RD POV
 
>You're flying back to town.
>Well, you have been spending a lot of time with Anon, you guess.
>I mean, of course you have! He's a great friend to hang out with, n-not to mention, t-that...
>That other thing.
>You haven't really been doing anything in your free time other than dreaming about him, and, well...W-waiting for him.
>Hanging out with your other friends might be an, uh, healthier alternative.
>After all, you saved the world with them, like, at least 3 times.
>That's a pretty big number. For saving the world, anyway.
>Maybe it had something to do with all the bad guys showing up around your area.
>Surpisingly nice of 'em to all decide on being evil where you and your friends could reach 'em.
>Hah!
>You make yourself laugh.
>Maybe it's about time you paid a few of 'em a visit.
>Applejack's out, for now.
>She's busy.
>Yeah...You'd be able to hang out with her anyway.
>But it'd involve you getting dragged into work.
>Rarity's out too.
>You're gonna meet up with her when Anon's break ends, anyway.
>So that leaves Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight.
>Hmm...
>Egghead.
>Twilight's calm, and probably would, uh, Keep it together.
>The other two, eh, one would explode, and the other would be awkward.
>You have to admit it, though, you're kinda nervous.
>A part of you kinda wants them to throw a party over your return,
>But annother part doesn't want to make too much of a scene.
>Well, time to head over to the...What?
>Oh, right, she lives in the castle now.
>Forgot about that.
 
>Still hasn't sunk in, has it?
>She's a princess now.
>She's been one for a while, but it's never really been a thing that got in the way much.
>Sure, there's the occasional royal visit she has to do, but not much has changed.
>Apart from where she lives. I mean, damn.
>LOOK at the place.
>...OK, from the outside, it's not much to look at.
>It's pretty spikey.
>But still, a whole castle. That's awesome!
>You renember helping to haul her old tree house to put inside the castle to help her feel better about the place.
>What you did with it was nice, sure, but you could've like, built a book fort instead.
>Pretty sure she'd be just as happy with that.
>You look around at ponyvile.
>You don't actually live here, but you've honestly never felt more at home anywhere else.
>"H-hey! Hey! Rainbow Dash!"
>Uh?
>You look down.
>Hey! It's Scootaloo!
>She's looking up at you with a big smile on her face.
>Guess your old world-saving-buddies aren't the only ones you've been missing out on, huh?
>Looks like she's tailing you on her scooter.
>You'd love to stop and say hi, but, y'know.
>That's not the COOL option.
>You give her a salute, and speed off towards the castle.
>Pretty easy to see it from there.
>You mean, it'd be pretty hard to miss it.
 
>Why'd it have to be made out of crystal, anyway?
>Sure, it looks pretty and everything, but you can't crash through it.
>What kind of tool uses a door?
>Yup. You're either gonna have to find an open window, or you'll actually have to skip visiting twilight.
>No way are you gonna open a door to get in. You wanna MAKE an entrance, not use one.
>There you go. Nice open window.
>She's probably in that room.
>You fly straight for it.
>Peaceful reading session? Organising documents?
>TOO BAD!
>YOU'RE GETTING A VISIT FROM RAINBOW DASH!
>You fly full speed through the window, stop, and strike a pose.
>You hear the sound of papers scattering in your presence.
>Man, you missed that noise.
>There she is.
>She's sitting at a desk, making a quill float.
>Pretty sure she wasn't doing anything with that.
>She hasn't looked at you yet, but that's because some papers have landed on her head.
>You keep the pose, and wait for her to shake 'em off.
>"Rainbow Dash? Is that you?"
"YOU BET IT IS!"
>You fly over to her, and give her a noogie.
"How ya doing?"
>She looks around at her scattered papers.
>"...Oh, pretty good."
>She slowly lowers her quill, and gently places it on the desk.
 
