The Grand Galloping Gala’s bright lights spilled onto the outside balcony, where Rarity and Starlight Glimmer were staring out at the landscape of Equestria below them.
“Oh, thank Celestia we managed to get away from Prince Blueblood,” Rarity breathed, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. “Did you see how forward he was with his requests? Before, he was so stiff and formal, and now he reverses the act?”
“Are all the nobility like that?” Starlight Glimmer asked, straightening her turquoise dress and adjusting the drooping spiral her mane made. “So stuck-up and stiff?”
“Well, I... I suppose,” Rarity admitted. “It might be bred into them or something. I can start to see why Noble Blade doesn't like them.”
“He's nobility himself,” Starlight pointed out. “His aunt is Princess Cadence. What room does he have to point out flaws in them?”
“He has more room than most others, Starlight. Keep in mind, he's part of them and knows everything about them that makes them tick. He can find detestable parts about them, you know.”
“Noble Blade?” came a voice. “Who in Equestria is Noble Blade?”
Rarity gave a sharp inhale of breath. “Oh, dear Celestia,” she moaned.
Prince Blueblood emerged from the shadows behind an outside pillar, and his sudden appearance made Starlight gasp. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“What I'd like to know, Rarity, is who is this Noble Blade?” Blueblood asked, coming further into the light. “The nephew of Cadence? What utter nonsense! Surely I would have heard about him by now!”
“Noble Blade is none of your business,” Rarity spat.
“So why is he part of yours?” Blueblood asked nastily. “A boyfriend of yours, perhaps? If he is, you must bear in mind that the influence I wield in Canterlot is extensive enough to... remove him from the board. It would be best to simply drop the fiction that he loves you.”
“Absolutely not! He has found somepony perfect for him alone!”
“Ah, so he is real,” Blueblood pondered. “If this Noble Blade is truly as good as you say he is, then where is he at tonight’s Gala? Nuzzling against his mother's teat?”
Rarity lit her horn dangerously. “Say one more word, Blueblood, and you will regret it.”
Blueblood immobilized her with his own magic, freezing her fearful expression. “I will say the same thing to you, miss Rarity.” He softened his expression. “Hold still now, and allow me to show you all the love I still have for you, no matter what you may have put me through.”
Starlight placed herself between the prince and Rarity. “Don't you lay a hoof on her.”
A shadow dropped from the ceiling behind the prince.
“Or what?” he sneered.
Before either of them could answer, the shadow had clamped his hoof over the prince’s mouth and had dragged him back so none of his hooves touched the floor.
“Or else,” the shadow snarled, “I’ll slice your mane off and feed it to you strand by strand!”
“Mmm!” the prince cried with wide eyes and flailing hooves. His magic cut off, and Rarity was released from his magic grasp. She stared at the shadow that held the prince captive.
“Get inside,” the shadow snarled.
Hiking up her dress, Rarity sped off into the Gala dance hall, followed by Starlight.
“Hold still,” he hissed, “and I won't use the Black Blade I have.”
Blueblood understood nothing of malevolent weapons molded from the volcanoes of Tartarus, but his thrashing stopped somewhat. The threat seemed dangerous.
“Do you know who I am?” the shadow growled in his ear.
Blueblood shook his head no fearfully.
The shadow paused, considering if he should use his own name and risk Blueblood’s exposure to yet another Guardian of the Sun. Then he happened upon an idea. Smiling under the mask he wore, he said, “I am Noble Blade.”
Blueblood started to shiver in fright as his eyes slid up to try to get a better view of him.
“Let's get something straight here, friend,” Freedom Fighter snarled. “Those ponies are mine to protect and mine to serve. Make. No. Mistake. I won't even bother warning you next time. I'll just break your neck. I'll step on your throat and crack your vertebrae.”
“Mmm! Mmm!” the prince struggled under his grip indignantly.
“Careful there, Prince Freshblood,” Freedom Fighter hissed. “My knife thirsts for a target tonight. Make yourself available, by all means.”
His struggling ceased.
“And you won't dare speak about this to anypony else. Who would believe you?” He tightened his grip on his mouth and throat. “The nephew of Cadence held you at the point of death? Preposterous. You'd be counted as mad among your friends, and then where will your prestige be?”
Blueblood’s breathing was slower now.
“So let me tell you, right now, Blueblood, that Rarity is now watching you, and Faust is watching you, and, more to the point, I'm watching you. The instant you step within a kilometer of Rarity, or Twilight, or any of the Elements of Harmony, I'll saw your insides open.”
Blueblood nodded emphatically and fearfully.
“Fear me, Prince Blueblood. I've got you by the balls. You are mine, and if you need a reminder, I'll show you.”
And he released him. Blueblood stumbled and then turned around to catch his oppressor, but the shadowy warrior had melted into the shadow realm from whence he came.
After only one more furtive glance around, and a desperate massage of his throat, Blueblood stumbled back into the dance hall and headed as fast as he could in the opposite direction Rarity went.
And from behind the doors to the balcony, Freedom Fighter took several deep breaths of malicious laughter. “Oh, that was fun.”
He rotated his head to the side. “Don't you think Noble will be mad when he hears out about this?”
