Blossom

If there was one thing Rainbow Dash was familiar with that was boredom. She got bored rather easily, especially when around Fluttershy. It was only out of her sense of loyalty that she hanged out with the shy pony, torturing herself with excruciating activities; but Fluttershy was her oldest friend and even when sometimes she pushed Rainbow´s buttons, she will still stick to her side, no matter what.

Except this time. Fluttershy had dragged Rainbow to the library, the most boring place in town.Rainbow would never enter the library voluntary, unless there was some super amazing adventure book to read, something with a brave and bold pegasus explorer or something like that but, come on, that´s ridiculous! Everypony knows that books are only for eggheads!

“Hi girls!” Twilight Sparkle said. “You need anything, Fluttershy?”

“Sure, don´t ask me. I´m just standing right here!”, Rainbow thought while sitting down.

“Yes Twilight, I was looking for a book about ikebana...” the shy pegasus said in almost a murmur.

“Uuh the exotic art of flower arrangement from the Far East! Didn't know you liked that sort of thing, Fluttershy!”

“It´s...a hobby.” the pegasus was blushing.

“I think I have one in the top section. Spike, check out sector 7-G!”

“Will do!”

While the little dragon worked, Twilight inquired more information from Fluttershy who responded by taking out a flower pot from her saddlebags. “I was trying to copy a piece I saw on a magazine but I don´t think I got  it right.”  Twilight examined the intertwined lilies and chrysanthemums and had to admit the result was pretty bad looking. “You had any ideas?”

“You should really ask Rarity instead. I´m not good with...decorations.”

“Ha!”

“Shut up, Spike!”

“This is what all the fuss was about? You drag me out of my bed for this?!” Rainbow complained.

“I´m sorry...”

“Rainbow, be more considerate. This is important to Fluttershy.” Twilight scolded her.  “Now, let´s figure out what´s wrong with this piece here...”

“It just needs to be a little more cooler. About a twenty percent . No, make it a ten. You got that bow right.”

“Yeah, like you know anything about flower arrangement, Rainbow!” Twilight mocked her and even Fluttershy giggled a little. “Now Spike, bring that book here. According to the manual we should move this here...”

“Here?”

“Yes! Now we cut this one and...”

Rainbow was about to explode with how slow these two were. “GAH! Let me handle this!”

True to her ten seconds flat motto, Rainbow fixed the flower pot in a dash. Now the flowers beamed like sunlight and you could almost hear music coming out of the petals.

“There! Can we go now?”

….

“Why are you all staring at me like that?”

******

“I´m so bored!” the little rainbow maned filly did a few loops in the airs before crashing back into the chair. The older mare next to her just laughed a little and kept going with her business.

Rainbow took a upside down look but all she could see was green empty space stretching into the horizon with just a distracted goat in the background. “Dumb farm...”

Rainbow pouted. Why did all the relatives on her mother's side had to be earth ponies? Rainbow was stuck every summer in that boring farm at the outskirts of Fillydelphia with her grandmother and her dumb earth ponies cousins. She hated this. She wanted to fly around, to soar across the sky, go back to fly camp. She missed Gilda a lot. Hay, she even missed that scaredy cat of Fluttershy! But, she was stuck here for another two weeks so, she guessed she better find something to kept herself busy.

“What are you doing, granny?”

“Making a centerpiece.” the grey mare slowly moved another sunflower inside the pot. Rainbow watched her go in slow motion, picking another flower from the ones in the table. The old lady moved her hoof over a flower, she was about to grab it and then...she moved back to the left. Rainbow rolled her eyes. Her grandmother went for another flower, pick it up, was about to place it in the pot and then...she put it back in the table.

“Oh come on! Why is taking you so long?”

“You have to be patient, Peewee...” (“Heheh Peewee.” “Shut up, Spike!”) “You have to find the perfect flower and place it into the perfect place. It takes time and a lot of trial and error but when you finally do it right...” and she turned the pot over so Rainbow could see it.  

Rainbow eyes went wide at the spectacular sight of the bright and blooming flowers. She feel like the Princess herself was singing at her ear. The flower piece was magical.

“It shines like bright day.”

Rainbow was finally excited. “I wanna do it too! I wanna do it too!”

“calm down Peewee. Let me teach you the basics...”

Rainbow may be impatient but she was also a  fast learner. She quickly understood the basic rules and adapted the proper method to her own needs. She didn't  want to waste time picking the right flower, she trained to recognize the best one, swoop them in a flash and made an arrangement in a matter of seconds. The results...were pretty good.

Rainbow looked at her work, proud of her speed and skills. She hold her breath, waiting for that moment of impact when the flowers will sing.

…

Nothing happened.

“I don´t understand. I did everything exactly like you did, grandma! Why does mine looks so...boring?”

“You did everything by the book, Peewee.” and she gently patted Rainbow´s head. “But there´s more to decor that simply arranging things to look pretty, they need to tell a story, to express your true feelings.”

“My what now?”

“You have to tell something with this piece. What do you want to tell?”

Rainbow looked at the flower pot intensely, trying to figure out what was she looking for with it. After a while an idea came to her head. She rushed back to the field and grabbed a weed that she then tangled around the pot. The result was... pretty impressive.

Now the flower pot looked menacing, the weed circling the vase while the sunflowers escaped from it, searching the sun. Granny Dash approved with a look and then looked back at her grandchild.

“I want it to look cool!”

****

“And that´s the whole story. My grandma taught me all the basics and I still visit her every summer but boy, it´s been years since I last fixed some flowers!”

Rainbow looked front and found both ponies and the baby dragon with dumbfounded looks.

“What? Can´t I be good at girly stuff? Let me tell you something girls, I´m Rainbow Dash and I´m awesome in everything I do, even flower arrangement! Next time, I´ll teach you two how to always dress in style!”