A/N: last chapter, those two songs, they don't belong to me.
Chapter five: Rainbow Dash's Confession and Princess Celestia's Visit part 1
Lucky raised an eyebrow. "What was that about AJ?" "I said it was nothing Lucky." Lucky just grinned. "Uh-huh, sure it wasn't. I know I heard her name Rainbow, spit it out would ya? What did you say about her?" Rainbow was starting to think this kid was smarter than she looked. Rainbow sighed a heavy sigh. "I said I wished she was here. I know we just left, but… still." Lucky then looked in Rainbow's eyes, searching. Yes, she was five, yes she's too young to know, but she knew love when she saw it. One her parents, two, one of her older friends back in Fillydelphia had a crush on somepony, and three, her foalsitter had a special somepony, so she knew love when she saw it.
"Ya know what Rainbow, I think you're in love with Applejack. I only have one question though, why do you like a mare when you're one yourself?" Rainbow blushed. "No reason." It was Lucky's turn to look a little stern. "Don't lie Rainbow.", she got off the chair and stood in front of Rainbow. "I know you love her for one, and two there's always a reason to love somepony like that." "Geez kid, you're smarter than you look. You're just like Twilight, always the smart pony."
Lucky just grinned at that. "Well of course I'd know, my parents, a friend of mine, and my foalsitter, they all had a special somepony, but my parents had each other. So, why do you like her?" Rainbow then tried to think how to word it so a kid like her could understand. "Well…. I don't know, maybe it's because her accent for one. Two, she's a real cool pony, like me, three she's like me in ways that she isn't too much of a girly girl, four she's a pretty pony, five I hate being away from her for long, if at all, I love bing with her. It hurts to be away from her, and six, well…. she's basically my rival, competitively. Like, whatever we do, we always end up competing against each other.
"Once there was this one time that we held an Iron Pony competition. I ended up winning, oh, you were there when we were arguing about it two days ago. Well…. we were playing horseshoes (ironic, right? Lol) then we got talking, well, arguing, on who the better athlete was. It got heated and then I suggested an Iron Pony competition. I'll never admit this to anypony but I do admit, I cheated. I hated losing, and we were tied with 5 when I started using my wings. I know it wasn't fair to her, but just the thought of losing made me get nervous, so I thought, 'I think I'll use my wings, that way I can win.'
"I know I'm better with my wings. So naturally, I 'won'. The title should go to her though. She deserves it more than I do." Lucky just smiled. "Well, I'm glad you admitted it, and don't worry, I won't tell anypony. I won't even tell about your crush on Applejack. You'll tell her when you're ready, right?" "Are you nuts? She'll never go for me, one because her barn door don't swing that way and two, just…. She probably don't like me like that. Why would she if all we ever do is get in an argument or start being competitive."
"You never know until you try Rainbow." Rainbow just nodded, then she shook her head really fast, "Wait, why am I telling a 5 year old this?" Lucky giggled. "Becausee I understand. I might not have a crush, I may be too young, but I still understand." Rainbow sighed. "Whatever. I think it's time for bed anyways." "Ok." So they went off to bed, Rainbow getting in first, then Lucky. Lucky curled up into a ball as usual and put her head on her front legs. She was curled up against Rainbow. Rainbow smiled, 'She's just an itty bitty filly. She shouldn't understand the concept of love yet, but she understood perfectly and even knew the right words to say.
Everyday she surprises me more and more. This little one is interesting. Maybe I really am growing soft too, well, when I'm with Lucky. Maybe, just maybe….. nah.', Rainbow thought to herself. She will wait until a good amount of time passes, before she thinks more about that. For right now, she's going to get to know Lucky more, and she will take darn good care of this filly. Rainbow then fell asleep.
