//------------------------------// // Three // Story: Grounded // by MissytheAngle //------------------------------// Grounded Three It took just a bit of their day to get through any complications that would have arrived with their abrupt departure from Manehattan for the coming months. Rainbow Dash explained to Cobalt Streak's teacher about their long stay over at Ponyville. At the concept of going to the school there, however, Cobalt groaned. But Dash decided to simply think about that later on, because by the time they got there, it would be the weekend, anyway. As for her job, Dash headed into a restaurant called “Red Stallion’s,” and walked seemingly casually toward a working stallion named Ryder, who was balancing a plate of several glasses of red wine atop one of his dark green hooves. She poked his shoulder, causing him to turn and see the Pegasus, and his eyes grew as a name registered in those flashing rose eyes. In an instant, she flipped the tray, leaking all the glasses’ contents onto his coat and in his black mane. Glass splintered across the floor around him, and several customers gaped as if someone had committed murder. She left behind a furious Ryder, smirking victoriously, and taking with her Cobalt and a speechless Twilight Sparkle. She only said to the unicorn, “He was always a big jerkhead. I thought I could let off a little steam, since I’m leaving for a while.” When she eyed Cobalt, he hid a laugh behind his front blue hoof. Any other discussion of that was left unsaid, for they had arrived at the train station at 12:30, and Twilight said the ride would take them into the afternoon before they arrived at Ponyville. As the multicolored train puffed out smoke, and at 12:31, they heard a stallion announce in a bold voice, “All board!”  At last, they were heading home. Rainbow Dash hated the sickly feeling flipping through her stomach as this was processed in her mind. Something was also stuck in her throat. Not a big fan at all at being anxious, she tried to ignore these both, mustering courage and telling herself to suck it up as they jumped onto the train in the nearest car. *** Cobalt somehow handled the rickety moving of the train enough to drift to sleep, pure boredom weighing down his eyelids. Though it would take not so long to get to Ponyville by train, she did not want to bother him as his tiny blue body heaved up and down, his soft snores the only noise escaping his nostrils. She smiled down at him as she placed her hooves on the back of her head and sat recumbent on the red seat. Twilight smiled at Cobalt, too. “He's so sweet.” “He's a cool kid.” “You're... never mind.” Rainbow Dash huffed, though having an urge to laugh. “Spill, Twilight. C'mon,” she urged with a lazy wave of her hoof. At that point on, any more questions that hadn't been asked probably wouldn't bother her—so long as she didn't ask about the father, she was fine with it. Twilight played with her hooves before saying anything. She took in the view of the outside as it brushed by them at a steady, peaceful pace. “You're... not bothered that he's an earth pony, are you?” “What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked with an incredulous look, already feeling a sudden wave of irritation. “I was just... you love flying, Rainbow Dash. I'm just saying that that might be one thing that bothered you when you had him,” she said, often stuttered with her words, an obvious sign she felt nervous just saying this. “I mean, you probably don't know, but has it ever?” “I don't care. He's an awesome kid. We don't need to talk about this now, 'kay?” she defended him with a glower. “It doesn't matter if I did; I... still love him, you know?” She caressed his sandy blond mane, to which all he reacted with was a small fidget in his seat. She grinned down at her son. Twilight's eyes grew, though Rainbow Dash couldn't quite figure out why. Had she said something wrong? Giving her a questioning gaze, Rainbow wanted her to say something, but she didn't. Instead, Rainbow just rolled her eyes and let it go. Twilight just continued to smile and turned to look out the window. Dash, meanwhile, leaned back and stared disinterestedly at the ceiling. Listening to the clickity-clack of the train was soothing somehow. Exhaustion from the night before finally began to overcome her, and her eyelids slowly began to fall, her consciousness drifting. With a soft cushion pressing against her, there was not a single reason not to sleep there for a bit before they arrived. She struggled to stay awake and drift into the peaceful non-reality of sleep. The latter won after two seconds. *** “Rainbow Dash, wake up. Rainbow?” She could only groan as she escaped a dreamless sleep, though her body felt relieved to get a bit more of sleep. Stretching out any tension and hearing any cracks from these tense muscles, she slowly opened her eyes. Dash rubbed the sleep from her eyes and found the will to get up after a few groaning seconds. Twilight was already up, telling her that Ponyville was but a few minutes away. Cobalt sat beside Rainbow Dash, yawning with a small squeal