Number One

Chapters

Chapter 1: Arrival
Chapter 2: Plan
Chapter 4: Repair
Chapter 4.5: Dream
Chapter 5: Dinner
Chapter 6: Scars
Chapter 7: New Day
EXTRA: An Old Friend
EXTRA: Years Later
Chapter 3: Again

Chapter 1: Arrival

Look out for number one.

That was the rule for as long as you could remember. You grew up in Clopton, a tough place ponies always told stories of. Every mistake was painful, every insult was personal, and everypony took what they could get.

Between the gangs and the violence, you had managed to lay low in the background and survive, albeit not unscathed. You had a few scars here and there, the bigger ones you covered up with a jacket. There were some down your forelegs and one deep one around the base of your neck.

You made your bits as a repaircolt of sorts. As much as you could fix something good as new, most of the things ponies brought you were not broken. Instead, they would ask for you to put in hidden chambers within certain items to transport various substances.

And, of course, you were alone. That’s how it’s always been and that’s how you liked it. Sure, you used to have friends, but what did that friendship give you? Heartache and another scar. You only had to make that mistake once.

Somehow, you were able to get out. You were hesitant at first, giving up everything you knew. It was still your life and if there was one thing you learned, it was not to give anything of yours to anypony. However, you made a few too many enemies and decided it would be best to start again somewhere else.

Looking at a map, you found a town a good distance out of the way. Small enough to not be particularly noteworthy, but big enough to ensure some steady work. You’d have to give up a good chunk of savings considering there were not any apartments in this town, but money wasn’t as big a concern as what it could get you. For example, having a lot of money could get you some big trouble.

Packing up tools, spare jackets, and a few small things, you left. After an almost daylong carriage ride paid with bits of questionable origin, you found the small house on the outskirts of the town away from everypony (specifically requested) and found it to be quite nice. It came with more furniture than you were expecting and the sinks and shower had hot water. The bed had an actual honest-to-Celestia mattress with sheets and blankets. Not the inch think rectangle lump you were used to.

Setting your things down, you laid down in the bed to see how it felt. Getting a little comfier under the blanket, you decided to rest your eyes a bit. When they opened again, it was pre-dawn with Luna’s moon still visible in the sky and the fewest hints of Celestia’s sun coming on the horizon. After determining that you’ve been asleep for about ten hours, you decided a couple more wouldn’t hurt.

===

Fast forward to this moment, you are on your way to the store to buy a few supplies. Some food would be nice, but mostly you are after paper and ink with which to make fliers advertising your services. At first, you were against the idea of putting yourself on public display. However, with knowing absolutely nopony and funds being limited, you need work. Even if you did just do common things to start off before the right crowd (or more accurately, the wrong crowd) came around, you're sure you’d soon blend into the background and life will become nice and familiar again.

You have a saddlebag over a blue jacket in order to carry your things when you got them. Bits tucked deep in your pocket to keep them from accidentally “falling out” into another pony’s sticky hooves.

Before you reach town, you see a rainbow colored streak pass overhead. It whirls in the air through loops and spins before stopping at a point in the air. You notice that it’s a pegasus. It looks around and seems to notice you as well.

The colorful streak once again takes off, this time towards your direction before coming to a halt in front of you. It’s a cyan mare pegasus with a mane and tail the colors of the streak that follows her while she flies. “Hey,” she says. “You one of my fans watching me practice?”

You are a bit taken back by the question. “Wha- I’ve never heard of you,” you say.

She looks at you with an annoyed manner. “Well, I just happen to be THE Rainbow Dash. Best young flyer in Equestria, future Wonderbolt, and all around awesome!” she exclaims, extending her wings and puffing out her chest in an air of egotism.

You raise an eyebrow. This pegasus seems to be asking for respect, which is a road very delicately traveled. Be too easy about it and they’ll assume they can walk all over you. You try to think of something to say, but she beats you to it.

“I can see that you don't believe me,” she says. “Well, just watch this!”

She takes off into the air again, flipping and spinning, the prismatic trail behind her as she tears through the sky. Reaching speeds you never thought possible for a pony, she bursts through clouds, hurtling towards the ground before suddenly changing direction the moment before she hit. Now flying towards you at an alarming rate, you brace yourself for impact when she suddenly stops in front of you with a flap of her wings. You feel a strong breeze and look as she delicately lands her hooves on the path in front of you.

“How was that?” she asks with a smirk.

You don’t know how to respond. While the aerial acrobatics were impressive, it was just the fact that you have never encountered this sort of situation before.

“Speechless, huh?” she giggled. “I have to go. I’ll be seeing you later!” she says before racing off again.

You shake yourself out of your daze and continue on the road, but you couldn’t help but think about what you just saw. Usually when a pony demands respect, they threaten you with violence if you don’t comply. Weapons are brought out and ponies advance on you. It was simply show your adoration (often by giving money or something else) or possibly find a few bits of a different kind missing.

This pegasus asked for respect and then tried to earn it by actually impressing you. She has moxie. Something that definitely wouldn’t go over well where you're from, but here it was... almost admirable.

You have a feeling, though. It is an odd feeling, sort of like you had eaten something rotten, but it isn’t unpleasant. A sort of tickly sensation travels up your spine as well. The word for it eludes you right now. You walk into town trying to find how to express how you felt at that moment.

A growling in your stomach interrupts your thoughts, telling you that food would be more than nice right now.

“Well, howdy there!” you suddenly hear.

Although most ponies around are leaving you alone while they go about their business, your hunger distress call seems to be within earshot of an orange mare running an apple cart. With a blonde mane and brown stetson hat, they are gesturing you over with their hoof.

“I heard yer belly and I think I can help ya’ with that. Name’s Applejack,” she says extending their hoof. You feel uncomfortable about this pony suddenly putting her nose in your business, but you meet her hoof anyway. You regret it as soon your foreleg is shaken so much you feel it might pop out at any moment. “So what’s yer name?”

“Oh, it’s... not important,” you say dismissively. Like you would give your name to some crazy mare who almost took your leg off. “Selling apples?” you ask.

Apples were a favorite back in the city. You’d buy a bag at the store whenever you had a few extra bits to spare. Like everything in the city, they were mostly tasteless, but it had a little crunch along with the juice you found enjoyable.

“Yep! Since I haven’t seen you around before and yer stomach seems to be rumblin,’ here’s a little sample for free,” she says, picking out two apples and placing them in front of you.

They are the biggest and brightest apples you’ve ever seen. At that moment, you know something was wrong. Free sample? This was a game you know all too well. There is probably something in those apples and getting a taste would hook you before she jacked up the price.

“No thanks,” you say.

“Oh, I insist. Can’t have a new feller in town go hungry!”

You sigh inwardly at her persistence. “I’m saving my appetite,” you lie.

“Take ‘em with ya’, then.” She pushes them neatly into your saddlebag before you can refuse again. “If you want more, feel free to come on back. We’ve got plenty!”

“Right...” you say, making a mental note to avoid this pony. You walk off without another word and decide maybe it would be good to quickly pass off the apples to some addict for a couple fast bits.

Ignoring the hunger for now, you managed to find a store that sold what you're looking for. Paper, ink, quills, and tape. Thinking that it’d be a hassle to just go home and right a bunch of fliers before coming back, you decide just to jot down the basic information from wherever you are when you hang it.

First stop is a street lamp near the center of town. That apple pony is still there, but you try not to make eye contact as you work. You begin writing the bare essentials of your business.

Repaircolt

Can fix or modify anything

Drop off broken items at 221 N. Ap~

Suddenly, you feel a bump into your side and you quickly jump. “Hey!” you exclaim, putting a hoof over your pocket full of bits. This isn’t the first time somepony tried to pickpocket you and you're always ready for it.

You stare down the potential thief, a light yellow pegasus with a long pink mane being followed by what look to be baby ducks. She seems to have been walking backwards as she has to turn around to see you.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I, um... wasn’t looking where I was going...” She is barely audible.

You keep your eyes on her as you feel around your pocket. All your bits still seem to be undisturbed. She looks to be shrinking away at your cold gaze, but you turn back to your work with a snort. She leads the ducks around you, but you still ready yourself in case she tries to go for your money again. Quickly finishing the address, you hang the flier up and look for a new place to put another.

The search for a location takes you to another street lamp somewhere called Sugarcube Corner. Writing the information again, a scent catches your nose. A very sweet scent, coming from the building next to you. At this point your stomach decides to growl again. You look and discover that it is, in fact, a bakery. Considering how long you’ve put off eating, you decide to go in and look.

Cookies, cakes, and more are on display. Each enticing with their own flavors. The melty chocolate, the crunchy nuts, the tangy and sweet berries inside each delicatessen calling out to you. Sweet sugar tickles your nose as the smells of each warm ingredient blends together. You feel your mouth start to water.

A curly pink tail wiggling about is all you see behind the counter. As you approach, you clear your throat to try and get their attention.

“ahem... Hello?”

Spinning upright, you see a pony, pink as can be, with an equally curly mane to match her tail. Her blue eyes lock on to you before she gives a loud gasp.

“What? WHAT!?” you ask, wondering if she thought you did something wrong. She darts into the back room without an answer and you begin to panic.

A light blue earth pony with a pink mane and three cupcakes as her cutie mark comes out of the back. She sees you and walks up to the counter with a smile.

“I-... I didn’t do anything! Where’s that pink mare going, I-” you try to explain yourself.

“Oh, don’t worry about her, dearie. Pinkie Pie can be a little... eccentric at times,” she replies. You breathe a sigh of relief. “So how can I help you?”

===

“Later, Mffs Cake!” you say with mouthful of bagful of baked goods. She waves goodbye from the front door as you walk off. The cookies you had picked up smell amazing, and you waste no time reaching in and helping yourself to a couple while you go about your business. After three with some leftover, you feel content and hang up another flier.

The rest of the day was largely uneventful as you hang up what you feel is enough to advertise your services before heading home. The sun was just below the horizon and you reach the spot where you met that colorful pegasus. The feeling you couldn’t identify returns as you think about it. You still don’t know what it was.

You open your door and are greeted by near pitch black darkness. You fumble around for a light switch before they all pop on suddenly.

“SURPRISE!” is yelled out with the shooting off of streamers. Although your house was small, it seems that every single resident of Ponyville had somehow broken into your home. Your heart nearly leaps out of your chest as you feel a scratching in your throat, but you don’t notice yourself making noise.

Music began to play and everypony began chatting with each other while the curly pink pony from the bakery bounces up to you.

“Do you like it? Do you like it?” she asks with each bounce. “We were like, ‘SURPRISE!’ and you were like, ‘AAAH!’ and I was like-”

“OUT!” you yell.

The pink pony stops bouncing. The music halts with the sound of a record scratching. “Wha-”

“EVERYPONY OUT!” You yell again, pointing a hoof at the open door.

Slowly, everypony there starts to vacate the premises, taking out the food and party favors. Angry muttering can be heard among some of them, but you don’t care. Anypony that made eye contact receives a fierce glare. When the last pony left, you slam the door and try to find some sort of lock on it. Seeing that there isn’t one, you opt to wedge a chair under the knob.

You sigh as you look around. A few streamers are scattered around the room and somepony left a folding table. Deciding you would rather deal with it in the morning, you begin to make your way back to your bedroom.

“What the hay is wrong with you?” you hear somepony ask behind you. You turn around and see the colorful pegasus from this morning. Rainbow something- Rainbow Dash, that was it. She looks absolutely furious, but you don’t back down.

“Get out,” you state flatly before continuing to your room. She quickly cuts you off.

“Everypony here just tried to do something nice for you-”

“Breaking into my house is nice?” you interrupt. She isn’t phased.

“...and welcome you into town, and you thank them with THAT?” her voice rose at the end.

You look her in the eyes. Both your brows furrowed. You want to say something, anything along the lines of how she could feed herself to a manticore, but you can’t make your lips form the words. You say nothing, opting to walk past her and actually reach your bedroom.

“Well?” she asks.

“Well, what?”

“What do you have to say?”

You pause for a moment, dramatically putting your hoof on your chin to act like you're thinking intensely. After a while, you simply say, “Get out,” and close your bedroom door. This door actually had a lock on the knob with you clicked into place before the annoying pegasus could force herself in.

The clicking and banging of her trying to open it is oddly satisfying. You walk and flop yourself down on your bed, jacket and all. You don’t really care if she is still in your house; your money and everything that you had brought with you was in the room.

After a while, you hear the struggle outside stop.

“Fine, you big jerk!” you hear her yell.

Her hoofsteps lead away and trail off after that. The feelings from this morning return, but this time they feel different. Anxiety tightens in your chest as you try to sleep. As you eventually drift into unconsciousness, you can hear Rainbow Dash’s words echo in your ears.

Chapter 2: Plan

You groan as you open your eyes. You feel a sharp aching pain in your side, rolling over to reveal that you had slept on your pocket full of bits all night. You slowly sit up and take your jacket off. The scars feel warm exposed to the air. You turn off the bed, landing on your hooves before stumbling out of the room.

Your mouth feels incredibly dry. Going to the kitchen, you look at the sink when a realization hits you. You did not actually pack any dishes or silverware. With cups out of the question, you turn back down the hall and wander into the bathroom.

You catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. Messy mane, check. Sleepy bags under eyes, oh yeah. Mark where you slept on your bits, of course. You step into the shower not bothering with the curtain and randomly turn the two knobs. You flick the switch on the faucet redirecting the water and a wave of cold liquid washes over you. It’s unpleasant, but at least you’re more awake now. It gradually gets warmer and warmer before it becomes uncomfortable, then you turn the H knob a little to the left.

With no sort of shower products, you just let the water run down your body. You shake your head as it goes through your mane and are sure to let every part of you get a quick rinse. Then you stare up into the shower head with an open mouth, letting water fall in as you gulp it down. It tastes slightly metallic, but it could be worse. Swishing a little more in your mouth, you spit it down the drain as you turn off the knobs.

Stepping out, you’re faced with another dilemma. No towels. With a sigh, you just shake yourself out a bit, getting water everywhere in the room. Another reason to pick some up, you think. You’re still a bit moist, but you figure you can walk around in your own house while you air dry. As long as nopony bothers you, you can wait, get dressed, and then go into town to pick up-

*knock knock knock*

“Yeah...” you sigh to yourself. “Of course.”

You shake yourself off again as much as you can, making your mane somehow more of a mess than when you woke up. More water gets thrown around, but you’re still not quite dry. Feeling that it’ll have to do, you grab a new jacket from your bag in the bedroom and put it on, covering your scars again.

The fliers you left around town include specific times to drop off and pick up items, neither of which were now. You actually got this a lot back in Clopton for ponies that need rush jobs, but that just means you can charge them more.

*knock knock knock*

“Hold on!” you yell down at the door. “Patience of some ponies, I swear...” you mumble as you zip up the jacket and make your way towards the entrance, faithful chair still diligently preventing intruders. As you pull the chair out of the way, you wonder how the last of your uninvited guests got out last night. You look up at an open window before shrugging, setting the chair aside, and answering the door.

It's Rainbow Dash, holding one of your fliers in her mouth. She looks at you the same way she did after everypony left your house. A shiver goes down your spine similar to yesterday, but you can’t help but feel annoyed that she’d come back for whatever reason.

After you see what she has, she sets it down. “Do you really...” she starts. “Really think that ponies will come to you after last night?”

“Do you have anything that needs fixing?” you ask.

“No, but-”

SLAM

You turn away and walk back to your bedroom. Hearing the door open again, as you expect, you ignore the colorful pegasus and continue on your way. She’s talking about something or other, but you tune her out. She’s stated herself that she has no business with you.

You look into your saddlebag and take out the bag of cookies. They’ll make more than an acceptable breakfast before you go into town. You look through the other items you had acquired the previous day. The paper, the ink, the quills, and the apples given to you by that dealer. Deciding to leave it all, you close it up before pulling it onto your back. You also grab the bits from your old jacket and put them in your new pocket.

“Are you even listening to me?” you hear behind you.

“Nope,” you say, pulling out a couple cookies. You walk past Rainbow Dash munching when she flies in front of your face, staring you down.

“I said you owe my friends an apology,” she states flatly.

You chew the cookie and swallow. “For?”

“For yelling at them last night! Kicking out everypony who only wanted to welcome you!”

“Well, where’s my apology?” you ask before popping the rest of the cookie in your mouth.

“For what?” she asks, clearly annoyed.

“For breaking into my house, twice in your case, and leaving a mess.” You point a hoof to the general area of the living room, the folding table and streamers still present.

“Still,” she begins, less angry than before. “I don’t think anypony is going to come to you if they think you act like that.”

You are not too worried. Sure, you may not make the bits off regular customers, but being avoided by general public makes you perfect for those not wanting to be noticed. It will take less time to get familiar with the crowd of clients you were used to. However, that is for later and now you had an angry mare that you want out of your house. “So what should I do?” you ask.

“Apologizing to everypony in Ponyville would be a good start.”

“Why would I want to do that?” You turn and walk out the door, Rainbow Dash still following you.

“Are you serious?” she asks. “You can’t let ponies try to do something nice?”

You remember what doing something nice for somepony means back in the city. “Ponies can do anything they want, as long as it’s away from me.”

She flies in front of you again. “Really?”

You just nod.

“You don’t do well around others, do you?”

You shake your head. She sighs.

“Pinkie Pie puts a lot of work into her parties,” she says.

“Pinkie Pie... Pinkie Pie...” you mumble to yourself. “Oh, that crazy bakery pony?”

“Yep. And she was crushed when you threw out her guests.” You give a snort in reply. You notice her mouth begins to form a smirk. “So I guess you don’t want anything from the Sugarcube Corner Bakery, then.”

You stop. “What?” you ask.

“Yeah, she keeps saying that you’re a big meanie and that she’ll never do anything nice for you again.”

“Well, there’s still Mrs. Cake. I can go when she’s running the store.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Cake really care for Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash says. “She’s like a daughter to them. If you think that they’ll sell you anything before you say sorry, you’ve got another thing coming.”

You pause to think about this. As you remember the bakery you can almost smell the sweet treats again, warm and fresh from the oven. They were, quite possibly, the best thing you had ever tasted.

“Okay...” you say.

“You’ll apologize to everypony?” Dash asks, half excited.

“I’ll apologize to Pinkie Pie,” you state. Looking away, you see that you had actually made it into town in the time you were speaking with Dash.

Dash remains silent to your response. She’s thinking, as if trying to solve a problem in her head. Finally, another confident smirk appears on her face. “I’ve gotta see this,” she says.

You sigh as you approach the bakery. Dash lands and trots beside you as you reach the entrance.

“Stay out here,” you tell her.

“No way!” You shoot her a look of disapproval. She laughs and says, “What, you don’t want me to see the big, tough you admitting their mistake?”

Instead of responding, your eyes drift to slightly past Dash. You seem to focus on something in the distance and squint to see it better. Out of the corner of your vision, you see Dash’s smile fade until she turns the see what you are looking at. After a moment of searching, she turns back to find that you are gone.

She opens the door to the bakery and looks around inside. She goes back out and swings her head around, trying to find you. She takes off into the sky to try and get a bird’s eye view. While she does this, you sneak out from behind the trash cans around the corner and enter the bakery before she notices.

As you walk in, new scents greet you. A different sweet, with a hint of chocolate is in the air, but just as intoxicating as the day before. Nopony is at the counter when you walk up. You tap the silver bell by the register twice. It gives a little DING DING and you hope somepony comes soon because you don’t know how long you have before Dash shows up.

You’ve made sincere sounding apologies before for the sake of getting back on somepony’s good side, so that wouldn’t be a problem. However, you have a feeling that Dash will only try to make it harder.

A certain pink pony bounces up to the counter with closed eyes and a big smile, humming to herself. With as good as spirits she seems to be in, it doesn’t look like saying sorry will be hard at all.

“Hello-!” she cuts off when she opens her eyes and sees that it’s you. The change in her attitude is instant. Her eyes narrow at you and the smile turns into a pout as she crosses her forelegs, along with a little HMPH.

“You’re the big meanie that kicked everypony out of your party!” she says. She points a hoof across the counter at you. “Meanie!”

You sigh. “Yeah, about that-”

“Meanie!” she says again, turning away from you and crossing her forelegs again.

You’re a little put off that she interrupted you. “Look, I just wanted to-”

“Meanie!” She turns her head towards you just long enough to say that word before facing away again. You see Mrs. and who you assume to be Mr. Cake standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking less than amused that you decided to show up after last night.

You ignore them for now. “I realize that-”

“Meanie!”

“...last night wasn't-”

“Meanie!”

“A good moment for-”

“Meanie!”

“-me. And I-”

“Meanie!”

“-wanted to say-”

“Meanie!”

“I’M SORRY!” you raise your voice to make sure she hears you. You try to keep any anger out of your tone, but you are annoyed that she keeps interrupting you. However, as she turns around, she doesn’t look mad anymore. Mr. and Mrs. Cake look impressed as well.