Twilight Sparkle's POV
>Well, it's Rainbow Dash alright.
>Can't say you were expecting HER today.
>Oh, well. You suppose you never have.
>It's hard to stay mad at a pony with the same cocky attitude that Rainbow has.
>Makes you feel like you can shake off whatever she does to you just because it's Rainbow Dash.
>Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since she burst into the room with complete disregard for what you were doing.
>Maybe you'll finish that essay later.
>"So, uh, what's happening?"
"Oh, um...Nothing, really."
>You pause for a split second, but then renember that it's Rainbow Dash, and try to get your point out before she interupts you.
"So, Rainbow, uh, why did you burst through my window?"
>"Well, it's been a while since I last saw ya, so I decided to pay you a visit!"
"How, ah, thoughtful of you."
>You smile.
>As much as a pain it is to get your work back together after she, well, makes herself at home, there's something about her brash entrances that you've come to like.
>The shenanigans that often follow after her apperance are often fun, too.
>It's a welcome disruption, if not an incovinient one.
>You decide it'd be a good idea to pick up the papers while you wait for her to come up with something else to say.
>An easy task, with your magic, but you're still going to need to re-write the page you were on.
>You quickly re-assemble the scattered pages, and stuff most of the ink back into the inkwell.
>You're lucky you don't have to do this with HANDS or anything like that, as the latter may have proven almost impossible.
>Rainbow's just hovering in the air, watching what you're doing.
>You manage to get everything back in order, right down to the page you were last writing on.
>Ah, that's satisfying.
"So, did you need anything?"
>"Uh...Well, um...How've you been? Anything fun happen?"
>You think back to the last time you saw Rainbow Dash.
>Did anything interesting happen since then?
>Hmm.
 
>Well, you have discovered an interesting new theory concerning the interactions between physical, and magicaly enchanted matter.
>But you get the feeling she wouldn't be interested in something like that.
>You've been organising a few things for some of your friends.
>Rarity often calls on you to help arange her fabrics by colour, so you've been doing that.
>Had an interesting experiment involving a potted plant, some magic and some rather...F-furtive vines...
>...No, she doesn't need to know about that one.
>Pretty sure she'd WANT to know, but that's a whole different story.
>Had an awkward conversation with Spike involving who his maternal parents were?
>...Nope, absolutely nothing she'd be interested in.
"Nothing really happened, but, it's been pretty good."
>"Heh! Hope it hasn't been too boring without me."
"Well, I suppose I missed it when you barged into my office all the time, yes."
>You both laugh.
>You suppose there are other perks to her than her strange charisma. She's witty, too.
>Knowing her, she probably came in here purely for the sake of it, so you'll give her something to do.
"Say, Rainbow, could you fetch a book for me?"
>"A book? Uh, sure. Like, what book?"
"It's, uh, on that pile over there."
>You indicate to the pile of books you've set up.
>"...That's too easy."
>You grin.
"Well, if you insist."
>You teleport the books somewhere else.
"They'll be somewhere in the castle. Renember, it's the the one at the top."
>NOW she looks up to the challenge.
>"That's more like it. I'll be back before you know it!"
>She zooms off.
>You hold your paper and inkwell with your magic to make sure they don't fall over again.
>This might not be a particularly productive way to get your work done, but it's fun getting her to do things for you.
>Somewhat nostalgic of the first time you met.
>It sure is great to have her back.
 
Anon's POV
 
>Today's going great so far.
>When you told Applejack the news, she was ecstatic.
>She was all like; "YEEEEE-HAW!", which you assume is a good thing, from what you know about the south.
>In fact, since you're making such good progress on the harvest, she straight up threw a party.
>She calls it a break, but it's definitely a celebration.
>You never had any idea that they were so close.
>She invited all the Apple family members over to the house where she's serving various apple themed goodies.
>It took her a while to cook them, so we all decided to get some work in for the sake of progress.
>Afterwards we all went over to the table and heartily chowed down. Yourself included.
>Apple pies, Apple fritters, Apple dumplings, Apples, apples, apples, APPLES EVERYTHING.
>You would've gotten sick of apples after this if they didn't taste so good.
>Considering your company, you eat with comfortable disregard for table manners.
>You take a look at the gathered "guests".
>You're sandwiched between Big mac and Applebloom.
>You've got muscles, sure, but big mac has almost TOO much muscle.
>Dude's built like a mountain.
>A CHISELED mountain.
>Well built, strong but silent type.
>He'd probably be the sort of guy you'd go for if you leant that way.
>...
>That's not a straight thought.
>Opting for a less homoerotic train of thought, you turn to Applebloom.
>The small but hearty little pony is digging nuzzle first into a pie.
>She's adorable, you have to admit.
>She pulls out of the pie to burp, then digs back in again.
>...Maybe not TOO cute, but she's definitely got charm to her.
>Damn, these fritters are awesome.
>They're like sweet little pastry bombs of sugary apple flavoured goodness.
>They're so small, you can fit quite a few in your mouth at once.
>Rarity would've had a heart attack by now if she was here.
>You'd laugh, but you don't want to choke.
 
