My Best Friend

Star Catcher sighed as she added her signature to yet another form. She’d been at it all day and had barely made a dent in her inbox. There was a knock on the door and she turned her attention to it. “Skywishes, it’s after 7PM. You should have gone home two hours ago. I can handle the rest of this for the night.”

The door opened to reveal not her secretary, but rather Rainbow Dash. “Yo.”

“Um, hello? Is there something I can assist you with?”

“Yeah, there is.” Rainbow Dash plopped down in the seat across from Star Catcher. The duchess’ office had returned to its normal sedate colors since Star Catcher had reclaimed the position three months earlier. Almost all traces of Rainbow Dash’s brief reign had been erased from the room.

“I always have time for my subjects. What can I do for you today?”

“It’s more along the lines of what I can do for you.” Rainbow fidgeted nervously.

“Oh, this should be good.” Star Catcher leaned back ever so slightly in her seat. It was the closest to relaxed Rainbow Dash had ever seen her.

“I wanted to thank you for what you did for Scootaloo. It’s been three months and she’s never been happier. She’s practicing even harder than I did when I was her age. Granted she’s getting a late start on flying, but if she keeps advancing at the rate she’s going she might just make the Wonderbolts someday.”

“You have only yourself to thank, Rainbow. It was your wish, after all.”

“Perhaps. But I never would’ve thought to wish for that. I didn’t even know I could wish for that. For that matter, I didn’t really believe all your hooey about catching kites and catching wishes. You know what I’m saying?”

“Yes, Rainbow, I remember. I was there. I heard what you were saying. Loudly. Clearly. Not to mention frequently…”

“It’s just, well, thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome. If that’s everything…” she motioned to the overflowing inbox. “I’ve got lots to get done tonight. As you well know, this job won’t do itself.”

Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. “Duchess is really more of a ceremonial figurehead position. I barely touched that stack and everything still kept getting done.”

Star Catcher glared at her. “That was thanks to Skywishes. Half this stack accumulated in the month you were in charge. The rest is what’s piled up while I was dealing with the backlog you let accumulate in my absence. Are you quite done yet?”

“There’s more.” Rainbow inhaled sharply. It was too late to back out now. “You did Scootaloo a favor. I owe you one, and I’m gonna do you a solid.”

“That’s not necessary, Miss Dash. I take great delight in Scootaloo’s happiness. That’s more than enough for me.”

“Yeah, but I think you’re neglecting somepony else’s happiness.” She gulped. It was now or never.

“Your wish already came true. And Fluttershy’s wish for you to become a Wonderbolt came true months ago. Your happiness shouldn’t need any more satisfying.”

“Not me.” Star Catcher quirked an eyebrow. “You.” Star Catcher quirked her other eyebrow. “I’d like to take you out to dinner tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up at 5:00 sharp.”

Having run out of eyebrows to quirk, Star Catcher instead dropped the quill from her magical grasp. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Yeah. What do you say?”

“I say that I’m flattered, but not particularly interested. No offense, but I really don’t have time for dating or romance. And even if I did, with our history, you’re pretty much the last pony I’d be interested in.”

“That’s why I want to make things up to you. Look, this isn’t easy for me to say. I was wrong about the extra-special wishes. I was wrong about you sabotaging my chances of getting into the Wonderbolts. I was wrong about you in general. I’m sorry. I’m more than sorry. You’re an amazing pony. I knew that all the way back in flight camp, back before things went south between us. It’s why I stood up for you back then. And it’s why I’ll stand up for you again now. Even if the pony I need to protect you from this time around is yourself.”

Star Catcher closed her eyes and silently counted to five before speaking. She really didn’t have time for this nonsense. “Miss Dash, you realize, of course, that I’m quite familiar with your history of pranking unsuspecting ponies, having been on the receiving end of said pranks twenty-seven times previously.”

“Yeah, but those were all unsuccessful so they don’t count! I would’ve gotten away with them too, if not for your meddling butterflies.”

“You’re forgiven, Rainbow. You don’t need to do anything to make it up to me; your apology is more than enough. But really, I need to get back to work. So if there’s nothing else…”

“Why do you fight it?”

“Excuse me?” Star Catcher turned to glare at Rainbow Dash. “You’re not that amazing that I’m going to throw myself at you. Don’t you have a fan club in Ponyville for that? Besides, do you really not fathom exactly what this position entails? My future spouse isn’t for me to determine. Instead, a suitable suitor will be hoof-picked for me by the nobles.”

“Yeah, you’ll be auctioned off to the highest bidder…”

Star Catcher cringed and sat back down. “As much as I’d like to tell you that’s wrong, that’s really more or less what it comes down to. I’ll marry whomever can provide the most favorable benefits for the Duchy of Cloudsdale and the pegasus tribe as a whole. Such is my royal duty.” The faintest hint of a scowl crossed her face.

Rainbow pounded a hoof on Star Catcher’s desk. “Exactly! So unless you take charge, now, you’ll be stuck with some uncharming prince like Blueblood. Do you want to spend the rest of your life in a loveless marriage?”

Star Catcher sighed. “I came to terms with that scenario years ago, Rainbow Dash. And to answer your question, that’s the reason I fight it. I don’t allow myself to get attached to anypony for fear of breaking their hearts.”

“Look, I’m lousy at talking about feelings and all that. But what do you have to lose by giving me one date?”

“Let’s see, if you pick me up at five, and we get done around eight… that would be approximately three hours of lost productivity.”

“What if I offered to spend three hours signing things for you? As a former duchess myself, my signature on those documents makes them just as valid as the ones sporting yours.”

“You’re willingly offering to do paperwork?” Realization dawned on the duchess. “You’re actually serious about all this.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” She bowed to the duchess. “And if me bowing doesn’t prove my sincerity, I don’t know what will. Can we just forget the last twelve years happened and start over? Hi, I’m Rainbow Dash.” She held out a hoof for Star Catcher to bump it.

Star Catcher resisted the urge to smack a hoof into her forehead. It would only make the headache Rainbow Dash was giving her even worse. “I’m not going to just forget everything that’s happened since that last day of flight camp. Just like I’m not willing to forget what happened before our falling out. There was a time when we were friends, and you were a filly I admired. You protected me against the bullies in flight camp, and even though you try my patience I’ve never forgotten that either.” She bumped a hoof to Rainbow Dash’s. “If it means that much to you, consider it done. I’ll give you one date.”

“You won’t regret this!”

“We’ll see about that. Now, can I get back to work?”

“Absolutely!” Rainbow Dash let herself out of the office. Not that Star Catcher would get much more work done that evening. She kept replaying the conversation she’d just had back in her mind over and over again, trying to make sense of it. She tapped into her magical butterflies, seeing if they could offer any insights into Rainbow’s odd behavior, but the butterflies that were tasked with keeping tabs on the prismatic pegasus had seen nothing out of the ordinary.

Eventually the duchess gave up on trying to work and instead went home to try and sleep. Eventually she gave up on that too. Her mind just wouldn’t shut off for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a long day in more ways than one.

Star Catcher took a long sip of coffee. It was her own special blend, extra strong. She smiled as the caffeine helped wake her up. Daylight was just poking through the window blinds. The duchess opened the blinds to let the light flood her office. It was a beautiful day outside. Of course, every day had been a beautiful day in Cloudsdale the past six months, as all non-essential locations had precipitation diverted to priority regions. A city in the sky with no agriculture to speak of ranked as the absolute lowest priority. Fallout from the mysterious collapse of the weather factory last Winter Wrap-Up. She made a mental note to check in on the investigation to see if any progress had been made in determining the cause of the calamity.

Her eyes scanned the document on top of her inbox. Yet another request from an entitled noble who thought his contributions to Cloudsdale were worth far more than they really were. She sighed, rubber stamped it, and moved that one to the outbox. “Denied.” There was a delicate balance to appeasing the nobles without letting them overrun the duchy. Sometimes they had to get what they wanted. Most of the time they didn’t. But that never stopped them from asking for a mile just to get an inch. Reading between the lines she had a pretty good idea what this noble actually wanted. She’d make a counteroffer two steps below that and then compromise right on the line. As always. Her workload could be cut in half if they’d just ask for exactly what they wanted on the first try instead of playing this stupid back-and-forth game.

