Rainbow Dash soared through the clouds at breakneck speeds. She needed to get away. She needed to think things out. She needed to figure out what was going on inside of her heart and head.
She needed McCloud.
At the speed she was going it wouldn’t take her long to get the patch of sky she was looking for. She did of course take the time to look over the towns-ponies below, going about their business. There were far fewer of them than usual which was a bit on the strange side. But then again, everything had been so strange as a rule recently that being a few ponies short in downtown Ponyville was normal by default.
Rainbow shook her head and turned her attention back to her flying. She instinctively turned her head around just to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Luckily nopony was there. The constant feeling of being watched wasn’t something she had quite gotten used to and she didn’t know if she ever would. Even if it was all just a big game, it was still just a tad creepy. Scratch that, it was extremely creepy.
Finally, she made it to her destination. She was in the sky above a small grassy hill on the outside of town. She scanned her eyes over her surroundings, trying to find the perfect patch of precipitation she was looking for. At first glance she couldn’t see him, causing her heart to dive from her chest and cannonball into her stomach, but luckily she was able to spot him a moment later.
“There you are!” Rainbow Dash shouted as her eyes fell upon the object of her desires. “I knew you wouldn’t just up and leave me like that!”
The pegasus immediately dashed across the sky over to her favorite cloud and dive-bombed into him, snuggling into his floofy goodness. He was warm, soft, and comfy—the perfect boyfriend. She twisted and turned around on the cloud, stretching out all of her muscles. This is exactly what she needed.
After an amount of snuggling time bordering on inappropriate, she finally came to a rest on her back, starting up into the blue sky. The highest of clouds aimlessly wandering above her, pulling her almost into a trance as she watched them go by. They were so pretty, so simple, so calming. They represented the exact opposite of everything else she has been dealing with recently.
Rainbow let out a sigh. “Why do I feel this way?”
Luckily for her, there was nopony around to hear her sudden declaration, but even if there were, it mattered not. It was a question she needed an answer to. Was she honestly falling for the derpy little dragon? She couldn’t be! Yet, every time she would think about him her heart would race. It was ridiculous! It was stupid! It was.. It was… It was anarchy! No rhyme or reason.
She let her thoughts travel back to when they were atop the cliff. How they slept so close to each other. She could feel his breaths throughout the night. Even when she was asleep, in her dreams she could feel his warmth and she felt safe. When he ran his claws through her mane, it felt so nice and relaxing. She wanted more of that in her life. She needed more of that.
Up until now, McCloud was the only male she needed in her life, but now she found herself missing Spike more and more. They’d only been playing this game of love with each other for a short while, and she’s only been separated from him for less than an hour, yet she already found herself wishing for his company. But why? He was just her friend, and often annoying, awkward, and weird friend at that. Yet, here she was, thinking about him nonstop.
She was really on some emo stuff right now.
It was all this stupid contest’s fault. She didn’t blame Spike for hating it. Heck, she wouldn’t blame him for hating her right about now for starting the whole thing. Why did she ever start it in the first place? Oh yeah, because she felt her ‘marehood’ was challenged. But was it really? Was that really the reason? Or was there something deeper going on that she couldn’t quite put a hoof on?
Did she always like him?
“Aye!” Rainbow Dash flipped over and buried her face into the cloud.
Those were some thoughts she wasn’t quite ready to face. No, she needed to take those thoughts and bury them deep down with the rest of her repressed, innermost memories. It should fit right between her fear of cauliflower and the fact that she could never figure out how to play the xylophone in music class.
Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t get these feelings out of her head. They were swirling around inside her brain, brazenly speeding back and forth in confusion, running into the walls of her skull with wanton disregard for pony life. She needed them out of there.
She needed to suck it up and talk to somepony. As much as it irked her to admit it, she needed help to sort through all of this. She needed somepony she could turn to, somepony she could trust to let all her feelings out to. Somepony who would help her.
Twilight? Nah, she’s way too close to the situation. Not to mention the fact that since Rainbow started this whole conundrum in the first place, she couldn’t imagine a universe where Twilight would be particularly happy to see her. No, she’d need somepony else for sure.
Applejack? No, she was pretty sure she was part of the mob. Her parents? Sweet Celestia, no. That would turn into the ‘birds and bees’ talk before she knew it. Rarity? Nah, she was already involved with the whole situation, too.
But… Rarity was also somepony that knew romance more than anypony. And she also was really close with Spike and knew him more than most others would. Not to mention she had already helped with getting a dress made and taking her to the spa. It might be a risky move, but Rarity was honestly the perfect pony to talk to! If anypony could help her figure some things out, it would be her.
