To Find a Rainbow

“Okay… okay… Let’s see here. I’ve got my uniform, flight goggles, train ticket…”

And there she went freaking out again. I had just gotten her calmed down ten minutes ago.

“…bits for the trip, the Squirt’s train ticket…” she kept rambling.

“Rainbow,” I said.

“You have your ticket, right?!” she blurted, looking up at me in a panic.

“Yes, Rainbow. Now would you please–”

“Oh, good!” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay… Tank’s with Fluttershy… I think I have everything then. Wait! Did Scootaloo make sure her dad knew where she was going to be this weekend?! If she didn’t tell him we’re taking her to Cloudsdale, he might think we foalnapped her!”

“Rainbow!” I shouted, grabbing her cheeks and forcing her to look at me. Her eyes widened as she went silent. “Yes. He knows where she’s going to be. Yes, you have everything packed. We’ve been over it all three times now. Everything’s going to be fine. You’re going to go be awesome and show the Wonderbolts everything you can do and they’re going to be blown away that they haven’t recruited you before now.”

She took a long, deep breath to steady herself. “You’re right. I just have to go be myself. They’ll never know what hit ‘em. I can do this!” She took one more deep breath before smiling. “Okay… Thanks, Will.”

“Anytime, dork,” I said, releasing her face and tousling her mane. She scowled playfully as she fixed it back into its windswept state. Together, we leaned back against the fence surrounding the Ponyville schoolyard.

The schoolhouse in Ponyville is one of those one-room type affairs, where foals of different ages all learned together or something. It was a warm cherry-red, welcoming and cozy in appearance along with its pitched roof and decorated gables. A small bell tower perched upon its top while a flagpole stood proud in the yard.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around how such a school worked. I grew up with twenty or more students in a single class and I couldn’t imagine one teacher trying to wrangle high schoolers alongside elementary kids. But however they did things it apparently worked since that’s how they’ve been doing it for generations.

Rainbow and I had been waiting for nearly ten minutes because somepony had been so anxious to make sure everything was together that she’d dragged us out of my house half an hour earlier than we should have. I’d talked her into swinging by Sugarcube Corner for some muffins, of which we’d saved a few for Scoots, but even that had still left us standing around outside the school.

Thankfully for Rainbow’s nerves we didn’t have to wait much longer. The front door burst open and a sea of foals surged out. Several of them looked to be about Scoots’s age though just as many were noticeably younger, too. I only vaguely recognized some of them from about town, until three very familiar young mares came out towards the end.

Scoots was flanked on either side by her two other mares about her age. I knew one of them as Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s little sister. She was white-coated as well, though her curly-bob of a mane was swirled with pastel purple and pink, the latter of which matched the heart-shaped musical note of her cutie mark.

The other mare was one I knew far less. I think I’d seen her the one time I’d tried to help out on Applejack’s farm, leading me to believe they were sisters as well. She was a butter-yellow earth pony with a five-petal apple blossom for a cutie mark. Like Applejack, her mane was long and pulled into a loose ponytail, though hers was apple-red and tied with a pink bow at the end.

They were talking about something amongst themselves until Scoots spotted us and she lit up in excitement. She nudged her friends before hurriedly bounding over and skidding to a stop before us.

“Hey, Will! Hey, Rainbow!” she said. She turned to look at her friends who were both coming over at a more normal pace. “AB, Sweetie, this is Will.”

“Nice ta meet’cha!” Apple Bloom said, offering a hoof. As I returned the bump, I thought her accent was a dead ringer for her siblings’, if perhaps a bit less pronounced.

“We’ve already met. Nice to see you again, Will,” Sweetie said. She delicately offered a hoof, which I gently shook instead. She was a lady like her big sister, after all. At least, that’s what she tells me. I wasn’t quite sure I believed her yet.

Another round of hellos was exchanged to Rainbow before Scoots started bouncing in place. “Are we ready to go?! I can’t wait to see Cloudsdale again!”

“We’ve noticed,” Apple Bloom said dully. “It’s all you’ve talked about for the last month.”

“Well, not all she’s talked about…” Sweetie Belle said, leaning towards Apple Bloom and smiling knowingly.

Apple Bloom laughed like it was some sort of in-joke between them. “Heh, ain’t that the truth.”

“What are you girls talking about?” Scoots asked, glancing nervously between the two. “What have I been talking about?”

“Not exactly a something…” Apple Bloom said under her breath.

“Don’t you worry about it, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle cooed, sidling up to Scoots and nuzzling her. “We just want to tease you a little bit before you go and have fun without us all weekend.”

“Wait,” Rainbow cut in, “I thought Rarity and AJ said you were both coming up with them on Saturday?”

“We are,” Sweetie Belle said. “But we’ll have to come back right after the auditions with everypony else. Rarity says she needs my help with some orders.”

“And Ah have chores,” Apple Bloom said.

“So Scootaloo’s going to get to see the city without us! But that’s okay,” Sweetie Belle said. She turned back to Scootaloo and smiled. “You just worry about having fun with Rainbow Dash… and Will.”

The way she’d said my name left me feeling like the butt of a joke I didn’t get. Rainbow and Scoots looked as confused as I felt, though the latter wore a small blush as well. Undaunted, Sweetie Belle strolled away from her, letting her tail drag along Scoots’s side before stopping next to Apple Bloom and leaning against her. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes but didn’t pull away.

“Uh… yeah, I will, Sweetie. Thanks…” Scoots mumbled.

“Anytime!” she chirped, giving a bright, toothy smile. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Scoots!” She turned to leave with Apple Bloom soon following in her wake.

“See ya later, Scoots!” Apple Bloom called back.

“That was… different,” I said. I’d never seen Sweetie Belle act quite like that. Normally she was like a less uptight version of her sister. Kind, caring and classy, yet reserved a somewhat more respective of personal boundaries than most ponies. “What was up with Sweetie Belle?”

“Huh…?” Scoots asked blankly before clearing her head with a shake. “Oh, she’s always being touchy-feely like that around me and AB. Spike, too, of course. It’s just how she is. She normally doesn’t do stuff like that with ponies she doesn’t know very well, though, so you probably wouldn’t have seen her like that.”

Well, if she said so I guessed I could take her word for it. She was right, at least; I didn’t know Sweetie Belle very well, so that’s fair enough. Everyone acts a little different with their friends than with strangers.

Still, something about the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. Like all along she knew something I hadn’t. I didn’t get long to think about it, however, as Rainbow soon reminded us that we had somewhere to be and hurried us along to the station.

Ponyville’s train station was a small affair with only a single platform. It usually only saw freighters passing through from Baltimare or Manehattan in the east to Las Pegasus on the west or vice versa since Ponvyille was conveniently in the center of Equestria. Passenger trains were much less frequent, so it was lucky one was coming through today that we could take, otherwise getting me up in the clouds would have been significantly more difficult.

