First
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Where did Rarity get this idea?

First

How boring.

This thought had been spinning in my head for the last few hours as I lay on a cloud. Today in Ponyville, there were absolutely no scheduled precipitations. Applejack has a lot of work, she's not going to compete with me. Fluttershy went to some exotic zoo with that Discord fellow. Everyone else is busy too. Which means I have absolutely, absolutely nothing to do.

"What about Twilight?" I asked under my breath. After a few moments, my ear twitched with realization. Today she's supposedly not busy with anything. And even if she turns out to be actually busy with something, at least it's almost always interesting!

"And anyway, anything is better than sitting here!" I snorted before quickly getting up on all four hooves and slightly spreading my wings. Then I took a step forward from the cloud and in the next moment began diving down toward the ground. With each second, of course, the speed increased.

How wonderful it is to feel speed after such boring hours.

At the last moment before collision with the ground, I bent my wings in such a way as to suddenly start flying straight forward, above the buildings of Ponyville. A very convenient way to accelerate while doing absolutely nothing.

Rushing over the roofs and tops of houses, I was very quickly approaching the most boring place in all of Ponyville. The library. Ironic that this is where I'm seeking salvation from boredom.

When I was on the final approach to the tree, I realized one unhappy thing. I wouldn't have time to brake. Or change trajectory either. Honestly, I think this library is cursed - I'm constantly crashing into it!

Okay, okay, I just need to tense up and crash coolly.

Gritting my teeth, I slowed myself down a bit with wing flaps and squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation of the collision. Not that I was afraid of the impact, I just, uh, don't want to damage my eyes. Yeah, exactly that!

"Oof." escaped from me when I suddenly landed on something soft as a cloud. Well, almost like a cloud. Opening my eyes, I found myself lying on a mattress in Twilight's library. But how?

As if in answer to my question, my friend's familiar voice was heard: "Oh hello, Rainbow. Again forgot to brake and were planning to punch a hole in my house's wall?"

Turning toward the voice, I saw her standing with her back to me and apparently doing something. Mentally noting this, I chuckled awkwardly and said, getting up on all four hooves: "Well, um, looks like it. But did you see what happened? I was flying, flying and POOF I'm here."

"Yep. I put a teleportation spell all over the library's surface. So instead of crashing into it you'll be teleported onto the mattress." Twilight answered still not turning to face me.

Oh this has got to be super cool if she's not even getting distracted by me!

I started flapping my wings to hover slightly above the ground and quickly flew over to Twilight to see what she was fiddling with. From the new angle, I could see Spike sitting in a chair in front of her while she was using her magic to hold some strange silver watch that had lots of weird indentations.

Sighing disappointedly, I said with a wave of my hoof: "Yo, Spike."

The little dragon raised his paw in response, but as soon as he opened his mouth he was interrupted by Twilight's irritated words: "Rainbow! Don't distract him, I need to check if this thing works."

I watched as Twilight just motionlessly held the strange watch. Doing absolutely nothing. Smirking slightly, I suggested: "You know, Twi, if you're trying to hypnotize somebody you need to wave it side to side and say something. Then you need to snap or something like that."

"Wait, really?" Twilight asked surprisedly, looking at me with wide eyes.

I feel like this should be written in some book somewhere. Like, seriously, Twilight's read every book in existence and doesn't know this?

While I was pondering, Twilight followed my advice and started slowly waving the watch in front of Spike's face before saying slowly: "When I stomp my hoof on the floor, you will perfectly, um, know the griffon language. Yes, as soon as you hear the hoofstep, the griffon language will become your native tongue."

Suddenly, she stomped her hoof on the floor and the watch glowed with a bright white light. As soon as it faded, Spike opened his mouth to say something. But what came out was some completely unintelligible mumbling. I couldn't help but smirk slightly while hovering in the air: "You know, that kind of sounds like Gilda. She also often spoke in such a grumpy voice."

Twilight, apparently, didn't pay attention to this and muttered under her breath: "It makes sense that hypnosis can't make you do something you absolutely don't know how to do. I should have thought about that when I started making this thing."

