The Great Flood
Flooded Hearts
I frowned as I gave another shaky flap with my wings. I wasn't exactly the most graceful thing in the sky, and my exhaustion wasn't helping, but at the very least I was capable. My muscles were already burning from the excessive use; normally I wouldn't fly even half as much in a day as I did today. Unfortunately, these were not normal circumstances, as the lack of ground below constantly reminded me. All around me, as far as I could see, was water.
I was flying above the heart of Ponyville.
I could just barely see some of the roofs of houses poking through the waterline, the bright yellow clashing with the murky brown waters that had flooded the town last night. Luckily we'd been given a warning from Weather Control in Cloudsdale about the dangerous situation the recent storms in the Everfree had created and the town had been evacuated int he nick of time. A little too much snow up in the mountains and a couple rainstorms that were a touch too powerful and Ponyville gets flooded. The dam overflowed in the middle of the night and a storm with winds just a bit faster than they should be with more clouds than could be stopped rolled in from the forest. It was just one too many coincidences that lead to the image below me.
Most of the citizens had evacuated to higher ground as soon as the warning had gone out, some taking shelter in Sweet Apple Acre's northern fields, the southern ones having been flooded along with the town. Applejack was none too happy about that when she found out in the morning. As the town's resident Princess it was my job to organize the search and rescue operation for anypony who was unable to get to higher ground before the floods hit. We'd found multiple families taking refuge on their roofs over the course of the day, eventually I disbanded the search just a little after noon, confident we'd found everypony. I figured I'd just make one last check before going to my own shelter until the waters receded.
Below me I could see the spire of Town Hall poking out of the water, a beacon of dry land in an otherwise submerged world. It was a sad sight, but when the flood was over everypony would pull together and fix the town. One of the many charms of a small community.
My destination was not in the town, however. Rather, it was a small house made of clouds sitting on the outskirts of Ponyville, high above the water covering the land. The fluffy amassment of water vapour was rapidly coming into view as I passed the edge of where the market used to be. The rainbow waterfalls were sparkling brilliantly in the bright sunlight of mid-afternoon, and the entire structure seemed to glow with a soft light.
“Rainbow?” I called as I touched down on the edge of the cloud base, looking up to the towering building. “Rainbow Dash?”
A cyan head with a rainbow mane popped out of one of the upper windows, looking down at me curiously. “Twi?” Rainbow asked, jumping from her window and gliding down to meet me. “What are you doing up here?”
“Well I can't be down there, can I?” I joked, motioning to the expanse of water behind me.
Rainbow nodded slowly. “Right... “
I sighed. “I was hoping I could stay with you until the water recedes,” I explained, bringing a surprised look to Rainbow's face.
“Uh.. sure, if you want to. I thought all the ponies were staying in AJ's fields?”
“I would, normally, but there's simply no room; the northern fields are tiny compared to the others, and practically the entire town is trying to fit in there. Not to mention whatever luggage they managed to save. You know one pony brought their dresser?”
“That sounds about right for Ponyville. Come on in.” Rainbow smiled, even if she still looked a bit confused, and stepped to the side, motioning me inside. I returned her smile gratefully and stepped through her front door. And through the floor. In a flash of white the inside of Rainbow's home disappeared and was replaced with the water below me and the sky in front of me as I found myself suddenly falling. My wings automatically shot out from my sides and started slowing my descent without me giving a conscious thought towards the action.
“Twi!” Rainbow shouted in surprise above me, no doubt looking down through the hole I'd left in her floor. I clenched my teeth and squinted my eyes shut in concentration as I struggled to align my wings, eventually turning a plummet into a controlled glide down.
“That's it, now start flapping,” Rainbow coached, somewhere just behind me as I obeyed and opened my eyes, flapping my wings and eventually coming to a hover. Rainbow Dash came up next to me with a raised eyebrow.
I chuckled nervously. “Sorry...”
“What the hay was that? I thought you could stand on clouds now that you have pegasus magic?” Rainbow asked harshly, throwing her hooves up to emphasize her point.
Sighing, I started flying back up to the floating house I'd fallen out of. “I can, but if I get distracted I lose focus and the magic will cut out and... well, you saw what happens then.”
Rainbow followed me, still keeping me under a cautious gaze as though I'd suddenly drop out of the sky again. I couldn't exactly blame her. “I've never had to consciously use my magic to stand on clouds. Work with them maybe, but I figured standing on them was just a part of possessing the magic.”
I shook my head. “No, it's just subconscious for most pegasi. Unfortunately, since I only recently gained pegasus magic, I had to learn how to will myself to stand on clouds since I never developed the natural instinct back when I was a filly.”
“Oh... wait a minute, then how do you intend to sleep up here if you have to keep up the magic?” Rainbow asked suddenly.
