A Dash of Fire

by Johnfreemanwepon

A Chance Meeting

A Chance Meeting

(Author's note: This is almost a direct sequel to my last fic, "I'll never forget", and the other should be read beforehand for context.)

Rainbow Dash was flying away from her friend Derpy's house- she had just visited her on her 10th anniversary with her late husband Charity.

Rainbow was, at present, an emotional mess. She couldn't douse the tears now- she had spent all of her strength comforting Derpy. Her friend deserved that much.

Thinking back, Rainbow was only more saddened at the thought of nearly denying Derpy the love she received from her husband Charity, always assuming the worst. That was how she was always treated, and she couldn't bear to see another pony- least of all one of her friends- treated the same way.

She found a cloud which was high enough from the ground, and far enough from ponyville that nopony would hear her cry.

She landed on it and broke down. She cried so much she thought she saw the cloud visibly grow- but she knew she couldn't have cried that much. After about a half and hour, she heard a voice that turned her blood cold

“Hey kid, what's the matter?” asked Spitfire, leader of the wonderbolts.

Dash jumped up and her tears were instantly dried- as if by magic. No way was she going to let her idol see her like this.

“Uh... I.. uh.. I mean... Nothing. Nothing's the matter” Dash managed to stutter out.

The lack of response almost made Rainbow want to live up to her name, before she heard Spitfire say

“That sure didn't sound like nothing. I saw you bawling your eyes out up here. By the way, next time you need to be alone, try to be a bit farther from the Wonderbolt practice track,” Spitfire said with a kind smile.

Dash looked over her shoulder, seeing the other 4 Wonderbolts still flying laps around the large cloud track. She blushed hotly, but quickly stifled it seeing the amused smirk on Spitfire's face. She never thought her idol would be so kind.

At last, Spitfire broke the silence- “Hey kid, I have to get back to practice, but meet me outside of the track at 2:30. You're welcome to watch, and I'll fly you home so we can talk. You looked pretty shook up.”

Dash was surprised, but managed to choke out one word: “o... okay!”

Without another word, spitfire took off in a puff of smoke, headed back towards the cloud track where she and her team were supposed to be practicing.

Dash couldn't help but admire the mare, from her kind smile, to her dark orange eyes, to her fiery mane, to her wings... Dash admired it all. She stared at her, a small blush forming on her cheeks. Seeing her idol fly in person, without the pretense of a show, was all she needed to cheer up.

***

As Spitfire had promised, she met up with Dash just outside of the cloud gate.

Also as expected, Rainbow Dash had cheered up immediately as she saw the Wonderbolts performing live in front of her. Rainbow was still spouting praises at the Wonderbolt when they got back to Rainbow's house- and Spitfire still had the same grin on her face.

When Rainbow at last noticed that they had stopped, she looked embarrassed, asking

“Uh... why didn't you stop me from talking?”

Spitfire thought for a second, not quite sure why she didn't. She finally settled on “Well, I've never had a fan whose own achievements rivaled our own get so excited over us. It's like Princess Celestia going on about how awesome a regular unicorn's magic is.”

At the comparison to someone so powerful, Rainbow Dash blushed furiously and smiled.

Spitfire seemed to not pick up on this, and instead looked at Rainbow's cloud house and finally said “So... Do you wanna stay out here all day, or head into your house?”

Rainbow immediately noticed that they were still standing out in the open and smiling at each other. If they weren't in the clouds, it would look... well....

At the thought of what it would look like, Rainbow blushed again and quickly said “Oh, right! Let's head inside!”

Rainbow turned and went to unlock the door.

While she was walking, Spitfire caught herself staring, wondering to herself 'what could have happened that made this tough of a pony bawl like that?'

Rainbow unlocked her cloud house (more out of routine than of necessity- they could fly right up to the balcony if they wanted to) and Spitfire followed.

Once inside, Spitfire immediately asked her the question on her mind- “What happened, Rainbow?”

Rainbow had hoped to avoid this question, at least for a while. Instead of responding, she simply sat there, wondering what to say. Her concentration was soon broken by Spitfire putting her foreleg across her neck, in a way that could only be described as lovingly.

Rainbow's heart lifted- she never thought she would get this close to anyone, especially not her idol. Seeing her idol be this friendly to her was indescribably amazing, and soon she was openly crying from what she saw earlier today.

