(SiC) Part 9 - Sailing Through The Storm

by Brian Jacko

Still Loyal, Even When it Hurts

Rainbow Dash looked out the window, waiting for Soarin' to get home. She wondered why he was acting so strangely and why he continued to refuse to talk to her about what was going on with him and that new mare. She sat at the dining room table with her front hoof resting up against her cheek. She was still upset about this situation and also bored. Rainbow Dash may have current limitations because of pain and exhaustion, but she was a pony who at heart would always love adventure, thrills and even learned to enjoy romance.

Rainbow Dash sat there with her food served on her plate, waiting patiently. Her ears perked up when she heard the front door open and watched as her husband stepped in looking tired as usual.

Without hesitating, Soarin' came to the table. He was hungry as usual and couldn't wait to eat. "Hi, sweetie! How are you?"

Rainbow Dash didn't make eye contact with him. She simply pushed the entire pot with one hoof over to him. "Here," she said in the most apathetic tone of voice. "You must be quite hungry."

Soarin' perked up when he saw all that she had left for him. "Hungry as a horse!" he exclaimed and then drove his face into the pot.

Rainbow Dash took a few bites of her food and then watched her spouse go to town on that big pot of food.

Soarin' picked his head up. He was chewing loudly and his eyes were closed with pleasure. He swallowed greatly and said, "You sure get better at making dinner every single day, Dash." Soarin' opened his eyes to see that Dash still had her head resting up against her hoof. The smile from his face slowly faded away and he now looked concerned. "Hey, Dash?"

Rainbow Dash looked at him and sighed. "What?"

Soarin' lit up with the biggest smile. "Smile, kid. I love you."

Rainbow Dash stared at him without any amusement. "I wish I could, but I can't right now. When are you going to tell me what you're up to?"

Soarin' took a few more huge bites of food and said with a mouthful, "Dash, I already told you. If I told you, it would absolutely ruin everything."

"I don't think it really matters at this point, Soarin'."

"Very soon you'll see what this is all about. Don't you like surprises like your friend, Pinkie Pie?"

"Honestly, not in this situation. No, I don't." Rainbow answered.

"I just need a little bit more time, why don't you hang out with your filly friends tonight and make it a girl's night out? I really need to be alone for what I'm planning."

Rainbow Dash was getting extremely agitated at this moment. She slammed her hoof down on the table and shouted out, "Because I want to be with you and you won't spend any time with me other than to eat and sleep with!"

Soarin' put his hooves up in defense as if to block those last few words that she spoke. "Whoa there. Easy, tiger." He slowly put his hoof on top of Rainbow's hoof on the table and continued. "Listen, I promise we're going to spend plenty of time together. Honestly, it's much more of the fact that Spitfire has me working overtime rather than what I'm doing on the side. I just had this idea a while ago and I have to go through with it since I've already invested so much time into this. Don't forget, the word of the Lord says that it's good for wives to submit to their husbands, as to the Lord."

Rainbow Dash freed her hoof from his and replied, "And right under that passage it says for husbands to love their wives unconditionally, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Rainbow decided that it would be wise to give in to his wish and go see what her friends were up to since Soarin' wanted to do whatever he was up to. She didn't want to argue anymore with him or risk having their marriage fall apart. She got up and walked next to Soarin' who was now licking the pot, trying to scrape every last bit of morsel that he could with his tongue. Rainbow Dash stared at him for a moment and then put her head down on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Soarin, I don't know what you're doing, but do know that I'll always love you and will remain loyal to you no matter what. Communication is the most important aspect of any relationship and leaving me in the dark without any answers hurts so much. I fear that a lack of communication will eventually destroy any relationship."

Soarin' stopped licking the pot and turned to her. He gave her one giant lick across the side of her face. "And I'll always love you too, most delicious pie in the sky of my eyes. Don't you worry about a thing. Soon, the veil shall be lifted and you'll understand. It will be so worth it. I promise!"

Rainbow Dash wiped the side of her face with her front leg. "Gee, thanks for the lick."

Soarin'' giggled and got up out of his seat. "You go have a fun night out with your gal pals. Make sure to stay out for at least three hours because I really need the time. Don't come back early either."

Rainbow sighed. She found herself sighing a lot these days. "Yeah, have fun, I guess. See you later."

Soarin' watched as she exited the house and then proceeded to the bedroom for what he had planned.

Outside, Rainbow Dash felt the need for some comfort, so she decided to visit her best friend, Applejack.

Rainbow Dash searched the farm for her friend but could not find her. She only saw Big Macintosh in the distance plowing the fields. Rainbow Dash trotted over to him and stared at him for a moment as he was now hunched over and breathing heavily.

"Hey, Big Macintosh!"

"Gah!" Big Macintosh cried out.

"Jeez," Rainbow Dash said. "A bit jumpy?"

