Even Rainbows Falter

by Pracca

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Slice of Life, Doctor Whooves, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Rainbow Dash
Length: 27328

The stress of balancing Rainbow Dash's new job and family puts a strain on her marriage to Twilight

It has been fourteen years since Twilight Sparkle first arrived in Ponyville. Life goes on, happy as it always has, even as she and her friends grow older. And there's only one mare she could think of sharing that life with: her wife, Rainbow Dash.

As winter settles in, Rainbow and Twilight are busy making preparations for the 12th birthday of their daughter, Opal Dart, followed in the same week by their 10th anniversary. Chaos and bedlam are the words of the day as they scramble to get everything in order, and ensure a perfect day for their little foal. Unfortunately, it is within this same time that Rainbow Dash has, by necessity, at last been promoted to to the position of Captain of the Wonderbolts. With her dream job finally realized, Dash cannot believe anything could go wrong. She quickly realizes, though, that the stress of her job was not something she was prepared for. As her mood perpetually sours, Twilight finds herself increasingly frustrated at the distance her wife is putting between them. As the couple spiral towards their own destruction, Opal Dart and Spike seek help from anyone they can find.

The only question is if they'll be able to do anything before their relationship is beyond salvaging.

So yeah, cheesy introduction put aside, this is what I've been setting the framework for instead of updating either of the stories I've got running: a prequel to my first ponyfic ever, "Even Rainbows Fade", which I have to come to accept as the most successful thing I will ever write. It shall not be topped. So I figured I might as well write this, both because I love the pair so much, and because I can answer a few questions and address a few issues both some readers and myself had with the original story.

Like I said, it's a prequel, so some knowledge WILL be assumed of you coming in. Hopefully it's easy enough to work out without having to read the first, though. If you have any comments, criticisms, or praise to share, by all means do so! I'll never improve without critique, and I'll be starved for attention if nobody loves me =P

Rated Teen for some moderate violence, and I'm not 100% sure if the Sad tag applies. Far less crushfeels than the original since, y'know, nopony dies.

Image from ~chibi95 on deviantart

Published 2012-08-26 23:24:03 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-05 07:31:20 UTC

Matrimony

It was a brisk winter morning, and wedding bells were tolling in Canterlot. Their clear and vibrant chorus sprang from their shells, flowing through the streets before being flung from the city entirely. In every direction, the wildlife of Equestria was treated to the brilliant tune from the warm comfort of their dens. It was joyous and peaceful. Serene, even. All of these emotions described were entirely unlike anything a certain cyan pegasus was feeling.

Rainbow Dash was always one for the spotlight. Be it in the air performing death-defying stunts, or coming to ground for dashing feats of heroism, all eyes were, as far as she was concerned, best directed towards her. But just once, she wished desperately that they would look anywhere else. She was standing in a grand hall, marble as white as snow and red draperies like the finest wine. Grand windows behind her showed the full glory of the city stretching out beneath the elevated location they had chosen. Streamers and decorations, contributed by the premier party pony of Equestria, Pinkie Pie herself, practically littered every inch of the room not being occupied by a pony.

Oh, and there were ponies. There were more ponies than Dash believed she could likely count. Friends, family, admirers, everyone was present; and all their eyes were fixed securely on the pony in the flowing white dress, blushing furiously at the altar.

Dash’s ears were folded back as she felt the stares of two hundred onlookers boring through her skin. She could look out into the audience, and see a dozen faces she recognized. A few rows back, Fluttershy and Caramel were seated together; Rarity was further back, discussing something with the strange earth pony Applejack had been hanging around. The orange mare herself was, naturally, Rainbow’s best mare and situated just behind her. There in the front were Twilight’s parents, looking on as proudly as they possibly could. Beside them sat Princess Cadence herself—just what she needed, a princess around to judge her.

And naturally, on the opposite side of the front row, in similar seats sat… two empty seats. Dash sighed, feeling a bit defeated for getting her hopes up. Well, I tried, right?

She could still hear the ceaseless drone of the band, idling until the ceremony could begin in earnest. Dash supposed she should be happy Pinkie’s cousin was “aw gratus”, or whatever that phrase was, but all she could do was seethe at her now. How much longer could they possibly play? Why couldn’t it just up and be done with?

Her eyes scanned the crowd nervously. Up towards the front, on Twilight’s side. Her eyes began to bug out. Lyra was frowning. Why was Lyra frowning? She never frowned. All at once the pegasus began to panic, feeling as if disaster were about to strike. Her chest heaved with every heavy breath, and she began to grind her teeth. This was bad, she couldn’t do this. She had to go. She had to get to safety. Even as her vision darkened around the edges, her panic continued.

Then, a voice whispered a single word in her ear: “Socks.”

Dash’s ears perked up, and she gave a sideways glanced at the pony whispering to her. Her eyes got a close-up view of a brilliant white luster and a majestic and multi-colored mane, with exotically-shaped eyes complimenting a knowing smile. She was looking at Princess Celestia herself.

“W-what?” Rainbow whispered back.

“Socks.” Celestia re-affirmed, her smile growing. “When I get nervous talking to crowds, I imagine them all wearing socks. Try it.”

Still confused beyond her reckoning, Rainbow Dash focused on the ponies in the audience, the word repeating in her head over and over. Socks… socks… socks…

Then, in a click, it happened. She could see it now. Every pony in sight had socks stretching over halfway up their legs. Each and every one of them the brightest neon shades, and striped at that. Even Spike had them. By Celestia, it looked so ridiculous. Dash could hardly restrain her sides from splitting, and managed to subdue herself to a light chuckle. She looked back at Celestia, grinning.

“Everypony looks like a total idiot!”

Celestia returned the smile and nodded. “Exactly, my little pony. What room could they possibly have to judge you?” She leaned in close, and what she whispered was barely even audible.

“I have faith in you, Rainbow Dash. My pupil would not have selected you if she didn’t have complete faith in you, as well. You’re the Element of Loyalty, remember, so take care of her, all right?”

Dash struggled to keep her jaw from dropping in terror as she frantically nodded. Celestia gave a distinctly unmarelike laugh as she stood back up, smiling warmly at her subject. “I know you will; now look your best…”

A familiar swell of music began, and the doors at the far end of the room were opened wide. Rainbow Dash’s heart nearly leaped up and out of her throat.

“…here she comes.”

The sounds and the other sights present died away as the pegasus directed her attention to the beautiful mare being led in by her brother. The guards at the doors saluted as she passed, her train being carefully floated mere millimeters from the ground by magic. Her purple hair was tied back into a bun, the single stripe of magenta still blatantly visible. Her dress was… indescribable. Rarity’s masterpiece, to be sure. Dash was never one for fashion, and she wasn’t sure she even knew the words for all the accoutrements hanging off of that dress. She was a bit startled she even knew what accoutrements were. But she certainly wasn’t blind, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from that mare. Her fiancé—in a few minutes, her wife, was getting closer with every step, and Dash’s heart began to soar higher, and beat faster in correlation.

Her mind was a slurry of hastily-recalled memories, desperately trying to recall how she had gotten this far. She could have sworn that just yesterday she and Twilight were having a thoroughly awkward and awful time in Canterlot, trying to sit through a thrice-damned low budget movie and trying to avoid the drunk viewers on every side. Now this? Hard to believe it’s been years…

The wedding had been such chaos, from the moment her friends had attempted to plan it. Where would it be? When would it be? Who was invited, who was running it? Were they both supposed to walk down the aisle? Who got the bachelor party? Would Pinkie or Applejack cater?

She blinked, lost in the sea of questions, and opened her eyes again. Twilight Sparkle was standing across from her, smiling and staring at her. Rainbow froze, and for a moment she seriously believed her heart had stopped. The world was still silent, and to her right she could see out the corner of her eye; Princess Celestia was talking, going through the rigmarole of a wedding; things to be said, protocol to be followed. Rainbow’s eyes, quivering in growing anxiety, barely managed to glance up at the mare across from her. Twilight looked worried, picking up on Dash’s nervousness, and tried to give the most reassuring expression she could.

If that did anything, it only made Dash more nervous. She averted her eyes, staring at the floor as her mind raced. How’s Twi so calm about this?! These are our final moments as single mares, how does she just smile and nod through that? Everything changes after this… responsibilities, and what if it gets awkward sharing a house and… oh, Celestia, I’m not cut out for this! C’mon, socks, socks, socks…

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, and looked up. And there, still waiting for her, was Twilight. Dash looked into her eyes, and felt frozen in place. Those eyes were fixed right on her, shining like the stars in the sky. Like beacons, they pulled her attention in and kept it on the purple mare.

…Maybe I will have to give up a couple dreams. But if I do this, then every time I look at her eyes, I know they’re looking straight at me.

Rainbow smiled at her soon-to-be wife. Sincerely. I think I can live with that.

She was snapped out of her trance when the Princess spoke her fiancé’s name.

“Do you, Twilight Sparkle, take Rainbow Dash to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forth, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, through this life and beyond?”

“I do.” Twilight responded. There was no hesitation, only a bright smile and a tiny nod. The Princess turned her eyes towards Rainbow Dash; the pegasus noted how silly she looked in pink stockings.

“And do you, Rainbow Dash,” she asked with a knowing smile. “take Twilight Sparkle to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forth, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, through this life and beyond?”

“I-I do.” Dash replied. She could feel sweat building up; her nerves threatened to tear her apart. The Princess smiled, and nodded at them both. She looked behind Rainbow, to her best mare.

“May I have the rings?”

Applejack bowed her head, and brought forth a pair of large golden bands on a satin pillow. A golden aura wrapped around the rings, lifting them into the air and gently gliding them over to the betrothed ponies. Twilight gripped hers with her own aura, while Rainbow—lacking the magical finesse of her fiancé—bit down on hers to hold it. As they had practiced, the cyan mare went first, leaning forward and gently releasing the ring above Twilight’s horn. The band slipped perfectly into place, and she took a step back.

Twilight smiled a bit wider, and Rainbow lifted a hoof to allow her own band to be fixated just where the hoof ended and the leg began. It was a perfect fit; Rainbow put down her leg, blushing a bit as she realized where this left them in the ceremony. Both she and Twilight looked up at Princess Celestia, who gave a warm smile of approval to them both.

“As ruler of Equestria, I pronounce you wife and wife, in law, body, and soul. You may kiss the bride.”

All at once, a veritable tidal wave of sweat poured down Rainbow’s face as she turned to look at Twilight. No turning back now. Everypony was watching. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and leaned forward…

Rainbow Dash’s eyes slid open, and were greeted by a dark room. For the briefest moment, she could not recall where she was, and rose up a bit to look around.

The familiar natural wooden walls of the library greeted her, decorated with dozens of photographs, and lined with shelves of various tomes. Dash nodded to no one in particular, finally recognizing where she was.

Home.

She’d been dreaming about the wedding again. So many years had passed, she’d stopped bothering to keep count. Her rose-colored eyes glanced down and to her left, to see her wife huddled up tight in the cold winter’s night. Dash’s heart skipped a beat, and she couldn’t restrain herself from smiling as she readjusted herself, wrapping her hooves around Twilight Sparkle and pulling her close. She fell asleep like that, listening to the even breaths of her wife keeping time with the gentle, cold wind brushing past their window.

I made the right choice.

Shopping Spree

“Um… how about a plushie? She said she wanted a Wonderbolts doll, right?”

Rainbow Dash found herself in a cramped aisle in a stuffy store smack dab in the middle of a cold winter’s day in Ponyville. The Bit Store had served her well for many years, and by Celestia she wasn’t through with it yet. The faded, off-white walls and tacky green carpeting gave both an air of lovable bargain-shopping, and just the slightest hint of untrustworthiness, and the shelves were stocked with every item under Celestia’s sun. At the moment the pegasus found herself in aisle 14, staring down a wall fit to burst with Wonderbolts paraphernalia. Truth be told, she’d probably buy it all for herself on any other day. But today was different.

She and Twilight had come to the store with the purpose of gift buying.

“Yes, she did, Dash; when she was nine. What does a twelve-year old want with a doll?” asked the purple mare herself, stepping into the aisle with a floating basket full of potential gifts.

“I don’t know,” Dash shrugged, giving a sly glance at her wife. “why don’t you ask Smarty Pants?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed, and Dash felt the curse of death fall on her. She snorted trying to hold back the laughter as she put back the doll, and eyed a particularly nifty poster. A lot of electric blue in this design, back when they switched up their costumes a few years back. The moment Dash had joined, she had set her efforts into getting rid of the new abominations and go back to the classic look.

“This poster’s kinda rare, how about—“

She smacked her own face with a hoof. “Aw, horseapples, this is the one Applejack and Whooves are getting her!”

Twilight looked at Rainbow with a worried frown, the pegasus falling back on her haunches and groaning in frustration. “Come on, how hard can it be to buy a stupid gift!”

The purple mare approached her shouting wife and sat next to her, scratching just behind her ear with a raised hoof. She watched a dreamy smile spread over the mare’s face, only for it to be replaced with icy shock and horror. She leaned forward, away from the hoof, and looked back at the other pony with embarrassment written all over her face.

“Twi!” she hissed. “Not in public!”

Twilight sniggered at the blushing pegasus, and opted to just pat her on the shoulder. “You need to relax; we still have plenty of stores to check around Ponyville. And there’s always Cloudsdale. I know you’re getting nervous about making sure you find her the perfect gift—“

“Try terrified.” Dash corrected, her lips squirming between a frown and a spastic grimace. “I make enough screw-ups, y’know? But even the worst mom can buy a stupid present…”

Twilight rolled her eyes, thankfully from an angle Rainbow couldn’t see. “Dash, we’ve been over this a thousand times. You’re not a bad mother just because you make a few mistakes; it’s a learning process.”

“Twi,” she exclaimed. “I barged into her classroom and beat up that filly with the spoon on her flank!”

Twilight felt a warm blush rising in her cheeks as she awkwardly scratched the back of her own head. She hissed a bit, saying “Ok… yeah, maybe that was a little… overzealous, but that’s not completely a bad thing.”

She leaned in and gave Dash a quick peck on the cheek. “You’re trying, that’s all that matters. Now come on, get up. There’s plenty of stores to try, and you could always check Cloudsdale. We’ll find something.”

Dash gave a pathetic little smile as she stood up. “You think?”

“Absolutely.” Twilight said, tilting her head to the side with a smile. “You worry too much!”

Three days earlier…

“I AM COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT.”

ZAP

Twilight Sparkle vanished in a blink of light, re-appearing on top of Rarity’s bed. Her expression was utter panic, teeth grinding and eyes going googly as she looked ready to fall to pieces. The fashionista beside the bed was still looking as poised and calm as ever, eyes closed as her magic neatly packed some conceptual dress designs into a large suitcase on the mattress.

“Oh, Twilight, you’ve really got to relax yourself. You’re going to have an aneurysm if you keep this up!”

“Relax?” the violent violet mare asked, popping in an out of existence to appear next to her friend. “How am I supposed to relax when there are no presents?” She ground her teeth again for good measure, something Rarity tried extremely hard to ignore. The white mare chose to give a disarming smile, and nuzzle the side of her friend’s face.

“Dear, you have to have a little faith. You’ve been in situations just a bit more dire than trying to find a gift, you know. Just buck up, and trust yourself to find something. Besides, do you honestly think Opal Dart will think any less of you if you don’t get her a gift?”

“No!” Twilight said, hesitating for a moment afterwards. “…Ok, yeah, I do.” She gave an embarrassed frown and lowered her eyes to the floor. Rarity made a tsk’ing noise.

“Good heavens, I try to go on vacation for one week and you’re all falling apart before I’m even out the door. Twilight, you gave a scared little filly a loving home, when no one else would. You and Dash are the only presents she needs.”

The pair shared a little giggle at how corny that had come out, but it seemed to work; Twilight was smiling back at Rarity now. The fashion pony nodded resolutely. “So you’ll be all right then, darling? You know where to reach me if anything comes up.”

“Absolutely;” Twilight said. “are you and Zootsuit going to be OK out in Las Pegasus?”

“Oh, of course Twilight.” Rarity said, sounding just a bit too desperate to sound assured of herself for the other unicorn to like. Twilight looked at her friend, worried, until Rarity turned back around with a very wide smile. “Not every day a girl gets invited out to the hottest spot in Equestria, you know!”

Twilight had nodded, leaving several minutes later. Though Rarity had tried so hard to assure her otherwise, there was something in her eyes that made the other mare worry. Not fright, or anything like that.

The closest word Twilight could find was “disappointment.”

“…Twi? Twilight? You there?”

CLONK

“Yowch!” snapped Twilight, throwing her hooves up to shield her throbbing snout. Rainbow pulled her own hoof back, placing it on the ground as she eyed her wife curiously.

“Earth to Twilight? You were zoning out again.”

