A Rainbow Swiftly Lost

Chapters

Chapter I - An unknown admirer
Chapter II - Life of a Rainbow
Chapter III - There and back again?

Chapter I - An unknown admirer

Diary entry #1 – Diary, really?

...

Dear diary...

"How do I do this? Am I really supposed to... What if... Bah." he muttered to himself. His mother had given him a diary on his birthday, for some reason she thought it'd help him. However, having a diary was not really considered the best way of becoming a cool stallion. If anypony finds out about this, I'm doomed. He thought to himself. His mother had always cared for him and loved him very much so if she said it was good, it probably was. He cast his prejudices away and continued to scribble down what he thought would be appropriate in a diary. As he did that he desperately tried to understand why a diary would be so good. He did not understand.

I'm Samuel ... He briefly sighed before writing his last name.

Swift. I'm Samuel Swift. I live in Cloudsdale with my mother and father. They work at the weather factory, so they're not home much. I've gotten used to being alone in our house, it gives me time to think. I like thinking, it's much easier than actually doing something. Now now, dear diary, it might sound that I'm awfully lazy, and I am, but I'm not chubby. Let me tell you about myself. I'm a beige pony with black mane and tail. I'm a little bit above average pony height, for my age, and I'm rather strong. At least considering that I'm not really working out. But being strong physically doesn't make you strong in mind. More on that later.

As Samuel felt that tears were coming he blinked them away and decided to end his first entry right there.

Diary entry #2 – The shyest pony around

Dear diary,

Did I ever tell you that I haven't got many friends? I guess I didn't. When I say "haven't got many friends" I mean pretty much none. Not many days did pass without me being bullied in school. It could be because of my lack of flying skills (I wasn't very fast, a bit behind the other colts), sometimes they just decided to mock my black haircut. Other times it was just generic bullying, pushing me around, stealing my things such as my backpack and so on.

It was morning and maybe an hour left until school started. I decided to take a walk. I liked to do that since I escaped the daily chores at home and it got me time to think. The weather was splendid as usual. Even though the sun had not been up for long it was quite warm. The soft breeze made me feel refreshed, something I knew I needed for another day in school. I had been trotting around different parts of Cloudsdale for quite a while when I saw a small yellow filly lying in front of me on a cloud. She was upset, whimpering and sobbing.

"Hey there! What's wrong?" I said. The filly winced as I spoke, but did not reply. She just covered her face with her hooves. "What has happened? I'm not going to hurt you! Please say something!" I said. She remained silent. I sighed and thought about how I could possibly reach the little filly and tell it I meant no harm. My mind recalled something my mother used to do when I was sad. She used to sing for me. I can't really say I was an amazing singer, but I just had to give it a try.

A lonesome pony, walking about
He did see another, she was filled with doubt
He tried to reassure her, but she just wouldn't see
His warm intentions, washed away like debris

He wished that there was something, he could say, or do
He whispered to her softly, "I know what it's like, to be you"
"I'm also being bullied, every day, every week"
He then raised his hoof and, dried a tear from her cheek

As I dried her tear she looked up, for the first time since I saw her. I tried to give her my friendliest smile and it seemed to work. She stood up, still sobbing a bit. "Are you okay?" I said. She suddenly lunged herself at me and started to cry. "There there, things will be alright. What's your name?" I said, soothingly.

"F-f-fluttershy..." she said in between sobs.

"Fluttershy, that's a beautiful name. Tell me what happened, Fluttershy!" I said kindly.

"T-they took m-my l-l-lunch..." she said.

"Well... If you want... You could have my lunch!" I said selflessly.

"R-really?" she said, giving me the happiest look I had seen in a long time.

"Yes really." I said and patted her mane. I realized I had not introduced myself. "Ah, where's my manners. I'm Samuel Swift. You can call me Sam if you want!" I said politely.

"Hi Sam, and thank you!" she said sincerely. "Let's go to school so that we don't miss our first class."

And we went to school, together. Both happy that we had found a friend.

Diary entry #3 – Beautiful

Dear diary,

Today something interesting happened. I saw somepony. Somepony really beautiful. It all happened during flight practice class. I usually fly alone, since I'm not as good a flyer yet as everypony else. I had just flown past the first three clouds when I heard a whimper. I slowly began to hoover towards the sound. I hid behind a cloud and cautiously hoovered just high enough to see what was going on. What I saw was terrible. I recognized where the whimper came from. A small yellow filly with pink hair, Fluttershy. She was currently being bullied by two colts both of them very much bigger than her. I had gotten used to being bullied, but Fluttershy, the poor thing, didn't take it so well.

"How's your flying skill today, Cluttershy?" one of them said in a non-friendly tone. He continued, "Fallen off any clouds lately? Hahaha."

"It's not everyday a pegasus is falling off a cloud in Cloudsdale needing to get rescued by a city guard... ... oh wait. It is! BWAHAHAAHA..." the second one said.

Tears were now streaming down the little filly's face. I had a hard time holding my own back too. I wanted to interfere. But just as I leaned back to push off I felt a hoof in front of my muzzle and another around my neck.

"Don't even think about it, oh no, you're so not interrupting our little fun." somepony said from behind. I struggled to get loose, but my attempts were futile. I couldn't interfere, I could just watch my friend.

Just then I saw them trying to push the terrified filly off the cloud and with little effort, they did. She fell, desperately waving her hooves around. They just laughed. Then suddenly, it happened. A blue filly flew past me and towards Fluttershy. She caught Fluttershy mid air and sat her down safely on a cloud nearby. She then turned towards the bullies.

"How dare you!" she shouted furiously. "Pick on someone your own size!"

And even though the bullies were slightly bigger than her, and despite the fact that they were two colts and she only one filly, they slowly backed away. The firm grip around my neck loosened quickly, as the third colt who had held me also backed off and escaped to his two friends below. I didn't know who the blue filly was. She was stunningly beautiful. And so self confident. She quickly flew back to Fluttershy, who was still lying on the cloud, shaking.

"Are you alright, there? Name's Dash, Rainbow Dash. Nopony should ever have to be bullied like that." Fluttershy answered only by nodding. Dash continued, "Let's get you home. Class is soon over!"

Her mane fit her name perfectly since it was rainbow colored. Rainbow Dash. I'd never forget her.

Diary entry #4 – Lunch

Dear diary,

I talked to Fluttershy today. She told me about what happened. I was surprised since she was usually a shy, low-profile pony who didn't share much of her personal life. Something had obviously happened. I liked the change, and she said that she felt a lot better. We sat together during lunch. I didn't dare to mention that I saw the whole thing. Rainbow Dash sat on the other side of the school canteen with the other "cool" ponies. I glanced more than once in her direction, but she was busy telling the ponies at her table about her latest trick. At least I thought she was, since she made big gestures in the air.

One time I drifted away a little too long looking at Dashie, yes I called her Dashie. Only in my mind though, I wouldn't dream of doing it for real.

I slowly got drawn out of my dreams as Fluttershy whispered in her usual voice, "Are you even listening to me?" she looked at me, followed my gaze and finally noticed what I was looking at. "Ah, you know Dashie too? She's the one who rescued me when... you know..." she said and her voice dropped.

I did indeed know. I nodded dreamingly. As I realized she knew what I was looking at I snapped out of it. Fluttershy whimpered at my sudden movement. "I... Ehh. Wait. No! Umm... Sorry." My cheeks turned red, or so I think, since I didn't really see it.

Fluttershy realized what was going on. "You... You like her?"

I was speechless. I did my best to cover up. "I... It's not... Well. ..." I tried to wave my hooves in the air in a gesture to help me. It didn't really help. I slowly turned my head down, while blushing again and rested my forehead on the table. "Yes... I guess I do." I sighed, somewhat in relief.

"That's sooooooo cute!" Fluttershy said gladly. "Let's go tell her right away!" she started to trot away towards Rainbow.

"NOOOO!" I almost shouted, putting a hoof on her shoulder, then realizing that pretty much everypony in the canteen had stopped eating and were looking at me. WHY... Why did I do that? I thought to myself and galloped out with my cheeks red as the sun at sunset.

As I got home after school I couldn't stop thinking about what happened in the canteen. I'm such a mess! I thought to myself while doing the daily chores that had to be done in the house. I had gotten used to do them, as I mentioned earlier, my parents weren't home much. I finished cleaning the living room and went upstairs to my own room. It greeted me with its usual untidiness. My room was the only one I didn't have to clean. Books were lying here and there, and toys and stuff. Not much were on the walls, just a few posters I had made of beautiful photos. Cloud forms, birds and other things I had found beautiful. The sweet thing about living on a cloud is that you can pretty much change its shape or form to just the way you want it. However today I didn't feel like reshaping my room. I just laid down on my bed. So much had happened to day. I tried to gather my thoughts.

I must have been lying there for an hour or so. I heard my parents outside and went down to greet them. As usual it was time for dinner and as usual I helped my mother make it. As me and my mother finished cooking I laid the table and we sat down to eat.

"How was school today, Samuel?" my father asked with his deep and calm voice.

"It was just fine..." I replied, as usual.

After dinner I helped my mother to do the dishes. When we were finished it was getting late and I went up to my room.

Samuel sat down at his desk and scribbled down the last few words of his fourth entry, describing what he had experienced today. He recalled what his mother once said,

"That's what you write in a diary. Your thoughts, experiences, dreams and special events. You don't have to write every day, but occasionally, when something interesting happens that you might want to read about in the future. Maybe to remind you of something that you might otherwise forget."

As he looked out the window he realized how late it was. He saw how the moon clearly shone its faint white light. It was all very beautiful, but he knew he could not look at it for long. A colt like him needs sleep to regain his strength. He went to bed, peaceful at mind and soon he fell asleep.

Diary entry #5 – Meeting Dashie

Dear diary,

It's been awhile since I wrote something here. My life has not changed much since my last entry. I'm still getting bullied, and my self confidence isn't really sky high. I can gladly say that Fluttershy has been bullied quite a bit less since 'the encounter' with Rainbow Dash (Who still is super cute!). Well. What's special about today then, you ask as a diary should be asking, craving the knowledge of events and pretty much anything that's going on in the owner's life.

Err. It's like I'm TALKING to the diary. This can't be good. Is this normal? Samuel put down his pencil and bit his lip as he was thinking. Well. It can't be that bad... Who cares. I NEED to write this down! He eagerly took up the pencil and continued.

Fluttershy had been on me about talking to Dashie, I just couldn't make myself to do it. Why in Equestria would she want to talk to a pegasus like me!? I'm lacking confidence, being bullied, and I'm not even close to as good at flying as she is. Nopony is though. But that's not the case.

"You need to tell her eventually, Sam." Fluttershy said. We were sharing table during lunch once again.

"But..." I tried to start an excuse, but she interrupted me.

"Well, if you never talk to her, you'll never get to know her!" Fluttershy said kindly.

"You're right. As usual." I gave up. She was always right. So kind and caring. She was really one of the best friends one could possibly imagine.

She continued, "I can introduce you if you want. I sometimes hang out with Dashie in the afternoons, she's usually practicing a new trick or something. Should be good for breaking the ice!"

"Fair enough." I said reluctantly.

Later that day, after school, me and Fluttershy went up to the old race track. It was abandoned so there were lots of space and it wasn't many other pegasi around.

"Dashie doesn't like being seen when practicing." Fluttershy said. "It's not cool to be seen failing a trick. ... There she is!" she raised one of her forehooves, waved and shouted. "Hi Dashie!"

Rainbow Dash interrupted her trick and flew down to the two pegasi. "Hi Fluttershy, who's your friend?" she said.

"I'm Samuel Swift, but you can call me Sam." I said politely, raising a hoof as a greeting gesture.

"Nice to meet ya, Swifty!" Dashie replied, hastily patting me on my shoulder, completely ignoring my hoof.

"Well. I've got a lot of practice to do... so..." Rainbow Dash was scraping her hoof on the cloud. I knew exactly what she wanted to say, but then Fluttershy spoke up.

"I know I know. Can't we watch, as I usually do? Sam here is very honest and I'm sure he won't tell anypony about your practicing here." as she said my name she gave me one of those looks, 'I'm putting myself on the line here, Sam, you BETTER not ...'.

"I won't tell a soul, really!" I said, raising a hoof to my chest as an honest gesture. Dashie leaned in close and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Are you really sure about that..." She emphasized the word really.

I couldn't help myself as I looked into those big dark pink eyes. I let out a tiny "Beautiful!" and quickly lowered my head and said "Yes, of course."

"What's that you said?" she asked. Fluttershy, who obviously heard me, was smiling with all of her face, trying to hold back a giggle.

"It... It was nothing. I won't tell anypony. You should get started, you've wasted enough time already!" I said.

"Oh... Well yeah. I guess you're right." *Fwooooosh* she took off.

"Well hello there, Mr. Charming." Fluttershy said teasingly.

"Hey!" I replied and nudged her and we giggled together.

It was indeed an interesting evening. I was sitting there beside Fluttershy, my best friend, watching the filly I liked the most in the world doing awesome tricks. She almost did all of her tricks without missing a single thing, so when she actually did miss we were sure to point it out. But in a friendly way, like teasing. It was all very fun.

Eventually the evening came to an end and the three of us had to head home. We passed by Fluttershy's place first.

As we waved goodbye to Fluttershy Rainbow Dash said, "So. Where do you live?" I described the way to my place as well as I could. I was a little lost. I had not been at Fluttershy's place, so it was a bit confusing. Dash continued. "Oh, so you're the one who lives there, I've been wondering who lives there for some time now. Come on, my place is practically on the way!"

Curious about why she had wondered who that was living in our house, I followed the blue pegasus. I did however not ask, since I was still slightly nervous, just being around her. She didn't notice a thing though.

"So. How come I've never seen you around before?" she asked.

"I.. err.. ... Let's say I'm just not the most attention seeking pony." I replied.

She stopped, and looked straight at me, "Oh, so you're saying that I'm attention seeking, eh!" she said with a serious expression on her face.

"What... eh.. I didn't.. No?" I fumbled with the words.

"Haha, chill out Swifty. I'm just messing with you!" she said with a wink.

"Ah, eheheh... I knew that." I said while smiling sheepishly.

Somehow we managed to get to her house quite quickly even though I had wished for the trip to take forever.

"Well, here's where I live!" Dashie said.

"Whooa, you live in THIS house all by yourself!?" I said without thinking.

"Who told you that I live alone!?" she replied.

"Eeh... Fluttershy told me, I think. Why is that anyways?" I said curiously.

"Well... " Dashie's voice had gone from her normal happy and teasingly tone to a quite sad one. Her eyes also told me that it was a little bit too early for such a question. "... I've got much to do. Maybe I'll see you next week?" she said.

"Sure... And sorry, I should not have said that." I said.

"No biggie Swifty, you couldn't have known." she said with a faint smile.

I waved goodbye as she walked towards her place, which by the way was looking really awesome. At first look I thought there was nothing special about it, just a normal house. But as I looked closer there were loads of small clouds that were connected. It all looked really cool.

I bit my lip as I started to walk home. Bad Samuel, bad! You shouldn't have said that. I thought as I was walking. When I got home I went straight to bed, it wasn't that late, but I needed some time alone. To think. I had actually met and spoken to Rainbow Dash. She was indeed awesome, and I... Was not. I knew that something had to be done, and I knew that I really wanted to meet her again.

Diary entry #6 – New class

Dear diary,

Last week we finished flight practice class, and since that's the only class me and Rainbow Dash has together I realized that I wouldn't be seeing much of her anymore. Unless... And here's the magic, dear diary! I applied for the 'Advanced flying techniques' class, and... I got in! Yay! I've already heard from Fluttershy that Dashie also got in, hardly surprising concidering how much she practices. She's so awesome. My flying has been going better and better since my last entry and I think I'm quite good at flying now. I'm not as good as Dashie obviously, but I think I'm better than the average pegasus.

The first class was today and I was quite excited. As I first got there I counted the pegasi, seven colts, including me, and only three fillies. We started off with some warm up speed races. Dashie excelled by reaching the goal first, every time. My performance were at best mediocre, with a fourth place as best placement.

After the 'warm up' I was feeling slightly ill since I was pushing myself to my limits. I simply had to stop and catch my breath. While I was in this moment of weakness, Rainbow Dash landed beside me. She was looking beautiful as always, and with her slightly confused look I just found her really cute.

"What's up, Swifty?" she said and as she noticed my rather heavy breathing she continued, "Lost your stamina already? You know, that was just the warm up!"

I coughed and said, "It's fine. I... " I coughed again "... just swallowed a fly."

My rather bad lie seemed to have worked as she said, "Hmm, okay. So, you ready to go?"

"Of course. After you." I bowed and pointed my hoof in the direction we were going.

"Always." she replied with a smile and took off.

The rest of the class went by without any special events occuring. We had some loop training, agility training, acceleration training and some 'own practice'. The latter was pretty much 'create your own trick'. I had some thoughts on what kind of move I wanted to create, but I didn't really show any of it. I guess I was a bit like Dashie on that point. Not wanting anypony to see me fail. Dashie on the other hand seemed quite busy during 'own practice'. I saw her flying around, very fast, though I could not see what she actually was trying to do. As the class ended I couldn't help but sitting down on a cloud just outside the training area. I sighed somewhat in relief.

"Finally..." I noticed Rainbow Dash coming, so I waved. She came and sat down next to me.

"Whoa. You look totally beat up, Swifty." she said.

I chuckled, "Well, miss Dash, everypony can't have as much endurance as you." I said it in such a way I knew it would irritate her.

"Hey! You can call me Rainbow." she said. I looked at her in admiration, she didn't even look tired. Her breathing was possibly just a tiny bit heavier than usual. "What?" she said.

"Oh, nothing." I replied.

Later that day me, Fluttershy and 'Rainbow' were walking home together. When we had left Fluttershy at her place I took the courage to ask. "What was it you were trying to do, on the 'own practice' time at class?" I asked curiously.

Rainbow blushed slightly, "Oh that, well. I've heard of this awesome trick that I really want to make. It's a legend, and only very few pegasi can actually pull it off." she said. It was obvious that she didn't want to go into detail just yet.

"That sounds pretty amazing." I said.

"Mmhmm." she nodded.

"Anyways. I should probably head home before my parents start looking for me..." I said, reluctantly.

"Do it. Sweet to hang out with ya, Swifty! Remember to start doing some workout so you can avoid getting embarrassed during class." she said with a sincere smile, but not without her usual teasing touch.

My cheeks got redder than tomatoes, but I swallowed my pride and said, "I'll be sure to do that, miss Dash." we both giggled. "See you tomorrow, Rainbow!" I said and waved as I left.

Diary entry #7 – Hard practice

Dear diary,

I just could not get rid of her words. "Remember to start doing some workout..." Somewhere deep inside me I felt an urge to do it. Ever since that day, that first day of 'Advanced flying techniques' class my wings had practically begged me to work out more. I started lightly, just some push ups every morning before school, and it felt great. My body rewarded me with feeling stronger both mentally and physically. I bought myself another diary, a training diary where I put down all kinds of things that came into my mind while I was working out. Anything from how many push ups that seemed to be best for me, considering how much sore muscles I got afterwards and to how I best could maintain a good physical condition.

It had now been three weeks since we started 'Advanced flying techniques' class. Both me and Rainbow had gotten quite into it. I had gotten better at flying and during the warm up speed races I was now always second place, behind Dashie. One time she must have missed something really bad, as I was really close to flying past her just meters before the goal, but she managed to keep her first place. We pushed each other to our limits each time, and I was glad to see that I was not the only one of us being exhausted anymore.

We, me and Rainbow, still continued with what had become our training passes in the afternoons after school. Fluttershy usually hung out, watching us, cheering as good as she could. This particular day however, she was not around. She said that she had something to do, and hurried home.

"Bye Fluttershy! See you tomorrow." I said. Both me and Rainbow waved as the tiny yellow filly fluttered away. After some warm up, I sat down and scribbled some of my thought down in to my training diary.

Rainbow saw me sitting down and flew down to me. "Hey, why are you sitting here! Ain't going to get better by just sitting on a cloud all day!" she said, friendly but somewhat impatiently. Just as she always was. "Oh, what's that you're writing?" she noticed my diary.

"Oh this. It's what I'd like to call a training diary!" I said.

Rainbow snickered, "Haha. You're such a stud."

I ignored her teasing and continued, "It's good for my training. I can easily track how much I should work out, when I should take breaks, and what my current limits are."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "Really? Just from writing it down, in a... a diary? It was almost as if she dreaded even saying 'diary', something that she obviously considered 'not cool'.

"Yeah. And it's very inspirational, makes you want to beat your old records and stuff. I like it a lot. You should try it too!" I said, smiling.

"Me!? Diary!? You WISH!" she said, seemingly half terrified by the thought alone.

I chuckled. "Now now, if miss Dash can't bring herself to do such a thing, may I suggest that maybe I can do it for her?" I said with my usual Dash-teasing 'way-too-formal' tone. I continued, "You want to get better, right?"

"Yeah... I guess I do." she made small circles with her hoof on the ground. "Would you really do that for me?" she asked.

Would I? I would do ANYTHING for you Dash! I thought to myself, before saying, "Yes of course! I'd be honored to help you out!"

The day after that I bought yet another diary from the bookstore in Cloudsdale.

Samuel started to think out loud. "Maybe... Maybe 'journal' is a better word for it... Hmm. Yeah, that sounds a lot better, I might just go with that instead. Now, where was I? Right." he continued to describe the day's event in his diary, which was from now on called journal.

I bought a journal from the bookstore after school and trotted happily towards our training area. Rainbow was already there, 'waiting' while taking a nap. Needeth I to tell you this, dear journal, she was looking gorgeous as she lied there, so peaceful. I mentally slapped myself to get out of it and poked her shoulder.

"Hey there sleepyhead. You good to go?" she jumped up.

"What! Who! Uuh. Hi... I must have fallen asleep!" she said.

"It can happen to the best of pegasi." I said with a smile.

"So... How do we do this? This whole diary thing..." she said nervously.

"I've decided to call it journal instead. I figured you'd find that more..." I paused dramatically. "... fitting. It'll be fine. Just think of it as an interview after we've done some work out. Any great athlete needs to be able to handle herself in an interview anyways, so might as well start that kind of training too."

We started off with some races, just to get ourselves warm. "You're getting better!" Rainbow said.

"Really?" I answered.

"Yeah. You're getting much closer to me now than before." she said.

Yeah, I haven't been this close to anypony ever. I thought happily to myself.

Samuel had a hard time keeping the tears back. He sat opposite to his parents in the wagon. The wagon that was taking him away from Cloudsdale. Millions of pictures appeared in the little colt's mind. I can't let my parents see. ... He struggled.

"Where did I put my diar.. er, journal?" he asked his mother.

"Well, it's in your backpack. It should be over here... Ah, there it is!" she found his backpack in a jiffy and gave it to him.

"Thanks, mom" Samuel said with a tired sigh.

"Is everything alright, dear?" she said with her usual caring voice.

"Yes, I'm fine. ... Just a bit tired, it's so early you know." he answered. She accepted his reply and smiled as she saw him pull out the journal and start writing yet another entry.

Journal entry #8 – Summer Flight Camp

Dear journal,

I just have to write this down. It's now been maybe one and a half months since my last entry. Everything had gone on fine, trainings and keeping journals updated for me and Rainbow. Why could it not just continue like that!?

It happened the day before yesterday, after a quite intense training with Rainbow. We both were rather exhausted, lying on a cloud close to where we usually practice. Since our little 'interviews' I felt like I had gotten quite close to Rainbow, and she made bigger improvements as well. I think she approved of how everything 'worked out'.

As we were lying there, I remembered that my mother used to give me a massage when I was sore, or tense somewhere. I recalled it being very relaxing. My mother had taught me how to do it, so that I could give her a massage every now and then when she got home from a particularly hard day at work. I can't really say why I had not remembered this before, but it probably had something to do with that I could not really dream of giving Rainbow Dash a massage.

"Aah. That was a great workout!" Rainbow said.

"Heh, yeah. Great indeed." I replied. "Would you like a massage?" I continued.

"A 'massage', what's that?" Rainbow asked with a confused look.

"Don't you know what a massage is? Really? Hmm. My mother used to give it to me, when I was tense or when my muscles were sore. It feels wonderful, I assure you." I said.

"Sure, why not! What do I do?" she asked.

"Just lay down, and enjoy." I said, she did so and I started to give her the first massage of her life. I started by really gently kneading her shoulders and neck.

"So what's the point of thi..." she interrupted herself exclaiming, "By Celestia, that feels great!"

I couldn't do other than smile and blush slightly. She likes it. I'm giving Rainbow Dash a massage and she likes it! I thought to myself. I continued for maybe about two minutes and then it happened. Her whole body just stiffened. I looked at Rainbows rather terrified facial expression. I followed her gaze and froze too.

Usually, everypony has this one incident that they refer to when saying "Well, this sure was bad, but not as bad as ..." This was that incident. I sense that your curious journal nature wants to know desperately what was so bad, why I did freeze.

