Different

Chapters

Chapter 1: You Get Bucked Over
Chapter 2: You and Sunny Play Discord's Creations
Chapter 3: Poles Become Your Mortal Enemy
Chapter 4: Rainbow Dash Hates Movies
Chapter 5: Ponies Shooting Each Other (Sunny Gets Drunk and You Have an Emotional Crisis)
Chapter 6: Colors (Things Don't Suck)

Chapter 1: You Get Bucked Over

'Different'.

The word is something you'd come to despise over time. Sure, it was a fine word, and it expressed what something that was not the same as something else.

However, the word lost its luster the instant your former classmates discovered the negative connotation to the word, and treated you under its definition. They isolated you, and mocked you. Eventually, you sat alone at lunch every single day, not even bothering to speak to anypony around you.

All because you had a particular affinity for the sequence of colors called 'the rainbow'.

They called you worse names after they grew older, and developed more sophisticated vocabulary-such as 'coltcuddler', 'disgrace', and yet...'different' still felt the worst, after everything. You were just a normal, clarinet-playing, navy blue unicorn. What was wrong with that?

Deciding it was best to leave them to answer that question themselves, you informed your parents of the problem, and they happily had you relocated to a quiet place called 'Ponyville', where your aunt lived and sheltered you as you more or less tried to continue with life. The schoolchildren were much nicer, with only one or two real jerks in the crowd, which helped a lot-the kids like you were far more abundant, except for that one simple fact.

You grew up most of your life in Ponyville, and everything seemed uneventful. Occasionally, while out walking, a spontaneous rainbow would appear above your head, and you'd smile briefly before moving on. 'Different' no longer bit so hard at you. Ponies actually knew you as Clarence Trill, not 'the weird kid'.

You eventually grew to lead a normal life, working as a clarinetist whenever you could, not to mention your natural love for the instrument regardless. The word seemed to have left you, and it was most certainly great news.

There never quite came a day, however, like the one day when everything you thought you knew turned upside down...

"Hey! Clarence! Wake up!"

Your eyes fling open suddenly, as the sound of a pony shouting in your ear jolt you awake. Who in Equestria could think to do such a thing? They would surely suffer your wrath...if you weren’t so tired.

As your eyes fill with yellow, you have your answer. "Sunny, what did I say about shouting...?" You groan.

The blob of yellow hops off of your bed, landing with a gentle flutter of its wings. "Hey, c'mon," Sunny pleads. "You did agree that as long as we were roommates, I got to wake you up however I wanted to. Can I have that?"

You sigh. You'd moved in with the yellow pegasus, full name Sunny Wings, when you were a bit tight on money, and right about now, you were starting to regret living under the same roof as her. She seemed to have no regard for your sleep habits.

"I have nowhere to be, so I kindly ask that thee taketh thine flank, and remove it from the premises..." With that, you flop back into your pillow, placing another over your head as a useless shield.

You weren't getting off that easily, though. "Oh, sure..." You hear the mare mumble. "I suppose that a little thing called, 'you have clarinet lessons with Coconeru today' no longer means anything."

You can almost picture the sarcastic eye-roll, but you don't care to see it. Not wasting a second, you spring out of bed, rushing for the black case seeming all too familiar, the one containing your means of serenade: your clarinet case.

Barely bothering to give a backwards glance, you hurry for the door, taking the case with a quick burst of magic. There was absolutely no time to dawdle-you were late, of all things! Sunny could wait to nip at you with a sarcastic comment, or discourage you from anything at all-after all, it wasn’t like you could teach yourself how to play an instrument. Not, of course, unless you were Neightoven.

And so you did what you had to...

You arrive at the small, unassuming hut in almost no time at all. You even begin to suspect that you might have five minutes or so left, but the second you knock, the door is opened, quite literally, instantly.

A brown stallion stares back at you, his face grim and unforgiving. It starts to scare you, just a little, because he doesn’t utter a single word. It seems to be made worse by the fact that his white mane hangs at just the right angle in front of his eyes to shade them slightly, making him seem incredibly dark.

Finally, he breaks the silence. “You’re late.”

You facehoof, mentally cursing yourself for not waking up when your roommate-OK, maybe she was helpful-woke you up herself. “Listen, I-”

You’re interrupted as the foreboding figure before you suddenly smirks, snickers, and then...dissolves into laughter? You stand, puzzled, until he manages to speak. “Nah, man, I’m just buckin’ with you. You’re a bit early, in fact.” He shakes his head, still smiling. “Ahh, I got you so good...c’mon in.” He beckons you inwards, and you follow, still a bit miffed that he would pull a joke over your punctuality, and find it more hilarious than anything he’d ever even attempted to poke fun at.

Then again...you think, as you pass what can safely be called a ‘living room’, if he had space for one at all. Pretty much everything is a joke with him...heck, I bet he used to be a comedian or something of the sorts.

Keeping the thought to yourself-though noting to ask him later about his past career choices-you trot onwards, past the exact three doors in the following hallway that you know contain...well, one of them is the bathroom, but the rest are a mystery. On reaching the fourth door, he pushes at the door with a carefully calculated shove, opening the door for both of you to enter. The instant the door shuts, you know what’s coming the instant he spins around.

“WELCOME,” he booms. “TO COCONERU’S LAIR OF MUSICAL MALICE AND RHYTHMICAL INCANTATIONS!”

You roll your eyes, knowing he’s waiting for you to finish the other half. “Where your chords chronologically combine to make your worst nightmares come true...” You don’t sound nearly as good as he did, what with the whole dramatic pitch and whatnot, but you know if you ever upstaged him, he’d probably get upset and hide in the bathroom or something. So you just let it slide, repeating it as monotonously as possible.

“Right!” he proclaims, wheeling up a nearby chair with a simple tap. “Alright, get that magical stick of yours out, because if you ever want to charm a snake, you have to play it right!”

His humor definitely puts the bright side on another otherwise dull lesson. You shake your head, allowing that small smile to come out, before opening the case and assembling your instrument with an ease that only comes after many, many years of playing. Sure, you’d played for 12 or so years, give or take, but the things that you’d learned that you hadn’t learned, quite honestly, were pretty astonishing. It was only after your last concert-if you could call a solo in front of about 30 ponies a ‘concert’-that this particular pony noticed how much better you could be, and offered to help.

In absolutely no time, you’re prepared, though you much prefer to stand as you play, as opposed to sitting down, which lends a rather odd situation-you end up being the one standing, and he ends up sitting down. From the outside, it’d almost seem like you were giving lessons. If you could, that was. Not to mention, it had caused some problems in the past-unless you were good enough to play a solo in a concerto-which, again, you weren’t-orchestras tended not to hire ponies who played standing up.

“Right, now remember where we left off tomorrow!” You don’t even bother to correct his improper use of chronological tenses, because it would inevitably result in a, ‘it’s the day before yesterday’s tomorrow, so close enough!’.”You have to look at the squiggly dot with the line and the stick on the whole bunch of other lines to make the sounds!”

“So...” You trail. “We were...on dominant scale inversions, then?”

“Exactly, or something or other!” he proclaims. “Right then, start on your C, go to your E, B, D, A, and then F, before G. Oh yeah, and just about every third note’s up the octave before you go back down just to go back up. Got it?”

You blink. “Uhh...what was the second one, again?” While you did have a talent for grasping new concepts, ‘lightspeed talking’ wasn’t quite a ‘new concept’.

He sighs. “Alright, just start with the C. We’ll go one at a time. Though, might wanna work on reattaching that ear that you seemed to have cut off recently...”

This was certainly going to be a long, long practice, unlike many...

You take a deep breath, and the first note comes in fine enough tone-a D, tuned to perfection, as you always keep it. You always wondered why the hay they made every single instrument (bar a few) written in an entirely different way, so the situation ended up somewhat like this: “Yeeeeah, we’re saying that this is one note, but you have to play another. Oh, why? We’re just too lazy to write the same note the same way on another piece of music. So deal with it. Oh, but it sounds the same, for whatever stupid reason”.

The second note goes much the same, moving up to E as you release your magical seal on one of the keys. Of course, by some sort of mystical rule, it’s a D, but it makes no difference to you.

It’s on the third note that you suddenly switch around, activating what’s simply called the ‘register’ key, before putting down one, two, t-

You notice that Coconeru is waving for you to stop, which you do. You were fairly sure that nothing had been wrong, so...why was he stopping you? “Listen, two things here. One, you may have turned into paper, because you played that note way flat. You missed a sharp, kinda like a butcher who doesn’t take care of his tools.”

You frown. “And...two?”

He sighs in return. “Listen, I know we just started, but I think just for today, we may have to cut it short.”

It takes all of your self control not to simply fling your instrument straight at his head, making you rush there only to be early and have to leave nearly the instant you begin. You settle for an eye twitch, instead, before asking the obvious question: “Why?”

He shakes his head, pushing what seemed to be a piece of paper procured from nowhere towards you. “See for yourself.”

You pick it up, and skim it over, taking note of just about every single word you can. Eventually, you lower it, and look at his face, which is unusually grim.

“I...have no idea what half of that even meant.”

He sighs again, ripping the paper from your grasp. “Yeah, well, long story short, I’m taking a mandatory vacation.”

You blink. Mandatory vacation? He hadn’t had a day off in what seemed to be y-...well, when thinking about it, it made sense. “But..by order of who?”

Coconeru just smirked. “Believe it or not, not from my ‘boss’, who doesn’t exist, but from my mum.”

You can’t help but to snicker, but not at the fact that he was more or less being asked to corral himself back by his own mother, rather at the pronunciation of ‘mom’-for some reason, ‘mum’ always seemed to tickle your funny bone.

