9 - Truth at the Trotwalk
With a meal sloshing within their bellies, Rainbow and Swift took a leisurely flight over the Brayside shoreline. Ahead was a pier with several small buildings and a Ferris Wheel; but at their pace, they were still a few minutes away from arrival. Rainbow could’ve risked indigestion and revved up her wings for a race but instead yearned for peace of mind.
“Are you surprised he told us about that so easily, Swift,” she asked the stallion flying next to her.
“About what?”
“His, you know, condition.” Rainbow shivered. “I can’t even say the name of it, but he did like it was nothing.”
“Guess that’s what time does for you,” he answered as he watched the ocean waves crash onto the rocky beach. “You never forget but every day gets a little easier.”
After a brief pause, she took a deep breath. “Be honest with me, Swift. I know your mom and dad know what happened to us but, um, have you told anybody else, by any chance?”
“Wh–what? Have I–?” Once he recovered from the question, he met her eye to eye. “Blossom. Just Blossom. She somehow found out things and… I’m sorry, Rainbow. I wanted to tell you earlier but I didn’t want to drop something so heavy on you when—”
“It’s okay,” she answered with a flourishing smile. “Really. It’s okay. You know I trust you. So, um, how did that go?”
“What you do mean by that?”
“Well, it’s just that I haven’t said anything to anypony yet. I’m... how can I put this? I know I have my secrets but this is the biggest one I’ve ever kept from my friends. What’s going to happen if I have to tell them one day?”
“Nothing, really.”
“Huh?”
Swift nodded. “Blossom listened, she laughed, she cried and at the end, she hugged me – rather hard I might add – and then, that was it.”
She cast him a befuddled stare.
“Really! It was kinda wicked, actually, getting all that off my plate. I always had that feeling that she knew something was up with me but I couldn’t even convince myself I had a problem. In the end, she needed to know because she’s my friend. She deserved to hear the truth.”
A friend – the word recalled memories of those relating to the other element bearers.
“Sometimes, she thinks I’m a brother, though,” he continued. “Drives me up the wall but… are you listening?”
“Huh?” Rainbow fidgeted in mid-flight, “Sorry. Just trying to sort stuff in my head. Ugh, must have been that tea. Making me overthink, you know?”
“Warned you Chimes might’ve slipped something into it.”
They passed over a small dock before lining up with a cobblestone path lined with classical-style streetlights and shops tailored for the window shopper looking for a deal. The hands of a clock on a tall post read seven o’clock. Swift shielded his eyes from the setting sun and scanned over the various ponies walking beneath. A few familiar Brayside faces waved at him and he greeted them in return.
Eventually, the pair landed in front of an overhead sign reading Brayside Trotwalk. A long and wide pier stretched in front of them but instead of running into their expected party, Light Shower jogged right up to them.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working,” Swift asked with a sideways frown. “You show up at Chimes’ place and now here, too?”
“I’ll be back at the site in a minute,” he answered. “Rarity wanted me to tell you that the group’s running a little late, so you two can go right on ahead. They’ll come and find you.”
Swift’s eyelids dropped halfway. “Uh, huh. Really? And why are they running late, exactly?”
“You’ll have to ask her. She was in such a rush, I didn’t get a chance to ask.” He winked as he took off, “Bon Voyage, you two!”
What’s up with these ponies? Swift reached for his hair, Something tells me Blossom is involved in all of this. When I find her, I’m—
“C’mon, Swift,” Rainbow spoke, pulling him below the sign. “You heard the pony! I’m not waiting around for those slowpokes!”
He grunted confusedly. “Um, don’t you see what’s going on here?”
She stopped pulling him but continued holding his hoof. “What?”
“They’re trying to, um, oh.” He looked in no particular direction, “Well, I–I meant to say, we can wait here a few minutes, Rainbow. Maybe they’re, um, not far behind?”
“Ugh. Well, I suppose, but I’m only giving them—” Her eyes widened at a pony wheeling around a pink box with a shiny bowl on the top. “Cotton candy! I want some of that! C’mon! It’s not that far. Please?”
Swift readied an answer but that gleeful sparkle shimmering all around her reminded him of this contrived situation.
Cool your jets, Swift. I’ve done this before. What did Chimes tell us? Relax. Yeah. Relax. He focused on his breathing. I’m just hanging with Rainbow at the Trotwalk. That’s all it is.
“Cotton candy it is!”
“Yes!” Rainbow reached around for some change. “I, um, darnit. Um—?”
“No worries. This one’s on me.”
“Candy?”
Blitz placed a big jar of jellybeans onto the kitchen counter. “Why not? Everypony loves candy! We just toss it into the mix and just like that, gnarly food!”
Applejack yanked down on her cheeks. “Candy? You can’t just throw stuff willy-nilly into a pie!” She grabbed onto a pie pan and pointed within it. “It’s gotta be just right so that one ingredient doesn’t overpower the other! That’s Cooking 101!”
“That’s Cooking 101! You and your lame-o rules,” he countered before tossing some squishy treats into his mouth. “All this talk about food’s making me even more hungry! Gonna get myself a snack!”
He swung the refrigerator open and reached into the top section covered in hard ice. Once he found a tub of vanilla ice cream, he smacked his lips. Then, he set it aside so he could find himself a scoop in one of the many small drawers.
“I can never find the damn thing,” he complained, opening and slamming shut a drawer stuffed with forks. “Forget this search for scoopy! I know what I can do!”
Blitz placed a pineapple onto the counter and – with one hoof chop – cracked open the top part. After squishing the fruit inside into a liquid, he tipped over some ice cream into his makeshift cup. He was ready for a sip but Applejack yanked it away from his grasp.
“Yo! What’s the deal, Jack?”
Applejack stared into the concoction as she would a fresh batch of apple cider. “Whoa, nelly. I think we just stumbled onto something.”
“What?” He resumed his search for his utensil, “I make that stuff all the time. Nothing rad, really.”
She took a sip. “Hmmm. Hmmmm! You know, this wouldn’t be a bad idea! Yeah, I betcha no family would even think of using something like a pineapple for a cup! We whip up a few good brews, we use the pineapples as a holder and we got drinks down, pat! That way, we can focus on baked goods and whatnot.”
Blitz pulled a scoop from a bottom cabinet. “Sweet. Hey? You want some ice cream? I know where we have some huge cones!”
The cowpony switched between the melting white treat and the pie pan. “You know? I think I do. You did preheat that oven, right?”
“Um, yeah. Blitz yeah! It’s baking time!”
“So sticky!”
Rainbow buried her muzzle into one of two spun candies she held, both blue.
“But so good!”
Swift stood by her, his eyes on the sea where boats ranging from small dinghies to a cruise ship sailed in different directions. His ice cream cone was half of its original shape and a solitary sprinkle floated at the top of a small pool of melting chocolate.
With one swallow, Swift finished his dessert. “Should we keep waiting for them, Rainbow?”
“No,” she mumbled before tossing two barren sticks into the nearest trashcan. “They don’t wait for me this long when I’m late.”
“But it’s only been five minutes.”
She cantered down the dock. “Five minutes of lost fun time but I’m sure we can make that up! Let’s go! Just let them find us!”
“Gotcha.” He took one last look toward the entrance. All right. I’ll play along, for now.
Swift quickly followed her, not wanting to lose her in the sea of bodies. Just as he caught up to her, a black hat floated down right in front of them.