Both me and Rainbow Dash were looking at the three colts. The same three colts that I recognized as 'the bullies'. They stood there with their jaws dropped, staring at us. I realized what Rainbow were thinking as I stood there, half bent over her giving her a massage. I literally flew up from my position, but it was too late. The damage had been done. The three colts were laughing so much so they almost started to cry.

"Rainbow Crash cuddles with her new best friend." one of them said.

"You got the picture, right? I want this moment immortalized." the second one said.

"And I thought she was cool, even though she was a just a filly. Now I know, and soon will everypony, that she cares more about relationships than anything else." the third one said as they left.

"Eheheh. It can't be that bad. I mean, summer flight camp ends tomorrow...." I said with the most sheepish smile I've ever had.

"You..." She stood there silent for a short while, clearly thinking about how to express her anger. She finally continued, "You. Planned. This." she pronounced each word slowly and with such a bitterness that it felt like the blood in my veins froze.

"I... I wouldn't dream of it. It was not my intention. I-i... I s-swear!" I stuttered partially while trying my best to keep my voice steady.

"What happened here, can never be undone. I'll be marked as a loser forever." she said and I noticed a few tears coming from her eye.

"But... " I tried again, still did not really work.

"It's too late. Didn't you hear, they got a picture." yet again she took a brief moment to let her words sink in, before she continued. "I'm going home, don't you dare speak to me again... ever." she emphasized the words home, dare and ever. She took off.

This was too much for me. I felt like I wanted to cease to exist. I, Samuel Swift, had upset Rainbow Dash, and as she said it herself 'possibly marked her a loser forever.' I sunk down in to the cloud. Sobbing. What else could I do. I had just possibly broken my friendship with the filly of my life. I started to walk home. After each heavy step I took I wondered if I could wake up. This was too much to be true. It had to be a nightmare. Alas I did not wake up, for it was all real.

The following morning it was hard to get up. I didn't do my usual work out. I didn't take a walk before school. It was the last day, 'hopefully' things would be forgotten tomorrow. Really. Who did I try to fool. I trotted slowly with my head low, ears hanging. Those in charge of summer flight camp had arranged this final day to be an outdoor day with different 'fun' activities. I write 'fun' for I did not really think that anything could possibly be fun again, ever.

I received a few odd looks, as I walked by other ponies. I'm not sure if it was all in my mind, but I think I saw ponies point at me, and whisper to each other. A bit further ahead I saw a large crowd of ponies, I wondered what was going on. I walked closer. As I got close enough I saw that it was a race. It was between Rainbow Dash and two of the colts I still refer to as 'the bullies'. Rainbow Dash was looking more resolute than usual. I tried to find Fluttershy in the crowd, but it was hard, since I was so short, compared to the fully grown pegasi that had gathered to watch the scene. Eventually I figured out that I could fly up, to get a better overview. I found Fluttershy. She was standing on a cloud, in front of the racers, holding a racing flag in her mouth.

Suddenly the crowd went silent as Fluttershy raised the racing flag. As if on a given signal she quickly lowered it, and the racers were off. The crowd cheered and I couldn't help but look at Rainbow Dash as she immediately took the lead. I watched her as she continued towards the first checkpoint. I turned my eyes back towards Fluttershy, or where she was standing before. She was not there anymore. I quickly flew down and asked the ponies in the front line if they had seen where she had gone. Everypony pretty much ignored me. They were just cheering as the race went on.

She must have fallen down! It took a few seconds for me to realize what I actually thought had happened. She must have fallen down. Everyone is busy watching the race. Nopony had noticed! FLY SAMUEL, FLY! I realized that time was of the essence and I immediately flew down towards what I only had heard stories about, the ground. I flew faster than I have ever flown but I could not see Fluttershy anywhere. As I had flown halfway to the ground I heard a huge *BOOOOOOM*, I stopped for a second and looked up. What I was looking at was amazing, I saw a huge rainbow appear way up there, around Cloudsdale. I knew right away that it was no ordinary rainbow. She pulled it off... She actually pulled it off! I remember thinking before diving further down towards the ground.

A moment later I saw the green ground appear before me. I desperately looked for the tiny yellow filly. After a minute I found her, I immediately shouted, "Fluttershy!" and flew down towards her. "Fluttershy! Are you okay? I thought you were dead for a while there!" I hugged small yellow friend, who winced at my way too quick landing.

"Oh I would have been, if it wasn't for that huge explosion that scared all these butterflies." she sounded more confident than ever and continued. "And look, I got my cutie mark! Apparently I can talk to all these creatures in a way nopony else can!"

I sighed in relief. "So you're okay?"

"Never been better!" she said and smiled.

"Are you ready to go back up?" I said, kindly.

"I don't want to! I've finally found out what I'm good at, and now you want to take me away from them?" she gestured at the various animals that had gathered around us.

"But, it's the last day! And what would your parents say if you never got back! And where would you live?" I asked her and continued. "Even if you leave them now, it's not forever, you could return here, where you obviously belong, when you've spoken to your parents!" I said once again kindly.

"You... You're right." she said and turned to the animals, "Don't worry little ones, I will come back soon!" The animals looked only slightly reassured after her comment.

"Will you be able to fly up there?" I asked Fluttershy.

"Um... You.. You know I'm not the best flyer..." she said.

"Would you like me to carry you?" I asked politely.

"Would you?!"

"Sure, no problem." I said.

Fluttershy was actually a lot lighter than I expected. Getting back to Cloudsdale was no problem. I sat Fluttershy down as we got back up and we continued towards the racing area. As we got there I saw that Rainbow Dash had won the race. No surprise there. I thought to myself. She actually managed to do a sonic rainboom.

Fluttershy who had not yet seen Rainbow had decided to thank her 'hero' for saving her. She trotted in front of me, her cheeks blushing, she leaned in and kissed me on my cheek while whispering, "Thank you, Sam. I'll never forget you." taken quite by surprise, I can now in retrospect say that I'll never forget that moment either.

Normally I would not have minded getting a kiss on the cheek as thanks from my best friend, but as I received it I realized what actually happened. What was wrong with me. How could I have such an infinite amount of bad luck?

Rainbow Dash was looking my way, she had raised one of her hooves in a greeting and were smiling but as she saw me receive a kiss from Fluttershy her hoof stopped it's motion. The smile on her face quickly disappeared into a surprised look and I could swear I saw a tear in her eye. She quickly turned and walked away.

I shouted desperately, "Rainbow... Wait!" as I tried to fly after Rainbow my parents appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and pulled me down. "Let me go!" I said angrily.

"What's this we've been hearing! Have you been flying down to the ground!? All by yourself?! What did you think?!" my father said sternly.

"What if you would have gotten hurt? You would have been unable to fly back up!" my mother added.

I tried to answer. "But my friend Fluttershy fell down, I just had to..."

"You didn't 'have to' anything, son! Why did you not call on the city guard?!" my father replied.

"I.. But." I felt that I could not hold my tears back any longer, but I still tried one last time. "I... I h-have to talk to R-rainbow D-dash!" I said in between sobs.

"That, my young colt, is out of the question. You're going straight home. Don't forget to pack your bags, we're leaving tomorrow."

"L-l-leaving!?" I said, realizing that this nightmare could just not get any worse.

"Yes. Don't tell me you've forgotten that already. We told you that after summer flight camp we were moving to Canterlot." my father said.

With my heart, once again, broken and tears in my eyes I were forced home. I did not sleep at all that night. I couldn't.

Samuel had now written the last words of his eighth entry. Rainbow Dash's last words still echoed in his mind, "Don't you dare speak to me again... ever." that in addition to the look on her face as she saw him being kissed. It all got too much. He started, yet again, to cry silently. Her mother noticed it immediately and switched places so that she sat down beside him.

"There there, what's wrong, my favourite little colt?" she said soothingly, while patting his mane.

"T-there's this filly. I ... I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to her. I possibly marked her as uncool for the rest of her life. And I liked her so much." he pushed himself close to his mother's safe embrace.

She shushed him and said, "I'm sure that you'll find somepony special in Canterlot too."

"I don't want 'somepony'. I want her. She's... Awesome..." he said.

Instead of replying, Mrs Swift started to sing a song for her young colt. The soothing sound of her voice soon made him forget all his troubles and he fell asleep.

Hush now

Hush now, my friend
It's time to be silent
You will soon, be sleeping

Hush now, again
Your worries leaves you
And there'll be, no, more weeping

The world will go on, the tears will dry
And you'll be fine, my friend

You'll find, again, the sweetest of friends
And they'll all, help your heart, to mend

Hush now, my friend
It's time to be silent
'Cause you, will soon, be sleeping

Hush now, again
Listen to my words
They'll keep you from weeping

You're about to grow up, and your life will be filled
With both sadness and joy, and love

And you'll live on the ground, lots of ponies around
No more thoughts of the one, above

Hush now, my friend
Soon you'll wake up,
And you'll see everything's okay

Hush now, my friend
It's time, to let go
There will be, yet another day

Hush now again
Hush now, my friend
...

Chapter II - Life of a Rainbow

A Rainbow Swiftly Lost

By Ferlathin

Chapter II – Life of a Rainbow

Rainbow Dash opened the door to her house. "I'm home!" she called out. Nopony answered. Ahh, well. She must have fallen asleep, again. Rainbow thought to herself, and sure enough, after a quick look into her somewhat messy kitchen, she continued to the living room where she found her grandmother, Vega, asleep in her rocking chair. Rainbow smiled as she heard the familiar snoring and she covered her grandma with a blanket from the nearby sofa. She knew that her grandma would wake up just in time for dinner, she always did.

Rainbow went back into the kitchen where yesterday's dishes still remained unwashed. She immediately began to wash up, so that she would be able to cook dinner. She had grown accustomed to cooking dinner and doing other chores at the house since her parents weren't around and she didn't want Vega to have to do them all the time. She didn't mind doing it at all, as she was usually was out practicing new tricks during the day. Coming home to cook dinner and just not having to do anything special felt relaxing. Here at home there were no eyes following her every move, and whatever happened in here didn't matter, she could be herself, out there she had to be 'Rainbow Dash - the most awesome pony around!'.

The dinner started out with its usual conversation. "Is the soup okay? Not too hot?" Rainbow asked nervously.

"Rainbow, my little Rainbow. What have I taught you?" Vega replied calmly.

"Umm. ... Was it... Nah..." Rainbow rested her head on her hoof while thinking. As she remembered what her grandma used to say she lit up. "I remember! It's not always important what other ponies think."

"That's right, my dear. Especially here in your own house." she continued, "Your life would become utterly dull if you never dared to do something that might end up with you being somewhat humiliated."

"Meh." Rainbow tried to defend her way of thinking. "It can't possibly be wrong to care about one's status, among other ponies."

"Status is not everything." Vega said kindly. "You see, I was once just like you. Always trying to be the best at everything, and I assure you, it all went quite well. I was very athletic back then, but then one day I met him..." she looked away with a dreamy expression.

Rainbow knew that Vega was thinking about her grandfather, Jerrod. Rainbow had never met him, but she had heard countless stories about him. Vega didn't mind telling them and Rainbow loved to listen to her stories. "Tell me another story about him, grandma, please!" she said pleadingly.

Vega smiled, "Not right now, let's finish up here first." As they were finishing in the kitchen Vega said. "Now go up and brush your teeth, and I'll be waiting for you in your room."

"With a story?" Rainbow said excitedly.

"With a story." Vega replied, she patted Rainbow's mane and smiled. "Off you go!"

Rainbow rushed upstairs and into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth quickly and literally flew into her bedroom. Vega was already there. Rainbow wondered how she got there so quickly.

"Now now, was that really a proper brushing, little Rainbow?" Vega said whilst smiling.

"... Totally." A moments silence, Rainbow continued "No..." she trotted out back to the bathroom and did a 'proper brushing' of her teeth.

As she came back Vega said, "That's better. A little bird whispered in my ear that you wanted to hear a bedtime story, eh?" Rainbow had jumped into bed, under the cover and nodded as she looked at her grandmother.

"Did I ever tell you of how I met him?" Vega asked.

"Nope. I don't think you've told that one!" Rainbow replied. Vega sat down in her chair next to Rainbow's bed, and opened a book. She was just about to start to read when Rainbow asked, "What's that book?"

"Well it's my diary, of course, how else would I remember all these things! I'm getting old, you know." Vega continued, "It's a book where you write down what your heart cherishes, moments of joy and sadness. You can also describe those days where you learned something important. But most of all, it's for remembering things."

"Uh, okay. Sorry for my interruption. Go on, grandma!" Rainbow said.

Vega's diary, entry #305 – Jerrod

Dear diary,

Today I met somepony special, Jerrod was his name. He was so kind and honest, and seemed nervous, he was very cute. All my life I've strived to be the best with pretty much everything. If there was a competition, I had to be there, and I had to win, usually I did win and I felt such joy when doing it. I honestly believed that it was what life was all about, winning competitions - how wrong I was.

It was between two competitions he introduced himself. He politely said, "Hello there, miss, may I introduce myself?"

"Well of course!” I said. ”Like I could stop you! I've got a few minutes before I need to prepare for the next race!" I said.

"My name is Jerrod, and I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a walk, miss ..." he said, waiting for me to say my name.

"Vega." I said in response.

"Vega... " His gaze drifted away up on the sky. "It means, 'falling star', right? It's beautiful, Now Miss Vega would you like to accompany me?" he asked. His eyes were sincere and he emanated such self confidence, yet I saw a tiny bit of nervousness in his gaze. Who was this mysterious stallion, I wondered, I couldn't say anything but yes.

"Yes... Yes I would." I felt like a little filly when I said that.

During our walk, just outside the racing area, Jerrod told me about life and things I had never even thought of. before, about the stars above us, the nature around us, the ground below us, and how everything was connected. Then how he, I and everypony were connected, I just walked beside him, listening to him talk. Not once did I get bored, for he spoke in such a way that it never got boring.

It was now getting late. I had totally forgotten about the race that I obviously missed. When the thoughts came, I missed a race! What will they think of me! What if... What if, I just ignored them. I had found something, something more important than winning races and being the best. I had found my special somepony. Somepony that I knew I would like to spend the rest of my life with. I had heard about what love could do to ponies, but I never imagined that it would actually be like this.

As Vega briefly took a pause, she looked up over the book. Rainbow was sound asleep. Vega sighed and thought to herself, Well. I hope she got the gist of it. As she walked downstairs to her room she mumbled to herself, "Maybe it's time to buy her a diary. I think she's old enough for it now." Vega decided to buy one the next day.

Rainbow opened the door with a bang.

"Rainbow... What have I said about slamming the door..." Vega noticed the rather upset facial expression on her granddaughter. "My dear, what has happened to you?" Rainbow just stood in the doorway for a while, counting to ten to lose some of her anger. She slowly turned around and closed the door, and then she couldn't hold back any longer. She cast herself in to the embrace of her grandmother.

"Oh grandma. Something terrible happened today!" she said.

"What could possibly have upset my little Rainbow this much?" Vega asked.

"I... I got a massage." Rainbow managed to keep her voice steady.

"That doesn't sound terrible, didn't it feel wonderfu-" Vega got interrupted mid-sentence.

"No! You don't understand. They saw me, us, they thought that we were cuddling. They even got a picture!" Rainbow did her best to make her grandma understand the embarrassment she felt.

"Aha. Was it that beige colt I saw outside the other day? He looked so sincere. Almost as if he reminded me of somepony." Vega said.

Vega had obviously not understood how dire the situation was. Rainbow sighed. "You just don't get it, do you." She dried a tear before she continued. "What will people say. 'Rainbow Dash used to be cool, but now she only cares about relationships'."

Vega put one of her hooves on either of Rainbow's shoulders. She then shook her lightly. "Hey! Listen to me and listen good, for what I'm about to say is important." She waited for Rainbow to make eye contact. "Life is not only about being 'cool', and being in a relationship does not make you any less cool than you already are!" Vega said emphatically.

"But I... ... Bah! I wish my mother was here, she'd understand!" Rainbow screeched and with tears in her eyes, she broke free from her grandmother and flew up to her room.

Vega remained in the hallway for a bit, not entirely sure what had happened. "What have I done... I raised my voice, against Iris' daughter." She went over to her rocking chair and sat down, she looked up towards the heavens, "Iris my daughter, how often I wonder where you are." she spoke seemingly to no one but continued. "Rainbow is growing up. I should know how she feels, I was just like her." she sighed.

Rainbow did not show up for dinner either and as it was time for bed Vega went up to her granddaughter's room and knocked on the door.

"Rainbow... May I come in?" Vega chose her words carefully. There was no response from inside the room. Vega opened the door slowly and peeked inside. In the dim light she could see Rainbow lying on her bed with one of her hooves hanging down on the other side of it. On the bedside table she saw the silhouette of something, but she could not really make out what it actually was. The object was small, thin and not really that long. Vega gasped. By Celestia! It can't be... It mustn't be. She rushed over to the bed. "Rainbow, Rainbow, wake up!"

"Uuuh. Wh.. What?" Rainbow said sleepily.

"You're okay!" Vega said. She's okay! As she stood there, next to the bed she saw that the mysterious object was only a pencil. "I'm so sorry! I... I shouldn't have raised my voice, earlier." Vega said, with tears in her eyes.

Rainbow sat up in her bed. "I'm sorry too, grandma! I didn't mean to yell at you." she said sincerely.

"My little Rainbow. You're the only one I have!" Vega said as she hugged the little filly, she continued. "A long time ago, when I had my first argument with my mother, she gave me my first diary. She said that it could help me understand my feelings, as it never objected or argued with anything that I felt, and trust me, it helps writing things down. I'll be right back!"

Vega turned around and trotted out of the room, only to soon come back with a book. "Here you go, Rainbow. I'm sure your mother would have wanted you to have this by now." Vega said kindly, as she gave the book to Rainbow.

The cover of the book said, My Diary, Rainbow froze as she read it. "Is there anything wrong?" Vega asked.

"It says diary... Can't I call it journal instead? Pleeeease!" Rainbow said.

"Journal eh, why would you want to call it that?" Vega asked curiously.

Rainbow blushed. "Well..."

"You may call it whatever you like, Rainbow. And if you want me to call it a journal, I'll call it a journal, no problem." Vega patted the little blue filly. "Now it's time to back to sleep, I'm so sorry I woke you up." Vega turned around and trotted out of the room, she got as far as the doorway.

"Vega..." Rainbow said.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Rainbow opened the door to her house, slowly and silently. She tried her best not to be heard as she crept up to her room. Once there, she did not know how she should behave, there were just so many new feelings, all mixed up. She recalled what Vega had said a few days ago, and started to write her first journal entry.

Rainbow's journal, entry #1 – Sonic Rainboom

It was the last day of summer flight camp and all of Cloudsdale had gathered for the big race. The race started with me being challenged by two other colts. I naturally accepted as I knew my honor would be restored if I won. This was a chance for me to stand up for myself, and prove that I wasn't 'all about relationships'.

The picture that had been taken and the rumors, had spread since yesterday and I intended to keep my pride. Fluttershy was holding the racing flag and as she 'dropped' it off we went. Everything was fine through the first three checkpoints. I was leading by several meters, but then suddenly my opponents caught up. One of them tried to fly in front of me and slowed down, to help his friend. It worked to a degree, but as he had to constantly check where I was, he didn't see what was in front of him. I lured him into flying straight into a cloud pillar. With him stuck I now had to focus on the second contestant. He was now a bit further ahead, I just had to catch up with him. It took a few checkpoints but I finally caught up with him, as I was about to overtake him, he noticed me. His eyes were focused and then I saw a glimpse... of evil. He suddenly flew at me, pushing me way off track.

"Hahaha. How's it going, Rainbow Crash, see you at the finish line, if you get there. Bwahahaha." he said sarcastically.

The goal was now just a few checkpoints away and I was way behind. I just had to win. I hastily recalled something Swifty had said, a few days earlier.

"To be able to do it, multiple conditions have to be met. Firstly you have to want to do it, and not just an usual feeling of 'want'. When the time comes, you'll know what I mean. Secondly you have to believe in yourself and in that you actually can do it. Thirdly you need to be flying downwards and bend your wings just as I told you, to optimize your speed. The rest is up to you, Rainbow. I believe in you."

I thought to myself, I have to do it. I want to... No. I 'need' to. I then quickly flew back on to the track. Fortunately for me the last three checkpoints were downhill from there, and then a steep turn up towards the goal. I started to chase the naughty colt who pushed me off track. I felt that I was flying fast now, faster than I had ever flown before. I need to be faster. ... Rainbow, you can do this! I remember thinking. I bent my wings just as Swifty had told me, leaned forward and gathered all my strength. *Hhnnnggg* Just. A. Little.. Bit... Faster... As I closed in on the colt in front of me it suddenly happened, just before I was about to go through checkpoint sixteen, the one at the lowest altitude. I overtook him, flew through the checkpoint and I started to fly up, towards the goal. I turned my head around and took a quick look behind me. What I saw was amazing, the colt behind me seemed to move in slow motion in comparison to me. I also had a rainbow colored trail behind me, and I noticed that I had gotten my cutie mark, a cloud with a rainbow colored thunderbolt. I was so happy. As I flew up towards the goal I knew that the competition had ended, the poor colt didn't stand a chance. I crossed the finish line first, but didn't stop right away. I continued to create a full rainbow, as it was complete I flew back up to the goal to receive the crowds standing ovation.

I could finally relax as I stood there, exhausted but happy. I had actually pulled it off, a 'Sonic Rainboom'. I could almost not believe what just had happened only a few moments earlier, and it was all thanks to him, Swifty.

I noticed Swifty standing some distance away. He had Fluttershy beside him. I raised one of my hooves and waved. It was then I saw it, Fluttershy trotted in front of Swifty and leaned in and kissed him! I just could not believe what I saw at that moment, my facial expression must have looked like somepony in shock, something within me hurt so much. I just couldn't watch it, Swifty and Fluttershy. How could I not have seen this! I thought to myself. I turned away, my eyes were getting wet. There is nothing left for me here. I might as well go home. I thought as I started to trot homewards. I heard a faint "Rainbow...!" from Swifty. I ignored it, and continued on. I figured that if it was important, he would talk to me pony to pony, not shout it over half the square. And why would he need me anyways. He had Fluttershy.

"Hmm." Rainbow sighed. "That'll do for now." she said as she finished her first entry in the journal.

Vega knocked on the door. "Are you alright in there, Rainbow?" she asked.

"Yea. Why wouldn't I be?" Rainbow replied.

"I heard that you sighing..." Vega said kindly.

"Well. It's nothing, really..." Rainbow blushed slightly. "There is this colt..."

Vega's eyes widened. "And?" she asked, eagerly awaiting the latest gossip.

"... It's complicated." Rainbow finally said.

"Oh dear..." Vega recalled the last time she had said that in what possibly was a similar situation. "Don't worry, Rainbow time heals all wounds. I'm speaking from experience. Let's get you to bed and then we can see what we can do about it tomorrow. It'll be a bright new day after a good night's sleep." Vega said.

"... Mmm." Rainbow sighed. "Maybe it's good to get some sleep..."

Rainbow went to bed as Vega trotted out.

The morning came and nothing did actually feel better, at least not for Rainbow. She woke up, slightly later than usual due to that she didn't have any 'musts' today. After eating breakfast with Vega she decided to go out. Somewhat curious about what Swifty actually wanted, Rainbow flew towards his house. As she got there it didn't seem that anypony was home. She knocked... twice, still no reply. A few minutes went by without anything really happening. Rainbow felt it was simply too silent. She flew up, circled around the house and looked in through the windows. There was not much to be seen. The place seemed to be empty except for a book that lay on the floor in one of the rooms upstairs.

"Ohoy there!" a voice behind Rainbow shouted. She turned around to see who was talking to her. It was the mailpegasus. He continued, "You looking for the Swifts?"

"Uhh, yeah. Where are they? The place seems so empty..." Rainbow asked.

"They left early this morning, moved out. I'm not sure where to, but they sure aren't living here anymore!" he said.

"Moved out!? But..." Rainbow fell silent.

"Yup. That's what they did. Anyhow, I need to get back to work. Can't stand here and chat all day. There's mail to be delivered, you know!" he said, and continued towards the next house.

Moved out!? Why didn't he tell me! Where did he go! There were many questions in the little filly's head. Rainbow waited until the mailpegasus had gone and flew back up to a room and peeked inside, she saw the book again. She took another quick look around, she didn't see anypony. Then she quickly flew through the open window in to the room and fetched the book.

As she got back out she looked at the book. It was brown and the front was blank, there was no title. She opened it and read the first words.

Training Journal of Rainbow Dash

Rainbow got a tear in her eye. Did he forget it? Or did he leave it for me? she wondered as she left the house. She blinked the tear away as she continued on the road. I need to talk to somepony! Rainbow thought to herself. After wondering who she could talk to, she realised that Fluttershy was the only one she could possibly confide in. Her other pony friends had gone on vacation after summer flight camp ended. Reluctantly she persuaded herself to go see her friend, the sun was still high as she steered her hooves towards Fluttershy's home.

