The Waters of March

by Bandy

The End of the Road

It was Sunday night when Dash’s hooves left the comforting coolness of the island’s beach, though she wagered it would be Monday morning by the time she touched down again. The night was perfect for flying. It invited her further and further up, past the high point of her previous night’s flight. Her wings pumped almost automatically. Flying up was all she could do to keep herself from flying apart.

Further and further up she flew, until the jetstream came fully into view. Without so much as a second thought, she pumped her wings and let the current take her.

A familiar voice sounded as the current took hold of her. The jetstream was singing--or had it ever stopped? This time she anticipated the song and kept her head forward. The vaguely pony voice spoke in perfect harmony with the incredible roar of the wind passing around her, but she remained flat and forward-facing. It came from everywhere all at once, carrying over the wind. In one moment far behind, the next moment far ahead, the next right on top of her, right in her ear.

Not that she noticed anymore.

It felt so good to be moving again. Some strange voice inside her kept saying this whole weekend was wasted. It felt like the same voice telling her to go on this vacation in the first place, though maybe it was something else entirely. Who knew? At this point, it felt like everything was up in the air, and not just literally.

No matter how fast she cut through the air, no matter how streamlined she made herself, she couldn’t escape her thought that she should have stayed in the jetstream and skipped the island entirely. She wasn’t even sure why she had gone on this vacation in the first place, yet she still felt at a loss now that it was almost over.

That feeling revealed her lie. She knew exactly why she came. She knew from the very start, from that very first moment Rarity had brought up the prospect of vacation. From the moment the idea of tropical paradise crossed the threshold from her mind to Dash’s, from the moment she first saw green, and blue, and whatever other sandy colors appeared in her mind when the phrase “tropical paradise” started being thrown around--from that moment, something gnawed at her. This was a horrible idea. This was a horrible idea and she knew it, she knew it but she still came, and every moment in the past three days had been a big waste, and worse than that, now her friend--her friend, oh no no no, she was not doing this again, just focus on the singing some more, that’s right, lull yourself back to reality--now her friend had figured her out. It all felt so wrong, even though it came from the heart. Rarity was a master of deduction and reading ponies. She probably saw through her from the start.

That was it--Rarity had known all along. She knew it and didn’t have the nerve to say anything to hurt her, or didn’t feel like spoiling what was supposed to be a happy weekend, or she just enjoyed playing with her food before tearing it to bits--it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Not Rarity, not the island and its lights fading amongst the waves far below, not the land, not the ocean, not the wind, not the sky. Nothing. It was all over so quickly, almost like it hadn’t even started at all. The sun had risen and set--why couldn’t she remember? The day was so far away now. All that was left was the night. The clouds were all gone. The stars must be out in force tonight, shining their hearts out for no one to see. Dash was being carried faster than she could even believe. She just wished she could slow down and see.

When she looked down, a cold chill ran through her body. Without even realizing it, the jetstream had carried her way out to sea. The black ocean stretched on endlessly beneath her. The island was a tiny speck many miles away, then nothing at all.

The familiar panic of being lost without a map flooded her mind. This was too far. way too far. She was too far from home, too far from her friends, too far from everything. The ocean was everything else and if she touched down there she’d drown for sure. She’d never find the feeling she had been searching for all this time. There was no peace to be found in her tug-of-war between home and horizon. She was too close or too far away. Stuck in place or careening out of control. She had walked on the edge of the world, stared into the endless ocean, and she had shrugged. Now she was over the edge and all she wanted was to return, with all her heart, yes, she wanted to come back. The feeling was not a place or a destination, not a pony or ponies. The feeling was a feeling, same as the ache in her heart and the panic in her mind and the sting in her eyes.

The jetstream shoved her from side to side, and she strained harder to keep from crumpling. There was no escape from this current. It was so much harsher now than it was before, and the singing was louder too. It wasn’t the current though. It was her own will to fly giving out. The longer she stayed in, the harder it was to get out. Somewhere deep in her mind, she remembered what Rarity had said all those nights ago--or was it years? There were many kinds of blue. She was the blue color of the sky, wide and empty in the daytime. The ocean underneath her was not the kind of blue she wanted to get lost in.

