• Published 8th Jan 2016
  • 3,012 Views, 178 Comments

Recherche - Crescent Pulsar



Marshall is in a rut, drifting without a purpose. Rarity is in a rut, looking for inspiration. By chance they meet, despite living in different universes, and find what they're yearning for with the aid of the other.

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Chapter 10: A Dash of Rainbow

Marshall could hear Rainbow Dash's laughter as he struggled to swim toward the surface. His emotional state had distracted him so much that he had fallen back on what little he knew of the mechanics of flight from his own universe, rather than what he had been able to guess and ascertain from seeing other ponies fly in the universe he was currently in. As a result, he had flapped his wings hard enough to take off like a rocket, due to the disparity between his weight and the size of his wings. To make matters more complicated, not knowing the intricacies of how to direct his movement had sent him flying at a backward angle, and his attempts to correct it had only made things worse because they immediately sent him into disorienting spins and rolls. Eventually, he had bounced off of Twilight Sparkle's castle, which had stunned him long enough for him to plummet into the lake before he could try using his wings again.

When he finally broke the surface, he tried to orient himself so he could face Rainbow Dash and properly express his discontent. It took a bit of doing, but moving his legs in a way that was reminiscent of walking seemed to be adequate enough to keep his head above the water, so it didn't take him long to figure out how to move forward and turn. As he slowly swam toward the bank, he directed a glare at the pegasus that found his situation so amusing, although he suspected that the hair that was plastered over most of his face was ruining the effect, partly because it seemed to have inspired another round of laughter from the aforementioned pegasus.

Once he was on dry land, and could devote a forehoof to clearing the hair from his face, he muttered, "It wasn't that funny."

"Not from where I was standing," Rainbow Dash cheekily replied, who allowed herself a few more chuckles before addressing the matter at hand. "Anyway, lemme take care of that for ya."

Before Marshall could find out what "that" was, exactly, Rainbow Dash was already in motion. He soon found himself in the middle of a rainbow-colored tornado, which Rainbow Dash managed to achieve by flying around him very, very quickly. He stood there, amazed, as he was buffeted by winds from every direction, and felt the moisture from his coat and hair being sucked away without his hooves being lifted from terra firma in the process.

When Rainbow Dash finished, he looked himself over and observed that there was no evidence that he had just left the lake. However, the hair of his mane and tail were a complete and utter mess. He could only imagine how Rarity might react upon seeing a copy of herself in such a state. While it didn't bother him too much, he didn't much like the idea of how others might react to it. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash only snickered when she saw the state that his hair was in, either because she knew when to draw a line, or due to having a desire to move forward with something that she considered to be more interesting and/or important.

"Okay," Rainbow Dash began, as she assumed a semblance of the demeanor that was stereotypically associated with drill instructors, "while I liked the energy, you really need to work on your control. So, here's what you need to do..."

Rainbow Dash proceeded to instruct Marshall on how to use his wings properly, regarding their intended purpose, which included a couple of performance tips. It was both informative and interesting, for the most part: mostly because he hadn't known much about wings to begin with; that, and he was pretty sure that some of the things that his new wings were capable of wouldn't be possible back in his own universe. However, there had been a few instances where Rainbow Dash had said something that had reminded him of a certain scene from Better Off Dead, when Charles had told Lane, "I'll tell you what to do. Go that way... really fast. If something gets in your way... Turn."

Once they were both sure that he knew enough about the hows and whys of flight, which involved a healthy dose of passive magic, he was encouraged to put his new knowledge to use. While he didn't repeat the mistake of using too much power, his second attempt at flight saw him tumble uncontrollably into the canopy of a tree, where he awkwardly waved to an old-looking pony who had noticed him from the second-story window of a nearby house. Fortunately, with each successive attempt, his control got better, and by the dozenth — or so — time he was proudly maintaining his position just a few feet off of the ground.

Rainbow Dash, who was in the process of flying a complete circuit around him, in order to judge his competence from multiple angles, eventually came to a stop in front of him, looking mildly impressed. "Huh. Twilight said you'd probably be a quick learner," left unsaid was the fact that the possibility of having some fun, instead of doing nothing but training, had been the main selling point when Twilight had requested both the training and the tour, "but I'd say you're a natural, all things considered."

Marshall shook his head. "If I am, then it's only because Rarity is."

"...Huh?" Rainbow Dash voiced her confusion.

That reaction had been unexpected to Marshall, who took a few seconds to respond because he had to wonder why she wasn't in the know. "You haven't heard about the sympathetic resonance thing that's going on between myself and Rarity?"

Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed. "The symphony what, now?"

Since she appeared to be clueless about the matter, Marshall took a moment to think of an example that Rainbow Dash could relate to, so he could build his explanation on it. "Remember what happened when we were playing 'pin the tail on the pony' yesterday?" When Rainbow Dash confirmed that she did, he continued. "Well, I have some kind of magical connection with Rarity, because this body is a perfect duplicate of hers. Among other things, it allows me to learn certain skills faster than normal, so long as it's a skill that Rarity has."

"Really?" Came Rainbow Dash's rhetorical response, as she bemusedly looked askance while stroking her chin. "I guess that would mean that she's a natural flyer..." Apparently, whatever thoughts she may have been having hadn't led her anywhere, because it wasn't long before she perked up and returned her focus to Marshall, with another subject on her mind. "Anyway! How's about a game of tag?"

Being as unexpected as that suggestion was, since Marshall had only been looking forward to a tour of Ponyville and stopping by Sugarcube Corner after learning how to fly, he asked, "Tag? Why?"

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and cocked an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Marshall opened his mouth to reply, but closed it when he couldn't think of a good enough reason not to, in part because he figured that he had plenty of time to take that tour and see Pinkie Pie before he had to be at the school.

Whirling around, so that she was facing away from him, Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder and smirked. "Come on! Let's see whatcha got!"

With her looking ready to go at a moment's notice, the substance of the idea finally wormed its way into Marshall's conscious awareness, and his heart rate began to increase alongside his excitement. He couldn't remember the last time that he had received such an invitation, let alone for something as awesome as this, even though playing tag in the air was probably considered to be a rather ordinary activity for pegasi. For him, though, it was a realization of a dream: not of flight, specifically, but of experiencing something wonderful that had once seemed impossible. It was the kind of thing that one would have to be lucky to experience for an instant within a dream, and as an unsatisfactory version of it no less.

He couldn't help himself: before he knew it, and without any attention given to his wings, he was chasing after Rainbow Dash. He wasn't sure how long he had been chasing after her before becoming more aware of what he was doing, but he eventually became more cognizant of the world around him, and how it felt both bigger and smaller now that he was no longer earthbound. He couldn't tell how fast he was going, partially due to the fact that he didn't want to lose sight of Rainbow Dash, but he didn't care: the drifting environment in the distance, the blur of his immediate surroundings, the wind in his face, and the pumping of his wings and heart made him feel more alive than ever before. As he followed Rainbow Dash around the clock tower, performing several revolutions from bottom to top before moving on, he idly concluded that his first time on a roller coaster paled in comparison.

On occasion, Rainbow Dash would playfully tease and challenge him, both with words and by slowing down enough to become tantalizingly close to being within tagging range, but he didn't mind, nor need any motivation. As she took the chase into a cluster of clouds, without any hope of ever catching her, his inner child, which had taken hold over him, found enjoyment in the journey itself, rather than the abstract concept of victory. It was fun to simply fly among the clouds, darting around, over and under them, trying to keep Rainbow Dash within sight — which wasn't hard, since she had a rather loud and distinctive appearance.

Before long, Rainbow Dash put in an extra burst of speed and disappeared from sight, behind the cloud that he had just begun to chase her around. A split second later, the cloud was pushed right into his flight path, and he plowed into it headfirst. However, instead of passing through the cloud unimpeded, as he had expected, he felt his head force its way into it, as if it were made of some kind of semi-solid material, and got lodged there. It was more than surprising and perplexing enough for him to forget about flying, in part because it had arrested his forward motion as well, and he would have ended up hanging from the cloud by his head if he hadn't braced his hooves against it out of reflex, which he didn't notice right away.

His surprise and confusion were interrupted when he heard Rainbow Dash's chuckling coming from somewhere above him, so he collected his bearings and focused on resolving his current predicament. Realizing that his wings weren't doing their job, he got them moving again and began to push against the cloud while he tried to pull his head out of it. A few seconds later he succeeded in pulling his head free, at which point he began to prod and rub the cloud, as he tried to mentally grasp yet another new, strange and interesting aspect of the world that he had come to.

Amused by that behavior, Rainbow Dash inquired, "Having fun with that?"

