//------------------------------// // Together // Story: The Beach Kinda Sucks without You // by elPossenreisser //------------------------------// Together Rainbow Dash was hovering outside the hotel window. Somepony who didn’t know her might have thought she was hesitating, that she was scared or something, but that was of course a pile of horseapples. She was getting her concentration on. It was just a thing good athletes did before an important challenge. Why would she be scared? After all they had already been on a date once. And Twilight had written that she wanted to go out again. There was no reason at all to be scared! Then why was this so hard? She wanted to go out with Twilight! In fact, right now, she probably wanted to go out with Twilight more than pretty much anything. And when the Rainbow Dash wanted something, she went ahead and took it! If only there was a way to make sure she did get what she wanted! There was just nothing she could do to make sure Twilight would go out with her. Or ever become anything more than friends. All she could do was burst in there and ask, and then hope… Why did that have to be so hard? It really kinda sucked. *** “Rainbow Dash?” Twilight exclaimed in utter surprise. “What are you doing here? I mean, what are you doing here?”   Rainbow’s ears drooped at this underwhelming welcome, and she almost visibly deflated. “I wanted – nevermind. Guess I’ll just be going,” she said defeatedly.   “No, wait!” Twilight called. “I… I don’t want you to leave.” Rainbow raised her gaze at her. “I just wasn’t expecting you to suddenly come flying into my hotel room,” Twilight added, smiling.   “Heh, yeah,” Rainbow said and sheepishly scratched her temple. “I kinda bribed the bellboy to tell me which window was yours, and a page to open it for me.”   “That’s… neat?” Seeing Rainbow flinch at her unenthusiastic remark, Twilight quickly crossed the distance between them and pulled her into a quick hug. “It’s great to see you, Rainbow,” she murmured. She pulled away from the pegasus and looked at her. “But what are you doing here?”   Rainbow took a deep breath and tried to wrestle down the strange, uneasy feeling in her tummy. “I’m taking you on another date,” she finally said.   “Rainbow, as much as I’d love to go out with you again, I already told you. I have to be up early tomorrow morning, and I still have to get some dinner, otherwise my nutrient balance will be completely off and I’ll risk digestive disorders tomorrow, not to mention concentration shortcomings –“   Rainbow didn’t let Twilight finish. “That’s why it’s gonna be a dinner date. And, since you’re going out with the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria, it’s gonna be so fast that I’ll get you into bed before you even know what hit you.” She puffed out her chest; then, after a second, she realized what she had just said. “Erm, that came out wrong, I mean…”   “It’s okay, Rainbow, I know what you meant,” Twilight chuckled, her cheeks slightly colored. “Okay. It seems you have put some thought into this. And I’d really like to go out with you tonight. So alright! Take me out on that super-fast dinner date!” Rainbow cheered and did a quick mid-air somersault. “But you have to promise that I’m back here by eleven. I really need to be well-rested tomorrow.”   “Totally!” Rainbow almost bashfully took Twilight’s hoof. “Let’s go! First stop: dinner!” She took off, and Twilight followed her as she led her out of the window and across the bay.   The moon had just risen from the ocean, and the last sunlight still illuminated the calm sea waters. On the other side of the bay, the town was basked in light, and the esplanade lining the beach looked like a string of glowing pearls in front of the velvety blue waters. The day’s warmth still lingered in the mellow air despite a soft breeze. Rainbow’s goal was right in the middle of the bay, but the sheer beauty of the vista made her circle the bay a few times. Twilight kept her relaxed pace with no problems; her flying had improved vastly ever since she had first asked Rainbow for some training lessons. “It’s beautiful!” Twilight exclaimed. “I haven’t even had a chance to see anything of this place.” Rainbow just smiled, very content with herself that some extra flying rounds were to Twilight’s taste.   She slowly centered in on the small white spot that swam in the middle of the bay, pulling Twilight along. As they came closer, a platform entirely made from cloud stuff came into view, floating on the gentle ocean waves. On the float there was a table, covered in bowls and plates with all kinds of delicacies; two chairs, and, in a corner, a tiny glowing rainbow fountain.   “Ta-daa!” Rainbow made as they landed on the small cloud float, her voice not even a little shaky in anticipation.   “Wow,” Twilight said after staring at the arrangement for some time with her mouth agape. “Rainbow Dash, that… that is amazing! Did you do all this by yourself?”   Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Yeah, totally! Well, I didn’t cook the dinner… but I hoof-picked the dishes and all!” Looking at her date, she couldn’t help but add, “So you like it?” Instead of answering, Twilight pulled Rainbow Dash into another hug.  “Of course I do!” As if on cue, her stomach started growling. “Hehe, I’m sorry, I haven’t eaten all day.”   “Then what are we waiting for? This is supposed to be a fast date anyway, and there’s still more to come after dinner!”   