> Ponycare
>  by Bunnybooze79
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six o’clock in the morning.

A time where most ponies still slept soundly in their beds, save for only very few ponies that had duties to attend to at this time. The hospital staff for example would now be changing shifts.

One pony in particular now stirred and stretched her limbs out while waking up. 

Cyan colored limbs popped at full stretch. Wings unfurled as far as possible while lying in her bed. With a wide yawn Rainbow Dash sat up and rubbed her eyes with a hoof.

It would be surprising to some ponies that the rainbow maned weatherpony voluntarily woke up at this hour. Rainbow Dash had a reputation of sometimes being lazy and napping in the afternoons. What they didn’t know was that she took her job seriously. She was also in charge of coordinating the other ponies on her weather team. Thus she was always the first to be on duty and to take care of any sudden changes or emergencies. Be it taking care of the problem herself or dividing it up amongst the team.

Rainbow Dash was also very good at her job. Usually she was the first to clear up her sector of sky above Ponyville. With not much else to do she would then practice her moves or more often find a nice place to nap, catching up on the sleep she missed out on in the morning.

Getting up at this time did not sit well with Rainbow Dash’s current guest. On the other side of the princess-size bed a small purple tail could be seen sticking out from underneath the blanket. The rest was curled up into a ball and could not be seen, save for a small orange muzzle poking though. A cyan hoof carefully poked it.

“Come on, Squirt. Rise and shine.”

The muzzle retreated into the folds of blanket with a groan.

“You know the drill. Sleepovers at my place mean you also have to stick to my schedule.” Rainbow Dash began randomly poking the ball under the blanket, causing it to groan louder.

“Ten more minutes.” came a sleepy but annoyed reply.

“Fine, but as soon as I am out of the shower it’s your turn.” Rainbow Dash left her bedroom and made her way into the bathroom. She stood in her shower and gave the wall behind her a solid kick. Immediately a downpour of icy cold water washed over her. With a few smaller kicks she adjusted the temperature and thought about her current guest.

It had been the fourth sleepover over the weekend for Scootaloo at Rainbow Dash’s cloud-home. At first the mare had been unsure about letting anypony into her house, especially a high energy filly that had a knack for destruction. Her doubts of how to entertain the filly or how to deal with her soon evaporated into nothing. 

It turned out that they had way more in common than Rainbow Dash had thought. Scootaloo shared the love for movies that her idol had an extensive collection of. Even the more obscure foreign ones with ponies dressed up in rubber costumes pretending to be huge monsters that destroyed entire towns. Mecha-Luna vs The Space Griffons was her favorite thus far.

After a movie they would then play a few games if they felt like it. Scootaloo picked up on Battlecloud rather quickly and was becoming a serious opponent. While playing they would talk about anything that came to their minds. Rainbow Dash learned a lot about the little pegasus and enjoyed their time together. She was even looking forward to spending time with her, something that a year ago would have caused her to laugh at the pony who would have suggested such a thing.

Now she actually felt like a sister to the mare and she was beginning to love her role in Scootaloo’s life. She even had managed to get the filly to enjoy books thanks to a reading of Daring Do one evening. That was something she gleefully rubbed in Twilight’s face the next day, for managing something the librarian had thus far not achieved. 

Rainbow Dash stepped out of the shower and shook the water from her mane, tail and fur. Advantages of a home built of clouds were no puddles. She ran a hoof through her mane and left it at that. Anything else was a waste of time as it would just get messed up again at first flight. She brushed her teeth and made her way back to the bedroom. The ball was still under the blanket.

“Come on, Scoots. It’s your turn in the bathroom.” she said with another poke at the unmoving filly.

“Yeah, yeah.” the ball groaned and stirred to reveal a tired looking orange pegasus after a brief fight with the blanket. Still half asleep she trudged towards the bathroom. Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to finish her morning routine by preening her feathers. She had just finished one wing when the filly came back into the bedroom. After the shower she was now back to her usual cheerful self.

“Good morning Rainbow Dash!”

“Morning, Squirt. Ready for a fun filled Monday?” Rainbow Dash asked already guessing what the answer would be.

As predicted the filly rolled her eyes and groaned once more. “Yay…. Monday…”

The mare chuckled at the response, remembering her own intense dislike of Mondays when she was Scoots age. These days they didn’t seem so bad, but that was in large part due to her having a job she loved doing.

“Well, finish up with your wings and then we can have breakfast.” The filly nodded in response and walked over to her saddlebags in the corner of the room. 

Rainbow Dash checked her preened wing once more by carefully running a hoof over the feathers.

“Ok, I’m finished. What’s for breakfast?” Scootaloo asked after what could have been at most a minute. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“What? Already?”

“Yeah. I brushed them just now.” The filly replied holding up her brush that pegasi used for their feathers.

“Uhm… but you surely didn’t preen them properly.” Rainbow Dash folded her still extended wing back and turned around to face the filly. Scootaloo gave her an inquisitive look.

“What’s that?” she asked. The question surprised Rainbow Dash. Surely every pegasus knew what preening was. 

“Proper wingcare, Scoot. Nopony ever teach you that?”

“Nettie gave me this brush for my wings, but she didn’t mention anything else.” Scootaloo answered and held up her brush again.

Rainbow Dash sighed. The caretaker at the orphanage was a kind mare, but it seemed as if she did not know how to deal with the finer points of pegasus wings. She couldn’t blame her. Pegasi orphans were extremely rare outside of Cloudsdale and it was somewhat of a surprise that she even knew about the specialized brushes. Better late than never, Rainbow thought and decided to give Scootaloo a lesson in wingcare.

“The brush is good. That’s for removing loose feathers and straightening the others. Preening also involves you coating your feathers to make sure you don’t let any air escape between them.”

“Huh, well how do you do that?”

“Well you… lick them.”

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash for a few seconds with a blank expression. Then she broke into laughter. 

“You are just being silly.”

“No, seriously. Here let me show you something.” Rainbow Dash walked over to where the filly was sitting. 

She inspected her own unpreened wing for a moment and that found a feather that was about to fall out. Years of experience gave her a sharp eye for anything involving wings. With a small tug she plucked the feather out and loosely placed it amongst the already preened feathers of her other wing. Then she extended the wing towards the puzzled looking filly.

“See if you can feel a diffence.”

Shrugging the filly carefully ran a hoof over the outstretched wing. After only a few seconds she found the feather and knew what Rainbow Dash wanted her to find.

“It’s softer than the others.”

“That’s right. By preening them the barbs, that’s the fluffy outside, get hard and let less air get through. Like that we can push down harder on the air and get lift.”

“And you do that by licking them?”

“Well… it has more to do with our spit. Pegasus saliva is different than that of other ponies. The is some special oil mixed in with it that lets us take care of our wings in that way.”

“You are telling me that all pegasi are walking around with wings covered in spit?”

“Sounds kinda gross if you put it like that, but essentially… yeah you’re right.” Scootaloo looked at the still outstretched wing of Rainbow Dash and then at hers.

“Even Fluttershy?” she asked still not quite buying the idea of spit covered wings.

“Yeah, even Fluttershy. There are products you can buy that is very similar to the oil in our saliva, but it’s not the same thing. Trust me on this. As the best flyer in Equestria I’m telling you that you can’t beat that what nature gave us from the start. None of the Wonderbolts use any of them products either. It’s just for pegasi who don’t like the taste and feel of feathers in their mouth. Same goes for your brush. When preening you pull out any loose feathers and straighten the remaining ones at the same time.”

Scootaloo remained motionless for a while still staring at her wings.

“Ok. So how do I do it? Just lick them?” she finally asked having decided to try it herself.

“Well no, you just coat your lips with saliva and run the feather through your mouth. With your teeth you gently push down on it to straighten it and pull it out if it’s loose. Here let me show you.” Rainbow Dash carefully and deliberately slowly preened one of her larger feathers to show Scootaloo the movements. She had to bend her neck at an odd angle to make sure the filly saw what she was doing. After she had reached the tip the feather glistened with a fine shine. 

“Did you see that?” The filly nodded. “Then give it a try.”

Scootaloo concentrated for a moment gathering saliva. Then she picked out a large feather on one of her wings and clamped her lips over it. She used too much force and had too much saliva in her mouth. With a squelching sound she spat some of it out to the floor. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hehe, guess me calling you squirt was more fitting than I expected.” She earned a flat look from the filly who released her now soaked feather from her grip.

“That wasn’t funny.”

“Sorry. You’ll get the hang of it after some practice. Every pegasus has to learn how to do it properly. They called me Rainbow Drool before I got the hang of it. Err… don’t tell anypony about that.”