As she arrived she noticed a lot of commotion outside the house. The front door was open, Rainbow knocked it lightly.

"Anypony home?" Rainbow said.

"I'm coming out, just a second!" a voice from inside said. Soon she appeared in the doorway. She was a beautiful orange mare, with one of the friendliest smiles Rainbow had ever seen. This must be Flutttershy's mother! Rainbow thought to herself.

"My name is Dash, is Fluttershy in?" Rainbow said.

"Ah. You're that one who won the race! You managed to do such a wonderful rainbow, I'll never forget it!" her eyes drifted away towards the sky as she said it.

Rainbow blushed. "It wasn't that hard to pull off..."

Fluttershy's mother continued, "Sorry! Fluttershy, right! ... Fluttershy! somepony wants to talk to you!" she shouted inside. She turned back towards Rainbow, "I'm sure she'll be down shortly!"

A brief moment later Fluttershy appeared. "Oh, it's you! Hi Rainbow!" she said.

"'Sup Fluttershy!" Rainbow replied.

"I'm moving! Tomorrow I'll be living and sleeping on the ground, in my own house! How great is that! I'm so excited!" Rainbow noticed her actually bouncing on the spot as she said her last sentence.

"Moving out? ... You too?" Rainbow said and looked away.

"What do you mean by 'you too'?" Fluttershy asked.

"... You should know." Rainbow murmured.

Fluttershy who didn't hear Rainbow's last statement and stood there, with a confused look all over her face. She did clearly not know. Rainbow continued, "Well. Swifty has moved too."

Fluttershy gasped. "He has!? Where to! He never told me!" her voice was so sincere that Rainbow simply had to accept that she wasn't lying. Fluttershy would never lie anyway, she wasn't like that.

"I stopped by his house this morning only to see it completely empty except for this journal. The mailpony said they left this morning."

"That's your training diary, right?" Fluttershy asked as she eyed the book.

"Journal, training journal." Rainbow corrected.

"Hmm.. Why would he leave that anyway, did he forget it?" Fluttershy thought out loud and continued, "Do you want to help me with a few things? It'd be so much easier with some help!" Fluttershy suddenly stopped. "Well... If.. If you're free..." she said with her cautious voice.

"Sure. Some training is just what I nee-" Rainbow stopped mid-sentence as she thought of Swifty. Too soon, try to not think of him. She reminded herself. "Sure, that sounds good."

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were moving stuff all afternoon. It certainly wasn't 'a few' things she'd bring down. Rainbow thought to herself more than once. Fluttershy had quite a nice house, it was built on top of a hill just outside Ponyville and it had a big garden at the back. By the time they had finally moved everything down from the old house and then inside Fluttershy's new house it was getting dark.

"Hey Rainbow... Wanna sleep over?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow looked at the yellow little pony. Her eyes screamed 'that's what little fillys do!' but as she didn't want to say it like that she said. "Well... You know. It's the first night in the new house and everything. First night alone, as well?"

Fluttershy nodded in response.

Rainbow continued, "Since you live by yourself now, you have to get used to it. If I sleep over now, it would just get much worse tomorrow, trust me." Rainbow had turned away as she was saying it, she did not really want to look into Fluttershy's eyes. But as Rainbow turned back towards Fluttershy she saw how frightened her friend was. Rainbow quickly added. "But I'd gladly come back sometime when you've settled in to sleep over. Besides, you have all your kind animals, don't you? They'll surely want to keep you company!"

Somewhat comforted by that Fluttershy managed a tiny smile.

"It'll be alright, Fluttershy! Don't you worry!" Rainbow said and patted her friend. "I really need to get back up there, but it was nice to see where you live, and to be able to help you out!"

"Thanks a lot for today, Rainbow!" Fluttershy said, as Rainbow prepared to take off.

"See ya next time, Fluttershy!" Rainbow said and took off. Fluttershy waved as her friend flew up towards the clouds.

When Rainbow got back up to Cloudsdale the sun was completely gone. The only thing that shone on her path was the faint white light from the moon. Rainbow went straight to bed as she got home. The following morning came and Rainbow felt tired, very tired. Vega came in to the room and politely asked Rainbow to get up.

"Hey! Sleepyhead! It's time to wake up. It's almost noon!" Vega said.

"Just.. Let me sleep a little bit more..." Rainbow said with a tired sigh.

"Oh no. You're so getting up right now, lady!" Vega said.

"Make me." Rainbow said with a smile, her eyes were still closed.

"Is that a challenge?" Vega said with a grin. "You'll be up and flying within thirty seconds, my little filly."

"Give it your best shot, grandma. I won't move a wing." Rainbow said confidently.

"Remember that you brought this on yourself, Rainbow!" Vega said, happy to get a challenge in her normally dull everyday life. Vega placed herself in front of the bed, pulled the cover away. Rainbow just laid there, pretending to sleep. Vega placed both her hooves just below Rainbow's left wing and started to poke and tickle. It didn't take long until Rainbow's serene facial expression changed into a much more strained one. Not long thereafter the first snicker came. Then it just became too much. Rainbow couldn't take it anymore.

"Hahaha. P-please s-stop it! Hihihi." she begged her grandma.

"Nope. Not until you're up!" Vega said mercilessly.

"But I am up! Look!" Rainbow rolled down on the floor and slowly stood up. Still giggling a little. "Wow.. ..." she tried to catch her breath. "I had no idea that I was ticklish." she said, smiling.

Vega snickered. "Well, I was a filly once too, you know! What do you think my mother did to me when I refused to get up?"

"You.. You're cool, grandma!" Rainbow said sincerely.

"I'm grandma to the coolest filly in town, just trying to keep up." she patted Rainbow's mane and continued, "Let's go down and eat some breakfast!"

They went down to the kitchen and made breakfast, as they were eating Vega suddenly said, "So what are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean, now?" Rainbow looked at her grandmother with one eyebrow raised. "Right now I'm gonna finish my breakfast then go outside and practice and stuff."

"I meant... What will you do next, school is over with. Will you apply to flight school, what's it gonna be?" Vega said kindly.

"I... I don't know. I haven't really thought about it." Rainbow said thoughtfully.

"I think you should do it. Flying and practicing is all you do anyways. Might as well do it under somepony's guidance." Vega said.

"Fair enough. I'll apply."

Rainbow crash landed just outside her house. Just a moment later she got up and hurried towards the door. She started to knock frequently and as Vega finally opened the door Rainbow threw herself into her grandma's open arms.

"My my, what has gotten into you? You look terrified!" Vega asked her granddaughter.

Rainbow was shaking slightly and didn't respond. "Calm down! I'm here, nothing will hurt you." Vega said soothingly.

It took several minutes for Vega to make her granddaughter calm down.

Finally Rainbow said, "It... it was horrible. I was there for so long. How did I not notice, until now."

"What's going on, dear. What's so horrible?" Vega asked.

Rainbow told her grandmother what had happened. Vega let out several gasps as the story progressed.

Rainbow finished her story, "... And then I crash landed just outside. And the rest you already know."

"The most important thing is that you're here now. And that you're safe." Vega said, and patted Rainbow's mane.

The rest of the day went by without anything interesting happening. Rainbow followed Vega around in the house and helped her by doing some cleaning, laundry, washing etc. Eventually it got darker outside as the sun set and Rainbow went to bed. An hour went by but she just could not sleep. She tossed and turned but couldn't find peace, she gave up trying for a while and trotted over to her desk. There her journal lay, waiting for her. She opened the journal, picked up the pencil and started to write her second entry.

Rainbow's journal, entry #2 – Flight School

It's been quite a while since I wrote something in here, not much has been going on lately. Roughly a week after summer flight camp ended I applied to flight school, I naturally got in. Now I've been here for about three months, the full length is six months, so I'm halfway through.

It's just... not as fun as I thought. Flying is fun, practising is fun, but at the rate they're doing it here it just feels forced. They're not considering how we feel and say, 'Everypony should do this, everypony should do that.' I find their way of thinking when it comes to working out rather annoying. On several occasions, me and the coach have had an argument. Take a week ago for example.

"Work it, Rainbow Dash. You need to fly faster, otherwise you won't get any lunch today. I need to see some serious effort." the coach said sternly.

"I'm doing my best, coach." I replied.

"That's it, get down here." the coach said. As I flew down to him he said. "Listen, missy, doing your best will get you nowhere, here at flight camp, we do as I say. Now get down and give me twenty-five push ups."

"What. Why!? What did I do!?" I complained.

"Just do it." he said.

"This... is... re-dicu-lous." I murmured in between the push ups.

I really didn't like him he was always hard on me. Towards the other ponies, especially the colts, he was so much more forgiving. I think you kind of see where I'm going with this, journal. Yesterday we had yet another argument. During the day it had been a lot 'Rainbow Dash this' and 'Rainbow Dash that.' A lot of 'punishments' and similar stuff. I just could not take it.

"Well... Your way of training... Sucks!" I screeched at the coach.

Taken somewhat by surprise, apparently, he took a few seconds to counter this 'problem' of his. "So, what are you going to do about it? You know that you can't do anything as long as I'm in charge." he said.

I vented all my anger towards him that I had gathered over these three months in one go. "There's several points that you totally ignore when it comes to working out. You just don't get it, do you. The individual aspect. Everypony doesn't need to do the same thing to be trained most efficiently." I paused briefly. "You just act like as if you were some kind of infinitely wise pegasus who knows everything. The reason you're always so harsh on me is that you know... " I paused dramatically. "That I know, that deep down you're no good at coaching at all. You have truly not understood the meaning of working out. You're just doing as you've 'always done'. And let me tell you what. I know of a colt at my age, who is a so much better coach than you'll ever be." As I stood there, glaring angrily at the coach, I realised that several other ponies had heard half the argument. I didn't care. What I said was the truth, no matter how harsh it seemed.

The other ponies started to whisper to each other. Nopony had ever dared to lecture the coach like that. "What if Rainbow is correct..." I heard one of them whisper.

"Silence!" the coach shouted. "It seems like we have... a disbeliever." he paused and let an evil grin spread on his face. "Now... What do we usually do with 'disbelievers'?" he asked the crowd.

A moment of silence ensued whilst the pegasi were looking at each other nervously. Suddenly somepony shouted, "We punish them!"

The coach's evil grin grew even wider. "That's right, my friends, and what punishment do you think suits this pegasus?" he pointed at me.

Yet another brief silence before somepony slowly said, "The cloud arena... Alone..."

My blood froze, or so it felt. I gulped, and turned towards the coach. I couldn't believe it to be true. I had only heard stories about what horrors that was released in the arena. Even the bravest of warriors would have had second thoughts.

"Aah. The arena... Hmm. That seems... suitable." the coach said while nodding to himself.

"B-but. I thought that was just an old pony's tale?" I said, somewhat frightened now.

"Everypony thinks that. Since nopony ever lives to tell the tale." he looked fanatical now and the ponies around us looked straight forward with a blank expression in their eyes.

By Celestia, they're all mad! I need to get out of here. I thought to myself. "Wait! What's that over there? It's Celestia! look!" I pointed my hoof towards the sky behind the coach. A surprised murmur broke out and everypony turned around to see. I took the chance to jump off the cloud and fly away, as fast as I could. I knew I didn't have long since Celestia actually was not there.

"She's getting away! Get her!" the coach roared furiously.

Luckily enough I had been correct earlier. Not one of them was an as good flier as I was. I had little trouble shaking them off and got away safely.

Time went by and Rainbow Dash grew older. She wasn't a filly anymore. She had started to work as a weather pegasus. The pay was okay but most of all, she got to be outside while working. and she could work at her own pace as long as the job got done within the time limits.

This day had started like any other. Rainbow had come to work, got her assignments for the day, done a few of them, taken a nap, done a few more, practicing a new trick for a bit, and done the last. Since today's forecast was sunny the job was easily done.

Rainbow yawned. This isn't so bad, after all. Working and stuff, feels good to be outside, and I can practice as well, as long as I'm working at the same time. She thought to herself.

"Ohoy there, Rainbow! Lost in your own thoughts again?" a co-worker shouted towards her.

"Uhm, hi?" she answered, slightly confused. "What are you doing here? Aren't you working?"

"Nope, my shift ended thirty minutes ago. Didn't yours as well?" he asked.

"Aah. I must have forgotten..." Rainbow replied. "Time flies here at work." Literally... she thought to herself. "Thanks for reminding me!" she smiled at her co-worker who politely waved in return.

Rainbow clocked out from work and headed home. She made it to her house without anything interesting happening on the way. Just as Rainbow had opened the door, she started to smile as the smell of freshly cooked food greeted her.

"I'm home!" she shouted towards the kitchen.

"I know, Rainbow. I heard you ages ago." Vega replied.

"Anything I can help out with?" Rainbow asked politely.

"You can set the table, if you want to." Vega said.

"I'll get right on it, grandma!" Rainbow said as she trotted past her grandmother in the kitchen fetching some plates.

After they had eaten, Rainbow put her two rear hooves on the table, leaned back and balanced the chair. "Thanks grandma, that was sweet!"

"Ey! What have I said about such behaviour!" Vega instantly said and pushed the hooves off the table, gently but firmly. "Where's that wonderful little pegasus you used to hang out with anyways, she used to keep you in check. Fluttershy... That's her name, isn't it?"

"Oh, she... She moved down to Ponyville quite a while ago. I helped her move her stuff." Rainbow answered.

"Okay. So, have you been there since? If I recall correctly she was a quite good friend of yours, was she not?" Vega asked curiously.

"Uhm. No, I haven't." Rainbow admitted. "I even promised her I would sleep over someday, when she had settled in."

"Ah. A slumber party eh?" Vega said and smiled.

"A sleepover, grandma." Rainbow corrected. "But yeah. You're probably right. I should check on her, to see how everything's going. If I don't get back I'm probably staying at her place overnight. So don't you worry about me!"

Vega just smiled as her grandchild jumped of the chair and trotted up the stairs to her room. 'Probably staying at her place'. 'Don't worry'. She sure doesn't know how it is to be a parent. She thought to herself. "Be careful, Rainbow!" she shouted to the blue mare on her way outside.

As she flew, Rainbow tried to come up with a good excuse for not having been over until now. From a distance she could see various things in the backyard of Fluttershy's house. She could also see the smoke coming up from the chimney. Rainbow found it all quite pretty, and tranquil.

She landed just outside the front door, but took quite some time to knock as she still had not come up with an excuse. Eventually Rainbow figured that she just had to improvise.

*Knock knock*

After about a minute of waiting Rainbow knocked again. "Ohoy in there, anypony home?"

Still no answer. She trotted around the corner and peeked through the window. She let out a giggle. Rainbow went back to the door, knocked a third time and said, "I know you're in there! I saw you!"

From inside she heard a muffled reply, "No you didn't!"

"You're behind the sofa!" Rainbow said with a smile.

"No I'm not..." the Fluttershy said from inside.

"Oh come on, Fluttershy! It's me, Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow finally said.

"R-rainbow...? ..." The upper part of Fluttershy's door opened slowly. "It really is you!" Fluttershy said. She opened the door and let Rainbow Dash in.

"Of course. Who else would it be?" Rainbow said gladly.

"Uhm, I don't know! Anypony!" Fluttershy replied. "I'm so happy to see you again! It's been so long."

"Eheh... Yeah, I meant to..." Rainbow said excusingly but got interrupted as Fluttershy hugged her.

"Let me show you around! This is Angel... Angel this is Rainbow Dash!" she pointed her hoof towards a white rabbit who happily jumped up on Fluttershy when he noticed that she was speaking about him. He saluted Rainbow as he heard her name.

After about half an hour of touring the house, introducing Rainbow to each and every animal by name, they ended up in Fluttershy's living room, where they started.

"Anyway... That's pretty much it!" Fluttershy said. "So, what did really bring you down here, Rainbow?"

"I haven't really had anypony to hang out with, since you left, and I figured that it might just be nice to have some company."

"Ooh. Will you be staying the night?" Fluttershy asked excitedly.

"Yeah. If it's okay with you, Fluttershy!" Rainbow replied.

"If it's okay! I'd like it very much! My first slumber party! It's gonna be soooooo much fun! I'm so excited!" she suddenly interrupted herself. "Hihi. Now I sound like Pinkie Pie."

"Who's Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow asked, raising one of her eyebrows.

"Ah, you haven't met many ponies from Ponyville, have you? I'll introduce you to my best friends tomorrow!"

The evening came and the night followed. The two old friends went to bed. They didn't go to sleep though, they remained awake and spoke with each other about everything from ponies in Ponyville to mad coaches at the flight school. The two didn't get any sleep until the small hours. Fluttershy got up early as usual, as if she had slept all night.

"Ugh. How can you get up now?" Rainbow asked sleepily since she had just woken up as Fluttershy got out of her bed.

"Got to feed the animals!" she chirped.

"Where do you get all the energy... ..." *ZzzzZZZzzz* Rainbow went back to sleep.

Fluttershy let her sleep a few more hours, but as it got closer to noon she decided that it was time to get up.

"Raaiiiinboooow... Time to wake uuuup!" she poked her pegasus friend.

"Get off me." Rainbow answered grumpily.

"But don't you want to get out in the sun! And meet a lot of lovely ponies! Make some friends!" Fluttershy said encouraging.

"You're not my mom!" Rainbow said and turned her back towards Fluttershy.

"Oh dear. I think I know just the thing." Fluttershy muttered to herself. She trotted away towards the kitchen.

As Rainbow heard that Fluttershy was trotting away she smiled victoriously. The smile didn't last very long though, as Fluttershy poured a bucket of ice-cold water over her head.

Rainbow gasped and immediately got up and shook the water out of her mane. "Wha.. Why did you have to do that?!" she asked her friend.

"Err, well. You didn't get up, this is what I usually do to my animals when they're lazy!" Fluttershy replied.

"But I'm not one of your animals, Fluttershy!" Rainbow pointed out.

"Still, it worked didn't it? You're up!" Fluttershy said with an incredibly cute smile on her face.

Rainbow gave up. There was no reasoning with this kind pegasus. "But look at the sheets! All wet!"

"I was going to switch them anyway. I'll just hang them up in the backyard. Be right back!" Fluttershy trotted out with the sheets on her back. Soon she came back and said, "Ready to take a walk? I'll show you around town!"

"Sure." Rainbow replied.

Fluttershy was thinking of introducing Rainbow to Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie as they toured the village. She'll get to know the rest of Ponyville anyway. She thought to herself with a smile. They headed towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Rainbow noticed an orange mare laying in front of a tree, obviously taking a break. Her mane was blonde and she wore a brown hat. She had three red apples on her flank. Is this the Applejack pony that Fluttershy was speaking of? she thought to herself. Her thoughts were confirmed as Fluttershy greeted the pony.

"Hi there, Applejack! How are you?" Fluttershy asked with her normal quiet voice.

"Hi Fluttershy! Howdy! Ah'm mighty fine, thanks! But who's this new face, friend of yours?" Applejack answered and eyed Rainbow Dash.

"Applejack, meet Rai-" Fluttershy got interrupted by Rainbow as she tried to introduce her.

"Hi. I'm Rainbow Dash." Rainbow said.

"Hi there, Miss Dash! A pleasure to make your acquaintance!" Applejack said while shaking Rainbow's right forehoof with both of her forehooves. "So what brings ya out to Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Oh, I'm just showing Dash around town." Fluttershy answered.

"Ah. Since you're here anyway, care to do some applebucking?"

"Applewhat?" Rainbow asked.

"Applebucking! Sure ain't as easy as it looks. Lemme show ya." Applejack said and walked up to a nearby tree, she placed a few buckets under it and turned her rear towards it. Then she kicked the tree with both her rear hooves. Pretty much all the apples fell down and somehow they managed to get right into the buckets. "That's applebucking right there! Care to help out? We've got a lot to do, since the Summer Sun Celebration is held here in Ponyville in only two weeks!"

"Actually... Rainbow Dash already has a job. She works as a weather pegasus!" Fluttershy said.

"But you sure ain't working now!" Applejack pointed out, looking at Rainbow.

Rainbow sighed, "It's my day off, and-" she got interrupted by Applejack.

"Sounds to me like you're just lazy, Ah bet fifteen bits that you can't manage to buck as many trees as ah do in half an hour."

Rainbow froze. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward and whispered. "It's on."

"Girls..." Fluttershy tried to intervene but it was too late.

"Spit on it?" Applejack said and spat on her left forehoof.

"Whatever." Rainbow replied and did the same, as their hooves met she said, "You'll be the judge, Fluttershy!

Fortunately Fluttershy had a watch on her. "Okay... Ready? Set. Go!" she said.

It took a while for Rainbow to get the feel of it, but now she felt pretty confident. Applejack was still ahead, but she thought she was gaining just a little bit.

"Ten minutes to go!" the competing ponies heard Fluttershy say.

Come on, Rainbow. Show this workhorse that you're an awesome athlete. Rainbow thought to herself as she gave it her all.

"Aaand... time's up!" Fluttershy finally said.

Both Applejack and Rainbow came trotting slowly towards Fluttershy. It was obvious that they both were quite tired.

"So... What's the score?" Rainbow asked.

"Umm. If I've calculated correctly... Fifty-two for Rainbow Dash..." Rainbow smiled proudly. "And... Fifty-six for Applejack!" the smirk on Rainbow's face dropped immediately.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeehaw! Don't you fret, sugarcube, nopony has ever beaten me on this. Not even Big Macintosh. Actually mah old record was fifty-five so you did mighty well for a first-timer!" Applejack said soothingly. "Here, take these. It's ten bits." she handed the bits to Rainbow. "Ah would have paid anypony ten bits for doing this much work anyway. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the competition!" she said and waved as Rainbow and Fluttershy turned to leave.

"Now you know Applejack!" Fluttershy said happily.

"I... I lost..." Rainbow said. She couldn't really believe it herself yet. It was the first time she had lost in any kind of competition.

"Heey. Chin up, Rainbow! Applejack has been doing this since she was a foal, and you just came here for the first time, and gave her some serious competition. You did more than well back there!" Fluttershy said in an attempt to cheer up her friend.

Rainbow seemed only slightly soothed, but as they continued on the way in to Ponyville she appeared to be back to her normal self.

"Let's see. The next pony I'd like to introduce you to is Rarity! She's a fashion designer and lives in her boutique." Fluttershy said.

"Eeew. Fashion." Rainbow said and stopped. She had a strange look in her eyes as she looked at Fluttershy. Rainbow had never really cared about fashion. She was a pony that didn't care about what she was wearing or how she had her mane, as long as it was awesome.

"You'll like her. She's incredibly generous... And quite the lady." Fluttershy said and started to trot again.

After a short while they ended up outside the Carousel Boutique.

"Wow. That's quite a funny looking house." Rainbow said.

"You think so? I haven't really thought about it." Fluttershy replied. "She's usually inside, let's go have a look!"

She raised her hoof and knocked on the door.

"Come iiin!" a voice hummed from inside.

"Hi Rarity! Are you in here?" Fluttershy said, trotting towards the room where she thought she might find Rarity. She found her snow white unicorn friend in her working room. Rarity's mane was purple and neatly curled around her neck. Rainbow noticed the three diamonds on her flank, her cutiemark.

"Mmm. Hi Fluttershy!" Rarity said without giving her friend a look. She stood bent over a pony mannequin dressed in, what Rainbow assumed to be, the latest fashion. "Oh wait. You? It... It's not Tuesday is it? Have I forgotten?" Rarity continued slightly nervous. She reassured herself, clearly thinking out loud. "It can't be. Yesterday was Saturday and this delivery is due tomorrow, and that's Monday."

Fluttershy giggled. "It's not Tuesday, Rarity. I've got somepony I'd like to introduce you to!"

"Aah. Is it that stallion you used to dream about, heh! I always knew you were romantic, Fluttershy!" Rarity replied.

Fluttershy blushed. "What! No!! It's not... I'd like you to meet Rainbow Dash, a foalhood friend of mine!"

Rarity finally took her eyes off the mannequin. She took one glance at Rainbow and immediately trotted over to her. "I love how you did your mane, dear!" Rarity said and ruffled Rainbow's mane with curiosity. "And one can't even feel that it's dyed! And the tail as well! And it matches your cutiemark! That's just, beautiful!" Rarity said as she eyed Rainbow in amazement.

"Uuuh. Dyed? I've never dyed my mane..." Rainbow said.

"Heh. Don't be silly. Of course you have. Are you telling me that those are your real colours? That your mane and tail actually were rainbow coloured from birth?" Rarity said.

Rainbow and Fluttershy exchanged a glance that said. 'Not this again...'

"Mmm. It's the truth. I've always looked like this. Fluttershy can confirm that." Rainbow said happily.

"You... You're not really saying..." Rarity backed slowly and shifted from looking at Fluttershy to Rainbow. "You're pulling my leg here, aren't you?" Fluttershy's honest look and Rainbow's confident smile convinced Rarity that they were not making a joke.

"Wow. It really is true then... That's just..." Rarity said.

"Awesome! I know right!?" Rainbow replied with a smile.

