Sunshine and Rainbows, Maybe
As far as she was concerned, it was their tree. Perhaps a bit rough against the fingers when one caressed its trunk, small and its shade rather meager, but it was their tree. Part of their story, a place that offered comfort to them when either one of them so desperately needed to be alone or to be alone together. A sweet little oak tree that stood atop a hill that wasn’t really much of a hill in the grand scheme of things, but meant everything to them.
It was the first good day they’d had in weeks. If it hadn’t been cold, the rain had been there to keep them away from the outside world, turning the loveliness of the green world into a soaked and muddied place. Gods, how’d they’d hated to see those shades of grey and blue constantly above them, shifting puffballs that became thick as blankets and never relented. And when they did? Bitter to the bone, a bite of a winter that refused to fully go away. But today? Oh, today, today was something worth cherishing. Clear sunlight rained down through the mild colors of softened white that marked the sheet of bright-blue, with just enough warmth from the brilliant star above to make their little excursion something worth trying. Long sleeves and pants might be needed, but they would feel the wind against their face and not fear its bite- for the first time in ages!
As always, she was the one who first left the car, shooting out from her seat with the usual speed that was her standard pace. Not a moment’s hesitation, no ounce of restraint; she knew not the word nor possessed the capacity to understand it, so full of the vivacity that made Rainbow who she was that to be otherwise was impossible. The letter jacket was a new addition over her usual attire, but still suited the athleticism of her life.
“Come on, slowpoke!” Rainbow cried, no weight or world she’d left behind to hinder her from rushing onwards to that treasured space save one soul. “I swear, you act like an old granny sometimes! Grab the food and let’s go!”
The laughter that came towards her, muffled by metal and carpet and wild sound, exasperation softened by the gentleness that fiery spirit somehow possessed. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she teased, Sunset’s wild mane of hair appearing from within the battered vehicle’s depths and letting the mirth in her eyes positively pop. “Here I was looking after you so that you wouldn’t forget your car keys this time. I guess I should just let you lock the door on yourself, how does that sound?”
It was a beat up old ricer from the 90’s that had the capacity to still shutter itself without the key, something the athlete had learned the hard way once- and maybe a couple times over since then; there was a reason the metal above her passenger door was a little bent. The teasing threat was enough to make Rainbow’s demands turn sour in her own mouth. “Nevermi- you make them again, or did you buy something?”
“Made them,” Sunset answered. “This week’s paycheck wasn’t super big, so I- you know. Gotta be responsible.”
She wasn’t rich but her parents certainly were, and not once had they been unwilling to hand her a few dollars. “I’ll pay you back,” she mumbled, a rare shamefaced look on the shameless girl’s features.
What she received rather than chastisement was instead a shake of that fiery head. “You pay for a lot of other things. When was the last time you let me help you with gas?”
“Never gonna happen.”
“Then the sandwich is a gift. So just say thank you.”
Their words could be combative at times. The red-haired girl’s fire would never quite truly go out and the prismatic athlete was one too filled with fire to ever know what it was like without. They could cut and tear at one another if they truly wished, but this simple conversation was too gentle to allow much of anything but a joyful teasing. Peaceful bickering that would only arouse real pleasantry was never something they minded.
“What’cha got this time?” Rainbow inquired, an offered hand there for physical presence rather than outstretched in hopes of seeing it filled with sustenance.
“Bologna and bacon? I know it’s kinda crappy, but I needed to use up the pack before it went bad,” Sunset answered, seeing her companion’s hand filled by outstretched fingers. “A little mustard and pepper, but- well, I sorta ran out. And so… yeah.” She was poor. On her own was another way of saying ‘rather destitute’ but she rarely ever allowed the words to breach the spoken world lest they find a way to cause real damage. Sunset worked hard, spent little, but still it seemed so much of her finances were stretched. Bologna was a rarity when ramen and beans were often the norm; true deli meat was a gift.
