“Aw, hay...”
Her murmurs of protest trailed off into incomprehensible, yet certainly grumpy mumbling. She had, of course, aligned her bedroom window with the sunrise every morning, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. She would, however, take the sun in her eyes over a blaring alarm any day. The lesser of two evils, she supposed.
The pegasus lay sprawled out over her cloud mattress. How long she did so wasn’t really important to her as yesterday’s events washed over her, physically manifesting themselves in the form of a smile and a sigh.
She nestled her head into the pillow, uncharacteristically lost. She couldn’t exactly be considered lost “in thought,” as she didn’t let her memories overtake her stream of consciousness. Rather, she let them just sit there so she could have something to lean back on, if today wouldn’t turn out as awesome.
She probably would have been there all morning, until her body screamed at her to move or at least eat, if she hadn’t suddenly realized why she allowed the sun to get into her eyes each morning. This time, though, instead of rolling (known to most other ponies as “falling”) out of bed, she leapt off of her cloud-mattress, for once starting the day fully awake.
A spring aided her step all through her morning routine, and on her way out the door. She just had to survive work, and maybe today would be as awesome as the last.
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She’d been wrong. So very, very wrong. It wasn’t even funny how wrong she had been...
Rainbow didn’t even want to think about the day she’d had. Too many impatient ponies, favors to be asked for, weather that really needed to be handled but somehow wasn’t, at least two ponies at once yelling at her to do this or that-
That was enough. Rainbow sighed, brushing her mane out of her face. She didn’t even rush, or rather, dash over to the lake today, instead flapping her wings lazily. The quiet town below didn’t fly by her field of vision as it would have on a more energetic day; rather, it drifted past slowly, the lake in her vision inching closer.
As Rainbow touched down on the rocks, she swept her gaze around, but no egghead unicorn showed herself. Not wanting to be discouraged, telling herself that Twilight would be here soon enough, she picked a stone out of the many that she stood on. She had gotten as far as getting it ready to throw before the realization finally hit, figuratively bowling her over and knocking her flat on her back.
She hadn’t even asked Twilight to hang out today!
Burying her face in her hooves wouldn’t be enough. Rainbow instead opted to flop onto her stomach, and promptly shoved her face into the (rather uncomfortable) sea of rocks below her, the subsequent groan coming out muffled as a result. At least today wasn’t completely ruined... yet. As long as Twilight actually wanted to hang out with her. And why wouldn’t she?
Nevertheless, the spring in her step from earlier that morning didn’t lead her to the library.
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Rainbow found herself pausing at the door of the library, putting a hoof to her forehead and taking in a deep breath. So what if she says no? You still have everypony else to hang out with... She stopped her own train of thought with a frustrated groan. Since when was she supposed to be unsure about anything? With that in mind, she rapped on the door a few times, not letting herself fidget as she waited for a response.
After too long, she heard the knob turn, and the door swung open. Twilight stood before her, and a smile quickly appeared on her face as she recognized her friend. “Hi Rainbow, what brings you here?”
“Hey, Twilight...” Dash glanced back and forth nervously, not sure what to say. “So, I was wondering... if you wanted to hang out today?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, and the mere action caused the pegasus to smile nervously. That hadn’t sounded weird, had it? “Uh, I mean, yesterday was cool and all, and I don’t have anything to do, so...” She rubbed the back of her neck, well aware of the slight heat rising in her face. In the back of her mind, a voice screamed at her, something along of the lines of how uncool she probably sounded.
She refocused her attention as she saw Twilight’s smile, her own unconsciously widening in the slightest. “Sorry, it’s just that you’ve never asked me to just ‘hang out’ before, so coming from you, it is kind of... out of the ordinary.”
“...Oh.” Phew. Dash mentally wiped her forehead. “So... does that mean you want to?” Say yes, say yes...
Her face fell as Twilight looked away, scuffing at the wooden floorboards of the library with one of her hooves. “I can’t right now, actually...” She risked a glance at her friend, then quickly turned to gaze back into the library. “I’ve just started reading this book that Princess Celestia recently assigned to me. Really, I’d go if I could...” Grimacing, she looked back to the now-downcast pegasus, who let out a sigh.
“It’s okay, I mean, I know how important that kind of thing is to you. I’ll see you later, then...” She turned to leave, disappointment clouding her mind.
