You're acting like this is the first time something like this has happened.

“Doc, if you try stabbing me with that needle one more time, you’re going to find it lodged in your throat!” Nimbus’s threat echoed all throughout the hall way for everypony to hear. He had finally woken up after being out cold for the past few hours.  Luckily, he had now severe or any serious injuries. A few minor scrapes and a crippled wing was a regular summer weekend afternoon for Nimbus.

“I think he’s in that room.” Fluttershy said gently as she walked alongside with Rainbow Dash and Gilda. It had only been about two hours since they helped the doctors escort Nimbus to the hospital. Fluttershy and Gilda arrived to scene very shortly after seeing the thick black smoke hovering over Ponyville. It would have been more of a challenge to have missed it.  “Do you think these are sending the wrong message?” Fluttershy asked as she held the beautiful bouquet of dandelions to Rainbow Dash’s face.

“I don’t know, Fluttershy! Why would I know what he likes?” Rainbow Dash bitterly pushed the dandelions away from her nose. A few of the leaves flew off the delicate dandelions from the harsh treatment.

Fluttershy held the flowers closer to her chest, safely away from Rainbow Dash and quietly asked “…because, no offence, but…uhh you’re with him…like almost every day?”

“That’s a bit of an understatement.” Gilda added comically, her claws clicking across the tile floor of the hallway.

“Hardly!” Rainbow Dash flipped her mane out of her eye view “There was a time when we went three weeks without seeing each other.”

“Wasn’t that the time you cried at school when you finally saw him in class after spring break?” Fluttershy asked, laughing quietly. Gilda snickered behind her beak with her claw providing cover for some added discretion.

Rainbow Dash snarled under her breath “Do you both like breathing?” Rainbow Dash raised a single shaking hoof in both their faces. Fluttershy and Gilda froze in fear in the middle of the hall as their eyes widened with terror and their laughing immediately ceased. “That’s what I thought.” Rainbow Dash continued to walk forward, turning directly into Nimbus’s room. She was greeted warmly by Nimbus as he cheered happily at her presence.

The doctor evicted himself from the room after trying to tell Rainbow Dash no guest were allowed at the time. After her ignoring him for the third time, he just figured he had a better chance of trying to Celestia HE was the ruler of Equestria.

“She’s a really hostile pony when you tell her the truth, isn’t she?” Gilda question sounded a whole lot more like a statement with the tone she used to whisper into Fluttershy’s ear, as they both stayed glued to the floor of the hallway.

“So hey I got these for you.” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she handed over a bouquet of dandelions to Nimbus, who was obviously doped out on whatever medication he had been given and prescribed. “I thought you might like them, since well…So yeah, here you go.” Nimbus squeaked happily and hugged the bouquet lightly to his chest.

“She took my dandelions!” Fluttershy gasped as she looked down in her empty hooves.

Nimbus set the dandelions on the counter to his left after taking a small bite out of one of them. “So be honest, Rainbow Dash.”

“Aren’t I always?” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves defensively and raised an eyebrow as she took a seat in the chair adjacent to Nimbus’s head side of the bed. The chair was a bit more comfortable than Rainbow Dash had expected for a visitor’s chair to be. Hell, she was even debating whether or not she should revenue it before she left.

Nimbus ignored her commonly dry attitude and continued with his question “Is my wing injury kinda cool looking or do you think it makes other ponies sick and want to gag at the very sight of it?”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head away from Nimbus’s left wounded wing as if it were a snake about to strike.   “Every time I look at it, I feel like I can smell it.”

Nimbus frowned sadly “Well at least it makes a cool story for what it is worth.”

“No, Nimbus.” Rainbow Dash scooted her chair a bit farther away from Nimbus. “Seriously, I feel like I’m about to barf up my lunch, and I haven’t even eaten yet.”

Nimbus could see Rainbow Dash was trying to hide the troubled look on her face with a mask of fury and bantering. He looked for an alternative topic to transition to from his wing. “How are those foals? Did they make it back to their mother safely?”

“I don’t know, I hoofed them over to the authorities. I had a much bigger problem on my mind.” Rainbow Dash ended her last few words with a bit of venom as she stared at Nimbus angrily. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt back inside the house?”

Nimbus bit his lip “Look, Rainbow Dash” Nimbus moved his eyes self-ashamedly to the tiled floor of his room “I didn’t want you to worry…”

“Oh!” Rainbow Dash lifted herself out of the chair before Nimbus could get another word in and landed on the middle of his bed, planting her front hooves digging right into his chest. “You didn’t want me to worry as you were trapped inside a fiery hellhole?!”

“I got out in one piece, didn’t I?” Nimbus’s eyes meet and followed Rainbow Dash’s gaze as they both looked in chorus at his bloody bandaged wing. “Well… I mean almost did.” Nimbus knew there was no way he was going to avoid getting his flank chewed by Rainbow Dash, or at the very least kicked. He was lucky if she wasn’t already thinking about taking the dandelions and sticking them up somewhere in a place where flowers aren’t supposed to go up in his body. “You’re making a bigger deal out of this more than you should be.”

“I could have dropped the kids and gone back inside for you!” Rainbow Dash roared digging her hoof deeper into Nimbus’s chest, removing some of the hairs off his sky blue coat.

“That’s really starting to hurt a little.” Nimbus winced as he tried to gently push Rainbow Dash’s hoof off of him, but Rainbow Dash was putting too much power behind her hoof and Nimbus didn’t exactly have the dynamism or incentive to move it.

  “I could have easily gotten you out of there! I barely knew you were still in there until I saw your stupid golden light thing right behind you just right before the building collapsed!” Rainbow Dash grabbed Nimbus by the collar of his coat for the four hundredth time this month. “AND I saw you do that stupid vanishing move when you got out.”

“Oh.” Nimbus knew if he wasn’t in deep shit now he was going to be in the bottom of a pile of shit in the next few minutes.  “Y-you saw that?”

