Burst Limit (Jumbled Thought)
Rainbow Dash stared at Ghastly Gorge proper. This wasn’t the same one she had taken her pets. No, this was one that nopony went through, not even her. The turns were sharper, the monsters deadlier, and even a slight breeze became a jetstream that was hard for regular pegasi to keep up with, and tested most Wonderbolts. Her wings stiffened against the strong breeze that blew this day.
“You can still back out, Rainbow. Twilight said she could be wrong and it would be a little less than awesome to prove her wrong.” Her wings took her slightly off the ground and away from the fog embraced gorge.
But what if you didn’t need an extra life?
She stopped in midair and tested the wind again. It was stiff, but more than manageable for someone as skilled as herself. She pursed her lips as she climbed through the clouds. It would be dangerous, but since when was she afraid of danger? You’re afraid of others finding out about your screw up though.
Once more she paused. The pause lasted a long time as she drifted upwards and in the end led to her arching backwards and closing her wings.
She quickly descended, and after two seconds of only using gravity, her wings came out and started to add to the force. The beginning of the gorge came quickly into view, and even quicker came the floor and the giant rock spiders that inhabited it. Their mandibles glistened with venom that could kill a pony in a matter of seconds.
Boom!
Rainbow smirked. The easy part was done. The hard part would be causing the second rainboom, and for that she would need the jetstream. The rainbow blur banked left and immediately had to squeeze between the ground and a sudden ledge. Spiders came up with her upbeat, and soon she hit the next curve.
She hugged the wall as her muscles started to protest. She knew this would come, but she still didn’t know if she was even close to the jetstream. Her wings stiffened for a moment and her heart almost stopped. A bit more force caused her wings to come back down. She was far too committed to stop now. She came about the next turn and found a large wall in front of her.
“You bitch!” She banked twice in rapid succession before shooting straight through a hole in the wall. In order to keep her speed, Rainbow spun herself to keep the currents push. This came with her feeling like she was going to throw up when she burst out of the hole. It also meant her sense of distance was off coming out.
Crack
“Augh!” Rainbow spun a bit as her wing spasmed in pain. That’s it, Rainbow, you need to get ou- “Ah!”
What she had not known was that the wall was what caused the jetstream. The breeze would disperse and focus in the holes and then come together just outside of it. Right where Rainbow was. The blue pegasus soon found herself becoming a pony pinball as she crashed against the rocks and walls. She was at the mercy of the storm, and soon found herself letting go.
=====+++++=====
Knock, knock.
Twilight came to the door and opened it. In front of her was Bulk Biceps. “Hello there, Bulk. What brings you here?”
He swallowed hard and opened his mouth. Within was a large amount of rainbow colored hair. Twilight took it and stared at it. “What? Did you bite Rainbow’s tail?”
Bulk swallowed hard and shook his head. “N-no. I-I found it by Ghastly Gorge, just outside of the really bad part. I looked around and asked around, but I couldn’t find Rainbow Dash. That is until…” He grew silent and hung his head down.
Twilight’s heart almost stopped. “Bulk, what are you saying? Where did you find her?”
He bit into his lip before sighing. “I flew over the gorge again. I saw something blue, but a lot of red was around it… and the rock it was against.”
Twilight paled. “No. Rainbow’s survived worse than just a crash.” Her mind quickly got to work, but she knew where Bulk would have been talking about. That jetstream had taken plenty of pegasus lives before. But Rainbow would have been more careful. She isn’t stupid, just headstrong. She knows it is almost certain death.
Unless… Twilight slammed the door in his face and a thud could be heard outside as Bulk got knocked out. Her breaths became very short as she backed away from the door. Thoughts of the Mirror Pool raced through her mind, and she knew what Rainbow had done.
I should have kept my mouth shut. I should have been more stern with Rainbow. I should have known better than to think Rainbow wouldn’t try it. Not when she was that excited. Books started to fling themselves at her and open. Each one got a quick scan, but as more and more of her library became depleted, her heart started to fall and tears blurred her vision. The Mirror Pool was merely a myth, so no book could confirm her theory.
It was only once she had gone through every book in her library that a new knock filled the air. It was slow, and not from the door. All she could do was pray that it wasn’t her friends. She didn’t know how she would take explaining it to them. She found the correct window and opened it.
There, hovering in front of her, was Rainbow Dash, completely uninjured.
The blue pegasus was dragged into the castle and a deep embrace as Twilight babbled. “I… I was so worried. Bulk had just told me about Ghastly Gorge and I had assumed the wor-Why are your hooves tied?”
Rainbow looked down and chuckled. “Well I didn’t want the clone getting away. Now if only I could undo these damn ropes. Some help please.”
Twilight simply stared at her for a few moments. “You mean the theory worked?”
“Yeah, egghead. Pretty awesome, right?”
“And you just let me think that I had caused you to kill yourself?”
“Oh, um, yeah, sorry, Twi. I swear I didn’t mean to.”
Twilight composed herself and stood straight. “Tell me, do you have any more clones?”
Rainbow tried rolling her eyes. “Of course I did; just in–”
The radiant blast of purple energy that soon followed could be seen in Canterlot.
Author's Note
No end link because I was the creator, but from here on out, the story is free game! I hope you all have fun.
