Different

“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.