“It's... It's just Derpy, she's one of my best friends, and she lost someone... someone very special to her. It was their 10th anniversary. I knew that, and remembered, so I brought her a present... She was so happy that I had remembered, but she was also so sad.... She just broke down in my forelegs. I had to stay strong... for her... but I can't do it any more. I was there when she met him... I thought he was trying to hurt her and I said things I still regret. When I left her house, I couldn't stop myself.”

Spitfire began to tear up at the heartfelt confession the pony she liked to consider a friend was giving her.

She brought Rainbow into a full body hug and let her cry it all out. She sat there, waiting for almost half an hour, a silent shoulder to cry on. She had been in the same position before- one of her best friends had lost both of her parents in a freak accident with a sky chariot- a friend who could stay strong. When Rainbow was finally done crying, Spitfire tried to get up and was allowed, after a few seconds, to break the embrace. While Rainbow lay there, Spitfire went into the kitchen and began making two cups of coffee- in the way only she knew how.

After she finished, she brought the cups back to a still crying Rainbow, who saw her new friend put them down in front of her and watched as Spitfire sat down.

“Rainbow, I know it seems hard sometimes, but I'm sure both your friend and her husband only thought more of you as a friend because of your devotion. You did what you needed to do to make your friend happy, even though it was harsh. If I was in the same situation, I wouldn't have the guts to try and protect my friend. You got guts, kid.”

Rainbow sighed at the comforting words that Spitfire gave her, and was mentally squealing at the loving compliments she was given. “Th-thanks, Spitfire” she said, still not quite sure how to address her new friend.

Spitfire nodded, and handed Dash the bigger cup of coffee. She was glad to spend time with this Pony, she never had a chance to talk to her at the Grand Gala last year. Dash accepted, a slight blush on her face.

As soon as dash took a sip, however, her face went completely red before she blurted “SPICYYYYY!” in a way slightly reminiscent of the way Pinkie was at the cloud factory, but about 20% cooler.

Spitfire smiled, before breaking out into laughter- the essence of rainbow she added did the trick. It broke the ice.

Rainbow Dash, finally understanding the joke, began laughing with Spitfire. “I was wondering what you put in the coffee” she said, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye.

Spitfire just took another sip from her coffee, saying “Didn't you ever wonder why they called me 'Spitfire?'”

Rainbow considered this, not sure if it was serious or a joke. Either way, it was nice to see that her favorite celebrity was as cool in reality as she was in uniform. Thinking back, she was happy she got to spend some time with Spitfire, especially after the terrible events that happened at the Gala.

She must have spaced out pretty long, because soon she found Spitfire nudging her out of her trance. Feeling her soft touch made another blush come to her eyes, and she found that spitfire was staring at her, lovingly. That's just it though, there was no way to describe it otherwise- she was staring at her much the same way charity stared at Derpy that day at the party when they were dancing. The memory brought tears to her eyes.

Taking her chance at ruining what she had just worked so hard to build, Spitfire leaned in and kissed Rainbow. Rainbow kissed back.

They lost each other in the embrace.

Spitfire eventually broke off, and told Rainbow “I'll see you tomorrow, Rainbow,”

Completely dropping the celebrity persona that she usually held around her. There was no need. Rainbow smiled, and said one word to her; “Okay.”

Spitfire left, leaving Rainbow Dash to ponder what just happened.

Rainbow didn't regret it, but was still really surprised- she was content being friends. But, deep down, she always knew she wanted this. She wasn't expecting to see this side of Spitfire before- she didn't even know that she was... interested in mares. Still, Spitfire had made the same risk when she kissed her. However, there was one thing she regretted not saying. Seemingly to thin air, she whispered “I love you, Spitfire.”
***

Nearing her home, Spitfire was nearly bouncing off the walls with happiness- she had not only found the mare she was looking to talk to, she confessed her feelings in the only way she knew how- through actions. It went off without a hitch- the rainbow coffee really did the trick in getting Rainbow Dash comfortable around her, and... OH NO! Suddenly, a thought popped into her head- she never told her, really, how she felt. Her heart sank, hoping there was a way she could fix this. Her mind went to work as soon as she stepped through her front door.

A thought popped into her mind- a completely new move just to show Rainbow how she feels.

“let's see.... y = .75x^(2/3) + sqrt(1-x^2) and y = .75x^(2/3) - sqrt(1 – x^2).... adjust for windage.... calculate speed... and..... perfect!”

She looked down at the paper she had scribbled her new routine down on and smiled. She knew it would work. Five simple words and a simple shape to do it, and she would be able to pull it off in the relative privacy of the practice track.