But when the next day comes, Lucky's waking her up. A little too early for Rainbow's liking. "Rainbow! Princess Celestia's coming today!" Rainbow blinked when she opened her eyes. That's right! Today is when the Princess is coming. Rainbow gets out of bed, and then she takes Lucky to Twilight's place. It's 7:45, so they have 15 minutes. Fluttershy was there, as well as Pinkie and Applejack. Rarity wasn't there quite yet. Rainbow noticed this, 'Oooo, she better not go all out like last time, when Fluttershy took Philomena without permission.', she thought to herself.
10 minutes later, Rarity came in, good, she wasn't in anything fancy. Lucky was getting nervous yet bouncy all at once. Rainbow chuckled, and Applejack said, "Now don't be nervous little one. The Princess is very nice. I know she'll like ya soon as she sees ya." Lucky just nodded. 8 o'clock on the dot and the Princess strolled in. "Hello girls." Lucky hid behind Rainbow and Applejack. "Hi Princess.", 6 of them said, the 7th hiding and not saying a word.
Applejack looked behind her and Rainbow and thought, 'So much fer wantin' to meet the Princess so bad.' Princess Celestia asked, "What is that behind you Applejack and Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow answered, "A new filly in town. Her name's Lucky Fire. Come on out Lucky, don't be shy. Say hello to your Princess." She then turned around and took the scruff of Lucky's neck in her mouth, then turned around again and plopped Lucky down in front of her.
Lucky looked back at Rainbow with an annoyed look. "Hey, you asked for it kiddo. You keep hiding behind either me or Applejack, or just now behind both at once. You gotta stop being shy like you are, if you stay like that, you'll never make anymore friends. They'll have to come up to you, and some ponies don't do that. Sometimes you're going to have to go up to them, but they way you are, you'll never do that. Come on now, try going up to Princess Celestia and saying 'hi' at least. Go on.", Rainbow said, giving Lucky a gentle nudge towards Celestia.
Everypony, even the Princess, is looking at Rainbow like, 'what the hay is going on here?'. They've never seen Rainbow this way before, or even heard her talk like that before. Lucky looked up at Celestia. Celestia looked down at Lucky. "You must be the young alicorn filly Twilight's been writing to me about. Orphaned at the age of 5. You must be lonely without your parents." Lucky shook her head. "No? Why do you say that little one?" "B-B-Bec-cause… They're h-here with me." "Who?"
Celestia's only 'playing dumb', because she knew this filly's shell would be harder to break when Lucky had to talk to her. "T-Twilight, R-Rarity, F-Fluttershy, R-Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie." Better. "Ok, but who else, isn't there Applebloom too?" "Her, and S-Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Oh, and Zecora." Much better. Lucky then blinked, then she bowed to Princess Celestia. Celestia smiled and said, "Nice to meet you Lucky. You may stand now." Lucky did as she was told.
"Seems you have taken to Applejack and Rainbow Dash fairly quick right?" Lucky nodded and went over in between them. "I love these two. They're my role models." "Oh?", Celestia said as she looked at Rainbow and Applejack. The grinned sheepishly. "We didn't think she'd become that attached to us, but a bitty filly bein' a bitty filly, 'specially with no parents, kinda shoulda expected her to latch onto at least one of us.", Applejack said.
Celestia nodded. "Rainbow, you especially showed me on how you receive the foal's appearance. You show her your kind and soft side. You help Lucky be the best pony she can be. You teach her things she needs to know, like right now. I also hear you're teaching her how to fly, correct?" "Yes, I am." "Well, I congratulate you on taking responsibility for Lucky, and being a good role model." "Thanks Princess." Celestia nodded, then looked at Applejack, "You're the one who found her. I also heard you do the same things as Rainbow. Obviously excluding the flying."
"Yes'm." Celestia smiled then looked at Twilight. "So, my little protégé has her own little protégé now. That's really nice Twilight. So, how far have you gotten with flying and magic Lucky?" "Um….. I can pick up and put down a book with magic and I can fly for a good amount of time from what Rainbow says. Though she said I have to keep trying to hover in air for as long as I can to stretch and exercise my wings." Celestia looked at Rainbow. "Very good advice, you are a good teacher. Twilight, very good starting off with the basic easy stuff. You too are a good teacher."
