"Ugh..."
That was all Rainbow Dash could think of as she flew from cloud to cloud. She had never intended to be here anyways, at least not like this. But she just couldn’t shake off this feeling that she had felt a few days ago. She had been preoccupied with her own victory, the event that had occurred just a few days ago; the Best Young Fliers’ Competition.
"That sure was a good day..." She reflected upon the day that she managed to pull off what should have been an ‘old mare’s tale’. She sighed and sank herself into the cloud, for something was still bothering her mind.
The look in Rarity’s eyes. The emotions Rainbow saw in them.
All she could do was sulk inwardly as she thought of the emotion that she had felt as she saw her shock with the dissipation of her wings.
Sorrow. Worry. Determination.
“Darnit!” she yelled to the cloud she sat on. After registering that the cloud would not respond, sighed as she rested her head on the cloud she was on, looking up into the clear blue skies.
“Wait wait wait… what the hay am I doing?! I’m Rainbow Danger Dash for Celestia’s sake! And I’m here, embarrassed about one incident?! I can’t let- nay, I won’t let that happen.”
Rainbow Dash was now up in the air, wings flapping rapidly as she prepared herself to fly towards where Rarity’s boutique might be. The direction she was to take was confirmed by the sight of a red triangular flag hanging above a building. Rainbow Dash could recognise it was her boutique: It was the only one in town.
She still felt very embarrassed, however, about one detail in particular. She had made a bet to Twilight just after the event had happened, who suggested, or ‘made a proposal’ in her own words, that if she lost the bet, she would become Dash’s personal dictionary wherever she went for the next month. If Dash lost, however, she would have to replace Spike in his duties for that same time period.
"Why did I ever take up that stupid bet anyway?" Rainbow Dash moaned audibly to herself, sinking back into the cloud as a single tear formed in her eyes. Her thoughts went back to Rarity’s eyes… the emotions came pouring back in again, prompting her to shoot upright, eyebrows now arching upwards to their original position and a noticeable cracking from her bones came shortly afterwards. Her mind began to taunt her about her possibly failure and she had to resist falling back into a sitting position again. All the while, the same words played over and over.
‘What if you fail? You almost did during the Young Fliers’ Competition, after all. Why risk it?’
"Never you mind that!" She shouted, clearing the doubts from her mind as she mentally checking around to see if anypony had heard her from below. After clearing any suspicion that somepony was listening to her own crazed thoughts, she nodded to herself and turned her body to face the boutique.
Her wings spanned outwards and, in rapid succession, started to flap up and down repeatedly. This thrusted her body forward towards the boutique, leaving her in a daze until she noticed the structure near her field of vision. The blush on her face still remained, as did the confusing feelings in her heart, which resulted in Rainbow Dash clumsily landing near the door of the boutique, crashing near the door.
As she stood up, she made a mental switch, causing her legs to start shaking. Resisting the temptation to fly back to her home and proceed to remind herself that there was nothing wrong with herself, she began to take one step forward.
Another step succeeded after the first.
And she repeated this until she was facing the door.
“Heh. Can’t beat myself at this kind of stuff. Nothing gets in the way of Rainbow Dash and gets away with it.” She chuckled as all thoughts of failure began to dissipate from her mind before proceeding to knock on Rarity’s door.
Knock, Knock.
No response came from inside the building, causing the surroundings to fall into an uncomforting silence.
Knock. Knock.
Again, no response from anyone inside.
KNOCK.
Her knocking grew louder as it went, her patience dwindling. She huffed out of irritation as she thought of bursting though Rarity's front door that instant; she had expected to find her just awake. In her bed. At noontime… on a Sunday.
She had wanted to fly off there and then as the mental gnawing about the unicorn’s eyes grew too much for her to handle, flapping her wings as she prepared her takeoff, but a sinking feeling in her stomach pulled her wings back down again, forcing them shut as the feeling acted like weights on her wing’s tips.
"Twilight'll probably just tease me about the whole thing... Forcing so much energy onto something like this. What’s wrong with me?" She sighed as the words left her mouth reluctantly, lowering her wings fully until a resounding ruffle was heard. She twisted the knob in front of her, confirming at least part of her earlier suspicions: Rarity had her door locked. She could very well be asleep right now.
