While none of the administration actually believed the story that Carnan and his gang beat each other up, it was the story that everyone was sticking to; so they had to go with it. they were all sent to the hospital and then home. Only Soarin remained since (according to him, Rainbow Dash, and some other witnesses) he had been out when the melee occurred. Having no where else to put him, he got the whole cabin to himself. Life sometimes worked out.

Sometimes.

He was under tight watch for a while; but eventually that slacked off when it got to the last two weeks of camp. He and Rainbow continued to see each other. At first it was just stolen moments here and there. Then when the heat backed off, they began seeing each other in earnest. And with that nice cabin all to himself, they could have some pretty memorable dates. The two were experiencing almost grown-up levels of dating with the freedom they had. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.

The night before their last, the two decided to walk down to the lake and look at the stars. Of course they weren't allowed out in the woods after dark, but by this time, even the staff was ready to leave and everything got slack. So Soarin and Rainbow went down to the lake as they had planed and looked up at the sky; not saying a word.

It is in such places, at such times, that both the limitless possibilities and the great limitations of life became clear. Here they were, looking up at stars, stars who's light had been traveling millions, maybe billions of light years to reach them. Stars from great and far away places. Stars that might have planets that were the home of unimaginable and countless life forms. Life forms that they'd never see because the distances were too great, their science too primitive, and their lives too short. Endless possibilities, limited resources; that was life.

And such thoughts were appropriate on a night like tonight. Soarin and Rainbow lived over a hundred of miles apart. When they left here, they would barely see each other. Even in todays age of social media and cell phones, not being there, physically, was a hard burden to bare. Each knew they would have to decide on something; they just didn't know what.

Rainbow reached out and touched Soarin's arm. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Soarin said with a sad sigh.

Rainbow turned her head to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"This is our last night together and it sucks. I like you a lot Rainbow. In fact I'd say I'm on the verge of loving you. But I don't want a long distance romance."

Rainbow furrowed her brow. "Well, why not? I mean we got facebook, twitter, Instagram, text, and skype. We could still see each other every day."

"And could I hold your hand? Kiss you? Sit beside you and just feel your presence? All those things are great, but their also a reminder of everything we couldn't do. Long distance relationships almost never work because eventually one person or both decides they want or need more than screen time. It wouldn't be fair to either of us to even try." Soarin then felt Rainbow's fist come crashing down on his chest. He yelled in pain.

"So what was fair about this? You knew you didn't want a LDR, so why even bother having this in the first place? 'Oh I'll go out with her, cause her to have feelings, then at the end say, well that was fun, bye'. That's bull Soarin; and you know it!" Rainbow was furious and on the verge of tears. She never opened herself like this to a guy before. She always kept her emotions in check; but this was too much. She felt angry and betrayed.

Soarin stood up and looked down at her. "And if I told you how I felt, would it have made any difference? You chased me Rainbow."

Rainbow jumped up. "Don't play those games with me Soarin! And yes; it might have. At least it would have given me a choice! I . . . I care for you. I opened myself up to you. I thought if we hit it off, we could be something. And, yes, maybe if I had known your feelings from the start, I would have still gone ahead; but at least I would have done so knowing what I was getting myself into!"

"Dash, Rainbow, I'm not saying good-bye. I'm just saying I want to be friends. And not because that's all I want, but because, in the end, that's all I know we'll end up being. I'm sorry. And, I guess I should have told you earlier; but by the time it had become necessary, it was already too late. I didn't know things would go like they did or we'd develop the feelings we have. I thought it would have been arrogant to say I didn't want a long distance relationship right up front."

"It would have made you honest." Tears rolled down Rainbows face. "Just go. I'm done."

"I'm not leaving you out here alone," Soarin said softly.

"You already left me. All you are now is a warm body standing beside me." Rainbow turned, crossed her arms, and looked out over the lake.

"Then I'll be that warm body. But you can't be here by yourself."

The two stood there in silence; looking over the lake, under the stars, in a universe of endless possibilities and limit resources.

***************************************************************************************************************

Rainbow looked out the bus window all the way home. She didn't talk to anyone, didn't want to even occupy the same space as the others. She wanted to be alone physically as she felt emotionally. She took her phone out of her bag and decided to watch some You Tube. Maybe she could find some shining example of human creativity (or at least stupidity), to take her mind off things. She turned on the screen and saw she had a message from Soarin. She wanted to delete it, but couldn't. She opened it up and read it.

Dear Rainbow, I don't want to lose you. Life is better with you in it. Please don't shut me out of yours. I'm sorry.

I was a jerk. But please let's be friends at least. Love (and I do) Soarin.

Rainbow wiped a tear from her eye and responded "Ok". In what seemed like a second he replied back with "thank you". Rainbow smiled. This isn't what she wanted. This wasn't what she had hoped for. But then, what had she hoped for? What does anyone hope for when they pursue another person? Is it a short term romance? - friendship? - sex? - marriage? She had never thought it through. But does anybody? What did Pinkie and Sonata want from each other? What did Flash and Twilight want? Should anyone want anything other than to see what happens? Maybe that was the problem? Maybe everyone was expecting too much or too little? What right did they have to expect anything? Rainbow decided she wouldn't expect anything from Soarin. She would just do her best to keep him in her life somehow.

The bus pulled up to the school and there were her parents, Sunset, Twilight and Flash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie and Sonata, Scootaloo, and Applejack. Rainbow smiled at seeing them all. They loved her and she loved them. She looked down at her phone again. One new message; "I'm missing you more than you know, Soarin".

"Maybe. But not as much as I miss you," she whispered to herself. She then packed her phone away and got off the bus to the love, cheers, and hugs of her friends and family.

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4_4abCWw-w

Pretty much the song I listened to for inspiration while writing this chapter. Love is messy, hearts break, especially at that age. Originally it was going to be a lot sadder; but I decided to lighten it up a little bit (especially since a majorly depressing chapter is coming up really soon). Anyway, since Monday is a holiday, I'll do an extra chapter tomorrow night. I'm still trying to wrap this up before Friendship Games.