You Know That, Right?
Twilight walked into the library, out of the crisp morning air and into the familiar warmth of her home, finally done with her morning chores. She could hear Rainbow Dash’s soft snores from above, meaning she hadn’t gone to work yet. Twilight sighed as she went to the kitchen with her bag of fritters and set them down. She figured that since Rainbow wasn’t up yet, she might need some breakfast. As Twilight took a fritter out of the bag for Dash, her stomach growled, so she took another out to quell her own hunger.
As she walked through the living room on the way upstairs, Twilight had to resist the almost unbearable urge to go and rest her aching body and her heavy eyes on the big, warm, comfortable recliner... She found herself involuntarily drifting towards it. Twilight snapped herself out of it and went up the staircase instead.
When she got to their room, Rainbow Dash was sprawled out on top of the blanket, hooves tucked in ever so slightly and a content smile on her face. Her wings were folded in, not a feather out of place. She looked cute, Twilight thought. Like an adorable... Well, like an adorable Rainbow Dash. Twilight blinked away her tiredness for the moment, for Rainbow’s sake. Her hooves clopped against the floor as she walked to the bed.
“Rainbow,” said Twilight softly, but to no avail. Rainbow Dash didn’t stir from her sleep. “Rainbow,” she repeated, before planting a light kiss upon her closed lips.
“I wanna go to the marshmallow kingdom, mommy...” Rainbow Dash mumbled and rolled over, causing the old wooden bed to creak a little.
“Rainbow,” Twilight repeated at a normal speaking level, while lightly shaking her.
“Twilight...?” she asked, her eyes slowly drifting open.
“Come on, you have to get to your job,” said Twilight. “You don’t want to be late for our date, do you? Here, I brought you a fritter,” she added, placing both of the treats on the side table. Twilight and Rainbow Dash had a picnic planned for the day. It was going to be fantastic thanks to the surprises Twilight had in store. She just needed Dash out of her hair for a little while to set everything up.
“Thanks,” said Rainbow, sitting up and taking one of them. She chewed for a moment, savoring the delicious taste, then swallowed. “The weather ponies can live without me for one morning, can’t they?”
“Rainbow, you’re already late enough as it is. Just go to work,” said Twilight. The bedsprings groaned as Twilight levitated Rainbow Dash off of them and onto the old, worn ground.
“Can’t we just start the date early? I really don’t want to go to work today.” Rainbow tried to climb back into bed, but Twilight heldfast.
“You know you’re really close to being fired, right? Besides, you’ve already missed half of the morning.” Water poured from the showerhead in the bathroom as Twilight’s horn glowed for a moment.
“Fine. But you have to catch me first.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up with a playful, wild look to them. She smiled and flared her wings.
“Rainbow, you don’t have time for this. Just get in the shower,” said Twilight. Steam soon began to overtake the bathroom.
With what Twilight thought looked strangely like a smirk, Rainbow Dash flew out of the bedroom and down the stairs. There was a flash of light, and a moment later Twilight appeared in the library’s main room to try and cut Dash off. Rainbow dodged around her, almost knocking over the coat rack, and barreled into the kitchen. Twilight ran after her. Her horn glowed as her spell missed its target and random objects got thrown around. Flour exploded against the wall and chairs got knocked over. Rainbow flew right back past her, swooping out of the way of the random flying household items. Having done this many a time, Twilight teleported herself back to their bedroom, where Rainbow Dash would surely go next.
Rainbow Dash flew back up the stairs and crashed into Twilight.
With a loud bang, they fell to the floor. The pair laid there for a moment panting loudly, and then burst into laughter. It felt good. Laughter was good. It was a sign of a healthy relationship, Twilight thought. They laid there laughing for what felt like the longest time, simply enjoying being with each other.
“One of these days, we shouldn’t have to do that anymore,” said Twilight, still coming down from their high.
“But where’s the fun in that?” said Rainbow, panting loudly.
“I suppose you’re right. But you really do have to get going. I’ll see you later.” Twilight gave Rainbow one more kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too. See ya later!” Rainbow Dash soared out of the second-floor window, leaving only a fading rainbow behind. Twilight frantically ran to the window and stuck her head out.
“Rainbow! You forgot to take a shower!” she called.
“Ha ha, I’ll just fly through a cloud. See ya later!” Rainbow Dash was soon out of speaking range. Twilight sighed as she closed the window.
With a free moment to herself, Twilight instinctively went to go get Spike to help her with the preparations, but instead frowned and looked at where his bed used to be. She looked out the window toward Canterlot and wished him good luck on his endeavors, wherever they may be.
Of course, he would only be gone another few days, and he had only taken his bed because he loved it so much, but all the same, Twilight still missed him as if he’d been gone for months.
Her eyes became heavy once again as she stood there, gazing out into the unknown. She figured she could spare a power-nap; she had the time. Twilight was soon trudging over to the bed and into its warm, inviting, soft embrace...
