//-------------------------------------------------------//
                         Skylights                         
                        -by Vurtax-                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
//-------------------------------------------------------//
              So... I kinda got your mail...               
//-------------------------------------------------------//
So... I kinda got your mail...
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.”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
         A Morning With Fluttershy... and Dubstep          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
A Morning With Fluttershy... and Dubstep
At the southeast end of Ponyville, lay the Everfree Forest. A dark and scary place full of some of the most vile creatures you could find in Equestria. It stood in sharp contrast to the beautiful and peaceful cottage that was situated just outside its borders. The owner, a pegasus by the name of Fluttershy, filled her cottage and its surroundings with a whole assortment of wonderful critters ranging from bunnies to duck-billed platypus.
One particular animal under her care was the rooster of the coop. He stood a good five inches above his ladyfolk and was adorned with a beautiful set of colorful feathers and the biggest and reddest comb of any chicken within a hundred mile radius. He couldn’t confirm that for fact, but he was sure of it!
Being the only male of the entire coop had plenty of advantages, but it also came with one very special job only he could accomplish; thereby rendering him invaluable. Every morning, he had to rouse himself before sunrise, and be there to welcome the morning with a cock-a-doodle-doo. However, lately he had been experimenting, with new ways of waking her up, and today was no different.
Rustling his feathers as he shook himself awake, the rooster hoisted himself up on his feet, scratching at the wood beneath him before walking out of his box with his chest held high. A few of his hens were already up and walking around going about their morning business. Many of them were throwing suggestive looks at him, as if he was going to get extra-lucky, as always. In truth, they were just using their charm as they always did to get him going up into the cottage to wake up their food dispenser already. He shot them some winks with accompanied suggestive clucking, before walking down the ramp out of chicken coop.
Now outside, he could see that the dawn had yet to break. The deep blue morning clouds along the horizon were slowly giving away to the sun that would soon make its entry onto ponyville.
Given past experiences, he knew he had about 10 minutes before the sun would rise over the mountains, which gave him just enough time to do his job. With that, he set about leaving the chicken pen as he approached the fence. It’s high heights of the surrounding structure was too high for the likes of his hens, but not a rooster like himself.
He stretched out his wings and began to flap at a breakneck pace. With his immense weight compared to other avians bogging him down, it took gratuitous amounts of his available energy to land his feet at the top of the fence. Seeing how the ground wasn’t too far below, he jumped down, falling a foot and a half before he bounced down softly onto uncut grass blanketed by the cool morning dew.
With his path now clear, he made straight for one of the many animal doors around the cottage. Most were a size big enough just for squirrels and bunnies, but the one closest to the chicken coop was suitable for an avian of his stature with just a little… effort involved.
He pushed his head through the opening and saw that the resident birds and other critters of the cottage were all hidden away in their housing inside the cottage, the living room was empty and churchmouse quiet, giving him the all-clear to go about his plans.
He took the deepest breath he could to suck in his extra girth - he really needed to go lighter on the feed - before sliding the rest of his bulk through the opening. Without remembering to get one of his feet through first, he soon realized he lost his equilibrium and found his front end was hurtling towards the wooden floor beneath. The side of his head hit the floor with a thunk. His tiny brain rattled around in his skull as his world spinned.
After a few moments like this, his eyes settled down, allowing himself to regain his equilibrium. Standing back on his feet, he shot another glance around the room noting that he had not stirred up any of the others. Good, the operation was still underway.
He made a line for the staircase at the opposite end of the room. The steps were just small enough for him to hop each time as he ascended higher and higher. The constant tapping of his talons against the stairs made for a bit more noise than he was comfortable making at this hour, but he didn’t have a choice.
Upon ascending the final step, the rooster entered into the singular room of the second floor of the cottage: Fluttershy’s bedroom. She was still sound asleep on her bed with the quilt tucked over her, snoring softly with a broad smile across her lips, entirely oblivious to what was coming, and that caused the rooster to smile.
A glance at the windows indicated that the visible sky was turning increasingly orange. Dawn was approaching, and his window of opportunity before the rest of the animals downstairs started getting rowdy was closing. With no time to lose, he beelined towards the desk on the left side of the bed, where his tools for experimental ways to wake up Fluttershy was situated.
As he leaped up one more time, the rooster found himself before his beautiful, beautiful,  DJ setup. An arrangement of a synthesizer keyboard attached to a turntable and mixer board, all hooked up to a set of amps and subwoofers. And to finish it all off, was a pair of rooster sized sunglasses dwelling among the knobs and dials.
Using a wing, he picked up the sunglasses and managed to secure them in place on his beak. He then shuffled his left foot around until one of the claws reached the power strip and flicked the switch to turn on his equipment. As he did, the lights on the display came to life with all the information he needed to get things going. Using his wings, he twisted numerous dials and knobs to a setting he felt was suitable for what he was about to impose. He shifted his focus to his turntable and browsed through the digital library of Fluttershy’s music player that was hooked up to the system. Arriving at the song he was looking for, he used his beak to click play.
