Skylights

7:12

The polished wooden clock on the library wall ticked with perfect precision. It was crucial that it did, because the purple unicorn in the study knew she exactly had three minutes left for her reading before it began.

She managed to count the ticking of the clock in her head while she flipped to the last page of the book simply titled Eagles, a summarized publication pertaining to all information allegedly confirmed of the giant and mysterious race of sentient birds whose existence was still a contentious topic today. She enjoyed the read and would have loved to go over certain sections for a double take. But thirty seconds had just gone by in the twelfth minute of the nineteenth hour, and time was of the essence.

As the fourteenth minute drew near she found herself on the last few paragraphs. She made a sideways glance to her cooling mug of coffee that was trailing the barest hints of steam into the atmosphere of the room. It would’ve done her no good to allow it to go lukewarm but she wasn’t sure if she could finish the page in time. Taking the risk, she lifted the mug to her lips and downed the final contents of the cup, allowing the somewhat warm strong and dark liquid to take almost immediate effect on her.

Twenty seconds into the fourteenth minute, and there was no time to lose as she power-read through the closing statement of the author. Like nearly every other book on the subject, the author chose to end on an indecisive note, as if to clarify the blatantly obvious that the world would remain unsure until more substantial evidence came forth. Messages like these would often frustrate the mare, but she had no time to waste with emotions as she went line by line.

As the minute hand clock landed on the three to indicate the time was now seven fifteen, Twilight pulled the back cover over the final page with a satisfying flap. She immediately located the tome’s place along the shelf – second shelf, third row, sixteenth book from the left – and slid it into the open slot. A big smile grew along her jawline as she got up on her hooves and spun precisely eighty-seven degrees to the right. She found herself facing a purple door slightly ajar with steam hovering over the floor.

She walked towards the door and entered the bathroom with a wide grin as she looked to the nearly-filled tub of water at exactly eighty-nine degrees fahrenheit, complete with bubble solution for added hygiene, comfort, and to be honest with herself: entertainment.

With three inches left of the tub not filled with the water and bubble solution, Twilight focused her magic on the handles to twist the valves of the faucet shut.  Satisfied, she let out a minor sigh that brought about unexpected relief. The hot vapor in the room started clinging to her coat as she felt the muscles in her body already beginning to relax. With all the more excitement, she hastened her steps before climbing into the tub. The water and bubbles swallowed her as the tension in her muscles eased away. Little by little, the heat crept deeper and deeper into her body, sending jolts up and down her back.  She yawned as she lay back up against the far side from the faucet before she plunged her head underwater; flipping it back out, not particularly caring if she flung some drops of water on the wall behind her. This was her time to relax. And nothing, at all, whatsoever, was going to get in her way.

Knock! Knock!

Nevermind…

 ---

 A quarter of a mile off the ground and halfway across town; weather captain and Wonderbolt-in-the-making Rainbow Dash was having a bit of her own complications.

Rainbow Dash had just returned home from a nighttime inspection of cloud cover, it was spring and the night needed at least some clouds in the air to maintain heat. What seemed like a such a simple thing was actually a rather unpopular choice among many in Ponyville. On top of the radical cult of Luna’s Witnesses that came through the town every now and then that would cry heresy to the heavens over such occurrences, the dating couples often complained that the extensive cloud cover got in the way of their romantic pursuits, inhibiting their chances for stargazing and snuggling under the pretense of cold. Ponies of both natures made Dash at times contemplate doing very bad things to members of both parties, especially when Mayor Mare would cave to the demands and have Dash work late kicking away all the clouds she had just spent the last hour setting up perfectly.

Now that she was home from her daily tasks, Dash wanted nothing more than to lie back, fall asleep, wake up the next morning, and do it all over again.

She trotted past her mildly-dirty kitchen before arriving at the living room, where her pet tortoise was unsurprisingly missing from. It then occurred to her that today, as tradition dictated, was Tank-allowed-to-sleep-on-bed day. Dash knew Tank would’ve preferred it to be an everyday occurrence. Unfortunately the pegasus moved around a lot in her sleep, and there were many an incident where the pegasus woke up to the sound of the poor guy’s shell clanging against the floor. It was unfortunate, but for one night a week they were willing to risk it.

Rainbow Dash entered her bedroom and found Tank right where she expected him to be, smack dab in the middle of the bed spread. She walked over to join him, watching as he inched over while she grabbed a book from her small pile on her shelf. Having caught up to the latest volume in the Daring Do series, she took Twilight’s recommendation for a historical fiction series called Songs of the Frost.

Lying down on her mattress, back propped behind the pillow, and tortoise crawling onto her lap, she cracked the book open to the page she left off, took one last moment to stretch as she began to read aloud.

“As they reached the peaks of-”

Knock! Knock!

Dash’s ear flicked at the sound. She lowered the book as both her and tank looked towards her bedroom door in disbelief.

“Who the buck is really-”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Ugh…” Dash groaned as Tank slid off her lap preemptively. She placed her book down on the spread as she made her way out of her bedroom, rolling her eyes and making each step she took a stomp.

The vagrant on the other side was impatient enough to knock a third time, causing Dash to grind her teeth, resisting the urge to shout at them through the walls. She had no problem yelling at ponies, but it always made Tank scared, regardless of who it was directed at.

