What? I'm a stallion with many talents.
The Ponyville School's Winter Show was a tradition. Each year, a week before Hearth's Warming, the school offered an open to the public play of a classic Hearth's Warming tale, starred by the students. Last year, the play was about the Foundation of Equestria.
This year, they were playing A Hearth's Warming Tale, Snowfall Frost's story.
Last year, Rainbow Rain got a background role as one of the members of the pegasi tribe, while her twin brother, Thunderstorm, played Commander Hurricane. Miss Cheerilee had said that she needed a colt to play Hurricane, but she knew very well that once, at the Canterlot's Hearth's Warming Pageant, her mother had played Commander Hurricane. As the icing of the moldy cake, Snow Rose played Private Pansy, so too bad, she had to be satisfied with being the background pony.
But this year, she was able to laugh at her brother's face, since she got one of the stellars: Snowdash, Snowfall's asistant! Alright, she had twelve lines, but those were twelve lines more than her brother had. So haha!
Backstage, Miss Cheerilee was busy making sure everypony was dressed up and ready for the show, starting in an hour. Each student had to arrive to the place already disguised as their character, so Rainbow Rain and Thunderstorm just had to sit and wait until it was their turn to act. Sulphur Skies ran towards his friends the moment he entered the backstage, leaving the twins behind. The fuss going around the place was such that Miss Cheerilee almost missed the twins entering, smiling brightly when she saw them.
"Oh, kids, you are finally here!" she exclaimed, dragging them along towards their group of friends, almost all of them with stellars "You are the last ones to arrive, but no problem, the show's in an hour and be sure to be ready before the play begins. And remember: no stains in the outfits."
"Rainy! Thunder!" Cheesecake cried, tackling the twins in a hug "I'm so happy to see you again!"
"We saw each other yesterday." deadpanned Thunderstorm, trying to scape the filly's tight grip, failing miserably.
"Gee, missed you too." Cheesecake let them go, instead focusing back on arranging her disguise: The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents. The hiperactive fuschia-maned filly was perfect for the role.
"Got all your lines memorized?" asked Bravery Helmet, almost shoving in Rain's face the script of the play, surrounded on his dark blue magical aura "We don't need you forgetting your lines in the middle of the stage."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, egghead." Rain shoved aside the papers the alicorn colt was holding in his magic "Yes, indeed, I already memorized all my lines. Thank you very much."
"Just trying to be sure." Bravery shrugged, going back to his business.
"It's a pity you couldn't take a stellar," Turquoise Gem said, adjusting Snow Rose's bow in her outfit. She had been distracted helping everypony with her clothes, half paying attention to the conversation "you could have been a great Spirit of the Hearth's Warmings Yet To Come."
"Acting has never been my favorite hobby." Bravery answered "And they needed a filly, so Star is just well for the role."
"It's kinda weird, adding younger classes to the play." opined Rain, sitting in the stool next to Apple Cider, busy dusting his stetson hat to care about the chat "I mean, other years there's been only our class, why should it be different this year?"
"Maybe it has to do with the fact that this play has a larger list of charaaa-AAAAAHHH!" Turquoise yelped when she turned around, looking at Rainbow Rain "Sweet Celestia, what happened to your mane?!"
"What do you mean with what happened to my mane?" Rain run her hooves through her rainbow mane "It's the same as always."
"Exactly, the same as always" Turquoise huffed "Didn't you knew you had to style it according to your character? We all had to!"
Rain raised an eyebrow, crossing her forelegs "That wasn't in the agreement."
"Actually, it was..." Snow Rose spoke softly, getting closer to Rain, a paper tucked under her wing "We all had a different manestyle we had to wear, and, um, this is yours..."
The white pegasus filly, pink mane up in a complicated braided mane-style, gave the paper to the rainbow-maned filly, so she could see the picture in it. It showed and updo with french braids and the mane teased in the middle.
"You better hurry up with it," said Turquoise "the play starts in an hour and you can't show up with the mane like that."
"But... Aunt Rarity is out of town, right?"
"Yes, mom is in Manehattan." replied Turquoise "So you should start looking for someone who can do it."