“That's why I have a cloud walking spell; until my body learns to keep up the magic when I'm on clouds,” I said with a shrug, touching down on her front... cloud, making sure to keep my focus partially directed at my magic as she joined me and once more lead me through the door.
“Well whatever, just try not to fall through my floor again, alright?” Rainbow said, glaring down at the hole I'd left before shaking her head gently. Using her hoof she grabbed a patch of cloud next to the hole and stretched it across the gap until it met the other side. “I don't need to worry about you falling out of my house in the middle of the night.”
I giggled sheepishly. “I'll try.”
Rainbow kept her eyes on me for a moment longer, whether to make sure I didn't fall again or because I was being suspicious, I didn't know. Soon enough the look was gone, and she continued happily into her home. “Well, welcome to Cloud Dash. It's the first time you've really been up here so follow me.”
Nodding, I allowed her to lead me through into the main room of her house - a large, circular room with large openings facing out over the currently-flooded town. Her walls were largely made up of arches held up by sculpted cloud columns, giving the entire room a very open feeling, as though it wasn't even a room at all. The only thing that even gave an indication that this was a house was the roof above our heads and the extra masses of clouds above the arches, which could be used to cover the windows should a particularly nasty storm blow in.
“Living room,” Dash announced, motioning to the fluffy white couch and two chairs sitting around a central cloud table. She raised a hoof and pointed to an archway leading to another room instead of outside. “Kitchen – not that I ever use it.”
“I'm shocked,” I quipped sarcastically, making Rainbow roll her eyes.
“Hey, it's not my fault I can't cook. Anyway,” she continued quickly, turning away from her rarely used kitchen and walking up to a staircase wrapping around the circular wall on the far side of the room. “Second floor is where pretty much everything is. C'mon.”
As she lead me up the stairs I felt I gentle blush forming on my cheeks. It wasn't because I was staring at her perfectly toned cyan flanks or anything – honest! I was just... warm. It was a very hot day out. I cleared my throat as the house suddenly became unbearably hot, my cheeks growing a few shades redder before we finally reached the second floor of her house.
I shook my head forcefully, trying to drain the blood from my face as I followed Rainbow into a hall. At the far end I could see out to her patio, once again through another arch. The patio held the large pool of liquid rainbow that fed her waterfall, and I had the sneaking suspicion it didn't get much use aside from waterfall maintenance. All along the hall were doors, probably the only solid ones in the entire house, no doubt for privacy should she have other ponies over.
“My room,” Rainbow muttered, motioning to the first door on the left. “Guest room – where you'll be staying,” she added, pointing to the door exactly opposite her own.
“This place is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside,” I said distractedly as we continued a little further down the hall, past the two bedrooms.
“That's because you've only seen it from one side,” Rainbow laughed, stopping at the next pair of doors. “Bathroom on the left and... uh...” she trailed off, scratching her head as she looked at the door on her right. “I... uh... don't remember...”
I broke down laughing near instantly, nearly falling over as tears pricked the corners of my eyes. Through my peels of mirth I could see Rainbow giving me a sceptical look before watching it morph into a glare. “You don't even know the rooms in your own house!” I cried through my laughter, making her glare waver. She couldn't even argue with that.
“I don't do much besides sleep in here, alright? And even then I much prefer to be outside unless it's really cold or raining,” Rainbow snapped, her cheeks red in embarrassment.
Wheezing out a few more chuckles I regained control of my breathing and cleared my throat. “Well, let's find out, shall we?” I offered before opening the door with my magic, the air current throwing up a cloud of dust. It was evident she had not opened this door in a very, very long time. As the cloud settled what I saw made my jaw drop open.
Rainbow Dash had a library.
Not just a library, no. One of the biggest private libraries I had ever seen.
“Oh,” Rainbow Dash said, poking her head in through the door frame. “I remember this room now; the previous owners left most of their old books when they moved into their retirement home...”
I was too shocked to say anything as I stepped into the room past my pegasus friend. This library was easily the size of the main room of Golden Oaks, and it was certainly taller. It had two stories, the second floor being just a walkway around the edge of the circular room to access the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that lined three quarters of the wall. The only part of the wall that wasn't covered in bookshelves was the portion on the opposite side from the door. It had two perfectly symmetrical staircases leading up to the balcony on the second floor in front of a large window filled in with glass, no doubt to keep the books dry should there be an unexpected storm.
But it wasn't just cloudy bookshelves this room possessed. Books, as far as the eye could see, filled each and every shelf, lining the walls with various colours and covering the bland whiteness of the walls.
“B... books...” Was all I could say as I stood in the center of the massive room, spinning in circles and taking in the sights all around me. “R... Rainbow Dash has... books...”
I heard a chuckle from the door. “Guess so. Not like I ever use this room or anything.”