Scootaloo giggled at Rainbow Dash’s old nickname and tried it once again. After a few more tips from her mentor she slowly got the hang of it and was increasing the speed. The older Pegasus watched her for a while and then preened her own wing. They finished at about the same time.

“So… notice any difference?” she asked. Scootaloo moved her wings about a bit.

“They feel stiff.” she commented.

“You’ll get used to it. Oh and don’t preen in public, it kinda weirds other ponies out. Especially Rarity.” she said with a laugh. ”Come on let’s get some breakfast.” Rainbow Dash declared and led the way towards the kitchen.




_____________________________________________________________________





Once in the kitchen Rainbow Dash took a brief look at the clock. The lesson in wingcare had taken up more time than she had expected. Not enough time for cooking a large breakfast they had to make to with something quick and fast to make.

“Sooo… you have the choice. Dandelion Pop-Tarts, Dandelion Pop-Tarts or Dandelion Pop-Tarts. If you are feeling very adventurous maybe some Dandelion Pop-Tarts.” Rainbow Dash offered while Scootaloo hopped up onto a chair at the table. She then tapped her chin with a hoof in quiet contemplation at the plethora of choices before her.

“I think I’ll have a Dandelion Pop-Tart.”

“Good choice.” Rainbow Dash had already inserted the Pop-Tarts into the toaster and waited for them to finish.

“What else can you teach me about pegasi?” Scootaloo asked while waiting for food. Rainbow Dash suddenly found herself in the very unfamiliar position of being asked for knowledge on a subject. Luckily she knew a fair deal about pegasi.

“Well, what do you want to know?”

“Why can we fly? What’s the difference between a pegasus and an earth-pony? Apart from the wings I mean. Is there a difference?” Scootaloo asked eagerly awaiting both food and knowledge.

“Hmm. The wings are the most obvious difference of course, but there are more. We have more muscles than the other ponies for example, mainly because of our wings of course. But at the same time we are lighter than the others, because of our bones.” Scootaloo hung onto every word that left Rainbow’s lips. 

“They are lighter than the bones of other ponies thanks to being partially hollow. But that doesn’t make them brittle, far from it in fact. Our bones are a lot tougher than those of earthponies and unicorns alike. They need to be.”

“Why?”

“Because of all the crashing we do of course. Flying ain’t easy, Squirt. Sometimes you crash, but thanks to our bones we rarely get seriously hurt unless we do something really dangerous. And you have to be careful when using your wings around other ponies. They are really powerful and you could easily brake other ponies bones with them if you are not careful.”

The Pop-Tarts popped up in the toaster and Rainbow Dash carefully put two each on a plate. She handed one plate to the hungry filly and sat down on the opposite side of the table. They waited for them to cool down a bit and Rainbow Dash continued her story.

“There is one thing that really annoys the other ponies that pegasi do.” she said while smirking.

“What is it? Flying?”

“No that’s not it. We use up a LOT of energy by flying. More muscles need more energy. The side-effect being that we can eat way more stuff than the others and not put on any weight. The unicorns in particular really dislike that about us.” Rainbow Dash explained and couldn’t help but grin at the memory of stuffing her face with as much cake as possible at one of Pinkie Pie’s parties during which Rarity kept glaring daggers at her while daintily nibbling on a carrot. 

“You’ll never see a fat Pegasus.”

“The earth-ponies don’t mind?” Scootaloo asked and took a Pop-Tart into her hooves. She bit into it and immediately flinched as the burning hot filling made contact with her tongue. Her sudden movement made her lose the grip on the Pop-Tart. She watched as it simply fell through the floor made of clouds without any resistance.

“Guess that one is for the birds.” Rainbow Dash casually remarked while breaking one of her Pop-Tarts in half and sharing it with Scootaloo.

The filly looked back down to the floor and then around the kitchen.

“How come all the furniture stays up on the clouds?” she asked while carefully blowing on her half of the Pop-Tart to cool it down.

“They are enchanted with a permanent cloud-walking spell.” Rainbow Dash explained while taking a bite from her food and enjoying the sickly sweet aroma.

“Like the one Twilight used? So anypony could walk on clouds all the time?”

“Nah. It’s only permanent on objects. Living things can’t be permanently enchanted cause of their magic field or something like that. Twilight explained it to me, but I kinda forgot the details. Anyway about your question from before.” she shifted in her seat and took another bite of food.

“Earth-ponies don’t really mind, because they are almost always moving around. Think of AJ or Pinkie, those two are always active so they don’t put on any weight either. Unicorns are the lazy ones relying on doing things with their magic.”

Scootaloo thought about what Rainbow Dash had told her. It made sense to her in a way.

“Anything else about pegasi I should know?”

Rainbow Dash thought about it while chewing her food. She did not feel that Scootaloo should know about the average lifespan of pegasi, unicorns and earth-ponies yet. 

Of the three races pegasi had the shortest lifespan due to their high energy life. Their magic burned out quicker was the common phrase. On average it was ten years shorter than that of unicorns. Earth-ponies who were in constant contact with earth and only used their magic passively had the longest lifespan of the three races. Unicorns ranged wildly between the other two. Sometimes even surpassing that of earth-ponies and other times tragically not even reaching that of pegasi. Rainbow Dash swallowed her food and along with it the unpleasant thoughts about lifespans.

“Our fur is thicker to keep the cold at bay when we fly high or during the colder seasons. We have better hearing and eyesight than the others. Anything that somehow has to do with weather, you can bet that we have some kind of ability to deal with it. Even stuff like lightning can’t really hurt us much. The worst that will happen is a bit of singed fur. You can even take naps on storm clouds as you should know yourself.” Rainbow Dash looked over to the filly and raised an eyebrow. The filly sheepishly laughed at the memory of events from a few months ago. The older mare saw that the filly still seemed to be sorry about it and decided she should continue with her explanations. 


“Pegasi used to be the warrior race in history.” She could not help herself and just had to strike a dramatic pose as she said it. “Earth-ponies are stronger than us and unicorns have their magic, but we are faster and more agile. Plus the fact that we can fly of course, made pagasi the first line of defense in the old times. Commander Hurricane, the great Stormrider or Three-Legged Lightning to name a few.” She stopped when a thought occurred to her. 

“You have never been to Cloudsdale right?”

Scootaloo shook her head in response while eating up her last piece of food.

“Remind me to take you there some time. They have a really cool section in the museum about all those great ponies.”

“Wow, that would be really cool!” the filly jumped a bit at the thought of visiting Cloudsdale, with Rainbow Dash no less.

Finishing off her own last piece of sweet Pop-Tart, Rainbow Dash glanced at the clock. There was still enough time left to get Scootaloo to the orphanage to pick up her stuff for school, before she had to take care of Ponyvilles weather. Scootaloo grabbed her saddlebag from the bedroom and met Rainbow Dash in the living room. The mare had decided not to do the dishes for now and used the time instead to feed Tank. The tortoise smiled up at its owner while very slowly eating a lettuce leaf.

After a quick flight they were on the ground and now walking towards the orphanage. Rainbow Dash found herself more and more earthbound while doing stuff with her little sister. She didn’t even mind trotting along the hard ground, which was something else that had changed considerably in her life. Before she would hover around any chance she had and only reluctantly set hoof to the ground.

Scootaloo meanwhile was in deep thought about the stuff she had learned this morning. Then something occurred to her.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You just did, Squirt.”

“Ha, ha. No it’s about the preening.”

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“We preen. What do the others do?” she asked and looked up at the mare trotting beside her.

“Uh, what do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked unsure about the question.

“We do that to take care of our wings, right? Then what do unicorns and earth-ponies do? Or don’t they do anything?” Rainbow Dash had to mull the question over in her mind. The kid had a point.

“I don’t know. I guess unicorns do something with their horns. No idea what earth-ponies do. Sorry, Scoots.” The filly seemed to be a bit disappointed and that somehow did not sit well with Rainbow Dash. 

She had enjoyed being able to share her knowledge with the little filly and felt bad to let her down now. Before she could say anything further she noticed that they had arrived at their destination. Scootaloo turned to Dash and gave her a big hug that she gladly returned.

“Thanks for the awesome weekend Rainbow Dash! And for all the things you taught me this morning.” she said with another hug and skipped up into the orphanage.

“No problem, Squirt. Glad you had fun! See you later!” she waved as the filly disappeared into the house with a smile. 

With a powerful thrust of her wings she took to the sky and began her duties as weatherpony.




