossed her well-groomed mane.
"Okay, okay, who won this time?"
"I had not yet taken a look..."
Dash flipped the magazine open to a two-page spread of some strange mare wearing a tail-bow. She backed off in shock. "You find it."
Rarity daintily flipped several more pages to a spread of their six faces, surrounding a box of text. "Here's the article. And then..." She turned one more page, to a closeup of Twilight.
"Twilight won!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in disbelief.
Rarity nodded, skimming the article. "A novel upset, they say... Homely girl does good... Continues her regal triumph... And many less, ahem, presentable words."
Dash narrowed her eyes. "What're they saying about us? They aren't just trying to buck around, are they?"
Rarity shook her head, sending her mane flying. "Neigh! I would never read that sort of magazine!" She held her shocked expression for a moment before leaning back over the magazine. "Twilight really has stretched her muzzle quite well, though I think they take it a little too far... And her barrel has filled out admirably..."
Dash made a face. This was starting to get even more uncomfortable than before.
"Now they say her mane preserves her friendly demeanor, but I think if only she -"
"What do they mean by that?" Dash groaned.
"Well, they don't put it quite that way..."
"What do they say?"
"They say - I quote - 'keeps her just as much the hometown girl you've all loved.'"
Dash burst out laughing again.