"I'm under a lot of stress right now and I don't appreciate it when ponies sneak up on me like that."

"Why? Where's Applejack to help you out?"

"Gone fer good it looks like," Big Mac replied. "I might be leavin' too."

"But why? This is her passion."

"Cause Granny and Applejack got into a little argument over attendin' Mass. I reckon ya better git before Granny anathematizes you too."

"Any idea where she went?"

"Big Macintosh shook his head no. "Nope, but I reckon that perhaps she went to see cousin Braeburn. It's the only other place that I'd go to if I got kicked off the farm."

A voice from behind the barn called out, "Big Macintosh! I need yer help!"

"Gah! That's Granny again." Big Mac turned to Dash and said, "Ya better git before she finds ya here and I git into more trouble."

Rainbow Dash nodded her head Okay. "Thanks for the heads up on A.J.. Hopefully, she's okay and everything can be resolved soon. See you later."

Big Macintosh watched as Rainbow Dash zipped off. It was going to be another long day and he figured that sooner or later, either Apple Bloom or Granny was going to get hurt while attempting to do Applejack's chores.

Rainbow Dash thought about where she was going. She thought about going all the way to Appleloosa to see if Applejack were there, but she couldn't travel that far with her pain and fatigue. She decided that she should go check on their group leader, Twilight and let her know what was going on with Applejack.

Rainbow Dash was surprised to find that the library was closed at this hour. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Spike.

"Oh. Hi, Rainbow. What can I do for you?" Spike asked.

"I have got to talk with Twilight. Something terrible has happened!"

"Oh, well, I was told not to let anypony bother her, but I assume she wouldn't mind if it's an emergency." Spike stepped back allowing Rainbow Dash to enter.

There she saw Twilight hunched over some books and writing down some notes. She hurried over and sat down in front of her. She sat there staring at her friend, waiting for her to take notice, but Twilight was so absorbed in her studies that she did not notice her. "Eh-hem!"

Twilight looked up from her book. "Rainbow Dash? What brings you here?'

"Twi! You won't believe what happened to A.J.. I just came back from Sweet Apple Acres and Big Macintosh told me that..."

Twilight finished her sentence. "That Granny Smith excommunicated her from the family for being friends with me. I already know."

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked. "How did you know?"

"Because Applejack came to me and is currently staying here."

"Wow, really? May I go talk to her and see how she's doing?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea. She requested that she be left alone and has been crying a lot up there. She's in agony right now. Not just over the fact that Granny disowned her, but more so that she now believes that Catholicism teaches that all Protestants who reject Catholic cannon go straight to Hell. She's really confused about salvation and if she's going to heaven or not because of all this. It's almost like she's leaning towards Pascal's wager with her thinking right now. I haven't had much time to talk with her because I'm so busy preparing for this very important event that's coming up soon."

"Event?" Rainbow asked.

"It came up by surprise. Princess Celestia is holding a debate at the Grand Galloping Gala since the secular movement asked for one and well, guess who she decided to pick for the side defending religion for this event? Me."

"You honestly don't sound too happy to be doing this, Twi. I thought you loved theology, science and spreading the good news." Rainbow said.

"It's not so great when you're tired," Twilight said as she used her magic and took a big gulp of coffee and then put it aside. "I don't think I slept at all last night. This whole thing came a bit unexpected and I have to gather materials fast. I'm going up against a well known Atheist that has quite a following."

"What's the debate topic on?" Rainbow asked.

"It's about your typical religious debate, but also why religion is good for Equestria and more importantly, why specifically Christianity."

"What are you reading about in that book?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, I'm reading about the multi-verse theory," Twilight answered.

"What's that about and what do you think you'll most likely be talking about at the debate and how do you think you'll respond?"

"It's basically the Atheist's version of the God of the gaps argument. It's even more ludicrous when they claim that there are an infinite amount of universes. I feel like we'll be discussing how the universe came into being and evolution. I think it's foolish to logically and scientifically assert that the universe created itself from nothing. This is what the atheistic position proposes, yet if science and logic tells us anything, out of nothing comes nothing. The universe did not appear out of nowhere like a rabbit from a magician's hat and life does not arise from dead matter. If there's anything science tells us, it's that life does not arise spontaneously. Ever. That means something created life in this universe. How about we all consider the God that rose from the dead? The only way I can possibly imagine nothing coming from nothing is if they somehow changed the definition of what the word nothing truly means. Rainbow, did you know the universe is so complex and if any of the basic values of the universe and relationships of nature were altered in just the slightest way, our universe would not exist and neither would we? I'm sure evolution will be brought up and as for evolution, one of main problems with evolution is the assertion that we are not the culmination or apex of God's creation, but are still a work in progress, in fact, every creature or plant that God created and said was 'very good' would still be a work in progress, evolving to some yet unknown apex. Evolution raises many more questions than it answers as regards to theology. The theory of evolution makes God look like Doctor Frankenstein rather than a benevolent Creator and while technically it may be compatible with the Bible, there are still so many questions left unanswered. Evolution can't explain how unconscious life transformed itself into conscious life, or give an explanation for our rationality, or morality."