“But... so many... who owned this place before you?” I asked, turning around to face her. The entire room was covered in a thick layer of dust, attesting to its long-standing vacancy.
Rainbow shrugged uninterestedly. “I dunno, just two pegasi who had the house built as a vacation home. I think one was some kinda doctor or something, while the other was a professor at the Cloudsdale University.”
“That's... Rainbow, why didn't you tell me about this!? There are so many books in here I've probably never even heard of, let alone read! This is...” I trailed off again, instead opting to gesture my hooves wildly at walls of literature.
“I wonder if they had Daring Do...” Rainbow hummed thoughtfully, scratching her chin and trailing her eyes across one of the walls. I sighed.
“Is that really all you can think about in the presence of all this knowledge?”
“Hey, you have your science and math and astro-whatever books. I have my Daring Do.”
Rolling my eyes, I shook myself out of the book-induced haze and looked to Rainbow Dash, who was already walking out the door. “Anyway,” she called from the hall, forcing me to hurry out of the library. By time I caught up she was already standing at the third and final pair of doors at the end of the hall, right in front of the balcony doors.
“There's more? Please tell me you don't have a lab or something you didn't know about.”
Rainbow chuckled, shaking her head. “Nah, all I have left on this floor is a closet and a storage room. Pretty empty though...” she trailed off as she pushed a hoof against the door on the right, swinging it open to reveal a small room, filled with a desk, a chair, and a couple boxes stacked in the corner. “I don't think I need to explain the closet.”
I giggled, motioning to the archway leading out to the rainbow pool. “Patio I take it?”
“Yeah, probably where I spent most of my time at home if I'm not sleeping,” she answered, leading us out the door and onto a skinny walkway around the large vat of rainbow coloured liquid. To my surprise, it was more than just the pool; to the left of the door was a large area, complete with cloud lawn chairs, tables, and umbrellas for sunny days.
My jaw nearly fell open for the second time that day. “Your house is... how the hay did you afford all this?” I asked, gesturing wildly at the structure around and behind me.
“It was pretty cheep; you'd be surprised how hard it is to sell a cloud house outside of Cloudsdale. Most of the time pegasi who leave the city left to stay on the ground for one reason or another, like Fluttershy. So houses like these are really cheep just so they'll sell at all,” Rainbow explained, glancing back at the almost blindingly white structure.
“Huh...” Was all I could really say as I turned around and looked at the large house I'd just walked out of. From the looks of it, the tower went up another two floors before ending in a large, open observatory. “I really should have grabbed my telescope if I knew about all this... being this high up would give a wonderful view of the stars.”
“Never noticed; stars aren't really my thing,” Rainbow said from beside me, following my gaze.
I once again shook myself from my daze and looked at her. “You mind if I use your shower? I've been flying around in this heat all day and I could really use one.”
“Huh... and all this time I thought I was just smelling myself,” Rainbow responded with a cheeky grin. I just glared at her, trying to ignore my embarrassed blush. She dropped her grin and laughed, waving towards the door. “Go ahead.”
I kept up my glare for a few more seconds before sighing and trotting away towards the bathroom. I could hear Rainbow laughing behind me as I went. I quickly found my way to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind me and sighing as the fluffy clouds blocked out the sound of Rainbow's mirth.
I glanced around the room briefly in search of her shower. The room was about the size I'd expect for a bathroom in a house this size; large, but not insane. A counter stretched across the wall to the left of the door, all the way to the far left wall, with a mirror hanging above it and covering the rest of the wall. It had all the basic amenities, including a rather large shower stall indented in the right wall. Made entirely of clouds, as I had expected, it didn't have a wall separating it from the rest of the room, and didn't even have a drain, no doubt because the clouds absorbed the water. The only reason I could tell it was a shower at all was because of the very distinct, dark grey raincloud in place of the normal white ceiling clouds.
I stepped in, looking up at the cloud. I'd read about these types of showers before; all it would take to get it going was the right kind of magic and a solid hit with a hoof.
“How did this go again?” I muttered to myself, sitting back on my haunches and lifting a hoof from the floor. Focusing, I reached back in my mind and found my unfamiliar pegasus magic, bringing it forward and channelling it into my hoof. With a grunt of effort I brought my hoof up and punched the cloud above me.
There was a quiet 'poof' as a small circle of cloud around my hoof was dispersed, though the hole was quickly filled in. I frowned slightly, positive I'd done it right. An aggravated groan left my throat as I tried again, bringing my magic into my hoof, and knocking it against the cloud. I got the same reaction again, only this time the patch of dispersed cloud was slightly smaller.
