Of all days, it had to be a Tuesday.

Rainbow Dash grumbled to herself as she walked down the streets of Ponyville, or rather, the only road big enough to be called a street. She wasn't too fond of walking, being a pegasus, but sometimes, when you're depressed and lonely, flying just doesn't feel right. And that's how Rainbow Dash was feeling right now, depressed and lonely. It wasn't because of the day or anything like that, no, it was actually a really pretty day out. The sun was in the sky, thanks to Celestia, and Ponyville wasn't being attacked by some random monster. There were no clouds to be found and a light breeze flowed around the corners of shops and restaurants, shops filled with ponies and restaurants filled with lovers.

That was what had been bothering her, Rainbow Dash had seen lovers everywhere, but not a single one for her was to be found.

She used to not be preoccupied with that sort of the thing, but recently all her thoughts seemed to turn towards images of warm, strong stallions to cuddle next to and spend long evenings just doing nothing at all. Stallions that would always be there; dependable, responsible, practical stallions that wouldn't mind just talking about the weather or something stupid like that.

Frankly though, that image of a stallion was definitely not cool.

Which is why Dash was so depressed; she wanted some boring, plain, down-to-earth stallion to love, but she was also supposed to be the coolest pegasus in all of Ponyville, so having that stallion around would not help her whole idiom.

Wait, when did she start using Twilight words?

Oh no...

Oh sweet Celestia now she really was depressed and lonely.

Rainbow Dash was halted from her thoughts by the sudden appearance of a door in front of her face, specifically her nose, which now stung like she had just been hit by...well...a door. Dash brought her hoof up to open the wooden entrance, but was interrupted by the sound of somepony calling her name in a very specific way, almost like a cross between simplicity and kindness.

"Miss Dash?"

She let out a small sigh and turned around to greet the only pony that called her in that manner.

"Hey Big Mac."

The burly, red stallion stood a slight distance away from her, staring at her with inquisitive eyes that didn't really show whether or not he was curious or shocked.
It had been so long since they had last talked to each other - or even seen each other from less than fifty feet - she couldn't help but trace the rest of his body over with her eyes.

He was a rather impressive stallion now that she thought about it; strong, dependable, down-to-earth. In a really obvious way, he was probably the closest thing to the stallion she had described only a few minutes before. His face was quite handsome; a loose piece of straw stuck out from his mouth, dangling inconspicuously over the ground, never quite falling, but never really staying tight to his lips. North of that stood his eyes, which were still quite unreadable from her side, and were beginning to raise his eyebrows at her prolonged stare.

"Um...Miss Dash?"

Rainbow blushed.

"Oh... Um.. Sorry..."

Dash looked around her, at the houses, the shops, those couples still looking lovingly into each other's eyes. Basically, she looked anywhere except at Big Mac.

"Well then, you take care Miss Dash" He stated before nodding his head and continuing on his way to whatever chores needed to be done.

"Um... Yeah, you too." Dash stammered, but Macintosh was already out of listening range by the time she got the words out.

Just great Rainbow, way to show off your cool side. Getting all flustered over one stallion, especially somebody like Big Mac. I mean really Dash, he's boring and serious and responsible and dependable and strong and caring and he'll never leave you and...

Wait. Since when did she start blushing?! Rainbow dashed behind a brown building, rapidly trying to keep her "coolness" still in some shape. There was no way that she was attracted to Mac, no way! He was the complete opposite of her! She had lived her entire life on the edge, always trying to find that new thrill, it had taken her a while before she even admitted to reading books. Now she wanted to settle down with some boring, run-of-the-mill stallion? Wait. When did she start thinking about settling down with him?! When did that word ever even enter her thoughts?!!!

Breathe Rainbow, calm down a little bit.

Rainbow Dash had a rather long, at least to her, walk home in the sun. It had all been some sort of coincidence; she was lonely and had started thinking all of those things about the "perfect stallion" and he had just so happened to show up out of the blue. Kind of like it was fate!

Or not.

Dash flopped onto her mattress, it was all too confusing for her; it had been a long day of running into doors and walking around thinking about stuff, heck, it was only early afternoon! She still had a whole half-day ahead of her! Yeah, that was it. She'd go out and do something, anything, and that would bring her mind right off all this mess with stallions and loneliness. Or maybe just lay here and do nothing. She didn't have weather duty for a while now, she had taken off, so the past few days had been really filled with nothing. Actually, when did she start thinking about all of this, since when did the coolest flyer in all of town get downcast and distraught. Damnit, there were those Twilight words again! Maybe it had been Sunday, yeah, Sunday, after she had seen that couple in the park together. They had looked so happy, just being with each other, it was like the whole world was blocked off.

On Sunday night she was returning home after some work and flying practice for the Wonderbolts. She had just decided to take a casual stroll through the park when a peculiar sight caught her eye. Two ponies sat on a park bench; one was a unicorn male, brown with brown hair, and the other was a turquoise earth pony with orange hair that she had obviously dyed, Dash could remember thinking that it did not match her coat color at all. Dash had originally planned to just walk right past them, but it was something she heard that brought her to a bench nearby, but out of sight from the two ponies. She had heard the words " I love you".

There had been something Dash noticed about the way the two ponies said love to each other though, like they truly meant it, like they really loved each other with all of their hearts. She heard some more boring conversation about plans for a date on Wednesday, but by that time she was already walking away from them.

That had to be it, Dash thought. It was the way they said it, like they were pouring their entire hearts out in just three words. She wanted that, somewhere deep down inside of her heart she wanted to be loved. Not just for her body, not just for her flying, no, she wanted to be loved because she was Rainbow Dash.

That whole exchange between those two lovers had sparked an idea in Rainbow's mind that just wouldn't leave, no matter how many times she told herself that it didn't matter. She would be famous someday. She would be a star. Dash looked at the ground. Yeah, she would be a star someday, then tons of stallions would flock to her and fawn over her, but did she really want all of that? Did she really want to have hordes of ponies ready to love her because she was famous, or did she want one pony that would love her because she was her.

Rainbow Dash settled onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't even close to evening yet, but she felt exhausted, like an extreme amount of pressure and passion was just welling up inside of her and she was doing her best to just keep it in.

You know it's all stupid Dash; you're just going through a phase, it will all stop when you start working again. Or maybe then it will just go back to some hidden part of her soul and she wouldn't think about it for a few days. Then she would take another stretch of days off and she would start thinking about it all over again. Rinse and repeat.

Or, maybe, she could do something about it. She could stop wallowing in self-pity and actually try and find some stallion to date, find out if they love her after a while, and then go from there.

Her thoughts returned to Big Mac. Maybe she shouldn't rule him out; she needed somepony to try and see if this ache in her heart could be settled, and he was open. All it would be is just a date between two mature ponies, nothing more, nothing less.

It's final then, Rainbow decided, I'll just go and ask Big Mac out for a night and see where that goes. Then if he turns out to be a good fit, I'll...Well...I'll go from there.

By this point, Rainbow's eyes had started to close on their own. With the decision to ask Big Macintosh firmly set in her mind, a spell of sleep washed over the tired mare. And for the first time in two nights, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Author's Note

Thanks for all the help Corwin Freiss! Like, seriously, this editor cleared up a lot of things I missed and definitely didn't double-check for.

Also, first story ever, yeah! Hopefully more to come, and considering I am writing this after the third chapter has been published, I think there will be.