“Oh, uh, sorry! Ow… you really didn’t have to hit so hard…”

“Sorry.” Rainbow’s ears flattened as she lowered her head to the ground. She had an uneasy smile, like she was trying to convince her mother she hadn’t actually stolen from the cookie jar. “I wasn’t trying to, y’know, hurt you or anything—“

“I know, I know.” Twilight reassured her with the usual warm, forgiving smile. “You’re lucky you’re so adorable when you feel guilty. So what’s up?”

“I was thinking… Opal’s birthday’s coming up, right, but a couple days after that is our tenth anniversary.”

The shock hit Twilight like an oncoming wagon. She had entirely forgotten, and her dropping jaw illustrated as much. She struggled to find the right words, eking out a shocked “Tenth..?”

Rainbow nodded at her, empathizing with the surprise. If Twilight had been paying attention, she figured she would have seen her wife going through the same motions. After another moment of silence, she asked, “Well… what are we going to do?”

Rainbow shrugged, and Twilight swore she could see just a hint of a smile tugging on her lips.

“Dunno,” the pegasus said. “I mean, it’s a pretty big day, so I guess it’d have to be pretty special… but I mean, what are we supposed to do? We’re just two mares with connections to the rulers of Equestria, capable of sending any subject they choose off to the most scenic, romantic spots in the world…”

Twilight mulled it over, and responded with “Whatever we do, it’s gotta be something we can include Opal Dart in.”

The look of devastation on Rainbow Dash’s face was difficult to put into words. Her jaw nearly hit the floor, and her eyes warbled like a little filly about to cry. “B-b-bu—“

“No buts.” Twilight affirmed. “A trip like that would probably take a week, maybe even more. And I’m really not comfortable leaving Opal here alone that long.”

She leaned in closer, and in a hushed voice added, “And for whatever you had planned, we can just send Opal for a sleepover at Applejack’s one night; how’s that sound?”

Rainbow’s expression perked up at that last part, but she tried hard to maintain that level of disappointment she’d had before. Her mouth trembled, settling into a neutral expression. She creased her brow to make up for the loss of frown. “I… guess that sounds pretty good. But I still think you’re being a killjoy.”

Twilight giggled and planted another kiss on her wife’s lips. “You know you love the killjoy.”

Dash pushed her away half-heartedly, letting loose a short fit of laughter as she rose back to her feet. “C’mon, Twi, I’m gonna die of embarrassment here. So uncool.”

“Whatever.” Twilight tersely retorted, sticking her tongue out. The pair, no gift to be found yet, began walking for the exit.

“So, did you have Wonderbolt practice today?”

“Uh… nah, I don’t think so—oh! Right! The Captain called some kinda short-notice meeting at her place tonight, I’ll head out after dinner.”

“What’s the meeting about?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Who the hay knows? The Captain’s always flighty when she has some big announcement to make. The letter was really vague, but I still need to go and make sure it’s nothing crazy-important.”

“Well,” Twilight mused. “that’s after dinner. Right now it’s only noon, so how about some lunch?”

“Yeah, that sounds pretty good.” replied the pegasus, daydreaming as she imagined all sorts of cuisine. She suddenly was jolted back to reality to add, “But none of that fillipinto stuff! Seriously, who the hoof thought a half-grown plant bulb was good to eat?”

The pair of mares stepped out the door, off in search of something to tide them over.

Moving Up

A nippy winter breeze passed silently across the wispy tops of Cloudsdale. The sun freshly set, the town was ready to embrace the night. All except for one home on the fringe of the city. Squat, by pegasus standards, and wide, it only had two floors and was nestled snugly with clouds on all sides but the front door. Rainbow Dash noted that on some nights, it looked more like a bunker than a house.

Of course, Captain Spitfire was a very military-minded pony, so of course she would have reserved lodgings. She knew this, but it did little to comfort her when she looked at the place. How lonely must she get here, by herself?

She wouldn’t be lonely tonight, though. Rainbow stood on a wispy white hill some quarter of a mile away, and already she could the warm yellow light emanating from her front door, swung wide open to greet her guests. A quartet of ponies were gathered out front, talking amongst themselves as the rainbow-maned mare approached. One of them flagged her down. “Yo, Dash!”

“Soarin, what’s up?” she called back, zipping over to join their group. Everypony present tonight was dressed in their formal uniforms; Dash preferred the flightsuits, personally, but even years into her service she still felt that little rush of authority whenever she put on the uniform.

“I was kinda hoping you’d know!” the blue-maned stallion replied, in that agelessly juvenile voice he possessed. “Spitfire’s still inside talking with the others; said she was waiting for the last pony to arrive.” He chuckled a bit. “Guess that meant you.”

“Heh, yeah, guess so…” the mare admitted, nervously pawing at the ground. She was ready for another round of jokes, but when she looked up she could see the other teammates were already walking for the door, and Soarin’s face was troubled, like a dangerous word rested on the tip of his tongue. She took a step closer, trying to examine his expression.

“…Dash?”

“Yeah, Soarin?”

“You think Spits is alright? Like, really?”

A frown tugged at the corners of Rainbow’s mouth. “It’s… not really like her to call a meeting out of the blue like this, is it?”

“It’s not.” He replied, in a voice far too subdued for him.

“Well…” she put a hoof over his shoulder and began walking with him. “Well, we’re not gonna find out anything until we get in there. Let’s get going.”

Soarin nodded slowly, keeping pace alongside her. “Sounds good.”

The pair were the last to enter Spitfire’s home, and at once they were taken aback by the atmosphere.

It looked like a party.

Her front door led straight into the living room, painted a muted yellow made warmer by the simplistic chandelier hanging from the center of the room. It was situated over a long table draped with a white cloth, on which a dozen platters full of every hors d’oeuvre imaginable sat. A bowl of ruby red punch sat at one end, with only a few glasses remaining; the rest had been claimed.

In another corner, sinking into the plush, light blue carpet, was a table devoted entirely to alcohol. A keg of Sweet Apple Cider, a keg of Clouds-Ale, and a keg of Applewhisky all the way out from Appleloosa. Spitfire had brought in the haul.

Nopony seemed to be present in this room, though. They were about to call out, when a familiar voice beat them to the punch.

“Hey, you two. I was wondering if you were ever gonna show.”

Captain Spitfire stepped in through the arch to the next room over, and at once Soarin and Spitfire moved to embrace her. The Captain choked in surprised when one hoof from each practically strangled her.

“ACK—OK, I’m glad to see you guys too, but… seriously can’t breathe!”

Both subordinates immediately backed off, chuckling like a couple of guilty foals, and blushing accordingly. Spitfire gave them a confused arch of an eyebrow as she took a step back. “Really, it’s great you both made it, but why—“ her eyes went wide, and she relaxed into a sort of understanding expression.

“Oh, I get it. You think this is some kind of disaster again, don’t you?”

“Disaster?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Again?” asked Soarin.

Spitfire’s eyebrow arched ever higher, like she was genuinely surprised they didn’t understand the context of her words. “You two do this every time I call a same-night meeting. Remember when I announced the big trip to Neighagara Falls? Or when I brought you up to Canterlot to prank that griffin flight team?”

As Spitfire went down her list of multiple late-night, short-notice meetings, both of her loyal ponies began to feel just a tidbit of shame creeping in. Dash began to consider the possibility that maybe she was a bit too fussy over her Captain.

“Er, sorry Spits.” Soarin said, nervously hoofing at the floor. “Guess we should ask before we assume it’s something bad.” He jerked his head up, with an imploring expression. “It’s not anything bad, right?”

Dash waited for Spitfire’s usual calm assurance. She waited, but it didn’t come. The bright yellow mare’s expression shifted, wobbling between fear and anxiety.

“…Captain?..” she asked.

“It’s—oh, Celestia. How do I put this?” Spitfire gnawed on the tip of her hoof, trying to think of how to word what she wanted to say. She finally sighed, bowing her head as she directed both of her friends into the other room. “I’ll explain it all to everypony in a moment. Go take your seats, please.”

Spitfire turned and slowly trotted back into the other room, leaving Rainbow and Soarin to share a final glance of worry. They followed her in. The rest of the Wonderbolts were already gathered, something around two dozen of Equestria’s finest pegasi. The usual chit-chat prior to these meetings was absent. They all sat in their seats, patiently waiting for their captain to speak. The last two arrivals slipped into their own chairs, and watched as Spitfire paced in front of the all.

This was, in theory, a family room of some sort, though the Captain had converted it into a meeting room long ago. The table usually used to hold the map of Equestria had been folded up and placed to the side, leaving plenty of room for the chairs holding everypony present. Up at the front, where an announcement lectern usually stood, Spitfire chose to forego any electronics and speak directly.

“Colts, mares, I’ve been your Captain for—gosh, I don’t even want to count the years anymore. I shouldn’t, if I want to keep saying I’m turning 28 this year.”

That elicited a few nervous chuckles from the ponies watching her. Anything to try and break the tense atmosphere.

“It’s been a good ride. For me at least. You’re all some of the bravest, most clever, fastest ponies I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. So, I trust you implicitly, and I need to break rank and ask you frank…” she bowed her head a bit, ears folded back. “have I been a good captain?”

Rainbow felt a pang of guilt, even as she was certain she had done nothing wrong. Spitfire’s demeanor on any given day was to be defined as nothing less than “chill”. To see her ask something so earnest, so desperate, was highly unusual; and more than a little heartbreaking.

“The hay are you talking about?!” came the voice of Soarin, standing out of his seat and staring indignantly at her. “You’re the greatest captain in Wonderbolts history!”

The other Wonderbolts all threw up their hooves and whooped in agreement. Dash saw the tiny smile on the Captain’s face as she watched her team cheer for her.

“Thanks, guys. That means a lot to me; more than you could realize.” Spitfire straightened her back out, and stood more erect as she started speaking again.

“Like I said, I cherish every moment I’ve spent as a part of this team; I hope you’ve enjoyed my time here just as much. But… I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately.”

Everypony in the room hushed, and stared straight at their CO. She couldn’t mean…

“I’m getting old, guys. I think I might be the longest-running Captain in the team’s history. It’s nice on paper, but I’m getting tired. I feel exhausted, like the weight of the world’s on my shoulders.”

Dash gulped. She wanted to deny it for Spitfire’s sake, but she couldn’t. She could, even from this distance, clearly see the heavy bags under her eyes, and the delay in her motions. The fatigue was as plain as day.

“It’s all getting to be so much, and… and I just can’t take it anymore. So, I wanted you all to be the first to know, and I wanted it to be from my lips, not some slip of paper. I’m quitting the Wonderbolts.”

A cacophony of protests and displeasure erupted. Every Wonderbolt present threw their hooves in the air, begging their captain to reconsider. Rainbow Dash charged out of her seat, pushing everypony else out of the way as she got up to the front.

“Are you crazy?” she yelled. “You’re, like, the super-captain! Nopony could replace you, you can’t quit!”

Spitfire smiled at her favorite hothead, and shook her head side to side. “Sorry, Dash, but it’s not about who can replace me. I wish it had come at a better time, but the stress is just catching up to me. I know my limits, and I know when I’ve hit my peak.” She stepped forward and put a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “That peak was long ago, and it’s only going downhill from here. I’d like to hang up my uniform while it’s still got some credibility attached, you know?”

Rainbow opened her mouth before she had anything to say, wracking her brain for something to snap the captain out of this crazy idea. But as she thought, more and more, the truth dawned on her. She was forced, and terrified, to face the facts. Spitfire was right.

She bowed her head, and felt the captain muss up her hair with a hoof.

“C’mon, Dash, lighten up.”

Confused, the junior Wonderbolt looked back up at her superior. Spitfire was smiling warmly, and gesturing back into the living room they had seen when they first entered. She waved everyone through the door.

“Everypony, you’ve gotta understand, I don’t like doing this. So I’m not going to just send you off into the night with heavy horseapples like that. Have a drink, eat some food, let’s live it up one more night, all right? Consider it one last order from your captain.”

The Wonderbolts gave a holler of joy, celebrating their last night with Captain Spitfire. One by one they marched dutifully into the living room with the sole purpose of getting drunk off their plots. Soon enough, only Spitfire, Dash and Soarin remained in the meeting room. They stood in a triangle, glancing back and forth, and trying to find the right words to say.

Spitfire found them first.

“Twenty bits says I can drink more of that Applewhisky than you novices combined!”

“Oh-ho, you’re on!”

The party went for hours. Ponies laughed, and reminisced about their favorite missions and performances. Dozens of drinking games and eating contests took place, little cliques of Wonderbolts trying to outdo one another. Groups gossiped on who the new captain might be, as the booze helped settle in the notion that Spitfire was actually, honestly leaving them. As the night passed, the image of the Grand Captain began to fade, and they spoke with her as an equal and a drinking buddy. This had its ups and downs for her. On the one hand, she was treated with both reverence and a bit of japery; she got in on inside jokes and pranks she’d, by protocol, never been able to before. But more than once, Spitfire’s “Dork Age” of repeated failures was brought up, to her chagrin. It was one thing to be overpowered by mad cows when Discord attacked, but being taken out by Twilight Sparkle’s assistant was just sad.

There wasn’t a single pony not drunk off their plot and full of food, ready to burst by the end, somewhere around midnight. The door to Spitfire’s home was flung open, and she sad goodnight to them, calling them each by name as they passed. The second to last was Soarin, who she took almost an entire minute to speak with in private before sending him off.

The last, was Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare moved for the door, but it shut in her face. Still feeling the effects of the Applewhisky, she was a bit disoriented by Spitfire’s surprisingly serious demeanor.

“Dash? I need you to stay behind; we’ve gotta talk.”

Confused, Rainbow Dash was led back into the meeting room, where Spitfire situated two armchairs to face more or less towards each other. Both mares relaxed, swishing around the last two glasses of Canterlot Brandy that Spitfire had dug up from her cellar about an hour beforehand. The soon-to-be ex-captain sniffed the beverage carefully, and spoke in a slurred state that only her equally-drunk subordinate could understand.

“Dang, that’s a good year. Older than my parents. You drink much, Dash? You held your booze pretty good tonight.”

“Nah, hic, not really.” Dash replied, slamming down her own sip of wine before placing the glass off to the side. “I’m… I’m just kinda awesome, y’know?”

“Oh-ho, I know.” Spitfire chuckled, raising her glass in a mock toast before finishing off the rest of it. She let out an unnecessarily overstated sigh, and gave a curious look at Dash. “Do you know why I kept you here?”

“No, not really.” Dash said, shrugging. “Just thought maybe you wanted one more beer before the night was over.”

“Well, that’d be pretty great.” Spitfire agreed. “But no, that’s not it.” She pointed at Dash.

“I don’t trust those suits to bring in a new captain, all right? So as my last act it’s my job to appoint a good pony to promote and take my place. Right now, Dash, that choice is you.”

Rainbow was taken aback, and even in her stupor her face was appropriately expressing itself. “W-whoa, what?! Me?! Are you serious?!”

“Why the hay wouldn’t I be?” Spitfire asked. “You’re perfect for the job.”

Rainbow shook her hooves in protest. “Whoa-ho, Spits, seriously, I am honored like you wouldn’t believe, but I’m not the pony you want for this job. Seriously, what about Soarin? He’s almost as much a vet as you are.”

Spitfire sighed, and planted her face in a hoof. “Dash, you know Soarin’s not cut out to lead a team! He’s like a little brother to me, but I can’t in good conscience put him in charge. For the team’s sake and for his, he couldn’t take the stress of the job.”

She leaned forward and pointed at the younger mare again. “But you could. You’re the best flyer on the team, by far, Dash. And hic you’re more dedicated to the Wonderbolts than I have a right to ask of anyone. Please, Dash, I need somepony I can trust in this position!”

Dash sighed, and crossed her hooves. “I… I really wanna help you out, Spits, seriously. But I’ve got a family to think about, y’know? I spend enough time away from Twi and Opal as it is, and I’m not sure—“

“Dash. Please. For the team, for me.”

Spitfire had leaned so far forward that she was about to fall out of her chair. Dash’s addled mind swarmed with protests, but like a lance the compulsion to be the leader their team -- her team -- needed broke through them all. Against the protests in her gut, Rainbow finally nodded.

“All right.” She said, bowing her head to Spitfire, who looked absolutely overjoyed. “I don’t know if I’ve got what it takes to be the Captain you want me to be; but if you’re so certain I’ve gotta try, right?”

Spitfire, in a brief moment of drunkenness—or perhaps just sheer elation—leaped out of her chair and embraced Rainbow in a tight hug.

“Thank you, Dash.” She whispered into her ear. “Seriously. I wouldn’t be able to rest until I knew somepony I could trust was in charge.”

Dash stammered, blushing as she felt the mounting awkwardness of being embraced by a pony who was, among other things, her childhood idol and distinctly not her wife. But a little bit of wisdom told her to let the booze talk for Spitfire, just for tonight, and patted her nearly official ex-Captain on the back.

“Glad to do it, Spits.”

The rest of their time together was spent in silence. Spitfire had one last shot of whiskey, and the pair headed for the exit. Rainbow said her final goodbyes to Spitfire at the door, wishing her luck with whatever she chose to do with her retirement.

