In ponyville, it was never an unusual sight to see Rainbow Dash napping upon a cloud, in fact, it was an expected occurrence. Nopony knew why she chose not to sleep in her own home, but it was never a true problem, just a curiosity. However, there was a silent agreement between everypony who knew her; Nopony should ever wake her up.
Nopony ever broke that agreement, well, nopony except Bubble Berry.
“Raiiiinbow Daash?” A singsong voice came from below the makeshift bed, sending the pegasus straight up, all traces of the fact that she was sleeping moments ago gone.
“Bubble Berry?” Rainbow Dash moaned, realizing whose voice it was who had called her name. She looked down at the light pink colt, who looked back with maniacal glee.
“Ooh, are we having a staring contest?” He gave a wide grin and his eyes bulged out about an inch further than she had thought possible, as he was wont to do.
“No, I was just wondering what the buck you are doing.” Rainbow Dash was still confused by Bubble Berry’s loud interruption
Bubble Berry gave a large gasp, which, had it been anypony else, would have seemed sarcastic. But as it was Bubble Berry who let out the gasp, it was probably real. ”You aren’t supposed to use such meanie pants words!”
“….” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Bubble, you’re 21 now, and I’m 23, I think I’m allowed to swear.”
Bubble Berry blinked, and tilted his head, seemingly confused by her reply. “Well yeah, but, it’s not a good thing to say, isn’t it?”
“Well, that doesn’t explain my first question.” Rainbow Dash was getting annoyed at this point, eyes narrowed, "What in Tartarus are you doing here?"
“What do you mean?” Bubble Berry tilted his head even further, almost to a physically impossible point.”I’ve been here the whole time!”
Rainbow Dash blinked, slightly shocked, and more than a little creeped out. “What do you mean, the whole time? As in, you’ve been watching me sleep?”
“Well, yeah, but I only wanted to know what you were dreaming.” Bubble Berry explained calmly, as if that should have been obvious to her. “I figured if I stared long enough, I could see what it was!”
Rainbow Dash put her hoof to her face, letting out a sigh. “As long as that was all you were doing, that’s fine. Last time someone was watching me sleep, Scooteroll had brought his whole freaky fan club!”
“Oh yeah, I remember them! I went to a meeting, it was really fun. I shared my pictures of you, and they were really impressed!” Bubble Berry smiled, and reached into his poofy mane, pulling out a small collection of pictures, "Scooteroll was like " Berry, you are so cool for getting these!"" Bubble Berry mimicked the young colts voice astonishingly well, before Rainbow Dash snatched the pictures away from him.
“What?” She flipped through the photos, most of which were shot shakily, and mostly were blurry from her fast moves, but it was clear that the photos were taken from inside bushes, or other odd vantage points . “I… I got to go, uhh…” She put her hoof to her mouth, eyes lighting up “Talk to Dusk Shine, I heard the new Dashing Dare book is out!” Her wings hummed like a motor, leaving a small rainbow trail as she left Bubble Berry in the dust.
“Rainbow Dash? RAINBOW DASH!” Bubble Berry screeched, running after her.
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“And then he pulled out these!” Rainbow Dash had flown all the way to Dusk’s library, and after apologizing for breaking his window, began explaining what had happened just a few hours ago, brandishing several of the photos in front of her friends face.
“Look, Dash, I don’t know what to tell you,” The colt shook his head, pushing the photos away from his face, “Bubble Berry is just as much a mystery to me as he is for you. For all I know, he has pictures of me somewhere.” He was clearly irritated by the disruption of his research, tail flicking as he levitated the shards of glass out of the way of his uninvited guest.
“That honestly was supposed to make me feel better?” She deadpanned, rolling her eyes. Sometimes Dusk was way out of touch with reality.
“Well no, but, I just… I don’t know what I meant to say by that.” Dusk Shine stuttered.
“Ok, so what do I do? I can’t just go up to him and ask: Hey Bubble Berry, how the buck did you get those?” She said.
"You should probably talk to somepony else, who knows him better. I've only known him since I moved here a year ago." Dusk Shine spoke, picking up some of the stray books, and began re shelving them.
"Thanks for the stellar help, Dork Shine." Rainbow Dash trotted out, slamming the door behind her.
"Mhmm, yes." Dusk was already completely ignoring her, lost in figuring out where the books went.
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"Bubble Berry?" A lavender colt was knocking on the door of Sweet Apple Acres barn, which seemed suspiciously quiet, most of the time, at least a few chickens could be heard clucking. "Applejack told me you were in here, you can't hide forever."
