So wake me if you're out there...
I sat, shivering, on the sidewalk, my dress plastered to my body and making me colder. There were next to no cabs in Canterlot, and I had dropped my key down a sewer drain, so there was no point in going home.
I leaned against a lamppost, the cold stick of metal sending a chill up my spine. I was near a Wonderbolts stadium, and I could hear the screams of adoring fans as they spun and whirled through the air. Rainbow Dash would be among them tonight...
I swiped at my eyes. Now is not the time to think about her. Her last letter was more than six months ago, I'm sure she's forgotten about me.
But my thoughts couldn't help but meander over to the part that my heart influenced the most, the part filled with Rainbow Dash and my memories of her. Before long I was starving for her laugh, her touch, her kiss. Maybe we could catch up tonight after her show...have dinner together...maybe sleep together in the same bed again, that would be so nice...
I swiped at my eyes again. Stop with the fantasies, Rarity. Fantasies will never come true unless you work for them. Canterlot had taught me that well. And I couldn't work for that particular fantasy. Between Rainbow's career as a Wonderbolt and my career as a designer, it couldn't happen. It just couldn't. That wouldn't change the fact that the three years I had to suffer through without her were the worst three years of my life...
This time, I let me tears flow freely as I thought of Rainbow Dash. My mother had always told me that everypony has a personal angel. Somepony that they were destined to meet one day, and that a pony and their angel would forever be connected.
"Can I fall in love with an angel, mummy?"
"Yes you can, Rarity. Yes you can."
There was no doubt about it. Rainbow Dash was my angel.
And I'd lost her. Lost her forever because of my stupid career.
I continued to sob, desperately hoping I could pour out my heart through my tears and have it leak into the sewer, so my stupid key could have company, and I would never be plagued by thoughts of her again.
Then I saw her.
A fleeting flash of rainbow mane, laughing with the other Wonderbolts as they exited the stadium. Maybe she heard me, maybe she saw a lone pony in the corner of her vision, but she saw me.
I saw her.
She ran toward me, that beautiful rainbow mane flying, colorful and beautiful despite the rain, and she crashed into me, hugging the life out of me, but I didn't care. We kissed, both our happy tears warming our faces.
"Oh, Goddesses, Rarity, I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, Rainbow. I love you. I love you so much."
I faintly heard her team members run up to us. "I assume you're Rarity?" A polite voice with a faint Manehattan accent asked. I turned toward the voice, and recognized the pony as Spitfire.
"Yes, I am, how did you know?" I detached myself from Rainbow.
"Dash had told us about you." Her expression changed from that awkward just-met politeness to concern. "You're a mess, how did you get like this?"
"Well, I was at a party, and I had lingered a bit too long and missed the last available cab, then I dropped my key down the sewer grate..." I trailed off.
"How about you come back to our suite and crash there for a bit? If it's okay with Spitfire, that is." A new, perky voice suggested. She reminded me of Pinkie. When she took off her hood, she reminded me even moreso of Pinkie, with her poofy yellow mane. "We've always got room for one more. The more the merrier! By the way, I'm Surprise. The Party In The Sky!" She held out a hoof to shake. I took it...and promptly had my hoof crushed.
"Easy, Surprise." Another Wonderbolt I recognized, Soarin, stepped forth, laughing. "I'm okay with you staying, Rarity, but like sugar vacuum over here said, we'll have to check with Spitfire." Surprise punched him.
Spitfire looked a bit uncertain. "You don't have to if you don't want to, I could find a hotel somewhere..." I started, but Spitfire cut me off.
"Of course you can, I'm just a bit worried I'll get in trouble with Arcum."
"Aw, come on, he doesn't have to know! And the press doesn't have to either." Rainbow challenged. She stood right in the middle of me and Spitfire, like a knight protecting his - or in this case, her - damsel.
Spitfire bit her lip. "Come on."
I followed Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts to their hotel. They had booked a penthouse suite, as it was the largest and they had a few more shows in Canterlot over the next few days. Rainbow Dash stuck next to me the whole way, keeping me warm.
"Oh, this is absolutely lovely, if there's anything I can do to repay you-" Surprise stuffed her hoof in my mouth.
"That's absolutely redonkulous! Any friend of Dash is a friend of ours! Amirite, guys?" She looked at the others, who for the most part nodded.
"If you insist, though I do have my sewing kit. I could fix up your uniforms." I offered.
The Wonderbolts all shared a glanced and shrugged.
"I guess, since you're offering and all." Soarin smiled and shrugged. "You want something to eat?"
It was a lovely evening, made lovelier by the fact I could finally see my Rainbow again. We spent most of the evening clinging to each other, not saying a word, just holding each other in some of the best hugs of my life. It was so refreshing to smell her again, that unique scent of static and rain, with a new hint of hotel shower products.
I excused myself to go clean up after it became painfully obvious that I was making everything wet. I dropped my ruined dress in the hamper and stepped in, cranking up the hot water. I sighed and leaned against the shower's wall, luxuriating in the feel of shower water rather than rain water against my fur. Needless to say, I didn't notice a certain lithe cyan shape slithering in with me.
"It's been a long time since we've showered together." Rainbow Dash planted a small kiss on my neck. I absently touched the place her lips had left.
"Too long." I agreed. "You first, you're all sweaty."
It was the best shower ever.
After we'd all decided to tuck in, Spitfire suggested we go to the bedroom next door. "You two could use some alone time."
We obliged, snuggling together under the covers. We exchanged stories late into the night of the different careers we'd pursued. It turns out Rainbow had quite liked the Wonderbolts and the busy lifestyle a slot on the team came with.
After a while Rainbow sighed, holding one of my forelegs. "I can't believe I managed to survive a full three years without you. This is so nice...I wish we could have this all the time."
"I do too, Rainbow, but we can't. It simply isn't possible." I snuggled closer to my loveliest, knowing full well that this was the last night I would be able to spend with her before our seven minutes in the closet would be over, and we would both have to return to our jobs.
Rainbow was quiet for a while. "Maybe it is. I could move in with you at your place once you get another key, and I could arrange my schedule so I could stay with you a good chunk of the time. It would be perfect, Rarity, the way we've always imagined it. Just think." She shook me a little for emphasis.
"I don't need to think." I held her close. "If everything will play out the way you say it will, and I'll be able to see you every day again, then I'll do it. I don't care what society will say."
She brushed aside a bit of my mane, her eyelids lowering into a seductive half-stare. "In that case...why don't we get it on again to celebrate?"
Three guesses what my answer was and the first two don't count.
Author's Note
I've decided to give RariDash a whirl. And after trying it out...RariPie, I'm sorry, but you've been voted off the island.