"That's the beauty of it, Dash. That 'whatever'... it really could mean anything."

The door shut behind the junior Wonderbolt--or, rather, the new captain-- and she turned away to look at the night sky. Luna's moon looked very close from the high rises of Cloudsdale. By noon the next day, Spitfire would have filled out the paperwork. Rainbow Dash will be the new captain. That revelation sunk in for the first time.

She’d done it. She’d really, honestly done it. Her life’s dream, right there in front of her. It was almost more than she could take, and she let out a yelp of joy as she took to the skies.

She could only hope Twilight would feel the same way.

Homeward Bound

The whistling of the brisk winter wind brought a sweet melody through the branches of the old Ponyville library. Rainbow Dash was circling her home, content to stay outside for just a little while longer. The melancholy beauty of it all was striking. She couldn’t say she was one to appreciate the subtler things in life, but she’d been trying to become a bit—what was it called—cultured, maybe, ever since she began dating Twilight. A simple enough compromise in her mind. If Twi was willing to put up with her thick-headed antics, the least she could do was try to minimize those moments, and make an effort to find some common ground in interests.

Interests like astronomy. It made perfect sense, when she really thought about it. A pegasus was closer to the stars on any given day than any other pony; it seemed natural that they should try and figure out what, exactly, was up there. Though, to be frank with herself, she wasn’t particularly good at it.

She landed in the little square outside her home, and looked up. Not a cloud in the sky could be found this night; winter nights tended to be clear like this around Ponyville lately. It was one of the new weather team’s little quirks. Right up in the sky she could identify Ursa Major, the most commonly known constellation, and namesake for the most obscenely large creature in Equestria. And right next to that was… well, really, she wasn’t sure. She’d spent more free time than she cared to admit poring over Twilight’s old manuals at night, but it felt hopeless; it just didn’t stick.

Of course, the fact she was rip-roaring drunk likely didn’t help matters much either. She’d gotten a good cold wind against her on the long trip back, and by now her stupor had cooled into a fairly level buzz. But fully cognizant she was not. She began trotting up to the door, already feeling her heart sinking. A dim light shone through the bottom window. She had a welcoming committee.

Rainbow was already cringing when she slowly swung the door open. Sure enough, on an armchair not far from the door sat Twilight Sparkle, a half-finished book in her lap and a once-unhappy expression dulled from fatigue. Dash’s booze-reddened face sported a guilty grin as she slowly pulled the door behind her.

“Er… hey, Twi.”

“Hey, Dash.” Twi parroted, with a particularly nasty tone.

“Um… look, I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but I swear it was just some harmless fun, please don’t be mad.”

“Mad? Oh-ho, mad?” Twi asked, standing up. “Try ‘furious’. For one thing—“

Twilight was interrupted by the sound of skittering hooves on the floor, and before she knew what had happened Dash was blindsided by a leaping filly.

“—Opal wouldn’t go to bed until you came home.”

Rainbow Dash was trapped under the form of a young pegasus filly, not yet twelve, with a teal mane and blue-green coat. Three general’s stars of the Equestrian air force rested proudly on her flank, a particularly odd cutie mark for one so young. Rainbow often wondered what the little foal would grow up to be, but not at that moment; at that moment, Opal Dart was talking far too much to let anypony around her think.

“Mom! Mom! Mom! You’re home! I’ve been waiting all day to tell you, you shoulda seen it! In recess today, I did the Triple Slingshot Corkscrew!”

Rainbow’s mind was just addled enough that she wasn’t really certain that was a legitimate trick, but the enthusiasm of her daughter was infectious. The buzzed-up pegasus grinned from ear to ear, saying “Really? Awesome, Opal, gimme some hoof!”

Opal smacked her hoof with her mother’s as commanded, and finally deigned to let her stand up. Though, just having the freedom didn’t mean much, as Dash still stumbled for a second before Twilight caught her, shaking her head in disappointment. The purple mare turned to her daughter, saying “There. You got to see her. Now please, go to bed and get some sleep before school.”

“Aw, but I wanted to show mom the trick!”

“You can show her tomorrow. Right now, you need to get to bed. And honestly? So do you,” she added, directing the last bit towards her wife.

Opal glared at her mother for a second, but a glare back was all she needed to revert to obedience. Opal hug her head and slowly nodded, muttering “goodnight” before fluttering upstairs to her bed. That left Rainbow and Twilight alone, to discuss the happenings of the night.

About five minutes later, Rainbow Dash was slumped over at her seat in the kitchen, clutching a quarter-empty mug of coffee. Twilight sat across from her, nearly as tired and several times as aggravated as she tried to extract what, precisely, had made her wife so late.

“I thought this was just a meeting, how in the hay did you wind up sticking around until two in the morning?”

“Well… it’s kinda complicated.” Rainbow said, scratching the back of her neck with a hoof. She found it difficult to articulate, but gave a rough sequence of events, leading from her arrival to Spitfire stepping down officially.

“…and after that, y’know, who just turns down an offer like that? So we stayed, and we chatted, and we had a few drinks.”

“A few?”

“…Okay. A lot of drinks. And then, well, when everypony else left, Spits asked me to stay a while longer.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Why’s that?”

Rainbow took another sip of her coffee. “Um… well, as it turns out, she wanted me to be the new Captain. So I said yeah, sure, and—“

“Whoa whoa whoa. Hold it. You said yes?” Twilight asked, with an incredulous expression.

Rainbow looked back at her with a bewildered face. “Well, duh. I mean, we’re kinda talking about my life’s dream, Twilight. How do I say no to that?”

Twilight’s brow twitched in its furrowed state. “Well, one I can think of is, ‘thanks, but I’ve got a family to think about’.”

Rainbow leaned forward, and said “I did say that.”

“Didn’t mean much when it came down to the wire, though, did it?” Twilight asked, leaning forward as well. They were only about eight inches away from each other, in silence for a few moments. Then, Rainbow started to giggle. Twilight blinked a few times, confused. “What’s so funny?”

Rainbow covered her mouth as she suppressed another laugh. Her buzzed blush, still present, grew even redder. “You’re kinda cute when you’re mad.”

Twilight leaned back, immediately responding with a flushed face of her own, to Rainbow’s amusement. The pegasus continued to laugh, slumping over in her chair as the unicorn struggled to maintain her composure.

“I-I am not! I mean, wait—darn it Rainbow, we’re supposed to be fighting!” She leaned over in her chair, unable to stop herself from laughing along for a moment.

When the giggles finally settled down, Twilight looked at the mare across the table pleadingly. “Look, Rainbow, I don’t want to make a big blow-up over this, but can you at least understand where I’m coming from? This is a huge responsibility to take on, especially with all these dates coming up. So doing it without even talking with me about it is kind of irritating.”

“I know.” Rainbow replied. “And really, I am sorry I didn’t talk with you about it first. It just got sprung on me, y’know? And when your foalhood idol asks you something like that out of the blue, you… you don’t really think.”

“I understand.” Twilight finally said, smiling. “But are you sure you can handle it?”

Dash chuckled and made a sweeping motion with her hoof. “Totally, Twi. Don’t sweat it; I’ve got Soarin to do all the paperwork, and since I’m my own boss, I set the hours.”

She leaned over and kissed her wife on the nose. “That means I have all the time in the world for whatever we want.”

Twilight beamed and nuzzled Rainbow back. “Sounds perfect.”

“So, we’re all good then? Made up and happy?” Rainbow asked.

“Mmm… yes, I suppose. For now.”

“Good,” Rainbow said. “because between the booze and the flirting, I’ve had one thing on my mind since I got home, and I was really starting to worry I’d be getting the couch instead.”

The distance Twilight’s mouth dropped was really rather modest, but in Rainbow’s addled mind it had just punched through the floor. “Well, that’s… blunt!”

The pegasus’ eyes narrowed, and her lips sported a shamelessly dirty grin. “You know you love blunt.”

Several hours later, a quiet calm had finally descended in their home. Both mares were snugly in bed, Rainbow Dash looking like the happiest pony alive with a thin layer of sweat on her brow, and a radiant smile stretching her face even as she slept.

Twilight was worse off. She tossed and turned on her sides, her mind filled to the brim with images she did not understand. A rippling skyline with colors she couldn’t comprehend, a mountaintop belching smoke over its tip, but worse of all was the sound. A screech, pervading every corner of her mind.

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK

Twilight’s eyes shot open, and her head raised off of her pillow. She was breathing heavily, as if she had reached the end of a long marathon. The room was cool, a cracked window letting in a smidgen of winter air. The purple mare, content with the realization nothing was wrong, wiped the sweat off of her face and looked to her side. The blissful face of her wife was all she needed to calm her down that night. She settled back in, and drifted off quickly.

“—so then he said that flight sucks, and couldn’t do half the stuff magic could; so he’d sooner die than accept a pegasus’ help before a unicorn. SO, me an’ Scoots flew him up to the top of town hall, and left him!”

Opal Dart was cracking up with tales of her own mischief, particularly directed towards the class brat, Goldenboy. She was wiping away a tear and barely suppressing laughter. “T-they had to call in the weather team, a-and when one of them tried to help him, he yelled at them. So one of ‘em kicked him off the roof, onto the trampoline they were holding!”

Opal finally lost it, and buried her head into the kitchen table, pounding a hoof as she guffawed. Next to her, a very exhausted Rainbow Dash cringed, her headache being twisted in further and further like a knife every time her daughter spoke. Hangovers were killer.

“Y-yeah.” Rainbow stammered, trying to sound interested. “That’s great, Opal. Awesome. So, er, shouldn’t you be heading to school?”

“Eh, I got a minute.” Opal replied, glancing at the clock before shrugging. Dash had to resist the urge to groan out loud.

Across the table, Twilight was sitting with a book open, reading out several questions to the dragon in the chair beside her. Spike clacked his claws on the wood in a bored manner.

“C’mon, Twilight, I already know all this stuff!” The little purple dragon protested. Though, he was no so little anymore, easily the height of either grown mare present, with somewhat gangly arms and a somewhat elongated snout. He was growing into an adult dragon at a fast rate.

“Just a few more questions, Spike. Let’s go over the Dewdrop Decimal System one more time…”

Spike droned out answer after answer to every question given. He had no clue why Twilight was so obsessed with making him learn all this junk, lately, but it had been growing on his nerves. None of this was even his job, why did he have to know it?

Of course, Twilight thought to herself, that’s precisely why he needed to know it. It was his job yet, but one day it would be. She loved her books, and she loved her job, but she had no illusions of doing this for the rest of her life. And even if she did, it was only practical to have a replacement; one as long-lived as a dragon was about as practical you could get. And thus, her number-one assistant had ben unknowingly drafted into the exciting world of librarians.

“So…” Opal began, trailing off as she considered her words. “…you and mom’ve been keeping up with the calendar, right?”

“Yeah, I guess? Why?” Rainbow asked. It was entirely for the filly’s benefit. Even with her head throbbing like a jackhammer, she knew precisely what the filly was aiming towards with this conversation.

“Well, I mean, I don’t mean to interrupt your busy schedules and all, but I was seeing some pretty cool-looking dates coming up, right? And it’d be a shame if nothing was going on on days as cool as these, so..”

Rainbow groaned, and looked at her wife pleadingly. “Twi, can I just tell her?”

The purple mare relented, nodding silently. The pegasus mare grinned, replying with much enthusiasm “Your party’s in four days. Twi already picked out some invitations to hand out; you can do that tomorrow, ‘kay?”

“OK!” Opal cheered, hopping out of her seat with a gleeful expression. Dash relented and gave a reserved, but genuine smile as she picked up the filly’s backpack and handed it to her. She looked back at Twilight.

“I’m gonna walk Opal out.”

“All right.” Twilight said, looking up from her book. Spike took his moment of opportunity and scurried outside to go find something more fun to do.

The purple mare continued, “By the way, I was thinking about lunch. We haven’t tried that new grill yet, so I was wondering if—“

“Er, sorry, Twi.” Rainbow replied, hoofing at the ground nervously and avoiding eye contact. “I… kinda have practice today. First day as Captain and all, so I can’t really afford to miss it.”

She trotted forward quickly and pecked the unicorn on the cheek. “I’ll catch up with ya tonight, OK?”

Before Twilight could even respond, though, Rainbow was back at the door, holding it open for Opal. “Hustle, Squirt, or you’re gonna be late for class again!”

Opal sprinted out the door, and Rainbow looked back to shout “Bye, Twilight!” just a moment before slamming it shut behind her.

And then, all was silent in the library. Twilight felt the loneliness of the place creeping up on her.

“Well, all right then. So, uh, Spike, where were we—“

Oh. He was gone too. Twilight Sparkle sighed, gently shutting her book and placing it beside her. She leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes for a moment.

Daily Routine

Twilight’s eyes fluttered open, blurry images processing through her mind. She looked around in a daze to realize she had never left her seat; and it was almost noon now, judging by the light peeking through the windows of the library. Groaning, the mare lifted herself up and onto her feet, shaking her head to dispel the last effects of sleep. She took a look around, and it was already quite obvious that no one had returned. Not even Spike.

She sighed, looking around for something else to turn her attention to. She surveyed every shelf, but for once Spike beat her to the punch. Perfectly alphabetized, not a book out of place. The beds were all made, the bathroom clean, and the kitchen… was lacking a few items off the spice rack. Twilight’s grin nearly split her head in half, as she finally found something to do.

She busily wrote down the list of required goods on a slip of parchment, depositing it in a saddlebag retrieved from by the door. Lazily humming a tune she didn’t know half of, she stepped out the door.

The Ponyville market was buzzing with activity, and the thrum of a street musician’s guitar added a pulse beneath the throbbing of conversing ponies. Twilight casually trotted from stall to stall, seeing all that the shopkeepers had to offer. Truth be told, it wasn’t very much, mostly goods brought in from down south, where the warmth permitted some crops to still be grown. It wasn’t quite fresh, but it was superior to the general store’s selection to be sure.

Of course, that was hardly on the lavender mare’s mind. She’d found the spices she had lacked long ago. It was nearly two o’clock by now, and the only purpose her wandering served was to take her mind off of that morning. Her mind swam in thick, yet empty thoughts, absorbed in its own stupor. Then, she heard a familiar voice, yelling at somepony.

“…Ah’m tellin’ ya, there’s nothing wrong with these pears!”

“Yes, there is! They’re pears!”

“Well, ya gotta eat somethin’ if you’re so stuck up you won’t just eat apples like the rest of us!”

“And I will! Just not pears.”

The promise of social interaction sparked a lightbulb in Twilight’s mind, and she cantered around a corner, running straight into an orange earth pony. Both their loads were tossed high up in the air, and were barely snatched up in time by an outstretched front and hind leg from a brown stallion. He looked particularly frazzled as Applejack rubbed her head, groaning.

“Gah! Tarnation, who in their right mind would…oh, Twilight!”

Applejack stumbled back up to her feet, reaching down afterwards to drag Twilight back up as well. She grinned from ear to ear as she smacked the unicorn’s back with her hoof, knocking off some dust.

“KOFF-KOFF… er, hey, Applejack! I thought I heard you so I, well, came running.”

The farmer pony let loose a hearty chuckle. “Ha, well, Ah’m glad to see you too, Twilight. Whooves and I were just—“ her expression dropped to surprise, as if she had just remembered something important, and turned around. Sure enough, the brown colt was still precariously balanced on a front and hind leg, holding up Twilight and Applejack’s bags.

“Oh, horseapples! You all right, Whooves?”

“Yes, yes, fine, please just take the bags!” The stallion replied, his legs already beginning to wobble. Twilight took care of that, a violet aura surrounding both bags and relieving the colt, who at once attained a look of bliss on his face. “Oh, thank goodness. Thought I’d break my legs—what did you PUT in there?”

Twilight casually opened the flaps on her saddlebags, to reveal a shaker of peppercorns and a jar of garlic. Her eyebrow raised, and she frowned in confusion. “I just came out to get some spices—“

She was stopped by a hoof over her lips from Whooves. “No, not you. You.”

He did an about-face directly towards Applejack, who shrugged and opened her own saddlebags. It was full of rocks. The look on Whooves’ face was something between bafflement and recalling a night better forgotten.

“That is the second strangest thing I have ever seen in a bag.”

“Ah’ve been carrying it around to keep my strength up, since the foals’re preparing to start handling the apple bucking. Any earth pony worth their weight could carry this, no sweat.”

“You know as well as I do that I’m not a—“ both earth ponies seemed to trail off in expression, looking quite disturbed all off a sudden. Applejack plastered her face with a quite blatantly fake smile as Whooves corrected himself, with a smile that seemed both far stranger and far more genuine. “—a, uh, mm, physical pony! Yes, you know, books. And the like. For me. Know where I could find some good books, Twilight?”

“Um… I’m the town librarian.”

“Oh, excellent! What a great place to start, eh? Maybe we can check that out later. That, uh, the big booky place!”

“…Library?”

