Fine Feathered Friend

Square One

Nimbus receives an urgent letter from Princess Celestia, and finds out that Rainbow Dash had the same thing happen. When they finally discover the content of both of their letters, they realize that the task at hand may very well be their hardest yet. After all, it’s not every day one has to teach royalty…

Nimbus was sitting up in Twilight’s library loft, reading a book on painting. He and his friends had finished up all of his house’s structural work after a few days of toil, and he felt it was now time to get started on painting. The house was currently very unappealing, as the wood, stone, and plaster areas were all completely exposed. It looked like some kind of hideous patchwork quilt, in Nimbus’s opinion. With this in mind, he’d come to Twilight’s library to find out how to go about putting the finishing touches on his home.

“Besides,” he reasoned, “it won’t hurt to finally be able to move all of my stuff out of Mecha’s shop. It’s getting pretty cluttered over there.”

Nimbus heard footsteps and looked up. Spike was coming up the stairs with a plate of donuts and a glass of milk.

“Hey, Spike!” Nimbus said, nodding to the dragon in greeting.

“Hi, Nimbus!” Spike replied, setting the plate down, “I brought you some breakfast. Twilight says you need to eat more. You’ve been up here all morning, after all.”

Nimbus pushed the book aside and gazed down at the delectable morsels in front of him.

“Well thanks a bundle, Spike!” he said.

“The pleasure’s mine,” Spike replied, then doubled over and belched green flames, which turned into a scroll. Recovering, Spike picked up the scroll and was about to head downstairs to Twilight when he saw the name on the scroll. He turned to Nimbus.

“This one’s for you,” he said.

Nimbus took the scroll. “Huh,” he said, examining it, “that’s weird- it’s got the royal seal on it! What would Celestia want with me?”

“Beats me,” Spike replied, heading down the stairs, “I just work here.”

Nimbus unraveled the scroll and read it, eyes growing progressively wider. Suddenly, he snapped it closed.

“Rainbow Dash needs to know about this!” he said suddenly, flying downstairs and out the door.

“Thanks for your hospitality, Twilight!” he called back, “I’ll be back later!”

A confused Twilight stuck her head out the door, watching Nimbus go.

“Well, that was quick,” she said, shrugging. “I wonder what that was all about.”

…

Nimbus searched everywhere for Rainbow Dash with no luck, and was about to give up when the two met in midair. It seemed Rainbow Dash had been zooming around town as well.

“Thank goodness I’ve found you! I’ve got a letter you have to read!” they said at the same time.

Nimbus blinked once, staring. “Uh, you first.”

Rainbow Dash unrolled her letter, clearing her throat. “Dear Rainbow Dash, it has come to my attention that you are one of the most gifted flyers Equestria has to offer-“ she unconsciously puffed herself up “-and with that in mind, I have written this royal summons letter. I would like you to come meet Princess Luna and me at Ghastly Gorge at noon today. The reason is simple. Luna and I have long forgotten how to enjoy the wonders of the sky as you do. Ruling doesn’t allow much time for recreation. Today, we would like to ask your help in teaching us the art of… aerobatics?”

Rainbow Dash looked up at Nimbus, confused.

“I got pretty much the same thing,” Nimbus said.

“I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash said, “why can’t they just ask the Wonderbolts or something?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say they’re too busy,” Nimbus replied. “I mean think about it- they’re always getting called out to events, and when they’re not performing, they’re training. Their learning curve’s probably a bit steep, too.”

“True,” Rainbow Dash said, glancing at the town’s clock tower. It was almost noon. “So what do we do, then?”

“Not much we can do,” Nimbus replied, turning in the direction of Ghastly Gorge, “we’ve received a summons. Let’s just hope our teaching skills are good enough.”

Rainbow Dash quickly caught up with Nimbus. “But could you imagine what happens if we fail?”

“I’m trying not to,” Nimbus answered, buzzing a few rooftops. “With any luck, they won’t know any better, and they’ll assume everything we say is right.”

“Fat chance of that,” Rainbow Dash scoffed as they flew past the edge of Ponyville, Ghastly Gorge dead ahead, “I just hope they don’t send me back to another flight exam in Cloudsdale.”

“Good grief,” Nimbus said, “you’re starting to sound like Twilight. Cheer up! This’ll be fun.”

