“You okay there, Twilight?”

The false unicorn did what she could to glare at Spike. She thought it was fairly obvious that she was not okay -- in fact she was extremely uncomfortable, and not just with their destination or her given role. It was the forsaken natural elements. They existed merely to make her irritable.

It wasn't that Twilight hated the mere concept of nature and the weather in particular. Every bit of it had its purpose. Some important, some aesthetic, and ponies were entitled to appreciating it all. It was just that no matter the reason, it always had it out for her. The wind buffeting her muzzle at the moment felt like it would gleefully rip her apart, for example. Neither Sunset or Spike seemed nearly as bothered by it, and their pegasi escorts didn't even seem to notice. Perhaps it was simply her biology, then. One more reason to envy everypony.

There was no respite from the wind on the lavender and gold chariot, either. Though it had been thoughtfully commissioned for Twilight's personal use some years ago and had a roof to block the sunny day (and embarrassingly sported her cutie mark, as well) there was no protection from the air currents. Though even if there was, the vehicle wouldn't have seen much use regardless. Twilight made a mental note to see what could be done about remedying the design flaw anyway.

“I'm going to refrain from repeating my opinions on what we have been tasked with doing, and simply state that I hope it's over with as fast as possible.”

Sunset sighed. She'd had to deal with the irritable purple pony since she received Celestia's letter yesterday, and it was trying her patience. “Look, Twi,” Sunset began as she turned to face the hunched-over form of her charge, “Neither of us is particularly jazzed about being saddled with this job, but it's an incredibly important one that needs to be done right. I'll make sure we can reach a happy medium, but it's not going to take only ten minutes to organize the Celebration.”

“I didn't think it would, Sunset. I understand our responsibility, and since there's no turning back, we might as well give this our all. Then we can head to that library Celestia mentioned and search for more information on the Dark Mare prophecy.”

The other unicorn rolled her emerald eyes liberally. “If it'll keep you from complaining every other minute, I'll help you look through more pony-tales. But don't pretend I forgot her directive for you.”

“She said to check on the preparations. I am her student, and I will do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends!”

Sunset gave a significantly more weary sigh before all three passengers' stomachs began to drop. “Well, in any case, we've arrived, so let's get to business.”

Twilight brought her head up to look at the village that was rising up to greet them. Ponyville, it was called. She couldn't help but think on how mundane a moniker that was.

Her research told her that it was a predominantly earth pony settlement established a mere 70 years or so ago, and it certainly looked like it. A far cry from the white-gold majesty of Canterlot (which could be seen proudly and defiantly jutting from the side of Mt. Canterhorn to the northeast) the vale was much more humble in appearance with its thatched-roof houses (a strict trend bucked by what seemed to be, at first glance, a giant cupcake atop an overgrown gingerbread house) and what appeared to be cobblestone roads. That can't be fun to walk on without shoes, Twilight mused. It sat sandwiched by farmland and an incredibly thick forest that seemed to go on eastward forever, and at the moment seemed to be buzzing with activity, which came as little surprise.

Twilight couldn't explain it, but it felt like there was something off about the town they descended into. Whether it was her paranoia about tomorrow, or simply the vibe given off by a town not dominated by unicorns, she would never know for sure.

The chariot's wheels finally became earthbound outside of an immense tree in the heart of Ponyville. As the guards pulling it slowed to a stop, Twilight couldn't help but ask; “This is the library?”

“Apparently.” Sunset stepped off the lavender vehicle with her equally lavender company following suit. The pegasi pulled the chariot closer to the supposed haven of knowledge before unhooking themselves and flying off to their designated posts for the next two days; a pair flying across the grassy square to a large carousel building that was town hall and the other pair taking stand aside the library door that Sunset, Twilight and Spike had briefly entered.

Twilight absorbed the interior like a big purple sponge. Despite the smaller space than her own personal library the tree's first floor was thoroughly packed from floor to ceiling with shelf upon shelf of books. As the trio crossed the main chamber for the far stairwell she immediately grew very fond of the warm atmosphere, and decided that her own library could use some wood furnishing.

“So...” Spike scratched his head with his face face twisted in confusion, “why was the town okay with us hanging out in the library all night? Where's the librarian?”

“According to my information, the library hasn't had a proper caretaker for almost two years.” Sunset alighted the top of the staircase and opened the door before her. “The last librarian passed away, and the mayor has kept it locked until she could find a suitable replacement.”

