Rainbow was standing by the shore of Luna Bay, looking up at the horizon at the nearby village under attack by the Pristine Army. She could see the giant clouds of gas even from here and it made her sick to think about what was going on there, and how the ponies were being treated.
Rarity and Rain Shine were similarly standing by the shore, but quite a ways off cuz Rarity wanted a sec alone with Rain Shine and it was a big shore. Rainbow on the other hand, was with Autumn Blaze, and Rainbow was hyping herself up to get ready to kiss her.
And honestly, like, Autumn was pretty cute. Gaining her magic wasn’t the only reason Rainbow wanted to kiss her.
Rainbow was rocking back and forth, side to side on her hooves to pump herself up, and Autumn Blaze giggled into her hand.
“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked shortly.
“You nervous, champ?” Autumn asked with a catlike smirk on her face, holding her arms behind her back and leaning forward. “What’s the matter, never kissed a babe before?”
“Pffft, no,” Rainbow scoffed and batted both hands. “I’ll have you know my girlfriend Applejack is like the HOTTEST babe there is. And, yeah, okay, I realize the way I said that makes her sound fake, but I—”
“No, I believe you,” Autumn said. “You friends with Twilight Sparkle too?”
“Y-yeah!” Rainbow blinked a couple times and tapped her hooves in the snow. “You’ve met—oh WAIT! I know you! You’re the dragon girl Twilight met in Bitsburgh!”
“That’s me!” Autumn Blaze beamed and held her hands behind her head. “Gee, that conversation must’ve meant a lot to that girl if she told all her friends about it.”
“It did,” Rainbow nodded, smiling fondly as she thought about Twilight, and then blushing as she thought about being inside Twilight’s mouth. “She was really stressed out about some stuff, and she said talking with you really helped her out. So thanks for that.”
“It was my pleasure,” Autumn nodded happily. “She’s a cool gal. Love to have another drink with her sometime. And besides, we dragons gotta look out for each other.”
“That’s awesome, I’m really glad you were there to look out for her,” Rainbow said, and then pumped her fists. “And now I’m gonna do my best to look out for you and your friends in this village!”
“I believe it,” Autumn said softly, stretching her arms above her head and moving her body side to side to get warmed up. “The winds of fate have delivered us here together for a reason, so let’s make it happen.”
“Huh, I’ve never been much of a fate believer before,” Rainbow hummed and limply kicked at the snow. “Guess I’ve always wanted to feel like I’m in control of my own ship, y’know what I mean?”
“I do,” Autumn nodded, big smile on her face. “It comforts me though, this idea that no matter what happens in this world, the stream of life is always being channeled by some guiding hand that knows what it’s doing.
“It makes me feel like whatever it is that I’m doing is important, cuz I’m a part of that stream, and I was chosen to be here, right in this moment above all other moments that could happen.”
“Huh, guess I never thought about it like that,” Rainbow tapped her cheek for a sec and then pointed at Autumn and beamed. “That’s pretty cool! I can dig that!”
“Thanks,” Autumn giggled adorably and ruffled her big fluffy mane. “We all need something to get us through this horrible world we’ve been born into. And I dunno, maybe it’s just denial. But even if it is, I prefer that kinda denial to the kind that pretends like other people’s problems don’t exist or don’t matter, y’know?”
“I do know,” Rainbow sighed and looked down at the snow around her hooves. “I’ve been way guilty of that… ‘guilty’ is a good way of putting it too, cuz that’s how I feel about it now. I really wanna make up for my part in everything, my like, complicity I guess. But I dunno how, or if I even can.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Autumn Blaze crossed her arms and cocked her head. “Lotta folks feel that way when they first realize they’ve been like, a part of this massive machine that tortures and kills people? But like, you gotta get over it.
“So yeah, you were complicit and even sometimes fully responsible for the torture and murder of countless dragons, right? Nothing you do is ever gonna make that less true.”
“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Rainbow muttered and rubbed the back of her neck, her cheeks stinging with shame.
“Uh-huh, but let me ask ya this,” Autumn Blaze pointed at Rainbow. “Now what? Your eyes are open now, so what do you do? If your answer is to just keep looking back to when your eyes were closed, you might as well have never opened ‘em in the first place. Look at what’s right in front of you, and deal with it.”
Rainbow blinked. The gears in her brain were slowly turning— and smoking probably— as they worked to internalize Autumn Blaze’s smart words.
“Yeah,” she said after like an hour long pause, “yeah, I think you’re right.”
“I know I’m right,” Autumn said cutely, and Rainbow snickered.
“I don’t know what to do,” Rainbow said sternly, looking at her hands that felt so small, “other than what I can do. And I know it’s not much, but I’ll do what I can. And what I can do right now is kick the shit outta the Pristine Army!” Rainbow said and pumped her fist.
“Hell yes!” Autumn pumped her fist too and pounded it against Rainbow’s. “Now kiss me, you stone cold lesbian!”
“With pleasure!”
Rainbow took Autumn Blaze in her arms and pressed their lips together, and goddamn were Autumn’s lips soft. Kissing her was like kissing a marshmallow, but it sent a wave of heat searing through Rainbow’s body that made her feel like she was gonna explode, but like in a lesbian way.
When she was finally able to tear herself away, she felt Autumn’s magic flowing through her and she clenched her fist. This was new… she had wanted to try this with Twilight before, but was too scared. Now she realized she had nothing to be afraid of.
This ruled.