The Truth About Girls (Vol. 3)

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

Live Up to Her (part 2)

The sky was blue, devoid of clouds. The weather was splendid for October, the kind of ideal weather for a show such as this one.

Stunt flying’s lovers came with their binoculars and spyglasses, in order to observe under the best of angles the amazing show they were about to witness. Each year, Canterlot’s Royal Aerobatics Float surpassed itself at the occasion of their creation’s anniversary.

Her father wasn’t here. He had come with her, but had to pick up his phone. An urgent call from work. Like always. She was on her own to watch, but she didn’t care much since her mother was with her in her thoughts. She had told her so right before, when she had come to check up on her. Today she would fly for her, the way she always did.

Her mother. Her heroe. The light of her life. The only person she had only said “I love you” to and who could tousle her hair while calling her “my sweet little Dashie” without her to be ashamed.

Since she was a little girl, she had liked seeing her fly. Like her, she wanted to be a pilot, and to impress Equestria’s citizens with her stunning stunts.

It started so well. The first stunts were breathtaking, and the audience gaped in “oh”s and “ah”s with admiration. Her eyes were staring at the sky, fascinated by the grace which these iron monsters were able of. Here again, as always.

Her mother’s plane had to break through the drawing of a four-leafed clover created by the white and blue smoke the other machines had spit, which was to give the sensation that wind had come and swept away the luck represented by this rare plant.

It was high in the sky and did a trajectory towards the drawing… at an incredible speed. A little too incredible.

“Is it… taking a nosedive?” a person sitting by her side claimed.

No, it was too dangerous to try a climb up after having done such a plunge towards the ground. Her mother was an excellent pilot; she had crossed the oceans many times, she couldn’t attempt something that perilous just to show off, although she had the skills for it.

A scream resounded a little farther above her in the bleachers.

“Oh my God, it’s going to crash!!”

Another scream, more like a shriek, climbed from the crowd, soon followed by many others when the engine caught fire. A panic reaction also followed. Quickly, people from the audience were running around, children were sheltered, bleachers were left as fast as possible. The plane wasn’t far enough to preserve the audience if a sheet of corrugated iron came off.

But she, mouth wide opened, breathing heavily and fast, her vision blurred by tears, was unable to take her eyes off this dreadful scene. It wasn’t anyone inside this plane. Why wasn’t there someone to do something?

It seemed to her it had last eternally, when in reality, it was a matter of seconds. Like a thunder strike.

She couldn’t see the plane crashing against the asphalt yet it seemed the images were really clear in her mind.

Someone suddenly grabbed her by her shoulders, and got her out of the bleachers, while she was gesticulating as much as she could, stretching out her arms while screaming, calling her mother.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. A part of her knew she wasn’t stuck four years ago, but lying on a bed, somewhere else, but another part of her still felt as if blocked in this horrible past, and it was the part making her shriek and move wildly.

Someone was leaning over her, eyes filled with worries. She felt two hands trying to control her and a deep male voice calling her in a whisper, asking her to calm down, saying everything was okay. Everything was okay.

When the hands softly were able to take her wrist, finally Rainbow Dash relaxed, though her breathing was still heavy and fast and she could feel her forehead and pajamas top soaked with sweat.

That was when she recognized Soarin’s face in the half-darkness at last. Since he knew she couldn’t fall asleep in complete obscurity, he had plugged a small cute ghost-shaped night-light, bought just for her, close to the bed.

After her school outing, instead of going home, Rainbow Dash had gone at her boyfriend’s, where they had planned to order tomato-flavored falafels while watching a Screwball Comedy movie – her favorite one, “Bringing Up Baby” – Soarin had rented for the occasion. Since it was rather late when their little movie screening was over, she had decided to stay here to sleep.

All this time, Rainbow Dash hadn’t told him about what had happened previously today. She didn’t want him to worry, because he had a lot of things on his mind with his mid-terms exams and his basketball final. And, even if it had been unfortunate, she had thought everything to be beyond her after this very good evening with him.

Gross miscalculation.

As soon as she was fully aware to be back in present days, she snapped out of her trance and fell on Soarin’s arms without further thinking. In such moments, it no longer was about her self-image or her reputation. She didn’t care if she appeared vulnerable in front of him… because she knew it would never affect what he thought of her.

On many occasions had he told her how brave and strong he thought she was, though she could crack completely sometimes, for the reason that she was still standing, still moving forward, and he also often told her if he would have been through a quarter of what she had been through, he was sure he wouldn’t be here today.

