//------------------------------// // Summertime, while the cat's away... (part 1) // Story: The Truth About Girls (Vol. 1) // by TheMareWhoSaysNi //------------------------------// Lately, the temperature was so high that the only way to escape was to be locked up inside the houses and apartments, or to spend all the time dipped into water. Everyone let windows wide opened at night, and to shut oneself away at day. For those obliged to get out of home, finding a shadowy corner had become the opposite of a sinecure. And even there, the harvested freshness was scarce. Summers in Equestria always were like this, and thankfully, Canterlot was at the North part of the country. In the South, around Las Pegasus, the weather was so hot every kind of activity had to stop during the most unbearable episodes. In those conditions, it wasn’t easy to train for the Canterlot Marathon which was going to take place a bit after the start of the school year. This prospect, in fact, avoided Rainbow Dash to think about the least enthusiastic event that would happen after that – her mother’s death anniversary. That was the reason why the couple had decided to run in the morning, rather than at the start of the afternoon like they did at the beginning of holidays. There were trainings in group, but they also both enjoyed getting prepared face to face. It allowed them to spend a little time together on days when Soarin was working. The park near the castle possessed a path the runners were fond of. It went all around the garden and was sheltered by big robust and luxuriant trees. This detail making it a bit rough during winter was a huge advantage in a sweltering period, the combination of sweat and heat not being that pleasant. On their way, they happened to meet other courageous persons. They often trotted with headphones on their ears or a smartphone stuck at their forearm, their feet stomping the ground with regular intervals. Rainbow Dash had always liked to run outside of school and of her athletics club, yet, until then, she’d rather done this activity home, in the gym built by her mother in the basement. There was a treadmill she could adjust as she pleased. At the same time, she would read a book, or watch music videos on television in order to have a rhythm to follow. To be honest, it wasn’t at all the same than training with someone, all the more so with a boyfriend. Boys whom she’d dated all were athletes, since she enjoyed the aesthetic of sane bodies and was able to talk about a topic she took pleasure in. Yet it was the first time one of them accepted to train this way with her. The others unceasingly told her they were practicing enough sports at school and they wanted to do something different when they were with their girlfriends. Thankfully, Soarin was as fond of sports than she was. He really liked that they shared this together, and that they could exchange advices and secrets. They watched games at the television together, that they had fun commenting instead of the commenters, and had promised each other to attend a real match one of these days. They also played soccer and basketball video games, and liked to try many new activities. This summer, in fact, Rainbow Dash had something precise on her mind. There was an occupation she was dying to try since ages, but she never had the chance to go for it until then. It would be much more exciting with him by her side. And so, they would be able to build new memories than those they had from their childhood. She couldn’t wait… The only problem was that she hadn’t talked about it with him yet. First, the organization of the event had to be clarified and the whole bunch had to find an agreement about dates and availabilities. Then, each time they were together, they were so taken into their discussions, hugs and occupations that she always forgot and only remembered once back home. And it wasn’t something that could be decided over the phone. This morning was the perfect moment, especially as the leave was to be at the end of the week. Rainbow Dash knew he had asked for days off, and that they were matching the date chosen by the whole gang. There was no reason for him to refuse. The only thing left to do was to ask him, and she would do this in the next minutes. They both stopped by the machines to firm up thighs, looking a bit like appliances for kids. She climbed on one of them, putting her both feet on the small platforms and grabbing the two handles. It wasn’t recommended for the heart to stop any activity too suddenly. It was better to slow down little by little. In front of her, she saw Soarin doing a few stretching exercises. Until then, she’d never stopped on such small details… But she couldn’t help it when with him. Her eyes were particularly drawn by the muscular arms, that weren’t too prominent – bodies of the supporters of bulging or weightlifting disgusted her even more than the others. According to her very own analysis, what attracted her the most was the fact she knew how it felt to be in those arms. Those arms going with this smile, these eyes, this voice, this precise character. Yes, if she enjoyed so much seeing him sweating in his sports outfit, it was the reason why. As a proof, the others, were they