Chapter 2: Orange
Journey to the Center of the Rainbow
Chapter 2: Orange
“Holy heck! Is this huge or what?”
Twilight refused to make a stallion-related joke at Rainbow’s exclamation. She knew Rainbow would probably laugh, but the joke itself was out of left field on her part.
Ever since they left for their trip, Twilight’s overall thoughts had become more sensual, especially her dreams. It was something she was quite unaccustomed to.
She had woken up last night with her body feeling as if somepony had stuck her in an oven, and had went to stand outside their hotel room to cool off. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out the cause, but only drew a blank. Luckily Rainbow was a heavy sleeper, so she didn’t have to worry about waking her up. She was tempted to poke fun at her loud, heavy snore. Although it was annoying initially, Twilight found it kind of cute.
She did a double take on how a pony could find snoring cute.
“I know right? The city seems so much more gigantic when you finally walk around in it. My mother always told me how incredible the city was and promised to take me down here one day. Turns out I just went on my own.”
The duo trotted down 5th Avenue, Rainbow busy looking around at the massive buildings and skyscrapers. She couldn’t believe just how huge some of the structures were, as a few seemed tall enough to reach Cloudsdale and then some.
Rainbow had never been to Manehattan, but had definitely heard about the city before. One of her buddies from flight school happened to live in Manehattan for a part of her life, and always mentioned how cool the place was. She lived in one of the high rises, and said that one of her favorite times of day was the morning. She loved to watch the sun rise over the tall skyscrapers, casting massive shadows upon the ground. Rainbow tried to think of the pegasus’ name, but couldn’t.
“So why did you come to the city? You don’t seem the city type.”
This caused Twilight to wonder how in Equestria Dash would know anything about cityfolk, considering she never lived in one herself. “How would you know? You’ve never been in the city yourself”
“Well, I always assumed ponies who lived in the city generally were outgoing and social. You don’t seem like that type.”
“In that case, would you enjoy living in the city?” Twilight countered, curious as to how she would respond.
“A hundred and twenty percent no. Too crowded and cramped for me, I need my open space to fly around and get some fresh air. No offense to these city people, but their air smells!”
This comment caused a couple of ponies to look at Rainbow with a look of annoyance before continuing on their day.
“Rainbow! Don’t insult others like that. Besides, it’s hard to keep the air clean when there are millions of ponies living in the same area. There is a lot of pollution from the higher density of ponies, and this coupled with the ratio of how much oxygen is produced around the area causes…”
“Twilight,” Rainbow interrupted, a terrible look of boredom flooding her face, “You promised not to go full egghead mode on me remember?”
Twilight smiled sheepishly in response. “Sorry, I’m always used to doing that kind of thing. I can’t help that I love reading about facts and figures and such.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You’re such a bookworm Twilight. But you’re just as awesome as you are bookwormish?” Rainbow seemed unsure on how to word this, “…so it can be forgiven,” she replied, flashing her trademark grin.
Twilight felt a small resurgence of butterflies in her stomach, but dismissed the notion as hodgepodge.
“Speaking of awesome, what’s with the hundred and twenty percent thing? You could have just used a hundred?”
Rainbow watched Twilight as she spoke, but didn’t do the same for where she was walking, and nearly crashed headfirst into a stallion going the opposite direction. The stallion skidded to a halt, nearly dropping the coffee he held in his hoof, but thanks to Rainbow’s quickness she was able to hold it steady.
“Woah, sorry about that. Totally my fault.”
The stallion brushed himself off a bit with his free hoof before looking up at Rainbow. Twilight noticed that his eyes seemed to do a once over on her friend, and immediately felt really annoyed.
“It’s cool, no harm done right? Thanks for saving my coffee though,” he replied, smiling devilishly at Rainbow who seemed more confused than anything. “But bumping into a pony with your fantastic looks is a-okay any day of the week.”
“Excuse me?”
“Name’s Sparkdust,”he crooned, nearly causing Twilight to lose her lunch as she fumed a few hooves away. “What brings a cute pegasus like yourself to the big city?”
