Chapter 87 - Different Approaches
Rainbow Dash and Rarity faced a classroom of interested students on Wednesday as Twilight Sparkle spoke. She explained to the class that the two ponies had very different interests that kept them busy but being friends was so important to them, they always made time for each other. The lesson was on compromise in friendship. Today was a Day of Fun they planned for each other.
Before they parted the classroom, a curious Silverstream raised her clawed hand to be called on and asked, "Ooh, ooh! What amazing stuff are you going to do together?"
"Buckball," Rainbow answered.
"Shopping," Rarity followed.
The students looked at the ponies in confusion.
"It's a whole day," Rainbow Dash told them with a smile. "We have time for both and then some."
Rarity nodded in agreement. "Yes, indeed. Twilight has a special treasure hunt planned for us later, even after all that."
"If there's time, we're going to chat about a book swap thing we're trying too," Rainbow said. "I read Shadow Spade, some of it anyway. She read Daring Do. I think. Did you have time for it?"
Rarity sighed in reluctance. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow, I'm afraid I didn't. I know how much you like your action, but for me, it was quite ridiculous and too over-the-top."
Rainbow sighed in turn. "Then I won't feel as bad admitting I got bored of all the clothing descriptions so didn't finish yours either."
"Do you two even have anything in common? How can you be friends?" Gallus asked.
"It's really quite easy," Rarity told him.
"We've been friends for like a super long time," Rainbow added.
"And we know all the same ponies," Rarity stated with confidence.
"Um, is that it?" Smolder asked.
"Oh, certainly not," Rarity denied. She took a moment to think and suddenly found herself struggling. Bringing up their mev bond felt inappropriate in a classroom setting, even if Nightmare Night had given away that they were mevs. They hadn't exactly stated they exchanged magic every Thursday. It was still an intimate and personal affair for all of them. Plus, it didn't actually say what they had in common besides being mevs at all.
Rainbow caught the delay and gave her own attempt. "Well, even though we show it differently, we both have an eye for visual flair and a sense of style. It's more obvious with Rarity and her fashion, but I do have an image and showponyship with my flying."
Rarity nodded. "We even help each other with those respective professions. Rainbow sometimes models clothes for me, and I am sometimes her private audience to give her feedback on her flying. To be honest, the differences actually help bring us together that way."
"Right," Rainbow agreed. "There was that time during the Cloudsdale Best Young Flier competition when I totally saved Rarity's life!" She lifted into a boastful hover.
"Yes! And I once proved Rainbow Dash's innocence to her beloved Wonderbolts when she was being framed for a mysterious incident!" Rarity informed the students with an eager smile of intrigue.
"She was so into Shadow Spade," Rainbow chuckled. "She kept changing outfits. I was getting really frustrated, but she totally pulled through for me."
Rarity smiled happily with pride.
"Cool! What else?" Sandbar asked.
"Hmm," Rarity noted thoughtfully. "We take trips with our sisters and Applejack and Apple Bloom for camping trips once a year."
Rainbow nodded. "Yup."
"Is that all?" Yona wondered.
The two nodded, at last satisfied with their team answers.
"That doesn't seem like much," Smolder stated with a shake of her head.
That was not what the two mares wanted to hear. It felt rather awkward to be put on the spot as if they needed to create some pristine image of perfect friendship and compromise. They were growing nervous.
Starlight Glimmer sensed it. She had brought Rarity here and watched the whole thing. The lilac unicorn jumped to the forefront of the scene and told the students, "Uh, look, it may seem like Rarity and Rainbow Dash don't have that much in common when you try to put it into words but sometimes friendships can't be explained. You just have to see them in action to understand."
Twilight's eyes lit up at that. She thoughtfully stroked her chin with her forelimb. "Actually...that's a great idea!"
Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at each other, then at Twilight.
"Twi, I know what you're trying to do here, but you're making us super self-conscious," Rainbow told her quietly.
"I must agree," Rarity heartily noted in a low voice.
"But it's a perfect way to demonstrate your friendship," Twilight told them. "Don't you want the students to learn from your example?"
"That's just it," Rarity replied. "We both feel we've given a sufficient answer. Putting it on display doesn't sound much better."
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah."
"Please?" Twilight flashed them a beseeching grin.
They both sighed. "Very well," they relented together.
First, they tried buckball without much success. Rarity couldn't be bothered to stand still and wait to catch a ball in a basket. Rainbow Dash conceded that while she'd never known any other unicorn players to find their role boring, she could see how Rarity might. She certainly didn't envy the position herself.
The observing students took notes.
