“And this is where you’ll be training for the next three weeks, everypony.” Spitfire walked along eyeing each of the pegasi that stood before her. Rainbow smirked at the schedule for the training course that she would soon be taking. For the past hour or so, she’d been on a tour of downtown Canterlot, lead by none other than the leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire. A big performance was to be taken place on the palace grounds, which required all the new trainees to practice on location. Naturally, Rainbow didn’t believe she would have much trouble with the standard obstacles presented.
Releasing a yawn, tired from walking around so much, the spectrum maned mare asked her commander and friend, “Spitfire, ma’am. Where will we be staying for the next few days?”
A voice from behind the line of pegasi stopped Spitfire from answering the question herself. “Actually, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said while walking passed her. “You’ll be sleeping in the palace dorm across the way from Luna and Discord, taking into consideration your status as an Element of Harmony. As for the others, they’ll be right down the road in the Steed Stone Inn, along with Spitfire. Paying for all six of you is a bit extensive, so to lower costs, I’m taking you in for the time being.”
Rainbow looked over at the rest of her squad and asked the princess, “But... I don’t wanna be treated royally because I’m an Element. I’d rather be like everypony else.”
Spitfire walked up to the cerulean pony. “And push even more expenses on me? I don’t think so! It’s costing us enough to purchase rooms for the others. If one’s taken off, I’ve saved a good amount of money. Besides, you work harder than any other pony here. I say you deserve that palace room!” Rainbow smiled for a bit, then straightened up and saluted the flaming maned mare. After she did the same, Spitfire commanded the squad, “Now get out there and give me twenty!” The group took off, but Rainbow was stopped by Spitfire saying, “As for you, Rainbow. For trying to push more weight on my shoulders, I want an extra thirty!”
She beat her wings proudly and chanted, “Yes ma’am!” Then took off and headed straight for the first cloud. While passing all the others in a heartbeat, Rainbow’s beaming grin could still be seen by the princess. “She’s a strong one, isn’t she?”
Spitfire huffed, “Yeah... Best I’ve had in years.”
It didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to complete her share of laps. Not only did she end up finishing twenty before the rest of the recruits, but she did the extra thirty laps in record time, finishing at around the same time as the rest. The bright blue pegasus drifted down to the ground, wiping off the little sweat she built up during her laps. Rainbow could see that Celestia and Spitfire had struck up a chat, and were conversing until the moment she arrived.
“Ah, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said. Rainbow briefly bowed in between pants. “I am glad you’re finished. Are you ready to see where you’ll be staying?” Dash looked sternly at Spitfire, who returned her glance, and nodded. The two quickly saluted each other once more, and the captain went off to scold the rest of the fliers, all of which were at least ten times more exhausted than Rainbow.
“You call that flying!? My grandmother can fly better than that! And she’s a unicorn!”
Rainbow laughed at the banter. She looked to Celestia and said, “Alright, Princess, I’m ready.” Celestia nodded. A shimmer of gold quickly engulfed her horn, quickly growing brighter before making a single, blinding flash. Just like that, the two had been transported to the front of Canterlot Castle. The large, ivory doors were exactly as awe inspiring as she remembered. Rainbow could never really shrug off how amazing the palace was. Even now, her mouth hung open and her eyes were the size of dinner plates. As the solar princess trotted forward, the doors hinged open, being pulled to either side by the grey unicorn guards that stood idly by.
Dash slowly flapped her wings, hovering just a few inches behind Celestia. When the two passed by the next three guards, they all bowed. Celestia coyly stated, “I’ve been through this, gentlecolts. It’s needless to greet me in such a manner these days, really.”
One of them that stood at the corner explained, “We’re not only respecting you today, your highness. You’ve also one of the Elements with you.”
Celestia looked at Rainbow and asked, “Do you care?”
Rainbow, who glared from the dizzyingly high roof above to the princess, not even paying much attention and asked, “Huh?”
“See?” Celestia asked. “She’s not even concerned. All of you are doing a fine job.”
The two left them behind but Rainbow still continued to looking back and asked, “What was that all about?”
Celestia sighed and said, “They’ve been acting very peculiar as of late. Being on guard, bowing when it’s honestly not that necessary... I’ve asked them about it, but they refuse to tell me what’s wrong. Some will admit they have had some rough nights, but that’s nothing to get defensive over.” Slowing in her tracks, Celestia’s eyes warily observed the next guard. This one, just like the rest of them fixed his posture and bowed immediately when the two walked by. “It’s always towards me, too... Never with my sister, or Discord...”
Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves nervously. “Well, you’ve been the only princess for, like, ever. They’re probably just trying to stay respectable towards you.” She grinned awkwardly, hoping to make the Princess feel even just a little better. “Plus, Discord is just so... Discord. I couldn’t imagine living with that guy.” This was enough to get Celestia to smile, if only briefly.
It was right after she stopped speaking that Rainbow Dash’s hoof kept her from moving any farther across the red carpet that sat in nearly every hall. Something sticky had captured her hoof, keeping it stuck in place. After closer inspection, she found it to smell quite sweet. “Bubblegum?” she whispered.
“Did somepony say my name?”
The golden crown that normally sat upon Celestia's head floated upwards, doing several spirals before exploding as a firecracker. “Discord!” The princess staggered back and stared at him in disbelief. The fiend chortled his signature laugh and brought his paw behind his head only to pull the crown out of his ears and say, “Oh come now, Celestia. You wouldn’t actually think I’d disgrace you in such a manner, would you?” The alicorn squinted her eyes. “No, no, I’d do something much worse, like fill your bathrooms with prairie dogs!”
Giving an unamused stare, the princess stated, “You’ll do nothing of the sort! Now, you promised to behave, and you’ve been getting better. Still, please have some dignity.”
Rainbow floated in the air lightly and gave the draconequus a threatening gaze. He peeked past her highness and asked, “Aaand... what’s she doing here?”
Princess Celestia turned and realized she’d completely forgotten her own guest. “Oh, Rainbow will be staying here for... what was it? Two weeks?”
“Three, ma’am, and if I may, do I have to sleep so close to this creep?”
“I concur, princess!” Discord scooped up a claw full of bubblegum and shaped it in Rainbow’s form. “I’d much rather her simply fly away, and not bother me while I’m trying to remain what you consider reformed.” He brought his fingers up in air quotes. The Bubblegum mare mimicked Discord’s words and sailed off to the open window, soon headed to the sun and no doubt not stopping anytime soon. After a moment of silence, Discord placed his paw on the window sill and made a, “Psssst,” sound.
Celestia rolled her eyes and asked, “Why’d you have to give me that mental image?”
“Because,” Discord explained while staring at the pegasus behind her. “Loyalty is my personal, most despised Element. If only somepony fun like Fluttershy, or even Pinkie Pie were here.” A cloud bubbled up beside his head for the two to see an image of him, Pinkie, and Fluttershy having a blueberry flavoured snowball fight.
Rainbow Dash gave him a deadpanned look before being hit in the face by a blue snowball, one that the draconequus seemed to have grabbed from his visible imagination. He laughed hysterically and tossed around in the air. As for Rainbow, she wiped the yummy slush off of her face, stomped up to the creature, peered into his eyes and said, “You wanna go, buster?”
“Oh, do I ever,” he responded, rolling up the fur on his arms like sleeves, boxing gloves appearing on each of his appendages.
The majestic sun princess sighed before casting a quick spell to keep the two from hypothetically murdering each other. Of course, this would not hold Discord back in the slightest, but it would at least get her point across. “Discord,” she warned.
“But moooom,” he groaned.
“No buts, Discord. You will leave Rainbow Dash alone for the rest of her stay in this castle.”
As Discord rolled his eyes, he promised, “Fine... I’ll leave her be.”
Resuming towards their destination and rounding yet another corner, Rainbow asked the princess, “There’s no way you’re his mother, right?”
Celestia tried her best to hold back her chortles and assured the pegasus, “Oh, of course not! That was just him being coy, something I’ve grown oddly fond of, actually... Though despite my pleas, he still finds it amusing to call me his mother, sometimes even sister. Strange, I know.”
“Well, it’s not like he’s hurting anypony, I guess...”
Finally reaching a corridor with five doors all designed with their own distinct traits of intricity, Rainbow was lead to the single door with nothing but a few intricate designs along the edges. The others had shades of silhouette, pink and yellow colorings lining the wood, all expertly crafted to meet the princess’s and Discord’s personal qualities. Seeing as how Rainbow’s room was only to be used for guests, there wasn’t much need for such specialties. Celestia bid the Element goodnight while explaining, “I’d mingle a bit more with you, of course. We haven’t been able to spend much mare-time lately, but I’ve got a sun to lower, and a certain, lazy sister to awaken.”
