Rainbow Dash teaches Twilight how to finger her feathers, and learns a little bit about love along the way.
Twilight has wings now, but she has no idea how to use them for anything but basic flying. Rainbow Dash, being the top pegasus in the town, has agreed to teach her. Little does she know that this high-flying pony has an ulterior motive...
It was a typical day in Ponyville: ponies milled about the square, their cacophonous chit-chat cascading through the streets, the alleys, the trees beyond; birds sang sweetness into the air, their wingbeats in time with the music; deafening explosions and horror film sound effects from a quaint little cottage on the edge of the Everfree…
Oh the glorious sound, how it filled the clear sky! Ponyville, a tiny yet mighty (loud) village. Such a typical day could have only been achieved on a cloudless morn, with nary a raindrop to be felt by some unsuspecting bystander who would have most likely complained about it. The resident head weather mare ought to be proud of herself. And she was. Almost all the time, in fact.
But alas, the artisan was kept from appreciating her work in all its majesty, as she and her ears were entombed behind three inches of solid, sound-proof gemstone.
Rainbow Dash, the Great, the Amazing, was waiting. Worse, she was waiting and sitting down. Doing nothing. Her wings ached and ground against her sides, desperate for some action. But, she was inside Twilight Sparkle’s crystal castle, and the last time she broke something, Ms. Egghead had her help Spike with his chores for a whole week.
Dash rose from her slouch and tried to wobble her throne, because it seemed like a fun thing to do. It didn’t budge. She scooched forward. The chair remained, a solid rock upon the smooth crystalline surface.
Ugh, it’s attached to the floor, Dash groaned internally. Now, she was waiting, sitting down, and had NOTHING to play with. Her hoof absentmindedly rubbed the edge of the currently blank Cutie Map table, hoping to stumble upon the “on” switch; if it even had one.
Why am I here again? asked Dash of herself, as she was often wont to do. My butt’s not glowing and nopony else is here so… She lowered her forehead to the table and rubbed her temples vigorously. Blunt force trauma and short term memory did not go hoof in hoof.
Twilight… needed… something? Yeah, something to do with…
Her wings fluffed and spread themselves, as if they remembered too. Dash lifted her head and stared at the star-marked throne opposite her.
These. Figures it was Twilight being all “curious” about wings again. It’s been what, a year or so? I mean, she can fly now, what else is there to-
Rainbow’s train of thought was stopped dead in its tracks by a sudden case of teleporting alicorn. She would’ve tumbled out of her throne, but by virtue of it being completely immobile, she slipped down and around instead.
“Hey Rainbow Dash, hope you didn’t wait for me too long.” Twilight Sparkle addressed the blue pony’s tush, which was straight up in the air.
“Ugh, finally, I’ve been waiting for like, EVER,” came the owner of the blue tush’s voice from the throne’s seat.
“Rainbow, I was gone five minutes.”
“Five minutes, five hours, whatevs. Let’s just get this over with.” Rainbow Dash slid her butt back down, using her wings to grip the throne.
Twilight stared wide-eyed at the movement, apparently too fascinated to care about Rainbow’s usual rudeness.
The alicorn cleared her throat. “Well, I wanted to uh, talk to you about-“
“Wing stuff. You always talk to me about wing stuff now that Daring Do’s on hiatus.” Rainbow looked up and away and scratched behind her ear.
Twilight’s brow crinkled in concern. She reached over and gave her friend a quick side wing hug.
“Aww, Rainbow. I just come to you because I KNOW you’re an expert on all things wings!”
“Yeah yeah,” droned the pegasus as she shrugged purple wings off her withers. “Look, just tell me what you wanna know, and I can teach ya, and then I can go back to practicing my new trick.”
Rainbow Dash had developed an extreme interest in the star-marked throne across from them. And the ones right next to it, and the doors behind it too. Everywhere, in fact, except for Twilight’s face, which had gone into full “concerned friend” mode.
It had been quiet for a bit longer than she was comfortable with. Ugh, what’s with-
“Anyway,” Twilight finally said to break the tension. “I wanted to know about…feather dexterity.”
“The what now?” Rainbow’s sour expression now included eyebrow raising action.
“You know, how you can just, uh…” Twilight curled her feathers, except that they didn’t.
Dash glanced in her direction. From what she could see, the Princess of Friendship was majestically spreading her wings and trying to take a dump. Her face looked like it wanted to swallow itself.
Fifteen seconds of this ridiculous nonsense passed by before Twilight stopped trying and sat her haunches on the floor, panting and lightly drizzled in sweat.
“Ya done yet?” Rainbow Dash had her hind hooves on the table, and was switching them top and bottom.
“What I -heu- mean to -heu- say is,” gasped Twilight, “I want to learn how to move my feathers.”
The Dash stared at her and flapped her wings once.
“No, I want to move them, like…like…I want to grab things.” Twilight mimed the motion with her fetlocks.
“Ah,” exhaled Dash, sitting upright. Putting her hooves on the armrest and leaning over, Dash extended her right wing and pinched the blunt tip of Twilight’s horn.
“Like that?”
Either Dash didn’t know about horns and pinching, and was just messing around; or she did and was teasing her on purpose.
Not that it mattered. Twilight was too busy blushing furiously and stammering gibberish.
“Heh, looks like I learned something about unicorns today.” Rainbow Dash leaned back again and grew that smirk on her face that was just oh so punchable.
“H-horn t-touching aside, yes, I want to learn how to finely manipulate my new fluffy digits.”
“That’s it?” Rainbow’s face could’ve made a lemon forfeit a sour contest.
“Well, it may be very easy for you, you've had wings all your life! I’ve been having trouble with just getting them to move independently. Or at all, actually.” Pouting seemed to be Twilight’s favorite activity today. Creating awkward silences was Rainbow’s.
Finally getting her breath back, Twilight stood up and stepped closer to Dash and her gem throne. Propping herself up on the armrest, she leaned in towards Dash until her nose almost touched her cheek. Had Dash been facing her, they’d have been muzzle to muzzle.
“Please help me with this Rainbow Dash? I feel its cultural impact is too important for me to ignore, and you’re the only one I’m comfortable asking about things like this, so…” Twilight started to drift away from her face. When Dash turned to look at her, their eyes didn’t meet.
Ugh, don’t get so mopey about dumb things, Twi, thought Dash. That’s my job.
“Fine.” She ran her hoof through her mane. “I’ll teach ya about the flippin’ feathers.”
Rainbow suddenly found herself two inches from the ceiling being crushed to death by a pair of alicorn magic enhanced forelegs.
“Oooh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!“ Twilight nuzzled Dash’s chest. With her strength, it soon progressed to a slight burning sensation.
“Uh,” – Dash managed to get her wings untangled – “Twi?”
Twi was too busy being cute to hear her. Naturally, this left Rainbow Dash with only one option.
“Yaaah!”
Twilight plummeted in a blur of limbs and feathers – right into a giant, maroon pillow.
“Never panic when you fall,” advised Rainbow. She began to descend with the alicorn-laden cushion. “You look like a total rookie, and you risk hitting anypony coming to catch you.”
“Wha…“ Twilight’s amethyst eyes were rolling in their sockets. Then they suddenly clicked into place, and her purple mug flushed redder than a ketchup stain on Big Mac's coat.
“Y-You pinched my horn again!” She put her hooves defensively around her protruding member.
“Well it was that or get my chest sanded off by your face,” chided Rainbow Dash. She blew on the spot assaulted by purple muzzle nuzzles. “Besides, I think you liked it.”
Twilight’s face left the visible light spectrum. Had there been any wood around, it would have probably combusted.
“Ah—I—y—you—aaah…” Too embarrassed to continue, Twilight crawled underneath her pillow and whimpered.
Rainbow Dash tried to suppress a giggle. But the attempt only made her laugh LOUDER.
The whimpering increased in volume, and the pillow shifted indignantly. Dash lifted it with her wing to find Twilight in tears.
Ugh, figures that I’d have done this today, Rainbow Dash mentally scolded herself. Grabbing the sobbing royal mess on the floor by the shoulders, Dash pulled Twilight into her embrace and held on tight. Despite everything, purple eyes met blue fur, and the flow began to ebb.
“Ah jeez, Twilight, I’m sorry.” Rainbow Dash ran her hoof through the midnight blue mane, splitting it apart from the strips of pink and purple, and continued down the smooth curve of the spine, stopping right between ruffled lavender wings. Twilight quivered gently, but otherwise did not react. There they stayed, like dusk settling into the sky, signaling the end of the day; the time for rest, peace, and quiet.
Way to go me, thought Rainbow. Always gotta take it too far down the deep end.
Her hoof ran down its path again.
But what else could I do but joke around? We got nothing to talk about anymore. No reason she’d ever call me to hang out or whatever… and she’s always so busy with things, she always has to turn me down whenever I wanna hang out…
At this distance, Rainbow could smell Twilight’s sweet vanilla scent, wafting over her and provoking a melancholic ache deep in her chest. Leaning her head on Twilight’s own seemed to dull it.
“It’s okay.” Twilight eventually pulled her face away from Rainbow’s chest, but curiously left her hooves around her neck. “I was just…overwhelmed, is all.”
Even curiouser, Twilight was still blushing. And staring at her. If Dash had had the mind to, she could…
“Uh—” Rainbow Dash: ruiner of moments. “A-about the feather thing…we can start now, right?” Rainbow Dash: currently mentally slapping herself. “I’ve got a trick to get back to. Practicing. Yeah.” Rainbow Dash: Sonic Rainbooming into a mountain after this.
“Oh.” Twilight stepped away completely. “R-right, I almost forgot with…YES, let’s start.” She adopted a wide, low stance, as if getting ready to take off.
Rainbow lifted Twilight’s chin with the tip of her feather. “We’re gonna start simple.”
She was scowling again.
What happened? Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof. I thought she was finally starting to open up to me, and now…
Dash walked past her, their wings brushing briefly. Turning so that she was directly behind and to the right of Twilight, Dash overlapped her blue wing over Twilight’s purple, slightly offset.
“Okay, so I want to test your range of motion,” explained Rainbow. “Since it looks like you can’t move your feathers on your own, I’m gonna take some of the load off with mine.” She curled her primaries slightly, and Twilight’s primaries followed suit.
“Can you feel anything?” Rainbow Dash’s scowl had been demoted to frown.
Twilight did indeed feel something. And most assuredly, it was because Dash was holding her wing.
“Y-yeah, a little bit.” The temperature in Twilight’s face screeched to a halt, about-faced and marched back up to where it came.
“Okay, now you try,” advised Rainbow.
Twilight gave a short nod and strained to move her fuzzy members. From what she could see, she was able to make them (very slowly) vibrate up and down.
“Haha!” Twilight beamed at her teacher.
But Dash was none too impressed.
“Don’t get too excited yet. Feathers are like muscles, even though they’re technically magic mumbo-jumbo. You’re gonna have to do reps every single day until you can bend them without effort.”
With that, she curled her first primary under Twilight’s, and pulled it upwards.
“Now try moving your other feathers while I hold this one.”
The alicorn did as she was told. Of course, Dash did only say try.
“Are you doing anything yet? I can’t tell.”
Twilight willed her digits to MOVE already. She closed her eyes, sucked in her breath, and PULLED. But the held primary gave too much resistance.
All the commotion made her all too unwary of the sound of hooves dragging and clacking on stone behind her.
“I can…! DO THIS…!” Twilight screamed to the heavens. With a final roar of effort, the feather finally gave way.
The wrong feather. With her eyes closed, she only heard the earth-shattering SNAP as her primary (and the pony holding it) broke the sound barrier. Faster than lightning, Twilight’s horn sparked with white-hot sunlit fury. Then it exploded.
The wave of light washed over everything in a 100 meter radius. Spike, who had been just outside the great doors of the castle, was frozen in midstep. A bluejay by the window, spooked by the flash, was suspended in midair. In the kitchen, a drop of water from the sink was arrested by an unseen force.
In the throne room, Rainbow Dash, her head mere millimeters from a jagged crystal pillar, floated completely motionless above the smooth crystal floor.
Too close, thought Twilight. She stared at Rainbow’s face: eyes closed, teeth gritted, but she showed no fear; merely bracing for impact. Way too close. Thank Celestia that I knew that momentum spell…
She exhaled, and let the light of her horn fade.
The pegasus fell to the floor at a more reasonable speed, and landed flat on her back. With a groan, she slowly sat up and rubbed the back of her head.
“What the heck was that?” half-slurred Rainbow Dash.
Twilight bounded and leaped to the grounded mare, ignoring the fatigue from casting a spell of the ninth level that was both quickened and silent.