“That thing, right!” Whooves agreed, grinning and nodding excitedly. Twilight gave an aside glance to Applejack. Her friend merely shrugged, and gave her a look that suggested he was always like this. The unicorn opted not to judge, and spoke again.

“Well, actually, if you two are done shopping I was thinking of grabbing lunch. Would you like to join me?”

“Sounds great, Twilight!” Applejack said with a grin. The trio began to navigate their way through the throng and out of the market, trading gossip back and forth.

“So, Applejack, where’re your foals at?”

“What,” the farmer responded. “you honestly think we’d bring near-to a dozen foals on a grocery run?”

“Still can’t believe I agreed to the eleventh…” Whooves mulled. Twilight had to suppress a giggle at the beleaguered stallion’s expense. It was something of an inside joke that Whooves was a rather frazzled parent, if from nothing but the sheer workload.

“Anyways,” AJ continued. “we’ve got most of the babies put to nap at Sweet Apple Acres. The oldest ones’re all at school,”

“And Applejack’s brother kindly ‘volunteered’ to watch the rowdier ones too young for school, and too old to keep asleep.” Whooves finished. The stallion walked away from them, drawn by the alluring hat stand at the edge of the market. That left Twilight and Applejack alone for some private catching up.

“You all set for the party?” Applejack asked. “Honest, now, Ah don’t want none’a your skirting the issue. Ah already heard from Rarity how you were handling it a couple days ago…”

Twilight faked an amused laugh, but the intense blush on her face revealed her opinion on her little outburst. “I was under a lot of stress at the time. Rarity convinced me to take things slower. I’m still looking for the gift, but I’m confident we’ll find something. I just wish Pinkie and Rarity were here to celebrate with us.”

Applejack nodded calmly. With Rarity off to Las Pegasus, and Pinkie Pie visiting Manehattan with her coltfriend, the old gang would be near-half absent for Opal’s big day. And for her and Rainbow’s anniversary.

“That so?” Applejack asked, scrutinizing the look on her friend’s face as they trotted along. “’Cause if that ain’t what’s bothering ya, Twilight, then Ah want to know what is. It’s definitely something, but Ah can’t put my hoof on it.”

Twilight’s lips squirmed as she shuffled the words around inside.

“C’mon, girl, out with it.”

Twilight groaned, unable to hide her anxiety. “Rainbow got promoted to Captain of the Wonderbolts last night.”

“Really?” came the voice of Whooves, drawing up from behind them. They looked over, startled to see both that he’d arrived so fast, and also that he’d managed to acquire a fez for himself. Twilight couldn’t help but note he made the ridiculous little thing work, somehow. “Because that’s wonderful news! It’s her foalhood dream and all that wash, right?”

“Yes, it is.” Twilight said. “But… I’m just worried; Rainbow Dash can get so obsessed with her flying, sometimes, I’m worried if this’ll distract her from her obligations. And, from me, I guess.”

“Oh, you’re overreacting,” Whooves said, with a dismissive wave of his hoof. One that happened to smack Pokey Pierce straight in his eye. The unicorn gave a yelp of pain, before ducking away and glaring at Whooves as they went separate ways. The earth colt turned his head around to watch the other go, yelling back “Yeah, not so nice when it’s happening to you now, is it!”

The brown stallion turned back to Twilight, and started talking to her again like he’d never stopped. That drifting, swimming aspect of his focus and personality was nothing less than disturbing to her, at its worst.

“Honestly, love, you’re overreacting. Rainbow’s willy-nilly bonkermad for you. No chance she’d ever let anything get in the way of that!”

Twilight gave a polite nod, acknowledging his feelings, and along with him looked at Applejack to gauge her opinion. Surprisingly, she seemed rather troubled by the look on her face.

“Ah don’t know, Whooves,” she said. “Rainbow’s like a sister to me, and Ah love her. But that puts me in the special position of knowing when she’s in over her head. She can get kinda… kinda mixed up in her priorities, when big titles and fancy things get in her head. Ah wouldn’t put it past her to get all screwed up in this, too.”

Twilight frowned a bit, knowing she likely couldn’t argue something like this coming from the Element of Honesty. But her expression shifted to surprise when Applejack kept talking.

“But,” the farmer affirmed. “she’s still your wife. You’ve got an obligation to trust her, at least enough to give her a chance at this. This is a pretty big milestone in her life, Twilight; Ah think you oughta support her.”

The lavender mare’s frown slowly regressed into a gentle smile, and she nodded at both of her friends. “Thank you; both of you. You’re right, I need to, at the least, give her a chance. But, enough about that right now. Who’s hungry?”

She looked up, Applejack and Whooves following her gaze, at the sign of the restaurant they’d finally arrived at, nearly half a mile up the road from the market. Applejack licked her lips as she remembered just how hungry she’d gotten lugging those stones around.

“Looks mighty good, Twi—hey, wait just an applebuckin’ minute! Isn’t this that ‘fillypinto’ stuff Rainbow was warnin’ us about the other day?”

“Do they serve pears?” Whooves asked urgently. Twilight carefully thought it over, and slowly shook her head no.

“We’re going.”

Far away in Cloudsdale, around the same time, the Wonderbolts were lined up along the cloudy plains surrounding the city. Perfect stomping grounds for a team to get some good practice in. Each pegasus was dressed in their flightsuits, arranged in two perfect rows, twelve teammates in each. In front of them, a single pony was fluttering slowly, back and forth on her wings.

Rainbow Dash—or, she supposed, Captain Dash, was normally quite comfortable in her flightsuit. It felt like a second skin to her, as if she were born to wear it and had been naked until she did—both literally, and figuratively. But today, it itched. It scraped against her, as if it were telling her she had overstepped bounds. She was a Wonderbolt. But she wasn’t this.

She clamped down on that thought, and shut it away. A leader exuded confidence. And by Celestia, she would be a leader if Spitfire wanted her to be.

“OK, fillies, listen up.” She barked. “If any of you were expecting an easy ride on your first day with a new CO, that plan’s going right out the window. The Wonderbolts are the best fliers in all of Equestria, and we are NOT going to let ourselves slack off for any reason. Am I right?”

“RIGHT!” her subordinates yelled back. A tiny jump in her heart came with an elated feeling. They’re listening to me!

“O-OK!” she said in response. “We’re heading right into drills, everypony. Squad One, I want you practicing the Corkscrew Drop! Squad Two, follow them up with the Thunderbolt Sweep? Ready, GO!”

The Wonderbolts zapped off into formation, going through the motions as they always did. But something was different. Their new Captain was not the sure-hooved pegasus they had come to respect and follow before. Rainbow Dash was hesitating, stuttering on calls. They barely avoided a midair collision when the two Squads came together for the coup de grace. The whole tumultuous session lasted no more than twenty minutes, before at last Rainbow blew her whistle.

“O…OK, fillies! Lunch break, you’ve got thirty minutes.”

Her fellow Wonderbolts dispersed, picking scenic locations in the hills to sit down and devour the food they’d brought with them. Dash relegated herself to the outskirts of the group, content to sit alone and watch the others, until a light blue stallion came after her.

“Captain?”

Dash looked to her right, to see Soarin land next to her. The incorrigible colt had a worried grimace on his face. Dash just shook her head at him.

“It’s just Dash, Soarin. C’mon, you know me.”

“Well, yeah,” he said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “but I figured you could probably use somepony callin’ ya ‘Captain’ right now.”

Rainbow stared at him, confused and yet feeling a ringing as if she understood on a deeper level. Soarin elaborated.

“Gotta be nerve-wracking, bein’ a first-time Captain, thinkin’ everypony’s judging ya for a few slip-ups. But you’ll get the hang of it, no sweat. Just remember you’ve gotta ease into it, y’know? It takes time.”

“You think?” Dash asked, slowly forcing a grin on her sullen demeanor. “I just hope I’ll be half the captain Spitfire was.”

“Hey, don’t go comparing yourself to other ponies.” Soarin said, clonking her over the head for her stupidity. “You’ll just drive yourself crazy with stress doing that! You’re your own Captain, Dash; I miss Spits, but you’ll grow into your own style.”

“Ha!” Rainbow blurted out, throwing a leg around Soarin’s neck and drawing him close. “I guess I don’t have anywhere to go but up, with an Lt. like you backing me up.”

“Bucking straight, ya do!” the blue stallion agreed with that childish, beaming grin of his.

Their banter went on for some time, but the momentum finally died down. They relaxed in silence on the hillside, on their backs watching the others mingle. Finally, a nervous voice gingerly asked “H-hey, Captain?”

“Yeah, Soarin?”

“I’m sorry I gotta ask right now but… something’s come up, and I really need a favor.”

Rainbow rolled to her right to look at her XO. “What’s up?”

The pony’s face squirmed and faulted as he thought of the right way to say what was coming next. “I know it’s a real bad time, but, Spits’ retirement came on real sudden, so I kinda wasn’t expecting it’d be a big deal… but me an’ my filly, we were planning a big trip up to Manehattan tomorrow.”

In Rainbow’s mind, the sound of a glass pane shattering could be heard, going down in shards alongside her illusions of sliding easily into her role. “W-what?”

“I know, I know.” Soarin replied, nervously nipping at the tip of his hoof. “I wouldn’t ask normally, but she’s been so excited about the whole thing, ya know? It’d kill her if we didn’t go… think you’ll be all right without me?”

Rainbow’s gut grumbled in protest; this was a terrible idea. But her heart, feeling just a twinge of envy for Soarin’s ability to fly off to distant lands with his beloved, couldn’t help but relate.

“…Yeah. OK,” she said, bowing her head. “but I don’t know how well I’m gonna manage without ya, Soar’.”

The stallion reacted oddly to that one; he frowned. Dash looked at him, shocked as he stared her down in disapproval. Soarin never frowned, at least not in an angry way.

“Dash, forget what I said earlier. I’m not that great an Lt. Don’t let that idea get stuck in your head that ya need me to do anything; you’re an awesome flyer!” He stood up, and as Dash followed he pointed at her wish his hoof, sticking it right into her chest.

“The best Wonderbolt we’ve had in years, and you’re gonna be the best Captain too! I know it, so promise me that!”

Rainbow stared on, dumbstruck.

“Promise me that when I come back,” he added with a growing smile. “I’ll be coming back to the leanest, meanest captain the Wonderbolts have ever seen!”

Dash stared on for another moment, before the realization struck her. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her lips curled into a defiant grin. “That a bet? You’re on, Lieutenant!”

Their hooves pounded together once, to seal the deal, before Dash turned back towards the rest of the team. She took off, calling back “Double-time it, Soarin! You’re not getting off easy, you’d better put in enough work to make up all the practice you’re missing, today!”

The blue stallion couldn’t help but let his infectious grin take over as he launched himself after her.

The Grind

A gentle light nudged at Rainbow’s eyelids. She rolled over in her bed, grumbling and wishing for unrelenting suffering on whatever was rousing her from slumber. But try as she might, the light was persistent; giving up with a groan and a curse, her eyes flickered open.

She was in her own bed. The light, that accursed light, was coming in through the window. Someone had flung the blinds open, and let the sunshine illuminate the room in a golden glow.

Rainbow wished quite desperately for an eclipse.

She couldn’t help but spend a moment silently wishing for a miracle, but after that fleeting moment she decided to stop kidding herself. She dragged herself out of bed, and as her routine dictated stopped by the table on the side of her bed. Like every morning, a slip of paper from her wife was laid out for her, scrawled on with perfect calligraphy. She eyed it closely as she picked it up. This one seemed… odd, compared to the normal ones. The first half was scratched out. She could only make out a few words.

Rainbow…breakf…whenever you’re re…love, Twi…

It had been replaced by something a bit more, how could she put it. Frantic.

Please get down here quick! There’s something you need to see. Immediately!

Rainbow didn’t hesitate to bolt out the door and down the stairs. The thought of moving so quickly in the morning filled her with displeasure; but if Twi needed her, she was there. Simple as that.

She bolted into the main room, panting from the unexpected effort fresh out of bed.

“Whoo… OK Twi, I’m here, what’s the big…” her eyes grew wider and wider as she took in the sight. “…deal?”

A dozen stacks of papers, each twice the height of a fully-grown pony were arranged in a daunting formation, smack dab in the middle of her home. Twilight herself was sitting about four feet away, staring blankly at it. Dash cautiously approached her, waving a hoof in front of the unicorn’s face. No response. Rainbow scratched her chin.

“Twi?”

“…Yeah?” she responded at last, not taking her eyes off of the papers.

“Where did all this… come from?”

Twilight’s mouth moved a few times; it was as if, in her mind, she was still saying words, and they just weren’t being delivered. After those first few tries, she accomplished constructing an actual sentence.

“Derpy delivered it. This morning.”

“By herself?!”

Twilight nodded once, and only once. Rainbow looked back at the papers. An eye twitched. “How did she carry it all?”

“I don’t know, Dashie… I don’t know…”

Rainbow approached it, eying the stacks curiously. “What’s all this junk for, anyway?”

A magically-levitated slip of paper was delivered to the pegasus, who carefully read it. It was from Spitfire.

Hey Dash,

Sorry to spring this on you, but you know what the suits’re like. You need to get all this paperwork in before the Equestrian military will formally recognize you as Captain.

Good luck. I recommend Lunar Brandy—it’s what got me through it.

--Spitfire

Rainbow grimaced, feeling the revolt coursing through her as she stared down the veritable mountain of paperwork. After a moment, she shook her head, sharp disgust displayed.

“Nope. No way. Not touchin’ it.”

Rainbow turned away, and began to march back to her bed. “If the bureaucrats want their papers that bad, they can come get ‘em.”

Twilight knew this was the wrong choice; yet, she couldn’t help but smile. Rainbow remembered “bureaucrat”. I knew she was paying attention when I read to her!

The pegasus ultimately didn’t get far. She stopped at the stairway’s bottom, and looked back with flattened ears. Come on, what kind’ve lousy captain are you? You made a promise to Soarin, and you’re about to brush it off for a bucking nap.

She groaned, already beginning to regret her decision. Walking back, she said “I guess there’s no way around it. I’ve gotta get this done before anything else today, or else I’m probably never gonna do it…”

“What?!”

Twilight and Rainbow looked over to see Opal Dart had just come downstairs, and was staring at her mother with a mixture of confusion and betrayal on her face.

“Whaddaya mean? Mom, you said you’d help me do my science presentation in class today!”

Rainbow gasped and smacked her face with a hoof. “Horseapples, I did, didn’t I…”

Twilight leaned into the conversation, smiling hopefully. “Maybe I could help instead, so Rainbow can work?”

The cyan mare just shook her head. “Nah, Twi, it was about wingpower; she needed an adult pegasus to help demonstrate the average.”

“Oh…” the unicorn hung her head in disappointment, an expression shared by their daughter. Rainbow grimaced, guilt flooding through her as she saw the trembling little frown on her foal’s face. There had to be some way to make up for this.

“Hey, Squirt?”

Opal looked up at her. Dash leaned down and nuzzled the side of her face. “Look, I know it doesn’t make up for bailing on you like this, but I really need to get this work done. So I was thinking, instead, maybe all your friends would like to see your old mare pull of a Sonic Rainboom at your party?”

The filly was dead-set on disappointment, so she tried to hide the new glimmer in her eyes. “You’d have time for that?”

The elder mare smiled, rustling her foal’s hair. “Of course I would, don’t even talk like there’s some way I wouldn’t, you hear me? Now go on, get your plot to school; I’ve got… eugh, work to do.”

Opal repressed a little giggle as Twilight corralled her to the door, planting a kiss goodbye on her forehead and waving her off as she trotted off. The unicorn shut the door and turned back to the kitchen, where Rainbow had already set herself up with the initial stack. She set straight to work, brow furrowed as her quill pen furiously scraped across the parchment.

Twilight eased up behind her, looking over her shoulder at her work. Rainbow’s penmanship was improving, she noted—still awful, but improving to be sure.

“I need to go pick up a book shipment for the library,” the unicorn informed her wife. “do you need anything while I’m out?”

Dash grunted, heaving her shoulders up and down. “No. Just some peace and quiet,” she grunted between her teeth, wrapped around her pen. “so I can get this crap done as fast as physically possible.”

“Well, all right.” She darted in and placed a smooch on the other mare’s cheek, withdrawing quickly and making for the door. “I heard there was a clear sky tonight; maybe we could go stargazing once you finish up with this.”

“Eh. Maybe.” Rainbow tersely responded, fully absorbed by the horrors of bureaucracy. Twilight opened the door, stepping through it after one last look at her wife. Dash was far too preoccupied to spot the quivering frown tugging at her lips.

It was nearly noon, and Opal Dart was fidgeting about at her desk. Willow Wisp was up at the front of Cheerilee’s classroom, weaving some nonsensical story about how his styrofoam cup of dirt somehow constituted a science project. He was the last one up before her; and just as the young pegasus had feared, everypony else had been able to present their science projects without a hitch. She would be the only one that couldn’t.

