"Hey Twilight," Wayfarer said offhandedly as he and Twilight washed the dishes from morning's breakfast. "I forgot to mention the other day, but Derpy Doo and her friends invited me to their weekly poker game tonight."

Twilight took a moment to smile and laugh under her breath before responding. "Okay, but I'm not using my Royal Privilege to reimburse any bits you're likely to lose." She passed him a freshly cleaned plate for him to stack with the others in the cupboard.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to go spending money I'm not prepared to lose."

"Well Derpy probably needs it more than you do anyway. The post office pays well, but not enough for a single mother. You got any other plans for today?"

"Aside from watching you get pushed off of clouds for a while?" He smirked as he looked out the window at the almost clear skies. There was still a cloud here and there, but nothing substantial enough to pick up where yesterday's weather had left off.

"You're a jerk sometimes, you know that?"

"I won't disagree with that." ‘Sunny Skies’ entered the room with a look of annoyed exhaustion. "The Mayor is here, Twilight, she wanted to talk with us."

Twilight groaned and dropped her dishes back in the sink. "Can you handle the rest of this, Wayfarer?"

Wayfarer nodded and the two of them left. It didn't take him long to finish up though, with Rainbow Dash back in her own home that left only the four of them to clean up after. Ten minutes later they were back, Wayfarer was in the fridge eyeing a strange unmarked container of some tasty looking home grown grass. The temptation to test his courage and bite at it almost overtook him, when Twilight looked over his shoulder and, seeing what he was eyeing, pulled him back.

"You're not eating that, Wayfarer." Twilight closed the fridge door and turned to Wayfarer with bemusement. "It's grown from some seeds Zecora gave me, and I'd rather not test its effects on you."

"Fair enough." Wayfarer shrugged. "What did the mayor want?"

"The opening ceremony for my castle is going to be on the eighth of July." She said. "That's the day after the end of Breezie Beaches week, and two weeks after the Summer Sun Celebration, so we should have plenty of time to prepare."

Celestia nodded at this. "I'll send a letter to Shining Armor asking him to come down that week to help with security. We're going to make sure nothing goes wrong, Twilight, I promise you that."

"A promise is about all anyone can give at this point." Twilight sighed. "Whatever happens will just happen. Not a whole lot we can do."

"Then we'll just do what we can and then hope for the best," Wayfarer, thinking to himself, looked down and tugged at his button up in thought. "I guess I'll probably need a suit or something for that, right?"

"With all the snooty Canterlot Ponies that will be there?" Twilight said with a hint of distaste. "Yeah, some formal wear might not go amiss."

"Then I guess I'll stop by Rarity's before I go over to Derpy's tonight."

"Sounds like a plan. Now come on, those clouds aren't going to get any lower." Twilight sighed with a great deal of apprehension.

Twilight plummeted from the skies at least five times before she was finally able to pull out of her dive and keep a steady altitude, and it took another few failures before Twilight managed to get it. Pinkie Pie turned up in a cheerleader's outfit to try and motivate Twilight into succeeding, Rarity and Fluttershy joined in with slightly more restrained support, and Wayfarer caught a glimpse of Applejack watching from the edge of the field they'd chosen to practice in. By noon, Twilight was almost capable of keeping herself steady. She was still wobbly in the air, looking more like a distressed cat being hoisted into the sky than the graceful alicorn princess she was. When she tried to land and say hello to the newcomers, she stumbled and face planted into the dirt. Applejack took that moment to walk over and help her up.

"Looking good up there Twi."

"Thanks Applejack, but I feel like a stranger in a strange land when I'm up there. I keep thinking I've gotten used to having an extra set of limbs, but I suppose that isn't something you just 'get used to.'"

"Ya'll get it eventually."

Rainbow Dash then landed a bit of a ways away, averting her gaze from Applejack as she did so.

"Rainbow."

