Forbidden Feelings Ch. 6

Springing up from her seat, Rainbow Dash strode towards the back of the house with her young guest worriedly in tow. She stood before a rather large door on which she pushed with all her weight, and entered.
Scootaloo stood stock still as Rainbow started rummaging through the room. It was filled to the brim with household paraphernalia, old furniture, stacks and stacks of old weather reports and what looked like some sort of scientific journal on the weather, but most impressively trophies. They glinted from just about every corner of the sizeable room, some lying neatly in rows on shelves but most of them peeking out of various holes between the other clutter.
She was still looking around herself with her jaw open when Dash came back, covered in a light coating of dust, grasping an old piece of fabric. She couldn't help but notice the grim look of determination on the mare's face as she swept by her, making a motion with her hoof that Scoots should follow.
“Er, Dash, that was amazing! What was that room? You had so many trophies! So much stuff! How did -”
She was cut off rather abruptly as they reached the main room again and Dash turned to face the filly while untangling the fabric with her hooves.
“Almost all of it isn't mine, it belongs to the previous owner of this house. I was going to get to all that later, but I just reminded myself of Thunder Flash. He was pretty old when he helped me out all those years ago... I gotta go see him now, or I'm going to feel horrible until I do.”
“W-wait, Rainbow, you mean now now? Cause when I said 'what's stopping you from going now?' I didn't actually mean right-this-moment now and... Hey, are you going to leave me here? At least get me down to Ponyville!”
Rainbow bent down with a smile on her face. “Of course I wouldn't leave you. You're coming with me!”
Scootaloo's heart jumped into her mouth as she finally twigged on to what Dash had been trying to do with the old fabric. It was a harness! Dash split into a wide grin as she saw the expression on the filly's face.
“Yup, you got it. I knew that old stallion had one somewhere.” Scootaloo started jumping around the room in excitement, much to Rainbow's consternation, who was trying to work out how to put the damn thing on. She quickly quieted down when she saw the daggers that Dash was launching in her direction. Trotting back to where Dash had laid the harness on the floor, she marveled at the thought she was soon going to be flying, with her idol no less.
“OK, here we go. Put your hooves through here, here and... here,” Dash said, indicating the respective areas in the fabric. As she stepped into the harness, Rainbow pulled it over her and fastened it around her back, pulling it tight. “It might be a little too tight, but trust me, that's no bad thing at the speed we're going to be going,” she finished with a wink.
“Right, jump onto my back and we'll be off.” She crouched down to allow Scootaloo to climb up, then stood up herself. Scootaloo was positioned so she was gripping Dash's neck, while her rear hooves were tight against Dash's waist. The straps came down on either side of Dash's wings, resulting in next to no loss of mobility in the air for the athletic pegasus. She might not have been able to make a sonic rainboom with all that air resistance, but a more than respectable speed was still easily within her reach. As she fastened the straps beneath her belly, she went on about how to use it.
“You've gotta hold tight. The straps will keep you in, but they can't do all the work. They're pretty old as well, so...” Rainbow laughed as she felt the filly tense up on her back. “Don't worry kiddo, I'm faster than the speed of sound. If by some crazy chance you fall, you're not getting anywhere near the ground.”
Judging by how the poor filly on her back started trembling, Dash thought that perhaps her assurances hadn't had the desired effect. In a more serious tone, she continued, “Hey. You alright, Scoots?”
“N-not really, D-dash...” the filly muttered. “I've never flown like this before, not in one of these harness thingums.”
“It's OK, Scootaloo. Do you trust me?”
“I guess so...”
“Then believe me when I say you'll be just fine. Enjoy it - you're getting a ride from the fastest, bestest, most awesomest mare in Equestria!”
Finally Scootaloo gave a giggle. Dash then bounced around a few times to test the harness. Seeing that it held the filly tight against her back, she then ventured out onto her landing pad, and with nary a pause, launched off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4tF4R24t1g
With powerful wing strokes she climbed up towards the blue sky, Scootaloo holding on with a vice-like grip. She rocketed up for a few moments more, then eased into a fairly slow level flight. As she surveyed the vast expanse of the skies, Dash wondered how anything else could even compare to the feeling of flying free, unbounded, the air whooshing past feathered wings as a pegasus sped towards its destination. Interrupting her thoughts, she heard Scootaloo stretch next to her ear, shouting: “This is awesome, Rainbow!”