Twilight jolted awake, her eyes wide. How long had she slept? What time was it? She frantically looked around for a clock, and when she found one, her eyes widened even more. It was now only two hours before the time they had their date planned for!
Twilight threw herself out of the evil, silky, deceitful, wonderful bed, ran down the stairs, and grabbed her saddlebag off of the coat rack, finally knocking over the coat rack entirely. With a noisy thump, the little specks of dust that had collected on top of it scattered into the air.
Twilight ran and ran, and continued running all the way to the Carousel Boutique. She walked in and looked around, but Rarity was nowhere to be seen.
“Rarity?” called Twilight.
“Oh! Just one moment dear, I’m almost done with your picnic blanket,” replied Rarity, from the back room. Twilight looked around the boutique and noted that it really hadn’t changed much in the time she was in Ponyville. It still had all of the same mannequins, the same boxes of materials, and the same layout. Twilight supposed that a store like this didn’t really need to change much, besides the swapping out of display dresses in order to fit in with current fashions.
Twilight was still lost in her thoughts when Rarity came out, finally done with the blanket. But she had hidden it behind a blue curtain, so Twilight couldn’t see how it looked.
“Here you go, dear! I do say it is one of my finest blankets,” said Rarity, continuing to keep it hidden.
“Thank you, Rarity. Now, can I actually, you know, see it?” Twilight tried to walk around the curtain, but Rarity blocked the way.
“Yes, of course, dear. I just wanted to make sure your full attention was on this masterpiece.” Twilight sighed in annoyance. Rarity made sure that Twilight was in the perfect viewing spot, and then got off to the side of the curtain.
“Now, gaze upon this magnificent beauty!” Rarity flamboyantly swung the curtains out of the way, sliding to the very edge of their rack, where they fell dramatically into place.
“Wow! It looks fantastic, Rarity.” And it did. It was a rainbow patterned blanket, perfectly woven together. It had beautiful edging that somehow managed to bring out all of the vibrant colors inside.
“Yes, I do say it came out marvelously. Now, do tell, why did you need it on such short notice?” asked Rarity, leaving it in its display podium.
“Oh, you know... Rainbow and I are having a picnic this afternoon...” said Twilight, looking sheepishly at the ground.
“But why couldn’t you use one of your other blankets? I mean, I don’t mind making it, but-” Rarity’s eyes widened. “Oh! You don’t mean?!” Rarity exclaimed. “Oh! You do!”
Rarity danced in her hooves for a moment with a look of giddy excitement on her face. It got more and more frantic until, finally, Rarity collapsed in an overly dramatic fashion. She had stood up on her hind legs, walked back a couple steps, and then quite gracefully fell over.
Twilight sighed. That pony could be just a teensy bit melodramatic at times. She smiled and then levitated the pony onto the couch in the backroom. Twilight wrote a note saying what had happened and left it on a table. After that was done, Twilight went back to grab the picnic blanket and carefully folded enough to fit into her saddlebag. Twilight figured that Rarity would probably deny that she should pay for the blanket, but Twilight left some money anyway, and then left.
On her way to the restaurant where she would pick up the food, Twilight considered for a moment how much time she had left. She came to the conclusion that she may have overreacted a little bit about being late and that she did have a little time for a distraction. Twilight sanctioned off five minutes of her schedule to go hear the birds sing. She entered the park expecting to hear their songs of joy, but only heard their screams of terror.
Twilight galloped over to the birds’ favorite tree, but quickly hid behind some bushes. For standing there was Rainbow Dash’s old friend, Gilda. She stood there with a smug look on her face, roaring at the defenseless birds. With the birds finding it in their little brains that now would be a good time to scatter, Twilight knew she only had a short time before Gilda saw her. She didn’t have enough time to deal with Gilda. First Rainbow Dash and then the Boutique left Twilight with much less time than she had hoped to set up their pi-
“Hey, don’t I recognize you?” asked Gilda, stomping over to the bushes in which Twilight hid. Twilight needed to make this quick; she didn’t have the time to spare.
“Uhm, no?” Twilight dearly hoped that she’d believe her flat-out lie.
“Yeah, your Rainbow Dash’s friend, ain’t ya?” Twilight started sweating lightly as Gilda walked a little closer, now only a foot from Twilight.
“Oh! You’re Gilda, right? I remember you. I’m Twilight. Anyway, I really have to be going now.” Twilight started to back away as to not prolong the dreaded conversation any longer.
“Oh, now where’s the fun in that? I’m just trying to be friendly here, is all,” said Gilda, stepping forward.“I heard that RD was dating a nerd. That wouldn’t happen to be you? Would it?” Gilda raised her talons menacingly in front of Twilight’s face.
“Y-yeah, that’s me.”