"Applejack." Rainbow hoofed at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Applejack sighed before walking over to Rainbow Dash and giving her a big hug, surprising the prismacolored mare. "It wasn't fair for me to needle you like ah did. And ah certainly had no right to say what ah did about your folks. Ah'm sure they're both great and supportive pegasi." Applejack smiled for a moment before she let it drop into a frown. "But you still need to find Scootaloo and apologize to her."

"Oh, yeah. Right... now?" Applejack nodded. "But I've still got to help Twilight learn to fly by the end of the week!"

"I can afford a short break, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "Go find Scootaloo."

Rainbow Dash swallowed a lump in her throat, then nodded and took off into the air, soaring into the heart of Ponyville. Applejack turned to look again at Twilight, this time with a sullen frown on her face.

"Now I figure it's your turn for a grill'n, Twilight."

"What do you mean, AJ?" Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I mean, what happened to Rainbow Dash after me and her had that scuffle? I heard tell that she was sick, but when I asked Rarity and Fluttershy about it they said you brought her back at a round midnight, with you, Pinkie, Wayfarer, and Sunny Days or whatever looking mighty beat up."

Twilight shot an angry look over at Rarity and Fluttershy. Rarity looked smug, and Fluttershy looked very apologetic. "Applejack, I told both of them that I couldn't fill them in on what happened. Even Princess Celestia told them to drop it."

"The Princess? She was here?" Applejack asked.

"I've been here for a while." Celestia said appearing behind Applejack and making everypony present jump five feet into the air.

"Princess Celestia?!" Applejack nearly screamed as she spun around. "When did-"

"I'm growing tired of repeating myself." Celestia said firmly. "Applejack, you, Rarity, and Fluttershy cannot get involved. For your own safety, I am begging you three to stop digging into this. Conversation over."

"But Princess!" Applejack started before Celestia put her hoof to her lips.

"No," the Solar Matriarch said simply. She then pointed at both Rarity and Fluttershy, who looked ready to jump in and start arguing again. "No." All three of them sighed heavily.

"Well, I guess that's that then." Rarity shook her head and turned to leave with unrestrained annoyance. "Good luck with your flight lessons, Twilight."

"See you, Rarity." Twilight waved a hoof at the dressmaker, remorsefully.

"Hey wait up, Rarity." Wayfarer nodded a good by to the others before trotting over to the ivory unicorn. "You said you wanted to work on more of my outfits right?"

Rarity turned her head as she walked to look at Wayfarer. She smiled slightly before responding. "I guess I have the time to get started on them. May I ask what your looking for darling?"

"I need a nice suit." Wayfarer tugged at his button up again. "I wear this casually, but I need some formal wear for when we coronate Twilight's castle on the eighth."

Rarity nodded. "I can get something done before that. You're going to be sitting on a waitlist for a while though, I have a number of orders ahead of you. It's summer, so you know all the mares are going to want their sundresses before Breezie Beeches Week."

"Sort of strange for an inland town to celebrate a week known for sand and the ocean." Wayfarer pointedly looked around at the lush green fields and rolling hills. "I mean, isn't that the point of Breezie Beeches Week?"

"Well, yes, but It's not as if ponies can't take a trip to the coastal towns if they truly wanted to," Rarity explained. "It's more of a traditional name than an actual obligation for ponies to go to the shores."

"Well, in any case, thank you for taking the time for me, Rarity. When do you need payment?"

"An upfront will be needed before I start of course, I'll just ask for that when I'm ready to begin. I'll also have a better idea for when I will have it done at that point." Their business concluded, Rarity then turned to walk in a more direct line to her boutique. "Until then, have a nice day, Wayfarer."

"You too, Rarity." Wayfarer waved goodbye as he made his way into the town proper. Figuring he might as well pick up some snacks or something for the Poker game that night, he started heading in the direction of the marketplace.

On his way however, he caught up with Rainbow Dash, sitting next to a very cross looking Scootaloo in front of a large house. A sign hanging over the front door identified the building as "Ms. Poppin's Home for those Without." Deciding it was probably better to skirt around the two and let them have their conversation in peace, Wayfarer started down an alley that would take him the long way around to the market. But before he could disappear from the shadow of Ms. Poppin's home, he heard Scootaloo call out his name.

