Conversations with Dead Ponies

by Scramblers and Shadows

Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash sat on the balcony of her home, reading and intermittently looking out over Ponyville. She had slept enough during the day to remain vigilant until daybreak and, typically restless, had over the course of two hours already taken to the sky thrice to circle around Ponyville looking for anything extraordinary. Each time she had been disappointed. The town lay as still and silent as it had ever been. It must have rubbed off on her, she thought, because having returned from her third trip she felt peaceful. Not tired, just peaceful. So, rather than pace and grumble to herself, she had settled down here where she could keep watch.

“Hi Dash. Been a while, ain't it?”

Dash looked up. A pegasus stood beside her, looking out across the town.

“Firefly? What are you doing here?”

Firefly cocked her head. “What, I need an excuse to visit an old friend?” she said.

“Well, when you arrive on my balcony in the middle of the night with no warning, yeah, kinda.” Rainbow Dash stood, stretched her legs, and cracked her fetlocks.

“Well, I could leave again if you want,” said Firefly, spreading her wings.

“Nah.” Rainbow shook her head and sighed. “May as well hang out, then, since you're here. It isn't like anything interesting is gonna happen tonight, anyway.”

Firefly snatched up the book with her wing and peered at it. “The Three Musketeers. Huh. Gotta say Dash, I didn't imagine you ever reading anything as long as this. I didn't imagine you being literate at all, come to think of it.”

“Hey! I'm no book nerd. Just … some of those stories are pretty awesome, is all.”

“I had such a crush on Milady De Wither when I was a filly,” said Firefly.

Rainbow Dash, having had enough of the conversation, flew to the edge of the balcony. “Oh, hey, tell you what. Let's race!”

Firefly raised an eyebrow. “How about we start by catching up, like normal friends do?”

“Hah! You're only saying that because you know I'll win.”

“Well, yeah.” Firefly settled on a cloud cushion in the lounge adjacent to the balcony. “Some of us focused on being able to fly more than ten metres without crashing into a wall, y'know.”

Rainbow Dash gave an overdramatic sigh and ambled into the lounge.

“We went to Junior Speedsters,” she said, sitting opposite Firefly, “not Junior get-out-of-the-way-of-stuff-ers.”

“Well, glad to see all that reading has improved your vocabulary,” said Firefly, grinning.

“Firefly...” Rainbow Dash put her hoof to her face and sighed, sincerely this time. “I like chatting and all, but really, what are you doing? It's been, like, five years since we last talked.”

“Well, that's kinda my reason,” said Firefly, leaning forward. “How many friends did you make at Junior Speedsters? How many have you kept in contact with?”

All the mirth evaporated from the conversation. Firefly looked Rainbow Dash in the eye. Her expression was almost neutral, the slight angle of her eyebrows and the prominence of her jaw betraying hidden anger or resentment. The two ponies were silent for several seconds. Firefly's unrelenting stare was oppressive. The unnatural silence of the night was oppressive. Rainbow Dash felt distinctly uncomfortable.

“Not enough, I know. I've … I've had stuff to do, all right?”

Partly because she was reminded of her task for the night and partly because she could no longer stand Firefly looking at her, Rainbow Dash leapt to her hooves and walked out to the balcony again. Ponyville looked no different. No commotion, no noise, no sign of anything odd happening.

Firefly followed her. “Since you stopped bothering to write back, the last I heard of you was from Gilda, a year or so before... Well, never mind. Point is, that was the last time you hung out with one of your old friends, and that ended with you alienating her.”

“Oh, come on!” snapped Rainbow Dash. “You know what Gilda is like. Her fault we fell out, not mine.”

“Gilda is aggressive, more than a little mean, and has a serious temper problem,” said Firefly. “And from what I remember, you were arrogant, selfish, self absorbed, hot headed–”

“Yeah! I get the picture, jeez.” Rainbow, now more annoyed than ashamed, still avoided eye contact with Firefly. “I still hang out with Fluttershy, you know. She's a better pony than most of us who went to Junior Speedsters.”

“Fluttershy...” Firefly put a hoof to her chin in thought. “I think I remember her from your birthday party. She was the weak winged mare, right?”

“Hey!” Rainbow glared at Firefly. “She's not the best flier in Equestria, but she's way cooler than you ever were.”

“Whoa!” Firefly put her hooves up in placating gesture. “I ain't saying the mare is uncool. Just wanted to make sure I had the right pony. So, Fluttershy, huh? Am I right in thinking you got into a race with some knuckleheads to defend her honour, knocked her off a cloud, and then forgot all about her when you got your cutie mark moments afterwards?”

Rainbow Dash said nothing. She looked out at Ponyville, almost wishing the night would bring some visible disaster to the town. The night did not oblige.

“So you came to tell me what a bad pony I am?” she said eventually. “Great, thanks for that.”

“Well, not totally,” said Firefly. “I'm pretty sure the old Rainbow Dash would have given me a smack in the mouth by this point.”

“Don't think I'm not gonna,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I should hope so. If a mare came into my house and rubbed my nose in some supposed personal failures of mine, I'd be pretty pissed off too.” Firefly looked at the ground and sighed. “Look, Dash, I don't think you're a bad pony. It was just... Well, suddenly seeing you after all this time, after you'd pretty much forgotten about me and all your old friends, upset me. I was cruel when I shouldn't have been. I said some things I shouldn't have. I'm sorry.”

