Chapter 23: Playdate
It had been a few days since Natalya went to the Wonderbolt Academy with Rainbow, and she now found herself right outside of her best friend’s cloud mansion, waiting for the pegasus to take her to the Pony Pet Playdate that she had been invited to.
There was only a few minutes left before they were supposed to meet up with the rest of their friends, and Rainbow was hastily helping Tank get ready. As this was her first time actually seeing the mini-helicopter, Natalya took the time to inspect the device while Rainbow strapped the flying gear onto the tortoise.
The base was a thin sheet of metal that looked like an upside-down bowl that snugly fit onto the top of Tank’s shell, and it was secured by a belt that wrapped around the bottom of the tortoise, looping in between his hind and forelegs. The flying mechanism itself was just two helicopter blades, although, curiously enough, the mast that connected the base to the blades reminded Natalya of the weather vanes that she had seen on quite a few houses in Ponyville.
“All good, Tank?” Rainbow asked after she finished setting up the mini-helicopter and then strapped on a pair of aviator goggles over the tortoise’s eyes.
From behind the goggles, Tank’s eyes slowly blinked as he lazily smiled and nodded.
“Awesome.” Rainbow then turned to her griffon companion. “So, how about you, Natalya? Ready to go?”
“Been ready the whole time,” Natalya replied. “You’re the one taking your sweet time.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Well, this playdate is for Tank, so I have to make sure he has everything.”
“Sure, but you do realize that we’re going to be late if we wait any longer, right?”
“Didn’t know you were that eager to get to the playdate.”
“I’m not. I just hate waiting.”
Rainbow chuckled. “Now that, I can relate to.” With a quick nod at her pet, she called out, “Come on, Tank. Let’s get going before Natalya here gets her feathers in a bunch.”
As Rainbow leapt into the air, a whirring sound made Natalya look down, and she saw the mast of the tortoise’s flying machine glow in a golden aura as the helicopter blades began to spin, quickly picking up speed until they were nothing more than a blur. Soon, the flying contraption slowly lifted Tank from the cloud surface, and the reptilian pet promptly flew after his owner.
Natalya had witnessed her fair share of odd scenarios since she had come to Ponyville, many of them thanks to a certain perky, peppy, pink pony, and now, she could add seeing a tortoise fly to the list. Snorting in amusement at both the spectacle and what her life had become, Natalya flew after Rainbow and Tank.
Observing the flying tortoise, Natalya noted that despite being a land animal, Tank appeared to have no issue with being airborne. However, regardless of Tank’s unnatural ability to fly, the mini-helicopter was not exactly built for speed, and Natalya had to keep a sedate, slow pace since Rainbow stuck close to her pet’s side. Fortunately, it also meant that her friend was nearby to help stave off boredom.
“So right before we had to get Tank ready for the playdate, you were telling me more about the pet race,” Natalya reminded. “Gotta ask though, why Ghastly Gorge? Anything interesting over there, or did you just feel like picking a remote place miles from town?”
“I was just flying around one day and scouted the place out when I found it,” Rainbow explained. “Turns out, it makes for a pretty awesome obstacle course if you stick to flying in the lower parts of the canyon. While it’s nowhere near as big or crazy as the Abysmal Abyss, there’s still stuff in there that keeps things interesting.
“There’s tall trees and rock formations to watch out for; not a lot of them, but enough that you have to keep your eyes open. Patches of brambles are all over the place, with one huge one near the middle. Sure, you can just fly over them, but where’s the fun in that? You gotta dive right in and weave your way through any opening you can find. Of course, if you’re not careful, they can be a literal pain in the flank… and a whole lot of other spots.”
“Uh huh…” Natalya uttered in a bored tone. “What else?”
“Well, there's this tunnel of wind.”
“Tunnel of wind?” Natalya repeated, curiosity tinging her voice.
Rainbow gave a wan smile. “Figured that would get your attention, but sorry to get your hopes up. Sure, it can get some strong gusts, but it doesn’t come close to the Abysmal Abyss.”