“Duh, I saw it. I was looking for you, you dumb…grrr!” Rainbow Dash spat the words she couldn’t say all over Nimbus’s face with her saliva.

“Well, you didn’t have to look all that hard. I was only a few feet away.” Nimbus admitted a bit timidly after seeing Rainbow Dash shaking and trembling with anger.

“Is everything in life just a game to you?!” Rainbow Dash asked with an ear ripping shout.

Ignoring the back and forth ringing in his ear, Nimbus continued to talk coolly “I’d like to think so.”

“Nimbus, I swear your crazy actions, your desire to jump at everything that has a skull and cross bones on it, your stupid look at life, it’s all going to be the death of me. Sometimes you just make me want to scream.”

“You’re screaming now and you’re not dead. So, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Nimbus! I swear to Celestia!” Rainbow Dash gripped and curl her hooves deeper into Nimbus’s collar. She pressed her face into the sky blue pegasus’s face with the exhibition of anger, but crystal sparkling tears suddenly came streaming down her face. “I thought I lost you today.” Rainbow Dash began to speak slowly and quieter, inadvertently mimicking Fluttershy’s well-known persona. “When I didn’t see you get back up right away, my heart sank a bit….I didn’t realize how much of a friend you were to me until I thought you were gone forever.” Rainbow Dash brushed her head onto Nimbus’s neck. “I begged and prayed to Celestia that you would be ok.”

Nimbus stroked Rainbow Dash’s mane softly with his good hoof. He had landed hard on his right hoof nearly twisting it in the completely wrong direction when he fled out of the window earlier. For Nimbus’s sake, thankfully he was a south paw (or hoof) and had just as much, if not more, strength in his left hoof.

He pulled Rainbow Dash closer into his shoulder fighting back some of his own tears. If there was one thing Nimbus despised, it was showing weakness, especially in front of Rainbow Dash. Nimbus would rather risk injury or the chance of death than to rather let anypony see one ounce of weakness or fear in his body. He didn’t want to cry in front of Rainbow Dash, it would have made a huge impact on his pride. “I guess she heard you then.” Nimbus finally replied, after staying silent for several long seconds and holding Rainbow Dash in his one legged hug.

Rainbow Dash lifted her head off of his shoulder with small smile “I know I have never said it before, Nimbus, but I just wanted you to know that…”

Nimbus waited patiently for Rainbow Dash to finish her sentence, but the suspense was butchering him from the inside with a fiery chainsaw “Wanted me to know what, Rainbow Dash?”

“That I-I thin-”

“This is quite a touchy scene.” Gilda interrupted as she had laid silent, leaning against the door frame of the patient room.

“Shhh, quiet!” Fluttershy softly bucked Gilda in her thigh. Gilda turned her concentration onto Fluttershy, narrowing her eyes down at the yellow fragile pony, her chest lifted high, and her feathers ruffled wildly. “…please?” Fluttershy asked kindly with a weak frightened and regretful smile.  “But I think Rainbow Dash was about to say something really sweet.”

Gilda nodded in agreement and turned back to the two ponies that had only become aware of their presence as of a few seconds ago “Oh yes, do continue” she winked at Rainbow Dash “Pretend we’re not even here.”

Rainbow Dash began to stutter when she tried to speak, but she cleared her throat before speaking a lot more firmly “Yeah, I think I uhh” She looked around the room for a diversion. She caught attention of the half-opened door leading to the connected bath and wash room of Nimbus’s room. “I-I have to go to the bathroom” she lied. There was no way Rainbow Dash was going to finish her original statement in front of her other friends. She had almost completely forgotten that they had come with her.

Nimbus frowned sadly and grunted lowly. “Well again, thanks for the flowers, Rainbow Dash.” Nimbus figured it was probably in his best interest to get off topic to avoid any unwanted attention to himself and/or Rainbow Dash.  He still wanted to know what exactly she wanted to tell him. Locked up feelings is what Nimbus was betting his money on, but he didn’t want to give himself a false sense of hope and put all of his eggs into that one basket.

“Yeah, No problem!” Rainbow Dash hoof punched Nimbus in the shoulder “We are going to have to get going but I’ll see you later, ok?”

“Of course!” Nimbus smiled, he twitched uncomfortably underneath the itchy blankets. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere. You’re more than welcome to came back anytime you like.” Nimbus invited warmly.

Rainbow Dash began to lead her way and pushed roughly past Fluttershy and Gilda out the door “I thought you had to go to the bathroom?” Gilda asked with a smile, trying her best to resist Rainbow Dash’s shoving hooves.

“I changed my mind, false alarm.” Rainbow Dash successfully removed herself from the room and instructed Fluttershy and Gilda to keeping moving ahead of her. She was about to close the door shut, but not before turning her head around and giving Nimbus a whole-hearted smile. Nimbus returned her smile with an even wider but gorier and bloody smile of his own. She chuckled slightly at his blood coated teeth filled smirk before closing the door behind her.

Nimbus wiped his hoof across his mouth and looked at the red smear coated on his fore leg. “Great.” Nimbus rolled his eyes at his own stupidity and stood up straighter in his bed. He sat there silently looking at the closed door his best friend had just walked out of and listened to the heavy ticking of the clock above it. He continued to sit there, thinking to himself, contemplating about what kind of potential there could be between him and Rainbow Dash. After enjoying himself in his own imagination for a few hours, Nimbus slumped down in his bed and groaned loudly enough to get the nurses attention from the help desk at the other end of his hallway “I’m soooo booooorrrreedd!”

Later that evening, Rainbow Dash returned and sat in chair beside Nimbus again, she stayed up with him playing her favorite board game. It took and cost Nimbus twenty seven matches and 17 bits to finally find a reason to stop playing and call it a night. He wasn’t a sore loser or anything by any means. He just thought there was no reason why anypony would believe a guppy could be a shark at her own game. Nimbus might not have had any plans for the next week or so, but Rainbow Dash still needed to go to flight school in the morning and the night had already overcome the beautiful glow of the sun.

