//------------------------------// // Couch // Story: Rainbooms and Romance // by Kodeake //------------------------------// Couch “Couch!” With that Rainbow found herself sitting on her flank in the hallway, glaring at the door to Twilight bedroom. “I told you it wasn’t my fault!” She shouted. The door, however, seemed unfazed. “Couch!” Twilight shouted again, her words final and the tone daring Rainbow to try again. Rainbow Dash was nothing if not daring. With a flap of feathered wings the pegasus flew out a window, coming around and hovering next to the window she’d often been through before. Twilight eventually just left the window open, which meant that she’d deliberately closed it. “C’mon, Twi,” Rainbow yelled, tapping against the glass and cupping her hooves around her face to try and see in. The curtains were drawn. She growled. “It’s not my fault!” She breathed a sigh of relief as the curtains were pulled back and the window opened in a magical magenta glow. Her smile quickly faded, however, as before she could enter the room she had to duck, narrowly avoiding a book that was hurled out at her. “Hey!” The window slammed shut and the curtains drawn once more. This time, she knew better than to try again. Twilight could be stubborn when she wanted, and apparently she really wanted to be stubborn about this. But it wasn’t Rainbow’s fault. It’s not her fault she was too awesome to contain. It’s not her fault she could do a sonic rainboom practically in her sleep. It wasn’t her fault said rainboom happened to be right over Ponyville and caused the Twilight’s latest experiment to fall off the shelf. Three days before she was supposed to present it. Despite herself Rainbow did feel a little bad about it, but Twilight was blowing it way out of proportion! There was no reason she couldn’t just reschedule and do it again; she had all her notes and nerdy stuff, after all. Rainbow crossed her forehooves, realizing she was still glaring at Twilight’s bedroom window. Well, despite what the unicorn had said, Rainbow Dash was not a ‘couch’ pegasus. Sleeping on that couch meant she admitted she was at fault, and that simply wasn’t the case. Taking to the skies, Rainbow scolded herself for looking back at the tree library before she could stop herself as a course was set for a cloud house sitting on the outskirts of Ponyville. Just because she had officially moved in with Twilight a few months ago didn’t mean her cloud house was going anywhere. It wasn’t long before she alighted on her old doorstep, still grumbling to herself. The door was pushed open without a second thought and Rainbow Dash found herself assaulted by a veritable tidal wave of dust. She coughed, desperately fanning the stale are away from her muzzle as it blew out of her old house. “Jeez, I guess it’s been a while…” Rainbow trailed off, looking around her front room. Without a doubt, her cloud house was much larger than Twilight’s library. Nicer too, if you asked her; clouds were much more comfortable than wood. You could nap anywhere. Then a thought struck. An unwelcome, uncool thought. Her house was awfully empty. Rainbow’s house had always been empty; the mare not one for interior decorating aside from the occasional wonderbolt poster or one of her countless medals and trophies. But this time it felt… different. She’d been living with Twilight in the library for almost half a year now, and even before that she usually spent most of her nights over in the bookworm’s domain. In the end, she’d grown accustomed to the seemingly endless energy living with other ponies brought with it. Between Twilight and Spike, there was always something going on back at the library. Sighing, Rainbow turned from her door and took off into the fading light of dusk. She wasn’t about to go crawling back to Twilight; it still wasn't her fault, after all. But… she couldn’t quite bring herself to enter her old home either. It wasn’t that she felt lonely, or anything. Such uncool feelings had no place in Rainbow Dash, and likewise she had no time for them. No, she just wasn’t tired. A quick flight would help, then she’d go back to her own house and sleep like a foal. Then in the morning Twilight would have realized she was being silly and come to apologize. The crips, cool air was a welcome feeling blowing through her feathers, and her aimless flight took her soaring over Ponyville. She watched the streets below; empty, mostly. A few ponies dotted the town here and there, but for the most part everypony had retired to their own homes for the night. Something caught Rainbow’s eyes, and she banked around to confirm; Rarity was trotting hurriedly down the street, still wearing those overly-large glasses she wore when she was designing something. Curious, the pegasus came in low until she was hovering right alongside the pearly white mare. “‘Sup Rarity?” The unicorn in question jumped slightly at the sudden voice, though her expression quickly soured when her eyes locked onto its source. “Rainbow Dash,” she greeted, her voice noticeable cold. “Can I help you?” Rainbow shrugged off the unwelcoming tone. “Just wondering what you were up to so late. Big order come in or somethin’?” Rarity’s glare could melt a block of lead. “As a matter of fact, yes; I had a rather large order come in a week ago. Luckily, I just managed to finish this morning…” she trailed off, clearly implying more than she said. It went right over Rainbow’s head. “So… what are you doing then?” “Augh! You are unbelievable!” Rarity shouted, coming to a stop to turn and thrust an accusing hoof into the pegasus’s chest. “I was finished. Until somepony decided to shake my boutique and scare poor Opalescence out of her wits, who then proceeded to destroy one of the dresses. And I’m all out of the fabric I need, so now I need to rush to the shop before it closes.” “Heh. Cats, am