Only One Speck of Dust

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

Chapter 22

Rainbow Dash would have want to bite the sheets. She never really been oversensitive to pain but if there was something touchy about her, it was her wings. In her plans, she had not thought that Twilight Sparkle would lay into this part of her anatomy by startling her in the shack. To be honest, she rather had thought to be attacked by a magic ray that would have suspend her into the air or something else of the kind.

And with this little improvised dual, it did not get better. Because of this, she was going to go without flying for at least a week.

She clenched her teeth but could not help a little spasm when the product-soaked cotton got in touch with her injury.

“Soarin, be gentle!”

“Doing the best I can but the disinfectant has to touch the wound at least a little if you want it to heal.”

After breakfast, when it had been time to change her bandage, Rainbow Dash had noticed that Applejack was worn out and had not want to stop her from going to sleep quickly. Since Melrose already had work at the inn and Caramel wanted to spend time with his marefriend, she had turned to Soarin with pleading puppy eyes so he would accept to take care of it.

Of course, she could have asked Pinkie Pie or even Big Macintosh, and they would both had hurried to do her this favor, but the truth was that she wanted to spend time with Soarin and that, faithful to her habits, she had not been able to make him understand by other ways than a winding one.

Since her visit at Twilight’s, Rainbow Dash could feel her coltfriend’s behavior was different. He looked less present, more head-in-the-clouds. During the watches, he remained focused, if not bluntly doing zeal in excess and it made her feel as if he was trying to avoid to be in touch with her.

Though she did not show, this sudden distance profoundly hurt her. In her mind, it could only mean he already was tired of her and did not dare to say it, scared to be in a rough time. She thought it would help to be alone with him while taking care of her. And although this was the longest phrase he had said to her since days, she kept on telling herself something was wrong.

Their more elaborate conversation had been when Soarin had wanted to know what it would become of Twilight Sparkle and that she had proudly revealed their plan had worked and that The Militia had finally found back a Quartermaster that was not a despot in the making.

As soon as he was done with his little “torture” session, he wrapped a clean bandage around her wing, meticulous and soft yet mechanical. At least, she felt his gestures as being mechanical. It had to stop. If there was something Rainbow Dash could not stand, it was to be the last to know about something she had to do with.

She heard Soarin put the first-aid kit back into the chest of drawers beside her bed, then staying where he was, in the background.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?”, he asked her without real conviction.

Still lying on her stomach, her wounded wing obviously opened for want of a better alternative, she patted the free space beside her, inviting him to sit by her side.

He seemed to hesitate but after endless seconds, he finally settled by her side. Well, by her side… At a distance that Rainbow Dash thought was a little too reasonable. Instead of being at ease, he remained tensed, his hooves in right angles, his neck straight, staring at the wall in front of him on which were pinned family portraits as well as press clippings.

Fine. Here, for sure, no one would see them. What she was about to do would not ruin her reputation, and although Soarin would probably wrongly think she was the sappy kind, it did not matter. She had to try to break this resistance she was feeling from him; to break the protective shell he had built between them.

She let her body slid on the mattress to huddle against him and nuzzled the pit of his neck. She immediately noticed the tension inside of him, as if his nape was straighter, yet determined, she did not hesitate to go up her strokes until she reached his jaw. She thought she felt him swallowing and thought she was on the right road. So she made his face turn and pecked his lips.

Like last time… No, worse than last time. Rainbow Dash got no answer from him. Nothing moved in Soarin, not even a millimeter.

Saddened and deceived, she let herself fall against her pillow half-heartedly, trying not to show him how much his lack of reaction broke her heart.

“I’ve bumped into winter clouds that were warmer…”

“Sorry. I—didn’t want to look, well… You don’t have to force yourself, you know.”

“To force myself?”, she asked rising her voice.

Then she added, softer:

“To force myself to what?”

“To act as if you wanted to be with me.”

