Canyon Run
The bell rang as the Pegasi walked into the boutique. Instantly, Rarity approached them. The seamstress had already seen them, so she didn’t bother with the usual, almost instinctive greeting she gave customers.
“Rainbow Dash! How wonderful of you to visit!”
To Cloud, it was evident that Rainbow Dash didn’t stop by the Carousel Boutique very often. He watched as the mares gave each other a friendly hug, with Rainbow Dash being a little less eager than her friend. Rarity peaked over Dash’s shoulder to see Cloud and was immediately in front of him, leaving both Pegasi stunned at her speed.
“Rainbow Dash, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
The sour feeling in Rainbow Dash’s belly got worse. Rarity’s flirty attitude toward some of the stallions could sometimes get the best of the unicorn, and Rainbow wasn’t appreciating it now. She tried to shake it away and walked back over to Cloud, who was retreating away as Rarity’s face moved closer to his. He looked at Rainbow Dash as if to scream, “SAVE ME!”
Rainbow Dash came to his rescue. She tried to keep it lighthearted, so she pulled Rarity a few feet away from him. “Hey, let him breathe, will ya?” she chuckled.
The unicorn blinked. “Oh, my apologies! I was just so overwhelmed by a stallion with such a unique color pattern that I couldn’t control myself.” The half lie seemed to work, so Rarity decided to use it to look at him from every angle.
Rainbow Dash took a look at Cloud to see what Rarity was talking about. For the first time, she fully noticed his body color. He wasn’t completely black. As a matter of fact, he was dark gray more than anything. A dark gray stripe ran down the middle of his face and along the middle of his body. His legs shared the same shade. There were two panels of black on either side of his body. His tail was a few shades lighter gray.
“Really?” Cloud looked at himself. “Is it that special?”
“Why of course it is!” chimed Rarity. She got uncomfortably close to Cloud again.
Rainbow Dash grabbed her more sternly this time. The sour feeling was starting to burn her stomach. “Come on Rarity, he’s not a jungle gym.”
“Of course…” Rarity said. She walked calmly back over to Cloud and extended her hoof. “Please forgive me for my ill-mannered introduction. I’m Rarity.”
Cloud hesitantly shook her hoof. “I’m Rain Cloud, but you can just call me Cloud.”
“What an appropriate name for a Pegasus”, complimented Rarity.
Rainbow Dash knew it was time to bolt. The longer they stayed, the worse it would get. “Hey, Rarity, we’re kinda in a hurry. Sorry we can’t stay, but we really need to jet.”
She grabbed Cloud and ushered him to the door.
“But, don’t you want to show him around the boutique?” Rarity tried in vain to keep them inside, but Dash had already pushed Cloud over the threshold.
“Hmph”, Rarity huffed in light frustration, “They could have at least stayed a little while longer…”
She looked around the room and was reminded that the Boutique hadn’t been busy all morning. I suppose it would be fine if I left Linen in charge…
“I am officially weirded out now”, Cloud said. He looked over his shoulder at the dress shop. A slight chill ran down his back. “What was that girl’s problem?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I shoulda known Rarity would’ve acted like that”, Rainbow Dash apologized.
Cloud cocked his head to the side. “Why’s that?”
Absent mindedly, Rainbow replied what she thought. “She always gets like that around cute colts.” Her immediate reaction after realizing what she said was to put her hooves to her cheeks to hide her blush.
Cloud only smiled, and turned as if she never said a thing. He looked over his shoulder, “Where to now?”
His fake ignorance helped Rainbow Dash get rid of her blush. She put a hoof to her chin. “Hmm, let’s see…after Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie…I guess we could go by Derpy’s…No, she’s got mail duty today…Vinyl has a date. Um…” She struggled to think of more places where she could spend time with him. Wait, why would she want to spend time with him? Oh, that’s right. Because he’s cool…she thought, Yeah, that’s it, he’s just a cool colt.
Rainbow’s struggling gave Cloud a great idea. “Hey, Rainbow Dash.”
The blue mare was brought back from her thoughts. “Yeah?”
“I just got an awesome idea”, he declared. Before she could ask what, he quickly went on, “You can come with me back to Canyon Run! It’s not that far, and I’ve got to check up on the sibs anyway, so why don’t you come and see where I live?”
Her heart hit her throat. “Y-yeah! That’d be awesome!” Oh, man, why did I just stutter? Am I getting nervous? No! Rainbow Dash does not get nervous!
“Alright, but under one condition.” Cloud smiled deviously.
