Dash's Secret Diary

Dash's Secret Diary

by Twippledash

Chapter 3: Traditions

If anypony else told me this, I would have thought they were joking. But I know it is true, hearing it straight from Fluttershy herself.

Long story short, Fluttershy is expecting a foal.

She once again shows me that I have been underestimating her assertiveness. Or maybe I have been underestimating the deepness of her love to Big Macintosh? Anyway, I thought it would take her and Big Mac at least a full year before they would even think about having sex foals together. But no, they have been together for just about two months now, and she is already pregnant! Way to go Fluttershy!

As an entirely different topic, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are still together even if they obviously don't try to get their cutie marks anymore. Last week they even did a rerun of their old group performance (the one that ended catastrophically and practically ruined the stage in the process), just swapping their roles and making a little changes here and there. Or maybe not so little changes—they practically reformed the whole show. Now that I think about it, this one was completely different from their old performance, so I guess I shouldn't really call this a rerun... Anyway, Scootaloo was the one performing choreographies, Sweetie Belle was the main singer, and Apple Bloom was in charge of all the props, lighting, and special effects. Sweetie Belle had managed to get Rarity to make their dresses, so those were actually good looking this time instead of the garish rags they had back then.

And I guess it is needless to say that their performance was as amazing as their solo performances I mentioned here earlier. Except that isn't exactly true—their talents combined in one single show made it even better! Sweetie's singing was as heavenly as ever and Scootaloo's moves were just amazing, and she had apparently got rid of that little bit of nervousness she had earlier, too. Once again words can't really describe how awesome their performance was, so I'm not even going to try to do that. Let's just say that I would almost be willing to skip a Wonderbolt show to see them performing again. But just almost—Wonderbolts are still my top priority and they are professional performers after all. Oh, and I shouldn't forget Apple Bloom either; she didn't have any part in the show itself, but she sure did a great job in building the scenery and managing lights and special effects during the performance of the other two fillies.

However, they are still just fillies and hence still studying in the Ponyville elementary school. Which means they are not building a career themselves yet, but I'm still waiting to see more of their performances in the future.

And I just can't wait to see Fluttershy and Big Macintosh's first foal! It would still be almost a year before that, but I'm sure the wait is worth it in the end.

—Rainbow Dash, soon to be an aunt?

"Before you say anything about that signature," Rainbow said to the orange pegasus next to her after she had finished reading the entry. "I knew that Fluttershy having a foal wouldn't technically make me an aunt. But she was almost like a sister to me and her foals ended up calling me their aunt anyway, so I guess that was accurate enough."

"My foals also called you their aunt, even if you technically are not," Scootaloo replied. "I'm not a psychologist, but I guess it has something to do with you visiting me so often when they were still just little fillies, so that they subconsciously associated you as a part of my family or something. Or maybe it is just convenient to use 'aunt' whenever referring to your parent's close friends. It's quite funny and strange how those little ponies' minds work sometimes."

"Like how a certain trio of fillies had decided to get their cutie marks no matter what—and usually breaking something or getting into a trouble in the process," Rainbow smirked.

Scootaloo coughed. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said looking around and avoiding the other mare's gaze, but still smiling nevertheless. "Besides, it was always all for good fun even if we never got our cutie marks while crusading."

"Well, I'm not so sure about that 'fun' part in every case... Sure it was usually funny in the hindsight, but there were several not-so-harmless cases and close calls," the elder pegasus said with a wry smile on her lips. "Remember the time you almost got petrified by a cockatrice for example? Or the time you almost got Big Mac mounting Cheerilee? Does Foal Free Press or Gabby Gums ring any bells, when the whole Ponyville turned against you for a while? Or how about—"

"Yeah, yeah, I got your point already!" Scootaloo interrupted, her face flushed. She continued with a slightly calmer tone, "So our crusading was not that harmless always, but in the end no permanent damage was ever done, so it was really no big deal."

Rainbow still had a smile on her face, holding in her laughter. "I was just playing with you a bit, no need to get all flustered about it."

"Anyway..." Scootaloo coughed again and looked back at the diary. "It all was entertaining and nice as long as it lasted, including those performances with Sweetie Belle and with Apple Bloom giving backstage support." She sighed before continuing, "However, nothing good last forever. Eventually our paths had to separate and our trio started to gradually drift apart. But even nowadays we still keep in contact with each other, sending letters now and then."

"I know that feeling," Rainbow said compassionately. "I and all my friends separated our paths eventually, too. As you know, the only one of my good old friends still living in Ponyville is Applejack. But I too still keep exchanging letters with them, and occasionally meeting with some of them in person." She glanced back at her diary and added, "By the way, sorry to cut the conversation this abruptly, but if we sidetrack with our conversations after every entry, we will be sitting here well past midnight. So maybe we should just move onto the next entry?"

"Works for me, I've got nothing more to add on that subject at the moment anyway. Besides, I'm sure we'll have more to talk about our friends later, especially Fluttershy. I'm sure there will soon be an entry regarding her first foal," Scootaloo smirked as she flipped to the next page.

The winter is starting to get closer and the traditional Running of the Leaves was held yesterday. Pinkie Pie was once again chosen to be the official announcer and she picked Spike as her co-announcer again. Talking of Spike, he has grown quite a bit since last year, being about half the size of a grown up mare at the moment.

Anyway, back to the race. This time I and Applejack managed to stay out of fighting—well, mostly at least—and thus we took the first and second places of the race this year. Twilight was once again in the fifth place, I guess trotting at a slower pace until the very end really pays off—if you are content with decent ranking and are not trying to get to the winning positions I mean. But to win in a race like this one must train hard like me or Applejack.