Rainbow reached down for it but grayish red smoke suddenly engulfed them. Once it cleared, the hat was on the top of its apparent owner, a white unicorn stallion with curled jet-black hair. His black cape fluttered before settling down around his body. He reached below it and pulled out a red electric guitar.
“Would this item be yours, Madamorsielle,” the new arrival asked Rainbow in a suave voice.
She plucked one of the strings. “What the… this is mine, but how is it here? It should be back at my place!”
Nearby, a group of ponies gathered by a wooden crate applauded loudly.
“You really shouldn’t be stealing ponies’ stuff for your magic act, Hocus,” Swift lectured. “Blossom warned you about that.”
The magician took a bow. “But as I told that lovely maremoiselle, it was not theft if I returned the item.”
With a wave of a wand, the hat expanded to three times its size. Per Hocus’ instructions, Rainbow tossed the guitar into the open end where it disappeared in a burst of red light.
“Please, as a courtesy for being part of my act, is there anything I could retrieve for either of you?”
Swift sighed. “Well, I’m a little low on bits. There’s a bag of—”
“Hocus Pocus Magnifique!” From within the hat, he pulled out a small lumpy sack and gave it to his participant.
He shook the bag and heard jingling. “Definitely mine.”
Again, the audience cheered their approval.
“I thank you, denizens of Brayside Beach and visitors from afar,” Hocus bellowed. “This is but a small preview of tomorrow’s performance.” After another burst of magic, he populated posters on pier posts and a nearby bulletin board. “I bid you all, adieu!”
The magician leaped into his hat, cape and all. The headwear then shrank until it blinked out of existence.
“What in Equestria?” Swift waved his foreleg across the open air, “Well, that one’s new! It just disappeared!”
That pleased the audience to clap one last time before going their separate ways. Rainbow was among them, only to run back to Swift and pull him further down the dock.
“Don’t try to figure it out,” she said. “Pfft! You know how these unicorns are, trying to wow everypony with their Magic smagic! Buh! His little act’s gonna be nothing compared to our big show!”
“If we can pull it off. Shoot. We’re not even sure exactly what we’re doing yet.”
“I know but we don’t have to worry about that right now. Hey! Let’s go in there!”
Together, they entered a hall where mirrors covered every available space. Small, large, concave, convex and wavy, each shiny surface turned the ponies walking through the attraction into every imaginable form.
Soon enough, Rainbow walked to an upright mirror and stretched her face muscles. “Whoa! Heh, heh!” Look! I’m finally taller than you, Swift!”
When he stood right next to her, his alter image ballooned to seven feet. “Keep drea—”
Rainbow forced his head down. “Taller than you! Ha, ha!”
Flashing a toothy grin, “Yeah, you’re looking kinda big. You gotta lay off those sweets, Rainbow.”
Before she could pop him, he slipped from grasp and whizzed around a bend. One look above and she saw ten of him peeking around a corner. “Ha! You think you can hide from me?”
“Try me,” he shouted back before his reflections disappeared.
The chase was on but he was smart enough to start the game – whether that was his intention – inside a building designed like a maze. The low ceiling prevented Rainbow from getting a better view and any sudden acceleration and she would be pulling out shards from her coat for the rest of the evening. Other ponies continually appeared and disappeared in the many mirrors but what was more distracting was the occasional sunlight trying to render her blind.
After a few minutes, she spotted five of him meandering through a narrow section. Her instincts said one thing but her mind told her something else.
Yeah, I got you. Just you wait.
She focused on a mirror with a mice-size version of him. “You better be ready! The moment I see you, I’m taking you down!” A pause later, “Aha! Gotcha now!”
Rainbow bolted straight ahead, ignoring the internal alarms telling her that she was going far too fast at a target that didn’t exist. When a gray streak appeared to her left, she tapped the brakes and swerved just enough to tackle the real Swift Flying. A few rolls on the floor later, she had him pinned to the ground.
“I told you that you can’t get away from me that easily,” she said, poking him in the nose.
He waited until the three Rainbows he saw merged into one. “That was totally bonkers! You almost crashed into that mirror!”
“Exactly! That’s what I wanted you to think, so that you would come out and rescue me.”
“Eh?”
She laughed at his innocence as she got him back on his hooves, “C’mon. Just admit it. For all your agility, all I had to do is guess what you were going to do. I simply used myself as the bait and you fell right into my trap.”
Once it dawned on him what had happened, he shook his head and chuckled. “Shoot. That was clever, Rainbow. You were real clever.”
Compliments about her physical prowess were a dime a dozen but praise about her intelligence usually came dripped with sarcasm. “Really? I—” Six blushing reflections surrounded her “—that’s, um, thanks. I mean—”
Ding! Past the hall’s exit, a puck struck a bell at the top of a twenty-foot tower. At ground level, a tall stallion lifted a rubber hammer off a piece of metal and over his head. The tower’s lights declared to the world a victor but they also called out to Rainbow, daring her to test her mettle.
“Um, yeah. Yeah, Swift! You didn’t think I had brain muscle, too? Plu-ese! But, hey! Let me show you some real muscles at work!”
“One more adjustment!”
Inside Widget’s workshop, the unicorn flipped up an access panel on the side of the unpainted cannon. Beside her, Pinkie tossed her a screwdriver and then watched Widget twist one of the many screws hidden in between the twisting thin wires within the tight space. After three small turns, Pinkie juddered on the concrete floor like a jackhammer without an operator. Before Widget could ask what was going on, Pinkie started spinning on one hind leg with her tongue wagging freely in the air.
“Pin-kie sense,” the party pony screeched before coming to a screeching halt. “Uh, oh. That means—”
Smoke suddenly rose from the opening.
“Oh, bugger,” Widget yelped over the few beeping smoke alarms that still had power. “The firing sequence has gone off early!”
Pinkie tried pulling her away from the cannon, “We better get out of here! She’s gonna blow any second now!”
“No, Pinkie! I can save this one! Drill! Pliers! Do your magic!”
Said tools levitated right into the smoldering access point. Widget feverously snipped cords and unfastened bolts but the ashy smell soon congested nostrils and induced coughing.
“Bugger! Bugger! Bugger!” Widget exchanged the pliers for a hammer and she struck everything within the panel, causing sparks.
“I don’t think that’s helping, Widge!”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” Widget pressed her forelegs on her head, much like her bulging-eye partner. “I won’t lose another one!” She dug her hoof inside and yanked out wiring. “Not again!”
“Duck!”
Widget looked around the workshop, “Where’s the duck?”
Pinkie tackled Widget up and over a workbench. Moments later, a booming thunder shattered every window in the workshop and sent a chunk of ceiling crashing onto the floor. Widget caught a glimpse of the cannon rocketing into the Brayside sky before a flash of light turned it into a distant shower of glowing debris.
“That wasn’t the boom we were looking for,” Pinkie uttered.
Once the last of the smoke alarms fizzled out, Widget got up and made a silent march toward a descending staircase at the corner of one of the walls.
“Widget!” Pinkie wriggled her tail that was pinned by the overturned table. “Wait!”
Pinkie chased her down the steps into a room a size more suitable for a walk-in closet than a bedroom. By one corner was a rolling toolbox alongside a dresser drawer with a crack running across the mirror. On the other side, Widget rested face up on a cot, barely acknowledging her visitor before staring at the wooden paneling.
