Flare of Love

Ponyville, 2:02 P.M., March 20th, 2012

“Hey Rainbow Dash, I’ve got an idea.”

“Oh yeah? And would that be?”

“Instead of just heading back to your place, why don’t we head to Cloudsdale and go visit the places we grew up?”

“Why? I don’t see why we just can’t head back to my place, and have a little fun in private.”

“Oh come on Rainbow Dash. It’s been so long since we’ve been together in Cloudsdale. Why not go and explore some of our memories?”

“Hmm...Alright. I guess that sounds fun.”

“Good, let’s go.”

“Right now?”

“No time like the present!” Midnight took off into the sky, leaving Rainbow Dash on the ground.

“There’s no way he’s gonna surprise me with a race!” Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could to catch up with him, a rainbow trailing behind her.

At this point, Midnight was a black dot in the sky in front of her. She had to catch up to him. Midnight was good, but she was the best flier to come out of Cloudsdale. She wasn’t ready to let him beat her. She was flying so fast, tunnel vision was beginning to set in. She snapped herself out of it and looked around. Ponyville was already far behind her. The top of the farmhouse at Sweet Apple Acres was just disappearing behind a hill. Midnight sure could put up a race. Just then, the black dot she had been trying to catch up to so intently came rocketing back toward her.

“What the?”

The dot resolved back into a pony as Midnight got closer. He had been using his wings as brakes, slowing himself down. As soon as he reached her, however, he brought himself up to speed so they flew parallel to one another.

“What are you doing? I thought this was a race!”

“It is, I just thought it should be a fair one, seeing as I kinda left you in the dust back there.”

Even though they were talking, they still were flying at breakneck speeds over the land beneath them. Rainbow Dash looked down again to see that they had passed over the Everfree Forest already.

“So are we gonna race, or are you tired?”

Midnight was really laying on the sarcasm. She had to beat him. She had to. Rainbow Dash didn’t wait around to give him an answer. Instead, she streamlined herself and rocketed ahead, a smug smile spreading across her face. She’s given him the slip that time.

Suddenly, Midnight was right next to her again, matching her pace. Rainbow Dash turned to Midnight to look into his eyes, and he was looking into hers. She could see the affection in his eyes. The look in his eyes said he could be trusted. It showed her he would never give up her, he would never cheat, never lie, and could never betray her. “Maybe I was wrong.” She thought, “Midnight would never cheat on me. Would he?” Cloudsdale appeared over the horizon as the two ponies rushed across the bright blue sky. They approached the cloudy city at lightning speed as Rainbow Dash slowly pulled ahead. She pulled downward into a low cloudbank. Rainbow Dash loved the excitement of a race, and anything that could make it more interesting was welcome. She couldn’t see 10 feet in front of her, but she knew the skies around Cloudsdale like the back of her hoof. Midnight wouldn’t be too far behind. Moments later, she shot out of the cloud and looked back for Midnight, still maintaining her speed. Not a second later, he cleared the cloud as well. She had too much of a lead to let him win now. Victory was in sight. Rainbow Dash landed on the cloudy edge of Cloudsdale just a few seconds before Midnight landed down. “Ha, I totally smoked you Midnight. Victory is mine!”

“Yeah, you did. I’ll admit that you beat me fair and square. Come on, let’s go back to Sky High. You remember the amusement park that we visited with Fluttershy, right?”

“Of course I do. I still have the picture in my bedroom.”

“Perfect, let’s get going.”

Cloudsdale Sky High Amusement Park, 2:13 P.M., March 20th, 2012

Rainbow Dash and Midnight stared at the amusement park from the gate. But the place wasn’t what they had expected. It was abandon, run down, destroyed, “Wow, what happened to this place?” Rainbow Dash said.

“It looks like a wreck here. I can’t believe this happened.”

Rainbow Dash looked just to the left of the closed gate. There was a sign. It hadn’t been there when the park was open as far as she could remember.

The sign read: Sky High Amusement Park condemned by City Council of Cloudsdale for unsafe attractions.

“Unsafe attractions? We never had anything go wrong when we came here.”

Midnight walked up beside her, “It’s been years since we’ve come here. Something probably went wrong then. I guess we’ll never know.” The front gate was locked and rusting. The rides were falling apart. The walls were covered in graffiti. All of the games were closed. All of the store tents were gone. The sky above the park was beautiful and blue, but the park itself was gray and dark. It was nothing left but a hollowed shell of memories. “I guess we could go over and see the place for what it is now. How about it?”

“Sure, that sounds like it would be fun.” The two flew over the fence. “Gross! This place is disgusting!” As they stepped in, they could see the place was covered in filth from corner to corner.

“Come on, I’ve got a place I’d still like to see.” Midnight ran over to the games area.

“Hey, wait for me!” Rainbow Dash quickly flew and caught up to him. He had stopped right by the horseshoes game.

“Remember this?”

“Of course I do. I beat you that day we took that picture together.”

“Exactly, but now this place looks terrible. I don’t think this game looks very playable.” The place was covered in grime and rust. A hook that had been on a wall to hold up the horseshoes has broken loose, and fallen off. All of the horseshoes that were below where the hook once was were scattered across the floor covered in rust.

“Ew, let’s go over to the roller coaster. I’ve gotta see what happened to that.”

“Alright, I that sounds good to me.” They walked out of the gaming area only to see the roller coaster was worse. The tracks were cracked and falling apart. Support poles were rusted and fractured in places, ready to break. The loop that had been the highest point in the entire place was collapsed to the ground. The beginning of the loop had remained held up by a guide cable in the middle of the track, and was still connected by the right rail folding into itself. The rest of the loop had collapsed to its left and had broken in multiple places, but still lay down in the shape of the loop. At the end of the loop, the roller coaster car was partially on the track as the rest was had come off the track and crashed into a pole. The track just after the loop had collapsed to the cloudy fair ground as it was still connected to the tracks in the air. It trailed up the tracks and had been disconnected in many parts, but still held in the air by the guide cable.

“Oh my gosh.”

“I can’t believe how much things have changed since the last time we came here. It’s kinda sad to see such a place of strong memories looking like this. I think now is a good time to go. I’ve got a surprise on or next place. I think this one will be much better.”