Within the deep workings of Fluttershy’s mind, the pegasus founding herself involuntarily walking along a dark hallway made entirely out of wood that was not cut or assembled into place. She was nearing an end, where a wall of light awaited her arrival. Upon her approached the light dissipated into scene pulled right out of a book. She was standing atop a balcony like none she’d ever been to before. Above, she sees a canopy of branches twisted into an intricate tapestry that stood in contrast to the blue skies above. She follows some of the branches down with her  eyes - and where the branches grow thicker, she catches a glimpse of a deer among the branches that was looking back at her. They only locked eyes for a moment before the deer decided he had better things to do. Putting that aside, she looked about and noticed the branches were… moving? No, cervids of all kind that lived on this world tree were the ones that were moving. Gazelle hopped from branch to branch, moose plodded across the forest floor and sturdy bridges, deer dotted the staircases engraved  into the trunk.
“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” An elegant, yet masculine voice spoke out from behind her.
She turned around, and realized she was being approached by none other than Khandanah Sahrahala, her favorite character from Tournament of Power series by Forge R. R. Hearthing that everypony was reading lately.
“It’s lovely,” she found herself saying back to him, while millions of questions raced through her head.
Khandanah smiled at her as he approached, his eyes entrancing her with their deep pools of grey. She always found deer to be elegant creatures, with their high-standing, impressive antlers, and sleek figure, but combine that with her love of Khandanah’s character, and it made for a deadly combination upon the pegasus’s heart.
“And none of it is off limits for you to see, ambassador.” Khandanah stated, making Fluttershy realize she must’ve come here from a neighboring kingdom. “I must wonder though, did your King send you to negotiate, or are you the maiden offered to entice me?”
Fluttershy’s face heated up at that remark. Realizing she couldn’t take another step back, she could only looked down while she kicked a hoof.
“Umm…” Words failed her. “I’m… I’m just here to talk… talk about.. negotiations… I think.”
“Hahaha,” the deer boomed. “I meant no disrespect, pony.” Fluttershy felt one of his hooves begin to lift her head up to look at him. “It’s just not often that angels find their way to my palace.”
With that, the moment of her life began, she could see him inching closer and closer. He was going to kiss her, and oh Celestia she wanted it. She’s daydreamed of it for five whole books. She closed her eyes as she leaned forward, forward more and then….
“♪DROP THE BASS!!!♪”
WUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUB
---
“Aie!” Fluttershy yelled as she awoke to the sound of bass attacking her ears with brute force. A few moments of panic breathing as she covered her ears before she jerked her head to the left, to the source of the music.
“Chrispy!” She whisper-screamed, “What’d I tell you about playing Dubstep in the morning?!”
The music immediately ceased, and the rooster lost his confident visage almost instantly.
“Buwk buwk, buw-”
“I don’t care if you’re bored of cock-a-doodle-dooing me awake!” Fluttershy pounded her hooves against her mattress. “You are not allowed to use that setup for anything other than afternoon concerts! I’ve told you that a hundred-flipping times!”
Chrispy hung his head low. Partially embarrassed, but mostly upset, the avian put his sunglasses down on his setup before hopping down from the dresser and scurrying away, back down the stairs whence he came.
Fluttershy stared at the staircase for a few moments, shaking her head in disbelief at the chicken’s adamant behavior of waking her up so obnoxiously. She figured from an uneven perspective it was partly her fault for dangling the forbidden fruit in front of him time and time again, but it wasn’t her fault that she liked dubstep - under better circumstances of course - was it?
I guess I need to start hiding my music player before I fall asleep. She concluded. The pegasus hopped off her bed and made her way over to her calendar,scanning it quickly as she found the day that was today.
September 3rd
-Morning Routine
-Pick up stuff from Applejack, and Rarity
-Help Twilight and Rainbow pack up for college
-Medical Checkup for all animals (By the gods, prepare for the paperwork)
“Oh my gosh, it’s that day already?” Fluttershy gasped, “I better get started.”
Forty minutes later, Fluttershy found herself walking down the dirt road that skirted the southern borders of Ponyville. It was the most direct route to Sweet Apple Acres, and scarcely used by anypony. To Fluttershy, it was super convenient, to the rest of Ponyville, it was a waste of their taxpayer money.
As she neared Sweet Apple Acres, she heard the unmistakable sound of an axe working at a tree on her left.
Whose chopping a tree this early in the morning? Fluttershy thought as she scanned the left side while she continued to walk, trying to spot the lumberjack. All the while, the sound of the chopping got louder and louder.
Then suddenly, the chopping stopped, and in its place came the sound of crackles, like ones you would hear in a fireplace, only far louder. Fluttershy looked up to the canopies of the trees to see if any were swaying, and there was in fact one that was doing just that. A towering old pine tree, shook slightly with the heavy snap of twisted wooden sinew.
The crackling of wood became louder and louder still as the tree began to fall to the right. At one point, the sound of the cracking wood was replaced with the continuous thunder of snapping branches.
“TIIIIIIIMBERRRRRR!” the voice of a pony Fluttershy recognized well enough called out as the pine fell faster and fast towards the ground. Fluttershy backpedaled like lightning to put more distance between her and the pillar of certain death.
The tree crashed down with all the grace of a hurricane, Fluttershy covered her eyes as loose branches sprung into the air at all directions..
“Farewell, Mr. Timberly!”
“Applejack?!”
“Huh?” The farmer came into view as she jumped atop of the old pine tree. Spotting her friend, she hopped down to approach her. “Oh, g’mornin’ Fluttershy. How ya doing?”
“Umm, just fine… I guess.” Fluttershy shrugged slightly. “What was all that just now?”
