—and as she looked out over the remnants of the jungle—flattened and bereft of life—she didn't spare a thought for any of the creatures that had met their end there, nor for her own companions, who had almost perished in the face of danger.
She thought only of the blood ruby pendant hanging from her neck, her determination as unwavering then as it had been when she first set out on her quest. It had taken a great deal of sacrifice, but the power to change things was now within her grasp, waiting to be utilised. With it, she could reverse this cataclysmic destruction, she could undo the damage, and above all?
She could save the world.
Rainbow shuddered out a breath as she read over her writing one last time, scarcely believing it was really hers. Over time she had learnt to be critical, and she knew that the prose was rough in places, but the plot was so freaking awesome! How the heck she had come up with it was truly beyond her, but to say that Rainbow was proud of herself would be an understatement.
It had taken months to write, and more months to refine and craft into something resembling good literature, and still she knew that even when she sent it to a publisher, she could be painfully rejected, or asked to completely reword certain sections, change big areas of the story around, or even scrap a section. Rainbow learnt that about the world of publication a while ago, and had come to terms with the fact that her debut (and hopefully flagship) story would likely be have to be molded into what the publisher wanted first, otherwise she'd never get it out there.
When Twilight had published the friendship journal, it managed to get out unedited for two reasons, the first being that it was epistolary non-fiction, and the second that nopony's gonna say 'no' to a princess. Rainbow didn't have that luxury, and also realised that to a lot of traditional publishers, a no once meant a no forever.
In other words, she had to get this right the first time, and that meant getting the story to its absolute best before sending it off. As far as Rainbow was concerned, the writing was already pretty dang good, but she was an amateur author, and this was the first thing she had written for the explicit purpose of others seeing. Luckily, she had friends that knew a lot about either writing or text analysis, and figured she could rely on them for some assistance in putting together her final draft.
Her eyes finished tracing the page as she looked to her window, her hoof subconsciously flicking through the two hundred and sixty stapled pieces of paper as she tried to determine how late in the day it was. There was no clock in the study, after all—the ticking distracted her way too much.
Deciding she had ample time, she gently placed the papers in her saddlebags, which she then fastened around her flanks, closing them tight to ensure that none of her writing would billow out during her flight.
As she took off through a nearby window, she couldn't help but be excited to hear Twilight's reaction. Surely the most studious pony she knew would have some valuable comments and criticism for her, as long as Rainbow could convince her not just to say whatever she wanted to hear. She was serious about this, after all, she knew Twilight would have some strong and justifiable opinions, and that's precisely why she was going to her. She could take it.
When she arrived at the castle, Spike told her that Twilight was upstairs in the northeast library room. Rainbow stifled a chuckle at hearing it be referred to as the 'northeast' library room, wondering just how many libraries there were in the castle as she trotted up the stairs and made her way there. If there was one thing a pegasus was inherently good for, it was having a natural sense of direction, so even in the large castle with the winding hallways, Rainbow found the room she was looking for pretty quickly.
Knocking, Twilight bade her entry, and she entered to find Twilight sat at a desk with a ballpoint pen in her aura, scribbling a few notes on a messy sheet of paper, beside which laid an open book.
"Hey, Twi, what you doin'?" Rainbow asked at her normal tone. Her version of library etiquette was not shouting, after all.
Luckily, Twilight seemed to be used to this, as she spun round without a murderous expression on her face. "Not much, Rainbow, just going through a book on narratology, looking at linguistic techniques, and things like that. What's up, anyway?"
"Hold on," Rainbow tapped her chin, "narratology? That's novel studies, right?"
"Pretty much," Twilight nodded, spinning back to dogear the page she was on and then closing the book, "why the sudden interest?"
"Well," Rainbow grinned, setting down her saddlebags and proceeding to open them, "that's actually why I'm here." She proceeded to pull out the slab of paper, holding it in her hooves as she flapped over to Twilight's desk and placed it on top. "You remember when I said that I wanted to write my own story, right?"
