Dashed Thoughts

by Chevan

Chapter VII - A Dark Cloud

 
Twilight woke up from a short nap she took after the party in the library at noon. Spike was still sleeping, he was well known for his very long dragon slumbers. He deserved that, he was up all night after all, and after the crusading with the Cutie Mark Crusaders the former day, there was no doubt he was tired.
 
The unicorn had to make sure everything was set and ready before the important guest’s arrival in the evening after she closes the library. She even had a gift for her, which was, thanks to Princess Celestia, the newest, not yet released publicly, Daring Do book with a lot of extra content. She knew this would be a perfect gift for her friend.
 
But first, she had to do her usual daily tasks. After getting off the bed, and trotting downstairs, she headed to the bathroom in order to completely wash the tiredness off her muzzle. She brushed her mane with a purple brush, and used the perfume she loved to make herself smell like lavender.
 
But even after that, she couldn’t wake up completely without drinking a small cup of coffee, and some stretching. Yes, Twilight Sparkle has to exercise a little, she is just a librarian, not an athlete like Dashie at all. She’d read a lot of books about staying fit even if one’s lifestyle is not active at all, like Twilight’s, so it wasn’t a problem for her.
 
After finishing everything that had to be done to completely wake up, she used her magic to unlock the front door, and flipped the sign on the other side of them to “Open”.
 
She set two big cushions near the fireplace, placed the gift on one of them, and picked a random book from one of the shelves. After making herself comfortable on her cushion, she opened the book and started reading it. This was a very interesting pick. The book was about different kinds of love between ponies, and how to handle them. Twilight read this one before, of course she did, but nothing’s better than reading a very interesting book once again, right?
 

 
Fluttershy just kept sitting on the chair, her mouth agape. She was completely shocked about the confession of her best friend to her; she didn’t know what to say. She looked like she saw a ghost.
 
“Oh... my... Rainbow Dash... that’s... that’s... um... unusual...” muttered Fluttershy, hiding her face behind the pink mane.
 
“Please, don’t act like you didn’t know about it, Fluttershy...” said Rainbow Dash, rising her head from between her hooves, making herself look through her teary eyes at the mare in front of her.
 
The yellow mare’s eyes widened at what her friend said. All of the efforts to hide the embarrassing truth went to nothing. She was now sure that Rainbow knew her secret that she spied on her but she tried to defend herself anyway.
 
“Whatever do you mean, Dash?”
 
“Fluttershy, please. Just... tell me... tell me! Please!” Rainbow pleaded, increasing the volume gradually.
 
Fluttershy hid under the table, quietly peeping at the sudden assault of the rainbow maned Pegasus, “I... I’m so sorry, Rainbow... I didn’t mean to...”
 
“No, you don’t have to apologize, you would know about it eventually...” Rainbow paused, “Just tell me... Are you okay with it? Are you okay that your friend... your best friend... is a fillyfooler? That she loves...the other mare?”
 
Fluttershy got back on the chair, and involuntarily put her hoof on her friend’s shoulder, frowning.
 
“Rainbow... You’re a completely different mare that I used to know before... You’re not the same pony since Twilight healed your wing... You’re now completely broken. Don’t hide this feeling, show her that you love her! If you hide it, you’ll never be your true self again, you’ll keep living in uncertainty, and you’ll have dark clouds over your head.” Fluttershy looked up, and blew away the small black cloud that appeared over Rainbow’s head all of the sudden, “At first I wasn't sure if it's good or bad. But after some thinking, I realized that it really is a true love between you two building up, so now I’m completely okay with it, Rainbow. More, I’m happy for you! We are happy for you!” she finished, beaming.
 
Rainbow was now in an utter shock, “Wait... other girls know about it too?”
 
The pink maned Pegasus giggled, “Of course, Rainbow! It’s hard to miss the true love building between the two of your closest friends!”
 
Rainbow Dash was a lot happier than at the time she came to the cottage. She was so glad that all four of her best friends are okay with it, and instead of hating her, they support her in this situation.
 
“Fluttershy... Thank you so much for being such an awesome friend! I knew you wouldn’t let me down in this situation! You’re the best!” she said, jumping on the yellow mare’s neck, tightly squeezing it.
 
“I... am glad... to help... ugggkk! Can’t... breathe!” said the yellow mare, short of breath because of the very tight grip of the rainbow maned pony’s strong hooves. Rainbow released the grasp, making Fluttershy pant heavily.
 
Rainbow Dash, realizing that she almost strangled her friend, scratched the back of her head, “Oopsie, sorry about that Fluttershy...”
 