Rainbow Dash felt awkward. Being angry was fine. But a sincere emotional outburst? What was she meant to do with that?

“Eh, don't worry about it,” she said eventually. “I guess you're kinda right, anyway.”

The two ponies looked at Ponyville in silence.

“Tell you what,” said Firefly after a while, perking up again. “Let's have that race you wanted. It's been too long since I got a chance to stretch my wings.” She gestured with a hoof. “Directly up to that altocumulus, touching absolutely no other clouds along the way. Game?”

Rainbow Dash squinted. There were a lot of other clouds littering the sky, none of them easy to see in the moonlight.

“I wanna see if you've learned to actually, y'know, avoid obstacles since I last saw you,” said Firefly, grinning.

“Ha! Are you kidding? I could do that run with my eyes closed,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I'd love to hold you to that, but let's do it the non-dumb way first, all right?” Firefly flared her wings.

“You're on!” said Rainbow Dash, responding in kind. She figured she should still be angry with Firefly, but didn't care. This was way more fun than arguing.

“On three, yeah?” said Firefly.

“Sure.”

The two pegasi stood with wings open, waiting. Several seconds passed.

“Well?” said Firefly.

“What?”

“Aren't you gonna count us in?”

“Wait what? You're the one who said, 'On three.' You count us in!”

Firefly shook her head. “No way, that burden is shared... Ah, whatever. Never mind. Three.” She dropped down, ready to leap into the air. “Two–”

Rainbow Dash crouched, wings prepared.

“–One. Go!”

The two ponies hurled themselves upwards.

Rainbow Dash soon lost track of Firefly. Avoiding all the clouds was hard. She managed it, though. Well, obviously she would.

Firefly was absent when Rainbow Dash reached their destination. Rainbow Dash greeted her with a smug grin when she arrived several seconds later.

“Oh for pony's sake,” said Firefly, panting. “You have improved. Now I have nothing to show off with!” She laughed. “Seriously, with skills like those, I'm surprised I didn't arrive to see you polishing a Wonderbolt badge.”

“Well, actually,” said Rainbow Dash, grinning even more.

Firefly's eyes widened. “You're serious? Oh, Dashie, that's so frickin' awesome!” She bounded into Rainbow Dash, hugging her and sending the two off them rolling across the cloud top laughing.

After the two ponies had calmed down, Dash stood up, flicking her wings to straighten her feathers. “I'll show you academy sometime. You're totally gonna love it!” she said.

Firefly looked at her forehooves. “Yeah, uh, I'd like that,” she said. “See, Dash–” She looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes, frowning slightly “–This is why you should keep in contact. I like you. We all like you. Well, most of us, anyway. We all want to know how well you're doing so we can hear awesome news like this.”

“Yeah, I get that,” said Rainbow Dash. “I got kinda caught up my life here. I'll try and make time for you guys, all right?”

Firefly smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Friends?” She offered a hoof.

“Well, duh!” said Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, friends.” She brushed Firefly's hoof aside and pulled her in for a hug.

“The sun's gonna be up soon,” said Firefly, looking out across the cloudtops after the two had broken away from each other. “I gotta go soon. One more race down beforehand, whaddya say? I won't go easy on you this time.”

“Oh, I dunno, Firefly. I'm not much in the mood for racing right now.”

Firefly raised an eyebrow.

“Kidding! Come on, then!” Rainbow Dash flew to the edge of the cloud. “OneTwoThreeGo!” With an overdramatic, mocking swoon, she dropped off the edge.

This time, the two arrived almost simultaneously, Firefly landing on the balcony moments after Rainbow Dash.

“Damnit,” said Firefly, grinning. “How did you get so good? I'm seriously missing out on some training tricks here.”

“Just my natural awesomeness!” said Rainbow Dash. She leapt into the air again and circled Firefly a couple of times. “Can't step to this mare!”

Firefly yanked Rainbow Dash out of the air by her tail. “Okay, okay, I get it. You're the best flier.” She looked out across the ground below them. “It was good to fly again. Thank you, Dashie. I nearly squandered this opportunity. But you made it turn out brilliant all the same.

“I really need to go now. Before I do, though, you should know that I'm sorry. You'll see why soon. It's just... I didn't have the heart to tell you.”

“What do you mean?” said Rainbow Dash.

Firefly smiled and, out of nowhere, leant forward to give Rainbow Dash a kiss on the cheek. “Never mind. Remember what I said. Bye, Dash.” Then, wordlessly, she leapt into the air and flew through the cloud layer.

Rainbow Dash stood still for a moment, bewildered. She considered calling after or following Firefly, but decided not to. Firefly was in a hurry; Rainbow Dash didn't want to press the issue and figured that she could ask next time they met in any case.

She looked at Ponyville. It was bathed in the first glimmers of dawn, but otherwise unchanged. Nothing interesting had happened to it. The night would have sucked if Firefly hadn't visited, she thought.

*

Author's Note:

Oh hi, Firefly.

Comments

[Acespadez1134]

I hope she finds out sooner rather than later.

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

Awww i dont think Rainbow realizes firefly is dead

[Samey90]

“We went to Junior Speedsters,”

Dash Academy reference?
And now I wonder what happened to Firefly...