“Then how do the ponies check out books?”

“Well I can only guess that they would have to talk to the mayor about it and she would retrieve the order. I doubt it happens much; this isn't Canterlot, and no matter how smart these ponies are I highly doubt they're anywhere as well-read as even I am, to say nothing of our purple bookworm here.” She gave Twilight a lopsided grin, who was still enraptured by the magical building they were in. The second floor was a rather spacious study of sorts (that also housed multiple books in the shelves carved into all the walls of the tree), and had a raised platform on the side to the right of the entrance, blessed with a great window that overlooked the town square.

“You guys can go do the stuff and things. I'll just stay here and...” Twilight trailed off, a smile on her face for the first time in several hours.

Sunset finished depositing what she didn't feel like carrying around all day from her saddlebags and levitated Spike onto her back, before literally pushing the absentminded unicorn back out the door. “You're not going to avoid your duty, Twilight Sparkle. You're going to go out there with us, you're going to help with the preparations, and by Celestia's beard, you are going to interact with others!”

Twilight groaned as she was prodded back out the front door of the library. “Fine, whatever.”

“Aww, don't be like that Twilight. Who knows,” Spike said, “maybe the ponies in Ponyville have something interesting to talk about?” He pointed a claw at an approaching mare that seemed to embody all that was and would ever be called the color pink, who stopped before the unusual trio. “C'mon Twilight. Just give it a try!”

Twilight, for her part, attempted to swallow the growing lump in her throat so she could speak. She was never good at this talking to others thing, but there was no getting out of it now. “Um... hello?”

The offensively pink earth pony startled Twilight when she leapt into the air with a long and loud gasp, before seeming to fly off down the street at breakneck speed.

With a blink or two, Twilight recovered. “Well, that was interesting, all right.”

Spike sighed from his butter-colored perch, who threw in her two cents. “I didn't think Ponyville would be that shocked to see unicorns.” She craned her neck to glance at the dragon on her back. “...Or maybe it was just you.” The drake merely huffed and crossed his arms in retort.

Twilight was presently regretting not leaving all of her reference books back at the library.

The first item of importance on their given list of preparations to check was banquet preparations, handled by a mare with the unsavory name Applejack, who managed most of the farmland they had seen in their flight over the village. What mare names their foal after a liquor, Twilight had asked, to which she had been told by Sunset, “It'd probably be best if you didn't bring that up in her presence. Her parents died close to a decade ago, but it might still be a touchy subject.” Twilight idly wondered how her one-time substitute teacher would know this, but concluded that she likely retained quite a bit of unwanted useless information from her informant network, and that was some of it. Her mind was more occupied by the aching in her heart that the knowledge had given her, and she was vehemently trying to stomp out of existence. She knew what this was: sympathy. She hated feeling things about ponies. She had a small group of exceptions to this rule, but Twilight adamantly refused to become weighed down by any sort of attachment to the rest. She wasn't one herself, no matter what her appearance may lead others to believe, so she wouldn't fraternize with them under any circumstance. Except the one I'm currently in, she reminded herself.

The mare let out a frustrated groan. How long is this walk??? Wouldn't it have been more efficient to build the farmhouse closer to town? What pinhead horse wants to walk over a mile through the countryside to buy groceries!? Ugh, what even do they grow here? She looked about at the apple trees lining the dirt road they had been on for the last twenty minutes. Besides those.

“Shake a leg, Twi!”

Twilight snapped her head back forward to find she had fallen quite a ways behind the other two on the path in her pondering. To her relief, they were standing underneath an off-white archway that denoted the entrance to the farm's homestead. Fittingly enough, it was adorned with the image of three red apples. She sped up to a gallop, eager to close the distance and get the task at hand out of the way. When she reached the arch the purple unicorn was visibly out of breath, hating her saddlebags and the sun overhead and her stuffy stupid pony disguise that had absolutely no aeration.

“You know, exercise helps with that.” Sunset remarked.

In between her panting, Twilight snipped back. “Don't you dare start; I stretch every morning.”

“That's not aerobics, Twilight. I meant real actual exercise where you physically exert yourself.”

“Can we just get this over with, please?”

Sunset let out a short nasal sigh. “Yes, we can. In fact,” she turned from Twilight to the sound of another approaching, galloping pony, “I think we're going to be done with this faster than I expected.”

