Beautiful Morning with you

Rainbow woke suddenly and rubbed her nose as she groaned:

“Ouch! Twilight, I thought I taught you to control your wings already.”

“Sorry Dashie, I don’t know what happened there.” Twilight leaned over the bed, looking at Rainbow, “are you okay?”

“Twilight, if I got hurt that easily, I wouldn't be the pesagus I am, would I?”

Knowing that Dash was not hurt, she moved down and kissed the tip of her nose, “All right then, tough pony, get back up here—it’s too early to be up.”

“Heh, for you maybe. At the Academy, we had to wake up at five in the morning for flying drills; not sure how long you’d last there.”

Twilight rolled onto the bed and pulled the sheets over her, and Rainbow flied back beside her. Muffled from the sheets, Twilight said:

“Well, it’s not the Academy, and I was up all night trying to study, and if I don’t study, I won’t do well on my duties, and if I don’t do well, no one will respect me, and if I don’t—” Silenced by Rainbow’s hoof resting on her mouth.

“You know you’re kind of a silly pony, right?” Rainbow asked, smiling.

Twilight blushed lightly, difficult to see under her lavender coat, but Rainbow could tell. She moved the sheets over and pressed against Twilight, whose wings were splayed out beneath her. Her head rested under Twilight’s, and she kissed up her neck softly; Twilight relaxed and moved close into Rainbow.

“A few minutes, nothing more,” Rainbow whispered, “we've got that invitation to Applejack’s, something about another great Applebuck season.”

Twilight acknowledged with a small noise and kissed the top of Rainbow’s head. She continued to kiss down until she reached Rainbow’s nose, and licked it.

“Hey!” Dash said and licked the tip of Twilight’s wing, making her shudder. Smiling, she rolled onto Rainbow and kissed her, trying to pin her down. “We've got to be there in an hour, so we have twenty-eight minutes for fun, two to stop, fifteen to fix our hair and coats, and five to fly to the Apple farm. Then, we’re ten minutes early!” Twilight stated, very proud of her planning.

“Ha, maybe if I was the only one flying. You might be able to fly, but you need to work on your stamina. It’ll take about fifteen, so we’ll be just on time.”

“I think I’m turning you into a full-on egghead, Dashie.”

“M-maybe.” Rainbow said, looking away.

“Well,” Twilight said, starting to kiss up Rainbow’s neck, “that’s not a bad thing”

Rainbow gasped lightly, and whispered, “how long for fun again?”

“Fun? Fun’s all the time, silly!”

“PINKIE?!”

They both tried to fly off the bed, but got tangled in the sheets, falling on the ground. Pinkie was sitting at the foot of their bed, and said:

“Well, that didn’t really look like much fun.”

Twilight groaned. “No, Pinkie, it was not.”

“Well, I mean, the ground can be fun, if it’s shaking or if there’s something cool on the ground or if it’s really super comfy, then there’s lot of fun! But that just looks like it hurt.”

“What made you guess that, Pinkie?” Rainbow mumbled, not amused with her situation.

“I don’t know, maybe just ’cause it looked like that, or maybe because Twilight sounded a bit sore. But hurry up sillies! You can have fun at Applejack’s, we’re all going to be there having apple treats and pie and cake and sarsaparilla and all kinds of games!”

“Hurry up?” Twilight asked, getting up and throwing the sheet off. “Why? We've still got at least an hour before we’re supposed to be at Applejack’s.” she said, pointing to an hourglass beside the bed. “I used a simple spell to reset it every hour, on the hour.” The glass bulbs had small marking for every fifteen minutes, and numbered cards placed to the side, which changed with the hourglass.

“You know, Twi, we have a clock,” Rainbow said, pointing to the wall.

“It’s always breaking down.”

Twilight spoke again:

“So how could we possible be late?”

“Well Twilight, maybe it’s your magic, or maybe Rainbow bumped into it and messed it up, but that’s not what the sun is saying!” Pinkie announced as she opened the blinds of Twilight’s room. The room was filled with light, and Rainbow threw her hooves in front of her eyes while Twilight squinted and looked outside. The sun was high in the sky, at least an hour later than the time Twilight’s system displayed. That’s not possible, my calculations and timing are perfect.

“Anyway, you’re both late! Let’s get to Applejack’s already!”

Pinkie jumped over Twilight towards the balcony and pulled out her Party Cannon from he side, jumping inside. “See you at the celebration!” She pulled the cannon’s string and fired.

Twilight and Rainbow started at the cannon on the balcony, then at each other; both sharing a mortified expression.

“Did she just-“

“Yeah,” Twilight responded, “she did.”

