The Letter
"The Letter"
I love you I love you I love you ...
The letter sat, unfolded, on the counter of Sugarcube Corner. The crisp sheet of paper almost glowed under the bright lights of the bakery, and the blue and gold logo in the corner of the page stood out against the surrounding whiteness. On either side of the counter stood two ponies, staring down at the letter that rested between them. For long seconds, neither said a single word.
It was, unsurprisingly, Pinkie Pie who finally broke the tense silence. “Congratulations, Dashie,” she whispered.
Rainbow Dash looked up from the letter and immediately frowned. Pinkie was smiling at her, just like she always did, but the smile was a little too wide and a little too bright. It hurt to look at that smile, and so Rainbow turned her head away. Instead, she stared at a smudge of dirt over in a corner of the bakery.
“Thanks, Pinks,” she muttered in reply, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. “I haven’t decided whether I’m gonna accept the offer yet or not, but it’s still pretty cool that--”
“But you’ve gotta accept it! You just gotta!”
And then a pair of pink hooves was grabbing Rainbow’s shoulders, shaking her roughly, and the pegasus glanced up in time to see Pinkie leaning across the counter, those bottomless blue eyes wide and urgent. Almost fearful, Rainbow might have said, if she hadn’t known any better.
I love you I love you I love you ...
Gently Dash shook her head. “If I become a Wonderbolt, then what about us? What’ll we do?”
“I’ll come with you!” The words were more explosion than speech, and Pinkie didn’t let go of Rainbow’s shoulders. “I can come to all your shows, and it’ll be like a really long vacation, and we can--”
“You’d leave Ponyville? You’d leave Twilight and Applejack and Fluttershy and Rarity?”
At that, Pinkie hesitated.
Quickly picking up steam, Dash continued on: “And Mr. and Mrs. Cake … you’d really be okay leaving them? Pound and Pumpkin, too?” She shook her head again. “C’mon, Pinkie. I know you. You can’t lie to me. It’d kill you to leave behind Ponyville--and I’m not gonna make you do that.”
Pinkie Pie leaned back, then, and took her hooves from Rainbow’s shoulders. Instantly Dash felt the absence of the other pony’s touch, and a deep, aching emptiness settled right in the pit of her stomach. Never before had Sugarcube Corner--usually the warmest and friendly place she’d ever been--felt so cold or so lonely. Dash took a step back and crossed her forelegs tightly over her chest.
“What about you?” asked Pinkie, glancing down at the letter still laying open on the counter. “You’ve always wanted to be a Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash. Always always! Since before I even met you! If you don’t tell them yes, then …”
I love you I love you I love you ...
Rainbow Dash tucked her chin against her chest, glaring a little. “I’ll be fine! I mean, I’m still the coolest pony in Equestria, no matter if I’m a weather pony or whether I’m a Wonderbolt.”
It was Pinkie’s turn to shake her head. “You won’t be happy, Dashie,” she replied softly, in a tone of voice that made Dash’s stomach twist in a vicious and awful way. “You’ll never be happy. And I’ll be so sad that you’re sad, and I’ll try everything to make you smile again, but you won’t smile. You won’t.”
Rainbow opened her mouth, to yell, to scream, to refute everything Pinkie was saying, but she found that she couldn’t utter a single sound. She tried--she swallowed hard and took a deep breath, reaching deep down for the words she needed--but still she couldn’t speak.
“And I’ll get super duper frustrated because I can’t make you happy, and then you’ll get super duper frustrated because I’m not happy, and then …” When Pinkie glanced up, her eyes were wet with tears. A small, sad smile graced her face. “And then we’ll fall apart anyways.”
“I don’t …” The words were choking her, and that emptiness was spreading out from her stomach to her chest, through all four of her legs, to the very tips of her wings. “I don’t want to lose you, Pinkie.”
Slowly Pinkie walked around the counter so that she was directly in front of the pegasus. She reached out with a hoof and ran it lightly through Dash’s mane. “I don’t want to lose you, either,” she said, still smiling her sad little smile. “That’s why you gotta say yes. That’s why you gotta go. So you don’t get so sad and mopey that you won’t be Dashie--and so I don’t get so sad and mopey that I won’t be Pinkie Pie.”
I love you I love you I love you …
Rainbow Dash wanted to tell Pinkie Pie that she was crazy. That Pinkie was being ridiculous and random, just as always. That Dash didn’t understand the contortionist logic that the pink mare was offering up. But the truth was, Rainbow Dash understood. She understood perfectly.