“Oh come on,” I muttered, repeating the process for a third time with a bit more power to my punch. This time my hoof went straight through the cloud, not even dispersing it as the grey water vapour wrapped around my limb, almost seeming to suck it in deeper. The cloud started getting darker, turning from a raincloud into a thundercloud, and I quickly pulled my hoof out before I could feed it too much magic. The cloud rumbled quietly for a second, as though hungry for more, before quieting down and returning to it's dull-grey state.
“Great...” I sighed, stepping out of the shower and walking over to the door. I opened it with my magic and stuck my head out, looking both ways down the hall before calling, “Rainbow Dash!?”
“Huh?” I heard a confused answer from somewhere, muffled by the walls of clouds.
I blushed in embarrassment at my own inability to get her the shower working, silently debating if I should just give up on the shower to save myself the humiliation. However, after catching a whiff of the smell that could only be coming from my sweaty fur, I grimaced. “I need some help in here!”
There was a moment of silence before I saw her head pop up from the stairs. “What's up Twi?” She asked, giving me an odd look.
I chuckled nervously, scratching the back of my neck sheepishly. “I can't get your shower working...” I muttered quietly.
It took a moment for Rainbow to understand what I said. Once she did she couldn't help but laugh a little. “Not used to manipulating clouds yet huh?”
My blush brightened as I looked to the ground. “It's not like I was born a pegasus...”
Rainbow laughed again, a little gentler this time as she reached the door to the bathroom. “Don't worry about it; it took me a couple months to really get the hang of these things. Getting 'em working is one thing, controlling the temperature is entirely different.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly, stepping back and letting her into the room, looking to the ground as she walked over to the shower cloud.
“No problem, Twi I just gotta...” she trailed off as she gave the cloud an odd look.
“Something wrong?” I asked, tilting my head a bit.
She looked at the cloud for a few moment longer before turning to me. “Heh, no, I'm just thinking I'm gonna have to replace this thing soon; you did a number on it trying to get it working.”
I once again found myself looking away in embarrassment. “S-sorry...”
She waved a hoof distractedly, once again turning to the cloud. “Don't worry about it; they don't generally last longer than a week before I gotta go make a new one. This should still have a couple showers left in it though, gimme a second and I'll have this thing working.”
Rainbow sat just out from under the cloud and brought her hoof from the floor, taking a second before thrusting it up and connecting to the side of the cloud. A low murmur of thunder ran through the swirls of condensed water vapour before a veritable downpour started nearly instantly. Rainbow took a few steps back, smiling proudly at her work before turning back to the door. “There ya go; one hot shower.”
“Thank you!” I called as she left the room, shutting the door behind her as I stepped up to the rain. I was a bit sceptical this wouldn't be just as cold as regular rain, but form what I'd read it could be controlled just like a regular shower. With some hesitation I put my hoof under the water, sighing as I felt the warm water run across my leg.
Without reservation I jumped under the downpour, my mane instantly getting plastered to the back of my neck. I could already see steam rising from the clouds below me as they absorbed the heated water, warming up under my hooves. It was a very unique feeling to be sure. The water was in much smaller drops and more inconsistent than I'd grown used to in a regular shower. It really felt like I was being rained on – which I guess I was. But, at the same time, it was much warmer than any other kind of rain storm, and it lacked the usual wind or general discomfort usually paired with a rainstorm. Add to that the sound and it was almost... therapeutic.
I suddenly understood why Rainbow always smelled like she just came out of a rainstorm.
I let out a long, relaxed sigh as my muscles slackened under the soothing feeling of warm rain pelting my coat. My head dropped, my bangs hanging down as water dripped from them, creating a curtain of indigo around my vision. The calming sensation of warm water running over my fur allowed me to slip back into my mind and begin to deal with the situation I'd willingly put myself in.
“Alright,” I breathed out slowly, “You've just set yourself up to stay with your crush for at the very least the next week or so. In that time, you have to get over your nerves, find a way to confess to her, and convince her to go on a date with you. Simple...”
I groaned, leaning forward until my forehead met with the fluffy cloud wall. I found myself wishing the walls were a bit harder; maybe the impact would've joggled an idea loose in my head. Unfortunately I had no such luck; nothing about this was simple. If anything, the prospect of a romantic relationship with anypony was even more challenging to me than the thought of just regular friends back before I moved to Ponyville.
Leaning away from the wall, I took another deep breath. Nothing about this was going to be easy or simple, and the flood sped up my plans much more than I would have liked. Before the flood happened I hadn't even started making a plan for this situation! Every time I tried to make one I was met with a brick wall of nerves and a fear of the unknown.
“What would Rainbow Dash do?” I wondered aloud, before snorting humorlessly. “Say no to a date with a nerdy bookworm and instead find somepony who was actually worth her time.”
My head met with the cloud wall again.
