Chapters Twilight works through the night and into the morning, greets both sun and moon as they rise. Distracted by questions of astronomy, she doesn't notice the morning rays brush across her mane, or the night wrap around her like a warm quilt; as she studies, eye at the telescope, she doesn't notice the moon studying her in turn.
A world away, or perhaps no further than the gloom just outside the candle's reach, Luna cheerfully speckles her sky with stars. Perhaps it's true that few appreciate the comfort of her night. But she knows at least one pony that will.
Author's Note
Was going to begin a Twiluna drabble collection (with the questionable title of 'In the Name of the Moon'), but I didn't like it at the time. Looking back now, it seems pretty good to me; not a knockout, by any means, but servicable. I may end up finishing the collection and moving this to it later.
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Underneath the Apple Tree (Rarity/Applejack)
The sun sweeps across the meadows; Applejack snores, loudly, and rolls over in her sleep onto the picnic cloth, exhausted after a long session of applebucking. Rarity sniffs; it's poor form to fall asleep on a first date. The light changes, and the shadows of the leaves above move over her sleeping friend, patches of shadowy brown over vibrant orange. Suddenly, Rarity's fashion instincts erupt; she sees autumn dresses, amber silk. Just as quickly, she stops. She gave up trying to make Applejack fashionable a long time ago. Some things, she reminds herself, are better enjoyed just as they are.
Author's Note
Was going to be the first chapter of a drabble collection based on situation/location prompts. However, this was too simple and too saccharine for my tastes.
The Kitchen At Midnight (Twilight/Luna)
The shadows of wooden spoons dance as the candlelight flickers across them; a whirling troupe of cutlery soars in spirals through the air. At the centre of it all, lit in pale red, lies a purple unicorn, still asleep and far from home.
"Princess. What shall we do?"
"Hath hospitality been forgotten? She hungers; therefore, prepare a meal," Luna decrees. "Allow her my chambers for the night."
As guards bustle, Twilight speaks, her tongue slurred by sleep. Princess .
"I fear I am not the princess thou art dreaming of," Luna says with a wan smile. Sometimes, she wishes she were.
Author's Note
Another situation/location drabble that didn't make it. I actually kinda like this one, but the ending is pretty bad, and I panned the rest of the collection so it goes here. TwiLuna is one of my favourite pairings, but I just have no idea how to write it.
Cheer (Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash)
The sun rose elegantly in Equestria, a smooth and effortless glide from the horizon that Princess Celestia could be proud of. With a thousand shuffles and yawns, Ponyville slowly awoke for another day.
With only a little hesitation, Fluttershy looked at the mirror and fixed it with a glare that would have stripped paint. Or, rather, tried to. What actually happened fell somewhere between a pout and the kind of look worn by the last puppy in the pet shop window. She tried to be annoyed with herself, but it didn't work; she just felt a little sad. Next, she tried to smirk in the smuggest way possible, the kind of smirk she sometimes saw Rainbow Dash wear after a race. Predictably, it didn't work. She just looked like she was posing for one of those awkward school portraits, fake smile smothered on by an overzealous photographer. This just wasn't working at all. She'd have to tell Rarity next time she saw her.
Luckily, it was later that day. Pinkie Pie was throwing another party (although, that said, it was only the third this week) and Rarity was rushing around trying to put together a fashionable outfit to wear. They crashed into each other outside the costume shop, resulting in a mini-explosion of sequins and a very sparkly Fluttershy.
“O-oh...Hey, Rarity. Are you okay?” she asked, helping the unicorn up.
“Are jewels shiny?” Rarity snapped, before apologising at the sight of Fluttershy's trembling lip. She sometimes forgot how sensitive Flutter really was...
“I-I tried your tips. Y'know, practising looking confident,” Fluttershy began, falling into step with Rarity. The unicorn looked a little harried, but still effortlessly beautiful. That was what Fluttershy envied about her: the ability to look as if she wasn't trying, as if beautiful was just the way she was meant to be. She carried herself with the knowledge that she was gorgeous, with...well, confidence.
“Oh, yes? It's just as I said. Sometimes, you don't need to be confident, you just have to look it. And then the whole world gets out of your way. How'd it go?”
“It didn't work. I couldn't even look a little confident...” Fluttershy said quietly. She didn't want Rarity to think she was calling her advice bad.
“Just keep practising. Confidence, just like fashion, takes some work. I should know! Now, where can I get ribbons?” Rarity said, breaking into a panicked run once again. Fluttershy felt her face drop. It looked like being confident was going to be harder than she thought. Time for plan B.
“Well howdy, Fluttershy! What brings y'all to my house?” Applejack asked, carrying two full panniers of apples as though it were nothing.
“Well, um, I asked Rarity how to be more confident, and she gave me some advice, but it's not working for me...” Fluttershy began.
“Now, why would y'all wanna be more confident? I like ya how ya are!” Applejack smiled.
“Well, I thought that, maybe if I were more confident, I could scare away bullies, and I'd make less trouble for everyone.”
“Now don't you worry none about that. Me and Rainbow Dash don't mind. You're our friend, and if you get bullied we'd drop everything to deal with it.”
“Still...”
Applejack smiled inwardly. Despite her cute looks, Fluttershy could be pretty gosh-darn stubborn when she got an idea in her head.
“Well, if'n you're still worried about it, why not try wearin' a hat like mine? If you wear a fancy hat, you feel a lot more powerful than if ya don't. I don't know what I'd do without mine,” the earth pony suggested.
“U-um...Well, if you say so...”
Within a few minutes, a spare hat had been dug up for Fluttershy and placed summarily on her head. Applejack nodded proudly. She always thought that pony would look fine in a slouch hat. Although, why on earth was she covered in sequins? She decided not to question it. Probably Rarity's contribution to the problem.
Fluttershy, on the over hoof, wasn't nearly so pleased. With a hat on, she felt even more shy. She could practically feel the trees staring at her. With that in mind, she decided to find more advice. Twilight Sparkle was pretty confident, and smart, too- maybe she had some magic that would help.
“Fluttershy! Uh, nice hat. And sequins,” Twilight smiled as she walked in.
“Hey, Twilight. I'm, uh, trying to be more confident...I already asked Applejack and Rarity for help.”
