//------------------------------// // Fourteen // Story: Grounded // by MissytheAngle //------------------------------// Grounded Fourteen When Rainbow Dash informed him they planned to leave for the train station at eight o’clock, Cobalt Streak took it seriously. Excited beyond his mother’s belief, Cobalt snuck into her room on the tips of his hooves, his eyes brighter than usual in the early morning. By the time he got to her bed, standing on his hind hooves and just holding on by the edge, he saw her still in a deep sleep Her mane fell around her face in every direction, but he noticed how peaceful she looked between her colorful strands, even though her snoring ruined that. Cobalt struggled to get onto the bed, his hooves grasping the blankets as tightly as possible. Once he got close enough to her, he shook her gently and said, “Get up, mom. We’re going to the crystal place.” “Yeah, Soarin’, I can totally make it,” Rainbow mumbled in her sleep, smiling behind her mane. His lower lip sticking out, Cobalt decided on a far more direct approach. The bed shook as he jumped up and down shouting, bordering whining, “Get uuuuuuuuuup!” “Gyah!” Rainbow Dash sat up abruptly enough to startle Cobalt. Groaning, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head to wake herself. As she realized what--or who--caused her to wake up like that, she turned over to Cobalt, who sat on his flank with a sheepish smile, one that feigned innocence. “Ya know, just a little tap is fine next time,” she advised him, demonstration with a pat on his shoulder. The shy expression shifted into a blank stare. “I tried that already!” Cobalt waved his hooves in exaggeration. “So I had to try something else.” “You gotta stop hanging around Pinkie Pie. She’s making you trouble.” After a moment, she sighed, knowing it was pointless to talk about this. Glancing outside at the rising sun, she knew they had to get to the train station around this time anyway. Yeesh, all these train rides. Yes, she'd rather do this than fly far distances over and over, but if she had a bit for every train ride she'd have... well, she could easily find a new, better apartment; one with larger space just for the heck of it. Nonetheless, she started to look for anything she might need to pack. She grabbed a blanket and pillow for the train ride—she doubted she would stay up for the remaining time while heading to the Empire—and flew into the hallway, ready to grab Cobalt and head to the station. *** At the sight of the train station, not many ponies stood around. Given the early time, this did not surprise Rainbow. She flew closer before catching sight of Fluttershy, who was standing in one corner of the station. Her teal eyes glanced around, and when they found Rainbow Dash, she smiled.   “‘Sup, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash landed in front of Fluttershy, while Cobalt got off of her back when her hooves touched the ground. “Morning, you two,” she greeted with a warm smile. Cobalt stepped towards her, and when her eyes lowered down at him, he said, “Mom told me there’s lots of things made of crystals where we’re going. It sounds really cool. Is it?” Fluttershy giggled. “Oh, yes, and it’s so wonderful there. You’ll love it.” Cobalt had a wide grin on his face. Rainbow glanced around in search of other ponies, but silence echoed through the train station, minus a few other random ponies passing by. “So, is anypony else here yet?” “Actually, Pinkie Pie was first to show up.” Rainbow let out a short laugh. “Can’t say I’m surprised. So, then, where is she?” “Up there,” was Fluttershy’s short reply, and when she pointed exactly where, Rainbow did not believe her, giving her a dubious look. Knowing her friend well, though, she floated up above the roof of the station.   Sure enough, a pink ball curled in a ball at the edge of the roof. It only moved to make steady breathes. “She’s been sleeping since I got here, but I didn’t want to disturb her,” Fluttershy added upon joining her in the air. Her gaze met Dash’s. “Maybe we should wake her now, since the train should be arriving in a little bit.” Pinkie did not react to them as they spoke, continuing her heavy sleeping. Noting this, Rainbow rose a hoof up, signaling Fluttershy to keep quiet. A mischievous grin grew on her face. Mulling over the plan in her head, she said, “Sure, but... give me a sec, okay? Heheheh.” “What...?” Fluttershy asked, stopping when Rainbow flew higher up. The blue Pegasus ascended and stopped at the first cloud in sight. She brought it down with her, right above where Pinkie, who made tiny snoring noises, rested. Fluttershy landed down beside Cobalt, knowing whatever Dash was doing, she didn’t bother stopping her. Rainbow stood atop the aloud and jumped on it numerous times, its