//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: A Change in Scenery 
// by Ninestempest 
//------------------------------//

Dash crept forward ever so slowly, bug catching net in her hooves.  Just ten feet ahead of her was a batch of white roses, where her prey awaited her, unawares.  Dash squinted her eyes, making sure it was still there.
Another foot closer.  She had been bug catching all day, but this was the first of this species that she had seen that day.  It was a good thing too, because she felt like she was about to give up the search.  Rainbow Dash was a stubborn pony, but whether or not a certain bug appears is something too far out of her control to be bothered with for more than a few hours.
It hadn’t started out well either.  At first, she began galloping around town, searching to and fro for any bug she could find, and found none.  Then she started trotting more calmly, examining every tree, rock, and flower patch, and sure enough, she started noticing them.  The occasional butterfly, or the beetle in the trunk of a tree.  Did her running send them flying off before?  She didn’t know, nor care; she was finding them like this, so that sufficed.
Only a foot away now.  She took the swing.  The net sailed just over the flowers, scooping up her target while leaving the petals untouched.
Grinning, she held up the net to her eyes.  Inside was the orchid mantis she had been hunting all day.  She had no idea why Nibbles wanted one, but she did, and Dash figured she would have something to exchange for this insect.  She had quickly figured out that no gift went without some kind of physical exchange over the past two weeks, and used that knowledge to not only make fast friends with everyone, but also some new stuff.  Mostly shirts though.  She didn’t know what to make of that at all.
Dash placed the mantis inside a small glass jar, stored it in her saddlebag, and hovered up into the sky to look for Nibbles.  After a few seconds of scanning, she found her fishing near where the river entered their town.  She glided down to meet her friend and hand her what she had been looking for all day.
“Oh, hey Dash!”  Nibbles waved.  Dash wasn’t sure how she noticed  her, given that she was looking down at her fishing pole, but Dash didn’t pay it any mind.  “What’s up, niblet?”
“Got somethin’ for ya,” Dash said, reaching into her saddle bag.
“Ooooowhat is it?”  Dash carefully pulled out the jar and held it in front of Nibbles.  The green squirrel beamed.  “OHMYGOSH it’s that orchid mantis I asked you to get me!”
“Yup!”  Dash smiled.
“How long have you been looking for this?  I about gave up on you ever finding it, niblet!”
Dash smirked this time.  “Oh, just about three hours, no big.”
“Oh, you’ll have to let me make this up to you, but I kinda left everything at home today, since I planned on fishing for a while.  Uh… how about… oh!”  She clapped, dropping her fishing pole on the grass without a single care.  “How about you come over later for caramel-dipped strawberries?!  I’ve been dying to try those out!”  She blinked.  “Not that I don’t know how to make them, niblet!  Never too late to try, though.”
“Heehee, sure.  Tonight or tomorrow?”
“Oooh, better make it tomorrow.  Lunchtime sound good?”
“Definitely!”
“It’s a date then!” Nibbles proclaimed, turning back to the river to cast her fishing rod.
Dash blinked.  “Wh-what?!” she shouted.
Nibbles turned to see her blushing, and almost broke down laughing, managing to keep it to a small giggle as she finished casting.  “You’re the funniest, Rainbow Dash.  It’s just lunch, no big deal.”
“I-I know… it’s just, I got a special somepony back home, and… I hadn’t thought about that in a while.”
“What, dating?”  Nibbles held a paw to her chin.  “Well, why would you think about dating if you already have someone?”
“N-not like that,” Dash said with a gulp, “I just mean… I haven’t seen her in a while.”
“Do you miss her?”  Nibbles asked plainly.
“N-not really.  Not at all!”  Dash stood tall and proud.  “She’s doing fine without me though, I know she is.  She always did fine without me.”
“You should invite her up here sometime!  I’d love to meet her—Oh!”  Nibbles was interrupted by a fish taking her bait, and her focus immediately shifted to her fishing rod.
Dash gulped, opting just to excuse herself before talking any further.
