• Published 20th Sep 2018
  • 2,879 Views, 149 Comments

A Story of Love (Among Others) - TheMareWhoSaysNi



Rainbow Dash, a future rockstar, has met a boy! She didn't look for it, but love knocked on her door (literally). The beginning of a lovely story? Or rather, of a nightmare?

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The Happiest Days of Our Lives

Paris was great. We went to all the most important touristic places, like Versailles, le Louvres, Notre-Dame, le Jardin des Tuileries, the Moulin Rouge, Pigalles and Montmartre, the Eiffel Tower of course and many other baroques and artistic places but the top of our visit was the National Opera. We saw Bizet's "Carmen", the great classic of Opera and it was awesome. Never before had I attend a show in such a place. There was gold everywhere and the most stunning ceiling paints I'd ever seen in my life. Rarity liked it so much she cried more than she had cried when in Marie-Antoinette's bedroom. I would never forget this trip.

Pinkie Pie and I had broken our piggy banks to buy souvenirs and gifts and our suitcases were so full we almost thought we were going to pay additional fees at the airport. I also took tons of pictures that I flooded my Instagram account with.

When I came back, I received a proof that Soarin had had my box of chocolates since he sent me a gift in return for White Day*. And it wasn't any gift. I had a DVD set of the complete works of Orson Welles. Something told me the price of this wasn't at all the double of my poor little box of chocolates. It wasn't as if I could refuse his present, anyway. At that date, I hadn't seen him for almost five months. I must admit that instead of DVDs, I would have prefered him to be there but that was already a sign that he still thought about me. And I didn't care because I had bought him tons of presents in Paris as well and I would give them to him on the day I would see him again, along with all the little items I kept buying for his return.

Of course, I had also bought presents for my father and my half-siblings and their children. There are many yet I knew I couldn't buy something for one and not for the other. I'd also had gifts for Coloratura and Daring Doo and Fire Streak and Cheese Sandwich to thank them for how they were there for me too, in the bad and in the good moments.

As for classes, we were in home stretch. After the gala, classes were going to be over and I had a promise to respect. If this promise wasn't respected, I had to go back to Cloudsdale and go to medical school. There was no way I could let such things happen, especially as it would mean leaving my friends to do something that I didn't want to do and it would also mean the end for Soarin and I. Our relationship had maybe taken a strange turn since we couldn't really say we were dating anymore with his schedule being so tight and the little time he was left to be with me but I kept on hoping one day, things would change and we could be together again, the way we used to be.

We were only two weeks to the night of the gala and already, zombies were hanging all around the corridors. Everyone had to practice again and again their piece of music and it asked an enormous amount of work and concentration, especially because we couldn't have our partitions with us. Hence the zombies. Our school now looked like a scene of "The Walking Dead" with the students of the other years being the survivors. The only difference was that nobody was shooting us.

I wanted to get a coke, in order to give me more energy but I didn't have change for the vending-machine. I stepped into the music room where my friends and a bunch of other people were practically sleeping. They all had bags under their eyes and even Rarity's hair was a mess.

"Hey!" I said after I asked three times for change with no answers. "Can I please talk to someone who wouldn't look like a white walker?"

Pinkie looked up, her face sleepy and her hair flat and tangled, and asked me half-heartedly.

"Where do you get that much energy?"

Coming from Pinkie Pie who seemed to be high on caffeine twenty-four seven this question sounded utterly ironic.

"Me? First, because I'm awesome, secondly, because I... went to Paris!"

Without another word, Pinkie Pie lowered her head and put it on her music stand, her flute in one of her hands, hanging along her body, and she resumed her dozing, as if that single little sentence had her terribly tired.

"Okay, I got it, I'm going to ask the other music room," I said before I left.

It was true. In order to increase my determination, I always watched at the pictures I took in Paris and it gave me the strength to go on. Also, I was thinking about Soarin and how proud he would be to know that I was doing my very best to reach my goals. There was also this promise that I had made and that I didn't want to betray. Otherwise, the future that would stretch in front of me would be my personal definition of a nightmare. I had to be the best.

That explained why, secretly, I had started to take the sleeping pills given by the nurse. Conversely to the others, I didn't spend a great deal of my nights playing music. I knew a good sleep would help me focus. From the very beginning, I had decided I would sleep at nights and spend most of my day playing.

To be honest, it also was because when I had no sleeping pills, I always thought about Soarin. I wondered why couldn't he call me, and was he thinking about me too and did he miss me, did he want to see me, was he unhappy or feeling good about it? It hurt me and outraged me so much I couldn't find sleep. This problem had to be treated before it could prevent me from keeping the promise that would definitely part us.

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As if by magic, zombies were no longer seen in the corridors. Instead, some were laughing. Others were crying. The school year was over, and for some, school was over, period. I had a heartache each time I thought about it but it couldn't be helped. I almost could have go for again another year at the CAM. But I couldn't, I had promised.

