“And this is where you’ll be training for the next three weeks, everypony.” Spitfire walked along eyeing each of the pegasi that stood before her. Rainbow smirked at the schedule for the training course that she would soon be taking. For the past hour or so, she’d been on a tour of downtown Canterlot, lead by none other than the leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire. A big performance was to be taken place on the palace grounds, which required all the new trainees to practice on location. Naturally, Rainbow didn’t believe she would have much trouble with the standard obstacles presented.

Releasing a yawn, tired from walking around so much, the spectrum maned mare asked her commander and friend, “Spitfire, ma’am. Where will we be staying for the next few days?”

A voice from behind the line of pegasi stopped Spitfire from answering the question herself. “Actually, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said while walking passed her. “You’ll be sleeping in the palace dorm across the way from Luna and Discord, taking into consideration your status as an Element of Harmony. As for the others, they’ll be right down the road in the Steed Stone Inn, along with Spitfire. Paying for all six of you is a bit extensive, so to lower costs, I’m taking you in for the time being.”

Rainbow looked over at the rest of her squad and asked the princess, “But... I don’t wanna be treated royally because I’m an Element. I’d rather be like everypony else.”

Spitfire walked up to the cerulean pony. “And push even more expenses on me? I don’t think so! It’s costing us enough to purchase rooms for the others. If one’s taken off, I’ve saved a good amount of money. Besides, you work harder than any other pony here. I say you deserve that palace room!” Rainbow smiled for a bit, then straightened up and saluted the flaming maned mare. After she did the same, Spitfire commanded the squad, “Now get out there and give me twenty!” The group took off, but Rainbow was stopped by Spitfire saying, “As for you, Rainbow. For trying to push more weight on my shoulders, I want an extra thirty!”

She beat her wings proudly and chanted, “Yes ma’am!” Then took off and headed straight for the first cloud. While passing all the others in a heartbeat, Rainbow’s beaming grin could still be seen by the princess. “She’s a strong one, isn’t she?”

Spitfire huffed, “Yeah... Best I’ve had in years.”

It didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to complete her share of laps. Not only did she end up finishing twenty before the rest of the recruits, but she did the extra thirty laps in record time, finishing at around the same time as the rest. The bright blue pegasus drifted down to the ground, wiping off the little sweat she built up during her laps. Rainbow could see that Celestia and Spitfire had struck up a chat, and were conversing until the moment she arrived.

“Ah, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said. Rainbow briefly bowed in between pants. “I am glad you’re finished. Are you ready to see where you’ll be staying?” Dash looked sternly at Spitfire, who returned her glance, and nodded. The two quickly saluted each other once more, and the captain went off to scold the rest of the fliers, all of which were at least ten times more exhausted than Rainbow.

“You call that flying!? My grandmother can fly better than that! And she’s a unicorn!”

Rainbow laughed at the banter. She looked to Celestia and said, “Alright, Princess, I’m ready.” Celestia nodded. A shimmer of gold quickly engulfed her horn, quickly growing brighter before making a single, blinding flash. Just like that, the two had been transported to the front of Canterlot Castle. The large, ivory doors were exactly as awe inspiring as she remembered. Rainbow could never really shrug off how amazing the palace was. Even now, her mouth hung open and her eyes were the size of dinner plates. As the solar princess trotted forward, the doors hinged open, being pulled to either side by the grey unicorn guards that stood idly by.

Dash slowly flapped her wings, hovering just a few inches behind Celestia. When the two passed by the next three guards, they all bowed. Celestia coyly stated, “I’ve been through this, gentlecolts. It’s needless to greet me in such a manner these days, really.”

One of them that stood at the corner explained, “We’re not only respecting you today, your highness. You’ve also one of the Elements with you.”

Celestia looked at Rainbow and asked, “Do you care?”

Rainbow, who glared from the dizzyingly high roof above to the princess, not even paying much attention and asked, “Huh?”

“See?” Celestia asked. “She’s not even concerned. All of you are doing a fine job.”

The two left them behind but Rainbow still continued to looking back and asked, “What was that all about?”

Celestia sighed and said, “They’ve been acting very peculiar as of late. Being on guard, bowing when it’s honestly not that necessary... I’ve asked them about it, but they refuse to tell me what’s wrong. Some will admit they have had some rough nights, but that’s nothing to get defensive over.” Slowing in her tracks, Celestia’s eyes warily observed the next guard. This one, just like the rest of them fixed his posture and bowed immediately when the two walked by. “It’s always towards me, too... Never with my sister, or Discord...”

Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves nervously. “Well, you’ve been the only princess for, like, ever. They’re probably just trying to stay respectable towards you.” She grinned awkwardly, hoping to make the Princess feel even just a little better. “Plus, Discord is just so... Discord. I couldn’t imagine living with that guy.” This was enough to get Celestia to smile, if only briefly.