It dawned on me that I had no idea how we were actually going to get to Cloudsdale. I knew we were taking a train, but I couldn’t see one going up into the clouds. Unless the rails were made of clouds, but then how did the train stay on them? Was it enchanted like the necklace Prin¬– er… Twilight had given me? And that just brought back another latent worry I had.

The idea of entrusting my safety to a single necklace, even knowing how powerful of unicorn Twilight was, terrifying. One little scrap of silver and crystal would be the only thing preventing me from plummeting to a swift and brief reunion with the ground. But she had assured me that it would last for no less than a week, and as long as I wore it I could walk on the clouds as well as any pegasus. Rainbow promised too that many places in Cloudsdale were permanently enchanted as well, specifically to help non-pegasi tourists get around but it did little to make me feel better.

In just a few short hours, I would be standing on clouds. Pure water vapor.

I was roughly somewhere between exhilaration of being the first human to ever do something and pissing my pants in fear.

But that was neither here nor there as I was going anyway. No force on earth… or Equestria, I suppose, could keep me from seeing a city in the sky. And so I decided to focus on more practical things as Rainbow led us to a bench we could sit on while we waited.

“So Rainbow, I was wondering,” I started as I sat down and wheeled my suitcase in front of me. “How exactly are we getting up to Cloudsdale? I can’t see an entire train going up into the sky.”

The ludicrous image at least got her to smile through her jitters. “Nah, the train will stop at a station under the city. There’s a shuttle service that can carry ground-bounders up. Squirt and I took it the first time I brought her there.”

“They’re pretty cool!” Scoots said excitedly. “They have these big roofless carriages that they just fly straight up to the lower level of the city. And on the way up, there are all these rainbow falls spilling off the clouds, and sometimes they’ll fly through them if you ask nicely! Do you think they will this time, Rainbow Dash?”

“Will better hope they don’t, unless he wants all of his clothes dyed!” Rainbow sniggered. The idea of all my clothes getting tie-dyed made me dearly wish I’d packed a coat. Or a poncho.

I need a poncho. For some reason that strikes me as a good thing to own if I plan to continue spending significant amounts of time with Rainbow. The likelihood of her following me around with a raincloud was too high to not have one.

We continued chatting about this and that until our train finally arrived. Then, once the conductor starting calling the ‘all aboard,’ we got on and found ourselves an empty compartment.

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. Rainbow mostly spent her time staring out the window, all the while fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat, leaving Scoots and I to talk amongst ourselves to pass the time. The trip only took about an hour and a half before we were pulling into the Cloudsdale Shuttle Station, the conductor called it.

The station wasn’t a huge affair. After getting off the platform, we were facing a large warehouse with a smaller office-looking building to the side. Other than that, there was nothing to see for miles around besides the terraced city of Canterlot on the side of its mountain to the east. It was the closest I’d been back to it since I’d left there all that while ago.

Cloudsdale was right above us, though from the ground it didn’t look like much. Just one gargantuan white cloud that seemed to take up the entire sky. But like Scoots had said, rainbows were spilling off the sides or in gaps of the cloud like waterfalls all over the place. They dissipated long before they reached us on the ground, but it made for a beautiful sight nonetheless. Each one looked like something you could actually reach out and touch, however crazy that sounds. Like they were made of liquid instead of light.

A tugging on my pants leg brought me back to reality, only for me to see Rainbow halfway to the office building. Scoots relinquished her grip on me and together we followed her inside.

Inside was a moderately well-furnished office. The walls were covered with the sort of bland beige wallpaper you see in such professional environments that don’t want to accidently offend someone by being interesting, though much of it was hidden behind several filing cabinets, some of which were so stuffed that papers were sticking out between the gaps in the drawers. A few plastic potted plants sat on top, complimenting the bland landscape painting of a lakeside above them.

Two large desks took up the majority of the floor space, both laden with a myriad of papers and folders to the point of being a disaster zone, though only one of which was occupied. Its resident was a middle-aged pearl-pink pegasus mare. Her indigo and muted green mane was done up in a sloppy bun, held in place by a single chopstick as she looked up at us over the top of her horn-rimmed glasses. To my surprise, she gave little more than a raised eyebrow at me.

“Good afternoon,” she drawled. “Shuttle for three? Do you have your pass?”

“Oh, yeah!” Rainbow said, digging through her saddlebags until she found it and gave it over. The mare glanced it over before making a note in a ledger on her desk and passed it back.

“Alright, we’ll have one ready for you in just a moment. Someone will meet you outside.” No sooner had she finished than her attention was already back to her ledger. Rainbow hesitated a moment before shrugging and leading us back outside.

“She was kinda rude,” Scoots said once the door had closed behind us.

“I would be too if all I did was paperwork all day,” Rainbow said, shuddering.

I was about to disagree, since that didn’t seem like the worst job in the world to me, but found myself unable to do so. Only a few years back, I did a lot of customer service work to help pay the bills during college, much of which was simply answering the phone and doing paperwork. And it hadn’t been that bad. At least, for customer service. But now, I don’t know if I could do it anymore. I’d gotten used to working outside every day, and while it was tiring most of the time… okay, all the time, it was still nice to feel the sun and wind on my face while I worked.

What was I going to do when I went home?

…

Okay, I couldn’t think about that.

I let myself be distracted by Scoots humming some song I couldn’t recognize until the sound of metal grating together came from behind us. We turned to see one of the large garage doors on the warehouse raise up, revealing what must have been the shuttle.

Like Scoots had said, it looked like a large roofless carriage with four horizontal posts jutting out where there should have been wheels. It was made of wood, by the looks of it, and painted a dark blue with gold trimming. To each post, a pegasus was strapped in place with a leather harness that wrapped about their chest and torsos, carefully weaving around their wings to leave them unhindered. They trotted forward in unison, drawing along the carriage as though it weighed no more than a feather.

They stopped before us, and the pegasus closest to us, a mare, nodded. She, along with the others, cast a wary gaze my way, but said nothing. That was a little closer to the reaction I’d been expecting. The citizens of Ponyville may be used to seeing me around, but nopony else in Equestria was. I could only imagine the scene I might make in Cloudsdale.

I hoped I wouldn’t embarrass Rainbow or Scoots.

Undaunted or unnoticing of the mare’s hesitation, Rainbow led us to the carriage’s side, pulling open a door to allow herself easier access inside. The entire thing barely came up above my waist, so getting inside wasn’t difficult.

Unfortunately, the seats inside weren’t designed to fit someone my size, and I ended up having to sit on the floor. At least the seats were cushioned, and so I could lean against them comfortably. Even from where I was, I could just see over the side if I sat up straight.

With a sudden start that made the entire carriage shudder and made me wish that I had a seatbelt, the pegasi took off, pulling us straight up into the air. Scoots leaned over the side like a dog out a car window, anxiously looking across the slowly falling world. Watching the ground get smaller and smaller frighteningly fast made me feel rather faint, making me decide to keep my eyes fixed on the inside of the carriage. Unconsciously, I started fingering the necklace under my shirt.

