Rainbooms and Royalty

The Nightmare Begins

“…took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since!” The book closed. “You see? Now that is how the Princess…”

“Look! It’s Rainbow Dash!” A crowd of fillies and colts fled to the windows as Cheerilee repressed a groan. That filly had only been in town for two days and already she could completely interrupt a lesson just by flying past. She hoped that the novelty of the new visitor would wear off and that Ponyville’s foals would divert their attention elsewhere. Thus far, no such luck.

“Now, class….” The ringing of the school bell, signaling the end of the day cut her off and she quickly had to leap to the side to avoid a stampede of little ponies. “Fine, remember to have fun at the Summer Sun Celebration!” She called.

Outside Rainbow Dash delighted in the chorus of cheers and shouts that greeted her as the fillies and colts ran out of school. They jumped and waved, eager to get her attention.

With a loose wave, Dash zoomed down at the ground, a rainbow in her wake. She flew just over their heads, blowing manes wildly out of place as they stomped and cheered. A tight Immelmare’s turn sent her soaring back up into the wild blue. The wind tugged at her mane and tail sending them flapping in midair. Her feathers stretched out as if trying to catch the air itself. She looped around the schoolyard once, twice and on the third time did a series of barrel rolls. Rainbow Dash then evened out and zipped across the rooftops, her hooves delicately strutting across them as she half-ran, half-flew across from house to house until she reached the end of the street.

Then, with a final somersault she landed hard on her hooves on the street below, right in front of the local restaurant. She breezed in and took a seat at one of the outdoor tables, scoping the menu.

This was the life. Hot piping breakfast each morning at Sweet Apple Acres, a whole day of flying (when Twilight wasn’t dragging her around to oversee preparations), naps in the clouds, competitions with Applejack, snacks with Fluttershy, more flying, dinner with Ditzy and Dinky, and then back to the farm for the night. Rinse and repeat.

A pair of massive hooves covered Dash’s face from behind. Her forelegs flailed in surprise. “Guess who Dashie?” Teased a familiar sounding voice.

“Shining Armor you pinhead! Lemme go!” She grunted, spinning around the second he let go of her. “Jerk!”

The large unicorn laughed at the indignant look on her face. “Aww, c’mon Dash…” He pouted. “I missed you kid. How’re you doing?”

Rainbow Dash brightened immediately, which of course had nothing to do with the admission that he actually missed her. At all. Likewise the fact that her heart skipped a little beat was a coincidence. Totally.

“It’s. Been. Awesome!” She threw her hooves up. “I get to fly all I want, get great food and no boring lessons or snobby ponies to ruin things. It’s a blast.”

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Shining mussed her mane. “How’s Twiley doing?”

“Twilight’s actually…pretty okay.” Rainbow said after thinking about it. “I think she’s having some fun and she actually got to meet some ponies without completely shutting down. She’s kinda cool once she stops being all nervous or nerdy. No offense.” She added as an afterthought.

Shining Armor didn’t seem offended. “That’s great news! I was hoping that if any pony could get her to loosen up a bit and gain a little confidence, it’d be you.”

Rainbow had to clamp down on her jaw to prevent a squeal of delight. Even so her hind legs did a little kick of joy, safely hidden from view under the table. “Y-yeah?” Her voice broke so she cleared her throat, as if that would really help. “Well, we actually kind of got to talking a bit about stuff…like the entrance exam thing.” Shining’s eyes widened. “Yeah…it was pretty heavy. She was really torn up about it, but Applejack and I—that farmpony you met before?—tried to get her to look at it differently. I don’t know how much of it she really got but—!” She was abruptly cut off when Shining Armor enfolded her into a full body hug. “S-shiny?”