Eden Sank to Grief
09
The familiar warmth of summer graced the air, complemented with the occasional chilly breeze of wind that caressed Rainbow Dash's body, a natural and soothing relaxant. Oh, how she loved this feeling. The serenity was a nice change of pace from weather team work. She was kicked back in a lounge fashion on one of the clouds floating above Ponyville, one of her favorite things to do while the summer's midday controlled the skies. The Summer Sun Celebration was neigh, which was to take place tomorrow. She had been assigned the task of clearing the skies on the preceding night and day. That was so not awesome - she was supposed to be practicing for the Wonderbolts recruitment in the fall. How would they ever let a pegasus in that clears clouds instead of practicing her dazzling tricks? And Celestia hadn't even assigned her a partner or assistant. Come on, was she supposed to do this all by herself? How boring.
She yawned, sitting up and stretching her legs, arms and wings before dropping into back into the cloud, closing her eyes. Everypony else that wasn't a pegasus was really missing out on these amazing clouds. Softness, cool temperature, and its refreshing moist texture seemed to be the perfect formula for relaxing, she presumed. These soft, fluffy clouds... If only summers like this lasted forever. It wasn't as if she didn't like other seasons; she loved the fresh spring air, but summer seemed to put her in a trance, making her crave for more. Suddenly an unfamiliar voice pierced the serenity.
"There's supposed to be a pegasus named Rainbow Dash clearing out the skies," it said. Rainbow's ears perked up a the mention of her name. She tuned in more precisely to their conversation, trying to make out what they were saying.
"Well, she isn't doing a very good job, is she?" a second voice chimed in. Her voice sounded cute and innocent. Rainbow peeked her head above her cloud, straining to grab a glimpse at the owners of the two voices. The first, she presumed, belonged to the small, chubby purple dragon. He looked like he hadn't been hatched too long ago; he didn't have any wings. Then again, it talked. She didn't even know dragons could talk. The second voice belonged to the pretty-looking lavender unicorn. Her mane sported a royal shade of rich purple, highlighted with pink and lighter purple streaks. Rainbow thought it looked pretty awesome. She wanted to get a closer look; vision tends to get unreliable a couple hundred feet from the ground. How could she, though? It wasn't every day a pretty pony randomly comes into town. Her mind thought quickly to formulate a plan. She quickly decided she could 'crash' into her, using a failed trick as a cover up. Oh well, why wait for something to happen when you can make it happen?
Rainbow hopped off her cloud, flittering her wings to begin a loopind descend. She dove forward, then performed a vertical 180° loop, placing her in an upside-down position as she accelerated towards the unicorn. Her velocity picked up as she barrel-rolled to correct her position. Right before she hit her, she made sure to flap backwards to mollify the collision impact. They clashed, throwing them airborne before landing in a puddle of mud. Oops.
"Um... Excuse me?" Rainbow joked with a light-hearted chuckle. She looked over to the lavender unicorn she deliberately crashed into, laughing. She was coated in mud. "Uh, here, let me help you," she offered. Rainbow quickly surveyed the sky, looking for a raincloud she could use on the unicorn. Quickly singling one out, she flew over to it and pushed the cloud over the unicorn. Floating on top of it, Rainbow started hopping up and down on it, forcing the rain out of the cloud. When she was done, she peeked out from one of the clouds, laughing at the soaked unicorn.
"Oops," she laughed. "I think I overdid it. Here, how about this?" she offered, beginning her tornado around the unicorn. "My very own patented," she said as the rainbow hued tornado encompassed the unicorn, surprising her.
"- Rainblow dry. No, no, don't thank me," she assured. "You're quite welcome," she said triumphantly. Rainbow looked over at the unicorn. Her mane was blown out in a sphere shaped ball, random strands of pink and purple swirling around like cotton candy. Rainbow couldn't help but collapse, imploding with laughter. The dragon that was accompanying her joined in, falling on top of her as they laughed their hearts out.
"You must be Rainbow Dash," the unicorn said, aggravated. Rainbow perked up, bucking the dragon off of her immediately, flashing an egotistical grin.
"The one and only," she bragged, emphasizing every other word to introduce herself in an exultant manner. "Why? You heard of me?" she said smiling and airborne, not five inches from the unicorn's face.