"Hey, Wayfarer! Can I ask you something?" Yelled the filly. Not wanting to get involved with a private matter, but at the same time not wanting to be rude and ignore them, Wayfarer sighed and then turned back around, walking over to the two pegasi.

"What do you need, Scootaloo?" he asked, noting that Rainbow Dash looked rather crestfallen.

The filly opened her mouth to ask her question, but then stopped and looked down, as if she were reconsidering. But then she looked back up with a bit more confidence and spoke. "Did you leave anypony behind when you left Baltimare?"

Wayfarer raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at Rainbow Dash, who's eye twitched. "Why are you asking?"

"Well, Rainbow Dash left Cloudsdale, then she left Ponyville to go back, and then she left Cloudsdale again to come back to Ponyville. And she's leaving ponies behind when she does it. So I wanted to know if you did too."

"I..." Wayfarer started before stopping. Truth be told, he didn't know what he was supposed to say, or what Scootaloo wanted him to say. In the end he figured truth might make a good answer. "No. I didn't leave anyone behind. I had friends, but we'd grown apart from each other. I didn't have anything keeping me there, so I left."

"But, Rainbow Dash had things keeping her here and in Cloudsdale!" Scootaloo said. "So why'd she leave?"

"Good question." Wayfarer turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "Why did you leave?"

Rainbow stayed quiet for a long time before she looked right into Scootaloo's eyes and answered her question. "I left Cloudsdale the first time because my best friend had left. It felt right for me to follow her, to make sure she'd be okay, you know? To be honest, she might have been my only friend in Cloudsdale at that point, so leaving wasn't exactly hard." She paused, glancing over to Wayfarer before continuing. "I left Ponyville because... well, I don't really know why to be honest. It seems so silly in hindsight, but I'm not the one who got hurt because of it." Dash sighed, then wrapped a wing around Scootaloo. "I came back because I missed my friends and my little sister. I'm so sorry for abandoning you like that, Scootaloo. It wasn't right for me to leave you hanging at the Sisterhooves Social. I promise you, I'm going to make it right."

After a moments hesitation, Scootaloo embraced Rainbow with her tiny forelegs, nuzzling herself into Rainbow's shoulder. "I'm just glad you're back big sis."

"Good to be back Scoots. Now go on, I think I pulled you away from something important with Ms. Poppins."

"Ughh." Scootaloo groaned. "She's probably going to sing another song with a really hard to say name again! Can't I hang out with you today?"

"Sorry, sport." Rainbow tussled Scootaloo's mane. "I'd love to, really I would, but I need to get back to teaching Twilight to fly."

"Oh, alright," Scootaloo bemoaned, before standing and walking up to the front door of Ms. Poppin's.

"Hey," Rainbow Dash called to her. "I'll come and get you tonight and we can go get a smoothie at Sugarcube Corner, sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo shouted in excitement. "See you latter, Rainbow Dash!"

Dash waved goodbye to the little pegasus as she pulled the door open and slammed it shut behind her. Rainbow sighed, scratching at the side of her fore leg and looking over to Wayfarer. "Thanks."

"Uh, don't mention it?" He said, unsure of what exactly he had helped with.

"I'm no good with kids," Rainbow mumbled as she started to walk off. "Scootaloo is cool though, but still." She looked over her shoulder and rolled her head in a gesture that indicated she wanted Wayfarer to follow her.

"Did you want to talk about it?" Wayfarer asked, rolling his eyes as he trotted over and matched Rainbow's walking speed.

"Nah." Rainbow said. "But trying to tell an eight year old that life doesn't get clearer when you grow up can be really hard. I need somepony I can bounce my big thoughts off of, somepony who can take the words in my head and make them make sense to me."

"I'm not a psychiatrist." Wayfarer said simply. "I just have a knack for listening to what ponies are saying."

"Listening is okay. Celestia knows I can really run my mouth when I need to."