like a cat. Still tired, he was fighting to so much as stand. The train crawled to a stop in the train station of Ponyville. They headed out of the train and into the perfectly clear sky, Celesia’s sun shining down upon them all. Cobalt accompanied the two on Rainbow's back, and he nestled in her feathers and rainbow mane. They departed the train carefully so as to not bother him. As they exited the station, Ponyville came into view, the same as she left it five years ago. Sighing, she felt the nostalgia hit hard. The simplicity of the city was what made it so great, and that would never change. Staring at the small buildings and wide open space, she remembered just how much she missed it when she left. Oh, how bad it started off; she barely knew what to do as she stepped out into a totally different world in Manehattan, with nothing but a bag of remaining bits and a newborn colt in her arms. They were the harsher days of her life, or at least her new one. Adjusting was a complicated part of this, as was the fact of having a kid, of course. She actually did want to go back home in the beginning—just pretend she visited a friend and figure things out from there. Explain what happened and hope for the best. One time, she even thought of finding him... But that was besides the point. It was all behind her, and she swore on it. She never left Manehattan until now, too stubborn to succumb to any hesitance of starting a new, unexpected life. Shaking her head of those memories, she found them heading deeper into Ponyville, some faces familiar, some not. Some waved, others did not bother with their existence. Twilight Sparkle walked in silence for the time she was in her deep thoughts. “So, where do you want to go first?” Twilight asked after a while. Rainbow shrugged, but anything else desired to be said was whisked into the air as a voice screeched dozens of yard away. “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaashieeeeeeeeeeeee!” Oh, boy. Before Rainbow could look to the source of the sound, a blur of pink breezed into her vision. Cobalt startled and, having moved so suddenly, almost landed on the ground, caught by Twilight in her magical grip. This was a good thing, considering a sudden force had sent Rainbow Dash onto the ground. Something held her down as she felt a small stab of pain in her shoulders. With a small grunt, she opened her eyes up to see large blue irises blinked repeatedly and brightly at her. “Dashie, I'm soooo glad to see you again! It's been forever since we saw you, we missed you so, so much! I mean, I had a feeling you’d show up once my eyes started to itch real bad. I even left my workers by themselves, just to see you! But I’ve so busy recently, I forgot to set up a party in time. Bad Pinkie!” She tapped the side of her head, momentarily losing focus on Dash, who remained immobile in her hold. But then she turned back down. “We'll have something set up soon for you, but it'll be a surprise, so don't tell, 'kay! Shh!” Still accustomed to her ecstatic friend's randomness, even after years of not being around it, Rainbow Dash could only grin. “Pinkie... it's awesome to see you, too. But maybe you could, I dunno, let me go?” she offered, though her sarcasm was hard to detect behind her chuckling. Pinkie jumped off and giggled. “Sorry, just got a bit excited.” “I'd hate to see you really excited, then,” Rainbow commented with a roll of her eyes as she straightened herself back up. “But how can I not be excited to see my bestest friend again? I felt like we haven't talked in five whole years.” “Probably 'cause we haven't,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. “I know, what's your point?” Pinkie Pie tilted her head, to which Rainbow Dash could only struggle for an answer that she could never possibly come up with. “There's so much we have to do now that you're here—besides the wedding, of course. You are staying for the wedding, right?” “Of course. It wouldn’t be awesome without me, now, would it?” Rainbow stated in a clear tone of deep pride in herself as she placed a hoof to her chest. “I know. It’s so exciting!” She pulled Rainbow Dash in a tight hug. “We're all going to be bridesmaids! It'll be like I'm Becca while you're Megan.” This took a second to many any sense of those last words. “What are you talking about?” Twilight questioned. “Oh, nothing,” Pinkie Pie dismissed it with another titter and a wave of her hoof. She released the Pegasus, who coughed from being held against her will unintentionally. Pinkie noticed this and smiled weakly. Her eyes then traveled down to the Cobalt sitting patiently in the grass. Her smile stretched wider on her face, if the act was possible. “Hey, who's this little fella?” Pinkie leaned in Cobalt's face. Cobalt, unaware of the antics of Pinkie Pie, unlike his mother, fell onto his flank as he tried to back away from this strange, new pony. She patted his head as if he were her pet. It was as if the calm atmosphere evaporated as soon as she spotted Cobalt. This was why they were all here, after all. “Actually, umm...” Rainbow Dash slowly looked to