“Oh, then it’s true. Well, I suppose Dash is now one-hundred percent lame.” Anger flared in Twilight’s eyes at the insult of her fillyfriend. She forcefully levitated Gilda’s claws off of her tail and backed away.
“Actually, Rainbow Dash and I have a date planned today that I still have to set up. Good day to you.” Twilight left and walked back through the park’s trees. Through the light wooded section and over the babbling brook. Soon she left the jerk-of-a-griffon behind once and for all and went to the restaurant to pick up their food, then continued on her journey across Ponyville.
Twilight approached the hill she had planned the picnic for. It was quite a large hill on the outskirts of Ponyville. Her eyes followed the lush green grass, as it seemed to go on forever. But it was soon replaced by a magnificent sky, as blue as Rainbow Dash.
When Twilight reached the top, she took a moment to rest and enjoy the view. In the fields and forests below, Twilight could see the little fillies running about, trying to collect their cutie marks, all while relishing in the wonderful feeling of youth. She could see ponies doing their shopping, trying to get that last apple, that last baked good, before they had to get back and cook supper. Twilight was content with the world.
Twilight was considering her own life for a moment when she realized something. She was happy. She was truly, truly happy.
Twilight looked away from town and above the Everfree, where she could see the little specks of the weather ponies clearing away the storm clouds before they could reach Ponyville. They were clearing just enough so that the storm clouds would reach Ponyville later that night.
The weather ponies looked to almost be done, so Twilight went right to work setting up the picnic. While she spread out the blanket and took out the food, Twilight carefully rehearsed the plan in her head. After she was done setting up the picnic and Rainbow Dash wasn’t there yet, Twilight got out a book and laid down under the cool shade of a nearby tree.
Twilight got so engrossed in her book that she didn’t hear Rainbow Dash swoop almost silently in. So, naturally, Twilight was quite surprised when she felt another pair of lips on her own, but she soon started to enjoy the kiss. Even kissing harder in response.
Rainbow Dash finished the kiss and laughed. “Hey, Twilight,” she said with a warm smile.
“Hey, Dash,” said Twilight, marking her place in the book and putting it back in her saddlebag. “Dinner’s right over there. I’m sorry if it’s a little cold. You took a little longer than I expected.”
“It’s all right, it took longer than I expected too. Anyway, let’s eat.” Rainbow took off her weather suit, walked over to the picnic blanket, and sat down. Twilight scooped some pasta and roasted vegetables onto their plates and red wine into their glasses.
“Mmm! This looks great! Where did you get it?” Rainbow asked, staring excitedly down at her plate.
“Oh, you know, just a resturaunt...” Twilight smiled.
“Come on, just tell me where, I won’t bite,” said Rainbow, “yet,” she added, smiling mischievously at Twilight.
Twilight giggled. “Trotillini’s,” she said, innocently.
“What?! That place is super expensive! How can you afford that?”
“Trust me, it’s fine.” Twilight took a bite.
“All right, I trust you.” When Rainbow Dash took a bite, she looked like she nearly passed out from pleasure. “Oh. My. Gosh. This is awesome! Of course, I still prefer good ol’ fashioned hay fries and a daisy sandwich, but this is amazing too.”
“It better be,” Twilight said, “I did have to pull out my ‘Princess Celestia’s student’ card in order for them to give it to me to go.”
Rainbow Dash laughed. “It really is great. Thank you, Twi.”
“Well, anyway, I’m glad you like it,” said Twilight, smiling at her own genius. “So, how was your day?” she asked.
“It was okay, I guess. Mostly normal. Except this one pony that almost got struck by lightning, but those suits you had those eggheads in Canterlot make saved his life. It was pretty awesome, though.”
Twilight had done some experimenting after Rainbow Dash had had a very close call. Twilight used a similar enchantment to the one put on unicorns when they’re young. Since unicorns attract lightning because of their horn, they need an enchantment to dissipate the lightning before it can hit. She used that enchantment on a flight suit and it worked. It became lightning proof.
“Hey!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, excitement glowing in her eyes. “Maybe you could commission those for the Wonderbolts! They’d think it was so awesome, that they’d totally let me join!” Rainbow’s wings extended and her face lit up in excitement at the thought of it.
“Hmm,” considered Twilight, “that’s a great idea! When we get home, I’ll write to Princess Celestia.”
They continued talking for a while, occasionally stealing glances at each other. Twilight went over the plan one more time in her head and realized she couldn’t do it. She would have to just skip it and get straight to her speech. Twilight wished she could complete her plan, but the temptation was too great.
Twilight sighed. “Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, with a backdrop of the setting sun. “You are the best fillyfriend I could ask for.”
“Twilight?” asked Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow curiously.
“I love you and everything about you, including your awesome, awesome flying. I love the way you sleep in the morning and the way you make me chase you around the house. I love the way you sneak up and give me kisses and the way you laugh. I even love the way you try to help me with my research. I don’t really know what I’d do without you anymore. You have become so integrated in my life that I’d probably just completely break without you around. And that’s why,” Twilight got down on her knees, “I need to ask you this.”
