Imperial Pony

Dear Rainbow Dash,

We just what to remind you to go imperial every now and again. You need to exercise your magic.

Always love,

Heartache and Ever Glade.

Rainbow Dash groans after reading the letter. She loves her parents but they still baby her even though she moved so far away. She sighs and pets Tank's shell.

"Another letter from your parents?" he asks seeing her annoyed expression. She nods in response.

"They're reminding me to play." she huffs, "Wanna go to Whitetail Woods?" she asks him and watches as he smiles in response. She then picks up a ribbon and hands it to Tank. "Then let's go." she picks him up and flies out the door.

**************************************************

They stop in the denser part of the woods and Rainbow Dash puts Tank on the ground. In a shimmer of light a white kitten takes the place of Rainbow Dash and hops onto Tank's shell.

"Play time, play time. What we gonna play Tank?" she asks rubbing against his shell.

"You really go through a drastic change when you come out of you pony form, don't you?" Tank says.

"Only a little change, besides you know I didn't finish growing properly." she stares him down.

"I know, how about we play hide and seek." he suggests.

"Can I count, can I count?" she starts bouncing on and off his shell.

"How high you're gonna count?" he says with a smile.

"A hundred million kazillion thousand!" she says excitedly.

"Okay." he answers and then she begins as Tank slowly walks behind a tree.

*********************************************************

It took ten hours for her to finish count and find Tank.

"What are we gonna do now Tank?" Rainbow asks excitedly running around the tortoise as he walked.

"It's time to go home Rainbow. It will be dark soon." Tank answers looking p at the sky.

"But I wanna play some more." she says pouting, hoping onto his shell.

"Don't you have work tomorrow?"

"Yes." she groans.

"You need your strength." Tank says, and then waits for her to answer. When she doesn't answer he stops and asks, "Are you okay Rainbow Dash?" She mews weakly in response.

"We're stopping by Fluttershy's cottage, before heading home." he says as he turns towards the direction of Fluttershy's cottage and begins his slow and steady trek.

***************************************************************

Fluttershy is just about to go to bed when she hears a knock on the front door. She looks at the clock to see that it's nearly 11 o'clock. who would be at the door at this time of night. She hears the knock again. "I'll be right there." she says quietly making her way to the door.

Opening the door, at first she sees no one, then she looks down. "Oh Tank, what are you doing here? Is Rainbow Dash flying around in the middle of the night again?" she asks before realizing that there is something on his back. "What's this?" she picks up what appears to be a white piece of fabric. She nearly drops it when it moves in her hooves. Upon further investigation she gasps, "A teacup Persian kitten. Do you know how rare these are?" she says somewhat distracted.

Tank pulls on her mane and motions back to the kitten. Fluttershy looks closer and realizes that the kitten appears to be hurt. "Oh my!" she says and brings Tank and the kitten inside.

After examining the kitten she becomes confused, "There doesn't appear to be anything physically wrong with her." she says to Tank. She then sees the crystal bell on her collar glowing and suddenly felt weak. The kitten stands up no longer in pain and purrs as Fluttershy strokes her.

"Your welcome." Fluttershy says stifling a yawn. "Would you like to stay here for the night?" she asks the kitten, who just stares up at her with rose-hued eyes.

"You kind of remind me of Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy says and the kitten promptly runs off the table and stands at the door waiting for Tank to follow.

"Oh well." she says to herself and yawns again before heading upstairs.

************************************************************

"That was close." Rainbow Dash says watching Fluttershy go up the staircase and reverting back to her pegasus form afterwards.

"Why can't your friends know again?" Tank looks up at her.

"Imperials are shunned among normal ponies. They just don't understand." she then picks up her pet and flies home for some much needed rest.