Munching Rainbows

by Frozen

A Brush with Derpy

“When reaching for the clouds,
one might as well get carried away while doing so,
for perfection has exorbitance
at its heart.”
-unknown, 203 years before princess Celestia

The ascending sun illuminated the cozy home in the clouds, that Rainbow Dash called her own. The small building had been crafted from the finest Cirrostratus the pegasus had gotten her hooves on, which were hard to come by since these clouds tend to vanish when hit by the warm rays of the sun.

At the time she had decided to settle down near Ponyville she put in the extra effort to stabilize those fragile clouds, following the wise words of an unnamed philosopher, that her parents had passed on to her as she left Cloudsdale.

Her bedroom lightened up gradually, as the sun rose higher even though there were no windows. Contrary to the earth pony structures that were made up from concrete, wood and plaster, the hoof-crafted clouds absorbed the oncoming light and bathed the rooms within in soft, evenly distributed light from all directions.

The usually uniform, white light that shone through the surrounding structure was tinted as it filtered through ochre splashes that slowly dripped down to the floor and formed puddles on the ground.

A blue ear, partly covered by rainbow streaked mane twitched at the buzzing sound of chitinous wings that passed it, scaring the source of the disturbance away. Seconds passed and the high pitched noise returned, this time falling silent before the pegasus ear sprung into a defensive reaction.

Rainbow Dash slowly woke from her sleep and rolled over to the other side, now facing away from the increasingly brightening wall, hoping to slip back into blissful sleep. She lost her battle against her rising awareness of her surroundings as her mane grew itchy. The mare set herself upright on her bed, while she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

“What the,” the pegasus was awe-struck as she looked around her bedroom. The floor was covered in small puddles of slime, the decorative cloud pillar she used as a nightstand was clearly showing what seemed to be bitemarks.

She stumbled towards her bathroom, stepped into a tub made of clouds and tapped a hoof against the small dark cloud that was held in place above the tub.

“When I step out there again, I won’t be as groggy and everything will turn out to be all fine...” the pegasus said, calming herself. She felt revitalized by the cold water that trickled down onto her head and coat, relieving the mares tension.

Suddenly several sets of beady eyes pushed past her mane to inspect the source of water. Openly disapproving of the wettening mane, the creatures took off and huddled together on a nearby cabinet, making purring noises in the process.

“And that’s what I get for listening to Rarity about letting my mane grow longer...” the pegasus rued the day she had let the fashionista talk her out of buzz cutting her mane to lower her air resistance. Her suspicion about having picked up the parasprites while running with Applejack weren’t going to last long.

She let out a long and surprisingly loud yawn as she stretched all of her appendages at once, limbering herself up and shaking off her sleepiness. She felt a burp coming up and since she was without company she let go of it without bothering about etiquette.

The air blast she had just belched out sent an ochre slime ball flying towards the wall, where it impacted and left a stain resembling those she had seen in her bedroom.

The ball bounced off the wall and came to rest at her hooves, blocking the drain.

“Eww.” The pegasus lifted a hoof to investigate the ball before shrieking back, noticing that it had grown wings and unsettlingly big eyes. Her jaw dropped as the creature took off at an incredible speed, punching a hole straight through a cloud wall, leaving a small prismatic streak in its wake.

Still comprehending what just had happened, she suddenly clutched her throat, as it was getting harder for her to breathe. She slipped and tumbled out of the slippery bathtub, while struggling for a grip and almost hit her head on the lavatory.

Rainbow Dash panicked as she felt a lump pressing against her windpipe. Time slowed down drastically as her breath was cut off by the ascending foreign body when her legs gave in, leaving her to lay helplessly on the ground.

As if the little creatures had set their minds on mocking her, they buzzed around her ear, moving in and out of her visibility. Although she was too weak to fight them off, her annoyed gaze conveyed a message that threatened them with punishment. The pegasus felt her legs twitching as the world around her slowly fell dark.

***

Her vision was covered by a slight haze as Whitetail Woods rolled by beneath her, while she followed along a small river upstream. Her flight passed another, more dense forest as she approached a second railroad crossing while the rooftops a small town appeared out of the fog.

Soaring downwards she realized that the town that stretched out beneath her wings was Ponyville. She could see several ponies pulling carts filled with apples through the streets, towards the market place. The glistening shine that reflected off those delicious apples indicated that they were freshly harvested, straight from the Apple families orchard.

Now that she was closer to the ground she noticed that many ponies were converging towards a gathering in front of the town hall. Upon inspection she found her friends sitting in the first row and noticed that they had lowered their heads in a mourning fashion.

Nearby the building, a golden chariot had just touched down while the guards lined up to present for the princess. Meanwhile the mayor had stepped up to the lectern and commenced a speech.

Her curiosity spiked and she tried to stop and see that was happening down there, but her wings carried her farther away. The last thing she noticed, was a portrait framed by many roses in the colour of her mane, depicting her in a prideful pose.

This was the last clue she needed. The realization of her demise hit her like the business end of a dragons tail.

Something felt strange though.

Wasn’t she supposed to feel nothing assuming she was dead? She noticed her sore throat, which didn’t surprise her, seeing that she had probably choked on something but she couldn’t come up with an explanation for the pangs in her ribs.