Rainbow was not impressed by the attempted pick up, but an idea popped into her head on how to get out of the situation.
“Actually, not to dampen your flame Spark, but I’m already taken,” she replied with confidence, dragging a surprised Twilight to her side, her hoof holding onto Twilight’s back as a marefriend would. Twilight blushed a deep shade of crimson as Rainbow continued to hold her, the strange heated feeling returning in full swing.
Sparkdust seemed rather shocked, and also embarrassed that he seemingly tried to pick up a mare who was “on the other side of the coin” as he would put it. “Oh… you’re a fillyfooler…”
“Yes, and a proud on at that. Got a problem buddy?” Rainbow stared right into his eyes, her confidence growing every inch Sparkdust seemed to be losing as he cowered in fear.
“Right. Ahem, well, I’d better be on my way then.” With that, the young stallion zipped over twice as quick as beforehand.
Once he disappeared from sight, Rainbow continued walking, her hoof still embracing Twilight rather suggestively. She noticed right away, and let the unicorn go, much to her dismay.
“Sorry about that Twi. I assume there are a ton of idiots like that one in the city as well right? Rainbow looked over to notice Twilight’s flushed composure, cocking an eyebrow in the mare’s odd behavior. “You alright there?”
“Me?! Yeah, I’m alright. Just… a bit hot from being around so many other ponies. I keep forgetting the city was like this,” she stuttered, earning another look of confusion from Rainbow as she tried to keep calm.
“Well, wherever you’re taking me should be cooler than this outside air right? It’s sweltering out here.”
“But of course. This doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you where we’re going.”
This earned a groan of annoyance from the ever impatient pegasus. “Aww, come on! Please?!”
Twilight merely shook her head with a sly little smile on her face.
They continued strolling through the impressive cityscape, Twilight looking up often at the street signs and buildings to make sure she remembered the directions. Rainbow walked beside, her desire to start flying over all these ponies increasing with every passing second. But the last thing Twilight wanted was to attract attention, so she opted for normal ground travel.
As she followed Twilight, Rainbow began to watch the other ponies, and noticed that there were very little pegasi among the thousands of earth ponies and unicorns. In fact, at times she seemed to be the only pegasus in a crowd of hundred. She assumed that many of them felt the same need for space that she did, and that a massive city wasn’t the kind of place a pegasus would live in.
“We’re almost there, it’s a few more blocks to the south,” Twilight called from in front of her, motioning to continue on.
It was a rather silent journey across the next few blocks, with neither pony making a noise or saying a word to one another as they watched the city around them. She passed by a store and something caught her eye sitting in the window. Rainbow went wide eyed. She could recognize those color patterns from a mile away. Sitting in this store’s window was a brand new Wonderbolts’ uniform, the seal of authenticity right on the front.
At this point Twilight noticed the disappearance of her friend, and turned over to see the pegasus gazing twinkly-eyed at one of the store windows she had just past. Oh for Celestia’s sake, we’re never going to make it to this aquarium.
Twilight walked up to the storefront and noticed immediately what she was staring at. Rarely do full official Wonderbolt gear appear in public, let alone on sale for the general public to purchase. Twilight was rather surprised to see this sitting in a store in Manehattan, as she assumed that the ponies who made the Wonderbolt’s uniforms weren’t the type to go commercial.
She choked on her own saliva when she saw the price.
“15,000 bits!?”
Rainbow jumped at the sudden appearance of her friend, completely lost for a second on what she was doing. “Yeah I know. Sorry for stopping so sudden like that, but I just never saw one of these for sale before,” she replied.
“Funny thing about these uniforms. When I was thinking of ideas about what to get you as a gift, this was one of the things I had in mind.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened at the revelation, mostly in shock that Twilight would even consider something of this expense.
“Twi… I couldn’t accept such an expensive gift. And do you even have that many bits to spend on something like this?”
