The Rainbow in The Grime

Chapter 8

“So let me get this straight.” Rainbow Dash’s face looked blushed and strained from the struggle of holding back a fit of giggles. “When he goes in the sunlight…. He sparkles?”

Jerry laughed. “Yep. Pretty much.”

“And the females in this world actually find that appealing?”

“Some of them do. Yes.”

“Even though the actor who plays his part in the plays or these movies or whatever they’re called, isn’t even remotely good looking by human standards?”

“Eeeyup.” He watched her mouth curl in a smile at the impersonation of her close friend.

Rainbow dash stared incredulously at the computer screen with her mouth wide open, analyzing the photo of Robert Pattison. Indeed, humans did have the oddest pop culture phenomenons.

“Humans are stupid,” she concluded, and Jerry burst into a fit of laughter.

“No argument there,” he managed through the laughs.

They had been going back and forth all day on some of the aspects of this world, things that were completely unheard of in Equestria. In comparison, to Detroit, Ponyville was heavenly bliss. Racism was one of the things that befuddled Rainbow the most. “I mean,” she had said with her eyes wide open, “It would make no sense. There are only, like, three white ponies that I know. Everypony else is ‘colored’. So the fight would be kind of one sided. Not to mention you guys are all different shades of brown, so what’s the point of this colored, not colored thing.” In five minutes, she had figured out what it took the country a couple centuries to figure out.

Jerry had never been happier in his life than he had been the last few weeks. Rainbow Dash had an effect on him he couldn’t fully explain. He felt stronger. More confident. He actually had a friend he could count on for the first time in his life, and he wasn’t about to let that go. She was funny, and, below the harsh exterior, really nice. Kinda. Sorta. Well… she wasn’t THAT mean. But above all, she was real. More real than anyone else in his life. The fact that she was really just a fictional character from an alternate dimension did nothing to change that.

The only damper on his parade was waiting for it to get rained on. He hadn’t seen Steve for a few weeks; much longer of an absence than ever before. Normally, that would be a good thing, but something about the note Steve left on last time made him feel a little uneasy, as though his cousin knew something. The threat of Rainbow Dash being found was constantly lurking in the background of this happy-go-lucky mood, and it seemed he was only waiting for all his happiness to go down the drain.

He tried to push it out of his head, as Rainbow dash sat before him, laughing her flank off at the ridiculousness of a vampire-werewolf-human love triangle being a bestselling novel. But the truth was, even if she was never was caught by the hundreds of pony-obsessed grown men still hunting her down (the hype following her arrival still hadn’t faded) she would still have to go home eventually. She didn’t belong there. Rainbow Dash was a Pegasus. And Detroit, Michigan was simply no place for a blue miniature winged horse with rainbow hair.

He pushed the sad truth out of his head, No, the thought to himself as he watched her shake a lock of rainbow fur out of her eyes. She’ll be fine here for a few more days. Her wing isn’t even healed for sure yet. Once it is we can focus on finding out how to get her home.

Of course, he was lying to himself in more ways than one. The only reason he was unsure that she was healed was because he hadn’t bothered to check. Chances were she was already healed and able to fly behind that makeshift splint he had made her so long ago. But how could he tell her that and not expect her to soar out of that window and out of his life? He couldn’t bear the idea… his only true friend, gone.

Rainbow scrolled down the list of bestsellers on the laptop, using her muzzle on the mouse pad. She had figured out how to use it pretty fast for a pony who had never even been exposed to such technology before.

“So, what’s 50 Shades of Gray?”

Jerry snorted at the sound of the book on his mom’s bedside table. “I’m not even going to start.”

“Why not? It seems popular. What’s it about?”

“Um, well—”

He was saved by the sound of three knocks on the door, and then a loud clapping sound. Oh, thank God, he thought.

“Come on in, Birthday Girl.” He smiled at the secret knock that Sabrina had made up so they knew it was her at the door and no one else. It was her idea. For a girl who was only just turning four, she was incredibly smart, Jerry thought of his mom, passed out in her room. She was missing so much of Sabrina’s life. Oh well, he thought to himself. At least I’m raising her okay.

Sabrina burst into the room, wearing her favorite chocolate stained pink dress and a plastic tiara. She slammed the door behind her, shouting “Rainbow!” She hugged the mare with a grip tighter than a boa constrictor. “Guess what happened in school today! Guess! Guess! Guess! Guess! Gue—”

“What happened, Sabrina Pie?” she managed through the vice grip as the human girl hopped up and down.

“Wehadballoonsandicecreamandcakeandmusicandgamesandwesanghappybirthdayandatecupcakesand—”

“Oh do NOT mention cupcakes around me!” Rainbow exclaimed, looking sick.

Jerry laughed, almost falling out of his chair. He really shouldn’t have shown her those fanfics.

Sabrina continued, oblivious to everyone and everything.

“And they sang some more and we did the hokey pokey and we played musical chairs and I pushed this meanie named Ryan off his chair and I took it so I won and he had more cake and I won you THIS!” She held out a rainbow whistle on a string and placed it around the pegasus’s neck. On both sides was an image of a cloud and a rainbow bolt of lightning scrawled messily in marker. “I drew your cutie mark! Do you like it? Do you like it? Doyoulikeit?Doyoulikeit?Doyou—”

“Like it? I love it, Sabrina!”

“Yay!

