//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Imperfect // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Rainbow Dash opened her eyes again. Twilight was standing over her gasping in horror. “Rainbow Dash?” she asked of her friend. “I’m okay, I think...” Rainbow Dash said, not sure if she was telling the truth, or just trying to keep Twilight from worrying. “This is kind of why I came to see you.” Rainbow Dash explained to Twilight the things that she had seen during her flash forwards, including the details of Twilight’s gestures of affection, causing the lavender unicorn to be horrifically embarrassed. “I... didn’t think you liked mares like that Rainbow Dash,” Twilight eventually managed after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. “I... don’t?” Rainbow said she had always felt that she wasn’t, but clearly, something happened, or would to make her more open to the idea. “Do... you?” “I... I’ve never been with anypony at all Rainbow, I guess I don’t know what I like,” Twilight said. Both mares realised that they needed to get the subject away from this topic, it was making them both extremely uncomfortable because neither knew how to answer. They both half-wished that Vinyl Scratch would pop her head into the door and make an off the wall comment about the situation they were in to lighten the mood. Both of them looked at the door, and were disappointed that nothing happened after thirty seconds of waiting. “So basically, we need to figure out what these flash-forwards of yours mean.” Twilight said, finally diverting the conversation away from its previous topic that felt as if it had gone on for years. Rainbow Dash nodded, “Something really wrong is going in the world whenever I flash-forward, but I haven’t been around long enough to figure out what happened.” Twilight nodded. “I want you to stay here for a while until your next flash happens... You also probably shouldn’t fly for a while... if you had a flash while you were in the air, the fall could kill you!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, she didn’t like the idea of being stuck on the ground, but she liked the idea of falling to her death even less so she didn’t argue. The two ponies sat around, talking about various subjects from weather processing in Cloudsdale, to stargazing, to various stories from their respective fillyhoods. They sat around for hours, and they had started running out of things to talk about. Rainbow Dash was getting frustrated, her first two flash-forwards had happened something in the order of twenty minutes apart. “What gives! One should have happened by now!” Rainbow cried out in frustration. Twilight looked at her friend uneasily. “I have an idea...” “Let’s try it, whatever it is! I’m getting tired of all this sitting around and waiting! If I have to wait any longer, I’m going to start pulling feathers out!” Rainbow said in frustration. Twilight looked at her, leaned in close, and gave her a kiss on her lips. Rainbow Dash was caught off guard by the sudden action, she hadn’t been expect thing that. Twilight backed off after a few seconds, blushing intensely. “Sorry Rainbow... It just seemed like it might work...” Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but she felt a sharp, splitting pain in head. “I... I think it worked...” Rainbow collapsed to the floor, blacking out. ... Rainbow threw open her eyes. Somepony was holding her down. No. That wasn’t entirely accurate. Rainbow Dash was lying in a bed; it was night time, and next to her, slept Twilight Sparkle. Twilight was cuddling with her. Rainbow Dash looked at the sleeping unicorn next to her, she was smiling in her sleep. Rainbow Dash smiled back at the unicorn, knowing that she couldn’t see it, this was the perfect opportunity to get answers, but Rainbow Dash didn’t have the heart to wake somepony who looked that happy. Judging by how the world was going, this was probably as happy as the Twilight Sparkle of the future could be. The illusion of happiness was broken when Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight’s pillow; there was a gun under it. A kind that Rainbow Dash hadn’t seen before, this one too was clearly kangaroo in origin; it looked as if it had been designed to be held in just one of a kangaroo’s hand, unlike the others she’d seen which seemed to be made for two. This gun had a barrel about fifteen centimetres in length; behind it was small cylinder that seemed to be designed to revolve around an axis. Rainbow Dash dubbed it a “revolver,” thinking that she was being clever. How messed up was the world when Twilight Sparkle was forced to sleep with a revolver under her pillow? Rainbow Dash felt a tear form in her eye. This wasn’t right. The world wasn’t supposed to be like this! Twilight opened her eyes, looking at the Pegasus lying across from her. “Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?” Twilight asked. “How did this happen Twilight? How did the world get so dark and dangerous?” She asked. “The world has always been like this Rainbow, we were just being hidden from it,” Twilight said sadly. “Someday, someday things will be safe again. Someday we won’t have to sleep with guns under our pillows. Someday, we’ll take our home back.” The two ponies embraced each other, and Rainbow Dash blacked out again. ... “I got so close!