"A present?"

Spike bore a look of confusion as he sat in his usual chair on the Golden Oak Library, looking up at Twilight, whose expression made it clear that she was quite excited about something. She nodded in response to his remark and started to move off, all while Spike watched with curiosity, as well as eagerness to see what his carer had got for him. Upon a nearby table was a box, carefully locked and secured, but, with a simple glow of Twilight's horn, it began to open, albeit very slowly. Like a child on the morning of Hearth's Warming Eve, Spike looked on, excitement just bubbling below the surface. However, his smile gave way to yet further confusion when he finally saw what it was that Twilight was levitating out of the box. It was, without a doubt, an egg of some sort, and yet, Spike could not remember ever seeing such a thing before. It was far larger than that of a chicken, and bore a strange, almost fire-like orange and red pattern across its surface. Carefully, Twilight levitated it into Spike's claws, after which he looked upon it, all while doing his best to make sure he didn't drop it. Eventually, after much silence between the two, Spike eventually just spoke.

"Well...thanks. But...what is it?"

Giggling slightly, Twilight pointed to the egg in his hands.

"It's a phoenix egg."

Immediately, Spike's eyes snapped open wide as he looked from her to the egg.

"A phoenix?! You mean...like what Celestia has as a pet?"

Twilight nodded.

"Yep. I got in contact with her some time ago about where I might find one. Had to deal with a trio of miscreants to get it, but it was no real issue for me. I've been waiting for the right moment to give it to you, since I figured you were old enough to have a pet of your own now."

As expected after hearing that, Spike could barely contain the massive smile that now grew upon his face. Ever so slowly, the young dragon moved over to another nearby table, taking the cushion he'd been sitting on and placing it upon its surface, after which, he gently laid the egg down on it. After making doubly sure that it wasn't going to roll off, Spike turned to Twilight and rushed forward, embracing her in a hug.

"Thank you! This is the best present ever!"

A warm smile crept onto Twilight's face as she returned the embrace, taking the time to enjoy this tender moment between her and her son. She didn't know how much time had passed, and quite frankly, she didn't care. But, the hug did indeed come to an end, and as the two parted from one another, they kept on smiling. However, Twilight's smile faded as she took on a look of realisation. Turning, she glanced up at a nearby wall-clock, and her eyes widened. When she looked back to Spike, she bore a look that the young dragon had seen many times in his life; a sudden need to be somewhere else. Chuckling at this, he gave her a nod, silently letting her go, to which she smiled in return. After spinning around, she made her way to her door, rushing through it and closing it behind her, after which she began to run down the main street of Ponyville. And it was here that she began to notice a great deal of activity in the skies above her. Virtually every pegasus pony in the town were all flying in the same direction, which, incidentally, was also where she was heading. It took a while, but eventually, she managed to reach her destination; a large reservoir on the outskirts of the town. There, many of the pegasi were landing and talking amongst themselves, while Twilight scoured the crowd for somepony in particular.

Soon enough, she found her; her dear friend, Rainbow Dash. Smiling, Twilight trotted forward, calling out her name, which gained her attention immediately. The cyan pegasus smiled at her friend's approach, and Twilight spoke up as soon as she was close enough.

"You all set for today?"

Rainbow nodded at that.

"Yep. Just got to do a head count of the volunteers."

Twilight turned and looked upon the many pegasi here, some of which were looking quite nervous. And indeed they should have been, for this was no ordinary weather patrol, but the time of year when Cloudsdale itself required vast amounts of water for its future weather activities. And this year, it was Ponyville's turn to contribute. Turning her head to the sky, Twilight hoped, perhaps in vain, that she might actually get to see Cloudsdale flying overhead at some point. But, at least for the time being, the great city of the pegasi was nowhere to be seen. In spite of this, Twilight was not in the least bit down, and then turned to Rainbow with confidence in her expression.

"Think your pegasi have got it in them to do good this year?"

Rainbow turned to her and nodded.

"I'll say! Some of these guys have been practising all year for this. Gotta admire that."

Twilight nodded in agreement over that, and before long, a sly smile appeared on her face.

"You know...I'll bet you're looking forward to breaking that all-time record, right Rainbow?"

Immediately, Rainbow stopped her counting of the pegasi, turning to Twilight with a look that was half-confused and half-worried.

"Um...what?"

Hearing that response from her friend, Twilight's smile faded, and she seemed to be equally confused as her.

