> The River and the Rain
>  by AzhureMist
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: A Loss (of functionality) and a Gain (of a cutie mark)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

High-pitched laughter echoed from the hills high above Fillydelphia. Three young fillies raced along a beaten path around 
the west side of the city, near the foothills of the mountains. 
"I see a bluebird!" a white pegasus with an amber-colored mane announced, and without another word, kicked off from the ground and raced toward it.
"Go, Style! You can catch it this time!" the littlest one shouted after her. She was also a pegasus, with an orange body 
and yellow mane. She and her oldest sister, an beige earth pony with a honey and orange-colored mane, ran to catch up, but their middle sister glided out of view. The oldest and youngest soon grew tired of running, and slowed to a walk, until they reached a river. It thundered from some point high in the mountains above, spraying them with mist before falling once again. The hills were steep over here, and the river became a spectacular waterfall that shone with rainbows on sunny days.
A few seconds later, Rain Style reappeared from the trees. "I decided to let it get away," she announced airily, walking 
up to her sisters. "Flying is hard," she commented to the older one.
"No, it's not! Flying is easy!" the youngest declared, and decided to show them by fluttering into the air right there.
"Spirit! The cliff!" the beige pony exclaimed. She raced around to where the novice flier was beginning to hover over the edge and gently pushed her back onto land.
"Oh. Thanks, Song," Spirit grinned sheepishly. She turned back to look at her sister had stood just a second ago. "Song?"
The rocks were slippery from the waterfall's spray, and there hadn't been time to scream. All the younger two fillies 
could see was their sister plummeting to the same fate from which Rain Spirit had just been saved.
"Rain Song!!" Spirit cried.
"Stay here!" Style commanded, then jumped off the ledge herself. But her wings were tired from her earlier exertion, and she reached the ground just after her sister.
"Rain Song! Say something! Are you alright?"
All the young pony could manage was a shaky "Owww...". The last thing she noticed was being lifted onto a white back, 
before everything faded away.

The white color of Rain Style's fur blended into the white Rain Song saw when she next opened her eyes. White drop 
ceiling, white and stainless steel walls, white casts on all four of her legs...
Casts?!
Song blinked and stared around the room. A grown white pegasus with a yellow mane stood nearby; her cutie mark, a large water drop with a sparkle seemed to match the hospital room's decor. Next to her was an orange unicorn with a brown mane and a graduation cap on his flank. On the other side of the bed were her two sisters, looking abashed, and a doctor explaining things to her parents.
"She's a very lucky pony, Mrs. Rain. The breaks were clean, and they should heal in just a few weeks. With any luck, they shouldn't affect her further growth at all. She should be able to leave the hospital within a week."
With tears in her eyes, the ponies' mother nodded, and said, "Thank you, doctor."
The doctor patted the younger fillies on the head before trotting out. Then Rain Sparkle's eyes turned on her children.
"You are never, ever, ever, EVER going out on the hills again! Do you hear me?!"
Rain Spirit sniffed and shuffled an orange hoof on the floor. "Everyone said it was safe..."
"Safe? Your sister could have DIED!" their father thundered.
"Cloud, please- the other patients," Sparkle reminded him.
"Please don't yell at them," Song piped up from the bed. "It was my fault."
"Song, you're awake!" her mother came over and nuzzled her. "How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad, just kind of hazy. I can't move my legs."
Rain Cloud nodded his head. "It's going to be a few weeks yet before you can use your legs, but it sounds like they're 
going to heal well."
"We brought you some books," Rain Style nodded toward her saddle bags with a smile. Sparkle gave her a glare, and her smile turned into another bashful look.
"We're just glad you're alright, and that this is NEVER going to happen again," her mother said.
Not long afterward, a nurse came to tell them that visiting hours were over. With tearful hugs and promises to visit the 
next day, four of the ponies filed out, leaving Rain Song alone.
She sighed and turned over, facing the end table with a bouquet of yellow flowers and a small pile of books. There was 
one of Derring-Do's books, one about a stallion who circled Equestria in eighty days, and even the Derpy Mailmare series. Unfortunately, she'd read all of them. She would have to ask them to bring a book from home that she hadn't read 
yet. Although... now that she thought about it, was there anything at home that she hadn't read? 
Song flopped back onto her pillow. Now what was she supposed to do? She'd slept so much since the accident that she wasn't at all tired. If only she had a new book, something really exciting. Maybe something about a pony stuck in the hospital, who... was visited by gnomes! Dancing and singing gnomes, who were there to entertain her while she was sick!
She giggled under her breath, and she looked for a notebook and pen. It was difficult when all she could move was her 
head, but soon she was able to get a pen in her teeth and a little notepad (watermarked with the Fillydelphia Hospital logo) 
wedged in between one of her immobile legs and the side of the table. With a little wrangling, she jotted down the story of the hospital gnomes, and then another idea occurred to her. Soon she was writing down story after story, each one longer and more detailed than the last. Rain Song's boredom faded away until she finally fell asleep, the pen still hanging from her mouth.

The next morning, she was awakened by the sound of two young ponies barging in. Song lifted her head from the notepad where it had fallen; it felt sticky, for some reason.
"Morning, Song- ahahahaha!!" Rain Spirit laughed when she saw her sister.
"What?" Song asked.
"Don't worry, it's a good look for you," Style pointed out, then whispered, "not."
"You have ink all over your face!" Spirit said. When Song struggled to get up and move her pen and notepad to the correct place, Spirit added, "And your flank!"
"Her flank?" Style asked. "How did she manage that?"