The three were treated to the sight of an orange pony in an overly-large brown hat hurtling toward a lone tree in the homestead clearing and pivoting to a stop on her forelegs, her back pair raised. They bucked out and impacted against the unfortunate bark with a loud crack, and the tree relinquished every apple on its branches to gravity, falling neatly in baskets placed underneath. The mare looked upon her work with pride, one foreleg crossed over the other.

Twilight was impressed (and slightly intimidated) by the display of brute force and its underlying finesse. She found herself being pushed once again from behind, and quickly turned to throw Sunset's hooves off of her.

“Go on, girl. You can do this.” Sunset gave Twilight a reassuring smile.

Twilight grunted her disapproval at the insinuation, but obliged. This wasn't idle chatter, this was business. She could do business. So she approached the lithe earth pony, now busy gathering up the baskets of apples in a physics-defying stack.

Twilight extended her hoof as she began, “Good morning, miss. My name is Twilight Sparkle--”

The unicorn didn't get to finish her greeting before her world began to violently quake. The farmpony had taken the purple hoof in both of hers and was vigorously shaking Twilight's entire body up and down.

“Well howdy-do, Miss Twilight! Pleasure makin' yer acquaintance. Ah'm Applejack, and lemme be the first t' welcome you t' Sweet Apple Acres!”

As Applejack released Twilight back to the merciful earth, Twilight found both her hoof and her head hurt.

“So who ya got here with ya, ma'am?” The earth pony gestured to Sunset and Spike, who were stifling giggles at the exchange.

“urrg” was all Twilight could manage.

Sunset stepped forward. “Allow me. We're here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. I am Sunset Shimmer, this is our assistant Spike.” she brought a hoof to her chest and tossed her head back slightly to indicate the purple drake, who waved a claw in greeting. “It's my understanding that you're in charge of the food?”

Applejack emitted a low whistle. “Well, a coupla busy, important mares, eh? Well we here ain't really ones to stand on ceremony fer royal ponies, but you can rest easy knowin' that yer friends of the Apple family for as long as yer in our humble town.”

“We're not very fond of such pomp and circumstance in this undertaking ourselves, so don't worry about it.”

The farmpony chuckled. “I like y'all already. Well, since yer here about th' caterin', Ah could bore ya with a whole buncha big fancy words about who's handlin' what and all the things we put in all the dishes, but Ah think it'd be a better use of yer time t' learn first-hoof.” She trotted over to a nearby picnic table and picked up a metal triangle that had rested on its surface, ringing it with the same passion and conviction she had shaken the other unicorn's hoof with.

“Soup's on, everypony!”

The earth rumbled beneath Twilight's hooves for real this time, and a veritable stampede of earth ponies of all colors swarmed into the area from the surrounding orchards, inside the red barn and the farmhouse itself. She had to sit down from the influx of mares and stallions and will herself not to have a panic attack.

Sunset looked over to her with concern before they were swept into the friendly too-tight embrace of Applejack. “Now why don't Ah interduce y'all to the Apple family?” Sunset's eyes widened from dread.

“Oh, uh, that's really not necessary--”

The unicorns and dragon were brought to multiple smaller groups of ponies in quick succession as Applejack rattled off names (all of which pertained to apples) and pointed to their owners. At some point Twilight had an entire apple stuffed into her muzzle, much to her horror. The orange mare got through quite a large number of family members before stopping for a deep breath.

“And this here's mah immediate family, Big McIntosh,”

A bulky red stallion sporting a yoke gave an aloof but friendly head nod.

“Applebloom,”

A bright yellow filly with a massive bow tied in her red mane jumped up and down in excitement. “Howdy there!”

“And Granny Smith!” Applejack pointed at last to an elderly green mare wrinkled by time currently dozing in an awkwardly-shaped rocking chair. “Up an' at 'em Granny, we got guests!”

The old pony jolted awake with a snort. “Wuh? Soup's on? Ah'm comin', Ah'm comin'...” she gradually fell back asleep as she mumbled her response.

“Granny's gettin' on in years. She might be a bit tough to get along with but trust me when I say that she likes you three already.”

Sunset was currently resisting having her bones crushed by the earth pony's grip. “We're very honored.”

“Why, Ah'd say they all consider you a part of th' family already!” Applejack gave the unicorns as wholesome a grin as had ever been managed as she finally released them from the vice that was her hold.

Twilight spat out the offending fruit still in her mouth. “Okay! Well, I can see the food situation is in very good hooves, so we'll just be on our way!”

