• Published 17th May 2013
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The Thirty Minute Dash - Esle Ynopemos



Nopony's faster than the Dash!

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7: Reliving the Good Old Days [Sad]

((Prompt: A link to the past.))

The air was charged with intense energy. Wind swirled around in circles, ripping leaves from trees and pulling blades of grass from the ground. At the center, it was almost like lightning, if lightning came from a point in the middle of the air instead of from a cloud. The park was filled with an intense light and a clap of thunder, and then all was silent.

Princess Twilight Sparkle stood at the top of a grassy, recently-charred hill in the middle of Ponyville Park, where seconds ago there had been nopony. She drew slow, deliberate breaths in through her nostrils as the excess energy of the spell dissipated from her body into the ground.

“Hey,” said a scratchy voice. “I thought you weren't gonna show.” A rainbow mane and blue wings poked over the edge of a small cloud overlooking the park. “You said you were too busy with princess stuff.”

Twilight stared up at Rainbow Dash for a few moments, her jaw working soundlessly. After blinking something away, she seemed to remember herself. “Oh that,” she croaked, her mouth left dry from all the magic she had just used. She swallowed and did her best to clear her throat. “Well, I got... I got all that stuff done, so I thought I'd come and see about that flying lesson after all.” She gave the pegasus a hopeful smile. “That is, if you're still willing.”

Rainbow smirked, and rolled off of her cloud, opening her wings into an easy swoop to the ground. “Of course I am!” She landed next to Twilight and gave her a playful bump in the shoulder. “No sense in having a flying buddy if she never learns how to fly, right?”

Twilight grinned weakly and nodded. “Yeah.”

“All right, so where did we leave off last time?” Dash rubbed her hooves together and circled around her friend, lifting up Twilight's wings to inspect them. “It looks like you got them preened properly, that's good.” She nodded in approval.

“Oh, yeah, somepony at the palace helped me with that,” Twilight explained. “All this time, and I'm still no good at doing them myself.”

Rainbow chuckled. “A month isn't that much time to learn something like preening, Twi. Give it time, you'll get used to it.”

Twilight's eyes drifted to the ground. “A month. That's right.”

Rainbow Dash clapped her forehooves. “Okay, I know I've been having you glide to start with, but I think you're ready to try a running launch. You remember the basic rules for takeoff, right?”

“Clear above, clear ahead, and clear to both sides,” Twilight recited, stretching her wings out to test the space on either side of her. Having anypony or anything within her wingspan on takeoff was a risk of injury.

Rainbow grinned wide, watching her friend's wingspan. “Awesome. All right, go ahead and go for it whenever you feel like.”

Their lesson was a short one. Rainbow Dash was continuously surprised at the progress Twilight had inexplicably made since her last lesson. She had remarked that it was as though she had had years of practice since last week. Twilight had simply chuckled nervously in response to this and said she merely had a good flight instructor, was all.

Before long, Twilight could sense that her time was drawing to a close. The magic was beginning to pull her back. She forced a smile on her face as she hugged Rainbow one last time and told her goodbye. “I'll miss you,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

Rainbow blinked in confusion. “Come on, Twi, you'll be back from Canterlot in a week. If nothing else, I'm gonna see you for your next flight lesson. You might be getting better, but you're not Wonderbolt material yet!”

Twilight sniffed. “That's right. You're going to see me next week. Just... take care, Rainbow Dash. Please?” The gathering wind and the building energy of her spell drowned out Rainbow's response, but her cocksure grin told Twilight everything she needed to know. I'll be just fine, Twilight.

Space and time folded in upon themselves, and Twilight Sparkle found herself in her chamber at the palace once again. Something stung her cheek as the arcing energy from her time spell found a conductive path in the streams of tears down the sides of her face.

There was a soft knock on her door. Twilight reached for a kerchief to dry her eyes before she answered. “Enter,” she said. Again, the spell had sapped the moisture from her mouth, leaving her voice to creak like old wood.

A small, timid maidservant pushed the door open and peeked inside. “Um, excuse me, Princess, but your appearance at the centennial celebration of the Five is in half an hour. I thought you should know.”

“Thank you.” Twilight smiled politely and nodded permission for the servant to leave.

As the door shut once again, Twilight turned her eyes to the dusty old framed photograph. It wasn't even the original; it was a restored copy after the first had been nearly lost to the endless march of time. But even so, it was more valuable than all of the jewels in Equestria.

Twilight looked at the faces of her old friends. “A half hour,” she whispered to herself. That was enough time to pay one more of her friends a visit. Perhaps Pinkie this time.

Her horn ignited, and she pictured in her head a likely time to go to. Some time she hadn't spent with Pinkie the first go around. Baking cupcakes would be nice...