“Well, that explains a lot. I guess you wanna know what I think?” Twilight asked, perhaps a little too fast. There was a really good book waiting for her in the back room, and she was anxious to get back to it. She wouldn't have time to read once Pinkie's party started later that day.
“Um, yes please,” the pegasus said, sweetly enough to attract insects.
“Well, if you ask me, it's all about the glasses. Knowledge equals power, and power equals confidence. If you wear glasses, people think you're smart, so they'll leave you alone!” Twilight said sagely.
“R-really?”
“Almost certainly! Let's see if I can find you a pair.”
There was some worrying crashing in the back room as Twilight scoured her shelves. Fluttershy adjusted her hat nervously.
“Here we are! I took out the lenses, so they won't hurt your eyes,” Twilight smiled.
“Thanks, Twilight. I-I'm...not in the way, am I?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight glanced meaningfully towards the door.
“No, no, of course not, but I'm kinda deep in some spell research right now, just in case the parasprites come back, so I need to get back to work. I'll see you at Pinkie's party, okay?”
The door swung resolutely shut behind her, and Fluttershy moaned. Now she had a hat and glasses? But she didn't feel any more confident at all. And she was running out of people to ask. Shrugging, she decided to go and track down Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie didn't care what anyone said, so she must be pretty confident. She'd know what to do.
“Oh, wow Fluttershy! Is that your costume for the party! It looks fantastically fancy and fantabulous!” Pinkie shrieked as she walked in. All thoughts of her job and baking were immediately forgotten.“I love the sequins. More people should wear sequins, y'know, they're so sparkly and spangly and just spiffy! So, so, so, did you come here to show off or buy a cake? I hope you came here to show off 'cause you look great!”
“U-um, well, actually, I came to get some advice...” Fluttershy began, not so sure this was a good idea anymore.
“Ooh, yay! Let me help! I'm great at this game!”
This did not make Fluttershy feel more confident.
“Well, I was wondering, how would I, y'know, be like you, and not worry about what other people say?”
Pinkie went quiet for a moment, which filled Fluttershy and everyone in the bakery with a very real terror. Quiet and Pinkie were not two words that should ever appear in the same sentence, no matter how much you sometimes wished they would.
“Bright COLOURS!” Pinkie shrieked, and ran back to the kitchen. A few seconds later, she ran in through the front door of the bakery carrying a neon pink feather boa. Fluttershy's heart fell.
“Pinkie, I don't think-”
The difficult thing about trying to find out why Pinkie didn't care what other people thought was that Pinkie did not care what other people thought. Moving at mach 1, the pink pony wrapped the feather boa around Fluttershy's neck, spinning her like a top.
“Don't forget to come to the party this evening!” Pinkie called, as Fluttershy's spinning momentum carried her out of the shop.
Outside, Fluttershy groaned. That was possibly the worst idea she could have had. And now she was wearing a feather boa! But she couldn't exactly take it off...Pinkie would be hurt. There was only one person she could turn to for advice now. She hoped it was worthwhile.
“'How can I be confident', huh? Well, Fluttershy, luckily for you, I've got two words to solve all your problems!” Rainbow Dash grinned. Fluttershy's heart leapt.
“What are they, Rainbow Dash? Please tell me. I'm tired of being a burden on everyone...”
“SONIC RAINBOOM! ” Dash yelled. Fluttershy eeped so loud her hat fell off.
“Rainbow Dash...” she moaned reprovingly, feeling her lower lip wobble. Rainbow Dash giggled, completely unmoved.
“Aw, come on. I was serious. D'ya remember when I first did the Sonic Rainboom and I asked you to cheer me on? When I finally did it, you cheered so loud you made all the other ponies look bad. But before that, you were too scared to cheer loud. And remember when we fought the dragon? Boy, you just marched in there without a second thought! You're plenty confident, Fluttershy.”
“B-but...that was different,” Fluttershy protested, blushing.
“Of course it was. No-pony's confident all the time, not even when they're as awesome as me. But you're confident when it counts. Besides, if you weren't confident, how could you run around town all day wearing that?” Dash pointed out. The feather boa seemed to wilt slightly under the insult.
“But if I'm confident, why do I feel so shy all the time?”
“Oh, I dunno. It's not like it's in your name or anything,” Dash quipped. “But it doesn't matter anyway, y'know? Regardless of whether you're shy or not, there's things only you can do. So, you should be proud.”
“...Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said uncertainly.
Rainbow Dash smiled in a satisfied way, before fixing Fluttershy with a searching gaze. Quietly but clearly, she said, “Besides. I personally think that when you're all shy like that, you're really, really...cute.”
Fluttershy suddenly became aware of quite how close they were standing. And of quite how deep Dash's eyes were, and of how many individual eyelashes she had, and how strong and smooth her neck looked.
“Haha! You see what I mean?” Dash giggled as Fluttershy broke into a luminescent blush. “You're just too easy. Hey, you mind if I wear your hat to Pinkie's party? It's actually pretty cool.”
Fluttershy pouted. “I don't know...Applejack gave it to me, and she might get upset that I leant it to you without asking...”
“Pah. You're too cute to get angry at. So, it's a deal?” Dash teased, lifting the hat off her head before she could say no.
In the end, she felt no more confident than when she'd started out. She still couldn't pull off Rarity's effortless confidence or Rainbow Dash's smug grin. But in a way, it didn't matter. As Rainbow Dash bought her an ice-cream cone to ward off the Wobbly Lower Lip Of Doom, it occurred to her she could just get them to do it for her.
Author's Note
This was the second thing I ever wrote for the fandom, way back when I maintained my fanfiction net account, and much like the first one, I rejected it for being too plain dumb. (The first one, Of Cake and Recumbent Hats, I eventually adapted into the Nine Of Wands chapter for Draw.) My characterisations were pretty all over the place here; it's one story I doubt I'll rework, since it'd be easier to just start from scratch.
Scaredy Cat (Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash)
The moon rode high over a night sky like bruised purple silk, but Equestria still buzzed with life. All Hallow's Eve had arrived, and Ponyville was full of lurid and unnatural colours that even the darkness could not stifle. The sound of doorbells being rung and ponies being scared echoed out across the night.
“Oh, come on, Fluttershy. We'll never beat Applejack and Rarity this way!” Rainbow Dash scolded.
“T-t-this is a really, really bad idea, Rainbow Dash. I want to go home,” Fluttershy stammered, although she knew the other pegasus couldn't hear (the words spirited away by the whistling wind) and wouldn't have listened if she had.