“I’m sorry I acted like that,” you say. “I didn’t expect that when I came home, and... I’m sorry.”

The smile begins to form on her face again. She runs around the counter. “Oh, you’re not a big meanie!” she yells as she throws her hooves around you. Within the second, she finds herself leaning against your outstretched forelegs. Speaking of things you didn’t expect, crazy touchy-feely was on the list.

“This is so wonderful! We have so much to do! So much to bake! So much to plan!” She says, bouncing in place.

“I, what?” you ask. You begin to consider the sanity of this pony when a thought enters your mind. “Hey, wanna buy an apple?”

“Ooh! We can have bobbing for apples and Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Pony and music and dancing!”

You look over to see a smiling Mr. and Mrs. Cake. They both go back into the kitchen. Pinkie Pie is still bouncing, listing off things she apparently needs.

“So what do you need all this for?” you ask.

“For your new party!” she says.

You can feel your train of thought screeching to a halt. “Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa, nopony said anything about-”

“It’ll be great! Much better than the last one and I’ll invite EVERYPONY!”

“I would rather-” Before you finish the statement with some colorful language, a certain thing about her last sentence catches your attention. “Everypony?”

“That’s right! Everypony in Ponyville!”

“And they’ll come?”

“Uh-huh! Nopony would miss a Pinkie Pie Party! Except for that one time where my friends...”

You aren’t listening anymore. Everypony is going to be there. You remember your conversation with Rainbow Dash that morning. If you could have everypony’s attention for just a moment, you can throw out another apology and then what would Dash be mad at you for? She’d leave you alone!

You remember what gatherings were like back in Clopton. They start normal, but then there would be a disagreement, somepony would get a little too buzzed on whatever, put hooves where they didn’t belong; especially one placed in somepony’s nose with excessive force. Knives are pulled and police are called. That’s why you tend to avoid them.

However, would this party be so bad? All you’d have to do is be there for the beginning, say sorry, grab some free bakery food, and then leave before the first punch was thrown. You could do that!

“...but Twilight was busy writing something, so she didn’t play.” You snap your mind out of your thoughts and focus on Pinkie again. “But yeah! Everypony will be there and there will be chocolate cake, and chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chip muffins, and what would you rather?” she suddenly asks.

You remember the statement you didn’t finish. “I would rather...” you think fast. “...blueberry muffins?”

She nods vigorously. “We can have blueberry AND chocolate chip! And banana nut, and cherry, and we can have hot sauce, too!” You pause to think over the last item she lists. “And I’ll have it all ready for your house tonight!”

“Wait!” you raise a hoof. “Can it not be at my house?” Pinkie tilts her head to the side, curiously. “Like... at a park or something?” you suggest.

She ponders for a while. “Okie dokie lokie!” she says finally. “We have to make sure your welcome party is perfect!” She wraps a foreleg around your shoulder, but you don’t shove her away immediately this time.

“Yeah...” you say. Your mind goes back to the happy idea of getting that cyan pegasus off your back. “Perfect.”

Chapter 4: Repair

The crowd was stunned. You heard some boos from the crowd as the faces slowly fell from shocked to angry. You stood in place, apathetic, scanning the park. You eyes rested on the table with the punch bowl as a few pieces of food were thrown in your direction.

Rainbow Dash had left. You turned around and walked off.

That was two days ago.

Now, you lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. You could not have screwed that up any more if you tried. You came here to get away from enemies, and now you're public enemy number one.

Your stomach growls, but you ignore it. If nopony would sell you anything after the first party, you doubt anypony would sell you anything now. Especially food. All you have are a couple cookies to get you by. The two apples were thrown away to keep you from being tempted to ingest whatever was in them.

Not a single knock came to your door. Even if the second party hadn’t happened, who would know to come to you with your fliers taken down? You close your eyes at the thought. Fliers. They were just fliers. Why did they make you act like that? Just because you thought, without any actual proof, that Rainbow Dash had...

Rainbow Dash. Thinking that name makes your insides feel twisted. You want to see her again. The shiver runs down your spine. You had nearly forgotten about that.

Her confidence. Her brash nature. There was something about it. Something in the back of your mind. You mentally grasp at it, trying to figure out what this mare has that just...

Your stomach growls again, interrupting the thought. You open your eyes and sigh. Rolling out of bed, you decide some fresh air may be a just the thing to help. Taking off the jacket you’ve been wearing the past couple of days, you get a quick shower before pulling on a fresh one. You open the door and squint at the harsh outside light, having spent the last couple of days inside. As your eyes adjust, you begin walking.

You quickly come to a crossroad. To the left led into Ponyville. To the right, you had no idea. You walk to the right without hesitation.

What was it with Rainbow Dash? You try to think while you walk. Was it something from back in Clopton? That’s a start. But what?

It swims in your head a bit as you walk. You feel it’s close. If only your stomach isn’t grumbling so often, you could hear yourself think. Of course, where are you ever going to find-

Apples. Loads of apples. Apple trees everywhere. The red fruit shining from the branches, you can feel your mouth watering. Is this where that farmer pony lived? You try to remember her name. Apple-something. That much you know.

Sure enough, you see a barn off in the distance. That’s probably where they put whatever it is in the apples. But maybe fresh off the tree, they would be...

You quickly push the thought out of your mind. You are already hated by everypony. Stealing would be just the thing to have them come after you. You pat your pockets, realizing that you left all of your bits at home. It’s probably not likely the owner would sell them to you anyway. You begin to turn around.

“What in tarnation are you doin’ here?” asks a voice from behind you. You turn to see the blonde mane orange earth pony. She looks very annoyed.

“Walking,” you reply.

“You have some nerve. I’ll buck ya’ straight into next week if you were even thinkin’ of stealin’ so much as a single apple from mah trees,” she says, approaching you. You can almost see the fire in her eyes.

You sit and raise your forelegs. “I took nothing. I was just leaving.”

She snorts. “I oughta’ buck ya’ anyway for what you said at that party we tried to throw ya’.”

“Ugh...” You bring a hoof to your forehead. “Look, I-” You are cut off by the massive rumble your stomach gave. You wrap your forelegs around your stomach because of the pain.

A moment of silence passes. “You... you been eatin’ at all?” the farmer asks, genuine concern taking place in her voice instead of anger.

“What do you care?” you ask.

“If yer hungry, then maybe...” She seems a little hesitant. “We could do a little business?”

“You’d really sell me apples?”

She sighs. “If you got bits, we’ll take them.” Her head hangs a bit. She speaks with the tone of a pony down on her luck.

You look at her, trying to find any source of joke or trickery. Is she actually going to sell you food? What’s with the change in attitude all of a sudden? Then you figure it out. The apples. Not only would she hook you on them, but then you would owe her a favor by being the only pony to sell you what you need to survive. Suddenly, you were needing more apples leading to owing more favors.

Best way to get rid of money problems, or any problems for that matter, is to pass them onto somepony else. She’d probably love to have you under her hoof, be it drugs or debt.

“I don’t have any bits...” you say slowly, looking around for an excuse to get you out of this train of conversation. You didn’t trust yourself with your current hunger. Suddenly, you spot something in a small clearing between the apple trees. It looks like a wagon for loading buckets of harvested fruits, but the side is bashed in with one of the back wheels cracked.

“What happened over there?” you ask, pointing at the wagon.

She looks over and sighs again. “That was a little accident we had earlier today. Caramel tried turnin’ the empty cart too fast an’ smashed the side of it into one of the trees.” She shakes her head. “It’s why I’ve been in a bit of a bad mood today.”

An idea pops into your head. “You know... I think we might be able to help each other.”

She looks at you with a raised eyebrow. “How do ya’ figure?”

“I can fix your cart for you.” She looks at you skeptically. “I’m a repaircolt. Although business hasn’t been too...” You shrug as an end to the sentence.

“An’ you won’t just run off the moment I pay you or with the tools I give ya’ or anythin’?”

“I have my own tools and you can pay me when it’s done.” She looks you over, still unsure whether or not to trust you. “Okay, I’ve said some things before, and...” It was now your turn to sigh. You know what you have to do. “I’m sorry. Really.” Her features soften. “For as much as it’s worth, for what I am, I’m not a thief. Say the word and this wagon will be better than new.”

She looks at the wagon, pondering it over. “Yer own tools?”

“Just need some wood.”

“We got that in the barn. An’ I pay you when it’s done?”

“Not a moment sooner.”

“Better than new?”

“You won’t recognize it.”

She brings her hoof to her chin. “Well... you said you were sorry.” You nod. “And I can’t leave a pony starvin’.” She walks over to the nearest tree and gives it a light kick. A few apples fall from the branches with she gathers up and nudges towards you. “Here. Ah don’t want you workin’ hungry.”

You are still wary of the apples. However, your stomach was fighting your better judgement and they did just come off the tree. Could there be anything in them already?

“You get yer tools and Ah’ll have the wood ready for you,” she says, turning away.

“Right! Be back in a minute...” you say, trailing off as you look at the apples in front of you.

Maybe just a taste.

*crunch*

Oh my goodness, that’s delicious.

===

Finally, some familiar territory. You wonder how somepony could actually slam the side of this wagon into a tree, but nevertheless, you're happy they did. Once you fix this, that farmer might tell her friends. A couple of them have some broken things they bring by and afterwards they tell more friends. They tell more ponies and more and more and then you’ll have a steady flow of customers.

Glorious thing, word of mouth. And nopony, not even Rainbow Dash, could do anything to stop it.

You brought your toolbox and Apple-something (might have to ask for her name again later) had long planks of wood ready for you in a pile next to the broken wagon. You begin to look over the task at hoof.

“It’s a wonder it hadn’t broke sooner,” you say to yourself. The wood was old and rotten nearly everywhere. Thankfully the axles were in good enough shape or else it’d be your entire day sunk. You still had your work ahead of you and this wasn’t even including any secret compartments. Although this wagon would have been perfect for such add-ons, you figure since this is your first customer that you are depending on to spread the word you’ll just fix it up before slapping on things that racks up the cost. Maybe you’'' ask later. You won’t lie, you’d love to be able to have a little fun seeing what you could do. Brushing your hooves against each other, you take your measuring tape and pencil and begin work.

Taking a few measurements of the wagon, you mark off places on a fresh board of wood that you’d cut in a moment. Maybe you could do a double for reinforcement. However, that would make the cart heavier. You’ll try pulling it and see after the first is put on and the wheel is fixed. You hum to yourself as you lose yourself in the job. You feel the sides of your mouth lifting ever so slightly...

===

“Hey, you still workin’? It’s gettin’ near supper, so I- whoa!”

You snap out of your personal little world when you hear the voice approaching. You were just sanding down the corners of the wagon; a little touch to make it look nice. Of course it has to look nice, it’d be too easy to guess some piece of trash was smuggling something.

“Why... that’s... Ah...” She was at a loss for words.

“Well, the wood was old all the way around, so I picked off all of that,” you begin. “The wheel wasn’t so much of a problem, a little glue should hold it fine.” You pat the side. “Two planks thick and added a little bit more support on the inside. This thing could crash into a hundred trees,” you say with a little pride showing. “Also...” You couldn’t help yourself and put in concealed storage in the back under the wagon bed. “This if you have anything that you might not want in plain sight.”

Her mouth is still open in amazement.

“And I greased the wheels a little so it pulls smooth as anything.” She simply walks up and hooks herself to it. She begins walking and, sure enough, the wagon glides along with ease.

“Wow... This is amazin’!” She said while the two of you walk back to the shed.

Her smile fades. Her eyes open just a bit wider, staring into space. The realization dawning on her that this piece of work she was admiring she now has to pay for.

“So, uh, what do I owe ya’?” she asks, chuckling nervously.

Here comes the fun part. And by fun part, you mean the part you dread.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly easy getting the old wood off...” you begin, exaggerating each task. “While you did provide supplies, there was the work going into the inside support and that extra little space in the back wasn’t exactly a picnic.”

You go through each and every detail making it sound harder than it really was. This was a normal tactic you use because, more often than not, your customers would try to haggle with you for a lower price. They would still try to convince you to let the job go for less, but this made the inflated estimate you give them seem actually justifiable. Then you’d allow yourself to lower the price to something somewhat reasonable.

You finish up your spiel. “All things considered, I think it’ll be about...” Suddenly, something catches your eye. You see a big basket of apples in the corner of the shed by the door. Remembering the tangy, sweet juices as they flowed over your tongue and lips after the first bite...

The farmer, who was looking worried while you talked, follows your gaze and suddenly looks back with a smirk.

“You want ‘em?” she asks.

“Well, I don’t normally take anything but money...” You eye the apples. The crisp, delicious, apples that tickled your taste buds with their juicy golden Damn it, you were hooked. “But in this case, it’ll do.”

You can almost see a wave of relief come over the orange pony. “Take ‘em. Honestly, that helps me out a bunch.” She looks to the ground. “Business hasn’t been goin’ too well these days. Bits are tight and I kind of owe somepony else at the moment.”

You shrug. Not your problem.

“Here, let me help you with these,” she says, picking up the basket. She loops it around in the strap of your saddlebag and, with a little work, you’re able to get a nice balance with your toolbox on the other side.

“Thanks again, mister,” she says. “You may not be the most... friendly of ponies.” You roll your eyes. “But you sure do a fine job of fixin’ things.”

“You can tell your friends that.”

“Ah will. See ya’ later!” she says with a wave as you walk back down the path.

You think over the situation as you walk back to your house. The ball for customers had started rolling. You may have just done a repair job in exchange for apples, but then again, you aren’t hurting for bits yet and food is what you need.

At that moment, your stomach decides to pipe up. While not the Dear-Celestia-I’m-Dying rumble, it's enough for you to merit taking an apple out of the basket on your side and munching as you trotted along.

Suddenly, you see up in the sky, a trail of rainbow cut through the wild blue. You remember what you were thinking about earlier today and are now considering whether or not you truly want to see Dash at that moment. It has been a good day and an encounter with the colorful pegasus can go in either direction. Not seeing any sign of her behind you anymore, you decide just to keep walking.

===

Sure enough, the next day comes with a knock on your door. A purple unicorn with mostly-violet mane stands there. She looks as skeptical as the farmer had.

You talk a little. Enough to say sorry for the two party incidents. She lightens up and pulls out a clock from her saddlebag for you to take a look at. It is a rather unusual design, but you had seen it enough to know how to fix it. It actually has everything, there is just one little piece out of place.

“I was looking at the design of this clock in a book, but I just didn’t understand why it wasn’t working.”

“Yeah, few books mention that those two cogs connect like that.”

“Well, thanks. How much will it be?”

You consider it. It was just a few flicks of your hoof. Perhaps you can get a couple easy bits off this, maybe one or two...

“How’s this?” she suddenly asks, pulling out four bits with her magic.

“Um... sure!”

She takes the clock and leaves happily. “I’ll be sure to tell my friends about you!” You simply nod, looking dumbfounded at the easiest four bits you’ve ever earned as she leaves.

The next few days brings even more customers. One with a blender, another with a camera, a couple more clocks, and more. The folding table somepony left and forgot about has turned into your work bench. Apologies are made to everypony that comes to your door and they all leave promising to tell their friends. Less enemies, more customers. Even the Cakes come by needing their oven repaired and they agree to sell you baked goods again. You did have to get another hug from Pinkie Pie who then goes off to throw you another party, this time at the bakery.

It was tonight. Perhaps you’ll finally get it right this time.

You only have one more customer. A white unicorn with a dark purple mane who brought in a sewing machine that was actually taken to you before by three fillies in red capes who you turned away for lack of funds. She is also the first to take you up on your offer to put in hidden compartments, although not in the way you expect.

“Oh, I could store my spare thread in it and it’ll save SO much space!”

“Yep...” you say, barely listening. You are just screwing in the final pieces after making sure it’ll run fine. Of course even with simple compartments, it has to work. First sign of something not working, some officer opens it up and “Well, well, what do we have here?”

“Now then, darling, what will this be costing me today?”

You think it over. The problem was that it had string caught in all of the parts, easily cleaned out. With the simple modifications, you’d estimate it to be about a seven bit job.

“Twelve bits.”

She floats out twelve bits with her magic. “Worth every one. And a little something extra for such an outstanding job,” she says, taking out a couple more bits and putting it on the table. Before you can object, she takes the sewing machine and begins out the door. “I shall be seeing you at the party tonight, yes?”

“I, um... yeah.”

“Marvelous. I’ll be sure to come back if there is anything else. Ta ta!”

She closes the door behind her as you look at the pile of bits she left. That was another thing about this town. The ponies don’t question the inflated prices you give them. They don’t haggle or complain. They just happily pay, even trying to give you more.

“What a flank-backwards town...” you mumble to yourself.

===

“SURPRISE!” everypony shouted, jumping out of their hiding places. That will never not give you a heart attack.

“You’re here! You’re here!” the ever excitable Pinkie Pie happily exclaims as she bounces to over to you by the snack table. You munch on a piece of cake as she jumps up and down. Suddenly, she stops and faces the crowd.

“Everypony! The guest of honor has something he’d like to say!”

You did not plan this. The population of the party turns toward you. Some customers of yours are smiling. Some have the look of doubt you’ve seen many times before. A few barely know what is going on. Still, in some manner, large or small, there is hope glimmering in their eyes and you know what they want to hear. You put down your cake and clear your throat.

“Well then. Third time’s the charm, huh?” you say, getting a couple laughs from the crowd. You take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.”

Some start clapping and some start cheering.

“Yeah! Wooho-!”

“Shut up, I’m not done.” Surprisingly, this got a few more chuckles before they begin to quiet down. You start again.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you all. For telling you all off. And I’d like to thank you all for welcoming me to your town.”

Silence.

“I’m done.”

They begin clapping and cheering once more.

===

As the party officially starts, there are a bunch of ponies lined up to meet you. They start asking questions about where you were from. They seem a little off put at first hearing you are from Clopton. As you knew, the place has made quite the name for itself. Still, they ask more curious questions and you answer.

“Did you ever get into a knife fight?”

“I’ve been stabbed a couple times, and I’ve been in a couple hoof-fights, but I try to keep out of major conflict like that.”

“Have you ever done drugs?”

“No. There’s no faster way to lose bits.”

“Have you ever been arrested?”

“A couple times I’ve spent a night in the cell for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I haven’t done any real time.”

They quickly warm back up to you. You are actually having fun talking to them and learning a bit about everypony there. The music is pretty good and the snacks are incredible.

And then she shows up.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash says.

“Hey.”

You both stand there. Awkward silence rolls in like fog. Not really knowing what else to say, you ask the first thing that comes to mind.

“Did you take down my fliers?”

She looks down. “Yeah...” She back looks up and shrugs. “Clopton, huh?”

“Yep.”

She nods. “That explains a lot.”

You shrug as well and she laughs.

===

You had planned to leave early like last time to avoid the inevitable violence that breaks out at every other gathering you have attended. However, you are so busy chatting with Dash and the occasional fellow party goer, when you ask where everypony went you hear that the festivities are over. You are surprised that you didn’t hear anything from the police at all during the night.

After finally leaving, Dash had joins you in walking back to your house. She was telling you about more adventures she had gone on with her friends like that day before the second party.

“So let me get this straight...” you say. “Sleeping dragon was going to cover your town in smoke for a hundred years.”

“Uh huh!”

“Big thing. Claws bigger than a pony.”

“Yep!”

“And you kick it in the face?” you say, failing to contain laughter.

“Hey, we tried everything else. Reason, flattery, and... Pinkie Pie. What else was there?”

You shake your head chuckling. “You wouldn’t last two minutes in Clopton, Dash.”

“I could make it in Clopton, I bet.”

“Trust me, you don’t even want to try.”

“Why not?”

“Because I came from there.”

“You’re not so bad,” she says, ruffling your mane with a hoof. She pauses and then adds, “Eventually.”

You straighten your mane as you open the door to your house. Expectedly, Rainbow Dash follows you inside. Going to the kitchen, you pick up an apple from the basket Apple-something (dang it, you knew there was something you meant to do at that party) gave you.

“Whoa, where’d you get the apples?” Dash asks.

“Fixed farmer pony’s wagon for them.”

“Oh, Applejack’s?” That was her name. “She told me about that. How you apologized and did a great repair job.”

You nod in recollection.

“Then I mentioned it to Twilight when her clock broke. And Rarity. Really, everypony when they’d talk about something that was busted.”

You nod again for a couple seconds before the realization causes your brain to come to a complete stop as you nearly choke on your apple.

“You spread the word about my business? Why? I thought you took down my fliers to keep me from getting customers.”

She reaches a hoof around to the back of her head. “Well... I kind of felt a little bad for that.” She looks at you. “But, we’re cool now, right?”

This bugs you. Why? She hated you before and that was that. When somepony hates you in Clopton, they don't pull strings or do favors for you behind your back. Well, maybe they did ‘favors,’ but not like this.