"So how does something like the big bang theory fit into scripture?" Rainbow asked.

"It's rather interesting," Twilight said. "Prior to the big bang, there were no laws of physics and the laws of physics can not explain the big bang since the big bang produced the laws of physics. Nothing can be discovered about what happened before the big bang since time itself did not yet exist. Galaxies flung apart and the universe is constantly expanding. Now, as to answer how this all ties in with the Bible. The universe was created in a burst of light about fifteen billion years ago. Our sun and our planet came into existence billions of years later. Therefor, light did precede the sun and the earth. We can look in the book of Genesis for connections to the big bang theory." Twilight opened up a Bible and showed Dash. She used her magic to temporarily highlight the verses for her to read. "Go on, read it."

Rainbow Dash began to read out loud. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Rainbow Dash stopped reading where the last word was highlighted. "That's really fascinating."

Twilight used her magic to highlight another section for Rainbow to read. "What I highlighted here is what refers to the formation of the sun and earth. Day and night in which we experience as a result of earth's rotation. This was all created much later than the universe itself." Twilight tapped her hoof on the table. "Continue reading what I highlighted."

Rainbow focused on the next section. "God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." She picked her head up from the book and seemed to be deep in thought about making all of these connections.

"If there's one thing we need to remember, it's that God is not natural, but supernatural," Twilight said.

"I would have never considered any of this on my own," Rainbow said.

Twilight paused for a moment and looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes. "You know, the more I talk to Atheists who are militant in their faith, the more I really begin to believe that's it's truly like a religion. Heck, they have literal Atheist churches across Equestria. If you don't want to worship God, you will find somepony or something else to worship. The amount of time and money you invest into something most is usually a great indicator of what your God is or will become."

"Or as they say, Atheism being a religion is like not collecting books is a hobby," Rainbow said.

"No, not really," Twilight said. "But both not collecting books being labeled as a hobby and evangelical type door to door Atheism are equally ridiculous to me. I sometimes can't comprehend why God is such a big deal to them when they believe for certain that He doesn't exist, or as they like to put it sometimes, there is no good enough reason to believe. It seems absurd to me when so many of them talk about something they don't believe in almost incessantly to the point where God tends to be more of a common conversation for them than compared to actual believers in God. It makes me sad that they give such high praise to their leaders and call each other 'brights' which implies that the religious are dumb and they like to pretend that Christians are a hindrance to science. It seems that they have forgotten that our greatest thinkers and scientists of the early days were Christians. I just don't get what drives them to be so zealous about converting other pony's beliefs that gives them great hope and meaning to move on in life in comparison to a belief that basically renders what we do in life as meaningless and bleak since all life will eventually be destroyed when our star, the sun will not remain in its current state like it is now. It's almost as if many of them can't allow others to be happy and content in their religion and I can speculate why many are like this, but I don't have the time to keep rambling on about this. I'm not sure what points are going to be brought up during this debate, I can just be assured that it's not going to be easy for me regardless of what topics get brought up."

Rainbow Dash looked confused. "Well, don't work too hard, Twi! You'll win this debate easily knowing how much of an egg head you are and I'm reminded that the Bible says that the fool says in his heart that there is no God." She paused for a moment and then asked, "We're still on for Bible study, right?"

Twilight shook her head no. "I'm sorry, but I recently had to quit because of what's been going on. I sent a letter out to all of you, but I take it that you haven't gotten it yet."

Rainbow Dash was shocked and her heart sunk deep within her chest. "But.....but....where are we going to go for study?"

Twilight Sparkle flipped a page that she was looking at in her book and answered, "You can always find some other pony. I'm not the only Christian in Equestria you know."

Rainbow Dash was taken aback by how indifferent Twilight sounded. "It's just not going to be the same without you teaching, Twi."

"Well, I'm awfully sorry, but I do not have any more time to keep doing this. It seems that I've made quite a name for myself out here and Princess Celestia hasn't helped matters much by selecting me for this debate, but how could I say no to the Princesses's request?"

Rainbow Dash looked at her blood shot eyes. "Don't you think you could just take a break or go on vacation for a bit? I mean, I really don't see why you have to cut something out that's been such an important part of our lives and routine."

"Because I spend a lot of time these days with ponies of other beliefs, mainly Atheists and Agnostics whom I love very much and while I understand this is something that is very important for our friendship, priorities must take place. You girls have been with me for a long time. Why don't you try to have a study without me and see how it goes? Just remember the Old Testament has to be read in light of the New Testament. It's not really that hard." Twilight looked out the window and said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few and I've got to do what I've got to do."

