Even Rainbows Falter

by Pracca

Wibbly-Wobbly Planny-Wanny Stuff

A still legion of a thousand slumbering trees, lightly powdered in the snow of oncoming winter stretched out for what seemed like miles to the tiny little pony looking on from the road. Sweet Apple Acres was just a short jog away now, and Fluttershy was already feeling the nervous jitters that on any other day would send her skittering home. She’d had those all of her life, and they’d never really stopped. But there had come a time in her life where it had simply been infeasible to keep listening to those urges. She still got a little tingle of pride thinking it about it, though she’d never admit it; that when her friends and family were on the line, she could function as well as any other pony.

She’d stood there long enough, and a chilling wind bit her flank to remind her of her mission. She trotted down through the gates, and up to the door. The lights were on inside, and the chimney was lazily throwing out puffs of smoke from a crackling fire. She took a moment to admire the farmhouse. So much had been added, and so much lost in the fire those years back. She and the others had asked Applejack at least a dozen times what had caused the flames, but the closest that they had ever gotten to an explanation involved a blue box and a talking trash can. Personally, Fluttershy had chalked that rant up to too much cider, and assumed somepony had left the stove on.

But whatever the cause, her friend’s home looked so different than she always remembered it when she thought of the old days. She wondered if her own home had changed that much, or Twilight and Rainbow’s, or Rarity’s boutique. She wasn’t sure what possessed her to think of it at the moment, but she made a mental note to get a look for herself and see.

But not right now. She approached the door, and raised a hoof to knock—likely as quietly as possible—only for it to be yanked away as she reached for it, replaced by the face of a grinning brown stallion.

“Earlier than I thought! Evening, Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy was too busy shrieking in surprise, her wings splayed out in sheer terror at the unexpected face shooting up within a foot of hers. Whooves leaned back, making shushing noises and patting her head with his hoof. “All right, all right, steady there girl. Not a murderer, I swear, not this time.”

Fluttershy tried to ignore that last part. Whooves was prone to some very odd mutterings, and to be honest they’d disturbed her for a long time. But between his disarming personality, and the assurance from Applejack that they were just “Memories best left in the past, where they belong” she’d gotten accustomed to it.

He stepped aside to let her in, but she lingered for a moment. The Doctor, as she’d heard his wife call him, picked up on this hesitation. “Something the matter?”

“Um… y-you were expecting me?”

“Yes, about thirty minutes from now though.” Whooves said, giving her a little nudge to bring her inside. He led her to the kitchen, where the brightest light was coming from. “Couldn’t really start any of the planning yet, had to wait ‘til we got part two of the story. So, it’s actually really great you’re here early.”

She looked at the odd stallion with confusion. “Planning? So, you already knew? B-but who could have told…”

“Howdy, Fluttershy.”

“Hey, Fluttershy.”

Two voices spoke in unison, one with a country twang she knew very well, and one that, while deeper than usual still carried the tone of a dear old friend. Both Applejack and Spike were sitting at the table, looking at her expectantly. After a moment’s hesitation, the orange pony gestured towards the table, which she sat down at quickly. Whooves took his place as well, allowing them to get down to business.

“So Ah’m just gonna jump right in.” Applejack began. “Spike already told us the grim’n’gritty of the fight, and Ah figure Rainbow came straight to you, Fluttershy?”

“Um, yes, she did.” the timid pony replied. As quickly as she could, she explained everything that had happened from the moment the pegasus arrived at her doorstep. She looked around, to try and see what the others were thinking. Whooves was, as usual, completely unreadable; Spike looked like a lost foal more than anything; and Applejack was lost deep in thought, mulling over their options.

“Celestia, Ah hate when those two get like this…” she muttered. “Get so caught up in the moment they don’t even pay attention to their own stupidity.”

“It’s all just a big misunderstanding, right?” Spike said, throwing his claws out in a wild gesture. “We’ve just gotta make them understand that Rainbow had a good reason for what happened, and they’ll make up, right?”

“Mm, I don’t really think so…” Fluttershy whispered, almost regretting the words.