“If you say so…” Rainbow Dash said, descending in preparation for a landing. The two Pegasi touched down and trotted to a halt. So far, the princesses were nowhere to be found. Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to have a look around Ghastly Gorge. She walked over to the edge and peered over, checking left and right.

“They sure picked an interesting place for first lessons,” Rainbow Dash observed.

Nimbus laughed. “Yeah, well I guess they’re not exactly typical students.”

“Students, ha,” Rainbow Dash said, “it’s going to be weird to think of them like that. You ever taught anyone before?”

“Nope,” Nimbus said.

“Me neither. We are so sunk. I hate teaching! And what happens if I get frustrated and yell at one of ‘em?”

“Then you probably get turned into a parasprite and exiled,” Nimbus joked. Rainbow Dash just glared at him.

“That is not funny… at all.”

Nimbus shrugged. “Okay, okay, it won’t be that bad. Want my advice, though? Don’t yell at them.”

Before Rainbow Dash could reply, there was a flash of light, accompanied by a loud popping noise and thick, white smoke. Nimbus and Rainbow Dash both lost their footing and fell backwards in surprise. When the smoke cleared, Princesses Celestia and Luna were standing before them. The two immediately went down on a knee.

Not saying anything at first, both princesses walked in front of the two Pegasi, inspecting them, it seemed. The tension in the air was thick, and Nimbus could barely stand it. Finally, Celestia spoke.

“Rise…”

The two ponies stood up warily.

“And let’s have some fun!” Celestia finished.

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. It seemed she had nothing to worry about… so far, at least.

“Well,” she said, “should we start?”

“It sounds fine to us,” Luna said. “We are most interested in learning more about… fun.”

“Well if it’s fun you want,” Nimbus said, backing up and falling off the gorge wall. Celestia and Luna gasped and hurried over to the edge just as Nimbus swooped back up into the sky, spinning like a top, “then you’ve come to the right ponies!” Nimbus alighted on the ground in front of the princesses as they applauded. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes.

“That’s foals’ stuff,” she said, “watch this!”

Rainbow Dash took off and performed a wide loop, picking up speed all the way. Nimbus saw her coming fast, and dug his hooves in. Rainbow Dash ripped by, kicking up dust and hitting the group with a wall of air. Nimbus snorted. It only made sense that Dash would want to show off as well.

“Well this is fascinating,” Celestia said. “I’m looking forward to learning something, for a change.”

“By the way,” Nimbus said as Rainbow Dash landed, “if both of you are here, then who’s running the kingdom?”

“Oh, why Philomena of course!” Celestia said cheerily.

Rainbow Dash’s mouth hung open. “Philomena? As in the phoenix?”

“The one and only,” Celestia said.

“And we hath appointed thine friend Mecha as advisor,” Luna added.

Nimbus almost choked. “Mecha?”

“Yes,” Luna said, “is there a problem?”

“Nope,” Nimbus said, “but you might want to do a quick check-up on Equestria’s nobles when you get back, because Mecha’s been itching for an opportunity like this to torment them.”

“Oh dear,” Luna said with a smile, “we hadn’t thought of that. Still, it is most amusing to watch the nobles taken down a few pegs.”

“Yeah,” Nimbus laughed, “I suppose you’re right.”

“Are we just gonna chit-chat here all day?” Rainbow Dash asked, miffed. “We’ve got lessons to run, and talking isn’t going to make it go any faster.”

Nimbus flinched at her tone, waiting for her to vaporized by Celestia or Luna, but what happened instead was a complete surprise.

“Perfect,” Celestia said, “I do suppose we were all getting a little off-topic. We’re ready to learn now.”

Nimbus gazed at Rainbow Dash in awe, then turned to the sisters. “Okay, then. Well I guess the first thing to do is check your hovering form.”

“Hovering form?” Luna asked. “What, pray tell, does that have to do with us learning how to fly in a fun manner?”

“Well, you can’t do aerobatics without proper form,” Nimbus said, “and you can tell a lot about a flier by how he or she hovers.”

Nodding, Celestia and Luna spread their wings and lifted off the ground in a graceful hover. Nimbus and Dash immediately hovered over and began making corrections. Rainbow Dash discovered that Celestia had a tendency to slowly drift to the side, then correct herself, while Nimbus found that Luna wobbled all over the place.

“Not as easy as it sounds, is it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Certainly not,” Luna said, “but we will learn.”