"What? I mean that record for pulling this off faster than anypony else, and with more wing power. You do know about that, right?"

Taken aback by what Twilight had just said to her, Rainbow paused for a moment before, to Twilight's surprise, looking away from her.

"Well...yeah, I know about it. I just...wasn't really planning to try and break it."

Needless to say, Twilight was rather shocked to hear that.

"Really? Wow...I guess...I just kinda figured that you of all ponies would try something like that. I mean...isn't that Wonderbolt leader, Spitfire, coming to oversee this thing?"

Rainbow nodded, looking decidedly more uncomfortable than she usually appeared.

"Yeah...I'll be honest, Twilight...I'm not really all that bothered about impressing her. I mean...we've got more than enough pegasi here to get the job done, so we don't need to be all flashy and record-breaky about it. Heck, I even asked a couple of my old friends from Cloudsdale to come over and help, just in case somepony here in Ponyville couldn't make it."

The young unicorn stood there, mouth hanging open in surprise at what Rainbow had just said to her. For her, having somepony like Rainbow, who for so long had been such a brash and eager-to-impress mare, to start talking in this way, and even go out and ask for somepony else's help, it was a shock to say the least. But, rather than simply try and talk her into doing anything further, she silently felt that, perhaps, it might be better to simply let Rainbow make this choice. After all, if Rainbow had openly stated that she was not going to bother impressing the Wonderbolts when they came to see her work, who was she to suggest that she do otherwise? However, after considering that, a new thought began to make itself known in Twilight's mind, as she now craned her neck and scoured the crowd of pegasi nearby. There were many familiar names there, like Thunderlane, Cloudchaser, even Derpy. And yet, there was one pegasus that was notably absent from this line-up, prompting Twilight to turn to Rainbow again.

"Rainbow? Where's Fluttershy?"

Rainbow looked to her, then turned to the Fluttershy-less crowd before her, before looking back to the former.

"You know how she is. She gets really nervous about being in crowds and performing under pressure. I did ask her if she wanted to take part, but she said she didn't want to. So...I said that was fine."

Yet again, Twilight found herself shocked at hearing this.

"But...but...isn't this important?"

Rainbow nodded.

"Yeah...but she's not really needed here. Like I said, we have all the pegasi we need here to get the job done. Fluttershy wouldn't really add all that much. Besides..."

She turned, looking somewhat angry about something.

"...I've known her a long time, Twi. She's never been a strong flier. And every time she's tried to fly as well as others, they just make fun of her for it, even if I'm there to try and stop them. I'm her friend, and have been since we were foals, and I am not going to put her through that again, especially if she's outright said she doesn't want to be a part of this."

Seeing the look of determination upon Rainbow's face, it was clear to Twilight that there was not going to be any room for negotiation on this. When Rainbow turned to look at her again, Twilight let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders again.

"Well...okay, if that's your decision."

Rainbow nodded in confirmation of that, after which she put on a small smile and placed a hoof upon Twilight's shoulder, silently thanking her for being so understanding. Twilight smiled back, but soon noted that several of the pegasi were starting to stir for some reason. She and Rainbow turned, seeing, to their surprise, that Spitfire herself had just landed nearby, no doubt ready to observe this event. Twilight turned back to Rainbow, and saw, to her shock, that she didn't appear as awe-struck at the sight of a Wonderbolt like she used to be. She watched as Rainbow stepped forward, ready to greet the great flier, at which point, the young unicorn started to step back, ready and waiting to see this transfer of water take place. As she watched the many pegasi get themselves ready, her eyes never left Rainbow, who was starting to talk to Spitfire. And all the while, her mind kept conjuring up the words her friend had just said to her, the words that so contrasted with how she was on the day Twilight first came to Ponyville. In the past, she would have done everything in her power to appear as impressive and talented as possible. Now though, being impressive seemed to be the furthest thing from her mind, and simply being professional and ensuring a job-well-done was foremost in the young pegasi's goals, which, while certainly admirable, was a far cry from how she once was. Bearing a look of slight worry, Twilight let out a sigh as she spoke, her words somewhat hushed.

"Well...that's one change I wasn't expecting."

Author's Notes:

I just want to say thank you to all the people in the comments who talked about Peewee in the last chapter. I'd completely forgotten about the little guy I'm afraid. So thanks for reminding me.