Arriving at the door, she stuck her hoof in the handle and jerked it as hard as she could, ready to give the pony on the other side a stern talking-to.

“Spitfire?” A confused Twilight wrapped up in a towel standing with the library door open said as she looked upon the captain of the Wonderbolts. The pegasus was adorned in a brown flight jacket and white undershirt, which Twilight had to admit, looked swimmingly on her. Her hair was down, threatening to cover her face, but was being held in check at the moment by her flight goggles.

“Hey, uh…” Spitfire struggled as her eyes darted around. “Sorry… am I at the wrong address?”

Twilight stared at her, dumbfounded. “Huh?”

Spitfire shook her head before the situation got any more confusing, staring directly at Twilight – whose mane was still dripping – as she clarified. “Look, I really don’t have much time. I’m just making a stop on my way to a meeting in Stalliongrad, and I have something to give Rainbow Dash as a prize for her performance at the academy, if you will.”

“Ah!” The gears in the unicorn’s head began to turn again. “Well, Dash lives-”

“-On second thought, I really don’t have time.” Spitfire’s eyes looked down at her pocket watch she had pulled out without Twilight noticing.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow as she countered. “But it’s really easy to find her house.”

“Be that as it may,” Spitfire said as she put away her watch, “You’re not counting the time she’d spend fangirling over me.” Spitfire cracked a warm little smile at the unicorn. “I can’t really afford the hold-up.”

Twilight, knowing the pegasus was infallible in her assessment of Dash’s reaction, found herself smiling back. “Okay then, do you just want to leave... whatever it is... with me?”

Spitfire nodded quickly before arching her neck back as she directed her right wing into her pocket to pull out a sky blue envelope. Twilight didn’t hesitate to take it up in her magic and levitate it next to her.

“Thanks, uh…” The pegasus stumbled, realizing she was missing one vital detail of that thought.

How in the world have I not remembered her name by now? I’ve seen her at the celebration of Discord’s defeat, the water tornado for Cloudsdale, the wedding of the princess, andjust the other frigging day at the Academy! Way to go Spitfire, once again managing to look like a self-centered pile of –

“-It’s Twilight.” The unicorn gave her an understanding expression.

“Right!”  Spitfire nodded before bringing down her goggles over her eyes. “Welp, gotta go.”

With that, Spitfire launched into the air, heading southeast in the general direction of her next destination. Twilight watched the mare disappear behind the rise of the houses. Back to being alone, and realizing she was still dripping, Twilight’s mind immediately remembered her bath upstairs awaiting her as she left the envelope on the center table with to the wooden horse head and trotted back upstairs briskly.

“Okay! What the heck is your problem?!” Rainbow Dash barked as she yanked her door open to reveal the culprit to the knocking disturbance.

What stood before her was none other than one of the jocks that used to tease her back in Flight School – Hoops. He looked like he just flew through a thunderstorm with his dirt-brown mane a wreck and his saddlebags askew on his back.

“Heyyyy Dash…” He said, sounding extremely buzzed. “How’s it, like… been, girl?”

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow at him. “Uh… fine? I guess.”

“Greeeeaaaat, y’know. Still flying and, like… stuff?”

Rainbow Dash stared at him all the more oddly. “Okay, I’ve always taken you for an idiot. But seriously, what is wrong with you?”

“What? Nuthin’ girl.”

“Stop calling me ‘girl’.”

“…What? Do you want me to start calling you boy? That kind of makes sense, y’know? Since you act like one.”

“What the-” Dash found herself more and more at a loss for words. She groaned as she slammed her hoof against her face, the impact rattled her brain around.

Then as a light wind blew by, a certain smell wafted its way into her senses. It was definitely coming from Hoops, and it smelled… wrong. Like a crude mix of skunk and smoke to be vague. She knew she smelled… whatever it was, before. Like that time after classes at flight school when she found Gilda in the bathroom with a bag of…

“Are you… are you high?”

The colt drew back a hoof. “Wha? No… that could like make me lose - okay yeah, I’m high.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, hardly believing what was right before her. It was about that time she remembered that there was other stuff she wanted to get to, and it didn’t involve this guy standing at her door all night.

“Why are you even here anyway?”

A mental switch in Hoops’s brain seemed to flip on at that moment. His dilated eyes focused on Rainbow Dash as he tried to string words together. “Sorry, I got like... a letter, y’know? It’s for somepony in Ponyville, but I have like, no idea who it is.”

“That’s why they invented addresses, jerkwad.”

“Yeah, but the address is weird. ‘Ponyville Library.’  I flew around and stuff, I didn’t see none.”

Dash was ready to launch a wave of insults, but found that she instead held her tongue. It isn’t everyday you came across a town with a library in a tree. Unless you were one of those druid cultists who lurk in the woods, spouting philosophical nonsense, eating weird mushrooms, and prancing around like a fairy while the rest of the world actually does something productive. But that wasn’t important.

Realizing what was necessary to get this charade done and over with, Rainbow looked at Hoops and made an offer. “Tell you what, you give me that letter, and I’ll deliver it personally, and you can go back to Cloudsdale and do... whatever it is that you do.”

