A Rainbow Swiftly Lost

by Ferlathin

Chapter III - There and back again?

A Rainbow Swiftly Lost
By Ferlathin

Chapter III - There and back again?

Journal entry #9 – Canterlot

Dear journal,

A lot has happened since that wagon took me away from Cloudsdale. We moved into quite a nice part of Canterlot, both my parents had actually gotten jobs there. My mother got a job at the royal court, I never really knew exactly what it was that she would be doing, but apparently she was important enough, considering how good her pay was. My father got work as a hotel receptionist in one of the more exclusive hotels in Canterlot. The job suited him way better than his old one at the weather factory, he always was a very social pegasus. Their new jobs meant that they would be at home a lot more, which I actually appreciated. The atmosphere in our house was way better than it had ever been before, and we were laughing and living our lives together. Everything was good.

I was sent to a public school to prepare for potential university studies. My parents really wanted me to get into the Canterlot university. It was a big deal to them, since they never got the chance to study on such an advanced level themselves. I can't really say I liked school, but it made the time pass quicker. During my time there I wrote a few adventure stories. My teacher really liked them, she even sent one of them to the Best Young Author competition. I obviously didn't win, but the gesture was sweet nonetheless.

I kept training as usual, and my training journal was becoming a great really tool. My daily routine was to train half an hour before school and two hours after school. A part of me wanted to keep in shape while the other just enjoyed working out. The bullying that had existed in my foalhood was nowhere to be found here, I felt more self-confident than ever before, and life just went on. I liked it.

There actually was something that changed, at least the way I looked. In my foalhood I wrote to you, journal, that my mane and tail was black, which was true. Now, however, I've gotten a stripe of red in it as well. I quite like the look of it, and I think it suits me rather well. The red has appeared in both my tail and in my mane, and one more thing that has popped up too, my cutiemark! It was during school, one of those more fun classes where we could write stories. My teacher had made it into a small competition, write as good a story as possible in ten minutes. I just let the pencil flow and write whatever was on my mind. It went quite well, I managed to write three pages, while the others finished at one and a half. My teacher cheered and declared me the winner, and then suddenly she gasped.

"Look!" my teacher said. Everypony turned around and looked at me.

"What? ..." I replied.

"You've gotten your cutiemark!" somepony said.

"What!?" I immediately turned around and looked at my flank. It wasn't blank anymore, there was a depiction of a note block and a pencil. I gasped.

"You're gonna be a writer, Sam!" a mare in front of me said, it was clear that she thought it was very romantic. When I looked up she winked at me, and I smiled sheepishly in return.

After class she came to me and asked, "Want to do something after school?" she looked at me with eyes that clearly stated what she actually wanted to do with me.

"I... Eeeh. I've got stuff to do, sorry." I said, rejecting her generous offer. It wasn't that she wasn't good looking. It was just that... I had never been with a mare before and it just didn't feel right at that moment.

However, when the rumor had spread that I was a romantic novelist the mares were practically begging to give me inspiration. I kind of had to escape it somehow. Usually, in the lunch breaks, I snuck out to Canterlot's public library. I liked the library, it had to be quiet and the 'romance-hunting' mares never seemed to go there.

It was one of those days I saw her. She wasn't like any other mare I had ever met, her coat was lavender colored and her mane and tail were three different shades of purple. Her bangs were beautifully covering the lower part of her unicorn horn. She seemed to be deeply immersed in a book. I didn't pay too much attention to her and continued on my secret little project. Writing a Daring Do book.

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Samuel paused briefly and took a sip of water. It felt good to write. This journal business is kind of sweet. He thought to himself. He looked out the window and saw that the moon was rising.

"Wow... I must have lost track of the time... again." he murmured to himself.

Now that he actually realized what time it was, he felt rather tired, and he decided to call it a day and went to bed. The next day was graduation day after all.

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Journal entry #10 – University

Dear journal,

It's now been three months since my graduation. I managed to become the top student in my class and I was quite satisfied with it. I hadn’t changed my mind regarding studying at the university, and a few weeks after the graduation I applied to a few courses at the Canterlot university. Free writing, Writing 101, and Creative Writing among others. I figured that those would fit me quite well, my schedule wasn't too cramped so I had a lot of spare time too. The university life suited me perfectly, I enjoyed just strolling around campus, observing my environment in order to get creative ideas.

The university library was the biggest library in Canterlot, it had a multitude of different departments, and the sheer amount of books surpassed any other library in Equestria. I read a lot of books, I kind of had to, with my studies and all. Reading the work of great authors grants a lot of understanding and insight into how to write your own. 'It's essential to read a lot of different kinds of books!' the Creative Writing professor had told me. He was a stallion, possibly as old as my father, who had quite a reputation as an author. He fancied the fantasy/adventure genre and has written bestsellers such as, Survivin' ever free, Prancing with Danger and let's not forget his masterpiece, The Circles of Destiny. I was quite honored to have such a famous pony teach me about what he did best, I had read his books before I even knew that he was going to tutor me.

It was a day like any other and I was sitting in the library reading some fiction while continuing work on my own Daring Do story. I noticed that the lavender unicorn I had seen in the public library a few times was actually sitting on the other side of the room. She was yet again completely buried in a big book in front of her. I just had to talk to her.

"Hi there!" I said, somewhat tentatively.

Either she didn't hear what I said or she was very good at acting like she hadn’t. I trotted around to her side of the table and poked her shoulder as I said, "What's that you're reading?"

She flinched and almost fell out of her chair. I took her hoof and gave her some balance. "I.. I'm so sorry. I didn't notice..." she said while she levitated another book that had fallen to the floor.

My jaw dropped, only briefly though. "Was... Was that you?" I pointed at the book which now lay at the table in front of me. I looked at the book, the floor and then at the unicorn.

"Yup. It's magic! That's what I study." she replied.

I had still not really recovered from seeing somepony so young being able to handle levitation that well. I hadn't really seen much of it at all, just read about it in my fiction books.

"Where's my manners, I'm Samuel Swift!" I said and politely held out a hoof.

She took it and said, "Nice to meet you, Samuel, I'm Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"So... You study magic?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. See that?" she said and turned her head to look at her cutiemark. "You know that unicorns usually can do magic that has to do with their cutiemark, right?"

"Yes, so I've heard." I replied.

"Well. Mine is kind of complicated. My cutiemark is... Magic. I'm destined to use and learn more about magic." she said.

"Wow. I've never heard of such a thing." I said honestly.

She looked at me, to see if I actually meant it or if I was just making fun of her. "Look. I really have to go. Got a lot of studying to catch up on!" she said while levitating the books into her saddle bag. She started to trot towards the exit but hastily turned around. "But it was nice to meet you, Samuel!"

"Come by anytime! I'm here quite a lot and I've written some stories of my own, if you'd like to read something that isn't nonfiction." I shouted after her, realizing that several other ponies were looking my way. "Sorry..." I apologized since I knew I had made too much noise.

I returned to my table where I sat down and sighed. Nicely handled there. Really. The sarcastic thoughts poisoned my mind. If you can't get her out of your head, how will you ever find your special somepony?

"I... She is my special somepony!" I cried out. This time I drew rather much attention upon me. I hastily picked up my stuff and left the library.

How could I act so... Emotional... all of a sudden. What's wrong?! I remember thinking. Usually I was quite good at keeping my emotions inside me, and not expressing them too much.

I went home and didn't speak to anypony on the way. I managed to keep it up, the silence, for almost three days. I noticed that my teachers had become a little worried, as I wasn't answering any of their questions during the seminars like I usually would. However I did my homework and turned in the papers on time, so they didn't do anything about it.

Today came and I went by the library for a brief look after a certain book.

Suddenly I heard a cheerful voice, "Hi there, Samuel!" I turned around and saw Twilight Sparkle standing there, smiling.

I just couldn't be silent anymore. "Hi..." I said and tried to sound happy.

Twilight saw straight through my efforts of seeming happy. "What's the matter? Is something wrong?" she said, and with such care.

"It... I've had a few rough days." I said. "What do you want? ... Twilight."

"I... eh." she looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face. "S-sorry I bothered you..." she said and turned around to leave.

"Nonono! Wait! It's me who should be sorry." I trotted in front of her and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I didn't mean to sound like that. I'm..." I sighed. "I'm just a tired."

"University studies can indeed be tiring. I accept your apology, Samuel. Don't worry, I know how it can be sometimes." she said and smiled.

I mentally slapped myself on my cheek thinking, Pull yourself together, Samuel, you're a wreck. "Thanks. What did you want, though?" I asked, more sincere this time.

"I just wondered if you'd let me read one of your stories. I actually do have some spare time! Who would have thought, right?"

"Heh. Of course, Twilight. Here, take a look!" I handed her the draft of my Daring Do story.

"I can't read it here, silly! I don't have that much time to spare! I'll read it tonight and then I'll meet you here tomorrow?" she said.

"Umm... Sure?" I said while nodding.

"See you tomorrow then! I can't wait to see what you've written, they say you're a romantic novelist."

Oh dear... not this again. I thought to myself. The rest of the day went by without anything special happening. I ended up in my room, writing this journal entry.

I'm thinking of going to bed now. I wonder what Twilight thinks of my Daring Do story. Let's hope it turns out to be good. Anyways, goodnight for now, dear journal!

Signing out! - Samuel

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Samuel put down the pencil, quite satisfied with what he had written so far. He was up to date with his journal entries and, yeah, life was probably not that bad after all. He had made a new friend, in the library, of all places. She was intelligent and beautiful, and tomorrow he'd see whether she would appreciate his work or not. He went to bed and fell soon asleep.

He woke up. Samuel wondered if he had really slept at all, but the sun was going up so he assumed that he had. One can't remember a dreamless sleep, since there's nothing to remember. He thought to himself. He had read that somewhere.

Samuel did his morning routine, a brief half an hour flight around Canterlot and ended up at his house again, took a shower and made sure he had all his papers and stuff he needed at the university ready.

He left his house and trotted towards the university, feeling quite happy.

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Journal entry #11 – From books to wonders

Dear journal,

It's now been a week since my last entry and since I kind of ended it with, hmm, somewhat of a cliffhanger I felt that it wouldn't be fair of me not to tell you the end of it. I did however wait a week since I figured that something new just might come up. It would have been an awfully short entry otherwise, don't you think?

So, where were we again? Right. University. I arrived at the university just in time for my first seminar. I've always liked to be punctual. The seminar went well, and I could see the relief in my teachers’ eyes when I raised my hoof and answered their questions once again. Lunch came and I ate quickly, no need to 'waste time' eating when there was so many other things to be done. I went over to the library where I found Twilight, I could tell from afar that she was actually reading my story.

She looked up as I trotted closer. "Just give me a minute, I'm finishing the last chapter..." she said.

I waited, slightly anxious, for her to finish it. Would she like it or would she despise it for not being a romantic novel. She finally turned the last page but still didn't move an inch. She sat there for maybe thirty seconds.

Then stood up, looked me in the eyes and said. "That. Was. Awesome!"

She extended both her forelegs as if she was about to hug me, suddenly stopped, realizing what she was doing and instead gave me a friendly, yet careful, pat on my shoulder.

"Wow... That totally reminded me of somepony." I said.

"Hmm? Which, the statement or my gesture?" she asked.

"The former." I replied. "Want to take a walk? I don't want to disturb the ponies here in the library more than I already have..."

"Sure." Twilight nodded.

We took a walk around the campus and I explained which pony she reminded me of. The earlier familiar statement could of course have been taken out of any scene from my memory with Rainbow Dash.

"I like the way you describe things..." Twilight suddenly said. "In the book, that is. It feels so alive and it's so beautifully written. One really does feel sympathy for the main character. Now that you've told me about this Rainbow Dash, I kind of feel that they're quite similar. Their characteristics and so on. Not their looks, obviously."

I smiled sheepishly and scratched the ground with my right fore hoof. "Eheh... Really?"

"I reckon you missed out one little detail though when you were talking about Rainbow Dash." Twilight said and looked into my eyes.

"Hmm? What was that?" I replied.

"That you were in love with her." she said.

"What!? I... How did you..." I stuttered.

"It's true, is it not?" she said.

I sighed. "Yeah. It is true."

She smiled at me. "You really are romantic. I knew it!"

"Rainbow would never read it, anyways. She's more of an outside pony than a reader. And I've no idea of where she is. Last time I saw her was in Cloudsdale, and that was quite a while ago. She could be anywhere by now." I said with a touch of sadness in my voice.

"Aww. Don't be like that. I'm sure you'll find her someday!" Twilight soothed. "Oh gosh. Look at the time. We've been out her for ages. I really need to get back and get on with my studies. Princess Celestia wouldn't be happy if I was late."

