Rainbow Road.
Indeed a pleasant slice of the Equestrian Dream. Rainbow Dash was happy to have found a cute quaint neighborhood to call her home, ever since she left the familiarity of her homeland, it had been a few long weeks since she's had a good night's sleep.
Earth was a whole different animal compared to that of Equestria. Most areas were crowded with buildings that stretched far into the heavens or once pastel blue skies that were clouded by the darkness of odd smoke.
They called it smog, created by the destruction of nature and the hidden greed shared by most humans.
Yet this little patch of light had been untouched by the harsh reality of the world. This adorable area was an upcoming community, simply still under construction at the moment. Which meant to her surprise, that amongst the miles of lush vibrant green grass stood only one house alone.
Well not quite alone, her tiny puffy white cloud was across the street hovering in place waiting for her attention. Back home clouds were free real estate to lounge upon or even catch a few long naps, but on earth, they were pricey pieces of scenery that could be rented.
Again the whole greed thing, sometimes she felt earth was full of Spoiled Rich clones.
The turquoise pegasus flew down the open road at a moderate speed. Her neighbor's impressive two-story house coming into view, it was in absolutely pristine condition yet oddly enough painted the ugliest shade of grey she'd ever seen.
Shaking off the shadow of the mighty colossus, she swooped in for a landing atop her side of the street. Her smile beamed brighter than the sun as she lifted her head towards the sky. Her cloud wafted high above begging for a long nap, even better this whole area was dead silent.
Her violet eyes narrowed a tiny bit.
Perhaps too…
“Neighbor.” A gruff masculine voice boomed behind the tiny pony.
“Ahhhh!” Rainbow Dash released a loud whiny pouncing backward much like an oversized cat.
The male human behind her stood tall and intimidating. His hair was a taupe tangled mess with dark umber eyes that burned into the pony like hot coals. He wore an unzipped grey jacket, tattered shoes, and filthy pants.
His mere sight sent chills down her spine.
“You frightened…” she spoke with a quivering tone.
“Rooke…Johnathan Rooke.” His voice scoffed.
“I'm …” she was once more cut off by this odd rough human.
“This is your side, that is mine!” his hand flaunted behind his back in an ominous fashion.
“...” Rainbow Dash pursed her muzzle silently.
“I don't like visitors!” John slowly leaned inward towards the equine, his large hand roughly booping her upon the snoot.
The mare gave a shocked horse noise in reply. Soon her deviously shrouded neighbor was off with both hands in his pockets, rudely vanishing into his massive house of mystery. She just knew that psychopath was bad news! The less she would see of him the better, with a loud enraged snort the mare flew off into the sky.
Never noticing John's gaze watching her from behind a crimson red curtain.
The technicolor mare lounged upon her cotton cloud in a dreamy daze of pure relaxation. Curled up in a ball high above the ground, she watched the pastel blue sky in wonder enjoying a lovely little breeze caress over her coat.
Eyes lowered down below. The area was under construction off in the distance, but for the moment it was absolutely quiet. This was a place she could only dream of, which was something she planned to do tons of in the future.
With a giggle she lifted onto her hooves performing a feline-like stretch, popping her hind joints in a lax nature. Letting her gaze trail across the street she spotted an odd sight. No, if she were honest more of a glimpse.
It almost looked as if Rooke was carrying a pony in his arms out into his backyard. Rainbow quickly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, the faint sound of his door shutting caused her ears to twitch.
It couldn't have been a pony?
He tossed it into his waste bin.
Unless?
Tapping tiny hooves together the pegasus bit her lower lip in curiosity. “Totally not a pony, I'm just seeing things.” She snorted with a belief that she was just letting her imagination run away with her. After all, it was just a glimpse.
“Oi, pony!?” Rooke yelled out angrily.
Rainbow squealed in horror nearly jumping off her cloud. Shooting her gaze directly below her to spot Rooke right under the cloud. “Yes, dude?” Rainbow tilted her head off to the side confused her heart thumping loudly inside her chest.
“Your grass needs watering.” He scoffed rudely.
“Um, I don't care? ~ I just need my cloud.” Rainbow rolled both eyes in plain view of the odd man.
“Well in this neighborhood, we keep up lawn care!” Rooke lifted up large hand pointing a finger to the pony, his hand-stained a dark crimson.
The pegasus scrunched her muzzle in awe of such a shocking sight. “Did you cut yourself, sir?”
“Nevermind that, just fix up this lawn!” He quickly hid his hand deep into a jacket pocket.
“But…” Rainbow stuttered the man quick to start walking away.
“If I come here again, you wouldn't like that!” Rooke huffed before vanishing like the wind, for such a tall man he was pretty swift on his feet.
Pouting Rainbow blew a raspberry towards her neighbor, taking a few cautious steps atop her cloud in hopes of catching another glimpse of something odd or sinister. “No we would…” she screamed in terror as she plummeted off the cloud by accidentally stepping off the side.
With a loud crash, she hit the grass below in a cartoonish cloud of dust. “Not...ow!”
Her ears pinned back as she took a much-needed breather. This Neighbor was up to something funny and she was going to find out what.
Even if it killed her.
Curiosity Killed The Cat...