It was as if he had hit her with a club right into her face. She had tried to be sincere, had done her best to go beyond her embarrassment regarding affection, hoping it would clear this odd tension between them… and he was thinking she was forcing herself. Even with the best will in the world, Rainbow Dash did not understand.

“But who said I’m forcing myself?”

“No pony.”

“So, what? If you don’t say anything, Soarin, I can’t guess. What’s wrong lately?”

She felt he hesitated. No matter what it was, this whole matter could not be sort out if he retreated into silence. She was not really good at it and her loving experiences could be counted on a pony’s hooves yet she knew for she had seen many couples around her that communication was something essential.

He had to go in front of his fears, to tell her one time for good what made him in such a gloomy mood.

“Don’t take it badly.”

“I’ll try my best, but I can’t take promises I won’t keep.”

Soarin sighed, his shoulders and ears lowering. He did not dare to look into her eyes.

“Do you still love Time Stellar? It seems like… no one will ever be half the pony he was.”

Time Stellar? So, he was the problem. Rainbow Dash had thought about it, possibly. But she had not contemplate the trouble to be coming from the way her deceased coltfriend had been described…

Herself, she realized that what bothered Soarin the most was precisely the fact that Time Stellar was deceased and that so, his memory will always be more intense than all the rest. And, no dead pony would ever disappoint her or break her heart. How would he hold the competition?

It was about time to set the record straight. For this she would have to be honest with him. A part of this truth would probably hurt a little, yet… it was like her wounded wing. If she wanted it to heal, she had to suffer a bit with a touch of disinfectant.

Too bad if, for this, she had to do something that, all the same, caused a problem – to open up her heart and to speak her feelings out. However, the most difficult was to give it a try.

“Of course, I still love him. There will always be a room for him in my heart. Except you can’t spend your life crying over a dead pony. Unless you’re Melrose, but that’s another story…”

Finally, Soarin lowered his eyes to gaze at her. Rainbow Dash tried to smile to comfort him, and could see he was not quite convinced. It was not enough. She had to give him more, to make greater endeavors. If she really wanted him to stop to sideline her, she had to offer him more than scraps. She had to destroy her own protective shell. To appear stripped off her selfish pride. Her heart naked.

“I promise I’m not forcing myself. I really like you. A lot.”

A gleam danced in the back of his emerald eyes and she thought she had won the battle… until the small flame went out again.

In her mind, Rainbow Dash heard a little irritated voice yelling “what now?”, but decided not to listen to it, to stay patient – the best she could. He might really need an additional explanation.

It truly was complicated, feelings…

She put a hoof on his cheek, to make sure he would not look away.

“You’re really nice. You’re a good pony. And you make me laugh. Most of the time, at your own expense, but, well…”

With that, Soarin displayed a pouty face and turned around. For sure, she was making a short hop, but she was going forward. She guessed this childish reaction was nothing wrong. It showed his desire to be taken seriously.

Saying out loud what she was feeling for him was some kind of steep slope that she crossed painfully. She did not want a pony who would know her affectionate and loving side could one day use it like a flaw to exploit.

If she let Soarin step into her little private sphere, she would have to trust him, the way she trusted Caramel, for example, although their bond was of a strictly different kind. She had to trust him so much that he would never exploit this flaw in order to play with her.

Rainbow Dash rolled on her flank and, teasing, wrapped herself around his stomach such as a small bawdy snake, her both forelegs forcing him to turn around and to look into her eyes.

“You are alive… in every sense of the word. Why would I keep on crying over a lost love when I can be with you, laugh with you, play with you, fly with you, speak with you, cuddle with you? Do you understand?”

Soarin nodded with a smile, and finally, she felt the tension inside slowly leaving her as her body started to relax against his. It had been very complicated for her to say the words, but now she had said them, she was feeling lighter. Eventually, her mind will cease to torture herself with questions without answers. And, she hoped so, it was the same for him.

Without her to loosen her embrace, he turned the part of his body still avoiding to face her, and thought he understood in the way she squeezed herself a little more against him that she had no intention of letting him go.