"Princess Celestia!?" I said, surprised.

"Yes. I'm her most faithful student and she trusts me completely." she said happily.

"That sure sounded like bragging to me." I said teasingly.

"Eeh. I... uh.. But it's true!" she said and blushed.

"I'm sure it is, Twilight. I'm just messing with you. Now now, off you go to your important royal studies!" I said, smiling.

We parted and I trotted towards my next seminar. I arrived right on time, as usual.

Later that day I decided to do some serious work out. I went over to the university's outdoor arena where I could easily practice my running. There was also a lot of space, so air tricks were easier around there. I had been running for about ten minutes when I saw a yellow pony with two shades of orange colored mane and tail. She seemed to be doing some pretty advanced tricks. Suddenly I saw her lose control over her flight and she started descending towards the ground at a dangerously high speed. I did what I could to prevent the disaster, I flew as fast as I could towards her and managed to catch her just a few feet from the ground. Not having taken into calculation the extra weight while carrying her made me not being able to rise. I tried to slow down as much as I could but I eventually crashed anyways.

We rolled around briefly and she ended up on top of me. "Hey, are you allright?" I asked.

"I... I think so." she said, slightly dazed.

I realized my awkward position, blushed slightly and said. "Umm... Could you... perhaps get off me?"

It was her turn to blush now. "Of- of course." she said and flew up and stood next to me. I noticed how cute she was. She must be a few years older than me. I remember thinking, since I didn't recognize her from school.

I stood up and held out my hoof. "I'm Samuel, you can call me Sam!"

"Hi, Sam." she took my hoof. "Thank you for... that. I.. I lost control." she said.

"What were you doing up there anyways? It kind of looked like that you were about to do a corkscrew but then ended up leaning way too much forward, letting all the all the wind beneath you work against you instead of vice versa."

She just stood there, blinked and continued to look at me, with quite a surprised facial expression.

"I didn't catch your name, by the way... Did I?" I asked in order to break the ensuing awkward silence.

"Oh, I'm... ..." She looked around. "I'm Firah... Flamewood." she eventually replied.

"Firah Flamewood?" I looked at her and raised one of my eyebrows thoughtfully.

"Heh. Yeah. That's my name!" she said and giggled. "You can call me Fire if you want, my friends call me that."

"Sure thing, Fire! How did you end up here?" I asked.

"I... I just came by. I wanted to do some practicing, and this seemed like a good spot." she said.

"It sure is! I like it. Not many other ponies here, and lots of space." I said.

"My thoughts exactly!" she replied.

"So what are you practicing for, anyways?" I asked.

"Umm. I just want to keep in shape!" she said and in a slightly more angry tone she added "Is that a crime!?"

"Whoa. Sorry. I didn't mean for it to be such an interrogation. Let's change the subject. Want to race me?" I said, not sure if it'd make my situation any better.

It seemed to have been the right thing to say as her face lit up and she smirked at me. "Sure. Sounds like fun!"

We agreed on a course with a few checkpoints and then we went to the start line. I started counting down from three.

"Three. Two. One. Go!"

I noticed that she was fast, really fast. She took the front position quickly and had no trouble keeping me behind. I came a little bit closer to her at the first checkpoint, where we had to fly around a tree. On the straights, however, I had little chance of keeping up. The race ended, not to anypony's surprise but me, with Fire crossing the finish line first.

"Wow. ... You... You're really fast." I said while trying to catch my breath.

"You're not too bad either." Fire replied.

It was already getting dark and Fire said. "Hmm... I should probably head home! It's getting late."

"Ah, yeah. It sure is. I've got lots of things to do as well." I replied. "It was nice meeting you, though. ... Fire."

"Sure, nice to meet you too, Sam." she said. She took off, but turned around and said. "And thanks for giving me a soft landing!"

I could hear her giggle as she flew away. Well, 'that' was kind of weird. I thought to myself as I was trotting home. On the way I thought of what had happened that day. Twilight had liked my draft. I had met a cute yellow pony called Fire. I had lost to Fire in a race. There sure was something rather familiar about her, but I couldn't say exactly what. The fact itself, that I lost a race against a mare, was something that I had seldom experienced before. Sure, I had met some quite fit mares out there, but usually when it came down to a race I didn't lose. The only mare that had consistently used to beat me in races was Rainbow Dash. Have I just now found somepony of her caliber. I remember thinking to myself.

The next few days proved that theory correct. I spent the afternoons with Fire at the university's outdoor arena where we trained and worked out together. I brought my training journal and I almost felt a déjà vu when I explained to Fire what it was, how I used it and how useful I thought it was. She picked up on every little detail that I pointed out. On how to optimize speed in various situations, on how to efficiently keep balance while doing spins, corkscrews and other tricks that required even greater focus.

The third day, when I pointed out that she could use her tail differently when flying upwards in order to make it increase her speed instead of decrease it, she turned to me and sincerely asked.

"How on earth do you know all these things! I feel like... Like I'm back in school, learning how to fly for the first time." she asked.

"I... I don't know, really. I guess I have a knack for it. I also read a lot of books." I said. "What I like most of all is to observe and write things down, and when it comes to observing I have years of experience."

"Haha. I bet you do, Mr. Charming!" she said and winked.

"Hey... I didn't mean it like that!" I replied. "I just meant-"

"I know what you meant, Sam. Just teasing a little. It's okay, right?" she said.

"Heh. It's fine. I should be used to it. I had this friend who used to do it all the time and even then I never got it right away." I said and smiled.

I wonder where you are now... Rainbow Dash. I thought to myself while looking into the sky.

"Helloooo? You theere?" Fire flew in front of me, poking my shoulder. "Fire to Sam, do you copy?" she said jokingly.

"Uh, yeah. I'm here! Why?" I replied.

"I asked you a question! So what'll it be? Is it okay?" she said, clearly amused since she knew I had not heard her question.

"Eeeeh. ..." I scraped the ground with my hoof. "Could you perhaps repeat that question... I... I was... thinking." I said slightly embarrassed.

"Sure can do! I were interested in if you'd like to meet a few of my wonderful friends tomorrow. They’ve noticed how I'm getting better way faster than them, and they’ve been questioning my methods. I'd just like to introduce them to you." she said, and emphasized the word 'wonderful' in kind of a weird way.

I didn't really care about her emphasis and I replied. "Sure. Why not! The more the merrier, right?"

We decided to call it a day and as I turned around to leave the outdoor arena Fire caught up with me and said. "What were you thinking about back there?"

"I... It was just... You reminded me of somepony I used to know." I said and tried to hide the sting of sadness.

Fire did, just as Twilight, see straight through my brave efforts. "I'm sorry. Was it something I said?" she wondered.

"No. Well. Yes, it was. But it's not you. You are just who you are. It's not your fault." I said.

"What happened, tell me and I'm sure you'll feel better." she said sincerely.

I had actually not spoken to anypony about what had happened in my foalhood and since it had been on my mind lately I decided to let it all out.

"There was this filly I once knew..." I paused briefly and took a deep breath. "... And I liked her. She was one of the 'cool fillies' and I was one of those who got bullied often. She was usually practicing new tricks or working out during the afternoons. I managed to get to meet her through a common friend of ours." I probably said it a little bit more than that, but you get the idea. I continued to tell her about the last conversation with Rainbow, in which she said, "I'm going home, don't you dare speak to me again... ever."

Last thing I told Fire was when Rainbow pulled off the Sonic Rainboom, at the last day of summer flight camp. As well as when Fluttershy kissed me, and what it all probably looked like to Rainbow.

Fire was quite touched by my story. I could see a tear in her eye. She did, however, blink it away. Just like Rainbow... I thought to myself as I saw it happen.

"Wow... She does indeed sound kind of awesome." Fire finally said.

"Yeah... Awesome is the word she'd use herself." I said.

"She actually managed to do a Sonic Rainboom, as a filly?" Fire asked, clearly impressed.

"Yes. We had to practice a lot for it though. It sure wasn't easy, but she was an excellent student and she evidently managed to push herself enough to make it happen." I said.

"Quite a filly, that Rainbow Dash." Fire said.

"She sure was." I said, somewhat dreamingly.

Fire poked me and said. "Hey, snap out of it, dreamer! Here's my street!" she pointed up a street nearby. "Where do you live anyways?"

"I... uh." I looked around me and realized that I didn't recognize the quarter at all. "Let's look at it from above, everything gets easier from the air!"

We flew up and I pointed out where my house was.

"Cool. See you tomorrow then?" she said.

"Yea... And thanks. I really needed to let it all out, I feel a lot better now that it's done." I said and looked into her eyes.

"It was nothing. The story was quite interesting, and that Rainbow... Anyways. Bye!"

I watched her for a while before I turned around to fly down to my house.

Everything felt quite well as I got home, and when I went to bed I fell asleep almost immediately. The day after came and passed quickly. Soon it became afternoon and after my last seminar I trotted towards the outdoor arena where I had spent quite a lot of time over the past few days. I must be honest with you, dear journal, I was a bit curious about Fire's friends. It wouldn't be long until I got to hear who they were though. I could see a bunch of pegasi standing together and talking, Fire being one of them. She noticed me, waved and said, "Hi there, Sam!"

"So this is the pegasus that you've been speaking so highly of." a pale blue colored stallion said.

Fire nodded and said something I couldn't hear in response.

"Hmpf. We'll see about that." he said and flew up in the air.

Fire turned to me and said, "Could you, well, just observe as you normally do?"

"Sure." I said and plucked forth my pencil and journal.

"Look! He's gonna steal our trick!" another pony said and pointed accusingly at me.

"No no! It's fine. You're just not used to his ways. Just watch." Fire said reassuringly.

I observed the pale blue pegasus doing a barrel roll, scribbled down a few thoughts and waited. Shortly thereafter he came down and got praised by his friends.

"Beautiful!" one of them said. "Well done. So nicely executed!" another one said.

Fire smiled at her friends, cleared her throat to get their attention and said. "Why don't we let Sam say what he thinks?"

They all turned towards me and looked at me with disbelief. I chose to ignore it and told them what I had observed.

"Right. It's a beautifully performed barrel roll. However there's a few things I'd like to point out. Firstly, when you took off I noticed something. Can you just do that again?"

He took off and started to fly upwards. I continued, "Look at that. I mean, sure, it's agile, but is it gracious? No. It looks kind of sloppy."

He flew down to us again, with a slight blush on his face.

"Let me show you. Hold out your wings, please." I said. He obliged. "Okay, look everypony. If you want to look gracious, you need to keep your wings like this." I showed them using the pale blue pony as marionette. "Right. And when you flap your wings, you want to do it like this." I showed him what I meant, and he mimicked.

A surprised 'oooooh' came from the rest of the ponies. "Feels better, right?" I said. He nodded. "And it looks way better!"

I continued. "Secondly, when doing a barrel roll, there's a few elements one needs to think carefully about. Sure, it can look like a simple trick, but it takes lot of practice to execute it perfectly. Something I noticed you doing was that when you were about three quarters into the rotation. You accelerated, didn't you?"

"Of course. I always do that, to optimize my speed if I'm going in for another trick shortly after." he explained.

"Right. Do you also usually lose balance briefly just as you're finished with the trick?" I asked with a somewhat teasing smile.

"Did you notice that?" I asked the other pegasi. They shook their heads. "Well, did you lose your balance or not?" I asked.

"... I did." he admitted.

"Okay. There's a few things you can do to prevent that. First I'll explain why it all happened. When you accelerate while rotating it makes the aerodynamic resistance change. Since you're moving at such speeds even the slightest change in the environment around you will be of significance. If the conditions change one has to be extremely quick to adapt accordingly." I paused briefly to see if I had their attention, which I had. "There's two ways of easily avoiding all this trouble. You can choose to not accelerate at all during the rotation, that is, to wait and not do it until after the rotation is done. The second, which is also the more, let's call it, cool way of doing it is to accelerate all the way through the rotation."

"But didn't you just say that accelerating in the rotation was bad?" one of the pegasi asked.

"Yes. True. Well spotted. The thing is, if you're accelerating through the whole rotation your body won't react in the same way. Mostly due to the fact that it's used to the acceleration. The change in aerodynamic resistance will still be there, but it will be a lot easier to deal with. I'm not sure if I can explain it better than that. You simply have to try it out yourselves!" I said.

"Was there anything else you observed, Sam?" Fire asked.