His smirk quickly shifts into something noticeably more serious for whatever reason a few moments after your little chuckle, his eyes darting to the door close by, and then to you. “Get out,” he states simply.

You only blink, caught unaware by the sudden shift in tone. “What?”

“I said get out.”

Well, this certainly wasn’t like him. “Why?”

“Do I need to say it again?”

You just sigh and shake your head a little. Deciding not to go against the protests of your tutor, you disassemble your instrument and place it back in its case post-haste, before trotting up to the door and heading out that way, not even bothering to take a glance over your shoulder at your obviously irritated (for whatever reason) ‘teacher’.

By the time the final door closes behind you, you’re already shaking your head in pure disbelief at the day thus far. Not only was your only guide in music pretty much gone, leaving you to yourself, but it appeared that you’d, in some way, royally pissed him off as well-you considered yourself lucky if he even ever took you back up after his vacation was over.

And what a day... Your thoughts couldn’t be more true. It hasn’t even bucking begun yet, and things already took the turn for the worst...

Deciding not to spend all day moping around the town, you decide simply to head back to your shared house, hoping to decide what to do with the rest of the day-you had at least...judging by the sun, 8 hours left in the general day (which was odd, until you recalled that Coconeru had moved practices to a later time in day for convenience). It would be plenty enough time to soak in a nice tub of, ‘what in the world did I even do?’.

However, what you certainly weren’t expecting was for that same old spontaneous rainbow to appear overhead, as it had throughout pretty much your entire life in Ponyville. You’d come to pass it off first as some weird trick with a giant mirror, followed by a bunch of magic, and eventually just accepting it as a really, really weird weather pattern.

Most weather patterns, however, didn’t quite crash into the ground, leaving a furrow behind in the ground.

Realizing quickly enough that regardless of whether or not a leprechaun had decided to place his pot of gold at the end of the metaphorical rainbow, but ended up horribly missing, that somepony was likely hurt in there. You hurry up to the spot, trying to better make out what crashed there.

Already, though, it’s rising under its own power, and you can tell it’s a pony, not a leprechaun, but...she seemed far more...extravagant than any pony you’d ever known. You could almost swear she decided to steal the rainbow that you’d seen overhead, before stuffing it into her mane. Still, you approach, ready to make sure that there wasn’t any injury too deathly. “You alright?” You venture.

The-pegasus, as she turns out to be, turns; fluffing out her wings and shaking out the feathers before nodding, completely unaware of the fact that you can’t take your gaze off of her any more than an earth pony can fly. Basically, your first thought is, Holy shit, it’s a pony literally made of rainbows... “Yeah, I’m alright. Just a tiny little crash. But thanks for the concern, I guess.”

You nod, tipping an imaginary hat-upon which you would inwardly smack your forehead at-back to her. “Right, well glad to see that you hadn’t decided to take a deliberate sky-dive.”

The mare chuckles. “Well, uh...I kinda’ did. Ever play Chicken? Yeah, try it with the ground.”

You blink. Well, she certainly has a way with...uh...danger. You aren’t sure if that’s a compliment, so you think it best to keep it inside your head. You’re snapped out of your little ‘joke or not’ filter, as she speaks again, realizing that you’re mostly unable to speak. “Alright, see ya. I think. I gotta get going.”

You can’t really let that happen, though. A pony made of rainbows caught your eyes, and you weren’t going to quite let such an interesting sight get away that quickly. “Hey, hang on a second.” The pegasus pauses, having crouched down for takeoff, before cocking an eyebrow.

“What? I’m on a busy schedule. I have a nap, and following that, another nap.”

You swallow, turning to the side. You always found yourself able to talk when in a social situation, yes, but perhaps it was lack of number of such times that made you shy away just then. She was staring right at you, with those...rose eyes and holy crud, if that wasn’t a sight to see, then nothing really was. “Oh, uh, just wanted to ask your name. Y’know, so I can...see you in the news or the obituaries or whatever.”

Lucky for you, the whole stumble with ‘obituaries’ seems to be taken fairly lightly, with quite a fair amount of giggling. “Hehe, don’t expect to see me there so soon.” she says, before clearing her throat. “Anyways, I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria! Don’t forget it!”

And just as quickly, as if to prove her own point, Rainbow Dash is gone, having flown off into the distant sky, leaving....believe it or not, a trail that looks exactly like a rainbow.

You smile slightly, resuming your trek back to your home. Somehow, it feels like you have someone (or rather, pony) to think about, but one thing was for sure...

You definitely wouldnot be forgetting Rainbow Dash.

Chapter 2: You and Sunny Play Discord's Creations

The instant you shut the door behind you, you head directly down the main, sparsely decorated hallway to what you elegantly refer to as, ‘The Box Room’. It’s quite aptly named, considering it’s full of boxes chalked full of random belongings and such. Without even a glance as to your surroundings, you enter the room, sitting down, and staring at the boxes with all the intensity you can muster.

Yes, from the outside, it looks rather...odd. But you always find yourself in the room, whether to think or to get away from your, frankly, rather snarky roommate. It was the only room that she hardly went into.

"Hey, you're back really early. What's up?"

Unfortunately for you, today was the occasion when she followed you. Briefly, you entertained the notion of lying to her to get her to just get away, but better judgement told you that it would just get worse that way. Instead, you sigh, before almost mumbling back. "Things went bad."

Unexpectedly, you hear the door shut, and the pegasus soon takes a seat next to you, in a strangely warm gesture-you almost put a hoof to her forehead to check for a fever. "It can't be that bad, right?"

You sigh, shaking your head. "Don't think so. Would you call, 'losing your only link to a bigger music career' not so bad?"

Sunny tsk's to herself. "So you lost the ability to play music with just one pony? Psh, you got me." You half consider slapping her, and she seems to notice this. “What? Just making sense.” It's silent for a few seconds, which seems to be pure bliss, until you realize that she seems to actually be listening to you. Not one to waste an opportunity, you decide to let it out instead of internalizing it.

"See, I put a lot into my music...but almost nopony hears it. I play two ways: emotionally and structured, and I have to improve the second if I want to have any kind of hope. But there comes a time where things like this happen, and...I don't even know. My only hope to pick my head back up is the sight of a rainbow...which...funny thing, actually."

You never considered yourself to ramble, but once you started, you apparently couldn't stop. "I met this pony today-she crashed to the ground, rather-"

"Ouch. You sure she didn’t die? If so, why did you meet a dead pony?"

Raising an eyebrow at Sunny's insistent, short, and rather sarcastic, responses, most including the word 'ouch', you continue. "Anyways...the oddest part was...her mane and her tail were both rainbow, and...it gave me a weird type of hope. That if I knew her, somehow, things would go right."

It's mostly silent as the yellow pegasus nods, occasionally 'mhm'ing to herself. Eventually, she changes track. "Sounds just like a normal bad day, except for the fact that you met a rainbow’s incarnate. So why are you all...”

You shrug-you have no idea, either.

She continues regardless. “Anyways, even though you were gone for only like...half an hour, I did get something done. I guess it kind of helps you with the second part of what you’re somehow struggling with.” She shakes her head to herself again, mumbling in a half-singsong tone. “Over-reac~tiooon...”

You blink as a piece of paper slides itself in front of you, which interrupts your masterfully prepared witty retort until you take in the writing at the top:

‘Heart of Nature

Clarinet Composed by Sunny Wings’

You’re puzzled for another few seconds, until you glance down, and realize that it’s a piece of music-Sunny happened to be another musician, which is perhaps one of the two reasons you hadn’t ripped her head off at one point in time. She seemed to be so much better in that field, in fact, explaining why she was both a flautist and, in a way, a composer. You’d yet to see anything she wrote even played yet, though...

“It’s part of a duet,” she explains. “I’ve been wondering why I never really wrote anything like this, so...” she shrugs. “I did.”

You blank out for a brief moment, remembering what you were first taught in music class: S.T.A.R.S.. Or, in simpler terms, Sharps(and flats), Tempo, Accidentals, Rhythms, Signature. It seems to be fairly simple; you have 3 flats in the key, it’s a nice tempo of 80 beats per minute, there’s only 2 accidentals, nothing past eighth notes, and it’s in 3/4 meter.

Shrugging, you open your case again, beginning to fit your instrument together much to her delight. “Oh, you want to try it now?” You can hear a note of excitement in her voice, which quickly vanishes in the next time she speaks. You briefly ponder why she’s so excited to not be excited. “Well, I guess we could give it a shot. I didn’t memorize my part for nothing, y’know.”

You finish assembling your instrument-noting that it definitely needs a bit of polish-before playing a note to test the reed’s position, and...why does it sound just like a flute?

You internally facehoof, before turning to find that Sunny has, apparently, a spare flute in a box that’s right next to her. “What? It’s nice to have one ready at all times.”

You sigh, shaking your head. “Whatever. Can we just play...?”

She nods, and you turn back to your music, taking a deep breath. The rest of the day has been horrible, but hopefully, you can at least find a little solace in music, as you always have...

The instant the first note comes out, you jump, so much that you end up producing what many clarinetists deem a ‘squeak’, before turning to your roommate with an incredulous look on your face. “What in Celestia’s name was that supposed to sound like?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Music? Maybe you played the wrong note.”

“Well, it sounds like Discord himself decided to play music.” Deciding not to get into an insult pitching argument, you decide to attempt to apply to some sort of logic to the situation. “What’s your first note, then?”

“C.”

You frown. “...and why, exactly, then, did you give me an E flat?”

“Because the spacing is a minor third?”

You sigh, shaking your head. No wonder it sounded so horrible. “Actually, no. You know how my instrument is called a ‘B Flat Clarinet’?”

“Because that’s its best note?”