"Vaguely, I think." Twilight's eyes landed on the large manuscript on her desk, "you mean to say you actually wrote this entire thing?"
"Jeez, you don't have to sound so shocked," Rainbow chuckled, "but yeah, I did. It took me a lot of time, and I've been keeping it under wraps for a while just in case I didn't finish it, but it's finally done, or at least, the third draft is."
"Rainbow!" Twilight smiled, her tail beginning to wave back and forth, "that's brilliant! What's it about?"
"Alright, so it's called Undone, and it's based right here in Equestria. In the book, our heroine, Sharp Shine, is an everyday pegasus just doing her job and living her life until she's approached by a pony that claims to have known her long dead father, a stallion she had never met. The pony introduces her to an ancient sect that her father was once a part of, a special force under the guidance of the sisters, designed to root out and document, bring under control, or destroy magical and supernatural creatures and anomalies that the elements can't be used on."
Twilight's ears twitched, "Sounds interesting so far, go on?"
That elicited a smile, and Rainbow's words seemed to carry more enthusiasm as she continued. "Thing is, because this group is completely and totally secret, Shine has to lead two lives, but she's quickly becoming more absorbed by the second one. All the while, there's a stallion she likes that she's trying to see, but she's too busy to pursue a relationship with him. She begins to learn more secrets about herself and abilities she never realised she had as she progresses in the organisation, until eventually, another draconequus is unleashed."
"Another draconequus?" Twilight shook her head, "Rainbow, you do realise the chances of another draconequus even being found in this short a space of time are—"
"Fiction, remember?" Rainbow laughed, "for the purposes of the story, Discord hasn't been in here, neither have any of us. There are Element Bearers, but they're fictional characters. Anyways, this draconequus is nothing like Discord, his whole thing is being malicious and evil, he wants to rip the world apart, piece by piece, and he enjoys dishing out pain a lot more than chaos. Thing is, he hasn't woken up with all of his power, that's scattered in several items he used to wear, they contain some of his reality bending, logic transcending abilities. Right from the moment he wakes up, it's a race to find these items before he does. Learning more about them as they go, they eventually discover that some of these items can be wielded by ponies, which is good, because they need one at the end of the first book, if only to undo the damage being done to the world."
"Hmm," Twilight rubbed a hoof against the side of her other leg, "I dunno, Rainbow. It sounds interesting, but it also sounds like it draws parallels with a lot of other popular adventure novels. Are you sure that you're being completely original here?"
"I mean, hey, no new ideas under the sun, right?" Rainbow shrugged her withers from where she was hovering, "But in all honesty? I do think this is pretty original. Even if I might have taken influence from some of the things I've read in the past, I've tried to make this idea my own and not copy from anywhere. Maybe that doesn't translate through perfectly in the synopsis, but that's just because you haven't seen the writing yet."
Twilight looked unconvinced, but still nodded.
"Anyway," Rainbow smiled, softly nudging Twilight, "I wanna send this off for publication before the year is out. I know it's not totally finished yet, as there are still bits that could probably use work, and I was hoping you'd be able to go through it at some point soon and give me a hand with that? You could make some notes and show them to me, or hell, even a general opinion would be good. I don't mind if you write on the manuscript either, I've got other copies, so feel free to annotate."
"Yeah..." Twilight trailed off, nodding, "Sounds good."
"So you'll read it?" Rainbow asked, wings buzzing.
"Yeah, sure, I'll read it later."
Rainbow felt an excited twitch shoot through her body. "As in later today?"
"Maybe?" Twilight offered, "I'll have to see how much of the day I've got left after I finish what I'm reading now. If I get a chance, I'll definitely check it out. If not, I'll definitely read it later on."
Rainbow jumped forwards, scooping Twilight into a large hug, wrapping her hooves around her barrel. "Thanks, Twi! You're a great friend. I owe you one!"
With that, Rainbow got moving, stopping off at home to grab another copy and sitting to write out a short letter:
AK Yearling,
Hey, it's me, Rainbow Dash. How you doing? It's been a while.
