A Rainbow in Autumn

by Serketry

Rainbow Connection

Rainbow Dash woke up in her cloudstuff bed, and was not ready to meet the day. Something felt off. It wasn’t a hangover- those always sucked- but the usual spark to hop out of bed, speed through a shower, and hit the clouds for her morning workout just wasn’t there. Instead, she rolled over and wrapped herself up in her sheets. It was bitter cold, but nothing she hadn’t dealt with on a regular basis.

“Eh… w’rk’t c’n wait…” she moaned incomprehensibly. Seconds ticked over to minutes. Minutes ticked over to hours. Her nine o’clock alarm went off; her weather crew shift started in thirty minutes. Normally this would’ve been when she’d return home, take another shower, scarf down some breakfast, then head to work. She wanted to get out of bed. It just wasn’t happening. Maybe working double shifts- her usual cloudbusting, and surveying the Everfree for Twilight’s investigation- was starting to take its toll on her. Maybe she just needed another ten minutes, then she’d get up.

---

Rainbow Dash arrived at her assigned cloud grid almost an hour late. Everypony else on her shift was already working on their respective sectors, rounding up loose cloudstuff and corralling it to the condensation point, just outside of town. She hadn’t had time to shower, so her mane was pressed up against the side of her face. The cold, damp autumn air wasn’t helping.

Cloud Kicker nodded at her captain, “Ah, Miss Efficiency finally decided to show up, huh? Gonna work an entire sector in ten seconds flat again?”

The others laughed. Rainbow Dash just shuddered, that chill still gnawing at her bones. Her stomach ached, and she couldn’t tell if it was hunger, or nausea. Maybe she was sick, the feather flu or something. Maybe she should see her doctor. Maybe I should just stop.

“Uh, you doin’ alright, boss?” Thunderlane asked, at least faking concern, before the crew chief turned back to his sector without waiting for an answer.

Dash got to work, rolling up cloud fragments, watching for static charge and ice chunks- nasty little surprises that snuck out from the Everfree Forest’s airspace. Like any other day, Dash had assigned the most dangerous sectors to herself. Her team had gone a full four years without casualties- nopony had died on her watch, either. Just because Dash felt like crap wasn’t any reason to put her crew in danger.

Seconds ticked over to minutes. Minutes ticked over to hours. She was only vaguely aware the others had long since finished their work in this area and had moved onto other assignments. Dash looked down at Ponyville’s large sundial, built for exactly this sort of aerial use. It was barely past noon.

“This rutting day…” she muttered to herself. Why am I even up here? “Because the weather crew needs me. I’d never leave a-” her words hitched in her throat. She needed a drink.

---

Berry’s Place was pretty empty, noon on a workday. An older stallion nursing a beer. A young couple necking in the corner over some greasy pub fair. And Rainbow Dash, at the bar, working on her third drink. She’d started off with just a bottle of cider- she still had work to do- but then switched to straight applejack. The drink, not the pony. Two shots wouldn’t be enough to ground her. She had a lot of practice drinking alone. So it came as some small shock when Applejack- the pony, not the drink- trotted in, and made a beeline straight for her.

“Ah was worried Ah’d find you in here,” Applejack grunted as she hoisted herself onto an adjacent bar stool, “How many’ve you had?”

“Urrr… my third. What’s up, AJ?” Dash replied, putting in the conscious effort to make eye contact.

“Ah ain’t seen you so poorly since…” the farmer paused, rubbing her chin, “well, since your lil’ adventure with Twilight ‘n Rarity ‘cross th’ pond.’”

Yeah. Dammit AJ, when you’re right, you’re right. Dash just sighed, and finished her shot.

“But that was weeks ago. An’ -no ‘ffense- Ah wouldn’t peg you as the type to get lost in recollectin’. So what’s yer trouble?”

It took Rainbow Dash a moment to put words to what she was feeling, had been feeling all day. When the words did come, they spilled out all at once, “Aren’t I supposed to, like, embody the Element of Loyalty? What does that even mean? When Twilight went missing, when that cockatrice got her, we just… abandoned her!” Dash swung a wide hoof and knocked over her empty glass, “I could’ve done more. I know I could. I just…”

Applejack swiveled on her stool to face Dash directly, and nodded for her to continue.

“And the whole cock-up with Gilda, shit! She’s my oldest friend, AJ, I knew her before I met Fluttershy! And I just… and I just left her there on that dingy, rank-ass train platform. She needed help, so what if she was… I dunno, physically incapable of asking for it? I think I’m rutting this up, AJ. I think I’m rutting this up.”