"Get a PlayColt and-"

“I don’t need to know!” Dash instinctively put her hooves over her ears. A moment passed, realizing he had shut up, she relaxed, put on a small smile and stuck a hoof out. She kept it there for a few moments, patiently waiting as she stared at her own hoof. When nothing happened, she looked back up to Hoops. The dude was standing there, looking at Rainbow’s hoof like she was holding a solved Rubik's Cube for all to see.

Rainbow then took that same hoof and violently smacked it across the colt’s face.

“Give me the bucking letter!”

Without saying anything, the newly terrified pegasus reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a silver and blue envelope and shakily dropped it onto Rainbow’s hoof. He then turned tail and took off with the moon to his left, en route - however clumsily - back towards Cloudsdale.

Dash immediately eyeballed the shiny envelope in her hoof. It was clearly something very official, and packed tight with some extensive amount of folded-up paper within. She stared at the return address, and noticed the emblazoned seal of a chrome-colored alicorn surrounded by rays of light blue light. It read:

Skylights College: House of Arcanology

Cloud 42, Complex 4-1 Plural Z Alpha, Cloudsdale, Equestria

Okay, seriously, we’re the giant freaking college with the clocktower that doubles as a

lighthouse for pegasi at night. How many clock towers do you know do that? I thought so.

Dash shrugged off the oddity of that statement and focused on the important reality. This letter was from the Skylights College, the one that gave Princess Celestia’s own School for Gifted Unicorns a run for their taxpayer money. And aside from the Weather Factory and the Cloudiseum, there was no institution that could be talked about on a visit to Cloudsdale before going nuts over the college.

And better yet, her rather close friend, Twilight Sparkle, got a letter from them. Any amount of jealousy she had transformed into curiosity of what was inside the envelope.

“Twilight wouldn’t mind if I took a peek...” Dash trailed off, eyeballing the envelope some more as she turned it over to see the white and blue sunburst seal over the fold. The temptation was gnawing at her.

“Hehe, I can just imagine what Rares would be saying right about now...”

With that said, a little spark went off in her head that triggered a brilliant idea. She beat her chest with her hoof to clear her throat before placing her hoof on her forehead.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” She swooned in a surprisingly good Rarity impersonation, “You simply mustn't go through poor Twilight’s mail like that.”

She responded to herself, “Oh yeah, like they’d really let that doofus deliver anything important. I just wanna see what kind of junk mail Twi gets from Cloudsdale.”

She got down on her hind legs as she raised her forelegs to the heavens. “Oh, darling.” She closed her eyes as if the world depended on not opening Twilight’s mail. “You simply can’t breach a friend’s trust like that! Think of her feelings!”

When she opened her eyes again, she realized there was a familiar green tortoise who had witnessed her act. Her face went blank as she stared at the tortoise, who was expectantly unfazed by his master’s shenanigans.

Rainbow Dash, attempting to save her dignity, picked herself up off the cloud, brushing off her shoulders before staring her pet in the eyes, saying, “You didn’t see that.”

Tank gave no visual reaction to her statement, except for a slow blink. With that, her attention returned to the envelope. Having tossed out any worry that Twilight would care about her peeking, she went inside to her kitchen, pried open the seal, and dumped the letter on the table. The complete fancy logo of the Skylights College ran across the top of the letter, showing that same chrome alicorn charging with blue light while the name was written in a fancy serif font.

Rainbow picked up the multi-page letter in her hooves as she chuckled, “Heh, Rarity just wouldn’t know how to have fun snooping.” Dash began to read. “It’s not like Twi’s gonna if she ever... gets...”

To Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville,

We have reviewed your application and your resume with excruciating detail and we are happy to note that we are both astonished and pleased with your success and repertoire, and we are well aware of your exploits to save Equestria over the past few years, in part thanks to a voluntary letter of recommendation from the Royal Highness herself.

While we are rather disappointed by your plans for only taking one semester currently, we are exhilarated at the thought of you joining us in company at the academy for any time at all. As such, you are officially accepted and enrolled for the upcoming semester under the House of Arcanology with your desired courses scheduled as requested.

The following information covers aspects not yet touched upon...

Dash looked up from the letter, wide eyed, and felt her right ear twitch on reaction. This. Was. Awesome! She had no time to waste, she had to go by the library tonight to tell Twilight the great news, even if it meant holding off on reading time.

She folded the letter back as neatly as she could into the envelope and slipped it under her wing. She was about to walk out the door when her hoof bumped into something blocking the way.

Looking down to the floor, she saw that Tank was standing there adamantly.

A little rush of regret washed over her, “Sorry Tank, I’ll be back in a few minutes, I promise.”

To her surprise, the tortoise shook his head.

Rainbow Dash, perplexed, cocked an eyebrow? “What, are you really that mad at me?”

Another slow shake of his head.

She picked up the tortoise in her hooves to look at him dead in the face. “Then what is it?”

The tortoise lifted a leg up and pointed off into her living room, she followed it and after scanning the general area he had his foot pointing to, she realized that he was trying to direct her attention to the glue bottle.

“Oh yeah, fix the seal...”

