Chapter 7: The Next Dawn

~~~Changeling Lands, Sunrise Equestrian Standard Time~~~

"Ugh...whats so soft..." Rainbow mumbled as she shifted slightly eyes still closed as she nuzzled in against her 'pillow' humming softly, relaxing slowly and giving off a low yawn almost, almost back to sleep.

Then her 'pillow' such as it were groaned and Rainbow's eyes shot open in milliseconds as she noticed that instead of the little patch of cloud she'd curled up on to sleep on the night before she was cuddled up rather closely against Soarin' as she gave an odd little squeak as she tried to wriggle out of his hooves "Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohman" she muttered as she failed to get enough purchase to slip free.

"Ungh...who's shakin the cloud" Soarin muttered as Rainbow froze in fear as his eyes fluttered open soon enough green eyes met red as both pegasi blushed "oh buck, I sure hope Spitfire is..."

"Spitfire is what?" A voice asked as the two yelped jumping in opposite directions and nearly tumbling off the cloud they'd been laying on as Their boss laughed from her perch on a smaller cloud positioned just above theirs. "God I knew it'd be funny waking you two up but I never knew it'd be THAT good"

"I-its not what it looked like" Rainbow muttered as she recovered fighting to keep her face calm.

"M-must have just been cold last night" Soarin agreed as he turned and jumped off the cloud fleeing the confrontation, give him storms, rampaging dragons, or out of control animals any day of the week, rather than dealing with such an awkward situation.

~~~With Spike and Rarity~~~

Spike groaned softly fluttering his eyes open slowly yawning hugely as he shifted "mph...do I gotta wake up..." he muttered, he was comfy, even more so than when he was in his bed back home, as he hummed softly closing his eyes again as he felt a gentle squeeze around his middle, shifting slightly one paw came to rest on the warm hooves wrapped around his belly grinning lightly.

Wait...Hooves?!

Cracking an eye open he turned his head slightly to see that he was indeed being cuddled rather tightly by a still sleeping, mask wearing Rarity "Oooh boy" he muttered violet scales heating up with a deep blush.

Even as he tried to think of how to get out of this awkward situation he heard a small yawn from behind his head as he tilted it again seeing the designer's horn glowing as her mask slid up "Morning Spikey" she muttered.

"M-m-morning Rarity" he stuttered softly

"Spikey? Whats wro..." she paused as she noticed the position they were in as she blushed cheeks turning red as she released her grip "Oh I'm so sorry Spikey darling" she muttered glancing away.

Picking himself up Spike gave a small smile "I-its fine Rarity, no harm done, and I mean we both slept well r-right?"

"Well...yes...but I just..."

"But nothing Rarity, its fine, no harm done," he assured her simply.

The fashionista smiled back slightly.

~~~With Fluttershy and Big McIntosh~~~

A small yawn escaped Fluttershy's mouth as she woke up shifting slightly as a kind voice came from next to her "Mornin'" it greeted simply.

Her face immediately turned a deep cherry red as she squeaked and jumped up instinctively trying to spread her wings to find a place to hide only to wince as her injured wing twinged "O-o-oh my...I-I a-a-a-am s-s-so so soooo sorry Mister McIntosh...." she squeaked.

"No need to worry Miss Fluttershy..." he replied quietly "just hope you slept okay"

"I-I slept f-fine" she stuttered shyly glancing down at the ground.

"Good"

Fluttershy flushed softly as she scratched her hoof on the ground slightly to embarrassed to speak.

~~~Later on the road~~~

Spitfire glanced back at Rainbow Dash, who was down talking to Twilight, before smirking slightly and glancing at Soarin. Soarin blinked and glanced over at the other Pegasus.

“Uh, Spitfire?” He asked, nervous at the look on her face “What’s up?”

“Oh just wondering about you and Rainbow Dash.” Spitfire said.

Soarin flushed, “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stuttered.

“Oh? So you two cuddling last night meant nothing?” The female wonderbolt asked, grinning as the blue Pegasus flushed more.

“I-i-i..” Soarin stuttered more as Spitfire laughed.

“Oh yes, and I have pictures.” She said flying ahead a bit as Soarin froze in mid-air, flushing.

“What the hay is wrong with Soarin?” Applejack asked motioning up at the Wonderbolt.

"No clue AJ" Spike commented scratching his head slightly.

Spitfire circled back and dropped down by Twilight and Rainbow Dash "Hey Dashie, think you can do me a favor and check on Soarin? I think there's something wrong with him"

Rainbow blinked and glanced up nodding "Huh? ah sure Boss lemme see whats up" she commented spreading her wings and shooting off.