The kiss that followed arrived very naturally, as expected as sunny spells after a storm. For the first time, it was a kiss to which they had consent at the same time, without a gap. It seemed to seal an implicit deal between them.

A page had just been turned, and a new chapter was about to begin. They probably would have to go through storms together, and avalanches, thunderclaps tearing up the sky, with trees falling down over their road.

However, for now, nothing else mattered, except how his lips moved on her lips and their both body sealed together, like two colors of a same palette mixing up with time.

The sensation was… liberating. She stopped thinking about her reputation, about what the others could think of her, since there was only her, Rainbow Dash and Soarin, in the secret of this room. She stopped asking herself questions – when, how, why. She even forgot that a threat rumbled outside and that at any moment, her world could stumble over into malevolence and blood.

Happenstance had brought him on her doorstep. Not really thinking about the future, not even the close one, she had accepted him by her side, had agreed for him to step into her universe, the one she kept sheltered from the eyes, that was only known of a very small percentage of ponies.

Today, she no longer wanted to pretend. It was the truth she had been able to express, although she had kept for her another secret that she did not feel ready to say out loud yet.

She did not need to tell him. Kisses and caresses were here to overcome the lack created by words, and through them, Rainbow Dash worked on making him understand he had been able to conquer a part of her heart.

She gasped in surprise when he buried his muzzle into her second wing, which had opened without her to even notice. His mouth rummaged through the feathers until he finally found her most sensitive spot, and she closed her eyes, unable to hold back what was going out of the back of her throat.

It had been forever since she had not been taken over by these sensations and she did not know what to do with it. Everything seemed to be multiplied, to the extent of being painful. She hung at his neck, said his name in a steamy cry, and in order not to let her accelerated heart win, she pressed her own lips against his throat, not expecting what she was about to start.

At the time, surprised, she had a slight wince, then smiled through the new kiss they exchanged. While others tore each other apart for matters of revenge, she had right to the best treatment of all Equestria.

With Soarin, everything was new. Everything shone from a different radiance, had a different taste. As if she discovered her land again and the treasure it could contain, she denied herself nothing, filling up of each recess of his body her hooves could reach or kiss.

Short-winded, he took a break. Here she was under his eyes, hanging onto him, her body yearning. Her mane in a mess and panting. She smiled at him, and he discovered she could smile in another new manner. A lot of words rushed through his mind and he was able to say none of them.

Anyway, she could make fun of him or reproach him to be too sappy. So he did not say a word and leaned over to kiss her again. Between two kisses, Soarin heard her speak about the previous night, this night when he had left her so alone, assuring him that she had wanted him to stay. Then she asked him to stay tonight, all night long.

He did not need to be asked twice. Since the very first day or almost, he had thought about this moment, and sometimes he even has thought it would never happen. In all honesty, truth was stranger than fiction. Once charmed, Rainbow Dash showed herself to be of a surprising affection. She liked him to take his time, not to be too rough in his gestures.

In fact, right before they both moved on to the next level of their exchange, she warned him, waving a menacing hoof under his eyes.

“If you’re going too fast and hurt me, I’ll put my hoof in your face, is that clear?”

Soarin wanted to smile. True to herself. You could take the warrior out of the mare but you could not take the mare out of the warrior.

“Nice and slow, then…”

“That’s how I like it.”

She pecked the tip of his muzzle and waited. It was up to him. The initiative, far from being simple, happened to be a bit laborious to set up. Rainbow Dash had to replace her mane, wedged behind her back, and he skidded several times without being able to establish a contact. A long minute was necessary to be able to be compatible to each other.

“You don’t need to kiss me all the time”, she said softly. “Look into my eyes.”

Little by little, they each learned to tame each other, to understand what the other liked and how. Sometimes, between two sensual sighs, they were laughing when hearing sounds of hooves in the corridor, or when a bit of air went between their both bodies and made strange sounds.