Marshall looked up and saw Rainbow Dash lying on top of the cloud, just out of reach, but what really caught his attention was that her wings were resting at her sides instead of working to keep her airborne. Despite realizing the nature of her question, he couldn't help indulging how he felt about what he had found instead of being embarrassed by it. So, he rushed over to a neighboring cloud and slowly alighted upon it, half-expecting it to not hold his weight. When it did, his inner child rose up once again, inspiring him to hop up and down in place a few times. Then, he pulled his wings in, which he had left extended as a precaution, and laid down, which led to the discovery that clouds were as comfy as they looked.

His excitement wouldn't allow him to sit still for too long, so he hopped back onto his hooves a few seconds later, which was about the time that Rainbow Dash had flown over to his cloud, whose amusement had been tempered out of consideration for the moment that he seemed to be having. With what little tact she had, she observed, "You look pretty happy."

When Marshall regarded her, he couldn't help smiling. "I'd have to be crazy not to. All of this is just so, so... awesome!"

With a grin, Rainbow Dash rhetorically asked, "Then what are you standing around for," before performing a loop and flying through the underside of the cloud in the process, dispersing it.

Marshall yelped in surprise when gravity suddenly came back into play, but he quickly engaged his wings and gave chase, mirroring Rainbow Dash's grin when he decided to be more ambitious and really try to catch her.

They remained among the clouds for a bit longer, darting this way and that, only now the clouds became more relevant to their game, as Rainbow Dash pushed, spun and reshaped them for various purposes, since simply using her speed to stay out of reach could only keep her entertained for so long. She also used the clouds as a means of changing her direction, which Marshall copied with moderate success, once he had gotten enough practice in — his initial attempts had been hilarious failures, to say the least.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash left the clouds behind and headed back toward Twilight Sparkle's castle. Marshall followed her to the highest structure of the castle, which resembled Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark, and proceeded to chase her around the building, only absently noticing that they were progressively reaching the lower portions of it in the process. Once they had reached the rhombus crystal-bearing lines that hung from some of the lower sections of the castle, which Marshall had some trouble weaving around as he tried to keep up with Rainbow Dash, said pony decided to head toward the lake.

As Marshall followed Rainbow Dash to the waterfall, which appeared to be the actual destination for the next leg of their game, he enjoyed the light spray of water that was being kicked up by Rainbow Dash's passing, who had chosen to fly close to the lake's surface. It was while he was basking in the cool spray that he got an idea, which he decided to implement immediately since they were close to the waterfall and his idea wouldn't be employable once they left their current proximity to the lake.

So, before turning around and flying away as fast as he could manage, he stopped, raised his hooves to either side of his mouth, and yelled, "This isn't fun anymore! I'm leaving!"

"Huh!?" He could hear Rainbow Dash's bewildered response.

He knew that Rainbow Dash wouldn't have any trouble catching up with him, and that things could get complicated and/or awkward if she forced him into a conversation, so he was prepared to execute his plan as soon as possible, knowing that he would only get one shot at it. Hearing her call after him, he spared a look over his shoulder and saw that she had already closed most of the distance between them, and that the expression on her face was a mixture of confusion and determination, with — perhaps — a tinge of worry. Since she was already maneuvering to fly parallel with him, he quickly lined up with her and lowered his hind legs into the water, which caused a decent-sized stream to shoot upward, in front of his approaching target.

As he had hoped, Rainbow Dash's first reaction had been to protect her face, which obscured him from her. Hoping to take advantage of that, and accomplish what he had set out to do, he turned about and prepared to tag her as he proclaimed, "Gotch—oof!"

Unfortunately, as with many plans, not everything had been accounted for: he had acted before getting a clear idea of how fast Rainbow Dash had been going, and it hadn't helped that he had decelerated from dragging his legs in the water and turning around. As a result, Rainbow Dash had crashed into him, sending them both skipping and tumbling over the surface of the lake for a bit before coming to a stop with a big splash.

A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash's head emerged from the water with a gasp. Shortly thereafter, Marshall, who had none of the experience that Rainbow Dash had when it came to such high-speed incidents, came up hacking and coughing, struggling to keep his head above the water as he did so.

Rainbow Dash allowed Marshall enough time to recover before frowning at him and stating, "That... was dirty."

Marshall was still riding on the high from his flying experience, along with the adrenaline rush that had been induced by the accident, so he brazenly — yet playfully — responded with, "This?" He struck the water in front of himself, which splashed water toward Rainbow Dash, who'd had enough time to turn her head away and avoid a direct hit. "Looks like you're washed up, to me."

With an evil smile and a dangerous glint in her eye, which caused Marshall to gulp involuntarily, Rainbow Dash said, "Oh, yeah? I'll show you who's washed up!"