Sometimes, you question the pegasus’ intelligence. And as of now, it seemed a bit annoying that you even had to correct your superior musician on this. “No...ugh, let me explain. Transposition. If I play a C, it sounds like a B flat. If I play an E flat, it sounds like a D Flat, or a C sharp.”

You can see it slowly dawn on her face. “...oh...so everything is down a step, and...”

You decide to finish it for her. “...and a natural and a sharp together sound demonic, yes. Out of curiosity, which instruments have you written for?”

“Flute, bass guitar, trombone, tuba, a little bit of piano, and percussion...” she paused, frowning. “...though I never quite got that one.”

You finally understand: while she did compose, and knew probably a lot more than you, your (rather frustrating) experiences with a clarinet, had taught you transposition: Prench (...why they weren’t in Prance puzzled you) horns were in ‘F’, Clarinets were, obviously, in ‘B Flat’, as were trumpets, Saxophones (except for tenor) were in ‘E flat’. Her fatal mistake had been that she’d never written for any of those instruments. “Well, there’s your problem,” you start, rolling your eyes. “You never wrote for any ‘transposing instruments’. Just practice a bit, ask a few other musical ponies. They’ll probably be able to teach you.”

She nods. “Alright.” Only a second passes before she smiles, turning to you. “Hey Clarence, how do you write for a transposing instrument?”

You groan, rolling your eyes. “Seriously?”

“Nope.”

You push yourself up, quickly turning for the door. “Right. Well, I’m glad I could do ‘business’ with you.”

“You call that business? I’ve done better business with those door-to-door sales ponies, and all I do is slam the door in their face.”

You pause, already halfway out the door. You turn, and the smile on her face is just so cocky, so confident...you can’t help but to fire just one retort back before walking out, in what can be pretty much the second time in your life you’ve actually strutted: “That would be implying that anypony would risk seeing your face just to sell anything to you.”

The silence that follows is so much sweeter than it was before.

Chapter 3: Poles Become Your Mortal Enemy

You jolt awake, panting in quite a cold sweat, batting at your eyes to attempt to clear out some of your disorientation. It only takes a few seconds to remember just what had happened...

You’d been dreaming, and it had been a normal day. That rainbow pony showed up again, and greeted you cheerfully, smiling, and you do much the same. You felt glad to see her, excessively so...perhaps a little too much. She expressed a rather interesting delight, lowering her voice and stepping too close for comfort, forcing you to shut your eyes tight, at which point you woke up.

Evidently, you kept your promise to remember Rainbow Dash, both consciously and unconsciously. But...not in the way you’d thought. In fact, her dream self’s words shed a little light: “You won’t ever forget me, will you...?”

You shudder, turning to the window and hoping it’s daytime once more so that you can shake off this half-nightmare. Luckily, it is, and you flop out of bed, leaving your sheets unkempt and your pillows flattened down behind you. A little bit of breakfast helps to soothe your mind, taking your mind off of her for a brief moment.

Sunny seems to have left the house, off in another one of her ‘performances’ with her friend. The quiet is welcome, but rather boring. I’d rather not spend all day sitting around, you think to yourself, of course agreeing with yourself. What needed to be done...?

Well, when you thought about it, nothing really. So you instead make the decision to roam around a bit, and to clear your mind. A lot of the pain from teasing, jeers, and insults was often abated by nothing more than a simple, short walk, and you figure nightmares are no different. Making sure you look fairly presentable, you head outside into the sunlight.

It feels remarkably warm today, in a way that pierces your skin and radiates right to the bone-not that it’s bad, of course. You set off for what you remember as the marketplace, trotting at a fairly relaxed pace to get your blood flowing. Though the ground is unyielding, the feeling of keeping a pace just above a brisk canter feels...good, in a way. You weren’t always the most athletic pony, but you did admit that it felt good to exercise a little.

The market ground is fairly empty, because, obviously, it isn’t Market Day. The only sights are a few other wandering ponies much like you, seemingly off to another part of town and not giving a hoot about where they passed through. One was the grey mailmare Ditzy Doo, another was this small purple dragon that you never quite talked to, and there was Rainbow Dash-

You jump as you realize that yes, in fact, there was the Rainbow Dash right in front of you-well, off to the side, but you found that close enough, moving at a brisk pace along the ground-not flying, but a fairly quick jog. In fact, you’re so enraptured watching her, that you neglect to see the lamppost right in front of you.

SMACK!

The impact is so hard, so full-contact, that it makes the aforementioned ‘smack’ sound, even leaving a slight ringing sound behind in the air. It’s enough to catch the attention of everypony in the vicinity, and to cause you to fall flat on your flank, your cheeks turning just about as red as your face at the embarrassment. You even hear somepony laughing, and to your dismay, it’s none other than the pony you were...no, it wasn’t oogling-at.

You drop your head in shame, rubbing at your forehead as it seems to be developing a bruise. You can hear the sound of hoof (and claw steps, if that’s what you think dragon footsteps are called) steps resume, thankfully putting aside your embarrassing blunder. You make to get up, before blinking as a hoof suddenly juts in front of you.

“Need a little...” This is punctuated by a snicker that seems all too familiar. “...help, there?”

You turn, and surprisingly enough, it’s Rainbow Dash, though her features are certainly no surprise-she’s struggling to hold in a laughing fit as much as she can, and doing a remarkable job considering how stupid you looked, in likelihood. You aren’t quite sure if the ‘need help’ thing is a joke, but her hoof remains out, and you take the offered help, swaying slightly as you balance back on all four hooves once again.

“How’d you do that?” The question is something you expected, and you half consider learning teleportation in a second or less so you can get the heck out of there, but unfortunately, you lack much of the cranial (and arcane) capacity needed to do so.

Like any respectable colt, however, you pony up to your mistake: “I was looking at something.”

She chuckles, obviously quite amused by your rendezvous with a pole, before rolling her eyes. “Like what? I don’t think I know many things that can cause me to smack into a pole.”

You consider raising an eyebrow towards her, but realize it’ll only give you away that you were looking at her, and not a giant-mutant-frog-pony-dog-owl-lizard-dragon hybrid. Instead, you try your best at feebling off an excuse. “I, uh...I don’t really tend to look at anything while I’m jogging.” You also consider a facehoof, but you also realize that you both know how stupid that sounds.

Incredibly lucky for you, however, she picks up your miserable excuse at a diversion, and actually follows it. “You do morning jogs too? Huh. From that scrawny figure...” she pokes at you, causing you to jump back. “...I’d hardly think you did anything at all.”

You roll your eyes-sure, you diverted the topic from how your face seemed to be infatuated with Mrs. Pole, but now you were on the topic of how...yes, OK, you were skinny-most ponies had a certain ‘filled-out’ aspect to them, whereas you were rather...weakly built for a stallion. “Yeah, I do. It’s my metabolism that’s the problem.” You can finally say something that’s both true, and not stupid-one thing you’d never been called was ‘fat’, that’s for sure.

“Yeah, well you should do it more.” The pegasus turns around, back in her original direction (which happens to be pointed away from you). “Come on, see if you can keep up with me!” And just like that, she sets off again, though not nearly as slow as before. Unfortunately, despite your eventual reclusive nature, you never could turn down a challenge.

And so you set off, having to go much beyond a trot, all the way up to where you find yourself running: not quite galloping, but somewhat having to be just in between the two to even keep up with her.

She turns to the side, and though you can’t see her expression through her mane, which seems to be blowing all over the place, she speaks up. “See? Just go about this fast, and you’ll build up your endurance in no time!”

Endurance? She thought this was a speed that you could keep for a good hour or so? Well, maybe if you were under some sort of spell, but elsewise, no way you could keep that pace. Unfortunately, you suspected she was right, though-the more you did it, the better you’d get. That being said, she definitely did it a lot: her build was definitely a lot more muscle-heavy than most mares you’d ever seen, and sadly, a little bit more than yourself. “Good to know!” You shout over the wind as she seems to speed up even more.

A minute later, you find yourself huffing and panting, just about considering forgetting the pegasus and turning back to your walk, but just as suddenly as she’d begun, she gives a slight hop, before stopping with what seems to be a controlled skid, coming to a complete halt in no less than 5 feet. Unfortunately, your momentum seemed to have carried, and there was another pole right in your sight. You mentally curse her for picking such a moment, and then you close your eyes, bracing for impact.

The expected smack to the head doesn’t come, and you open your eyes as you realize that it’s only inches from your nose. Somehow, you seem to have stopped yourself, but with almost no time to spare. You silently thank Celestia for sparing your muzzle, before turning back to Rainbow, who seems to be watching you with interest.

“You aren’t that athletic, are you? You can’t even stop very quickly.” Still panting, you nod, and she appears to think-she isn’t even winded, winded, you notice, perfectly calm and free of any exertion. “Eh, I like a challenge...”

Wait, what? “A...challenge?” Yes, you still sound stupid, but you need answers. “Yeah, a challenge.” You freeze as you hear a sudden creaking sound, which started when you leaned against the pole of death, but you shrug. Not all poles are perfectly rigid. “I suppose helping a weak guy like you get into what he could be isn’t that hard.”

“But...you hardly know me.” The creaking seems to be louder.

“Oh...right.” She frowns. “Alright then, what’s your name?”

“Clarence Trill.”

“Cutie mark represents?”

“A trill.”

“Which means?”

“I play the clarinet good?”

“There.” She smiles sarcastically. “Now I know you.” She frowns-the creaking gets even louder, but the source is indeterminate, at least to her. “Anyways...I’ll be off. I have to go meet one of my friends for a party. But I’ll be seeing you sometime, try to whip you into shape, all right?”

You nod. “Alright. See you la-whoa!” The last part is nothing but pure reflex. You find yourself teetering backwards, but catch yourself.The pole no longer supports you, and really unfortunately, she doesn’t notice that you had another pole-related incident.

