A Rainbow Colored Heart

By the time we had made it back to Matthews’s apartment, the sun had already gone down and the temperature began to drop as snow began to lightly fall again. I shuddered at the thought of another cold night but relished in the fact I would be back with Rainbow Dash and the others. In all honesty, this whole ordeal with the ponies was like an escape from reality. True, none of it made sense, why they were here, how they came to be here, or even how long they were going to stay, but none of that mattered. In fact my heart warmed at just the thought of seeing all of their bright smiling faces again, especially one which came from a certain mare I had grown quite fond of.

Matthew stepped out of the car and looked up at the apartment as he stopped in front of his truck leaning against the grill crossing his arms as he kicked at the snow around his feat revealing the concrete underneath. His face looked deep in thought as he starred up at the door as if trying to look through it.

“Something on your mind?” I asked as I shut the passenger door and walked over to him putting my hands in my jeans pockets to keep them warm.

He nodded not taking his eyes off the door for a second. He went to speak but fell short for words; his face looked flustered, his cheeks carrying a hue of red to them. “Matthias, I’ve been thinking…” he fell short for words again.

“You’re not coming out of the closet are you?” I teased earning a small chuckle from my friend.

“No, nothing like that”

“Then what’s on your mind?”

He took a breath of courage. “I’ve been thinking lately, about you and Rainbow Dash. I’ll be honest, at first I didn’t know what to think at first.  When you think of a “Happy Couple” ponies don’t really come to mind, at least that’s what I thought. But when I got down and thought about it, the thought of you and Rainbow dash happy together, just made me a little envious.”

“What are you getting at?”

He thought for a moment. “I’m saying the idea of liking a pony doesn’t sound all that farfetched anymore”

I fumbled for words struggling what to ask him what he meant again which came out as a sort of slurred “huh?”

Matthew kicked another patch of snow he hadn’t noticed hiding his face in his unzipped coat. “I like Fluttershy okay?” he starred back at the door. “I don’t know why, but I almost find myself waiting everyday to see her face, to hear her speak. For the first time in a long time, I have a crush, and I have no idea what I should do about it”

I looked at the door with Matthew joining him on the trucks front bumper letting what he just said echo in my head. It had felt weird. To secretly like someone who wasn’t even your species, yet shared your interest. It hadn’t even been a whole month and I felt that I had grown so attached to Rainbow Dash in the short amount of time that I had known her; I felt a warm feeling in my heart whenever she was nearby, and I knew Matthew felt the same about Fluttershy.  I remained silent, not knowing what to say. I knew all too well his situation, and nothing I said would help either of our cases.

“She likes you, ya know” Matthew stated

“Rainbow Dash?”

He nodded.

“How do you figure?”

“Just the way she looks at you sometimes. The way she gawks all over you and turns away whenever you look her way. It’s kind of funny actually to see her act all out of character whenever she is around you. Whenever she’s with me she goes back to being cocky and sort of self centered about herself.”

I was taken aback, feeling a sense of either being blind or stupid having not seen it myself. Seeing this, Matthew chuckled to himself lightly, his face returning to normal.

“Same old Matthias” he stated.

I ignored him as a sudden numbness came over my fingers. “We better get inside, just got over a cold.”

He nodded in agreement his face still carrying a slight smile as he followed me up the stairs removing the apartment key from his pocket as we approached the door.

A warm breath of hot air washed over me as I entered the apartment finally relieving my numb fingers as well as the rest of my body which had been almost shivering. From my angle I could see the TV on, the sound suggested some sort of nature channel; however a light snoring noise caused me to ignore the sound from the TV completely.

Matthew peaked around the corner of the wall where he leaned against. “Their asleep” he whispered.

I chuckled lightly as I removed my leather jacket and placed it on the hook next to Matthews. Rounding the corner I could see them all sleeping across the room; Fluttershy cuddled up in Matthews chair resting her head on a pillow with her body covered by the blankets which had been left there, Applejack leaned up against the couch her hat tilted down to hide her closed eyes, a pillow rested behind her back, and Rainbow Dash on the sofa covered by another blanket, her head resting on her hooves, with a light snore coming from her open mouth.

Walking over to the couch I knelt down and moved a strand of hair that had fallen over Rainbow Dash’s eye putting it behind her ear which earned me a pleasant sigh from the small mare as she closed her mouth, silencing the snore completely.

“They must have been waiting on us to get back” Matthew whispered as he turned off the TV.

“I guess”

A sudden movement from Applejack nearby made my attention shift to her. She gazed up at me with her emerald eyes still halfway closed with an equally tired look on her face.

“Hey, you’re back” she stated in a barely audible tone.

“And your awake, you guys didn’t wait for us too long did you?”

“Naw, Fluttershy turned on that nature channel for some noise. Bored me and Dash to tears so I shut my eyes for a second”

I chuckled looking at the clock hanging on the wall. It wasn’t exactly late by my standards; a mere 8:47 was still very early in the night for me and Matthew but it was around the time the ponies had decided to go to bed during the night.

“Go get some sleep AJ, we will talk more tomorrow” I stated.