“Well,” she began, “I was going to ask Princess Celestia about them and see if she could get one of the extras from the Wonderbolts themselves. However, I don’t think she has time for trivial matters so I didn’t bother asking. I would have asked them to autograph it too.”
Rainbow was stunned silent for even the prospect of such a gift being reality.
“Did I ever tell you how awesome you are?”
“Hmm, not within the last 10 minutes?”
They both laughed.
“Alrighty then. Twilight Sparkle my eggheaded friend, you are without a shadow of a doubt, awesome in the book of Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight cocked her head in confusion, while also giggling a bit. “Book of Rainbow Dash? I don’t think I’ve read that one before.”
“I’m in the process of writing it. It shall be a memoir about me.” Twilight rolled her eyes as Rainbow continued to jokingly boast, or so she hoped was a joke.
“And what page of this book are you on?”
“…one.”
Both of them broke into hysterics at that statement, causing a few ponies to yet again look at them with strange looks, as if they were outsiders.
Finally Twilight’s eyes made out a rather impressive glass building, the outside dotted with spectacular gardens and sculptures of various sea creatures including sharks, manta rays, and dolphins.
“An aquarium?” Rainbow questioned. “Aren’t these like zoos but with water?”
“Kind of. Aquariums mostly feature animals which live in aquatic environments, hence the word aquarium. I’d figured it’d be cool, and perhaps you could learn a thing or two.”
Rainbow groaned once the worn learn was mentioned. “Twilight, Twilight… vacations aren’t supposed to be educational.”
“Who said that?”
“Me!”
Twilight smiled and shook her head. “Trust me, this is a really cool place! You’ll love it!”
“Pinkie Pie promise?” Rainbow requested.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twilight responded confidently.
“Alright, I suppose I could believe you this once.”
“Just this once?” Twilight squinted a bit at Rainbow, expecting a different answer.
“Alright alright, more than once. How about… twice?”
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes yet again, motioning her to follow as she started to walk inside the large entryway to the aquarium.
As they walked in they were greeted by a positively gigantic tank of water, so clear that one could even make out ponies standing on the other side. In the tank swam hundreds of fish, all of them a variety of colors and sizes and moving in all different directions. Both Twilight and Rainbow were already impressed with what they saw.
The rest of the day seemed to roll on quickly as the duo made their way through the aquarium, Twilight trying her hardest not to get sidetracked from the task at hand. The bookworm could have easily spent multiple days observing the creatures inhabiting said tanks, but that could be saved for another trip entirely. This was a birthday present for Rainbow, and she knew that Rainbow would remain the focal point.
Rainbow herself nearly squealed in delight when she saw an exhibit near the back of the aquarium which featured an open sandy tank which housed a dozen baby turtles. Twilight watched as she zoomed up to the side and reached out to pet one of them. Their heads initially went into their shells in fear, but eventually they accepted Rainbow as not being a threat, and one proceeded to mouth on Rainbow’s hoof. The excitement she got out of it was incredible, and she looked like a filly getting a tub of ice cream. Twilight found it to be the most adorable thing she’d ever witnessed Rainbow doing.
Eventually they came upon a tunnel-like exhibit. Just as Rainbow was about to pass it and go on to another exhibit, Twilight put her hoof out and stopped her, motioning towards the tank they were now standing at.
The tank they were currently observing was actually shaped in that of a tunnel one could go through. It was an innovative design, and allowed ponies to see a 180 degree view of the marine animals. Both Rainbow and Twilight were mesmerized by the overall beauty of all the different types of fish and other sea creatures, some of them colored purple and yellow, others the size of fillies swimming among the smaller.
Twilight pointed out one particular type of fish out to Rainbow.
“See these fish here?”
Rainbow watched as a school of bright orange fish swam into view, each one about a foot or so in length with some smaller ones behind it. She noticed their color more than anything, and realization came to her. “The orange ones right? I’m going to guess the next color you’re going to talk about is orange, correct?”
Twilight nodded happily. “Indeed. Now these fish here are called koi, spelt K-O-I. It’s a species of carp which usually come up a whole bunch of colors, including white, black, red, yellow, and most rare, orange. From what I’ve read, the orange ones are the most sought after, and they can represent good luck and fortune to a pony who has them.”