After a great deal of practice, as well as several wing-beats to the face for Nimbus and Dash, the princesses were finally holding a steady hover.

“Great,” Nimbus said, “you’re looking much better. Now it’s time to go over how to fly evasively.”

“Evasively?” Luna asked, “none of this sounds fun at all.”

“Wait a moment, sister,”Celestia said, “I think I can see where he’s going with this.”

“Ghastly Gorge,” Nimbus continued, “is where we’ll be doing most of our lesson today. The Gorge is extremely dangerous, and if you don’t know how to react to a threat, you won’t last long in there. Now I know it’s tempting to use magic to remove danger from your paths, but that’s not what today’s about. You two wanted to be better fliers, so that’s what we’re going to make you.”

Catching on, Rainbow Dash added “another important part about this next lesson is that the moves you’ll work on actually are used in aerobatics more often than not.”

“Really?” Celestia asked. “Well then let’s begin.”

“Right,” Rainbow Dash said, lifting off the ground. “First, you need to start hovering.”

Once again, the princesses began to hover, controlling themselves much better than they had before. When they were set, Rainbow Dash continued.

“Alright. Now the first thing you need to learn is the hard bank turn.” Rainbow Dash and Nimbus started flying out over Ghastly Gorge.

“You start the turn by banking to either side, then sharply twisting your wings so you can turn tighter,” Nimbus said, demonstrating. “It looks easy, but it’s not exactly fun to try at high speed. Hurts like-“ Nimbus stopped before he could get another word out. It was probably best to watch one’s language around royalty. “It hurts a lot,” he corrected himself, “but it will save your life. Let’s give it a try.”

Nimbus continued on a straight course for a little longer, then twisted his wings, rolling and banking sharply to the right. “That’s all there is to it,” he said, “now you try.”

Luna and Celestia had the maneuver down in no time. Nimbus was glad he wouldn’t have to teach that maneuver. They were using up time as it was. Next, he and Rainbow Dash taught the princesses how to perform an emergency stop, as well as how to weave between obstacles. When they were finished, Rainbow Dash made up her mind.

“Now it’s time to learn how to go through an obstacle course,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Wait-“ Nimbus said, “aren’t we going to go over more safety tips?”

Rainbow Dash paused, scratching her chin in deep thought. “Hm… nah. We’ll go ahead with the obstacle course.”

“But we don’t have an obstacle course,” Nimbus argued.

“Wanna bet?” Rainbow Dash asked, zooming into the sky and rearranging a few clouds into rings, laying out a course. Nimbus was impressed.

“Okay, I’ve got to admit that was pretty cool. Weather ponies have an awesome job too, I guess.”

“You’re darn right they do,” Rainbow Dash said.

Luna and Celestia approached from behind. “It looks very nice,” said Celestia, “but it isn’t quite… challenging enough.”

“Well we can’t just throw you into Ghastly Gorge,” said Nimbus. “This is supposed to be a practice run.”

The two sisters walked away for a moment and began a whispered conversation, occasionally looking up at the cloud rings and laughing. Rainbow Dash gulped.

“They’re making fun of my course, I just know it.”

Finally, Luna and Celestia returned.

“Thine course is magnificent, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said, “but we wish to start this portion of the lesson with a greater challenge.”

Celestia pointed her horn towards the clouds as Luna went on. “We hope thou art not disappointed. Truly this course is a work of art. It just needs an extra… kick.”

On the word “kick” Celestia shot a beam of white magic into the air, which hit the first cloud ring. Suddenly, every ring burst into flames. Nimbus’s eyes widened.

“Are you sure you want to run the course like this?” he asked.

“Of course!” Celestia said, “sometimes it’s better to run, or in this case fly, before you walk.”

Nimbus shrugged. “Okay then. Follow Rainbow Dash and me through the course. We’ll make a few laps, go over some aerobatics, and then hit the gorge.”

He took off behind Rainbow Dash with Celestia and Luna behind, heading for the first ring. They were taking it slowly right now- more of a walkthrough really. He crossed through the ring, feeling the heat of the flames licking his body. Then he was through. Nervously, he glanced back at Celestia and Luna. To his surprise, they were thoroughly enjoying themselves, weaving from side to side and crossing through the rings with glee. The sight brought a smile to Nimbus’s face. He turned to Rainbow Dash.