"So whats up with Soarin?" Twilight asked as the wonderbolt touched down to walk next to her.

Waving a wing Spitfire grinned "Nothing much, was teasing him about what I saw last night." she replied "but there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Alright, shoot" she replied curious now.

"Well....I just noticed something last night while I was trying to wake you up. You were...mumbling in your sleep."

Twilight flushed a bit "I-I was?"

Spitfire watched her reaction carefully "Yeah you were mumbling something about the color blue..."

Twilight let out a small giggle "Oh um...ah ..." she flushed worse "you see...it was...I was just having a weird dream last night, once the Princess left but still...its nothing you need to worry about."

Spitfire nodded slowly "Alright...just was wondering."

"Its just...it was an odd dream but it helped you know?"

"so you're feeling better after yesterday?" She asked.

Nodding the violet alicorn gave a small smile "Yup, not...perfect but a ton better than I was"

"Alright then..." she nodded faintly "Thanks for your time Twi"

"Anytime Spitfire"

With that the fiery colored mare flew off as well. ugh great I was talking about that story last night...how embarassing...well at least Luna hadn't decided that she had to submit me to another round of her tickle torture to get me to cheer up.

She shook her head a bit cheeks lighting up in a blush "Gah...I'm so glad that nopony in this group is psychic" she muttered.

"Why's that Twilly?" Pinkie Pie asked from behind the violet mare.

"GAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" she yelped jumping up twenty feet and hovering there with her wings. "W-what the hay where did you come from Pinkie?!" she demanded

"I've been here the whole time while you've been talking to yourself silly filly" she giggled "So why are you glad nopony is psychic here?"

"Just cause my minds rambling all over the place cause of my nerves..." Twilight replied slowly fluttering down to land "Itd drive anypony who could hear it nutty" she added.

"Oh? anything interesting going around that brain of yours twilly?" she asked "Like something to do with TICKLING?!" she demanded leaning in closer nose to nose with her friend.

Twilight let out a squeak "W-w-wha? H-h-how did you know that?" She asked wings fluffing out in shock.

"Just a hunch, I was RIGHT wasn't I?" she grinned bouncing around her friend giggling "So...why was Lulu tickle torturing you? Hmmmm?"

Right then, Twilight wished nothing more, than for the ground to open up and swallow her whole before she melted from embarrassment "It was nothing Pinkie...it was just her way of helping cheer me up, I was a bit down a while ago is all." she mumbled hoping to stave off the interrogation.

"Oh? So you're not gonna tell me? Well maybe I'll just go get Rarity, she'll help me and I'm sure she'd LOVE to hear about this." she smirked softly bouncing still.

Twilight paled, Rarity...the one pony here who she knew would read the MOST into the innocent encounter two weeks after her corornation, "N-No there's no need to go bug her Pinkie, you know she's grumpy if she's woken up for no reason..."

"But this is a perfectly important reason silly filly!" Pinkie declared poking Twilight in the chest.

"If I tell you what happened...will you back off?" Twilight asked sighing slightly, wings drooping more as her pink friend nodded vigorously "Fine...it was about Two weeks after my Coronation, I had had a long rough day of training and was in a bum mood. I just coudln't get the hang of my powers, even my magic was touchy at best only responding a fraction of the time..."

"I was out in the garden trying to clear my head with little actual success, when I noticed this orb of light just dangling in the path ahead of me, my curiosity was piqued so I started to examine it, finally I reached out to touch it, as soon as I did a weird warmth just flooded my body from head to toe and it was like I was being tickled...everywhere at once...it felt amazing I couldn't help laughing." her face was pink "it wasn't...bad...or overly long. Just enough to brighten my mood..."

"So...thats it?"

Twilight nodded "thats the whole story, She put out the spell to help cheer me up, we talked a little I thanked her and went to bed." she finished simply fighting to keep her voice even and succeeding mostly.

Pinkie narrowed her eyes at her friend "Fine....that was a cute story Twilly" she giggled "See its not that big a deal" she added bouncing away again further up the group.

Twilight sighed in relief "I thought she'd never leave..." she mumbled, staying near the back as the group trudged on deeper and deeper into the hostile lands that grew deeper and darker as they continued on

Author's Note

~~~~Author's Note~~~

Twilight: *Laughs evilly*
spark: *blinks* Hey...isn't that my bit?
Twilight: Not today. Not with my plans *Grins*
Spark: oookay and here I thought I was an evil genius.
Twilight: *Grins more* Now please review/comment. It helps a lot...it truely does
Spark: Yes, yes it does!