• Published 23rd Dec 2011
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A Bluebird's Song - Ardensfax



Rainbow Dash is struggling against her own past. Is it time for her rising star to fall?

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My World Is A Meteor Tonight

A Bluebird’s Song

~~~
Take me to the fantastic place
Keep the rest of my life away
~~~

My World Is A Meteor Tonight

Celestia’s sun was low in the sky, a hazy orange-tinted mist lying low over the hills around Ponyville, as the day drew to its close. The town was still and silent, house lights casting beams of illumination that spilled over the darkening cobblestones. The buildings showed every sign of sleepy habitation, their occupants winding down after a long day. At least, except the library, whose windows were dark and obviously deserted.

If you were to look up above the town, and above the hills, up into the sky, you might catch sight of an entwined speck hovering in the stillness. Two figures, ripple-hazed and silhouetted by the blinding orange disc of the setting sun, floating together in the warm evening air, high enough that the town below was nothing but a spiderweb patchwork spreading out across the fields.

Twilight never loosened her grip on Rainbow Dash. At first, she had been holding on tight through nervousness, but now she was doing so through joy of the proximity to the pegasus that she loved. She had flown before, using the balloon or sometimes the Princess’s pegasus-drawn carriages, but it had never been anything even close to this. Dash supported their weight effortlessly, and at first they had arced dancingly through the sky in lazy loops and spins, but now they felt content to simply hover among the dust-motes in the dusky air.

Surprisingly enough, their flight had been Twilight’s suggestion. They had spent the day in and around Ponyville, simply walking together and enjoying one another’s company, not wanting to discuss Twilight’s theory any further that day. They had parted ways for a few hours to eat and run various errands, but had met up in the square again, still drunk on each other’s presence and incapable of staying apart for very long. As they had arrived back at the library, when the sun had begun to sink in the sky, Twilight could tell that Dash was itching to take to the air, and so had suggested that she might come along too. Dash’s had seemed surprised that she wanted to undergo such a potentially frightening experience, but delighted nonetheless at the idea. Twilight, for her part, could not help but freeze up with jolts of nerves at first, feeling the rush of the wind and seeing the ground fall away so rapidly below them, but relaxed after a while. She trusted her bearer implicitly to bring them both safely back to the ground.

Now, they were floating together, both a little dazzled by the sun, but neither caring. They were face-to-face, each holding onto the other with both sets of hooves, Twilight lazily stroking her forelegs through the softness of Dash’s mane. Her magenta eyes were half-closed, an expression of longing dancing deep inside them. Neither of them had spoken since they had taken off, but both knew that no words were needed.

Letting her eyes drift entirely closed, Twilight finally gave in to her desires, and pressed her lips to Dash’s, feeling the pegasus sigh and respond with vigour. The wind whipped at them, tossing their manes from side to side as their tongues moved lovingly together. One of Twilight’s hooves was tangled in Dash’s prismatic mane, the other falling to begin stroking down the side of her body in smooth, compulsive motions. During one of these, she brushed up against the base of Dash’s beating wing, and felt her give an involuntary shudder, gasping a little through their kiss, and pulling Twilight even closer.

Dash broke the kiss, and Twilight found herself gasping for breath, her vision filled with orange-tinted blue, painted by the setting sun. She felt Dash begin softly kissing her neck, and her eyes drifted closed again as she lost herself in the moment, nuzzling her partner’s ears, occasionally nipping gently at the tips. With each nip, she felt the pegasus exhale sharply and shiver a little, the warm breath playing across her neck in-between kisses. After a minute or so, Dash pulled away, raising her head again to look Twilight in the eyes. Both were flushed, and panting a little.

“Let’s go home,” Twilight whispered with a smile, still idly toying with Dash’s mane.

Dash nodded. “I kind of wanna stay up here forever, but that’s a good idea.”

Still holding tightly onto Twilight, Dash arced down into a smooth dive, streaking towards the library. Glancing down for a moment, she saw that the unicorn’s eyes were wide with excitement, she was glad that she could share with Twilight some of the joy that always filled her when she flew. Leaning back, they touched down gently just in front of the library, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

It took Twilight a few moments to find her hooves again after the exhilarating flight, and swayed drunkenly around, bumping into the door of the library and nearly falling over.

Dash chuckled. “Yeah, that takes a bit of getting used to.”

Attempting to walk in a straight line, Twilight pulled the door open and motioned Dash inside. Without the pegasus to keep her warm, the air was still distinctly chilly and not worth staying out in for long.

“That was really amazing,” Twilight murmured to Dash as she passed.

“I’ll have to take you up again sometime,” Dash replied with a wink, “flying’s way better when ya have somepony to share it with.”

Twilight laughed. “Definitely, although I didn’t just mean the flying.” She saw Dash’s cheeks light up a little, and smiled, finding the sight quite adorable.

“I’ll get a fire going, shall I?” She asked, and Dash nodded appreciatively.