Sounds from the hallway alerted her that her secretary Skywishes had arrived for the day. She glanced at the clock. Quarter to eight. She was over an hour early for her shift. Ever the trooper.

“Ugh!”

Star Catcher looked up from her desk out the open door to her office. “You okay out there, Skywishes?”

“I’ll be fine as soon as I get this awful taste out of my mouth. Is this coffee or turpentine?”

“Coffee, extra strong. I didn’t sleep last night.”

“I should’ve known when I came in and saw the coffee was already brewed. There’s a reason I always make it…”

“Well, if you call that watered down stuff you drink ‘coffee’. It’s half milk, half coffee, with a heaping dose of sugar for good measure.”

“Yeah… today I think I’ll make it 99% milk, two drops of coffee, and extra sugar.”

Star Catcher shook her head, grinning. “That defeats the purpose.”

“Yeah, but at least I still have taste buds!” She held up a spoon. “I bet if I leave this in a cup of coffee you brewed overnight, it will be fully dissolved by morning.”

“Only if it’s plastic. The metal ones take about three days.”

Skywishes blinked. “Seriously?”

“Nah, just messing with you. It’s coffee, it can’t kill you. But it can get you through a long work day. Thanks for coming in early.”

“No problem! Let’s see if we can get caught up on the paperwork Rainbow Dash was so nice as to let pile up during her brief reign.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Skywishes.”

“Drown under a mountain of paperwork while listening to the droning of nobles as they refuse to help you.”

“…And complain that I’m drowning instead of dealing with their pettiness.” Star Catcher giggled. “Politics. Gotta love it.”

“If you say so. Are you sure I can’t convince you to abdicate in favor of Ploomette and open a flower shop or maybe a restaurant instead?”

“Neither of us is good with plants, and have you tried my cooking?”

“Yes. Just this morning. If you can do that to coffee, I don’t want to know what you’d do to food.”

“Exactly. And you saw what happened the last time somepony other than us was running the duchy.”

“Don’t remind me. That was the most miserable month of my life. Three months later and we’re only just now restoring things to normal. All right, I concede your point. We’re good at this and Cloudsdale needs you.” She grabbed half the stack of papers in Star Catcher’s inbox. “I’ll take this half, you take the rest, and between the two of us we should have things caught up by this evening.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Skywishes dumped a small stack of papers on Star Catcher’s desk. “Building permits. I took the liberty of reading through these for you to help you get caught up. Sign here, here, and here, date there.”

Star Catcher applied her signature as directed. “And what did I just approve?”

“New maternity wing for Cloudsdale General Hospital, renovations to the Cloudiseum, and the finalized plans for the new weather factory.”

“How quickly can they have that last one ready to go? I fear there may be a drought if the weather team is forced to continue their use of temporary facilities for an extended period of time.”

“We’re talking a year at the earliest.”

“Could we expedite that with an increase to their budget? I’d like the new weather factory open in less than six months. And I’m willing to authorize additional spending to make that happen. More hooves on the project. Around the clock shifts. Whatever it takes.”

Skywishes tore up the Cloudiseum’s signed permit. “This one can wait until next year. That should free up two teams of contractors. We can make it up to the Cloudsdale Sports Authority by booking their venue for a few extra events in the interim. A few public speeches by our beloved duchess should do the trick. And I’m sure we know a band that would happily perform a few concerts here… assuming we can get some cloudwalking spells performed for them.”

“Schedule me for a meeting with Wysteria at her earliest convenience.”

“Why go to that much trouble? I was thinking it’s almost five and this is the last of the paperwork. How about we meet Wysteria and the rest of our friends for dinner over at the Cotton Candy Café in Canterlot?”

“I can’t. I have a date tonight.”

Skywishes’ jaw went slack. She pushed it shut with a hoof but it fell open again the moment she took her hoof away. After a moment of stunned silence, she finally blurted out, “Come again?”

“You heard me correctly. I have a date tonight. Unfortunately.”

“A date? You? Did you lose a bet to Blueblood? Or did he finally make some sort of offer you couldn’t refuse?”

“Even worse. Somepony I don’t particularly care for hit me with logic I couldn’t dismiss.”

“Well, aside from Blueblood the only other pony you don’t really like is Rainbow Dash. But that wouldn’t make sense. She hates your guts, and she’s almost as illogical as Pinkie Pie.”

“She made a compelling argument. For perhaps the first time in her life.”

Star Catcher would never be able forget the look of utter devastation in Skywishes’ eyes. “Her? Seriously? She’s tricking you. She doesn’t care about you. This is some sort of set-up to completely humiliate you.”

Star Catcher weighed her next words carefully. “As difficult as this may be to believe, I assure you that her feelings are genuine. I know you worry about me, Skywishes, but I assure you that I’m capable of taking care of myself.”

“Well, I hope you still feel that way tomorrow. I quit.”

“Skywishes, you can’t quit.”

“I just did, lardflank. Do you like being called that? Is that her term of endearment for you?”

“I thought you’d be happy to see me taking an interest in something other than work. You’ve suggested more than once that I need to get out more.”

“You don’t get it.” Skywishes sighed and turned away from her lifelong friend. She flicked her tail and started walking away. “You never got it,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Skywishes, wait.” The pink mare didn’t turn around. Star Catcher looked at the clock. There was no time to chase after her right now if she wanted to be ready for her date with Rainbow Dash. She was just going to have to make it up to Skywishes later.

Rainbow Dash appeared to pick Star Catcher up at five on the dot. For once, she was dressed in style. Star Catcher recognized her dress as a Rarity, unsurprising due to her connection with the famous designer. Despite that, Star Catcher had managed to dress even fancier than the prismatic pegasus. It didn’t hurt she had the duchy’s resources behind her, including a collection of hoof-me-down dresses and jewelry to choose from. Some of her ancestors had exquisite taste. She’d picked a pastel teal, mint, and pink dress to match her hair and a gold necklace to accentuate it. Her own dress had not-so-coincidentally been designed by Rainbow Dash’s namesake, a famous designer from decades before. It had been her grandmother’s, and as such it had required a few alterations to fit properly, but it still looked as beautiful as it had when it was first designed. Elegance never goes out of style.

“You look absolutely dashing tonight, Rainbow.”

“And you look very, uh, darling, if I do say so myself.” Rainbow bowed and motioned with a hoof for Star Catcher to go first. They cantered to Cloudsdale’s most exclusive restaurant, Tira Mi Su’s. Whether it be as the host of a visiting dignitary, or as the guest of a pretentious noble, Star Catcher ate there on a near weekly basis. But she’d never once eaten there off duty. Rainbow opened the door for her and she trotted inside.

“Party of two. Rainbow Dash.”

“Right this way. We’ve reserved the Duchess Suite for you.”

They took their seats in the private room and Dash looked around. Wood panels and red crushed velour were the overall theme of the room, while the walls were decorated with portraits. Much to her surprise, she recognized a few of the ponies depicted.

“Hey! They’ve got a picture of you on the wall. And a picture of me, too.”

“Of course. This is the Duchess Suite. There’s a portrait of every pegasus to ever serve as Duchess of Cloudsdale. That’s my mother, Royal Rose, on the other side of you. Mom retired when I graduated college.”

“Why? I’ve seen her around. She’s not all that old.”

“No, she isn’t. And she’s in perfect health, so she’ll be around for many years to come.” Star Catcher sighed. “My education has always been centered around eventually taking over the duchy. As the oldest of my siblings, the position should have transferred to me upon my mother’s passing.”

“Right, like a normal succession.”

“There was nothing ‘right’ about this succession.” Star Catcher’s face grew dark. “As you well know, I’ve been gifted with magical talent.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know.”

“I’m for all intents and purposes an alicorn. See this?” Star Catcher rubbed a hoof over the heart on her forehead. “It’s a horn. Well, sort of. It’s the base of a horn, the rest never grew in. You know those extra-special wishes that really come true? I created new magic, Rainbow Dash. I ascended. I’m destined to outlive everyone I’ll ever know except for the princesses.”

“So?”

“Everypony in the family thought it was a sign. That I was destined to become the greatest duchess in the history of the pegasus tribe. So of course Mom decided that the minute I graduated school I’d take over for her.” She motioned to the wall of portraits. “Notice how yours is under mine?”