Or rather, unfortunate for her. She’s just walking off in lieu of jogging, and the pole has stopped creaking, instead opting to fall slowly out of its supports-you notice a small hole around the bottom, a sloppily done excavation which looks like a bunch of foals tried to test their skills at digging near, of all places, a lamp-post. Regardless of who did it, it seems to be falling, and unless Rainbow Dash enjoys being a pancake, you feel that you probably have to do something.

Acting purely on impulse, you sight out the situation: you have about 3 seconds before the rainbow pony becomes a rainbow pancake. The pole isn’t going to slow down, and both your magic and your physical being aren’t strong enough to hold it up once it has momentum. Your only hope seems to be a running dash, shoving her just far enough to the side to be out of the way-the area of impact isn’t too large, and you think you can get out fairly easily.

Not wasting another second, you sprint towards her, about twice as fast as what had left you winded-your lungs burn, and your legs ache, but it gives you a much needed speed boost. However, you neglect to remember not to run out of synch, and just as you stretch your hooves out to give her a quick shove, your hind legs cross, sending you just a little bit too forward, and just a little bit too off balance.

She gets pushed into, and beyond the safe line that you so ingeniously drew in your mind, but you end up falling flat on your stomach, much to your dismay. You only have roughly a second to see her spin around as quickly as possible, indignant as can be, and shout, “What the hay was that for?”, before everything goes to crud.

You did have some momentum, so you do not become a pony pancake, either, seeing as you managed to get yourself out of the center. However, even your frenzied, panicked scrabblings with your forehooves, don’t save you from the pole, which finally comes to a painful rest across both your hind legs.

You hear another creaking sound, though you are absolutely sure that it isn’t the pole anymore, and pain instantly shoots up both of your legs, moreso in your left than your right-if you had anything to thank right now, it had been the awkward way you tripped. Your thanks are rather short lived, however, as it quickly proves to be a little bit much for your overall low physical tolerance.

The last thing you see is her sudden expression change, from ‘pissed off’ to something between shocked, a wince, and a strange sense of...well, humor, but she’s smart enough not to show it, because a pole just fell onto your legs.

The last thing you hear is her sudden cries for help as you continue feebly scrabbling at the ground, hoping that the lifeless dirt will come to your aid, before she herself attempts to lift the pole off you, to serve little success.

Your last thought is that you really, really hate poles now.

Chapter 4: Rainbow Dash Hates Movies

For some reason, there seemed to be a lot of talking near you, but it was...well, zoned out. You couldn’t make sense of a word of it, and now that you thought about it, your left leg hurt, with a passive ‘pins and needles’ type pain. What could-

Oh, right. Pole.

It comes rushing back to you in an instant, and for a second, you fear that you’re still trapped under that dastardly thing, and so you begin flailing your forehooves frantically, desperately grabbing at the ground, which isn’t there. Wait-isn’t the ground...the ground?

Realizing that you aren’t on your stomach, but rather your back, you can already tell that something has, quite obviously changed. You risk creaking your eyes open, and that’s pretty much what sets everything off.

From the one second you have, you can see that you’re in a hospital, which likely meant that you’d been hurt badly, or under severe suspicion of the same thing. The feel of a mattress below you confirms that you’re in a bed, and the nostril-piercing smell of cleanliness in general only reminds you more of where you are. However, that’s nothing compared to what happens a mere instant after you open your eyes.

You catch sight of a blur, and suddenly you can feel the air being crushed from your lungs, and some very, very fast talking. “Oh, thank Celestia, you’re all right! I thought you’d died or something because you collapsed, and I don’t want anypony dying, and...”

You manage to cough, before wheezing: “Can’t...breathe...”

The pressure is released, and you can see Rainbow Dash step into your vision, smiling apologetically. “Sorry. I’m normally not like that. It’s just...”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, but you get exactly what she means: the whole, ‘pony gets crushed by a pole while saving you from said pole’, admittedly, would likely drive you a bit crazy if they weren’t waking up. The guilt, the sense of, “I could have helped”...

Thinking about random poles crushing ponies brought you back to what bothered you most at the moment, something you’d actually half considered before you blacked out. “...so what’s the final outcome?”

You can see her look around, as if checking the room, before her gaze drops. “Yeeah...doc said you had a ‘clean break’ in your left hind leg.” A quick glance reveals a sort of sling around the mentioned leg, lifted slightly above the rest of yourself, and you wonder why you didn’t notice it before.

Rainbow continues. “Listen, I’m really sorry about this whole thing,” she manages. “I probably should have paid a bit more attention, and then we could have avoided...” She seems at a loss of words, and finishes weakly with a wave of the hoof. “This.”

“It’s not your fault,” You reassure her-though in a way, it’s both of yours, but you have a feeling telling her that won’t cheer her up any. “I...should probably stay away from poles, since I smacked into one. You don’t really have anything to apologize for.”

She shuffles around, as if reluctant to accept that it wasn’t all her; she seemed to have a notable grudge against not taking responsibility, which was odd-she did seem to have an affinity for naps and jokes. Good humored jokes, yes, but still...playful, nonetheless, which happened to be opposite of responsible. “I guess not...” she mumbles eventually.

The silence that follows is one of the most awkward in your life: you’re confined to a hospital bed, absolutely nothing to do, and Rainbow Dash refuses to look at you, yet when she does...she looks at you entirely different than before. You can almost swear that...she feels pity for you, one way or the other.

“So listen...” The pegasus manages eventually, still not looking at you except for the odd glance. “I’ve probably got to be places, and I’ll probably feel really bad about leaving you here more or less alone-” The thought strikes you that your roommate is nowhere to be seen, and you can’t quite contact her in your position. “-but I can still stick around every now and then. In fact, tell you what-” She seems to be gaining a bit more confidence, which is great-you always hated being around sad ponies, partly because you didn’t know what to do with them. “-once you get out of here, or while you’re in here, I’ll do one thing for you, so that we’re a bit more even. How’s that sound?”

You briefly chew this over a bit: it’s not like she held any sway over your tutor, so she probably couldn’t help you with that...literally, the only thing you can think of is the fact that you’ve really wanted to see ‘Saving Pony Ryan’, but when you bought a second ticket, Sunny decided she didn’t like it. Before she even gave it a chance. But, a repayment was a repayment...no matter how minor it was.

“Well, I’ve got this second ticket to see Saving Pony Ryan, so maybe when I get out, you could come see it with me...or something.”

Oddly enough, as you finish (rather weakly, at that), Dash steps back, losing what little tinges of courage she had, and seemingly struggling to keep her composure-what did you do? All you did was ask her to see a movie... “I, u-uh...” You could almost swear she was at war with herself over a movie. It seemed a little funny, since it was a movie set in a war. You half consider asking if she’s alright, but then her ears hang low, and she answers. “I...I’ll go. I...sure.”

As hard as you find it to believe when she sighs, shaking her head, you swear you can see her blushing, which makes you really think-did she have a particular thing for those movies, and didn’t like admitting it? Did she just not like movie theaters, and the thought of a previous incident at one of them, involving a pony in a banana suit had embarrassed her against her will?

“Right...well, uh, I’ll see you later.” She starts for the door, only turning back for a brief second. “I’ll come back and visit every now and then so you aren’t...”

She doesn’t even finish her sentence, instead opting to turn back and hurry away from you. In fact, the words you hear right before the door closes behind her puzzle you, so much that you’re left scratching your head all the way up until you’re released, an exact 5 weeks later:

“What am I doing...?”

Chapter 5: Ponies Shooting Each Other (Sunny Gets Drunk and You Have an Emotional Crisis)

Luckily for you, the movie theater is not as crowded as you might have thought.

After your release from the hospital, 'Saving Pony Ryan' was nearing its end in the time of theaters, and as such, most of the ponies who had wanted to see it, already had. As such, you and your pegasine accompaniment were left a fairly large berth, yet you still sat next to each other-you did make occasional commentary, and boy, was it genius-she couldn't miss it!

The sounds of gunfire and frenzied screams echoed throughout the dark theater, and you found your eyes almost glued to the screen, completely enraptured by the action unfolding, so much that you took to eating popcorn without a single glance downwards; relying on your hooves instead of your magic-you didn't quite get 'out of sight' levitation yet. Yet, the instant you took a glance to your left, something seemed...off.

Rainbow Dash seemed to be watching you rather carefully, but rather secretly; each shift in her red upholstered seat, each shift as she squirmed about redirected her gaze to you. It...seemed rather odd, so you set aside the film for a brief second. "You all right?"

She jumps, realizing you noticed her, wings extending in sudden fright...but she relaxes just as quickly as she's startled, reclining back against the seat as calmly as possible. "Yeah, I'm...fine."

Shrugging it off, you turn back to the movie. Your popcorn shoveling resumes, but yet you keep an eye on her throughout. It's...rather odd. You could almost say she was scared of you...

You feel suddenly tired, and are definitely obligated to stretch your forehooves out, letting out a soft groan as you do so. At the peak of your yawn, however, you notice her...it's hard to describe, but...she seemed to tense up, more than she already had been. Shrugging, you return back to the movie again, though it's becoming progressively harder to concentrate.

It's only when a sudden, unexpected contact with your hoof occurs, startling you, that your attention finally drifts back away from Saving Pony Ryan. Rainbow seems to have accidentally bumped into your hoof while reaching for some popcorn. “Oh, uh, sorry-”

“Nah, it’s fine.” You turn back to the movie, simply shaking your head slightly to yourself. “Just watch the movie. And relax. Why are you so wound up?”

“Wound up?” The reaction seems as though it were a massive insult to Rainbow. “I am not! I’m...just, uh...restless!”