She trotted over to look at it, then jumped back in amazement. "That's not ink, Spirit! That's a cutie mark! Song, you 
got your cutie mark!!"
"What?" Song asked again. A cutie mark? Whatever it was, it couldn't be a morning. She shook her head, trying to clear it, then looked at her flank. Where once had been nothing but beige and a few freckles, now there was a perfect picture of an unrolled scroll and a red quill pen.
"My cutie mark! It's... it's writing!" she exclaimed, smiling broadly. So that was her special talent! No wonder she had 
enjoyed herself so much last night.
"Good morning, Sweetie!" Their parents entered the room. Rain Cloud's horn was glowing, and a bright orange glow 
surrounded a large plate of muffins as he levitated it into the room.
"Mom, Dad, Rain Song has her cutie mark!" Spirit shouted. The glow around the muffins disappeared for a second, and they would have crashed to the ground if Sparkle's wing hadn't shot out to catch them.
"It's kind of... old-fashioned," Style said- "But in a good way," she added hastily when she saw that Song had caught the derision in her voice.
"Let me see!" Sparkle hurried around to the side of the bed, followed by Cloud. They both gasped appreciatively.
"That's a fantastic cutie mark!" Cloud congratulated his daughter.
"It's just like your uncle, Ink Spot's!" Sparkle pointed out. "Maybe it means you should follow him into a career in 
law."
She turned and rested her head on her husband's shoulder, sighing dreamily. "I'd be so proud if one of our daughters became a lawpony!"
"You'd better set those muffins down," Cloud reminded her, and she did.
Meanwhile, Rain Song turned to her youngest sister, who made a face.
"Eew! Lawponies are the meanest!"
"Nuh-uh. They're just the smartest," Style chimed in from over an issue of "Tall, Dark and Hoofsome" magazine she'd 
just dug out of her saddlebags.
"Rain Style, I told you we were just bringing things for your sister!"
She shrugged. "I'll let her read it when I'm done with it."
Rain Song gazed at the cover of the magazine. Something didn't seem quite right...
"They missed an apostrophe there," she said, intending to point to the offending word with her hoof. This was, of course, impossible, so all she did was roll over and nearly fall out of bed.
"See? You're so good with details. You'll make an excellent lawpony. We'll apply to the Canterlot Academy of Law as 
soon as you're done with filly school."
"Sparkle, do you really want her that far away?" Cloud asked.
"Well..." her mother paused. "No, but that's where she can get the best education. She can come back here afterwards."
Rain Song half listened to their discussion with a worried frown. A lawpony? Was it really decided just because of her 
cutie mark? What if she didn't like the job?
She turned her head on the pillow, looking at the notepad on the side table, which her parents had pushed just out of reach.
> Chapter 2: The River Monster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Several weeks later, Rain Song tottered unsteadily into the sunlight on the back porch of her parents' house. Her legs still bore the faint marks of their casts, but she hoped her time of confinement would soon be a distant memory.
"Come on, we're never going to make it to the river at this rate!" her youngest sister called from the bottom of the porch steps, blazing orange in the sunlight. Song gingerly stepped down to the first step- so far, so good.
"I don't have time for this. I'll meet you there," Rain Style called, and kicked off from the ground. But just as she started to hover above the trees, a nearly identical white pegasus appeared from the doorway.
"You two are not going anywhere without your sister!" their mother commanded. "Her legs are fragile right now. What if she were to re-injure herself?"
"Mo-om..." Rain Song whined.
"You're lucky I'm letting you go at all," Rain Sparkle snapped. "Rain Spirit, stay down on the ground with her. You know she can't just decide to fly instead of walking. And Rain Style, don't fly off again."
Song's face burned, and she descended the steps as quickly as possible.
"Fine." Style alighted delicately on the ground, and pranced ahead of her sisters.
"Have a nice time now!" their mother called, waving to them with one of her wings.
After a few minutes of slow walking, Rain Style decided to circle back and talk with her sisters.
"I guess it isn't so bad being on the ground," she conceded. "You can see the plants and flowers a lot better."
"Yeah, but the best ones are on top of the trees!" Spirit exclaimed, before she was silenced by a look from Style.
"It's okay, guys." Rain Song tried to smile. She tried bravely to keep up with their pace, but as they neared the river, the warning pain in her legs made her lag behind.
"Look, I understand that your legs are sore, but do you really have to go that slowly? I would have been to the river and back by now if it weren't for you!" Style said.
"Style..." Spirit warned.
"It's okay, I can go faster. I just thought you might be tired," Song lied with as chipper of an expression as she could manage. She forced herself to trot at a faster rate, gritting her teeth.
Soon the path rounded a corner, and the pebbly beach by the river came into view. The two younger ponies were excited, and Song wanted to cool her aching legs in the water, so all three sped up.
Unfortunately for one of them, an increase in speed caused one of her legs to seize up, and on the slippery footing, she crashed.
"Ow ow ow!" she cried, blinking back tears. Her sisters, by this time, were too far ahead to hear her. They began flying high into the air and dive-bombing the water.
Rain Song lay on the rocks, her front legs throbbing in pain. She knew she had two choices: she could give up and call for help, and have someone bring her home, where she would wallow in her inadequacy for the rest of the day; or, she could pull herself to the water's edge and bathe her legs until they were better. Forced to choose between her pain and pride, pride won out, and she began taking slow, painful steps.
It seemed an eternity before she reached the river, a little upstream of where the pegasi splashed, but once she collapsed into the shallow water of the river's edge, it was all worth it. She shivered a little at first- mountain streams were cold!- but then she admired the way the sunlight played over the river's surface, glittering where it reflected the blue sky above, and illuminating the gray stones and cream pony coat below in warm, rippling patterns.