Such things were not to her girlfriend’s satisfaction, something Rainbow let be known more than once. “My dad’s shop is hiring,” she offered in rare meekness, “I could put a word in-”
“Not yet, please.” Sunset’s words cut fast, a desperation in them she would not relent. “Maybe if- let me keep trying for a little while. My boss likes me. So maybe I’ll be able to start covering as a shift manager soon and I’ll be able to earn a little more.”
As she’d said five months ago, and two months before that. Sunset was proud, determined not to be a burden upon anyone, especially one she prized. And Rainbow, knowing the magnificent grip that pride could have, did not try to soften its grip just now; there would be a time, perhaps, when she could shake that hold and see this woman’s world blossom, but it would not be today. Not yet. “I don’t doubt it,” was all she could offer for now.
Their world was a pleasant one, especially beneath the shade of their favorite tree. Dark-green leaves so verdant, thick enough to keep the colors of sunlight from pouring down upon their tired forms and seeing all their world made exhausted. They were not averse to its rays, but a long day was best spent away from the uninhibited heat sometimes. Today, they wished for a coolness in their warmth, one that would be a salve upon the spirit rather than see their body made flush. Neither went to this place looking for a tan.
“So… I got another scholarship offer this week,” Rainbow said as they came to lie beneath their serene and secluded space; the colors of the sky took a spot against the ground, nestled gently against the thigh of her sunlit girlfriend who took hard bark as a resting place for her back. “USC asked me to go run track for them. It’d be a full ride, too; a dorm to myself, food, 100% tuition.”
“Sounds like the best one yet,” Sunset murmured, words quiet though her smile was not. She loved to hear Rainbow be excited about her future even if it was only athletics that made her glow; something to look forward to, to yearn for, what more could she ask?
Rainbow regarded her companion, considering the emotions on her face for a time. “Should I take it?”
It was actually a question. “What?”
“Should I take the scholarship?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, you know this sort of stuff better than I do. Would it be worth it?”
“I- Rainbow, it’s your life!” Sunset said, laughing at the fact she’d even been asked at all. “Goodness, if you want to go, then go! You should be thinking about what’s best for your life, not other people’s opinions!”
“Yeah, but you’re good at this stuff. You know what would work out best.”
“And only you know what’s gonna work out best for you,” was the reminder she gave, for dare not did she to offer much further. “Think about what you want to do when you’re track career is all said and done. That’s what’s going to matter later, right?”
The colorful young girl’s expression suggested doubt. “Well… what would I do when I’m done?” She asked.
Sunset gave her a look. “Do you not have anything else you’d like to do?”
“I dunno,” Rainbow said, “I’m not exactly- you know.”
“No, I don’t know. What?”
There came to her face further clouding, a lapse of confidence rarely seen within her. “I’m not… that smart. Like, at all.”
Oh no she wouldn’t. Sunset had heard this sort of self-doubt from Rainbow only rarely, but it struck like a gale every time it ever dared to rear its ugly head. True, Rainbow was not the top of any class, nor was she ever going to be known as an intellectual paragon. But for some reason, whether it be her competitive nature or some deeply held insecurity, being friends with Twilight and- well, Sunset- would occasionally make the brilliant athlete look inward and see something shallow and dim. The affliction did not occur often, but when it did, it struck deep.
“Rainbow, I’m not going to hear it,” Sunset said flatly; she tried her best not to sound unpleasant about it, yet remaining firm. She couldn’t let Rainbow actually feel as though her argument held any weight. “Just because you’re not some super science nerd doesn’t mean you’re stupid. It just means you’re different.”
“I barely make it through classes, though,” Rainbow countered. “You know I’m not very good at algebra, or- or chem, or history or anything-”
“You get solid B’s in every class and always try hard,” Sunset reminded. “You do perfectly fine, even if it’s not top of every class.”
“But this is high school. What am I gonna do in college? They’ll actually be hard, and I won’t have any of you to help bail me out.”