Patient, Soarin waited her breathing was back to normal before he lied her soaked body again against the sheets. From his thumbs, he wiped away tears still hanging at her eyelashes.

“Sorry”, she whispered in a quavering voice. “I didn’t want to scare you.”

“I know… Don’t worry. Tell me what happened… I could feel you weren’t completely like yourself tonight. Do you want a glass of water?”

Not taking no for an answer, he left the bed, turned on his bedside lamp, and walked to his kitchenette’s sink in order to offer his girlfriend a glass of ice-cold water.

Rainbow Dash, sitting on the bed, looked at him doing it, glad she had decided to sleep here. If she had been all alone in her own bedroom tonight, she didn’t know how she would have recovered from the shock of another nightmare of her mother’s death after all this time.

He went back to the bed, gave her the glass, and while she was drinking, he took advantage of the opportunity to grab one of his tee-shirts, so she could change her pajamas’ top, since hers was still soaked with sweat.

She drank her glass in one gulp, then put it back on the bedside table, before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Soarin was sitting beside her, waiting for her to get changed, silently.

Finally, once the clean tee-shirt was on, they both lied back under the blanket. Immediately, Rainbow Dash snuggled against him and buried her face against his chest. Not because she felt ashamed… Because the warmth of his body had something soothing, helping her to put things into perspective while she told him everything.

“You know, this week, with CHS, we’re visiting places to discover jobs. We already been to an art gallery, in the kitchens of a three-stared restaurant, in a factory… Today, the visit was at the air base.”

“You mean… My air base?” he asked, knowing perfectly it also was the place where her mother had died.

“Yes…”, she agreed.

Soarin only had the charge of mechanics. Making sure there were no problems before and after the take-offs, fixing up planes which needed to be fixed, but also taking care of everything related to the instrument panel.

Aged eighteen, he obtained his pilot license after many intensive hours of apprenticeship. Of course, he could only put himself behind the bar of small planes of the CAP10 or Acrobin type, but it was a beginning…

Since always, he had been fascinated by the aviation field, and Rainbow Dash and him had this in common. Together, they built scale model planes he had kept in his bedrooms, at his mother’s and at his father’s. They even made a promise they would get their pilot license at the same time… among many other things.

Life had separated them, but he kept this passion. When he found back the girl who now was his girlfriend, one year ago, Soarin had thought they could share this again but as soon as he had spoken about her mother, at the Bellehorse Bar, he understood something was broken inside of her and she would never try to get that license.

It allowed him to stop feeling guilty about the fact he hadn’t kept this childhood promise.

Tenderly, he put a damp red strand of hair behind her ear, his green eyes stuck to her magenta eyes.

“What happened?”

Deep inside, he knew very well what surely have happened, but he wanted her to tell it out loud. It was the best way for her to get rid of the tension still weighing on her shoulders.

“I just couldn’t complete the visit… I was too sick for this. I think that’s why I had this nightmare…”

Once again, she buried her face against his chest, and Soarin put a hand on her hair, in order to do the strokes which usually were helping to calm her down.

“I’ll never be able to recover. Each time I think I’ve finally made it, I discover that I’m still out of my mind. This year, it’s going to be the fifth anniversary… I don’t even know how I’m able to breath without her.”

“You do it because she would have wanted you to… Hey, listen to me.”

He cupped her face and made her look up so their eyes could communicate as well.

“You’re not out of your mind. Stop believing it because it’s wrong. You did huge progresses; don’t you ever doubt this. It’s normal if you feel as if you’ll never get better, these things take time, even more so in your case. There’s nothing tragic about the fact that, sometimes, like tonight, you’re snapping. You’re a human being, not a machine deprived of feelings. Everybody had weaknesses. Even you.”

“You say this because you never doubt of anything.”

“Please, I always doubt every little thing I do! I don’t talk about that much because then I would have to talk about it all the time! But there’s one thing I have no doubts about: you’re up to great things, Miss Rainbow Dash. And this troubled past makes you the person you are today. Instead of seeing it like a curse, embrace it like your chance, like the revenge you want to have on the world.”

“I hate you”, she said while trying not to cry, her voice oddly soft compared to the words escaping her lips.

Soarin couldn’t help smiling while taking her in his arms, so she could get back to sleep. Her pride prevented her from saying things clearly, but he knew what was the meaning of her words. She was moved, but more importantly, she knew he was right. At least, that was what he hoped. Because he meant everything he told her, with a disarming sincerity.

They had met again only one year ago, but she had quickly took back her full importance in his life. He could do anything for her. If she wanted him to get moon and stars, he would immediately go for it. There was no way he could envision his future without her.