She kicked her feet a little to keep them warm. The patterns of sunlight became more intricate, warming her where they stayed and leaving a surprising cold where they disappeared.
Meanwhile, downstream, Rain Style and Rain Spirit flew up as high as they dared before diving straight down into the deeper water. They stayed underwater for quite a while, giving Rain Song a devious idea. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief as she took a deep breath, sank underwater, and began to swim.
The shallows were gorgeous in their ever-changing light show, but Song's idea took her farther into the mysterious, sun-streaked deep. She rested near the sandy bottom, her mouth puffed full of air, waiting. For a split second, it occurred to her that her legs no longer hurt. Then the river exploded.
FOOM! A multitude of tiny bubbles pushed her backward, away from the cause of the explosion. Song stood her ground, and stroked toward the white pegasus who had suddenly appeared in the river. With a grin, she grabbed one of her sister's legs, and then just as suddenly, let go, and sped toward the surface again.
Gasping for breath, she reached the surface a second before Style did.
"Eeek! What was that?!" the dripping pegasus screamed.
"What was what?" Song asked innocently.
"Something grabbed me under the water! Was it seaweed?"
"No, it was probably the river monster," Song replied in a deadpan voice.
"What? That's stupid," Style dismissed it.
"Oh. Alright, then. But you should probably try diving a few more times. If it keeps grabbing you, it's not seaweed," Song decided.
"That was what I was going to do, anyway." 
Song and Style paddled back to shore, where Spirit was waiting. Since she'd heard her sisters' conversation, she thought about it a little, and graciously allowed her sister to take two plunges in a row.
As Rain Style soared into the air, Song whispered something to the little orange pegasus. She giggled, and whispered something back. Soon they were both laughing together, and they snuck over to a section of river that was choked with brown and green river weeds. Song picked a hoof-full and set about tying them to her mane and ears, and Spirit tied as many to her sister's legs as she could get. When they were confident that no more would fit, Song swam back to Style's diving place, while Spirit walked back to the beach.
Song couldn't see anything in the clear blue depths, so she cautiously lifted her head above the water. Over on the beach, Spirit was explaining something to Style. She waved her hooves around in the air, causing Style to shake her head, but then she turned around and launched into the air.
Quickly, Song took a breath and dove again, hoping she hadn't been seen. Then, she settled in to wait. Style must have been planning an impressive dive, because it took her a long time-
BOOM!!!
Knocked end over end by the massive cannonball, Rain Song almost forgot to swim into the bubbles. When she finally did find her sister, already on the ascent, she just grabbed her with one hoof and waved the other around in what she hoped was a spooky gesture. Then she let her go.
Song's own lungs were burning with the need for air, but she had to get back to the safety of the reeds before she surfaced. She couldn't let Style see her like this! She couldn't- she couldn't-
She burst back up onto the surface, covered in slimy weeds, gasping and coughing. A few feet behind her, she could hear her sister's voice exclaiming, "It's true! There is a river monster! It's horrible! It left slime on me!"
All of a sudden the voice turned toward her, then cut off in mid-scream.
"Wait a second... that was you?! Rain Song!"
Song turned to see her sister barreling toward her, so she did the only thing she could think of, and dove downward again. She swam smoothly underneath the enraged pegasus, then emerged on the other side and began swimming upriver.
"Come back here! You really are a monster! How could you do that to me?" Style shouted as she chased Song, more in fun now than in earnest. However, her feathery form was no match for the more streamlined earth pony, and she lagged behind as her sister swam circles around her.
Eventually all three ponies flopped onto the rocky beach. They headed home, and between the younger ponies' exhaustion and the revitalizing effect of the water on Song's legs, there were no complaints about Song's speed on the return journey.
> Chapter 3: Discouragement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the three sisters arrived, with supper on the table and their parents impatiently waiting, Song was happy to report 
that the cool water relieved her legs of any pain within a few seconds.
She didn't expect the silence that descended on the table after that.
"Rain Song, why were your legs hurting in the first place?" her father asked in a flat tone of voice.
"Oh- it was kind of a long walk to the river, so they were getting kind of sore, and then I fell, but then it was okay 
because-"
"You fell? And you kept GOING?! Rain Song, you CAN'T DO THAT!" Rain Cloud pounded his hoof on the table, making everyone jump. Song's face fell, and she turned to her mother for support, but Rain Sparkle continued in the same vein as her husband.
"You can't just walk and run normally, Rain Song! You are fragile and weak, and you haven't even recovered fully from 
your accident. If you keep going, you could be permanently disabled!"
Rain Song's ears drooped, and her sisters slid toward the other side of the table, munching their food as quietly as 
possible. Rain Sparkle turned to the auburn unicorn by her side.
"Do we have to hire a full-time nurse to take care of her?" she asked.
"I think we should strap her down so she can't hurt herself," he responded with what Song hoped was sarcasm.
"Well, she certainly isn't leaving the house again for a long time," Sparkle finished.
Tears began to fill Song's eyes. She pushed her plate away and ran up the stairs to her room as quickly as she could 
manage.

The next few weeks were dreary ones. Despite a lack of any problem with her legs, Rain Song had to take her lessons at home. To make matters worse, whenever Rain Style or Spirit asked her to play outside with them, their mother butted in and sharply reminded them of Song's inability. It didn't help that they asked at least once every day.
One late summer night, Rain Spirit crept into her sister's bedroom, where Song was reading with a flashlight under the 
covers.
