//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: // Story: Don't Stop Believing // by R_O_Y_G_B_I_V //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle had just arrived at the scene at the border of the Griffon kingdom with Celestia, Luna and the Griffon king all awaiting her arrival. She regarded them formally, and quickly got down to business. Celestia pointed out the giant gaping white rift that sat up in the sky radiating a silvery hue and tonnes of magical energy. Celestia had deduced it to be a time/space rift, and explained the massive repercussions that could occur if the wrong pony/being got a hold of the power it held. Luckily, the rift was far to high for any normal being to reach... unless certain speeds were reached to ascend to such a height. This fact only worsened Celestia's fears of the powerful being that must have produced this rip in space. It would need to be inspected, and there was only one way to do that... _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ray, Rainbow Dash and Florence had left the apartment behind as they strode down Dundas street Toronto. Ray claimed that they were apparently looking for something called a 'subway entrance'. When Rainbow questioned it, Florence explained that it was basically an underground train. That piqued Rainbow's curiosity. Of course she'd been on trains before; but the very idea of a train travelling underground was absolutely ludicrous! It made no sense! Why would someone go through all of the trouble of digging a giant tunnel for trains to travel through? But then she noticed the amount of traffic on the roads. They black paths were littered with hundreds of noisy, colourful seemingly self-power wagons. Rainbow asked Ray about these, and he explained to her in that monotonous, uncaring way of his that they were called 'cars'. When she questioned him further on their usefulness on the grounds that they were moving extremely slow and they were too big to maneuver properly. Ray answered this with "they're moving so slowly because there's a speed limit of 40 kilometers... and most cars can go at least one-hundred-fifty kilometers an hour". "Is that a lot?" Rainbow question curiously. "And what's a kilometer?" "Yes, it's quite fast," Florence answered with a friendly smile. "And a kilometer is one thousand meters" "...What's a meter?" "One hundred centimeters..." "Oh... Um, what's a centimeter?" "ten millmeters..." Florence's eye twitched as her friendly tone started falter at Rainbow's complete and utter lack of knowledge or understanding of metric measurements... "Look, do you know any imperial measurements? Like miles, yards, feet and inches?" Ray said trying to figure out if she'd forgotten all units of measurement. "Yeah I know my miles" she stated. "Well, one-hundred-fifty kilometers is roughly ninety-three miles" Ray explained. "Wow, only ninety-three? That's not too terribly impressive..." "You must be a speed demon" Ray said sarcastically. Obviously "Whatever" Rainbow said disregarding Ray's sarcasm. "But where is this subway thingamajig going to take us?" Rainbow asked curiously. Ray casually said, "The Eaton center. The largest underground shopping center if you didn't know. That's where we're headed". Rainbow held an incredulous look on her face, quirking an eyebrow she said "Wait, you mean to tell me, that there is an entire market place underground? I'll believe it when I see it..." she scoffed. They'd found what they were looking for. It was a staircase in the middle of the street leading underground with a sign that said 'TTC'. Ray explained that that meant 'Toronto Transport Company'. When they descended the stairs, Rainbow Dash awed at the spectacle. It was in-fact, and entire train station under ground. And it was even bigger than any train station she had been to in Equestria. The place was a large platform with tiled flooring and ceiling. The station had ticket booths, some sort of weird contraption that seemed to only open with a key, and various vendors selling all kinds of goods from touristy items to magazines and snacks. She saw the same set-up across the train tracks. It was quite mind-blowing for a small-town pony-turned-human to comprehend. "Woah, this place is insane!" Rainbow exclaimed excitedly. Ray chuckled lightly and Florence giggled at her giddiness. Rainbow's eyes widened when she heard the rumbling of what must have been the train about to arrive. She saw the massive pool of people walk towards the edge of the platform, waiting for the train to roll in. "Come on Rain-Jesse" Ray corrected himself, his sister eyeing him up suspiciously. "Let's get going before we miss it" he finished, dragging Rainbow by the hand down to the Turnstile, drawing out a blush from the Rainbow haired girl. He then pulled out another card and chipped it into the gate, causing it to rotate for him. He then leaned back over to chip his card in again to let Rainbow through. Florence copied Ray's movements and in no time the were among the crowd