Eeugh, that was way too awkward.  Though… she’s right, Pinkie Pie would love it here.  She looked up to the sky.  The sun hadn’t quite started setting yet, and the sky was perfectly cloudless.  Over the last week, she had mostly made up with Sarah, though Dash felt like there was still something between them that she couldn’t quite make out.  Despite that, they had come to an agreement where Sarah would figure out the projected weather for a day, and ask Dash to help it become a reality.  Breezy and cool?  Make it a clear sky too.  Partially cloudy with only a chance of rain?  Better make sure that the flowers don’t all dry out.  For such a small village, such requests only took a few minutes at worst, and she was happy to be performing some kind of job.
Dash quickly glided by her house, and dropped off her saddlebags while taking a quick glance to her clock.  Four in the afternoon?  Why do I feel like I could just crawl into a hole and sleep there for the night.  Oh, right, because Nibbles mentioned Pinkie Pie.
Dash hit her forehead with a hoof.  “Yeah, so what if someone knows you have a girlfriend now?” Rainbow Dash said to herself.  “Pinkie Pie was great.  You don’t have anything to be ashamed of.  No, nothing at all.”  Dash started pacing in her house.  “Yeah, see, you’re doing this for her.  You think if she found out what you did, she’d ever want to see you again?  Heck no!  You’re doing her a favor, Dash. You’re… you’re removing your jerk-self from her life….”
 With a frustrated cry, she vacated her house and leapt to a nearby tree, rubbing her eyes of the water that was building up.  Don’t cry, don’t freaking cry, Dash.  She doesn’t need you…. After a few moments, she felt herself grow a bit tired, and decided that spot would be great for a nap.  She rolled over on her back, and let her eyes fall closed and her consciousness drift off.
For a moment, at least.  After what felt like less than a second, she was woken up suddenly by someone shaking the tree she was sleeping in.  Still not sure of what was happening, she felt herself roll off her tree branch, and land stomach-first onto the ground.  “Ow!”
“You awake now?”
Dash looked up to find Sarah looming over her.  “Why’d you have to go an interrupt my nap?”
“Nap?  You nap for two hours a day?”  Sarah raised an eyebrow.  “You could just sleep a bit longer.”
“And miss my morning practice?  Heck no!”  Dash jumped up to all four hooves, and opened her wings to glance at them, then turned back to Sarah.  “What do you want?”
“Hey now, I’m here to help you.  Have you heard the rumors?”
“Rumors?”  Dash shook her head.  “I spoke to Nibbles for a bit just before I took my nap.  She didn’t mention any rumors.”
“Hmmm…” Sarah glanced left, then right, then back to Dash.  “That’s probably what started it then.  There’s a rumor going around that you’re inviting your girlfriend to town.”
“WHAT?!”  Dash yelled.
“I don’t know what you said, but you gave her that idea, somehow.  But we need to talk about it.  Inside, if you would.”
“What do we need to talk about?”
“Get inside and I’ll explain.”  Sarah motioned to the door.  Dash shrugged, and opened it, letting them both inside.
Dash casually leapt over Sarah and landed on her bed, plopping herself down comfortably.  Sarah took a chair from the table, turning it towards Dash.  “So… there’s something you need to know about this place.”
“Yeah?”
“Some things here are… well, let’s say that where the animals live, and where humans live, somehow operate under different terms.  For example… here, fortunes come true.  One hundred percent of the time, they will happen.  Not always how you’d expect, but they do.”  Dash nodded, so Sarah continued, “if you make a wish at a well, it’ll generally come true, unless it’s a really specific thing like ‘I want a million bells.’  If you wish for a new friend, or maybe for happiness or something, it’ll generally happen.”
“Okay, so… what is your point?”
“Sometimes… when villagers talk about things, those things tend to… come true.”  Dash gulped.  “Knew you’d respond like that.  So, I don’t know what world you come from, but I get the feeling that your girlfriend is going to show up here soon.”
“I-I never said I came from another world,” Dash said indignantly.  “I’m just, you know, new around here.”
“Dash…” Sarah chuckled.  “You’re a real kidder sometimes.  You didn’t know that leaves turned into furniture.  You didn’t know that our currency was called Bells.  You are clearly not from my world.  Especially given that you’re a small, flying horse, which we definitely don’t have.”
“I’m a pony, and a pegasus at that.”
“Right, pegasus.  Where I’m from, something like you is an ancient myth, to the point where Pegasus is the given name of the creature.”
“Okay, okay, fine.  Yes, I’m from another world.”