Applejack walked back to the tree with Fluttershy in tow. “Well, Mr. Timberly here was getting old here, y’know? With him swaying a bit more than usual that he wasn’t gonna be around much longer. I can’t risk him falling on anypony so…” Applejack stroked one of his branches, a single tear falling from her eye. “I chopped him down.”
How sad… Fluttershy, copying Applejack, stroked one of it’s branches caringly. “I’m sorry AJ, I hope deep down… he understood.”
Suddenly, AJ’s sadness disappeared as a big smile came across her lips. “Plus I needed the firewood. And someone had to go. He practically offered himself up on the chopping block.”
“Oh…”
AJ took a few seconds to look back at the tree, smiling, as if proud of her work, before tuning her attention to Fluttershy. “Anyway, what were ya comin’ ta Sweet Apple Acres for?”
“Oh, umm…” Fluttershy tapped her head a few times to sift her thoughts. “Right, I was coming to grab the goodies for Twilight and Dash, before they head off to Cloudsdale today.”
Applejack face lit-up. “Oh yeah… I packed that thing up last night, should still be lyin’ on the kitchen counter if I recall, c’mon.”
Applejack put her front hooves on Mr. Timberly’s trunk as she hurdled over. The two of them power-trotted to the farm without saying much of anything, more because they were tired. When they passed through the gate, they found that Big Mac was approaching them from the direction of the barn
“Hey Applejack, have ya seen my ax?”
“Yeah,” Applejack replied while still heading towards the house, “I just used it to cut down a tree on the back road.”
Big Mac’s eyes went wide as sweat quickly appeared on his forehead. “Which tree?! Tell me it wasn’t Woodington.”
She shook her head. “Nope, just ‘ol Timberly.”
The stallion sighed, “Oh thank Celestia…” He wiped the sweat off his forehead before trotting away. “Oh, and g’morning Miss Shy.”
Fluttershy looked out to the stallion, “What’s up with Wooding-”
“Best not to ask.” Applejack cut her off. The farmer then put a hoof on the door handle and yanked down, pulling the door open.
As Applejack and Fluttershy trotted inside, AJ began to detail the send-off package.
“I spent all yesterday putting that box together perfectly. It’s got all sorts of goodies from the farm that should help Twi and Dash save on their grocery bill for a good few weeks all kept in a convenient box that should be easy to pack.”
Fluttershy smiled. “I’m sure they’ll very much appreciate it.”
The two stepped into the kitchen, and Applejack began to scan it with her eyes for the box.
“They better, the lot would cost any payin’ pony thirty…” Applejack went quiet. Her eyes scanned the room again. “Where’d it go?”
Before Fluttershy could provide some words of advice to help her friend remain calm, Applejack was already heading towards the countertop space where she belief the box last was.
“Who woulda moved it now?’
Help her stay calm, you know how she gets, “I’m sure whoever moved it was just clearing space to make breakfast. Shouldn’t be that hard to find.”
“Maybe… hang on one sec” Applejack walked towards one of the passages out of the kitchen, sticking her head under the arch.
“GRANNY!!!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, causing the pegasus in the room to clench her teeth.
Somewhere in the house, the old mare waking up from a nap before she yelled back. “What tis it, AJ?!”
“Where’d my box go I had on the kitchen counter last night?!”
‘What box?”
“The box I had on the kitchen counter last night!”
“Oh, uh, that thing? I had Big Mac take it downstairs to the cubbyhole.”
“You WHAT?!!” Applejack exclaimed. “You put it down in the cubbyhole? What the…”
“It was in the way of breakfast, dear!” She yelled.
“You coulda just put it in the living room!”
“Maybe, but well uh, No matter now.”
“No MATTER?!”
Fluttershy interjected, “Wait, if we know where it is, AJ, what’s the big deal?”
“What’s the big deal?” AJ parroted  the pegasus as she walking towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders. The earth pony got up close. leaving less than an inch between them, staring at her friend dead in the eyes.
“Everything… gets lost… in the cubbyhole.”
“But what if it was placed near the front?”
“Doesn’t matter.” AJ backed up before she looked towards the basement door in the hallway. “It just gets lost in there. I don’t know how it happens, nopony does”
“Well, how bad can it be, really?”
AJ stopped in her tracks, with one hoof on the first step down towards the basement, she turned her head on a swivel to give Fluttershy a level-eye look. “You have no idea.”
Without another word, AJ began her descent to the cellar with Fluttershy in tow. The farmer flicked the lights on before leading her friend to one of the back corners of the basement, passing by a ton of barrels both empty and full with apples and other assortments.
When they sifted past the high stacks of crates, AJ pointed directly at the above-indent in the wall just big enough for a filly to walk through. In it were boxes and other assortments. And by other assortments, I mean clutter, like stuff covered in layers of dust, dirt, cobwebs, and dead insects. Many of the cardboard boxes were torn or appeared to be so damaged that if you were to pick them up, their contents would ultimately fall through and be scattered all over the floor.
It was also dark, very dark, so dark Fluttershy thought that if she walked towards the back she would likely end up in Tartarus. That sent a shiver so severe it was painful running down her spine.
“Oh.. my…”
“Yeah, I know what yer thinkin’.” Applejack hung her head low for a moment,  before turning to face her friend. “Look, I know ya got stuff to do, so you go on, I’ll come up to the library when I find it.”
“Are you sure?” Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow. “I really don’t mind”
Oh yes you do, you lying little girl.
Shut up, I’m trying to be nice.