“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?!?” She scanned Rainbow’s body for any obvious injuries and found none; still, she couldn’t be sure.
“Yeah, I guess.” Rainbow looked dazed, but didn’t seem to be in pain. She suddenly disappeared with a loud pink POP, and then reappeared, standing on all four hooves, in another.
Twilight, who looked ready to let off the waterworks a second time, embraced her with wings and legs.
“Oh my gosh I didn’t mean to do that I just wanted to finally flex them so bad but I didn’t know my own strength and oh gosh Rainbow I am so sorry please don’t hate me I—”
Her mouth suddenly found itself busy dealing with a hard, furry obstruction.
“Psh, it was an accident, Twi. No big. Even if you hadn’t stopped me with…whatever you just did, I wouldn’t have blamed you.” Rainbow Dash grinned at her and squeezed back, asserting her sincerity. “I’m sure glad ya did though, hehe.”
“Mmmff oommf mmff mf,” said Twilight.
“Whoops,” went Dash, swiftly removing her hoof from the alicorn’s mouth. With the way she put it there, it was covered with a light amount of saliva. Both mares blushed at the same time, and ceased with the hugging.
“You know, I think you got the general idea. A-about the feather thing, I mean. I’m sure you can use a book or something for the resistance training. Just…keep on doing what you’re doing. Yeah. Uh, gotta-”
The wind caught Dash’s last word and blew it out of earshot. The only evidence of the pegasus had even been in the room was a single down feather, which had fallen and started tumbling next to a stack of books on the right of the doorway.
A purple glow seized the feather before it could follow the backdraft going into the hallway. Twilight walked to it, and brought it closer to her face. Reluctantly, she brought her right wing forward. Her primaries inched towards the floating feather.
Come on, just grab it. I can do this. Just-
The feather lost its luminescence and fell away from her. The double doors, finally free from the gale-force winds that held them fast against their frame, swung back and forth. Twilight’s vision blurred, its edges going dark.
Drain…catching…up to me… She slumped to the floor as gently as she could.
The last thing she saw was that sky blue down feather, flying away from her reach.
Rainbow Dash, queen of quick exits, rocketed through the skies of Ponyville, her signature prismatic trail shining in her wake. Clouds disintegrated before her, and the wind spurred her ever upward. Only when her breath left her did she tuck in her wings and allow momentum to do the rest. At the peak of her climb the updrafts were strong enough for her to spread them again and coast on the breeze.
Ponyville was just a speck on the ground at this height.
Good, thought the speedster. Wouldn’t want anypony finding me here.
She banked, keeping a wide circle around the gust of warm air. Assured of her trajectory, Rainbow Dash allowed her mind to wander.
Why in TARTARUS did I leave like that? UGH. GRAAAH. RAAAAAAAHHH!
She nearly lost her path with her flailing about like a fish. Composing herself, she adjusted her position and resumed her pity party.
I should’ve stayed. I was finally hanging out with her like I wanted. But…
The air had been growing colder for a while now. Rainbow checked her altitude and direction. She could no longer see Ponyville, but determined that she was still, more or less, in the same part of Equestria.
I wussed out. I just gotta come out and say it.
“I wussed out,” she said. “Heh, and I’m supposed to be the brave one.”
Rainbow’s heart didn’t seem to be satisfied. It still felt heavy with regret and longing. It still had something to say.
I like Twilight. She dared not speak this aloud, even if she was more than forty thousand feet in the air.
She’s the coolest mare I’ve ever met. And I’ve met ME. Sure, she’s a total egghead, but the way she can just…do ANYTHING with her magic…that’s the sort of ability that’s just SO AWESOME! And everything she does, she does for the sake of doing just that. Magic. I’ve never seen that kind of passion in anypony else before. In a way, I guess she…would understand me better than anypony else.
Her short term memory, for once, failed to be so short term. Rainbow’s face flicked from “uguu Twilight-senpai” to “The eternal sorrow in my still beating heart aches to end in the everlasting lake of fire”.
And I just threw away my shot with her down the drain, huh. If that had ever existed in the first place. What kind of pony does she like anyway? How do I know she even likes mares? Or even athletes? What if she just wants to spend the rest of her life with a crummy, old boring SCIENTIST and read all day? If I can’t be what she wants, then…
The air, like her soul, was now deathly cold. This was where the updraft ended.
Time to get off this lazy ride…
Rainbow made a vertical half-loop upward, kicked the air with her whole body at the apex and D I V E D.
Hooves up, ears back, mane rushing out of her face like it was made of lightning…this is what she was born to do.
I may be many things, but I’m no liar. I do have a trick I need to practice. And once I have it, I’m gonna show her. Show Twilight what I’m made of.
Faster. Faster.FASTER went Rainbow Dash. A narrow cone of compressed air began to take shape around her.
Step 1: Sonic Rainboom.
Had she told anypony about her trick, they would have probably had her detained and put into solitary confinement. But she hadn’t, because
I made this for Twilight. She’s the only one who’d get it.
The cone began to crackle. Crackling became whirring; whirring into roaring. The lights began to split into a spectrum of off-white colors, then blossomed into their full glory.
B O O M.
With the air no longer pushing her back, Rainbow dashed to a velocity known only by one mare: herself. She couldn’t help but notice that Ponyville was visible again.
Heh, they won’t get to see the best part. Not yet. Step 2: Air Brake into 180 degree turn.
The sudden deceleration should kill her, but the universe had stopped caring long ago what ponies like Rainbow Dash could do. Rolling to face backward and kicking the air yet again, she went from hypersonic to zero…
And back again.
B O O M.
Haha YEAH, Double Rainboom, baby!
The effect was such that the twin prismatic shockwaves, a smidge longer than two ponies’ lengths apart, appeared to have happened almost simultaneously. If she had not been up so high, Rainbow Dash would have most likely leveled Ponyville.
Collateral damage was the last thing on her mind, however. Making a sharp 90 degree turn and then circling around the epicenter, Rainbow Dash slowed down to observe the Rainbooms propagating through the landscape.
Did it work? she thought, as if creating TWO Sonic Rainbooms mere milliseconds apart had not been enough.
Come on….Step 3: Work that Magic!
Aside from the sound just now getting to her eardrums (a sound not unlike a pair of magnums going off point blank one after the other), the dual explosions of pure, unleaded awesomeness dissipated, fading away into the blue, blue sky.
Rainbow Dash screamed so loudly, that she actually managed to hear herself over the deafening roar of her sky-shattering maneuver. Defeated, she lazily stopped flapping and allowed herself to enter free-fall.
With her back to the ground and her hooves limply dragging against the air, Rainbow held her pity after-party.
It’s useless. I’m no smarty pants like Twilight. I don’t know how to make it work.
She crossed both pairs of limbs across her body and straightened her back. Rainbow Dash was now falling headfirst.
I hate physics. Waves-schmaves. Whatever. I had enough trouble with just the air brake…it took me all of last week just to be able to stop, period.
It seemed as if the ground was a huge Dash fan: closing in on its idol quickly and wanting a personal memento signed on its body. Rainbow observed it with the indifferent devil-may-care attitude she reserved for all her adoring fans.
But…
One hundred meters.
I have to finish it. I have to do it right. I gotta prove to Twilight that I can be more than just her jock friend.
Thirty meters.
Even if I have to read all the textbooks in Equestria.
Like a true pro flyer, she twisted around into smooth glide ten meters from the ground.
Unlike a true pro flyer, she did so right into the branches of an apple tree, smacking her forehead into the thick bark and knocking herself out.
Rainbow Dash jerked awake to a sitting position. It didn’t do much good, because she was already being held upright by a gnarly forked branch along her midsection. From what she could see, she was dangling twenty feet from the ground, surrounded by dark green leaves and juicy apples of all the colors apples can be. Rainbow tried to extract herself from the rough pincer-grip of the branch, but her wings were pinned to her sides too tightly. With no branch curved and wide enough to grip by hoof, she rubbed her forehead, groaned, and hung limply again.
Thump.
Dash tried to wonder where that sound kept coming from, but she was still too dazed. A slight sensation (Dash couldn't quite place it as anything specific) dug into her wings. She didn't like it.
Thu-crack.
It occurred to her that her ears were ringing, and that the tree was shaking. Looking down, she saw a familiar orange, blonde-maned, brown-hatted mare glaring back at her.
Applejack turned around and bucked the tree.
Thu-CRACK!
The vibrations tickled Rainbow in exactly the wrong way, in that it tickled, period. Her thought processes now unmuddled, Dash flailed and squirmed about, if not to dislodge herself, then to at least convince the cowpony below her to stop with the bucking.
Applejack rolled 0 for Sense Motive.
THU-CRAKACK!!!
Dash’s body slid in all sorts of directions, and finally exited at the wide end of the fork with a nasty scraping sound. She floated down with an unusual grace, much like a leaf during the fall. Her hooves touched down on the soft green grass daintily, as if they were kissing each individual blade and offering salutations.
Dash inhaled softly, a breeze-like sigh, and proceeded to let out a bloodcurdling wail.
Her wings had started her into a hover with their fluttering. Limbs dancing in midair, Dash's deep pink eyes scanned her surroundings for water, and found none. The realization struck her like a hoof on the bum, spinning her around.
"Rainbow Dash, what in the HAY are you doin' ta mah precious Blossomdown?" demanded the realization. Her grass green eyes pierced through the pegasus with an ice cold intensity.
"Uh" —Dash touched down again; her wingburn didn't seem to bother her anymore— "I, uh, crashed?" She was telling the truth. This time.
"Likely story," intoned Applejack. "Rather likely, since this makes for the fifth time you've 'crashed' into mah Blossomdown, Rainbow Dash."
"Hey, it ain't my fault the damn tree is so tall. Or so conveniently close." rebutted Rainbow with an eyeroll, who immediately regretted doing so.
The frost in Applejack's voice sublimated into raw fury. "There's a REASON for that there tree bein' so tall, Rainbow!"
At this, Applejack strode forward, gradually forcing the pegasus' back against the tree.
"Blossomdown is the OLDEST and MOST VALUABLE tree in this orchard, and ah ain't havin' no daredevilin' pegasi either crashin', sleepin', or otherwise INTERACTIN' with 'er unless they have mah and ONLY mah say so. Do ah make mahself clear?" The mares were nose to nose.
"C-crystal." Rainbow Dash refrained from a salute.
Applejack about-faced, clicking her hooves with a practiced snap.
"Now unless ya have some business with me, you'd best git goin', RD. It's harvest time, and ah don't want you muckin' up my operations." She walked away without looking back, towards the path back to the barn.
I'd better get outta here... thought Dash. But...
"Wait."
Applejack clicked her hooves to a stop, perfectly aligned. She turned her head and cast an impatient glance through her golden locks.
"I may not have meant to come here, exactly," continued Dash. "But I do kinda sorta need help with...something."
"I'm not too well inclined to do ya any favors right now, Dash." AJ resumed ignoring and walking away from the intrusive pegasus.
"I just...need some advice." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. She had never known the apple farmer to indulge in such things as romance, but she did know that Applejack always had a word of wisdom or two for most things.
"Advice on what, Dash?" She hadn't stopped this time, forcing Dash to trot to her side.
"Er...well ya see, there's this one pony that I really--" began Dash.
"Oh." Applejack blinked and went wide-eyed for half a second. "That sorta advice. Hoo boy."
Orange and blue walked up the path under the sunlit sprinkled shade of apple trees in silence, not only because hello, awkward topic, but also because Dash's wingburn was beginning to flare up again. Applejack spoke again once they crested the hill overlooking the barn's backside.
"Lemme tell ya right now Rainbow, ah ain't an expert by any means. But ah suppose ah can try to uh-hum, guide you, as best ah can."
The mare had glanced at Dash when she said the word guide, and very nearly guffawed in shock. Spurred into the air a-buzzing by her wingburn, she had turned scarlet and was slowly rising higher, like a steam-driven helicopter with its boiler pressure beyond maximum.
Applejack gestured with a hoof towards the barn. "There's a well just around--"
Dash disappeared in an explosion of dust and feathers. A second later, a geyser burst into the air from the opposite side of the barn. Applejack just tipped her hat down and groaned on the inside.
The short trip to the barn's front side led her to find Rainbow Dash, sopping wet, flopping wildly like a beached shark with a mouthful of similarly flopping sardines on the dry yellow grass. The well had not survived their encounter: the stone wall was in pieces, surrounding the hole in the ground as if they were to be used in some sort of ritual; the roof and its supports were missing completely, presumably disintegrated into sawdust. The only part left intact was the spool of rope, which had managed to wrap itself around the weathervane, into the barn's front doors, out the window and through ten feet worth of fence before finally running out material and lodging itself into a haystack.
