Soarin still remembered clearly the first time he had seen Rainbow Dash performing her odd beauty routine. It was in Fillydelphia, when he joined her at the Apples’ secondary house, and they shared the same bedroom for a whole week.
The oddest thing about it was the way she brushed her hair. She separated each color with the precision of some medical expert, going as far as moving it strand by strand, then she kept them in place with small barrettes so that none could mix up during the operation. Then only did she brushed the colors, that she loosed only once it was comb out.
It was particularly interesting with the green of her hair since the infamous strands were in front of her face. The whole was some kind of sexy antithesis, and Soarin also remembered clearly what he said back then:
“I don’t know whether this is adorable or hilarious.”
What she replied to by sticking her tongue out of her mouth at him.
After this, all was left to do was to put a thin layer of BB Cream on her face, a bit of mascara to both her eyes, and a cocoa butter lip balm on her mouth. And she was ready! The hair ritual was what took most of her time in the end, but she refused to change, because it seemed of the hight importance to her not to mix the colors.
This all, she said, because she really enjoyed the fact her hair was matching her name so much, just like Pinkie, although Pinkie’s name wasn’t really “Pinkie”. Her parents had chosen her name for a very precise reason though it had been revealed to her that Dorothy was her mother’s first choice but her father encouraged her not to pay such an obvious tribute to her childhood favorite movie.
It was because of this routine that Soarin decided to find an accessory which would help her to sort out her colors without the use of her strange small barrettes. But he hadn’t found anything at all… And to say her birthday was in only one week!
All morning long he had wandered in downtown Canterlot in order to find something else as a substitute. Rainbow Dash liked many, many different things, he wasn’t lacking ideas. His problem precisely was that he had too much ideas and none seemed to be good enough. Because she wasn’t going to celebrate one ordinary birthday… But her eighteen years-old.
Equestrian law was a bit complicated about it. Majority wasn’t complete when eighteen was reached since it was considered too heavy a burden to be responsible on every aspect so suddenly. Thus, when reached this age, it gave the right to vote, to purchase alcohol, to create your own enterprise, and to leave the territory without permission, but accession to real estate could only be reached one year later, like entering in politics, or be a stockholder at the markets or subscribing your own life insurance.
Despite this, it was an important age. A step toward adult life. Which meant he couldn’t give her any type of present. He needed to find something meaningful, something up to the step.
It was lunch time, and Soarin still was empty-handed. Aggrieved, he decided to have a well-deserved break… and had the idea that could save him.
Sugarcube Corner was really close. Rainbow Dash had a Roller Derby competition, then she had to visit Mr. Habeas in order to rehearse for the first time her testimony for the Royal Riff’s case, which trial was going to be around the end of summer, before going to her weekly appointment at Green Haven to see Dr. Horse. This way, he was sure she couldn’t be at the tearoom with her best friends.
Unfortunately, none of the girls was here neither. He had hoped that, maybe, they would give him pieces of advice and a few tricks.
He heavily let himself fall on one of the stools in front of the counter.
The place was rather empty for a Saturday. Out of him, there only were two students from CHS, the Crusaders, some guy reading a newspaper whom he could only see his hands, and a couple busy billing and cooing in a corner.
“Oh, you don’t look very good”, a high-pitched familiar voice told him.
Soarin looked up and felt his eyes filling with stars as he saw Pinkie Pie in front of him with a coffee pot in her hands.
Because he sometimes was a bit absent-minded, he had forgotten that now, the teenage girl was working here. Maybe he was saved after all. Though sometimes she was reasoning in a way he couldn’t quite understand, she was very close to Rainbow Dash and knew her by heart.
“Huh. I’m looking for a gift for Dashie… and I can’t find anything!”
“How pity. I already have her gift since ages.”
“What is it?”
“A huge copy of a picture with us six at last Winter Ball. And since Rarity wasn’t on the picture, I added her with my computer. You don’t notice a thing! And do you know what’s super-duper hyper awesome?”
“No”, he answered, unsure whether or not he wanted to know.
“My internet pen friend is going to come and help me with Dashie’s birthday party. It’s going to be even more amazing than last year’s one. She’s going to be so happy!”
“She will for sure.”
Even if the young woman baked her a small cake in a dirty dive in the middle of the poorest areas, he was convinced Rainbow Dash would be happy, as long as it came from her heart and she was surrounded by her friends. Although to celebrate her majority, she was probably expecting something spectacular, up to her “awesomeness”.
Which, one more time, sent him back to his problem. He hadn’t found THE gift yet.
“Pinkie Pie, you have to help me!”
“Here, have a cup of coffee”, she said pouring a generous draft in a Sugarcube Corner branded cup.
“I don’t need coffee; I need your help…”
“For Dashie’s present, you mean? Heehee, I can’t do that, silly! You have to choose a gift that comes from the bottom of your heart, not from mine. There’s sweet pepper and cumin cake, cheese shortbreads with a lemon cupcake on today’s lunch menu.”