"You made this?" I asked surprised. Like, Twilight can do lots of things, I'm not arguing. But real hypno-watch!?

In response, she puffed out her chest slightly and said: "Yeah. I was planning to use hypnosis to learn new things faster, to impress the princess! But, ahem, looks like I didn't think through the fact that hypnosis doesn't give any new knowledge."

"So you don't need the watch?" I asked, floating gradually closer and closer to Twilight.

"Well, I guess not," she answered slowly.

Oh, I already have an idea what to do with this!

"But. . ." Twilight tried to say, but it was already too late. I grabbed the watch with both hooves and flew out of the library at full speed.

Unable to contain myself, I started giggling under my breath while flying forward. This hypno-watch would be perfect for Rarity. It'll turn this absolutely boring day into an absolutely awesome one! Even in the worst case, Rarity might just copy me and be at least twenty percent cooler than usual.

"Besides, it's not forever. She won't be offended," I said with a slight shrug as I started seeing Rarity's boutique. This time, I began properly flapping my wings in a way that would gradually slow me down. Soon, my flight had slowed enough to let me just slightly push the doors and fly inside.

There, I saw Rarity lying on her red fainting couch with a thoughtful expression. However, along with my entrance, the bell above the door rang announcing my presence. Rarity, seeing me, quickly got up and said, running over to me: "Oh, Rainbow, you've simply saved me! A pegasus mare ordered a dress and requested mandatory wing openings. But I hadn't anyone to check if I'd done everything correctly."

Oh, how fortunate that I decided to go to Twilight first. When Rarity decides to put something on someone, there's no escape. It's about as impossible as escaping from Pinkie when she decides to have fun.

Trying my hardest to suppress a grin, I held the watch with one hoof and said with fake excitement: "Wow, a new dress that's absolutely impossible to fly fast in. Cool! Ahem, but could you look at this watch first?"

Rarity skeptically raised an eyebrow, looking at me, to which I said elongatedly: "Pleeeeeease."

Fortunately, she just rolled her eyes and looked at the watch in my hoof. Unable to contain my grin, I started smoothly moving my hoof side to side and saying: "You've always been a super cool tomfilly, just like me. When I clap my hooves this will be your new, umm."

I forgot the word. I forgot! Just, how!?

As Rarity started slowly looking away from the watch, I finally managed to shout: "Reality! When I clap my hooves this will become your new reality!"

In the next moment, I dropped the watch and quickly clapped my hooves. Rarity took a step back and started blinking rapidly. Then, she shook her head, looked around, but stopped at the mirror. And finally, Rarity said, imitating my voice: "You decided to mess up my mane while I was sleeping, huh, Rainbow?"

I couldn't help but grin, seeing that apparently everything worked and replied: "Well, you were sleeping so peacefully on your drama couch."

Rarity smirked in response and said, shaking her head: "Very well, I shall swiftly rectify this situation. Just, darling, do try not to make anything else excessively feminine, alright, partner?"

Partner? Does Rarity think that's what cool ponies say?

I slightly shook my head and just flew over to the couch, before sprawling out on it, excited about the possibilities that were opening up. But before I could think it all through, Rarity's half-joking voice was heard: "I swear, Rainbow, tomorrow I shall come to your abode and make it absolutely fabulous in return!"

"HAHAH, sorry!" I answered, but mentally noted that I should figure out how to break the hypnosis before tomorrow. Or it would be very, very bad.

"So, what brings you here, partner?" Rarity asked while standing behind the screen, apparently altering her appearance. But I'm more concerned about her "partner." That's totally not my style.

Shaking my head, I answered boredly: "Well, I'm super bored. Like, dying of boredom. So I was planning to do something fun. And only you and Twilight aren't busy today. Well, I wasn't sure about you."

"That bookworm certainly won't assist with your predicament!" Rarity responded with a laugh, standing behind the screen.

Heh, that's true enough.