While you sit blankly, you realize that she’s probably waiting for an answer.

“Yeah. We’re cool.” She smiles. The shiver ran down your spine.

“Well, I’d better get home. I have to get up early for morning cloud clearing,” Dash says as she walks out the door. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” She turns and leaves. You can ask her about everything in the morning.

You finish your apple and throw it away. Yawning, you decide that it’d be a good idea to get some sleep as well. You take off your jacket and throw it into your room, getting comfortable. That thing itches sometimes when you have to wear for extended periods. Then you begin to the bathroom to brush your teeth. Suddenly, you hear the front door open again.

“Hey, there was something I forgot to mention-”

And she sees you. Naked. Scars on display.

You don’t like ponies to see your scars. To anypony looking, it would make you seem dangerous. Being dangerous was dangerous. Other ponies would think they need to attack first before you can do anything to them. They would do horrible things to try and keep you down or in fear. They’d strike you when and where you least expect. They’d take away whatever they could.

You try to cover yourself with your forelegs, but she comes towards you, a look of wonder on her face.

You back away into your bedroom, but Dash still walks towards you. You feel yourself back up against a wall. You simply sit there, waiting for whatever she’s going to say or do. She brings a hoof to one of the scars on your forelegs you’re holding up. Slowly, she rubs down the length of it.

“Cool...” you hear her mumble. Her face is beginning to smile.

She continues feeling around your forelegs. She closely inspects every inch, running her hoof over it again and again to see if they were real. She reaches up to your chest and inspects the area. You see her mouth out ‘Wow...’ as she looks. You let your forelegs fall to your sides as she rubs around your body, eventually leading up to the scar on your neck. She keeps a hoof on your chest as she looks closely. You can feel her breath blowing across the scar.

“That’s deep...” you hear her say. “What happened?”

You look at her. She has the biggest smile you’ve seen all night.

“Did you get in a big fight with some tough ponies? Was it a big job gone wrong? Were police involved?” She only seems to get more and more excited, seemingly oblivious to the questions she's asking.

The scar on your neck starts to burn. You instinctively bring your hoof up to rub it, but it meets with Dash’s. She doesn’t pull away. You rub her hoof as you would your scar if she wasn’t holding it. You are silent. Dash’s smile begins to fade. You both sit there for a while.

“I don’t like to talk about it...” you eventually say. She doesn’t seem to like that answer.

“Oh, come on!” she says, looking at you no less than a hair width away from your face. “I won’t tell if it’s something illegal.”

You remain silent. Her expression begins to turn into one of worry.

“Did you...” she begins, barely above a whisper. “Did you kill a pony?”

“Wha- no!” you exclaim. “It was...” You look deep into Dash’s magenta eyes. You can almost see yourself in them. How vulnerable you must look.

“... a friend.”

Dash let’s go and leans back, giving you space. “What?” she asks.

“It was... I...” You feel them coming. Tears. You remember the last time you cried, as much as you try to block the memory out. You shut your eyes tightly.

“It was just... he...” You try to organize your thoughts.

“What did he do?” she asks angrily. It was the tone of one looking for justification to track down a pony and inflict violence upon them. “What’s their name? Where are they?” she snarls.

“Gone,” you say. “Simply gone. So now it’s nothing.”

Dash stares at you before putting her forelegs around you. She pulls you close, pressing her chest against yours and leaning her head on your shoulder. You can feel her heartbeat. Like a blanket, she gives you warmth and comfort in her embrace. For a moment, you let her sit there before bringing your own forelegs up to wrap around her. When you do, she sighs deeply.

“It’s not nothing, is it?” she asks.

“What do you care?” you quietly retort. You really don’t want to talk about this. About him.

Letting go with one foreleg, she softly smacks the side of your head with her hoof. “I care.” She turns her head and you look into each other’s eyes. “How can you have been here that long and not realize that ponies can care about more than themselves? How Applejack would sell you apples? How Pinkie would throw you yet another party?”

She just hit you. She did that to anypony else from Clopton, she would have been left bleeding.

“He’s gone. Why should it matter?” you ask.

“Because it’s bugging you,” she says. You see her eyes slowly go wide in surprise. She brings her hoof up to your face, slowly passing under your eye, wiping away something small but wet. She brings her head up and looks at you, face to face, as close as you were before.

“I know how things with friends can bug you.”

You feel her breath wash over you as she speaks. There was just a lot of things you want at the moment. You want to stop talking about this. You want your jacket. You want Rainbow Dash to leave, but at the same time you want her to stay. You want to ask her what she means.

You slowly push her away. Enough so that you can get up. You walk over to where you tossed your jacket and put it back on, thankful to cover your scars again without a word from Dash. You decide the least painful course of action would be to get Dash out of here and sleep this off.

“I’ll tell you later,” you say. She is not happy about the response, but accepts this is the best she’ll get for now. “You came back for something?” you ask, remembering what she originally barged in on you for.

“Oh. Yeah.” She’s silent for a bit before walking towards the door. “I wanted to say thanks. For the party.”

She leaves the room. “Remember, I’ll see you tomorrow,” you call out behind her. You hear the front door open and close, then the faint sound of flapping wings.

You let out a deep sigh and simply flop yourself down on the bed as you are. Your body felt numb. You close your eyes and simply lay there until sleep comes to claim you.

Tonight, you dream...

Chapter 4.5: Dream

The sun shines down and the hard concrete claps lightly under your hooves as you make your way down the familiar roads of Clopton. Happy at the weight and jingle of the newly acquired bits in your pocket, you make your way into your apartment building, a dark and dull red brick structure with dreary windows, some broken. Opening the old wooden door, you walk up the steps to your home.

Of course, you don’t live alone. Your best friend should be here since they didn’t have anything to do today. Won’t they be surprised when they see the payday you got. You draw a keyring with a single key out of your pocket and fit it into the dented gold-colored knob, a satisfying click as you turned. Putting the key back and with a twist of your hoof, you open the chipped black painted door and enter.

“Rainbow Dash!” you call out, closing the door behind you. Your place could be nicer. There is an old green couch with a crate acting as a coffee table. An old mattress in the corner with a torn up pillow, but no sheet. A few magazines here and there and the only light source is a cracked window. “I just got paid for the fake refrigerator job! You want something for dinner?”

You hear no response. “Dash?” you ask as you venture into the kitchen. The sink was full of plastic dishes and the oven has rust on the burners. The microwave has irremovable stains of grease. The counters are cracked, but at least clear of clutter save for a bag of apples from the store.

She’s not here, either. Dash would have left a note if she went somewhere, wouldn’t she? There’s one more place to check. The workshop where you would often do your repair jobs. Sometimes Dash would need use of some tools and she is always more than welcome. Maybe she's in the middle of a project.

You begin to approach the door to the workshop when a sour scent begins to fill your nose. Was Dash using oil in there? Smells like she’s using a lot. Damn it, that stuff is expensive. You knock on the door. You both like to keep it closed as you get into the zone while you work. Less distraction the better, and it helps that it has the only source of electrical lighting in the apartment.

No answer. You knock again. “Dash?” you say, slowly opening the door. It’s dark, but the stench is nearly overwhelming. You turn on the light.

In a moment of blinding as the light illuminated the room, you begin to feel some icy sensation gripping you by the neck. It starts to make it hard to stay upright. Hard to breath.

Standing in the room was Rainbow Dash.

“Dash!” you call out. She stares blankly at you. “Something’s wrong with me!”

You begin to feel a stinging sensation in a small point on your neck. An unseen force drags it across, an intense burning left in its path. Bringing a hoof up to it doesn’t stop it, but you pull it back to see it dripping in blood. You try to breathe, but you cannot intake air anymore. You feel liquid sputtering in your throat as you try to fill your lungs.

“HELP!” you try to yell. “HELP ME!” You look pleadingly at the colorful mare who simply stands there. You stumble backwards out of the room, running into the work bench on your way out.

You fall back into your apartment. You notice that it’s a little different. There are pizza boxes and other assorted pieces of trash strewn about the room. Where Celestia’s day had once been is now Luna’s night, her moon shining in through the cracked window.

With one more desperate look at the pegasus, still standing blankly there, you notice a glass bottle wobbling back and forth on the table. Your vision begins to fade, but not before you see it begin to fall. After darkness completely engulfs you, you hear one sound.

*smash*

Chapter 5: Dinner

*smash*

The sound makes your eyes jolt open. You are in bed. The sun is shining. Now you remember that you’re no longer in Clopton. There is no fake refrigerator job. No strange smell. Rainbow Dash is definitely not-...

You close your eyes and push the thought from your head while you are still good and groggy. You contemplate going back to sleep, but you have no idea what time it was. Customers could be showing up and you have to be ready for them. You lay there for a couple minutes to get your mind working a bit before trying to get up.

pit pat pit pat pit pat...

Hoofsteps. Light, but they're there. Is it a thief? With the time you spent in Ponyville, you are actually skeptical of the thought yourself.

You slowly open your eyelid just a bit to be able to see. An orange pegasus with purple mane was walking slowly towards the side of your bed. They're young, though. Only a filly. From what you could tell through your squinted eye, they didn’t even have a cutie mark yet.

You groan as you put your forehooves under yourself to push against the mattress. As you brought yourself up, you hear a frightened yelp from the filly as they back into a corner. You look at them, before something catches your eye. Near your bed was a red ball in a patch of sunlight along with two pony-shaped shadows. You look over and see two more young fillies, one yellow and one white, quickly dart away from the window which was now Celestia-damn broken.

You begin a low growl as you put two and two together.

You turn back to the filly in the room, staring at you the sort of way one would when they are trying and failing to convince themselves that something bad wasn’t about to happen. You recognize them as one of the three that came with the sewing machine you ended up fixing for another pony.

“What’s your name?” you ask flatly.

“S-Scootaloo...” they reply.

“And the other two, how about them?”

She sits there, mouth partially open.

“Well?”

She closes her mouth and looks down. You slide off the bed and put a hoof on the ball waiting for an answer.

“What are their names?” you ask again.

She looks up for a moment before dropping her head again, lightly shaking it back and forth. After a moment of silence, you sigh.

“I’m not in the mood for this...” you say to nopony in particular. “Look at me.”

Scootaloo keeps her head down.

“Look. At. Me,” you repeat, clearly stating each word.

She slowly brings her head up.

“This...” you begin, gesturing at the ball under your hoof. “Doesn’t happen again. Okay?”

She nods quickly. You kick the ball over to her.

“Get out of my house,” you grumble.

She picks up the ball and runs out as fast as her legs would carry her. You are thankful you have your jacket on from last night or things could have been worse with your scars out in the open. You look back at the broken window and figure there was no way around buying a broom now. Groaning from the rude awakening, you stretch your back to feel a satisfying pop before shaking out your bed mane a bit. Looking at the clock, you see you have about an hour or so before ponies could start dropping by.

You take off your jacket and make your way to the shower. Few quick turns of the knobs and the warm water flows through the hairs of your mane as you pick up a cheap shampoo from the general store. Squeezing a bit into your hoof, it smells a bit like permanent markers and maple syrup. Regardless, you sit down on your hind legs and begin working it into a lather from the middle of your mane outward.

You simply let the water wash out the shampoo and let it run down the rest of your body before stopping the shower and getting out. Grabbing one of the towels off the rack, you begin wiping down your forelegs before drying your hind legs. Pulling the towel over your face, you guide it down to dry your mane and back before whipping it around to the front. You wipe off some of the steam on the mirror to get a look at yourself. That shampoo you bought makes your hair feel greasier than how it was before, but you figure there must be some good coming from it.

Picking up an apple from the basket in the kitchen, you let the rest of your coat air dry while you eat. You think over what you have to do today. Buy a broom, somepony was coming by for a mixer (wanted a hidden compartment, too), a few more jobs from yesterday, no idea what other things would show up, see Rainbow Dash at some point-

You stop chewing your apple. You said you were going to see Dash tomorrow, yesterday. Yesterday being yesterday meaning tomorrow was now today, meaning today Rainbow Dash would come by. Or maybe she was expecting you to find her? No, you couldn’t reach her cloud house so she’ll come here. Unless she said to meet her somewhere. Did she?

Thinking back to last night, you find nothing but more questions. You remember how she smiled when she asked about your scars. How she sounded genuinely concerned about you. How she tried to say she knew how you felt. Why?

Why would she act like that? Does she mess with you to entertain herself like taking down the fliers and then helping your business? Perhaps she pities you and this affection is out of charity? Or worst of all, maybe Dash wants to be...

Your friend.

You cringe at the thought. You remember what friendship put you through. If somepony asked you to do it all again, they’d suddenly need to learn how to eat and breath around a monkey wrench wedged sideways down their throat. Never again.

Besides, Dash was just an arrogant weather pegasus. Even if she knew a few acrobatic tricks and could fly really fast. Okay, she was a little fun to be around when she wasn’t angry for some reason. She also was nice enough to help you clean up your house a bit. She probably had a hoof in setting up the multiple parties for you. And the way she held you last night was so warm and-

A knocking on the front door interrupts your thoughts, thankfully. “Just a minute!” you call out before biting off the last of the apple, throwing away the core, and going back to retrieve a jacket. It’s the only jacket that hasn’t been worn for multiple days already. You are going to have to do laundry at some point.

You hear the front door open. “Hey, where are you?” It's that familiar voice belonging to the mare you were just thinking about. You’re dry enough to comfortably throw on the jacket and meet Dash at the bedroom door.

“Why do you always just let yourself in?” you ask.

She shrugs.

“Okay then, so...” you say with a sigh. “What do you need?”

“I’m bored, let’s do something.”

“What? I can’t leave; I have to stay here for customers.”

“Um... it’s Sunday?” she says with a hint of ‘duh’ to it. “The day you said you were closed on the flier?”

Is it really Sunday? The past few days just sort of bleed together in your mind. “You put those back up? I thought you just told ponies about it.”

“I made sure to mention Sundays. So today is all for us,” she says wrapping a foreleg around your shoulder, eliciting that persistent shiver. “What are we doing first?”

You gesture a hoof to your work table with a finished piece of work on it. “There’s a pegasus coming to pick up this mixer-”

“Oh, pfft,” she says, with a flick of her other hoof. “Put a sign on the door that you’re closed. Plus, they’re a pegasus. It’s not like it takes that long to fly out here. So they lose a minute or two, so what?”

You sigh. “I told them specifically to come by today. I want to be here when they show up, plus I have some work to do. Also, I need to go to the store.”

“What do you need at the store?”

“A broom.”

“Broom? What do you need a broom for when you got me?” she asks, spreading one of her wings out to show it off.

“Broken glass.”

“Oh.” She takes her hoof back to rub behind her neck. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to clean that up. How’d it happen?”

“Three little troublemakers, my window, and a ball. Not the best way to wake up in to morning,” you say with a bit of ire in your voice. “Anyway, I still want to get some work done today.”

Dash lets out a mumble in annoyance.

“...Fine,” you concede. You don’t really have any other plans tonight and it's good to get out of the house. “Just come by this evening and we’ll do something.”

“This evening?” she asks.

“Yeah. That a problem?”

“No. No, no. Not at all. So, uh... what would we do?”

“I don’t know. You know the town better than I do. We’ll find something.”

“Okay,” she says with a shrug. “See you later!” With a flap of her wings, she’s in the air and flying back out the front door. You wonder what it is about Rainbow Dash that makes you okay with her just coming and going as she pleases.

You sigh before bringing a broken toaster to your work table.

===

The day had thus far been productive. The pegasus collected his mixer around four, so you walked to the store to pick up a broom, dustpan, and a new window pane. Although you haven’t fixed too many windows in your life, your talent is to fix things so how hard could it be?

The window pane now lying on your bed, you sweep the last of the glass into the dustpan before dumping it into the trashcan. In that time, you hear the front door open again.

“Hey!” you hear Dash call out.

“Hey,” you call back. She wanders into your bedroom.

“Wow, they really did a number on your window,” she says, seeing the jagged remains.

“Yeah. It’s going to be a pain to fix.”

“At least the breeze is nice,” she offers.

“Pfft,” you respond, putting away the broom and dustpan. “Let’s go.” You both exit out of the house and you close the door behind you.

“So what are we doing?” Dash asks as you walk down the path, her fluttering in the air beside you. You have actually given it no thought during the day.

“I don’t know. I thought you would had an idea by now.”

“Oh. Nope.”

You both walk on for a few moments.

“Well, what would you like to do?” she asks. You don’t have time to think before your stomach growls, now remembering you haven’t eaten since the apple this morning.

“How about we get something to eat? You hungry?” you ask.

“I, um... I could eat something, sure.”

You notice the hesitation in her voice. “You alright?” you ask.

“Yeah, of course!” she says, getting her usual confidence back rather quickly. “Where should we eat?”

“Um...” you begin, seeing as you are beginning to come into the town. Scanning around for a place that looks like it’d serve food, you spot a sign above a door depicting lettuce, mushrooms, and carrots. “How about there?” you ask, pointing a hoof.

“Oh, that new restaurant?” she asks.

You pause for a moment. “Restaurant?” you say, turning the alien phrase around in your head.

“Wait, don’t you have restaurants back in Clopton?” Dash asks. “Where you go in, sit down, and wait for them to bring your food to you?”

“Oh, you could sit down, but you had to get your food from the counter when they called your number.”

“Those are fast-food places!” she exclaims. “Okay, I’m showing you what a real restaurant is.” She grabs your hoof and drags you to the door of the restaurant. While she does so, you notice a faint trace of blush on her cheeks.

You both step inside. The tables and counters all around seem to be made of mahogany wood. The ceiling and walls are a deep calming blue while the carpet is a relaxed green. The late afternoon light seeps in through the window. There is some classical music playing over the scene.

Looking around, you can safely say you have never been in a restaurant before. You begin to walk forward to find an open table.

“Hey, wait!” Dash calls out. You turn back to see her pointing at a sign that says PLEASE WAIT TO BE SEATED.

“What?” you ask. “There’s an open table right there!” You point at a vacant table no less than four steps away. “Why do we need to wait?”

“It’s just how these places work,” Dash says. You see a dark blue unicorn with yellow mane and a black apron approach you.

“Good evening!” she says. “Table for two?” You and Dash both nod. “Alright, I can seat you right-”

You trot past her and sit down at the table you had pointed out earlier.

“...Okay,” you hear her say behind you. Dash walks over and takes the seat opposite from you. She’s blushing even more than before.

“Well, here you are,” she says, ignoring your antics and using her magic to float two menus in front of you and Dash. “I shall be back in a moment to take your drink orders.”

You both open your menus when Dash hisses, “What was that?”

“What was what?” you ask.

“Just walking right by to the nearest table?”

“Hey, she said we could be seated. I waited.”

“We’re supposed to sit where they tell us to sit.”

“Why?”

She just sighs and looks over her menu. You take a look and raise an eyebrow. “Wow, this is expensive,” you say.

“It’s pretty normal for restaurants around here. You got enough bits to pay?” she asks.

“Yeah, I have enough, but look. Ten bits for this...” You squint and look closer at the writing. “Vermackally...”

“I think that’s vermicelli,” Dash corrects with a little chuckle.

“Vermicelli,” you repeat with a nod. “And it tells me how to make it in the tiny writing right under it. Noodles fried with vegetables. Why can’t I buy the stuff at the store, make it at home, and save my bits?”

“Because they make it better here,” Dash explains. “It’s not store bought ingredients and it’s good chefs cooking it on stoves and in ovens. You’re paying for the service.”

“I see,” you say. “Better be some good vermackally, then.” You hear Dash snicker behind her menu. You begin to smirk as you keep reading.

The dark blue unicorn walks back up to you. “Hello again, I will be your waitress,” she says cheerily. She levitates out a pencil and notebook. “Can I get you some drinks?”

“Drinks?” you ask.

“Yes, we have apple juice, carrot juice, orange juice, tomato juice, pineapple juice, our new pear juice, sarsaparilla, water, milk, coffee, tea, and a list of wines from our wine menu if you wish to see it.”

You are impressed she could rattle those off so easily. “No on the wine, but I’ll have a tomato juice,” you say.

“Orange for me,” Dash says.

“Any appetizers to start with?” the waitress asks as she writes down your drink orders.

“What’s an appetizer?” you ask.

“It’s a little something for before the main course,” she explains.

“Hmm. Well, I think I’d just like to start with the main course,” you say.

“For you, ma’am?”

“No thanks,” Dash replies.

“Okay, I will have those right out for you,” she says before walking away.

As soon as she’s gone, Dash speaks up. “No wine, huh? Why not?”

“Not big into wine,” you say.

“Really, so you prefer other kinds of drink, then? I’m sure we could find you something,” she says.

“Haha, no. I’d rather not.”

“Why not?” she asks.

“It’s well...” you start, trying to think of a good explanation. “I’ve done some stupid things drunk.”

“So have a lot of ponies,” Dash says.

“Really. Stupid things,” you emphasize, hope to get the point across.

