Rainbow Dash Seeks an Editor

by Dusk Raven

2: Practice Makes Perfect

Rainbow Dash’s reluctance to accept Twilight’s help - or anypony’s help - hadn’t lasted long. She had flown around while thinking, then rested on a cloud while thinking, and then went to Ponyville’s bar for a round or two or more in the hopes that she would be able to stop thinking about whether or to have Twilight as an editor. In the end, this had worked, and she had decided that yes, she would hire Twilight to help her. It was a relief to not have to think about that anymore, especially since it involved as much feeling as thinking, trying to work through her wounded pride and sense of inadequacy.

And so, the next morning, she stood in front of Twilight’s library, knocking on the door without hesitation. “Twilight! I’m here for-” She suddenly stopped and looked around, eyes peeled for ponies who might overhear that Dash not only liked reading about Daring Do, but also liked writing about Daring Do. She didn’t need anypony speculating just what kind of fanfiction she wrote…

After a moment the door glowed purple and opened, and Twilight stood behind it, smiling at Rainbow. “Yes, Rainbow? You’re here for…?”

Twilight’s eager smile could only mean that she already knew what her friend was here for, but Rainbow continued anyway, “I’m here to… you know. Take you up on your offer.”

“You mean you want me as your editor?” Twilight’s smile lit up, her voice practically chirping in excitement.

“Not so loud!” Rainbow hissed. A moment passed in silence, and then Rainbow cleared her throat. ”It’s, uh, kind of early for me and I have a bit of a headache. Can we head inside? It’s quieter there.” While this was partially true, she also didn’t need Twilight accidentally spreading word of how deep Rainbow’s eggheadedness really went.

In reality it was unlikely that the library - containing two ponies who were about to discuss writing - would be any quieter than the totally peaceful Ponyville morning outside, but Twilight accepted the excuse and backed up to allow Rainbow to enter. As the door shut behind her, Rainbow said, “Yeah, I’m… willing to give it a shot.”

The library had changed slightly - a movable blackboard stood in the center of the library’s common area, and a short distance away was a sitting stool. The implications were clear to Rainbow: she was about to be schooled. Rainbow hated being schooled. “Really, Twilight? You’re doing the whole ‘classroom’ thing?” Rainbow rolled her eyes, but Twilight didn’t seem to notice, given that she was happily trotting over to the blackboard. Rainbow reluctantly followed, moving towards the stool as Twilight levitated a piece of chalk in the air.

“Well, Rainbow, I felt it best if we begin by covering a few basic fundamentals,” Twilight said cheerfully.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her. “It was that bad, that you need to start me at writing kindergarten?”

“No!” Twilight frowned, her face torn between indignation and concern. “But it’s important to understand a few fundamentals before moving on to advanced concepts, especially when the latter material builds upon the former!”

Rainbow wearily and randomly thought the only thing “former” about this situation was that she formerly had some pride in her writing, but before she could mumble anything about that, Twilight continued, “The first thing I’d like to go over is a very simple but essential concept, known as ‘Show, Don’t Tell.’ Something I’ve noticed, Rainbow, is that you often simply summarize events rather than describing them through details. While this isn’t always a bad thing, I think you would benefit from…”

Rainbow started to feel her will to listen slip away, although frankly there wasn’t much there in the first place. This surprised her, and she found that thinking about her issues with the lecture was much more interesting than the lecture itself. So, while Twilight’s words faded into the background, leaving only the sound of her voice to provide ambient noise, Rainbow thought about how she felt.

Obviously, the lecture was going to be full of egghead stuff, and Rainbow had expected that. In fact, she was pretty sure she was prepared to endure it, if it meant succeeding at writing. So while that might have been it, Rainbow wasn’t quite sure.

Rainbow focused on Twilight for a moment - and in the process, tuned in to her lecture: “...show me the glint of light on broken glass...” While Rainbow had to admit that did sound kind of cool, she also had no idea what topic that was supposed to be part of, and within a few moments she changed the channel back to her own thoughts.

