Close Bonds: Eighth Chapter

Nudge nudge.

Hm?

Harder nudge.

You open your eyes, turning to look at what the nudging is coming from. A little ball of orange and purple has her nose stuck into your side. She doesn't seem to be awake, you realize, and you sit up.

Her eyes open as well, taking in the room, bed, and you. She looks confused.

"Where am I?"

You smile at her. "We're at the beach, Scoots. Remember?"

Her eyes widen in her recollection. "Oh. Yeah. I remember." She scans the room again, pausing particularly long on the sleeping Rainbow. She yawns, then sits up.

"So," you ask, "Any reason you left Dash's bed for mine? Just wondering."

As the wheels in her head begin to turn, she starts to take in what you said. Her cheeks tint themselves a light pink, and she averts her eyes. "I, uh... She kicks a lot in her sleep."

You look at the perfectly still Rainbow Dash, and raise an eyebrow. "You sure? She looks like she stayed in that same position all night."

"Well, she does move a lot."

"Uh, huh." Once again, you watch Rainbow for a bit. Then, silently, you get up and walk over to her bed.

"Hey, Rainbow. You should get up now."

She groans, then grabs the pillow she's sleeping on and pulls it over her head. You shake your head, then lift the corner slightly. "C'mon, Dash. Don't you want to eat breakfast? The complimentary buffet ends at ten."

Her reply is muffled, but quite understandable. "Would you like to get bucked in the face? It starts in ten seconds."

"Depends on which 'buck' you're referring to," You whisper into the pillow. Deciding not to test her patience any further, you back away from her bed and look to Scootaloo.

"So. Breakfast?"

As you and Scootaloo walk through the entrance to the buffet, you're greeted by the smell of waffles, pancakes, coffee...

...and an all-too-familiar lecturing voice.

"Now, Sweetie Belle, remember to use the knife with your right hoof and hold the fork in your left hoof, then when you're done cutting your food switch the fork back over to your right hoof. And when using a napkin..."

Sweetie Belle nods. From the wide smile and angelic eyes, you can tell that all of this is going in one ear and out the other.

Good girl, Sweetie.

You grab a plate, and begin piling on fruit, hash browns, and different flavored pancakes. You're about to grab a strange green colored pancake, but upon seeing the label Grass Pancakes, you decide that curiosity kills the cat.

By the time you make it back to the table, Scootaloo's already digging in. Rarity, however, is just wrapping up her lecture.

"...and make sure not to get anything on your coat. Your fur is a pristine white, very beautiful, but such beauty requires much care. You do want to have a coat like your sister, right?"

Sweetie Belle nods rapidly. Rarity smiles, and touches her little sister's cheek with her hoof.

"Good girl, Sweetie. Eat up now."

Rarity levitates a fork and daintily begins her meal. Sweetie Belle does the same, except she stuffs a whole syrup-soaked waffle in her mouth when her older sister isn't looking.

You manage to stifle a laugh. At this time, the soft pitter-patter of hoofsteps approach from behind.

"Hello, Ivan," a soft voice greets. "Is anypony using this chair?"

Without even looking her way, you pull out a seat for Fluttershy. Out of the corner of your eye, you watch a yellow wing outstretch itself, and a plate slides off and onto the table.

Impressive, really, but you don't say anything.

Fluttershy takes a seat beside you. "So," she asks after taking a few small bites of grass, "Where's Rainbow this morning?"

You gulp down some water. "Asleep."

"Still? Is she okay?"

After taking a few bites of hash browns, you answer. "Yeah, she always sleeps in this late. Sometimes, on the weekends, she doesn't wake up 'till I'm having lunch. Guess she's just used to burning time, no job and all."

"Poor Rainbow. I feel sorry for what happened."

"Yeah, me too."

Fluttershy looks at you in a concerned manner. "You shouldn't, Ivan. You were the first one to help her, remember?"

A memory runs through your head.

You wait underneath the cloud that is Rainbow Dash's home. Looking around you at the few boxes of her belongings, you shake your head.