She could already feel the paranoia building up inside her. She could hear—no, she could feel the awful things Diamond Tiara would say. She loved being a pegasus like her idol, Rainbow Dash. But sometimes she envied Twilight. Mom’s probably got a really nice spell for making ponies disappear…

“Opal?” Cheerilee asked. “You’re up next.”

A cold chill ran down her spine, as all eyes turned to her. She stammered out a response, standing up out of her seat with a blatant embarrassed blush on her face.

“Um… I-I lost my volunteer, Mrs. Cheerilee… do you think I could have another day?”

A rippling wave of snickering spread across the room, though to her credit the teacher did an excellent job of shutting them up with a well-placed glare. Her expression was gentle talking to Opal, but her voice was firm. “I’m sorry, Opal, but you had several weeks to prepare for this assignment. I can’t give special treatment to any students.”

“I—I—but…” she sighed and sat back down. “Yes, Mrs. Cheerilee.”

The teacher nodded politely at her an addressed the rest of the class. “Well, everypony, since that was the last thing I really had planned before recess, I suppose you can be let out a few minutes early. Go have fun!”

Like a cannonball, her horde of students smashed out of the doors, leading off into a growing layer of snow outside. Winter was in full force, now, and the little foals couldn’t get enough of it. Fresh flakes were constantly falling, as little groups set up fortresses for the impending snowball fight, while others were content to get to work on constructing their greatest snowponies. Opal Dart herself strayed to the edge of the group, looking out at the risen roofs of Ponyville off in one direction, calmly pumping smoke into the sky.

“Well, well,” came the sound of a smug little colt. Opal was already scowling before she even turned around to see him. “if I didn’t know better I’d think you were avoiding me, Opes!”

“Shut up, Gold.”

The foal in question had a lustrous gold coat, with a pearl-handled switchblade comb for a cutie mark; his mane was a downright outrageous auburn pompadour style, through which his unicorn’s horn stuck out proudly. He had a smug grin smacked on his face that made the pegasus want to knock all of his shining teeth out of his stupid face.

“Come on, lighten up!” he said in a mocking tone. “You always like standing out, right Opes? You did! You were the only one to fail! Isn’t that special?”

“No, I’m really serious.” Opal said in a disturbingly deadpan tone. “Keep talking to me, ALL those teeth are coming out.

“Oof, your words sting, Opes, they really do.” Goldenboy replied with a dripping abundance of snark. “But, I guess us refined society ponies just don’t have what it takes to tangle with the kind of sharp tongue you get from a life on the rails.”

Opal’s mouth dropped agape, before her frown became even more furious than prior. “Oh, you shut your prissy little mouth or I SWEAR—“

“Swear what?” Gold asked. “Swear you’ll brush your teeth? Because if that’s my punishment I think I can stand to talk a little longer. Oh, speaking of teeth-rotting, how’s your party coming along? If it’s anything like last year’s, maybe I’ll get another rousing dentist pamphlet as a party favor. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“You take that back!” Opal yelled. “My party’s gonna rule this year!”

“And why is that?” Gold asked, leaning closer towards her. She obliged him with the same motion, the two foals butting heads as she retorted.

“Because my MOM is gonna pull off a Sonic Rainboom and blow your stupid high-society mind, that’s why!”

Goldenboy was silent towards this. But Opal soon realized why; they’d drawn a crowd. The entire class was watching them fight. A few were gossiping, mostly involving the two of them up in a tree, but the rest were all asking questions. Was it true her mom really was Rainbow Dash, like everypony always said? Was the Sonic Rainboom real? Would they really get to see one?

Sensing an opportunity, Opal sent a hoof sweeping, pointing at the entire crowd. “Yeah, you all heard me right! My mom, the one and only Rainbow Dash, is gonna be blowing all your little minds with the Sonic Rainboom of the century! Only bother to show up if you like stuff that’s awesome, got it? And spread the word!”

Satisfied, the colts and fillies dispersed, ready to tell all their friends as the big day approached. Opal bore a proud look on her face; one that was deflate the moment her nemesis starting talking again.

“Big goal you’ve got set for yourself,” Gold said, jabbing her in the side with a hoof before walking off. He looked back as he went to add, “let’s hope you’ve got what it takes to reach it!”

Opal seethed at that colt as she meandered back towards the center of the playground. Where did that jerk get off? Her mother would totally be there, no question. And it would definitely be amazing.

It had to be.

The sun was setting on Ponyville as the door to the library shut for the final time that day. Twilight Sparkle entered, carefully levitating a nearly-full cup of cocoa, made to wake her up in preparation for that night.

“Rainbow Dash!” she called out as she entered. “You should probably get ready, it’s gonna be about time to go and pick our spot any—“

She stopped, and looked into the kitchen. At the table was a gargantuan stack of papers, neatly ordered and filed after they were finished. The orange glow of the setting sun bathed the room, presenting an almost serene atmosphere. Rainbow Dash was slumped over onto the table, head resting snugly on top of her forelegs. Her face was pleasant, caught up in the sweetest of dreams as her breaths lifted her up and down in a gentle rhythm.

Twilight’s face fell agape, as she felt the surge of disappointment. She set down her saddlebag, and opened up a pouch, looking face to face with the new star charts she had purchased on the way home. The same little frown from that morning was back. Thoughts of an evening spent with her wife danced in her head, out relaxing, rolling in the grass in the dead of night. Like before, when they were younger. Just like that, out the window.

She wanted to get angry, to cry, to do something to express her disappointment. But as she stared at every last ounce of that paperwork, wrapped up and ready to be sent back, nothing but satisfaction and love swelled up in her chest. She withdrew from the room silently, returning a minute later with the perfect accessories for the occasion: a pillow, and a blanket.

It was difficult work, not waking her, but Twilight managed to gingerly slip the cushion between her hooves and her head. When she was released, Rainbow’s noggin bounced once against the feathery object, before snuggling back into the perfect resting spot.

Twilight defied the use of her horn, and used her own mouth to lay the blanket down over the pegasus. The soft, periwinkle fabric draped and spooled as it enveloped her. Twilight smiled down at her, admiring the way the light gave the scene such an innocent glow; she couldn’t resist, and leaned down to Rainbow’s ear.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispered. “I’m proud of you.”

She turned and walked away at a brisk pace. She couldn’t bear the turmoil she might feel if she looked back.

Promises, Promises

The day of the party came without clamor, or fanfare. The excitement would begin in the afternoon; and until then, it was to be business as usual in Ponyville. Opal was sent off to school, to bear one more day of tedium before her shining moment. Spike was making the rounds about town, collecting the materials he and Twilight would use to set up the party. Twilight herself was at the kitchen table, sitting with a very surly cyan pegasus.

Rainbow’s face was buried in her hooves, struggling to care about the list that Twilight was droning off of. The paperwork, she had discovered the day after her first effort, needed to be filed in triplicate. And with Soarin off to Manehattan, she had no subordinate to handle it, leaving her as a mare with very little time to herself. It was taking its toll; she heard every word from her wife as an intrusion, another little knife piercing through her privacy and free time. She wanted to scream, to yell at Twilight to leave her alone for just five minutes.

But that was wrong. She was angry, and irritable, but she knew when she was the one being unreasonable. But that only curbed her attitude so much.

“All right, look:” Twilight groaned, rubbing her temples in frustration. “All you have to do is be here at 3:30. That’s when she’ll blow out the candles, you’ll swoop down from above and the moment she does it, Rainboom. Can you handle that?”

“Hey, don’t ask me if I can handle it.” Rainbow snipped back. “You’re talking to the only mare who can do it at all; have a little faith, jeez.”

“I’m trying to,” Twilight said between clenched teeth. “I’m trying really, really hard. It’s just a little difficult when a CERTAIN SOMEPONY is too far up her own plot to give me a reason for it.”

“Hey!” Dash yelled back, snorting and stamping a hoof on the table. “I thought you were cool with this Captain thing! If you don’t want me living my dream, then fine, just say something!”

Twilight’s mouth dropped agape, trying to form any kind of coherent response to that. “I—you—think—GAH!”

In a flash of violet light, Twilight disappeared. She wasn’t in the room, but Rainbow could hear the characteristic popping of a teleportation spell go off again and again around their home, and the frustrated groaning of her wife, trying to vent before she confronted Dash again. With a final, flashing flourish, Twilight reappeared, panting and looking very desperate.

“Dash, please, just work with me on this one. Opal’s really counting on you, here. Don’t let her down, OK?”

Dash raised an eyebrow, and said, “Twi, I’ve got this. Honest, I do.”

Twilight looked ready to yell at her some more, but stopped herself and turned away slightly. “Just go. You’ve got practice, right?”

“Yep.”

Before Twilight could protest, Dash lunged in and planted a quick smooch on her cheek. She flew out the window, barely avoiding a levitating chair aimed for her head.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight screamed after her. “Just let me be mad at you for once!”

Rainbow flew off at a leisurely pace towards Cloudsdale, snickering to herself. That one always worked.

So why did she still feel awful?

She mentally smacked herself; it wasn’t like Twi didn’t have a reason to be mad at her. The pegasus had been a pretty pitiful excuse for a wife, lately. But what could she do? The Wonderbolts needed a leader, and she wasn’t about to let Spitfire down with the trust that she had in Rainbow. It wouldn’t be much longer, she resolved. Soarin would be back in town soon, and she could split up the work with him, and make back the time she needed for her family. It would all be simple, she’d just have to persevere a little while longer…

“All right, good! Windfunnel, Firecracker, next fly-through try coming in over the top instead of from below, I think that’ll work better. Now, again!”

Rainbow Dash blew her whistle, and her team took to the skies once more. Their captain watched from the ground, smiling proudly at her colts and mares’ handiwork. Thunderclouds coursing with lightning weaved intricate stitches and patterns across the sky, flawlessly working through their routine. This was the best practice they’d had since Dash was promoted, and every successful maneuver built up a pride in the cyan pegasus. So yeah, maybe at home things were going kind of… awful. But here, she could forget about that for a few precious hours. Here, she was a god, and her team was the tool with which she worked wonders.

Why did Spitfire ever give up this job?

As the last flourish of booming thunder brought an end to their performance, Rainbow called them in with a whistle while clapping her hooves enthusiastically. The smiles on their tired faces told her they were as satisfied with that fly-through as she was.

“Great show, everypony, you all did great!” she exclaimed. “When we get back to touring, somepony remind me I owe you all a drink when we stop at Las Pegasus!”

The Wonderbolts whooped and hollered, punching the air above them with their hooves in celebration.

The group slowly began to dissipate, as everypony broke off into their preferred cliques, discussing where they’d spend break before getting back to practice. Rainbow glanced at the sun to get an idea of the time.

About one… perfect, if I call off the rest of practice now, I can still make the party!

“OK, fillies, bunch up!” Rainbow shouted over the din of idle conversation. “Gonna say a few words, then we’re breaking up for the day—“

“Oh Celestia help us!” one of her subordinates shrieked. The others followed her line of sight, to see an approaching pegasus flying down towards them. “It’s her!”

A collective gasp of horror sounded from every Wonderbolt present, instantly recognizing the harbinger of disaster descending upon them. Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs, “TAKE COVER!” and sent everypony sprawling in every direction. But it was far too late.

A gray mare fell upon them, opting not to land but rather to crash in a manner even the Wonderbolt captain could hardly match on her worst day. She barreled through pony after pony, sending shrieking mares and colts alike careening through the air before tumbling to a halt at Rainbow’s hooves.

Still groaning in a bit of confusion and pain, two exotropic yellow eyes struggled to both look at Rainbow. The mare grinned, happy as can be.

“Hiya, Rainbow Dash!”

Dash couldn’t help but chuckle, smiling as she leaned down to help her old friend up. “Hey, Derpy. What’s up?”

Derpy Hooves took a moment to process this, but the moment she realized what she was being asked, her demeanor changed and her brow furrowed. The pegasus reached into her mailmare’s saddlebag, retrieving an envelope and handing it over with a salute. “Uh, straight from Princess Celestia, Rainbow! She said it was really important, and I needed to get it to you as fast as I can!”

She added with a silly grin, “I didn’t crash once this time! Well, I mean…”

“Hey, that wasn’t even a crash.” Rainbow said, patting her friend on the head. “That was just a stylish landing; I do ‘em all the time!”

“You do?” Derpy asked, disbelieving.

“Oh-ho, trust me, more than you’d ever believe.” She added, with a good-natured roll of her eyes. “Anyway, thanks a lot Derpy. I’d better check this out. You and Dinky coming to the party?”

Derpy looked shocked, and a bit appalled, though at what the other pegasus wasn’t sure. “You mean those invitations were for us? I thought you wanted me to deliver them to somepony!”

Rainbow wasn’t sure if she was more frustrated or devastated. “You thought we wouldn’t invite you guys?!” she asked, her ears falling back in disbelief. She shoved Derpy off towards Ponyville, saying “OK it’s not a question anymore; it’s an order. You and Dinky are gonna go to that party, and you’re gonna have the times of your lives, got it?”

The gray mare laughed and gave a wave to her friend as she left. “You got it, Miss Captain-Dash!”

Rainbow waved back, shaking her head and nearly ready to let out a short laugh. “That mare, sometimes…”

Derpy was a klutz; OK, really more like a walking disaster. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t Rainbow’s friend. Dash was always a little more worried than she cared to admit that her fellow pegasus was so quick to assume an invitation or a compliment was intended for somepony else.

But she’d have to settle that at the party. First, she figured she ought to check out this letter from the Princess. The Wonderbolts gathered around her, and she decided to read it out loud.

She unfolded the parchment and began reading; not five seconds had passed before she wished she had done no such thing.

Captain Rainbow Dash,

I apologize, my little pony, for the poor timing of this letter. I know you are still settling into your position, and at such a stressful time in your life. But if there were anypony else I could rely on for this matter, I would have called them. But as it is, I must call on the Wonderbolts to resume their status as the emergency response task force for Equestria.

Rainbow gulped. There was no way this could be anything good, now.

Approximately eight hours ago, the mining town of Coalcolt sent out a call for aid from the Equestrian military. They are under attack by an ancient race, forgotten by everypony but me I would wager, known as gargoyles. We were engaged in war with them for some time, and they committed many heinous crimes against our ponies. For these transgressions they were locked away beneath the earth, frozen in bodies of stone.

Though I can only theorize the cause (my current theory is latent chaotic magic from the statue of Discord), it seems something has animated the stone bodies of one clan of gargoyles, who were buried beneath Coalcolt. When the miners stumbled upon their chamber, they rushed out, and are now ransacking the area. It is a demand of no small amount I am making, but your Wonderbolts are the only ones close enough and capable enough to handle it.

I wish you the best of luck, Captain.

--Princess Celestia

Rainbow lowered the letter, eyes wide in shock. The other Wonderbolts shared a similar look.

“Th—that’s… over an hour and a half away.” Rainbow said, numb. She gulped, already thinking of the fury on her wife’s face. Of how devastated her daughter would be. But could she abandon a town, for that?

“Boss…”

She looked quizzically at the stallion that had spoken, a green stallion named Blitzer. He shook his head, and said “We don’t need you on this one. Go see your family, we can handle it.”

Rainbow choked back a laugh, and took a step closer to her team, a growing grin on her face. If only her eyes could match it.

“Thanks for the offer, Blitz. But there’s no way I can go relax while sending you all into danger like that.”

She flapped her wings and took to the air, hovering just above the others and rallying them with a wave of her hooves. “Move it, you buncha unicorn fillies! If I’ve gotta miss the party, then I say the LEAST we can do is beat the snot out of the guys ruining my daughter’s birthday! Who’s with me?!”

The Wonderbolts yelled in agreement, the thought of pounding on some criminal elements seemed quite cathartic to them. She may not have been their captain for long, but Rainbow Dash was a Wonderbolt veteran; and in a unit as close as theirs, a transgression to one was a transgression to them all.

They took to the skies as if launched from cannons, ready to mete out some oh-so-sweet retaliation.

Coalcolt was a simple town, just a short walk from the side of the western edge of the mountain chain on which Canterlot resided. A population of about a hundred ponies resided in two streets of simple houses, with the center of town a ring of stores centered around a statue of an old earth pony with a truly magnificent moustache.

At the moment, the majority of the town was on fire.

The majority of the town’s population had been evacuated hours ago, but some stragglers remained. An old unicorn was inside the general store, having barred the door with several shelves, and was now standing behind it, trembling. But he could not back up another step; two small pegasus fillies he’d found beneath some burning wreckage were behind him. They were his sole charges, and whatever he could do to protect them, he would.

If only it were much. The door was hit with a resounding thud, and it caved inward. Another smack, and the wood cracked wide open, the shelves being knocked aside as a large figure strode in. It was a portly, green creature, with marked similarities to a teenaged dragon, both with his wings and leg shape, and the way he stood on his hind legs. His face was quite different, flat and ape-like rather than snouted, with a thick greying beard and pointed ears. He brandished a sword at the old unicorn, and growled “Stand down old colt; you’ve lost.”

