13 The Mysterious Magical Tailor
Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes, pushing herself off of the mattress. A voice had been speaking softly to her, breaching through her brain and into her erratic dreams. It took her a few moments to realize who was talking to her, the jump to reality leaving her dazed and a little confused.
“Mo-... Um, Rainbow Dash...” Scootaloo said, both hooves pressed against Rainbow's shoulder, pushing her softly. “Sis...?”
“Huh...?” Dash mumbled, shaking from her head to better wake herself. Scootaloo was standing beside the bed in her purple pyjamas, looking upset. “Scoots? What's wrong, hun?”
“It... it happened again...” Scootaloo said softly, picking up the little stuffed toy she had dropped on the bed. “I was all alone again... I heard the timberwolves outside the cave... I was so s-scared...”
The orange pegasus gave a shudder, rubbing her eyes. Rainbow sat up and reached out for her arm, pulling the filly in beside her. She felt the Scootaloo cuddle in close.
“You'll never be alone, Scoot. Dashie's always going to be there, isn't she?” Dash reassured her with a little squeeze.
Rainbow felt the younger pegasus nodding softly, Scootaloo's hair tickling her. Dash gave a yawn and fell back slowly after extending a wing. She wrapped it around her little sister and turned into her. It broke her heart to see Scootaloo this distressed every few nights. Dash made a mental note to mention the nightmare to the therapist before Scoot's next session. As if Scootaloo didn't have enough troubles already on her plate, these night-time disturbances frequently caused her to wet the bed and wake up cold and humiliated, sobbing hysterically.
“Go back to sleep now, little one. Dashie's here with ya now. You've got school later, you can't be tired!” Rainbow Dash whispered softly to her.
She felt Scootaloo nod once again. Although Dash closed her eyes, she didn't find herself drifting off again. She gave a disappointed sigh, patting Scootaloo's head. Rainbow Dash would happily comfort Scoot each time if the nightmares had occurred every single night, but it usually lead to moments just like this. It was bad enough that Rainbow Dash had struggled to even fall asleep to begin with due to ever increasing worries and nagging doubts, but now that she was awake again, they all flooded back.
The date on Sunday evening had been so awkward. As much as she enjoyed being in his presence, she felt like she was the only one trying to make any sort of real connection. He was so sweet and flattering when he wanted to be, but it all felt so artificial. Was he honestly disinterested? Dash remembered his embarrassment when she had him restrained by the pool. He did seem very flustered. Did that mean he was trying to conceal how he felt at dinner? Was he, like Rainbow Dash, trying to take it slow? Even still, as she had met and practiced with him every single day, she did her best to maintain her casual flirting, but it was not necessarily getting the desired effect.
Dash glared into the darkness of the bedroom, broken only by a small beam of light streaming in from the hallway through the crack of her partially ajar door. This was absolutely maddening. She finally had her shot at the pony she had always fantasized about, and nothing was happening. Was there even a point in waiting for Soarin to make a move? Dash felt she was probably better just getting through the next two days and finishing the airshow. She would go home and probably never see him again.
'This dream certainly crashed and burned quickly...' Rainbow thought to herself miserably.
Every day of the week had been the same routine. She would wake up, take Scootaloo to school, and fly off to practice with Soarin. They would work on stamping out the three airshow phases and iron out every single step and trick. They would shower and then she would leave, pick up Scootaloo, and go home. She had barely spoken to any of her friends the entire week. Her depressive mood left her in a terrible state of lethargy, and she wasn't up to doing much as a result. When push came to shove, she would rather just avoid everyone.
Rainbow Dash began to consider the possibility that Soarin just wasn't interested. 'What if my worries are true?' He had stopped his flirtation and as Rainbow Dash's depression continued to mount, so did she. They had stopped talking about anything that was not related to the airshow. The little flutters in her belly had ceased. Although Soarin still said things that were almost offensively hurtful without thinking, it no longer felt backed up with flattery.
It was as if the sun had left the world. And Rainbow Dash was left in the darkness. Left alone with her miserable thoughts. Left alone with her depressing doubts. Yet still, Soarin never left her mind. But it was tearing her up inside.
