Chemical Reaction

The sun was going down, and it was taking the colors of the skies with it. Blues, oranges, reds, purples and pinks were being pulled away into the horizon, leaving behind the twinkling night sky. The light of many stars would come to many a pony's eyes now, reminding them that they were always there, even if the sun covered them up. Down below, in a field of grass, fireflies were all aglow. They twinkled and sparkled, showing only for a few minutes before they too would disappear. It was moments like these that were to be cherished. The glowing field of gently waving blades of grass was quiet, save for the sound of chirping crickets, a babbling stream... and the hoofsteps of a pony.

A light yellow, mint green maned pegasus weaved between the blades of grass and slow, peaceful breezes. His every step was planned, his every action purposeful. His dark blue eyes scanned the area, taking in all that was around him. The fireflies, the sunset, the blades of grass, the fireflies, the breeze, the fireflies... The stallion shook his head. What was happening? He took a step closer to the nearest splotch of light and squinted his eyes. It was the strangest thing, he glanced in the air, yes, it was true, the fireflies...

They were in pairs. Couples. The pegasus lowered his head and continued to walk, though at a noticeably slower pace. He suddenly became very interested in the grass, the dirt, anything that wasn't the sky above and the love that it held. He barely glanced at his cutie mark, a heart, between a plus and a minus, before quickly turning back to the field before him. He sighed. Even here, when ponies couldn't make fun, the fireflies did.

The sun illuminated the rolling plain of white clouds that made up Cloudsdale. The great star in the sky was high for three in the afternoon, and it wasn't coming down soon. Celestia kept the sun out longer in the Summer, as she was known to do the same for the moon in Winter. It was her way of remembering her sister and cherishing her night, but balance was balance. And because balance was balance, the sun shone brightly from on high down onto Cloudsdale Elementary.

Chemical Reaction, unlike the other fillies and colts in his class, wasn't counting down the seconds until the official end of school for that year. Instead, he was scrambling to finish a paper, which looked like nonsense at a first glance. It was actually full of mathematical equations and graphs, depicting science that was way beyond his level. He'd made diagrams like this for every class (the one depicting the physics of the pony heart was by far the most difficult to pour into one page) but this one was his favorite to make. It was for science. Anything that had to do with science and the way things worked was wonderful, especially the phenomenons that were hard to explain. That was Chemical Reaction's specialty.

Ding

The first of four bells struck, and Chemical Reaction had to fight to get to the back of the classroom with everypony rushing to the door.

Ding

He practically threw the piece of paper on the desk, right before Mr. Cloud's blinking eyes.

"This is a cheat sheet to understanding the physics of raindrop formation!"

Ding

"I myself found the lesson easy enough, but you didn't seem to understand it much, nor did the class! I think this helps to make the lesson a bit easier!

Ding

"I spent a whole week figur-"

"Go, go on, Chemical! Enjoy your summer! I greatly appreciate the cheat sheet, but students can't be on school grounds after the final bell!" interrupted Mr. Cloud. He looked at Chemical Reaction's face and sighed. "Look, Chemical, the cheat sheet is greatly appreciated. I think I understand some things better now than ever before. But you need to go. School grounds are not for students once Summer vacation begins." Mr. Cloud got up from his desk and stood next to the small colt, who latched onto his foreleg. "Besides, I think you've got somepony looking forward to spending their break with you."

Chemical Reaction looked up from the hug and turned around to see a small pegasus filly, smiling. Her wavy, blue mane bounced as she waved her hoof excitedly.

"Come on Chemie, what are you waiting for??" she called. "Summer doesn't last forever, try as Celestia might!" Chemical Reaction rolled his eyes, and took one last look at Mr. Cloud. Then he dashed after the small filly, who was long gone out the door.

"Ocean, wait up!"

Ocean Breeze turned around to watch the colt try to catch up with her. She smirked.

"You're going to have to fly to catch up with this filly!" she called. A smile grew on her face when she say Chemical groan. "Aww, is Mr. Sciencey Sciencey No Athletics not going to be able to?"

"Hey!" Chemical started, as he ran to catch up with the now-soaring Ocean Breeze.

"Science is the foundation for all learning, and without it, we would never know how anything worked!" they chanted together. Ocean had the little speech memorized by now.

"Whatever, Chemie. Seriously though, what are we going to do first this Summer?" she asked as she sat down inside of a cloud hoop. Chemical smiled.

"I was thinking, maybe you could meet my friend from the other school? The one I told you about?"

Ocean dropped her quirkiness and looked down curiously and gliding softly to Chemical's level.

"You mean Sunrise Surfer?"

"Yeah, him. I'm sure you'd get along well, let's go!" And with that, Chemical Reaction took off to his house, with Ocean Breeze at his side.