"Thank you Princess.", they said together. Celestia then said, "Will you demonstrate for me what you have learned so far Lucky?" Lucky nodded, she thought she'd start with flying first. She stretched her wings and they flapped, like a hummingbird's. (like Scootaloo's) She lifts off from the ground, 6 inches again, and flutters around the library for a couple laps, then she had to stop immediately because Spike was at the foot of the stairs now, he'd just woken up. She 'skidded' to a stop in midair and hovered, she wasn't even thinking about it, she just did it.
"Lucky! Do you see yourself right now? You just stopped so suddenly and are hovering. That's one of the advanced maneuvers I gotta teach you much later on, but you did it only at the beginning of your training." Lucky blinked, then looked down, her jaw dropped, she didn't even notice that, but now that she had, she dropped to the floor. "Ow." Rainbow facehoofed but smiled. "Haha! I did it Rainbow! I did a hard trick early." "Yeah, but as soon as I pointed it out, you dropped. So that means that you can only do that without thinking. Well, that's kind of a start, but we have to do that to where when you do think about it, you stay airborne." Lucky nodded.
"Now Lucky, show the Princess your magic." Lucky grinned and nodded. Lucky looked around and found a book on a stand. She went over to it and concentrated. Everypony was watching. She concentrated on picking it up, her horn glowed now instead of flickering, and then the book glowed, and it lifted off the stand. Lucky then thought about putting it down. The book went back down onto the stand. Lucky's horn stopped glowing and she turned around.
"Very well done Lucky. It seems you're in very good hooves when it comes to learning magic and flying.", Princess Celestia said. Lucky smiled. Spike then said while bowing, "Hello Princess." "Why hello Spike. Have you met Lucky Fire yet?" Spike looked at the small blue filly. "No I haven't, but I heard about her from Twilight. Hi Lucky, I'm…", he'd stopped there because Twilight put a hoof over his mouth and said, "I think Rainbow wants Lucky to talk first, judging by the look she's giving you." Spike nodded. "Now come on Lucky, introduce yourself.", Rainbow said.
Lucky looked at Spike. "U-Um… uh…. H-hi? M-My name's L-Lucky Fire." Rainbow gave her a small smile. "Hi Lucky, my name's Spike. I'm Twilight's assistant at the library." Lucky smiled shyly, "Really? How come I've never seen you around?" "Oh, I've been around, just I guess never while you were." Lucky nodded, thinking that it's possible. "Well, lookee there. Lucky's startin' to come out of her shell a little. Still shy, but not as much.", Applejack said. Everypony else nodded. Celestia smiled, "Lucky Fire. Would you like to come with me for a walk around Ponyville? Just us two, I want to ask her a couple things."
Lucky looked at the Princess and nodded. "We'll be back soon.", Celestia said. "Ok.", all the others said. The Princess and Lucky walked out of the library and started walking out of town. "So, what do you think of Ponyville so far?" "I like it a lot! It's where all my friends are, well I do have a couple friends back in Fillydelphia, but I have new friends here now." "Good, and what do you think of Twilight and the others? They're all nice right?" "Oh yes, they're always nice to me. Twilight is the best magic teacher, and Rainbow is the most awesomest pony I ever met, Applejack is really cool too, I love them both, they're like family to me, Applejack and Rainbow that is.
"Pinkie Pie is really hyper, and a party girl, Rarity… she's really nice, I haven't seen her much yet to know more of what to say about her and Fluttershy is shy like me, but is also very kind." Celestia gave Lucky a smile, "I'm glad you think of them as nice. What really do you think about the two ponies you consider family? Elaborate more, meaning, tell me more." "Hmm…. Well, I think of Rainbow as a mama sometimes, the way she acts towards me and what she says to me, like earlier. That was something my mama would have said too, like, exactly what she would have said. Applejack, she's kinda like a mama too. More the way she talks to me and less than acting towards me, though sometimes she acts like a mama, that's only what I think. I'm not sure really if it's all true or not."