Still, had Rainbow noticed that paying attention to Twilight caused a slight twinge of… unease? She wasn’t sure what it was or why she felt it, but she decided to focus on that in order to find out. She tried to figure out the origin of her unease by imagining various scenarios, her mind proving surprisingly focused and organized on this task:

Twilight lecturing Rainbow on writing: Rainbow was living that scenario, and was unhappy about it, so she envisioned another:

Twilight going over the defective fanfic with her and painstakingly correcting every flaw: this looked incredibly tedious to her mind’s eye, and she still had that feeling of unease. If anything, the feeling was even worse

Rainbow going over her fanfic alone: obviously not happening.

Rainbow going over her fanfic with some random editor: still tedious, but without that same feeling of unease she felt with Twilight.

Rainbow glanced at Twilight, pondering this. It was odd that she would be reluctant to have Twilight help her with this, since Twilight was one of her best friends, a fellow Daring Do fan, and absurdly overqualified to do “egghead stuff.” But it didn’t take too long for Rainbow to realize the reason - she was bitter about Twilight’s rant on how bad her work was.

Rainbow cringed a little inside at that revelation. She knew Twilight was just trying to help, that and that she still had faith in Rainbow’s ability. But Rainbow had put a lot of work into that, and she was, apparently, taking it personally. It was petty, and Rainbow knew it was petty, but she still felt that way, even if she wasn’t happy about it at all. But she also wasn’t happy about this little lecture session either, so Rainbow’s course was clear.

“Hey, Twilight!” Rainbow spoke up, after a brief lull in background noise that Rainbow assumed was a pause in Twilight’s lecture. “I, uh... appreciate the thought, but I’m not sure we should do this right now.” Rainbow spoke vaguely on purpose, still trying to come up with a good way to phrase things even as she spoke.

Twilight raised her eyebrows in surprise. “‘Right now?’ You mean, you’d rather do this some other time?”

Rainbow immediately seized on the ‘out’ that Twilight had unwittingly gave her. “Yeah. I need some more time to dwell on this. My brain’s still exhausted from all that writing and stuff. I gave you the story right after I finished it, you know.”

To Rainbow’s surprise, Twilight nodded in agreement. “You’re right, Rainbow. It’s a good thing to let your work sit for a little while after you finish it. That way, it’ll seem new when you look at it again and you won’t be mentally exhausted from writing it!” Twilight smiled and blushed. “I guess I hadn’t really realized how ‘fresh’ it was when you presented it to me, how recently you’d finished it. And I was so eager to help you with editing that I… kinda jumped into lecture mode.”

Rainbow smiled just a little - Twilight sure was adorable when she was being a dork, and it was hard to be mad at such an honest attempt to help. But she still needed time. “Don’t worry about it, Twilight. I didn’t think waiting would turn out to be such a good idea. Besides, you know I’m not much for sitting around. I’m always moving on!”

Twilight nodded, still smiling. “That’s right. But sometimes it’s good to take a step back and let your work breathe, like a bottle of fine wine.”

Rainbow playfully rolled her eyes - she liked wine, but if she had to compare her work to alcohol, she’d prefer to compare her work to some good bourbon or vodka. “Yeah, I get you.”

“Also, if it’s all right, you could leave your story with me for a few days - I can look it over and make a list of things that need work!” Twilight put on a wide, giddy smile.

But while the idea of making long lists may have been weirdly appealing to Twilight (and Rainbow feared that this list would be quite long), Rainbow wasn’t as excited - and besides, that petty grudge against Twilight meant that the overeager egghead have to wait to even look at her work again, much less finish it. “Sorry Twi, I want to keep it on hoof, maybe glance a bit at it. I know you said it’s good to let it sit, but It won’t hurt if I take a few peeks, right?”

Twilight’s smile faded, but she still nodded in agreement. “All right. Just don’t push yourself, it’ll still be there if you wait.”

Rainbow nodded and stood up from the stool, stretching her wings first and then the rest of her body. “Well, I need to get started on my day. Got weather duties, training, naps, you know how it is.” She grinned.

“All right, thanks for stopping by!” Twilight waved as Rainbow trotted to the door and left the library. Rainbow thought about what to do next as she departed. She did indeed have things to do. The morning was nearly over, and Rainbow had important things in her schedule.