The farmer listened, nodded, then chewed her words over before replying, “So what’re ya gonna do about it? ‘Cause Ah doubt the solution’s in th’ bottom of that glass.”

Dash looked down at her empty shotglass, rolling around on the bar’s tacky countertop. “Well, not this one.”

Applejack straightened up to her full height- normally a bit taller than Dash, but now a full head taller than the slouching pegasus, “Persephone’s pusillanimous pucker, RD! Ah can’t help you with Gilda, but th’ least you c’n do is, Ah dunno, go talk to Twilight? Last Ah saw, she’s hunkered down at the library.” The farmer’s voice never rose above casual conversation volume, but the sheer intensity drove the weatherworker to lean away in her stool.

“Notus’s balls, AJ, breaking out the five-bit words already?” Dash chuckled mirthlessly, as she steadied herself.

“Well, Ah ain’t often given to bouts of sesquip’dalious loquaciousn’ss… but Ah’d be a shitty friend if Ah didn’t warm you up ‘fer yer talk with Professor Sparkle,” Applejack grinned, lowering her hat to just cover her eyes.

“Hmmrf. She’s just Dr. Sparkle, there’s a difference.” Dash muttered. Then she sat up straight, herself, “Ask me how I know that.”

Applejack slid off her stool, and started ambling towards the door, “Ah stand corrected. See’ya ‘round.” And with that, she was gone.

Dash sat there for a few more minutes, before digging through her saddlebag for a wingful of bits, paying her tab, and heading out.

On her way to the library, she looked up at an unsettlingly dense patch of off-white clouds, ripe for converging into a minor stormcloud right over town square. The faint flicker of a lightning bolt roiled around inside, ready to strike in about an hour. She didn’t even need to see the gridzone designations, this was one of her sectors for the day. I never leave a pony hanging. Three drinks sloshing around her brain was nothing for Rainbow Dash; launching into a textbook acceleration arc, she climbed to cloud level, busted her sector, and was done with a two-hour work detail in just under five minutes. Feeling more than a little better, she glided the rest of the way to the library’s big landing balcony, already considering what she might say.

---

Rainbow Dash landed, a gnawing uncertainty still eating away at her. She paused, took in a few quick, deep breaths, then opened the door. The little doorbell jingled to announce her presence as she looked down into the main room. This still being the public library, Twilight usually kept the area clear of her ever-encroaching wall of paperwork- at least during business hours. Today was not one of those days.

Virtually every horizontal surface was covered in graphs, charts, and more than a few textbooks and binders. Dash even recognized a few of her own surveying maps, next to or superimposed over radion heatmaps collected by the Lapwing.

“Hello? Sorry about the mess,” Twilight called up from inside her office. “Give me… one second… and I can help you find what you’re looking for-“ her voice got louder and clearer as she left the confines of her office, eventually looking up to see Rainbow Dash hovering awkwardly over the parchment sea. “Oh! Rainbow Dash, need something?”

“Uh, yeah, do you have a minute? There’s something I’d like to talk about.” Dash tried to project confidence, but she wasn’t entirely sure it was working.

The scholar looked around for a clear spot for her friend to land. There was none. “Step into my office…?” Twilight craned her neck over her shoulder, grimaced, then muttered, “Never mind, I’ll meet you up there.” In a magenta snap she was standing next to Dash, up on the balcony. Her expression shifted, just a bit, when she saw the pegasus up close. “Is something bothering you?” she asked.

Rainbow Dash sucked in air, then she began, “I want to apologize, Twilight. I’ve kind of been… err… not been doing the best job I can do.”

Twilight cocked her head, confused, but didn’t interrupt.

“Just… I dropped the ball when you got stoned by that cockatrice, I- I know there was more I could’ve done to help find you, or help Spike, or Marigold, or Fluttershy. I could’ve flown more recon missions, I could’ve actually helped track that thing, I…”

This time, Twilight did interrupt and tried to give her friend a small, warm smile, “You did the best you could, Dash. I studied the space bubble the cockatrice was using as its lair; you could’ve flown over it a hundred times, with a full scanning suite, without ever knowing it was there. And I do know you were there with Dr. Daycaller when his scrying solution failed.” She tentatively reached out a hoof, and placed it on her friend’s shoulder, “Tell you what. How about you buy me a drink, and we’ll call it even?”