Twilight Sparkle looked out at the little village, visibly from her balcony. Ponyville was as it always was; quiet, peaceful, a good place to live. All her friends were here, and her dear Dashie—a name which she rarely used, and one which Rainbow begrudgingly allowed, from time to time. She nuzzled Rainbow, and sighed happily. It was a normal day; it would be a good one. I must have made some calculation error. Then again, Pinkie could have just messed it up beforehand. Sighing quietly, she and Rainbow started to get ready to visit Applejack’s home.

The Apple Family barn was bursting with activity; voices, doors opened and shut in quick succession, piles of apple based food and confections, and ponies moving back and forth to prepare the celebration. Applejack had spent the morning putting the final touches on the barn, setting up the tables and food, getting everything ready in time. Big Mac and Apple Bloom had pitched in with the preparations; the celebration of the most successful apple harvest was about to start. Applejack placed the last tray of apple fritters on a table and sat down, looking around the barn, trying to see if anything else needed to be set up. It was a few minutes before her friends would arrive. Barn cleaned, plates, food, and decorations, yep, all good. She shut her eyes and rested her head for a moment. Even though Big Mac had helped with the harvest, she was still exhausted from bucking the apple fields—she needed a good night’s sleep. She didn't get to sleep until late in the night; she and Granny Smith had been preparing the cider and food. However, it was a restless sleep. She was plagued with the feeling of something dark—trying to wrap around her, crushing her. She couldn't breath. Kicking out, shed smashed a piece of her bed frame, and fell back asleep. Apple Bloom had woken her up for the celebration. Applejack spent the beginning of her morning in a panicked frenzy preparing, and was finally taking a chance to rest. Come on Applejack, rest a bit, you’ve earned tha’ much. She sat quietly, trying to stay awake; the rest of the family was inside, doing the day’s chores.

Small mutterings brought Applejack out of her rest as she looked up to see Rarity walking around the table pilled with food; some of it now floating in the air. Rarity was at work.

“Well, we have to move these over here; otherwise the dip is too far away—well, I suppose that’s not a problem for me or Twilight, but what about the others? And really, this was going to fall off if someone bumped into the table. Though the tablecloth is nice, if I do say so myself.”

Rarity was talking to herself in a low voice, trying to fix what she would call “a crisis of organization” while not waking up Applejack. She was levitating at least 15 trays of treats, and did so without strain. Most unicorns wouldn't be up to the task, but Rarity was skilled at using her telekinetic magic to manage multiple objects at once. She knew her skills could not match Twilight’s, but she prided herself in her abilities nonetheless. And of keen organization, which she was putting to practice. I've almost got it, just need to move-

Her thoughts were interrupted as Applejack cleared her throat, getting up slowly.

“Oh! Applejack, dear, I’m sorry that I woke you up! I was just trying to… well… help with the celebration,” Rarity was muttering and she was blushing from being caught, “I really am sorry about this.”

“Ya know Rares, ya can just ask if you want to help.”

“I know, but you looked so peaceful resting, and really, with all the work you did for the harvest, you deserve a little rest. Something I didn't get much last night.” Her last words trailed off, like a forgotten dream.

“anyway, I just wanted to be able to help put the finishing touches on things,” Rarity said, putting the trays down. She walked over and sat beside Applejack, “Did you know when the others will be getting here? It would seem I’m fashionably early. Or is fashionably late popular now?”

“Well, they should all be gettin’ here pretty soon, otherwise the food‘ll get cold!” Applejack responded, getting up and walking to the barn door.

“Applejack! I just sat down.”

“Then stay sitting if ya want, Ah’m just gonna wait fer the others.”

Applejack opened the barn door and found herself face-to-face with Fluttershy, who jumped back with a small cry.

“Sorry! I was going to come in, but then I heard you and Rarity, and I thought ‘maybe I should wait till they’re done talking’ but then I was just going to knock and then you opened the door. You startled me a bit there.”

“Sorry ‘bout that, Fluttershy. Come on in, food ain't getting any warmer with us keeping the door wide open.”

“Oh, right!” Fluttershy trotted inside, shutting the door softly behind her. “is everyone else here?”

“I’m over here, darling!” Rarity called out, walking over to Fluttershy. “Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie have yet to arrive, but I’m sure they’ll be here soon. After all, you know how good Twilight is with her planning. Besides, Pinkie wouldn’t miss the cake we’re having.”

“No I wouldn't!”

Everypony jumped as Pinkie appeared behind them; Twilight and Rainbow flew in from the door following Pinkie. They were all together, ready to begin celebrating.

It was a good day; like any other. It was also the last one. A halcyon day.

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