“I’m sorry that one didn’t work,” said Pinkie, taking a seat on the squishy bed. “At least the boom looked pretty!”
Widget pouted her lips. “Oy. I screwed up again, Pinkie. Why can’t I do anything right?”
Pinkie gasped dramatically. “You shouldn’t say that, silly! You fixed Rarity’s watch and you were the one that built my tried and true party cannon. Besides, we’ll have the regular fireworks ready in time for the festival. This is just a little fun side project. It won’t be a total disaster if it doesn’t work by Saturday.”
“I know but I want everypony to see that I’m not always a screw-up.” She pointed at various blueprints sprawled on the walls, “You see those, Pinkie? Them gadgets are the ones I really really want to work, the gadgets that would put Widget Fixit on the map as a pony that could fix and build anything. You know how many of those ideas have gotten off the ground?” She realized the fireworks cannon blueprint was among the designs. “Well, intentionally, anyways.”
“I know how you feel. Everypony thinks planning for parties is easy but it took me years to be great. I can’t tell you how often I used to buy the wrong gifts, forget somepony’s favorite cake flavor or went with the wrong theme. It’s easy to be down in the dumps when things don’t go your way but what made me feel better is to keep on trying!”
She pulled open a puzzle board and tossed the contents onto the cot.
“You just put the small pieces together like so and no matter how hard it may seem, if you just keep at it long enough, Voila!”
Pinkie now had an assembled portrait of the party cannon.
“What a great feeling that is! Widge-Widge, I may have built a lot of things but you’re the best put-together-stuff pony I know! You shouldn’t give up!”
Widget rose from her cot. “Give up? Oh, you silly bugger! I just needed a wee of a break. That’s why I come down here. Whatever frustrations I have, I let them all out here so it doesn’t get in the way when I finally get back to work. Besides, if I did everything right the first time, that wouldn’t be exciting at all!”
“Really? Oh, never mind, then!”
She then hugged Pinkie hard. “But you’re a good mate to have around, Pink-Pink.”
“Anytime!” Pinkie suddenly had the shakes.
“W–what’s that supposed t–to mean?”
“Off the bed! Now!”
Together, they rolled onto the floor. Two seconds later, a cannon wheel crashed right into the cot, splitting it in half.
Widget crawled up to the glowing wheel and gave it a prod. “Oy! It needs some mending but I can still use this!” She craned her neck and scanned the blue expanse past her new makeshift skylight. “But where did the other one go?”
“Can I stop now, Rainbow?”
“Again, Swift. You can’t quit on me yet!”
Swift gasped for air as he tried lifting a long hammer off the pier dock. He managed to hold it horizontal but soon after, the heavy end landed on the edge of the metal lever. Consequently, the puck hopped four inches off the ground and the game mocked him with the sound of a sad trombone.
“That was painful to watch,” Rainbow nagged, landing in front of him. “I was able to strike the bell on my third try and you can’t even make it halfway, at best.”
“That’s because you used your wings on the way down that time,” he said in an asthmatic voice. “You saw that, didn’t you, High Striker?”
The games attendant — a portly stallion with an abundance of facial hair — shook his head. “Pretty low to accuse the lovely lady of cheating.” He grunted. “I didn’t see nothing.”
You were practically eyeballing her the whole time!
Rainbow flashed a devious grin. “Poor, poor, Swift. As always, you keep making up excuses for being so weak. Now, try again.” She stood by the anvil and pointed, “Right here this time. The least you can do is hit this right.”
His hooves buckled at the mere thought of picking up what was a heavy anvil over his head. Before he could voice his objection, though, a shadow expanded on where she stood.
“Rainbow! Get back!”
“Huh?”
Swift pushed Rainbow out of the way of a round object crashing straight through the dock. The tower slid right into the new hole and rang its bell one final time before splashing into the sparkling blue abyss.
High Striker looked over the edge. “Swift!” He scowled at the slender stallion sprawled on the dock alongside Rainbow. “What has that friend of yours done this time?”
“H–hold on,” he stammered, crawling back from the attendant’s long shadow. “Widget’s not even here! Why do you think—?”
High Striker directed his attention at the trail of smoke originating from some faraway hills. “Hmm, I wonder who lives over there!”
“Oh. Heh, heh. Um, I’ll see if she’ll build you a new one?”
“Better and taller! Oh, and for the love of Celestia, at least have the courtesy of helping your lady friend up, huh?”
Rainbow waved him off, “Like I need his help. Pffft, I even saw… whatever that was coming! I could’ve just avoided it myself.”
Swift turned his head. “Then why didn’t you—”
“I wanted you to feel useful. Otherwise, I’d be dinging up your pride by not letting you do your thing.”
He smirked as he offered a foreleg, “I think it’s your pride you’re trying to save here.”
She grabbed onto him and rolled him beneath her. “So says the pony with the flabby hooves. Just admit no matter how hard you work out, I’ll always be stronger than you.”
“Only if you admit you didn’t really see that thing coming.”
With a giggle, Rainbow yanked him back upright. “As if!”
The games attendant interrupted the pair with a hearty laugh of his own. “Well, I’ll tell you this much, Swift. You picked up a nice lady friend. Real nice. Never thought I’d see the day. Tell you what. Don’t you worry about this deal here. You go on and have a nice evening, huh?”
Swift watched the portly stallion leave, whistling a tune. “Um, oh-kay. What was that supposed to mean?”
“Duh,” Rainbow replied, prodding his side. “He meant that you have such an awesome, strong friend. So, how about we, um… Oh!” Her wings flared at a blue building with flashing lights and booming electronic voices coming from the entrance. “Ah, yeah! I see a totally sweet arcade! You got enough bits, right?”
Before he could count what was in his little bag, Rainbow pushed him into the arcade parlor.
Please, make it stop.
Head down on the dining table, Blossom folded in her ears but couldn’t block out Twilight’s droning voice. After only five minutes of meandering jibber jabber, she had the temptation to grab one of the decorative surfboards nearby and convince the unicorn to reach her conclusion. Nopony around her had the gumption to do so, it seemed. Spike had enough trouble keeping his eyes off the food from other tables, Fluttershy nibbled on a kabob stick long devoid of anything edible and Rarity had excused herself to the little mare’s room right after Twilight’s arrival.
“Now, as for what I actually learned about the seagulls—” Twilight began.
Finally!
“I’m afraid there’s not much more I can add in terms of facts.”
“What?” the redhead grumbled through clenched teeth.
“I have some working theories that we can go over while we wait for our main dishes.”
Blossom stood erect, her copper red face becoming richer in color. With so many familiar eyes beginning to shift her way, however, she had a reason to keep her lid on tight.
“Something wrong, Blossom,” Twilight inquired in a huff.
“Excuse me, but I also need to use the little mares room! Pardon me!”
She stormed past all the tables – with one waiter jumping out of her way — and out of the shade of the restaurant’s canopy.
Emerging in a back dirt alley, she ignored the two outhouses and continued walking down the path with tall wooden fencing crawling with vegetation running on both sides.
“That lousy good-for-nothing Twilight!” She crushed an empty soda can beneath her hoof. “She is driving me insane! How does anypony put up with her… hold on a minute.” She stopped a few feet short of an intersection with another slip road. “I know those voices. Light Shower? Rarity?”