“What Noble Blade doesn't know won't harm him,” he responded, swiveling his head to the other side. “I did him a favor. Now Blueblood will fear him and won't get involved.”
“Mewling coward,” he agreed, craning his head to peek inside the dance hall. “The son of a whorse would probably--” He stopped abruptly as he spotted something inside.
The dance hall had a raised podium at one end, and on it, playing the cello for a small orchestra, was none other than Octavia Melody.
“What do you see?” Freedom Fighter asked himself.
“Don't you see her?”
“Octavia Melody?”
“No, the idiot kneading the piano keys.”
“Oh, I see. The piano isn't tuned.”
Freedom Fighter beat himself in the head with his left hoof, reeling him backward. “Idiot! Octavia Melody!”
Freedom Fighter squinted across the hall at the raised podium. There she was, filling the hall with the deep notes of the cello, oblivious to anything else. He noticed the contented smile on her face, and the regal posture of her seat.
But the thing he noticed most of all was the dazzling white unicorn sitting alone in a folding chair at the base of the podium, with wild blue hair and electric green shades. Her periwinkle blue dress shone with every jostle of her legs, and she was listening to some of her own music with large wireless headphones.
Vinyl Scratch was here.
The Grand Galloping Gala was boring.
After the initial shock of the nobles, it was actually monotonous. He had left Celestia at the refreshment table, patted the top of Spike’s head as he loaded his plate with little sandwiches, and slumped down at a nearby table with a half cup of soda in his hoof.
Noble Blade and Fluttershy had come back from the gardens by now and were at a table three rows down. There never seemed to be a time that one of them would tilt their head all of a sudden and kiss the other for no particular reason at all.
Firestorm's boredom had led to annoyance, at the prettied-up nobility that still looked awful no matter what they did, at Celestia for making him come, at the drink for being lukewarm. He slammed it on the table and twisted around so he was facing outward. “Does anypony have any glass bottles they can hit me upside the head with?” he asked nopony in particular.
Disappointed that nopony responded, he moaned to himself and pressed his hooves into his eyes. “Give me somepony to talk to, please! I can't talk to myself! I need an audience!”
Still, nopony answered.
“Find me somepony to love,” he sang under his breath. He hit the back of his neck, and his voice changed. “All by maaaseeeelf…”
“What are you doing?”
Firestorm whirled around so fast he cracked his sore neck. It was a fanciable mare with a charcoal dress and gleaming white pearls on her thin green neck.
“Don't worry about me,” he reassured her. “Just changing stations.” He slapped himself on the back of the neck again. “Ah! Ai just doiid in yer ahrms tonight!... Musta been sumthin ya said…”
“You're weird,” she simply said, and walked away.
“Ai shouuulda waaalked away!” Firestorm called out to her as she left. “I shoulda walked away!”
Firestorm didn't admit it to himself--not out loud--but those two words she had said so dismissively made his stomach ping uncomfortably. You're weird.
Well, yeah. Maybe he was. So what? It didn't give her the right to call him out on it.
A lot of ponies had said it to him as he went through life. Firestorm would like to admit that they didn't bother him anymore, but the truth was, they still did. Every disdainful eye that narrowed and every wrinkled nose and every sneer on the lips as they said it to try to knock him down a peg or two.
He wanted to forget the declaration everyone else made that just didn't matter, but it just kept coming back to him at inconvenient spots throughout his life, like right before he went to sleep at night, or before he peed, and so he would stand there on his hind legs in the bathroom and reflect on the cruelty and thoughtlessness of other ponies as he peed into the toilet. Sometimes when he was in a really vindictive mood he'd imagine he was peeing on the carpet of a really rude pony to get back at him.
Man, they were right. He really was weird.
Firestorm boredly inclined his head at the ponies he recognized. There was Pinkie, in a poofy turquoise dress, bouncing among the assembled patrons and asking them if they were having fun, before bouncing off with more squeaks and asking the next pair if they were having fun.
Applejack was inside as well, slyly swapping out the treats at the refreshment table with apple-themed desserts of her own for the next pony to pick up. Her green dress seemed to sparkle the same color as her eyes whenever she moved. He spotted the adorkable princess Twilight by Celestia’s side, looking antsy for the night to end, for whatever reason.
Firestorm took one more revolution of the room, trying to find Rainbow Dash.
And it was at the end of the arc that he spotted her touching down as she landed from the open window.
Firestorm’s breath caught in his throat. Her.
At that very instant, the slow chords of a slow song began, and ponies began to double up and take to the floor as the long notes of the cello struck against his pointed ears.
Rainbow Dash made eye contact with him.
Neither of them really did anything. Not at first.
But Firestorm numbly felt his body rise from his seat and flap gently over to her like a puppet. Rainbow Dash kept her eyes on him as he drew closer.
As he came in front of her, he gently landed. Then, cocking his head to the center of the dance floor, he wordlessly extended his hoof to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash froze, her mouth open a little. She had entered through the window with the intention to ask Firestorm to dance. But he had taken the initiative without her help?
“Shoot, I should have said something,” Firestorm admitted. “You... wanna dance? Or something?”
Gulping something down, Rainbow Dash nodded and held out her hoof.