______________________________________________________________________





It would be only a short workday she figured as she looked over Ponyville. The schedule called for clear skied until middle of the week, so all that was to do was to clear any clouds away that had flown in from the Everyfree Forest. She bucked the first few clouds into nothingness all the while thinking about Scootaloo’s last question. What exactly DID the other ponies do? The best pony to ask would be Twilight, so she decided to ask her as soon as she had finished up with the weather. 

Her last cloud had been taken care of and Rainbow Dash took a moment to look around. Some distance away she could see Cloud Kicker do her name justice on a bank of clouds in her sector. Other than that the skies were clear for the day. She cast her eyes down to Ponyville. The first pony she saw was Derpy going about her rounds for the day. The mailmare slowly flew along the still rather empty streets, stopping every once in a while to put letters into the respective mailboxes. 

A familiar orange purplish blur caught her eye speeding along at an alarming speed. Rainbow Dash decided to intervene before Scootaloo would crash into something or somepony. It took more effort than usual to catch up to the filly riding her scooter.

“Slow down, Squirt!” she yelled when she was close enough. Using the brakes on her scooter the filly skidded to a halt just as Rainbow Dash caught up with her.

“Did you see, did you see? That was awesome!!” the filly bounced excitedly up and down in front of the puzzled mare.

“What do you mean?”

“Did you see how fast I was going? That preening totally gave me at least twice the speed I normally have!” she exclaimed while buzzing her wings. Rainbow Dash looked on in surprise at the height the filly had managed to hover. While not a great height it was considerably more than before.

“Huh, that was impressive Scoot. You got some good height just then.”

“Height? I was just speeding along on the ground.” it took a while for the filly to understand what Rainbow Dash had meant. Her eyes widened at a sudden thought.

“Do you… do you think I can fly?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Why not give it a try? Remember the things I told you about flying?”

The filly eagerly nodded and took up her flying position after taking off her helmet and saddlebags. After taking a few deep breaths she jumped up while trying to do the movements Rainbow Dash had taught her. It only took a few seconds before she slumped back onto the ground. 

“Ow. That was really hard.” Did I do any better? Rainbow Dash felt she had to be honest.

“Not really, Scoots. Actually it looked worse than when we tried before.” She tried to cheer the suddenly crestfallen filly up by giving her a friendly smile.

“It felt as if my wings were too heavy.”

“Hmmm, maybe it’s because you are not used to having so much resistance. Perhaps you need to build up your muscles first.”

Hope gleamed in the eyes of the filly before her.

“You really think that could be it?” she asked standing back up.

“Could be. How about I pick you up after school and we go and check it out?” she offered the filly.

“Really? Wow, thank you Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo’s spirits were raised once more. After having her mane tussled by the larger mare she happily sped off towards school, but not before promising to keep the speed reasonable.

Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to another task for this morning. She decided she would follow up on Scootaloo’s question from this morning and surprise her this afternoon with an answer. 

And for that she had to pay a visit to Twilight.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It only took two minutes to reach the library. Rainbow Dash could have been there sooner, but she took her time to think  on how to ask Twilight about the topic of personal grooming. Not everypony was comfortable talking about it she knew.

The sign on the library’s front door indicated that it was closed. Rainbow Dash had forgotten about the time, which was still early for most ponies. She knew that Twilight stayed up late night sometimes and that the library officially only opened at ten o’clock. Unsure if the unicorn was awake or still sleeping, Rainbow Dash decided not to knock and rather risk a look through the upstairs window. An all too familiar sight greeted her as she look inside. 

Twilight with a checklist. 

The lavender unicorn happily ticked something off on the checklist and opened a nearby cupboard. Rainbow Dash was just about to knock on the window when she saw what Twilight levitated out of the storage area. It looked like a scratching post for cats.

Intrigued by the unusual object Rainbow Dash perched herself on the windowsill and watched. Did Twilight have a cat now as well? Then why would the post be locked away in a cupboard? Was it for Spike maybe? Some strange dragon thing that he did? 

Her questions were replaced by even stranger ones when she saw Twilight begin rubbing her horn on the post. She seemed to be saying something, while rubbing it from all sides. Rainbow Dash looked around the room thinking she was maybe talking to some other pony or maybe Spike. Twilight was alone however and seemed oblivious to the pegasus perched just outside her window. 

As Twilight moved around the post her gaze shifted towards the window. Rainbow Dash could hear her surprised yelp from the outside and watched the unicorn jump away from the post and window with a startled expression on her face. It soon was replaced by an angry frown and she stomped her way towards the window. With a burst of purple magic she opened it.

“Rainbow! What are you doing outside my window?” she asked looking rather annoyed.

“Heh. Sorry Twilight. I wanted to knock, but you seemed to be enjoying yourself with that thing over there.”

“Hmpf. Well if you don’t mind, I would like to finish my horncare in private. I’ll meet you downstairs in a bit.” Before Twilight could shut the window, Rainbow Dash jammed a hoof in between it and the window frame. 

“Actually that’s exactly what I came over here to talk about.” she explained. Twilight looked at her confused for a moment.

“What? Why?” she asked and stepped away from the window. 

Rainbow Dash took that as an invitation and flew over to the strange post. It was about as high as a pony and had a really rough surface. Almost like a rasp or file. Twilight shooed her away from it before repeating her previous questions.

“Scoots had a sleepover at my place this weekend. By chance I found out this morning that she didn’t know about preening.” Rainbow explained while still eyeing the post.

“That’s caring for your wings and feathers, right?” Twilight asked rhetorically.

“I showed her how to do it properly. Then she asked me later what other ponies do. Figured if anypony could tell me it would be you.”

“You came here because you wanted to learn about ponycare? YOU came HERE to LEARN?” Rainbow Dash was slightly taken aback by the sudden enthusiastic glint in Twilight’s eyes.

“Uhm, yeah?”

Twilight was almost dancing on the spot out of joy to be able to teach one of her friends something new that they didn’t know. She loved teaching others, but sadly never really got the chance very often.

“Then I will help you on your quest for knowledge!” she proclaimed and eagerly awaited the first question Rainbow Dash might ask. The pegasus merely pointed with a hoof towards the post.

“What’s that thing?”

“That is a horn-filing post. Model T45b, first developed in Trottingham in the year…” Rainbow Dash held up a hoof to stop the flow of, in her opinion, unnecessary information. 

“Stick to the basics, Twilight. What were you doing with it?”

“Taking care of my horn. I do that about once a week, see here I even have a schedule for it in my calendar.” Twilight levitated the calendar towards Rainbow Dash. She casually glanced at it, but did a double take as she saw what actually was written there. Then she burst out laughing.

Confused Twilight turned the calendar towards herself and checked what she had written. Not noticing anything out of the ordinary she turned to look at the pegasus now lying on the floor laughing.

“What? What’s so funny?” she asked confused at what caused that reaction. Rainbow Dash needed a few moments to regain her composure. She sat up and was still grinning much to the bewilderment of the librarian.

“You might want to change the name you have given your activities here.” she said still sniggering.

“What? Why?” she glanced back at the calendar thinking she may have misspelled a word. 

“Horny Time. Nothing wrong with it.” Rainbow burst out laughing once more.

“I don’t understand. What is so funny?”

“Seriously, Twilight? Think about it.” Rainbow Dash said while wiping a few tears from her eyes.

It took far longer than Rainbow Dash had expected, but she knew that Twilight had finally understood what Rainbow Dash was hinting at when she suddenly blushed.

“Oh dear….forget everything that you saw.” she stammered and quickly hid away her calendar.

“I’ll try.” Rainbow said smirking. “So... about my question.”

Twilight cleared her throat and tried to forget the events from just a few seconds ago.

“Erm yes. As you know every pony has magic in their bodies and each of the different races can access this magic in their own ways.” Twilight turned on her lecture mode and forgot any past misunderstandings. She was in the zone as it were. Something that Rainbow Dash had dubbed the Twilight Zone.

“Earth-ponies have increased stamina and strength thanks to the magic. Pegasi use it to fly and walk on clouds. Unicorns have more influence over their inherent magic and can channel it via their horn into spells.”

She pointed at her horn and made sure Rainbow Dash was paying attention. To her surprise her momentary pupil was indeed following her every word. She suppressed a squee of delight. 

“In order for the magic energies to properly flow the unicorns horn must be… streamlined for the energies. If my horn would be chipped or uneven the energies would be diverted. That could result in a spell being cast with less efficiency or even not being able to be cast at all. In the worst case the energies would flow back giving the caster a very nasty headache.”

“So that’s why you rub your horn on the post. To get rid of any unevenness?” Twilight grinned as her pupil understood what she was teaching. “So every unicorn does that?”