Blossom leaned against the fence and peeked around the corner.
“You could say acting is one of many talents that I have,” said Light Shower, tossing his long mane to one side. “I’ve had quite a few lead roles back when I was a colt. You should’ve seen me as Romeo, Rarity. After that five star performance, everypony lined up past the door for my autograph and said I should go into professional theater.”
Rarity tittered. “Oh, my, yes. You certainly do have the panache for such a career, and from the looks of it, your performance was spot on. Our little ruse we pulled on Rainbow and Swift worked like an absolute charm.”
“What ruse,” Blossom asked, walking towards them. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing at all,” Light Shower answered, clinging to innocence. “We were just having a pleasant conversation,” He caught Blossom’s deepening stare, “well away from the restaurant, in a back alley, i–in private?”
“Is that so?” She then softened her tone. “You’re not lying to me, are you? You know how it makes me feel when you lie.”
The stallion found himself face to face against something far worse than fire and brimstone. Those curved eyelashes, the way Blossom rubbed one foreleg with the other and how she pursed her lips proved more than his seizing heart could bear. He whined softly before Light Shower spilled everything to her in one fell swoop.
“That’s a good stallion,” said Blossom, stroking his cheek. Just as a dopey smile appeared on his face, she jerked down on his blonde forelock. “Next time, I’ll be keeping all of this! Understand?”
The second she let go, Light Shower took off at maximum speed, crying about losing a few precious strands of hair.
“Please don’t be hard on him, Blossom,” Rarity pleaded. “He was only following my specific instructions. I couldn’t risk—”
“Never mind that.” Blossom allowed the wind to carry away some yellow hair. “I just needed to keep him in line. As for you, Rarity, setting up Rainbow and Swift to have some alone time at the Trotwalk? You should’ve told me about this from the start. ”
“I do truly apologize. I—”
“Do you know how much spying time we missed already?”
“—didn’t think that you would, approve, such a—”
Rarity trailed off, noticing that look of mischief blossoming in front of her eyes. “Spying, time?”
In unison, they pranced and squealed as though a stud celebrity acknowledged their existence from everypony else in an audience.
“This way, Rarity!” Blossom galloped down the dirt path. “Hurry!”
“But dearie,” replied Rarity, quickly lining up nose to nose with her. “What about everyone back at the restaurant? Surely, they’ll notice that we’re missing.”
“So? I told them I was going to the little mares room too. They won’t notice if we take a little detour on the way back.”
Soon, they reached a narrow cobblestone road congested with wagon traffic. The two mares swerved around the slow-moving obstacles and continued down an alleyway slicing through two shops. Up ahead was the walkway running by the shoreline, the streetlights lining the path flickering alive in anticipation for the approaching evening.
“Left, Rarity! It’s just around the—”
Two other ponies torpedoed right into the running pair, sending them crashing through a flower stand.
Through the scattered petals, Blossom spotted the two clumsy accomplices already on all fours, smiling sheepishly. “Widget? Pinkie?” She spat out a piece of flower. “What’s going on here? I thought you two would be working back at the shop.”
“We were,” replied Widget as Pinkie aided the two fallen mares off the broken stand. “Just had a wee problem with the cannon and lost one of its wheels. I know for sure it landed somewhere around the Trotwalk.”
“Can’t you just buy or make another one, Widget,” Rarity asked.
“I could but a good repair pony doesn’t waste parts if they can re-use them. So, what brings you to these parts?”
Blossom flinched. “What are we doing here? Um, Rarity and I were, you see, a funny thing—” She facehoofed. “Never mind. I’ll just spill it.”
Once the redhead explained the situation, she added, “If you two want to look for your missing wheel, that’s fine, but we’re all going to stick together in the meantime. I don’t want Swift or Rainbow to know we’re here. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Pinkie and Widget answered.
Now a group of four, the surfer mare led the contingent the rest of the way to the Trotwalk sign. From there, she scrutinized every single pony around the area: energized colts running to the next attraction with wheezing parents giving chase, an elderly couple leaning on the railing watching the sun dip deeper into the vast ocean and two pegasi near a balloon stand leaning in for a kiss.
Rarity shrilled like a hot teapot. “Yes, yes, yes, yes—”
Blossom held the unicorn’s muzzle shut. “Hold your horses. Take a closer look, Rarity.”
The unicorn took note of the ponies’ colors, a dark grey stallion and aquamarine mare. “This is just wrong!” She pulled on her hair “Is somepony out there trying to tease us on purpose?”
“They must be tourists because I don’t recognize those two at all, Rarity. Let’s go forward, slowly!”
As commanded, they snaked their way around the flock of visitors traversing the pier. They paused every few seconds to scan ahead under the cover of a convenient obstacle, whether it was the side of a building, a merchant stand or one of the many benches lining both edges of the boardwalk. Despite four sets of eyes and ears, they failed to find their targets but did stumble upon an opening on the pier blocked off by cones and yellow tape.
Widget poked her head into the hole. “Oh, bugger! The wheel’s all the way at the bottom. It’s in one piece but I’ll have to fish it out of there somehow.”
When she looked back up, the others motioned for her to lean against a wall painted blue.
She quickly took a position besides Rarity. “Oy! What—”
Blossom shushed her. “We have a visual.”
Peeking around the edge, Blossom honed in on two pegasi standing just outside the entrance to the video game arcade. Their lips moved but the ambient noise from passersby relegated her to decipher their moods from their carefree smiles and occasional laughter. Then, Swift made the slightest of movements.
Blossom whipped her head back behind the wall. Don’t tell me he saw us already! No, I think we’re okay.
A few feet away, Swift glanced at the corner of the building. He eye rolled before turning his focus back to Rainbow.
“With a little more practice, we can hit a million points,” she exclaimed. “Still, it’s pretty sweet to have our names on the top of the board, huh?”
Swift snorted a chuckle. “Uh, huh. R-D-S. I handled more of the hard stuff, you know.”
Rainbow raspberried. “Whatever. You were good but I thought you would be a lot better avoiding those magic zaps! Agility is your talent, isn’t it?”
“Physical agility,” he corrected. “I can’t exactly transfer that to a joystick, especially when I’m working in a tight space.”
“Not my fault the game was in a corner.” She looked in multiple directions, “So, you don’t see any of the others around, do you?”
“Well” — He resisted checking to his left — “I, um, I don’t think so but—”
“Okay! How about we go on the Ferris Wheel next?”
His ears perked in surprise. “The Ferris Wheel?” He did a double take between the wheel and Rainbow. “Really? Isn’t that more of an earth pony thing?”
“I know that,” she answered, swaying a foreleg across the wooden planks. “But I’ve never been on one before. Fluttershy rode it one time and she wouldn’t stop talking about how great it was. Might as well try it, that’s all.”
Swift gazed at the massive wheel ferrying its passengers on open-air gondolas with just enough room for two. The shimmer from the departing sun gave way to the glow emanating from blinking lights running up and down the rims. “I hear you,” he said, smiling broadly. “Let’s get in line.”
As the two pegasi trotted further down the boardwalk, Blossom took another gander. She held her group at bay, waiting for the right opportunity to advance. Eventually, she watched Rainbow and Swift take their place at the back of a queue.
“What’s going on,” Rarity snipped. “I want to see!”