"You can't?" asked Thunderstorm, to which the turquoise-maned filly shook her head.
"I'm sorry, darling, but I'm still practizing my manestyling." Turquoise apologized.
Without further ado, Rain jumped out of her stool and ran out of the room.
Apple Cider rose his head, finally putting back on his hat, even if he couldn't go on stage with it on "Did I missed something?"
"MOM!"
Rainbow Dash jumped, turning around towards the voice of her daughter. Soarin, a few paces away, also heard the yell of Rainy, and they both ran towards the young filly, frantically running towards them.
"What happened?" Dash asked her daughter, who was jumping nervously in her place.
"We have a problem, mom." she took out of her wing the paper with the manestyle she had to wear "I need someone to make this thing on my head, can you help me?"
Dash tilted her head "Eh... I'm sorry, Rainy, but..." she winced "I've never been good with fancy mane-styling."
The filly groaned, facehoofing "Of course, why I didn't thought about that?" she started jumping from hoof to hoof again, freaking out "What I'm gonna do? I can't do the play without this manestyle. Oooohhhh... Miss Cheerilee will strangle me!"
"She won't strangle you, sweetie." Soarin chuckled, trying to calm her down "We'll find a solution."
"Don't worry, I'm sure Fluttershy can do this for you." Dash guided the filly towards the yellow pegasus mare, busy tying a scarf around her husband's, Double Diamond, neck "Hey, Flutters!" Dash called, making Fluttershy yelp, tying the scarf a little to tight and making Diamond cough. She frantically untied the scarf, blushing in embarrassment.
"I'msorrydearIdidn'tmeantto." she squealed, earning a chuckle from Diamond.
"It's okay, dear." he coughed again, taking the scarf out for himself.
Fluttershy turned around and faced Dash shyly "Yes?"
Dash showed her the paper in Rainy's hoof "Do you think you can do this? Rainy has to wear it for the play."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Fluttershy wispered "I barely could do Snow's, and that one was simplier. I wish I could help, um..."
Rain sighed "Don't worry, Auntie Fluttershy. It's... okay." she groaned "Oh, I wish Auntie Rarity was here."
Soarin patted his daughter's head "Can I see that?" he asked, smiling to her. Rainy shrugged.
"Sure, why not." she gave the paper to her father, who examined the updo carefully, taking in every detail. Rain was about to give up any hope when he said:
"Well, I think I can do this."
"What?" both Dash and Rain turned towards Soarin, who smiled sheepishly.
"Well, back when Crystal was little she always asked me to help her with her mane styles, and I eventually learned how to make them myself, so..."
"You used to mane-style your little sister?" Dash asked. Soarin nodded.
"Kinda of, usually I did it for her when she was running out of time for school, while she ate breakfast."
"How cute." Diamond, who finally finished with the knot on his scarf, chuckled. Next to him, Fluttershy giggled.
"What? I'm a stallion with many talents."
"Yeah, yeah, nice." Rain took her father's hoof and tried to drag him towards the backstage, with no effect whatsoever against his force "The show's starting in no time, we better hurry up."
Soarin chuckled and followed her daughter to the wooden structure, in front of which ponies had started to gather up to see the play. Almost all the village was coming, and the seats in front ot the stage weren't enough for everypony to sit down. In the first rows, the families of the students were settled, most of them only parents.
Dash watched as her husband and her daughter dissapeared inside the building and chuckled, shaking her head.
"One never knows completely that stallion."
The moment Soarin and Rainy crossed together the doorstep, everypony turned around to them, probably wondering why in Equestria the stallion was in there. However, Rain payed little to no attention to the curious eyes, and dragged her father towards one of the cabins where mothers were busy checking their daughters' mane-styles. The filly sat down in one of the stools, looking to the mirror, seeing in it's reflection at her father.
"Go on, we have to hurry!" she squealed and Soarin chuckled, turning towards a mare nearby him, busy braiding her daughter's mane.
"I'm sorry, can I borrow a brush, a comb and some manepins?" the mare looked at him weirdly, but then shrugged and gave him the required utensils, and he smiled "Thank you a lot."