“That is correct. How often depends on what kind of spell the unicorn uses. I use spells that do not necessarily have to be focused on a small point. So I do not have to constantly keep my horn as streamlined as others do. Rarity for example uses her magic for very fine delicate work. So I am guessing she will maintain it more often than I need to. Perhaps even daily I’m not sure.”

“Let me guess. You don’t really talk about it with others.” Rainbow Dash took a wild stab in the dark.

“It’s not really something one does in public or even talks about. Kind of a private thing.” Rainbow Dash was fully aware on how Twilight had emphasized the word private. She took the hint but chose to ignore it. There were still questions on her mind.

“So every unicorn has one of these posts?” she asked and pointed once again to said device.

“No. It’s more of a personal taste of mine. There are other hoofheld rasps and files. I just grew up with one of these and have used it ever since.”

“Hoofheld? Why not use magic?”

“Ah. Well… how do I put this.” Twilight thought of a way to explain it to her friend that she would understand. 

“When you close your eyes you can feel the wind rushing through your feathers right?” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“And if one of the feathers would be out of place or about to fall out you notice it, correct?”

“Yeah. The wind feels different then.”

“It’s the same with our horns. We pour our magic into the horn and can feel any damage or unevenness. Doing that we can’t use any other spells so we need to use or hooves or posts like this one. Some ponies can also specialize in doing it for others, but they are rare. For the most part we like to take care of it ourselves.”

“So you talking while rubbing on the post was some kind of spell?”

Twilight blushed again at Rainbow Dash’s question.

“Uhm… no. I was taught how to properly file my horn with the help of a nursery rhyme. I still use it.” She commented sheepishly.

Rainbow Dash decided not to push further and not to make fun of it. Twilight had been a great source of information and she needed just a bit more from her.

“Wow. That’s really cool for you telling me all that. I actually learned a lot already.”

Twilight beamed at her friend.

“One more question.” Twilight nodded at anticipation. Being a teacher was always so much fun. She briefly wondered if Rainbow Dash would mind if she gave her homework or maybe even a test later.

“Pegasi preen, unicorns are horny…I mean do their thing with the horn.” She couldn’t help herself from making that joke. “What do earth-ponies do?”

“Ah well, earth-ponies…they….hmmm…they do….” Twilight froze up in deep thought. Rainbow Dash slowly began to worry after a few minutes when her friend didn’t move a single muscle or seemed to breathe. She was just about to wave a hoof in front of her friends face, when Twilight looked back at her.

“I….don’t….know…” she said with horror in her voice.

Oh boy, Twilight Zone part two, Rainbow Dash thought and carefully stepped a few hooves back. She somehow knew what would most likely come next and wanted to be as close to the window as possible.

“But…I am bound to have books on the subject downstairs.” Here it comes…. “We could make a study-group and learn together. Doesn’t that sound like fun?!”

“Hehe…wow, would you look at the time. Listen, I really should get back to work, but you have seriously been a huge help to me. Thanks for the info!” Rainbow Dash said quickly and launched herself out of the window before Twilight had the chance to close it or grab her by the tail with her magic. She let out a sigh of relief when she reached what she assumed to be the limit of Twilight’s reach with her magic.

Twilight was a little disappointed at Rainbow Dash leaving so suddenly. It had been fun teaching her, but she understood that work came first. She glanced at the clock and realized there was some time left before she would open the library to the public. 

“Spike?” she called out as she left her bedroom and headed downstairs.

“Yes, Twilight?” the dragon replied sticking his head out of the kitchen.

“Drop whatever you are doing and help me with some books.” She asked and began searching the bookshelves for specific books.

“Why, what’s up?” he asked and walked up to the unicorn who already had a pile of books piled up next to her that were taller than the dragon.

“We still have time for a study session this morning.” the dragon groaned with displeasure. He really did not like Mondays.




___________________________________________________________________________





Rainbow Dash was hovering over Ponyville thinking about her next course of action. She could always come back to Twilight later, no doubt she would have found the answer to her question by then, but she also had the suspicion that if she hung around any longer she would have to take some sort of test. And Rainbow Dash did not like tests.

So an earth-pony it is.

Mentally she went through the list of earth-ponies she knew. The first one to pop into her mind was Applejack. 

With a goal set, she flew towards Sweet Apple Acres.

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

From afar she spotted the familiar figure of Big Mac as he walked amongst the orchards on the south field pulling a cart filled with empty baskets. Most likely he was just beginning his daily quota of bucking apple trees. With a flap of her wings Rainbow Dash adjusted her flight path and soon was hovering beside the large stallion.

“Heya, Big Mac.” She greeted. He nodded in response and stopped his journey amongst the trees.

“Do you know where Applejack is?”

“Eeyup.”

Rainbow Dash waited for a few moments after the monosyllabic answer. To describe Big Mac as a stallion of few words was an understatement. He rarely spoke any more then was needed from him. It was a quality that some ponies admired him for. Rainbow Dash was not one of them. Applejack told her that it was because he was shy, but the pegasus had trouble believing that. A stallion of his size had no need to be shy in her opinion.

“Could you tell me where she is?”

“Eeyup.”

Rainbow Dash’s patience was never something worth mentioning before, as it barely even existed. The last remnants of it were now rapidly vanishing. Before she could say anything he spoke up again.

“She’ll be in the farmhouse I guess. It’s her turn to be at the market today and she still has an hour or so to be there.”

With a thanks the Pegasus took to the skies once again. A new record, that was two sentences at once. 

The huge farmhouse loomed over her as Rainbow Dash landed at the front door. She never understood why the Apples did not rent out some of the rooms in the building. There was more than enough space for a dozen ponies or more in that house alone. If they put a few rooms in the barn as well they could easily house twenty or more ponies here. It seemed a waste somehow having all this space for just four ponies. Whenever she mentioned it to Applejack the farmpony would change the subject very fast or flat out ignore the question. Mentally shrugging Rainbow Dash knocked on the front door and entered.

A quick look around revealed nopony in the living room or the dining area. She heard noises from the kitchen and trotted inside. Granny Smith was just in the middle of rolling out some dough on the counter when Rainbow Dash came walking in. No doubt it would soon be some kind of apple themed delicious food later that day. An apple pie she guessed. The elder mare smiled as she saw one of her granddaughters friends walk in.

“Hello there youngin’. What brings ya around these parts today?”

“Hi, Granny Smith. I was just looking for Applejack. Do you know where she is?” The normally brash pegasus always felt the need to be polite around Granny Smith.

“Oooh, she’ll be upstairs in her room. Been there all morning.” The mare replied and coated her rolling pin with flour. With practiced moves done hundreds of times in the past she continued thinning the dough in front of her.

“Thanks!” Rainbow Dash left the house again. She could have walked up the stairs to Applejacks room, but the narrow stairway and rather low hung ceiling always gave her a touch of claustrophobia. So she opted to use the window which was more her style. She was outside already and did not hear that Granny Smith forgot to mention something important.

“Oh, she said she did not want to be disturbed. Eh? Youngin’?” 

The old mare shrugged and figured that Applejack wouldn’t mind if one of her best friends would disturb her. Whistling a tune she turned her attention back to the dough in front of her.



A couple of days from now, a future Rainbow Dash would lie on a cloud over Ponyville laughing at the memories of today’s events. She had a fun morning with Scootaloo, got a few laughs from Twilight and what she saw in Applejack’s room when she flew up to peek inside the open window had nearly made the top of the list of memorable moments for that day. Her initial reaction to the sight before her had been one of confusion. She even thought for a moment she had flown to the wrong window and the Apple’s had indeed rented out some of the rooms. That thought went out the window immediately after seeing that it indeed was Applejack in the room. Rainbow Dash’s jaw nearly became unhinged as it dropped open.

Applejack was standing in front of a mirror, which as such would be nothing worth mentioning. She was however wearing one of Granny Smith’s old dresses. The brown hat she usually wore had been replaced by a bonnet. Her golden hair was stuffed into said bonnet with a lock of it reaching down to her eyebrows. The entire look must have been out of fashion for at least five decades. What sent Rainbow Dash over the edge and howling with laughter were the attempts at a gallant walk by the farmpony.

Applejack was not the most graceful of ponies to put it mildly. So her attempts at trying to walk like a model at a fashion show were pretty much doomed from the start. She stumbled a few times over her own hooves and muttered curses under her breath. Hearing the sudden laughter from an all too familiar voice caused her to trip and fall flat on her face. After regaining her senses she immediately jumped to her hooves and lurched to the window.

“YA DIDN’T SEE NOTHIN’! SCRAM!” she yelled, slammed the window shut and drew the curtains.