Blossom traced the line of ponies, “They are—” She yelped “—Ferris Wheel! They’re going on, hey!”
Rarity forcefully stuck her head above Blossom. “I can’t believe this is actually happening! They’re, not kissing.” Her brow lowered, “Or holding hooves or gazing into each other’s eyes or doing anything remotely romantic! What kind of a date is this?”
“A playdate?” said Pinkie, shoving in between Blossom and Rarity.
“Pinkie, that—” Rarity sighed “–sounds about right, unfortunately.”
Blossom stifled a giggle. “Then we’ll have to fix that for them. I’ve got an idea. Follow me.”
She led them behind the arcade building, a narrow passage less travelled due to unsightly discarded equipment and dumpsters. When they reached the other side, pedestrian barriers prevented them from going anywhere other than back to the main path where everypony in the queue could see them. Several feet away, the operator — a white unicorn stallion with a curly moustache — operated a lever attached to a wooden box.
“Widget,” Blossom began, “you’ve worked on the Ferris Wheel once before. How about we have an, unfortunate, breakdown. You know, right as Rainbow and Swift reaches the top?”
“Blimey,” she answered in a hushed tone. “You’re asking me to cause a malfunction on purpose? That must be a first.”
Blossom sighed. “Yes, yes. Now, can you do it without anypony seeing you?”
“First, I’ll need some—”
Pinkie conjured a screwdriver, a wrench and a hammer. “I got it from the arcade.”
Widget enveloped the tools under her yellow aura. “Thanks, Pink! Now, the operator box has an access panel that’s just within my magic range. It’ll be a toughie but I think I can do it.”
“On my word, Widget,” Blossom ordered softly. She peeked toward the queue, “They’re just about, ah!”
Swift had looked in her direction just as the tip of her red hair disappeared from view. He scrunched his face but before he could investigate, Rainbow tugged on his coat.
“Our turn! C’mon!”
They walked up a raised platform and waited until the attendant gave them the okay. Once inside the gondola, they sat on the bench, causing the whole thing to sway in place.
“Whoa-kay now,” Rainbow chirped. “That was unexpected.”
“You can fly out of here if you want,” he said in between chuckles. “Nothing’s stopping you.”
Rainbow jiggled from her seat, making the entire gondola move even more. “Nothing’s stopping you either. Heh, heh.”
Once the gondola began its journey upwards, the town of Brayside welcomed them, the artificial lights from the buildings blinking into existence one by one. Natural dots peppered the skies where a battle raged between a swirling passion orange and the color of cool nurturing night. At first, Rainbow wondered if there was any point of this ride only for the mechanical squeaks from the Ferris Wheel and the gentle swaying of the gondola to lull her into a calming trance. It had a certain rustic charm that sitting on a cloud couldn’t provide and she could enjoy the vista without exerting her wings or worrying about airborne traffic.
“This isn’t half-bad,” she spoke in a delicate voice.
Swift cast a glance. “Yeah. Kinda relaxing.”
“I can see why you would ride this if you weren’t a pegasus. I mean, we’re pretty lucky to have wings, to get a view like this any place any time. To think we almost lost them.”
“But we didn’t, Rainbow.”
Her eyes darted to the rolling hills left of the town center. “Yeah, I know. I just think going through that whole deal made me appreciate things a little more. Like this view, or every time I fly, or, um, well, you.”
He forced his wings in check. “What makes you say that?”
Rainbow sighed wistfully, as earlier thoughts resurfaced and resumed their incessant meddling. “You know, Swift? I think it’s time.”
Red lights illuminated the gondola. “T–time for what?”
“My friends, they need to know about us.”
“Eh?”
She faced him directly. “Swift, I can’t lie to my friends anymore. Like with between you and Blossom, they deserve to know everything. Otherwise, it’s not fair to them and it’s especially not fair to you.”
“Me?”
As the surrounding lights turned green, “The deal with you and the tornado, I know how much that hurt you, that for all your sacrifice, you didn’t get the credit you deserved. Now, don’t lie to me. I was there that night when you told me everything.”
The events from that day came back to him. The rain, the tears and the hug that pulled him out of his tailspin, he could never forget. “You’re right. I don’t regret what I did but even now, that one stings a little.”
“That’s why I have to do this, so that you finally get some recognition, even if it’s only a little. My friends would be a perfect place to start because right now, they’re in the dark. They don’t see you as I do. Once they know the truth, maybe they’ll, um—” She touched his foreleg “—they’ll understand how much you mean to me.”
Red lights again but their brightness were no rival for the glow from his cheeks. He waited for the inevitable addition of ‘as a friend’ but it never came. She stood there, resolute with her conviction while he fumbled through his playbook, searching for the right answer. You mean a lot to me came up empty; not even his parents had ever uttered such a phrase about him.
“So you’re okay with it, Swift? Would it be all right if tell my friends everything?”
“Okay with, oh.” The gondola turned again a shade of green. “Gotcha! Yeah, I mean, you go right ahead and—”
Rainbow pulled him into a quick hug. “Thanks, Swift.”
A tingling sensation ran through his whole body. “No worries, Rainbow. Do, um, do what you need, to—eh?”
Swift rose slightly from his seat and zoomed in at one corner of the arcade building. However, the gondola moved to where he could no longer see the area.
Just let it go, Swift. He sat back down. They’re not doing anything.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the Ferris Wheel, the tip of a screwdriver dug into a slit on an access panel. After a few forceful wriggles, a section of wood flipped downwards on its hinges, exposing the belts and gears driving the boardwalk attraction. Before a levitating wrench could touch a bolt, the enveloping aura began to flicker and the tool dropped precariously close to the dock.
Watching from afar, Blossom clutched her chest. “Widget,” she hissed. “Be careful!”
“I’m trying,” Widget motioned at Rarity, “Can you help me with a boost, mate?”
Rarity aimed her horn at the tools but after a few flickers of light, she gasped for air. “Sorry, dear. It’s just too far for me.”
“No problem. I’ve got it—” The wrench enveloped a bolt while the screwdriver drifted toward a switch. “Ready when you are, Blossom.”
The redhead tracked one of the gondolas nearing the top. “Steady, steady. Now!”
At that moment, Widget’s magic faltered. “Oh, bugger.”
“Widget? What did you—?”
Suddenly, every gondola jolted hard, eliciting surprised gasps from its passengers. The clanking from the machinery driving it grew louder and faster.
“What’s going on,” Rainbow asked, leaning forward onto the gondola’s bar. “Why is it speeding up?”
“Beats me,” Swift answered. “Should we bail?”
“Nah. I wonder if it goes any, whoaaaa!”
The ride kicked it up another gear, sending her falling right on top of her stallion companion. Instinctively, he reached out and cradled her like a pillow. As the other passengers screamed in panic, she did the exact opposite.
Soon enough, he caught her laughing contagion. “Oh, shoot! Ha, ha!”
“Woo hoo,” she cried in jubilation. “Yeah! Faster! Faster! Go faster!”
At ground level, the operator feverishly yanked his level and pushed some buttons, unaware of Widget’s tools floundering to stay aloft at the other side of the operator’s box.
“Oy! They must’ve changed how this doohickey works since I last touched it,” the brown unicorn complained.
“Can we go on the Ferris Wheel next,” asked an excited Pinkie. “That looks like fun!”