"Heh, yeah. You know..." I looked at the pale blue pegasus in front of me who I still didn't know the name of. "When you're doing a trick, you don't need to look so focused. It's almost as if you're angry! Feeling focused and looking focused does not necessarily have to be the same thing. If you should ever perform before a crowd, it's probably good to learn how to act like the trick you're doing isn't hard at all, even though it might push you to your limits. That's what the crowd loves to see."

"And putting a smile on that grumpy face of yours surely would help you out with the mares! If you know what I mean!" I said teasingly and poked him. The others giggled.

"Wow. You really do live up to what Spitfire said about you." the pale blue pegasus said.

"Wo wo wo, hold up! Did... did you just... ..." I looked at Fire.

"Sorry Sam, I wanted your perfectly honest and objective opinions. I thought that it wouldn't really have been possible if you knew who I was. I am indeed Spitfire." Fire said.

"..." I was speechless. "Di.. did I... Then you must be." I looked at the other pegasi and they nodded.

It was apparently too much. I must have passed out, for I only remember waking up, lying on my back hearing Fire say. "Guys, he's waking up!"

"You... You're... the Wonderbolts." I sat up, trying to let it all sink in. "You're Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts. I... Wow." I couldn't really express myself. "And you must be Soarin'!" I said as I turned around to the pale blue pegasi I had lectured earlier. As I realized that I had done just that I said. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean... You were doing it really well. I just-"

"Samuel. You were just doing what you're good at. You gave me your objective opinion on my trick. You taught me things about what I was doing wrong, some which I already knew about. But you were also able to explain why it happened as well as providing a solution, something that I definitely would not have been able to do in such a short time by myself." Soarin' said calmly.

I could only stand there. The Wonderbolts were actually standing in front of me, telling me that I was good.

"So, Sam... I think I speak for all of us when I ask you this." Fire said and looked at the rest of the pegasi standing behind her. They nodded. "Would you... Like to become our coach?"

"Me!? Coaching, the Wonderbolts!? Wow... ..." I said, somewhat speechless once again. "Are you... really sure?"

"Yes. We've already made our decision." Fire said. "You in?" she asked and held forth her right fore hoof.

"But what of your current coach!?" I asked.

"Eeeh..." Fire avoided my gaze and said. "Well, we haven't really ever had a coach."

"Really? Hmm. Well, okay then!" I replied and shook Fire's hoof. "Just don't think of me as some kind of infinitely wise divine being. I'm but a pegasus, just like you, and I make mistakes, just like anypony.”

"I'm sure you'll do just fine, Sam. You've taught me more the last week than what I've learned the last three months!" Fire said and smiled.

We briefly discussed their current workout schedule and they briefed me on where they usually hung out. We also did a short but exhausting workout session. I was quite happy, though. I was actually working out together with the Wonderbolts. At the end of the session it started to rain, slightly. Soon thereafter it rained quite heavily. I said goodbye to the Wonderbolts and flew home.

That, dear journal, is how I casually became the coach of the Wonderbolts. Now it's one of those days where I've been sitting up far too late. I really need to get to bed. Big day tomorrow! The university is holding a competition for young writers. I'm supposed to read a part of my story in front of the judges. I just can't wait to get there and show them what I can do.

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Samuel woke up. He looked out and from what he could see it must still have been in the middle of the night.

"I really need to have a proper night's sleep..." he murmured to himself.

He fell asleep again and did not wake up until morning. He trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen to eat breakfast.

"Are you alright, Samuel?" his mother asked him as he sat down.

"Yeah, I guess?" he replied.

He finished his breakfast and went outside for his usual work-out session before university. However this day it just didn't feel like normal. He noticed quickly that his wings were quite sore, as well as his legs. It's as if they had not been sleeping at all. They felt just like after that workout from the day before.

I forgot the stretching! How, could I have forgotten the stretching. Now I'll have sore muscles for at least a day. he thought to himself and sighed. He decided to not do the morning exercise and went back inside where he tried to massage his legs and wings as gently as possible.

It was time to trot to the university.

The competition was to take place just after lunch. The morning passed quickly, as usual, but Samuel had gotten a headache. Even though it was but light headache, it was there and it annoyed him.

Then lunch came and Samuel’s headache had only gotten worse. He ate half his sandwich on his way to the library, where he figured that he could get some peace and quiet before it all started. He sat down and looked at the text he had chosen to read.

"Hi there, Samuel!" Twilight Sparkle said.

"Hi." he replied shortly.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Samuel looked up from his paper and met Twilight's gaze. "I'm having a bit of a headache. I need to rehearse this text, it's for a competition in like half an hour."

"Ah, is it that writer's competition thing? I think I've heard about it. What will you be reading?" she asked curiously.

Samuel read the part he thought of presenting.

She woke up. It took a while for her eyes to get used to the darkness around her. 'Where am I?' she thought to herself. She stood up and started examining the room around her. She didn't find anything other than the walls. 'The room must be rectangular.' she thought to herself. It was still pitch black, but she felt a tiny breeze coming from somewhere.

"If there's a breeze, there must be a way out, somewhere!" she told herself reassuringly.

Twilight looked at him. Is that really what you'll enter the competition with? It sounds kind of, dull. she thought to herself. "It's... nice." she said to Samuel.

"I had this all figured out yesterday. I just can't remember it now, and my headache is not making things better. I can't really focus. It's like it burns in my mind... I find it quite annoying, but I really want to do this so I'll go there and give it my all." he said and looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh! The competition starts in ten minutes!"

"I'll walk you there!" Twilight said.

"Thanks." Samuel replied. He stood up slowly while trying hard to not look strained.

He noticed that Twilight saw it all, like she usually did. "It's just sore muscles. Forgot the stretching yesterday." he explained.

The headache did start to become slightly unbearable. Samuel felt his head pounding with each step he took. I'm... I'm having a fever. he thought to himself.

They walked across the campus to the building where the competition was to be held. They were just about to enter when Samuel lost his balance and fell to the ground. His head hit the cold stone stairs and everything started spinning.

"Sa.. el! Samuel! A-are... yo.. ight?" he could hear Twilight's desperate voice hazily like if it was somewhere far away. He blinked a few times and briefly regained some consciousness. He saw Twilight who was kneeling and looking at him with worried eyes. He gathered his last strength and pointed at her, then at his draft, then at the door. That's all he could do. Twilight understood what he wanted. She nodded and patted his mane. "Eve... ing... ill be alrig..." her words and her friendly purple eyes was the last thing he remembered.

He passed out.

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Journal entry #12 – Hospitalized

Dear journal,

I'm at the hospital. I'd describe my current situation as stable, but with sore muscles and still a headache. I arrived here earlier today. The nurse said that I had passed out on the stairs, and since I didn't respond to anything for ten minutes I was taken to the hospital. When I regained consciousness here at the hospital I felt dizzy and my headache was bad, really bad. Since my whole body was still sore from yesterday I felt incredibly helpless. I could barely get out of my bed to go to the bathroom. When I did, I had to slowly set my hooves on the floor and take each step very carefully. The constant headache made things much worse, and I had to concentrate hard to be able to even get to the bathroom door on the other side of the room.

I went to bed slightly nauseous. I knew that it was just a cold and if I could get a good night's sleep I’d feel better tomorrow. That was not what destiny had in mind though. It was hard falling asleep as my eyes kind of hurt. I'm not sure how to explain it, but when my eyes moved, i.e. when I was looking around, it hurt. I also felt pain in my eyes when I shut them. It didn’t really make sense. I sort of believed that it was phantom pain of some kind, since I had not really hurt my eyes. I thought that it probably was one of my body's ways to say that it wasn't happy. That did however not make my situation any easier.

I had been lying there, in my bed, trying to get comfortable for at least an hour. I just couldn't sleep. My head was so warm, it felt like it was boiling. The rest of my body felt cold. Really cold. And that's even though I had the duvet, bed cover and an extra blanket over me. I started to wonder if I would ever be able to fall asleep. I recalled only one time in the past where I had felt this sick.

I had eaten something bad and my body just pulled every trick in the book to make me aware that something was wrong. I had then gone to the bathroom and tried to throw up. After some time trying I managed to throw up and suddenly everything felt so much better.

I decided to give it a try, I mean, who wouldn't in this situation. I slid off my bed and stumbled towards the bathroom. I eventually reached it and got inside. After about twenty minutes of trying to throw up I gave up. It did hurt every time, since the natural reaction is for the stomach muscles to resist throwing up. Since I had been trying for quite a while I figured that there was probably nothing to throw up. I sat on the bathroom floor for a while. It felt nice, and when I didn't move the headache wasn't as bad.

After sitting there for a while I finally stood up. I can't say I felt good, but I felt a little bit better than before. Maybe it was the realization that it probably wasn't something I had eaten and that I couldn't really do anything about it myself to improve my situation, or maybe it was the fever lowering drugs I had gotten earlier that started to kick in. I wasn't sure, but at least I was glad that I suddenly felt a lot better.

I decided to go over to the desk and write this entry. I had found a piece of paper to write on, and a pencil. Since it isn't in my actual journal, I'll have to put it in there when I get back home, which should be tomorrow.

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"Wow... wow wow wow. Wait, what!?" Samuel said to himself.

He sat there, completely motionless. What he currently felt he wasn't really sure how to describe. It was as if the whole room had been reversed. His logical sense knew that his hind hooves were touching the ground, yet it felt like they were touching the ceiling. Something was wrong with his sense of balance. The feeling was quite, interesting, as well as nauseating. It didn't take long before he felt sick and he knew that he had to get to the bed. He took a few deep breaths, carefully stood up and started to walk over to his bed. The weird reversed feeling vanished the second he had all four hooves on the ground simultaneously.

"Well, that was... weird." he murmured to himself as he got into the bed. This time it didn't take too long for him to fall asleep.

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Journal entry #13 – Celebration in two senses

Dear journal,

I've gotten home from the hospital and I am currently writing this entry. I feel perfectly fine again except for the slight cough I seem to have retained. But a slight cough is the least of my concerns now. My parents greeted me when I arrived at home.

"Oh, my dear boy. Are you alright? We were so worried!" my mother said.

"Yeah. It's fine." I reassured. "It was just a cold and combined with my sore muscles, it just didn't turn out too well. It's all my own fault, really. Sorry mom."

She accepted my apology and hugged me as I came closer. "The important thing is that you're okay!"

She looked at me, as if I had been gone for a month. "Oh, right. There's a letter here for you! It arrived today, seems to be from the university. Do you have any idea of what's up?" she asked.

I took the letter and looked at it. "Hmm... Not really, no." I said. "I'll be in my room."

I went upstairs and closed the door behind me, lay down on the bed and just looked at the letter in front of me. Will you be holding happiness or sadness... I thought to myself. Slowly, I opened the letter. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the top. I took a deep breath and read the rest of the letter.

Young Writers' Challenge
Canterlot university

You've been selected together with two other young writers to attend the 'final' step of the competition. Please come to the Canterlot university library on thursday evening at half past six.

Best regards

The Young Writers' Challenge organizers

I'm in 'the final'!? I thought to myself. That's. Wow. Twilight's presentation must have been amazing. I need to remember to thank her later.

It was tuesday and I wasn't entirely sure what this 'final step' would be. I did however try to do whatever I could to be as prepared as a stallion could possibly be. I read a lot, basically.

I didn't skip the workout sessions together with the Wonderbolts though. I needed a place where I could 'relax' mentally and just do some exercise. Today's practice was at the arena. It was a huge arena, with over several thousand seats. It was located on the outskirts of Canterlot and we were quite sure to not be disturbed while being there. I was told that it was Princess Celestia herself who had arranged for us to make use of the facilities.

"Wow. This is quite the arena." I said to Fire when we arrived.

"Yeah. I like it. Lots of space. Good for races and shows." she replied.

"So... The princess arranged for us to be here, right?" I asked casually.

"Yup. She sure did." Fire replied.

"How do you know her? Do you get to meet her often, since you're captain and all?" I asked with a touch of curiousness.

"Oh. I... " Fire seemed to think of how to express herself on this matter. "Yes and no. I guess. I don't get to meet her often, but it happens, occasionally. I've been in her throne room a couple of times so I've probably met her quite a few times more than the average pony."

"Ah... Yeah. Cool. Her throne room. That must be really, awesome." I said and my thoughts went off fantasizing about the princess' throne room.

"Come on, Sam! We can't stand here all day chatting about Princess Celestia! We got some workout to do!" Fire finally said.

"Right, right!" I replied and followed her to the rest of the Wonderbolts. "Anypony who has an idea of what to do as warm-up today?" I asked.

"We could race!" somepony said.

