“You took too long.”
“Huh?”
Rainbow hovered by a hanging sign that read Super Hay Inn, her hooves crossed and narrowed eyes on the suited-up pegasus stallion that was exiting the three-story structure.
“But it was only three minutes,” Flying answered, adjusted the goggles over his eyes.
“Three minutes too long,” she stated, landing next to him with a smirk. “You’ve always been a slowpoke, you know?”
“Right,” he retorted with an amused eye roll. “From what I remember, you’ve always kept me waiting outside the cabins.”
“You’ve been flying at high altitude too long. I think you’ve lost some of them marbles up there,” she said, poking her head.
He guffawed, clutching his chest while Rainbow did the same. For these few precious seconds, their old scuffle was but a distant memory; they could be themselves and engage in banter without any uncomfortable awkwardness.
At least until the laughter stopped. Their memories sapped them of their smiles, replaced by staring at the cobbled road beneath their hooves.
Rainbow politely coughed. “Okay, we should probably get going. We got a job to do.”
“Let’s get started, then.”
Both ponies took out their pendants and then jammed it into the notch on their suits. The crystal glowed amber as it emitted a sound that pierced their eardrums of everypony within one hundred feet. In a flash, a paling encompassed their bodies that quickly faded. Once they could hear the crickets from the nearby park, Flying flapped toward the Inn’s roof.
“Can you hear me, Rainbow?” the stallion spoke in a hushed tone.
Rainbow nodded approvingly, “Oh, yeah. There’s some static but this is kinda neat.” Raising her voice, “You can hear me too, right?”
“Not so loud,” said Flying, clutching his cranium.
“Heh, heh. Sorry.”
Flying looked toward the closest mountain range, its outline the only visible feature. “All right. Follow me, then.”
They blasted upwards into the purple sea where the moon guided them its abundant radiance. Yet, its light did nothing to warm their bodies as the two ponies ascended well past the tree line and toward the stars. Soon, mist materialized after every exhale while ice crystals hardened on their snouts. Before the trailing Rainbow could complain about the amulet’s effectiveness, the pendant’s inner magic swirled, accompanied by what felt like a hot towel wrapped around her body.
She signed contently. “Ah. Much better.”
“You say something, Rainbow,” her partner asked.
Rainbow looked his way. She had herself an opening but unlike by the inn, no line popped into her head. “Well, I… nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Oh. Okay,” he mumbled, ears folded.
After more minutes of hearing only the occasional breeze, Flying and Rainbow rose above the highest mountains in the region, an area where no pegasi had ventured into before. Their bodies clued them in on why – every flap proved harder than the last and each swallow of air was like chugging down ice cubes. Rainbow’s teeth clashed into each other, making noise that rivaled her constant shivering. Her pace dropped to that of a freight train climbing a steep hill while her partner ahead had to apply the brakes.
“C—cold,” the cracked lip mare blabbered. “Why… why isn’t the amulet… brrrrrr—”
“Gotta let your body acclimate,” Flying answered in a hoarse voice. “We’ll need to take a five pretty soon, though.”
“N–now would be—” Her nose then wriggled “—Achoo!”
“Gesundheit.” He then surveyed the purple sphere with white dots sprawled across his vision for a cloud. At this height, they floated free of weather pony interference although finding one was a luck of the draw. To his surprise, he found a small cluster floating nearby. Once he pointed it out to her freezing friend, they landed on the widest one and then retracted their wings.
“No rush,” said Flying, his tail flicking off small ice shards. “Let me know when you’re ready.”
She responded with an approving mumble, all that she could manage given that the world around her was a massive cool box. Trying to find a distraction from the incessant cold, Rainbow peered at the curved horizon, finding Ponyville reduced to blinking dots of civilization surrounded by green patches of variable shades. The jagged rocks that dominated the town’s eastern borders were mere ripples traversing the landscape. Angling her head more to the left, there was a distant glow, its source hidden by specks of shrubbery.
“What’s that over there, Flying?” the mare spoke, rubbing her hooves together.
“Huh?” He rubbed off condensation from his goggles. “Must be the next town over but I thought you would’ve know that by now.”
She did; it was a lie Rainbow hoped would spark a conversation. “I, um, oh.” Time for another falsehood to save face. “See, I’m usually asleep by now so I’m not used to seeing everything like this.”
“Oh, okay.”
Reputation saved, for a few seconds.
“Wait. Since when do you sleep in so early?”
“Huh?”
A chuckle escaped his mouth. “You used to tell me I was a wimp if I went to bed before midnight. Oh. And how about all those times we snuck out to that nearby town? Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft after all this time.”
Wings flaring, “Hey! I’m not soft! It’s just that I have a job that needs me to be up early, that’s all. Besides, that just means I gotta fill my weekends with even more awesomeness. You know, like that first time we hung out on Saturday night?” With a smug smirk, “I still remember everything that happened.”