“Ah,” is all she responds with before the waitress walks back up.

“Here is a basket of rolls for the table. Your drinks will be just another few moments,” she says with a smile. She sets down a blue and green basket that matches the walls and floor full of golden brown buttery biscuits before walking off again.

“Ooh!” Dash exclaims excitedly, reaching out for a roll and taking a bite.

“So what’d you end up doing for the day while I worked?” you ask, trying to start up some conversation away from your past with alcohol.

“Ooph,” she says with a mouth full of butter roll. She swallows before opening her mouth again. “Applejack was bucking apples, so I helped her out.”

“Bucking apples?” you ask. “Is that when you just kick the tree?”

“Uh huh,” she replies, reaching for another roll. “It’s pretty busy for her this time of year. She gets really grouchy as well. She needs all the help she can get.”

You nod, having seen Applejack’s grouchiness before.

“Can be a bit of a pain,” she says before stuffing the golden brown pastry into her face.

“Well, you did say your friends bugged you,” you say with a shrug.

“Mmph. Wha?”

“Last night. You said that-”

“No no no,” she says, having quickly swallowed before talking. “I said how things with friends can bug you.”

“What’s the difference?”

“It’s... It’s that...” She takes a moment to collect her thoughts, grabbing and biting another roll. “Have you ever owed somepony a favor?”

“Yeah, but that’s not something that’s really bugged me,” you reply.

“...Really?” she asks.

“Yeah. ‘You scratch my back, I scratch yours’ and stuff like that. That’s normal isn’t it?”

“You never feel... bad for not doing something?”

“Oh, if you don’t make good on your favors, there are ponies in Clopton that will make you feel horrible.”

She sighs. “Nevermind,” she says as she picks up and devours another roll.

“Here are your drinks!” the waitress announces as if on cue. She levitates the glasses off of the tray on her back and puts them in front of you and Dash. “Now, have you decided on what to order or will you need a few more moments?”

You take one last look through the menu. “Uh, I’ll take the...” You hope you pronounce it right. “...Carrot Stroganoff.”

“Mushroom Florentine for me,” Dash says, before grabbing the last roll from the basket. You give her a sideways glance. That is one of the most expensive dishes on the menu.

“Alright then, I’ll have those orders out for you when they’re ready. Also, I’ll bring you another basket of rolls.” She finishes writing your order in her notebook before levitating the menus out of your hooves.

You glance over at the empty basket. “How much will the rolls cost?”

“Rolls and non-alcoholic drink refills are free,” she explains, seeing the worry on your face.

“Oh, well then that’d be great,” you say with a smile.

With a nod, she walks away from the table. You take a sip of your tomato juice when Dash speaks up again.

“How about you tell me a bit about yourself?” she asks.

“What do you mean?” you ask.

“I always tell you about things I’ve done. How about you?”

You shrug. “I explained a lot at the party. What else do you want to know?”

“Something personal,” she says before bringing a hoof to her chin. “How about your scars?” she asks in a lowered voice, aware of her public surroundings.

You frown as you instinctively bring a hoof to the side of your neck.

“Not that one,” she explains. “How about the others? How did you get them?”

You bring your hoof down and sigh. “Maybe later,” you say.

“Oh, come on!”

“Not as later as...” You point to your neck. “But later. It’s just they’re long stories and, well...” You look around. “Ponies are eating,” you finish with a shrug.

She just nods. Dash munches on another roll as you both sip your drinks and wait for your food.

“So, are you still trying to get rid of me?” she asks suddenly.

“What?”

“You apologized to everypony. Finally.” She rolls her eyes. “Are you still trying to get me to leave you alone?”

“Oh, you and I both know that’ll never happen,” you say with chuckle, causing Dash to laugh herself. “I might just have to get used to you.”

Dash takes a moment to respond. When she does, all she says is, “Yeah.” For some reason, you’re okay with that answer.

“So why do you follow me around?” you ask.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m, as you put it, a ‘jerk’,” you say using your hooves for airquotes. “And for some reason, you just keep coming back. Why?”

“Uh...” Rainbow Dash’s gaze moves from you to something past you. “Hey, the rolls are here!”

Turning your head, you see the waitress indeed bringing a fresh basket of warm rolls. Dash happily digs in as soon as they hit the table.

“Your orders will be out in a little bit,” the waitress says. You give her a nod in response.

As soon as she’s gone you turn your attention back to Dash. “So?” you ask.

“Wha?” Her mouth full of pastry yet again.

“Two things. One, you’re not going to have room for your order if you keep eating those things.” You point a hoof at the basket of rolls she has already made a considerable dent in. “Second, answer my question.”

“You should have one of these rolls, they’re really good,” she says.

“Dash.” She looks up. “Why do you keep following me?” It's beginning to aggravate you that you have to ask so many times before you could get an answer.

She begins to drum a hoof on the table. Suddenly, she turns to you with a complacent look. “I’ll tell you later,” she says.

You let your vexed expression say all you need to.

“Hey, you don’t tell me about your scars, then there are certain things I don’t have to tell you.” She reaches into the basket. “Also, I meant it when I said to try a roll,” she says before tossing a one of the flaky biscuits toward you.

You sigh and pick it up to take a bite. The buttery flavoring did little to distract from the rubbery texture that almost seems to wiggle in your mouth. You force yourself to chew it quickly and swallow.

“These rolls suck,” you say plainly, taking another swig of tomato juice to rinse the experience out of your mouth. Admittedly, you have little experience in rolls, but you had baked them once yourself. The fact that you remember those being better than these means something has gone wrong. You put the bitten roll somewhere out of the way on the table.

“They’re not that bad,” Dash replies, eating the last one from the basket again. You wonder where she puts all of it.

“Your food is ready!” the waitress announces as she brings two platters with your orders on them.

“That was fast,” Dash comments as she sets the plates down. Steam rose up from the plate with your diced carrots, mushrooms, and onions served over noodles. Dash looked hungrily at her sliced mushrooms over a bed of spinach. A somewhat sweet smelling brown sauce has been drizzled over both.

“Enjoy your meal,” the waitress says happily with a bow. “And I’ll get you another tomato juice, sir.”

Dash has already begun to dig in by the time the waitress walks away. You lean your head down to take a bite of the admittedly impressive meal you are presented with. You taste the sauce, a sweet with a hint of tang, but something is off. You couldn’t tell the difference between the onions, carrots, and mushrooms. They are flavorless and all simply turn to a mush under the slightest pressure from your teeth. You try a second bite and found the same result, only this time you notice a distinct difference in temperature between parts of what you have just put in your mouth. You didn’t know what to expect coming here, but you expected better than this.

“Hey Dash, this doesn’t seem-” You stop when you look up, seeing Dash eyeing her food with the same questioning look. She has already taken four bites, but she is chewing her last one slowly.

When she swallows, she looks at you. “Something’s wrong. I’ve eaten at restaurants before and it wasn’t like this.” She takes a hoof and gives the mushrooms a poke. “You want to try?” she asks.

“Your mushrooms?”

“Yeah.”

She pushes her plate towards you. With a shrug you lean down and take a small bite. Sure enough, the mushroom is flavorless and spongy. You take a drink of your juice and then see your food in front of Dash with her about to taste it.

“Hey,” you say. “I didn’t say you could eat my food.”

“I gave you a taste of mine,” she says defensively.

You sigh and wave a hoof to give her the go ahead instead of arguing. You probably wouldn’t eat all of it. She takes a bite and you watch her chew, her expression changing from neutral to ponderous to off put.

“That’s really weird,” she says, sliding the dish towards you as you slide hers back as well. You both sit, staring at your food for a while. “Well, it’s not really bad, is it?” she asks.

You nod. It certainly isn’t the worst thing you’ve ever eaten. You are also paying good bits for it, so you might as well eat what you can.

You start opposite from where Dash had taken her bite and resume eating. The various vegetable mushing together is a little unpleasant, but the sauce made it tolerable. The waitress came by with your new drink, which you took a gulp from as soon as she set it down. You look up and notice you are eating faster than Dash.

“Was I right about filling up on rolls?” you ask.

“Shut up,” she says as she takes another slow bite of her food.

“THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!” you hear from a far off table. You both look to see an older stallion looking furious over his food. Your waitress is trying to calm him down. Other than the sudden outburst, you couldn’t make out what they're saying. The stallion simply gets up from his table and walks past and out the door without another word. Your waitress stands there with a tired look before going to the next table where the couple sitting do not look any more pleased.

Dash looks concerned. “Wow...” she says. “We should leave her a nice tip.”

“Nice what?” you ask.

“A tip. You know. Leave some bits on the table.” You look at her blankly. This is obviously one of those restaurant things you’ve never heard of before. “When you give them money along with the bill for good service?”

“Wait, you mean pay her more then we have to?” you ask. “Why in the world would we do that?”

“Because it’s nice. I’ve heard that ponies have given you tips before!” she says, pointing a hoof.

“Well, my client pays me what my client pays me. She gets her paycheck from the restaurant, right? They pay her to do this job, why should we?”

“Because most of her pay depends on these tips!”

You look at her confused. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah!”

You look over to the waitress who is now getting yelled at by a group of three ponies. One of them turns their plate full of food over onto the floor before they all walk out. You look back to your own plate.

“It’s the food,” you say, plainly. Dash looks at you then down to her remaining dish. “I’ll be right back,” you say, getting up.

“Where are you going?” she asks.

“Restroom.”

You walk down the aisles of tables and see big double doors where a waiter emerges with a tray full of food. You remember it for a little later as you also see a sign against the far wall pointing out the restroom for stallions. Although you did have to make use of the facilities, there is something else you want to see. You enter the restroom only to have a gagging scent like a hospital full of sour cherries invade your nostrils. You hold your breath and quickly go about your business.

Emerging back out of the restroom you walk back to your table a bit back to the double doors. Another waiter pops out with more food and you slide in behind his back before the door closes completely.

Your hooves go from carpet to white tile as you enter the kitchen. You couldn’t believe what you saw. There is a row of microwaves that stretches across the far wall. You see a chef take a plastic bag full of some yellowish ball things, put them on a plate and pop them into one of them. He stops the one next to it and pulls out a something similar and dumps it into a blue and green basket.

You only see two stoves with three big pots on them with another chef stirring. They pick up and open a can before dumping its content into one of them. You notice it to be like the brown sauce on your food.

Another wall with shelves holds cans of a few different sizes along with more plastic bags of varying substances. Another chef exits a freezer with a bag full of green leaves. They tear it open, put some on a plate along with some mushroom slices from another bag and pop it into an open microwave.

A group of four chefs are in the middle of the kitchen not doing anything but talking and laughing. Just standing around, wasting time. One of them looks towards your direction.

“Hey!” they yell. “No customers back here! Get out!”

You slowly back out of the double doors, nearly hitting another waiter on the way. Without a word, you guide yourself back to the table where Dash is waiting.

“You shouldn’t have drank that tomato juice so fast,” she says with a smirk.

“Cans,” you say.

“What?”

“Cans and bags and microwaves. Nothing like you told me.”

“Wait...” Dash begins, catching on. “You saw the kitchen? Do they use stoves?”

“I only saw it for sauce. Which came from a can. The food, the rolls, all microwaved. Most of the chefs don’t even do anything.”

“That’s why the food tastes weird. Probably why everypony is leaving so angry,” she says.

“And yelling at the waiters,” you reply before holding a hoof in the air. “Hey! Over here!” you call to your waitress.

You almost see an expression of fear flash over her face before she walks towards you. “Y-Yes, sir? Is everything alright?” she asks a little shakily.

“How much do you make?” you ask the waitress.

“I’m sorry, sir, what?”

“How much do you make here?”

“Hey, what are you...” Dash cuts in, but you hold up a hoof for her to wait and let the waitress answer.

“Well, uh, with tips I-”

“Not with tips,” you interrupt. “How much does this place alone pay you?”

“About a bit and a half per hour.”

“A bit and a half!?” you exclaim loud enough to get some looks from the other tables. “How much do those chefs in there make?”

“I don’t really, um, know. I think it’s maybe eight bits an hour?” She sees the look of shock on your face. “Of course, they don’t make tips... Will that be all?”

“Could we have the check?” Rainbow Dash suddenly asks.

“Oh, certainly,” she says, almost relieved. “Will this be on one bill or two?”

“One bill. I got this,” you answer before Dash could say anything.

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” she says, turning and walking away.

Dash looks at you with a mix of embarrassment and skepticism. “Are you really paying for all of this?” she asks. You simply nod.

The two of you sit in silence until the waitress comes back. “Here you are, the total is twenty bits. Bring this up to the front counter when you’re ready.” She places a small tray with a receipt on the table before going to help another group of customers.

“Twenty bits my flank,” you mumble. “Hey Dash, would you ever eat here again?”

“Honestly, probably not,” she replies.

“Good,” you say, reaching into your bag and scooping a large hoofful of bits onto the table.

“Whoa, you’re leaving a tip?” Dash asks.

“I should, shouldn’t I?” you say with a mock sincerity, taking two more bits out, placing them in the tray, and picking it up to take to the front counter.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” Dash asks above a whisper as you walk.

“Paying for the service,” you respond. Nopony is at the counter, so you leave the tray with two bits there as you walk out the front door as if nothing was wrong. Rainbow Dash follows beside you, looking back and forth for any witnesses.

As you both walk away from the restaurant, Dash begins to speak quietly.

“I can’t believe you did that.” She shakes her head. “You just stole from that place.”

“Come on. Place thinks it can overcharge for shoddy food, expect the customers to pay their staff for them, and I’m the thief?”

“That’s what those places do! That’s what every restaurant does!” Dash exclaims.

“Oh.” You walk a bit more in silence. “I don’t think I like restaurants.” All you hear is Dash’s frustrated sigh.

Time passes and the sun begins to set on the horizon as you make your way down the path. You look over to Dash and see her nearly dragging her hooves, head hanging down, and blushing. You frown and think a bit.

“Hey, have I told you how I got this scar right here?” you ask, pointing to your chest.

“You haven’t told me anything,” Dash says with annoyance.

“Well, it was a cold December day in Clopton,” you begin, unhindered by Dash’s tone. “Just finished up fixing a clock for some gang down the street, so I go over to deliver it...”

===

The stars are out with Luna’s moon in full force, illuminating the land with its pale glow. The relatively chilly night air didn’t stop you and Dash from deciding to take the scenic route to your place. You let Dash finish her latest round of laughing.

“...and so, his name was Shakes. Actually, it wasn’t but that’s what we called him. He was a junkie that mostly caused trouble so not a lot of ponies liked him,” you explain.

“Yeah?” Dash asks between giggles.

“Yeah. So, Shakes is coming after me with a knife and I’m just running. Now, on a good day if I wasn’t tired, I could normally outrun him. This day was a good day.”

“So what happened?”

“We were running down the street, but it had this huge downward hill. Made running a little easier if you could keep up with your legs. Either way, Shakes knew he wouldn’t be able to catch up to me...” you have to suppress your own fit of giggles before continuing. “And so there’s this bum in an alley with a shopping cart full of cans, you see.”

“Oh no, tell me he didn’t do what I think he did.”

“So he takes this shopping cart and scoops out a bunch of cans before jumping into it instead of riding on the back.” You take a breath to keep from bursting into laughter. Dash tries as well, but fails, her guffaws piercing through the serenity of the night. “And so with cans crashing on the road with various yelling, I looked back to see Shakes in the cart scooping as many cans as he could out with the knife in his teeth, swinging his head around like crazy.” You clench your teeth together and spin your head around. “RRRRrrrrrRRRRrrrrrRRRR- I swear, that’s the noise he made.”

Dash is walking on three legs, one wrapped around her stomach as it sounds like she can barely breathe from all of the laughing.

“And on top of that, there was the homeless colt, running and screaming right behind him!” You couldn’t hold your laughter anymore, barely being able to finish the sentence. After a few deep breaths, you go on. “So, Shakes is swinging his head all around, which is causing the cart to rock back and forth as it’s barreling down the hill.”

You look to Dash and see there are nearly tears in her eyes.

“The cart topples over, Shakes and the cans all go flying. The knife somehow hits the ground and bounces towards me and swish!” You flick a hoof across your foreleg. “Only time he ever got me. Then the bum caught up and started beating the hay out of him.”

“Why am I laughing?” Dash manages to get out. “Why am I laughing so hard at these stories?”

“Because they’re funny!” you say. “This scar’s probably the only good memory I have of the guy.”

With the conclusion of your story, you come up to the front door of your house. Turning the knob, you open it up and leave it, popping on the living room lamp and assuming Dash will close the door when she comes in.

“So, you want an apple or something?” you ask. After a while, you get no response. You look back to see Dash waiting on your doorstep, no longer laughing.

“You coming in?”

“Is... it okay?” she asks.

“You never needed permission before,” you respond. She takes a couple steps in before closing the door. Although it's a bit weird, you are in a good enough mood to let it go. “So how about that apple?”

“Okay...” she says meekly. “So, uh, anymore scars to tell me about?”

You think for a moment. “Nope, that’s all of them.” You toss her an apple that she scrambles to catch. You plop yourself down on the couch. “Take a seat if you like,” you say.

“What about the one on... you know. Your neck?” she asks as she sits next to you. You had avoided explaining that particular scar. “You said your friend gave it to you,” she says. You notice her staring intensely at the spot where the jacket covered the scar.

“No, it...” You scour your brain for the right response. All you could do is sigh. “It’s rather personal. Not really entertaining like the others.”

Dash still looks at where the scar is covered. You can almost hear the ticking of the clock behind you. You try to think of something, anything, to say. Or at least you wish Dash would say something. Every passing moment, you feel the laughter and happiness you had just shared with her disappearing into the awkward silence.

Suddenly, you feel something press against your neck. You turn to see Dash has extended a hoof to touch it. Slowly, she begins to rub in a circle against your jacket.

“Can I see it again?” she asks. You pause for a moment before reaching up and tugging your jacket far enough down to expose it. Her hoof meets the scar as soon as it hits fresh air, causing the length of it to feel extremely warm.

You feel her adjusting herself on the couch, leaning forward to get a better look. You could feel her breath across your neck again and you begin to remember the previous night. Dash rubs your scar and your hoof rises up to meet it.

Which you did right now. She stops rubbing briefly before you start slowly rubbing her own hoof.

She looks up to your face when she resumes rubbing. Your eyes meet as you just look into each other for a few moments. You wonder what those eyes have seen. Incredible things if her stories are to be believed. And yet... you could almost see them all. A glint of mischief. A twinkle of daring. Almost a glow of loyalty.

Your look is cut short as she closes her eyes. She seems to just sit there, but then you notice she’s gradually getting closer. She couldn’t possibly be about to... could she? Whether she is or not, you don’t pull away.

Her snout lightly touches against yours. She’s blushing so much you can almost feel the heat coming off of her cheeks. You doubt you’re faring any better, though. You both simply sit there for a long moment.

Suddenly, she tears her head away, looking down at the ground. She stops rubbing the scar and lets her foreleg dangle loosely. Your own grip the only thing keeping it from falling back to her side. “Dash? Are you okay?” you ask in surprise.

“I... I’m sorry,” she says.

“What’s wrong?”

She only gives an annoyed grumble in response. You wait for her to say something else, but she doesn’t. Not knowing what else to do, you just start rubbing her hoof against your neck again. This succeeds in getting her to look up for a moment before having her head drop again. Her face is one of almost apathy.

Seeing her expression nearly blank triggers something in the back of your mind. All of a sudden, the dream you had last night comes back in full force. The stinging of your neck. The sour smell. You feel your whole body cringe.

“AH!”

You snap out of it when you feel Dash’s hoof pull away suddenly. She’s holding it in her other as she looks at you surprised. Did you squeeze her hoof? Oh no, you didn’t squeeze too hard did you? Still shaken from to sudden rush of the dream, you try to find the right words to say.

“Dash, I didn't mean to...”

“What was that?” she asks above a whisper.

“It...” Your eyes drift away.

“Please just tell me,” she says nearly exasperated.

You sit silent for a while. You hear Dash take a deep breath before getting up off the couch.

“A dream,” you say suddenly.

“What?” she asks.

“I had a dream last night.” Why lie at this point? Why try to hide it? “You were there when...” You look over to meet Dash’s eyes. “...When I got this scar,” you say, rubbing your hoof against it.

“And... you’ll tell me later?” she asks.

You nod. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she says with a slight nod of her own. “But you will tell me at some point, right?”

“Yes.” The word came out before you even have to think about it.

“Okay.” She turns and walks towards the door again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“For what?”

“To talk. About something,” she replies. “I don’t know what.” She opens the door and stretches out her wings, preparing for flight.

“See you then,” you say as she flaps into the air, taking her apple, and closes the door behind her.

You don’t feel like moving. You feel like all of the will to do anything has been sucked out of your body. All you can manage is to lean enough to fall over on the couch.