"I heard you're supposed to be keeping the sky clear," she explained. Rainbow rolled her eyes. She didn't need to be reminded of her tedious task. The unicorn brightened up with a cocky smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle..."
-
"...It all started from there," Rainbow recalled. "You were so cute and fun to play with, it's just..." her voice trailed off as she omitted a weak sigh. Twilight remained silent. The food was already at their table, but it remained untouched as the story settled in the tense mood. Twilight remembered that day well. It was her first day in Ponyville, when she was assigned the job of overseeing the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, the night where she used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Night Mare Moon, and discovered the magic of friendship. Perhaps Rainbow had discovered the magic of love? Twilight was still unsure of herself, possibly for the first time since the Discord incident.
Did she love her back? At least she now knew for sure why she was loved, but she wasn't sure about her own feelings. Twilight, again, had close to zero experience with friendship before she arrived at Ponyville, let alone love. Even with her irregular heartbeat when Rainbow was around... She wasn't sure it was true love. She tried so hard to reciprocate Rainbow's feelings, but she hadn't found the smallest spark. No flame. No revelation. No ignition.
No love.
After a couple minutes of thinking through the silence, a familiar voice trotted down the row they were sitting. "Oh, this is perfect, darling." That eliminated all doubt. Twilight and Rainbow's ears perked up at her voice.
"Rarity?" Twilight asked, slightly surprised. Rarity lit up, noticing them. She quickly requested that she sit in Twilight and Rainbow's booth.
"Twilight, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity exclaimed. "Why are you two here in Canterlot?" Rarity was always first to ask questions out of curiosity like that.
"A better question is," Twilight replied, "what exactly are you doing here?" she inquired.
"Oh, I'm just picking up this FABULOUS new fabric I heard was here," she explained. "And I just HAD to be the first to get it for my new winter design line."
"Oh, that's nice," Twilight returned a suspicious look. "We aren't really doing -"
"Are you two on a... DATE?" Rarity exclaimed, a beaming smile creeping up on her face. Rainbow's ears plopped down as a crimson shade blazed her cheeks, embarassed. Rarity knew she wasn't like this; she was supposed to be the most radical, brave, iconic pegasus in Equestria. Twilight offered a weak smile, just as embarassed as Rainbow.
"Aww, aren't you two the cutest!", Rarity gushed, staying true to her typical self. "When did you two start to become so friendly?" she said, the excitement hanging in the air, so it seemed to Rarity. Quite the opposite for the other two. Rainbow forced a Fluttershy-esque smile in an attempt to lighten up her mood. She wished she hadn't had to confess her feelings then.
Twilight offered a shy shrug as a response, awkwardly smiling at her. The dawn of what happened still haunted her thoughts and emotions. Rarity lifted an eyebrow, sensing the tense mood that enveloped the air, and decided to stay quiet for a minute, before deciding it was time to break the ice.
"No matter; anyway, why don't you two eat up?" Rarity asked, noticing the untouched plates. "The food is great here, is it not?" Rarity nibbled on one of the appetizers.
"Yeah," Twilight agreed happily, taking the first bite of her sandwich. "Actually," she interrupted. "I need to use the mares' room." She abruptly got up and trotted to the right, leaving a small breeze of air from where she left.
"Rainbow Dash, what is going on?" Rarity inquired, the curiosity getting the best of her. "You haven't said a word since I got here."
"Um, hehe," she started. Her mind paced for the right word. "It's just been... Awkward. I guess."
"Rainbow, darling, you can tell me anything," she assured. Rainbow nodded and recapped the last twenty minutes for her, telling a watered down rehashment of her love-at-first-sight story.
"Oh, my," Rarity whispered. She waved a dismissive hoof. "Nothing's the matter; I've been in that situation before. It was before I met all of you; when I didn't even have my cutie mark. Anyway, darling, you know what they say about each and every young love.
"C'est un amour imparfait de croître. It's an imperfect love to grow," she said, in her own flawed French accent. "Give it time, dear. Has Twilight told you she loves you?" Rainbow meekly shook her head.
"I don't know what'll happen if she doesn't love me," she whispered. "Rarity, what was heartbreak like? I don't usually do love," she said solemnly, still maintaining her normal Rainbow Dash side.
"You shouldn't need to worry about that, darling," Rarity assured. "I'm sure she loves you back..." her voice softened.
"It's just a matter of time, sweetheart."