Natalya let out a disgruntled sigh. “Oh… So all you have to do to get through Ghastly Gorge is dodge some rocks and plants, followed by coasting through a little breeze?”
“I haven’t even got to the best part yet, which is avoiding the quarray eels.”
Natalya scoffed. “Eels? What’s so bad about eels?”
“They’re bad when they’re bigger than a house and have a ton of sharp teeth. You gotta watch for their nests, which are huge holes in the canyon walls, and there’s a huge group of them in the in the latter half of the gorge. Get too close to their nests, and they’ll pop out to try to gobble you up.”
“So let me get this straight. When you fly through Ghastly Gorge, you’re intentionally barreling through a horde of hungry predators just for fun, not to mention all of the other dangerous obstacles in your path,” Natalya pointed out flatly. “And you call me crazy for playing around in the Abysmal Abyss.”
“Hey, I gotta keep up with your insane training somehow,” Rainbow retorted with a smirk.
Natalya snorted in amusement. “Fair enough.”
With her boredom curbed, time flew quickly while Natalya continued to chat away with her friend, and before she knew it, they were nearing the park where the Pony Pet Playdate was being held. Natalya could see that Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, along with their pets, were already gathered at a large tree that was surrounded by small, grassy knolls. Pinkie and Gilda seemed to not have arrived just yet.
“Hey, guys! We’re here!” Rainbow announced as she landed near the group with Natalya and Tank. They were promptly greeted in return by the other ponies.
Twilight had brought Owlowiscious, her pet owl. Despite living in the same castle as Owlowiscious, Natalya actually had hardly any interaction with the brown bird, mostly because the pet was both literally and figuratively a night owl.
Applejack was playing with Winona, a collie dog that Natalya had seen the few times she had been to Sweet Apple Acres. Somehow, Applejack was able to use her tail like another limb, the hairy appendage being able to both pick up a small stick and throw it for Winona to fetch.
Natalya rolled her eyes when she noticed the baleful gaze that she was receiving from the white rabbit standing on Fluttershy’s head. The rabbit, Angel, was the exact opposite of his name and showed nothing but scorn for the griffon whenever she visited Fluttershy’s hovel. Fortunately, it seemed like that Angel was at least smart enough to not mess with her, although that did not stop his spiteful glares. If she had to guess, Natalya figured that all of the hatred was a reaction to her meat-eating tendencies. That did not make the rabbit any less annoying though. It was a shame that Fluttershy coddled her pet so much because Natalya certainly would not mind seeing how far she could punt the seething fluffball of hatred.
The only pet that Natalya did not recognize was the white persian cat sitting on Rarity’s back, which was a given since she had hardly stepped foot inside of the dressmaking unicorn’s boutique. However, it looked like she was about to be introduced to the cat because Rarity was headed towards her and Rainbow with a smile.
“It’s lovely to see you two,” Rarity greeted. “Rainbow, always a pleasure, and Natalya, I’m so glad that you could join us.”
Natalya shrugged. “I didn’t have anything else to do today, so why not?”
Rarity’s smile faltered, but only for a second. “Er, yes. Quite… Anyway, I don’t believe that you’ve had the chance to meet my dear Opalescence,” she said, turning her head to look fondly at the cat still perched on her back and busy licking her paw. “Opal, why don’t you say hello to Natalya?”
Opal did not even spare a glance up at anyone as she continued to groom her paw.
After a few moments of Opal’s disregard, Rarity cleared her throat and sheepishly smiled. “She says hi.”
“Right… So where’s Pinkie and Gilda?” Natalya asked. “I don’t see them around.”
“Told you that we wouldn’t be late,” Rainbow gloated, elbowing Natalya’s side.
“Pinkie did mention the day before that she and Gilda would be helping the Cakes with a few things at Sugarcube Corner before they take the rest of the day off to come here,” Rarity informed. “They’re probably occupied with some last minute tasks and will be along shortly.”