“Nah, it’s okay.” Applejack waved a dismissive hoof. “The others need ya too.”
Fluttershy took the few steps needed to close the distance between her and the other mare before taking her by surprise in a hug around the neck.
“Good luck, Applejack.”  Fluttershy broke off from the hug.
“Thanks.” She smiled at her. “Now go on, before you keep them all waitin’.”
Fluttershy nodded before turning tail and heading towards the staircase. She managed to leave the Apple residence without bumping into anypony else, saving her time from engaging in a currently unwanted conversation.
“Okay, the boutique, and then the library.” Fluttershy repeated to herself while she made her way towards Ponyville.
When she reached the edge of town, she could see that most of the residents were just beginning their day. Market stall owners were dragging their carts full of goods with them to their respective stalls, and shopkeepers were dusting off their welcome mats. Above the town, Flitter and Cloudchaser were making slow work on the clouds over town.
Fluttershy chose to watch the twins as she made her way through town, and the two’s antics were quite amusing. Flitter was miserably failing to kick clouds hard, and ended up just getting her legs stuck in the clouds. Meanwhile, Cloudchaser had a more embarrassing predicament, as she tried to ram through the clouds to dissipate them. Unfortunately the pegasus had learned very little since the embarrassing performance at the Academy, and ended up getting the front half of her body stuck inside the cloud, while her back legs shook around wildly as she struggled to escape.
The scene was all the funnier to watch as Flitter grabbed her sister by the back legs and struggled to yank her free. Fluttershy giggled, before turning her attention back to the ground. Off to her right, she noticed two familiar unicorns who were discussing applications of hooking a tambourine up to an amp. Vinyl Scratch - the town DJ - was trying to make her argument while she included a ton of hoof gestures to visualize her argument for the other mare. Judging by Lyra’s expression, she seemed more confused as to how such a concoction would even work.
As the pegasus passed by them, she could only smile at the two of them as they discussed, she still remembered when the two of them played at Harvest Days a few years ago with an electric tuba.
As she continued to stare off in different directions other than what was directly in front of her, she found herself suddenly stopped by a hoof that bumped into her chest. Before her stood a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark she knew all too well. Judging by his expression, he was very much irritated.
“Oh, Doctor Whooves, is something wrong?”
"Sorry, Miss, can't let ya go this way. Everything past here's off limits right now; very important guests, you see." The brown stallion nods his head toward a cluster of oddly still bubbles behind him. "I'm sure you can guess, but they aren't too big on the whole touchy-feely-bumpy kinda thing, you understand. If I could just get you to take the long way around, preferably with no flying;  they're very sensitive to air currents you know."
A spark of realization came upon the pegasus, she followed the line a bubbles with her eyes until it arrived at the Whooves residence doorstep. A moment passed, and the door opened to reveal none other than Derpy Whooves beckoning one bubble out and down the small flight of stairs as another was welcomed in.
Fluttershy recalled, tending to a local population of sentient bubbles who were rather high maintenance. Today, like all 3rds of the month, was the routine checkup for the entire population. Just as tomorrow would likely be their hiking trip, and so forth.
Given the absurdity of Derpy Whooves special talent, the town had come to an agreement whenever anyone from outside asked her what her occupation was - given the oddity of her cutie mark - she would always tell them she was a postal worker, rather than try to explain her real profession.
Fluttershy looked back to the stallion with the best smile she could manage, nodded before saying. “Alright, I’ll just make my way around then.”
“Righto, off with you then.” He spoke impatiently before making his way down towards another pony who was about ready to wreak havoc on his wife’s customers.
With that, Fluttershy made a 90 degree turn to her left as she walked down the long line of motionless bubbles that made no distinguishable sound, and could clearly not gesture. They just were there, motionless, speechless, and waiting. It was sort of creepy, scratch that, it was a lot of creepy, really. But Fluttershy wasn’t about to express her opinions out loud to this crowd. That is if they could even hear.
Leaving the Whooves residents and their clients behind her. Fluttershy set her sights on the triangular orange flag that was waving above the Carousel Boutique. She wasn’t all that far now, which was good, because Twilight was most likely finishing up her own morning routine and would be expecting her soon.
Arriving at the door to the boutique, Fluttershy raised a hoof to knock a few times. As she did, she heard the sound of mannequins falling over, followed by a very stressed mare screaming. A torrent of stumbling followed and more crashing mannequins, before heavy hoofsteps drew nearer and nearer to the door before a light blue aura coated the front door.
As the door pulled back, Fluttershy found herself looking at a white unicorn with a very disheveled mane, as if she had slept on the floor and was tossing and turning all night with her mane stuck in a thornbush.
“Hello,” the drowsy and clearly agitated mare managed through her crankiness.
“Hi, Rarity…” Fluttershy found herself at a loss for words. “umm… is everything alright.”
 Rarity’s lips turned into the smallest of frowns. “Is is that bad?”
“Should I mince words?”
“No need.”
“You look you just lost a bet with a depressed tornado.”
Rarity sighed as she shook her head. “I really need to learn when to put down a book.” She turned herself around began walking back into her shop. Fluttershy followed, with hesitation, but she followed all the same.
The boutique had seen better days, scratch that, every day the boutique had ever had before this day was better. Every mannequin was toppled over, every drawer was open to some degree with contents both in, outside, and hanging from it.
“My goodness,” Fluttershy exclaimed as she avoided stepping on a menacing looking pincushion. “What happened?”