So guess what? I only went and wrote an entire novel, didn't I? It's an adventure novel too, but I promise it's not just a cheap rip off of one of yours, I've actually put thought into this.
Anyways, I was wondering if you could do me a favour. You're the only pony I know that's ever written an adventure novel,
let alone got a load of success out of it. I imagine you could tell me what my weak points are, and where I can strengthen up. If you don't mind, a few thoughts on what I could do to improve would be really valuable.
If you can't do it, however, don't sweat it, just let me know. I won't mind.
Let me know when I can see you, too! I miss you.
Yours,
Rainbow
Happy with her letter, Rainbow took the letter and the manuscript down to the post office, stuck them in a parcel and sent them off.
Rainbow was excited to receive some honest opinions on her work after holding it so close to her chest for so long. Even if her friends tore it to shreds, she knew it would benefit her in the long run, and she was willing to work hard to ensure that she took their thoughts into account and made this the best story it could possibly be.
A week had passed, and progress was slow. Rainbow knew she had to refrain from changing her writing around too much before she got any response, as her edits might invalidate half of her friends' criticisms, but she was beginning to get impatient.
She had recently received a letter from Daring, filled with small talk and a general sum up of how she was, ended with a promise that she would 'read it later', whatever that meant.
Later was such an indeterminate phrase. Did that mean she was going to read it in a day, or in a month? Did it mean it was the next item on her 'to do' list, or that it was right at the bottom? Reasoning that Daring must be pretty busy, Rainbow flew over to Twilight's castle to see how she was doing.
This time, Twilight was sat with a completely separate book. The book she had been reading last time sat underneath ten others on a pile on Twilight's desk, while her manuscript had been pushed off to the other side. Cocking an eyebrow, Rainbow cleared her throat, grabbing Twilight's attention.
"Oh, Rainbow!" Twilight all but jumped in her seat, "How's it going?"
"Yeah, not bad," Rainbow shrugged, looking straight at the desk, "How's the reading coming along?"
Twilight smiled a guilty smile. "Oh, you know! Lots of books... Not enough time."
"What about all those?" Rainbow pointed to the pile, "you read all of those this week?"
"Oh, yeah! They kinda came naturally after the one I had finished, they're all relevant to one another."
"Really?" Rainbow peered closer, seeing titles from the pile sticking out, such as A Guide to Trottingham's Countrysides and Deciphering Ancient Mesoponeighmian Cuneiform, "I don't really see how those correspond."
"Oh, they do!" Twilight seemed like she was about to start sweating, "All part of a big, uhh, project that I've been working on! I'll check out your book when I'm done with that."
Rainbow finally lowered her eyebrow. "Well do you have any clue how long that's gonna take? I'm kinda waiting for your feedback."
"Uhh, yeah, sure! I'll have it done later."
"Later?" Rainbow echoed, a frown beginning to form, "What does that mean? As in later today? Later this week? You're not being specific."
"Soon," Twilight answered, "I'll read it soon."
"...Yeah, sure, okay. See you later, Twi." And with that, Rainbow flew off again.
Soon sounded more reasonable than later, after all. Surely it wouldn't be long until she got around to it.
"So, did you read it?" Rainbow could feel her teeth trying to grit together as she forced herself not to snarl, three weeks had passed and the pile of books on Twilight's desk had filled and emptied multiple times, but still her manuscript sat there, a thin layer of dust over the top.
"I'm getting to it," Twilight responded, "I've just been busy with—"
"Save it," Rainbow said, holding out a hoof. Between Twilight's constant reading of everything in her library except what she had asked her to and Daring's million and one reasons she was too busy to do that but not too busy to fly to Zebrica in search of a jeweled chalice she'd heard about, Rainbow was getting pretty tired of excuses. "Look, just," she felt a sigh leave her chest as she lowered herself in the air until she was level with Twilight, "Just get round to it when you get round to it, okay? I get that you're busy and stuff, and I'm not trying to pressure you, but I worked really hard on this and I want it to be perfect, you understand?"
