//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Charity and Devotion // by FrostyDawn //------------------------------// After Rainbow Dash told Rarity about the love she had for her, She felt like a big smile was just plastered on her face. In fact, for most of the time, it was. Two days had passed, and Rainbow Dash could not get her mind of Rarity. “This is great! I can’t believe Rarity likes me back! Kinda weird... Rarity’s been waiting for the perfect guy for as long as I can remember. And in a few short minutes, she seems completely fine being in love with another girl. Ah, well. I shouldn't complain.” Rainbow Dash thought. She turned to Rarity, who was staring off into the horizon. She turned, and warmly smiled at Rainbow Dash. “I can’t believe that worked. I’m so glad we’re alone here. Otherwise, I never would've told her.” Rainbow’s eyes widened as her own words registered in her mind. “Geez... would I really do that? Would I just keep watching her like a lovesick schoolgirl if it weren't for this crummy boat? Am I so out of touch?” Dash thought. She let her thoughts linger in her head, and began tapping her fingers against the hull of the gingerbread dinghy. It was a mindless tune, a set of staccato and steady beats that mimicked the first song that came to mind. The more it progressed, the more pieces to the song Rainbow added. In her mind, she imagined a vibrant, electronic song, but it wasn't long until she was cut off. “Will you stop with that incessant tapping? It’s driving me mad!” Rarity said sternly. “Saw-REE.” Rainbow sneered back. “I gotta stay sane somehow. And how else am I gonna make music on this thing?” “You call that music? That is not music.” Rarity quipped. Her tone changed to a calmer demeanor, like she was daydreaming. “Music is the language everyone understands. The essence of one’s soul and emotions. The eternal reward that-” “You listen to Octavia too much.” Rainbow Dash said flatly, interrupting Rarity. “Well, you listen to too much Vinyl Scratch.” Rarity dryly replied, sitting up. “Hey, Vinyl’s a great DJ! At least she can keep a party going without putting everyone to sleep.” Dash countered, leaning closer to the purple-haired girl. “By blasting everyone’s eardrums with that techno gibberish? If there was a sound to madness, Vinyl Scratch would be an insanity aficionado.” “I don’t even know what that means!” Rainbow grunted, exasperated. “An expert, Dash. A pro.” Rarity responded, rolling her eyes. The girls’s faces were close enough for both of them to detect their tension through an innate sense. “Whatever. Classical’s for snobs. At least dubstep is fun. When was the last time you ever did anything fun?” Rainbow Dash found her answer as Rarity leaned in, closed her eyes and pressed her warm lips against Rainbow’s. Her cyan wings sprang open with a faint POOMF as her eyes widened and cheeks filled with blood. It felt like time stopped, until Rarity broke the kiss, exhaling with relief. “There. That was fun, wasn’t it, Dash?” Rarity sighed, with a sly smirk. Rainbow sat there in silence, her cheeks still red and wings still extended. “Damn...” she muttered. “Now you knows what it feels like to listen to classical.” Rarity said, feeling proud and smug. Dash shook her head and curled her wings behind her. “Does it taste like marshmallows, too?” She giggled. Rarity let out an unimpressed sigh. “Why does everyone keep calling me that?” She grunted. “It’s cause you’re a big softie, Rarity.” Rainbow said, lightly hitting Rarity in the arm. “Ow!” The fashionista whined, rubbing her forearm. “See? Softie. Besides, whenever Pinkie or I prank you, you always overreact.” “Overreact?! I understand flinging pies at me or pushing me into the lake, but you once put a Scarlet Hypnosnake in my bedroom! How could I possibly not be frightened by that?!” Rarity cried. “Hypnosnake? Oh, I remember that! Man, that hilarious!” Rainbow Dash snickered. “I could’ve gotten hurt! You put nearly all of Ponyville in danger!” Rarity hung her head over the side of the boat. “I’m getting sick just remembering...” Rainbow Dash looked back up, and noticed the ocean became a little choppier. “I think you just might be getting seasick, Rare.” “I’m not surprised. I hate the ocean.” Rarity grumbled. The sea had escalated to large waves that undulated the boat up and down. She sat back up, and her face was already looking a little flushed. “I hate it as much as Pinkie likes parties.” “Really? What’s the ocean ever do to you?” Rainbow asked. “I’m seasick, for one. The saltwater does not do kindly to my hair, and it always leaves the smell in my clothes. Not to mention the whirlpools, riptides, waterspouts, tsunamis, and don’t even get me started on what lives down there.” Rarity shuddered. “Seriously? You’re afraid of fish? You really are a softie.” Dash chuckled. “Do you think I’m a fool? I know what lurks down there.” Rarity retorted. “Twilight’s invited me over plenty of times, and while I was there, I did happen to read some of those books.” “Oh boy. Here we go...” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes and laying back in her nonchalant position. “I’ve read descriptions of enormous leviathans that could swallow a train whole! Swarms of parasites that could strip a cow to bone in a matter of seconds! A-a-a-and colossal squids that could crush a person with one arm!” Rarity panicked, droning on and on about all sorts of sea monsters. “Blah, blah, blah.” Rainbow replied. “Why do you keep reading that stuff, anyway?” “I couldn’t help it... Books tend to drag you in with fear and intrigue...” Rarity said, calming herself down. “But surely you have to admit-” she said, staring down into the dark waters below. “There must be something down there.” “Do you really want to find out?” Rainbow asked. “Would you rather worry about something you read in a book, or relax with this gorgeous girl?” She continued, pointing her thumbs at herself. “Fine. I got a little carried away.” Rarity said. “But I still don’t have my sea legs...” she muttered, her eyes getting a sickly color as the rocking waves made their rounds once more. “Yeah. You don’t look so hot. Well-, I mean, you are hot, but I-...” Rainbow Dash stammered. “Ugh... I get it.” Rarity replied, rubbing her forehead. The air then shook with a low rumble, that also resonated in the water. “What the hell was that?!” Rainbow Dash asked. Rarity sat up, scanning the area. Neither of them saw anything, except fog rolling in. The sky was a dull gray from the stretching clouds. “Was that thunder?” Rarity asked. “No... thunder leaves a sort of metallic taste in the air. This is something else.” Rainbow Dash examined. Rarity didn’t detect any metallic taste in the air, but rather a briny musk that mixed with the saltwater. It wasn’t long before they heard a large amount of water churning, and a tremendous roar. Off in the distance, a green shape burst up from the ocean, and it was obvious what it was. A serpent. Despite the massive gap between them, Rarity and Rainbow Dash could see a dragon-like head rise from the depths of the sea, complete with scales, fins, and an enormous maw, possibly bearing hundreds of teeth. Large frills and spines ran down it’s back, and protruded as it rose from the water. The serpent kept rising into the sky, pulling more of its massive green body out from underneath it, until its head disappeared into the clouds. “SWEET MOTHER OF FAUST WHAT IS THAT!?!” Rainbow Dash cried as her eyes widened. Rarity began shaking, and managed to pull her thoughts together. “I told you what was down there! Do you see how massive it is?! Oh my, I feel ill...” She whimpered, her knees shaking. There was another roar high above the clouds, and the girls felt their hearts skip a beat. “Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked as the clouds above them began to churn. “Yes?” “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Rainbow Dash said. The serpent began descending from the sky, its jaws wide open. The two girls braced for impact, as the leviathan dove into the water, missing their raft by mere inches. The shockwave sent a huge wave of water all around it, flinging Rarity and Rainbow Dash out into the icy water. As Rainbow tumbled down into the abyss, she held her breath. The shock of hitting the water so suddenly nearly knocked her out cold. She was just lucky the beast didn’t turn herself and Rarity into chum. She composed herself again and opened her eyes. In the dark blurs of the ocean, she could make out two shapes. The first was a twisting, greenish shape slinking back into the darkness, and Rarity drifting, hardly moving. Bubbles of air flowed all around them, making it easier to sink further down. Rainbow Dash began flailing to swim toward Rarity, and wrapped her arms around her friend’s waist. Dash’s lungs stung from the lack of oxygen, and her limbs were growing numb. She looked up toward the surface, and gave it her all reach the haven of the boat, still afloat. Rainbow’s mind began clouding as she swam upward at high speed.