“Yeah, all the rest are in a row, all nice and neat, but there’s no room for any more portraits, so they stuffed mine underneath yours.”

“Because I’m supposed to be the last duchess. Unless something happens to me, the royal succession stops here. This room was designed specifically to be just the right size to accommodate all the portraits. You were a surprise. With as short as your reign was, your portrait wouldn’t even be there at all if I hadn’t insisted on it.”

“Why would you do that?”

“You deserve it. You may have only reigned for a month, but you were a duchess regardless. And also, think of it as an apology for repurposing most of the statues you commissioned of yourself.”

“Oh hay no. You messed with my statues? Not cool.”

“I had most of them retouched to represent other important ponies in pegasus history. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but Cloudsdale doesn’t need dozens of statues of you. One will suffice.”

“I hope it was the rainboom.”

“Of course it was the rainboom. You can’t seriously think I’d leave the one with an alicornized you raising the sun instead of Celestia.”

“Hmn, yeah, maybe I did get a little carried away.”

“You think?”

“I deserve that. And I’m sorry. They annoyed Skywishes, and I knew they’d annoy you too. That’s why I did it. At the time I was angry at you for stealing my spot on the Wonderbolts and dumping your responsibilities off on me. With the benefit of hindsight, I can see the truth much clearer. But that doesn’t change the past.”

“That’s more insightful than I expected from you.”

“There’s more to me than meets the eye, Star Catcher.” She paged through the menu. “This place is fancier than I expected. I can’t pronounce half the items on the menu.”

“Tira Mi Su’s features exotic cuisines from all around Equus, Rainbow. I assure you the food is delightful. Or, as you’d put it, totally radical.”

Their server entered the room. He placed their drinks on the table and asked, “Have you decided yet, or do you need more time?”

“I’ll take the Coconut Grove.”

“You’ve just ordered our chef, miss.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the menu again and scowled. Star Catcher came to her rescue. “She’ll have the eggplant parmigiano.”

“An excellent choice. Your usual, Duchess?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Never trouble for you, Duchess.” He bowed and left.

“Come here often?” Rainbow Dash played the clichéd pickup line for laughs.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Your picture is hanging on the wall and the waiter knows your order without asking. The only other pony I know with her picture hanging in a restaurant is Pinkie Pie. And it’s directly under a sign that says ‘Don’t serve this pony’.”

“Buffet I presume?”

“Yeah, she just about ate them out of business. So they started charging per plateful. You’d be amazed what that mare can fit all on one plate. When that failed they just banned her outright.”

One of Star Catcher’s magical butterflies flittered between the two pegasus ponies. Rainbow Dash motioned to it. “So explain how these things work. Are they real butterflies?”

“No. They’re little pieces of chaos magic.”

“That explains why Discord doesn’t like you much.”

“We’ve recently come to an understanding. Actually, you’re the main reason for that.”

“How’d I swing that?”

“I asked him permission to grant you a second extra special wish. Only to discover that because its chaos magic, I never should have imposed rules on it in the first place. It’ll do whatever I want it to do, so the only rules are my own to prevent wish abuse.”

“Which is about as anti-chaotic as it gets.”

“Quite. Which was Discord’s main bone of contention. I wasn’t amusing enough. At least not until he started corrupting wishes. But you were there for that little fiasco.”

“That trick with turning all your little butterflies into one massive butterfly was impressive. I’ll give you that. So can you like, see and hear everything they see and hear?”

“Pretty much, yeah. I share a telepathic link with all of them.”

“All at once?”

“Yes and no. I can, yes. But only if I completely stop whatever I’m doing and focus all my attention on them. There are millions of them. If I’m specifically looking for a pony, I just focus on the butterflies in their vicinity. Every pony I come in contact with has a few.”

“I know.” Rainbow swatted at the ones flittering around her tail. “And they don’t squish, no matter how hard I hit them with a rolled-up newspaper.”

“The downside is I know a lot of things about a lot of ponies I really wish I didn’t. Really, the point is they’re there to alert me to trouble. If you were in trouble, I’d know instantly, and I’d teleport to wherever you are. Yeah, you lose privacy, and there’s not a whole lot I can do about that. I can’t turn them off. It’s chaos magic, it has a mind of its own. But I only passively monitor them. I just filter for key words. They can recognize distress, but there are some things that confuse them. For example, if the chef came into this room, and just happened to have a knife in her hoof, I’d be notified of there being a security threat. Because they recognize a knife can be used as a weapon. I get a lot of false alarms from baseball games too.”

“If you could get rid of them, would you?”

“Absolutely not. They’ve saved dozens of lives, including Kimono’s. I take protecting my little ponies seriously.”

“Big surprise. You take everything seriously. Your duchy. Your studies. The safety of your ponies. You probably take eating a salad seriously too.”

“You don’t like being monitored.”

“Of course not. Nopony does.”

“Very true. Nopony likes being monitored until the day when their home catches fire and I teleport in with a fire extinguisher, saving their lives and their possessions. Nopony likes it until the day their filly gets her hoof stuck between railroad tracks when a train’s coming and I teleport her out of harm’s way. Nopony likes it until the day they’re having a heart attack, all alone in their apartment, and I get them to a hospital.”

“Okay, you’ve made your point.”

“What you or any of my other subjects do in their spare time isn’t of particular interest to me. Yeah, if I catch somepony doing something illegal I’m going to have a little chat with them about it. For example, there’s this one rainbow-maned mare I know who completely destroyed the weather factory because she wanted to stop winter from coming, just so her pet turtle wouldn’t go into hibernation. Silly, isn’t it?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide. “Uh…”

“I want you to stop and think about this for a second. You destroyed an entire factory because you didn’t want your pet to hibernate for the winter. Are you out of your mind?!? You’re just very lucky there were no injuries or I would’ve thrown you in a jail cell months ago. As it stands, Equestria’s facing a drought for the next year because of the backlog in cloud production. Dozens of ponies have been out of work since then. And it’s costing us millions of taxpayer bits to rebuild that factory.”

“Weren’t they insured?”

“Of course they were insured. And at the rate the insurance company is dragging their hooves on paying out the claim, we might see some money from them in three years. Equestria can’t wait that long for a fully functional weather factory. So this is coming out of our treasury. And I’m paying extra to have the process sped up any way I can. Oh, and I had to deny the Cloudiseum’s pending improvements. I had to divert the resources to the factory job. That’s two extra crews of construction workers. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of bits that can be applied to the more important job. You know who they’re blaming? Me. Because I’ve got misplaced priorities, valuing the good of Equestria over the pride a world class sports arena brings to Cloudsdale.”

“So why didn’t you turn me in to the authorities?”

“Sometimes doing what’s best for the greater good isn’t a matter of doing what’s right. Not only did I not turn you in, do you realize I’m even hampering the criminal investigation into the matter? Equestria needs the Elements of Harmony. So you need to be a free mare. But Equestria also needs water. As a weathermare yourself, you of all ponies should know this. You should be protecting Equestria, not destroying it. And had you harmed even one pony, your hindquarters would be behind bars right now. And don’t you dare forget that.”

“Duly noted.”

“And, just to make my point clearer… if you ever pull that kind of stunt again, I’ll make sure turtle soup is on the menu the next time I host a griffin ambassador.”

Rainbow’s jaw went slack. “But…you….you wouldn’t. You couldn’t!”

“Aren’t you the pony who told me I’m too forgiving and need to be more of a hardflank?”

“You hired two ponies who tried to kill you to act as your personal bodyguards.”

“Waterfire and Tea Leaf, yes. They’re a special case. Technically, they didn’t try to kill me. They foalnapped me, and tried to kill Kimono when she came to my rescue. My butterflies saved her life and then helped me subdue my captors. Once I had them in custody I made them an offer they really couldn’t refuse. Serve me, or kill themselves. According to their culture, their failure had brought shame upon themselves and their families. And that shame could only be offset by seppuku. But there’s another way to retake their honor: by serving the ponies they had wronged. Namely myself and Kimono. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty badflank right there. If I’m crazy enough to trust them with my safety, what’s stopping me from making your pet into a meal? But rest assured, I wouldn’t do that to Tank. I could never hold an animal accountable for the actions of its owner.”