If Twilight wasn’t in heaven right now, she would’ve testified in a heartbeat otherwise. Her body was in a perfect state of relaxation, her muscles lacked any tension at all whatsoever. Ten minutes into her bath, any and all chills that could’ve run down her spine were long gone, as the atmosphere of the bathroom was encapsulated by the steamy fog that came from her bath water. Around her shoulders, and just below her chin, were the ever soft and lovable bubbles that left only a few little patches of the water surface uncovered. To top it all off, Twilight’s mane finally stopped dripping from her last dunk in the water, leaving out any possible annoyances.

Taking in the silence, she found both her mind and body at peace. Up north, past the Crystal Mountains, such a state of being was referred by the Ibex as ‘zen’. Twilight didn’t know much about that - she hadn’t studied the Ibex all that much - but since she was done with her fifth book on the subject of Eagles, now was probably a good of a time as any.

Wait... am I thinking about stuff again so soon? Ugh....

She banged the back of her head against the tub, futilely attempting to get the thoughts out of her head, but to no avail. Her mind was already racing on what she already knew about them and what she didn’t. Another part of her was inwardly bickering at herself for never taking the time to study them before.

Isn’t Celestia visiting them right now as it is? One part of her brain remarked.Gah, I should’ve asked her before she left if she could order me a few of their own books for culture study.

Like you’d really burden Celestia’s economic negotiations with a book order. The other part snapped back.

You’ve asked her in the past to read you bedtime stories when she was supposed to be discussing diplomacy with world leaders. And she held off the meeting for 10 minutes because of it!

I was 7 at the time, and didn’t know any better.

She still held off a critical meeting just for you, she won’t mind.

Maybe, but...

Rainbow Dash made an astute observation to herself as she flew down to the library. Two astute observations to be precise. The first one – and the important one if Dash had to say so herself – is that she actually knew what astute meant. The second being that the library was ‘officially’ closed at this time of night. Of course, in Ponyville, no one who lived inside the same place they worked ever really turned down business, regardless of how late it was. Twilight was no different.

Glancing back at her satchel, and opening the flap to see the expertly re-sealed envelope was still there, Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof for the door, but as a little idea graced her mind, she stopped herself immediately.

Clearly, Twilight was unaware of her being there, and if the light from the bathroom window was any indication, it was Twilight’s weekly bath. When it came to most ponies, such knowledge of knowing when friends engaged in such activities of privacy would paint anyone who knew it as a stalker. But the truth of the matter was that Rainbow Dash simply stumbled in from time to time in situations varying from helping Pinkie Pie doing last minute invites to town-rallying size parties to informing the town’s only battle mage of vampony attacks. Real vamponies at that, not the pansy sparkling crap out of the Crystal Empire.

With that in mind, Rainbow Dash reconsidered her approach. She was always in the mood to mess around with somepony, and Twilight was no exception. She cautiously put her hoof on the door, and applied only trace amounts of pressure. The door silently nudged open, making only the slightest of creaking that Dash could hardly make out herself. Once through the door, the pegasus cautiously slid the door closed again, turning the handle preemptively so it would slide in the doorframe silently.

When she was finished with that, she lifted herself off the ground with the quietest flapping of her wings she could manage, so as to avoid any sound of her horseshoes clanging against the wood surface as she ascended the stairs.

As she made it into Twilight’s quarters, she could hear the unicorn from the bathroom humming the beat to Speech by Pony Robinred. It was a butchery of what otherwise was a perfect song, but Dash was willing to bear it.

The pegasus stood up on her back legs as she sidled up against the wall between her and the bathroom. Carefully and gracefully, she glided her bottom hooves just centimeters above the wood and touching back down with practiced perfection. She made her way to the doorframe, making a careful note to slide her satchel off and easing it onto the floor.

Being careful not to use the doorframe for support in her upright position. Rainbow Dash turned her head to the left as she leaned to peer into the bathroom. Through the rolling steam, she found her target: an egghead of purple coloration, eyes closed as she sang aloud the mid-song lyrics. With no time to acknowledge the fact that despite the setting her friend sung quite well, Rainbow Dash slipped back onto all fours, as low as she could possibly go. Dash took cover in the rolling clouds of steam which were just thick enough to aid in masking her approach towards Twilight’s location. She utilized her back legs in a sort of shuffling motion as she slipped over to the edge of the tub, the unicorn singing away the lyrics to the vocalist.

“♪ Let the waves of time and space surround me! ♪”

As Dash slid to the back end of the tub where Twilight’s head was resting, she knew the moment of truth had arrived. She had successfully crept through a friend’s place undetected, and was ready to scare Twilight half to death. She bit down on a hoof as she repressed the urge to giggle. Spinning herself around, and planting her rear hooves down properly, Dash readied to spring as she mentally counted down.

3... 2... 1...

She launched her legs into the ground as she rose, wings flaring out in spring-loaded fashion as much as they could. But upon her ascent, a large plastic shampoo bottle came into her viewfinder as it zoomed towards her head and...

BONK!