“What can you tell me about it?”  Sarah asked.  Dash raised an eyebrow.  “Sorry, that was a little rude.  To be honest… I’m really curious.  How a flying pony like yourself is a… just, a normal thing.  And maybe it’s a good way to start again, since… we haven’t really talked much beyond my asking you about the sky.”
“A good way to start is by me telling you everything about my home?  You got a weird opinion on good starts.”  Dash chuckled dryly.  “But, uhm, just to be clear… how could she even come here?  When I was sent here, I was told that this is a different dimension.  We don’t even live in the same universe.”
“So why do we speak the same language?”  Sarah asked.  Dash opened her mouth to speak, but found no reply.  “There are some things clearly meant to be.  Coincidences that nothing can explain.  It may be fate, it may not be, but it’s how it is.  When this village really wishes for something, it tends to happen.  I’ve been here nearly eight years, and I’ve seen it every time.  It’s almost haunting, really.  None of the residents are the same as when I arrived, but it’s still the same effect.”
Dash gulped again.  “All right, well, I’ll get started from the top then.”  She took a deep breath and started, “I was born in a city called Cloudsdale, which is a pegasus-run city made up entirely of clouds….”
 
 
“… And that’s when we found out she had become a princess,” Dash said.  “At first, we totally thought she blew up.  It was kind of a weird feeling, since we knew she couldn’t have, but that’s totally what it looked like.”
Sarah laughed.  “Wow, that’s totally crazy.  So, uh let’s see… given what you’ve told me, there was probably a huge coronation ceremony—” Dash nodded “—So, how soon is that from when you left?”
“That was about six months ago,” Dash answered, “And not much has really happened since then.”
“Nothing?”  Sarah asked.
“Nothing.  No crises, no celebrations, aside from another summer sun celebration… no nothing.  It got kinda boring after a while, honestly.”  Dash got off of her bed and headed for her fridge near the entrance to her home.  “I’m getting kinda thirsty.  Wouldya like anything?”
“An Apple juice would be super!”  Sarah said.
“Sure thing!”  Dash brought out her jug of Apple juice, and started pouring two glasses.
Dash smiled at Sarah’s never-ending curiosity.  Dash had covered as much as she could to explain how their world worked, starting with where she grew up, flight camp, moving to Ponyville, her friends, and the events since they all became the Elements of Harmony.  She had to give some background on some things occasionally, like explain magic, which Sarah seemed to pick up on lightning fast, despite her insistence that magic wasn’t even like, a thing.
For some reason, talking about home had lifted her out of the dumps she had fallen into that day.  It set her at ease, and left her the least stressed that she had felt in just about a week.  She wasn’t sure why thoughts of Equestria made her so excited, but they did.  Is it because I’m the element of loyalty?  That I’m always loyal to my home country, just because?  Or… or is something, someone, drawing me back?
“So… when did you and Pinkie hook up?”  The name made Dash tense up, nearly spilling the apple juice jug.  “Man, do you know how readable you are?  If hearing someone’s name makes you do that, it’s a wonder your princess didn’t figure out something was up.”
“She knew something was up, but she let me come anyway.”  Dash finished pouring their glasses, and took one to Sarah, and decided to remain hovering for the rest of the conversation.  “We… we started dating just after the coronation.  She asked me out, and I was feeling some similar feelings at the time, so it just… took off.  It was… it was some of the best few months of my life.”
“First loves like that always feel great.”  Sarah sighed wistfully.  “It sounds like something out a novel or something, something too fantastical to be real.  Not just you, but you’re whole world.”  She looked up to the clock.  “Wow, it’s almost nine.”
Dash grinned.  “From what I’ve seen and heard about this world, we have a lot more… interesting events happen.  More dangerous events, but more events anyway.  I didn’t even get to how Equestria was founded!”
“Well, if you’re still here tomorrow, maybe we can talk then.”
Dash nodded.  For a few moments, there was no talking.  Dash found herself looking to Sarah, her gaze not really drawn anywhere else in the room.  For a few more moments, she was content in not paying attention to the pegasus, taking a sip occasionally from her glass, but after almost a minute, she broke.  “What’s up, Rainbow?”
“You really think Pinkie Pie will be arriving soon.”
Sarah shrugged.  “I don’t have a clue, Rainbow Dash.  Stuff gets really crazy sometimes in this place.”
“Feels that way.”  Dash took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “I have a question that you may not like.”