"I was going to say peculiar but I guess awesome is a way of describing it." Rarity said.

"So... What is it that you do anyway, Rarity?" Rainbow asked politely.

"I run this boutique! I'm a fashion designer, I design clothes and dresses for a living. I've got many customers around Equestria, currently I'm working on the outfits for the Wonderbolts. They're-" Rarity said but got interrupted.

"The Wonderbolts!? The most amazing fliers in all of Equestria!? You are doing their outfits?" Rainbow said in excitement.

"Yes. As I was saying I have built up quite a reputation over the years. The
Wonderbolts are having some kind of show a month from now. Roughly two weeks after the Summer Sun Celebration. so I really need to hurry it up."

"Aaaw. If I only could go..." Rainbow said without trying to hide her longing.

"Anyway, you've already been taking up too much of my precious time! I have to get back to working, as I said earlier I need to send them a sample by tomorrow! It was really nice to meet you Rainbow Dash!"

Kindly but firmly the ladylike unicorn showed the two pegasi out of her boutique.

"So.. That's Rarity!" Fluttershy said.

"She actually makes the Wonderbolt's outfits..." Rainbow said, still seemingly in her own little world.

"Oi! Rainbow! Helloooo?" Fluttershy poked her friend.

"I.. uh, wha?" Rainbow responded.

"I'm talking to you!" Fluttershy said while smiling happily. "You seemed to be in another world!"

"Oh... Heh. I've always been a fan of the Wonderbolts. They're the most awesome pegasi in Equestria!"

"Who's awesome?!" a pink pony asked. She must have appeared from nowhere. Her mane was also pink, but slightly darker, on her flank she had three balloons.

"You're... Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow asked.

"I sure am! Nice to meet you! You must be... Hmm..." Pinkie Pie eyed Rainbow thoroughly. "… Rainbow!"

Rainbow gasped in surprise and looked at Fluttershy who shrugged. "How did you...?" Rainbow asked.

"How did I what?" Pinkie replied happily.

"How did you know my name! We've never met, have we? Fluttershy, did you tell her about me?"

Fluttershy shook her head in response. Rainbow turned back towards Pinkie and waited for her explanation.

"Earlier today, I felt a twitch, a winch and a flinch." Pinkie Pie illustrated each empathised word and continued. "That just had to mean I was about to meet a new pony today, and then I had a... " Pinkie stopped mid-sentence and shook her whole body and rolled her eyes. " ... Which could only mean that the new pony's name would have to do with its cutie mark. The second I saw you I knew that it was you who were new, 'cause I know eeeeeeeverypony in Ponyville, and I didn't recognise you! And then just guessing your name, well, duh! I saw the rainbow and the cloud so it was either Cloudy or Rainbow I went with Rainbow and it seemed to be correct!"

"... " Rainbow was speechless. "You... You felt a what, what and a what?"

"A twitch, a winch and a flinch!" Pinkie replied.

"But... What... That doesn't even make sense!" Rainbow tried to understand.

"It makes Pinkie sense!" Pinkie said.

"Rainbow, just give up! Nopony understands Pinkie sense, except Pinkie Pie herself!" Fluttershy said.

Rainbow sat on the opposite side of Fluttershy in the train compartment. There was a slight breeze coming from the open window. Fluttershy seemed to have fallen asleep, she was lying there, so peaceful. Rainbow figured now was a good time. She took forth her journal and eagerly started to write down the events of the past week. So much had happened. She could almost not believe it.

Rainbow's journal, entry #3 – Friendship and Nightmares

The first mentionable thing happened roughly two weeks ago. All of Ponyville had gathered in the town hall to witness Princess Celestia raise the sun. It was the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony was excited since the Summer Sun Celebration had never been held in Ponyville before and generally, meeting Princess Celestia is a good reason to be excited.

Yet it didn't turn out as everypony thought, the night ended in horror. Celestia did not show up. Instead a huge black alicorn appeared. She swore that this would be the last day and that she would bring night eternal to Equestria. Nopony knew who she was, except a lavender pony, I recognized her as Twilight Sparkle. I had met her the day before, as she was inspecting Ponyville. Celestia had sent her to make sure that everything was perfect for the Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight said that the alicorn in front of everypony was no other than Nightmare Moon!

As the panic erupted Nightmare Moon disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. I followed the smoke out of the town hall but my hunt was futile as the cloud moved at an unnatural speed. The events that followed need to be told by a more visual storyteller. However, I can hastily summarise it all. We – I, Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity – went into the Everfree Forest where we eventually found the ruins where the Elements of Harmony were hidden. As we got there Nightmare Moon appeared and we had to fight. It turned out each of us represented an Element of Harmony. I represented Loyalty, Pinkie Laughter, Fluttershy Kindness, Rarity Generosity, Applejack Honesty and Twilight the Element of Magic. Together we defeated Nightmare Moon who turned out to be Princess Celestia's younger sister, Luna.

As we got back to Ponyville, Pinkie Pie threw a party for us being all awesome and for saving Equestria. Twilight got a new assignment from Princess Celestia, to study the magic of friendship and report back to the princess from her new home in Ponyville. Twilight was to live in the Ponyville library, which seemed to suit her well as she almost always was immersed in her books anyways.

A few days after the events at the Summer Sun Celebration, I was out flying, just like any other day. I had finished work early and had the afternoon free to do whatever I wanted. I noticed Rarity standing outside the library and decided to join her.

"Hi there Rarity! What 'cha doin'!" I said.

"Ah, hello there, Rainbow!" Rarity replied. "I was just about to return this book to the library, but it seems to be closed for some reason!"

On the door to the library there was a sign. It said:

Closed, for now, due to important meeting
Will be open again, later this afternoon.

"Important meeting, eh?" I said.

"Yes. Sure seems like it." Rarity said and frowned. "I really don't have time for this! I have a business to attend to!"

"You know what, Rarity? Why don't you give the book to me, and I'll make sure that it gets returned by the end of the day!" I said.

"You'd do that, Rainbow? You really don't have to, you know!" Rarity said, somewhat relieved.

"It's fine. I've got nothing to do anyway!" I replied.

"Thank you so much, Rainbow!" she said as she gracefully trotted away.

I got curious about this important meeting and decided to try to sneak a peek and see what they actually were doing in there. I gave it my best shot and circulated around the library but all the curtains were drawn so I couldn't see a thing. I decided to leave it for now.

I returned several hours later, just before the usual closing hour and found the library to be open to the public once again. I knocked.

"Come in!" Twilight said from inside. As I entered she said: "Rainbow! How good to see you. You're just the one I was looking for, actually!"

"Yeah? Why's that?" I replied.

"I had a visitor, today. Somepony special from Canterlot. He's an old acquaintance of mine. A writer to be more specific. And he-"

"Oooooo." I interrupted her. "Was he good looking? What did you do? I couldn't see in anywhere. You... You didn't do... " I hesitated. "... anything naughty did you?"

Twilight blushed heavily. "No! Of course not! He's a writer! We studied writing technique, I've been thinking of maybe picking up on writing novels myself. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I got these-"

"Ooo ooo!" I interrupted again. "I almost forgot! Rarity ment to return this book, earlier today, but you were evidently busy with that writer of yours." I said teasingly. I showed Twilight the book I received, she immediately levitated it over to her to get a better look at it.

"Aah! Yes. I think she said she'd return it today. How could I have forgotten about it... Spiiiiike!" she called out for her baby dragon assistant who came down the stairs. "Could you put this book where it should be? Thanks!" Twilight said and turned back to me. "As I was saying, I got-"

"!!! Are those tickets to the Wonderbolts show next weekend!?" I said overly excited as I noticed the two tickets that Twilight levitated up from the table behind her.

"Well. I was trying to tell you but you kept interrup-"

"Can I have one, pleeeeeeeeeease! I've wanted to go since like, ever!"

Twilight covered her face with a hoof and sighed. "Yes Rainbow. Can you let me finish a sentence, for once? ... Thank you! I got these two from my visitor. I however can't go myself. I'm quite busy around here and I need Spike with me, so he can't go either. I figured that you might want to go, so I'll just give both tickets to you, then you can take anypony you want!"

"Ohmigosh. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" I said and hugged my somewhat startled friend in front of me.

Rainbow hastily looked up from her book. Fluttershy seemed to still be deeply asleep. Outside the world was moving on and the sun was still up. It means that there's still some time. Rainbow thought to herself, as she knew she'd arrive at Ponyville station after sunset. What she didn't know, was that Fluttershy was not at all asleep. Sure, she was resting, but not asleep. Fluttershy had been watching her friend in her 'moment of weakness' as Rainbow herself would have called it. Fluttershy enjoyed seeing her friend write since it seemed to make her happy.

Rainbow's eyes returned down to the book and she continued to write.

Rainbow's journal, entry #4 – Wonderbolts

It was finally time. I thought the day would never come. Friday morning. Finally! I thought to myself as I got up from bed. The Wonderbolts' show was tomorrow, and the train to Canterlot was leaving just before noon today.

"Have you packed everything you need?" Vega asked as we were eating breakfast.

"Yes, grandma! It's not like I'll be gone forever!" I replied, happily.

"Just don't forget something to write on and a pencil." she said.

"Why would I need that?" I asked.

"Well. Where else you like them to sign their autographs, your flank?" Vega said teasingly.

"I... What!? Eeew. Yeah. I'll better take something." I said. "Thanks for reminding me!"

I packed the last things and went on my way. "Be careful, and come back safely!" Vega shouted after me.

"Always!" I shouted as I trotted down the street.

I had decided to give the second ticket to Fluttershy. I figured that she could use a vacation from her animals. When I got to her house I knocked politely as usual.

"Fluttershyyyy, it's mee Rainbow!" I said.

"Just a minute!" Fluttershy replied from inside.

Literally more than 5 minutes passed and I got somewhat bored of standing outside a closed door. I checked if it was open, and it was. Inside I saw Fluttershy wandering around like a lost soul.

"So much to do. So much to do." she repeated to herself.

"Uuuuh... Fluttershy?" I said hesitantly.

"Rainbow! I... I'm having second thoughts... about leaving!" she said.

"Why is that? You seemed happy to go to Canterlot just the other day!" I replied.

"But what about my animals! How will they survive without me!" she said helplessly.

"Well, they did actually survive just fine before you got down here, you know!" I said, somewhat teasingly, but as I saw how worried she was I continued, "I've managed to get Twilight to agree to let Spike come here and feed them and take care of them! So it should be alright! It's just for two days you know!" I said reassuringly. "Come on now, Fluttershy! The train leaves in half an hour!"

I managed to convince Fluttershy that everything would be okay and we trotted down the street towards the train station. Finally. I thought once again.

There was nothing special about this train ride, other than that I felt like it took forever to get to Canterlot. Sure. It was a four hour ride, but as I was quite anxious to get there it felt much longer. When we arrived at Canterlot Station, I could barely hide my excitement. I bounced up and down all the way from the station to the hotel, which apparently was included in the ticket.

"Rainbow! You're acting like Pinkie Pie! Get a grip on yourself!" Fluttershy finally said.

"Heh. Yeah. I guess I am. But I'm so excited!" I said.

Fluttershy smiled. "It's been a long time since I saw you this excited, Rainbow!"

We checked into the hotel. When we showed our tickets to the receptionist he nodded, gave us our room key and said. "The event starts tomorrow at 4 PM, you'll be picked up at 2 PM, make sure that you're on time and outside by then."

"Why so early?" I asked curiously.

"That's only what I've been told. See for yourself tomorrow." he said blankly.

Our rooms were quite nice. It was one of the more exclusive hotels in Canterlot. I remember thinking about who could possibly have gotten these tickets and why we would have to leave the hotel so early, but only briefly, as my mind was focused on that I'd actually see The Wonderbolts the day after.

After a real feast in the hotel restaurant, Fluttershy and I went up to our room. We talked for a few hours about this and that, old memories and such. Quite a while later, Fluttershy went silent for longer than usual. I guessed that she didn't want to talk anymore, so I said good night. I wondered what would have made her so quiet all of a sudden. I remember thinking, What were we talking about... Old memories... suddenly I thought of Swifty. My lust for talking vanished right away. She must have remembered him, as well. I realised. I wondered where he was, if he had met his special somepony, and if I'd ever see him again.

I blinked a few times, and took a deep breath. Everything's fine, Rainbow. You're here to watch the Wonderbolts! You should be happy! I thought to myself just before I fell asleep.

I woke up the following morning before Fluttershy, for once, as I got up and did my morning routines I watched my yellow friend lie there, sleeping. There was something magical about Fluttershy. Even more so when she was asleep. I tried to gently wake her up.

"Hey, Fluttershy. It's time to get up!" I said as smoothly as I could.

"Uuuuh." was the only response I got. Fluttershy turned around.

"Oh no, you're not doing a Rainbow on me!" I said. I smiled and thought, Well, I just might do a 'Vega' on you then. I pulled the bed cover and started to tickle the little timid pegasus in front of me.

Fluttershy gave in to the tickling almost right away. "H-hey! P-please stop!" she said in between giggles.

"As long as you wake up!" I said.

Fluttershy stood up, "I'm awake already!" she said and continued, "You sure do have your own tricks to get people out of bed."

I nodded. We ate breakfast and hung out by the hotel pool until it was time to leave. Right outside the hotel there was a carriage waiting.

"I assume you're Miss Rainbow?" a white stallion said.

"I sure am!" I replied.

"This way please." he pointed at the chariot.

"They're... they're treating you like royalty, Rainbow!" Fluttershy said.

"Why wouldn't they? See what it says on our tickets? VIP!" I replied.

"VIP? I don't understand..." Fluttershy said and looked at the ticket.

"It means Very Important Pony. That's why we've gotten all the exclusive stuff. And the tickets themselves probably cost a fortune." I explained.

The carriage ride didn't take long and soon we were outside the arena where the event was being held. Yet another pony was waiting for us, and showed us where to go.

"So, why are we here so early? The event doesn't start for another hour and a half!" I asked curiously.

"You honestly don't know?" he replied with a smile.

"Hey! You know, don't you!" I started to be slightly angry, nopony was telling us what was going on!

"Everypony knows what VIPs do before an event. You'll see soon though. It's not far. Over here!" he said and started to trot towards the arena.

We entered the arena. It may have looked big from the outside, but when we saw the whole thing... It was just breathtaking.

"It... It's so big!" Fluttershy said in amazement.

I could only agree, I had never seen such a big building. We walked around it once and the guide told us about when it was built and how many ponies that could be here and watch simultaneously.

"This way, ladies!" the guide said and entered a door.

We followed him down some stairs and in through a corridor. Suddenly he stopped in front of a door, pointing at it with one hoof and said. "This is as far as I go. You must go the last part alone." As he saw how nervous Fluttershy became he added, "It's quite fine, Miss Fluttershy, it's just down the corridor and then the third door on the left."

"Third door to the left, eh?" I said. "Let's go Fluttershy!"

I managed to get Fluttershy to follow me and we left the guide where he stood. He closed the door behind us and we heard him trot away.

"One... Two... Three! This is it!" I said.

"Oh... Are you sure, Rainbow?" Fluttershy said anxiously.

"I'm quite sure I can count to three, Fluttershy." I said. "Let's see what kind of exclusive things that are hidden behind this door!" I said and opened the door.

As the door swung open I realised what was going to happen. My whole body froze. Fluttershy looked at me and noticed how I didn't move a muscle.

"What's wrong, Rainbow? Is it... Is it a monster?" Fluttershy said, hiding behind me while sticking out her head just a tiny bit so that she could peek inside.

"..." I couldn't say a word.

"Eeh. Rainbow? It's nothing in there. Just looks like a normal dressing-room to me."

She trotted past me and looked around. "Hellooo, anypony here?" she asked.

A yellow pony came out from another room with a puzzled look. She had orange mane. I recognised her immediately. Fluttershy however, did not.

"Hi there, who are you?" she asked innocently.

"That's what I was about to ask you! You're in my dressing-room, you know!" the yellow pony asked sternly.

"Eeep. Uh. I... we... they said... that we should come in here." Fluttershy replied.

"Who did tell you to go into my dressing-room?!" she asked.

"Th... the.. ... guide?" Fluttershy replied, more like a question than a statement.

"... Wait. Did you say we?" she turned around and saw me standing in the doorway. I realised that my jaw had dropped and I blushed. I trotted into the room and cleared my throat.

"Hi... " I said while giving her a sheepish smile. "... You... You're Spitfire!"

"I sure am! Oh, that reminds me, I was told that some VIPs were coming by today. You must be Rainbow Dash, eh?" Spitfire replied. Her voice was now a lot more soft, probably her normal one.

"Uh... I ... Yes?" I said in astonishment. She knew my name?! I thought to myself.

"The name sure suits you! I like the looks of your mane and tail! Anyways... Who's your friend?" Spitfire asked, and turned towards Fluttershy.

"I'm... Fluttershy." she said shyly.

Spitfire politely held out a hoof to greet her. "Nice to meet you, Fluttershy!" she said. I was only slightly envious. But Spitfire turned to me and did the same. "And nice to meet you too, Rainbow Dash!"

"I.. uh... Likewise!" I stuttered. I couldn't really believe it. I stood in Spitfire's dressing-room and shook her hoof. It's like... like a dream come true.

Fluttershy noticed me dreaming away in my own little world and said, to make me snap out of it, "Rainbow has adored you Wonderbolts her entire life. Don't you have anything to ask Spitfire, now that you finally meet?" she poked me as she said it.

"Right... Right! I've been your fan my whole life! You're the youngest captain of the Wonderbolts ever, right? And you're female! How cool is that!" I said.

"That's correct! You sure do know a lot, Rainbow!" Spitfire replied.

After a moment of awkward silence Fluttershy spoke up.

"So... I guess you didn't know that you'd grow up and become captain of the Wonderbolts... How did it all happen? Where are you from? How did you get your cutiemark?"

I mentally hugged Fluttershy. Spitfire liked to tell the story and both me and Fluttershy appreciated it. We made the most out of the time we spent together with Spitfire.

Many questions, answers and laughter later Spitfire spoke up. "Oh my, time flies, eh? It's already half past three. I'm supposed to be on a coordination meeting with our coach and the rest of my crew in ten minutes! I need to get ready!"

"Wow, is it that late already? We better go then!" I said, and turned around to leave my idol in peace.

"See you in half an hour, then?" Spitfire asked as we left.

"Huh?" I looked at her puzzled until I remembered, "Right! The show! I had almost forgotten! Will definately see you in half an hour!" I said.

We walked the corridor back towards where we came from. As we opened the door the guide surprisingly was on the other side. Fluttershy did of course gasp as she was startled.

"I did not mean to scare you, sorry." he said flatly.

"No problems. She's a bit... eh, like that. It's normal. Where's our seats?"

"VIP-section is this way!" he said and trotted away towards some stairs.

When we got up to the VIP-section I was a bit overwhelmed by the view. We had the best 'seats' in the whole arena. Fluttershy and I sat there for a while, talking about and admiring the amazing view. Ponies had started to flow in below us where the common ponies' seats were. When there was approximately five minutes before the show started, the arena was pretty much full.

I noticed a quite big balcony beautifully decorated lying a bit further ahead, to the left of us. I remember thinking, Who's that for... and just as I thought that a bright light came from behind. I turned around and there she was. Princess Celestia. Fluttershy poked me as my jaw had once again dropped, I immediately stood up and bowed my head for the royalty. The big white alicorn strode past us down to the balcony where she received the cheers from the spectators.

"And now... The moment you've all been waiting for. Heeeeeeeeeeere's The Wonderbolts!" the presenter called out.

A massive amount of cheering, screaming and stomping broke out. The Wonderbolts entered the arena from a door in the middle. They graciously flew a few laps around to get some speed and then they set off. The show lasted for about 40 minutes and with countless tricks. I knew them all. There were cork-screws, barrel rolls and loops. I wouldn't be able to copy all of them though, obviously, since the Wonderbolts were amazing fliers and have had training from the best of the best.

The show seemed to have come to an end and the presenter called out that it was time for the big finale! Everypony was waiting excitedly, including me and Fluttershy. She had actually been cheering and screaming quite a lot which surprised me, since she was usually a quite shy and timid pegasus. I figured that she liked it as much as anypony else, so it was all good. The Wonderbolts had met in the middle of the arena, and they were talking to each other.

Suddenly they spread out. I counted ten pegasi hovering seemingly at random places around the arena. I didn't see Spitfire amongst them so I figured that she would be doing something special. On a given signal the ten pegasi started to spin, creating whirlwinds on their spot. I searched for Spitfire but couldn't see her anywhere. I heard a cheer from the crowd below me. I followed their gaze and saw Spitfire approaching quickly from the left side. I could see from my position that she was flying extremely fast. She was heading towards the closest little whirlwind, i.e. the closest Wonderbolt-pegasi. A gasp was heard from the ponies below. I knew that they were thinking exactly the same thing I was thinking. She's going to crash into the other pegasi!

However, that was not what Spitfire had in mind. When she came close to the whirlwind she turned away in the last second making it an almost 90 degree turn at the range of maybe one meter from the pegasi. She then continued in a straight line towards the next one and the one after that. And while she was practically bouncing between the other Wonderbolts the one she had 'bounced' took new positions almost instantly and without ever coming close to another 'stationary' Wonderbolts member.

It was almost too good to be true. It felt like chaos due to the small whirlwinds who hovered at one angle, then quickly afterwards took a new position. Spitfire's straight lines were the only thing you could keep your eyes on.

The trick ended almost as sudden as it started, and it was then the beauty was revealed. All the Wonderbolts had gathered together again to give the crowd a chance to read a message. The characteristic black smoke Spitfire had left behind hung as letters in the air. It read:

Thanks for coming!
Have a nice day!

A deafening roar of cheers, screams and stomping once again filled the arena. The Wonderbolts flew up to the middle again, bowed in every direction and took the crowds standing ovations. They also flew one lap around the arena slowly, during which they shook Princess Celestia's hoof as they flew past her. Spitfire even waved at me when she passed. I felt incredibly honored.

I sighed when the common murmur erupted as everypony below started to trot out of the arena.

"Why are you sighing?" Fluttershy asked me.

"I... Well... It's over. I don't want it to be over." I said sadly.

"You can't live in a dream, Rainbow! You are needed in Ponyville, and if you practice well enough you could send in your application to the Wonderbolts eventually!" Fluttershy said soothingly. "Our train leaves in roughly 40 minutes, at half past five. We better get the carriage back to our hotel to get our stuff."

"Yeah. I guess." I replied.

Fluttershy started to trot towards the exit but turned around as she noticed me not following. "Are you coming?" she asked.

"I'll be right there, can I just have a minute? I want to remember this moment." I said.

"Sure. I'll meet you downstairs." she said.

I took a deep breath, and trotted to the edge of the balcony. I closed my eyes and pictured me as a member of the Wonderbolts and all the fame and happiness that came with it. When I opened my eyes Spitfire was there, hovering just in front of me.

"... Hi..?" I said tentatively.

"Hi, Rainbow. What did you think of the show?" she asked.

"Wow. It... it was amazing! You are awesome, Spitfire! That last trick... incredibly good." I said honestly.

"Oh, that was nothing! But thank you!" Spitfire said, but I noticed that she appreciated my compliments. She smiled. "We kind of ran out of time earlier. I wanted to give you something! I'll be back in a minute!" she said and flew down towards the where she had entered the arena. Shortly she returned with a rolled-up poster.

"... Don't... tell me it's what I think it is." I said as I hardly dared to accept the gift.

"I think you know what it is, Rainbow. And I want you to have it. I've got so many anyway, it isn't really a big deal for me. I overheard you saying that you wanted to memorise this moment. With this, I'm quite sure you'll remember!"

"May I...?" I asked.

"Of course!" she replied.

I slowly took off the rubber band and rolled up the poster. I let out a gasp as I watched it. Spitfire giggled. "I knew you'd like it!"

It was a special poster of the Wonderbolts. Usually the posters only had three or four Wonderbolts members on them, but this one had all eleven, and each one of them had signed their autograph on it. Just above their picture. The poster was invaluable to me, and extremely valuable to anypony. I could surely sell it for several thousand bits but I never would.

"I... I can't accept this." I said. "It's... too generous."

"Nah. It's fine, as I said, it isn't such a big deal for me. Just a poster, I had a feeling that you'd treasure it more."

"... How could I ever..." I started but I couldn't keep my voice steady. "T-thank y-you!" I said and bowed.

"Hey! I'm not Princess Celestia! No need to bow! Remember, I was just a mare like yourself once. Just believe in yourself and everything is possible!" she said as she flew away. She turned around and shouted. "Until we meet again, Rainbow Dash!" then she was gone.

Fluttershy opened the door behind me and said, somewhat stressed. "Um.... Still here? Could we perhaps, go? ... If you don't mind?"

"Yeah... I'm coming right away!" I replied and hurried after Fluttershy.

We made a short stop at our hotel to get our stuff, as we entered the hotel the receptionist said. "I heard of your late arrival, hence I took the liberty of carrying your luggage down, it's over there, and don't worry, we've been keeping an eye on it."