"We raced yesterday! I want to try something new!" I replied. "Anypony? ... No? Really?" I was slightly amused that the most awesome pegasi in Equestria weren't used to do different kinds of warm-up. "Okay. Today we'll try a game of tag. Have any of you played it before?" I asked the Wonderbolts. They shook their heads in conjunction. I continued, "The rules are quite simple, we'll need to be within the arena, we aren’t allowed to hurt anypony, and we'll definitely have to give it our all to 'win'."

They nodded. "Right. I'll start by showing how to play this game. I'm currently it. My objective as being it is to touch any one of you who are not it. If I manage to touch you, you become it. So if I were to touch Soarin' here." I said and flew towards Soarin' and touched him. "He has now become it and his mission is now to tag somepony else. Like me."

I had hoovered a bit away from Soarin' while saying that. He started to fly towards me but just as he was about to touch me I avoided it by flying straight up. "One can easily avoid being tagged. Just like that. Both being it and not being it requires a lot of observation, knowing where the other pegasi will fly and how he, or she, thinks. By doing this exercise once in a while you'll eventually become a much tighter group." I said encouragingly.

"I'll actually be skipping this exercise since somepony needs to keep score or in this case, time." I said. "So what are we waiting for. Let's go!" I commanded. "Soarin' you're currently it. If you've been it for a minute you're out. So you better hurry up if you want to win!"

The game started and they seemed to have lots of fun. While using a lot of their physical strength to avoid getting tagged, their minds were focused on trying to see the best escape path. I found it quite challenging myself to just try to not be in the way while observing their movements and keeping track of how long each and every one of them had been it.

Once, the pegasus being it came launching straight towards me. I looked around and noticed a smiling Fire, hiding behind my back. I quickly descended a couple of meters and shouted, "Hey, no hiding behind the ref. That'll be a general rule." to everypony.

The game lasted about eight minutes without anypony having over a minute time being it. I found it quite interesting to see that it was so even. First pony over a minute was Rapidfire. As I called it out he sighed in disappointment.

"Right. To make the game go on longer and to make it more even the one with lowest time gets to be it now. Fire, you're it. Starting clock again in, three, two, one... go!"

"Well played, Rapidfire." I said to the pegasus hovering beside me. "You can sit down over there and watch. Trust me, you'll want all the rest you can get."

Reluctantly he obliged. One by one they got over a minute time. Soon it was only Fire and Soarin' left as Fleetfoot had just gotten past the one minute limit. "Right! Short information. Timer is paused. Since there's only two of you left, there'll be an additional rule. You can't re-tag within one second of being tagged. Just to make things easier for the one being it when he or she is trying to get away, and for me to keep track of the time. Fire, you're once again it. You're on forty-five seconds. Soarin' you're on fifty-seven." I said. They both hoovered a bit away from each other and waited for my signal. "Game on!" I shouted.

Neither of the two wanted to lose, that was very obvious. They really gave it their all and those eighteen seconds were full of action. It took Fire thirteen seconds to find a flaw in Soarin's flying. However, knowing that he only had two seconds left she let her guard down. As she touched him she turned around, did a victorious loop, only to be interrupted by Soarin who didn't give up that easily. He touched her with his wing, saying, "Got'cha." and turned away flying as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Somewhat taken by surprise Fire didn't have the time to react.

"And that's it for Fire. We have a winner!" I said.

"Booyah!" I heard Soarin' shouting happily as he came flying towards us. "Ya didn't see that one comin', did ya, Fire?" he said and poked her.

"Extremely well done, by all of you." I said. "And since Soarin' here is the winner, he'll get the price."

"A price?!" Rapidfire complained. "Awh. I should have worked harder."

"You sure should have." I said. "The price is... Switching places with me! That is, to supervise the next part of the workout session." I turned towards Soarin' who looked quite surprised. "I'll give you some hints in the start, to help you out. But I'm sure you'll get it!"

"Whoa. Really? You want me... To be you?" Soarin' said with anxiety in his voice.

"Yeah. I'll show you, it's quite simple." I said reassuringly. "Look at it as a mental training exercise. Observing your teammates and noticing their flaws is something that is good to be able to do. Presenting those flaws in a constructive way is important. All of you need to be able to do it, if I'm not around for some reason. You still want to keep getting better, right?"

We continued our practice and Soarin' seemed to be doing well. I saw him observe and write stuff down. When we finished I asked him to in a constructive way fill us in on our flaws, if he noticed any. He had something to point out on each pegasus and when he came to me he said.

"And then we have Samuel. Well, well. I'm not sure what to say here..." I smiled proudly as I somewhat knew that I wasn't doing much wrong. He continued, " ... except that you seem to be giving long looks at our dear captain." he smiled.

"I... What!?" my smirk immediately vanished, getting replaced by red cheeks.

"You told me to observe. And that's what I have observed." Soarin' said factually. The other pegasi giggled.

"Erhm." I cleared my throat. "Right. Let's move on to the next part!" I said while trying desperately to avoid Fire's gaze.

The rest of the workout session went quite well. I knew deep down that what Soarin' had said was true, so I did my best to not show any emotions. I remember thinking, What's going on... Am I... Is she...? I shook the thoughts out of my head. I didn't want to think about it at that very moment. There's a time for everything and right then, was not one for those kind of thoughts.

It just might be time for it now, though...

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Samuel lay down on his bed. He started to think about things and soon his mind crossed the path in which he thought of who he wanted to be the special somepony of his life.

Fire is cute. She really is. Her smile is so... beautiful. He smiled himself, lying there thinking about his quite athletic friend. She's easy to talk to and fun to hang out with... And then there's Twilight Sparkle. She's a whole lot different. An 'egghead' who loves to read, learn and study. She's beautiful in her own unique way. Samuel thought of their many moments in the library. How she always cared about him, and her way of managing to make him feel happy, even if the situation was dire. She was a true friend. But not more than a friend...

He lay there while his mind ventured deeper into his memory recalling Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy... Oh Fluttershy. You were always so... afraid. Your kindness was unmatched though. And that smile I got when I said you could have my lunch, the first time we met. So cute. I wonder where you are now. Did you follow your dream, to live with the animals down on the ground...? Wherever you are, I hope you're happy. And that nopony is bullying you. Samuel sighed. And... Then there's you, Dashie... You had me caught at first sight. Your awesome tricks. Your above amazing flying skills, which I never caught up with. And the time when I gave you your first massage... He coughed as his eyes began to get wet.

He started to mumble to himself. "Pulling off the Sonic Rainboom... Seeing Fluttershy kiss..." his voice died out as he recalled that last thing. The last time he saw Rainbow Dash. Her beautiful maroon eyes looking all happy. Until she noticed... And when she blinked a few times and turned away.

"By Celestia... How did I manage to screw up so badly." he mumbled to himself. "What if I never get to see her again..." he said and noticed that the tears had started to fall upon his cheeks. He wiped them away and took a deep breath. "I have to try. I need to find her. And if she still doesn't want to have anything to do with me, I shall accept it."

Samuel felt that there was no use in overthinking things, and decided to try to get some sleep.

It didn't take long to fall asleep. Like any day he woke up just a few minutes before his alarm clock was about to wake him. Something weird was going on though. He double checked his watch, it seemed to be correct. Samuel trotted up to his window.

"Why isn't the sun up yet..." he said while looking out over the city which was completely enveloped in shadows. "This doesn't make sense. It just doesn't. Is this some kind of a joke?" he asked the question out loud, even though he knew nopony was listening.

He went down the stairs to find his parents, heading to the kitchen where they usually ate breakfast at this hour.

"Mom? Dad?" he asked.

"Yes, dear?" his mother replied. Both she and his father were sitting at the breakfast table.

"Did you do something to my alarm clock?" Samuel asked, slightly impatient.

"No. I haven't touched it. Why?" she replied, awfully calm.

"Just look outside! It's all dark! What the buck is going on!?" Samuel hollered. He took a deep breath and pulled himself together. "Sorry. I'm sure you don't know more than I do. It's just strange." I paused briefly to see if they had anything to say about the situation. They did not speak up. "I guess I'll be going to the university then. Have a nice... 'day'." he said as he left them.

It was pretty warm outside for being night, or whatever it was. Samuel trotted around for a while, wondering what was going on but he figured that he just had to go with it. Not much I can do about it anyways. he thought to himself. Since he had not been out walking in the night very often, he didn't really know what it had to offer. There were a few things that one could only do or see during the night. The chance to hide or sneak in the shadows along the house walls pretending to be a thief was one of them. Gazing at the many stars above him that made the sky a wonderful scene to observe was another, and the many candles which were lit in almost every house he passed was the third thing he noticed. It all became very beautiful. He had never really thought of the night as beautiful before.

When Samuel got to the university he saw other ponies. It was the first time today that he had seen others. So it really is no joke, after all. he thought to himself. He 'accidentally' overheard some other ponies talking and it seemed like they knew just as much as he did. Hmm. Nopony knows what's going on. Maybe Princess Celestia overslept? Naaah, that can't really be happening, right? he thought to himself as he entered his first seminar.

The professor had taken the opportunity to switch some seminars around so that he could lecture about writing stories of the darker kind instead, tales about ghosts or other creatures of the night. Everypony in class got a slight chill down their spine, but Samuel thought it was interesting nonetheless.

When it was finally time for lunch; Samuel went down to the cafeteria and bought a sandwich. He ate it on his way to the library, as usual. As he got inside he sat down at the table where he usually resided. He opened his study books and started to read. He was subconsciously looking for Twilight Sparkle. She would know what was going on, she always had an answer or a scientific explanation. After an hour of lunch Samuels subconsciousness gave up. Twilight was nowhere to be found, at least not in the library.

He trotted back towards the university and his next seminar when it finally happened. An almost coordinated gasp was heard from the ponies witnessing the unusual occurrence. Samuel noticed that the horizon started to shine vaguely, it then quickly got brighter and the shadows grew longer. It was the most beautiful sunrise he had ever seen.

Given the amount of work an average university pony had to do, the ponies on the campus could only watch the sunrise briefly, sigh and then turn back to continue their studies, relieved that everything was back to normal.

The rest of the university day continued on without any other specific interruptions, and soon it was time for the daily workout session together with the Wonderbolts.

"Howdy, Fire! Gathered your team early today?" Samuel said as she saw her approach.

"Yup. Got a lot to do. I heard the princess might stop by. She had something to announce." Spitfire replied.

"Speaking of which. Any ideas on what was going on this morning? The sun not rising, and all that?" he asked her.

"The sun didn't rise... what?" Spitfire asked, clearly surprised by the news.

Samuel looked at her. "You didn't get up until after noon?" he asked and added "You lazy mare!" with a smile.

"Hey! I was... tired." Spitfire said defensively.

"It's quite fine. You just missed a once-in-a-lifetime-thing. No biggie." Samuel said teasingly.

They started off with some warm up games, again. Today it was Spitfire's turn to supervise the others and Samuel helped her at the start, just like he had done for Soarin' the day before.

It all went quite well, and she learned quickly what to do and how to notice even the slightest of things. It was just after the first exercise was done, Samuel was about to start explaining the second one, but he got interrupted.

A bright ray of light appeared from the entrance to the arena. They all covered their eyes briefly to let them get used to the intense light. It was Princess Celestia who had entered the arena. Samuel peeked above his hoof when her majestic presence walked past him. She was bigger than any other pony he had ever seen. Her wings were white as snow and so was her big unicorn horn. That was the proof of her royal lineage, that and the golden crown which rested on her head. She was neither pegasus nor unicorn. She was what they called an alicorn.

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Journal entry #14 – Meeting somepony famous, twice.

Dear journal,

I could almost not believe it. Yesterday I met and spoke with the ruler of Equestria. I, Samuel Swift, a little pegasus from Cloudsdale. She came by during our practice. Sure, I've seen Princess Celestia before, but I haven't really seen her, if you know what I mean. Like, standing ten feet from her. The conversation went something like this.

"Your highness!" Fire said and bowed down. Since I had never met the princess in person I followed her example.

"Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts. How are you doing today?" Princess Celestia said with a voice filled with kindness and warmth.

"Everything's just fine, your highness." she said and looked up. "What gives us the honor of your presence?"

"I was thinking of having a party, at the castle by the end of next week. Could I ask of you to put on a show, on say... saturday?" she said.

"Yes, of course, your highness." Fire replied.

"Oh just stop it with the formalities, Spitfire. You know that you can call me Celestia." she said and turned towards me. "Aaah. You must be Samuel! Spitfire here has told me much about you." she smiled.

"T-that's correct. I'm nothing special, really... Fire has probably given me more credit than I can account for." I said and my gaze dropped to the ground.