The night had started off well, in a manner of speaking. The six had met on the high-street, already costumed up. Rarity probably had the most elaborate costume. Painstakingly applied zom-pony make up covered every inch of her flanks, and she'd dyed her mane a luminous, scruffy white. She'd even painted on scars and blood. Fluttershy could hardly bear to look at her. Applejack had also taken advantage of Rarity's makeup expertise, having been painted jet black for the night, and eschewing her normal hat for a pumpkin worn over her head. She was, in every sense of the phrase, a Night Mare.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, had decided to go with the traditional bedsheet-over-the-head approach, her reasoning being that if you saw a bedsheet zooming through the air towards you at high speed, you'd be pretty spooked too. Fluttershy thought it was scary enough without the flying, but wisely bit her tongue.
As for Pinkie? Well, they hadn't actually seen her, only heard her voice from behind some trash cans. She was, she said, disguised as a ninja for the evening. They'd looked behind the trash cans, of course, but found nothing. The idea that Pinkie Pie could be literally anywhere, waiting to pop out at them, sent a cold shiver down Fluttershy's spine.
Points for creativity, however, most definitely went to Twilight Sparkle, who hadn't even gotten a costume. Instead, she was using an illusion to make herself look like a full-grown dragon. To be fair, Fluttershy hadn't seen what was so scary about it herself, but the others were pretty impressed.
As for Fluttershy herself? She hadn't gone in costume. She knew how bad it felt to be scared. Why would she want to scare people herself? The other ponies had nodded sagely, agreeing that it was definitely like her.
And then, things had taken a turn for the worst when Applejack suggest a 'friendly' competition to see who could get the most candy. Faster than a starved piranha, Rainbow Dash bit. They divided into three teams- Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth Pony. The team with the most candy by the end of the night would be crowned the winner.
With that, they had split up. Fluttershy didn't like it. Bad things happened when you split up on All Hallow's Eve.
The Pegasus team, being the least scary team, had to maximise on their great strength: speed. As it turned out, though, there was a major flaw with Rainbow Dash's costume design: it made it very hard to steer when flying. Rainbow Dash being Rainbow Dash, she refused to slow down, weaving across the night sky like a sugar crazy parasprite, the bedsheet streaming behind her. Fluttershy struggled desperately to keep up, wishing very much that she was at home, where there was a sofa to hide behind.
And then, the inevitable happened, and the bedsheet (relatively well behaved thus far) tangled itself in Rainbow Dash's wings.
With ethereal slowness, the pegasus began to fall. She began to corkscrew elegantly as she plunged through the air in deafening silence, her shouts and screams drowned by the rushing wind. Fluttershy watched, eyes dilated, as her friend began to pick up speed. Her heart seemed to bounce against her ribs, it was beating so hard.
She felt the air rushing through her mane, and realised that she had gone into a dive.
Her mind went entirely blank as the wind screamed in her ears. It was like her body was an autopilot, as if it had always known this was going to happen, had always known exactly how to deal with it. A thousand emotions crashed through her, welling up in the pit of her stomach, jumping in electric arcs down her spine. This was fear, this was terror, this was simplicity itself. All that mattered was the pony streaking through the darkness towards the black earth below.
Too slow , Fluttershy realised. I'm much too slow . As if by themselves, her wings folded flat, and the dive became a freefall. The speed forced tears from her eyes. She might have been screaming. She didn't know. The ground was getting much closer, much faster now, but so was Rainbow Dash.
Lift! , some part of her screamed, and her wings opened once more, turning her dive into a swoop. The shock almost wrenched her wings from her sockets, but before she knew it she was hurtling not downwards but sideways. The sky and the earth turned until she didn't know which was which anymore.
Gracefully, the two ponies met in midair.
Fluttershy became dimly aware that she had snatched Rainbow Dash from her freefall. She was even more dimly aware that she was still flying forwards at a speed she had never known before. What she was most aware of was how very close the tips of her hooves were to the tops of the trees, and how, with Rainbow Dash's added weight, there was no way she could get any altitude.
Something clipped her left hind hoof, and the world started to spin with wild abandon, the greens and browns and dark sky bleeding and melting within each other, until, finally, they become a consuming, all engulfing blackness.
“Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked, five feet away on the grass. It was mossy grass, the grass of a forest. Trees towered above them.
“...Y-yes?” she breathed, her head muzzy, still reeling from the thick fog of unconciousness.
“You're a little crazy, you know that?” the pony said conversationally.
“I don't know how you do it all the time, Dash. I really don't,” Fluttershy muttered. Every muscle ached, especially her wings. Even her bones seemed leaden.
“It's almost dawn. See the sun rising in between the trees? We've been out for a while,” Dash said thoughtfully. “...I guess this means we lost the candy contest, huh?”
“Rainbow Dash!”
“I know, I know, not the most important thing right now. Sorry,” the other pony said, probably grinning sheepishly. She didn't have the energy to turn her head and check. “What do we do now?”
“I don't know, Dash. I don't think I'll be able to get up for a while...” she groaned, and another spasm of pain shot through her wings in confirmation.
“...huh. I guess we're relying on either some hocus pocus from Twilight, or maybe Pinkie Sense. Why is my confidence suddenly dropping?” Dash joked.
Four, five, six beats of silence. Something chirped. The forest was beginning to rouse itself.
“Although, I can think of worse things than being stuck alone in a forest with you.”
Fluttershy blinked and mustered the energy to turn her head, but Rainbow Dash had her back to her. Probably deliberately. There was another silence, a minute long this time, before Rainbow Dash spoke again.
“Fluttershy?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks. For, y'know, saving my life. You were...really brave.”
“N-not really. It just kind of...happened.”
“Doesn't matter how it happened, just that it did, I guess. Otherwise, I'd be a totally awesome pancake right about now.”
“..Thanks, Dash...”
“...Fluttershy?”
“Yes?”
“You think there are any bears in this forest?”
Author's Note
Y'know how I said the previous story, 'Cheer', was too dumb? Well, I thought that even back when I wrote it, and wrote this to replace it. Somehow, this manages to be even DUMBER. Since it was written when I was new to the fandom, it's riddled with poor characterisation and continuity errors, too. Even the title was wrong-- I originally wanted to call it Scaredy Colt. Of course, this was back at the time when I didn't realise that colts were traditionally male. Geez. Looking back at my original notes, it was apparently a second edit, since I'd tried to make it a Fluttershy/Doctor Whooves story first.