“Twilight...”
“Rainbow Dash, will you marry me?” She asked it. Twilight asked the big one. She asked the wild, rainbow maned pegasus that she so dearly loved to commit the rest of her life to her. Twilight. Her fillyfriend.
“Twilight...” said Rainbow Dash, tears of joy starting to form in her eyes. She was about to run over and hug Twilight with abandon when something terrible happened.
“Wow. You really are dating total eggheads now.” Twilight’s stomach dropped. She recognized that voice. It was the same voice whose owner she had forgotten to tell Rainbow Dash she had seen.
“Gilda?” asked Rainbow Dash, utterly perplexed by the appearance of her old friend.
Gilda dropped down right next to Twilight, making Twilight jump. How long had she been hovering above them? What had she heard? Twilight prepared her magic and backed off a little.
“I heard it all, Dash. When I talked to your little nerd friend here a little while ago, I didn’t really believe her when she told me you had stooped that low. Now, I’ll give you one more chance to stop being a complete lame-o or else.”
“No.” said Rainbow Dash definitely. “If you’re going to insult my friend. No, my fillyfriend, then I have nothing more to say to you.” Rainbow Dash stood up and flared her wings. “Go away. Now!” she ordered.
“Fine. But how do you like it if I do this?!” Gilda leaned down and grabbed the corner of the picnic blanket, and then flipped it over, sending the delicious plates of food cascading around the hill, ruining them forever.
All the work Twilight put into their date, ruined. All of the effort she had made in order to make this perfect, lost. Everything was gone. Twilight screamed, tears falling down her face, and lunged herself at Gilda, tackling her to the ground. At the same time, she grabbed entire trees and ripped them out of the ground, sending all of the little woodland critters inhabiting them scampering for their lives.
With the trees aimed right at Gilda’s head, Twilight spoke. “Take it back. All of the insults! All of the hurtful words! All of it. Take them back. Or I don’t know what I’ll do.” The voice she heard next was not one she had expected to hear.
“Twilight. Stop.” It was Rainbow Dash’s. Full realization came to Twilight as she sat atop the griffon, ready to strike her down at a moment's notice. Her stomach churned and she crawled off of Gilda. She put the huge trees down with a thump and broke down into tears.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight curled up into a ball and let the gentle stream leak out of her eyes. “I don’t know what came over me!” she sobbed.
“It’s okay, Twilight. I understand,” said Rainbow Dash, flying over and wrapping a wing around Twilight, holding her close. She looked up at the griffon still lying there breathing very heavily. “You. Get out of here and don’t come back, or I won’t stop her next time.”
Gilda roared as loud as she could and lunged at the pair of them, throwing Rainbow Dash a few feet away where she landed hard on her wing, spraining it. Gilda picked Twilight up and threw her at the pile of trees. Gilda flew at Twilight and punched as hard as she could. A horrible cracking sound could be heard as Gilda’s punch found home, a few inches from Twilight’s head. With Twilight pinned down, Gilda clapped against at Twilight’s horn, sending a white-hot sensation burned through Twilight’s body, sending her hooves flying up to her horn. Gilda backed off to look at her handiwork.
“H-how did you find us?” asked Twilight, trying to get her magic at the ready. But nothing was happening. She didn’t feel that familiar sensation running through her body, up to her mind, and into her horn. She didn’t feel that wonderful feeling of infinite possibilities all within her grasp. All Twilight felt was the throbbing from the base of her horn, sending shivers throughout her body.
“Heh, I followed you here. Simple as that. I just wanted to see how low Rainbow Dash had sunk. Very low, as it happens.” Twilight tried to back away. “Oh no, you’re not getting away that easily,” said Gilda, grabbing Twilight and throwing her to the hard ground. Twilight tried to teleport her and Dash out of there, but, again, nothing came out. She tried again, but there wasn’t even a spark.
“I’ve learned some things, in my years. One of those things was how to stop a unicorn’s magic. A simple smack to the sides of the horn usually does it.” GIlda smirked down at Twilight. Twilight just wanted to curl up into a ball and hide away forever, because without her magic, she was useless.
Twilight looked pleadingly at Rainbow Dash, whose look was getting angrier by the second. Rainbow’s breathing quickened and her wings extended.
“Hey! Get away from her!” yelled Rainbow Dash, launching as fast as she could at Gilda. When Rainbow was only a few feet away, she changed her course to Twilight instead. She was almost at Twilight when Gilda clawed at Dash, hitting deeply at the base of her wing, sending her tumbling off to the side.