boys or girls, left her completely cold. Although sometimes she was jealous of tall girls like Rarity, who had long legs, conversely to herself. But that was a whole different topic. Soarin checked out the application of his smartphone, he had slipped inside the pocket of his pants, and gave his girlfriend the results. “Just a bit more, and we’ll be able to integrate the category of the ten kilometers in forty minutes.” “That’s perfect”, she said climbing off her machine. She pressed two fingers against her throat, while looking at the hands of her watch. “Shall we grab water and sit down a couple of minutes?” Soarin asked. “Good idea! I’m dying of thirst and there’s something I’d like to talk to with you.” The young man stretched his hand toward his girlfriend, who held it with a smile. Even after two months together, he still was as happy to note that she wasn’t ashamed to walk hand in hand with him. If public displays of affection seemed to remain a bit difficult, she had no particular problem with this one. A few minutes later, a fresh bottle of water in their hands, they sat on a bench, far from prying eyes. Rainbow Dash didn’t immediately notice it was the same bench where Twilight had discovered Flash Sentry had been paid by Trixie to date her. This, she had to admit, still was hard to swallow. But now wasn’t the time for bad memories. It rather was the perfect moment for the creation of brand new ones, as she had planned. “Would you like us to have a fruit salad at Mademoiselle Antoinette’s before I go to work? And after a good shower, of course.” “And how do I change my clothes, you numbskull?” she asked him, hitting his shoulder with her fist. “My clothes are home.” “Pity.” With another boy, she would have thought it to be very intrusive to always try to stretch out the amount of time to spend together. With Soarin, Rainbow Dash was likely to find it rather adorable. To be honest, it was especially because it reminded her of childhood. When they were kids and time to go back home rang, Soarin always tried to make sure she would stay for dinner, since they were having too much fun together, and the loneliness of the only child was heavy upon his then frail shoulders, she knew. More than once, she also had wanted to sleep in his house, both dreaming of a slumber party of their own, all innocent. Her mother used to give it her endorsement, but her father systematically refused. That was the reason why they had never slept had each other places when they were children. In fact, it hadn’t even happened once now they were dating. Rainbow Dash had always thought it would be a bother to him, because of the narrowness of his apartment. What she had to propose would certainly help them to take this step. What she had in mind only was the pleasure to share the same bed, snuggled up against each other. It didn’t even come to her notice that her desire of a sleep for two could be mistaken for another kind of desire. “It doesn’t matter because I have a great offer to make you”, she said proudly. “Do you?” Just like he often did, he had started to hold one of her ankles and to massage it. Soarin was all little attentions like this one, those that showed he wanted to take good care of her while not thinking she was a fragile creature who needed to be overprotected. And she actually loved it. “As you may not know, Applejack’s family has a great secondary home around Fillydelphia. It’s not so far with a car… Well. She invites us to spend two weeks there, at the ocean, with the whole gang. Everyone will be here, and when I say everyone, I really mean everyone, even the little sisters and their best buddy who’s my number one fan.” “It sounds awesome! When is it?” “We leave this weekend.” “For two weeks, uh?” She nodded with a smile, and noticed Soarin’s facial expression wasn’t exactly displaying the kind of cheerfulness and excitation she had envisioned. How disappointing… She had really thought he would have hit the sky at the prospect of spending so much time with her at an idyllic destination. Rainbow Dash had a small gesture forward, and removed her ankle. “I’m sorry, Dashie… I’d love to come, but I’ve already promised my parents to spend one week with one, and one week with another, and it’s at the same time. I wanted to ask you to come with me, in reality…” “Ah.” This was why he had taken his days off at this very moment of the holidays. He too had had plans for the both of them, and he too had waited the last moment to tell her. It made her think they had something else in common – they failed at organization. All her plans weren’t fizzling out, for sure. Only those she had imagined with Soarin. Making castles in the air, she had already told herself all kind of stories. They would have spent their afternoons doing sports on the beach with the others, or face to face, at night they would have taken part to the famous parties on the beach of the East, dancing and laughing with the gang, and at sleep time, they would have fell asleep into each other arms, exhausted but happy. Seeing her pouty face, her boyfriend understood the message wrong. In his chest started to bloom the flowers of regret. He hated to hurt her feelings… If only he had told her before, they could