“Yes?”  Sarah asked, tilting her head.
“That first day… when we talked in my room, why did you get so mad?  You got really angry when I told you that… that I was trying to run away from someone.”
Sarah laughed.  “Oh man, I actually kind of forgot about that.  It’s, uh, well,” she cleared her throat.  “It’s a long story… but I can summarize it up here real fast.  I’ll be really blunt too, since I kind of need to head out soon.  I… I had a girlfriend here.”
Dash’s jaw dropped.  “You did?”
“Yeah.  Isabelle.  She was the village’s secretary when I first arrived, and after a few years, we got… pretty close.  Of course, we kinda saw things about each other differently.”  Sarah shook her head.  “I thought… well, I didn’t think I loved her, but I liked spending nights with her… but she thought I was the one.  I think she got that same message from me.”
“Oh.”  Dash glanced away.  “I’m sorry.”
“Hey, there’s more to it than that.  You told me all about you, so I’m gonna tell you something I’m ashamed of.”  She sighed.  “Next up… I left this village to its own devices for an entire year.”
“A… a whole year?  Isn’t that, like, liable to get you fired or something?”
Sarah shook her head and smiled.  “I’m the mayor.  There isn’t much of a chain of command here, it’s just me and… well, when my secretary was here, her, but now it is just me.”  She sighed.  “This place is very bare bones, and the people here don’t need me to do much.  I mostly sigh ordinances and start public work projects.  And pull some weeds.”  She chuckled.  “But… but I didn’t leave any word.  I just packed up and moved back home for a year, figuring this place could do fine without me, leaving a note saying that I was taking a vacation, but not for how long.  When I came back, Isabelle wasn’t here, her brother wouldn’t talk to me, tons of flowers were rotting, weeds were everywhere, and about five villagers had left, which basically cut the population in half.”  Sarah laughed, this time a little crack coming through, the pitch a bit higher.  “From what little I’ve gotten out of him… she loved me so much that not seeing me for that long, without any word… basically broke her.  I didn’t even think of her that much!  And she’s gone now… been gone all year.  Town hall is… is horribly empty.”  She clutched her sides, and shivered.  “Every day I go in, and hope she’s at the desk, waiting to greet me.  Gods I miss her…”
Holy cow… Dash landed and brought a hoof to her shoulder.  “Sarah…”
“Do you understand love, Dash?”  Sarah looked up at her, misty eyed.  “When you love someone, you’ll do anything for them.  Absolutely anything.  And when that love is torn away from you, it… it leaves you broken.”  She slowly brushed off Dash’s hoof.  “Don’t abandon her.  I don’t care if you cheated on her or somehow did something worse—”
“Hey, I never said what I did—”
“Man, you think I couldn’t tell what you did?!” Sarah shouted.  “You’re readable, like a book, I keep telling you!  You can’t hide anything from anyone.  I’m surprised none of the other villagers here figured you out.  But just listen, okay?  If you find her, and you tell her, and admit it was wrong, then at least she can make a decision.  You doing this… you’re leaving her out.  Forcing her to do something that you want.  That isn’t fair.  You need to tell her, so she can forgive you, or she can move on.”
“I…” Dash shook her head.  “She wouldn’t move on, she just wouldn’t…”
“Then why the heck are you here?!”  Sarah yelled.  “I… gosh, I can’t stand this.  I don’t know if I can do anything all worked up like this, and I have work to do.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”  Sarah quickly finished off her glass of apple juice, then left, making sure to not shut the front door as she went.
Dash wasn’t crying.  She knew that much.  She felt like she wanted to though.  Her chest hurt, her wings ached.  She couldn’t see straight, and she wasn’t even tearing up.
I… I’m making the wrong decision.  I’m making the stupidest decision.  Dash slowly walked over to her bed.  Why the heck am I even here?!  Do I just go back?!  She climbed up and laid down, pulling a pillow over her head.  Why won’t she just come by already?!
Dash screamed into her pillow.  Why do you always run, Dash?!  Why do you never just run up and talk to them?!  You’ll kick a dragon in the face, charge a manticore, learn to do a sonic Rainboom on command, but when you did something your girlfriend didn’t even know about, you run so far away that you aren’t even in the same universe.  Why why WHY WHY?! “WHY WHY?!”