When you do, you feel yourself laying on a certain warmth. It's the spot Dash was sitting. It felt good, like a warmth that would relax away an ache. You close your eyes and simply let yourself feel it against your coat.

As time passes, the warmth fades. However, you have yet to move. The clock is still ticking, but it seems to grow more and more distant. You adjust yourself a little and breathe out a sigh before you let the last of your senses slip away into sleep.

===

The sun shines high in the sky.

You put the finishing touches on your latest job. An old pocket watch that was dropped off by the mayor’s secretary. While it probably just belongs to the secretary, you aren’t sure. There is a chance that the mayor herself is using your services, meaning you might have possibly become a real part of the community maybe.

You imagine yourself at sort of boardroom meetings, deciding in what ways to use funds. Standing at the front of crowds at big store openings while the mayor cuts the red ribbon. Speaking at schools with a bunch of little foals looking at you with aspiration.

You sincerely hope it’s just the secretary’s watch.

Although such thoughts are far-fetched to say the least, it did help keep your mind off of other matters. The colorful pegasus who would drop by today, if only for who-knows-what.

What is it she wants to talk about? Was she not sure? Was she regretting getting to know you? Did you hurt her? You almost couldn’t believe you are asking these questions. You were desperately trying to avoid getting connected to anypony ever again, but now she’s...

*knock knock knock*

She’s here.

You sigh as you turn your head to the door. “Come on in,” you call out.

Surprisingly, the door opens and reveals a pony not to be Dash. Instead, it’s a white unicorn with deep purple mane you remember providing service for before. In fact, they came in with the same sewing machine you had fixed for them previously.

“Hello again, dear,” she says as she walks in. “Sorry to be needing your services again after such a short time.” She looks at you for a moment. “Are you alright? You seem a bit surprised.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I was expecting somepony else,” you explain.

“Really?” she asks, almost discerningly. With a little chuckle she adds, “Well, I shall not take too long.”

“What’s the problem?” you ask.

She levitates the machine onto your table. “Oh, my little sister decided she wanted to help with a particularly large order. Now something is jammed inside of it.”

You nod as she talks. “I’ll take a look. Come by in a couple days and it should be ready.”

You take the machine and a screwdriver to begin unscrewing the outer case to take a peek inside. After the second screw is completely out, you notice that the white unicorn is still standing in your living room.

“So...” she speaks up again. A simple word that nearly causes you to shudder. This isn’t just any old ‘So.’ It is one of those ‘So’s. A ‘So’ of curiosity. The beginning of an interrogation. But most unfortunately, it is a ‘So’ of “I’m not leaving your house, yet.”

“How was your date with Rainbow Dash?” she asks.

You put down the screwdriver before looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“Your date,” she repeats twisting her head to point an ear at you as if to hear you better. “How was it?”

“My... date?” you say; not just as asking, but trying to find if there's a meaning to the term that she is using that you have yet to realize.

“Yes, yes, your date!” she exclaims with a little excited hop. “Did you have a good time? Was it absolutely romantic? Are you looking forward to another?”

Okay, she confirms what you were afraid she meant. You sigh at the obviously confused mare.

“It wasn’t a date,” you explain.

Her smile instantly vanishes. She leans back and looks at you in disbelief. “It wasn’t?” she asks.

You shake your head. “No, we were just hanging out. I just finished cleaning some broken glass in my bedroom when she came by,” you begin, recalling the day’s events. “While we were in town we got something to eat at this place. Then we got out and decided to take a walk...” Something began to spark in your mind. “...And finally we came back here, I invited her in- oh.”

It all clicks into place. You could see the purple-maned unicorn’s smirk grow back as you spoke.

“Well, well, well...” she says. “Dinner and a walk under the stars, then back to your place; that all sounds to me like a- wait, what are you doing? Hey, no need to shove!”

You wordlessly guide the white unicorn out the door. As soon as she is on the doorstep, she looks back. “Oh, at least tell me what you think about all of this!” she pleads.

“When I figure it out, you’ll be the first to know. Okay? Bye.”

“But-”

You close the door before she can get another word out. You hear a “Hmph!” behind the door before she turns to leave.

You sit on your hind legs and rub your forehead with a hoof. You couldn’t deny the possibility anymore. Maybe Rainbow Dash did want to be more than friends. And you were just having trouble deciding if that’s all you personally wanted.

Of course, it may be nothing. The white unicorn may be making assumptions that are completely incorrect of Dash’s intentions. Just because you went out and did things doesn’t mean you two are that heavily involved. Even if...

Your heart flutters as you remember when Dash had her face so close to yours. That look on her face when she closed her eyes. When she touched her snout to yours. You desperately wish you knew what was going through her head at that moment. There is a pile of evidence building up that you can’t keep ignoring that she-

A sudden knock on the door shakes you from your thoughts.

“Hey, you in there?”

Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, I’m here,” you call out. She quickly enters looking at you very critically.

“I just saw Rarity leave here,” she says with a bit of urgency. That must be the name of that unicorn.

“And?” you ask.

“Did you two talk?”

“She was a customer. Customers tend to make a little small talk.” She still stares at you as if waiting for more. You give small sigh. “Dash, about yesterday...”

“Oh, that gossip hungry little...” she groans before she lets you continue.

“Was... was it a date?”

“No!” she exclaims.

You feel your heart drop, gloom filling the void in your chest. You just look down away from Dash. Wait, it was a question you were worrying about answered. Shouldn’t you feel relieved?

“I mean...” she stammers. Your ears perk up. “Maybe. I... I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” you ask looking up at her. She sits on her haunches with her head turned away trying not to look at you. You both remain silent.

Her eyes travel to the floor. “It wasn’t supposed to be a date...” she begins. “I wanted to ask you during the day for, like, next week or something. But then you were busy so it got moved to the evening and you wanted to go to dinner. And then the walk, the talking, and then we got back here.”

“Does... that really make it all a date?”

“It was everything a date was supposed to be, kind of...”

“Well...” you say after a moment. “Would you want to do it again?”

“Do... what?” she asks.

“Another date. If that’s what this was,” you say with a shrug.

“Well, Rarity said dates were supposed to...” She took a deep sigh and starts over. “She said that dates were supposed to end with a...” her voice trails off.

“With a...?” you ask. She doesn’t give you an answer, but you think you know. You slowly move yourself to sit right in front of her. Placing your hooves gently on her shoulders, she looks up at you with curiosity.

You inhale deeply before pressing your lips against hers. Her eyes go wide before slowly closing as you hear a sharp intake of breath through her nose. Her lips are pursed together, but soon soften as she begins to push back.

As much as you want to continue, you only allow a second or two more to pass before you pull away. She’s now holding her hooves to her chest, her mouth is partially open, and she looks at you very softly in wonder.

“So, was it a date n-”

You’re cut off as Dash lunges forward, pushing her hooves into your shoulders and tackling you to the ground. She presses her mouth hungrily against yours, prying your lips open with her tongue. She forces her way inside, exploring around wildly. She presses down on your own tongue, causing it to rise and join in. Licking and lapping at each other, you feel yourself becoming lost in the sudden embrace. You close your eyes and block out the world to let all of your other senses become overloaded with the mare on top of you. The taste of her tongue dancing across yours, the smell of the sweat forming in her sudden passion, the feel of her body pressing against you. Much to your disappointment, she eventually breaks the kiss.

As you stare at Dash’s face, now bright red, you grow increasingly aware of the dull throbbing ache in the back of your head from hitting the floor.

“Ow...” you say as you bring a hoof around to rub at it.

“Sorry,” she says with a sheepish smile.

“No problem.” You wave your other hoof dismissively. “So, how about another date if it ends with that?”

“Yeah!” she exclaims happily. “Tomorrow?”

You shrug. “Why not?”

“Awesome!” She leans down and gives you one more quick peck on the lips before climbing off of you. “See you then!” She leaps into the air with a mighty flap of her wings, bolting out the door and into the air with a wide array of flips and twirls through the sky. You think you hear a ‘WOOHOO!’ echo through the wind.

You watch her rainbow trail cut through the air, guessing that you’re probably grinning like an idiot, when you think back to the question the white unicorn posed earlier:

‘What do you think about all of this?’

You shake your head and prepare for the most honest answer you could give as soon as you are one hundred percent sure Rainbow Dash is completely out of earshot.

“...fuck.”

Chapter 6: Scars

You simply lay back on your bed, staring up at the ceiling. You yawn, but as long as you have been there, sleep has not come as easily as previous nights. You slowly lick your lips again. Although there is most likely nothing left even if the kiss left anything at all, you tell yourself maybe you could still taste a hint of Dash’s embrace. The dream from last night kept playing in your head. Breathing in deeply and holding it for a while, you slowly breathe outward, looking out the window you had repaired earlier that day as you ponder the situation again.

A week. It had only been a week, if that, since you left Clopton, where you swore you would never get close to another pony ever again. What is it about this crazy blue mare that broke you down so suddenly?

“Well, speed is her thing,” you comment to nopony in particular.

Enough worrying about that. What’s done is done. So what do you do now? All you can think of is how much knowing Dash like this is going to eventually hurt. How much worse it would be this time, if you could imagine that. Why in Equestria are you setting yourself up for this again?

The dream began to play itself out again. You come home. You call out. You open the door. You turn on the switch and...

A colt is standing there. They are grey with a red mane, built strong and has two overlapping horseshoes as their cutie mark. It's him.

You feel yourself step back in surprise. They blink at you and smile.

“Hey,” they simply say.

“...Odd Jobs?”

“You should tell her.”

“Wha- Who?”

“Dash.”

“What?”

“About me. That day. And that night.”

“But...”

“You gotta tell somepony.”

“I...”

“Who would you rather talk to?” he asks shaking his head.

You are getting annoyed that he kept cutting you off, but when you open your mouth to talk no words could come out. You feel tears beginning to form so you try to shut your eyes tightly. However, you still see the pony in front of you clearly.

“And that. Stop keeping it all inside.”

“B-But last time I-...” you stutter.

“It’ll be different.”

“How do you know!?” you suddenly shout, full of anger. “You did this to me! If you hadn’t...” You suddenly lose your voice again, simply looking to the ground.

They remain silent for a time while you choke back sobs. “Hadn’t what?” they ask.

“...I don’t know,” you answer, defeated.

They nod thoughtfully. “It’ll be different,” they repeat. “Because things here are different.”

You try to think of a reply. As you try to speak again, you feel yourself being shaken. The scene begins to fade away.

“Hey...” you hear somepony say. “Heeey.”

You slowly open your eyes, closing them again quickly not expecting the brightness of the day. You feel a certain pressure on your shoulder as it begins to shake you again.

“Odd Jobs...?” you mumble out.

“What?” You begin to recognize the voice next to you.

You peek an eye open and see a certain cyan blue pegasus next to your bed with a hoof on your shoulder.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Dash says with a chuckle while taking her hoof back. “Man, you were out.”

You groan as you force yourself to sit up on your mattress, pushing aside the blanket. You let out a yawn before turning your attention back to the smiling mare next to your bed. There are many questions floating around in your mind ranging from the pleasant ‘What brings you here?’ to the not-so-pleasant ‘What in the hell are you doing here?’

“What time is it?” you say, leaving the big questions for later.

“Half past eleven. Your first customer is waiting,” she says.

“Wha-...?” Your brain finally processes the given information. “What!?”

You jump out of bed, pick up the first jacket within reach, put it on, and run out into the living room. Sure enough, a purple unicorn you remember as a previous customer is sitting there. You think her name is Twilight.

“I see Dash let you in,” you say, trying to straighten your mane out somewhat. Thankfully, the current events push the dream from the forefront of your mind. You hear Dash follow you into the room.

“Yeah,” she replies. Using her magic she opens her saddlebag and brings out another bag, levitating it over to you. You take it and notice the contents shifting loudly. Opening it up reveals shards of what could have been a lamp at some point. You visibly grimace at the sight.

“Sorry about the condition. Practicing magic can be a bit...” She shrugs. “Prone to accidents.”

You nod, simply taking the bag and placing it on the work table. Rule number one is still to not ask questions. You frown as you hear the contents shift some more. That thing is going to be like an extremely annoying jigsaw puzzle.

“So, if you don’t mind my asking,” Twilight speaks up again. “What’s going on with you and Dash?”

This catches you off guard. You look over to Dash who seems surprised as well. She looks at you, but then smiles and nods. “Go ahead,” she says, waiting to see how you explain it.

“I knocked up your friend. Expecting in February. She threatened legal action,” you state plainly, turning back to the bag as if examining it, but in truth to have your back turned towards them as you hide your snickering face.

You hear Dash stuttering, having difficulty forming coherent words. “NO!” she exclaims. “That is NOT what- I don’t- he’s-!”

“It’s okay, Dash!” Twilight says to calm her friend down. “I realize he might be... exaggerating?”

Dash stutters some more. You couldn’t help yourself from laughing audibly at that point. Turning back, you see both mares looking at you. Twilight with an awkward smile, Dash with an angry frown, and both of them blushing.

“You’re such a jerk!” Dash yells.

The last of your giggles subsiding, you begin to talk again. “Okay, honestly what’s going on between us... I have no idea.” You turn to Dash, who still looks annoyed by your previous statement. “Can’t say I really hate it, though.”

Dash’s scowl lightens as Twilight’s smile becomes more friendly. “See?” Dash asks Twilight.

“Wow. So he is capable of connecting with others,” Twilight remarks.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you ask.

“Well, Dash and I were talking on the way here. I said how you probably didn’t have any friends, but she commented on how close you two were getting. I’ll admit, I didn’t believe her given first impressions were not particularly ideal,” she explains. “Though, I’m curious as to why Dash was so determined to get to know you.”

“I wonder why, too,” you say, looking over at Dash who had begun poking at the finished repair jobs you kept in the corner. A thought pops into your head. “Hey Twilight, can you tell me something embarrassing about Dash?”

“What?” she asks.

“I can only imagine she’s talked about me a fair bit. Help me get to know her. Tell me something anypony but her would say,” you ask.

“Well...” Twilight says, rubbing a hoof to her chin. “There was this one time. She was holding this contest to see which animal would make for the best pet.”

“Really?” you ask.

“Yep! At the beginning, she explained how her pet needed ‘coolness,’ ‘awesomeness,’ and ‘radicalness.’” she said, using her hooves for airquotes.

You cock an eyebrow. “Aren’t those all the same thing?” you ask.

“You would think that.”

“And that’s why you would never qualify to be my pet,” Dash suddenly chimes in patting you on the head, apparently done with her curious snooping. “You two talking about me?”

“No...” you say dripping with sarcasm.

“So when can I expect my lamp?” Twilight asks.

“Um, maybe Thursday.”

“Okay. See you later, Dash.” She waves a hoof as she leaves.

You turn to Dash as she waves back. “You’ve been telling your friends about us?” you ask.

“Yeah,” she says.

“And?”

“And what?”

“What do they think?” you ask, genuinely wondering.

“Well... they were surprised. They don’t really believe that you can show that sort of thing.” She turns to you with a smirk. “But you’re not all bad. I bet there’s something to you.”

“Something to me? Like what?” you ask.

“I don’t know.” She wraps a foreleg around your shoulders and pulls you close. “But whatever’s in there, I’m going to find it.”

You look at her before smiling. “There’s going to be a lot of crap to search through. Hope you’re ready.” She laughs at this while patting you with the hoof around you. “So what are you doing here? I remember we have a date, but I have to work.” You look over to the pile of repairs yet to do that has steadily grown since your time here.

“Just making sure you remembered,” she replies.

“So what’s the date going to be? I don’t think I can afford to eat out again so soon.”

“Well, I got to choose last time. How about you think of something? What are dates like in Clopton?”

You thought back to the romance you’ve seen in your old home. It wasn’t anything like this. Colts and mares were, like everything else, bought with bits and were almost like property as long as one kept paying. Then it was like you owned them and could even hit them if they so much as talked out of line. You had a couple mares try to get bits out of you in exchange for Clopton romance, but you always declined. All you could gather about what couples did behind closed doors were words that were shouted, whimpered, and the occasional glass thing smashing against a wall.

“Not what we’re looking for,” you say.

Dash looks at you blankly for a moment. “Okay. Rarity gave me a list of things we could do. And then we can come back here...”

You look at her who is already staring at you with a big smile. When your eyes meet, she waggles her eyebrows up and down. You couldn’t help but grin.

“I look forward to it.”

===

“Dash, this sucks.”

You swat at the flies buzzing around before looking in the basket. Pieces of bread, lettuce, tomato, and other sandwich fixings are scattered around inside. Only those containing peanut butter had held together of which Dash is eating the last one.

When told of the idea of a picnic you thought it was a pretty solid plan. Go outside, sit on a blanket, eat food. Surely you could manage that, hopefully without any incident. Also, Dash had offered to provide the food since you had kind of sorta technically maybe paid for the meal at the restaurant in a way. However, what was not explained was the heat, the bugs, and the fact that the food may not hold together while in travel with the fastest aspiring stunt flier this side of the Equestria.

The mare on the opposite end of the blanket pops the last bite of sandwich into her mouth, then immediately swatting as you had done the moment her hoof is free. Taking advantage of the bugs currently attacking somepony else, you use a hoof to scratch at the underside of your legs from sitting on the so very itchy cloth.

You look over to see the annoyed expression on Dash’s face that you have gotten to know. You took notice of all the details: the furrowed brow shadowing over her magenta eyes, the disapproving frown, and the little scrunching of her light blue nose. All of which you would admit to be cute when it isn’t directed at you.

“Yeah,” Dash admits, snapping you out of your daze. “It really does. Let’s just go.”

Still swatting a hoof, Dash picks up the basket with her mouth while you bunch up the blanket under a foreleg. Dash flies while you follow in a quick canter, both of you eager to put as much distance between you and the insects as possible. The trail back to your house is silent, only to get away from the buzzing menaces, but thankfully not very long. Another good thing about the picnic being outside is it was a relatively short commute to get there from home. Walking in the door, you toss the blanket aside as Dash puts down the basket.

“Okay, so now-” you begin to say, but are cut off by a sudden pressing of lips and nearly being tackled to the floor again.

===

“Dash, this sucks.”

It has been a couple days since your last date and this one is going just as well. You lift your head up off the hardwood floor to look at the blue mare on top of you who is also dizzy after the latest in a series of falls. Couples around you are staring, some snickering, all of them dressed for the occasion moreso than your usual jacket and Dash’s usual starkers.

“I don’t think ballroom dancing is for us,” you say.

“But Rarity said this was a big thing for couples to do,” Dash says.

“Probably for couples who know what they’re doing,” you say, watching the ponies dance around you in perfect time and rhythm. “We’re not like that.”

Dash smiles. “You’re right. We’re not like these stuck-up ponies. Let’s get out of here.” She gets up off of you and helps you to your hooves as you look around at some of those offended by your marefriend’s remark. You have to chuckle at some moments caused by Dash’s mannerisms. She’s not afraid to state her mind, which you sometimes find as a curse as much as an endearing quality. Still, you’d hate to imagine her any other way. Sometimes you wonder who’s rubbing off who.

The two of you left without another word, back to your house for the usual after-date activities.

===

“Hark! For where art my brother?” the colt on stage calls out.

The day after dancing, Dash had suggested the two of you see a show. The play she had found had been described as one of warring kingdoms in a time before the two princesses. When the program toted promises of epic battles, both of you were convinced. You had bought the tickets yourself since business was going well a few days before the show. Dash couldn’t wait and you were fairly excited as well.

However, sitting there resting your chin on a hoof, struggling to keep your eyes open, you couldn’t help but feel that you had wasted your bits. What the program hadn’t mentioned was this guy on stage, wondering aloud like an idiot what happened to his family after it was shown what felt like hours ago. The only battle so far have been noises off stage with another boring load of characters just talking.

You look over at Dash who seems to be fairing as well as you had been. You nudge her with a foreleg.

“Dash...” you quietly whisper. “Hey, Dash.”

“Hmph... Wha...?” Dash mumbles as she blinks her eyes open, wiping a bit of drool that had begun to form in the side of her mouth.

“Dash, this sucks.”

“Yeah...” she says in a yawn. “How much more of this is there?”

You open the program. “We’re currently in the third act of...” You let out a groan before continuing. “Eight.”

“Where are the epic battles?” she asks.

“I don’t know. How about we get out of here?”

Dash looks at you taken aback. “You sure? You paid good bits for these tickets.”

“Yeah, but leaving’s free. Hay of a deal, I’d say.”

Dash chuckles as you both get up from your seats. Thankfully you sat right next to the aisle so you could get out without having to shuffle past anypony else.

“I say, you there! Fair colt!”

You turn to see the actor on stage pointing at you.

“Have you seen my dear-”

“Your father’s dead and your brother’s banging your wife!” you call up to the stage, remembering certain tidbits from the previous acts. Some in the audience gasp and the actor’s face is in shock as you turn to leave.

