A Pegasus Salute

by Winged Cat

2: Rainbow Dash's Shrine to the Past

In contrast to her friends' fancy, built-up homes, Rainbow Dash barely had an apartment. In theory the mayor had forbidden such developments in Ponyville, in an attempt to get ponies rooted and invested in their neighborhoods. But there was nothing forbidding one pony, whose house had been built up to contain a large family that had since grown up and moved out, from letting other ponies use the spare upper-story bedrooms that would otherwise have gone to waste, although the mayor kept an eye on even these arrangements. Still, it was ideal for a pegasus whose real home was the sky, and this was the case with Rainbow Dash. Sometimes a few nights would pass before she checked in to check her mail, and she had set up with the bank so part of her pay as weatherpony went straight to rent. Rainbow preferred to spend as little time as possible on lame stuff like paying bills.

Or housekeeping, for that matter. Any jealousy she might have had about Twilight Sparkle residing in a bookworm's fantasy, how the Carousel Boutique displayed Rarity's wholehearted mixture of business and living, or even Fluttershy's extreme devotion to her small friends resulting in her being on call every second she was home, vanished instantly the moment she saw one of them having to clean up a mess, do laundry, cook for themselves, or all the other minor tasks they seemed to accept as part of life. Not that Rainbow's lifestyle afforded her total freedom from such tasks, but sleeping on a cloud meant no sheets to change.

Still, she needed a place to keep her stuff. Mementos of past glory, a small dresser containing a few outfits for when she felt like dressing up, trophies she had collected, a cupboard with a modest food supply for when she did not want to go get something to eat, some plaques calling out minor achievements, a simple bed for when no good cloud was available, newspaper clippings about her various successes and lately her friends' as well which now covered one wall entirely and began spilling onto another...

Rainbow shook her head as she surveyed the wall of clippings. The sun had just recently set, so it was still a bit light outside but getting dark quickly, so she trotted over to the dresser and turned on the lamp sitting on it. "Dashie, Dashie, Dashie," she tsked to herself, "you've got to let go of the past, or it'll weigh you down and keep you from being more awesome."

"Introspection?" came a familiar voice from the window. "Sorry, I thought this was Rainbow Dash's room."

"Gck," Rainbow articulated, looking quite guilty as she hesitantly faced an amused Twilight Sparkle.

"Not that I'm disagreeing." Twilight hovered in through the open window. Glancing at the one-room apartment's lone door, specifically the dust on its handle, she wondered how long it had been since Rainbow used it. "I've still got things back in Canterlot that..." She blinked, spying one clipping titled, "Pegasus Saves Three Nests, Stops Riot With Selfless Act". "You were in the Oxfeather Riot? Wait, you ENDED the Oxfeather Riot? I didn't know that!"

Rainbow shrugged. "There's a lot of stuff you don't know about me. Yeah, I was there. I'm still not sure what those griffons were arguing about, but I figured they'd regret trampling those eggs, so I swooped in and got them out of the way. Apparently that was enough to get both sides talking again."

Twilight gaped for a moment. "Rainbow, by stopping the riot you saved thousands of their lives. That riot was only one of modern griffon society's most..." She blinked. "...and that really was just another day to you." She continued to read.

Rainbow looked over her friend admiringly. Even like this, without her power on display, Rainbow supposed she was still kind of cute. "S-so, umm...I wanna ask what brings you by, but first...err..."

Twilight continued reading. "Rainbow Dash you lived a hero's life before you even got to Ponyville," she rattled off absently. "I see why some of this might be difficult to let go of. Although a lot of it's kinda minor."

"Yeah, yeah. So anyway! Well...speaking of the past, I...well, you see..."

Twilight finally looked up. "Yes?"

"It's...kinda hard to explain. It's..." Rainbow shook her head. "I'll just say it. I can't remember much about last night."

"Whaaat?" Twilight leaned back a bit, holding a hoof to her chest, surprise on her face. "How much do you remember?" She struggled mightily to keep from so much as a snicker; fortunately for her, she succeeded.

"Well..."

"Go on, go on." Twilight lowered her hoof and smiled. "I suppose I wouldn't even blame you for complete amnesia."

Rainbow blinked. Was Twilight...leering at her?

Twilight had been looking forward to Rainbow trying to explain what happened. "So what do you remember?"