“M’kay” she said as she got up and slowly made her way down the hallway before disappearing into the guest room she had

been sharing with Fluttershy.

Matthew walked over to the still sleeping Fluttershy kneeling down onto one knee placing a hand on the armrest closest to her head.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t think I have the heart to wake her up” he stated as he stroked her pink mane down to her back.

By now I had sat down on the couch by Rainbow Dash’s feat taking care not to sit on her tail which was stretched out along the bottom of the back cushion. I looked to her unable to bring myself to wake her either.

“Let them sleep. I don’t wanna wake them up either” I said.

Slowly Matthew got up and walked into the kitchen disappearing out of sight behind the wall. I heard the refrigerator door open only to close soon after followed by the distinct sound of glass tapping together. Coming back into the living room Matthew walked over and handed me a single bottle of beer before sitting down against the couch nearby with his own bottle in his hands.

“You know I don’t drink” I reminded him.

“I know, but I figure this would be a good way to celebrate a clean bill of health don’t you?”

I chuckled lightly as I twisted the small blue cap off the top. Matthew had already done so and had begun swigging out of the glass bottle tilting his head back slightly and lifting the bottom of the bottle up. I followed by example and lifted the small opening to my mouth immediately being met with the awful bitter taste of the liquid inside. Having not been much of a drinker I was not used to the taste of alcohol

“That is, disgusting” I stated in intervals as I smacked my lips together to get rid of the taste.

Matthew chucked as he took another drink from the bottle. The two of us sat there for a moment enjoying the silence of the room.

“You know I thought we were going to toast” Matthew stated

“What do we drink to?” I asked “My heart?”

“And the bastard who gave it to you” he added lifting his bottle which I met halfway causing the glass to ‘clink’ together. Much to my better judgment I raised the bottle again to my lips this time finding an odd satisfaction in the liquid. Matthew had a sudden look of sadness to his face.

“He was a good man you know” I said placing a re-assuring hand on his shoulder.

“Ya, I know.

I awoke the next day before everybody else. Although Matthew had moved to his room sometime during the night I decided to stay out in the living room for a tad longer, I enjoyed the atmosphere the room just seemed to give off, the only noise in the room that I could hear was that of the sleeping pony nearby which acted as a sort of lullaby which had caused me to fall asleep where I sat.

I felt a weight on my upper leg as I went to get up. Looking down I saw Rainbow Dash’s head turned on its side using my leg as a pillow, the blanket she had been using covered the remainder of her body; she must have moved during the night. I couldn’t help but smile at the familiar scene; it was a welcoming thing to wake up to.

As carefully as I could I got up without moving her head too much and went for the kitchen having not eaten anything the previous night my stomach ached for nourishment. I opened the door to the fridge expecting to see something edible on one of its shelves yet only finding a few bottles of beer and a bowl of something that apparently been chili at one time.

“Damn it Main” I stated as I stood there with the fridge door open. My stomach let out a large groan. “I know I know quit your bitching” I said hoping to calm the hunger but to no avail. Looks like the two of us were going shopping later.  I ran a hand through my hair as I stood there with the door open finding my hair to be greasier than normal. I looked down at what I was wearing realizing quickly I had been wearing the same jeans for about three days now, not to mention the same shirt from yesterday, and this was my last clean one. “Better go to the apartment later, get some fresh clothes”

I heard a noise behind me; the opening of a door down the hallway. I looked to the clock; 12:45, suspecting Matthew to be up I reached into the fridge and pulled out the expired chili and placed in on the counter just as his tired figure rounded into the kitchen.

“Morning” he greeted his eyes still partway closed. “What’s for breakfast?”

“That, until you go shopping later” I said pointing to the black liquid swearing I just saw movement within the fluids inside.

“So I take it we’re out of food?” he said in a sarcastic tone causing me to shoot him a look of annoyance. “We’ll take care of it later” he reassured

“You mean you will” I corrected

“What, why me?”

“I have to go back to the apartment and get some stuff; I’m getting tired of washing the same five shirts.”

“But Mom…” he complained

“I’m going to need a ride to my apartment by the way, you can drop me off while you’re going out and getting food and whatever other shit you need in this house”

“FINE” he complained again. “But you’re taking the girls with you”

“What!? Why?”

“Because, you have somewhat unspoiled food at your place where-as here I’m empty. Odds are their going to be hungry when they get up and I won’t be back for a while.”

“Fine” I complained matching his tone from before earning a stern look from Matthew as he walked past me into the living room.

“I guess they’re still asleep?”

“Ya, woke up with Rainbow Dash asleep on my leg” I stated.

“AW….” He mocked drawing it out as long as possible with a sappy grin which matched his tone.

“Main. Die in a fire”

“I think she likes you” he said clearly still mocking me.

I felt a slight flush in my cheeks as I turned away to avoid Matthew’s gaze.

“I think you like her too” he added.

“Am I that obvious?”  I thought as I began to walk away.

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I have great ideas for the next few but am a little stuck on a few things. If you are interested in helping please let me know, I'm always in need of a good editor.