Chapter 4: A Walk in Andante
Spike finished off his candied apple with a satisfied ‘mmm’ as he checked catering off the list. “That’s takes care of food,” he started with his mouth full, “next is…weather!”
Twilight looked down at her companion with an odd mix of disapproval and disgust, taking notice of his now distended belly. She sarcastically asked him, “You sure you had enough to eat, Spike? You maybe wanna go back for fourths?”
He impishly belched in her face. “Nah, I’m good. Hmm… Says here a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash is supposed to be clearing the clouds.”
The unicorn craned her head up to examine the sky. They were markedly not cloudless. She scowled and remarked, “Well, either this ‘Rainbow Dash’ is bad at her job or she’s just plain lazy. Let’s try to find a weather patrol station so I can file a formal complaint—”
“LOOOOOK OOOOUUUUT!”
Twilight spun to her rear and observed the rainbow-colored blur speeding toward her. Mere seconds foretold the difference between health and bodily harm. Her thoughts raced to find a spell. She concentrated power to her horn and settled for what she thought was appropriate: a simple force field that shielded herself and Spike. The rainbow-colored blur raced down through the air and, upon impacting the force field, bounced against it and sprang away. Its forward momentum shot, the blur briefly spiraled through the air before crash-landing into a mud puddle.
The rattled Spike voiced his astonishment. “W-What the hay was that?!?”
“If I had to guess…” Twilight trailed off, dissolving her barrier and turning to the puddle.
In it lay a cerulean-coated Pegasus pony whose mane and tail gleamed with virtually every color of the rainbow. The gleam, however, was subdued by the light brown muck that marred her form and wings.
Twilight and Spike walked over as she picked herself up out of the mud. “You okay?” asked the horned pony to the Pegasus, her tone only slightly condescending.
“Yeah, it’s all good,” she replied. Stepping out of the puddle, she vigorously shook herself off, and within moments the gleam had returned. “My descent trajectory was just off a little, that’s all.”
“I bet…”
“Nice reflexes there…uh…”
“Twilight Sparkle. And unless I’m mistaken, you’re Rainbow Dash?”
“The one and only!” Rainbow Dash boasted, puffing out her chest a little. “Heard of me, have ya? You want an autograph?”
“Hardly,” Twilight sneered. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping the sky clear for this evening?”
Rainbow Dash had apparently started doing push-ups when Twilight looked back at her. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to that as soon as I’m done practicing.”
“Practicing? For what?”
“The Wonderbolts, of course!” Rainbow zipped over to a nearby poster depicting a trio of Pegasi in flight suits and goggles. Sitting upright on the ground, she mimicked the pose they were striking on the poster. “The most awesome team of flyers in Equestria! They’re gonna be performing for the Celebration at sunrise, and I’ve gotta be in top form so I can show ‘em my stuff!”
Twilight brought a hoof to her mouth to muffle her giggling.
“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked Twilight with a raised eyebrow.
“If you can’t even keep the sky clear for one measly day,” Twilight explained, “how do you expect to impress the Wonderbolts?”
“Hey! I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat! Eight if I broke a sweat!”
Twilight scoffed. “Please. If it’s that easy for you, it must be easy for anypony.”
“Oh, yeah?!” Rainbow was up in the unicorn’s face in an instant. “Let’s see you do it then!”
“…Fine.”
My Little Pony: The Key to Friendship
~ Chapter 4: A Walk in Andante ~
For a moment, Twilight was unsure what had gotten into her. It wasn’t like her to try and belittle another pony like she did Rainbow Dash. Maybe it was the Pegasus’ deliberate avoidance of her Celebration duties. Maybe it was due to her apparent brashness and overconfidence that Twilight felt the need to knock her down a peg or two. Whatever the reason, Rainbow called her out, and it was time to stand and deliver.
Twilight called the Academia Keyblade into tangibility – a sight Rainbow Dash momentarily marveled – and looked to the clouds above. With the weapon hovering next to her, she manipulated the air around her and condensed it into a sphere of wind that floated at the blade’s tip. She took aim at one of the clouds…and fired!
The sphere whizzed upward into the sky like a cannonball and made direct contact with the cloud…
…pushing it away by a couple of yards.
