"It's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." —Marilyn Monroe
It was a particularly sunny day in Ponyville; not a single cloud to be seen for miles.
Three Wonderbolts soared in the sky in an arrow formation, their wingbeats completely in sync with each other.. Everypony that had looked up could see the thundering trail that they left in their wake.
They had big, brown saddlebags on their back, filled with the necessary items for their stay.
“So, where are we heading to again?” Fleetfoot asked as she flew beside Soarin with Spitfire in the lead.
“Ponyville," Spitfire said simply while raising an eyebrow.
“…Ok.” A small period of silence ensued which was broken by Fleetfoot coughing awkwardly while looking at Soarin. He shrugged.
“So…who are we meeting there exactly?” he asked, trying to seem innocent.
Spitfire glanced at the two ponies. “Seriously?”
“Yeah! Why did I have to cancel my spa appointment again?”
“And where in Ponyville are we heading?”
“Oh for the last time! Did you even pay attention while I was explaining everything to you two goddamn feather brains?!” She huffed.
“Wait…when did you explain any of this?” Fleetfoot asked while Soarin snickered.
“Sweet Celestia’s buttcheeks, kill me now!”
Soarin chuckled. "We're just messin’ with ya Spitz, right Fleet?” He glanced at her from the side but she still seemed to be confused.
“No seriously, when did you?”
“…”
“…I'm kidding.” Fleetfoot snickered as Spitfire rolled her eyes.
“Anyway, we’re almost here so for the love of Celestia, behave yourselves!” she scolded them. “Sometimes, I swear I'm handling a pair of foals…”
“We heard that!” Fleetfoot pouted.
“And I don't care!” Spitfire said as the trio came in for a landing near the huge castle.
“Ya know, I always knew I was destined to meet royalty,” Soarin piped up as they started to walk. The fiery pegasus raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, meet royalty and polish their horseshoes,” she joked.
“Oh, ha ha,” he mocked. The three reached the castle and stood in front of the giant double doors.
“…So, do we knock?” Fleetfoot asked. Spitfire and Soarin shrugged. She flattened her brow and awkwardly knocked. “…Um, hello? Anypony home?”
She put her ear to the door, hearing light hoofsteps and a male voice which yelled, "Coming!”
The door swung open to reveal a light purple and green baby dragon.
“Uh, hello. We—” Fleetfoot finally got a good look at who she was speaking to and yelped, jumping into the air with surprise. “A dragon!!” she gasped. Spike held up his claws in a defensive manner.
“Woah dude, chill! I'm Princess Twilight’s assistant, Spike.” She calmed down and sheepishly flew back to the ground.
“Eh heh…sorry.”
“It's cool. Come on in, Twilight’s been waiting for you.” He motioned for them to follow.
As they trotted inside, the first thing they saw was a huge white staircase, leading two ways.
They followed Spike up a flight of stairs which led to multiple purple colored doors. They kept walking straight towards a much larger one than the rest at the end of the hall.
“Twilight’s in there.” Spike pointed to the large door. “I have to take care of a few things, so I'll catch you later.” He waved goodbye and walked off, not giving a chance for them to speak.
The trio looked at each other and shrugged, before opening the doors to reveal the throne room.
The throne room had a round table made of crystal with six tall and one small thrones surrounding it. In one of them sat Princess Twilight Sparkle, who was filling out some paperwork, but stopped as she noticed the Wonderbolts enter.
“Oh! You're here, great!” she said and walked over to them. The other three ponies started to dip down to bow but a hoof stopped them. “Please, no need for that.” She smiled softly. “I am very happy for you to be working with us and leaving some of your other comrades in charge. Thank you.”
“It was no problem your highness—” Spitfire began but was cut off by Twilight.
“Please, Twilight is fine. I really don't like when ponies call me princess.” She shrugged.
“Uh, sure. As I was saying, it's no problem Twilight, it's actually refreshing to change the usual, everyday routine up a bit. We should really be thanking you.”
“Well, I'm glad to see you're happy working with us. Now on to business; you three will be staying with a dear friend of mine who was also the bearer of loyalty and is part of the friendship council. She'll tell you all the details when you arrive at her house.” Twilight then started walking towards the exit. “Follow me.”
They did as they were told and followed the lavender princess through the halls once again, taking many twists and turns through the corridors, finally reaching another flight of stairs which was leading up.
“Phew, I didn't forget the way this time," Twilight muttered.
She led the Wonderbolts up and they saw a huge, lone door.
“This castle really likes its doors,” Fleetfoot whispered to Soarin, who nodded in agreement.
Twilight proceeded to open the door with her magic and was met with a blast fresh air and beautiful, clear blue skies.
They all walked to the railings of the huge balcony and Twilight spoke.
“You see that?” She pointed in the distance towards a cloud structure. “You have to fly towards that; it's the only cloud structure here in Ponyville, so I don't have to worry about you getting lost,” she chuckled.
“Ok, thanks Twilight! We'd best be off,” Spitfire said, and spread her wings along with Fleetfoot and Soarin and they took off.
“Bye!” Twilight yelled from her balcony.
The Wonderbolts flew across Ponyville to the large cloud structure floating in the air.
“This thing is getting bigger and bigger every second!” Fleetfoot commented as in fact, the mansion had looked quite small from the distance.
“You said it! This mare must rich!” Soarin whistled.
Spitfire nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Though guys, I just remembered. After we meet the pony we're staying with, we'll have to ask her directions to Rainbow’s house—we need to plan the routine after all.”
“Alright.”
“Hey guys, I have to ask. Did you notice the cutie marks on the thrones?” Fleetfoot asked.
“No, I was talking to Princess Twilight,” Spitfire said. She looked at Soarin and he shook his head.
“Well, one of them was a white cloud with a red, yellow and blue lightning bolt shooting out of it; the bearer of loyalty…I swear I've seen that before…” Fleetfoot mused.
“Hmm, that does sound familiar. I just don't know where from…”
“Well, we're about to find out whos it is,” Soarin said, as they landed in front of the door of the cloud mansion.
Spitfire knocked on the door and heard hoofsteps getting louder as the owner opened the door.
“Oh hey, you're here!”
The three Wonderbolts' jaws dropped in shock at the sight of who opened the door. From her cyan coat to her rainbow mane, from her shining magenta eyes to the exact same cutie mark from the throne.
“Rainbow Dash?!?!”