Ponycare

by Bunnybooze79

Chapter 2

It only took two minutes to reach the library. Rainbow Dash could have been there sooner, but she took her time to think on how to ask Twilight about the topic of personal grooming. Not everypony was comfortable talking about it she knew.

The sign on the library’s front door indicated that it was closed. Rainbow Dash had forgotten about the time, which was still early for most ponies. She knew that Twilight stayed up late night sometimes and that the library officially only opened at ten o’clock. Unsure if the unicorn was awake or still sleeping, Rainbow Dash decided not to knock and rather risk a look through the upstairs window. An all too familiar sight greeted her as she look inside.

Twilight with a checklist.

The lavender unicorn happily ticked something off on the checklist and opened a nearby cupboard. Rainbow Dash was just about to knock on the window when she saw what Twilight levitated out of the storage area. It looked like a scratching post for cats.

Intrigued by the unusual object Rainbow Dash perched herself on the windowsill and watched. Did Twilight have a cat now as well? Then why would the post be locked away in a cupboard? Was it for Spike maybe? Some strange dragon thing that he did?

Her questions were replaced by even stranger ones when she saw Twilight begin rubbing her horn on the post. She seemed to be saying something, while rubbing it from all sides. Rainbow Dash looked around the room thinking she was maybe talking to some other pony or maybe Spike. Twilight was alone however and seemed oblivious to the pegasus perched just outside her window.

As Twilight moved around the post her gaze shifted towards the window. Rainbow Dash could hear her surprised yelp from the outside and watched the unicorn jump away from the post and window with a startled expression on her face. It soon was replaced by an angry frown and she stomped her way towards the window. With a burst of purple magic she opened it.

“Rainbow! What are you doing outside my window?” she asked looking rather annoyed.

“Heh. Sorry Twilight. I wanted to knock, but you seemed to be enjoying yourself with that thing over there.”

“Hmpf. Well if you don’t mind, I would like to finish my horncare in private. I’ll meet you downstairs in a bit.” Before Twilight could shut the window, Rainbow Dash jammed a hoof in between it and the window frame.

“Actually that’s exactly what I came over here to talk about.” she explained. Twilight looked at her confused for a moment.

“What? Why?” she asked and stepped away from the window.

Rainbow Dash took that as an invitation and flew over to the strange post. It was about as high as a pony and had a really rough surface. Almost like a rasp or file. Twilight shooed her away from it before repeating her previous questions.

“Scoots had a sleepover at my place this weekend. By chance I found out this morning that she didn’t know about preening.” Rainbow explained while still eyeing the post.

“That’s caring for your wings and feathers, right?” Twilight asked rhetorically.

“I showed her how to do it properly. Then she asked me later what other ponies do. Figured if anypony could tell me it would be you.”

“You came here because you wanted to learn about ponycare? YOU came HERE to LEARN?” Rainbow Dash was slightly taken aback by the sudden enthusiastic glint in Twilight’s eyes.

“Uhm, yeah?”

Twilight was almost dancing on the spot out of joy to be able to teach one of her friends something new that they didn’t know. She loved teaching others, but sadly never really got the chance very often.

“Then I will help you on your quest for knowledge!” she proclaimed and eagerly awaited the first question Rainbow Dash might ask. The pegasus merely pointed with a hoof towards the post.

“What’s that thing?”

“That is a horn-filing post. Model T45b, first developed in Trottingham in the year…” Rainbow Dash held up a hoof to stop the flow of, in her opinion, unnecessary information.

“Stick to the basics, Twilight. What were you doing with it?”

“Taking care of my horn. I do that about once a week, see here I even have a schedule for it in my calendar.” Twilight levitated the calendar towards Rainbow Dash. She casually glanced at it, but did a double take as she saw what actually was written there. Then she burst out laughing.

Confused Twilight turned the calendar towards herself and checked what she had written. Not noticing anything out of the ordinary she turned to look at the pegasus now lying on the floor laughing.

“What? What’s so funny?” she asked confused at what caused that reaction. Rainbow Dash needed a few moments to regain her composure. She sat up and was still grinning much to the bewilderment of the librarian.

“You might want to change the name you have given your activities here.” she said still sniggering.

“What? Why?” she glanced back at the calendar thinking she may have misspelled a word.

“Horny Time. Nothing wrong with it.” Rainbow burst out laughing once more.

“I don’t understand. What is so funny?”

“Seriously, Twilight? Think about it.” Rainbow Dash said while wiping a few tears from her eyes.

It took far longer than Rainbow Dash had expected, but she knew that Twilight had finally understood what Rainbow Dash was hinting at when she suddenly blushed.

“Oh dear….forget everything that you saw.” she stammered and quickly hid away her calendar.

“I’ll try.” Rainbow said smirking. “So... about my question.”

Twilight cleared her throat and tried to forget the events from just a few seconds ago.

“Erm yes. As you know every pony has magic in their bodies and each of the different races can access this magic in their own ways.” Twilight turned on her lecture mode and forgot any past misunderstandings. She was in the zone as it were. Something that Rainbow Dash had dubbed the Twilight Zone.