fluffiness tickling her, making it hard to not laugh. Several noises emanated from the cloud, and soon, rain sprinkled downward onto the sleeping pony. It took a few dozen raindrops to bring Pinkie out of dreamworld, and she stood up in a second, shaking her body like a wet dog. Her mane poofed out, only to return to its usual curliness. A clueless look made up her face as she looked at nothing but air. Then she heard a burst of laughter from up above. Rainbow had fallen on the cloud, laughing her butt off. Nothing held her back at this point. She peeked out and saw Pinkie Pie gazing up at her, her lower lip sticking out. Dash’s laughter gradually dwindled into silence. Then Pinkie beamed, her face brighter than a second ago. “Oh, Dashie!” She laughed. “You’re not mad or anything?” Dash asked. While she got the feeling Pinkie was not, her laughter sounded fairly out of place. “Nope, but you better sleep with one eye open tonight,” Pinkie warned her with a giggle that did not match her alleged threat. Rainbow just smiled as the pink mare skipped down several feet, landing on her hooves with ease.   “Hello, girls. I’m not too late, am I--” Twilight, arriving behind them, stopped mid-step. Staring blankly at Pinkie, whose mane dripped water on the ground around her, she asked with caution, “Why are you all wet?” “Just Rainbow Dash being a silly filly,” she answered, turning her head to Dash, whose cocky smirk said it all. “Don’t be the first to sleep when me and any clouds are around.” Rainbow crossed her arms over her chest. Twilight let out a small laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, smiling. “It’s a good thing I got here now. I believe the train is suppose to be here soon.” “Then, where are Applejack and Rarity?” Rainbow asked, lifting a few feet in the air to search the area. The two ponies were not anywhere to be seen. “Probably still getting ready, for all we know. Rarity was still packing when I saw her,” Twilight explained. “I’m sure they’ll be fine, since the train isn’t coming until--” “Right now?” “What?” Twilight’s eyes grew, the smile wiped clean off of her face. Pinkie pointed north and sure enough, the train stopped at the entrance to the station. Steam billowed from the whistle as it cried out. Fluttershy was the first to say something. “They’re going to miss it!” “I saw them just a while ago, getting read--” Once again, Twilight stopped and glanced behind her. Not too far in the distance, two figures raced toward them. The others hurried into the train, but Twilight stayed back for a second. She shouted to the two running ponies,  “Hurry up, you two! The train’s here!” Applejack and Rarity arrived just in time at the front of the station, both of them panting. While Rarity brought many bags with her, Applejack carried a good majority of them, the rest levitated in a wisp of her blue magic. Having stopped for a minute, Applejack shifted a glare at Rarity. “Ya had to bring so much stuff with ya, didn’t you?” she asked with a huff, the extra weight on her back straining her even more after her run. “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” was Rarity’s cool answer. She smiled with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Besides, you suggested to help anyway, so don’t complain.” Her grin only widened at Applejack’s glower. “Hey! Get your butts on the train before it leaves you guys!” Rainbow Dash shouted out from the door to enter the train. The others, minus Twilight, were already inside. Both mares jumped at the shout, their minds back on what was going on. The train puffed smoke, the gears on the wheel shifting clockwise. Applejack leapt on board first, albeit struggling with the extra luggage on her back, and Rarity approached the train, following shortly behind. “Packing light, Rarity?” Rainbow teased as Twilight and she helped Applejack with the luggage. “I’ll have you know that an opportunity to look gorgeous at such an extravagant place is only--” Rarity began, on the verge of fangirling over the Crystal ponies. “Yeah, yeah, you wanna look nice for the crystal ponies, we get it. Now come on!” Rainbow again asked through her teeth with a far more bitter tongue. The baggage she held was heavy; she hoped whatever Rarity had in there was worth it. They finally listened to her, heading into the train as Twilight opened the door for them all. Applejack and Dash, the second they entered their car, tilted the luggage off their shoulders in a not so gently way. Rarity pouted at them. “No need to be so irritable.” *** “Ah still can’t believe it...” Applejack muttered, her eyes staring afar out the window. They were passing through empty areas with simple forests and grassy plains, halfway to the Empire. Applejack caught everyone’s attention, especially Twilight’s, who sat beside her. Applejack kept to herself, silent, for a long while during the ride, so it brought a lot of curiosity in her.   “What is it?” Fluttershy wondered aloud for them all, turning away from a conversation with Dash. All their eyes turned to the farm pony. Applejack shrugged. “‘S nothing. Just... Twi’s gettin’ married, Rainbow has a son, and Pinkie’s runnin’ the Cake’s bakery. It feels like just yesterday, our biggest worries were... heh, savin’ the world. A lot has changed, that’s all.” Rainbow’s mind drifted back to when they faced off numerous bad guys, varying from a now reformed Discord to a unicorn with a crystal fetish, Sombra. They weren’t too hard to defeat in the end, despite the close calls. Thinking back, though, they felt far easier than anything that happened in the several years that made up her life. However strange it sounded, it was nonetheless true. “And I’m still deciding...” Twilight began, but her voice trailed off as she, too, distracted herself with looking outside. They waited for her to continue, but after a minute of silence, Rarity spoke up. “Decided what, Twilight? You can’t keep us dangling like that!” Twilight hesitated, licking her lips while keeping her eyes away from them. Finally, she glanced up at them. “After our honeymoon, Ink Blot wants us to move into his house in Canterlot... away from you guys. And I don’t know if I should.” Immediately, they all approached her, their reactions varying from shock to happiness to concern. “Oh, that’s wonderful, Twilight! I mean, we’ll be sad to see you go, but you should if it makes you happy... I mean, does it?” Fluttershy added with Twilight smiled a bit. “I really want to; we’ve gotten much closer over the past few months because of... well, everything. And I can’t wait to get married with him. But... I can’t just leave you guys. After all we’ve been through,” she said, her voice quickly shifting from elation from being with Ink Blot to sadness. Rainbow looked away, trying not to think about how that sounded to her. She did anyway, the past sneaking into her memories. Even if Twilight didn’t mean to put her words in that way, it still hurt. Nopony noticed, though, instead wishing to comfort Twilight, and Rainbow Dash wanted it that way. “But Twilight, that's part of life! Moving on to do what makes you feel happy; not other ponies. I can handle that! After all, we moved away when we were younger to do just that, didn't we?” Pinkie said, earning everyone's attention at this point. Her words were wise yet full of perkiness. Twilight took note of this and nodded, though her countenance showed she was still hesitant on the idea of moving. Rainbow’s head perked up, Pinkie’s words working on her better than they did for Twilight. “Yeah, it'll be hard, but we'll get over it,” she piped in to help her friend, shielding her sadness with a masked smile. “You just... have to not think about it. Go with the flow.” “Besides, we'll still be there for ya, Twi,” Applejack added, patting her on the back, though hard enough to make her fall forward a bit. “Heh, sorry.” “Applejack's right, Twilight. Don't ever think that just because we're not living in the same place, we're not going to be friends,” Rarity said, nuzzling Twilight as they gathered closer to her. Twilight smiled, rubbing her eyes. Rainbow did not see any tears, but she had a feeling Twilight was making sure she was not. It took Twilight a minute to say anything, either because she was taking this all in or she was thinking it over. “Oh, thank you, girls. I just don’t know what I’d do without you.” Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out from how sappy that sounded, but when Pinkie Pie grabbed her and Rarity, all six formed a small huddle around each other. In seconds, they hugged each other tight, “awwwing” and everything. When they separated, Dash looked down at Cobalt, who peeked his head from the back of his seat, big eyes watching them. She flew to the seat and poked her own head out slowly. “Thought you were sleeping, kid,” she said with a chuckle. “Is Twilight okay, mom? She sounds kinda sad,” Cobalt ignored what she said, his concern visible in his eyes. Rainbow flashed him a grin. “No prob, Cobalt. She's got a lot of friends to back her up, so if she has any problems, we're there for her. She just has a lot on her mind.” She patted him on the head and put him on the window seat. He rose onto his hindlegs and stared outside, absorbed quickly into the scenery. She thought over what Twilight announced, and how they reassured her. Twilight would be moving away. And she was cool with it entirely; she wouldn't lie about something like that. But what if she told everypony she was still considering going back to Manehattan after the wedding? How would they react? They supported