//------------------------------// // Planning For A Better Future // Story: Apart From The Pegasi // by KillerChainsaw //------------------------------// Hours had now passed with Twilight and Rainbow Dash catching Princess Celestia up about everything that had happened since Twilight was sent to be ruler over both Ponyville and Cloudsdale. The royal Princess listening intently throughout it all as she had been wondering just how things had been going for Twilight while she had been living her life as the ruler of two towns, however soon finding out that not everything had been going all that smoothly for the younger Princess, especially not when it came to everything that had happened with her and Rainbow Dash's relationship. "While we still aren't sure if anypony actually did catch us that night, or who orginally started up the rumors that seemed to suddenly spread like wildfire overnight we do know that we could no longer keep our relationship as a secret after that happened, which is why I felt Dash revealed the truth to everypony both in Ponyville and Cloudsdale. And while I could see what her intentions were at the time, and it did work in putting all the rumors to rest, I still think she could have told me about what she was planning to do before actually going ahead and doing it," Twilight stated, her voice going a little low half-way through what she was saying as she was now looking to Rainbow Dash out of the conrner of her eyes, and although she wasn't talking directly to the pegasus, she was clearly making it seem like she was, as well as still talking to the royal Princess siting in front of them. "Hey it's not like I planned on actually telling everypony about what was really going on, I was just going to say something that would stop all the rumors, but...but when I looked down to see you standing in the crowd, while you were looking up to me with those worry-filled eyes, it caused me to realize that I didn't want to hide the fact that you were my marefriend anymore, I love you Twilight and I wanted to tell all of Equestria just how much you mean to me," Dash explained, remembering how she felt back when she told all of Ponyville about the truth behind the relationship that her and Twilight were keeping as a secret. Twilight's eyes widening a little as she was quite surprised to hear what Dash had just told her, definitely not expecting her to say something like that, being sure that her heart had skipped a beat as the pegasus looked to her with a serious expression. Dash then slightly glanced away from Twilight as an embrassed looked formed on her face now. "Although at the time, I will admit that I may not have been thinking the whole thing through, and hadn't really realized just yet about what could happen after I had revealed everything. I didn't mean to make things even more complicated then they already were, but because of all that I said I can't really return to my own home up in Cloudsdale without walking in to an uncomfortable situation, which I probably wouldn't be able to get out of for ages," Dash speaking in more of a low tone now as she looked down to the floor nervously and avoided glancing back to Twilight, feeling the Princess's eyes on her, but continuing to just stare at the ground as she felt foolish for not thinking very much at all back when she had revealed their secret and was more or less just letting her heart tell her what to say, rather than stopping to listen to what her mind might have been telling her at the time. Twilight's expression softened as she now smiled slightly and just sighed, walking closer to Dash and making her lift her head by resting her hoof under her chin. Dash looking back to the Princess now as she was still wearing that nervous expression on her face, "It's okay Dash, I know you were only saying what your heart was telling you to at the time, but if anything like that happens again, promise me that you'll come and talk to me about it all, before deciding to handle things by yourself like that, okay?" she asked now looking to her marefriend with an understanding expression, her words causing the pegasus to not feel so anxious anymore it seemed as she answered with a slight nod to Twilight. "Yeah I promise. Although I really hope that nothing happens in order for it to get that point again," Dash smiled slightly being sure that she would now think before she acted, but kind of also just wished that a problem like that wouldn't arise for them again anytime soon. "You and me both Dash," Twilight agreed with a slight chuckle, as she really hoped for the same as Dash, as even though she knew that there was still going to be certain problems for her and the pegasus from here on out, she prayed that they wouldn't cause as much trouble for them both as that one particular past problem had. Celestia sat back as she looked upon the two mares in front of her and smiled, honestly feeling so glad that they were able to meet and get to know each other, seeing that even though they had gone through troubles in the past, they were willing to continue to push through and find a way that they could still be happy together, even if others didn't exactly approve of them. "Well you two certainly have been through a lot I see, but I'm glad you were both able to work through it in order to get where you are now. Although there are still some things that you need to sort out of course," Celestia stated as the other two now looked back to her, Twilight smiling in return, while Dash just sighed and nodded in response, knowing that even though her and Twilight had been through quite a bit already, there was still a long road ahead of them where they would no doubt hit more bumps along the way together. "So then what's next for you two, I mean you do still want to bring both Cloudsdale and Ponyville to an agreement where they can get along better right?" the royal Princess asked as she wondered what Twilight and Rainbow Dash's plans for the future were from here, after all it was clear