Rainbow Dash slowly ascended into the air, the quiet flap from her wings now barely audible, soon meeting at eye level with the boutique’s second floor. She flew around to find a room with a bed, only to see that the curtains, for where she presumed the bedroom was, all drawn to a close. She sighed, annoyed that her doubts compounded onto her mind. She then began her slow descent towards the ground, reluctantly shutting her wings closed as she began trotting around the boutique.
She peered around for any signs of a white unicorn somewhere being around somewhere. She looked into one of the boutique windows and stared through it almost nonchalantly.
“Oh, there’s a white unicorn here alright.” She mused to herself as she stared at the smaller white unicorn in her sights, sleeping quite uncomfortably on the floor. Dash looked around the young filly and noticed that she was surrounded by several sheets of paper, filled with doodles of nearly everything.
The one at the top of the pile that Rainbow Dash could see depicted her swooping in to catch Rarity, drawn with the likeness of stick figures in colours matching the two ponies. The sight of the drawing brought back memories of the day, making her blush as all the thoughts she had attempted to hold back came gushing out in her head now.
‘Dammit, Dash! You have one job, and you are about to completely wreck it!’
Quite uncharacteristically, her hooves began to turn around, as did the rest of her body, though they did not make it far before her face stared squarely at the white unicorn she had spent the last few minutes looking for.
Rarity looked like she usually did on a busy work day, or at least she looked as she would according to Rainbow Dash, what with her hair being dishevelled. She was wearing her red work glasses, along with an unusual assortment of bags that laid on her back, the bags combined having every colour on the rainbow and then some. Her cheeks glowed a crimson red and sweat was now dripping down to the floor floor from her face, making a tap tap sound with every dropping sweat.
‘Well, can you blame her? I mean, I don’t even know what’s going on with me, much less a pony who can’t understand me!’ Rainbow Dash let out a deep, hoarse sigh and she looked up to face the white unicorn; both faces still beet red all over.
“Ugh, sorry about that Rarity. I was just feeling... confused.” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath, which caused a look of confusion to form on Rarity. She had never seen anypony like Rainbow Dash in this state before. Her mind reeled back to the events when she pulled off a Sonic Rainboom. The sheer vibrancy of the spectacle was almost enough to blind her… and yet, she looked on during that fateful day.
‘That sonic rainboom sure was something…’
The lack of response had led Rainbow Dash on to expect the other pony to smirk and retort with a response only matching that of Trixie. Or rather, to a defeated Trixie. Instead, Rarity simply laughed and smiled, albeit due to her memories, which cleared the air of tension that had built up when Rainbow Dash was staring into Rarity’s eyes.
‘Those gorgeous, azure eyes twinkling in the sun… Wait… what the hay am I thinking?! And where did those words come from anyways?’
“No worries, darling.” Rarity said, rotating her hoof in the air. “I find it very odd, however, to see you being this… humbling.” She brought her own hoof to the ground and began scratching the ground with it, leaving Rainbow Dash as confused as Rarity was, arching one of her eyebrows up.
‘Silly Rarity, the word you’re looking for is scared, unsure… like she was a few days ago.’ She berated herself in a self-depreciating monologue as she made a mental note to be more grammatically proper in her speaking.
“...is there anything wrong?” Rarity asked, worry shown all over her face. Rainbow Dash quickly bolted up as she looked back into her eyes still, the warmth that she felt when staring into them still lingering in her heart. She shook this out of her memory and shook her head as she spoke.
“Yeah, it’s nothing really...” Rainbow Dash replied tentatively, beads of sweat rolling down her face, which elicited more confusion from Rarity.
“Really, darling? You’re sure you’re alright?” She asked back towards Rainbow Dash as she continued sweating, her eyes widening. She let out a weak laugh as she shook her head and got up on all fours, taking a step back away from Rarity.
“Honestly, you got me there for a moment,” Rainbow Dash said, laughing as Rarity stared incredulously at her behavior. She continued, “But honestly-” A bead of sweat rolled down her face, “-the answer is still yes.”
‘Smooth save there.’ She smiled internally with pride.
“Oh, so there is something wrong with you?” Rarity asked, smirking a little as Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened again, taking in what she had said and she shook her head again, blushing from the mistake she made.