So of course, the first thing she did was fly back to her house, get a glass, and open up her booze cabinet. After eying a bottle of good bourbon for a moment, she reached instead for a bottle of wine - specifically, a bottle of wine that she and Pinkie Pie had once tried to make by hoof, just to see if they could. The result had been rather lackluster - it wasn’t bad enough to pour down the drain, but it wasn’t good enough to drink or share… until that morning. Rainbow thought it’d be symbolic to drink it now… insofar as she was any good at judging poetic symbolism or other egghead concepts....

---

A full week had passed, and Rainbow didn’t feel much better.

Sure, her little case of animosity towards Twilight had eased a little, but it had been replaced with a sort of nervousness or hesitation. She hadn’t looked at her writing at all in the past week, and her will to work on it wasn’t improving. Rainbow was aware of this, but not happy about it - and being unhappy about it hadn’t fixed anything. Nor, as it turned out, had several rounds of various hard beverages helped that problem.

Fortunately, somewhere between the ale and the gin, the alcohol had given her enough ‘perspective’ that she decided it wasn’t good to sit around moping. The final push had come from Pinkie Pie - as she pushed Rainbow out the door of the pub, telling her that they should do something she enjoyed. While Rainbow didn’t feel like she’d really enjoy anything at that moment, she figured she’d try - if anything would break her out of her rut, it would be her one great passion, flying. She had been neglecting her practice, she realized, and a future Wonderbolt couldn’t afford to slack off!

While Rainbow Dash had many middle names, such “Danger,” “Daring,” “Dashing,” and “Dazzling” (and that was just the ones in the Da- section of the glorious list of her middle names), “Perfect” was not one of them, to her chagrin. She had a rather embarrassing record of crashing into things when she didn’t want to, and this clearly had to change if she was going to make it into the Wonderbolts, especially with her application to the Reserves ahead of her. She’d been making headway, of course, but she wasn’t going to be satisfied at being mostly accident free, not even nearly accident-free. No, she had to make sure that no matter what happened, she wouldn’t fall victim to any stupid mistakes or accidents or anything that would extremely uncool if it happened in front of the Wonderbolts, or as a Wonderbolt.

Today, Pinkie Pie was helping her in her training. The plan was simple - Rainbow Dash would speed through the lesser-used streets and alleys of Ponyville, and Pinkie would jump out at various locations of her choosing - thus forcing Rainbow to fly out of the way. It might have seemed cruel, but Rainbow Dash was confident in many things - her own flying skills, Pinkie’s strange ability to avoid danger, and if all else failed, Pinkie’s likelihood of just trotting off the effects of impact with a speeding pegasus without even a frown.

So what if Rainbow had gulped down more drinks than she had hooves, before thinking up this plan - and then decided to implement it only a short time after leaving the bar? Rainbow Dash could hold her booze with the best of them... surely it hadn’t affected her planning. Besides, Wonderbolts needed to be able to fly in all kinds of conditions, like flying home after a few rounds too many! It was all part of her training!

Pinkie Pie certainly hadn’t seemed to find fault with the plan, cheerfully agreeing to it before slinking off into the alleyways to plan ambush points. Some voice in the back of Rainbow’s head had suggested that maybe Pinkie wasn’t the best judge of whether a plan was sane or not, but she shoved such silly notions aside - there was absolutely nothing that could happen during this “training exercise” that a self-respecting future Wonderbolt couldn’t handle.

And so, Rainbow Dash began her first flight through the alleys. Here the building were close together, with little foresight put into their placement, turning alleys into erratic tunnels. A series of tight turns challenged her, but she knew these streets, and she knew just when to turn. But after banking around a building, low to the ground, she spotted a barrel in the middle of the alleyway, and no sooner had she spotted it than the top popped off and Pinkie Pie jumped out of the barrel, up to Rainbow’s altitude, all four hooves spread wide as if about to hug Rainbow. But Rainbow just grinned and barrel-rolled to the side, easily avoiding the enthusiastic pink obstacle.

Just after passing Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash turned around. “That was a good one, Pinkie, how about-” but as she turned around, she saw only an empty barrel, with no pink pony in sight. Rainbow just grinned and continued on her way, wondering where the next ambush would take place.