Twilight nodded and settled down, and they both dug into the food. Rainbow was very hungry herself since she hadn’t had dinner either due to the preparations for the date. She had picked a selection of salads and cold hoof foods that could easily be left on the float. As she chewed on a piece of apple pastry with cream cheese, she couldn’t help but let her eyes wander over the pretty mare across the table. Twilight was busy laying waste to a plate of fruit salad like no tomorrow, and judging from the soft moans of pleasure she uttered, she was enjoying it. Rainbow mentally patted her own back for doing a good job on setting up this dinner.   “So, what were you and the girls up to all day?” Twilight asked after she had slowed down a bit on the food. “Did you have a good time?”   “Yeah, we had a nice day on the beach,” Rainbow recounted. “You can actually see our spot from here.” She pointed with her hoof. “See the tall palm tree next to that little blue stall? We were like five meters to the right of it.”   “Next to that giant sandy hill?”   “Yeah, that’s Pinkie’s sandcastle. I think. Or her air shelter, I’m not sure. She was busy digging the whole day.” She chuckled. “How’s Spike doing?” Twilight asked. “I hope he didn’t get sick after all that ice cream.” “He’s fine, I guess?” Rainbow said. “Didn’t look sick when I left the others.” “That’s good. I hope he’ll learn one day.” “Heh, yeah.” She continued, “Um, Rarity and Fluttershy mostly read their romance novels, and AJ was a total pain in the flank because…” She stopped, mentally slapping herself. Why did she say that? Twilight would probably be less than thrilled when she learned that Rainbow had blabbed about their date. Wasn’t that a private matter or something?   “Hmm? Why’d Applejack be a pain in the flank?” Twilight asked. Rainbow just looked at her guiltily. “Did you tell her about our date?”   Rainbow hung her head again. She needed a distraction – but she couldn’t come up with one. Defeated, she started explaining, “I needed somepony to talk to about this. You know, it’s not like I’m going out with one of my best friends every other day. I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to–“   Twilight raised her hoof to interrupt her, smiling. “It’s quite alright, Rainbow,” she said. “Sometimes one needs somepony to talk to, I understand that. I bet Applejack is a great listener.”   “Not so sure about that after today,” Rainbow mumbled. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed, but she was relieved that apparently she hadn’t screwed up. She wondered who, if anypony, Twilight had talked to about the date. And what. With more effort than she usually needed, she pushed away these thoughts. That was not the time for brooding.   “So, what do you have planned next?” Twilight asked, casting a quick spell to wipe her mouth. Rainbow mentally facehoofed – she had forgotten to get napkins! Out loud, she said, “Well, next I’m gonna show you the beach.”   “Great!”   “How about we swim? You’ve really been missing out, you know, the water’s awesome!”   “Now?” Twilight asked doubtfully. “Isn’t it cold? And dark?”   “It’s still super warm, see?” Rainbow extended her wingtip into the water and splashed some drops onto Twilight. “And you can make your horn glow, right?”   “Stop it!” Twilight protested, but she was smiling. Rainbow didn’t need any more of an invitation and splashed her some more. Before long, Twilight reached out with her wings and splashed her back. “We’re ruining the food!”   “Oh yeah? Well there’s a simple solution!” Rainbow took off and tried to pick up Twilight, but since her coronation she had grown a few centimeters, and Rainbow couldn’t grasp her properly. Laughing, Twilight struggled back, but Rainbow just settled on tugging on Twilight’s forehooves and pulled her over the railing of the cloud float. With a mighty splash the two ponies dove into the water.   When they emerged, Twilight tried to blow her soaking wet bangs out of her face and grinned at Rainbow Dash mischievously. “Oh, you’re on!” she cried, using her superior reach to duck Rainbow before she could so much as reply. Rainbow didn’t reemerge immediately, but before Twilight could even worry she felt somepony drag her under water by her hind leg. When they surfaced again, they grinned at each other.   “Water’s awesome, right?” Rainbow said. Twilight nodded.   By then, the last daylight had vanished, and Twilight lit up her horn, basking the two swimming ponies in soft purple light that was bobbing up and down. Rainbow turned on her back and spread her wings, floating on the water. Twilight tried to imitate her floating which ended with her horn underwater. Now the two ponies were illuminated from below and cast in a host of surreal purple shadows. Above them the stars shone magnificently.   “The stars are beautiful tonight,” Twilight said dreamily. “Orion is really low here.” “Who’s Orion?” “That constellation there.” Twilight pointed. Noticing that Rainbow looked at the night sky rather confusedly, she guided her gaze pointing with her hoof, smiling. “It’s named after a hunter in an ancient legend.” She shivered slightly.   “Uh-huh… you cold, Twi?” Rainbow asked. “Wanna head to the beach?”   Twilight suppressed another shiver. “Yes, that might be a good idea. Do you have anything else planned for our fast date?”   “How about a nightcap on the beach?”   “I hope you’re not trying to get me drunk,” Twilight chuckled. “I really shouldn’t be hungover tomorrow.”   “And I hope I don’t have to get you drunk,” Rainbow heard herself say. Smooth, sure, but also very straightforward. Not that that was a bad thing, but still – what if it was too straightforward? What if she scared Twi away with her smooth moves?   “I wouldn’t say so,” Twilight purred, causing Rainbow’s knees to turn into something not quite solid – luckily they were swimming. “Let’s go get that nightcap.”   