The levitating hygienic soap dispenser from the depths of Tartarus hit Rainbow square on the head, causing her to yelp, stumble, and worst of all, fall backward. She found herself hurtling towards the floor beneath with its most unwelcoming hard surface that would no doubt be painful in some measurable degree. Her hooves flailed wildly at this realization, but with only fractions of seconds before her inevitable demise, there was nothing that could be done for her.

The pegasus’s back made contact with the floor in the way that a branch might fall on a flat rock. The recoil caused her to bounce back up a few centimeters off the ground before colliding once again, as if the laws of energy and motion were playing a cruel joke on her.

As the searing pain overtook her, she tried to reach for her back in attempt to clutch it, only to realize she couldn’t within the limit of her joints without seriously dislocating something. Instead she curdled into fetal position and let out a sound of complaint.

“Owwwwww...”

The next thing Rainbow Dash noticed was a unicorn-shaped-shadow was cast over her as its owner peaked from over the tub with her front hooves on the rim. She giggled at the other girl’s expense and then began to taunt.

“Did you really think that was going to work on me a seventh time?” She begged the question as she smiled broadly down at Dash.

Rainbow managed to look up at Twilight. “I dunno, the first six worked out nicely.”

Twilight managed a laugh again. “You knew I was eventually going to pick up on it, right?”

Dash grimaced as another jolt of pain went down her back. “I didn’t like to think about it.”

That provoked another shake of the head from Twilight. She might’ve felt sorry for the pegasus, had she not had this coming. Nevermind that at that moment, Rainbow Dash seemed to have recovered quickly as she got up on all fours.

“Alright,” Twilight said with a hint of seriousness to it, “Was this prank the only reason you snuck in? Or did you need something?”

Rainbow Dash caught the pushiness in Twilight’s voice. “Yeah, I’ll try to make it quick. Your mail ended up at my house, and I came to give it to you.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “This couldn’t wait till tomorrow?”

“Not when you see where it’s from,” Dash replied, as she already began to trot out of the bathroom for her satchel. she lifted up the unbuckled flap, biting lightly on the corner of the envelope with dry teeth. As she turned to face Twilight again, she felt the magical aura from an impatient unicorn envelope the letter and yank it away from her.

As soon as the mare had the silver and blue envelope in front of her, her noticeable frown and slanted brows began to level. Rainbow Dash could see the shift in Twilight’s gaze settled on the top right corner of the envelope, meaning she had noticed the chrome alicorn emblem.

“Is... Is this... Skylights?” Twilight asked herself, not believing at this very moment if she was still in reality. As the moments ticked by, it began to settle in, and her blank expression turned into a smile that could be no less than joyful. “Oh my gosh, am I accepted? I’m going to Skylights?! I’ve only been wanting to ever since the fourth grade. I mean, I don’t have the time to take up multiple years of courses at once, but a few courses here and there always seemed like a good idea.”

“Twilight.”

“I mean, I could really just get ahold of a bunch of textbooks and pour over them for a few weeks and probably learn what even the more advanced classes learn in that manner, but I understand there’s a lot the mages there just keep to themselves for safeguarding volatile arts.”

“Twilight.”

“The field of battle magic isn’t something ponies like to think about much. But the conjuring of things like fire tornados, ice pillars, gravity wells, and even hallucinations is serious business that would be too dangerous for the public-”

“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the near top of her lungs. The unicorn the message was intended at stared at the pegasus, slightly shocked, before a slight blush came over her as she looked at the pegasus in the eyes.

“Sorry...”

“Just open the letter already...”

Without any more hesitation, Twilight used her magic to pop open the envelope - Rainbow Dash felt a small wave of relief come over as Twilight didn’t notice the resealing job - and pull out its contents.

As Twilight began to read the letter aloud, sounding more and more gleeful and excited with every word, the Pegasus’s mind began to drift off. Initially, she came because she wanted to see the look on Twilight’s face, but after a bottle to the head, her back hitting the ground, and some of her friend’s attitude, however reasonable, she wasn’t feeling it. Her focus and current desires were a battle between going home to continue her reading night with Tank, or tasking the risk of jumping in the tub, hoping Twilight wouldn’t be mad about it. The prospect wasn’t taboo, they had shared baths before in the spa, but Twilight tended to get... territorial when it came to her own residence.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Twilight snapped Rainbow out of her confliction. “There’s mail for you as well, downstairs, on the center table with the wooden head.”

“Really?” Dash said as she already began to turn tail, trotting out of the bathroom. “Who’s it from?”

“Would you believe me if I told you Spitfire?”

Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks right at the door frame. Her face went blank, before she turned around to face Twilight once again.

“Spitfire was here...” She said, seeking more to clarify than to question.

Twilight shook her head joyfully, “Uh-huh, she-”

“-How could you not tell me this?” Rainbow Dash wailed as she turned back around again and headed for the stairs. “It’s only the captain of the flipping Wonderbolts!”

Twilight groaned, “Yes, Rainbow, I know how big of a crush you got on her!”

Rainbow yelled in sing-song tone as she bolted down the stairs, “I don’t swing that way!”

“Well, sometimes it’s hard to tell with you when it comes to her!”

“I’m a fan!”

“Keep telling yourself that!”

“At least I  don’t have a picture of Celestia on my desk!”