"Song!" she whispered. "Let's sneak out into the forest! It'll be so creepy!"
A sigh came from under the sheets, and then a beige head poked out. "I don't think that's a good idea. We're pretty much guaranteed to get hurt out there."
The orange filly tossed her head. "I knew you'd say that, but listen: it'd be really fun! There's this old tree that 
looks just like a bear, and there are fireflies, and-"
"No." Song nestled back under the sheets.
"Why not?" her sister whined.
Song thought about it, and then decided she could use her injury for her own purposes this time. "Because it's dark, and the ground's uneven and covered with roots and rocks and sticks, and I don't think my legs can handle it."
"Ugh!" Spirit blew up, heedless of her sleeping parents downstairs. "You're so useless! You can't do magic, and you can't fly- all you can do is walk, and you can barely do that!!"
Rain Song paled, then gritted her teeth and snapped, "Get out of my room!"
"Gladly!" her sister huffed, and slammed the door.
Ignoring the shouts from downstairs, Song held her head in her hooves and tried not to cry. Surely she was good for 
something, right? At least she could swim. And there was her writing.
She turned her flashlight's beam onto her flank, smiling when she saw the scroll and quill pen. What did a couple of 
fillies without their cutie marks know about it, anyway?
With a shaky smile, she switched off the flashlight, and replaced it and the book on the table. Useless?, she thought as she nestled into her pillow. I'll show them useless. I'm going to write a book that'll be on everypony's bookshelf. And it'll have more running, and flying, and magic-using than they can take!
She yawned into the darkness. Nopony was ever truly useless. Not even her.

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the woods, over the bear-like tree and the hidden, sleeping fireflies, and through the windows of the Rain family's house. Rain Style sat on the couch, peacefully brushing the mane of her older sister, who sat on the floor in front of her.
"So I told Pink Filly that since her mane was black, she'd have to bleach it in streaks and then dye it, in order to get 
any discernible shade of purple in there, but she just rolled her eyes and said she knew what she was doing."
Style dipped a hoof into a jar of some sort of mane cream, then rubbed her hooves together and began spreading it through her sister's deep red-orange mane. Slowly it began to shine, and the honey-colored highlights showed through more brilliantly.
"So of course she comes to school the next day, and what happened to her mane? ... That's right, absolutely nothing. The only signs that she tried dyeing anything at all were the purple smudge marks by her scalp."
She picked up the wide ribbon laying on the couch next to her, and began tying it into her sister's hair. The soft green 
color provided a charming accent to the orange and red tones, and brought out Song's green eyes.
"Here, take a look!" Style grabbed a mirror, and held it up in front of her sister, who gasped.
"That's me?! I look fantastic!"
"I knew you would. You just needed a little color variety. You're too monochromatic otherwise." She shuffled her beauty 
products over to one side. "Now let's hear this story of yours."
Song picked up her notebook, and regaled Style with her latest project, the tale of a mad scientist and Bobo, his monkey assistant. Soon they were rolling on the floor, clutching their sides with laughter, and Style was calling out suggestions.
"Oh, Style, you got something on your flank," Song pointed out after a little while.
"Probably just mane cream. Can you get me a tissue?" Style suggested, then turned to look at herself.
"Celestia's hooves! That's not mane cream at all! It's..." she paused for a second, then grinned. "It's my new tattoo!"
"A tattoo?" Song stood up and looked at it. "You mean, you waited so long for a cutie mark that you had to draw one on? But why would you draw that?"
"That, my older but not wiser sister, is the perfect cutie mark. I will use it to beautify all of Equestria. It's 
something I should have started long ago."
Pictured on her pristine white flank was a blue mirror, with a comb and brush fanned out behind it. Song opened her 
mouth, and was about to admire it, but she was interrupted:
"I knew I'd have a higher calling than you. No offense, Song. It's just that you're an earth pony, and you can't be 
expected to do something as sophisticated as a pegasus."
Song's mouth snapped shut. It was a while before she could speak, but then her voice was low and serious.
"That's not true. Pegasi aren't better than earth ponies."
"I didn't say we were!" Style turned her wide blue eyes on her sister. "We're just more complicated, that's all. You 
earth ponies are better suited to more earthly things. Simpler things. More basic things- just as important," she added, seeing her sister's shock. "...in their own way."
"I can't believe you'd think that!" Song was clearly hurt. "Writing a story is way more complex than just doing 
somepony's mane! There are endless elements at work in writing, but you only use the hair and the products in front of you!"
Style rolled her eyes. "I didn't expect you to understand. Just... never mind. We'll talk about it sometime when you can 
be reasonable." She shook herself and glided down the stairs- just to show off her wings again, Song thought. And she left her brush and hair cream on the couch, too, for somepony like me to clean up.
She picked up the brush in her mouth, and then paused. What if she really was being unreasonable? Wasn't it possible that her sister was right, and earth ponies were just playing in the mud while pegasi and unicorns built up a shining civilization around them?
Rain Song sighed. Was there really any way to know?
Sparkle Rain trotted quietly up the stairs while Song gathered up her sister's belongings. She cleared her throat.
"I don't want you to take what Style said to heart," she began. Song looked up at her and smiled.
"Pegasi and unicorns are no better than earth ponies. They're just different, that's all."
Song felt her heart rise again. Her mother knew better than Style did, anyway.
"Earth ponies are known to be better at jobs that don't require much education, like farming, and their sturdy bodies 
make them better suited for it. I would know- both of my parents were earth ponies."
Rain Song sat down. She'd heard this before.