The splash fight that followed was a one-sided massacre. Marshall was overwhelmed by Rainbow Dash's prowess in the water, which was mostly due to the utilization of her wings. While he tried to do the same and give as good as he got, he just didn't have the experience or skill, and it wasn't made any easier by the fact that he had to deal with being splashed so often and thoroughly on top of that. Before long he was calling out his surrender and trying to swim away from the other pony's merciless assault.

Much to his relief, Rainbow Dash eventually heeded his calls and stopped harassing him while they swam to the bank. While she walked out of the lake only slightly winded, and gave her body a vigorous shake to expel the water from her body, he collapsed onto the ground after a few steps, trying to catch his breath. His attempt at doing so was interrupted briefly, however, when their eyes met and they shared a good-natured chuckle together.

"That was pretty fun," Rainbow Dash commented, for lack of anything better to do while she waited for Marshall to recover.

Marshall closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "It's been a long time since I've been able to let go and have fun like that."

"Yeah?" Rainbow Dash replied, her curiosity piqued. "How come?"

"Life, mostly," was Marshall's vague and somewhat evasive response. He didn't want to bother someone that he hardly knew with his problems, or ruin the mood, so he opened his eyes and glanced up at Rainbow Dash as he asked, "So, what about that tour?"

Rainbow Dash perked up when the new subject was suddenly introduced, seemingly unconcerned that the subject had been changed, which probably had something to do with the fact that the thought of acting as a tour guide seemed to be making her excited... for some reason. Marshall wasn't sure what to make of it, but hoped that whatever Rainbow Dash had planned was more along the lines of their game of tag, in terms of them both enjoying it, rather than just her.

"Are you up for it?" Rainbow Dash asked, with a look in her eyes that clearly conveyed that she hoped for that to be the case.

His legs were a little shaky when he stood up, but Marshall felt that he had recovered sufficiently enough from his recent exertions and could handle the after-effects of his adrenaline rush. So, he regarded Rainbow Dash and nodded his head with a measure of confidence as he said, "Lead the way."

Rainbow Dash was happy to oblige, and before long he was following her into the sky, but not before he had done his best to shake the water from his body, much like she had done. Although he had seen much of Ponyville already, it was nice to learn the names of places and what each of their functions were. Admittedly, Rainbow Dash didn't go into many details or tarry at any one place for long, but it wasn't like he did much in the way to elicit more information out of her either. Overall, though, he did enjoy it: he got to see more of the river valley where Ponyville made its home, which included a visit to the dam that functioned as the town's main source of power, as well as a glimpse of the Everfree Forest. Beyond that, Equestria's capital had also been pointed out to him, which could barely be seen in the distance.

The dam had been rather interesting, since he had been wondering how things were powered in a world that had magic and no obvious use — as far as he had seen so far — of electricity. It had actually been rather surprising to learn that the electricity being generated was distributed with magic, as opposed to using power lines. While he would have liked to learn more about that, Rainbow Dash hadn't volunteered anything beyond the questions that he had asked, and he had been too dumbstruck to ask any more questions about it in the short time that it had taken the pegasus to move on. In the end, he figured that he could ask Rarity or Twilight Sparkle about it later, who were probably more informed on the subject anyway, if his impressions of Rainbow Dash — so far — were correct.

Rainbow Dash had more to say about the Everfree Forest, in part because it seemed to be of greater interest to her, perhaps due to past experience. In addition to that, though, she had appeared to be weirded out by the fact that the weather, fauna and flora sorted themselves out on their own, which he had found amusing... until, a second later, he had learned that ponies typically took care of those things. Controlling the flora and fauna was not a new concept to him, to some degree, because humanity certainly did that to one extent or another. Controlling the weather, on the other hand, was largely in the realm of science-fiction, at least from his own universe: for the ponies, it was simply a fact of life that was made possible with magic. When asked, Rainbow Dash had readily provided some examples of how the weather could be controlled, such as making clouds rain or produce lightning, which still managed to amaze him despite the amount of amazing things that he had been exposed to already.

Then there had been "Canterlot," which could have been an allusion to the mythical Camelot. It hadn't been a difficult connection to make, since the castle looked like something out of a fairy tale. At the same time, that had been the moment where he had taken a closer look at the pony's naming conventions, since both Ponyville and Canterlot had something about their species in the name. It had made him wonder if other places were named in the same way, and made a note to look at a map of Equestria when the chance presented itself. He had also learned that Canterlot was where the princesses, Celestia and Luna, ruled Equestria. Although he'd had some questions about the princesses and the government, he hadn't been sure if Rainbow Dash would have been the best pony to ask, partly because she had seemed distracted by something.

