Camping With Rainbow Dash

Chapter 2

There Is More To The Story

Before entering the forest, Rugia and Rainbow Dash watched as the Rainbow double rocketed over their heads and headed for town. They watched it scrap a roof before disappearing into the distance. Rainbow kept trying to tell Rugia that this plan of leaving a couple of robots behind so they could go on vacation wasn’t going to work. Sadly, Rugia’s bullheadedness had the better of him and he paid no heed to Rainbow Dash. It seemed his mind was on something else. Rainbow could see something was bothering Rugia, and it worried her, but she wanted to wait until they found a place to camp before finding out what it was. As they walked through the peaceful forest, the sunrise began to come through the trees signifying that dawn was approaching.

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At some point in the day nine o’clock a.m. rolled around and Rarity had been waiting for Rugia to show up since six in the morning. She was beginning to wonder if he was going to ever show up. But then the door opened and he came walking in, or his double did anyway.

“There you are Rugia,” Rarity said, “where ever have you been?”

“I was tired,” the robot replied, “so I accidentally slept in. I shall get to work now.”

The robot walked to its work station and sat down and began working right away in a similar manor to its creator. Rarity noticed that Rugia was acting strangely today. It was probably over what had happened between them two days ago. Which reminded her that she really wanted to talk to him about that.

“Hey look,” the Rugia dummy exclaimed holding up what it had finished, “it’s a leotard!”

Rarity eyed the garment with a sense of uneasiness. Rugia never just up and made random garments, he always made dressed like he was supposed to. But she left the thought alone and tried to talk to him.

“Rugia,” Rarity said calmly, “I need to talk to about what happened two days ago.”

The robot didn’t respond, it was busy working on its next project.

“Rugia didn’t you hear me?” she asked trying to get some acknowledgement.

The robot continued to ignore her and got up to get more supplies. Rarity began to think that Rugia was very angry with her and wasn’t ever going to talk to her at all today. She watched him move around the room looking for something to use. He soon came back to his work station dragging the garbage can behind him.

“What ever are going to do with my garbage can?” Rarity asked worried about Rugia’s odd behavior.

Again the robot ignored her and started digging into the garbage observing its contents. It was clear to Rarity that Rugia was not going to say anything to her anytime soon. Rarity slowly walked away and started work on her current project as well. However, she couldn’t stay focused on her work. She really wanted to talk to Rugia about what had happened the other day. So she tried again to get a conversation with what she thought was Rugia.

“Please Rugia,” she said, “I really must speak with you about the other day.”

“Sorry Rarity,” the robot Rugia replied, “I am working right now and there for cannot talk with you right now.”

“Oh… I see.” Rarity said turning away from him slowly and back to her work.

Even though he was polite about it, Rarity’s heart still sank into sadness. Rugia was mad at her and she knew it, but his behavior was hurting her feelings. A tear slowly made its way down her cheek as she began to believe that one of her closest friends wasn’t going to speak to her as a friend ever again.

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Elsewhere, the real Rugia was hiking across a log over a river with Rainbow Dash following close behind him. Halfway across the log the two looked out over the horizon in which the river was headed. Past the waterfall was a beautiful little valley that would make the perfect camping spot. It had a good sized lake for fishing an swimming, and plenty of flat areas for setting up a camp site. Rugia and Dash agreed that the area would be the perfect spot for camping. Neither of them flew to it, what was the rush anyway? They climbed down the hillside next the water fall, of course Rainbow Dash was on Rugia’s back though. She could have flown down, but would rather stick with her friend. Three quarters of the way down Rugia jumped from the rock wall and landed on the ground. Rainbow hopped off his back and looked around at the scenery before her. The valley was even more beautiful up close.

“lets see if this works as well as I think it will.” Rugia suddenly said squatting next to Rainbow and stretching his arm out to her, “Push my hand down please.”

Rainbow pushed his hand down on Rugia’s hand and a loud flatulent emitted from his backside and echoed across the land. A flock of birds took flight and left the area. Rainbow Dash watched the birds disappear in the distance.

“Ha!” Rugia exclaimed, “It worked even better than I thought! I’ll try a belch next time!”

“That was just disgusting Rugia.” Rainbow said, “But at the same time it was kind of funny.”

Rugia hopped on top of a rock and looked around the area, searching for a spot to set up camp.

“Hey Dash,” Rugia said turning to his multi-colored friend, “why don’t you pick the camping spot?”

“Um, ok…” Rainbow Dash looked around for a few moments, “How about over there under that oak tree?”

“Looks like a very nice place to have a camp site.” Rugia agreed leaping from the rock he was on and walked towards the site of Rainbow’s choice.

Rainbow trotted up next him and they made their way to the large oak tree that Rainbow pointed out. As they walked to their site, Rainbow couldn’t help but notice something was bothering Rugia. The look on Rugia’s face gave her the feeling he was still thinking about what happened between him and Rarity. Rainbow got the impression that he had not told her the whole story. However, she was unsure whether she should ask him to tell the full story or not. When they came to their destination, Rugia took his pack off his back and began unpacking the tent. Rainbow slid out of her saddle bags and proceeded to help with the tent in any way she could. When it was finished, the tent was in the shape of a dome rather than the traditional triangle. Rugia secured the tent and asked Rainbow Dash to find decent number of rocks to form a circle for their fire. While Rainbow looked for rocks, Rugia headed back into the trees to find some twigs and branches that could be used for fire wood. When he returned, Rainbow Dash had already put the rocks in their places. This didn’t surprise Rugia, Rainbow Dash was generally fast at completing a task. Countless times of watching her clear a cloudy sky was proof of that.