"I'm sure you're just as lovely as she described." she said and a quite beautiful red tone spread over Fire's face. Princess Celestia turned to walk away when I interrupted her.

"Excuse me, your highness. I have a question to which I think you might know the answer." I said nervously.

"Ask away and I'll do my best to reply." Celestia said, as kindly as ever.

"I have a friend. Twilight Sparkle, is her name. She said she was studying magic as your personal protegé, or something. I just wonder where she's gone. I haven't seen her in days and she's usually hanging around in the library." I said.

"I do know where Twilight Sparkle is. She resides in the library in Ponyville. From there she is now studying the magic of friendship."

As I heard the whereabouts of my friend I bowed in response and she left the arena. Just as gracefully as she had entered it.

"That wasn't so bad." I said to Fire, who stood beside me. "She's really cool, Princess Celestia."

"Yeah. She's alright. For being the ruler of Equestria, she really is alright." she replied.

We continued the workout session without speaking more to each other. At the end of it I gathered the Wonderbolts and said. "It would be nice if we could set the practice one hour earlier tomorrow. I kind of want to get done so that I can be ready to leave for the university library at six. I have an appointment. Is that okay with everypony?" I asked and looked around. They all nodded. "Nice. You're such an easy group of ponies to work with. Also, by the way, I'll give you some homework. Think about what you'd like to do on the show next saturday, and more specifically the grand finale. See you tomorrow, friends!"

The rest of that evening passed and so did the following morning. I spent the lunch break in the library, as usual. But it felt like something was missing, as I knew my friend Twilight Sparkle wouldn't suddenly appear to ask how things were and what I was doing.

I didn't think much of the Wonderbolts' grand finale as I was more concerned about tonight's other 'final part'. I still didn't know what to expect but I tried my best to prepare for anything. My lunch passed and so did the afternoon seminars. It was time for workout together with the Wonderbolts and I could let my mind take a well deserved break while my muscles worked.

I managed to set up a quite nice session that day. Near the end of it, twenty minutes before six, I gathered them up. "We should split up in groups of two, to discuss the homework. You remembered what you had to do, right?" They quickly paired up. "Feel free to spread out and use the arena to show off your ideas."

"That leaves the two of us..." Fire said as she looked at me.

I scratched my mane with one of my forehooves. "It sure does." I said.

"Have you come up with anything?" she said.

"Yeah. I've been thinking of the grand finale. I think you should be the one performing the trick. You're the captain, after all." I said.

"You really think so? A solo act!?" she smiled shyly.

"I really do. Not a solo act, of course. The others will do their part. It'll be quite spectacular. Let me explain." I said and started to explain what I had in mind. "... And when they all have positioned themselves, they start doing a lesser whirlwind, on the spot yeah? Then you come flying in from the side at incredible speed. Just as you're about to hit your closest teammate you avoid and turn straight towards the next one. And so on. When you've flown past the first one he or she reposition himself." By the end of my description Fire's jaw had dropped. I gave her a poke and she realized and closed her mouth. "I think all the whirlwinds will create a chaos, since it'll feel that they're all over the place and moving and stuff. The only order within the trick will be you and your straight lines."

"..." Fire was speechless at first. "You... You really thought of that entire trick, overnight? It... does indeed sound amazing."

"Do you really think so?" I said and blushed slightly. "It might be too hard though, I usually never calculate risks when I dream up these things in my fantasies."

"Nonsense. There's nothing that’s too hard for the Wonderbolts. Remember, if anypony can pull it off, it's us. We're the best fliers in all of Equestria after all." she replied.

"Anyways, it's already past six. I really need to get going. Feel free to continue to discuss what you want to do. And I'm not saying that you need to do what I said, it's just a suggestion like any other." I said as I turned towards the locker rooms.

"See you tomorrow, Sam?" Fire shouted after me.

"Tomorrow evening... Possibly. I've got some plans!" I shouted back.

I took a quick shower and trotted towards the university library. The campus was quite empty this time of the day. I entered the library and noticed a small group of ponies standing beside a table in the middle of the room.

"Ah. You must be... Swift?" one of them said while reading from a paper in front of her.

"That's me. Who are yo-" I replied.

"Excellent. Let's get started right away!" she said and when she saw my hesitative expression she added, "You can call me Minty." she paired up one finalist and one judge and sent them to different rooms. Left was now only me and her. I didn't recognize her.

"Have a seat." she said and waved a hoof in the direction of a chair on the opposite side of the table. I sat down. After a some time in silence she finally said, "Well, go on then!"

I looked at her, surprised and replied, "Uh, what am I supposed to do?"

"You're joking, right?" she said.

"I am not." I said.

"So you have no idea why you're here?" Minty said and raised an eyebrow.

"I only received the letter saying that I should be here at this hour. Have I missed anything?" I said. I started to get slightly worried.

"You should have been briefed, at the contest." she said.

"Ah... That's why. I wasn't there. My friend Twilight did the presentation for me. I was in the hospital. Maybe you can fill me in on what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"Right. Of course I will. You're supposed to tell me a short story. A story about how you found your interest in writing. But it's not as simple as that, it needs to have a twist, something to make it interesting."

I chuckled. "Do I have a story for you!" I said and started telling her about my foalhood, how I grew up being bullied and when I had first met her and how her last words still echo in my mind.

When I finished the judge in front of me blinked a few times, cleared her throat and said, "That was indeed quite a story."

"She's the one who inspired me to write my Daring Do draft. I really couldn't have done it, if it wasn't for her." I said with a slight hint of sadness.

"So it was you who wrote the Daring Do story. I was hoping to read it, if you don't mind. Do you have it with you?" she asked, slightly curious.

"I do." I trotted around the table and picked up the draft from my saddle bag. "Here you go." I said as I put the draft up in front of her.

Minty started to skim through it. I could tell she was an experienced reader since she did it very quickly, while mumbling to herself, "Ah, of course. ... And then escape, just like that. ... Then the twist! What a twist! Haha, wow. This is beautiful."

I couldn't help but smile. "You like it?"

"I do indeed! Samuel, this is magnificent! With this and your fantastic imagination and my marketing skills we could easily publish this as the next book in the Daring Do series.

"Uuh. I'm not so sure. I kind of feel like I'd get sued if I didn't check with the original author first. I don't want to get in trouble for stealing her main character, you know!"

Now it was her time to chuckle. "Hehe. I'm sure she'll approve." she said sincerely. "In fact, I'm certain that she will. You see, she is the very pony you're talking to right now. Yours truly."

I gasped. "Are you the author of Daring Do!?"

"I am indeed." she said.

"But you said your name was Minty?"

"Every author has a pseudonym, you of all people should know..."

She leaned forward and whispered. "About this competition thing. I sure would like you to win, but if you were to be my co-writer... It would look as if I was biased. The price for winning the competition is to get a lesson in writing from me, and you'll get that anyways... Not that you seem to need much of it. But these other two ponies might not have that chance.Oh, and by the way, can I borrow your draft? I'd love to start on the next book right away!"

"Sure. Take it, I'd be honored if you would use any of it!" I said. Did she just say co-writer!? I thought to myself. I wasn't sure if she would actually contact me again, but it didn't matter. She had said that she liked it and it seemed like she would use it in her next story. Just knowing I had written part of it would be credit enough, even if she didn't mention it anywhere. The other two ponies and their judges came out from their separate rooms and joined us.

"So. I guess that's it. Did everything turn out okay here as well?" one of the other judges said.

"Yes, quite so, I'd say." Minty replied.

"Anyways. We'll be in touch." the first judge said again. "Have a nice evening!"

The three contestants, including me, turned to trot out of the library. Once outside one of the other two said, "How did it go for you guys?"

I replied, "I... I think I screwed up. I'm quite sure I won't win. So it's either of you two... Best of luck." While I said it I sighed, and I think I managed to hide my inner smile and imitate a sad look perfectly.

"Ouch. Better luck next time, then." he replied and patted me on my shoulder.

I trotted homewards. My hoofsteps were light and I felt quite great. Now I definitely had something to talk to Twilight about tomorrow.

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Samuel had just gotten home. His flight home had been a little bit more exhausting than he anticipated. He took a shower to get rid of the all the sweat.

Since it wasn't that late he decided to archive the day’s events in his journal. This is definitely one of those things that fit in a journal. he thought to himself and started writing once again.

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Journal entry #15 - Friendship

Dear journal,

After a good night's sleep I woke up today. The alarm clock was set quite early since the train left from Canterlot station at eight in the morning. I had decided to give Twilight a visit in her home in Ponyville, to say my thanks and see how she was doing.

The train ride took roughly four hours so I arrived in Ponyville just after noon. Since I had not been there before, I decided to ask for directions to the library, where I knew Twilight was living.

"There's somepony! Finally." I mumbled to myself as I saw a pink pony trotting slowly towards me. "Hi. Excuse me. I was wonder-" I managed to say half my question before being interrupted by the pink pony. She gasped, almost excessively, and ran away.

Well 'that' was weird. I remember thinking. I did however find somepony else to ask. To be more precise it was a dragon, a small dragon. He wandered around seemingly lost, as if trying to remember a task given to him.

"Excuse me. Do you know where the library is?" I asked politely, yet quickly, in case he was going to run away too.

The dragon spun around, looked at me and said, "Well of course I do, that's where I live!"

"Ah, excellent. Could you perhaps show me there? I'm a friend of Twilight, I just arrived from Canterlot!" I said.

"Friend of Twilight...?" he said while scratching his scales. "And from Canterlot, you say. I don't recall Twilight having any friends in Canterlot. You sure we're talking about the same Twilight?" he asked.

I quickly described her. "A lavender unicorn, quite gentle and caring. She said she studied magic and she's quite fond of books. Reading, reading and reading is what I usually see her do."

The dragon giggled. "That sure sounds like my Twilight. Let me show you the way. I'm Spike, her number one assistant." Spike said.

"Nice to meet you, Spike!" I said.

The library was on the other side of Ponyville and it took maybe ten minutes to get there. It was located inside a huge tree. I knocked politely but Spike just went straight in. "Twilight! We got a visitor!" he shouted up the stairs.

A short while later Twilight appeared on the top of the stairs. She had a towel curled up on her head, she had obviously just taken a shower.

I looked away and said, "Hi Twilight... um. Is it a bad time?"

"No, no. Not at all! Just give me a minute." she replied.

A few minutes later she came trotting down the stairs.

Spike held his hand in front of his mouth trying to stifle a laugh. He failed miserably. "You look funny!" he said while pointing at Twilight.

Twilight sighed. "What did I forget now."

"Maybe to, um, brush your mane after you dried it? Not a big deal though, it's kind of cute." I pointed out.

"Spike! You can take the rest of the day off, if you want to. I'd like to speak with my friend in privacy."

"Uuuh, okay? Is there anything specific you'd like me to do?"

"No, it's quite fine. Go check on Pinkie Pie in Sugarcube Corner. I bet she could use some help making cupcakes!" Twilight said and practically shoved Spike out of the library. She fetched a sign from a cupboard nearby and wrote something on it. I couldn't really see what. She hung it on the outside of the door.

"There we go. Now I'm sure we won't be disturbed." Twilight said.

"I just wanted to come here and say thanks, Twilight. Apparently you did well during the presentation." I said.

"Oh, it was nothing!" she said. "I didn't read the part you read to me though..."

"Whatever you did, you did it well. I got to the finals." I said and explained what had happened the evening before.

Twilight gasped. "You met the author of Daring Do!? I love the Daring Do books! And she wanted to what!?"

"To borrow my draft. I can barely believe it myself. She said something like 'Can I borrow your draft? I would love to start on my new book right away!'" I said calmly. "Why is all the curtains drawn anyways? It's kind of dim in here." I said and raised my eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Oh, that. Well. Now that it's just you and me... Maybe we could..." Twilight hesitated. I thought I knew what was coming and I opened my mouth to protest. However I didn't manage to do it before she finished her sentence. "... watch the stars together?"

I felt stupid and confused. How could I have thought anything else. I thought to myself. "Eeeh. Twilight? ... We're inside your library and it's the middle of the day. How in Equestria would we be able to see the stars?!" I asked.

"With magic of course!" she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ah. Yeah. I guess that makes sense." I said.

"Just wait here. I'll prepare the room." she said and started to move the table to the edge of the room. "And here's a pillow for you!" Twilight said as she levitated a pillow to me.

Pillow? What do I do with this? I thought to myself but didn't ask it out loud. Twilight had fetched a pillow for herself too and lay herself down in the middle of the room. I followed her example and found myself on my back next to her.