“Tournament of Power happened.” Rarity snarled, still making her way through her shop. “I got caught up in that chapter where Khandanah and the Gray King were at each other’s throat that I simply had  to keep going. But by the time I thought i found a good place to put the book down, it was three in the morning…” Rarity finally arrived at her sewing machine with what looked like a work-in-progress of a bookbag. “Unfortunately, I had been holding off Twilight and Rainbow’s satchel the whole time. And when I finally realized it, I went into full panic mode.”
“So I see.” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Unfortunately, during my flurry, I bumped my head against one of the mannequins, and soon found myself dozing off on the floor. Next thing I know, I woke up the sound of you knocking.”
“Oh my.” Fluttershy managed to say. She would have been more sympathetic if the implications didn’t mean that another friend’s going-away gift wasn’t ready as it should have been.
“I did managed to complete both of their scarves, however.” Rarity  attempted to lighten the mood as she used her magic to bring forth two scarves. One way mostly blue with a few bands at one end of the rainbow spectrum that transitioned fluently from one to another. The other was a deep purple with a pinkish-purple line running straight down the middle and two thin bands of white running parallel on each side of it.
Fluttershy tried to smile as Rarity used her magic to open the flap of Fluttershy’s saddlebags and tuck the scarves in, but her kindness and understanding wasn’t showing through, if Rarity’s expression back to her was any indicator.
Rarity hung her head low. “This is an absolute disaster…”
Fluttershy put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “There, there, I’m sure you can finish up the satchels before Twilight and Rainbow need to leave.”
Only by an act of the gods.
“But I couldn’t possibly sew all the pockets and what not I had planned for it.” Rarity began to tear up. “Both of them were going to be specifically designed for the materials they’d need for the classes they’re taking.”
Fluttershy’s face twisted. Knowing Rarity, such precision was mandatory in all of her work. However, time was not on her side at this point. So Fluttershy did her best to fish for solutions.
“Well, do you possibly have some alternative means of getting the backpacks done?”
Rarity stopped her mumble-sobbing at that moment. “I do have… no that would never work.”
Fluttershy’s ears twitched. “Have what?”
“The present Vinyl Scratch gave me on my last birthday,” Rarity lifted her head up and arched her neck back to look at the pegasus. “Perhaps it’s best if I showed you, follow me.”
The unicorn trotted towards and into the hallway at the back of the central chamber. Passing by both the kitchen and the washroom, they stopped at a light brown door at the far end of the hall. With a little magic, the knob twisted and the door swung back to reveal the dark chamber behind it. Rarity reached a hoof to the right of the door frame inside as she felt for the lightswitch as Fluttershy walked in.
When the lights came on, Fluttershy found herself standing before a very large metal machine that was nothing like anything she’d ever seen before. It was a large cone-shaped contraption with a bunch of spindles of both fabrics and threads extending outside of it with holes in the top appearing as if they would be used to feed the monster, at the very top was some sort of strange spherical node with a ton of runic symbols on it. To the left and right appeared to be two large amps and accompanying subwoofer that were faced inward of the machine. And jutting out in front of the machine was a slide-door that appeared to be where something would come out of on a conveyer belt that stuck out like a tongue.. But in front of that was the oddest part of it all, a DJ setup.
“What is this?” Fluttershy asked in half-wonder and half-stupidity.
“Vinyl called it Sewstep V2. She claimed it could make anything I imagined if I sent a detailed mental imprint of it to the machine while providing the proper... rhythms, for the devices to work.”
Fluttershy looked towards Rarity quizzically. “Rhythms?”
Rarity looked at the pegasus in the eye. “What do you think that mixboard is for?”
Fluttershy was beyond confused at this point. “So it is powered by… music?”
“Not exactly. Least, I don’t think so. It honestly never made sense to me, I believe it was just some clever trick by her to get me to listen to dubstep, she’s been trying to for the last two years.”
“She’s been trying to get everyone to.”
“Very true.” Rarity remarked. “Anyway, I’ve only used it once since she gave it to me, but I refused to blast the music that was in the mix board library and uploaded some classical. thinking it was just some trick and the music didn’t really matter.”
“Did that work?”
“I wish…” Rarity shuddered violently. “The blouse came out as a… green wig...”
The sound of dread in the designer’s voice was instantly recognizable to the pegasus. It brought back the memory of one fateful afternoon in a convenient flashback form.
Fluttershy was sitting on her couch reading Dilbert & Gullivan while listening to the Hookes Brother’s latest Extended Play. It wasn’t exactly a methodical matchup for reading, but as good as it was, she couldn’t resist. Reminiscent of the way a writer might have trouble writing while catching up on some of the sickest electronic music.
What are you looking at me for?
But just as the writer was about to go into a pointless tangent that would’ve ultimately destroyed any remnant of the fourth wall for the rest of eternity, a sobbing white unicorn came crashing through the front door.
Just the door banging alone was enough to cause the pegasus to jump, causing the book to fly out of her hooves and land back down on her head. She quickly took a hoof to her head to rub the now sore area.
“Oww... what in the world.”
All Fluttershy received back was the odd combination of shuddering and sobbing. It sounded like somepony she knew rather well too. Opening her eyes again, she looked down upon a very distressed looking Rarity with her hooves over her eyes, adorned with the most hideous of hair styles since Cheerilee was a blank flank. Comparable to what a lawnmower might’ve hecked up after a long night of drinking.