The criminal pegasus finally tired of her shenanigans and laid still, limbs all splayed out like a snowflake. Applejack stood over her, eyes like daggers burrowing into her skull.
Obviously guilty, Dash merely smiled and squee'd.
"Ah'm goin' ta ignore this fer now on account of you just bein' you, Rainbow, and also 'cause ah don't wanna put even more on yer plate than ya got already." Applejack's face softened, and she pulled Dash up by her fetlocks.
"Just be aware, ah did say 'fer now,' Dash." She jabbed at Dash's chest, right on the muzzle-nuzzle fallout zone. Dash winced a little.
"Sorry, didja get burned there too?" asked Applejack. Her brows had furrowed in concern.
"Nah, it's not that. I'm just...remembering what happened earlier today." Dash looked away. She couldn't stand making ponies worry.
"Well, ah reckon it's best to start from the beginnin'. Who is this mystery pony anyways, Rainbow?"
Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, and found it difficult to say the name. She'd never told anypony about her crush before, and the prospect of doing so suddenly seemed much more terrifying when she was actually about to do it.
But not saying it would make her a coward. The Great Rainbow Dash was no coward, and she certainly wasn't going to start now. Not now or ever.
"It's Twilight," she said, after what seemed like an eternity of silence.
Applejack didn't even have the decency to look scandalized. Or even mildly surprised. "Ah figured as much," was all she said.
The pegasus took mild offense at this. "Hey, just because my dad named me Rainbow doesn't mean tha-"
Applejack held up a hoof. "Ah didn't mean it that way, and ya know it, Dash. Ah'm just observant, is all."
She walked past the colorful mare and began to pace the width of the barn doors.
"Ah'm in town more often than ya think. And from what ah've seen, you don't talk to stallions much, do ya Rainbow?"
Dash reluctantly nodded. Applejack continued her rationalizing.
"Thought so. Ah only ever seen you speakin' amicably with the mares o' the town, and you don't even do that much. Most of the time ah see you with Pinkie, Twilight or mahself, and that really narrowed it down."
Applejack put a hoof to her mouth. Dash's face hardened at the mention of her pink party friend. It's only been a few weeks since she left; the sting of loss was still heavy on all of them.
Applejack recovered first. "Ah, uh, keep forgettin', heh." She took off her hat and placed it over her chest.
"Is she really not-"
"Coming back?" finished Dash. Her eyes held a twinge of bitterness. "No. She's not. She said as much, the last time I saw her. And I never knew Pinkie to ever go back on anything she promised." The last word dribbled out of her mouth, as if it were poisonous candy.
"A-anyway," stuttered AJ as she replaced her hat, "as ah was sayin', you only hung around three, er, two ponies, and since you came ta me fer advice, I figured it was Twilight you was pinin' for. If ya were pinin' for anypony, that is."
"So what do you think I should do?" Dash had turned to gaze at the road going from the farm to Ponyville.
"Well, ah suppose that's more or less up to you, so long as it's from the heart and something a smart pony like her'll appreciate." Applejack moved to stand side by side with her.
Dash sheepishly scratched the back of her neck."I DID have a plan to show her my new trick, but I haven't gotten it down yet."
"I get that yer fancy maneuvers are pretty to look at, but what about this particular one makes it so special?" AJ had that smile going; the teasing one with the raised brows that got ponies punches in the shoulder.
"Er," Dash blushed, "It has something to do with...waves? Math stuff. I don't really get it; all I know is that it takes two Rainbooms at the same time, and they're supposed to...touch, I guess. "
The other mare's eyes widened. "You can do that? Sounds real dangerous, Rainbow. Where'd ya learn about this fancy-schmancy 'wave' stuff?"
Rainbow put a hoof to her chin and looked up, as she was about to have a flashback.
"I think it was about three months ago... I don't keep track. I was at Twilight's to borrow the latest Daring Do..."
Rainbow Dash skidded into a muddy landing in front of the grand tree that housed the library. Buzzing with energy, the filly knocked thrice on the topmost door, briefly marking it with muddy hoofprints until the rain washed them away.
“Yo, anypony in there?” she yelled.
No reply. Which was strange, considering that Twilight should have expected her to be here. She couldn’t have forgotten what TODAY was... Could she? Rainbow knocked thrice more.
The glass in the door flicked to yellow, blinding her momentarily. When her eyes adjusted, the door was open, a purple and green baby dragon on the other side.
“Hey Spike,” greeted Rainbow. “Is Twilight around? I’m here for--”
“Daring Do and the Alicorn Throne, yeah she told me.” Spike didn’t seem too enthused to see her. “She didn’t tell me you’d show up at five in the morning, though.”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, smearing mud all over her mane. Her grin indicated that she didn’t mind in the slightest. “Ahehe, well, I wanted to get it as early as possible, so I came here straight after my team finished the storm.”
Spike merely sighed. He turned and walked toward a desk near the stairs. “Alright. Come on in, then.”
Rainbow looked down at herself. Rather than cleaning her, the rain seemed to be making her muddier.
“Uh, got a towel in there, Spike?”
“Don’t need one. Twilight put up an anti-weather shield around the whole tree.” Spike flapped his claw in a dismissive gesture. “Just walk in and it should clean you right up.”
The blue-black-and-brown pegasus passed through the doorway, and all the dirt and grime stuck to her fur melted right off with a pink light, piling up just outside the barrier.
“Whoa. That’s some spell. Dried me off, too, heh.”
“Eh, it’s cool, but it’s basic.” Spike had moved on to one of the bookshelves, searching the bottom row. “Pretty much any unicorn can learn it. Most don’t though.”
“Why not?” Rainbow, crouched on the welcome mat, was amusing herself with the barrier, sticking her hoof in and out and watching the rain splatter into pink lights on its invisible surface.
“Well, a lot of unicorns live in Canterlot,” explained Spike. “With paved roads, the whole mud thing isn’t a problem. Many also know the advanced version of the spell, which shields just the caster. Not to mention the unicorns outside of Canterlot who can’t afford magic school...”
His claw came to a reddish-brown book. The golden lettering on its spine read Daring Do and the Alicorn Throne.
“Got it!” He grabbed it and trotted back to the desk. Taking a suspiciously familiar purple quill from the wall drawer adjacent, Spike sat down on a dark oak stool and placed the book in his lap. Rainbow ceased messing with the anti-weather shield and cantered over to stand beside him.
Purple claws opened another book on top of the desk, revealing a list of dates, names and book titles. Spike wrote in Rainbow Dash and the book she borrowed just under Pinkie Pie’s, who appeared to have borrowed a copy of How To Train Your Gator: A Reference Guide the day before.
“There ya go, one brand new copy of the latest Daring Do. Now if there isn’t anything else, I’m” —the little dragon yawned, stretching his tiny forelimbs— “going back to bed. See ya later Rainbow.” He hopped off the stool, leaving the novel on its seat, and sauntered off.
Rainbow Dash took Daring Do and the Alicorn Throne in her wingtips and opened it immediately. There was no time for hysterical fangirling; there was a novel to be read, dammit, and it will be read NOW.
“Hey Spike, can I crash here for a bit?” she called after Spike, eyes still on the page. “It’s still raining outside and I don’t want this to get wet.”
The dragon had disappeared, but his voice came from the other room, affirming that she could. Permission granted, Rainbow whooped and backflipped onto the stool, leaning back into the closed library record book on the desk. Her eyes quickly picked up where she left off, and she soon lost herself in the adventure once more.
Rainbow Dash was content. There was nothing better than sitting down with a good book and listening to the rain pitter-patter on the windows, the occasional thunderclap sending shocks of awe through her nerves. She envied the ground-dwellers; cloud homes are moved above the cloud layer during storms (they’d be destroyed otherwise), so Rainbow rarely experienced the calming monotonous chorus of rain.
Daring Do had just been ambushed by Zebrican assassins on top of a crashing zepplin when Rainbow heard hoofsteps over the rain.
“Hey Rainbow, you’re here early,” A purple alicorn dressed in a dark blue hoodie had appeared at the top of the basement stairs. An open wooden crate was on her back, held in place by her wings. “Got your book?”
“Yup. I didn’t want it to get wet, and that storm’s gonna last for about. . .” Rainbow put a hoof to her chin. “What time is it?”
“Around 6:30,” replied Twilight.
“Another hour or so, then. Have to make up for missing last week’s shower.” She punctuated her sentence with a page flip. “So did you finish the book already?”
“Rainbow, it came in just last night. Even if I had started when I got it, I wouldn’t have finished.” Twilight looked around the circumference of the library. “Besides, I wanted you to read it first.” With a pause and a frown, she trotted into the other room right next to the stairs.
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. Me? Read Daring Do before the eggiest egghead in all of Equestria? She smirked to herself. I must be one awesome friend.
Daring had just disappeared into the thick jungle around the crash site when the alicorn returned with her crate half-filled with glowing white jars. Rainbow spotted them for only a moment, but their presence prompted her to actually close the book, leaving a feather to mark her place.
"Are those jars of liquid light, Twi?"
"Yup." Twilight tilted the crate left, then right, then again to the left; its contents were constantly shifting. This balancing act must've taken up all her concentration, since she didn't launch into a long-winded technobabble-filled explanation as to what she was going to do with gratuitous amounts of pure, concentrated star magic. But for once, Rainbow Dash actually wanted to know.
"Hope you're not planning on burning down Mi Quesa Su Quesa," she teased as she hopped off the stool, leaving the novel on its seat.
"Rainbow Dash!" The outburst claimed the last of Twilight's stability, tipping the fragile wooden crate and its cargo to the hardwood floor.
The crate fell a mere two vertical inches from its starting point, landing square on Rainbow's withers. Twilight didn't even see her move.
"That," said Rainbow as she rose from her crouching pose, "could've been bad." Understatement of the year. But as all the cool and radical ponies knew, understatements were the coolest and most radical phrases known to ponykind.
"Glad I had Equestria's fastest pegasus here to save my flank." Twilight stretched a wing out, but Rainbow backed away, shielding the box with her wings.
"Oh no, I am not letting you torch my second-favorite Mexicoltan restaurant."
"Please, Rainbow. I would never be so barbaric," said Twilight, mock frown on her face. She flapped her extended wing.
Rainbow didn't budge. "Attempted arson or not, I think I'd better hold onto this." Twilight opened her mouth in protest, but a blue hoof was quick to silence it. "You're new to this whole wing thing, newbie, and I might not be so quick next time." A pause. "Whoa. Remind me never to say that ever again."
The alicorn frowned for real this time, but otherwise retracted her wing in defeat. She retreated down the stairs, prompting Rainbow to do the same.
The tunnel down was barely lit. The average pony would think that the jars would light the way despite being behind both Twilight and herself, but as an experienced weather pony who'd been in the business ever since she was old enough to work, Rainbow Dash knew better. The jars were built to contain light: if they glowed more than they were supposed to, all of it would "leak" out.
The end of the wooden stairs lead to the start of a short rocky ledge, which in turn lead to more stairs. Had Rainbow not been laden with a crate full of potentially volatile materials, she would have already raced to the bottom. However, her curiosity from before had not been sated, and the long walk incited the pegasus to do the one thing she never thought she would do: talk science with Twilight Sparkle and actually pay attention.
"Let's get real, Twi: What's with the goods?" said Rainbow in her most thuggish voice.
"The 'goods' are for the experimental stage of my thesis on the properties of light. Er, well, they're supposed to be. As I'm sure you can tell, I haven't refined the substance just yet."
Rainbow was surprised to have an actual rebuttal. "Why didn't you just buy red ones? They're almost as cheap and aren't strong enough to explode when you magic them up."
"I needed all seven colors. You see, the experiment that I'm about to perform (based on Cat Colt's Wave Theory of Light) is dependent on wavelength, and the raw light was more economical than industry-grade liquid rainbow, so I got that instead."
The pair made the final turn to the basement floor. Twilight’s horn glowed a soft pink, and the whole room undimmed, lit by an unseen light source.
“Huh,” said Rainbow. “It’s… less?”
Yet another understatement by Ponyville’s self-proclaimed “most awesome” pony. The earthen root-thorned walls were completely bare, aside from a pull-down white screen large enough to drape over a small elephant; a far-cry from the various bookshelves, machines and pipes that formerly occupied them.