“Oh, what the hay, you know what I mean!”
“I’m not saying I did not, darling.” Rarity replied, still holding her smirk in place. Rainbow Dash looked back at Rarity’s face again, the look of superiority still held firm on her.
‘Hay, she looks quite nice, actually. She should do that more often.’ A thought came through her mind as she stared. Rarity simply stood there, confused by the face fixated on the other pony.
‘Just… stop, okay?’ Rainbow Dash thought to herself before turning to face the perplexed unicorn, who simply shook her head and smiled, laughing.
‘Celestia, what a cute laugh...’ She gritted her teeth, with a blushing face, at the unicorn who was still laughing at her embarrassment and at the words that passed through her mind a moment ago.
“There is definitely something wrong with you now.” Rarity said, clearly smug about her prediction. Rainbow Dash simply nodded, giving a nonchalant reply. “Yeah yeah… whatever.”
Now a thought of wonder struck her: Why was Rarity carrying it all on her back? Couldn’t she just use her horn thing and levitate it?
“And speak for yourself!” Rainbow Dash retorted with a smirk.. “Why the hay are you carrying so many bags on your back? I mean, aren’t you able to do your magic stuff like Twilight and just levitate them?”
Rarity failed to hide her blush as she thought about the reasoning for this. She pictured how silly it must have looked like: A grown unicorn mare, who was levitating a heavy load of bags initially, deciding to carry all of them on her back as soon as she saw the pony of her dreams…
“No no no… that is Prince Blueblood.” Rarity chided herself, mumbling something about acting like a proper lady for her crush. Rainbow Dash, though, couldn’t make out the words.
“What… are you saying, Rarity? That is Prince Blueblood for what?” She arched an eyebrow upwards. It was now Rarity’s turn to blush again as she cleared her throat.
‘Think of something, Rarity… Think!’
“Umm… well, he’s my customer, you see!” She said, chuckling weakly as she threw the question inwardly as to why she’d be saying what she did just now. “Annnnddd…. he wanted a colourful dress!” She covered her mouth with her hoof and spoke again. “I meant suit! I apologise, my vocabulary must be slipping again!”
‘Why are you acting so awkwardly, Rarity?’ The question popped in her mind as she tried to think of a reasonable answer as to why Rarity would go through all this fuss as well… all to make a dress suit or something.
‘Let me see… meets me nose to nose, both of us blush, I think about her eyes… hmm, bit creepy. Anyways, then Rarity asks if there’s a problem, I say ‘Nope’, then I screw up in vocab somehow, Rarity’s carrying so many bags on her back… I got it!’
Rainbow Dash practically shot upwards as her train of thought reached Conclusion Station, leading Rarity to become a little confused at both the motion and the prolonged silence.
“I know what you’re up to now, Rarity.” Rainbow Dash smirked at Rarity, who gulped visibly at the fear of her own feelings being let out of the bag.
“You are making this dress for me as a surprise to impress me, aren’t you?” She queried, her voice filled with feigned surprise.
Rarity’s eyes widened as she heard the question, her initial fears doused by shock at the tomboy’s words. Considering the unwillingness of the blue pegasus to trying out any gaudy outfits, which showed on the planned date for Princess Celestia’s arrival, she would have expected a more disgusted tone in the other pony’s voice.
“I mean, it’s no biggie, honestly. I shouldn’t expect anything else, but hay: Why not?”
Rarity jumped slightly at Rainbow Dash’s enthusiastic response, which would have toppled the bags over if it weren’t for her horn glowing. The initial sparks that came from the tip of her horn grew into a glowing aura around her horn, a similar aura now surrounding the bags that were initially on her back, now hovering around the white unicorn.
The aura surrounding the bags was strong, due to Rarity’s initial shock. Rainbow Dash simply got back into a sitting position as she stared at the spectacle before her, looking a little awed and dazed at what she just saw. “She can look and be amazing, huh?” Rainbow mused as she gazed upon Rarity attempting to stack the bags up again. “Though to be frank? It’s already been established… okay, I think I need to visit Twilight. Something’s wrong with me about how I’m using all these big, fancy-”
“I am so terribly sorry, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity exclaimed, which brought Rainbow Dash back from her own thoughts and she blushed again, embarrassed at her inattention towards the other pony. “Element of Loyalty, indeed...”