Entering her room, Rainbow heard Celestia moaning from beyond the rather thick walls, “Discord! Get out of my room! There’s a reason we’ve marked your door the way we did; so you’d stay out of ours!”
“But Daaaad!”
Rainbow could hear Celestia’s surprisingly loud growl. “That one doesn’t even make any sense!”
Dash snickered at this and asked herself, “Since when did Discord need to make sense?” She backed away from the wall, placed her stuff on the counter next to her bed and laid down on her mattress. Sighing, she looked to her saddlebags, thinking for a moment whether or not she should unpack them. Meh, she thought, I can always do it tomorrow. It was getting a bit late, and she was actually a little tired from the tour, not to mention all the flying. She figured it was probably best to get some shut eye.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly shut, cutting off the soft glow of the moon that shone through her window. Soon enough, she was fast asleep on top of her white bed covers, legs outstretched in awkwardly comfy directions. Her soft and gentle snores echoed throughout the empty room, and soon distorted with her mind fading from reality, and slipping into sleep.
Images of frightening lightning began to pour into Rainbow Dash's mind, her vision switching between a deep lavender haze and pitch blackness, separated only by the quick strokes of lightning.
“Hahahahahahaha!”
A deep, though familiar voice chuckled from all corners of the purple and grey fog Rainbow flew through, seeming to come from every direction and yet no source was to be seen. Another bolt of lightning struck just a few meters in front of her, causing her to jump back. Finally, she saw a sharp and toothy grin for only a moment before everything around her faded into blackness.
She rose her head slowly with her surroundings spinning and twisting from the experience she’d just encountered. Stumbling and fumbling on the wobbly floor, Rainbow looked up to see colossal bookshelves ascending high into the ceiling, which to her surprise suddenly morphed into clouds right before her very eyes. “What... the...?” She gasped when finally realizing the laugh she heard while in the storm belonged to Discord.
She looked around for him, but found nopony. Somehow, Rainbow knew it was all a dream. Maybe it was because she didn’t normally fathom these sort of hallucinations, or perhaps it was because things were more realistic than normal. When in the dreaming state, the mind of an individual rarely denies anything happening to be illogical, even if at the time of dreaming, it’s of completely impossible happenings. This wasn’t regular for Rainbow, to have the ability to comprehend the obvious fact she was in a fallacy, but soon, she found out why.
“Books upon dictionaries upon the yellow pages, and I don’t even read those, but still! Books! Everywhere!”
Rainbow turned around and saw Twilight jog right by without hardly noticing her friend’s presence and placed her hooves on the stands while reading the titles. Rainbow gulped and asked Twilight, “Uh, hey there... You alright?”
Though Rainbow hadn’t seen it before, Twilight possessed an oddly purple and shimmering aura around her body, but the second Rainbow caught her attention, the enchanting light blinked for a minute, then disappeared altogether. Twilight shook her head and lowered herself while questioning, “Rainbow... Was that...? No, it couldn’t be.” She continued scanning the many titles that lined the oak shelves.
“Hey, egghead, I’m over here!”
Twilight perked up and gazed to her friend with wide eyes. Soon, she walked over and asked, “W-what’re you doing here? This is my dream.”
“Your dream? No it’s not!”
The mare trailed off and rudely said, “I don’t have time for this.” Twilight’s horn, along with a small spot on one of her forelegs glowed with her signature magical aura.
She pinched her arm before Rainbow could stop her with, “I don’t think that’s a good idea...”
Instantly, like flying right into a tree, Rainbow was slammed straight out of the dream. She jotted up with a cold sweat and looked around the room for a bit. After her nerves settled, she looked down at the sheets curling around her legs and said, “Just a dream... but, which parts were the actual dream?”
A soft wind whistled through the once calm air and began to rustle her mane a bit. Though the windows leading to the balcony were shut, it soon increased in pressure. It became so intense, Rainbow had to hide under the covers while screaming a little in fear of the phenomenon. Finally, a blazing flash of light formed before her, and Twilight’s voice filled the room.
“Rainbow? Rainbow!” She poked her head out of the covers to look upon the spatial tear hovering over her bed, Twilight staring through it and laying on her own cushion with the sheets hiding her lower hooves. “I’m just calling to tell you to say out of my dreams, please.”