Twilight, wondering at this point how to explain it. There would be so many times this would need to be said, and she had yet to really be prepared for it. Twilight just nodded her head, but it was enough. Rainbow Dash took a heavy breath in and turned to Pinkie, who waited as she stood beside Cobalt, who seemed to find Pinkie nice as he smiled warmly up at her. “Pinkie Pie, that's Cobalt Streak, my... son.” The words felt so strange to her tongue, no matter how many times she would say it, yet she loved it. Pinkie just stared, and this made Rainbow fear the worst. A silent Pinkie Pie was a scary one. Her stare could make you break down, the harder she stared. It was as if your soul was being interrogated by a blank, indistinguishable gaze. Time ticked away as she awaited her reaction; any reaction would do at this point. Yet even while anticipating it, when Pinkie Pie gasped and bounced into the air—staying up there for a whole two seconds, at that—Rainbow Dash flinched back a few feet, Twilight doing the same. But the Pegasus relaxed when it came to her that Pinkie Pie did not look one bit angry or sad. “Does this mean I need two parties now, for both of you? So now it's a double-party! You guys' minds are going to be blown, I just know it!” Pinkie squealed, her blue irises glittering with excitement. “That’s great, Pinkie, but—” Rainbow started. But the party lover ran away in seconds, a mere path of pink before their eyes as she left dusk in her wake, as well as three very baffled ponies. Dash only had to blink twice to fully process what had just happened and respond after. “If there's one thing I didn't miss, it was Pinkie's antics,” Dash commented, earning a light chuckle from the purple unicorn. Cobalt sucked in a large breath of air, and then sneezed a bit of dust that he took in from Pinkie Pie's abrupt departure. He blinked and just sprawled back into Rainbow Dash's grasp. “Was that one of your friends, mom?” “Yup.” “Are they... all that... weird?” He struggled for the right word, but his lack of any stronger diction, having just turned five, affected this. Still, it wasn't as if Rainbow disagreed with that. “Well, not as weird as her, let's just say,” Rainbow Dash reassured him, using a wing to help him back onto her back. He squealed as he landed softly onto her cyan coat, and she nuzzled him curtly. “They won't jump out of nowhere, that's for sure.” Cobalt nodded absentmindedly. They walked deeper into town, and Dash looked around. It was mid afternoon, with the clear skies beaming a simple bright blue many ponies were doing last minute activities before night dawned on them. Many places were as they were before she left. Not too far in the distance was Sugarcube Corner, and the multiple markets stretched far into one street in town. It was almost as if she never left. Twilight stopped in her tracks. “So I have to head to the library, but I'm sure Spike will be happy to see you—” Twilight cut herself off with a loud gasped, and Rainbow immediately turned. Knowing full well that no threat loomed, she still raised a hoof instinctively, ready to lob it down anypony’s throat. However, she put it down when she saw a completely harmless looking, light cream coated stallion standing beside Twilight. He looked like the kind of stallion who would flinch if you so much as raised a hoof, which probably made him pull away his hooves from over Twilight’s eyes in the first place. The unicorn, too, registered who this was and beamed. “Ink! You startled me,” Twilight squealed, laughing like a filly afterward. “Sorry,” he said with an awkward smile. “Didn't mean to frighten you.” “You're fine, honey,” she excused him with an affectionate nuzzle that lingered just a bit. Their smiles and the softening in her eyes just added more evidence for Rainbow as to who this was. Then she remembered the name on the invitation. Duh! she thought, shaking her head. She then marched over to the two. “Alrigth, you two. Keep it in the bedroom, why don’t ya?” she teased. Twilight faced Rainbow Dash and then blushed. “Oh, I'm sorry! I guess I should—uh, Ink, this is Rainbow Dash, one of my friends. She's going to be a bridesmaid,” Twilight introduced, gesturing a hoof to the Pegasus. For a moment, her eyes fell to behind Rainbow Dash, where a small, rose eyed figure popped out from her rainbow mane. “And this is her son, Cobalt.” Rainbow Dash found herself grinning but also wilting at what Twilight said. It was one thing to say those words to somepony, but another pony explaining it to someone else—one who did not know a thing about her personally—was a different story. Then switching over to the light furred stallion. “And Rainbow, this is Ink Blot, my fiance.” “Hi,” Ink Blot greeted the Pegasus with the same smile as before. He stuck out his forehoof towards Rainbow. She stared at it for a moment, and when he realized she would not shake it, he placed it back on the ground. Coughing once into his hoof, he added, “Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash. I’ve seen all of Twilight’s friends but you--until now, I mean.” The Pegasus wasn’t sure