“GREEN!!! IT’S GREEN I TELL YOU!!!” tears fell faster than water from Neighagra falls. “AN ATROCIOUS, UGLY, ABOMINABLE GREEEEEN!!!”
---
It took five boxes of tissues and six boxes of sweets to calm her down. Fluttershy reminisced. “I see how that could be… umm… traumatizing, for you.”
Shivers took hold of Rarity, “Traumatizing is an understatement. Regardless,” Rarity took a deep breath. “Either I present to our friends satchels they could’ve picked up at the second-hoof store, or I try again with this… contraption.”
“Are you sure you can do this, Rarity? I could try a hoof at it, given I already listen to dubstep, it shouldn’t be that big of deal.”
“No, that won’t be necessary.” Rarity stepped up to the mix board, steeling herself as she did. “It’s my fault Twilight and Rainbow’s bags aren’t ready, so the burden of responsibility rests on me.”
A moment of hesitation before Rarity flicked the switch to turn the table and the machine on. The metal colossus stirred to life uttering noises like that of an old locomotive engine, in the sense that said locomotive engine was busy getting it on with an enormous washing machine full of bricks and month-old corn flakes. Rarity stood at the ready as her horn flared to life. Eyes clenched as she imagined the specifics of the bookbags. Fluttershy watched as the node at the top of the machine began to light up in a spectrum of colors as the symbols shifted around one another. Streams of magic flowed from the top down into the machine as the spools of fabrics and thread came to life.
A visual before Rarity showed Rainbow Dash’s backpack in a blueprint-like 3D model with all of it’s pockets and zippers in specific fashion. The screen then indicated it required all sorts of prerequisites in the music choice. The display on the mix board in front of Rarity highlighted all songs that were applicable in this situation, offering her the option to chose from a small list.
Rarity took a deep breath, “Well, here we go.”
In Fluttershy’s own experiences with dubstep - from Chrispy’s rude awakenings to her own countless hours listening to “top 100 sickest drop” videos - she had encountered no shortage of heavy bass that would knock a filly to the ground.
But none of that could have prepared her for this.
HUAAAAWWWRRRRR!! FHFHFHFTHFTHFTHFTFH!!! ZUAAAWWWWRRRRR!!!!
The bass came upon her ears in similar fashion to how a horde of hydra may have fought over a mate. She felt the boutique shake at it’s foundation as the beats dropped, it was all too much, but at the same time, it was all too glorious! She saw the corner of Rarity’s mouth moving, likely screaming profanities as if yelling back at the machine, but she couldn’t for the life of her make out any of what she was trying to say.
WEAHHHX!!!WEAHHHX!!!VAHHHRR!!!!VAHHHRR!!!!ZIK-WUAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!
As the tune progressed, the display of the bookbag was flashing certain sections red at first to indicate they were in-progress. When they finished, they turned solid white. Progress was gob-smackingly fast, as over fifty percent of the bookbag was complete within the first two minutes. But with the bass so heavy that Fluttershy could feel herself sliding backwards as her hair acted as if it was in a wind tunnel, she didn’t know how long she could last. Nevermind Rarity.
And there the alabaster unicorn was, standing on her back hooves proudly as the dubstep went on and the backpack neared completion.
It was after that moment that the song went from sounding like a hydra-exclusive mosh pit to a robotic monstrosity scream-off.
BWAAAHHH!!!! ZEREAHZEREAHZEREAHZOW!!! KYRKYRADOW!!!!!
 Fluttershy felt the power of raw sound come at her with the force of the gods, lifting her up off the ground and sending her flying through the open door and down the hallway. She was caught up in a backflip out of her control. Before she knew it, she landed in the main lobby, shocked, and disoriented.
She got up and made her way back to Rarity, who was still, somehow, standing there at the mixboard adjusting all sorts of knobs and levers as prompts instructed her to. The closer she got, the harder it was to continue onward. Luckily though, the music was starting to die down.
BWAAAAHH!!! BAH DHOOHHH DHOOHHH!!! BWAH-BA-DHOHHH!!!
When the bass came to a halt, and the mix out was all the remaind, Fluttershy was able to re-enter the room.
She approached the mix board, where Rarity, somehow still there in one piece with her mane slightly worse-looking than it was before, was breathing heavily, eyes wide-open, with her hooves bracing her up on the table for support.
Fluttershy approached, stood up on her back hooves, and put a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder - who hadn’t reacted in the slightest - before asking:
“Are you okay?”
Taking more notice of the unicorn, Fluttershy deduced that she managed to look even more of a wreck than before. Her eyes were bloodshot, with the veins all but throbbing, Her hair was thrown about in ways indescribable, and besides her that her legs were shaking madly, she was breathing so heavily that one might have guessed she had just finished a triathlon.
“I-I-I’m… fine…” Rarity managed to get out, “At least, I think I will be…”
It was in those moments that the track in the middle of the machine began to move, and from the shadow emerge an intricate and awesome-looking jet-black satchel with a rainbow band going down the front flap vertically.
Rarity took the bag off the belt with her magic and brought it close, she lifted the front flap and began checking through every pocket, every zipper and pouch.
“It worked.” Rarity stumbled, “It actually worked.”
Fluttershy, smiling widely at the seemingly first success of the morning, patted her friend on the shoulder. “It looks wonderful Rarity, I can’t wait to see what Twilight’s looks like.”