awaiting the train. Just as the passed the turnstiles, they heard the loud screech of the train halting. Rainbow had to cover her ears since the train was underground in a chasm so the sound reverberated immensely. Ray chuckled at the display and Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at him, drawing out a smirk. Beside them, Florence was giggling at the scene and idly humming to herself. Once the long, silver coloured train had appeared, Rainbow Dash had to do a double take. Where was the locomotive, where was the smoke, and why was it shaped so squarely? She voiced these questions, and Ray answered blankly "That front bit and back bit are the locomotive, it's electrically run so there is no exhaust, and it's shaped to fit in the tunnels snugly". Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding, and was drawn back to the sight of the train. She saw what looked like hundreds of people exiting the train at once. She wondered how in the world they all fit on the thing? The train wasn't small by any means, but it was still filled to the brim. Once the train had been emptied of the passengers getting off at this station, the crowd that she was in had started to move. She clutched Ray's hand in a death-grip and nervously made her way with him on the train with Florence following in-suit. When they got onto the train, the first thing that was made blatantly obvious was the fact that they were a lot smaller on the inside than they looked on the outside. Or maybe it was just because the Train was filled to the brim, totally shoulder to shoulder. Rainbow was still gripping onto Ray's hand -which had now gone red due to the pressure. Ray turned over to meet Rainbow's gaze, and he said tonelessly "you're kind of crushing my hand RD". Florence noticed this and giggled to herself, Rainbow stammered out "wh-what?" in defense, and she loosened her grip on Ray's hand, but didn't fully release it. This didn't go past Florence who gave a mischievous smile Rainbow and Ray's way. Rainbow only blushed harder, but Ray regarded his sister by starring at her blankly and raising an eyebrow as if to say 'what?' Florence just moved her eyes away from them and whistled innocently, Ray rolling his eyes as she did so. They stood in silence for a good minute or two, just enjoying (or in Rainbow's case, freaking out) the ride, waiting for their destination. But suddenly, a voice Rang out from who knows where. The voice was a female speaking in monotone, she it said "arriving at Dundas, Dundas station". Ray turned to Rainbow Dash, who had now moved her grip to his arm, and said "this will be our stop. Mind the brakes, they're a little jerky" cautioning her. "What brak-" before she was able to finish her sentence, the train screeched and halted to a stop abruptly, send Rainbow Dash into Ray's chest. "Oof" she cried out as her face made impact on Ray's chest. Ray stumbled a bit at the shift in weight, but was able to keep himself up with the assistance of the railing he'd been holding onto the entire ride. Rainbow Dash was leaning fully into Ray's chest, not wanting to move. She didn't know why, but she found comfort and security in the sarcastic and monotonous man's hold. She could stand by herself now that Ray had taught her, but she yearned for the feel of Ray's strong arms wrapped around her body, hoisting her up onto her feet again. She had no idea why she craved these things. Never before in her life, be in this world or in Equestria, had she found herself drawn anyone the way she was drawn to Ray. Maybe it was because she'd never actually been this close to a pony/person of the opposite sex. She never saw meaning in it, she was to focused on her training to care about anything as trivial as love. But now that she was stuck with this person whom she relied on, she had more time to become attached. Well, more time as in like, half a day so far... but still... Or maybe it was because of the fact the Ray had saved her. Surely if he hadn't picked her up and carried her to his home and offered to take her in, she would be completely lost with no way of sustaining herself in this new world. Maybe she felt that she owed him her affections for his heroic act? Was that it? Or maybe even, it was the subtle charm that Ray's calm, cool and unfazed demeanor that caught her attention. Like they say, opposites attract. And if ever Rainbow had an opposite, it would be the lazy, uncaring and emotionally deficient Ray Marcone. Maybe she was attracted to the change in pace that she wouldn't recieve anywhere in Equestria. The Ponies there were unnervingly nice. Not that she had a problem with nice, and not that there weren't any mean Ponies out there, but you just didn't seem to find the same overwhelmingly friendly atmosphere in this world's demographic. Who knew what stirred these feelings in Rainbow Dash? Definitely not her, but she had no more time to think on this as the doors to train were opened and people started flooding out of the train cars. Ray ushered