30 Minute Delay

An Old Port In A Storm

The toy hit the wall with a soft squeak.

“Rainbow Dash! You must stop doing that!”

“What?”

“Playing so rough. The twins are still foals after all.”

“Oh lighten up Rarity, look at Pumpkin Cake, she’s fine.” The prim unicorn glanced at the corner, where the ginger-haired filly sat giggling up a storm. Deflated, she tried to rally against the cyan Pegasus.

“Be that as it may, you have been known to lose control every now and then and if something happened to the babies you’d have to explain to the Cakes,” Rainbow rolled her eyes at this,

“…and to Pinkie Pie.”

That had an impact. Rainbow stopped smirking. Pinkie’s overprotectiveness of the twins was legendary in Ponyville. It was a running joke that when the twins were school-aged they’d never get bullied because everypony would be too afraid of what Pinkie would do once she learned of it.

“………you play dirty Rarity.” This earned a sniff of polite indignation.

“Nothing I do is ‘dirty’, Rainbow Dash. I just know how to look after a foal, being an older sister. You, on the other hoof, are an only child, so your experience with little ones is lacking.” Hearing this, the multicolour-maned pony narrowed her eyes.

“Is that a fact? You think you know it all because of Sweetie Belle? You think I can’t do the job?” Sensing she’d crossed a line, Rarity tried to placate her friend.

“Well no, not in so many words. What I meant was-“

“Save it! I know what you meant. You don’t think I’m suitable to look after these two while Pinkie’s away. FINE! Do it yourself, expert!”

Taking wing, the Pegasus shot off out of the window. Pound Cake, who’d been walking on the ceiling, tried to follow her but a glowing blue aura closed the shutters before he could get out.

“Ah ah ah Pound Cake, you mustn’t go outside. Stay right here with Auntie Rarity, there’s a good boy.” The Pegasus colt crossed his hooves and huffed in the air. His sister, who’d watched the older Unicorn work her magic, tried to imitate her. Natural talent notwithstanding, Pumpkin Cake was still a baby and her control needed work, as pretty soon every shutter in the house was banging open and closed loudly, which had the little lady laughing up a storm. The sound startled Pound Cake, however, who dropped like a stone, landing hard on the floor with a THUD!

“Oh dear.” Remarked Rarity, knowing what was coming. She magically latched all the shutters and then moved to give the now-bawling colt a hug. No sooner had she reached him though, that she heard Pumpkin Cake, whose fun had been taken away when Rarity closed the windows, join her brother in expressing displeasure. Arms full of crying child, Rarity tried to maintain her composure.

Sweetie Belle was never this hard. Hurry back Pinkie.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

The babies eventually calmed down long enough for Rarity to feed them and put them down for a nap. During that time the sun had set and a strong wind had picked up. Taking a quick glance outside, Rarity noticed a storm brewing in the distance, a big one by the look of it. She double-checked all the windows and doors were securely shut before bedding down in the room with the sleeping foals.

The first BOOM of thunder hit a few hours later. It wasn’t loud enough to rouse the babies but it did have them whimpering in their sleep. Rarity stayed close and held them until their breathing became steady again. Another came, closer this time, which had tears running down their cheeks. Rarity knew it’d only get worse, so she risked a peek outside. Unlatching the shutters, she opened them just as the lightning flashed, blinding her. This was too much for the twins. As Rarity staggered away from the window they began to howl in fright. Trying to clear the spots from her eyes, Rarity staggered around the room.

“Pound Cake dear? Pumpkin darling? Where are you?” The thunder finally followed the lightning and drowned out her voice. She tried again but Pumpkin’s magic was going out of control and toys and games and clothes were flying around the room, tripping her, hitting her in the face, squeaking against the walls.

“Babies?! Oh children where are you?” There was too much noise from the storm and magic even to hear the babies crying.

A dark blur cannoned into Rarity, knocking her to the floor. Dimly she felt feathers in her hooves.

“Oh Pound Cake, you found me! You clever boy! You stay with Auntie Rarity now okay?”

“Rarity, it’s me!”

“Rainbow?! What are you doing here?”