As we neared the cloud layer, a pair of hooves suddenly wrapped across my eyes, throwing the world into darkness.

“Come on,” Rainbow said as I started to fight her off, causing me to hold up. “It has to be a surprise. You’re going to love it, I promise!”

“She did it to me, too, the first time I came up,” Scoots said. “It’ll be worth it.”

Against my better judgment, I decided to trust the two. After only a few more moments, I felt the carriage’s momentum slow until we finally came to a stop. Rainbow then spun me around until I was facing the right direction for what she wanted me to see.

“Alright… now,” she said, removing her hooves from my face.

Before me, Canterlot’s mountain stood monolithic, piercing the sky on the horizon. Canterlot itself looked like a model, a child’s plaything left out after bedtime. I could see for miles and miles, Ponyville and the surrounding towns barely more than mottled dots of color on endless plains of green. Rivers cut across the land like blue ribbons on velvet. Even the smattering of other clouds below me were barely more than cotton balls in my eyes. The very majesty threatened to steal my breath away.

It would have been the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, had it not made me so dizzy.

I clenched my eyes and rubbed my temples, willing the nausea in my stomach to settle. I had never been particularly afraid of heights growing up, and yet now I couldn’t shake the feeling I was about to throw up. Wouldn’t that just be the way to commemorate this event?

I wonder if Neil Armstrong felt like this?

“Hey, you okay?” Scoots asked, propping her forehooves up on my lap.

“I’m not sure clouds agree with me,” I choked out.

“How ‘bout this?” Rainbow asked, turning my head again. It did little to help my stomach, but what she wanted me to look at actually did.

She had turned me to look away from the cloud edge and towards the city proper. It was… amazing. Buildings, taller than any I had seen anywhere else, even in Canterlot, lined the narrow streets as far as the eye could see. Each floor of them had their own balcony, and many had signs or lights around the outside to differentiate it from everything around them.

The most remarkable thing was that everything that should have been made of metal or concrete was just cloud. Puffy, white and sometimes blue clouds everywhere.

The city was broken up into floating islands, terraced around and over each other in a giant cluster that I could only see a small portion of from where we stood. Little colored dots flitted to and fro between level and building and terrace in a swarm of activity that reminded me of a beehive with its simple complexity.

Cloudsdale was huge. Far bigger than I was used to, even back on earth. And I felt remarkably small.

“I think he likes it, Rainbow Dash,” Scoots said smugly.

“Totally,” Rainbow replied, and I heard the sound of hooves bumping.

Nearby, someone cleared their throat. We all turned to look at the mare attached to the front of the carriage.

“I’m sorry, but we need to be getting back to the ground,” she said.

Feeling remarkably embarrassed at how much of a tourist I must have looked like, I stood on shaky legs and let Rainbow and Scoots climb out first. They settled down on the cloud below like it was nothing, but I couldn’t help but hesitate. I still trusted Twilight’s enchanted necklace to work, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still weirded out.

Steeling myself, I closed my eyes and stepped out into the air. I suffered a half-second of panic until my foot collided quite solidly with something that held my weight easily. Stepping the rest of the way out, I opened my eyes to find myself successfully standing on the clouds.

I hadn’t known going into it what it would feel like. Clouds don’t have a solid form, so would they be as soft and squishy as a water bed? Or would it be like standing on a cotton ball? Somewhat giving, but firmer than you’d imagine just by looking at it?

It turned out to be a lot like standing on a mattress. It had some give; enough that my shoes sunk an inch or so into it, but it was firm enough that I felt walking on it wouldn’t be difficult in the slightest. In fact, I bounced my weight back and forth between my feet to test it. It was odd, but not to the point it would make getting around hard.

While I was getting acquainted with the new floor, Rainbow dragged my suitcase out of the carriage and brought it over to me. I took the handle and, hesitantly, took a step forward. When I didn’t immediately plummet through the floor, my overwhelming anxiety began to calm somewhat.

“Yo, Will! You coming or not?” Rainbow called. She and Scoots had both taken to the air and were hovering several feet ahead of me. Desperately forcing myself to not think about falling to my death, I put one foot in front of the other and followed after them.

Rainbow and Scoots led me down one ‘street,’ for lack of better word, after another. In truth, they weren’t so much streets as they were small gaps between buildings. Each one was about as wide as a two-lane highway would have been back home, though there were no carts or wagons or any such thing moving along them. In fact, we seemed to be the only people taking the ground paths. The roads were practically deserted, but that’s only because everypony was flying around over our heads.

The lower levels of the buildings didn’t even seem to have anything to attract people inside. There were no signs, no billboards, almost nothing to signify what building had what inside. Instead, all that seemed to be located three to four stories above us, and I had to crane my neck to see any of it.

No wonder there were so few non-pegasi living here. This city was not designed with them in mind. I wondered if a non-flyer even could live comfortably up here.

I just had to dig my camera out of my suitcase as we made our way through the city. There were just so many sights that I couldn’t possibly pass up! The swirling mass of colors in the city’s populace as everypony made their way about their days, the tower cloud skyscrapers, the occasional river of rainbows…

Yeah, rivers of rainbows! They just flow through grooves in the town like water! I have no idea why, they just do! It’s amazing!

There was even one point where we had to cross between terraces. Rainbow explained we were in the business district, and the next level up was the residential district where her parents lived. Just as I wondered how we were going to get up there, we turned onto another block and a giant cloud bridge came into view.

It looked like an old stone bridge, the sort you’d see out in rural Europe or something. Real old-timey thing. Except, you know, it was made of fluffy white clouds and curved up about twenty feet to a higher terrace of the city. Even the hand railings as we made our way up were barely solid and wisps burst away as I ran my hands along them.

As we made our way into the residential district, there was a marked change in the architecture of the city. Whereas everything had been towering and blocky, full of hard edges and straight lines, here they couldn’t be more different. The buildings, which were all obviously houses, were stacked maybe two or three high at most with soft lines, swooping curves and a lot more flair and decoration. Circular windows, asymmetric designs, and Corinthian columns were everywhere. As well, almost every residence had a yard, and many had the usual upper-middle class suburban trappings, like children’s toys, basketball hoops or swing sets. It was exactly like any suburb I had seen on Earth.

Except, a little more pretentious. I mean, Corinthian columns, really?

After about twenty minutes of walking through various neighborhoods, Rainbow turned into the yard of a particular two story home. In the yard was what looked like a several year old swing set with two foals scampering about on and around it. They looked a little younger than the Cake’s twins, so I figured they must have been around five or six at most. One, a dark blue filly, gasped when she saw us –or more specifically, me– and her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. The other, a pale pink colt, looked up at the noise, and though a look of abject fear came over him, he moved to stand in between us and the filly. Though a part of me was angry that they just assumed I was something to be afraid of, the bigger part of me couldn’t blame them. They were just kids, and I was a big weird thing they’d never seen before. I just felt bad that I scared them.