have find an arrangement. “I would postpone if I could… But my father leaves for Italy with his new wife after, and my mother will resume work. Please, Dashie, don’t be mad at me.” “I’m not mad at you”, she answered with a smile betraying her slight deception. “It’s just that I really wanted us to try surfing together.” Indeed, he remembered she had told him how she couldn’t wait for holidays to start since she wanted to be initiated into the secrets of this sport, and that she hadn’t had that chance until then. There had been signs and he hadn’t been able to interpret them. Because of this, Soarin couldn’t help but to be mad at himself, not knowing Rainbow Dash was mad at herself too. It was their first holidays together since they had met each other again, and they hadn’t even been able to prepare them correctly. Was this very productive? They could go on like this for a long while, lashing at each other for their poor organization, it wouldn’t change a thing. Everything was already planned, and they wouldn’t modify their plans now, a few days before their respective leaves. It was only two weeks, after all. Not that long. It wasn’t as if they wouldn’t be together again, and create other new memories. Although Soarin would resume work, it was only a part-time job, which left time for them to spend together. Based on this observation, they both relinquished. There was nothing more to add. Soarin slipped his hand inside Rainbow Dash’s, who came closer. The park was scarcely peopled at this moment of the morning, and where they were, they felt like being alone. “Let’s just say you’ll learn surfing for the both of us, and so you’ll be my teacher next year. What do you think about it?” “You got yourself a deal! But it would never be the same… And, you won’t be able to see my awesome brand new swinsuit I haven’t bought yet.” “I volunteer to help you unearth it, if you want.” “No. Too bad for you”, she replied sticking her tongue out to him. Anyway, he knew her well, he had doubt she would choose a sexy little bikini. Soarin could be at peace about it. It wasn’t with this girlfriend of his that other boys would be able to get an eyeful. Yet, what reassured him the most was the fact she wouldn’t be on her own. She was leaving with her bunch of friends, with whom she would be day and night. There was nothing worse for him than imagining a situation where Rainbow Dash would have been all alone in Canterlot, while her friends would leave for vacations with members of their families. She was spending enough time this way, face to face with herself, wandering inside this huge house… --------------------------------------------------------  The previous night, Rainbow Dash had said goodbye to Soarin after they had spent the day together. They had done nothing special… Only a movie, a vegetal cheeseburger and a walk in the exotic plants garden where a puppet show such as they liked to attend to when kids was played. Right before he had climbed into his car – a 1941 Ford Business Coupé from his father’s garage he had spruced up himself – he had promised to send her a message as soon as he would arrive in Cloudsdale, and that he would send her one every day. Always full of pride, she had told him it wasn’t necessary, and that he would better devote all his time to his parents. Of course, despite it all, she still hoped he would send her a message every day. Or even twice a day. She would never admit it to anyone but it was obvious: she was going to miss him. In fact, he hadn’t been gone since twenty-four hours and she already missed him. True to his promise, he had warned her as soon as he had arrived, and even added in his message the fact that it made him feel weird to see her former house occupied by strangers. Her headphones on her ears, Rainbow Dash rearranged her heavy backpack, and pulled her suitcase in order to get off the bus. She still hated this mean of transportation, but since she was going to Canterlot’s Grand Station, she didn’t have the choice. There was no way she would let her scooter parked there for two weeks. And it was even more unthinkable with the car her father had offered to her. Well, although the real reason was that she never drove it yet. Even if she could paint it black, it would always seem way too raffish for her. She was glad to see that a part of her friends already were here. As soon as she spotted her, Pinkie Pie shook her hand in the air, screaming at her attention. All the passersby around did a double-take, and Rainbow Dash had to lower the peak of her cap, accelerating the pace, so that she wouldn’t die from shame. Once at their level, her friends welcomed her by falling on her neck. At the same time, the grey small van Applejack used when she was going to her rodeos all over the country arrived on the railroad station’s square, followed by her brother’s red pickup truck. They were the ones who would drive them to their secondary home of the East. None of the other girls had a mean of transportation wide enough to take everyone, although Sunset Shimmer had sworn she could have borrowed her boss’ panel truck, at the tattoo parlor – who was a friend of her father. “Pew, it’s already super hot!” Applejack declared while wiping away her