11

Not bad, Tyke, Not baaaaaaaaaad. Those Tell-Your-Own-Tales game-booky things are actually pretty fun. I mean, not that I needed a lot of projection to imagine myself as something awesome, but still – kind of tense, right? I found myself flipping back through ‘em multiple times, trying to get different endings and all that.

Actually, that was part of the fun. You make a mistake – you can fix it. And you don’t know for sure whether or not you’re going to do the right thing until it’s all over, right? Just like real life, except I guess you can redo things after it’s all over.

Good thing, too, because DEAR LORD some of those bad endings are creepy. I’m not going to give Twilight the I-told-you-so satisfaction of letting her know that “House of Wax” had some seriously messed up endings, but nope, just in case you’re gossiping with her and I don’t know it, I’m not going to talk about it.

Come to think of it, things could have gotten really creepy if we had actually hadn’t stopped all those villains, if by “we” I mean “the elements of harmony”. So maybe I should be old hat at that, though? But then again, there was no way we were actually going to lose – elements of harmony, remember? So I guess what I’m paying for is helplessness. Albeit, the kind I can easily fix.

Actual vulnerability…yeah. We’re probably both familiar with that.

Speaking of being careful, just an FYI. The weather’s been super-nice recently because Cloudsdale’s working with the princesses to try and get a nice crop of Midnight Sun flowers blooming, and those are notoriously finicky. Applejack’s already working herself way harder than she should be in order to keep them healthy, so this was basically necessary. Of course, the ground’s going to be wicked dry after all of this nonstop sunlight, so we’re going to get a heck of a storm sometime in the near future, okay? Like, lock-yourself-in-the-house big. I’ll try and drop a warning when I think they’re going to bring the storm, but I’m not exactly working full-time at the weather factory (re: not working there at all), so I’m probably not going to be 100% accurate on the timing.

Or maybe you like the rain. I dunno. Never been a big fan of the stuff; it takes too much time to actually set up, it’s finicky, and you can’t even fly in it. Though, honestly, I’m not sure that anypony I know is a fan of the rain. Environment aside, why even have it there? Why not just…irrigate everything, or something? I guess that’s more work than just doing it naturally, but farming is more work than just gathering from the ‘wildlife”, and nopony wants to go into the Everfree forest, anyway, ~~except for Zecora who is crazy~~

Maybe it’s just tradition. And Celestia only knows how many traditions we’ve got up and running here, except maybe SHE doesn’t even know. It’s a chore keeping track of them all, so, y’know, I usually don’t. Nopony I know really makes a fuss about it, either, except Twilight ~~because she needs to get a life~~ and Applejack, because keeping track of all of those agricultural cues actually keeps her crops growing healthily.

I’m gonna admit I don’t put a whole lot of stock in structure when my idea of a good day is:

-> (sometime in the morning?) Wake up
-> eat if I feel hungry
-> flying
-> eat if I feel hungry
-> more flying
-> eat if I feel hungry
-> read books (if I’ve got something fun lying around)
-> (sometime in the evening?) fall asleep

except yesterday, which was kind of:

-> (sometime in the morning?) Woke up
-> ate (stuff; don’t remember)
-> flew a little bit, felt bored
-> ate (stuff; don’t remember)
-> finished Daring Do and the Heart of Darkness
-> stared at wall, wished I had something to do
-> ate (hay fries, extra crispy)
-> wrote to you
-> stared at wall, wish I had something to read
-> (sometime in the evening?) fell asleep

and today, which was kind of:

-> (sometime in the morning?) woke up
-> ate (cold hay fries, milk)
-> went to library
-> returned DDaHoD, asked Twilight what else I should read
-> got my ear talked off for what felt like an hour
-> walked out with almost more books than I could carry
-> read
-> ate after I realized it was now the evening (2 Daisy sandwiches, left over from a picnic I don’t remember how long ago, don’t think they were moldy)
-> remembered I hadn’t written to you yet

You’ll notice that my regular schedule doesn’t actually have any specific times, specific foods, specific books, specific anything. Also, showers are optional because, come on, nopony smells THAT gross if they do without for a few days. And you could always just go for a dip in the lake or roll around in some snow if you feel grimy enough, so what’s the point?