>After the impromtu feast, you're more than ready to get back to work.
>You assemble the tools and toss them into the wheelbarrow with almost inhuman precision.
>You pilot the barrow out of the shed, turn a perfect 90 degree turn toward the orchard and set in stride towards your calling.
>Man, you're on a ROLL.
>"Hey, Anonemus!"
"Hey, sport."
>None of the other members of the Apple family pronounce your name that way. It's wierd.
>Guess it's just a charecteristic of Applebloom.
>"Yeh do know that yer on yer break, right?"
>You halt your charge towards the trees.
>You turn your head to face the little firebrand.
"What? It's not my break."
>She gives a cheeky little smile.
>"Y'sure? 'Cos ah'm pretteh sure ah heard frum Applejack that you were!"
>Applejack approaches the filly and gives her a noogie.
>"It's true, Anon. Yer free ta go. Fer the day, in fact."
>A spark of excitement runs it's course through your body.
"R-really?"
>"Yup! We'll take cayur of things back heyur."
>Applebloom gives a cute little salute with her tounge sticking out the side of her mouth. She then leans against her sister, both of them laughing.
"You sure? I-I don't mind. I can keep working, you know."
>WHY ARE YOU MAKING SURE, YOU WANT THIS.
>"Go on, git!"
>Close one.
>Shut up, she was going to let you go, anyway.
"T-thanks bo...I mean, Applejack!"
>You leave the barrow where it is and sprint off in the direction of the main gate.
 
RD's POV
>You're starting to think Twilight is using you.
>I mean, there WAS that time that she tested your mettle by clearing the sky.
>And that time when she made you fetch tons of paper from the store.
>She was definately timing you then. Inside her head.
>But this seems a little bit on the suspicious side.
>She waits for a bit, then asks you to get more books.
>Almost seems like she's too lazy to get them herself!
>Unless...
>YEAH, THAT'S IT!
>This is a relay match between you and Twilight!
>Like, she times you when you get those books, and then she looks in the books and writes stuff down.
>Then she times HER!
>You knew she was good at math, but this is phenomenal.
>You're impressed, but you're not gonna lose to her!
>You bring the next book to her and put it to the side.
>"Thank you, Rainbow Dash."
"Don't spend time thanking me, you gotta get on with the work!"
>She looks puzzled for a second.
>Yeah, Like she doesn't KNOW.
>She's just trying to psyche you out!
>She then shrugs and starts writing.
>She's quickly scribbling words onto the paper, then checking inside the book.
>I guess she has to be accurate with the work, or it's a time penalty or something?
>...And YOUR penalty is if you bring her the wrong book!
>GOT IT!
>Man, this is, like, THE most intense way she's ever tested you!
 
Anon's POV
>You quickly arive outside the gate.
>Wait until you see the look on Rainbow's face when you tell her you have the day off.
>'Course, she'll still have to meet up with Applejack later, but you'll be able to spend more time with Rainbow on the whole.
>Wait...
>Ah. She's not expecting you to be this early.
>Right...You guess you'll just have to wait for her.
>You lean against a tree.
>You've allready got an idea of what you're going to say to her once she shows up.
>Man, this is turning out to be one of the best days of your life.
>You look back at the farm.
>True to their word, the other members of the family are working hard to get the apples harvested.
>A part of you feels pretty guilty about letting them do the work instead.
>It's a day off, though. That's how days off work.
>You don't have too many breaks, you have to say. It's a nice change.
>You look at the sky, still bright and blue.
>Kinda reminds you of a certain best friend of yours.
>You chuckle to yourself.
>Man, A lot of things have been coming up roses lately.
>There's last night, there's telling Applejack about her seeing Rainbow again, that feast...
>Now you've got the whole day to yourself.
>Well, you say to yourself, but honestly, the only way you're thinking of spending it is with her.
>What would you do without her?
>...
>This good mood isn't going to stop any time soon, is it?
>Eh, you're not complaing.
>Everything is going right, sun is shining, the wind's blowing in your face...
>And you thought it was a paradise before?