“You know she'd never do something like that,” I told myself. Maybe this time I'd believe it. I knew that, more than likely, she'd at least give me a chance. And even if she didn't she'd let me down gently. And she'd never let our friendship be ruined by something like this.
I hoped.
A rumble of thunder from the cloud above brought me back to the real world, where the water had gone from pleasantly hot to cool and getting colder. The shower had also slowed down a significant amount, and as I looked up I realized the cloud was much smaller than it had been. Just how long had I been lost in my own thoughts?
I flinched as the water turned from cool to cold, hurriedly looking around for some form of soap. On the left wall of the shower was a small indent with shelves holding a two bottles, both generic soaps either for your coat or your mane. I grabbed the coat wash and flipped the top open, briefly running it under my muzzle. It was.... well, it smelled like Rainbow Dash, not too surprisingly; generic, not girly yet not quite masculine. Just... plain. If anything it smelled weakly light citrus, though it was probably meant to be scent-free. The idea of smelling like Rainbow myself was a bit... odd, but under the circumstances I couldn't complain.
Squeezing a healthy amount out of the bottle and into my magical hold, I mixed it in with some water before applying it to my coat all over simultaneously, massaging it into my skin and rubbing out any lingering sweat or dirt from the morning of flying. The water was pretty much the same temperature as a regular rainstorm by then.
When I felt sufficiently clean I allowed my magic to fade, letting the water carry away the remnants of the soap. My mane got the same treatment as my coat, and as the water officially turned freezing I stepped out from under the rain, looking up curiously at the cloud. All that was left was to stop the rain before it ran out completely. Thinking back to the book I'd read on these types of clouds, I tried to remember the process for stopping one, which was hopefully easier than starting one.
Forming an idea of how to get it to stop in my mind, I once again focused my alien pegasus magic, forcing it into my hoof before throwing it up and punching the cloud. A rumble of thunder went through the cloud, almost as if it didn't want to stop, before the rain slowed from a full on shower to a gentle sprinkling, eventually petering out to nothing.
I smiled triumphantly at the 'defeated' cloud, rather proud of myself for getting it first try. If only my other problem was that easy to solve...
Sighing irritably, I pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind and channelled my magic into my horn, the flow coming much easier than the pegasus magic that had been forced inside my body when I ascended. A simple flash of light later and I'd cast a heat spell, instantly evaporating the water from my fur and mane, as well as sapping away the lingering chill from the water. In an instant I went from soaked to perfectly try, and with a couple quick spells my mane and tail were once again brushed into their familiar shapes.
Taking a moment, I walked over to the counter and wiped away some of the fog, my own face staring back at me. It didn't look too happy.
“All you have to do is tell her,” It said, giving me a look as though it knew my answer before I gave it.
“I can't just tell her!” I whispered hoarsely, glancing nervously towards the door as though Dash were trying to listen in. “What if she thinks I'm some kind of freak?”
My reflection gave me a skeptical look. “You do know she came out of the closet to you years ago, right? Hay, you even told her you were a fillyfooler too!”
I looked away, my cheeks burning in embarrassment. “But... it's weird for a mare to have a crush on their friend...”
No response came. I looked back up at the mirror, my reflection doing the same. “Great...” I muttered, turning away from the mirror fully. “Now I'm talking to myself in mirrors. What's next? I suppose Dash heard that and is-”
“Hey Twi! You okay in there? I thought I heard somepony talking. Don't tell me some clumsy pegasus crashed through the wall again?” Rainbow called from the hall outside.
I groaned, hanging my head “Perfect.” Grumbling quietly, I put my best smile on and walked over to the door. “I'm fine,” I said as I opened the door. “Just thinking to myself, didn't even know I started talking out loud.”
Rainbow regarded me curiously for a few moments before shrugging. "Whatever, kinda weird though. What were ya thinking about?”
'You' my mind said before I could stop it. I stifled a grimace and shook my head casually. “Nothing much. Just...” I trailed off, trying to think of some believable excuse. Thankfully, Rainbow provided me one.
“Ponyville?” She asked knowingly.
I wasn't about to let such an easy excuse get away. “Yeah. I'm worried about how much damage this flood is gonna cause...”
Rainbow gave me her most confident grin, taking a step away from the door and motioning for me to follow. “Don't worry about it. You know how Ponyville is; this town can spring back from anything. I think the Discord incident proved that.”
Nodding slowly, I walked behind her as she lead me towards the stairs leading to the first floor. Now that I was actually thinking about it, I was getting worried. “I just hope you're right.”
“I know I am,” Rainbow boasted as we descended the sitars. “Ponyville's dealt with things much worse than this. Remember the Ursa?”
I shuttered. “I try not to. I still don't understand how those two colts thought it'd be a good idea. I'm still worried though. I sent all the rare and important books up to Canterlot with Spike when the flood warning came out, but... restocking is going to be a real pain, and all those ruined books...”