Grinning from ear to ear, Firestorm took her hoof and led her to the dance floor. The song was still going by the time they reached a spot to dance, and as the notes dipped in an indication of increasing tempo, Firestorm and Rainbow Dash reared on their hind legs and put their hooves on each other’s shoulders and hips.
“Is this gonna be boring?” Rainbow asked, looking into Firestorm’s hot yellow eyes. She felt sweat bead up under her dress, and hoped that Firestorm wouldn't feel disgusted. “I, uh... haven't done it with a guy before. At all. Ever.” Rainbow felt humiliation crawling all over her skin like bugs.
Firestorm, however, had a sparkle in his eyes and a knowing smile. “Just follow my lead.”
And as the music increased in tempo, Firestorm slid to the side, easing Rainbow along.
The dance was actually not all that bad. All that she needed to do was move her legs around to a new position every so often. They could have done this dance on a paper plate. Firestorm, however, was able to make such a boring dance exciting enough to make her blood race.
He would slide further than normal when it was time to move. He would swing her around to new positions, forcing her to surrender entirely to his predetermined plans. The movements, while swift, were deft, and Rainbow could not help but admire the grace with which he was able to control her.
It was so strange. Rainbow Dash had never before felt so... feminine. Adrenaline and estrogen were both present in her bloodstream as her crush easily whipped her around the same spot and clouded her mind with thoughts of love.
“You enjoying this?” Firestorm asked her as he slid to the side.
“Yeah!” Rainbow agreed loudly. “You make dancing awesome!”
“You ain't the kind of pony to enjoy something like this,” Firestorm observed shrewdly. “I must be really good at this.”
But Rainbow didn't care if he was the worst dancer in Equestria. Even if he danced like a prepubescent colt, Rainbow was in such close proximity with him that she didn't care about the dance.
Until he said, “Let's spice it up a bit, shall we?”
And he dipped her.
The sudden drop made a lightning bolt sizzle from her rectum to her spine, and she was hanging just above the ground, supported only by Firestorm’s hoof. It made her breath catch in her throat and made her gaze up into the stallion’s sparkling eyes.
“This dance just got 20% cooler,” he observed.
Rainbow, still suspended only by his hoof, nodded in agreement.
Firestorm pulled her up and spun her so her back was against his chest, surprising her yet again. She was touching him, the whole of his chest against the whole of her back! It made her legs wobbly, her stomach heave.
Firestorm then twirled her away from him, but Rainbow was stopped abruptly from the spin as she reached the end of the arc. He then reversed the motion, and Rainbow twirled back in the opposite direction to gently slam into his chest.
She looked up almost imploringly at his face. Her heart was already hammering against her chest at the sudden moves, and she didn't even have to try anything in the dance in order to feel this way. Having another pony make you have so much fun like that was a privilege she had missed out on her whole life.
Firestorm then put his hooves on her waist and picked her off the ground like she was no more than a puppy, then spun around, making her twirl in an orbit around him. Settling her down on the ground again, he raised both of their hooves above their heads and maneuvered Rainbow through the tunnel he had made. Then he reversed the motion and all too soon she was back where she had started.
Rainbow was breathing hard. No need for her to exert herself anymore. All that was needed was to trust the amazing stallion holding her to do the right thing with her. It was scary but magical to do, and it made her feel weightless and as free as she felt in the air.
However, she was sweating hard underneath her white dress, and it clung to her in embarrassing spots. Her mane was shaken loose, her skin was slippery, she felt like she was baking alive.
“You don't look so good,” Firestorm said. “Need a break?”
“NO!” Rainbow insisted, pressing a hoof to his lip. She had touched his lip! “No, I wanna keep dancing.”
He grinned. “Okedoke.” Firestorm removed her hoof from his lip and used it to direct her to the nearest window, tall and stained with vibrant color.
“Uh, Stormy?” Rainbow asked. She congratulated herself for using the nickname. “What are you doing?”
Firestorm looked almost beatific as he spread his wings. “You looked like the hottest thing in the room, Rainbow. I simply thought we'd go somewhere a bit... cooler for a hot pony like you to dance with me.”
Rainbow adopted an expression of confusion to hide the jolt in her stomach that came as he called her hot! “What dija have in mind?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
He spread his wings. “Fly into the night with me, Rainbow. Soar with me, where the only music we need is the deep beats of our hearts and the wind whistling in our ears. Where we can look up and see the sparkle of stars against the waters of night.” He went through the window doors and hopped onto the balcony, then looked behind him adorably. “Please?”
“YES!” Rainbow exclaimed giddily, pressing her forehead against his. Realizing how close she was, she withdrew her head and scratched her mane embarrassingly. “I-I mean I could use a bit of fresh air.”
Firestorm flapped into the air. “Race you!” he cried, and sped off.
Rainbow spread her own wings. “You’re on!” she cried to the small form speeding away, and launched in a prismatic stream off the balcony.
The small, black, spiny bug had spotted the two ponies fly away from the balcony of the castle. What in Equestria were they doing? Who would just up and leave in the middle of a dance?
He was on the side of the castle. He had managed to slip ahead of the looming, mysterious creature by scrambling on the sheer face of the cliff wall that the road leading up to the castle was on.