"The Spots kept a cattle farm, which wasn't the biggest, or the best, but I'll always remember the taste of the milk and 
cheese they produced. This was back when I was a filly named Sparkle Spot, you know. 
"I'll also remember how dirty that farm was..." she gave a little shudder, "which is why I was so glad to leave."
Song sighed. This didn't make her feel better at all!
"Were they surprised to have a pegasus for a daughter?"
"Not really- my grandfather was a pegasus. It was more surprising when my brother got into law school and proved as 
diligent a student as any unicorn. So, there you go- Uncle Inky is a very successful lawpony in Canterlot, and he's an earth 
pony! If you try hard, you can be just like him someday!"
A little smile lifted the corners of Song's mouth.
"Thanks, Mom," she said. Her mother nuzzled the top of her head.
"Now stop wasting time on this silly tripe, and go study. You're not going to have this much spare time in law school."
Song followed her mother's gaze, and quickly swept up her writing notebook. She balanced it on her back along with her sister's supplies, and ran to put them away. She felt oddly reluctant as she slid the notebook in between the books on her shelf, but told herself this was for the best. No one cared about an earth pony's silly stories. If she ever wanted to make something of herself, she had a lot of work to do.

> Chapter 4: Freedom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Here, take this map of Canterlot."
"Why don't you take some of those books out of there and make some room for extra sandwiches?"
"Are you sure you don't want to take your favorite pillow?"
Rain Song's parents rummaged around in her saddlebags, trying to pack them with more things than could possibly be carried. Her father raised an eyebrow when he levitated a plush sea otter that had been stuffed between two books.
"Oh... that's just Philippe. I always take him with me when I travel," Song explained, but Rain Cloud continued to give her a disapproving look, setting it on the ground. But when he handed her a pillow, she surrepetitiously snuck the soft toy inside the pillow case before shoving them both into her bursting saddlebag.
"I guess that's as good as it's going to get," Rain Sparkle sighed as she buckled the other saddlebag over the last bottle of water. "I just don't want to see you leave."
All three ponies trotted down the stairs, prompting Sparkle to smile a little.
"I remember when we had these stairs put in. Your father and I were convinced we were going to have unicorn and pegasi foals, who could just fly or levitate themselves up to the second floor, so we didn't need a staircase."
Rain Cloud chuckled. "Lo and behold, our first filly was an earth pony! So we had to have the stairs put in, and I'll tell you something, we did _not_ appreciate having all that noise when we were trying to get a newborn filly to sleep."
Song smiled, but couldn't get over the feeling that she was more of an inconvenience than anything.
They paused by the door.
"It's time to go, if you don't want to miss your train," said Rain Sparkle.
"Give Ink Spot our regards," Cloud added.
"And don't forget to write!"
"I won't. I'll miss all of you!" Song said. Her parents nuzzled her, and, encumbered with the heaviest saddlebags she'd ever carried, she shuffled out the door and down the road.
"Do you think she'll be alright?" her mother asked after a minute. "She's just so..."
"I wouldn't be surprised if she was back here within a week. But we have to give her a chance to make it on her own," Cloud turned away from the door, "unlikely as she is to succeed."

Her parents' foreboding was completely lost on Song as she trotted through the early morning sunshine. Her saddlebags felt lighter with every step she took toward a new life in Canterlot. The softest green touched the trees' branches, and birds of all kinds contributed to an intricate, high-pitched toccata overhead. Celestia's golden sun shone joyfully just above the horizon, brightening the east, while deep blue clouds lay softly in the sky to the west. The houses she passed, and then the stores, were still and silent, glowing as if brand new in the sunlight that nopony saw but her. 
All too soon she reached Fillydelphia's train station, already bustling with the first ponies she'd seen since she'd left her parents' house. She took one more breath of fresh air, then presented her ticket at the booth.
"Canterlot, eh? That's a long haul for a little pony like you!"
Song simply nodded, flushed with adventure. She hopped onto the train, and then paused as she felt a twinge in one of her legs. Was something wrong? But there were ponies behind her, just as eager to start on their own journeys, so she ignored it and found a seat by a window. The trip from Fillydelphia to Canterlot would take a half day, and she wanted to see as much of it as possible.

By the time the train left the thick woods and rolled into sight of Canterlot, the twinge in one of Song's legs had turned to swelling and an ache in all four of them. Sitting still for hours on the train might have caused some of the problem, but Song had had bad knees for long enough to know that the ever encroaching rain clouds were the real culprit. She waited for the other ponies to clear out of the aisle, shifting her legs as much as she could in the meantime and wincing at the sounds they made. When she finally emerged from the train, the sky was half full of deep blue and gray clouds, and the air felt thick and damp.
The beige pony emerged from the crowd with her heavy saddlebags. It was good to stretch her legs, although what she really wanted to do was curl up with a blanket, some hot chocolate, and a new book. Well, she reasoned, there should be plenty of new books coming out of Canterlot every year. Probably more than she could read, in fact. The thought made her smile, and the brief trip to her new apartment went quickly.
There wasn't much to say about the tiny room, where all of her belongings were unpacked and settled in quickly (most of them on the bookshelf). It was an empty canvas- just the way she liked it. She placed Philippe on the bed, on top of her old pillow, then hung up her saddlebags on the back of the door and set out again.
Now unencumbered, Rain Song made quicker progress toward her uncle's firm. There waited an internship that would pay her living expenses while she attended Canterlot Law School, and it was strongly hinted that once she graduated, her position there would be secure. Her path to becoming a tax lawpony, successful in every sense of the word, was clear.