…Hopefully.
Rainbow looked up at the door of the Carousel Boutique and took a deep breath. She wasn’t used to expressing her feelings much, or at all really, so this was going to be new territory. But if anypony could help her, it was the pony behind this door.
Rainbow steeled her nerves, raised a hoof, and knocked.
“Hey Rarity,” she called out. “Are you home?”
It only took a moment before she heard some shuffling coming from the other side. A brief second later, the door swung open, revealing Rarity, wearing her sewing glasses and her mane only slightly frazzled, signaling that it must’ve been a good day so far.
“Oh, hello there, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said with a curt nod. “Oh please, do come in.”
Rainbow Dash smiled and walked inside after Rarity moved to the side, allowing her entry. She wasn’t sure, but she felt her shoulder getting just a bit chilled as she walked past the unicorn. It was probably just all in her head, though. No, if this was going to work, she had to keep her game face on and just make the conversation happen.
Rainbow looked around the shop. It was in its usual state of disarray: cloth tossed around haphazardly, the sewing machine desk was partly buried beneath a pile of fabric and thread, and the morning’s breakfast dishes were still piled up on the coffee table. It was just another day for Rarity.
“So, Miss Dash,” Rarity spoke up, closing the door behind them. “What can I help you with today? Perhaps you are needing more advice for your little competition with Spike?”
“Heh, yeah, about that,” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her neck. “We’re, um, we’re trying to forget that the whole thing exists, honestly. All it's really done is just create a bunch of chaos and panic. If only the rest of Equestria could see that.”
“Oh,” Rarity said, her ears perking up. “So, am I to understand that you’ve called the whole thing off?”
“Ha, I wish it was that easy,” Rainbow Dash said before promptly flopping onto Rarity’s living room sofa and turning her eyes toward the ceiling. “But no, nothing about this whole thing has been easy.”
“I see,” Rarity replied, trotting over to the sofa. “So, I take it that things haven’t turned out the way you planned when you started this whole game, have they?”
“You could say that again,” Rainbow reiterated, letting out a sigh. “Nothing is going the way I planned on it being. You remember when you helped me get all dressed up and took me to the spa?”
“Yes?”
“Well, things have changed a lot since then,” Rainbow stated, turning her focus from the ceiling over to the white unicorn. “Like, Spike and I have changed.”
Rarity, for her part, wasn’t quite sure how to approach this conversation. On one hoof, she was admittedly a bit irked at Dash for putting her Spikey-Wikey on the world’s stage like she did, but on the other, there was something… different about her right now. Something strange. Something she couldn’t quite put her hoof on.
Rarity shook her head and sat on the end of the sofa next to Rainbow. “Well, my dear, it would definitely appear as if you have something to get off your chest. I’m more than happy to hear you out. I would imagine it has something to do with the stress of everything going on around you both.”
“Yeah, kind of,” Rainbow said, once again turning her attention to the ceiling. “You see, when we started this whole thing, or when I started it, I guess, I don’t even know what I was thinking. I was just tired of being treated like, I dunno, one of the guys I guess. When Spike said that he wouldn’t ever fall in love with me, something in my head just kind of clicked, I guess. I don’t know, I can’t really explain it.” Rainbow scrambled onto her hooves and then sat down on the sofa again in a more standard, upright position.
“I see,” Rarity replied. “So, it didn’t really have anything to do with Spike at the start?”
“Well, yes and no,” Rainbow continued. “I guess it just hurt even more because he’s one of my best friends. I never really thought about us falling for each other or anything, but just hearing somepony I was so close to say that they would never be interested in me honestly kind of hurt my feelings. I guess it’s not something you’d ever have to worry about, Rarity.”
Rarity blinked a few times. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Rainbow continued, “everypony in all of Equestria sees you as the most beautiful mare out there. Everypony respects you and sees you as, like, the industry standard for what a mare should be. Me? I just found out half the town assumed I was a lesbian just because I like sports and hanging with the guys. It was kind of depressing to be honest.”
Rarity bit her bottom lip as she thought of something to say. She wasn’t quite expecting to have a soul-searching conversation of this magnitude this early in the day. Rainbow didn’t start this competition to mess with Spike’s feelings at all like she had subconsciously been thinking. She just wanted to prove that she was attractive like other mares. Rarity’s thoughts wandered to the betting stub she had sitting on her bedside table and she almost felt guilty for getting wrapped up in everything.