Rainbow Dash had to land. Laughing and flying at the same time was too much of an effort at that time. By the time she had calmed down and wiped the last tears from her eyes she saw the farmpony hurrying out of the front door. This time wearing her usual outfit plus a blush that rivaled that of Twilight’s earlier that day.

“Hey AJ! Wait up!” Rainbow Dash said and caught up to her friend.

“Ah said ya were supposed ta scram!” she growled while not looking at the cyan pegasus hovering beside her.

“That was an interesting sight just then. I wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that invite we got from Princess Celestia would it? That party thing at the end of next month.” The pagasus said with a sly smile while trying to make eye contact with the orange mare. Applejack avoided her gaze and kept looking straight ahead.

“Maybe. And maybe it’s none of yer business.” She huffed and picked up the pace. The farmpony tried her best to ignore the snickering cyan mare and began to prepare her cart for the market.

“I actually have a question for you AJ.” Rainbow Dash decided to cut to the heart of the matter before Applejack would chase her off. 

“About what?”

“Grooming.” Applejack dropped the basket she had held in her mouth and turned to the Pegasus with an annoyed frown.

“Did Rarity send ya over with that? Well ya can tell her that my mane does not need anythin’ done to it, alright?! ‘Sides yer hardly the one to give me groomin’ tips.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow asked offended. 

“I fly around at record breaking speeds. Of course my mane will look a bit ruffled. And no that was not what I mean’t.” she ran a hoof reflexively through her mane not really improving its wild state.

“Out with it then.” Applejack demanded and continued loading up her cart with baskets full of apples.

“Yeah, ok. What do you lick or rub?”

“Excuuuuse me? What kinda question is that?” the blush returned to her face. Rainbow Dash grinned at her little payback for the side remark about her mane.

“Yer time’s up. No more questions!”

“Nononono. Sorry. Look that sounded kind of strange so let me ask you differently.” Applejack ignored the mare and strapped herself in front of the now loaded cart. With a grunt she began moving towards Ponyville’s marketplace. Rainbow Dash hovered along beside her trying to explain what she really wanted to know.

“You know that pegasi preen themselves right? To take care of their feathers and wings?” she received no answer from the still frowning farmpony. She decided to continue.

“And I asked Twilight this morning about what unicorns do about their horns. She explained it to me that they need to keep it in shape and such so that their spells works properly. My question to you is what do earth ponies do?”

“Why do ya wanna know?” the earth pony in question replied, but still kept her eyes on the road. At least her frown had lightened up.

“I had Scootaloo over this weekend and found out this morning that she didn’t know about the preening and stuff. So I showed her, then later she asked me what the other ponies do. I didn’t know so I decided to ask around.”

Applejack’s last remnants of a frown disappeared once Rainbow Dash had explained what it was all about. 

“That’s a mighty nice thing yer doing for the filly. Tell me, how are ya two gettin’ along?”

“She’s a lot of fun. Never thought I would enjoy hanging around with a filly, but’s she is really cool.” Rainbow Dash replied without any sarcasm in her voice.

“Glad ta hear that, RD. Them little fillies do grow on ya don’t they.” Applejack smiled at her friend, glad the way things were going for her and Scootaloo. Especially after what happened a while ago.

“And ya really went ta Twilight? How’d that turn out?”

“It was...... interesting. I bailed when she got that look in her eyes and talked about a study group.”

“Can’t say that Ah blame ya. That one does get a little crazy sometimes.” Rainbow Dash chose not to comment on that and they made their way side by side for a few moments in silence. Applejack was seemingly lost in thought.

“Well Ah don’t know what ta answer to yer question. Ah can’t really think of anythin’ special that Ah do. Ah take care of mah hooves and sometimes go to the spa for a massage.” she finally answered.

“Nah, that’s something that most ponies do. There isn’t anything really unique that you do?”

“Ah am a very heavy sleeper, if that helps ya any. Sometimes ya can’t wake me up if ya tried. Entire family in fact are heavy sleepers.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head at that information, but mentally took note of it for possible future pranks, like painting a mustache on her friends muzzle.

“That won’t be it either. Thanks AJ.”

“Yer welcome. And say hi from Scootaloo from me.”

“Will do.” Rainbow Dash replied and took once again to the skies leaving the farmpony go about her business. 




_________________________________________________________________________





A rumble of her stomach halted any further ideas of asking around for answers. The one and a half Pop-Tarts that morning were hardly enough to keep her hunger in check. She happened to be flying above Ponyville’s sweet shop and decided to have a quick snack before visiting the market.

Ponyville had two go to spots for sugary treats. One was Sugarcube Corner that specialized in baked goods of all kinds. The second was Bon Bon’s Sweets who specialized in chocolates, taffy, gumdrops, candy and many other things. Both shops had their little niche in Ponyville and flourished accordingly. 

At this time the sweetshop was empty. Once school was finished it would no doubt be swarmed by little ponies hankering for a delicious portion of sugary goodness. 

Rainbow Dash entered and saw the shop’s owner carefully stacking chocolate coated truffles into a neat pyramid shape. The beige mare looked up from what she was doing when she heard the bell above the door chime.

“Rainbow Dash! Nice to see you. I’ll be right with you.” She greeted cheerfully and let Rainbow Dash browse the selection.

While not much of a sweet tooth the pegasus could not deny herself a sugary treat every once in a while. She had just made her selection when Bon Bon stepped behind the counter.

“Found anything you would like?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a banana-flavored chocolate-covered crunchybar.” she said and pointed at the confection of her choice. 
Bon Bon took the bar out of the display case and hoofed it over to Rainbow Dash.

“That’ll be three bits.” 

Rainbow Dash payed for her snack and took a big bite of it. As always Bon Bon’s art of sweet-making made her smile. The crunchy chocolaty goodness made her taste buds sing with delight. Bon Bon beamed a satisfied smile at yet another happy customer and Rainbow Dash made her way towards the exit. Then a thought occurred to the Pegasus as she took another bite. 

Bon Bon is an earth pony! And she lives together with Lyra who is a unicorn! So she is bound to know about how they file their horns and can possibly answer the earty-pony question.

“Say Bon Bon, do you mind if I asked you a question?”

The mare in question looked happily at her customer expecting a question about her prowess regarding to sweets. 

“Sure.”

“It’s kind of a personal thing though.”

Intrigued Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. 

“No problem. Fire away.”

“You know that thing unicorns do with their horn?” Rainbow asked and finished off her last bit of crunchybar. Bon Bon gave her an unsure look.

“Yeeess? Why do you want to know about that?” she asked not quite sure where this discussion would be heading.

“Oh I don’t. I know all about what unicorns do with their horns.”

“How do you know that?”

“Twilight showed me. She does it once a week you know. Even puts a marker for it in her calendar.”

“Really? That sounds kind of boring, what about being lost in the moment?” Bon Bon’s trail of thought was heading into an entirely different direction.

“Huh? I don’t know. Every pony is different right?”

“Yes, I guess that is true. So Twilight, huh? Could have guessed. If you don’t mind me saying, you do seem to be rather open about this subject.” Bon Bon remarked and tilted her head in thought.

“I know that ponies don’t talk about it much. But we are friends right? And we are alone so nopony else can hear us.”

“It’s just so sudden quite frankly. Out of curiosity what do you do? I mean I know what pegasi do, I was just wondering if you do anything different in particular.” Bon Bon asked and leaned on her counter. Rainbow Dash assumed she was talking about preening.

“Nah, same as any other pegasus. Just lips, tongue and plenty of saliva.” Rainbow Dash was somewhat surprised at the fact that Bon Bon knew about pegasi wingcare.

“Oh and sometimes my hooves of course for the tricky bits.”

“Not so much different than that what I do.” Bon Bon said more to herself.

“Really?” Rainbow’s ears perked up. “Do you think you could tell me more about how you or should I say earth-ponies do it? I have been trying to find out for ages.” 

In truth it only had been a couple of hours, but it seemed far longer to the cyan mare. Bon Bon shifted behind the counter uneasily. 

“Why ask me?” 

“Well I asked Twilight about it, but she didn’t know. Then I went to Applejack, but she doesn’t know anything about that stuff at all.”

“No surprise there.” Bon Bon remarked under her breath.

“And I could ask Pinkie, but I have the strange feeling that might turn into something really weird.”

“Could be fun.” Bon Bon casually replied.

“Could be. Knowing Pinkie she would want to show me immediately and I don’t really want to end up covered in sticky stuff again so soon.” Rainbow Dash said thinking back to the time she had asked Pinkie on how she managed to get the frosting on her cupcakes so even every time. That particular event had left Rainbow Dash picking frosting out of her hair for the rest of the day.