Just like that, as soon as her sentence was finished, the portal closed, and Rainbow was left with her mouth left ajar. She blinked a few times, the wind whistling by. “That... I...” She had nothing to say other than that.
Rainbow Dash swung her hind legs off of the bed and stepped onto the marble floor. She began thinking now that she was wide awake, What was that? Was I really... In Twilight’s dream? She lowered her head and closed her eyes for a moment to consider the possibility. When she opened them, she was not where she was just a moment ago.
“What the hay!?” she looked around rapidly, taking in her sudden change in location, moving her head left to right. She found herself not in her room, but instead, the Canterlot ballroom where the floors were cleared with foggy imaginings of unfamiliar ponies backing away from the red rug Rainbow stood on. The doors behind her loudly creaked open, and she turned to see a beautiful mare with an orange mane tied up in the back. Adoring her jeweled and ruby coated dress, Rainbow couldn’t help but to gaze at the gorgeous sight. At first, the pegasus didn’t recognize who it was, but once the distance was closed in, Rainbow saw it to be none other than her own friend, Applejack.
She opened her eyes and looked up at Rainbow with the sweetest of smiles and asked, “May ah have this dance?”
Rainbow just stood dumbfounded and blushing . Suddenly, a tingling sensation was felt upon her spine, and a transparent hoof slid right through her body. Applejack was taken by a stallion before Rainbow could say anything, and instantly, the mare realized she was once again intruding on another pony’s dream. Finally chuckling at who Applejack’s apparent secret crush was, she shattered the glowing luminescence that had engulfed the pair, and all the other ponies turned to sand that wafted away through the dissipating walls. Applejack hastily looked around and asked, “Blueblood? Where are yah, hun?”
Finally hearing Rainbow’s laughter, she turned to see just who had caused the dream to end on such a horrible moment. “You like that pompous jerk? Bwahaha!”
The laughter of her own friend caused Applejack’s dress and accessories to vanish, and soon, all the wondrous features that made her ten times more attractive looking melted away. She looked at herself and shivered. “No... Not like this... Ah hate being a farm pony!”
She squinted her eyes, ran right for Rainbow, pivoted in a straight circle and bucked her square in the teeth so hard, stars were seen. Just like that, Rainbow was sent falling from Applejack’s once peaceful dream and back into her own body.
After feeling the pain of being hit in the face by a force great enough to knock over an entire apple tree, Rainbow brought both hooves to her jaw in a feeble attempt to see how many teeth she had left and how much of her jaw was probably shattered. Then, the mare realized she was perfectly fine. No injuries, no pain. It was as if nothing had ever happened. Rainbow had forgotten it was all a dream, and that nothing could really happen to her. “At least I’m awake now...” She glanced outside the window to see it was still very late at night. The moon was still high in the sky, and shining brightly as ever. Very little time had passed, and still she’d already had such a long night. After the dream about two of her friends, there was no telling what would happen the next time she went to sleep.
“I’m gonna get a glass of water...” Rainbow figured if she really was surfing through dreams, and hurt Applejack, she needed something to take her mind off it. Slowly and carefully, she nudged open the wooden door, trying to keep the creaking of the hinges to a minimum. Something seemed off about the hallway outside her door. It was not the same as when she first came. Instead of looking as regal as the rest of the castles interior normally did, it had changed into a plain white hall devoid of any outstanding furniture or even pictures hanging. She stepped through to inspect the surrounding area, tapping on the wall before turning back to return to her room, but to her discomfort, the door wasn’t there anymore.
In its place was an delicate white archway that lead into a spacious room of the same color and style. The only part Rainbow saw at first was a record player repeating the same song over and over again. It resembled something Rarity might listen to while designing outfits. Once she kept turning the corner, but not daring to enter, she saw Scootaloo. Something about her was off, however. It could’ve been the pink clothing she had on, or it might’ve even been the tutu coiled nicely around her waist. If that wasn’t enough, the filly had even stayed in a perfect pose, with her right hind hoof remaining on the floor and her left lifted slightly. Rainbow whirled around and leaned up against the wall while chuckling, “This... is the best dream I’ve been to all night!”