“Well, I do want to say one thing,” Rarity replied, turning her full attention to Rainbow Dash. “I personally think that you are a very beautiful mare. You were one of the finest canvases I’ve had the pleasure of working on, to be frank. It’s a shame that not everypony can see things that way. If you were to ask me, I’d simply say they were jealous.”
“Heh, you think so?” Rainbow let out a small chuckle. “I am known for making other ponies jealous from time to time. But, honestly, it means a lot coming from you.”
“Of course, dear,” Rarity said. “I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you feel unhappy before. It was never my intention.”
Rainbow waved a hoof. “Nah, you’re fine. I think most of this just comes from bottling everything up inside me for so long. I’m not really much for talking about feelings and stuff.”
“That is quite true,” Rarity replied with a chuckle of her own. “You do seem to keep things like that hidden more often than not. Well, except for your love of cider. Everypony knows about that.”
Rainbow laughed aloud. “Okay, true that. But what can I say? Cider is awesome!”
The two shared a brief laugh with each other. It was a nice refresher from the stress and chaos the world had gifted Rainbow Dash the past several days. Unfortunately, she still had to get to the meat of the conversation. She knew things were about to get plenty more awkward. But, there were no two ways about it. She had to get it out.
After the laughter had subsided, Rainbow decided it was finally time to speak up again. “So, Rarity, there is another reason I wanted to come over today.”
“Oh?” Rarity responded, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Rainbow replied, turning her eyes from the unicorn to the floor. “So, I think I may have run into a problem during this whole thing.”
Rarity nodded. “Arlight, Dash. What is it?”
“It’s just that as we’ve spent more time together, Spike and me I mean, I can’t help but noticed some things have changed between us.” Rainbow slouched back onto the sofa. “At first, it was small stuff like wanting to impress him for the sake of winning the contest or whatever, but then I realized I was wanting to impress him just… because.”
Rarity’s eyes popped open. “Rainbow?”
“And then I noticed that when I’d think about him, which has recently become an almost constant thing, my heart would start to beat super fast.”
“Rainbow… Are you—?”
“I think…” Rainbow gulped down a large breath of air. “I think I’m beginning to like him.”
Rarity froze in place. Did Rainbow just say she was actually developing feelings for Spike? Her Spike? No, that couldn’t be the case. She must’ve misheard something. There’s no way that could happen, right?
“Yeah, that’s it I guess,” Rainbow stated again, folding her hooves over her chest. “For whatever stupid reason, I think I like the little dork.”
Rarity remained frozen. Nope, she heard correctly… and she didn’t know how to feel about it.
“But look,” Rainbow Dash spoke up again. “how can this actually happen? The goal was for him to like me, not the other way around! But here we are and I really really don’t know how to handle it. That’s kind of the reason I came over here, honestly. I mean, you know more about this kind of thing than anybody Rarity. You’ve gotta help me!”
Rarity finally snapped herself out of her self-induced paralysis and turned to Rainbow. “You’re telling me that you have a crush on Spike. Is that correct?”
Rainbow simply nodded in response.
“Oh dear,” Rarity said without thinking.
Rarity and Spike were very close. Everypony knew this, but the truth of the matter is, they were close enough that Rarity wasn’t quite sure how comfortable she was with the idea of Spike spending his time with another mare. Dare she say it, Rarity felt a little jealous right at the moment. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on the reason why, but it mattered not. For the sake of her friend, she was going to have to toughen up and help her out. In what way that was, remained to be seen.
“Well,” Rarity said, clearing her throat. “What is it you would like my help with, dear? I’d be more than happy to provide you with any assistance I’m able to provide.”
Rainbow wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and let out a sigh of relief. The hardest part of the conversation was over and went off seemingly without a hitch. Or at least she hoped.
“Well, I guess I just want to know if I’m crazy or not,” Rainbow said. “I mean, Spike’s my friend. He has been for a long time. Is it wrong to feel this way? I mean, I just don’t know. I’m new to this whole thing.”
Rarity had to choose her words carefully. One one hoof, given that she had already bet on Spike, it would be in her best interest to just leave things the way they are. But on the other hoof, Rarity was never one to turn away a friend in need, and Rainbow just so happened to be the friend that needed her.
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with those feelings, Rainbow,” Rarity stated with a soft smile. “Spike is a wonderful gentledrake; a truly upstanding member of society.”