“You can always takes the books from my library to help restock,” Rainbow offered.
“Wait, really?” I asked excitedly. I could feel a grin starting to spread across my face.
“Yeah. I mean, it's not like I'm ever gonna read them, and most of them looked like the technical kind of books you like. What did you call them? Non-fic-something?”
“Non-ficiton,” I explained as we walked into her living room. She topped and turned to look at me, but before she could say anything else I tackled her into a hug. “Oh.. thank you so much!” I shouted. “There are probably books in there I haven't read before! I wonder if there are any original copies?”
Rainbow chuckled awkwardly, resting an uncomfortable hoof on my back. “Right... no problem... but uh... could you... uh...”
I blushed heavily, pulling back and immediately turning away to hide the redness in my cheeks. “S-sorry,” I stuttered out. “I just got excited...”
“Only you would get that excited about books, egghead,” Dash chuckled, shaking her head. “Seriously though; as soon as you get the library fixed up you can take as many as you need.”
My grin might have been bigger than Pinkie's, though I'd never be sure. “I'm gonna go start cataloguing!” I spun around and took a few steps towards the stairs before I stopped myself.
'Tell her,' my mind nearly screamed at me as I looked back over my shoulder. Rainbow was too busy laughing at my excitement to notice.
“Hey Dash,” I started quietly, taking a few steps towards her. I was too quiet for her to hear me, but she did notice me approaching and stopped her laughing.
Quirking her head to the side, Rainbow asked me, “What's up, Twi?”
“I... uh...” I swallowed thickly, suddenly realizing the situation I put myself in. Taking a deep, calming breath, I smiled at her. “Do you have any paper and quills so I can record all the books you have?”
Tomorrow. I'll ask her tomorrow.
-_-_-_-
I didn't ask her tomorrow. I didn't ask her for the next four days of me staying in her house. Everyday was the same; wake up, go to AJ's farm with Dash to help with the community brunch they set up for those still staying there (most having gone to stay with family in other cities) then come back and hide in Rainbow's surprisingly impressive library. I'd come out whenever I worked up the nerve to tell her, then end up making up an excuse and scamper away. I barely got any actual reading done.
For four days now, the only real time I'd spent with Rainbow was during dinner, when I'd go grab whatever AJ was making and bring it back for her and I to eat together.
It was during one of these meals, in the midst of an unusually prolonged awkward silence, that Rainbow turned to me with a curious look on her face. I was too busy staring at my food to notice, thinking about how I'd try and tell her tonight. It wasn't until she cleared her throat rather loudly that I looked up.
“Rainbow?” I asked as she continued to regard me as though I were some puzzle she was trying to solve by forcing the pieces together in places they didn't fit.
“I talked to Applejack,” she started, narrowing her eyes just slightly as the current piece fell out of place again. “She asked if I noticed you acting weird the past couple days.”
I felt a feeling of dread well up in the pit of my stomach and I looked back down to my salad made of whatever survived from the farms around Ponyville. “Did you?”
I caught a glimpse of her shaking her head out of the top of my vision. “No... not until I thought about it.”
My stomach dropped. Suddenly I wasn't very interested in my food, instead opting to push it away as I forced myself to look at her. “Oh?”
As though she'd glued another piece of the puzzle into place, her gaze softened. “At first I thought it was just stress; you were in charge of the entire rescue effort, and you are technically responsible for most of the town. Then I mentioned to her that you left the farm because it was too crowded, and that that probably added to it.”
“T-that sound about right...” I muttered, looking away again; I knew exactly what Applejack had told her.
“Then she said that she'd offered one of her spare farm rooms to you,” Rainbow kept talking, as though she were a detective of the verge of breaking through a case. Another piece fell into place. “She was wondering if you'd told me why you decided to stay here instead.”
I couldn't bring myself to say anything, hanging my head as she forced the pieces into place one by one. I didn't know what conclusion she'd end up drawing, but there weren't very many.
“So that made me start wondering why you wanted to stay with me. I told AJ I didn't know, and for most of the day I just assumed you didn't want to stay at the farm, waking up at sunrise and everything – I could understand that. But you've been waking up that early anyway. The only thing I can think of is that you wanted to stay with me, specifically.”
I emitted a very Fluttershy-esque squeak.
“It didn't take me long to realize what was going on. That was three days ago,” she deadpanned. My face paled suddenly as I thought about just how long she'd known. “I even asked Fluttershy about it, and she agreed with me, but told me I shouldn't say anything.
“So I didn't. But the way I see it, you gave yourself a time limit; once the water drains out of the town, you won't have an excuse to stay with me anymore, and you'll have to leave. The hills in town are already dry, and most of the houses are above the water level. You have maybe three days left before you have no reason to stay here.
