~Note: This chapter take place before the events of Home.~

“You absolute asswip-Ow! You sonuvabitc-”

“Andrew?” The Athletic mare called out from the door to her new boyfriend’s outdoor shed. She and Andrew had started dating roughly a month ago and thankfully, things were looking positive. A pleasant change from most of Rainbow’s previous relationships.

“Hey Rainbow, how’s it goin’?” Andrew responded, turning his attention away from the contraption he was working on, wiping some grease from his hand with a rag.

“Awesome, as usual. What are you complaining about now?”

“I was talking to Tonka about improving the power of Equestrian locomotives, but she wanted to see a prototype of the gear I mentioned. And it’s being a massive S.O.B,” Andrew grumbled.

“What is it?” Rainbow asked, gesturing to the complicated mess of metal.

“Aside from being a colossal pain in my ass? It basically doubles an engine's power, but I can’t get the timing right,” He replied glumly.

“I’m sure you’ll work it out tomorrow, but we gotta get going now!” Rainbow cried joyfully, flying up and grabbing andrews’ shirt collar between her teeth.

“Whoa hold up Dash, we got ages before it starts. Gimme a chance to get changed first at least,” He chuckled, drawing attention to his filthy ‘tinkering’ overalls.

“Ugh, you’re more clothes obsessed than Rarity! I swear it a lot easier if you take her advice and ditch them all together.”

“Wow Dash, I know your fast-paced and all, but we only starting dating a month ago and you’re already trying to get me out of my clothes,” He chided.

Dash’s face immediately flushed, her mouth opening and closing uselessly as she tried to form a response.

“I’m joking Dash,” He laughed, using a finger to close her mouth. “I’ll be ready in a minute,” He chuckled as he headed back into the house.

“I still can’t believe they made Daring Doo into a film!” Rainbow squeed as she flew alongside her human towards the cinema.

“I’m quite surprised you ponies have films at all. Seeing as you still use quill and ink to write with,” Andrew replied casually.

“Well it is fairly new. Cinema’s weren’t around when I was a foal,” Rainbow replied.

“Hmm? well I’m thankful for that.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because who knows what you’d be like now if you’d had movies to warp your little filly mind,” Andrew smirked.

“Oh ha-ha,” Rainbow replied sarcastically, whipping him over the back of his head with her tail.

“Well I suppose I can’t really laugh. After all, I grew up watching Mad Max,” Andrew admitted with a bittersweet smile as he remembered his childhood.

“What’s Mad Max?”

“I’ll tell you later... When there's a paper bag handy.”

“Oh come on! It can’t be that bad!” Rainbow cried, throwing her hooves out for emphasis.

Andrew simply chuckled in response. He knew how ponies handled gore. Rainbow was better than most at handling it, but seeing her squeem was just too good to pass up.

Which was mostly the reason why he didn’t expect much from this film. While he respected the ponies for their efforts, he didn’t really have high hopes for it.

But to see the look of absolute joy on Rainbows' face that he had grown to love, was enough. He would gladly sit through any movie just to make her happy. Plus the fact that she had literally begged, him to come with her helped her cause massively.

Of course, Andrew was going to come along regardless. But he couldn’t pass up the chance to egg her on.

Eventually, their trek through the early, Ponyville night ended as Andrew pushed open the fancy double doors to the cinema, and was graced with the familiar aroma of cooking popcorn.

Sadly, the cinema was less like an old fashioned American cinema, with the ticket booth out the front, and more like a more modern one with all its amenities within the building itself.

However it was still fairly simplistic, sporting only two theaters. Giving it a rather quaint and friendly appearance from outside, rather than the massive, behemoth Cinemas back on Earth.

Standing behind the counter, was a rather bored looking teenage colt wearing a dull grey vest. His coat was a light green while his mane was just a few shades darker, with a thin red stripe cutting through it.

“Welcome to Embers Theater, I take it you two are here to see the new Daring Doo?” He said knowingly.

“Yep!” Rainbow replied sharply.

“Uh huh, fourteen bits, cinema one,” He replied with rehearsed ease.

Andrew silently handed over the money, never once taking his eyes off of the stallions name badge.

“Um, can I help you sir?” the colt asked.

“Uh, do... Do you make soft drinks per chance?” Andrew asked randomly.

“Uh no i’m actually a painter, this is just to make some money.” The pony said.

“Huh... Okay thanks anyway,” Andrew said slowly as he and Rainbow moved off to the theater.

Once the two had rounded the corner, Andrew promptly burst out laughing, unable to contain his mirth.

“Okay what the hay was that all about!” Rainbow questioned.

Through the giggles, Andrew managed to squeeze out a reply.

“H-his name was- was Mountain Dew!” Andrew stated, bursting into a new wave of guffaws upon hearing it aloud.

“Why’s that funny?” Rainbow asked, obviously not understanding the humour.

“Nothing, nothing,” Andrew said wiping a tear from his eye. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Right..,” Rainbow added as they made their way into the dark theater.

“Pfft-Haha! The colours even matched!”

Much to Andrews surprise, the movie was actually fairly decent. Not a match for the legendary Indiana Jones movies but he found it best to keep that tidbit to himself.

His assumptions on the movies more mature themes proved to be correct however. The ‘teen’ rating seemed to a bit much, to Andrew at least. The movie played more like a kids show.

During a lapse in the action, where Doo was getting chewed out for several of her recent escapades, Andrew slipped out to grab some popcorn, as well as have another cackle at the anomalous pony.

upon returning to the theater, he quietly made his way up to the very back of the cinema. Because of Andrews huge stature, they had to sit right up against the back wall. Not that Rainbow minded, she quite enjoyed being over top of everypony else.

Once Andrew had comfortable melded back into his seat, Rainbow gently laid her head against his alluring shoulder, this took Andrew by surprise.

Even though he had been dating Rainbow for a few weeks now, and had known her since he came to Equestria, this was strangely affectionate for the young mare. Andrew didn’t say anything though, after all, he didn’t mind it one bit.

Cautiously, the human slowly unravelled his arm from the popcorn box and laid it across the back of Rainbows’ neck, resting it on her far shoulder.

Thankfully, Rainbow seemed to appreciate the movement. The absence of an arm in her road allowed her to snuggle into the side of Andrews’ warm chest.

Rainbow was thankful the theater was as dark as it was. She didn’t particularly want anypony to discover the blush on her face. Or her happy, lazy smile, as well as the fact that she had ever so slightly leaned into his chest, taking deep lungfuls of his amazing, musky scent.

Lunas’ stars were out in their full glory over Ponyville as Rainbow and Andrew made their way to the field under Rainbows’ home. Being the gentlemen he was, Andrew had politely asked to escort the mare home, as he did every time they went out.

Rainbow appeared to be a little out of it after the film. Her sleepy attempts at conversation, mumbled by Andrews neck as he carried her home piggy-back style.

“Well Rainbow,” Andrew started as the cloud house came into view. “How was it?”

Rainbow lifted her head from the humans neck, looking to the sky for a moment in thought, before resting her chin over his right shoulder and closing her eyes.

“The books were better.”

Author's Note

This story is so much fun to write! I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am.