Rainbow Dash thought about that for a moment. "Gosh, I'm sorry for sounding selfish. I really didn't think about that and I'm just going to miss having the best and most interesting teacher ever. I'm not trying to sound like a cutie mark kisser, but you really are the best teacher and you're so much fun. I remember how you could spend hours talking about a single passage in the Bible and giving your philosophical input on it without making anything sound boring."

Twilight Sparkle gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Dash. I appreciate that."

Rainbow Dash looked and noticed eight large empty cups around her. "What are you drinking so much of?'

Twilight looked down at her cup and replied. "It's called Christian liquid crack. It seems that the good Lord Himself demanded that all the churches serve massive amounts of this drug every Sunday at church."

"Do you mean caffeine from coffee?" Rainbow asked. "It is kind of odd how much coffee Christians drink.

"Yep, I need to stop. It's been ruining my sleep pattern and has been making me piss half the day away. I think I'm hooked on this new cult called Coffeeanity."

"Not even I drank that stuff as a Wonderbolt," Rainbow said. "I always preferred white tea anyway."

"I hear you." Twilight pushed aside the book she was currently reading and opened up another. "Soooooo. How's married life?"

Rainbow Dash blinked for a few moments as she processed Twilight's question in her mind. She was so upset and concerned about Applejack and Princess Celestia's big debate event that she forgot about the one major issue that she specifically wanted to talk to Twilight about. "Oh boy. Not Good, Twi. Not good at all." Rainbow's mood and posture sunk when she thought about it.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "What's the problem? You two have just been married. You worked so hard to get this stallion and now you're not happy?"

Rainbow Dash put her head down even lower. "I don't know what to say, Twi. We had everything going well and all of the sudden he wants to spend absolutely no time with me unless it has to do with food or well, yeah, you know the other thing he wants I'm sure."

"Sounds like a typical stallion. Food and bed."

"He used to be so romantic and spend every second he possibly could with me. Today, he practically forced me out of the house and told me to spend some time with my gal pals."

"What's his reason for it?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know since he only tells me so much. He says that he's working on something, but the most infuriating thing is that I saw him going up to this house and giving this mare a bag of bits. I had never seen her before and I assume that she must be new in town. When I asked him what that was all about, he started babbling nonsense."

"Oh, really?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, I mean, he tells me not to worry about it, but how can I seriously not worry after what we have went through together with our past? I know that a ponies behaviors of the past makes a good indication of what they may do in the future, but I seriously believed that this stallion really gave his life to Christ and was committed to only me. I'm so confused, but I don't even care what he's doing with that other mare behind closed doors. I'd never leave him regardless, but I am left in the dark with no answers."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, but I commend you for your extreme loyalty to him, no matter what. Although he must have said something to you about the matters when you asked. What did he say when you confronted him?"

"He said that he can't tell me at this moment, but somehow, this is all going to be some kind of surprise and that he's doing it for me. He makes absolutely no sense to me right now."

"Hmmm. I see," Twilight said. "I understand that thoughts of the past would be a painful reminder, but here's a super crazy idea. Why not just wait a bit and see what happens?"

"That's what he keeps telling me to do, but he's been so busy working overtime with the Wonderbolts and I just want to do something with him, yet he won't allow me to spend any time with him. He always insists that I go out and have fun, but I see that you have absolutely no time to hang out with me and I'm sure A.J. doesn't want to do anything fun either right now. I'm also a bit leery of Pinkie at the moment and I'm sure Rarity and Fluttershy are busy as well."

"I really can't do much right now. I'm very busy gathering materials for my presentation and I need some time alone to think. I'm having a hard enough time keeping Applejack sane and reminding her that she's not the cursed anathema. I think I should probably go check on her soon, although I don't know how I'm going to feed her with the amount of food that she eats."

"Boy, I feel really bad for her. I never knew that Granny Smith felt that way. I guess I'll leave you alone to study since you feel that you need to study diligently to win this debate." Rainbow Dash got up and headed over to the door. She turned around and said, "And please tell Applejack that she can see me at any time she desires. I really hate to see a pony as good and honest as her suffer."

"I most certainly will, Rainbow. Take care of yourself and I hope to hear some good news about your relationship with Soarin'."

"Thanks, Twi. I'd wish you well on the debate, but I already know that you don't need it. You're going to win it easily."

Twilight laughed. "I really appreciate that, but knowing how fast Ponyville is turning secular and that I probably won't have the crowd advantage, I'm pretty sure I have a very good chance at losing. I don't even want to do this debate, honestly. I'll see you later though."

Rainbow Dash left the library and walked around town a bit to kill time before heading back home.