(I was pretty into Flutterdash, back in the day. Riiiiiiight up until I wrote Pink & Blue and Life Gives You Apples.)
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Head In The Clouds (Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie)
Rainbow knows she has it bad when she starts seeing her in the cloud formations. There's a pretty big difference between Pinkie and a massive cumulonimbus cloud, but she just can't see it; the fluffy vapour looks altogether too much like her mane, curls upon curls.
Meditatively she sculpts, and wonders if this is what her mane would feel like; fluffy, bouncy, insubstantial. But insubstantial is the wrong word, for her.
Before she knows it, she's finished, and stands back to admire her work. She never realised that storm clouds could be beautiful before.
Not that she'd ever admit it.
The best days are spent with friends, so Pinkie's delighted when Twilight and Fluttershy burst into Cupcake Corner. Twilight drags her outside, points to the clouds and asks, "Pinkie, is this your doing?"
It isn't, but she likes it. Everypony should have an awesome cloud version of themselves.
"Ooh! Idea! I should make Dashie cookies!" she shouts, and offers no explanations.
"I don't get those two. Oh well," Twilight sighs, shaking her head. "I suppose we'll be the first ponies ever to have eaten Rainbow Dash."
Fluttershy squeaks and breaks out in a luminescent blush. She refuses to explain why.
Author's Note
This was going to be chapter 1 of 'Of Hot Air, and Balloons', a potential RainbowPie drouble collection I unceremoniously abandoned five chapters in. I ended up posting it on my FFnet account, but didn't even bother over here. Droubles confuse me, and I didn't like this when I wrote it.
Bare Cupboards (Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie)
It isn't like she can't cook. She can do anything, except wear those stupid fru-fru dresses Rarity keeps brandishing at her. It's just that ovens tend to have drastic effects on a house made of water vapour. So, that's that. She can cook. She just sort've can't .
So having an eager earth pony friend who happens to cook for a living is a blessing. But sometimes she worries about the price she pays. Reading from a script that Pinkie wrote herself?
"Okay, now put on the Puddinghead hat, and blow the trumpet!" Pinkie giggles.
Actually, she means all the time.
"Pinkie, this is ridiculous," Dash pouts. "I'm not reading this."
She tries to storm out, but it doesn't help when the pony you're storming away from skips along in your wake.
"But Dashie," Pinkie wheedles, "We need to practice for the performance next week."
"Performance? We're performing ? In public ?" Dash spits.
"Yup, it'll be so much fun! Now, repeat after me. 'I love you, Commander Hurricane!'"
"...Wait, if I'm Puddinghead, then who's-"
"Me, silly! And Fluttershy's Clover the Clever! She just doesn't know it yet!"
Rainbow Dash blanches, and gets the feeling she's in for one heck of a show.
Author's Note
Dumb concept, sloppy execution, too many italics, 'blanche' is a stupid word and I don't like it. Another potential chapter of Hot Air.
Observation (Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie)
Of course, I know that nothing's really changed. Not really. Pinkie confessing that she has a crush on me doesn't, like, alter the laws of physics or anything- when you flap your wings you go up, and when you fall you go down, after about a second's worth of comedic pause. Nothing's changed.
But I notice it more. Like, when she bursts out of a fireplace, I think 'What if the fire was actually lit'? When she leaps into the punch bowl, I worry about her drowning. That kind of thing. It's dumb, I know.
Nothing's changed. Apart from me.
Dashie's watching me watch her watch me watch the Cutie Mark Crusaders watch me watching her watch me, so we're going around in circles and Scootaloo's like, 'Hello? Equestria to Captain McAwesome, AKA Rainbow Dash?', but Dashie's being awkward with me because she turned me down and I don't mind but a watched kettle can't bake a cake, silly. It's all so weird I could just write a song about it, but that would make things even more awkward and I'm not allowed to sing when I'm baking because Mr. Cake says 'we all know what happened last time'. Yay!
Author's Note
Dash is too melancholy, and Pinkie needs some ritalin. Thus ends the tale of yet another canned chapter of Hot Air.
Penny Dreadful (Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie)
Rainbow Dash took a moment to ensure her door was securely locked. Not, of course, that it mattered. Anypony who actually wanted to see her would be more than capable of getting through it- Twi had teleportation, Applejack could just knock the friggin' thing down, Fluttershy would pull her Jedi mind tricks, Rarity had enough hairpins to pick all the locks in Canterlot, and since when had doors ever stopped Pinkie Pie? But it created the illusion of privacy, and that was enough. With only Tank watching, she nonchalantly opened the magazine, and skipped the articles (erudite as she was sure they were) to get to the part she was really interested.
Oh, baby .
For almost five whole minutes, she was blindsided by a world of leather and of lace, forbidden delights leaping from every page. The accentuation on the flanks, the sensation of motion conveyed by the static pictures! Best of all, the quiet smile shared by every model, stallion or mare...She gave a guilty little shiver even to think of it. Gasping, she decided that now would be the time for a stiff glass of (free) apple juice. Oh, the joys of knowing apple farmers.
When she got back, she noticed her door was not closed as she had left it, and that Tank was strangely quiet. But only after she noticed that every single pony in her magazine had gained a new, jet-black moustache.
"Surprise !"
There were many strange and wonderful sights to be seen in Equestria, but few stranger and more wonderful than watching Pinkamena Diane Pie extricate herself from a turtle shell that was half her height and width, and which still contained a turtle to boot.
"Oh, Dashie. You should see your face! It's all like 'bleaaaagah'!" she giggled.
"H-hey, Pinkie. I, uh, didn't see you there. Say, um, you didn't, um, look at my magazine, didja?" Dash asked, and felt sweat on her brow.
"Of course I did! How did you think I got the moustaches so pretty ?" Pinkie asked, and cocked her head to the side. "But, wow, Dashie. I didn't think you were into that sort of thing."
"Shut up. You can't tell anypony. Especially not Fluttershy, but especially not Rarity," Dash hissed.
"Of course not. But why are you so worried about a little fashion magazine?" Pinkie asked.
"I got a reputation to consider. Now, do you promise to keep this a secret?" Dash glared. The magazine on the bed seemed to look up at her, accuse her, as she swore Pinkie to secrecy.