“Should we up the ante a bit?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “See if you can keep up!”

Rainbow Dash sped up, ripping through the sky with Nimbus, Celestia, and Luna in hot pursuit. Now the rings were flashing by, and Nimbus was having a difficult time correcting his course in order to stay inside them. The princesses were laughing and smiling as they crossed through the dangerous obstacles, and after a few more runs, Nimbus knew it was time to prepare for the final lesson.

“Okay,” he said, pulling out of the obstacle course and landing. “You seem to have the hang of it.”

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash said, “and I think I speak for Nimbus as well when I say you’re ready to try some aerobatics in Ghastly Gorge!”

Rainbow Dash turned to speak with Nimbus, prompting Celestia and Luna to high-hoof each other. Rainbow Dash spun around and Luna cleared her throat. “This has been… very fun. Are we going to learn to fly as thou do now?”

“Darn right,” Rainbow Dash said. “And we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves to show you.”

For the next hour, Nimbus and Rainbow Dash took the Princesses up into the sky to teach rolls, loops, power stops, and several other aerobatic maneuvers. The princesses were overjoyed, and Nimbus was impressed by their aerobatic prowess. Celestia quickly became a fan of high speed flight, like Rainbow Dash, while Luna wanted to learn more about becoming more maneuverable in the air, like Nimbus. With that in mind, the two ponies took their respective princesses aside and began their specialized instructions. The sisters caught on fast, and by the time they were done, they could easily keep up with Nimbus and Rainbow Dash.

Sweating from an intense, five-minute long mock dogfight with Luna, Nimbus pulled around and faced her.

“So, Princess Luna, are you ready to give the Gorge a shot?”

“Are we?” said Luna, with a huge grin, “of course we are! This is the most fun we’ve had in centuries!”

“Glad to hear it,” Rainbow Dash said, joining Nimbus with Celestia following. “Now let’s hit the Gorge! Three, two, one, dive!”

Nimbus shook his head and smiled. Rainbow Dash wasn't one for waiting, that was for sure.

All of the ponies pulled into a steep dive, descending for the canyon rapidly. When they passed the canyon’s edge, they pulled up, with the exception of Nimbus who held his dive for longer and chose to skim less than four feet above the ground. Luna saw him and decided not to be left out, joining him and kicking up a fantail of dust behind her the lower she descended. Rainbow Dash and Celestia dropped their altitude as well, but chose to weave around each other, rolling and making sharp turns in an outstanding display of synchronized flying. Not to be outdone, Nimbus and Luna pulled up to join them as they raced through the canyon, dodging obstacles left and right.

Ahead, Rainbow Dash could see large holes in the Gorge walls. She turned her head and called back to the others.

“Quarray Eels ahead! They’re probably hibernating right now, so they won’t give us a lot of trouble.”

“No trouble?” Luna said, “but… ‘tis not enough of a challenge!”

She fired a blast of magic towards the holes, making the Gorge begin to shake.

“Um, Luna? What did you do?” Nimbus asked. Luna only smirked. Suddenly, a Quarray Eel shot out of every hole, saliva dripping from their mouths as they turned and saw the flyers approaching.

“Bad idea!” Rainbow Dash said, “bad, bad, bad!”

“The challenge has been doubled!” Luna whooped, streaking straight towards the giant eels.

“Not without me!” Celestia laughed, following her sister.

“Those princesses are insane!” Rainbow Dash said to Nimbus, picking up the pace.

“Perhaps,” Nimbus said, “but I can imagine sitting on a throne all day tends to make this sort of thing seem very appealing. Let’s go!”

They dove after the princesses, twisting and turning through the mass of eels. Nimbus barely avoided a pair of snapping jaws, turning out of the way at the last moment and forcing the eel to collide with one of its neighbors. Celestia and Luna were pushing ahead, using their newfound flying skills to navigate the shifting maze of predators with ease. Nimbus simply couldn’t believe his eyes. Then they were clear. Nimbus did a quick check. Everyone was accounted for- except for Rainbow Dash!

“Dash!” he called out, holding up a hoof as a signal for the princesses to stop. “Dash, are you in there?!”

Suddenly Rainbow Dash burst out into the open, covered with some sort of slime.

“Okay,” she said, brushing the clear slime off, “maybe the triple flip wasn’t the best idea in there.”

Nimbus laughed. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Rainbow Dash muttered, “never been better.”

