Sealing the Deal

Rainbow Dash couldn't believe that this day had finally come. She had waited for so long with the feeling of only being told the day before. She was too excited to wait for him to come over, so she took it upon herself to head to Canyon Run before he was due in Ponyville. It wasn't like her to be able to be patient anyway. She flew as relaxed as possible, enjoying the clear weather along the way. The cool air currents streamed through her feathers and mane. The day brightened more and more as she drifted east. The early hours fueled a torrent of drowsy yawns. She was so used to it that they barely caused the smallest falter in her flight path. She would always fly for Cloud, no matter how early.

Princess Celestia raised the sun higher now, bringing the day into eight o'clock. The canyon appeared in the horizon soon after. Rainbow Dash slowly lowered her altitude until she was only skimming above the grass. Where the ground ended was hard to see now, especially since she picked up her speed. It came suddenly, dropping off so far that her shadow disappeared. Now having flying room, Rainbow inverted and dove straight down. She closed her wings tightly and fell into a massive number of backflips. The early risers of Canyon Run watched the almost daily ritual in awe.

Rainbow Dash opened her wings before hitting the ground and rocketed back up. She bowed to the onlookers, then turned to fly to the only place she ever went when visiting the town. Cloud's home stood as dark as ever in the canyon's wall, but it didn't deter her. She landed on the welcome mat happily, and, using the spare key Cirrus gave her, let herself in. The air on the inside felt crisp with peace. Rainbow made her way to the kitchen, where she heard Cirrus and Sprinkle cooking inside.

"Okay, Breezy, just a teaspoon of cinnamon", instructed the filly's mother.

She replied by splashing just a dash of the spice to the bowl of batter. Rainbow wasn't a culinary expert, but she had the impression they were making French toast. Quietly, the cyan Pegasus crept through the kitchen and settled herself at the table facing the cooking mares.

Crreeaaaaaak!

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash", greeted Cirrus without turning around to see Rainbow Dash leaning back in her antique furniture. "Hooves off the table."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yes ma'am."

Cirrus smiled. "No sass, missy."

"Ugh, yes, Mom", Rainbow snickered.

Sprinkle remained quiet while the older ponies teased each other. She still hadn't gotten over how mad she was with Rainbow Dash, three weeks later or not. Unknown to her, Cirrus had a plan to cure the grudge, and wouldn't luck have it that the time had almost come to do just that. Cirrus bided her time for what would be only a few more minutes. She started up the stove and began frying. Almost immediately, they were joined by one of the boys.

Gale poked his head through the door in the ceiling from his room. "Hey, Mom, when's breakfast. Oh, hey Rainbow Dash."

"What's up?"

"He is", Cirrus jested, "In a minute, Son, I just started."

With an "okay" he retreated back into his room. Now that the kitchen was devoid of conversation, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. Her aim was to get a quick nap in before the day officially started. However, Cirrus had other plans.

"For somepony who's supposed to be excited about today, you're not looking like it."

"Tired", Rainbow called.

"Then go sleep upstairs", she suggested, "And not at the table."

"Where?"

"Cloud's bed."

Red hot spots settled over Rainbow's cheeks. "Is he up?"

"I don't know", said Cirrus honestly, "I sent a wakeup call, but you know how he likes to sleep."

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. I'll go see." She hopped up from the table into the hole Gale had used to check on breakfast. The house's rooms flew by on her way to the highest one. It got dark on the way, but she was so used to the place that she didn't need to see to know where to fly. She breached the final hole to find Cloud's empty room dimly lit by the light filtering in through the trapdoor at the ceiling. She shot to the top, where she had a feeling Cloud would be. Outside, the wind wasn't terrible yet in the early morning hours which was the reason she saw Cloud sitting on the very edge of the cliff. She happily trotted up behind him.

She wrapped her hooves around him in a hug to warm him up from the cool breeze. He leaned back to look up into her eyes. "Hey, Dash. Kinda early, huh?"

She let him go to fall to the ground. With a shrug, she took a seat next to him. "Thought you liked to see me."

"No kidding, Beautiful", he replied slyly.