It was right after she stopped speaking that Rainbow Dash’s hoof kept her from moving any farther across the red carpet that sat in nearly every hall. Something sticky had captured her hoof, keeping it stuck in place. After closer inspection, she found it to smell quite sweet. “Bubblegum?” she whispered.

“Did somepony say my name?”

The golden crown that normally sat upon Celestia's head floated upwards, doing several spirals before exploding as a firecracker. “Discord!” The princess staggered back and stared at him in disbelief. The fiend chortled his signature laugh and brought his paw behind his head only to pull the crown out of his ears and say, “Oh come now, Celestia. You wouldn’t actually think I’d disgrace you in such a manner, would you?” The alicorn squinted her eyes. “No, no, I’d do something much worse, like fill your bathrooms with prairie dogs!”

Giving an unamused stare, the princess stated, “You’ll do nothing of the sort! Now, you promised to behave, and you’ve been getting better. Still, please have some dignity.”

Rainbow floated in the air lightly and gave the draconequus a threatening gaze. He peeked past her highness and asked, “Aaand... what’s she doing here?”

Princess Celestia turned and realized she’d completely forgotten her own guest. “Oh, Rainbow will be staying here for... what was it? Two weeks?”

“Three, ma’am, and if I may, do I have to sleep so close to this creep?”

“I concur, princess!” Discord scooped up a claw full of bubblegum and shaped it in Rainbow’s form. “I’d much rather her simply fly away, and not bother me while I’m trying to remain what you consider reformed.” He brought his fingers up in air quotes. The Bubblegum mare mimicked Discord’s words and sailed off to the open window, soon headed to the sun and no doubt not stopping anytime soon. After a moment of silence, Discord placed his paw on the window sill and made a, “Psssst,” sound.

Celestia rolled her eyes and asked, “Why’d you have to give me that mental image?”

“Because,” Discord explained while staring at the pegasus behind her. “Loyalty is my personal, most despised Element. If only somepony fun like Fluttershy, or even Pinkie Pie were here.” A cloud bubbled up beside his head for the two to see an image of him, Pinkie, and Fluttershy having a blueberry flavoured snowball fight.

Rainbow Dash gave him a deadpanned look before being hit in the face by a blue snowball, one that the draconequus seemed to have grabbed from his visible imagination. He laughed hysterically and tossed around in the air. As for Rainbow, she wiped the yummy slush off of her face, stomped up to the creature, peered into his eyes and said, “You wanna go, buster?”

“Oh, do I ever,” he responded, rolling up the fur on his arms like sleeves, boxing gloves appearing on each of his appendages.

The majestic sun princess sighed before casting a quick spell to keep the two from hypothetically murdering each other. Of course, this would not hold Discord back in the slightest, but it would at least get her point across. “Discord,” she warned.

“But moooom,” he groaned.

“No buts, Discord. You will leave Rainbow Dash alone for the rest of her stay in this castle.”

As Discord rolled his eyes, he promised, “Fine... I’ll leave her be.”

Resuming towards their destination and rounding yet another corner, Rainbow asked the princess, “There’s no way you’re his mother, right?”

Celestia tried her best to hold back her chortles and assured the pegasus, “Oh, of course not! That was just him being coy, something I’ve grown oddly fond of, actually... Though despite my pleas, he still finds it amusing to call me his mother, sometimes even sister. Strange, I know.”

“Well, it’s not like he’s hurting anypony, I guess...”

Finally reaching a corridor with five doors all designed with their own distinct traits of intricity, Rainbow was lead to the single door with nothing but a few intricate designs along the edges. The others had shades of silhouette, pink and yellow colorings lining the wood, all expertly crafted to meet the princess’s and Discord’s personal qualities. Seeing as how Rainbow’s room was only to be used for guests, there wasn’t much need for such specialties. Celestia bid the Element goodnight while explaining, “I’d mingle a bit more with you, of course. We haven’t been able to spend much mare-time lately, but I’ve got a sun to lower, and a certain, lazy sister to awaken.”

Entering her room, Rainbow heard Celestia moaning from beyond the rather thick walls, “Discord! Get out of my room! There’s a reason we’ve marked your door the way we did; so you’d stay out of ours!”

“But Daaaad!”

Rainbow could hear Celestia’s surprisingly loud growl. “That one doesn’t even make any sense!”

Dash snickered at this and asked herself, “Since when did Discord need to make sense?” She backed away from the wall, placed her stuff on the counter next to her bed and laid down on her mattress. Sighing, she looked to her saddlebags, thinking for a moment whether or not she should unpack them. Meh, she thought, I can always do it tomorrow. It was getting a bit late, and she was actually a little tired from the tour, not to mention all the flying. She figured it was probably best to get some shut eye.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly shut, cutting off the soft glow of the moon that shone through her window. Soon enough, she was fast asleep on top of her white bed covers, legs outstretched in awkwardly comfy directions. Her soft and gentle snores echoed throughout the empty room, and soon distorted with her mind fading from reality, and slipping into sleep.