“Twilight.” Sunset gave her a stern look, but she wouldn't have any of it. She wanted away from these rude ponies who shoved their hooves in other ponies' mouths and threatened to compromise your physical autonomy with their every move. It was a miracle her shell was still intact.

“Aren't ya gonna stay fer brunch?”

Twilight looked to the source of the tiny query, and found the filly named Applebloom was looking up to her now with eyes as big as dinner plates, disappointment written all over her diminutive muzzle. Twilight's irritatingly stubborn heart melted, and defied her own declaration, daring to overtake her reasoning. Stupid ponies...

“Twilight does have a point,” Sunset began, “we have quite a bit more to do today to make sure the Celebration goes well tomorrow--”

“...fine.”

Sunset looked to Twilight in surprise. “Huh?”

“We'll sample some of the food! No -- we're gonna eat the heck out of it! Gimme some of the pie, please!”

“Ugh... I ate waaaaaay too much pie...”

The two mares plus a baby dragon had managed to escape the onslaught of food, but not without incident. The Apples had insisted they sample every dish, to which Spike happily obliged, Twilight felt it would be rude to refuse, and Sunset was unable to get a word in edge-wise. The trio were thoroughly stuffed now, and were trudging back to the town proper.

Twilight had suffered the most. The unicorn never ate much -- she'd never felt the need to – and whatever she did eat just tasted as bland as the last thing she put in her mouth. Before she found out that she wasn't actually a pony, she thought everyone else was delusional when they remarked on the taste of something. Presently there must have been over two kilograms of apple and apple-related confections settling in her gut, and she hated it. Curse her manners. Curse her failure to become detached. Curse her knowledge of pony anatomy. Curse her own anatomy being strikingly similar in almost every way.

She opened her mouth to speak and inadvertently belched out the beginning of her sentence, garnering snickers from Spike. Blushing, she tried again, “So, what torture are we up for next, Sunset?”

Sunset, to her credit, ignored Twilight's faux pas and her remark, as well as the chuckling drake on her back. “The next thing on the list is the weather. A pony named Ditzy Doo and her team are supposed to be clearing all the clouds over Ponyville right about now.”

All three of them stopped and looked to the very much cloud-filled sky. It was still a relatively clear day, but the Celebration called for the sun to be alone in the sky tomorrow, which meant absolutely no clouds of any sort, and any cloud homes needed to be moved out of Ponyville's airspace until the Celebration had ended.

“Well,” Twilight's gaze returned to Sunset and Spike, “They're not doing a very good job now, are they?”

“Nope.” Sunset started for the town hall. “Well, it still isn't even noon, so they'll probably have enough time to fix that if we--”

The unicorn was stopped by a loud thud behind her. She reflexively spun around before Spike could finish shouting Twilight's name and charged her horn.

The purple mare had been pinned in a mud puddle by a blue pony that quickly found themselves flying off of the mare in a telekinetic toss. Sunset rushed to Twilight's side and pulled her out of the mess.

“Twilight, are you alright!?”

“I don't think so...” Twilight woozily replied as she swayed a bit on her hooves. She wasn't sure what had happened, but she could deduce from the fuzzy vision, the two Sunsets in front of her (each with their own dragon, how cool is that) and the particularly irritated spot on her now-aching back, she had been hit with something, and it had broken through her shell. That's not good, she thought. I should ask where Celestia is so she can fix it. “Hey, uhhh... do wonna you Sunsets know where the Princess is? I broke myself again, I think.”

“Twilight, just sit down for a minute, okay?” Sunset gently coerced the delirious purple mare to do as asked. “We'll fix you in a little bit.” She pivoted again to where she had thrown the offending pony, her face alight with fury, unmindful of the baby dragon she flung off her back in the process, or his dull groan of pain.

The cyan mare in question had leathery wings, and was propped up against a house with her back legs in the air. “Um--”

“YOU.” Sunset Shimmer's horn began to glow again, this time becoming wrapped in flames. “Pretty gutsy of a bat-pony to attack in broad daylight.”

“Whoa whoa, hold up a minute--” The cat-eyed perpetrator scrambled back to her hooves, only to be greeted by the uncomfortable heat of Sunset's horn mere inches from her muzzle. She backed up into a sitting position, forehooves in the air.

“But are you aware that the mare you just assaulted is the personal student of Princess Celestia AND one of the royal overseers of the Summer Sun Celebration!?”