He had sped ahead of the creature by scuttling vertically on the cliff, and had latched on to the foundation of the castle that was built into the rock. He had scrambled up the curving basin of Canterlot Castle and was even now directly beneath another jutting balcony, watching the rainbow streak and the fire streak zip up unnoticed into the night.
The Nox used his six spiny legs to scramble his way onto the balcony bannister. Then he jumped onto the ceiling and shot into the vaulting overhead of the Grand Hall.
One of the Noxxa was now inside Canterlot.
Freedom Fighter slipped behind yet another pillar, trying to avoid detection by anyone trying to scope him out. Vinyl Scratch was still sitting there on her folding chair, a plate of food in her lap, while two unfamiliar ponies were chatting with her.
“You really came to the Gala but you're not dancing?” one of them was asking. “Colgate and I just wanted to know if you’ve made any other friends apart from Octavia.”
“Lyra Heartstrings talked with me and Lemon Hearts here and she wanted to know how you were doing. Did you meet somepony?” the one called Colgate asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Vinyl Scratch answered. “Yeah, I've met a guy.”
“What’s he like?” Lemon Hearts asked.
“Well, he's real. I can tell ya that. He’s got, you know, a body, and stuff. He's got the eyes, and a nose, and a mouth? Ohoho, he's got a mouth, all right.”
“And teeth, and a tongue as well,” Lemon Hearts said boredly. “We know.”
Vinyl Scratch slowly nodded up and down with a smile that showed her molars. “A tongue. Yeah. I guess.”
“Rrrriiight,” Colgate slowly said. “What does he look like?”
“Looks like?” Vinyl Scratch laughed nervously. “Well, uh, hehe, he looks like... a pony. Just like a normal pony. He's big. Really big.”
“What does he sound like?” Lemon Hearts skeptically asked.
“He sounds like... well, um... when I first met him, he was quiet. Really quiet.” Vinyl put on a fake smile. After a moment she elaborated. “He's got this voice. Well, two voices. That he tells me he has.”
Lemon Hearts traded looks with Colgate.
“No, no, no, stay with me! He speaks. You know, words! That come through his mind! And they get said out loud!”
“Be serious with us, Vinyl,” Colgate said chidingly. “You don't have to pretend your imaginary friend is real.”
“No! No, Colgate, he's real! I can explain--”
“That might take up more time than we’re willing to spend,” Lemon Hearts pointed out. “If you can show us what he looks like, then we can talk about him again. But until then, we’ll just drop the issue. It's making you uncomfortable.” With an about-face, Lemon Hearts and Colgate went away to hit the dance floor.
That left Vinyl sitting in her little chair, her plate of food drooping pathetically in her lap. “He is real…”
Freedom Fighter overheard all of it. He had restrained the urge to hop out and show himself to those two friends of hers, because who else really needed to know? Freedom Fighter knew it would accomplish nothing but instill distrust among her friends because of her knowledge of him.
So he waited until they had left, then said, “I don't think you have a way with words.”
Vinyl Scratch spun around quickly, and when she saw him, she swept the green glasses off her face in joy. “Hey, dude! How ya doing!”
“How am I doing?” he asked, coming to her side and dropping into a cross-legged position. “I just went through some really harmful stuff and made those I cared about experience it. So I'm doing well. Nothing at all wrong about me.”
Vinyl Scratch frowned at the corner of her mouth. “Ah. Sarcasm. That's new.”
“The other guys in my head thought it was the time to use it,” he replied automatically. “What are you doing here? I wouldn't think you'd enjoy this kind of party. I thought you liked epileptic colors and chest-rattling thumps of music.”
“You got that right, I guess.”
“So what are you doing here? Did Octavia pressure you to go?”
“Naw,” Vinyl mumbled. “Truth be told... I asked her.”
Freedom Fighter managed to contort his eyes into an expression of confusion. “What made you decide?”
Vinyl fiddled with the glasses in her magic aura. “You.”
“What did I do?” he asked plaintively.
“You told me you'd be there,” Vinyl explained. “And when I heard that you'd be at the Gala... I dunno, man. It made me feel like I had to go as well.”
Freedom Fighter felt a jolt in his stomach. He hadn't eaten any bad food recently, had he? “Well, I'm here now. What have you been doing?”
“Waiting for you to show up,” she said. Freedom Fighter had to strain his ears to hear it. “I wanted to give you something. In exchange for giving me my new glasses.”
“What is it?”
Vinyl looked less sure of herself. “It’s nothing, really... It’s actually kinda stupid…”
“I'm used to stupid,” Freedom Fighter pointed out, thinking of Firestorm. “Come on, tell me.”
Vinyl Scratch hesitantly pulled out a small, electric-blue tape with deep pink highlights. “This is a little bit of the music me and Tavi produced together. We tried to make it work as a collab. We even got a few ponies with piano and harp skills for a few songs. We thought it’d be pretty cool to sell it. We, um, didn't get contracted, though. The guys in charge didn't think it would be very interesting.”
“And you want... me? To have a copy of unreleased music?”
Vinyl Scratch looked extremely uncomfortable. “Like I said, it's a little stupid. You don't have to take it if you don't want to, I just thought that it might--”
“That’s so awesome.”
Vinyl Scratch broke off. “What?”
“You gave me more than anypony else in Ponyville has,” he said, taking the blue tape and examining the little rectangle. “I’ll gladly take this.”