Dash flew out her window, and stuck herself in a cloud, one of the only clouds in the sky that evening.  Once firmly inside, she started flapping her wings, and the cloud moved.  Using herself as a motor, she started for where she first arrived in this world, which happened to be a big train station in a far away city.  By train, it took probably six-ish hours to arrive in Equebec, but flying herself?  She could do it in thirty minutes.
The journey was uneventful, and as she examined the streets below her, no one had really noticed her.  Animals of all kinds, in all manners of clothes, wandered the concrete jungle, doing late shopping or enjoying time with friends.  The train station was partially busy, but otherwise uneventful.  If Pinkie is coming, this is where she’ll appear.  So I just gotta camp out in this cloud until she does get here… and then… then I don’t know what.  I’ll do something.  But I’m done with this running away business.  I wish there was another way, but this is how it’s gonna have to be.
 
 
Dash’s sleep was disturbed by a flash and what sounded like a crash of thunder.  Opening her eyes, she found it was still dark out, yet she felt wide awake.  Must be around four or five, if I’m not totally tired by waking up at night… Dash poked her head out of the bottom of the cloud to look down, and saw exactly what she was afraid of.
Sure enough, Pinkie Pie had arrived.
The pink pony with curled, magenta hair had landed very precariously on her stomach.  She slowly stood up, shaking herself off, which Dash also remembered doing.  After a few moments of her simply looking around, she was approached by a guard, a dog in a police uniform.  She immediately bombarded him with questions, bouncing around him.  Dash couldn’t hear, but she figured that was the kind of thing Pinkie Pie would do, given such a new situation.
Dash started lowering the cloud ever so slowly, her wings slowly letting her fall despite the cloud’s desire to float higher and higher.  It was easy enough for her to control, but she wasn’t sure if Pinkie Pie would  notice a cloud moving that low.
“Hey Rainbow Dash!”
Oh crud.  She poked her head out, and saw Pinkie Pie looking straight up at her.
“Howdy!”
Seriously, Applejack greetings now?
“Down here!  It’s me, Pinkie Pie!”
“I know it’s you, silly.  One second!” Dash yelled out.  She took a deep breath, and steeled herself as she pulled herself out of the cloud, careful not to fragment it, then shot to the ground in an instant.  The guard appeared to be confused, but otherwise not moving.  At least he isn’t telling us to leave…
“What’s up?!”  Pinkie asked.
“Is… is that all you have to ask me?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Well, noooooooooooo, but I figured it would be a good starter!  I mean, I haven’t seen you for two whole weeks!  Gosh, that’s a really long time to not see somebody who lives just down the street from you, especially your girlfriend!”
Wow, she’s totally oblivious.  “Y-yeah, Pinkie.  It has been a while.  So how about I take you down to my place and we can talk a bit.  Maybe hang out?”
Pinkie nodded.  “Sure!  Where to then?  Do you have a cloud home?”  She gasped.  “Oooh, I bet they don’t have cloud homes here.  Are you homeless?  Are you a hobo, Rainbow Dash?”
“I-I’m not homeless, Pinkie Pie!”  She shouted.  The baker didn’t flinch.  “Just, it’s a long ways away.”  Rainbow Dash turned around.  “Climb on, I’ll fly us back to my house.”
“Ooooh, I haven’t been flying in a while!”
“Right.”
“Because I haven’t seen you in two weeks.  You left without sending me any word.”
Dash gulped.  Okay, not that oblivious.  I need to stop doing that…
The fly back to Equebec was mostly silent, aside from Pinkie Pie making “Woooo” sounds from flying so quickly.  Without worrying about the cloud, Dash was able to make the flight in only twenty minutes this time.  Once the village was in view, she started gliding towards her own house, as she took one final view of the town.  It was dark, and absolutely no one was awake, not even any lights were on.  She had never been around town at this time, and the lifeless-ness of the town weighed on her terribly.  She gulped, and made a last dive to her home.
Once she opened the door, Pinkie Pie burst inside, examining every aspect of the room.  “I really like what you’ve done with the place.  It’s like you’re right up in the sky!”  She jumped onto Dash’s bed, landing on her back and bouncing up a few times.  “This isn’t anything like your room in your cloud house.”
“It… it really isn’t.”  Rainbow Dash gulped.  “Pinkie Pie.”
“Yes?”  She asked, still beaming.
