The train network that spanned Equestria was a miracle of planning, allowing the average pony to travel the width of the kingdom within a mere day’s travel. It was an extensive network that took hundreds of pony minds to devise and plan, and thousands to build. Naturally Rainbow Dash couldn't bring herself to care in the slightest about the supposedly amazing engineering. Instead she was sitting bitterly on the train wishing that she could have flown home to Ponyville the previous evening.
Unfortunately a mistimed roll and a bad recovery during the last show had given her a sprained wing. So she was instead sitting on the train with a bandaged wing, wishing that she had been better at her low altitude aileron rolls. The only good news was that she had been injured at the end of their last show and it had only looked like a rough landing to the crowd. So the show itself ended well.
The bad news was that the last show was in Baltimare, and the trip home by train was not a short one. However the crystal peak of the Castle of Friendship was peaking over the nearby hills, letting Rainbow Dash know that she was nearing the end of the incredibly boring journey. Gathering the few items she had brought to entertain herself on the train ride, she cast a venomous glare at the book that Twilight had recommended.
She was seriously contemplating leaving the book on the train seat in revenge for it boring her. Twilight had recommended that she finish the series, but the book had just done nothing but bore her. Surely Twilight understood that if the story didn’t contain awesomeness, then it was a waste of paper. She ended up shoving it into her saddlebag, not wanting to deal with an angry Twilight. Losing a library book was one of the few ways to genuinely anger the mare.
It was later afternoon when the train finally slowed to a stop in Ponyville’s small station. Rainbow Dash was already waiting at the train door and stumbled slightly from the rough breaking. She trotted off the train before it even stopped, her eyes peeled for any sign of Pinkie Pie. She knew that there was little chance of Pinkie Pie waiting for her as it was in the middle of her shift at Sugar Cube Corner. However that did little to stop her being wary of any tackle hugs that could come from anywhere. The last thing she needed was an over-exuberant Pinkie Pie glomping her and hurting her wing any more than it already was.
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a flash of pink mane and dove behind a nearby park bench. She carefully lifted her head up, peering over the edge of the wooden bench as she scanned for any sign of Pinkie Pie. However all she saw was Lily Valley, and her pink fur coat, trotting along with a flower order on her back. A false alarm.
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash stepped back out from behind the cover of the bench and resumed her walk home. It was only a short flight back from the station, but Rainbow Dash was quickly realising that it was a much longer journey on hoof. Of course, it wasn’t until she was standing beneath her floating cloud home that she realised that there was a flaw in her plan. Even with a wing that was only slightly sprained, she knew that she didn’t have a hope of flying up there.
She tried to tenderly move her sprained wing, wincing as she felt a flash of pain from the small movement. Her wing needed a week of rest before it would support her again. Shooting the wing a bitter glare, Rainbow Dash realised that she was going to have to bunk with one of her friends until she could fly again. Turning back towards Ponyville, she ran through the options before her. Normally she would bug Fluttershy, but she also knew that Pinkie Pie was spending a lot of time over there and she just didn’t want to have to deal with that on top of her wing. Pinkie Pie was good in small sprints, but Rainbow Dash didn’t want to combine a sprained wing and an overdose on Pinkie Pie.
Applejack was never an option. She never allowed Rainbow Dash to sleep in, even when it was a weekend. Twilight was also out as she was in Canterlot for the next few days. So that only left Rainbow Dash with one option. Knocking on the door to Carousel Boutique almost felt like crossing enemy lines to Rainbow Dash. The amount of times that Rarity had tried to drag her here to try on a dress was incalculable, but she also knew that Rarity would always be there to lend a hoof.
“Welcome to the c-” The door opened with Rarity beginning her normal customer spiel, before realising it was Rainbow Dash standing in her doorway.
“Hey Rares.” Rainbow Dash gave a wave, smiling weakly. “I kind of need to ask a favour, if you’re not busy. I can come back later if you are.”
“Oh, come on darling. I always have time for you. Besides, it’s near the end of the day.” Rarity smiled sweetly as she gestured for Rainbow Dash to enter. Rarity stepped past Rainbow Dash to flip the store's sign to closed with a smile. “I doubt I’ll have any more customers today.”