"Sweet! Thanks!" I replied. We grabbed our luggage and hurried towards the train station. Luckily we made it just in time. We found our train compartment and could finally relax. It had been quite an exhausting weekend. Fluttershy seemed to fall asleep almost immediately.

To briefly summarise it – Most. Awesome. Day. Ever.

Rainbow and Fluttershy got off the train as it arrived in Ponyville. The sun had set and the moon shone a spooky white light over the ground. It had been an amazing weekend and they were both quite satisfied with it. When they arrived at Fluttershy's house they found Spike asleep inside. Rainbow wished Fluttershy a good night and decided to take Spike home to the library.

She knocked lightly on the library door.

"Twilight!" Rainbow said.

"Just a minute... You know the library is closed, right?" Twilights voice said from inside. A few moments later she opened the door. "Rainbow! Hi! How was the show?!"

Rainbow trotted inside the library. "It was awesome! Though I actually just came by to bring home Spike. He's asleep." she said.

"Ah yes, he is. I'll take him up to his bed right away. Twilight carefully levitated Spike in front of herself as she trotted up the stairs. Soon thereafter she came down again. "Now... Tell me everything!" she said, curiously.

"I... eh. I just wanted to say thanks. If you ever see your friend, tell him that I appreciated it so much! I'm actually kind of tired, it's been a long day. Maybe we can talk tomorrow?" Rainbow said.

"Of course, Rainbow. How inconsiderate of me. Maybe we can gather everypony, you know, me, Rarity, Pinkie, you, Fluttershy and Applejack. And you can tell us about it?"

"Yeah. Sounds good. Then I don't have to repeat it and it sounds like good fun. Good night, Twilight!”

Rainbow flew up towards Cloudsdale. As she approached her house she could tell that something was wrong. In the darkness she could distinguish that one of the windows on the second floor were open. Vega would never forget these things. Hmm... she thought to herself as she came closer. She knocked on the door. She knocked again a little harder this time and realised that the door was not properly closed as it slowly swung open.

"Hello? Vega, are you in here?" Rainbow asked. Nopony answered. Maybe she's out. She thought to herself, she decided to take in the dry clothes that were on the line outside and close the window she saw earlier was open. When Rainbow entered the kitchen to make supper she saw a note lying on the kitchen table. She sat down and started to read.

To Rainbow Dash

Hi there my little Rainbow. I'm so sorry I could not say this in person and explain everything. I'll do my best to do it in this letter. I knew this day would come, eventually. But it has always seemed so distant. Now that it's time, I'm not sure that I'm prepared. As I feared a dire situation has arisen. I've been summoned by nopony other than princess Luna herself. I wanted so badly to see you one last time. To answer this summon will be the most important thing I'll ever do in my whole life. I can not tell you what I'm about to do or where I am going, but I can tell you it's for the good of Equestria. Do not try to follow me, Rainbow, for nopony will ever know anything about where I am or how to find me. They wouldn't even recognise me in broad daylight. I'm quite sure that you'll be able to take care of yourself. Check your bank account in Ponyville, I and both your parents have been saving some bits for whenever you'd be moving to your own place. I'm sure it'll be more than enough. But still please try to have a job. The days pass so much faster when you've got a job.

Lastly I'd like to remind you to find somepony special to be with. Having somepony that you love and that loves you back gives so much. It's really special. The bond between a mare and stallion can be so strong. You can't possibly imagine what can be done if it's strong enough.

Much love
- Vega

Rainbow's eyes were getting wet. Where did she go?! Why can't I follow. Why now! The questions were buzzing in her mind. She read the letter twice, to let it sink in.

As she finished, she blinked away the 'tears' and looked outside the window thoughtfully. Where are you, now? I miss you... so much.

Chapter III - There and back again?

A Rainbow Swiftly Lost
By Ferlathin

Chapter III - There and back again?

Journal entry #9 – Canterlot

Dear journal,

A lot has happened since that wagon took me away from Cloudsdale. We moved into quite a nice part of Canterlot, both my parents had actually gotten jobs there. My mother got a job at the royal court, I never really knew exactly what it was that she would be doing, but apparently she was important enough, considering how good her pay was. My father got work as a hotel receptionist in one of the more exclusive hotels in Canterlot. The job suited him way better than his old one at the weather factory, he always was a very social pegasus. Their new jobs meant that they would be at home a lot more, which I actually appreciated. The atmosphere in our house was way better than it had ever been before, and we were laughing and living our lives together. Everything was good.

I was sent to a public school to prepare for potential university studies. My parents really wanted me to get into the Canterlot university. It was a big deal to them, since they never got the chance to study on such an advanced level themselves. I can't really say I liked school, but it made the time pass quicker. During my time there I wrote a few adventure stories. My teacher really liked them, she even sent one of them to the Best Young Author competition. I obviously didn't win, but the gesture was sweet nonetheless.

I kept training as usual, and my training journal was becoming a great really tool. My daily routine was to train half an hour before school and two hours after school. A part of me wanted to keep in shape while the other just enjoyed working out. The bullying that had existed in my foalhood was nowhere to be found here, I felt more self-confident than ever before, and life just went on. I liked it.

There actually was something that changed, at least the way I looked. In my foalhood I wrote to you, journal, that my mane and tail was black, which was true. Now, however, I've gotten a stripe of red in it as well. I quite like the look of it, and I think it suits me rather well. The red has appeared in both my tail and in my mane, and one more thing that has popped up too, my cutiemark! It was during school, one of those more fun classes where we could write stories. My teacher had made it into a small competition, write as good a story as possible in ten minutes. I just let the pencil flow and write whatever was on my mind. It went quite well, I managed to write three pages, while the others finished at one and a half. My teacher cheered and declared me the winner, and then suddenly she gasped.

"Look!" my teacher said. Everypony turned around and looked at me.

"What? ..." I replied.

"You've gotten your cutiemark!" somepony said.

"What!?" I immediately turned around and looked at my flank. It wasn't blank anymore, there was a depiction of a note block and a pencil. I gasped.

"You're gonna be a writer, Sam!" a mare in front of me said, it was clear that she thought it was very romantic. When I looked up she winked at me, and I smiled sheepishly in return.

After class she came to me and asked, "Want to do something after school?" she looked at me with eyes that clearly stated what she actually wanted to do with me.

"I... Eeeh. I've got stuff to do, sorry." I said, rejecting her generous offer. It wasn't that she wasn't good looking. It was just that... I had never been with a mare before and it just didn't feel right at that moment.

However, when the rumor had spread that I was a romantic novelist the mares were practically begging to give me inspiration. I kind of had to escape it somehow. Usually, in the lunch breaks, I snuck out to Canterlot's public library. I liked the library, it had to be quiet and the 'romance-hunting' mares never seemed to go there.

It was one of those days I saw her. She wasn't like any other mare I had ever met, her coat was lavender colored and her mane and tail were three different shades of purple. Her bangs were beautifully covering the lower part of her unicorn horn. She seemed to be deeply immersed in a book. I didn't pay too much attention to her and continued on my secret little project. Writing a Daring Do book.

Samuel paused briefly and took a sip of water. It felt good to write. This journal business is kind of sweet. He thought to himself. He looked out the window and saw that the moon was rising.

"Wow... I must have lost track of the time... again." he murmured to himself.

Now that he actually realized what time it was, he felt rather tired, and he decided to call it a day and went to bed. The next day was graduation day after all.

Journal entry #10 – University

Dear journal,

It's now been three months since my graduation. I managed to become the top student in my class and I was quite satisfied with it. I hadn’t changed my mind regarding studying at the university, and a few weeks after the graduation I applied to a few courses at the Canterlot university. Free writing, Writing 101, and Creative Writing among others. I figured that those would fit me quite well, my schedule wasn't too cramped so I had a lot of spare time too. The university life suited me perfectly, I enjoyed just strolling around campus, observing my environment in order to get creative ideas.

The university library was the biggest library in Canterlot, it had a multitude of different departments, and the sheer amount of books surpassed any other library in Equestria. I read a lot of books, I kind of had to, with my studies and all. Reading the work of great authors grants a lot of understanding and insight into how to write your own. 'It's essential to read a lot of different kinds of books!' the Creative Writing professor had told me. He was a stallion, possibly as old as my father, who had quite a reputation as an author. He fancied the fantasy/adventure genre and has written bestsellers such as, Survivin' ever free, Prancing with Danger and let's not forget his masterpiece, The Circles of Destiny. I was quite honored to have such a famous pony teach me about what he did best, I had read his books before I even knew that he was going to tutor me.

It was a day like any other and I was sitting in the library reading some fiction while continuing work on my own Daring Do story. I noticed that the lavender unicorn I had seen in the public library a few times was actually sitting on the other side of the room. She was yet again completely buried in a big book in front of her. I just had to talk to her.

"Hi there!" I said, somewhat tentatively.

Either she didn't hear what I said or she was very good at acting like she hadn’t. I trotted around to her side of the table and poked her shoulder as I said, "What's that you're reading?"

She flinched and almost fell out of her chair. I took her hoof and gave her some balance. "I.. I'm so sorry. I didn't notice..." she said while she levitated another book that had fallen to the floor.

My jaw dropped, only briefly though. "Was... Was that you?" I pointed at the book which now lay at the table in front of me. I looked at the book, the floor and then at the unicorn.

"Yup. It's magic! That's what I study." she replied.

I had still not really recovered from seeing somepony so young being able to handle levitation that well. I hadn't really seen much of it at all, just read about it in my fiction books.

"Where's my manners, I'm Samuel Swift!" I said and politely held out a hoof.

She took it and said, "Nice to meet you, Samuel, I'm Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"So... You study magic?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. See that?" she said and turned her head to look at her cutiemark. "You know that unicorns usually can do magic that has to do with their cutiemark, right?"

"Yes, so I've heard." I replied.

"Well. Mine is kind of complicated. My cutiemark is... Magic. I'm destined to use and learn more about magic." she said.

"Wow. I've never heard of such a thing." I said honestly.

She looked at me, to see if I actually meant it or if I was just making fun of her. "Look. I really have to go. Got a lot of studying to catch up on!" she said while levitating the books into her saddle bag. She started to trot towards the exit but hastily turned around. "But it was nice to meet you, Samuel!"

"Come by anytime! I'm here quite a lot and I've written some stories of my own, if you'd like to read something that isn't nonfiction." I shouted after her, realizing that several other ponies were looking my way. "Sorry..." I apologized since I knew I had made too much noise.

I returned to my table where I sat down and sighed. Nicely handled there. Really. The sarcastic thoughts poisoned my mind. If you can't get her out of your head, how will you ever find your special somepony?

"I... She is my special somepony!" I cried out. This time I drew rather much attention upon me. I hastily picked up my stuff and left the library.

How could I act so... Emotional... all of a sudden. What's wrong?! I remember thinking. Usually I was quite good at keeping my emotions inside me, and not expressing them too much.

I went home and didn't speak to anypony on the way. I managed to keep it up, the silence, for almost three days. I noticed that my teachers had become a little worried, as I wasn't answering any of their questions during the seminars like I usually would. However I did my homework and turned in the papers on time, so they didn't do anything about it.

Today came and I went by the library for a brief look after a certain book.

Suddenly I heard a cheerful voice, "Hi there, Samuel!" I turned around and saw Twilight Sparkle standing there, smiling.

I just couldn't be silent anymore. "Hi..." I said and tried to sound happy.

Twilight saw straight through my efforts of seeming happy. "What's the matter? Is something wrong?" she said, and with such care.

"It... I've had a few rough days." I said. "What do you want? ... Twilight."

"I... eh." she looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face. "S-sorry I bothered you..." she said and turned around to leave.

"Nonono! Wait! It's me who should be sorry." I trotted in front of her and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I didn't mean to sound like that. I'm..." I sighed. "I'm just a tired."

"University studies can indeed be tiring. I accept your apology, Samuel. Don't worry, I know how it can be sometimes." she said and smiled.

I mentally slapped myself on my cheek thinking, Pull yourself together, Samuel, you're a wreck. "Thanks. What did you want, though?" I asked, more sincere this time.

"I just wondered if you'd let me read one of your stories. I actually do have some spare time! Who would have thought, right?"

"Heh. Of course, Twilight. Here, take a look!" I handed her the draft of my Daring Do story.

"I can't read it here, silly! I don't have that much time to spare! I'll read it tonight and then I'll meet you here tomorrow?" she said.

"Umm... Sure?" I said while nodding.

"See you tomorrow then! I can't wait to see what you've written, they say you're a romantic novelist."

Oh dear... not this again. I thought to myself. The rest of the day went by without anything special happening. I ended up in my room, writing this journal entry.

I'm thinking of going to bed now. I wonder what Twilight thinks of my Daring Do story. Let's hope it turns out to be good. Anyways, goodnight for now, dear journal!

Signing out! - Samuel

Samuel put down the pencil, quite satisfied with what he had written so far. He was up to date with his journal entries and, yeah, life was probably not that bad after all. He had made a new friend, in the library, of all places. She was intelligent and beautiful, and tomorrow he'd see whether she would appreciate his work or not. He went to bed and fell soon asleep.

He woke up. Samuel wondered if he had really slept at all, but the sun was going up so he assumed that he had. One can't remember a dreamless sleep, since there's nothing to remember. He thought to himself. He had read that somewhere.

Samuel did his morning routine, a brief half an hour flight around Canterlot and ended up at his house again, took a shower and made sure he had all his papers and stuff he needed at the university ready.

He left his house and trotted towards the university, feeling quite happy.

Journal entry #11 – From books to wonders

Dear journal,

It's now been a week since my last entry and since I kind of ended it with, hmm, somewhat of a cliffhanger I felt that it wouldn't be fair of me not to tell you the end of it. I did however wait a week since I figured that something new just might come up. It would have been an awfully short entry otherwise, don't you think?

So, where were we again? Right. University. I arrived at the university just in time for my first seminar. I've always liked to be punctual. The seminar went well, and I could see the relief in my teachers’ eyes when I raised my hoof and answered their questions once again. Lunch came and I ate quickly, no need to 'waste time' eating when there was so many other things to be done. I went over to the library where I found Twilight, I could tell from afar that she was actually reading my story.

She looked up as I trotted closer. "Just give me a minute, I'm finishing the last chapter..." she said.

I waited, slightly anxious, for her to finish it. Would she like it or would she despise it for not being a romantic novel. She finally turned the last page but still didn't move an inch. She sat there for maybe thirty seconds.

Then stood up, looked me in the eyes and said. "That. Was. Awesome!"

She extended both her forelegs as if she was about to hug me, suddenly stopped, realizing what she was doing and instead gave me a friendly, yet careful, pat on my shoulder.

"Wow... That totally reminded me of somepony." I said.

"Hmm? Which, the statement or my gesture?" she asked.

"The former." I replied. "Want to take a walk? I don't want to disturb the ponies here in the library more than I already have..."

"Sure." Twilight nodded.

We took a walk around the campus and I explained which pony she reminded me of. The earlier familiar statement could of course have been taken out of any scene from my memory with Rainbow Dash.

"I like the way you describe things..." Twilight suddenly said. "In the book, that is. It feels so alive and it's so beautifully written. One really does feel sympathy for the main character. Now that you've told me about this Rainbow Dash, I kind of feel that they're quite similar. Their characteristics and so on. Not their looks, obviously."

I smiled sheepishly and scratched the ground with my right fore hoof. "Eheh... Really?"

"I reckon you missed out one little detail though when you were talking about Rainbow Dash." Twilight said and looked into my eyes.

"Hmm? What was that?" I replied.

"That you were in love with her." she said.

"What!? I... How did you..." I stuttered.

"It's true, is it not?" she said.

I sighed. "Yeah. It is true."

She smiled at me. "You really are romantic. I knew it!"

"Rainbow would never read it, anyways. She's more of an outside pony than a reader. And I've no idea of where she is. Last time I saw her was in Cloudsdale, and that was quite a while ago. She could be anywhere by now." I said with a touch of sadness in my voice.

"Aww. Don't be like that. I'm sure you'll find her someday!" Twilight soothed. "Oh gosh. Look at the time. We've been out her for ages. I really need to get back and get on with my studies. Princess Celestia wouldn't be happy if I was late."

"Princess Celestia!?" I said, surprised.

"Yes. I'm her most faithful student and she trusts me completely." she said happily.

"That sure sounded like bragging to me." I said teasingly.

"Eeh. I... uh.. But it's true!" she said and blushed.

"I'm sure it is, Twilight. I'm just messing with you. Now now, off you go to your important royal studies!" I said, smiling.

We parted and I trotted towards my next seminar. I arrived right on time, as usual.

Later that day I decided to do some serious work out. I went over to the university's outdoor arena where I could easily practice my running. There was also a lot of space, so air tricks were easier around there. I had been running for about ten minutes when I saw a yellow pony with two shades of orange colored mane and tail. She seemed to be doing some pretty advanced tricks. Suddenly I saw her lose control over her flight and she started descending towards the ground at a dangerously high speed. I did what I could to prevent the disaster, I flew as fast as I could towards her and managed to catch her just a few feet from the ground. Not having taken into calculation the extra weight while carrying her made me not being able to rise. I tried to slow down as much as I could but I eventually crashed anyways.

We rolled around briefly and she ended up on top of me. "Hey, are you allright?" I asked.

"I... I think so." she said, slightly dazed.

I realized my awkward position, blushed slightly and said. "Umm... Could you... perhaps get off me?"

It was her turn to blush now. "Of- of course." she said and flew up and stood next to me. I noticed how cute she was. She must be a few years older than me. I remember thinking, since I didn't recognize her from school.

I stood up and held out my hoof. "I'm Samuel, you can call me Sam!"

"Hi, Sam." she took my hoof. "Thank you for... that. I.. I lost control." she said.

"What were you doing up there anyways? It kind of looked like that you were about to do a corkscrew but then ended up leaning way too much forward, letting all the all the wind beneath you work against you instead of vice versa."

She just stood there, blinked and continued to look at me, with quite a surprised facial expression.

"I didn't catch your name, by the way... Did I?" I asked in order to break the ensuing awkward silence.

"Oh, I'm... ..." She looked around. "I'm Firah... Flamewood." she eventually replied.

"Firah Flamewood?" I looked at her and raised one of my eyebrows thoughtfully.

"Heh. Yeah. That's my name!" she said and giggled. "You can call me Fire if you want, my friends call me that."

"Sure thing, Fire! How did you end up here?" I asked.

"I... I just came by. I wanted to do some practicing, and this seemed like a good spot." she said.

"It sure is! I like it. Not many other ponies here, and lots of space." I said.

"My thoughts exactly!" she replied.

"So what are you practicing for, anyways?" I asked.

"Umm. I just want to keep in shape!" she said and in a slightly more angry tone she added "Is that a crime!?"

"Whoa. Sorry. I didn't mean for it to be such an interrogation. Let's change the subject. Want to race me?" I said, not sure if it'd make my situation any better.

It seemed to have been the right thing to say as her face lit up and she smirked at me. "Sure. Sounds like fun!"

We agreed on a course with a few checkpoints and then we went to the start line. I started counting down from three.

"Three. Two. One. Go!"

I noticed that she was fast, really fast. She took the front position quickly and had no trouble keeping me behind. I came a little bit closer to her at the first checkpoint, where we had to fly around a tree. On the straights, however, I had little chance of keeping up. The race ended, not to anypony's surprise but me, with Fire crossing the finish line first.

"Wow. ... You... You're really fast." I said while trying to catch my breath.

"You're not too bad either." Fire replied.

It was already getting dark and Fire said. "Hmm... I should probably head home! It's getting late."

"Ah, yeah. It sure is. I've got lots of things to do as well." I replied. "It was nice meeting you, though. ... Fire."

"Sure, nice to meet you too, Sam." she said. She took off, but turned around and said. "And thanks for giving me a soft landing!"

I could hear her giggle as she flew away. Well, 'that' was kind of weird. I thought to myself as I was trotting home. On the way I thought of what had happened that day. Twilight had liked my draft. I had met a cute yellow pony called Fire. I had lost to Fire in a race. There sure was something rather familiar about her, but I couldn't say exactly what. The fact itself, that I lost a race against a mare, was something that I had seldom experienced before. Sure, I had met some quite fit mares out there, but usually when it came down to a race I didn't lose. The only mare that had consistently used to beat me in races was Rainbow Dash. Have I just now found somepony of her caliber. I remember thinking to myself.

The next few days proved that theory correct. I spent the afternoons with Fire at the university's outdoor arena where we trained and worked out together. I brought my training journal and I almost felt a déjà vu when I explained to Fire what it was, how I used it and how useful I thought it was. She picked up on every little detail that I pointed out. On how to optimize speed in various situations, on how to efficiently keep balance while doing spins, corkscrews and other tricks that required even greater focus.

The third day, when I pointed out that she could use her tail differently when flying upwards in order to make it increase her speed instead of decrease it, she turned to me and sincerely asked.

"How on earth do you know all these things! I feel like... Like I'm back in school, learning how to fly for the first time." she asked.

"I... I don't know, really. I guess I have a knack for it. I also read a lot of books." I said. "What I like most of all is to observe and write things down, and when it comes to observing I have years of experience."

"Haha. I bet you do, Mr. Charming!" she said and winked.

"Hey... I didn't mean it like that!" I replied. "I just meant-"

"I know what you meant, Sam. Just teasing a little. It's okay, right?" she said.

"Heh. It's fine. I should be used to it. I had this friend who used to do it all the time and even then I never got it right away." I said and smiled.

I wonder where you are now... Rainbow Dash. I thought to myself while looking into the sky.

"Helloooo? You theere?" Fire flew in front of me, poking my shoulder. "Fire to Sam, do you copy?" she said jokingly.

"Uh, yeah. I'm here! Why?" I replied.

"I asked you a question! So what'll it be? Is it okay?" she said, clearly amused since she knew I had not heard her question.

"Eeeeh. ..." I scraped the ground with my hoof. "Could you perhaps repeat that question... I... I was... thinking." I said slightly embarrassed.

"Sure can do! I were interested in if you'd like to meet a few of my wonderful friends tomorrow. They’ve noticed how I'm getting better way faster than them, and they’ve been questioning my methods. I'd just like to introduce them to you." she said, and emphasized the word 'wonderful' in kind of a weird way.

I didn't really care about her emphasis and I replied. "Sure. Why not! The more the merrier, right?"

We decided to call it a day and as I turned around to leave the outdoor arena Fire caught up with me and said. "What were you thinking about back there?"

"I... It was just... You reminded me of somepony I used to know." I said and tried to hide the sting of sadness.

Fire did, just as Twilight, see straight through my brave efforts. "I'm sorry. Was it something I said?" she wondered.

"No. Well. Yes, it was. But it's not you. You are just who you are. It's not your fault." I said.

"What happened, tell me and I'm sure you'll feel better." she said sincerely.

I had actually not spoken to anypony about what had happened in my foalhood and since it had been on my mind lately I decided to let it all out.

"There was this filly I once knew..." I paused briefly and took a deep breath. "... And I liked her. She was one of the 'cool fillies' and I was one of those who got bullied often. She was usually practicing new tricks or working out during the afternoons. I managed to get to meet her through a common friend of ours." I probably said it a little bit more than that, but you get the idea. I continued to tell her about the last conversation with Rainbow, in which she said, "I'm going home, don't you dare speak to me again... ever."

Last thing I told Fire was when Rainbow pulled off the Sonic Rainboom, at the last day of summer flight camp. As well as when Fluttershy kissed me, and what it all probably looked like to Rainbow.

Fire was quite touched by my story. I could see a tear in her eye. She did, however, blink it away. Just like Rainbow... I thought to myself as I saw it happen.

"Wow... She does indeed sound kind of awesome." Fire finally said.

"Yeah... Awesome is the word she'd use herself." I said.

"She actually managed to do a Sonic Rainboom, as a filly?" Fire asked, clearly impressed.

"Yes. We had to practice a lot for it though. It sure wasn't easy, but she was an excellent student and she evidently managed to push herself enough to make it happen." I said.

"Quite a filly, that Rainbow Dash." Fire said.

"She sure was." I said, somewhat dreamingly.

Fire poked me and said. "Hey, snap out of it, dreamer! Here's my street!" she pointed up a street nearby. "Where do you live anyways?"

"I... uh." I looked around me and realized that I didn't recognize the quarter at all. "Let's look at it from above, everything gets easier from the air!"

We flew up and I pointed out where my house was.

"Cool. See you tomorrow then?" she said.

"Yea... And thanks. I really needed to let it all out, I feel a lot better now that it's done." I said and looked into her eyes.

"It was nothing. The story was quite interesting, and that Rainbow... Anyways. Bye!"

I watched her for a while before I turned around to fly down to my house.

Everything felt quite well as I got home, and when I went to bed I fell asleep almost immediately. The day after came and passed quickly. Soon it became afternoon and after my last seminar I trotted towards the outdoor arena where I had spent quite a lot of time over the past few days. I must be honest with you, dear journal, I was a bit curious about Fire's friends. It wouldn't be long until I got to hear who they were though. I could see a bunch of pegasi standing together and talking, Fire being one of them. She noticed me, waved and said, "Hi there, Sam!"