"Have y'all got the goods?"
Dash took the magazine out of a borrowed greatcoat and passed it over. Her client looked over it in the moon's light, eyes dilated in the darkness.
"Same time next week, Sugarcube?"
"Sure. Take care."
A pair of eyes, luminous white, opened between the two.
"Surprise!" the newcomer stage whispered. "By the way, you'd look awesome in that one from page 36..."
Author's Note
Originally, Hot Air was supposed to lengthen out into 500 word pieces after chapter 5, but this is the only one I did. It is, of course, pretty dumb; it's basically 'ohohoho, Rainbow Dash is looking at teh pr0nz but actually she isn't.' I liked the line about Pinkie climbing out of the turtle, though; it's really typical of my style when writing comedy.
The Hearth Of The Enemy (Trixie/Twilight)
Winter, she had discovered, was an admirer of hers. Whenever it found her, it showered her with crystals of snow, wrapped her in a blanket of white so as to keep her for itself. Of all her fans, Winter was the only one to stay after her disgrace. Eventually, as she grew feeble from lack of food, it overtook her.
She awoke to roasting marshmallows, a roaring fire, a familiar face.
"You dare to pity me?" she almost snarled. "I am the Great and Powerful-"
"Excellent," interrupted Twilight Sparkle, and offered a marshmallow. "But I'd rather you were warm."
Author's Note
This is another situation/location prompt, and is actually not a chapter I've discarded previously, weirdly enough; I wrote it for practice only the day of posting. However, since I canned the whole collection, I'll put it here anyway. It's a 'true' drabble, according to my wordcount.
-Unique-
Her walk was sinuous clockwork, a ruthless machine hiding under skin, scale and beating heart. There but for the grace of history strode her mother, the old Queen Chrysalis.
Author's Note
Random practice drabble done with Karrakaz. It uses the idea of the 'new' Queen Chrysalis that happened in Kaleidoscope.
Autobiography (Fluttershy)
-Autobiography-
If anypony ever wrote a biography for her, it would begin and end at that moment.
Two mares in white sauntering down the aisle, the scattered petals taken from her garden, the songbird choir assembled by her hoof. As Dash and Pinkie giggled through their vows, Rarity put a kindly hoof around her shoulder.
She'd made this happen. Worked so hard to help, because they asked. But if she'd only reached out, been brave, she could have had it for herself. She could have been the one wearing Pinkie's dress. But she hadn't.
It was the story of her life.
Author's Note
Another practice drabble with Karrakaz.
Faith (Rainbow Dash/Twilight)
-Faith-
It wasn't the first time she'd been asked why she was a jerk. Just the first time Twilight had done the asking. It hurt.
How was she meant to explain it? She was a jerk to her friends because she trusted them. She trusted them to know she meant no harm. She trusted them to tell her off if she went too far. She trusted them to know that, if they said the word, she'd have their back even if the world was against them. It was unspoken. Implicit. An act of faith. But somehow, Twilight hadn't realised it yet.
Author's Note
Another practice drabble with Karrakaz.
Childish (Scootaloo/Rainbow Dash)
-Childish-
It was the way she acted as she presented her bouquet, a nervousness in the grin that only an adult recognised. Her mane had gotten long as a teenager, and the scrapes she always had on her knees were long gone.
“Uh, sorry, Scootaloo. I'm not interested,” Dash said, pushing the flowers away.
Scootaloo's grin faded, and, just for a moment, the sadness showed on her face. But it was only a moment, and she recovered swiftly, feigning casual acceptance.
She was just a kid, Dash told herself. The way she acted mature just exposed how childish she really was.
Author's Note
More practice drabbles with Karrakaz. This one was a bit overambitious and I didn't get what I wanted from it, but hey. This is a collection of practice/sub-par pieces, so you get what you pay for.
Not Quite A Mother (Applejack)
-Not Quite A Mother-
She was the one who broke up the fights (when she wasn't starting them). She was the one with a comforting hoof for everypony's shoulder (when there wasn't one wrapped around hers). She was the one who was gentle but firm (when she didn't default to yelling).
They caused trouble, got scared and ran back to each other to make excuses. But then she did exactly the same thing. In the end, Applejack wasn't quite sure what she was trying to be. She wasn't a troublemaker, a dreamer, a coward or a clown. But she wasn't quite a mother, either.
Author's Note
The last drabble in mine and Karrakaz's practice session. Man, it feels good to be back to doing these~ I love writing 100 word pieces.
-Grounded-
The soft rush of the ocean swell is calling to her; somewhere within those rolling waves are freedom, treasure, adventure. Or, perhaps, just fun. Behind her, the beach party goes on.
“Pinkie? Are you okay?” Twilight asks. She's concerned, and doesn't hide it. Pinkie smiles, but her mane betrays her. She fools nopony.
Above them, the sunset is looming, turning the sea to liquid amber and the sand to sprinkled gold. Higher still are Dash and Fluttershy, talking so quietly that nopony can hear what they say.
Pinkie knows. But the ocean is calling, and not everypony gets to fly.
Author's Note
A second practice drabble session with Karrakaz? What is this madness
A Mare Of My Own (Daring Do)
-A Mare Of My Own-
In the temples of ancient lands, upon bricks of stone and inlaid gold, an explorer left her hoofsteps wearily and stole her treasure where she could. With her wings bound and her pack heavy, she would return to the civilised world with a wan smile and a story for the bar, disappearing as the morning came.
The rumours spread, as they always did, that she didn't know what it was she sought – that the wandering explorer's quest was for love.
But Fluttershy had found her first.
Author's Note
More practice drabbles!
A Frown Doesn't Suit You (Rarity/AJ)
-A frown doesn't suit you-
It wasn't every day a sister left home. Sweetie Belle, grown up and with a singing voice of liquid gold, took a last glance back at her sister, and fled. Her career would take her travelling; nopony knew when she might return.
For once the Boutique did not hum with the sound of sewing; for once, the lights remained off. The door was unlocked, so Applejack let herself in. She found Rarity, alone, with a handkerchief that matched neither her mane nor her eyes.
“Cheer up, Rare,” she muttered, clumsily. “Y'all know there ain't nothin' less fashionable than a frown.”