“I… was just surprised. I mean, aren’t you usually abhorrent towards this type of clothing?” She queried, raising an eyebrow as she stared intently at the blue pegasus for an answer.
‘Come on, Rainbow Dash, think of something!’
“Well, like I said, don’t make it too girly.” She said dismissively, more convincingly this time around than any other time just now, waving her hoof around in the air, which had helped to calm Rarity down, giving her room to let out a soft giggle.
“Still somewhat the same pony from before the competition, it seems.” She mused, content with the change in pace that she was given to work with.
Rainbow Dash continued on with a stern look on her face. “You know I don’t like gaudy dresses, especially not the kinds you made me put up that day.” She frowned near the end of that sentence, the feeling of being stuck within a dressing room with an overtly obsessive pony lingering in bad taste.
“Ofcoursenot,darling!” She said hurriedly, almost thankfully that the other pony had accepted her not-an-offer indirectly. “I’ll make the dress exactly to your request, even!” Excitement was evident in her voice, quivering along with her legs.
“Nah, you don’t have to do that, Rare!” Rainbow had said this reflexively, before covering her mouth with her own hoof, heat rushing to her cheeks. “Oh Celestia, hope Rarity didn’t hear that.” Her voice went, muffled due to her mouth being covered.
Too late. Rarity was now sporting a blush that mirrored Rainbow’s. Rainbow Dash quickly countered her previous statement.
“I mean it really, you don’t need to. Remember that time when you had made us those Galloping Gala dresses? I don’t want that happening.” She finished off with wrapping her hoof around Rarity’s neck hesitantly as her mind went back to the time that Rarity had so generously wanted to adhere to all their wishes that she almost botched her own reputation as a designer. It would be an unpleasant thing; the idea of Rarity losing all she had gained through her talent made Rainbow Dash shiver.
Despite the dread of her friend failing due in part to herself, Rainbow Dash managed to wear a smile on her face with regards to the fashionista’s generosity.
Rarity stared at this action and starting blushing further, but seemed to find the power within herself to pull away and nod to Rainbow’s earlier request. The two got up from their earlier, more awkward position and stood up, Rarity brushing off the dust from her coat with her own tail.
“After you, Rare-ity.” Rainbow Dash said, attempting to make the effort of not repeating her earlier mistake. She looked at her intently for that moment before realising that Rarity was tapping her own hoof as an indication of wanting some physical space.
The pegasus responded by stepping back, allowing Rarity the space to walk in a straight line, heading for the door of the Boutique. Rarity then proceeding to levitate the bags she had been carrying and, bags still hovering above the ground, gave half of them to Rainbow Dash. The aura surrounding the bags dissipated, just as the weight came tumbling onto Rainbow, resulting in her giving a resounding “Uff!”
“You’re going to have to help me if you want this dress to be done, you know?” Rarity said, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s moans as she went upstairs. “Besides, there’s nopony else around who can help me right now. You don’t want me to carry all these bags up by myself, do you?” She woefully asked, eyebrows arching upwards towards the centre, the light now seeming to glisten from her eyes.
‘Darnit, Rare!” Rainbow fought the urge to yell at her. “Why, in the name of Celestia, do
you do this to me now?!’
The waiting eyes from Rarity’s face, however, seemed to make all her anger dissipate as she grumbled audibly at the weight of the bags on her back.
“Alright, Rarity…” Rainbow replied, clearly feeling perturbed as she trotted slowly through the front door of the Boutique, all the while seeing the larger white unicorn smiling as she said something. It didn’t register properly into Rainbow Dash’s ears, who was still recovering from the initial shock the extra weight gave her, but she figured she had responded positively. Something like “Splendid!” or something.
As Rainbow Dash walked across the floor of the boutique, she looked upon the smaller white unicorn laying on the floor and gritted her teeth angrily.
“One of these days, I’ll be sure to get back at you, Sweetie Belle.” Rainbow mumbled angrily under her breath as she walked past the smaller white unicorn, still curled up on the floor gripping tightly to her crayons.
