It had been rather disturbing to Twilight when she had been summoned by Princess Celestia and Rainbow Dash at the same time. She had been preparing to turn in for the night after a fairly successful round of candy gathering, when a member of the guard approached and delivered her the news. Now, Twilight found herself in a brisk canter for the designated meeting point.
What was most rattling to Twilight was that, normally, Rainbow didn’t ever invoke her ability to summon ponies. This was the first time it had happened and that on it’s own was unsettling to the young unicorn as she made her way to one of the dining rooms of the castle. According to the summons, Rainbow was hungry and hadn’t gotten much candy from her time outside before calling this meeting, so Celestia had arranged for their meeting to be held in a dining room with a kitchen just a room over so Rainbow could eat while they discussed the matter.
But what matter is it? What’s going on? Twilight pondered mentally before turning another corner. Finally, the door to the dining room came into view, two members of the royal guard standing in front of it, stoic as ever. One of them looked down and nodded firmly. “Ah, there you are. We’ve been expecting you. Please head inside; the princesses are waiting.”
The other guard nodded and pulled the door open with a quick burst of magic, ushering her in and then closing the door behind her. Twilight took in the room for a moment before her eyes settled on the two other ponies in the room. She couldn’t help but cringe somewhat at the mess Rainbow was making at her plate, noisily and hungrily demolishing a mound of chocolate chip cookies. She swiftly stuffed another hoof full of tasty baked goods down her throat before she peered up at Twilight and waved in greeting.
Princess Celestia sat across the modest round table from Rainbow and smiled in satisfaction at Rainbow’s enthusiastic eating. The little pegasus seemed much more relaxed than when she had first shown up with word of her problem. The solar princess then turned her gaze to Twilight and smiled wider. “Ah, Twilight, there you are. It’s good to see you could make it in a short amount of time. Please. Have a seat”
Twilight bowed deeply to Celestia. “Of course, princess. I would never ignore summons from you or Rainbow Dash,” she then stood and approached the table. “But, I must admit, I am extremely confused. What is so pressing that Rainbow invokes her right of summoning on me? She’s never done that before.”
Rainbow swallowed her mouthful of cookies and stared at Twilight with a level expression. “I had a hallucination, too.” she said bluntly.
Twilight felt her jaw drop in surprise when she heard this. She turned and looked at Rainbow with wide eyes. “Wha- seriously? You did?” she asked in shock.
“Yup. And it was an awful lot like yours,” Rainbow replied with a frown and nod. “I couldn’t see anything other than the hallucination itself. I couldn’t see minuette shaking me or anything. It was…” she shivered slightly at the memory of the feeling.
“Minuette was with you?” Twilight pressed, her surprise becoming even more apparent.
Rainbow nodded, but it was Princess Celestia who spoke next.
“Yes, Twilight. In her vision, Rainbow saw herself and another, decidedly pink pony about to pull a prank on Fluttershy. Apparently the pink pony was not okay with this plan and talked Rainbow out of it,” She explained with a more serious look coming onto her muzzle. “Everypony present in the vision was an adult, Rainbow and Fluttershy included.”
Twilight bit her lip before hopping up onto an empty seat at the table. “Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence…” she muttered before looking to Celestia questioningly. “Has anypony else had visions like these? Anypony at all?”
Celestia shook her head. “None that I know of, but the fact that it has happened twice, and to two ponies I hold dear no less, is cause for concern,” she looked to Rainbow Dash, a small amount of worry shining in her eyes. “But nothing is wrong with either of you; physically or mentally, near as I can tell.”
“So what gives? Why are we having these freaky vision things?” Rainbow asked with an irked grimace, taking another cookie and biting it quite loudly.
Celestia closed her eyes in deep thought. “There are a few possibilities, but the one that seems the most likely to me right now is that something - or somepony - is projecting these visions into your mind from an outside location,” she opened her eyes and looked between the two fillies carefully. “It would explain why there aren’t any problems with your mental health or physical bodies. The visions aren’t originating from you. Something might be sending you these visions from somewhere else and, as such, we would only be able to track the visions to their source while it was happening.”
Twilight sighed as the largest puzzle to solve with that theory immediately sprang into her mind. “And there hasn’t been any sort of a pattern to when these things happen, has there?”
“Exactly right, Twilight. There hasn’t,” Celestia affirmed with a nod. “We shall just have to wait and keep our eyes peeled. The visions themselves don’t appear to be common and, from what little we know, they depict scenes that are similar in some capacity to the situations you two have been in when you had them.”
“Meaning external stimuli triggers these visions,” Twilight added with her muzzle scrunching up in thought.
“And we don’t know what circumstances will trigger another vision,” Celestia reminded before looking to Rainbow Dash. “So we have no way of predicting it.”
“Ugh, so that basically means we have to wait?” Rainbow slumped in her seat with a groan. “But I hate waiting!”