Rainbow was listening intently while also focusing on the koi who were darting overhead.
“Now the color orange itself has a lot of interesting meanings. The most common perhaps is joy and happiness. Other qualities include fascination, determination, attraction, and enthusiasm.”
Rainbow quizzically looked at Twilight when she mentioned attraction. “What do you mean by attraction?”
“When I read what I did on the color, it mentioned attraction as being more of a component of red-orange. It described red-orange as being a color representing physical and sexual attraction, desire, pleasure, and a thirst for action.” By now, both Twilight and Rainbow’s cheeks had turned red, especially Twilight’s as she embarrassingly recalled what the book had told her. “I guess having a thirst for action is something that fits you well. And when I mean action, I meant adventure, not the other thing…”
“Ah,” was all Rainbow said.
“But I think the quality of determination fits you best.”
“Not trying to be overly curious, but why?” Rainbow wanted to see what Twilight was going to say.
“Well, I always see you practicing your flying routines in preparation to someday join the Wonderbolts. And though you haven’t gotten there yet, you still continue to practice everyday in hope that one day you’ll reach that goal.” Twilight watched as a genuine smile began to form on Rainbow’s face.
“Remember the incident where you lead all the pegasi in bringing water to Cloudsdale? Despite the amount of ponies who got ill, you continued to motivate everypony and helped everypony believe that it could be done. Remember what happened with Fluttershy? It was you who persuaded her that she could reach the wing power necessary to help, and she did! So I think determination is a strong point of yours and trust me, I could go on and on if you want.”
Rainbow was stunned into silence, unable to process what she wanted to say to Twilight at this very moment. She attempted to put into words what she wanted to say.
“You know I hate being sappy. But that was one of the nicest things anypony has ever said to me.”
“Aww Dash, you’re being so sappy!” Twilight teased, earning a groan of annoyance out of the pegasus.
“Quit it. I was trying to be serious.”
Twilight started to walk towards the end of the tunnel as Rainbow stayed beside her. “Of course I knew that, I was just teasing you a little. Ever heard of treat others how you want to be treated as a filly?”
“Well yeah. But…”
Twilight turned around and gave Rainbow a smile knowing that there wasn’t really a good way she could properly respond.
“Alright you win,” Rainbow replied dryly.
“Yessss! Twilight one, Rainbow zero!”
“Actually if you count that race from the fire pit, we’re tied sister.”
“Oh right,” Twilight chuckled, “Forgot about that one.”
After a few more tanks, and a second trip back to the baby turtles so Rainbow could play with them, they eventually exited the aquarium an hour or so before it was scheduled to close for the day.
Twilight noticed the sky had grown much darker, and it had to be sometime around late afternoon. She had planned for the two of them to head to their next location a bit earlier. However, she had factored in possible delays, giving her a few hours worth of leeway in their travel plans. She knew they had to get a move on if they wanted to keep on schedule though.
“Ready for our next adventure?” Twilight asked, leading Rainbow back towards the subway they had come in on.
“Will you tell me what it is?”
Twilight giggled. “You still haven’t figured that out yet huh?”
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Author's Note: Anyway, hope you're all enjoying this so far.
Definitely.
I...
I can't wait for the next one, This is such a great story!
U are clever than u look.
Loved the idea when I first saw it. It's proving to be just as adorable as it sounds.
Keep up the good work!
WWWWWEEEEEEEEE!!!
24.media.tumblr.com/9d77e623e1de524d78c91c156ab5c74b/tumblr_mjv7vvHhoq1s6051io1_400.gif
spoiler alert YELLOW
Think you might wanna correct this.
I originally thought you were going to use clown fish but the koi work much better.
this is reminding me of the Light Bringer books
That opening was kinda out of the blue. Well explained though. And that bit with the turtles is by far my favorite part of any fanfic.
Insert male joke here
DAMN IT!! Beat me to it!!!
Really good story