“They’ll have tutors there, silly. Professors –OK, most of them- will want you to succeed. I promise.” Before they’d begun dating and truly come to know one another, never in her life would Sunset have suspected that one who embodied a braggart so perfectly as Rainbow Dash could be so fretful. She worried about things both great and small, from the weather that might ruin her next run to things so far in the future that they might never come to pass at all. It was such a surprise to find.
“I guess so.” Rainbow’s words were small, a murmur that came and went like a flitting breeze. She looked up at her girlfriend and then flickered over to the world that passed beyond them, the scenery of the park shining beneath the sunlight that carried on above. “I wish I were smart like you.”
“You are smart,” Sunset told her gently, a small stroking of her face so as to emphasize her belief in the fact. “Just in a different way. And I like you for it.”
“Just like?”
“I love you for it. Sillyhead.”
For the moment, Rainbow appeared satisfied; her worries were not going to be quelled all in one sitting, nor would they not find strength to resurrect themselves, but they were sated for the time being. It would be quite a while before they would see the sun, and thus allow the young couple time to enjoy themselves in their absence.
“What have you heard lately?” Rainbow eventually asked; she knew her girlfriend was no slouch, especially when academics were kept in mind. “You were hoping for UK, right? Their medical program?”
“Yeah, I was,” Sunset breathed, and her features that had only a moment ago been aglow with firm affection lost their shine and became dim. Turned away from her companion, she took her turn to examine their surroundings, or at least a very interesting root that emerged from the nearby ground. “I got accepted a few weeks ago, and they want me to do a tour next month. So I’ll be going to that.”
“That’s great! As if they’d say no.” Rainbow could, at least, have unlimited confidence in the abilities of her friends, always certain they would find a way to see themselves to success. “Full ride, right? There’s like, zero way you didn’t get the highest ACT score in the school. They’d have to take you.”
The unexpected sound of a bitter laugh came from her lips. Cut short lest it give rise to truly unpleasant feeling. “Rainbow, you know full well there’s one person who beat me, and she got an offer to go to Yale.”
“Oh. Right.” She hadn’t intentionally forgotten about Twilight, nor the fact that her brain was something freakishly huge. But so caught up in Sunset’s brilliance, especially when it was the woman she preferred, that any thought of another intelligence was occasionally lost. “How close was it?”
“I was hoping it’d be closer,” Sunset admitted. “So I’ve tried to apply for a few scholarships, and I think I’ll at least get one or two, but…” the crimson-haired girl bit her lip. “Well, I won’t be the first to get a student loan, right? Just something I’ll have to do.”
Should she say something? Perhaps it had been born of her parents’ experiences, but Rainbow had been warned away from student loans since she’d first begun to look at colleges, her mind seeing them as something worse than a leech. But Sunset had to know that, it wouldn’t be something she was unaware of. The thought she didn’t was just as unlikely as Rainbow being the smarter of the two! “You’ll get what you need,” she offered. “Things have a funny way of working out.”
“In time, they do,” Sunset sighed, and though a smile appeared on her face it was something bittersweet. “So I guess I’ll just have to pay them off like everyone else. Oh no, the tragedy of being normal for once.”
She felt for her. Sunset was brilliant, wonderfully intelligent and not one to be boastful- she just happened to share the year with a mental marvel that came along only once in a few generations; with Twilight now hogging the academic spotlight, Sunset had been unintentionally relegated.
Perhaps she caught wind of Rainbow’s unhappy quiet, for that lonesome look peered down and took in that baleful expression, her morose smile transforming into a laugh. “It’s alright, I’m fine,” she murmured. “How dare I be ashamed of being like normal people, right? It’ll still be an adventure, and I’ll find my way to do something good. I’ll have fun just like you will.”
Other people had family to look after them, to offer a home to which one could return, and maybe even a personally saved college fund that could absolve these expenses in a heartbeat, Sunset had friends, but she was in this alone and it was a miserable thing to ask that she enslave her finances to such troubles for what could be decades. But goodness, if Rainbow had thought she was proud, then Sunset was well beyond.