Suddenly, Rarity moved the screen aside and appeared before me in a new look. She had styled her mane forward, kind of imitating my bangs, and recolored it. There were locks of red, purple, and blue. But besides that, she had somehow acquired, I'm not afraid to say it, an awesome yellow vest with shiny buttons.

Genuinely impressed by this, I flapped my wings and said, flying around Rarity: "Wow, where'd you get something like that?"

"Oh, I fashioned it from some rather impractical dress. Can you imagine, it had simply enormous openings for the back. Absolutely unmarketable," Rarity replied with a wave of her hoof. Oops.

That was probably the dress she made for that order. Well, um, Rarity's talented, it won't be hard for her to make another one. Right?

I nervously swallowed before crossing my hooves and suggesting: "Well, maybe we could go somewhere to eat? Maybe we'll think of something to do along the way."

"Yes, sustenance would be rather agreeable," Rarity answered with a slow nod. Then, silence hung in the air. The only sound and movement was the flapping of my wings.

"Last one there pays!" She suddenly shouted, before taking off. Before I could blink, she had already rushed through her boutique doors, leaving only a small trail of sparkles. Apparently, some preferences can't be changed even by hypnosis.

Eventually I smirked and quickly flew following the sparkle trail, picking up the hypnosis watch along the way. Grabbing it with both hooves, I flew out of Rarity's boutique and rose about ten hooves in the air to find my target. It was very easy.

The new style makes Rarity very noticeable. Not as much as me, of course! But still not bad.

Briefly humming, I flew toward Rarity and caught up with her very quickly. Propping my head with one hoof, I asked while continuing to fly: "Going somewhere? Besides a luxury restaurant?"

Rarity threw a brief glance at me and said without showing signs of fatigue: "A restaurant? Darling, I would never venture into an establishment with such restrictive dress requirements!"

I smirked slightly in response and seeing the Hayburger ahead, started flapping my wings a bit faster. Just enough to start slowly overtaking Rarity. And when I had pulled far enough ahead, I couldn't help but tease: "Mm, I think I'll get myself a double cheeseburger, large fries, and a large cola."

"Isn't that rather excessive for one's figure?" Rarity smirked, again showing no signs of slowing down. Could it be that the hypnosis convinced her she was an incredible athlete?

Mentally shaking my head, I said, rubbing my head: "Yeah, to fly fast I can't get too heavy. I'll get a diet cola then."

I hope I can endure such a trial.

Finally, I slightly bent my wings to rise higher and landed right on the Hayburger roof, which felt like, well, hay. Wonder what part of this building's construction feels like a burger?

While I was pondering, Rarity finally caught up with me and stood at the building's entrance before saying slowly: "You know, Dash, we never established what constitutes reaching our fast-food establishment. I believe only entering inside should count as victory."

"WHAT!?" I exclaimed as I quickly flew down from the Hayburger roof and landed on the ground. But it was already too late. Rarity stood in the doorway, sticking her tongue out at me and said: "It appears you'll have to finance your 'athletic' lunch."

And I don't have any money with me at all. Uh, maybe I can work something out? I think Rarity, even under hypnosis, will understand if I ask her to cover the bill now, so I can pay her back later.

Slightly nodding to myself, I said restrainedly: "Let's just sit somewhere first."

Rarity briefly huffed and answered, turning around: "Yes, I believe I shall truly savor my victory once I peruse the menu."

"Just don't get too cocky. I don't have many bits with me," I said as I sat down on the booth opposite Rarity.

"Mm, precisely how much do you have?" she asked, placing both hooves on the table. Interesting fact, usually when I do that, she calls it absolutely dreadful.

For several moments I was thinking how to answer Rarity's question, but we were mercifully approached by a mare waitress: "Will you be ordering anything?"

"Mm, I'll have a double cheeseburger, large fries, and a large cola. Diet," Rarity said, throwing a quick glance at me. Geez, by her standards that's an incredibly huge order.

Sighing, I decided not to make the situation worse and said: "I'll just have water."

