Chapters "A day off won't kill you..."
It had been a long day for Rainbow Dash, the cyan weather pegasus assigned the job to keep the remote town of Ponyville's climate and weather in check. She had spent the entire 16 hours she had been awake: Raainbow had been woken up at 4 in the morning due to an emergency protocol, and now, she was finally getting to bed at 8 o clock at night, which may seem early, but Rainbow Dash needed it. Rainbow had stretched her hooves, lifted the blanket off her cloud bed, climbed in it, threw the blanket over herself, and drifted off to sleep.
During Rainbow's slumber, a strange thought seemed to be ringing in her head: It was quotes from her 5 best friends telling her to "Take a Break, you just have to let yourself rest" by Rarity, "A day off isn't gonna kill you" by Twilight Sparkle. Thoughts like this seemed to bombarde Rainbow's dreams, but she fiercly shut these ideas away, for weather was a 24/7 job and breaks could mean danger, so not once in her life has she had a time where she intentionally did nothing, not counting sleeping. It took hours of fighting the thoughts away to finally hit real sleep, where Rainbow Dash's dreams turned into the null of random thoughts nopony can remember.
She dreamt through the long night of random things that happened to her, sometimes going back to when she was a filly or an obscure time she can never remember. This was until she fidgeted herself awake at a time unknown to her, but something strange she felt was that the bed she was not the one she had fallen asleep in. It had felt softer, too soft... Rainbow Dash knew something was up as she slowly opened her eyes. Once her eyes focused to the unusually bright aroma of sunlight, Rainbow surveyed her surroundings, to see that she was in what looked like Princess Celestia's bedroom. Confused, Rainbow nervously looked around for another pony in the room. Nothing but a few dressers lined next to each other, a wardrobe, a giant, fancy mirror, some makeup tables and the bed Rainbow was lying in. Rainbow Dash was all alone, but soon felt something else unusual: her mane didn't feel as scruffy as usual, it felt cleaner, as if it were brushed as she was asleep. She stared into the fancy mirror in the left hand corner, to see that not only was it combed and straightened, but there was a neat little pink bow tying it at the bottom. Her coat also looked clean to the point of shining in the reflection. Rainbow just gawked at herself in the mirror, her emotions conflicting between Disgust, Horror, Embarassment, and Rage. Why was she here? Who would have done this? And What was their cause?
After about thirty seconds of staring, Rainbow Dash finally made a move and decided to make an escape plan. The windows looked easily large enough to fit even the largest ponies, so it took no time planning how to do it. Rainbow Dash hopped out of the marshmellow-type bed and began to spread her wings, to find a nasty suprise, her wings were stiff like boards as if they hadn't been used in hundreds of years. Rainbow's mood dropped like a rock, "Oh no... my wings! How could they be... but I just used them yesterday!" Rainbow Dash screamed to herself. Soon, she began her regular stretching routine, but she couldn't even get one powerful flap out of them. She soon went to the extremes, grabbing her wings with her teeth and pulling them near to the point of out of their sockets. Even after a whole minute of that, her wings still were as stiff as boards. With shame, she just folded up her wings and lay on the ground hopelessly "Well I guess Ponyville's gonna have a bad day after all..." Rainbow Dash said to herself disaapointingly. All Rainbow Dash could do was meander over to the marshmellow soft bed and lay on her side until someone showed up. Just as she was slipping back into slumber, somepony showed up at the door,
"Is My Little Dashie awake yet?" A very familiar voice at the door called. Rainbow Dash despised those three words put together, but she was a little too tired to respond. Soon, the mare in the door trotted on over to a sleepy Rainbow Dash, "Is Ms. Sleepyhead doing just fine, or does she need a little something to perk her up?" The pearl white unicorn who Rainbow Dash immediately recognized as Rarity said as she held Dash's chin,
"Rarity..." Rainbow Dash said as her face began to show boiling rage, "Do you mind explaining THIS!?" Rainbow furiously added on as she showed the unicorn the bottom of her mane tied into a bow,
"I just decided to clean you up a little before I began..." Rarity replied,
"And if you excuse me, I'll go get some coffee myself" Rainbow Dash added as she stepped out of her bed and began to head towards the door leading out of the room, until she was stopped by Rarity,
"Oh no, I'll get you whatever you want, you can just kick back while I get you anything" Rarity nervously responded,
"You better not be trying to butter me up to go to the Gala, are ya? If so, I ain't buyin' it" Rainbow Dash stubbornly stated. Rarity just gave Rainbow her version of the stare, it was nowhere near as good as Fluttershy's, but it was enough to intimidate Rainbow Dash, as she just smiled and walked backwards towards the bed, as Rarity left with her eye on Rainbow,
"Just so you know, the gala was 2 weeks ago" Rarity said as she left the room. Rainbow Dash just sat on the ground, with her head and back against the bed. It reminded her of the hospital, only Daring Do wasn't at her side to kill time. Eventually Rarity reapeared with the coffee Rainbow Dash had requested, "Here you go" Rarity said to the rainbow Pegasus. Rainbow Dash grabbed the fancy looking cup and quickly took 3 large gulps. Rarity drove a hoof into the side of Rainbow's head,