“Because something’s better than nothing? Right?”
“No, Vinyl. I’d take this... because you're the one offering it. I'll cherish it... because it came from you.”
Vinyl Scratch ignited her cheeks in scarlet and smiled at the ground. “Th-thanks, man. You're the best.”
Freedom Fighter felt something he almost forgot the feeling of. It was a tightening in his chest, a blockage of the throat. He didn't instantly recognize that particular feeling, and he shoved aside his attempts to identify it by speaking through his thoughts. “So what can we do now?”
Vinyl shrugged. “I dunno. I'm an introvert. I’m not one for the slow dancing. And I don't think you are either.”
Freedom Fighter leaned in closer to her seat, still sitting cross-legged. “Can we both sit down here and be introverts together?”
Vinyl smiled shyly. “Sure, dude. I think... I’d like that.”
Miles above Canterlot, the sky was fresh and clear enough to see leagues in every direction. Below Rainbow Dash was the castle of Canterlot and the mountain it was on, and sinking away from the base of the mountain were the fields and surrounding grasslands that supplied the capital city. If she craned her head enough, she could even see Ponyville’s faint lights.
If she looked up, however, she could lose herself in the swirl of the endless night sky. Stars sparkled in the nighttime canvas like the sparkle in Firestorm's black pupil. Not a cloud in the sky was present to obscure her vision.
Turning upside down in the air, the endless sky was suddenly below her, and she felt like if she stopped flapping her wings she’d fall into the endless starry abyss beneath. It was scary and mesmerizing at the same time. It was the first time Rainbow Dash could remember flying like that at night.
“Hey, Dashie!” came Firestorm’s call. Rainbow instantly directed her attention to his position. Mirroring her was Firestorm, so close that they could reach out and hold hooves if they really wanted to. “That looks exhilarating! Imma try that!” He instantly flipped on his back and stared down at the black sea below him, sparkling with the stars. “Whoooah! This is cool!”
“Wanna try a flip?” Rainbow Dash called out to him.
“You're wearing a dress,” Firestorm pointed out. “Unless you want me to see something rather private--”
Rainbow Dash’s cheeks erupted in flame, and she almost dropped in altitude. “Dgah, good point.”
And so Rainbow Dash was content to simply fly by Firestorm’s side, circling higher and higher in the air and making Canterlot Castle shrink beneath her. The air was crisp and made her lungs sizzle with cold whenever she inhaled. The stars, now above her once more, seemed closer than ever.
Eventually, though, even the best of pegasi tire from ascending higher in the air. Rainbow Dash felt this weariness coming on her now, and it made her double over in the air and wheeze for breath.
“I'll try to find a cloud to rest on,” Firestorm offered. “You can circle around and find any spare bits of altostratus. I'll be back!”
And he sped off in the east, becoming a small speck of orange the further he went.
It was strangely relaxing for Freedom Fighter to be sitting there, in the corner of the room near the musician’s dais, with Vinyl Scratch. It even felt better than talking with Noble Blade or Firestorm, because he already knew everything about them. It was even better than talking with himself, because sometimes even he didn't know everything about himself.
But trying to know Vinyl Scratch... it made his chest press down on itself and his breath catch in his throat. It was a good thing he didn't use his mouth to talk.
“I've been with Tavi since we finished college together,” Vinyl was saying. She adjusted her electric green shades. “We just stuck together and tried to promote ourselves. Tavi’s got a job in the orchestra here, and I’ve got a few dance rooms in Manehattan and Canterlot. But Ponyville’s our home sweet home.”
“I wonder…” Freedom Fighter thought.
“You wonder what?” Vinyl asked.
“Sorry. Just thinking aloud here.”
“Yo. That's all you ever do.”
He doubled over, trying to not use his throat to laugh. “That’s a good point,” he conceded. Then he put his hoof on his chin. “Is Tavi your... well... special somepony?”
Vinyl lowered the green shades off her muzzle so her eyes were looking over the rim. “You really think my door swings that way?”
“Well, I don't know,” Freedom Fighter admitted, with a hint of frustration. “It just seems like you do. You've been with her since college. You live with her in the same house. The two of you seem closer than any other two ponies I know of.”
“Hmm,” Vinyl hummed. “I suppose. But naw. We’re just roomies b’cause the housing market in Ponyville's brutal.”
“That explains why I had to stay in Twilight’s castle,” Freedom Fighter mused.
“Tavi ain’t my special somepony, Fight. I've got somepony, um...much more interesting to get with.” She fiddled with the end of her glasses and wiped a lens with a hoof and the edge of her periwinkle-blue dress. “And how about you?” she asked when she was done. “Any mares you've... got an eye on?” She straightened in her seat and smoothed out her dress.
“Me?” Freedom Fighter was hit with memories of all the ponies he had momentarily been attracted to. ”I've had crushes before. But I know it’s all unrequited.” He swished his exposed black tail on the hardwood floor behind him. “I can’t imagine anypony having a crush on me, Vinyl. I can’t imagine other ponies getting butterflies in their stomach just by me saying hi to them. Or somepony not falling asleep because they’re thinking of me. Why would they do that? I’m just not that kind of guy that other ponies would... find attractive.”