“Yeah, he is, isn’t he?” Rainbow replied, feeling her heart start to flutter just a tad. “But he’s one of my closest friends! Isn’t that kind of, I dunno, weird?”
“Dear, love by its most basic definition is ‘weird’.” Rarity chuckled. “We rarely have any say in the matter when it comes to who our hearts decide to seek out, whether they be a friend or a stranger. It just so happens that your heart values Spike.”
“I guess you’re right,” Rainbow replied with a slight frown. “Ugh, why can’t things just go back to being simple. Like, we used to just hang out and have fun! I mean, it was only a few days ago, but it seems like forever at this point!”
“I understand,” Rarity said with a nod. “But, as we both know, time only goes forward, not backward. We can’t change what’s happened, but we can dictate our actions moving forward.” Rarity gently smiled at Rainbow Dash. “So, it would seem the true question here is what do you plan on doing moving forward?”
“Moving forward?”
“Yes, dear,” Rarity reiterated. “Do you plan on telling Spike how you actually feel or do you plan on keeping it hidden from him?”
“Well…”
Rainbow didn’t have a clear cut answer to that question. On one hoof, just confessing her feelings would take a load off of her chest and possibly relieve some of the tension she’s been feeling. But on the other hoof, telling Spike about how she’s been feeling would definitely be a one-way trip to Awkwardtown for their friendship and there’d really be no going back.
“…I guess I don’t know yet.” Rainbow sighed. “I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet.”
“I see,” Rarity replied, rubbing her chin. “Well, it’s true that it’s not an easy decision to make, but I do suggest you take some time to think it over. After all, I think we can both agree that Spike deserves an explanation one way or another.”
“Yeah, he does,” Rainbow Dash stated. “He’s a good guy.”
Right as Rarity was about to open her mouth to continue, she was interrupted by a quick but loud knock at the door.
“Hmm, who could that be?” Rarity asked. “I wasn’t expecting any customers today.”
She rose up from the couch and made her way over to the door and opened it. “Hello there! Welcome to—“ Rarity looked around and saw that nopony was there. “Hmm, that’s odd.”
As she was about to close the door, she noticed a small envelope sitting at the doorstep. She picked it up and read the writing on the front. “‘To Rainbow Dash’.”
“Oh no…” Rainbow said upon hearing her name being read. “This can’t be anything good.”
Rarity shut the door and trotted back over to Rainbow, handing her the envelope. “Well, you should probably read it just to be sure.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and popped the envelope open. As she read it over, her eyes grew wider and wider. “It says I’m invited to a dinner date tonight… with Spike.”
“I see,” Rarity said, scrunching her face in thought. “I would have to say it’s a most unusual request. But, I do have my doubts of who this came from.”
“Agreed.” Rainbow stood up from the couch. “It’s not really Spike’s style to just drop a letter off and run away. This is probably just something to do with the contest.”
“True,” Rarity said. “Do you plan on attending?”
“Why should I?” Rainbow asked, an edge lacing itself around her voice. “It’s just gonna be another awkward scenario that’ll pull Spike and I even further down this dumb rabbit hole.”
“That may be,” Rarity said. “But it could also be a good chance to—“
Another knock at the door. Rarity, for one, was getting quite tired of being interrupted.
She trotted over and opened the door once more. “Yes?”
“Rarity,” a familiar voice rang out. “Is… Rainbow, you’re actually here!”
Rainbow Dash looked over toward the door to see Spike, the dragon of the hour, standing in the door frame. “Hey, what’s up Spike!” She darted over to him. “How’d you know I was here?”
“I didn’t,” Spike replied. “I just guessed and got way luckier than I planned, heh. But whatever, I’m glad I found you. Did you get an invitation to dinner tonight?”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, but I think it’s just—“
“About the contest,” Spike finished her sentence. “Yeah, I got one too. But, that’s why I need you. Twilight and I think we have a plan to make this work and possibly even end the contest!”
Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, come on!” Spike said, waving a claw. “Come back to the library and we’ll fill you in on the details.” Spike was about to take off before turning back. “Oh, and hi Rarity! Sorry I can’t stay longer, but we’ve gotta roll.”
Rarity simply smiled. “No worries, darling. I understand.”
Rainbow didn’t waste any time in following Spike out of the Carousel Boutique, but she did want to tell Rarity one more thing. “Thanks for the talk, Rarity. I really appreciate you.”
And with that, Spike and Rainbow were on their way to the Golden Oaks Library to see about ending this thing once and for all… if they were lucky.
And they both very much hoped luck would be on their side tonight.