Sighing nearly silently to yourself, you glare back at the screen, though with the intent of ignoring the pegasus now. A simple plan to watch a movie and to hopefully relax with a friend...that was apparently a little too much. Especially for a pony like you. You could never get friends, could you? No, you were too different. You didn’t deserve to fit in, you didn’t deserve to be around the gorgeous mare-hay, you didn’t deserve Sunny, either. You didn’t-

You’re broken out of your spell by a tap on your shoulder, but you grit your teeth and try to ignore it. After all, you don’t deserve to be out of the hospital, you didn’t deserve to have had all that personal talking time with the pegasus, getting to know more about her progressively and only enjoying her presence more. You didn’t-

The tap became a full blown tug, leaving you staring at not an angry face-though quite honestly, you knew your features were contorted in rage by then-but one with eyebrows drawn low of concern. “Seriously. What’s up, Clarence? You look...different.”

Different. It was that bucking word again. She had the nerve to say it, to you of all ponies? To bring back that word that had brought you enough torment, that the wound was only healed when it ceased to be stricken wider? She dared to go there?

She likely wouldn’t be going any further.

Without a word, you rise from your seat, stomping as hard as it’s possible while not disturbing the other hoof-ful of ponies in the theater, heading straight for the exit. “What? What did I say?!”

The protests didn’t sound any further as regular conversation was, despite being spoken in a projected whisper, but you realize that she’s following you. Intending not to drop your fiasco, you stomp past the concession stand, past the ticket counter, and you’re sure you stepped on a bug before Rainbow finally flies in front of you, no longer concerned but angry herself. “What the buck is up with you?”

“What’s up with me?” You calmly reply-the malice and anger is out of your attitude, because you know you don’t need it. All you need is the cold certainty to finally crush upon her fatal error. “You’ve just re-opened some wounds that you shouldn’t have. I am not ‘different’, Rainbow, I’m normal.”

Rainbow sputters incredulously, stomping her hoof into the ground once, before shouting back at you (now that you were outside). “I just said you looked different, first of all! And second, what’s wrong with being different?”

“What’s wrong with being different?” You find it hard to believe that she doesn’t know. “I’ll tell you! I’ve been tortured my whole life, because I was ‘different’! I liked things I shouldn’t have liked in their eyes, and I still do. It’s those jerks who made me afraid to even embrace anything, because the thought of doing so made me different! And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be! You have to fit in! That, Rainbow Dash,” You spit. “Is what’s wrong with it.”

Despite your perfectly flawless argument, the rainbow maned pony seems to fight with herself, shrink back-and then proceed to snap right back at you. “I can’t say I buckin’ knew that, since we only talked once a week for 4 weeks, but come on! You are different-”

“Thanks.”

She glares back at you. “-but can’t you see through that thick skull that it’s good? You’re the first stallion-...OK, third that I've met like you, but still, who is a nice pony! You play the clarinet, and that’s your talent-the only reason you haven’t gone anywhere with it is because you’re scared of being ‘different’. I hate to break it to you, but all the famous ponies are famous because they’re different, and you are too! I am! If you just sat down, shut up, and used your humor, your music stuff, and your overall likeability, I’m sure those ponies would shut the buck up. All right?”

You snort, rolling your eyes before staring defiantly back into her eyes, which shimmer with both a fury and a frustration you’ve hardly known. “And why are you so much on my side? All of that means nothing! Who are you to say that all of that’s true!”

“I’m one of the six Elements of Harmony, for Celestia’s sake!” she cries, getting as far as to invade your personal space, leaving you but a mere inch to breathe. By now, the few ponies passing by had stopped to stare, as your peripherals reported. “I’ve saved Equestria...” she stops, counting on invisible hooves she doesn’t have. “...a minimum of 2 times! I may not be Honesty, but I’m gosh-darn Loyalty, and if that isn’t living up to my word when I tell you that it’s not a bad thing, and I stick to it, then I swear on my own life if it’ll make you shut up already!”

You sigh, shaking your head. She just doesn’t get it. “Why are you doing this...?” By now, you’ve given up arguing, instead having accepted the fact that she was as incredibly thick-skulled and prideful as she’d ever be. You thought you knew what she was going to say-’Because I have to do the right thing!’

But she doesn’t say anything.

Instead, Rainbow Dash simply shuffles, shutting her eyes tight as if battling an inner demon. She steps slowly back from your personal space, muttering quietly under her breath while taking deep breaths, which you’d learned not long ago was a way to control stress. Stress. You seemed to have gotten to her, whether for good or not. After a few long seconds, after which you’re sure you’ve won, she opens her eyes, searching you, as if planning her next strike. Every single ounce of defiance is gone, every ounce of anger, every sprinkle of sass. Each inch has been replaced by nothing but serenity, and a sense of apology to all of it.

And then she makes the move that wins the entire argument.

You expected many things, but what you didn’t expect was for Rainbow to close her eyes, and take one final breath before stepping back into your personal space, in a much less violent way than before. All of the confidence gone from both her step and her movements, she proceeded to lean in, raising herself slightly on all four legs to come up to eye level with you, before touching her lips to yours for only a brief second.

She says everything that she could have in just a single move of amazing tender contact and care, pulling away nearly the instant she starts, leaving you gawking with your mouth hanging open wide enough to allow an entire city to fit inside.

You’re still frozen inside a solid ice cube of shock when she steps back, lowering herself back to the ground, and stepping back to where she was. You also take note that, despite you being frozen, you can still hear the faintest sound off in the distance- “Ooooh!”

Despite the fact that somebody besides yourself is gawking at the spectacle, it soon passes as Dash finally opens her eyes again, attempting a smile before sighing, shaking her head, and turning it straight back into a frown. “It’s because I actually care about you that much.”

As if it weren’t enough that she had to up and...break boundaries like that, your jaw dropped from its current position on the ground, straight down to Tartarus. Not only was she...she...-but she...she...

Your silence seems to only further dent the confidence she’d lost right before you lost your composure, which still hovered 20 feet above the ground. “I know, I know...this is sudden, stupid, and...anything else. But I know when I feel something, and...I kinda’ do. You’re one of the few guys who has the courtesy to ask for a night like this, and to not make a single stupid, cliche, makes-me-want-to-puke-my-bucking-guts-out ‘moves’, or...well, any of that.”

All you can manage is a weak groaning sound, as you were still trying to process the fact that you more or less traded saliva with a pony who stole rainbows and stuffed them into her mane.

The rainbow thief smiled sheepishly, backing up a bit, and letting the smile fade just as quickly. You can swear that, for the first time since you’d ever conversed with her, she seems to be...no, you can’t be sure, but...there seemed to be no other explanation...she was blushing. “I...I know I’m being sappy, and...well, tell you the truth, I only hate it if it’s...you know, less...like...this. But...I think this is one of the few times I’d be okay both with being called crazy, and sappy. I...just...” Rainbow throws her hooves up in the air, in a gesture of ‘I don’t even know’. “I just don’t know. All I know, is that there’s really somepony great hiding behind who you are now...and I kinda’ like him better. That’s why I...had to yell. I didn’t want to, but...”

She pauses. “I pulled a Pinkie, didn’t I?” You aren’t familiar with the term, but you’re not in the condition to either answer her question, nor to ask what a ‘Pinkie’ is. “Yeah, I...went on a ‘tan-gent’, or whatever it’s called.”

Your composure, if you ever had any during the kiss or directly after, vanishes for roughly the third time. Of all the things you might have imagined, and all the questions...they just won’t come out, no matter how hard you try to ask, ‘When did this happen?’, ‘You aren’t lying, right?’, and even ‘Why do you suddenly seem shorter?’.

“See, I...don’t know what I’m saying, except for this. Being different is good, because the best ponies accept you for you, not because you fit with a crowd. And trust me when I tell you that I’ve never felt so strangely strong about something in my life.”

Making a running leap, you finally manage to grab your composure before it transmorgifies into a rocket and shoots for the moon, and your senses finally come rushing back one by one. The first to return is touch, accurately described as feeling, and what you feel comes in two parts: one, the fact that Smokey the Pony would not approve of the forest fire that was enveloping your whole face. The other...

Well, you couldn’t quite catch what it was, but it was something that felt like you were having a heart attack, but in a good way, if it made any sense (which, honestly, it didn’t). Instead of passively staring into space, you become more aware of every single little quirk that the pegasus is displaying, even going as far as to tremble slightly-you’d thought she was afraid before, but she truly was now, at the thought of retribution.

The last to return, and the strangest one of all, is...taste. This causes a great deal of confusion, since A, the moment lasted a veritable second, and B, the fact that your mouth tasted perhaps just the tiniest bit like a really fresh mint of some sort was plain absurd, since the contact had not been that long. You also doubted that she’d slipped some gum into the time.

Your ability to speak, however, is at least functional. “But I thought you weren’t-”

“I’m not.” The simple presence of a response gives her enough courage to outright interrupt you. “It doesn’t mean I can’t take part of it, it just doesn’t mean I’m totally obsessed with it.”

You can only stare back after that, the silence growing more and more awkward (or perhaps it was just you). You, yourself, could definitely say that you enjoyed it when she was around...but like this? This...weird, medical-condition inducing type of affection that bloomed quicker than you ever thought possible? And yet, somehow, it felt...right, at the same time.

“So, uh...Igottagobye.”

In one simple move, true to her name, Rainbow Dash crouches low, before taking off in a trail of rainbow, seemingly taking everything you’d ever known behind. The brief window you’d taken to think, she'd noticed, and capitalized on. The sneaky little-

“Wait, come back!” Your shouts go unheeded, however-not even a simple speck remains in the sky. She’s already gone, far too much.

