Close Bonds: Seventh Chapter

You immediately jump up to a sitting position. The prospect of being found in such a compromising position with Rainbow doesn't fare well with you. Rainbow, however, just continues to lie there on your lap.

"Hey Rarity," she says, calm as can be. Lazily, she pulls her wings back to her sides.

Rarity steps through the door, smiling. "Hello, you two." She stumbles over one of your bags, but regains her balance easily enough. She sees Rainbow on your lap, and raises an eyebrow playfully. "So, I take it you're getting... comfortable?"

"Like you wouldn't believe..." Rainbow rolls off the bed, landing neatly on her hooves. "Ivan gives the best back rubs. Ever."

"Oh? Is that so?" She eyes you skeptically. "Lotus and Aloe are the two best masseuses I know."

"They were. Hop on the bed."

Being the curious mare she is, Rarity trots on over and climbs up on the bed. She glances over her shoulder to smile at you, then settles down onto her stomach.

You look at Rainbow. Looking back at you, she nods slightly towards Rarity. Hesitantly, you bring your hands forth in same way you did for Rainbow.

"Come on, now. It's rude to keep a lady waiting."

You let your hands rest on her back for a moment. Her coat's really soft, a lot like Rainbow's actually, just maybe a little better maintained. Slowly, you begin pressing your fingers into her skin, pushing softly so as to not cause discomfort.

"Hm, I don't know, Rainbow Dash... He doesn't feel very strong."

"Yeah," Rainbow plops onto the other bed, "He isn't."

Seriously?

"Well, then," you mutter, pressing your palms and fingers firmly into her back. She jumps and lets out a slight gasp, but soon relaxes.

"Ah," she sighs, practically melting as your fingers grasp and pull at her skin, "This is... absolutely wonderful."

"Glad I'm strong enough for you," you groan.

"Sorry for that, dear. You just haven't said a word since I walked in. I almost forgot you were even listening."

"Don't sweat it, Rarity. Ponies forget about him all the time." You glare at her for her comment, and she hides her face behind the book she's reading, chuckling as she does so.

Rarity tsks. "Oh, don't be like that, Rainbow Dash. He's just a gentlecolt, who likes to be polite and not interrupt when others are talking."

"Thank you, Rarity." You go a little slower with the rubbing, making sure to drag it out to give her the most amount of pleasure possible.

Rainbow scoffs. "Gentlecolt? Hah! You'd be tellin' a different story if you lived with him a few months."

You're about to retort, but Rarity beats you to it. "Well, considering he lives with such a brash individual, I wouldn't blame him for being a little out of character at times. Is that right, Ivan?" She looks back at you, winking.

That was much better than what you were going to say. You grin. "Spot on, Lady Rarity. Spot on."

She giggles, and you join in. Rainbow rolls her eyes and buries her nose in her book.

The room is silent for awhile. After a bit, you hear a soft snoring, as well as slight vibrations to your hands. You and Rainbow glance at each other.

"Is she… sleeping?"

You stop with your massaging.The only sound in the room is Rarity's breathing.

"Aww," you coo. Rainbow raises an eyebrow at you.

"You're weird, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah. You tell me all the time."

Once again, silence.

"So, what should we do with her?"

You scratch your head. "Dunno. Let her sleep?"

Rainbow holds her two front hooves out. "And just leave her on the bed like this? What if somepony sees her?"

"'What if someone sees her?' You make it sound like we just committed murder."

If she were closer, she would have socked you. "Shut up. Really, though."

"Well, if you're so worried about it, we could wake her up." You gently nudge Rarity in the side. "Hey, Rarity."

"Hmmph...?"

"Wake up. Rainbow's uncomfortable with you sleeping here."

Rainbow shoots you a glare. Rarity's eyes waft open, and she yawns.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just a little tired after the long trip here. I'll leave now." She sits up, yawning again, and checks her mane for any misplacements. Then, sleepily, she steps off the bed.