That was why he absolutely wanted to make her an incredible gift for this double anniversary. He wanted to testify everything she meant for him.

However, an idea had started to bloom in his mind. It wasn’t anything material, it wasn’t even something that could be bought, but he was sure that if he achieved his aims, it would become something she could never forget. Something which would help her to move even more forward.

---------------------------------------------

Thrown out. With no possibility of having her say about it.

Wearing her helmet decorated with two puffy clouds connected by a rainbow, at full throttle on her scooter, Rainbow Dash thought about last night. Once again, her father brought her into a three-star restaurant downtown. Once again, he barely talked to her during their dinner and drove her directly home after that.

This morning, like every year since her mother’s death – except for when she was obliged to “celebrate” her birthday at Green Haven – he had put on her bedside table an envelope filled with banknotes for her “party”, not suspecting the details of her party had been settled a long time ago already.

The fact that she was now officially eighteen didn’t seem to change anything between them. This problem of communication, deep and dating back to even before the tragic accident, they would have to sort it out eventually, once and for all. They couldn’t stay forever stuck in a mutual distrust and incomprehension, pondering over regrets and reproaches.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, and restarted at the green light, determined to focus on something else. Like the way Pinkie Pie had sent her off of her own house.

She’d arrived right after lunch, accompanied by a boy Rainbow Dash had never seen before, whom her friend told her he came from Hoofington. His hair brown, with a curly haircut oddly similar to this of the teenage girl he was with, the boy in question was as bouncy and noisy as the young woman could be.

They both promised her she’ll have the party of the century, if only she could leave them alone to work, since they would do nothing good with her in the way.

Well, it was in fact perfect since she had a date with Soarin this afternoon. Though in reality they only became a couple by the end of last year’s party, they had been so for one whole year, and they’d decided to have a small tête-à-tête in order to celebrate this.

All that she knew was that she had to meet her boyfriend on the mall’s parking lot, but she didn’t know what he wanted them to do for the occasion. At first, when she had interrogated him, she had thought about a lot of different things, like the climbing facility, since it was the place where they found each other back, however, according to Soarin this wouldn’t be memorable enough.

Rainbow Dash parked her scooter at the two-wheeled vehicles section, took off her helmet that she put back into her trunk, from which she got out a paper bag from the Silk Street’s gifts shop.

It hadn’t been that easy for her to find a gift Soarin would like and that would mark the occasion. All she had found was horribly cliché and inadequate – he didn’t drink whisky, didn’t care about barbecues, didn’t have a tablet, wasn’t a tinkerer and didn’t wear leather luxury shoes.

And, just when she was about to give up, she had seen this gorgeous wooden chess set, on which wrapping box it was written the pieces to be hand-carved. He loved calculations, and everything demanding a lot of reflection, such as brain-teasers. She was sure this was the perfect gift for him.

At the last moment, she had also chosen a cookie-shaped cup-warmer, so he could put down his coffee cups without ruining his glass desk, like each time he was focused on reviewing.

If her father knew a part of the money he had given her for the party had been used in order to buy her boyfriend gifts, she was betting on the fact that he wouldn’t like it at all!

Too bad for him. Soarin was one of the most important persons of her life, with all due respect to Mr. Rainbow Blaze and his spurts of paternalism each time he could feel she was slipping off his fingers – which meant almost all the time.

As far as Rainbow Dash was concerned, she was very impatient to discover what Soarin was going to give her, for her eighteenth birthday as well as for their one-year anniversary. When it came to the first gift, she was sure, knowing him well, that she would discover it before the party, but he wouldn’t have any excuse not to give her the one for the anniversary as soon as they’d see each other.

Although… He was able to tell her to wait until they reached their destination.

She met him beside his car, the black vintage Ford, that his father had offered him on his own eighteenth birthday.

Back when they were kids and had the chance to be able to play in the car dealer shop his parents then possessed – his father had purchased his mother’s share after their divorce – they loved sitting behind the wheels of the vintage cars and imagine they were living thrilling adventures as spies or thieves.

Rainbow Dash was fond of Bonnie and Clyde after she had seen a documentary about them, unbeknown to her parents… She even wrote a short story inspired by their lives, and Soarin and she particularly liked to pretend they were them, not fully aware of the consequences of such violent behaviors, only because, in their children’s eyes, it was “awesome” to play.

Time had gone by since then. From two kids with slightly improbable games, they had turned into lovers in a stable relationship, based on a sense of sharing and communication that was their own, although the way they did it perhaps wasn’t ideal.

She loved what they had become.

