Two Bits

by lilAngel

Prologue—Moving House

Rainbow Dash stretched and yawned; another wonderful day in Ponyville. It was bound to be a great day of lazing around, with maybe a half hour racing against some ponies who thought they were cool enough to challenge her, just to make sure everypony still knew that she was the fastest.

There was some noise from outside, not loud but just enough to keep Dash from another well-deserved lie in. By the sun streaming in around the blinds, it couldn’t be more than mid-morning, and she felt the neighbours could be a little more considerate. She’d have to get up then, find out what was going on and maybe find an excuse to go back to bed once whoever that was had stopped banging.

She got to the door, and peered out at the house across the street. That seemed to be the source of the noise, thought there was no immediate indication of why. That was Fluttershy’s house, anyway, and even in her half-sleeping stupor, Rainbow Dash knew that if Fluttershy was making a terrible racket as early as ten in the morning, then there was a pretty good reason for doing so, and that it was probably something Rainbow Dash had volunteered to help with and then forgotten. Yelling might not lead to her friend crying, but it certainly wouldn’t get her back to her lovely, cloud-filled bed any sooner.

So Dash headed into the kitchen, and made up a cup of coffee. Once the cobwebs and clouds were blown out of her head, she might be thinking clearly enough to find out what was going on without causing a ruckus, and then she could maybe find somewhere else to sleep for the rest of the day.

The coffee worked its magic; which thankfully was quite different from unicorn magic, and could be enjoyed equally by all pony types. Half a pint later, Rainbow Dash could easily distinguish from the pounding from across the street, and the pounding in her head following an excess of partying the night before. And as her sleep-addled brain returned to normal, Rainbow Dash started to realise that something was very, very wrong.

She walked to her front door again, opened it, and stared out at the house across the street. That was Fluttershy’s house, sure enough. But Fluttershy didn’t live across the street from Rainbow Dash; nopony did. She lived in a little cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest, on the ground and next to a road. Rainbow Dash didn’t feel the need to put her house near a road, because she didn’t walk anywhere when it was both easier and more fun to fly. So something was certainly wrong.

Rainbow Dash stuck her head out of the door now, and looked down. There was a long drop to the ground, just like there should be. That was exactly why her house was built on a foundation of clouds, to keep it off the ground. Fluttershy’s house, on the other hand – she looked again, just to be sure – wasn’t built on clouds. And yet there it was, level with Dash’s home, just a couple of strides away. And beneath it…

Dash wasn’t entirely sure she could believe her eyes at this point. Because Fluttershy’s house was surrounded by Fluttershy’s garden, just like it should be. There was even a ring of wooden fencing around the edge, and a neatly trimmed garden path leading to a gate that led right off the edge of the little patch of earth. And below, there was nothing to be seen but gleaming metal, some parts of it seeming to move as the light glinted off them. There was an impression of flames too; blue and yellow shapes reflected the sunlight so brightly that she couldn’t even tell for sure what she was looking at.

Whatever it was, there was no doubt that it was cool. It was awesome, in fact, and that wasn’t a word Rainbow Dash used often unless she was talking about herself. It was also metal, huge, and making an echoing clunking noise, like someone hammering inside a giant bathtub.

“What the…” she started, not even sure what the questions were, never mind how to answer them.

“Oh, hi! Rainbow Dash, I didn’t see you there!” It was Fluttershy, of course. She was standing in her garden, and waving over the fence. “Did you see my house? I hope it isn’t a problem, I just couldn’t find anywhere else to put it.”

“Oh, right,” Dash muttered noncommittally as a couple of wingbeats carried her over the gap between the two homes. “I didn’t know if some demon had possessed your house or something. You’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It was a bit of a surprise, really. I mean, it was supposed to be a chicken coop really, but Angel was really scared, wondering if it was going to fall over on the house. I told him that’s impossible, but he just couldn’t cope. And I noticed that there’s a hole in the top, like there was another part that got broken off somehow. And I thought that maybe if I put my house on top, then rain wouldn’t get in, and the bunnies wouldn’t be so nervous about coming near it. I mean, you can’t see it from up here, so they’re fine.”

“Oh, good thinking.” Rainbow Dash nodded. “Would you like a coffee? I kinda got carried away and made three pints instead of one, because I was still half asleep.”

“Oh yes, that would be great. I’ve been busy this morning, trying out different things I could do with the space down there…” she gestured at the space under their hooves, and gave a little half-shrug.

“I guess that’s the banging, then,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, “You know how much this thing echoes?”

“Oh, I didn’t think about it. Should I move it a bit farther out of town, if the noise is bothering you?”

“Oh, wow, you can actually move this thing? Like a proper cloud house? I’ve not helped to move a house in like, forever. How many ponies does it take?”

“Oh, just me. It’s really easy once you get the hang of it. I thought I’d be happy enough leaving my cottage where it is, but once I started I realised there’s like so many other places I could get a better view.”

“You sure? This thing’s a lot heavier than a cloud, I’m sure. And it’s made out of metal. Where did you get it from, anyway?”

“Oh, there’s an interesting story to that. Do you remember that lecture Twilight gave us about the nature of converging infinities in mathematics, and the possible effects on different categories of magic?”

“How could I forget? It was like she scoured Canterlot for the biggest eggheads she could find, and asked them all to come along and nod so we’d feel like the only ponies who didn’t understand. She said it’s an important lesson, but I didn’t learn a thing.”

“Me either. And I was even awake for most of it. But Twilight said it was very important, and one of the other scientists thought so too, and she told Princess Celestia, and she thought it was important, and she asked us to go tell…”

“Yeah, I remember that. I was the one delivering the messages, remember?”

“Yes, and we’re all really grateful. But anyway, this weekend was the street market. And you’d never guess what happened there…”