"Sure, Rainbow, I get it," Twilight nodded, "I'll move it up on my priority list, okay?"
Rainbow bit back the question of why it would need 'moving up' in the first place after an entire month, choosing to simply thank her and make her way out of the castle once more.
She'd already projected hundreds, possibly thousands of changes to the third draft, small and large, but still she waited on the expert opinions of her friends.
Eight weeks was ridiculous. Rainbow was seriously starting to wonder what the heck 'read it later' even meant. Was that just a proverbial plane stories went to in order to die? Was acknowledging that you were going to read something 'when you got round to it' code for the fact that you were going to read a million other things first, and possibly read it if you had completely run out of alternatives?
When Rainbow bought a book with the intention of 'reading it later', she usually got to it within a week. Then again, she imagined some ponies that read a lot more books than her might have trouble sticking to that, especially if they had lives as busy as Rainbow's.
It was thoughts like that that made it slightly more difficult to blame Twilight and Daring, but she couldn't wait any longer. Rainbow knew she was an impatient pony by nature, and the idea of sitting around and banging her head for two more months was out of the question.
Taking a pencil in her mouth, she began to make crude alterations to the text, altering and rephrasing sentences, sometimes taking a separate sheet to redraft an entire scene.
There was one chapter in which she decided to completely reword the entire thing, reasoning that eight pages of solid description upon the entry of a lavish tropical jungle was a little excessive. She interspersed the scene with dialogue and cut down on the flowery language, then worked through the rest of the story trying to strengthen the pacing where she could.
She had no idea if there were other glaring issues that she was missing, things she should have known about, but there wasn't any time to find out. The way Rainbow saw it, show season would begin early next year, and then if a publisher expected her to make further alterations in a short time frame, she'd be unable to, and she didn't want to wait another year to do this, she was too excited for it.
With that in mind she pressed on, coming back to the script in sections over the course of a few days, butchering it again and again until she had something that she honestly felt was strong enough to send away, her fourth and final draft.
Reviewing it, she realised that she had managed to eliminate multiple weaknesses that had been present in her previous writing, and after reading the entire thing cover to cover, she was confident that it would at least grab the attention of the publisher, as well as that of readers when it finally came out.
Rainbow was proud of herself. Even if she hadn't got the help she wanted, she had managed to get it done, and in doing so she had accomplished the entire thing alone. After writing a short letter to the publisher she planned on using—a prestigious company in Canterlot known for bringing through fresh talent—she enclosed her most recent copy of the manuscript and sent it off.
Rainbow was unbelievably excited; she couldn't wait to see what the publisher would think of her work.
It was two weeks later when Rainbow received a twin pair of knocks on the door. She opened it to find both Daring Do and Twilight standing on the other side, both baring sheepish smiles and their copies of her third draft. Sighing, she moved aside and let them in, leading them into the kitchen and offering them to sit down at the table.
"Funny that you both showed up together," Rainbow tutted, flicking on the kettle with her hoof. "Guessing you've come up with the mother of all excuses this time, for it to involve both of you."
"Rainbow," Twilight held a hoof up, silencing her, "We read it."
"Yeah pull the other one, there's no way you—" Rainbow stopped dead, looking straight at Twilight as she felt her heartbeat speed up, "You did?!"
A nod from Daring sent Rainbow into pinball mode, zipping around the kitchen and cheering. After about twenty seconds she attempted to compose herself, but honestly, she didn't really care if she looked silly—she was just happy that they had read her story.
"So... What did you think?" Rainbow asked, suddenly aware of how nervous she was for a response.
"Well, honestly?" Twilight looked to Daring, and the pair exchanged a quick smirk.
"Yeah, honestly! Tell me!" Rainbow was on the verge of exploding at this point, she could barely take the suspense.
"We loved it!" Twilight exclaimed, completely catching Rainbow off guard, who had to straighten herself out in midair.