"Ain't that the truth." Wayfarer muttered, before getting a forehoof to the shoulder.

"Anyway," Rainbow said, slightly irritated. "Do you think I can fix what I've done to Scoots?"

"Doesn't seem like there's much more to fix. She seems to be thrilled to have you back." Wayfarer said, raising an eyebrow. "The way she reacted when you left though, she must think very highly of you. She even called you 'Sister.'"

"Yeah, that started a while ago. The two of us had gone out on a camping trip with Rarity, Applejack, and their sisters. Then after I saved her from going over a waterfall she confessed how much she admired me, how much she felt I was a big sister to her." Rainbow Dash's mouth twitched to the side, almost as if the idea of being a big sister both amused and embarrassed her. "I was... flattered, to say the least. I knew she liked me enough to help start a Rainbow Dash fan club, but thinking of me as an older sibling? That felt... I don't know, but it felt good! I felt like I had to be even more awesome than ever before, if only to make Scoots feel happy. But then..."

"But then you realized that your dream wasn't taking you where you wanted to go," Wayfarer said calmly. "That you weren't feeling happy."

Rainbow Dash nodded slightly. "What my other self said, it was completely right. I needed to be the best, to show to everyone that I should be remembered for all time, but failing at my dreams seemed to be an even worse fate than not having dreams at all."

"Failure is a big deal with you, isn't it?" Wayfarer asked.

"It is for every Cloudsdale Pegasus. We grew out of a race that thrived on battle. We were once soldiers and protectors, a military on every level. If you failed, you didn't just fail yourself, you failed the flock. That was over a thousand some odd years ago, but it's still the way some ponies think."

The two had made it to the outskirts of town by this point, opposite where Twilight was learning to fly. Rainbow Dash stopped and turned to look at Wayfarer with an almost solemn look about her.

"You ever hear of the legend of the Rainbow Factory?" she asked.

"Is that the name of your band?" Wayfarer joked, trying to bring some colour back to the colourful mare. It worked a little, as she smirked a bit at his sarcastic question.

"No." She responded. "It's an old mare's tale told to scare fillies and colts. Like Slendermare and the Headless Horse. Moms would tell their foals about the Rainbow Factory, where pegasi who couldn't fly would be sent. They'd cut off the unwanted foals wings and throw the rest into a machine that made rainbows."

Wayfarer blanched at that. "Excuse me?" he said with disgust.

"That's the straight and simple description. The actual legend is a lot more... graphic."

"And ponies told their children this story?!" Wayfarer nearly shrieked.

"Yep." Rainbow said with a straight face. "That is, until Celestia caught wind of it and made it illegal by labeling it as child abuse. Didn't stop some parents... like my mom."

"Oh jeez," Wayfarer mumbled.

"Yeah, and now you know what the deal was with other me and all that rainbow goo." Rainbow sighed and looked off at the horizon, in the direction of Cloudsdale. "I love my Mom, I really do, but I hated how much she pushed for me to be perfect. Every time I made a mistake when I was young, she'd remind me of how the factory would take my wings away. Even when I left, she told me I was being senseless, that I belonged in the sky and not on the ground." Dash was silent for a moment before she cracked a wide grin and turned back to Wayfarer. "But I remember what said to her, 'The sky goes where I go.'" She flipped her wings open and wide, showing them off just as a light gust of wind conveniently blew past them. "And no matter how much I fail, I won't let anyone take my wings away. I mean, how else am I going to teach Scootaloo to fly or perform with the Wonderbolts if I don't have my wings?"

"And what about the Wonderbolts?" Wayfarer asked. "You quit, remember?"

"Nopony quits the Wonderbolts." Rainbow Dash said proudly. "They just go on extended leave."

Wayfarer smirked and shook his head. "Somehow I doubt Spitfire will buy that."

"Then I'll just have to prove myself to her!" Rainbow Dash said as she started to pace back and forth. "The Equestria games are a year away! If I can win gold, then Spitfire will see I'm more devoted to my dream then ever!"