“Awesome? I'll show you awesome,” she murmured to herself, and with a whoop she suddenly dove vertically downwards, laughing. The view was even better from this angle – she felt as if the whole of Equestria was spanned out beneath them as they hurtled down. Speeding up, Rainbow heard the faint sound of a scream reaching her ears through the rush of air going past them. The shriek slowly transitioned from one of joy to one of sheer terror as the ground of Sweet Apple Acres shot up towards them.
Dash meanwhile was wearing the silliest grin on her face as the hard ground came closer and closer. If she could get out of a vertical flight after having done a sonic rainboom then this would be foal's play. Barely a few metres off the tops of the trees, she pulled a 90° turn near-instantly and flew straight across the farm, doing a few spins on herself. The buffeting left in their wake knocked quite a few apples off their trees, but, uncaring, she went onwards, climbing again to get over the hills that marked the outskirts of Ponyville. She might have to answer to her friend Applejack later, but for now flying was the only thing on her mind.
Slowly she became aware of Scootaloo still screaming in her ear, and thought to herself she'd done her job very well – she was fairly sure that the filly wouldn't forget this flight for a good long while. “Stunt's over kid, stop damaging my eardrums!” she shouted.
Scootaloo obliged as they sped onwards for Cloudsdale, climbing steadily. About 10 minutes of solid flight later, the majestic cloud city came slowly into sight, rising above the horison. Nothing Dash had seen in her travels so far could compare with this colossal place suspended in the skies. From afar she could see both the weather factory, the huge building where all of Equestria's weather was made, and the Cloudosseum, the biggest arena in existence, where air shows, practice and general entertainment were put on for the pegasi of Cloudsdale and beyond. It was also where her confidence failed her all those years ago...
She shook her head, putting the thoughts out of her mind as they drew ever closer to the city. A couple of minutes later, she slowed down to land and touched down on one of the many landing pads that surrounded the city. Undoing the harness and bending down, she finally folded her slightly aching wings so Scootaloo could get off her back. She felt Scootaloo jump off and turned round to face the filly, who promptly launched herself at Dash, yelling: “That was awesome!” and giving her as big a hug as she could manage. As Rainbow returned the hug,and started to undo the harness from Scootaloo's back, she replied, “Heh, I know kiddo. Enjoyed?”
“You betcha, Dash, that was the best!”
“OK, OK, now we're here we can finally do what we came for. If I remember correctly, the jobcentre should be over...” she paused for a second, scanning the city, “there,” she indicated with a hoof. They set off at a brisk pace in the direction Rainbow had pointed towards. After a good 5 minutes or so of trotting along, a familiar building came into sight. Yup, there was no doubt about it. This was definitely the place that had helped her to set her life back on track all those years ago, she thought.
Luckily there were hardly any pegasi in the queues, so the pair only had to wait a short while before being able too see someone. The time was spent in silence, Rainbow lost in her own thought and Scootaloo sensing the mare's distress, and refraining from her usual light-hearted chatter. Finally, a help desk opened up, and they made their way up to the pegasus on duty.
She was a light green mare, with a pair of quills as her cutie mark. They sat down and Rainbow got straight to the point. “Um, I'm not quite sure how to put this...”
Her only response was a pair of arched eyebrows.
“I was here a long time ago... a kind stallion named Thunder Flash helped me out. Do you know where I can find him?”
“Oh that old pony? I'm afraid you're about two years too late my dear. He died of natural causes. I'm so sorry.” she said in a nasal tone. Tersely, she continued, “Now, is there anything else I can help you with?”
Rainbow's face fell, and in an ashen voice she whispered, “No, thanks.”  Getting up, she paced out of the building with Scootaloo hot on her heels, and rounding the corner, out of sight of the main road, she grasped Scootaloo in a hug and broke into deep, gut-wrenching sobs.