She threw her arms around the pony’s neck once more before skipping out of the room, leaving Jerry to chuckle at Rainbow’s wordless stammering.

“Wow,” she finally managed. “It’s her birthday, and she gets me a present. I wish I could get her something.”

“Are you kidding? Jerry Beamed. “The girl has a full-size pony with wings in her brother’s bedroom. That’s like, every four year old girl’s dream!”

“Yeah, but there has to be something I can do.”

His eyes faced downward with an odd sadness. “Your wing might be healed in a week or two. Maybe you could give her a ride or something.”

Rainbow would have normally scowled at the idea of being reduced to a petting-zoo ride, but the prospect of getting her flying back gave her a rush of overwhelming happiness.

“Yeah… yeah, I think I will.” She was beaming and her eyes had a twinkle he hadn’t seen in weeks.

When she turned back to the laptop, he gulped his guilt and fiddled his thumbs. Come on, he reminded himself. It’s only a couple of weeks. It’s not going to hurt anyone. If the fanfics are right, only a few hours have passed in Equestria anyways. She’ll be back home before they notice her missing. She’ll probably be back without incident if she ends up leaving even later than a few weeks. His mind went on rambling. I mean… well, it might take YEARS for her to find a way back. Maybe even longer. She might even have to stay for… well… forever.

He grinned at her puzzled expression at a stock image of Doctor Whooves. A question seemed to be on the tip of her tongue, but before she could spit it out, she noticed the time. “Holy Celestia! You only have, like, ten minutes before your job interview!”

He leaped and grabbed the computer from the floor. “What?!” The time read 5:50. No. Make that 5:51.

He grabbed a pair of wrinkled black dress pants from the “clean” pile and hopped into them on one foot. He had completely forgotten about this interview. Out of the hundreds of applications he only got bite, and he almost let the opportunity fly out the window; a cashier at a local dollar store. “I was supposed to be there five minutes ago!” he shouted, as he dug through the “somewhat clean” pile for a button down that didn’t smell like sneakers and cat food.

“Rainbow Dash, you know the precautions. If you hear anything or anyone outside that door, head for the closet. Okay? I’m hoping this will be over soon, so I could be back without incident, but—”

“Take your time. This is important to you. Don’t worry so much.” She rolled her eyes. “Nothing’s gonna happen to me.”

“You got that right.” He smiles at her as he fumbled with the buttons. “I promised you that I wasn’t going to let nothing hurt you again, and I’m sticking to it.”

He gave her an awkward hug goodbye before heading out the bedroom door. He stopped at his mom’s room to peer inside at her form sprawled out on the floor. “Just wait, mom. Everything’s going to get better.”

“Sabrina,” he shouted to his sister’s room. “I’m going out. There’s a hot pocket in the microwave if you get hungry. Don’t answer the door for anyone.”

She giggled and gave him a mock salute. “Aye-aye, Sir.”

He ran out of the house and caught the bus by seconds with nothing in his pockets but an empty wallet, a bus card, and a bucket-load of hope; feeling that maybe, for once, things were actually going to get better.

The second Steve saw Jerry burst out the door, he knew this was his only chance. His stupid cousin never left that room anymore, let alone the house.

In his haste of catching the bus, Jerry had forgotten to lock the door behind him. Steve knew there was something up, and if his hunch was right, than that money was as good as his. He tiptoed up the stairs to the room, and, making sure both his aunt and niece had their doors closed, he quietly opened the door.

There she was. The beautiful little pony was sitting in the center of the room, headphones in her ear, singing along off-key to Pony Rock Anthem. All he saw, of course, was a giant dollar sign. He closed the door behind himself and snuck up behind her. It was way too easy.

He took the sack out of his back pocket and just as she noticed his shadow on the ground next to her, he threw it over her head, quickly tying her in the bag. She struggled and her hooves flailed against his back through the bag, but they both knew it was doing nothing but annoying him.

‘You better stop that if you don’t want me to break your other wing!”

She shouted something that was muffled in the burlap sack, but no one would be able to hear her.

There was barely room for her to breathe in that sweaty sack, let alone move, and she started to panic. If there was one thing Rainbow Dash didn’t like, it was tight, confined spaces. She easily recognized Steve’s voice from her nightmares, and she knew she was in trouble. She begged inwardly once more for this all to have been a bad dream, for her to just wake up in Ponyville, to soar in those open, full, blue skies once more. But Rainbow knew it was useless. This dirty city was her home now, even though it was not where her heart was.

He ran outside the house, the sack flailing against him, and shoves Rainbow Dash into the back seat of his car. He slipped into the front seat and pulled out his cell phone, dialing the number he had written down and memorized from the newscast.

“Hello?” Rainbow barely heard him through the thick burlap and over her own scared, frenzied breathing. “Yeah, I got information on the blue pony. Actually, I got something even better….. All I need to know is when I will get my money.”

The mad man with the green eyes was startled at the sound of the phone ringing. Indeed, it hadn’t rung in weeks, and only then was it by some idiots who had painted a miniature horse in hope of getting the cash. They hadn’t even bothered to glue on fake wings. If you are going to try to fool a genius, he had thought, at least put some effort into it.

He strolled to the phone and picked it up. “Hello?” he muttered, and his green eyes grew wide. “….You’ll get the money shortly, sir…. Of course….. let me give you the address so you can drop off my…pet.” His green eyes twinkled and he knew that this was it. His life’s work was soon to be known. Everything was falling in place.