She glanced down the hallway to see a shadowy figure approaching, and once in full view, she was a bit stunned to see Princess Luna of all beings greet her with an unamused face. “You know, I have enough trouble dealing with nightmares as is. I don’t need somepony like you causing even more problems than what is necessary.”
Rainbow gulped and claimed, “I... d-didn’t really know... I’m sorry if it was troubling for you, your highness, but I haven’t really been able to leave.”
“I know,” Luna said. “We’ve been outside trying to awaken you for some time now. I finally had to put my own mental consciousness on the line just to find you. Luckily, I was able to figure out where you were due to Twilight claiming she’d had a dream with you intruding in it just last night, and from there, I was able to track who else you’d visited.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide. “So you’re saying they all know?” She blushed. After seeing Applejack and Scootaloo like this, and Applejack probably knowing it was really her made Rainbow a bit shameful for laughing.
Luna peered around the corner to see the dancing pegasus blatantly unaware of their presence, and sighed, “Let’s just hurry up and get you out of here.” Her horn sparked while her eyes shut, and for some reason, nothing happened. Rainbow thought Luna would be able to get her out of this situation, but she was incorrect. “Well that’s not good.”
“What’s not good?” Rainbow asked.
“Normally, I’d be able to return you to your body, but for some odd reason... Huh... There seems to be something holding us in. The only things powerful enough to do that are alicorns and... destiny...” She looked back at Scootaloo who stopped, turned around and seemed to be ready to go home after such a vigorous routine. Without much care, Luna claimed, “It’ll be alright. She’ll walk right by and not even see either of us.”
“Princess Luna, and Rainbow Dash! You came!”
Both ponies turned to see Scootaloo beaming directly at them. Rainbow glanced to Luna and asked, “I thought you said she’d wouldn’t notice.”
The filly grabbed the two by their hooves and started pulling them in. “It’s so awesome you came! I was just about to head home, but don’t worry! I’m ready to learn from the best!”
Luna looked to Rainbow with a dumbfounded face. “What in Equestria is she talking about?”
Rainbow gulped and explained, “I read in one of the Daring Do books that when the mind needs something explained, it will try desperately to create memories that were never there... I think that counts in dreams.”
“You mean... she believes we’re professional ballerina performers?!”
Scootaloo answered her question, “Of course you two are! I’ve seen both of you perform at the Cloudsdale Colosseum for the Wonderbolts!”
Pink uniforms resembling the one Scootaloo wore were tossed onto their heads, and Luna guessed, “This must tie in with her destiny... I hate to say it, but it is required we assist her in this dream in order to leave...”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened instantly. As she looked down at the uniform that wrapped itself around her body, she stuttered, “Y-you m-mean I have to... do b-ballet!?”
Luna simply nodded. “Yes.”
Rainbow leapt up in the air and screamed, “I can’t do ballet! Do you know what that’ll do to my reputation!? Not to mention-” She stopped herself there. She couldn’t say it. Not in front of the squirt, and especially not in front of a princess. “Not to mention...” She couldn’t go through with it. “I’m not doing it. We can find some other way out of the dream, but I’m most certainly not dancing, and that’s final.” She landed on her hind legs with a harrumph and lowered her ears.
Luna trotted up behind her. “Why not, Rainbow Dash?” she asked. “Remember, this is simply a dream. Anything you do here has no effect on the real world. A bit of ballet will not ruin your ‘reputation’ in real life.”
Luna was right, but that was not what Rainbow Dash was afraid of. She gestured her hoof for Luna to closely in and asked, “Can you keep a secret?”
Luna blinked and started, “Yes, of c-”
“Can you keep a secret?”
Once again blinking, she calmly said, “Yes, I can.”
Rainbow looked behind her at Scootaloo fiddling with the record player, turned around and silently told the alicorn possibly the most predictable secret she kept. “I... can’t dance.”
Luna chuckled and questioned, “That’s it?” Rainbow nodded and looked away. “Rainbow, have you not been listening? This is a dream... If you tell yourself you can breath under water, you can! If you say you wish to walk on the sun without being burned to ashes, you can, and if you tell yourself you can dance...?”
Rainbow fought the smirk forming on her lips and finished Luna’s sentence. “I can...”