It seemed that he was going to find out what had Rainbow Dash so distracted, though, because she could barely contain herself as she said, "Okay, I saved the best for last."

Marshall hadn't known what to expect when Rainbow Dash had pointed at one of the snow-capped mountaintops that had been outside of his periphery, which he realized — now that he was looking at it — was a place that the tour had never directed his eyesight toward, but a cylindrical tower on a cloud base, floating above the aforementioned mountaintop, had not been it. The tower was several stories tall, with a domed roof, and was of a style that suggested Greco-Roman to his untrained eyes. For the most part, the tower was white and a very pale cyan that bordered on being white, and that was accented by some of the surrounding clouds, which were various shades of purple. What really caught his eye, though, were what appeared to be rainbows in liquid form, running off of the clouds, and the rainbow that was projecting from the dome, if not over it, whose shape suggested that it was also of a liquid form, rather than coming into being via a combination of water droplets, sunlight, and his position relative to theirs.

Simply put: the sight was amazing. The rest of Ponyville had been relatable and mundane, aside from Twilight Sparkle's castle, but even a giant tree "house," on a tree that appeared to be made of crystal, was within the realm of possibility where he had come from. There was simply no way that the clouds on his world could support the mass of a pony, let alone a building. All things considered, it probably wasn't anything special to the ponies, but the idea of living in a house that was located on a cloud was just so cool to him.

Rainbow Dash must have gotten a good read of his thoughts through the expression on his face, because she looked rather pleased with herself as she said, "I know, right? I figured humans don't live on clouds where you come from, so I thought I'd show you my house."

"This is where you live?" Marshall couldn't help asking, even though he already had the answer to that question.

Idly, he supposed that he also knew the reason for why Rainbow Dash had been so enthusiastic about taking him on a tour, since she seemed to be a mite egotistical. Well, so long as she was friendly and meant well, he didn't really mind. In fact, her straightforward, exuberant and fun-seeking behavior was a real breath of fresh air, in a way that wasn't like the whole magical cartoon pony universe thing, so he really appreciated the opportunity that he had been given to spend time with her.

"Yup!" Rainbow Dash proudly confirmed, before looking away, rubbing the back of her neck and continuing in a slightly reserved manner. "And, uh... Now that you've told me about that game, I was kinda hoping that you could, y'know, write it down." She suddenly pointed both of her forehooves at Marshall, as if to stop him from something that he had been on the verge of doing, but hadn't, and hastily explained, "Not for me, of course! It's just so I won't have to repeat myself when I share it with others. It'll be really convenient!"

Rainbow Dash's smile looked notably disingenuous, which Marshall yet again attributed to the cartoon physics making such expressions easy enough for him to read. Still, since he didn't see any harm in humoring her, because he wouldn't be surprised if he had already forgotten one or two of the more finer details of Quidditch himself, he released a brief snort of amusement and said, "I suppose I could. We should probably go over the details anyway, to see if any changes need to be made."

"Why would we need to make changes?" Rainbow Dash queried.

"Well," Marshall temporized, before being inspired by a nearby cloud and pointing at it, "for example, we could consider adding those to the game, since the players are pegasi instead of humans using brooms."

Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up with understanding and an injection of enthusiasm. "Hey, yeah! We should definitely add clouds."

Now with something more to look forward to, she made a beeline to her house, but not before pausing long enough to properly invite Marshall into her home, which she had almost forgotten in her excitement. He followed her at a more leisurely pace, which allowed him to notice the image above her front door as he drew near: it was Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, except it had been rotated ninety degrees clockwise, and the end of the lightning bolt kind of dipped and curled onto itself, as if it had melted and reshaped itself on a whim.

Once he was beyond the double doors, which he had closed behind himself because he hadn't been raised in a barn, he landed and took in the sights. His first impression was of Rainbow Dash being wealthy, at least by the standards that he was accustomed to. It was hard to say whether or not those standards were applicable, though, in part because he wouldn't have expected Rainbow Dash to have a wealthy background, based solely on what little he knew about her. For all that he knew, she had earned her current living arrangements herself, which would be pretty impressive if she was as young as she seemed to be. Not that he had any real idea of how to judge a cartoon pony's age...

At any rate, the entrance hall was fairly spacious and rather spartan. Directly across from the front door was a stairway that led up to a balcony, which probably allowed access to other parts of the house, and also provided lighting for the "ground" floor from its underside. Right next to the front door was a pedestal, where a statue of a flying pegasus was on display. Aside from a few vases, there were a couple of shields that were widely separated on the wall, which may or may not have been family crests.