In an effort to not make things worse, I tried to pay them no heed, but Rainbow didn’t seem to think the same. She scowled darkly at them, causing them both to jump and flee for the house. Even as they slammed the door behind them, Rainbow still had a nasty glare on her face and she huffed as she stalked towards the side of the house. I managed to catch Scoots’s eye as we made to follow, and she offered me a sad smile.

“Rainbow Dash, that wasn’t very nice,” she said, shaking her head.

“They weren’t very nice!” Rainbow barked back.

“Rainbow, they were just little foals,” I said diplomatically. “Is that something you want to be? Someone who scares little kids that don’t know any better?”

She whirled around to face me, her ears drooping. She looked more cowed than I’d intended, but at least my point seemed to have been made. “That’s…!” She sighed. “You’re right. That was a jerk thing to do. It just pisses me off when ponies treat you different just because of how you look.”

I still didn’t think it justified her response to them, but I wasn’t going to push the issue anymore and upset her further. Instead, I stayed quiet as she took us around the corner, where what looked like a fire escape led up to the second story. She and Scoots flew straight to the top, leaving me to climb the stairs on my own. While doing so, it dawned on me that it wasn’t a fire escape, it was just a way to get to the second level without flying, likely for non-pegasi visitors or for foals that hadn’t learned to fly yet. I also realized that with two different homes stacked on top of each other, they both had to share one yard. I don’t know if I’d be okay with doing that. At least they didn’t have to decide who would mow the lawn, I guess.

The stairs led onto what was basically an elevated porch. I followed it around to the front where Rainbow and Scoots were waiting before the door. Rainbow didn’t hesitate a moment before throwing it open and heading inside with Scoots right behind her.

I followed them both into a comfortable-looking living room. Everything was still constructed of clouds in shades of white and blue, but that was more than compensated for with a myriad of decorations around the room bringing it color. Some fake fruit in a bowl on the coffee table, a dark green couch –seemingly made of wood and upholstery like any other– and a number of what looked like sports pennant flags pinned to the walls.

The most notable feature of the room, though, was directly across from the door, almost like it was specifically placed there to be the first thing you saw when you walked in. A curio cabinet almost as tall as myself housed a number of trophies, medals, plaques and photographs, very little of which I could make out from so far away. Each shelf had a small lightbulb, providing illumination to the treasures stored within.

As Rainbow and Scoots shucked off their saddlebags by the couch, I took a step closer to the cabinet to get a better look. The vast majority of the awards inside seemed to be Wonderbolts related; a trophy for first place at the Wonderbolts Derby here, a medal for Exemplary Conduct from the Wonderbolts Academy there, all of which were given to somepony named Firefly. Several were accompanied by photographs of a young mare I guessed was around Rainbow’s age, though she had a vivid pink coat and a light blue mane.

Several shelves in the middle, however, were devoted to Rainbow instead. There was a hoofball trophy from the Cloudsdale Elementary Whirlwinds, a 1st place medal for the Summer Flight Camp Sprint along with a few others. Along with them were several pictures of a young Rainbow, whose tiny, scrawny form looked even spunkier than she did now. She wore a huge, toothy grin in each one, and I couldn’t get over how cute she was! With her spiky, unbrushed mane and big rose-colored eyes. I could just hear the squeak of her voice cracking with every other excited word.

Most interestingly, however, were a number of framed newspaper articles along with Rainbow’s things. I recognized a few of them as reports of some of the adventures they’d gone on, like the Nightmare Moon incident where they recovered the Elements of Harmony, or the return of the Crystal Empire. There was even one about the Sonic Rainboom she’d performed at Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s wedding.

The whole thing was like a memorial to the two mares and everything they’d accomplished over the years.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” a voice said to my left.

In the doorway leading into a hall stood a stallion that could only be Rainbow’s dad. They had the exact same rainbow-patterned mane even if his was shorter and better groomed, and even their coat color was similar. His was only a few shades more purple than Rainbow’s blue.

Only their eyes were different. Whereas Rainbow’s were sharp and rose-colored, his were rounder and yellow-gold. He also had a number of grey hairs finding their way into his mane and tail, and even a few around his chin. It did little to mar his fairly good looks; if anything, it just made him look more distinguished.

His resemblance to Rainbow was really uncanny. It might have weirded me out had he not had this… presence about him. There was a kindness in his eyes that just put you at ease. It’s that same feeling you get around your mom; that no matter what happens, you just feel like you’re going to be okay.

“Dad!” Rainbow cheered, darting over to pull her father into a bone-crushing hug.

“Hey, Dashie. It’s good to see you!” he said. Then he threw one of his forelegs wide. “And why isn’t my other daughter over here? C’mon, Scootaloo; join us!”

Scoots rolled her eyes but grinned. “Sure thing, pops.”

I began to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable, standing awkwardly aside while they hugged. Like I was intruding on a family moment and not at all because I was standing before the father of the woman I was sleeping with, not to mention was kind of-sort of-maybe wanting a relationship with. No, that wasn’t a factor at all.

The jolt that went through my stomach when they broke apart and he turned his attention to me did little to help my point. But he smiled disarmingly and offered a hoof which I shook.

“You must be the friend Dashie mentioned in her letter. The name’s Prism Bolt. Always a pleasure to meet one of her friends!” he said.

“Yeah, my name’s Will. It’s nice to meet you, too,” I said. Be polite and act normal, I thought. “I appreciate you letting me stay this weekend, Mr. Bolt.”

He snorted and waved a hoof at me. “Please, no need for that! Any friend of Dashie’s is always welcome here. And just Prism will be fine.”

At least he seemed fairly approachable. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, provided her mom was the same. “Sure thing, Prism.”

“Great!” he said, grinning. “Well, make yourselves at home. I’ll have some dinner ready soon. No doubt these two scraps of skin and bones are about starving!”

“You know it, Dad!” Rainbow said.

“It has been too long since I’ve had some of your cooking, Pops. My dad has nothing on you,” Scoots said.

“Well, Firefly was never any use in the kitchen, bless her. And Dashie was quite the fussy eater when she was younger, so I had to learn quite a bit over the years,” he said, throwing a smug glance at Rainbow, who looked away with a pout on her face.

“Was not,” she grumbled.

“Whatever you say, dear,” he said, turning back towards the hall. “Why don’t you all take your things up to Dashie’s room and I’ll see what I can do to move supper along?”

“Sounds good!” Rainbow said. She took to the air and followed her dad to the hall. Whereas he turned right into a kitchen, she took us left and down to the end of the hall where there was a door on either side. She opened the one on the left and led us inside.