Rarity flinched, clearly having forgotten that the battle was only half won.
“Oh… right…”
After surviving another dubstep storm and helping the fatigued Rarity get her day started, Fluttershy walked out of the Carousel Boutique with two new satchels hung from her neck. It was 8:15 when she checked the stove clock in Rarity’s house, which meant that she was running a little late to get to Twilight’s house. But, it couldn’t be helped, and in no way was that Fluttershy’s fault, for once.
With the worst behind her, Fluttershy couldn’t help but add a skip to her step as she drew nearer to the library. She knew it would hit her later that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were going to be gone for a while, and that she would miss them, but for now, it was time to happy. So when she approached the library door, she couldn’t help but act a little bit like Pinkie Pie as she swung the doors open and called out in a sing-song.
“Morning girls!”
“No, we’re not taking the friggin balloon up to Cloudsdale!” A somewhat muffled voice belonging to Rainbow Dash from upstairs yelled..
“Then how are we going to get there? A taxi?” A voice clearly belonging to Twilight responded. “We didn’t order one, the closest depot is in Canterlot and we need to be going in a few hours.”
And they’re arguing, Fluttershy tried not to sigh, I better help them. So with that, she put on her best smile before ascending up the staircase.
“Besides, what’s the big deal with the hot air balloon, anyway? It decent in travel-time with the right spell.”
“Speed isn’t my problem, Twi. It’s the matter of where we’re going to put it during the semester. It’s not exactly small, and I have no idea where you plan to store it.”
“Well, do you think we could ask your parents? They still live in Cloudsdale, right?”
“Yeah, but I can tell you now that you don’t want to leave it with my folks. You’re just asking for trouble.”
“And why would that be?”
“Because my Dad never let’s things be, Twilight. If he’s not rearranging everything that he doesn’t feel is exactly where it needs to b,e he takes it out and fiddles with it, we’ve lost family heirlooms to his tinkering.”
“I guess that is pretty bad.”
“You have no idea.”
Fluttershy arrived at the top of the stairs in those moments, seeing that Rainbow Dash was - as usual - hovering a few feet off the ground while Twilight was busy sorting her supplies.
“Uh, hey girls!” Fluttershy said again, trying to be cheerful. “Sorry I’m a little late.”
“No big deal, Fluttershy,” Twilight dismissed, before peering upon the backpacks the pegasus was carrying. “Are those the ones from Rarity?”
Fluttershy happily nodded before walking towards her friends. “Uh-huh, check them out.” The pegasus used a hoof to lift the straps from her neck, dropping them in front of her friends along with the scarves. Rainbow Dash landed to inspect hers, while Twilight picked hers up with her magic.
She gave the girls a few moments to ogle over the works of fine art before beating a hoof to her chest to clear her throat, garnering their attention. “Anyway, I heard you girls were having trouble with transportation?”
Rainbow nodded aggressively, “Twilight thinks she’s going to need the hot air balloon at Cloudsdale, or at least need one to get there.”
“And Rainbow’s hubris continues to dictate to me that she can manage to somehow fly while carrying me and both of our luggage.” Twilight finished for the pegasus. The offended mare gave the unicorn a glare that she wasn’t noticing.
Fluttershy rubbed her chin for a moment in contemplation, “Okay.” Fluttershy turned to look Rainbow Dash square in the eye. “Rainbow, why do you want to do this?”
“Because it’s less hassle, obviously.”
“Is that the extent of your reasoning?”
Dash shrugged, “Do I really need more?”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at this. “Really? Would you care if we tested that then?”
Rainbow blinked, and not the typical blink, but the one that someone does when they flinch for the briefest of moments, indicating they were probably caught off guard by that comment. Even though, for Rainbow, this should’ve been obvious in its coming. “Uhh, sure. I guess.”
With that, Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged a glance before Twilight set both of the new book bags down, opening the front flaps. Moments later, stacks of paper, binders journals, pencils, and all sorts of other essential supplies, including twilight’s choice literature to take, went flying into the packs. Another empty bag appeared, in which other items from outside the stack of school supplies came flying in.
“Oh,” Fluttershy perked up, “We can’t forget that Applejack is still bringing the package, going to need about 5 textbooks in weight I estimate.”
Approximately thirty seconds later, Rainbow Dash had on two sets of fully-loaded saddlebags, and both of the bookbags. One might’ve have expected the pegasus to looked even the slightest inhibited by all the stuff on her. But it likely came with be a constantly-training athlete that they could manage to carry the extra burden.
“Okay, Rainbow,” Twilight announced, grinning wide enough. “Let’s see how you do with that first.”
“My pleasure,” Rainbow flared her wings out and began to flap, managing with just a little struggle. In five seconds, the pegasus was three meters off the ground with only small signs of struggle being expressed from the corners of her face. When she remained stable for a good ten seconds, she landed back down as graceful as she possibly could with a grin on her face, and a hood to her chest ready to receive applause.
“Wow, Rainbow,” Fluttershy commented with the slightest of slyness to her tone, “All that training for the Wonderbolts is really paying off.”
“Yup,” Rainbow stretched her legs, “I’ve been doing the heavy lifting routines lately.”
The two mares watched her for a second as she spread her wings to show off mostly to herself.
“So,” Fluttershy moved things along, “Rainbow, are you ready to try it with Twilight’s added weight?”