You drop your gaze back to the ground, suddenly taking notice of a circle of eyes staring at you. You never particularly liked it before, and now was no exception. Luckily for you, however, you had a tendency to play things off. “What? Just your...everyday argument-and-spontaneous-make-up-before-it-ends-just-as-it-started...thing!”

The ponies around you realize how stupid that sounds as well, but they all come to a silent agreement: there isn’t much use in staring at the only pony left, as if there were something wrong with them. The crowd quickly disperses, and you’re left standing alone in front of a movie theater, only a mere 15 minutes after Saving Pony Ryan began, However, you have a feeling that a movie is now the least of your worries.

What the buck just happened?

And why did it feel good?

Your walk back to your house, where you expected to attempt to sort out some sort of...anything, was one of the most boring, uneventful things you’d ever done. Perhaps it was the fact that your head remained down most of the walk (thankfully, you didn’t run into any rampant poles), and you saw little, or maybe the fact that you were so lost in your own thought, that you didn’t even notice how many times you almost walked head-first into a building.

Still, you managed to make it back to your fairly quaint home with no head injuries, at least for the time being. Head still down, you open the door after numerous attempts of pawing at it. Your first few steps are...well, steps, but right around the seventh, you make contact with something that’s not normally there. It hurts slightly, and quickly rolls away just as you make contact with it.

Befuddled by this development, you raise your head, taking in the label on the bottle. You aren’t really an enthusiast, but if you had to guess, it was most likely-

“Hey, look...look who’s back!”

The sudden sound of an unexpected voice startles you, and you jump back, before squinting. You’d say you needed your vision checked, but last time the thought came up, a simple visit to the optometrist (it was totally a routine visit), your vision was perfectly 20/20.

It was still hard to believe the fact that your roommate stood in front of you, though swaying as if she were a palm tree - scratch that, a palm tree in a hurricane; 20/20 vision or not. “I thought, you were...” Sunny pauses, hiccuping slightly and taking another second before she continues. “...I thought you were watching...a movie called, ‘Ponies Shoot Each Other’...or somethin’ like that.”

You’re confused briefly, slapping your forehoof as you have a feeling that you finally know the issue-empty wine bottle, unstable roommate...”Sunny, are you drunk?”

The pegasus shakes her head vigorously. “Am not!” She hiccups again after she finishes her emphasis, causing her to hop slightly into the air.

It’s obvious now, even if it wasn’t before. “Yes, you are.”

“Nuh-uh!” insists the yellow mare, stumbling uncertainly over to the kitchen, rummaging around briefly for a bit-so loudly that you consider following her to make sure she doesn’t kill herself from flinging a pot the wrong way-before emerging with a bottle, and tilting her head back before giving it a generous swig-you can now see that the bottle is similar to the one that you kicked, and is labeled ‘Hoofmaid’.

She takes one of the longest ‘sips’ you’ve seen-in fact, it’s more or less a frantic chugging-before she finally sets down the bottle, grinning a grin that seems like it was attempted by somebody missing half their facial muscles. “I’m drinking...not drunk.”

You have to resist the impulse to burst out laughing-because admittedly, that was a genuinely funny joke from Sunny-but it’s a remarkably easy thing. Probably because humor is the last thing on your mind-you’re too busy pondering your own existence, the mysteries of life, or specifically, what semblance of events had somehow led to the third biggest argument you’d ever had, followed by the quickest makeup to ever exist, and then...that.

“So you are...”

Your observation is reinforced as Sunny Wings once more raises the bottle to her lips, chugging for not one, not two, not five, but-

Well, actually, you aren’t sure how long she stays that way, but by the time she lowers the bottle, there’s only about two sips’ worth floating around in the bottle. Her eyes seem to cross, and she frowns. “Hey...c-...could you stop movin’ the world? Iz a little...disor...disseroi...dizzy-thing...”

And with that statement of pure and utter genius that Albert Einstable would be envious of, your roommate leans sideways, from the left, to the right, and seemingly overbearing to the left again...

Only to completely give up and instead fall backwards, crashing to the ground with both a thump and a clink as both her body and the wine bottle land at the veritable exact same time.

You sigh. It was no unknown fact that Sunny had a...you decided to call it a penchant for strong alcohol, though it might be particularly said that it almost always came in wine form. You couldn’t quite call her an alcoholic, since she didn’t do it quite often...but to keep it short: when Sunny Wings got drunk, she got the very definition of drunk.

Still, you were a little thankful for this fact, in a way-she’d passed out into a drunken stupor in record time, leaving you less time to deal with a verbally (and physically) inept pegasus. It...tended to get quite ‘interesting’ when she tried to fly.

Starting off for your room, you carefully step over her, being as careful as possible not to accidentally crush any of her bones. The sudden surprise of nearly being knocked off your hooves, however, was especially frightening, and you feared for a second that she’d somehow attained a state in which she could use telekinesis. But after you managed to regain your bearings, and took another look, you decided that you didn’t quite want to know any more than you came to know.

Sunny was, thankfully, still in her stupor, unable to reach up and drag you down into the earth in some sort of drunken haze borne of power (you also noted that you needed sleep). But a quick glance back over her revealed that her hooves hadn’t moved a bit, but instead, her wings were flared out to their sides, and she even appeared to be sleepily mumbling (or mouthing) to somepony in her sleep.

You found it best to leave her alone when her staggered breathing became a bit more vocal, namely, with the occasional groan thrown in.

Now hurrying as fast as you possibly could away from your roommate, not wishing to become a part of whatever that even was, you quickly walked into your room, being careful not to shut the door too loudly, only to realize that one did not simply wake up from a loud noise when passed out.

Sighing, you flopped onto your bed. The one place which could be called your sanctuary, always willing to welcome you with its soft, warm embrace. It was one of the two ways you could think without any interruption, or even knowledge of the world besides yourself and your idle actions.

Your mind was racing, however, so the notion of, ‘sleep it off’ was out of the question, so you set to the next solution: ask as many questions as you could, trying to answer them to the best of your ability.

Why?

That was your first question, the biggest and most...frustrating of all. Why had you decided to storm off like that? Why had Rainbow done what she did, and to top it off, ran away like she had after a foiled justification? You’d admit to yourself, and yourself only, that you knew hardly anything when it came to romantic affairs, but any pony who wasn’t aware that a kiss on the lips meant they felt something towards you, was likely not alive in any sort of way.

The answers all made no sense. Because she had been scared? No, she was fearless-you’d learned that fairly quickly. You briefly entertained the notion that she legitimately remembered an emergency, but you waved it aside (quite literally)-the departure wouldn’t have been quite so rushed or awkward. In fact, the only possible answer was anxiety, and it made no sense, yet. In fact, it might seem you were scared, of...everything, else you might not have stomped away at first.

Or better yet, you considered-why had it felt so...right? You could have only imagined what the right kiss could feel like, and you’d even remembered from one book you randomly read from what you told yourself was ‘boredom’ (and not curiosity), that it would likely come from who you least expected. And...all right, so it was your first actual kiss, because you had early on become enamored with the fact that you just weren’t interested in a relationship.

In fact, that’s what seemed so...puzzling about it. The strong protests that normally arose at the thought of such a thing weren’t there anymore. In fact, any sort of doubt, upon searching, seemed gone. It was as if she’d reached up, and snuffed out any sort of negative feeling in you besides confusion, which was largely ambiguous regardless.

With no more answers than you started with, you groaned, sandwiching your head between two pillows. It was just so...frustrating! So...complicated, so confusing, so...so...so appealing...

The last point you caught yourself making brought up the next big question-how?

More accurately, how was all of this even happening? You didn’t have any clue-one second, you walk into a pole, and six weeks later, you’re going to a movie and...things...happen. As for when...

All the questions were simply overwhelming, and yet each time, it kept drifting back to one question: why, why, why, why, why?

Why did you feel OK with it? You’d gone from ‘loose friends’ to...it wasn’t even clear anymore. Nothing seemed to be. It’d been weeks since you and Coconeru talked, and...now this. You were changing more than the world around you.

Despite such fact, you still didn’t see the reason behind it. Sure, you happened to like her eyes a fair amount, and sure, her mane looked absolutely stunning when viewed at the right angle. But that didn’t mean anything, especially how her overall completely opposite attitude seemed to be both the worst and best thing that you both loved and hated. Just like the fact that she was more or less the most perfectly toned mare you’d met, not quite as strong as you might expect her, but not really weak, either-she could definitely take care of herself. And once you got past all the bragging and chest-puffing that she did, she...actually seemed entirely different, loyal to the core, and with a nicer side to her personality that had only come out twice, to your knowledge: once after the pole tried to kill you, and the last time was...well, that’s exactly what you were fretting over right at the moment.

...OK, maybe it wasn’t nothing.

Still, the only question you could ask yourself over, and over, and over until you fell asleep, was one that followed you into your restless, fitful sleep that you forced yourself to fall into.

Why?

Chapter 6: Colors (Things Don't Suck)

“Another day, another bit.”

That was your first thought when you awoke. You weren’t quite sure why, but you knew one thing: it was a particular statement that you repeated to yourself every day. No matter what you thought it meant, you always took it as, ‘something good will happen today’.

Why?

That becomes the second thought in your head, and for only a brief second, you’re confused, before you suddenly remember, and you groan, putting a hoof to your head slowly in exasperation.

Everything came back. The movie, the ensuing events...and it made your head hurt. Thinking always did that, at least in prolonged periods. The only way to calm down would be to walk-walking had always given you peace.

Ignoring your heart's now irregular beating, you slip out of bed, carefully and slowly crossing the corridors until you reach the front door.

Slipping outside, you carefully close the door, before turning around to the worst coincidence of your life.

