Love Conquers All

(First thing first: Exciting news. I will be participating in the National Pony Writing Month this August. That starts in 4 days. That means I will be devoting most of my time to the new story. I will still update this story, no doubt, just not as quickly and not as much. I am excited for this new story, it is entitled "Abroad At A Ship's Helm")

Rainbow Dash was tired, not physically but mentally. Pinkie confessing her love had put a lot of weight on Dash's mind. The idea that Pinkie had been in love with her for all this time, it was mind boggling. But why? Why did the simple earth pony have to find her so appealing? They could have stayed friends without it becoming awkward.

She decided a nice flight would calm her mind, so she spread her brilliant blue wings and took to the skies. Flying always calmed her down, she loved the feel of the wind between her feathers, the sound of the wind in her ears. it was simply marvelous. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and flew slowly through a cloud. The small 'poof' sound that clouds made when they dispersed brought a small smile to her face every time.

When she opened her eyes, something caught her attention. A crew of construction ponies were near the outside of town, they were lugging around metal beams and starting to erect a frame. It was strange, as captain of the weather patrol she was to be notified of all construction projects so the pegasi could plan accordingly. She descended and landed just outside of the site.

Dash quickly stopped a construction pony and asked, "What do you all think you're doing?"

The brawny looking  earth pony grunted and shrugged her off. "Listen lady, we gots a deadline. Yous needs to get outta here and lets us work ." He moved right past her and continued working. Dash had dealt with construction workers before and they were always a pain in her flank. She needed to find the foreman.

After trotting around the site, she saw a familiar purple unicorn looking over blueprints with a dark blue unicorn. "Twilight?" Dash cantered over to the pair, who waved her over.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, what are you here for?" The purple unicorn rolled up the blueprints and gave them to her friend.

"Well, for starters I'm the weather captain here. I am supposed to be told about any construction projects." She glared at the unicorn pair, obviously irate that she had been forgotten in the process.

"I am sorry Ms. Rainbow Dash." The colt spoke now, his stone grey eyes pierced into her own. She felt the need to hide from the gaze and never meet it again. This greatly contrasted his voice: Which was as smooth as silk, and just as inviting. "We did send somepony to tell you, but they notified us that you were not home, so we decided to get to work. Do not blame Twilight, it is my fault." He gave a polite bow.

"Um...sure?" The colt nodded and trotted off, softly speaking to some of the workers. At the first opportunity, Dash pulled the element of magic closer to her. "No offense or anything Twi, but...what's with the stiff?" The unicorn gave her a stern stare.

"The 'stiff' is Star Shine. He's a colleague of mine from Canterlot...and...well..." The purple pony blushed ever so lightly. "My coltfriend.." Dash's jaw nearly hit the ground.

"You have a coltfriend..? You. Out of all ponies who could get their first coltfriend before me...it had to be you." Twilight looked like she was going to say something, but Rainbow cut her off. "ugh, forget it. What are you two eggheads building here? A book factory?"

"Oh no, the closest paper mill is on the other side of Mt.Canterlot, it would be impractical and not very cost effective to make a book factory here." Dash just gave her the dead air. "Right...well, we're building an observatory under orders from Princess Luna herself." The unicorn stood proudly, as if every word was inflating her ego just a bit more.

"I'm building the observatory, my dear." Twilight's coltfriend trotted by, planting a kiss on her cheek and moving on. "You're giving me a place to stay." As he trotted away, Dash leaned over to Twilight.

"He's a little....flamboyant, don't you think?" Twilight shot her a sideways glance and Star Shine apparently heard her, for he responded.

"Says the mare with the Rainbow mane and the voice of a young colt." He turned to a worker and started giving him orders.

"Hey!"

--

Pinkie, after consulting with her alligator, had decided to tail Dashie for the rest of the day. She was a t a construction site now, talking to Twilight and some other unicorn with a really white mane. She wondered what they were talking about, then Rainbow Dash lifted off and flew towards the library.