"Well, it sounds like a load of wishful thinking to me, but hey, I'll be sure to cheer you on regardless."

"Yeah! You'd better!"

It was around seven o'clock when Wayfarer decided to head over to Stirrup Street, his saddle bag laden with fruits and chips. The sea-blue house that Derpy lived in definitely stuck out amongst the beige homes that made up the bulk of Ponyville. He walked up to the front door and gently knocked. A moment later, a smiling Derpy Doo opened the door.

"Hey! You're early!" She said, beaming.

"Well you didn't give me an actual time to come over, you just said Saturday night."

"Oh, whoops." Derpy, chuckling to herself, stood aside to let Wayfarer in. "Guess that would have been helpful?"

"Mayhaps." Wayfarer stepped inside and took a look around the humble abode.

The inside of Derpy's home was plain, yet warm and inviting. There was a lot of blue everywhere, the same shade as the outside. The molding, the door frames, the counter tops in the kitchen, all of them were blue. The ceiling was a deep navy, specked with lots of tiny white dots molded into pointed stars. The white walls were mostly barren, save for the occasional photograph of Derpy and her daughter, or either of them smiling at the camera by themselves or with another pony. There was one near the entrance of Derpy with five other ponies, two of which Wayfarer recognized as Time Turner and BonBon.

"You have a nice home,” commented Wayfarer.

"Thank you." Derpy said. "It isn't much, but I've made it work for me and my little muffin.

"Moooooommm!" came a whining call from the hall. "Don't call me that in front of him!" Wayfarer turned to see little Dinkie Doo step out with a pouty, blush coloured face. "What if he tells everyone at school!"

"I would never!" Wayfarer said with mock surprise at such an accusation, before noticing that Dinkie was wearing her own saddle bags.

"You got everything?" Derpy asked her. "Pinchy's mom will be here to get you soon."

"Yes mom." Dinkie said with a hint of exasperation.

"Okay, just checking." Derpy chuckled, before another knock came from the door. "Speak of the vintner." She said as the two of them went back into the entranceway. After a moment Derpy came back in. "Why are you just standing there like that?" She laughed when she saw that Wayfarer had barely moved from where she'd left him. "Go on, take a load off!"

"Dinkie got a sleepover or something?" Wayfarer asked as he removed his bags and dropped them next to a chair.

"Yep, every Saturday." Derpy smiled, pulling a hardwood box out of the closet. "It became such a regular thing that when we needed a new place to play Poker, I offered up my home as a venue."

"That's nice of you."

"I try." Derpy placed the box on the table and pulled out stacks of poker chips and a deck of cards. "We used to play at Octavia and Vinyl's home. You saw the photo in the entrance of me and my friends? Octavia was the pretty one with the bow tie, and Vinyl was the one with the crazy blue hair. Anyway, they moved away to Canterlot a while back for their jobs." She placed the last stack of chips on the table and pushed it up against the others. Apparently she pushed it a little harder than she meant to, because every other stack toppled over and sent the chips scattering over the table. "Fudge," she deadpanned.

The door chose that moment to knock again. "I got it." Wayfarer said, standing up again as Derpy started meticulously stacking the chips again. He walked out into the entrance way and pulled the door open for Time Turner.

"Good evening, Ditz- Wayfarer!" The clock-maker stumbled. "You're early!"

"As are you, Turner." Wayfarer said as he stood aside.

"I always come over a little early to help set up." Turner said as he smiled and walked inside. He then glanced over at the kitchen quickly before leaning in to whisper something. "Poor girl usually needs it. She's got a big heart and a big brain, but she was cursed with four left hooves." On cue, the sound of poker chips collapsing once again onto the table could be heard, followed by a well placed expletive. Turner shook his head and chuckled under his breath. "Come on, maybe you can help out too."

Half an hour later, the other two guests had arrived: Bon Bon, and her marefriend Lyra. Lyra immediately reminded Wayfarer of Pinkie Pie with the seemingly permanent smile stretching her face out. He was thankful, however, that she didn't have Pinkie's desire to vocalize every thought that came into her head.

