//------------------------------//
// Nostalgia 
// Story: A Respite 
// by Night_Prism 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3


You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past.

Call me nostalgic, but that one quote comes to mind, after all these years. I had gotten to see Dash's room only once during our times together, and that one framed quote came to mind.

As I lay among the soft blankets with a radiator of a pegasus beside me, gently snoring, my mind began to wander. It always had, especially at this time of night. 

Except tonight was special - that much could be attributed to the mare who's head snuggled comfortable on my chest. But the memory that came was one that I hadn't relived in years.


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The air was abuzz with excitement as I strolled towards the enormous building. The structure itself stretched high into the sky, eclipsing the setting sun. While Celestia might be turning in for sleep, the Luna's night had just begun. And what a night it was to be. Tonight was the formal dance, and while all the boring acts of preparation had been endured earlier that day, now was the time for fun.

Now was the time to party.

"You nervous, Specs?" said my good friend, Light Ice, as we walked toward the front doors.

"Nah," I replied, one hoof on the handle, "this is me we're talking about, after all."

Inside the building, the normally monotonous hallways were decorated and dimmed. Already you could feel the bass, emanating from somewhere further inside, probably the gym or the cafeteria.

"Keep up, Ice," I said, picking up the pace, "you wouldn't want to keep your lady waiting would you?"

"If anyone's waiting, it's gonna be me..."


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Hearing was to be impaired that night, special thanks to Vinyl and her booming speakers. Details were lost amid the cluster of bodies, all packed together, raising the room to what might have been an unbearable heat, had the fun been any less.

Given my situation, things could have been a whole lot worse.

"Oh Spectrum! Why don't you dance with me?" chimed one of the mares to my right, flipping her yellow mane out of her face to bat her eyes yet again.

"Perhaps," came my harsh witted reply, "if you could only keep up with me to begin with." I shot her a devious wink and then disappeared in the throng, weaving through the crowd with relative ease.

"That one was way to clingy Specs," I muttered to myself. "Gotta find one that's more... me."

"Well someone's full of himself, as usual," came the all too familiar voice to my right.

I turned my head, my eyes already confirming what I knew; Rainbow Dash.

With a sigh, I made to turn away, saying "Come on Dash, don't you have someone else to heckle tonight? Perhaps that griffin friend of yours, Gilda?”

"I might, but I fancied a dance with someone, oh how did you put it? More, me."

Taken back, I glanced back at her, and that's when those eyes first caught me. It's also when I actually bothered to take a good look at her the first of many times that night.

Her dress reminded me of the sky before a storm; the top that fastened to her back started with a light blue that became progressively darker as it moved on down, lined with gold and emblazed with her own cutie mark on the side. 

The entire thing screamed ‘I’m Rainbow Dash’.

But then there was Dash herself; prime athlete of the school, with that sleek, athletic body, that boasted most of the school track titles to begin with, not to mention the popularity and attention that came with her looks.

I felt no shame from staring.

Someone must have stolen time from me that night, as I was abruptly jolted back to reality.

"Specs? You just gonna stand there and stare all night? I mean really, you could at least dance, and maybe get away with it," said Dash, that old devious look on her face.

"I... uh..."

"Oh come on already! Let's have some fun!"

And that's how I, Spectrum Streak, hotshot of the guys in flight school, found myself unceremoniously dragged into the middle of the dance floor by an equally popular, and maybe even cooler pegasus, Rainbow Dash. So yea, that's one of my secrets-not-secrets out there. How did I find Dash? The truth is, I didn't.

She found me.

Even better news? The night had just begun.