“I hope that you’re okay with tea today?” Rarity asked as she ushered Rainbow Dash upstairs to her living room pushing her towards a couch while she searched the small kitchen for an elusive teacup. "I have not had a chance to shop today with all of the work. So options are a tad limited.".
“That’s fine,” Rainbow Dash yelled back as she sat down on the couch, trying to avoid squashing too many of Rarity’s sketches that littered the room.
Rarity returned with a tray with two mugs levitating in front of her. She winced as she looked around the room, seemingly only now recognising the mess that she had left. “You’ll have to excuse the mess. I’ve been hit by inspiration and was a little too focused.”
“Don’t worry about it. If you think this is bad, you should see my place.” Rainbow Dash knew that Rarity would have a fit if she saw the unvacuumed mess in her cloud home.
“If you invite me, maybe one day I will,” Rarity sighed as she started gathering the many sketches that littered the room to clear space for the tea set. “I really need to start cleaning when I am in the zone.”
“What’s up with all of the sketches, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked as the tea set was finally placed before her and she could begin the fun of trying to get a tea bag into the delicate mug with her hooves. “You have some new orders coming in?”
“I have six very high profile ones,” Rarity sighed as she leafed through the designs in front of her. “But enough about that, what did you want to talk about?”
“I need to stay over a few days,” Rainbow Dash admitted sheepishly, “I sprained my wing and I need to stay off it for at least the next week. Can’t fly to my place, so I was hoping you would be okay if I stayed here for a bit.”
“I was going to ask why you had bandages on your wing,” Rarity chuckled, sitting down close to Rainbow Dash until they were practically touching flanks. “Of course you can stay, in fact I would love for you to feel free to stay whenever you can.”
“Are you sure? I could owe you a favour or something if you want”
“Darling, I want you to spend time with me. You’re doing me a favour as well.” Rarity had put her foreleg around Rainbow Dash at some point, pulling them close together. Rainbow Dash let herself lean into the cuddle.
“If you’re sure?” Rainbow Dash asked hesitantly, her tail unconsciously wrapping itself around her torso. “I know I’m awesome, but I thought you would want the quiet or something.”
“I would love for you to stay over.” Rarity gave her a quick nuzzle before getting up, her magic gently taking the mug out of Rainbow Dash’s hooves. However she had barely taken two steps back towards the kitchen before she paused and turned back. “Actually, I do have one small favour.”
Rarity levitated over a few of the sketched out designs. “I recently got a rush order that had a rather narrow timeline. I would love it if you could help with the fit of one of the pegasus designs.”
“Sure, just nothing too fru-fru. Okay?”
After a quick dinner with Rarity, Rainbow Dash was only slightly regretting her decision to help. Rarity had actually stuck to her promise and the outfit she was currently wearing was actually nearly as awesome as she was. It was probably one of the better fitted outfits in recent times, and had even included gaps for her wings to fit through. Though it was still a fairly constricting outfit. Rarity still had her preference of style over usability, and Rainbow Dash had to admit that it was a good looking dress.
"So how did you end up hurting your wing?" Rarity asked as she adjusted the fall of the silk on the dress that Dash was wearing, taking care to not put any weight on her injury. “I do hope that it isn’t serious.”
“It’s just a sprain,” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“And how did you get a sprain?” Rarity asked again with an eye flutter. “I do hope that the Wonderbolts aren’t forcing you to be unsafe.”
“It was a minor accident. The Wonderbolts aren’t reckless. Spitfire misjudged a flat spin when I was in the middle of a roll and I had to use my wing to stop at a higher speed than I wanted. The doc figured that it’ll only need some rest for a week and I’ll be back up to full flap.” Rainbow Dash groaned, knowing that she was going to have to repeat the answer a lot to her friends.
“Hmm,” Rarity didn’t sound all that impressed but didn’t comment any further.
“So, who is this outfit for?” Rainbow Dash asked, doing her best to change the subject.
“Oh, just a pegasus who wanted to show off a bit,” Rarity shrugged as she fiddled with the hemline in an attempt to make it line up correctly.
Rainbow Dash looked down at the dress again, this time actually taking in the design properly. It was a very nice outfit, if she had to be honest. In fact it was suspiciously awesome.