Eleven AM came around, the camp was finished and Rugia and Rainbow Dash had settled down in the tent for a well deserved nap. However, Rainbow still had her concerns about her odd friend.

“You didn’t tell me the whole story did you Rugia?” She asked looking at him with concern. “What all really happened between you and Rarity?”

Rugia hesitated to respond, but decided it would be best to tell her about it now so they could have an easier time enjoying their vacation.

“I guess I might as well get it off my chest.” he sighed, “Well Rainbow, this is what had happened…”

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Saturday, 7:40 pm

Rugia sat at his desk at the Carousel Boutique working furiously on a dress ordered by Fancy Pants, for his wife. Rugia had been working non-stop to finish it for four hours with out a break and had only finished a quarter of it. Aside from being frustrated with being handed a very detailed project, he was at wits end with Rarity. The white mare, who was one of his closest friends, had been working him and his patience to the bone ever since her store became the one place every pony in Canterlot and Ponyville wanted to shop at. He had been trying his hardest to be patient with her, in hopes that she would realize that she was warring him out and would give him a few days off. But due to fame getting to his unicorn friend’s head, the break he was hoping for never came to him.

Rugia’s hand began to grow tired from working on the silver flowers for the dress that lay before him. He couldn’t continue sewing, he had to put the needle down to rest a few minutes. He flexed his hand to loosen his tightened, cramped muscles. He laid back in his chair and just looked at the ceiling. He felt like sleeping, and almost did if Rarity hadn’t came back from getting more materials from her back closet.

“Are you sleeping on the job!?” Rarity demanded.

“I’m about to.” Rugia replied, his frustration rising.

“Rugia,” Rarity said, “you will have plenty of time to sleep when you finish Fancy Pants’ order. It looks like your about finished.”

“Yeah, great Rarity,” Rugia huffed in exaggeration as he waved his arms over his head. “I’m so excited about the fact I’ll get to sleep tomorrow night!”

“Oh come now Rugia,” Rarity said rolling her eyes it won’t take you that long to finish it.”

“Have you seen this thing’s design Rarity!?” Rugia exclaimed, a little unhappier with her than he already was. “If I keep working on this thing I won’t have it finished until three in the morning! It wouldn’t do me any good to go home and get any rest because you want me to be in here at four in the morning! I am exhausted Rarity, need a break from this dress. I want to go home and get some time with my wife before I go to bed. The only thing I get to say to her after I get off work is ‘good night’ and that’s it.”

“Rugia I promise,” Rarity said with a smile, “I’ll give you the day off tomorrow to spend time with Candace.”

“Oh like I haven’t heard that lie before!” Rugia shouted.

“What ever do you mean darling?” Rarity asked confused.

“You did this nine times!” he growled, “How can you forget? Every time you have said you would give me a break, you turn around and put me on another large project!”

“I really mean it this time Rugia.” Rarity retaliated.

“No Rarity, you don’t.” Rugia said bluntly to Rarity. “I can’t keep doing this Rarity. I need a break. I need some time with Candace, she leaves for a business trip tomorrow and won’t be back until Friday. I need to spend time with her tonight.”

“Can you at least work on it until eight thirty?” Rarity asked sincerely.

“I am exhausted Rarity,” Rugia snapped, “I haven’t had a night off in two months. I would appreciate it if you would let me go home tonight.”

“Why are you choosing to be lazy on one of the biggest projects for us Rugia?” Rarity said impatiently.

Rugia was now very angry with Rarity. Her obsession with her new found fame had gone too far. Out of anger, Rugia slammed his fist on the table startling Rarity.

“How dare you call me lazy when all you have done is hand me the materials for this dress!” Rugia shouted at her. “And another thing, you don’t even work on these important projects anymore! You just hand them to me and let me do all the work while you work on the small stuff! If I would have known I was working for a slave driver, I would have quit before it got out of hand!”

“Rugia I… I didn’t know I was over working you.” Rarity said.

“Of course you didn’t,” Rugia shouted, “YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO ASK!”

“Rugia please don’t yell,” Rarity said, “why didn’t you say something?”

“I TRIED TO!” he shouted louder this time, “BUT THE ONLY RESPONSE I GOT EVERY TIME WAS ‘I’m sorry Rugia I can’t talk right know, I’M BUSY!’ You were so busy letting the fame of your store get to your head, you didn’t pay attention to anything else. I’m going home to my wife, and I don’t want to hear any more out of you.”

Rugia turned to his desk and began packing his tools into his bag. Rarity had also grown flustered with Rugia, and was letting he frustration get to her as well.

“I can’t believe Candace married such an insensitive monster.” Rarity huffed.

Rugia’s anger shot up, and the next thing he knew he had thrown the tape measure in his hand directly at Rarity. The tape measure had smacked her in the head above her right eye. Rarity gasped and stumbled back, holding a hoof to her head. Rugia’s heart wanted to apologize to her but his mind came up with something else.

“I’m done!” he shouted, “I’M DONE BEING FRIENDS WITH THE LIKES OF SOME WORTHLESS, UGLY, OLD MULE! Starting tomorrow, you are just my co-worker and nothing more.”

Rugia lifted his bag from his desk and left Rarity all alone.

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“Rainbow,” Rugia said glumly, “I feel horrible about the way I treated Rarity. Rarity is my friend, and I threw a tape measure at her head.”

“It was a lot worse than what you said at my house.” Rainbow said looking at the mattress they were both sitting on, “So what are you going to do?”

“When I get back to Ponyville on Friday,” Rugia said laying back on the mattress, “I won’t waste any time setting things right with Rarity. But until that time comes, lets get some sleep and start enjoying our vacation.”

Rugia pulled the covers up over them both and slowly he and Dash drifted to sleep.