Rainbooms and Royalty

Leaving the Nest

The morning sun found Rainbow Dash in the middle of the Palace labyrinth. It wasn’t the first time she’d snuck out to spend the night by herself and probably wouldn’t be the last. She shivered as she stirred, wishing she had the presence of mind to grab a cloud to sleep on last night. Stretching, she flew off into the morning air. Time for a little morning exercise.

Within moments she encountered a patrol of royal pegasus guards—no doubt with orders to keep an eye out for her. “Hey you guys!” She waved. “What’s up?”

“Rainbow Dash!” The leader of the patrol said in his best Royal Guard I-am-serious-and-you-will-obey voice. “You are ordered to return to Canterlot Castle immediately!”

She pretended to think about it. “Sure!” Rainbow Dash smiled. “No problem! But you know the rules…You have to catch me first!”

“Get back here!” The familiar cry was music to her ears. The pegasus flew between the towers of Canterlot castle as the squad of guards chased after her in pursuit.

Rainbow Dash turned her head back and grinned cheekily. “Sorry guys, you gotta earn it!” She performed a barrel roll and ended doing a slow backstroke in the sky, taunting the guards. Dash let them get so close that the tip of her tail tickled their snouts…only to then put on a sudden burst of speed that left them all blinded by her rainbow trail.

By the time they finished blinking and rubbing their eyes, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Looking up from the castle courtyard, the captain of the royal guard shook his head. “Every time…” Then he closed his eyes and started counting. “Three…two…one…”

Tap tap! He felt a hoof gently rapping on his helmet. Right on time, he thought in bemusement. Even before he finished turning around he sighed and said, “Hello Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey Shiny!” She gave a cheeky wave and a grin. “What’s up, besides me, of course?”

“Rainbow Dash…” Shining Armor gave a rueful groan, unable to completely hide his knowing smile. “What is this, the third time this week? Give the poor pegasus guards a break! They have better things to do than to chase you around Canterlot.”

“Eh, not much of a chase. Chase implies that they had a chance of catching me. Which they didn’t!” She buffed her hoof on her chest.

Shining Armor chuckled. They’d had this little game going for years. “Yes, yes, I know. You’re awesome.” He rolled his eyes.

“Darn right!” Rainbow Dash flexed. “So what’s going on?”

“Just doing my job and checking up on my favorite flier.” He put his hoof on her shoulder, gently easing her to the ground. “So what’s going on with you?”

Rainbow Dash colored a bit as Shining Armor touched her. “N-nothing! Nothing’s going on!” She gave her widest, most confident looking smile that utterly failed to convince anypony.

Shining resisted the urge to laugh. He’d known Rainbow Dash practically since he’d joined the Royal Guard, not long after she’d been brought to Canterlot. He quickly became aware of Princess Celestia’s mischievous student by the series of pranks she liked to play on the royal guard, such as putting itching powder in his armor on his first day when he was guarding Princess Celestia. That was the longest guard shift, EVER.

The Royal Guard was alternatively aggravated and amused by the prankster pegasus and unofficially adopted her as the guard’s mascot. In fact, her pranks became part of the initiation for new members. Shining Armor supposed that the guard command figured that if the guards could put up with Rainbow Dash’s practical jokes, they could put up with anything. That and guards who weren’t paying their utmost attention had a higher risk of ending up the butt of one of her pranks. Shining Armor learned that the hard way.