“Well I told my folks where I am going to be for the night.”

“You can’t stay here!” Nimbus stated rather loudly, almost forgetting he had another patient in the same room as he was. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he hadn’t unintentionally waked him up.

“Why the hay not?” Rainbow Dash glared at him and placed her hooves on her hips like a little filly being told to go to bed.

“Umm where are you going to sleep, on the chair? It’s not exactly comfortable I can imagine.”

“Well then…” Rainbow Dash moved her hooves on her hips and hovered above the ground only a few inches “That only leaves only one solution!” Rainbow Dash bopped Nimbus on the nose with a wicked smile and a sinister laugh.

Nimbus looked at her curiously for several seconds. His eyes widened once he realized the only logical option left for her to get well rested for tomorrow morning. “You are not getting in this bed!” Nimbus stretched his body out to cover as much of the bed he could accomplish. “I’d rather break my other wing than to share a bed with you!”

“Oh come on, Nimby! It will be like our little sleepover.” Rainbow Dash teased as she poked him on his left wing, knowing well enough she would irritate his wing.

Nimbus continued to lie down with his entire body stretched out across the bed as he rose his only movable hoof in the air “Ok first off, never call me that again!”

“Aww but Nimby is such a cute name!” Rainbow Dash continued to tease him, waiting for him to explode with anger.

“I’m not cute!” Nimbus shouted. Rainbow Dashed had succeeded in pissing off Nimbus and was completely satisfied.

Rainbow Dash giggled “Ok fine then, Nimby.” Nimbus’s cheeks turned red with frustration and a touch of embarrassment. Rainbow Dash knew he hated it when she called him pet names. “What’s your next instruction of command, sir?” Rainbow Dash smiled with amusement as her colt friend struggled with constricted anger towards her.

“Second, I am not going to share a bed as soft as this one, with you!”

Rainbow Dash gasped with excitement “OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH! Just how soft is it?” Rainbow Dash dove into an empty spot in the fluffy bed, nearly sending Nimbus flying off the safety side bars. “OHMYGOSH! It’s almost as soft as a cloud, not as comfortable I’ll admit, but darn it, it’s close!” She snuggled up to Nimbus and began to quickly drift off to sleep.

“You better not snore!” Nimbus demanded.

“Who, me?” Rainbow Dash lifted her head up. “I’ll be as quite as a mouse. You won’t even remember I’m here!” Rainbow Dash was having a great time infuriating the colt more than she had intended. She was already thinking of other fun ways to prank, anger, and annoy Nimbus in the morning. “Good night, Nimbus!”

Nimbus pushed Rainbow Dash forelegs length away and placed a pillow in between her and him, separating her from physically making contact with him. “Drop dead, Rainbow Dash.” Nimbus forced his eyes shut and faced away from the pillow.

Right before shutting her eyes into a peaceful sleep, Rainbow Dash admitted “You know, I could easily just reach over this pillow and poke you all night if I wanted” She chuckled silently as Nimbus turned over, angrily facing away from her and grumbling curses under his breath.

Nimbus was unaware of Rainbow Dash’s loud obnoxious snoring and couldn’t get a good night’s rest. He looked over towards her to confirm the beastly noise he was hearing was actually coming from her. If he didn’t know any better, Nimbus could have easily mistaken her snoring for a towering Ursa Major.

“There’s no way a sound of such volume can come from such a tiny filly…” Nimbus whispered to himself with the straightest face he could manage. Nimbus finally passed out later in the night from complete exhaustion.

***

Nimbus was finally out the hospital after what felt like an eternity! If it wasn’t for the hospitals fortunate supply of the “Daring Do” book series, he might have gone insane with boredom. Without cutting time any closer, Fluttershy appeared from the clouds slowly diving to Nimbus.

“You have really got to learn how to fly more properly” Nimbus friendly laughed.

Fluttershy just looked down at the dirt sadly “Oh, I know! All those other colts still tease me for it!”

Nimbus snapped immediately “Come on, Fluttershy, you can’t let ponies like Dumb-Bell and his crew get in your head!”

Fluttershy picked up her eyes view a bit from below “How do YOU do it then?” Nimbus took a few steps back. He wasn’t expecting Fluttershy to ask a pony like himself for advice. “I know you’re aware they say things about you…and Rainbow Dash. Terrible things, so terrible I feel bad for even have listened to them.” Fluttershy admitted with an embarrassing blush.

It was no secret that Rainbow Dash and Nimbus had been hanging out a lot more often and spending most of their days together. No doubt there were probably rumors about them floating around. Some that Nimbus would have wished were actually true. Nimbus had even considered on giving Rainbow Dash her space for quite a while, so maybe the rumors would stop but Rainbow Dash insisted they ignore everypony’s opinions and continue to be themselves.

Nimbus sighed before answering Fluttershy’s question “I use my pent up anger as fuel.” He noticed there was a somewhat confused expression on Fluttershy, so he elaborated a bit more as best he could “What I mean is: I use my anger/rage as my determination.”

“I knew what you meant.” Fluttershy fully picked her head up after she finished speaking “I just don’t think I completely believe you…” Nimbus opened his wings offensively and huffed at Fluttershy “I…I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to call you a lair or anything!” Fluttershy cowered a bit beneath her mane.

Nimbus knew she meant no harm in any intended way, so he apologized sincerely to her for his outburst. “Then what do you mean you don’t believe me?” Nimbus put a bit more emphasis on the term “Believe."