“You—rrgh—get away!” yelled the old stallion, using what little magic he had to fetch a vase off of his store’s shelf and send it flying towards the gargoyle. The creature, though old, was no fool however, and sliced the pot in half with a swipe of his sword.

The unicorn attempted to back up a step, but stopped himself, thinking of the foals. He stood his ground, and gave his best attempt at glaring to try and intimidate the gargoyle. The old thing did not halt his advance, stepping closer, but still managed to smile at the old unicorn as he raised his sword.

“That is very brave of you,” the gargoyle said, before coming down with his weapon.

…

Several minutes later, the unconscious body of the unicorn, with a pronounced bruise on his head from the impact of a sword pommel, was dragged out of the general store by the gargoyle that had bested him. He also carried the two squirming foals tucked safely beneath his arm.

With this cargo, he marched out to the center of the town. Gathered around the statue of the town’s deceased founder, half a dozen other gargoyles waited. Among them was their leader. The green gargoyle fell to a knee, and bowed toward his king.

The tallest, and strongest among them stood taller than any pony alive; even the princesses would recoil from his size along. His face was squared, and teeth protruded from his lower lip; yet he carried a regal grace in his posture, his wings wrapped around his purplish-gray shoulders like a cloak. This king tapped his subject on his own shoulder, gesturing up.

“Rise. This is no time for formalities; you have the prisoners we require?” he asked, in a booming baritone.

“Of course, my king.” The shorter stone creature said, gesturing towards the trio of ponies. “Do you believe Celestia will fall for our ruse?”

“I am counting on it.” Their King stated, stepping forward and looking up into the sky. Out in the direction he stared was Canterlot, and the subject of his deepest ire. “Celestia believes we are mindless savages, and will kill and rape whatever we can lay our hands on. And when the runner we let escape tells her it’s me… she’d be a fool not to handle the matter personally.”

“But is she not a fool, sire?” the other asked, curious.

The Gargoyle King harrumphed. “I suppose she is. We’ll just kill whoever she sends, until she comes herself. Can I count on you for that, old friend?”

The older gargoyle bowed before his king. “Of course, G—“

“—Give up while you’ve still got lungs to breathe with, gargoyle scum!”

The King and his sextet of companions drew up into a circle, waiting to see where the threat had come from. As it happened, it had come from above.

Rainbow Dash circled above the gargoyles with her Wonderbolts in tow, sizing them up. They had these… things outnumbered three to one. But they looked big. Huge, in fact. They all had wings, too… she wondered how fast they were? With a slight angle adjustment, she glided to the ground, standing about twenty feet from the cluster of stoneflesh creatures. Her team gathered up behind her, ready to charge on a word.

The Gargoyle King sized them up. So you send your subjects to die like pawns, Celestia… and you call me the monster.

“What is your name? Why has Princess Celestia sent you instead of coming herself?”

The pegasus stamped on the ground, snorting as she glared at the much larger creature. “That’s not your business, and it’s not mine. All you need to know is, my name’s Captain Rainbow Dash. And I’m here to kick your sorry plot into the next millennium.”

“You know of my people’s history, don’t you?” the King asked of the captain. “I slew many pegasi just like you in the last war: brash, young, and full of life that was wasted as it flowed down my palms.”

He made a cutting gesture to his side, as if chopping away at an imaginary target. “Would you really throw your life away for a fight your own leader would not dare join? She is a coward, and the only target that is in my sights. Stand aside, or bring her to me, I care not; but I do not wish you to go to your doom for the sake of one tyrant.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the creature and said, “You don’t get it, do you? We ponies like our princess. It’s practically an honor, getting to be the ones to knock the stuffing out of blowhards like you.”

The King began to retracted, but Rainbow held out a hoof.

“…But that doesn’t mean I wanna hurt you if I don’t have to. This is the only chance you’re gonna get; surrender, and none of your people have to get hurt.”

The Gargoyle King spent a single, agonizing second staring into Rainbow’s eyes. Even if the creature’s stony texture marred him into the visage of a monster, she could still perceive a good soul, hidden somewhere beneath. He frowned, deeply upset, and shook his head.

“I cannot forgive the grave crimes made towards my clan. It must be war.”

Rainbow grimaced, and retracted into a stance preparing to charge. Her Wonderbolts mimicked the action.

“War it is, then.”

It was two-thirty in the afternoon in Ponyville, and the space outside the library was abuzz with activity. Pony couples with their foals were coming in from every direction, greeting Twilight Sparkle with a smile as they led the little ones into the area full of games and decorated with streamers. She was no Pinkie Pie, but years spent with the premier party pony had given the unicorn a good idea of where to start. Spike was directing all sorts of games for the youngest of foals, and the older ones were conglomerating into various groups for whatever mischief they could get up to in such a controlled environment.

Twilight was standing by a table with several bowls of punch laid out for the parents. She was idly sipping at a cup, watching a situation unfolding on the other side of the party.

Her daughter, Opal, was sharing words with a unicorn foal. His coat was golden; she recognized him from her class, but they had never spoken. He seemed to be saying some… pretty awful things, to be honest. Her daughter’s reaction looked anything less than kind, though the gestures the little filly made were making it clear who was being discussed.

Twilight looked to the empty skies, and felt an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness enveloping her. She groaned to herself and whispered, “One hour, Rainbow… where are you?”

Break the Crown

The gargoyles were drawing up into formation now. They were arranged together, ready to charge at a moment’s notice. Rainbow Dash and her Wonderbolts were opposite them, flaring nostrils and hoofing at the ground, attempting to be as intimidating as possible. Then, Dash heard a teammate whisper in her ears.

“Captain… what the hay do we DO here? Squad’s fresh, we’ve never seen combat.”

“It’s simple.” Dash said back in hushed tones, so that their adversaries could not hear just how hopelessly outclassed the ponies were. “Just like any fight with your brothers, Featherweight. Just don’t hold back. Buck-kicks, wing slashes, anything you need. And don’t be afraid to fight dirty; this is war, they won’t be looking for prisoners.”

She nodded towards the stone creatures. “You’ve got numbers, all of you pile up on the lackeys, one pony distracts and the others go for the kill.”

“What about the big boss?” Featherweight asked.

Rainbow just smiled and leaned in, ready to charge. “Oh, he’s mine.”

She raised her voice and roared, “Spiral pattern, everypony! Ready, GO!”

It sounded like a storm had struck when the Thunderbolts took off. A thick, twirling black cloud of crackling lightning trailed behind them as they flew. They collided with the gargoyles’ cluster, and through the corners of her eyes Rainbow could see her team for brief flashes, colliding with them in violent crashes.

But ultimately, she paid them no mind. She only had one target, and he was going down.

The King didn’t react in time, and took the brunt of Dash’s blow. The two of them flew back a dozen yards from the main scuffle, before Dash let up and flew to a few meters above him. The stone creature seemed unfazed.

He had no more words for her now, and with a flap of his mighty wings ascended. Dash yelped and had to quickly zip away from his outreached claws. He might not have been as agile, but this gargoyle was easily as fast as her.

Agility would be her weapon. She flew down, below the gargoyle before turning round and coming back up with outstretched wings. A flurry of sharp feathers raked the creature’s front, leaving inch-deep marks straight up his chest and on his face.

The royal howled in agony as he clutched at the marks left, backing off long enough for Dash to spin in the air once more, diving and smashing both of her front hooves into his skull. She kept up with the pressure, and they both went hurtling to the ground. The dirt kicked up all around, stinging her eyes as she struggled to focus on the creature, raising her hooves up and clobbering him over and over again.

Then, with talons razor sharp, the gargoyle lashed out. One nail found purchase, and a deep gash went down Rainbow’s left side. She shrieked and kicked off of the gargoyle as hard as she could. It was less flight and more hop, still in such shock, and she fell back to the ground seven or eight feet to her right.

She could feel the hot sensation of blood bubbling up from within her, and pouring down her flank, staining her uniform red. Even in the midst of combat, the sensation dominated her mind. She’d been roughed up as a child, even taken a few legitimate beatings as an adult. Those were just with the kiddie gloves on.

This? This hurt.

As if to further insult her, she watched the gargoyle scrambling to his feet, realizing that no precious red liquids were pouring down his chest. When Princess Celestia had said these things were creatures of stone now, she meant to their core.

That was the reality then. This thing felt pain, but it did not bleed, and there was no guarantee Rainbow Dash could even kill it. So what could she do?

She had no time to think about it, as the gargoyle was already rushing forward again. He came within a foot of her before leaning down, his entire upper body going down to Rainbow’s right and coming up in a shoulder-led smash and rocked the pegasus. Her head snapped away from the blow like a twig, and she went up into the air, where a waiting hand grabbed her by a rear hoof. With as brutal of momentum as could be built, Rainbow Dash was tossed into the dirt and gravel beneath her, face-first.

THWACK

Rainbow could feel the fresh, bitter tears in her eyes from the new pain, and already her vision was clouding on the left edge; she was no expert in combat, but enough crashes over the years told that her eye was swelling up. This was going south, quickly. She needed a game plan.

She needed to get away for a second. She twisted her torso in preparation, and as fast as she could, she spun. Her wings were like automated blades, and immediately cut deep, if ineffective gashes in the gargoyle’s arm. He yowled and groaned in pain, struggling to find some way to pin her down. Ultimately, he was hopeless, and he backed off as she shot into the sky. Rainbow ascended nearly thirty feet this time, looking down on him as she panted heavily. Her left eye was almost entirely enshrouded in darkness now, and what vision she had left was spinning all about from dizziness. She wasn’t able to tell how the fight was going for her team, though she prayed to Celestia that they were faring better than her.

She heard the characteristic flap of those batlike wings, and the gargoyle was in the skies once more. Dash flew further up and back, avoiding another strike, but the creature did a flip mid-air, striking with his legs. Dash dodged that, and slammed herself into his side like a bullet to push him back. He grunted in discomfort, but she was aware that those types of attacks did more damage to her than him. This stone body was proving to be a considerable problem. What was worse was, he was quickly proving that agility became a meaningless term when both parties have such minute control over flight.

A jab, then a slash followed by an uppercut and a bite, of all things. The gargoyle lunged with attack after attack, and Rainbow was getting closer and closer to a gruesome injury with each one. She couldn’t dodge forever, and Princesses knew she couldn’t dare try and block them. Her addled mind tried to think of a way out as she flew above, making another strafe and scratching up his back.

OK, um—whoa! OK, need a weakness, c’mon! Uh… uh… OH CRAP! Too close too close… OK, he’s big. He’s really big. I need to get him somewhere where I can move easy and he can’t.

Her eyes scanned the town below, looking for inspiration as she tried to fly circles around him and avoid a blow. One building called out to her, the town hall. Ceilings high enough for her to maneuver in, but the gargoyle wouldn’t be able to build up any momentum.

Like a pony possessed, she shot from the sky and down below to the hall. The wind stung her fresh wounds, but it was a focus. She used it to remind her of where she was, what he was doing, and why she desperately needed not to get another gash like that.

The front doors burst open as she came flying in, taking a brief moment of respite to land, gasping for breath. She was tired now; too tired. This was getting dicey, and she knew it. She needed a way to end this fast.

Her examination of the main hall came up fruitless. It was a simple room, with a skylight above a statue of the town’s founder, smaller than the one in town square. It still dwarfed any pony though, and even the gargoyles. There were only a few windows, no rafters to collapse… no weapons to be found.

“Aw… crap…” she sputtered out, wishing there was at least some kind of ancestral sword lying about. For good or ill, she had no more time to lament this. The front doors crashed down, and the gargoyle king strode in, cracking his neck and brandishing his claws. One was slicked red. Rainbow recognized her own blood on his hands, and felt both a fury and a deep, primal fear broiling in her stomach. Fight or flight in full effect, but indecision winning the day.

“Is this where you choose your grave to be?” the gargoyle asked, unfurling his wings. Just as Rainbow hoped, his massive wingspan was such that the tips only had inches between themselves and the walls. He could go up, but beyond that his flight was restricted here.

“Heh…n-no.” Rainbow said, popping a grin and trying her best to look confident. “Yours.”

Surprisingly, the gargoyle managed to smile at that. “You’ve earned a favor. I’ll make sure to get your real answer before I kill you; I swear you’ll be buried wherever you choose.”

Rainbow’s body shivered and convulsed in protest as she took a step forward, puffing her body up to look intimidating. “Th-thanks for the offer.” She replied. “But I’m being buried with my wife. And not for a long… long time.”

The gargoyle made an amused grunt. “We shall see.”

At once, the gargoyle ran forward, and Rainbow took to the air once more. The pegasus charged with wild abandon, and at the last possible second…

Her wingbeat faltered.

Her balance off, she wobbled in midair, and the force of her collision was lost. The gargoyle’s, less so. Rainbow swore she could feel a rib snap as his chest collided with her hooves, sending reverberations through her entire body, and she smacked up flat against him as his momentum continued. He furthered the agony by slamming his forehead into her own, knocking it back and sending her sliding across the floor with a fresh bruise, and just the smallest trickle of blood trailing down her face. He approached, slowly, as she struggled to stand.

“Lay down, little pony.” He said simply. “It is over, now let me end your life with as little pain as I can.”

He raised his claws up in preparation. Rainbow Dash was nearly up to her hooves, but for what, she was not sure. Her remaining working eye was screaming in pain, scorched by her own hot blood. Her ears were ringing with such intensity that she could barely hear the words of her foe. And all her snout could smell was blood.

Her senses dulled and incapacitated, all standing would do was show one last act of defiance.

And in the end, she could not accomplish even that. She collapsed, slipping in her own blood pooling at her feet. She did not bother to look up as he came to perform the final deed.

“It is time. Give me your answer, and then you shall go.”

“You first.”

The gargoyle looked up in shock, and even Rainbow’s mangled hearing could make out a fresh voice. Then came the sound of a swift kick, and tipping stone…

The gargoyle king could only grunt in surprise and make a futile attempt at dodging, before the statue of Coalcolt’s founder collapsed on top of him with a colossal crash.

A crater was left, and dust filled the town hall to the brim. Dash coughed and sputtered, recoiling away from the impact before falling over again. She could see a shadow in front of her. She tensed up for another fight, expecting the worse, but was almost instantly loose and passive as a wing gently wiped the blood and sweat away from her eye. A spunky-looking pegasus, not unlike her in her youth, with a pink coat and blue mane marred by dozens of raking scratches was grinning down at her Captain. Dash gave a weary chuckle chuckle and said, “Shoulda known it’d be you, Firefly.”

“You know how I love to steal the show.” The Wonderbolt’s newest hotshot rookie replied. With a nudge, she spurred her Captain up to her feet, and the pair began to walk—in Rainbow’s case, limp and trudge—towards the exit. Rainbow stopped by the crater long enough to point at it and tell the corpse underneath, “I told you this was your grave.”

The two stepped outside, and Rainbow saw 19 other pegasi waiting (along with three very grateful hostages) and staring intently at her. Behind, she could see craters, smashed roofs, and a pile of bodies.

And not a single one belonged to her team. They were roughed up, a few with broken wings and a few with broken pride, but they were all alive, and waiting to see if their Captain could say the same.

She gave a devilish smile at them, and raised a hoof into the air. A cacophony of yells, hollers, and gleeful cheers filled the air.

Sometime later, the victors of the battle were in the center of town, surrounded by grateful minerfolk returning to their homes. Rainbow was chatting with Firefly as the blood was cleaned from her hair, and gauze was wrapped around the gash in her side.

“Nah, rookie, you should’ve SEEN the kind of dumb stuff Thunderlane did. We called him Squidbelly for a month, after the incident at last year’s air show!”

The pink pegasus snorted, trying to hold in the fresh sip of water she’d taken moments before. She failed, and water went everywhere as she cracked up. “SQUIDBELLY? Aw c’mon, you’ve gotta tell me about that!”

“Ha, OK, OK, it all started when Soarin ran off to find the concession stand, and—“

Rainbow Dash was jolted out of her story when the team medic patted her side, letting her know the bandages were fully set. Tossing a quick word of thanks to him, she hopped up to her hooves, and immediately felt a muted jolt of pain. It wouldn’t be debilitating, but until she got to a doctor with something besides field medicine, it’d be an annoyance. She could see out of her left eye again, though she was told that the sclera was still bloodshot, and her eyelid was a deeper shade of blue than the rest of her.

“Well, looks like I’m all set.”

“Sure took one heckuva beating there, Captain.” Firefly snarked. “Get beaten up like that too much, your subordinates might start thinking it’s good time for a mutiny.”

“Ha, not on your life rookie!” Rainbow fired right back. “I’d sooner—oh.”

Firefly looked at her CO curiously, but once she followed her gaze understood. She was staring at the hill that overlooked Coaltcolt, behind which the sun was falling. The rookie smiled peacefully, watching the orange glow of the sky mingle with the frigid blue of the winter day. She chuckled and said, “Yeah, winter sunsets can be pretty amazing, huh Captain?”

No response. Firefly looked at her, and saw the growing horror in her eyes. “…Captain?...”