Knocking on the door to their private room interrupted the conversation. “Dinner is served.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes, a welcome reprieve for Rainbow Dash who used the time to fill her belly and replenish her gusto. There was a lot more depth to Star Catcher than she’d imagined. Maybe she wasn’t a prissy busybody after all.

“Just to be clear, I don’t think you’re a bad pony, Rainbow Dash. You make a lot of rash decisions, definitely. Egotistical? Absolutely. But you’ve done a lot of good. I’ve seen your heroic side too. You just don’t think things all the way through.”

“And you overthink everything. There’s a time for planning, and there’s a time for action. You often drag out the planning stage far into the action stage.” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You remind me of Twilight Sparkle.”

“We both went to the same school and studied under the same professors. Princess Celestia knew we were both destined for bigger things. She made sure to emphasize the importance of having a clear idea of what you want to do before doing it. Imagine if you just started building a restaurant with no blueprints. You know it needs walls and a roof, but without proper preparation, you’re left with a mishmash of structural pieces in the vague shape of a building with all the structural integrity of a...”

“Cloud?” Rainbow Dash answered, prodding the wall next to her. “Seems pretty solid to me.”

“I was going to say ‘a piece of paper’ but if we were on the ground, clouds would be a poor building material so your point still stands.”

Rainbow banged her head on the table. “That right there is what I’m talking about. It’s more than your education, it’s your personalities.”

“What’s funny is I remember Twilight as being a loner. She used to be very headstrong, always believing she was right regardless of whether she was or wasn’t. To her credit, she was right far more frequently than she was wrong, but it gave her just a bit of an ego. Being Princess Celestia’s star pupil certainly contributed to that. It was nowhere near your level, but she definitely had a superiority complex. Being friends with you, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack has helped her tremendously.” Star Catcher levitated her beverage to her lips and took a sip. “So oddly enough, Twilight reminds me of you.”

“The egghead reminds you of me? Gah! I like Twilight, don’t get me wrong, but that’s not the image I’m trying to convey here.”

“Ah, yes. Image.” Star Catcher sighed and shook her head sadly. “It’s everything in my line of work. I need to be perfect. I need to be strong for all my little ponies, so they can blame me for everything that goes wrong. I must always have the right answer, and even then the best choice will still make many of my subjects unhappy, regardless of whether the alternatives are even worse.”

Their conversation was once more interrupted by their server. “Any dessert tonight?”

“We’ll each have a tiramisu.”

“Excellent choice, as always.” He grabbed their dishes and returned to the kitchen.

“Wait, I ordered the chef and the waiter complained, but you just ordered the restaurant and he’s bringing it to us?!?”

“The owner’s named for the dessert. It’s also the restaurant’s specialty. To eat here and not have the tiramisu should be a crime.”

“You know, technically you could sign a law making it a crime.” Star Catcher glared at her. “Just sayin’.”

“Rainbow, you’re incorrigible.” Rainbow just looked at her funny. “Look it up.”

After dessert, the two mares trotted out of the restaurant. “Well Rainbow, I must say this has been more fun than I expected it to be, and far more insightful. I had a most tolerable time. Definitely a good first date, though I’m not convinced this whole ‘dating’ thing is for me.”

“It’s not over yet.”

“Now Rainbow, you assured me this wouldn’t take up any more of my time than it needed to.”

“Well, it needs to take up some more of your time. Please?”

“I have some things I need to take care of.” She thought back to how Skywishes had looked so hurt. She needs me. I’ve fulfilled my obligation to Rainbow, I should just go now. One look at the prismatic mare though and she melted. Rainbow was giving her the old ‘sad puppy eyes’ routine. It was…surprisingly effective. In hindsight, considering how much time she spent with Fluttershy, it really shouldn’t have been all that surprising. “Oh, all right. I’m having a relative amount of fun.”

“Only a relative amount of fun?” Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest. “I guess I need to step up my game.” Rainbow Dash wrapped her forelegs around Star Catcher and flapped her wings. With a gentle tug, the two pegasi were off the ground and soaring through the moonlit sky. Wrapped around each other, they alternated between flapping to move the duo and gliding while the other flapped.

Star Catcher closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Rainbow took over their flight. “This is actually kind of romantic. All right, level with me, Rainbow. You’ve never seemed particularly interested in me before. Why now?”

Rainbow guided them to a cloud and the two pegasi landed. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m not interested in you romantically. At all.”

“Oh. So this really is just some ploy to embarrass me.”

“No, I assure you it isn’t. I just couldn’t think of a better way to show you that even you need love. I’ve known you since we were fillies in flight school. Bury them all you want, but you’re not fooling anyone but yourself. Even you have romantic feelings.”

“Forgive me if I take my dedication to my position as duchess seriously. Celestia knows you certainly didn’t when you took over.”

“That’s just it. Admit it, you’ve had a great time tonight. Hay, even I’ve had a great time tonight. And I’m not entirely uninterested. It’s just you’re off-limits so I’m not letting myself fall for you. You’re married to your work instead of to the pony that loves you.”

“Do you have any idea how many ponies ‘love’ me? I get letters from potential suitors on a near daily basis. Stallions and mares both.”

“So which do you prefer?”

“Huh?”

“Stallions or mares?”

“I’ve never really considered it. Someday my mate will be chosen for me. If it’s a stallion, so be it. If it’s a mare, so be it.”

“If you had to pick one.”

“Well, I am, technically, currently on a date with a very colorful, very persistent, and very annoying mare.”

“How about Skywishes.”

“What about her? Best friend I ever had.”

“Friendzoned, ouch. Wait a sec, ‘had’ as in past tense?”

“I’m not entirely sure. She’ll probably get over it, but she wasn’t particularly happy when I told her that I was going out with you tonight. She’ll be relieved to hear she was right. She’ll probably even say ‘I told you so’ a few times.”

“You told her you were going out with me? Our little rivalry is one thing, but you never hated me for it. She outright despises me for everything I’ve put the two of you through.”

“Which is probably why she looked like I had betrayed her when I told her the news.”

Rainbow facehoofed. “No, you fool. She looked betrayed because she loves you. I noticed it when we switched jobs. Her loyalty to you was way above and beyond just doing her duty. She hates my guts, yet she stuck right here by my side just so I couldn’t make too big of a mess. Just so you wouldn’t have to clean it up later. There’s dedication, and then there’s love. She loves you, lardflank.”

Star Catcher blinked. “She loves me? How did I not know that?”

“Because your little butterflies can’t read minds, Star Catcher. And quite frankly, you can’t read ponies. You rely too much on what your butterspies see and overhear to give you accurate information. I’ve only got intuition and life experience to go on, and yet I manage pretty well between the two. And I’ve just blindsided you with something that’s blatantly obvious to anypony that’s spent more than twenty minutes around both of you.”

“I’m not sure what to say. I don’t feel the same way towards her.”

“Have you ever even considered the possibility?”

“To be honest, no.” She poked at the cloud they were laying on. “She’s my best friend in the world. I should have chased after her, tonight, instead of getting ready for this sham of a date.”

“So start thinking about it now. This isn’t some problem that’s going to just go away on its own.”

“Ah, if only that were true, Rainbow Dash.” Tears streamed down Star Catcher’s cheeks. “Ignoring the fact that she’s just flown the coop, let’s assume for the sake of argument that she returns tomorrow morning and things go back to normal. I’m immortal, and she’s not. If we were together, she would eventually grow old and die while I stay eternally young. How is that fair to either of us?”

“But that’s the thing. You’re looking at it wrong. So Skywishes isn’t immortal like you. Neither is Shining Armor, but that didn’t stop Princess Cadence from marrying him, did it? You know what you said about having come to terms with having somepony else pick your eventual mate? Well the same is true for us mortals when it comes to dying. We understand that one day our time is up and that’s all she wrote. It might be tomorrow, or it might be two hundred years from now, but sooner or later we all check out once and for all. You’re going to lose her one day regardless of whether you’re lovers or just friends, so why not enjoy the time you’ve got with her to the fullest? Being with you would make her happier than Pinkie Pie on a cake and candy binge. And it could even do wonders for you. You might lighten up a bit. Learn to relax and have some fun.”