---

“Back so soon?” Berry quipped from behind the bar, as Dash and Twilight trotted in.

“You know it. Two whiskeys, neat.” Dash sidled up to the bar, and Twilight awkwardly followed. Dash could tell the egghead wasn’t big on the whole nightlife scene- at least, not as she’d describe it. Pouring over ancient texts until sunrise wasn’t exactly what the pegasus would call an exciting evening. And yet, as soon as Berry brought their drinks over, and Twilight took her first sip, she started talking.

Seconds ticked over to minutes. Minutes ticked over to hours. Two shots became four, became eight, became twelve. Rainbow Dash didn’t understand half the words coming out of Twilight’s mouth, but she could follow the flow, the gist of the lecture, even through the technobabble. Something about how sixth-, seventh-, and ninth- dimensional scans wouldn’t have detected that space bubble, even if deployed right on top of it.

Dash pulled her perception back for a second; she didn’t know all the concepts Twilight was explaining, but she did understand Twilight did. And as one technical expert to another, she respected that. It also sounded like Twilight didn’t get to talk about her field of study all that often. More to the point, Dash understood Twilight wasn’t getting all the respect she deserved. She knew that feeling. It sucked. Well, Twilight’s a good friend. At least I respect her. It was a shame she couldn’t hold her liquor, though. Six drinks in- well, nine total, today- and Dash was still ready for prime time, while Twilight was wobbling on her stool like a bent weathervane in a tropical storm.

---

Twilight needed this, and she hadn’t even known it until Rainbow Dash landed on her balcony, proverbial hat in hoof. She still didn’t fully understand Dash’s guilt, but the cost of a few drinks and letting Twilight chat her ear off for a bit seemed like a small enough price to make her pay. Twilight steadied herself on her barstool; she wasn’t exactly a lightweight, but she really didn’t drink that often, either. She wasn’t a fan of drinking alone, Spike couldn’t drink, and after Lyra moved away and their Ogres & Oubliettes group broke up, there wasn’t even that excuse. Her expression soured for a moment, but she shook her head. No, she was having a good time, and she would not let Minuette and her fundamental inability to show up on time bring her down.

Six shots of booze on an empty stomach, though, and she was really starting to feel the buzz. That was OK. Higher-dimension edge detection of folded liminal spaces was a key focus in her master’s thesis, and she could talk about this, and this whole space bubble nonsense, in her sleep. She might’ve had to, when the floor pulled a particularly crafty spin that left her clutching her barstool with all four hooves. Was she supposed to spin with the room, or against it?

Right when she felt she had it under control, Rainbow Dash reached a hoof out to steady her. She leaned into it, and into Dash. Close enough to pick up the sharp scent of lightning in her coat. A whiff of alcohol on her breath. Just a hint of sweat. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it wasn’t bad, either.

Twilight exhaled, and pushed herself back upright, finding herself staring into Dash’s eyes. Her brilliant, piercing cerise eyes. Did she always have such beautiful eyes? And her mane, the way it cascaded down her neck, the light glinting off each spectral step. No, if she had to put a toe on it, it was those wings; the delicate, elegant feathers, and the taut, corded flight muscles that rippled each time they moved. She had to admit, it was always a treat anytime she could watch the chief weathermare at work; it was like she owned the skies. Twilight’s breath hitched in her throat- though that might’ve been a hiccup.

Ask her out. Ask her. Just ask her. Twilight’s mind spun faster than the room. Good thing she had a big strong pegasus propping her up. Ask her. Ask her. Kiss her?

---

Rainbow Dash had to hang onto Twilight with two hooves and a wing, now. If she’d known the scrawny unicorn was going to get this shitfaced, she never would’ve ordered that last round. Honest. She stared into Twilight’s unfocused eyes, and asked, “Are you ok? Do you need me to walk you back home?”

Twilight pitched forward again, opened her mouth, and belched, before collapsing into Dash’s shoulder.

“Haha, nice! I felt that in my tail.” Dash clapped a hoof into Twilight’s back. “C’mon, let’s get you home.” As carefully as possible, Dash extricated herself from the bundle of noodly limbs her friend had become, slipped off her bar stool, then lowered Twilight onto her back in a firemare’s carry. Her own hooves felt like stone. Tingly, cloudstuff stone. Maybe a bottle of cider with an eight-shot chaser was beginning to stress even her tolerances. It definitely gave her a buzz. But hey, she was Rainbow Dash, and she never left a pony hanging.