to see that Twilight still wanted to fulfil the task she set out for herself once she learned of the big feud between the two towns that she was ruling over, but was curious as to where exactly the two would go from here. "Of course, we just need somewhere to start as all, and with the pegasi up in Cloudsdale being the way they currently are, all we have to do is find a way to get through to them and help them to understand that peace between them and the ponies in Ponyville is something that can be achieved," Twilight explained as it was obvious that her heart was set on ending the feud between the two towns so that they all could evetnually look to living in a much brighter and better future. "Although that's much easier said then done," Dash pointed out in a low tone, causing Twilight to now slightly look to her with a stern stare, while the pegasus just smiled nervously back to her marefriend, knowing that the best thing for them right now was trying to stay hopeful rather than focusing on what other problems just might arise from any further moves that they would make. "That may be true, however I believe we will be able to pull through and have everypony on the same page soon enough," Twilight smiled as she rested a hoof on Dash's shoulder and gave her an encouraging expression. Dash just taking a deep breath as she smiled back to Twilight with a nod, and although the pegasus was still nervous about what was in store for them from here, she at least did seem a little more hopeful now. "Since it's you Twilight I too believe that you can both find a way to bring the two towns together. After all that was one of the reasons why I picked both of them for you to rule over," Celestia agreed as she knew that once Twilight had set a task for herself, she wouln't give up until she had completed it, the royal Princess seeing that this time was going to be no different, as Twilight just nodded back to her with a determined expression. "I wish you two all the best of luck then," the royal Princess smiled, as she was hoping that their plans for going ahead would have a postive outcome in the end, and their struggles wouldn't just be all for nothing. "Thank you Princess," Twilight replied as Rainbow Dash just nodded with a slight smile as well, feeling like her spirits had risen a little now, but there of course still was a lot for her and Twilight to think about, taking notice to the fact that things may just not go the way they had hoped. And no matter how hard they might try, they could still easily fail this task. The three mares talking for a little while longer on what exactly Twilight and Rainbow Dash had planned for where they were going to go from here knowing that it would be a long road of troubles and hopefully some triumphs before they would be able to get to that bright future that they were looking towards and hoping to get to someday. Princess Celestia looking to the two mares as they soon left her throne room, having said their goodbyes, and now she just stood watching the other two talk to each other casually while they made their way out of the doorway. The royal Princess sending them both good vibes and hoping that all their efforts would not turn out to be in vain as things would only get more difficult for them from here no doubt. Twilight and Rainbow Dash now making their way back to the train station as Twilight couldn't be happier with how things had gone with Princess Celestia and Dash. Glad that everything had gone rather smoothly and she had been able to also tell the royal Princess about all she had planned for what her and Dash would be working towards in the near future. Twilight now looked to Dash walking beside her, smiling to the pegasus as she caught her attention, "Well that went better than expected right?" she asked knowing how anxious Dash had been about meeting the royal Princess before hand, and now that it had turned out so well, she thought that Dash wouldn't feel anymore pressure resting on her shoulders. "Huh? Oh yeah I guess," Dash answered in a low voice, not seeming to be paying that much attention to what Twilight had actually said to her, as she looked off into the distance and caused the Princess to look to her with a questioning expression, noticing that the pegasus seemed like something was on her mind right now. "Is there something the matter Dash?" Twilight looked to her marefriend a little concerned for a moment as she thought the pegasus would be much more relaxed now after everything had just gone so well with Princess Celestia, but instead Dash looked just as anxious as she did when first coming here this morning, or maybe even a little more than that. "No, it's nothing Twi," Dash answered as she now forced a smile to Twilight and pushed all of her thoughts to the back of her mind, trying not to show that she was still bothered by something, but Twilight seeing through her fake smile, and knowing that she wasn't being honest with her right now. 'What's gotten into her all of a sudden, she was fine a few minutes ago when we left Princess Celestia's castle, but now she definitely seems like something is worrying her again,' Twilight thought as she did feel like she should ask again if Dash was okay or not, but hesitated a little as she looked to Dash and saw the way that she had now turned back to look off into the distance again, it being obvious that she was preoccupied with her own thoughts at the moment, and so the Princess decided not to push anymore, and for now just stayed silent, as she didn't want the pegasus to be thinking about things too much, but she also didn't want to put any pressure on her to talk to her, if that was something she wasn't ready for just yet. The train ride back being completely silent as Twilight continued to be concerned for her distant marefriend, cleary seeing that whatever it was that was on Dash's mind right now, it wasn't going away anytime soon, hoping that she could maybe try talking to the pegasus again once they had returned back to the