Rainbow flinched, ceasing all body movement except for a widening of the eyes as if realizing a second beforehand that she was to be frozen in time and space. A few seconds like this, and she looked to her friends, as assuring as she could manage.
“Uh… yeah! Sure.”
Fluttershy could feel the smirk the went across Twilight’s face before the unicorn approached the now-uneasy pegasus that looked like she was preparing for a serious blow to her ego. Still, Rainbow Dash complied as she kneeled down a bit, allowing Twilight to climb on her back. As Rainbow stood up again - showing minor signs of struggle - Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her neck.
“Okay, Dash, anytime you’re ready.” Twilight said with enough slyness to poison a king.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, spreading out her wings before beginning to beat them. She quickly picked up the speed she needed for carrying the supplies - which was pretty fast already - to find she still wasn’t making it off the ground.
Not giving up so easily, the pegasus kicked it into full gear, working her wing muscles like that of a hummingbird. The pegasus was putting everything she got into this moment, Unfortunately, everything she’s got was exactly 32.8569% short. and all the pegasus accomplished was circulating the air in Twilight’s house. Rainbow Dash eventually gave up, kneeling down to breathe deeply.
“Fluttershy,” Twilight called out from on top of Dash, “I think my pony’s broken.”
“Har har…” Rainbow managed through heavy breathing while Twilight slid off her back. “You could afford to lay off fritters, y’know.”
The unicorn came up beside her and looked her in the eyes, “For your information Rainbow, I lost five pounds in the last week.”
“Great, just fifty more to go.”
A split second passed before a magically-conjured slap came across Rainbow’s face. It wasn’t hard hitting, but it had a sting to it nonetheless, bringing the pegasus to rub the side of her face.
“Yeah, I guess I deserved that.”
“Anyway,” Fluttershy interjected, “I guess we can rule out Rainbow Dash as the one and only means of travel.”
“Right,” Twilight nodded, “So we’re back to the balloon.”
“Ugh,” Dash groaned, pulling the bags off her back to free herself, “I told you the balloon isn’t going to work, why won’t you listen to me?”
“Because, Rainbow, there’s more places to store it than your parent’s house.”
“Oh really, miss IknoweverythingaboutCloudsdaledespiteonlybeingthereonce where could you store the gosh darn balloon?” She didn’t wait for a reply before continuing her rant. “There’s no kind of parking garage in Cloudsdale, cause we obviously don’t need one.To be honest, you really should’ve ordered a chariot ahead of time.”
“Wait a minute…” Twilight turned to Fluttershy, “Do you still have that magic cart of yours? The one we had to retrieve from Froggy Bottom Bog after the hydra attack.”
“Oh, that thing? Well, no..,” Fluttershy sighed. “It was stolen a few months back.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. “Stolen?”
“Well, yes.” Fluttershy sighed. “Pinkie and I were using it as a ‘mobile love shack’.”
The other two mares went wide-eyed as they scream. “WHAT?!!!”
“IT’S NOT LIKE THAT!” Fluttershy quickly yelled back, realizing her tone, she put a hoof over her mouth, sighed, before continuing. “Basically, I had the cart hovering in the air, threw a tarp over it, and Pinkie sat inside to give anyone who came in free hugs.”
“Oh.” Twilight put a hoof to her chest a took a deep breath.
“Unfortunately,” Fluttershy continued, “Some changelings came by and got the idea that the cart was some sort of device that caused people to be affectionate towards them, and made off with it. I haven’t seen it since.”
At those words, Twilight just stared, partially flabbergasted, and somewhat uncomprehending of the situation, with a side of disappointment. The expression on her face was one not to miss. “Why would… why…”
“Believe me, Twilight, I stopped trying to understand weeks ago.”
Rainbow Dash decided to inject herself back into the conversation. “Okay, so the balloon, the cart, and me carrying the load are all out. So any other ideas?”
“Well…” The unicorn of the group thought on it, before turning her head to Fluttershy, “I’d hate to ask so much of you, but do you think you could help us with the trip? If all possible?”
“Umm… well… no.” Fluttershy looked a little crestfallen. “Today is the monthly medical checkup for all the animals, and that’s a lot of paperwork I have to go over with the vet.”
With that, Rainbow Dash looked to Twilight before saying. “Well, now we’re really out of options.”
“Oh come one, Dash.” Twilight tried to defuse the situation - noticing Fluttershy was starting to act like it was her fault - “There’s gotta be other ways of getting to Cloudsdale.”
“No, Twilight, there isn’t.” Rainbow raised her voice. “And before you ask, I can’t make two trips in one day either, not with Cloudsdale being relocated another hundred miles away from Canterlot for this time of the year. So unless some ultra-convenient deus ex machina comes falling from the sky we’re pretty much-”
At that, a deep purple alicorn came crashing through the bedroom window. The ponies all had a split second to recognize the mass before jumping out of the way. The alicorn tumbled across the ground, crashing into the stack of books, paper,and assorted supplies before hitting one of the bookcases, a few books fells on top of the disorientated alicorn..
The ponies in the room approached her, noticing the ethereal mane full of tiny stars, the crescent moon cutie mark, and the near-empty bottle of Tryptych Tequila.
“Princess Luna?” They all asked in unison.
Luna’s expression turn wide eyed as she practically yelled. “Toobright Blinkle! Spectrum Sprint! Shuttercry!” She took a few deep breaths as her eyelids began to close. “Nice to see you all…”