Twilight watched her turn around, her wings starting to droop slightly, and her head sinking lower than where she usually held it. A pang of guilt struck her, as it suddenly hit her that Rainbow had come to her, rather than anypony else, and she had been expecting her to come through for her. And she had just let her down.
The unicorn snatched her nearby schedule, skimming over it for the millionth time that day. She didn’t need to. As she glanced back at the retreating pegasus, resolve hardened in her eyes. Right now, her book could wait.
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Dash hadn’t even managed to get ten feet away from the library before she heard an almost frantic “Wait!” from behind her, followed by the rapid beating of hooves on the ground. Before she knew it, Twilight was walking next to her. “So, are we going to the lake again?” She dared a smile, acting as if she had said yes in the first place.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, not wanting to let her hopes up just yet. “But, what about-”
Twilight was on that sentence right away, cutting Rainbow off with a simple hoof wave. “I... think my schedule can handle some adjustments.” She flashed a smile, and relief flooded through Dash, who jerked her head up instantly. An incredulous “Really?” escaped her mouth before she could even try to play it off.
“Of course! I couldn’t, as you’d say, ‘leave you hanging.’” Twilight said. She probably would have gestured with her hooves if they weren’t already occupied with walking.
Rainbow glanced at her friend. She shouldn’t have been surprised, yet here she was. “Wow, Twi...you didn’t have to do that... but if you really want to, then, uh, thanks.” She attempted a smile which turned out to be more sheepish than she had wanted as she rubbed her neck with a hoof.
They walked in comfortable silence for a while. At least, comfortable for one of the two. Too often, she caught herself looking, just looking, at the unicorn that walked beside her. And every time she did, she brushed it off, because it was just Twilight being there for her, as friends were supposed to.
Before she knew it, they stood on the shore, the lake stretching out before them as it had yesterday. Rainbow dug up a stone without hesitation, eager to get back into yesterday’s rhythm, but just as she was poised to throw, Twilight caused her to stop in her tracks.
“Hey, Rainbow...” The pegasus glanced to her side, and raised an eyebrow when she saw her friend staring out into the distance, apparently not as ready to start skipping. When Dash turned, though, Twilight did as well, and their eyes locked. She swore that Twilight was almost looking through her, and was about to respond when Twilight finished. “So... what’s wrong?” Seeing Dash’s eyes narrow immediately, she hastily added, “I mean, I don’t want to pry if you don’t want to talk about it, but I... There’s something bothering you, it seems.” She chose her words carefully, not wanting to drive Dash into uncomfortable, unresponsive silence.
After a few moments of just that, Rainbow let a sigh past her lips, and turned , away to face the lake. Twilight took a cautious step back as Dash suddenly hurled her stone, probably with too much force, as it didn’t bounce of the surface of the water as so many of hers had done yesterday. When the pegasus finally spoke, though, it was without defensiveness or hostility. “I dunno, I just... Rough day for me, you know?” She scuffed her hoof on the rocks, glancing over at Twilight for a second. “I guess... it just seemed like nothing was going right today, and with yesterday and all, it just seemed like hangin’ out with you would be the only thing good about this day...” Her gaze burned into the ground, now aware of a similar burning across her face. Could that have sounded any less cool?
Unbeknownst to Dash, Twilight found herself looking away too, surprised to find a slight heat of her own on her face. “Wow... I’m sorry to hear that, Dash. Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have turned you down that first time!” With another wave of guilt coming over her, she hastily flung her forelegs around the pegasus’ neck, eliciting a yelp of surprise from her. The pair almost tipped over, but Dash regained both her balance and her senses, and fully took in the fact that Twilight was leaning on her, her face buried into her neck and her forelegs draped around her. The fact that Twilight was babbling on about how inconsiderate she was and how she didn’t have her priorities in order only registered moments later.
The haze of her bad day disappeared, and now grinning, she eased the still-babbling Twilight off of her with a firm yet gentle hoof. “Woah there, Twilight. I did say thanks and all, and I really do appreciate this. Anyway, I think a nice ‘you’re welcome’ would be fine.” She gave the flustered unicorn a reassuring smile.
“Oh. Right... hehe...” Twilight smiled back, her cheeks glowing red as she realized what she had done.
Dash rolled her eyes, but her smile never left her face. How did everything seem so... bright now? Wasn’t it just moments ago that it was all just the opposite? Pushing any thoughts of getting that checked out from her head, she picked out a random stone. “So... are we going to get what we came here for?”