When they joined, they briefly kissed, Rainbow Dash wrapping her arms around his neck while he held her in his arms. Her paper bag was hanging on her arm.

“Are you ready?” Soarin asked her, gently patting her bottom, getting not even a frown as a reaction.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. Get in.”

Obviously, just like she suspected, their exchange of gifts would have to wait until they reached their mysterious destination. So, she didn’t need to be asked twice to get in the car by his side, and she lowered the window just to make sure everybody would see her going through town with such a car. A small wipe over her reputation would do no harm.

Although it was sometimes unbearable for the other drivers, Rainbow Dash asked whether she could put some music on, and turned on his radio on her favorite station, specialized in urban music – old and new. From the moment it played a song by Eighteen+, she couldn’t help but putting the volume up, singing the lyrics along.

Soarin didn’t complain, conversely, he smiled to see her so cheerful and enthusiastic. Far be it from him to upset her, especially as he knew where they were heading to. He needed her to be in the sunniest of moods, since as soon as she would understand, there were chances she would change her behavior, and even that she would hold a grudge against him.

If that happened, he would do his best to gain back her trust, yet, he knew she had to at least try. It wasn’t for him… He wasn’t bothered by scenes like the one of the previous night, when he had to comfort her after a nightmare, since taking good care of her never was a problem in itself. If he had decided to drive her here and to offer her what he was about to offer her – such a session normally was highly expensive – it was for her own good.

So that, finally, she could move forward, though she had already made huge steps since she had decided to resume her therapy.

Soarin didn’t need to take the main entrance, the one with the tall black gate. As an employee, he could get in by a very small door, right behind the base. It probably was there Firefly used to go in as well, in the past. If it was the case, then Rainbow Dash would immediately recognize the place.

Her mother was a real legend in the Canterlot’s Royal Aerobatics Float. Youngest graduate from their Academy since its creation, she had quickly climbed the ladder, while pursuing studies of economy and bringing up her daughter at the same time, accomplishing each tasks with strength, courage and determination, never apologizing or complaining. She had done more humanitarian missions than any of her male counterparts, and still today, was the bearer of speed records.

In the corridors, many pictures of her were hanging on the walls, and her portrait also decorated a kind of “hall of fame” that tourists could visit.

Each time, before going to work, he passed by one of these pictures and did the appropriate military salute in front of a superior rank.

Without her death, Firefly would probably have recognized Soarin from the second he would have put one foot in the base, and would have done her best to make sure he would get to see her daughter again.

More than once, his father told him how she always said they were meant for each other and would eventually get married together (though Rainbow Dash was strongly against marriage).

In a way, Soarin liked to think Firefly would want them to be together, even sometimes that she was the one who had reunited them.

When he stopped in front of the small door, and Rainbow Dash recognized the place, she retreated into herself, such as her tortoise each time he felt threatened. She no longer sang along the music, had closed her window, and stared at the paper bag on her laps.

“Do we stop here so you could get something back?” she finally dared asking, quietly.

“Not exactly… In fact, that’s where I wanted us to go. Your gift’s here.”

In all honesty, she had suspected it. As soon as they had come closer to the base, an indescribable sensation had taken over her, an intuition, and she had thought he would bring her here, while refusing to believe it.

He undoubtedly meant well, but whatever was on his mind, that was beyond her. Three days ago, she had tried and the following failure had been total. She was maybe going in the right direction, but it still was too soon. Her mother had died here, and despite time had gone by, the memory still was fresh in her mind.

Rainbow Dash had the sensation that if she closed her eyes and opened them back, she would be back in front of the plane heading to the ground, with its frightened screams, and this smell of kerosene and burned iron and flesh.

“I’m sorry, Soarin”, she said, head low, clenching her fists against her jeans. “I… I can’t do that.”

“You don’t even know what we’re here for.”

“I don’t need to! I know I won’t be able to do it. I’m not strong enough yet. You’ve seen it the other night, I… I’m too scared.”

Soarin had expected her to react this way. It was the sensitive topic about which she lowered her guard without a care about the rest, no matter who she talked to, or the impression she wanted to make.

He put a reassuring hand on hers, and made her face turn so she could look into his eyes. It was difficult for her… Her eyes seemed to be drowning in a kind of mist, making them sparkling.

“But you trust me, don’t you?”

Without a word, Rainbow Dash nodded. Yes, she trusted him. She didn’t know whether that would be enough to convince her, but it was a fact.

“Then, trust me when I tell you that you’re strong enough. I know you’re afraid, but think about how far you went. You can do it. I believe in you. And I’ll be with you all the time.”

