Giving Love a Helping Hoof

by Kroqgar

Chapter 11

Giving Love a Helping Hoof
Chapter 11

Rarity and Elusive both slumped against the door of Carousel Boutique, gasping for breath. The pair's headlong flight through Ponyville was a bit more exertion than either or the two unicorns was used to.

“Well... that was... certainly interesting,” wheezed Elusive.

“Yes... I suppose... that's one word for it!” Rarity wiped a hoof across her brow, noticing that she was sweaty of all things.

The stallion took a deep breath, feeling his pounding heart beginning to slow. Things hadn't gone exactly to plan; in their haste to escape from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they had drawn more attention to themselves than even they would have liked. Perhaps the continual high pitched screams hadn't been exactly the best idea, but Celestia knew how terrifying those three fillies could be! As his breathing evened out, he began to take in his surroundings. Ah, the beloved Boutique! The mannequins, the podium, the work area... It was all here! Granted, perhaps there were a few more dresses around than he remembered, but that was surely to be expected. The stallion rubbed his chin in thought. This could work out; he had been meaning to do a few more dress designs recently.

Rarity stepped forwards. “Well, I don't know about you Elusive, but I am absolutely filthy! I simply cannot go on until I wash up.”

Elusive bowed his head. “By all means Rarity, if you so desire. I was rather hoping I could wash up as well. Would you mind terribly if...?”

“Oh, goodness, not at all darling!” Rarity waved a hoof. “I'll never deny another pony being fabulous. The spare bathroom is just down...” She trailed off, with an odd look on her face. “Heavens, here I am guiding you around a place you've lived in as long as I have! You know where to go Elusive; I'll meet you in the kitchen when you are done.”

Rarity watched as, after a gracious thank you, Elusive turned and trotted off towards her second washroom, usually reserved for the use of clients. She felt somewhat guilty as she began ascending the stairs to her own private rooms: while she kept a very high level of hygiene throughout her establishment - Luna forbid Sapphire Shores entered and had to use a dirty bathroom! - she was well aware that it didn't measure up to the opulence of her own private bathroom. And Elusive must have known that as well... Yet she hadn't detected even a hint of anything but gratitude as the stallion had thanked her. The unicorn, after splashing some water on herself, began touching up her makeup, more out of habit than anything else.

Her mind dwelled on the enigma of the stallion downstairs. He seemed like everything she had ever wanted; cultured, handsome, gentlecoltly, even a fashion designer! And she was not afraid to admit to herself that she found him attractive, at least on a physical level. She watched her own face colour slightly in the mirror as she recalled their flight to the Boutique. Elusive had pulled ahead of her, his long legs eating up the distance, and as his richly curled tail bounced back and forth she had been given tantalising glimpses of-

She gasped. No! She splashed herself with some water. Bad Rarity!

She lowered her head and rested her brow against the lip of the sink. The cool porcelain soothed her pounding head. “I've never met anyone quite like him before,” she mused to herself before gritting her teeth and letting out an irritated growl. “When did stallions get so difficult!”

…

Elusive examined his reflection, levitating a wet cloth up to dab at an offending patch of dirt. A quick brush to straighten out any offending hairs, and... Done! He smiled, showing off his pearly whites. Perfect, as always!

The client washroom, while small, was still expertly maintained, and a deft hoof like Elusive needed very little to work with to keep himself looking fabulous. Still, he did miss his own bathroom, filled with everything he could ever need.

He snorted, looking away. Do not get hung up on that! This wasn't his world, let alone his home. He was a guest here, and he was going to act appropriately!

Thoughts of worlds and homes made the stallion a little bit introspective, and his gaze misted over a little as he pondered. Ever since Dusk had arrived in Ponyville, life had become so much more busy... No, that's not right. The stallion frowned. Things had always been busy; the lavender unicorn had made things interesting. But, as he always did when he thought of his past, his thoughts turned to a certain mare, and a scowl marred his features.

For so long, his thoughts had revolved around her. All his behaviour, all his goals, his dreams, all leading to her. Within weeks of Dusk arriving, the librarian had even managed to come up with the very window of opportunity Elusive had been waiting for: Gala tickets! Finally, everything was moving his way! All those months of planning, countless late nights, all paying off! Then the night had actually arrived; he had been at the Gala! The Grand Galloping Gala!

He sighed, and tried not to dwell on that night.

Afterwards, things had been different. Not bad, exactly, just... different. Had he changed? Had his friends changed? Or was it all just because of some silly little dream he'd hung on to for far too long? The stallion sighed yet again; probably best not to answer that.