Twilight was taken aback for a second. “Oh gee, you’re right, it’s so odd having a picture of practically my second mom, in comparison to somepony who commissioned a plushie of Spitfire from Rarity!”

“The one I had as a filly fell apart!” Dash arrived at the table and grabbed the letter with her wing. “That’s childhood memories, Twilight!”

“Really?!” Twilight smirked, knowing she had Dash cornered, “Of what, exactly? You cuddling up against it and wishing to be Spitfire’s forever?”

Dash’s hooves came to a complete stop at those remarks. Silence took over as Dash put her hoof to her chin to think. That then turned into rubbing her forehead, tapping the other hoof, trying to think of a proper comeback.

“Well... you...” She struggled to compose her thoughts. Knowing she had nothing, she shook her head and began her ascent. “Well played, Twilight.”

Upon re-entering the bathroom, where Twilight still was, covered by bubbles just below  her shoulders, Rainbow Dash sat down near the tub and examined her own envelope for the first time, breaking the seal and sliding the letter out with a hoof. She let the envelope fall to the floor as she read.

To Rainbow Dash of Ponyville,

Your recent performance and showing of character at the Wonderbolt Academy preliminary testing were outstanding. Understandably, you are already aware of our recognition, however, our team felt it right to offer you the special grant for exemplary behavior.

Attached to this letter is a voucher for one free semester at the best school for endeavoring pilots abroad, and the one I personally graduated from. Skylights College, house of Sky Jockeying. If you desire to, there are even slots open as early as the coming semester in a month. It’s a short notice, but nothing I can’t solve for you.

~Spitfire

Dash flipped the letter to the other side, and saw a white and blue rectangle of firm paper with the same chrome alicorn emblem splayed over. It was in fact, a voucher for a semester, signed by the President of Skylights College: Red Cloud.

“So, what does it say, Rainbow?” Twilight inquired, mild curiosity was evident in her tone.

“Uhh,” Dash was hardly believing her predicament, “I think I also just got accepted...”

Twilight, once again, raised an eyebrow, “Accepted to what?”

Dash lowered the letter from blocking her view of Twilight, much in the way both of their fathers would lowered their newspapers, but unlike those times, instead of a happy expression, Dash’s was more akin to that of ‘are you serious?’.

“Where else could I possibly be talking about?”

“... You’re going to Skylights?”

“Apparently.”

“When?”

“How should I know?” Dash shrugged, lifting up the side with the voucher to show Twilight. “It says I can use it whenever I want, even for the one I guess you’re going to.” The pegasus folded up her letter as she took it back to her satchel for safekeeping.

Twilight jostled around in her tub as she put both her forelegs over the rim of the left side, looking towards the Pegasus re-entering the room once more. “You do realize though, that Spitfire just gave you 15,000 bits worth of education, right?.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Rainbow replied. “I grew up in Cloudsdale, Twilight, a third of the ponies you run into are students. By the time you’re seven, you probably know all there is to know about Skylights without ever once stepping inside.” Dash leaned on the tub, hitching her hooves over the rim. The steam from the bath water was fighting for her attention as it rolled over her countenance, making it difficult to focus her attention on her friend.

Twilight rolled her shoulders a bit to get more comfortable. “Well, did you ever?”

Dash didn’t reply, as she found herself staring down at the tub water, with its bubbles singing her name, waiting for her to give into their siren call.

“Dash?” Twilight tapped the pegasus on the shoulder, getting her to turn her attention back. “Did you ever visit Skylights?”

Dash shook her head. “I flew over it a few times, but that’s about it. Look, Twilight, can I-”

“-You lived in Cloudsdale for your entire childhood and never toured the campus?”

Dash shot Twilight a half-lidded glare. “Wasn’t on my list of important things to do in life, and you’re inter-”

“-Well you don’t have to be so grumpy-”

“-Twilight, can I please get a chance to friggin talk!” Dash stomped a hoof, flaring her wings out to emphasize it. “I’d just like to hop in.”

Twilight scratched her head. “Hop in what?”

“The bath.”

“Why?”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Seriously Twilight, it’s a bath and it’s refreshing. I already know I’m gonna be here talking about this college with you for another ten minutes or whatever, so are you really going to leave me hanging?”

Dash put on an unconfident smile for added emphasis, hoping that it would be enough to seal the deal. Twilight stayed unreadable for a few moments before lifting her hooves from the rim of the tub, and falling back to one end of it.

“Fine,” She groaned.

Without any more hesitation, Rainbow Dash sprung into the air, hovered for a moment, before lowering herself down into the water. The tub water was still very warm, and very welcoming. Muscles all about her body - especially her wings - began to ease their tension from a day of flying, cloud clicking, and what-have-yous. Had there not been things between her and Twilight to discuss, Rainbow Dash knew she would have drifted off to sleep right then and there.

“Okay,” Twilight spoke declaratively, leaving behind any remaining awkwardness of the tub fiasco. “Do you want to go to Skylights?”

“You mean like this semester?” Twilight nodded back to Dash. “I dunno, I’m due to have the weather schedule for the next month turned into Mayor Mare by Friday.”

“That’s five days from now, what’s the big deal?”

