Living in Equestria

I didn't bother to put any clothes on when I got up and moved to her dilapidated couch. My legs still burned from holding that half squat for so long and I needed to sit comfortably for a few minutes before I asked to use her shower. Dash followed and flopped down on her side next to me, her smell wafting up from the rumpled blankets under us. Considering what just happened, I had a question that was burning my lips to ask her... I just didn't know how to start it.

"We should probably head back soon, I'm sure those press ponies are long gone now" she observed.

"Yeah..." I said distractedly.

An awkward long silence filled the space between us that was almost visible. Dash felt it right away, misunderstanding what I was feeling and jumped on it.

"Oh no... No no.. Uh uh!" she shook her head and sat up next to me in agitation. "This better not get weird between us, Human! Look, just because I gave you a few pointers on how to please a mare doesn't mean you can get all emotional on me, alright!" she waved an irritated hoof in my face.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"You heard me! I'm a lone wolf! A loose cannon! I don't want nopony slowing me down and besides, you already have more drama than you can keep up with down there with those two! I'm sorry... but that's just the way it is! Get over whatever thoughts you're having that's making this weird and don't make me regret helping you out! You got Scootaloo for all that attachment issues stuff!"

"It's not weird! I just was trying to think of a way to ask you something!" I shot back, caught off guard by her sudden assertion.

"Ask me what?" her face was still wary.

"Aaabouut that blue stallion toy I found in the cider shed..." I couldn't meet her eyes when I asked it.

Rainbow Dash's expression went from wary apprehension to realization and then to a disgruntled facehoof. She closed her eyes and dropped her head, socking a hoof to her forehead.

"Bucking AJ.... I don't know why she leaves that laying around..." she muttered. "Yeah, I almost forgot you were being funny about that yesterday."

"So it is yours!" I gave a small cry of victory. About what, I didn't know... maybe just to validate my own deductive skills.

She gave a sigh. "No... it's not mine... I didn't have the bits for it. AJ is the one who got it."

"So you and her are..." I prompted. I wasn't sure the correct term for it here.

"What, friends? Duh..." she rolled her eyes.

"But... if you two are using that with each other... doesn't that kinda make... you know..." I stumbled around the point awkwardly.

"You're clueless, stupid human..." she shook her head in sympathy. "If you had any idea what it's like to be in heat you'd understand. AJ is my best friend in the whole world! She doesn't have time for getting a stallion or a special somepony and lots of times I don't even wanna deal with one. Whenever we need it, we're there for each other... that's all."

"So you're both Bi..." I tried to clarify.

"What's a by?" she asked, her head cocking with the question.

"Someone... er Somepony who likes to be with both mares and stallions."

She considered this for a moment, her ears twisted and turned while her eyes looked inward. Then she fixed her eyes on me.

"Is everything in your world black or white?" her irritated answer finally came.

"Huh?"

"Who says everypony has to be labeled like that? What does it matter!?" she flung her hoof in the air. "Applejack and I are friends and friends help each other out when they need something. Sure, taking care of another mare's heat might be a bit more personal than say... borrowing a cup of sugar or something, but that doesn't mean you gotta put that pony in a box if they do it!" she sounded angry now, and she wasn't finished.

"As a matter of fact, I just laid on the floor over there and gave you a good lesson on making a mare feel good! What label do you wanna put on that, huh? Is there one for a pony who likes mares, stallions and humans?"

I didn't have anything to say to that.

"Look, ponies can come together for a lot of reasons and it's not like each time it has to mean anything. For Celestia's sake, you're in a bucking herd! And thanks for reminding me by the way, I gotta talk to Scootaloo now before she figures out what I did on her own or you open your stupid human mouth and say the wrong thing."

"What?... You're gonna tell Scootaloo about this?!" I don't know why that idea suddenly scared me, but it did.

"Pfff... yeah! Scootaloo is practically family to me! It's common courtesy when you borrow your marefriend's herded stallion! Don't you know anything?! Oh wait.. I forgot.. you think just because you help a friend out it means something entirely different!"

"Dash, I didn't mean it like that... I was just trying to understand you guys better, that's all!" a sick feeling was welling up in my stomach. This was going south quick.