In the center sat a rectangular cannon wired up to a generator and what looked like two front halves of a bike welded together in the middle. A few feet to its left was a rusty contraption all too familiar to the weather pony in Rainbow Dash. The seven cylindrical tanks; the complicated dials and levers; the giant fly wheel in the rear; she felt like it was her first day at work again.
“Ah, the rainbow refiner, my old nemesis.” Rainbow sighed to herself. “Dad thought it was hilarious; Rainbow makin’ rainbows.” She went up to it and rubbed a dusty gauge with the back of her fetlock.
Twilight cast a worried glance over the machine. “I hope it still works. I spent the last two weeks going through all the paperwork just to get it delivered here.”
“That’s Cloudsdale for ya. E. U. P. ain’t nothin’ to them. If it wasn't for that horn on your head, you'da had it in a few days.” Rainbow stomped a hoof at the word nothing, eliciting a curious Twilight to give her an incredulous look: the Element of Loyalty defying her element was a rare event. “Don’t get me wrong; I love my city, but my city’s gotta do some lovin’ back.”
“Strange, they seemed friendly enough to me,” replied Twilight.
Rainbow scoffed. “That’s because you’re a princess; it’s like, illegal to be mean to you. Still, they do find ways...” She sauntered over to the cannon. “I thought you said you weren’t torching anything.”
Twilight merely rolled her eyes. “This cannon uses the liquid light, true, but we’re not about to destroy the most hated, vile, and disgusting excuse for a restaurant Equestria has ever had the displeasure of giving a business permit to; it’s for SCIENCE!”
"Pfft, spewing your guts out of both ends for three hours is part of the experience Twi; you should appreciate Mexicoltan culture more," said Rainbow. She slid the crate from her withers down on the floor next to the refiner, using her free wing as a ramp. "So, how's this experiment gonna go down?"
"Well," explained Twilight, "after we refine the liquid light into its components, we'll load them one by one into this cannon and fire it at that screen there."
Rainbow circled around the cannon to its business end. "Through this thing?" she exclaimed as she pointed at the metal plate covering the opening. Upon closer inspection, the plate had two very tiny holes placed very closely together at its center.
"Yes."
Rainbow looked at the cannon, then at the screen, then at the cannon again. "I don't think there's enough room in here for the light to scatter." Bad things happened when liquid light wasn't allowed to dissipate properly; things that went fwoosh and oh Celestia it burns.
"Not to worry, Rainbow, I'm prepared for ANYTHING." Charging up her horn with pure arcane energy, Twilight cast -- no, blasted a laser beam right at the stark white screen.
The pink ray of death splashed on its surface. . . and did nothing. Rainbow, who had ducked underneath the cannon, peered out, mouth agape.
"This, my fine feathered friend" said Twilight, horn still a-smoke, "is a chainmail sheet of one hundred percent mithril, crafted from the scales of the last White Dragon of Equestria: Grant, The Winter Unending."
"Whoa." Rainbow crawled out of cover. "Epic." She brushed her hoof over its smooth, yet bumpy woven rings; the pegasus hadn't heard of Grad something or other, but any story involving dragons tended to have lots of action in it.
"I'm sure that the screen can prevent most, if not all disasters. I shrunk down the other equipment in here just in case though." Twilight slid a jar into a space under the refiner, and stepped on the loading pedal. "Now, just how do I work this thing..."
In a flash, three dozen books popped into existence around the alicorn. They arranged themselves in a rising spiral pattern.
"Uh, Twi?" Rainbow Dash hopped and glided to her purple friend. "Maybe you should let an expert handle that." She tried to push Twilight aside, but the princess stood her ground, nose in book.
"No no, it's alright; I don't want to interrupt your reading." She flipped through Luminary Refiner Operator's Manual I, briefly looking over the diagrams. "Besides, it's a great learning experience."
Rainbow didn't argue; the refiner was a complicated machine, and she had no love for rainbow crafting. Better to leave Twilight alone and get back to Daring Do.
"I, uh, think I'll stay and help you." What. "Books don't always cover everything." Bad idea BAD IDEA--
"Nonsense." Twilight looked ready to burn her at the stake. "These manuals were written by the inventor himself; they can't possibly have missed anything."
Not that Rainbow would know; everything she knew about the refiner came from her dad and their co-workers.
"Er, well, just in case then. Of fire. That thing's a hunk o' junk; it could burst into flame even if you were using it normally."
"I told you, Rainbow, I am PREPARED. No need to fuss about me, I'll be FINE."
Twilight pulled the ignition lever, and the refiner coughed to life. Alternating between book and gauge, the alicorn pushed buttons and flipped switches, not even looking to see if Rainbow had indeed gone back upstairs. Quite unnaturally for the pegasus, she hadn't.
Pfft. Suit yerself, your Eggheadiness. Probably wouldn't have been that cool anyway...
"Ya know Rainbow," said Twilight, still working the machine, "if I didn't know any better, I'd think that you actually wanted to see my experiment."
"What? Heck. No." Rainbow pushed off the step, gliding next to Twilight's face. "YOU'RE Princess Egghead, not me. I'm just... lookin' out for ya, got it?" She punctuated her sentence with a light-hearted jab at the other mare's furry chest.
"Uh-huh." Twilight had that teasing smile again. "Hmm, maybe I COULD use some of your expertise." She nudged Rainbow with her wing.
"Duh," replied Rainbow. She reached across Twilight and pulled a lever. "An expert wouldn't stop to chat with friends while working." She quickly looked at the pressure gauge, and turned a dial back with two primaries. "You have to constantly monitor the pressure AND the centrifuge so it doesn't like, explode."
Twilight merely blushed. "Ehehe, sorry. Let's just... get this done."
Her eyes went from book to book, occasionally checking gauges as Rainbow took over. The colorful pegasus worked with robot-like precision, gained over two years of being behind the rainbow refiner. As the machine chugged and whirred and tooted, the clear glass tanks, one by one, slowly filled with luminescent fluid. When the loaded jar was depleted, Rainbow swiftly replaced it, and began the process again.
"Tanks're full." Rainbow shut off the machine. Twilight floated down empty jars from upstairs, and both mares fitted tubes to the tanks and drained them.
Rainbow slammed a lid onto a purple filled jar, taking care not to let any light escape.
"You bought a TON of this stuff, Twi. You still have a jar left over." She slid it next to the others, all segregated by color.
"Like I said. Always. Prepared." Twilight closed the last purple jar, and looked over the colors lighting up her basement floor. "Thirty-five in all. Funny how it's all proportioned like that."
"Yep. Always a one-to-seven ratio. Makes sense, if ya think about it." Rainbow stretched her wings, cracking joints and pulling them to their limits. "Cannon time?"
"Cannon time." Twilight chose a jar from the red pile and slid it to the makeshift cannon. "Ugh, I should have made a loading mechanism for this thing." She awkwardly lifted the jar and flipped it so that the covered end was on top of the hole. Holding the jar with both hooves, she used her horn to pop off the lid. Thankfully, none of the substance spilled out.
"Phew," went Twilight, wiping the sweat from her brow. "No accidents so far." Going around, she mounted the strange four-pedaled bicycle and started pedaling.
The hum of the generator shut out all other sounds. As Twilight pedaled faster, the hum got louder, and soon, the business end of the cannon glowed with red light.
"Now pant it just pant needs one pant last pantPUSH!"
PSSHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
The laser hit the dragonmail screen for a fraction of a second, and dissipated just as quickly.
"That's it?" gasped Twilight as she fell off the double bike. "That can't be it, I didn't see... Rainbow, did you see it?"
The mare merely shrugged. "I may have the eyes of a hawk, but I didn't see it. That is some crazy stuff."
"No... NO. I have to try again. Let me get my camera..."
Twilight trotted to a seemingly empty spot in the room, facing the wall. A flash of her horn conjured up a wooden drawer, but without a magical pop; more like a shwoomp.
So she really DID shrink down everything, thought Rainbow. Twi's cooler than I thought. Would've been cooler if...
"Hey, uh, Twi? What was it that we were supposed to see?"
Twilight rummaged through the drawer, focused on finding the camera. "A diffraction pattern. My hypothesis was that such a pattern would still be created despite the density of the light used."
Rainbow didn't know what a diffraction pattern was, but a rainbow was sort of like a pattern, and both had something to do with light.
"Hey Twi, Sonic Rainbooms are light, right?"
"Well, magically generated light, but yes, I suppose they are." Twilight unshrunk another drawer and kinesis'd her way through its contents.
"Could I, say, make this duh-frac-ton pattern with one?"
The question gave the alicorn pause. "Firstly, it's dih-frac-shun, and secondly, you'd need two, set off right next to each other. Seeing as you're the only pegasus in Equestria that can do one, I'd say it's next to impossible."
Rainbow scoffed. "Impossible? Don't you know who you're talking to? I'm Rainbow Dash, greatest flyer in all of Equestria!"
"Wow, Dash, ah never figured you for a storyteller."
"What can I say? I've got a gift."
The two mares had lied in the shade of Lil Washington, the first tree most ponies see when visiting the Acres. Applejack was reclining in the grass, hat on her belly, and Rainbow Dash was to her left, similarly reclined after a spectacular (and rather tiring) reenactment of her flashback.
"So," said Applejack, "what now?"
"Huh?" Rainbow had the attention span of a fruit fly sometimes.
AJ sat up and stared down at her. "Are ya gonna finish that trick o' yours?"
Rainbow turned away, bits of grass clinging to her mane. "I don't know. There's something missing. Something I'm not getting. If only I knew where to look..."
"Ah'd tell ya to pop over to the castle library, but obviously that's out. Maybe you can ask Rarity fer help."
"What would Rarity know about science?"
"Ain't about science, ya ding-dong. About romance."
The word romance sent shivers through Rainbow's skin. Her wings clenched, and she had to sit up before the feeling went away.
Applejack let out a little chuckle. "Ain't nothin' ta be ashamed of, filly; love is the most natural thang in the world." She put a leg around the blushing pegasus. "Be proud that you found someone you'd wanna hold at night, sittin' under the stars, watchin' the moon rise inta the sky and go back down again. Better'n doin' it alone, ya know?"
"Heh, I never figured you were so cheesy."
"T'aint cheesy if it's from the heart." Applejack donned her hat, covering her face, and stood. "Ah'd better git back to applebuckin'. Big Mac'll tan mah hide if we don't clear the south field by sundown."
Rainbow stretched her whole body forward, then performed a wing-up to a standing position. "Cool. Guess I'm gonna head ho--"
Timberwolf green eyes shone from the shadow of AJ's Stetson.
"--oooooover to Carousel Boutique, cuz Rarity's just the pony I need right now, HAHA. I totally wasn't going home to eat leftover pizza. Nope."
"Git along, little Dashie."
Rainbow Dash was at the Boutique in two minutes; she was in NO hurry to tell Rarity all about her "romantic" ventures. She pushed the ornate purple door open, ringing the little bell that hung from the doorframe. But nopony seemed to have heard it. Entering the building revealed the store to be in a state of disarray; sheets of various fabrics were strewn about, mannequins knocked down to the floor, unfinished dresses piled up in the middle...
"Rarity? You in here?"
Rainbow flitted into the kitchen.
Nopony but dirty plates.
Into the laundry room.
Still nopony.
Out the back.
Nope. Just the clothesline.
Up the stairs to the bedroom.
"Sweetie Belle?"
The little filly was rolled up in Rarity's bedsheets, looking for all the world the pinkiest, frilliest and fanciest burrito ever.
"Heya Rainbow Dash! Whatcha doin' here?"
Rainbow scanned the room. It was in a similar state as the rest of the place: shelves were stuffed with various spools and loose threads; ribbons and tape measures tangled up in bunches, as if somepony had tried pulling them apart; needles were scattered all over the floor...
"Uh, what happened here? And where's Rarity?"
Sweetie Belle retreated into the folds of her blanket burrito. "N-not much..."
"Pfft." Rainbow did an eye-roll. "I was a little filly once too, ya know. Broke tons of stuff." She jumped on the bed and grabbed a wingful of the filly filled bundle of blanket. "Come on. Shoot. I won't tell nopony."
Sweetie dared to stick her muzzle out of her protective layer of cloth. "Well, it went like this..."
Five minutes later, Rainbow Dash was on the floor, tears in her eyes, the whole of her body in fits of silent laughter.
"It's not that funny." Sweetie Belle had vanished. There was only blanket now.
"Are you kidding?! That's awesome! I mean, Rarity's gonna freak, but man, did you really make that?"