Still – I won’t say that I think that hygiene and prettying up in particular is always lame. I actually *liked* the outfits that Rarity made for me – both of them – and I’ve got to admit that she can capture awesomeness, radicalness and coolness in a dress. Not often, but definitely sometimes!

Until Rarity pulls out all the stops like she did that last time, though, I’m just gonna stick to the wonderbolts official outfit.

Okay, mouth is tired, hooves are almost as tired, I’ve got stuff to read. I’ll catch you tomorrow, okay?

Latazzz

-Rainbow Dash

///////////////////////////////////////////////

12

I want to say that I’m done with the stack that I picked up, but not even close. I should have known that I’d eventually make the mistake of treating huge books like anything other than a door stopper, and I’ve tussled around with “When the Parasprites Cry” for long enough that my forelegs are beginning to get sore, and I’m STILL not done. How can somepony even write that much?

On a different topic: so I just realized that I forgot to explain why I called you “Tyke” yesterday. It’s like Squirt – you and Scootaloo both look up to me, you’re both pretty cool, they’re both terms of endearment, got it? Nothing particularly fancy or meaningful about it.

Are you a youngster, Tyke? I mean, I never actually asked how old you are. Hopefully not too much older. I mean, not that I’m not flattered, but if you’re Granny Smith’s age, then that might get kind of creepy, you know?

I wonder what I’ll be like at that age. I mean, assuming I live that long. But hey, I’m definitely invincible right now, right? ~~Except against Chrysalis or creepy vines or Tirek but~~ those were probably exceptions to the rule. Whatever, I’m still awesome.

Hey, do you have wings? Do you fly? Is that why you look up to me? Or is it because you’ve got Pegasus envy, especially of the awesomeness and radicalness…yeah, you get the gist.

Before you start thinking “Oh, look at all this bluster and bravado! I bet she has a dark secret, and I bet that secret is that she wishes she was a unicorn or something!” Ha ha ha, no. Having wings is the best possible thing in the world, and everypony who doesn’t have them or doesn’t use them is pretty much depriving themselves of the best things in life. No offense, but seriously: being able to go anywhere you want, anytime you want? Not having to worry about terrain conditions or traffic or anything like that? The world’s your oyster. And heck, if it’s not, you can always leave and nopony can stop you.

I used to think I’d see the world when I was a little filly, you know. I mean, after I became the best Wonderbolt in the whole world and won the fame of everypony everywhere and got statues dedicated to me and all of that. I wouldn’t just be a Pegasus icon in Equestria: I’d be famous in every country, to every species, ever. The best of the best.

Which admittedly I sort of am! Element of harmony, savior of the world, Wonderbolt trainee, plastered all over stained glass windows in Canterlot castle, HAVE a castle of my own. If I moved on right now, my work here would be done.

I couldn’t leave, though. Not without my friends. Well, I mean, I could, but…wouldn’t be the same. Maybe I should push them towards that, though? “Elements of Harmony: World Tour”? Has a nice ring to it.

But if I had to decide between the two…ugh. I really *do* want to see the world, but I really *couldn’t* leave them. I mean, I guess you’ld probably say the answer was pretty obvious, but there you go.

~~In light of the fact that I don’t even eat ethnic food this is probably pretty funny~~

yeah, not quite sure why I crossed that last bit out. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with hayburgers and milkshakes, right? I mean, come on, they’re delicious, everypony knows they’re delicious. I don’t need to have, like, wheat balls dipped in syrup or seaweed and rice wraps in order to actually experience “culinary perfection”, thank you very much. If you like it, more power to you, but I don’t see why I should go out of my way to try out weird stuff that I might not actually like.

Unless you like that stuff? Maybe you could recommend something to me? Like, assuming I’m a normal pony with normal taste.