She was still wearing a crimson blush on her cheeks as she recounted the incident she had that lead to the two ponies being here in the first place, taking the steps up the staircase as she thought it all through.
She had to admit to herself, however, that the drawing was indeed cute. She had no other word to describe it other than it being quite cute. She thought to herself of the million ways that Sweetie Belle could have gotten the knowledge of what had transpired a few days ago. “Maybe she knew about the incident by being told from Rarity.” She reasoned as her hooves got to the top of the stairs. The mental image of Rarity gushing over the near death experience had made Rainbow giggle, quickly snorting as she realised what kind of pony she felt like she was becoming. All because she seemed unwilling to come to terms with her own feelings of Rarity.
‘Well, that’s pretty damn easy to figure out: You like her eyes… somehow. Oh, and you have weird feelings for her. Seems like a crush, if not a fullblown love.’
‘Ugh, just shut up brain.’ The words felt awkward, even in her head. ‘Honestly, Rainbow Danger Dash may confront her own feelings, but those feelings ain’t love!’
She decided to preoccupy her time by thinking of another possible way that Sweetie Belle would’ve known about the event.
‘Maybe Scootaloo told her. No doubt the bright-eyed squirt would’ve relayed the story excitedly.’ A soft chuckle left her lips. ‘Probably would have said it all heroic-like like:’
“She swooped in readily to save the damsel in distress as she heroically-” Rainbow Dash paused midway as she looked around the room. The bags she was once carrying on her back had fallen to the floor, fabrics strewn all over the once empty floor. She then turned her attention to the other pony in the room, who sported a face of utter confusion before a blush crept up on her own face. Rainbow Dash started to reign in her own senses and discovered that a blush of her own had appeared as well. While the mirror on the other side of the room had confirmed this, she had already known when she felt her cheeks burn with the excess blood.
“Well… um…” Rainbow Dash found herself caught unguarded again by the same pony. She gaped in light of her own stupidity, then she closed her mouth swiftly, still fumbling in her mind as she scrambled to find an appropriate answer. “Oh geeze… I mean...” She stuttered as she struggled to find an answer for her weird behavior.
“Rainbow Dash… ?” Rarity uttered as she stared at the other pony.
Rainbow Dash simply stared into Rarity’s eyes, her rose eyes meeting azure ones. She looked hard as she tried to figure out what the other pony was feeling right now, her initial thoughts still clouding the thoughts she was so desperate to rid herself of when she had gotten there.
It then dawned upon her.
The evidence did not come in that very instant. It did not even help much that she knew what exactly Rarity was hinting at. All of it came crashing down as her mind rushed through every action that the two ponies had undertaken since they met just now.
It was all very clear to her now: Rarity was feeling the exact same way.
Now kneeling down, hooves nearly touching the floor, Rainbow Dash attempted to compose herself before blurted out her feelings in one statement with quivering lips.
* * *
“I l-like you, okay?!” The dressing room fell into an uncomforting silence. The loud voice had managed to travel to the lower floor of the boutique, shaking all the things present in the lower floor a little. It was enough vibration to cause a young filly’s pile of drawings to fall over, after which the sound caused a young filly to stir awake, looking up at the stairs quizzedly.
“No, scratch that; I love you, Rarity!” The voice continued, which caused her eyes to shoot wide open instantaneously before the adrenaline in her body came crashing down again.
“Uhhhh…. what is going on...” she uttered under her breath, groggily getting up as she took one step forward, followed by another, her white hooves making a light tap sound every time they touched the ground. She looked around the floor on which she slept, with all the papers now even more cluttered and disordered on the floor around her, doodles scrawled all over the sheets.
‘Rarity’s soooo gonna kill me for this later.’ Sweetie Belle mused, but her inner monologue was interrupted when she looked at one picture she had drawn in particular. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that it was a doodle of Rainbow kissing Rarity.
She simply waved it off in her head, dismissing the doodle as having heard too many times about how romance worked, particularly from Scootaloo and Rarity, and she walked towards the stairs again, talking each hoof forward one at a time. She strained her ears as she heard a less audible voice coming out of the room, leaning in as she took each step up the stairs.
“I mean… amazing pony… there for everyone...” were the words that she managed to hear.