It was a nightmare she could not wake from. Today was Friday, the very last day of practice for the airshow, which was tomorrow evening. Rainbow Dash and Soarin were going to see his seamstress and get her flight suit enchanted. She would do her absolute best to smile and act her usual self. Perhaps if she acted happy, it would seep into her pores and liven her mood. Dash doubted it, and felt that after tomorrow, it would all be over for good. She would go back to working her two jobs and maybe then, after everything had returned to normality, her mood would improve.
“You look positively dreadful!” Rarity said as Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo touched down outside the school later that morning.
“Thanks, Rare. You look great too.” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.
Rarity was standing there, watching Sweetie Belle enter the school house. Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a hug and kissed her forehead.
“Have a good day, squirt!” She smiled her best down at the filly. “Applejack is going to pick you up today, remember that. I'll stop by later on and see you, okay?”
Scootaloo nodded happily. “I love getting to have sleepovers all the time! You're the coolest, sis!'
“At least you think so...” Rainbow Dash sighed as Scootaloo ran out of earshot.
She turned around and found Rarity still standing there, looking sadly at her.
“Dash...” She began, but Rainbow shook her head at it.
“Sorry, I've gotta jet, Rare...” Dash said, stretching out her wings.
“Wait!” Rarity said suddenly. “I want to talk to you!”
“I don't know if I got time, sorry!” Dash said, feeling a bite of impatience and a desire to be alone for a little while before she got to Cloudsdale. “I gotta zip home, grab my suit, and meet up with Soarin.”
“Dash... please!” Rarity asked again, her face looking very concerned.
Dash gave a great sigh, and folded her wings again. “Alright, shoot.”
“Rainbow, what's been into you lately? You've been avoiding us, haven't you?” Rarity asked, walking closer to her. “Dear, you look ever so depressed lately! I haven't seen you since Sunday, when you came to get Scootaloo and told me about the date. What's been wrong with you?”
“I...” Dash began, shaking her head and groaning. She suddenly erupted. “Everything! Everything is wrong, Rarity! I put all of my efforts, gave it everything I had! All he did at dinner was make small talk and reminisce about Spitfire every few minutes! You have any idea how painful that was to sit through? The whole week I've been trying to get some sort of spark, SOME STUPID CONNECTION! It feels like I should give up! Nothing's happening anymore! I try to get him to come swimming again, he'd rather practice in the gym. I try to get him to maybe hang out with me, but he's always busy or some garbage like that! He's slipped back into that STUPID habit where he says STUPID things! These jokes or comments that make me feel terrible! Only he's too STUPID to realize it beforehand! I...”
Dash was panting, feeling dizzy. She had this creeping feeling and her eyes felt heavy. She tried to calm down, thinking she was on the verge of tears. She refused to let herself cry.
“I just... Rarity, I want him! I want him! He's been my crush forever now, I can't stop thinking about him, but I'm WASTING MY TIME! It's killing me, it's like he's lost ALL INTEREST! We had a date, he even called it a date! Good for a day or two, and then nothing! The airshow is tomorrow and then I'll never see him again! That stupid... I've been so angry and upset. I'm falling apart... He knows I'm obsessed with him! But he won't tell me that he's not interested. And I can't even pluck up the courage to ask him myself! What, is he content to just sit by and watch me make an idiot of myself?!”
“Rainbow, my dear, that is enough! Stop!” Rarity spoke up, stamping all four hooves tempestuously.
She had allowed Rainbow Dash to spill her heart and soul without interruption. Rarity had simply stood there, listening quietly, her expression hard to read. Now, however, she was looking disappointed.
“I think you are expecting things to be moving more quickly. These things can take time! He kissed you goodnight, didn't he? He still goes a rosy red if you flirt, doesn't he? Have. Faith. I know sitting idly by is hard, but you must keep your cool! A mare must keep her composure!” Rarity said, jabbing a hoof in Rainbow Dash's face. “What happened to all of your tenacity and your resolution? Look, you have got to be at your very best for the airshow! Focus on getting through that and worry about Soarin later! Ask if you could still, oh, I don't know, fraternize with him when it's over! If he wants to, you can build it from there!”