The mannequin standing awkwardly next to the doorway, positioned in such a way that it could not be seen upon entering and be hidden behind the door if it was opened, was dressed in what most ponies would call a torture device. It would have been a perfectly fine ball gown if it hadn't been made of twelve different fabrics (all different shades of blue) haphazardly sewn together with threads of varying sizes (one in particular almost looked like rope), each with a needle hanging off its exposed end. Investigating the inside revealed that these were sewing machine needles, their eyes near their tip, leaving most of them pointy end in. Most baffling of all, the top half of a sewing machine was sticking out from the back; the bottom half having somehow been sewn directly into the dress. The fabric around it (a hodgepodge of nylon, silk and knitted wool) had a few rips.
"Um... yeah... does... does it look nice?" The filly had stuck her head out enough for her horn to be visible.
"Totally." Rainbow Dash was genuinely impressed by Sweetie's hoofiwork: it reminded her of that blue faced guy from that movie with the swords and stallions in skirts. "Anypony who can rock that look to a hoity toity party is one heck of a pony." She slammed down her hoof to punctuate, accidentally jabbing the frog with a needle.
"Yeeouch!" Rainbow flapped her injured hoof in the air. "Hey, lemme help you clean up before your sister finds out you turned her boutique into a war zone. Already got one mare down, hehe."
Sweetie's horn sank back into the pink morass of fabric.
"She already did."
"Ah." Rainbow's smile faded, and she climbed back into the bed with Sweetie Belle. "So is that why she's--"
"She went to the spa."
"In the middle of business hours?" Rainbow was lazy, and often skipped out of work back when she had regular hours. For Rarity to do the same when it was her own business... "Dang. Did she say anything about all this?"
The pile shifted slightly. It almost looked like a nod.
Rainbow glided slowly to the buried filly so that she could peer into the tiny breathing hole Sweetie had made for herself. "Was it bad?"
This time, the pile condensed into a tighter ball, and then vaguely nodded again.
"Okay. I'm gonna go talk to your sister." Rainbow pounded her hooves together. "You stay here and clean up."
The pegasus opened the window and disappeared into the streets below.
"I'm sorry, but Miss Rarity has asked to not be disturbed."
The pink spa pony behind the front desk regarded Rainbow Dash with a detached smile.
"Oh come on! I'm her friend, and this is important!"
"Please Miss Dash, I can't allow you to disturb Miss Rarity. She is, eh, how do you say... irate, at the moment."
"Yeah, I know. Just let me see her? Please? For me?"
The spa pony bit her lip and scratched at her neck. "Well, you ARE one of our regulars here, and she is your friend. Perhaps... she won't mind?"
"HUH? WHAT ARE YOU TALK-ING A-BOUT?" said Rainbow a little too loudly. She needn't have bothered; it was midday and practically nopony else was present. "I THINK YOU GOT ME CONFUSED WITH SOMEPONY ELSE HAHA."
"But you're always here at least twice--"
"SOMEPONY ELSE!" Little beads of sweat were forming on Rainbow's coat. "Ahem. A-anyway, just take me to Rarity, and I'll be outta your mane."
"Er, very well. I shall go inform Miss Rarity. Please wait here."
"Wait? Can't I just go with you?"
But the spa pony had already gone. Since Rainbow had enough tact to not enter the treatment areas without paying, she resigned to sit at the fancy couch across from the desk.
Rainbow had read the April issue of Universal Filly cover to cover twice, and had begun again for a third run, before the pink mare came back.
"Uhm, Miss Dash?"
Rainbow slammed the magazine shut. "HUH WHAT?" She sent the offending document flying back into the rack, sliding perfectly into an open slot.
"Miss Rarity has kindly asked me to inform you that she does not require your presence at the moment."
The sweat on Rainbow's face evaporated into steam. "She said what now?"
"Uhm, she asked--"
"REPORTICHOLE QUESTION!" Rainbow slipped off the couch and stuck her hoof in her mouth.
"I'm sorry, I don't understa--"
The pegasus started coughing and gagging. The spa pony could only watch in abject horror as Rainbow pulled out a soggy brown mass from her mouth. She shook it gently, dripping saliva in long strings to the floor as she trotted forward.
"Yuck," said Rainbow, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "Sorry you had to see that, but I'm in a hurry and these are my only bits." She opened the "bag" to reveal that it did indeed contain bits, and retrieved the appropriate payment. Once she double checked her bits, Rainbow promptly "returned" the "bag" to where it came from, and held out the remaining to the spa pony.
She retreated from Rainbow's bit filled hoof. "Where... How...?"
"Pegasus thing; don't worry about it. Anyway, it's fine; the bag is spitproof." When she still didn't take it, Rainbow spread the golden coins out on the desk. "Which room is Rarity in?"
"S-s-steam r-room..."
Rainbow gave her a quick nod and walked (on pain of being banned from the spa) past the giant tub to the hallway, grabbing a clean robe from the towel cart as she entered. Rainbow arrived to the steam room robed and ready to give Rarity a piece of her mind.
Rainbow's mind blanked. This was not in the plan. Actually, she didn't have a plan, but still, if she had had one, Twilight showing up was definitely not part of it.
"Oh! Hey Rainbow," greeted the alicorn. She was garbed in a white spa-provided robe, her coat visibly moist with sweat and steam. Her mane was wrapped in a similarly colored towel, exposing her forehead and the base of her horn. "Fancy meeting you here!"
The pegasus locked her primaries behind her back, keeping her wings restrained with all her might. As unenlightened with pegasi culture as Twilight was, Rainbow was certain she would know what a "full spread" meant.
"Uh, you okay? You aren't still upset about earlier, are you?" Twilight cocked her head to the side, her lips pursed into a small pout.
Rainbow moved to lean on the doorframe, pinning a wing down. Don't pop don't pop don't pop— "Y-yeah, I'm cool, don't worry about it. Didn't break anything anyway, haha," she said, tapping her skull. It wasn't like there'd be much of her left to be upset if that spell hadn't saved her sorry butt.
Twilight's smile shone with such brilliant exuberance that it was almost like staring into the face of a goddess. Then again, she kind of WAS one. Rainbow put all her weight on her pinned wing.
"So, uh, what brings you here? Didn't take you to be the spa-going type," said the alicorn.
"Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft," raspberried Rainbow, for much longer than appropriate. "I don't GO to the SPA, Twi; I'm totally here for a non-spa related reason. Seriously."
Twi's divine grin pulled down into a frown. "Are you here for Rarity then?" she whispered.
The creases deepened in Rainbow's brow. She could understand Sweetie Belle, but Twilight? "What happened in there?”
“It’s just…” Twilight mumbled. “She wasn’t herself; she was sitting in there all alone and didn’t greet me like she usually does. Wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, and then she kept ignoring me…”
Rainbow had expected Rarity to whine and complain, not give the cold shoulder. At least it wasn't as bad as Twilight made it sound.
“Hey,” she said. “She's had a rough day. Don’t worry about it, it's not your fault, anyways. I’ll go—“
The door slammed shut, smacking her right on her pastel blue bum. It seemed that the universe had finally had enough cool for one day, as her ass flipped through the air, dragged its owner behind it, and gave Twilight a faceful of what lay between the twin thunderclouds.
She let out a muffled scream and backpedaled like a roadrunner in reverse. The aerial derriere, having lost its momentum to Twilight's mug, crashed to the floor, with the alicorn's own following soon after.
"Rarity!" Twilight's features had grown purpler with rage, yet her voice was, if not calm, then at least collected. "That was uncalled for!"
The addressed mare, dressed in a skimpy gold-fur trimmed pink robe (of her own design, no doubt), sat loaf-style on the circumferential wooden bench lining the walls, gazing at her always pristine hoof for the millionth time as if there was some invisible stain only she could see. For the briefest of moments, one could have spotted a faint glow around her horn.
"Are you all right, Rainbow?" Twilight teleported herself upright, and extended a wing to the pegasus sprawled out on the floor.
"I'm fine," Rainbow replied, picking herself up rather than taking the wing. She'd rather not have any more... physical contact at the moment.
Rarity had changed up the game by staring at her other hoof. Incidentally, this one did have a stain on it. She wiped it away on a frilly handkerchief that matched her outfit. "The cold was coming in, darling. It was getting chilly."
Twilight disappeared with a flash, then reappeared nearly muzzle to muzzle with the white mare. "That is NOT an excuse. I know that you're upset—"
"All the better to just leave, then, as you were about to earlier."
The Princess of Friendship, spurned by her friend. The irony was not lost on Twilight; her eyes were full, her voice soft but breaking. "Rarity, I just want to help. And if you want to be alone, then I can respect that, but I can't allow you to treat ponies, your friends, this way."
"Can't allow? So, you're going to lord your new title over me now, Princess Twilight?"
A tear ripped free from the ocean in her eyes. "W-what? No, I meant—"
The lady was gone; in her place was merely a well-hooficured bitch. "Well excuuuuse me, your Highness, but don't you have at least a modicum of tact? I said it was chilly, and I closed the door. This is a STEAM ROOM, for Celestia's sake. Leaving the door open to a steam room is simply neglectful of other ponies' feelings. You could have just come in and had your conversation without inconveniencing anypony else."
"B-but—"
"And another thing: talking about ponies behind their backs isn't very nice, but doing it in front of them? Is this what friends do to each other, Princess?"
Twilight stood, mouth agape, cheeks wet, for a moment before she managed to speak.
"I... I don't... no... I... I...!"
The door was nearly ripped from its hinges as Twilight turned tail and ran, her sobs and sniffles dampened by the thick blanket of steam in the room.
Rainbow leaped into the air to stop her. "Twilight, wait!"
But she'd already galloped away; the hem of her robe barely escaped the crack of the door as it rattled against the frame.
"What the HELL was that for?" shouted Rainbow.
"If you can't content yourself with staying on the other side of the room, without talking to me, Rainbow Dash, then I suggest that you follow Twilight out the door. I'm not in the mood to entertain you with whatever it is you wanted from me."
It took all of Rainbow's willpower to keep from flying hoof first into Marshmallow-On-A-Stick's pearly white muzzle. She grit her teeth and reminded herself that Rarity was her friend; a friend who needed help. "I know what's got your gears grindin', Rare."
A brief hint of surprise flashed across Rarity's face, before collapsing back into an petulant sneer. "And what if you do? How is merely knowing that my Boutique is in shambles supposed to help me here? You're no miracle worker, Rainbow Dash, and even if you were, you're the last pony I'd expect to bother."
"With the way you've been acting, I might as well be the first. Hell, the only. But don't forget, I'm the Element of Loyalty. And that means I stick by my friends. Don't think for a second that I'd just ditch you for being an asshole."
At that, the mare's eyes glared into hers. "How foul. I just want to be left ALONE, and nothing more. I am not a, er, that word you said."
"Here's the thing; if somepony says you're being an asshole, you probably are. And I think Twilight would've agreed with me, if ya hadn't just run her out of the building." Rainbow approached her, much like one would a stray dog. "But here's another thing: you don't have to be."
Rarity did that haughty little giggle all the little affluent mares had embedded in their DNA. "That's rich, coming from you."
Rainbow bit her lip, hard enough to hurt a little. "I've, uh, had to deal with this sort of thing before." She didn't want to tell that story, but it was the only way to get through to Rarity.
Not that she wanted to be gotten through to. "What, somepony trashed your office? I bet that was a field day for you. Had a nice nap and—"
Wings shot out and accosted her gold-fur collar, nearly lifting the mare from her seat. "Just SHUT UP and LISTEN, okay?" Rainbow drew in a long breath, and exhaled. She let go of the cloth. "And no, I mean... I'd lost something that was really special to me, too; something I couldn't live without.” She jabbed Rarity right in her fluffy exposed chest. “So don't you dare think that you're the only one."
That indeed, shut her up. Rainbow plopped down to her haunches on the floor, putting herself at eye-level with Rarity. The mare avoided her gaze. In a soft voice, the pegasus began her tale.
"Ten years ago, I broke my wings. Both of them, completely shattered, and some major fractures all over my right side. I had almost managed to get that last spin in my Bronco Bullet, but there was a mountain behind that cloud, and well..."
"You hurt yourself all the time, Rainbow Dash; how was this any different?" asked Rarity, eyes still averted.
"Because I was too young. In a grown-up pegasus, if they were training to be a pro flyer, the wings are sturdy and don't take long to heal, even from multiple fractures, cuz there's more magic in 'em. But for undeveloped foals... you know what foundering is?"
"Yes, but pegasi don't founder; the anatomy is different."
"Yeah, we don't. Not in the legs, anyway. The wings are another story."
Rainbow's wings unfurled to their fullest, three pony-widths long from tip to tip.