“I’m fine, don’t worry...” Fluttershy said, coughing.
 
There was still one very important thing that bugged Rainbow’s mind so much since the beginning of this day, and the very long time before that - Will Twilight return her feeling? What if she wouldn’t?
 
“Hey ‘Shy... Do you... Do you think Twilight... Do you think she... loves me back?”
 
Fluttershy paused for a second, thinking whether she should answer that question or not.
 
“Well... about that...” Fluttershy started slowly, hiding her face behind her pink mane again.
 
Rainbow was now ready for everything, “W-what’s up?”
 
The shy Pegasus wasn’t sure if she should say the truth to her friend, “Twilight... um... eep!”
 
The cyan weather pony grew even more impatient, her pupils grew almost to the size of her eyeballs, “Tell me! What is it?”
 
“She... I talked with her when you were... “asleep” today...”
 
Rainbow Dash was now muzzle to muzzle with her friend, her pupils so big that Fluttershy felt like she used her new, self-discovered “rainbowstare” on her, “Aaaaaand?”
 
Fluttershy started lightly shaking from fear, “She said... that-”
 
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie appeared in the flower pot in one of the corners of the room, and screamed, “FOREVERRRRRRR...” It made both of the Pegasi look in the direction where the sound came from, looking completely shocked at the sight. Pinkie instantly hid back in the pot, disappearing as mysteriously as she appeared.
 
“How did she do that?”
 
“It’s just Pinkie Pie, Rainbow. As you can see, I Pinkie promised... I’m sorry, but you have to find it out yourself...”
 
Rainbow got back to her chair, “Oh... I see... sorry for harassing you... So there’s no other way than pulling myself together and... and sharing my true feelings with her to find out if she loves me too... and it has to happen today. I can’t take this uncertainty anymore. Oh sweet Celestia, this will be so hard... Please make her return the feeling...”
 
Fluttershy went back to her chair as well, “Do you want me to assist you, Rainbow?”
 
“Thanks, Fluttershy. I really appreciate the help, but it’d be better if I do this on my own. Wish me luck.” she answered, trotting to the window.
 
“Take care, Rainbow. Good luck.”
 
After that, they waved their goodbyes, and the cyan Pegasus flew out of the cottage through the open window, leaving the rainbow trail behind her.
 

Twilight got completely lost in the lecture. This book was very interesting to her; she spent several hours reading it, making breaks only when the new guest came to the library in a wish of borrowing a book. Spike woke up around 3 PM, so Twilight had an extra pair of claws to help when in need.
 
Outside the library, Twilight saw a group of Pegasi creating a thick layer of black thunder clouds. Looking at the forecast she got from Rainbow Dash a while ago, she realized that the huge thunderstorm was scheduled for today, in order to water the crops and clear the air. She just hoped her guest would come before it starts raining cats and dogs.
 

 
Rainbow Dash, as a boss of one of the best Cloudsdale Weather Patrol teams, had to check if her minions were making the forecast accurate weather right now. She wanted to make sure the storm would be as good as it needed to be, so she flew closer to the working team, and talked to Cloud Kicker, one of the best weather ponies in the squad.
 
She landed on one of the clouds which were floating around, and screamed, “Cloud Kicker! C’mere for a second!”
 
Cloud Kicker flew over to her boss, and landed on the other cloud in front of her, saluting, “Yes, ma’am? What’s going on?”
 
“Make sure this storm is so big that not a single hair on anypony’s coat stays dry! Don’t overdo it; we don’t want to flood Ponyville! The crops need a lot of water, so make thicker clouds over Sweet Apple Acres and Carrot Top’s carrot field. I have some very important tasks to do, so you’ll be the one responsible for the weather in Ponyville today. You’re the best in the team, I’m counting on you! Understood?”
 
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”
 
“Any questions?”
 
Cloud Kicker looked at Rainbow, and realized one strange thing about her boss, “Ummm, yeah, just one, ma’am...”
 
“Yes, what is it?”
 
“Were you... ummm... crying?”
 
Rainbow loudly gasped, and covered her eyes instantly by her hoof. It was so "unrainbow", and one of her co-workers just saw her in this state. This was the most embarrassing thing that happened to her at work ever.
 
“What? No I wasn’t! Rainbow Dash is not crying! Come on! Why would you think about such a thing? Well gottagobye!” she turned about in an instant and uncovering her eyes, she took off with an enormous speed towards Ponyville. Cloud Kicker was totally shocked, she had never seen her boss in that state before.
 
