The last thing Twilight Sparkle expected to hear on a cold and dark December night such as this was a knock on the library’s door. She rather annoyed by this. After she tucked Spike in after his milk n’ cookie sugar coma, she got all snug in her bed with a new book she was planning on reading until the candle on her nightstand was extinguished.
Now she found herself walking down her seemingly endless staircase, candle in levitation, and walking through her polar oak floor to answer a door that could very well be Ditzy Doo telling the purple unicorn that she left her house keys inside her somehow locked house. Part of her wished that she would turn right around and go to the warm confines of her wonderful bed and let the poor pony outside turn into a giant popsicle, yet the other part of her seemed to hate that part with a burning passion and opened the door anyway. What, no, who she saw made her open her mouth and yelled with such power that might’ve woken up the entire village if the village wasn't like a corpse at night.
“Rainbow!?”
Outside the library completely absent in winter gear was Ponyville’s weather manager and one of her best friends, Rainbow Dash. Through chattering teeth the cyan and rainbow maned pegasus replied, “Hey Twi. Could you please let me in?”
After leading her good friend inside, Twilight poured a duo of steaming mugs of hot chocolate for the two of them (and got her friend one of her fleece blankets) and they sat around one of the many tables by candle light. The two seemed to stare at each other for an entire hour until Twilight spoke up. “So Rainbow, what are you doing in my house so late?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, and replied plainly, the fleece blanket around her and mug doing wonders. “Well, you let me in…”
“I know that!” Twilight yelled, letting out a loud groan. “I’m asking you what made you want to go to my house so late and into the cold without any winter clothes.”
“Oh,” Rainbow’s eyes darted around the room and said nonchalantly, “I knew that.”
More silence. Coughing, Rainbow began. “So you know that job I had being the head mare in charge of the weather in Ponyville?” Twilight nodded, unsure of where this was going. Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “Well, I kind of sort of got fired. It all happened in an instant. I was sleeping on a cloud when the supervisor, Caelum, just told me to head to my office in Cloudsdale and pack my things.”
Twilight couldn't believe was she was hearing. It felt like some sort of nightmare, but she was wide awake. “How could they even think of firing you? I thought you were the best at this.”
“That’s what I thought too.” Rainbow shamefully admitted, drooping her head. “They got a new pegasus who is not, and I quote, ‘a slacker.’ Can you believe that?”
Twilight shook her head “No, I don’t.” She raised her friend’s head up and looked her in the eye. “Are you feeling fine with this news?”
Rainbow, after pushing Twilight’s hoof away from her, boasted, “Of course! Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash never gets down by something like this!” She let out a hearty laugh. There was another blanket of silence, smothering the library once more. It seemed nothing was alive until the only sound heard was a plopping of liquid on the table Rainbow and Twilight were stationed at.
Twilight looked up at her roof and squinted. No leaks of any kind. In fact, she remembered when she opened the door it was not even raining at that moment, no forecast called for it tonight. She chalked it up as her friend gulping the now lukewarm chocolate from her mug, but what she saw when she tilted her head back down made change her mind. Salty tears were steadily flowing down Rainbow’s maroon eyes down to her cyan cheeks and on to the table, her eyes now bloodshot red. It didn't take long for her to break into a sob and slam her head on the table, the melody of sadness turned up to the maximum volume. Twilight’s mind raced to as she desperately searched her mind for things to say that would calm her friend down.
“Then you’ll just have to fly higher.” Twilight stated simply.
Rainbow looked up from the oak table and croaked, voice breaking. “What?”
“You heard me.” She stated, almost like a dare. “Fly higher.”
“But I can’t!” Rainbow protested with all her heart. “If I go too high I’ll run out of air and-”
“Not like that.” Twilight said, trying and failing to suppress a giggle. “You need to try harder.”
Rainbow silently looked at Twilight and her friend continued. “Look, we all make mistakes and we will all lose a job somewhere along the line. There’s no such place where that doesn't happen. Equestria maybe a land of friendship, but that doesn't mean everything is perfect, quite the opposite in fact. ”
Twilight paused for moment and asked, “Do you understand what I’m getting at?” Again, all Rainbow could do was nod. “Good. Now as I was saying, if you lose a job or make mistakes, learn from them. I've made mistakes in the past, we all have. We all need to learn from the mistakes we made, and you need to learn from the ones you made and will make. You should try to get the weather job again, see if they’ll let you back in.”
Rainbow’s eyes were still red and her voice still crackly, but the tears no longer flowed. She sniffed. “What if they won’t hire me again?”
“Then you need to look for a different job.” Twilight replied. “With your speedy prowess, I’m sure you’ll find one.”
Rainbow got out of her chair and hugged her friend. “Thanks Twilight. After I get home I’ll get some sleep and try to get my job back, or a new job, tomorrow.”
Twilight smiled and hugged Rainbow back. “That’s the spirit.”
After the two had said goodbye, Twilight now found herself wide awake inside her bed, candle long extinguished, with one question plaguing her mind and eroding her very soul.
Why couldn't she follow her own advice?