As she zoomed along, passing between buildings, she weaved from one side of the street to the next, trying to present a difficult target as she sped down the alley. But just before the alley opened up into a main street, as Rainbow neared one side of the line of buildings, a second-story window opened ahead of Rainbow, and Pinkie stuck her head and barrel out, hoof reaching out for Rainbow. But Rainbow merely banked to the side, even reaching out a hoof to bump Pinkie’s along the way.

At last the path straightened, leading out into the main streets. Only a short distance, and she’d have completed this run without any accidents. Flying low under a balcony and skimming the ground, she prepared for another Pinkie surprise, expecting the best for last.

Unfortunately, this meant that she was not prepared for a pony who was not Pinkie. Instead, there was a shout of surprise from outside the alley, and a blue unicorn stallion jumped out from behind one of the buildings at the end of the alley - right in front of Rainbow. Time seemed to slow as the stallion quickly turned his head to look behind him, only for his eyes to stop on the pegasus flying at high speed towards his side.

Rainbow wasted her reaction time processing this unexpected development. She stared at the new pony, sadly unprepared for this situation, as the stallion stared back. But she didn’t spend much time dwelling on that, because in that moment Rainbow slammed into him. Her hooves, outstretched as they were, hit him first, but accustomed as she was to collisions, she instinctively let her forelimbs bend while still applying pressure, slowing her slightly before her face impacted into the stallion’s side. She handled the collision masterfully, able to transfer her momentum to the hapless stallion, allowing her to land shakily but on all fours as she bounced off - while sending him flying into a mud puddle a short distance away.

“Ow!” was the young stallion’s only reaction as he splashed into the mud.

“Oops,” Rainbow Dash said, somewhat embarrassed. “I, uh… was expecting somepony else.” Rainbow was busy trying to rationalize this accident - she focused on the fact that she’d been expecting Pinkie Pie and not some random stallion. Besides, this pony wasn’t pink at all, but a rich yet soft shade of rainy blue, with a black mane. Very different from pink. Why, this pony practically blended into the background compared to Pinkie! Rainbow couldn’t be blamed if her senses simply didn’t register him in time.

Pinkie, meanwhile, hopped along between Rainbow and the unfortunate pony. “Oh no! I saw a new pony in town and I had to put the training session on hold to greet him!” She frowned slightly. “But I also wanted to warn him that a super-fast pegasus was about to come zooming through the alley, and I tried to greet him and warn him at the same time… didn’t work out so well…”

“It’s not your fault,” Rainbow said, trotting up to Pinkie. “You couldn’t have known that he’d jump right in front of the alley like that. Unless you have a Pinkie Sense thing for that, I dunno.”

“Ow!” The stallion being discussed repeated his exclamation, a little more indignantly, as he turned his head to glare at the ponies chatting idly about the incident which had left him in the mud.

Rainbow put off thoughts of Pinkie’s mysterious special sense, and trotted over to the stallion. “Hey, uh… I’m sorry I ran into you, but it couldn’t be avoided. You kinda just jumped out while I was practicing my flying.”

Pinkie Pie hopped along beside Rainbow. “I’m sorry too!” she said, her smile returning. “My Pinkie Sense is pretty good at predicting falling objects, but I’m still working on ‘high-speed horizontally-moving objects!’ Also, welcome to Ponyville!”

The newcomer opened his mouth to speak as he tried to stand - a set of saddlebags becoming visible on his back as the mud dripped off him - but he winced and stumbled. “Aah! I think you might have broke something…” He grimaced. “Possibly... several somethings.”

Rainbow frowned. “I didn’t hit you that hard…”

“Yeah!” Pinkie added cheerfully. “Rainbow’s slammed into ponies before and they’ve been fine!”

The stallion raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, while Rainbow glared at Pinkie for letting slip this uncool little detail about her flying - though the pink pony seemed oblivious. Rainbow turned back to the stallion, and as she glanced at his saddlebags, she asked, “So you’re new in town?”

Rainbow walked over to him and offered a hoof, and as he took it and slowly got to his hooves, he responded, “Yeah… I-I’m just visiting, but I’m staying for a few days...”