The waitress nodded before turning around and heading somewhere toward the kitchen. But Rarity couldn't help but tease: "Whatever happened to your order? Are you afraid of going bankrupt?"

No, I'm afraid of what we'll do if it turns out you didn't bring your wallet with you. But that's impossible, right?

Fortunately, my worries didn't have time to grow too much when a stallion approached us. He wore a green bowtie, round glasses, and his face was covered in pimples. I even noticed books sticking out of his saddlebags. A nerd, hm.

Suddenly, there came an unexpected and confident proposition from the common nerd: "Hey, mare, why are you alone? There'll be two of us soon. . ."

"There are already two of us here," Rarity interrupted with complete composure. This interruption seemed to instantly destroy all of the nerd's confidence, making him turn away slightly. Following his gaze, I saw a large and fit stallion who was making some suggestions with hoof gestures.

"Ugh, what's this? A book on advanced MATHEMATICS!?" Rarity asked, using her magic to pull out a thick tome with such a frightening title from his saddlebag. The bespectacled stallion could only manage a nervous chuckle in response.

"Get out of here, nerd," Rarity snorted before returning the book to the stallion's saddlebag. In response, he sighed dejectedly and, hanging his head, headed for the exit. His friend joined him too.

That was somewhat harsh. Even by my standards.

For a few moments, I watched the door quietly closing before quickly turning to Rarity and asking, "Was it necessary to be quite so, well, rude?"

Only when I spoke did my eyes see that Rarity was already consuming her order. However, it seemed that even hypnosis couldn't suppress all her manners, as she absolutely didn't smack her lips or open her mouth, despite her cheeks being puffed out like a hamster's. And judging by the fact that only a glass of cola and a glass of water were on the table, all the food was in her mouth.

Honestly, watching such stuffed cheeks from the side is really unpleasant. Now I partly understand why Rarity dislikes it so much when I do similar things at picnics. Slightly shaking my head, I looked away and took a sip of water from my glass.

But I won't point it out to her, no, no. I'm not Rarity.

In the end, Rarity swallowed a huge pile of food and said, "Less rude? Hmm, have you seen him? He came up to me with half-open sacks of maths books. That's terrible!"

Okay, I admit, maths books, especially higher ones, looked like a threat. Shaking my head slightly, I took another sip from the glass before slowly beginning, "So, we should probably discuss the bill, right?"

"Hmm? I kind of won the race. " Rarity replied with a raised eyebrow. But your victory wasn't liget, legetmn, in short, it wasn't your victory!

I took a deep breath, put my glass down on the table and whispered, "I don't have any money with me. Could you pay the bill yourself? Don't worry, I will. . ."

"I don't have a purse either. " Rarity replied with a shrug. WHAT!?

" But what do you need clothes for, then? And pockets? " I asked, pointing with both wings at all sorts of pockets on her cool jacket.

But Rarity just grinned and said, taking a sip of cola, "Oh, it's just to look cool. Like, look, I've got lots of pockets, I've got nowhere to put purses full of bits, I'm the richest pony in Ponyville. Here."

So you're really the richest among our whole group. Hmm. I've just been thinking about income. What does Fluttershy do for a living? Do the animals pay her for treatment?

Suppressing a smile, I asked as I leaned over to Rarity, "So what are we going to do if we don't have any money?"

Rarity quickly turned around and as soon as she saw the waitress approaching, she said: "Look. She saw that I had finished eating, and now she wants to demand payment. Firstly, it is very rude and uncivilized. And secondly, as soon as she gets closer, you just have to be, well, fast. As always. "

"You're not suggesting that, are you? " I asked, not wanting to finish the sentence. Hypnotism was hypnotism, but he couldn't make Rarity completely reckless, could he? Even I would never do that!

Eventually, the waitress came over, holding a notebook with her magic, and asked: "Would you like to order something else?"

Rarity nodded back and said slowly, "Yes, I would like to order, hmm, wait, I need to think about it. What do I want? Mmmm. Oh, I know! "

"I want another glass of cola! " She said, suddenly wrapping the glass in her magic and lifting it abruptly. In such a way that all the liquid got directly into the face of the waitress, who shuddered and retreated a few steps.