"OW!" Rainbow Dash interjected while rubbing the spot where she had been struck, "What was that for!?" Rainbow added on,
"You shouldn't guzzle your drink like that young mare!" Rarity scolded, "You simply must learn some manners! Tell me, is that how you eat out and treat your friends?" Rarity added,
"Sssss...sort of" Rainbow Dash replied,
"well, today that is not acceptable, now I will be right back" Rarity said as she took Rainbow Dash's empty coffee cup out of her room. Rainbow Dash just layed back down on her side,
"Why is she acting like she's my mother all of a sudden?" Rainbow thought to herself. About a minute later, Rarity returned,
"Come on out Dashie, I have something for you" Rarity said excitedly. The cyan pegasus climbed out of the soft bed and began heading out of the room, anticipating getting on her hooves for once today. as she left the room, she hid the part of her mane that was in a bow, and although it looked like no one was there, she did it just to be safe. Finally, Rarity led her to a spa-chairs with a little tub of water at the foot of it. A clean, handsome looking pony was standing on the other side, with a cloth on his back,
"Why'd you bring me here?" Rainbow Dash inquired,
"You're going to get a HOOFICURE!" Rarity exclaimed as if she had a party planned for Rainbow. Rainbow's ears dropped as she remembered the last hooficure she didn't get.
"A day off won't kill you..."
Rainbow thought about it for a minute, seeing as she despised having ponies working with her hooves, she disregarded it, until she thought to herself "Why not? Nothing else to do here anyway" and layed on her back in the spa chair, and soon, the pony standing behind it began the process of her hooficure. It was quite an unusual feeling, but Rainbow quickly began to get used to it. Now feeling some sort of comfort, she asked Rarity,
"You know... why did you bring me here? I'm supposed to be watching the weather, you know" Rainbow Dash inquired,
"It's quite a long story, but, I just wanted to give you a day off" Rarity began,
"But... You do know weather is a 24/7 job, if I'm sleeping, and a gigantic hurricane comes from the Everfree Forest, I'd get my flank out of bed and fight it, even if I'm the only one out there" Rainbow Dash replied,
"Well sweetheart, I know the weather of this town is very important to you, but you simply must get a break every now and then" Rarity stated,
"Oh I do, get breaks, I just spend it training" Rainbow proclaimed,
"Oh no, not that kind of break, but, I just want you to get a chance to relax, and not have to be constantly 'WEATHER WEATHER WEATHER' or 'TRAINING TRAINING TRAINING' it simply wears you out and some time or another, your just going to have burned every last ounce of energy you have left, so I bought you here just to let you relax" Rarity said as she began entering the emotional zone,
"Aww, that's very sweet of you, but... I've been living life the same exact way for the entire 10 years I've lived in Ponyville, it's not like I'm depressed or anything" Rainbow Dash replied,
"I know, it's just me and your friends keep telling you just to slow down... and you never listen" Rarity said. This left rainbow Dash silent for a few minutes as the only sounds in the room were the squeaking of the cloth cleaning off Rainbow's hooves, until Rainbow finally spoke up,
"Promise not to tell anypony this, including you" Rainbow said adressing Rarity and the pony giving the hooficure. The pony gave a small nod as he worked just to show he was listening,
"It's just... *gulp* I have to be number one. I know, I know, it's my typical self, but this is different, it's just that I can't be any less from the best otherwise, I just start getting depressed, and I think that everyone would just forget about me. It goes back to intense flight school, because when I was bumped up from regulars, I was just a little filly going up against huge stallions. I was only keeping up with the back, and those guys were slower than slow compared to the majority. So that's when I started with the hyper training. I trained with the huge stallions, and granted it was way out of my reach, while they were taking their break, I was out busting my flank on what they had done already. Every day I did the exact same thing, and I just refused to stop. Even coach told me to relax, but I just ignored it and kept putting myself through the meat grinder. I just couldn't stop when they stopped, because while I followed their schedule exactly, it felt like I wasn't getting any better, so I'd throw it all down every day until it made a difference, and it seemed to put the idea in my head that I shouldn't stop busting my flank, otherwise it's all gonna go to hell. Now, it's definately paid off, but... I just don't wanna miss a day and lose it all" Rainbow Dash explained. The whole room was silent. Even the hooficure pony slowed down his work significantly,
"Dashie..." Rarity said emotionally. Rainbow rolled her eyes at that word, "I don't know how to explain it..." Rarity added on,
"Hey, it was my fillyhood, what can I do about it?" Rainbow Dash replied,