Her room was… a teenager’s room through and through. Posters plastered every inch of the walls, the vast majority of which were of course of the Wonderbolts, though there were a number of rock bands as well. There were also some sports team memorabilia, including pennants and signed photographs, of the Cloudsdale Hurricanes, what looked to be a baseball team.

There were a couple of shelves on one wall that held a number of odds and ends, mostly Wonderbolt figurines, cds, and what looked like sports trading cards.

Mixed in with all that were several photographs of a young Rainbow, with all her fiery attitude in display on each. In many of them she was accompanied by others, like her dad or that pink mare I’d seen in the curio cabinet up front, whom I assumed must have been her mom. In most of them, though, she was with friends, like Fluttershy or filly I recognized as the mailmare in Ponyville. I didn’t know her name, but the slightly crossed golden eyes were unmistakable. I didn’t even know she and Rainbow were friends.

There was also a young griffin chick in several others. I’d heard a little about Gilda, an ex-friend that Rainbow used to be particularly close to. Before she’d moved to Ponyville and met Twilight and became an Element of Harmony, Gilda had been her closest friend in the world. But then they’d had some sort of falling out, the specifics of which Rainbow had never really gone into and they broke things off. The most she’d ever said was that Gilda had insulted her new friends and refused to make amends.

Rainbow didn’t seem to regret losing Gilda as a friend, but the fact that she still had all those pictures hung up made me wonder. Then again, she could have just never come back to remove them.

“So, I was thinking,” Rainbow said, tossing her saddlebags onto the bed. Soon, Scoots’s joined hers. “Squirt, would you mind joining me on the couch so Will can have the bed? I don’t think it’s long enough for him to stretch out on.”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Now, wait a second,” I said. Sure, the couch might have been a bit small, but I wasn’t about to make them both sleep on it. “It makes more sense for one person to take the couch. I’ll be fine out there.”

“Fine. This is my house so I say you get the bed,” Rainbow said.

“Technically it’s your parents’ house, so unless they say otherwise, I’ll sleep where I want! I’ll take the couch!”

“Ugh, will you two grow up?” Scoots interrupted. We both turned to see her staring at us all sardonic-like. “We’ll share the bed. There’s more than enough room for all three of us.”

Rainbow and I exchanged a brief glance. Likely she was thinking the same thing I was. Us crashing on the couch together was one thing, but a bed was something else entirely. It implied different things.

Wait, was I over-thinking? It was just sleeping next to each other. Nothing was going to happen.

I wanted to slap myself; I never used to worry like this before.

“You’d be okay with that?” Rainbow asked Scoots.

“Sure, why not?” Scoots asked in return. “We sleep together on Will’s couch all the time.”

I really wished she hadn’t worded it like that, even if it was true. It brought to mind images of Rainbow and Scoots… together which, given my rather confused feelings at the moment, was not something I needed to be thinking about.

“Eh, fair enough,” Rainbow said. “That okay with you, too, Will?”

Sleeping in a bed next to each other was functionally the same as doing so on a couch, I suppose. And they both seemed fine with it, so…

“Fine with me,” I said.

“Cool. Now that that’s settled, let’s go hurry Dad along! I’m starving!” Rainbow said, licking her lips. With one flap of her wings, she darted out the door fast enough to leave a rainbow trail in her wake. Used to such occurrences, Scoots and I both laughed and followed her.

In the kitchen, Prism was standing before the oven, peering inside through the glass window on the front while Rainbow hovered in the air over him. The smell of onion and garlic hung heavy in the air mixed with several other smells that I couldn’t quite identify to create a delicious aroma that set my mouth to watering.

“Yes, Dashie, I’m making your favorite,” Prism said teasingly, rolling his eyes at her.

“Yes!” she cheered, pumping a hoof in the air. “I’ll make the table!”

Scoots and I fell in beside her, setting plates and utensils out as she brought them over.

“Should we set an extra place for Mom? Is she here?” Scoots asked.

“Would you?” Prism asked. “She’s coming home early tonight, so she should be here before too long.”

Once we had everything set up Rainbow, Scoots and I all sat down at their small table and soon enough, a timer was going off signaling food was done. Prism opened the oven and reached inside with a sort of oven mitt meant to be held in the mouth and pulled out a simmering pan of what looked like whole tomatoes. The amazing smell only got stronger as he sat it down in the middle of the table.

“Ever had yemista, Will?” he asked.

“Can’t say I have. Smell’s fantastic, though! What’s in it?” I asked.

“Why thank you! The outsides are hollowed-out tomatoes, while the insides are stuffed with rice, onions, garlic, parmesan cheese and chopped pine nuts. Also some parsley and spearmint for flavor. It’s an old family recipe.”

“Passed down from the times of the old pegasi clans, right?” Rainbow asked.

“Sure was! Like I said, it’s an old family recipe,” he said.

“Well, should we wait for Mom?” Scoots asked.

“Oh, no,” Prism said. “She said she would be home early, but there’s no telling when she’ll actually get here. We should eat while it’s hot.”

Dinner, it turns out, is a remarkably informal affair at Rainbow’s house. Everyone just sort of digs in and helps themselves to whatever they want, which is understandable seeing as how Prism’s food was every bit as delicious as it smelled and then some. If they ate like that every day, I’d be eager to fight for my fair share, too. Talk and laughter is abound as they ask about each other’s day and whatever they’ve been up to lately. And despite everyone sitting together at the table, maintaining the best table manners isn’t required. But maybe I should have expected that from the family that raised Rainbow. Loud burps, elbows on the table, fighting over who gets a particular tomato regardless of the fact there’s plenty more; you name it, they do it. Well, Prism mostly sits back and watches in amusement, but even he isn’t completely immune.

Shown when he soundly beat the other two for who could burp the longest, at nearly eight full seconds.

At least I suddenly felt much more at home.

In between bouts of uncouthness, Prism and I talked a little, getting to know one another. I told him a little about working with Carrot Top and Rarity, the latter of whom he already knew, and in return he told me about his work at the Cloudsdale weather factory. In one building, they manufactured all the clouds used throughout all of Equestria. Like Rainbow, he was a manager and spent most of his time coordinating the ponies working under him. Together, they lamented all the paperwork they had to do.

We were probably a little over halfway through our meal when I heard the sound of the front door opening. A mare I recognized from the photographs in the curio cabinet soon joined us in the kitchen, though there were a few differences between how she looked in them and now.

She was noticeably older, though I couldn’t say how old for sure. She wore a dark blue military jacket with a number of badges on the front and a Wonderbolts logo pin on her collar and a white dress shirt underneath. There were slight bags under her eyes that spoke of long-term strain and not missing one night of sleep, and her mane and coat didn’t seem quite as vibrant as they used to. Despite that, her familiar shade of rose-colored eyes burned with a determination and energy that also reminded me of a certain other pegasus.

Her wings were hanging listlessly from her sides as she came in, but once she saw Rainbow some life came back into her.