There were two good news. The first one, was a very good news. An excellent news, even. Pinkie Pie, Rarity and myself had been spotted by a music label. A classic music label, I have to say. Would have been even more awesome if it had been a modern music company who had noticed my potential as a rock star but they were more interested by the duet formed by Big Mac and Fluttershy - though more country than real rock. Did it matter? Not in the least. What mattered was that the man from the label offered us a two albums contract. He had the intuition that we could help him to give classic music a new lease of life thanks to our younger vision and our age. Which meant I didn't have to leave Canterlot nor to do medical school.

The other good news was more like a small triumph, a revenge given by life, or destiny, or even fate. Thunderlane had no contract by the end of the gala. It meant he had either to quit playing music either to do another year at the CAM in order to do next year's gala and maybe, attract a label or an orchestra. Served him right. You can't spend your time hitting on girls and improve your musical skills at the same time. Not in our school, anyway.

We all went to celebrate our victory at a pub next to the school.

Lyra and Bon Bon have decided to do another year at the CAM. Someone proposed something to Lyra but not to her friend and she didn't want to be parted from her "twin" so she refused the offer. They would give themselves one more year and see after that what they could do. We all knew that it meant we wouldn't see each other anymore. Our schedules would never match and they would be in another universe as ours. But we promised to keep in touch via social medias.

Within a few more weeks, I was going to be twenty-two. They were already invited to the party I would throw in my new apartment, in the Castle area, which was going to be also a house-warming party. I didn't buy it or rent it. It used to belong to my mother and it was said that it could be mine if I had a contract by the end of my studies. My father also keeps his promise too.

I had made another attempt at trying to see Soarin by asking Filthy Rich whether he could come to my birthday/house-warming party. He refused me Hearts & Hooves Day, he couldn't refuse that to me. I really wanted Soarin to be there. I needed him to be there.

At the pub we all went to after the gala, there was a corner made exclusively for those who wanted to have phone calls, in order not to bother other costumers or to see everyone with eyes on their screen, not talking to each other. They had settled small benches in some sort of boxes like a phone booth, except you had to come with your own. I really wanted to be able to speak with Soarin. In his latest letter, he wrote that I absolutely had to call him if I had a contract. It was a letter the courrier boy of the hostel gave to me as he was delivering packages to the old ladies, very short and rather badly written, with only a few words apparently redacted in secret.

It was impossible to call him directly on his private phone so I had to call Filthy Rich's secretary. Nothing told me it woud be easy. Patiently, I waited for one of them to pick the phone up. Thankfully, none of them were working for paramedics or their patients would all die before being even able to talk...

"Mr. Filthy Rich office, hello," a severe voice answered.

From that moment I knew it was going to be difficult. The secretary who had just answered to me wasn't the nice young one. It was the old bossy one.

"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you. I'd like to be connected with Mr. Soarin Skies, please..."

"You are?"

I cleared my throat, sweat on my forehead. In the hope maybe there would be some mistaken and it would work anyway, I said my name as fast as I could.

"Sorry, that won't be possible."

Holy cow!

"Wait, it's just a two minutes call, I promise I..."

"No, no, I'm sorry but I can't give him calls from anybody!"

"Wait, what? Did you say anybody?!"

She hung up at my face before I could add anything else. This time, it was worse than the text message send by a bot. It was a human being, someone tangible calling me nobody. I was no longer a burden or the stupid stubborn girlfriend who couldn't understand she wasn't from the right world. I was nothing at all. Unimportant.

Not to explode from rage, I went back to my friends in order to party. This was supposed to be a happy day, after all. We had worked hard and that work was rewarded. How many students of medical school went out of that with a contract?

As long as I was with the girls, "the twins" and Big Mac, everything was fine. I was perfectly able to joke, to smile, to laugh and to have fun. We even danced a little and sang songs at the top of our voice, with every costumers of the pub watching us, amused. The atmosphere was right, the beer flew freely and everybody was happy and looking good.

One hour later, I tried again. Once again, she hung up at my face. I went back to my friends and drank my beer. We laughed, we joked, we danced and I went back there half an hour later to see whether the tables had turned. Unfortunately, it was the same secretary and I could beg, implore, plead, it didn't change a thing.

That was how I started to alternate between the party and the calls but the more the night went on the more I stayed hanging at my phone. It was supposed to be a very happy day, I was going to stay in Canterlot with my friends, I could play music as a living, I had a place to stay and money from an inheritage. Yet again, it all had to be ruined by Filthy Rich's shadow. I knew these were his orders and I didn't know why he hated me so much. Was he in love with Soarin too, or what?

After two hours, I no longer bothered to party and instead I stayed on my phone, begging that old hag over and over again, my face red from rage, sitting on the floor of the box. I could hear my friends, having fun without me and it made me want to slap myself.

So, in a last self-destructing and masochist effort, I tried one last time.

"Mr. Filthy Rich's office, what can I do for you?"