WHUMP!

Rainbow and you both jump up. "Shit! You alright Rarity?"

Her face is planted firmly into the floor. She picks herself up, rubbing her snout. "I-I'm fine... Legs fell asleep on me, I guess."

You and Rainbow glance at each other worriedly. Rarity shakes her head, becoming fully orientated.

"...I'd be lying to not say how much it smarts, though."

You nod, putting on a smile. "Well, thanks for checking in on us. Be safe on the way back to your room, alright?"

Her forehead creases, but she chuckles lightly at your banter. "Well, alrighty, then." She turns to leave, but makes an abrupt stop. "Wait! I just remembered. I came here to ask you something. It was something relating to this trip, but I just can't seem to recall..."

"Bump your head a little too hard?" Rainbow smirks.

Rarity simply ignores the comment. "Ah-ha!" Whatever she was thinking seems to click in her head. "I was supposed to ask you, by request of the girls, if you would like to go to the beach soon?"

"Oh?" You look to Rainbow for an answer. She nods. "Yeah, sure, we'll go. Give us, what, fifteen minutes?"

"Hm," Rarity thinks for a moment, "I suppose if I packed light, I could be ready by then."

"Alright. Meet you in the lobby in fifteen?"

"Agreed." She gives you, and then Rainbow, a nod before trotting out the door.

"She didn't trip over the bags this time," Rainbow observes.

"Yeah," you reply, "Really wondering how she got in here in the first place. Don't these rooms have locks?"

"Yep. You just forgot to secure ours." She smirks. "What is it with you and asking stupid questions?"

"I'm not the only who does it, you know."

She raises an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Really. Remember when you asked if I could suck drinks through my 'vampire teeth'?"

"Hey!" She points an accusing hoof at you, "That doesn't count! I'm stupid when I'm drunk, and I know it."

You chuckle. "But you're also so much fun!"

She raises an eyebrow. "Uh, huh. This is coming from the guy who sighs every time he sees me drinking apple cider."

"'The guy who sighs'?"

"Yeah, like this." She rolls her eyes, shakes her head, and imitates your 'sigh'.

A wide grin spreads across your face. Clapping, "Bravo, Dash. Bravo."

She just looks at you for a second, then frowns. "Are we going to the beach soon?"

"Yeah," you start taking off your pants, "Let me just get ready, and we'll go down to the lobby."

After watching you remove your sweats, and groaning upon realizing you had boxers on underneath, she walks over to her bag and begins searching through it.

As you slip on your shorts, you begin to wonder what she could be looking for. It couldn't be a bathing suit, right?

Sure enough, she comes up with a reddish-violet bikini between her teeth.

"Hey Dash?"

She tosses the unnecessary beachwear on the bed. "Yeah, Ivan?"

"Why do you have a bikini?"

She gives you a quizzical look. "Why not?"

"Because you're already naked."

She looks at her body, and then back at you. "Do mares on Earth go to the beach naked?"

You pinch the bridge of your nose. "No no no... Okay, let me ask you something. How come I've never seen you wear a bikini before? For example, at the lake?"

She grins. "I had no one to show off to before."

"And how is covering up your body 'showing off'?"

You get it now.

As you help Rarity put up an umbrella, you find it difficult to not glance over at Rainbow, who celebrates her victory by keeping her butt to you at all times. Every chance she gets, she wiggles her hips and looks back at you smugly.

To add to it, the absence of a bra makes her look topless from behind. Right now, you feel very fortunate that your shorts aren't the stretchy kind.

"Here, let me fill in the rest," Rarity offers, kicking some sand in around the base of the umbrella. You give it a good wiggle, and upon determining that it's in well, you thank her.

"It was no trouble, Ivan." She grimaces at the dirt on her hoof, quickly wiping it on the beach towel. "No trouble at all."

You walk over to Rainbow Dash, who smiles at you from behind her glasses. "Sup, Ivan?"