Still not used to the compliment, Rainbow Dash blushed silently. She tried to take his mind off her looks by changing the subject. "When's it gonna be finished?"

"About three hours. I can't wait", he answered.

"Me neither", Rainbow Dash admitted, "It's going to be so awesome."

"Wanna help me break it in? Stay a night or two?"

"Are you kidding? You owe me!" she laughed. "Yeah I want to!"

He sat up so he could pull her to him and drape a wing around her. They came to learn that she loved it when he did that. It never failed to make her snuggled into him. Before she realized her feelings, Rainbow Dash would never have accepted the comforting embrace of a boy. Now, she didn't even think about how soft it made her look. Cloud once commented how he was her camouflage, disguising the tough side of her that could take anypony down. Not much had changed from the before and after of their relationship statuses. Maybe the biggest difference was how much more time they spent actually doing couple stuff. To her relief, nopony made fun of her for it. As a matter of fact most ponies envied her for having such a good-looking and awesome colt. She couldn't ask for much more.

Cloud was just as happy as she was to have somepony. She wasn't his first marefriend, but she was the best by a landslide. He pledged to be the best coltfriend he could be, and with Rainbow Dash that didn't mean he had to be cliché. He knew they would be perfectly content if one of their dates included a high stakes race where the loser had to do something embarrassing.

Turning away from their thoughts, the two lazily gazed out over Canyon Run. The wind below moved the clouds about, but it was too dark for any of them to cast shade. Eagles and hawks drifted around looking for prey with the odd vulture or two hogging the sky. When they focused, they could see the specs of ponies starting work or dragging their children toward the echoing school bell.

Rainbow Dash yawned into Cloud's side, trying to fight sleep. It proved to be a task. The atmosphere was just too relaxing. As much as she didn't want to, she pulled out of Cloud's grip to stretch the drowsiness away. Cloud stretched with her. The day had to start eventually. With her final yawn, Rainbow led the way back down into the house. The rooms whooshed past until they hit terminal velocity, which prompted them to open their wings and stop the free fall.

"And here are our love birds", Cirrus commented the second she heard hooves hit the floor.

Cloud took a seat next to Gale. "Morning Mom."

"Morning, Son", she replied, sliding two plates of breakfast across the table to the teenagers. "I hope you two kept the smooching to a minimum."

"M-mom!" Cloud shouted.

Rainbow blushed, but wasn't as embarrassed as her coltfriend was, so she helped Cirrus torture him. "Only enough to get us through breakfast."

Gale spat his juice back into the cup, mid sip. "Ugh, gross! Geez, get a room!"

"I hardly think this is appropriate breakfast table discussion", Gust scoffed, "I'll be in my room."

"Gack! Me too!"

"That's just less audience for us!" Rainbow called after them. She turned to see Cloud scarfing down his breakfast in some effort to forget that he existed. He didn't look up. That would only bring attention to him, and to his mother that meant he was ready for more.

"Oh, come on, Cloud take a joke", Cirrus laughed, "You think I'm bad? Just wait until Grandpa Storm hears about it!"

He shifted so uncomfortably in his chair that he fell right out of it, sending scrambled eggs, French toast, and laughter flying. The three girls were still laughing at him when he made it back to his chair. What was left on his plate he quickly ate before dashing as far away from the laughing as he could. He made it to the door only to have somepony grab his tail.

It was Rainbow Dash, smiling apologetically. He wasn't mad, to her relief, just so red-faced it looked like it hurt. He smoothed his mane back. "I'm going out to say goodbye to everypony, wanna come with?"

She nodded. He opened the door for her. They took to the sky of the bright town, gliding down to the plateau. The first stop was Sugary Sweets. The ice cream shop was pretty empty for its popularity, but that only made it easier to move. Rainbow Dash looked around. It was her first time on the inside, and she really wanted to see how it compared to Sugarcube Corner. The décor was sort of plain, maybe the odd advertisement here and there. It seemed Sugar Pie didn't need a lavish interior. The more she looked around, the more Rainbow Dash had a feeling that the only reason ponies came so often was just for the food.