Unless you’re still doing that not-writing-back thing. Which I guess is cool, too. Just kind of letting me say whatever I want? I mean, it’s kind of like a journal, I think, but with one person looking at it instead of zero. And I’m honestly not quite sure what to make of that.

Write to you tomorrow,

-Rainbow Dash

P.S. you’re not telling anypony about the contents of these letters, right? Just to be sure.

////////////////////////////////////////////

13

You know how I said something about Twilight being smug earlier? Yeah, that. I woke up early – weather was beautiful, same as always – took Tank for a bit of a spin, tried to help him get the whole barrel-roll thing, which to be fair he’s actually getting pretty good at.

Anyways, after I brought him back, I decided to stretch my wings for a bit, and just kind of gunned it all the way out to Canterlot castle and back. Then I did it again, and one last time for good measure, right? ‘cause it just feels good to open up from time to time. Flying lets me know that I’m feeling alive – that I’m doing what I do best, heck, that I’m doing what I do better than anypony else. Ergo, exercise lets me know that I’m the biggest flank-kicker alive. Besides, what else would I do? Stay cooped up in my room all day? Psssch. I’d probably start going crazy if I did that.

On that note, though. Not that I was tired when I got back, per se, but I did feel like I could scrub up a bit. So I go, peep into Rarity’s window to make sure that she’s not around (She wasn’t – think she was doing something with Sweetie Belle? Sister-wise, they’ve been pretty close to each other recently, and I don’t quite know why. I should probably ask her, really.)

Anyways yet again, she wasn’t. So I grabbed a couple of bottles out of her bathroom that I’m pretty sure were shampoo, got myself clean, toweled off, returned the bottles. I think Pinkie wanted to do something, AGAIN, ~~I have no idea where she gets the energy for all of this stuff~~ but I guess there’s no point in questioning it at this point, so I checked the clock and I figured I’d have an hour or so to myself. So I lugged out that copy of When the Parasprites Cry to the balcony and started reading it, right? It’s kind of bright out in the sun, but it definitely feels better than reading indoors.

Anyways, I’m sitting there, ~~reading the bit where~~ I don’t want to spoil anything if you haven’t read it for yourself yet, and then just this massive shade crawls over my field of vision. I look up, and there’s Twilight, hovering an umbrella over my head.

I ask her what she’s doing walking around when there’s not supposed to be rain in, like, forever. And then she says that it’s a parasol, and it’s supposed to keep shade out of your eyes, and the ONLY reason that detail matters to anyone at all is because she was trying to give it to me. Of course, I take it – it’s dumb that you have to invent products for bookworms that shouldn’t be reading that much, anyway, but I’m not going to argue that it was useful to me right then, right now.

So then she gets just the biggest, dumbest smile on her face, like she’s proud of me or something. So I ask what she’s smiling about, and she says “You’re really enjoying reading, aren’t you?”

Smug.

So I tell her it’s none of her business, and besides, it’s just a book. The she asks me how many books I checked out of her library, as if she didn’t already know.

Smug.

And you know what? I wouldn’t have been reading any of these books if you hadn’t mentioned them. You really ARE in cahoots with her, aren’t you? Is this whole thing just a gigantic exercise to get me to read?

…Naw. The smugness that was on her face was different the smugness she had…what? A week ago, I think? Don’t exactly remember. But I think this is something unrelated. And, honestly, I’m not even sure I care at this point – you want me to just talk at you, right? So that’s what I’m doing.

Still, I’m definitely suspecting you. You’re obviously working in cahoots with Twilight about the whole reading thing. I mean, just because I like it, doesn’t necessarily mean that this is what I WANT to have happening, right?

Meddling meddlesome friends. I’m going to finish the book, but I’m not doing it because it’s a good idea, okay? I’m not doing it to get educated, I’m not doing it to try something new, I’m doing it because I find it fun. Period. End of discussion.

Maybe I’ll give you credit for pointing me in the right direction, but Twilight’s still an Eggy Muffinhead.

Yoke’s on me, I guess,

-Rainbow Dash