“But...” Dash began, but Rarity cut across her.
“Do you even hear yourself? You're becoming a mess! A chaotic clutter of emotions and self-deprecation! You stand there, raging about a stallion who has stolen your heart, calling him a bumbling nincompoop, and why? Because he did not fall madly head over hooves in love with you after your dinner?” Rarity continued, shaking her head in exasperation. “Have faith, give it time! You're Rainbow Dash! You're supposed to strut around with swagger and almost unendurable gall! Your arrogance is supposed to make other ponies SICK! Get a hold of yourself, you filly! If Soarin truly means the world to you, don't you dare have the audacity to give up on him just yet!”
Dash felt the fight just ebb out of her body as Rarity's words crashed over her.
“I-... y-...” Dash stuttered back into silence, shaking her head and sighing. “Fine. You're right. You're absolutely right. I'm a mess. A total chaos cloud of self-description or whatever you said! Sorry, I'm just... I feel stressed over everything. I'll... keep things together, I guess?”
“Please try. I'm going to need you to be there for me today...” She trailed off, giving a tiny lament of despair.
“Wait, what?” Dash asked, surprised. “Don't tell me you're depressed to!”
“Can you meet me at Sugarcube Corner today around four? I've got a lot of work to get through and I could really use a milkshake after. A milkshake and a one of my loving comrades!” Rarity asked her, bending her arms and legs down low in a bow.
“I... of course, Rare! I'll let Soarin know I can't stay late. Speaking of late, I've really, really gotta split. We gotta wrap everything up today!”
Rarity nodded and Dash jumped into the air, wings springing open to catch herself. With a flash of rainbows, she flew off as fast as she could back to her house. She rushed inside, jumped into her flight suit so she wouldn't need to carry it with her, and took off out the door again. Her wings flapped so hard that she was out of Ponyville within minutes, high in the air and rushing towards Cloudsdale.
“Dash!” Soarin said, standing outside the Wonderbolts Academy gymnasium as she landed about twenty minutes later, panting. “Cutting it fine today! The appointment with Ms. Casandra is at nine! We've got to get going.”
“I'm sorry, Soarin...” Dash panted, catching her breath. “Yeah, let's get moving. I see you had the same idea I had?” Dash asked, referring to the blue flight suit Soarin was already wearing himself, sans goggles.
“Yeah, I've still gotta get it cleaned and fixed up. The magic has been wearing a little thin.” Soarin explained, rising into the air as his wings beat hard. He began to fly off and Rainbow followed. “Once we're done there, we'll finalize the routine. I'm pretty confident you have every move down pat now. But we've got to make sure we BOTH got the phases down or the entire thing will fall apart. We're only going to have a few moments here and there to have a chance to talk to one another as we perform.”
Rainbow nodded as they continued to fly. As the academy grounds vanished behind them and clouds entombed them, Rainbow focused hard on keeping her emotions in check. It was going to be difficult, but she had to try to keep it all together until that airshow was over.
“Just through here!” Soarin called out, turning down a cloud tunnel at the far western edge of Cloudsdale's junction.
“How is it a unicorn like her can live in Cloudsdale? I mean... she can't be an alicorn, can she?! Wouldn't that, like... make her a million years old? Plus there's only like... three. If there was another, I would have heard about it!” Dash said, looking over at Soarin.
“I don't think all alicorns are immortal. Doesn't matter, though! Ms. Casandra is a unicorn, yes, but she's exceptionally wealthy and has no qualms about living here in Cloudsdale. I guess being the go-to seamstress of the Wonderbolts has helped line her purse. She owns a zeppelin, so getting back and forth to the ground is not an issue with for her.” Soarin explained, beating his wings in his haste to make the appointment on time.
“I guess that makes sense...” Rainbow Dash replied, frowning. “Still seems whacko for someone without wings to live in the sky, though!”