“What?”
“You hafta keep up!” The shout had barely left his mouth before he shot straight up and headed east. Ignoring the pain, he pushed his wings to their maximum potential. To try and at least be fair, he let up slightly to give Rainbow Dash a chance to catch up with him.
His quickness caught Rainbow Dash off guard. She hesitated, but soon shot into the sky after him. He had a huge lead already so she put her wings into overdrive. There was NO way she was going to let him beat her. The distance between them got small quick with her speed behind her. After she made it to his tail, she slowed down so that she was slowly passing him. As she did, she decided to add insult to injuring and turned on her back so now she was just lazily cruising along. Cloud rolled his eyes at her. She pulled ahead just a little and matched his speed.
Over the wind, he shouted, “You know, showing off gets you nowhere!”
“I could say the same thing!” she shouted back, “I thought you couldn’t do any serious flying!”
He shot her a smirk, “Oh, no, this isn’t serious flying. Trust me. Tomorrow you’ll see that!”
“We’ll see!”
“We sure will!”
And that’s how the rest of the flight went, insult after insult flying back and forth as the two flew to Cloud’s hometown. They did slow down to a moderate coast after a while. Mainly because their throats were starting to hurt through the shouting.
Meanwhile, Rarity was just walking out of the Carousel Boutique when Rainbow Dash disappeared against the blue sky. She looked up just in time to see the speedy Pegasus kick her throttle to full power.
She sighed as she watched the two specks fly off. “Now why is it every time Rainbow Dash brings a new friend around, she always races them off? Honestly, can’t that Pegasus go one day without challenging somepony to some reckless competition?”
______________________
Cloud skidded to a halt just before the cliff that overlooked Canyon Run ran out of ground. Rainbow Dash landed right next to him. She took a second to catch her breath. With a smile and an outstretched hoof, Cloud declared proudly, “Welcome. To Canyon Run!”
Below them everypony was trotting here and there amongst the many buildings and shops, buying groceries and luxuries. Others were happily chatting on their way to the different hangouts and attractions that Canyon Run offered. It was very peaceful despite the bustling. The town gave off an air of playful energy, but at the same time, the perfect feeling of responsibility.
The cyan Pegasus was captivated by how massive it was. “Whoa…” Rainbow Dash was just amazed at how many of the houses were built into the walls of the canyon itself. The rest was built on top of a colossal plateau that nearly conjoined both sides of the canyon. It was well fertilized, as much of the top was covered with grass instead of rock.
“Impressive right?” Cloud looked to Rainbow Dash.
She was still awestruck. She slowly nodded.
“Come on!” He jumped down and allowed the warm breeze to carry him in a glide over the town. Rainbow Dash followed, for once in her life, slowly. She looked around, taking in what Canyon Run was about. It wasn’t often she wandered into a new town, so this was something almost new to her. Cloud looked behind him to see that Dash wasn’t even drifting at gliding speed.
She was barely moving at all. Just lost in awe. He smiled and flew back over. When she looked at him, he nodded over to a house at the back of the town. It was in the side of the cliff that was much higher than the rest. “Come on”, he said, “I wanna show you something.”
He flew to the house and she followed, no longer absorbed in the town. “What is it?” The house was much larger up close. It looked big enough to hold three families at least!
“I know what you’re thinking”, Cloud chuckled as he glanced at her shocked face, “And it’s not a hotel.”
“Then what is it, a storm shelter or something?”
He rolled his eyes and opened the door. “Just come in and see.”
She gave him a challenging look, her imagination conjuring up wild dangers. “How do I know this isn’t some spa or something? You could be trying to force me into a hooficure.”
“Okay”, he replied with a laugh, “One, I’m a guy. Two, you don’t need one. Your hooves are awesome enough. And three, I think you’d be too chicken to get a hooficure.”
Her head snapped back to him and her eyes narrowed into a glare. “What did you just say”, Rainbow asked semi-darkly.
He grinned teasingly. “I just called you a—”
Cloud didn’t get to finish his taunt. Rainbow Dash had full out tackled him. She hit him so hard that they both nearly fell off the far side of the cliff. He fought back, trying to get on top of her. She saw it coming and used her left hoof and planted it firmly onto his. She did the same with the others until he was completely pinned underneath her.
“That”, she said, “is for calling me a chicken.”
Cloud looked up at her with a smile and started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Dash demanded, tightening her grip on him.
He couldn’t answer through his laughter. It steadily got louder and louder until Rainbow Dash couldn’t take it.