Blossom covered both ears. “It doesn’t sound like it! Widget! Do something!”
Widget fought to make another minor adjustment within the access panel. Moments later, a gear popped loose and all the lights on the Ferris Wheel cut out. However, the attraction soon provided its own illumination – sparks coming from the center spoke.
“Where’s the reverse on this thing?” Widget squinted at the access panel. “Somepony’s definitely been meddling with this doohickey. Who in their right mind would put the—?”
“Just break the whole damn thing already,” Blossom shrieked.
“That I can do!”
Hammer time. Widget jammed the small mallet right into the belts. Smoke poured out of the machinery and after a few sputters, the whole system clanged and shuddered to a stop. The wheel itself scrubbed off its speed and after a few seconds, the attraction slowed enough to give its riders time to groan or otherwise relive their lunch. Widget grinned at a job well done but by doing so, lost her hold on the remaining tools.
They landed on the dock, alerting the shaken operator to the opened access panel. “Hey! What’s this? Who’s been? Hey, what are you four doing over—” The stallion gasped. “Wid-get!” He galloped right at them, “I told you to stay away from my Ferris Wheel!”
“Everypony run,” exclaimed Blossom.
They backtracked through the path behind the arcade building but their moustached pursuer drew closer with every step. The sea of ponies around the entrance gave the four no clear path for escape, so when they approached the hole in the dock, Blossom led them towards it.
“Grab onto me, everypony! We’re going to jump!”
“Absolutely not,” Rarity protested. “I will not go into the water without proper—ahhhh!”
Blossom yanked the whiner right onto her back. Once the others held a part of her body, the redhead leaped into the opening and unfurled her wings. She flapped with every ounce of strength, reducing their descent just enough that the splashdown was a bearable jab in the stomach rather than a knockout punch.
Now underwater, Blossom held her breath in case one of her friends required a rescue. When the other three surfaced without incident, she joined them.
“Ugh! Is everypony… uh, oh!”
Above, the operator had steam coming out of his ears. To her relief, he chose to spew a few choice words and leave rather than take the plunge.
“Well, that didn’t go so well,” Blossom grumbled, removing seaweed out of her hair.
Pinkie giggled. “What do you mean? This is great! Now we can get our cannon wheel!”
At the same time, a few pegasi boardwalk patrons flew into each gondola and began extracting the woozy passengers.
Rainbow and Swift didn’t need their help, however. They had remained embraced with each other on the gondola floor during the whole ordeal. With the hairy part of the ride over, she finally shifted so that she could see him eye to eye.
“Swift, that was a totally wild ride,” she chortled. “If I knew Ferris Wheels were like that, I would’ve gone on one sooner! Why didn’t Fluttershy tell me about this part?”
“I’m not sure that’s how one’s supposed to work,” he responded in kind. “But whatever!”
“Right. Right. Whatever.” Then, she had nothing more to laugh about, just a set of glowing blue orbs to admire from up close. “So, you just had to try and save me again, huh?”
It dawned on him where he was touching her. “Oh. Um—”
“I wasn’t really complaining. Actually, it’s kinda—”
Then, the gondola jerked to a complete stop. A unicorn with a curly mustache stuck his head inside.
“Guess I don’t need to ask you two kids if you’re all right,” he bellyached. “Ride’s over! Don’t make me grab a hose!”
Rainbow and Swift obliged, hovering off the gondola and past some arriving first aid ponies tending to a triage of dizzy patients. The few that hadn’t passed out leaned their heads into buckets.
“Wimps,” she chided. “Can’t even handle an easy ride like that one.”
Something tells me somepony was meddling with the ride. He glanced back at the corner of the arcade building. Eh? Where did—
Rainbow pulled him into a brisk canter. “Swift! Swift! Oh my gosh! Over here! You gotta see this!”
He ran beside past a food stand and into a zone where merchants had set up games that didn’t involve a joystick and a screen: apple bobbing, ring toss, pop the weasel, balloon popping and many others with playful names. All of them offered prizes — most of them chintzy and small — but a few had fuzzy animals worthy of hugging or musical instruments such as a complete drum set. Loudspeakers played its siren song that entranced passersby into forfeiting their bits for a few minutes of entertainment and going up against odds favoring the house.
Rainbow stopped right below a line of hanging stuffed beanies offered by a bubblegum chewing mare operating the Spilled Milk stand.
“Name’s Gum Burst,” the earth pony owner spoke in a valley mare dialect. She made a half-hearted gesture at a set of milk bottles placed in a pyramid, “Just pop them all off the table and you get whatever prize you want.” She paused to blow and subsequently pop a bubble. “Don’t step over the line. No magic. No wings. Easy as that,” she finished with a face of somepony that had said her lines a million times.
“Swift!” She guided him toward a prize at the end of the row. “Do you know what that is?”
Tousling his forelock, “Um, hold up. You told me about this, I think. It’s that line of Wonderbolt beanies but I thought you already had all of them.”
“Every single one except Soarin!” She pranced, “I can’t believe I found Soarin! I can never find him anywhere!”
“Rainbow, you can go to any store and buy one. Shoot, Soarin’s my second, third whatever cousin. I’m sure he could score—”
She jabbed him in the chest, “No, Swift! You’re missing the point! Anypony can just buy the whole set but I’d rather win them all! When they came out last summer, I promised myself I would and I was so close to getting them all when they had that festival for Hearts Warming Eve. I haven’t seen a Soarin beanie ever since but look, Swift! He’s right there ready for the taking! Today’s my day! I totally can’t believe it!”
Gum Burst rolled her eyes and for a moment, Swift was tempted to do the same. Yet her impassioned speech overrode the silliness of her goal.
Without hesitation, he flipped a bit right to the frazzled fair worker. “Totally your day, Rainbow. Go get Soarin.”
Five plates of steaming hot food but only two hungry patrons made Twilight one grumpy pony. She tapped her hoof on the table, eyes darting all over the restaurant. Spotting a familiar face only curled the corners of her mouth further downwards.
“Fluttershy,” she nagged to the arrival, “they’re not in the little mares room, are they?”
“No, but I did find pretty pictures of animals inside the outhouse.” Slinking under Twilight’s glare, “You really should, see it.”
“Uggggh! I bet Blossom’s doing this on purpose just to annoy me! Spike? Are you in on this?”
He flinched. “What? Why would you say that?”
“I see how you are with her. You’ve certainly been helping her quite a lot ever since you’ve gotten here.”
Spike groaned. “Calm down, Twilight. I’ll always be your number one assistant. Now, can we please eat? I’m so hungry!”
He reached for a fork but Twilight slapped away his hand. “We’re not eating our main courses until everypony’s here. That would be rude.”
“Speak for yourself,” the tiny dragon mumbled, crossing his arms.
“What did you say?”
“I, um,” He pointed behind Twilight, “Hey! Blitz and Applejack are here!”
She huffed. “Don’t you make up stuff! They’re back at the farm—”
Two smoldering ponies took a seat beside her.
“—cooking. Huh? What’s going on here? I thought you wouldn’t be coming.”
Both bombarded their dinner guests with a long string of words while pointing repeatedly at each other. Fluttershy excused herself to the little mare’s room while Spike swiped some food off the plate and placated his gurgling stomach.
“Enough,” Twilight barked, banging the table. “One at a time!”
