Sweater Weather

Chapter 4

..they seem to fit in

I slowly opened my eyes, I blinked a few times and noticed I had fallen asleep on Thunderlane. 'Man, he's still here? I wasn't expecting him to stay that long' I thought to myself as I stretched a little. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled at me, while stretching his wings, he wrapped them around me.

"Hey sleepy head," he said sleepily. I smiled at him as I got up, I walked to my bathroom and brushed out my hair. It was starting to become brighter, along with my magenta eyes. I smiled to myself as I looked at myself, 'Wow, I look so much better than I used to' I thought to myself as I walked back out into my living room. Thunderlane was preening his wings, I figured I needed to do that soon. I pulled the sleeve of my sweater up to look at my arm, most of the cuts and slashes were faded scars. I still had quite a few that were visible, I pulled it back down as I walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a doughnut to munch on.

"So Thunder do you have anything planned for today?"I asked quietly as I finished my doughnut. Thunderlane looked up and smiled as he stretched his wings again.

"Well, I was supposed to talk to Cloudchaser today," he said getting up. My mood turned a little sour at the sound of that name. Thunderlane could tell. "Sorry about that," he said, looking, at me sheepishly, I smiled at him.

"It's okay. When you're done talking to her you should come by and we'll hang out," I said walking him to the door. He nodded at me and flew off into the sky, I smiled a little to myself. I decided I was going to have a lazy day where I stay home all day, I climbed into bed and pulled the comfy blankets over me once more. I woke up a few hours later. "Man, it's only 10:45 am," I said to myself as I got back up. I had made my bed, I looked at my end table and the picture of Dumbbell and I was gone. I smiled to myself as I was slowly getting the rest of him out of my life, all the pictures were gone, all earrings and necklaces he gave me were gone. All I need to do now is to get rid of this God forsaken sweater. I decided I was ready to talk to Big Mac and maybe get everything behind me, hopefully he would forgive me. I smiled as I spread my wings and took to the sky, I haven't actually flown anywhere in a long time, so it was nice to feel the cool breeze on my face and the wind flowing in my mane. I finally made it to Sweet Apple Acres, I saw Big Mac by some of the Apple trees in the south field. I smiled as I trotted my way over to him, I started to get nervous as I got closer to him.

"Well Howdy Rainbow how are you doin'? He asked me quietly I looked down.

"I'm not doing to well Big. I came here because I wanted to talk to you," I said in a whisper.

Big Mac took a seat and relaxed a little, he gave me a small smile "Well, I'm all ears" he said to me.

I nodded, I was trying to figure out where to start with the conversation. "I don't really know where to start" I said sheepishly.

Big Mac smiled at me "Well, why don't you say so the day you ran away from me on the farm" He said staring intently at me. I nodded at him as I made myself comfortable since this was going to be a very long story.

"I was really scared when you asked me out, mainly cause I didn't want Dumbbell to be mad at me. He was cruel when he got mad, I learned that a lot" I said as I looked at Big Mac. He nodded as he shifted to make himself comfortable.

"Well, if you were scared, why didn't you just tell me you were scared?" he asked sadly. 'I wasn't liking the tone in his voice, there was a hint of sadness in it, it made me feel guilty'

"I really have no idea Big Red, I just didn't know what to do and I made it worse by not saying that. I am really sorry that I made you cry, and now I really am kicking myself for not picking you. If I had picked you we'd be dating still, my breakup with Dumbbell hit me so hard Big Mac. I changed so much and I made all my friends around me worried" I finished as a few tears streaked down my cyan face. I closed my eyes as I started to cry, all of a sudden I felt a pair of muscled forelegs hug me and Big Mac nuzzling against my neck. I nuzzled into his chest, I just wanted to stay there forever.

"Well Rainbow Dash I still really like you, I never stopped" He said looking into my magenta eyes. I blushed as I looked away from him. I looked up into his beautiful green eyes.

"Do you forgive me Big Mac? I really hurt you, and I made it worse by running away from you," I said sadly as I looked down. I felt his hoof under my chin, he pushed my head up and started to lean forward. I froze, I hadn't been kissed in a while and I was scared. I felt silly being scared. I seriously mean that. I felt Big Mac kiss me gently, I closed my eyes as I kissed him back. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Apple Jack smiling at us as she continued towards the barn.

"Dashie, of course I forgive you, I'd be crazy not to," he said as he nuzzled his snout against my rainbow mane. I smiled as he did just that. I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, I really hoped that maybe Red and I would go out later. I was really stupid not to date him.