The pink mare clambered out of the bush she had been hiding in and watched the exact flight pattern of the pegasus. She needed to study everything about her target. So, Pinkie followed. Into the center of town and to the library, where piles and piles of metal pipes were waiting and where Dash was loading up a wagon. It would take her a couple of trips to move it all, so Pinkie started devising a plan of attack.

--

Scootaloo was trotting through town looking for something to do, her friends were all busy. Applebloom had to help Big Mac and Applejack get the apples ready for market, and Sweetie Belle was out of town visiting her parents. Worst of all: Her brother Thunderlane had blown her off after promising to hang out with her today.

In her lament, she wasn't watching where she was going and hit a solid pink mass. "Oof! Sorry..." She looked up at the pony in front of her: Her mane was straight and stiff, same as her tail, her coat and mane were both darker than normal. The once jubilant blue eyes shone an icy blue, burrowing into Scootaloo's soul. "P-Pinkie...?"

"Well, hey there Scootaloo!" Pinkie grinned a grin that would make Nightmare Moon's blood go cold. "How are you? Still searching for that cutie mark?" Each of Pinkie's eyes blinked independently from each other, unsettling the little filly even further.

"Umm..yeah, I-"

"Need some help?" Before Scoots could answer, Pinkie picked the filly up and tossed her upon her strong, earth pony back. "Of coooourse you do! I bet weather is your specialty! Let's try that!" Pinkie sped off at full speed, leaving a pink blur where she used to be.

In ten seconds flat they were back at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie was searching through the shed attached to the side for something to help them/

"Um..Pinkie? I can't fly..how am I supposed to get my cutie mark in weather control if I can't fly?" The pegasus filly was peaking over the insane pony's head, trying to get a look at whatever it was she was getting.

"With my Super Awesome Bike-O-Copter, of course!" Pinkie grinned madly and pulled out a modified bicycle with propellers on it that looked way to long to fit in the shed. "I'll fly you up there, you get on a cloud and you try out some pegasus weather stuff! Simple!" Pinkie giggled insanely and got on the contraption. Scootaloo held on for dear life as the demented pony started pedaling and the vehicle started lifting off into the air.

Pegasi loved the feeling of flying, the sky was their home. Scootaloo was no exception.She closed her eyes and smiled as she relished in the feeling of the wind in her mane. She spread her tiny, flightless wings in a vain attempt to feel what it was really like to fly, if just for a second. It felt wonderful. The feeling abruptly stopped when Pinkie Pie quit ascending and just hovered.

"Okay! Time for little pegasuses to go cloud hopping!" Pinkie grabbed Scootaloo, who responded with a yelp, and threw her on a cloud.

Scootaloo landed on the fluffy structure softly. It was her first time on a cloud, and while her brother had told her how it felt, she never realized how truly amazing it was before now. She stood up slowly, feeling the cloud shift underneath her, it was soft, yet solid. She stared at it, trying to figure it out, but decided against it.

"So...what do I do...?" Pinkie was staring down at the ground, tracking something with her eyes.

"Well, jumping causes lightning and rain right? Try that!" Scootaloo was about to jump. "Not yet! NNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnow!" On cue, Scootaloo bent her legs and jumped further skyward, when she landed she felt something in the cloud give and rain started to pour. The filly bent once more and took a bigger leap. This time when she landed, a bright light came from the cloud, accompanied by a ferocious boom.

--

Rainbow Dash was flying back to the observatory with the third load of metal pipes, it was arduous, but it was something to do. She was distracted when she saw rain up ahead. She knew it wasn't supposed to rain today, she knew all of the weather schedules. She flew underneath the rain cloud and looked up, that's when she saw a bright flash of light and heard a sharp boom. Before she could react, she felt her sides burning. Then the smell of burning feathers came to her nostrils as she started to fall, her mind in too much shock to realize what was happening. She was falling.

--

Pinkie grinned at the sight of her Dashie falling helplessly to the ground, the wagon falling after her. In fact, she could smell the burnt feathers from here. She started pedaling slower in order to descend and claim her prize, leaving a confused Scootaloo stuck on the cloud.

"Umm...Pinkie? Helloooo."