To the right was an entryway to another room, although he couldn't tell if it was meant to be of the living or waiting variety. In there, he could see a couple of chairs that were made out of clouds, unless they were only made to look that way. Several glass top tables were arranged within the room as well, and while most of them seemed to have metal bases, at least one glass top — for whatever reason — was being raised by what appeared to be a clump of cloud. Aside from a small lamp and flower vase, the only other notable feature of the room was the window: it was larger than the ones in the entrance hall, and was accompanied by purple curtains that had yellow lightning bolts printed on them, which were drawn open at the moment.

As he began to poke the stone floor beneath him, wondering if it was the cloud that was supporting it, or some other magical application, Rainbow Dash reappeared with a clipboard and a pencil. After he accepted them, his host asked, "Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure," Marshall replied, who realized that he was feeling a bit parched. "Water will be fine."

Rainbow Dash nodded her head in acknowledgement and swept a forehoof toward the living/waiting room as she said, "Go ahead and make yourself at home; I'll be back in just a sec."

After she left, Marshall entered the indicated room and hopped onto the loveseat. He hadn't chosen the armchair out of habit, since the recliner had been his father's designated seat for as long as he could remember, so he always assumed that there was a chair reserved for the master — or mistress — of the home. The loveseat was more comfortable than he had expected anyway, so it wasn't like he could complain even if he had wanted to.

He had just gotten his body settled on his chosen cushion, and began writing down the default rules of Quidditch, when Rainbow Dash returned, carrying two glasses. When she offered the only glass that contained a clear liquid, he accepted it with gratitude; she kept the one with the dark liquid, which he guessed was grape juice, based on the faint aroma that he had picked up. He didn't dwell on her beverage, though, since she had decided to join him on the loveseat, which — considering how they were alone in her house — made him feel a touch uncomfortable, since she was a member of the fairer sex regardless of her species.

Fortunately, Rainbow Dash was clearly focused on creating a Quidditch-based game, so he adjusted his attention accordingly and explained what he planned to do. First, he would write down a list of the original rules. Once those were on paper, they would start a new list on a separate sheet of paper and work out which rules from the original would survive or be changed, and what kind of rules would be added to them. Rainbow Dash didn't have any problems with doing it that way, so he got to work.

He was halfway through with writing down the original rules when an unexpected sound reached his ears. When he looked up to find the source, which was growing louder by the second, he noticed that his host was hearing it as well. Before he could ask her about it, to see if it was normal or not, he saw — of all things — a tortoise flying into the room via a propeller-driven cap that was strapped to its body. He wasn't sure how that worked, although the yellow glow surrounding the spindly shaft probably had something to do with it.

The tortoise made to approach Rainbow Dash, but she caught it and behaved kind of awkwardly as she spared Marshall a glance and said, "Sorry, Tank. Maybe later."

If not for that glance, Marshall wouldn't have picked up that Tank had been denied whatever he had wanted because of his presence. It took him a few seconds to figure out what was going on, as he regarded Tank's look of disappointment and how Rainbow Dash kept the aforementioned tortoise well away from herself, but he supposed that it made enough sense. At least, he wouldn't be surprised if Rainbow Dash had a certain image that she wanted to uphold, considering the kind of personality that she seemed to have.

Apparently, he had been staring at the pair for too long, because Rainbow Dash responded to his attention with an odd mixture of nervousness and defensiveness as she challengingly said, "What?"

Marshall considered them for a second longer before he decided to envelop Tank in his magic and move him closer to Rainbow Dash's face, where he took advantage of the opportunity to nuzzle her face, much to her surprise and embarrassment. With that accomplished, he simply returned his attention to writing down the rules for Quidditch, since what he had done had said enough by itself, and probably better than what he could have come up with verbally. And that wasn't even including whether or not he should have said anything, since it probably would have been a bit hypocritical of him to do so. Not in the sense of openly showing affection to a pet, though: he had an abundance of memories where he had allowed a certain Pekingese to lick his face with abandon while among both family and friends, for example.

With his eyes focused on what he was writing, he didn't see Rainbow Dash open her mouth to speak, then close it a few seconds later without saying anything. Her brow furrowed in thought, but it wasn't long before her expression softened, when her attention was drawn back to Tank. Eventually, she succumbed to her desires and removed the flying apparatus from him, so she could hold him close while she worked with Marshall to create an Equestrian version of Quidditch.