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in frustration over dinner. Night was falling, and Twilight had prepared a simple salad using some of the last bits of food she’d stored for over the winter. “So close!” Twilight shrugged. “We’ll just have to try again... Though I’d prefer not to try today... we don’t know what kind of effects that this has on you when you flash... I need to get my hooves on some monitoring equipment... I just don’t know where to find any...” Rainbow Dash looked at the clock, it was getting awful late. “Is Pinkie Pie still living here? Shouldn’t she be home by now?” Twilight shrugged. “Pinkie apparently does come back to sleep here... but it’s almost always really late at night, I see her for a few minutes in the morning during breakfast, and then she skips off to do... something. I have no idea what that pony does during the day.” Rainbow shrugged as well. “I’ve only seen her around town a few times since we got back from the Hoofson Bay. When I tried to talk to her, she said hi, but that she was really busy and couldn’t stop to chat... Knowing her, she’s planning the reopening party of Sugarcube Corner.” “I certainly hope it’s that,” Twilight said. Rainbow nodded in agreement. They ate the rest of their dinner in silence. A few more hours passed, the two mares sat in the main room of the Library, talking about things that only Pinkie Pie bursting into the room shouting “forever!” could make more random. Twilight didn’t want to leave Rainbow alone in case she had another flash forward, and when both of them became tried and needed sleep, Twilight remained adamant on not leaving the pegasi alone. “I think you should spend the night here... just in case,” she said reassuringly. “Just in case!” Rainbow didn’t want to impose, considering that technically speaking, Pinkie Pie was living here too. “It’s no trouble really, you can sleep in my bed, and I’ll use the sofa,” Twilight said. Rainbow eventually gave in, Twilight had a point, and if she flashed forward again having somepony nearby was probably a good idea. She did however manage to convince Twilight to sleep in her own bed; Rainbow would sleep on the sofa. Twilight turned out the lights and went upstairs; Rainbow laid down on the sofa, closed her eyes, and went to sleep. ... She must have flashed-forward when she went to sleep. It made sense, when she thought about it, after all. It her experiences were a lot like dreaming, she was participating in events around her, but not quite understanding them. Rainbow Dash had awoken during the day. She was outside in Ponyville. Things weren’t on fire (a distinct plus,) and the world didn’t look crazy... maybe it wasn’t yet, maybe Rainbow Dash had gotten lucky and had flashed forward to a time that didn’t have Twilight Sparkle shoving a gun into her face as a precaution. Was that too much to ask? She had clearly flashed to a time not very far into the future; the kangaroo Light Tank had still not been fixed, Vinyl Scratch and her company had yet to return from Manehattan, but were apparently due back in the next few hours. Being here now worried Rainbow slightly, if Déjà Vu moments set off the flashes, then this entire sequence was going to be a hotspot for trouble when she actually caught up to it. Something caught her eye; Pinkie Pie was skipping merrily down the high street. Now was the perfect time to figure out what the pink party pony was doing. Rainbow Dash followed her, doing her best to say back far enough to not be noticed, but it appeared that Pinkie Pie was disinterested in everything going on around her. They had just gotten out of town when Pinkie Pie called out to her. “I know you’re following me Dashie! You can’t hide from Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash froze in her tracks, Pinkie Pie stopped skipping and turned back to look at her. “What’s up Rainbow Dash?” “Just wanted to know why nopony has seen you around town in forever,” Rainbow said. “Oh! Do you want to know? It’s a secret! But your my bestest best friend! So telling you is okay!” Pinkie Pie said. Rainbow Dash approached the pink party pony, and just as Pinkie Pie was about to tell her, Rainbow Dash felt a splitting pain in her head, she fell to the ground and blacked out. Rainbow Dash discovered that the world had a very cruel sense of humour.