Fluttershy moved her face a little ways away from her mane “What I meant was that I don’t think you used anger to help those little ponies out of that burning building.” Fluttershy continued to talk with a bit more firmness in her voice but she was still barely audible past a few feet. “Nopony jumps into a dangerous situation like that out of anger. No, something else inside you made you want to help them, and I’m assured it was something like happiness!” She finished her last word with a quite an impressive bit of cheer (or at least impressive for Fluttershy). “I’ve seen the way you behave when you and Rainbow Dash are together. You’re not in any way angry. In fact you always look like the happiest pony in Equestria. I think you convince yourself that you’re angry to prove to yourself that you’re strong, but you would be even stronger if you did what Rainbow Dash always tells you: just be yourself.”

Everything Fluttershy said was true and Nimbus knew it, denying any part of it would just be ignorant. Yes it was true. He did persuade himself that he was angry all the time. Maybe she was right. No, she was right! If he would just suck in a bit more of his pride and just use his confidence as motivational fuel, he could probably be a whole lot more than he could possibly imagine. Of course, Nimbus often imagined himself moving so fast that he could out race the colors on his coat to come right off…, but still that thought of being great, powerful beyond measure. Nimbus charged and gave Fluttershy the biggest and tightest hug she had ever received. Not even bears had hugged her this tightly before, or came even close. Nimbus thanked her repeatedly for opening his eyes and being honest. Fluttershy was blissful to help and grateful for his generous hug but asked him to put her down.

Nimbus set her down easily and apologized once more again. Fluttershy tried to breathe back in the air she had lost while her lungs were being clinched “Its ok, Nimbus. You’re...really strong!” Fluttershy struggled to breathe the last words as she continued to catch her breath. His hugs were tighter than most of the bears that hugged her on a daily basis.

Nimbus looked himself over proudly “Yeah I kind have been lifting a lot with my upper body since my back was bad.”

What was he lifting? Other patients? That was the only theoretical explanation Fluttershy could think of. Sure, yeah he was strong before, but Fluttershy felt like somepony had pinned her between two boulders when Nimbus hugged her.

Nimbus flexed the biceps of his forelegs and looked at himself in his reflection off of one of the hospital windows. After checking himself out for a little while, Nimbus noticed how impressively clean ALL of the hospital’s windows were. He was actually surprised he hadn’t noticed them before with all the spare time he had. Great! Nimbus was now paying attention to the cleanliness of glassware. He slammed his forehead lowly on the window and quietly promised himself he would never go back inside a hospital for any longer than a week.

***

When Nimbus and Rainbow Dash arrived to school the next day, they were immediately informed by their class flight coach to report to the head coach’s office first thing. Rainbow Dash questioned why they both had to go, but their flight coach had nothing further to tell them and just repeated himself once more. Nimbus tried to stay optimistic and told Rainbow Dash maybe it wasn’t anything bad, but maybe it was for something good like a reward or something. Rainbow Dash argued though that they were more than likely getting suspended for something that had happened a long time ago. Despite Nimbus’s optimism and opposing opinion, Rainbow Dash was very well undeniably correct. They were in fact suspended for the next three weeks to be exact.

Rainbow Dash shielded her self-ashamed face behind her hooves. “My life is ruined!” She cried as she sat crashing down on top of the cloud she and Nimbus decided to stop at, after leaving the school premises. “My parents are going. TO. KILL. ME!”

“Oh come on, Rainbow Dash! You’re over exaggerating, it can’t be that bad.”  Nimbus took a seat next to Rainbow Dash relaxed his chin into his hooves “Hmmm it took us four months to get suspended. That’s got to be our best personal record, but I think we are losing our touch. We need to up our game.”

Rainbow Dash quickly removed her hooves from her face and snapped at Nimbus “Of course you would assume that! You wouldn’t know what’s like to get in trouble with your parents because you don’t have any!” After seeing Nimbus flatten his ears to the sides of head and his smile quickly tremble to a frown, Rainbow Dash comprehended what she had just said. She gasped and slapped her hooves over her mouth. She apologized over and over again until Nimbus decided to speak.

“It’s ok, you’re right though. I don’t what it’s like to have your parents yell at you for your actions.” Nimbus said quietly and slowly. His mane hung low over his eyes as he forcefully looked away from Rainbow Dash.

“I didn’t mean it to…”  Rainbow Dash started, biting her lip a bit.

“Then how did you mean it!?” Nimbus growled, finally picking up his head and poking his face into Rainbow Dash’s “Please explain it to me, because I’m having a real hard time seeing it from any other way!”

Rainbow Dash knew Nimbus had every reason to be mad at her, and she sure as hell felt guilty about it too. However, she didn’t much favor his tone of voice or attitude towards her, and she wasn’t to just stand there and take that kind of crap from him.  “Look I’m sorry ok, and I didn’t mean to say that! Now will you please take the thorn out of your ass and listen to me?”

Fortunately for Rainbow Dash, Nimbus knew she didn’t mean it and he couldn’t stay mad at her for any longer than a couple of minutes anyways. Nimbus let out an inhalation of air to calm himself. “Ok….Ok, I’m good now. What do you have to say?” If Nimbus hadn’t respected the bond he and Rainbow Dash shared, he would have listened to his brain and decked her right in the muzzle. As much as he probably would have discreetly enjoyed that, Nimbus knew he would feel like shit the next minute. Sometimes he felt like his brain had a mind of its own.

After confirming Nimbus was longer mad at her, Rainbow Dash perked up her ears stiffly with optimism, and smiled “Well, seeing that you kind of already owe me twice now…”

“How do I owe you twice, and for what?” Nimbus interrupted, picking himself up off the cloud.

Rainbow Dash held her hoof up, almost as if she were counting imaginary numbers off “First off, you still owe me dinner.”

“Even though that was months ago, but whatever.” Nimbus grunted, but nodded and shrugged agreeably.

“And second, this isn’t the first time you’ve gotten me in trouble with my parents.” Rainbow Dash finished as she put her hoof back down.

“Gotten you in trouble with your parents? What else have we done as bad as this?”

***

“As far as I know this kid has gotten our daughter to skip class in and out of school a repeated amount of times, lead her into a burning building, almost got her killed by a couple of goblins a few years back.”