"Hey guys!" Sugar called from a small window in the wall behind the front counter. "I'm working on my next project. Be right out. Lemon Drop! Go get Cloud and Rainbow's order!"

"Yes, Sugar", called the colt's voice from farther in the room. In a few moments the yellow-green colt pushed through the doors with a notepad levitated at the ready. "Okay, what'll it be?"

"Nothing, I just ate."

"A sundae", Rainbow said.

"Still hungry?"

"Dude, ya left before I even touched breakfast!" she laughed.

"You teased me", he defended.

"You're easy to tease!"

That started a glaring contest, which neither won before bursting into laughter. They laughed so hard most of the ponies trying to enjoy their early morning deserts turned with annoyed looks to watch the couple do nothing to restrain the volume. The more they looked at each other, the harder it was to control the laughter. Cloud rested his head on the counter and brought his hoof down on it. Thankfully, it couldn't escalate anymore. Lemon hurriedly came through the door with Rainbow's sundae. Rainbow dove in, letting the temperature drop in her mouth and bring her giggles to a stop.

"CLOUD!" Gust screamed from the door. He flew to the bar, trailing papers holding notes and calculations behind him.

"What, Gust?" the stallion groaned.

"I just finished analyzing all of the data! I have—what you did—it's amazing beyond anything I've ever—"

"Whoa, chill out, Egghead", Rainbow interrupted.

Gale breathed in a healthy dose of oxygen so his thoughts could gather. "When Cloud saved you, he broke the sound barrier. I'm sure you already know that. Something about it was very diffrent from when I witnessed you break it, Rainbow Dash. From that point I began taking into account the smallest of details and applying the laws of physics." He gasped enthusiastically. "Cloud, with the conditions of that day, you not only broke it once. Your body shape caused four individual booms: at the point of your hooves, front and back, and at the tips of your wings. You shattered the sound barrier and for a few moments had gone hypersonic!"

Cloud and Rainbow Dash could say nothing. Gust nodded to make sure they knew he was telling the truth. He was never one to come to a conclusion without tons of double checking his research, so there was no doubt in his brother's mind that he got something wrong along the way. Cloud just couldn't believe that the record his father set couldn't even touch his.

"So he can do a Sonic Rainboom", asked Rainbow Dash with a hoarse squeak. She had heard rumors, yet refused to believe them. She wanted to be the only pony capable, so it could remain her signature move.

"Don't be so crestfallen, Rainbow Dash. The result of Cloud's performance was not just a Sonic Rainboom. When one examines the finest details, the product was a Hypersonic Static Boom. Unlike you, Cloud's frame is much too big to condense water molecules in the exact same way yours does. The only reason he managed to produce rainbows at all was the static charge the special fibers in his wings and tail had built up. The second Cloud had gone supersonic, it discharged, electrifying the water vapors with color in a sphere around him with a wave-like pattern until it dissipated."

Neither she nor Cloud spoke egghead, but they did manage to get the bits and pieces they needed to figure out that now they had their own moves to be proud of. Rainbow's moment of disappointment turned into satisfaction. "Cloud, you are officially, like, twenty percent cooler now."

He chuckled. "Thanks, Rainbow. Let's see the ponies at the next flying competition do what we can!"

"Congratulations, Cloud", said Gust without even a hint of the word in his voice. He left them, picking up the litter of research still blowing around the floor on his way out.

The flyers fell silent at the mercy of their own thoughts over what had happened. Cloud chose to forget it entirely since there was no further reason to dwell on it. Rainbow went back to eating her ice cream. Cloud watched her. He exhaled dismissingly. "So…"

"So…what?" she asked between bites.

"Got anything else to talk about. Ya know I'm not good at that small talk thing."

Rainbow thought for a moment. Her mind wandered to the day before, when she told everypony of the news. "Oh, yeah, Twilight flipped out yesterday when I told her. She said something about a lot of things to think about."

"Like what?"

"What are you going to do for money when you move? Gotta job yet?"

He leaned against the bar. "Nope, but there's a certain somepony in charge of the weather detail over Ponyville", he said cheekily, "I thought about talking to her about one."

Rainbow smiled. "I'll talk to my commander."

"Thanks…Dashie."