“I-I shan't believe it! I won’t believe it!” they stammer, trying to carry on. You exit the theater and Dash bursts out laughing.

“Well, he wanted to know,” you say nonchalantly.

She wipes a tear from her eye before stretching. “Let me tell you, those seats were not made for a pegasus,” she comments, a little strain in her voice as she bends herself backwards. She also pushes her wings out to their full span.

You take a careful look as she stretches, taking notice of her athletic form. The curves from her body down her haunches and the tone in her forelegs. Her wings are also impressive, light yet powerful enough to drive her through the sky, her feathers seeming soft and fluffy. You never considered yourself much of a wingcolt before, but the way the sun’s light reflects off of them makes them seem so vibrant, so warm, with a nice svelte form that you almost want to-

“Like what you see?” Dash suddenly says, snapping you back into reality. She’s done stretching, but keeps her wings out to show them off. Unable to think of a proper response, you just turn away as you feel your cheeks grow warm. You gasp a little as you feel something begin to brush against you. Turning back, you see her dragging one of her feathery appendages up the length of your body. She flicks it off your chest before returning it to her side.

“Maybe I’ll let you touch them when we get back...” she says with a playful smile. You stop, but she walks slowly on with a gentle swaying that makes you feel the shiver from before that you had forgotten about. You smile as you think you finally know what that shiver is before following.

===

You put the finishing touches on the coffee grinder you are working on. It had been in rough shape when you first got it. There was gunk throughout the entire thing, the turning parts were holding on by threads, and the blades were so dull that it probably just crushed the bean more then ground them. You’d have the occasional cup every now and again, but you never figured yourself a coffee pony.

It was a couple days after the little time and money waste of a show. Also, today is when you and Dash had agreed on your next date. You are not sure what she has in mind this time, but you are hoping it’d be quick so you could come back with her. You wonder why dates are necessary at all. It seems more like a chore than anything. Still, you are willing to work for this relationship, so you would go and do whatever Dash has heard to be an acceptable outing for couples.

However, it’s getting late. You hope she didn’t have dinner in mind because you had already eaten. You look back up at the clock. 8:47. Starting to worry a little, you walk over and look out the window to see if you can spot Dash’s signature rainbow trail. It’s getting a bit dark to see. Luna’s moon beginning its ascent does little to help visibility.

Did Dash forget? Does Dash not want to go anywhere tonight? Did something happen to her? These questions flash in your mind before you take a deep breath to calm yourself down. You’d wait a few more minutes before-

*knock knock knock*

Is that Dash? Does Dash ever knock? Who else could that be?

You walk over to the door with your heart thumping. You have no idea why you are so anxious all of a sudden. If it isn’t Dash, then it’d probably be somepony who would tell you what is going on. Like if she was hurt or if she never wants to see you again or-

You shake your head to clear your thoughts. No need to get worked up, it was probably nothing. You lift a hoof, turn the knob, and open the door. Internally breathing a sigh of relief, the prismatic mane of Rainbow Dash catches your eye first thing.

“Hey,” you say as casually as you can manage. “So where are we going tonight?”

She walks in silently, kicking the door closed behind her with a hind leg. She turns to you with a smirk. “We’re staying right here,” she says, beginning to walk towards you. Before you can ask anything, she leans forward and gives you a quick peck on the lips. “I’ve been thinking. These dates haven’t really been turning out that well. They haven’t been fun like real dates should.” She wraps her forelegs around your shoulders. “I figured, ‘What’s something we both enjoy doing?’” She rubs her muzzle against your neck as you begin to sit down. “So let’s just do what we do after every date. Right now.”

You begin to wrap your own forelegs around Dash as you think about the situation. Skipping right to the end of the date. Was that allowed? Would you spend less time together since this is just the end?

“Does that mean... it won’t last as long?” you ask, feeling a little silly for it. She brings her head away from your neck and looks you in the eye, staring deeply. Letting out one of her carefree and spirited laughs, she presses her snout against yours.

“If that’s what you’re worried about, then I can stay as long as you want me to,” she says, taking one of her hooves and trailing it around to your chest.

She taps at the zipper of your jacket and begins to unzip it slowly. Her hoof isn’t on the fly, but over pushing it down as she drags the tip of her hoof down your chest as it goes. When the zipper is fully undone she pulls the jacket off around your shoulders. You lift your forelegs off Dash and allow her to pull the jacket down off of you, exposing your body to the air.

“That’s better...” she coos. Resting her hooves on your shoulders, she begins to pull you gently. You let her guide you through your own house as you see she’s taking you back to your own bedroom. You feel your heart begin to beat faster. You have never been with her like this in your sleeping quarters. The couch had been your traditional spot for such activities before this. You are glad you had cleaned up in there earlier. Or rather, shoved everything into the closet.

Simply walking in, nudging aside the ajar door, she takes a hoof off one of your shoulders to face toward your bed. The blanket on it has basically been left wherever you shoved it when you woke up that morning, but you doubt that would be a problem. She lets go as she climbs onto the mattress, laying down on her back with her head against your pillow. With half lowered eyelids and an enticing smile, she looks back at you waiting for her partner to join her.

As you step up, you had expected to lay down right next to her. However, your bed is not particularly large and she has laid directly in the middle, making such a position difficult. You worry a little about putting all of your weight on her, but her hooves come up and pull you over her.

“You can lay down on top of me. It’s not like I’ll break,” she says, giving you another pull. You surrender to her and rest yourself carefully down, causing the blue mare to sink further into your mattress. She reaches up with her neck to connect her lips to yours again, bringing a hoof around to the back of your head to keep you together as she rests her head back down. You reach a hoof up and slowly rub it against her neck, causing her to tenderly moan into the kiss.

You feel something rub against your side. A silky, almost ticklish sensation. When you feel it rub harder again on both sides, you break the kiss with a gasp. You look down to see Dash’s wings have unfolded and are grazing up and down your body.

“I know you like these...” As she talks she flicks the tip of her wings off your back, causing you to feel another shiver. She takes notice and chuckles. “You seem cold. I could wrap you up, nice and warm, right now.” You watch her take her wings out to full span and flap them slowly against you, their touch crawling up both sides before leaving again. The sensation of the soft, feathery warmth continually coming and going is nearly maddening. Her wings curve around, hovering inches away from your body. You look back at her to see her mischievous grin.

“But... you have to say you want it.”

You feel yourself breathing a little harder. “I want it,” you reply.

“What do you want?” she teases.

“I want your wings around me, Dash.”

She giggles and with another slow flap, her wings come down and tighten around you, holding you as close as you could be. The silken warm touch of her feathers, supple yet firm, envelops you. You tend to be rather chilly without your jacket having grown so used to it, but you would trade that for this any day of the week.

“Being a bit forward tonight,” you comment, still half lost in the feeling of her wings.

“You deserve it,” she replies. “After all those crummy dates I put you through.”

“They weren’t all bad,” you say.

“Are you kidding? We were either bored, constantly falling over, or getting eaten alive by bugs. What good in that is there?”

“Well...” You prepare yourself for what would probably be the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said since moving to Ponyville. “They were all with you.”

She laughs at your statement. “Really,” she says skeptically.

“I know how it sounds, but that’s it. Why do you think I kept agreeing to go out with you?” you ask.

She looks at you, seeming to have no response to that. “I... hadn’t thought about that. I guess I’m pretty lucky you decided to stick around,” she answers with a shrug.

“Seriously?” you ask, feeling another bout of cheesy coming up. “With everything I’ve done in this town, who I am, and you say you’re lucky for me following you? If anything, I’m the lucky one because you kept coming back,” you say while rubbing under her chin, making her giggle again.

You feel something nagging in the back of your mind. Something you want to say. You figure now is as good a time as any.

“I know I’ve asked before, but... why? Why do you keep following me?”

“Because you’re cool!” she exclaims. “You don’t take any nerve from anypony and you stand up for what you think is right.”

“How do you figure that?” you ask.

“The restaurant. You just gave the waitress a huge tip and walked out on the bill because of how poorly they managed the place. The way you stood up to me all those times, too. And the way you yelled at everypony.”

“You actually respect that?”

“Wha- I... Wait, that’s not what I meant.” She waves her hoof as she thinks over what to say. “I mean you show a lot of character. You have a sense of justice and you act on it.”

You never thought of it like that before. You quite like the sound of it. “But wait, what about when I apologized? Wouldn’t that mean I went against what I believed?”

“So you actually meant that apology? Really?” she asks. You feel like you’ve been duped, but you nod. You can honestly say that apology is genuine and if it wasn’t then, it is now. “Then that means you can admit when you’re wrong.” Dash’s smile, so light and caring, makes something in your chest feel like it’s soaring through the sky.

“But what about before all of that?” you ask. “Before the restaurant. Before the apology. You hated me. Why did you follow me then?”

Just like that, her smile begins to fade. She turns away her head away and focuses on something other than you.

“Dash?”

“I told you before...” she says, turning back to you. “I’ll tell you about that when you tell me about this.” She brings a hoof up and taps your scar, suddenly making it feel very warm. You move your own hoof to cover it instinctively.

“I...” you say, but can’t think of anything to follow up with. Your turn to look away as your gaze simply goes off the bed and onto the floor, your hoof still covering the scar. For a while, the only sounds you hear are the faint collective breathing of you and Dash.

Her wings suddenly unwrap from around you. You look back to see Dash pushing against the mattress trying to sit up. You get off of her and allow her to lean up onto her haunches.

“Okay...” she says. “You really want to know?” she asks.

Taking a moment for a quick sigh, you nod.

“Remember,” she begins again. “You’ll have to tell me about the scar when I’m done. Are you sure?” She points a hoof toward your neck that you’re still holding.

“I’m sure,” you say with little hesitation. You have actually put little thought into your response, but figure you’ll cross the bridge when you come to it.

She scoots a little bit toward you to put her hooves on your shoulders again. You shift your hoof down from your neck to join one of them.

“I started following you because... Well...” She takes a deep sigh. “Have you ever had all of your friends dress up like a mysterious super hero because you were acting like a total jerk?”

You sit and wait for some sort of punchline to the statement. When none comes, you simply reply, “I can honestly say I have not.”

“It’s just that...” Dash sighs again. “I feel like I sort of mess everything up.”

“What? How?”

“I don’t know, it’s just... I give my friends a hard time. I’ve done things that end up making the situation worse.” She snuggles against you.

You don’t feel comfortable at the moment. You were not really expecting to have to console a pony and you are probably not one of the best candidates to do so. Still, you listen to Dash’s explanation.

“Have you ever talked to any of your friends about this?” you ask.

“I always act like I normally do around them.”

With the only lead you can think of gone, you don’t know what else to say at the moment

“I’ve just done a lot of stupid things,” she says quietly.

“Everypony’s done stupid things,” you reply. You almost think of yourself as an authority on the subject.

“...I nearly got my oldest friend killed.”

You feel your body go rigid in shock for a moment. “...What?” is all you could manage to get out.

“It was back in Cloudsdale when we were both still fillies. These two colts were making fun of her, so I challenged them to a race.” You look down to see her closed eyes as she recalls the memory. “We took our places at the starting line with her to wave the flag for us to go.”

“So... how does that exactly...?” you ask.

“She couldn’t fly. She was young and still not able to. And so when she waved the flag...” You hear Dash sniffle. “We just all went as fast as we could go and... we knocked her off the cloud.”

“But...” You remember she had said ‘nearly.’ “Was she okay?”

“Yeah. By some miracle, a cloud of butterflies flew by and broke her fall, but...” You wonder how such a thing is possible before she goes on. “I heard her scream. As she was falling, and I... just kept going.”

“But she was fine.”

“Still!” Dash suddenly exclaims. “She almost... if that freak chance didn’t happen, she would be...”

“But she’s not.” You tilt Dash’s chin up to look at you. “Does she hate you?” you ask.

“Of course not. She couldn’t hate anypony,” she says with a grumble.

“So there you go.”

“But I still did a lot of other things. I laugh when things happen to them...”

“They probably laugh about it later.”

“I tend to gloat and show off...”

“None of your other friends do? That white unicorn flaunts her dresses every chance she gets. Applejack is always talking up her apples for sales.”

“I make everything worse...”

“Like those times you helped save Equestria?”

“There’s more. Much more.”

“And all of it is just you being hard on yourself.”

She remains silent for a while. You are surprised by her confession. You never would have guessed the spunky pegasus actually felt like this. Also the fact that she hasn't told her friends but is willing to share it with you... It made you want to hold her a little closer. Still, you wonder what exactly this has to do with following you.

“Have I told you how I’m supposed to represent the element loyalty?” she asks. “Well, sometimes I blow my friends off to do whatever I want. I once skipped out on helping Applejack just to go nap. I actually felt bad enough about that to model dresses for Rarity once.” have you been in any other setting you would have laughed at that. “What kind of element of loyalty is that?” She sighs before digging her head back into your chest. “I wonder sometimes if my friends would better off without me.”

“Oh, come on. Your friends wouldn’t say that.”

“I know. I really know, but... I still feel bad about it all. When they’re not around. And then, you came along.”

“Me?” you ask surprised.

“Yeah. You come and just yell at the whole town. At first, I wanted to know what your problem was. What in Equestria would make you do that.” She sighs before continuing. “Then you said you were going to apologize to Pinkie Pie so you could shop at the bakery again, but not to anypony else. You have everypony think you're a jerk and think nothing of it. I...” She looks you in the eye. “I wanted to know how you did it. How you don’t feel anything when you do things like that.”

“Well, it’s because I-”

“I know. You don’t think you did anything wrong. But still, you didn’t care what the entire town thought of you.” She shakes her head. “...how?”

“I just... don’t care,” you reply.

“How?” she asks again, almost pleadingly.

“I mean I just don’t care. That’s really all there is to it. I didn’t want to get close to any of them, so why would it matter?”

“But what about making friends?”

“I... I didn’t want any friends.”

She looks at you intensely. You can tell she doubts you and she’s trying to find something that gave away that you were lying. It is a technique you’ve used regularly enough to spot it.

“Why...?” she begins, but then looks down at your neck, scar standing out. “Oh,” is all she simply says.

She’s silent for a while before saying, “Well, I’ve told you why I follow you.” Suddenly, she shifts her weight to throw you down on the bed. She stands on top of you with her forelegs against your chest. “And if you think I’m letting you get away before you tell me about your scar, then you’re wrong.”

You struggle a little before opening your mouth. Before any number of not-so-carefully constructed phrases could be vocalized, you hear a voice flash through your mind.

You gotta tell somepony. Who would you rather talk to?

The dream you had several days ago comes to mind. You stop and simply lay there for a moment. As the silence begins to weigh in between the two of you, you reach up with a foreleg and begin brushing Dash’s mane with a hoof. You look up to see that confusion and concern has replaced what had driven the blue pegasus to hold you almost captive.

“I’ll tell you. But I’ll need a moment,” you say. While you continue to move a hoof through her hair, she slowly lays down on top of you waiting. You take a deep breath before beginning.

“I... was coming home after getting paid for a job,” you explain. “Nothing too special. Just bits that meant we could afford to eat a bit longer.”

Dash adjusts herself to lay more comfortably on your chest as you continue.

“I went up to my apartment. My friend lived with me. His name was Odd Jobs.” The two dreams came to mind again, but somehow adds to your confidence to keep going. “He wasn’t an honest pony. He wasn’t a good pony, but he was...” You stop rubbing and look her in the eye. “My best friend. We went through everything together.” You give a small chuckle, remembering some of the times you shared with the colt. “Like I said, I went to my apartment, walked in and called out for him, but didn’t get an answer.” You blink a couple times to block back the tears that are coming up. “I smelled something... in the air. Something sour.”

“What was it?” Dash asks.

“Well, at first I thought it was oil. It came from the room we used as a workshop. Mostly where I fixed things, but he had some use for the tools in there as well.” You give a deep sigh before continuing. “So I thought he was in there. I knocked on the door and called again.”

“And?”

“No answer. I slowly opened the door. The smell was strong,” you say shaking your head. “A-and I turn on the light switch...”

Dash notices the tremble in your voice. “He wasn’t there?”

“H-he was...,” you say with a heavy sigh. You look down, away from Dash.

“What... was he doing in there?” Dash asks.

You clench your eyes shut and teeth together. You feel yourself begin to shake.

“Nothing,” you finally say, breathlessly. “Nothing at all.”

An air of silence hung heavily after your last statement. You feel as if something is pushing down on you besides the pegasus laying on top of you. A numb sensation is spreading from your chest down your limbs as you try to fight back the feelings while still preparing to explain what happened next. You focus on the silence, making it almost seem deafening as you take anything you can to block out the images from your mind. After a while, the only sound is a gasp from Dash when realization dawns on her. Slowly, she brought a hoof from your shoulder to your cheek. You felt her lean closer and her breath passed over your face, cooling in a small wet stream from your eye that has just come to be. Some time goes by before you start up again.

“Another regular customer came by a while later. Had some of his friends help clean up.” You pause again. “I learned later that he had owed money to a large group on the edge on the city. Didn’t make his payments, and apparently said some of the wrong things. He... he never even told me about it.”

She brings her other hoof to your neck and starts rubbing the scar. It feels cold, as if she’s holding ice to your neck. “But what about this?” she asks.

You tilt your head up and open your eyes to Dash. Your eyelids sting a bit, but you see the concern on her features. It’s comforting enough to make you continue.

“After that, I... well, life just kind of went back to normal.” She stops rubbing the scar. You shrug. “Kind of normal.” She nods slightly and resumes rubbing. “I... started drinking a bit more. Been stressed after that.” Although this is a bit easier to explain, you know a part coming up would be the hardest of all to get out. “Couldn’t really bring myself to work sober. All the bits went to cheap pizza or cheap vodka. Started slipping on jobs. Yelling at customers. Overall, bad for business.”

She opens her mouth again to ask something. “I’m getting to the scar,” you say before she can get any words out. She closes her lips and resumes listening.

“What was really weird was, other than that, I didn’t really feel anything.” You move your hoof on her back in a little circle. “It was just like... he was away for a job or something. Then one day. About a week later...” You try to think of the words to describe it. You settle on something simple. “It just hit me.”

“Hit you?” Dash asks. You nod.

“I never thought about it, but then I realized. He was gone. Forever.” You look at Dash again, seeing her with a little confusion. “You ever lose somepony, Dash?”

She’s silent for a bit before shaking her head.

“It doesn’t feel like they’re gone at first. It feels like they just left on some sort of trip. That you can talk to them, write to them, and one day they’ll come back, but...” You begin to push back tears again. “They don’t. And when the reality of it finally s-sets in...” You take a deep breath. “It’s...”

Dash looks at you expectantly. You take a moment to breathe before continuing with the story.

“I was in the workshop when it happened.” You bring your other hoof around to Dash’s back. “The incident was reduced to just some... darker colored floor. I tended to avoid looking at it.”

Dash settles her head on your shoulder, continuing to rub the scar.

“It was night and I was working on carving something. I don’t remember what, just that it needed a place to stash something away. A bottle of vodka was empty on the desk, which became a normal thing.” You take a pause to breathe and give your lips that had become quite dry a quick lick. “That’s... when it happened.”

You feel Dash stop rubbing the scar. “That’s when it hit you?”

You nod. “It hurt... It hurt so much.” You shut your eyes again tightly as more tears threaten to burst through. “It was... I was crying. I cried so much I could barely breathe and couldn’t see. And I just... I-I grabbed something, and...”

Her head moves off your shoulder. A silence hung in the air as you feel Dash’s hooves move toward and push against your chest. Despite the darkness of the night, despite your closed eyes, you could feel the stare of the pegasus burning right through you.

“...you didn’t.” She is barely above a whisper.

You could only have your head sink down in shame.

“You didn’t,” she repeats louder.

You try to take in a breath, but it could only come out as a snort as you try to keep yourself from breaking down right there. You only give another single meek nod.

Eyes closed and head lowered, all you can hear is Dash’s light and jagged breaths.

“...why?” she asks in a strained voice. “Why would you do that to yourself!?”

You tighten your grip with your forelegs to bring her into a hug. She’s standing on you, but her hooves move to the sides of your head. You bring her close enough to nuzzle up to her chest.

“How... How did you...?” she tries to ask after another moment.

You try to speak, but it only comes up in choppy words. “L-Late customer... I yelled... They got help...”

She slowly nuzzles the top of your head before asking another question.

“You don’t want to... do that again, do you?”

“I... w-when I think of him, I...” You keep silent after that. You didn’t know what to say or how to say it. You simply did not know.

“...I’m sorry,” you hear her say, faintly.

You manage to hear it, but couldn’t comprehend it exactly. “What...?”

“I’m sorry,” she says again. “I shouldn’t have... I-I shouldn’t... I’m sorry.”

Something clicks in your muddled mind. You piece together what you have said and what it sounds like. That Dash had just inspired such thoughts in the colt who had tried to tell her she isn’t trouble to everything she touches. You feel a shock of terror, making the now one and only important thing crystal clear.