“How about we talk about why you’re here.”
Pinkie nodded, still beaming.  “Okay.  Let’s talk about it then.”
Dash looked on, waiting for Pinkie Pie to start.  There were a few moments of silence.  Pinkie’s smile  faltered, and she started.
“You… you ran away.”
Rainbow Dash flinched.  The way she said it, it was almost accusatory.  It was a tone that she had never heard Pinkie take before, and knowing she deserved it made it hurt.”
“You left me to search for you, so that’s all I did: search.”  Her face abruptly went from a perfect smile to a look of physical pain, as if she had been struck.  “I searched for… for all of two weeks.  I’ve been back to Ponyville twice.  I kept finding little clues and sometimes, I’d get close to something, and my ” Dash nodded at that.  “But… every time I kept following the trail… do you know where I kept ending up?”  Dash shook her head.  “Celestia.  I… I always found myself at the throne room.  She seemed surprised the first time, which was about ten days ago, but every subsequent time, she acted like she was expecting it.
“I went through entire cities.  I found Wonderbolts, an agent, a vacation planner even, just… all sorts of ponies.  So when I kept arriving at Celestia’s door, I finally had to ask.  And she told me that you came here because you were running away for a while.  And that I could go after you if I wanted.  She also told me that… she wasn’t supposed to tell me.”  With that, Pinkie finished speaking, her somber gaze locked onto Rainbow Dash.
“I… I’m really sorry to try and keep this a secret from you, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said.  Her eyes was glued to the floor now.  “I-it was wrong.”
“I just… I want to know why.” Pinke pulled Dash’s chin up to meet her eyes.  “I thought you loved me… and I love you.  So why… why did you do this?”
 “You wanna know what has me scared?”
Pinkie nodded.  “I was… I was hoping you’d tell me.  Because I don’t think there’s anything you could do that I couldn’t forgive you for—”
“I cheated on you, Pinkie Pie.  About a week before I left.”  Dash choked on her breath.  “That’s why I missed baking with you and the cake twins.  I was… I was with somepony else.”
“Oh.”  Pinkie stopped moving.  Her face slowly turned dark, her smile fading and turning into a blank expression, her eyes looking like they were focused on something a mile into the distance.  After another moment, the ends of her mouth curled downwards, and her eyes watered up.  “Did… did I do something wrong?”
“Pinkie, stop it.”
“Was… was I too annoying?  Was I not funny enough?”  She started crying.  “I thought… I thought you didn’t make it into the Wonderbolts, or maybe you hurt somepony.  But… but I… it was a problem with me?! ”
“Pinkie, stop it!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“I-I’ll try and spice things up, maybe!  Twilight has some spells!”  Tears were falling as her voice continually raised.  “And, and I won’t ask you to bake anymore!  I know you don’t really like it, but the twins are growing up fast, and they really enjoy it, and, and I can come to more of your practices!  I know I only come to five a week right now, but I can re-adjust my schedule, and make all seven!  I can even—”
“STOP IT!” Rainbow Dash yelled.  Pinkie’s eyes shot up to her girlfriend, who rushed forward to hug her.  “It isn’t your fault.  It was never your fault.  You’ve always been exactly who you should have been: yourself.  You’re just perfect how you are.  The greatest partier and girlfriend a mare could ever have.”
“So… so why…?” She asked, her voice barely audible.
“Because, I… I don’t know.  I was at a bar, and she was stone-cold drunk, and I had a few drinks… she thought I was drunk, asked me home, and… I just went with her.”  Rainbow Dash pulled herself back as Pinkie sniffled.  “It wasn’t until the next morning that… that I realized what I had actually done.  And I couldn’t hold it in when you were around too.  Every time I saw you, I felt like I either had to tell you or throw up.  It was unbearable.
“So I ran.”  Dash’s front hooves shuffled against the floor.  “And… I asked Celestia to send me here.  Seems like she sent you here too.”  Pinkie Pie nodded.  “Well, that’s all there is to the story.  I’ve been living here for two weeks, making friends, and just… just trying to forget about you.”
“Forget about me…?” Pinkie asked.  Her eyes were dry, but not for lack of trying.
“Do you think I could go on living if all I ever thought about was… was how I betrayed you?  I’m the element of loyalty for pete’s sake!  I… I doubt I’m even an element holder anymore, pulling some crud like that on you…”
“Rainbow Dash…” Pinkie Pie.