‘Rainbow Dash?’ She thought to herself, roughly recognising the voice of the brash pegasus as she quickened her pace. Maybe the two are confessing their love for each other, she reasoned.
‘Now now, Sweetie Belle,’ she told herself off for her rash reasoning. ‘Maybe she’s just complimenting her as a friend.’
“And your eyes, dammit!” The voice boomed. Nothing else registered into Sweetie Belle’s ears anymore as she rushed up the staircase, the steps themselves be damned.
“Or maybe she’s complimenting her as a lover! She is indeed confessing her love towards Rarity! Yes yes yes yes yes...”
The excited filly ran through the door, leaving a small gap at the bottom of it, which resulted in a large crash sound.
Moments later, Rarity was already away from Rainbow Dash, who licked her lips, tasting the kiss she just shared with the unicorn as Rarity sprinted across to her younger sister, staring at her.
“Rarity… didn’t you fantasise about being with Prince Blueblood before?” Sweetie Belle asked innocently enough, her frown giving away, with Rarity blushing furiously as Rainbow frowned at Rarity and gave Sweetie Belle a frown of her own.
“Ahhh...” Rarity’s mind racked itself for an answer, but she had found none to offer. Her attention could only turn to the younger white unicorn, who looked like she was about to explode from enthusiasm. Rainbow took notice of this as well and laughed heartily, any remaining anger towards the young filly dissipating as she got up from her original location and started walking towards Sweetie Belle.
“Rarity, do you know why I ended up here in the first place, where for me it’s almost unbearable to stay?” Rainbow asked with a wide grin on her face, which only caused the other two unicorns to shake their heads repeatedly, confusion plastered all over their faces.
“It’s because of this little filly,” she said, ruffling her mane, “right here.” Sweetie Belle practically giggled as her mane was being messed up by the larger pony, while Rarity looked hesitant at her mane work on the young filly.
“I’m still going to get you for embarrassing me, though. Nopony gets away from Rainbow Danger Dash, after all.” Rainbow Dash smirked as the young filly gasped dramatically before her mouth spat out giggle after giggle.
Rarity managed to crack a weak smile at the two ponies interacting as she thought through of the million and one ways she was going to get time now to redo her mane, but her train of thought was derailed by Rainbow Dash clearing her throat.
“So Rare,” Rainbow said, causing a crimson blush to form on Rarity, leaving Sweetie Belle to drown in her own giggles, “How about that dress? Maybe afterwards, I could take you out to dinner or something.”
Rarity went into a deep trance as her brain scrambled to work with the replacement of Blueblood with Rainbow Dash. She had found that she was very hesitant of the whole idea still and it showed on her face with her eyes darting away from the blue pegasus. Her internal monologue was shot down by an impact to her head.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity chided the blue pegasus as she regained her composure. Rainbow Dash simply shrugged as Sweetie Belle simply stayed in her sitting position near her, oblivious to the scene at hand as she worked to fit it with one of the novels she had read. She was practically drowning in her own giggles now as she thought of the argument mirroring “a couple’s row”.
“Hmm… Sweetie Belle?”
“Yes-” she giggled some more before continuing, ”Rarity?”
“Would you be a dear and leave the room for a moment?”
Rainbow Dash was about to say something, but she was shut midway by Rarity’s hoof as she used the other to chase the younger white filly away, who was practically giggling away as she walked outside of the room, her mind filled with all the silly things the two ponies could do, being a couple now in her eyes. As soon as the filly left the room, Rarity used her magic to close the door and released her hold on Rainbow Dash’s mouth.
“What the hay was that for?!” Rainbow Dash yelled and Rarity’s body recoiled back, all her ears folding down to shield herself from the loud scream. Her face turned dark and she began to cry, her tears flowing down like a waterfall.
“Hey… what’s wrong now?” Rainbow asked, concern in her voice now, as she stared at Rarity and trotted over to wrap her wing around the unicorn. Rarity only frowned, though a faint blush managed to creep its way up to her cheeks.
“Look, I’m sorry about yelling at you just now, okay?” Rainbow Dash was about to ramble on, but Rarity raised her hoof to allow her time to speak.