“Look at him, he's up to something?” Rainbow narrowed her eyes suspiciously towards her neighbor, he was walking across his yard holding a large black trash bag.
“I think he's just takin’ out the trash.” Applejack sat on the soft grass of the lawn with her friend, both enjoying a nice little picnic atop a vibrant checkered blanket.
“Om-nom! No, he's up to something else... something sinister?” Rainbow chomped a large bite out of her dandelion sandwich.
Applejack's green eyes drifted across the street to watch the young man in question check his mail. He quirked a brow at a colorful red envelope for a second, only to shrug and cast it away into a silver trash can in a lackadaisical fashion.
“Why don't you come with me? I need help down at the orchard and we'd be happy to have you over!” Applejack placed a gentle copper hoof on her friend's shoulder.
“Nah, I got stuff to move around here.” Rainbow was quick to flash a sly grin.
“What stuff!? You live on a gosh darn cloud?” Applejack scrunched her tiny muzzle confused.
“Cloud stuff.” The pegasus replied her eyes shifting slightly.
“Mm-hmm, I jus’ think yer’ a pile of lazy bones!” Applejack punched her friend on the side playfully.
Both mares soon burst out into giggles. The sun happily shining down upon them from the lovely sea of blue high above, it was a wonderful day to spend close to a friend. Rainbow Dash was lucky to have such great friends in her life.
If only she could've gotten just as lucky with her neighbor.
Rainbow let the day slip through her hooves, much like grains of sand drifting across a timepiece. Her cloud was in perfect working order at the moment and that was a pleasant sight indeed. If she wasn't mistaken it might have even gained a bit of girth, her firm blue hoof running across the cotton surface in delight.
A loud crash suddenly lashed through the open air. Rainbow’s ears pricking upward in utter shock of the odd noise, her glowing violet eyes were quick to dart across the street to Psychopath McGee's house.
The noise had erupted from within his dull-colored residence. It sounded almost like a cross between a car crash and a boulder falling off a nearby cliff. Rainbow opened her wings impressively with a small huff, the pegasus gliding across the street in one swift motion.
Making sure to not make too much noise at the moment. She chose a nice lush patch of grass to land upon, her hooves firmly planting on the firm earth below her. Rainbow popped her back as she lowered down to the grass. Matching the poise of a lioness on the prowl, the little pegasus skittering across the grass on a mission.
A nosey one at that.
Rainbow let her muzzle pop up on the edge of the window first. Her nose twitching cutely as it inhaled the scents around her curiously. She could make out a sweet scent of flowers, the bold smell of cologne, and yet the stinging aroma of bleach against her nostrils.
Nearly gagging the mare blew a silent raspberry to the air. Lifting her head upward she peered into the large living room window she found herself under, everything inside looked perfectly normal at first glance.
The television was for some reason on a static snow channel. His living room wasn't cluttered but actually pretty tidy, which was odd Rainbow figured the guy for a total slob or at least a kind of messy guy. His couch had a mysterious magazine tossed haphazardly on the surface.
It might have read…
“Stuffing a pony?”
“What kind of stuffing? Eating, fluff, or…” Rainbow felt a firm hand squeeze her shoulder hard.
“I wasn't prying!!?” Rainbow screamed out in terror pouncing back in catlike motion.
“Why are you poking that humongous nose into my window?” Rooke glared with those soulless eyes of his towards the frazzled mare.
“One. My nose isn't huge!... It's average.” Rainbow hid her muzzle cutely behind her hoof.
“Whatever, get off my lawn!” Rooke lifted his hand up to point across the street.
Rainbow took note he had a bite mark on his wrist. If she wasn't mistaken, it looked like the bite of a pony. “I heard a noise?” Rainbow narrowed her eyes up to this rude human with ears completely folded back.
“Not that it concerns you, but I dropped a box down my basement by accident.” He flaunted a hand dismissively towards the tiny equine.
“What I heard wasn't a box!” Rainbow snorted.
“Perhaps, you're just hearing things!?” Rooke chuckled as he started off towards his front door casually.
“Whatever! Did that box bite you too!?” Rainbow blew a loud raspberry to the man, her voice overflowing with sarcasm.
Rooke glared turning to face the rude little creature. His towering body quickly darting over towards Rainbow Dash. “Uhh, not that boxes bite…unless they have mice in them.” The mare nervously gulped in fear, his shadow engulfing her completely.
“Get off my property!” His hand tightly gripped the back of her neck.
Rainbow squealed helplessly being carried across the large open lawn. Rooke plopping the mare on her rump upon the firm cement sidewalk.”I better not catch you snooping again.” He huffed before leaving the frazzled mare alone with her thoughts.
The sound of his front door slamming soon danced across the open sky.
Rainbow Dash was certain now that something was awry on Rainbow Road.
It wasn't the extremely low-interest rates either. No, it was this Rooke fellow, he was up to something big and she was going to find out what. Giving a loud hmph into the sky, Rainbow purposely used her hind legs to kick a few clouds of dust onto the man's lawn.
Praying under her breath it would soon be infested by fire ants.
Would serve the jerk right.
Rainbow slowly made her way back towards her lawn, hoof tracing her nose in deep thought.
She was sorely in need of a long nap.