“Dash, you are so uncool, trying to save an egghead like this. I bet you can’t even beat me in a race anymore,” said Gilda, picking Twilight up and taking off at speeds that surprised Twilight. As they flew away from Ponyville, a she got an even larger surprise that shook her to the very core. Rainbow Dash was having trouble keeping up with the malicious Gilda. The wound Gilda had given her on top of the sprained wing was slowing her down greatly.
“Gilda, give her back right now!” shouted Rainbow Dash. Ponyville was but a mere speck no larger than an anthill at that point, and below them the trees of the Everfree Forest seemed to be only twigs covering a large open field.
“Or what?” said Gilda, over the sound of the howling wind.
“Gilda, there’s a storm out this way, turn around!” shouted Rainbow. Twilight turned her head around, and sure enough, there was a huge, ominous black cloud looming ahead of them.
“Come on Dash, see if you can catch me,” said Gilda, quickening her pace. As the cloud got closer, they started pulling up, and soon they were above it. Twilight could hear the lightning arcing around inside of it, ready to strike.
Twilight looked down into the mass of storm below her. Flashes of blinding white light, followed by loud roars were constant. The clouds almost seemed angry at the world, swirling and mixing. The deafeningly loud deep booms sounded like they were yelling at the world, telling it to shut up or else. Twilight knew not to fight it right now, because if Gilda dropped her into that demon, she was a goner.
Gilda turned around to talk to Rainbow Dash, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Hm, I guess she doesn’t really love you after-” Gilda was interrupted by a streak of quickly fading rainbow appearing below them. Twilight looked up and hovering there, with an evil look on her face that even scared Twilight, was Rainbow Dash.
“Gilda, I’ll say it again. Give her back!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
“You know, Rainbow Dash, you always were faster than me, but I was always stronger,” said Gilda in a deathly calm voice, unaffected by the deadly thunderstorm below.
“Gilda, what are talking about? Just let Twilight go!” Rainbow Dash had a confused and terrified look on her face as she began to realize the severity of the situation. If she attacked Gilda, Twilight would fall helplessly into the storm. If she didn’t attack, then who knew what would happen.
“Even though you didn’t know it, we were feared back in flight camp,” she said, slightly tightening her grip around Twilight’s neck.
“What? Look, I don’t care about the past right now, I just want Twilight back!”
“You know all those ponies you beat? They didn’t always like losing. If they came looking for you, I would teach them a lesson.” Gilda was continuing to speak in a frighteningly calm and steady voice. At the same time she was tightening her grip on Twilight’s neck even more. She was beginning to have trouble breathing.
“Gilda, Stop it!” said Rainbow Dash, tears forming in her eyes.
“They wouldn’t come to camp the next day, you thought out of humiliation. You have no idea how many times I saved the feathers on your back, and I never even asked for a thanks! And then I show up, in need of an old friend, and look at how you treated me!” Gilda extended the arm that held Twilight, her grip tightening even more. She couldn’t breathe now.
“Gilda...” said Rainbow Dash in a choked voice. "Gilda, I'm sorry! Just let Twilight go and deal with me separately! Don't get her involved, it was my fault!"
"No, it's too late for that, Dash. After I left, I ended up fighting around for a while. Learned a few things. Beat up some worthless losers. Learned that the only way to settle anything is with revenge... You may have won the race today, but you can’t win this.” Gilda looked Rainbow Dash right in the eye, her grip on Twilight’s neck tightening to its limit, and then did the unthinkable.
Gilda let go.
For a moment, Twilight was relieved that she could breath again, but she soon realized what was happening. She was falling into the single largest thunderstorm she had seen in years. Soon she was in the clouds and lightning arced around her. Thunder boomed as she continued her plummet.
Rainbow Dash appeared from through the clouds. “Twilight!” she yelled desperately, flying as close as she could.
“Rainbow Dash! Go! Get out of here! You’ll die without your suit!” Twilight yelled. Rainbow had left her suit back at the picnic sight. She was in a massive storm with absolutely no protection from the lightning. Rainbow Dash was in serious danger.
“I don’t care!” Rainbow shouted. “I can’t live without you! I can’t let you die here.” Rainbow Dash swooped below a rogue bolt of lightning. She attempted to fly closer to Twilight, but the lightning wouldn’t let her.
“What’s going on?! I can’t get near you, Twi!” she yelled over the booming thunder.
“Remember that enchantment on your flight suit? The enchantment that that is based off of couldn’t get rid of the fact that a unicorn’s horn attracts lightning. Even though I can’t get hit, it still tries to hit me. But you can get hit Rainbow Dash! You have to get out of here! I’m sorry. I love you.”
Before Rainbow Dash could respond, she had to dodge another rogue lightning bolt. “Heh heh, ‘fraid I can’t do that, Twilight. You know how it is.”
“Rainbow!”
“By the way, the answer is yes.”
“What?”
“The answer is yes, I’ll marry you.”