“No no, darling. It’s fine. I’m just… confused right now. Sweetie Belle was right: I am this horrible lady who decides to get together with a best friend of mine while I simultaneously have a crush on this faraway stallion at the same time.” Rarity replied, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I mean, how stupid is that?”
Rainbow Dash was quite shocked at what she heard and she faced Rarity squarely in the face, her nose pressed up against the other pony. Rarity’s face grew redder as she looked at her rose tinted eyes, still tearing up about her own revelation.
“Don’t you dare say that!” Rainbow said, waving her hood in dismissal as she continued, “That ain’t what Sweetie Belle meant and that’s sure as hay not what I think about you!” Her tone took a swift turn from shock to comfort, squeezing the white unicorn’s hoof as her wing tugged tighter onto her body, the last of the unicorn’s tears dripping away as she bore a soft smile on her face.
“I mean, sure I like you and you seemed to like me back, but I’m perfectly fine with you turning me down now. Nothing is settled until we say it is, alright?”
Rarity nodded and leaned over to kiss the blue pegasus once more, this time on the cheeks, her lips parting them as soon as they came together. All of Rainbow Dash’s anger faded away, leaving behind a now wide and goofy smile..
Rarity, who now had a bemused smile on her face, began to arrange the cloths surrounding her in a more proper manner, befitting of her chaotic organisation for her workplace. Rainbow Dash simply shook her head when she recovered from her initial shock and euphoria as she stared at the mess Rarity made, but she simply allowed the unicorn space as she sat down near the wall of the room.
The hours went by as Rarity did all the necessary measurements for the new dress. Rarity initially objected to Rainbow Dash wanting to fly around in the room, but after much complaining from the blue pegasus, she finally allowed Rainbow to freely fly around the tall room as she did her sewing, occasionally pulling Rainbow Dash from the air to help with fitting the dress on. The pegasus obviously frowned, but it did not feel genuine. Forced was a more proper term: She was too excited about her date to even care about the fidgeting.
Eventually, the dress was done and Rainbow Dash stared at the finished product for a good few seconds before nodding her head in agreement to the design made, smiling quite warmly as she looked at Rarity. The design was one of jagged folds of fabric for every colour of her mane, with the main piece bearing the colour of her own coat. To the sporty pegasus, it felt roomy enough for her own speed and she was beaming with glee at the thought of being able to travel quickly enough to be punctual without looking bad for her date later.
“Wait here first.” Rainbow told Rarity abruptly, just as the unicorn was packing up all her equipment.
“I’ve got some unfinished business to do.” She smiled as she took off from the room, crashing through one of the windows with Rarity shaking her head, sighing. “Same old Dash she is...“ She mused as she made her way to the broken window and levitated all the glass pieces and attempted to piece them all together. She stopped for awhile to stare at the reflection that formed in the window. The image formed caused her to gawk at it for a few seconds before she spoke.
“I’m an absolute mess. I need to go fix this immediately.” The words left her mouth with urgency, prompting her to gallop to her bedroom in preparation for her date later that night.
At the first floor, the fitful giggles of an enthusiastic young filly could be heard as the sounds of the banging doors rang in her head. She allowed herself to drown in them for awhile before going back to sleep on the floor, sighing blissfully as she drifted off to her own visions about the date the two ponies would have that night.
* * *
“Hey Twilight!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she approached the library at near supersonic speeds, which inevitably lead to her crashing through the walls of the librarian’s current home. Twilight was reading a book on the multiple genres of music throughout the history of Equestria as she looked up, ducking as all the pieces flew out from the spot of the crash, along with the vibration causing the upper deck books to collapse onto the floor.
A purple hoof was dramatically brought through the piles of books on the floor and it rose over the uppermost layer. The hoof pressed onto one of the books on the floor as it raised the rest of the body over the pile of books. Twilight brushed some dust off her coat as she observed the other pegasuses’ actions while she just stood there, frowning as she looked upon the hole that Rainbow Dash had created.
As the thought of her first date came to her mind, Rainbow Dash had this goofy smile on her face and began to run around the library at seemingly the same speed that she came in, rushing through the decks of books that were on the shelves.
As Twilight saw this, her frown slowly curled up into a smirk as she leaned herself on the wall nearby the blue pegasus, doing so almost nonchalantly as she looked at her. She quickly frowned again, body still leaning against the wall.