“Dashie!” she cried, cantering over and pulling her daughter into a hug. Before she pulled away, she gave Rainbow a fierce noogie that had her struggling to get away.

“Aw, Mom! Cut it out!”

“So happy to see you, too, dear,” the mare deadpanned. Smiling again, she repeated the entire gesture to Scoots and kissed Prism before taking the empty seat next to him.

“I’m Firefly, Dashie’s mother,” she said to me as she filled her plate with food. “Nice to finally meet you, William.”

“Oh, well,” I said, somewhat surprised. “Nice to meet you, too, ma’am. I wasn’t aware Rainbow had told you much about me.”

“Oh, she didn’t,” Firefly said, eyes on her plate. “Dashie wouldn’t know how to write and tell her poor old parents what’s going on or how she’s doing if her life depended on it.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Rainbow said, in a tone that reeked of having had that conversation before.

“But then… how do you know me?” I asked.

“Princess Celestia sent out a briefing about you when you first arrived, detailing your name, physical description and the basics of your circumstances,” she stated matter-of-factly.

That was news to me. I wasn’t under the impression my appearance had been announced in any way. Not that I thought she was trying to keep my presence a secret, but I didn’t think she wanted to make a big deal about it.

“I thought Rainbow said you were an instructor at the Academy? Princess Celestia briefed the Wonderbolts?” I asked.

“Well, of course she did! Why wouldn’t she?” Firefly asked, her brow wrinkling in irritation. “She briefed the whole military about you. Why wouldn’t she tell us, too?”

“Mom, he probably doesn’t know the Wonderbolts are part of the military,” Scoots said.

I couldn’t believe that. The way Rainbow had always described them, I thought they were more like a sports team than an army outfit. “I never knew that. But I still wonder, why did the Princess need to tell the whole military about me?”

“Celestia doesn’t think he’s dangerous or something, does she?” Scoots asked indignantly. “Will doesn’t have a dangerous bone in his body!”

Deciding to take that as a compliment instead of an attack to my machismo, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed anyway. The one time I’d talked with Princess Celestia, she’d seemed a completely sincere and magnanimous individual. And it was partially by her grace that I was being allowed to live in Equestria as a citizen instead of a prisoner. I had technically been an illegal alien when I was teleported here, after all. Thankfully my fears were soon eliminated.

“No, of course she doesn’t! Do you think Princess Celestia would allow something she thought was dangerous to live amongst the population freely?” Firefly asked, her pointed tone making Scoots grin apologetically. “She briefed us for his benefit more than anything.”

“I don’t get it. How does that help him?” Rainbow asked. I had to admit, I wasn’t following either.

Firefly sighed. “Imagine this. You’re walking down the street in Ponyville and you see some strange creature you’ve never seen before in town. It’s a lot bigger than you and you have no idea if it’s just an animal or a monster or what have you. What would you do?”

“I’d go get Twilight and have her tell me what it is! Then kick it’s butt if it’s dangerous!” Rainbow barked back confidently.

Firefly dropped her fork mid-bite to rub the bridge of her nose. “And what if you weren’t best friends with a Princess or magical prodigy?”

Rainbow made to say something, likely another boast about her bravery or butt-kicking capabilities, but Scoots cut her off. “You’d call the guard.”

“Exactly,” Firefly said, pointing her fork at Scoots. “And what if the guard didn’t know what the creature was either? They’d have to assume it was dangerous until they could ascertain what it is. And would you want to deal with fully-trained soldiers that think you may be dangerous?” She asked the question to me, specifically.

“Hell, no. I’m scared of Rainbow enough when she gets pissed. I’ll definitely not tangle with the guys with armor, thank you very much.”

Firefly nodded, turning back to her plate. “That’s what I thought. This way, if somepony freaks and calls the guards on you, they at least know about you and won’t jump to conclusions.”

I was fairly blown away. I had always been rather thankful to the Princesses, but it seemed like they were doing even more for me than I had realized. I also felt like quite the selfish prick. I hadn’t even talked to Celestia since I arrived here. Maybe I should send her a letter. Just a little one to say my thanks or something. Spike would probably send it for me.

“Well, that was perhaps a somewhat… heavier topic than I would prefer during our first dinner together,” Prism said. “How was your day, Lightning Bug?”

“Long,” Firefly mumbled through a mouthful of stuffed tomato. “Spitfire had to take off to get things ready for the auditions tomorrow so I had to take over a few of her drills and classes. And I have a mess of paperwork to do before Monday. But that can wait until later. It’s not every day Mommy gets to see her foals! And we have so much to catch up on! How’s school been, dear?” She reached across the table to ruffle Scoots’s mane.

“Pretty good,” Scoots said. “I think I’m actually going to pass Chemistry with something better than a ‘D’ this semester! Apple Bloom’s been giving me and Sweetie a lot of help.”

“We didn’t even have Chemistry in high school when I was your age,” Prism said, shaking his head. “Though I did take it as my college science credit. I’ll admit it came rather naturally to me; science was always my best subject. Too bad it wasn’t the same for my lab partner.”

“Don’t remind me,” Firefly groused.

“You two were lab partners?” I asked.

Prism smiled, leaning over to nuzzle his wife. “That’s how we met. She asked me out once she saw how big my brain was.”

Firefly returned his loving look with a sarcastic smirk. “Oh, don’t flatter yourself. Even back then I thought your intellect left a little to be desired.”

His expression was unaffected by her words, but his tone became deadpan. “Oh, Lightning Butt, you always know how to make a stallion feel special.”

“Get a room, guys; geez!” Rainbow snickered.

A look of deep thought came over Firefly as she tapped her chin. “You know, we haven’t used the bedroom in a while! Good idea, Dashie!”

“What have you been using?” Rainbow asked, eyeing the table hesitantly.

“What haven’t we?” Firefly giggled.

“Too much information!” Scoots shouted, gagging.

After a round of laughter at Scoots’s expense, the conversation soon turned back to more mundane matters, including a recap of a lot of what I’d told Prism earlier. I quickly found that Firefly was a lot like Rainbow, rough and somewhat abrasive on the outside, but actually really caring and laid-back on the inside. By the time everyone had eaten their fill, I couldn’t believe that I was ever intimidated by the idea of meeting them. We stayed sitting around talking for a while, until Firefly noticed the sun had set through the window and stood.

“Well, I’d better get this cleaned up. I want to knock out some work before bed,” she said.

“Here, let me help,” I offered, stacking up my plate with Rainbow’s and Scoots’s before Prism took them from me.

“No, I’ll help. You all must be tired after your trip. Why don’t you have a nice, hot bath? Relax a while!” he said. I made to argue, but he held up a hoof. “I insist!”

“Not one to turn down hospitality, I agreed and excused myself to get some pyjamas –which mostly consisted of a plain t-shirt and boxers– out of my suitcase and headed for the bathroom where I met Scoots.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked. I felt a brief moment of reluctance before remembering that it had gone just fine last time. I gave her my okay and she turned to look at Rainbow, who was looking out the window in the living room. “You coming, too, Rainbow Dash?”

