Neither you or Rainbow Dash said anything to each other as you both flew up to her house. The fact that you had lost the fight against Null was still playing on your mind, and clearly Luna's dissapearance was playing on hers.

There was a lot at stake now, so it was going to be hard to treat today like normal.

Even as we speak, your element was being drained, and nopony could do anything about it. There was no point in sitting in despair, though.
If you had to wait for Null to come to you, you may aswell do something in the meantime.

"So whatcha wanna do?" Rainbow asked, attempting to sound cheerful. You could tell that she was a little downtrodden, but were thankful that she was atleast trying to seem positive.

"I'm... Not really sure," you admitted, "I wasn't expecting today to be normal, if that makes any sense."

Rainbow tossed a spare carrot onto the floor of her house, allowing Tank to eat it, slowly but surely. Atleast he didn't seem any different due to the current situation.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Rainbow replied, but she had her own idea about what to do, "We could always finish the race at Ghastly Gorge?"

You laughed slightly under your breath at the idea of that. At this point, another race had been suggested so many times that it had begun to sound like a broken record.

"No, thanks. I think that's getting a little unoriginal." you said, sarcastically.

Rainbow crossed her hoofs, feigning offence, "Oh, yeah? You don't have any better ideas!"

While that was technically true, there was something you had wanted to do for a while now, but were unsure of when to do it.

"I do have one, actually..." you said, peaking Rainbow's interest.

"Oh, yeah? Let's hear it!" she demanded, competitively. So far, it seemed like you were succeeding in taking both of your minds off of the looming threat. Of course, you were giving yourself too much credit, as Rainbow was also contributing towards it.

You weren't sure how exactly to word your idea, so you couldn't really tell her what it was just yet. The best you could do was show her what you had in mind.

"Follow me." you said, with a smile. You opened the front door to Rainbow's house, shooting off into the distance. It was about time you were the first one out of the house.
So many times, Rainbow had left you behind; it felt good to finally be the one leaving her in the dust.

You heard her call out something, but didn't quite catch it. Nevertheless, not long after a multicoloured trail was soaring after you, but it didn't seem like it wa she catching up.
It seemed like you were going to have to wait for her.

That was something you never thought you'd have to do. Waiting for Rainbow Dash? Unheard of.

"Where are we going? Can't you just tell me what we're doing?" she asked. As much as you would like to tell her, you still weren't sure how to word it.

"Nope. You'll see when we get there." you said, flying alongside her.

Rainbow let out a loud groan of dissatisfaction, causing you to laugh slightly. Despite the events that had just unfolded in the dream world, it was incredible how fast Rainbow Dash could brighten your day.

After a few minutes of flying, you finally reached the place that you wanted to take her. It was a place that you had visited when you first arrived in Equestria, back when you didn't really know Rainbow Dash, or anypony for that matter.

"Do you remember this place?" you asked, landing at the top of the mountain. Ontop of the mountain was a ledge overlooking a shallow lake. A fall from this height would surely kill you, as the water wasn't deep enough to break your fall.

To your left there was a sign which read: 'Lover's Leap'.

"Yeah, but... Nothing happy happened here." Rainbow said, looking down at the glistening blue lake. It had been a long time since you had been here, but this time atleast you knew how to fly.

"Exactly," you replied, seeming to confuse her a little, "So I thought we could give this place some happy memories."

The only things that you could recall happening here was that you nearly died, and that you and Rainbow had an argument, but even then, this place was special to you. It was the first time you had ever hung out with Rainbow, so you wanted to overwrite those bad memories with good ones.
After all, when Null arrives, you might not get another chance.

"I think I get what you mean!" Rainbow exclaimed, happily.

Last time you were here, she had asked you to jump off into the lake below and take flight, but you had failed. This time, you weren't counting on Rainbow to save you.

"This seems like a pretty good place to get some air, if you catch my drift." you said, looking at the large open space above the blue lake.

"We could've just gone anywhere else to do some flying, you know?" she asked, also seeming to want to do something else. Honestly, it had been a while since you had done something that didn't involve flying or competing with her, "Got any other other ideas?"

Now that you thought of it, simply jumping off the ledge and flying did seem pretty boring. The two of you did cause the first Double Rainboom, after all. There was another idea you had, however.

"I think so..." you said, looking down into the lake. Too your surprise, there was a section of water directly below the cliff that seemed to be a darker shade of blue. Ordinarily, that would mean that the water was deeper there, but you had to be sure, "Wait here."

Rainbow seemed confused as you flew off the edge of the cliff, descending down towards the lake's surface. Nevertheless, she followed your instructions and remained on the cliff, watching you curiously.

As soon as you reached the bottom, you dipped a hoof into the section of water that you suspected to be deeper. Surely enough, you couldn't reach the bottom. Next, you dunked your entire body into the water, except for your head. Once again, you couldn't reach the bottom.

Still, you weren't quite sure that it was deep enough to break your fall.

"Storm! What're you doing?" Rainbow called from the edge of the cliff. Wanting to get back up there as soon as possible, you dived into the water as quickly as you could, but even then you didn't reach the bottom.