It seemed that Spike had arrived back home before they had, and had already gone to bed. When Twilight checked his basket, he was snoozing peacefully, a large emerald tucked tightly against his chest, evidently a souvenir from they day’s gem hunting. There was already some kindling stacked in the fireplace, and Twilight ignited it with a cascade of sparks from her horn, suddenly deep in thought.

Is this all happening too fast? I hope Rainbow doesn’t feel I’m pushing too hard. She leaned down to set up a few larger logs on top of the pile, trying to block out the wheedling portion of her brain that was flinging half-formed worries at her with startling sadism. When the fire had caught, she turned to catch Dash staring at her, an almost awestruck look on her face. Twilight giggled, and the pegasus quickly whipped her eyes away, blushing slightly, but smirking a little nonetheless.

Twilight smiled, albeit a little distantly. She felt contentment, but her over-analytical brain was suddenly nagging at her, not letting her fully enjoy it.

We’ve only been together for one day! What if she thinks I’m just impatient? What if she thinks I might have trouble being committed? A few moments of silence passed between them as she tried to reconcile her thoughts, to prevent them from spiraling into paranoia. The warmth of the growing fire spread gently throughout the room.

“So,” she said, a little bashfully, “what do you want to do now?”

Dash had apparently picked up on her distraction, and crossed the room to rest a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Are you okay, Twi’?” she asked, softly.

“I’m fine,” Twilight smiled, but it was a little weak. “I wish I could stop overthinking things,” she admitted in a rush, almost babbling. “It’d make things so much less complicated if I could just do things without thinking about them so much. I guess I’m paranoid, but I really don’t want to just go rushing ahead, and make a mess of this,” she finished, in a small voice.

“Twilight,” Dash hugged her, and murmured in her ear, “if you feel we’re moving too fast, just let me know. I don’t mind. I don’t wanna do anything that you’re not comfortable with.”

“That’s the thing, though,” Twilight replied, pawing the floor in frustration, but unable to stop herself relaxing with Dash’s hooves around her, “I don’t feel that, not really. I know how fast we’re going, but it just feels right. I’d be more than comfortable with anything you wanted to do. But my brain, my stupid, analytical brain… It’s telling me that I’m rushing. It’s telling me that if we keep on going like this I’m going to mess things up and ruin what we have, and…” She buried her face in Dash’s mane, holding her close. “I… I don’t think I could stand that.”

They stood like that for a few moments, and Dash was deep in thought. “Hey,” she whispered at length, “I’m moving just as fast as you. We’ve been together for all of one day, but I can look you in the eye and tell you that I love you. And when I say that, it’s not because I’m rushing into this, I’m not being impulsive, it’s because I actually mean it. I’ve been around long enough to tell the difference between want and love. Does that mean I’m moving too fast?”

“I guess not,” Twilight conceded, still amazed by the depth of the reserves of wisdom that Dash could draw on when necessary. “I’m being silly, it’s just… this is the first time I’ve really gotten involved with another pony in this way. I really care about this. I care about you.” She paused for a second, and then pulled back to look into Dash’s eyes. “I love you too. That’s why I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I messed this up because I was too impatient, or because I tried to force it.”

Dash was glad that Twilight could trust her enough to confide her feelings to her in this depth, but it worried her that the unicorn seemed to blame herself for the speed at which their relationship was moving.

“Neither of us has forced anything, Twi’,” she said, reassuringly. “We’ve known each other for a long time now, and that combined with the way you helped me sort my head out, if anything was gonna happen, it was gonna happen fast. When ponies rush into stuff like this and it doesn’t work out, it’s usually ‘cos they’ve just met, ya know, at a party or somethin’ like that, they don’t know each other, and they don’t really care. I saw enough of that kinda thing at Flight School. Things like that don’t usually really mean anything, but this is different. I feel like this does mean something. We just didn’t need to do the whole getting-to-know-each-other part, because we already knew each other so well. I guess we kinda took a shortcut.” She chuckled. “I’ll be honest, I still can’t work out why ya chose me, but I’m sure as hay glad you did.”

She leaned forwards and planted a kiss on the end of Twilight’s nose, making the unicorn giggle.

“I’ll try to stop worrying,” Twilight promised.

“You? Stop worrying about things?” Dash winked cheekily at her. “I’ll believe that one when I see it!”

“Fair point,” Twilight smirked. They broke apart, both lying down on the rug in front of the flickering fire. For some time, they just lay there, floating in the warmth and each other’s company, occasionally talking a little about this and that.

Then, a thought occurred to Twilight, breaking through her sleepy, peaceful mindset. “Should we tell our friends? About us, I mean.”

Dash shrugged. “I don’t see how we’re gonna keep it quiet, really. If we don’t tell ‘em, somepony else’ll probably just find out anyway. What do you reckon?”

“I see what you mean,” Twilight nodded, “I just hope they don’t react badly. I don’t want to risk my friendship with any of them.” She began fiddling nervously with a few loose strands of the rug.

“Sometimes there aren’t any easy answers to something like this,” replied Dash. “If you’re not sure about it, we’ve probably got a bit of time to think it over.”

“How do you think they’d take it?” Twilight’s eyes were worries, although she tried to tell herself that her worries were baseless.