“C’mon, man,” Vinyl said with a smile. “There’s gotta be somepony.”
“No, Vinyl. Look, there’s something about me... that makes it hard for me to get a girlfriend.”
“Ooohhh,” Vinyl said slowly, understandably. “Does it have anything to do with your suit?”
“Clever girl…” Freedom Fighter muttered.
“You don't think you’ll be attractive enough for a mare to love,” Vinyl stated matter-of-factly. “And that's why you wear that thing.”
“I wear this thing because I don't want them to be running away in fear,” Freedom Fighter corrected. “And because my identity needs to be kept secret.”
“What kind of identity?” Vinyl asked.
“A secret identity,” Freedom Fighter snarled suddenly. He saw Vinyl flinch and lower her head, and he instantly felt a pang of guilt. “Sorry, I just... it’s important that I never show who I am to my enemies.”
“Am I your enemy?” Vinyl quietly asked.
The question tore into him like the sting of a whip. His back prickled uncomfortably. “No, no, Vinyl. Don't look at it like that.”
“Can I take a look?” she asked.
“No,” he instantly shot back.
“You're good enough for me to take a look,” Vinyl said quietly. “I just thought... since we’re friends now... you might allow me to see who you truly are.”
Freedom Fighter stomped the ground angrily in thought and rubbed his hoof around the rim of the crater he had made. “I don't want to do this,” he muttered angrily. The anger was not at Vinyl, and not even at himself, but at fate for making him scarred and beaten and unapproachable. “If I show you, you’ll just insist I wear this thing all the time.”
“You wear it all the time anyway,” Vinyl pointed out.
Freedom Fighter fell silent. He turned to face her, and there was an alarming look of resignation in his eyes. “Come with me.”
Vinyl Scratch followed him off the ground and into a nearby corridor. Once they reached the end of the dark corridor, they slipped off to the side and out of eyesight of the ponies in the main room.
“You want to see me,” he said sadly. “I will give you this privilege. But when you see my face, don’t scream.” He undid the clasps holding his armored hood to his bodysuit.
Vinyl leaned forward, paying close attention to his every action.
Once the clasps were undone, he grabbed the back of it and pulled forward. The mask he wore was now in his right hoof, and Vinyl Scratch now saw his pale yellow face.
She recoiled, of course. That was a normal reaction. But after her initial moment of shock, she leaned forward again to count the number of scratches in his face, her mouth open in worry. She easily counted the three most distinguished ones over his eye and cheek and jaw, but the rest of the cuts were harder to make out.
Freedom Fighter was stiff with dreary anxiety, waiting for some reaction out of her.
“Oh, my dude…” she whispered. “You look…”
“I know what I look like,” Freedom Fighter instantly responded. His lips did not move. “You don't need to bother pointing it out.”
“You look like you went through a lot,” was what she said at last. She reached out with a hoof. “And you’re still here to talk about it…”
“Not... talk, exactly,” Freedom Fighter sheepishly said. The response wasn’t anything at all like he had expected.
She had placed a hoof on his face. She was caressing his cheek, right down a major scar line. It made him cease his thought process instantly.
“What happened to you?” she whispered. “Why do ponies hate you?”
“They don’t,” he said. “But if I showed them this, they would.”
“I don’t hate you,” she whispered. “You're the strongest guy I know. You’re so resilient.”
Freedom Fighter allowed her to trace the lines of his scars. Wherever her hoof went, it seemed to cool down his skin and sew the scars back together. Eventually, her hoof had covered every inch of his face, and she now was gazing softly into his own eyes.
“Now I know you better than ever. It’s like me and the glasses. You saw my own eyes. Those red eyes. You know me better because of that, right?”
Freedom Fighter admitted that she had a point there.
She put her arms around his shoulders and drew him into a hug. Her head was directly next to his. Freedom Fighter felt stiff in the hug that had nothing to do with the normal bodysuit he wore.
The moment was broken, however, by the clop of hooves down the hallway. “Oh, Vy? I'm on break for now. I saw you come in here with Freedom, and I--” Octavia Melody’s voice broke off abruptly as she came to the end of the hall and turned her head to see Freedom Fighter’s face inches away from Vinyl Scratch’s.
Freedom Fighter tried to fiddle his way away from Vinyl’s grasp, but it was too late now. Octavia had seen him.
“Goodness gracious!” she exclaimed in shock, and ran--not away from him, but towards him, to Freedom Fighter’s immense surprise. “What happened to you? Are you all right? Freedom! Tell me!”
“Tavi! He’s fine!” Vinyl cried, pushing the mare’s face away. “Look, it all happened a long time ago!”
Freedom Fighter adopted a nervous grin at the statement. It only seemed to creep out Octavia, however, who shuffled back. “But... how did it happen?”
“You want to know how I got these scars?” Freedom Fighter demanded. Seeing Octavia’s nod, he blinked something back and drooped his head. “I was in captivity,” he admitted softly. It felt wrong to be disclosing information to anypony about himself--especially a few mares he knew almost nothing about--but at the same time it felt like a great crushing weight was being taken off his chest.
“Oh, I simply can't bear the thought!” Octavia bemoaned. “One of my friends, beaten like an animal! How dare they!”
