//------------------------------// // New Dawn // Story: Of Storms in Sky and Heart // by RavensDagger //------------------------------// “So, basically,” the cerulean mare began, her forehooves twisting about as she leaned forward. A splash of red was growing steadily on her face, clashing with a lock of her tangled rainbow mane. “I sorta-kinda love you,” she blurted in a rush. She took a deep breath, as if she had flown a marathon under the watchful eye of every single Wonderbolt. In fact, she had not moved from her spot on the library floor in two hours, a feat hardly imaginable for the energetic pegasus. Around her was a puddle of rain that had dripped off her coat and collected during her wait. Twilight blinked at her, head cocking to one side as her brows furrowed together. “Huh?” Their eyes, purple and desperate crimson, reflected the flickering candlelight that bathed the room. like the glow of a hundred stranded fireflies within the tree of literature.  “I-I know it’s sudden,” Rainbow Dash said as she finally broke contact to look at the worn floor below. “But I’ve been.... I....” Her voice lessened, almost fading in its entirety as the constant assault of raindrops on the the leafy roof threatened to drown her out. She took another swallow of the humid air and tried again. “Twilight Sparkle, I really like you, and I want to—” A soft hoof touched her mouth, shushing her words. “What are you thinking?” Twilight demanded, not with the soft parlance of one enamoured, but with the stern voice of authority. “It’s five in the morning, raining cats and diamond dogs, and I have a lot of studying to do and you have come in here to... confess?” Rainbow took a half-step back, eyes widening as her mind tried to connect the dots and cut through Twilight’s words to find what she sought: tenderness, friendship. The alicorn lashed out with pessimism.”You love me? Really, Dash?” She shook her head. “I don’t want to be mean or anything, you’re still my friend, but now’s not the time for one of your pranks. Tell Pinkie or whomever that it’s off and that I don’t find it funny at all.” Lower lip quivering, Rainbow searched the room with a frantic gaze. There had to be something wrong. Twilight couldn’t seriously be so... so mean.... Did she really think that all her accumulated feelings, all her love, were a prank? She swallowed hard, her dry throat slicing at her like the blunt edge of a dull blade as something else trickled into her mind. One glance at Twilight confirmed it. Sadness was hiding beneath the thick glare of authority, like a muddy film of droplets that were collecting into a wealth of tears. Twilight knew it wasn’t a joke. She was being nice. She was letting Rainbow off in the easiest way: rejecting her off-hoof and letting the brash pegasus keep her precious dignity. Rainbow laughed. The hollow, thin noise cried out silently in the vast library. It soon died off, her throat constricting as the last peal of laughter was choked into a sob. The books themselves seemed to shun her, their myriads of spines turned to her as Twilight faced away. “Y-you’re right. It was just a joke...” Rainbow said. “Oh, all right. Okay,” the alicorn said with a hollow register before completing her turn. Tail limp behind her, Twilight took a few steps toward the far end of the room. “You can let yourself out? Go get some sleep. And try to keep out of the rain... you’ll catch a cold.” She moved on, no longer facing her friend, constantly keeping her face averted and hiding her expression behind a mask of her own lavender mane until she began climbing the steps to her room. Thump after thump sounded out, like a hammer nailing Rainbow’s coffin shut. The door to Twilight’s room closed with a click. One of the nearby candles flickered and died. Wisps of sulfur-smelling smoke curled around the stagnant air, flirting with Rainbow Dash as they spread their intoxicating aroma. She followed the smoky trails and watched as they faded into obscurity, surrendering to the night. She felt like doing the same. Moving on stiff limbs, she turned around and headed to the exit. From the tiny hole in the door, she could see the muted forms of the buildings across the street, dashed and broken by the torrential downfall. The deformed shapes became vaguely clearer as she opened the door and allowed a gust of wind to tear at her. Clasping her eyes shut against the wall of water and the slippery wind that ruffled her mane and coat, Rainbow pushed until she was outside, barely protected by the tiny overhang of the library entrance. “Now what,” she muttered under her breath, the words snatched away as the wind turned on itself. Why did she have to pick such a cruddy night? Heck, she was the one to fix the storm