They left the cloud layer as Rainbow Dash fought against the lightning to try and save Twilight. She swooped and dodged, but the lightning only got worse the longer Rainbow Dash tried to fight it. She saw a weak spot on the other side of Twilight and decided to go for it. As she started through, it closed off, missing Dash by an inch.
The ground was getting much closer by the second, which meant that the lightning started to ease up a little. Rainbow tried again and, once again, almost got struck. Twilight knew that if Rainbow got struck, it was over. These were powerful blasts. The rain was now coming down in torrents, soaking them both to the core.
They were only a few hundred feet from the ground when Rainbow decided that it was now or never. She took the first opening she saw and dodged through quickly getting closer to Twilight. There was only a few feet between them, and with a final eruption of lightning, Rainbow Dash had caught Twilight. The moment Twilight felt the soft blue fur against her mane, she knew she’d be safe.
Rainbow coughed lightly. “I got you, Twi. I’m not goin’ anywhere.” Now that Rainbow Dash was in the protective barrier of the enchantment on Twilight, she was safe. They were safe.
“Rainbow Dash, I love you. Thank you,” said Twilight, hugging Dash with all of her strength. She knew that when she was in Dashie’s embrace, nothing bad could ever happen. Everything would be all right in the end.
“Heh heh, I suppose I love you too, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash suddenly grunted in pain and coughed. They began losing altitude.
“Dash?” asked Twilight. No response. “Dash!” exclaimed Twilight, frantically. But it was no use, they were soon on a collision course with a field. “Rainbow Dash! You have to wake up! You can’t leave me,” she cried, “You just can’t. Come on, Dash!” But it was still no use. They soon had a very rough landing in the field. Twilight rolled and landed a few feet away from Rainbow Dash. She immediately got up and ran to Dash to try and wake her. Twilight couldn’t let the love of her life die here. Twilight couldn’t let her best friend die here. Twilight couldn’t let Rainbow Dash die here.
“Rainbow, please wake up! Please!” cried Twilight, shaking her violently.
“Twilight...?” said Rainbow Dash, weakly.
“Oh, Rainbow!” said Twilight, burying her face in Rainbow’s mane. She was alive. She had pulled through! “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”
“Oh, trust me, I’ll try not to.” Rainbow coughed.
Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight. Rainbow was clearly having trouble breathing. Something was wrong.
“So, where we goin’ for our honeymoon?” asked Rainbow Dash. She coughed loudly.
“Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?”
Rainbow Dash looked at her tail and mane. They were singed badly.
“Lightning? Oh Celestia... Come on, Dash, I-I’ll get you to the hospital, right now!” Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated with all of her might on the Ponyville hospital, but merely a light spark flew out.
“So, yeah. Where we goin’ for our honeymoon?” she asked again. Twilight couldn’t afford to think about that at the moment, she needed to find a way to get Dash to safety. Twilight frantically looked around, but there was nothing was in sight. She tried to remember where Zecora’s cottage was, but came up blank. Twilight attempted her teleport again, focusing on every little detail of the hospital, but only a few weak sparks appeared.
“Twilight, please, just answer me. I need it...” Rainbow Dash’s voice faded and her eyes closed.
“Rainbow Dash! No, no, no!” Twilight tried as hard as she could, and her efforts were paid off, for she began to feel the familiar effects of her spell. A few moments later, they were gone.
“Somepony, anypony, help!” cried Twilight. A passing pony heard, and then galloped inside the hospital to get help.
Rainbow Dash let another strained cough and slowly opened her eyes. “Hey, look, a rainbow...” she said. “ Hey, did I ever tell you about this place way up north? It’s got the best rainbows.”
“Aurora borealis...” recited Twilight. A group of ponies came running out of the hospital, with a stretcher trailing behind.
Rainbow coughed. “Just imagine it, sitting in front of a warm fireplace, with a cold wind howling outside. Maybe that’s where we can go for our honeymoon, it’ll be awesome...” The light faded from Rainbow Dash’s eyes, leaving only a blank stare behind. Her body lay as still as the cold winter ice.
“Rainbow Dash?”
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Okay. Great story, but Rainbow Dash DIED. I mean, seriously. You KILLED her.
1933927 Yeah... Yeah, I did. It was inspired by The Things We Leave Behind and I Miss You, both of which had somepony die. You can read the author's note for further clarification. Also, the cover image is pretty dark for any sort of happy story, isn't it?
I'm annoyed that people are disliking without saying why. I do hope they're just trolls... I put a lot of work into this story! One of my pre-readers can back me up, he was with me through most of it. I put my heart and soul into this. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, but still!
Oooooh...right in the feels... A great story man, but, umm, I think I need to go sit in a corner and listen to sad music for a little bit now.
*10 minutes later*
Okay that's better. Anyways a great read and I think the way you chose to end it was all in all in good taste. We can't always have happy-go-lucky stories, sometimes I feel I need a story that's a little sad.