I right?” Rainbow chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her neck bashfully. Rarity’s face went red. “You are the most unaware, bullheaded, oblivious-...” she trailed off, seamingly too frustrated to come up with more words to use. Eventually, she let out a breath and resumed a hurried pace down the street. “I swear I don’t know how or why Twilight puts up with you.” “Actually,” Rainbow hissed through her teeth, effortlessly keeping pace with the unicorn, “Twi kinda couched me for the night. I guess something happened with one of her experiments and she’s kinda blaming me for it.” Raising an eyebrow, Rarity asked, “And was it your fault?” “No!” she defended quickly, crossing her forelegs defensively. “How was I supposed to know that sonic rainboom was going to break it? Besides, she can just do it again.” Rarity had to stop again as she slapped a hoof to her face. “Rainbow Dash, you are possibly the most immature pony I have ever met-” Rainbow raised her hoof to object, but was quickly cut off. “And I’m including Pinkie Pie. Most ponies, when they do something wrong, apologize.” “It’s not my fault!” Rainbow argued. “I didn’t mean to do a rainboom right over town. It jsut kinda… happened.” “I don’t believe you sometimes,” Rarity muttered, more to herself than Rainbow as she shook her head. “Excuse me, but I have a dress to remake. I suggest you go apologize to Twilight before she decides to permanently couch you. And when you’re done you can go see FLuttershy, too; I ran into the poor dear on my way. Seems many of her animal friends scattered as a result of your little stunt, and she’s still looking for them.” Rainbow huffed, watching as Rarity ran off down the street. “It’s not my fault!” She shouted after her, frowning to herself. She was just practicing… it’s not like she meant to cause any of that! But… Rarity was pretty upset with her. And if Fluttershy was still looking for her animals? It did seem like her rainboom had done a lot of damage. “Horsefeathers,” she cursed. In a flash she was off back towards the library. “Twilight…” Rainbow practically moaned, once again finding herself tapping on the unicorn’s bedroom window. “Come on… I wanna… ugh… talk.” There was no response, and the pegasus groaned, hanging her head and cringing as it hit the window. She didn’t move it. “Please, Twi. I thought you liked talking about things.” “Couch!” Came the same response she’d gotten before she left. Rainbow shook off the urge to get defensive again. That had never helped her before in these kinds of situation. “Fine; I’ll sleep on the couch. Just let me in and talk to me first. I’m sorry my rainboom-... I’m sorry I wrecked your thing.” Another few moments of silence followed, and just as the pegasus resigned herself to leaving it for tomorrow, the window opened. She wasted no time darting in. Twilight was sitting at a desk on the far side of the room, book on her left and a fresh parchment on her right along with a quill and ink. “Twi-” “I’m not upset about the experiment, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said without looking up, her voice neutral. Calling her by her full name was never a good sign, though. “I can re-do it and reschedule my presentation. I care that you refused to take responsibility.” Once again Rainbow found herself fighting off the urge to insist it wasn’t her fault. “I’m… sorry, Twilight.” she said with a sigh, “I just… I dunno. I was being stupid.” It was Twilight’s turn to sigh, setting down her quill and turning to look at the pegasus for the first time. “You’re not stupid. Stubborn as a mule and oblivious, yes. But you’re not stupid.” Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah… Rarity pretty much said the same. I may have… kinda… definitely wrecked one of her dresses. She was pretty upset.” Twilight frowned. “Did you apologize?” “No, I-” “Rainbow Dash,” Twilight groaned, lifting a hoof and rubbing at her temple. “I know, I know,” Rainbow sighed, sitting on the edge of Twilight’s bed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just… I dunno; I crash into somepony and I just… y’know. Apologize and get out of their mane quick as I can. But as soon as somepony starts blaming me I get all…” “Defensive,” Twilight offered in the void. Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, that.” She sighed again, flopping onto her back. “I don’t know why. I just… somepony says the wrong thing to me and I just rile myself up over it and can’t admit when I’m the one in the wrong.” “It is something you need to work on,” Twilight agreed, standing from her chair. “But as long as you realize that then I’m sure you’ll be fine. There’s very little you can’t do when you set your mind to it; stubbornness runs both ways, after all. Come on; it’s about time we both got some sleep. You can apologize to Rarity tomorrow when you both cool off a bit.” “And Fluttershy,” the pegasus added, hopping off the bed. “I’ll go hit the couch and-” she was cut off as a magical glow pinned her back to the mattress. Twilight shook her head slowly. “You can sleep with me tonight. It gets lonely without you,” she admitted with a small blush, though she quickly hid it with a fake cough. “Besides; you learned your lesson. I don’t think you need to be punished anymore.” “Thanks, Twi.” Rainbow smiled as they both slipped beneath the covers. “Oh, and you can help me with that experiment tomorrow too. I’ve been needing a guinea pig.” Rainbow Dash swallowed nervously even as she felt Twilight’s hooves wrap around her from behind, the unicorn's belly pressing up against the back. Despite herself, she groaned. “You know I hate being the little spoon, Twi.” “No you don’t; you hate that you love it. And you hate that I know you love it. Don’t lie to me.” She groaned, but didn’t argue. It wasnt her fault Twilight was so good at cuddling.