“If we were to get involved with one another, I don’t think I’d ever be able to love again if something happened to my dear Skywishes. With my position and all that’s at stake, I’m not sure that’s a gamble I can afford to take.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Weren’t you just talking about sham marriages to ponies you barely know? Those will still be waiting for you when all is said and done with Skywishes. You may as well enjoy yourself. And who knows, maybe, just maybe, you’ll learn how to live while you’re learning how to love. Forever’s a long time. True love may only come around once in my lifetime, but you’ve got a lot of lifetimes yet to come. There may be other true loves out there for you, believe it or not. Besides, you’re not even sure you love Skywishes anyway.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“I know without a doubt that I care for her very deeply.”

“That’s a good start. What else do you feel when you think of her?”

“Well, she makes me smile. She makes me laugh. I look forward to time spent with her and I feel sad when it ends. The office always feels emptier when she leaves for the day than it does before she arrives for the day. In both scenarios I’m alone, but it’s like a piece of me leaves with her when she goes home.”

“Come on, let’s get over to her house. I think you two have a lot to talk about.”

It was a short flight to Skywishes’ house. The lights were out and their knocking went unanswered. Star Catcher reached a wing into her saddlebags and produced a key from it. She turned it in the lock and opened the door.

“You have a key to her house?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” Rainbow looked at her. “That’s another of those signs I missed, isn’t it?”

“Ya think?”

“Skywishes? Are…are you in here?” Star Catcher whispered as she poked her head into Skywishes’ bedroom.

“Yo, Skywishes. You in here?” Rainbow bellowed at the top of her lungs.

When they received no response, Star Catcher turned the lights on. The pair of pegasi quickly scanned her house for any sign Skywishes had been there recently. Rainbow Dash found a note on the dining room table.

My dearest Starry,

I guess I should have told you sooner, but you’ve always been so adamant that you’d never date anypony, and well, if ‘just friends’ is all anypony was ever going to have with you, I could settle for being the best friend you’ll ever have. But the truth is I love you. You’re the reason I get up every morning. You’re the reason I suffer the ignorance of entitled nobles and egotistical Wonderbolts. You’re the inspiration that makes me strive to be my best each and every day.

You’re probably wondering just what exactly about you is so special to me. And that’s just it, right there. Your humility. Your selflessness. The fact you don’t consider yourself better than anypony else. Your genuine desire to make the world a better place for everypony. These are admirable traits. And you’re just too stubborn to see how truly special you really are.

I wish you all the best with Rainbow Dash. If she’s the pony who makes your heart flutter like mine does when I think of you, then who am I to deny your happiness? I’m sorry I’m not strong enough to be there to support you through this. Maybe it’s jealousy, maybe it’s bitterness, but I can’t bear to see the mare I love with a pony who’ll never love you like I do. I don’t know what game she’s playing, but I assure you if she hurts you I’ll make sure she regrets it for the rest of her life.

All my love, now & forever,
Skywishes

“Can your butterspies track her down?”

“You realize she’s spent so much time around them she knows how to give them the slip, right?”

“That’s ponily possible?!?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Okay, now we really need to find her so she can teach me that trick.”

Star Catcher rolled her eyes. “Focus, Rainbow.”

“Hey, you know her better than I do. Where would she go? Any family? Friends?”

“Most of her family lives here in Cloudsdale, so I’d say she’s probably going to look for a friend instead. Going through our circle of friends, most of them are mutual friends from college. Some also live in Cloudsdale so those are safe to dismiss. Thistle Whistle lives in Ponyville, and I think it’s safe to dismiss her as well, based on proximity to you.”

“But those are mutual friends. Does she have any friends of her own? Friends you don’t know well or at all?”

“That’s a good question. I would like to say the answer is ‘yes’ but I suspect the answer is ‘no’ as she never had any reason to hide anything, or anypony, from me.”

“Then she might go to a friend’s tonight, but she’ll move on quickly because word will eventually get back to you.”

“That’s logical. How do you know this?”

“Because the day I turned eighteen I left the nest. No plan. No job. No money… My parents didn’t kick me out, I just wanted to get away from them.”

“I’ve met your parents. If nothing else, they’re uh, certainly enthusiastic.”

“Exactly. They were cramping my style. Of course, I was a flight school dropout and I didn’t have a whole lot of friends at the time. Thank the stars for Fluttershy. She let me crash with her until I got on my hooves. My parents had a pretty good idea where I was. They sent cards to her asking her to forward them to me. But they knew.”

“Parents usually do.” She paused. “Hmn.”

“Hmn what?”

“If she’s smart, she went to Kimono. If she’s specifically searching for the last pony I’d expect her to seek asylum with, it’s Minty. And do you know what they both have in common?”

“That neither one can fly?”

“Besides that.”

“That they’ll never be as awesome as Rainbow Dash?”

The duchess rolled her eyes. “Both have some of my magical butterflies flitting near them at all times. If she’s seen either of them recently I’ll know within seconds.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. “Negative. Scanning Sparkleworks… Seaspray… Toola Roola… Sew-And-So… Sweetberry… Razzaroo… Sunny Daze… Wysteria… Starsong… Nothing. This is most troubling. Pinkie Pie… Thistle Whistle… Rarity… Fluttershy…” Star Catcher sighed and flapped her wings. Hovering, she raised a foreleg to the wind. “South-by-southwest. C’mon, let’s go.”

“Seriously? You’re just going to fly off in a random direction without a plan?”

“Weren’t you just on my case about spending too much time planning and not enough time taking action?”

“Touché.”

“I’m starting to think she just started flying aimlessly. If I’m right, logically she would go with the prevailing winds to save her strength. She’s got a four-hour head start, but we’re two of the fastest fliers in Equestria. We can catch her.”

“You can catch her. I’m going home.”

“Element of Loyalty.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Seriously? You’re gonna play that card?” She grumbled. “Fine, but I better get a royal excuse note for missing Wonderbolt practice tomorrow morning.”

Moonlight glinted off a lake far below Skywishes, the calm waters reflecting the glittering stars far above her. With the wind at her back she’d made good time. The town of Gaitlinburg was mere minutes away. A town most famous for having more wedding chapels per pony than any other town in Equestria, beating Las Pegasus nearly two to one. It was the last place anyone would look for a jilted mare.

Conveniently, it was also home to some of the cheapest hotels in the country. And considering she’d just quit her job, she needed to save bits where she could. Her stomach growled. Being a pegasus, she could sleep on clouds if she had to, but she couldn’t very well eat them. Dinner was her highest priority.

She fluttered to the ground in search of a restaurant still open for the evening. Landing near a statue of the town’s founder, she trotted towards the business district. “Wedding chapel, movie theater, wedding chapel, town hall, wedding chapel, park, wedding chapel…” Skywishes noticed a theme to Gaitlinburg’s downtown. “A-ha! All-night diner!”

She froze as she started crossing the street. A butterfly… There was no way Star Catcher could have butterflies here. Right? The butterfly flitted in front of her. It wasn’t glimmering. It was an ordinary insect. She breathed a sigh of relief and trotted into the diner.

“Party of one.” Her stomach growled. “Food for seven.”

“So the all-you-can-eat-buffet?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“That should be Gaitlinburg down below us.”

“No sign of Skywishes. Do you think she kept flying? Appleloosa’s only a few more hours by wing.”

“I’m not even entirely convinced she flew this way. We’re way faster than her; even if she had a head start we should’ve caught up to her. I say we get some sleep and head back to Cloudsdale in the morning.”

“I say we land and look around. Maybe she’s tired and resting for the night.”

“That would make two of us.”

“Oh hush, you. You’re always napping.”

“I’m just glad we ate before leaving or I’d be famished right now.”

“You’re a genius, Rainbow!”

“A what now?”

“…Never mind. After a long flight, she’s probably hungry. Start checking restaurants for Skywishes. I’ll investigate the hotels.”

“This place is a tourist trap, Star Catcher. There are almost as many hotels as there are wedding chapels in this town.”

“Then the sooner we start searching, the sooner you can climb into a nice warm bed. We’ll meet back here in an hour.”

Walking out of the restaurant, she set her sights on finding a cheap hotel. She’d had better meals in Cloudsdale and in Canterlot, but for the price, the buffet hadn’t been horrible. Perhaps if she’d arrived an hour ago when it was still fresh from the oven instead of simmering, she might have a different opinion. Regardless, her belly was full and all she wanted now was to go to bed and forget this day had ever happened.