Even if she had passed on in her bathroom above Ponyville, it was common knowledge that Pegasi kept the ability to rest on clouds even beyond their biological lives. This ruled out falling to her death and encouraged the pegasus to look for more inconsistencies, supporting her doubts.

While she was pondering the possibilities, her course had changed towards Cloudsdale, leaving the castle of Canterlot to her right. The Rainbow Falls at the borders of Cloudsdale that normally were only visible from a certain angle, seemed to have gained intensity, up to the point that they finally resembled the fairytale-like pictures printed on postcards and other memorabilia that were sold in the tourist-ridden gift shops of Cloudsdale.

“Aww come on! You couldn’t come of with anything cheesier? Geez, just give up and show yourself!”

The allegedly dead blue pegasus mare felt mocked by whomever she was controlled by and was willing to face any enemy that would present himself to her. But nothing happened.

“So, let me guess what comes next... You set me down in front of my parents house? Don’t forget to bring the dramatic string quartet, while I break down in sobs as I see them through a window.” Although she technically hadn’t any eyes to roll, she tried anyway. It’s the thought that counts.

As she predicted, her journey stopped in front of a conveniently large window of her birth house, that allowed a view into the living room where her parents weep for her while flipping through a photo album. The scene was disturbed by a faint scream that grew louder by second.

“Watch Out below! Waaahhhhhh...”

A grey pegasus crashed out of the sky, toppling several pillars in the progress and then bumping painfully into Rainbow Dash’s side.

“You’re here too? It’s a miracle that you survived your constant accidents, but this day had to come, didn’t it?” Suddenly she was able to move and feel her side where the mailmare had hit her.

***

“Are you O.K. Rainbow Dash? Do you need me... medica... hmpf... Do you want to see a doctor?”

The life came rushing back to the now slightly darker blue mare that had soaked in the overflowing water of her bathtub. As she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the lazy eyes of the Ponyville mailmare.

“I’m sorry that I damaged your nice house... Do you think you can fix it?” The grey pegasus looked to the ground and massaged a forming bruise on her head.

Feeling uncomfortably cold, Rainbow Dash shook off most of the water and assessed the situation, beginning with a sharp pain around two horseshoe outlines that had been imprinted on her ribcage.

Her gaze went towards a pegasus sized hole in her bathroom wall, that made way for the sunshine that now fell directly onto the opposing wall. Her face lit up with a wide grin, as she lifted her eyes off the embossed pegasus shape on that wall and turned towards Derpy to embrace her in a thankful hug.

The walleyed pegasus was shocked beyond her wildest dreams at what Rainbow Dash whispered into her ears as she hugged her fiercely.

“You saved my life, Derpy... You... are a hero!”

“Can I have muffins instead? I don’t want to go out on adventures into the jungle and search for shiny rocks, that's too dangerous for me, you know...” the mailmare answered with a slight slur in her voice while her eyes wandered off into different directions.

Rainbow Dash suddenly shrieked as she became aware of the worrisome silence around her. The other parasprites that had mocked her earlier this morning were gone and the fact that her mane wasn’t itchy anymore ruled out the possibility of unwanted passengers. She assumed that they must have fled through the gap in the cloud that the impact of her saviour left. Her mind went wild at the possible dangers that could arise from this.

“That can’t be good...” she said under her breath.

“Yes Rainbow Dash, going on adventures is really dangerous - you should read up on that, perhaps Twilight can lend you some of her Daring Doo books.”

Rainbow Dash’s mind sprang into action at this remark. Loosening her hug, she saw something sticking out of the mailbag that would exactly fit what she needed to conserve a sample of the slime that slowly dribbled down the bathtubs wall.

“Would you mind if I took that empty wax paper bag off your hooves? It’s empty and you don’t really need it, right?” Rainbow Dash asked as the hug increased in awkwardness.

“It’s fine Rainbow Dash, I can get a new one and make that into a hoof puppet... Do you want to make hoof puppets together, or are you saving up for a costume?”

“I have something a bit different in mind...” the blue pegasus explained as she softly pried herself away from the mailmares embrace.

“Ohhh... Like a fort?” The pegasus excitedly rose her fore hooves towards her muzzle, only to sink back on her rear disappointedly eying Rainbow Dash as she skimmed the slime off the bathrooms wall, into the reasonably waterproof bag.

Rainbow Dash turned around to face the slightly resentful pegasus.

“Ungh, Derpy! Stop being a baby and cheer up a little. Here take this to Twilight... and have yourself a bunch of muffins or bags, what ever you want!” She hoofed the bag over to Derpy and placed a few bits beside it.

“Oh, look you made a muffin!” The gold eyed pegasus squinted slightly and pointed a hoof towards the shape she saw in pattern the coins had formed. Rainbow Dash tried her best to see what Derpy had hinted at and gave up, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s nice, but I need you to deliver this as soon as possible...” she said, pushing her forehead against the mares flank to urge her to get up.

The ways of the two Pegasi parted as Rainbow Dash set course towards the Everfree Forest while a cheerfully humming Derpy fluttered her way into Ponyville.

Comments

[shardfff]

wut?

[Bread Shot]

YUSH another chapter ^3^

[Bread Shot]

SHIT TO SHORT!

[Frozen]

1089303
Oh you're going to be mad about chapter 6

Don't worry, I'll keep 'em coming.

/Edit:
Chapter 7 is coming along really good, meanwhile you could read the other chapters again - perhaps this time in James Earl Joneses voice ...