Twilight's decision, what about hers? They didn't mind her leaving in the first place, though it took some time for everything to work out well. Was it worth it to leave it all again? Even now, though, she was not too sure. *** “Can I ask you something, Rainbow?” Rainbow Dash grabbed her small bag, and Cobalt took a ride on her back. She stopped getting ready, though, when Twilight acknowledged her. With a quirked brow in confusion, she turned and, her bag in her mouth, answered. “Sure?” Due to her confusion, it was more of a question than anything. “Okay, and uh, don't be bothered by it at all, okay? I'm just wondering...” “Spit it out before the train leaves with us in it,” Rainbow cut her off with a roll of her eyes, already heading outside. Twilight followed, slightly flustered. They entered the city, and Cobalt's attention instantly fell into the colors and crystalline design of the city overall. The sun's reflection off of each and every crystal that made the houses, the castle, even the ponies, made the city shine in a symphony of bright light and color. Cobalt's eyes glowed like the crystals. Rainbow smirked at him, knowing he'd be interested in this. However, her attention fell back to Twilight, remembering what was going on at the moment. “So, ho-how did you feel when you left us six years ago?” Twilight asked when she got off and the train departed. “What you said on the train; was that how it was for you? Just getting over it and everything?” Rainbow's silence was her answer, her mood cascading. She did feel something when Twilight said she felt sad about leaving them to live with Ink Blot. She didn't know what it was, but she sure knew that it wouldn’t go away. In Dash's silence, Twilight automatically started panicking that she said the wrong thing, saying, “It's okay, you don't have to tell me. I only wanted to try and know if—” “No, it's fine.” The seriousness in Rainbow Dash's voice made Twilight fall quiet in a second. Dash's back was to her, so it was hard to distinguish how she felt about the question. “Honestly... kinda,” Rainbow finally answered, looking back to the unicorn with slight hesitance at admitting this. She grimaced. “I mean.... look, I was going through a lot, so I wasn't exactly thinking straight or anything, so that didn't help. And I mostly left because...” Rainbow shut her eyes, wondering if she should stop there. Twilight gazed at her, concerned. With no more thought to it, she blurted, “I was afraid.” “You? Afraid? Of what?” Twilight exclaimed in shock, her jaw falling slack. “Eh, I don't even know where to start.” Might as well get it all out there, since we're on the topic. “Being judged for what happened, things not being the same at all, you guys not looking at me the same way again—” Her voice rose with each point that made her lose it that day when she left, what motivated her to leave behind her friends, mixed in with all the hormones, of course. Even Cobalt could feel her muscles tense, and he stood up, peeking over her mane at her, but she couldn't see him. “Goodness, I had no idea you were like that,” Twilight said, stopping Rainbow Dash mid-sentence. Rainbow felt her muscles begin to relax once she finished talking, and she noticed Cobalt standing on her back. She decided to take him off, since he could very much walk on his own. They were just used to it. She gave Twilight a look when she was done. “Like what?” “A worrywart, you'd probably call it.” Rainbow Dash glared at her, her wings flared. “C'mon, I was having a baby, so like I said, I didn't exactly have any logical thinking on my side like it would for you. I panicked, that's all.” She tried so hard not to blush at this point, feeling more embarrassed than angry. “Well, all I can say is that even if you did tell us upfront, it wouldn't change things between us. Applejack was right when life does change, but what never changes is the magic of friendship, even if our connections aren't as strong as they were a few years ago,” Twilight said, giving a spiel Rainbow felt all too familiar with, which made her stick her tongue out once more and roll her eyes. “Why don't you go write that in a letter for Celestia while I show Cobalt the place?” “Sure!” Twilight said, but then she thought it over for a moment, and she stared at her with a grin. “Anyway, have fun. But make sure you meet us at five at a place called Diamond Diner. It's a block away from the castle, so we'll meet you there.” When Dash nodded, Twilight walked away, leaving Rainbow Dash with her son, who was looking around with his eyes glowing with excitement. Every sight seemed to amaze him. She wrapped a wing around him and grinned. “Ready to check out the city, kid?” “Yeah!” Rainbow lifted him up on her back, stretched out her wings, and lifted into the air.