Just when I thought she was going to start in on another rampage, she relaxed and softened her face with a sigh.

"Truth is, I love AJ... and she loves me. But that doesn't mean we're anything else, if that's your point. You heard about her foal. Ever since then, we've been really close. At some point... I don't even remember when, we started relying on each other to get us through our heats instead of running around trying to find a stallion all the time." she put a gentle hoof on my shoulder.

"I let today happen with you because I care. I care about you and I care about Scootaloo. I want you to be the best you can be for her however she needs to to be and just because two ponies care enough to do something like that... either by helping out with their heat or using each other to learn, it doesn't mean there's a one size fits all answer as to why, alright?" She gave me a friendly hug that I returned.

When we separated, the fiery spunk had returned and she was back to her normal self.

"You got a lot to learn about how relationships work around here, S.H... you should just relax and let us ponies figure it out for ya. All ya gotta do is roll with it." she winked.

_______________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash showed me to the bathroom so I could finally get cleaned up. It was pretty much like the rest of her house. The low pedestal sink was cluttered with items and long strands of hair with colors from the entire rainbow clinging to the edge and laying in the bottom of the shower basin. I'd be grossed out if it didn't already know my own bathroom would look exactly the same if I had one.

"Don't take to long, I want one too before we head back. I'll throw your stuff in the cleaner while you're in" she said as she moved back down the hall.

Turning on the water, I began to clean myself off using the ring of soap hanging in the stall. I smiled at the kinky light blue hairs stuck to it because it made me realize that Rainbow Dash was every bit as horrible at house keeping and cleanliness as I was.

Our conversation had ended with hugs and apologies on both our parts. I shouldn't have pried and she shouldn't have gotten offended was what we had decided went wrong there. But I knew more about their relationship than I'd ever imagined now. Dash and AJ weren't together, they just were both fine with using each other to take care of their urges when they needed to. I was still horribly confused at how this all worked between ponies, as she had pointed out earlier.

It seemed like there were a whole bunch of unwritten rules for being able to have sex with anypony close to you as long as it was alright by some esoteric ordering system. But at the same time there was an almost magical love between Scootaloo and I that should make any of that wrong. It didn't make any sense to me how both of those things could exist side by side.

I filled my mouth up with water from the shower head and rinsed, feeling a hair stuck between my teeth. When I plucked it out, I saw it was light blue. Dash was right... I should just shut up and go with it.

There were also no towels in the bathroom.

"Back of the chair..." she pointed when I returned, dripping wet, into the main room. She moved past me towards the bathroom as I grabbed one and began to dry off and trying not think about if the towel was clean.

I wandered around for a while waiting for my clothes to be done, looking at the few pictures Dash had on the wall and tables. There was one of her as a young filly, her mane was spiky and shorter as she stood on a cloud in front of some statue. Next to her was a colt that looked about the same size as her. He was a light gray color with a blue mane that matched Dash's coat perfectly and I wondered who he was. He looked a lot like her.

Next to this was a picture of her and the five other ponies I'd come to know. They were grouped together with Twilight in the middle, Pinkie Pie on the top left with her hoof in the air as if she was in mid wave with her other hoof on Rarity's head below her. Applejack was giving her trademark wink with Dash hovering behind, looking imposing and determined. It looked like a staged photo it was so well done, even the incredibly skittish Fluttershy laying in front of Twilight looked happy to be having her picture taken.

A loud buzz from another room caused me to jump at it suddenness of it. The noise had come from the adjacent area at the far end of the main room, around a corner. Moving there, I found a small nook with a table beside a large, thickly covered window. Piles of envelopes and papers were on the table, most were open and stacked haphazardly as if they were just tossed aside here with little importance.

The thing that had buzzed was also here. A familiar white box about waist high with a large yellow button on the side. It was a similar box that was at the farm used by Granny to do the laundry with and she had taught me it was all magic operated, making the process extremely easy. My clothes were predictably clean and folded in the bottom when I lifted the lid.