Twilight’s jaw dropped. That spell should’ve dispersed the cloud into tiny white wisps. She glanced back at Rainbow Dash; she was suppressing giggles.
“Grrrr…!” The Keyblade wielder ignored the cyan Pegasus and took aim at another cloud, firing off a second blast of wind. Same result as before: it did little more than nudge the cloud forward a few feet. She tried again. And again. By the sixth attempt, Twilight was practically screaming in frustration. “C’mon, you stupid Key! Work already!” she growled, shaking the Keyblade like a flashlight with dying batteries.
Rainbow Dash walked up to the maddened mare’s side. “Want me to show you how it’s done?”
“I-I can do it! Maybe I’m using the wrong spell!” Taking aim once more, Twilight fired off not another sphere of wind, but a bolt of lightning.
It sailed through the air at ‘lightning speed’ and struck the cloud. This time, however, it didn’t move; rather, it absorbed the energy of Twilight’s spell and turned black.
“Uh-oh…” said Rainbow Dash, stepping away from Twilight as if she knew what was about to happen.
The electrical current swirled within the cloud for several seconds…before the cloud discharged it straight back!
Twilight’s body lurched a few inches off the ground as thousands of volts of electricity surged violently through her. The lightning strike left her with singed hairs, a messy mane and tail, temporary spasms, and smelling of cooked pony.
Rainbow Dash could no longer hold herself back and fell over onto the ground, laughing uncontrollably. Not ten feet away, Spike was laughing along with her.
Twilight staggered a bit as she tried to find her footing. She sent the Keyblade away and looked over the hysterical Pegasus with contempt. “Alright, Miss ‘Ten-Seconds-Flat’,” she sneered. “Think you’ve got what it takes to impress the Wonderbolts? Try me on for size.”
Rainbow’s laughing instantly ceased, and she shot Twilight a confident stare. She sprang to her hooves and pushed off the ground, leaving a rainbow-colored trail in her wake. Below, Twilight and Spike watched in complete awe as the winged pony darted from one cloud to another, clearing each one with a well-placed buck. So too did Twilight and Spike’s eyes dart about in their sockets as they followed Rainbow’s position in the sky. She moved so fast that Spike almost fell over dizzy.
“Loop-de-loop around and…!” Rainbow spiraled down through the last cloud as she came in for a landing before Twilight and Spike. “See? Ten. Seconds. Flat.”
“Wow…” Spike marveled.
Twilight was more envious than impressed however. “But…you barely did anything at all! Why didn’t it work for me?!”
“Uh, hello? Only Pegasi like me can manipulate the weather? Or did you sleep through that lesson in ‘Ponies 101’?”
Twilight’s mouth hung open. Of course she knew only Pegasi had a magical inclination toward the weather, but surely something as simple as cloud dispersal wasn’t beyond the capability of unicorns, let alone Keyblade wielders. Apparently she was wrong. She felt humiliated.
Thankfully, Rainbow Dash didn’t rub Twilight’s nose in it. “Ha-ha. You’re a riot, Twilight Sparkle. We should hang out some more after the Celebration. Show me some more of your cool Keyblade tricks.” And with another quick spiral through the air, the rainbow-maned Pegasus was gone.
“Whoa,” Spike continued to marvel. “Isn’t she amazing?”
“Yeah, amazingly obnoxious,” Twilight commented. She sighed. “I’ll be glad when this day is over. …Come on. We’re back near town hall. Let’s go see if the decorations are done.”
“Right behind ya.”
The walk back to town hall was, mercifully, without incident. No other ponies had stopped them to strike up a conversation, there weren’t any Heartless ambushes, and Twilight hadn’t seen hide or hair of that pesky pile of pony pep named Pinkie Pie. Perhaps the universe had gotten its fill of messing with Twilight for one day.
The two met Mayor Mare as they enter. “Ah! Hello again, Miss Sparkle,” the mayor greeted with a cordial smile.
“Hello, Mayor,” Twilight responded. “Thought I’d check in to see if—”
“Madame Mayor!” A voice from beyond the doors leading into the hall pavilion suddenly called out. “The decorations are fini! You may come in if you’d like!”
“Oh. Well, imagine that. Since you’re here, Miss Sparkle, why don’t we see the decorations together?”
“Heh. Sure.”