"So this is the pegasus that you've been speaking so highly of." a pale blue colored stallion said.

Fire nodded and said something I couldn't hear in response.

"Hmpf. We'll see about that." he said and flew up in the air.

Fire turned to me and said, "Could you, well, just observe as you normally do?"

"Sure." I said and plucked forth my pencil and journal.

"Look! He's gonna steal our trick!" another pony said and pointed accusingly at me.

"No no! It's fine. You're just not used to his ways. Just watch." Fire said reassuringly.

I observed the pale blue pegasus doing a barrel roll, scribbled down a few thoughts and waited. Shortly thereafter he came down and got praised by his friends.

"Beautiful!" one of them said. "Well done. So nicely executed!" another one said.

Fire smiled at her friends, cleared her throat to get their attention and said. "Why don't we let Sam say what he thinks?"

They all turned towards me and looked at me with disbelief. I chose to ignore it and told them what I had observed.

"Right. It's a beautifully performed barrel roll. However there's a few things I'd like to point out. Firstly, when you took off I noticed something. Can you just do that again?"

He took off and started to fly upwards. I continued, "Look at that. I mean, sure, it's agile, but is it gracious? No. It looks kind of sloppy."

He flew down to us again, with a slight blush on his face.

"Let me show you. Hold out your wings, please." I said. He obliged. "Okay, look everypony. If you want to look gracious, you need to keep your wings like this." I showed them using the pale blue pony as marionette. "Right. And when you flap your wings, you want to do it like this." I showed him what I meant, and he mimicked.

A surprised 'oooooh' came from the rest of the ponies. "Feels better, right?" I said. He nodded. "And it looks way better!"

I continued. "Secondly, when doing a barrel roll, there's a few elements one needs to think carefully about. Sure, it can look like a simple trick, but it takes lot of practice to execute it perfectly. Something I noticed you doing was that when you were about three quarters into the rotation. You accelerated, didn't you?"

"Of course. I always do that, to optimize my speed if I'm going in for another trick shortly after." he explained.

"Right. Do you also usually lose balance briefly just as you're finished with the trick?" I asked with a somewhat teasing smile.

"Did you notice that?" I asked the other pegasi. They shook their heads. "Well, did you lose your balance or not?" I asked.

"... I did." he admitted.

"Okay. There's a few things you can do to prevent that. First I'll explain why it all happened. When you accelerate while rotating it makes the aerodynamic resistance change. Since you're moving at such speeds even the slightest change in the environment around you will be of significance. If the conditions change one has to be extremely quick to adapt accordingly." I paused briefly to see if I had their attention, which I had. "There's two ways of easily avoiding all this trouble. You can choose to not accelerate at all during the rotation, that is, to wait and not do it until after the rotation is done. The second, which is also the more, let's call it, cool way of doing it is to accelerate all the way through the rotation."

"But didn't you just say that accelerating in the rotation was bad?" one of the pegasi asked.

"Yes. True. Well spotted. The thing is, if you're accelerating through the whole rotation your body won't react in the same way. Mostly due to the fact that it's used to the acceleration. The change in aerodynamic resistance will still be there, but it will be a lot easier to deal with. I'm not sure if I can explain it better than that. You simply have to try it out yourselves!" I said.

"Was there anything else you observed, Sam?" Fire asked.

"Heh, yeah. You know..." I looked at the pale blue pegasus in front of me who I still didn't know the name of. "When you're doing a trick, you don't need to look so focused. It's almost as if you're angry! Feeling focused and looking focused does not necessarily have to be the same thing. If you should ever perform before a crowd, it's probably good to learn how to act like the trick you're doing isn't hard at all, even though it might push you to your limits. That's what the crowd loves to see."

"And putting a smile on that grumpy face of yours surely would help you out with the mares! If you know what I mean!" I said teasingly and poked him. The others giggled.

"Wow. You really do live up to what Spitfire said about you." the pale blue pegasus said.

"Wo wo wo, hold up! Did... did you just... ..." I looked at Fire.

"Sorry Sam, I wanted your perfectly honest and objective opinions. I thought that it wouldn't really have been possible if you knew who I was. I am indeed Spitfire." Fire said.

"..." I was speechless. "Di.. did I... Then you must be." I looked at the other pegasi and they nodded.

It was apparently too much. I must have passed out, for I only remember waking up, lying on my back hearing Fire say. "Guys, he's waking up!"

"You... You're... the Wonderbolts." I sat up, trying to let it all sink in. "You're Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts. I... Wow." I couldn't really express myself. "And you must be Soarin'!" I said as I turned around to the pale blue pegasi I had lectured earlier. As I realized that I had done just that I said. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean... You were doing it really well. I just-"

"Samuel. You were just doing what you're good at. You gave me your objective opinion on my trick. You taught me things about what I was doing wrong, some which I already knew about. But you were also able to explain why it happened as well as providing a solution, something that I definitely would not have been able to do in such a short time by myself." Soarin' said calmly.

I could only stand there. The Wonderbolts were actually standing in front of me, telling me that I was good.

"So, Sam... I think I speak for all of us when I ask you this." Fire said and looked at the rest of the pegasi standing behind her. They nodded. "Would you... Like to become our coach?"

"Me!? Coaching, the Wonderbolts!? Wow... ..." I said, somewhat speechless once again. "Are you... really sure?"

"Yes. We've already made our decision." Fire said. "You in?" she asked and held forth her right fore hoof.

"But what of your current coach!?" I asked.

"Eeeh..." Fire avoided my gaze and said. "Well, we haven't really ever had a coach."

"Really? Hmm. Well, okay then!" I replied and shook Fire's hoof. "Just don't think of me as some kind of infinitely wise divine being. I'm but a pegasus, just like you, and I make mistakes, just like anypony.”

"I'm sure you'll do just fine, Sam. You've taught me more the last week than what I've learned the last three months!" Fire said and smiled.

We briefly discussed their current workout schedule and they briefed me on where they usually hung out. We also did a short but exhausting workout session. I was quite happy, though. I was actually working out together with the Wonderbolts. At the end of the session it started to rain, slightly. Soon thereafter it rained quite heavily. I said goodbye to the Wonderbolts and flew home.

That, dear journal, is how I casually became the coach of the Wonderbolts. Now it's one of those days where I've been sitting up far too late. I really need to get to bed. Big day tomorrow! The university is holding a competition for young writers. I'm supposed to read a part of my story in front of the judges. I just can't wait to get there and show them what I can do.

Samuel woke up. He looked out and from what he could see it must still have been in the middle of the night.

"I really need to have a proper night's sleep..." he murmured to himself.

He fell asleep again and did not wake up until morning. He trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen to eat breakfast.

"Are you alright, Samuel?" his mother asked him as he sat down.

"Yeah, I guess?" he replied.

He finished his breakfast and went outside for his usual work-out session before university. However this day it just didn't feel like normal. He noticed quickly that his wings were quite sore, as well as his legs. It's as if they had not been sleeping at all. They felt just like after that workout from the day before.

I forgot the stretching! How, could I have forgotten the stretching. Now I'll have sore muscles for at least a day. he thought to himself and sighed. He decided to not do the morning exercise and went back inside where he tried to massage his legs and wings as gently as possible.

It was time to trot to the university.

The competition was to take place just after lunch. The morning passed quickly, as usual, but Samuel had gotten a headache. Even though it was but light headache, it was there and it annoyed him.

Then lunch came and Samuel’s headache had only gotten worse. He ate half his sandwich on his way to the library, where he figured that he could get some peace and quiet before it all started. He sat down and looked at the text he had chosen to read.

"Hi there, Samuel!" Twilight Sparkle said.

"Hi." he replied shortly.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Samuel looked up from his paper and met Twilight's gaze. "I'm having a bit of a headache. I need to rehearse this text, it's for a competition in like half an hour."

"Ah, is it that writer's competition thing? I think I've heard about it. What will you be reading?" she asked curiously.

Samuel read the part he thought of presenting.

She woke up. It took a while for her eyes to get used to the darkness around her. 'Where am I?' she thought to herself. She stood up and started examining the room around her. She didn't find anything other than the walls. 'The room must be rectangular.' she thought to herself. It was still pitch black, but she felt a tiny breeze coming from somewhere.

"If there's a breeze, there must be a way out, somewhere!" she told herself reassuringly.

Twilight looked at him. Is that really what you'll enter the competition with? It sounds kind of, dull. she thought to herself. "It's... nice." she said to Samuel.

"I had this all figured out yesterday. I just can't remember it now, and my headache is not making things better. I can't really focus. It's like it burns in my mind... I find it quite annoying, but I really want to do this so I'll go there and give it my all." he said and looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh! The competition starts in ten minutes!"

"I'll walk you there!" Twilight said.

"Thanks." Samuel replied. He stood up slowly while trying hard to not look strained.

He noticed that Twilight saw it all, like she usually did. "It's just sore muscles. Forgot the stretching yesterday." he explained.

The headache did start to become slightly unbearable. Samuel felt his head pounding with each step he took. I'm... I'm having a fever. he thought to himself.

They walked across the campus to the building where the competition was to be held. They were just about to enter when Samuel lost his balance and fell to the ground. His head hit the cold stone stairs and everything started spinning.

"Sa.. el! Samuel! A-are... yo.. ight?" he could hear Twilight's desperate voice hazily like if it was somewhere far away. He blinked a few times and briefly regained some consciousness. He saw Twilight who was kneeling and looking at him with worried eyes. He gathered his last strength and pointed at her, then at his draft, then at the door. That's all he could do. Twilight understood what he wanted. She nodded and patted his mane. "Eve... ing... ill be alrig..." her words and her friendly purple eyes was the last thing he remembered.

He passed out.

Journal entry #12 – Hospitalized

Dear journal,

I'm at the hospital. I'd describe my current situation as stable, but with sore muscles and still a headache. I arrived here earlier today. The nurse said that I had passed out on the stairs, and since I didn't respond to anything for ten minutes I was taken to the hospital. When I regained consciousness here at the hospital I felt dizzy and my headache was bad, really bad. Since my whole body was still sore from yesterday I felt incredibly helpless. I could barely get out of my bed to go to the bathroom. When I did, I had to slowly set my hooves on the floor and take each step very carefully. The constant headache made things much worse, and I had to concentrate hard to be able to even get to the bathroom door on the other side of the room.

I went to bed slightly nauseous. I knew that it was just a cold and if I could get a good night's sleep I’d feel better tomorrow. That was not what destiny had in mind though. It was hard falling asleep as my eyes kind of hurt. I'm not sure how to explain it, but when my eyes moved, i.e. when I was looking around, it hurt. I also felt pain in my eyes when I shut them. It didn’t really make sense. I sort of believed that it was phantom pain of some kind, since I had not really hurt my eyes. I thought that it probably was one of my body's ways to say that it wasn't happy. That did however not make my situation any easier.

I had been lying there, in my bed, trying to get comfortable for at least an hour. I just couldn't sleep. My head was so warm, it felt like it was boiling. The rest of my body felt cold. Really cold. And that's even though I had the duvet, bed cover and an extra blanket over me. I started to wonder if I would ever be able to fall asleep. I recalled only one time in the past where I had felt this sick.

I had eaten something bad and my body just pulled every trick in the book to make me aware that something was wrong. I had then gone to the bathroom and tried to throw up. After some time trying I managed to throw up and suddenly everything felt so much better.

I decided to give it a try, I mean, who wouldn't in this situation. I slid off my bed and stumbled towards the bathroom. I eventually reached it and got inside. After about twenty minutes of trying to throw up I gave up. It did hurt every time, since the natural reaction is for the stomach muscles to resist throwing up. Since I had been trying for quite a while I figured that there was probably nothing to throw up. I sat on the bathroom floor for a while. It felt nice, and when I didn't move the headache wasn't as bad.

After sitting there for a while I finally stood up. I can't say I felt good, but I felt a little bit better than before. Maybe it was the realization that it probably wasn't something I had eaten and that I couldn't really do anything about it myself to improve my situation, or maybe it was the fever lowering drugs I had gotten earlier that started to kick in. I wasn't sure, but at least I was glad that I suddenly felt a lot better.

I decided to go over to the desk and write this entry. I had found a piece of paper to write on, and a pencil. Since it isn't in my actual journal, I'll have to put it in there when I get back home, which should be tomorrow.

"Wow... wow wow wow. Wait, what!?" Samuel said to himself.

He sat there, completely motionless. What he currently felt he wasn't really sure how to describe. It was as if the whole room had been reversed. His logical sense knew that his hind hooves were touching the ground, yet it felt like they were touching the ceiling. Something was wrong with his sense of balance. The feeling was quite, interesting, as well as nauseating. It didn't take long before he felt sick and he knew that he had to get to the bed. He took a few deep breaths, carefully stood up and started to walk over to his bed. The weird reversed feeling vanished the second he had all four hooves on the ground simultaneously.

"Well, that was... weird." he murmured to himself as he got into the bed. This time it didn't take too long for him to fall asleep.

Journal entry #13 – Celebration in two senses

Dear journal,

I've gotten home from the hospital and I am currently writing this entry. I feel perfectly fine again except for the slight cough I seem to have retained. But a slight cough is the least of my concerns now. My parents greeted me when I arrived at home.

"Oh, my dear boy. Are you alright? We were so worried!" my mother said.

"Yeah. It's fine." I reassured. "It was just a cold and combined with my sore muscles, it just didn't turn out too well. It's all my own fault, really. Sorry mom."

She accepted my apology and hugged me as I came closer. "The important thing is that you're okay!"

She looked at me, as if I had been gone for a month. "Oh, right. There's a letter here for you! It arrived today, seems to be from the university. Do you have any idea of what's up?" she asked.

I took the letter and looked at it. "Hmm... Not really, no." I said. "I'll be in my room."

I went upstairs and closed the door behind me, lay down on the bed and just looked at the letter in front of me. Will you be holding happiness or sadness... I thought to myself. Slowly, I opened the letter. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the top. I took a deep breath and read the rest of the letter.

Young Writers' Challenge
Canterlot university

You've been selected together with two other young writers to attend the 'final' step of the competition. Please come to the Canterlot university library on thursday evening at half past six.

Best regards

The Young Writers' Challenge organizers

I'm in 'the final'!? I thought to myself. That's. Wow. Twilight's presentation must have been amazing. I need to remember to thank her later.

It was tuesday and I wasn't entirely sure what this 'final step' would be. I did however try to do whatever I could to be as prepared as a stallion could possibly be. I read a lot, basically.

I didn't skip the workout sessions together with the Wonderbolts though. I needed a place where I could 'relax' mentally and just do some exercise. Today's practice was at the arena. It was a huge arena, with over several thousand seats. It was located on the outskirts of Canterlot and we were quite sure to not be disturbed while being there. I was told that it was Princess Celestia herself who had arranged for us to make use of the facilities.

"Wow. This is quite the arena." I said to Fire when we arrived.

"Yeah. I like it. Lots of space. Good for races and shows." she replied.

"So... The princess arranged for us to be here, right?" I asked casually.

"Yup. She sure did." Fire replied.

"How do you know her? Do you get to meet her often, since you're captain and all?" I asked with a touch of curiousness.

"Oh. I... " Fire seemed to think of how to express herself on this matter. "Yes and no. I guess. I don't get to meet her often, but it happens, occasionally. I've been in her throne room a couple of times so I've probably met her quite a few times more than the average pony."

"Ah... Yeah. Cool. Her throne room. That must be really, awesome." I said and my thoughts went off fantasizing about the princess' throne room.

"Come on, Sam! We can't stand here all day chatting about Princess Celestia! We got some workout to do!" Fire finally said.

"Right, right!" I replied and followed her to the rest of the Wonderbolts. "Anypony who has an idea of what to do as warm-up today?" I asked.

"We could race!" somepony said.

"We raced yesterday! I want to try something new!" I replied. "Anypony? ... No? Really?" I was slightly amused that the most awesome pegasi in Equestria weren't used to do different kinds of warm-up. "Okay. Today we'll try a game of tag. Have any of you played it before?" I asked the Wonderbolts. They shook their heads in conjunction. I continued, "The rules are quite simple, we'll need to be within the arena, we aren’t allowed to hurt anypony, and we'll definitely have to give it our all to 'win'."

They nodded. "Right. I'll start by showing how to play this game. I'm currently it. My objective as being it is to touch any one of you who are not it. If I manage to touch you, you become it. So if I were to touch Soarin' here." I said and flew towards Soarin' and touched him. "He has now become it and his mission is now to tag somepony else. Like me."

I had hoovered a bit away from Soarin' while saying that. He started to fly towards me but just as he was about to touch me I avoided it by flying straight up. "One can easily avoid being tagged. Just like that. Both being it and not being it requires a lot of observation, knowing where the other pegasi will fly and how he, or she, thinks. By doing this exercise once in a while you'll eventually become a much tighter group." I said encouragingly.

"I'll actually be skipping this exercise since somepony needs to keep score or in this case, time." I said. "So what are we waiting for. Let's go!" I commanded. "Soarin' you're currently it. If you've been it for a minute you're out. So you better hurry up if you want to win!"

The game started and they seemed to have lots of fun. While using a lot of their physical strength to avoid getting tagged, their minds were focused on trying to see the best escape path. I found it quite challenging myself to just try to not be in the way while observing their movements and keeping track of how long each and every one of them had been it.

Once, the pegasus being it came launching straight towards me. I looked around and noticed a smiling Fire, hiding behind my back. I quickly descended a couple of meters and shouted, "Hey, no hiding behind the ref. That'll be a general rule." to everypony.

The game lasted about eight minutes without anypony having over a minute time being it. I found it quite interesting to see that it was so even. First pony over a minute was Rapidfire. As I called it out he sighed in disappointment.

"Right. To make the game go on longer and to make it more even the one with lowest time gets to be it now. Fire, you're it. Starting clock again in, three, two, one... go!"

"Well played, Rapidfire." I said to the pegasus hovering beside me. "You can sit down over there and watch. Trust me, you'll want all the rest you can get."

Reluctantly he obliged. One by one they got over a minute time. Soon it was only Fire and Soarin' left as Fleetfoot had just gotten past the one minute limit. "Right! Short information. Timer is paused. Since there's only two of you left, there'll be an additional rule. You can't re-tag within one second of being tagged. Just to make things easier for the one being it when he or she is trying to get away, and for me to keep track of the time. Fire, you're once again it. You're on forty-five seconds. Soarin' you're on fifty-seven." I said. They both hoovered a bit away from each other and waited for my signal. "Game on!" I shouted.

Neither of the two wanted to lose, that was very obvious. They really gave it their all and those eighteen seconds were full of action. It took Fire thirteen seconds to find a flaw in Soarin's flying. However, knowing that he only had two seconds left she let her guard down. As she touched him she turned around, did a victorious loop, only to be interrupted by Soarin who didn't give up that easily. He touched her with his wing, saying, "Got'cha." and turned away flying as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Somewhat taken by surprise Fire didn't have the time to react.

"And that's it for Fire. We have a winner!" I said.

"Booyah!" I heard Soarin' shouting happily as he came flying towards us. "Ya didn't see that one comin', did ya, Fire?" he said and poked her.

"Extremely well done, by all of you." I said. "And since Soarin' here is the winner, he'll get the price."

"A price?!" Rapidfire complained. "Awh. I should have worked harder."

"You sure should have." I said. "The price is... Switching places with me! That is, to supervise the next part of the workout session." I turned towards Soarin' who looked quite surprised. "I'll give you some hints in the start, to help you out. But I'm sure you'll get it!"

"Whoa. Really? You want me... To be you?" Soarin' said with anxiety in his voice.

"Yeah. I'll show you, it's quite simple." I said reassuringly. "Look at it as a mental training exercise. Observing your teammates and noticing their flaws is something that is good to be able to do. Presenting those flaws in a constructive way is important. All of you need to be able to do it, if I'm not around for some reason. You still want to keep getting better, right?"

We continued our practice and Soarin' seemed to be doing well. I saw him observe and write stuff down. When we finished I asked him to in a constructive way fill us in on our flaws, if he noticed any. He had something to point out on each pegasus and when he came to me he said.

"And then we have Samuel. Well, well. I'm not sure what to say here..." I smiled proudly as I somewhat knew that I wasn't doing much wrong. He continued, " ... except that you seem to be giving long looks at our dear captain." he smiled.

"I... What!?" my smirk immediately vanished, getting replaced by red cheeks.

"You told me to observe. And that's what I have observed." Soarin' said factually. The other pegasi giggled.

"Erhm." I cleared my throat. "Right. Let's move on to the next part!" I said while trying desperately to avoid Fire's gaze.

The rest of the workout session went quite well. I knew deep down that what Soarin' had said was true, so I did my best to not show any emotions. I remember thinking, What's going on... Am I... Is she...? I shook the thoughts out of my head. I didn't want to think about it at that very moment. There's a time for everything and right then, was not one for those kind of thoughts.

It just might be time for it now, though...

Samuel lay down on his bed. He started to think about things and soon his mind crossed the path in which he thought of who he wanted to be the special somepony of his life.

Fire is cute. She really is. Her smile is so... beautiful. He smiled himself, lying there thinking about his quite athletic friend. She's easy to talk to and fun to hang out with... And then there's Twilight Sparkle. She's a whole lot different. An 'egghead' who loves to read, learn and study. She's beautiful in her own unique way. Samuel thought of their many moments in the library. How she always cared about him, and her way of managing to make him feel happy, even if the situation was dire. She was a true friend. But not more than a friend...

He lay there while his mind ventured deeper into his memory recalling Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy... Oh Fluttershy. You were always so... afraid. Your kindness was unmatched though. And that smile I got when I said you could have my lunch, the first time we met. So cute. I wonder where you are now. Did you follow your dream, to live with the animals down on the ground...? Wherever you are, I hope you're happy. And that nopony is bullying you. Samuel sighed. And... Then there's you, Dashie... You had me caught at first sight. Your awesome tricks. Your above amazing flying skills, which I never caught up with. And the time when I gave you your first massage... He coughed as his eyes began to get wet.

He started to mumble to himself. "Pulling off the Sonic Rainboom... Seeing Fluttershy kiss..." his voice died out as he recalled that last thing. The last time he saw Rainbow Dash. Her beautiful maroon eyes looking all happy. Until she noticed... And when she blinked a few times and turned away.

"By Celestia... How did I manage to screw up so badly." he mumbled to himself. "What if I never get to see her again..." he said and noticed that the tears had started to fall upon his cheeks. He wiped them away and took a deep breath. "I have to try. I need to find her. And if she still doesn't want to have anything to do with me, I shall accept it."

Samuel felt that there was no use in overthinking things, and decided to try to get some sleep.

It didn't take long to fall asleep. Like any day he woke up just a few minutes before his alarm clock was about to wake him. Something weird was going on though. He double checked his watch, it seemed to be correct. Samuel trotted up to his window.

"Why isn't the sun up yet..." he said while looking out over the city which was completely enveloped in shadows. "This doesn't make sense. It just doesn't. Is this some kind of a joke?" he asked the question out loud, even though he knew nopony was listening.

He went down the stairs to find his parents, heading to the kitchen where they usually ate breakfast at this hour.

"Mom? Dad?" he asked.

"Yes, dear?" his mother replied. Both she and his father were sitting at the breakfast table.

"Did you do something to my alarm clock?" Samuel asked, slightly impatient.

"No. I haven't touched it. Why?" she replied, awfully calm.

"Just look outside! It's all dark! What the buck is going on!?" Samuel hollered. He took a deep breath and pulled himself together. "Sorry. I'm sure you don't know more than I do. It's just strange." I paused briefly to see if they had anything to say about the situation. They did not speak up. "I guess I'll be going to the university then. Have a nice... 'day'." he said as he left them.

It was pretty warm outside for being night, or whatever it was. Samuel trotted around for a while, wondering what was going on but he figured that he just had to go with it. Not much I can do about it anyways. he thought to himself. Since he had not been out walking in the night very often, he didn't really know what it had to offer. There were a few things that one could only do or see during the night. The chance to hide or sneak in the shadows along the house walls pretending to be a thief was one of them. Gazing at the many stars above him that made the sky a wonderful scene to observe was another, and the many candles which were lit in almost every house he passed was the third thing he noticed. It all became very beautiful. He had never really thought of the night as beautiful before.

When Samuel got to the university he saw other ponies. It was the first time today that he had seen others. So it really is no joke, after all. he thought to himself. He 'accidentally' overheard some other ponies talking and it seemed like they knew just as much as he did. Hmm. Nopony knows what's going on. Maybe Princess Celestia overslept? Naaah, that can't really be happening, right? he thought to himself as he entered his first seminar.

The professor had taken the opportunity to switch some seminars around so that he could lecture about writing stories of the darker kind instead, tales about ghosts or other creatures of the night. Everypony in class got a slight chill down their spine, but Samuel thought it was interesting nonetheless.