"See?" Twilight said to them. "They did something Rainbow Dash likes, so now it's time for something Rarity likes. Compromise! Not to mention, Rainbow gained some perspective on how some unicorns might feel about this game."
Shopping was next and bothersome for Rainbow Dash.
Rarity was looking for shoes. She liked a pair of magenta boots and green stilettos.
Rainbow didn't like either. The boots shook off too much pink glitter everywhere that wound up all over her hooves, and the stilettos sounded useless because of the heels. "Honestly, you look better without them," she told Rarity. "Dresses are better suited to your body."
Rarity blushed at her master's words. "I appreciate the sentiment Rainbow, but work with me here."
"Retractable heels?" Rainbow suggested with thrown up forelimbs of exasperation.
"Oh, perfect!" Rarity brightened at that.
"Rainbow Dash and Rarity trust each other enough to speak honestly of their dislikes and frustrations yet continue on with their activity," Twilight told the students.
Up next was a venture to search for some gemstones together in a cave. They happily hoof bumped and smiled. Rarity was content to find gemstones, but Rainbow found disappointment. She lacked Maud's expertise of finding a hollow chamber for a place of interest. In her efforts, she crashed into Rarity's cart and shattered some gems.
"You ruined my gems!" Rarity yelled.
Rainbow glanced around nervously. "Sorry!" she said. "Just uh…let me fix it." She nervously used her hooves as if she could piece them back together. She needed to try other things first before resorting to magic, even if chaos magic had the solution at a simple shimmer of her eyes. Too bad rainbow lightning bolts couldn't repair broken gems. It was her main freebie.
She immediately glanced at the colors, trying to figure out the shapes they were and finding the best matches.
The students blinked in wonder.
Rarity blinked too, and she smiled softly. She put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "It's alright. We'll fix it together." She explained the types of gems and guided Rainbow into helping her.
Twilight sighed in relief. "Sometimes friends make mistakes, but then they help each other make things right and stay good friends."
"I'm afraid I'm no Maud either," Rarity told Rainbow sheepishly after they'd gathered all but some blue gemstones of interest to her.
"I'm Maud," Maud's voice came to them.
The students watched the scene.
"Hi Maud," Rainbow greeted her. "Know of any good treasure spots? A secret door or chamber maybe."
Maud blinked slowly. "No."
Rainbow Dash hung her head in disappointment.
"Perhaps you could guide us into how we might find one?" Rarity asked.
"Okay," Maud consented.
She slowly led them and explained how she found her own residence. The two didn't find any such special chamber, but they did find a hollow spot of bright blue gemstones, and that was satisfactory for both.
At last, the planned treasure hunt arrived. The students observed as Twilight told the two friends with a sneaky smile that the Amulet of Aurora had gone "missing". They needed to use Rainbow's knowledge to search for lost treasure and Rarity's understanding of finding clues to work together and find the culprit.
"We're not following this time?" Silverstream asked as they all left Twilight's office.
"Us watching is making them on edge, even if they're smoothing things over in between. Trust me. These two are great teammates. Not watching will relax them both, and they'll tell us later how the actual hunt went," Twilight explained to her and the others. "Then I hope you all will truly understand how they operate."
Rainbow Dash and Rarity searched the office. Rainbow eventually noticed the blue glitter leading out from the door. She didn't grasp it was from the amulet instead of Rarity's boots until Rarity pointed out the color. Then, Rainbow came to a realization. She explained the amulet was made out of Azurantium, just like the Amulet of Atonement in the Daring Do book Rarity couldn't bring herself to finish. As such, it would leave a blue glitter trail. They followed that trail.
"Rainbow Dash, slow down! You're flying past important clues!" Rarity said out of breath and panting, unable to keep pace with her fast friend. She pulled out a magnifying glass and examined something on the ground. "It's a print but definitely not a hoof. Are those claw marks?"
"I found a big clue too!" Rainbow stated from hovering some yards away as she gestured to a swamp.
Rarity approached and looked at it uneasily. "I hope you don't expect me to wade through that."
Rainbow Dash grabbed a nearby cattail with her mouth and dipped it in. They saw it sink into the thick, bubbling green water. She shook her head. "Nah, it's too deep. We'll get stuck."
"Clever!" Rarity remarked. "What Daring Do book did you get that from?"
Rainbow rubbed the back of her head as she admitted with a shy smile, "Actually, I learned it at Scootaloo's Filly Guide camp."
Rarity smiled back. She tapped a boot to her chin as she considered aloud, "At least you can fly across."