"I know, I just thought you were obsessive... but to find out it rooted in your fillyhood," Rarity said emotionally again as she began piecing together something in her mind, finally she came to a conclusion, "Rainbow Dash... I know this may sound a little stupid, but just do me a favor, and just relax today, just forget about all this bullcrap going on in your life for one day, and just relax... for me?" Rarity said as she somewhat cracked a smile. Rainbow Dash thought a little bit and cracked a little bit of a smile to,
"Suuure" Rainbow Dash finally stated, uplifting Rarity dramatically, and then the two mares engaged in a tightly bonded hug. They held it for about a minute, and then Rarity let go and stood back,
"Now let's go have some fun..." Rarity stated.
"A day off won't kill you..."
As the cyan pegasus gazed over the town of Ponyville, she thought of a raitional escape plan, but from how small the interior windowsils were, they only way to go through them would be to fly full force through them, and Rainbow Dash's were imobilized, hopefully only temporarily. Rainbow soon left the window and began wandering the room again, pondering on random things. As she mindlessly wandered through the vast room, she would occasionally glance back at the pink bow tieing her mane at the bottom, further taunting Rainbow of her defeat. Finally, after some pondering, the bow began to become an annoyance, so Rainbow sat back on her flank and began tugging at the bow. She couldn't untie it because the bow was tied so tightly that it would be impossible to do it without an extra pair of hooves, so all Rainbow could do was forcefully pull it until it slid off. This was easier said then done, as she had spent atleast half an hour pulling with all her might, but it had only moved half an inch.
As Rainbow was pulling, the door to the room swung open, causing Rainbow Dash to stop what she was doing and look toward the pearl white unicorn who had entered,
"Has Dashie thought about what she did this morning?" Rarity asked to the pegasus who was sitting up alert, as if she had done something wrong. Rarity soon came over to Rainbow Dash, "Got anything to say for yourself?" Rarity inquired to Rainbow's face, Rainbow Dash submitting again,
"I-I-I-I'm sorry Rarity, I won't do it again" Rainbow Dash stated,
"That's what I thought" Rarity replied as she started toward the side of the room opposite of Rainbow Dash, until she noticed the bow completely out of whack and the area where the bow was being pulled looked scruffy and horrible, "RAINBOW? YOU WEREN'T DOING THIS WHILE I WAS GONE?" Rarity scorned, Rainbow Dash growing frightened,
"Noooo..." Rainbow Dash replied, and for that, you guessed it, she got a hoof to the face, right where the first one was from early that morning,
"Well, young mare, if you're going to go to drastic measures today, the I guess I'll go there with you" Rarity said, soon taking Rainbow up on her hooves forcefully, then putting a hoof around her neck, and began forcefully leaving the room, tugging Rainbow Dash along with her. Eventually Rarity had led Rainbow Dash back to the sauna/spa room. There she said, "Get down, come on, lay down" Rarity requested, and Rainbow followed the order with a look of innocence on her face. Just then, Rarity had sat on Rainbow Dash's back and began to mess with Rainbow's mane. With Rarity's wight on her, Rainbow Dash couldn't resist one bit as the unicorn removed the bow, straightened out Rainbow's mane, and tied the bow back on with a very intricate and tight knot, then proceeded to grab Rainbow in the headlock that she had tugged Rainbow to the room in,
"Now if you escape this time..." Rarity scolded to Rainbow as she kept her stare locked onto Rainbow's eyes. Rarity slowly left the spa as Rainbow sat up on her hind legs in a long spa chair similar to the one she laid in when she got her hooficure. She just sat there trying to absorb what Rarity had just said to her. Eventually Rainbow's true self snapped back, and then she began growing the temptation to leave. Soon, the temptation grew too high, and Rainbow Dash got out of her chair and began quietly sneaking over to the main door, until an oh so familiar voice stopped her,
"Well I guess I DO have to go there don't I? And it looks like another day here for you, missie" Rarity said enraged as she began heading toward the cyan pegasus,
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Rainbow inquired, still dead in her tracks,
"Well, I was originally planning to let you go tonight, but since you decided to not even relax for ONE DAY and not behave like a young mare for once, I guess I'm going to have to keep you here for another day" Rarity explained. Rarity then gave Rainbow a quick, abusive swat on the butt and said "Now back to your chair" Rarity scolded. To admit, it did sting a little getting smacked there for the first time in lots of years. Rainbow just grunted and headed back to the spa chair, as she realized there would be no point in attempting to escape again. Rainbow just laid back in her spa chair and awaited further instruction. Finally, 3 ponies, each looking like the one that delivered Rainbow's hooficure, entered the spa area and saw Rainbow lieing in the spa chair. Rainbow thought about making a great escape, but Rarity's stare had rid her of the thought. Finally, the 3 ponies began to go to work on treating Rainbow Dash's eyebrows and eyelashes in stylistic ways. Meanwhile, as Rainbow couldn't see past the ponies working on her eyes, she could feel someone else putting something on her hooves. It felt like smooth, soft cotton, and felt completely unnatural to Rainbow.