"The doctors called it angel wing. Some llama thingamajig had expanded inside, twisting my bones into weird angles. Normally, it was genetic, and only affected the bones on the ends. For me... it was all of them.
"It started when the casts came off. At first, I would get random jolts of pain while flying. Then just flying at all hurt, kinda like being in a constant winglock. I had to drop out of school because I wouldn't let anypony fly me. In a few weeks, my feathers turned to sticks, and I had to wear a pillow under them when I slept cuz they started poking into my body.
"My dad took back to the hospital soon as my right wing started getting bent. He had to take me in a goddamned wheelchair; walking pulled on my wing muscles too much. I saw their faces as I rolled past 'em down the lobby. Some were grossed out, some were afraid, but for the most part, they all just looked sad. Took one good look at my fucked up wings, and another at the floor, or at the wall. They were pitying me. They thought I was gonna die."
Rainbow flapped into a standing position, wings still outstretched. The steam around them swirled and billowed, ebbing then flowing back into opacity. She glanced down at Rarity, meeting her eyes once again. The white mare had opened her mouth, but it took her a few moments to say, "But you're still here."
The speedster flashed a bright, toothy grin. "Hope you aren't too disappointed. Yeah, I got cured. But at the time, there wasn't one. And I was damn pissed off about it.
"You wanna know why I almost never go visit Cloudsdale? I burned all those bridges when this was happening. Burned 'em all to Tartarus. I couldn't stand seeing them, with their not-fucked wings and their not-fucked lives, holding onto their not-fucked dreams. I... lost everything that ever meant anything to me. No wings meant no racing, no tricks, no Wonderbolts... no being the best pony I ever dreamed I could be. It was worse than that actually, cuz at least if I didn't have wings I could've at least posed as an earth pony and lived without ever seeing those faces, all looking at me like I was worse than them.
"The doctors took two months to find the cure. In those two months I had punched out two of my hoofball buddies, called my aunts and little cousin 'a bunch o' featherbrained wackos,' sent three nurses home crying, spit in the face of the hospital director and beat Rapidfire into the cloud."
"Rapidfire? Isn't he a Wonderbolt?"
"Yep. Former friend slash rival of mine. The day I pummeled him, he'd just told me he'd gotten Specter Blaze to sign his mock-up flight suit. Wore the damn thing as proof, too."
Rarity's disgusted scoff earned a chuckle from Rainbow.
"Yeah, I admit, I don't really regret that one. I don't know if he was trying to cheer me up or brag, but either way, by the end of it he had a major concussion and lost about a third of his teeth."
"Hmph. Sounds like he deserved it, however brutish the method. Honestly, the nerve of some ponies."
"True that. But..." Rainbow folded her wings and hopped up on to the bench next to Rarity. "There are some friends I wish I still had today. I miss Roy and all the pranks we pulled on Mr. Nimbus; Myst, who helped me out around the factory and shared her lunch with me; Starbright and her sweet laugh and those silver eyes that shone like the moon..."
Tears began to bubble up from her eyelids. She blinked them away.
"I am glad, though, that I kept at least one. Fluttershy stuck by me, through all the mean things I said, through all the times that I hit her, through all the tears I cried on her shoulder, all the way to here in Ponyville. Right now, I want to be that pony for you, Rarity, even if we don't get along sometimes, or don't even hang out all that much. Because I don't want to see you crash and burn, like I did."
Rarity blushed, but otherwise did nothing. The two sat in silence, with only the occasional hissing of steam and their gentle exhalations to break it. Rainbow had never told any of her other Ponyville friends that story. Hell, she never even discussed it with Fluttershy, despite her large role in it. But still, she was glad to have told it, especially to somepony who needed to hear it.
Rainbow was so lost in thought that she didn't quite catch what Rarity just said.
She rubbed her ear and asked, "What was that?"
"I said I was sorry, Rainbow. For hitting you with the door, I mean." Rarity had rotated to face her now. Said face was beginning to wrinkle from the humidity, if not the guilt.
"Yeah, it's cool," said Rainbow, patting her on the head, ruffling her velvety curls. "Feel any better?"
Rarity made a half-hearted attempt to swat her hoof away. "I... I suppose so. And I should thank you, too, for telling me that story. It helped me find some perspective."
"Forgetting somepony?" asked Rainbow with raised eyebrows.
"Oh, and I should apologize to Twilight too. I was rather horrid to her for no good reason..."
The eyebrows escalated to greater heights.
"And yes, to Sweetie Belle as well. I shouldn't have been so harsh with her, even if she was the cause of my miseries today. She was just trying to do something nice for me, and that at least deserves a little praise."
Rainbow gave herself a mental wing-five. Mission accomplished. Rainbow Dash, you are the MARE. Though, she couldn't help but think that she was forgetting something...
Rarity stepped off the bench and declared, "So, for helping me today, I'm going to return the favor and help you, Rainbow."
The pegasus looked at her like she'd just finished a lecture on quantum mechanics.
"Huh?" she grunted.
"Well, obviously, you didn't come here first, did you?"
Rainbow shook her head. Rarity began circling the edge of the stone bowl.
"Of course not. You went to the Boutique, found Sweetie Belle amidst the chaos she'd wrought, and she'd told you that I'd gone here. Before that, you had no way of knowing of the state of the place, or that I was even in there."
Rainbow nodded her head. Rarity stomped her forehoof as she made her conclusion.
"Therefore, you had another reason for coming to see me today. Is that correct?"
Rainbow finally remembered what she was here for in the first place; her cheeks flushed red enough to burn eggs on.
Rarity smirked and said, "Oh... I see. You're in a spot of trouble. Love trouble, I presume?"
"H-how did you know all that?"
"I have a thing for mysteries, if you recall. Remember that whole fiasco with Wind Rider?"
"Oh yeah."
"So tell me Rainbow Dash," said Rarity, taking her spot back on the bench, "who is this mare that you're in head over hooves for?"
Rainbow scowled at her as she took an adjacent spot. "Seriously?! First Applejack, now you? Is it really that obvious, or are you just going by the whole 'rainbow' thing?"
"Trust me, darling, it's obvious,” —Rarity waved her hoof in dismissal— “and with the way you were standing frozen in the doorway earlier, I'd say you're interested in somepony you and I are close to? Somepony who simply loves literature? Somepony whose name rhymes with Highlight Farkle?"
Rainbow's lips were moving, but the sounds coming out didn't resemble any sort of language. A light blue glow pinched her muzzle shut, which only served to muffle her babbling.
"Calm down, darling, I'm only teasing. It was just a guess. But I want to hear you say it." Rarity released her magical grip, but only now did the pegasus hold her tongue. "I want you to tell me, sincerely and truthfully:
"Who do you like?"
She stared into those bright pink eyes as if Rainbow was a diamond buried deep in the earth. And she was going to dig her out, whether she wanted out or not.
Rainbow swallowed what little saliva she had. I told Applejack, I can tell Rarity. Isn't that what I'm here for?
"Ya got me. It's Twilight."
Blue magic pinched her furry cheeks and stretched them into putty. "Ooh, Rainbow Dash, you're simply too much," squealed Rarity.
"Fay, quwve iff!" she spat through her distorted lips.
The magic faded, and Rainbow rubbed her even redder cheeks as Rarity rocked from side to side, threatening to knock the pegasus to the ground. "Do go on now, darling. Tell me, what's it like?"
"What's what like?"
"Your relationship, dearie. How do you two... interact?"
"W-whaddya mean relationship? Isn't that what you're helping me get?"
"No no, I mean your relationship as friends. Would you say that you're rather... close?"
"I dunno. We hang out sometimes; earlier today, we did for a little bit... but... lately she's been too busy."
"Well, there's no helping that; she's a princess, after all." Upon seeing the back of Rainbow's head, she said, "Oh buck up, now, Rainbow Dash. Just because you don't spend as much time together as you used to doesn't mean that she doesn't like you. Speaking of, do you think she does?"
"Does what?"
Rarity sounded like her brain was slowly deflating. "I don't know if you're avoiding the question or you really are THAT dense. Anyway, I mean: do you think she likes YOU?"
Rainbow's first thought was a clear, resounding MAYBE. On one hoof, Twilight did seem to enjoy spending time with her; on the other, she didn't particularly show any special interest in the speedster either. The one thing that they alone shared with each other was Daring Do, and that was hardly a romantic subject.
The room started swaying, and it took Rainbow a few seconds before she realized Rarity was shaking her. "Hellooooo? Rainbow Dash? You still in there?"
"Hubwuh?"
"Back to Equestria then? I hope you weren't imagining anything too explicit," teased Rarity.
Just hearing the word explicit made Rainbow blush herself into submission. "N-no! I was just... thinking."
The grin faded from the white mare's face. "Thinking or avoiding the question?"
Rainbow's red cheeks now represented a different emotion entirely. "I said I was thinking."
"So what's your answer?"
"I don't know." A fact. "But if you wanted a hard answer... I'd say no." An opinion.
"Oh? Why do you think so?"
"Like I said, she's always busy. And... she never says anything like, flirty or whatever. She's just nice."
Rarity let out a rather unladylike snort. "Darling, you can't REALLY expect somepony like Twilight to flirt. It's not her type."
"Even if it was, I wouldn't really expect her to flirt with me, anyways."
A white hoof made its way to Rainbow's shoulder. "Darling, you—"
"Does Twilight even like mares? And if she did, would she like me? Wouldn't she like somepony more... girly?"
As she spoke, her voice got higher and higher, louder and louder. The hoof slid across her withers to the other shoulder. "Rainbow Dash, calm—"
But she kept on, heart pouring out like a waterfall in a thunderstorm. "And if she liked stallions, would she make an exception for me? Does she even see me that way?"
Rarity said nothing this time, opting to scoot in closer to the panicked pegasus in lieu of words.
"What if she only likes smart ponies? What if she's still mad about all the stuff I broke? What if—"
Magic had clapped her trap shut again, but its grip quickly dissolved into a soft boop on the nose. "Enough, Rainbow Dash. Now you're just being silly." Rarity held her closer, as if to squeeze out every bit of anxiety and panic. "What good will it do you if you just sit here wondering about her feelings, when you can just fly out that door, chase her down and find out yourself?"
"Because I'm..."
"Scared?"
The pegasus couldn't bear to meet her gaze; she lowered her head as low as it could reach, the prismatic strands of her mane tickling the stone floor.
Then Rarity laughed; a lilting outburst of chortles that didn't seem to fit the pony they were coming out of. She had to stand up to keep from falling over.
"What's so funny?" asked Rainbow.
Rarity looked over her shoulder at the smoldering pegasus. "You know something Rainbow Dash?"
"What?"
"You're the bravest pony I know."
Rainbow blew her mane out of her face. "Doesn't mean I'm never afraid..."
"Of course not. You have the right to be scared. But you don't have to be.
"This fear that you're feeling right now is proof that you truly are in love with Twilight. You want her to love you back. Tell me this, though: will you be any less of a pony if she doesn't?"
"I don't know what I'd do... if that happened."
"I'll tell you what you'd do. You would get angry, and with tears in your eyes, fly up high to where nopony, not even Celestia, could hear you and you would scream and cry and demand that love be put to DEATH!" Rarity mimed every verb, ending her tirade standing on the bench, out of breath, hoof raised in mock outrage.
Rainbow scooted away a few inches. "Uh... a bit over the top, don'tcha think?"
"Haha, perhaps. But have I got you right?" said Rarity as she sat back down.
"I guess."
"So do you know what happens next?"
"... Are you gonna tell me that I'm just gonna get over it?" said Rainbow, eyes a-squint in suspicion.
"Well, in a way. You might not forget a love like this, but surely you can move past it."
"How do you know that?"
"Because now I know YOU, Rainbow," —Rarity held her hooves, holding them close to her chest— "and out of all of us, I think you are the truest to her Element. Even if Twilight rejects you, you'd forgive her, in time... because in the end, you. Are. Still. Friends."
"I dunno..."
Rarity dropped those hooves as if they were a pair of fresh potatoes. "Are you saying you would rather cut us all off then, just to avoid seeing her?"
"No, of course not! That’s like, against my Element."
"Then the choice is easy, isn't it? Either Twilight becomes your marefriend or she doesn't. The first is the start of something, and the second the end of nothing. So, what will you do now?"
Rainbow considered it. Rarity was right... she HAD to be right! It was toss up between first place or no place. Rainbow Dash, the Great, the Amazing, doesn't settle for consolation prizes.
All she had to do was commit.
"I'm gonna... I'm gonna...um... ask..."
Rarity put her ear next to Rainbow's mouth. "Hmm? I can't quite HEAR you, darling. Louder."
