A Rainbow Colored Heart

I opened my eyes to the morning light; I could see my breath evaporating above my leaned back head.  The fire seemed to be nothing more that embers and ash in the fire place. Nearby Matthew was curled up in a ball on the seat cushion under s couple blankets. I felt congested, feeling as if I was about to get sick. I groaned slightly and began to attempt get up from the couch, almost immediately feeling something move slightly on my leg. Looking down I saw a small head resting on my upper leg, a single hoof nearby cradling my leg as if it was a sort of pillow, I could hear her mumble something upon my movement but it was too quiet to hear. I placed a hand on top of her head between her ears making her nuzzle closer in turn holding my leg just a little tighter.

“You have no idea what your hugging little one” I said knowing she had no idea that I was human. I wondered how she might react once she knew; Rainbow Dash had basically attacked me when we first met, but then again Fluttershy reacted completely different.

Slowly I broke from her grasp much to her protest and got up from the sofa, taking notice of my sore muscles almost immediately. I cursed silently at my muscles as I stretched my arms over my head hearing the joints making a distinct pop.

Walking over to Mathews chair noticing him shaking slightly; he was feeling the effects of the cold night before as well. I shook him slightly expecting him to mealy shrug it off, but when he groaned slightly and turned to face me, I knew he hadn’t gotten that much sleep the previous night.

“Hey, you wanna go home?” I asked

He nodded

“Then get you fat ass up and lets go jump start your truck so we can get the fuck out of here”

He groaned, removing the blanket and got to the edge of the chair putting both feet on the ground and leaning over to support himself on his knees.

“Feel like shit?”I asked

He nodded

“Same here, I say we go and get your truck taken care of so we can get home and get out of this cold”

Getting up from the seat Matthew straightened his jacket as well as his gloves; I could tell he wasn’t quite himself, like me his balance seemed off as if he was ready to fall over.

The two of us walked outside seeing the fresh blanket of snow now piled up to the porch covering both steps as well as the edge of the drop off.

“Fuck my life” Matthew stated in annoyance as he walked over to where he thought the edge of the porch was. “Well. Let’s get this over with”

Matthew stepped off the porch first avoiding where the steps were as not to miss it completely and fall on his face, the snow coming up to just below his knees. I followed stepping out onto the white blanket immediately sinking to my knees.

“Fuck that’s cold” I thought as my legs tightened out of reflex as I trudged towards the barn creating two deep lines in the snow as I walked.

The barn offered little shelter from the cold; however the spare vehicle wasn’t hard to find in the back with the front half of the car sticking out in an indent on one side, an old 88 Oldsmobile.  Walking over to the driver’s side Matthew tried the handle, but to no avail, the door remained shut.

“What is it with this farmer and locked doors?” Matthew asked.

“I don’t know, to prevent break-ins?” I suggested

“Well, we all know how well that went” Matthew stated peering inside the window. “I think I see the keys”

“How do we get them?”

Matthew gave me a smirk and rolled his arms and then stretching them in front of him. Before I had time to wonder, Matthew jabbed his right elbow into the window shattering it., and making the car alarm sound immediately.

“What is it with you and windows?” I yelled over the alarm.

Matthew reached above the sun block and pulled on a single key ring hanging from the edge immediately putting it into the car and unlocking it turning of the alarm, the sound echoing off the metal walls.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve always wanted to do that” Matthew stated rubbing his elbow slightly.

I rolled my eyes and opened the passenger side sitting down in the seat as Matthew inserted the key into the ignition, and turned the key, the engine began to stutter, and didn’t roar to life.

“No, not you too” Matthew said in a panic stopping then turning the key again, still nothing. Leaning back Matthew cursed to himself over and over before reaching down to grasp the key one more time. “Please for the love of God start”

The car stuttered slightly then suddenly roared to life.

“Amen” Matthew sighed in relief revving the engine several times and then putting the car in gear, driving it up to the barn doors which were still barely open from when we . “Can you get that?”

Getting out of the car I walked over to one of the doors and pulled it open as far as it could go, repeating the process with the other door, however it got stuck on something, and there still wasn’t enough room for the car to clear the opening. I walked around to other side of the door and dug my feet into what little dirt there was and began to push against it. It wasn’t stuck on anything, of that I was sure, probably just a rusted hinge or something. I pushed harder, getting back and then ramming it again, making it move slightly.

“C’mon you son of a”-

“Need some help sugar cube?” a voice said from behind.

I froze in fear; it was a voice I had never heard before; it female voice, with a thick southern style accent to it. Slowly I turned around expecting to meet the gaze of the farmer’s wife, but in place of where I thought she might be, was the small orange pony, her legs completely covered in the snow as she looked up at me with emerald green eyes.

“Trying to open that there barn door?” she asked.

“Ya” was all I managed to say.

Trudging over me through the snow she hoped out onto the little patch of dirt in front of the stuck door, turning her back to it.

With a swift motion she leaned onto her front hooves and used all her weight to kick the door with her back hooves. The effect was immediate, the door swung open faster than I thought possible, nearly hitting the car as it swung back hitting the wall it was connected to. I looked back in amazement as she crossed her front hooves as if to pose.

“That was amazing” I stated.

“Years of Applebuckin’, names Applejack by the way.” She said

“Matthias” I greeted back.

“Are you that farmer’s son?” she asked.

Suddenly the car horn sounded from inside the barn making the two of us jump a bit.

“You two wanna help me get this thing over to the truck, we still have to get home you know” Matthew yelled from the open window

“Ya” I yelled back before turning to Applejack again. “Let’s worry about introductions later, for now we need to get you out of here”

It took about 5 minutes to get the car in the right place to hook up the jumper cables. Several new dents ended up in the rear bumper of the Oldsmobile with it getting stuck several times in the snow making Applejack have to kick it out.

“Okay Matthias, let her rip” Matthew called as be began to rev the engine.

I turned the key of the truck making the familiar sound of the engine stuttering.

“C’mon, C’mon” I said holding the key in place hoping to spark some life out of the truck.

Suddenly the truck roared to life. I began revving the engine to warm the engine up, laughing with glee as I did so. Matthew ran over and hopped up into passenger door, a smile decorated his face.

“Think the farmer is going to be pissed?” I asked

“After the state we left that farm? Ya”

“Alright you two, I want answers, what the hay is going on?” Applejack demanded.

I reached down and grabbed the small cowboy that Matthew had stolen from the barn and placed it on her head. “AJ, we have a lot to talk about.”