“Lucky for you, I am very good at waiting,” Celestia said with a small smile and a distant looking coming to her eyes. “For now, you two don’t have much to worry about. The visions you two have had don’t seem to have done any real harm to you, so I think we can safely take our time with this matter. Nevertheless, it would be for the best if these incidents are reported to me as soon as they occur. The more information we have, the better”
Twilight nodded in agreement. “Of course, your highness. I’ll tell you right away if I have another one.”
Rainbow grumbled with agitation, but otherwise nodded along. “Alright, fine. But if we find a way to figure out what’s going on quickly, without having to wait, I saw we jump on it!”
“As long as it isn’t risky, then I Agree,” Celestia nodded before relaxing her expression into something less serious. “But, with all of that said, I feel that as long as we are here together, we should make the most of the opportunity.”
With a single, small flick of her magic, Celestia rang a bell that hung over a side door in the room. The door swung open and a mare in a chef’s uniform strolled into the dining room with a warm and practiced smile. Floating behind her were three platters, each one covered with a lid. Twilight looked on in surprise as the platters were set down in front of each of them.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Er, Celestia? I just ate.”
Celestia smirked with a knowing twinkle in her eyes. “I know you did, and I also know that a plate of cookies is no substitute for a good dinner, especially if said dinner is your favorite meal,” she then looked between Twilight and Rainbow while the chef excused herself. Celestia’s smile took on a somewhat sad tilt. “And, if we are being honest, I all too rarely get to enjoy a meal with company. Often times I have to dine on my own.”
“If you don’t like eating dinner along then why don’t you ever ask me to join you? You know I’d be happy to join you.” Rainbow questioned with a tilt of her head.
Celestia grinned and giggled lightly behind her hoof. “Because, Rainbow, you’re always asleep when I normally have my dinner,” her smile widened at the small look of realization on Rainbow’s face. “And I have come to deeply understand the hazards of waking you up when you aren’t ready. Heh, you are quite the little she-demon if your rest is disturbed.”
“Oh.” Was Rainbow’s only response, a very small hint of pink coming to her cheeks. Celestia laughed outright at that. Twilight looked between the two of them and smiled softly. The two had definitely bonded since Rainbow first came to Canterlot…
Then Celestia used her magic and pulled the lids off of their platters, revealing the meals beneath. Twilight found two hayburgers on her platter with a side of hay fries, and instantly her mouth watered. She didn’t know how Celestia knew that hayburgers were her favorite food, but she wasn’t about to question it or complain. Rainbow, not far away, let out a high-pitched and excited squeal as she beheld a pasta and potato sandwich on sourdough bread. Celestia simply smiled warmly at the two and looked down at her own plate. A high-quality salad, an apple and, to Twilight’s surprise, a large slice of strawberry cake.
“Wow, princess! You didn’t need to do this.” Twilight said, although her mind immediately pointed out how much she didn’t mean that. Celestia smiled softly.
“I know, but I wanted to,” Celestia said gently before looking at Rainbow with a motherly smile. “And I know it’s been a long time since you had your favorite meal, Rainbow. I felt you’ve waited long enough.”
Rainbow looked up at Celestia with a big smile, despite the tear trailing down her cheek. “Heh… you really gotta stop plucking my heartstrings, Celestia. It’s getting embarrassing,” she wiped a foreleg across her eyes and smiled wider. “But thank you. I appreciate it… it’s nice to get a piece of home every once in awhile…”
Celestia simply hummed in response before lifting a fork to begin on her meal. “Well, I think we’ve ogled our food long enough. Dig in, everypony.”
It was a simple command that not a single pony in that room was against.
The three ponies enjoyed their meal, deciding to just forget the oddity of the visions for the time being and just enjoy themselves. They talked about various things over the course of the meal, including Rainbow Dash asking about the Wonderbolts and learning about an upcoming performance in Canterlot within the next two weeks. She then more or less made a formal decree then and there that she would be in attendance. Celestia made no objections, saying she would be there herself.
Twilight briefly brought up her progress on her latest bit of homework, but once Rainbow began to fake snore to emphasise that topic was not really good for a dinner like this, the topic quickly changed to something less, as rainbow put it, ‘boring.’
Eventually, however, the meal had to come to an end. The three ponies finished their food and stepped out of the dining room. Celestia smiled down at the two widely, a sleepiness coming over her. “It was wonderful to just sit and talk, you two. But, as it is, the hour demands I turn in for the night. Don't’ be long in getting some rest yourself, Rainbow Dash.” she said before turning and trotting down the hall for her private chambers.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” Rainbow nodded while waving Celestia off. She then turned to Twilight and smiled expectantly. “So… you’re done with the new Daring Do book, right?”
“Yeah, I am. Wanna read it?” Twilight asked with a small, knowing smirk spreading on her face. Rainbow gave an excited nod in response.
“Yeah, I do! The first one was really good!”
