Chapter 2
An hour later the two of them were waiting in one of the more upper-class restaurants in Canterlot. Twilight was running late, giving them a while to admire the questionable decor. Everything in there was clearly driven to emulate the royal castle as much as possible. Of course, Rarity and Rainbow Dash had spent a lot of time in actual royal castles over their years, so the place felt a lot tackier than either of them was really expecting.
Rainbow preferred it over the previous night's gaudy club, but she was still disappointed by how close they were.
Still, it was the best-rated place in Canterlot to eat, and with Twilight hopefully making time between royal duties it seemed like the only reasonable place to go. Rarity was already questioning her choices. Rainbow was at least willing to wait until she saw what was on the menu before complaining.
They eventually did get to sit down and look over the menu. Rainbow managed to not cheer too loudly when she saw that there were hayburgers on the menu. Sure, they may have been in the foal section, but Rainbow was taking her victories where she could. Unfortunately, Rarity was less interested in the menu and more interested in the other ponies there.
"Well, he has a nice hindquarter, don't you think?" Rarity nudged Rainbow Dash and gestured to a rather heavily built stallion. Personally, Rainbow Dash didn't really see what was special about them, they were just flanks. They didn't look any bigger or smaller than normal.
"They look fine to me," Rainbow Dash responded as non-committedly as she could, not really seeing it. It was just another butt, the same as all the others Rarity had complemented. However, Rainbow also knew that saying nothing in response was not an option. Rarity would probably assume she was into mares again if she didn't at least pretend to show interest. "Anyway, how much longer are we waiting for Twilight?"
"Oh, don't rush it Rainbow," Rarity playfully chastised her, "we have a few minutes to admire the scenery..."
"What scenery?" Dash muttered to herself as she looked back at the door, hoping that Twilight would turn up soon. She did not want to have to listen to Rarity pointlessly swoon over every stallion with a pulse. Though she did notice that Rarity was pointing out some of the mares as well. None of them was an awesome Wonderbolt or stunt pony, so Dash really could not bring herself to care.
"What about the mare near the back corner?"
"She's fine I guess," Rainbow sighed as she looked back at the entrance in the hope the wait would end. There was only one way that would happen. "Though I think I'd prefer to see Twilight so this wait ends."
"Really?" Rarity leaned closer with a smirk plastered across her muzzle, "you're not the only mare with an interest in her."
Rainbow Dash just groaned before putting her head onto the table with a bump, though she did resist the urge to throw something at Rarity. This was not the first time that their conversations had somehow strayed into talking about which of their friends were attractive. Personally, Rainbow Dash wasn't all that interested in talking about which of them had the best rump, especially when her own wasn't exactly top tier. Maybe if she had a top-tier tushy like Rarity it would change things, but Rainbow's boney behind was far from that.
"Speak and she appears," Rarity nudged Rainbow and gestured to the entryway. Rainbow wasn't all that surprised to see Twilight awkwardly walking in, flanked by a fair amount of ponies trying to get her attention. Twilight still had not fully worked out how to tell ponies no, so somehow the short few pony lengths took nearly a minute to get to their table.
"I've been the ruler for almost a year, you'd think that they were used to it by now," Twilight mused as she finally settled down beside them. "Anyway, it's good to see that not much has changed with you two at least."
"We're still as awesome as ever!" Dash smirked, reaching out for a hoof bump. Twilight quickly returned it with an eye roll.
"A hoof bump isn't how you are meant to greet royalty" Rarity tried to chastise Rainbow Dash, though the smile on her face made it clear that she didn't actually care.
"Better than when the dragon delegate tried to pretend that a grope was an appropriate greeting." Twilight groaned. "I nearly teleported that dragoness into space when she tried."
"Knowing Ember, that delegate is going to wish you had sent them to the sun," Dash chuckled.
"She didn't actually manage, right?" Rarity asked with a frown. "You know that isn't okay."
"Years of adventuring have made me very good at acting on instinct," Twilight confirmed, "It's not like they were the first to act inappropriately around me. The fun of being the newest ruler is that you need to teach every delegate that you aren't to be trifled with. You'd think after taking down as many villains as we have, they'd figure out. Somehow, they need me to point out the blazingly obvious. Did you know that Blueblood still doesn't seem to get it? At least this time went better than the splice incident."