When it was finally time for lunch; Samuel went down to the cafeteria and bought a sandwich. He ate it on his way to the library, as usual. As he got inside he sat down at the table where he usually resided. He opened his study books and started to read. He was subconsciously looking for Twilight Sparkle. She would know what was going on, she always had an answer or a scientific explanation. After an hour of lunch Samuels subconsciousness gave up. Twilight was nowhere to be found, at least not in the library.

He trotted back towards the university and his next seminar when it finally happened. An almost coordinated gasp was heard from the ponies witnessing the unusual occurrence. Samuel noticed that the horizon started to shine vaguely, it then quickly got brighter and the shadows grew longer. It was the most beautiful sunrise he had ever seen.

Given the amount of work an average university pony had to do, the ponies on the campus could only watch the sunrise briefly, sigh and then turn back to continue their studies, relieved that everything was back to normal.

The rest of the university day continued on without any other specific interruptions, and soon it was time for the daily workout session together with the Wonderbolts.

"Howdy, Fire! Gathered your team early today?" Samuel said as she saw her approach.

"Yup. Got a lot to do. I heard the princess might stop by. She had something to announce." Spitfire replied.

"Speaking of which. Any ideas on what was going on this morning? The sun not rising, and all that?" he asked her.

"The sun didn't rise... what?" Spitfire asked, clearly surprised by the news.

Samuel looked at her. "You didn't get up until after noon?" he asked and added "You lazy mare!" with a smile.

"Hey! I was... tired." Spitfire said defensively.

"It's quite fine. You just missed a once-in-a-lifetime-thing. No biggie." Samuel said teasingly.

They started off with some warm up games, again. Today it was Spitfire's turn to supervise the others and Samuel helped her at the start, just like he had done for Soarin' the day before.

It all went quite well, and she learned quickly what to do and how to notice even the slightest of things. It was just after the first exercise was done, Samuel was about to start explaining the second one, but he got interrupted.

A bright ray of light appeared from the entrance to the arena. They all covered their eyes briefly to let them get used to the intense light. It was Princess Celestia who had entered the arena. Samuel peeked above his hoof when her majestic presence walked past him. She was bigger than any other pony he had ever seen. Her wings were white as snow and so was her big unicorn horn. That was the proof of her royal lineage, that and the golden crown which rested on her head. She was neither pegasus nor unicorn. She was what they called an alicorn.

Journal entry #14 – Meeting somepony famous, twice.

Dear journal,

I could almost not believe it. Yesterday I met and spoke with the ruler of Equestria. I, Samuel Swift, a little pegasus from Cloudsdale. She came by during our practice. Sure, I've seen Princess Celestia before, but I haven't really seen her, if you know what I mean. Like, standing ten feet from her. The conversation went something like this.

"Your highness!" Fire said and bowed down. Since I had never met the princess in person I followed her example.

"Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts. How are you doing today?" Princess Celestia said with a voice filled with kindness and warmth.

"Everything's just fine, your highness." she said and looked up. "What gives us the honor of your presence?"

"I was thinking of having a party, at the castle by the end of next week. Could I ask of you to put on a show, on say... saturday?" she said.

"Yes, of course, your highness." Fire replied.

"Oh just stop it with the formalities, Spitfire. You know that you can call me Celestia." she said and turned towards me. "Aaah. You must be Samuel! Spitfire here has told me much about you." she smiled.

"T-that's correct. I'm nothing special, really... Fire has probably given me more credit than I can account for." I said and my gaze dropped to the ground.

"I'm sure you're just as lovely as she described." she said and a quite beautiful red tone spread over Fire's face. Princess Celestia turned to walk away when I interrupted her.

"Excuse me, your highness. I have a question to which I think you might know the answer." I said nervously.

"Ask away and I'll do my best to reply." Celestia said, as kindly as ever.

"I have a friend. Twilight Sparkle, is her name. She said she was studying magic as your personal protegé, or something. I just wonder where she's gone. I haven't seen her in days and she's usually hanging around in the library." I said.

"I do know where Twilight Sparkle is. She resides in the library in Ponyville. From there she is now studying the magic of friendship."

As I heard the whereabouts of my friend I bowed in response and she left the arena. Just as gracefully as she had entered it.

"That wasn't so bad." I said to Fire, who stood beside me. "She's really cool, Princess Celestia."

"Yeah. She's alright. For being the ruler of Equestria, she really is alright." she replied.

We continued the workout session without speaking more to each other. At the end of it I gathered the Wonderbolts and said. "It would be nice if we could set the practice one hour earlier tomorrow. I kind of want to get done so that I can be ready to leave for the university library at six. I have an appointment. Is that okay with everypony?" I asked and looked around. They all nodded. "Nice. You're such an easy group of ponies to work with. Also, by the way, I'll give you some homework. Think about what you'd like to do on the show next saturday, and more specifically the grand finale. See you tomorrow, friends!"

The rest of that evening passed and so did the following morning. I spent the lunch break in the library, as usual. But it felt like something was missing, as I knew my friend Twilight Sparkle wouldn't suddenly appear to ask how things were and what I was doing.

I didn't think much of the Wonderbolts' grand finale as I was more concerned about tonight's other 'final part'. I still didn't know what to expect but I tried my best to prepare for anything. My lunch passed and so did the afternoon seminars. It was time for workout together with the Wonderbolts and I could let my mind take a well deserved break while my muscles worked.

I managed to set up a quite nice session that day. Near the end of it, twenty minutes before six, I gathered them up. "We should split up in groups of two, to discuss the homework. You remembered what you had to do, right?" They quickly paired up. "Feel free to spread out and use the arena to show off your ideas."

"That leaves the two of us..." Fire said as she looked at me.

I scratched my mane with one of my forehooves. "It sure does." I said.

"Have you come up with anything?" she said.

"Yeah. I've been thinking of the grand finale. I think you should be the one performing the trick. You're the captain, after all." I said.

"You really think so? A solo act!?" she smiled shyly.

"I really do. Not a solo act, of course. The others will do their part. It'll be quite spectacular. Let me explain." I said and started to explain what I had in mind. "... And when they all have positioned themselves, they start doing a lesser whirlwind, on the spot yeah? Then you come flying in from the side at incredible speed. Just as you're about to hit your closest teammate you avoid and turn straight towards the next one. And so on. When you've flown past the first one he or she reposition himself." By the end of my description Fire's jaw had dropped. I gave her a poke and she realized and closed her mouth. "I think all the whirlwinds will create a chaos, since it'll feel that they're all over the place and moving and stuff. The only order within the trick will be you and your straight lines."

"..." Fire was speechless at first. "You... You really thought of that entire trick, overnight? It... does indeed sound amazing."

"Do you really think so?" I said and blushed slightly. "It might be too hard though, I usually never calculate risks when I dream up these things in my fantasies."

"Nonsense. There's nothing that’s too hard for the Wonderbolts. Remember, if anypony can pull it off, it's us. We're the best fliers in all of Equestria after all." she replied.

"Anyways, it's already past six. I really need to get going. Feel free to continue to discuss what you want to do. And I'm not saying that you need to do what I said, it's just a suggestion like any other." I said as I turned towards the locker rooms.

"See you tomorrow, Sam?" Fire shouted after me.

"Tomorrow evening... Possibly. I've got some plans!" I shouted back.

I took a quick shower and trotted towards the university library. The campus was quite empty this time of the day. I entered the library and noticed a small group of ponies standing beside a table in the middle of the room.

"Ah. You must be... Swift?" one of them said while reading from a paper in front of her.

"That's me. Who are yo-" I replied.

"Excellent. Let's get started right away!" she said and when she saw my hesitative expression she added, "You can call me Minty." she paired up one finalist and one judge and sent them to different rooms. Left was now only me and her. I didn't recognize her.

"Have a seat." she said and waved a hoof in the direction of a chair on the opposite side of the table. I sat down. After a some time in silence she finally said, "Well, go on then!"

I looked at her, surprised and replied, "Uh, what am I supposed to do?"

"You're joking, right?" she said.

"I am not." I said.

"So you have no idea why you're here?" Minty said and raised an eyebrow.

"I only received the letter saying that I should be here at this hour. Have I missed anything?" I said. I started to get slightly worried.

"You should have been briefed, at the contest." she said.

"Ah... That's why. I wasn't there. My friend Twilight did the presentation for me. I was in the hospital. Maybe you can fill me in on what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"Right. Of course I will. You're supposed to tell me a short story. A story about how you found your interest in writing. But it's not as simple as that, it needs to have a twist, something to make it interesting."

I chuckled. "Do I have a story for you!" I said and started telling her about my foalhood, how I grew up being bullied and when I had first met her and how her last words still echo in my mind.

When I finished the judge in front of me blinked a few times, cleared her throat and said, "That was indeed quite a story."

"She's the one who inspired me to write my Daring Do draft. I really couldn't have done it, if it wasn't for her." I said with a slight hint of sadness.

"So it was you who wrote the Daring Do story. I was hoping to read it, if you don't mind. Do you have it with you?" she asked, slightly curious.

"I do." I trotted around the table and picked up the draft from my saddle bag. "Here you go." I said as I put the draft up in front of her.

Minty started to skim through it. I could tell she was an experienced reader since she did it very quickly, while mumbling to herself, "Ah, of course. ... And then escape, just like that. ... Then the twist! What a twist! Haha, wow. This is beautiful."

I couldn't help but smile. "You like it?"

"I do indeed! Samuel, this is magnificent! With this and your fantastic imagination and my marketing skills we could easily publish this as the next book in the Daring Do series.

"Uuh. I'm not so sure. I kind of feel like I'd get sued if I didn't check with the original author first. I don't want to get in trouble for stealing her main character, you know!"

Now it was her time to chuckle. "Hehe. I'm sure she'll approve." she said sincerely. "In fact, I'm certain that she will. You see, she is the very pony you're talking to right now. Yours truly."

I gasped. "Are you the author of Daring Do!?"

"I am indeed." she said.

"But you said your name was Minty?"

"Every author has a pseudonym, you of all people should know..."

She leaned forward and whispered. "About this competition thing. I sure would like you to win, but if you were to be my co-writer... It would look as if I was biased. The price for winning the competition is to get a lesson in writing from me, and you'll get that anyways... Not that you seem to need much of it. But these other two ponies might not have that chance.Oh, and by the way, can I borrow your draft? I'd love to start on the next book right away!"

"Sure. Take it, I'd be honored if you would use any of it!" I said. Did she just say co-writer!? I thought to myself. I wasn't sure if she would actually contact me again, but it didn't matter. She had said that she liked it and it seemed like she would use it in her next story. Just knowing I had written part of it would be credit enough, even if she didn't mention it anywhere. The other two ponies and their judges came out from their separate rooms and joined us.

"So. I guess that's it. Did everything turn out okay here as well?" one of the other judges said.

"Yes, quite so, I'd say." Minty replied.

"Anyways. We'll be in touch." the first judge said again. "Have a nice evening!"

The three contestants, including me, turned to trot out of the library. Once outside one of the other two said, "How did it go for you guys?"

I replied, "I... I think I screwed up. I'm quite sure I won't win. So it's either of you two... Best of luck." While I said it I sighed, and I think I managed to hide my inner smile and imitate a sad look perfectly.

"Ouch. Better luck next time, then." he replied and patted me on my shoulder.

I trotted homewards. My hoofsteps were light and I felt quite great. Now I definitely had something to talk to Twilight about tomorrow.

Samuel had just gotten home. His flight home had been a little bit more exhausting than he anticipated. He took a shower to get rid of the all the sweat.

Since it wasn't that late he decided to archive the day’s events in his journal. This is definitely one of those things that fit in a journal. he thought to himself and started writing once again.

Journal entry #15 - Friendship

Dear journal,

After a good night's sleep I woke up today. The alarm clock was set quite early since the train left from Canterlot station at eight in the morning. I had decided to give Twilight a visit in her home in Ponyville, to say my thanks and see how she was doing.

The train ride took roughly four hours so I arrived in Ponyville just after noon. Since I had not been there before, I decided to ask for directions to the library, where I knew Twilight was living.

"There's somepony! Finally." I mumbled to myself as I saw a pink pony trotting slowly towards me. "Hi. Excuse me. I was wonder-" I managed to say half my question before being interrupted by the pink pony. She gasped, almost excessively, and ran away.

Well 'that' was weird. I remember thinking. I did however find somepony else to ask. To be more precise it was a dragon, a small dragon. He wandered around seemingly lost, as if trying to remember a task given to him.

"Excuse me. Do you know where the library is?" I asked politely, yet quickly, in case he was going to run away too.

The dragon spun around, looked at me and said, "Well of course I do, that's where I live!"

"Ah, excellent. Could you perhaps show me there? I'm a friend of Twilight, I just arrived from Canterlot!" I said.

"Friend of Twilight...?" he said while scratching his scales. "And from Canterlot, you say. I don't recall Twilight having any friends in Canterlot. You sure we're talking about the same Twilight?" he asked.

I quickly described her. "A lavender unicorn, quite gentle and caring. She said she studied magic and she's quite fond of books. Reading, reading and reading is what I usually see her do."

The dragon giggled. "That sure sounds like my Twilight. Let me show you the way. I'm Spike, her number one assistant." Spike said.

"Nice to meet you, Spike!" I said.

The library was on the other side of Ponyville and it took maybe ten minutes to get there. It was located inside a huge tree. I knocked politely but Spike just went straight in. "Twilight! We got a visitor!" he shouted up the stairs.

A short while later Twilight appeared on the top of the stairs. She had a towel curled up on her head, she had obviously just taken a shower.

I looked away and said, "Hi Twilight... um. Is it a bad time?"

"No, no. Not at all! Just give me a minute." she replied.

A few minutes later she came trotting down the stairs.

Spike held his hand in front of his mouth trying to stifle a laugh. He failed miserably. "You look funny!" he said while pointing at Twilight.

Twilight sighed. "What did I forget now."

"Maybe to, um, brush your mane after you dried it? Not a big deal though, it's kind of cute." I pointed out.

"Spike! You can take the rest of the day off, if you want to. I'd like to speak with my friend in privacy."

"Uuuh, okay? Is there anything specific you'd like me to do?"

"No, it's quite fine. Go check on Pinkie Pie in Sugarcube Corner. I bet she could use some help making cupcakes!" Twilight said and practically shoved Spike out of the library. She fetched a sign from a cupboard nearby and wrote something on it. I couldn't really see what. She hung it on the outside of the door.

"There we go. Now I'm sure we won't be disturbed." Twilight said.

"I just wanted to come here and say thanks, Twilight. Apparently you did well during the presentation." I said.

"Oh, it was nothing!" she said. "I didn't read the part you read to me though..."

"Whatever you did, you did it well. I got to the finals." I said and explained what had happened the evening before.

Twilight gasped. "You met the author of Daring Do!? I love the Daring Do books! And she wanted to what!?"

"To borrow my draft. I can barely believe it myself. She said something like 'Can I borrow your draft? I would love to start on my new book right away!'" I said calmly. "Why is all the curtains drawn anyways? It's kind of dim in here." I said and raised my eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Oh, that. Well. Now that it's just you and me... Maybe we could..." Twilight hesitated. I thought I knew what was coming and I opened my mouth to protest. However I didn't manage to do it before she finished her sentence. "... watch the stars together?"

I felt stupid and confused. How could I have thought anything else. I thought to myself. "Eeeh. Twilight? ... We're inside your library and it's the middle of the day. How in Equestria would we be able to see the stars?!" I asked.

"With magic of course!" she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ah. Yeah. I guess that makes sense." I said.

"Just wait here. I'll prepare the room." she said and started to move the table to the edge of the room. "And here's a pillow for you!" Twilight said as she levitated a pillow to me.

Pillow? What do I do with this? I thought to myself but didn't ask it out loud. Twilight had fetched a pillow for herself too and lay herself down in the middle of the room. I followed her example and found myself on my back next to her.

"And now... The magic." she said. She closed her eyes, concentrating and soon a glow appeared on the tip of her unicorn horn. It grew wider and and soon it covered the entire room. Suddenly it said *poof* and it was gone.

I looked at Twilight who smiled happily. She made a gesture upwards and I followed her gaze. "Whooa! That's... Amazing." I looked up at what moments ago had been the ceiling, it was now a dark sky filled with a multitude of stars.

"It's what the sky would look like, if we actually could see the stars and if the sun was down, right now." she said. "I've tried to get my friends to do this with me, but they just don't want to. I don't understand. I find it quite ro..." she stopped herself. "... interesting."

We lay there for a while. Talking about stars and life in general. I found it quite peaceful and very relaxing. I realized that the stressful days at the university and working out with the Wonderbolts sure had taken its toll on me. It had been such a long time ago I could just lay down, relax and talk to somepony.

"Samuel. I have something important to tell you." Twilight suddenly said.

I turned myself so that I was looking at her. "What is it, Twilight?"

"I... " she took a deep breath. She leaned forward and whispered it softly in my ear. "I think I've found your Rainbow."

The statement came as if out of nowhere. I was not prepared for it, at all. "Wh.. " I tried to speak up but my voice failed me. There was so many feelings that all came back at the same time.

I turned back and looked up at the starry sky. After a while I finally said, "How?"

Twilight turned her gaze up towards the sky as well, and she started to explain what had happened after I had passed out on the campus.

"After the presentation I headed back outside to see you, but you weren't there." she paused briefly. "Anyways. I ended up reading this book." I knew that she was smiling sheepishly even though I didn't look at her. "And it said something about the Elements of Harmony..."

She continued to talk about what had happened. She told me that she had foreseen the events at the Summer Sun Celebration and that Nightmare Moon would come back. She and her five new friends, with Rainbow Dash being one of them, had saved Equestria from eternal night.

"Oooh, that's why the sunrise was so many hours delayed!" I said as Twilight had finished her story. "Wow, to think that Princess Celestia would be beaten by her younger sister like that... That sure does sound like quite a story, Twilight. I might write about it someday, with your permission that is." I said.

"Of course you can, I'd be honored!" she said.

We lay there for a bit longer. I loved every second of it. So tranquil, so beautiful.

I yawned and said, "What time is it, Twilight?" When she didn't respond I realized that I must have said it much too quiet.

I poked her, "Hey, Twilight?"

She turned towards me. "Hmm?" But before I managed to ask her again she said, "You're cute!"

I could only smile in return to this statement. A few moments went by and she realized what she had just said. She blushed and stood up. "Oh gosh. Look at the time. It's four thirty already! We can't lie here and watch the stars forever! There's books to be read!"

I stood up as well. "My train left at four..." I said. Twilight was busy undoing her magic sky.

"There we go, all back to normal!" she said.

I helped her push the table back to the middle of the room. "Just as if nothing ever happened here!" I said happily. She stood there in front of me, still having a slight blush on her cheeks. "Twilight." I said. "I came here to thank you. And now you've given me even more reason to do so." I trotted towards her and gave her a warm hug. She returned it and we stood there for a short while.

"I want you to have these." I said and brought out two VIP tickets to the Wonderbolts show. I had managed to get hold of them and figured that it would be a suitable 'thanks'.

"Oh, thanks." she said but her eyes turned sad as she read the date. "It's... next saturday. I can't make it, sorry."

"Aww. But maybe you know somepony that can make it? You can always give it to them." I said with a wink.

Twilight shone up a little, "Of course. I'll make sure she gets one!" she said happily.

"I guess that's it then. Don't worry though, Twilight. It was so nice to hang out with you, maybe we can do it again some other time?" I said in an attempt to cheer her up.

"It's a date!" Twilight said happily, before realizing the statement's double meaning, "Well, not a date date. You know what I meant!" she said.

"I know, Twilight." I said while smiling. "I better be off. Have a nice day and I'll see you next time!" I raised a hoof and waved as I left the library.

I had decided to fly by my own strength to Canterlot. I knew it was quite long a long trip, but it would most likely be faster than the train anyways, since it had to follow the mountainside to get there. I was fully confident that my endurance would be sufficient for the trip.

Journal entry #16 – An awesome weekend

Dear journal,

It's been an awesome weekend. I can say this because it's saturday evening and I strongly doubt that anything will happen that will make this weekend less awesome. I've just gotten home from the royal banquet. I was invited together with the Wonderbolts. The banquet itself was, I guess, nothing out of the ordinary for being a royal banquet. The food was good, the company was even better, I sat with Fire as my dinner companion. And earlier today we did the show that Princess Celestia had requested. It all went quite well. But let me start from the beginning!

After I had gotten back home from Ponyville I felt incredibly relaxed. I still can't really put my hoof on it, but there was indeed something magical about the whole trip.

The rest of the week went by rather quickly. The mornings were spent at the university and the afternoons in the arena together with the Wonderbolts, practicing for the show. They had agreed on doing what I suggested as the grand finale so there was quite some stuff that had to be perfected. Every one of them needed help in their own way. I can only agree that it was slightly stressful, but now in hindsight it was clearly worth it.

The tickets I gave to Twilight were special. Everything was included. I had gone to my father and asked if I could get a favor, since he worked at one of the more exclusive hotels in Canterlot. He said that it wasn’t a problem. I set it all up so that Rainbow Dash and whoever she brought with her would get a nice suite there.

Then there was just the show itself. I was thinking of how I could make it a memorable moment for my friend. It came to me after the practice on that thursday. So simple, really. All I had to do was ask my friend for a favor.

"Great work, everypony!" I said encouragingly, as the practice ended. "See you all tomorrow. Remember to get here on time, and don't forget to sleep well! A good night's sleep is always important."

They mumbled something affirmative and trotted towards the dressing-rooms. "Oh, by the way, Fire..." I said tentatively.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Umm, can I ask for a favor?" I said.

"I guess that depends on what it is?"

"Well. Before the show on saturday. I've set it all up, my friend Rainbow will come. She'll be a VIP. Maybe you could, eh, you know. Talk with her?" I said, not entirely sure how to express myself.

"Just talk?" Fire replied.

"Yeah. Rainbow has kind of been your fan since, well, forever. If she could talk to her idol in person, I'm quite sure she'd treasure the moment forever."

"Aah. I see. I think I know what you want me to do..." she replied.

"So you'll do it?" I said excitedly.

"I have my price." she said while smiling shyly at me.

"Name it. I'll do anything to make saturday the best day of Rainbow's life." I said.

She leaned in and whispered in my ear. I blushed as I heard her request. "R-really?"

Her cheeks had gotten slightly red as well, "Is it too much to ask?"

"No. It's quite alright. You've named your price, and you will have it." I said. Anything for you, Rainbow! I thought to myself.

"Tomorrow evening then, my dressing-room?" she asked.

I gulped. "Yeah. That'll be fine."

I somewhat feared that she would make a big deal out of this. The next day came and me and Fire remained inside the arena after the practice session for a bit. We were talking to make the time go by, since we didn't want any of the others around.

"So. What do you think of tomorrow? Think it'll go well?" I said, trying to break the somewhat awkward silence that had appeared.

"Yup. We better perform good, especially if you want to woo the mare of your life..." she said, and I wasn't sure if she was teasing or not.

"I'm not gonna woo her. I just want her to have a good time." I said defensively.

"Yeah, whatever." she said, somewhat nonchalantly.

"Is there anything wrong? You seem... different." I said.

"I'm fine, thanks. I'll be going to my dressing-room. Give me five minutes to get ready, will you?" she said with a blank expression on her face.

"Uuh... okay?" I said, slightly confused. Mares. I'm not sure I'll ever understand them. I thought to myself.

I waited five minutes before I trotted towards the dressing-rooms. I knocked on the one I knew belonged to Fire. No answer. I knocked again, but as I didn't get any response I slowly opened the door.

"You in here, Fire?" I said to nopony. It was rather dark at first sight. I closed the door and then suddenly there was light coming from inside the room. I slowly approached it and saw that it was a lit candle.

I saw Fire lie on the bed. Aww geez. She did make a big deal out of this. I thought to myself while mentally facehoofing.

"What do I do?" she asked, slightly anxious.

"Just try to relax." I replied calmly.

I trotted over to the side of the bed. I started to massage her forearms and shoulders.

"Wow. You really are tense, Fire." I said.

She only sighed and nodded in response. As I continued further down her back her wings unfurled and she blushed slightly. "It's fine. It happens to everypony." I said with a warm smile.

After about twenty minutes I felt that I was done. I watched my friend lie there, completely relaxed.

"Fire... We should go. It's getting late." I said softly. "Fire...?"

She didn't respond at first. After a few seconds she slowly opened her eyes and looked at me. "I don't want to go." she said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked even though I had a pretty good idea where this conversation was about to go.

"... Can't we just... stay?" she said, almost pleadingly. "Come! There's plenty of space here..." she continued and pointed her hoof towards the small empty area beside her on the bed.

I resisted the urge to oblige. I admit, Fire is indeed a beautiful mare, but I just couldn't do it. "... I'm sorry, Fire. I... can't." I said with a very honest and sad voice. "I promise that I'll stay here, though. I'll take the couch." I said, hoping to cheer up my friend a little.

She smiled. "Time to go to sleep, then." I said and pulled the cover over Fire. She sighed happily.

"Night, Sam..." she said sleepily.

"Good night, Fire." I said and gently stroked her mane.