And then it struck the rookie. She’d forgotten in the heat of battle, what Rainbow had missed to help them through the fight. Rainbow finally said in a voice so low it was hardly audible,

“Twilight doesn’t know why I missed the party… and—and I’m this late?!”

She became more active, very quickly shifting back and forth on her hooves. “Oh, horseapples, she’s gonna be furious—I-I gotta go, like, NOW Firefly! Can you guys handle things—“

“Yes, yes, we can!” Firefly assured her, smacking her Captain on the plot to get her moving. “C’mon, you’ve got more important places to be you idiot! GO!”

With a shaky start, Rainbow Dash at last went streaking off into the sky, back towards the falling night over eastern Equestria. All she could think was, how was it that in the moments of her greatest triumph, she could feel like such a failure?

The Fight

The pale shimmer of Luna’s moon gave peaceful bliss to Ponyville, cloaked in a layer inches thick of snow. The black air of night glimmered with the slightest silver beaming down, contrasting with the pure crystals beneath them. A single shadow in motion blotted out a small portion of snowfall at a time, ever moving as fast as its wings could beat. It passed building after building, cut through streets and alleys, and dove around obstacles, until it came to a hover over the tree containing the Ponyville library.

Rainbow Dash examined the home carefully, dread prickling her like a ghoul just out of sight, breathing down the back of her neck. Shaky as they were, her wings kept her afloat beyond the door as she looked. The lights were all off in the tree, left leafless and oddly skeletal on the frigid winter night. They were likely asleep, then. A grim suggestion was posed: should she even go inside? Perhaps this was a confrontation better left alone until the morning.

She grimaced, truly contemplating the idea for a moment. Though with a heavy sigh, she touched down and hung her head. This had to be done, now. Though she could always hope Twilight would not be awoken by her entry.

Rainbow approached the door, cringing each instance her left front hoof touched the ground beneath her. Her rib was definitely broken, and in such a position that the motion gave her a new jolt of pain with every step. As she came closer and closer, the door seemed to grow, looming over her like a leering, judging sentinel waiting there just for her. Just to criticize her. A voice in her head repeatedly told her the choice she had made was correct. That she had saved lives, and done right. But another voice countered. What had she honestly done? Gotten herself smacked around and torn up by a creature she couldn’t hope to beat. She hadn’t even been the one to finish it off; the rookie had done that. THE rookie. She had contributed less than the greenwing, and that somehow justified wrecking her own daughter’s birthday plans?

She silently opened the door, closing it behind her as quietly as she could. But in the darkness, she heard a voice. Malice, and a fury she could scarcely believe came from such a sweet pony filled the room like poison.

“Seven. Hours. You show up seven. Hours. Late.”

“Twi!” Rainbow exclaimed, stumbling over her own words as she desperately tried to say something, anything to make it right. “I’m sorry! L-listen, I—“

She was cut off as a hoof she could not even see in the inky blackness slammed over her muzzle, eliciting a tiny squeak of sore pain that went unheard.

“No, you listen.” Twilight hissed. Dash’s ears were pressed tightly back now as she tried to lean away from her wife. “Listen very closely, and tell me what you hear!”

As much as reflex urged her to keep them down, Rainbow’s ears slowly inched up, and she held her breath keeping vigil for any sounds to be heard. And to her dismay, she found one.

From somewhere upstairs, came the faintest noise. Not noteworthy if not for its incessant rhythm. Erratic, yet continuous. Shallow, gasping breaths punctuated with the tiniest of whimpers, a dichotomy of a voice wishing not to disturb, and wishing for the whole world to hear. Rainbow knew she was no model parent, but she’d have to be heartless not to recognize the cries of her own daughter.

“Opal…” Rainbow whispered. “She’s…”

“She’s doing what she’s been doing since the minute you broke your promise to her, and that little gold-coated brat from her class got all of her friends to laugh at her!”

Rainbow felt a pain in her chest that, for all she knew, may very well have been a dagger in her heart. The full realization of how badly she’d let down her daughter was finally sinking in. On top of that, the rage of her beloved was hardly abating.

“And I thought the promises you used to break were bad!” Twilight continued, now clearly pacing from the sounds of her hooves clopping on the floor. “But little did I know you’d manage to completely crush your daughter’s spirit in a single day! She worships you, and you repay her like this?”

Rainbow was hurt. She knew the truth behind what the mare was telling her. But a pegasus’ pride could only stand so much. By instinct or what, she did not know, a sliver of frustration was growing inside of her mind, piercing her thoughts.

“Twilight,” she said with some attempt at assertion. “just listen! I—“

“You what?” Twilight asked, almost mocking the use of the phrase with her tone. “You ‘lost track of time’? You ‘just had to get a bit more practice in’? You ‘were so busy with your pals you completely forgot about your wife and daughter’?! I don’t want to hear a single excuse abo—“

“You know what?” Rainbow grumbled, her voice beginning to rise. “No. Just, NO.”

She walked over to where she knew a candle was located and grabbed a match in the corner of her mouth.

“You want to know where I was? You wanna know what I was really, doing, ‘goofing off’? Take a good look!”

A match flared to life, and a moment later a candle wick joined it. In the warm orange light, the full extent of Rainbow’s injuries became as plain as day. She could see Twilight a few feet away, her eyes as wide as dinner plates, warbling with shock and horror as her mouth dropped open.

“Oh, Celestia!” she yelped. “Rainbow, what happened?!”

“I almost DIED is what happened!” Rainbow growled, leaning in close, inadvertently giving Twilight and even better look at her blood-red eye. “I had to fight a giant gargoyle and I almost died! Is that good enough for you? Am I still some kind of monster for missing a stupid party?”

Twilight’s sympathy and terror leaked away, and what remained was a face full of righteous fury. “That stupid party you’re talking about was for your own daughter, how the hay could you even say that?! Moreover, it was a party you promised to show up to!”

“Oh,” Rainbow said, offended, not even noticing her rising volume. “because obviously I should have seen an attack by an extinct species coming!”

“You should have seen SOMETHING coming!” Twilight screamed, her own voice cracking with the purely desperate tone. “Oh, Celestia help me, Rainbow, you always do this! You make these big, grandiose goals you can’t possibly achieve, and then you blame somepony else when it all falls apart because you can’t possibly live up to your own expectations! I knew this would happen the night you accepted that stupid job…”

“So now my job is STUPID?” Rainbow growled, her wings shooting out and flapping once for need of some kind of animation. “The job I’ve spent my whole life dreaming about means that little to you?”

“If you’re gonna keep putting it in front of your family, then yes! It does!”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow bellowed, her expression one of utmost outrage. She leaned in, and her voice not dropping a single decibel began to rant, “After everything I’ve done for you—for Opal—you try and pull THAT on me?! Try and tell me I don’t care?! What have YOU done, huh? When was the last time YOU saved Equestria? When was the last time you did anything but sit there and BITCH about how you don’t get your way? The biggest promotion of my LIFE, and all you’ve done is ho-hum, and seethe, and—and—GAH!”

She leaned forward, letting out her frustrations in a single roar. But she wasn’t prepared for Twilight’s reaction.

She flinched back, cringing. Her ears went flat, her expression one that Dash could hardly comprehend. The look in her wife’s eyes, wary and skittish.

Was that…

Fear?

All at once, Rainbow’s momentum was gone. The pegasus stood, mouth agape and quivering as she tried to understand that emotion. That fear. Questioningly, warily, her mouth tried to form words.

“You…” she hesitated. “…you thought I was going to hit you…didn’t you?”

Twilight did not respond verbally. But her face was the only tool of communication needed. It told Rainbow everything with its quivering eyes.

The pegasus, though anger was still present, was moving and speaking as if hollow. Going through motions, passion lost.

“After all of this… fourteen years of marriage… and I’ve known you even longer than that. And you would honestly think, for even a second, that I would hit you?”

Her voice began to tremble, though whether it held back tears or rage even she did not know. “…You really don’t trust me at all.”

Twilight steeled herself. The next words were difficult to say, but they were needed.

“If you can fail your own daughter like this… do you even deserve trust?”

And that was difficult, indeed. Though it was so small as to go unheard, a voice in Rainbow’s mind acknowledged that. Did she deserve to be trusted? After this?

But it was just a mote in an abyss. A lost thought in a growing turmoil. The anger, the indignation, it was all coming back.

“Oh, who the hay are YOU to—“

“P-please… stop…”

And at the same moment for both mares, all passion of the moment was lost. The offense, the anger. It was as if they had hit a brick wall, all progress in their growing anger unable to proceed against it. They shared a look of shock and devastation as they simultaneously realized just how loud, how thunderous their argument had become. They both slowly turned to the staircase, to see a confused, hurt pegasus filly at their foot. The low candlelight gave a shimmering effect to the tears on her cheeks.

“Opal…”

Numbing shock jolted through Rainbow’s mind. Opal had heard everything. Rainbow had ruined her party, and she had, even if unintentionally, forced her daughter to listen to… to that.

Oh Celestia… I really am an awful mom.

Rainbow turned to look at her wife, who was every bit as mortified as she was. And in that shared glance, an agreement was made. Rainbow understood. It didn’t matter who was right or wrong right now. This had to stop.

“Mom, why are you hurt? What happened?”

Rainbow Dash did not respond. She wasn’t sure what she would say if she did. It wasn’t right for her daughter to be worrying about her, not after she’d let her down like that. She turned away, and began to walk towards the door. She tried not to limp too visibly.

“Mom, wait!” Opal yelled, more imploringly as she tried to catch up to the older pegasus. Twilight placed a hoof in her path, and stopped her from going to her. When the filly looked up at her, confused and increasingly frantic, all she could do was shake her head with a subdued expression.

Rainbow reached the door, and pulled it open. The still, frigid winter night was there to greet her, like an old friend or a stiff drink. And even still, the cries of her daughter were going unanswered.

“Mom, don’t go!”

Rainbow’s shoulders shrugged, unable to stand the weight she felt. She couldn’t bear to turn around and face her, but she managed to say two words as she closed the door behind her.

“Sorry, Squirt.”

The library door shut behind her with a subdued, almost anticlimactic click. Even the gust of wind that followed it was more pronounced, more powerful and blistering against Rainbow’s raw skin. She opted to stand for a moment, and stare at the bright and beautiful moon above, oblivious to her, before spreading her wings and flying away. She wasn’t sure where she was going yet. But there was certainly no going back.

Inside, Opal tried to form words but found none. She looked up at her mother, pleading with her eyes for some kind of answer, some solution to make everything better. But all she found was the same defeated expression on Rainbow’s face when she turned away.

“…Go to your room, Opal Dart.”

“B-b-but, what about m—“

“Go. To. Your room.”

Her mother’s tone was not angry, but forceful nonetheless. She was young, and perhaps naïve, but the desperation behind it was not lost on the filly. With nothing else in her power, Opal turned and ascended the stairs to her bed. There was no way for her to sleep tonight, but there was nothing more for her down there.

Twilight waited, unmoving, as he watched her daughter walk away. It wasn’t until her door shut, and she was clearly and securely in her room that she allowed herself to move. She drifted, listlessly towards the table, setting herself down beside it. Alone and unguarded, she buried her face in her hooves and let go. She began to sob uncontrollably, her body shaking with little, unstoppable tremors.

And unseen in a cracked doorway, an adolescent purple dragon watched his surrogate mother cry, with fear and despair in his eyes.

His whisper went unheard by anyone but himself.

“I’ve gotta do something.”

Wibbly-Wobbly Planny-Wanny Stuff

A still legion of a thousand slumbering trees, lightly powdered in the snow of oncoming winter stretched out for what seemed like miles to the tiny little pony looking on from the road. Sweet Apple Acres was just a short jog away now, and Fluttershy was already feeling the nervous jitters that on any other day would send her skittering home. She’d had those all of her life, and they’d never really stopped. But there had come a time in her life where it had simply been infeasible to keep listening to those urges. She still got a little tingle of pride thinking it about it, though she’d never admit it; that when her friends and family were on the line, she could function as well as any other pony.

She’d stood there long enough, and a chilling wind bit her flank to remind her of her mission. She trotted down through the gates, and up to the door. The lights were on inside, and the chimney was lazily throwing out puffs of smoke from a crackling fire. She took a moment to admire the farmhouse. So much had been added, and so much lost in the fire those years back. She and the others had asked Applejack at least a dozen times what had caused the flames, but the closest that they had ever gotten to an explanation involved a blue box and a talking trash can. Personally, Fluttershy had chalked that rant up to too much cider, and assumed somepony had left the stove on.

But whatever the cause, her friend’s home looked so different than she always remembered it when she thought of the old days. She wondered if her own home had changed that much, or Twilight and Rainbow’s, or Rarity’s boutique. She wasn’t sure what possessed her to think of it at the moment, but she made a mental note to get a look for herself and see.

But not right now. She approached the door, and raised a hoof to knock—likely as quietly as possible—only for it to be yanked away as she reached for it, replaced by the face of a grinning brown stallion.

“Earlier than I thought! Evening, Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy was too busy shrieking in surprise, her wings splayed out in sheer terror at the unexpected face shooting up within a foot of hers. Whooves leaned back, making shushing noises and patting her head with his hoof. “All right, all right, steady there girl. Not a murderer, I swear, not this time.”

Fluttershy tried to ignore that last part. Whooves was prone to some very odd mutterings, and to be honest they’d disturbed her for a long time. But between his disarming personality, and the assurance from Applejack that they were just “Memories best left in the past, where they belong” she’d gotten accustomed to it.

He stepped aside to let her in, but she lingered for a moment. The Doctor, as she’d heard his wife call him, picked up on this hesitation. “Something the matter?”

“Um… y-you were expecting me?”

“Yes, about thirty minutes from now though.” Whooves said, giving her a little nudge to bring her inside. He led her to the kitchen, where the brightest light was coming from. “Couldn’t really start any of the planning yet, had to wait ‘til we got part two of the story. So, it’s actually really great you’re here early.”

She looked at the odd stallion with confusion. “Planning? So, you already knew? B-but who could have told…”

“Howdy, Fluttershy.”

“Hey, Fluttershy.”

Two voices spoke in unison, one with a country twang she knew very well, and one that, while deeper than usual still carried the tone of a dear old friend. Both Applejack and Spike were sitting at the table, looking at her expectantly. After a moment’s hesitation, the orange pony gestured towards the table, which she sat down at quickly. Whooves took his place as well, allowing them to get down to business.

“So Ah’m just gonna jump right in.” Applejack began. “Spike already told us the grim’n’gritty of the fight, and Ah figure Rainbow came straight to you, Fluttershy?”

“Um, yes, she did.” the timid pony replied. As quickly as she could, she explained everything that had happened from the moment the pegasus arrived at her doorstep. She looked around, to try and see what the others were thinking. Whooves was, as usual, completely unreadable; Spike looked like a lost foal more than anything; and Applejack was lost deep in thought, mulling over their options.

“Celestia, Ah hate when those two get like this…” she muttered. “Get so caught up in the moment they don’t even pay attention to their own stupidity.”

“It’s all just a big misunderstanding, right?” Spike said, throwing his claws out in a wild gesture. “We’ve just gotta make them understand that Rainbow had a good reason for what happened, and they’ll make up, right?”

“Mm, I don’t really think so…” Fluttershy whispered, almost regretting the words.

“She’s got a point.” AJ conceded. “It’s more’n just a misunderstanding. Twilight’s a bit… how do I put this…”

“Crazy?” asked Spike and Fluttershy, in unison.

“Exactly.” The farmer droned in a disappointed tone. “She might forgive Rainbow this time. But we’re not changing the situation at all, so the tension’s just gonna build up and explode all over again. Ah doubt she’ll ever accept Rainbow putting her job on equal footing with her family.”

“But, she shouldn’t do that, right?” Spike asked.

“You’re right, she shouldn’t,” Applejack agreed, taking a sip of some coffee from a nearby mug. Whooves stood to retrieve some more as his wife kept talking. “but Rainbow’s in a real tough position. If Ah know Rainbow—and Ah do, mind ya—she’s in a bind trying to live up to both of her responsibilities. On the one hoof, she’s got you, Twilight, and Opal to think about. Her family, her love, and all. A’course that’s important. But then you’ve got Spitfire putting her on the spot, making her take the Captain’s position on the Wonderbolts. If she gives up that’s spot, she’s letting down her idol, when she’d promised that she could handle the job. Admitting defeat just ain’t something Rainbow does.”

“So… what? We just force Rainbow to give up her job, maybe?” Spike suggested. “I mean, it seems like this whole Wonderbolt thing is the cause of this mess. So she should just… stop.”

Fluttershy shook her head, before graciously accepting some coffee from Whooves and taking a small sip. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I don’t think that would work.” She strained herself, trying to find the right words. “Rainbow has been dreaming of being a Wonderbolt since she we were in flight camp together. Making her stop that would be… awful. I think she’d probably just resent us, maybe even Twilight. I’m sorry, I’m probably assuming the worst of her.”