There's A Cure For That (Dash/Twilight)
-There's a cure for that-
There were many interesting things one could do with super-glue. One of the most interesting, Dash thought, was to sneak into your friend's house whilst they were out and stick all their furniture to the ceiling.
Next morning, she found Twilight casually reading the newspaper upside down and muttering something about the difficulties of applied gravitic dissonance.
“C'mon, Twi,” Dash said nervously, catching the glint in the unicorn's eye. “I can't help it if I think you're cute when you're angry.”
Twilight carefully rolled her paper into a tube. “Don't worry,” she said ominously. “I'm sure we can fix that.”
Author's Note
More practice drabbleabbledabbleabbles.
-Mist-
Reading was harder whenever Pinkie slept the night. In the mornings she sang in the shower, drew smiley faces on the fogged up mirrors, and prowled like a wolf through the mist.
That, by itself, was not enough to distract Twilight. What did was the way Pinkie always wandered into the study, towel draped loosely around her hindquarters, and flopped (wet, warm, tantalisingly fresh) beside her on the easy chair. Her curls would go everywhere, usually into Twilight's lap, and it was all very distracting.
On those mornings, it was Twilight's habit to also take a shower. A cold one.
Author's Note
And there! Another set of practice drabbles over with.
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Crystal Clear (The Great And Powerful Trixie)
-Crystal Clear-
The future wasn't something that could be seen in mere glass. Trixie, Great and Powerful, knew this. But apparently, a lot of other ponies didn't.
“Your true love will give to you a rose,” she predicted, muffled through her mask. She waved her hooves for effect.
“That's nice. But Ah asked about m'crops,” Applejack said, unimpressed.
“Oh, let her tell you about your true love,” Rarity snapped. “Now, madame fortune-teller, would this be a red rose or a white one?”
Trixie grinned. You couldn't see much by looking in a crystal ball. But some things were obvious enough without one.
Welcome To The Club (Vinyl/Dash)
“Hey, gimme your glasses. I wanna try them on.”
Vinyl takes a sip of her drink, and sighs. What a twerp thing to say. A real fifth-grade ultimatum. It doesn't help that her follow-up act is absolutely massacring his set. So far the crowd's still pumped from her part of the show, but the management is hanging around and looking worried. She can see herself getting back up on stage if things go sour, and double shifts are never fun.
“No,” she snaps, and drains the rest of her glass in one gulp. It's a universal signal that she's prepared to walk away. It's also a total waste of a drink she was actually enjoying.
“Aw, come on. I just wanna see what I look like. It'd just be for a second.”
For a moment, Vinyl is relieved. There are only two types of twerp: belligerent, and wheedling. The wheedling ones are usually harmless enough, so at least she won't be turning up at home with a black eye in the morning. But then, the angry ones are way faster to deal with, one way or another, and she'd almost prefer a short brawl rather than another two hours of pestering.
“No. Quit asking.”
To her great surprise, the pony relents, and begins to slouch listlessly on the bar. It's difficult to tell if she's drunk or not; she wouldn't be out of place if she was blitzed, but there was no slur in her voice. For a second, Vinyl almost thinks she recognises her, but colour means nothing in a club washed with strobe lights, so she really can't tell.
“Geez, tonight suuuuuuucks,” the pony declares, drawing circles on the counter with her hoof.
Vinyl frowns. If ponies aren't enjoying themselves in a club she's played in, something's wrong. It's almost a personal insult. “What, the music not good enough?”
“Nah, it's fine. I just don't wanna be here. I argued with my marefriend and got kicked out for the night.”
Alarm bells start going off in Vinyl's head. She's got no interest in hearing some sob story from some random mare. That's the bartender's job. She's got enough to worry about, anyway. She's only just gotten back to Ponyville, and they're still trying to get the house habitable.
But, on the other hoof, she was here first. She shouldn't have to move because someone's moping in the stool next to her. She can always just not ask or answer, and hope that's enough of a deterrent. Even if the pegasus–and it is a pegasus, because her wings are folded up like a scolded schoolmare's–decides to rattle off her stupid life story, Vinyl doesn't have to listen. She can just sit, and drink, and ignore it. That way, she doesn't come off like a total jerk, and the mare gets something off her chest. It's just easier to sit there, she decides. It's got nothing to do with Octavia telling her to look for some friends outside the club scene, and absolutely nothing to do with wanting to offer comfort to strangers.
“I mean, it's not that unusual for us to argue. We tend to bicker a lot. But she's never kicked me out before. It's kinda scary, y'know? I'm worried that I might've, like, broken something, or made some huge mistake that I can't fix. You ever feel like that?”
“Uh huh,” Vinyl replies, and immediately regrets it. What happened to 'don't ask, don't answer'? Now she's just bought herself the entire lecture. She couldn't help it, though. That feeling of nervousness, of not knowing how to proceed after a big mistake… She can't claim to not have felt it.
The mare nods fervently, probably glad to have a sympathetic audience. “See? You get it. I don't know what to do. I was just annoyed because she brought her work home with her this evening. I mean, yeah, I get that her work's important, but we don't get a lot of time together. Usually, one or both of us are out of town doin' stuff. As soon as I said anything, she just flipped out and told me to get out of the house so she could finish it.”
“Sounds like me and my marefriend. We don't argue about it so much, but it's tough to spend time together,” the DJ replies, and then, because it seems like she'll be here a while, she adds: “Hey, bartender. Two of the usual, on the rocks.”
“Really? What does your marefriend do?”
“Music teacher. Well, she used to work as a cellist in this village, actually, but the concert hall that employed her shut down. She's really talented, too. It's just that she works days and I work nights, so it's tricky. Yours?”
The mare hesitates for a second. “She's, uh, a librarian. You'd probably know her if I told you her name. But she's pretty, uh, active in the community, and I'm always trying out for stunt flying competitions, so, yeah. How do you guys deal with it? The separation, I mean.”
Vinyl leans back on her stool, and takes a thoughtful breath. “We just do. I don't work every night, and she doesn't work every day. The time we get, we spend together. It doesn't always work out, and that sucks sometimes, but she's the most important mare in my life. I wouldn't trade what we've got for anything.”
The pegasus bows her head for a second, thinking deeply. Strobes lights lash across her face, but she doesn't seem to mind. Finally, she reaches her conclusion. “You're pretty cool. You know that?”
