"Remember the first day of the tour?"
Rainbow looked up from her glass of swirling wine. "First day of which tour?"
"Precision, I like that," Soarin' chuckled with a smirk, his wineglass meeting hers with a charming clink. "The Cincinneighti-Baltimare tour, two years ago. You remember that show, don't you?"
"My first show as your wingpony," she groaned and shuddered before downing her drink, earning a loud laugh from her coltfriend. "Ugh, can never get it out of my head even if I wanted to. Celestia, the things Spitfire yelled into my ear that night... I still get nightmares about them from time to time."
"Well, you kinda did bungle it up pretty badly."
"Yeah, thanks for the reminder," she gruffly snorted. "Also, 'pretty badly'? Wouldn't even remotely cut it to what really happened, Soar."
"I mean, sure, you steered in the wrong direction during the sharp turn, but most ponies still thought it was part of the show—"
"Because the rest of you guys steered away in time, that's why. It's either that or the whole team gets knocked out of the sky. I could've sent the entire team into the ER, Soar." Rainbow sighed glumly. "You're thinking I would've nailed my debut performance as your wingpony, aren't you?"
"No, not really."
"Well, I think I should've. I should've nailed my debut. I should've did that and... be awesome, I guess."
"You're already awesome, okay? Sure, wingpony debut went awry, but no one's gotta breathe down your neck about it, Miss Element of Loyalty."
"Geez, can you stop calling me that?"
"What? I thought saving Equestria was always on the list of awesome stuff you'd do every other day?"
"Yeah, it's awesome, but I have a name, you know?"
"Does it rhyme with 'awesome'?"
Rainbow Dash couldn't hide her smile even if she tried. "Not exactlyyyy, but it sure does sound like it."
Soarin' grinned. "There she is," he cooed, making her giggle. "Ever receptive to sweet talk, you."
"Not just anyone's sweet talk."
"Is that a compliment I hear?"
"Hmm, I don't know..." her eyes glinted. "Maybe~?"
"If you ask me, that sure sounds like one," Soarin' nudged coyly, leaning in. "You know, you should dish out a few more of those. Give as much as you take, if you catch my drift. Makes you a lot more—"
"Awesome?"
"I was gonna say something else, but awesome works too," he chuckled. "Man, that's like, what, five instances of the word 'awesome' already."
"Six, actually," she corrected smugly. "Dude, the night's just getting started and you're already feeling the buzz."
"Well, I'd rather be drunk a glass of wine than count how many times you're gonna say 'awesome' tonight."
"How many times we're gonna say. You're no lightweight in that department either."
"I can't help it! It's contagious, you know? You saying it just makes me wanna say it!"
"Dunno why you have to go and make it my fault."
"I didn't say it's a bad thing now, did I?"
Before she could muster her reply, Soarin' leaned in and nuzzled her cheek, which quickly surged with a scarlet warmth. She opened her mouth to speak, only to be hushed before she was given the chance to do so. For the longest time, Rainbow Dash sat there in silence, the stiff tension in her joints and spine far surpassing those that would rattle her nerves moments before another air performance.
"Uh... Soar?" she finally managed. "You hanging in there?"
"Barely."
"Heh. You wanna head back? Or..."
"Nah..." he said, dismissively waving his hoof. "Let's just... stay here... right here... for tonight... forever..."
"Don't get too comfy on your second date. That's my cheek you're resting on."
"This is the best cheek I've ever had the honor of resting on."
"This better be the only cheek you'll be resting on."
"Possessive. I like that," Soarin' said with a grin.
"You gotta get my permission first though," she deadpanned cheekily, hoof prodding at the very top of his head. "Off."
"Fine," he groaned, only to flop his snout limply against the fluff of her chest. "Better? Please?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes, her lips meagerly creasing with a quiet sigh before giving away into a smile.
"Better."
"No time... n-no time..."
How did it end up like this?
"Dammit... dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit—"
How could she let this happen?
" Яænḅ⚬w Dα𐌔ℏ "
"Shut up," she snarled, watching the rumbling skies above the towering spindles of fossilized wood, their barks and branches creaking with every telltale sway in the churning wind. The glass leaves scattered about the porcelain forest floor danced between her hooves, clattering as they whirled across the ground. Steadily she galloped through the trees, running past the clumps of white feathery grass brushing against her sides.
She stopped for a breather, wincing at the buzzing ache in her forehead, wrapped as it were by a makeshift bandage, courtesy of the grass she had plucked from the ground, that had stained into an unrecognizable, gruesome auburn. Restively, she gazed up to the fallow skies for the umpteenth time, seeing nothing but dormant clouds sneering down at her, crackling and cackling all at once. With a deplorable sigh, she resumed galloping down this endless path, knowing not where it would take her, much less if it would even bother doing so.
" Яænḅ⚬w Dα𐌔ℏ "
Temptation rapped at her dangling eardrums, sweet and sour all the same. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow tried steering her head forward, though it would always teeter back to those scourge of fallacies in time. The sky laughed thunder at her predicament, once or twice yelling to make her jump up to the tip of her hooves. When at last her skin wore thin, burned down to the very last layer, she clenched her eyes shut, marching onward only to halt abruptly when it came sweeping from behind once again.
" Яænḅ⚬w Dα𐌔ℏ "
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!! SHUT! UP!"
Silence.
There was no one behind her.
No one but her own shadow.
"Shut up..." she shivered. Sniveled. Shriveled. "Shut up... just shut up..."
" Яænḅ⚬w Dα𐌔ℏ ? "
The fires raged once more.
"What do you want from me?"
" S❍a̸r̴in "
"He's not here..." she clinched her watering eyes. "He's not here, okay? If he's here, I'd know, because... because he's Soarin', for Celestia's sake! He's not here! He's gone! Long gone! He was there with me, every single step of the way and... I don't know how, I don't know why, he was gone. Just... gone... without a word, without a sound, without... without even a goodbye... and whose fault is that, huh? Whose fault is it?"
Silence burned.
"Soarin' would never do this to me," Rainbow hissed, hoof jabbing at her bandaged forehead. "That wasn't him. That wasn't Soarin'. No, that Soarin's gone now... you... you did something... to him..."
" Яænḅ⚬w "
"You stole him away from me. You stole Soarin', took him away as yours and hidden in somewhere you'll think I'll never reach. But guess what, chump? I'll get there. I'll find him. I'll know where he is and I'll bring him back. And when I'm done with getting to him, I'll get to you next. I'll make sure it'll hurt, and it will hurt. I'll promise you that, right here, right now."
Silence flared.
"I will never, ever forgive you. Ever."
In the stillness of the forest, came a passing tremble.
With that, Rainbow Dash marched ruthlessly onward.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Soarin' glanced up at the trees, his ears perking in the deathly silence. The soft grass beneath him bent in the wind, the sky above him glinting in its ceaseless thunder. His glance shifted towards a cloud, then to another, then to another, and for a moment he thought he saw a colossus of black behind them, looming over them, leering at them with ghastly eyes of pallid white. A blink later, however, all he saw was the blistering gray, trembling in tranquility. With half a smile, he returned his tender eyes to the mare resting by his side, his voice but a shadow of its former self.
"Probably just the clouds."