“Hey, now,” Flying leaned in, hyperventilating. “You haven’t told anypony what I did that night, did you?”
She placed her hoof over her mouth. “Between you and me, Fly-Fly. You know that I’ll always keep—”
Rainbow’s vocal chords seized up. She used that nickname and based on his dilating pupils, it caught him by surprise much like with her.
“Yeah, um—” Rainbow squeezed her chest. Something wanted to escape and she was willing to swing open the gate except she was missing what would undo the lock. Courage, that was the key and for all the times she had that at her disposal, she couldn’t find it tonight.
Flying believed he found his, but he rubbed his neck anyways. “Rainbow, I—”
“We should get going,” she blurted out.
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to push—”
“It’s okay. I can handle the thin air but the cold, not so much. I’d rather be moving than sitting here.”
Before he could answer, she was hovering a few feet above his head. Reluctantly, he powered up his wings and then searched for the constellation to get his bearings. Once he did, the stallion accelerated higher into the skies with Rainbow falling behind him. Out of his sights, he turned the key but it crumbled into dust.
C’mon, Flying! Can’t you see she’s giving you a sign? I mean, she called me Fly-Fly! Did I just imagine that… could I be sleeping?
Then his ears picked up Fly-Fly again. There she was too, pulling right next to him, her lips mouthing the name once more; this was no dream.
“I’m listening… Dashy.”
Her voice cracked, whatever words she wanted to say slippery as soap. Rainbow paused a moment to regain composure. “Do you happen to remember the day we first met at Weather Camp?”
“Of course I do,” he answered, nodding. “How in the world could I forget that? Why do you ask?”
Rainbow rubbed her hair, compressed by the suit’s slits, “You see, I really, really wanted to find a way to thank you for what you did for me.”
“Thank me?” he asked, stopping in mid-air. “But you already did, I think.”
Her head shook, “Not the way I wanted to. In fact, there were a lot of things I needed to thank you for but honestly, the one that mattered the most was being the best friend I had at Camp. I wanted to pay you back with something real special, something big, something that you would always remember. That’s why I, um—” She looked down toward the black abyss “—that’s the reason I wanted to do the Cloud Buster with you.”
“The Cloud Buster?” he parroted. “Hold on. Hold on. I thought you said it was to make you look cool.”
Her head slumped, “I know I did but it was really more for you than me. I knew that defending me that day made you a target to all the other colts. You never could hang out with them the whole time and… I just wanted you to go off on a bang. I would’ve told everypony it was your idea and stuff. Maybe they would’ve changed their minds and you could’ve at least made a few friends after Camp. It was the least I could do but—”
She slapped her forehead, keeping her hoof in place.
“Darnit! I should’ve known it wasn’t going to work!” Her body became limp, “All that practice and we still had trouble pulling the move. I wanted to call it off but you were trying so hard, Fly-Fly. How could I ask you to stop? I thought you’d be upset at me if I did.”
Flying shook his head slowly. “Dashy, I was really trying because of you.”
She stared at him, a gasp escaping her mouth.
“When you asked me about the Cloud Burst, I told you no but you kept asking and asking until I finally said yes. I–I never saw you so happy right after that. There was no way I was going to let you down, Dashy. You were a great friend at Camp and even though I had my doubts, I didn’t want to say anything.” He raised both hooves and then let them fall. “I know I should’ve but because I didn’t, we screwed up on presentation day and ended up—”
“—fighting in front of everypony,” Rainbow finished in a downcast tone. Then, she inhaled and released cold air. “You know, I totally wasn’t using my head there and the moment I flew off, I’ve never felt so awful. How could I be so mean to you after everything you’ve done for me? I wanted nothing more than to make up but I… I just couldn’t. That was the first time you were that angry with me and I really thought we were through right then and there. The few times I saw you after that, I thought you were avoiding me.”
The stallion grunted his confusion. “But I thought the same thing! Do you know how badly I wanted to talk to you after that fight—” He rubbed up and down his foreleg “—or yesterday? “
“Same here and what did I do? I chickened out but I won’t make that mistake again. I’ll do what I should’ve done all this time.”
“Huh?”
Rainbow closed her eyelids, finding what was lost. “I’m sorry, Fly-Fly. I’m sorry I screwed everything up.”
His wings all but stopped flapping in the air. He knew what he heard but what did it mean? This could mean a return to how it had been but after all this time, was than even possible? Forgiveness alone was hard enough.
“I’m sorry, too, Dashie,” he replied in a whisper. “I really am. I just wish we could’ve stayed friends after Camp. I know that—”
Rainbow struck him on the shoulder.
“Ow! What did you do that for?”
“Darnit, Fly-Fly” she barked. “You’re still my friend, knucklehead! Why did you think I said sorry for? Geez!”