Thankfully though, things had quickly picked back up to their usual frantic pace. First Discord, then that rather extreme bout of the flu that had kept him bed-ridden throughout the entirety of Princess Luna's visit... Even the whole Wonder-Colt prank on Rainbow Blitz had been amusing, in its way. But then.... it happened.

Fancypants.

All of Elusive's dreams had come true, the stallion experiencing one of the most intense weeks of his life. Always a party, or a benefit, or a gathering, or a social, or something! It had been amazing! And it had only taken one pony to ruin it for him.

His mouth twisted in a scowl. Blueblood.

The instant that Elusive began rising through the social circles of Canterlot, the Princess began paying him extra attention: taking care to catch his eye, standing slightly closer than propriety demanded. The selfish mule had even gone so far as too trick him into attending the Christening of a new air ship, an event at which Elusive had later found out everypony had thought him Blueblood's escort!

In truth, while Elusive missed the high-life of Canterlot, he had been happy to return, if only to get away from that-

He took a deep breath. Easy, Elusive. Let it go.

Instead, his thoughts turned to another ivory mare in his life. Now Rarity, there was a shining example of a lady. Poised, elegant, not to mention stunningly beautiful. Even after finding out that the mare shared his memories almost exactly, he had found himself surprised that she was unattached. His first, knee-jerk reaction had been to try and court her, but he had dismissed that notion almost immediately. He was done with mares for a long time, after how deeply Blueblood had... had hurt him.

However putting the seamstress out of his thoughts had been easier said than done. She constantly reminded him, albeit unintentionally, how much of a lady she was, how perfect her manners were... how perfect she was. It was hard not to like her.

Then they had come to Ponyville, and along the way they had bonded, really bonded. The two industrious unicorns had concluded how the Boutique was going to be run from now on in a matter of minutes, and had plenty of time just to talk with each other, even share some design ideas. It had been a pleasant surprise to discover that they had even had some unique ideas to share with each other.

Elusive groaned, resting his head in his hooves. He had vowed to stay away from mares at least for a little while, but this... He simply couldn't deny his attraction to Rarity. He didn't know whether he had just had a slightly different experience due to being a stallion, or whether he just thought differently to her, or even if, as Blitz often snickered, he was thinking with his other horn, but he couldn't get Rarity out of his head.

However this only served to remind him just how Rarity seemed to be reacting to him. While certainly polite and courteous, she was still very guarded. Did she feel the same way about him? He didn't know, and he wouldn't be able to find out until her wall came down.

A soft knock on the door nearly scared him out of his wits. Silently cursing his own wandering thoughts, the stallion rose and trotted over to the door. He opened it, revealing a slightly uncomfortable Rarity.

“E...Elusive. So sorry to interrupt, but... Well, would you care to use the upstairs washroom?”

…

Rainbow Dash burst out of the side of a cloud, letting out a loud cheer. She lived for flying; it was just what she did. And now she finally had somepony else to enjoy it as much as her!

It had taken only seconds to put a comfortable distance between the two speedsters and the oncoming Crusaders, and now Blitz and Dash were more than content to frolic among the clouds, trying out this manoeuvre or that, absently fixing up a cloud or two. Free to stretch their wings in a way that the Canterlot banquet hall hadn't quite allowed, the two pegusi found themselves oddly lost. Now that the whole wide world was open, and with somepony equally as fast by their side, which way did you turn?

As a straight line of evenly spaced trees emerged on the ground before them, the Elements of Loyalty shared a challenging smirk. Every way at once, of course.

They bolted off on some unseen signal, weaving in and out of the trees ahead, looping, twisting, ducking and diving. The pair flew all around Ponyville, not caring who saw. Twilight had said if anypony asked, tell them the full story, right? Well, if they could keep up, Rainbow Dash would tell them anything they wanted to know. She'd tell them what she had for breakfast. Hay, she'd tell them what her mother had for breakfast.

A cyan flank whooshed past her, accompanied by a thrilled laugh. The filly grit her teeth, irritated at herself for becoming distracted. That's what thinking cost you! Flight was the beautiful, freeing absence of thought. Thinking slowed you down. All you had to do was react. It was dangerous, it was often reckless, and it was hers.

Rainbow Blitz flew past her again, the other way this time. Their eyes met briefly.

She grinned fiercely. Scratch that, it was theirs.

…

The events of the morning soon caught up with the two pegasus speedsters, and at Rainbow Dash's insistence they retreated to her house for something to eat.

Blitz couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Flying with Dash had been incredible! The way she moved, how quickly she could accelerate, how she could turn on a bit! Was that how he looked when he flew? It couldn't be, there was no way he was that graceful. She was all flowing movements and easy transitions, her mane and tail always whipping behind her, the flags of her own... her own... awesomeness! Her coolness!