As she fought with the current, desperate to escape, she realized this must be what the long range weatherponies felt like all the time, fighting the flow of nature, drifting miles each minute yet never going towards anything, only speeding away from one thing. One thing... one thing she felt she needed more than freedom, no, that thing she needed, it was freedom, it was, it was, it’s

, love, it’s

a stick, a stone, it’s the end of the road, it’s a weekend abroad, it is nights spent alone, it’s glass, it’s hope, it’s a simple refrain, one that’s easily learned and sung all day, it’s the sun, it’s the moon, it’s the tall sandy dunes, playing off in the light, it is dark, it is new, it’s hope, it’s soap, it’s a clean cleansing wind, not as cool as a fire, not as sharp as your wing, it’s the salt in your mane, it’s a feeling you catch, it’s a fire in your heart, it’s the lack of a bath, it's the feeling of hope when the stars are aligned, it's the sound of her voice calling out in the night, it’s a tear, then some more, falling down off your face, falling into the dark where they can’t be retraced, all the feelings let go, thrown away to the wind, it’s the feeling of grace balanced up on a grin, it’s a thrilling refrain, it’s the sound of guitars, tuning into the vibe, looking up to the stars, it’s the hopeless romance on some old distant shore, it’s desire in your brain, it’s the wanting of more, it’s the story that reads like it’s out of a book, it’s a thought on a page, it’s a fish on a hook, no one cares what the old crazy story books say, air is life, so it goes, air is life, yes we know, AIR IS LIFE, AIR IS LIFE, we are air, we are clouds, we are molded and shaped by the winds all around, and we fall back to earth in a lazy descent, touching down, sinking deep, flowing out riverbeds, and the riverbanks talk of the waters of March, and you hear them all sing of the song in your heart,

It took all night for Rainbow Dash to find her way back to the island. In the pure darkness, she retraced her flight path beneath the jetstream on instinct alone. She flung herself against the winds for what felt like days. The island appeared on the horizon just as the morning sun broke the waves.

She hardly even noticed she had arrived, even as her hooves sank into the cool sand of the eastern beach. She looked around and saw the coast stretching far in both directions. Her wings ached in time with her heartbeat.

She turned around, panting, and saw Rarity reclining against the railing of their cabin. Sunlight parted over her natural curls. She squinted delicately, her body at rest, a stick, a stone, it’s the end of the road.

Dash took a step and stumbled. Sometimes after you fly so long it’s hard to walk again. She shook her legs out and started again through the sand. When she reached the beach’s edge, she called out to Rarity, “How long have you been there?”

“I thought I’d watch the sun come up,” Rarity replied. “I was worried you wouldn’t get to see it.”

“I’m not worried about anything.” Rainbow flexed her tired wings and hopped onto the balcony.

Rarity looked ready to deliver a speech, but speeches took too long, and they only had so many hours left. “What’s out there?” she finally asked.

Dash shrugged. “Water. Air.”

They locked eyes. The words went away. Dash moved closer. Her wings were too stiff to fly, but she’d walk if that’s what it took. The sun was still and the ocean was orange. They were close, so close they could feel sun on their shoulders like the day at the coffee shop. There was no wind to whisk them somewhere else. No plans. No plots. Just ponies.

Everything was warm and bright. Everything was slow. They closed their eyes and saw the light of the sun through their lids, a hazy heavenly glow.

it’s a kiss, it’s the light, it’s a dream realized, it’s the air, it’s the sea, it is death, it is sky, and the riverbank talks of the waters of March, it’s the joy in your heart, it’s an end, it’s a start

Comments

[The Bricklayer]

Lovely romantic, that's all I have to say on this piece. Wonderful descriptions of everybody's feelings and sensations that they felt and the locations felt all too real. God, this was a good read.

[Yellow Gate]

Perfect.

[ShadowPhoenix]

Utterly beautiful. There is a surrealness and this devastatingly relatable transience lingering throughout the verses. Each pithy line of dialogue by Rainbow Dash and Rarity, every innocuous action taken evokes so much in one – and so many other wondrous qualities of this story that I can only scramble to describe, albeit nowhere nearly as gracefully as your own prose. The inner monologue of Rainbow as well as the qualities of the jetstream are sensations that I am too familiar with and I am only glad to have discovered your catalogue.

[Seer]

This was a truly wonderful read
Both Rarity and Dash are characterised beautifully. The scenes are set so well, you really have a knack for that. It felt so tangibly like being in a sundrenched paradise.

Great work! You should be really proud of this!

[PaulAsaran]

You can has review!