Rainbow Dash yawned as she climbed up onto the bed. She closed her eyes, and did hope she'd get to see the Autumn Blaze in the morning, and that she'd be coming with. Or if not, at least hoping she'd see her off. Rainbow Dash raised her head in surprise as the pretty kirin she'd just been thinking about walking into the tree with her. Its antler glowed faintly and another wood bed grew up out of the ground, and she laid down on it, smiling across the dim room at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash yawned gently as she got up, looking over at Autumn Blaze's bed, which was now empty. Rainbow Dash wasn't surprised, she liked to sleep in, and even when not doing it in purpose, she did it. Walking out she saw Autumn Blaze staring out at the forest. Rainbow Dash thought better than being loud but wasn't going to sneak up on her companion. "Good morning." She walked up to sit next to the kirin. "Having second thoughts?"
Autumn Blaze looked at Rainbow Dash for a long moment before shaking her head, nuzzling into the pegasus. "Well, glad to hear it. I'll take a quick look up there, see if I can spot the searchers." Autumn Blaze watched as Rainbow Dash flew up into the air.
Scanning the horizon it took Rainbow Dash a long moment to spot the dark purple far off. Grinning herself she waved down to Autumn Blaze and sped off to get the retrieval squad and their stretcher. As she got close enough to be heard she waved. "Hey, Cloud Chaser!"
"Rainbow Dash, what took ya? We thought you'd crashed or something. At least we won't need the stretcher now."
Rainbow Dash smiled. "Yeah, about that... Get the others and follow me, we do need the stretcher."
Cloud Chaser raised an eyebrow but then nodded. "Ahh, found someone injured? Well that'd explain it."
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Uh, not exactly, I'll explain on the way."
After a long day of explaining what happened a couple times, getting Spitfire's permission to have a week or so off, and having Twilight to teach the cloud walking spell, Rainbow Dash was exhausted but happy. Though she couldn't deny that she was a bit nervous as well. "Uh... Autumn Blaze, you sure you want to move in? I know Twilight has plenty of room in the castle, she could put you up for a while. This is a pretty big step."
Autumn Blaze raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. Motioning around the Cloudominium and then pointing at herself. Rainbow Dash didn't really get it, but she tried a guess. "You like it here?" Autumn Blaze giggled and took a moment to hum her confirmation before shaking her head. Pointing at herself again she pointed to the door, then her antler. Rainbow Dash flinched a little as she got the point. "Oh... Yeah, you kind of already took a way bigger step didn't you?" Rainbow Dash shifted a bit, she was still a bit uncomfortable with the fact that Autumn Blaze had kind of upended her life because she had a thing for the kirin.
Autumn Blaze giggled again, causing Rainbow Dash to frown in confusion. Autumn Blaze took a moment to look around before pulling over a couple of random pieces of furniture and placed them all around herself. After Autumn Blaze stared at Rainbow Dash for a long moment the pegasus realized what that was supposed to be. "You felt trapped?" The kirin nodded and put the furniture back, before raising her hooves like she was holding something, then moved them apart quickly. Rainbow Dash shook her head and Autumn Blaze frowned, looking around before floating over a convenient apple. She pointed at Rainbow Dash who nodded, and then broke the apple in half with her magic. "Ah! I was the final thing to make your decision?"
Autumn Blaze nodded and walked over, nuzzling gently into Rainbow Dash and smiling at her, letting out a small sound that sounded more like a purr than a hum or a giggle. "Heh, so if this goes south you don't want me blaming myself? You kind of wanted out anyway?" The hum of confirmation did indeed make Rainbow Dahs feel a bit better. "Well, not that I'm about to let this go south."
Autumn Blaze giggled as she walked up the stairs, turning and looking back at Rainbow Dash for a long moment. "Hmm... You wanna see your room? Well, a room we'll make into your room. It's not like I was expecting this before I left." Autumn Blaze giggled again, nodding. She let Rainbow Dash overtake her to lead the way. Winding up the stairs they made their way to a large room that was full of random things and Rainbow Dash chuckled. "This is the old spare room, but I didn't have a used for it so I kinda just shoved my spare stuff in here. We'll get it cleaned out for you, obviously."
The work proceeded a lot faster than Rainbow Dash was expecting, but having someone who can magically hoist things down the hallway certainly helped. She kind of shoved everything into her living room for the moment, she'd figure out where to put everything after they got Autumn Blaze settled in. "We're gonna need to get you some stuff, I assume you'd like to decorate it in flowers and nature and stuff?" The hum was expected and Rainbow Dash nodded. "Ok, so..." She was interrupted by a quiet hum and she looked up. "What?"
Autumn Blaze climbed up on the old, but still comfortable cloud bed and patted next to her. Rainbow Dash grinned and climbed up, laying next to her... Marefriend and simply enjoying a quiet cuddle. Maybe she didn't need to be so in a rush all the time. As Autumn Blaze leaned over and gave Rainbow Dash a kiss on the cheek she really considered taking more things slowly.
nice and cute
also i thought you were gonna add the autumn blaze tag or smth i smol brain
10226531
Yeah, I decided to do that when it's "completed."
Curious as to the alt ending.
Hm, alright. So we're not tackling the talking issue. I suppose I can get down with that idea. At least this ended sweetly....except there's a next chapter button, so guess I'll save the reflection until afterward.
I'll take this ending, thank you.
It was cute. I liked the characterization, but I also feel like I missed a conflict somewhere. Wanted a little more meat on the bones of this story.
11012724
Psh, forget conflict, all fluff. :D
Alrighty, final thoughts
There are a few grammatical errors here and there but I suppose some of them were made by accident or to keep the 1k word per chapter gimmick you settled on so it's really not a big deal.
Character-wise it's a mixed bag. On the one hand, I like how you've written this RD and I love Autumn Blaze's character because her character HAS to express herself physically in order to hold a conversation and it's really a nice aspect because it deepens the connection. The fact that she was invisible for nearly half of the story and yet still managed to come off as adventurous and polite was a feat in and out of itself. So why a mixed bag? Well because I wanted to see more of 'em! The pacing really does a number to these two because we only see them interact for a few days.
Pacing, this is the issue, I wholly respect that you wanted a 1k word chapter limit and I appreciate small chapters because they're easier to navigate through, but by golly when you have a romance and good characters to share that romance, you gotta take the chance. I would've loved to seen RD and Blaze interact for months, going to lakes, getting into tussles with the local fauna, and having a direct confrontation with the other Kirin.
In a romance novel, a conflict such as "If I leave with you I won't ever be able to come back home" has IMMENSE stakes and it grabbed my heart when you said it. And in the same sleight of hand, you resolved the conflict.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I was left wanting more than what I got
11016452
Hehe, "it's not as good as it could be because I want it to be longer!" I like it. :D
11016452
Dang it, you took the words right out of my mouth.
Super cute fic but as people mentioned before I think there could of been more weight added to Autumns decision to go with Rainbow Dash. I feel it would of made her choice to go with her more impactful than by happen chance.