As for how I did against Applejack, well... she won. There, I admitted it. But she won just by an inch, I swear! Still the second place is for losers, and I hate losing. I'll just show her during the next competition we have together...

Well, enough of that. As for other news, there isn't really any news. The Crusaders held another show last week (as awesome as before) and Fluttershy is still waiting for her foal, on her second month now.

—Rainbow Dash

"Nothing interesting here really," Rainbow said nonchalantly. "Guess it was more like a filler entry when I didn't have anything else to write about but wanted to write something anyway. We could as well just move onto the next entry."

"Or you just don't want to be reminded of you losing the race to Applejack," Scootaloo smirked. Rainbow didn't answer and just turned open the next page of the diary.

Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap Up!
Let's finish our holiday cheer.
Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap Up!
'cause tomorrow spring is here...

So, yeah, spring officially started today and I haven't written anything for months. This year's Winter Wrap Up was just yesterday and that song is once again playing on repeat in my head. Winter was as boring as usual, nothing really interesting happened during it. I just wonder why do we even have winters, what good are them for? I mean, Winter Wrap Up is a fun annual event and I even get to be in a leading position during it, but the winter itself? I just don't get it. Oh well, I guess it is just an Equestria-wide tradition from back when ponies didn't control seasons or something. Not that I really care that much, seeing that pegasi are somewhat more cold resistant than other ponies, and the snow doesn't bother either when I can just fly over it.

As for this year's Winter Wrap Up, Twilight once again did a great job in organizing the whole event so that instead of spending half of the time arguing we actually got our work done in time. And what you know, for once even Ditzy actually went to the right direction to get the southern birds! We even broke our last year's record, already finishing our work by early afternoon!

So we still had most of the day left. Pinkie Pie decided to have a "Winter wrapped up in time" party in the town hall and invited everypony to join the celebration. How she managed to decorate the whole town hall interior and get all the snacks in there in less than five minutes really baffles me (there wasn't anything in there before that, I checked), but anyway the celebration itself was as great as Pinkie's parties always are!

The party lasted long into the night, even though there were only a few ponies left by the time Pinkie finally wrapped up the party and started cleaning up the place. It's really quite amazing how much mess a bunch of partying ponies can do in a few hours; the floor was practically covered with ripped streamers, cake crumbs, crushed paper cups, popped balloons, and such. I helped Pinkie out by collecting the streamers and balloons attached to the ceiling and walls. Once she assured she could handle the rest, I flew back home and fell asleep almost immediately—I was really tired due to having to wake up way earlier than usually because of the Winter Wrap Up traditionally starting by sunrise.

As a completely unrelated note, Fluttershy is starting to get slightly rounder around her belly. It has been about half a year now, so just about five months of waiting left.

—Rainbow Dash

P.S. Two old Wonderbolts quit during the winter, so I guess this could be my chance to get in if they soon start looking for replacements.

Rainbow looked at the younger mare and asked, "Regarding these last two entries, I guess they still have Running of the Leaves and Winter Wrap Up as a part of the season-change traditions in Ponyville, right?"

"Yes, and them are just like before, nothing is really changed about them," Scootaloo answered. "They still insist Winter Wrap Up to be done without any visible magic at all and Running of the Leaves still gathers dozens of participants every year. And the race route is still exactly the same as it has been for as long as I can remember. Also, the Winter Wrap Up song hasn't changed either, they still sing it exactly the same way as several decades ago."

Rainbow chuckled. "Yeah, I guess those traditions are an integral part of the Ponyville community, and nopony ever dares to try to change anything which has been there longer than they have lived."

"Well, there are those anti-traditionalists who try to change everything, but they are always overshadowed by the other ponies still following old traditions," Scootaloo said. "I myself prefer these traditions though. As a younger mare I took part in Running of the Leaves every year but stopped doing that a decade or so ago, and now I just watch from the sidelines as younger ponies do the racing. As for Winter Wrap Up, I still do my best to help in it as a part of the ice cutting team—skating is almost like dancing on ice."

Rainbow nodded and looked thoughtful. "I haven't really had time or motivation to come watch Winter Wrap Up since I moved away, and I was just wondering..." She looked at the orange pegasus. "How well are those organized nowadays now that Twilight doesn't live in Ponyville anymore?"

"We still do have an All-Team Organizer as the leader every year, going trough every single task with a checklist like Twilight used to do. Nopony has been quite as good in that task as Twilight was—she is almost like the embodiment of organization whenever she really gets into it—but having a single leader really helps out nevertheless. Despite occasional conflicts, we've still managed quite well. At least the Winter Wrap Ups have been finished on time every year ever since Twilight introduced the All-Team Organizer position."

Rainbow smiled, remembering Twilight's crazy accurate checklists and her obsession for planning everything ahead. "Twilight did indeed have quite an influence in Ponyville, being one of the most powerful unicorns alive—maybe even the most powerful, not counting the princesses—in addition to being Princess Celestia's personal student."

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah she did. But so did you and your other friends also. Not everypony can claim to be the bearers of the most powerful artifacts known in Equestrian history. Not to mention that you saved the Equestria and Ponyville several times."

"Heh, yeah, guess that's true," Rainbow said smiling meekly.

"Well, enough of that for now I guess." Scootaloo glanced at the last paragraph and the postscript of the latest entry. "Did you get into Wonderbolt audition before Fluttershy's foalbirth, or was it after it? I can't really remember clearly what happened and when. It all happened several decades ago and I was still technically a filly back then after all."

"I got invitation to the Wonderbolt audition about two months before the birthday of Fluttershy's first foal, and the audition itself was a month after the invitation. So there is a bit of writing regarding Wonderbolts before we get back to Fluttershy," Rainbow answered smiling and opened the next page.