"And now... The magic." she said. She closed her eyes, concentrating and soon a glow appeared on the tip of her unicorn horn. It grew wider and and soon it covered the entire room. Suddenly it said *poof* and it was gone.

I looked at Twilight who smiled happily. She made a gesture upwards and I followed her gaze. "Whooa! That's... Amazing." I looked up at what moments ago had been the ceiling, it was now a dark sky filled with a multitude of stars.

"It's what the sky would look like, if we actually could see the stars and if the sun was down, right now." she said. "I've tried to get my friends to do this with me, but they just don't want to. I don't understand. I find it quite ro..." she stopped herself. "... interesting."

We lay there for a while. Talking about stars and life in general. I found it quite peaceful and very relaxing. I realized that the stressful days at the university and working out with the Wonderbolts sure had taken its toll on me. It had been such a long time ago I could just lay down, relax and talk to somepony.

"Samuel. I have something important to tell you." Twilight suddenly said.

I turned myself so that I was looking at her. "What is it, Twilight?"

"I... " she took a deep breath. She leaned forward and whispered it softly in my ear. "I think I've found your Rainbow."

The statement came as if out of nowhere. I was not prepared for it, at all. "Wh.. " I tried to speak up but my voice failed me. There was so many feelings that all came back at the same time.

I turned back and looked up at the starry sky. After a while I finally said, "How?"

Twilight turned her gaze up towards the sky as well, and she started to explain what had happened after I had passed out on the campus.

"After the presentation I headed back outside to see you, but you weren't there." she paused briefly. "Anyways. I ended up reading this book." I knew that she was smiling sheepishly even though I didn't look at her. "And it said something about the Elements of Harmony..."

She continued to talk about what had happened. She told me that she had foreseen the events at the Summer Sun Celebration and that Nightmare Moon would come back. She and her five new friends, with Rainbow Dash being one of them, had saved Equestria from eternal night.

"Oooh, that's why the sunrise was so many hours delayed!" I said as Twilight had finished her story. "Wow, to think that Princess Celestia would be beaten by her younger sister like that... That sure does sound like quite a story, Twilight. I might write about it someday, with your permission that is." I said.

"Of course you can, I'd be honored!" she said.

We lay there for a bit longer. I loved every second of it. So tranquil, so beautiful.

I yawned and said, "What time is it, Twilight?" When she didn't respond I realized that I must have said it much too quiet.

I poked her, "Hey, Twilight?"

She turned towards me. "Hmm?" But before I managed to ask her again she said, "You're cute!"

I could only smile in return to this statement. A few moments went by and she realized what she had just said. She blushed and stood up. "Oh gosh. Look at the time. It's four thirty already! We can't lie here and watch the stars forever! There's books to be read!"

I stood up as well. "My train left at four..." I said. Twilight was busy undoing her magic sky.

"There we go, all back to normal!" she said.

I helped her push the table back to the middle of the room. "Just as if nothing ever happened here!" I said happily. She stood there in front of me, still having a slight blush on her cheeks. "Twilight." I said. "I came here to thank you. And now you've given me even more reason to do so." I trotted towards her and gave her a warm hug. She returned it and we stood there for a short while.

"I want you to have these." I said and brought out two VIP tickets to the Wonderbolts show. I had managed to get hold of them and figured that it would be a suitable 'thanks'.

"Oh, thanks." she said but her eyes turned sad as she read the date. "It's... next saturday. I can't make it, sorry."

"Aww. But maybe you know somepony that can make it? You can always give it to them." I said with a wink.

Twilight shone up a little, "Of course. I'll make sure she gets one!" she said happily.

"I guess that's it then. Don't worry though, Twilight. It was so nice to hang out with you, maybe we can do it again some other time?" I said in an attempt to cheer her up.

"It's a date!" Twilight said happily, before realizing the statement's double meaning, "Well, not a date date. You know what I meant!" she said.

"I know, Twilight." I said while smiling. "I better be off. Have a nice day and I'll see you next time!" I raised a hoof and waved as I left the library.

I had decided to fly by my own strength to Canterlot. I knew it was quite long a long trip, but it would most likely be faster than the train anyways, since it had to follow the mountainside to get there. I was fully confident that my endurance would be sufficient for the trip.

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Journal entry #16 – An awesome weekend

Dear journal,

It's been an awesome weekend. I can say this because it's saturday evening and I strongly doubt that anything will happen that will make this weekend less awesome. I've just gotten home from the royal banquet. I was invited together with the Wonderbolts. The banquet itself was, I guess, nothing out of the ordinary for being a royal banquet. The food was good, the company was even better, I sat with Fire as my dinner companion. And earlier today we did the show that Princess Celestia had requested. It all went quite well. But let me start from the beginning!

After I had gotten back home from Ponyville I felt incredibly relaxed. I still can't really put my hoof on it, but there was indeed something magical about the whole trip.

The rest of the week went by rather quickly. The mornings were spent at the university and the afternoons in the arena together with the Wonderbolts, practicing for the show. They had agreed on doing what I suggested as the grand finale so there was quite some stuff that had to be perfected. Every one of them needed help in their own way. I can only agree that it was slightly stressful, but now in hindsight it was clearly worth it.

The tickets I gave to Twilight were special. Everything was included. I had gone to my father and asked if I could get a favor, since he worked at one of the more exclusive hotels in Canterlot. He said that it wasn’t a problem. I set it all up so that Rainbow Dash and whoever she brought with her would get a nice suite there.

Then there was just the show itself. I was thinking of how I could make it a memorable moment for my friend. It came to me after the practice on that thursday. So simple, really. All I had to do was ask my friend for a favor.

"Great work, everypony!" I said encouragingly, as the practice ended. "See you all tomorrow. Remember to get here on time, and don't forget to sleep well! A good night's sleep is always important."

They mumbled something affirmative and trotted towards the dressing-rooms. "Oh, by the way, Fire..." I said tentatively.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Umm, can I ask for a favor?" I said.

"I guess that depends on what it is?"

"Well. Before the show on saturday. I've set it all up, my friend Rainbow will come. She'll be a VIP. Maybe you could, eh, you know. Talk with her?" I said, not entirely sure how to express myself.

"Just talk?" Fire replied.

"Yeah. Rainbow has kind of been your fan since, well, forever. If she could talk to her idol in person, I'm quite sure she'd treasure the moment forever."

"Aah. I see. I think I know what you want me to do..." she replied.

"So you'll do it?" I said excitedly.

"I have my price." she said while smiling shyly at me.

"Name it. I'll do anything to make saturday the best day of Rainbow's life." I said.

She leaned in and whispered in my ear. I blushed as I heard her request. "R-really?"

Her cheeks had gotten slightly red as well, "Is it too much to ask?"

"No. It's quite alright. You've named your price, and you will have it." I said. Anything for you, Rainbow! I thought to myself.

"Tomorrow evening then, my dressing-room?" she asked.

I gulped. "Yeah. That'll be fine."

I somewhat feared that she would make a big deal out of this. The next day came and me and Fire remained inside the arena after the practice session for a bit. We were talking to make the time go by, since we didn't want any of the others around.

"So. What do you think of tomorrow? Think it'll go well?" I said, trying to break the somewhat awkward silence that had appeared.

"Yup. We better perform good, especially if you want to woo the mare of your life..." she said, and I wasn't sure if she was teasing or not.

"I'm not gonna woo her. I just want her to have a good time." I said defensively.

"Yeah, whatever." she said, somewhat nonchalantly.

"Is there anything wrong? You seem... different." I said.

"I'm fine, thanks. I'll be going to my dressing-room. Give me five minutes to get ready, will you?" she said with a blank expression on her face.

"Uuh... okay?" I said, slightly confused. Mares. I'm not sure I'll ever understand them. I thought to myself.

I waited five minutes before I trotted towards the dressing-rooms. I knocked on the one I knew belonged to Fire. No answer. I knocked again, but as I didn't get any response I slowly opened the door.

"You in here, Fire?" I said to nopony. It was rather dark at first sight. I closed the door and then suddenly there was light coming from inside the room. I slowly approached it and saw that it was a lit candle.

I saw Fire lie on the bed. Aww geez. She did make a big deal out of this. I thought to myself while mentally facehoofing.

"What do I do?" she asked, slightly anxious.

"Just try to relax." I replied calmly.

I trotted over to the side of the bed. I started to massage her forearms and shoulders.

"Wow. You really are tense, Fire." I said.

She only sighed and nodded in response. As I continued further down her back her wings unfurled and she blushed slightly. "It's fine. It happens to everypony." I said with a warm smile.

After about twenty minutes I felt that I was done. I watched my friend lie there, completely relaxed.

"Fire... We should go. It's getting late." I said softly. "Fire...?"

She didn't respond at first. After a few seconds she slowly opened her eyes and looked at me. "I don't want to go." she said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked even though I had a pretty good idea where this conversation was about to go.

"... Can't we just... stay?" she said, almost pleadingly. "Come! There's plenty of space here..." she continued and pointed her hoof towards the small empty area beside her on the bed.

I resisted the urge to oblige. I admit, Fire is indeed a beautiful mare, but I just couldn't do it. "... I'm sorry, Fire. I... can't." I said with a very honest and sad voice. "I promise that I'll stay here, though. I'll take the couch." I said, hoping to cheer up my friend a little.

She smiled. "Time to go to sleep, then." I said and pulled the cover over Fire. She sighed happily.

"Night, Sam..." she said sleepily.

"Good night, Fire." I said and gently stroked her mane.

I blew out the candle and trotted over to the couch. It was not anywhere near as cosy as the bed would have been, but I wanted a clear conscience. Sharing a bed with a her might jeopardize our friendship, and I really didn’t want to do that. I shot a glance at Fire who slept peacefully and tried to do the same. It took a while to fall asleep, due to the sofa's negligible comfort.

I woke up early the following morning and I felt rather warm. I blinked a few times, yawned, then realized why I felt so warm. Fire had also woken up by my small movements and looked straight into my eyes.

"S-sorry. I woke up in the middle of the night. I couldn't fall asleep..." she started to ramble. I held forth one of my hooves and covered her mouth. "Schhh, it's okay." I said. It actually felt okay.

Her eyes sparkled with happiness. She nuzzled against me and whispered. "I just wanted to be close to you, once."

I did not mind lying there, having Fire's head resting on my chest. She had fallen asleep again and I petted her mane slightly absentmindedly. Right then I realized that there was indeed something special about just being together, a stallion and a mare. I had never really felt it before. The only time I had been close to a mare was when I had had a nightmare when I was but a foal, and I curled up against my mother for her safe embrace. I also understood why my trip to Ponyville had felt so relaxing. I never thought just being with somepony without doing anything special could feel so... good.

I lay there for a while longer, maybe an hour. enjoying the moment. I knew that Fire knew, that we wouldn't be more than friends. Close friends by all means, but still just friends. When I carefully got up from the sofa I made sure that I didn't wake her up. She can sleep a bit longer. It's fine. I remember thinking.

After a quick shower I went outside to buy some freshly baked bread. I figured that it would do for breakfast. When I got back Fire was still asleep.

"Fiire, time to get uup!" I said as I got closer to her.

"Uuuh." she, well, sounded and yawned.

"I brought some breakfast!" I said cheerfully.

"Well thank you, mister!" she replied. "It smells delicious!"

Before I could say a word she started to munch on the bread. I opened my mouth in objection, but changed my mind and said nothing.

"What!?" she said with her mouth full of bread.

I just smiled, "Nothing. It was nothing." I'll simply have to get 'me' something to eat later. I thought to myself.

"That was great!" Fire said as she finished her breakfast. "Time for a shower!"

She went into the bathroom and soon I heard the water flowing. I could hear her whistle happily.

Suddenly the water stopped and I thought. She can't be done already? She's a mare after all... I was correct.

"Wanna join?" she said.

"Fiiiire. You're just teaaasiiiiiing me!" I warbled in response.

"... Darn! How did you know!" she said, clearly disappointed in that her attempt had failed.

"I'm an egghead you know. It takes more than that to fool me."

I finished the glass of water that had turned out to be my breakfast.

"Uhm. I'm going for a walk. You want to tag along?" I asked towards the bathroom, which still was occupied even though the door was left ajar.

It took a while before I heard any response. "I... can't." she said, her voice sounded odd. A mix of sadness and fear or something like that.

"What do you mean... 'I can't'?" I said.

"I'm stuck!" she said. And before I could reply and wonder how in Equestria she managed to get stuck inside a bathroom she screamed. "Iiiiiiih, there is a spider coming towards me! You know how much I hate spiders. Samuel, help meeeeee!"