"No!" The door suddenly opened, slamming Dusk Shines face in. "Also, Bubble Sense says you should..." Bubble Berry looked at the disheveled colt, who was shaking his head groggily. "I can see that I don't need to tell you." He giggled.
"You do this on purpose, don't you." Dusk glared, as Bubble Berry grinned and shook his head. "Anyway, I need to talk with you about something." He forced his way inside the barn, despite Bubble Berries barricades he had set up prior.
"Oh sure, Dusky," Bubble Berry grinned, pulling a table out from a door Dusk was quite sure wasn't there before."What do you want to talk about?" He pulled out a tea set, and poured some imaginary tea, and began to talk aimlessly."I heard that Butterscotch likes Big Macintosh. Who knew he was into colts?"
"It’s not about... What?" Dusk began to speak, but suddenly realized what his friend had said."Ok, let’s put that in the "I could have lived my life perfectly fine without that knowledge" folder, and never speak of it again."
"Sure, Dusky boy, I’ll just lock it in a box, add a padlock…” He began miming his actions, before Dusk put his hoof in his mouth.
“I get it, let’s move on, ok?” Dusk Shine removed his hoof, and Bubble Berry nodded. “Now, Rainbow Dash came over to my house an hour ago, and she seemed very upset.”
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Bubble Berry suddenly seemed quite agitated, looking around wildly, much like when he was lying about the corncakes. "I absolutely do not have a crush on her, and I also do not have any pictures of her." At this point, it was quite clear he was lying, as he was sweating, and pretty much confessed his guilt.
"Ok, Bubble Berry, I think you and I both know you're lying." Dusk Shine looked at him with a smug smirk on his face.
"Fine." He sighed. "I may, possibly, maybe have a teensy tiny crush on Rainbow Dash."
"..." Dusk looked at his friend, disbelief in his eyes. "Maybe?"
"Ok, more than maybe." Bubble Berry smiled. "But have you seen her do tricks? She can do these awesome stunts!" He began miming her sonic rainboom, "She was like some super star, and she saved Rarity, Soarin, and Flamethrower!"
"Yes, she is pretty cool, but that's not what I'm here to talk to you about." Dusk began to speak. "I think you're going about this the wrong way. Rainbow Dash isn't going to like being, well, to put it bluntly: stalked."
"I know..." Bubble Berry's hair suddenly seemed less curly, and he seemed darker. "I just... I can't seem to find a way to say anything to her."
"Well, thats at least a good start. I'm afraid I can't help you anymore. I think talking to Rarity would be a good idea. She knows a lot about relationships." Dusk Shine smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
"I'm going to find her, thanks for the help, Dusk." Bubble Berry kept his somber expression as he walked out the barn door.
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"My dear Bubble Berry, you seem glum, its not like you." A white mare with a fancy mane opened the door, ushering the colt in. "What troubles you?"
"Well, I have a crush on somepony, and I don't know what to do." He mumbled, sitting down.
"Oh my, who's the lucky mare? Or is it a colt? Is that why you're sad?" She began guessing rapidly, pulling out chairs with her magic. "You know we wouldn't see any less of you if you do, right?"
"Oh nonononono, nothing like that, Rarity, its just that its one of our friends." He kept speaking,"Its....Rainbow Dash..."
"I couldn't quite hear you, dear." Rarity smiled warmly.
"Its... I like...." Bubble Berry tried to say. "Promise you won't tell?"
"Oh dear, I would never ever, ever tell somepony else if you told me not to." Rarity looked flustered, looking at him with a whimper.
"Okie Dokie Loki, if you promise." Bubble Berry gave a deep breath. "I like Rainbow Dash and Dusk said I should come to you because I took pictures of her and she got mad and I went to hide in Applejack's barn, but she told Dusk and now I'm here because he sent me." He was speaking very rapidly, miming what he was saying, Rarity could barely keep up.
"Well... I did have an inkling of what was going on between you two, but I really didn't want to bring it up,but this situation is new to me." Rarity confessed, giving him a slight hug. "So you need help on what to do, am I right?"
He nodded, and sighed. "I don't know what to say."
Rarity gave a little squeal, and brought out her fainting couch. "Now, I want you to sit right here and tell me your feelings." She began taking out a pen and notebook, along with a chair of her own. It seemed like she had thoroughly planned for such an event.
"Gee Rarity, you seem a little over prepared, don't you think?" Bubble Berry was lying on the couch, legs crossed.
"Oh no, I always keep all sorts of things like this for exactly these kinds of situations." Rarity gave a nervous giggle, putting away the pen and notebook away. "Let's start with when you first felt like this..."