“Rarity, who is this outfit for?” Rainbow Dash asked again, her suspicions growing too strong to be ignored. “If I didn’t know better, I would say that this is awesome enough to suit me. What gives?”
"Customers can have a lot of varied tastes," Rarity tried to explain, but Rainbow Dash was having none of it.
"This has a rainbow trim, references to the Wonderbolts in the barrel, and actually has proper holes for my wings." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Either Scootaloo has just had a massive growth spurt, or you’re not telling me something.”
“Sometimes I design ahead of-”
“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash cut her off with a groan. “What’s going on?”
“Okay, I’ll admit it. The dress is for you.” Rarity at least had the courage to look suitably embarrassed.
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate you making it, but why?’ Rainbow asked as gently as she could, not wanting to make Rarity’s efforts feel unwelcome.
“Well, I admit that it might be a tad premature. I wanted to make sure that all of our outfits will be ready when we finally take that next step.” Rarity swooned as she leafed through the sketches eagerly, pulling out six very familiar designs.
“The next step?” Rainbow Dash asked, worry seeping into her voice as she once again felt like she had missed something that every pony else already knew.
“I know it’s too early to really be talking about it, but the romantic in me can’t wait for the day that the six of us finally properly unite in a union together. We would all stand together with perfectly themed bridal gowns.” She stepped up right next to her and threw a foreleg over Rainbow Dash’s flank, pulling her closer. “Just think of how wonderful it will be to finally be together as one truly connected herd. United as one against everypony else.”
“We kind of already did that with the Elements of Harmony.” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help pointing out.
“We’re bound under friendship, but don’t you want to finally make the connection between us to be something deeper than that. Something that touches your very soul and connects it right to ours in a bond that is far beyond mere friendship,” Rarity gushed, hugging Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash felt the odd compulsion to internally scream, but she quickly pushed the feeling back down. “Our friendship already was the driving force of harmony itself. You’re not going to top that one easily.”
“Exactly! I’m glad you agree.” Rarity’s muzzle was pushing up against Rainbow’s own. “To know that the six of us alone can reach such an unimaginable zenith together through love. It’s like every fairy tale I’ve ever dreamed of, all rolled into one.”
“Yeah?” Rainbow Dash weakly agreed, trying to not grimace. She wasn’t entirely sure why Rarity was talking with such a ridiculous level of exaggeration.
“And do you know the best part?”
“Just tell me.” Rainbow Dash sighed, not eager to waste any more time playing word games.
“The best part is that it is real!”
“Okay?” Rainbow Dash just shrugged, not really sure why Rarity was working herself up so much. “We already agreed to herd weeks ago, a ceremony thing isn’t going to change that.”
“Dash, it’s more than just a ceremony.” Rarity tapped Rainbow Dash’s muzzle with her hoof. “It means that we can all be together in every way. Sure we can do a little experimentation here or there, but it would mean that we are finally together. In every way. Together in soul, mind, and even body.”
Rainbow Dash flinched at the mention of that last one. Rarity didn’t notice, lost in her dreams.
“Oh just think of the passion that we could show each other.” Rarity sighed, leaning heavily on her.
“I’d rather not.” Rainbow Dash huffed, trying to get Rarity’s foreleg off of her.
“Oh, stop it. I know you’re just as interested as the rest of us,” Rarity chuckled, though she did pull herself away.
“I’m not actually sure I am,” Rainbow Dash admitted tentatively, wondering if she should really be talking about this with Rarity.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I didn’t really think of all of the other stuff that being together would mean, “ Rainbow Dash faltered as she struggled to say what the issue was. “It’s all just a bit much, isn’t it?”
“I suppose you’ve not been able to spend these last two weeks with the rest of us,” Rarity mused, “so you probably feel like we’ve all dashed ahead of you. I can assure you that we are thinking of you.”
“I have not dated as much as the rest of you,” Rainbow Dash admitted, leaving out that her experience was almost non-existent. “So this is all new to me.”
“Well, I’m more than willing to help give you a guiding hoof,” Rarity stepped close to Rainbow Dash, their muzzles only a hoof width apart. Her hoof reached out and rested behind Rainbow’s neck, holding them close. “So just give me the word and I’ll show you everything.”