The voice... The voice was different. Softer and calmer. The formulation was different too, a little more stammering. The old secretary had just left, replaced by the young one. Well, it was a new young one since her voice wasn't familiar at all to me. Understanding this might really be my ultimate chance, I sat up and tried to sound as cool and collected as possible.

"Good night... I'm very sorry to bother you but... Well, I'm Miss Rainbow Dash. Now I know I'm not supposed to use that number but please... Tonight, I'm celebrating a contract I have get with a record company, I've stayed a long part of the night on the phone trying to join Soarin Skies. I just want to tell him the good news like he wanted me to, that's all, I swear... So, please, please, I'd really like to speak to him."

"I could do that but..." she said with the same stammering voice. "I'm new and if I get caught by Mr. Rich, I could lose my job, you know..."

Probably something like that happened to the former young secretary. It explained why there was this new embarrassed woman. She told it in a nice way. I had wasted time but I couldn't be selfish and make her lose her job just because I wanted to speak to my boyfriend. I wasn't the only one involved now.

Yet, just when I was about to beat in retreat and thank her, she spoke again.

"Well, listen, I'm going to connect you but you'll have to be quick. If Mr. Rich calls and asks, I'll be obliged to cut your conversation without warning and I won't be able to reconnect you..."

"Don't worry. Even just a minute would be perfect."

"Alright then. Don't hang up."

"Thank you, thank you so much," I said acting as if she were in front of me.

"Don't mention it. I've been in love too, I know how it feels."

I thanked her again before a few tons played. My heart was racing like I was on a circuit and it was hard for me to make sure it wouldn't be obvious to the sound of my voice. He absolutely had not to know how difficult it had been for me to get in touch with him. Once again, he was on a promotion tour and I guessed he had other things in mind without worrying about me as well.

"Hello?"

Sandalwood was the one who answered. I could recognize his slow and "hippy" kind of voice among a million. He was obviously eating and also sounded a little sleepy.

"Hi, Sandalwood, it's Rainbow Dash. Could you give the phone to Soarin, please?"

"Yup!"

I heard him scream something like Soar' come over here, someone wants to talk to you I swear you're going to like it and I rolled my eyes. That was a rather strange way to call out a friend. Sometimes it was harder than others to picture Sandalwood dating Rarity who was, and is still, so precious and so likely to act like a drama queen (but she also had a heart made of gold, 100 % pure generosity).

"Yeah?" Soarin asked, his voice a even sleepier than Sandalwood's.

"It's Rainbow Dash, you goofball!"

No, I wasn't romantic. I was trying to sound casual, as if nothing special was and had been going on. He had to believe I was perfectly fine and not frustrated and tortured by the situation. I didn't want to add that to everything else he had to deal with. And he wasn't mad at me, anyway. He liked that I wasn't the nicest sappiest girl in the world. That was why he fell in love with me, among other reasons.

"My Dashie! How did you make it? I can't believe you made it. Filthy Rich makes everything he can so it won't be possible for us to communicate and... But let's not talk about that. How are you since... em... you know, your "health" issue?"

Of course, he was talking about my miscarriage. I had to tell him, though it had been a little late. I remember he wanted to come and visit me but Filthy Rich had refused, too afraid of the scandal it would have created if some happened to know that not only he had a girlfriend but a girlfriend who lost his baby with that.

"Much better. We don't have much time. I'm just calling you to tell the girls and I are signing a contract tomorrow with a record company."

"Classic or modern?"

"Classic. But it's okay, I'm happy."

"You'll be awesome anyway, I know it. You're the best. I'm so happy you actually did it. I hope you're partying hard."

"Who do you think I am? Don't forget I have Pinkie Pie with me, the one and only."

"The one and only," he repeated, laughing delicately.

For always the same reasons, I couldn't tell him I had spent more time hanging on my phone than having the real party. Especially as I intended to go back there and make up for loss time with a lot of beer and a lot of silly dance. But first, I had a question. A very silly question, maybe even very unlike me. But I had to ask it.

"Hey, Soarin..."

"What, Dashie?"

"Are you... thinking about me, sometimes?"

"You stupid," he answered with another delicate laugh. "Of course I'm thinking about you. All the time, not sometimes. I have you under my skin, kiddy..."

I don't know whether he wanted to add anything after that. Tone started to play again at the end of the line. Someone probably called the secretary. Tears dripped along my eyelashes, that I couldn't stop. I wasn't crying from pain, but from happiness. There was no way I could be defeated by these silly schemes that were forced on us. I was convinced that, thanks to what he said, I could go through them and even overcome them, keeping my head high. I was going to endure everything and Filthy Rich was going to be obliged to yield and admit that I was the best. The winner of the game. He wasn't done with me yet.

Author's Note:

White Day = happens in Asia one month after Valentine's Day. Boys who have received chocolates or gifts from girls must give them chocolate or a gift in return of a sum that is the double of the sum spent by the girls. In South Korea, there's also a Black Day, in the 14th of April. On this day, people who did not receive gifts on the previous two days gather and eat Jajangmyeon, noodles with black sauce. This day is specifically for single people.