//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash's Love Life Limerick (Part 1) 
// Story: Hopeless Romance 
// by Doom Trot 
//------------------------------//

	"The first pony I would call beau, one that you probably know, so terribly meek, like a timid mouse squeak, she sticks to the status quo," began Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash's audience of three cocked their heads in unison, an expression of sheer bafflement on each of their faces.
"So she's a poet," plainly stated Scootaloo.
"Well, wouldn't ya know it?" added Apple Bloom with a smirk.
"She's talking about Fluttershy," said Sweetie Belle.
Rainbow Dash nodded, continuing, "Her cutie mark story you've heard, and though it may sound kind of absurd, the reason I raced, and her safety I spaced, was because I wanted her as my bird."
"What?" asked Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
"Pegasus lingo," explained Scootaloo.  "I've never spent much time in Cloudsdale, but I know calling somepony 'your bird' there is like a really mushy way of saying they're your coltfriend... or fillyfriend, in some cases."
Scootaloo cleared her throat boisterously, grinning at Rainbow Dash with red in her cheeks.  Rainbow Dash merely rolled her eyes, chuckling.
"Though on her my heart was set, and over her everyday I'd fret, she then heard me out, and replied a stout, 'I'm not ready for that yet.'"  Rainbow Dash sighed, smiling a sad smile.
"Well, you were just little fillies," reasoned Scootaloo.  "If she wasn't ready for a relationship, you could have just waited on her."
"I think she tried waiting already," said Sweetie Belle, reflecting Dash's saddened expression in her tone.  "Fluttershy still isn't ready for that.  She can really only be Rainbow Dash's friend, because she lacks the confidence to commit to a serious relationship."
Apple Bloom glanced to Sweetie Belle, mouthing a silent "golly."  
"Don't go jumpin' t' no conclusions now," warned Apple Bloom.  "There's got t' be more to it than that."
Sweetie Belle's gaze lingered on Apple Bloom for a moment.  Then she turned to Rainbow Dash, an inquisitive look in her eye.
Rainbow Dash paused for a pensive moment, inhaled deeply, then said, "As it now stands we are only friends, although on me she still greatly depends, for loyalty at length, for a pillar of strength, while to animals she happily tends."
"Well, at least you're still friends," consolingly offered Scootaloo.  "That counts for something."
"Please, go on," urged Sweetie Belle, sternly attentive of Rainbow Dash's poetic reminiscence.

Rainbow Dash placed her hooves together, staring intently at them.  She nodded, placing them behind her head and relaxing against the stairs, wings casually splayed.
"From flight school there's this cool griffin I know.  Last time you saw her was really some show.  She acted all tough, and left in a huff, like she always does, the dirty ho."
Rainbow Dash's innocent, pure-minded audience gasped in horror.
"How could you?!" chided Sweetie Belle.
"Why would you?" croaked Apple Bloom.
"That's so mean..." whimpered Scootaloo.
With a shrug, Rainbow Dash stated, "It's just dyke talk."
"... oh," said the trio of fillies.
Flipping her mane with a flick of the head, Rainbow Dash continued her limerick.  
"We both love to fly, that much is true.  We also enjoy some trash-talk, too.  We hit it off fast, and had a real blast, but it wasn't long before we were through."
Dash scratched absently at her cheek, her gaze distant.  There came a faint jolt in her left wing followed by an angered snort.
"Gilda and I, we had a good run.  Shared a few laughs and had some real fun.  Yet at the end of the day, it pains me to say, our good times were all for none."
Rainbow Dash's tone carried a distinct edge, which proved disconcerting to her audience.  Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo exchanged nervous glances, while Apple Bloom gnawed anxiously at her lip.
"What happened between you two?" worriedly asked Sweetie Belle.
Sitting up, wings folding, Rainbow Dash cast her gaze downward.  
With a deep inhalation, she said, "I'd always thought that griffin was faithful, that for what we had she was grateful, but she'd had her fill, and left, as she always will, and found somepony more playful."
After a moment of three blank faces, Apple Bloom acquired an expression of sympathetic sadness, Scootaloo a terse, irritated look, and Sweetie Belle an intrigued yet stern countenance.
"If that's the case," began Sweetie Belle, "why did she come back?"
A small tear falling to the floor, Rainbow Dash covered her eyes with her hooves as she answered, "I forgave her cheating bout, even if we didn't work out.  Yet back she came crawling, for help she was calling.  She promised me a happy route.  Though I'd hoped she was still a friend, that hope she was quick to upend.  Through little reproof given, to hatred was she driven, and our friendship was forever condemned."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle grimaced at this, but Scootaloo stood and hurried to the stairs.  Huddling close to her idol's side, she wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow Dash's waste and laid her head against her ribs.  Rainbow Dash lowered her hooves from her eyes, glancing down at the filly, who returned the glance with a small smile and a pair of bright, shimmering eyes.  Sniffling, Rainbow Dash turned and hugged Scootaloo back.
"Thanks, kid," whispered Rainbow Dash.
"Aw..." said Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