The bat-pony's eyes went very wide then. “oh jeez-- W-wait, you got it all wrong, ma'am! It was a total accident!”

“And you expect me to believe you?”, Sunset challenged.

A frantic nod was the blue mare's response. Sunset scoffed.

“You have ten seconds to explain yourself, then.”

“'Kay.” The mare took a deep breath to calm herself a bit. “I fell off my napping cloud.”

“...what”

“Total, honest truth, I swear on my apple allowance! I was resting up on my cloud up there,” she pointed a forehoof to a cloud that was indeed directly overhead where Twilight currently sat recovering, “and I'm a restless sleeper so I probably rolled right off and I am totally sorry about hurting her please Idonwannagetthrownintothesundon'ttelltheprincessi'mhereplease!”

Sunset narrowed her eyes into a piercing glare. “That sounds like an awfully contrived coincidence.”

Twilight had regained herself by now, and was anxiously watching the interrogation. “Sunset...”

“Yeah, if it wasn't the truth I would think it was horseapples too, but I swear I'm not lying!”

The fiery unicorn's horn flared even brighter. “Let's say I don't believe you! Let's say I think that you're a lying filthy bat-pony who's been tailing us and waiting for a chance to strike at the Princess where it hurts her the most! Let's say you're an impatient and stupid bat-pony who couldn't wait until we would be separated, and your bloodsucking fetish got the better of you!”

“Sunset--”

She stepped closer. “You are so very screwed since the Princess isn't here right now. All she would have done is thrown you in the dungeon to rot for the rest of your pathetic life. Maybe if she was feeling particularly merciful, she'd execute you on the spot!”

“Sunset--”

“But you had the misfortune of attacking Twilight in my presence instead. You will die today, bat-pony, but it will not be quick, nor will it be painless!!”

“SUNSET SHIMMER!”

Sunset paused at Twilight's voice and looked back at her muddy form.

“I believe her.”

“Wh-- But Twilig--”

“And I forgive her!”

Sunset's spell dimmed somewhat as she turned away from her quarry. “Twilight, you can't be serious.”

Spike chimed in from his seat on the ground, “Actually, I believe her too. I even saw her fall.”

The princess's advisor stood outmatched by the situation. In the face of all that she knew about the mare behind her, she had no choice but to trust Twilight's word and Spike's testimony. After a moment, the flame on her horn dissipated, and she remarked to the blue pony, “You're lucky she's too nice to hate you.”

The leather-winged pony visibly deflated, relieved, before standing up and puffing out her chest with a smirk on her lips. “Heh, luck's got nothin' to do with how much ponies love me.”

Sunset gave the mare a dully annoyed look. “...I'm half-inclined to punch you anyway.”

“Betcha I punch harder.”

“No way in Tartarus, bloodsucker!”

“You're mom's a bloodsucker!”

“Joke's on you, my mother's dead!”

“Well that blows hard!”

“You're darn right it does!”

“Sorry for your loss!”

“Thanks!” And Sunset walked away from the pony, feeling like she totally won that argument. She went to inspect the damage she had done to Twilight and frowned. “Her garish head must have hit you pretty hard; there's an open fissure on your back. Ugh, there's probably mud in the impact wound now...”

The bat-pony winced at that. “You want I should help?”

“You've done quite enough, now get out of--” Sunset was pushed aside by the cyan pony.

“Lemme clean ya up. 's the least I can do.”

Before Twilight could potentially object the pony darted off, returning with a small raincloud. She positioned it over the muddy unicorn and stomped as much rain as she could out of the gray fluff, drenching Twilight in shivering cold water as it washed away the filth. With a kick, the now-empty cloud disappeared, and the rainbow-maned pony began to fly around her at an intense speed in a tight circle, creating a whirlwind. For the second time in five minutes the false unicorn was made very woozy, no thanks to the cackling wind spinning her about. But as she came to a stop and inspected herself, Twilight was delighted to find that all the mud was gone.

“Thank you, miss, uh...”

The pony did a backflip and alighted on the ground, clearly enjoying the praise. “The name's Rainbow Dash, Guardian of Ponyville, Future Wonderbolt, and the Fastest Flier in All of Equestria!”

“Well, Rainbow Dash, thank you for the um, impromptu shower. I do appreciate it.” Twilight repeated her gratitude, and then was stricken by an epiphany. “GASP! You're a thestral!”