“You've got to see the brilliance of it, I suppose. I believe she draws inspiration from Cloudsdale itself, which she weaves into her magic to create wondrous effects that can emulate the weather so well. Just you wait! It'll be something!” Soarin said gleefully.
The pair of pegasai landed softly on a grassy field leading up to a luxurious white mansion overlooking a sea of clouds. There was a small turquoise airship tethered to a dock connected to the upper floors. Dash gave an appreciative gasp of surprise at the sight.
“We've got five minutes. Let's bounce!” Soarin said, checking a pocket watch he pulled out of his flight suit.
Soarin lead the way up a large staircase leading to a pair of double gold-painted doors. Once inside, they found Ms. Casandra already waiting for them in a splendid entrance hall adorned with a plethora of paintings and stone busts. She was a very tall mare with tightly curled white hair and mane, streaked with silver. She had a gleaming amaranth coat of fur. Her cutie mark was a yellow symbol that almost resembled a sun's glare on a photograph.
“Soarin.” the unicorn said, adjusting her wire-rimmed spectacles. She had a soft girlish voice, but it was almost monotone. “You took your time. Come. I haven't got all day.”
Soarin gave Dash an apologetic look and gestured forward as Ms. Casandra turned and walked briskly up the red-carpeted staircase ahead of them.
“She's a nasty piece of work when she gets mad. On your guard, now! Not even the Wonderbolts could take that beast down.” Soarin whispered, and Dash gave a giggle in spite of herself.
They continued down the upper hallway and into a side chamber. It was a wide room decorated much the same as Rarity's shop. Only instead of just dresses, clothes of every type including military-styled uniforms littered the room on mannequins and hung up on golden racks. There was a display of flight suits on one of them, but they had not yet been dyed blue.
“Straight into it.” The unicorn said, turning to Soarin. “That old suit you're wearing? Garbage.”
Her horn glowed a golden colour and she shot a streak of orange at him. He gave a gasp as his suit erupted into green flames and fell into a small heap of ash at his feet in mere seconds. Soarin's pocket watch hit the floor with a small clink!
“You.” She said, pointing at Rainbow Dash as she magicked a broom and dust pan to sweep the ash off the floor. “Strip. Soarin, your new suit will be enchanted along with hers.”
Rainbow Dash unzipped her suit and slipped it off, looking amazed. Soarin was right when he said she worked fast. She immediately magicked Rainbow's suit into the air and summoned another from a workbench. It was in pristine condition just like Dash's, and had Soarin's cutie mark, the current Wonderbolt insignia of two white wings separated by a bolt of lightning, emblazoned on to its flank.
“Move.” the mare spoke sharply, waving both Dash and Soarin aside.
Her horn began to glow a little brighter as she started a new spell, the suits still floating along in a golden haze of light. The tiles making up the floor seemed to melt away, revealing a hidden pit. Ms. Casandra's facial expression did not change, her mouth a thin line and her eyes bored-looking. Around a dozen cauldrons floated out of the pit and the floor was magicked back into place. As each of the great pots landed with a sonorous clanking, Dash noticed they were filled to the brim with differently coloured potions.
“What effects do you want? Make it quick.” the seamstress spoke in an expressionless voice.
Soarin frowned, placing a hoof on his chin, thinking. “Well, for mine, first thing's first is the clouds. I want my usual dull-grey clouds and yellow lightning. Throw in some speed streak enhancement.” He turned to look over at Rainbow Dash. “That's the one that makes the streak visible at slower speeds and makes it longer and glow.”
Dash watched, amazed, as Ms. Casandra magicked various crystal vials from a cabinet in the corner of the room. They floated over and dipped into the cauldrons, collecting various types of potions. Some of them even mixed together, shooting off sparks or glowing momentarily. There were four vials in motion over the cauldrons for a few seconds as the unicorn worked. The collected and mixed samples hovered over to a beaker sitting on a desk and tipped their contents within. Ms. Casandra walked over to the beaker, picked it up, corked it, and gave it a vigorous shake. She walked over to Soarin's suit, still floating in mid-air, and uncorked the beaker again. She splashed the mixed potion on to it, which evaporated seconds after it had made contact, giving off a sizzling noise.