“That he saved her from, don’t forget!” Rainbow Dash’s mom corrected, disagreeing with her husband’s hastily judging accusations of Nimbus.

“I know that and I’m very grateful for it, but I’m just saying these kids are barley even close to being teenagers and look at the kind of trouble they get into already! Plus didn’t Nimbus just get out of the hospital for going into a fire that our daughter followed him into? What’s going to happen when they get older? We are going to…”

“We are going to have to trust them!” Rainbow Dash’s mom interrupted once again for the thousandth time. “Yes, they get into trouble, and maybe Nimbus IS the main source of it all.” She knew for a guaranteed fact that Nimbus and Rainbow Dash pretty much planned every little adventure together, so Rainbow Dash was just as guilty as Nimbus was, but the fact the Nimbus actually helped her out with the dishes on more occasions than her husband ever had made Rainbow Dash’s mom a whole lot more thankful to have Nimbus around the house from time to time, and she didn’t want to lose her favorite dish washing assistant.

“Exactly!” Rainbow Dash’s dad agreed quickly. If he had had fingers or any sort of appendages on his hoof, he would have snapped them and pointed one at his wife.

“But!” Rainbow Dash’s mom was not quite finished just yet “They are friends! Best friends at the very least. That colt comes around this house often enough to be considered part of this family, and we have no right as parents to split them apart!” Rainbow Dash’s mom ended her last sentence with a strong note that left her husband speechless for words and only blurt out a short series unintelligent blabber and nonsense.

“Ok, fine!” Rainbow Dash’s dad agreed a little unwillingly “But if that colt comes by today for any reason I’m going to giving him a piece of my mind and put my boot somewhere I’ve been wanting to put it for a very long time!” He shook a hoof in air to demonstrate his anger.

“You see?! I told you this was a bad idea! Your dad is going to kill me!” there was a small whisper from behind the front door of Rainbow Dash’s house. Rainbow Dash’s parents simultaneously turned their heads towards their front door and remained quiet, silently listening to the small whisper.

“Maybe he will, if you don’t lower your voice, idiot!” said a second whisper which they could easily recognize was their very daughter’s voice.

“Hey, don’t think I forgot what you said to me this morning, I’m still mad at you!” Nimbus lied horribly.

“I said I was sorry like twenty times already! I just wasn’t thinking and I forgot!

“How do you forget that I don’t have parents?! I’ve known you for four years now!”

“Well MY parents are about to kill us both if you don’t shut up!”

Rainbow Dash’s mom and dad crept closer to the door, careful not to make a sound. They moved their heads closer and pressed their ears up against the door to listen more thoroughly to what the two unaware ponies were saying.

“Ok maybe they haven’t heard us yet, so maybe we can sneak out of here before….” Rainbow Dash’s dad quickly pulled the door open to reveal himself and his wife behind the door. “Before they know we are here” Nimbus finished sadly, keeping his head turned facing Rainbow Dash but his eyes fixated on her parents. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Rainbow Dash!” Nimbus said awkwardly with a forced smile, behind closed teeth.

“Nimbus! It’s so nice to see you this evening!” Rainbow Dash’s mom greeted warmly.

“Not really…” Nimbus heard Rainbow Dash’s dad mumble just loud enough for him to barely catch it.

Despite her husband’s harsh opinion, Rainbow Dash’s mom always thought approvingly of Nimbus. Anypony that could keep up with her Rainbow Dash and make her happy was more than good enough for her! “Why don’t you two come inside? It’s cold out there!” Rainbow Dash’s mom invited. “And Nimbus, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Rainbowshine?”

Rainbow Dash’s dad looked at his wife worriedly “Nimbus is coming inside too?” Nimbus trotted inside the home and past the adult stallion as fast as he could, but the stallion stomped a strong hoof between his home and Nimbus.

Nimbus stared at the limb for a bit and gulped a heavy lump of air before looking at the death glare staring right at him. He kind of preferred that he was back in the hospital again. “H-hi?” Nimbus’s voice was incredibly weak and meek.

“Why were you and my daughter suspended from school?” Rainbow’s dad got right to the meat and potatoes, directly asking his question without any meaningless stalling.

Before Nimbus could answer the question, Rainbow Dash called for him from inside the house, “Nimbus are you coming?”

“I’m coming, I just have to get your dad’s permission.” Nimbus answered quickly, hoping she or mom would come outside to save him from his near peril.

Rainbow Dash didn’t quite hear him correctly, “What?” she asked.

Nimbus rolled his eyes and repeated, “I’m coming, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash still couldn’t hear him with all the noise being made by her mom as set and prepared all the plates and silver ware on the dining table. “Are you going to come inside, or do I have to make you come?”

“I’m coming inside, Rainbow Dash!” Nimbus suddenly screamed, almost making his throat start to bleed. His screaming forced Rainbowshine to stop in her tracks and quickly think over the dialog of Nimbus and Rainbow Dash’s conversation. Nimbus pushed past around the limb blocking him from the warm meal awaiting him inside.

Rainbowshine sweetly offered a spot at the dinner table for Nimbus to sit. “And he’s eating with us?!” Rainbow Dash’s dad threw his hooves up in the air. Nimbus took the joy of sitting next to Rainbow Dash at the table and ignored the fact that her dad didn’t even want him within fifteen feet of her or the house.

Rainbowshine kicked her husband in the side and whispered “Storm! Look at how happy they are!”

Storm looked over at the dining table in the next room as discreetly as he could. It was clear, even to a pony who was blind, how happy the two ponies were. From what he could see, they were more than likely reenacting some crazy adventure they had out in Ponyville today. Of course, he didn’t throw away the fact that they were both suspended, but a smile spread across his face none the less. As far as he could see, even at the darkest of times, there was always going to be somepony that could make his daughter laugh and love life, whether or not she wanted to. Nimbus might not have been his first choice (or the one hundred sixth choice) for his daughter, but he knew she was more than fortunate to have him as a friend.

