It took a long while for Spitfire to finally come to terms with what she planned to do in less than an hour. In fact, the reality of the subject had not fully sunken in by the time she landed at Dashie’s door- far from it, she seemed even less prepared than a few days ago when she bought the ring, were that even possible. She had less than an hour before she would ask this mare- this beautiful, beautiful mare- to live with her. For as long as they were both alive. Forever.
The more Spitfire thought about it, the more she wanted it to happen- but more so, the more nervous she became.
No biggie, she thought. She had performed in front of thousands of cheering spectators, how hard could proposing to the mare she loved be?
***
It was taking FOREVER for there to be a “right moment”- hell, Spitfire had long ago considered just pulling her to the side and asking her. Dash kept moving back and forth, getting everything “just right”-- for whom, neither pony really knew.
Spitfire had to make herself content with watching Dashie run back and forth, carrying random odds and ends and either filing them away somewhere or tossing them out. It was quite amusing, seeing her tail blur in a rainbow and watching her speed in and out of her room at top speed. The randomness of the junk thrown away was probably worthy of a late night comic routine in Canterlot.
But it still wasn’t right. All the night, the task which Spitfire thought so readily at hand was pushed farther and farther from her mind, and it irritated her.
Spitfire sighed, turning around and staring at the box in her hands. This really was gonna be a hell of a tough night to get over with. At least the audiences she performed for paid attention.
There was one thing to say for this disturbed loneliness- if she tuned out Dashie’s antics just right, it was possible to hear herself think; A fact she decided to utilize to its full extent to contemplate what she was going to say.
Hell, what IS she going to say? How is she going to ask? What if Dash says no? This isn’t like asking someone out for the first time. This is asking to be bonded to someone FOR LIFE.
It isn’t exactly a one time thing. That’s all that Spitfire’s relationships were before she and Soarin started dating. Hell, she expected Dash to be a “hit it and quit it” kinda thing. Now her hooves were cold, and she needed to make a decision fast.
“Come on, Fire. Just ask her. There she is right now, she’s finally ready to just relax... Jeez. Took her long enough,” Spitfire thought to herself.
“Holyfuckshe’srightontopofmerightnowwhatdoIdo.”
“Did ya mean to say that outloud?”
“What?”
“That. Right there. Did you mean to say that or did it just.... slip out?”
Disregarding the innuendo, she answered “It just slipped out.”
Rainbow snickered. Spitfire just sighed, silencing her.
“Are you ok?” Rainbow asked.
“Mmm....”
“I’m serious. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me. I need to know.”
Spitfire stared into Rainbow’s eyes, smiling softly before hiding her head and exhaling. When she looked back up, Dash had her brow furrowed, with a cautious look in her eyes.
“Am I doing something wrong?”
Spitfire smiled “No. Celestia, no.” Spitfire lay there, thinking. She stared at the mare in front of her eyes; caring for her even when she didn’t know what was wrong, wanting to know without any regard for what she was feeling. Reckless. Stupid, to some degree. “You couldn’t be doing anything more right.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“That’s the point, NOTHING is wrong. Dash, we’ve been through hell together. And that means the world to me.” Spitfire sighed, rolling off of rainbows lap and standing up. She reached into her pocket with her forehoof, grasping the object of the night’s activities.
“This is it,” Spitfire thought. “This is what I’ve been needing to do the whole night.”
Time slowed down as Spitfire finally kneeled over, still smiling and staring into the questioning expression on Dashie’s face.
“Rainbow Dash...”
“Spitfire?”
“You’ve saved me more times than you can imagine. You saved me the night we both almost died, you saved me from my own mind....”
“Huh?”
“Without you, I’m worthless. I couldn’t survive a day alone without you anymore- however cliché that sounds.”
Rainbow Dash gasped. Spitfire held her hoof to her mouth.
“Let me finish. Rainbow Dash, I love you. Will you marry me?”
“OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh!!!”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes. Yes it is,” Dash said, crying happily and tackling her new fiancé to the ground, embracing her.
Spitfire teared up, the stress from the night releasing and the happiness she now felt coursing through her body.
***
“Why does my wedding dress have to be RAINBOW?”
“Because, Darling, you must- SIMPLY MUST- incorporate some of yourself into this dress.”
“But what about all that... Fru fru lace and stuff?”
“I’ll..... look into it,” Rarity said, almost gagging. It was obvious how little time Rainbow actually spent acting girly. She was terrible at it.