“Earth-ponies have increased stamina and strength thanks to the magic. Pegasi use it to fly and walk on clouds. Unicorns have more influence over their inherent magic and can channel it via their horn into spells.”

She pointed at her horn and made sure Rainbow Dash was paying attention. To her surprise her momentary pupil was indeed following her every word. She suppressed a squee of delight.

“In order for the magic energies to properly flow the unicorns horn must be… streamlined for the energies. If my horn would be chipped or uneven the energies would be diverted. That could result in a spell being cast with less efficiency or even not being able to be cast at all. In the worst case the energies would flow back giving the caster a very nasty headache.”

“So that’s why you rub your horn on the post. To get rid of any unevenness?” Twilight grinned as her pupil understood what she was teaching. “So every unicorn does that?”

“That is correct. How often depends on what kind of spell the unicorn uses. I use spells that do not necessarily have to be focused on a small point. So I do not have to constantly keep my horn as streamlined as others do. Rarity for example uses her magic for very fine delicate work. So I am guessing she will maintain it more often than I need to. Perhaps even daily I’m not sure.”

“Let me guess. You don’t really talk about it with others.” Rainbow Dash took a wild stab in the dark.

“It’s not really something one does in public or even talks about. Kind of a private thing.” Rainbow Dash was fully aware on how Twilight had emphasized the word private. She took the hint but chose to ignore it. There were still questions on her mind.

“So every unicorn has one of these posts?” she asked and pointed once again to said device.

“No. It’s more of a personal taste of mine. There are other hoofheld rasps and files. I just grew up with one of these and have used it ever since.”

“Hoofheld? Why not use magic?”

“Ah. Well… how do I put this.” Twilight thought of a way to explain it to her friend that she would understand.

“When you close your eyes you can feel the wind rushing through your feathers right?” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“And if one of the feathers would be out of place or about to fall out you notice it, correct?”

“Yeah. The wind feels different then.”

“It’s the same with our horns. We pour our magic into the horn and can feel any damage or unevenness. Doing that we can’t use any other spells so we need to use or hooves or posts like this one. Some ponies can also specialize in doing it for others, but they are rare. For the most part we like to take care of it ourselves.”

“So you talking while rubbing on the post was some kind of spell?”

Twilight blushed again at Rainbow Dash’s question.

“Uhm… no. I was taught how to properly file my horn with the help of a nursery rhyme. I still use it.” She commented sheepishly.

Rainbow Dash decided not to push further and not to make fun of it. Twilight had been a great source of information and she needed just a bit more from her.

“Wow. That’s really cool for you telling me all that. I actually learned a lot already.”

Twilight beamed at her friend.

“One more question.” Twilight nodded at anticipation. Being a teacher was always so much fun. She briefly wondered if Rainbow Dash would mind if she gave her homework or maybe even a test later.

“Pegasi preen, unicorns are horny…I mean do their thing with the horn.” She couldn’t help herself from making that joke. “What do earth-ponies do?”

“Ah well, earth-ponies…they….hmmm…they do….” Twilight froze up in deep thought. Rainbow Dash slowly began to worry after a few minutes when her friend didn’t move a single muscle or seemed to breathe. She was just about to wave a hoof in front of her friends face, when Twilight looked back at her.

“I….don’t….know…” she said with horror in her voice.

Oh boy, Twilight Zone part two, Rainbow Dash thought and carefully stepped a few hooves back. She somehow knew what would most likely come next and wanted to be as close to the window as possible.

“But…I am bound to have books on the subject downstairs.” Here it comes…. “We could make a study-group and learn together. Doesn’t that sound like fun?!”

“Hehe…wow, would you look at the time. Listen, I really should get back to work, but you have seriously been a huge help to me. Thanks for the info!” Rainbow Dash said quickly and launched herself out of the window before Twilight had the chance to close it or grab her by the tail with her magic. She let out a sigh of relief when she reached what she assumed to be the limit of Twilight’s reach with her magic.

Twilight was a little disappointed at Rainbow Dash leaving so suddenly. It had been fun teaching her, but she understood that work came first. She glanced at the clock and realized there was some time left before she would open the library to the public.

“Spike?” she called out as she left her bedroom and headed downstairs.

“Yes, Twilight?” the dragon replied sticking his head out of the kitchen.

“Drop whatever you are doing and help me with some books.” She asked and began searching the bookshelves for specific books.

“Why, what’s up?” he asked and walked up to the unicorn who already had a pile of books piled up next to her that were taller than the dragon.

“We still have time for a study session this morning.” the dragon groaned with displeasure. He really did not like Mondays.

___________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash was hovering over Ponyville thinking about her next course of action. She could always come back to Twilight later, no doubt she would have found the answer to her question by then, but she also had the suspicion that if she hung around any longer she would have to take some sort of test. And Rainbow Dash did not like tests.

So an earth-pony it is.

Mentally she went through the list of earth-ponies she knew. The first one to pop into her mind was Applejack.

With a goal set, she flew towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Comments

[Siras-chi]

Don't Worry Twi. We won't tell the other ponies about your Horny Time.

[tirilee]

Oh my ... Horny Time

[Teraunce]

“Horny Time. Nothing wrong with it.” Rainbow burst out laughing once more.

lol