Vinyl frowns; she's not really comfortable with getting complements from total strangers. Well, complements unrelated to music, at least. “Yeah, well… You're a twerp. But I think you'll be fine. You had the nerve to come up to me and ask me for my glasses, so you should be able to get your marefriend to listen to you,” she says, and drains her glass. “If you're not drinking that, give it to me.”
The pegasus suddenly notices that she got a free drink out of the conversation, and makes a valiant attempt at downing it in one gulp. It ends with a splutter and some laughter. Vinyl grins wryly, and decides that the conversation has been entertaining enough for her not to regret it. But the management ponies are hovering ever closer, so she decides to get out of dodge before they can rope her into anything.
“Hey, wait. You come here often?” the pegasus asks, still coughing from her little stunt.
For a moment, Vinyl considers not answering. But it wasn't really that bad a time. She could do this kind of thing again. “Yeah, could say that. I work here sometimes, so try and catch me on stage. Quick warning, though. If you show up with that mopy expression when I'm doing my set, I'll bust you in the face when I'm done.”
The mare grins mischievously; evidently, she doesn't mind fighting talk. “Yeah? Well, bring it on. I'm pretty tough. Like, I once beat up a dragon. By the way, my name's Rain–”
“Tell me next time,” the unicorn replies, and takes the first few steps towards the door. “If you're not coming again, I don't want to bother remembering it.”
She leaves before the pegasus can answer back, although she's almost sure she hears someone shouting “Jerk!” just before she gets through the door.
It's still only four in the morning, and dawn hasn't quite begun to wash over Ponyville. She'll be home early this morning, so she might take the chance to cook up some breakfast in bed for her partner. As she picks her way through the streets of the sleeping village, she can't help but notice that the lights in the library are on, as if waiting for somepony to come home.
Author's Note
This was one of the things I wrote shortly before my return from a year's hiatus. I was on a TwiDash phase, and just thought to myself: how would a grumpy Musicverse!Vinyl react to Rainbow Dash? Apparently like this. I almost feel like this could be a side chapter to Misadventures, but I don't really have anywhere to put it so in here it goes.
Interference (Twilight/Pinkie)
There must be a reason behind it. She talks in riddles but moves in rhymes, drifting from non-sequitor to non-sequitor like hooves across piano keys. It's fine when she's all giggles, the party pony with the permanent smile. It's painful when she breaks, when she's trying so hard to communicate but can't find the words or the way, lost to static of her mind.
Twilight's given up trying to explain Pinkie Pie. She can barely explain herself. But there's no way she's letting her friend float away, like balloons set adrift in the wind.
She just wishes she could understand.
Author's Note
Random TwiPie drabble, done during a session with Karrakaz shortly prior to me getting back in the game.
A much-mended satchel, a whip whose leather had become bootlike with age, and a geriatric pith hat: those were her companions, her solace at the end of a long and tiring adventure. For Daring Do, it's all she needs. Anything else would just be more more weight to carry, more chains that tied her down to a world that wasn't full of mystery and adrenaline and awesomeness. Hayseeds, she only has a house so she could get mail. Dash understands that perfectly. What she doesn't understand is where all the money goes.
“Anti-ageing cream,” the adventurer snorts, laying on the sarcasm as thick as mortar. Her hoof still smarts; when a pony suddenly jumps out from a bush at her, there's only one reaction worth considering. “By the way, you'd have less injuries if you'd quit stalking me.”
Dash's efforts to reach out to her hero haven't won her much more than an understanding of what it feels like to be hit by a
“I'm serious. You must have a whole bunch of cash from your book sales, even if you get rid of all the treasure. What do you do with it all?”
Daring Do rolls her eyes behind her comically big glasses. If it were anypony else, she'd think they were looking for charity. Rainbow Dash just doesn't strike her as the mercenary type, though. “Why do you wanna know? You got debts or something?”
Dash rolls over, hooves splayed, and thinks for a second–as if she'd never even thought it a question worth asking. Was that how she was, Do wondered? All action and no planning, no forethought beyond her next action? It was a wonder she was still alive. Nothing is ever quite so valuable as a contingency plan, and there's no substitute in the heat of the moment than your wits.
“Iunno. I just wanna know more about you. I mean, sure, I know you're awesome, but there's gotta be something other than that, right?” the pegasus asks finally, with a swish of her rainbow tail.
The explorer pulls her shawl down, a little uncomfortable. Considering this is a pony who's previously offered to be her live-in maid, she needs to be careful what she says next.
“Get real. Nopony wants to know about me outside of adventures,” she says eventually, and feels it's the right answer. Even she isn't really interested in her life outside of her exploits. Writing them up is all well and good, but what else is there after that? You eat, you sleep, and one day, you die. Big whoop. Nothing left behind for the ages, no statues, no heroic legends like that ones that inspired her so long ago–barely worth thinking about, really. Who needed today, when you had yesterday and tomorrow to keep you occupied?
“Hey, who're you callin' nopony?” Dash asks, trying to sound fiery, but the squeak in her voice isn't fooling anypony at all. “Come on. We're war buddies. You can open up to me.”
“One adventure doesn't make us war buddies. It doesn't even make you a sidekick. Given the choice, I'd still rather work alone,” she says, and the uncertain smile on Dash's face fades. She groans; even she can't stand to see somepony so excitable look like that. “But if I need somepony to stand outside and hold my bags, I'll call you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just remember that I got your back, whether you like it or not. I don't leave friends hanging.”
What can she say to that? It's not her business if somepony elects themselves her friend. And if her self-proclaimed friend wants to risk her life rushing into dangerous temples after her, despite all warnings to the contrary, then she can't really stop them. It'd be nice if she could turn it to her advantage, though. It wouldn't really take much–some basic lessons on ruin safety so she didn't have to keep looking over her shoulder all the time, a few quick tips on boulder running, maybe a couple classes of martial arts... Just enough to keep her safe, of course.
“Hey, Daring Do! Are you listening?” Dash asks, clopping her hooves a few inches from the explorer's nose. Do resists the urge to give her a lesson on how to avoid a kick in the face, and shakes her head.
“It's A.K.Yearling in public. Are you going to lie there forever? If you're that interested in my life outside adventuring, you can come shopping with me. I could use a hoof carrying back my groceries,” she says with a practised shrug. “Gotta warn ya–I eat like a horse.”