“Dash, no. No, no, Dash, that’s not what I meant.”

“Don’t, please...” She slides down and pushes her face into your shoulder while wrapping her hooves around you tightly. “P-Please, don’t. Oh Celestia, please don’t...”

“NO! Dash, I’m not going to. You didn’t do anything, I-”

“I’m sorry...”

“No, Dash!”

“Because of me... you...” Her speaking began to sound more and more choked up. You feel her breaths become ragged like yours a moment ago. Her body tenses up and begins to shake.

“NO! I DON’T!” you desperately plead. This beautiful mare nearly reduced to your level. Conflicting dreads of the past and present clash as you try to find something, anything, you would be able to do.

“Dash,” you call to her. She is still holding onto you tightly. You bring a hoof to her cheek and try to get her to look at you.

“Dash, please...”

You feel her grip loosen and her body relax a bit. Enough for you to move her head to see her face. Her eyes are still clenched shut, but you could see her struggling against tears of her own. Tears of insecurity, bottled up emotions, and blaming herself for everything.

You tilt her head up to look at you while she opens her eyes, just barely red. You couldn’t let this continue.

You leaned forward and put your lips to hers. Dry, but soft and warm as you stare deeply into those deep magenta irises that are now wide with surprise like the first time you’ve done this. It's this moment you feel yourself slipping. Whatever holds you have on your emotions are breaking while looking into the eyes of such a carefree mare now full of such sorrow. As you feel the years of grief begin to stream down your face, you could see the same happening with Dash. Tears long overdue have started and they would not be stopped.

You both slowly close your eyes as you tighten your grip around her back to pull her closer. She brings a hoof around to the back of your head again to make sure you don’t pull away. Not that you would ever dream of it.

She pokes her tongue between your lips and you let her through. Meeting with your own tongue, you wrestle with hers roughly. Both of you seeming to try and take out all your hate and pain on each other inside your mouths.

You begin to move your hooves up and down her back between her wings. She takes her other hoof and rubs it down your side all the way to your flank, circling around your cutie mark. Both of you begin to moan and sob into each other. You could feel one another’s chest shake as your lament escapes.

You feel her wings begin to expand outward slowly. You remember many a dirty joke about this from Clopton. You realize what it meant. You also know what to do next. As soon as they are fully extended, you stroke along the base of the wings and Dash gasps at your touch. A little worry goes through your mind, wrapping them around being one thing, but what you’re doing now is something on another level. However, Dash doesn’t make any opposition so you continue to let your body move on its own.

It isn’t as much kissing at this point as you two simply roughly licking around each other’s open mouths. Inside or out, your tongues would dance with one another. You felt a warm bit of Dash’s saliva trail down your cheek.

You rub farther and farther along the wing. Reaching the tip, Dash gives out a little yelp into your mouth. You wonder if you should continue, but the doubt is pushed away when she begins sliding her body up and down yours. You feel the hairs of her coat push and brush up against your chest, bringing out and sharing the warmth it holds underneath.

Both you open your tear filled eyes briefly to gaze at each other. Disheveled manes and pathetic bloodshot eyes break down the last bit of the walls you two have built around yourselves over the years.

You rub her wings harder and faster as she presses her torso as hard as she can against you. Her moans grow louder as you continue to explore each others mouths. Your tongues tangle together as you feel every bump of her taste buds and experience them with your own.

Her rubbing stops as she just holds you tighter than ever before. Her moaning escalates before she breaks the kiss. She tilts her head upward and gives a scream riddled with sobbing. You’re thankful you live on the edge of town or else another pony may have been awoken and alarmed.

She collapses on top of you as the two of you simply hold each other. Her wings fall limp beside the two of you. Even though you both have no more tears left, dry sobs filled the air. Eventually, they became quiet and less frequent, giving way to gentle snoring as you both slip away from reality into a deep peaceful sleep. Through the window, the moon shines down upon two injured souls finding solace.

Upon two broken hearts mending together.

Chapter 7: New Day

*knock knock knock*

You begin to stir in your bed. As you hear the sound of birds chirping, your mind takes a quick inventory. Your eyes stung and your nose is a little stuffy, but other than that, you felt... good. You take notice of a blue pegasus laying beside you, sleeping peacefully. Your hooves have been wrapped around, holding each other as close as possible. Maybe the amount of warmth is a little uncomfortable, but you didn’t want to let go.

*knock knock knock*

You grunt as you lean yourself upright. However, you’re able to lift your body with an almost incredible ease. Like a great weight had been lifted from your shoulders. You look around the room and notice just how bright the sun is, how the light casts down upon everything. You breathe in deeply, the action extremely refreshing like drinking water after days without it.

All of these sensations are wasted as you flop back down onto the bed and snuggle back up to the blue pegasus who is now also beginning to wake up.

*knock knock knock knock*

“...You gonna go get that?” Dash asks in a sleepy voice.

“If it’s important, they’ll come back,” you reply.

*knock knock knock knock knock*

Dash moves a hoof to your chest and pushes you away.

“Go answer it,” she says before turning over to go back to sleep. You grumble as you pick yourself up again and walk out towards the door. Whoever this is better have a good reason for waking you up at... You glance at the clock. 1:30 in the afternoon. You sigh as you turn the knob and open it.

“Oh, howdy! Ah was just about to turn arooo-AAH!” exclaims the orange farmer pony on your doorstep. You wonder what brought on that response as you notice yourself without a jacket, scars on display, just getting out of bed from one of the roughest nights you’ve ever had. You’d probably have the same reaction looking in a mirror.

“Good morning to you, too,” you say, dripping with sarcasm as Applejack comes out of her shock. “So what did you need?”

“Ah’m, uh... Ah’m really sorry about my little...” she tries to explain. Clearing her throat and trying not to look at you, she begins talking again. “Ah was wonderin’ if ya’ll seen Rainbow Dash anywhere. Really needin’ a few extra hooves on the farm for some big orders an’ she said she’d help.” She chuckles a little awkwardly. “Heard you two have been... together as of late.”

You give a little nod in response to the statement. “One moment,” you say, walking back into the house, closing the door behind you. Walking back into the bedroom, you see Dash curled up under the blanket that had been tossed aside last night.

“Daaash,” you call out, shaking her shoulder like she had woken you that one time. “Hey. Applejack’s looking for you.”

You see her peek open an eye at this. “Oh man, I forgot...” she mumbles into your pillow. Placing her hooves down, she pushes upward, lifting herself from the mattress. “Where is she?” she asks.

“Waiting outside,” you reply. A hoof takes you by the chin and brings you up to Dash’s lips. Simple and tender, it only lasts a short time before Dash pulls away again.

“Thanks for last night,” she says. You give a smile and nod as she walks out of the bedroom. Hearing the door open and a little exchange between the two outside before the door shuts again, you begin thinking of everything you need to do to start the day. A shower, definitely. Some breakfast considering how late it is. You’d have some work to get caught up on.

Suddenly, you feel that one of your hooves has traveled back up to the bed and is now rubbing the spot Rainbow had been sleeping. It's warm. Very warm. Leaning down to it, you could almost smell a little bit of her left in the sheets.

Maybe... just five more minutes, you think, climbing back into bed.

===

Some time later...

===

“Okay,” you say while bringing out a clock from the pile of finished repair jobs that have built up in your living room. “That’ll be fifteen bits.”

The yellow, brown-maned pegasus timidly reaches into their striped vest, pulls out a small bag, and gives it to you. You look inside and quickly count the number of bits.

Giving an approving nod you say, “Well, it’s all here. See you next time.” They mumble a thanks before taking their clock and flying out the door with a quick flap. That pegasus has become your best customer and is the kind you had back in the old days. The stuff he brought was never broken, but in need of extra storage. Of course, you never ask questions.

Better yet, he was your last customer for the day. You walk back into your bedroom, quickly flicking the knob of the closet door open and throwing the small bag on a pile of bits that you have amassed over time. You stare contently at the money you’ve earned as you feel a bit of pride begin to well up. You made it. You have an honest living in this town without any sort of worry from other ponies.

There are no gangs. No violence. No fear.

As much as you’d never say you were afraid in Clopton, it is nice to be able to sleep and ignore the possibility of somepony breaking into your place for bad or worse reasons.

At that moment, you hear your front door open and close with hoofsteps coming closer. Just as you thought how this situation would play out back where you used to live, now it only makes you smile more.

“Hey! You in here?” you hear a familiar voice call out.

“Back here, Dash,” you respond.

The cyan blue pegasus with multi-colored mane pokes her head out from around the corner. She eyes you up and down. “Looks like somepony had a busy day,” she remarks.

You do a quick once-over of yourself. Mane disheveled, couple stains of grease on your jacket, and your hooves have a couple new nicks in them. “I don’t look that bad,” you say.

“Yeah, you do.” A sly smile appears on her face as she walks closer.

You chuckle. “Shut up, Dash.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

She presses her lips roughly against yourself and wraps her hooves around your neck. You let her guide you over to your bed as you begin to pick up her subtle taste. An almost essence of blueberry along with the scent of sweat, though not unpleasant, as a result of her athleticism. Her back lies down on the blanket, sinking into the fabric as you follow and lay on top of her. The position doesn’t last long as she rolls over away from the edge of the bed, leaving her on top of you. A tongue began to prod at your lips which you let through to greet with your own, giving a new almost spicy sensation.

You have been, for lack of a better word, dating this mare for a few months now. During this time, you two have come to a few understandings that all couples must do in one way or another. One of which being the Shut-Up-and-Make-Out sessions that is currently occurring. As per agreement, such may only be initiated when one is feeling tired, stressed, worried, or anything at all that may be helped with making out. This “anything” also included having a deep desire to make out; a reason that both you and Dash have used admittedly more often than not.

Your hoof begins travelling down her back, rubbing in a circle between her wings. Dash moans a little before pulling away.

“Sorry,” she says, tussling your mane. “Afraid we can’t have that much fun right now. We still have a party to go to.”

You sigh in disappointment. She is always dragging you around for this party or that festival, trying to get you to socialize with other ponies. Not that it has been all bad, but there are times where you wish you had a choice. Taking now for example, go to the party or stay in bed with Dash.

“Come on,” she says, climbing off of you. “How about we get moving?”

“Bit early, isn’t it?” you ask.

“Yeah, but we’ll get there before all the good food is gone. And they have a band there playing covers.”

“They any good?” you ask, rolling off the bed.

“I don’t know.” She gives her wings a couple flaps to work out the excitement you tried to put into them. “But afterwards, we can come back and pick up where we left off,” she says with a wink.

“Holding you to that, Dash.” You walk over to your closet again, pulling out a clean jacket.

“I know,” she replies, pressing against your side as soon as you get your jacket on. She begins rubbing her muzzle into your neck.

“Well...” you say, deciding to push your luck and wrap a foreleg around her shoulders. “Do we really have to go to this party? We could just stay here, and-”

“No,” she says flatly. “But nice try.” She gives a little peck to your neck while you both walk through the house towards your door. Opening it up, the wind of early fall blows in, making it difficult to shut on the way out. When you finally get it closed, you turn to make your way down the road.

“Why is it this windy?” you ask, looking at one of the head pegasuses for the weather patrol.

“Pressure fronts have to go somewhere,” she says with a shrug. “But here, let me fix it.”

Before you can say anything, she flaps her wings and lands on your back, wrapping her hooves around your neck. Then she stretches her wings out and wraps them around your chest, shielding your body from the wind. Her feathers are soft and warm, also pulling Dash’s body a bit closer to you.

“Better?” she asks, snuggling closer to your neck.

“Much.”

“Now come on. We have a party to get to.”

You begin trotting down the trail, simply listening to the blowing wind and enjoying the warmth of the pegasus laying on your back. The dirt road is cool beneath your hooves. A few birds pass overhead, and squirrels are running, climbing up and down the trees. When the wind picks up, it sometimes blows Dash’s mane around, tickling your neck.

“I love you,” Dash says suddenly as you walk causing you to stop.

“What brought on that statement?” you ask.

“Nothing. It’s just... I don’t think I’ve ever told you before.” You think back throughout your time with Dash, trying to remember an instance either one of you said those three simple words. It seems almost impossible with everything you’ve been through that you haven’t taken the one second to say it. She hugs around your shoulders a bit tighter. “So I’m telling you now. I love you.”

You smile. You feel something in your chest inflating and rising up almost like a balloon that is going to fly away. “I love you, too,” you say as you begin to walk again.

EXTRA: An Old Friend

This is an extra scene, taking place after the events of Number One.

This scene has no ties or relevance to the rest of the story.

~~~~~

You walk in the door of your house, back from the latest Pinkie Pie party. You are wrapped in one of Dash's wings, within the soft feathers' warmth, as she trots beside you happily.

"Say it," she says.

"I already said it six times on the way back," you reply.

"Don't care. You remember the agreement. Now say it again."

You roll your eyes. "You're the most awesome, Dash."

She gives a little giggle. "Again!"

"You're the most awesome, Dash."

"Again!"

"I am never betting with you on 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey' again."

"Okay," she replies before pushing you to the ground on your back. You look up at the blue pegasus standing over you with a confident smirk. She leans her head an inch away from yours.

"But for now, say it."

You snort and look away in defiance. She lays her body on top of you, her weight and body heat easily felt through your jacket. A sideways glance shows her features have softened, her smirk now a full smile with half-lidded eyes.

"Say it." You couldn't resist that face. You sigh in defeat.

"You're the most awesome, Dash."

You feel her soft lips press against your neck. "Again," she says.

You smile, suppressing a chuckle at the new show of affection. "You're the most awesome, Dash."

This time, she kisses under your jawline. "Again."

"You're the most awesome, Dash."

She presses her lips against your cheek. She keeps them there for a while as you feel the warmth build on the spot. Eventually, she pulls away. "Again..." she breathes out in nearly a whisper.

"You're the most awesome, Dash."

She kisses right next to your mouth. You can feel the side of her lips brush against yours. She pulls away again and looks you right in the eyes with a look of soft compassion that has only been seen by very few. She doesn't say anything this time, but she doesn't have to at this point.

"You're the most awesome, Dash," you say, returning her look. Heart beating faster in excitement, you both close your eyes as she lowers her lips down slowly for a deep, loving, passionate-

CRASH

You both jump at the loud noise. Thankfully, Dash is a pegasus and now hovering in the air instead of crashing down on top of you. You both look at each other and then in the direction of where the noise came from. Your bedroom.

You get to your hooves and Dash lands softly beside you. "Stay here," you say.

She looks at you with a cocked eyebrow. "You know I'm not going to," she says.

"I know, but it felt like something I needed to say," you reply as the two of you walk toward your bedroom door, left ajar.

You could hear something. Some rustling and some plinks of bits of metal hitting the floor. A little bit of incoherent mumbling could also be heard. You don't know who it is, but they are in your closet going through your stash of bits. Slamming a hoof into the door, you and Dash storm into the room as you bark out a loud, "HEY!"

It is a light gray colt, white frazzled mane under a black ski hat. They have scars, dirt, and various other substances matted into their fur. It seems like there's a part of their body twitching at all times. They seem unfazed, like they don't even notice you. That is, until Dash flies over and tackles them to the ground.

"What do you think you're doing, buddy!?" she screams into the intruders face. As you walk over, she looks ready to buck this guy out the door, which you would let her do in a heartbeat if you aren't dumbfounded by who it is.

"Shakes!?" you ask, getting a good look at their face, confirming their identity. His eyes are shooting around in all directions as he continues his unintelligible muttering. A musty odor of sweat and burnt chemicals came off his body. Sure enough, it's the consistently strung out lunatic from your old hometown.

Your eye twitches a bit. You remember all the problems he caused, all the little annoyances from being around him. And now, when you thought you were away from all of that mess once and for all, here he is. How dare he? How dare he come here? How did he even come here? It took you almost a full day by carriage. No. You don't even care. You just want him out of your house, preferably letting Dash inflict all manners of violence that she looked ready to carry out, and then maybe-

"Uh... dude?" Dash suddenly asks.

"W-What?" you stammer, snapping out of your thoughts.

"You kind of zoned out for a minute," she says. "I asked what you wanted to do with this guy."

You turn back to Shakes on your floor. With a little sigh, you decide he's nowhere near worth the time and energy. You want him out and you want him gone for good. He was from Clopton and you are past that now. Simple as that.

"Just... get him out the door and make sure he goes the opposite direction of town," you say, bringing a hoof to rub your forehead. "He'll just wander back to Clopton somehow."

"Really?" she asks.

"Yeah. He used to go missing for a week or two. I didn't know he went out this far." You sigh again. "Just get him out of here. He's starting to make my place smell funny."

"How about we call the police?" she asks.

You give a little snort, trying to suppress a laugh. "And what'll they do? Shakes here has been arrested many times before." You shake your head slowly. "Most he's ever spent in a cell was maybe a couple days because of how loud he gets without a fix. They don't care."

Shakes mumbles something from the floor.

"And I absolutely do not want this guy here for any longer then it would take to kick him out right now and yoooou are about to say something to make me look like an idiot," you say, looking up at Dash's furrowed brow currently directed at you.

"Things are different here," is all she says.

"Oh!" you say, nodding your head with a mock smile. "Completely forgot! Things are different here! However..." you say, dropping the obnoxious happy tone in your voice. "There's one thing that is very much the same."

"What's that?" she asks, clearly unimpressed by your sarcastic display.

"Back in my apartment in Clopton, I still very much wanted Shakes out as soon as possible if he was ever there."

"I meant the police, you jerk!" Dash exclaims. "The police are different here. They'll keep Shakes off the streets and then-"

"He'll start screaming and they kick him out," you interrupt. "I've seen it before."

"And then," she carries on, not happy with your behavior. "They'll help him get better."

You actually stop, forgetting for a moment about the crazy muttering pony in the room that you wanted out of your house more than anything.

"...Better?" you ask.

"Yeah," Dash says, a little relief in her voice that she might be getting through to you. "Rehab and stuff. They'll get him off... whatever it is he's on, and he'll be normal."

"Normal...?" you ask, disbelievingly. "But... he's Shakes."

Another round of mumbling on the floor confirms your statement.

"And he can get better," Dash repeats as if talking to a small child.

All you can do is look down at the colt who probably has no idea what is going on. There are a few constants in this world that you knew of. Birds chirp, oranges are orange, the sky is blue, and Shakes is Shakes. Trying to change any of these, at least in your mind, would be like trying to stop the princess from raising the sun.

"Listen," Dash says, breaking you from your thoughts again. "I'll go and get the cops. Can you keep him here?"

You look down to the twitching gray colt. He seems like he's just coming down from something at the moment, so probably not that dangerous. You nod your head.

"Okay." She gets off Shakes with a flap of her wings and flies to the door. "I'll be right back!" she calls out behind her.

You close your bedroom door and lean against it. Shakes has gotten back onto his hooves, albeit after a couple tries. He is now trying to rummage through your bit stash again. You don't care. You could easily get those bits off of him when the cops took him away. A moment of silence, apart from Shakes' muttering, passes with you guarding the door.

Your mind drifts into thinking about what Dash said. Shakes... better? Normal? You still couldn't believe it. He was always a little trouble maker and everypony just assumed he always would be. It's a wonder that he survived in a town like Clopton for as long as he did.

And now... well, I guess he wouldn't be going back to Clopton anymore. You imagine that the town would thank Rainbow Dash for such an act, but then you remember where you are thinking of. Even if he is trouble, Shakes belonged to Clopton, and Clopton would go after anypony that took something of its.

"So... Shakes," you begin, not really knowing what to say. "How's Clopton been?"

As you expect, incoherent mumbles is all he replies with.

"Anypony there miss me?" you ask with a chuckle as he tries to open the window. Thankfully, he couldn't figure out the latch keeping it in place so he went back to meandering around the room, dropping the golden coins as he went.

You don't know why you are talking to him. Probably because this might be the last conversation you'll ever have with Shakes. Well, you knew that a minute ago when you wanted to throw him out, but now, if Dash is right, the Shakes in front of you would no longer exist. Now you felt an urge to talk to him, but what about? Are there any loose ends you needed to tie up with him before he changed?

And what about afterwards? Would you suddenly be friends with him? Would he be grateful that you pulled him out of that hole of a city? Would he suddenly be friendlier to those around him? Would he be happier, just like...

...you are?

The realization hit you like a ton of bricks. It's like you are watching yourself when you first came to Ponyville. Just bumbling around, only wanting to take other ponies' money and have nothing to do with them. Were you like this? Well, you weren't strung out on drugs, but was this how others had seen you?

He tries to walk over and push past you to the door, but a simple shove causes him to fall over and drop nearly all the bits he was carrying. After that, he just continues to circle around the room.

And now... Dash is going to fix him. Make him better. Just like you.

You hear a knock on the front door. "Police," you hear voices say.

"It's open," you call out. You open the bedroom door as they enter. You see two officers in blue uniform, one orange with a mustache, the other a darker blue, with Dash trailing behind them. "He's in here," you say, waving them over with a hoof.

You move out of the way, walking over next to Dash as you see the two go in and then come out with the intruder.

"I assume the bits he was carrying were yours, son?" asks the orange, mustached officer. You nod. "Sorry about the mess in there. We tried to clean it up a little."

"Right," is all you say as you watch them take Shakes away. He gave surprisingly little resistance apart from his normal shaking. They take him out of your house and close the door behind them.

"I'm going to have to let that room air out," you say, nonchalantly. You turn to Dash. "He'll be better, huh?"

"Yeah," she replies. "They have these programs to help ponies like him. We don't really see a lot of them in Ponyville, but I'm sure they'll help him," she says with her usual confidence.

So that's it. He'll be better. No more obnoxious Shakes. Just like you. All thanks to the colorful pegasus.

You bring a hoof up and wrap it around Dash's shoulder and pull her close, her familiar warmth from earlier returning.

"Sorry," she says with an awkward chuckle, bringing her own hoof up to push yours away. "That guy was... kind of a mood-killer."

You don't listen. You just keep your hoof on her shoulder and hold her close. You close your eyes and just enjoy the little embrace.

"...You okay?" Dash asks with a little concern.

"Yeah," you say with a little nod. "I'm okay."

As long as you have Dash, you would be.

EXTRA: Years Later

This is an extra scene, taking place after the events of Number One.

This scene has no ties or relevance to the rest of the story.