Flying’s eyes glimmered, “You mean it?”
Rainbow wanted to hit him a second time but that didn’t feel appropriate. No, another idea came to mind, a simple but effective one that would reassure him. In one fell swoop, she wrapped her hooves around his body and squeezed gently.
“Of course I do,” she said in a docile tone. “Thanks for sticking up for me.”
“What? I, I don’t underst—” Suddenly, it all made sense. He placed his hooves on her back, “Anytime, Dashy. Anytime.”
Then she shoved him in midsection. “All right. That’s enough. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”
His eyebrows raised, “Wrong idea?” Oh. Oh!” He stuck out his tongue. “Eww! No way! I might’ve grown since Camp but you’re not my type.”
“That’s good to hear. I… hey!” She poked him, “What do you mean I’m not your type? I’m only good enough to be your friend? Is that what you’re trying to tell me? Wait.” Blood rushed to her head. “Wait. What the heck am I saying?”
Flying started snickering, cupping his mouth so that she wouldn’t hear.
She struck him again anyways. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Fly-Fly. But seriously, glad to have you back.”
Delivering a hoof bump, “Ah, yeah! Dashy and Fly-Fly together again! Nothing can stop us now!”
A flash brighter than the moon suddenly shone above their heads but only for an eye blink. Crack! The rumble rang hollow as their hearts, now pumping in overdrive.
“What is that?” Rainbow’s eyes focused on a lumpy mass floating in high altitude. “Is that supposed to be our cloud jam, Fly-Fly?”
Whatever floated in high altitude blocked all his known constellations; nothing below proved recognizable either. “I–I don’t know. I mean… it can’t be. We still had aways to go before getting there and besides, that looks more like a thunderstorm. Jams are supposed to be inert! I’m getting a really bad vibe here.”
“Well, what should we do then?”
“I’ll head off to the jam site and see what I find. Meanwhile, you figure out what that thing is.”
“Got it!” She bolted away at lightning speed.
Flying flew in a general direction away from Ponyville’s night aura until he discovered a familiar string of lights. The stallion added even more power while increasing climb rate, not having to worry about maintaining a slower pace for a flying partner. Even with the frigid air biting at every inch of exposed skin, he pondered about the evening so far without a shiver.
Just my luck. I’m patching things up with Rainbow and now I gotta deal with this! Well, I guess I can’t complain. I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle. Then we’ll have the rest of the night to catch up. Now where’s that Jet Stream?
After a few minutes, his ears detected a howl above and to his left. Soon, an invisible hoof tugged on his whole body and tugged him in the noise’s direction.
There’s the contrails! Sweet!
Among the wispy white zooming across his vision were cloud fragments tumbling toward the horizon.
Hold up. That’s not right. Why are they moving freely?
Keeping his distance from the stream, the stallion followed its snake path for a few miles, with one eye constantly checking for anything on ground level resembling a green circle surrounded by triangles.
That looks like a pine forest! And there’s the field I landed at! I must be close!
His head weaved left and right; he took a moment to rub the lenses on his goggles just in case.
I should be able to see something by now! Something’s definitely wrong. The Jet Stream’s definitely not jammed anymore but how? There’s no way it would jar itself loose unless—
A distant flash appeared miles away, the expected thunder arriving after a short delay.
Darnit! I better check on Dashy, pronto!
Flying raced toward the ominous object, its features coming into focus the closer he approached it. The shifting lumps definitely resembled clouds and the size of it all was no larger than the Cloudiseum, but that was smaller than his missing cloud jam. That and this floating cotton ball was moving on its own, not just laterally but as though it was a hot air balloon saddled with anvils inside the basket. Every time lightning jumped within the behemoth, it displayed its putrid green and gray surface to him but nothing more. His jaw dropped wide open when he noticed Rainbow taking a swing.
“C’mon, you cloud!” She went with a straight jab. “Go!” Rainbow delivered a haymaker. “Away!” She bucked the cloud, knocking off a small chunk, only for the missing piece to regenerate.
“That’s not going to work,” the approaching stallion bellowed. “It must be self-sustaining!”
Rainbow wiped her brow. “It was… worth a shot, dontcha think?” She stopped to extract extra oxygen. “Well, did you find our jam?”
He pointed straight ahead, “This, somehow.”
“Then why is it all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“Guess I’ll have to figure this out by going inside and take some measurements. Rainbow, take a five in the meantime, okay?”
Rainbow grabbed onto his tail, “Hold it!”
“Ow!”
“Take a five? Oh, no way. I’m coming with you.”
He turned around, ready for a rebuttal. Then he remembered who was with him, the daredevil mare that had the strength of a colt back at Camp. In today’s terms, holding her back, even if she was gulping for air every ten seconds, would be a waste of energy. Besides, he wouldn’t deny help from a friend.
With a smile, “You’re right. We’ll go in, together.”