“Then let’s keep going!” Celestia said, looking at the sun. “I need to retire Philomena and Mecha before sundown.”

“Then we’re wasting time just sitting here,” Rainbow Dash said, “let’s finish this!”

The four looked at each other, daring one another to make the first move, then Celestia took off towards the end of the gorge, leading the way. Quickly, the others began to catch up, but suddenly a tremendous rumbling echoed through the gorge. Nimbus looked to the side just in time to see rocks falling.

“Avalanche!” he yelled as the gorge began to narrow, "the Quarray Eels must have caused it!" The others noticed too, eyes widening in shock.

“Princesses!” Nimbus called, “for your safety, I suggest we pull out!”

“Never!” called Luna, “thou must catch us first!” She began to weaved deftly between the falling rocks, rolling, banking, diving, and having the time of her life. Nimbus laughed. Maybe the royal sisters were a lot more like ordinary ponies than he’d thought. Focusing on his thoughts, he almost didn’t see four rocks falling in front of him, blocking his path. They were too big, and he’d noticed too late to fly over, under, or around them. Bracing for impact, he suddenly noticed a crack between the four rocks. Nimbus aimed for it and curled up, shooting through the opening and barely missing the sides.

“Wow!” Rainbow Dash said, “I have to admit- that was pretty sweet!”

“Thanks!’ Nimbus called, watching the princesses and Rainbow Dash ahead of him. They were almost out of the avalanche zone now, but the gorge was still thinning, to the point that they were now flying wingtip-to-wingtip. Suddenly, huge chunks of rock at the gorge exit ahead began to crumble. They wouldn’t be able to climb over in time. Rainbow Dash instead dove for the ground, leading everyone else down with her. It was a race against the wall of falling rocks now. Nimbus looked up at them falling as he leveled out, pushing himself as fast as he could go. The four slipped under the rocks just before they came crashing into the ground below.

“Woohoo!” Nimbus called, soaring up into the sky.

“Verily!” Luna cried, zooming into the air and rolling, “we have never had so much fun!”

“It was quite exciting,” Celestia said, slowing to a hover. “Thank you both so much for teaching us how you fly today.”

“Oh, it was no trouble at all, really,” said Rainbow Dash.

Celestia turned her head in the direction of Canterlot. The sun was starting to set. “It seems it’s time for us to head back to Canterlot and-“

“Boom!”

A sudden, earth-shattering explosion rocked through the air. Nimbus saw a large fireball and plume of smoke rise from a group of trees between himself and Canterlot.

“Mecha and Philomena will have to wait,” said Luna, “it seems we have more trouble to contend with.”

She and her sister turned towards the smoke and began to fly as fast as they could. Nimbus and Rainbow Dash took one look at each other and nodded, following them.

“We’re coming too!” Rainbow Dash called.

“Yeah,” Nimbus added, “you never know when you’ll need a helping hoof, and this looks like trouble.”

“If thou insist,” Luna responded. “But we must hurry!”

As they came closer to the massive cloud of smoke, Nimbus began feeling small pieces of debris pelting him from above.

“Ow!” he said as he took a plate to the back of the head. He looked up, to find the source of the mysterious falling dinnerware, and gasped.

“Evasive maneuvers!” he yelled. The others looked at him confusedly, wondering what all the fuss was about. Then they looked up as well. Celestia swerved left, narrowly missing a grand piano, and both Luna and Rainbow Dash had to dodge a falling bookcase.

“What in Celestia’s name-“ Nimbus stopped himself, remembering that Celestia herself was nearby, “I mean, what the hay’s going on here?”

“I have no idea,” Celestia answered, as the ponies continued to dodge the falling household items, “but we’ll find out soon enough.”

They descended towards the base of the smoke, which appeared to be a large, black crater with three figures standing at its edge. As they drew closer, Nimbus immediately recognized Mecha, his black-maned Earth Pony friend. Perched on his shoulder was what had to be Philomena- Celestia’s pet phoenix, and next to them was a severely shaken Unicorn in an expensive-looking jacket.

“Heyo, Nimbus!” Mecha called out cheerfully. Nimbus and the others landed, and the orange Pegasus did not seem amused.

“Please tell me you didn’t just do what I think you just did,” Nimbus said.