Rainbowshine put a comforting foreleg around Flash’s neck and kissed his cheek. “She’s getting older….” Flash said slowly “It wasn’t too long ago that they were pushing each other on swings.” He moved out from under his wife’s foreleg and on over to his favorite chair and rested his head back up against the headrest. His head sunk into the soft silk pillow that encouraged him to let out a soothing breath of air “And it won’t be too long till we have to worry about what kind of bigger trouble they might get into next!” He turned his head over to his wife “I mean they are both practically two mini daredevils!”

Rainbowshine chuckled “They are just little ponies, dear! How much trouble and crazy adventures could they get into?”

***

[Four years later…]

“Ok, let’s see if you can dodge this, piss for brains!” Rainbow Dash said pointing a bow and arrow about twenty five yards away from Nimbus’s temple.

“Oh trust me I’ll dodge the shit out of that arrow, blubber butt!” replied Nimbus enthusiastically. Nimbus thought Rainbow Dash would have objected to shooting a bow and arrow at him, but apparently this is not what has happened.  Like most of their ideas, this one had been in the planning process for several seconds. Nimbus and Rainbow Dash could never figure out how or why Nimbus could move short distances so fast, but they planned on milk the cow on it as much as they could, now that Nimbus could use it at his own free will, but only a few times in a given amount of time. They came to call it Zero Shifting, and whenever Nimbus Zero Shifted it usually took out quite a bit of his energy, which explained why he always seemed to be almost out of breath after he used it. He also had to be very careful when he used it. Nimbus fainted from exhaustion a good number of times the first time he and Rainbow Dash played with his new found ability.

Nimbus and Rainbow Dash figured it would be wise of them to take their little idea far away from Ponyville and/or anywhere in general where somepony else could get unintentionally hurt. After spending several hours learning how to read a map and taking another two hours learning where to find a map. They both decided it would be a lot safer for the two of them to play with the bow and arrow in the middle of the Rambling Rock Ridge.

There was really nothing at Rambling Rock Ridge except…well rocks! No civilization, not too many signs of wild life and most importantly: no authorities telling them they can’t shoot arrows at each other. Playing with bow and arrows wasn’t technically illegal in Ponyville, especially when they couldn’t hit each other with them, but it wasn’t exactly something that publically accepted. The same things applied whenever Nimbus and Rainbow Dash had one of their races through the market part of town, which mainly consisted of how many carts the other one could dodge without crashing into something.

“EWW! I knew you looked at my butt, you abnormal pony!” Rainbow Dash said amusingly.

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re a…bitch!” Nimbus hissed, hesitating a bit at the name calling.

Rainbow Dash lowered her arrow and gave Nimbus an unsatisfying facial expression “Really? That’s the best you got?”

“We’re on ‘C’. Don’t try to skip your turn like you did last time.” Nimbus hollered.

“You’re a coward!” Rainbow Dash shouted back.

“You’re a dumbass!” Nimbus shot back.

“You’re an egg head.”

“You’re a feather brain!”

“You’re a goat fu-”

There was a pleading cry that tore through the ponies cheering the same way a bullet tore through a layer of paper “Please, stop!...both of you. I’ve had to listen to you scream at each other for the past eight years. Please don’t hurt me! I just can’t take it anymore…” Fluttershy cried as she cowered into a fetal position. She had been peer pressured by both Nimbus and Rainbow Dash to witness Nimbus for proof just in case they needed a third person’s perspective for when they wanted to call the Equestrian World Record judges. “This is too dangerous! Why am I even here?” Fluttershy repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time. “Not even Gilda wanted to be here!”

Nimbus scratched his chin, still looking any signs of facial maturity with a touch of his hoof “Where has Gilda been anyways?”  He asked, not that he actually wanted her there or anything, but he figured it would be polite to just ask anyways.

Rainbow Dash threw the bow on the ground, realizing and accepting the fact that they were not going to be able to pull of their idea any time soon. “She stopped hanging around me whenever I’m with you. You know, ever since you used her feathers as part of your costume for the Nightmare Night Festival this year.”

Nimbus laughed out loudly as he remembered how he had jumped from behind a thick cloud to catch Gilda off guard, and grab as many feathers off of her as he could in one attempt. Needless to say, he actually pulled it off a lot more successfully than he had thought “Oh yeah, that was funny. You have to admit I made a pretty cool Werewolf costume though!”

“She’s still pretty mad at you as will.” Rainbow Dash shouted back at him. She liked and respected Gilda like she would any of her other friends, if not more, but Gilda was starting to develop a bit of a possessive and attachment issue, especially when it was about Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash just couldn’t understand (and didn’t want to understand) why Gilda always wanted her to herself.

“Oh no.” Nimbus lazily put his hoof over his forehead, and said in an overly exaggerated shocking tone “Gilda is mad at me? Oh gosh, oh boy, oh no, what ever shall I do?” Nimbus had to literally self-restraint himself to not snicker at his own performance. His acting was complete garbage, but he knew Rainbow Dash would have never believed him anyways, even if he was a good actor.

Rainbow Dash glowered at Nimbus, “And you wonder why you couldn’t make the drama club…” She wanted to dig deeper into why two of her closest friends didn’t like each other, but the sun was already starting to set and it was going to take them just below an hour to get home from their current location.

“Now, come on, Nimbus.  It’s my family reunion tonight and I really don’t want to hear my mom-” That was all Rainbow Dash was able to get out before Nimbus started freaking out and rushing up towards her like a predator lunging at its prey.

“Your family anniversary is today?!” Nimbus spat enthusiastically, spraying the question all over Rainbow Dash’s face.