Dash bent over in front of him, looking under the wisp of cloud next to her door for the little key he knew she kept there. Her sextuple coloured tail swished slightly back and forth, and suddenly Blitz became acutely aware of the word 'sextuple'. His face burned red. POMF. His wings jumped to attention at his sides.

Her radicalness...

The mare pulled her head back up, a small key between her teeth. Small wisps of cloud stuck in her mane and eyelashes.

“Thr e go!” she managed to say around the key. She smiled as she turned to face the stallion, shuffling her back hooves a little self-consciously. In the back of her mind, she knew she didn't have to bend quite so far over to reach the key, but that little voice was shut out for now. Seeing the stallion standing there with a mad blush on his face and his wings standing at straight attention nearly caused her to drop the key.

Blitz's jaw immediately slammed shut. “Do...” Buck Blitz, think! THINK! “Do my feathers look straight to you!” he blurted out.

Dash, her own temperature rising, raised a brow.

“I.. I felt a little bit of drag! Yeah, you know, in that last pass there, I was tilting a little to the left. Nothing there?” He pretended to examine his wings.

A blush spreading across her face, Rainbow shook her head. She noticed Blitz's eyes tracking the movement. The stallion stepped forward.

“Hang on Dash, you've got a bit of cloud in your mane.” He reached upward, and gently plucked the offending wisps from her rainbow forelock. He grew redder. “And, uh... A bit more, just here.” He gestured towards her face. The mare closed her eyes, feeling the stallion brush away a few strands of cloud.

He's so gentle.

She's so warm.

As soon as Blitz pulled back, Dash's eyes snapped open in alarm. “Oh Celestia, not now!” Suddenly nervous, the mare ushered Blitz inside, opening the door for him. “So, Blitz, why don't you go inside and make yourself comfortable, get something to eat! You know where everything is, I'll be right behind you! Just gotta-” She winced. “Just gotta put this key back!”

Eager for a private moment to try and get his wings back under control, Blitz agreed and headed inside. Dash pulled the key out of the door and deposited it back amongst the clouds, before taking a furtive look around. Not seeing anyone else, especially Blitz, she let out a great sigh of relief. POMF. Actually jolting her off her hooves for a moment, her wings snapped to full extension.

“Ugh, that is SO much better!”

…

After the two Rainbow's had managed to calm themselves down and found something passably edible in Dash's fridge, she had introduced Blitz to Tank. The little tortoise had taken one look at Blitz and accepted him, briefly stretching up his neck for a pat. While he was by no means stupid, Tank preferred to take a simpler look at things, and another Rainbow pony was not a problem to him. When the reptile trundled off to do whatever it was he did, the speedsters found themselves awkwardly seated next to each other on the mare's couch.

Blitz rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. “Soooo... What now?”

Dash looked away, slightly embarrassed at the implications of his question. Ugh, why do I have to be so weird! “Well, Twilight and the Princess both said to get you settled in Ponyville. You don't have to worry about a job, the Princess said she'd sort that out, so... what else is there?”

After a moment's consideration, Blitz asked, “Where am I going to stay?” The second the words left his lips, he could have kicked himself. “You foal!” he thought. “She's going to think you want to stay here! And then she'll get the wrong idea entirely!” His brain caught up to itself, and began projecting a whole slew of graphically detailed images into his mind's eye. “GAH! Make it stop! Why do all of my thoughts about her always end up HERE!”

Indeed, at first Rainbow Dash looked like she really could read his thoughts, but the mare quickly schooled her features back to what she hoped was a cool, casual look. “Duh! You'll stay here!”

Blitz's jaw dropped and he started stammering incoherently. Dash sat straight up, not sure whether she was offended or pleased by his assumption.

“No no no no, nothing like that!” The mare waved her hooves for emphasis. “It would just be silly to make you stay anywhere else, this is pretty much your house as well.”

“Well, ok, but... Where will I sleep? Here?” he said, gesturing to the couch they sat on. “We only ever made the one bedroom.”

Something glinted in Rainbow Dash's eyes. “So we make another bedroom!”

…

After a quick race out to the Ponyville Weather Patrol Headquarters to sift through the excess cloud bin for good quality clouds, the two pegasi got to work remodelling what was to be their home. As always they went for simplicity over anything else. After moving any non-cloud items to a room they wouldn't be touching, the duo set to work demolishing part of the upper level, and flattening out the roof of the lower level to give themselves more room to work. Years of experience working with clouds made the work fly along, and sooner than either had hoped they were putting up the walls on Blitz's new bedroom, right next to Dash's. Both pegasi pointedly avoided mentioning this.