"Let's run, Rainbow!" Rarity said, suddenly rising from her seat and running for the exit with an audible chuckle.

You're just, you're just. . .

Despite the whole situation, despite all the consequences that could follow, you can't order your heart. I got up from my seat, not forgetting to pick up the clock from the table, and flew after Rarity with the same giggle.

Eventually, I found myself in the street and saw that Rarity had already run very far and had suddenly turned into an alley. Wasting no time, I quickly flapped my wings and flew to where I had last seen her. Although, to be honest, it's hard to build up speed when you're holding the clock with your hooves. And my wings are kind of inflexible today, probably because I didn't stretch properly.

"Hey, come back at once!" The waitress's irritated voice could be heard loudly. Again, I couldn't help but chuckle as I finally reached the alley and turned right. There I saw Rarity leaning against a rubbish bin to catch her breath.

Hmm, I wonder if she specifically chose this alley?

"So what do we do now?" I asked, hovering very low above the ground. To be honest, having spent the first half of the day on a cloud, my wings don't feel very cool.

Rarity took another breath and said, shaking her head, "Wait, I need to catch my breath. I feel out of sorts today. "

"Is that because you ate so much? " I asked with a grin, barely able to keep myself off the ground.

"Huh! I can't be one hundred and twenty percent cool if I don't eat properly. " Rarity snorted, her nose turned up slightly.

Is it just me, or did she just steal a phrase from me?

Before I could think, I heard the waitress's voice behind me again: "There you are! Pay the bill now or I'll go straight to the Mayor and she'll take care of you!"

Before I could react, Rarity ran forward and magically grabbed my mane to make me follow her. The grip was so tight that all I could do was flap my wings to avoid hitting my head on the ground.

With great difficulty, I managed to turn slightly towards the waitress. And I saw that she was also running after us! Waving my hooves, I called out: "Rarity, I'm used to being grabbed by the tail, not the mane!"

"Be panient. But you do look a bit fragile. " Rarity chuckled and kept running, holding me with her magic. Hang on, did you just call me fragile? Like a girly one?

Okay, now this hypnosis has really started to look like a bad idea. But I've only just started.

At some point, I got tired of looking at the waitress, who was not a step behind us, and decided to look ahead again. Suddenly, I saw Rarity running towards some sort of hill with a steep slope that must have been on the outskirts of Ponyville. Raising an eyebrow, I asked: "Do you think she's afraid of heights?"

"No, no. We'll just take advantage of the fact that she's a simple unicorn. " Rarity replied, despite the fact that she was already short of breath. I guess no amount of hypnosis is going to turn an elegant mare into an athlete like me.

I chuckled slightly at my own thoughts. But my smile faded abruptly when I saw what lay ahead. A cliff, right in Everfree. Due to the strange difference in altitude and probably the magic of the forest itself, wild clouds could be seen floating above the trees. Rarity's not going to do that, is she?

Yes, she will. She jumped off a cliff towards one of the wild slopes. It seems that hypnosis made her think she could walk on clouds, just like me! Why do Twilight's inventions always lead to some kind of catastrophe?

So that's not what you need to think about right now!

Despite the pain in my wings, I flapped fast enough to escape Rarity's magic. Then, clutching the watch between my teeth to free my front hooves, I rushed down to the mare, who had fallen down with a carefree expression on her face.

But as if in slow motion, I saw that look turn to horror as Rarity simply walked through the cloud. Without having time to think, I stretched both hooves forward and just pushed through. Uhh, it hurts more than I thought.

"AHHH!" Rarity shrieked and began to kick her hooves in all directions in a panic. Just before she hit the top of the tree, I scooped her up with two hooves and barely altered my trajectory, flying over the trees and slowly descending.

Fortunately, I was able to maintain my altitude long enough to find myself on a small plain at the edge of the forest. However, I was definitely not in a position to make a soft landing. Soon Rarity and I were on the ground, rolling around several times.

