//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Suck It Up // by lightningstorm //------------------------------// *Authors note: Sorry to leave everyone waiting so long, but heres your long awaited chapter.* The moon was shining down brightly as Rainbow walked home that night, "What have I gotten myself into?" She thought to herself. Surely she'd done hundreds of stunts, some even life endangering, but nothing has frightened her as much as this. A date with Twilight. She wasn't even sure WHY she was afraid, Twilight was geeky and all, but...something about her filled Rainbows stomach with butterflies. Ever since that night Twilight stood up for her. And now, just a few days later, Rainbow was anticipating a date with her! What if she did something wrong? What if Twilight was obsessed with table manners and grammar (which Rainbow had little of), or what if they got attacked by giant marshmallows? As she unlocked and opened up the door to her apartment, Rainbow took one last look over the night sky, the starts beginning to appear one by one in the crimson sky. "Maybe I could take her for a fly?" Wasn't too bad of a idea. "No! Too much could go wrong! She could fall, or worse." Rainbow facehooved, now realizing she was thinking out loud. Rainbows house was in horrible condition, clothes and random little items were scattered all over, food wrappers on the couch and table, the TV just static due to the lack of paying for cable. Rainbow death marched through it all into her room, instantly belly flopping upon her bed, burying her cyan face into her pillow. "This is going to go just horrible, I know it." Twilight "You look like trash Twilight." Thats what she though, staring at herself in the mirror, soaking wet from the apparently random rainstorm outside, mud splashed here and there as well. Cleansing her body, and drying out her mane, thoughts flooded Twilights mind. "Why are you doing this Twilight? Rainbow is arrogant, rude, and frankly not all that intellectual. But at the sound of Rainbows name, or the image of the Pegasus mare in her head, all the blood rushed into Twilights face, her legs weakening a little, and although she'd never admit it, her horn hardened a bit. "How could this date possibly go well? Either Rainbow is going to do something completely embarrassing, of your gonna make an idiot of yourself, correcting her grammar or something." Twilight took one last look out her window, before closing the blinds. "I wonder if somewhere else, Rainbow is looking into the sky too." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The light was almost blinding at first, the vast array of colors, all swirling into a whirlpool in the middle of Twi's apartment. As the light died a bit, revealing a familiar face, Twi's eyes finally got their vision back. Twi had asked her brother for advice on her upcoming date, and being the great stallion he was, he had set up a holo-chat up the next morning. For all those who don't have the knowledge of a holo-chat, its a telepathic connection set up between two unicorns, creating a energy hole in the middle, letting one see the other through it. The purple unicorns face lit up with happiness at the sight of her brother, she hardly got to see him due to his job as a Royal Gaurd up at Canterlot Castle. "Hey Twily!" He seemed to be equally as happy, having been very close to his sister in their youth. "Hi Shining, thank you sooo much for calling so soon." "Its no trouble at all, Twi! I'm on break anyways. So whos the lucky stallion who gets to go on a date with you?" All the color suddenly flushed from Twilights face. Somehow in her letter, she had somehow left out the detail of her date being of the same gender. How would Shining react? Would he even approve? "Well um, actually, my dates another mare." Much to her relief, Shining seem to be unfazed by this. "Well then, whos the lucky mare?" "Her names Rainbow Dash, one of my fellow classmates." "Rainbow Dash, huh? That name seems strikingly familiar..." Shinings face showed he was obviously going into deep thought, getting that far away look. "How would you have heard of her? Shes not famous or anything right?" "I heard her name on the news once..." This surprised Twi, how had her dates name gotten into the news all the way up in Canterlot? Only the big important news was aired up there. "Well she would always talk about some crazy stunt of hers, maybe they were filming one of them?" "Yeah...probably just that" Shining shook that thoughts out of his head, the brightness returning to his face. "So anyways, you wanted some advice right?" "Oh, yes please! You know I've never been on a date before, how do I act? What do I wear?" It felt like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders, knowing someone could finally answer these questions, since she had no actual friends to confide in. "Twi, thats simple. You act yourself, don't try to fake anything about you. Voice your honest opinions, bring up things you enjoy, and wear a dress that YOU think is nice. Simple as that, be you." Just like that the weight was back on. How was that supposed to help? What if Rainbow didn't like who she was? What if she picked a ugly dress? What if she thought of boring topics or said something rude? Now she just had more questions. "Sorry Twi, but my breaks just about over, I gotta be heading off. Good luck!" He flashed one more smile, as his image began to fade. "But, Shining Wa--" He was gone. Rainbow Tonight was the night! The night of the date! Rainbows of course has had tons of dates before, but not a real one. More just...short ones. Ones where she didn't have to try to impress anypony, or one she actually cared about her date. Frankly, she was scared out of her mind. The butterflies in her stomach had transformed into a maelstrom of moths, no long just anxiety, not it was full out terror. She had picked out a dress, a simple one the color of her eyes. She heard Rarity say once that a good dress should compliment your eyes. Rainbow wasn't sure what that meant, since dresses can't make compliments due to their inability to speak, but she thought the dress went well with her eyes. She took one more glance into her mirror, thinking over the events of the past week. How Twilight had saved her, the night she got these feelings for Twi. How she'd been arrested and brought to court, only to have Twilight save her. How she asked out Twi right after, and how she almost jumped out of her skin with excitement when she said yes. The arrest was what bothered her mind the most, she could hardly sleep without that flooding back into her head. "Why HAD she been arrested? Why was the sheriff so angry with her?" "No! This is not the night to think of that! This is a night for you and Twilight." She kept telling herself that as she rinsed off her silky coat, shampooed her rainbow mane, and slipping on the first dress shes ever bought. She took a step out her door, when a sudden realization hit her. "You can do this. Why are you afraid? You already know Twi wanted to go on this date with you, so why are you afraid?" A smile flickered across Rainbows face, as she continued outside. Twilight Her dress was beautiful. Twi hated boasting more than anything, but even she knew that her dress was great. It was a simple styled purple dress, with small yellow stars flickered across it. It brought out the highlights in her hair, and went just with her eyes as Rarity once said it should. A blush went across her face, wondering what Rainbow would wear. But instead of worry this time when she thought of the upcoming date, she got a smile. A smile, excited smile. "Maybe Shining was right, I don't have anything to be afraid of. This date will be fun, and Rainbow will be charming." She straightened her mane one last time, as she started the short trek into town. Luckily this time it was rather dry out, was the weather patrol looking out for her? The thought made her chuckle. It was truly a beautiful night, the moon was full and al the stars had already came out in the dark purple night sky. Tonight would be amazing, nothing could go wrong. Shining Armor He ran into his room at the highest speed the whit stallion could manage, rummaging through all his stuff until he finally found it. The news article he remembered seeing Rainbow on. It was only about a week old, so he still had it laying upon his work table. "I knew I'd seen her!" He congratulated himself. Finally when he reread the article, his face flushed whiter than it had before. He had to warn Twilight! As he tossed aside the news paper, he thought he heard someone outside his bedroom door, but pushed the thought away. He tried to contact Twi, but failed. She wasn't picking up. "Buck! She must already be on her date! I have to go find her RIGHT NOW!" Shining turned and began to run out his door, but was stopped by a familiar figure. Rainbow stood in front of him. "Where do you think you're going Shining? Twilight doesn't need to anything, just yet. My lords would be rather upset if the surprise got spoiled so soon." A look of menace flashed across her eyes as she began to near him. "Now, I believe, its time for you to take a nap."