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY!?” she screamed.
“This is the first time in my life somepony pinned me first!” he laughed, “I can’t believe it! Congrats, Dash!”
Rainbow Dash loosened her grip. And to think she thought that she thought he was laughing at her. She climbed off and let him stand up.
“Woooooooo!” the black Pegasus cheered. “What a rush!”
“Yeah, well, don’t you ever call me a chicken again”, Rainbow Dash said, “There is one thing Rainbow Dash is not. And that, is a chicken.”
“Dash”, Cloud said, “I know you’re not a chicken. You’re just not a girly girl.”
“And you better not forget either of them”, she said darkly.
“I won’t”, he replied. He rubbed the side Dash tackled and added with a wink, “I promise you that.”
He walked back to the cliff and motioned for Rainbow to follow him. “Ok”, he said, “Are you ready to see my home?”
Rainbow Dash quickly looked up at the massive house. “You’re kidding! There’s no way this thing is a house!”
“Well, it is.” He pushed the door open.
The inside was darker since all of the windows and curtains were closed. It was super spacious. The ceiling had to be at least twelve feet high! There were pictures of Cloud and his family hanging and placed everywhere on the walls and shelves, but it was so dark Rainbow Dash couldn’t really make out the faces.
“The kids aren’t home”, Cloud observed.
“How do you know that?” Dash looked around. “They might be in their rooms or something.”
“No, not at this time of day”, Cloud said, “Sprinkle maybe, but not the twins. They would’ve tried to tackle me by now.”
“You wanna go look for them?” Rainbow asked.
“Nah, I wanna show you my room first.” He jumped into the air and flew up through a hole in the ceiling. Rainbow Dash followed him without missing a beat.
There were holes in every story’s ceiling and floor, leading to the other floors. She chased Cloud’s tail through about ten of the holes until he flew past one and landed beside it. Rainbow Dash didn’t see it and kept going. Fortunately, before she crashed head first into a stone overhang above the hole, Cloud grabbed her tail and pulled her back down.
“I guess brains aren’t your strongpoint, Dash”, Cloud snickered.
Her face lit up red with aggravation. She couldn’t think of a good comeback, so she just let it go for the time being. Cloud would pay later. She decided to finally look around the room. If the living room was big, then Cloud’s room may as well have been the sky! Enormous didn’t even begin to cover how big it was! There was enough room for her to easily perform a Sonic Rainboom! His furniture was situated in a far corner. Orbs of light were floating around the room. It was some kind of magic light if Rainbow remembered correctly.
“What can I say? I love to fly.” Cloud grinned at Rainbow Dash’s open mouth.
“This place looks a lot smaller from the outside”, Rainbow said, finally recovering from her shock.
“That’s because the highest window in the house is Gust’s room’s window. The rest of the canyon wall is my room.” Cloud hopped into the air again. “Come on, follow me.” He flew straight up, dodging the balls of light. He kept his pace slower than usual, but only to make sure Rainbow knew it wasn’t another race.
The blue Pegasus followed right beside him, wondering why they were flying to his high ceiling.
They kept flying upwards until they reached the stony ceiling. There was light filtering in through a trapdoor. Cloud pushed it open and flew through it, sticking a hoof back through for Rainbow Dash to grab onto. She would have preferred to have just flown through like he did, but for some reason she wanted him to pull her up, so she grabbed it.
Cloud jerked her up and set her beside him. With his tail he shut the door, and walked to the side of the roof. Dash followed him and peered over the edge. They were so high up! Even higher than when they first came in! Everypony in town looked like little ants from where they were! The wind was wild where they were, too. It was causing Rainbow’s mane to whip her in the face. She pushed it to the side of her head.
“This is the highest spot in Canyon Run”, Cloud declared proudly. “I like to jump right over the edge, but not today, my wings—”
Out of nowhere, two blue blurs hit Cloud hard. The three rolled several feet, kicking up dust. Rainbow Dash was about to help the black stallion, but then she heard laughter coming from the dust cloud. Soon the dust settled, revealing Cloud sitting with his hooves crossed on top of two smaller colts.
“How many times do you guys need to learn this lesson”, Cloud asked the two.
“It wasn’t my idea”, the darker one said smugly, “It was this dolt who pushed me to do it again.”
The lighter colt was grinning from ear to ear. “We’ll get you one of these days big bro.”
Rainbow Dash straightened up. These were the twins!
“You guys are lucky we have a guest or I would sit on you longer.” Cloud stood and let his little brothers up.