Applejack brushed burn marks off her Stetson, “This… yellow… this pony doesn’t know how to set an oven! I told him three fifty and he all but burned down the whole kitchen!”
“But I did set it to three-fifty,” the stallion answered, rubbing smoky grime off his face. “Three-fifty ‘C.’”
The cowpony gasped. “You’re a few apples short of a bushel! I meant three-fifty fahrenheit! ‘F!’ You know, like the grade you got the most back in school?”
“Heyyy! There was no ‘F’ on the dial! Don’t be tripping on me! Oh, and just so you know, I got A’s too! A for athlete, best athlete in gym class! Oh, and speaking of gym, that yogurt you made tasted like biting into a sweaty towel! Told ya it needed more sugar!”
Twilight slammed her face on the table and held her ears shut. I can still hear them arguing!
“Try again, girl.”
While Gum Burst tossed another stick of gum into her mouth, her customer heaved a softball at milk bottles. Down came the top one but the two at the bottom moved nary an inch. Rainbow groaned aloud before Swift flipped another bit onto the counter. Once the merchant reset the bottles and returned the sack to Rainbow, her thoughts delivered a fading stream of encouragement.
I can totally do this!
Beanbag missed left.
One more try!
She sailed it over her target and struck a passerby.
Swift’s got plenty of bits, I think.
Rainbow grazed one bottle.
This time, maybe?
The sack landed right in front of the bottles.
Maybe I should… darnit.
Rainbow lost grip of her softball and it plopped onto the dock.
“Too bad,” Gum Burst answered in a nonchalant voice.
“Hey!” Swift leaned over the counter, “That one didn’t even go over the line!”
She blew and popped a bubble close to his face; he didn’t need a translation on her answer.
Yeah, yeah. This is why I don’t come here and play your — Swift stopped mid-thought, realizing Rainbow had turned around and began slinking away like a wounded animal.
“What are you doing,” he said, blocking her path. “You haven’t won yet!”
Head down, she held a blink. “It’s all right. I don’t want to waste all your money. Maybe next time.”
She tried stepping around him but he copied her move. “Oh, no. I’m not letting you quit and ding your pegasus pride like that! You’re gonna get that beanie!”
A small smile appeared but it didn’t last. “But my aim’s way off. I’ll spend all your bits before I even get close.”
Swift frowned. He knew she was right. He’d observed every throw and noted her foreleg was a loose cannon that may knock out everypony in the vicinity before all the bottles. “I got an idea. I think I know exactly where you need to hit it. What if I helped you aim before you throw? Would winning that way count?”
“Well, an assist is okay but I don’t think bubble mare over there’s gonna let us do that.”
“Let me take care of that.”
He walked right up to the counter and offered his plan.
“Like I’ll let that slide,” she rebutted as she worked on another bubble. “She’s gotta do it solo.”
“You sure about that?” One eyebrow cocked, Swift slammed his bag of bits right into the stand. A few patrons playing the surrounding games cast curious glances. “One shot, all or nothing. Of course, we could just stand here boring you into the night giving you these one by one. Your call.”
This time, she let her balloon slowly deflate. “Are you, like, serious? Hey, you wanna be crazy like that,” She tossed him a sack, “I won’t stop ya.”
“Swift,” Rainbow hissed. “C’mon. You don’t have to do this for me.”
“I do because it is you. He placed the beanbag onto her hoof before holding it along with her. “I’ve got your back. You’ve got mine. You know how that works.”
“But—”
“No buts,” he countered, flashing a smile. “Just let me guide you.”
Rainbow watched intently as he gently moved her hoof and pored over details. In short order, his tender touch conveyed everything she needed to know. Where to throw, how hard, what angle; she figured it all out in a matter of seconds. His confidence mixed in with hers and together, they stood tall in front of the imposing pyramid of milk bottles and a vendor more interested in which flavor to chew on next.
“You got it?” he spoke in a whisper.
She peeked at what was at stake. She could only guess how many days or even weeks of cloud busting it would take to pay him back in case she missed. Yet one squeeze from him was all it took to remove any doubt about failure. This time, she was going to win. No, they were going to win.
There was no countdown or any other indication to throw. They simply leaned back and after holding in her breath, Rainbow unleashed her softball at her target.
Clink! The beanbag struck in between the two bottom milk bottles, pushing them aside. Gravity ensured the top one toppled right off the table, taking one flask along with it. The last container wobbled side-to-side, teasing participants, the vendor and nearby onlookers until at last, it decided what to do.
“Yessssssss!”
Rainbow shrieked at the top of her lungs and Swift pumped a foreleg. Then, she attacked him with a spinning hug that took him airborne. Despite the stress on his chest, he returned the favor the best he could. Then, Rainbow twirled him into a spontaneous dance with wing slaps, a jig and bumping of hindquarters, much to the delight of the small audience around them. Even Gum Burst relented with a slow clap, catching them by surprise.
“Girl, you are, like, so lucky. I’m like, so totally jealous.” She tossed Rainbow the beanie and the bag of bits to Swift. She then pulled out her favorite gum flavor – watermelon — and cracked a smile as she savored the flavor, “I’m telling ya, he’s a total keeper.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow answered merrily. “There’s no way I’ll ever give away my Soarin beanie!”
The two walked away from the counter, blissfully unaware of Gum Burst’s chuckle. The win had blocked out their senses to everything except each other’s shouts of jubilation and glee.
When they approached the end of the pier, Rainbow finally stopped so she could squeeze her new toy.
“Oh my gosh!” She let out a long squeal. “I can’t believe we did it!” Spotting a wooden beach, she sprawled over it. “Whew! Ever since we got here, it’s been nothing but fun!”
Swift sat next to her. “Wicked to hear that.” He paused to look behind him, “Now I wonder where everypony else are right now.”
Rainbow shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’m glad they’re not here.”
“Eh?”
“It meant I got to spend all time here with you. I, um, I’ll have to admit I wasn’t sure how coming over to Brayside would work out but now I wish I would’ve come here earlier. You’re an awesome, um—” She clutched tighter the Wonderbolt beanie “—you’re awesome, Swift.”
He stared off into the sparkling blue ocean, “Oh, thanks. Y–you, eh?”
Rainbow stretched out her forelegs, nearly striking his face.
“Um, what are you doing?”
Her mouth opened wide for a prolonged yawn. “Nap time. Just a few minutes, ok?”
His ears folded inward. “You’re not gonna snore like last time, will ya?”
Rainbow mumbled something before slipping into unconsciousness exactly where she sat. No surprise – he doubted anypony else in the world could match her speed going from wake to sleep.
What he feared, though, was the noise that was to come. Despite the ocean waves crashing into the pillars holding up the dock, music coming from a nearby unicorn playing a portable piano for spare change and distant conversations from ponies watching the sunset, everypony in Brayside Beach would soon hear her unnaturally loud whinnies. He covered his ears in preparation.
Instead, her slumber produced nothing more than the occasional piggish snort.
Swift patted sweat off his forehead. Whew! I thought she would—
The sound-asleep mare shifted her head right onto his shoulder.
Shoot! Not again! This is just like last time!
Her body pressed further into his, keeping his left wing contracted unlike the one on the right. With the smallest head turn, he had nothing but Rainbow’s face in his sights, a lean away from touching noses. Heat built up all over him so fast, he feared he’d set fire to the bench.