“What do you think you’ll do?”
“Oh, I dunno,” Sunset answered nonchalantly, playing with a lock of Rainbow’s hair. “Maybe go into therapy. I think… yeah, maybe children’s therapy instead of adults. You know. Maybe I can help kids not end up like me.”
“End up like you?” Rainbow had to rise from the comfort of Sunset’s form to confront that sentiment. “What, super hot and awesome? You act like you’re a bad thing.”
“You know what I’ve done-”
“Oh shush, that’s not you now.” Rainbow had been sympathetic to the issue once, but her patience with Sunset’s intent on self-flagellation was limited at best. “You’re great now, and that’s all that matters. Who cares if you screwed up before?”
“Even if it caused a great big mess of things?”
“Even then,” Rainbow assured her. “Because…”
The words trailed off, and at possibly the worst time. Sunset found herself waiting for what came next on an unexpectedly bated breath. What made her need to know the answer so badly she couldn’t say. “Because what?”
“I- I don’t know,” Rainbow laughed, “just because, I guess. And they won’t care who you were, they’ll just need your help. So who gives much of a care what you’ve done wrong? Just do the right thing now.”
“It’s not that easy,” Sunset countered.
“Yes it is. Especially for you. So stop worrying and keep being you. I like you because you’re nice.”
Sunset had every desire to go on arguing, and it wasn’t as if Rainbow couldn’t tell. The half-scowl her face always held to, the cold fire in her eyes that faded so slowly, especially when she continued to hold that gaze and not relent. Goodness, the stubbornness of this girl! She wanted to go back into that self-hatred way too often, and for no good reason! Well, she’d met her match in Rainbow, so good luck trying to win out in the end. There was a better chance that pigs would fly.
Or that Fluttershy would ever get on an airplane, but that was too easy a bet.
“I wish I was more than just nice,” Sunset said quietly. “After everything- I should know better.”
“You’re sexy, too,” Rainbow suggested.
“I was hoping for a little more personality-wise-”
“You’re patient. And you don’t hate people for screwing up.”
“Including that time I screamed at Twilight?” Sunset offered.
Rainbow shrugged. “Right lesson, wrong way to say it?”
“That makes it sound way too nice,” Sunset remarked.
“Well… you’re nice. So I guess that works out.”
It was a terrible argument. Both of them knew it, but to keep it going when neither was willing to budge felt pointless. Neither one was willing to see the light within themselves when they’d come to know the dark, nor would they concede to either in the end. It was silly and stupid and immature, but they were all that and more. Sometimes, all they could do was scowl at one another until they found reason to laugh. Perhaps it would be a twitch of the mouth, a slight exhalation of breath that would be seen as silly, a scowl that was just too serious- but always it would see their foul moods loosen. And today, when the weather was so beautiful and each so determined to see the good in one another, laughter found its way in; gentle, soft in sound and form, but so permanent in its presence.
“Thank you, Rainbow,” Sunset said. “It means a lot.”
“I’ll always believe in you. You know that,” Rainbow told her.
“Even if you don’t love me anymore someday?”
“Always gonna love ya, bacon-head. Even if I’m not your girl for good, you know I always will.”
That one struck deep, and though she’d heard so many of its kind before, Sunset had to put words aside so that she could control the lump in her throat and the damp that came to her eyes. “Thank you, Rainbow…” she whispered.
Hands sought out one another and held each other tight. There was nothing special to be found in their words, no grandeur or deep feeling; the both of them were too casual for that. But gentle things, quiet sounds were more than enough to bring meaning, especially when they came from one another. So though there would be plenty of time before they would leave that hill, before they would return to real life, before the endless stampede of life saw them swept away to worlds and adventures unknown that they feared and dreaded, they could at least hold to the words they freely gave to one another until that fateful day.
There wasn’t much to say afterwards. Too much talk, and the rest of their lives might get swept away with them.