This... This wasn't supposed to happen. Rainbow was supposed to become a Wonderbolt. She was supposed to be famous, rich, rising above you all in Ponyville. You even remember promising her that you would watch her air shows.

Now look where you are.

You see the sullen pegasus's silhouette come from over the cloud. You begin to make out her face as she draws nearer. She looks sad, defeated.

Without even looking at you, she touches ground. You rest a hand on her back.

"Ready to go?"

She just nods ever so slightly. You pick up a box, and together you make your way back to your house.

You were still partway in your thoughts when you answered Fluttershy. "Yeah. Still, I feel bad though. I recall, numerous times, telling her that she was a shoo-in, that there was no way they wouldn't accept her. Makes me wonder if she just kind of lost it... because she felt she failed us."

Fluttershy looks like she's about to say something, but a shrill cry rings out. "Sweetie Belle! What have you done??"

Both you and Fluttershy snap your heads up. Sweetie Belle has syrup all over her face.

"Whath?" she asks, cheeks stuffed full of waffles. As she talks, spittle flies out of her mouth.

Rarity catches the saliva drops mid-air with her magic and floats them into a nearby trash can. "Ugh! I told you not to get anything on your coat!"

Sweetie gulps down what's in her mouth. "On my coat? Whaddya mean- Oh, do I have something on my face?" She proceeds to take a foreleg and wipe it across her mouth.

"No-! Sweetie! Ugh," Rarity does the pony equivalent of pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Relax, Rarity," you chuckle, "she's only... twelve, right?"

Sweetie Belle nods, wiping the syrup that's stuck to her foreleg on the table cloth. Rarity groans.

"Just don't come crying to me when you're losing all your fur…" she mutters, stepping away from the table.

You lean across the table. "That won't happen," you whisper to Sweetie Belle, who's licking the sweet, nearly-hardened substance from off her coat. She giggles.

A rather loud yawn sounds from behind you, as well as Rainbow's drowsy voice. "Hm... Whassup over here?"

Again, you don't turn around, instead waiting for her to show up beside you. You lift a strawberry to your mouth and slowly chew, savoring the perfectly sweet flavor. Fruit this heavenly was rarely found on Earth; even with all the genetic engineering that was possible in that world, they never did produce very good fruit, at least by your standards now.

Eyes closed, you reach for another one, only for your hand to hit table. You open your eyes, confused.

"Why did you take my plate, Rainbow?" you question the pegasus who's eating your food.

Rainbow doesn't even have a chair, she just places her forelegs in the surface of the table and eats like an animal. She doesn't answer for a second, gulping down all your delicious strawberries before turning to you with a smirk. "My plate now."

"Fatty. You gonna eat all that?" You tease.

This elicits a gasp from all the females in the area. Because you called her fat, you assume. But Rainbow seems undaunted.

She swallows the last bit of pancake, and steps down from the table. "Seems as if I'm more of a stallion than you."

"Ooooh," Scootaloo says.

You smirk. "If you mean by the smell, then yes. You still haven't taken a shower."

Rainbow waves you off with her hoof. "If we're going to the beach today, I don't need to. In any case, you need to help me clean up that pigsty of a room."

You raise an eyebrow. "I've kept it pretty clean, actually..."

"I tripped over the bags on the way out."

You laugh, then stand up and tug Rainbow by the ear out of the buffet. She eventually manages to pry your hand off her earlobe, and bites it immediately afterwards. It hurts, but not a lot, since ponies only have molar teeth.

It's a long way of shoving and tripping each other before the two of you finally make it to your room.

The door swings open. You run in and kick a few bags clear across the room.

"Kiyaa!" you yell, clearing a path for Rainbow to walk through. After locking the door, she simply flies over to the bed, obviously in an attempt to vex you.

In retaliation, you sit on the side of the mattress, and lay your head on the outstretched pegasus's belly. In return, she lays her rainbow tail across your face.

After laughing and throwing off the mass of red and yellow, you turn to Dash. "I've come to a realization."

"Hmm? And what's that?" Again, she wraps her tail around your head.