library in Ponyville. .... Twilight and Rainbow Dash soon returning back to the library, both of them slowly walking in through the front door as Spike came over to greet them, wanting to find out just how everything with the royal Princess had gone for the two. Hoping that all had gone well and they hadn't had any troubles at all, but unfortunately that's not how things seemed to have gone judging by Dash and Twilight's expressions. "Hey, how did it go?" The young dragon asked as he looked a little concerned, wondering what had happened and guessing that by the looks of things it hadn't gone all that according to plan, which confused him a little as he was almost certain that Princess Celestia would get along well with Rainbow Dash once the introductions were out of the way, after all the royal Princess had always been know for being very accepting and understanding, espeically when meeting new ponies. Neither Twilight nor Dash answered Spike, as Twilight looked to the pegasus, only for Dash to just shrug her shoulders, before she hung her head low and slowly went walking across to the staircase, making her way upto Twilight's bedroom, while Twilight and Spike watched her go. The Princess sighing slightly as she wished there was some way she could find out what was bothering her marefriend without pressuring her into talking about something she may not want to. "Was it really that bad?" Spike asked as he looked to Twilight, looking concerned for the pegasus who had just escaped upstairs to Twilight's bedroom in what seemed like a very depressed manner from the looks of things. "No, the meeting with Princess Celestia actually went really well, and we got to tell her about all we have planned for what we are going to be doing in the near future...but Dash has been like that since we left Canterlot castle. I tried asking her what was wrong, but she just said it was 'nothing' even though it's easy to see that something is obviously causing her to act so distant and anxious," Twilight explained causing Spike to wonder the exact same thing that the Princess was at the moment, that being what the reason could be for Dash to suddenly be acting this way. "I'll go and talk to her," The Princess stated as even if she didn't want to pressure Dash at all, she also didn't want the pegasus to be dealing with something all by herself, when she knew she could reach out and maybe help her. She didn't want to just stand back and watch her marefirend suffer through whatever was troubling her alone, not when she didn't need to, and Twilight could be there for her at a time like this, lending a shoulder for her to cry on, or even just a ear to vent to if nothing else, "Good luck," Spike said as he got a nod in response from Twilight, the alicorn knowing that she would need that luck, as the dragon now watched her make her way up the stairs and to her bedroom, while he stood staring up to the direction that Twilight had walked off in and sighed slightly, hoping that she would be able to get through to Rainbow Dash, and find out what exactly was going on with her all of a sudden. .... Twilight hesitating a little as she stood outside of her bedroom and took a deep breath, before she knocked on the wodden door lightly, waiting for a response, getting none and just sighing as that's pretty much what she was expected, but she wasn't just going to walk away and give up just yet, as she now opened the door slowly. "Dash, I'm coming in okay?" the Princess asked as she now came walking into the bedroom, closing the door behind her, and looked to her troubled marefriend with a concerned expression as she saw the pegasus lay on the bed, facing away from her, and seeming like she was deep in thought at the moment. "Listen Dash, I know you said eariler that this was nothing, but it defintely doesn't seem that way. Now you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I...I can't bare to see you struggling with your own thoughts like this, whatever it is that is bothering you, I want to be here for you, and I want to help you, so will you let me do so?" Twilight asked as she now came to sit on the edge of the bed, looking to Dash with a understanding expression, hoping that the pegasus would be willing to let her help her get through whatever it was that was troubling her right now. Dash didn't reply for quite a while as she just lay on her stomach, staying silent, and facing away from Twilight still, biting her bottom lip, while Twilight waited patiently for a reponse, staying confident that she would be able to get through to the pegasus in time, and it was better that she found out what was going on now, instead of just leaving and letting things not be resolved. "Well...when we were talking to the Princess about what we plan to do in the future, it made me realize something, and I guess I haven't been able to get it out of my head since then," Dash now confessed in a low voice, surprising Twilight a little as she didn't expect the pegasus to actually answer her but was glad that she was now starting to open up to her. "What did you realize?" Twilight asked as she had composed herself now, and was looking interested as to what Dash's answer would be, Dash not having moved from her eariler position as she continued to lay on her stomach still and face away from the Princess, while she began to explain just what had been on her mind since they had both left Canterlot castle together. "It made me realize...it made me come to the conclusion that things could always not go to plan and we could completely fail at this task that we are hoping to fulfil. You see when it comes to the pegasi up in Clousdale, there are certain groups, ones that mostly just keep to themselves and have never bothered much with the ponies in Ponyville, then there are the ones that have tried in the past to really connect and make friends, and when the feud started those pegasi decided to leave Cloudsdale and live in the town below instead, Fluttershy being one of them. However those