"The what?" Rarity asked as her eyebrows nearly raised high enough to get lost in her mane. She knew enough about magic to know that a splice was never a good thing.
"It was an accident, "Twilight admitted with a blush, "I was working on a linear transformation of a magic matrix to produce a duplication matrix, and I accidentally included it on the teleport charm."
"I have no idea what any of that means" Rainbow Dash flatly pointed out with a bemused smirk, "Do you feel like dumbing it down a bit."
"I might have accidentally made them into discrete pieces, temporarily of course"
"Now that sounds like a cool story, princess." Rainbow lent closer, eager to hear. "How many pieces did they-"
"Right, I think it's time for a topic change" Rarity interrupted, knowing better than to let the two of them get stuck on such a macabre topic. "Has anything changed for you, Twilight? Is the Canterlot castle treating you well?"
"I'm only here every second week, so it's been fine," Twilight told her. "The guards were a bit of a change though. What about you, Rarity? Any particular nobles or royalty caught your eye this time around?"
"There is one royal that I might have my eye on, but it's still early days. You?
"There's a particular mare that I've got my eye on right now," Twilight admitted with a blush. "She may not officially be a noble, but she seems like a noble to me."
"Sounds positively scandalous," Rarity teased, "the ruler of Equestria snapping up a non-noble to join her. What would the nobility think?"
"Candace got away with it without much drama," Twilight chuckled, "it's not like I particularly listen to the nobility anyway."
"What about you, Rainbow?" Rarity asked, a smirk on her lips as she looked over at her. "What stories do you have of past lovers? Anyone we would know? Maybe one of the Wonderbolts showing a bit of tail?"
"My past?" Rainbow winced; she had never been with any pony. Well, she hadn't really been with any pony romantically. However, she had another mare who tried to date her at flight camp, though Rainbow hadn't really understood how to reciprocate it. Fluttershy and her had also sort of tried something, but it had stopped before it really started. Time to bend the truth a little. "I don't really have any interesting stories. They all pretty much go the same way, we tried to date, but it didn't work out, and we're still friends. Nothing really all that exciting to say."
Rainbow Dash was proud of herself. She had stopped the questions and hadn't lied. Though it was clear that Rarity would believe what she wanted. It wasn't like Rainbow Dash could have been entirely honest and just said that she had never dated and never really had that desire to connect with anypony yet. That would just bring along even more annoying questions. Questions that she was already getting far too often from the weather team.
"I wish I had nothing exciting going on," Twilight mused, financially bothering to open her menu. "Every day seems to be filled with a lot, and the stress has not been a small problem. Without Rarity spending so much time up here as a distraction, I'm not sure how good I would be right now."
"While I do feel proud that I could be a good stress reliever for you," Rarity replied as she waved over a waiter, "I would hope that things would be improving for you."
"They have been getting better," Twilight relented, "It's just been so long since I was able to spend a lot of time with the five of you apart from our monthly meetups. Add that with the new delegates trying to make me marry them. It's been a mess."
"I'm sure they recognise that they would have to compete with me." Rarity huffed, "that heart is mine. No annoying noble is going to try and take it from me."
"If it was a competition then you would have already won." Twilight smiled sweetly at Rarity.
"Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash cut in; the other two mares seemingly surprised that she was still there. "Are we still joking around, or is there actually something between you two?"
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Rarity asked as she not too subtlety reached out for Twilight's hoof. Twilight instead swatted it away with an eye roll.
"Rarity?" Twilight did not sound all that impressed.
"Okay, I suppose I should stop messing with Dash before the poor dear gets too distressed." However, just as Rarity was going to tell Dash what was going on, they were interrupted by the presence of the waiter. With a lifted eyebrow shot at Dash, Rarity quickly switched her attention over to the waiter, leaving Dash just to wonder what was going on between Rarity and Twilight.
Her first thought was that they were just becoming closer friends, or potentially trying out some sort of friends with benefits deal. Dash had seen that Fluttershy and Pinkie had been doing something similar to that second option for quite a while, so it wouldn't be that surprising. However, something told her that there was something much more intriguing going on here.