With their hug concluded, Scootaloo drew away, but remained seated beside Rainbow Dash.  
Sweetie Belle nodded approvingly, then patiently asked, "Who else did you have a crush on?"
Rainbow Dash considered the question for a moment, then grinned awkwardly.  "That brings us to crush number three.  You might say she was everypony's cup of tea.  Named Monsoon Splendor, a game changer and ender, I thought she took a fancy to me.  They called her the 'queen of the skies,' with her perfect mane and slanted eyes.  The fun genius up in space, a multilingual ace.  That's the Monsoon Splendor I despise."
"What?" asked Apple Bloom.  "You despise 'er?  Then why was she your crush?"
"I was tricked by her ruse, that trick she did.  She pulled me in close; I saw what she hid.  She never cared about me, 'cause I was just a trophy.  Like some stupid pet I was always bid.  No matter what innocence she might claim.  No matter her looks, smarts, or fame.  Inside she's a devil, on an unmatched level.  After her, nothing was the same."
Rainbow Dash tilted her head back as she yawned with gaping jaws.  Her head falling forward, she rubbed her hooves against her eyes, smacking her lips as she looked at Apple Bloom.  The soft blue glow that had overtaken Rainbow's eyes earlier returned for a moment, only to flicker and disappear once more.  
"I think Zecora said somethin' 'bout this," said Apple Bloom.  "The potion only lasts fer so long before it goes kaput.  When them lights start blinkin' again after nothin' happens fer a while, that's a sure sign that yer about outta time."
"But she's only told us about three of her crushes!" Sweetie Belle protested.  "There's got to be a lot more than three!"
"Why is it that you care so much?" asked Scootaloo in earnest, earning a confused look from Rainbow Dash.  "Apple Bloom is listening because she's waiting for the part about her sister."
Apple Bloom noisily cleared her throat in response to the allegation, but objected in no further way.
"I'm still listening because I care about Dash. I want to hear her out when she's talking about her problems."
Dash pulled Scootaloo into another hug, this one more familiarly jostling and rough.

"Well," began Sweetie Belle, "when Rarity isn't busy with her work and she isn't out with her friends, I'm usually the only pony she has around to talk to.  So she spends hours and hours droning on and on about the 'delicacy of relationships' and how much of an 'impact' the ponies in your life can be.  I didn't think I would ever care about it, but now that Rainbow Dash has expressed her feelings about her own love life, I'm beginning to think my sister wasn't just trying to bore me to death."
"Yeah, that's Rarity alright," said Rainbow Dash with a smirk.
Her eyes glowed for an even shorter time than they had seconds before, the blue light flickering out of existence.
"Rainbow Dash is starting to act like 'er regular self," observed Apple Bloom.  "It's good that we all care about her, but we should probably wrap up here and save the rest fer later."
"Later?" asked Scootaloo.  "You mean we're just going to leave her without letting her finish her story?"
"Well, once the potion goes kaput, which is happenin' as we speak," argued Apple Bloom, nodding to Rainbow Dash, "she ain't gonna share no more 'til we get some more potion in 'er."
"But she'll pick up from here the next time she drinks the potion, right?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Ah don't know.  Maybe.  Heck, this is the first time ah ever saw anypony who drank the darn thing."
Rainbow Dash's eyes flashed blue for only a split second, leaving her dazed afterwards.
"What happened?" she groaned, face buried in her hooves.
"Well, we won't know until we get another potion," said Scootaloo, already headed for the door.  "We'll find Rainbow Dash and get that second potion tomorrow.  Until then, we should probably go get some sleep."
"Okay," agreed Sweetie Belle, rushing out the door with Scootaloo.  "Tomorrow."
Apple Bloom joined them outside.  
As the two were about to disperse, she stopped them by saying, "That second potion might be a little tricky, actually."
"What do you mean tricky?" asked Scootaloo.  "We'll just distract Zecora again and swipe another potion."
"Yeah, that's sorta the problem.  That was the only one she had."
"You helped her make it," said Sweetie Belle.  "Why don't we just make the second one ourselves?"
"Well, that's also sorta the problem.  Ah only helped put together the ingredients and stir 'em up.  Ah don't know nothin' 'bout where to find any of them."
From Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both resonated a frustrated, "Ugh!"
"No worries," hastily said Apple Bloom.  "Ah'll go talk with Zecora.  Ah'm sure she'd trust me with a list of ingredients iffen ah asked 'er fer one."
"If she hasn't found out that we swapped the real truth potion she made with a bottle of blueberry soda, that is," Scootaloo said flatly.
"Yeah.  That."
"Well," sighed Sweetie Belle, beginning to walk away, "good night."
"See ya," said Scootaloo, also leaving.
"Cutie Mark Crusader alchemists..." Apple Bloom shouted weakly.
Beginning for her own home, she muttered a quiet, "Aw, horse apples."





Hearing the door to the library shut, Rainbow Dash looked up, her daze having cleared.  She looked to the window, bewildered to find that it was late in the night, despite the sun having only begun to set the last she had checked.  She glanced to her book, which laid on the step below the one she was seated on.  Picking it up, she turned it over and examined it vigorously, wondering aloud, "Was I just lost in the story?  Is that why I didn't notice it get dark?"  She set the book on her lap, looking to the night sky.  "No.  I would have remembered reading more."  Tucking the book under one foreleg, she stood, hovering to the door.  Exiting the library, she found the streets to be empty, though she had a vague memory of voices in and near the library.  After a quick scan of the area and a thoughtful exhale, she kicked close the library door and began for her home.