“She’s got a point.” AJ conceded. “It’s more’n just a misunderstanding. Twilight’s a bit… how do I put this…”

“Crazy?” asked Spike and Fluttershy, in unison.

“Exactly.” The farmer droned in a disappointed tone. “She might forgive Rainbow this time. But we’re not changing the situation at all, so the tension’s just gonna build up and explode all over again. Ah doubt she’ll ever accept Rainbow putting her job on equal footing with her family.”

“But, she shouldn’t do that, right?” Spike asked.

“You’re right, she shouldn’t,” Applejack agreed, taking a sip of some coffee from a nearby mug. Whooves stood to retrieve some more as his wife kept talking. “but Rainbow’s in a real tough position. If Ah know Rainbow—and Ah do, mind ya—she’s in a bind trying to live up to both of her responsibilities. On the one hoof, she’s got you, Twilight, and Opal to think about. Her family, her love, and all. A’course that’s important. But then you’ve got Spitfire putting her on the spot, making her take the Captain’s position on the Wonderbolts. If she gives up that’s spot, she’s letting down her idol, when she’d promised that she could handle the job. Admitting defeat just ain’t something Rainbow does.”

“So… what? We just force Rainbow to give up her job, maybe?” Spike suggested. “I mean, it seems like this whole Wonderbolt thing is the cause of this mess. So she should just… stop.”

Fluttershy shook her head, before graciously accepting some coffee from Whooves and taking a small sip. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I don’t think that would work.” She strained herself, trying to find the right words. “Rainbow has been dreaming of being a Wonderbolt since she we were in flight camp together. Making her stop that would be… awful. I think she’d probably just resent us, maybe even Twilight. I’m sorry, I’m probably assuming the worst of her.”

“Naw, don’t worry yourself Fluttershy,” Applejack consoled. “You’re probably right. If we’re solving this issue, it’s by showing Rainbow something’s gotta change. And by showing Twilight she’s gotta get a little less nutty about this whole work vs. family idea. Give Rainbow a little more credit. Only problem is, Ah don’t have the slightest clue how…”

The quartet sat in silence, Spike and Applejack listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall as they wracked their brains for an answer. But Fluttershy’s attention was focused intently on the brown stallion sitting silently at the table, whistling a simple tune to himself. Something occurred to her.

“Whooves?” she asked quietly. “Is everything ok? You haven’t spoken very much.”

“Hm, who, me?” he asked, seemingly startled by the question. “No, no trouble, not much of that. Just waiting.”

“F-for what?”

“To see if you come up with a better idea.”

“Come again?” Applejack questioned, snapping out of her trance to glare at Whooves. “Are you telling me you haven’t been trying to come up with a plan, at all?”

“Oh, planning?” he asked nonchalantly. “Finished planning fifteen minutes ago. Bit of a doozy if I'm going to brag, I just wanted to see if you came up with something better—you didn’t by the way, very disappointing.”

The farmer pony’s face went blank as she stared at him for a moment. The others joined in quickly. “…A plan. You’ve had a plan this whole time?”

“Foolproof, really.” He clarified. A hoof clopped in in the ear, and he recoiled in pain.

“C’mon, you psychopath! Out with it!”

“All right all right, just stop with the violence! Really, I mean I finally find a world with no guns and I’m still getting beaten daily…”

He stood up and began pacing, listing off everything that would be needed.

“All right, Spike, I’ll need you to go down and place a new order at Sugarcube Corner. Make sure they follow the order to the letter. Fluttershy, you’ll be delivering a message to the Wonderbolts tomorrow morning, probably want to get some sleep beforehand. Oh, Spike, also, message to deliver! Say, do you think Twilight’s magical talent runs in the family?..”

The night began to drag on, the winter weather undisturbed beyond the farmhouse’s walls as Sweet Apple Acres roared to life, four friends frantically making arrangements. They only had a few days to pull everything together, and some of these stunts would require some very long-distance favors to be called in…

Comments

[K1ezzo]

Hmmm. I can't say I can see where this is going. I WANT TO KNOW HIS PLAN DAMMIT
Also, no Twilight or Rainbow Dash this chapter?