Freedom Fighter recoiled his head. That was something he hadn’t expected. He had expected expressions of fright, and tears, and false sympathy, but this? It was like the mare wanted to be around him after he had shown her who he truly was.
And then he reflected; so did the rest of the girls. They had been more careful around him since he had showed them his skin, but the only reason why was because they simply wanted to be extra sensitive, not because they didn't want to be around him. The only reason why Freedom Fighter hadn't seen them near him was because it was he who had separated himself from the group, not the group shunning him.
“Come on, man,” Vinyl Scratch muttered. “Who was it that did this? Was it changelings?”
“The changelings are nice now,” Octavia pointed out.
“This happened before the changelings turned nice,” Vinyl pointed out. “Who's the ugly little guy that dared lay a hoof on ya?”
“It was…” Freedom Fighter paused. “It was the Noxxa.”
“The what now?” Octavia asked, tilting her head to the side.
“The changelings are nothing, nothing, compared to the Noxxa,” Freedom Fighter said lowly. “Changelings only want love. Noxxa want to watch the planet burn. Changelings feed off love. Noxxa feed on flesh--pony when they can get it. And changelings had the capacity to be reformed. But the Noxxa came from Tartarus itself. They are irredeemable. They want to stop at nothing to tear this loving world into a land of fire and rotting meat.”
“That sounds dreadful!” Octavia moaned. “Where are they now?”
“Across the continent and south of Saddle Arabia,” Freedom Fighter replied. “I shudder to think of what would happen should even one of them infiltrate Equestria.”
“Octavia! Yoo hoo!” trilled a voice from the front of the side tunnel. “The band is ready to play again.”
“I have to depart,” Octavia said sadly. “I’m glad to have the privilege of knowing you.” And she trotted off in the tunnel and disappeared.
Vinyl Scratch looked at Freedom Fighter.
“Go on,” he said.
“Whadda ya mean?”
“Are you going to say anything more?”
“What else do I need to say?”
“Oh, Vinyl,” he said all of a sudden. “I'm glad to have confided in you.”
“I'm just glad I get to know you,” Vinyl said in return. She straightened the shoulder strap of her periwinkle blue dress and tucked a lock of her blue mane behind her ear.
For only a few more moments they stood there, unsure to look the other in the eye.
“I gotta go check the soundboard,” Vinyl finally said. “It was pretty great seeing you this time around, Freedom.” She moved away from the small corridor and turned away from him. “See ya later, man. Enjoy the music I gave ya!”
And she trotted away.
Freedom Fighter lingered his gaze on her retreating form until she turned a corner to go backstage and she disappeared.
He smiled--a real, genuine smile--and put his cowl back on. “See you later... Vinyl Scratch.”
The moon was bright and full, the night surrounding it black and voiding. From the vantage that Firestorm and Rainbow Dash had, the moon loomed impossibly large above them.
They were on a single cloud, only slightly bigger than the two of them. Both of them were swinging their legs out over the edge, using their forelegs to wrap around each other’s shoulders. The moon illuminated the cloud like a spotlight.
“So.” Firestorm rubbed her shoulder. “Rainbow Dash likes dancing. Who would have thought?”
“I only like dancing when it’s with you,” she responded, relaxing her shoulders to make it easier for him to knead the muscle there.
“What?” Firestorm asked. “You're acting like I'm actually good at something.”
“Of course you're good at things!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “You're good at flying, and dancing, and--” she stopped talking and moaned as he pressed on a particularly sore spot in her arm. “And you're good at that, too.”
He giggled like a filly and covered his mouth with a hoof. “D’aw, stop it, you!” He then leaned in close so he could whisper. “Don’t stop!” he hissed.
“Ooohhh,” she said knowingly. “Okay, then! I see how it is! Well then, mister, I say you have to give three attributes about me before I continue!”
“You're awesome. You're awesome. You're awesome.”
“No fair! Something real!” Rainbow Dash kept to herself that hearing him say that she was awesome actually meant the world to her.
“All right, then,” he said simply. His hoof moved to play with the end of her mane. “You're patient. I've noticed that you manage to put up with me and Pinkie. And to a lesser extent, Twilight. Point is, you can stay with ponies you don't always like.”
“But...I do like you,” she breathed.
“Hm?”
“Uh, nothing! I wanna hear more awesome stuff about me. Come on, Stormy. Hustle here!”
“Of course, your worshipfulness,” he said with a jaunty grin. He twirled the end of her mane. “Second thing. You're social. You can make and stay friends with anypony you meet. Like with me, when we first met after I single-hoofedly rescued Twilight from the Noxxa. You managed to actually make friends with me! That in itself is worthy of a badge of honor.”
“Okay, first of all, it was easy to make friends with you. Second, you didn't single-hoofedly rescue Twilight. It was all three of you!”
“Shh,” he hurriedly said, bringing his head in closer to hers. “That's what they want you to think.”
He twisted his body to face her slightly, and Rainbow responded by facing him as well.
“Third of all…” he murmured. His eyes traveled from her face to her shining white dress, to her hips, to her shoulders, to her shining, prismatic mane laced with color and jagged ends, and back to her face again. “You’re pretty.”
“Dgah, um... p-pretty?” she asked, her color rising with every moment.