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Just like before, the clatter of rocks and the light splashes of water prevailed between the two mares. Dash wouldn’t have it any other way.
Weren’t there supposed to be clouds today? She had taken part in arranging it herself, after all... So why wasn’t everything so grey? In fact, everything seemed so much brighter by comparison. No menacing clouds cast a shadow in looming over her, no nagging thoughts at the back of her mind, even the world around her seemed like it had a smile of its own, in a way she couldn’t describe. The smile on her face had fallen back to a comfortable smirk, but it never left her face as she skipped stone after stone.
It was just so simple. Anypony could walk by and see the two mares, thinking they were skipping stones out of boredom. But whenever Dash glanced to her right, to see the mare who always seemed to be lost in concentration, her smile unconsciously widened just a little bit. No, it wasn’t boredom. Though she would lose focus and space out around Twilight, only because of her unexpected tangents and lectures, Twilight’s company was never boring. Right now, it was all she needed, and she couldn’t have been happier.
Rainbow didn’t even realize where she was skipping, or how well she was skipping, until it was too late. When she actually decided to pay attention to where she was throwing, it was just in time to see herself throw what would certainly end up as a complete failure, straight into the water with a hefty splash!
“What?” She didn’t even need to look over to know that Twilight was staring at her, and a quick shift of her eyes only proved her suspicions.
“Um...” Dash sighed, giving Twilight her full attention, whose eyes narrowed further. To her credit, though, Twilight didn’t seem to wither in the slightest under the piercing glare. “You’re okay, right? I mean... you just seemed... out of it.”
“Yeah? Like how?”
Maybe Twilight thought that she was doing a good job of hiding her smile. “Well... you were staring off into the distance, and... you kind of had this-” Dash’s jaw almost fell to the ground as Twilight pulled a face that she definitely hadn’t been making. Her tongue stuck out of her mouth at an awkward angle, and she unfocused her eyes to wander freely around for a second. “Yeah, that kind of face.”
“I did not!” The words were out of her mouth as soon as Twilight finished her claim. “So uncool! I mean, why would I make a face like this-” she performed her best imitation, “especially since I know what I was doing.”
Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof, but that didn’t stop her shaking with suppressed laughter. “Yes, you did! My eyes don’t often deceive me, you know, and I don’t think I’d miss something like that.” For emphasis, she attempted it again.
“Did not! I know what I looked like, I’m pretty sure. And it wasn’t like that.” She tried it again, and a short, cut-off giggle suddenly came from the unicorn. She locked eyes with Twilight, already in the middle of pulling another one, and only then did she become aware of the growing smile on her own face.
Out of nowhere, it fell on them, fully, what they were doing, what they were arguing about, and they both broke out into uncontrolled, uproarious laughter at how silly they probably looked, making faces at each other like that. Rainbow flopped onto her back, holding her sides as she laughed, everything that had been weighing down on her dissipating into thin air with every giggle, snort, and chuckle that she let by.
Finally, after what wasn’t long enough, their laughter faded into the occasional giggle, though their smiles remained equally wide. They shared a glance for a second, but Twilight was the first to sit up as she wiped her eyes with a hoof.
“You still made that face.” Any other time, with any other pony, and Dash would have wasted no time in defending herself. No sudden rush of indignation came over her this time though, and neither the playful poke nor the lack of reaction bothered her. She only responded with an eye roll, the smile never leaving her face as she sat up herself.
The two mares glanced out over the lake, and Dash almost groaned in disappointment when she saw the sun sinking below the two hills across from them. When she looked over, though, expecting the inevitable, Twilight only picked up one of the stones. “I... think that I have a little bit more time.” She shrugged, trying to play it off.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Inwardly, though, she almost jumped for joy.
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Only when neither of them could see where their stones were landing, only having the splashes on the surface of the water to guide them, did Twilight finally speak up. “So... Tomorrow? Again?”
Rainbow’s ears perked up. Did she just say that? She wasn’t the one who had to ask? “Well... why not?” She looked over, though she immediately found that the unicorn’s outline was the only clear detail, ironically enough, that she could make out.
“I thought so.” She could hear the smile in Twilight’s voice, even as she got up, the stones clattering under her hooves. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
Only after the hoofsteps faded away did Dash turn around, her mouth already open to speak. “Yeah... see ya.” She sighed as her words disappeared into the air, never to be heard by anypony but herself. Shaking it off, she flared her wings, and even as she prepared to take off for home, she was already looking forward to coming back here.