She sucked in a few deep breaths, then lugged her friend outside, down as many back alleys and lesser-traveled streets as possible, back to the Golden Oak under a beautiful autumn sunset. Shouldering the door open, she tried as best she could to avoid stepping on any important paperwork- an impossible task- as she wormed her way back to the stairwell leading up to the bedroom loft. “Still with us, Twilight?” She asked over her shoulder.

“Yesszz I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Twilight slurred back.

“Alright, let’s get you into bed, ruggin’ lightweight,” Dash chuckled. Twilight mumbled something in reply, but she couldn’t make it out. Eventually, they reached Twilight’s bed- neatly made, of course- and Dash rolled the drunken scholar onto the comforter. She frowned, expecting Twilight to finish crawling into bed, or stand up, or do something. Instead, she just laid there, looking up at her.

“I sssaid, it’d be nice if yooou would join me…” Twilight muttered, before flopping over onto her side. Eventually her breathing slowed to an even, quiet snore.

While it wasn’t the most uncomfortable Rainbow Dash had been, she still found it very awkward. Her dock clamped down, reflexively, and all she could do was whisper, “I’ll be right back with some water, it’ll cut down on the hangover,” before taking to the air and heading downstairs as quietly as she could.

In the surprisingly well-stocked kitchen, she eventually found which cabinet held the glasses- she swore, it was like each and every kitchen made a game of hiding what went where- filled one with water, then froze. She’d have to fly this up to Twilight and her… proposition. “Dang, Twilight must be drunker than I thought,” she said to the empty room, “She… has to know I like stallions, right? That’s not a secret or anything.” She pivoted and paced around the kitchen, glass held absently in her wing, “I mean, I guess I might double up with a mare, you know, if there’s also a stallion.” She laughed nervously- unsure why- as she continued her hypothetical, “Like, I wouldn’t turn down, say, Soarin, if Spitfire was also there.” She stopped, as her shoulders drooped, “Ah, who am I kidding, that’s never gonna happen.”

Dash stood in the empty kitchen for a solid minute, fidgeting in silence, before concluding, “Daagh, buck up. Think of it this way, me: I’m Rainbow Dash, I’m so awesome even the mares want me.” With that, she headed back upstairs.

“Uh, hey, Twilight? I’ve got your water,” she called out. There was no reply. Tentatively peaking over the edge of the loft, she found Twilight still passed out in a drunken stupor, hanging over the side of her bed. Thank Boreas for small miracles. She dropped the glass off on the bedside table, then went to work rolling Twilight back into bed, getting her situated under the covers, and- most importantly- leaning her on her side, so that if she vomited, she wouldn’t drown. Surveying her work, she nodded, satisfied, and left for home. “Note to self,” she muttered, “Twilight is a terrible drinking buddy.”

---

Later that evening, as she stood in her own kitchen and watched her pot of macaroni slowly boil, Rainbow Dash made up her mind. “Well… that worked out pretty well… Notus’s breath, fine, I’ll see if I can track down Gilda.” Leaving her noodles to cook on their own, she dug through the sizeable heap of old bills, paystubs, and the dozens of cards her parents had mailed her this year, until she found the reply letter she’d gotten from Gilda, as part of setting up their- no, Twilight’s- expedition. There she found the return address- the old one she remembered was wrong, and only by the grace of the Equestrian Postal Service had her initial letter been delivered at all. Scrivener’s Tower, Suite 103, Rainbow Falls. The irony was not lost on Dash. Dinner completely forgotten, she dove into the equally-massive heap of takeout menus, lawn care ads, and HOA notices to find her copy of the train schedule. Better safe than sorry, she also dredged up her overnight bag- basically just a toiletry kit- and stuffed that into her saddlebags, too. She'd head out tomorrow.

Comments

[PaulAsaran]

Out of everything, the one thing on my mind right now is how Rainbow's cloud home could possibly be impacted by an HOA. Unless the EC AU has her living in a cloud neighborhood instead of a lone cloud home like in the show, and even then, it's a cloud home; couldn't she just move it outside the HOA's area of influence? It really makes one wonder about the nature of home ownership and property law in Equestria as they relate to pegasi.

[redmar]

It seems that all that drinking did help Rainbow Dash but I'm sure Twilight's goign to need to look for ani-hangover spells when she wakes up.