Ouch.

"I never thought it would be so difficult to fly if I just didn't stretch my wings in the morning. " I muttered, spitting out the clock and the blades of grass.

" I just don't get it! We're always jumping on clouds, why didn't this work? "Rarity asked, absolutely outraged. After a quick glance I felt a little guilty. The make-up she applied so carefully every day was all messed up. Not to mention that her vest, which was supposed to be a dress, was covered in dirt.

Curling my lip slightly in doubt, I lifted the clock with my hoof and said with a sigh: "Mm, Rarity, can you concentrate on this watch for a few seconds? Please? "

She slowly sat down on the ground and raised an eyebrow in embarrassment, but after a few seconds she just started looking at the clock between my hooves. Sighing again, I began to move it gently from side to side and said: "When I clap my hooves, you'll be back to normal. It's like there was no hypnosis today."

"What?" Rarity sounded embarrassed, but I threw the clock on the table and clapped my hooves. The next moment she blinked quickly and looked around. Then she looked at herself. And she squealed slightly when she saw the dirt on her.

She's back to normal.

Rarity lost her head and said, rubbing her head with her hoof, "Oh. I have a headache. What happened? How did we get here? And what happened to my mane?"

I slowly got up on all fours and began to explain, "Well, I used some sort of hypnosis on you to make you cool like me. You changed your style yourself, we went to a hayburger and ran away without paying the bill! The waitress turned out to be kind of crazy and chased us. Well, for some reason you thought you could walk on the beams like a pegasus. "

Rarity stared at me for a while, rubbing her head before slowly muttering, "I... remember all that. "

" And what do you make of all this? " I asked cautiously, squinting in case she was really angry.

Rarity took another look at herself, her clothes, her new mane, before asking, "Why did you decide to do this in the first place?"

What for? Uh, em, well . . .

"I was dying of boredom and wanted to do something. Well, I thought it would be cool to hang out with your copy! But it doesn't seem that cool. I like regular Rarity better. I replied awkwardly, rubbing one hoof against the other.

Rarity looked at me for a moment before putting a hoof on my shoulder and saying, "You know, Dashi, it used to be fun. And this new style is, well, interesting. "

" But running away from the waitress was too much. "She remarked with a snort.

" Yes, I should have stopped you and thought of something. Like work it off or give the money back later. I replied, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof and smiling awkwardly.

Rarity laughed a little, and soon I was doing the same. After a few funny moments, she stepped back a little and said, lifting the clock with her magic: "Okay, let's take this thing to Twilight. And let's tell her it was a bad idea. "

By the way, Spike is still talking some nonsense, thinking that this is the language of griffins.

Before I could grin, Rarity started off somewhere in the direction of Ponyville. After catching up with her for a moment, I asked awkwardly, "So, um, did you like it?"

Rarity smiled slightly and replied: "Well, sort of. I think we could do it again sometime, Dashi. Without hypnosis, of course. "

" Really? When? "I asked excitedly, forgetting about the lack of readiness in my wings and rising slightly into the air.

Rarity giggled at my enthusiasm and said slowly, "Well, Fluttershy and I go to the spa every Saturday. Can we do all sorts of 'cool' things on Sundays? "

"Oh, oh! Today is Sunday! " I replied enthusiastically with a smug grin.

Oh, no, Dashi. Today you're going to help me get this vest back into my dress and get my man back to normal. Although the style itself is not bad. I will definitely write down this idea somewhere. But the colors definitely need to be changed. " Rarity replied, poking me lightly on the nose.

Oh, save me . . .

Along with my lost enthusiasm, I landed on the ground and asked walking next to Rarity, "So when we tell Twilight everything, will we write this down as a friendship lesson? Like, how important is it to accept each other as they are and all that?"

"In my opinion, this has already happened. And even if it wasn't, I wouldn't want to record a friendship lesson that was learned in this way. Especially the winning part from the waitress. Rarity replied.

"Great, write less. " I said with a slight nod.

At least something will brighten up this day.