"I see. Thank you. Also, I do think the same thing as you Lucky. I know how Rainbow is, and what she said and did earlier, that was something that surprised me totally. I thought to myself, 'Boy, Rainbow has taken on a maternal role with this filly. Though I do think Lucky is a filly who is good for Rainbow, maybe Lucky can soften up that brave and fearless heart into something a little gentle too.' and that's exactly what you're doing. Thank you, and also, I'm glad this is working out for you. You have two ponies who are kind of like parental figures, and it had been about 1 or 2 months for a tiny filly like you to get to Everfree Forest from Manehattan and taken you 3 months to brave coming into Ponyville. So it had been 4 to 5 months for you without parents. For that I truly am sorry.
"Things like that do happen though, it's part of life and we can't control what happens sometimes. Like that accident, you or your parents couldn't control what happened. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Twilight told me what Applejack told her and the others. That's how I knew. Twilight's been giving me reports o friendship, and what she or even her friends, are learning from them, and when I got one that had you in it, I thought to myself, 'a new filly huh? I should go meet her. Hopefully she can give reports on what she's learned about friendship too, that's if she sticks around Ponyville.'.
Then when I got another report, it wasn't about friendship, this time she was telling me about you and your accomplishments in learning magic and flying. I was happy to know you were doing well. So Lucky, do you have a friendship report for me?" Lucky thought for a minute. Did she learn anything about friendship? "Actually no. I will tell you though what happened at school yesterday. Well, these two fillies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, came up to me and tried to become my friends, but I turned them down when they told me they're the 'bosses' of the other ponies.
"Then at recess they came back up to me. Again I said no, then they got mad and called me a blank flank. I got mad, but then I got sad, I almost cried, but then Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo came to me and cheered me up. I told Tiara and Silver that what they do isn't what good friends do, it's what bad friends do, not how you treat other ponies." Celestia said, "You are correct. It isn't what friends do. It seems like though, they don't really want friends, they want to boss ponies around. They only need each other as friends, and nopony else. Just ignore them."
"That's what Rainbow, Applejack, and Twilight basically said when I told them." Celestia smiled and said, "So, want to go back to the library?" Lucky nodded, and they headed to the library. Then as they got closer, they heard arguing. They looked at each other then galloped the rest of the way. Lucky was easily keeping up, she was hoping it wasn't Applejack and Rainbow again. When they got to the door, well, Princess got to the door, Lucky had to go under her. Doorway's too small for both of them. Lucky hid under Celestia while the arguing went on. It was Applejack and Rarity arguing, what for?
"Girls! Enough!", Celestia said. Everypony looked at Celestia. "Oh thank goodness you're here Celestia!", Twilight said then trotted over to her. "What happened to cause this arguing?", Celestia asked. "Applejack started it.", Rarity said. "I did not! It's just the way you're always scared of getting your hooves dirty. You can't keep yerself so clean all the time, ya gotta get down and dirty sometimes. It's inevitable. Don't you remember the Sisterhooves Social? Ya hid in the mud fer cryin' out loud! You were covered from head to hoof, except yer horn, only because ya had my hat on to cover it, to make Sweetie Belle think it was me. Didn't that change yer tune a little bit?"
"Oh goodness no. I only did it because I had realized that not having Sweetie around after seeing and noticing everything she did to help me, and her little project she made for me, was totally lonely, and she said she disowned me as a sister. I couldn't deal with that. I did what I had to do to get her back. Don't you remember me saying that to you after the Social?" Applejack looked sheepish, "Well uh, yeah, but I still was kinda hopin' you'd changed that part about yerself an' all. Like I said, it's inevitable that sometime you're gonna have to get dirty to get what you want. Say there's somethin' that you really wanted at the store that was on sale, but only for that one day, and it's rainin' out really badly, so bad that the roads are covered in mud, what would you do?"