“I've been waiting for three days for you two pony up and get it done, but each time you try you scamper off back to the library and hide behind the books.”
By now I was nothing but a continually-shrinking purple ball as I curled in on myself in an attempt to hide in plain site. It did little to dissuade Rainbow's surprisingly impressive deduction.
“Now, with maybe three days left, I'm putting an end to this,” she paused, clearing her throat and sitting a little taller in her chair. “You've been acting a little weird lately, Twilight, is something wrong?”
I froze. My quick, panicked breathing all but stopped and my eyes grew wide as the question was posed. My mind was racing, struggling to keep up with my thoughts and emotions. 'put an end to it?' I thought, 'she's going to turn me down! Why is she making me do this?'
Taking a deep breath to regain some form of calmness, I quickly realized that such an exorcise would not help me. I had to answer... was something wrong? Tentatively, I shook me head, barely moving it more than an inch in each direction as I continued to stare and my mostly empty plate.
Rainbow sighed, slouching in her chair. “You sure? You've been really strange the last couple days you've been staying with me.”
'Tell her damn it!' My mind screamed at me. My jaw worked uselessly, nothing but weak whimpers spilling out. Why was she making me do this? She was going to turn me down; couldn’t she just get it over with quickly and painlessly? Or at least as painlessly as possible?
“I've thought about my answer for the last three days, Twi. All I'm waiting for is for you to ask the question,” Rainbow said, her voice growing impatient. I refused to meet her gaze. When I didn't answer her, she groaned, standing from the table. “Fine, whatever, just sit there. I should have known you wouldn't be able to do it.”
Something in my mind clicked on her words as my head snapped up. She was already walking away from the table. “I... bu-... Rain-...” My mouth refused to listen to any commands I gave it as I sputtered out random syllables of the words I wanted to say.
“It's been three days, Twi,” she said without looking back. “If you can't gather the courage to ask a simple question in three days...” Rainbow trailed off, shaking her head slowly.
'If you don't do this, you will have to live with that mistake for the rest of your life; she's not going to give you a second chance,' my mind told me as I stared helplessly at the back of her head.
“I'm disappointed in you, Twi,” she said quietly, making me cringe as I finally took action.
It's a very rare occurrence for me to act without thinking. The occasional instinctual-teleport or split-second spell, but I like to think everything through. This was one of the few time I didn't think about anything but my current objective.
Before I even knew it I'd called upon my magic, teleported a few feet over to the space directly in front of Rainbow Dash and had engaged her what I assumed to be the only kiss I'd ever get from her. I saw her eyes grow wide in surprise, but I didn't care; if she was going to shoot me down, this is the only thing I wanted out of the situation.
However, against all my expectations and suspicions, she didn't immediately throw me off. Instead, she slowly brought a hoof up to my shoulder, and gently pushed me away, keeping me close enough that I couldn't look away from her beautiful magenta eyes if I tried.
For a few moments, she just stood there, staring at me, before chuckling quietly. “That... wasn't exactly what I was expecting...”
I quirked my head to the side in confusion. So many things about the current situation were off; she didn't look angry, and she hadn't thrown me to the ground in a bout of disgusted rage. In fact, she didn't even look the slightest bit annoyed at me, just... surprised. And... something else that almost looked like relief.
“You know, I was beginning to think you'd never crack and actually pony up,” Rainbow remarked casually, sitting back on her haunches. “Though... I didn’t think it'd be quite so...” she trailed off, waving a hoof in the air as she tried to think of the word. “Forceful.”
I blinked.
“After all that you still can't talk to me?” Rainbow asked, giving me a deadpan look as I tried to comprehend what was happening. She sighed in annoyance. “What, were you expecting me to be angry at you or something?”
Unsure what to do, I simply nodded dumbly.
Rainbow groaned, bringing a hoof up to rub the bridge of her nose. “Seriously? Look, I thought I made this clear, but I don't... I'm not... ugh. You're supposed to be the one talking right now!” She flung her hooves into the air to show her frustration. “I thought this was going to go a lot differently...”
“I... but... you... kiss... and... what?” I sputtered uselessly. To be honest, I still wasn't sure that I'd actually kissed her. For all I knew this was some kind of really vivid hallucination.
“Oh for the love of Celestia, here.” In a single, fluid movement, Rainbow leaned down and reconnected our lips in another kiss.
It was my turn to stare back with wide eyes, even as my body automatically returned the kiss. My cheeks were so red they were practically glowing, and just as Rainbow was pulling away, I suddenly felt the floor beneath me disappear. A flash of white crossed my vision, and suddenly I could see out across the partially-flooded remains of Ponyville. I looked up to the house I'd fallen out of to see Rainbow looking at me through the hole I'd created.