“Speaking of Pinkie, what kind of pet does she have?” Natalya asked. “I’d like to be prepared in case it’s anything weird.”
“Oh, she has an alligator,” Rainbow said nonchalantly.
Natalya’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what disturbs me more: the fact that Pinkie has an alligator or the fact that I actually believe that she has one.” She sighed in resignation and shook her head. “Anything I need to know about this alligator, or should I go ask the hospital to save us a few spots?”
“Now, now, no need to be so dramatic, Natalya,” Rarity answered. “Gummy, which is the alligator in question, has no teeth. Furthermore, he is practically an infant, so he is about the same size as Opal here. While he may be a bit odd, he is perfectly harmless. The worst that he can inflict on you is a vicious gumming, which is painless, if not a bit unpleasant.”
“So stay away from the weird alligator, got it.”
“You just have to keep away from Pinkie then. Good luck with that.” Rainbow chuckled with a smirk. “Anyway, I’m going to go take Tank to see his pet buddies.”
“Actually, if you don’t mind, Rainbow, I would love to have a little chat with you and Natalya,” Rarity stated before the pegasus could turn away.
“Really? Uh, well, sure, I could do that,” Rainbow agreed with hardly a question.
Natalya, however, did question the invitation. “Me? You want to talk to me?”
“I certainly do,” Rarity answered, putting on a pleasant smile. “You’ve been here in Ponyville for quite a while, and yet we’ve hardly got the chance to interact because I’m either busy with my boutique or you are flying off somewhere with Rainbow. While the others do tell me how you and Rainbow are so close, I thought that we could use this opportunity to maybe enjoy a little friendly chat.”
Natalya shrugged. “Sounds fine to me then.”
“Shouldn’t we first tell the others what we’re doing?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t want them to feel like we’re leaving them out or something like that.”
“Not to worry,” Rarity replied. “I already told them of my intentions earlier. We can join them whenever we want, although I do agree that we should not keep them waiting for too long.”
“Well, at least Tank here doesn’t need to stay with us. He’s been pretty eager to see his friends all day.” Rainbow looked down at Tank, who had been waiting patiently at her side. “Go on ahead, buddy. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Tank slowly nodded, and his mini-helicopter started spinning again as it lifted him into the air so that he could head toward the other pets.
“Opal, darling, would you be a dear and give us some privacy as well?” Rarity asked her feline pet sweetly.
The cat looked at her owner with a bored stare, but she complied and leapt off of Rarity, sauntering after the flying tortoise.
“So what exactly do you want to talk about?” Natalya prompted the unicorn. “You’re alright in my books, but we don’t exactly share anything in common.”
“Ah, but we actually do have at least one thing in common. While our interests might differ, you’ve become quite close to our mutual friend Rainbow. I really would like to try to get to know the griffon that caught her eye a little better.”
“Caught my eye? Really, Rarity?” Rainbow complained with a small frown.
“What’s wrong with what she said?” Natalya asked.
Rarity tittered softly. “Oh, Rainbow is just looking too much into my words.” This was followed by an impish grin at the pegasus. “That is, unless she has something to hide. You see, Natalya, when somepony catches your eye, one of the interpretations is that you find them attractive… oftentimes in a romantic sort of way.”
“Which I totally don’t!” Rainbow vehemently defended.
Natalya raised an eyebrow. “Really? You don’t find me attractive at all?”
Rainbow blinked and then smiled sheepishly. “Er, I mean, of course I do… in a totally platonic, non-lovey dovey, only as friends sort of way.”
Natalya snickered, relishing the way Rainbow was squirming uncomfortably.
“What about you, Natalya?” Rarity prodded. “Do you find Rainbow attractive?”
“Rarity…” Rainbow grumbled in a warning tone.
“Hmm…” Natalya quickly glanced over the pegasus. “Well, I don’t know about Rainbow being attractive, but I’d say she’s at least not ugly.”
There was a moment of silence while both ponies stared at the griffon before Rainbow groused, “I have no idea how I should feel about that.”