“I saw the storm and wanted to make sure everyone was fine. Are the kids okay?”

“I don’t know! There was lightning and now I just see spots!” Grimacing, the cyan Pegasus helped her friend to the corner of the room and sat her down, and then she turned to face the swirling maelstrom of magic.

“Stay here Rarity, I’ll get them.”

“Rainbow, do be careful.”

“I won’t hurt ‘em!”

“Not just for them, Rainbow Dash, for you too!” If Rarity could see properly, she’d have been glad to see the easy going smirk her friend wore so often.

“No problem. I’ll be back.” With that she leapt into the fray, dodging stuffed animals and wooden blocks, high chairs and extra diapers until she reached the reached the eye of the hurricane. Looking down she could see Pumpkin Cake, eyes shut and screaming, horn ablaze with energy. Besides her, holding on for dear life, was little Pound Cake. Rainbow saw his grip loosen and he shrieked as he was sucked up into his sister’s spell. Alarmed, Rainbow dove back into the vortex after him, her strong wings beating to bring her to him even as his flapped uselessly while he tumbled over and over. Just as she was about to grab him he bounced off the stuffed turtle and shot towards the wall.

“NOOOOO!!!!!!”

Just before he went splat, Pound Cake was enveloped in an azure haze and floated down into Rarity’s waiting arms.

“I have him. Get Pumpkin Cake!”

“Right!”

Turning back to Pumpkin Cake, Rainbow braved the magical twister again, shrugging off toys and games and grabbing hold of the bars of Pumpkin’s crib.

“Pumpkin? Kiddo? I’m here. I got ya,” the little filly, sensing the familiar presence, launched herself at Rainbow as her magic wore down. As the contents of the room rained down around them, Rainbow Dash held Pumpkin Cake tight while the little one bawled her eyes out, accompanied by more loud crashes and flashes from the storm outside, which just added to the twins’ misery.

“Now what do we do?” Rarity whined complained, “They’ll be like this all night if the weather keeps up.”

“I know what to do, give me Pound Cake a sec.” Taking the babies into her arms, Rainbow put on a bright smile.

“Come on little guys, let’s do the Storm Dance!”

“Storm Dance?” Rarity was puzzled, she’d never heard of any dance like that.

“You’ll see.” Rainbow Dash heard a thunder crash and tossed the twins up in the air, catching them at the same time.

“RAINBOW!”

“Relax, I know what I’m doing.” Another crash sounded and she repeated the action. Then a lightning flash came and Rainbow spun around with the babies at arm’s length. This had their cries falling to confused gurgles. At each crash Rainbow would toss the twins and spin them with every flash. Soon enough they were laughing up a storm despite, or perhaps because of, the continuing commotion outside.

Rarity, seeing that Rainbow had everything in order, set about getting the room back into order.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Morning came and the storm had passed, but the twins were still laughing and wanting to play. Rarity was levitating Pumpkin Cake upside down, horn to horn, and slowly turning her round and round while Rainbow Dash was rolling Pound Cake across her wings like a basketball. As far as Pinkie could tell when she walked in, the twins were having the time of their lives.

Rarity and Rainbow said their goodbyes to Pinkie and the happy babies and began walking home. Rarity turned to Dash hesitantly.

“Listen Rainbow, I just want to apologise for what I said in there. I shouldn’t have assumed that you wouldn’t be able to handle the children.” The speedy flyer brushed her off.

“Ah it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“But that was amazing. Where did you come up with that ‘Storm Dance’ of yours?” Rainbow brushed the back of her head.

“Weeeell,” she began, “growing up in Cloudsdale we saw a lot of storms. My parents were away a lot and I didn’t have anypony to keep safe or……” she looked away, embarrassed,

“Or to make me feel safe. So……….so I made up the Storm Dance as a way to get through the bad weather. Heh, silly huh?”

“Not at all.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned a valuable lesson about how I see my friends. I thought that what you had in your past was most important for helping you to become who you are now. I learned today that what, or who, you didn’t have with you can be just as important to how you grow.

Sincerely, Your Faithful Subject

Rarity