her out with Florence following behind. "Well, we're here" Ray said, gesturing to everything around. "But this is just another train station..." Rainbow said suspiciously. "You'll see" Ray said slyly, "come on follow me" Hey i rhymed :D And so Ray, Florence and Rainbow Dash walked down the corridor behind glass doors. Rainbow still wasn't as impressed as she thought she'd be. I mean, it was cool and all what with everything being underground. It just seemed a little... anti-climactic. Well that's what she did think, until of course Ray and entourage walked through the long hallway leading out of Dundas station and into the Eaton center. When Rainbow laid her gaze upon the massive shopping center, her eyes turned to saucers and her mouth was left agape. She was speechless. This place was MASSIVE! When she looked around, she saw a wide open space filled with an array of stores and kiosks filled to burst with all kinds of people wearing all kinds of clothing with all kinds of hair styles and all kinds of colours. Most of which were brown, orange or yellow like Ray's. But there were a few colourful ones like Florence's pink hair or Rainbow's multicolored locks -though none to the same extent as her. Some styles were even spiked up or tied in bundles or weaves. If Rainbow Dash thought that an underground train was cool, this had to be at least, wait for it now, twenty percent cooler! (Cliche quote is cliche) "This. Place. Is. AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash squealed, pressing her hands against her cheeks. Ray and Rlorence openly laughed at Rainbow's enthusiasm. They remembered they're first reactions to the Eaton center, though they were much more contained than Rainbow's mind blown expression. "Well, is it what you expected it to be?" Ray teased, gesturing to the massive complex of stores. The ceiling was at least forty meters high and you could see that the upper floors were open to the bottom floor and connected by a system of moving staircases. She giggled a bit, and answered giddily "Absolutely not! I was expecting some small covern or something! Are you sure this is all underground?" "Yes Jesse, everything here is under Toronto" Florence explained with a smile on her face. "Wow! And hey, what are those?" Rainbow gestured to the stairs the seemed to move all by themselves. "Those? Those are escalators" Florence continued. Rainbow just nodded and figured she shouldn't press on the matter. All these explanations seemed to confuse her. What were mechanics? Why wouldn't they just enchant them? Maybe no one here knew how to use magic. She didn't know. Nor did she really care. Rainbow and Florence were brought to attention by Ray who cleared his throat and said "well, Florence knows a lot more about clothing for girls than I do. So I'll be leaving her with you. I'm trusting you to get Jesse clothed. You have your phone on you right?" Florence nodded, patting her bag. "Okay, well I'm going to go search around for some bits and bobs that she'll need as well, so call me when you guys are ready to go, or if you get into trouble or what ever" he finished, waving to them and turning to be sucked up into the crowd. Rainbow frowned slightly, but Florence turned to her with that friendly smile of hers and said "well jesse, shall we go get you some clothes?" Rainbow bit her bottom lip nervously and nodded. Florence grinned and pulled her by her arm to a rather pink looking store filled with mannequins wearing weird looking clothing with strange patterns and materials. Rainbow felt that Rarity would feel right at home here, but Rainbow Dash had never fancied clothing. But in this world it didn't seem like clothing was an option, so she reluctantly followed the giddy teenager leading her by the wrist to a store called H&M. Weird name... Once they were in, they were addressed by a sales clerk. A girl who had black hair tied up in a ponytail. She was dressed up like one of the mannequins only she had a red name tag that read 'Hello my name is Angela'. The girl said "hey welcome to H&M! Are you looking for anything in particular?" Florence grinned and said "actually I'm glad you asked. My friend here" Flo gestured towards Rainbow, "needs to be measured for some bras and pants. She lost all her clothes so we need to pick up some new stuff" she finished explaining. "Um... what's a bra?" Rainbow asked confused. The store clerk looked at her funny, but Flo said"Sorry, she's from France. You know us French girls" she laughed nervously. Ray had told her that Jesse had lost her memory, and if anyone were to ask, that she had visited here from France. Florence knew that it wasn't true, but she trusted her brother and didn't question his motives. Angela chuckled, waving her hand dismissively, "aha, I getcha. Well let's get her measured up" she said as she snapped some tape measure in her hands. "Follow me girls, we can go use one of the change rooms in the back" she added, walking away to the back of the store with Rainbow and Florence