"Was there something you wanted?" The waiter's voice shoved itself into Dash's mental musings, throwing her thoughts away. Scowling, she pulled out the menu and gestured to what she wanted. "I'm sorry ma'am but that is the foal's section."
"I want a hayburger and fries." Dash snorted, "I don't really care if it is in the foal's section. It's not like it matters."
With a forced smile, the waiter took her order and quickly trotted off faster than was strictly necessary.
"Well, that was awkward," Dash muttered, before turning back to the others. "So, what is this secret?"
"Surely you can guess?" Rarity teased, leaning over to Twilight and giving her a quick nuzzle.
"I mean I have a few ideas about what it could be, but most of them are probably offensive" Dash shrugged, before deciding that she may as well just say it anyway. Offending Rarity was fun anyway. "I'd say that you two have some sort of friends with benefits going on like the others. Am I close?"
Rarity blinked twice before glaring at Rainbow Dash. Twilight just lifted an eyebrow, clearly having no idea what either of them was talking about.
"Okay, let's pretend that I was joking and my first real guess is that you two are dating," Rainbow Dash backpedalled as quickly as she could. Angry Rarity wasn't as funny as embarrassed Rarity. "Is that close?"
"Honest, both are accurate enough," Twilight responded, a slight blush tinting the edges of her cheeks, "though I probably wouldn't have said it quite like that. "
"Darling, 'dating' and 'friends with benefits' are two very different things." Rarity sighed, staring at the ceiling. Clearly, she was regretting ever starting the mess, or at least that was what Dash hoped she was thinking. Rainbow Dash could only hope Rarity learnt such a lesson. "Twilight and I are indeed in the middle ground between friends and more. Taking those first few glorious steps towards being together."
"So, we are not friends with benefits at the moment?" Twilight asked, clearly confused. "Friendship has a lot of very clearly defined benefits, Rarity. You can't just say that our friendship is entirely devoid of anything positive coming from it."
Rarity groaned before leaning over and whispering something into her ear. Twilight's eyes shot wide.
"Okay, we are definitely not that." Twilight quickly amended as Dash couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Just to be very clear, Rarity and I are dating. However, after talking, we both realised that it was a bigger thing than just us. We really needed to talk to you about what you think before we take it any further."
"You're literally the ruler over all of Equestria," Dash told her as the laughter finally subsided. Her chest was nearly sore from it. "You don't really need to involve anyone else in decisions about your personal life. You don't need to talk to anypony but the one you want to date."
"That's why we want to talk to you," Rarity amended, "are you currently dating anyone?"
"The Canterlot times has been running full-page spreads on how I'm currently the most eligible bachelorette in all of Equestria," Rainbow complained, "so I think you can probably guess the answer to that question."
"So, you are..." Rarity asked carefully.
Rainbow Dash groaned, wishing that Rarity would just take the hint, "I am not currently dating any pony, and it seems that everything in life is trying to remind me of that."
"Do you want to try it?" Twilight asked, a soft smile on her face that she was doing a very poor job at hiding. "I think Rarity and I could possibly have a little proposal for you."
"What the ruler of all of Equestria is dancing around is that Twilight and I have realised that what we feel for each other, is what we feel for all of our group," Rarity told Rainbow Dash, reaching out a forehoof and resting it on Rainbow's shoulder. Rainbow raised an eye at the gesture but made no move to stop Rarity. "The six of us have been through a lot together, and we realised that we are linked at a far deeper level than just mere friendship. So it would feel incomplete for only Twilight and I to be together without the rest. So we wanted to form a herd, with you and the others."
The silence was the only response that met Rarity's query. Dash opened her mouth to respond, but no words managed to actually come out. This meal was not in any way going the way she thought it would go.
"I... I don't know," Rainbow Dash managed to pull herself together to actually force out a response. A large part of her was actually rather happy that the others were interested in her in that way. Unfortunately, a significantly larger part of her knew that something was wrong with the idea, she just wasn't sure what it was. All she could work out was that she was not entirely comfortable with the idea of dating her friends, not yet at least. Though, another part of her was curious about how it would work.
"You don't need to rush to make a decision now," Rarity at least understood that Rainbow's silence was not rejection. "We just wanted you to be aware of what is going on and that we would gladly have you join us. We aren't putting any pressure on you to decide now. We just want you to know that the offer is there, and it is a very enthusiastic offer."