She turned to the right and her heart just about jumped out of her chest at what she saw. Very few ponies in Equestria had flowing ethereal manes. Of those, two of them had white fur. But only one lacked a horn. Much to her surprise Star Catcher was standing outside the nearest hotel. By some amazing stroke of luck, she was facing the other way. And so was her companion. There was no mistaking that rainbow mane. Panicked, Skywishes ran into the nearest doorway.

Of course Star Catcher and Rainbow Dash would come to Gaitlinburg. They’d obviously hit it off way better than Skywishes had anticipated. And where else in Equestria was a better place to get married than Gaitlinburg? For that matter, what other places had all-night wedding chapels? Las Pegasus perhaps, but that was on the other side of the country entirely.

“That’ll be two bits, miss.”

The pink mare looked up. She was in the movie theater. She hoofed over two bits. It didn’t matter what was showing, she needed a place to hide. She took her ticket and looked at the movie listed: The Care Bears Movie 2: A New Generation. She facehoofed. She was reasonably certain that the newlyweds wouldn’t be joining her for this particular flick. “I haven’t even seen the first one.”

“No need. This is a sequel in name only. It’s the number one complaint I’ve heard from moviegoers since its run started. There’s no continuity with the first one.” The cashier cringed. “Lots of crying foals and screaming parents. Nopony knows what’s going on, so they ask me like I have some magical ability to know what goes on in the minds of Applewood movie directors and script writers. Once word got out, ponies stopped coming to see it. So you’ve got the theater to yourself. Enjoy!”

“Why are you even showing this movie at this hour?”

“Single screen theater, miss. We’re stuck with this one until Friday.”

“Oh, right.”

The solitude was easily worth the two bits. She tuned out the advertisements for coming attractions and concessions and eventually her eyes glazed over as she lost herself inside her own mind. Star Catcher and Rainbow Dash. A truly bizarre combination. Right? She was having a harder and harder time convincing herself of that. But what could they possibly see in one another? She’d always figured Rainbow liked the shy, quiet types that enjoyed letting her hog the spotlight. Of course, that did sort of describe Star Catcher in a way. Starry was certainly modest, and always willing to share the credit. But with years of experience in public speaking and a career in politics, Star Catcher was hardly shy. And as Duchess of Cloudsdale, she was even higher profile than Rainbow Dash was as a Wonderbolt. That meant Rainbow Dash would have to play second fiddle to Star Catcher at most social gatherings. That went against everything Skywishes knew about the brash Wonderbolt. Of course, on the flip side, Star Catcher was one of the few ponies in Equestria that could keep up with Rainbow Dash. And of course, if they married, it would increase their visibility exponentially. The royal duchess and the star athlete – it was a match made in the supermarket tabloids.

But what about Star Catcher? What could she possibly find alluring about the prismatic blowhard? Rainbow Dash had some good qualities, true. But there were other ponies that shared those qualities without having nearly as many bad qualities thrown into the mix. Of course, Starry always did like hard luck cases. She tolerated Prince Blueblood when few others would give him the time of day. Not that she was ever in a pleasant mood after returning from a meeting with him, but she genuinely cared for his well-being… and judging from his reputation in Equestria, she might be the only one. And Rainbow Dash easily frustrated the duchess to the same levels as the prince did. So what changed? “Why her over me?” Maybe there was some perk Rainbow could bring to Cloudsdale that she was overlooking…

“Running away from a problem never solved it. You’re just worried about the things you can’t do, instead of all the things you can.”

Skywishes blinked and looked up to the movie screen. True Heart Bear was admonishing a pair of foals for something or other. Her words replayed through Skywishes’ head. “Running away from a problem never solved it.”

She cradled her head in her hooves. The colorful little bear’s words rang true. Getting life lessons from a children’s cartoon was a new low. “I’ve been so foalish.” What point was there in running away from her home, her friends, and even her job? So Star Catcher had married Rainbow Dash after only one date. It wasn’t the end of the world. Sure, her heart was broken into crackly little pieces, but that which doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. It’s better to lose in love than to never love at all. Thoughts were flooding into her mind quicker than she could process them. But every part of her was urging her to go outside and congratulate Star Catcher and Rainbow Dash.

As she walked past the cashier she said, “Best two bits I ever spent.”

“But the movie’s not over yet.”

“Doesn’t matter, I got more than my two bit’s worth out of it. I’ve got something I really need to go do. But maybe I’ll come back and watch the whole thing later.”

“Uh-huh, right.”

There was no longer any sign of either Rainbow Dash or Star Catcher when she walked outside the theater. She trotted across the street to the hotel they had been standing in front of. “Excuse me,” she asked the desk clerk, “but do you have a Star Catcher or a Rainbow Dash staying here?”

“I’m not allowed to give out the names of guests.”

“Which pretty much confirms they’re staying here. If you would be so kind as to let them know Skywishes is here to see them, I’d be much obliged.”

The clerk grumbled but hit a buzzer for the intercom. “You’ve got a visitor. Says her name is Skywishes. You want to see her? All right, I’ll send her to your room.” He turned his attention back to the mare in front of him. “Room 16, straight down this hall and to the right.” He pointed the way towards their room.

She never made it to the room. She saw their door open and Star Catcher came flying down the hallway, Rainbow Dash not far behind. Skywishes and Star Catcher embraced, tears flowing from both.

“I’m so happy for you, Starry. Congratulations! I’m sure you and Rainbow Dash will be very happy together.”

Star Catcher blinked. This wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting. “Um, thank you. What brings you to Gaitlinburg?”

“The wind, mostly.” She chuckled. “Look, I made a big mistake, okay? I got so worked up when you told me about your date I just started flying. Of course you two fly so much faster than I do. So for you, this was probably a quick jaunt here to make everything official. I don’t quit, and I’ll keep things running as smoothly as I can until you two get back from your honeymoon.”

Star Catcher recovered first, while Rainbow Dash stood there with her mouth agape.

“Yeah, I figured it all out. I saw you outside, and well, I’m happy for you. Really happy for you. It’s going to take me a little time to get used to everything, but heh, the two of you have far more to get used to than I do. I just can’t believe how suddenly you made such a big decision, but you know what, a little more spontaneity isn’t a bad thing for you, Star Catcher. I’m sorry I missed the wedding! How was it?”

Star Catcher winked at Rainbow Dash and mouthed, “Just play along.” She turned to face her secretary once more. “Actually, Skywishes, we haven’t gotten married yet. We need to find a pair of witnesses to make it official. I’d be honored if you were one of them.”

Skywishes cringed, but put on a brave smile. “I’ll do it, but forgive me if I cry.”

“Then it’s settled. Tomorrow morning, Rainbow and I shall be married!” Star Catcher did a giddy little dance in the hallway.

“Now can we get some sleep?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Consider it done.”

The three pegasi fluttered down the hall to their room. “You can share a room with us tonight, Skywishes.”

“Only if I’m not intruding on anything.”

Star Catcher opened the door to their room. “I assure you that you’re not. As you can see, we were planning on sleeping in separate beds. For tonight anyway. Of course since there’s only two beds, you’ll have to share one. I’d ask you to pick but since I know your feelings on Rainbow Dash, I figure it’s a foregone conclusion that you’ll choose me.”

“No, it’s good. I’ll sleep with Rainbow.”

“You’ll what?” Rainbow Dash and Star Catcher asked at the same time.

“I have some things that I need to discuss with her before you two exchange vows. This’ll make it easier.”

“All right, then. Sleep well you two!” She blew the candle out, shrouding them all in darkness.

Rainbow Dash and Skywishes climbed into the other bed. As soon as Star Catcher’s gentle snoring could be heard coming from the other bed, Skywishes whispered, “If you hurt her, I swear to Celestia that I’ll track you down. I don’t care how fast you fly, I’ll catch you and then I’ll show you the true definition of pain. Do you understand?”

Rainbow gulped. “Very much so.”

“Good, I’m glad we had this discussion. As it stands I still want to pluck all the feathers from your wings, but Starry probably wouldn’t be amused by that. So I’m just going to lay here all night glaring at you. Okay?”

“Look, I promise I’m not gonna hurt her, or you. I’m gonna roll over now, and when I do, this conversation is over.”

“You better not snore.”