“It was a compliment… of sorts,” Rarity compromised.
“Can we just talk about something else?” Rainbow whined. “This is getting dumb.”
“I was just teasing you, Rainbow, but for your sake, I shall oblige. How about you two tell me about that little trip you took a few days ago? I heard that the both of you spent the entire day together, but I would like to hear the whole story straight from the two of you, if possible.”
“Rainbow got me into the Wonderbolt Academy to let me play with all of the fancy training equipment over there,” Natalya explained. “Spitfire was also there, and she was actually pretty fun to hang out with. Oh yeah, and there was the part where I wiped the floor with Rainbow in an obstacle course race.”
“And there it is,” Rainbow grumbled, even though a small smile betrayed her amusement. “When are you going to stop rubbing that in my face?”
“When it stops annoying you.”
Rarity giggled. “I take it that means you had a good time then, Natalya?”
Natalya nodded. “I have to admit, it was really cool of Rainbow to take me to the academy. I know that it wasn’t easy to set that all up.”
“Never get tired of hearing how cool I am,” Rainbow boasted, wearing a huge grin. “But yeah, I had fun spending the day with Natalya. We hit a bit of a snag when we got back to Ponyville because that huge thunderstorm had already started. Since I didn’t want Natalya to fly through the bad weather, I invited her over to my place.”
“How very noble of you, Rainbow,” Rarity praised. “Not only did you go through all of that trouble to give Natalya a memorable day, but you graciously opened your home to her because you were worried about her safety.”
“Yep, that’s me. I’m the awesomest friend ever,” Rainbow agreed without question. “Even cooked up an awesome dinner for the two of us.”
Rarity’s eyes widened. “You cooked?”
Rainbow’s good mood vanished as she gave the unicorn the stink eye. “Act more surprised, why don’t you?”
“I apologize, Rainbow. It’s just… It’s not exactly a secret how often you eat out, so you can see how some of us assumed that your cooking abilities might be a bit… subpar. Nonetheless, I do apologize for the misconception. I’m sure that you made Natalya a wonderful gourmet meal.”
“She made us sandwiches,” Natalya pointed out.
Rarity frowned. “Oh…” was all she uttered, but the amount of disappointment and loathing laced in that word could fill an entire room.
“Hey, there was some cooking involved!” Rainbow protested.
“Being able to boil up some pasta and potatoes isn’t exactly an achievement… especially when you’re just going to stuff them into a sandwich,” Natalya countered.
Rarity pursed her lips in a mixture of both disgust and uncertainty. “You put pasta and potatoes into sandwiches?”
“What’s wrong with that? I eat it all the time!” Rainbow stated.
Rarity’s eye twitched. “I see…”
“I had the same reaction, but to be fair, it tastes better than it sounds and looks,” Natalya remarked. “Even if I am still working off the carbs.”
“I’ll, um, take your word for it…” Rarity cleared her throat. “Regardless, Rainbow, I must say that I’m impressed with the lengths that you went through just for Natalya. You truly have become quite close to her.”
“Heh, yeah, well, Natalya and I are pretty much best buds,” Rainbow said as she smiled at the griffon. “I mean, no offense to you and the other girls, but you guys don’t share my love of flying and competing like Natalya does. We also like a bunch of the same things, and it’s fun to get on each other's nerves. I dunno, I just really like hanging out with her. That’s probably why I keep feeling like doing stuff for her.”
Despite smiling at Rainbow’s words, Natalya also felt a twinge of guilt. Even though it went against her stingy griffon instincts, she felt an urge to at least repay some of the kindness that Rainbow had been showering her with. She just did not know how she would go about doing that.
A stifled giggle from Rarity interrupted Natalya’s thoughts, bringing her back into the conversation.
“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked, glaring suspiciously at the unicorn.