I blew out the candle and trotted over to the couch. It was not anywhere near as cosy as the bed would have been, but I wanted a clear conscience. Sharing a bed with a her might jeopardize our friendship, and I really didn’t want to do that. I shot a glance at Fire who slept peacefully and tried to do the same. It took a while to fall asleep, due to the sofa's negligible comfort.

I woke up early the following morning and I felt rather warm. I blinked a few times, yawned, then realized why I felt so warm. Fire had also woken up by my small movements and looked straight into my eyes.

"S-sorry. I woke up in the middle of the night. I couldn't fall asleep..." she started to ramble. I held forth one of my hooves and covered her mouth. "Schhh, it's okay." I said. It actually felt okay.

Her eyes sparkled with happiness. She nuzzled against me and whispered. "I just wanted to be close to you, once."

I did not mind lying there, having Fire's head resting on my chest. She had fallen asleep again and I petted her mane slightly absentmindedly. Right then I realized that there was indeed something special about just being together, a stallion and a mare. I had never really felt it before. The only time I had been close to a mare was when I had had a nightmare when I was but a foal, and I curled up against my mother for her safe embrace. I also understood why my trip to Ponyville had felt so relaxing. I never thought just being with somepony without doing anything special could feel so... good.

I lay there for a while longer, maybe an hour. enjoying the moment. I knew that Fire knew, that we wouldn't be more than friends. Close friends by all means, but still just friends. When I carefully got up from the sofa I made sure that I didn't wake her up. She can sleep a bit longer. It's fine. I remember thinking.

After a quick shower I went outside to buy some freshly baked bread. I figured that it would do for breakfast. When I got back Fire was still asleep.

"Fiire, time to get uup!" I said as I got closer to her.

"Uuuh." she, well, sounded and yawned.

"I brought some breakfast!" I said cheerfully.

"Well thank you, mister!" she replied. "It smells delicious!"

Before I could say a word she started to munch on the bread. I opened my mouth in objection, but changed my mind and said nothing.

"What!?" she said with her mouth full of bread.

I just smiled, "Nothing. It was nothing." I'll simply have to get 'me' something to eat later. I thought to myself.

"That was great!" Fire said as she finished her breakfast. "Time for a shower!"

She went into the bathroom and soon I heard the water flowing. I could hear her whistle happily.

Suddenly the water stopped and I thought. She can't be done already? She's a mare after all... I was correct.

"Wanna join?" she said.

"Fiiiire. You're just teaaasiiiiiing me!" I warbled in response.

"... Darn! How did you know!" she said, clearly disappointed in that her attempt had failed.

"I'm an egghead you know. It takes more than that to fool me."

I finished the glass of water that had turned out to be my breakfast.

"Uhm. I'm going for a walk. You want to tag along?" I asked towards the bathroom, which still was occupied even though the door was left ajar.

It took a while before I heard any response. "I... can't." she said, her voice sounded odd. A mix of sadness and fear or something like that.

"What do you mean... 'I can't'?" I said.

"I'm stuck!" she said. And before I could reply and wonder how in Equestria she managed to get stuck inside a bathroom she screamed. "Iiiiiiih, there is a spider coming towards me! You know how much I hate spiders. Samuel, help meeeeee!"

Since I knew of Fire's arachnophobia, I let my guard down and let my chivalry act on its own, just like she had planned. I trotted towards the bathroom, opened the door but stopped in the doorway. "Fire? ... Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" I exclaimed as a bucket of ice cold water fell onto my head.

Fire looked out from the shower and almost fell over laughing.

"Ahaaahaha! Look at that face! I got you! I got you good!" she said between giggles.

I facehoofed and started to dry my soaking wet mane with a towel. "Mje mje, mje mjeeee!" I mimicked her. "Heh. Yeah, you got me already. Well done." I couldn't help but smile.

"Where seduction fails, chivalry will prevail!" she said as if she was quoting a book. She added, "I'm sorry Sam, that wasn't really fair play."

"It's quite fine, ma'am!" I said, teasingly pointing out that she was older than me. "Ready to take a walk?"

"Sure!" she replied.

It was quite apparent that Fire was in a good mood, she almost skipped beside me as we were walking along the arena. I let her enthusiasm spread to me and I had almost forgotten about the show later that day.

It was nearing noon when the realization came to me.

"Fire. We've... err, you've got a show today!" I said, slightly panicked.

"Mmm? What about it?" she said, as if there was no worries in the world.

"Shouldn't we... Aren't you going to prepare?" I asked.

"I'm as prepared as I could ever get!" she said, quite confident. She looked into my eyes, smiled and said, "'A good night's sleep is important.' Just like you said!"

"Sure. But we should probably go do some warming up, don't you think?" I said. "The others are most likely inside already."

"Sounds good to me." she replied.

We went back to the arena and found the rest of the Wonderbolts stretching and preparing themselves both physically and mentally.

I organized the warm-up session and they were all eager to get going. It felt good, they really were in the mood. Already at that point I knew that the show was going to be a success. My nerves never let me actually believe it, though. Me, a pony from Cloudsdale organizing half a Wonderbolt show. I'd never give myself full credit since they did a whole lot of it themselves.

After the warm-up we went to have lunch together. I knew that Rainbow was supposed to be at the hotel but I didn't know for sure. Take-out it is. I thought to myself.

It was around two o'clock and I told the Wonderbolts to take a well-deserved rest before meeting back in the bigger dressing-room where we usually had our pep talks at twenty minutes to four.

"Fire, by the way... " I said and she turned around. "I think Rainbow is on her way here now..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll be the friendliest pony in Canterlot." she said.

"Heh, you don't really have to act. Just be yourself. I think you'll enjoy her company, she's fun to hang out with." I replied.

"What about you? What will you do?" she asked me.

"I'll make sure to not be around. I don't want to ruin this for her." I said.

"How would you..." she started the sentence but changed her mind. "I'll see you at the pep-talk, then?"

"Yup. Off you go! Have fun, Fire!"

I trotted into the room where we were about to have peptalk in one and a half hour. I lay down on the couch to take a nap.

I must have forgotten to set my watch as I was somewhat rudely awakened by Fire. All of the Wonderbolts were standing in a circle on the other side of the room. What I saw in Fire's eyes was determination. She was as focused as only a trained professional could be.

"Alright, listen up everypony! Today is the big day. Let's make sure that Princess Celestia leaves this show with a smile on her face. It has also come to my attention that we have some other VIPs that will watch us perform. I want you to give it your all, so that when we get back in here you will barely be able to stand up. Is that understood?" Fire said sternly.

"Yes, captain!" the Wonderbolts replied in unison.

"Alright." Fire started to trot around her crew. "Are you ready to get fired up!" she shouted.

"Yeah!" they replied.

"Are you with me!?" Fire bellowed.

"Yeah!" they answered in unison while each and every one of them held out one of their hooves in the air.

"Gooooooooo, Wonderbolts!" they said all together.

"Let's go out there and give the ponies another reason to call us the best fliers in all of Equestria!" Fire said.

"Booyah!" Soarin' said as he and the others trotted out of the door on the far end.

I knew that the show was about to begin so I snuck out through the backdoor. I found a cloud and positioned it above the VIP-section but quite a bit further behind, so that I couldn't see it, and they, well Rainbow, wouldn't be able to see me.

I enjoyed every second of the show. Though I couldn't really let go of my 'have-to-observe-them'-behaviour. But even then I didn't find many flaws at all. They were doing a really good job. The grand finale did also go exceptionally well. And as I read the words, Thanks for coming! Have a nice day! I could almost not believe it to be true. It was just like I had imagined it in my head. We never nailed it once during practice. That really is why they're called the best fliers in Equestria. I remember thinking to myself. Being able to pull such things off. Amazing.

I saw them fly slowly one lap around the arena and shake hooves with Princess Celestia as they passed her at the VIP section. I somehow managed to catch Fire's gaze just after she had passed Celestia and I waved happily. She smiled and waved back.

Samuel reviewed his last journal entry with a tired smile on his face. That was two weeks ago. Time flies, eh? he thought to himself. And now I have yet another entry to write. Though this time, it's not as cheerful. He sat inside his train compartment, enjoying the scenery outside the window. The train was due to leave Ponyville station in five minutes, but since there had been some technical issues the conductor had said that it would probably take at least twenty more minutes before departure. Samuel didn't mind this, since if he wrote while the train was moving, he usually got motion sickness. He sighed and picked up the pencil. It's better to write it down now, when it's fresh. he thought to himself. And then I'd be able to really relax the rest of the trip. Yes, that's probably for the best.

Journal entry #17 – There and back again

Dear journal,

It's been two weeks since the Wonderbolts' show. Two quite relaxing weeks. Since there were no upcoming performances the workout sessions in the evenings were much less stressful. Now it was back to 'just observing' them and teaching them how to be able to do it themselves. They had gotten better at it, without a doubt, but I still felt there were some small tips and tricks that I could supply them with.

Fire and I are much closer since the show. I consider her to be one of my best friends. We met on several occasions just to enjoy each others company. It could be anywhere from taking a cup of tea at a café to just lying on a cloud together talking about life in general.

The university studies did also go well. It was on the monday after the show and I was sitting in the library deeply immersed in an essay when somepony spoke to me.

"Hi there, Samuel?" a vaguely familiar voice said.

I turned my head to see who it was, since I didn't recognize her voice. "Oh, hi there!, Minty!" I said as I saw the Daring Do author trotting in through the room towards me. I hadn't had any contact with her since our last meeting.

"How are you?" she asked politely.

"I'm quite fine, thanks."I replied.

"I just came by to give you a proposal." she said.

"Okay? Shoot!" I said.

"If you want to, you could be titled as co-writer on my next book. Your draft was amazing, I'm halfway finished already!" she said.

"..." I was speechless.

"Two weeks from now I'll be leaving for Ponyville to sign books, if you'd like you can come with me and sign the new one!" she said.

"It's... I... would be honored to." I said, barely able to grasp what was actually going on. Me!? A co-writer to the next Daring Do book. So she really did mean what she said... I thought to myself.

"Here, let me show you what I got thus far!" she said.

I skimmed through her papers and noticed that quite a lot of my work was still there, untouched. "Wow. This is good. You really do have a sense for detail." I said.

"Thank you." she said. "Anyways, I didn't come here to chit-chat. Great that you would like to come with me! Here's your tickets. I'll see you in two weeks!"

She turned around and trotted out of the library. I looked at the tickets which lay on the table in front of me, still not entirely sure if it was actually true.

It was not until the monday two weeks later that I could comprehend that what was going on wasn't only in my imagination. The train had departed at eight in the morning, like usual, but I wasn't tired at all. I shared train compartment with the Daring Do author herself and her, presumably number one, assistant. We chatted for a bit but then the respected in front of me politely said that she would rather try to get some sleep. She explained that the train gave her motion sickness. I understood the feeling and looked out through the window. There wasn't really much else to do since I couldn't write. I knew that I would feel motion sickness as well if I was to write while on a moving train.

It was just around noon when we arrived at Ponyville station. When we arrived the assistant said that we'd be having the signing session at the town hall. I helped her carry the, in my opinion, excessive amount of bags. As we got closer to the town hall my heart started to beat faster.

I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.

"Is there anything wrong?" Minty said.

"Nah... I'm, just nervous." I said.

"There's nothing to be afraid of! Signing books is easy." she replied.

Heh, if only it was 'that' I was nervous about. I thought to myself.

"The signing session will start in half an hour. We'll keep at it until four, then there's dinner and the train back to Canterlot leaves at five." she said.

I nodded in response and helped her move some tables together. Even though I was quite anxious the half hour passed quickly. Soon after we opened the door and put up the big sign just outside, the first ponies started come.

Just as she had pointed out, signing the books wasn't very hard at all. I even felt a bit like a celebrity, sitting there, writing my autograph together with a short friendly message on their books. After about half an hour I saw Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy enter through the door together. It wasn't until they had gotten one of their own books signed by the real author beside me that Twilight noticed me.

"By Celestia, is it really you, Samuel?" she said, clearly surprised.

"It sure is. Good to see you again, Twilight." I said. "You look great, too, Fluttershy."

Twilight switched from looking at me to Fluttershy. "You two know each other?"

Fluttershy nodded.

Since a queue was starting to build up behind them I added. "Uhm, would you like to buy the new book? I can sign it for you! I'd love to chat but there's quite a few others waiting... Maybe we can meet after? I'll be done here at around four." I said.

"Sure! We'll be waiting outside, just after four!" Twilight replied. They both bought a book and turned to trot out of the town hall.

"Oh, and don't tell Rainbow that I'm me, if you understand. I want to see if she recognizes me." I said. They nodded.

Time went on and I almost believed that Rainbow wouldn't show up. It wasn't until half past three I saw her cautiously approach the open door. My heart skipped a beat. So. Beautiful. There she was, the little filly I used to know, all grown up. I could tell, even from this distance, that she was still incredibly fit. Her maroon eyes were looking in every direction. Probably to make sure that nopony who knows her sees her getting a book signed. I thought to myself. Just like old Dash... I sighed. As she came closer I gulped and took an even deeper breath, preparing to keep my voice steady.

"So... You're the author of Daring Do, eh?" Rainbow said to Minty.

"I sure am. And who might you be?" she said.

"I'm Rainbow Dash." Rainbow replied. "I love your books. Could you perhaps sign this?" Rainbow turned her head around and picked up a book from her saddle bag. When she did that Minty poked me with her eyes wide open. I quickly gave her a 'please-don't-mention-anything'-look and hoped that she would understand.

"Of course." she said and signed the inside of the book. "There you go! Don't forget that you can buy the new book and get it signed right away at my co-writer just over there." she said and gestured in my direction.

"Oh, there's a new one?! I didn't even know." Rainbow said and trotted over to me. "How much is it?"

"T-thirty five bits." I said, mentally slapping myself for stuttering.

"Here ya go." she said and picked up a thirty-five bits from a purse. "Would you sign it for me?" she said excitedly, with her gaze fixated on the book.

"Sure..."

I opened the book and wrote,

To miss Dash.
Have a nice day!

I finished with writing my name somewhat hazily. She didn't seem to care though.

"Thank you so much. This'll be the best day, ever!" she said and practically skipped out of the town hall.

My eyes got watery, as Rainbow would have put it herself. She's so happy... But she didn't recognize me. I thought to myself.

The last twenty-five minutes passed without too much happening. As the time was up I helped the assistant put the tables back as they were before, and started to trot to the exit.

"You're not coming with us, Samuel?" the assistant asked.

"Ah, no. I've got some plans. Got a few old friends here I'd like to visit before the train departures. I'll see you later!"

I trotted outside and saw my two friends already waiting for me. They waved as soon as they saw me.

"Hi! How are you?" Twilight asked.

"I'm... fine, I guess." I said.

Twilight who as always noticed my hints of sadness said, "Want to talk about it? I can get some tea ready, at the library."

"Sounds good."

We arrived at the library shortly thereafter. When Twilight went into her kitchen to make the tea, Fluttershy spoke up.

"It was so long ago..."

"Yeah, it really was. I didn't know where you lived. I'm sorry." I said.

"It's alright. But maybe I can show you someday. If... you don't mind."

I smiled at her shyness and said, "That sounds great, Fluttershy."

"You look different..." she said.

"... I guess I do." I said, poking a hoof in my red/black mane. "She didn't recognize me..."

"Who? Dashie?"

"Yeah..."

She noticed how sad I was and tried to change subject. She failed somewhat, but I didn't mind.

"Oh, you know what? Two weeks ago we were at this Wonderbolt show, in Canterlot!"

I bit my lip but pretended I had nothing to do with it. "Oh really? That sounds cool. How was it?"

"It was awesome! We stayed at this really luxurious hotel. And the show. So cool! We even met with, um, Spitfire, their captain! And we spoke with her for like, an hour! She was so sweet."

I mentally noted that I had to thank Fire properly for doing me such a favor. "No way! That sounds really cool!" I said.

"What's really cool?" Twilight asked as she entered the room with three teacups and a teapot levitated carefully in front of her.

"I just told Samuel about our trip to Canterlot!" she said.

I met Twilight's gaze and gave her a 'don't-say-anything'-look and she just nodded. We continued to talk for some time, while sipping on our tea. We managed to cover many different subject during the conversation. My time in Cloudsdale and how I had gotten to know Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, how it felt to grow up in Canterlot both as Princess Celetia’s protegé and as a normal colt, the university studies and how I had met Twilight and how Fluttershy's life had been together with her animals here in Ponyville.

It was quite nice to speak with them. However, time flies when you're having fun, and as I noticed what time it was I stood up.

"Oh, it's four-fifty already. My train leaves in ten minutes!" I said. "This has been really enjoyable. It was so good to see both of you again! But if you'll excuse me I'll try to avoid the events of last time I was here."

"What happened last time?" Fluttershy asked.

"I... err. Missed the train. It basically resulted in me flying to Canterlot."

"You what!?" Twilight exclaimed.

"I assure you, it wasn't such a big deal, but I feel like the train is the way to go today." I said with a tired smile. "Have a nice day, ladies!" I said as I trotted out of the library. They remained inside and waved as I left.

A few minutes passed and the lavender pony and her friend remained in the library. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Twilight said.

It was no other than Rainbow Dash. "'Sup Twilight? Ah, and hi Fluttershy!" she said.

"We... just had some tea."

Rainbow took a brief look at the table. "There's three cups...?" she said. "Oh, was it that pony I saw trotting out of her, earlier? He sure looked familiar..."

"Well, that's because you kn-" Fluttershy said but got interrupted my Twilight.

"That's because you just met him earlier today, didn't you. He was the co-writer of the new Daring Do book."

"Ah, that must be why..." Rainbow replied. "So... You're hooking up with an author, eh? Not that I'm surprised."

Twilight blushed slightly, "No! ... Actually." she leaned in close to Rainbow and whispered something in her ear.

Rainbow's jaw dropped and her face switched from first becoming pale as a ghost to red as a rose.

"R-really?" she said.

"Go and see for yourself." Twilight replied.

Samuel put his pencil down. That's that, then. he thought to himself.

"What's that you're writing?" Minty asked from the opposite side of the train compartment.

"It's just my journal. I like writing down stuff. It's nice to get these things off my chest. You know?"

"I do indeed know. I have a diary of my own..." she said.

"Have you found your special somepony?" Samuel asked abruptly.

"I... " she didn't say anything more.

"Sorry, that was way too personal." he said.

The train had now been running for a few minutes and he leaned back to enjoy the ride.

Suddenly the compartment door slid open violently.

"By Celestia, what is going on! Can't one have a little privacy?" Minty said.

"There you are, finally!" no other than Twilight said. One could tell that she was upset and that she had been running a lot.

"Twilight! What are you doing here?" Samuel said.

"It's an emergency!" she said and panted. "Dash... ... is in the hospital."

"What!?" he said.

"Something must have happened.... " Twilight said helplessly. "I... she stopped a few minutes after you left. I told her that you were in town and she flew out the door as if the Wonderbolts themselves were in town."

Twilight tried to catch her breath. "I trotted after her and as I got into town I saw her get taken to the hospital. Somepony said that she had flown straight into a huge glass window that was being moved by some construction workers."

Samuel stood up. "Which hospital?"

"There's only one in town, I'm sure you'll see it quite clearly from the sky."

He galloped past her and headed for the closest exit. After he had opened the door with the emergency handle he realized something. He turned back towards his train compartment and met Twilight on the way.

"... Do you need help to get off the train?"

"I... ... sure." she said.

He picked her up and flew outside. Moments later he reached the closest road where he could see Ponyville not too far away.

"Is it okay if I let you off here?" he asked.

"Yeah... Thanks."

He gently put his friend down and flew towards Ponyville.

Wow. I don't think I've seen anypony fly that fast, not even Rainbow Dash! Twilight thought to herself, while galloping after him. Rainbow Dash was her friend too, after all.

It didn't take Samuel many minutes to get back to Ponyville. He circulated high above the village for a while until he noticed the hospital. It was a bit on the outside of town. He dived down towards it and didn't slow down until the last moment. Unfortunately it was just a bit too late and his landing became considerably more rough than he had expected. He stood up quite dazed. Nothing broken at least. he thought to himself. He galloped inside the hospital.

"Dear Celestia, what has happened to you? You're bleeding!" the nurse in the front desk said.

"Dash..." Samuel said. "Need to get to... Rainbow Dash."

"She... is in there." she directed him towards the end of the corridor.

He continued down the corridor and looked in through every door to find his dear friend. He found her in the second to last room on the left side. She had four other ponies in there, with her. Fluttershy was one of them.

He pushed the door open and slowly walked towards them.

"How... is she?" he said trying to ignore the pounding pain coming from his left back leg.

"She's in a coma..." a white unicorn said.

"Are ya okay, mister? You're bleedin'!" an orange earth pony said.

"I'm... fine."

A somewhat worried nurse entered the room. "Everything alright in here?"

"Alright!? She's in a coma! Everything is not alright!" Samuel shouted at her. The sudden strain made him feel dizzy.

"You, sir, are not alright. You've lost a lot of blood. Just let me get you patched up, it'll only take a minute." the nurse said.

Samuel tried to insist on that he was fine but she continued, "I won't take no for an answer."

She picked up some bandages she had conveniently carried on her back. She did indeed patch him up quickly and with bandage around his hind leg Samuel could actually stand normally on it.

"Now, there's been way too much commotion here. I can allow possibly one of you to stick around." she said sternly.

Samuel turned towards the other four ponies and looked at Fluttershy pleadingly. They turned around and mumbled to each other.

As they turned back towards him the orange mare once again spoke up. "She's all yours, sugarcube. Fluttershy said that you're a close friend." They trotted out of the room together with the nurse.

Samuel trotted over to the bedside and started to speak with her.

"What happened... Did you really fly straight into... a glass window...?"

He looked at her. "Thank Celestia it didn't break, you'd have glass splinters everywhere."

"I'm... so sorry, Dashie..." he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. "This is all my fault."

"I... I shouldn't have come... But you know, I've missed you. So much..." He stroke her mane gently, careful to not touch the white bandage that was covering her forehead.

Twilight came galloping in through the hospital doors. She noticed her friends standing in the corridor and headed towards them.

"How... is.. she?" she asked.

"He's talking to her, right now..."

Twilight looked in through the glass window in the door and saw Samuel standing beside Rainbow. She levitated the door in front of her open with just a few centimeter gap.

"Twilight, what are you-?" Fluttershy whispered.

"Don't you want to hear what he says?" she replied.

"But-"

"Schhh!"

"Dashie, there's something I have to tell you..." he hesitated slightly. "... And I might as well say it now, because I don't know if.. if you'll ever.. " his voice died away.

He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I... like you, Dashie. Not as in 'wow, she's awesome! I like her!' but as you would say, I like like you."

"I've liked you since the first moment I saw you... That time when you defended Fluttershy from those bullies."

"I treasured every moment we had together. It didn't matter if it was during advanced flying techniques class or during either of 'our own' practices at the old race track. As long as I could spend time with you, I would love every second of it."

"Ever since that day... The day when I helped Fluttershy fly back up to Cloudsdale after she had fallen down to the ground. The very same day that you won the race and managed to pull off a 'Sonic Rainboom'. That same day you saw Fluttershy kiss me as 'thanks'. Ever since that moment I've regretted that I didn't talk to you. I should have disobeyed my parents and just explained everything..."

"I... I've never had a marefriend. Deep down in my heart I've always known who I wanted to have as my special somepony. That's you, Rainbow Dash, I've always wanted you as my special somepony."

"But today... When I got here, signed your book and saw you didn't recognize me. I realized that I've probably changed too much..."

"... I'm so sorry, Dashie. But to let you live your life, I'll have to go." Samuel couldn't really believe he actually said that. With his heart broken he finally said.

"I love you, Rainbow Dash. ... Farewell..."

He turned around to leave the room. She had not recognized him, she was happy with her life as far as he could have seen and she had a lot of good friends. He sighed deeply and started to trot towards the door.

"... I..."

His ear twitched. Did I just... he thought to himself. He swung around and looked at the bed.

Rainbow sat up in her bed. "I love you too, Swifty!" she said. Her eyes were watery and one could only guess that she had heard everything he had said.

Samuel couldn't really describe what he felt at that moment. It must have been a mix of every feeling in existence. He just had to embrace her. He rushed back to the bed, jumped up on it and hugged her. "You... You're alive! I thought I had lost you..." he said and pulled her close, embracing her using his wings as well.

While lying there, like in a little cocoon made of feathers, he looked deep into her maroon eyes and said, "Rainbow Dash, will you become my marefriend, my special somepony?"

She smiled and nodded, and they kissed, a long passionate kiss.

After a while of just embracing each other Samuel broke the silence.

"Oh... Um, are you in any pain?"

"... I've got a headache..." she said.

"You've got a headache... You pretty much fly into a solid glass wall, you get into somewhat of a coma, you miraculously wake up and the only thing wrong is that you have a headache?" he said.

Rainbow glanced towards the door, where she saw her five best friends cheer, jump and wave happily. "Y-yeah... eheheh... about that..."

The End