Rainbow Dash, the one and only that you know, seemed to have been passing by at that very moment, and even worse, she catches your gaze. You look away momentarily-the last thing you want to do is perpetuate the awkwardness.

However, out of the corner of your eye, you can see her approaching with a slower, more deliberate step. You consider breaking the door down in order to get away faster.

Rainbow reaches you before you can do such, however, and you end up trapped. She pauses, and sighs. By the words out of her mouth next, she definitely wants to get to the point. "Listen, about last night..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," You blubber, speaking as fast as you can. "I was a jerk, and I left after we argued. Nothing else. Perfectly normal, yessiree."

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, just...can we talk a bit?" Rainbow pauses, looking around the area, before motioning slightly...up? "Somewhere more private?"

You half consider declining her offer, content to live alone, confused, and shrouded in painful mystery for your whole life. But then you remember that every sane pony didn't live like that, unless there was a zombie apocalypse that you never heard of, and you had to remain boarded up your windows, thinking about how your family was probably-

Boy, that got really off track.

Anyway, it took quite a bit of thought. Upon consideration, however, you seemed to have absolutely nothing to lose-you’d lost your composure, your dignity, and most likely you were about to lose your voice with the volume you’d shouted at last night. It wasn’t like things could get any worse, after all.

Right?

Bracing yourself for the inevitable, you nod.

It’s only then that things unfold faster than a cheetah on energy drinks. Rainbow Dash quickly disappears, and you briefly toss around the idea that she vanished into another dimension, free from other ponies, when you’re suddenly flying through the air as if some maniac stuck you onto a catapult, and cut the rope.

All you can do to keep yourself from screaming like a little girl as the wind makes a buffet of your face, is to shout out the only thought that comes to mind: “WHAT IN CELESTIA’S BEARD ARE YOU DOING?”

As you feel yourself yanked this way and that, your hind legs dangling in the air like a pair of marionette puppets, you can vaguely make out her reply. “I said somewhere private! Just...don’t fall off, we’re almost there!”

She couldn’t mean...a cloud, could she? You desperately hoped that she was smart enough to realize that if you even tried so much as to jump on top of one, you’d likely end up becoming the next big piece of abstract art somewhere near Ponyville.

Fortunately for you, she’s smarter than the average interpretation of a speedster pegasus. You have to cling tightly-or, more accurately, scramble like a maniac-to keep from plummeting to your doom, while Rainbow Dash has none of the trouble. You note that her observation had some truth-if she had absolutely no trouble flying while she, ‘carried’ (it seemed a rather loose word) you, perhaps you were a little light to the touch.

Your hooves met ground once more, and you dropped to the floor instantly, as if it would carry you away from the sky that much quicker. Of course, it didn’t, but Rainbow still stared at you before simply chuckling, and shaking her head.

It was the way she did it that really set you off.

You break your hug with the grass, hauling yourself to your hooves, chancing another glance at her. “Alright, so why are we out here?” You knew the answer, but...any delays you could get would be fine.

“Up here,” she corrects.

It quickly occurs to you that the ground seems to drop off after a certain point. You creep off to this gap, before suddenly leaping back. You appear to be well over a thousand feet in the air, poking just above the lowest layer of clouds. And even as you scramble backwards, you can tell that there’s no other land in sight. If you weren’t sensible in the least, you’d think you had died and gone to heaven. However, as it is, you’re simply sandwiched between two layers of clouds, on a plateau no more than 60 feet in diameter.

The pegasus notices this, and chuckles. “I go to this place when I have to think,” she explains. “It’s quiet, and almost always cut off from the rest of everything. It’s just the right place to sit down.” She pauses. “...I went here yesterday, too...”

Oh boy, here it went. You could instantly feel your mouth clam up, and your throat become host to a desert wasteland. “So...” You swallow, desperately trying to clear your throat. “...so you did.”

“Yeah.” She sighs, trotting over to the edge of the land-platform-thing, before flopping onto her stomach mere inches from the drop-off, averting her gaze to the seemingly never-ending horizon ahead. “Come on, take a seat.”

You comply, flopping down next to Rainbow Dash. She doesn’t look over this time, but instead keeps staring ahead, completely silent and still-the only noticeable movement she makes isn’t even made by her, instead it’s the gentle ruffling of her prismatic mane as it whips around in the gentle, constant breeze that always accompanies higher altitudes.

You have to suppress a smile of admiration. The moment, the incredibly silent moment, tells you that keeping quiet is the best choice.

You’re about to clear your throat, but she interrupts.

“I spent a lot of time up here, and...I thought. Like you would expect. And...I came to a kind of...realization.”

She doesn’t look over, and her mouth seems to move rather mechanically as she speaks. Doubts begin to swamp your mind-was she doing this out of free will? Pity? To make fun of y-you quickly stopped, as you realized that going down that road wouldn’t solve anything. It took all of five long, wind-whistling-punctuated seconds before she continued.

“Yeah, I...probably freaked you out, but...I acted like I shouldn’t have.” She sighs, and finally turns to you.

You’d really come to know Rainbow over her brief visits to the hospital, and each little tidbit-she was bold, daring, fast, ambitious, prideful...and yet, at this exact moment, she showed the exact opposite. She was timid, cautious, hesitant, sheltered, and...reclusive. Even her rosen eyes which could stare right back at a cockatrice with pure defiance, up until the last second before petrification, seemed like they’d been fluffed into a harmless pillow. It...wasn’t her. You liked her, not...this. You clung to the hope that she was just hiding.

“But...I’ve only done that once before.” She stops, a furious red tinge beginning to highlight her face, and she quickly stammers, trying to correct her apparent blunder. “Uh, not...that, it’s just the first time that I felt-ARGH!” She throws her hooves up in the air, glaring back out at the empty air in front of her. “You...you know what I mean, all right? I felt different than before, and...I just let myself take over.”

You’re still entirely unsure of what to say, partly because you don’t even know what you could say to her-”It’s OK”? “No, I don’t know”? The statement seems puzzling in itself-felt different. What in the world did that mean...?

The young mare seems to notice your confusion, as if it were written across your face in bold pen. “...you don’t get it, do you?”

You shake your head wordlessly, speaking your first words in at least a whole couple of minutes. “...’different’ than before?”

Rainbow’s head snaps back to you, and her eyes widen. “No, I don’t mean it like that, I don’t mean to argue with you for any reason, it’s just-”

You wave her off. “No, I know it wasn’t at me. But...I’m still curious.”

She sighs, half in relief that you apparently decided not to bite her head off. “I...just...” she seems to be tripping over her own words just about as much as you are. “...maybe I felt...y’know...like you were...special.”

It takes all of your composure to realize she isn’t tossing an insult at you, but rather...did she just...-

“You’re not obsessed with chasing after Rainbow Dash, best flyer in Equestria, Element of Loyalty, and OH MY GOSH PLEASE HAVE MY FOALS!” She finishes the last part in a mock ‘fangirl’ voice, waving her hooves around again as she lets her eyes roll in uncontrolled circles. She settles down soon enough, returning back to earth with one last scoff. “Believe me, I get that a lot. But...when I meet someone like you, someone who actually likes me for me, as all of my real friends do...I get to thinking. And somewhere along the way...I guess I just kinda’...felt different. You aren’t a jerk, you’re funny without being downright mean, and I’ll admit it-” she pauses, smiling at you as if telling the funniest joke ever. “-you are kind of cute in a clumsy sorta’ way.”

Your own face flames up in the phenomenon that you know all too well as a ‘blush’, as you finally reach the end of her little self-yet-directed-at-you-monologue. Did...she just call you...cute? What the buck was going on? Well, you felt like you did know, but you didn’t. It was as if somepony had taken everything you knew, blended it into a smoothie, before pouring it into cake tins and somehow baking the mix-it made absolutely no sense. You didn’t even know why you were up there anymore. Maybe it was a dream.

Convinced by this fact, you began punching your foreleg experimentally-if it were a dream, then you would either wake up, or it simply wouldn’t hurt. Unfortunately, it hurt, and you seemed to remain where you were.

Rainbow seems utterly amused by your new behavior, because she begins snickering, to the point that she has to bring a hoof over her muzzle to keep from bursting out into laughter. By the time she takes it away, she seems to have calmed down considerably. “That’s just too great...” she sighs, and with one last smile, turns back around, wiping the grin off her face as she does so. “Listen, the point is, I’m sorry for losing control like that. I should know more than any pony that doing what I did, and that fast, is wrong. Besides, everypony knows that you don’t kiss on the first date, am I right?”

Her last sentence hits you like a sledgehammer, and you can’t help but to jump up in astonishment, your eyebrows shooting for the moon. “DATE?”

Dash slowly picks herself up, too, before raising an eyebrow at you as if the fact that she pulled a random card from nowhere was perfectly normal. “Well, yeah. If asking somepony to a movie, using the old “I have two tickets thing”, and make mention of something isn’t one, then...” she slowly trails off, and you can see it in her eyes that she finally realizes your astonishment’s actual source. “Oh my Celestia. It wasn’t meant to be one, was it?”

You shake your head uncertainly.

“URGH! I’m such a featherbrain!” The pegasus groans, turning away from you to pace across the makeshift mesa. “Of all the things that I could mess up, I missed that?!”

You aren’t quite sure what to make of yourself as Rainbow Dash moves back and forth repeatedly, seemingly chiding herself, but you have a lot more answers. The whole tense behavior was explained, at least for the most part-she’d seemed obviously uncomfortable at first, because she’d misjudged the scenery. She had also explained to you a little bit about why she’d...done what she’d done, but you still didn’t know what to think. It had felt completely right, so...wonderful, as if you finally belonged in a place, but the sudden and unexplained nature of it all still left your head spinning. Apparently, she found you ‘cute’, ‘funny’, and ‘not a jerk’. What did that even mean?