The pegasus attempted to do so, only to encounter several geysers that were too close for comfort. She flew back to join Rarity on the ground. "Nope! If one of those geysers burns off my wing feathers, I'll be out of the Wonderbolts for weeks." She sighed. "Unicorn magic?" she asked weakly.
"Certainly," Rarity said with a proud smile. "I'm on it."
Instead, Rainbow Dash stared at the swamp thinking of other possibilities, just in case. "I could slingshot my way through, but I'd need two perfectly placed trees, some stretchy rope, and a pith helmet. I don't think I could use a live Cragadile for a raft like Daring Do did in Book 4." She glanced over at Rarity's work.
The white unicorn happily boasted, "Ta-da! The SS Cragadile, at your service." She'd used her magic to put together wooden planks and vines to make a small boat for the two of them.
"That is awesome!" Rainbow told her, thoroughly and visibly impressed.
"I am an Awesomev too after all," Rarity replied with a friendly wink.
Rainbow Dash giggled.
They started to push the concoction together. "How did you know how to do that?" Rainbow asked.
"Hmm, a designer like me has to learn to be resourceful," Rarity told her. "We may have been friends for a 'super long time,' but you don't know everything about me!"
They managed to get the boat in the water, and Rainbow Dash used her wings to propel them forward without a word between the two. She maneuvered to follow the blue trail of sparkles and avoid the geysers as they crossed the swamp together.
Once they reached the other side, Rarity was disappointed to realize aloud, "The glitter trail! It's gone."
"Let me fly up a bit for a better look," Rainbow Dash suggested. Up she went to soon find the trail they were looking for. "It's right here. I don't know how the thief made a gap in the trail. Maybe threw it upward or something."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go on," Rarity urged her hovering friend. Rainbow descended closer to the white unicorn than the trail. "Fly up there and get that amulet!"
Rainbow Dash glanced at her with a sly smile. "We're doing this together, remember?"
"But how can we? Oh!" Rarity soon found herself swooped into Rainbow's forelimbs as her pegasus friend lifted her. They arrived at a cliff where the blue glitter trail again reached a ground.
Rarity whimpered in a slight panic. Rainbow hadn't picked her up like that since the night they worked on a report with Sweetie Belle tagging along.
"Sorry, but I wasn't leaving you behind in that swamp," Rainbow landed in front of Rarity and told her with a smile.
"Thank you," Rarity replied with sincerity.
They stared at a wooden door together.
Rarity tried to open it with her magic telekinesis and failed.
Rainbow knocked on it with her hooves. "Maybe the key to unlocking this thing is in these inscriptions," she suggested, pointing to a curled design on the door.
"Or perhaps the key is right here," Rarity told her with sly smile. She removed her boot, magically pulled out a long metal bar from the heel and used it to unlock the door. "Retractable heels, remember darling?"
Rainbow Dash chuckled. She was impressed. "Not so useless after all."
"This feels so much better," Rarity said with a relieved sigh.
"You mean not being watched and analyzed?" Rainbow asked her.
Rarity nodded. "Every little thing you and I never think about, suddenly, we did think about. I was on the verge of thinking of your interests as less than mine, that you didn't have any appreciation for the things I do. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too. I was getting so bored and frustrated while you were shopping, but yeah, a boot that turns into a stiletto is actually cool," Rainbow remarked. "I'm glad we didn't explode at each other into some huge dramatic scene saying we weren't friends anymore or anything."
"Oh, that sounds just dreadful," Rarity agreed with a shudder. "It would certainly put a damper on our Thursdays," she added with a flirtatious wink.
Rainbow Dash chuckled. "My Mitria gets it."
They hugged.
"Now let's go find that amulet!" Rarity happily declared.
"Yeah! Ha ha!" Rainbow lifted into her hover, and they continued on, to follow the trail to its end.
Rainbow Dash pushed open a trophy case against a wall to realize they entered a hallway in the school. "Wait. That tunnel leads to the school? A secret passage? Awesome!"
They soon arrived to see Spike holding the Amulet of Aurora with a smug grin.
"Spikey-Wikey is our culprit?" Rarity asked in surprise.
Twilight nodded. "Tell us what led you here, if you don't mind."
The two friends were happy to regale the students and explain how their different experiences helped them with their hunt.
"Yona understand now," Yona told the others as she looked at her notebook. "Friends not always need be same. Differences can actually be good."
"And awesome!" Silverstream nearly screeched in victory.
Smolder examined her own notes in thought. "I guess it makes sense when you do see it in action."
The other students nodded, at last satisfied.
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great chapter
Great chapter!
Great chapter!
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Thank you!
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Thank you!
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You’re welcome!
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You're very welcome!