The soft sound of of a baited lure was heard as it flew from the end of the fishing rod and into the serene waters.

It was a regular Saturday morning for Andrew. Every week, he gathered his fishing gear and made his way to the small pond in the middle of Ponyville’s residential district. Despite it being a fairly high traffic spot, the abundance of fish that could be found in the small waterhole was quite surprising.

Adding to Andrew’s surprise, it turned out that fishing was legal in Ponyville. Despite their mostly vegetarian diet, the ponies here were able to eat fish. That didn't mean that all of them liked it though, meaning that the fishing spot was more often than not, deserted.

The old windmill that stood tall on the bank creaked low and long in the early morning sun. Despite its age and redundancy in the more industrialized parts of Equestria, it was still charmingly rustic.

Andrew was thankful that he had been speaking to Rarity a few days back. After telling her he was a fan of the relaxing hobby, she told him that her father was also invested in the act of catching fish.

Being the ever generous soul that she was, she managed to persuade her father to let Andrew borrow some of his older stuff, on indefinite loan. A welcome gift, seeing as the small amount of pocket money he received from here and there wasn’t enough to make a living out of it, let alone buy stuff for hobbies.

Andrew grumbled as he reeled in the line. As much as he hated mooching off from Applejack, he really had no other choice. It wasn’t as if the local businesses were exactly keen on hiring the town’s resident “monster”.

At least he knew his way around a tool or two. Renovating run-down houses or helping Rarity go mining for gems seemed to take up most of his time and supply him with his income.

He had lost count of how many rotted, warped or waterlogged rafters he had replaced in moist-ridden attics. These ponies might be great at a lot of things but waterproofing their thatch roofs still seemed beyond them.

His stint with Rarity began after the fashionista had seen him dig out an irrigation trench on Applejack’s farm. She had begged him to come help her gem hunting after that. It was backbreaking work but at least it paid well.

“Oh come now dear, I can’t expect you to do all that work and let you go unrewarded now can I?”

Good mare that Rarity.

His thoughts continued to be preoccupied as he continued to fish. With the length of the fishing rod that he was given and the lake’s relatively small size meant that Andrew could get a good arc on it even from sitting down. The human’s two legs were dangled over the edge of the short wooden pier, his long trousers bundled up around his knees.

The cool water on the skin of his legs was a nice contrast to the warm sun on his back. It was only about eight thirty in the morning, combined with the weekend sleep in and the small pond became a haven of tranquility.

That was until the pier’s population doubled.

“Hiya, Andrew!” Rainbow Dash called happily from down the pier.

Andrew smiled as he turned to address the pegasus. “Oh, hey Dash. How ya goin’?”

Rainbow grinned at his silly saying. His accent was so... awesome, the way he pronounced his words was so powerful and full of confidence. Just hearing him talk gave her this weird feeling that crept all over her body.

“Nothing much, I got the day off today so I figured I’d come and spend some time chilling with my friends. You’re the only pony who’s not busy... or sleeping.” she added as she plopped down next to him.

“Not a pony, Dash. Even you should be able to see that,” she chuckled, turning back to his cast.

“Hey, if you’re not going to use the right words then why should I?”

“Because everybody and everyone work just as well,” he said as he reeled in yet another empty hook.

Rainbow shifted next to him, moving so that she was sitting on her rump with her hind legs over the side and her forehooves between them. The mare’s tail twisted around her body to dip into the water, much like Andrew’s two legs were, lazily swishing it around.

“You should totally catch that fish, Andrew,” she joked.

Andrew sighed. “Yep, I’ll get right on that, Dash.”

Rainbow giggled quietly before catching herself. Giggling was so not awesome. She looked away, silently contemplating something in her head.

It always happened. Whenever she was around him she always did something embarrassing or girly, it was mortifying! Especially when she was in the presence of the coolest male she knew.

But Andrew never commented, or at least, never noticed when she let slip some of her uncoolness. Maybe thats why she liked him so much, he didn’t turn out to be a jerk like most of the stallions she knew.

Of course not all stallions were bad, she just seemed to have terrible luck with them. The few good ones she did meet were normally such polar opposites of her or unbelievably boring. But Andrew wasn’t.

He respected her, and most of all he cared about her. Every time she was near him that strange tingle ran over her whole body. She didn’t know what it was, but she did know she wanted a lot more of it.

“You know you can go if you want, Dash. I can’t imagine that fishing is your cuppa tea,” Andrew commented, flicking the rod in another long cast.

Rainbow shrugged “Nah, it’s alright, I do like to slow down once in a while ya know.”

Andrew gasped, “Shock, horror.”

Rainbow tsked as Andrew began to chuckle to himself. She was about to retort when a small splash over near the windmill caught attention.

“Did you see that?” she asked, pointing a hoof.

“Huh?”

“Over there,” she said, pointing across his body. “A fish!”