~~~~~

"WAAAAAAAHH!"

You blink your eyes open, the loud scream disrupting your slumber for the fifth time this week. And it is only Wednesday. You turn your head to look at the other side of the bed you sleep in. Empty. As always. You don't know why you look over there anymore.

Your eyes glance over at the clock. "Two in the morning. Always has to be so freaking early with that little brat..." You push yourself upright against the mattress and fumble to the floor as another screaming sob travels down the hall into your bedroom. "Why does he do this?" you ask as you walk out the door. "Is he really stupid enough not to learn when I tell him the same thing over and over?"

Of course you don't really mean that. It just rubs you the wrong way whenever he would cry, wake you up, and then say the exact same thing almost every night. Still, you can't help but love him with all your heart. Every time you hear him sniffle late at night, you remember the times he smiles. Every sob is met with a memorable laugh. It's what made you get up and walk out every single time.

It doesn't make it any easier, however.

You walk into the child's dark room, his crying now a near ear-splitting volume. Going over to the child's crib, you sit on your haunches, reach down, and pick him up with your forelegs. He was a pegasus, orange with a multi-colored mane. Starting from red, going to a light orange, and then yellow down the back and tail.

"Shhhh... I'm here. Little Heat, I'm here," you say, rocking him gently back and forth. He looks up at you with those soft, tear stained magenta eyes. Closing them again, he resumes crying to which you resume your comforting shushing.

"I... I w-want Mommy!" he cries.

It's your turn to close your eyes. "Mommy's not here..." you say, giving him a little bounce in your forelegs. "Would you like a story?" you ask, reaching for the Daring Do book on the dresser next to his crib.

He doesn't respond. He just keeps crying.

"Would you like your bottle?" you ask, going through the list of what he could need. "Are you too hot? Too cold?"

It was the same every night. He'd cry for his mommy, something kids were known to do. The problem is, he always cries for his mommy, and his mommy is never here. Every time he woke in the night it's the same. He'd cry and cry for his mommy until he cries himself to sleep.

You wish you could be his mommy. Or bring his mommy here. But you couldn't, and that is what truly made this process hurt the way it did. It has nothing to do with interrupted sleep or the loud noises. It was the fact that you couldn't do anything. You could only hold him until he tires himself out.

"I-I want Mommy!" he cries again.

You hold him close, trying to stifle a sniffle. "I want Mommy, too..."

You feel something slip over your shoulders. You open your eyes to see a pair of light blue hooves draped over you. You look up, turning your head and see another pair of magenta eyes staring at you along with a small smile. A colorful mane drapes over her shoulders along with a Wonderbolts uniform.

"Mommy's here."

Little Heat stops crying instantly, reaching out for his mother. She drops the dark blue outfit on the ground before taking the child from your arms. She hugs him tightly as the child smiles, tiny wings buzzing happily, and tries to wrap his little forelegs around to hug her back.

"Dash..." you say, almost unable to believe what you are seeing. "I... I thought you still had another month on your tour."

"The next show is in Cloudsdale," she explains. "It's only a couple hours out the way, and... I couldn't wait. I just couldn't wait."

You slide over, putting a hoof around her shoulders as she nuzzles the little pegasus in her forelegs. Leaning your head down, you rest it against her neck.

You just can't explain how happy you are at the moment. You give a slow nuzzle every now and again as she holds the child she dearly missed.

"Does... does he cry for me a lot?" she asks.

Suddenly, doubt passes where once was relief. You don't know how to answer. You don't know if you should answer. You simply sit there in silence. A few moments pass before you hear Dash's voice again.

"Oh, dear Celestia..." she mumbles.

"Dash," you say, hugging her closely.

"I... I..." she begins, shakily.

"Shhhh..." you quietly say, rubbing her shoulder and gently rocking her back and forth. You are still in full child-comfort mode, so these are the only tricks you could think of at the moment. The only difference is it seems to be working with the blue full-grown mare. More time passes in silence as the family slowly rocks back and forth with the ticking of the clock against the opposite wall.

Eventually, you hear a quiet, steady stream of breathing. You look down to Little Heat who is now snoring peacefully in the embrace of his mother. You glance over at Dash who was now looking down at her foal. Glancing up at the clock, it was now quarter past three. It was the fastest Little Heat has ever gone back to sleep.

"Go back to bed," Dash whispers. "I want to stay here a while longer."

You sit for a moment before giving her cheek a small peck. Slowly dropping your hoof from her shoulder, rubbing it down her back, you turn away and leave the room, down the hall, and back into your bedroom. The lights still out, you walk the familiar path to your side of the bed. Laying down in the sheets, now cold from your absence, you lay your head against the soft pillow, your body instantly relaxing and drifting into the sleep you were in before the interruption.

A while later, you hear a small thump from the base of the bed and some light cursing, waking you again. You have to suppress a small chuckle at the pegasus now sliding into bed with you. She wraps her forelegs around your shoulders and snuggles up close, the warmth of her fur spreading against you.

"Did I wake you?" she asks.

"I'm glad you did," you say, wrapping your hooves around her as well.

You lay in each other's warmth. You try to fight off the oncoming sleep to stay in the moment; the embrace which you had gone so long without and sorely missed. Suddenly, you hear a little sniffle from Dash, who was rubbing her muzzle against your chest.

"I... I don't know if I can keep doing this," she says.

"What do you mean?" you ask.

"Just... the Wonderbolts. I think I should quit."

You almost can't believe what you are hearing. "But this is your dream."

"I know... but now there's you guys, and- OH NO, I didn't mean that!" she exclaims, hushing herself before she gets too loud.

"I understand, Dash. That's not what you mean," you say, giving her a little pat on the back.

"Thanks..." she says, calming back down. "But it's just... Little Heat needs me."

You aren't quite sure how to answer.

"A kid needs his mom, right?" she asks.

"You..." you begin, not quite knowing where you are going with it. "You... do a lot for Little Heat."

"How so?" she mumbles more than anything, as if not believing you.

"Well, with the Wonderbolts..." you start, rubbing a hoof up and down her back. "We already discussed this," you say, giving up trying to form a coherent thought at this hour.

"Yeah, but... what kind of mom am I being away from home for so long?"

"You were going to be the cool mom, remember?" you say with a little chuckle. "Little Heat gets to say his mom's in the Wonderbolts and brag and brag to all his friends about his super cool mom, and-"

"I don't want to be the cool mom!" Dash cries out. "I want to be the good mom!"

You are a little taken back by this. "But... you are a good mom, Dash."

"How!?" she exclaims.

"Well..." you start again, looking for any sort of point to grab onto. "All the money you bring in. You provide for us."

You listen for any sort of argument against this. When you hear none, you assume you're going down the right path.

"Because of you, we have this house big enough for Little Heat to grow up in. We have food, shelter, and when the time comes, he won't be going to some dead-end school."

You feel Dash snuggle up closer to you.

"He has his favorite breakfast cereal. He has all of the latest toys. The full collection of Daring Do books on his shelves. He wouldn't have that living off my meager repaircolt profits."

"Actually, I had the books before I became a Wonderbolt..." There is a small giggle before you hear another sniffle from Dash. "But... he cries for me. I stay up late worrying so much and he... he actually cries for me when I can't be here and..."

"And he has me," you finish plainly. "I can take care of him, and he gets to see you when you're off tour, and don't worry, Dash..." You nuzzle the top of her head. "I'll let you wake up in the middle of the night every time he cries when you're here."

This actually gets another little giggle from her.

"But for now... you have to be strong. For Little Heat."

All you hear is a long sigh. Eventually, you feel her pull herself up, her lips connecting against yours. You push back against her soft lips as you smell a bit of something salty on her face. She was crying, but she seems past it now. After a while, she pulls away.

"Thanks..." she says, adjusting herself in a more comfortable sleeping position. "Hey... I'm afraid I'll have to leave really early to make it back for morning drills. I'll probably be gone before you wake up."

"I understand," you say. You feel another soft kiss briefly against your lips.

"I love you," she says.

"I love you, too," you say, closing your eyes.

You hold onto each other again, the darkness of the night eventually overtaking the both of you. Sleep dividing you again, but there would only be so long before you got to be in her loving embrace again. Until then, you would care for the greatest gift she's given you, who you know will also be eager for her return.

Chapter 3: Again

When you run your idea to apologize to everypony past Pinkie Pie, she seems more than happy to help gather attention at the beginning of the party. After one apology, you're free. You don’t know how she does it, but she manages to gather a few party favors including streamers, balloons, and invitations in a shockingly short amount of time. On the invitation was written:

You are invited to a welcoming party!

hosted by the premiere party pony, Pinkie Pie

Festivities begin at 7 o’ clock PM in the park.

Featuring a public apology from the Not-So-Big Meanie

Asking to take one of the invitations with you, you put it in your saddlebag to hoof out to a certain pony, who, as you leave the bakery, comes from the sky and starts flying behind you.

“Aw... I missed it?” a voice from behind asks, heavy with disappointment. You take out the invitation and give it to Dash. Balancing it with her hooves, she opens it and reads what’s inside while still flying and keeping pace.

“No way... You’re really going to apologize to all of Ponyville?”

“Yep,” you respond simply. With a snicker and smile Dash lands, tucks the invitation away under her wing, and begins to trot beside you.

“So where are we going?” she asks.

“Well, I needed to go-” You stop in your tracks. “We?”

She nods.

“Nothing else you could be doing? Nopony else to see?”

“Well, I cleared the sky in no time and all my friends are busy. Besides, if you’re really going to apologize to everypony you can’t be that bad.” She gets close and wraps a hoof around your neck. The shiver returns at her touch through your jacket. “And maybe I want to get to know you a bit. What do you say?”

You close your eyes. “No.”

She doesn't speak at first, but her hoof is still around you. Finally you hear her say, “Why?”

“Because,” you start. “I’m going to apologize to everypony in Ponyville, like you said, so you can leave me alone.”

She takes her hoof away from you. Looking angry, she almost says something before her emotion changes to something more calculating. She just looks at you and says, “Well, you haven’t apologized to everypony yet.”

“So?”

“So... I still get to follow you.”

Letting off a loud sigh, you continue down the road, follower in tow.

===

“Here are some cheap cups.” Rainbow Dash points out the red plastic cups on the shelf.

“Um... wow, they’re small. Plus they have that lip in the bottom you can never get clean. First thing I pour into it is going to stay there forever.”

“Are you going to throw out all my suggestions?”

“Only if you keep suggesting stupid stuff,” you say while selecting three glasses and putting them in the basket. You have to admit, spending the day with Rainbow Dash isn't as bad as you imagined. You mostly talk about what sort of things you need from the general store, but you delve into a few personal topics as well. She talks about her dreams of the Wonderbolts, her friends, and some crazy adventures she’s gone on.

You tell her your name. That was it.

She tries to get more out of you, but she apparently can’t be happy with the huge step you give her. It's easy enough to keep her talking about herself, though. It's actually somewhat nice to have somepony to listen to.

“So, you have cups, towels, plates, silverware, toothpaste despite my recommendation-”

“That Wonderbolts stuff was training toothpaste for fillies.”

She rolls her eyes. “So what does that leave?”

“I think that’s everything,” you say, glancing out the window. You can see the clock tower and see that you barely have enough time to get home before when you stated customers could drop off items at your house. You walk to the counter with your purchases. The grey and brown maned cashier looks at you for a moment, annoyance revealing in his features.

“Are you serious?” he asks. “You think I’m going to serve you?”

“He’s cool,” Dash says before you can respond. She walks up to your side. The cashier laughs.

“After last night? Yelling at literally everypony in Ponyville?”

“He’s going to apologize at the new party tonight. Just let him buy his things.”

“New party? I haven’t heard anything about-” Suddenly, a flash of pink appears with a stack of envelopes.

“Here is your singing invitation!” Pinkie Pie says before taking a deep breath.

“THERE’S A PARTY WELCOMING A PONY INTO PONYVILLE!

BE NICE FOR YOU TO BE THERE AND WE’RE HOPING THAT YOU WILL!

TO HAVE SOME CAKE AND HAVE SOME FUN

AND WHEN IT IS ALL SAID AND DONE

A NEW FACE YOU CAN CALL NEIGHBOR IS STANDING AT YOUR TILL!”

She points to you while giving an invitation to the cashier. He opens and reads it.

“Well, I still have many more to give out, so I’ll be seeing you at the party!” she says, bouncing away.

“See you later, Pinkie!” Dash says. You just wave a hoof as goodbye.

Turning back to the cashier who has finished reading the card presented to him, he looks at you before giving a snicker.

“Apologizing to everypony?” he asks, putting your items into bags. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. That’ll be eleven bits.”

You put take the number of bits out of your bag and put in the things you bought. Dash is trotting along beside you and as the minutes pass, neither of you say a word since exiting the store.

You look over to her. You are honestly impressed. Although the exchange with the cashier was short before Pinkie Pie showed up, she still tried to stick up for you. You can only remember one other pony who ever did that back in Clopton. At that point, the scar around your neck starts to itch. You raise a hoof to scratch it and decide to break the silence in order to keep your mind away from certain thoughts.

“Hey.” Dash looks up at you. “Thanks.”

She smiles. “You should thank Pinkie Pie. She’s the one who had the invitations to convince that guy.”

“You still tried,” you say. Coming up to your house, it was a few minutes after you wrote on the flier for ponies to drop off their broken items. However, nopony was there.

“Well, looks like I didn’t miss any customers,” you say, opening your door. Dash chuckles.

“Nopony’s going to come to you until after the party,” she says, following you into the house.

“How do you know?” you ask.

“Trust me.”

You shake your head and go into the kitchen to put away some of your new things. Dash stays in the living room and looks around at the streamers still on the floor.

“Haven’t cleaned up yet?” she asks.

“Was going to later,” you respond. “Something to do until the party.”

“Can I help?” she asks with surprising enthusiasm.

“Go ahead,” you say. Less work for you is always good. “I’m going to keep putting things away, though.”

“So where’s your broom?” she asks. You stop before going into the hallway. A moment of silence passes before she finally asks.

“You don’t have one, do you?”

You sigh. You were just at the store, but now you had to wait for potential customers, despite anything Dash says about it.

“I’ll go back to the store tomorrow and- hey, what are you doing?” You see Dash start using her wings to sweep up the streamers.

“I said I’d help you clean up. No big deal if we don’t have a broom.”

You don’t know how to respond. You simply walk back to your room and put down your purchases before going back to help. In the short time you were gone, Dash had actually gotten a good amount into a pile. Going into the kitchen to bring out a trash can, you begin scooping up the streamers Dash swept up with your hooves and throwing them away.

“Can I ask you something?” Dash says.

You shrug. “Go ahead.”

“You’re not really sorry, are you? For last night?”

You kept silent. If she thinks your apology to everypony isn’t genuine, she might not leave you alone. She’ll keep following you like she did today...

...Except today wasn’t bad. She was pleasant to talk to, she stuck up to the cashier for you, and she’s helping you clean. She’s doing a lot for you despite yelling at her and her friends.

“How do you do it?” she asks.

You look at her confused. “How do I what?”

“Yell at everypony. Then not feel sorry for it.” Her tone isn’t sarcastic at all. She sounds like she is really curious.

“I don’t know... a whole bunch of strangers just showed up in my house out of nowhere. I really don’t think I did anything wrong.”

“Oh. Then why are you going to apologize? Is it still to get rid of me?”

You turn away and keep silent again. You don’t want to tell her that was why because, at that moment, you are not really sure that’s what you want.

“Because it’s not going to work,” she says.

You look back at her. “What?”

“I said apologizing would be a start,” she says with a smile. “There’s more you’ll have to do.”

“Like what?” you ask. You are feeling a little annoyance towards the blue pegasus again like this morning.

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

With another sigh you pick up another scoop of streamers.

Sometime later the rest was picked up and in the trash. You notice Rainbow Dash eyeing the clock at the far wall of the room the folding table was pushed against.

“Look... I better get going. I’m going to help Pinkie with setting up the party.”

“You sure? It’s still a few hours. Also, the party was planned today and Pinkie never even asked you for anything.”

“I just...” She runs a hoof through her mane. “Kind of owe her a favor. Besides, there are places a pegasus can decorate much easier than an earth pony.” She walks up and put a hoof around your shoulder again. This time, she pulls you toward her in a half-hug. “I’ll see you at the party... right?”

There was something oddly calming about the weight of her foreleg resting against the back of your neck and the warmth you can feel from her body through your jacket. The shiver ran up your spine again.

“Of course.”

“Great,” she smiles and lets go of you. “See you there!” she says, walking out. You nod and close the door behind her, smiling as soon as you’re alone.

With the time remaining before the party, you put away the rest of the things from the store and, despite what Dash said, keep an ear out for any potential customers.

===

Walking through the streets of Ponyville once again, you notice that it was empty. Considering how close it was to the time of the party, everypony was probably in the park waiting for you. Even though it irks you that Dash had been right about having no customers, you at least have the party that you are honestly looking forward to.

You are walking by Sugarcube Corner exactly like this morning. However, while you are looking at the bakery, you notice something you didn’t before. The lamppost next to the bakery was bare.

Wait, didn’t I put a flier there? You think to yourself. You shrug and keep walking. There are enough fliers up for your business.

In the middle of town, you notice another place a flier should have been is gone. The park was just a little ways away, but you are a bit early. You could afford a little walk around if you were quick.

With a canter, you look around town at everything you could remember putting a flier on. There are simply none anywhere. Where did they all go?

You can’t dwell on it for now. You have a party to get to. With a gallop, you go back through the middle of town and run towards the park. Still the worry is at the back of your mind. On top of that, you couldn’t see anypony when the park was in view. Taking a few hoofsteps in, you look around.

Great. I’m in the wrong place, thinking to yourself again. Is there another park in this town, or-

“SURPRISE!”

Ponies, streamers, banners, and tables of food started popping out of every tree and bush around. A couple held up a cake with a likeness of your face with a smile that had “WVLCMME TV PVMVVIMWWE” scribbled around it. Pinkie Pie was bouncing out of the center of the crowd towards you.

“You made it!” she says, still bouncing. You were still in shock from how those ponies did everything you just saw. “So now, let me get everypony’s attention so you can tell them how sorry you are!”

She starts calling at the crowd, but you feel uneasy. Your mind was still curious about the missing fliers. You try to go over any probable causes in your head.

“Attention everypony!” Pinkie Pie calls out.

Could the weather have blown them down? No, it was a clear day today. Did somepony take them all down? Was there something wrong with where you posted them? No, there were other fliers around where yours were. If somepony did take them down, who could it have been?

“The guest of honor has something he’d like to tell you all!”

Nopony in law enforcement you hope. There was that one the Rainbow Dash had in her mouth this morning-

Rainbow Dash.

“Nopony’s going to come to you until after the party.”

“How do you know?”

“Trust me.”

“And now, without further ado...”

You could see her at the punch bowl smiling. She knows. She took them all down. She tried to sabotage your business. For what? Why would she do that?

“The moment you’ve all been waiting for!” Pinkie points to you and you notice everypony was looking expectantly.

“Hello,” you start. “I, um, I just wanted to say...”

Because she was mad that you didn’t like ponies breaking into your house? Was she going to tell you? Was she going to put them back? Was she just going to let your bits run out and leave you to suffer?

“Um... to say that...” Every word was becoming more strained.

And now, the same ponies who were in your house uninvited were expecting you to apologize?

“That...”

No.

“...you can all go buck yourselves.”