“Pfft. You haven't seen anything. This one time, I challenged my friend AJ–she's the one with the funny accent and the sweet hat–to an eating contest, and by the time we were done, it took Big Mackintosh and Twilight to carry us home. I'd have beaten her, too, but she just edged ahead at the last second…”
Daring Do smiles beneath her disguise as Dash walks beside her, recounting in glorious detail the days of post-contest nausea. She has a feeling the weather pony will feel significantly less chatty after hauling half a month's food back to the house. She mentally ticks off 'weight-lifting' on Rainbow Dash's new training regime, and starts to wonder if she has any spare whips lying around for her to practice with. In the end, she never does answer the question of what she does with her money, but but the size of her grocery bags have something to do with it.
Author's Note
Saw Daring Don't, felt like I had to practice with Daring Do. She feels very off, to me, but meh. Practice piece, so on the pile it goes~
The Waiting Room (Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash)
"They're waiting for you," Fluttershy whispered.
"I can't do it. I'm not good enough, yet. Maybe next year," Dash muttered. She'd said the same thing the year before. They'd found her curled up and hyperventilating in the deep, soft chairs that year too.
"...All those ponies paid to see somepony fly. Somepony has to," Fluttershy sighed, and gave a flap of her stiffening wings.
Dash's eyes widened as she realised what her friend meant. "You've gotta be kidding. You'll fall straight outta the sky!"
"M-maybe. But... you'll save me. I believe that," Fluttershy whispered. "I can't be afraid when I know you'll catch me."
There was a silence as Rainbow Dash considered the words. At last, she sighed.
"Y'know, 'Shy, sometimes you don't play fair," Dash scowled, and put her goggles on. "You just bought yourself flying practice for the next two weeks straight. If you're gonna threaten to pull stunts like that, I wanna make sure you can handle 'em. No excuses."
Fluttershy giggled. "But you'll be a Wonderbolt by then. You won't have time."
"...thanks, 'Shy. But I'll make time."
"Can you, um, make time for dinner, too? I'll cook you something."
"Sure, I guess. Us athletes need our food," Dash shrugged. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta make an idiot outta myself for you. Wish me luck."
"Good luck, Dash," Fluttershy said, knowing she didn't need it. Outside, the crowd bayed; with a nervous but cocky grin, Rainbow Dash, future Wonderbolt, went out to meet them.
Author's Note
The potential first chapter of a Flutterdash drabble collection. I was too out of practice when I wrote it, and was unable to hone it down to 100 words in length, so it goes here.
Slow Burn (Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie)
Her muscles ache, her eyes stream; the fibres of her being are ripped, frayed at the edges. After a night's rest they will knit together, entwining like snakes and winding her ever tighter, the drawstring of Cupid's bow. Pinkie meets her when she lands, full of energy, of innocence. She doesn't know about flight, the mad folly of the fall.
It would be so easy to just let herself go, to collapse into her friend and steal that innocence for herself. This time, she doesn't.
Pinkie is not known for her patience. The world blurs by, and she cannot bear to miss it. Yet, she waits each day to watch Dash's practice, to take in the blurs of colour Dash leaves behind as she carves through the sky. She wants to share that feeling, and knows she cannot.
But, somewhere in the hurried doodles of her mind, Pinkie knows that there's more than one way to fly. So what patience she has, she gives away freely; and when her friend staggers, exhausted, to her side, she smiles. Some things, she thinks, are worth waiting for.
Author's Note
This would've been the second chapter of Hot Air; looking at it now, I don't see what's wrong with it. The ending could be less cliche, I suppose. Oh well; here it is.
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Hello, Moon (Flip A Coin for me) [Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie]
They met upon the old forgotten stile, far below the clouds of her home; the mareless moon waxed high above them, tauntingly close and yet so far, her light washing the colour from the town and its alleys.
They met to exchange secrets, because secrets are like gifts- to be given only to the right pony, and rude to give away once received.
There, Pinkie Pie told her a secret to rock her world, to stimulate her senses, to buckle her wings in flight. It was life changing, age defining- the ancient whispers of love gods in her ear.
Not.
"You ate twelve ginger snaps without asking when you were a filly. Is that honestly what you came here to tell me?" Dash asked incredulously.
"What were you expecting, silly?" the earth pony wondered, too loudly.
"I dunno!" Dash snorted. "Crushes, confessions, the good stuff!"
She once heard that an unrevealed secret is like a flipped coin. You don't know the outcome, but suddenly you realise what you want the outcome to be. For the first time, she understood what it meant.
"Dashie? Have you got a secret for me?" Pinkie asked, suddenly quiet.
"Not on your life," she lies.
Author's Note
This is semi-decent, I guess, but I didn't really get the symbolism I wanted. Interestingly, I once did a gag reading of this on youtube; I hid it eventually, but the link still be floating around in my old blog posts somewhere. Yet another Hot Air reject.
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Hidden In The Window Seat (Twilight/Rainbow Dash)
The aisle of the Canterlot libraries were almost mazelike, but Twilight knew them by heart. As she strolled to her favourite spot in the library, however, she found it taken; Rainbow Dash, sprawled in the window seat with a book as thick as her foreleg, opened her mouth to make an excuse. After a pause, she shut it again. Twilight smiled.
"Good spot, huh?"
"Not bad," the pegasus shrugged. "Could use cushions. Sit down, I wanna borrow your egghead brain for a second. This book's got hard words in it."
"What's it about?" Twilight asked, folding herself into the seat beside her friend. She felt the sun begin to warm her back.
"Nothin' too interesting," Dash replied evasively. "Just some boring old unicorn history book. Man, for such magic nerds, you unicorns do some crazy stuff from time to time."
"You're not kidding. Did I ever tell you about Isaac Hoofton? Stabbed himself in the eye with a bodkin and wriggled it around, to see if he'd go blind..."
Rainbow Dash's face lit up as Twilight began to explain some of the charming eccentricities of unicorn scholars. When the time came for them to leave, the book was long forgotten.
Author's Note
This is another situation/location prompt I did on a whim. My creative process for this was just kinda blah, so I don't think it's especially good, but I like the image behind it. Also, Isaac Hoofton is an obvious pony equivalent for Isaac Newton, who did, reportedly, experiment with bodkins and his own eye sockets for reasons of questionable sanity. Personally, I can sort've imagine Dash and/or Pinkie enjoying that tale. Clocks in as exactly a drouble according to my wordcount.