//------------------------------// // Tunnel Divers // Story: Rainbow Dash and the Crystal Empire // by Rainbow Dash 55 //------------------------------// "Who was that?" Twilight and Rainbow were still crawling around the village, and nopony else had spotted them. "Goldengrape," Rainbow replied as she darted behind a small house. Twilight followed her. "And you've met him before?" "No, actually. He came out of nowhere." Rainbow closed her eyes, concentrated, and split the ground open with her mind, force, and strong forelegs. The open ground turned out, to Twilight's surprise, to be a tunnel, leading to the Crystal Palace. "Riiight." Twilight smiled. "Do you think he had a crush on you?" "Twilight!" "Just asking!" "Why do you assume that every stallion and gelding that talks to me has a crush on me?!" Rainbow, irritated, crawled into the tunnel, then closed the opening when Twilight was inside. Twilight turned on her horn, providing them with plenty of light. "Because it's true!" Twilight couldn't stop smiling. "You didn't happen to notice Soarin talking to you every second of your life before he kissed you?!" Rainbow blushed from her comment, the heat, and the effort of crawling. Rainbow told herself that it was only the heat and the crawling, though. "Ah, Soarin. None of us would admit it, but we all had, and have, crushes on Soarin," Twilight said. "Especially Rarity. She would do ANYTHING to be with him. Anything." Rainbow continued to squirm through the tunnel. "I wouldn't do ANYTHING to be with him, just most things." Twilight sounded as though she was curious about the weather. "I would maybe eat a bug, or give away some of my books in my library, or--" "Twilight?" "Oof!" Twilight bumped into Rainbow's tail. "Yes?" "Are you done?" "No! Of course not!" Rainbow sighed and continued to creep through the tunnel, followed by Twilight. "I mean, how could you NOT like him?!", Twilight exclaimed. "He's the hottest stallion I've ever SEEN!" "Twilight." "I know that doesn't exactly sound like me. But I've recently discovered these new romance novels." "Twilight." "And they're really good! I know I've been kind of putting them off because they can get too gushy, but--" "TWILIGHT!" "Yes, Rainbow?" "Do you feel that?" "Feel what?" They listened, and Rainbow felt and heard the Earth's vibrations. "Oh, no!", Rainbow exclaimed. "It's raining!" "So?" "SO!" Rainbow panicked. "What happens when dirt and water mix?!" She quickly crawled forward. Twilight thought. "Oh...Oooh." She gasped. "OOOOOOOOHHH! OH NO! RAINBOW! WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN?! WE'RE GONNA DROWN!" She charged onward, practically running over Rainbow.