Soarin turned back to his daughter and, possitioning the picture of the updo, he carefully started brushing her mane, taking out all the knots result of her barely combing it in the mornings. Rain yelped everytime her father tugged on her mane accidentaly, but bit down her lower lip to keep it to the minimun. Once this was done, she cloed her eyes tighly as Soarin started styling her hair, step by step, mumbling to himself the way he did when he was way too focused on a task.
"Wow, Mister Soarin," she heard Turquoise's voice and oppened her eyes again, noticing in the reflection of the mirror all her friends and her brother looking at her mane, that her father was busy braiding in a french braid. Turquoise had starry eyes "I didn't knew you could manestyle."
Soarin chuckled at the filly "I used to do this for my little sister, I still remember how to do this stuff."
"Great, this will boast our reputation at school, Rain!" Thunderstorm smiled, floating around his father "We have the coolest father in the whole world: Wonderbolt and stylist!"
"Oh, shut up, you." Soarin jockingly said, finishing with his braid, taking the comb again and, looking at the fillies next to him, he asked "Wanna learn how to make a french braid?"
"Yes!" Turquoise, Snow Rose and Cheesecake squealed, getting closer to look.
As Soarin went on styling Rain's mane, he explained to the foals around him how he did every step, and soon, a small crowd of curiuos fillies and colts had started to gather around them, fascinated at the sight of the stallion styling his daughter mane. Rainbow Rain was beaming, smiling hard as her father as he continued with his class, until she realized they only had ten minutes left before the play started.
"Um, dad, sorry to break it to you but we are running out of time!"
Soarin patted her shoulder "Don't worry, sweetie. Actually, I'm done!" he made her spin in the stool, so she could see better her manestyle "What do you think?"
Her rainbow mane was in the same complicated updo, with the same braids and the same teased part in the middle. When she looked back at the picture, she noticed it was a perfect copy of the style in it, and she smiled brightly, hugging her father around the neck tighly. Her arms couldn't reach around it completely, but it didn't stop her.
"It's perfect!" she yelled "Thank you! You are the best dad of the world!"
Soarin hugged her back, nuzzling her neck as Cheerilee approached them.
"This is a cute scene and all, but the play is about to start and I need everypony to take their positions."
Soarin set Rain back in the floor, and she hugged him one last time before running towards her friends.
"Break a leg!" Soarin yelled, chuckling as Cheerilee anounced the play started in five minutes.
He was about to leave the backstage to go and sit down with his wife when the mare who handed him the utensils he needed for Rainy's updo stopped him dead in his tracks.
"That was amazing." she smiled "I've never seen a stallion do that for his daughter, it was very cute."
Soarin smiled "Well, thank you."
She made a gesture with her head "Many fathers could learn of you. Hell, many stallions should, it would help improve father-daughter or brother-sister relationships."
"Truth is I used to do that for my little sister. I think it brought us together."
"Well, it's great you do the same for your daugther," claimed the mare, rushing to leave the place "it'll for sure bring you two closer!"
The lights went off and Soarin sat down next to Dash, and she looked at him with a smirk.
"Had fun braiding?"
"Indeed, I had." he nodded, looking at the stage, where young Bravery Helmet had just appeared from behind the curtain "Look, it's about to start."
"This is the story of a powerful unicorn named Snowfall Frost, who hated Hearth's Warming Eve. It all began many moons ago in Canterlot..." the colt started narrating, going to a side of the stage as the curtain oppened, revealing behind a set-up of a room filled with books and a cauldron. In the middle of it, disguised as Snowfall Frost, was Turquoise Gem, who looked carefully at a rock.
"Every home in Canterlot was filled with holiday spirit. Every home... except one. It was said of Snowfall that she was almost as studied as Star Swirl the Bearded..."
"Well, that batch is ruined. Snowdash!" Turquoise Gem yelled on stage, and, in cue, Rainbow Rain zipped on stage, saluting the filly.
"Snowdash was Snowfall's loyal assistant." Bravery narrated, and Rain took that as her cue of saying her first line.
"What do you need?" she asked, landing in the middle of the stage. A whisper rose from the audience and she heard a mare crying:
"What a cute manestyle!"