The three enter the great Celebration hall and are treated to a breathtaking sight. The pavilion was decorated from top to bottom in all manner of ornaments befitting such an occasion. Various banners of various designs hung from the walls and ceiling. Lengths of cornflower blue silk were draped across the upper-level balconies and mezzanines, punctuated by assorted gemstones and ribbons of gold. And everything glittered. It was the very definition of ‘picturesque’.
“Beautiful…” Spike crooned.
Mayor Mare chuckled lightly. “Yes, it is, isn’t it? Rarity certainly does top-quality work.”
Upon the platform at the far end of the hall stood a lone unicorn mare. Her coat was purest white, and her curly indigo mane and tail bounced lightly with each step she took. She was, by pony standards, quite beautiful. She trotted gracefully from one end of the platform to the other as she inspected her work, seeing the trio of Twilight, Spike, and Mayor Mare in the corner of her eye. “Très magnifique, wouldn’t you agree?” the unicorn asked the three.
“Oh, most assuredly, Rarity.” the mayor praised. “You’ve outdone yourself.”
“Hmm. You’re too kind, Madame Mayor.”
“Miss Sparkle, allow me to introduce Ponyville’s resident fashion designer: Rarity.”
“Hello,” said Twilight.
“Hi…” a love-struck Spike followed.
“Charmed,” Rarity returned with before regarding Twilight more closely. A high-pitched yelp escaped her lips.
Twilight jumped in surprise at this. “W-What?”
“Goodness, darling, what happened to you?! Your coiffure is a charred mess!”
Twilight ran a hoof through her mane and noticed she still had some burn marks from when she was hit by her own lightning spell. “Oh, this. Heh. It’s a little embarrassing, really; I’d rather not bore you with the details. I just came by to check on the decorations. I won’t keep you.”
“‘Keep me’?! Oh, perish the thought!” Rarity zipped to Twilight’s backside and goaded her forward. “Come, my dear, we’ll have you looking good as new in no time!”
“W-Wait! Where are we…?! S-Stop!”
“I bid you a good day, Madame Mayor! I’ll see you tonight at the party!”
“Good day to you too, Rarity! And thanks again for your help!”
“DON’T IGNORE ME! HANG ON A MINUTE!”
Twilight’s pleas fell on deaf ears all the way to Rarity’s home of Carousel Boutique. Once again, Spike was rendered useless by his infatuation with the ivory-coated unicorn.
Rarity found herself oddly fixated with Twilight’s mane, ever since she’d washed the black soot out of it. From its natural straightness to its sheen to the pink and purple highlights. So exotic, Rarity thought. She simply had to style it! She projected her magical aura on Twilight’s mane and quickly cycled through a number of mane styles that might’ve looked good. “No… No… Oh, heavens no… Ooh, how about a Prench braid? Braids are all the rage this season!”
Twilight groaned audibly at Rarity’s persistence.
“Has anypony told you, dear, that you have a lovely mane?”
“…Thank you?”
“Have you considered dyeing it a different color?” Rarity cast an illusion spell that gave Twilight’s mane and tail a drastically different color scheme. “Perhaps a nice off-white, with a streak of purple?” It changed again. “Or maybe a nice gradient of pink, blue, and violet? That would go just smashingly with your coat.”
Twilight’s patience ran dry. “I like my mane the way it is! Could we move on to more important matters please?!”
“Oh! Do forgive me, um… Twilight, was it? You were just telling me where you were from?”
“Ugh… As I was saying, I’ve been sent from Canterlot to— Aah!” The second that Twilight mentioned the Equestrian capital, she felt a harsh tug at her hair.
“CANTERLOT?!?” Rarity squealed with a muzzle-wide grin. “Oh, Canterlot is just THE place in Equestria to live! The glamour! The sophistication!! Princess Celestia!!! What I wouldn’t give to spend one day among the social elite!”
“It…isn’t really all that—”
“And the Royal Guard!” Rarity swooned. “Is there a group of stallions in all of Equestria more dashing, more gallant, more…studly?” Her tone had become low and sensual as she trailed off, and she appeared to blush.
“Uh-huh…” Twilight was tired of the conversation already. At her rear, Spike flexed an arm and hoped the Royal Guard wasn’t ‘ponies only’.