She froze. Now that he was her coltfriend he could get away with calling her that. She still couldn't help how special it made her feel though. He only said it when he was about to be really sweet. And not the sweet as in awesome, but the sweet that Rainbow Dash really liked. The coltfriend sweet as she put it.

From the top of her sundae, she saw him staring at the floor with an uncertain grin. She saw where somepony had practically painted pink to his cheeks, leading her to wonder just what was going through his head. He met her eyes, though only for a second. Something was definitely bugging him, and it was starting to worry her.

The idea had only hit Cloud once before. They weren't ready back then, and even now he still wasn't so sure. What did Dad tell me about it? Only for the most special ponies…He stole a glance while she dipped back down for another bite. Inside his ribcage, the organ that pumped blood through his body relocated to his throat to continue the job there. She really is the one, isn't she, Dad?

Silence ensued both between them and in her head while Rainbow Dash continued to eat. They could hear Sugar Pie in the back still continuing to work on whatever it was she was doing. Cloud took that a sign that if he didn't take Rainbow Dash now he would only find an excuse and she would never see his family's most well-kept secret. He swallowed nervously. "Hey, Rainbow…"

"What's up, Cloud?" she asked, trying to find out what it was through his eyes.

"Before Cloudsdale finishes my house and I move to Ponyville, I want to show you something…"

The realization that it wasn't something bad brought the greatest relief to her. "Yeah, what is it?"

He looked around, almost as if he didn't want anypony else to hear. "Uh, I'll explain on the way. Come on!"

He streamed for the door. Luckily, she was used to his speedy departures, and was right behind him. She followed him to the sky well above the ground of ponies. He flew pretty fast for wanting to just show her something. She had no problem keeping up; he never really tried to outfly her. Despite a little paranoia, Rainbow managed to convince herself that he was just really excited about it. She couldn't even imagine what it was. Cloud was so unpredictable that it could be anything.

She flew up to his side. "Hey! We're on the way, now tell me!"

"It's a family secret! That's all ya need to know right now!"

"Are you serious!?" she exclaimed, "At least give me a hint!"

"No can do, Beautiful!"

Knowing that she wasn't getting anything else out of him, she hung back, but not before Cloud had a little fun. "In the name of Pinkie Pie, I tag you!" he shouted, giving her nose a small touch.

He shot out of her reach. Rainbow was not the pony to play tag with if you didn't have a good distance and the element of surprise first. He looked back to see a rainbow streaking through the sky right at him. When she got close, he quickly rolled to the left, letting her shoot past. She kept going straight for a few seconds, then slowed and turned around to make another tagging run. This time, she had Cloud. Instead of going for a quick getaway, Rainbow slowed her approach. Cloud didn't see it coming. He dodged too early when Rainbow got close. His loss of speed granted her with the chance to adjust, then tackle him with her tag. She didn't let go of him until she brought them to a standstill in the air.

"Rainbow, let me go over the rules of tag again", Cloud chuckled.

"Just hug me back, jerk", she sighed. Her head rotated inward against him. She heard his heart beating hard against his chest. At first she figured it was the flying. If she had continued to hug him, she would've found it was her making it race around in his chest.

Cloud flew on at a steady pace. Rainbow stayed at his side in case he went for a second sneak tag. They kept going until the plateau of Canyon Run was so far away, it blended in walls of the landform from which it had got its name. Now that they were miles from civilization Rainbow couldn't even begin to think of where it was Cloud was taking her. She wished Pinkie Pie was there to help juggle ideas. She really could use the mare's creativity and imagination for this one.

They came upon a sharp turn in the canyon that right after led into a dead stop. The massive wall stretched the width of the ravine and ran down to the very bottom. The shock of something so incredibly large anchored Rainbow Dash to a single place in the air. She didn't even notice Cloud fly up to it for a close inspection. He was merely a spec flying to different places on the giant wall.

"Ugh", Cloud growled, "Where is it? I thought it was somewhere in the middle." He scanned the midsection of the wall again, looking for anything that wasn't blatantly sediment. For a better viewing angle, he backed away a little to expose more of the wall to his field of vision. He then saw what he was looking for directly below where he was looking. Cloud zipped up to it. "Rainbow Dash! Come look at this!"