I got dressed standing in front of this machine and when I turned around to retrieve my shoes, my eyes caught the large bold letters written on the front of one of the envelopes. "FINAL NOTICE"

I had just begun to pay bills back in the human world. My mom had made me get my own car insurance and pay for the internet service at the house. I knew what those words meant in my world... I could still hear the sound of the water of Dash's shower and took a second to open the paper inside.

I didn't understand it all, but I got the gist of it. Rainbow Dash hadn't paid the Cloudsdale city for her trash service and owed several hundred bits. They weren't going to pick up her trash anymore if she didn't pay. There was something that looked like a date on it, but it was meaningless to me and I blinked at my own realization that I should really learn how time worked here. There were several of these, all from different places with different official looking logos on the front of them. Rainbow Dash wasn't much for paying her bills apparently.

My eyes drifted to another, smaller stack on the other side of the table. These looked different, hand.. or hoof written on plain lined paper. They were all open and one was near the edge of the table and looked newly opened judging by the sharp creases still crossing the page. I slid around to that side and read the words written in a neat and carefully penned style.

Dear Rainbow Dash

I know we've asked you for a lot lately, but your brother needs surgery again.

The hospital in Windsoar wants the bits up front this time and we don't know where else to turn.

He's in a lot of pain, Dash. We really need the money to get this done.

They won't even admit him unless we pay one thousand bits up front.

Can you please help us again?

Your aunt,

Silver Shadows.

P.S Congratulations on getting promoted to Team Leader!

"Yeah, just go ahead and read em all if ya want. It's not like there's anything personal there." Rainbow Dash's voice rang out behind me, dripping with sarcasm.

I started at her voice. The shower had stopped and when I turned around, there was Dash standing dripping wet behind me. Her main lay flat against her head while she regarded me with an annoyed expression.

"Shit.. Dash.. I'm sorry. I just looked and saw..."

"Ah.. whatever. It's not like everypony doesn't know I suck with handling bits already. Look at all the fan mail I've got because of it!" she gestured towards the table.

"I didn't know you had a brother..." I said, dropping the offending letter back onto the table.

"Not many ponies do. Applejack does, and I think Rarity figured it out when I... nevermind. Yeah, I got a brother and sexual issues, alright! What pony doesn't?" She turned and moved a few steps away before shaking herself off like a dog who just had a bath with her wings extended. A fine spray of water misted me from her efforts and made a frail ticking sound as the drops hit the papers on the table.

"And here I am prying again...Sorry." I said.

She regarded me with an amused look this time, her eyes light and mischievous. "Well, I did bring you here and pretty much molest you. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're kinda curious about whats going on behind the scenes." She nabbed her own towel in her muzzle and flung it over her head. She used one front hoof to begin drying her mane off with while she continued.

"So yeah... My brother and the rest of my family lives in Windsoar. He's got a condition, I don't remember what it is exactly... something to do with his stomach. But he needs lots of medical stuff and it's expensive. So they ask me to help out 'cause they know the Wonderbolts get paid big bits." she shrugged under the towel.

Something didn't line up with that.

"But... you aren't a Wonderbolt, Dash." I remarked.

"Well duh! But they don't know that."

"Then... how are you..." the gears in my head finally turned over enough. The threatening bill collections. Dash sent every bit she had to them trying to keep up the appearance of an honorable and well meaning lie. I knew she was raised here, Scootaloo had told me that much. So it's not like she recently came here to become a Wonderbolt.

"Anypony ever tell you a mare can watch you think?" she cocked her head under the towel. "Yeah... I told them I made the Wonderbolt squad a long time ago, right after they moved to Windsoar for the doctors... big deal! They wouldn't have gone if they didn't think they could afford it."

I don't know what emotion flared up inside me for Rainbow Dash right then, but it made my eyes water. Behind that tomboyish personality was an incredibly loyal pony ready to do anything for someone she cared about... even to the point of hurting herself.

"Jesus, Dash... I don't even know what to say to that."

"You don't need to. It's my issue. I'll be a full member of the Wonderbolts any day now, you'll see. Then none of this will matter!" she waved around at the messy place she called home. "Lets get outta here, I've had enough talking about me for one day"

I completely agreed with her. I learned everything I needed to know about Rainbow Dash in the last couple of hours, and I cared for her all the more because of it.