A flick of her ear was the only indication she even heard the invitation for a few seconds. Finally she tore her gaze away and shook her head. “Nah, I think I’m going to go out for a quick night flight. I don’t want to go all day without getting some practice in.”

Scoots’s face fell. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, you two go on ahead. I’ll be back in a bit. Don’t wait up,” she said, and before either of us could say a word, she was out the door. Scoots’s worried eyes followed her forlornly.

“Something’s wrong. You think we should talk to her when she gets back?” she asked.

I frowned in thought. “It’s probably just her nerves again. I’ll talk to her when she gets back.”

“We’ll talk to her,” she corrected. I smiled and ruffled her mane, causing her to growl playfully and nip at my hand.

“Fine, together.”

After that, Scoots triumphantly led the way into a reasonably-sized bathroom. Everything was a bit smaller than the minotaur-sized facilities I had in my cottage, but not too small that it would be unusable. The bathtub in particular would barely fit all three of us if either Rainbow or Scoots sat on my lap, so it was actually pretty lucky Rainbow wasn’t there. I may have been somewhat more adjusted to being naked around Scoots, but I wasn’t ready to have her on my lap like that. I don’t know if I could handle it without things getting… awkward, if you catch my drift.

Speaking of, the bath actually was fairly normal. It was still a little weird being unclothed around Scoots, and there was still a part of me that expected guards to burst in at any moment to arrest me, but it wasn’t as bad as the first time. We took turns washing each other’s hair/mane and tail, though Scoots had to stand on her hindlegs to reach the top of my head, and even then I still had to bow down a little. Getting her tail was the hardest part, since it put my hands and attention far closer to a part of her I wanted to ignore, but even then it was over before I knew it. And if Scoots noticed anything amiss, she didn’t acknowledge it. Hell, by the end, I almost felt like we were just sitting around on my couch shooting the shit.

I even let her help dry me off, though she could only reach my lower legs when I stood up. I returned the favor by wrapping her up in her towel like a burrito and tickling her until she was gasping for breath.

After I’d gotten dressed, we reconvened on the couch, surprised to find that Rainbow was still gone. We bumped into Prism and Firefly on the way, who bid us a good night, leaving us on our own while we waited for Rainbow to return.

It was about half an hour before the door opened and she came inside, the tips of her wings shivering from the cold night air. She stopped in shock when she saw us on the couch.

“I thought I told you not to wait up…” she mumbled.

“We decided not to listen,” Scoots said, flashing a shit-eating grin. Rainbow scoffed in mock exaggeration before trudging over and settling between us. Even with inches between us, I could feel how cold she was and I wrapped my arm around her to help warm her up. On her other side, Scoots moved closer.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said. We sat in silence until her shivers began to subside, at which she let out a great sigh. “Let me guess, you both want to talk about what’s wrong, because you’re worried about me, huh?” she asked mockingly but without any real conviction.

“Are we that obvious?” I asked. She laughed in return.

“As subtle as a lightning bolt to the flank,” she said. She looked down to the couch and began rubbing her hooves across it, brushing the fabric against the grain and back. “It’s just nerves about tomorrow.”

“Anything you want to talk about?” I asked.

“Don’t think there’s much to say,” she said sullenly. “Tomorrow will be the sixth official audition I’ve had. And this is the first time that I don’t feel like I’m ready.”

“Not ready? But you’re as good as you’ve ever been!” Scoots said.

“Yeah and that’s never been good enough!” Rainbow barked. When Scoots flinched away, her expression softened. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired of getting my hopes up and being disappointed. I’m…” Her voice became a little hoarser. “I’m twenty-seven. I only have a few years of my prime left! What if… what if I don’t make it?”

“Rainbow, you have plenty of time left before you’re past your prime! Twenty-seven is not that old!” I said.

“Most Wonderbolts retire or are switched out by the time their thirty-six! Hay, Spitfire’s the longest-running captain in almost a century, and she’s only thirty-six! Even if I get in this time, I may only have a few years on the team.”

“But isn’t a few years on the team better than none?” Scoots asked hopefully, nudging Rainbow’s shoulder with her muzzle.

“If I even get a few years…” Rainbow mumbled.

“Rainbow, you’re going to do great,” I said, giving her a little shake. “You’re going to go out there and show them how amazing you are. And they’re going to love you, I know it!”

“Hay yeah, they are!” Scoots cheered. Rainbow gave a half-smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“And even if they don’t,” I said, scratching behind her ears, “we still think you’re the coolest pony ever, don’t we, Scoots?”

“Yeah!” she agreed. “And there’ll always be more chances! It’s like you always told me when you were teaching me to fly: ‘You can’t give up just because things get hard! You’ll never get what you want if you don’t fight for it!’”

For a moment, Rainbow’s gaze became distant, like she was looking at the world of her memories instead of the one in front of her. I let her have a moment, hoping she could snap herself out of the funk she was in, until she suddenly started speaking, so low I almost couldn’t hear her. And even then, I couldn’t tell if she was talking to us or to herself.

“But what if what you want…” she started before trailing off. She closed her eyes and sighed before giving us a small smile. “No, it doesn’t matter. You guys are right. I know, I just need to keep doing even better than last time.”

“And don’t forget, you’ll have us cheering you on this time!” Scoots added.

“Me, Scoots, all your friends from Ponyville; we all believe in you, Rainbow,” I said, pulling her close and resting my chin on top of her head. “As long as you get out there and do your best, we’ll all be proud of you; no matter how it goes.”

A blue wing snaked its way across my back just as another one pulled Scoots closer, too. Rainbow chuckled weakly. “Yeah, thanks guys.”

“Anytime,” I said. “What are friends for, right?” Scoots nodded her agreement next to me.

“Are you sure you’re okay, though?” she asked. “I kinda wasn’t expecting you to give in that easily.”

“Would you rather me keep arguing?” Rainbow asked. The grin she shot Scoots had regained some of her arrogant charm. “I guess I just don’t see the point. You guys always seem to win in the end.”

“Well, we’re not wrong. You’re gonna do great,” I said. Scoots showed her agreement by offering me a hoofbump.

“Yeah, I’ll do my best,” Rainbow said. With seemingly nothing more to say on the matter, we sat in silence for a few moments before her hesitant voice popped up again. “Hey Will, you mind if I ask you something? While we’re talking about… you know, more serious stuff?”

“Of course you can. What’s on your mind?”

“Uh…” she started, her eyes shifting to Scoots for a second like she was reconsidering. “How’s the whole ‘dating thing’ going? We talked about it that one time and then you never brought it back up. I figure while we’re talking about stuff I’d ask.”