She smiled, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother elbowing her father, who was blushing sheepishly.
Turquoise kept on going with the play and used her magic to shove a broom at Rain's chest "Get this mess cleaned up. Those foolish ponies were ringing those blasted bells outside the window and I lost my concentration!"
Rain went along her paper and put on a bored expression, "swepting" the pieces of rock in the floor "Whoa, ponies actually enjoying Hearth's Warming Eve. Where did they getthatcrazy idea?" she mumbled under her breath.
"And from then on, it was always said of all the Hearth's Warming Eve celebrations, Snowfall's was the Hearth's Warmingest. The end." as Bravery finished his narration, the whole cast of the play entered the stage as the audience clapped furiously, whistling and throwing flowers, specially to "Snowfall Frost", who was smiling brightly.
Rain, standing between her brother and Snow Rose, catched a rose that had just been thrown at her, and then one smacked Thunderstorm in the face. They both looked in the direction the flowers came from and saw their parents clapping for them, smiling as their younger brother, Sulphur Skies, ran next to the twins and hopped on Thunderstorm's back, making him grunt.
Cheerilee guided the students backstage and, once she congratulate them for their excellent acting, they all ran out towards their parents. Soarin and Dash hugged the twins and Sulphur tightly.
"Good job, kids!" Dash congratulated them "You did awesome!"
"I couldn't expect less of you, obviuosly" Soarin nuzzled each of them "What about a milkshake to celebrate?"
The winter holidays had passed so fast that the three siblings didn't wanted to wake up the morning of the back to school. Yet, they forced themselves to drag their hooves out of bed and eat the breakfast Dash prepared for them.
Just as Rain had finished her eggs, Soarin appeared in the door, kissing his wife, ruffling the colts' manes and tickling the filly, making her giggle.
"Good morning, family!" he sat down in his chair as Dash put in front of him a plate of eggs, oat and hay.
"Morning, dad." the four other pegasi in the room replied, and Dash finally sat down with her own plate of food.
"Ready for the back to school?" Soarin asked his kids, to which they groaned at once. Soarin chuckled "That happy, uh?"
"I told you three you should go early to bed." Dash said, chewing on her oat.
"Yeah, yeah, we know." Thunder replied smacking his forehead with the table.
Rain looked at Soarin "Daddy, can I ask you for a favour?"
Soarin nodded "Sure, sweetie. What is it?"
"Wow! Rain!" Turquoise Gem ran towards her friend, who had just appeared in the doorstep of the classroom along with her brother "Where in Equestria did you get that mane-style from?"
Rain lookd up at the complicted braided bun she was wearing and smiled.
"From the most amazing stylist in Equestria: my daddy!"
Author's Note
Rainbow Rain.- Pegasus. Cyan fur, rainbow mane and bright esmerald eyes. Rainbow's and Soarin's daughter, Thunderstorm's younger twin sister.
Thunderstorm.- Pegasus. Blue bondi fur, navy blue mane and bright esmerald eyes. Rainbow's and Soarin's son, Rainbow Rain's older twin brother.
Sulphur Skies.- Pegasus. Sky blue fur, navy blue mane and bright esmerald eyes. Rainbow's and Soarin's son, four years younger than the twins.
Cheesecake.- Earth pony. Cream fur, fuchsia mane and green eyes. Pinkie's and Cheese Sandwich's daughter, older sister, (has triplets younger siblings (two fillies and a colt) not metioned here).
Bravery Helmet.- Alicorn. Orange fur, two-toned blue mane and blue eyes. Twilight's and Flash Sentry's son, older brother of Morning Star.
Turquoise Gem.- Unicorn. White fur, turquoise mane and lilac eyes. Rarity's and Trenderhoof's daughter, only child.
Snow Rose.- Pegasus. White fur, baby pink mane and sky blue eyes. Fluttershy's and Double Diamond's daughter, older sister (has a younger brother not mentioned here).
Apple Cider.- Earth pony. Orange fur, blonde mane and teal eyes. Applejack's and Caramel's son, older brother (has a younger sister not mentioned here).
Hope you enjoyed!
(Probably making a blog post one day with my whole Next Generation).
-Midday Giggle