They glanced at Rainbow Dash. Cloud said, “Rainbow Dash, this is Gale and Gust, the, uh, what do you call yourselves again?”
The twins puffed out their chests proudly. Gale started their motto. “We are the two winds that make a storm.”
Gust continued dully, “A front of cold and a front of warm.”
They flew into the air and finished it together. “Gusts and Gales chase each other!”
At once they started flying in a circle as quickly as they could. About five seconds later the two were spinning so fast a tornado had formed. It was small, but looked like the real thing. The twins landed quickly and both finished the chant. “We are the Twister Brothers!”
“Eh”, Rainbow said flatly, “I give it a five-point-eight.”
“Say what!?” Gale exclaimed.
“That’s the best mantra we’ve ever come up with”, Gust explained with a frown.
“Oh, come on Dash”, Cloud said with a grin, “Don’t be that mean to them.”
“Okay, you guys get an eight.”
“That’s better”, Gale said with a slight growl.
“It’s not as embarrassing”, Gust added.
“Okay, moving on.” Cloud put his hoof around Rainbows neck. “And boys, this is the second coolest Pegasus in Equestria.” He drew her close to him, causing her blue face to go slightly pink. “Meet Rainbow Dash!”
“Hiya Rainbow!” Gale flew forth and grabbed the mare’s hoof.
“Hello Rainbow Dash.”
“Where’s your sister?” Cloud eyed the boys expectantly.
Gust turned back around. “Where she always is.”
Suddenly Gale let go of Rainbow Dash and grabbed Gust. “Come on, man! We have work to do!” He pulled Gust into the air and the two flew off into the distance somewhere.
“What’s their rush?”
“Some project. Just another way to show off”, Cloud answered, his gaze following his brothers until they disappeared. “Come on, let’s go meet Sprinkle.”
He spread his wings and leaped over the side. Rainbow Dash followed him without hesitation. The two drifted over the town.
“I like flying up here”, Cloud commented, “There’s tons of space!”
Rainbow Dash didn’t reply. She was busy swaying from side to side against the wind. The altitude was giving her chills of excitement. The thin air was so calming, yet so energizing!
Cloud felt it too. He was alive with adventurous adrenaline. He started to sway as well, though a bit wider than Rainbow. He arced higher and higher with his swaying.
Rainbow Dash was just about to ask what he was doing when he arced so hard he inverted. At once, he shot downward. Rainbow dived after him, eager to win the race the stallion had just started. The wind rushed past her as she got closer to Cloud. Suddenly he cut a ninety degree turn and flew toward the canyon’s left wall. She was on his tail in an instant. She followed him as he drifted around clouds and dodged imaginary obstacles. He started corkscrews and finished them with loops.
It was after she followed him through a gray cloud that she realized that it wasn’t a race. He was just, well, flying. Sure she had done the same plenty of times before, but not like this. He was flying for a different reason. His tricks weren’t for showing off, they meant something else. Something she couldn’t understand.
Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she tried to mimic what Cloud was doing. When he cut left, she cut right. Over her shoulder, he saw him perform an inward loop. She copied him as closely as she could. He went into another dive when he leveled out vertically. They both dove downwards. They were heading down so fast that their wings were starting to form contrails. Fifteen seconds passed, then, Cloud did something that completely blew Rainbow Dash’s mind. He started to spin. It wasn’t very impressive at first, but then he reversed the angles of his wings. Instantly, he was encased with the dense contrails coming from his wings. He spiraled so quickly that the vapor surrounding him soon became a small, twisting egg cloud.
Rainbow Dash stopped midair to watch in awe. He soared downward for another fifty feet before violently straightening out, flipping right-side-up, and landing on top of a cloud, nearly vaporizing it with the force of his landing.
“That had to be one of the most awesome things I have ever seen!!” Rainbow squealed.
The black Pegasus jumped at the volume of her high pitched shout. His eyes shot open to see the blue mare’s face three inches from his. His face lit up a deep red. He smiled widely. “Did you like it?”
“Like it?” she asked offensively, “I LOVED it!”
“I thought so. Cloud never disappoints.” He smiled again and hopped off the cloud. “Come on, Dash! Let’s go get Sprinkle.”
He glided to the heart of the town silently and descended quickly. Rainbow Dash followed him wondering just what in Equestria happened. First, Cloud does amazingly awesome tricks and stunts, and then second, he’s completely calm and collected. Something didn’t seem right to her. What was that all about?
She decided to shake it off when she heard the laughter of fillies on a playground.