Back at the beach, Rainbow led Twilight to a spot a few dozen meters away from Pinkie’s cave. A huge checkered blanket lay in the sand, illuminated by two lanterns nearby. In an ice bucket rested a bottle of sparkling cider, right next to two glasses.   “Ponyfeathers, I forgot the towels,” Rainbow groaned and facehoofed.   “Don’t worry, I will take care of this,” Twilight said and smiled at her reassuringly. Again, her horn lit up, and suddenly Rainbow found herself surrounded by a stream of warm air that quickly dried her fur, mane, and feathers. It didn’t take more than a minute, and both ponies were completely dry and comfortably warm.   Twilight also took care of the drinks, uncorked the bottle and filled both glasses with the sparkling cider. Rainbow took hers and held it out to her date. “To…?”   “Us!” Twilight said decisively and clinked glasses with Rainbow. She settled down on the blanket and gestured Rainbow to join her. As soon as the pegasus did, Twilight huddled up to her. “Thanks for taking me out tonight. This is a really nice date.”   “Glad you like it,” Rainbow replied sheepishly.   For a few moments, they just lay there next to each other, occasionally drinking from their glasses. Rainbow was staring at the sea, reveling in the warmth of the alicorn huddled up to her side. She still felt that fear that she would screw this up, that she would say or do something that would drive Twilight away from her, but now it was faint. There was hardly any doubt that the date was going well.   At that moment, the clock struck eleven.   Rainbow hung her head. “I guess we better get you back to your hotel,” she said, dejectedly.   “I guess so,” Twilight agreed without a lot of conviction. They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, then Twilight giggled. “I really don’t want to go. It’s so nice here… with you… And the sand is surprisingly comfortable.”   Rainbow Dash took a chance. “Then don’t. Let’s sleep here.”   “But Rainbow, I have to be up really early tomorrow, and –“   Rainbow put her hoof on her mouth. “We’ll wake up early enough, I promise. You know, when you’re on vacation at the sea, you kinda have to sleep on the beach one night. It’s, like, a thing.”   Twilight grinned. “Is that so?” She yawned and snuggled up closer to Rainbow. “I guess then I don’t really have a choice, do I?”   Rainbow draped one of her wings over Twilight’s back and shook her head. “’Sides, I don’t want you to go either.” They both rested their heads on the blanket. “You know, there is one thing about Saturday that kept me wondering,” Twilight suddenly said in a dreamy voice. “We didn’t kiss. I kept asking myself why.”   “What!?”   “You see, the books I’ve read on dating agree that at the end of a date, if it went well, one is supposed to kiss the other pony. We never did, even though it felt like it was going really well.” Rainbow cast her a furtive look, but Twilight was just lying next to her, eyes closed.   “I thought about why I didn’t kiss you,” Twilight went on, seemingly not aware that she was basically torturing Rainbow. That was a bit of information she wasn’t sure she wanted! “I was scared I’d move too fast, that maybe you didn’t want me to kiss you and things would become complicated and awkward between us. After a little pause she went on, “I guess I really don’t want to screw this up, you know? And that makes me extra careful.”   Hearing Twilight speak out her very own concerns was such an incredible relief that Rainbow almost forgot breathing for a second. She considered just leaving it at that – it didn’t seem like Twilight expected her to come up with an explanation for the lack of a kiss. She seemed to be happy to take the blame for it.   On the other hoof, Rainbow felt that Twilight deserved to know how she had felt. And maybe she wanted to tell her. Maybe she wanted to share these feelings with Twilight. The lump in her stomach grew bigger.   “Yeah,” she finally managed to say in a strained voice, “I kinda had the same thing. You know. Not wanting to scare you away or something?” After a moment’s thought, she added, blushing, “You know, you can’t scare me away that easily.”   Twilight raised her head and nuzzled Rainbow on the cheek. “Neither can you,” she whispered.   “Phew, good thing I’m not one of those creepy bat ponies,” Rainbow laughed nervously.   “It’s scary, isn’t it?” Twilight said, ignoring Rainbow’s feeble attempt at humor. “Opening up to somepony like that.” She gave a slight chortle. “I mean, we almost walked out of here tonight without kissing again.” “Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. She gave it some more thought and added with a hoarse voice, “But it’s way better than not knowing where you stand with somepony you like.” She started. Had Twilight just said what she thought she had? And she had totally almost missed it? She turned to Twilight. The alicorn was smiling at her a little shyly, her eyes half closed, her cheeks slightly flushed. To Rainbow Dash, she had never looked more adorable. Slowly, infinitely slowly, the two ponies brought their heads together. Rainbow closed her eyes a split second before their lips connected. She was acutely aware of the soft sand they were lying on, the ocean surf, Twilight’s body pressed against hers – and then Twilight’s soft, warm lips on hers. Without even being aware of it, Rainbow brought her hoof up to Twilight’s face and began stroking her cheek.   They broke the kiss after an indeterminate amount of time and just looked at each other, Rainbow still stroking Twilight’s cheek.   “Wow.”