Rain Song cocked her head to the side. Not that she _had_ to go into tax law. Her family would understand if she wanted to deviate from the trail her uncle had blazed. She could become a real estate, corporate, or divorce lawpony with only a modicum of extra difficulty.
A sudden breeze tossed her deep orange mane from her shoulders. Now she could smell the rain- it was only a matter of minutes. She could also feel its approach in her knees, which were slowly refusing to let her progress with any semblance of speed. For the first time all day, Song snorted in frustration. Why did she have to have this impediment? Everypony else could walk just fine! They never even had to think about it!
She watched helplessly as pony after pony passed her by and pegasi zoomed overhead. Angry tears began to form in her eyes as her knees ached relentlessly. She knew she had a choice to make- go back to her apartment and curl up until the rain came and went, or stick it out and make it to the office, where she should have a chance to rest for a while.
Song sighed. She knew there was no real choice, so she took a deep breath and continued to the office.
To distract herself from the pain, she looked around at the ivory walls and golden spires of Canterlot. Their fantastic shapes and rich materials were worlds apart from the stately, but bland buildings in Fillydelphia. While the trees grew more wildly out there, here the pink and white cherry trees that lined the streets were held in by little iron cages. It was still too early for many to have flowers yet, but Song passed one that was completely budded out with soft white blooms. The sun peeked out from the clouds for what was probably the last time that day, and Song paused to admire the flowering tree. She closed her eyes and leaned in to smell its fragrance.
Just then, a breeze shook the branches, sending a shower of petals down on her. Song's leaf-green eyes slowly opened amid the dancing white flowers. Through the opening buds, she saw the form of a pegasus outlined against the sun. He was hovering in place, and purposely fanning the air with his wings to shake the petals loose. As Song watched, he glided back down to the sidewalk.
"You looked like you could use a dramatic rain of petals," the pegasus explained.
Rain Song opened her mouth to speak for the first time since she'd left home. "Thank you," she said. Then she collapsed.
> Chapter 5: The River and the Rain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Too dramatic?" the pegasus looked at her worriedly.
Rain Song winced at the pain, but smiled up at him as she folded her legs more comfortably underneath her body. "I think I'll just sit here for a little bit."
"Alright." He smiled and sat down next to her. A warm feeling spread through Song's body. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Rain Song."
"I'm Sunlight River. Do you often faint like that?"
"I didn't faint," Song blushed. "It's just my legs. They've never fully healed from an accident I had a few years ago, and they get particularly bad when it's about to rain. Especially like right now- it's really going to rip in a few minutes."
"It is?" Sunlight River looked up at the sky. "Huh. I guess it is kind of cloudy."
He glanced at Song. "I guess I've been inside for a lot of my life, so I don't know much about things like that."
"It's alright. I'm a living barometer. No, I'm the embodiment of Haysenberg's Uncertainty Principle. I can tell you when it's going to rain, or I can be moving, but not both at the same time."
After saying that, Rain Song bit her lip. No one ever laughed when she made a joke like that- they just called her a geek. But when she looked over, the red pegasus was smiling. He had a black and violet mane that fell elegantly over his face and neck. His crimson wings were folded neatly at his sides, and on his flank was a picture of a white candle with a little yellow flame. His tail swished to and fro in the street. His eyes were surprisingly blue, the color of the deepest part of the river where Song loved to swim. Their expression was kind.
"That's funny," he said. Song couldn't meet his intense gaze, so she looked at the sky, hoping he couldn't see the flush in her cheeks. Overhead, clouds had now completely covered the sky, bathing the city in an eerie blue-gray light. Even the white flower petals above them took on a light blue tinge.
"It's kind of pretty when it's like this," Song commented. "It looks almost like we're underwater."
"Hey, you're right," Sunlight smiled and flicked his tail. He looked up toward the clouds. "The sky looks like the surface from underwater."
He looked at Song, and his blue eyes lit up with an idea. "Hey, you know what would be fun? Dipping above and below the clouds right now, like skimming the surface of the water. Want to try it?"
"What- you mean, with me?"
"Yeah, I'll carry you on my back! It'll be good exercise."
Song hesitated- it didn't seem particularly safe, and what if she fell off? But at the same time, it sounded fun, and he was so inviting...
"Um... okay."
"Here, I'll help you on." Sunlight lifted her onto his back with his hooves, and Song found herself curled up on his warm, red coat. It was surprisingly soft for a stallion. Or what she imagined a stallion's coat would feel like.
"Hold on tight!" he directed. Then his wings flapped out, his legs tensed up, and Song wondered what she'd gotten herself into. They sprang into the air, and Sunlight's wings moved frantically, trying to gain altitude while carrying a heavy burden. Song nearly screamed- but then they were airborne!
Sun and Song glided around in a large circle, his powerful wings flapping now and then to gain additional altitude. Just when Song felt safe enough to open her eyes, she saw how quickly the street was disappearing beneath them, and closed them again. She couldn't see, but imagined the many pointed spires of Canterlot falling beneath the two ponies, ready to impale them if Sunlight slipped for just a second. 
This was a bad idea, she decided.
Then the air suddenly felt thicker, colder, and decisively wet, and Song knew that even if she opened her eyes, there would be nothing to see. They were in the clouds now.
A gust of wind blew them sideways, and Song panicked again, but Sunlight flapped his wings three or four times, and they emerged into a warm, dry expanse of air. She cracked one eye open, surprised at how much light there was. Then she opened her eyes fully.
The sky was a sweet empty blue reaching endlessly above them, while the sun shone down clearer and brighter than she had ever seen it. Below the two ponies was a field of pure white billowing clouds, softer than wool. As far as she could see- perhaps to the end of the world- there was nothing but pure blue above and soft white below, as if they were inside a sapphire sitting on a white blanket.