“You simply must tell me all about it over brunch sometime!” Rarity prattled on. “I can tell that you and I are going to be the best of friends!”
There was that word again. ‘Friends’. Twilight rolled her eyes. Princess Celestia’s heart was in the right place, she thought, but so far Twilight and these other ponies had nothing in common. Best of friends? She highly doubted it.
Rarity turned to head into the next room. “Now then, I have some very nice mane ties in my workshop. I think you’d look fabulous in a high ponytail. Be right back!” And she happily trotted off.
Twilight seized the opportunity. “Quick!” she cried to Spike as she made her escape toward the front door. “Before she turns me into one of her dress-up dolls!”
The lovesick dragon’s mind, however, was long gone. Twilight had to double back and yank him out of the Boutique by his tail.
…Now free of the unicorn fashionista’s clutches, Twilight finally had a moment to breathe easy. And vent. “UGGGHHHHH! Confound these ponies! I’d have been through the whole checklist by now if they weren’t all trying to make friends all day and wasting my valuable time!”
“Aw, come on, Twilight,” said Spike as he rode on Twilight’s back. “The princess said to make friends, and you’re not even trying.”
“I know, Spike,” she began in reply, “and while I appreciate Princess Celestia’s concern, me not making friends is not the end of the world. And besides, make friends with who? I dunno if you’ve noticed, but every pony in this town is insane! First there was Pinkie Pie, whose brain is probably made of saltwater taffy!”
“I thought she was kinda funny.”
“Then there was Applejack, who talked a mile a minute and practically force-fed me all that food!”
“Mmmm… I can still taste the apple fritters…”
“Next came Rainbow Dash, who’s got an ego as big as the sky! ‘Ten seconds’, my flank! I bet it was more like…twelve!”
“Were you even timing her…?”
“And finally, Rarity! Talk about pushy!”
“And gorgeous. Don’t forget gorgeous. …So what are you gonna do? Just give up? ‘Cause of a few excitable ponies?”
Twilight sighed. “I dunno. I don’t want to let Princess Celestia down, but…why couldn’t she have picked somepony else for this job?”
“‘Cause she trusts you,” Spike answered as he hopped off her back and walked around to her front. “Probably more than anypony else. And ‘cause she cares enough about you that she doesn’t want you to spend every waking moment studying. She worries about you, Twilight. …I do too.”
“Aw, Spike…”
“Just forget about your exam for now. Forget about stuff like the Heartless and Nightmare Moon, and focus on the Celebration. Princess Celestia gave us a job to do, so let’s make her proud, okay?”
Twilight smiled warmly at the little dragon. She leaned over to nuzzle his cheek. “When did my life get so nuts that I need a baby dragon to keep me grounded?”
“Hey, who’re you calling a baby?”
She laughed. On a day like today, Twilight needed a laugh. “What’s next on the list?”
“Music. It’s the last one.” Music (ha-ha) to Twilight’s ears. “…Promise me you’ll try to be friends with the next pony we meet?”
Twilight’s eyes rolled briefly, but she kept smiling. “Okay, Spike. I’ll try.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Twilight told herself she was through the worst of it. That it’d be nothing but smooth sailing from here to the library. She was still concerned about Nightmare Moon’s impending return a considerable deal, but in light of Spike’s advice, she decided to focus on the here and now. She was almost home free.
Besides, it was music. Everypony likes music, even the antisocial Twilight.
How bad could it possibly be?
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FORESHADOWING!!!
).
Also, shortest chapter yet, aside from the Prologue. A little ashamed by that, and I guess I could've worked in Fluttershy's debut, but that would've shortened the NEXT chapter a little. Chapter 5 to come in a few days (...if we're not all dead by then
I see a nod to the new duds scene in KH2. Magical clothes, my foot. He had the ability to use that second Keyblade all along.
Seems like Twilight still got her mane messed up be it from one way or another
now we just have to wait for her 'sleep deprivation'
Anyways I really like the story so far. keep up the good work.
Spells used this chapter:
Aero
Thunder
This is getting gooooood... My Moustache and me shall be watching this
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/239/933/63b.png
One question are all chapters going to be called after musics from KH OST?
1854373 Maaaaaaaaybe.
fluttershy sticks to her name she is shy