A Study In Nonsense

by Professor Piggy

Coming Home

There were few sights in Equestria that could compare with a Cloudsdale sunset. She had been told so all her life, but it was only now – seeing it with her own eyes – that she truly believed it. The light set the clouds aflame, creating a rippling cascade of colours that quite took her breath away. There was absolutely no doubt that it was a wonderous thing, but she had to wonder: was it as beautiful as it was merely on its own merits, or was its beauty enhanced by the fact that she had, in truth, never expected to see another sunset?

Whatever the reason, as Rarity stood atop the balcony of the Cloudsdale Colloseum looking out over the city, she was glad to be alive. Though perhaps, she had to admit, not quite as glad as her companion was – she shot a glance to her side to take in just a little more of the smile on Rainbow Dash’s face. It had been perhaps ten minutes since the Pegasus had finished her point by point retelling of her afternoon with the Wonderbolts, and neither of them had spoken a word since. But that smile hadn’t faltered. It was an unusual thing – most days her friend couldn’t bear to sit still for ten seconds, but today…today she seemed content. Calm.

It was not the first time that Rainbow Dash had surprised her that day.

Slowly, hesitantly, she cleared her throat and broke the silence. “I…suppose I should explain why I asked you up here. You must be wondering by now.”

The pegasus shook her head slowly, never taking her eyes off the city below. “Nah. It’s pretty obvious – you wanted to thank me for being totally awesome and saving your butt, right?”

“Well, yes. But that’s only part of it – I also wanted to apologise.” It was difficult for her to say. She didn’t like apologising – apologising meant admitting that she’d made a mistake, and making a mistake meant she had failed.

“You did that already,” Rainbow pointed out easily, “It’s cool. Don’t worry about it: you got a big head. It happens – to me more than just about anypony – and it all worked out. Even if it hadn’t, I’d rather have lost the competition than lost a friend.”

Her heart skipped a beat, and she wasn’t entirely sure why. “But I completely ruined your homecoming - I stole the spotlight, made an idiot of both of us, and then you had to save me from my own incompetence! How can you just brush that off!?”

For the first time the Pegasus turned to look at her, eyes sparkling with amusement, and her smile faltered a little – suddenly, Rainbow Dash looked very, very tired indeed. Yet when she spoke her voice was gentle, almost…contemplative. “First off, you’d have ruined my day a heck of a lot more if you’d hit the ground – when it’s time for use to go, I plan on going first. So no dying before me, or I’ll have to kick your flank. Second… there was nothing to ruin. This isn’t my home. Never was.”

She scrambled for words, and found nothing. All there was was halting, useless questions. “But you grew up here, didn’t you?”

“Nah. Not here. This was always the dream – the place I’d break into to watch all the big, important ponies do their stuff. The place where my heroes sometimes stopped by. Sometimes it was a place to sleep, too. But it was never home. I didn’t have a home, back then – unless you count ‘wherever Fluttershy happened to be’, I guess.”

Dash spun on a hoof to gaze back into the Colloseum, a chuckle escaping from her lips. “It’s funny. I always swore I’d come back here one day, and show ‘em I was better than they all thought. That I could be special too – that nopony, nowhere, would ever be better than Rainbow Dash. I kinda thought this’d be the first step, y’know? But that’s not how it feels.”

“What do you mean, dear?”

“I dunno. Not really, anyways. I just know this doesn’t feel like I expected. It doesn’t feel like coming home and wowing everypony who mattered. It feels like making an impact, but not like I wanted.”

“You’ll forgive me for saying that you don’t seem terribly disappointed.”

“I’m not,” The pegasus’ voice cracked as she spoked, just a little, “Not even a little. You know why?”

“Enlighten me?”

As her friend turned to face her, outlined against the setting sun and looking more peaceful than she’d ever been, Rarity couldn’t help but notice that Dash had tears in her eyes.

“Coming back here didn’t feel like coming home. But leaving Ponyville without you girls? That felt like leaving home. I’ve…never felt that before. Not really. Think I could get used to it, though.”

There were no words, and she didn’t need them – all she needed to do, all she could do, was throw her forelegs around her friend and hug her tightly to let her know that she would always, always have a home.

Comments

[Professor Piggy]

The Prompt: You can go home again OR You can't go home again.
Mine is both, kinda.

[BenRG]

Home isn't just the place you are born, it's the place where you feel safe and loved and, for Rainbow Dash, that's where her five friends are, wherever they are.

[TheAlmightySage]

Brilliant.

Also creeping closer to number 100....

[Convisku]

AlmostKindaSortaButNotActually!RariDash is amongst my favourite pairings, if you want to know.

[Donnys Boy]

This is the third story in a row that is some flavor of RariDash.

I AM JUST SAYING.

[Professor Piggy]

1732574 Precisely so. And nothing is more important than that.

1734840 Heh, thanks! And yes. Yes we are.

1735681 RariDash is one of my favourite things to write hands down, and friendshipping them is ridiculously fun. Glad you liked it.

1744485 WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING HERE? TAKE YOUR SLANDEROUS IMPLICATIONS ELSEWHERE! JUST BECAUSE RARIDASH IS RIGHT AND GOOD AND PERFECT AND NOT DOOMED DOES NOT MEAN I LOVE IT AS MUCH AS FLUTTERPIE EVEN THOUGH IT'S JUST AS...Just as....

Oh. Oh.