Rainbow looked pleasantly surprised. “Wow, you're the first pony in a real long time to actually call me that. Most of them just settle for being racists.” She stole a sidelong glance at Sunset Shimmer.

Twilight took in the pony before her (who began to pose at the attention) with wide and sparkling eyes. She'd read about the thestral tribe several times before in her research, but she never even dreamed of seeing one in the flesh! And it was all there, clear as crystal; the dragon-like wings, the catlike eyes, the fangs for chewing meat... But that raised a rather poignant question.

“Why aren't you with the others?”

The grin on Rainbow's face disappeared for the briefest of moments before it returned in full force. “Let's just say I was too awesome for them to handle and they were too lame for my style.”

Twilight came uncomfortably close to the prismatically-maned thestral. “I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.”

“Uh, cool... I guess I can answer some of them for ya.” Rainbow backed up to get some breathing room. “I gotta get back to my nap soon, tho; can't train when you're tired, y'know.”

“Training for what?”, Twilight asked.

Somehow, Rainbow's grin became even toothier. She shot up into the air and landed on a cloud. “The Wonderbolts!”, she exclaimed. “They're gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!”

“I don't know if they'd accept thestrals...”

“Psh. Even if they don't, they'll have to make an exception for the best flier Equestria's ever seen!”

Sunset had frankly had enough of the brash blustering and boasting from the blue batmare, and wanted to get back to business. “I got next question. You wouldn't by any chance happen to know Ditzy Doo, Rainbow Dash? Because her weather team is supposed to be clearing the skies right about now and we couldn't help but notice that there's clouds all over.”

At this, Rainbow facehooved. “Ugh, they put Ditzy in charge of the weather today? Nothin' against her, but she's such a massive screw-up I dunno how the mayor could have picked her.”

Sunset pondered that information for a moment. “Well then, I'll bring this up with the mayor when we meet with her. C'mon, Twilight.” She turned once more for the town hall.

“No waitwaitwaitwait!”

Sunset sighed, and did yet another 180. I swear I'm gonna become one of those fancy new gramophone machines at this rate. “What?”

Rainbow Dash's eyes darted back and forth for a second. “Uhhm... I'm her weather team!”

“You.”

“Yep! Totally!”

“...I get the distinct impression you're lying to me again. And this time I think I'm right.”

“Nuh-uh! Applejack'd kill me if I lied to you!” Not that she's gonna find out, Rainbow thought.

“So instead of doing your job, you've been dozing off and literally drooling on your work. And you're the only other pony taking care of the weather?”

“Yup!” Rainbow absentmindedly wiped at her mouth.

Sunset stared, clearly not amused by the thestral above her. “Then I guess I'll just tell the mayor you've been slacking off.”

The cyan pony scoffed. “Whatev's. I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat.”

“There is literally no way you could possibly do that. Even if you started right now, it would take you until well past sundown to clear the entire sky by yourself--”

Rainbow was suddenly in Sunset's face, and a timer was being placed in her hooves. “Hold this.”

The blue pony started the timer, and immediately disappeared from Sunset's vision. She jumped back in surprise, instinctively grabbing the timer with her magic.

Shelooked up to the sky and stared in awe as clouds on one side of Ponyville's airspace would be kicked out of existence, almost instantly followed by clouds on the other side. It all happened so fast that it looked for all the world that a beam of rainbow was bouncing off the fluffy things like a life-size pinball machine. In no time at all, the sky was cleared of everything that could possibly obstruct the sun, and Rainbow Dash touched down before her with a hoof stopping the timer.

“Ten...”

Seconds...

“Flat.”

Sunset had to admit, she was extremely impressed.

Rainbow trotted over to an equally amazed Twilight, chuckling all the way. "Hey, uh, what was your name?"

"Huh?" Twilight shook her head out of the awed daze she was in. "Oh, um, I'm Twilight Sparkle."

Rainbow's smug grin became more genuine. "You're alright, Twilight Sparkle. If you're not busy bein' too cool for all us little ponies tomorrow, it'd be awesome to hang out some more."

"Yuh?"

The thestral began snickering again, "Yeah, totally! Nice mane-do, by the way. See ya later!"

With that, Rainbow Dash bolted off into the sky.

Twilight stared at where the pony was a second ago, dimly aware that Spike had been laughing like a madpony for the past few minutes for some reason.

"...Buh?"

Author's Notes:

Rainbow Dash is probably my favorite to write.

-N