Edit: Woo first

[AkaRainbowDash]

I see the name.
My eyes opened very wide.
Doctor crossover lets GO!

[Poniard Dagger]

I see the name, i hear matt smith going "Oh my plan just went all wibbily wobbily!" And. "YES ITS PLANNY WANNY!!"

[Darastrix]

I would like to read the story of how Applejack and The Doctor hooked up and some of their crazy adventures.

[HeirApparent]

Whoo! Nothing like the old fanfic binge to make the crazy go away! For about five minutes, anyway.

So... I guess it's review time then?

Right, let's get the negative bits out of the way first. *Ahem*
1. The occasional smattering of grammatical errors/typos. Honestly, it's nothing huge; I've yet to find a single story that was completely free of tiny mistakes like that. But, it does seem that at least some of them could have been caught with a simple proofread. Maybe stop writing solely after midnight, eh?
2. There were a handful of moments that struck me as slightly out of character. Again, nothing big, but they did make me stop and think for a couple minutes. Rainbow Dash trying to talk an enemy down instead of just kicking his ass, for example. Then again, this can be written off as characters growing and changing over the past... 14 years was it? I imagine that 10 years of marriage to an egghead like Twilight would be enough to temper even Dash's hotheadedness. And while I loved Opal as a streetwise waif, it does make sense that she'd develop into more of a normal filly living in a... Wait, no, Twilight and Dash are both entirely insane. We need more Crazy Opal, dammit!
3. Now, before I say anything else: yes, I am totally insane. But I swear I saw Diamond Tiara mentioned by name somewhere in the early chapters. Four or somewhere around there.
4. Not really a complaint, but I still have no idea how you came up with Applehooves. Seriously, you need to give us some backstory on that.
5. And this is kind of the big one: maybe it's just me, but the story seems to be suffering from... not sure what it's actually called, but I'm gonna go with Midquel Syndrome. I mean, unless Season 3 (or any of the following seasons) goes completely off the rails, we know the canon relationship between Twilight and Dash prior to this story. And, short of Hooves breaking time again, we know how their relationship, at least in your continuity, is going to end. So, sadly, all of this just feels a bit... unnecessary is a bit too harsh a term, but something along those lines. It just doesn't seem to have the same feeling of development and discovery that Fade had.

Well. Got that stuff out of the way. Time for the good parts!
1. Amazing conflict that you've set up! Dash is, after all, Loyalty personified, but what happens when she's forced to choose between loyalty to her friends and family and loyalty to her comrades, idol, and country? It seems that all of the Rainbow Dash-centric stories like to focus on some other aspect of her, like her determination or her fear of failure. Very few of them actually take her defining-trait and use it to explore what's really important to her.
2. A great dynamic between Twilight and Rainbow Dash. There's the expected amount of romantic, fairy-tale, love-conquers-all going on, but you've made sure to show us that things aren't always as perfect as they could be. Sacrifices are being made on both sides, and while we're given insight into how both characters are feeling, it's clear that they both have (at times radically) different mindsets on what's really the right thing to do. Although you are still a sick, twisted bastard for making Twilight think Dash would ever hit her, and now I must hate you forever. Rrragh.
3. Wonderful atmosphere. Whether it's supposed to be lighthearted and fun or dark and dramatic, you know how to set the scene perfectly, using word choice, setting, and the characters themselves.
4. Sleuth. God damn it, Sleuth. Such an asshole, such a fun character.

All in all, it's just a fun, very satisfying story. Is it perfect? No. Is it damn entertaining? Hell yes.

Well, I think I'm about done rambling now. Waiting for the next chapter; don't make us wait too long!

[graphiclee]

I found the marital troubles a bit out of character but it hasn't shattered my suspension of belief yet.
So far I'm enjoying the story with it's refreshing trials and tribulations and eagerly await the next chapter.

[Toaster Shift]

well.. this fic is.. dead?

[Daring Cammie Do]

It's dead, isn't it. Darn!