Her breathing was heavier and invaded the whole inside of the car. Soarin could feel her hand shaking against his, and he tightened his embrace. She looked on the verge of staggering, and he quickly thought he could see her eyes rolling upwards, but she got together on time, and with a nod, she made him understand she was ready.

It made no doubt she still was terrified, so he hurried to get out of the car and meet her, to make sure she wouldn’t pass out or let fear paralyzing her.

Their progression was slow until the aerodrome where a two-seater plane he had commandeered for the occasion was waiting for them. One of the advantages of working on the air base while taking his pilot license at the same place was that he always could borrow a plane after work, for a while of ten to fifteen minutes.

This time, he had asked a permission two days earlier, after Rainbow Dash’s nightmare, and his superior agreed to have him a good deal on the aerobatics forfeits often offered to fans of thrills. Usually, those interested would sit beside a licensed pilot, driving for them. Since he had the abilities to take off with such a vehicle, he didn’t need any supervision.

Many times, he felt Rainbow Dash on the verge of beating in retreat or falling, yet each time, she held on, although now her whole body was taken over by shakes, and even her face was tensed.

Brave despite it all, she was able to get near the plane, which she hadn’t done for almost five years. Even hearing them or seeing them in the sky, meters and meters away above, was making her feel dizzy and scream from terror. Each time planes were in question in movies, even more so planes crashing down, even those she loved the most and speaking about aviation, like “Wings” or “Christopher Strong”, she looked away and blocked her ears.

Just before climbing into the machine, however, she doubted. She trusted Soarin, but being so near already was a titanic effort for her. Was he really sure there were no problems, that the engine wouldn’t catch fire or the instrument panel wouldn’t cease to function all of a sudden?

And, she could still picture Firefly putting her helmet on and climbing on her seat, a few minutes before crashing against the ground. She was far from suspecting, then, that she would never see her daughter’s face again…

Rainbow Dash could feel her heart about to explode.

Despite this, she eventually climbed into the plane, sitting next to Soarin. Alright, her mother, an experimented pilot, had perished all the same, but her father had flown on board of a hundred, if not a thousand airliners since his career began, and he was still alive – leastways, it wasn’t this that was killing him slowly. And most importantly, she trusted her boyfriend when he told her she was strong enough to take this incredible step forward.

The evidence was that again yesterday, she would never have thought she was brave enough to be able to come so close to a plane, let alone climbing inside one.

Soarin showed her how to fasten herself, and while she was doing so, he was doing the various manipulations necessary for a take-off.

In any other circumstances, she would have had a lot of fun seeing him so focused and professional, his headphones on, pressing buttons as if he knew exactly what he was doing – which he did, or she’d never accept to put her life between his hands. But she was too preoccupied by her own breathing that she was trying to keep normal, and by the tears of fears she did her best to suppress.

When, the engine purring, she felt the take-off coming, Rainbow Dash grabbed the fastens, and shut her eyes like inside a rollercoaster. Her teeth were crushing the bubblegum Soarin had given her before starting this phase, so that her ears wouldn’t block, and most importantly, so she would be focused on something else than the feeling of the wheels getting off the ground.

“Is everything okay?” she could hear her boyfriend yelling above the engine noise. “I’m with you.”

And so, Rainbow Dash opened up her eyes, only to notice they were above the air base. The sight from those heights made her feel dizzy at first, and she thought she was going to pass out, but after she observed Soarin’s peaceful profile, focused on his flying, when she looked down again, she felt a bit more peaceful as well.

Down there, everything seemed so small, so insignificant… Like driving on a giant Earth model.

And she realized that despite her heart beating fast, despite her shaky hands and her knees still slamming together, she had made it. She was in a plane, in full flight, and fear, still here, hadn’t been able to win the game. She was the one who had won, this time.

Comments

[Midday Giggle]

Around 6:10 p.m.

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!!!

I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!

FREAKING DEAR GOD I KNEW IIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!

YOU KNOW I KNEW IT!

Okay, I calm down. This. Was. Best chapter ever. It WON TOTALLY over AAAAALL the arcs I love. THIS got first place right. Here.

I bow before you, my friend, becuase this was way better than I thought.

[TheMareWhoSaysNi]

8690522
You know what? First, I did know you knew Second... The arc's not over yet!

[Dusk_Writer]

Ok…I admit, I didn't see that one coming I got the hint when they were in Soarin's car but wow…best anniversary present ever?! He is BOLD for doing that, considering the alternative ways this could have gone! She's either now going to crush his bones whilst hugging him, or punch him for the scare xD