“Done.” Ms. Casandra spoke, walking back to stand in front of the cauldrons. “I also gave you the fireworks enchantment and temperature control, because you are an exceptionally vanilla pony who never changes his mind.”
Soarin grinned at her, inclining his head. “Thank you, as always.”
“Now. You.” the unicorn spoke, jabbing a hoof at Rainbow Dash again. “You're a first timer, so here's a brief explanation: You tell me what you want, and I do it. End of explanation.”
“Uh...” Dash said, still very taken aback and a little annoyed. “Well, I don't really know what effects you can do...”
“Anything you see the Wonderbolts use. I told you. I'll repeat. Tell me what you want, and I do it.” She said, narrowing her eyes.
“Well, I...” Rainbow continued, a little unsure. “I thought of trying out clouds myself. Is there any way for me to have transparent, expanding clouds that flash my mane colours?”
“Complicated.” Ms. Casandra said with a bite of impatience, droning on. “But possible. They cannot flash colours, but I will enchant your trail. I shall give you an opaque cloud effect with transparent pockets through it. As the cloud expands, different parts of your trail will be shown, giving the illusion of rapidly shuffling colours all over it. The cloud itself will not flash or change colours. It will be dark. Only the pockets will look prismatic. Is that to your satisfaction?”
“That's perfect, thanks!” Rainbow grinned. “That sounds awesome!”
“Yes. 'Awesome.'” Ms. Casandra said, looking a little furious at Dash's choice of vernacular. “What else?”
“I'll take the fireworks too, I guess.” Rainbow said, before adding, “Red lightning would be awesome.”
“'Awesome.'” the unicorn repeated. “What else?”
“Well, temperature-control sounds neat. ('Neat. What else?') Do you have a way to add a sound to my movement?” The pegasus asked.
“Yes. Describe what you want.” Ms. Casandra said in a bored voice.
“Like a breeze, that soft blowing noise, that... that 'whoosh!' sound, you know? But I want the speed of the sound to change as I accelerate. The loudness, too. You know, like in a song when it gets faster and louder?” Rainbow described, walking back and forth as she did so, gesturing wildly with her hooves and looking thoughtful.
“A soft noise like a breeze that crescendos as your pace quickens. It will be done. Is that all?” the unicorn asked.
“I think that'll do. Whatcha think, Soarin?” Rainbow asked, turning to him.
“That all sounds great, Dashie. Amazing choice of effects, you really have a great imagination for that sort of thing!” Soarin complimented. Dash felt a swoop in her belly as she beamed.
Rarity might of had a point. As much as Rainbow Dash didn't want to admit it, it was entirely possible that she had been looking at this the wrong way. Soarin seemed much more complimentary now that Dash was at least acting happier. 'One step at a time. He's still a bit of a jerk lately, but maybe...?' Her thoughts trailed off.
Several vials soared through the air, dipping into cauldrons and mixing much like before. As they hovered about, Ms. Casandra moved to the desk and got a different beaker from a drawer. She summoned them over and they emptied out into it. Corking it, she shook the beaker and pulled the cork out yet again. The unicorn splashed the potion on Dash's suit, it evaporated within seconds, and the unicorn levitated both suits back to their owners.
“Done. All effects are controlled by thought. Just think about the effect and it will occur. If you want the sound, you think about the breeze. If you want a trail of sparks and bangs, you think of fireworks. You get the idea. Off you go.” And she waved them off, magicking the cauldrons back under the floor and walking out of the room, leaving them with their suits.
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one thing i like about this story is that the love isnt rushed, and it makes you wait. most soarin dash fics have kissing scenes already in the 3rd chapter.
2397281
Thanks!
Yeah, I don't see the point in rushing head first into the love with romance fics. Unless it's clop or something, where getting to the 'good stuff' asap is kind of the point.