It seemed safe to assume that the water would be deep enough to save you if you were to fall.

Now knowing that jumping from the cliff was safe, you flew back up to Rainbow Dash, wanting to waste no time. This almost reminded you of the time you watched the Cutie Mark Crusaders jump into a lake off of a cliff. That still probably wasn't a good choice, but it ended up ok in the end, right?

"Ok, here's what we're gonna do," you began, landing besides her on the edge of the cliff, "We're gonna jump off this ledge, and we're gonna land in that dark pool of water, ok?"

"Can't we just fly?" she asked, snarkly, "That'd be a lot more fun than just falling."

"No flying allowed. It's gotta be unique and fun in some way, right, rather than just racing all the time." you explained, wanting to do something different rather than racing for a change.

"But, y'know... My wings..." she said, looking down cautiously at the pool of water, "Th-they make me cooler!"

She almost seemed nervous. You never really realised how much Rainbow actually depended on her wings, but then again, she was a Pegasus.
You had to admit, it was going to be fun seeing how she fared without them.

Was this safe to do without the ability to fly? Probably not, but the place was called 'Lover's Leap' for a reason, right? It wouldn't be called that if ponies weren't supposed to leap off. Besides, there was no way this was going to be as dangerous as a race through the the Ghastly Gorge. The pool of water that was safe to land in was reasonably large, and surely you would only miss it if you actually tried too.

"Are you worried about not being able to fly?" you asked, attempting to tease her.

"W-What? No! I could do this with my wings tied!" she exclaimed, seeming to be a little offended. If what she said was true, though, she was going to have to prove it to you.

Using your magic, you bound her wings together using a glowing yellow rope. It hurt you a little, and you felt like you knew why, but this was potentially your last day to enjoy yourself. You didn't want to think about that now.

Rainbow looked at her wings in shock, attempting to break free. You smirked, realising that she was far less confident now that she couldn't fly.

"Now your wings literally are tied!" you exclaimed, a smirk on your face.

"Maybe we could do something else, instead?" she asked, faking a smile. She was clearly afraid of this, but didn't want to show it.

"Are you chicken?" you asked, teasing her. Usually it was her jokingly mocking other ponies, so it honestly felt good to see the tables get turned.

"Ha! Me? No!" she laughed, her voice a little shaky as she looked down at the lake. It was as if having the ability to fly completely nuetralised the fear of heights.

"Well, let's jump then. Both of us together." you said, nearing the edge of the ledge. Looking to the left of you, Rainbow was looking a thing her wings worriedly, "Don't worry, ok. If something goes wrong I'll catch you."

At first, she seemed unresponsive, but then she gave you a smile.

"Ok. Let's go." she said, her confidence seeming to return.

Both of you looked down at the pool of water below you, and took a few steps forward. The two of you glanced at eachother, a hint of worry still in Rainbow's eyes, as you prepared to jump.
Not long after, you both took a step over the edge.

Rainbow's panicked screams were all that you could hear as you fell, and you couldn't help but laugh. If it wasn't for her, you probably would've been the one screaming. Sure, you could still fly, but that would've been unfair.

Her wings instinctively struggled to escape the grasp of your magical restraints, but to no avail. You just kept falling, and falling, until...

Splash!

Both of you hit the water, and were thankfully fine. Surprisingly, Rainbow was the first to resurface, gasping for air, with you following not long after.

"That was... scarily awesome..." Rainbow admitted, taking a breath after every word. You too panted for air after the slightly unexpected collision with the water.

"It... Was..." you replied, taking in as much air as you could. Realising that you still had Rainbow's wings restrained, you released the magic that you had put on her wings, and she immediately shot into the air, "Wanna do it again?"

"Not really. There's something I've kinda wanted to do for a while now, and I don't see a better time." she explained, hovering above the lake.

Upon realising that you also had wings, you floated out of the water, shaking yourself dry, "You could've told me that earlier, and you could've gotten out of this."

"Yeah, but I wanted to see if you would've been too scared to jump or not!" she exclaimed, defensively.

"Ok, ok!" What's been on your mind?" you asked, wanting to know what activity was occupying Rainbow's thoughts.

Rainbow stared at the reflective surface of the lake, staring at her own reflection for a few seconds. It was as if she had just gotten lost in another world, "It'd be best if you just followed me."

She looked up to you, giving you a grin, before flying off into the sky. Once again you had been left behind, but she wasn't gonna wait for you.
You'd better catch up now while you still can.

Author's Notes:

There are lots of callbacks in this chapter, which is essentially the reason this chapter exists. Originally, I was gonna have this happen at the cliff that the Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped off earlier in the story, but I felt like this place suited more considering the characters.
Well, that and the fact that the last chapter to happen here was a complete mess.

The next chapter will probably be the second mature chapter, but after that it'll be back to the story. Again, it won't be too long and you can skip it if you want.

Another side note, this is most likely going to be the final slice of life segment until the main plot is over. Obviously the ending will probably be slice of life, but this will be the final break in the story before it reaches the climax.
Enjoy the calmer chapters while you can