I felt my cheeks heating up. That hadn’t been what I expected her to ask, and I wasn’t sure it was something I really wanted to discuss at the moment. How was I supposed to tell them that I was thinking about dating, and that the ponies I was considering was them? Obviously I couldn’t. Not until I figured things out and knew for sure what I wanted.

“Dating? Dating who?” Scoots asked, pulling away from Rainbow slightly to look at me.

“No one in particular! I’m just getting a little tired of being single. Thought I might start getting out a little and seeing who I could meet, you know?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah! I know what you mean, of course,” she said, waving a hoof nonchalantly. “Sweetie’s always talking about how great it is to have a coltfriend.”

I jumped at the chance to change the subject. “Sweetie Belle has a coltfriend?”

“Yeah, or well, maybe a drakefriend? Whatever, she started seeing Spike a couple weeks ago.”

I hadn’t known that. But it had been a month at least since I’d seen Spike and Sweetie Belle rarely says more than a ‘Hi, how are you?’ to me, so I guess it made sense.

“Guess he got over Rarity, then,” Rainbow mused. Then she elbowed Scoots. “What about you, Squirt? Got your eye on anypony special?”

Scoots blushed a brilliant crimson and made a sound not unlike a dying cat. “N-no! Heheh, no. Most of the colts in my class are pretty lame. Rumble can be pretty cool sometimes, and Featherweight’s pretty nice, but I’m so not interested in them like that.”

“What about fillies? There’s gotta be a least a few nice ones, right? Isn’t Derpy’s filly in your class? Dinky?” Rainbow asked.

Scoots sunk into the couch like she’d rather be anywhere else in the world. “Dinky’s great. She’s nice and all, but I’m not really into other fillies.” Rainbow rubbed her back consolingly with her wing.

“Aw, come on, Squirt. A lot of ponies don’t go both ways. There’s nothing wrong with that. Neither is liking somepony! You can tell us; we won’t make fun of you or anything!” Rainbow said. She paused to blink and then smirked. “Okay, I’m gonna have to tease you a little. Big sister privilege!”

“T-there’s really not!” Scoots said, giggling nervously. “I just haven’t met that right pony yet! Anyway, if you’re doing okay, I think I might head on to bed!” She gave a loud, obviously fake yawn. “Oh, my! Yup, I’m really tired. Night, guys!”

She hopped up from the couch and practically sprinted from the room, Rainbow laughing in her wake. Once she’d settled down, she turned to me.

“Oh yeah, she’s crushing on somepony hard! I wonder who it is?” she asked. I found myself rather interested as well, and though I told myself it was only because Scoots is my friend and I care about what’s going on in her life, I couldn’t help but darkly think I had more selfish intentions in mind.

“Well, whatever. Maybe I can get the dirt from Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle tomorrow,” she said. “Anyway… So, are you ready to talk now?”

“Me?” I asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

She looked at me, unimpressed. “You changed the subject pretty fast there when I asked about dating. I thought maybe you didn’t want to talk about it around the Squirt. Unless you didn’t want to talk about it with me either.” She stood up to put her face inches from mine, scrutinizing me closely. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing! I-it’s nothing,” I said, unable to look her in the eye. I’m awful at lying, and right then I was wishing I wasn’t.

“Come on, Will!” she pleaded. “What was that you were saying last week about ‘only asking because we care and want to help’ yadda yadda yadda?”

“This is different. That was something you were upset about, not something that doesn’t matter.”

“But that just makes it even weirder! If it doesn’t matter, why don’t you want to talk about it?!” she asked indignantly.

I sighed. Once she’d dug in, she wasn’t going to give up without a fight, and that would be almost as bad as just telling her. “Look, Rainbow… It’s not something I really want to talk about yet. Not tonight with your audition tomorrow. It’s nothing big, I just don’t want you worrying about me when you should be concentrating on your flying.”

“Well, now don’t you think that’s all I’m going to be thinking about?” she huffed. “Good plan there! Tell me not to worry, which only means there’s something to worry about!”

I groaned in exasperation. Of course she would insist on talking the one time I don’t want to. And she wasn’t going to let it go. So should I tell her that I kinda-sorta-maybe have feelings for her and risk upsetting her before what could be the most important day of her life or let her think I don’t want to talk to her and risk upsetting her before what could be the most important day of her life? Either way, I was pretty boned. And that’s not even getting into my maybe-maybe not feelings for Scoots. God only knows how that conversation would go.

I’m not a huge fan of lying. My father taught me that the truth will always out, and even when it hurts it’s still preferable to a lie. I wanted to believe in that. I had to believe that if I was just open and honest with Rainbow, hopefully things would work out.

Of course, it didn’t help the feeling that I was standing on the edge of a bottomless pit.

“Alright, fine… I’ve been wondering if this whatever-we-have is really what I want. Like, if I want more than just sex.”

She finally got out of my face, returning to her seat on the couch. The irritated glare in her eye was gone, though she’d replaced it with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Regardless, she remained silent, waiting for me to continue.

“And I don’t know. Kind of? I love spending time with you. You’re funny; you’re passionate and determined. You make life fun and adventurous! I wouldn’t mind… seeing what it would be like going on a date with you. I think we’d make a good couple.”

She turned to look away, but I caught a grimace on her face just before she did. “Oh, Celestia… Will, w-we talked about this…”

“And you don’t want a relationship, I know. That’s a big part of why I didn’t want to say anything. At least not right now while you have your audition to worry about. I thought once we got back to Ponyville, then maybe we could talk things over, but…”

“There’s not much to talk about,” she said with an air of finality. “I can’t do a relationship right now. I’m sorry, but it’s just not… what I want.” Her ears drooped and the tiniest tremor ran through her lip as she finished, but her tone was resolute.

“I know. I understand,” I said. Already the sting of disappointment was settling into my stomach, but I wasn’t going to add that guilt to Rainbow’s burden by showing it. “And that’s fine! Seriously, I’m okay with that. As long as we’re still friends, I’m good.”

Even with her looking away from me, I could still see her roll her eyes. “Of course we’re still friends! I didn’t get to be the Element of Loyalty for nothin’!” She gave a weak chuckle. “But uh… is that really it? You’re cool, just like that? No trying to convince me that we’re perfect for each other or I’m your soulmate or anything? That seemed way too easy.”

Despite how things were going, I found myself laughing. “It’s not like I’m in love with you or anything, Rainbow! I’m a little disappointed, sure, but it’s not the end of the world. This isn’t some cheesy romance novel, after all.”

“Yeah… I guess it’s not,” she said wistfully. “So… that’s it? We’re really cool?”

“Yes. We’re really cool.” To prove my point, I playfully slugged her in the shoulder, which she repaid twofold. Laughing together as I rubbed my shoulder, we enjoyed the quiet of the house side by side. As our mirth slowly died down, so too did the smiles begin to fade from our faces.

“We uh… we’re not good, are we?” she asked quietly.

I cringed, but neither could I lie to her now. “...No.”