She ignored the saliva on her face and corrected him “Yeah, MY ‘Family Reunion’, and yes, it’s today. Why are you frea-”

Nimbus interrupted her once again, grabbing her shoulders and shaking Rainbow Dash wildly, he shouted loudly “Why didn’t you tell me?!” Nimbus had been waiting to meet the rest Rainbow Dash’s family. Thanks to the influence of Rainbow Dash’s father, Rainbow Dash believed a select few members didn’t want to personally see him or have anything to do with him, despite never having met Nimbus before. Rainbow Dash just never really had the heart to tell that kind of thing to Nimbus. “You know how long I’ve been waiting to see the rest of your family.” Nimbus admitted happily.

“I know.” Rainbow Dash confessed, feeling kind of remorseful for what she was about to say next.  She scratched the back part of her mane and looked down and away from Nimbus “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Nimbus’s smile faded away from his face just as fast as a bullet left the barrel of a gun. “W-what do you mean it’s not a good idea?” He asked heart-brokenly. Nimbus felt somepony had just told that he was about to meet his mother for the first time and came to find out it was all a rude practical joke. He didn’t know whether to feel sad, angry, or both. The two emotions twisted inside Nimbus like a bad combination of water and electricity.

Rainbow Dash knew she had just practically knocked Nimbus down, kicked in his ribs, and thrown dirt in his eyes, but she had to give him her honest perspective of the situation.. No matter how much it hurt for her to see him like this, Rainbow Dash felt better if she hurt him, rather than somepony or everyponyelse in her family did. “Look, Nimbus, I want you there just as much as you want to be there, but-”

“Just piss off and go to YOUR family anniversary or reunion or whatever the hell it’s supposed to be.” Nimbus growled loud and rudely at Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t get all mad at me because nopony in my family likes you, besides my mother and me.” Rainbow Dash barked back at Nimbus with a cold shot of the truth. It was cruel, but Rainbow Dash didn’t like Nimbus lashing out his anger at her about something she couldn’t control.

“You haven’t even given me the chance to meet them, and you’re already assuming they’re not going to like me. How exactly do you expect to react?” Nimbus asked, his voice starting to get raspy.

“Ok, fine! You want to come over and get rejected by my whole family? Be my guest. They’ll run you out of the house faster than I can fly.” Rainbow Dash said, adding salt to the open bleeding wound.  “And, knowing my dad like I do, he’ll find a reason to keep you out of my life for as long as he can.”

Nimbus dragged his hoof over his eyes dryly. “Is that what this is all about?” Nimbus’s voice was still raspy as he continued to talk. “You’re just scared that your dad is going to kick me out, because you’re too afraid to stand up to him and do what makes you happy?”

Rainbow Dash pulled her hoof back fiercely and threw it right into Nimbus’s muzzle. Blood splayed ubiquitously all over Nimbus’s face, covering his whole nose in the crimson liquid. He cuffed both his hooves over his mouth to make sure none of the blood would pour in and suffocate him. Rainbow Dash had hit Nimbus several times before, but never in the face. When Nimbus removed one of his hooves away from his mouth, he realized his comment cut Rainbow Dash a little deeper than he had intended it to, but he didn’t regret saying it. It was something he had been meaning to say for quite some time now.

Despite the fact that his nose was crooked to the left a little, Nimbus bit through the pain and said simply, “That hurt.”  He was kind of hoping to get some small value of sympathy from Rainbow Dash, but she wasn’t budging, or if she was feeling some sort of sympathy she had a great way of hiding it.  Though, he should have known better to piss off somepony who can move twice as fast as him.

  “What you said kind of hurt a bit too…” Rainbow Dash responded back, rubbing the leg she used to punch Nimbus in the face with. She rubbed at her leg like it was a parasite she wanted to get off of her. It wasn’t exactly her fault for punching Nimbus. He had pushed her buttons too far. Her expression stayed the same as Nimbus tried to amuse her.

Fluttershy could have grabbed the tension in the air with her hoof. It was thick like wood and about as painful to look at as blood. Fluttershy barely even had to whisper for Nimbus and Rainbow Dash to hear her, it was so quiet “I’ll just leave…you two alone…bye” Fluttershy bolted as fast as her weak wings could take her.

With Fluttershy gone, Nimbus and Rainbow Dash were truly alone. They both avoided looking at each other or even talking to one another. One of them was going to have to be the bigger pony. It was just a matter of who was going to do it and what they were going to say. Nimbus was going to say something sappy like asking about the weather, but it had started to rain so he threw that card off the playing table.

Rainbow Dash drew up some air in her lungs and whispered “You owe me fifty bits…”

“What?”

Rainbow Dash smiled and laughed a bit as the rain began to pour harder and louder. “I said: You owe me fifty bits!” She shouted over the interrupting rain. She looked up at the sky wondering where the clouds had come from and why they hadn't noticed them before.

“Like hay I do!” Nimbus said catching on to Rainbow Dash’s burst of sanguinity “You didn’t shot the bow at me. YOU owe me!”

Rainbow Dash bolted towards Nimbus and dug her head underneath his and hovered it above her head “Alright, alright, but i don’t have fifty bits.”

“Then you better make fifty bits.”

“Or..” Rainbow Dash flicked her hoof dry before placing it on Nimbus’s chest and making small circles. “How you let me make fifty bits?” She asked in a very seductive voice, licking and biting the bottom of her lip.

Nimbus shivered by the tingling sense Rainbow’s hoof made on his chest. He wanted to fall victim to her whip and just give in to the temptation. Nimbus was a moments away from carrying Rainbow Dash underneath him and flying them home as he kept dry, but he fought the urge wanting to escape from underneath his hind legs and bolted away from Rainbow Dash, saying “Nope. Not falling for that again.” Nimbus’s wings knocked Rainbow Dash to the ground and splashed surrounding water all over her. “You’re just going to blue ball me again.”

Rainbow Dash stood there in her drenched blue coat and called after Nimbus with a small light laugh “Oh, Nimbus. I’m so…WET!” Rainbow Dash had no intentions at all to do anything intimate with Nimbus, but she sure as hell liked watching him think she did.