“Rainbow?” he said in the quietest but shakiest voice possible. “Y–you, you’re on—”
Their cheeks touched for a moment, triggering the impulse to pull away or make a sound — a snort, cough or sneeze — anything to wake her. This was wrong, contrary to the norm, a moment that he must end.
Except he didn’t. He refused.
This is where Swift wanted to be, where he could relish every whiff of her orange scented hair. Despite a tinge of shame, he helped himself to a gander at her gracious curves, starting from the bottom up to her face. While she denied him a view of her eyes, the lashes alone were enough to remind him of the beauty that hid behind her lids. That upward curve of her lips had none of its usual brashness or aggression, but rather a serene affectionate quality that he’d never seen before in his life. At that moment, the sun delivered its final performance for the day with a prism of colors but to him, it was a lifeless light compared to the splendor that rested by his side.
In a blink, the entire world around Rainbow faded into nothingness. Memories involving her floated all around him, from their first encounter in the spring and through the months until they sat on this bench in the midst of a summer sunset. From the deepest depths of his soul, a light shattered the surrounding darkness along with his recollections. All this time, he had held it back – a part of who he was — but in this one moment, it had broken free of its restraints and was free to fly. When he took note of the sleeping mare once more, this new light cleansed his thoughts to its purest form, driven by emotions coming straight from the heart.
She looks cute when she sleeps.
All at once, Brayside Beach and all its hustle and bustle returned.
I–I, no! I didn’t! What should’ve been a brief look became a blushing stare. Ahhhhh! What am I doing?
Rainbow shifted position, causing his free wing to lock open.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Swift went for a bite lip but his heart pumped even harder. Cool your jets. Just breathe nice and… I can’t cool it! What’s wrong with me?
Swift ran through every ailment known to ponykind but this wasn’t a case of feather flu or allergies. The answer was snuggling right up to him but even so, he diverted his eyes toward the early evening skies and reached back for his slovenly mane. Every denial he threw at the dartboard, always reliable and on target, fell off the board. No matter how hard he tried, all he had left to face at the end was truth, a preposterous but sobering truth.
“Oh, shoot.”
Except he actually cursed, bluntly but ever so faint.
After the word left his lips, a long string of turtle talk startled him out of his shock.
“Leo,” he whispered in surprise at the turtle resting on the bench arm. “W–what are you doing here?”
He continued chattering but all Swift heard was gibberish intermixed with word fragments. A shadow grew on him but paid no attention to it.
“I don’t understand. Look, I can’t… Keep it down! You’ll wake, Rain—eh?”
His body turned cold, the warnings registering late in his head. One glance ahead and he was suddenly face to face with Pinkie Pie hanging from the other side of the fence that kept ponies from falling into the ocean.
“Whatcha doing?”
Swift jumped into the air, beating his wings in alarm. “Ahhhhhhhhhh! Shoot!” He gasped for air, “How did, where did you come from?”
She unleashed a piggish giggle. “I just climbed up here, silly. I thought you saw me already.”
“Is that you, Pinkie,” Rainbow asked, the loud conversation and the sudden departure of her pillow finally pulling her out of dreamland. “Why are you here? Where’s everypony else? Did they get lost or something?”
“Change of plans.” Pinkie explained. “We’re all gonna have dinner at this great place. I could tell you everything but it’s really long and boring.” Then she grinned, “But if you want, I can try to make it sound fun!”
Rainbow stretched, “Hmmmmm, spare me the details. All that stuff we did kinda made me hungry, so dinner does sound great right about now. Right, Swift?”
Despite calling his name a second time, there was nopony home. Once he saw her dazzling eyes, he started drowning in them. A prolonged blink fed in just enough oxygen to breathe again but not enough to speak.
“You okay, Swift?”
He settled for a nod. That was all he could muster toward the mare that had broken out of the cocoon of friendship and transformed into more that he imagined she could ever be.
I'm guessing a few of you will be... pleased by what happened:
Of course, the cover image was a bit of a spoiler but I think I've toyed with my readers enough to throw in some doubt.
As of the time of this chapter's release, I'm down to two additional chapters drafted. The plan is to withhold any further releases until I complete the entire story but that may change.
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The last scene in the chapter is the scene seen on the cover, isn't it?
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i.imgur.com/onkzpeS.png
6167399 Other than making the skies closer to the end of sunset, that's pretty much what the scene looks like. I did order the picture over a year ago when I didn't have much of a story other than certain scenes in mind.
How many does this make of ponies thinking they are an item already? I lost track.
6169539 Don't forget Blaze Peregrine the falcon from Top Wings.
6190384 Lemme rephrase, then.
How many have been led to believe they're an item?
6167687
i died
6196578
Yeah I had the same reaction
But I do think that Rainbow will be harder to convince. Knowing Outlaw, maybe it will take a 'new tornado and together saving the town' feat to do it. Or maybe fighting a giant seagull?
6195881 For least getting teased about being an item, it's somewhere over 15 throughout the series. Believing they already are, it's only the minor characters that think that way.
6196813 In the original draft for this chapter, Leo was warning Swift about a Leviathan that soon starts attacking the pier. It would take out Rainbow as she tried grabbing her plushie. Swift would get roughed up shielding her but refuses to move. Eventually, I had Blossom riding atop Blitz to take on the Leviathan. I got that far before realizing how preposterous it all sounded and that in the grand scheme of things, had little impact on the story.
I can reveal that there will be attempts at "convincing" but it won't involve giant seagulls.
6197005
What do you mean it sounds preposterous?? It sounds AWESOME!!
Hey, maybe after you finish publishing the full story, you can add a Behind-the-scenes chapter in a blog post in which we can read that scrapped part? (I hope you haven't deleted it yet)
6197227 I'm certain I deleted that section ages ago. Surfing Blossom fighting Leviathans may be a standalone story one day but I need to finish this story first.
6197499
Yeah, so... outlaw, about the giant seagull finale...
I beg you to reconsider.
i.imgur.com/gokAhai.jpg
(I regret nothing)
6207358
What the... fighting a giant seagull?
I'm glad you brought this up, though. Over a year ago, when I started thinking about what to do with Brayside Crush, I had two distinct ideas about the overall storyline. The first is what you're currently seeing from me. The other started off the same way only for the weather to worsen as the train approached Brayside Beach. There were more action elements and eventually, I would've revealed a pony villain that was responsible for it all. Your finale is something you might've seen in the alternate story, except with a more proper foe.
6210547
I had some time on my hands and needed to sharpen my PS skills, I'm glad I finally found a worthy cause for it
Oh well. I'm sure that your ending will be the best suited for the series.
And we've come to the latest update... balls on a stick Dx
Welp, I enjoyede everything you had so far, it was awsome saucy! And I really hope to see more soon dude!
Ahhh, all of this teasing is going to kill me.
Nice job!
6459098 I appreciate you making it this far and this quickly. I only wish I could write super fast. What I can say is that at the time of this comment, I'm writing new material. I also provide regular updates via my blog.
6459244 I appreciate you writing such an awesome story series man, hell this was great! And I can only hope the next chapter will be just as awesome as the rest! :D Legit man, you're a good writer, and i don't say that lightly.
Youv'e earned these favs and comments! :D
Keep it up!
This was a nice chapter. But Blossom and Rarity should know better than to spy on their friends. The same goes for Widget and Pinkie.