Since I knew of Fire's arachnophobia, I let my guard down and let my chivalry act on its own, just like she had planned. I trotted towards the bathroom, opened the door but stopped in the doorway. "Fire? ... Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" I exclaimed as a bucket of ice cold water fell onto my head.

Fire looked out from the shower and almost fell over laughing.

"Ahaaahaha! Look at that face! I got you! I got you good!" she said between giggles.

I facehoofed and started to dry my soaking wet mane with a towel. "Mje mje, mje mjeeee!" I mimicked her. "Heh. Yeah, you got me already. Well done." I couldn't help but smile.

"Where seduction fails, chivalry will prevail!" she said as if she was quoting a book. She added, "I'm sorry Sam, that wasn't really fair play."

"It's quite fine, ma'am!" I said, teasingly pointing out that she was older than me. "Ready to take a walk?"

"Sure!" she replied.

It was quite apparent that Fire was in a good mood, she almost skipped beside me as we were walking along the arena. I let her enthusiasm spread to me and I had almost forgotten about the show later that day.

It was nearing noon when the realization came to me.

"Fire. We've... err, you've got a show today!" I said, slightly panicked.

"Mmm? What about it?" she said, as if there was no worries in the world.

"Shouldn't we... Aren't you going to prepare?" I asked.

"I'm as prepared as I could ever get!" she said, quite confident. She looked into my eyes, smiled and said, "'A good night's sleep is important.' Just like you said!"

"Sure. But we should probably go do some warming up, don't you think?" I said. "The others are most likely inside already."

"Sounds good to me." she replied.

We went back to the arena and found the rest of the Wonderbolts stretching and preparing themselves both physically and mentally.

I organized the warm-up session and they were all eager to get going. It felt good, they really were in the mood. Already at that point I knew that the show was going to be a success. My nerves never let me actually believe it, though. Me, a pony from Cloudsdale organizing half a Wonderbolt show. I'd never give myself full credit since they did a whole lot of it themselves.

After the warm-up we went to have lunch together. I knew that Rainbow was supposed to be at the hotel but I didn't know for sure. Take-out it is. I thought to myself.

It was around two o'clock and I told the Wonderbolts to take a well-deserved rest before meeting back in the bigger dressing-room where we usually had our pep talks at twenty minutes to four.

"Fire, by the way... " I said and she turned around. "I think Rainbow is on her way here now..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll be the friendliest pony in Canterlot." she said.

"Heh, you don't really have to act. Just be yourself. I think you'll enjoy her company, she's fun to hang out with." I replied.

"What about you? What will you do?" she asked me.

"I'll make sure to not be around. I don't want to ruin this for her." I said.

"How would you..." she started the sentence but changed her mind. "I'll see you at the pep-talk, then?"

"Yup. Off you go! Have fun, Fire!"

I trotted into the room where we were about to have peptalk in one and a half hour. I lay down on the couch to take a nap.

I must have forgotten to set my watch as I was somewhat rudely awakened by Fire. All of the Wonderbolts were standing in a circle on the other side of the room. What I saw in Fire's eyes was determination. She was as focused as only a trained professional could be.

"Alright, listen up everypony! Today is the big day. Let's make sure that Princess Celestia leaves this show with a smile on her face. It has also come to my attention that we have some other VIPs that will watch us perform. I want you to give it your all, so that when we get back in here you will barely be able to stand up. Is that understood?" Fire said sternly.

"Yes, captain!" the Wonderbolts replied in unison.

"Alright." Fire started to trot around her crew. "Are you ready to get fired up!" she shouted.

"Yeah!" they replied.

"Are you with me!?" Fire bellowed.

"Yeah!" they answered in unison while each and every one of them held out one of their hooves in the air.

"Gooooooooo, Wonderbolts!" they said all together.

"Let's go out there and give the ponies another reason to call us the best fliers in all of Equestria!" Fire said.

"Booyah!" Soarin' said as he and the others trotted out of the door on the far end.

I knew that the show was about to begin so I snuck out through the backdoor. I found a cloud and positioned it above the VIP-section but quite a bit further behind, so that I couldn't see it, and they, well Rainbow, wouldn't be able to see me.

I enjoyed every second of the show. Though I couldn't really let go of my 'have-to-observe-them'-behaviour. But even then I didn't find many flaws at all. They were doing a really good job. The grand finale did also go exceptionally well. And as I read the words, Thanks for coming! Have a nice day! I could almost not believe it to be true. It was just like I had imagined it in my head. We never nailed it once during practice. That really is why they're called the best fliers in Equestria. I remember thinking to myself. Being able to pull such things off. Amazing.

I saw them fly slowly one lap around the arena and shake hooves with Princess Celestia as they passed her at the VIP section. I somehow managed to catch Fire's gaze just after she had passed Celestia and I waved happily. She smiled and waved back.

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Samuel reviewed his last journal entry with a tired smile on his face. That was two weeks ago. Time flies, eh? he thought to himself. And now I have yet another entry to write. Though this time, it's not as cheerful. He sat inside his train compartment, enjoying the scenery outside the window. The train was due to leave Ponyville station in five minutes, but since there had been some technical issues the conductor had said that it would probably take at least twenty more minutes before departure. Samuel didn't mind this, since if he wrote while the train was moving, he usually got motion sickness. He sighed and picked up the pencil. It's better to write it down now, when it's fresh. he thought to himself. And then I'd be able to really relax the rest of the trip. Yes, that's probably for the best.

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Journal entry #17 – There and back again

Dear journal,

It's been two weeks since the Wonderbolts' show. Two quite relaxing weeks. Since there were no upcoming performances the workout sessions in the evenings were much less stressful. Now it was back to 'just observing' them and teaching them how to be able to do it themselves. They had gotten better at it, without a doubt, but I still felt there were some small tips and tricks that I could supply them with.

Fire and I are much closer since the show. I consider her to be one of my best friends. We met on several occasions just to enjoy each others company. It could be anywhere from taking a cup of tea at a café to just lying on a cloud together talking about life in general.

The university studies did also go well. It was on the monday after the show and I was sitting in the library deeply immersed in an essay when somepony spoke to me.

"Hi there, Samuel?" a vaguely familiar voice said.

I turned my head to see who it was, since I didn't recognize her voice. "Oh, hi there!, Minty!" I said as I saw the Daring Do author trotting in through the room towards me. I hadn't had any contact with her since our last meeting.

"How are you?" she asked politely.

"I'm quite fine, thanks."I replied.

"I just came by to give you a proposal." she said.

"Okay? Shoot!" I said.

"If you want to, you could be titled as co-writer on my next book. Your draft was amazing, I'm halfway finished already!" she said.

"..." I was speechless.

"Two weeks from now I'll be leaving for Ponyville to sign books, if you'd like you can come with me and sign the new one!" she said.

"It's... I... would be honored to." I said, barely able to grasp what was actually going on. Me!? A co-writer to the next Daring Do book. So she really did mean what she said... I thought to myself.

"Here, let me show you what I got thus far!" she said.

I skimmed through her papers and noticed that quite a lot of my work was still there, untouched. "Wow. This is good. You really do have a sense for detail." I said.

"Thank you." she said. "Anyways, I didn't come here to chit-chat. Great that you would like to come with me! Here's your tickets. I'll see you in two weeks!"

She turned around and trotted out of the library. I looked at the tickets which lay on the table in front of me, still not entirely sure if it was actually true.

It was not until the monday two weeks later that I could comprehend that what was going on wasn't only in my imagination. The train had departed at eight in the morning, like usual, but I wasn't tired at all. I shared train compartment with the Daring Do author herself and her, presumably number one, assistant. We chatted for a bit but then the respected in front of me politely said that she would rather try to get some sleep. She explained that the train gave her motion sickness. I understood the feeling and looked out through the window. There wasn't really much else to do since I couldn't write. I knew that I would feel motion sickness as well if I was to write while on a moving train.

It was just around noon when we arrived at Ponyville station. When we arrived the assistant said that we'd be having the signing session at the town hall. I helped her carry the, in my opinion, excessive amount of bags. As we got closer to the town hall my heart started to beat faster.

I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.

"Is there anything wrong?" Minty said.

"Nah... I'm, just nervous." I said.

"There's nothing to be afraid of! Signing books is easy." she replied.

Heh, if only it was 'that' I was nervous about. I thought to myself.

"The signing session will start in half an hour. We'll keep at it until four, then there's dinner and the train back to Canterlot leaves at five." she said.

I nodded in response and helped her move some tables together. Even though I was quite anxious the half hour passed quickly. Soon after we opened the door and put up the big sign just outside, the first ponies started come.

Just as she had pointed out, signing the books wasn't very hard at all. I even felt a bit like a celebrity, sitting there, writing my autograph together with a short friendly message on their books. After about half an hour I saw Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy enter through the door together. It wasn't until they had gotten one of their own books signed by the real author beside me that Twilight noticed me.

"By Celestia, is it really you, Samuel?" she said, clearly surprised.

"It sure is. Good to see you again, Twilight." I said. "You look great, too, Fluttershy."

Twilight switched from looking at me to Fluttershy. "You two know each other?"

Fluttershy nodded.

Since a queue was starting to build up behind them I added. "Uhm, would you like to buy the new book? I can sign it for you! I'd love to chat but there's quite a few others waiting... Maybe we can meet after? I'll be done here at around four." I said.

"Sure! We'll be waiting outside, just after four!" Twilight replied. They both bought a book and turned to trot out of the town hall.

"Oh, and don't tell Rainbow that I'm me, if you understand. I want to see if she recognizes me." I said. They nodded.

Time went on and I almost believed that Rainbow wouldn't show up. It wasn't until half past three I saw her cautiously approach the open door. My heart skipped a beat. So. Beautiful. There she was, the little filly I used to know, all grown up. I could tell, even from this distance, that she was still incredibly fit. Her maroon eyes were looking in every direction. Probably to make sure that nopony who knows her sees her getting a book signed. I thought to myself. Just like old Dash... I sighed. As she came closer I gulped and took an even deeper breath, preparing to keep my voice steady.

"So... You're the author of Daring Do, eh?" Rainbow said to Minty.

"I sure am. And who might you be?" she said.

"I'm Rainbow Dash." Rainbow replied. "I love your books. Could you perhaps sign this?" Rainbow turned her head around and picked up a book from her saddle bag. When she did that Minty poked me with her eyes wide open. I quickly gave her a 'please-don't-mention-anything'-look and hoped that she would understand.

"Of course." she said and signed the inside of the book. "There you go! Don't forget that you can buy the new book and get it signed right away at my co-writer just over there." she said and gestured in my direction.

"Oh, there's a new one?! I didn't even know." Rainbow said and trotted over to me. "How much is it?"

"T-thirty five bits." I said, mentally slapping myself for stuttering.

"Here ya go." she said and picked up a thirty-five bits from a purse. "Would you sign it for me?" she said excitedly, with her gaze fixated on the book.

"Sure..."

I opened the book and wrote,

To miss Dash.
Have a nice day!

I finished with writing my name somewhat hazily. She didn't seem to care though.

"Thank you so much. This'll be the best day, ever!" she said and practically skipped out of the town hall.

My eyes got watery, as Rainbow would have put it herself. She's so happy... But she didn't recognize me. I thought to myself.

The last twenty-five minutes passed without too much happening. As the time was up I helped the assistant put the tables back as they were before, and started to trot to the exit.

"You're not coming with us, Samuel?" the assistant asked.

"Ah, no. I've got some plans. Got a few old friends here I'd like to visit before the train departures. I'll see you later!"

I trotted outside and saw my two friends already waiting for me. They waved as soon as they saw me.

"Hi! How are you?" Twilight asked.

"I'm... fine, I guess." I said.

Twilight who as always noticed my hints of sadness said, "Want to talk about it? I can get some tea ready, at the library."

"Sounds good."

We arrived at the library shortly thereafter. When Twilight went into her kitchen to make the tea, Fluttershy spoke up.

"It was so long ago..."

"Yeah, it really was. I didn't know where you lived. I'm sorry." I said.

"It's alright. But maybe I can show you someday. If... you don't mind."

I smiled at her shyness and said, "That sounds great, Fluttershy."

"You look different..." she said.

"... I guess I do." I said, poking a hoof in my red/black mane. "She didn't recognize me..."

"Who? Dashie?"

"Yeah..."

She noticed how sad I was and tried to change subject. She failed somewhat, but I didn't mind.

"Oh, you know what? Two weeks ago we were at this Wonderbolt show, in Canterlot!"

I bit my lip but pretended I had nothing to do with it. "Oh really? That sounds cool. How was it?"

"It was awesome! We stayed at this really luxurious hotel. And the show. So cool! We even met with, um, Spitfire, their captain! And we spoke with her for like, an hour! She was so sweet."

