The ocean was silent. The gingerbread dinghy sat still in the water, the only landmark to see in a foggy, opaque atmosphere. Rainbow Dash broke the surface, dragging Rarity up with her. Coughing and sputtering, Rainbow spat out the water to take in precious oxygen. She hauled Rarity into the boat, and crawled in herself. She was still sopping wet and tried to clear her lungs.
“Oh Celestia...” she moaned. “Good thing this boat’s still intact, right, Rarity?” She asked.
Rarity coughed out as much water as she could, before choking out a response, albeit an incoherent one. "Ugh..." she groaned, laying on her side.
"Now I can see what you mean. That thing was massive!" Rainbow Dash said in awe of the beast that nearly crushed them moments ago. She rung the water out of her shirt before leaning over Rarity. "You alright?"
Rarity, however, was far worse than Rainbow Dash. Her eye twitched involuntarily as she shivered from fear. "Never again..." she muttered.
"Guess you weren't kidding about being afraid of that kind of stuff." Rainbow Dash chuckled, helping Rarity sit up.
"That would be an understatement." Rarity said, finally clearing her head, and fixing her hair to the best of her ability without a brush.
"Understatement, shmunderstatement. You're just lucky I'm not afraid of anything, otherwise we'd both be freaking out." Dash boasted.
"I find that hard to believe. Surely you fear something. Everyone does." Rarity replied, looking back the horizon to make sure no other beast would come barreling toward them.
"Psssh. Yeah, right." Rainbow Dash said, taking another chunk of the gingerbread to eat.
Rarity withheld her urge to lecture Rainbow again, but wouldn't let herself get distracted. She scratched her chin at a revelation. "I remember now. During the Young Flier's competition, I drew so much attention that you became nervous." Rarity reminded.
Dash's smug grin faded, but she tried to keep her cool. "Uh... yeah?"
"And since you got nervous, you became worried the Wonderbolts wouldn't be impressed. Now I get it-" Rarity said, putting the pieces together. "You're afraid of failure."
That last word made Rainbow Dash flinch. "Uh... no! Of course not!" She stammered, tugging at her shirt collar.
"Well, it makes perfect sense." Rarity explained. "With failure, your'e scared of others ridiculing you. You just want to feel accepted, because you don't want to be alone."
Rainbow Dash wrung her hands, and a hint of defeat in her voice. "Alright, Rare. You got me. I can't handle rejection, so I give it a hundred and twenty percent to everything I do, so nobody thinks of me as a loser." She confessed.
Rarity felt sorry for Rainbow Dash having to deal with such distress. But she felt another thought arise. "Rainbow, there's no one else here to make fun of you. The only thing that you'll get from me is adoration."
Rainbow Dash looked up. "Rarity, you really do have a knack for making me feel better." She chuckled, planted a light peck on Rarity's cheek.
"Oh my..." Rarity mused. She had kissed Rainbow before, but now she experienced the thrill and surprise for herself.
Rainbow Dash ran her hand across her chin in thought. "Say Rare, what do you think would happen if we did get back? Hypothetically?"
Rarity paused for a bit, her face changing shape to match the array of emotions and thoughts in her mind. "Well, if we were back in Ponyville, after everything that's happened, we'd continue our lives. I guess you and I would still be together, and..." Rarity trailed off as she realized something. If she Rainbow Dash were still in love, it wouldn't be long until their friends noticed. "-and our friends just accept the fact we're ahem, together."
Rainbow Dash blinked at Rarity's reply, and soon thought up her own ending. "Well, I thought you and I would have, like, a secret fling. We'd be the 'Undercover Lovers'! Ha!" She chuckled.
"Why in Equestria would you want to hide this from our friends?" Rarity questioned.
"Duh. It's more fun that way. I mean, imagine the thrill of sneaking out at night together, or sending each other note right under their noses! Secrets are way more fun than you think."
"Uh... as much as I do have my own secrets, it's not best to hide something like love from your friends. I mean, imagine if Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie have been hiding a secret romance of their own, deliberately hiding it from you. How would you feel?" Rarity asked.
"Are you kidding? Uncovering secrets is just as fun! I can't imagine why Pinkie and Fluttershy would be lovers, but-"
"If it's so fun to uncover secrets, then why wouldn't it be 'fun' hiding our love from the others?" Rarity countered.
Dash's eyes widened at the loophole of her argument. "Huh. Good point." She muttered. A loud rumble came from Rarity's stomach, and it was quite clear Rarity was hungry. "Well? Aren't you gonna eat?" Rainbow asked again, offering her the half eaten piece of gingerbread.
Rarity bit her lower lip, before shaking her head. The dinghy was starting to get thinner. "No. I can't. You eat what you can."
It was then Rainbow Dash felt more concerned for her friend. Rarity's waist was starting to wear thin, and her eyes looked rather droopy. "You look like you haven't eaten in days. You gotta eat something." She said.
Rarity's face contorted with hunger and temptation, but held back. "I... can't. I'm doing this for you. Eat. Let me be." Rarity argued, with the shining love that made her the Element of Generosity.
Rainbow Dash's stomach rumbled as well, and simply chewed on the gingerbread without a second thought.
The rest of the day passed as slow as ever, until the sun set once again.
"Well, time to hit the hay, huh?" Rainbow Dash asked, stretching her arms and arcing her back.
Rarity blinked her eyes at the bare floor of the raft. "Considering there's no hay to hit, that might prove difficult."
"Ah, quit being so literal." Rainbow stated, unfurling her wings once more. Without question, Rarity scooted closer to stay warm for another night.