“Because I almost always handle the morning to mid-morning period solo-hoofedly.” Dash began to use her hooves to collect the bubbles in her proximity, not paying complete attention to Twilight, but enough to carry a conversation. “I have to find a pony wanting to take the hours, if not, I’m out of luck. Nobody on the weather team wants to work double-shifts because the boss failed to mention something at the last minute.”

“Good point...” Twilight tapped her chin as she considered it. “Are you allowed to offer a bonus under such circumstances?”

Dash shook her head as she fiddled with her pile of bubbles. “That’s only under emergencies; like if my Dad had a stroke.”

“Well...” Twilight trailed off as she thought over her next proposal. “Why don’t we ask Fluttershy?”

Dash turned her gaze to Twilight, slightly agitated. “Fluttershy hates weather duty. She always has. It takes her a good five minutes to kick a single cloud apart and she always manages to get electrocuted by storm clouds. Not to mention she won’t dare evict squatting birds off of any cloud until they’re done sitting there, regardless if it’s raining on the marketplace, a festival, whatever.”

“Wow,” Twilight remarked. “I can see how that wouldn’t work.”

“You have no idea.” Dash stretched her forelegs into the air for emphasis. “She almost ruined the Harvest Festival a few years ago by refusing to remove some robins from their perch atop storm clouds over the trade floor. It almost threatened the stability of Ponyville’s economy, y’know, with all the visitors coming to buy stuff that one time every year.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Twilight acknowledged with a little hoof wave-off. “Any other options?”

“I dunno, Twi.” Dash sighed before taking her pile of bubbles and attaching them to her face, creating the closest thing to a beard the mare would ever have. Regardless of her comical appearance, Dash continued the conversation as normal. “Why is me going now so important anyway? I could easily make plans for the next semester, if I go at all.”

Twilight crossed her forelegs. “Don’t you see the opportunity, Rainbow? Going to college with a friend? It’d be a lot more fun than going alone.”

“How?” Dash cocked a brow. “It’s not like we’re gonna be taking any classes together.”

“That’s hardly the gist of the college experience, at least, from what I’ve heard.” Twilight countered. “We can go get lunch together, I could help you with your work, we can both use some of the connections we develop to get each other into gatherings and such.”

“You mean like parties?” Dash smirked. “I dunno, Twilight. I don’t think you’d like the parties I’d go to.”

Twilight leveled her eyes. “Oh please, Rainbow, you’re not that wild.”

“How would you know?” Dash continued her charade, leaning back in the tub with that same smirk still on her face. “I was quite the party animal before you arrived.”

Twilight chuckled. “I know you're a lightweight, especially after Pinkie’s Ibexese New Year party.”

“Hey, that stuff caught me off-guard.” Dash quickly defended her pride. “How was I supposed to know that Applejack mixed her hard cider with whiskey? She didn’t put any labels on those cups.”

“You had one sip...”

Dash’s face contorted as she focused her gaze at Twilight, inwardly, she was trying to recover from the blow to her ego. “And you had..?”

“Five.”

“Sips?”

“Shots.”

Rainbow’s expression changed only slightly, doing her best to mask yet another hit. She sunk just a little in the tub, hoping Twilight didn’t take notice.

“Anyway,” Twilight moved on, “I really think this is an opportunity you and I can’t afford to miss, and if you trust me on this, you’ll see for yourself.”

“We still don’t have anypony to fill my hours...” Dash said just above a mumble, laying there silently for a second to mull over her thoughts while pretending to stroke her bubble beard. In that absence of conversation, she remembered a certain resident had not made his presence known when she went through the library. “By the way, where’s Spike?”

“Hmm?” Twilight looked up, catching up to what the pegasus had asked. “Oh, he’s at Sugar Cube Corner, helping Pinkie Pie taste test next month’s round of specialty treats.”

Rainbow Dash put her hooves on the rims of the tub in surprise. “That was tonight?!”

A little voice in Twilight’s heard told her what was coming next, she shot a look at the pegasus. “Dash, if you even think-”

The threat didn’t come soon enough.

Dash sprung into the air with the combined force of her wings and her legs. The force brought an upheaval of water with her as if she was sending a reservoir's worth to Cloudsdale, but it wasn’t Cloudsdale this time, it was the walls and ceiling of Twilight’s bathroom.

Before Twilight could even yell in anger, Dash had already zipped out of the bathroom, through the open window. She made for the bakery as fast as pony-ingly possible. Deep down, a part of her was thinking about Tank, making her feel bad that she wasn’t home like she promised, but she’d make it up to him by bringing some sweets home with her.

Sugar Cube Corner’s lights were still on and she could smell the desserts through the mach cone. Good, she wasn’t too late.

She was, however, too late to hit the breaks.

And that was when her face met the door.

And when the door didn’t hold, that very same face met the counter.

And then the swinging doors to the kitchen.

And then the stove.

And finally fire.

Hot fire.

Like, holy mother of Celestia did the sun come down to Equestria  to catch some of it’s own rays from eight minutes ago, or what?

What was the name of Celestia’s mother, again?

Why did this suddenly matter?! She was on fire!