"I'm gonna ask her out..."
"You call that conviction? Ask WHO out?"
"I'm gonna ask Twilight out!"
"Out on a WHAT?"
"ON A DATE!!!"
"That's right!" She lifted the pegasus off the floor and floated her towards the door, trotting close behind. "Now go!"
"W-w-wait!" Rainbow attempted to backstroke out of her telekinetic vice, to no avail.
Rarity lowered her down. "Whatever for, Dashie? It's time for you to go get your girl!"
"The thing is... I don't really know what to do on a... on a date."
Rarity's muzzle scrunched into a shape resembling crumpled paper. "You really ARE clueless. Luckily, I'm here to—"
A knock on the door. It was the pink spa pony. "Are you done in there, ladies? We're about to close."
"My apologies Aloe; is it closing time already? Goodness, I've been out of the Boutique for... “—Rarity felt her face—“err... far too long."
Rainbow disrobed and hoofed the cloth to Aloe. "You should get going. Sweetie Belle's all bundled up in your bedsheets waiting for you."
"Oh no… I do hope she hasn’t been sweating in them,” said Rarity, following suit.
“Well, even if she did, I think she’d do whatever it took to get ‘em clean. That’s what sisters do.”
“Definitely.” Rarity smiled; her face almost didn't look pruney. “Thank you again, Rainbow Dash, for helping me realize that.”
“Yeah. It's all good.” said Rainbow.
They walked through the spa, and had a nice chat about the various nothings and inconsequentials in their lives. Outside, the streets basked in the fading light of the setting sun.
Rarity tut-tutted to herself. "Well there goes that opportunity. Twilight must be asleep by now..."
Wow, I was out for a while... Guess that's good; no way am I ready for that conversation, thought Rainbow. "Hey, don't forget to apologize. Can't ask her out if you're all she's thinking about."
“Don't you worry about that. I'll have her over for tea first thing in the morning. Oh, and Rainbow?”
“Yeah?”
“Meet me at my place tomorrow, twelve o ‘clock sharp. I’ve got a lot to teach you.”
Rainbow Dash opened the door to the Boutique at 11:50 am. The little bell above the frame rung harshly in her ears, and the internal lighting burned her corneas. The Boutique was back to its old, fabulously clean self: the shelves were stocked with perfectly rolled fabric; the floor was spic, span, and most importantly, free of needles; the mannequins were off to the side, dressed in fashionable outfits; and the sewing machine was nowhere in sight.
Rarity’s voice came from the stairs. “Rainbow Dash? Is that you?”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow, shutting her eyes tight. “Can you turn down the lights in here?”
“I’m afraid my lights are binary, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, trotting down the steps. Behind her followed an elaborate black metal wire table, two matching chairs and a complete alabaster tea set, tinted blue in her magic. “It’s pitch black in here with no light, so I’ve… are you alright, Rainbow?”
“I uh, haven’t slept. Nerves, I guess,” Rainbow said, rubbing her eyebags. “Had to fly here blind and everything. Not that that was hard at all.”
“Goodness… you didn’t have to force yourself to come here like this.” Rarity set down her furniture and arranged the white china in the middle of her workroom. “Are you sure you don’t want to reschedule?” She said “reschedule” funny, without the “k” sound.
“Nah, I’m” —Rainbow yawned, not bothering to cover her mouth— “fine. I’ll just make up for it later.”
The ponies sat, and Rarity poured them both a steaming cup of matcha green tea. “Here,” she said, floating one to her. “Should help you wake up a little.”
Rainbow downed it in a single gulp. It was faster than sipping at the thing, and it burned just as bad. "Aah. That’s the stuff. So, how’d it go with Twilight earlier?”
Rarity savored her cup much more delicately. “It didn’t,” she said. “I was refused at the door, by Spike, no less.”
“Ouch. Was he—”
“Furious? Oh most definitely. He was spitting fire every other word. Literally.” She set her cup down. “I should have realized hurting Twilight meant hurting him, too. Hurting for both her and myself.”
“I guess I should wait then, before… you know.”
“No no, you must go. As soon as we’re finished here, you’re to head over there and do it.”
“W-what? But she’s upset right now; don’t you think—”
“Exactly. You’ll be there to cheer her up.”
“Wouldn’t it be a little… insensitive?”
“It won’t, if you can take my teachings to heart. Speaking of, let’s begin. Lesson one…”
Five hours later, Rainbow Dash was at the doors of the Castle of Friendship. In the late afternoon sun, the shadows twisted its silhouette into an ominous tower of dark crystal. She’d had to walk there, much to her dismay. But Rarity had been clear: show up clean and well-groomed. Rainbow had managed to at least keep that first item checked.
“Twilight?” she called. The golden doors were loose in their hinges; they rattled with every knock. “Twilight, you in there?”
But no one came.
Rainbow’s nerves were catching up to her. If she stood here any longer, she’d end up pulling a Fluttershy and flying home.
Were they out of town? It wouldn’t have been out of the question. Twilight has family in both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire; both too far away to drop by for a quick visit. That, and it’d be a bit creepy if Rainbow showed up without notice.
How about just out? Rainbow thought it unlikely. Twilight was an isolationist at heart, despite her role and title. There was also the possibility of running into Rarity, since she and the rest of the girls tended to frequent the same places to hang, so she was doubly likely to stay indoors.
In town or not, she wasn’t answering the door.
Maybe I’ll just ask her out… whenever I see her, I guess.
“Hey Rainbow Dash!” said Spike.
Rainbow’s skeleton damn near flew out of her skin. The rest of her had apparently tried to catch it, as she was now hovering at a good twelve feet above the ground, covering her face with her forehooves.
The purple-scaled dragon, paper bags of groceries in each claw, stared up at the startled pegasus and giggled. A short one, but it was enough to make Rainbow go monochromatic with rage.
She was on him in half a second; her glare nearly point blank with his gaze. “What’re you laughing at?”
Spike giggled again, then said, “Well, I didn’t know you spooked so easily. That, and you’re as red as a tomato!”
“I wasn’t spooked! I was just… I have amazing reflexes, ya know? If you were a grown up dragon breathing fire at me I would have TOTALLY dodged it.”
“Right. You’re cool and awesome, yadda yadda yadda. I get it. Anyways, what’re you doing here?"
“Looking for Twilight.”
“Oh.”
Spike crouched down and unloaded both paper bags on the floor. He motioned for Rainbow to step away, with a “shoo-ing” gesture. She moved aside to let him pass, and he picked up the bags again and strolled on through. He slammed the door with his foot.
“Hey!” yelled Rainbow.
“Sorry,” said Spike, voice muffled through the bulk of the door, “but Twilight doesn’t wanna see ANYPONY right now.”
“Her deal is with Rarity, not me!”
She couldn’t see his face, but she could tell he was scowling. “Oh, so you know about it?” he growled.
“Yeah. I was there. I talked to Rare; she just wants to apologize over tea!”
No response. He’d already walked away.
Rainbow bucked the door, screaming something unintelligible.
This wasn’t fair. Maybe she could have accepted this if Twilight herself had turned her away, but to not even see the mare?
I’m coming in, whether you like it or not!
Rainbow took to the air and circled the castle. With her honed senses, it didn’t take her long to find a window that was just slightly ajar.
She crept in quietly, closing the window behind her. She was in a hallway. Purple crystal walls, green crystal windows, red carpet. There wasn’t much more to it than that, since all the hallways in the castle were identical.
Rainbow opened her mouth to call for Twilight, but decided against it. Spike might find her first, and she wasn’t sure if he would try to evict her by force. She didn’t wanna hurt the little guy.
“Stealth it is,” she whispered to herself. Rainbow backflipped into inverse flight and landed on the ceiling. Her wings buzzed faster, and she was able to crawl along the surface. She scoured the halls for signs of the princess…
Twilight knew that she shouldn’t read by hornlight in the near pitch blackness. Bad for her eyesight. But this was HER book fort, and she made the rules in her book fort.
The fort, composed of all the hardcovers she could find, stood at a towering ten feet tall, in a seven by seven foot square, bearing a passing resemblance to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Arranged mainly by color; stacked by dimensions; each tower a different genre… it had taken Twilight two hours to enclose herself within her Fortress of Bookitude.
She’d been perusing Free Greymane’s autobiography, A Monologue About Life, when a pair of green eyes peeked in at her through the narrow slit that connected her to the outside world.
“You ready to come out yet?” said Spike.
She shook her head. The dragon sighed, and his eyes vanished from her sight, replaced by the dim glow of the ambient sunlight reflecting off the castle’s interior.
Twilight wished he’d stayed, but she knew Spike would only get frustrated. He didn’t like sitting around feeling useless, unable to help, and she didn’t like talking about… situations like this.
She turned back to her book. Free Greymane had been a “philosopher" who lived about fifty years ago. Twilight thought the word “blasphemer” was more appropriate. Free, in works and person both, had dared question the authority of the princess; questions that a less forgiving ruler would have beheaded her for.
It was pure, gut-busting irony, then, that their lives were so similar. Unicorns from Canterlot, alumni of Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns, residents of a small town nearby; the autobiography even mentions several ponies who were awfully similar to some of her friends.
Free was relatable, and at the same time, not. Quick to anger, and even quicker to doubt, she was as neurotic as Twilight on a bad day, every day. But the thing that stuck out to the princess was Free’s approach to criticism.
Naturally, Free had many detractors; even her own publisher had reportedly been seen selling copies of her most controversial piece, IronHoof Full of Sunlight, at a public book burning in Canterlot. But she was not deterred. When she found out what her publisher had done, she dropped him, and when no other would take her, she bought her own printing press and sold the books herself.
Free even held public debates, challenging anypony who had the balls to try and match her in wit. Not many could, and those who did failed to make a convincing, objective argument. It was after the fifth of these debates that she was run out of the city by an angry mob armed with foodstuffs, and so settled in the nearby town of Sunny Hills, where she lived out the rest of her days.
Twilight admired her tenacity; she wished she’d had that sort of willpower when Rarity went off on her; but at the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder if Free had been at least a little bit right.
Celestia was a strong leader, and Twilight felt —no, she was absolutely sure— that Free’s accusations held no merit against the elder princess… but they might against her. Sure, she’d earned her position, in a way, but it was bestowed upon her by a higher power, not the ponies of Equestria. They had no say in her coronation; it just happened. Did she have the right to authority? Was Rarity wrong to accuse her of abusing her position? Perhaps in that particular situation, but the thought still nagged at her. What about her failings as a supposed friend? Was Rarity right about that too?
Twilight tried to suppress the memory, but it came gushing forth, a geyser of emotion. Tears streamed down her face and onto the black and white pages of Free’s book, making little smudges where they landed. She closed it and hugged the tome to her chest, but the tears just found their way to the cover instead. This was how Rainbow Dash found her: sobbing silently in a dark space, a book her only source of comfort.
“Hey,” said the pair of pink eyes from the slit.
“Hey,” replied Twilight. She wished she hadn’t spoken; perhaps in this darkness, the pegasus might not have noticed that she was crying.
“I’m… sorry about yesterday.” Rainbow’s eyes looked away, then centered on her again. Sharp eyes, pegasi. “I came over to see how you were doing.”
Twilight said nothing. She had nothing on her mind but harsh ponies with harsh words.
“Can I come in?” asked Rainbow.
Twilight thought about it. Rainbow had been there; maybe talking about it… no, it wouldn’t help; she’d get even more upset; angry, even. She stood and walked to the set of books she’d designated as the entrance and set her back in front of them.
“That’d be a no, then. That’s fine. I can sit out here.” Twilight felt a pressure against her back, and scowled.
Don’t lean on my books… she thought.
“I uh, talked to Rarity. After you left.” The books reverberated ever so slightly in time with Rainbow’s voice. “She wanted to invite you over to tea today, to apologize for what she said.”
Twilight clenched her teeth. Apologize? So they could just put it all behind them? Absolve her of all guilt?
“Spike sent her packing though. Did you know that?”
She didn’t. Spike, Rarity’s “secret” admirer, telling off his crush, all to defend her? She managed to crack a smile.
“Speechless, amirite? I couldn’t believe it either.” Rainbow giggled, and the books between them giggled with her. “I wish he hadn’t, though. Maybe you would’ve gone.”
“No. I don’t think I would have.” Twilight surprised herself. She’d spoken without meaning to, with a hardness she hadn’t meant to use.
“Why not?”
Why? Did she really need to say it? “Because.”
“C’mon Twi. Single word answers are NOT you.”
“Look, Rainbow, I don’t wanna talk about it. I thought I made that pretty clear.”