“Great. I have to go talk to Applejack about the food for the reception. I’ll catch ya later, Rarity!”
Sighing, Rarity turned to her cat Opalesence “Did you ever think you’d see the day that Rainbow Dash herself acted like a true mare?”
Opalesence meowed in response, clearly bored by the question. Or perhaps her owner.
Whatever the case, Rarity had a lot of work to do.
***
“Rainbow, you should relax. Ah’m tellin ya, yer stressin out way too much ‘bout this.”
“No, it kinda needs to be perfect. You usually only get one shot at a wedding.”
“There is such a thing as over-preparing....”
“Since when?”
“Rainbow, Ah’m not gonna argue about this. Go home. Relax. We’ve all got this under control!”
Rainbow sighed before saying “Okay. I’m just gonna stop off and see the surprise Twilight is setting up for me.”
Applejack sized her up, making sure she was telling the truth. “Ya mean it?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ll go straight home?”
“Yep.”
“You won’t stress about this at all?”
“Not even a little.”
“... Alrighty then.”
***
“Fireworks? What’s so special about that?”
“It’s what KIND of fireworks they are, Rainbow. I had zecora help me make an enchantable gunpowder- capable of holding anything but the highest level of enchantments. All I need is a simple telekinesis spell, however, so it will suffice.”
“And that means...?”
“Let’s just say it will bring pyrotechnics to a whole new level.”
“Meaning...?”
“Imagine seeing the most awesome thing in the history of Equestria in the sky and made of fire.”
“... That IS pretty awesome...”
“Exactly. But until then, I need to be sure my math checks out and that I won’t kill anyone. Meaning I need you to go home and leave me to my work. I apologize if that seems blunt.”
“It’s fine, I need to get some rest anyway. Spitfire probably misses me.”
Twilight smiled as Rainbow left the house. Seeing her that happy is something to work hard for.
Sighing, she flopped down on the couch. It was all she and her friends could do to keep her from being bridezilla, let alone actually enjoying herself and relaxing.
Spitfire had taken care of all this in advance, maneuvering in the shadows, using all of her time to full potential. Double and triple booking, even.
Maybe they both worked a little too hard, but like Twilight they were both overachievers. Nothing had ever stopped either of them from achieving their goals before.
In a way, Twilight almost wished it were her getting married instead of Spitfire.
***
Rainbow crash landed on her bed, groaning as she closed her eyes. The strain was killing her.
Hopefully it would all be worth it in the end, but as of yet she wasn’t really sure what she was even supposed to be doing.
“Maybe I should see if Twilight has any books on wedding planning...” She sighed, rolling over in bed “or I could just take a nap...”
***
Spitfire chuckled as Twilight recounted Rainbow’s antics to her. Neither of them ever told the other what they were doing about the wedding, so they ended up doing the same things a lot of the time.
It was a little adorable seeing Rainbow work herself to the bone, but it was also worrying. She didn’t need to give herself a panic attack; the wedding is still several months off.
Twilight finished off her demonstration with a bang- literally. A final rocket launched into the night sky, exploding into the wonderbolt emblem.
“Looks good.”
“It should, for how much work I did.”
“Thanks for letting me come out here, Twilight, but I need to get home.”
“Hey, Spitfire?”
“Yes?”
“Is everything okay with you and Rainbow right now? You guys don’t really seem to get much time together anymore.”
“I’m.... working on it.”
“Well.... good luck.”
“Thanks.”
After Spitfire left, Twilight slumped over onto the couch. “That was probably one of the most awkward conversations I’ve ever had.” Sadly, that probably wasn’t entirely true.
Twilight stared out into the night sky, wondering, just as she did the first time she had ever stared upwards, if there was someone else out there feeling just the same way Rainbow Dash did towards Spitfire, and vise versa. In a way, she doubted it. She wanted to doubt it. Something like what the two of them had- a life or death bond, honest to goodness love and lifelong companionship- was only once in a million, million years.
Staring through her telescope, she suddenly had an idea- rainbows are created when light is refracted through a prism, as Newponian states in his Principia Mathematica, so wouldn’t that mean that stars- giant balls of FIRE- were made of rainbows? It was a pleasant, childish thought, but it surely made Twilight giggle.
“I only hope it lasts a lifetime...” she mused, finally drifting off to sleep.
To be continued.