Rainbow Dash took a few steps back as Blitz continued building the walls, trying to get a better look at the overall structure. The brash flier had a bit of a soft spot for her home, and always did her best to make at least the outside look presentable. Satisfied with how the work was going, she made to go and help Blitz with the finishing touches, before a voice stopped her in her tracks. A voice that served to remind her just how wrapped up in her thoughts she had been.

“Hey! Rainbow Dash!”

Scootaloo.

She turned to behold the filly herself, scooter and all, her little striped helmet dangling from the handlebars. Try as she might she could never even get irritated at the younger pegasus; she was just so enthusiastic. And had very good taste in heros, if Rainbow Dash said so herself. She conveniently forgot the whole Mare Do Well fiasco.

Smiling despite her dismay, Rainbow called out to the filly. “Heya Squirt! What's up?”

Scootaloo hopped on the spot, fairly humming with excitement. Taking a deep breath, she launched into an explanation. “Weeeelll, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and I were throwing our ball around when I saw these chariots come out of the sky so went to investigate and try to get our Detective Pony cutie marks but we didn't find anything and we got covered in tree sap a-gain, so we went back to Ponyville but Applebloom forgot her helmet so we went back to get it and couldn't find it and we ran into Fluttershy and a pony we'd never met before and Fluttershy said he was Butterscotch and we asked where he was from and he said it was a secret that only your big sister could tell you so I thought I wouldn't get to know but then Fluttershy said that you would tell me so will you please tell me what the secret is?”

Rainbow Dash blinked, slowly. Even her brain was having a little trouble processing at that speed. She caught on though, and narrowed her eyes, realising she'd been had. Very clever, Fluttershy.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” Blitz spoke up at the worst possible time. “What's the hold up? I could use a hoof over here!”

Scootaloo gasped, going red in the face. “Oh my gosh, is there a colt up there?” She gasped even louder. “Oh my gosh, do you have a coltfriend?”

Rainbow flushed. “No, of course not! Well... I mean...I don't know...” She started to babble, and clamped her mouth shut. “Why'd you come here again?” In her distraction, the mare failed to notice the stallion alight next to her.

“Yoohoo, Rainbow Dash? What is it?” He noticed the little form down on the ground. “Oh, hey Scoots!”

The pegasus filly's eyes darted to Dash, then to Blitz, and back again. Her jaw dropped. Her mouth worked soundlessly. Her brain pressed against the inside of her skull with wide eyes, not believing what it was supposed to be processing. The rainbow spectrum reflected in her vision, twice over.

Her knees wobbled.

Her vision wavered.

Darkness began to take her...

...and retreated just as quickly.

Letting out a fillyish squeal of pure excitement, Scootaloo turned and bounded towards the nearest tree in one wing-assisted leap. Powered by the promise of a double rainbow, the little filly used one of the branches as a catapult to launch herself into the sky, her small wings doing their job of guiding her towards the cloud house. She bowled right into the two Rainbows, knocking them flat on their backs and standing over them with a massive grin on her face.

“OH MY GOSH THERE ARE TWO RAINBOW DASHS!!”

…

Throughout Ponyville, all twelve of the Elements of Harmony sat down and talked, be it with an over-excited filly, a baby dragon, or a little white bunny. They explained everything they knew, a couple of them going so far as to quote Princess Celestia word for word. Thankfully, all of it was accepted with open minds and open hearts, allowing all of the colts to breathe a little easier.

Their families accepted them. Their friends accepted them. Their loved ones accepted them. For now, that was enough.

Comments

[Magical Trevor]

iambrony.jsmart.web.id/mlp/gif/25442__safe_animated_discord_fanfic_computer_now-kiss_discorderlyconduct_typing.gif

[Shanenator]

So...adorable...hrrk. Dat Scootaloo squeal. I heard it quite clearly. I do hope next chapter gives a little bit of insight into how all the discussions with their families went. It would have been heartwarming to see.

Also, I hate to make a big deal out of this but just as an FYI: her name is "Apple Bloom," not "Applebloom." I'll live if you don't change it but it's a small pet-peeve of mine and just thought I'd point it out.

[monkeyXtypewriter]

damn :/ i wanted to see big macs reaction to finding out he has a brother

[Vates Despero]

Wonder-Colt

Given the pony pun prevalence of Equestria this sounds more like something to do with the Wonder-Bolts than Mare-Do-Well.
[img] http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/352/3/e/i__m_just_saiyan_by_xanthestar-d355zvd.jpg[/img]

[CandyFlightTV]

OMG! Dash and Blitz fell in love (especially blitz-wingboners)!!! MORE!!!!