up; she had no excuses not to avoid it. Grunting, she moved away from the skeletal building, random sights coming in sharp contrast between the slits of her eyes with each flash of light. The branches of the tree being bent against the wind; a hundred leaves being ripped off in one fell swoop to fly away like a sheet of wet blades; a distant spark as a spiderweb of lightning decorated the sky above the Everfree. She had to get home, and soon. She blinked as a cascade of rain fell on her, the tiny stinging darts of water stabbing at her coat and robbing her of whatever heat she had had. When she was with Twilight, all she had was heat. An inexhaustible furnace of passion that burned in the most intimate parts of her body and soul. Now, she had nothing but a wet coat and a mane that would horrify Rarity were she here to see it. Her wings snapped out and, almost immediately, she felt their toned muscles grow taut against the pull of the wind, almost threatening to tear themselves off her body. With a savage growl, the mare pushed herself off, kicking all four legs into the ground and jumping half a dozen metres into the air. The deluge was worse as she gained height. The soft but constant shower of rain she had faced below became a barrage of liquid needles that ran straight through her coat to stab at her skin. Squaring her jaw against the pain of the constant lacerations, the drab, rainbow-maned mare beat her wings again and again, fighting against the onslaught of wind that whipped around with the temperament of an underfed parasprite. A cold shiver crawled across her skin and fresh tears joined the rainfall, slipping through the air and reflecting what little orange light was sneaking through the barrier of clouds above. This was hard, perhaps the hardest, most arduous flight in her life; not because of the strain on her muscles or the pain that every breath caused to ripple in her rib cage, but because of the weight in her chest. Like a stone overturned, her heart was dragging her down, making every motion slow and forced. The lithe mare felt like she weighed more than the world around her. She had to climb. She had to escape it all. Twilight didn’t want her, she thought with one beat. She was stupid to even think that it would work, she reasoned with the next. Her world was collapsing around her, breaking apart like the thousands of individual drops that had once formed a solid body, but were now plunging to their demise. She had to keep climbing, she had to move on, to shed away the things hurting her. She had to learn and live and be alive. Gasping for air to feed the burning furnace of her lungs, Rainbow Dash reached the bottom-most layer of clouds. As she slipped in, the mare’s world became one of swirling dark forms, punctuated by drifts of wall-like humidity and brilliant flashes of lighting that cut through the mass. It became like her mind: a funnel of dark torment that whirled about buffeting thoughts and wind, while a tiny glimmer of multi-chromatic hope pushed up. There was a brighter light ahead. Squinting against the ever-present drafts, Rainbow Dash was surprised to see the darkness above her disintegrate, being replaced by a pearlescent sheen of dark blue, studded with pinpricks of pure, white light. Fresh, thin air raced into her, rejuvenating the muscles that seconds ago were screaming for rest and peace. Now, she floated upwards, spinning in a slow pirouette while a thousand droplets of water peeled off her coat. She was free. The storm was below her, the sky around, and only the stars, unreachable and lofty, were above. Her vision filled with the field above her, so close in its distance, as if she could beat her wings and envelope herself in the caress of their warmth. The sky was shifting. It was always shifting, just as she was always moving, from day to night, changing from one form to another. Tendrils of beaming light slashed across the opaque wall above, colouring it in blues and oranges and faint greens that banished the stars back into their realm of darkness. It was a new day. Dawn was arriving as it always had and always would. The storm below her was abating, its final peels of thunder were weak and shallow, as if the energy and vigour it had displayed was running out. No, it wasn’t only a new day, she realised. It was a new chance. A new moment in time in which to live. Everything was time and she was only along for the ride. Events were moving around her, huge and powerful and unstoppable, from the rising of the new sun to the dissipation of the storm. There was nothing she could do. She was one mare with one life to live. The dawn had arrived, and finally, Rainbow Dash was beginning to understand.  Light was being shed through her soul.