“Pft… I’ll take one, thanks. With sparkling water, please.”
“And one lunch menu, let’s go!”
Pinkie Pie hadn’t really helped him in any way, in the end… And Soarin felt her other friends were going to tell him the same thing. He knew it. It was what Rainbow Dash meant for him that he needed to display through this gift.
Suddenly, he remembered he also had to find something to celebrate their first year as a couple, especially as Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, already had her gift for him. And it was supposedly so awesome she couldn’t help boasting about it.
Doomed, he was doomed.
However, there was someone in this very tearoom who thought his chance to be back in the game had finally arrived.
The person hiding behind a newspaper lowered his periodical, a devious half-smile plastered on his face.
Zephyr had heard the whole conversation between Soarin and Pinkie Pie. It wasn’t his intention at first. He only hid so that Soarin wouldn’t notice him and thought he was obliged to greet him just because they often met on the campus and they had a girlfriend in common. Well, although Rainbow Dash never been Zephyr’s girlfriend anywhere else than in his dreams!
All this time, he had kept a low profile, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and take back the lead. And this moment had finally arrived. Even if Rainbow Dash had invited him to her birthday party out of sheer politeness, he was going to be there, and he was going to give her a gift as well. This year, this won’t be flowers or chocolates. This year, he was going to strike harder.
This year, he was going to dethrone this damn basketball player, of the simplest way ever. The gift he would give to the subject of his heart would be so dazzling it would completely eclipse all of his rivals.
-----------------------------------------------
Each year at this period, twelfth grade students from CHS multiplied school outings like this one. The goal was to awaken a vocation for those who didn’t know what to choose after High School yet. Thus, each day all week long, buses brought students to various places where a job was explained to them in a concrete way by those already doing it.
One of the advantages of this outing was the element of surprise: they never knew exactly where they were going.
Yet Rainbow Dash couldn’t care less. While on the road, all that mattered to her was her birthday party.
It had been days already that the topic never was off her lips, very excited at the idea of finally being of legal majority. Of course, it didn’t mean she would finally be able to leave her family house in order to live alone (or with Soarin) just like she dreamed of, but at least, she would be regarded as master of her own decisions and wouldn’t have to yield to her father’s every whim.
In fact, it also meant she wouldn’t need his permission to testify at Royal Riff’s trial, nor to go on a cruise with Twilight’s family during summer holidays and she would be able to sell her car and buy the motorbike of her dreams, and Mr. Rainbow Blaze wouldn’t have anything to say.
All this, with the prospect of the huge party to come set her in the sunniest of moods which could almost rival Pinkie Pie’s inexhaustible energy. Those who didn’t like her voluble side would bang for the buck today.
“I want something phenomenal so that in ten years, during school reunion, everybody would still remember this bash. Got to surpass yourself, Pinkie!”
“It’s at least the ten times yar repeatin’ it today”, Applejack complained.
“And I’m going to repeat it again. I just can’t wait.”
“I must confess that I can’t wait too”, Sunset Shimmer said with a smile. “Last year it was really sweet.”
“Forget about last year”, Pinkie Pie intervened, sitting in the opposite direction of travel, her stomach leaning against the back of her seat. “It was nothing but a small amateur party compared to what I’m planning.”
“Oh boy, it’s going to be SO awesome!”
The sound of a throat clearing interrupted them and the five girls looked up to discover Vice-Principal Luna standing beside the group, frowning slightly, her fists against her hips.
“I’m sure what you’re planning is going to be fantastic, but could you please sit correctly? It’s dangerous.”
Luna almost added “and noisy” but it would have been useless. Because from the moment they would sat correctly and thus be separated into groups of two, she knew quietness would be back into the bus and the other students could finally think with a clear head.
Much as she liked this bunch of solid friends, she recognized some of the things students said about them was absolutely true. Particularly when it came to their sound volume. Yet they were only five, six with Twilight Sparkle, and as noisy as if they were twenty.
A slight smile appeared on her face when she thought this was what made them so endearing and without them, CHS would never be the same.
As Luna predicted, when she reached her seat in the front, quietness had fallen back on the bus with each forced to sit correctly on their seats. All that came from their positions now were whispers among others.
If Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash were still on the topics of the birthday party, as far as Fluttershy and Applejack were concerned, their conversation, though related, was completely different.
In fact, something bothered a little the pink-haired teenage girl and she knew the young woman sitting beside her was the best person to ask her question to.
“Do you… think Big Mac would come to the party?”
“Well Rainbow Dash invited him, sure but for the rest Ah don’t really know. Ah don’t want to get carried away…”
“Ah. Alright.”
To tell the truth, Fluttershy was a bit afraid to meet him again. Since he had confessed he was in love with Pinkie Pie, she hadn’t seen him again, and carefully avoided to speak to him or to be on his way.