"You know what's 'sup'," you say mockingly, ruffling her mane.

She swats your hand away. "Y'know, messing up my mane won't do anything since we're going in the water anyways."

"I don't care. In the end, there's still sand in your hair."

She looks at your hand, which is still sandy from helping Rarity with the umbrella. Making the connection, she runs a hoof through her hair, and growls. The individual grains of sand on her hoof are easily noticeable. "You son of a bitch."

You laugh, narrowly dodging a swift kick from her hind legs. You run down the shore, knowing that you're merely delaying the inevitable, but having fun nonetheless.

It's not long before you feel her slam into your back. She knocks you down, causing you to roll with the momentum of your running.

While you're spitting out dirt, you feel a hoof being placed on your back as if in victory. You look up, to find...

Scootaloo is standing over you, a triumphant grin spanning her face. "Another point for me!"

You spin on her, trying but failing to grab her. She nimbly avoids your grasp, hopping on your back every chance she gets.

You finally get up to your knees. She's still on your back.

"Alright, Scoots, get off. You win."

She hops off, grinning with her teeth and getting close to your face. "I'm getting better now that I can fly, huh?"

"Nope. Nope. You're a cheater. No wings allowed."

Rainbow lands next to the orange pegasus, and gives her a slap on the back. "Good work, kid!"

Scootaloo's grin just got five times bigger.

You're about to say something to Rainbow, but notice her looking somewhere far off. Seeing her scowl, you turn your head to see what's going on.

"Aw, shit..." you mutter.

"Come on, Flutters," Dash groans, "don't let them do this..."

Fluttershy is surrounded by three stallions. Two stand in back of her, whispering and passing quick glances at her flank, while a rather bulky stallion with sunglasses on his forehead makes his best attempt at 'smooth talk'.

"She's not that naïve... Is she?" You think back to all your conversations, all the advice and wisdom she's given you.

"No, she's just too timid... I'll deal with this." Dash goes to approach the group, but you stop her.

"We can't do anything unless they touch her..."

'Sunglasses' says something to make her blush.

"She isn't seriously being fooled by this," Dash states more than asks.

The two hug.

"Alright, he touched her, time to kick some flank."

"No," you grab her hind leg, stopping her in mid-air "She hugged him. We can't do anything. We'll just... talk to her when she gets back."

"Humph." Dash floats down and frees her leg, stomping it into the sand.

After a moment, the two break the embrace. 'Sunglasses' says one last thing to Fluttershy, to which she nods, and makes her way towards you.

Fluttershy approaches, the sun glinting off her sunglasses as she happily trots along. She notices the expressions on your faces, and lifts her sunglasses so you can see her eyes.

"Is- is something wrong?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong!" Rainbow Dash rushes up to her, getting in her face. "You just let that jerk make a pass at you!"

"Uh, huh. I know."

Rainbow looks confused now. "But why didn't you do anything about it?"

The soft-toned pegasus sighs. "Oh, Dash. You just don't see it, do you?" She slips the sunglasses over her eyes again, then looks at you. "Ivan?"

You observe her for a moment. Something seems off, but nothing truly-

It strikes you. You quickly glance back to the trio of jerks. They've already moved on, pestering some other unfortunate mare. Only, 'sunglasses' seems to have forgotten something.

You grin. "You little sneak."

She steps past Rainbow, nose held high in a smirk. "You know I'd do anything for a new pair of sunglasses."

She walks off towards Rarity, a skip to her step. Rainbow and you both look at each other.

Rainbow Dash shakes her head. "Mental note: never doubt Fluttershy."

"Agreed," you nod.

Scootaloo cocks her head. "I still don't get it."

After a long day of playing in the sand and splashing in the water, all seven of you sit around a beach campfire, cooking marshmallows.

"C'mon! Nopony has any scary stories??"

Fluttershy looks up from nibbling on a perfectionist job of a smore sandwich. "I really don't think anypony else has any tonight, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow tugs at her face. "Ugh! I can't be the only one to tell these!"