where he was going with this but added to it. “Yup. I left for Manehattan a few years ago. Long story, but I decided to come back for Twilight’s wedding. Even though it’s been a while, we’re still awesome friends.” “Good to, uh, good to hear.” He nodded and looked away at the same time. This conversation couldn’t have been any more awkward. Noticing his sudden blushing, Rainbow Dash nudged him. “Hay, don't be nervous or nothing. You should learn to be more comfortable around us. Otherwise, things'll be awkward all the time,” she advised with a smug grin. “Right. And hi, little one!” said Ink Blot with a burst of enthusiasm. He waved at the colt, who just blinked twice. His anxiety fell at the sight of the child, to which Rainbow Dash almost laughed. However, she was afraid any sound like that would make the stallion fall back into his shell. It was like talking to a certain other Pegasus she knew. But she knew who this stallion was--or at least knew what he was to Twilight. With this, something in her gave her an urge to say something, just for a laugh--mostly a laugh for herself, but nonetheless, a laugh. And she did not fight against it. “So, Ink Blot, right?” she began, struggling to suppress a smirk. When Ink’s attention was brought to her, he nodded curtly and said, “Yeah.” “So it's nice to meet you and all,” Dash began, struggling to suppress a smirk, “but since you're gonna marry my friend, I think I have a right to say something. Just don't mess with Twilight, and we won't have a problem.” Behind her joking tone was a small threat that many could notice if they paid attention to her face. Nonetheless, unless one was easily terrified, she doubted she would intimidate him. Ink Blot laughed lowly, something hard to distinguish if she at all scared him. A hoof rubbed the back of his dark brown, almost black, haired head. “Alright, then. Heh.”   He gestured to his fiance, still smiling nervously, as if anything he said would cause the end of the world. Clearing his throat, he stated, “I, uh, have to get going, Twilight. I'm sorry to just run off like this, but I have some stuff to do.” “Go right ahead. I'll meet you at dinner tonight, okay?” Twilight said. “Absolutely,” Ink Blot said with a hint of relief, as if he had any worry about Twilight disapproving. He leaned in to peck her lips gingerly. Once again, the two lingered in their moments, despite Rainbow being right behind them. If she wasn't noticeable here, she would have done the disgusted gesture of placing her hoof by her mouth and making a gagging noise. But the two parted, and Ink Blot left to the west part of Ponyville. The three were alone again. “He seems cool,” Rainbow commented curtly. She shrugged. “But he's not my guy or anything. But I was serious when I said he shouldn't mess with you. If he ever does anything bad to ya, let me know so I can teach him a little lesson, 'kay?” Her smile was wicked yet not by any means intimidating. Twilight giggled, never one to take her threats so seriously. “Oh, he would never do that. He's always a real gentlecolt when he's in a more... comfortable place he’s used to.” “Which is?” Twilight paused to think of one example. “A library.” Rainbow couldn't hold it in; she burst into loud laughter, to which Twilight blushed furiously She tried so hard to hide her sarcasm when she said, “I bet I can guess twenty bits on where you guys met.” “Oh, Rainbow Dash,” was the only way Twilight could respond. But that was enough for the Pegasus to imagine how they got together. Twilight ran a hoof through her dark blue mane as she added lightly, “What I was starting to say was, I was wanting to get home to Spike real soon. Plus, I have a lot to get done. So do you want to come with me to the library, or do you want to see one of the girls first?” “Actually, I was hoping to see somepony real quick,” said Rainbow Dash, and her answer was immediate. A certain mare’s head popped into her head. Granted, she also wanted to see the others, but there was plenty of time for them. Twilight nodded, and the blue mare waved a hoof to Twilight as she ascended several inches into her air, her other hooves brushing cool Fall air. “Yeah. I’ll see ya later, Twilight.” She looked over her shoulder at Cobalt, who gripped her neck tighter. “Ready to fly, Cobalt?” she said, her tone dripping with a small challenge as she watched her son’s reaction. He hadn’t really ever flown with her. “Just hang on tight, all right?” “A-are you sure that’s safe, Rainbow?” Twilight questioned in a state of bordering panic. “It’ll be fine! I’ll be there to make sure he’s safe, no matter what,” she tried to relax her friend with a light pat on her lavender shoulder. Twilight still had an air of doubt, but Dash brushed it off. “See ya!” she said one final time as she left behind the unicorn. She only flew a few feet in the air, but had picked up enough speed to beat away any time she would by simply walking. Cobalt’s hooves braced around her neck tightly, but not to a point where she was choking. He was not as fearful of this as she thought he would, and the two flew away from Ponyville.