Confession (Romance, Jumbled Thought)
Celestia sipped her tea, but missed some that fell to her coat as the aura around the cup shook. She glared at it and commanded it to stop. It didn’t though, just as she thought it would. I want to run. I want to crawl under my bed and write in my dream journal. I don’t want to be here. She smacked herself with a forehoof. “Get it together, Celestia. You are a full grown mare, not a school yard filly. Just stay calm and you’ll find your dream fulfilled.” Or not.
“What dream?”
She almost passed out as she saw Twilight making her way into the small meeting room. “Oh, um, nothing my dearest student. Simply talking to myself.”
Twilight took the seat next to Celestia and beamed up at her. “Well, I’m just happy to be here, so I won’t grill you until later.” Her eyes narrowed at her teacher and then closed as she bent her forehooves. “I would also like to offer my apologies for not being available sooner. I was… busy.”
A small smile spread across the princess’ lips. “Oh yes, I bet you were, what with your brother sitting on you for how long?”
Twilight turned a bright red and looked away. “Um, that- that was private.”
“Well I think you should have a talk with your sister in law then as she was the one who sent me a picture. That bib around your neck was simply adorable.”
Twilight’s face went into the couch, then she sat up and groaned. “I will make you pay, sister!”
Celestia smiled and wrapped a hoof around her student. “Don’t worry, I truly do understand. You had others to comfort. Family, friends, those are always more important than a mentor.”
Twilight shook her head furiously and pushed away from Celestia so as to be able to see her face. “No! I mean, how can you even– No!” She nuzzled into Celestia’s chest. “You are family to me. I just knew you would be busy too and didn’t think about it, not with my mom trying to force me to never leave again.”
Celestia felt a sudden heat in her chest and the warmth quickly left as Twilight slid so far along the couch that she almost fell off. She herself had to take a calming breath to ease her excitement. You two have always been close; such sweet words should have been expected. “Tea?”
Twilight glanced at the pot as it levitated and nodded with a nervous smile. She knew she had gone too far with the hug, but Princess Celestia was still calm and acting like she didn’t mind, just like every other time she had made mistakes. Well, except for when I destroyed her birthday cake. She giggled slightly at the memory and dropped the tea.
“Is something the matter with the tea?”
Twilight shook her head as she started laughing. “N-no, just remembering some old mistakes.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Like?”
“Well, you remember your one thousand, three hundred, and forty-second birthday?”
She almost groaned at the reminder of her age. “Yes, I believe so.”
“And you remember the giant cake they brought in?”
Her eyes widened. “The one with buttercream frosting? I’ll never forget.”
Twilight fell off the couch while laughing and remembering the exact look on Celestia’s face. “And how we were just getting into offensive spells?”
“And you wanted to prove yourself by lighting the candles.”
“But instead of lighting the candles, I melted the cake!”
Celestia started laughing herself. “How about Kibitz’s freak out when he found out that he had lost half of the staff to cake duty?”
“I thought his hair was going to fall off he looked so angry!”
“And then there was you, simply trying to hide in the best place you could find.”
Twilight smiled wide at her. “I still stand by my point that it was an efficient and delicious way to remove the parts of the cake that hadn’t liquified.”
Celestia lowered herself while laughing loudly along with her student. She then found herself crying for no reason.
“Ce-Celestia? Why are you crying?”
She put a hoof to her face and felt her smile fade to nothing. She trotted around Twilight before laying down beside her. “It’s because I can’t purely enjoy memories like those anymore, not after what happened.”
Twilight paled and held a hoof to her mouth. “Oh, oh I am so sorr–” She stopped at the soft touch of her mentor’s hoof over her mouth.
“Please, Twilight,” she said in a forced calm while she barely held back her tears, “I don’t think there will ever be a great time to say this so I will say it now because I need to let you know just how painful that… mistake was.” Twilight nodded and Celestia took in one more shuddering breath to calm herself.
“When I heard the news, I cried for a whole day. I almost refused to raise the sun the next morning because I felt like my light had left the world and I didn’t want to give the rest of Equestria its own. I had been through so much in my many years, but the moment I saw your body in the casket was quite possibly the worst. There would be no returning from the moon for you. You were gone. The mare I adored and loved… was gone.” She took in a deep breath before looking into Twilight’s purple eyes. “I need to know though, now that I am with my light again, do you love me back?”
Twilight stared for a few moments, considering whether or not this could be real before deciding not to care about it possibly being a dream. She started to cry and wrapped her hooves around her teacher. “Of course I do! I… I can’t belie- that was so- did you just come up with that?”
“No, of course not. It was from my heart, just as I suspect your tears of joy are.” That, and five hours of practicing with my new maid.
Twilight shook her head and smiled at her mentor. “Of course they are. I-I have always admired you Celestia. You have always been there for me and every time you praise me, my heart skips a beat. I Pinkie Promise, my feelings are true.”
“That is so good to hear.” Celestia wrapped her hooves around Twilight and breathed a sigh of relief. I suppose I now need to go warp that tied up clone of mine that keeps wanting cake. There will be no need for it tonight.
Author's Note
Your decision as to why she needed a clone. Mine is that it was in case Twi said no. Also, as always, no link for me because this is my story.