Just then, Scootaloo finished and returned to the two looking excited as ever. With the music playing, and Rainbow repeating the words, “I can,” in her mind, the three began to dance. They curtseyed about the room and matched each other’s movements expertly. Luna even lifted Rainbow up for a somersault, and Scootaloo couldn’t stop twirling in midair. Finally, Rainbow heaved Scootaloo up while being raised herself by Luna for a photo finish. Lights and sparkles flared from the background as the training room transformed into an actual, live stage. Roses began flying from the audience and onto the three’s hooves along with applause ringing in their ears. Rainbow blushed wildly at the thought of performing ballet in front of so many strangers. As Scootaloo took her final bow, the world they found themselves in melted away, and Rainbow awoke to her shoulder being nudged by an overly clean hoof.
“Wake up, peasant.”
Rainbow pealed her eyes open and looked around to see the princesses, Spitfire and, “... Blueblood?”
He looked down at her with anger in his eyes and said, “If you tell anypony about my dream, I swear I’ll have you banished from Equestria.”
As he left, Rainbow soon realized it wasn’t Applejack’s dream she entered, but instead, Blueblood’s. She began bellowing in the humor and irony of the whole thing. Knowledge of the fact that Blueblood would rather be with a ‘hayseed’ like Applejack was just too funny for Rainbow. Snapping out of it instantly at her commanding officer’s, “Ahem!” she dragged her well-rested body out of bed.
Luna placed a hoof on Spitfire’s shoulder and said, “Please, you know I have questions for her.” She faced Rainbow and asked, “Can you remember anything from the very start of your dreams? Perhaps an apparition, or...”
Rainbow pondered it a bit, then perked her head up to say, “Discord... He was there at the very beginning, laughing like crazy!”
“Who? Me?” The reformed fiend floated on the ceiling with a grin. “Alright, yes, you’ve caught me!”
He dropped roughly onto the bed and stood up looking at Princess Luna. Celestia then interrogated him, “What do you mean?”
“Well, this is all your fault, after all, Celestia. Placing me so close to Luna’s room has caused terrible disturbances in the way I sleep. Me being so close to her while she worked in that realm caused problems. I didn’t realize it myself, but my kinetic mind interferes with her journeys, and disables her from helping others. Instead, she’s been trapped within the lines between until she finally awoke.” He looked from the sun princess to Luna and said, “By the way, those guards have been having terrible nightmares of Celestia breaking down on them. I couldn’t possibly, ever fathom why.”
Luna scowled and was about to crack down on Discord when Celestia stopped her. “Luna, calm yourself... That actually explains quite a lot... Still, this can be easily fixed. Discord will simply have to be relocated to more distant quarters.” She glanced down with a sad look in her eyes and admitted, “I was just getting used to your playful company, too...”
Discord began to frown at those words. “Do you... mean that, Celestia?”
She looked up and smirked, “Well, you’ll still be in the castle. I just hoped you’d stay close by is all.” Shortly after, Discord left the room unsure of what else to say. As for Rainbow, she was ordered to get right out side and begin her overdue training. Before doing so, she secretly asked Celestia once everypony else had left, “May I please see how Scootaloo’s doing?”
The princess nodded knowing well why she wanted to investigate on the matter. Inside the tear her highness crafted, Scootaloo could be seen still rising from her bed, her flank blank as ever. The princess leaned down and confessed, “Nopony can gain their cutie mark through dreams, but in time, I believe Scootaloo’s true talent might be linked to her secret love for dancing. It’s not just ballet, you know. She’s got an outstanding sense of balance, and thusly, makes her a really good dancer. I don’t know if she’ll earn her cutie mark with dancing, but it’s very possible.”
“Dash, I gave you an order!”
Rainbow saluted the mare who stood outside the open door and left after thanking Celestia for her comforting words. Discord was soon relocated, and the guards quickly returned to normal. Once Rainbow got back to Ponyville, she wasted no time informing Applejack about how much danger she was in. Once Rainbow was able to fully get her message across and assure the farm pony she wasn’t lying or pulling a prank, she saw Applejack less and less. Mainly because the mare hid herself away more often after developing a sort of phobia for Blueblood randomly arriving at her doorstep asking for her hoof in eternal matrimony.
Despite Scootaloo keeping secrets from Rainbow, she occasionally let her see an act of obvious rhythm. In time, the filly would learn to be herself regardless of what Rainbow thought of her, and the cerulean mare would someday grow proud of Scootaloo for being so outgoing.
Author's Note
Coauthored with Cozmosus. Don't forget to thank him for helping me!