But whatever happened, always, Rainbow Dash nestled against him passionately, and when it happened, Soarin felt as if he were the most loved stallion of all Equestria. No other pony had the chance to hold in his hooves this mare pegasus who drove him crazy, without even looking for it.

He looked at her sprawling in a sensual way, her wings opened yet relaxed.

“I’m feeling so good right now… Caramel was wrong about you. You do know crazy tricks with other limbs than your wings.”

From her, it probably was a compliment, and Soarin took it as such.

They had just caught their breath, after a relationship that have been at the same time tender, conniving and very erotic. Obviously, if Rainbow Dash hated ponies to see her being affectionate in public, she felt no shame when the whole house could hear her having pleasure. It was rather surprising… but pleasant for him.

With his hoof, he traced the drawing of her backbone, sliding between her unfold wings until the pit of her small of the back. Soarin was rewarded by a small sensual moan, and saw her suppress a chill. Really, this was better than anything he could have imagined.

She snuggled against him as soon as he was by her side, not having a care about the perspiration on their sticky coat, a satisfied smile on her face. He closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep with her between his hooves, when she rose her eyes.

“I was about to forget something… My parents want to meet you.”

The tension which had left him one hour ago re-entered the fray. Nonchalantly, Rainbow Dash has just dropped a bomb. He already knew Melrose, Applejack and Big Macintosh’s mother, a very pleasant mare for whom he had a lot of respect, but Rainbow Dash’s parents were something else.

“What? Does that scare you? They won’t be questioning you or I don’t know what. It’s just that there’s this thing… their wedding anniversary. And they’d like for you to be here.”

“Dashie…”

He thought she would frown about the nickname, but in front of her lack of reaction, he spoke again.

“Your father’s a legend. The Armed Weapon of Destruction. Former Leader of the Cavalry. He’s not just any stallion.”

“Precisely, don’t you think it’s exciting? The first time I’ve been told I’ll learn with Master Crimson Moon, I haven’t been able to sleep at night because I couldn’t wait.”

Soarin buried his muzzle into his marefriend’s rainbow mane. He was terrified just thinking about it and it was not something she could understand. Rainbow Dash never was afraid of anything, except maybe the Black Blood infection. She did not even seem to fear the Spider God’s wrath, although she believed, who recommended to lovers a due date for the first lovemaking that they haven’t respected at all.

“I promise he won’t embarrass you. Neither will Mom. They’re not like this. My uncle, on the other hand…”

“No, not the Angel of Death with it, no!”

She burst laughing without restraining herself. No one in her family was the kind to mess up with her sentimental life. They asked her questions, it was true, but were not those who make suffer from a questioning by the book to the coltfriends she could have, or worse, to intervene in her relationships by forbidding her to go out with a stallion they would not like.

They were going to like Soarin, anyway. His kindness, his empathy, his energy were qualities her family appreciated, placing those virtues above the rest. And he cared for her. It was the number one required quality to gain favors of everypony.

When he understood she was making fun of him, his cheeks blushed in a shade of pink. Adorable. She could not restrain herself from pecking his muzzle again. This tall stallion pegasus, with sturdy wings, an athletic body and muscled hooves, blushing because he has been teased and he has fallen into a trap… It was irresistible, even for her.

“Please, I really want you to be here. There will be a lot of good food to eat, cider at your wits’ end, my mother will be forced to make a speech – that’s the best – and I’m going to be obliged to wear one of these damn itchy dresses. We’ll have a lot of fun!”

Obviously, she really cared about his presence. He was sorry to notice, yet now she had opened up her heart to him, since she had delivered him her deepest secret, she got him. There was nothing he could refuse to her, not even this.

To meet Uncloudy Shelter, the one who made stop the Fratricide War by confronting his own twin brother, Knight Shelter, there as well… How would he be able to keep his composure in front of such living legends?