"I've never seen anything like this before!" Song breathed.
"There's a whole city like this above Ponyville," Sunlight replied, but his voice was strained. Song saw that his neck was tense, and the muscles in his shoulders were tight.
"Maybe we should come down now," she suggested lightly. Sunlight turned his head to face her.
"I can at least give you a ride wherever you were going."
No, let's get out of the sky before we fall out! Song wanted to say, but instead she hurriedly told him the address, and the next thing she knew, they were angling down through an angry mass of storm clouds, and then through hard beads of rain. She clutched Sunlight's quickly moistening shoulders as they banked around tall buildings, then around shorter ones, and zoomed down a street before stopping suddenly. Song's eyes rolled around in her head as she slid off Sunlight's back.
"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly, holding up a wing to shield her from the rain. "Are you going to be alright to go in there?"
Song watched as the road slowly stopped swinging from side to side. When it looked relatively level, she tried standing up. Her legs were wobbly, but she would make it the short distance into the building.
"I'll be okay. Thanks for the ride," she gave a shy smile.
"Anytime. Hey, are you going to need a ride home?" he asked. "I don't want you to faint again."
"No, no, I'll be okay if I sit down for a while." She paused, looking up at him through the rain. "Although, um..." she pawed at the ground shyly, "maybe we could walk together after work."
Sunlight's eyes opened a little wider, and Song braced herself. Here came the inevitable rejection.
"I'd like that," he said simply.
Song stared up at him. He was smiling. Suddenly she was incredibly nervous.
"Okay, great! See you at five!" she shouted, then dashed toward the door. Unfortunately, it was a glass door, which was closed. She peeled herself off of it, then glanced back.
The street was dark and rain-streaked, with yellow streetlights reflecting from every sodden surface. In the middle of the sidewalk, the crimson pony stood, lowering his wing, soaking in the rain. He stayed to make sure she reached her destination safely.
With a grin, Rain Song opened the door and walked inside.

Inside the Equestrian Revenue Service building, everything was clean, white, and dry. At least, it was until Song walked in. Wet hoofprints stretched out behind her as she crossed the white carpet to the reception desk.
"Can I help you?" the reception pony asked, blinking at the mess Song was making, but showing no other reaction.
"Yes, I'm here to see Ink Spot. I'm his niece, Rain Song."
"Rain Song? It looks like you're living up to your name today!" she smiled. "Ink Spot's office is just down this hallway. Take the first left, and he's on the right."
"Thanks!" Song tromped off, leaving a puddle where she had dripped in front of the desk.
The hallway led to an endless sea of cubicles. Song hoped her directions had been right- otherwise, she could be lost for weeks in this place!
She found her uncle, a white earth pony with a black mane and an ink spot on his flank, surrounded by stacks of paper in his cubicle.
"There you are, Rain Song!" he looked up from the paper he was currently working on. "I was wondering what took you so long!"
"I just... had a delay," she waved a hoof dismissively. "What did I miss?"
"All the free donuts, for one," Ink said. "And there's a pile of paperwork to start on. I'll show you what you need to do."
He led Song to a desk where three other young ponies had their noses in reference books and sheets of paper.
"You can start out proofreading our junior partners' papers. They've been known to make errors from time to time, so we keep a strict eye on them," Ink said drily. He glanced at one of the nearest cubicles, pride at being a _senior_ partner practically oozing out of his pores.
"There's an adding machine over there, and if they refer to a statute, you can use one of our books to check their accuracy," he waved a hoof toward the far wall, which was entirely covered in bookcases. Normally the sight of this many books would be exciting to a bookworm like Song, but somehow these ones seemed less interesting than her normal library fare.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Get started!" Ink nodded toward the massive pile of new papers that towered over one corner of the desk, and then turned to head back to his cubicle.
"Oh, and welcome to Canterlot!" he added, before walking away.
Rain Song's ears drooped as she contemplated the amount and type of work ahead of her. Gingerly, she took the first packet of papers and examined it. The language was so dense, and the writing so small and cramped, she could barely discern what it was about.
Taking a deep breath, she set the document on the desk and took it one section at a time. After a minute, she borrowed the adding machine from one of the other intern ponies to check the writer's math. Then she had to find a book in the long series on the wall to check a few facts. Soon she was involved in the same slow dance as the other interns: reading and checking, reading and checking.
> Chapter 6: One Job and Two Naps
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The clock on the wall was only medium-sized and rather unassuming, but the closer it got to five o'clock, the more eyes it drew. Soon every pony in the room was either glancing or staring at it, unable to escape from its gravitational pull. Time itself seemed to be affected, slowing more and more with each tick of the second hand, approaching the twelve asymptotically, until...
"Time to go!" one of the other interns said quietly. Everypony began filing out in what seemed a rather anticlimactic end to the work day. As Rain Song walked past her uncle's cubicle, she heard her name being called.
"Where do you think you're going, young filly?" he asked.
Song pushed her way through the crowd to his cubicle.
"It's five o'clock."
"Mm-hmm. And did you get here right at three o'clock, like you were supposed to?"
"Well..." Song's ears drooped. "No, but I don't mind making a little less today-"
"That's not what it's about. You were an hour late, so you can stay here an hour to make up the work that you missed." His face softened a little. "It's alright, I have some extra work to do too, so I'll be here."
Yeah, being a jerk, Song thought. 