Earlier than she normally would, she arrived at the track. She practiced her routine without her cloud trail over and over, until she knew she got it right.

She tried it once with her cloud trail, and stood back to admire it. It was perfect. “I love you, Rainbow Dash” was written clearly across the sky, followed by a perfect heart.

Spitfire was suddenly startled by a gasp coming from behind her. She turned to see none other than Rainbow Dash standing and looking at what was in front of her.

From Rainbow's perspective, the heart perfectly framed the surprised Spitfire, who smiled a nervous smile, clearly waiting for a response.

Rainbow loved the dumbstruck look on her heroine's face- her wide eyes excessively adorable. Before Spitfire could say anything, Rainbow kicked off the ground at incomprehensible speeds. She caught the Wonderbolt off guard, pushing her backwards while Rainbow kissed her in midair.

“I love you too, Spitfire.”
***

The cloud trails had already dissipated by the time the rest of the Wonderbolts arrived. They found a note on the door, simply saying

“I won't be at practice today

-Spitfire”

Most of the group looked confused, but Soarin, second in command of the Wonderbolts and personal friend of Spitfire, simply smiled.

'You did it, Spitfire,' he thought, looking up at the faint remnants of the cloud trails.

After a short time, Soarin declared “Alright, guys, we're gonna be doing what we did yesterday. On my mark, break off into split-s maneuver. We're gonna work on being independent here- we can't all just watch Spitfire for her mark, even though that works. Ready?
3...
2...
1...
MARK!”

All four of the Wonderbolts sped off into one of their most basic, but most popular moves.

This time, however, Soarin wanted to complete this move as flawlessly as possible. This move was the first thing he and his friend Spitfire completed when they were just children- they always thought of the two complete “S” shapes it formed as the bond of friendship between them. Soarin hoped that things were going as well for Spitfire hanging out with Rainbow.

To be continued.

Author's note (Woah, I write a ton of these): thanks to awesomekik for the idea to write this fic, and thank you all for your positive feedback on my other story, “I'll Never Forget”.

Comments

[UnintentionalFan]

I have never been a big fan of homosexual shipping, but this was a good story. Could use a bit more detail leading into the kiss just to make it slightly more emotional when it happens, but over all this is a good story. Can't wait to read the rest!

[NopeNopeNope]

This is very well done, my only problem is that it seems slightly rushed into the romance.

[SatoshiKyu]

I agree with the above comments, the romance was a bit rushed. Other than that, great start! Definitely tracking.

[Silent Storms]

I would agree with the ones above, it seemed a bit rushed, but not every story needs 20,000 words of buildup and inner struggles. There's nothing wrong with a light-hearted read. Great start, tracking.

[TheDorkside99]

Competely DAWWW'D at RD's reaction to Spitfire's cloud words! Can't wait to see how you tie this with Soren (love triangle perhaps? IDK, I kinda got that feeling)

[Aurora Dimmet]

Not finished yet, but a serious issue I can see already. Spitfire, for all we know, lives in Cloudsdale, and is likely to be off on tour at any point in time, or based in Canterlot. Why does she suddenly spring up on Dash? There's no lead-in or explanation there.

Now that I've finished, there's also a total lack of build up overall. The wording was also a bit chunky at times "10th anniversary of marrying him", could have been stated better, as an example. Everything was quite rushed in total and missing a lot that could have made this a really good one-shot. I can't rate this highly.

[Johnfreemanwepon]

137686 Yeah, I was thinking that too.
137918 yar.
Overall, I agree with you guys. I rushed it a bit- I'm glad you're giving me your honest opinion, but at the same time I can't rightly edit something like that out. I haven't started the other parts yet, but I definitely will try and make this last as long as possible without making it feel like a long walk off a short peer. Oh, and I will edit things that are clunky and awkward, like the one Aurora mentioned. Loved writing this, honestly.
Thank you all for your criticism, I'm currently working on the next chapter for this.
Whew, that was some writing.

[awesomekik]

Great job on this first chapter... The watch feature doesnt do anything as far as I can tell. I'm loving it! Thanks!

[MLP BRONY 27]

I UNDERSTOOD THAT EQUATION!!!!!!

[Lambda462]

"y = .75x^(2/3) + sqrt(1-x^2) and y = .75x^(2/3) - sqrt(1 – x^2)" Oh I see what you did there :3

[Fox-Sama]

I dill that the I love yous were really rushed, and could have done with more build up