Twilight frowned "I hope you're okay with being in a herd, we probably should have also checked that you're into mares."
Rarity rolled her eyes. "I've seen her staring at my rump enough to know that is not an issue."
"Where have I been staring?" Dash asked herself in confusion.
"It isn't an issue, right?" Twilight asked nervously.
An awkward silence hit, with Twilight clearly being the most uncomfortable out of the three of them. Rainbow Dash knew that Twilight was only a few seconds of panic before she reached for a the inevitably hidden scroll of notes hidden under a wing. Taking pity on her friend, Rainbow Dash decided to step in before things got any more awkward.
"Those are not an issue, probably." Rainbow spluttered out, "I am just not really sure about what I should say. I'm definitely flattered. Just not really sure what to say past that. This is kind of sudden and I-."
"You don't need to say anything." Twilight interrupted, reaching out a hoof and resting it on Rainbow Dash's foreleg, "we did spring this on you without warning. So, we both understand that there isn't much-"
"It's not that." Rainbow Dash cut Twilight off, holding up a hoof to silence Rarity as well. "I don't have an answer right now. I'm not against the idea. It is interesting to me, I guess? That's not really the right way to say it. Look, yeah, I just need some time to really, you know, figure it out and stuff."
"So, are we okay?" Rarity asked hesitantly.
"Only if we now switch to talking about anything else." Rainbow wanted to just move on from this mess.
"We could always talk about getting my dresses on the runway," Rarity offered.
"I would've preferred to talk about Soarin finally managing to pull off the filly dash." Rainbow muttered half-heartedly before relenting and letting Rarity talk about the trials of getting her work accepted. Rainbow did her best to comment and pretend to pay attention, but the truth was that she was lost in thought.
The last few months had been some of the most frustrating of her life, as every one of her friends and work colleagues seemed to pair up and find their special somepony. To hear that Rarity and Twilight were practically going out was not something that she wanted to really hear. Sure, the impact was lessened to know that they wanted to include her in it. But in some ways that made everything even more uncomfortable. There was something that made this not work, and she couldn't even tell herself what the problem was.
All she knew was that there was a reason she didn't want to date them, but she just couldn't put her hoof on what it was. She also very much did like spending time with them, so really absolutely none of this made any damn sense.
It also made her wonder why they were only asking her and not the other three. Was she just the first they wanted or had the others already agreed? If they had all agreed, then did she really have that much of a choice? They were her closest friends and she knew that she would always be loyal to them, no matter what they asked.
Dash was dragged out of her musings as their lunch finally arrived.
"Your requested meal, ma'am" The waiter snootily spat at Dash as they gently levitated the dish in front of her. Dash's face fell as she finally remembered what she had ordered. The filly's meal sitting before her was a far cry from what she expected, the soggy hay fries and the slightly burnt bun did little to convey a quality product. She glazed over at the considerably more proper meals sitting in front of her two friends, wincing as she caught Twilight's questioning glance. Rainbow turned back to her meal and grimaced. Did they have to make a smiley face with the sauce on the plate?
"Thanks," she muttered darkly to the waiter, who quickly made themselves absent. Knowing better than to make a scene, Rainbow Dash wiped away her frown and dug into the meal, trying her best to not feel absolutely mortified.
"Is that what you ordered?" Twilight asked with an eyebrow raised. "We can call back the waiter if they made a mistake."
"It's fine," Rainbow Dash replied in a tone that made it very clear that it wasn't fine, but also that it was not a topic to talk about. "I told them I wanted a hayburger, so they found one on the menu."
"You'd think an establishment of this calibre would be able to cater for it," Rarity mused, levitating up her cutlery and beginning her own meal.
"Maybe hay burgers are beneath them." Rainbow Dash grimaced as soon as she took her first bite, quickly putting the burger back down. She sighed. "Or maybe they just don't know how to make a decent hay burger.
"The pasta is pretty good, want some," Twilight offered, gesturing to her own plate.