"Pleasure to meet you Wayfarer." She'd said when they introduced each other. "Been hearing a lot bout' you. Takin' care of all the little tikes at school and help'n out Miss Cheerilee, right good of you!" Her slight hint of an accent and green colour scheme gave Wayfarer the feeling that she might have been from Doneighgal. He then made a mental note to never drink cider with this mare.

"Really I was just looking for a job,” Wayfarer responded. “If Cheerilee thinks I'm good with foals, then I'm happy to help out with them too."

"Good on ya." Lyra nodded. "Me? Never really liked kids."

"Doesn't stop you from acting like one." Bon Bon said with a smirk as she sat down at the table, setting a small sack of gold in front of her.

"Oi! No point in being grown up if you can't act childish every now and then!"

"Too right." Turner said, shuffling up a deck of cards. "Now, if we would, let us commence with the weekly robbery of our wallets by one miss Derpy Doo."

"Oh haha." Derpy deadpanned. "Deal the cards already Doc, Wayfarer is probably eager to get plucked."

As it turned out, Wayfarer was pretty capable of handling himself against Derpy Doo. Bon Bon was the first out after she called a bluff on Turner and tried going all in, only for it to backfire when he put down Two Kings to make a full house. Lyra went next in much the same fashion after Derpy pulled a Flush. Time Turner decided to cut his losses an hour in with barely a fourth of what he'd brought, leaving Wayfarer and Derpy to try and stare each other down.

Wayfarer was proud to say he'd manipulated his poker face rather well over the course of the game, but the one pony he was having a hard time fooling was Miss Do. She pushed him down a fair amount, but every now and then he was able to win a big enough pot to keep going. It was a battle that would be talked about for ages, or at least for the next couple of days before being quickly forgotten.

Now though he was practically on his last legs, and as he looked at his last few chips and glanced at the measly three of clubs and five of hearts he had to the Queen, Jack, and 10 of spades on the table, he knew this was probably it. Then the moment of truth came, and Derpy flipped her cards to reveal an Ace and King of Spades.

"Royal Flush." Turner whistled. "Guess that's game."Derpy smiled brightly as what was left of Wayfarer's chips, and consequently his money, went to her.

"Should have followed your lead and dropped out." Wayfarer said to Turner.

"Told you she'd clean out your wallet." Turner laughed. "Though I'll admit you lasted longer than I expected you to. What a way to end the night."

"You're telling me." Wayfarer sighed. He could see the end result coming a mile away when that queen showed up, but he kept praying that Derpy wasn't that lucky. "I'm glad I came though. This was a lot of fun."

"Glad you thought so!" Lyra said. "Now you me and Bonny can all hang out in the losers circle together!"

"Does that mean you'll come back next week?" Derpy asked excitedly.

"If I've got the bits, sure." Wayfarer said with a shrug. "I've got to make a payment to Rarity for a new suit though, so I might be a little light next time."

"Oh I don't think you'll have to worry." Bon Bon said. "Rarity is always so lenient on that sort of thing. She's the sort who isn't happy about a job unless the customer is too. For better or worse." She had a look that said she was remembering something she'd rather not remember.

"Well, I trust and respect her enough to pay in full if I can."

"Ain't that the great thing about small towns?" Derpy said, looking up from her spoils of the night. "We can all trust each other."

There was a general nod of affirmative at that. Wayfarer hesitated in thought for a moment before he nodded as well. The night continued on in idle conversation for another half hour before it was finally time to leave. Wayfarer said his goodbyes before heading out into the night and back to the library, where Twilight was waiting with a look of giddy pride. She'd managed to stay in the air for at least ten minutes that afternoon. The day ended well for everyone it seemed, but Wayfarer was more than glad to hit the hay early. Tomorrow looked to be as busily empty as today was.

Author's Notes:

Out a little later than I would have like, but that's probably because Red Sage needed to give me a lesson on writing dialog.

Many thanks to him for that and all the editing he did!

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