“Well I see no problem in telling you. Why do you want to know?”

“It’s a surprise for a friend.” Rainbow Dash said and eagerly leaned forward awaiting her answer.

And Bon Bon told her. Bon Bon told her in graphic detail. 

While somewhat interesting it was most certainly not the answer Rainbow Dash had been searching for.


For once it was Rainbow Dash who had a fierce blush on her face when she left the sweet shop a few minutes later.


“That discussion turned seriously wrong at some point.” she said to herself and took off.

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

To take her mind off the previous discussion with Bon Bon, Rainbow Dash decided to get her grocery shopping over and done with. The marketplace was already bustling with ponies selling and buying wares of all kinds. With practiced speed she sped from one stall to the next and refrained from any smalltalk with any of the ponies there. Rainbow Dash never liked having to go shopping all that much. Being stuck in between other ponies and not being able to simply fly really wore her patience down. The no fly rule over hte marketplace during market hours also did not sit well with her.

After having cleared away her groceries back in her home she made herself a salad and sat in her kitchen eating it while watching Tank fly about in her living room. She would have to take him out later for a short fly in the park, but that could wait until the evening. For now she still needed an answer and time was beginning to run out. 

A glance at the clock confirmed her thoughts. School would be over for today in just under two hours. She placed her salad bowl into the sink and gave it not another thought. Housework could wait until tomorrow. With a full belly she left her home and took course towards Ponyville’s park.


Her best bet at getting answers would be to fly back to Twilight, but that would no doubt lead into a lengthy discussion. Something that she wasn’t in the mood for. Down below she spotted the familiar shape of Fluttershy who was leading a family of ducks to a nearby pond. Rainbow Dash dismissed the idea of asking her about the burning question on her mind. The timid pegasus was very uncomfortable talking about nearly everything and would no doubt prefer not to discuss such a topic with anypony. 

Rainbow Dash thought about flying back to the market and asking Daisy or maybe Rose, possibly the spa sisters although they would most likely have to deal with customers right now. In the corner of her eye the pegasus saw a bouncing pink shape merrily making its way across a field.

Why not? It couldn’t get any weirder than what Bon Bon had said.

With a sigh she altered her course and flew down to intercept the bouncing shape of Pinkie Pie.

“Heya Pinks!” she greeted her friend and landed in front of her.

“Hi Dashie! Whatcha doing?” the partypony now bounced in place and beamed at her friend. 

“Are you gonna do any new tricks? Can I watch? I am on my lunch break right now so I could totally cheer you on.”

“Thanks Pinkie, but no. I actually have a question for you.”

“Ooooh….are we playing a game? Who gets the most right answers? Or is it a riddle? I am super good at solving riddles!”

Rainbow Dash began regretting asking Pinkie Pie about it, but decided to see it through to the end.

“No,no nothing like that. Do you know what pegasi do with their wings and feathers?” This time she would be more descriptive about the question so as to avoid a similar situation like with Bon Bon earlier.

“You mean preening?” Pinkie asked back and stopped bouncing for a moment.

“Uh…yeah. You know what preening is?”

“Of course! You coat your wings with your saliva and at the same time remove any loose feathers.” The partypony was still beaming at Rainbow Dash who for once was suddenly at a loss for words.

“Hey, do you think Spitfire from the Wonderbolts got her name because she always eats really spicy stuff and when she preens her wings they start to burn like fire?”

Rainbow Dash decided to derail Pinkie’s train of thought and change the subject before it got any weirder. 

“Don’t know about that. Uhm… Do you know what unicorns do?”

“Yeah! They have to file their horns to keep the energy flowing properly.” Pinkie answered without even having to think. Rainbow Dash suddenly began to feel hope for finally finding her answer.

“Then what do earth ponies do?”

Pinkie just stared at her for a moment. Rainbow Dash felt her hope slowly fading away of maybe getting her answer. Perhaps there simply wasn’t an answer.

“Oh you mean the Running.” Pinkie chimed up again and instantly hope came flooding back.

“The Running?”

“Yeah….you know the Running!” to emphasize Pinkie began running circles around the pegasus at a ludicrous speed. With a screech of her hooves on the ground she stopped in front of Rainbow Dash and gave her a big smile. 

“See? Running!”

“Why?” was the only question that now popped into the cyan mare’s head. Pinkie rubbed her chin with a hoof before answering.

“Well….every once in a while an earth pony will suddenly get the urge to run really really fast and long. They do that until they have no energy left and can’t do anything then anymore except to sleep. When they wake up they are full of energy again!”

“That’s it? They get exercise and a good nights sleep?” Rainbow Dash began questioning the pink pony’s explanation. It didn’t sound all that special to her.

“Think of it like a magic crystal that’s charged with energy. If you want to have it recharged you first have to empty it completely, only then can you fully charge it again. It’s the same with earth ponies and their magic. And it’s a really really deep sleep. You don’t even dream when you sleep that deep. HeeHee…deep sleep, deep sleep, deep sleep. I bet I can make a song out of that.” 

Rainbow Dash had to admit that sounded somewhat believable and interrupted Pinkie before she could brake out in song.

“So all earth ponies get the urge to run a lot suddenly?”

“Ha ha, no silly. Then you would have seen them by now right?” Rainbow Dash chose to ignore being called silly. 

“It’s an old name. Earth ponies used to gather in groups for the Running waaaaaaaay back in the old times. Now we only run together during the running of the leaves. Or when there is a super special super sale at Sugarcube Corner. And I don’t even need to go running every few weeks because I am always bouncing, jumping, skipping and hopping all the time anyway. So in the evening I always fall asleep with no energy left and the next morning I bounce out of bed fully charged.” Knowing Pinkie she meant the bouncing out of bed part literally. 

“So if an earth pony does a lot of work that uses up their energy anyway, they wouldn’t need to go for a run? Somepony like Applejack for example?”

“Yeah! She is always working really really hard on the farm. So I bet she uses up a lot of energy and can sleep really deep.” Pinkie Pie began bouncing again happy that her friend understood what she had said.

So Applejack had actually given me the answer as well, but just didn’t know that her heavy sleeping was her recharging her magical energies. Rainbow Dash focused back to the joyous pony in front of her. 

“How do you know that stuff?” she just had to ask. Of all ponies she had not reckoned with Pinkie being the one to answer her question.

“Eh. Common knowledge I guess.” She simply replied with a casual wave of her hoof. Rainbow decided to leave it at that and not to ask any further.

“Thanks a lot, Pinkie! You have really been a great help.” Rainbow Dash meant it with all her heart and gave Pinkie a large smile. It was instantly returned by the pink pony.

“A smile is the best reward.” she said and merrily continued her way across the field while humming a cheerful tune.

Still smiling Rainbow Dash took off and headed towards Ponyville’s school. 

This is going to be awesome!




_________________________________________________________________________





Rainbow Dash paced about in front of the school anxiously waiting for the bell to signal the end of the day. She was armed with knowledge you could not wait to pass what she had learned on to her number one fan. Her ears perked up when the bell rang and she stopped her pacing.

Soon the colts and fillies began pouring out of the building, glad to be done with work for the day. Scootaloo left the building together with her best friends Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom chatting about cutie marks no doubt and what they would be doing for the rest of the day. The orange pegasus saw Rainbow Dash sitting outside the school perimeter and happily waved to her. She said goodbye to her friends once they passed the gate and trotted up to the waiting mare.

“Hey Squirt! How was school?”

“Meh, Monday….” She replied with a smile.

“Guess what? I know what unicorns and earth ponies do!” Rainbow Dash took a heroic pose and was ready to tell the filly everything she now knew.

“Oh? Yeah, I know all about that now too.” the filly answered. 

“Huh? But how?” Rainbow’s enthusiasm melted away like ice cream in the sun.

“I was talking to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom during our break about what you taught me this morning. Sweetie Belle then told us about what she does with her horn and that Rarity even does that every day during the week. Anyway… Cheerilee overheard us and decided to skip history class for a lesson about ponycare. She told us about how earth ponies need to expend their energy to fully recharge during their sleep. He he… and I totally freaked out Diamond Tiara after we learned about preening by putting my wing on her back.”

“Awww… I was about all morning learning that stuff as well to surprise you with it now.” Rainbow Dash huffed and let her head hang. She had really wanted to impress the filly with knowledge and that little bubble had now been burst.

“Really? You spent all morning learning that stuff for me?” the filly asked surprised. She knew that Rainbow Dash was not all too fond of learning. The older mare simply nodded still looking rather gloomy.

