Over the Rainbow

Rainbow Dash lay down on the mattress. The alicorn stared down at her and frowned. She levitated a dust clipboard, papers attached, and jotted down several lines of notes. Rainbow stared up at her and flexed her wings. She waited patiently for her friend, hoping for some good news. The last thing she needed was to be held back from her daily exercise plan for whatever reason.

     The lavender pony looked away from the clipboard, dropped it down stiffly. Rainbow's tail flicked uncontrollably and she started to sweat. The two stared at each other until the sound of thumping came from downstairs. The cyan mare jolted upright and ran down the cloud steps as fast as possible. She suddenly stopped, seeing Tank on his back- er, shell, with his feet in the air. Rainbow's eyes then shot towards the kitchen cabinet, which was swung wide open and a jar of daffodil cookies spilled on the counter below.

     Rainbow rolled her eyes, picking up the tortoise and setting him on the dining table.

"Twilight! Tank's eating again!" Rainbow yelled, just as she came downstairs.  Twilight shook her head and put a white capsule in the pony's hoof. She turned towards the door and trotted to the door.

"I'm sorry, Dashie, but I think Tank really needs to see a veterinarian. She can't be stuffing herself all of a sudden for no reason. If this happens once more, notify me. Okay?" She said turning to Rainbow Dash. She nodded sadly and trotted to the front door, to close it behind Twilight. She heard a crunching noise and turned to see Tank's head in a potato chip bag.

    It was almost noon, and Dash had many errands to run before then. She finally reached a shack with a rusty sign above it. Some letters were missing and the lights flickered from the inside. She sighed, trotting in and slamming the wooden door close. She looked around at the metal chairs and T.V screens. The counters were dusty and faded to grey, with gum under the tables. She waited in line, noticing a familiar pegasus in front of her. Rainbow's mane might have turned grey and her eyes smaller than pins as she stammered, "F-F-Flu-" The yellow pegasus turned around, smiling.

  "Oh, hello, Rainbow! I was just picking up some salad for Angel. He has been very picky today. Hey, have you always been that sweaty?" She asked, seeing sweat pool at her hooves. Rainbow's jaw dropped and she was clearly blank, which Fluttershy didn't seem to notice.

"Ooh! Are we playing charades? Um. oh-okay.. uh let's see here... Um a whale! No large mouth... um... Oooh! I got it! A turkey!" She cheered. This seemed to snap the rainbow-maned pony out of it.

     "Oh, uh yeah! That's right! Heehee... ummm I was only her for uh... PAPER BAGS!" She shouted, getting attention from most ponies in the shack. She whimpered and sunk down, the line moving ahead. Fluttershy tilted her head, her mane tossing to the side. Brushing it away, she said, "Um, paper....bags?" This made Rainbow sweat heavier, and a grey mare, known as Derpy handed- um, hoofed her a towel. She nervously smiled, realizing two of her friends where here.

      "I got em' for uh, Derpy! YEAH, a birthday present. An early one! Heeeheh..." Rainbow said, staring at Derpy. She trotted to the cashier and came back with a hooffull of paper bags. Derpy stared at the bags as if it were heaven. Then, she scooped up Rainbow into a tight hug and squealed.

"Oh, Dashie, you shouldn't have! These are... wonderful! YOU MADE ME SO HAPPEEY!" She shouted, pulling Rainbow closer.  She pulled the cross-eyed mare away from her in disgust of her 'wimpy bear hug' which nearly strangled her, and nervously smiled.

      "Riiiiight.... um, yes, sure... now go away. Get, get movin'!" She said, using her head to shove Derpy out the shack. She waited a good twenty minutes or so until Fluttershy waved good-bye with her hooves full of lettuce in bags and some tortilla chips in another hoof. Rainbow quickly ran toward the counter and a black pegasus trotted out to greet her.

"Good afternoon, miss Dash. Regular, I see?" He asked. Rainbow nodded and put her bits on the counter. The stallion nodded back, taking the bits into a cash register. The passed her a large box and a receipt, waving to her as she left.

  As she got home, Tank was sleeping on the same spot on the table. She looked around her. No food in sight. She trotted to the bedroom upstairs and lay the box down on the desk next to her T.V stand, and turned it on. The news channel was on, and a notification came from the bottom reading that a channel would be auto-tuned in an hour. Suddenly, a knock came at the door.