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A very few pony knew there was a hot spring in this corner of the Everfree Forest. Those who ventured here often did not have the time to stop and watch around them. Most of them were only there in a transition phase. It was rather pity, since the woods which was a source of fear for many contained its part of beauty as well.

Twilight closed her book on Equestria’s history that she had brought with her. It was her favorite book, though she knew a lot of details had been romanticized. In fact, there were very few written traces of the life before Equestria was created. The little that existed recounted stories of a hostile land, where ponies were left to their own devices, and though the climate was not as hard as it was now in the North Shore, violence seemed to be more violent and more present than what it was now too.

What she liked the most were stories about Starswirl the Bearded, first king and great mage, who had been able to reunite the three ethnic groups – unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi – who until then were killing each other in what looked like a civil war. She liked the way he had overcame with the invasion from the Crystal Empire, this empire that sounded like some urban legend. And how he had founded Canterlot and Manehattan, the first Equestria’s main cities, before Ponyville became what it had become.

Her book between her mouth, she put her eye-patch back thanks to her magic, and still thanks to it, she wore a lined bathrobe that she adored and had been able to keep undamaged.

The air outside was freezing just like any other night, but after the boiling hot water from the spring, it seemed to Twilight that it was even more biting than usual. She hurried to go to her small shack not far, hidden by a thick curtain of leafy trees yet recovered with snow.

Soon, she would be able to leave this place, and to go back in town. She could not wait to stroll in the streets without being looked like a freak. Again, she was going to be able to make the most of the others’ generosity, and above everything, as The Militia’s Main Quartermaster, she would finally be allowed to reuse the Ponyville’s Archives as she liked.

It implied that she would have to assist to the Head’s Council assemblies, to be here at each of the training sessions, if not even to some of the most important watches. Some eyes, she knew it, would be incriminating, and she would have to show evidence of patience before she would regain their trust. It did not really matter. She was redeemed. No need to wait for a potential victory that might not even occur.

Yet, her joy was of short duration when she returned to the inside of her shack. The two doors had been broken into – again. All her books were on the floor, her table destroyed, her basin of water knocked over had damaged some of the publications. Blood with a strong smell of innards and rot had been daubed on the walls.

On the wall beside her window, the one against which she had pinned Rainbow Dash with her sword – that has disappeared – there was a small white rectangle, outlining from the rest.

She stepped closer and opened her eyes wide seeing what was written with big red letters: ‘death for traitors’.

In all likelihood, Prince Blueblood already knew he had lost her help. And he did not like it at all.

Author's Note:

Oops! I forgot that I should have published it yesterday

Do you think I should add the "sex" tag because of this passage between Soarin and Dashie? It's not what I call explicit, so I'm not too sure...

Comments

[Crimson Dawn]

To me those tags are supposed to represent the important themes and genres that you are trying to convey. Just having any sexual scenes at all would not require the sex tag in my view unless you were using it as something important to the story or it is going to happen a lot.

I will say though that this is not the only scene that could be construed as a non-explicit sex scene as we had I think 2 with Pinkie and Big Mac (which I am cool with of course, always feel free to have more Pinkie and Big Mac scenes). This does not mean that you should add the sex tag unless the sex scenes are an important part of the story and not just incidental.

[Dusk_Writer]

You could take the warrior out of the mare but you could not take the mare out of the warrior.

This is the truest thing I have ever heard…

“I was about to forget something… My parents want to meet you.”

Now I'm just imagining Soarin letting out a quiet 'meep' for some reason

I don't think the 'sex' tag is completely necessary. If it's a largefactor or happens later on as well, I'd say yeah.

You made me die in this chapter

[Vitae]

Interesting, I'd say that these "sex" scenes are softly worded as love/very little to no lust.

No explicit wording or pictures painted from said words.
It reads as two souls are joining together as one in love and acceptance so I, myself, don't feel like it needs the sex tag but I'd ask a mod for clarification.

Another wonderful chapter in this strange and dark world you have constructed Ni.