"Err." Rainbow's mind re-engaged itself. "Well. You wanted a word, so I followed you to your place. Your bedroom. And then we talked about how you being you gave me wingboners. And...w-we kissed, and it was awesome, but then..." She looked to the side, suddenly a bit sad. "...you said it wasn't right, that I didn't love you for you...but at least we're still friends." Shaking her head, she continued, "But then you asked if I could help you if you got super-mega-duper in heat, and...that's about as much as I can remember, until I woke up in your bed with that note. Thanks for finishing my shift, by the way."

"It was the least I could do." Twilight closed her eyes and brushed her mane with one hoof, imitating a move she had seen Rarity use. "If that's all you remember..."

"Twilight..." Rainbow looked down. "I, I'm sorry..."

"No, no, I'm not blaming you at all. But that brings me to why I'm here. Look at me."

Rainbow sniffed.

Twilight put a hoof under Rainbow's chin and pushed, until she once more made eye contact. "I said, look at me. There's something..." She inhaled. "...I need to ask you..." And exhaled. "...and s-soon. You're not busy tonight, right?"

Rainbow blinked back forming tears, wondering if Twilight was forgiving her so easily. "Nah, I had no plans. Why?"

"Because I..." Twilight's hoof dropped to the ground as she squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself. "...I-I..." She inhaled - then sharply exhaled, but only for a moment. Space around Twilight seemed to distort, but instead of filling the room like it had last time, she was keeping it confined to a small distance around her, stopping just short of Rainbow. Twilight's eyes snapped open to show twin star furies, lighting up the room as if the lamp had been replaced by the sun itself. "...NEED!" Her voice thundered in Rainbow's ears.

Rainbow's wings went up.

Twilight closed her eyes, inhaled through her nose to pull her power back within herself, shuddered, then opened normal eyes again and smiled. "It's not super-mega-duper, buuut if you're free tonight I could really use your company."

Rainbow's wings were up and her mouth was open and spots danced on her vision from where she had looked directly into the light but they soon cleared and her mind was sputtering attempting to reset after all its load breakers had been tripped at once.

Twilight giggled, her plan having worked perfectly. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." She stepped forward, preparing to kiss-

"Hiya!"

Twilight blinked. No way, Pinkie would not choose now to-

A boing sounded from outside the window, then Pinkie Pie's voice sounded again, "Is this a..." A pause, then another boing. "...bad time?"

Twilight looked out the window, just in time for Pinkie's next bounce to almost catch her under the chin. Quickly ducking back inside and telekinetically holding Pinkie in mid-air, she replied, "Yes."

"Oh!" Pinkie rested slightly, noting that this was certainly easier than having to jump repeatedly, falling all the way to the ground and bouncing all the way back to the third story window. "Well I just wanted to ask-ooh, ooh, neck tight, all four legs tensing, sooomepony really needs to be running away right now!"

Twilight smiled an unkind smile.

Pinkie returned a more sincere smile as the joy of realization washed over her. "Oh I see! You were putting the moves on old Dashie I can tell because her wings are all FLOOMF and she's still staring and this really was a bad time so I'm the pony who needs to be running aren't I?"

Twilight nodded, let Pinkie go, and closed the window.

Still smiling, Pinkie saluted the moment she hit the ground. "Rrroger! Commencing fleeing for my life!" Not that Twilight could hear Pinkie, but it was the principle of the thing. That was also why she screamed as she ran, though a bit joyful: she could not fake fear very well.

The interruption had given Rainbow enough time to recover, though her wings were still upright. The moment Twilight faced her again, she gave Twilight a leer identical to what Rainbow had received earlier, and began slowly advancing on her friend. "'Putting the moves on old Dashie', huh?"

Twilight blushed, not breaking eye contact. "Well...yeah? I said I want you tonight."

"So what happens..." Rainbow lowered her head, looking a bit like a predator stalking prey. "...if I put the moves on old Sparklie?"

Twilight's brain needed one moment to process that. In the second moment, her wings went up.

Later that night, Rainbow was quite grateful the house's owner had soundproofed the spare bedrooms.

Comments

[Winged Cat]

5612529 The intended focus is more Twi-Dash, but that internal struggle will come up - with external interference. And it's not just Magic Incarnate on the other side.

[Lithl]

What happened to Rainbow's cloud house?

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[Winged Cat]

5613214 All in good time. For now, let us just say there is a reason Rainbow's making an issue to herself of liking not having a house.

Or I totally forgot about that and now I need to come up with a good explanation, but you've just handed me a plot hook big enough to build an entire chapter around (but not chapter 3 and probably not 4 either) so thank you.

At least one of those may be correct.