“Where?” Andrew asked, trying and failing to follow where her hoof was.

“There! Look!” Rainbow insisted, moving closer until she was standing over him.

She continued to point out where she had seen the splash, but the reason for their sudden closeness was a far more selfish one. From this position, Rainbow was practically standing over his lap, her right wing touching his shirt.

What she enjoyed most though was that from this distance she could smell his intoxicating scent. It was addictive, ever since they had first met she had taken a liking to his scent. Maybe that’s why she grew so close to him, he already had one tick in her checklist.

“Dash, there’s no fish there,” Andrew finally said after almost a minute of scouring for the illusive gilled animal.

“You can get off me anytime now, Rainbow,” he urged, trying to push her off. She didn’t budge, for some strange reason, her eyes were closed and she was breathing heavily through her nostrils.

A wicked thought crossed Andrew’s mind. Setting the rod down beside him, he brought both hands up to her side.

*SHOVE*

Rainbow screamed as she toppled sideways into the lake. Andrew guffawed upon hearing the splash.

“How’s the water, Dash?” he called out to the flailing pony, putting his hand behind his hear to clearly hear her response.

He was met only by the sound of frantic splashing and spluttering.

“I can’t- *gakk* -I can’t *splutter* swim!”

Rainbow’s wings and hooves thrashed violently under the water. Instinct kicked in and her wings went into overdrive, beating fearsomely trying to fly out. Unfortunately they were having the opposite effect of catching the water and pulling her further under.Her body remained submerged for only a few seconds though, when the water turned white with a flurry of bubbles.

The underwater shock wave hit her at the same time two strong arms latched around her thrashing body and immediately pulled her up into the air. Rainbow gasped and spluttered, shivering in shock after almost drowning.

It took her a few moments to register that Andrew was speaking.

“-rry Dash, I didn’t know,” Andrew pleaded as he carried her to the bank. Gently, he set the drenched, shivering mare down.

“Are you alright, Rainbow?” he asked cautiously, waiting for her to lash out at him.

Her verbal backlash never came, she simply gave a shaky nod after a few moments. Thankfully, the water at the end of the pier was fairly shallow, meaning that Andrew landed on his feet when he had jumped in, allowing most of his shirt to stay dry.

Rainbow watched silently as he took his shirt off and began to ring the moisture out of it, before bringing it to her. With utmost care, he began to gently towel around the shocked mare, making sure that her mane and wings were dried first, before the rest of her body.

Andrew gently towled around her face. Making sure that his touch both dried and soothed her. Rainbow was glad that his shirt blocked his vision of her face. The smell of his shirt and the feel of his hand carrasing her face instantly calmed her into an almost drowsy stupor.

Once the shirt had soaked up all the chilling water that it could, Andrew tossed it aside, now kneeling shirtless over the mare.

“Um, I’m so sorry Rainbow, I just kinda assumed you could swim,” he said bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck.

Rainbow growled before snapping at him, the anger that Andrew had predicted finally coming to, the shock of being dumped in the lake leaving her. “What makes you think I could swim!”

Andrew shrugged, all higher thought gone. “I dunno." he offered.

"where I come from we all learn to swim when were like five.”

Rainbow paused her retort, now curious. Andrew rarely talked about his previous home, any snippet of information he let spill about it was always interesting to hear.

“Really? Everypony? At that age?” she asked.

‘“Yeah, I mean, not the whole world. Just most of my country. Hell, I learned to swim when I was three.”

“Why?”

“Well in my country it gets really hot. Like blisters on the bottom of your feet hot. Swimming is a great way to cool down. Not to mention like, two-thirds of where i lived population was on the coast. Swimming is a given.”

“That’s awesome! Imagine all those human guys swimming together!” Rainbow cheered, the incident with the lake completely forgotten.

“Yeah alright Dash it’s not that special, it’s just how were raised. There are a lot of other countries back home that don’t teach anyone to swim, even adults.”

“So it’s kinda like here?” Rainbow asked.

“Maybe... Hang on, I’ve seen Pinkie swim,” Andrew pointed out.

“Yeah she learnt how to swim. Spike can swim too, and I think Rarity can as well. But, most pegasi can’t,” the mare responded almost glumly.

“I hate not being able to do things," she pouted, crossing her forehooves.

Andrew hummed in thought. “Well Dash. What if I taught you?”

Rainbow’s eyes lit up like fireworks. “Really? You’d do that?”

“Sure, I mean it can’t be too hard right? If toddlers can do it, so can you.”

“Alright!” Rainbow said with a hoof pump. “Time and place!?”

“How ‘bout right now?” he smiled, pointing back at the lake, causing Rainbow’s smile to falter.

“N-now?”

“Why not? We’re both wet anyway.”

“I- um, okay,” Rainbow said as Andrew retreated into the lake, her usual confidence in her abilities lacking.