“Not now,” Rainbow Dash pulled away from Rarity, pushing down the irrational panic that had filled her.
“Oh, sorry dear.” Rarity stepped back to give Rainbow Dash space, looking rather apologetic. “I suppose this is all going a bit quick for you.”
“It’s more like it’s coming out of nowhere,” Dash tried to explain, not really sure what else there was to say. Obviously she knew that dating her friends would involve this, but knowing it and experiencing the reality of it were very different things.
“I think this is all I will be able to manage today,” Rarity sighed as she put back down the length of fabric that she had been trying to line up. Rarity busied herself ordering some of the sketches that littered the floor. “I’m sorry about being so forward, it’s just so difficult to remember that the rest of you have not been dreaming of this since they were fillies. Even Twilight needed time to get ready for all of it. So don’t worry.”
“I’m not sure if I am ready for any of this,” Rainbow Dash admitted as she started pulling the outfit off, trying her best to not tear the material. She was relieved to see that it was a durable fabric, but it was still an incomplete dress with some parts temporarily pinned together.
“It’s normal to get cold hooves at times in a relationship,” Rarity assured her, pausing her cleanup to help Rainbow Dash back out of the dress. “Maybe you just need some time with us. We barely got to talk to you before you ran off for those Wonderbolt shows.”
“I couldn’t exactly leave them hanging,” Rainbow Dash protested, but was quickly silenced by Rarity’s hoof against her muzzle.
“I’m not saying that it is bad,“ Rarity amended, “It’s normal for us all to want to move at different speeds. Though it has been difficult to see you even on tour. I know that Pinkie Pie asked if she could come for some of the closer events.”
“I needed to focus,” Rainbow Dash pouted as she slumped back onto Rarity’s couch, happy to finally escape from the constricting dress. Rarity settled back down beside her.
“Well, either way we now have all week to properly get close.” Rarity smiled before leaning in and giving Rainbow Dash’s cheek a quick peck. Rainbow Dash twitched at the contact but did her best to not wipe her cheek clean this time. “I promise that you can stay here for as long as you want.”
“Thanks for the offer, but hopefully I’ll be able to get some pegasi to fly my home to the ground for the next week.”
“Oh? Well I suppose we should make the most of the night? It’s getting late after all.”
“I’ve been on the train all today, so sleep does sound nice.” Rainbow Dash admitted, barely swallowing back a yawn. “I wish I knew how doing nothing could make me so exhausted.”
“I was thinking of a little bit more than just sleep, but if you’re tired I suppose that we can take a raincheck.” Rarity sounded disappointed. “I’ll go get my bedroom ready.”
“Nah, I’ll take the couch.” Rainbow Dash yawned, she didn’t want to kick Rarity out of her own bed.
“Are you sure, my bed is surely a lot more comfortable than the couch?” Rarity asked gently. “I’ll be there as well, keeping it warm for you.”
“Nah, your couch is f-” Rainbow Dash froze as she finally realised that Rarity was trying to get her to sleep in the same bed. “Wait, what?”
“We’re dating, Dashie.” Rarity reminded her with a tap on her muzzle. “Those who date often spend time being very close, and I was to have some one-on-one time with you. So, do you want to join me tonight?”
Rainbow Dash’s first panicked thought was to run away, but she quickly shoved that away.
“I appreciate the offer, but it’s a bit much so soon.” Rainbow Dash weakly tried to explain.
“I suppose it may be a tad fast, but don’t worry about that. We can wait until you’re ready.”
“Until I’m ready?” Rainbow Dash echoed to herself quietly. The words didn’t sit well with her, but she wasn’t sure why.
“It’s not a race after all,” Rarity chuckled, nudging Rainbow Dash with her hip. “We all go at our own rate. Don’t rush through it, just enjoy the journey of love. Now, are you sure you don’t want to sleep in an actual bed tonight?”
“Ah, thanks. The couch is fine for me.” Rainbow Dash really wanted to tell Rarity that she wasn’t sure if she would ever be ready, but she wasn’t sure how to really tell her that.
So she just didn’t.