“Wow! I never had anypony to something like that for me before. Thank you Rainbow Dash. That’s really awesome!” She gave her idol a quick hug and a huge heartfelt smile. Instantly Rainbow Dash’s gloominess vanished at the sight. Whaddya know, Pinkie is right again. A smile is the best reward.

“Wouldn’t do it for anypony else. Sooo… ready to head to the doc to ask about your wings?” Rainbow asked and tussled the filly’s mane.

“Yeah. Let’s go!”




___________________________________________________________________





Rainbow Dash led the way towards Ponyville’s hospital with Scootaloo following closely behind on her scooter. She kept an eye on the filly to make sure she didn’t speed to fast. After a few brief minutes they reached their destination. Rainbow led the way inside.

Thankfully the waiting area was empty. Behind the reception desk nurse Redheart was reading a few medical reports. She looked up when the two pegasi stood before the desk.

“Hello Rainbow Dash. Can I help you?” she asked in a friendly tone.

“How’s it going Red?” the cyan mare replied. Due to her frequent injuries sustained during her stunts she was well acquainted with the hospital staff. 

“Is there a doctor free at the moment?”

“Wow, this is a first! Normally when you need to see a doctor you are brought in via a stretcher.” Redheart said with an amused smile.

“It’s not for me. It’s for her.” Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof at the filly beside her. Redheart looked at the filly with worry in her eyes.

“Oh dear! What’s the matter? Are you hurt?” she asked concerned and was about to leave her position at the desk to examine the filly herself. For all sarcastic remarks towards Rainbow Dash, she was a very caring nurse that took the wellbeing of every pony seriously. 

“Nothing wrong with her. It’s just that we need some answers to a couple of pegasi related questions.” 

Redheart looked relieved and gave Scootaloo a smile.

“Doctor Stable is on duty at the moment. Take a seat in examination room A and he will see you shortly.” Redheart said and pointed towards the mentioned room. The pegasi thanked her and entered the small room. Then they played the age old tradition that was the waiting game or otherwise known as counting seconds.

Rainbow had reached number three hundred forty six when the doctor entered. 

“Hello Rainbow Dash. And hello young Scootaloo.” He shook both their hooves and sat at the single wooden desk in the room. 

“What brings you here today?”

“You know about preening Doc?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes I do. Does either of you have a problem preening?” he asked mentally going through possible afflictions.

“I just learned about it today.” Scootaloo began while being a bit embarrassed about it. 

“When I got on my scooter later I could build up way more speed. Then we tried to see if I maybe could fly, but it was really difficult to move my wings in that way and it kinda hurt as well.”

“Hmmm…” the doctor scratched his chin in thought. “I think it’s best if you show me.”

He stood up and circled around the desk. His horn began to glow in a light blue aura which he extended to the filly sitting in front of him. Scootaloo felt the magic cover her back and the base of her wings. It felt warm and wasn’t unpleasant just unfamiliar. Then it slowly spread over her chest and lifted her up a few inches above the ground.

“Ok. Now pretend you are riding your scooter. Don’t worry nothing will happen while I hold you with my magic.”

Scootaloo immediately began buzzing her wings, but did not move anywhere. Behind her Rainbow Dash stood with her mane blowing in the wind that the filly stirred up.

“That’s good, now try your movements for flying.” he instructed.

Scootaloo only managed four flaps before her wings became too heavy and a nasty pain began to form in her back. He gently let her back down to the floor and trotted over to the large bookshelf on the far wall. Rainbow Dash gently rubbed the filly’s aching back with a hoof hoping to massage the pain away a bit. Scootaloo smiled at the gesture and did indeed feel better because of it.

A few minutes passed while the doctor consulted a few books. He finally closed the last one he had been reading and smiled at the waiting pegasi.

“Well considering the situation I would say everything is in order.” Scootaloo looked to Rainbow Dash for an explanation, but she merely shrugged.

“What do you mean Doc? Why does it hurt when she tries to fly?”

“Seeing as she only started preening today, her flight muscles are underdeveloped. Not all of them, otherwise she would not be able to ride her scooter the way she does. Unfortunately by using only those muscles the others are nowhere near the growth that they should be for a filly her age.”

Rainbow Dash looked worried while Scootaloo was already reckoning with the worst news.

“So… so I won’t be able to fly?”

“Well no. Not at the moment or anytime soon that is for sure.”

“But she could fly someday?” Rainbow Dash asked with hope. The filly at her side seemed not to be all that optimistic.

“Yes, most certainly. All she must do is build up the muscles she has neglected.” In an instant Scootaloo’s head shot up, ears perked. A smile began to slowly form on her lips.

“You mean I WILL be able to fly?”

“Absolutely. I can set up a training schedule for your wings if you wish. It is important to first build them up when your wings are unpreened. The resistance is too much for them at the moment. Once they are stronger you can then train them with preened wings.” He smiled at the filly. The smile she was now wearing was infectious.

“So I will be flying in a few days?” she beamed again with newfound hope.

“Erm…no it will take longer.”

“A few weeks?” The doctors smile began to fade. “Months?” now her smile began fading as well.

“Seeing that you have never used those muscles much before and would only now start training them….” He trailed off a bit. Giving bad news to patients was never easy and was worse when it involved fillies or colts.

“You have to reckon with two or three years. Maybe longer I’m afraid. You have to catch up on a lot of lost time. Do you want me to set up a training program for you?” he asked the now sad pegasi who let her head hang low with ears folded down.

“I got this Doc. I know what to do and will help her.” Rainbow Dash answered instead of Scootaloo, seeing that she wasn’t in the mood for talking.

They said their goodbyes to the doctor and nurse Redheart while leaving the hospital. Scootaloo still seemed utterly disappointed at the news. Rainbow Dash did not like seeing her sad so she felt the need to cheer her up.

“Cheer up, Squirt! He said you will be able to fly eventually!”

“In a few years….” She sadly muttered.

“Meh, so what? With me as your personal coach we will cut that time in half I’m sure.” She put herself in pose and beamed at the filly. A small glint of hope shimmered in the eyes of Scootaloo.

“Really? You would do that for me? Be my coach and help me with it?”

“You betcha Scoots. I AM your big sister after all.” She playfully nudged the filly in the side causing her to giggle.

“What if he is wrong?” doubts still plagued her mind. “What if I can’t fly after doing all that training?”

“Bah! That isn’t the right attitude kid. Come on! Let me hear you say it!”

“I will fly.” She said meekly.

“Nah, you can do way better than that. Louder!”

“I will fly!” she said with a bit more conviction.

“I can’t hear you! I must have left the filly that would cheer for me so loud you could hear her in Canterlot back in the hospital somewhere.”

“I will fly!” she said again this time puffing her small chest out and raising her head.

“Must be around here somewhere….I thought I just heard her.”

“I WILL FLY!” Scootaloo yelled with a wide grin on her face.

“There she is! And you bet Squirt, YOU WILL FLY!” Rainbow Dash yelled and held out her hoof.

“YEAH! I WILL FLY!” Scootaloo bumped the offered hoof with her own and buzzed her wings with newfound vigor.

“KEEP IT DOWN OUT THERE!” they heard nurse Redheart yell from inside the hospital. Still grinning they quickly left the hospital grounds and turned towards Ponyville’s center.

“Thanks Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo said while scooting along at a very relaxed pace keeping up with the slowly hovering cyan pegasus beside her.

“What for Scoots?”

“Doing so much for me. It really means a lot to me.” She said at the risk of being called sappy.

“Hey, what are sisters for.” Rainbow Dash replied with a big smile.




____________________________________________________________________





They casually sped along the road past Rarity’s Carousel Boutique as an idea entered Rainbow Dash’s mind. She toyed with it for a moment and with a devilish grin she turned to Scootaloo.

“What is it?” she asked and found herself mimicking her idol’s smile. Something about the mischievous twinkle in Rainbow’s eyes caused the fillies lips to curve upwards without even knowing what she was thinking about.

“I have an idea.” Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-air and rubbed her front hooves together. “A really good idea. Wanna help?”

“You bet! What do you have in mind?” Scootaloo stopped her scooter and looked up to the mare still hovering and looking more and more like a villain out of a Sunday morning cartoon.

“Wait here! I just have to get something first. Oh this is going to be good.” With those words she took off like a rocket leaving a still grinning Scootaloo standing in the middle of the road near Carousel Boutique.

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ten minutes had passed before Rainbow Dash returned. Scootaloo hopped up to her hooves and buzzed her wings in excitement. She raised an eyebrow when she saw what Rainbow was carrying in her mouth, a silver can of something and a brush.

“What’s that for?” she asked and pointed a hoof at the objects in question.
“Are we going to paint her house?”