I believe that taking the time to flesh out the characters and, more importantly, how they mesh together makes the end result all the greater once you finally get there... assuming Soarin and Dash -do- end up a couple, that is!
...
lousy goddamn italics tag. Sorry for anyone who had to suffer through that.
Well...that was...interesting. Ms Casandra seems rather...coarse.
Oh just call her mom already!
...
Oh does she know JJ. Abrams?
the found Ms. Casandra (they)
" Soarin." (Space before Soarin)
clink![/] (you forgot the "i" to end the italics so the rest of the story is italicized)Nevermind you caught that already.2397396
When I wrote that, I did immediately think of Star Trek.
Oh that new Star Wars will be an ugly flick if he does the same thing.
Thanks for catching the typo/space. As for the italics, I didn't notice until like 10 minutes after I hit publish.
Super embarrassing.
2397414
I have high hopes for the new Star Wars movie, though yeah...Excessive lens flaring is not acceptable for Star Wars...
It's happened to many a great author on this site. I may not have ever had it on a published work(because I haven't made any) but I can't tell you the number of times I've typed things only to later notice a missing letter even though I could have sworn I typed it..." I " is a notorious letter it is.
2397435
What really bugs me is that sometimes when editing on this site, my typing goes wonky. Like, I'll press my 'I' key, and italics tags will appear. Pressing 'b' for bold. That happened when I went to fix the tag. I quickly erased the thing, started typing to fix it, and saved. I checked a minute later, and there was a fucking italics tag around the italics tag. I raged pretty hard.
I managed to circumvent this by typing first in the author's notes box and then back into the edit field, but more than once I forgot to erase what I wrote in the author's notes, which got published to the page and asdg09jdg0asdjg0asdgj
2397463
Ahhhh so if I understand you correctly, you'll type an "i" or "b" just to type i or b but will get the italics or bold coding. That's because your Ctrl button is still being registered as pressed. If that starts happening just hit the Ctrl button that you used again and it should clear it up.
2397486
I'll try that next time it triggers. Thanks!
2397312 yea like te story 'LOYALTY' which is the best soarin'dash fic of all time, which it great becuz it isn't rushed an its just great. I also like stories by killbles
2398089
'Loyalty' sounds like the story I'm gonna have to beat, then!
2397396
Nice catch on that. My bad krishnakarnak. I will also remember that Ctrl trick, as I have problems with that stupid italic and bold tag thing too!
2398721
Yeah, I have no idea why it gets stuck like that and it certainly is annoying. I take it you're editing for Kris? That would explain why the number of errors I would notice went down considerably...Not that their were tons to begin with or that they overly detracted from the story...
2398132
Not to discourage but that's a mighty tall order. Loyalty is, to this day, my favorite SoarinDash story, it's even on my top 5 list. Though there are a few notable SoarinDash stories that come close, I think this is going to be one of them. Regardless though this story is great and has a major focus on Scootaloo which is awesome.
After reading what I've typed I'm hesitant to post it
...the only thing going through my mind is: 'Foot meet mouth.'
2398802
Hesitant to post it?
I love a challenge!
2398802
Hah, thanks! I'll take that as a compliment. Actually, this guy's raw stuff is still really solid. He also caught and changed a lot of stuff I didn't.
Edna Mode, is that you?
2400290
Yes! THIS IS EXACTLY THE CHARACTER IN MY HEAD AS I WROTE THIS!
Especially the line about the suit.
I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now!
2398853
Thanks for coming back!
Hope ya enjoy what's coming out later!
2398132 good luc with that xD. it's by crowneprince, U should give it a read
MOAR!!!
please.,...
LOve this story!
2400290 OMG yes,
She does remind me of her
2397281 I have to agree at your point. When i search for books or in this case... "fanfics" I want a long one. That i can read during a long period of time . With more... well... idk how to describe it but ... Where the good things happen after a period of exiting waiting and long frustraiting time.... u get ma point !
so I have to agree there 
Totally reminds me of Edna from the incredibles!
Edit: Oh, it seems I'm not the first to notice that!
5271638 yes I agree with you on this