I- I really want to dislike this because I hate sad, I really really hate sad. But this is fantastically written, it's written too well, I hope gilda got sent to jail for the rest of her life. I would say dies but I don't like death so jail. Sadly for me I have to give this a like because it is good. You should write a happier story or make this one happier with an extra chapter, hope you write more and as much as I hated this I loved it.
1934005 Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
1934011 You should read my other story, while it's incomplete, it will be much happier than this. I was very stressed and sad when I started this. I was gonna have it be in flashback segments and it would have ended a little happier. More of a bittersweet than full on happy though. I just didn't have it in me to write the rest though and this was just sitting there. Anyway, thanks! I know I've done a good job when someone who dislikes sad actually liked it!
Oops, I think I got those backwards, I'll go edit them... There, fixed.
1933966
I definitely liked the story, but the death was sudden and a little jarring.
And I was just messing with you. I'm probably going to kill off characters with impunity when I get to that point in my story.
1934045 Yeah, the ending was meant to be a little jarring. It led you to believe that it would end happily, and then BAM, something goes gravely wrong.
1934073
Exactly. The people who disliked it are just being bad sports.
Good story. Depressing, but good. You know a good sequel to this could be Twilight seeking justice against Gilda. I can see the potential for a bigger story here. Just food for thought. Now I am going to sulk in a corner now.
Oh god..right in the feels.
help me
Well written and tragic, but sorry, didn't like it. The circumstances leading up to the end just felt unrealistic; I couldn't get immersed into the story because my dominant thoughts basically consisted of "I just can't see Gilda actually acting this way." It felt too sadistic and petty.
Looks like it turned out pretty great dude! For those suggesting revenge against Gilda, I do believe that we were not aiming for Gilda to purposely kill Dashie, and Twilight would understand. I would think that Twi would be overrun with sadness to possibly think of anger. As would I
It was a good story, although we probably would have appreciated a Tragedy tag, possibly even a Dark tag as well. It would certainly help people not read this expecting something different.
1934518 Believe it or not, that was what I thought as well.
1934372 Oh well, sorry you didn't like it. My logic was that it had been a few years since the show, Gilda as portrayed by the show clearly was mostly your average "cool kid" who hates nerds and the like, and Gilda developed a grudge against Rainbow Dash since the show after stewing over the way Rainbow acted to her. I used to have her mention being an underground fighter, so that's why she isn't very afraid of killing. Have you read The Things We Leave Behind? It portrayed Trixie as a similar character to my Gilda. She developed a grudge over the years and then finally ended up killing Twilight. It didn't put very much depth into her character outside of her ending up a little crazy because of the grudge. Maybe I should have gone into a little more detail about Gilda's life since the show... Well, the more you know.
1934941 Maybe I'll add the tragedy tag, but I don't think it's necessarily a dark story outside of the ending. I've read numerous stories where somepony dies without a dark tag.
1934139 Thanks? Yeah, I'll go with a thanks, since that's what I was aiming for.
1934086 Read my first response of this post.
1934372 You know what? I'm just gonna go add a smidge of backstory to Gilda into one of her bits of dialogue.
1935006 My reasoning behind the possibility of a dark tag primarily have to do with Gilda's actions, sure there are lots of stories where a pony dies without a dark tag, but I don't think a story with an antagonist who pummels a pony, nearly chokes her to death, and then drops her over a massive storm cloud (where lightning may not have been a big issue, but the impact would have been), could get away with not having one.
Still, it's up to you, the tragedy tag is there, so people know what they're getting into before they read it, which means they now have no right to complain. Ahaha.
Wonderful wonderful story. I loved everything about it this is the kind of story my sadistic mind craves and for that I thank you. And I don't think its possible to have a bigger cliffhanger than that please say there is a sequeal
1935285 Well, be sure to like/favorite it and watch me if you liked it that much! About a sequel, I didn't really lead into any sort of a sequel with this. I guess years later Twilight runs into Gilda again or something like that, I don't know. I really didn't have a sequel in mind while writing this, so it's probably not gonna happen. But you never know! I also kind of left the ending up to the reader. Most people will think that it's Twilight, but the imaginative reader could assume a passing pony could have said it, such as one of the other Mane 6. I also put it there to remind you that Twilight is there and that this is directly affecting her.
Hopefully this story picks up more attention.
SORRY for double-posting. But this. Just, this.
I heard you like feels, dawg, so I put some feels in your feels.
1935502 I know! I'm a little annoyed that its like/dislike ratio is so uneven. I hate trolls and people who dislike without saying why. That is probably why it hasn't gained anymore attention. I'm actually a little sad that its view count is so low. Oh well, it's only been up a few hours, we'll see. If it's still like this in a week, then I'll really be more sad. It's just that feeling when you put a lot of work into something and no one sees it. Although I don't expect it to be accepted, I submitted it to Equestria Daily. I'm not hopeful, but if it gets accepted than that will boost the view count a lot.