“Oh come on!” I heard her shout as she jumped through after me, diving down through the air.
Once again my wings sprung open on instinct, but without my conscious control they did little to slow me as I fell like a feathered stone.
“Focus, Twilight!” Rainbow called over the wind rushing past my ears. “Glide until you have control, then start flapping. Come on; you've done this before!”
The words barely registered in my mind as I looked down just in time to see the water before I broke through the surface. The world suddenly became a murky blue as my momentum carried me below the surface, my natural buoyancy struggling to keep me afloat. The sudden splash of cold water had knocked loose whatever it was in my head that had jammed and I quickly swam my way to the surface. My head broke through the water and I gasped loudly, sucking in a much needed lung full of air as I flipped my soaking mane out of my eyes and looked around.
My eyes were drawn to the source of laughter floating above me; one cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane.
“I didn't know I could do that to a mare!” She wheezed through her hysterics, clutching her gut as she doubled over in the air.
I simply stared at her, waiting for her bout of laughing to end so I could get a word in. Eventually she tapered off into a few quiet chuckles before stopping all together and flying a little closer to me, leaning her head down so it was level with mind. . “So, got anything to say to me yet?”
“I...” Once again I found my words failing me. Groaning loudly, I shook my head forcefully. “Could you help me out here? There's no way I can fly with my wings soaked like this.”
Rainbow looked at me curiously. “Really? After all... that,” she gestured wildly to the house I'd fallen out of, “and that's all you have to say to me?”
“I have a lot of things to say, but I think there are more pressing matters right now,” I said, motioning to the water around me, “Wouldn't you agree?”
She chuckled at that, nodding her head. “Yeah, I guess. Alright, hang on a sec and I'll get you back up to my house. No more falling though, alright?”
I giggled. “Deal.”
Rainbow smiled, flying around behind me and lowering herself until she was just above the water. She plunged her hooves below the surface and wrapped them around my barrel just beneath my own forelegs. With a couple strong flaps she pulled us both up, and me out of the water.
“Ugh.. you're really heavy...” she grunted, flying us towards her house.
Snorting, I muttered, “I'm going to ignore that comment for now.”
“Heh... sorry.” Rainbow chuckled awkwardly as we reached her house. She set me down slowly on the clouds in front of her door, making sure I wouldn't fall through again. To be honest, I couldn't blame her for being skeptical; that was the second time it'd happened. “Now then,” she announced, “I believe you have some explaining to do.”
I shifted my weight uncomfortable from hoof to hoof. “Can we... go inside and-”
“No,” she said quickly, cutting me off. “You're not allowed to put this off anymore. Now come out with it or that kiss is the last one you'll get from me.”
Swallowing thickly, I averted my gaze as a scarlet blush ran across my cheeks, the memory of said event running through my mind's eye. “Well...” I started awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say. “I... uh... I've kinda had a... er... a crush on you for a while.”
“Never would have guessed,” Rainbow deadpanned with a roll of her eyes. “You still haven't asked. Hay, you know the answer and you still haven't asked!”
'What are you doing?' I asked myself. 'You already know she'll say yes, why are you still nervous about this? It's not the unknown anymore!'
I cleared my throat; I was right, and I was getting sick of my own nerves. “I like you, a lot, as more than a friend. Rainbow Dash, would you be my marefriend?”
Rainbow stood, staring at me for a moment. Then two. Before finally she reached a hoof up to her mouth to hide her snickers. “That...” she trailed off as she struggled to contain her laughter. “That was just about the most ridiculous way you could have asked that!”
Finally the mare lost control, and fell to her side laughing.
I just glared at her, my cheeks still burning a bright red, now from embarrassment rather than the memory of our recent kiss. Much sooner than I had expected Rainbow regained control of herself and stood up, coughing into her hoof a few times to mask her final chuckles before looking back at me.
“Most ponies ask for a date first,” she remarked casually. “But... well, I'm not most ponies, so that's alright.”
Rolling my eyes, I let out an exasperated sigh, falling back to my haunches and looking at her expectantly through my soaking wet mane.
“Fine, fine. Yeah, Twilight, I'll be your marefriend.”
My grin could bridge Neighgra Falls. I leaped at the pegasus and wrapped her in a fierce hug as we toppled over to the ground. I landed on top, water dripping from my body as I smiled down at her. “Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthank-mmphmmphmph.... mmm.”
My excited rambling was cut off abruptly as she wrapped a hoof around my neck and forced me head down to once again meet her in a kiss. Not that I minded. I practically melted into the warm embrace, quietly moaning my joy as she released my neck and allowed me to pull away for the air I'd lost with my 'thank you's.
“Ya know,” she said, smacking her lips thoughtfully. “I could get used to that. Though it'd be better if you weren't soaking wet...”