“Loyalty… and friends… they’re all I’ve got.  I’m no Wonderbolt.  I’m no national hero or royalty, like Twilight.  I’m nothing without loyalty and friends, and… who wants to be friends with a backstabber?”  Dash gave another sigh, her hopes draining out of her into the ground.  “Just… just go.  I know you can’t forgive me for this, but—”
She suddenly found herself in a very tight Pinkie Pie hug.  No… no, stop it!  She squirmed, but Pinkie Pie didn’t let go.  It wasn’t suffocatingly tight, but it was a strong hug nonetheless.  “Pinkie Pie… let me go.  Let me go!”
“No.”
“Why not?!”
“Because if I do, you’ll leave me again, and I don’t want you to leave me again!”
“Why shouldn’t I?!”  Rainbow Dash shouted.  “You… you don’t deserve somepony like me, who can’t even keep track of who they’re loyal to.  Who just runs off because she thinks she knows what’s best for her girlfriend, when she’s being a complete idiot….”
“Do you remember when… we first admitted we loved each other?”  Pinkie Pie asked.
Rainbow Dash stopped.  That was… sudden.  Pinkie Pie let go of her, each of them falling to all fours at the same time.  Instinctively, Dash’s wings shot open, and her legs twitched.  She could make for an open window before Pinkie could move.  It would be easy.  She could break the sound barrier.  Pinkie couldn’t keep up with that.
She should just go.
But Pinkie’s question held her in place.
“It… man, was that our fifth date?”  Dash asked.  Pinkie nodded.  “Yeah.  We were lying in bed at your place, and you said it.  And… and I said it back.”
“And I said that I loved everything about you, no matter what.  Even some of the bad parts, right Dashie?”
Dash hadn’t heard that name in over a month.  Pinkie didn’t use it often, even when they were dating.  “Yeah, I remember.  I said… I said the same thing.  I loved you, the real you, no matter how annoying or overbearing you got.”
“Or, how arrogant and impulsive you were, Dash.  That’s why… that’s why I don’t want you to leave.  I don’t want you to go away forever.  You couldn’t… live with yourself if you knew what you did to me?”  Pinkie gave a sick chuckle despite herself.  “I couldn’t live with myself if… if you left Equestria forever because you think you did something so horrible that I’d never forgive you… so chin up.”  Pinkie smiled once again.
Rainbow Dash nodded.  “Y-Yeah… yeah, okay.  You’re right.  You… I don’t know.  I don’t even know.”  She reached forward to hug her, but Pinkie Pie stopped her hooves.  Without warning, she pulled Dash forward into a kiss, their lips locking for several seconds before parting.  Dash hadn’t been expecting it, and was a tiny bit short on breath by the end of it.  Pinkie Pie was truly smiling now, and Dash found herself cheerful as well.
“I’m… I’m a bit tired, Dashie.  That teleport took a lot out of me.  Can we…?”  She lazily pointed to it with a hoof.
“Sure thing, Pinkie Pie.  Let’s get to bed.”  In a blink, Pinkie Pie threw herself on top of the bed, not bothering to get under the covers.  Rainbow Dash joined her, climbing onto bed and laying down in front of Pinkie Pie.  The baker scooted up, throwing a foreleg over Dash’s shoulder.  Dash immediately felt Pinkie’s body heat as they pressed up against each other, her fur as it brushed up against her wings, and the smell of cotton candy invaded her nose.  She hadn’t smelled it once during their flight, but when they were this close, it all came back to her.
She loved Pinkie.  Even if she ran out on her through a combination of fear, guilt, and warped sense of righteousness, she still loved her.  And she could never leave her alone again.  Not like this.
“By the way, Dashie…”
“Yeah, Pinkie?”
“Who… who was it?”
“I… do you really want me to say now?  I’m tired too.”
“I promise I won’t get mad!  I mean… I’m mad that you slept with somepony else.”
“I’d… I’d be worried if you weren’t, Pinkie.  But I don’t care, cause I got ya back.”
“I was the one looking for you, silly.”  Pinkie chuckled.  “So who is it?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Cause I wanna knooooooowwwwwww!”
“If you’re sure…” Rainbow Dash sighed.  “it was Roseluck.”
“WHAT?!”