Rainbow Dash instantly jerked her head out of the scorching hot fires, but she wasn’t avoiding the consequences of what happens when one sticks their head in a stove. Had she flown a bit slower, her mane and coat might’ve still been wet enough prevent her hair from singeing. But at the velocity she’d gone at, the wind acted as a giant hoof-dryer, leaving nothing between the flames and her dry-as-a-savannah-before-the-rainy season coat.

“GAAAAAAAAH!!!” She screamed in fully-warranted terror as she shook violently, all-too-inconveniently forgetting the all-important safety measure of stop, drop, and roll. She flared around the kitchen, knocking into pots and pans and tripping over herself until she felt somepony grab her and lead her to a counter before ice cold water came down on her like a high-pressure faucet. Most likely because it was in fact, a high-pressure faucet.

The water stopped as the last of the fire dissipated, leaving Rainbow Dash to cling to the rim of the sink with her her hooves as she coughed up whatever air she had in her lungs, along with water that had made its way into her nostrils.

As she recovered from the traumatic experience, her rescuer patted her on the back for a good few minutes. At one moment in time when those minutes past, the one hoof became four. Then came the added pressure of weight  - not much weight, surprisingly - onto her back, which then traveled to the top of her head.

Somepony was standing, in their entirety, on her head.

But it wasn’t somepony, there was only one full-grown pony who could do - and would do - what the pony on Dash’s head was doing now.

“Pinkie Pie?” Dash spoke aloud as she faced straight ahead. “What are you doing on my head, again?”

“Just being super-duper sure that there’s no fires left to toast your mane.” She explained as she lifted a few locks with her hoof. “Nope, none under there.”

Dash found herself unable to form words for a moment, but realizing that Pinkie’s rationale - for her - was sound, she dropped the issue.

“Well... thanks... for saving me.”

“No problem!” Pinkie smiled triumphantly as she used a hoof to pat Dash on the head. Pinkie proceeded to arch her neck down as she made eye contact with Rainbow Dash, upside down. “So did you come for the taste testing?”

“Yeah,” Dash answered, “I forgot that was tonight, and I, well, kinda flew too fast and... yeah.”

“I see.” Pinkie sprung off Dash’s head before landing in front of her. “Well lucky for you”–she poked Dash in the chest–“three hours ago, my teeth chattered, my hooves clapped, I sneezed, and had three hiccups all at once.”

Dash cocked an eyebrow, “Wait, you had three hiccups, like, all at once, or one right after the other?”

Pinkie giggled. “Simultaneously, of course!”

“How is that even possible?”

“It was an exponential hiccup, duh?” Pinkie took  hoof and reached into her mane, pulled out a tablet-sized chalkboard with a diagram and multiple formulas center around the equation of H to the third power. “The math clearly proves it.”

Dash reacted expectantly, staring wide-eyed and flabbergasted, not even sure where to begin. She stayed like that for a few brief moments before shaking her head, regaining her thought process. “Okay, so what am I supposed to get from this?”

“Well ...” Pinkie stowed away her chalkboard. “It was clearly my Pinkie sense, telling me that in 3 hours somepony would come crashing through the house at mach two. So I got the Cakes to get this place insured triple times over.”

“Well, that’s convenient.” Dash smiled. “Anyway, where’s the desserts?”

Pinkie swished a hoof towards the broken saloon doors. “In the diner, about ready to be eaten. I was working on the final item, the triple-decker peanut butter, fluff, and carrot cupcakes... until you arrived.” Pinkie frowned for only a split-second before breaking into a wider grin. “But no worries, I’ll just save them for next month! Now c’mon, let’s go have ourselves some goodies.”

The mares trotted out of the kitchen and into the diner, which besides the door and counter, now good for nothing besides feeding fires, looked fine. Occupying some of the tables were the regular attendees to the monthly taste testing including, but not limited to, Lucky, Derpy, the pegasus Twins and their younger brother Rumble, Lyra, Minuette, and Big Mac. A humble gathering at first glance, but appearances could be very deceiving. The events hardly ever went by with any food left over.

As some of them turned their heads to the ponies coming in, Flitter got up from her seat and made her way up to Rainbow Dash with an uneasy smile on her face.

“Hey, Dash, how’s it going?”

“Uh, fine.” She stated, distracted, looking over to where Pinkie was taking the plates over to the tables set up with all the desserts. “What’s up?”

“Well, Cloud and I were wondering. See, our folks have been kinda pushing it on us, not that I mind working or anything, and I don’t want to come off as lazy by that comment ei-”

Flitter found herself suddenly unable to speak, as the pony before her had inhibited her capability to, by putting her hoof in her mouth.

“Get to the point.” Dash stated declaratively, while surprisingly remaining soft-spoken enough so as to not sound harsh.

Flitter regained her composure from the minor embarrassment, jostled her head before trying again.

“Cloud and I were wondering if you had any openings on the weather patrol.”

As those words slipped into Dash’s ears, the recesses of her brain packaged up snippets of her conversation with Twilight and sent it off to her thought process. When it was received, the machinations of Rainbow’s brain connected the dots. When complete, the idea was exported off to Rainbow’s mouth, as well as the rest of her facial features for proper emotive reaction.

“Well, Flitter ...” Dash poked her fellow pegasus in the chest. “One spot just opened up.”