"It's true, kiddo," Daring spoke up, a spark in her eyes, "we had to meet up after just to discuss it, the idea was great! Everything from the execution to the how you developed the characters was brilliant, and the descriptions were so easy to visualise. Honestly, I never would have guessed you had a knack for writing."
"Hold on, you wouldn't have?" Rainbow peered at Daring, trying to put some substance to that statement.
"Honestly, Rainbow? It's why I was putting it off," Daring admitted, looking away, "I figured it'd be a low quality version of what you've read from me, incorporating all of the same ideas and using the word 'awesome' in every other paragraph." Looking back to her, she grinned, flashing brilliant white teeth. "What I got, on the other hoof, was an amazingly creative tale that seems to source from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It feels like you've incorporated some of the elements of my writing into your story, but you've definitely managed to make it your own, and I applaud you for it. In all seriousness, I'm excited for when you'll write the next one."
Rainbow felt as if she was about to faint. There she was, having her favourite author tell her that she was excited for her to produce another story! It was too much, so much that she completely forgot her rude assumption. "So it was definitely good, then?"
Now it was Twilight's turn to speak. "It was more than good! It was so good that I..." Twilight scuffed her hoof against the table, "I regret putting it off to read so many other things first."
Rainbow's ears fell slightly. "Why were you intentionally putting it off?"
"It wasn't intentional!" Twilight defended, putting a hoof to her chest, "I promise it wasn't. It's just, sometimes I get really preoccupied with a certain train of thought, and before you know it, I'm reading about that thing. There are books in my library that I've been meaning to read for years, things that I've taken an interest in, or that have been recommended to me, and I completely forget when something else comes along because there's just so many to choose from! I'm sorry, Rainbow, I didn't mean for it to take so long, but it wasn't on purpose."
It took her a second, but Rainbow managed a genuine, happy smile. "It's alright, Twi. You still read it, after all, and you didn't have to. I suppose what bothered me was the fact that I was relying on your input to see how I was coming along and what
I needed to change—and apart from that it's sometimes just nice to know that someone's read something you put your time into creating—and you telling me that you would 'get round to it' really wasn't filling me with confidence. But It's fine, I get it, of course."
"What you need to change?" the pair said in unison.
"Well, yeah." Rainbow nodded, as if it was obvious, "That wasn't my final draft."
"It wasn't?" Daring echoed, clearly shocked. "Well hardly anything actually needed changing, the pacing was perfect, the descriptions were beautiful—how much did you change?"
Rainbow felt a shiver coarse through her spine. "Wait... You're kidding me, right?"
"Daring's right, Rainbow," Twilight weighed in, "it was basically perfect as is. Just how much did you alter?"
"P-probably about twenty percent of the writing," Rainbow squeaked out, looking between the pair. "Is that bad?"
"It depends," Daring's eyebrows straightened as she focused on Rainbow, "just what did you change?"
"Well, I mainly looked at speeding up the pacing and reducing the description heavy scenes."
"The pacing was perfect!"
"The descriptions were brilliant!"
"Oh gosh..." Rainbow pressed her muzzle into her her counter top, lightly knocking her head against it. "I've really messed things up, haven't I?"
"How have you?" Twilight laughed, "just send the third draft off instead, and—"
"I've already sent the most recent edition to the publisher," Rainbow stated, her jaw tight.
Daring's eyes widened; Twilight's jaw dropped. "It might be alright," Daring said, though her expression was uncertain, "how long ago did you send it?"
"Two weeks ago."
"Oh jeez..." Daring gulped, "And what did they say to you?"
Rainbow remembered the exact words if only for the irony in them. "They said they'd read it later."
"Heh, you're fine then," Daring laughed, shaking her head, "Nothing to worry about."
Rainbow cocked her head, she had absolutely no clue how that could be. "Why's that then? You literally just told me that I'd changed all the best bits, and now you're saying I don't need to worry?"
"It's pretty simple really," when Daring looked at her, her eyes shone with pure mirth. "If they said that, they're never reading it."