“What?” Mecha said, “he was dodging his taxes! You know what I spent my day doing? Going through tax reports, that’s what. And guess what I discovered? This ruffian-“ he gave the pony next to him a swift kick in the shins, “has been evading his taxes for the past four months.”

“Uh huh,” Rainbow Dash said. “So what exactly did you do?”

“Simple,” Mecha said, “using the power of some well-applied Hydra scale, I blew up his house.”

“You did what?” Nimbus said, flabbergasted, stepping aside to avoid a falling wine rack.

“That’s right. I blew it up,” Mecha said. “Nopony’s above the law in Equestria.”

“Obviously,” Rainbow Dash said, “still, isn’t this a bit… harsh?”

“Yeah,” Nimbus agreed, “you didn't just do this because he’s a noble, did you?”

Mecha tried to look innocent. “Who, me? Aw, come on now…” Seeing Nimbus’s unflinching expression, he decided to let out the truth. “Okay, fine. I may have done it because he was a noble… but that’s only because he can pay for it!”

Celestia shook her head and stepped forward. Mecha immediately turned to her. If there were two ponies in Equestria who could command his attention, they were the royal sisters.

“Mecha,” Celestia said, “what you did today was undoubtedly excessive punishment, and I normally would not let such a thing go unpunished.”

Mecha lowered his eyes. “I understand.”

“However,” Celestia continued, “the falling debris caused by your explosion allowed my sister and I to practice the skills these two ponies-“ she gestured to Nimbus and Rainbow Dash, “-taught us today. Therefore, I really owe you thanks.” She winked.

The pony next to Mecha was slack-jawed. “So you’re just letting him get away with this?”

Luna turned to him with a snarl. “Verily. And thou would do well to mind thine place in this matter. We are still aware of thine crimes. Tax evasion is a serious crime.”

The pony cringed under Luna’s icy gaze. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“Now I understand you don’t have anywhere to stay,” Celestia said, “so I believe I can provide you with a place to stay until you find a new home. This may be able to take care of your punishment at the same time.”

“Oh really?” the pony asked, “where?”

Celestia smiled, “in the Canterlot guards’ quarters.”

The pony’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh no,” he said, “not there! They’ll eat me alive!”

“Then I’d suggest you grow a backbone and some thick skin,” Mecha said, leaving the Unicorn with Celestia and Luna. “Have fun!”

“Come along, Philomena!” Celestia said. Her phoenix hopped off Mecha’s shoulder and flew to her side. Celestia turned to Nimbus, Mecha, and Rainbow Dash. “I bid you all a good day. Now it’s time for my sister and I to return.”

“And the same to both of you,” the ponies said, bending to their knees as the princesses took off with the Unicorn in custody. Nimbus couldn’t help but smile when he saw Luna roll once before leveling off. It seemed the lessons he and Rainbow Dash had taught wouldn’t be forgotten soon. He turned to Mecha.

“All seriousness aside,” Mecha said, “how was your day?”

“Well,” Nimbus answered, “it was…”

“Eventful,” Rainbow Dash finished for him. “I had no idea Celestia and Luna were so much fun to be around.”

“Yeah,” Mecha said, “seems like everyone gets that impression when they actually meet them. I know I did.”

“Now,” Nimbus said, stretching his wings, “seems like we’re quite a ways away from home.”

Rainbow Dash caught on and began preparing herself for flight. “Yeah, and the sun’s setting pretty quickly.”

Mecha saw what the Pegasi were doing and immediately spoke up. “Oh no you don’t!” he said. “There’s no way I’ll fly back with you two. You’re both crazy! I’ll take my chances with walking, thank you very much.”

“Well that’s a shame,” Nimbus teased. “I’m sure Cheerilee’s going to wonder why you’re not back.”

Mecha growled, conjuring up a magic field around himself and attaching it to Nimbus. “Fine, but no funny business. You know I hate flying.”

Nimbus grinned. “Well, that depends on your definition of ‘funny business’. All I know is that I have to go borrow a book on painting from Twilight, and that's gonna require a speedy return, so...” He turned to Rainbow Dash and grinned.

“Three, two, one-“

The two ponies shot off into the night sky like lightning, rolling banking sharply towards Ponyville.”

“Screw you, Nimbuuuuuus!” Mecha called out as the last of the day faded away, leaving two Pegasi and one very disgruntled Earth Pony heading for home under a starry Equestrian sky- the perfect way to end a long and fun day.