The echo snapped her out of the trance. She coasted down to where he was looking at an odd symbol painted with mud. It was the sun, shaped in a way she had never seen it drawn before. While neat, Rainbow Dash hardly thought it was worth the trip. "You flew me all the way out here just to see a picture! I can draw that!"

He smiled. "Not this", he replied. He pushed the middle of the sun inward. It gave way under the pressure. A loud, looming click! reverberated through the giant rock. A moment of spooky silence followed, then another louder scraping noise as a large area around the sun symbol caved inward. It retreated back several feet before rolling aside, revealing a long, perfectly cylindrical tunnel carved deep into the wall. The light of sunshine at the opposite end faintly lit up the shaft.

"After you", Rainbow Dash offered hesitantly.

He stepped inside. He almost called her "chicken", but would have no room to talk. This was his second visit to this place, and he was just as jumpy as she was. The ground was flawlessly smooth, more so than Rainbow first thought and Cloud remembered. The temperature dropped about ten degrees once the door had finished sliding back into place. Rainbow crept up to Cloud, who put a wing of security over her. She let him make the first move since this was his secret, and a really nerve-racking one at that.

Cloud stepped forward so cautiously it seemed that he was taking days to put his hoof back down on the cool, stony floor. He sighed upon making contact. The path ahead wasn't dangerous. They trotted to the end of the tunnel like mice. The less noise they made the smaller the chance of some non-existent sentient being hearing them. About halfway through Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks.

"Look…can we go back now?"

"Back to the dead end?" he asked seriously. In the dim light, Cloud vaguely made out how scared she was. He had never seen or even thought he would see a look of dependency cross the mare's features. He softened his expression from joking to a comforting smile. "I know it's pretty uncool the first time. Trust me it gets better."

She turned away in disbelief. His touch didn't appear to make her feel any less tense, so he figured he needed to try words again. "Dash, you can't go back…"

"Then why did you bring me?" she snapped.

He looked down in uncertainty. "I…this is a special place, Rainbow Dash. My Dad brought me here a long time ago and I really want you to see too."

"But why me", she asked pleadingly.

"That's easy", he chuckled, "Because you're a really special pony, Rainbow Dash. This place isn't just for anypony."

"What's so special about me?"

Her attempts to prevent them from budging an inch farther wouldn't work for much longer. Not after what Cloud had to say now. He took a deep breath. "I love you, that's what."

It didn't appear like she could do it, but her eyes opened even wider. The words pierced her very soul. To make sure that he said what he said, she stuttered shakily, "W-what?"

"Hm…you heard me", he replied, "I love you, Rainbow Dash. I think for a long time now."

She stood up to her full height so she could hug his neck. No longer feeling the fear she did only thirty seconds ago, she let him go with a giggly girlish smile. "So, what is this place?"

"Ya know I asked the same question nine years ago. Dad said I had to see for myself", he replied, "So guess what. You have to see for yourself too!"

"Then let's go already!" she exclaimed, "It's cold in here!"

"Come on!" he laughed, "We both know you want out because you're scared!"

"Scared? Me?" she challenged, "As if! I thought I was going to have to hold you when the door closed!"

He pushed the insult aside with a sarcastic wave of his hoof. "Pshhh!"

The next fifty or so feet was full of playful remarks and laughter. This end let out onto a cliff, not a straight drop like the entrance. Cloud led Rainbow to the edge, where the wildest and prettiest sight awaited her eyes. For miles out, surrounded by a circular wall of rock, was a jungle. From their viewpoint, she could see nearly everything far below them. In the walls of the rocks, somepony had carved out windows and homes. Large, eroded monuments in the shape of Pegasi towered over the giant trees. Temples rose up, but not nearly as high. Far against the rear wall a large water fall fell from a cave forming a river at the top that ran through the diameter of the giant circle into another cave at the base of the side where Cloud and Rainbow stood.