Rarity bit her bottom lip as she thought. "I think…. Oh…. I don't know! I really would want it, especially if it was on sale, bargain shopping is the best way to shop. Saves you money. Um, I'd probably get on anything I could throw on to keep myself dry and not get dirty." Applejack facehoofed. "See! That there's the problem! Ya can't do that, just put a raincoat on and grab an umbrella saddle. Maybe a rain hat too. That's all ya need. Not every durned thing ya can get yer hooves on."
Lucky got out from under Celestia. Celestia looked at Lucky as she appeared out from under her. "Rarity, Applejack's right. Besides, if you get dirty, there's always a bathtub to get you clean again. Just take a bath." Rainbow grinned. "Atta girl. That's using your head." Rarity hung her head. "Well…. I don't know. Maybe…. I can change, little by little?" Celestia then remembered. "Rarity, didn't you have Spike write a report for you? If I recall it said that it 'won't hurt to get your hooves a medium amount of dirty, not too little and not too much.'" Rarity blinked then grinned sheepishly, "Oops." Celestia just lightly laughed. "It's quite alright, just remember next time, those words on your report from that time at the Social."
Rarity nodded. Lucky smiled. She hates hearing ponies arguing. She's glad they stopped. "So girls, what would you all like to do?", Celestia asked. "Actually Princess, I gotta do some apple buckin', would y'all like to come and help?" Twilight smiled at Applejack, glad she remembered to ask for help. "Sure, and maybe Lucky can try to apple buck." Lucky hopped up and down. "Yeah, I wanna try, I wanna try!" Everypony laughed, and headed out to the farm. "Alright alright. Princess, do you mind comin' with us?" "Not at all. I'd love to see you all apple buck, I might even join in after a while, just to see what it's like."
"But that will ruin your perfect hooves.", Rarity said. Celestia then said, "Isn't that what they made spas for?" Rarity then smiled, "Well of course! How silly of me to forget. I do apologize sincerely Princess. Though… why would you want to help in the first place? You're royalty, you shouldn't be doing work pony's work." "I only want to see what it's like, and also, it oesn't matter if I am royalty or not. Sometimes a pony like me just has to try to see what hr subjects go through everyday. Take a walk in their horseshoes for a little bit. Understand them." Everypony thought about that.
Fluttershy said, "It does make sense. If I wasn't shy like I am, and if I was royalty, I might do the same thing." Then Pinkie piped up, "I know I would! What fun would there be to sit in a palace all day and do boring paperwork when you can have fun and be with other ponies!" Celestia giggled and said, "Pinkie Pie, there is more to that paperwork than you think. Some of it is tax papers, some of it's actually letters from other rulers of other lands, some of it is laws that are coming to me to be passed, though I haven't had any of them in quite some time. That 'boring paperwork' is actually important for me to do, Luna as well, now that she's back to the palace."
"Ooooh, okie dokie. Then I don't think I would be a princess then. I'll just stick with being myself! Pinkie Pie, the awesome party thrower!" Lucky smiled, "I could be a princess. I'm shy, so I'd stay in the palace to do the paperwork, but then also, I might try to brave going out of the palace and spending time with my subjects." Twilight then said, "I might be princes material too. I'd do the same as Princess Celestia." Everypony reached the farm, but they stopped to keep talking. "I couldn't be a princess. I'm a workin' pony. I can't sit around on my rump all day doin' paperwork. I gotta get out and do some hard work."
Rainbow said, "I never could be a princess. One, tomboyish, two, I could never stay still long enough to do paperwork, and three, I like to get out and try new tricks. I'd be too busy trying to get into the Wonder Bolts." Rarity then said, "I, of course, could be a princess. How could I not be? If you gave me a tiara, I'd definitely fit the picture of one." Everypony rolled their eyes, except Celestia, she just shook her head while smiling. All these ponies say they could or couldn't be. At least the ones who couldn't be admit it. "Well, I do believe we're here girls.", she said. "Oh, ok. Well everypony, get yerselves a tree and start buckin'!"