The cool water danced around Andrew’s ankles as he turned back to face the mare on the shoreline. “Come on, Dash. No tricks this time, I promise.”

An unmistakable air of truthfulness came with his words. That soft, caring smile on his chiseled face beckoned her to come closer, the strange tingle now echoing through Rainbow’s body.

Cautiously, she approached the water which gently lapped at the rocky bank. She noted her worried expression in her reflection as she raised her left forehoof. The hard tip at the leading edge of her blue hoof dipped below the water, testing the temperature.

Not that she needed to, having already been soaked, more so to stall for time. It wasn’t that Rainbow Dash was scared of water, she just wasn’t particularly fond of it. She didn’t mind getting wet, after all that’s what baths and working on the weather team were about, but she very much disliked going under.

A quick glance up at the human showed that he still retained the supporting expression, patiently waiting for her to enter the water on her own accord. She was thankful for that, if their roles had been reversed Rainbow would have been impatiently tapping her hoof.

Eventually, Rainbow pushed her way into the water, breathing in sharply as the cold water touch her underbelly. She silently wished she was human for a moment, those long legs keeping her body out of the water.

Once Rainbow had waded out to Andrew, the water was already licking at her shoulders. It was plain to see that her breathing had become rapid.

“Calm down Dash,” Andrew said softly, moving to rub her neck. A gesture he had discovered that she seemed to love. “You’ll never be able to swim if you’re scared of the water.”

“I’m not scared!” the retorted, pouting up at him.

“Dash, I’m not here to make fun of you. No one’s going to see you,” he said as he knelt into the water to put himself closer to her eye level.

Rainbow immediately calmed. Andrew’s radiant blue eyes staring into her own magenta ones. For a moment, she lost herself in them. Those eyes that had seen so many stories. She felt her own eyes become half lidded, hot breaths blowing out of her nose.

She knew what this was. One part of her begged her to snap out of it, while the other, much louder part egged her on. Slowly, she took a step forward to met his own lips with hers.

As she did so however, Andrew’s brow furrowed, “You alright, Dash?”

The sound of his voice was so sudden that Rainbow snapped back into reality like a rubberband. “I uh yeah, I just, um...”

Rainbow’s addled brain attempted to form a coherent sentence was suddenly ended, when a warm hand sloshed through the water and landed on her withers.

The mare squeaked as she was pulled forward and pushed against Andrew’s bare chest.

“What are you doing?” she asked quickly, their sudden closeness exciting her.

“We're going out deeper. Can’t expect you to swim where your hooves are touching the ground can I?” Andrew chuckled as he waded backwards deeper into the water.

The water quickly swarmed them, rising up both their bodies. As soon as Rainbow’s wings were submerged she began to instinctively flap them. She cried out suddenly when she felt herself pull away from the safety of Andrew’s hold, into the deep water.

“Whoa, Dash,” Andrew said as he grabbed her and pulled her in close. “Your wings aren’t going to help you underwater. Keep them at your side. I know you're impatient, but I’d rather you didn’t drown on the first lesson,” he chuckled.

Rainbow knitted her brow at him but pulled her wings in regardless. Instantly, she felt the drag against them drop. Within a few moments, Andrew had carried her to where the water came up to his elbows. More than enough to go well over Rainbow’s head. The faint feeling of shivering could be felt coming from the pegasus.

“You alright, Rainbow?” Andrew inquired.

“Shut up, it’s cold!” she snapped back, her rear hooves kicking beneath the surface. Andrew smirked, doing that strange laugh where he blew air from his nostrils.

Suddenly, Andrew pitched backwards, falling into the water and taking Rainbow with him. The mare squealed as she was rudely pulled out of the water and onto Andrew’s chest.

“First thing you’ve got to learn is how to float. If you can float then you won’t drown,” Andrew said as he lazily swung his arms beneath the surface.

Peering over the side of his body, she noted that he was in fact ‘laying’ on top of the water. “How are you doing that?” she asked, puzzled.

Andrew grinned. “It’s all about spreading your weight. Your wings might actually help you if you spread them while floating...” he trailed off as he looked at the mare.

The pegasus had rested her head on his sternum, and allowed a forehoof to drop off the side into the water. Her tail flick and curled as it streamed behind them, occasionally wrapping around one of Andrew’s legs.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m...fine,” she replied dreamily. “I wish I could stay like this forever.”

Andrew sighed, he actually wanted to teach her more but seeing her blissful face stopped him from doing so. He shook his head in defeat and let himself lie floating on the surface of the pond, relaxing the best he could into the water. “Yeah... I think that’s enough lessons for today.”

They never caught that fish. Instead, they caught a moment of something deeper between them. Even if neither realized it just yet.

Author's Note

im really not happy with this chapter. I think im going to need to take a step back before I have a crack at another. I don't have writers block, i think I just need something else to concentrate on