“Naw, don’t worry yourself Fluttershy,” Applejack consoled. “You’re probably right. If we’re solving this issue, it’s by showing Rainbow something’s gotta change. And by showing Twilight she’s gotta get a little less nutty about this whole work vs. family idea. Give Rainbow a little more credit. Only problem is, Ah don’t have the slightest clue how…”

The quartet sat in silence, Spike and Applejack listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall as they wracked their brains for an answer. But Fluttershy’s attention was focused intently on the brown stallion sitting silently at the table, whistling a simple tune to himself. Something occurred to her.

“Whooves?” she asked quietly. “Is everything ok? You haven’t spoken very much.”

“Hm, who, me?” he asked, seemingly startled by the question. “No, no trouble, not much of that. Just waiting.”

“F-for what?”

“To see if you come up with a better idea.”

“Come again?” Applejack questioned, snapping out of her trance to glare at Whooves. “Are you telling me you haven’t been trying to come up with a plan, at all?”

“Oh, planning?” he asked nonchalantly. “Finished planning fifteen minutes ago. Bit of a doozy if I'm going to brag, I just wanted to see if you came up with something better—you didn’t by the way, very disappointing.”

The farmer pony’s face went blank as she stared at him for a moment. The others joined in quickly. “…A plan. You’ve had a plan this whole time?”

“Foolproof, really.” He clarified. A hoof clopped in in the ear, and he recoiled in pain.

“C’mon, you psychopath! Out with it!”

“All right all right, just stop with the violence! Really, I mean I finally find a world with no guns and I’m still getting beaten daily…”

He stood up and began pacing, listing off everything that would be needed.

“All right, Spike, I’ll need you to go down and place a new order at Sugarcube Corner. Make sure they follow the order to the letter. Fluttershy, you’ll be delivering a message to the Wonderbolts tomorrow morning, probably want to get some sleep beforehand. Oh, Spike, also, message to deliver! Say, do you think Twilight’s magical talent runs in the family?..”

The night began to drag on, the winter weather undisturbed beyond the farmhouse’s walls as Sweet Apple Acres roared to life, four friends frantically making arrangements. They only had a few days to pull everything together, and some of these stunts would require some very long-distance favors to be called in…

Licking the Wounds (FIXED-ISH)

On the edge of town, the looming branches of the Everfree Forest just a short trot away, rested a colossal tree. Surrounded by burrows and dens and filled with nests, hundreds of animals made their home here. They were fast asleep, their gentle breath lending a sound not unlike a constant, soothing breeze to the frigid night air. Hibernation was the predominant activity, from now until spring. Their caretaker often relished this season, for the chance to relax. She was far less exhausted than in the hectic autumn months.

“Mom?”

However, that did not mean she was happy, or at all prepared to be woken up in the middle of the night.

“Eeh-wha?”

Flutershy’s eyes shot open as the familiar voice of one of her foals called out to her. They were bloodshot, and slightly panicky both from the startling noise and the torrent of potential crises running through her mind. They might have shocked or scared most of her foals, who seemed to have adopted their parents’ skittish nature.

However, this particular colt was the odd one out. An earth pony with a light gray coat, where the others tended to be some bright pastel color, with a darker, bluish-gray mane that hung loosely over one side of his face and hid one of his overly-large, lazy-looking eyes. His cutie mark was a magnifying glass, and his namesake the greatest detective in Equestrian history.

“Mm… what is it, Sleuth?” the pegasus asked her son. She stifled a yawn as she propped herself up on one leg to avoid falling back to sleep. The little foal looked back towards the window.

“Somepony’s at the door.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked, confused at who could be calling this late, and more importantly why she hadn’t heard them. “Usually I hear when somepony knocks—“

THUD THUD THUD

On cue, three loud raps on the door shuddered through the old tree home, and the pink-maned pegasus nearly shot straight through the ceiling as she jumped in fear. Her face was frozen in a state of total, baseline panic, only coming out of it as she heard a snicker coming from her bed.

Fluttershy gave an annoyed glare at Caramel, the earth pony who’d awoken just a moment before. He suppressed a yawn and tried not to laugh too much at his wife’s expense.

Fluttershy glared at him—or rather, she gave a disappointed little frown. The closest thing the pegasus possessed to a glare was not to be used so lightly. The awkward moment was kept from proceeding by Sleuth mentioning, “They weren’t at the door yet, Mom. I saw them walking up the road.”

“Oh.” She and the drowsy stallion replied, happy for the explanation. A moment of silence passed before cold logic was shot through Caramel’s mind, and his eyes shot open as wide as dinner plates.

“Sleuth.” He said, already beginning to sound utterly baffled. “You can’t see the road from your room. Why were you awake, and in somepony else’s room?”

“A better question is, why is nopony answering the door?” the cheeky little foal replied in the same stoic manner as his previous words. Caramel shook his head in exasperation, muttering to himself what in Equestria he’d do with the little scamp. He turned to Fluttershy, who by now had drifted back down to sit on the bed.

“Go back to sleep, honey; I’ll get the door.”

“Not a good idea.” Sleuth butted in. Caramel was a tad more irritated than confused now, and raised a questioning eyebrow at his son.

“And why’s that?” he asked incredulously.

“Mom should get it.” Sleuth asserted, though with no change in tone. “It is her friend, after all.”

“M-my friend?” the colt’s mother asked, now a bit more worried. That was a short list of ponies, and none of them had any non-crisis-based reasons to be knocking on her door this late at night. “Who is it?”

Sleuth shrugged. “Couldn’t tell with all the bruises.”

“B-b-bruises?!”

Like a rocket the pegasus catapulted from the room, hastily muttering apologies for making such a racket as she asked Caramel to keep an eye on her son. She swore she’d be right back, and in a flash she was out of sight.

Caramel, still in the bed, looked at his son in the awkward silence the mare had left. The foal stared back.

“You’re grounded for talking to your mother like that. You do know that, right?”

“Worth it.”

Fluttershy was down to the main floor in a matter of moments, taking great care not to step on the bunny currently passed out on the floor. Angel wasn’t too picky about his nap spots these days, but Princesses help you if you disturbed him, wherever he was. The knocking was persistent, and was at a considerably louder volume than was necessary.

“Um, yes, I’m coming!”

Fluttershy trotted up to the door, silently praying that Angel wouldn’t be woken. The room was dark, only a single candle kept lit in case one of her foals needed to come down for a snack. Thinking to be ready for her guest, she snatched up the brass mount for the candlestick and carried the light with her to the door. She carefully opened the entrance just a tad, peeking outside.

“H-hello, is there something you nee—oh my gosh!”

Rainbow Dash stood in front of her home, a swollen red eye throwing off the symmetry of her face, and heavy bandages wrapped tightly around her body and forehead. Her legs and wings were trembling, as if the effort of even getting there had nearly sapped all of her energy.

“Uh, hey, Fluttershy.” The other pegasus muttered, trying to ease the shock with a false grin. “Mind, uh, if I crash at your place for a while?”

If the current interior of Fluttershy’s mind could be visualized, it would be perceived as a blank void, somehow filled to its infinite brim with an endless cacophony of sirens, klaxons and alarms. She tried to say some comforting words, but all she could produce was a shrill, timid squeal as she pulled the other mare inside. Rainbow stumbled, but her friend supported her and brought her over to the sofa to sit.

Sit, the pegasus did not. She was entirely out of strength, and smushed her face into one of the pillows, awkwardly rolling herself onto her back to lay on the cushions and relax. She closed her eyes, and tried to shut out her sore muscles and the multiple wounds threatening to open once more. While not enough to elicit a smile, a contented expression began to creep into Rainbow’s expression as the pain of the trip died away. Slowly. Fluttershy was not there to see it, already fetching a glass of water and lighting several more candles. She was just returning from the kitchen at the moment Rainbow opted to risk opening one eye. The room was blurred, and not even the shifting form of her friend nervously looking over her wounds came into any focus.

A feeling like a ball of air welled up in her skull, the pressure keeping any other subject out of her concentration. She groaned, straining to make out the words Fluttershy was saying to her.

“Rainbow?.. Rainbow Dash, can you hear me?”

“Uurgh… barely.” The pegasus groaned, squinting at the blinding last—specifically, the dim candle bathing the room in a somewhat ethereal glow. Fluttershy picked up on this, and leaned in close so her voice could be better made out.

“Rainbow, what’s wrong, why are you squinting?”

“…Turn off the liiiight.” She groaned.

“I-is is hurting that badly?”

“Yes!”

“Oh dear.” Fluttershy whimpered. She snuffed out the candle and, through familiarity of her own home, flapped her wings and used her powers of flight to avoid any nasty obstacles she might have otherwise come across. She carefully sat the glass of water on the table beside the couch. “Drink this.” She whispered, and placed a gentle kiss on Rainbow’s forehead.

“Just relax, Rainbow, I’ll go find some things to make you more comfortable.”

Before the pegasus could complain, or truthfully respond at all, her friend was back up the stairs and throwing open the door. Caramel shot up from bed and gave a quizzical stare as she rushed the bed, ushering him off as she ripped off a few sheets and bundled up a pillow inside of it.

“Uh… who was it?” he asked, unsure of where to begin.

“R-Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said, eyes darting around the room to ensure she had everything she needed. “She’s hurt, um, very badly and—aha!—“ she stopped to shoot inside the bathroom and return with a small bottle of medicine. “—um, I think she might have a concussion.”

“W-wait, hold up, what?!” Caramel blurted out, motioning with his hooves to slow down her speech. “How the hay did Rainbow get a concussion?”

“Um, I’m not sure.” Fluttershy admitted, finishing wrapping the sheets around the other items. “I haven’t asked.”

“Well, don’t you need to, or something?” her husband replied, coming with her as she began trotting off down the hall. “She could’ve been attacked by something—somepony! Have you even called a doctor yet?”

“H-her wounds look like they were already treated.” Fluttershy observed. “All she needs for the concussion is rest… I think.”

The pair of ponies turned down the stairs, and stepped down lightly. As they reached the bottom, Caramel bumped his hoof against the prone form of a very volatile bunny. Angel shot up like a rabbit possessed, and with tired old eyes still cold as coal stared his down—

Only for a moment. A second pair of eyes shielded their husband from view as Fluttershy responded in turn with the greatest Stare she could muster. No, they said. There are more important things than your temper.

Angel, for a moment, returned the stare with vitriol. Longer than any other animal would dare. But even he knew when to bend. Though he looked none too happy about it, the bunny shuffled out of the way and skulked off to the corner to resume his sleep. Fluttershy and Caramel came back to the sofa to find Rainbow as disoriented as before, though now with a growing smile on her face as she looked over at Sleuth, sitting in the other chair and chatting with her in the dark room.

“Sleuth!” Caramel yelled, furrowing his brow. “Didn’t I tell you you were grounded?”

“Yes.” The foal responded. “I’m still in the house.”

Rainbow, in her current state, had no method to hold back the stream of giggles that followed. She clammed herself up—barely—with both hooves, and after a moment said, “Fluttershy, d’I ever tell you your foals are awesome?”

“Um, yes.” Fluttershy whispered, tenderly nudging Rainbow to lift her head as she slipped a pillow underneath. She threw a blanket over her dear friend and tucked her in. “Sleuth hasn’t been bothering you, has he? I’m sorry, he gets—“

“Don’t sweat it, ‘Shy.” Rainbow chuckled. “I don’t mind chatting with my awesomest nieces and nephews. He’s been looking at my wounds, actually. Little guy’s gonna be a doctor or something, the way he talks.”

“Really?” Caramel asked, giving an aside glance at his son. “What’s the diagnosis then?”

“Well, it’s not a pony like you were probably worrying.” Sleuth said, gesturing for his parents to sit. Not through any sense of command; this would simply be a long conversation. Caramel and Fluttershy hopped up onto the loveseat together, waiting to see what their little colt had come up with.

“Well, based on the bestiary I borrowed from the library, Auntie Dash’s wounds aren’t anything a pony could do. They’re a lot closer to a manticore, or even a diamond dog. But neither matches up 100%.”

“HA!” Dash sputtered, smacking her forehead in amusement, before suddenly cringing in pain. Everypony looked at her in shock, but the blue mare recovered quickly with a face-splitting grin. “Did I tell ya, or did I tell ya, the kid’s got a knack! Close, little fella, but not quite. It was a gargoyle.”

Sleuth’s eyes went wide, and he stood even more rigidly than his usual stoic pose. “Really?” he asked, just the littlest hint of youthful curiosity in his tone. “I thought they all went extinct.”

Dash looked up at the ceiling, unable to hide her prideful smile. “Hehe, well, not all of ‘em. That’s where me and the Wonderbolts were today. Bunch of those guys attacking a mining town out near Canterlot.”

Caramel and Fluttershy shared a glance. “…I see.” The latter muttered. “So that’s why you weren’t at Opal’s party today.”

For a brief moment, a pang of a difficult to read but clearly distressing emotion smacked Rainbow. But it faded fast, into something more stoic. “…Yeah.”

“Something I don’t get.” Caramel announced. “Why’d you come here? You had to have passed your house on the way here. Why not stay there?”

He wasn’t sure what he had just caused, but the stallion felt something being to smother the room, an emotion he couldn’t place. Rainbow Dash took her eyes off of the ceiling, and glanced over at Sleuth. She gave a nod up to the staircase. The foal understood, and dutifully left.

Dash looked over at the happier couple and, with nothing else to possibly start with, sighed.

“…Twi and I… had a fight.” She said, slowly eking out the words like she was embarrassed of them. Truth be told, she was, a little bit. “A big one.” She took a breath, best to get it all out before she could regret it.

“I've been trying so hard to keep everything from falling apart in the Wonderbolts, I've been spending less time with her and Opal. Today was… pretty much the final straw.”

“But, you were doing work for the Princess?” Fluttershy questioned. “Twilight must’ve understood how important that was.”

Rainbow shook her head. “By the time she’d figured that out, I was already yelling back. I got up in her face, and I… oh, Celestia, I totally blew it!”

Fluttershy clicked her tongue and shook her head, walking over to stroke the other mare’s mane. “Dear, no, you can’t blame yourself for this.”

“Yes, I can, Fluttershy! And that’s the worst part!” the pegasus screamed, seemingly unaware of the volume of her own voice. “At our wedding, Princess Celestia told me to take care of Twilight. How the hay am I supposed to do that?! I can count times she’s needed me f-for anything on my hooves!”

Caramel cringed, and tried to avert his eyes as the telltale sounds of sniffling and sobbing crept in beneath Rainbow’s words. Fluttershy tried to shush her, but she continued unhindered.

“I-I’m just a giant screw-up! I try and do my job and do my team right, and I buck up my own daughter’s birthday party! She totally hates me now, and I can’t even blame her because she was completely right!”

Fluttershy tried her best to raise her voice, but it was still too soft to do any good before Rainbow’s front hooves ripped out from beneath the blankets and clutched the sides of the other pegasus’ face. Rainbow’s eyes warbled as delirious tear began to flow.

“She doesn’t trust me at all. She thought I was gonna hit her, Fluttershy! Why… why would she…”

That was enough. The healthy pegasus placed a hoof over the other’s mouth, and quieted her at once. With a gentle, but firm force, Fluttershy nudged Rainbow’s head back and onto the pillow. She gave a low, sweet shush and re-tucked the blankets. Fluttershy nuzzles the side of her friend’s head and cooed in the same tone she used to help her own foals sleep at night.

“Shhhhhh. It’s okay, Rainbow. Your concussion is acting up; you need to calm down, okay?.”

She brought the glass of water over, and lifted it to Rainbow’s mouth. With a bit of cooperation, the cool liquid was funneled down her throat.

“There.” She said reassuringly as she set the glass down. “Now, you probably need something for your headache. Most of the medicine I have isn't very good for you right now; b-but, I think Zecora might have something. Will you be OK here while go get it?”

“Mmmm…” Rainbow moaned, trying to make some form of coherent response. But sleep was quickly overtaking her with the conversation dying down, the exhaustion of a long and distressing day coming down on her. Fluttershy backed away from the dozing pony before letting a long, quiet sigh. It sounded as if she’d just gotten off a shift of manual labor. Though her loving smile was certainly not the way a laborer would have viewed their job.

“So…” Caramel whispered to avoid disturbing the slumbering Dash. “d-do we let her sleep?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “We should keep her awake, at least for now to make sure her concussion isn't too bad. Keep talking to her, maybe bring some of the foals back down to chat.”

She was walking towards the door when Caramel asked, “Where’ll you be?”

She turned back, opening the door as slowly and quietly as possible. “Um, I need to go find Applejack. She’s always been better at figuring out these problems.”

“Could you wrap up, at least?” asked the stallion, reaching into a closet to hand her a scarf. “It’s winter, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle at her lack of foresight, accepting the scarf alongside a peck on the cheek. She stepped out the door and gave a tiny wave back as Caramel shut the door behind her.

A brisk wind blowing from the side alerted her of the need to get moving. The winter air greeted her as she set herself on the path to Sweet Apple Acres.