"The thing is," she protested, "I was going to meet someone-"
"And you think going out with your friends is more important than your job?" Ink Spot turned around to face her fully as his voice changed to lecture mode. "You're at a very irresponsible age right now, when everything is paid for with loans and you don't have anything difficult to worry about. But that's all going to end, one way or another. This job is your future. It's what keeps you from a life of miserable poverty."
When he saw Rain Song's expression, he fumed. "What, do you think it's easy for an earth pony here? Do you think we aren't going to get passed over for the next unicorn or pegasus in line? Then you'd better wake up, missy. In Canterlot, things are a little better, but if you go to any other town in Equestria, you'll see that the earth ponies are the farmers, or the miners, or the ditch-diggers."
Song looked down at her hooves. All this because she wanted to leave work at the normal time?
"... so if you don't want to lose this opportunity- probably your only opportunity to succeed- I suggest you get your hindquarters back to your desk."
"Yes, sir," Song mumbled, plodding back over to the interns' desk. Was it really true that earth ponies had little chance for success outside of Canterlot? It didn't sound quite right to her, but at the same time, she couldn't think of any examples to disprove it.
Song read, added, and checked the next few papers in the now eerily silent office. The pile of papers, now about half its original size, didn't seem to shrink quite as quickly now that she was the only pony working on it. Finally the minute hand on that mesmerizing clock swung around to the eleven, and Song couldn't take it anymore. There was no way Sunlight would still be waiting for her, of course, but she had to get out of that office. It was suffocating her.
Carefully, she crept past her uncle's cubicle, then raced out to the lobby. Even that was mostly bare, since the reception pony had left for the night. But one pony was there, snoozing in a chair with a magazine on his lap. A rather familiar red pony.	
"S-Sunlight?" Song asked incredulously. The pegasus' head snapped up.
"Hmm? What? I was just trying to figure out which of these magazines was the most boring," he said, instantly awake. Song supressed a giggle as he fumbled with the one on his lap, replacing it on the side table.
"I can't believe you waited for me," she said. "I was an hour late!"
"An hour? Was I really asleep for that long?" he shook his head, then smiled. "Well, sorry, but that's too long. I'll have to head home by myself."
"What?"
"Just kidding!" he grinned. "How are your legs? Will you be able to walk home?"
"Well, I can tell you it's still raining," she said, glancing at the windows to confirm her suspicion. It was darker now, but the rain was still falling. "...but other than that, I should be fine to walk."
"Oh," he looked mildly disappointed. "Do you want a ride anyway?"
Song thought about it. Their last ride had been terrifying; just thinking about the way they had careened through the sky made her shiver. And yet, it had been enjoyable, in a way.
"Um... yes?" she asked shyly. Sunlight used his teeth to grab the umbrella leaning against his chair, then backed up to her.
"Hmp mn!" he invited. Song gingerly stepped up onto his back.
Suddenly, hoof steps were heard from around the corner.
"Oh no, we have to get out of here!" she whispered urgently. "Hurry!"
Sunlight glanced at her, then dashed out the door as quickly as he could manage. He ran around the corner from the windows before opening his umbrella and holding it over the two of them.
"Wmmt wm tmm-" he started, before Song took the umbrella from his mouth. She held it with her front hooves, so he could walk and both ponies could talk.
"Thanks. What was that?"
"That was my uncle! He's so strict. I don't know what would have happened if he'd seen me riding on another pony's back!" Song giggled.
"Oh, no! I've saved you from a horrible fate. That was really close!" Sun whispered conspiratorily.
"If ponies were made to ride on," Song did a fairly bad imitation of Ink Spot's lecturing voice, "they would have broad, comfortable backs with soft fur."
"So, what's your address, so I'm not wandering around aimlessly?"
"But wandering aimlessly is fun!" Song protested, then told it to him. She was a little surprised when he turned down the next street, simply walking instead of taking to the skies like before.
"Oh- I thought we were going to fly." She couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.
"Are you kidding? After this afternoon, my wings are so sore, I couldn't fly a foot," Sunlight glanced back. "Um, not that you're heavy or anything. I'm just not used to having passengers."
"Oh, of course," Song nestled in, hiding her face against the pegasus' back. What a stupid question!
They walked on in silence, listening to the rain and Sunlight's hooffalls. His back was warm, and rocked gently from side to side, lulling Song into a sleepy state.
"Would you like to see where I work?" he suggested after a few minutes.
"Sure," she replied lazily.
"It's on the other side of town, so I'll show you tomorrow after work. If you want to keep hanging out with me, that is."
"Oh, I do," she breathed.

The next thing she knew, Sun had stopped walking, and they were standing in front of her apartment building. Her eyes were unexpectedly hard to open.
"Is this it?" he was asking.
"Oh! Did I fall asleep?"
Sunlight chuckled. "You were faster asleep than I've ever seen a pony."
Song slid off of his back, her cheeks burning. Sun wrote something down on a slip of paper while she held the umbrella over their heads.
"Here's the address where I work." He handed her the paper. "I guess my back must be pretty comfortable for a small pony."
"Mm not small," Song mumbled, blushing even more.
"Oh- well, that's good, since it's your turn to carry me next time," he grinned. Song stared up at him in shock and despair.
"I'm just kidding!" he laughed, leaning in to take his umbrella. Their noses touched accidentally... or was it an accident?
"Smm ym tmrmmow!" he said around the umbrella, and headed down the street. Song stared after him, wide-eyed, her face burning the deepest shade of red it had ever been. Did... did he just nuzzle me? she thought. She tried to silence her ridiculous thoughts and calm her thumping heart. He couldn't have. We just met today, and he was getting his umbrella. But the thought kept her warm despite the cold rain.