The air was always so warm around her. Her name was fitting. Chemical could almost feel sand on his hooves and seagulls above him. Her voice was melodious, like the waves of the sea and the rhythm that came with them. It was magical. Not that he believed in magic, other than unicorn spells.

"Chemie? ...Chemie..." came the sound of Ocean Breeze's voice, but it seemed far away. Chemical Reaction shook his head and found himself bolting down his street, though he was sure he was in front of the school a few moments ago. He skidded to avoid crashing into his house, but he ended up bursting through the dining room wall anyway. Ocean laughed and dashed through the hole in the wall before it closed up. That was the nice thing about cloud houses. They were self repairing, and they could withstand the toughest storms because, well, they were the toughest storms.

Chemical sat up and shook his head, though he failed to shake off the bits of fluff that clung to his mane. He grinned at Ocean, who was trying hard to keep in her laughter.

"Come on," said Chemical Reaction. "Surfer should be up in my room." With that, the pair walked up the stairs and into the bedroom.

And Ocean Breeze stopped.

And Sunrise Surfer stopped.

They both froze, locked into each other's eyes, much to Chemical's confusion.

I don't get it... what's happening here? Where's Ocean's quick remark? Where's Sunrise's fear of meeting new ponies? Why can't they look away? This doesn't make sense, and everything always makes sense! Look for a new piece of info, look for something else, observe observe, what could be happening to make them act so weird?

Unless...

Unless this is what love is?

No! Look for something else, anything else... what if Ocean and Sunrise already know each other and they're surprised to see each other again? But no, Ocean asked what he looked like, surely she would've associated the picture I painted with one already stored in her memory... anything but love, anything but love... What if they don't like each other? No, elevated pulses on both of them, tensed joints too, and Ocean would be relaxed in the face of an enemy. Maybe Sunrise was especially bad? No, it's not like Sunrise to do anything horrible... not love, not love...

Chemical turned his mind upside down and right again, and he searched for anything, anything that could explain the strange behavior between Ocean Breeze and Sunrise Surfer. But each explanation was more absurd than the next, anything he tried came as more proof that love simply was the only reasoning.

Oh no... Oh no no no no no... This can't be... breathe, Chemical. Everything has an explanation. There's a formula for everything. Just take a step back. I can do this. I can do this! It's just unexplained, that's all! And I can be the first to explain love, oh, this is brilliant! I'll study love in the name of science, the world chose me, and with Celestia as my witness, I plan to do whatever it takes to help the world understand itself! Yeah! Now, where to start, where to start... of course. The two before me. But how do I begin to relate this to anything tangible? What if I, no... Think, Chemical. What if I think of their connection as a chemical...reaction... wait a minute...

He looked to his flank, and surely enough, there was a cutie mark. Chemical Reaction was destined to be a matchmaker, in the name of science. The heart between the plus and minus signs were good enough for him. And while introducing your crush to your best friend wasn't the most ideal way to realize your fate and destiny, well, he was willing to give this cutie mark a shot.

The fields were lonely. The sky was barely lit with the cold, far off stars. The fireflies were ready to leave, but they only lingered for the pony. The breezes were chilling, sucking up the last of the warmth from the sun. The evening no longer held its magic.

Chemical Reaction was lonely. His eyes barely shone. He was ready to leave, but he only lingered for the fireflies. The days were disheartening, sucking up the last of Chemical's hope for love. He no longer held his magic.

It was fun to be a matchmaker, it truly was. Mixing two ponies together to see what came out of it, learning from mistakes and analyzing every last detail from a date that went right. Yet, try as he might, applying what was learned from his experiments to his own behavior on dates, he could never find a mare. But, science presses on, and he could never stop studying.

There was always something new, something more to bring to the table, another variable to consider. But while science never rested...

Chemical could.

He stood, and flew a few feet into the air. He'd gotten considerably better at flying since he was a colt, taking the advice of a certain somepony that he needed to get out more. He still wasn't the best, but he'd improved. He flew higher. It wasn't so bad. There was bound to be somepony out there for him, but it would be selfish of him to think of only himself. There were already so many other ponies that needed his help, that is, if they hadn't already gone to Rainbow Wrap... he shuddered. Calling herself a councilor, who did she think she was? How could she be of any help when she couldn't get two hooves out of the clouds? Not literally, of course. Cloudsdale was her home. But if she couldn't bring herself out of her mind for a second, how was she supposed to bring herself to listen to other ponies' problems? It was beyond Chemical.

He shook his head, and flew higher. He didn't need to concern himself with Rainbow Wrap tonight. All he needed was rest. He stumbled in his flight and climbed higher, thinking only of his soft sheets.

And the fireflies followed after him.