following behind. Once they were in the changing room, Florence and Angela learned a few things about Rainbow Dash. First of all was that Rainbow had zero issues with being more or less naked in front of other people. Secondly however, they also figured out that Rainbow has massive personal bubble invasion problems. When Angela got close enough to wrap the tape around Dash to measure her bust, Rainbow maneuvered out of the way. Angela tried again, but Rainbow just kept on moving away from her. Soon enough, a full on chase had begun in the change rooms. Angela and Florence were chasing Rainbow Dash around with the tape measure for a good ten minutes before Florence was able to catch Rainbow and pin her down so that Angela could take the measurement. Once they had finally gotten all of the measurements down, Florence released her grip on Rainbow who backed up against the wall immediately after and stared daggers into Flo and Angela. The two girls laughed it off though, and when Flo apologized to Angela for the ruckus, she just brushed it off claiming that it gave some much needed excitement to the boring atmosphere. Once they had selected suffiecient under wear for Rainbow Dash, they moved on to both of their favorite parts. Choosing outfits. (Oh Joy) With a little input from Rainbow Dash, her claiming that she wanted as much blue as she could get, they were able to pick out three different outfits. For shirts they chose a long sleeved v-neck shirt with a baby blue and light grey pattern, another long sleeve shirt that was more of a knitted texture to it. The third shirt they got was an off the shoulder shirt with a dark blue trim. For pants they got her two sets of skinny jeans, one black and one grey, and a pair of black gray sweatpants that had the word 'Athlete' in graffiti writing. They also managed to find Rainbow a pair of re converse shoes, though they had to fight her a little since she didn't overly fancy the colour. Over all though, Rainbow Dash was more than pleased with what she had received. Once Florence had used the money Ray had given to get Rainbow some clothes (and her a little something too) Rainbow turned to the girl asking"why are you and your brother helping me so much? I mean, that's wasn't cheap by any means. You guys are under no obligation to take care of me..." she grabbed her arm and avoided Flo's eyes. "Florence's eyes softened and she knew that Rainbow felt bad for having Ray and Florence do so much for her. But then she smiled gently, gazing into nothingness. "If ray didn't think that you deserved his help, he wouldn't have given it to you. You may be pretty, but Ray doesn't fall for looks. There must be something about you that he sees. And whatever it is, it's bringing out the softer side in him" she explained softly, making Rainbow look back up into her eyes. "I know my brother can be a bit harsh and seemingly uncaring at times, but he's actually a wonderful person. He's been taking care of me and Dan since he was only fourteen years old. But that's another story" Flo finished with a wide eyed Rainbow Dash staring at her slightly shocked. Rainbow's gaze then softened and a smile made it's way to her lips, "Yeah, Ray really is something else isn't he" she said affectionately. "I owe him so much, and it's only been a day" she added. "Yeah, but Ray won't hold you to it. He's just not like that. So if you wanna do something nice for him, stay true to him" Florence said half sternly. "I-I'm not-" Rainbow said but was cut off by Florence. "Just, don't make all his sacrifices go in vein. He's helping you because he knows that you're worth the effort. Stay true to whatever it is that makes him believe in you, and stay true to him" Florence ended. Rainbow Dash simply nodded in a silent agreement. She wouldn't let Ray down. Wait, what was she saying? She needed to get back to Equestria! What's all this 'getting closer to Ray's family' stuff all about? She couldn't get too attached. She couldn't hurt these people with the knowledge that she wasn't here for good. She couldn't allow herself to get closer anymore, else she'd end up hurting them. And so she did the only thing she could do. She ran. "Huh? Wait Jesse where are you going?" Flo asked abruptly as she saw Rainbow Dash run off. "I'm sorry!" Was all she got in return. She noticed the tears coming from Rainbow's eyes and knew what she must be feeling. So in a panic, she pulled out her phone to call Ray... _________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: Well mares and gentle-colts. I said I'd have it up on Sunday, and so I did! I just got it up (ha, got it up) really late... sorry... See, what happened was I gave myself all this time to write it throughout the week, but I ended up writing the entire thing today... heheh... Aaaanyways, as usual like and favorite if you haven't already. Always open to criticism and your undying praise ^_^, so leave a comment! Also have a goodnight/morning/afternoon, and I will see you all on Friday with a new chapter.