After about half an hour of work, Rainbow Dash was finally allowed to move again, her eyes feeling wet all around, she blinked a few times just to regain her focus toward Rarity. Rarity giggled a little at the sight of Rainbow,
"Look at yourself in the mirror, Dash" Rarity said, probably the first thing she said today that wasn't in a scolding voice. Rainbow Dash turned around and gazed at her reaction, it looked very humorous indeed, as she had polished eyelashes for the first time in years, and even better, what Rarity was putting on her hooves were pearl white cotton socks, each with Rarity's diamond cutie mark on them. Rarity couldn't help but crack a smile at Rainbow Dash's appearance,
"Rarity... why'd you make me look stupid?" Rainbow Dash inquired with her cheeks blushing a very slight shade of red,
"Nonsense honey, you look adorable!" Rarity replied, "Now come on, let's go have supper" Rarity added on. Rarity then left the room through the same door that Rainbow Dash had escaped from twice, and began heading toward her kitchen. Rainbow Dash soon followed. Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow Dash saw Celestia's sunset slowly dipping beneath the horizon,
"Do you mind if I head back to 'my room'?" Rainbow questioned to Rarity,
"Hmm, judging from past events, I can't seem to trust you being all alone just yet" Rarity replied. Rainbow's ears fell slightly,
"So what does that mean?" Rainbow asked,
"Well, from common sense that means you get to help me make dinner" Rarity replied. Rainbow Dash absorbed this statement and realized something: Even though she had helped Pinkie Pie make cupcakes, this would be something completely different.
"A day off won't kill you..."
Rarity led Rainbow Dash out of the hooficure room and strolled slowly back into the hallway,
"You know..." Rainbow Dash winced a little as her stiff wings were jerked a little,
"Why'd you have to mess up my wings like this? I see the point, but why not just use rope?" Rainbow Dash inquired to the pearl-white unicorn,
"Because it would look just so unattractive" Rarity said, slipping back into her normal self,
"Like, who would want to see a young mare walking around with rope tied around her torso?" Rarity added on, leading Rainbow to what looked like a huge sauna room,
"I'll be right back" The unicorn said as she closed the door, leaving Rainbow Dash in the room alone. Rainbow quickly snapped back to her regular self, feeling a little dazed,
"What the hell just happened? Did I really just get lost in my soft spot?" Rainbow questioned to herself in confusion. Whatever it was, something had influenced Rainbow Dash out of her regular, slightly arrogant self into her mellow, caring side. Sure she had slipped here naturally a few times, but this one was forced onto her. By substance, magic, mind trick, or whatever, but something was up. Upon realizing this, she wanted out more then ever. With her wings still stiff, she tried finding an entrance to the back area. There was a small door in the side of a facade of mirrors and fancy decorations. Rainbow Dash quickly sprinted over to it, only to find it was locked. It felt really wierd running across the room, as the layers of dirt and skin that were built on by all Rainbow's years of activity had been scrubbed away from the hooficure. She just felt more disgusted at herself for not snapping out of it sooner. Furiously she ran to the door in which Rarity exited from and fiercly shoved it open. Relieved to see that no one was in the hallway, she quickly dashed toward the main area of the carousel boutique, the light of day seemed so close, only to be stopped by a scolding voice,
"RAINBOW DASH. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?" This voice, whom Rainbow recognized to be Rarity scolded. Rainbow tried to fight it, but whatever was forcing her kind side onto her had already taken over,
"N-n-n-nothing?" Rainbow stammered to the enraged unicorn and for that, she got a hoof driven into her face, on the other side from the previous smack,
"Maybe you should start learning to do what your told young mare" Rarity scolded again. Rainbow Dash just layed down like a filly who had just been told off,