Twilight rolled her eyes but nodded. “Okay, sure. Come by my room tomorrow and I’ll let you borrow it. Just don’t damage it, you hear?”
Rainbow nodded with a huge grin. “No sweat! Thanks, Twilight.” she then lunged and gave Twilight a very quick hug before darting off to catch up with Celestia. In fact, the hug was so fast that Twilight blinked and missed it.
I swear, this was all I could think of
Hey there. Thanks very much for getting this next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Once again, the exchange, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all quite well done.
Now, there isn't much I can think of beyond stuff I already mentioned in previous reviews:
1. Rainbow helping Moondancer gradually learn how to plan and take pranks while also helping her and Twilight form a legitimately deep friendship.
2. A young Gilda coming to visit Rainbow - not only reconnecting with her old friend, but also bonding a bit with Twilight and her study group (semi-reluctantly at first, but she eventually comes to admit "You know, Rainbow, your new friends aren't too bad - for a bunch of eggheads." [or words to that effect]).
3. Spike getting Rainbow interested in comic books (great artwork, even better action and [usually] very easy to follow storylines. One of the super-hero comics Rainbow reads involves time travel and she briefly gets an image in her head of an adult Twilight travelling back in time before dismissing it as "too far-fetched".
and 4. Twilight and Rainbow end up meeting and befriending a young Trixie. In turn, this friendship with both Twilight AND Rainbow would end up inspiring AND motivating her (albeit JUST enough to avoid the worst parts of "Boast Busters" [because she would be careful to ONLY make boasts she can actually back up AND because Twilight and Rainbow would know her well enough to know that "she is a decent enough mare once you learn to look past the ego"] and pretty much ALL of "Magic Duel" years later).
Of course, as I admitted, I already included these in earlier reviews and I can completely understand if you don't like any of them.
At any rate, I will very assuredly be looking forward to more of this, but will also be VERY willing to be patient.
UGH... This is a crime against humanity and italian cuisine... ;p
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It's RD's favorite meal. :P
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This popped into my head as well.
Rainbow and/or Twilight going with Celestia to scope out Ponyville and inadvertently making friends with at least Applejack, and experiencing Pinkie's "Welcome to Ponyville" Party earlier than canon, possibly resulting in a vision of an alternate future if Twilight comes along.
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My favorite meal is a pasta and garlic bread sandwich, so her choice of cuisine is not that weird.
Regretting not trick or treating, dear Dashie?
Chocolate Chip, always a staple for children.
"Bwah!"
Little Wing says she agrees.
Never one to beat around the bush, as usual.
It's called a tear in time. Though the tree of harmony could also be amplifying them, since it knows everything.
She followed the destruction.
i.ytimg.com/vi/Napa2f_F054/maxresdefault.jpg
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I removed that... ugh... Love that pony but she really needs to review her choices on food ;p
Ideas for the next story arc? While I like the idea of Gilda coming to visit as someone else suggested, I think the focus should stay on the Mane 6. Here are a couple of scenarios that I thought of:
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Pinkie would probably still be wandering at this point, the way I see it. I dont think she actually arrived in Ponyville for a at least a year after leaving her farm, and leaving her farm was almost gauranteed not an immediate thing she did after getting her cutie mark. Still, not bad ideas. I'll consider them
and I do have another one lined up in my mind already.EDIT: That 'other one' is gonna have to be disregarded by me; Turns out if I put it in I would be directly contradicting what I already have and such a blatant continuity error is not good.
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On the note of plot ideas and where Pinkie Pie would be at this point, what if in this timeline, she never left home because her family was worried about her and a vision she had? Perhaps after Pinkie had introduced the Pies to parties, they attempted to try it themselves for Pinkie's birthday. But it's intended to be a surprise party. But because it's a surprise party, Pinkie doesn't know what's going on and begins to think that her family are avoiding her. This causes her to have a vision of 'Party of One'. But Pinkie couldn't get over this vision, since it never got to the end of the episode. For this reason, Pinkie wasn't acting like herself for a while and didn't know what to think. Her family starts getting worried and finally chooses to get into contact with Princess Celestia to find out if she could do anything about it. This could create an interesting interaction between Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, since neither of them have met each other, but have had visions
about each other.
pasta and potato on sourdough? Eh, needs more cheese...
capitalized
As to "what next?"
AJ was in Manehatten. Without the Rainboom, would she have gone back to the farm?
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Good thing that the rainboom did happen, then. Otherwise Twilight wouldn’t be Celestia’s student.
Also, Dash seems to have forgotten that she left her costume with Minuette
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She retrieves it at a later time off-screen.
Doncha dare damage it, ya hear?
Poor celestia has waited 1000 years for Luna
Aaaaah family dinner celestia and rainbow's relationship is so sweet im gonna die, her running to catch up with her mom at the end!!!! She better take the time to have dinner with her mom more often