//------------------------------// // Light - Garbo802 // Story: SpikeDash Group Collab // by Vexy //------------------------------// As the darkness of night enveloped her, Rainbow Dash sat waiting. On a dirt path leading west from Ponyville, she hunkered, looking out into the continually fading light and growing darkness. At first, the waiting was easy. She relaxed, as she was so good at doing, and calmly stayed on watch. Seconds passed. Then came the minutes, which seemed hundreds of times longer than the seconds, even though they were anything but. And still, Dash sat, longingly hoping to see something, anything that would signal the end of her wait. The wind blew through the trees as bats flew between them, their dark forms blending in against the black backdrop of the sky. It was then that Dash realized how dark it was. She raised a hoof, and could just barely make it out. This far from the main part of town, there were no torches or candles to light up the night. The only light came from the buzzing fireflies, twinkling stars, and the pale moon. Even more time passed. She could feel her muscles growing sore from lack of use. With difficulty, she spread her wings, and could hear the joints popping as she rotated them in their sockets. As she sat up, she stretched the wings one joint and one muscle at a time until they felt brand new. She looked up at the sky, spread her wings, and within moments, she was there, flying with the bats. Now she was alone with her thoughts, so she thought well. She thought about what she was waiting for and how long she'd yearned to see that face again. If she'd been waiting at that path for what felt like years, then she'd been waiting for him for decades, maybe even centuries. And she was sure he knew it too. After all, how could he have forgotten the last time they'd seen each other? Dash sure hadn't. It had been, to say the least, an eventful night. But as memorable—and fun—as it had been, it had left her with a lot of questions, most of which she hadn't been able to answer herself. How did he feel about it, and just as importantly, how did she feel? She hadn't even been able to answer that. She'd had a few years to think about it, and although she didn't spend all of that time thinking about it, it should have been enough. She wished it was an easier question, an easier thing to swallow, and an easier love. Interestingly enough, though, she didn't doubt that the subject of her affections had stopped feeling that way about her. There was something about him that night—he wasn't just looking for some fun before he left on his trip, no, there was a lot more. He'd grown up a lot since she'd met him, in every sense of the word. She wished she'd had more time to talk to him about it, but she hadn't. Now she'd have to play catch up, and figure out where everypony stood. That would be hard; Rainbow wasn't exactly renowned for her social prowess. That was Rarity's department. She couldn't think of what to say. And she wouldn't have much time to think. In the distance, she could see what she'd been looking for: a light, moving eastward. In that moment, she forgot her nervousness. She'd been waiting for this moment for ages, and it didn't matter what she said, because it was going to be special no matter how badly she screwed it up. She rocketed towards the light she'd waited for, for the first time seeing the end of her long wait. It grew closer, and Dash could see that it was actually two lights. It grew even closer, and she saw that it was a carriage, travelling down the path at a rapid clip. As she pulled up alongside it, she didn't know how she felt. There was relief and stress, calmness and anxiety, happiness and regret. She matched her speed with the carriage, keeping herself a length to the side of the window. The curtains weren't drawn. Inside, she could see him sleeping, snoring loudly. When hasn't he snored, though? She mused, a smile coming onto her face as she looked at him. It was more than just the feeling of love, but friendship. The two had always been great friends, and even though he was more than that to her now, he was still her good old pal first. Without thinking, she reached a hoof out to the window, tapping on it, hoping the noise was loud enough to wake him up. And it was. She saw him blinking, the backs of his claws rubbing at his eyes. Then he looked up. His eyes widened, and in his surprise, he froze, but not for too long. He stumbled over the window, throwing it open to the cold night air. He didn't say anything, but Dash did. "Hey, Spike." As they both grinned, Dash couldn't help thinking how glad she was to have seen that light in the darkness.