//------------------------------// // On Their Way // Story: The Vanilla and Twilight Adventures // by VanillaBeam //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash indeed had some great news for everyone. After Applejack had hurt Rainbow Dash's feelings, she ran off and cried at the thought that she was not careful enough with her tiny friends, and was probably not the best pony to be looking out for them. She cried for a long time, and then eventually fell asleep from exhaustion. It was like her to always nap, but this nap was different. In her dreams, she was able to talk with Princess Luna. Being Luna couldn't really leave Canterlot, she knew that Dash would be napping through the day, and that she would be able to communicate with the pegasus that way. The two talked about what Applejack told her, and Luna reassured her that she might not be the most careful when it comes to handling the tiny ponies, but she was the element of loyalty for a reason. They could trust Dash to not let anything happen to them, and that she will do all that she could in her power to help them. And the reason Luna wanted to talk to Rainbow in the first place was the very thing that Rainbow could help. After Luna had talked to Twilight and Vanilla, the next morning she consulted her older sister, Princess Celestia. She told her of the situation, and not only did Celestia explain why her magic wasn't working as well as it did before, but she could also restore her to her original size. When Rainbow heard the news, she couldn't wait to wake up and tell the others. She instantly gave Luna a "Pinkie Pie" sized hug that nearly broke her in half. Luna gave off a warm smile, and allowed her to wake up. When Dash woke up, she instantly went to bolt to get the gang, but just before she could dash off, she nearly crashed into Fluttershy. Before Dash could tell Shy the good news, the yellow pegasus had to tell her some more news. News concerning a little filly who looked up to Rainbow, who was made into a much MUCH littler filly. When Dash heard about it, she bolted straight to Sugar Cube Corner, and found her little buddy, giving her a huge nuzzle and comforting her. And after calming Scootaloo down, she informed the others of the news Luna gave her, to which they were all instantly excited, and by the next day they all boarded the train to Canterlot immediately. During the trip, all of the girls had separated into different seats. One pair of seats were reserved for the tiny ponies, and on the other seat was Rainbow Dash. She was pretty much now their watchful eye, plus Scootaloo didn't want her to leave their sight, since she was still shaken up from earlier the day before. After they made the arrangements for the train ride, they all spent the night at Pinkie's. Suffice to say, sleeping arrangements for the tinies were very difficult to make. They could've slept on a shelf, far from everyone else and safe, aside a few dust particles. But Vanilla and Scootaloo decided against it, for they wanted to sleep with Rainbow Dash, which of course made the cyan giantess blush. They all agreed, that the other two fillies would sleep with their respective giant sisters, while Scootaloo, Vanilla Beam, and Twilight Sparkle would sleep on the giant cyan mattress. The others slept fine, but Vanilla couldn't. He just sat there and kept watch over Twilight, making sure that she wasn't going to fall or get crushed or worse. Although he couldn't sleep, he was relaxed, especially in the embrace of the titanic pegasus, whose snores thundered through the air, and caused slight winds that pulled his mane back and forth. And the mattress under him expanded and deflated from the snoring as well. She had quite the cute belly. And the cutest part was if you rubbed the "floor", the earth would rumble as the giant giggled and kicked her hooves a bit. During the train ride, that same thunderous snoring filled the air as Rainbow had curled up and drifted into her daily nap. Her face was at level with the micro ponies, and thus her breath could be felt at a huge rate and made a bit of a humid storm. The fillies didn't mind it too much, because at least she brushed that morning. Again, Vanilla just sat there and stared at the giant as she slept. His gaze though was interrupted by a tapping on his shoulder. "You really like her, don't you?" Twilight asked the stallion. He turned to her and hesitated a bit, but then nodded. "Yeah. I do. I mean, yeah I know she doesn't act like a normal, proper mare, but that's just it." he then looked to her again. "She's not a proper mare. She's adventurous, risk taking, and head strong. She's got a great sense of humor and such a playful pony. She has a bit of poor manners, but nothing too disgusting. She's pretty rough, but gentle enough. And not to mention, she's beautiful." Twilight just sat there next to him and giggled. "Why haven't you told her any of this?" He gulped. "Well.... everything I mentioned is true, but there is one thing that I forgot to mention that she is: special." This confused Twilight. "Well of course she's special. Every pony we have a crush on or love is special to us." Vanilla then shook his head. "I don't mean that kind of special." he said. "I mean, she is the fastest flier in all Equestria. She's the element of loyalty, and she's, and I quote, awesome. Now I'm sure that she'd want a stallion with all of those credentials, not a literal bug underneath her hoof that can't keep up with her. Remember the ladybug and cricket she rejected? She wanted cooler and BIGGER. That's not me at all. That's why I haven't told her about my feelings." Twilight gave a frown to Vanilla, not in irritation, but more of concern. "Are you certain that's the way she thinks? I mean, yeah you pretty much nailed the head on everything that comes out of her big mouth, but are you sure that that's the kind of stallion she would want?" "Well, it's just the way she appears to me." he said. "But that's just it. It's nothing but assumptions. You won't truly know unless you express your feelings to her. And if she doesn't think you two would work together as a couple, then that's fine, because we already know she cares so much about you, and will never stop being your friend." Twilight's words made Vanilla very happy, to which he gave Twilight a hug, which was returned back to him. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over both of them. Scared, both of the adults turned to see what was behind them. It was a monstrous face, but luckily, it was a friendly one. "YA'LL DOIN' OKAY BACK HERE?" boomed the mighty voice of Applejack. "We're fine!" yelled the unicorn. Applejack smiled and leaned in. The rumbling her head made sent shivers down Vanilla's spine, as she loomed past them, and pressed heavily on the three sleeping fillies. "WAKE UP, SUGARCUBE." Applejack boomed to her sister, though all of them heard and felt her. They all woke up and looked up to the giant, a little spooked at first, but soon relaxed. Applejack then leaned back and just smiled down at them. "How much longer?" Twilight asked. "WE'RE ALMOST THERE. JUST A FEW MORE MILES. WANT ME TO WAKE SLEEPIN' BEAUTY?" she gestured over to Rainbow. "Yeah, go ahead, AJ. She should be up and ready when we arrive." Vanilla said up to her. Applejack nodded and stomped over to the pegasus. She then gave her a nudge. Rainbow snorted and positioned herself in another spot. "Five more minutes." she boomed, rather exhausted and sleepy-like. AJ motioned for the tiny ponies to cover their ears, which they did. "GET UP, RAINBOW!" she shouted. Instantly, the pegasus perked up and yelped like a puppy getting spooked. She darted her eyes around to see what disturbed her, finally catching a glimpse at the farm mare. "Great. Rise and shine. We're almost there." she said as she went back to her seat. Dash was very grumpy at the sudden awakening. She looked down and saw all of the tiny ponies laughing at it as well. Rainbow's face grew into a smirk, and got very very close to the ponies on the seat. "Oh you thought that was funny, huh?" she boomed in their direction, and soon huffed a slight shot of smoke from her nose in their faces. Even though it made a huge burst of humid wind, it made the ponies really laugh. It was that playfulness that Vanilla said that he loved. She smiled and gave them all a gentle, loving nuzzle. Soon enough, the train had arrived at its destination, and the ponies were now that much closer to returning to normal size.