I mentally noted that I had to thank Fire properly for doing me such a favor. "No way! That sounds really cool!" I said.

"What's really cool?" Twilight asked as she entered the room with three teacups and a teapot levitated carefully in front of her.

"I just told Samuel about our trip to Canterlot!" she said.

I met Twilight's gaze and gave her a 'don't-say-anything'-look and she just nodded. We continued to talk for some time, while sipping on our tea. We managed to cover many different subject during the conversation. My time in Cloudsdale and how I had gotten to know Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, how it felt to grow up in Canterlot both as Princess Celetia’s protegé and as a normal colt, the university studies and how I had met Twilight and how Fluttershy's life had been together with her animals here in Ponyville.

It was quite nice to speak with them. However, time flies when you're having fun, and as I noticed what time it was I stood up.

"Oh, it's four-fifty already. My train leaves in ten minutes!" I said. "This has been really enjoyable. It was so good to see both of you again! But if you'll excuse me I'll try to avoid the events of last time I was here."

"What happened last time?" Fluttershy asked.

"I... err. Missed the train. It basically resulted in me flying to Canterlot."

"You what!?" Twilight exclaimed.

"I assure you, it wasn't such a big deal, but I feel like the train is the way to go today." I said with a tired smile. "Have a nice day, ladies!" I said as I trotted out of the library. They remained inside and waved as I left.

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A few minutes passed and the lavender pony and her friend remained in the library. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Twilight said.

It was no other than Rainbow Dash. "'Sup Twilight? Ah, and hi Fluttershy!" she said.

"We... just had some tea."

Rainbow took a brief look at the table. "There's three cups...?" she said. "Oh, was it that pony I saw trotting out of her, earlier? He sure looked familiar..."

"Well, that's because you kn-" Fluttershy said but got interrupted my Twilight.

"That's because you just met him earlier today, didn't you. He was the co-writer of the new Daring Do book."

"Ah, that must be why..." Rainbow replied. "So... You're hooking up with an author, eh? Not that I'm surprised."

Twilight blushed slightly, "No! ... Actually." she leaned in close to Rainbow and whispered something in her ear.

Rainbow's jaw dropped and her face switched from first becoming pale as a ghost to red as a rose.

"R-really?" she said.

"Go and see for yourself." Twilight replied.

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Samuel put his pencil down. That's that, then. he thought to himself.

"What's that you're writing?" Minty asked from the opposite side of the train compartment.

"It's just my journal. I like writing down stuff. It's nice to get these things off my chest. You know?"

"I do indeed know. I have a diary of my own..." she said.

"Have you found your special somepony?" Samuel asked abruptly.

"I... " she didn't say anything more.

"Sorry, that was way too personal." he said.

The train had now been running for a few minutes and he leaned back to enjoy the ride.

Suddenly the compartment door slid open violently.

"By Celestia, what is going on! Can't one have a little privacy?" Minty said.

"There you are, finally!" no other than Twilight said. One could tell that she was upset and that she had been running a lot.

"Twilight! What are you doing here?" Samuel said.

"It's an emergency!" she said and panted. "Dash... ... is in the hospital."

"What!?" he said.

"Something must have happened.... " Twilight said helplessly. "I... she stopped a few minutes after you left. I told her that you were in town and she flew out the door as if the Wonderbolts themselves were in town."

Twilight tried to catch her breath. "I trotted after her and as I got into town I saw her get taken to the hospital. Somepony said that she had flown straight into a huge glass window that was being moved by some construction workers."

Samuel stood up. "Which hospital?"

"There's only one in town, I'm sure you'll see it quite clearly from the sky."

He galloped past her and headed for the closest exit. After he had opened the door with the emergency handle he realized something. He turned back towards his train compartment and met Twilight on the way.

"... Do you need help to get off the train?"

"I... ... sure." she said.

He picked her up and flew outside. Moments later he reached the closest road where he could see Ponyville not too far away.

"Is it okay if I let you off here?" he asked.

"Yeah... Thanks."

He gently put his friend down and flew towards Ponyville.

Wow. I don't think I've seen anypony fly that fast, not even Rainbow Dash! Twilight thought to herself, while galloping after him. Rainbow Dash was her friend too, after all.

It didn't take Samuel many minutes to get back to Ponyville. He circulated high above the village for a while until he noticed the hospital. It was a bit on the outside of town. He dived down towards it and didn't slow down until the last moment. Unfortunately it was just a bit too late and his landing became considerably more rough than he had expected. He stood up quite dazed. Nothing broken at least. he thought to himself. He galloped inside the hospital.

"Dear Celestia, what has happened to you? You're bleeding!" the nurse in the front desk said.

"Dash..." Samuel said. "Need to get to... Rainbow Dash."

"She... is in there." she directed him towards the end of the corridor.

He continued down the corridor and looked in through every door to find his dear friend. He found her in the second to last room on the left side. She had four other ponies in there, with her. Fluttershy was one of them.

He pushed the door open and slowly walked towards them.

"How... is she?" he said trying to ignore the pounding pain coming from his left back leg.

"She's in a coma..." a white unicorn said.

"Are ya okay, mister? You're bleedin'!" an orange earth pony said.

"I'm... fine."

A somewhat worried nurse entered the room. "Everything alright in here?"

"Alright!? She's in a coma! Everything is not alright!" Samuel shouted at her. The sudden strain made him feel dizzy.

"You, sir, are not alright. You've lost a lot of blood. Just let me get you patched up, it'll only take a minute." the nurse said.

Samuel tried to insist on that he was fine but she continued, "I won't take no for an answer."

She picked up some bandages she had conveniently carried on her back. She did indeed patch him up quickly and with bandage around his hind leg Samuel could actually stand normally on it.

"Now, there's been way too much commotion here. I can allow possibly one of you to stick around." she said sternly.

Samuel turned towards the other four ponies and looked at Fluttershy pleadingly. They turned around and mumbled to each other.

As they turned back towards him the orange mare once again spoke up. "She's all yours, sugarcube. Fluttershy said that you're a close friend." They trotted out of the room together with the nurse.

Samuel trotted over to the bedside and started to speak with her.

"What happened... Did you really fly straight into... a glass window...?"

He looked at her. "Thank Celestia it didn't break, you'd have glass splinters everywhere."

"I'm... so sorry, Dashie..." he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. "This is all my fault."

"I... I shouldn't have come... But you know, I've missed you. So much..." He stroke her mane gently, careful to not touch the white bandage that was covering her forehead.

Twilight came galloping in through the hospital doors. She noticed her friends standing in the corridor and headed towards them.

"How... is.. she?" she asked.

"He's talking to her, right now..."

Twilight looked in through the glass window in the door and saw Samuel standing beside Rainbow. She levitated the door in front of her open with just a few centimeter gap.

"Twilight, what are you-?" Fluttershy whispered.

"Don't you want to hear what he says?" she replied.

"But-"

"Schhh!"

"Dashie, there's something I have to tell you..." he hesitated slightly. "... And I might as well say it now, because I don't know if.. if you'll ever.. " his voice died away.

He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I... like you, Dashie. Not as in 'wow, she's awesome! I like her!' but as you would say, I like like you."

"I've liked you since the first moment I saw you... That time when you defended Fluttershy from those bullies."

"I treasured every moment we had together. It didn't matter if it was during advanced flying techniques class or during either of 'our own' practices at the old race track. As long as I could spend time with you, I would love every second of it."

"Ever since that day... The day when I helped Fluttershy fly back up to Cloudsdale after she had fallen down to the ground. The very same day that you won the race and managed to pull off a 'Sonic Rainboom'. That same day you saw Fluttershy kiss me as 'thanks'. Ever since that moment I've regretted that I didn't talk to you. I should have disobeyed my parents and just explained everything..."

"I... I've never had a marefriend. Deep down in my heart I've always known who I wanted to have as my special somepony. That's you, Rainbow Dash, I've always wanted you as my special somepony."

"But today... When I got here, signed your book and saw you didn't recognize me. I realized that I've probably changed too much..."

"... I'm so sorry, Dashie. But to let you live your life, I'll have to go." Samuel couldn't really believe he actually said that. With his heart broken he finally said.

"I love you, Rainbow Dash. ... Farewell..."

He turned around to leave the room. She had not recognized him, she was happy with her life as far as he could have seen and she had a lot of good friends. He sighed deeply and started to trot towards the door.

"... I..."

His ear twitched. Did I just... he thought to himself. He swung around and looked at the bed.

Rainbow sat up in her bed. "I love you too, Swifty!" she said. Her eyes were watery and one could only guess that she had heard everything he had said.

Samuel couldn't really describe what he felt at that moment. It must have been a mix of every feeling in existence. He just had to embrace her. He rushed back to the bed, jumped up on it and hugged her. "You... You're alive! I thought I had lost you..." he said and pulled her close, embracing her using his wings as well.

While lying there, like in a little cocoon made of feathers, he looked deep into her maroon eyes and said, "Rainbow Dash, will you become my marefriend, my special somepony?"

She smiled and nodded, and they kissed, a long passionate kiss.

After a while of just embracing each other Samuel broke the silence.

"Oh... Um, are you in any pain?"

"... I've got a headache..." she said.

"You've got a headache... You pretty much fly into a solid glass wall, you get into somewhat of a coma, you miraculously wake up and the only thing wrong is that you have a headache?" he said.

Rainbow glanced towards the door, where she saw her five best friends cheer, jump and wave happily. "Y-yeah... eheheh... about that..."

The End

Comments

[FlutterDashFTW]

Wow. Just wow. That was WAY over my expectations. I was expecting a decent, slightly above average fic, but instead, I got this beautiful masterpiece! I could go on for days about how awesome and impressive of a job you've done with this chapter. Great freaking job. There's few missing words, grammar, and spelling mistakes here and there, but for the most part, it was pretty solid. There were a few times where it seemed a bit flat such as, "Samuel woke up." Nothing too major. 3 dislikes and only 8 likes? What is with people!? The plot of the first and third chapters was excellent, but I think the second could use a bit of revising to make this a top notch fic. I would express my enjoyment of all of the good parts of this chapter, but I would end up going on for hours. Again, fantastic job. Personally, I'd like to see an epilogue, but I suppose it isn't entirely necessary. I'll throw over a watch to see if you can get any more nice stories out

[FlutterDashFTW]

Oh, and I also think that the title doesn't really do this story justice. It's a nice play on words, but doesn't come off to seem as to what would be an interesting fic. Just thought I'd put that out there. Also, I feel you should really think about making shorter chapters to release them at a more frequent rate so there aren't any 3 month gaps between updates. In hindsight, I probably should've just edited my original comment... Oh well! Too late now!

[Ferlathin]

1084326

<3 Thank you, sir! Glad you liked it!

1084331

Yup. Have been thinking of writing shorter chapters in the future. It as due to inexperience I didn't do it this time. As I was finished with the first chapter I was like. "Omg need to publish NOW!" and published it pretty much straight away, without having started on the second chapter.

[Zoom zoom]

1084331

I agree. the pun is there but it something like the Journal would have been better. Then again my own pun titled story is no better

Still this was a really good read with my only complaint being that the ending was a bit fast. Could have used something like Rainbow liking the new book enough to start reading Sam's first book or something but outside that I liked every bit of it.

[Ferlathin]

1085149

Yeah. I felt slightly uncertain when it came to the end. It did indeed go a bit fast. I might look in to it in the future, to see if I can make sense of it.

Glad you liked it though! o/

[moguera]

A minor gripe, but could you give the Daring Do author a name? Seems kinda jarring for a pony with a relatively important role in the story to just go through it being called the Daring Do Author. It comes off as awkward compared to the rest of the narrative.

[Ferlathin]

1085999

I concur. I'll have to name her somehow. I'll get right on it.

[RainbowdashEpicness]

This... was.... the... best, thing I have EVER read! When I get on my PC, IMA have ALOT of praises too give this story. In my opinion, this should've been featured,. On the contuary, are you gonna possibly do a sequel? I mean, there is a lot of room to expand upon this, and you ended it with an easy sequel starter. Anyways, loved it man!

[Ferlathin]

1271899

You really think so? Now you get me all blushful. Heh. Thank you!

There might be a sequel, actually. But I haven't got that many ideas, as of yet. Time will tell. A lot of other stories in my mind at the moment.

[Xeravon]

Now this *dramatic pause* is the definition of awesome.

[Ferlathin]

1984731

*squees*

Thank you so much! :>

[Old Diggy]

I don't know what to say other than HOW do you only have a little over 250 Views and only 13 Likes?!(14 now)