two groups are the rare ones, the ones that are often over-looked among the one other group," Dash stopped for a moment as she glanced to Twilight to see if she was still following with all that she was saying, and judging by the way that the Princess was looking to her, she seemed to be listeningly intently wanting to hear more from the pegasus. "That other group of pegasi is the one that I used to belong to, the ones that would cause trouble for everypony else, they would steal food, break windows, destory things that didn't belong to them, tease and mock the ponies that would always welcome and treat them so kindly, it was like they didn't even care and were just being troublesome for the fun of it. I wasn't as bad as others were, I wasn't very nice to any of the ponies from Ponyville and there was the odd time that I was accused for stealing food because I would often hang around with the pegasi that would often do that, but I never actually did steal anything. Those are the pegasi that were always noticed and talked about the most, and they were most probably the ones that lead to being a big cause for the feud between the two towns starting in the first place," the peagsus went on to explain, Twilight surprised to be hearing all of this when Dash had never really liked to talk about how things were before the feud between the two towns started, and now she was suddenly coming out with one of the reasons why it might have all happened. "Anyway the point that I'm trying to make here is that even if we are able to get some of the peagsi from Cloudsdale to agree to ending the feud, there will also no doubt be those ones that won't agree no matter what we try, and if they did ever agree to this plan of ours, it would only be so that they could get the chance at causing trouble for the ponies in Ponyville again." Dash now finished as she sighed deeply and she knew that although some of the pegasi from Cloudsdale would be willing to make amends with Ponyville, there would also be some that would much rather die than agree to somehow try and get along with the ponies from the town below them. Not seeing how they would be able to get through to those particular pegasi at all. Twilight just siting in silence for a few moments as she went over everything that Dash had just told her, and understanding where the pegasus was coming from right now as it was true that there would no doubt be those pegasi from Cloudsdale that wouldn't want anything to do with the ponies living in the small town below them, and if they did, it would only be to cause trouble like they had done in the past. Smiling now as her expression softed and Twilight came to lay down beside Dash, their sides touching and causing Dash to finally look back to the Princess as she wondered what Twilight would say to all this, while the Princess just nuzzled Dash's neck lovingly, "Dash I know that this plan of ours may not go all that smoothly, and it's true, and even expected that there will be those pegasi that won't want to try and get along with the ponies of Ponyville at all. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and give it our all, besides we always knew this was going to be difficult so when we do come across the ones that aren't so willing to make peace, then we'll find a way to get through to them, and make them see just how much better things can be if they just respect the poines, and treat them how they themselves would like to be treated," Twilight rested her hoof over Dash's as she assured her that even if they would run into those certain hard cases that wouldn't want to make peace, they could still evetnually find a way to get through to them, and make them understand that ending the feud would be better then how they are all living right now. "How can you be so sure?" Dash asked as she didn't believe that what Twilight said to be actual possible espsically with some of the pegasi that were living up in Cloudsdale, who she knew would never go for something like what the two had planned. "Well to be honest I can't," Twilight simply stated as it was true that she didn't know if what she said would actually happen or not, but what she did know was that it was worth a shot at least to believe there was a way to make it all work. Dash looking a little taken aback as she gave Twilight a confused expression and waited for her to say something more. "But like I said, even if we come across challenges that may seem almost impossible at first, I know we can get through it and find a way to overcome those challenges and make them seem not so impossible anymore. Just trust me Dash, whatever comes our way, we'll find a way to make it work, we just have to stay postive and believe that a future where everypony can live in harmony is in fact possible," Twilight reassured Dash that even though they may run into trouble while carrying out this plan of theirs, they would still be able to get through it all just as long as they still believed that they could. "I know..." Dash paused as she knew everything Twilight said was right, but also knew that she still had a right to be worried, however focusing on that worry wasn't a good thing for her to do, "...it's just that a future like that seems so far off in the distance, that I can barely even see it from here," she finished as she was back to looking depressed again now, but wasn't avoiding Twilight at all this time and instead just gazed deeply into the Princess's lavender eyes, and nuzzled her cheek softly. "Just be patient, we'll get there someday Dash. I know it," Twilight replied with a confident expression to Dash, while the pegasus just nodded in return, cuddling close to Twilight as she lay her wing over the Princess. And Twilight lovingly nuzzled her marefriend back as they both sighed in sync and rested their foreheads against each other, closing their eyes and just indulging in this quiet moment together that they shared while they could only guess what would be in store for them both from here on out.