Worst of all, a quiet, tiny voice somewhere inside her whispered, “Pinkie’s probably right.”
She decided to ignore that voice. To ignore everything Pinkie just said--at least for now, at least for tonight.
Instead of offering up a response or refutation, Rainbow Dash let out a low growl that came from deep in the belly and leapt forward, pinning Pinkie to the bakery floor. She peppered the earth pony’s face with kisses, quick and fierce, dozens upon dozens of kisses. A kiss for every day that she and Pinkie would have to be apart. A kiss for every moment they would never have, for every dream that had just shattered before them like so much delicate glass.
Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around Dash’s neck, pulling her closer, holding her tighter. And then Pinkie’s hooves were anywhere and everywhere--cupping Rainbow’s face, trailing down Rainbow’s sides, brushing along her wings, caressing the soft fur of her stomach--and the pegasus felt as though she was on fire, as though Pinkie was a ravenous inferno that was consuming her alive from the inside out. Before long, hot tears began trickling down her cheeks, but Rainbow Dash ignored those too.
Tomorrow, the Element of Loyalty would leave the pony she loved more than any other in the whole of Equestria. Tomorrow, the Element of Laughter would cry until she’d be left as dry and as hollow as a corn husk forgotten in the field and baked by the sun. But tonight, they still had one another, and tonight they would make use of every single moment they had.
There was nothing else. There was nothing more.
Tonight, they held on to one another as hard and as long as they could.
I love you I love you I love you ...
Author's Notes: Professor Piggy requested a RainbowPie break-up story, and then Thirty Minute Ponies had a break-up prompt, so I pretty much was required to write this. I'll try to do something happy for next time, though.
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I have a question...
are all of these flashes of a single timeline or can we, at least in spirit assume that each is independent of the rest so that I don't have to go and cry in a corner cause Dashie and Pinkie broke up despite all the rest.?
1025126
it's been stated that they are not continues. Good thing too. The flutterdash chapter would've been hard to reconcile
The one thing that annoys me about this chapter is that I will always hold that this pairing could survive this inevitable circumstance (unlike many others) soley because I suspect Pinkie could indeed leave Ponyville for extended periods or for good. I mean, she's already left wherever she lived before Ponyville, and enjoys meeting new people and the like. Especially given a situation where either choice would mean losing people precious to her, I expect that she really could make the choice to go with dash
The one thing that bugs me about the chapter is that you'd think they'd just try to keep a long-distance relationship going instead of giving up completely. Being in the Wonderbolts would keep RD busy, but she'd still have some time off.
heheh im not crying, thats just a speck of dirt in my eye. or a twig. maybe an entire tree.
//sobs
OMG AN UPDATE.
I don't know if this qualifies as a break-up story. Its certainly not roses, but it doesn't necessarily seem THAT bad.
Actually, in reading it, the main thing that kept occuring to me is that this could easily be a prequel to "One Night in Manehatten."
Complements to the chef. As someone who's had to move for school and work several times I can tell you that you got the bittersweet tone just right.
So mean. I read this for the 30-minute writing prompt, and now I am reminded of it. So sad.
*BAWL*
We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when...
Heh, sorry that this one is a bit of downer, y'all. As always, thanks for all the comments!
1025126
Yeah, as other folks have said, unless otherwise stated each chapter is an entirely separate story.
1025184
I think this story is based on my own head canon that has Pinkie pretty firmly rooted in Ponyville, to such an extent that Dash would seriously question Pinkie's ability to be happy if she had to leave. I definitely think that isn't the only interpretation, though, by any means, or even necessarily the right interpretation. But it's the one that's stuck in my head, for whatever reason.
1025740
S'true! Long distance relationships are really straining, though. I think I had my own experiences with such in the back of my mind while writing. Personal bias, I guess, what can I say?
1027336
I had in mind that this constituted a break-up, but I'm totally fine with other readings--and with a reading of this as something other than a break-up, yeah, could totally fit in with the events of "One Night in Manehattan."
1043098
Well thank Celestia for that!
1043098
Yeah, I could see them trying it and it not working out, especially since Pinkie's general tendency to be a bit clingy/insecure would be a huge problem for a long-distance relationship. It's just that them not even thinking of trying it jumped out at me.
And here I was going to go to bed happy and such, so fuck you
Donny, you evil, evil man. First you jump ship and then you have the two of them break up. Shame on you!
1025740
I always saw the Wonderbolts as an elite Air Force unit. If so, then that would mean Dash would be in the military and military personnel DO get leave and such.
Silver out!