“Rainbow Dash never snores!” She rolled over on her side and immediately started snoring loud enough to wake every other occupant of the hotel.

“Yeah, I can see how much your word is worth.” Skywishes flattened her ears and pulled the covers over her head. Much to her chagrin, nothing she tried could completely block out the sound of Rainbow’s snoring. It took a few hours but eventually exhaustion overcame her and she was finally able to drift off to sleep.

The next day dawned bright and sunny. Of the three ponies gathered in the hotel room, only Skywishes could be considered a morning pony. She woke at her usual time, without the benefit of an alarm clock. And with the snoring of her roommates, there would be no going back to sleep, even if she tried. So there was only one thing to do. She stretched all four of her legs out, unceremoniously shoving Rainbow Dash out of the bed and onto the floor. Amazingly, the cerulean blue mare didn’t stir from her slumber. Skywishes groaned and threw a pillow at her.

An hour and a half later, Star Catcher finally woke up. “Oh my stars, what’s that absolutely dreadful noise?”

“That would be the sound of your fiancé snoring.”

“Rainbow Dash.” Star Catcher slipped into the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Skywishes flattened her ears and hoped they’d stop ringing soon. Rainbow Dash cracked an eye open and muttered, “Five more minutes.”

An hour later the three pegasi trotted into one of Gaitlinburg’s fanciest restaurants. “Welcome to Equestrian House Of Pancakes.”

“Table for three.”

As they munched on their meals, Star Catcher laid out plans for the day. “We’ll find a chapel and get married. Then we’ll fly back to Cloudsdale.” As plans go, it was pretty straightforward. “What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Skywishes.

“These pancakes are great.” The other two mares looked at Rainbow Dash. “Uh, yeah, whatever you were just saying, I agree with 100%.”

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Skywishes asked.

“Hey! Just because I like to pay attention to what I’m eating instead of talking with my mouth full doesn’t mean we need to call the wedding off.”

Star Catcher levitated a napkin over to Rainbow Dash and dabbed it against her lips to soak up some maple syrup. “Yes, I’m sure I want to go through with this. She’s just so adorable.”

“If you say so. If anypony needs me, I think I’m going to step outside before watching her eat makes me nauseous.”

“In that case, want to find us a chapel? I trust your judgement.”

“Consider it done.” Skywishes chuckled at having stolen Star Catcher’s catchphrase.

Once the pink mare was out of earshot, Rainbow Dash put her utensils down and looked at Star Catcher. “I hope you know what you’re doing, lardflank. I don’t want to end up married to you by accident.”

“And here I thought you liked pranks. It’s the least I can do to thank you for last night.”

“I love a good prank, and that’s the reason I’m going along with this. And far be it for me to point out the obvious but, isn’t this a little cruel?”

“She’s the one who jumped to conclusions. Besides, she dragged us halfway across Equestria looking for her. Do you have any idea how worried I was?”

“Yes, I do. You kept reminding me every thirty seconds. And that’s the other reason I’m going along with this.”

True to her word, Skywishes had found a chapel for them. She’d booked them for a 3 o’clock service, so they had a few hours to kill before the wedding.

“There’s a movie I’d like to see. And we have enough time to catch it.” Skywishes dragged them back to the theater she’d been to the night before. “Three please.”

“That’ll be six bits.”

Star Catcher and Rainbow Dash walked off to get their seats, while Skywishes stayed behind to ‘get snacks’. “I told you I’d come back. Also, we’ll take some popcorn, three sodas, and a box of gummy bears.”

“What movie is this anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Star Catcher shrugged. “I don’t know. Skywishes has all the ticket stubs. I’ll guess we’ll find out when it starts.”

A few minutes later the movie started playing. “They made another Care Bears movie? Oh, hey no! I’m outta here. It’s bad enough Fluttershy made me sit through the first one.”

“She did? Great! That means you can explain what’s going on to me, because I never saw that one.”

“Wait. You didn’t see the first one but you want to see the second one?”

“I was told it’s really cute. Besides, we’ve got the theater all to ourselves. Good thing I’m here to chaperone you two lovebirds. You can hold hooves, but no making out.”

As they walked towards the chapel, Star Catcher stopped in her tracks. “What am I doing?”

“Marrying Rainbow Dash.”

“You know what, I’ve had a sudden change of heart. It’s over, Dash.”

Rainbow looked up at the duchess. “Woo-hoo! I’m free! I’m free!”

“Well, now that that’s settled, I suppose we can head home to Cloudsdale. There’s just one last item of business I need to take care of while we’re here in Gaitlinburg.

“What’s that?”

The duchess faced Skywishes and dropped to her knees. “I know I can’t have you forever, but would you give me just a lifetime?” A diamond ring hovered in Star Catcher’s magical aura.

“Oh Starry!” Skywishes let the tears flow as she wrapped her forelegs and wings around the pony she never thought would love her back. “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” She nuzzled the duchess and looked at the engagement ring. She gasped. “This is this your great-great grandmother’s ring! It’s supposed to be in a museum in Cloudsdale.”

“It’s only on temporary loan. I just rescinded permission thirty seconds ago, because it’s currently needed somewhere far more important.” Star Catcher brushed Skywishes’ mane aside with a hoof and looked her in the eyes. “There’s nowhere on Equus more important.”

Skywishes blushed. “You’ve always had a way with words, my dearest Starry. I’ve known that since you started writing your own speeches… but I never, ever, suspected you had a romantic streak.”

“I’m learning. On a side note, remind me tomorrow to notify the museum that I’ve reclaimed it.”

“You just teleported a ring protected by magical wards from Cloudsdale to Gaitlinburg on a whim?” Rainbow Dash asked, incredulous.

“A whim would indicate this is nothing more than a flight of fancy.” Star Catcher shook her head. “No, this was a decision. The most important decision I’ve ever made.” She smiled. Everything was happening fast, but it all felt so right. It didn’t matter that this would cause turmoil with the nobles or her own family. All that mattered was Skywishes. “But before we get carried away, I have some concerns that need to be addressed.”

“Like what?”

“Well, first of all, do you want to get married while we’re here, or would you rather have a nice big ceremony in Cloudsdale?”

“And give all the nobles and your relatives a chance to object? Ha! I’d really like a nice small ceremony with all our friends. Maybe somewhere in Canterlot.”

“How about the castle gardens?”

“That sounds nice.”

“But most importantly, I need to know if you can separate your job from your relationship?”

“How so?”

“It’s pretty much your job to do whatever I say. That’s not how relationships work. You put me on a pedestal, and at work I can use that. As a duchess, I need that confidence you inspire in me to do my job to the best of my abilities.”

“So can’t I encourage a little confidence in my favorite pony in the whole world even when I’m off the clock?” She brushed her tail against Star Catcher’s flank, tickling her cutie mark. “You continue to bring out the best in me, and I’ll continue to bring out the best in you. That, my dear Starry, is exactly how relationships work. Professional or personal. Or in this case, professional and personal. I took the job as your secretary because I want to see you be the best duchess Cloudsdale has ever had. You already are, in my book. I love you, you silly filly.”

“All right, I’ve had all I can take, I’m outta here.” Rainbow Dash hopped into the air. “You two are sappier than a maple syrup factory. If I stick around here for another minute I’m gonna end up with diabetes. Or a few cavities at the very least.”

“Wait, Crash.”

“Did you just call me ‘Crash’, lardflank?”

“That’s your Wonderbolt nickname, is it not?”

“Yeah… I don’t like it all that much.”

“Fair enough, I’m not particularly fond of ‘lardflank’ so I guess that’s fair?”

“Okay, okay. I get it, I’ll stop calling you that. Can I go now?”

“Not yet. That’s not actually what I wanted to talk about. I want to thank you. You were right. I feel happier than I did. I don’t know why, exactly, since I’m still the same pony I was when I woke up this morning and Skywishes is still the same pony I’ve known all these years. Yet it’s different somehow. So thank you. You did me a ‘solid’, as you set out to do. I never thought I’d be getting relationship advice from you, let alone good relationship advice.”

“I’m just full of surprises. And if you breathe a word of this to anypony I’ll deny it. I’ve got a reputation to uphold. Romance is Rarity’s thing, not mine.”

“She brings out the best in you.” Star Catcher winked as Rainbow’s cheeks turned red. “I’m fairly confident the Rainbow Dash I knew two years ago never would have done this. Not for me, not for anypony.”