“Fine. Don’t talk about it. But I don’t think staying in there is gonna help you get through this.”
She was right. But nothing could, really. Nothing but perhaps time.
“Come fly with me, Twilight,” Rainbow said.
A simple proposition, but to the princess, it felt loaded with pretense. Where would they go? Would Rainbow lead her around in circles to eventually land at Carousel Boutique? Bring her to some other friend to talk “sense” into her?
“Fly where, Rainbow?” she asked.
“Ah, just around the outskirts of Ponyville.” Rainbow finally stopped crushing literature against their backs and got up to stare at her through the slit. “We’ll go up high so no-one’ll bother us.”
Just the two of them, chatting, soaring over the clouds… feeling the wind in her mane…
Twilight turned to meet her gaze, hooves absentmindedly fixing the stack of books they’d been leaning on. “And that’s it? No place else?”
“Uh, yeah, unless you wanna go somewhere.” Rainbow slid out a book so that the whole of her face could be seen. Even in the shadow, Twilight could see her brilliant smile. “Do ya?”
“No, nowhere. I’m… okay with just that.” Twilight removed another book, and together the barrier between them was neatly put away in two stacks by their sides.
“Awesome. I’ve been DYING to hear all the deets about your thesis.” Rainbow stepped aside to let her pass, and the two walked side by side as they talked.
“You WANT me to talk about my highly rigorous, three-hundred page thesis?”
“Well, I DID help you out on it when you first started. And it happens to be about something I know a lot about. Sorta.”
“True enough. Oh, hey Spike!”
The two mares encountered the little dragon in… a hallway; Twilight was never sure which one. His groceries were gone from his claws, replaced by a hoof-cranked egg beater and a box of eggs.
“What the—?!” exclaimed Spike.
“Yo.” Rainbow saluted him.
“How’d you… never mind.” He turned to Twilight. “Glad to see you’re up and about, though.”
“Yeah. I’m going out.”
Spike made a quizzical glance at the intruding pegasus. “With Rainbow?”
“Uh, of course with me,” said the pony in question. “Just going out for a fly. And talk and stuff.”
"Huh.” Spike had this sort of look on his face, as if he were the concerned parent, not Twilight. After a slightly uncomfortable silence, he shrugged and continued past them in the direction he was going. “Don’t stay out too long,” he called over his shoulder.
Twilight and Rainbow watched him go, and as soon as he turned the corner, Rainbow nudged the princess in the ribs. “Gee, I hope your DAD won’t kill me later.”
“Don’t worry, I can stay out as long as I like,” said Twilight. “He’ll be out like a light by nine.”
“I-it’s nothing. Just… wouldn’t want to fly in the dark, ya know? Let’s get out of here.”
When Rainbow said that they’d go up high, Twilight was expecting just a little higher than Town Hall. Here, they were riding the updraft, floating motionless against the ceiling of the troposphere, nothing but cotton white beneath them. “Dear Celestia… are we even above Ponyville anymore?”
Rainbow was floating belly up, forelegs behind her head. “No idea. Besides, you don’t wanna think about Ponyville right now, or who’s in it, do ya?”
Twilight grumbled at the reminder. Still, Rainbow was right. Not seeing the town did ease her mind a little.
“Thought so.” Rainbow started backstroking in circles around her. “I won’t bring it up if you won’t. Anyway, your thesis. Didja get an award or anything?”
“Actually… I’m still not finished.”
“Three HUNDRED pages, and it’s not finished?”
“I’ve sent it in for review multiple times, but it’s always been sent back due to insufficient data.”
“Insufficient? How?”
“Well, for one thing, there are still too many variables: the wavelengths of light used, the width of the openings, the distance between them; the major flaw, stated in the last review, was the design of the cannon. The fluctuations in the voltage due to it being pedal powered were considered beyond the margin of error. I put in an order for a generator that could handle the load, but as it turns out, none of the commercially available ones were powerful enough and the ones built for factories are too strong, not to mention way over budget. The only option left to me was—”
“Lightning jars.” Rainbow flipped back over and settled next to her, their wingtips almost touching. “Tons of power, and measured down to the last watt. Smart.”
Smart. When they’d first met, Twilight would have never thought to use the word “smart” with the words “Rainbow Dash” in the same sentence, unless it also happened to use the word “ass.” Now here the pegasus was practically reading her mind.
“Yes, lightning jars,” replied Twilight. “The only problem is modifying my device to use them. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” She looked expectantly at Rainbow.
“Hehe, don’t get the wrong idea. All the stuff I know is from my one year in the factory. I’m not really educated like you, Twi.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I never learned this stuff.”
Rainbow scoffed, and rolled under to Twilight’s other side. “With the library you had at Canterlot? Knowing you, you probably read every single book in there.”
“That’s actually physically impossible. I did the math, and it would have taken me at least thirty years to do that.”
“You sure as hell tried though, right?”
Twilight giggled. “I sure did. The night I came up with that result, I managed to get through forty books in less than five hours.”
“That’s insane. Were they all kiddie stories with like, ten pages each?”
Now it was Twilight’s turn to scoff. “You wound me Rainbow! Of course not. I actually went ahead and got the largest tomes I could levitate back then. A few of them were to help me develop my speed reading spell.”
“Aha! You used magic!”
“Naturally. If I subtract the time developing the spell from my total, it was really more like thirty books in two hours.”
“Doesn’t count.”
“What?” Twilight paddled (at least, that’s what it looked like) to hover in front of Rainbow, who grinned at her shoddy maneuver. “It does too count,” she insisted.
Rainbow booped her nose, sliding the alicorn back a few feet. “Does not.”
With surprising speed, Twilight closed the distance and booped her back. “Does too.”
Boop. “Does not.”
Boop. “Does too!”
The two ponies went back and forth, figuratively AND literally, tittering like a pair of schoolfillies, until Rainbow’s aim went a little too high and booped Twilight right on the horn.
The pretty purple princess plummeted, and in her panic, forgot how to stop plummeting. Rainbow would save her, right? She tried to look up to see if a blue and prismatic blur was coming, except that up wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and kept changing every few seconds. Only now did Twilight manage to scream.
Said scream was promptly knocked out of her, along with the rest of her breath, when she landed in Rainbow’s outstretched forelegs.
“Geez, are you okay?” asked her savior. “That was totally an accident, I swear.”
For a second, Twilight thought that she’d gone blind from the g-forces, realized that 1 G wasn’t going to blind anypony, and opened her eyes to a face that was way too close.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” Rainbow said back. Her breath tickled; it smelled like vanilla, for some reason. “Soooo… you okay?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Good!” Then Rainbow dropped her.
Twilight would have screamed again, except that between the first “A” and the second, some cloud rudely jammed itself into her open mouth. And face. Make that the entire front portion of her body.
“Rainbow Dash!” she spat, along with some cloud.
“You’re FINE. Said so yourself.” The mare landed with effortless grace next to her. “’Sides, we’re so high up, Fluttershy could’ve caught you if she really tried.”
Twilight got to her hooves.
“Even if I didn’t catch you (FYI, an impossibility of one hund-er-ed percent), this cumulonimbus is so thick that—” was as far as Rainbow got before Twilight tackled her to the cloud.
“For the crime of—” Twilight pinned down her forelegs “—mild assault and psychological—” she pinned down her wings “—damage to a Princess of Equestria, I hearby sentence you to—” Rainbow managed to get her hindlegs on Twilight’s shoulders, but the alicorn countered by grabbing her behind the neck and hugging her nice and tight; “death by tickling!”
She released Rainbow’s wings, and before the pegasus could defend herself, fluttered her primaries along her sides.
Rainbow spasmed and shrieked as purple feathers ran along her body. But Twilight had made a fatal mistake; with the pegasus’s own wings free to retaliate, she grabbed Twilight’s horn with both and stroked.
It took only one; the shock to her system blew a fuse in her brain, and Twilight collapsed into a twitching heap on Rainbow’s belly.
“Gah…g-gotcha,” said Rainbow, breathing heavily. She pulled herself out from under the alicorn and lay close to her head; Twilight could feel her hair brushing her horn.
“T-that was dirty!” she said, her voice shuddering.
“Haha, yeah. Still… gotcha.” Rainbow reached over and cupped Twilight’s cheeks in her hooves. “Oh, and by the way…” She pulled in close to Twilight’s ear. “Does not,” she whispered.
“Does TOO!” The raging royal grabbed Rainbow’s head, and soon they were flipping and rolling through the cotton white, squealing and yelling and laughing all over again.
It ended with Rainbow laying on top of Twilight, right at the brink of the cloud.
“Does not,” she said.
“Okay, okay! Whatever, you win!” Twilight pushed her off. “Phew… I’m beat.”
“You need to get out more.” Rainbow had sat herself on the edge, dangling her hooves out over open air. She patted a spot next to her with a hoof.
The sky before them stretched out into infinity, and the earth rose up to meet it. From here, Twilight could see the scars of railroad that cut into the swaths of emerald hills blackening in the shadow, the rivers like silver tears around them; from here, she saw Ponyville, with its little lights like stars in the dying day, her castle standing tall, a crown for the small village; Canterlot, to her right, looking more like a constellation than a city.
From here, she saw the setting sun, framed in a cradle of clouds, painting the sky with broad strokes of molten gold that bled into fuchsia, fading into the soft lavender around her.
Right here, beside her, a sigh. “Twilight sure is beautiful.”
“H-huh?” Twilight pricked her ears. Oh, she meant the sunset. Of course she did. Right?
But no; Rainbow Dash was looking right at her.
“O-oh. I-ah… I mean—” was as far as Twilight got before Rainbow leaned in close. Close enough to…
“But there’s something missing, don’t you think?” The scent of vanilla lingered in the air as they drew apart.
“What would that be?”
Rainbow didn’t answer her. She stood on two hooves, forelegs stretched out from wing to wing. As if in slow motion, she tipped backwards off the cloud. Twilight watched her fall; she could barely make out a blue speck before a streak of color cut through the shadows.
The streak rose in a gentle curve, up to the sun. Then it stopped, and sloped up left, then curved down right, made a loop, and…
“Oh my.”
A heart. Rainbow had drawn an iridescent heart, about three miles wide, four miles tall by Twilight’s estimate, around the sun.
But she wasn’t done yet.
The speck had stopped moving, smack dab in the center of the heart. Wait no, it was getting bigger. Given the distance between them, there was only one thing Rainbow could be trying to do.
With an eye-enhancement spell, Twilight zoomed in on the pegasus. She was right! There was a vapor cone already forming around Rainbow. Electricity coursed through Twilight’s veins, air held tight in her lungs, as she waited for the break.
Then Rainbow Dash flickered.
Confusion gave way to another lightning storm in Twilight’s blood as she watched Rainbow seemingly teleport from one position to another, her flight path an array of zigzags as she got closer and closer. This wasn’t just a Sonic Rainboom.
This was something new.
Rainbow flickered faster, faster, FASTER…
Hey Twi, Sonic Rainbooms are light, right?
Well, magically generated light, but yes, I suppose they are.
She was close now; sparks were pulsing through the vapor cone…
Could I, say, make this duh-frac-ton pattern with one?
Firstly, it's dih-frac-shun, and secondly, you'd need two, set off right next to each other. Seeing as you're the only pegasus in Equestria that can do one, I'd say it's next to impossible.
For a split second, Twilight thought she was seeing double.
Impossible? Don't you know who you're talking to?
She rubbed her eyes. There was just no way…
I'm Rainbow Dash, greatest flyer in all of Equestria!
But there she was… and over there, too. Rainbow was flickering so fast that she wasn’t. There were two pegasi in the sky.
And around them, two vapor cones, lightning arcing between them, took on every color of the rainbow.
Then they exploded.
The twin Rainbooms blew away the clouds around the sun, and dusk became dawn as they rolled into the heavens, the earth… and each other.
Twilight wasted no time; she dived off the edge, flying to the epicenter of the epic eruption. She wanted to see it— no, she needed to—
B O O M
The roar, the terrifying roar brought with it a hurricane of wind that threatened to toss her into the stratosphere. It tumbled her round, and Twilight looked on in awe as the sonic boom bucked the cumulonimbus so hard it burst apart, lightning bolts raining over the land and through the air.
She tumbled again, and she saw it. There, along the border between Ponyville and the Everfree, were alternating bands of light and darkness.
"I… I was right.” Twilight flapped in place, struggling against the wind. “I WAS RIGHT!”
Unfortunately for Twilight, her little victory jump cost her her balance, and the unforgiving gale blasted her away… and within the space of a few seconds, stop, and blasted her back the other way.