They all went their separate ways, except for Lucky, Applejack, and Rainbow. They went to the same tree. AJ, Rainbow, and Lucky looked at each other. "Rainbow, I said different trees, not same." "Hehe, oops. Sorry AJ." Rainbow went to the tree next to Lucky and Applejack. "Now Lucky, to buck an apple tree, it takes a lot of strength. 'Specially in your hind legs. They have to be strong enough so when you buck, all the apples come off and into these here buckets. I'll demonstrate. Watch out."
Applejack turned around and Lucky backed off. Then Applejack raised her hind legs, pulling them closer to her body, then bucked the tree and all the apples came down into the buckets. "Cool!" "Eeyup.", said a voice behind Lucky. "Oh, hey Big Mac. You out here apple bucking too?" "Eeyup, just got done with my share of trees." "Hey Big Mac. How many trees we got left to buck?" "Uh…. I think only an acre left." Applejack nodded. "Ok then. With 8 of us, we'll get it done in no time. Then we can get cider made and everything that comes with autumn."
Big Mac nodded then went into the house. Lucky then goes went over to a tree that still had apples on it and turned around, then did the same as Applejack. No apples. Lucky hung her head. "Hey, don't be sad sugarcube. You can't expect any apples to fall yer first try, 'specially 'cause you're just a bitty filly yet. Ya just gotta practice a lot and work your hind leg muscles." Lucky nodded. After a while, everypony was done. All the trees were without apples. "Who-wee! Great work everypony! Now, let's get these buckets of apples in the barn fer safe keepin'."
Twilight, Rarity, and Celestia even, used their magic to levitate the buckets and put them in the barn. Lucky pouted, if she knew they were going to do that, she would hae asked to try. Rainbow saw and chuckled. "Why the pout?" "Because, if I knew they were going to use magic to put the apples in the barn, I'd have asked Twilight if I could help." Applejack then nudged Lucky gently to get her attention. Lucky look, there's one more." Twilight then turned to Lucky. "I left a bucket just for you. This will be your next lesson. Picking something up and moving it, then setting it down. Though this is heavier than a book, it still serves its purpose in you learning magic."
Everypony's watching the bucket. Lucky goes over to it. It's actually not too far from the barn door. Lucky sighed, oh well, at least she gets to move one, even if it won't be far. She then concentrated. Her concentration being on the bucket of apples. Her horn glowed, then the bucket. It lifted off the ground slightly, then higher, to Lucky's height. Lucky then concentrated on moving the bucket; it quivered, then moved forward and Lucky followed it into the barn.
She saw the other buckets and brought hers over to the others. Everypony else was with her still watching. Nopony saying anything, they don't want to break her concentration. Pinkie's having a hard time keeping quiet, she's trying very hard not to cheer her on. Lucky then found a place next to another bucket, so she directs her bucket to that place. Slowly she set it down, then her horn stopped glowing. Everypony cheered. Then Lucky heard barking. She stopped cheering with them and her legs started shaking, Applejack could see it, she's about to bolt out of there.
"Winona, stop and sit!" The dog did just that. Lucky tilted her head. 'Wow, that dog obeyed no problem.', she thought to herself. "Good girl. Winona, this here's my friend Lucky Fire. Now she's scared of dogs, so go slow ok?" Winona stood up and wagged her tail and panted. Then she walked slowly towards Applejack. "Good girl. Lucky, don't be scared of Winona, she won't hurt ya. Lick ya a bunch, but never hurt ya." Lucky slowly nodded.
Winona walked to Lucky, "Now let her sniff you Lucky, that means she's getting to know you." Lucky just stayed still. Winona wagged her tail and licked Lucky's nose. Lucky giggled. "That tickled!" Everpony else giggled too. "Let's go to the spa now, I'm in need of a hooficure after all that bucking….", Rarity said. Everypony then went out of the barn after Applejack made sure Winona had adequate food and water.