You push it aside and pin the devious limb against the bed. "I think we fight now as much as we did before we started dating."

Rainbow scoffs. "Dating? We've fucked a few times, if that's what you mean. And I punched you in the face." Her lips curve up into a smile. "But we do the fun kind of fighting."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." You take her hoof and kiss it. "But still, you think we're going a little too far?"

"What? I thought it was all in good fun?"

"Just remember Dash, there are much worse things that can be put on doughnuts than salt."

Rainbow giggles. "You really should've seen your face! It was priceless!"

You sigh, putting on a show of false disappointment in her. Rainbow Dash sees your wistful expression, and groans.

"Fine. Whatever. I'll tone it down a little. But just a little."

You grab her hoof, lightly kissing it again. "Thanks, Dash."

The two of you lie there for awhile, head on her belly, not really thinking of anything in particular. Then, you both hear and feel her stomach gurgle.

"Somepony still hungry?" you tease.

"A little. You cut my meal off short." She bops you on the nose.

"Sorry about that. You're still nice and soft though."

"That's the waffles." She ruffles your hair. "You mind getting off them?"

Waffles. Getting off her waffles. Hm...

Adhering to her wishes, you take your head off of her belly and place yourself on the pillow next to her. Immediately, a loud burp sounds in your ear.

You look over at Rainbow, giving her a 'Well, now why would you do that?' look. Her eyes light up, and she giggles.

You shake your head. "Rarity would have a fit if she were here."

"Well, good thing she isn't then, hmm?" Rainbow clambers on top of you, giggling the whole way and resting her chin on her elbows.

She really seems to like this position. Looking straight into her violet eyes, you begin to softly stroke the back of her neck.

She coos, giving you a quick peck on the cheek and resting her head where her elbows had previously been. You hug her above the wings, dragging your fingers back and forth through her silky, though slightly gritty blue fur.

The lulling rhythm of her heartbeat causes you to become drowsy, and your mind to wander off. You find yourself in memories of the beach; the sand, the water, the hot sun.

Rainbow's bikini. Fluttershy, and her little act of deviousness. How she stole the sunglasses, and how you wish you had some. You'd always been told to at least wear a hat to protect your eyes and skin, so you'd made it a habit to-

Wait.

You realize you'd dozed off when your eyes reflexively open. Rainbow is still in the same spot, snoozing away.

Slowly, so as not to disturb her, you remove your right hand from her back and begin examining your arm. Curious, you do the same with your left arm.

Rainbow shifts a bit, opening her eyes half-liddedly to check if you're there, then drifting off back to sleep.

At least it seemed that way to you. "What're you doing?" she mumbles.

You rest your arms on her back again. "Nothing... Just needed to get comfortable."

Despite the drowsiness, suspicion is still quite evident in her voice. "Saw you lookin' at your forelegs..."

"Just checkin' something... It would take some explaining."

She lifts her head and yawns. Looking at you with half open eyes, she smacks her lips. "Explain."

You sigh, sensing that she's not going to let this drop. Her dominating personality just won't let her, you think in your mind. "Alright, well, while I was asleep, I realized that I had no sunburns, and was wondering why."

She scoots up on your body and puts her muzzle in the crook of your neck. "I dun' even know what that is..." she mumbles, falling back asleep.

This comes as a shock to you. "You mean a sunburn?"

She nods in response.

"You don't know what a sunburn is? Surely you've seen one."

Actually, come to think of it, you can't recall ever seeing a sunburn in Equestria... Not even on yourself.

"No, Ivan, don't be stupid. The sun's too far away to burn anything."

You groan. She can be so ignorant sometimes.

You need to send some letters to Twilight. You're still wondering about the whole electricity thing... Maybe she'll know.

You lay back, running your fingers through Rainbow's mane. That's something you'll worry about later; for now, you intend to just enjoy your vacation.

Author's Note

Proofreader: hwrogers

Yes, a bit short. This and the next part combined were supposed to be one chapter, but writing's been a bit slow lately, and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting. I actually can't wait to get past this beach arc so I can move onto more important parts.