"It's fine, I'll just grab something later." Rainbow Dash pushed away from the meal. She was not a picky eater, but the bun was more ash than bread and even Rainbow had her limits. She was annoyed that the restaurant had somehow managed to make her feel like even more of a foal. Normally she would've not been too annoyed at getting a bad meal, but this time it just made everything that little bit more mortifying.
As Rarity and Twilight returned to their meal, Rainbow Dash was hit with the realisation that they had invited her along to their date. A date that Dash had proceeded to make an absolute mockery of, acting like a foal, literally ordering a filly's meal, and then refusing to eat it. This wasn't a lunch for the three of them to catch up, this was a date with an annoying friend intruding on it. A friend who was acting like a filly a quarter of her age.
Rainbow pretended to check the time, not even bothering to look at the clock properly, as she searched for an excuse to get her away before she died of embarrassment. She gave a quick cough to grab their attention. "Well, this has been fun, but I am running a little late for some Wonderbolt stuff. It's been fun meeting up but I really do need to go."
"Already?" Rarity asked, giving Rainbow Dash a rather curious look. A look that made Dash feel that she was under a microscope. "You sure you don't want to at least stay for dessert?"
"I'm fine," Dash repeated, ignoring the fact that Rarity was trying to bribe her with ice cream. Also trying her best to ignore how tempting the offer was. She was a full-grown mare, and she shouldn't be tempted by junk food. Rainbow Dash dug into her saddlebag, pulling out a few bits to cover her badly made meal. She got up to leave, pointedly not looking at either of them. "We'll have to do this more often. We really don't meet up enough."
Twilight and Rarity did their best to give her a farewell, but Dash didn't really give them much time. Instead, she made her farewell and got out of there as far as she could. The instant her hooves stepped outside, she flared her wings and leapt into the sky. Barely a few seconds passed before she was above the clouds and enjoying the relative privacy that the sky gave her.
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You don't need both of those.
When using a "dialogue tag" like that, you use a comma, question mark, exclamation mark, ellipsis, or em dash to end the quote, but never a period. Also, an extra space before the final quote.
Conversely, with an action tag, you don't use a comma.
Missing some end-of-sentence punctuation here (probably a period).
This is a slightly more odd case of punctuation. You're interrupting a dialogue at a juncture with an action tag. There are several ways to handle it, and the most correct would be to change the comma to a period. You could, however, employ an em dash break in the flow if she literally pauses talking to frown.
Should be "that"
Should be a period here, since it is leading to a new sentence in the following dialogue.
These are action tags. See bit above about handling those.
Need a comma in there.
Lowercase S.
Whew! Really loving this. By the sound of Rainbow, she's both ace and aro, which is a tough combo for others to get their head around. On the plus side, it's not incompatible with a polyam relationship. Looking forward to more, and I hope you take the above notes in the spirit of trying to help clarify some of the more complex parts of English punctuation.
Looking forward to more!
11276820
Thanks for the feedback. I've updated it where I could. I really should try and find a pre-reader for this.
That's a big part of what this is all about, understanding yourself. Though the story likely isn't going to have any of the characters actually use any of those labels.
11276826
For sure. I find labels tend to get in the way of good storytelling, particularly when the characters themselves not only wouldn't but shouldn't know about them. The asexual spectrum, too, has many nooks and crannies that even our society doesn't have good terms for.
Best of luck with the next chapter, I'm eagerly awaiting it!
Oof, poor Rainbow. I do like the topic being explored. I really like the hay burger thing going on, it's a really nice reflection on how Rainbow is feeling like a child because she just isn't in to anyone. I just hope this ends pleasantly for her, somehow.
um... twilight, you do reliaze that its because your brother was captian of the royal guards right? Plus you were a student of celestia so of coruse she would have.
I feel like I can somehow relate to her somehow.
I'm liking this story so far, you have some really good characterization and I can't wait to see where you take the story next. Keep it up!
I can count myself as lucky that while I never had interest in anyone, no one attempted to pursue me in any meaningful way. Also I had already established that I was a bit off from others so while it was surprising to realize I was on the Ace spectrum, it didn’t really cause me much frustration before or after the realization.
11277130
Being captain of a Royal guard is not merit of noble title, of any Knight itself is a tiyle but not one that grants nobility.
Although that is just a concept that one can use on their own stories... After all, they are called nobles but yet there is no ranking at all among them