Some time had to go by before Rainbow was able to soak it all in. Beside her Cloud was no less astounded. Isolated from the rest of the world, the place was still perfectly preserved and remained unchanged from when he was six. His gaze wandered to Rainbow Dash, who still looked out in awe. "Like the view?"

She nodded. "What is this place?"

"You remember when I first met Rarity and he said something about my color patterns or whatever and I said I didn't know they were special?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah…?"

"Well, it is special", he explained, "My family is the last of an ancient race of ponies called the Aboriponies. That's the reason I look so different. Not many ponies say anything because they just think I'm calico, but that's not it. Dad said I get my family pattern from my Mom and not him, that's why I look like her and not him."

"Wait, what about your brothers and sister?" she inquired skeptically, "They don't have different colors."

"They aren't old enough yet. It sets in at puberty", he explained.

"How can you be the last", came her second question to call him out on another fact, "What about the rest of your family? Ya know cousins and stuff."

"That's kinda where it gets weird. My mom and dad were both adopted on different sides of Equestria. No pony knows where they came from or anything."

"Then how'd you find this place?"

"My Dad really didn't like being different, so he tried at least finding out why. I forgot really what happened, but he found it after a trip to Canterlot. Pretty cool, huh?"

She shrugged. "Eh, my mom tells better bedtime stories."

"It's not a story!" he cried, "It's real!"

"Dude, chill out", Rainbow snickered.

"Sorry", he apologized.

There was nothing else for either of them to say, so Cloud spread his wings wide and hopped over the edge in a slow glide. Rainbow followed. He led her to the crumbling ruins, where they flew by the giant statues. He looped around them lazily, sometimes drifting into gaps with Rainbow copying his every move. From there they went to the waterfall, behind which was a large area created by the high overhang of the origin of the falling water. They flew into the shade on the back side of the water. Rainbow watched him arc hard through the sheet of water and back again so fast it didn' have time to collect and weigh his wings down. She did the same thing, both times of contact with the cool liquid refreshing her.

She couldn't believe how special she was for him to bring her to such an amazing place. Rainbow then realized that maybe she meant more to him than what she first thought. Her heart fought hard to leave its ribcage prison. As they climbed farther upwards against the wall of rock and past the waterfall, the best, and most embarrassing idea hit her. She knew the perfect moment would be when they stopped, and that was only a few minutes later when they finally reached the summit of the highest point of the ancient city. He landed on the windy top.

Rainbow sat beside him. She scooted as close to him as the laws of physics would allow. Cloud put a hoof and wing around her with a sigh. It couldn't have gotten any better. And it was now or never. "Cloud?"

He turned, but didn't answer. Rainbow Dash was giving him the sweetest look he had ever seen. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The distance between them closed slowly, then ceased completely when Rainbow's lips touched his, sealing the deal of their love.

The End

I've waited forever and a day for this moment, and now I can relish in the knowledge that I have lived it.

For all of you who have followed this story to the end, please leave a review for me. It would make me very happy to see what you think of my first story… Thank you so much for reading, I hope to see you all in the sequels!

Chapter Trivia:

This is one of the few chapters that I have had planned and have gone over and over in my head since the start of the story. Every element came together just as I had hoped.

Story Trivia:

Characters:

Cloud is the first OC I had ever come up with for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and was, for a while, also my ponysona.

Development:

Despite the uploading order of my stories, this one was the first one that I came up with, shortly followed by the others. Consequently, it has been in development since I was only a sophomore in high school.

Easter Eggs: *Non-plot Spoilers*

For those readers who read across my stories: you may have noticed three things are very odd about the timelines. I wrote them in such a way that I have three "Easter Eggs", so to speak. They are:

Event Difference: Instances where stories feature the same events, but with many different aspects.

Time Paradox: Instances where events happen at seemingly different times in Equestria.

Pony Arrival Paradox: The fact that each story hints that the main OC may or may not have been the first in Ponyville, whereas evidence from another story suggests the opposite.

****There is a new poll on my profile with choices about what I should write next. Also, I'm sharing updates to what's going on with my writing on Twitter. I post update statuses as well as writing tips I have found helpful for those of you writing your own stories. You can find my Twitter account on my profile.****

Thank you all so much for reading something so dear to me!