Rainbow's been whining like this for awhile now. It's obvious that you all just want to relax and talk, but she seems to think it's tradition to attempt to frighten each other with cliché tales of overused themes. Not only that, but ponies don't seem to have a good idea of what's scary.

Well, if it's tradition she wants, it's tradition she'll get. You raise your hand. "Wait, I just thought of one."

"Finally!" Rainbow blurts, making her annoyance known.

"Okay," you start, lowering your voice to fit the creepy tone of the story, "'Once, there was a loud pegasus named Rainbow Dash, who kept asking for a story-"

"I don't like where this going," Rainbow interrupts.

"Shh!" Rarity shushes, "Go on, Ivan."

"'So,'" you pick up where you left off, "'a human named Ivan heard her cries, and decided to make a story for her. It went like this;

"''Once, there was a loud pony named Rainbow Dash, who kept asking for a story. A human named Ivan heard her pleas, and decided to make a story for her. It went like this;

"'''Once, there was a loud pegasus named Rainbow Dash, who-'''"

"Alright! We get it!" the main character of the story yells.

Rarity laughs very unladylike, her curled mane bouncing with every exhale. The fillies follow her example, a chorus of laughter echoing from the three of them. Even Fluttershy, whose face is hidden behind her mane in thought of Rainbow, lets out small giggles.

"I don't see what's so funny," Rainbow argues, flustered, "I mean, he didn't even remember all the words right."

"Is that so?" you inquire, smirking at her attempts to belittle your story.

"Yeah! You switched 'pegasus' and 'pony', and 'cries' and 'pleas'. Your story doesn't even have decent consistency to it!"

"Well," you tease, "Maybe you just have bad taste."

Her eyes widen incredulously. "Bad taste? Me!? You're the one who-"

"Calm down, you two." Rarity wipes her eyes, finally in control of herself. "You bicker like an old married couple."

You and Rainbow look at Rarity, then at each other. The implications of what she just said...

"You're right," you say, hugging Rainbow around the shoulders. "We shouldn't fight. Right, Dash?"

She shoves you off of her, trying to hide a smile. "Get off of me, you big oaf."

You chuckle, and so does everyone else. Rainbow gives the cutest blush, lightly punching you in the shoulder.

It's getting rather difficult not to kiss her in public.

You step into the hotel room with Rainbow, closing the door behind you.

"There," you groan sarcastically, securing the lock, "nobody gets in this time."

The blue pegasus giggles, hopping onto the bed. She looks at you expectantly.

You're not sure exactly what she's expecting, but you have an idea. You throw yourself next to her, bouncing the rainbow-maned pony quite a bit.

"Mm," she snuggles up to you after the bouncing has stopped, "you smell like smoke."

"So do you," you chuckle. As you hug her, you feel a tongue slide along your neck. You're not sure if it's a friendship one or sensual one. How do you tell the difference?

You lean towards the side of the bed, right hand feeling its way across the nightstand. All the while, Rainbow has continued to lick you up and down your face and neck.

Your hand comes to the iPod on the flat wooden surface. Grasping it, you bring it up to your chest and begin unraveling the cords wrapped around it.

Rainbow stops licking you when her hoof bumps the metal object. "What's that?"

You're just about done undoing the cords. "It's my iPod."

"I know that." She sits up. "I thought you gave it to Twilight to be smashed."

You smile, sticking earbuds into your ears. "Yeah, well, lucky Fluttershy was there to save the day, huh?"

Rainbow just looks at you, bemused.

You pull out an earbud and hold it out to her. "Uh, wanna listen to some music?"

Hesitantly, she takes the little white object. She puts it up to her ear, but keeps looking back at you in a confused manner.

Finally, "How do you put this on?"

Sighing, you take the earpiece from her. Looking from the earbud to her ear, and back again, you realize that the earbud won't really be able to fit.