forehead, before fanning herself with her hat. “I just can’t wait to be at the beach!” Pinkie Pie replied. “Oh look! Here comes Fluttershy!” The young woman, living at the opposite of Rainbow Dash and who had to take a very different bus, had just arrived. She was dragging with her a small suitcase decorated with a huge pink butterfly, and waved her hand in their direction as soon as she saw Pinkie Pie doing the same. The fact that she was accompanied by her brother, invited by Big Macintosh, wasn’t to please everyone. Or to be more precise, it didn’t please one person in particular. It even seemed like scalding puffs of smoke could go out of her ears when she saw Zephyr Breeze walking proudly next to his sister. “What the hell is he doing here, my word?!” Rainbow Dash asked, almost yelling. “He begged me”, Big Macintosh confessed. “He couldn’t stop sayin’ he’d be all alone and very sad. I pitied him.” “And there’s a free seat since Soarin doesn’t come.” This comment by Applejack made the teenage girl burn. Upset, she outrageously kicked a nearby pole, and went to buy a fresh bottle of water, grumbling. The idea of spending two complete weeks with this spoilsport always glued at her back while her own boyfriend would be a thousand miles away, it put her in an incredible state of exasperation. It was so unfair. Yet, Rainbow Dash knew they weren’t going at her secondary home and she hadn’t a word to say about it. Maybe if he would spend the outward journey in another car than her, it would help her to calm down and to digest this rather displeasing fact. When she returned back to the square, the rest of the team had arrived as well. With Zephyr Breeze, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, as well as their best friend Scootaloo, it made a total of eleven people to pile up inside two cars. Alright, two BIG cars, but two cars anyway… Once again, if Soarin could have come, there would have been one more vehicle, and it would have been easier then to breathe. Quickly, it appeared that the three young Crusaders didn’t want to be parted, and also wanted to be with their sisters and idols, what force Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to climb into Applejack’s vehicle, which was complete then. If the preteens were exulting from joy, it wasn’t the case for Zephyr Breeze, who was really disappointed not to spend the four-hours journey by his heart’s desire side. How could he hope being closer to her if they didn’t have the possibility to talk? He came to terms with it after thinking it through, and realizing he still had two weeks in front of him to achieve his ends, without the invasive boyfriend under his feet. Satisfied, he chose on his own to sit at the back of the red pickup, on the flatbed. It made him feel like going to an American-style road trip. Big Macintosh didn’t insist to tell him how actually this seat was the most unpleasant and uncomfortable for long journeys, especially under such a blazing sun. Without much hesitation, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight took place on the back seats and opened their windows fully. Although Twilight, who thankfully wasn’t heartsick in car, had decided to spend her journey reading, at the last moment she decided to put her book back into her bag. Something told her she had more interesting things to do… There were still free seats in the front and at the back, and when Fluttershy was about to climb next to the two young women, she suddenly was stopped by Applejack, who had just finished putting all the luggage in her trunk. “Ah think ya should be climbin’ in the front, Fluttershy. Didn’t ya said ya were heartsick backseats?” Fluttershy rose an eyebrow in front of this statement, and saw in the rearview mirror the two girls at the back looking at each other, not understanding as well. A few times, she’d seat at the back in one of her friends’ car, and she’d never complained about anything in particular… Not even once had she even got pale, so why suddenly pretending she was heartsick? And, like after a thunderstruck through the sky, everything went back into place in her mind. Of course Fluttershy didn’t suffer from travel sickness. On the other hand, if she climbed on the front seat, she would spend four hours by Big Macintosh’s side. It could allow the young man to discover what a wonderful person she was, and who knew, why not start some kind of a flirt between them. “Oh yes, it’s true”, Fluttershy replied with a bit of act in her tone. “You’re right, I’d better be in the front.” Already settled behind the wheel, Big Macintosh shyly smiled at her once she was next to him, before rearranging his inside rearview mirror so he would see what’s behind better. Zephyr’s huge skinny figure didn’t stop him from seeing the road… And Pinkie Pie had just volunteered to sit in the middle back seat, that neither Sunset Shimmer or Twilight seemed to like. Everyone settled, he started his car which began to purr and vibrate, and he followed the small van driven by his little sister. It was the kick-off of this exciting stay to the beach that they would all spend together for the first time. A stay free of responsibilities, without any adults with them, with nothing but fun and games in prospect.