Skywishes turned her attention to the prismatic pegasus. “You? I have you to thank for this?!?”

“Uh, maybe?” Rainbow Dash blushed profusely. “Consider it an apology for the way I treated you when I was duchess. And for all the times I made fun of your extra-special wishes. No hard feelings, right?”

Skywishes lunged at the cerulean mare. Rainbow shied away and braced herself for impact, but was shocked to discover herself firmly locked in the tightest hug she’d ever been on the receiving end of. Amazingly, it was even tighter than a Pinkie Pie hug. Star Catcher wrapped her wings around both of them, turning it into a group hug.

“Make the hugging stop…”

It was a dark and cloudless night. The moon was full and glowing brighter than normal. The same could be said for the stars, with several new constellations causing great excitement among astronomers. With a gentle breeze blowing through the Canterlot Castle gardens, many of the gathered ponies felt it was a perfect night. Princess Luna would have it no other way.

Three of Equestria’s premier party planners walked together, checking on the preparations. It was rare that a special occasion was truly special enough to require them to pool their talents, but the small ceremony the brides-to-be wanted had morphed into something a bit larger than anticipated. As a resident of Cloudsdale, not to mention a member of the Wonderbolts, Surprise had been tasked with planning this particular ceremony. But since it wasn’t a surprise party, she requested the services of a trio of earth ponies: Pinkie Pie, Razzaroo, and Cheese Sandwich. Surprise walked with two of the three now, as they inspected the food.

Applejack waved them over to a buffet loaded with tasty apple treats. Having known Pinkie Pie for years, she’d taken great care to ensure that pre-party sampling had been taken into account when baking for the event. Even with three hungry ponies tasting the food, there’d still be plenty for everypony. Smiling, the three party planners gave Applejack their seal of approval and moved on.

Pinkie Pie knocked on the door to the massive garden shed where Rarity was getting everypony ready. “Who is it?” Rarity singsonged from inside.

“It’s me! And Surprise and Cheese Sandwich.”

“You and Surprise can come in, but I’m afraid I must ask Mr. Sandwich to wait outside. There are ladies getting dressed in here.”

“But we don’t normally wear clothes.”

“Pish posh. There’s a way things are done, Pinkie.”

“It’s okay, you gals go on ahead. I’ll check with Princess Luna to see if there’s anything she needs.”

Pinkie and Surprise walked in and were greeted by the missing party planner. “Hey girls. How do I look?” Razzaroo slowly spun in place, showing off a flowing aqua dress with mint highlights.

“Wow Razz, you look amazing!”

“Rarity does great work. I feel so pretty!”

Kimono nodded her head in agreement. “This is the fanciest dress I’ve ever owned. It’s beautiful.” She twirled around, showcasing a surprisingly loose-fitting dark blue and royal purple dress.

“Thank you girls, I’m glad you like them!”

“I think you could use some alterations there,” Surprise said. “Unless you’re planning on surprising the brides with a wardrobe malfunction.”

“Not a chance!” Kimono levitated a pair of swords out from under her dress. “This dress needs to be loose. I’m not just a bridesmaid, I’m also security.”

“The tricky part was making sure that the needed function didn’t get in the way of an elegant form. I took some inspiration from her namesake garment, the kimono. Minty, darling, come on out and show off your dress.”

Minty trotted out in a Prench maid outfit. The other mares started giggling.

“Minty, darling, where’s the dress I made for you?”

“Back in my room at the castle. I’m a bridesmaid. Razzaroo told me I needed to wear this…”

“Minty, Minty, Minty…” Rarity facehoofed. “Do be a dear and get out of that outfit.” She glared at Razzaroo.

“Oh come on, that was a great prank!” Pinkie and Surprise nodded in agreement while Kimono and Rarity rolled their eyes.

“You know, Wysteria’s coloration is quite similar to yours, Razzaroo. I bet I could alter this dress to fit her in ten minutes. You know, since you’re going to be tied up and hence unable to make it to the ceremony.” She levitated some rope over. “Literally.”

Razzaroo gulped. “Okay, so no more pranks. Got it.”

“I’m glad we came to this little understanding.” Rarity flashed a smile that made Razzaroo feel even more unnerved.

“Where’s Dashie?”

“I’m not coming out there dressed like this, Pinkie,” Rainbow said from behind a closed door.

“Rainbow and I are having, how shall we say, creative differences. Yes, I like that term. I’m creative and she’s different.”

“I look the exact opposite of awesome!”

Rarity sighed. “Look, Rainbow, darling. You need to look fancy.”

“I didn’t look this fancy for Shining Armor and Princess Cadence’s wedding!”

“You weren’t best mare at that wedding.”

“I know. Twilight was, and she didn’t look this fancy either.”

“Perhaps not, but I didn’t design the wedding gown, and I needed to work with what I was given. I’m sorry that the brides for this particular wedding like ruffles and frills, but you do look oh so dashing in them.”

With a huff the door opened. “I feel like a circus clown, Rarity.” The others in the roomed oohed and aahed at the prismatic pegasus. She was stunning in a rainbow-colored dress. There were ruffles and frills, quite a few of them, and yet somehow it didn’t look overdone.

“Nonsense, Rainbow Dash. I daresay you may just outshine the two brides on their special day.”

“You did this on purpose.”

A grin tugged at the corners of Rarity’s lips. “I have no idea why you would possibly think that, darling! Why, Rainbow Dash always dresses in style, does she not?”

“Not when she can possibly avoid it, no.” Rainbow huffed again.

“I think you look ravishing, Miss Dash,” Kimono said. Pinkie, Minty, Razzaroo, and Surprise all nodded in agreement.

Minty started batting at some of the ruffles on Rainbow’s dress like a cat. “These are so soft.” She squealed in delight.

“Minty, darling, I think it’s time you and I took a little stroll back to the castle so I can get you dressed for a wedding instead of a bachelor party. I need to check on our two brides anyway. Now come along.” She dragged the easily distractible mare away from Rainbow’s dress with a tug of her telekinesis. She combed the mint green mare’s mane and tail while they walked. “And how on Equus did you get your mane this tangled and knotted?”

“Oh! I braided it for the wedding. I think I did pretty good!”

“Fear not, Minty. We still have half an hour before the ceremony starts. I shall have you looking fabulous before the wedding!”

The Canterlot Castle garden was filled with ponies. What had originally been intended as a small ceremony with less than one hundred ponies had blossomed into a royal wedding, with well over a thousand ponies in attendance.

All eyes were on Princess Luna. Rarity had gone to great lengths on her dress, as the princess’ fashion sense was a millennium out of date. It was surprisingly simple, and would have looked more at home on Rainbow Dash had the colors not been so dark as to match Luna’s coloration.

Two proud fathers walked their daughters down the aisle together. Two mothers sat on opposite sides of the aisle and wept. Three stunning bridesmaids waited patiently for the brides-to-be to make it to the altar. And one impatient best mare wriggled uncomfortably in a frilly dress that she couldn’t stand.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to join these two ponies together in matrimony. Star Catcher, do you promise to love and cherish Skywishes, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”

“And Skywishes, do you promise to love and cherish Star Catcher, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”

“If any pony can give reason that these two mares not be married, speak now or forever hold thy peace.” After a slight pause, she continued, “I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Cheers broke out from their friends as the two pegasus ponies kissed. Several nobles excused themselves, dreams of being married to the duchess dashed.

“About time!” Wysteria picked up a microphone as a spotlight shown down on the stage she was standing on. “I think I speak for everyone who knows the two of you that this has been a long time coming.” She passed the microphone to Starsong. Minty and Razzaroo slipped out of their bridesmaid outfits with a little help from Rarity, then hopped up on stage to take their places. And with that, the Gee Threes were ready to rock.

“I’m just thankful the two of you didn’t prolong each other’s misery with a long engagement. Some wise ponies once said ‘Who needs a reason to love when friends just seem to know?’ And while Mare Supply’s My Best Friend was sadly relegated to album filler, I can’t think of a more appropriate song for us to start things off with tonight.” Starsong held up a glass of apple cider to make a toast. “To friends, to love, to loving friends, and to friends in love.”

“Here, here!” Glasses clinked and cider was consumed.

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