“Nothing like that.” Rainbow replied after setting the objects down. “You said Rarity does her horn thing every day?”

“Sweetie Belle told me about that. Every day after she closes her shop.”

Rainbow Dash glanced over to the clock tower in the distance. Thanks to her excellent eyesight she could she that is was five minutes to four.

“Perfect.” she resited the urge to laugh maniacally, barely. 

“Listen up, here’s the plan.”




____________________________________________________________________





Rainbow Dash sat perched in the tree across from Rarity’s bedroom window. The foliage provided her with perfect cover and a direct line of sight to Rarity’s vanity unit and wardrobe. It was perfect. Below on the ground, peeking around the corner, Scootaloo looked up at her in the tree awaiting her signal.

Rarity had only just closed her shop for the day and it couldn’t take long for her to appear. Providing of course Sweetie Belle was right with her sister’s behavior. Sure enough the bedroom door opened and Rarity came trotting in. She rummaged around out of Rainbow’s sight for a moment. No doubt fixing her bed which couldn’t be seen from the tree and preparing it for the night. It was way too early to be even thinking about going to sleep in Rainbow's opinion, but Rarity liked to prepare in advance for a nice long beauty sleep. She reappeared and opened the window. Rainbow Dash ducked behind the leaves and hoped she hadn’t seen her sitting in the tree. She peeked out from behind the leaves and saw Rarity fetch a night gown from her wardrobe.

Then the white unicorn trotted up to her vanity. Rainbow Dash quickly waved a hoof at Scootaloo on the ground and the filly zipped to the front door. She heard the chime of the doorbell through the open window. Rarity rolled her eyes and muttered something that Rainbow could not make out. Then she left her bedroom closing the door behind her. 

Rainbow Dash sprang into action, grabbing the can and brush in her mouth and flying in the thankfully open window. The smell of beauty products, perfumes, exotic shampoos and soaps assaulted her nostrils. For what she had planned the smell would work in her favor. Without looking around she immediately headed for the vanity unit and opened the drawers. She found what she was looking for in the second drawer. A grin spread across her lips as she quickly opened the can. After finishing she quickly closed the drawers and peeked inside the wardrobe. Her grin widened. Jackpot!

She left via the window the moment Rarity returned. Had she been a second later she would have been caught redhoofed in the act. Rainbow Dash dropped towards the ground only to pick up Scootaloo who came running around the corner. Together they flew back up into the tree and positioned themselves with the best view possible without being seen.

“Did it work?” Rainbow Dash whispered into Scootaloo’s ear.

“Yeah. I asked her if Sweetie Belle was there and could come out to play. She didn’t suspect anything. Did you do what you wanted to do?” she whispered back.

“You bet. Let’s watch.”

Rarity reentered her bedroom and paused for a moment in the doorway. She scrunched up her nose and began sniffing the air. Rainbow Dash feared for a moment that Rarity had noticed something was off. The unicorn entered her bathroom that adjoined the bedroom and emerged a few moments later with a litterbag from Opal’s litter box. Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief, so far it was still going according to plan.

A minute later Rarity came back.

“Observe the majestic unicorn in its natural habitat.” Rainbow Dash narrated the scene unfolding as quietly as possible. Scootaloo held a hoof to her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

Rarity trotted up to her vanity unit and levitated a brush to her mane. With swift strokes the brushed her already perfectly styled purple mane.

“Watch as this specimen, its scientific name is Prissycus Maximus, goes about her daily ritual.”

Rarity stopped her brushing and began to sniff the air again.

“The unicorn seems to be able to detect that something is amiss.”

Rarity shrugged and resumed her brushing.

“But she does not let it stop her from her grooming. Most likely the unicorn will be thinking that it was her feline companion that is to blame.”

Rarity stopped her brushing and opened the second drawer on her vanity unit.

“Now observe carefully as the unicorn begins with her grooming of the horn.” Rainbow Dash leaned a bit closer.

Rarity took out a horn-file and looked at herself in the mirror for a moment. Then she flared up her horn with magical energy. With the file between her hooves she carefully slid it over her horn. Then again and a third time. Something seemed to be bothering her as she frowned at the file and put it aside. She reached back into the drawer and picked up a second file.

Same as before she slid it along her horn. She frowned once more and muttered something that neither of the pegasi could hear. She began rubbing the file with a few more erratic movements along her horn. Rarity stopped and placed the file with a bit of force next to the previously discarded one. Then she reached into the drawer a third time, once again pulling out a file.

Rainbow Dash tried not to laugh at the sight of the now slowly frustrated unicorn.

“What did you do?” Scootaloo asked enjoying the show that Rarity had unwillingly become the star of.

“I greased them.” Rainbow Dash snickered.

Rarity had now begun to feverishly rub the greased up file along her horn with increasing strength. Her face was already flustered and she became more and more worked up about her not working routine. She let out a groan of frustration that the pegasi heard.

“Why isn’t this working….lousy cheap products.” She whined and slammed the offending file onto the vanity unit next to its brethren. 

Rainbow Dash’s heart raced as Rarity stood up and opened her wardrobe with her magic. This was the grand finale. She had carefully coated the previous files from the drawer with only a fine coat of grease. Then she had used the rest of the entire can of the object that Rarity now levitated out of the wardrobe, a horn-filing post model T45b if she remembered correctly.

Rarity wasn’t paying attention and kept glaring at the three files on her dresser, so she did not notice the thick coat of grease on the post in front of her. She closed her eyes and focused her magic back into her horn. Without looking she plunged forward.

The squelching sound could be heard even outside when she made contact. In a moment of confusion Rarity rubbed along the post some more each time making that sound. 

“What the….?” She removed herself with considerable effort from the post with a final squelch.

“What is this? Grease? GREASE?!” she nearly tripped over her own hooves as she raced in front of her vanity unit’s mirror. Half her face and mane were drenched in grease with a thick coating all over her horn. A blob of grease dropped from the tip of her horn on to her nose. Rarity let out a piercing shriek at her current state.

Two pegasi were desperately trying to stifle their laughter and not falling out of a tree.

“WHO DID THIS!?” the furious unicorn demanded to know and looked around in her bedroom.

“Aaaaand that’s our cue.” Rainbow Dash said, quickly grabbed Scootaloo around her midsection and took off. 




_______________________________________________________________________





They landed a safe distance away at a small café still laughing. 

“That was mean.” Scootaloo said, but couldn’t help herself from grinning at the prank.

“Bah. Rarity can take it. I’ll make it up to her some other time. If she ever finds out that is.” Rainbow Dash snickered.

“Come on. I’ll buy us something to eat here.” She said and sat down at a very specific table.

The waiter arrived as soon as they were seated. Rainbow Dash ordered a veggie burger with fries and a soda. Scootaloo merely said she would have the same after not finding anything else that appealed to her tastes in the menu.

As they sat waiting for their early dinner to arrive they spotted Pinkie Pie across the street. They watched as the pink pony had an animated discussion with Carrot Top. Suddenly she began singing a song about vegetables and fruits to the startled mare. Her song stopped in the middle as Pinkie struggled to come up with a word that rhymed with orange. Judging by Carrot Top’s expression she was less than impressed by Pinkie using the word “Norange” as a substitute rhyming word. Rainbow Dash had to silently agree with her on that. 

By the time their food arrived Pinkie had finished her bizarre song and parted ways with Carrot Top. Seeing that both of them were smiling probably meant that the song had been a success. The pegasi giggled at the random encounter of those two ponies and began eating.

Halfway through her burger Rainbow Dash saw what she was waiting for. She had deliberately chosen this table for exactly that moment. With a nod of her head she signaled Scootaloo to turn around.

At the end of the street a white blur sped towards Ponyville’s spa. A large hat obscured the view to the speeding ponies face and mane.

“Wow! Rarity can really run fast.” Scootaloo commented.

“It’ll do her good to run a bit.” Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle.

They finished their meal and trotted back to Carousel Boutique. Rarity would no doubt be in the spa for some times so Rainbow Dash figured it was safe to come back to the scene of the prank. Scootaloo hopped on to her scooter that she had to leave resting against the side of the building when they made their escape earlier. She put on her helmet and buzzed her wings for a bit before turning to the larger pegasus who had retrieved the can and brush from where she had left them.

“Had fun today Squirt?” she asked and smiled at her young accomplice in pranking.

“Totally! I had a great time with you Dash. Pranking and learning stuff with you was really cool.” The filly buzzed her wings again with joy.

“Did you learn anything good?” Rainbow Dash asked still smiling.

“Yeah! Pegasi are awesome!” Scootaloo cheered. Rainbow Dash’s smile grew into a Pinkie’esque grin.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself!”