Dash shrugged. “Fluttershy’d be fine with it. She wouldn’t even be surprised, probably.” She went a little red at this point. “Actually, she was the one I first owned up to about… uh… liking you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Well, ‘owned up’ probably makes her sound a bit passive. She wouldn’t let it drop ‘till I confessed, but it all comes to the same thing, I guess.”

Twilight giggled a little, her concerns momentarily pushed to the background. “That’s remarkably assertive of her. We do both know the same Fluttershy, right?” Her eyes widened a little as the face of one of their other friends swam to the forefront of her thoughts. “Oh Celestia, what will Applejack make of us?”

Dash raised an eyebrow. “Why Applejack?”

“They’re not the most modern of families, are they?”

“…Fair point. Granny Smith’s probably pretty traditional when it comes to the birds and the bees.”

“Exactly. I hardly think Applejack’ll have been raised to approve of the bees and the bees.”

Dash snorted with laughter. “The bees and the bees? That’s one way of putting it, I guess.”

Twilight paused for a moment, still worrying about Applejack’s reaction. “Do you think she’ll mind?”

“It’s not our fault if she does, Twi’. Besides, she’s a modern pony, even if her family aren’t.”

“We’ll have to wait and see, then.” Twilight sighed. She wondered why nothing could ever be simple. “I can’t see Pinkie Pie finding it a problem.”

“Nor me,” Dash replied, thoughtfully. “Dunno about Rarity, though.”

There was silence for a few seconds, as they stared into the fire, listening to the flames crackle and the wind whistle outside. It was quite dark on the far side of the window now, the evening wearing on into night.

“Do you mind if we wait a few days?” Asked Twilight, yawning a little. “Before we tell them?”

The pegasus seemed relaxed, the warmth from the fire making her tired as well, and she replied almost lazily. “No worries, whenever ya want to.”

Twilight giggled, shifting her gaze across to the pegasus beside her. “I’m only just getting used to this myself,” she admitted.

“I know what you mean,” Dash replied with a wry grin, “it all seems like a dream right now.”

“I’m glad it’s not a dream,” Twilight remarked.

“Definitely,” the pegasus cut herself off with a wide yawn, seemingly finding it contagious.

Twilight glanced at the clock mounted on the wall, surprised at how the time was slipping away from them. “We should probably be heading to bed soon,” she said quietly, “I mean, that’s if… Would you like to stay the night here?”

Dash reached a foreleg out, bridging the few inches gap between them on the rug and taking Twilight’s hoof in hers. “I’d love to,” she said with a warm smile, “but I don’t want you to feel like ya have to ask me to stay or anything, y’know, if you need some time to think things over.”

“I’ve done all the thinking I need,” Twilight replied, clasping Dash’s hoof between both of hers. She kissed Dash softly on the lips to emphasize her point, and then stood, magically dousing the dying fire.

Whenever she looked at Dash, Twilight still could help but feel a sense of sadness. It was dwarfed by the feelings of warmth and love, but still gnawingly present, through no fault of Dash’s own. Behind the pegasus’ eyes was the unmistakable echo of hurt, of betrayal and pain.

Twilight lived for the moments when she could simply gaze into those deep magenta pools, but each of those moments were tempered with sympathetic pain for the scars that her love still bore inside her, long after her father’s hoof-marks had faded, and long after the Flight School nicknames and taunts had stopped echoing in her ears. Twilight wished that there was some way for her to help, some way that she could change Dash’s past, but she knew that it was a challenge beyond her intellect. All that she could try to do was to give her the future she deserved.

The few candles dotted around the treehouse flickered and danced, illuminating their faces as they left the room together in silence, Twilight extinguishing the candles with small hisses of magic as they passed, throwing the library into darkness behind them.

Both of them were pleasantly exhausted from the eventful day, as they lay down together in Twilight’s bed.

“G’night, Twi’,” Dash whispered, pulling the covers over herself, and draping a wing around the unicorn as she climbed in beside her, lying so they were face-to-face, their coats touching lightly together.

“’Night, Dash,” Twilight murmured back, snuggling closer into her lover’s warmth and wrapping her hooves around her middle, feeling Dash’s breath on her nose, their muzzles almost touching. As she thought back, her eyes drifting closed, she found it hard to believe how much had changed in a single day. When she had woken up that morning, she had never for a moment dreamed that Rainbow Dash would be sharing the bed with her as they fell asleep that night.

She also felt relieved knowing that, tomorrow, Dash had agreed to help with her flight experiment, and Twilight had a suspicion that if her hunch proved to be correct, then Dash would find very little difficulty in reclaiming her title. She found it amusing that, perhaps, she might even find herself training Rainbow Dash in flight technique. She would certainly have never seen that one coming.

Just before she allowed sleep to take her, she opened her eyes for a moment to simply look at Dash. The pegasus was already asleep, which was quite impressive considering the fact that she was on a bed rather than her usual clouds. Twilight smiled to herself, as she closed her eyes again and felt herself drifting contentedly into the warm abyss.

Today had certainly been a day for the unexpected. Tomorrow looked to be quite interesting, too.