//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 - Romance // Story: Trixie's Forest Retreat // by crowscrowcrow //------------------------------// Trixie kissed Rainbow Dash, she had taken care to make it a surprise with her little pretending to speak act. So it was no surprise to her that Rainbow Dash acted much like she had a moment ago, dumbfounded and completely unsure how to react. She did not even kiss back. With a smug grin she broke the kiss, feeling glad to have gotten one over on Rainbow Dash after that confession. They stared at each other silently for a moment, and Trixie was starting to wonder if she had perhaps broken her. What is taking her so long? Maybe I should have been less direct? But she was really direct. Trixie bit her lip, nagging feelings of doubt starting to surface. Trixie is the greatest, there is no way Trixie is wrong. She reassured herself. But all the hyping herself she had done in the heat of the moment was quickly escaping her. She knew this feeling, it was not the first time. Rainbow Dash was completely silent, much like Trixie had been a moment prior. She could imagine what was going through the mares head right now. Maybe if she just waited it was going to turn out the way she imagined after all? Or at least the earth might split apart and swallow her whole. Rainbow Dash finally moved, her teeth grinding together just a moment before she snapped. “Trixie, what the hay!?” Rainbow Dash screamed so loudly Trixie was sure it would wake Fluttershy, mute enchantment or not. “I was saving that, you pathetic thief!” Trixie shrunk as much as she could while Rainbow Dash yelled at her, laying her ears flat against her head. The twisting feeling in her chest and gut turned to painful stabs. It was clear she had messed up, but she did not know why. What did half of that even mean? The thought that it had been a trick after all filled her body with a completely different kind of fire, she happily embraced it if it meant escaping from the pain. Sucking in a breath, she propped herself up on Rainbow Dash’s chest to get some altitude on her. She screamed back. “What is wrong with you! You confessed to Trixie first!” “C-confessed?! I barely know you! What on Equestria made you think that?” She slammed a hoof against her own face, then swung it away in a grand gesture. “When I said ‘Fail more’ this is not what I had in mind!” “Not five seconds ago you were in Trixie’s face caressing her horn telling Trixie to take your ‘hints’! What did you think Trixie was going to think you meant!” She felt that by now familiar warmth in the corners of her eyes, she clenched her teeth trying to push through it. Don’t cry, don’t you dare cry! “Was it just another of your stupid pranks?” “Wait, what? No! Flinching! You mule, flinching! You finally did not flinch when I was near or touched you!” She threw up both hooves in frustration. “For Celestia’s sake! Just this morning you hated me. Are you that desp—Woah!” Arguing while laying on top of the pony you are angry at, with nowhere else to go, was awkward enough. But when Trixie prepared to answer and tried to stomp her hoof down to add power to her point, in her haste she’d missed Rainbow Dash entirely. With neither pony holding the other anymore, it would have been hard for a healthy concentrating pony to keep her balance on a single pegasus in the sky, and Trixie was neither. Her hoof stomped onto the cloud itself and swept right through it, tumbling Trixie along with it, screaming in alarm. Rainbow Dash quickly hooked her elbow through Trixie’s and pulled, just managing to pull her head above the clouds again. She looked down to find that the angry unicorn she had been fighting was gone, replaced by one much more melancholic. “Rainbow Dash,” Trixie whimpered as she failed to hold back anymore, doing her very best to sound as commanding as she could. “Just let Trixie fall.” She could not even stay angry properly anymore. In hindsight not being scared of Rainbow Dash would have been a good milestone by itself, all she had to do was just ask Rainbow Dash what she meant or say she gave up guessing. But she could not even do that right and ended up ruining it too, by kissing the mare out of the blue and practically confessing herself, with terrible results. She had had enough of it, the unfamiliar feelings, the confusion, the hurt. This was going to be so much simpler. Rainbow Dash stared down at Trixie in disbelief for a moment. They were on a cloud far above even the tallest of the Everfree Forest trees, and there was nothing below them but the canopy covering the timberwolf hunting ground. They were both aware Trixie was never going to survive the fall. Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth scowling at Trixie. “Fine,” she hissed. Then, she let go. Trixie’s eyes widened to saucers. Her vision obscured by white clouds for a split second, then she saw the Everfree Forest rush towards her at a dazzling speed. It had not occurred to her before that moment, but she had never been this high up in her life, the wind rushed past her fur while the canopy approached the freefalling Trixie. She felt her chest pull incredibly tight, but it took her a moment to realize it was not just fear this time. A set of cyan hooves closed around her front with an iron grip and within half a second the forest was retreating again while they shot back up into the sky. One inelegant landing later had both ponies back on their cloud, panting heavily while hooking their hooves around each other again. “Any more bright ideas?” Rainbow Dash snapped, but she got no retort back anymore, just feeling the unicorn shake in her grasp. She tried to keep her gaze averted and uninterested. Still seething for what the little thief had pulled, but much more for what she had tried as a solution. “Have you come to your senses? As if you really wanted to die, you weren’t ready back at the timberwolf and you sure weren’t now!” But she did cast a quick glance down at her. Trixie had lost all fight in her. She merely shook all over while she pulled her hooves tightly around Rainbow Dash, as though she planned to never let go again. She was scared witless from the fall, burying her face into the soft cyan fur while she cried. Somehow something still told her she could seek comfort with the angry mare. Rainbow Dash looked down at Trixie, it was becoming almost hard to breathe with the death grip the mare had on her. Her expression softened somewhat, giving a squeeze in return. “Come on, It was stupid. But, you didn’t think I was going to let you off that easy did you?” “N-no. I’m sorry… but I can explain...” She glanced at Rainbow Dash, she looked conflicted and clearly struggling to stay calm. “Oh really you can explain? This I got to hear.” The words harsh, but the tone much softer than before as the initial tide of anger ebbed. I can explain? Really? No I can’t, and now I’m committed to it. If I want out of this I could just tell her I was afraid of what she would do if I rejected her. But that’s not true now is it. Besides I-I don’t want to hurt her. She was so thrilled I was not scared of her anymore, I can’t take that away just for a get-out-of-stable-free-card. Rainbow Dash looked at the ashamed unicorn, who was clearly struggling to provide the explanation she promised, then let out a long sigh. ”Hey uhm. Look… That was a great prank. You got me good. Well done.” Trixie blinked and looked up to Rainbow Dash in silence for a moment. What. What is she talking about? She clearly does not believe that. So why would she… oh. She shook her head in response to the offered out, but gave a weak smile in return at Rainbow Dash’s kindness. “Okay well… You are a stunt flyer right? So you know how you have that little voice inside your head that tells you can totally do that corkscrew through an open window?” She received an affirming nod. “Well you know how it’s not always right? But that’s okay because it’s not that voice’s job to be right, just to give you enough confidence to try? Imagine it being the Royal Canterlot Voice. Don’t tell anyone but, I-I uhm just a little carried away sometimes?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head. Her eyes rolled with the explanation while she pictured it, then swooped back down to Trixie. She did not interrupt her though. It was only afterwards that Rainbow Dash realized, Trixie had dropped out of third person? Trixie did her best to appear calm and collected, taking deep, if somewhat shaky, breaths. She told herself she was just explaining a simple misunderstanding, repeatedly. “I-I thought you were, erm. C-confessing to me.” “While I barely know you?” Rainbow Dash caught the hurt expression Trixie’s face. ”Err look that does not mean I don’t like you at all, now at least. But you hated me just earlier this week right? Hey, I hated you. Back then! I mean I hated you back then.” Even with Rainbow Dash’s best efforts put into damage control, it did not prevent the remarks from hitting Trixie like a bull. The worst part was that it had all been true. There was no way feelings changed that quickly, why did she ever think Rainbow Dash was confessing to her? And much more importantly, why had she been so happy about it? “Even if you had all the confidence in the world making you do something stupid, that does not explain it. You barely know me either. Now I’m totally awesome and everything, but you don’t just love somepony all of a sudden.” Trixie looked away. She wished she had her hat to disappear into, but it was still on the forest floor. She considered just shutting up, but she had dug this far down already, she might as well go for the full six feet. “W-well. I-I don’t know. I might be? I missed you, when you were sleeping I mean, I never miss ponies. And I h-have fun when with you around. I do not usually care how other ponies feel, but I cared that I upset you. I did not know what to call it… You’d been much nicer to me lately, and then you confessed. So I went with it.” “I did not confess,” Rainbow Dash corrected sternly, though her voice softened while her hoof reached up to Trixie’s mane. “Look. I’m sorry. I guess this is confusing to you. But… What you are describing. It does mean a lot to me to know you feel that way, thank you. But that’s what Friendship is like.” She’s not taking me seriously… maybe she’s right? It’s just friendship that I’m feeling? I-I guess I do feel the same way towards Fluttershy. She’s just as important to me, so it would make sense if that’s just how friends feel about each other right? But… Trixie raised her gaze up to meet Rainbow Dash, her eyes teared up as she asked the question on her mind. “Then why does this hurt so much?”