“Oh, Rainbow, it’s just how you talk about Natalya. One might think that…” Rarity cleared her throat and then shook her head. “Nevermind. It’s nothing important. I do, however, think that we might be starting to keep to ourselves a bit too long. Before we rejoin our friends though, I do have an important piece of business that I need to take care of, and that is to ask a favor of you, Rainbow.”
Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “Uhh, okay? What is it?”
“I had received a special dress order a few days ago.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“The client is a pegasus mare, and coincidentally, her measurements are very similar to yours, so if you have the time…”
Rainbow blanched and then vehemently shook her head. “Ohhh, no! I am not letting you put all sorts of dresses on me all day!”
Rarity sighed wearily, as though she was expecting Rainbow’s outburst. “It’s only the one dress, Rainbow, and it should not take all day, a few hours at most.”
“But it’s gonna suck! You know that I hate standing around!”
“I am well aware of that, and I wouldn’t be asking you this if it wasn’t so important.” Rarity put on a stern frown. “Rainbow, need I remind you that I spent half a day to save you from being ousted from the Wonderbolts? At the end of that mess, you even said, and I quote, ‘I owe you one, Rarity.’”
Rainbow winced. “I might have said something like that.”
“You most certainly did… several times.” Rarity softened her glare and sighed. “Please, Rainbow. I apologize for being so insistent, but this order is for an important client that could do wonders for my reputation if I pull this off right. I’m even having a special shipment of fabric being shipped in to complete this dress. I really do need your help to make sure that I get everything right.”
Rainbow groaned and grumbled for several seconds before eventually calming down. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Fine… As much as it’s gonna suck, I don’t want to leave you hanging, especially since I really do owe you for saving my butt.”
“Thank you very much, Rainbow. I really do appreciate it,” Rarity replied, smiling gratefully.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. When do you need me?”
“You can come by as soon as tomorrow morning. However, you’ve made it obvious that you’re not comfortable with this, so I will understand if you need to take some time to get ready.”
“No, I’ll do it tomorrow morning. Might as well get it over with as soon as possible.” Turning to the griffon, she added, “Guess that we’re not hanging out tomorrow, Natalya.”
“Not necessarily,” Natalya replied. “I actually wouldn’t mind watching this whole dress thing.”
This drew surprised looks from Rainbow and Rarity.
“Er, I must say that I’m surprised that you’re interested in my trade,” Rarity admitted. “That being said, you are more than welcome to come watch.”
“Cool, I’m there.”
“You’re interested in dresses?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.
“No, but I’m interested in seeing you in one.” Natalya grinned impishly. “I think that it’s going to be hilarious to see you in some fancy getup.”
Rainbow facehoofed. “Tomorrow is going to suck.”
“Rainbow’s going to put on a dress?” a new voice suddenly boomed.
A moment later, Gilda dropped in on Rainbow’s side, grinning devilishly at the pegasus. “Dude, I am so totally there.”
Rainbow sat down on her haunches and gave herself a double facehoof. “Tomorrow is going to really suck.”
Natalya chuckled, amused by her friend’s anguish. However, her mirth quickly faded when she realized that something was missing. “Wait, Gilda, if you’re here, then where’s P—”
“Hey, Natalya! Meet Gummy!”
Before Natalya knew it, Pinkie had appeared in front of her and shoved a small alligator into her face. The green reptile promptly clamped onto her beak with its toothless maw.
“Aww, he likes you!”
Rarity was wrong. Being gummed by Gummy was not a bit unpleasant. It was extremely unpleasant.
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I hadn't seen this before! Why? Anyway, I'll be reading!
9406074
Oh god. The pressure is on! Hope you like it!
Classic Gummy
Gummy would swallow them all if he could. Never forget that.
Everygryph knows that Rainbow Dash always likes to dress in style, so it won't take much for both Gilda and Natalya to show up as Rarity dresses her up. Oh lawd
.
9409466
Considering how Rainbow is still a Wonderbolt and is also a teacher at the School of Friendship, it could be that Equestria has more hours per day and/or ponies don't need as much sleep.
Nice little update.
Loved the update!