What Happens in Pegasus

Your mind has been spinning since your argument with Rainbow Dash. Your body’s just gone into standby until your mind can retake the helm, drifting around your house, checking your fridge for snacks, not finding anything appetizing, then sitting down somewhere and not finding anything interesting. Rinse and repeat for hours at a time.

Yet again, you’re on the way to the fridge when you stop yourself mid-trot. You can’t just keep wandering around like this. You have to tackle this problem head-on. It’s what Rainbow Dash would do.

Rainbow Dash. She could have caught up to you in seconds after you leapt from her window. Instead, she let you leave. Maybe she knew you needed to be alone for a while. Maybe she needed to be alone herself.

Can you really blame her for having her mind wander like that? As you noticed before, the whole sensual routine was getting easier to predict each time you did it. Maybe she just wanted to spice things up in her own head. That’s pretty much Rainbow Dash in a nutshell.

And so what if you do spice things up? You’ve both been together for a while, and retracing the same sex act over and over again isn’t the key to a relationship, no matter how good that act happens to be. Relationships are so much more then that.

And look what you did instead. You made matters worse and probably ruined your relationship with her just because she is who she is.

No! You can fix this! You can clean up this mess, give her something special, just to show her how much she means to you, and spice up this love life! She wouldn’t give up, why should you?

You look out of the window. It’s nearing sundown. You have an idea, but it involves a quick trip to Canterlot - you should pay a visit to a friend who’s been owing you for a while. If he’s still there, of course.

You give your wings a quick flex to warm them up; flying all the way to Canterlot and back is going to be a challenge in itself. Still, flying is a lot faster than taking the train and waiting for it to snake through all of the mountainside; sometimes that takes a whole night. Travel by wing it is!

********

As the sun goes down, an old, feeble pegasus sits in his lavish home, tending to a spot of tea in front of a cosy open fire, before another day is lost to him forever. His wings have never felt heavier, despite them being the lightest they’ve ever been in his life. They’ve been getting weaker every day, as the feathers fall away one by one. The feathers have been dropping faster and faster lately, up to the point where he has to hide his wings from the public eye. It’s somewhat worrying.

But then again, he was always calm and dignified in the face of troubled times. A Scarlet Wing is always calm and dignified. Especially a captain.

Yes, a Scarlet Wing’s captain, back in the day, would stare down a dragon had one ever shown cheek to so much as trample a flower bed! A Scarlet Wing’s captain would single-handedly tear through enemy lines without feeling so much as a scratch! A Scarlet Wing’s captain would stare right into the face of by criminy what the heck oh geez!

A young stallion’s face appears by the window, completely out of the blue; a complete shock to the old fellow. The youngster politely taps on the window - because that would have probably been wiser beforehand - and the elderly ex-flyer unlocks the nearby door and lets the unexpected guest in. He’s a friend, after all.

Or as it should be said; you’re his friend, after all.

“You picked on odd time to visit, kiddo,” the elderly somewhat-celebrity says, “You look bushed, too. Like you’ve flown here from Cloudsdale!”

“Ponyville,” you correct him, wiping the sweat from your face, “Sorry if it’s pretty sudden, but…”

“Now, now, let me guess why you’re here,” he waves an old hoof in front of you, “Is it that you’re finally here to collect on that favour?”

You grin; his mind is as sharp as ever, it seems. “I said I’d save it for an emergency, didn’t I? This is pretty much that.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“I think I’ve screwed my relationship with this filly I love.”

You notice a sense of hesitation from him, as if he was scrutinising, with a furrowed brow, what you had said, “You sound pretty certain of that.”

“That’s because I have screwed it.”

“No, I mean certain that you love her.”

“Of course I do,” you confidently respond, “haven’t you ever screwed up something important and wanted to make amends?”

The old pegasus laughs; a laugh that quickly descends to a wheeze, “A… a Scarlet Wing is too good to screw up in the first place, you know!” he triumphantly declares, “And if we do, we’re always proudly pick ourselves up and continue without… regrets…”

He trails off, staring down at his pitiful wings. You can’t tell what he’s thinking, but you know better than to try to interrupt his thoughts, especially if he’s looking at his wings; they’re always a touchy subject to talk about.

“Tell me about this filly of yours, then,” he says finally, “What does she like?”

You tell him everything you can about Rainbow Dash. You tell her about her friends, her job, her aspirations to become a Wonderbolt one day and even her achievements she’s had so far in life. By the time you’re done, the ex-flyer’s eyebrows are raised in surprise.

“How the heck did you manage to land a girl like her?”

“No idea,” you shrug, “Now you see why I want to keep her.”

“You said she’s a Wonderbolts fan?”

“Yeah.” Of all the things you said, you left out the cause of the argument itself; that was too private even him to know.

Your friend goes into a deep thought again, only this time for a much shorter span. “Have a rest in the guest room, I’ll see if I can make some arrangements tonight, and get confirmation tomorrow morning. No promises, but if I contact the right ponies…”

*******

“How the heck did you-?”

You’re speechless. That small piece of paper in your hooves can’t be real. It only took a single night, and then this gets delivered the next morning? That’s unbelievable. Yet there it is. Right there. There’s no way it could be fake. All the details are on it, even the obscene price.

“It’s no big deal,” the ex-flyer says dismissively, “I still have fans all over Equestria, so there’s no reason why they wouldn’t pull an errand for me every once in a while. I’d like to think this makes us even now, though.”

You only nod; him spending this much money on something which may - or may not - smooth things over with somepony he hardly even knows is more than enough to call any favours even. If fact, it’s almost like you’d have to give him a favour in return.

“No, no, there’s nothing I really want that you could help me with. If anything, I just want…” he freezes as he gains an idea mid-sentence, “Actually,” he says slowly, “You said you came from Ponyville?”

“Yeah.”

“Is there still an apple orchard there?”

“Yes, there is.” What an odd question for him to ask. Actually, you should have been at a party there just last night. Sadly, due to… what happened, you were unable to attend. You wonder if Rainbow Dash went on without you. “It’s called Sweet Apple Acres. Why?”

“No reason,” he says a little too quickly to avoid suspicion, “Now, I believe you have a relationship to salvage.”

“That I do,” you stuff the slip of paper safely within your feathers, ready for the return trip to Ponyville, “Thanks for everything. Take care.”

*******

After your departure, the old pegasus retreats back into his home. So, the old apple farm is still there after all. He wonders if a certain somepony still resides there. He wonders if she’s still angry from sixty years ago. He wonders if she still remembers him.

Why did he just help somepony save a relationship, when he didn‘t lift a hoof to save one he had years back? Maybe he just sees a bit of himself in the youngster.

Maybe she’s still alive and well, and if so, maybe she’s willing to let bygones be bygones. And then he makes himself a promise; to go back there some day soon. He may not have another chance to. Yes, he must make the arrangements right away!

Right after a cup of tea. He just really wants a nice cup of tea right now.