Not that I don't appreciate all of you readers out there! I'm just being greedy is all.
1935515 The feels... Wow...
1935544 One of my favorite writers on here writes a bunch of stories that are only a blip on the radar and get no more than a combined 20-30 likes/dislikes. It's good stuff, but getting more views is affected by four things initially:
1. Title.
2. Arguably more important than title, header image. It's sad how often stories get overlooked because of a bad image or no image.
3. The dealmaker but usually a dealbreaker, the synopsis. It's like when people go to bookstores and read the summary on the back.
4. Tags. People check for characters they like and genres they like, and skip over stories with story tags or character tags they're not fond of.
Admittedly, my synopsis is terrible for my story but it got people to click on it. I need to change it. Regardless, I think you do well for the first three, and the only thing really out of your control for the initial attention-grab is characters and genre. Now, what IS in your control after that is content. If you do the best you can do and they still leave a dislike, then they must have a decent reason why they weren't into it. It's a shame they missed out on an opportunity to share with you how they felt, but it can't be helped. They're not ALL trolls. Some are ogres.
The thing I was going to say is, Appreciate the positive feedback, take any criticism you're given, and just write another story. I don't think either of us are going to be like Kits or Swimminbrony where it's like "ermagerd you wrote [insert title here]???!!!" But people still like what you're doing, so as long as you enjoy it, keep doing what you're doing.
1935592 I'm aware that I'm being greedy. As I said, I do appreciate all of you readers out there, it's just that I want more. I had a good/sad time writing it. (Seriously, how can you not get sad when you have to WRITE something like this?) Except the stress in writing the now non-existent non-flashback parts. Then I realized that I didn't have to write them and that I could just release it as is. Also, I think you're doing pretty well for yourself with 456 favorites on your story! I'm one of them. I eagerly await your next chapter. Speaking of next chapters, I still need to finish the next one for my own story...
1935592 I was just looking at your profile, and you were the one who showed me The Things We Leave Behind and In History, Maybe. I followed the link from your profile. Those were two of the main inspirations for this story. It was them and I Miss You by Silver Cloud. So, indirectly, without you, this story wouldn't be here.
1935654 To be honest, I'm surprised I was never targeted by TWE...
So, you're saying I'm a big reason why this story is up? My mind is already blown by the fact people look at my profile page, so this is considerably beyond my scope. Now you're telling me good things are my fault?
Aaand that's what I get for reading the comments before the fic.
Silly Rainbow Dash, don't read comments before reading the story!
But in all seriousness.
Well ok still that was one hell of a cliffhanger you had there. It really left me wanting more so I'm just going to assume she died cause thats what my mind wants.
low view count? here let me help you.
Uhm... Gilda? You DONT want to get on Twilights bad side....
You know... I'd say something here about what to do to Gilda for this but... all that comes to mind just isnt enough. Best way I can put it is.... let her suffer... let her suffer endlessly....
1936667put her in the hole with the Rancor
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20071119014612/starwars/images/f/f0/Rancor_NEGAS.jpg
EDIT: no... the worst possable way to die is to be crushed... that's strange because that's how I kill someone in one of my stories...
gulp
1936688 I think the best way to punish her is... locking her up in a room with Twilight for a day with her claws cained to the ground so she cant hurt Twi or flw away. if anyone deserves to bring down punishment on Gilda, it's Twilight.
1936713I like this idea.... and so does Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
hell yea I like this...
1.bp.blogspot.com/-qiqQlUOlmY8/TpqBZc0l8xI/AAAAAAAABSg/Shlf_AooQLM/s1600/70823+-+twilight_sparkle.jpg
1936722 I'd personally like her like this
2.bp.blogspot.com/-CAxJsqqoTr8/T615M2ZdGoI/AAAAAAAApY4/2Fi8GeI_NNs/s1600/183993+-+artist+ponykillerx+badass+hoof_boots+scythe+twilight_sparkle+vampire.png
1936757shit, now I"M scared.
1936746what's up
just realized I'm going to have to re-read this story... it's too good to absorbe it the first time around.
1936773browsing in school? nice
1936783collage? what for?
1936766 well as long as youre not Gilda, you have nothing to worry about^^
1936791nice.... i think that's enough cluttering of this stories comment's XD
1936794good... good...
1936796
1936806none of this would have happened in RD had just let Twilight do her thing instead of stopping her... poor Rainbow Dash.
1936812 but if she'd let her do t Im not sure if her answer would still have been yes. I can imagen something like that putting quite the strain on a relationship
1936840true, very true. Not to mention the fact that Twilight might not have been able to live with herself after doing that.
1936845 which is exactly why I dont think she'd do anything to Gilda even if she had the chance to. But Gilda better pray that neither Celestia nor Luna EVER find ou what she did...
1936873or shining armor, or scootaloo, or fluttershy... wow she made alot of enemies.