“I-I mean, hot!” he rushed out. “You're hot. You're…” He coughed and ruffled his mane. “You're pretty hot.”
Rainbow Dash’s legs were trembling so hard one of them was bouncing up and down, and she reached out to hold it steady. Her head felt hotter than she remembered it being. This had to be a dream. It was too good for real life.
After that rather awkward remark, Firestorm and Rainbow Dash simply gazed up at the monstrous silver moon.
“Dashie?” Firestorm asked, looking into his lap. “There’s something I gotta... tell you.”
She noticed his shoulders had relaxed, and his voice was halting. Rainbow’s heart lurched against her ribcage.
“Ever since the flying competition, I just wanted you... to be happy.”
Rainbow Dash was hanging on to every word he spoke. This was a potentially groundbreaking thing.
“I just wanted things to be right for both of us. For you to like me. As much as I... like you.”
Like me? Rainbow Dash thought instantly. The thought made her brain sizzle, made goosebumps rise on the back of her neck. It made her shake with anticipation, like she was on the end of the tallest springboard in Equestria.
“I like you, Rainbow.” He scooched up to her side so their arms were rubbing against each other. “As close a friend as can possibly be. And even closer than that. Maybe even…” A small bead of sweat broke on his forehead. “...Further than that. I…” He tapped his hooves together. “I feel closer to you than any of the other girls. The girl I want to spend the most time with. More than anypony else in Equestria. Is you.”
Rainbow Dash was waiting with bated breath, clinging to every word.
“If you’ll forgive me, I need to look away for this part. This is the only way I can say this confidently.” Firestorm finally just gazed up at the moon and sighed deeply. “I love you, Rainbow Dash. I’ll say it here and now, while we’re on top of the world. You are the only pony I want to be with from the beginning of time to the end of all eternity.”
Firestorm loves me.
The very thought was a titanic lurch in her brain as she had to now readjust her mindset of him. Firestorm had gone from a nuisance, to a pony that had saved her life, to a hot hunk of a stallion, to her actual boyfriend.
And then, after the moment of disbelief that what she was hearing was real and not a perfect daydream, she placed a hoof to her furiously pounding heart and broke into a wide, wavering grin.
Firestorm loves me!
Firestorm, for his part, chuckled at the moon and turned to face Rainbow Dash again, holding up his hooves in mock surrender. “Now, I know that sounds... bad-”
Rainbow Dash had fired herself at him and planted her lips on his, forcing his eyes wide open. The kiss had come so quickly, so unexpectedly, that he had no time to react, and stood still like a statue as Rainbow Dash threw her arms around him.
Rainbow noticed this after five seconds of her kiss and broke away, worry creasing her face as she spotted the star-struck look on him. “Aww, shoot,” she said in concern. Her ears drooped under the golden crown she wore. “I came on too strong, did--”
Firestorm pulled her in closer and pressed his own lips against hers, silencing her abruptly. This time it was her turn to bulge her eyes. Then, after only a second, she closed her eyes and pressed back into the kiss with everything she had.
Firestorm fell backward, taking Rainbow with him, and suddenly Rainbow was atop Firestorm, kissing him with all the force she could muster. They sank a little into the puffy cloud like it was the pillow on a royal bed.
After they had their fill, both of them broke away. A small string of saliva was still connected between their lips.
“Where did this madness come from?” Firestorm asked jovially.
Rainbow Dash just pressed her entire torso against his, from shoulder to hip, while keeping her head up. “Doncha get it, ya handsome hunk of a stallion? I just fell for a stud like you!”
Firestorm began to laugh. His chest convulsions made Rainbow jiggle. “Ohoho, this is glorious!” he roared in joy, and threw his hooves around Rainbow, squeezing her even tighter. “I managed to get the hottest girl in Equestria to love me! This is amazing!”
“You feel on top of the world, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked him, grinning like a foal. She gestured out at the wide expanse of space above them. “ ‘Cause that ship has sailed.”
“No, Rainbow!” he cried. “Our ship has only begun to set sail!”
Rainbow Dash gave a confused tilt of her head.
“Relation-ship,” he explained. He leaned his head forward and tapped his nose to hers. “Boop.”
Rainbow Dash flinched backwards adorably. “What was that?”
“I booped you,” Firestorm explained. “That means you’re mine now. If you boop me back, I become yours as well.”
Smiling without even trying to, Rainbow tapped her nose to his. “Boop.”
“And now that the holy booping ritual is complete,” Firestorm said, “we are now officially lovers!”
He leaned up and pressed his lips against hers, and Rainbow Dash melted away any movement and relaxed on top of him.
It was so good, kissing Firestorm. That close to him, she could taste him and smell him and relish it as much as she wanted. She squirmed involuntarily on top of him and pressed back on his lips with a ferocity that surprised her.
Lying on the small cloud, miles above Canterlot and spotlighted by the moon, the two newest lovers in Equestria simply took delight in the revelation that their dreams were all now real. Nothing else mattered to the rainbow and the flame except how to best love the other in so brief a moment that they had together.
It would be one of the only few moments in the tumultuous months to come when they would have such an opportunity.
It was the last perfect moment in all of Equestria before darkness would creep into their lands and threaten to destroy peace forever.
But for now, in this one moment, all was right in the world.