“It looks like you won, Rainbow Dash.” She said, tone slightly sounding defeated, pose held in place. Rainbow looked up from the front of the book’s spine and a smirk appeared on her face. She contemplated on what she could do with a one month personal dictionary by her side, but as she thought deeper into the world of possibilities, she suddenly found out that she fell short of what she had wanted to do exactly with such a pony by her side all the time.
‘Aw hay, she drew me into a bad bet! What in Celestia’s name would that serve to do?!’
As soon as those words came through her mind, it dawned upon her about the purpose to Twilight’s little bet, alongside with the reasoning of her mind’s occupation with her date later with Rarity. The two points served to extinguish any reason for her to accept her friend’s ‘defeat’, shaking her head in response to it as she trotted closer to the purple unicorn.
“Nah, I figure that this pressure is good for me anyways.” Rainbow said, patting the purple unicorn on her back as she walked around the area that she crash landed in, picking up a few books that laid on the floor, running through her head what she might need.
“I ought to thank you, in fact: You helped to get me to be more of my old self again.” She said, smiling softly and, for the first time to the unicorn, genuinely, as she inched closer to the purple unicorn.
“After all, I did manage to sort out my own feelings thanks to your silly bet, didn’t I?” As Rainbow Dash finished her statement, her mind went back into a partial daydream, imagining the possible things they could do after their dinner. Catching the pegasus off guard was a sudden tug around her body, which resulted in her attention turning towards the purple pony hugging her rather tightly.
“Don’t mention it.” She said as she smiled back at the pegasus. Rainbow Dash held onto a smile, albeit more uncomfortably, shoving the unicorn away in a gentle fashion.
“Yeah, thanks for that. Just don’t get too creepy with me, OK? We ain’t like best buds yet. And neither are Rares-” a blush appeared on her cheek, “Rarity and I marefriends yet.” Twilight shoved her crude remark about Rainbow Dash’s chosen pet name for Rarity aside and sheepishly nodded, a pale blush appearing on her cheeks.
When she saw Twilight’s nodding, Rainbow Dash trotted around and thought about the as she thought about the date she would have later. She was sure it would feel quite boring, but she honestly didn’t care at this point in time as the prospects of possibly being with the white unicorn came to her head, making her feel giddy and causing her to shake about in her position.
This possibility of a solidified relationship with the white unicorn was enough to force her to attempt at stifling her giggle as she took off from the room in the library, too preoccupied with the possibilities to fly through any opening present to her.
‘That mare sure has a soft heart.’ Twilight thought to herself as she gave off a soft giggle of her own and went downstairs, checking to ensure that Spike had not been abruptly awoken… and to check in Rainbow Dash’s loan. She was certain that the blue pegasus had said something about borrowing some books before she left, but the second crash through the wall had temporarily blocked out her hearing.
After confirming that the young dragon was asleep, she went ahead to key in the book titles she remembered seeing were picked up by the pegasus prior to her departure. The entry for the loan now written out in ink, she went back up to the upper deck to continue her studies, smiling fondly at the thought of an ecstatic young filly having her wishes come true for that night.
‘Oh, Sweetie Belle. You and your filly romantic dreams.’ She dreamily thought, comparing it to her own experiences with Princess Cadence and Shining Armour when she was young as she rested her head on the open book to go off into her own dream world.
As her mind so nearly drifted off to sleep, a thought entered her mind which forced her to become fully conscious to her surroundings. She stood up, hooves wobbling as she paced herself towards the hole Rainbow Dash had created upon entry. The thought ran through her mind again, in full clarity, to which the purple pony sighed and uttered under her breath:
“That mare isn’t going to know half of the words in those books, is she?”
‘...unfortunately? Yes, she is not.’
The End
Author's Note
Done after a month and a half of gaming, procrastination and occasionally smashing into the keyboard!
Many thanks goes to the following people who have preread the story and helped go through the mistakes in it:
blackbewhite2k7: blackbewhite2k7.deviantart.com
Phisych University:
Selective-Yellow: selective-yellow.deviantart.com/
And special thanks goes to Selective-Yellow for being the main contributor to the story.
EDIT: Thank you, DrFayz, for pointing out the confusion with dialogue and thought.