"Come on Rainbow, we're still going to have our fun" Rarity said back to Rainbow Dash. With that, Rainbow seemingly automatically got up and almost hynotically followed Rarity. Meanwhile, in the back of her head, voces kept on screaming "DONT DO IT! DONT DO IT!" "WAKE UP!" "SNAP OUT OF IT DASH!" "SHES A LUNATIC, GET OUT OF HERE!" "NOWS YOUR CHANCE, ESCAPE!" But Rainbow's current state of mind had shut these thoughts out, and Rainbow still proceeded to the sauna where Rarity was waiting for her. While the girls were getting face masks (without cucumbers in the eyes), Rainbow asked,
"Sooo, is there any chance I could come over for one of these again? Cause, after a little getting used to it's pretty relaxing" Rainbow Dash said in a perfectly normal voice, "SMOOOOOOTH" One of the voices in her head screamed,
"Of course! How often do you want to come, every weekend or so?" Rarity requested. After an abnormally long time of thinking for such a simple question, Rainbow Dash finally spoke up,
"Nope, I think I'm good" Rainbow said,
"How about every few weeks?" Rarity questioned,
"No, I think this would be good" Rainbow replied, "DENY DENY DENY" the voices in her head constantly screamed. About 5 seconds later, Rainbow's normal mentality snapped back into place once again. After a quick glance in the mirror to realize the state she was in, Rainbow Dash sprung out of her chair and zipped over to a wooden bowl filled with water and proceeded to dunk her clay covered face into the water, occasionally coming up for breath. Rarity soon sprung out of her chair and sprinted over to the crazed pegasus,
"RAINBOW? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?" Rarity scolded,
"You thought I would give in this easily..." Rainbow Dash said furiously,
"You probably drugged me up or something thinking I would just let you do this to me..." Rainbow added on, leaving Rarity speachless, If you're gonna be a crazy lunatic and lock me in this asylum, then I, AM, OUT OF HERE!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she took off on her hooves, heading toward the main are of the Carousel Boutique again, only this time her tail was stomped on by a pearl white unicorn feeling just as enraged as Rainbow, who then quickly turned the cyan pegasus around,
"Don't even THINK about doing it" Rarity hissed to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow fought whatever made her switch mental states, eventually drivng two hooves into Rarity's nose, forcing her off Rainbow's tail and proceeded to continue her mad sprint to the exit. As the daylight grew larger, Rainbow was tackled by Rarity once again, this time pinned by all four hooves,
"Well if you're not going to obey yourself, I guess some GROUNDING would do it" Rarity fiercly stated. There was no fighting it this time, Rainbow Dash subdued to her soft spot. After Rarity calmed down a little, she picked Rainbow back up onto her hooves then forcefully led Rainbow down the main hallway with a hoof held around the back of Rainbow's neck, so she couldn't resist. Finally, Rarity led Rainbow Dash to the room in which she woke up in,
"I'll be back, and don't even THINK about leaving" Rarity scorned, then left the room, locking the door behind her. Rainbow Dash just sat up against the door, still enraged from the incident, Rainbow Dash started talking to herself,
"That crazy unicorn, thinking I would give up my personality to her" Rainbow began, "Like what was she thinking? I would be her new child!? Why would she "Ground" me like this!?" Rainbow furiously questioned to herself, "She must think she's my mother or something, but apparently Rarity doesn't know me well enough to know that I don't need a MOTHER, or a " Rainbow Dash hissed, growing more irate with every word, " 'Young Mare' UGH" Rainbow furiously stated, "Well I'll fight to the very end, even if she kills me" Rainbow hissed again. Rainbow Dash continued to furiously bad-mouth Rarity for the events of that had happened that day. Finally, she got up on her hooves and headed to one of the large windows in the bedroom, where she saw the town of ponyville, ponies frolicking throughout the town, conversing and having a good time. She looked up to see some weather ponies doing what should have been Rainbow's job, "What's the point... It's not like I can fly out of here" Rainbow said to herself as she gazed over the small town.