"Thank you so much Red, you don't know how happy you made me. I won't get scared and run away this time either" I finished as I nuzzled against his chest. He smiled down at me as he let go of me, I smiled up at him as I stood up. "Well, I think I'm going to head home. I'll come see you again tomorrow Red" I said as I nuzzled against his chest again. I flew up into the sky and made my way back to my house, I was in such a good mood, nothing could ruin this day. I finally made it home, I smiled at the fresh smell in my house. I made my way to the bathroom to take a look at myself, my mane was almost back to its prismatic glory and my eyes were finally magenta again. I was so happy 'I knew this day was going to be good, I am almost back to my normal self again. Which also means I can burn this sweater' I thought to myself. I decided I was going to fly, until it was night time. I haven't done that since the night Dumbbell has told me he loved me, it was going to be liberating that I was letting go of one of the worst memories I've had in a long time.My wings spread wide and took to the sky, the cool wind playing with my rainbow mane. I took a deep breath of fresh air, I had a huge smile on my face as I flew up a little higher. I found a nice cloud to sit on and look down on Ponyville, I smiled to myself. I really did love this town, it had all of my best friends in it and of course my cloud home which I would never leave behind. I recognized Thunderlane walking with a group of ponies I never really got along with, Cloudchaser was one of them and not to mention Dumbbell's friends Hoops and Score. I really hoped Dumbbell didn't look for me, I started to freak myself out. I took to the skies and headed for Sweet Apple Acres again, I flew as fast as my wings would let me. I landed sloppily as I looked around for Big Mac and or Apple Jack, I saw Big Mac and ran towards him.

"Dashie what's wrong?" He asked with a look of worry on his face. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Dumbbell and his friends are in town..I'm kind of freaking out, I thought for a minute, maybe they were looking for me and that's why I decided to book it here as fast as I could" I said out of breath. Big Mac furrowed his brow in thought.

"Well, Ah suppose you can stay here until we know they're out of town" he said nuzzling against me. I gave him a small smile in return.

"Thanks so much Red, I was just so worried. I knew you'd be here to help me," I said happily. Big Mac nodded at me happily and told me to hide in his room. I nodded and ran into his house.

"What's goin' on brother?" Applejack asked a little confused. Big Mac looked at her with an angry look on his face.

"Dumbbell is in town" is all he said to his sister, she understood why Rainbow Dash wanted to hide somewhere she knew she'd be safe.

"Man, I need to tell the rest of the girls, this isn't good. What would make him come to town all of a sudden?" she said looking at her brother. Big Mac shrugged as he got up and started to put all of his tools away. I watched Big Mac and Applejack as they started to put all the tools away. Why would Dumbbell come to town, what was he trying to do? Rub in how well he fits in with everypony I went to flight school with? Yeah, it hurt to know a douche bag like him could have that many friends. But I had something he would never have, friends that would be there for life, his would only be there for maybe a few years before they figure out how much of an asshole he is. I shook the thought of Dumbbell out of my mind and looked up to see Big Mac and Apple Jack running towards town. 'They are probably going to get the girls' I thought to myself, I was starting to worry again. I guess I would see what this situation would bring me.

*(Big Mac's POV)*

Ah watched as my sister ran from one friend's house to the other to let them know that Dumbbell was in town and most likely looking for Rainbow Dash. I was trying to keep the anger inside just thinking about him and what he did to my Dashie. "Brother, I got all the girls together, we're all going to the farm to hide, I am not letting him get to any of us to find Rainbow. I'm not chancing that," she whispered to me. I nodded and we started to walk back to the farm.

"I really hope he is just in town tonight" Twilight said to the girls. Flitter nodded her head vigorously.

"Yeah the last thing I want to see is Rainbow Dash look like a graying rainbow, I think that was the hardest thing I had to see. She's made such an improvement, I mean she is almost back to normal. He doesn't need to ruin it" Flitter said with anger. Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

"Yes, she has made a huge improvement, plus we still need to burn his sweater. Oh...maybe he is here for that?" Fluttershy thought looking at the rest of the girls. Twilight furrowed her eyebrows in thought for a moment.

"But Rainbow said that he gave that to her why would he want it back now? Especially since it's been almost 6 months since they broke up" Twilight said looking ahead. Pinkie and Rarity nodded as they reached the Sweet Apple Acres sign.

"Alright girls. Let's head off to the farm while Big waits here to see if Dumbbell heads this way" my sister said walking with the rest of the group.

"I really hope he doesn't head this way, he would be dumb to even try it" I said to myself. Just my luck, I thought to myself when I saw a chocolate brown Pegasi stallion making his way towards me with his orange and gray Pegasi sidekicks. Plus Flitter's sister Cloudchaser and strangely Thunderlane who was supposed to be Dashie's friend. What the hell were they up to? Why were they all here? I was starting to become worried as I tried to shake the worried expression from my face.

"So Big Mac, we meet again. Say you didn't see that slut Rainbow Dash around have you? I would really love to have a nice little talk with her" Dumbbell said to me arrogantly while smirking at his friends. 'Celestia help me' I thought to myself.