"Uh, when the music turns on, I'll just hold it up to your ear. Alright?"

"'Right."

You press the power button, only to find that it's already on.

"Hm." This vexes you slightly; you don't quite know yet how you're going to charge the device, so for now you've settled on conserving battery.

You slide the slider, type in your passcode, and watch the springboard open up. As you search through your apps for the music library, you observe Dash through the corner of your eye.

Her pony jaw hangs open in wonder. You chuckle. "Amazing, isn't it?"

You can tell how awestruck she is just by the fact that she doesn't try to cover up her curiosity. "Yeah... I've never seen magic do something like this."

You look at her. "Magic? No. This is electricity." When she gives a confused look, you continue. "Electricity... Uh, kind of like lightning."

"Wait. So there's lightning in there? How come it doesn't explode?"

"I'm surprised Twilight hasn't explained it to you. She knows, right?" You scratch your head. "Okay, let me explain it this way. The electricity in this iPod is like lightning, just a lot smaller. One of the measurements humans have for electricity is volts. The battery, which stores the electricity, only lets out seven or eight volts. Lightning is somewhere in the... thousands? So what's in here," you tap the screen, "isn't enough to hurt you."

"Could you still get shocked by it? Y'know, if it came through the front part or something?"

You chuckle. "First of all, this 'front part' is called the screen. Second, it would be highly improbable for electricity to jump through glass."

"But suppose it did. What would happen?"

You think on that. "Well, I probably wouldn't feel it. I know that if you stick a nine-volt battery on a sensitive part, your tongue for instance, it tingles at the most."

"Okay..." She's obviously having trouble absorbing this. "So, how do you get lightning to do all," she touches the screen, recoiling upon accidentally opening the Safari app, "that?"

"To make the screen move?" You press the home button, and return to the springboard. "Personally, I have no idea. You'll have to ask Apple."

"What?"

"Nothing. So, what do you want to listen to?" You open up the music app and start scrolling through your library.

"I dunno. What, you think I can read any of that?"

"Whoops. Forgot." Stupid. You're the only one in Equestria who can read English. "How 'bout this one? Called 'Welcome Home', by Coheed and Cambria."

"Is it good?"

"No, Dash. I just wanna listen to it because it sucks."

She lightly hits your chest. "Don't get smart with me, Ivan."

"Yes, Mother." You tap the screen, and the song starts to play. Absentmindedly, you hold the headphone up to her ear.

...

"Fuck!" She hits your hand away. "What was that!?"

"My music." You pause it. "Why?"

"It was so loud! And I couldn't understand any of what she was saying."

You smirk. "Actually, it's a he. And I thought you would like it."

She rubs the inside of her ear. "And why the hell would I like that?"

"It's the kind of music that a lot of people who were, I dunno, rebels, I guess you could say, liked."

She shakes her head. "Ivan, Ivan. You don't have to be a rebel to be cool. Of course, you wouldn't know that."

"Whatever. So I take it you're not into metal?"

She shakes her head. "If that's what it's called, then no."

"Okay," you scroll to the top of your music list. "How 'bout this one?"

"It better not suck," she says, taking the earbud again.

"I think you'll like it."

...

"Laaaame."

"You listened to it for thirty seconds."

"I don't care. It sounded gay." She glances at the screen. "What was that called, anyway?"

"'Free Bird', by-"

"Yep. Sounds lamer than it did before." She thinks for a moment. "Do you have that one song? The one where you brought out your, uh, guitar?"

You know which one she's talking about. "Oh, you mean 'Time of Your Life.' Yeah, I have it."

"Can you play it?"

"Sure. Just let me find it." You scroll down a bit, coming to the title. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Dash focusing. Maybe she's trying to decipher the words; to be able to recognize the title of the mysterious song from Earth.

You tap the song, keeping your finger on the screen for longer than is necessary so she can accomplish her supposed goal. She scoots into you, which reminds you to hold the earbud for her.