After a while, Rainbow landed in the middle of Ponyville, and put on her shades, to prevent anypony from seeing her teary eyes. She had to keep being at least 20% cooler than the others.
 
She decided that the best thing to do before her life changing confession would be to buy some chocolates at Bon Bon’s. She opened the door to the shop, which rung the bell, indicating the newcomer.
 
“Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash!” said Bon Bon from behind the counter, “Welcome to my shop! What do you need?”
 
“Um... I am completely cool as you can see, and I’ll never stop to be-”
 
Rainbow was cut out by Bon Bon, “Oh yes, these shades are really cool! Can I try them on?”
 
“NO!!!” she shouted in an instant, startling the mare in front of her to the limit, “Oh... sorry... Didn’t want to scare you...” she sighed, “Can I have a bunch of chocolates in a heart-shaped box, please?”
 
“Oh, is it for somepony special?” asked the salesmare.
 
Rainbow’s head dropped down, “Yes... very, very special...”
 
“So, would you like that giftwrapped?”
 
The cyan mare nodded, “Oh yes, please. It’d be awesome.”
 
“So, what’s the forecast for today?” asked Bon Bon while preparing the order for her client.
 
“Meh, just a thunderstorm with flying and screaming from pain rainbows here and there...”
 
The Earth Pony made a very weird look at her Pegasus friend, “Uh? What do you mean, Rainbow?”
 
“Never mind... I’m sorry for shouting again...”
 
“It’s okay, Dash. Please, here are your chocolates.” Bon Bon said, giving a box to Rainbow. It was in a shape of a heart, wrapped by the yellow tape with a bow on the top of it.
 
“Thanks. How much do I pay?” the Pegasus asked, putting the box on her back.
 
“Free of charge, Rainbow. I can’t take money from a mare in the state that you are in now...”
 
“Thanks, Bon Bon.” said Rainbow Dash, turning to the exit, “You’re a great friend. See you later!”
 
“Good luck!” the salesmare said, waving her hoof.
 
Rainbow Dash, after going out from the shop, started slowly trotting to the library. Her head was full of different thoughts, different solutions of the problem. She was tensed like never before, her heart was pounding rapidly all the way to the destination. The upcoming events were going to change not only her and Twilight’s lives, but all of their friends too. Rainbow just hoped everything would turn out okay...
 
But those were just pure dashed thoughts...
 

Twilight thought she should start getting ready for welcoming her guest. She closed the library, flipping the sign on the front door to “Closed” and went to the kitchen to make some cocoa for both of them. After she finished, she placed two cups filled with the brown liquid on the table beside the cushions, the one she was experimenting with a day before. She placed some wood in the fireplace, and lit it up. It was always relaxing for her to lay down on a soft cushion near a warm fireplace, drinking hot, freshly prepared cocoa. But this time, she expected a very important guest. Her best of best friends. The one she admired so much, and was glad to help her. Rainbow Dash.
 
 

Rainbow Dash finally managed to arrive to the library’s door. The sign on the door said “Closed”. This meant that she was the only one who could come in, because she was appointed for the meeting with the librarian. But she was still hesitating. She just stood there, doing nothing except looking around. She hadn’t enough courage to knock on the door. It wasn’t possible for her right then.
 
As she stood there for several minutes, the sky went darker and darker. The wind started blowing; small droplets of water began to pour from the sky. But she still stood there, unsure about what to do. She wasn’t ready to come into the library yet.
 
The loud thunderclap could be heard in the background. Rain started falling heavily, making the cyan mare completely wet from the top of her mane to the end of the rainbow tail. She made a mental note to reward Cloud Kicker for her outstanding job later. She didn’t care about how wet she was right now; it didn’t matter to her at all. The most important thing right now was the life changing event that was just around the corner.
 
Or behind the door in front of her...
 

15 minutes passed since it started raining, and there was still no sign of Rainbow Dash. Twilight knew that even a Pegasus like her is not capable of flying in that huge storm. With each second that passed, she started getting more and more afraid for her. She tried not to panic. She got closer to the window, but the only things she saw were droplets hitting the glass, behind which a dark, flashing sky could be seen. Nothing seemed to look as vibrant as Rainbow Dash in the sky.
 
She decided to go out for a second to take a better look at the sky. When she opened the door, the sight in front of her completely petrified her. She recoiled in shock and gasped at what she saw.
 
In front of her stood Rainbow Dash, completely wet, her back had a heart-shaped red box on it. On her muzzle she had her favorite sunglasses on. She was looking at the unicorn from under the eye.

“R-Rainbow D-Dash?”
 
“H-Hey, Twilight...”