The deepest answer you could give yourself, was that you weren’t the best when it came to feelings, nor romantic settings. But the best you could gather: you weren’t bothered in the least that she seemed to be ‘warming up’ to you, and perhaps you were doing the same. Even if you didn’t care for relationships typically, this one seemed like it could be nice.

The last time you thought that, had been a long time indeed...

“Shut up, different kid!”

The word repeated itself for roughly the thousandth time as your face plowed deep into the ground, held down by only a single offending hoof. As the jeer reached your ears, the hoof pushed down deeper, squishing around the mud left over from the previous night’s rain. “Why don’t you crawl back to your cave and mutate back into your ugly self!”

You could only lay silent, completely non-responding to any comment that was made in your direction. You’d learned long ago, that no matter how much the cut of the word stung, you had to keep quiet. If you cried, let out a gasp of pain, or even sniffled, it would only bring more physical and verbal abuse upon yourself.

“What’s the matter? Too stupid to talk?”

You made no response. They didn’t seem to deserve it. After a great few seconds, the hoof lifted itself from the back of your head, and the sounds of wet squishing could be heard as the offending colt walked away. “Have fun eating dirt!”

You didn’t rise from the ground for a good ten minutes, making completely sure that he was gone, and you could resume your business before returning home as soon as possible to seek comfort from your mom. Her hugs always were the warmest, and were one of your only sources of safety and sanctuary around the time. But when you made to lift your head, another voice rang out. You instinctively froze, but it wasn’t an unfriendly voice, or even a colt’s voice-it sounded suspiciously like a filly’s. “You alright, pardner?”

Throwing caution to the wind, you risked raising your head, barely able to see anything through the mud that caked itself around your eyes, as well as pretty much every inch of your face. It stung so much that you had to immediately squeeze them shut, so as to keep any further pain from occurring.

You felt an incredibly strong force haul you up, before the voice started talking again. “Hang on a second there, ah think ah might...hm...” You heard rummaging, as the pony presumably rummaged in their saddlebags. You briefly considered running away, startled by the thought that they might be bringing a weapon of greater torture out. The thought was quickly interrupted as you felt a piece of cloth placed over your face, before being vigorously rubbed with a strength that you’d hardly expect from a presumed filly. Just as soon as it began, you started shaking your head furiously, trying to break free of its grasp, but it had already pulled away, and the daylight was once more visible.

However, the sky was the least of your interests. A small orange filly, her mane done up in a flowing, blonde ponytail, holding an incredibly mud-caked cloth stood in front of you, beaming widely. “There ya’ go!” she chirped, and you noted that her accent sounded a lot like some of the other ponies you’d met, sounding as if they were from somewhere in rural areas. “Jus’ make sure that if yer’ goin’ to get dirty, that ya’ don’t get it on yer’ face. And even if y’do, make sure to carry somethin’ to get it off with.”

You blinked, hardly believing what you were seeing, or what had just happened. She’d actually taken the time to help you out? Not many ponies tended to do that. “But...I didn’t mean to.”

The orange-earth pony, as you noted-frowned. “Then why were ya’ face-down in the mud?”

You sighed, letting your gaze drop to the ground again, as if in preparation for another shove into the wet earth. “Somepony pushed me down and held me against it.”

The filly’s face quickly contorted in contempt, as she shook her head. “Li’l varmints...” she muttered, before rolling her eyes in an equal show of disdain. “Some ponies jus’ don’t know how t’treat another pony, and that’s a right shame.”

She smiled brightly again, easily wiping off the frown she’d had earlier. She extended a hoof as she did so-the one that wasn’t holding a mud-covered rag. “Luckily for you, ah do. Name’s Applejack, and it’s a pleasure to meet ya’.”

You reach out to take the hoof, but carefully-you’re still expecting her to grab you and flip you straight onto your back. However, as soon as your hoof meets hers, quite the opposite happens. She begins shaking your hoof incredibly eagerly, as though she were trying to use a jack to hold up a saggy carriage, and it kept cranking down once she stopped pumping. “I-I’m C-Clarence T-Trill,” you manage to stutter through the whirlwind of hoof shaking.

Thankfully, Applejack stops soon enough. “Well, ya’ take care now, y’hear?” And just as simply as the encounter had begun, the orange filly trotted off, down past the now empty schoolyard, until she was out of sight.

Your gaze didn’t leave her general direction until half a minute after.

Of course, the incident had largely been puppy love. You stared at her every now and then, seemingly enchanted, but...the day you moved away, you found that the yearning for her quickly vanished. As if she’d never existed, and that she was just another pony.

However, the fact that there was a pony right in front of you who not only seemed to feel some sort of affection towards you, but...the incredibly stupid notion that you felt the same way towards her immediately knocked that out of the ballpark. After all, there was no way you could feel anything back-you were just...really good friends, right? The mistake could easily be made as to what you’d done.

Out of impulse, you walk over, and tap her. Rainbow starts, before turning to you. “What?” she sounded fairly upset. As if she'd lost her very dignity.

“I don’t blame you,” you tell her. “Looking back, it did kind of seem that way. I probably should have clarified. But...we can give it another try.”Even you can hardly believe your own words. Did...you just offer her another try? Did you just offer a chance for the most beautiful pegasus you’d ever met to drag herself into your shambled mess of a life? Were you losing your mind? It seemed that the ‘little voice’ in your head was the only thing saying that this was the right choice-granted, it turned out right most of the time, but now, you were starting to doubt its judgement.

Rainbow reacts much the opposite, however. Her eyes light up, and her wings flare out in what you reasonably assume is surprise, as she’s briefly taken off guard. “Really?”

“Sure.” A try certainly couldn’t hurt, right? If it didn’t work out, you could just tell her. There was absolutely no harm. You hoped. Perhaps you were doing it for the sake of the memory of...what was her name, 'Applejack'. Maybe it was for yourself, for all the hardships. It couldn't hurt any more than if it didn't work out.

The pegasus stands stock still, but only for a brief second - the next, she has already leapt forward, before encasing you in a hug of surprising tenderness in comparison to speed. Her breath tickles your ear slightly as she continues. "Thanks, Clarence," she manages, using your first name for one of the few times that she ever does. The fact only deepens your blush that had already arisen when she encased you in that warm, peaceful hug of hers. "That really gets a load off my chest."

You briefly hesitate, unsure as to whether to hug her back. Could you? Or would you just be throwing yourself into the unknown, and be doomed to make a mistake?

The thought of spending more time with Rainbow Dash, however, easily overrules your normally hyperactive inner thought process, and you can't resist smiling before pulling a forehoof around her, and pulling her gently closer, not even particularly caring if her rainbow mane both smelled like skittles, and tickled your nose. Your thoughts could shut the buck up at the moment - that hug could have very well been the best moment of your entire life, both emotionally and romantically.

You were so intent on enjoying the monent, that you hardly even heard the timid whisper when it came slowly drifting across the wind. "Um...Rainbow Dash...?"

Evidently, the pegasus recognized the voice, about as much as you hated poles, because she tore away from you at the speed of sound, much to your dismay. You almost protest, but don't for two reasons: one, because grown colts don't protest when cuddle-time ends, and two, because the look in her eyes, no matter how red her cheeks become or how frantic her breathing becomes, tells you to 'play along'.

"Oh, um...Fluttershy!" she manages to stutter, addressing it to the new arrival. You note that with a yellow coat, a pink mane, and her seeming tendency to hide behind said mane, that her name quite fits. "What...what are you doing here?"

The yellow pegasus, who seems to shrink even further backwards, responds in a voice barely audible over the wind. "Oh...um...I remember that you told me...that you were going to come for the-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the...animal thing," Rainbow quickly interrupts. "Don't worry, I didn't forget."

The silence reared its ugly head for just a second more, and then the butter-yellow pegasus slowly turns her gaze to you. "So, um...are you-"

Thankfully, the cyan mare decides to save your own imminently tanned hide, and jumps in, though approximately twice as cool-headed as before. "This is Clarence Trill. He plays the - what's it called again?" She directs the last part to you, raising an eyebrow as if to say 'I know, but just answer it so she forgets what we were just doing so I don't look totally soft'. At least, that's what you think she said with her eyebrow.

You oblige, having somewhat caught wind of the general 'plan'. "Clarinet," you 'correct' her. "Played for so long, that I forget when I started. So I don't blame you if you forget its name, even."

"Right. The...thing."

Fluttershy pauses for a second, and much to your relief, continues. "Well...it was nice meeting you, Clarence." She smiles slightly, though such a movement seems forced. "I've got to get back to my cottage. You'll be there, right Rainbow?"

By now, with the mood of the dialogue between the pegasine pair, you could easily infer that the two were likely friends of the sort - a shy pony and a brave one did go hoof in hoof, after all. Stereotypes be damned - for their strange accuracy, that was.

In just a few brief seconds Rainbow and her 'friend', as you assumed, had quickly said goodbye. You turn to her, and she mouths a silent 'thank you', waiting only a single beat before speaking aloud. "So, I'm gonna have to go help my friend now-" You can't help but to inwardly grin as one of your suspicions actually turn out right. "-but I...guess we can meet again tomorrow? Of course, if you aren't busy-"

You raise an eyebrow. "Trust me," you say. "I'm not busy."

She smiles back. "Well, that works, doesn't it?" She pauses for a brief second. "Alright, well I suppose I should help you off this mountain thing. What I needed to say, I did."

You smile, but not the smile of a pony responding to a simple statement. You smile the smile of a pony who thinks that things are getting better, and who actually looks forward to the future. A future with a beautiful pegasus, who actually wants to see you again. "Sounds good."

And for once, the words are entirely true.