An idea formed in Rainbow’s head, and she immediately voiced it. “That means you don’t know where the hospital is! I should take you there right away to get you looked at.” Part of this idea sprang from a genuine concern over the poor pony’s health, but also from a desire to build good publicity with somepony who could spread tales of her awesomeness.

“Thanks,” said the stallion. Rainbow took flight, hovered just over him, and slipped her forelegs under his, hoisting him into the air by his forelimbs as his hind hooves hung beneath him. “Eep! W-wait-!” the stallion protested as Rainbow began to ascend.

“Come on~” Rainbow said teasingly, “This is the fasted way to get to the hospital! You need to get help as fast as possible!”

The stallion gulped, but said nothing, even as Rainbow carried him over the rooftops of Ponyville, straight towards the town hospital. He shivered slightly in her grip, but seemed unable to look away from the town below.

Rainbow frowned - he was clearly afraid of heights, and while she felt it was best to get over that sort of thing by literally facing it… she thought it best for now if she distracted him from their altitude, mild though it was by Rainbow’s standards. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“U-uh…” After a moment, the pony looked up at her, his sea-green eyes wide. “N-Night Rain…”

Rainbow gave him a smile she felt would be reassuring, though some ponies would have described it as ‘cocky.’ She said, “Don’t worry, Night Rain, you’re in safe hooves. I’ve never dropped a pony who’s depending on me!”

Night Rain gave her a smile in return - a weak one, but it was enough to let her know that he believed her - or at least appreciated her attempt to calm him down. “What’s your name?”

Rainbow gasped in mock hurt. “You’ve never heard of Rainbow Dash, coolest and most awesome pegasus in Ponyville? National hero and future Wonderbolt? If you had, you’d totally be able to recognize me!”

Night Rain chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’ve heard of you, I’m just making sure. I wouldn’t want to mistake you for somepony else.” He smirked up at her. “Not that that’s likely, it’s hard to find another pony like you.”

Rainbow snickered in return. “Don’t forget it!”

A moment later they reached the hospital and Rainbow gently set Night Rain down. He was still covered with mud, and the flight over Ponyville had only partway dried it. He tried to brush some of the dirt out of his mane with his hoof, but had little luck. “I should clean myself off…” He winced suddenly, reaching his hoof to his side.

“No time for that, we’ve got to get you inside!” Rainbow lightly pushed him forward into the hospital reception area. Inside, there was a lone, white-coated receptionist mare, but also an earth pony doctor familiar to Rainbow, with a tan coat and brown mane.

“Doctor, there is a pony in need of aid!” Rainbow declared dramatically as she and Night Rain approached the front desk -- or rather, melodramatically, but she didn’t care about the difference. “He’s been injured in a brutal accident, and I’ve brought him here so he can get help!”

“But…” Night Rain glanced over at Rainbow, “You… you were the-”

Rainbow cut him off with a wave of her hoof. “Details, details!” The doctor in attendance raised an eyebrow, but Rainbow went on. “The point is, he’s taken a hit to the side, and there might be something broken!”

The receptionist started to write down notes with a pen, while the doctor simply said to the injured stallion, “All right, this way please. Your name?”

“Night Rain,” the thus-named pony said as he walked towards the doctor, and then the two started going through a hallway into the hospital. But as they did so, Rainbow caught sight of something. Night Rain was generally a plain-looking unicorn - rainy blue coat, black mane, sea-green eyes, as she’d noticed... but she hadn’t noticed his cutie mark before, since one side had been covered in dirt - and she was now looking at his unmuddied side. It was two sheets of paper, with a large raindrop falling onto each of them. One sheet held a drawing of a planet - the other was filled with lines of text.

Rather than leave, Rainbow walked over to one of the seats in the reception area and sat down. That cutie mark had given her an idea… if she wasn’t comfortable with Twilight being her editor, what if she got somepony else to be her editor? She had a bit of thinking to do now - enough that she wasn’t likely to get bored before Night Rain was checked out of the hospital…

Author's Note:

Thankfully, Rainbow is no stranger to collisions. But collisions are a little more harsh to strangers, it seems!

Comments

[Csquared08]

if she wasn’t comfortable with Twilight being her editor, what if she got somepony else to be her editor?

[Dusk Raven]

9556644
?

[Csquared08]

9556686
Just poking at OCs