“Screw you, and go to hell!”

Rainbow Dash whipped her wet rainbow mane back behind her. She spread her wings laughing and asked “Hey we stopped at ‘G’, right?”

“Yeah, and it’s your turn.” Nimbus answered back without looking, too scared Rainbow Dash might be doing something behind him that he would give into.

“Good because I got a good one for you.”

“What do you got?”

“You’re gay!”

***

Due to Nimbus and Rainbow Dash’s familiarity with Ponyville, they were able to find the bank with great ease, and they caught it just in time moments before they closed for the storm coming. Rainbow Dash drew out the money she owed Nimbus and about thirty bits more for her to spend on herself.

“What are you going to do with that?” Nimbus asked, watching Rainbow Dash pocket the the extra bits she didn’t hand him in a side pocket of the quiver she was holding the bow and arrows in.

“Just in case I want some fun?” Rainbow Dash was curious as to why Nimbus would ask such a question, but she got her answer right away.

“With only thirty bits? What kind of fun were you going to have with thirty bits?” Nimbus asked as he trailed behind Rainbow Dash, who had just bolted out the bank doors just so she could run and spend less time through the rain.

“I wasn’t going to spend all of it.” Rainbow Dash stated, trying to make Nimbus sound stupid for assuming she was going to spend all her money at one place.

“You can’t do anything for tha-” Nimbus’s faced ramed right up to Rainbow Dash hind quarters, his nose almost ending up somewhere no nose was to venture to. Nimbus heard a click and saw Rainbow Dash frozen in place and shivering madly. At first, Nimbus thought Rainbow Dash was shivering from the drench of rain, but that was before he found out where the click came from.

The click had a heavy thud to it, despite being wet in the rain, and it was made by the unicorn that was holding a pistol to Rainbow Dash and Nimbus at point blank range. He had definitely done this before as he immediately demanded Rainbow Dash’s and Nimbus’s money without a pause or sense of hesitation. This was Rainbow Dash Nimbus’s first time ever really seeing a gun. They weren’t exactly commonly owned by ponies since only unicorns could properly use them without having to spend a few hundred more bits to purchase the saddle to fire them. Guns were incredibly hard to come across in Equestria and weren’t exactly distributed all that, or even very affordable.

Nimbus nodded and immediately hoofed over the bits to the magical perpetrator. Nimbus didn’t want to give this guy any reason to want to pull the trigger. He might have just gave him Rainbow Dash’s money, but at least they would have gotten out with their lives. Rainbow Dash was a bit hesitant to hoof over her bits so willingly. She watched as the unicorn screamed and demanded her money again. She immediately put her right hoof behind her to search for the pocket that was holding her bits. Unfortunately, the gun wielding unicorn had mistaken Rainbow Dash’s action as an effort to defend herself.

“Get your hoof away from your back!” The criminal barked at Rainbow Dash.

“I’m just getting you-” Rainbow Dash started to say innocently, but the unicorn barked at her again to remove her hoof from behind her back. When Rainbow Dash continued to keep her hoof behind her back and search for the pocket, the unicorn squinted his eyes slightly as he tightened his magical grip in the wooden handles of the pistol and ease lightly on the trigger.

Nimbus felt every red flag fly up in his head. He could see the unicorn’s eyes starting to squint, the magical essence around the gun growing tighter, and even the trigger slowly getting pulled back. Apparently, Nimbus was Zero Shifting again without him intending to do so, but this time was different. He could actually see everything that was going on around him, unlike all the other times where time was just kind of a blur. Nimbus didn’t know if you he was moving so fast that time itself had slowed down, or if the earth had just conveniently slowed down for his sake. Whatever the explanation was, Nimbus knew bullets could fly at a speed up to 1300 feet per second, Rainbow Dash was only standing five feet away, and he could travel (or Zero Shift) up to a speed of 300,00 kilometers per second. So, if he could convert kilometers to feet…

Nimbus now saw the flash of barrel happening before him, which meant the bullet won’t be too far behind. There was no time for math conversions, no time for thinking, not time for bullshit. The time for action was ticking faster and now was nowhere near fast enough. Nimbus pushed and felt the colors leaving th world around him. He pulled his legs out reaching for Rainbow Dash to tackle her down hopefully keep her and himself a safe distance away from the bullet.

The colors and sounds of the world all came back in a mixed simultaneous blend. It was the kind of scenic feeling you’d  get if you’d had the opportunity to smash a speaker as it was playing music  and the sound waves appeared as a series of various colors and contorted shapes. All Nimbus could understand from the world around him was that there was somepony screaming continuously for help and the fact that the wind and energy had been completely knocked out of him. He couldn’t tell if it was still raining or not, all senses had left his body. He couldn’t feel, see, hear, smell, or taste anything. It felt like being suffocated without the burning fire building in your chest. Nimbus wanted to gasp for air, but he had no idea where his mouth was or how to even breathe anymore. All he wanted to do was sleep. This was starting to get old. First thing Nimbus wanted to do once he woke up was to check and see if he was diagnosed for insomnia. For now, Nimbus embraced to the beautiful grace of sleep and let it wrap him in its blanket of absence.

POWER UP!

[Aim Dodge]: Whew, if you thought Zero Shifting was a short distance wait until you read this description. So, Aim Dodge, sounds pretty badass, right? Hell yeah, it’s badass! You have a quick slow motion glimpse of everything that is happening in the world around you. You can literally see everything happen right before it happens. Down side: you can only move faster than light for about six inches, maybe two feet in some cases. Never been able to measure the speed at which a fly flaps it’s wings, using only your naked eye? Now you can! Ever wanted to stand in front of a machine gun and dodge every bullet as your friend unloads the magazine on you? Now you can! Ever wanted to watch a YouTube video without having to watch a stupid advertisement? Well, you still can’t do that…bummer, bro.