You feel two hooves placed on your hand, pulling it away from you and closer to her. The song begins.

...

As the tune ends, you let your hand hang limp, intending for it to drop onto the bed. Instead, the two blue hooves keep it in place next to their master's ear.

"So," you say, turning to her, "what'd you think?"

"I definitely liked hearing the original." She grins impishly. "Better than the way you played it."

"Ahh..." You roll your eyes.

"But," she continues, snuggling up to you, "it reminds me of our first night."

You think back. Pleasant thoughts come to mind. "Hm, yeah."

The two of you just sit there for a bit, enjoying each other's company. You think about her, how nice she feels with her body pressed against yours, and turn to her.

Normally, it's the other way around; tonight however, you decide to take the initiative, and lick her neck.

The first thing that comes to mind? "Fuck, that's grody."

You don't let yourself voice that thought, but the taste of ash, sand and sea salt doesn't bode well with you. So, you move to her lips instead. As soon as your lips touch, she opens up, practically swallowing your face, and vigorously assaulting your mouth with her tongue.

Mm. Smores. Much better.

Through the kissing, you feel hot breaths escaping her nostrils, brushing off your nose and cheeks. You slide a hand behind her neck, pulling her in as much as room allows. She wraps two hooves around your ribs, pulling herself into you until she melds with your body. You take your free hand and slowly slide it down the curve of her back, until it reaches a particular curve and-

Knock knock knock!

The loud rapping at the door startles you both. You groan.

"Every goddamn single time..."

Rainbow stands up, hopping off the bed and trotting towards the door. From the way she steps, you can tell that she's not happy either, and is likely to give the unfortunate soul who's behind the door a piece of her mind.

She whips open the door, and you smile. It's time to hear somepony get chewed out. Too bad Rainbow's in the way; you would've like to see their face.

Rainbow says something. You can hear a childlike voice answer in reply, but can't really make out who it is.

Rainbow moves aside. A little purple-maned, orange pegasus steps through the doorway.

Aw, come on...

"Hey, Scootaloo," you greet, trying to mask your annoyance, "What are you doing here?"

She looks down, as if afraid to admit something. "I... Rainbow's stories were pretty scary... and I just didn't feel that safe with Fluttershy and Applebloom."

You look at Rainbow, who shrugs. She looks empathetic, slightly guilty even.

You sigh. "Alright. Make yourself comfortable. You'll be sleeping in," you point to the other bed, "that bed."

Her eyes widen. "You mean, by myself?"

Rainbow wraps a hoof around her. "Of course not, squirt. You can bunk with me, alright?"

What?

You shoot Rainbow another glare, to which she shrugs again. "Sorry," she seems to say.

You groan, stepping off the bed and heading into the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower."

"I'll take one in the morning," Rainbow says, an apologetic tone to her voice. You take a last look at her and sigh, before heading into the tiled wonder.

The first thing you realize when you step out of the steamy bathroom is that the lights are off. Or, more accurately, the lamps.

You blow out the candles in the bathroom, and wait for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. The enchantment they put on those candles was a bit too strong, you decide, because it's taking you awhile to see anything.

Finally, you can make out vague objects in the room. You take a few steps, cautiously avoiding the luggage by the door, then make your way to the space with the beds.

You can now see a bit better. That, and the moonlight coming in through the window help you notice the forms of Rainbow and Scootaloo under the covers. Rainbow has a foreleg draped around Scoots, and the little orange pegasus looks to be the happiest filly in the world.

Smiling now, you slip under the covers of your own bed. You look across the room to the girls, and figure that one night in your own bed is almost worth it for this.

"'Night girls. See ya tomorrow," you whisper, then let yourself fall into the warm embrace of slumber.

Author's Note

Hooray for sappy endings

Once again, for my editor, who spent hours working before proofreading this chapter and still managed to do a good job: hwrogers.

I promise next chapter will have more beach time. And not-completely-forced sensual parts.