Yet, they both had to talk. Officially, they still were a couple on a break, and despite the fact this confession brought about a major change, for her it was impossible to put their story behind if they hadn’t set things straight.
On Fluttershy’s side, she still was in love. Although he made her suffer like no one else did, if he told her he wanted to start over again, she would start over again. She wouldn’t be able to help it. Nevertheless, she preferred not to imagine things. Since he loved another girl, there was no chance they would be back together.
This shady and indecisive situation didn’t feel pleasant. And though it probably meant her love story with Big Macintosh was over, she couldn’t wait to know. So she could go forward.
A few minutes later, the school bus stopped on an esplanade, in front of a white-painted huge wall. In theory, this place reminded nothing to anyone… The wall in question didn’t display anything about the type of place that was hiding behind.
And when getting of the vehicle, a large portion of the band didn’t know much more than the others… until a deafening sound of engine set them on the right path. Immediately, each student looked up and had the time to see a small plane, fighter aircraft style, passing them by at full throttle, up in the sky.
Not far, a huge black wrought iron gate opened and quickly, the school group was joined by a man wearing camouflage clothes. It looked impressive but in reality, Equestria had no army properly speaking and intervened in international conflicts only by bringing humanitarian aids, whether it was material or human.
“Welcome to Canterlot airbase! I’m Major Fast Clip and I’m going to be your guide during this visit. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask, I’ll attempt to answer them as best as I can, as long as you don’t call me Mister but Major.”
“Yes, Major”, the students repeated all at the same time.
“Perfect. We can start now. Please, follow me…”
And in a wave of excited whispers, students all started to walk in the direction of the gates. All… except one of them.
When Applejack turned her head, sensing something was wrong, she noticed Rainbow Dash was keeping her distance and frozen, in all likelihood unable to move. Her overwhelming sunny mood seemed to have deserted her, and instead, her face was tensed and her knees were shaking.
Applejack took a few steps back in order to meet her friend.
“Ah know it’s a bit hard for ya to come back here after all those years… but Ah also think that would be a good idea for ya to put your fears behind ya.”
“I can’t, AJ. It’s… I just can’t.”
“Am sure ya can. Ya did great advances already, like… Yar able to go back to Green Haven in order to see your shrink… Put a little faith in yarself.”
Rainbow Dash knew that if, really, she was unable to do it, Applejack wouldn’t force her to go on. All she was trying to do was to help her. Plus, if she didn’t come, since it was a school outing, she could be considered absent and have problems.
If there was something she didn’t feel like, it was that her father would decide to cancel her birthday party because she would have skipped an afternoon of “class”. Especially as she’d been able to get better grades in science – although it wasn’t much better.
She grabbed Applejack’s hand, exhaled… The sound of another plane passing them by in the sky made her shut her eyes and she almost turned around to run away but she kept going. All she had to do was to walk straight in front of her, without a look around. It would be alright. For now.
The large main yard hadn’t changed much. The large depots on the sides neither. And neither did the take-off runway. And the bleachers where spectators could watch the various demonstrations still was at the same spot as well. In many respects, the base was the same than four years before – almost five.
It was so unsettling that Rainbow Dash felt as if Firefly could appear any time in front of her, dressed in her pilot clothes, or in her civil clothes for the end of the working day.
Even without flying planes, walking in this so familiar yet so strange place was very hard. Yet she kept going, holding Applejack’s hand beyond reason, the latter not complaining the least in the world.
While Major Fast Clip explained the other students what were the various trades that could be found in an airbase, she kept her head low, not really listening to what he could say. Breathing in and out and thinking this also was the place where Soarin worked was what she was hanging to.
“First, we’re going to go to the hangars where are stored our acrobatics planes. They’re the most famous of all Equestria and do the honors at each public holidays and official events of Our Royal Family. Our most famous show is the one which is given every year for the creation of our float anniversary.”
Rainbow Dash hardly swallowed, a lump of fiberglass hurting her throat. Equestria’s float creation anniversary. It was the very last show she had attended to. The one which had screwed up her life.
The more she was going forward; the more she was feeling bad. An icing cold sweat had started to roll all over her spine. Her vocal chords felt damaged. Her heart felt like crushed by a steamroller. The world around her was wobbling. Her stomach was attacked by acid flows, which set her whole body on flames.
As soon as she had a glimpse at the fighter aircrafts from the wide-opened hangar, she let go Applejack’s hand, petrified. Her breathing had accelerated, and she felt that if she took another step, her heart would give up on her.
Unable to do otherwise, Rainbow Dash turned her back on her friend and on the rest of the group, and ran towards the way out, as fast as her state allowed her to. If her memories were good, the monitory station was in this direction. At the first floor was the restroom…
She wasn’t able to reach it and had to lean against a post to keep going with the violence of her disgorgement.
It was impossible. She could never make it. She could never heal from her phobia… Because the events of this doomed day would haunt her forever.